News Story not available This story has been published on: 2022-10-24. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. This story is no longer available on our site. A two-car collision pinned a 38-year-old woman in her vehicle in the town of Springdale on Saturday afternoon, police said. Julie Habberman, of New Glarus, was traveling southbound on Highway G near Sand Ridge Court when her pickup truck crossed the center line on a curve and crashed into another vehicle around 5:08 p.m., authorities said. Bronwyn Baldwin was driving the other vehicle, a Honda Pilot, and was pinned as a result of the accident, police said. Emergency personnel from various departments responded and freed Baldwin, 38, before transporting her to UW Hospital for non-life threatening injuries, authorities said. Baldwin, of Fitchburg, was wearing a seatbelt at the time, police said. Habberman and her juvenile passenger were both wearing seatbelts and were uninjured, according to authorities. Police said the initial investigation suggests Habberman was going off the road on the curve and over corrected, sending her past the dividing line. Authorities said citations against Habberman are pending. Dhanu Shanmuganayagam plans to use a new gene editing technique to engineer pigs with diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, to test treatments in animals with major risk factors for heart disease. Heidi Kaeppler hopes to alter the DNA of corn, wheat and rice so the crops could grow nitrogen fertilizer naturally, as soybeans and alfalfa do. Jill Wildonger is modifying genes in the nerve cells of fruit flies, which could better explain what goes wrong in Alzheimers and Parkinsons diseases. The UW-Madison researchers are joining scientists around the world in using a powerful gene editing tool that is transforming biology and could improve human health as much as anything since the first successful isolation of human embryonic stem cells, at UW-Madison, in 1998. But, like embryonic stem cells, the new technology, called CRISPR-Cas9, raises ethical questions. It could affect the environment in unexpected ways or be used to alter the genes of future generations of humans a line scientists generally have agreed shouldnt be crossed but wasnt feasible until now. Its very easy to say youre not going to cross the line when you dont know how to do it, said Alta Charo, a UW-Madison bioethicist who is co-chairwoman of a national committee studying the topic. Now we have to face whether or not wed ever want to do it. Two groups of scientists in China have come closest to crossing the line. In studies published a year ago and last month, the scientists edited genes of human embryos. But the embryos, which were not viable even before the gene editing, were destroyed, not implanted. The Food and Drug Administration is considering the environmental risks of CRISPR in a proposal to release genetically engineered mosquitoes in the Florida Keys to try to prevent Zika virus and other diseases. Meanwhile, achievements involving CRISPR are mounting. In October, Harvard researchers said they used the technique to edit 62 genes involving immunity in pigs, a potential step toward using pig organs for human transplants. In December, three research groups said they used CRISPR to treat muscular dystrophy in mice. Last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture cleared the first CRISPR-modified food, a white button mushroom altered to resist browning. CRISPR, which stands for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats, is based on a defense mechanism found in bacteria. It was discovered in 2012 by Jennifer Doudna of the University of California, Berkeley, and Emmanuelle Charpentier, a scientist in Germany. Doudna has been among those calling for a moratorium on editing genes to make heritable changes in humans. Amid the ethical debates, a growing number of researchers in Madison and elsewhere are using CRISPR in ways considered less worrisome. Scientists have been able to sequence the DNA of humans and other species for years, but until CRISPR they didnt have a quick, easy, cheap and precise way to alter genes to study disease mechanisms, potential therapies and agriculture methods in complete organisms. Its like Microsoft Word, said Dustin Rubenstein, who runs a lab on campus that has helped dozens of researchers use CRISPR in mice, rats and other animals to study cancer, stroke and other conditions. Not only are we reading the genome, were opening it up and cutting and pasting at will, Rubenstein said. Wildonger likens the process to the work of a car mechanic. Before, the mechanic couldnt open up any part of your car, but only look at it and guess what was wrong, she said. Now, he or she can open up the hood, start changing components of the engine and see how it impacts how the car functions. "Molecular scissor" CRISPR-Cas9 is a molecular scissor that cuts DNA at specific sequences and allows the bodys DNA repair process to insert a new gene if desired, said Krishanu Saha, a UW-Madison biomedical engineer. The technology includes a guide RNA that targets gene sequences and a protein to cut them, called Cas9. Saha uses CRISPR in stem cells derived from people with fragile X syndrome, a condition in which an inactive gene causes intellectual disability. In the lab, Saha snips the gene, adds a luminescent tag and screens potential drugs to see which ones turn it on. Hes had two hits so far. He plans to work with Dr. David Gamm, a UW-Madison ophthalmologist, to use CRISPR to correct genetic mistakes that cause vision loss, in cells from patients and, eventually, if possible, directly in the eye. Ethical questions surrounding CRISPRs human applications are not limited to altering embryos, Saha said. Gene-editing treatments could spur gene-editing enhancements to give people stronger muscles, quicker growth spurts or greater intelligence. An international summit on CRISPR that Saha attended in December in Washington, D.C., even floated the idea of a gene-edited sleep cycle less time sleeping but with more recovery. What assistant professor wouldnt like that going through the tenure process? Saha, an assistant professor, said during a town hall discussion about CRISPR on campus last month. Charo said there could be good reasons to make genetic changes to future generations of people. One would be eliminating diseases such as Tay Sachs, a progressive, congenital condition that weakens muscles and typically kills children by age 4. Is there any reason why we shouldnt just wipe this out if we can? Charo asked. But CRISPR could have unintended consequences, such as in trying to control mosquitoes, she said. Wiping out one pest could allow a different pest to explode, she said. The committee she is co-chairing, formed by the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine, is expected to issue a report this year with recommendations for the responsible use of CRISPR. The committee met last month in Paris with European representatives to discuss regulatory approaches. CRISPR in the lab Shanmuganayagam said CRISPR makes it much easier to develop animal models to study human diseases, such as the pig model for heart disease. Hes also using CRISPR to make a pig model of neurofibromatosis, which causes tumors on nerve tissue. The pig models will resemble human diseases better than mouse models, he said. Previously, he said, it was very difficult to design such pig models. We want to test therapies in a more accurate background, he said. Kaeppler said CRISPR could help allow corn, wheat and rice to be capable of nitrogen fixation, a process found in soybeans and alfalfa, in which the plants acquire nitrogen through a symbiotic relationship with bacteria. That would be a great addition if you could add that to other crops, she said. She and others at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center on campus are also using CRISPR to try to increase the yield of corn for biofuels. Wildonger, along with UW-Madison colleagues Melissa Harrison and Kate OConnor-Giles, was among the first scientists to edit genes in fruit flies using CRISPR, in 2013. They have distributed their fruit fly CRISPR models to other labs around the world. Madison-area companies, such as Aldevron and Promega, also sell products used in CRISPR. In fruit flies, Wildonger is altering nerve cell proteins that control movement, mirroring human conditions collectively known as spastic paraplegia. Shes also studying mutations associated with Alzheimers and Parkinsons. Since CRISPR has been available for only a few years, it may take a while for the general public to see any tangible benefits. But for researchers, the benefits are already real, Wildonger said. CRISPR-Cas9 is going to revolutionize science, she said. This a technique to pay attention to. A small team of U.S. troops was on the ground in Yemen and Navy ships with Marines aboard were offshore to support friendly forces against an al-Qaeda offshoot as the U.S. deepened its involvement in yet another Mideast civil war, the Pentagon said Friday. Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, declined to say how many U.S. troops were in Yemen near the port city of Mukalla, a former stronghold of the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula terror group, or whether they were Special Forces. Davis said it was a "very small team" that had been sent into Yemen two weeks ago and was expected to be withdrawn soon. "We view this as short term," he said. In addition, the U.S. has been conducting anti-terror airstrikes in Yemen against the terror organization apart from the effort to assist local forces on the ground, Davis said. Four airstrikes since April 23 had killed an estimated 10 fighters, he said. The amphibious assault ship USS Boxer, lead ship for an amphibious ready group with Marines from the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard, and two Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers, the USS Gravely and the USS Gonzalez, were also positioned off Mukalla, Davis said. The troops on the ground and the ships offshore together were providing "airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, advice and assistance with operational planning, maritime interdiction and security operations, medical support and aerial refueling," Davis said. At a Pentagon briefing, the spokesman was vague on the mission of the troops but stressed that they were not advising and assisting friendly forces much like similar teams embedded in Iraq and Syria. After some back and forth with reporters on the semantics of how to characterize the troops, Davis said it was appropriate to call them an "intelligence support team. We have a small number of people who have been providing intelligence support." Davis said that the U.S. troops were supporting forces of the United Arab Emirates, but in a sign of the complexity of Yemen's civil war, forces of Yemen's embattled government and troops from Saudi Arabia were also involved in the drive to oust al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula from Mukalla. The Saudi Embassy in Washington said in a statement "Saudi forces are also on the ground alongside the UAE forces in Mukalla and that it is a Saudi-led Arab Coalition that is fighting AQAP alongside the U.S. military contingent on the ground." The U.S. National Counter-Terrorism Center has described the terror group as "a Sunni extremist group based in Yemen that has orchestrated numerous high-profile attacks" against the U.S. It was the organization that sent Nigerian-born Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on a Northwest Airlines flight over Detroit on Christmas day 2009 to detonate explosives in his pants but other passengers foiled the attack. The group's most prominent operative was the charismatic Anwar al-Awlaki, a dual U.S. and Yemeni citizen, who communicated with Army Maj. Nidal Hasan prior to Hasan's shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009, killing 13 people. Al-Awlaki was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in September 2011. Davis said that the organization remained fixated on attacking the U.S. "This is of great interest to us. It does not serve our interests to have a terrorist organization in charge of a port city, and so we are assisting in that," he said. Yemen's civil war has killed more than 6,200 people, displaced more than 2.5 million and caused a humanitarian catastrophe in one of the world's poorest countries, according to the United Nations and human rights groups. The war began in March 2015 when Houthi rebels, members of the Shia Zaydi sect and backed by Iran, overran the capital of Sanaa, forcing the government of Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi to flee. A month later, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula took over Mukalla. Saudi Arabia then came to the aid of Hadi, forming a coalition of Arab states including Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Senegal and Sudan. Davis said the U.S. involvement was specifically aimed at "at routing AQAP from Mukalla, and that has largely occurred," suggesting that the ships and troops would quickly be withdrawn. --Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com. Finance Ministry says the bankruptcy bill aims to resolve overseas debt issues and improve ease of doing business in India: Read to know more. By India Today Web Desk: Lok Sabha has passed the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Bill, 2015. According to the expert panel, headed by law secretary T. K. Vishwanathan; the bill seeks to solve the long-pending issue of overseas assets and promote entrepreneurship in India. According to the government data, as on last December, the top 50 defaulters of public sector banks hold over Rs 1.20 lakh crore. The bankruptcy bill aims to resolve such massive debt issues. advertisement What is the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Bill? The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Bill is the new code through which wilful defaulters can announce their state of being insolvent or unable to pay financial dues. The law applies to both individuals and corporate firms. Who can apply for bankruptcy? A person or firm can apply for a fresh start process, if: The gross annual income of the debtor is under Rs 60,000 The total value of assets of the debtor is under Rs 20,000 The total value of the qualifying debts does not exceed Rs 35,000 No existing cases of bankruptcy is associated with the debtor No previous fresh start process has been issued for the debtor in the twelve months prior to the date of application. Note: This does not apply to people and firms based in Jammu and Kashmir. How does it work? If an individual or a firm is unable to pay its debts or becomes a defaulter, he/she or it will be given a 180-day deadline to decide if its assets get liquidated or not. If he/she or it does not come up with a revival plan by then, the assets will be automatically liquidated After the application of bankruptcy, a moratorium will commence on the date of application The bankruptcy application will allow the authority to investigate all properties of the applicant in respect to the debt During the moratorium, no legal action or proceeding in respect to any of the debts shall be stayed During the moratorium, the creditor cannot sue the debtor The moratorium will stay until the confirmation and commencement of bankruptcy In case of a firm, the moratorium will apply to all the partners of the firm A resolution professional will be nominated as the bankruptcy trustee After the submission of all required financial information and the nomination of the bankruptcy trustee, the Adjudicating Authority will pass a bankruptcy order within two days The Adjudicating Authority will invite claims from creditors and investigate them. If the claims are evident, assets of the bankrupt will be distributed among the creditors On the completion of administration, the Adjudicating Authority will issue a discharge order on bankruptcy The Adjudicating Authority can also annul the bankruptcy order if it finds the claims being settled during the period of bankruptcy. advertisement A bankrupt person cannot do the following things - Acquire any commercial or personal debt Act as a trustee or representative of any trust, estate or settlement Be appointed as a Magistrate Stand as an electoral candidate Act as a director of any company Directly or indirectly take part in the promotion, formation or management of a company Travel overseas without taking prior permission from the Adjudicating Authority. Source: Report on Draft of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Bill, 2015 on official website of Ministry of Finance, India Interested in General Knowledge and Current Affairs? Click here to stay informed and know what is happening around the world with our G.K. and Current Affairs section. To get more updates on Current Affairs, send in your query by mail toeducation.intoday@gmail.com. --- ENDS --- On the 71st anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, let's read about some shocking unknown facts about the World War II By India Today Web Desk: The long and devastating World War 2 was nearing its end on this day in 1945. The Allies were winning back lost territories and the Nazi Germany was losing control of what part was left with them. This day is marked as the Victory day in the European calendar. Though the war ended much later in September, it was this day when Germany surrendered to the Allied members. 8 Days after Adolf Hitler killed himself, the Germans gave up to the Soviet in Prague. The documents with the terms of surrender were signed in East Germany as well as in Berlin. Russian service men take part in rehearsals for 71st Victory Day parade The German troops, sensing a defeat, were planning to escape the clutches of the Soviet to avoid being taken as prisoners of war. After the war in Czechoslovakia ended, around 1 million German soldiers were attempting a mass exodus but were stopped by the Soviet forces. The Soviet had taken around 2 million prisoners of war within a few days' time. On the other hand, the British POW under Germany (around 13,000) were set free to go home. On the 71st anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, let's read about some shocking unknown facts about the World War II: Year of Oblivion: 80 percent of Soviet males born in 1923 didn't survive the war False Account: Max Heiliger was the fictitious name used by the German defence squad to set up a bank account, in which they deposited money, gold, and jewels taken from Jews Not So Simple: The Bavarian word "Nazi" means simple minded. Journalist Konrad Heiden first used it as a term of derision Radar by Chance: British engineer Robert Watson-Watt was working on a 'death ray' to destroy enemy aircraft with radio waves. The experiment failed but not entirely, as it evolved radar Russian Toll: More Russians - military and civilians - died during the Siege of Leningrad than all American and British soldiers combined in WWII Shield's Up: From 1940 to 1945, the US defense budget skyrocketed from 1.9 billion dollars to 59.8 billion dollars Six Million Burnt: The Nazis killed around 12 million people. Over six million of those were the Jews killed in Holocaust. The word means 'whole burnt' Camps Charred: After evacuating the German concentration camps, British soldiers charred them down to prevent spread of typhus or other diseases The 'Karl': German weapon expert Karl Heinrich Emil Becker made the most powerful artillery gun used in the war named Karl. It was mostly used against the Russians. It could shoot a 2.5 ton shell over three miles. Each shell was 24 inches wide and could go through eight to nine feet of solid concrete First Jet Fighters: The Germans used the first jet fighters in World War II, including the Messerschmitt ME-262 Germanisation: The Nazis killed millions of Poles. However, as the Polish babies looked like Germans, they kidnapped over 50,000 of them. These babies were adopted by German parents for 'Germanisation' Tokyo Threat: If it were necessary to drop another atom bomb on Japan, Tokyo would have been under ashes Japanese Holdouts: Many Japanese soldiers had been stationed on islands across the Pacific Ocean during the war. Even after the war got over, they refused to surrender as most of them did not know that Japan had surrendered. They stayed back on these islands for years. These islands were called Japanese Holdouts. One such soldier was Hiroo Onada who refused to surrender for 29 years on an isolated island. His commander had to personally come and relieve him of guard Southern Effect: People tend to forget South America's contribution to World War II. During the eight months of the Italian campaign, the Brazilian Expeditionary Force managed to take 20,573 Axis prisoners, including two generals, 892 officers and 19,679 other ranks. During the War, Brazil lost 948 of its own men killed in action across all three services." Thousands of South American countries helped in supplies and, in some cases, the Latin soldiers joined the Free French Forces to fight against the Nazis. advertisement Interested in General Knowledge and Current Affairs? Click here to stay informed and know what is happening around the world with our G.K. and Current Affairs section. To get more updates on Current Affairs, send in your query by mail toeducation.intoday@gmail.com. --- ENDS --- By India Today Web Desk: Amidst all the confusion on the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) and the Common Entrance Test (CET) exams, student's future is at stake, as the verdict is yet to come on the states' medical entrance exam. India Today Education brings you the reaction of students' on both the exams: Take a look Disclaimer: All the above comments showed in the pictures were received by the India Today Education team. advertisement With inputs from Mr. Aakash Chaudhry,Director, Aakash Educational Services Pvt Ltd. Read: NEET Vs CET 2016: All you need to know Read: NEET, MHT CET 2016: Check out the paper analysis here Get latest updates on exam notifications and scholarships across India and abroad here. --- ENDS --- The collision happened at 7 am on the main highway linking the capital, Kabul, to the southern city of Kandahar. Injured Afghan men lie in an ambulance after an accident on the main highway linking the capital, Kabul, to the southern city of Kandahar, in Ghazni province eastern of Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP Photo) By AP: Two buses and a fuel tanker collided Sunday on a major highway in Afghanistan, killing 52 people, officials said. Another 73 people who had been on the buses were wounded in the accident, which set all three vehicles ablaze, said Jawed Salangi, spokesman for the governor of the eastern Ghazni province. Records show the two buses were carrying a total of 125 passengers, Salangi said. "With 73 survivors out of the 125, 52 people are dead," he said, adding that the survivors had been transferred to hospitals. advertisement The collision happened at 7 am on the main highway linking the capital, Kabul, to the southern city of Kandahar. Salangi said the road had been cleared and re-opened early afternoon. The buses were traveling one behind the other from Kabul to Kandahar when the accident happened, according to Mohammadullah Ahmadi, director of the provincial traffic department. He blamed the crash on reckless driving. He said local residents helped firefighters and first responders pull survivors from the wreckage. Road accidents are common in Afghanistan, where roads are often in poor condition and traffic laws are rarely enforced. --- ENDS --- Akshay Kumar son Aarav has received his first degree black belt in Kudo, which is a Japanese martial art. By India Today Web Desk: Star couple Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khanna are proud of their son Aarav's new achievement. ALSO READ: Enthiran 2.0 - Akshay Kumar to join superstar Rajinikanth in Chennai ALSO READ: Akshay Kumar on Hrithik-Kangana's legal battle - Everyone is having fun at their expense Aarav, 13, has received his first degree black belt in Kudo, which is a Japanese martial art. advertisement Elated with his son's achievement, Akshay says that he has received the "best gift ever". Akshay, who has black belt in Taekwondo, shared an image of his son wearing a blue uniform with a black belt on Instagram on Sunday. He wrote, "It's a Son Day all the way! Honestly I can't express my happiness, I've received the best gift ever today." "My son started training when he was just four years old. And today, after nine years of hard work he got his first degree black belt in Kudo, Okinawa and Goju Ryu Karate Do! "Some joys cannot be expressed in words, this one tops the list. But I'm feeling so proud, had to share it with you all...Overwhelmed, can't stop smiling, proudfather," the 48-year-old added. Akshay's wife Twinkle also celebrated it as the best Mother's Day gift. She wrote, "The biggest Mother's Day gift! Just got the news from his camp-All the years of nagging have paid off #BlackBelt (sic)." The biggest Mother's Day gift! Just got the news from his camp-All the years of nagging have paid off:) #BlackBelt https://t.co/DXcViYtfkS Twinkle Khanna (@mrsfunnybones) May 8, 2016 --- ENDS --- There should be a coordinated and severe crackdown on taxi companies in the entire NCR so that the message is loud and clear that there will be no compromise on women safety. There should be a complete ban on the unlicensed App-based taxi services, particularly Ola and Uber in the entire National Capital Region, till these taxi providers agree to comply with safety standards and regulations. The latest shameful incident on Saturday night, in which a taxi driver, registered with Ola, allegedly sexually assaulted a foreign national, who had booked a taxi from Gurgaon, highlights the danger of these unregulated taxi services. The latest incident shows that the taxi aggregator companies are still not doing their due diligence before registering drivers on their Apps. Repeated incidents of sexual assaults on women passengers by drivers registered with Ola and Uber, make it clear that these taxi aggregator companies are still not doing due diligence before registering drivers on their Apps. Women safety cannot be compromised at any cost, all the state governments in the National Capital Region - Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh must show zero tolerance on this issue. Hooda and HUDA officials have been accused of preparing false records to allot plot No C-17 to Associated Journals Ltd which caused a revenue loss worth Rs 62 lakh to the state exchequer. A day after Haryana State Vigilance Bureau (SVB) registered a cheating and corruption case against the then chairman of the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), its officials, trustees and directors of Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) for illegal and re-allotment of a plot to AJL, former Haryana chief Minister and the then HUDA chairman Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Sunday said the case registered against him is politically motivated. advertisement "The state government has revengeful attitude. The case registered against me is politically motivated," Bhupinder Singh Hooda said in Chandigarh. Hooda indirectly hit out at Indian National Lok Dal which has recently demanded registration of case against him. Former Haryana Congress chief Phool Chand Mulana also said the state's BJP government was trying to divert public attention by registering false cases against Congress leaders. "The plot was allotted as per the prevailing law and there were no irregularities. The state's BJP government is also allotting plots to people. The cases registered on Saturday are baseless and false," Phool Chand Mulana said. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday told media persons in Gurgaon that the state government did not interfere with its departments which were performing their duties. "The Vigilance Department is performing its duty and we do not interfere with the departments. Action will be taken against anyone who has done wrong. The FIR has been registered (against Hooda) after something wrong was found," Khattar said. State Vigilance Bureau on Saturday had registered first FIR in the AJL plot allotment in its Panchkula police station under various sections of IPC (409, 420, 120B) and Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988. Hooda and HUDA officials have been accused of preparing false records to allot plot No C-17 to Associated Journals Ltd which caused a revenue loss worth Rs 62 lakh to the state exchequer. The plot measuring 3,500 square metres is located in Panchkula and was first allotted to AJL on August 24, 1982 for publishing a newspaper. The allotment was however, cancelled in 1996 after AJL failed to construct the project even after a decade. However, the Congress government in 2005 re-allotted the plot to AJL on the basis of a representation given by the AJL representative. The present market value of the plot is estimated around Rs 100 crore. Sources close to the state government said it was keen to handover the case to CBI as it requires an expanded jurisdiction. --- ENDS --- "U can't just sit there with ur tea & scones ordering RAF (Royal Air Force) drone strikes on UK brothers with no comeback from the Islamic State (Isis)," Sally Jones tweeted. By Press Trust of India: A British Muslim woman who is among the world's most wanted female terror suspects has threatened new strikes against Britain on social media, according to a report today. Sally Jones, a former punk rocker who travelled to Syria after converting to Islam, praised the publication of a hit-list of US drone pilots amid claims that Islamic State (IS) hackers have also identified British military personnel involved in airstrikes in the region, the Sunday Times reported. advertisement Resurfacing on Twitter last week after a prolonged absence the 47-year-old wrote, "U can't just sit there with ur tea & scones ordering RAF (Royal Air Force) drone strikes on UK brothers with no comeback from the Islamic State (Isis)". In a reference to her dead husband, Junaid Hussain, 21, who was killed by a US drone strike in Syria, Jones added, "Yes, it's Abu Hussain's wife. Shouldn't you be calling for the resignation of Mike Fallon (UK defence secretary) after IS said it has a mole in the MoD?". Jones even chose to 'like' a story about her by the Sunday Times, a social media move that could eventually help Western intelligence agencies track her location. Jones has been placed on a Pentagon 'kill list' after being named as a "specially designated global terrorist". She and Hussain are known to have orchestrated attacks against the West from Syria. IS hackers linked to Jones recently published the personal details of about 75 US staff. They now claim to have a similar list of RAF personnel. "We are not releasing it publicly right now; let the UK wonder who's on it," they boasted on Twitter. --- ENDS --- "The Centre and the state have to work together... farmers have faced the onslaught of both hail storms and drought... we want to increase the number of tankers to carry water to villagers," Akhilesh Yadav said after the hour-long meeting with the prime minister. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Saturday over the drought in the Bundelkhand region. By Mail Today: Soon after rejecting the assistance from the Centre for the drought-hit Bundelkand region of Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought a Rs 11,000 crore package to buy 10,000 tankers, which will carry water to parched areas of the state. "The Centre and the state have to work together... farmers have faced the onslaught of both hail storms and drought... we want to increase the number of tankers to carry water to villagers," Yadav said after the hour-long meeting with the prime minister. advertisement However, the BJP accused the Uttar Pradesh government of not being serious about tackling the drought in Bundelkhand saying it had failed to take any long-term measures to check the perennial problem and also alleged massive corruption in relief work. "The SP government shows a lot of keenness and promptness in putting out various advertisements about successes, which are hardly visible on the ground. Had it shown some of this interest in tackling the drought, the situation in Bundelkhand would be better," BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma said. Under various heads, Yadav demanded nearly `11,000 crore from the Centre for drought relief. Asked why the state government had rejected the offer to send a water train to Bundelkhand, he said there is water in Bundelkhand but his government only needed means to carry it to the concerned villages. "Can a train carry water to villages, he questioned?" At the meeting, Modi said the Centre and states have to work together to mitigate the problems faced by the people due to the drought, a statement from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said. The Uttar Pradesh chief minister apprised the prime minister about the efforts undertaken by his government for mitigation of problems faced by people because of drought conditions, it said. It was noted that the state has submitted a memorandum two days back seeking assistance for the rabi crop for the 2015-16 season and the prime minister directed that the process be completed and assistance be provided without delay, the statement added. The state shared the action plan for revival and restoration of 78,000 water bodies, including tanks, ponds, and farm ponds; one lakh new water-bodies and recharge structures. This is to be achieved by utilising funds available in schemes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (MNREGA) and Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, the statement said. The chief minister, in the meeting, was told that an amount of Rs 934.32 crore had been released to the state under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), after adjustments of the state balances. This is in addition to Rs 506.25 crore released as central share of State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for 2015-16 to the state. A further amount of Rs. 265.87 crore has been released as first instalment of SDRF for 2016-17. advertisement Apart from Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra is also reeling under a severe drought. Also Read Centre will send water to drought-hit Bundelkhand via special train Farmer arrested for stealing water in drought-hit Bundelkhand --- ENDS --- The fire, which started near the town of Fort McMurray in northeast Alberta, spread so quickly that the town's 88,000 inhabitants barely had time to leave. Service vehicles drive out of the wildfires near Fort McMurray, Alberta on May 7, 2016. Photo: Reuters By Reuters: A wildfire ripping through Canada's oil sands region looked set to grow rapidly as it entered its second week on Sunday despite cooler weather and light rain, but move further away from heavily populated areas, a fire official said. The fire, which started near the town of Fort McMurray in northeast Alberta, spread so quickly that the town's 88,000 inhabitants barely had time to leave. advertisement The front of the fire was moving southeast, away from Fort McMurray toward the neighboring province of Saskatchewan, said wildfire information officer Travis Fairweather, but was not expected to reach the border on Sunday. While there were some communities near the fire, they were not in its path, he said. Winds of up to 60 kph (37 mph) were fanning the flames, but there was a chance of rain and cooler temperatures later in the day. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported ash fell in parts of Saskatchewan. An Alberta government statement issued on Saturday night said the fire had consumed 200,000 hectares (500,000 acres) - an area the size of Mexico City - and would continue to grow. Fort McMurray is the center of Canada's oil sands region. About half of the crude output from the sands, or one million barrels per day, had been taken offline as of Friday, according to a Reuters estimate. The inferno looks set to become the costliest natural disaster in Canada's history. One analyst estimated insurance losses could exceed C$9 billion ($7 billion). Canada Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said the economic cost of the wildfire would likely eclipse that of the 2013 Alberta floods, which was in the range of C$6 billion. Speaking to CTV television, he noted that when disasters are more expensive, federal funding covers a larger proportion of their costs. "On something this big, it may well trigger the maximum under the formula, which would mean 90 percent of the cost would be borne by the government of Canada," he said. Officials have said that, even though the fire has largely pushed through Fort McMurray, the town is still too dangerous to enter. Thousands of evacuees are camped out in nearby towns but stand little chance of returning soon, even if their homes are intact. The city's gas has been turned off, its power grid is damaged, and the water is undrinkable. Provincial officials said displaced people would be better off driving to cities such as Calgary, 655 km (410 miles) to the south, where health and social services were better. "I know today is a bittersweet Mother's Day for many Alberta moms, as you're away from your homes," said Alberta Premier Rachel Notley on Twitter. "All of you are incredibly strong, and I hope you're able to find a small moment for yourself today." advertisement The provincial government has promised evacuees pre-paid debit cards to cover immediate costs, with C$1,250 per adult and C$500 per dependent, expected to cost about C$100 million. After the scare of her life escaping the fire on Tuesday, housekeeping supervisor Susie Demelo got some welcome good news on Saturday. New satellite images showed the house she rents in Fort McMurray was still standing. Demelo and her partner had no insurance on their belongings. "I'm very blessed and grateful," she said. "And nobody has died in the fire." Through Friday and Saturday, police escorted thousands of evacuees who had been forced to flee north from Fort McMurray back through the burning town, to allow them to head south to Alberta's major cities. By Sunday morning, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman said that process was complete. Some residents were complaining about the lack of news from the town, fire chief Darby Allen said in a video posted online late on Saturday. "We know from all the calls that you're getting frustrated because you don't have any information on your homes. We're really working hard on that, it's a complicated process," he said. advertisement More than 500 firefighters were in and around Fort McMurray, along with 15 helicopters, 14 air tankers and 88 other pieces of equipment, officials said. The strain was so intense that fire crews would be rotated more quickly than usual, Alberta fire official Chad Morrison said. One exhausted fireman told CBC television that members of his team were working up to 40 hours at a stretch without sleep. --- ENDS --- By Sourish Bhattacharyya: Mohan Singh 'Palace' (if you can call a dreary NDMC building with monkeys crawling all over a 'Palace') is my annual pilgrimage spot when I am planning the holidays of various members of our family. My time-tested travel agent is located in one corner of the first floor, a corner you reach after walking past yards after yards of all kinds of unbranded denim being sold in the shops that are responsible for the 'Palace' being called the "poor man's denim haven". advertisement It was here I remember, ironically, that I got my first denim shirt stitched soon after my return, in 1990, from journalism school in the United States. My friends gasped at the thought of me, 'America-returned' and all that, going to the 'Palace' to get a denim shirt. That too on the recommendation of our office 'rider'. "How petit bourgeois!" laughed one of my old acquaintances from JNU, with whom I had spent many an hour at Ganga Dhaba debunking 'Uncle Karl' (as in Marx) in the days when political debates were a form of intellectual stimulation and not an invitation to troll your opponents. "You go to Mohan Singh Place for an adda at Indian Coffee House and not in the pursuit of cut-rate shirts," my friend, now a thriving member of the bourgeoisie, said with vehemence as he coughed over his Gold Flake (today, it's Cohiba Esplendido or nyet!). Also read: 6 places in India every coffee lover must visit My interest piqued, I returned to the 'Palace', headed straight to the terrace, and had my first 'Cold Cream Coffee' at Indian Coffee House. I learnt later that it was born out of a workers' struggle led by the late Communist leader A.K. Gopalan against its original owner, the Coffee Board, and it has been, like the other Indian Coffee House outlets across the country, run by the Indian Coffee Workers Cooperative Society since 1957. I fell in love at once with the buzz of the place, and the impassioned discussions on just about everything - from Adam Smith to Adoor - and of course, the prices were like manna from heaven for a rookie journalist whose employers expected him to survive on raw idealism and plain tea. It made as much economic sense to head up to Indian Coffee House for cold coffee and cutlets as to rush down for denim shirts. Toast and cheese omelette make an irresistible combination, and the vegetable cutlet is unputdownable. But then, as years advanced, Indian Coffee House slipped out of my life, till the other day, when I was overcome by this urge to visit my old haunt, which has even survived the possibility of shutting down to make for a McDonald's. It started with a conversation with my travel agent. I asked him whether he ever went to Indian Coffee House. He was taken aback by my question and he insisted that he never went to 'that place'. His expression seemed to suggest that I was asking about some hangout of weirdos. And he said, to rest his case, that nothing could beat the masala chai of the dhabawala downstairs. advertisement Spurred by my travel agent's snooty response, I took the cranky elevator upstairs and entered the Indian Coffee House. To my pleasant surprise, it was in the same state of decrepitude - the walls showed no signs of upkeep, the toilets outside stank as badly as before, and the monkeys on the vast terrace moved around as fearlessly as they have always done - but the liveried waiters, who looked straight out of Rashtrapati Bhawan or Parliament House, still wore spotless white uniforms, and shiny new stainless steel furniture had replaced the old chairs, some of which still lay around to evoke nostalgia. The crowd had changed--salesmen and property dealers now were in a majority, or maybe I had not gone at the right time, although I did find a gentleman in impeccably starched dhoti-kurta intently reading an Ambedkarite journal, an elderly Communist comrade poring over the day's newspaper, and a couple of college students with roots in Kolkata who seemed to be missing their beloved Coffee House. advertisement Animated political discussions had made way for desultory talk about property deals, UPSC exam deadlines, tyrannical bosses and IPL. But my beloved Cold Cream Coffee, 'toast with butter' and cheese omelette, and vegetable 'cutlets' were still around without any diminution in quality. And they continue to be served by waiters who are as unanimated as their predecessors were in the days when I first discovered Indian Coffee House. It's so comforting to know that in a changing world, some pleasures of life remain the same. --- ENDS --- By AP: An Ivy League professor said his flight was delayed because a fellow passenger thought the math equations he was writing might be a sign he was a terrorist. American Airlines confirms that the woman expressed suspicions about University of Pennsylvania economics professor Guido Menzio. She said she was too ill to take the Air Wisconsin-operated flight. Menzio said he was flying from Philadelphia to Syracuse on Thursday night and was solving a differential equation related to a speech he was set to give at Queen's University in Ontario, Canada. He said the woman sitting next to him passed a note to a flight attendant and the plane headed back to the gate. Menzio, who is Italian and has curly, dark hair, said the pilot then asked for a word and he was questioned by an official. advertisement "I thought they were trying to get clues about her illness," he told The Associated Press in an email. "Instead, they tell me that the woman was concerned that I was a terrorist because I was writing strage things on a pad of paper." Menzio said he explained what he had been doing and the flight took off soon afterward. He was treated respectfully throughout, he added. But, he said, he was concerned about a delay that a brief conversation or an Internet search could have resolved. "Not seeking additional information after reports of 'suspicious activity' ... is going to create a lot of problems, especially as xenophobic attitudes may be emerging," he said. American spokesman Casey Norton said the Air Wisconsin crew followed protocol to take care of an ill passenger and then to investigate her allegations. Norton wouldn't specify the details of the allegations, but said officials determined them to be non-credible. The woman was rebooked on a later flight. --- ENDS --- The director of the Pune's Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), on Saturday received a package containing a detonator and a threat letter warning against any association with Kanhaiya Kumar. By India Today Web Desk: The director of the Pune's Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), on Saturday received a package containing a detonator and a threat letter warning against any association with Kanhaiya Kumar. Here are the latest developments in the story A packet containing some suspected explosive substance, a detonator and a threat letter in connection with JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar's expected visit in April, was received by the office of the director of the FTII in Pune, police said. The packet was addressed to the previous director of the Film and Television Institute of India, Prashant Pathrabe. Bhupendra Kainthola, the present director of the institute, said, "My office received the packet at 5.30 pm on Saturday and since the contents were suspicious, we alerted the police." Senior police inspector Sushma Chavan of the Deccan Police Station said the parcel contained a detonator and a white powder, suspected to be some explosive material. It also had a letter, warning the director against allowing Kumar to visit the FTII campus. It called Kumar an "anti-national" and said the institute should not support him or allow him to conduct programmes there. Police suspect that the packet must have been sent before Kumar's visit to Pune on April 24, when Pathrabe was the director of FTII. Kumar, who addressed a gathering in Pune on that day, was reportedly going to visit the FTII too, but eventually he did not. The contents of the package have been sent to a forensic lab. Kanhaiya, who was charged with sedition in connection with pro-Afzal event is currently out on bail. advertisement Also Read Now, JNU students go on hunger strike JNU row: Kanhaiya Kumar burns inquiry committee report, students to go on indefinite strike --- ENDS --- The deceased Aditya Sachdeva, who is son of a well-known Gaya businessman, was returning along with his three other friends from Bodh Gaya after attending a birthday party. The four friends were driving a Swift car. The son of JD-U MLA Manorama Devi and dreaded gangster-turned politician Bindeshwari Yadav, Rocky Kumar was driving in a Land Rover vehicle which belongs to the legislator. Apart from Rocky, his friend and Rajesh Kumar, bodyguard of Bihar police provided to Manorama Devi was also in the Land Rover. Rocky, who was driving the SUV tried to overtake the Swift in which Aditya and his friends were traveling but was unable to do so. Angered by this, Rocky sped his SUV, overtook Aditya's car and stopped. An infuriated Rocky along with his friends and bodyguard started brutally thrashing up the four friends. Soon Rocky pulled out his pistol from the SUV and started firing in the air. Trembling, the four friends tried to escape in their car when Rocky fired at the car which hit in Aditya head and he died on the spot. After the incident, Rocky fled away. The Bihar police has now recovered the Land Rover vehicle and arrested the bodyguard and interrogating him at an undisclosed location. Police have also detained the legislator and her husband Bindi Yadav and questioning them. Manorama Devi and her gangster husband were earlier in RJD and later joined Nitish Kumar's JD-U in June last year to contest the council elections. Bindi Yadav is known as terror in Gaya-Jahnabad-Arwal area of Bihar and in the 90's engineered a reign of terror in this region. The Bihar govt had also invoked Crime Control Act on Bindi Yadav to control him. In 2011, Bindi Yadav was arrested after police recovered huge cache of explosives, AK-47, SLR, carbine and 15000 rounds of ammunition from his vehicle. The recovery was meant to be supplied to the Maoists to target security forces. A case under National Security Act was registered against Bindi Yadav, then. The 22-km Delhi stretch of Yamuna, which perennially struggles with even a minimal fresh water flow, will receive an extra 200 MGD of water, informed officials. By Baishali Adak: Delhi's lifeline Yamuna, which currently flows black with sewage, may be revived with the Lakhwar-Vyasi dam project. The reservoir with a capacity of 580 million cubic metres in the upper Yamuna basin of Dehradun, Uttarakhand, will hold 'extra water during monsoon and release into dry Yamuna in the lean season', said Union Minister for Water Resources, Uma Bharti on Saturday. advertisement The 22-km Delhi stretch of Yamuna, which perennially struggles with even a minimal fresh water flow, will receive an extra 200 MGD of water, informed officials. At least three major projects on Yamuna and its tributaries - Renuka dam in Himachal Pradesh, Lakhwar-Vyasi and Kishau in Uttarakhand - have been pending since years. The biggest is Lakhwar-Vyasi, entailing the construction of a 204-metre high dam. It first received an environmental clearance in 1986. Construction was halted in 1992 due to lack of funds. After a fresh clearance from the Ministry of Environment in February 2014, work resumed. Launching a string of initiatives under 'Yamuna Action Plan III' on Saturday, Uma Bharti said, "Every river has a distinct identity - a natural course, floodplain and biodiversity. Owing to over-extraction of water for supply purposes at Delhi-Haryana, Yamuna becomes bone dry. In Delhi, it is loaded with sewage and carries it to our holy cities, Mathura and Vrindavan." "With the completion of Lakhwar-Vyasi project," she claimed, "Yamuna will start receiving extra water and we hope to be able to keep it pollution free up to Prayag (Allahabad)." To give it further boost, the Water Resources Ministry is in talks with the Haryana government to encourage pressure irrigation in farmlands near Hathni Kund barrage. "This will save further 30-40 per cent water which can revive the Yamuna in Delhi," she said. CEO, Delhi Jal Board, Keshav Chandra, explained, "The Lakhwar-Vyasi project has been pending for almost 30 years. There were issues between the signatory states - Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan - over water share of each. Also, there were livelihood issues as the dam is expected to submerge 50 villages and 868.08 ha of forest land." "However now," he said, "The Uttarakhand Irrigation Department has worked out a new compensation package for affected villagers and the project is on track." The Lakhwar-Vyasi project is still under the consideration of the National Green Tribunal. Experts have their reservations. Manoj Misra said, "No dam has ever revived a river but only killed it. Also 200 MGD is a very small amount. About 8 lakh cusecs of water flows through the Hathni Kund Barrage on Yamuna in the monsoon season." advertisement Meanwhile, the Delhi government inaugurated eight new schemes involving rehabilitation of STPs and cleanliness of Yamuna on Saturday. These included: Rejuvenation of Chhat Ghat at ITO, river surface cleaning by a 'trash skimmer' machine, and the rehabilitation of Rithala Phase-1 Sewage Treatment Plant, Ashok Nagar and Jahangirpuri sewers etc. Chairman of DJB, Kapil Mishra said, "We will bring out a comprehensive plan to clean Yamuna, inpouring drains and riverfront development in 30 days." Also Read Ammonia very high in Yamuna, will share detailed report by evening, says AAP's Kapil Mishra --- ENDS --- "Access to justice is a fundamental right and the government cannot afford to deny the people their fundamental right," CJI TS Thakur said. By India Today Web Desk: Expressing concern over low judge-population ratio in the country, Chief Justice of India TS Thakur today said access to justice was a fundamental right and governments cannot afford to deny it to the people. After an emotional outburst over the issue in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a conference in New Delhi recently, the CJI once again raised the matter while addressing a large gathering of legal luminaries on the occasion of centennial celebrations of the circuit bench of the High Court. advertisement "While we (judiciary) remain keen to ensure that judges' appointments are made quickly, the machinery involved with the appointment of judges continue to grind very slowly," Justice Thakur said, adding around 170 proposals for appointment of HC judges were now pending with the government, PTI reported. Noting that the matter was brought to the notice of the Prime Minister recently with a plea to make the appointments quickly, he said people cannot be denied justice. "Access to justice is a fundamental right and the government cannot afford to deny the people their fundamental right," he said. Shortage of judges is one of the formidable challenges the judiciary is facing in the country now, the CJI said adding, out of some 900 sanctioned posts of judges in different High Courts of the country, there are over 450 vacancies which need to be filled up immediately. Dwelling on the poor judge-population ratio, Justice Thakur said while the Law Commission of India in 1987 had suggested for having 44,000 judges to effectively tackle the then number of pending cases, the country today has only 18,000 judges. "Thirty years down the line we continue to work with depleted strength. If you go by the number of people that have been added to the population, we may now require more than 70,000 judges to clear the pending cases," he said. ALSO READ Only 10 judges for 1 million people against 40 as recommended, laments CJI Thakur --- ENDS --- As the Twitteratti gets sentimental over mother's day, we decided to scroll through hundreds of tweets to get you the funny side. By India Today Web Desk: On Mother's Day, every hour on Twitter is emo'o clock. However, amid all the tear-jerker tweets full of guilt and separation pangs, we also see the hilarious version. Twitter continues to take pot shots at politicians, Bollywood, and even themselves. Here's a compilation. Happy #MothersDay. Remember, (Money + Bungalow + Car + Servant + Bank Balance) < Mother. Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) May 10, 2015 If your mother doesn't force you to eat an extra chapati whenever you eat, then you are Adopted. Superman (@stfu_veer) April 29, 2015 Me: "WORLD IS ABOUT TO END" Mom: "Aparna's daughter works with Infosys" Me: "MAA WORLD IS ABOUT TO..." Mom: "Photo to dekhle, pehle se naa?" The Cult of Bajirao (@bizzarebhide) September 28, 2015 Mother, Teresa is duniya main koi nahin The-Lying-Lama (@KyaUkhaadLega) December 18, 2015 advertisement "Yayyyy! It's a Goaaaallllll" ~ Indian Mother, when her daughter makes a round Chapati for the first time Sagarcasm (@sagarcasm) March 18, 2015 Modi's mother used to support him when he was young. Rahul's mother is greater - she's still supporting him when he's middle-aged The Bad Doctor (@DOCTORATLARGE) September 27, 2015 Every mom has an inbuilt alarm that automatically goes off the moment you have held the fridge door open for more than 3 seconds @sagarcasm Khalnayak (@OldMonkKaHalf) April 11, 2016 When Mom says no partying tonight as relatives will be coming over pic.twitter.com/ALpnwtU1tS The-Lying-Lama (@KyaUkhaadLega) May 29, 2015 When ur indian mom hears future for the first time pic.twitter.com/rL6dfcOE94 Nick Duggal (@NickDuggal) April 24, 2016 Kejriwal: Mere paas 12vi class ki distinction hai, IIT ka Btech hai, IRS ki qualification hai, kya hai tumhare paas? Modi: Mere pas MA hai Gabbbar (@GabbbarSingh) May 1, 2016 Shashi Kapoor : Mere paas bungalow hai,gaadi hai,bank balance hai.Tumhare paas kya hai ?@SrBachchan : Mere paas #Panama hai ! #panamapapers Santoesha Bissesar (@MsSantoesha) April 4, 2016 The number of layers I am wearing is directly proportional to how cold my mother is. MA (@MTeeAmr) December 20, 2012 --- ENDS --- By Nikita Bhalla: It's Mother's Day today, and every mother and mother-to-be needs to be appreciated, for she is the very essence of our being. While a woman plays a variety of roles in her life, being a mother (by popular consensus) is truly the most special part. But, while motherhood brings with it a truck load of responsibilities, sacrifices and memories, it also means facing insensitivity, heart-wrenching moments, and increasingly, even shaming for something as organic as breastfeeding. advertisement While breastfeeding has endless benefits, many women around the world have faced rude stares for nursing in public, and some have even gone on to post strong messages on social media to protest against insensitivity and create awareness. Breastfeeding should, in fact, be promoted not discouraged because breast milk acts as a passage for the transfer of antibodies and fighter cells from the mother to the infant (something only breast milk is capable of). Also read: Coconut milk is being touted as the next best thing to breast milk Breast milk contains everything babies need--proteins, fats, lactose, vitamins, iron, minerals, water and enzymes--in the exact amounts required for the baby's optimal growth and development. Breast milk is a child's first vaccine which immunises the baby against all types of infections and allergies. In short, breastfeeding is more than just food for the baby. It also enhances the emotional bond between the child and the mother and provides warmth, love and affection. Current challenges However, according to Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India, India ranks the lowest among all South Asian countries in breastfeeding rates. Factors like lesser maternity leaves, career goals, inadequate family support, public shaming etc, pose as a difficulty for mothers to continue breastfeeding. A large segment of new mothers today are finding themselves caught between the responsibilities of motherhood and that of the workplace. According to a survey on working mothers conducted by Medela India, 32 per cent women nurse and around 42 per cent of women tend to leave their jobs to continue being a nutrition provider to their babies. Also read: Obesity could be influenced by breast milk Even though medical technology has given a sigh of relief to working mothers with the innovation of breast pumps, there is a lack of awareness about it. Breast pumps are basically medical devices used by lactating mothers to express (extract) their milk which can then be fed to the baby via a bottle. It also helps moms retain their milk supply. Nursing the baby becomes easier and simpler through these nursing accessories while the mum is away at work. Mothers speak Charu Arya, 34, Gurgaon, shares her experience about breastfeeding becoming a challenge for her. She recalls, "After I delivered a boy through normal delivery, I thought I had accomplished the big part but later realised that it actually was the easy bit. When I had to feed my baby with colostrum, it was very painful. I could not produce milk and breastfeeding became a challenge for me. I tried breastfeeding my baby for the first two days but the struggle failed. It then resulted in cracked and sore nipples. I started cringing at the thought of feeding whenever my son cried. I started depending upon formula milk and felt very guilty about it but the thought of feeding was overwhelming. I had almost given up. But then a friend of mine suggested using breast pumps. I came home, sterilised the pump and operated it. It was weird at first with the electric sound but then suddenly the milk started flowing like a shower. And I was surprised at how it managed to fill two full bottles of milk with absolutely no physical effort and no pain. My milk production increased. I was hooked on to it from then on." advertisement Neha Kashyap, 31, Mumbai, has a similar story to narrate, "I had taken a break from work after the birth of my daughter. In between this lactation phase, I started missing my work life and financial independence as I was away from work. Motherhood became difficult for me as I was a workaholic and wanted to resume my job. I looked around for options and that's when I learnt about nursing tanks and breast pumps. Before I knew it, I had started pumping milk for my daughter and felt happy to be a nutrition provider despite being away at work." advertisement According to the World Health Organization, the best feed for a baby who cannot be breastfed, is milk expressed from his/her own mother or from another healthy mother. New milk banks opening up Although globally human milk banking is a common practice, in India, the progress has been slow and only 14 such banks exist, as per the Indian Academy of Paediatrics. The latest to join the bandwagon is Amaara Milk Bank, Delhi-NCR's first pasteurized human milk bank at Fortis La Femme, which will depend on donated milk from mothers. Bhavdeep Singh, CEO, Fortis Healthcare stated, "We have tied up with government hospitals such as AIIMS and Safdarjung, where the banked milk will be provided free of cost to newborns requiring it". advertisement There are a host of accessories which are also present in the market to enable mothers to work through their feeding challenges: Breast pumps: Breast pumps are a must for working mothers as it helps in expressing milk which is later bottle fed to the baby by a caregiver. A breast pump may also be used to stimulate lactation for women with low milk supply. Nursing bra: Provides additional support to women who are lactating and permits comfortable breastfeeding without the need to remove the bra. Celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Jessica Alba have been spotted wearing nursing bras during the first few months after their deliveries. Breast milk storage bags: Breast milk storage bags are convenient to use for storing the pumped breast milk in order to feed the baby. Breast pads: Especially useful if mothers have a rapid let-down reflex and the breasts seem to be leaking all the time. Nipple shield: A nipple shield is a great help for sore, cracked nipples and allows nursing to continue while giving the nipples time to heal. Hydro gel pads: These are meant for sore and sensitive nipples. Nursing wrap: An absolute blessing for discreet and comfortable breastfeeding in public. Nursing pillow: A must for mothers to achieve a comfortable latching on position and save their arms a lot of pain, especially as the baby grows heavier. This makes the breastfeeding experience better with less pressure on the back too. --- ENDS --- Salman Khan posted an adorable photo with his mothers Salma and Helen on Mother's Day. By India Today Web Desk: Bollywood actor Salman Khan wished his mother Salma and step-mom Helen on social media on the occasion of Mother's Day. ALSO READ: Salman Khan to finally get married to rumoured girlfriend Iulia Vantur? ALSO READ: Katrina Kaif to star opposite ex-boyfriend Salman Khan in Kabir Khan's Tubelight? The 50-year-old actor shared an adorable picture with his two mothers Salma and Helen on Twitter. He gave a simple caption to the image, "Happy Mother's Day". advertisement The Dabangg actor, is known to be quite close to his family. Be it sister Arpita and Alvira or brother Sohail, Salman knits a close bond with his family members. He has often claimed that 'he loves his mother the most in this world and it doesn't come as a surprise to see him showering praises on Mother's Day. Salman is currently busy shooting for his upcoming film Sultan in Punjab. The film is based on the life of a professional wrestler, who faces various ups and downs in his life. Apart from Salman Khan and Randeep Hooda, the film also stars Anushka Sharma in the lead role. Directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, the film is produced by Yash Raj Films. Sultan is slated to hit the screens on Eid, this year. --- ENDS --- From MGR to Kolaveri boy Dhanush, leading heroes have always banked on the 'mother sentiments', and songs have always come in handy for these stars to easily win over moms. On Mother's Day, we bring you some of such evergreen classics on mothers. By India Today Web Desk: Tamil cinema is known for celebrating mothers. Over the years, there have been innumerable songs made on moms and mother's love. From MGR to Kolaveri boy Dhanush, leading heroes have banked on the 'mother sentiments', and songs have always come in handy for these stars to easily win over mothers. Though there have been a countless number of such songs, very few songs have turned out to be classics and are still remembered by the fans. On Mother's Day, we bring you some of such evergreen classics on mothers. advertisement Ammaendru Alaikatha (Mannan): If you talk about Tamil songs on mothers, this song from Rajinikanth's Mannan is unavoidable. Written by Vaali, the song is crooned by KJ Yesudas. The song is considered so pious that it has been inscribed in few temples in Tamil Nadu. Amma Amma Nee Enga Amma (Velai Illa Pattathari): This is probably the latest song on mothers. Penned and crooned by Dhanush himself, the sad melody emotes the pain of a son, who has lost his mother. Legendary singer Janaki has also crooned for this number. Kaalaiyil Dhinamum Kann Vizhithal (New): This is rather a happy song. The song is from SJ Suryah's sci-fi drama New. The song is composed by two-time Oscar Award winner AR Rahman and crooned by Unni Krishnan and Sadhana Sargam . Chinna Thayaval (Thalapathi): Again Rajinikanth. This beautiful song is from the film Mani Ratnam's Thalapathi, which is loosely based on the story of the mythical character Karna of Mahabharata. The song is aptly placed when Suriya (Rajinikanth) learns the truth about his real mother. Arariraro (Ram): Ameer's Ram is about a mentally-challenged teenager and his bond with his mom. This song is also crooned by Yesudas. Notably, many songs on mother are crooned by the incredible singer. --- ENDS --- From Kajal Aggarwal to Laxmi Raai, many actors took to social media to wish their respective moms. By India Today Web Desk: It's the time of the year when the whole world pays tribute to mothers. Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms are flooding with wishes and poems about moms and motherhood. ALSO READ: Mother's Day special: Trisha to Hansika, celebs share adorable pics with their mom And actors of Tamil and Telugu film industries are no exception to this. Many leading heroines expressed their love for their respective moms by sharing pictures with their moms on social media. From Kajal Aggarwal to Laxmi Raai, many actors took to social media to celebrate the special day. advertisement Trisha Krishnan mentioned in her Instagram account that for her 'all days are Mother's Day'. Similarly, Hansika Motwani, who was last seen in Udhaya Nidhi's Manithan, said, "My mom is my strength." Take a look at the adorable snaps: Happy Mother's Day my adorable mommy!!! pic.twitter.com/D9YKL1Vozt Kajal Aggarwal (@MsKajalAggarwal) May 7, 2016 Evryday is Mothers Day ?? A photo posted by Trisha (@dudette583) on May 8, 2016 at 12:31am PDT My mother my strength ?? A photo posted by Hansika M (@ihansika) on May 7, 2016 at 11:33pm PDT All that I am or I hope to be I owe 2my MOTHER?? #mystrength #world happy Mother's Day maa luv u 2the moon n back???? pic.twitter.com/InsGeCqbKL RAAI LAXMI (@iamlakshmirai) May 8, 2016 Even tho 1 day is not enuf to thank R moms 4 all dt they do 4 us, Happy Mother's Day mom!! Love U loadz n Loadz ?? pic.twitter.com/wGPT0DFkQk Rakul Preet (@Rakulpreet) May 8, 2016 --- ENDS --- This new model reveals a variety of interesting topographic features, including the highest and lowest points on the planet. A view of Mercury's northern volcanic plains is shown in enhanced color to emphasize different types of rocks on Mercury's surface. By India Today Web Desk: NASA's Messenger mission has unveiled the first global digital elevation model (DEM) of Mercury, revealing in stunning detail the topography across the entire innermost planet. Here are the 8 things to know about the model: It will pave the way for scientists to fully characterise Mercury's geologic history. "The wealth of these data has already enabled and will continue to enable exciting scientific discoveries about Mercury for decades to come," said Susan Ensor, software engineer at The Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). This new model reveals a variety of interesting topographic features, including the highest and lowest points on the planet. The highest elevation on Mercury is at 4.48 km above Mercury's average elevation, located just south of the equator in some of Mercury's oldest terrain. The lowest elevation, at 5.38 km below Mercury's average, is found on the floor of Rachmaninoff basin, an intriguing double-ring impact basin suspected to host some of the most recent volcanic deposits on the planet. More than 100,000 images were used to create the new model. "This has become one of my favourite maps of Mercury. Now that it is available, I'm looking forward to it being used to investigate this epic volcanic event that shaped Mercury's surface," added Nancy Chabot, instrument scientist for the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) in a NASA statement. "During its four years of orbital observations, messenger revealed the global characteristics of one of our closest planetary neighbours for the first time. The data from the mission will continue to be utilised by the planetary science community for years to come. advertisement Also read: --- ENDS --- The Nepalese government, according to reports, is contemplating legalities and implications of declaring Indian envoy Ranjit Rae as PNG or persona non grata, and has accused New Delhi of trying to destabilise the KP Oli government. By Smita Sharma: In what could lead to a serious diplomatic crisis, sources in Kathmandu suggest the KP Oli government in Nepal could target the Indian Ambassador to the Himalayan country. The Nepalese government, according to reports, is contemplating legalities and implications of declaring Indian envoy Ranjit Rae as PNG or persona non grata. Following recent internal political developments, Nepal has accused New Delhi of trying to destabilise the KP Oli government and the Indian ambassador of interference in its internal matters. advertisement Over the last week in signs of worsening ties, Nepal sought to cancel the scheduled visit to India of its first woman President - Bidhya Devi Bhandari, 72 hours prior to her departure. This without providing any official reason. Bhandari would have landed in New Delhi on May 9 on a state visit, held parleys with the Indian President, Prime Minister and met other top leaders. She was scheduled to attend the ongoing month long Simhastha Kumbh at Ujjain from May 11 to 12 and participate in The Vaicharik Kumbh, before flying back to Kathmandu on May 13. This supposedly first of its kind global ideological conference is to be attended by ambassadors and high commissioners and other dignitaries. According to Nepalese sources, Kathmandu had objection over the venue of President Bhandari's meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi - his official residence at Race Course Road. Nepal also seemed to have made a bone of contention over the proposed Ujjain leg of the tour citing security fears in the wake of the sudden heavy rains and storm that killed at least seven people last Wednesday. But Nepalese Ambassador to India, Deep Kumar Upadhyay, a veteran political appointee, had advised otherwise, suggesting the President's visit to go ahead. Orders for his recall soon followed the visit cancellation, over charges of non-cooperation and lack of trust. Speaking to Mail Today, the Nepalese Ambassador refused to comment saying he is still waiting for final orders before packing his bags. "As an envoy of Nepal I am supposed to carry on orders of government as well as welfare of people and country. Until I do not get exact text of decision it will be better for me to not comment on hearsay media reporting," he said. Behind the scenes what is playing out though is Nepal's internal power tussle between PM KP Sharma Oli - Chairman of CPN-UML and Maoist chief and former Prime Minister Pushp Kamal Dahal, better known as Prachanda. Oli's left led and left dominated government survives on the support of the Maoists. But last week Maoists moved a resolution to pull the plug and take over Singh Durbar with support mobilised by Sher Bahadur Deuba led Nepali Congress. However within 24 hours, Prachanda did a U-turn, leaving Oli still in command but bitter and very upset. Oli has now chosen to play the victim card and blame India for attempting a change in government. advertisement Despite Narendra Modi's neighbourhood first policy and successful Kathmandu visits, the bilateral relation hit rock bottom last year. This when essential supplies from India were disrupted along the Raxaul borders as Madhesis agitated for their demands to be met in the nation's new constitution. Nepal accused India for the 'blockade' and of siding with the Madhesis. India vehemently denied any blockade on the ground. As the common man was hit the worst with the oil and medicines crisis, especially in the wake of devastating earthquake that claimed thousands of lives in 2015, anger against New Delhi was externalised. Though in his first official visit since assuming prime ministerial charge, Oli travelled to India in February this year and termed as successful his six day visit. But relations are on the slide again. India has so far refused to be dragged into what it calls Nepal's 'internal situation'. Asked to comment MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup last week said, "These are internal political developments in Nepal and it will not be appropriate for me to comment on them. But, of course, as a close neighbour, we are following the developments very closely." advertisement Reacting to reports, Nepal's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa took to Twitter calling them baseless speculations. Some media speculations regarding Nepal govt mulling expulsion of Indian Ambassador Ray is baseless n aimed at damaging Nepal-India relation&; Kamal Thapa (@KTnepal) May 8, 2016 --- ENDS --- The accused, Raj Singh who is a native of Rajasthan's Alwar district, was arrested after an FIR was registered. Ola has also terminated the driver from its platform. The woman, who identified herself as a language translator, told police that she had booked the cab from Gurgaon and during the journey the cab driver allegedly kissed her. "The driver deliberately took the wrong route after Hauz Khas and when the woman told him that she will ask her friend, he took her phone and deleted all the records related to Ola," a senior police official said. He also called her over to the front seat claiming that his GPS was not working and then allegedly kissed her, police said. The woman has been staying in India since February and is supposed to return tonight. After stepping out of the cab near C R Park area, she informed the police about the incident at around 10 pm, police said. The name of the cab owner is Vikram Singh. "The said driver has been terminated from the platform with immediate effect. We will share all required information with the authorities to help resolve this for the customer. We have zero tolerance to such behaviour from drivers on the platform," Ola said in a statement. When asked by India Today that will she stay in the capital till the case would be over, the Belgian national said that she won't extend her stay, as she is terrified with the incident and want to return back to her country soon. Earlier in January, a cab driver allegedly molested a journalist who was travelling from Noida to Delhi. Talking to Mail Today, Janata Dal(U) general secretary KC Tyagi said that the PM must come clean on his educational qualification. By Mail Today: The Janata Dal(U) also jumped into Prime Minister Narendra Modi's degree controversy on Saturday when the party general secretary KC Tyagi, who was in Lucknow, said it is a matter of investigation that only one Narendra Modi did his graduation in the past 35 years from the university (mentioned in PM's marksheet) and he lives in Alwar. Talking to Mail Today, Tyagi said that the PM must come clean on his educational qualification. advertisement Tyagi was in Lucknow to oversee the preparation for the arrival of the party chief and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. He said, "Defeating BJP in UP in 2017 is the only aim of JD(U). Those opposing Congress were helping the BJP so all anti-BJP parties should come under Congress's umbrella". Tyagi also said that BJP would lose miserably in all five states which went to polls recently. Tyagi's visit to Lucknow assumes significance, as Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar would be visiting Varanasi on May 12, and subsequently Lucknow on May 15. Tyagi was also of the view that alcohol and liquor are one of the biggest reasons domestic violence and rising incidents of crime. "From May, we would be intensifying our anti-alcohol campaign throughout the state, and at the same time target the schools, colleges and education institutes around which liquor shops have cropped up," Tyagi said. Also Read Kejriwal writes to DU VC on Modi degree on Modi degree: 5 points from his letter --- ENDS --- Dengue, a viral disease transmitted by the bite of aedes aegypti mosquito, generally develops after five to six days of being bitten by the mosquito. Caption: Mann ki Baat is a monthly radio programme where Prime Minister Modi talks to the people about various national issues. Some calls are also made a part of the broadcast. The May 15 edition is the 20th episode of the programme. By Astha Saxena: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will talk about the need to take preventive measures, like keeping surroundings clean, to get rid of dengue in his next edition of Mann ki Baat scheduled for May 15. Dengue, a viral disease transmitted by the bite of aedes aegypti mosquito, generally develops after five to six days of being bitten by the mosquito. advertisement The Union as well as state health ministry are putting together the data and information that the PM would need. "We are coordinating with all the important departments like Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), state dengue department as well as the central health department. The PM has been very keen in discussing about dengue as it is a major health hazard for citizens of the country," a senior health ministry official told Mail Today. Mann ki Baat is a monthly radio programme where Modi directly communicates with the people of this country. Each month, some selected calls become a part of the broadcast. This will be the 20th edition of the programme. Through this initiative, Modi informs, educates, inspires, shares, urges and extols on just about everything that can contribute to nation-building. Last month, he addressed the nation on a number of issues ranging from water crisis to education. He also thanked citizens for giving up LPG subsidy for the needy. Modi also had pitched for water conservation efforts in the coming monsoon so as to avert water shortages faced this time around in different parts of the country. The prime minister through Mann Ki Baat, has shared his thoughts on a range of issues including drug addiction, farmers problems, menace of corruption, declining sex ratio, promotion of khadi and high rate of casualties in road accidents. According to the sources, Modi will be specifically focusing on how the locality should be kept clean and larvae should not be found in anywhere near the residents. "He will be suggesting ways to keep the surroundings clean. Water should not get collected anywhere, and he will be insisting on this issue majorly," added the official. India will be celebrating dengue day on May 16, a day after this month's edition on Mann ki Baat. The Delhi health department, this year, will focus on the specific areas where the cases have been found. "The intervention programme will be area-based this year. The areas that has been prone to the disease will be closely monitored," a senior Delhi health department official said. advertisement Delhi has reported five cases of dengue in the month of April this year. Recently, a mobile application 'India fight dengue' was also be launched by the Union Health Minister JP Nadda to ensure that all the information and measures are easily available to the general public. Dengue occurs in two forms: Dengue Fever and Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever (DHF). While dengue fever is a severe, flu-like illness,DHF is a more severe form of the disease, which may cause death. Any person suspected of having dengue fever or DHF must see a doctor at once and take the necessary medicines as directed by the physician post a blood test. Also Read #MannKiBaat: PM Modi wishes Team India luck for the India-Australia match PM concentrates on water conservation in monthly Mann Ki Baat program --- ENDS --- Speaking exclusively to Mail Today at his South Block office, Manohar Parrikar, spearheading the "hunt for the corrupt", said, "There appears to have been a very powerful hand that played a role in ensuring the acquisition of VVIP helicopters became a single-vendor deal. This invisible hand influenced decisions from 2005 when the proposal was finalised to 2010 when the deal was finally signed.'' Parrikar insisted this could not have been the role of any single bureaucrat, middleman or officer. By Gaurav C Sawant: A "powerful invisible hand" pulled the strings of the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland chopper deal from the beginning to the end for nearly five years, defence minister Manohar Parrikar said on Saturday amid a political storm over the scandal-tainted pact. His statement came a day after he told Parliament that the alleged scam could have been stopped in 2012 when executives of the Anglo-Italian firm were arrested in Italy, but the Congress-led government waited a full two years - till 2014- to cancel the contract for a dozen helicopters meant for VVIPs. advertisement Speaking exclusively to Mail Today at his South Block office, the minister, spearheading the "hunt for the corrupt", said, "There appears to have been a very powerful hand that played a role in ensuring the acquisition of VVIP helicopters became a single-vendor deal. This invisible hand influenced decisions from 2005 when the proposal was finalised to 2010 when the deal was finally signed.'' Parrikar insisted this could not have been the role of any single bureaucrat, middleman or officer. "Officers may have been party to irregularities and the probe agencies are investigating that. But the entire chain was influenced from top to bottom in favour of a single vendor and all laid-out rules and procedures were flouted. The aim is to find out who that powerful hand is," he said. The chopper pact came under the spotlight again after an Italian court last month reportedly cited alleged middleman Christian Michel James claiming top politicians, including Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, helped swing the deal while crores of rupees were paid in bribes. The defence ministry is not only monitoring the probe but also assisting in clearing any doubts that investigators may have over procedures and rules. Parrikar denied that probe agencies had not been working in the past two years since the Modi government came to power and were galvanised only after the Italian appellate court verdict in Milan. "The probe is happening. It just hasn't reached the top (of the corruption food chain). Major progress was made in the Indian leg of the investigation. Properties worth `11 crore were attached and several suspects interrogated," he said. "But after the Milan court verdict proved money had been paid, probe agencies in India have stepped up their effort to find the bribe takers.'' The minister also maintained that his predecessor, AK Antony, may have ordered a CBI probe but nothing happened until the Modi government took over. The CBI and ED have gone through 120,000 pages of Italian court orders and annexure and, once translated, are using them as material to take the Indian leg of the inquest further. "This is an international probe. Don't expect results in weeks. So far, the money trail has been established. Money went to Tunisia and Mauritius. `25-30 crore came back to India to pay officials. But `200-300 crore was paid overseas. There evidence is being collected," he said. advertisement Parrikar also insisted that the Centre is not indulging in a witch hunt, as claimed by the Congress. "If I start investigating every deal then modernisation of the armed forces will suffer. The Rafale deal is still not concluded so how have they put a $10-billion figure? There was a probe into the Pilatus (trainer aircraft) deal. If there is reasonable doubt of corruption in any deal, it will be investigated,'' he added. He also refused to be drawn into a verbal duel with former Union minister Arun Shourie on the issue of his speech in Parliament having revealed nothing new. "As students, we really looked up to Arun Shourie. We were like devotees of his investigative journalism. So, I will not comment on whatever he may have felt,'' he said. Parrikar also criticised violation of norms in the selection of AgustaWestland choppers with trials not being held in India. "The request for proposal clearly said trials for the helicopter should be held in India. The CAG in its report has pointed out that this was acceptable to the vendors. Yet trials were held overseas. When the helicopter was to fly the President in India, the IAF said under certain conditions it had not been tested to fly VVIPs. And they had some reservations," he pointed out. advertisement Had the helicopter been tested in India and rules not flouted, the same doubts could have been cleared during the field evaluation test, Parrikar added. He also said it was curious that several files were mysteriously burnt in a fire just eight days after the Modi government took over. "Fortunately, the AgustaWestland file was in an officer's desk drawer and it survived, or these facts would not have emerged,'' he said. Also Read AgustaWestland chopper scam: Small fish so far, will hunt down big ones, says Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar Manohar Parrikar: We want to know who instigated, supported, benefitted from the chopper scam --- ENDS --- According to the police, the Army and the Jammu and Kashmir Police killed three Kashmiri militants affiliated to the Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba in a pre-dawn gunfight on Saturday at Dogirpura. The south Kashmir region has witnessed widespread protests over killing of militants. A large number of people have also participated in the funeral of killed militants. By Naseer Ganai: Protests erupted in Pulwama of south Kashmir after three local militants were killed in a gunfight. Following the clashes, train and internet services were suspended in the district. According to the police, the Army and the Jammu and Kashmir Police killed three Kashmiri militants affiliated to the Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba in a pre-dawn gunfight on Saturday at Dogirpura. advertisement The operation, a Srinagar-based defence spokesperson said, was launched on Friday following specific intelligence inputs about the militants' presence. As the operation progressed, the militants opened fire and a gunfight ensued, which intermittently continued through the night. The three militants who were killed were heavily armed and a large cache of arms and ammunition - three AK47s, six magazines and 85 rounds of ammunition - has been recovered, the spokesperson added. The militants have been identified as Ashfaq Ahmad Dar of Dogirpura, Ishfaq Ahmed Baba of Tahab, both who were active in the Awantipora area and were affiliated to the Hizbul since 2014. The third militant has been identified as Hasib Ahmad Palla, a LeT affiliate, of Brao-Bandyun village. He had joined the group in 2015. The house from where militants were firing on the Army and police positions was completely damaged during the encounter. Following the news of killings, locals took to the roads and staged protests. Angry youth pelted stones at the police and Centre Reserve Police Force (CRPF). Police fired dozens of tear gas shells and warning shots to disperse the protesters. The gathered protesters, including women, allegedly raised anti-India slogans too. Sensing trouble, railway authorities on Saturday suspended train services between Banihal and Srinagar citing "law and order" situation while the district administration snapped internet services in the district. According to a senior police officer, around 23 people had joined militant outfits from south Kashmir between January 1 and April 1, 2016. In 2015, the number stood at 72 of which 56 were from south Kashmir. At present total number of militants in Jammu and Kashmir are 145, including two operating from the Jammu region. Earlier in January, Pulwama remained shut for 22 days as youths of the area demanded a memorial plank for militants - Shaheed (martyrs) Park. Pulwama and other areas of south Kashmir have seen large-scale participation of people in funeral procession of militants. A senior police official said protests during and after encounters in south Kashmir is an indication that a militant gun has been again accepted as new means of resistance and is becoming relevant by the day. People risk their lives in an effort to give safe passage to a holed up militant during an encounter because people treat militants with empathy and see them as agents of change as people wish to come out of present status quo and are fed up with traditional means of "resistance" like peaceful protests and strikes as espoused by Hurriyat Conference and other separatist groups, he added. advertisement On Friday, an Army trooper was killed while foiling an infiltration bid by heavily-armed militants along the Line of Control (LoC) in frontier Kupwara, officials said. Recently, the region was in the news after the death of a civilian during an encounter in Handwara. In the past, the Valley has seen massive protests over the killing of civilians in police and Army encounters. There have also been demands of repealing the AFSPA. Also Read 3 militants killed in encounter in Kashmir's Pulwama --- ENDS --- PV Sindhu said she would look to seek inspiration from fellow shuttler Saina Nehwal and that both of them would be gunning for glory at Rio Olympics 2016. By Rasesh Mandani : Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu will be the only two who will be competing in the same category for the same medals amongst a record seven Indian shuttlers to qualify for Rio. And despite the five years and the invaluable experience gap that separates the two, in lead up to Rio, inevitably the Saina-Sindhu rivalry talk will resurface. advertisement We play with great spirit Interestingly Sindhu does not duck under but acknowledges the rivalry question. "Off the court we are friends. But on it, of course we have this rivalry. When we face each other I want to beat her and I guess it is the same with her. But we play with great spirit," she tells India Today. The Saina-Sindhu rivalry was first seen as one between the queen and the contender. But with Sindhu also finding her way into the top 10, the rivalry now is more pronounced. Sindhu dwells further in the comparison. "Saina is a very experienced player. She is attacking but can sometimes get into rallies with me. Both of us have very different styles and strategies against each other." I am not under pressure but excited Saina accomplished the Olympic medal barrier in her second attempt with the bronze at London; she now prepares for her third edition. While she has held her own and would now attempt to change the colour of the medal at Rio, for Sindhu it's more excitement than pressure at her first Olympics. "Saina has played two Olympics before. So she knows what it takes. I will take it as it comes once I reach Rio. Of course I will try and win a medal. But for now I am just too excited," she says. We will fight for medals If they find themselves in separate draws and are able to find their A game, a dream clash for the same medal would be a red letter day for Indian badminton. "That would be a great occasion and bring lot of pride to Indian badminton. Both of us will fight for it. But I don't know what the draw would be and if we do end up playing against each other," Sindhu says. But the gap between qualification and medal rounds is a huge one and both 20 year old Sindhu and the more experienced Saina would know they need to withstand the ever so strong Chinese challenge so also that of Spanish Carolina Marin and that of Thai Ratchanok to get there. advertisement --- ENDS --- By PTI: Sumir Kaul Port Moresby, Apr 29 (PTI) For Sasindran Muthuvel, the first Indian-origin Governor in Papua New Guinea (PNG), it has been an eventful journey since he left Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu in search of livelihood over 20 years ago and arrived here after seeing a job advertisement. 41-year-old Muthuvel said he came to PNG to take up a job as a manager in a retail shop. "I thought I will be getting closer to Australia and later I will migrate to that country as a skilled immigrant," he recalled. advertisement But destiny had planned something else for him. The shop was shut down and he started his own outlet which expanded into a chain. With rising popularity, he decided to jump into the electoral fray and became Governor of West New Britain in 2009. "I came to Malaysia in 1995 after completing Bachelor of Science in Horticulture, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in Periyakulam and spotted an advertisement in a newspaper in 1997 about an opening in PNG," he told PTI here. "It is actually this advertisement which changed my life completely," he said. Muthuvel became manager of a retail outlet which was owned by a Singaporean national. But "my owner decided to wind up business here and return. "I was shocked with the sudden turn of events. I was left with two options -- either to return or to find my way out in the Island and I chose the latter," he said and added with a smile "I do not have any regrets". "I started a small chain of retail outlets by the name of Hamammas which means in local language I am happy and returned home to get married," he said. His wife Subha hails from Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. Both husband and wife worked hard to expand their business. "We started charity work and extended help to the needy. I do not know how I became popular but then I decided to jump into the electoral arena as I got my citizenship in May 2007. "I floated a new party and contested the elections and won. Later I joined the ruling Peoples National Party," he said. MORE PTI SKL RT --- ENDS --- Sonam Kapoor, who hasn't signed any film in Bollywood either, said that she is waiting for a 'right film'. By India Today Web Desk: Many leading female actors of Hindi film industry are looking to crack into Hollywood, and that includes Prem Ratan Dhan Payo actor Sonam Kapoor. The actor recently said that she has been auditioning for some Hollywood films, but hasn't got anything substantial. ALSO READ: Sonam Kapoor launches her app, and it's (obviously) all about her advertisement "I have been trying and I have been auditioning. But I haven't got anything substantial yet which I would feel inspirational enough for me to take the time out and go," Sonam told IANS. The actor hasn't signed anything in Bollywood either. Sonam says she is waiting for a 'right thing'. "I'm looking for something right now," said the Neerja star. When asked whether it is easier for star kids to take a break from films compared to outsiders, the actor said, "It takes a lot of courage to wait for the right thing to do. I don't take money from my father. Just because I'm Anil Kapoor's daughter doesn't mean he pays my bills," she said. "People are more respectful because I'm Anil Kapoor's daughter, but my bills don't get paid because I'm his daughter," she added. Reportedly, Badlapur actor Huma Qureshi auditioned for the lead role in Tom Cruise upcoming film, The Mummy. The role was later given to British actor Annabelle Wallis. Notably, Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra are acting in Hollywood films XXX The Return Of Xander Cage and Baywatch respectively. --- ENDS --- By India Today Web Desk: Anushka Sharma, who was introduced as Sultan Ki Jaan in the second trailer of the film, was seen riding a tractor in the lands of Punjab. ALSO READ: Salman Khan cried on the sets of Sultan? Here's why SEE PIC: 'Haryana Ka Sher' Salman Khan rides a scooter on the sets of Sultan advertisement The 28-year-old actor displayed some wrestling tactics in her first look of the forthcoming film. Now, Salman's leading lady is going all desi in a scene where she can be seen riding a tractor. Anushka Sharma, who has played a variety of roles in her eight year long career in Bollywood, has time and again proved her mettle to critics and fans alike. To get into the skin of her role as a female wrestler, Anushka is learning the desi ways which includes driving a tractor for the upcoming film, Sultan. The official Twitter handle of the movie recently posted a pic, showing the PK actor driving a tractor in the farms of Punjab with a caption, "You've seen @AnushkaSharma wrestle, now see her drive a tractor! #Sultan (sic)." In the still, Anushka Sharma can be seen wearing blue salwar kameez with maroon sweater while riding the tractor. Anushka Sharma and Salman Khan recently wrapped up shooting in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. Anushka, who has been taking wrestling lessons to perfect her role, proved herself to be an excellent choice after director Ali Abbas Zafar rejected many leading actresses to play the leading lady. Starring Salman Khan, Sultan is based on the life of a wrestler and is slated to be released on Eid this year. (With inputs from ANI) --- ENDS --- Gunmen killed eight policemen dressed in civilian clothes in an attack on a police vehicle. By Reuters: Unidentified gunmen killed eight policemen dressed in civilian clothes, including an officer, in an attack on a police vehicle in Helwan, just south of Cairo, the Egyptian Interior Ministry said on Sunday. The ministry said in a statement on its official Facebook page that four gunmen with automatic weapons got out of a small pick-up truck, stopped the police car, sprayed it with bullets and then fled. advertisement Residents told Reuters the gunmen wore masks. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Egypt is facing an insurgency, mainly based in North Sinai, that has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since mid-2013, when then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi after protests against his rule. While the deadliest attacks take place in Sinai, militants have targeted security forces and planted bombs in Cairo and other cities. ALSO READ | Gunmen attack Pakistan's Karachi Press Club --- ENDS --- While the RSS has been running the programme for some years in the state, the UP unit of the organisation will organise a march of its brightest lot on May 8 in Ghaziabad near Delhi. While the RSS has been running the programme for some years in the state, the UP unit of the organisation will organise a march of its brightest lot on May 8 in Ghaziabad near Delhi By Siddhartha Rai, Mail Today: The efforts of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP's ideological mentor, seem to be bearing fruit as the UP Assembly polls approach. Coupled with a steady rise in the number of its local organising units, known as shakhas, in the poll-bound state, the RSS is now out to showcase its programme of artificial selection among young activists, both male and female, through a programme that reminds one of ancient Greece. advertisement Through a programme (Prakalp) called Gunatmak Sanchalan or accentuation of values or value-addition, the RSS has sieved its activists to arrive at the best through a process of step-by-step elimination in a number of subjects like martial arts, organising potential and more academic disciplines such as poetry, debating and science. While the RSS has been running the programme for some years in the state, the UP unit of the organisation will organise a march of its brightest lot on May 8 in Ghaziabad near Delhi. "The Sangh tries to identify the best youth that are attracted to our ideology and then we try to accentuate and further groom the best in them. We do so to realise the potential of our young activists. We judge them on a number of parameters in a number of competitive activities such as martial arts, poetry or even in such fields as singing the Sangh prayer," Kshetra prant prachar pramukh Kripashankar told Mail Today. The RSS functionary also revealed that the number of shakhas have been on a consistent rise in the past three years in the state.While the RSS has always maintained that it does not contest elections - it calls itself a cultural rather than political organisation - it provides its political arm, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with the necessary manpower and grassroots mobilisation. Put in this context the swelling ranks of the Right-wing body might serve as a shot in the arm for the BJP Benefitting BJP The Kshetra prant prachar pramukh told Mail Today that since 2013-14, the number of shakhas in UP had gone up from 44,996 to 56,859 in the current year so far. Between 2013-14 and 2014-15, the number of shakhas in the state went up from 44,996 to 51,332, a rise of almost 15 per cent. Comparing the numbers in 2016 against those from the last year, the rise has already been around 10 per cent. Another feature of this rise has been that the lion's share is RSS sets eyes on Maya's voters after Lord Ram accounted for by the youth. While the Sangh makes a distinction between two kinds of shakhas- Vidyarthi (youth or students) and Vyavasayi (professionals)- the increase has been comparatively more in the shakhas attended by students. advertisement While the Vidyarthi shakhas numbered 29,295 in 2013-14, the corresponding figure for Vyavasayi shakhas was 15,701. In 2014-15, the figure for students' shakhas grew to 33,790 or by over 15 per cent compared to the previous year. The shakhas attended by professionals numbered 17,542 and their rise against previous year was nearly 12 per cent. Big rise In the current year, the vidyarthi shakhas have already recorded a rise of over 10 per cent, to grow to 37,308. The vyavasayi shakhas have registered a rise of close to 12 per cent to stand at 19,551. The growing numbers of the RSS are likely to prove key to the BJP's chances of winning the important state. Also Read Is the era of khaki knickers over for RSS? RSS denounces May Day, says it is without a context in India --- ENDS --- There are four permutation and combination which emerges out of a possible scenario in Uttarakhand. By Brijesh Pandey: While Friday's order by Supreme Court has given Congress leaders both in Delhi and Uttarakhand a big reason to smile, all is not lost for the BJP. There are four permutation and combination which emerges out of a possible scenario in Uttarakhand. Congress wins the trust vote: Harish Rawat wins the trust vote with all 6 progressive democratic front members (BSP-2, UKD-1 and Independent-3) BJP wins the trust vote: BJP wins the trust vote by engineering a major chunk of Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) to vote for itself, especially BSP. There is a tie: That both sides have equal no and Speaker caste his vote. The biggest disruptor and something BJP is hoping for the max is if the Uttarakhand High Court does not uphold the disqualification of 9 reble MLAs, verdict on this is on May 9, just a day before the important trust vote. This verdict will throw all the permutation and combination into dustbin and it will be checkmate for the Congress party. advertisement There are two-pronged strategy on which the BJP is working overtime, though one of it has not met with much success till now. For the last six days, BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and other BJP leaders are stationed in Dehradun, working on every possible composition. One strategy of the BJP, which it is hopeful that it will yield result is to break the Progressive Democratic Front, which till now had been very much behind Harish Rawat. The Progressive Democratic front consists of 6 MLAs. (BSP-2, UKD-1 and Independent-3) What has given hope to the party is that the BSP, which was part of PDF till now, has started singing a different tune, much to the delight of the BJP. The fact that these two BSP members didn't turn up for a lunch organised by the Harish Rawat on March 22, had sowed the seed of hope for the BJP. The two BSP MLAs Haridas and Sarbat karim Ansari have put the onus for any decision taking on their party leader Mayawati. Meanwhile, BJP is hopeful that even in the case of Mayawati deciding to go the Congress way; they will be able to get support of at least one MLA and break the two member party. However, sources within the BJP also say that out of two BSP MLAs they are only confident, as of now, of one MLA. What is extremely interesting is that in 2014, BSP supremo Mayawati had suspended these two for anti-party activities. Apart from this, there are three independent MLAs, Mantri Prasad Naithani, Dinesh Dhanai and Harish Chandra Durgapal who all have been made ministers by Harish Rawat and till now they have stood solidly behind him. Though, Naithani is considered close to Satpal Maharaj but BJP is not very hopeful that in crucial vote of confidence on May 10, he might provide them much needed succour. The lone Uttarakhand Kranti Dal MLA is Pritam Singh Panwar and he also has not made his position clear as of yet. The second strategy on which it is working overtime now is to find more disgruntled Congress MLAs. Though, when you talk to the BJP leaders officially, they will say that there are several dissatisfied MLAs within Congress and many are in touch with the BJP, the reality is somewhat different. advertisement One of the main person, who they were very hopeful that he will at least get his three loyalist Congress MLAs to switch from Congress fold to the BJP one was Satpal Maharaj. According to highly placed sources within the BJP, till now Maharaj has not been able to convince those MLAs to switch sides and it is being seen as a setback to the BJP. Though, the BJP has not completely given up on this end and key influential negotiators are in touch with Congress MLAs but not much success has been achieved till now. The BJP is aware that on May 10 every single vote will count and that is why there are several layers of people working on every single MLA who they feel is susceptible to either money or power or both. In the last one-and-half month BJP, which has been accused of engineering the current political crisis, is trying its level best to salvage the situation. advertisement The stinging observation made by Uttarakhand High Court and no relief from Supreme Court has given a blow to its Uttarakhand managers and this is the last shot they can make. As they are aware that a loss of floor test on May 10 in Uttarakhand will also result in loss of face in Delhi. Also read: Uttarakhand floor test on May 10: Supreme Court Uttarakhand crisis: Supreme Court floor test order a game changer or not? --- ENDS --- After increasing the sales of restaurant chain Red Lobster, Beyonce has unknowingly helped to increase the sale of lemonade. And no, we are not talking about her album Lemonade! By India Today Web Desk: Your news-feed must have been flooded with praises and think pieces after Beyonce released her visual album "Lemonade" recently. But Queen Bee is not only ruling your news-feed, such is her impact that lemonade sales are shooting up post the album's release. And we are not kidding! Florida-based juice company Natalie's Juices saw an increase in the sales of natural lemonade, lemonade tea since the album released. CEO of Natalie's Juices told Huffington Post that the sale has actually doubled. advertisement People are drinking lemonade and posting pictures using the hashtag Beyonce. This is not even the first time Beyonce affected food industry shares. Previously, her Red Lobster name drop led to a 33 percent increase in the restaurant chain's sales. And if this is not it. There is a huge spike in usage of the lemon emoji after Lemonade premiered. More than 2 million tweets have included at least one emoji this month and 62 percent of them tweeted it only after HBO aired Lemonade. Fans took to Twitter to praise Beyonce and used the lemon emoji. Why? Because, all hail Queen Bee. --- ENDS --- Playing in his 100th Indian Premier League match on Sunday, Yuvraj Singh hinted at getting back to some kind of form after he scored a 23-ball 39 in Sunrisers Hyderabad's match against Mumbai Indians. By India Today Web Desk: Playing in his 100th Indian Premier League match on Sunday, Yuvraj Singh hinted at getting back to some kind of form after he scored a 23-ball 39 in Sunrisers Hyderabad's match against Mumbai Indians in Visakhapatnam. Yuvraj had to miss the initial matches for Hyderabad due to an ankle injury which he sustained during the World Twenty20 and made his comeback against Gujarat Lions. In that match he had a poor outing with the bat by scoring just 5 off 14 balls. (Full IPL 2016 coverage ) advertisement However, in his second outing against Mumbai, Yuvraj looked in groove with the ball finding the middle of his bat. In his brief cameo of 39 runs there were definitely signs of the vintage Yuvraj when he hit two sixes and three boundaries. Yuvraj with an average of 25.21 in IPL has a key role to play in Hyderabad's road to the playoffs. This is the first season for Yuvraj with the Hyderabad-based franchise and previously the left-handed batsman had turned up for Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab and erstwhile Pune Warriors. --- ENDS --- MATTOON -- On Saturday, the National Association of Letter Carriers, United States Postal Service and other partners are asking the people of Mattoon to help Stamp Out Hunger. The annual food drive has grown into a national effort that provides assistance to the millions of Americans struggling to put food on the table. The Stamp Out Hunger food drive, held on the second Saturday in May, has become the nations largest single-day food drive. In 2015, Americans donated 70.6 million pounds of food, feeding millions of people. This was the 12th consecutive year of at least 70 million pounds collected by letter carriers, bringing the grand total to 1.4 billion pounds of food collected, since the food drive began in 1993. Were proud to support this food drive, said Acting Postmaster Kyle Browning. Were asking residents for their support to help make this another successful year. Its easy to make a donation: simply leave a bag of nonperishable food items by the mailbox to help your neighbors in need. The need for food assistance exists in every community in America. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 50 million Americans are food insecure, meaning they live at risk of hunger. Perhaps most alarming is the fact that nearly 16 million children in America are struggling with hunger. Additionally, close to 5 million seniors face choices between paying rent, utilities, and having nutritious food. To participate in the annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive, residents are encouraged to leave a sturdy bag containing nonperishable food items such as canned soup, canned vegetables, peanut butter, pasta, rice or cereal next to their mailbox prior to the time of regular mail delivery on Saturday. Letter carriers will collect these food donations as they deliver the mail and take them to local food banks. For more information about the annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive, visit www.feedingamerica.org and www.nalc.org/community-service/food-drive, or contact David Alwardt, president, National Association Letter Carriers Local No. 384 Mattoon, at 217-234-8836, or email Kyle.L.Browning@usps.gov. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. Walking along the dusty streets of the village of Mata Ortiz in the northwestern Mexican state of Chihuahua recently, I was surprised to find that inside the humble dwellings reside dozens of skilled artisans whose clay pots are displayed worldwide in many museums and homes. Some of the works sell in the U.S. for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Inspired by the remains of pottery uncovered near and at the pre-historic site of nearby Paquime, a young boy named Juan Quezada, around the mid-1950s, started experimenting with various clays and other materials to make pots that could be sold commercially, and by 1975, he was supporting his family with his work. He shared his expertise with his Mata Ortiz neighbors and by 1989 more than 300 residents of the village were making pottery of various quality. Anthropologist Spencer MacCallum "discovered" Quezada and spread his story and art all over the world. Now, people go to Mata Ortiz from all over to see and buy the beautifully crafted works of art. We learned of Mata Ortiz from long-time Tucsonan, John Bezy. Bezy is a geologist with a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona who was doing work around the area a number of years ago and became fascinated with the people and the pottery and decided he, too, would let others know of the artistic colony. Bezy and one of the artists, Oralia Lopez, from time-to-time bring the works of several of the potters to the Tucson area. It was at one of those shows we discovered that Bezy did educational tours of the Mata Ortiz region that include the various pottery-producing barrios, the Paquime ruins of Casas Grandes, and the town of Colonia Juarez, a Mormon settlement. Bezy is the co-author of a book, "The Artistry and History of Mata Ortiz" (second edition) with Stuart B. Scott (available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble), which contains the natural history, archaeology and cultural history of the region as well as short profiles of many artists and color pictures of their works. Bezy can be reached at johnbezyinc@earthlink.net for more information about the book and his trips. He now has a trip to Mata Ortiz scheduled for mid-September. We purchased one of these books and signed up to visit Mata Ortiz on Bezy's trip there in April. Mata Ortiz is about 160 miles southeast of the Mexican border with Arizona. To get there, 10 of rode in a large with Bezy at the wheel. Speaking fluent Spanish, he negotiated our way through the tortuous customs process and then, avoiding on-coming 18-wheelers on the narrow mountain roads of the Sierra Madres, got us to our destination mid-afternoon. The village is in a valley hard by the Palanganas River and ringed with low mountain ranges. Its history is filled with stories of Apache raids led by Geronimo, Mexican revolutionary figures such as Pancho Villa, a failed sawmill and Mormon and Mennonite migrations. Before going to our comfortable hotel in nearby Nuevo Casas Grandes (a city of about 85,000), and evening margaritas, we drove the short way to the Mormon town of Colonia Juarez and its spectacular temple and prestigious school. The Romney family helped settle this village with its paved streets and lush greenery, and the family still holds sway here. George Romney, former governor of Michigan and Republican presidential contender in the 1960s, and father of 2012 Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, was born near here in the town of Colonia Dublan. The next day we visited various artists in their homes in Mata Ortiz with their pots carefully displayed on dining room tables and other locations. The prices -- ranging from about $10 to more than $500 depending on the size of the pot and the experience and skill of the potter -- were considerably lower than those sold at various U.S. art fairs or stores. Bezy discouraged us from negotiating the price, given the modest costs and the dozens of hours of work that went into many of the pieces. Bezy said some artists are giving up their craft to work in agriculture in the area because they can make more money in the fields. All transactions were in American dollars, preferred by the sellers. In addition to the finished product, we viewed a demonstration of clay being molded into a pot, examples of partially-completed artistry and, then, the firing of the pot to complete the process. The pots are all signed by the artists on the bottom. The potters and their families were so friendly and some offered us cold drinks and cookies as we perused their displays. Bezy has made many trips with Americans to this tiny, dusty village and has established quite a rapport with the artists over the years. As few knew any English, he was helpful in arranging the purchases. Bezy also led us on a tour of the magnificent Paquime museum and ruins, which is designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations. The ruins include foundations of multi-level housing, a ball field, an extensive canal system and adobe cages for parrots and turkeys. It was an economic center of the region at the height of its influence at about 1200 to 1400 AD, experts estimate. A dramatic and beautiful landscape, skilled artisans and their works, remnants of an ancient civilization, and good company. Who could ask for a better escape into the mysteries northern Mexico? At an April hearing of the Nebraska Legislature's investigative committee on prisons, Lincoln Sen. Colby Coash asked the state Corrections director what others may well be wondering a year after a deadly, costly riot at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution. "Regarding the criminal investigation, do you have any idea when there might be some finality to that?" the Lincoln lawmaker asked. Director Scott Frakes answered with a single word: no. While prison officials have said more than 400 inmates were involved in the uprising that left Shon Collins and Donald Peacock dead and several inmates and employees injured, to date, just five inmates face charges for assaulting officers and making threats. John Zalme, 69, Roger Weikle, 59, and Frederick Gooch, 29, are accused of assault by a confined person. Ian Yelton, 23, is accused of the first-degree assault of inmate Cory Bewley, and William T. Harris, 22, is accused of making terroristic threats against a corrections employee. Weikle, Zalme and Yelton are set for trial in June. Trials for Gooch and Harris aren't yet set. But no one has been charged with arson or the killings. A grand jury met in Johnson County in mid-April and determined the deaths to be homicides but cleared state prison officials of any wrongdoing. The grand jury's work did not result in a request to prosecute anyone for the deaths. On April 18 at the Capitol, Coash told Frakes it seems like a year "is a pretty good timeline in which wed be starting to hear something soon." Frakes said he understood, "but they want to be sure they can successfully prosecute the people that are responsible." The Journal Star asked the Nebraska Attorney General's office about the investigation. Here's the exchange with spokeswoman Suzanne Gage that followed. Q: Has the Attorney General's office been meeting regularly with the State Patrol and/or other agencies investigating this or getting updates? A: The Attorney General's Office, the Johnson County Attorney's Office, the Nebraska State Patrol, the State Fire Marshal's Office and the Investigative Division of the Department of Corrections have been meeting regularly since last May and will continue to do so until all identifiable inmates who committed crimes during the riot are brought to justice. Q: Based on the information you have right now, do you anticipate filing additional charges against others particularly for arson, criminal mischief, the situation with a female employee being trapped in a gym office, or the killings? A: As of right now, the state anticipates that in the future additional charges will be filed against inmates involved in setting fires during the riot and has already filed a charge against William Harris for a situation involving a female employee. As far as the deaths of Mr. Peacock and Mr. Collins, the investigation into their murders are ongoing and will continue until the perpetrator or perpetrators is brought to justice. As a result, the state is hopeful that it will be able to file charges against the individual or individuals responsible for their deaths. Q: Has the prison handled some of this internally through disciplinary actions and lost good-time rather than with criminal charges? Who decides? A: Disciplinary action decisions made by the Correctional Facility are made independently and are separate from the criminal investigation. Criminal charges will be decided by the state. Those decisions have not and will not be impacted by any disciplinary action decisions made by the facility. Q: Does it complicate matters for prosecutors and investigators that the crimes happened in prison? A: Any complications of the investigation and prosecution stem from the size of the crime scene, the number of crimes that occurred at the same time and the number of inmates that committed these crimes. Q: Particularly in cases like this, is it difficult to get inmates to talk when they may fear retaliation from other inmates or being the next on a hit list? Has that been a factor in bringing Shon Collins' and Donald Peacock's killer or killers to justice? A: It is inappropriate for us to comment on any specific aspect of the investigation. Each murder investigation, or criminal investigation for that matter, whether committed on the street or in a correctional facility, poses unique challenges. This case is no different and requires the same diligence, persistence and investigative skill used to solve every unsolved crime. Q: Does that account for why the investigation hasn't moved more quickly? A: The investigators assigned to this case have conducted their work with the same effort, speed, professionalism and diligence exhibited in every murder case with which our office becomes involved. Like every unsolved crime and murder occurring in this state, this investigation will remain open and continue until the time when a jury renders a guilty verdict against the person or persons who were criminally culpable for the deaths of Mr. Peacock and Mr. Collins. Q: Should family members of inmates at TSCI be concerned that the killers aren't yet known and are still among the other inmates? A: Investigators and prosecutors are aware of the concerns that family have for their family members that are inmates at TSCI. All involved in the investigation of this case are committed to bringing this matter to a successful resolution and to seeing that justice is done. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Police Department arrested Timothy Kubert, president of Delta Upsilon Fraternity, on suspicion of tampering with witnesses in a sexual assault investigation, according to Sgt. Zach Byers. A sexual assault was reported at the residence of Delta Upsilon on April 5. Through the investigation into that allegation, UNL police came to believe Kubert told members of the chapter not to talk with police about what happened, Byers said. Kubert was arrested at 11:23 a.m. on Friday. Kubert was released later that day on a $2,500 bond, according to Nebraska Department of Correctional Services Officer Ricardo Marroquan. Kubert has not answered any of their questions yet, and the investigation of the sexual assault is ongoing. It turns out voting in Nebraska is extremely expensive. Recently, I discovered that in order to be eligible to vote during the upcoming May 10 primary election, I would have to pay via more than 40 hours of drafted labor. Since, in most cases, the right for a citizen to vote is legally protected and polling taxes are illegal, I was sure that having to pay to vote was a misconception. Yet thousands of citizens in Douglas County have been forced to pay to vote through drafted labor. I received a letter declaring that I had been drafted to work four elections that could be chosen at random and serve required training time before each election. In order for me to exercise my right to vote, Im required to sacrifice more than 40 hours of labor or risk being slapped with a Class V misdemeanor for noncompliance. As a new resident of the Cornhusker State, I was shocked to receive written documentation that my new home was threatening me with a misdemeanor. As a public choice economist and scholar, the idea of being forced to pay such a high price to vote is extremely unsettling. In my principals of economics lectures, I urge my students to observe all possible costs when examining a policynot just the monetary expenditures. A draft for election officials includes many hidden costs in addition to the minimum wage that is paid to the draftee. After researching the law further, I discovered that a draftee that fails to comply with this burdensome policy has two very costly options: Face a Class V misdemeanor or unregister to vote. Im fortunate enough to work for a great institution that would support me in fulfilling this requirement. I have reliable transportation, no dependence on daily childcare services, and am in good health. But not everyone in my current situation can say the same. Many struggle with the absence of tips on days they are forced to abandon their service jobs, or the increased cost of childcare services that result from complying. Many small businesses would suffer from the loss of a worker for the day while still having to pay that person any lost wages. There are also costs at the election polls. Election officials that are drafted will lack the training and institutional knowledge of volunteers. Drafted workers will be more likely to lack enthusiasm to fulfill their designated duty. While Sarpy County eliminated its poll draft nearly a decade ago, Douglas County continues to draft unsuspecting citizens to serve as election officials in order to exercise their right to vote. Furthermore, Nebraska remains the only state in the nation that currently allows Election Day drafts. Other states, such as Ohio, have looked into implementing the policy, but have chosen to not pursue it because of civil liberty concerns and the many secondary costs of the law. As a state that values individual freedom and democracy in so many ways, Nebraskans deserve better. Its time to bring freedom back to one of the basic tenants of our democracy voting. I support Les Spry for Legislature. I have known Les for quite some time. He is Nebraska born, raised and educated. I know how strongly Les cares about our community. He has been visiting with voters door to door for the last nine months. His priorities are property tax relief for all Nebraskans and strong schools, providing our children every opportunity to succeed. Running a successful medical practice has given him good business experience. Les Spry will be a great state senator for Lincoln and Nebraska. It's been a year since a major disturbance at Tecumseh State Correctional Institution resulted in deaths, injuries and major damage. And the prison is still feeling the serious effects of it. Two inmates died and two were injured. Nearly 20 prison workers were stranded and endangered in offices and the prison yard tower. And millions of dollars in damage at the maximum-security prison was caused by fires, broken windows and destruction of computers and cameras. It started at 2:20 p.m. on Mother's Day and lasted into the early-morning hours of the next day. While mothers' times with their sons were wrapping up in a visitors area, an incident in the yard deteriorated into what Nebraska Ombudsman Marshall Lux called a full-blown prison riot involving several hundred inmates in three living units, the gym and courtyard. At the time, more than 1,000 inmates were housed at Tecumseh. Some of them have said the plan that day was to register a peaceful protest of conditions and circumstances at the facility. Right before the riot started, several inmates were trying to get the administration to pay attention to a two-page statement of grievances about arbitrary solitary confinement, perks for some inmates and not others, disrespect by some staff, inexperienced staff and increasingly crowded conditions. They also objected to being denied access to jobs, training and self-betterment clubs that would help prepare them for a return to life outside prison. "We are human beings that are sent to prison as a punishment, not to be punished in the form of disrespect, ridicule, harassment ... by TSCI staff," the statement said. *** A year later, the prison is not yet back to normal, and many of the previous complaints by inmates continue to cause disgruntlement. Repairs to the building are not quite completed. The state has spent about $1.2 million this fiscal year and will spend another $2 million in the next for costs related to the riot and needed upgrades. Insurance paid another $1 million in costs. A housing unit wall destroyed by inmates will cost $482,000 to replace with one that better meets prison security standards. And mini-yard changes, along with doors and windows, will cost $54,000. The fixes to the building have taken this long because it has been hard to get contractors to do the job, said Sen. Dan Watermeier of Syracuse, whose district includes Tecumseh. "They thought they were going to get three or four bids. They got one," he said. The red tape, regulations and inefficiencies of working on such a project kept some companies from bidding, he said. Nebraska Department of Correctional Services Director Scott Frakes said last week the facility is about 93 percent back to the way it was before the riot and staff has done "an incredible job" of bringing it back online. For Nebraska Inspector General for Corrections Doug Koebernick, the question is this: Is a return to the way the prison was before the riot a good thing or a bad thing? "Because a year ago, when it was the way it was, we had a riot. We still face the same challenges now as we did back then." Koebernick started his new position in September, but before that kept track of Tecumseh and other prison issues as an aide to Sen. Steve Lathrop, who headed the Legislature's Department of Correctional Services Special Investigative Committee. A serious staffing shortage continues, and staff members are stressed, Koebernick said. Tension and security concerns raise the level of fear and stress. Frakes confirmed that staff at the prison have been working long hours for the past 12 months. Staffing concerns persist at Tecumseh prison The inmates who rioted in Tecumseh last year left two of their own dead, $2 million in damag Corrections officers and other staff have been working 12-hour shifts -- four a week, sometimes more when needed. That includes 191 officers, corporals, sergeants and lieutenants. Between Jan. 1 and March 23 alone, overtime paid was $347,000. In November, the Corrections Department contracted with the Mental Health Association of Nebraska to provide crisis/trauma support to those directly or indirectly involved in the riot. The association sent six people to do one- to three-hour group sessions with Tecumseh staff that included education and peer support in trauma response and resilience. The agency recommended how the department should work with staff to relieve tension and stress. The department would not release the report or the recommendations. Staff retention has been an ongoing issue, and salary has been one of the major issues affecting turnover and retention. No decisions have been made on compensation questions, but Frakes said they are being considered. *** Vacant positions and high turnover have made it more difficult to establish the level of activity Frakes envisions for Tecumseh including positive social inmate engagement. But for inmates in several of the housing units, out-of-cell time is increasing and some programming is being added, Koebernick said. A shortage of mental health practitioners is one reason inmates aren't getting the treatment and mental health programs they need, including a violence reduction program, he said. "We have a lot of guys at Tecumseh that are upset because they can't get programming that they need to be good candidates for parole," Koebernick said. A lack of flexibility across the system prevents moving inmates to where they can get needed programming or treatment. "When your system is so overcapacity and stressed, you don't have the tools available that you need to run the system the way it should be running," Koebernick said. As of March 24, Nebraska prisons were at 159 percent of design capacity, with 5,210 inmates in all. Tecumseh had 1,047 inmates, about 87 more than it was designed to hold. *** Tecumseh Warden Brian Gage "voluntarily retired" suddenly in March and was replaced by Brad Hansen, who began his career with the Corrections Department in 1977 as an officer in the Nebraska State Penitentiary. "It was time for a change," Frakes told senators at a hearing in April. He said at the time that Hansens leadership skills and vision uniquely qualify him to create the healing environment from which both Tecumseh staff and inmates will benefit. Message from Director Scott Frakes On April 6, the Journal Star requested an interview with Director Scott Frakes about progres Frakes told senators that when he visited Tecumseh in April, he saw a much more engaging and respectful interaction with inmates. The mood and tone was as good or better than he has seen there, he said. Koebernick said he has seen Hansen throughout the prison, talking and listening to people, one of the most important things a warden should be doing. "He's been put into a very challenging spot," he said. Frakes went to Tecumseh in April and sat down with about 16 inmates who were eager to have his attention. Those listening sessions have an effect on reducing tension, Frakes said. *** Omaha Sen. Bob Krist said Frakes cooperated with the Department of Corrections investigative committee when it has invited him to come in and talk to senators. But committee members still aren't clear on what he's doing, exactly, to change the culture and fix issues that have plagued the prisons for a number of years. The investigative committee definitely wants to see the department is making more progress on adding more behavioral and mental health treatment and programs. And it will have more hearings over the legislative interim to keep tabs on that and other issues, he said. "It's still an uneasy feeling for me, not knowing what's happening," Krist said. The governor asked Krist a while ago to let Frakes and company do their jobs and to stay out of the way, and he's willing to do that, he said -- for a little while longer. "The make or break for me, though, is going to be: Do we have a safe environment both for the prison guards and for the people who are behind bars," he said. "One or two more incidents and I think we'll have to take more oppressive action." The prisons have been reporting a higher number of inmate-on-staff assaults of late. "My own gut tells me that if the temperature goes up in the summertime and the prison population stays consistent, we're going to have some issues. But I hope I'm wrong," he said. 1876: Many Nebraskans were talking about attending the U.S. Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, but only a few went because of the high cost. 1886: At the request of the State Railway Commission, Union Pacific revised all state rates to make them come under the law that prohibited charging more for a short haul than a long haul. 1896: Lincoln livery men complained that bicycles had ruined their business. 1906: A steam automobile exploded in Omaha, throwing some of the occupants 50 feet. 1916: Labor troubles were growing in Omaha, and contractors expected a series of strikes. 1926: The Lincoln Shriners voted to buy a plot of ground for a country club. The club later became a private operation, East Hills. A bronze marker for homestead No. 1, filed by Daniel Freeman, was dedicated at services in the Congregational Church in Beatrice. 1936: A federal grand jury in Lincoln indicted Marvin Gebhart for an Aurora bank robbery. 1946: About 800 Lincolnites were securing signatures for a petition that would initiate a popular vote on a proposed state constitutional amendment requiring the Legislature to provide a tax producing $8 million in state aid for education. 1956: Louis H. Roddis of the Atomic Energy Commissions division of reactor development said the government hoped to break ground by the next winter for an atomic reactor at Hallam. Two F-86D1 all-weather Sabrejets collided in midair near Hubbard; the pilots parachuted to safety. 1966: Commentators said a new generation was coming to the fore in Nebraska politics. Lt. Gov. Philip Sorensen, 32, of Lincoln won the Democratic nomination for governor to face Republican Norbert Tiemann, 41, a Wausa banker. Voter turnout was near 300,000, the largest in a nonpresidential year primary in 28 years. 1976: Americas political eyes were on Nebraskas primary election. Republicans chose Ronald Reagan over President Gerald Ford. Democrats favored Frank Church over Jimmy Carter. 1986: Nebraska made political history when Helen Boosalis and Kay Orr received the nod to face off in the November gubernatorial election. City leaders enacted an anti-skateboard ordinance, banning riders from the sidewalks in most of downtown Lincoln. 1996: A tornado tore up Beatrice, causing more than $10 million in damage but no fatalities. The Lincoln Police Department garage was evacuated after chemicals from a suspected methamphetamine lab began to leak. It was the first meth lab bust in the city. 2006: Three Lincoln shopping centers that had been owned by a Boston-based real estate investment trust now have an owner with Nebraska ties. Perkins Properties (Omaha and California) bought Edgewood, Bishop Heights and The Meadows in Lincoln. The Edgewood purchase does not include Target, the vacant Kmart building or the Edgewood Cinema, all of which have other owners. There is nothing dramatic in the way of changes at any of the properties. Dear Dr. K: A doctor who specializes in women's health told my wife that some diseases cause different symptoms in men compared to women. Is that really true? Dear Reader: Perhaps surprisingly, the answer is yes. Heart disease is a good example. Angina and heart attacks occur when too little blood flows to the heart through arteries. When that happens in men, they usually have chest pain or pressure that travels to the left arm, jaw or neck when they exert themselves (or get angry). In contrast, women are less likely than men to have these symptoms. Also, they are much more likely to have shortness of breath, abdominal pain and fatigue. In addition, misleading test results for heart disease are more common for women. An angiogram is considered to be the "gold standard" for checking for blockages in the coronary arteries (the main arteries of the heart). But the test may miss important narrowings in women. That's because women with angina are more likely to have narrowing of small coronary arteries that do not show up well with an angiogram. Men more often have narrowings of the large coronary arteries that are seen by the test. There are other examples of how men and women respond differently to a disease or its treatment. Women usually heal faster from injuries, and they recover better from strokes than men. Women also respond differently to medications: They tend to have more or different side effects from the same dose of medication, perhaps due to body size and hormones. There are also conditions that are more common in one sex than the other: * Depression and certain autoimmune diseases, such as lupus, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis, are more common among women. Interestingly, most autoimmune diseases in animals also are more common in the females of the species. * Sleep apnea is more common among men. I'm afraid that sometimes doctors forget these gender differences. I had a female friend who went to her doctor because of more than a month of unusual breathlessness and fatigue. He didn't think to test her for heart disease. She had a heart attack a few weeks later. I've learned that lesson more than once myself. I vividly remember a man in his late 70s who called me to say he was concerned about a lump under the skin on his chest. At least 99 times out of 100, such a little lump under the skin is one of two things: a ball of fat called a lipoma, or a plugged-up gland called a sebaceous cyst. So I was sure that's what it was going to be. But when I examined his lump, it wasn't soft and squishy as I had expected. It was rock hard and was sitting in the skin right over his breast. I almost dismissed it and sent him on his way. However, instead I got a biopsy: The man had breast cancer. It's rare, but it happens. And I almost missed it. You don't forget those lessons. (This column is an update of one that ran originally in April 2013.) RACINE SC Johnson announced it will donate nearly $1.5 million to support the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and provide vulnerable families with preventative resources against mosquitoes that may carry the Zika virus. The company will donate personal repellents, containing DEET, and spatial repellents, such as mosquito coils, for distribution in regions where the Zika virus is most prevalent, according to a company news release. The countries where they will be distributed include: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Panama and Peru. Latin America and the Caribbean are currently the most vulnerable areas in the world with respect to the Zika virus, said Fisk Johnson, chairman and CEO of SC Johnson, in a news release. The people of SC Johnson are dedicated to helping these families. This initial donation is part of SC Johnsons commitment to donate at least $15 million over the next year to help protect families from mosquitoes that may carry harmful mosquito-borne viruses such as Zika, dengue and chikungunya. The IFRC has recently launched a global appeal to combat the Zika virus outbreak. The IFRC is stepping up its community-based action to stop this outbreak from spreading further, and protect the lives and livelihoods of people across the Americas. If we dont want Zika to spread further, we need to act now, Walter Cotte, IFRC director for the Americas, said in a news release. The number of dengue cases has risen from 15,000 in the 1960s to more than 360 million today and this must not be allowed to happen with Zika. In addition to the health threat, vector-borne diseases such as Zika or dengue have a huge economic impact on the affected countries affected, he continued. In Racine County and across the state, wetlands are one of our most valuable resources but theyre also one of the most vulnerable. May is American Wetlands Month, a month devoted to celebrating wetlands and their unique benefits to wildlife, landscapes and communities. Wetlands are places where land meets water. In Wisconsin, we have 12 types of wetlands with a variety of different features. Some, like marshes and bogs, you might recognize. Some, like forested wetlands or wet prairies, may be harder to spot. All wetlands share three features: water above or below the ground for at least a portion of the year, soils saturated with water most of the year, and plants adapted to wet conditions, like cattails and silver maple. The benefits of wetlands are as varied as wetlands themselves. For wildlife, wetlands provide critical habitat found nowhere else in our landscape: 75 percent of Wisconsins wildlife depend on wetlands at some point in their life cycle. In wetlands, fish hatch their young, birds rest during migration, and otters hunt for dinner. Many wetlands are excellent spots for bird-watching, dragonfly spotting, hunting and fishing. Because wetlands are adapted to changing water levels, they can hold water during heavy rains and prevent flooding: this saves towns and cities from flooded streets and basements, and protects farm fields from being washed out. You might remember the science class analogy that wetlands are sponges that hold and store water on the landscape. Local wetlands According to the Wisconsin DNR, approximately 11 percent of Racine Countys land area is currently wetlands. Historically much more of our landscape was wetlands. But as our area was settled and then urbanized, we lost many of our wetlands, especially in the eastern half of the county. Its a familiar story for many areas in Wisconsin. Despite the benefits they provide, wetlands have been misunderstood and underappreciated. Draining wetlands for farming, filling wetlands for development, and dividing wetlands with roads, train tracks and power lines have resulted in the loss of half our wetlands statewide. Many of the wetlands that remain are suffering from invasive species, pollution, or fragmentation. But theres good news for our area: An estimated 15 percent of the county is potentially restorable wetlands. These are historic wetland areas that were originally drained for agricultural use and have not yet been developed. Many opportunities exist to restore wetlands to the landscape in ways that benefit our cities, farms and wildlife. Wisconsins waters, wildlife and people need healthy wetlands. From restoration of historic wetland areas to legal protection of existing ones, theres a variety of ways people and communities can care for wetlands. But at the heart of caring for wetlands is caring about them. Where to explore While May is the official month to celebrate wetlands, consider it just the start to your relationship with these special places. In Racine County, you can explore wetlands at the Cherry Lake Sedge Meadow, along the White River State Trail, or at the Tichigan Wildlife Area. Cherry Lake Sedge Meadow within Honey Creek Wildlife Area in the Town of Rochester. From Rochester, go south 1 mile on County Highway W to the Honey Creek Wildlife Area parking lot. Walk west and southwest 0.5 mile into the area. Website: http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Lands/naturalareas/index.asp?SNA=120 Along the White River State Trail in western Racine County. The western end of the trail begins at County Highway H near Elkhorn. The eastern end of the trail is at Vandenboom Road in Dover. From Racine or Union Grove take Higway 11 west to Eagle Lake, then turn left onto Vandenboom Road. After about 0.4 miles, a parking lot will be on the left. Website: http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/parks/name/whiteriver/ Tichigan Wildlife Area in northwest Racine County. Its approximately 4 miles northwest of the village of Waterford off of Marsh Road and can be accessed off of Marsh Road, Bridge Drive and North Lake Drive. Website: http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/lands/WildlifeAreas/tichigan.html Want to find wetlands near you? Head to where the frogs are croaking, where herons are wading, or where water rests during rains. Wetlands matter: get your boots wet and explore one today. Want to learn more about wetlands and how you can care for them? Wisconsin Wetlands Association, a statewide nonprofit dedicated to wetland protection and care, has wetland resources for individuals, landowners and communities. More information available at www.wisconsinwetlands.org. RACINEWalter Stenavich loved a lot things about life, but if you forced him to pick the three things he was most passionate about you might be given the answer: veterans, submarines and public schools. A World War II veteran and longtime teacher and administrator for the Racine Unified School District, Stenavich died Thursday. He was 90. Born in Kenosha on Feb. 28, 1926, Walter Stenavich moved to Racine as a child, eventually attending Park High School. After studying at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he received bachelors and masters degrees in education, he returned to Racine, where he became teacher, and later at a principal, at Mitchell Middle School and Horlick High School. He retired in 1986. Stenavich also was an advocate for his fellow veterans, He served on the state Board of Veterans Affairs, and was instrumental in developing the Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery near Dover as well as the adjacent Wisconsin Veterans Home. He was also a longtime member of the U.S. Submarine Veterans of World War II, and regularly gave talks on the history of submarines, such as those he served on during the war. Speaking about his father, Wally Stenavich of Janesville said his dad lived life to the fullest, meeting every challenge he faced with grace. That included the obstacles he faced when moving from his home of 60 years to Janesville two years ago. You think piloting a ship from Panama to Perth, Australia, would (be a challenge) but he came over here as an 88-year-old and managed Janesville like a piece of cake, Wally said. The last day that he lived he discovered some more roads, and he said Ah, we have to do this more often. He was just the same old explorer. Sitting with her son at his home in Janesville on Saturday, Anna Stenavich described her husband of nearly 69 years as a man who loved children, who loved everybody. The pair got to know each other when Walters mother asked Annas mother if Anna could go with Walter to the commissioning of the submarine USS Loggerhead at Manitowoc in 1944. Walter, who had joined the Navy two years before, was 18 at the time, Anna was not quite 17. The couples relationship blossomed through the letters they wrote back and forth to each other during the war, Anna said. They married in 1947. We were married 68 years, and they were very, very happy years, she said. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated for Walter Stenavich at St. Richard Catholic Church, 1503 Grand Ave., Racine, at 11 a.m. Tuesday. Relatives and friends may meet with the family at the church on Tuesday from 9:30 a.m. until Mass time at 11:00 a.m. RACINE COUNTY If the highest, hottest flames cant melt the bond that connects firefighters, then cancer which can be as insidious and incendiary as a fire itself doesnt stand a chance against the dedicated wave of red. Two Racine County firefighters and their families are discovering how powerful that brotherhood can be as they battle recently discovered cancer. Alex Hagen, who started with the Caledonia Fire Department last March, is fighting Ewings sarcoma, a type of bone cancer, while South Shore Fire Department firefighter Rudi Betancourt is battling Hodgkins lymphoma, which affects the lymph nodes. Fire departments in Racine and Kenosha counties have rallied around the two men, organizing fundraisers, providing food, gas cards, rides to the doctor, and more important, moral support through some dark and difficult times. Its been overwhelming, said Tina Walker, Betancourts mother. It truly is a brotherhood. These men and women work long hours, they have their own families to take care of, and they still find time to help us. You have no idea what that means to us. There will be three fundraisers in the next month to benefit the two. A joint fisheree benefit will be held May 11 in Wind Lake; a benefit for Hagen will be held in Kenosha on May 22; and an event for Betancourt will be in Cudahy June 10. I have run out of adjectives for how good people have been, said Katie Hagen, Alexs mother. We have a whole new perspective on life. We have decided if you want to do something, go do it. Because it only takes one phone call to change your entire life. Alexs story For Hagen, that call came in early March, when Alex injured his right leg while on a rescue call. My body went one way and my leg went another, he said. He later found out he broke his femur the first broken bone the 25-year-old ever had in his life. As doctors prepared to insert a rod to fix the fracture, they discovered a growth. They sent him to Froedtert Hospital, the regional medical center in Wauwatosa, the next day for more tests. To say I was a little nervous would be an understatement, he said. I was thinking the worst. Most people probably would. Tests revealed Hagen had Ewings sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer that strikes people between 15 and 25 years old. There are about 1,000 cases reported each year, Hagen said. You would never think of it. But if you are that one, its a shock. Hagen has started an aggressive chemotherapy regimen. Every other week he goes five days a week with sessions lasting eight hours a day. Hes making progress. He can walk with crutches and is allowed to drive. He plans to beat the disease, go back to work, have children, and someday help others struggling with cancer. I think thats the best way I can return all the good feeling that I have received, he said. Rudis story Like Hagen, Betancourt grew up wanting to be a firefighter. I had the plastic hat and everything, Betancourt said. He graduated from South Milwaukee High School in 2009 and started to take criminal justice classes at Milwaukee Area Technical College. But firefighting was still stuck in his mind. Criminal justice just wasnt clicking for me, he said. I switched to the red side. After a year of fire classes at MATC, he served a three-year internship at the Blooming Grove Fire Department, near Madison. There he earned his EMT certification and got his paramedic training. In April 2015 he was hired by South Shore, which serves Mount Pleasant, Sturtevant and Elmwood Park. In February this year, he started to notice his face and neck were swelling. He thought it was an allergic reaction to a cat he recently bought, but several steroid regimens failed to make the swelling go away. He also got too tired too fast, especially for a solidly-built, 24-year-old. I knew something was really wrong when I moved a patient five feet on a call and it felt like five miles, he said. He went to went to several doctors, including an oncologist, and eventually learned he had a tumor the size of a cantaloupe in his chest. Doctors discovered he had Hodgkins lymphoma, a highly curable form of cancer. He has started chemotherapy and will get it every other Friday for three months before doctors re-check him. Helping each other Serving at the same time and for departments in the same area (in fact the two departments share a firehouse in the Franksville area), Hagen and Betancourt have stayed touch, helping each other get through rough times. We talk about how we are going to get through this together, Hagen said. Were there for each other. Hes got the same kind of bad luck that I have had. Talking to someone going through it helps immensely. It helps a lot to have a brother going through the same thing, Betancourt said. Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca said the things that made Donald Trump unpopular with presidential primary voters in Wisconsin should make Republicans vulnerable in state Legislature races in November. In an interview on WKOW-TV's "Capital City Sunday," Barca, D-Kenosha, said he hopes that Democrats can at least narrow a 27-seat Republican majority in the state Assembly to single digits with Trump leading the GOP ticket. Barca said "continuous surprises" from the Trump campaign should be familiar to Wisconsin voters. "I think part of what makes him so unpopular, aside from his agenda for women, which also in Wisconsin has been horrendous, is the fact that you never know where he's going to go," Barca told host Greg Neumann. "And Gov. (Scott) Walker didn't campaign on taking a quarter-billion dollars out of our university system. He never campaigned on taking a billion dollars out of our public schools. He never campaigned on letting our infrastructure suffer. ... So the data, the metrics are just horrendous under Gov. Walker and the Republican leadership, and I think people are ready for a change so we're excited about that." A member of the Republican leadership seemed to concede that possibility in a separate TV interview broadcast Sunday. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said on "UpFront with Mike Gousha" that his presumption is still that Trump will lose the general election to Democrat Hillary Clinton and could negatively impact down-ballot Republicans in Wisconsin. Trump lost to Ted Cruz by 13 points in the April primary here and was viewed unfavorably by 70 percent of likely Wisconsin voters in a March poll by the Marquette University Law School. Trump, however, could help the party by adopting a more GOP-friendly approach between now and November, Vos said. "If Donald Trump begins to offer specific policy proposals that reinforce what Republicans believe, the common-sense principles that I know and a center-right nation people would rally around, I think that would help our ticket," Vos said. "I just haven't seen it in the first six months of this campaign, which is why we're focusing on our record." Naturally, Vos and Barca differed on how the Republicans' record will play with the electorate. Republicans hold 63 of the 99 Assembly seats, all of which are up for election in November although it remains to be seen how many will be contested. For Democrats to cut the Republican majority to single digits, they would need a net gain of nine seats. Barca said he'll have a better sense of the Democrats' prospects once the filing deadline passes on June 1, but said the outlook is positive. "We feel we will definitely pick up a good number of seats," he said. Vos said that Wisconsin Republicans have a record to stand on while that might not be the case at the national level. "If you're a Republican, you look and you say we have right to work, we have prevailing wage reform, we reduced income taxes, held property taxes frozen, a UW tuition freeze, more money for public schools lots of things to be proud of," Vos said. "If you're an independent or lean Democrat, we have a lot of things to be proud of, too: more money for schools, we saved SeniorCare, more money for BadgerCare, we focused on Alzheimer's and dementia, we dealt with the heroin epidemic. So we have a great record to run on of getting things done. And, frankly, there's a little bit more that needs to get done in Washington, which is why that frustration exists with the Donald Trump voter." Parts of that resume might work against Republican legislators, said Barca, who cited 11 GOP Assembly members voting against the budget last year as evidence of "cracks finally in that Republican armor." "They tell me privately they're concerned about this election cycle," Barca said, "and they should be." Yes, you can transfer your domain to any registrar or hosting company once you have purchased it. Since domain transfers are a manual process, it can take up to 5 days to transfer the domain. Domains purchased with payment plans are not eligible to transfer until all payments have been made. Please remember that our 30-day money back guarantee is void once a domain has been transferred. For transfer instructions to GoDaddy, please click here. 3 killed as flashflood sweeps away Scorpio jeep Three members of a family died when a flashflood triggered by downpour swept away a Scorpio jeep in Bhingri-1 in the district on Saturday. Five others of the family on board the vehicle were injured in the incident. 5 killed in village shooting near Moscow -- report Five people were killed by an unidentified gunman in a village in the east of Russia's Moscow region, the RIA Novosti news agency reported Sunday, quoting a local emergencies service source. Afghanistan fuel tanker crash kills 52 in Ghazni province Two buses and a fuel tanker have collided on a major highway in Afghanistan killing 52 people. Afghanistan: Nato soldiers killed in 'green-on-blue' attack Two Nato soldiers have been killed in the south of Afghanistan and a third was wounded when two attackers wearing the uniform of Afghan security forces opened fire on them, Nato has said. Chinese team starts study on petroleum exploration Finally after a hiatus of 27 years, the government has shown interest to conduct study for exploration, drilling and production of petroleum gas. Democracy in peril Nepal is witnessing a systematic erosion of democratic values at the hands of the leaders who are democratically elected Fire destroys property worth Rs 600,000 A fire took place at a shed of Nirmal Karki of Biratnagar-5 on Sunday morning. Floyd Mayweather 'started rumour' over potential Conor McGregor fight Former boxer Floyd Mayweather says he "started the rumour" about a potential bout with a mixed martial arts fighter - thought to be Conor McGregor. Fugitives convicted for various offences in police net Four fugitives convicted on various charges by the Saptari District Court were arrested from separate locations on Sunday morning. Govt blocks civil societys report The government, which is almost a year late into submitting its report on prevalence of various forms of discrimination and violence against women in Nepal to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women committee, has asked the civil society not to send its shadow report before the country report is sent. Govt mulls setting up pay commission With employees unions pushing for a salary hike in the budget for the new fiscal year 2016-17, government officials holding talks on forming a pay commission to determine pay-hike rates. Govt set to invite Morcha for talks The government is preparing to invite the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha (SLMM) for another round of negotiation in a bid to resolve the Tarai crisis. Govt urged to use forensic experts from pvt med colleges Doctors have demanded that private medical colleges be allowed to perform autopsy, claiming that they have human resources and required skills to conduct the procedure. India celebrates Ujjain Kumbh Mela (photo feature) Hindu pilgrimage Kumbh Mela is being held at Ujjain in Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh, central India. Indian security agency guards Nepali Embassy in Delhi Indian Reserve Battalion is guarding Nepali Embassy situated at Barakhamba Road in New Delhi. The move comes as a part of reciprocal agreement between both the countries regarding security of the embassies. KMC to extend dog mgmt drive in Kathmandu Having sterilised most of the stray canines inside Singha Durbar, city authority now plans to go dog catching in Kathmandus neighbourhoods. Local body elections in Nov: PM Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Saturday said that the government was working to hold the local elections in October-November. Locals unhappy over delineation of State 6 Many people of the Bheri-Karnali region have expressed dissatisfaction at the demarcation of federal states, saying that keeping Banke and Bardiya districts out of Province 6 was to deny their identity and capacity. Ncell pays Rs 9.9 billion in tax Telecommunication giant Ncell has paid Rs. 9.96 billion as Tax Deduction at Source (TDS). Nepse dips on political uncertainty Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) last week lost 11.34 to close at 1,463.13 points last week on Thursday. North Korea 'will not use nuclear weapons' unless threatened The leader of North Korea has said the country will not use nuclear weapons unless its sovereignty is threatened, state media in the country report. Prahlad Rijal is a business reporter at The Kathmandu Post, focusing on the energy sector. Before joining the Post, Rijal was an online reporter at The Himalayan Times. Prez India visit cancelled for lack of preparations Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Kamal Thapa said on Saturday that President Bidhya Devi Bhandaris visit to India was cancelled due to lack of preparations and other pressing domestic issues. Project delay leaves Biratnagar folk ill at ease A major project which promises so much to change Biratnagar into a modern conurbation by widening two artery roads that cut through this eastern city has hit the roadblock, causing headache to the public. Prominent Pakistani anti-militant activist shot dead in Karachi Gunmen shot dead a prominent Pakistani rights activist, known for his outspoken stance against the Taliban and other radical Islamist groups, in the southern port city of Karachi late on Saturday night, police said. Rs940m pact signed for DPR Nalsing Gad Hydropower Development Committee and SMEC MWH Uday Consult have reached an agreement to prepare the projects Detailed Project Report (DPR) at a cost of Rs940 million. Shekhar defends NCs failed bid to change govt Nepali Congress leader Shekhar Koirala on Saturday defended his partys efforts to change the government, saying the incumbent government has failed to manage the country. Syria conflict: Kidnapped Spanish journalists freed Three Spanish journalists who were kidnapped while working in Syria last year have been released and are due to return to Spain, the government says. Terrified students Schools are overburdening small children with work to appear modern and standard Wildfire wipes out thousands of hectares of forest area The massive wildfires in the district's community, government and leased forests have destroyed a forest area occupying 24,000 hectares of land. Yes, its hard to to tell when one enters the city limits Yes, they will make the city more inviting Maybe ... does it really matter? No, the signs in place are fine No, it would be a waste of taxpayer dollars Vote View Results Most of the former contenders in the February 2016 elections say they will not attend Yoweri Musevenis swearing ceremony which is due in four days. President Museveni, the incumbent won seven others including four time challenger Dr.Kiiza Besigye of the oppositions Forum for Democratic Change, PDPs Dr Abed Bwanika and John Patrick Amama Mbabazi, his former Prime minister. Others are Benon Biraro, Prof Venansius Baryamureeba, a former Makerere University Vice Chancellor, Maureen Kyalya Walube and Joseph Eiton Mabirizi. Early this week, NRM deputy spokesperson Ofwono Opondo said the former candidates were issued with invitation cards to the inauguration, something they heavily refute. FDCs Kizza Besigye tells K-FM that he has not received the invite and that he cannot attend such a ceremony. Abed Bwanika of the Peoples Development Party also dismisses the talk regarding the invitation. In a similar way, Joseph Mabirizi says that Ofwonos invitation is a mere allegation, and a show for the press. Efforts to talk to other candidates on the matter have so far yielded no fruit. Story By Moses Kyeyune Kendallville, IN (46755) Today Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low near 55F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low near 55F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Asked why she wrote the cookbook Breakfast for Dinner, author Carol Hilker admits that the morning meal doesnt always get the time and respect it deserves: We skip breakfast a lot. We dont always have time in the morning to stop and cook, but you can do it at dinner. While that bit of practicality sort of explains the impetus for eating breakfast foods at dinner, it doesnt completely account for the allure. Hilker says thats easy: We all need to indulge every once in a while. And indulge you can with a collection of egg-topped, syrup-drenched and bacon-filled recipes. The publishing company, Ryland Peters & Small, is based in London, and Hilker admits that it was attracted to the American gluttony of some of the dishes. Just check out these names: chorizo breakfast nachos, beer and bacon pancakes, triple meat and cheddar breakfast quiche, chilaquile burgers. One recipe features a whole fried Cornish game hen plopped on a cornmeal waffle. Its not all overkill. She includes a brothy bowl of shio ramen and even a couple of salads in the mix. But you can tell where the heart and soul of the cookbook rest. As Hilker says, she worked within the norms of eggs, pancakes and maple syrup things we do enjoy but taking them out of their comfort zone. One great example is Hilkers play on Russian blinis. Instead of the traditional small, yeast-raised pancakes, Hilker calls for fluffy buttermilk pancakes topped with salty smoked salmon and creme fraiche. As you can imagine, no maple syrup comes anywhere near this, yet it felt like breakfast as I ate it at 7:30 p.m. Hilker considers herself a home cook, but she has spent some time in professional kitchens. She began her culinary career as a pastry chef in San Francisco, which helps explain the recipe for a Fishermans Wharf Benedict that swaps out the usual English muffin for a slice of sourdough. But shes been writing for the past few years, including the cookbooks Dirty Food, Pie Pops, Chicken Wings and Mmm Marshmallows. Hilker now lives here, and she says this book is also a love letter to what Ive eaten in Chicago. Obviously, that includes the Chicago strata, a hilarious recipe that incorporates hot dogs and buns into a meaty, cheesy behemoth. (Hilkers London-based publishers were big fans of that one.) You may also recognize the bologna sandwich on the front cover. That was my homage to Au Cheval, says Hilker, referring to the bologna sandwich served at the very popular West Loop diner. In her recipe, thin slices of bologna (or mortadella) are browned in a skillet with butter, placed on a toasted bun and then topped with cheddar cheese and a fried egg. Turn a tap in downtown La Crosse and the water will flow through the same pipes that provided fire protection back when horse-drawn buggies traveled the dirt roads, steamboats docked along the riverfront and Doc Powell was in city hall. Nearly a third of La Crosses water mains are at least 100 years old, predating even the citys modern water works. One out of six feet of pipe has been in the ground since the 1800s. With the city replacing less than 0.01 percent of that pipe each year, large swaths of the system are approaching what the American Water Works Association considers the end of its useful service life the point where it becomes cheaper to replace a pipe than to continue repairing it. Its something thats first and foremost on just about every citys mind especially with the Flint crisis, said La Crosse Mayor Tim Kabat, who will be discussing water infrastructure next week at a meeting with leaders of Wisconsins largest cities. While the water crisis in Flint, Mich., has sharpened the public focus on the nations drinking water infrastructure, municipalities and utilities have been sounding the alarm for years of an impending crisis as the time comes to replace such aging pipes. Its a problem that could cost more than $1 trillion to fix, according to the AWWA. This country has invested in water infrastructure in waves, said Tommy Holmes, legislative director for the AWWA: in the early 1900s, after World War II and after the passage of the Safe Water Drinking Act in 1974. Over time, pipes have been made lighter, cheaper and thus less durable, meaning the replacement schedules will begin to converge. Were approaching a crest of a wave where were going to have to replace a whole bunch of stuff, Holmes said. Replacing La Crosses oldest water mains would cost tens of millions of dollars, but those in charge of maintaining the system are confident the 19th century pipes will serve the city well into the 21st century. We have some very old water pipes in the ground, said Water Utility manager Mark Johnson. But he adds, They hold up very well. One of the oldest By almost any measure, La Crosse has one of the oldest water systems in Wisconsin. According to data provided to the Public Service Commission, almost 17 percent of the citys mains were installed prior to 1900. Thats more than twice the percentage in Appleton, the next oldest system among the 16 largest. (Milwaukee, Oshkosh and Sheboygan do not report their length of mains by decade, but none report having any installed prior to 1900.) Only three of the 445 utilities that report detailed water main age have a higher percentage of pipes from the 19th century. According to a Tribune analysis of water main data provided by the La Crosse Water Utility, the age of pipes generally follows the citys development patterns: the oldest mains are found between the river and West Avenue and between Rose and George streets on the North Side, although the average age remains close to 100 years across most of the core neighborhoods. Originally built as a fire suppression system, La Crosses first water works was approved in 1877, when the city began installing pipes in parts of the downtown. Citizens were authorized to add to the network at their own expense, and sawmills pumped water from the Mississippi River until the city completed its own pump house in 1881. A push to make the water supply suitable for consumption began in 1894 and dragged on for nearly 20 years as city leaders bickered over whether to drill wells or continue drawing drinking water from the river. Mayor Ori Sorensen described conditions as so putrid as to make even bathing in the water repugnant, according to an account in the La Crosse Tribune, and eventually the states railroad commission ordered the city to take action. With advocacy from state health officials, the city council eventually settled on ground water, and in 1913 coal-fired pumps began drawing water from wells in Myrick Park. La Crosse added new mains as the city expanded in the years after World War II, but with little new growth, aging pipe accounts for a larger portion of the system. That pattern seen in cities across the country means utilities will need to allocate larger portions of their budgets to repair and replacement of those aging assets, said Ned Paschke, program director of UW-Madisons Department of Engineering Professional Development and a former director of engineering for Madisons wastewater system. There are so many, many miles of it ... It tends to be out of sight, out of mind, he said. Naturally when it fails that creates an emergency repair .... Most of the time theyre working and to the general public theyre almost invisible. The Nessie model The American Water Works Association first warned of the impending infrastructure crisis in the early 2000s. Using an analysis of of pipe inventories dating back to 1870, engineers developed a tool nicknamed the Nessie Model to predict the typical useful service life of pipes based on materials and locations. On a graph, its curves resemble the silhouette Loch Ness monster. For a medium-sized Midwestern city like La Crosse, cast iron pipe is expected to last 125 years. Of course longevity depends on many factors, and the authors of the report acknowledge that many utilities will have pipes that last much longer than the model predicts, while others will see earlier failures. Actually that pipe was pretty strong, Paschke said. That oldest pipe seems to have been built stronger than some of the mid-century pipe. Engineers say a pipes longevity has as much to do with how it was installed what Johnson calls sins of the past as its age and material. The bulk of La Crosse sits atop sandy soils of the Mississippi River valley that make excellent bedding and drain water, Anderson said. East of Losey Boulevard the ground is rockier and contains more clay, which expands and contracts more during freeze and thaw cycles. A rock sitting on top of a pipe will eventually wear through it as the ground vibrates. Acidic soils can corrode iron. According to data from the PSC, La Crosse had an average of 10 water main breaks over the past six years, the lowest among the states large cities and well below the AWWAs standard of 0.2 breaks per mile. However, the city had an average of 70 breaks on the service lines connecting customers to the mains, one of the highest rates in its peer group. Built to last Though cheaper, lighter and more versatile, newer materials dont last as long as the cast iron used a century ago. According to the AWWA model, PVC pipe in medium-sized Midwestern cities has an average lifespan of 55 years, less than half as long as 19th century cast iron. They absolutely are not made to last as long, Johnson said. In his office Johnson keeps whats know in the industry as a coupon cut from the side of a King Street water main last year to service the new Fairfield Inn & Suites hotel under construction on Third Street. Aside from a little plaque-like buildup on the inner surface, the four-inch curved disk shows little sign of being 126 years old. Its not just based on age, Johnson said. Because its old doesnt mean its worn out. Water superintendent Lee Anderson and distribution supervisor Jim Fredrickson have worked with La Crosses water system for more than three decades and are confident the old cast iron pipes will function long after theyre gone. It will last forever, Anderson said. A very long time, Fredrickson added. I can guarantee, Anderson said. Despite recent downtown redevelopment including the construction in recent years of multiple office buildings, hotels and high-density residential buildings the 19th century pipes are more than adequate, Johnson said. Typically the biggest challenge for water works is fire suppression. Water pressure in the La Crosse system ranges between 80 and 100 psi which Lee calls unheard of thanks to a 5 million gallon reservoir below Grandad Bluff. Theres lots of capacity, Johnson said. We have a very robust water distribution system. Lead and leaks Unlike Flint, which has brought infrastructure back into the public discussion, La Crosse does not have an apparent problem with lead contamination. There is no official record documenting the material used for services, the lines that run from the water main to residences, but Fredrickson said in more than 30 years he has not encountered a lead service. Thankfully, for whatever reason, they didnt use that material, Johnson said. In some ways its just dumb luck that people a hundred years ago decided to use galvanized (steel) instead of lead pipe. Johnson said there are some lead goosenecksconnecting the mains and services, which the city has been replacing as the opportunity arises. According to water sample data from the Environmental Protection Agency, La Crosse city water has an average lead content of 2.93 parts per billion and has not tested above the federal standard of 15 ppb since 1992. (The highest recorded reading was 9.4 ppb in 2002.) The larger problem in La Crosse is leaks. Last year more than 500 million gallons of water about 13 percent of the 3.9 billion gallons pumped from La Crosses wells leaked out of the pipes before reaching paying customers. Thats below the states 15 percent loss guideline but still cause for concern. At a cost of roughly $275 to pump and treat a million gallons, thats more than $137,000 that never even makes it to the drain. The city deploys pro-active leak detection, testing one half of the system each fall. Operators also monitor the computerized control system to see when demand is outstripping metered use. Even so, Johnson said leaks can go undetected for years, sometimes not until water bubbles to the surface. But most of the water loss occurs in the service lines, not the water mains, Johnson said. And the majority of those services belong not to the city but property owners. Asset management; or, a $63 million problem Assuming an average price of $65 a foot, it would cost the city more than $30 million to replace the pre-1920 water mains and that does not include the cost of digging up and replacing half of virtually every street between the Mississippi River and Losey Boulevard as well as the North Side, which would add at least another $33 million. But the city has used a strategic approach to asset management, taking advantage of road construction projects whenever possible. Performance, not age, is the primary factor in determining which mains are replaced, Johnson said. The water utility is budgeting to replace a 69-year-old segment of water main under State Road that has had about half a dozen breaks in recent years. But the city planned to replace only service lines when the Department of Transportations reconstruction of Jackson Street, leaving in place mains that are more than 112 years old. (The DOT now plans only an overlay, making the decision moot.) Johnson said opportunity also plays a role. For example, when the DOT eventually updates Third and Fourth streets which carry Hwy. 53 through downtown La Crosse said the city will likely replace the mains, which were installed between 1890 and 1911. That might be your opportunity for the next 100 years, Johnson said. Using that strategic approach, La Crosse replaced less than one mile of water mains in the 16 years between 1997 and 2013 less than 0.5 percent of the total system. Thats less than any of the states largest cities and all but three of the 104 class A-B water systems, according to data from the PSC. The replacement schedule will likely become more aggressive in coming years as the city doubles its annual street replacement budget in an effort to remedy a decade of deferred maintenance and works to upgrade its storm sewers. All that digging will create more opportunities for pipe replacement. Meanwhile, Kabat and Johnson credit the water department crew for keeping the old system going without wholesale replacement. Theyve been about as proactive as they can be, especially with the resource constraints, Kabat said. While there are a handful of borrowing programs available to help utilities fund large-scale overhauls, the burden of maintenance generally falls on ratepayers. Local rates and charges will always be the backbone of water finance, said the AWWAs Holmes, who added that many utilities have set rates at unsustainable levels. A spokesperson for the PSC, which regulates the states municipal water systems, declined to make its water section administrator available for an interview but released a statement. Because sensible replacement of aging mains increases conservation and efficiencies, PSC monitors and works closely with utilities on those efforts, it read in part. While the DNR has responsibility for maintaining drinking water standards, the PSC works with water utilities to sensibly plan for and collaborate with agency staff on replacement program options to reduce costs, protect supplies, and provide customers with safe drinking water. Johnson said he thinks the citys water rates among the lowest in the state even with this years rate increase are responsible. But he noted a more aggressive approach to replacement will lead to another rate increase sooner rather than later. For what it does for us water is under-priced and under-valued, Holmes said, adding, Were coming to an era of new appreciation. For what it does for us water is under-priced and under-valued. Were coming to an era of new appreciation. Tommy Holmes, American Water Works Association ASHLAND, Wis. Three friends are planning an "ultrarun" around Lake Superior to collect people's stories and water samples for microplastics research this summer. Microplastics are tiny plastic beads found in personal care products like soaps and body washes. Northland College graduate Andy Butter and his two friends, Evan Flom and Allissa Stutte, will set out from Ashland on May 20. The trio plans to run an average of 20 miles per day on their 85-day trip around the lake. Butter said they'll collect 1-liter water samples about once a week. "We want to sample from a variety of areas, so some places that are more remote and have less human impact and other samples that are closer to river outputs to see what the levels of pollution are in those very intense human activity areas," he said. The trio is working with the nonprofit organization Adventures and Scientists for Conservation. Butter said the goal is to help raise awareness of microplastics pollution in the Great Lakes. "There's a really big awareness of plastic in the oceans: the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and things like that," he said. "But, there's a huge problem with it in the Great Lakes too." Researchers are concerned about the tiny particles because they don't easily dissolve and may have harmful effects on the environment. Wisconsin lawmakers and members of Congress took notice of microbead pollution last year. Wisconsin passed a law last July banning the manufacture of products containing microplastics beginning in 2018. A federal law passed by Congress in December moved up that timeline, prohibiting manufacture of microplastics as of July 1, 2017. State Sen. Robert Cowles, R-Green Bay, was among lawmakers who pushed to ban the manufacture of microbeads last year. He's glad the federal law went beyond what state lawmakers enacted. But, he added more research is needed. "We know they're out there. We know it's not a good thing because it's something that doesn't degrade and it can be ingested," said Cowles. "We don't know precisely what the implications are." Lorena Rios-Mendoza, assistant professor of chemistry at UW-Superior, found microbeads in water samples in Lake Superior, Lake Huron and Lake Erie in 2012. Rios has expanded her research to study how many microbeads exist near wastewater treatment plants around Lake Superior, including Duluth, Superior and Ashland. The university professor is examining the concentration of toxic compounds in the tiny plastic particles and whether that disrupts endocrine systems in fish. Meanwhile, Butter said they'll be carrying all their camping gear, food and equipment in a baby stroller that each one will take turns pushing as they run around the lake. He said they'll provide regular updates about their journey along with stories from people around the lake on their blog. Butter said he hopes to provide a "face and a heart" to Lake Superior and the people who live along its shore. For nearly a year, a behind-the-scenes battle has been playing out between the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. and the two Democrats who serve on its board over agency records that have yet to be fully released. The dispute involves a request for records related to 28 economic development awards totaling $126 million for which the agency announced last June it could not find staff underwriting documentation. At one point the agency estimated the records totaled more than 462,000, but the Democrats said many of those documents had little or nothing to do with their request. Agency CEO Mark Hogan and other board members pushed back against the Democrats at a February public board meeting, raising concerns that their request was a waste of taxpayer resources for a problem that has already been resolved, and that the tenor of the discussion has negatively affected employee morale. The Democrats argued their attempt to carry out their duties as board members had been met with stonewalling. Last month, the Justice Departments open government office intervened, urging WEDC to do a better job communicating and observing that the state Public Records Law requires agencies to fulfill requests as soon as practicable and without delay. WEDC spokesman Steven Michels said Hogan recently met with the Democrats and the agency is working diligently to turn over all applicable records. WEDC has provided records for four of the 28 awards thus far. To date we have provided thousands of pages of documents for their review and are working daily to gather and produce additional documents, Michels said. Secretary Hogan has established mutually agreeable timelines by which the records will be delivered. We are meeting that timetable. Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha who along with Sen. Julie Lassa, D-Stevens Point, is on the WEDC board called it unacceptable that after nearly a year they have not received all of the records. No taxpayer let alone board members should have to go through such a prolonged and contentious process from our states jobs agency, Barca said. The prolonged delay in receiving records from WEDC has raised questions among many legislators about what they are trying to hide. Last May, a Wisconsin State Journal investigation revealed that WEDC made a $500,000 loan to Milwaukee-based Building Committee Inc. in 2011 after Gov. Scott Walkers top Cabinet secretary pressed for millions of dollars to go to the struggling construction company. The companys deeply indebted owner, who has yet to repay the loan, included false information on his application. WEDC was unable to produce for the newspaper the standard staff underwriting document that lays out an awards strengths and weaknesses. Barca and Lassa immediately called for an investigation, after which WEDC officials identified 27 other awards from 2011 to 2013 for which they were unable to locate a staff review document. WEDC officials say policies put in place in 2013 have ensured all awards get a thorough staff review. Then-WEDC CEO Reed Hall invited the Democrats to review the files in person, but subsequent attempts to set up such a meeting were unsuccessful and Hall asked the Democrats to submit a public records request, which they did on July 13, seeking all information on the awards that received no staff review. On Aug. 5, WEDC responded with a list suggesting there were more than 450,000 records responsive to their request, and that reviewing them would require creation of a staffing plan and potentially changes to our budget and operations plan. Over the next several months Barcas office and WEDC chief legal counsel Hannah Renfro went back and forth over how to limit the scope of the request. Barcas office noted that the agency released about 800 pages of emails and other records related to Building Committee Inc. Included in those emails was evidence that WEDC officials had learned that BCI owner William Minahan intended to use state money to pay back creditors, including for a leased Maserati, and yet tried for more than a year to help the company obtain federally subsidized bonds. Barca said based on that information there could be evidence of ethical or criminal violations in the other company records being sought. In late January, the agency provided nearly 20,000 pages of documents for one award. Renfro wrote to the lawmakers that the cost to taxpayers to provide the material totaled roughly $5,000, including 84.5 hours of staff time to review the documents for anything needing to be marked confidential. The records filled eight boxes. Barca and Lassa wrote back that Renfro needlessly wasted taxpayer funds and WEDC and legislative staff time by printing any document that mentioned the company, rather than all staff communication as they had specified in November. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that you are deliberately concealing public information that should be rather straightforward to provide, they wrote. Two days later at the February WEDC board meeting, Hogan raised concerns about the time and cost of the request, as well as the Democrats tone. According to the minutes, board member Nancy Hernandez questioned whether the records request was appropriate while board chairman Dan Ariens encouraged the Democrats to meet with Hogan and Renfro to work things out. The Democrats wrote to the state DOJs Office of Open Government on Feb. 16, saying WEDC has responded to our request in such a way that represents a deliberate attempt to prevent our access to the information we requested. Assistant Attorney General Paul Ferguson responded April 7, writing that he spoke with Renfro, who told him that if the agency had received a similar request from the public, they would have considered it insufficient and overly burdensome. He encouraged her to handle the request in a timely manner with clear communication. Since my conversation with Ms. Renfro, I have not received a follow up call seeking assistance or a call indicating ongoing issues, Ferguson wrote. It is my hope that any remaining issues have been resolved. WEDC has continued to provide records in response to the request as they have become available. Last month the agency also reported that it had found a signed staff review for a $750,000 tax credit award to County Materials, one of the original 28 awards for which a staff review had not been located. Renfro explained it was located in a hard copy file, but not in the agencys electronic records system. Michels said no other hard copies of staff reviews have been located. Michels said the Democrats baseless complaints about providing too much information are not productive and that subsequent to the February board meeting there have been productive discussions about the process and timeline for turning over more of the records. Scientists studying the area where the Amazon River meets the Atlantic Ocean were in for a surprise. Under the muddy, dark Amazon River water was a large number of undiscovered reefs with colorful sea fans, coral, plants, fish and very big sponges. It was one of the biggest surprises in modern ocean science. Most ocean reefs need sunlight to exist. On their boat that day in 2012, they carried a hand-drawn map that suggested maybe a large set of reefs sat just below them. Brazilian scientist Rodrigo Moura of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, brought the map. He had read about the possible reefs in a 1977 research paper. He lowered a dredging machine into the muddy water. Oceanographer Patricia Yager was there too. With others, she leaned over the boats edge, waiting to see what Moura would bring up from the bottom. They did not expect much. "But we were very excited about the possibility, and of course he brings up the most amazing animals I have ever seen, at least in this part of the world. They were colorful, coral, sponges, fish, brittle stars, all kinds of things I could not have imagined in my wildest dreams, lived underneath this river plume. The team was studying the area where the Amazon River flows into the Atlantic Ocean. Where these waters meet, the worlds largest river moves out across the top of the ocean, spreading out like a fan. Yager teaches oceanography at the University of Georgia in the U.S. She explains that the water from the river stays separate from the ocean as it moves across it, covering the ocean with its dark and muddy water. The reefs sit hidden in the ocean, about 50 meters below the surface of the water, says Yager. And so it is not being bathed in the river plume itself. Its far below, in the very salty ocean, so the fresh water is not touching the reefs, theyre in salty ocean water. The reefs run from the French Guiana border to Brazils Maranhao state, covering about 9,500 square kilometers. Yager says she was surprised to find coral reefs below the dark muddy water. You cant look down and see them like other reefs, theyre quite deep. And then on top of that, the water, the surface layer of the water is very dark and turbid, so yeah, you cant see them from the surface, thats why we didnt know they were there. She says that she was taught that coral needs sunlight to survive. And yet, here were coral in the lowlight of this area and they were just fine. Some of the reefs do get sunlight for part of the year. She says in the areas that get less light, the living creatures are less dependent on photosynthesis. Some of the coral reefs stand 30 meters high. They are home to lobster, red snapper fish and very big sponges. But the area does not have as many different kinds of animals as some of the other well-known reefs around the world, like Australias Great Barrier Reef. On their trip in 2012, the team only had a short time to find and explore their surprising discovery. The Brazilian scientists went back to the reefs in 2014 to do more studies of the reefs. Recently they published their findings in the journal Science. Yager says they plan to keep studying the area. One day, they would like to use they would like to use submersiblesvehicles used under water, to explore the reefs. It would be really nice to not have to dredge this system to understand it, because of course that is a very destructive method. I would rather go down with cameras and look at it instead of destroying it. She says discovering these reefs is an example of how little is known about the oceans, and how important exploration is. We need to be open to discoveries, she says. News about the reef comes when there is more bad news about the problems of coral bleaching in Australias Great Barrier Reef. Scientists warn the bleaching is due to warming waters, and it is very damaging to the coral. Yager says it might help to study how these Amazon reefs survive with less sunlight. Maybe, she says, scientists can find ways to help the other reefs suffering around the world. But the Amazon reefs face their own threats. Companies want to drill for oil near the reefs. If they go forward, Yager warns, those large-scale operations could damage the reefs. Im Anne Ball. Anne Ball wrote this story. Hai Do was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section and visit us on Facebook. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story reef n. a group of rocks or coral or sand ridge at or near the surface of water coral n. a hard material formed on the bottom of the sea by the skeletons of small creatures dredging v. the act of removing mud from the bottom a river (or lake, etc) in order to search for something oceanographer n. a person who studies oceans plume n. the area where the river meets the Atlantic Ocean and fans out on top of the ocean water photosynthesis n. the process where plants turn water and carbon dioxide into food when the plant is exposed to light destructive adj. something that causes a very large amount of damage bleaching n. the harmful process when coral losing their colorturning white due to stress, because of warming waters A documentary film about Australias asylum policy opened in Melbourne last Thursday. Chasing Asylum explores the tragedy found at detention centers that Australia operates on islands in the South Pacific Ocean. The media is barred from the camps on the island nation of Nauru and on Manus in Papua New Guinea. But filmmaker Eva Orner said she wanted to find a way to tell the truth about them. It has been said that we are committing torture, that we are breaking all of our obligations under the Refugee Convention, and yet it continues, Orner said. So I set about to show audiences what it looks like and what their taxpayer dollar is paying for. The movie includes secretly recorded footage from inside the centers. It documents the stories of some detainees. Orner described the conditions at the centers as horrific. We are the only country in the world to detain children indefinitely. Women, men, children are there. Women and children have been sexually abused. Two men have died - actually, three men have died. On May first, a 21-year-old Somali refugee was severely injured when she set herself on fire at the center on Nauru. Orner described making Chasing Asylum as one of the hardest projects of her life. But she said it is important the world knows how Australia is treating detainees in the centers. Orner said she hopes her film will push Australians to demand an end to the camps. Officials from Australia have defended the camps. They say the camps are deterrents to migrants. They say they also save lives because they stop refugees from risky ocean travel. Last month, Papua New Guineas Supreme Court declared the detention center at Manus Island unconstitutional and illegal. Prime Minister Peter ONeill said it will close. Im John Russell. Phil Mercer wrote this story for VOA News. Jim Dresbach adapted this story for Learning English and VOANews.com. Caty Weaver was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or visit our Facebook page. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story documentary n. a movie or television program that tells the facts about actual people and events obligation n. something that you must do because of a law, rule or promise footage n. scenes or action recorded on film or video audience n. the people who attend a performance indefinite adj. not certain in amount or length deterrent n. something that makes someone decide not to do something Controversy and infamy seem to have little or no effect on stardom in Bollywood. Enjoying their demigod status on celluloid, superstars in trouble with the law rarely suffer a dent in popularity. In the wake of the legal battle between the two stars, Hrithik Roshan and Kangana Ranaut, Firstpost profiles the legal eagles who defend and come to the aid of such celebrities caught in wrangles, battling both society's preconceived notions and the constant trial by media. 'Lawyers of celebrities are constantly under public scrutiny': Rizwan Siddiquee, Kangana Ranauts legal counsel Advocate Rizwan Siddiquee has handled many celebrity cases in the past. For the first time, he finds himself at the focus of the controversy as the legal battle between his client and actor Hrithik Roshan rages on. The feud between the two actors turned nasty after they slapped legal notices on each other with personal photographs, messages and emails leaked out in public. And the challenges have only been piling on Rizwan. Lawyers of celebrities are constantly under public scrutiny because its not a battle between the two celebs but it's also between the fans of these celebrities, who believe that their idol can do no wrong. Without understanding the truth, there are a lot of negative and unpleasant comments posted and messages exchanged, and, in the process, even the lawyers are criticised and attacked, rues Rizwan, who believes that sharpness and the ability to read between the lines make for a good criminal lawyer. Background A LLB degree holder from Government Law College, Rizwan pursued law "for the heck of it. I wasnt too serious about it. There are 15 law degree holders in my family, including my father, uncles and wife. But obtaining law as a second degree was not out of compulsion. Since everybody had one, I decided to go for it." He began his legal career by assisting Mehernosh Humranwala, one of Mumbai's leading solicitors, about two decades back. Soon, he decided to become independent by establishing his own firm at 26. Hes currently practising at the High Court also taking up Supreme Court matters as well. I was into commercial, corporate, film and event and then I began taking up lot of cases revolving around public interest and womens issues," says Rizwan. Challenges He says, Legal matters pertaining to celebrities have to be handled with lot of care as these are media-driven. If anything goes wrong then it could adversely affect the client's reputation. They give you the case because they are confident and trust you. 'The Roshans are like my extended family, Im handling the matter as family and not just as a legal advisor' Dipesh Mehta, Hrithik Roshan's family lawyer Hrithik Roshan and Kangana Ranaut are locked in a legal battle for about three months now. On 16 February, Hrithik sent a legal notice to Kangana asking her to apologise for damaging his reputation through the silly ex quote and also clarify that she wasnt referring to him as her ex. He threatened to sue her for defamation if she didnt comply. Kangana responded with a 21-page legal notice saying she nowhere mentioned his name and charged Hrithik with criminal intimidation and threat. Advocate Dipesh Mehta, who has been with the Roshan family for 15 years, took up the matter. I have also been associated with Hrithiks grandfather J Om Prakash. The Roshans are like my extended family and Im handling the matter not just as a legal advisor, says Dipesh, who has handled many cases of Bollywood celebrities, including that of Salman Khan, for the hit-and-run and the black buck case initially. I was convinced about this matter when it was brought to me. You may twist facts, create confusion and cause delay but ultimately truth comes out. Unfortunately, it has become a trial by media but it will be mature to cooperate with police and wait for their investigations. In December 2014, when we filed a complaint with the Cyber Crime Cell about an impostor, we decided to respect the dignity of the individual (the actress) and we didnt disclose her name. Whatever is written on a computer or on electronic media never gets deleted; it is there somewhere or the other. Truth will surely come out and we are anxiously waiting for the report. Background Born in Surat, Dipesh shifted to Mumbai to study law from Government Law College and further went to study solicitorship from England and Wales. He has his own firm in Mumbai and he has been practising for the last 31 years. His firm provides legal assistance largely catering to the Bollywood industry. Bollywood is a small family and when you represent one, the word spreads and they start referring you to their friends. The fraternity has faith in me and hence our relationship is more personalised. My area of work includes acquiring a property, signing endorsements, personal or trademark issues, he says. Challenges These celebrities do not experience the normal challenges and many times you need to understand their thought process, position, status and priorities that would be different from the general public. By talking to the media there is a fear of diverting the focus. You do not take legal matters to the media but restrict it the appropriate forum of law. There is lot of confidential information and knowledge which one has to be careful about, says Dipesh. who attributes secrecy and loyalty to his success. 'Salman Khan had a very compelling case for acquittal' Amit Desai, Senior Counsel In Salman Khans alleged hit-and-run case, senior counsel Amit Desai was contacted after the actor's conviction and it was Desai and team who overturned it to acquittal. This was a major breakthrough for the actor as six months before this judgment, a lower court had convicted him of culpable homicide and sentenced him to five years in jail for driving over (and killing) a man sleeping on a pavement. Obviously, at this stage, there is an enormous amount of effort that you need to put in. You go through the entire record, analyse the facts and make sure that you present them in the context of law before the court, says Desai, adding that, I realised that Salman had a very compelling case for acquittal. As lawyers, when we accept the brief, we are not judging the client. Our professional duty is to do our best, and ultimately leave it for the court to decide. Background Desai has been in the practice for 34 years. I got the opportunity of doing a lot of trials in the High Court because I was involved in the security scam cases (since 1992), which happened there. I represented most of the brokers involved in the security scam matter. Initially, I also represented the Harshad Mehta group, Hiten Dalal and TB Ruia group from time to time." Desai, who puts in 13 to 15 hours of work every day, comes from a family of lawyers: he is third generation. His father, Krishnakant Desai was also a senior criminal lawyer (his contemporaries were Ram Jethmalani and PR Vakil). Desai may be handling a number of celebrity cases, but he doesnt believe in appearing in public. I only argue in court and if media decides to write, its fine, he says. Challenges "The big challenge that we face is the media trials. Many facts are not presented correctly to people, and, as a result, parties are judged before the trial. And when they succeed, media isn't there to redeem the reputations that are already tarnished. We need a kind of balance that media has to reflect. 'My purpose to represent Sooraj Pancholi was because my conscience knows that he is innocent' Prashant Patil, Sooraj Pancholis legal counsel On 3 June 2013, actress Jiah Khan was found hanging at her Juhu residence. A week later, her boyfriend and senior actor Aditya Pancholis son, Sooraj was arrested for abetting the suicide under Section 306 of the IPC. Advocate Prashant Patil decided to represent the young and upcoming actor essentially because it was a challenge for him. My purpose to accept this matter and represent Sooraj was because my conscience knows that he is innocent. That is how I want to plead before the court. I am absolutely convinced, says Patil. Background After doing his Science Honours from Pune, Prashant left for Delhi to prepare for Civil Services when he realised that he wants to do something for this nation by becoming a part of the judicial system. With several innocents languishing in jail, trials and justice getting delayed, I felt that our country requires judicial reforms," he says. Prashant has pursued over 100 trials in his career so far. Eminent lawyer and Chairman of Maharashtra and Goa Bar Council, Harshad Nimbalkar was his senior in Pune when he joined his chamber, and later, he began practicing independently since 2009. Challenges "When we know that the client we are representing is innocent but there are hundreds of documents, or when the investigative agencies dont play fairly, then it is stressful. Even when we give our best in our argument, there are other factors beyond our control that prevail upon the trial. The State and agencies are more powerful than an individual, so when they go all out to frame an accused, who is actually innocent, even the media start convicting the accused before the trial has begun..." I shoved off peoples perception, media influence and fought Rahul Raj Singhs case on merit Aabad Ponda When television actress Pratyusha Banerjee was found hanging from the ceiling fan in her suburban Mumbai apartment on 1 April, it was her live-in partner, TV producer and actor Rahul Raj Singh, who rushed the Balika Vadhu actress to hospital. Two days later, Rahul had cases under Sections 306 (abetment of suicide), 504 and 506 (criminal intimidation) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the IPC filed against him by the police. The primary trigger seems to have been a statement given by Pratyushas parents Soma and Shankar Banerjee. Lawyer Aabad Ponda, who practices primarily in the High Court took up Rahuls matter with lot of confidence. Everybody was against him but there was a possibility that he was falsely implicated. Anybody can commit suicide and there are enough judgments and education given to us by the Supreme Court that every time someone commits suicide the other person is not guilty. There must be goading and instigation to show that he intended that she commit suicide. Such matters are challenging... trying to save an innocent man from going to jail, says Ponda. Background With both his parents being criminal lawyers, Ponda's career was set. After living "under their shadow for the first few years, Ponda gradually started a separate practice. Wanting to practice in the Supreme Court, he moved to Delhi, but he came back to Mumbai, where he picked up his practice, independent of his father. Challenges There's a lot of pressure to perform better and expectations to deliver can act counter-productive, while prejudices paint the accused guilty even before the trial has begun." 'Sanjay Dutt would often ask me, When will I see light outside the jail Satish Maneshinde From a penniless law graduate (from Karwar) to one of the city's top lawyers (residing in one of Indias tallest buildings, Imperial Heights), the journey of legal luminary Satish Maneshinde has been long and arduous. To some extent Satish owes his success to the bomb blasts trial of March 1993 and the Sanjay Dutt case. The actor was arrested on 18 April 1993 when he was at the peak of his career, for his involvement in serial blast case in Mumbai. "I have been defending Sanjay Dutt ever since he was arrested. Earlier, he was a client of Ram Jethmalani." he says, adding, Undoubtedly, Sanjays is one of the most challenging cases I have handled. When he came to me, in 1994, the Supreme Court had rejected his bail. He used to often ask me When will I see light outside the jail? In October 1995, he got bail with the support of Balasaheb Thackeray, says Satish. "Dutt's success in getting bail not only brought me name and fame, but also immense knowledge, while working in both the trial and in the Supreme Court,'' he says. Background Satish went to a military school but he claims that he was a complete misfit. He was supposed to train to join the NDA but he didnt enjoy that, and after seven years of life in a boarding school, he joined a commerce college and studied Law. Honoured as an outstanding student in 1982 by the Karnataka University Law College in Karwar (Karnataka), Satish came to Mumbai to try his luck in 1983. For 10 years, he worked with senior counsel Ram Jethmalani on a monthly stipend of Rs 500 and practised both civil and criminal law. It was difficult to make ends meet but I survived the rough life. Probably looking at my work, my seniors gave me more responsibility. I started earning Rs 5,000 per case and then sky was the limit. I set up my own chamber but continued my association with Jethmalani whenever he sought my advice, he says. Challenges When a case comes to me, my first duty is to ignore the press, because at times what appears in the media and what the case papers say is totally different. Media trial, campaign against stars, people attacking with pre-conceived notions can be terrible for lawyers. Its a total travesty of justice," he says. I realised that he (Shiney Ahuja) was innocent and it was not at all a case of rape Shrikant Shivade, Legal Counsel to Shiney Ahuja Shrikant Shivade prefers to not be called a celebrity lawyer. But the fact is that he has cross-examined actors including Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Madhur Bhandarkar and has also defended Shiney Ahuja, who was accused of raping his maid servant in June 2009. I realised that he was innocent and it was not at all a case of rape. The girl later testified under the oath that he had not even touched her and the DNA evidence was found to be botched up. The case is pending an appeal in the High Court, says Shivade, who came into the picture in Salman Khans alleged hit-and-run case, two years ago, when the case was committed in the session court for a trial of a higher charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Shivade had then said that he had to give up many cases to concentrate on defending Salman. Background My father was in the Mumbai police force and we moved to Pune since we didnt have a place to stay in the city after his retirement. I did my law in Pune and also taught criminal law while practising. I had to come down to Mumbai when former police commissioner RD Tyagi was being tried for the Suleiman Bakery case. Tyagi and a few others were charged for killing nine people during the Mumbai riots, says Shivade, who believes that defence comes from heart and not the brain. I try to find some innocence in my client. I dont like defending hardcore criminals because then the entire case can be conducted only by heart, says the lawyer. Challenges "Celebrities are soft targets because media becomes judgmental about their alleged guilt, which sways the public opinion against celebrities. When a common man is accused, small reliefs from court is easy to avail, whereas celebrities have to struggle. Also, the lack of legal knowledge leads to misinterpretations in media reports." 'Preity Zinta versus Ness Wadia was a challenge for me because in India people take a very casual approach when it comes to womens rights' Hitesh Jain, Preity Zinta's lawyer When Bollywood actress Preity Zinta filed a police complaint against her former boyfriend and businessman Ness Wadia, alleging that he molested, abused and threatened her inside the Wankhede stadium, there were a lot of debates on the issue, particularly since Preity and Ness were earlier in a relationship. It was a challenge for me because in India people take a very casual approach when it comes to womens rights. It required a lot of convincing that you cant abuse a woman in front of several people. It was her battle for personal dignity, says Hitesh Jain. Background Hitesh hails from a family of lawyers in Pune. His father was a senior criminal lawyer, and at an early age Hitesh was exposed to high profile trials in the Pune court. There was a steady flow of celebrities and journalists at his residence and the environment influenced him to walk in his fathers footsteps. My father had got the accused acquitted in the Supreme Court in the Sharad-Sarda murder trial, in 1980. In this case a young, married woman from a high profile family was found dead and the case was as big as the Aarushi case. I had witnessed the protest march defending the accused, all this was fascinating to me, says Hitesh. Challenges We are often in a dilemma whether to speak to the media or not. In high profile matters, clients get a lot of advice from people visiting them. in such circumstances one reaches a point of saturation. We have to convince the client to not get confused." He continues, I dont judge a person. Society can form whatever opinion they want to. I believe that every person has a right to defend him/herself and if he/she has committed a crime, he/she has the right to repent. Everybody deserves a second chance. New Delhi: A 23-year-old Belgian woman was allegedly molested by an Ola cab driver in south east Delhi's CR Park area on Saturday night with police arresting the accused hours later. The accused, Raj Singh who is a native of Rajasthan's Alwar district, was arrested after an FIR was registered. The woman, who identified herself as a language translator, told police that she had booked the cab from Gurgaon and during the journey the cab driver allegedly kissed her. "The driver deliberately took the wrong route after Hauz Khas and when the woman told him that she will ask her friend, he took her phone and deleted all the records related to Ola," a senior police official said. He also called her over to the front seat claiming that his GPS was not working and then allegedly kissed her, police said. The woman has been staying in India since February and is supposed to return on Sunday night. After stepping out of the cab near CR Park area, she informed the police about the incident at around 10 pm. The name of the cab owner is Vikram Singh. Ola has also terminated the driver from its platform. "The said driver has been terminated from the platform with immediate effect. We will share all required information with the authorities to help resolve this for the customer. We have zero tolerance to such behaviour from drivers on the platform," Ola said in a statement. Pune: A packet containing some suspected explosive substance, a detonator and a threat letter in connection with JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar's expected visit in April, was received by the office of the director of the FTII on Saturday evening, police said. The packet was addressed to the previous director of the Film and Television Institute of India, Prashant Pathrabe. Bhupendra Kainthola, the present director of the institute, said, "My office received the packet at 5.30 pm on Saturday and since the contents were suspicious, we alerted the police." Senior police inspector Sushma Chavan of the Deccan Police Station said the parcel contained a detonator and a white powder, suspected to be some explosive material. It also had a letter, warning the director against allowing Kumar to visit the FTII campus. Police suspect that the packet must have been sent before Kumar's visit to Pune on 24 April, when Pathrabe was the director of FTII. Kumar, who addressed a gathering in Pune on that day, was reportedly going to visit the FTII too, but eventually he did not. "The contents have been sent to the forensic lab," inspector Chavan said. The FTII Students Association said it was shocked by the incident. The FTII students, throughout the strike last year (against the appointment of TV actor and BJP member Gajendra Chauhan as the chairman of FTII) had received numerous threat letters, "but now the price of questioning the government has reached a stage where you receive an explosive substance", it said. "This only speaks of the intolerant, insensitive and criminal attitude of people who are doing everything to stop dissent across the country. We strongly condemn this cowardly act and appeal to the government to immediately enquire into this issue," the association said in a statement. Shimla: Twelve passengers were killed and 39 others injured when a Himachal Road Transport Corporation bus plunged into a deep gorge near Jogindernagar in Mandi district on Sunday. The bus carrying over 55 persons was on its way to Rekong Peo, when the mishap took place. The condition of some of the injured persons was critical, police said, adding 39 people have been injured. Among whom 20 were admitted in JoginderNagar Hospital and 19 have been rushed to PGI Chandigarh and Government Medical College, Tanda in Kangra, Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, Ritesh Chouhan said. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh this morning met the injured in Tanda hospital and announced an ex-gratia relief of Rs five lakh for the next of kin of each of the deceased. Expressing grief over the mishap, the Chief Minister said, "It was painful to see the seriously injured at Tanda Hospital. We will provide all possible help to the injured and kin of diseased." The victims are yet to identified, police said. The rescue operations are still on and further details are awaited. New Delhi: JNU Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who is out on bail in a sedition case, on Sunday wrote an open letter to HRD Minister Smriti Irani on occasion of Mothers Day and asked how can a "mother" punish her children on basis of biased probe reports and doctored videos. Referring to the university investigation report of the controversial 9 February event during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised, Kanhaiya, who has been attacking Irani for her reference to all students as her children, said in the letter, "we are trying hard to study in the warmth of your motherly love. Under your reign, we are learning how to study despite police canes and hunger". In an open letter with sarcastic overtones, the 29-year-old researcher referred to Irani as "anti-rational" mother of "anti-nationals" and extended her Mothers day wishes on behalf of students. "Today a friend sent asked me how under Mr Modi's regime -- where besides our own mother, we also have Mother Cow, Mother India, Mother Ganges and Mother Smriti -- how could Rohith Vemula die. I am asking you this because I have no answer. The same anti-national friend also said that Mother Smriti's ministry sent several letters to punish Rohith and was also responsible for withholding his fellowship for seven months," he said in the letter. "In a great country like India, can a mother force drive her child to suicide? Can a mother accept punishments on her children based on doctored videos and a biased probe? Your children, starving for 11 days, are asking you this question. Please reply, if you find the time. The friend also called you an 'anti-rational mother of anti-nationals'. I hope you will prove this allegation false in your factual reply," he said. Meanwhile, the indefinite hunger strike by JNU students in protest against the punishments awarded by university in connection with the Afzal Guru event, entered 11th day on Sunday. Kanhaiya had withdrawn from the fast last week after his health deteriorated and he had to undergo treatment for dehydration and ketosis at AIIMS. So far, six students have withdrawn from the strike while 14 others are still continuing with their fast. In celebration of mothers day at JNU, various mothers residing on campus and outsiders including an 80-year-old wheel chair bound woman, joined the fasting students by going on a one day hunger strike in solidarity. ABVP member Saurabh Sharma, who was complainant of the 9 February event and has been slapped with a fine of Rs 10,000 for blocking traffic, started a donation campaign today to pay his penalty. "I have been penalised for protecting 'bharat mata' and standing up against the anti-nationals. So on Mothers Day, we have started a campaign in support of protecting the dignity of Mother India. I am requesting people to donate one rupee in my Paytm account," Saurabh, who is lone ABVP member in JNU students body said in a statement. Saurabh along with four members of ABVP, who had also gone on hunger strike last week, called off their stir on Wednesday claiming they have got an assurance from the JNU administration that their demands will be considered. The JNU administration had appealed the students and teachers to not invite outsiders saying it might vitiate the academic atmosphere and peace on campus. The administration also asked the students to refrain from using "direct or indirect coercive measures and come forward for dialogue and discussion". Terming the hunger strike to be an "unlawful activity" JNU vice-chancellor Jagadesh Kumar had also appealed to the students last week to put forward their demands using "constitutional" means and asked them to come for a "dialogue" to resolve the matter. Two other students -- Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya -- were arrested along with Kanhaiya in the sedition case. While Kanhaiya has been slapped with a penalty of Rs 10,000, Umar, Anirban and a Kashmiri student, Mujeeb Gatoo have been rusticated for varying durations. PTI Itanagar: Union Minister Kiren Rijiju has met three persons in two different hospitals of Guwahati, who were injured in police firing in Tawang district last week. At least two persons were killed and eight others injured last Monday, when policemen opened fire on anti-dam activists trying to barge into a police station demanding release of a monk at Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh. On Saturday, at Hayat Hospital, Rijiju met Wangpo Thutan from Bombay Village, Tawang while at Downtown Hospital he met Rinchin and Dondup Chonste of Pharmey and Sakyur villages respectively. The Union minister of state for home affairs assured full support from the government after speaking to the hospitals and the family members of the injured. Rijiju is expected to reach Tawang today to meet the administrative officers, peace keeping team, monks, general public and others to understand and address the issue for a better solution and peace to Mon region, said an official communique. On Saturday, he made two attempts to reach Tawang by chopper but could not land due to bad weather. On 2 May, two people including a Monk were killed after police opened fire on protesters in Tawang who were demanding the release of Lama Lobsang Gyatso, the anti-dam crusader from police custody. PTI The drug problem in Himachal Pradesh can present a gloomy picture but the story of Panki Sood offers hope. Panki is a mountaineer, a managing host at the Great Himalayan National Park GHNP Treks and Explorations in Tirthan Valley, Himachal Pradesh. He has engaged around 60 locals who take people on treks in the GNHP, a UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site. He loves heights. But before 2007, Panki was perpetually high on drugs of all types: marijuana, cocaine, heroin, synthetics. He lived in this state for over 15 years. When narrating the story of his addiction, Panki talks candidly about the "moral bankruptcy" and utter selfishness his dependence on drugs brought him. Like many parents, mine also thought that marriage would make me responsible. In 2004, they got me married and my wife knew nothing about it. It was when she was eight months pregnant that she got to know about my addiction. She was shell shocked. But I manipulated her, as most addicts do (with the people around them), Panki says. As he wouldnt be allowed to move outside his home freely, sometimes he would use his little son as a pretext to get his next fix. The urge used to be so intense that I would go outside on the pretext of getting my son some fresh air. But as soon as I got out, I would leave him at the gate and rush to get my dose, Panki admits. On one cold February evening, Panki took his son out and left him at the gate: I did not even care that my son was not wearing socks. I just wanted my drugs. My elder brother, who was visiting, saw my son playing outside and on inquiring why he was left alone in cold, got to know about my act. In Pankis own words, all hell broke loose, and when he returned, his family beat him up. My wife also slapped me twice. Then everything was silent, he recounts. A friend of Pankis had undergone treatment at a rehabilitation centre in Delhi. Pankis parents decided to take him to the same centre. They tied me with the rope which I used for camping, put me in the car and took me to Delhi, Panki recounts. After nine months at the rehab centre in Delhi and another three months in Kullu, Panki finally triumphed over his addiction. The day I was taken to Delhi was 13 February. I remember the date because my family celebrates it as my birthday, Panki says with a smile. Pankis older brother had been among the first to have obtained a Masters degree in Tourism Studies in Himachal Pradesh. In 1996 he started an ecotourism company which trained guides in Nubra Ladakh. Later, he began working as a teacher of Tourism in Kullu Degree College. After Pankis rehabilitation, he started working in his brothers firm. But the memory of those years as an addict and the effect they had on his family (among the most respected in Kullu) still haunt Panki. He says, My parents had the worst experience in dealing with my addiction. They took me to different places to get me treated. I remember they took me to a doctor in Ludhiana where I was kept for 24 hours for treatment and in the morning I saw a pouch hanging by my bed and the doctor claimed that it contained all the heroin I had in my body and now I am clean. Just 24 hours after returning from that place I was sitting with my dose. Panki began smoking when he was 13-14 years old. With marijuana easily available in Kullu, it wasnt a big deal, he had tried that fairly soon. But it was when he went to Chandigarh for his senior secondary that he got into drugs. For two years, I did nothing, was just into drugs, Panki says. Now, Panki says he has a clearer understanding of why he got addicted in the first place. Bullied in school, he felt unable to express himself and was always low. Smoking the first joint made Panki feel great. From marijuana to cocaine and heroin, he made quite the leap. By 2006, he was in bad shape and wanted to quit. I changed places, went to dargahs and temples, really wished at that point of time that either I get rid of this addiction or die, says Panki. Having conquered his addiction, Panki and his family are now in a much better place. My wife and I often go to schools and other places and share our story. Addiction is really bad. There is nothing great in the story of someone like me who was a hardcore drug-addict at one point of time. I share my story just to tell people that drug-addiction is not the end of life. You can always get rid of it and there are better things in this world that gives you high and in a real sense, he says. I look at the T-shirt he is wearing with a quote by the Dalai Lama printed on it: Happiness is not something readymade, it comes from your action. Panki sees me reading the quote, smiles and says, You know I read somewhere that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. Your act makes you a saint or sinner. My actions now give me happiness. New Delhi: After targeting the top Congress brass in and outside Parliament, BJP has trained its guns on Robert Vadra with a party MP giving a notice in Lok Sabha to raise the alleged scams involving him and also writing to the Enforcement Directorate in this regard. Kirit Somaiya, who has been in the forefront of BJP's attack on Congress over the AgustaWestland issue, has accused Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law of benami transactions and floating many companies to park "non-transparent" money. "I will raise the issue in Lok Sabha," he said. In a related move, he has also written to the ED Director regarding "solar land scam" companies linked to Vadra. "I have submitted earlier details of various non-transparent solar project land transactions of Robert Vadra group," he has written, alleging illegal non-transparent land dealings, benami transactions, money laundering, cheating of farmers and seeking action. The Mumbai North-East MP is also the Chairman of Energy Committee of Parliament. Last week, Somaiya had attacked the Congress leadership in Parliament over the VVIP chopper scam. He had also written to the ED, asking it to "check" Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's link with those involved in this as well as the CWG scam. Gaya: A 20-year-old youth was shot dead allegedly by JD(U) MLC Manorama Devi's son Rocky for overtaking his vehicle near police line in Bihar's Gaya district, triggering protests in the area. Devi's husband Bindeshwari Prasad Yadav alias Bindi Yadav and her security guard Rajesh Kumar were on Sunday arrested in connection with the incident. DIG, Magadh Range, Saurabh Kumar said the incident took place on Saturday night as JD(U) MLC's son Rocky Kumar Yadav and his men were travelling in a MUV which intercepted a SUV in which Aditya Kumar Sachdeva (20) was travelling along with four friends from Bodh Gaya to Gaya town. According to complaint lodged with the police, Rocky Kumar Yadav then shot at Sachdeva apparently to teach him a lesson for overtaking his vehicle. The DIG said Sachdeva was brought to Anugrah Narayan Medical College and Hospital where the attending doctors declared him as brought dead. The police officer said following the incident, the JD(U) MLC's husband and security guard were arrested today and 70 rounds of ammunition and a carbine found in her residence in connection with the murder case of Sachdeva. A manhunt has been launched for the arrest of Rocky Kumar Yadav too, the DIG said. The youth's murder took political overtones this morning with the Leader of Opposition (LoP) Prem Kumar meeting the family members of the victim to express sorrow and later addressed a large number of people who had blocked road near Mahabir bridge to protest against the murder. The protesters, led by the Gaya district unit BJP President Anil Swami, raised slogans against the district police demanding arrest of the prime accused in the murder case. The JD(U) MLC, however, denied her son's role in the murder of Sachdeva and said Rocky Kumar Yadav was innocent. MLC Manorama Devi's husband Bindeshwari Prasad Yadav had in past been arrested and 6000 rounds of ammunition of a weapon banned for used by public in 2011 recovered from him. He had also been jailed in a sedition case. This month, Narendra Modi completes his first two years as prime minister of India. Let's have a look at how he has performed. He won the general election impressively, on the strength of his personality and his record. So let us start there. Political record: Modi is and remains our most popular politician by far. The aura he had two years ago, he retains. Every opinion poll in the last years has shown his popularity at around 70 percent. This is what Americans call approval rating, and 70 percent is an incredibly high number. Particularly because opinion polling in India has become accurate in the last decade so this number is believable. Modi may be assisted by the fact that his rival Rahul Gandhi is not charismatic or competent, and that regional leaders like Nitish Kumar and Arvind Kejriwal do not have a large enough stage to project their talents. But even with this admission, it must be accepted that Modi has a credibility with Indians as nobody else has. The Bharatiya Janata Party lost state elections in Delhi and Bihar but its march towards dominance and the Congress's march towards irrelevance continues under Modi. Economy: I was in conversation with P Chidambaram a few days ago, at an event to launch his book on his time in opposition. I asked him whether his analysis on Modi's economic policies was not overly harsh. Even if the data on exports and manufacturing and companies' profitability was grim, as he has been writing it is, surely two years is too little a span of time to judge Modi on economic performance? That is what I asked. No, Chidambaram said, it is 40 percent of the term. It is fair to say that here the government has promised more than it has delivered. The breakout phase into double digit growth, more jobs, an escape from 'socialist' schemes like NREGA and Aadhar that Modi promised has not come. Indeed, he has embraced some of the policies he promised to end. I still believe that though the numbers indicate otherwise, Modi must be given time, at least another year if not 18 months, to show whether he has made a difference economically. Corruption: This was one of the items on which the 2014 election was fought. It is said that Modi has either ended big ticket corruption in the Central government or news of it has not yet come out. As in Gujarat, he has been personally involved in this issue. I have known businessmen in Gujarat who have had to face corruption demands from those lower down, because it is impossible for one individual, however well-meaning, to change centuries of a culture. However, just as in Gujarat, I know Modi regularly calls people to ask if they are facing a problem from his ministers and bureaucrats, and he asks them to inform him if they are. He is active and well-meaning. Legislation and governance: The role of a Central govenrnment is primarily to make new law. Governance, in the way we understand the word, meaning controlling the structure of the state, is secondary. I say this because any Union government governs India through a few hundred IAS officers. Given the smallness of the apparatus, it is not possible for there to be much difference in the governance performance of one party over another. On legislation, it is not easy to name successes because a theme is missing. If we look at the Manmohan Singh government's legislative focus, we can identity the following: Right to Information, Right to Food, Aadhar, Direct Benefits Transfer, Right to Education, Right to Work and so on. There is a clear narrative here: these laws are aimed at the poor. Modi's record lacks such focus. Perhaps this will emerge in time, but for now it does not exist. 'Make in India' and 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan' are not legislative initiatives but slogans. Foreign policy: It is strange that here there is a wide difference between the perception of amateurs and experts. Those who have been attracted to the spectacle of Modi's first year have been impressed. The prime minister held many glittering events in foreign capitals where thousands of Indians gathered to cheer him. This was seen as a foreign policy success, though it was not. The truth, and experts admit it, is that Modi's highly personalised diplomacy has been a failure. On Pakistan we have no policy that anyone can explain coherently. Modi's record has been to talk, not-talk, embrace, sulk, fire back, blame, invite over, set conditions, remove conditions randomly. I hope he changes this because it shows India's foreign policy as not being serious. On China also, Modi's hope that his charm would be the magic ingredient turned out to be naive. Overall: If we return to the first point, popularity, we should admit that Modi's term has so far been a success. Electoral popularity is the only currency of success in democracies. It doesn't really matter ultimately what individual commentators say or write about Modi. So long as he continues the BJP's march towards greater voteshare, a bigger geographic spread and a crushing of the Comgress, he is a success. Chandigarh: Haryana State Vigilance Bureau has registered a case of cheating and corruption against former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and four officials who were in HUDA for allegedly realloting a plot to Associated Journals Limited (AJL) in Panchkula in 2005. The case under various IPC sections, including criminal breach of trust by a public servant, cheating, criminal conspiracy and under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, was registered against Hooda, the then Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) chairman, an ex-officio post held by him as the chief minister, and four other top officials of Huda then, by the vigilance bureau on 5 May. The FIR was registered at the bureau's police station in Panchkula, a bureau senior official told reporters on Sunday. The plot had been initially allotted to AJL in 1982. After the expiry of the lease period in 1996, then Haryana Vikas Party goverment led by Bansi Lal took back its possession. It was reallotted to AJL after the Congress leader came to power in 2005. The official said that an officer of SP rank would probe the case under the supervision of an officer of IG rank or above. The bureau has alleged that the act by the then HUDA chairman and the officials had caused a huge financial loss to HUDA as the plot should have been sold through open auction instead of being alloted again to AJL. An FIR had been lodged in December last year by the state vigilance bureau against Hooda as the then chairman and chief administrator of HUDA for alleged irregularities in allotment of industrial plots in Panchkula three years ago. On the new FIR, Hooda told reporters that no rules had been violated in the allotment. Hooda hit out at the BJP government in Haryana alleging there was political vendetta. "This government has unleashed political vendetta," Hooda said. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar countered Hooda, saying there was no question of any political vendetta. "The present government had zero tolerance towards corruption and wherever any wrongdoing comes to light, it would be probed as per law," Khattar told reporters. Opposition had earlier this month sought registration of a criminal case in the matter for alleged illegal reallotment of land in Panchkula near here. In a missive to the Chief Minister, Leader of the Opposition Abhay Chautala had said a plot measuring 3,360 square metres in the prime location of Sector 6 in Panchkula was reallotted to the Associated Journals Ltd on 29 June 2005. "This plot had been allotted to the Associated Journals Ltd. (AJL) in 1982, but after the company failed to make use of the land, it (the lease of the land) was resumed in the year 1996," he had said. However, soon after Congress was voted to power in 2005, Hooda initiated the process of restoring the plot to AJL on a representation made on its behalf by one of the trustees, Chautala had claimed. "It is evident from media reports that the then Chief Minister was advised by the administration as well as by the LR (Legal Remembrance) that there was no legal provision for such reallotment and if, however, the provisions or policy allow, then it can only be allotted afresh at the prevalent rates," he said. Chautala had also stated that keeping in view the facts, a prima facie cognisable criminal offence has been made out against the persons, including Hooda. PTI New Delhi: Public Accounts Committee of Parliament headed by senior Congress leader K V Thomas, which was reconstituted this week, is likely to take up the contentious AgustaWestland case, an issue which has created a political firestorm both within and outside Parliament. The panel is also likely to continue with its inquiry into some aspects of 2G scam, Commonwealth Games scam and the issue of burgeoning Non Performing Assets (NPAs) of Public Sector Banks, which had been gone into by the last PAC, whose term ended on 30 April. A member of the committee, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the panel is likely to take up the chopper scam as the Comptroller and Auditor General had made some adverse comments against it in its report in the past which is already with Parliament. "A decision on the issues to be taken up by the PAC this time will be finalized in our first meeting likely in a fortnight after the end of the session. We are keen that AgustaWestland issue is taken up and it will be taken up," the member said. When contacted, the Chairman of the PAC K V Thomas, however, remained guarded. Asked about the possibility of the PAC taking up AgustaWestland issue, Thomas said,"usually PAC takes up any issue the CAG has examined after it submits its report in Parliament. Sometimes the PAC takes any issue suo moto as well like the last PAC did in case of NPA," he said. Pressed further whether the PAC will take up the AgustaWestland issue, Thomas evaded a direct reply, saying "All these issues will be decided when the PAC meets." The CAG had submitted a report on the acquisition of the VVIP helicopters on 13 August, 2013, concluding that the process, from framing of quality requirements to the conclusion of the contract, differed from established procurement procedures. The CAG findings were widely referred to when the issue was discussed in Parliament this week with both the ruling and the Opposition benches trying to browbeat each other. The reconstituted PAC, which will have a term of one year starting from 1 May this year to 30 April, 2017, is yet to hold its first meeting. The 21-member reconstituted panel has seven members from Rajya Sabha---Naresh Agrawal, Satyavrat Chaturvedi Bhubaneswar Kalita, Shantaram Naik (Congress), Vijay Goel, Ajay Sancheti (BJP) and Sukhendu Sekhar Roy (TMC). It has 15 members from Lok Sabha including Kirit Somaiya, Anurag Singh Thakur, Nishikant Dubey, Janardan Singh Sigriwal, Riti Pathak, Abhishek Singh, Shivkumar C Udasi (BJP), Sudip Bandyopadhyay (TMC), Prem Singh Chandumajra (Akali Dal), nominated MP from Kerala Richard Hay, Gajanan Chandrakant Kirtikar (Shiv Sena), Bhartruhari Mahtab (BJD), Neiphiu Rioh (Nagaland Peoples Front) and P Venugopal (AIADMK). Panaji: Expelled Congress legislator Atanasio Monserratte, arrested for allegedly "buying" and raping a 16-year-old girl, underwent psychiatric tests on Sunday, police said. "The accused was taken for psychiatric examination at Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour near here last evening and again today where various tests were conducted," a senior police official said on Sunday. The legislator had undergone medical examination soon after his arrest three days ago. The MLA would be produced before Goa Children's Court on Monday where police would seek an extension of his remand. A senior police officer said the investigating agency has collected some evidence in connection with the case, including a blood-stained linen apparently used on the day of the alleged offence. "The forensic examination would be conducted to check if the stains on the linen match the blood samples," he said. Meanwhile, a local court today remanded another accused Rosy Ferros, who was arrested on Saturday for allegedly selling the girl to the MLA, in police custody for three days. Rosy had surrendered before the Crime Branch on Saturday following which she was placed under arrest and booked for trafficking along with the girl's mother. Monserratte was arrested three days back and sent in police custody for allegedly "buying" and sexually exploiting the girl. The victim's mother too was arrested. The girl, in her statement to the police, had claimed she was sold by her mother to Monserratte in March for Rs 50 lakh. Ferros allegedly brokered the deal. The MLA has denied the allegations claiming that he had sacked the victim from her job at his lifestyle store at Miramar beach in Goa for stealing cash. Chennai: Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday blamed "corrupt" DMK and AIADMK and their party-led governments for losses in the power sector in Tamil Nadu. "For the past so many years, Tamil Nadu has only seen corruption, corruption and corruption... there is a race to the bottom between the two, as if they are fighting for a certificate in corruption," Goyal said while blaming DMK and AIADMK of 'ruining' the state in their respective rules. Highlighting statistics since 2008-09, when DMK was in power in Tamil Nadu, Goyal said state discoms had suffered a loss ranging between Rs 8,000 crore to Rs 12,000 crore in the subsequent years and alleged that both DMK and AIADMK governments were responsible for the losses accrued by power generation companies. On AIADMK's poll promise of giving 100 units of free power to all, he said such "free power will be no power" in the future. Goyal, who had earlier created a flutter with his Chief Minister "Jayalalithaa is inaccesible" remarks, made similar allegations against DMK President M Karunanidhi, saying the two parties were run by "leaders who are disconnected" with people. "I have not met him (Karunanidhi) as he is not in government. But I suspect he will be as inaccessible (as Jayalalithaa). I will challenge anybody, the media; does anybody has the access either to Chief Minister or the opposition leader (Karunanidhi)." "Can you meet them? You can't. I don't think you can. Both these parties are run by leaders who are disconnected with the people of the state," he told reporters, responding to a question in this regard. The "Jayalalithaa is inaccessible" remark at a conference in New Delhi was an "innocent" one but I had realised that it "touched a raw nerve," Goyal said. He said BJP was the "only party" whose leaders were available for people and claimed that they would address public grievances honestly and transparently. On the state government not coming forward to implement the Centre's scheme, UDAY, aimed at benefiting discoms, Goyal said its implementation will result in a saving of over Rs 22,000 crore for the people of Tamil Nadu. He had personally met a state delegation led by state Power Minister Natham R Viswanathan last year and had explained the benefits of the scheme. Besides his officials had made follow-up efforts with the state, Goyal said. Underlining Centre's commitment for ensuring adequate power supply to Tamil Nadu, Goyal said the transmission network between north and south India has been expanded by 71 per cent and three coal blocks have been allotted for the state to ensure there was no shortage in the state's coal-fired power stations. With both DMK and AIADMK offering freebies in their election manifestos, Goyal urged the voters "not to get swayed away by these small gifts," and asked them to vote for BJP saying it will be honest and transparent. "Don't get carried away by false propaganda and freebies," he said. Earlier, he released the manifesto of party's state unit President Tamilisai Sounderrajan for her Virugambakkam constituency here. Washington: An unrestrained Donald Trump has launched a full-scale personal attack on Hillary Clinton, saying she has been an "unbelievably nasty, mean enabler" of her husband's abusive behaviour against women, raising once again former president Bill Clinton's marital infidelities. His comments, at a rally in Oregon, marks the sharpest tone Trump has used against his Democratic rival after he became the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. This also was the first time in months when Trump, whose derogatory remarks for women have fueled his deep unpopularity among female voters, has been so direct in referring to the former president's affairs. "She's been the total enabler. She would go after these women and destroy their lives," Trump said of Clinton. "She was an unbelievably nasty, mean enabler, and what she did to a lot of those women is disgraceful." Trump, a real estate billionaire from New York and the only candidate left in the Republican race to the White House, is likely to face Clinton, who has made New York her adopted state, in the November general elections. At another rally in Washington, Trump continued his tirade against the Democratic frontrunner, saying "Hillary Clinton's husband abused women more than any man that we know of in the history of politics." "Hillary hurt many women. The women that (Bill) abused. Some of those women were destroyed not by him, but by the way that Hillary Clinton treated them after everything went down," he said and claimed he respects women more than anyone else. "There is nobody that respects women more. I have women, frankly - I shouldn't say this, because the men are going to get angry - but I have women that make more money than men doing a comparable job," Trump said. There was no response from the Clinton campaign, which has refused to get involved in personal allegations. Trump's comments came as part of a defence against recent attacks from Democrats focused on his controversial comments and stances on women's issues. He has been criticised for his "demeaning" remarks against the wife of former party rival Ted Cruz and a Fox News woman anchor who questioned him sharply on his penchant for making crude remarks toward women. Clinton this week in an interview to CNN described Trump as a loose cannon, while President Barack Obama has called for a scrutiny of the presumptive nominee's policies and record. Trump, a former reality star who joined politics only 10 months ago, has however defeated 16 Republican candidates many of whom well-established governors and senators. He is now facing an open revolt from establishment Republicans. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan has said he is not ready to support Trump yet. Several former presidential candidates - including Jeb Bush and Lindsay Graham - have said they would not vote for Trump, thus raising questions over his capacity to unite the party in a crucial election year. Trump, in his characteristic style, responded saying he is not duty-bound to unify the party. "Does it have to be unified? I'm very different than everybody else, perhaps, that's ever run for office," Trump told ABC News. PTI GREGOIRE LAKE, Alberta A wildfire ripping through Canada's oil sands region was set to grow rapidly on Sunday but move further away from heavily populated areas, a fire official said. The fire, which started at 6 p.m. eastern time (2200 GMT) last Sunday near the town of Fort McMurray in northeast Alberta, spread so quickly that the town's 88,000 inhabitants barely had time to leave. Large parts of the town have been incinerated. The front of the fire was moving southeast, away from Fort McMurray toward the neighboring province of Saskatchewan, said wildfire information officer Travis Fairweather, but was not expected to reach the border on Sunday. While there were some communities near the fire, they were not in its path, he said. Winds of up to 60 kph (37 mph) were fanning the flames, but there was a chance of rain and cooler temperatures later in the day. "Both of those things will help us greatly," he said. Through Friday and Saturday, police escorted thousands of evacuees who had been forced to flee north from Fort McMurray back through the burning town, to allow them to head south to Alberta's major cities. By Sunday morning, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman said that process was complete. Officials have said that, even though the fire has largely pushed through Fort McMurray, the town is still too dangerous to enter. Thousands of evacuees are camped out in nearby towns but stand little chance of returning soon, even if their homes are intact. The city's gas has been turned off, its power grid is damaged, and the water is undrinkable. Provincial officials said displaced people would be better off driving to cities such as Calgary, 655 km (410 miles) to the south, where health and social services were better. After the scare of her life escaping the fire on Tuesday, housekeeping supervisor Susie Demelo got some welcome good news on Saturday. New satellite images showed the house she rents in Fort McMurray was still standing. Demelo and her partner had no insurance on their belongings. "I'm very blessed and grateful," she said. "And nobody has died in the fire." Some residents were complaining about the lack of news from the town, fire chief Darby Allen said in a video posted online late on Saturday. "We know from all the calls that you're getting frustrated because you don't have any information on your homes. We're really working hard on that, it's a complicated process," he said. The inferno looks set to become the costliest natural disaster in Canada's history. One analyst estimated insurance losses could exceed C$9 billion ($7 billion). Fort McMurray is the center of Canada's oil sands region. About half of the crude output from the sands, or one million barrels per day, had been taken offline as of Friday, according to a Reuters estimate. An Alberta government statement issued on Saturday night said the fire had consumed 200,000 hectares (500,000 acres) - an area the size of Mexico City - and would continue to grow. More than 500 firefighters were in and around Fort McMurray, along with 15 helicopters, 14 air tankers and 88 other pieces of equipment, officials said. The strain was so intense that fire crews would be rotated more quickly than usual, Morrison said. One exhausted fireman told CBC television that members of his team were working up to 40 hours at a stretch without sleep. ($1=$1.29 Canadian) (Additional reporting by Ethan Lou, Allison Martell and David Ljunggren; Editing by Paul Tait and Digby Lidstone) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. GREGOIRE LAKE, Alberta A wildfire ripping through Canada's oil sands region looked set to grow rapidly as it entered its second week on Sunday despite cooler weather and light rain, but move further away from heavily populated areas, a fire official said. The fire, which started near the town of Fort McMurray in northeast Alberta, spread so quickly that the town's 88,000 inhabitants barely had time to leave. The front of the fire was moving southeast, away from Fort McMurray toward the neighboring province of Saskatchewan, said wildfire information officer Travis Fairweather, but was not expected to reach the border on Sunday. While there were some communities near the fire, they were not in its path, he said. Winds of up to 60 kph (37 mph) were fanning the flames, but there was a chance of rain and cooler temperatures later in the day. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported ash fell in parts of Saskatchewan. An Alberta government statement issued on Saturday night said the fire had consumed 200,000 hectares (500,000 acres) - an area the size of Mexico City - and would continue to grow. Fort McMurray is the center of Canada's oil sands region. About half of the crude output from the sands, or one million barrels per day, had been taken offline as of Friday, according to a Reuters estimate. The inferno looks set to become the costliest natural disaster in Canada's history. One analyst estimated insurance losses could exceed C$9 billion ($7 billion). Canada Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said the economic cost of the wildfire would likely eclipse that of the 2013 Alberta floods, which was in the range of C$6 billion. Speaking to CTV television, he noted that when disasters are more expensive, federal funding covers a larger proportion of their costs. "On something this big, it may well trigger the maximum under the formula, which would mean 90 percent of the cost would be borne by the government of Canada," he said. Officials have said that, even though the fire has largely pushed through Fort McMurray, the town is still too dangerous to enter. Thousands of evacuees are camped out in nearby towns but stand little chance of returning soon, even if their homes are intact. The city's gas has been turned off, its power grid is damaged, and the water is undrinkable. Provincial officials said displaced people would be better off driving to cities such as Calgary, 655 km (410 miles) to the south, where health and social services were better. "I know today is a bittersweet Mother's Day for many Alberta moms, as you're away from your homes," said Alberta Premier Rachel Notley on Twitter. "All of you are incredibly strong, and I hope you're able to find a small moment for yourself today." The provincial government has promised evacuees pre-paid debit cards to cover immediate costs, with C$1,250 per adult and C$500 per dependent, expected to cost about C$100 million. After the scare of her life escaping the fire on Tuesday, housekeeping supervisor Susie Demelo got some welcome good news on Saturday. New satellite images showed the house she rents in Fort McMurray was still standing. Demelo and her partner had no insurance on their belongings. "I'm very blessed and grateful," she said. "And nobody has died in the fire." Through Friday and Saturday, police escorted thousands of evacuees who had been forced to flee north from Fort McMurray back through the burning town, to allow them to head south to Alberta's major cities. By Sunday morning, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman said that process was complete. Some residents were complaining about the lack of news from the town, fire chief Darby Allen said in a video posted online late on Saturday. "We know from all the calls that you're getting frustrated because you don't have any information on your homes. We're really working hard on that, it's a complicated process," he said. More than 500 firefighters were in and around Fort McMurray, along with 15 helicopters, 14 air tankers and 88 other pieces of equipment, officials said. The strain was so intense that fire crews would be rotated more quickly than usual, Alberta fire official Chad Morrison said. One exhausted fireman told CBC television that members of his team were working up to 40 hours at a stretch without sleep. (Additional reporting by Ethan Lou, Allison Martell and David Ljunggren; Editing by Digby Lidstone and Alan Crosby) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Dhaka: At least eight persons have been killed and several others injured in the past 24 hours in clashes during local council elections in Bangladesh amidst reports of irregularities and rigging in the polls held for the first time on party lines. In the fourth phase on Saturday, elections were held in 703 Union Parishads. Since the announcement of schedules on 11 February, at least 70 people have been killed in polls-related violence until Friday. The election to the smallest tier of local government is being held for the first time on party lines. The last phase will be held on 4 June, BD news reported. One person died and at least 30 others were injured during a clash between supporters of Awami League's rebel candidate and law enforcers at Dhaperhat of Sadullapur in Gaibandha. Two persons died and at least 10 others were injured when supporters of the Awami League candidate clashed with supporters of the partys rebel candidate in Rajshahis Bagmara. Deputy Inspector General of Police M Khurshid Hasan said Awami League activist Siddikur Rahman was shot dead while an unidentified person died from cardiac failure during the clash at Auchparha union. He said police opened fire and lobbed tear gas shells to bring the situation under control. In Narsinghdi, a 60-year-old supporter of an independent candidate died in an attack by supporters of ruling Awami League candidate, police said. Three others were 'critically' injured in clashes at Sreenagar union, he added. Locals at Harinmari union of Baliadangi Upazila in Thakurgaon alleged that a person died in police firing during clashes between supporters of rival candidates. In Comilla, a youth was hacked to death near a polling centre at Madhabpur union. The Awami League candidate was among six others injured in the incident, police said. The violence erupted amid reports of irregularities and rigging in the polls at several places. New York: An Italian economist says his flight was delayed for over two hours after a fellow woman passenger saw him working on an equation she thought was some special secret terrorist code and alerted the cabin crew. Guido Menzio, 40, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania, was taken off and questioned by agents in Philadelphia, after the woman next to him said she felt ill. The Ivy League economist was flying from Philadelphia to Syracuse on Thursday to give a talk at Queen's University in Ontario, Canada. American Airlines confirmed yesterday that a 30-something woman expressed suspicions about Menzio. She said she was too ill to take the Air Wisconsin-operated flight 3950. Before the flight took off, the woman sitting next to him passed a note to a member of the cabin crew. She initially told them she was feeling unwell but then voiced her suspicions about Menzio's scribblings. The plane, ready to take off, then returned to the gate and the woman passenger left. Menzio was then asked to disembark the plane and "met by some FBI looking man-in-black". He was solving a differential equation, but said he was told the woman thought he might be a terrorist because of what he was writing. American spokesman Casey Norton said the crew followed protocol to take care of an ill passenger and then to investigate her allegations. They determined them to be non- credible, he said. Menzio showed the security agents what he had been writing and the flight eventually took off - more than two hours late. He wrote on Facebook that the experience was "unbelievable" and made him laugh. "It's a bit funny. It's a bit worrisome. The lady just looked at me, looked at my writing of mysterious formulae, and concluded I was up to no good," he wrote. He told the Washington Post that he was "treated respectfully throughout" the process but remains perturbed by a system that "relies on the input of people who may be completely clueless". The woman was re-booked on a later flight. Karachi: Akram Zaki, a social media campaigner and human rights activist known for his strong stance against religious extremism in Pakistan was killed by unknown assailants in the country's financial capital of Karachi. Zakir, 40, was killed last night by four armed assailants who came on two motorcycles while he was having dinner at a restaurant in Sector 11 of New Karachi. A journalist, Rao Khalid who was with Zaki and a bystander Aslam were critically wounded in the attack. The assailants attacked Zaki and Khalid with bullets and Aslam a bystander was caught in the firing, Senior Superintendent of Police Muqaddas Haider said. Zaki, a former journalist gained fame when he launched a Facebook page, "Let Us Build Pakistan" and became editor of a website devoted to working for human rights and spreading liberal religious views. He had condemned extremism in all forms and came into limelight when he led a campaign against Lal Masjid cleric, Maulana Abdul Aziz for inciting hatred against Shia Muslims. He and other campaigners built up pressure and got a case registered against Aziz. Zaki's assassination came on the same day when Karachi police announced that they had arrested a prime suspect in the murder of social activist Parveen Rehman who was killed in May 2013. Parveen who worked for the development of the impoverished neighbourhoods in the Orangi town was killed in the same area while returning home. Last year in September, another prominent social activist and rights campaigner Sabeen Mahmud was also killed in the defence area in Karachi while returning from her office. Her assailants are yet to be nabbed by the police. Nairobi: A total of 49 people are confirmed to have died after an apartment building collapsed in the Kenyan capital, authorities have said, as they announced the end of the rescue operations. The six-storey block went down on 29 April in an impoverished part of Nairobi following days of heavy rain, triggering a desperate search for survivors. Overall, 140 people were rescued, said Pius Masai, the head of Kenya's natural disaster management unit. Among the lucky ones was a seven-month-old baby who was miraculously found alive after four days under the rubble. Her mother did not survive. Four other residents were pulled to safety as late as Thursday. "We have come to the end of this search and rescue operation after recovering 49 bodies for people confirmed dead," said Masai on Saturday. Another 47 people remained missing, he added, though it was unclear whether they were actually in the building at the time of the accident. The recovery operations had in recent days been extended to a river bordering the apartment building, because emergency workers feared some residents may have tried to jump to safety as the building crumbled around them. The dwelling's collapse has been blamed on a combination of shoddy construction and bad weather. Located in the poor, tightly-packed Huruma neighbourhood, the building, which housed around 150 families crammed intosingle rooms, had been slated for demolition after being declared structurally unsound. But an evacuation order for the structure, built just two years ago, was ignored. The government, under pressure to take action against unsafe construction practices following the deadly accident, responded by earmarking 78 high-risk buildings in the capital for demolition. But as the excavators moved in on Friday, local authorities came under fire for not giving adequate notice, and Nairobi governor Evans Kidero yesterday suspended the demolitions to give residents time to find new accommodation. Three buildings near the site of the 29 April collapse which have already been evacuated will still be torn down as planned. Two brothers who owned the apartment building have been released on bail and an inquiry into the accident is ongoing. Several buildings have collapsed in recent years in Nairobi and other Kenyan cities, where a property boom has seen buildings shoot up at speed, often with scant regard for regulations. WASHINGTON A federal officer was charged on Saturday with first-degree murder after a two-day shooting rampage outside Washington D.C. that killed his wife and two apparent strangers and wounded three others, police said. The suspect, Eulalio Tordil, a 62-year-old police officer with the Federal Protective Service, was arrested without incident on Friday in Silver Spring, Maryland, a Washington suburb where one of the shootings took place. Tordil has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder and four firearms violations for Friday's attacks in two shopping center parking lots, the Montgomery County Police Department said on Twitter. He is being held without bond and will have a review hearing on Monday afternoon, it said. Tordil is suspected of shooting his estranged wife, Gladys Tordil, and a bystander who came to her aid on Thursday outside High Point High School in Prince George's County, Maryland. Gladys Tordil, a chemistry teacher at another high school, was picking up the couple's two daughters when the shooting occurred. Tordil was on leave, having surrendered his gun and badge after his wife obtained a protective order to keep him away, an official with the Federal Protective Service said. Montgomery County Police assistant chief Russ Hamill told reporters at a news conference on Saturday evening that Tordil then purchased a Glock handgun, which was later found in his vehicle. That gun was used at least in the two subsequent shootings on Friday, Hamill said. Tordil eluded a manhunt and is suspected of shooting a woman and two men who came to her aid outside the Westfield Montgomery Mall in affluent Bethesda, Maryland during an attempted carjacking, Hamill said. One of the men later died. Hamill called the two men heroes and said their actions likely saved the woman's life. Tordil is alleged to have shot dead another 65-year-old woman about 30 minutes later at the Aspen Hill Shopping Center in Silver Spring in another attempted carjacking, Hamill said. Police have said there was no apparent relationship between Tordil and those shot on Friday. (Reporting by Ian Simpson and Curtis Skinner; Editing by Digby Lidstone and James Dalgleish) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Kabul: Six Afghan Taliban inmates on death row were hanged on Sunday, government sources said, in the first set of executions endorsed by President Ashraf Ghani since he came to power in 2014. "In accordance with the Afghan constitution... Ghani approved the execution of six terrorists who perpetrated grave crimes against civilians and public security," the presidential palace said in a statement. A government source told AFP that all six were Taliban inmates. Ghani last month vowed a tough military response against the Taliban and pledged to enforce legal punishments, including executions of convicted militants. His unusually strong remarks were in response to a Taliban assault on a security services office in the heart of Kabul, which left 64 people dead in what appeared to be the deadliest attack on the Afghan capital since 2001. The carnage on 19 April cast a pall over international efforts in recent months to jump start Pakistan-brokered peace talks, which stalled last summer after the Taliban belatedly confirmed the death of longtime leader Mullah Omar. Following Ghani's remarks, the insurgents had threatened "grave repercussions" if Taliban inmates were executed. "If the enemy (Kabul) decides to carry out executions, the Islamic Emirate (Taliban) will respond with everything within its power to defend the oppressed nation," the insurgent group said in a statement on its website late last month. "The enemy's supposed judicial bodies could once again pay a hefty price for their crimes." JOHANNESBURG South Africa's top anti-corruption official fears for her life after learning from an informant that hit men are being contracted to kill her, her spokeswoman said on Sunday. Public Protector Thuli Madonsela is a leading public figure who scored a major victory when South Africa's top court ruled on March 31 that President Jacob Zuma had violated the constitution by ignoring her instructions to pay back some of the $16 million of state money spent upgrading his private home. "On the 1st of April she received a text message from an informant, and that informant warned her to be careful. That person said a top gangster in the Western Cape was paid to get a hit man to kill her," said spokeswoman Kgalalelo Masibi, confirming a report in the Sunday Times newspaper. "She is concerned about her safety and security," Masibi said, adding that Madonsela knew the informant personally. Western Cape province has a reputation for gangsterism and organised crime but Masibi said Madonsela did not know who wanted to kill her. Her office, which has a constitutional mandate, probes misconduct and abuse in state affairs and can have several investigations on the go at any time. Masibi said Madonsela had immediately alerted South Africa's VIP protection service to the threat and that her security had initially been beefed up, but had since been scaled down. "Security Services say that 95 percent of the time the informant is incorrect. But what if this falls under the 5 percent that is correct?" Masibi said. She also said Madonsela had been told by the informant that the hit "should be made to look natural". Madonsela was quoted in the Sunday Times as saying she had stopped jogging and had become "cautious" about her movements. The opposition Democratic Alliance said in a statement that police must look into the alleged death threats. Police could not immediately be reached for comment. (Reporting by Ed Stoddard; Editing by Kevin Liffey) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan Taliban insurgents attacked police checkpoints on the outskirts of Lashkar Gah, the main city of the southern Afghan province of Helmand early on Sunday, ending weeks of relative calm during the annual opium harvest. Helmand has been one of the main targets of the Taliban, which has forced government security forces to pull back from several districts and concentrate around Lashkar Gah and the main highway that runs through the province. The attack in the Babaji area of Lashkar Gah, during the early hours of the morning, set off a three-hour gunbattle during which the Taliban said they overran two checkpoints, destroyed an armoured personnel carrier and captured a large amount of equipment. Reports of casualties varied. Helmand police chief Abdul Rahman Sarjang said 14 Taliban fighters were killed and another 22 wounded before the insurgents were driven off, with four police killed and another seven wounded. The Taliban said 15 police, including a police commander, were killed and several others wounded, while only one Taliban fighter was killed and another two wounded. After months of heavy fighting in Helmand over much of the winter, a lull in combat had been seen over the past few weeks, according to Afghan and NATO officials. However there has been continued heavy fighting in other parts of the country including Kunduz in the far north, Uruzgan, which neighbours Helmand and the central province of Ghazni. Brigadier General Charles Cleveland, the main spokesman for NATO's Resolute Support mission in Kabul, told reporters last week that many fighters had been working in the Helmand opium fields, which provide one of the Taliban's main sources of income. However he said that the end of the annual spring harvest in Helmand, which accounts for the biggest share of Afghanistan's opium production, would probably lead to an increase in fighting, possibly as early as this week. The insurgents, fighting to drive out the Western-backed government in Kabul, now control much of the province and have long operated in Babaji, just to the north of the centre of Lashkar Gah. The decision to pull security forces back from districts in the north and centre of Helmand was announced in February as a tactical manoeuvre to concentrate strength before launching attacks on the Taliban. However so far there has been little sign of the long-promised offensive. "We are well equipped and well prepared but we are waiting for an order from the defence and interior ministries to attack the Taliban," Sarjang said. Afghan special forces have launched some targeted operations and, in one attack last week, freed around 60 prisoners from a Taliban jail in Naw Zad district in the centre of the province. (Additional reporting by Mirwais Harooni; Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Andrew Bolton) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Washington: There may be much Republican hand-wringing over Donald Trump's presumptive nomination to face the Democratic candidate for the White House, but the boastful billionaire says he doesn't care, and it doesn't matter. A growing chorus of senior Republican leaders have joined the "anyone but Trump movement," including 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and the last two Republican presidents, George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush. "Does it have to be unified?" Trump asked about the Republican Party. "I'm very different than everybody else, perhaps, that's ever run for office. I actually don't think so," he told ABC's "This Week" in excerpts provided ahead today's broadcast. "I think it would be better if it were unified, I think it would be there would be something good about it. But I don't think it actually has to be unified in the traditional sense." A group of conservatives opposed to Trump's candidacy meanwhile announced it had launched a "formal effort" for an alternative candidate, though it stopped short of backing a contender from a third party. "This is not just a fight for the heart and soul of the Republican Party; it is a battle for the future of our country," Conservatives Against Trump said in a statement. "This week, Conservatives Against Trump launched a formal effort to identify an acceptable alternative candidate to run for president against Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton." The race is still "wide open for a qualified conservative candidate," the group of activists said. "We will not vote for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton; but we will vote." Trump, however, said he expected even some Democratic voters to throw their support behind him to win the general election. "I'm going to go out and I'm going to get millions of people from the Democrats," Trump said. "I'm going to get Bernie (Sanders) people to vote, because they like me on trade," he added, referring to the Democratic candidate in an uphill fight against Hillary Clinton to clinch the party's nomination. KANDAHAR, Afghanistan Two members of the Romanian special forces in Afghanistan were killed and a third was wounded on Saturday when two members of a local police unit they were training opened fire on them before themselves being killed, officials said. A statement from the Romanian defence ministry said the incident took place while the men were training Afghan police in the southern city of Kandahar. So-called "green-on-blue" insider attacks by Afghan troops on international service members have occurred periodically over the years but have become much less frequent as a result of improved security measures. The attack came as NATO commander General John Nicholson reviews plans to cut the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan by next year almost in half, a move that officials say would see the training mission severely reduced. However, a statement from the NATO-led international coalition in Afghanistan said the shooting would not threaten its training and advisory mission with Afghan forces. "We continue to train, advise and assist the ANDSF, and do not view this incident as representative of the positive relationship between our forces," it said. Romania contributes almost 600 soldiers to the nearly 12,500-strong Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan. Samim Khpalwak, a spokesman for the Kandahar provincial governor, confirmed the shooting and said one Afghan policeman had been arrested and was being questioned. Under current plans, U.S troop numbers are due to drop to from 9,800 to 5,500 by the start of 2017 but there has been growing speculation that Nicholson could recommend delaying the drawdown in order to keep the training mission going. (Reporting by James Mackenzie in Kabul, Ismail Sameem in Kandahar and Luiza Ilie in Bucharest; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Digby Lidstone) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Ten years ago, when Bill Shorten was the mere boss of the Australian Workers Union and newly thrust on to the national stage during the Beaconsfield mine disaster, Sydney's Daily Telegraph anointed him king-in-waiting. "Bill for PM," read the page one headline, "Odds Shorten on next Labor leader." A decade on, the News Corp tabloids are notably less generous to the alternative PM. It was left to Malcolm Turnbull to hand his opponent a small public relations gift by calling the election on the anniversary of what Labor believes is still Shorten's most resonant moment his role in the fortnight-long vigil before Brant Webb and Todd Russell were freed from nearly a kilometre beneath the earth. As a national removalist, Christopher Wayne Stanley Boyce reassured prospective clients that they were about to sign up to an all-inclusive "gold service" relocation package. From blankets and bubble wrap to fully equipped trucks and insurance cover, his company, Bustamove Removals, was supposedly an industry leader in making the dreaded house move as pain-free as possible. Jeremy Ducklin with his partner Nikoo is one of removalist Christopher Boyce's many victims. He paid $1300 last year to move from Queensland to NSW but the removalist never showed. Credit:Wolter Peeters But Boyce has now been busted in Parramatta Local Court, with a magistrate convicting him of having conned a long list of clients. In each case, he fled with their money and sometimes their belongings never to be seen again. He has been ordered to pay more than $107,000 in fines, costs and compensation. NSW Fair Trading Commissioner Rod Stowe welcomed the outcome, labelling Boyce's actions "outrageous". He urged consumers to avoid similar future traps by conducting simple online searches that often reveal a range of "adverse data" about rogue operators. "I just want it to be over," Rachel Friend's mother told doctors. "Never let me have another seizure," Shayne Higson's mother implored her daughters. Before she spent her final days in a palliative care unit screaming in pain, Tracey Spicer's mother had begged, "Don't let me suffer". In a Northern Beaches park, the three women are talking about their mothers, about missing their mothers, and sharing a complex mix of emotion: love, loss, guilt, horror and rage. Shayne Higson, Senate candidate for the Voluntary Euthanasia Party, Tracey Spicer and Rachel Friend are united in grief and determination. Credit:Fiona Morris "I still feel as though I betrayed her," says Ms Spicer, 49. The journalist and columnist's mother, Marcia, died in 1999 when she was 52, seven months after she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. In 2008, Ms Spicer revealed that she had hovered a pillow above her dying mother's face. She was prepared to smother her. Tables were only half filled inside the gymnasium at the Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis, a mosque near Town and Country where area Muslims gathered Saturday to welcome about 50 refugee families from Syria. Gift bags stuffed with blenders, rice, lentils and other kitchen staples waited in the corner. Buffet tables held trays of Bosnian and Pakistani rice dishes, spiced meats, salads and flat breads all to welcome the guests. But one hour into the lunch, most of the guests still hadnt arrived. The school bus that had gone to pick them up from their south St. Louis neighborhoods arrived at the West County mosque without them. And the driver wouldnt return to the city because doing so would require authorization from his employer. Adil Imdad, chairman of social services for the foundation, was on his phone trying to sort it all out. Taxis were on their way to pick up the families, he said. It was yet another complication in the refugees journey from Syrias war-torn cities and villages to St. Louis, where they now confront transportation, language and cultural challenges. Some of the families fled Syria as long as four years ago and waited years in refugee camps and neighboring countries to be resettled. Zahaea Deak, 42, a mother of eight, left her village in 2012. She arrived in St. Louis 17 days ago. Her husband is suffering from kidney disease, she said at the luncheon through a translator. A young boy stood next to her. Deak was among the few Syrians who managed to make it to the mosque in time for the meal despite the bus snafu. When asked how she got there, she had trouble understanding the question. It feels good to be here, she said through the translator. Other refugees told stories of fleeing Syria with their families but declined to give their names out of fear. The lunch was to help the Syrian families connect with other refugees who have fled countries under similar circumstances, from Kosovo, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq. Being a Palestinian myself, I know what its like, said Mustafa Musleh, who was born in St. Louis but whose parents and grandparents arrived in the United States decades ago. Its important to show were thinking about them. We want the community to see were out there working to help them. In St. Louis, 63 Syrian refugees have arrived in the past year, sponsored by the International Institute, the regions primary resettling agency. Anna Crosslin, president and CEO of the institute, said the refugees in St. Louis were already in the process of being resettled into the U.S., living in other countries for two or three years waiting for their applications to be approved. President Barack Obamas plan to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees in the United States over a years time has resulted in only about 1,000 arriving in the country since he made the announcement in September. Shortly after Obamas announcement, Crosslin said the institute will do more than our fair share if able to do so in assisting Syrian refugees. And St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, whose paternal grandparents were Lebanese immigrants, said accepting Syrian refuges is the right thing to do. Crosslin said her agency has not been told how many of the 10,000 Syrians would arrive in St. Louis, but that it would be in the hundreds, not the thousands. When planning the luncheon, Imbad was expecting more than 300. But the room was starting to empty, most of the food was gone and the Syrian refugees still hadnt arrived. After several phone calls, Imbad said the bus driver had knocked on doors and attempted to let the refugees know the bus was waiting. But most of the families dont understand English, Imbad said. With no one to translate, they were afraid to open their doors. Two hours later, the cabs began to pull into the mosques parking lot. Women, men and children climbed out and went inside the gymnasium. There are a lot of barriers they have to overcome, Imbad said. We pray to God they can stand on their feet as soon as possible. Doug Moore of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report. Unidentified gunmen have shot and killed a prominent Pakistani rights activist known for speaking out against the Taliban and radical Islamists groups. Khurran Zaki was killed late Saturday in a drive-by shooting in the southern city of Karachi, according local police official Muqaddas Haider. Police say four men riding motorbikes attacked Zaki as he dined at a roadside restaurant with a friend, journalist Rao Khalid, who along with a bystander was injured in the attack. Reuters news reports that a faction of the Taliban, the Hakeemullah Group, claimed responsibility for the attack. But police say they are unable to verify its validity, saying the group has previously taken responsibility for attacks it did not carry out. Zaki, a former journalist, was best known for campaigning against Abdul Aziz, the head cleric of the Red Mosque in Islamabad, a bastion of Islamic extremists. In 2014, Zaki along with other rights activists demonstrated outside the mosque after the cleric refused to condemn the killing of schoolchildren in a massacre in Peshawar. He and other campaigners filed a court case charging the cleric with incitement against the country's Shiite minority. Hong Kongs embattled retailers are finally getting a break. After mainland tourist arrivals plunged last year as policy makers devalued the yuan, foreign-exchange moves may now encourage shoppers back to the city by making alternatives such as Japan and Malaysia more expensive. Chinas central bank has this year kept the yuan closely linked to the U.S. currency, and therefore the greenback-pegged Hong Kong dollar, while allowing it to drop 11.1 percent against the yen and 6.7 percent versus the ringgit. It will help perhaps put a floor in terms of retail sales, said Sandy Mehta, chief executive officer of Hong Kong-based advisory firm Value Investment Principals Ltd. The U.S. dollars slump this year will bring some respite to retailers, but further weakness will be needed to have more of an impact and turn the tide. The glimmer of hope comes amid a particularly gloomy period for the citys shops as a slowdown in the Chinese economy, President Xi Jinpings crackdown on corruption and increasing competition from Macau take a toll on tourist spending. Hong Kong retail sales tumbled 12.5 percent in the first quarter as visitor arrivals fell, the government said on Thursday, extending 2015s slump thats prompted a wave of luxury store closures. There are some signs of improvement for retailers. Visitors from China for the first day of what is locally known as the Golden Week May Day holiday jumped 14 percent from a year earlier to more than 200,000 people, the South China Morning Post reported, citing Immigration Department figures. Sa Sa International Holdings Ltd., Hong Kongs biggest personal-care retailer, on Thursday said its same store sales in Hong Kong and Macau grew 1 percent on year during the holiday. The companys shares jumped 4.6 percent after the report, paring their slide this year to 5.3 percent. Hong Kongs benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 1.7 percent on Friday, while Sa Sa dropped 0.8 percent. Chinas currency has been moving in virtual lockstep with the weakening dollar versus major peers this year, providing policy makers with a veneer of stability and exporters with a boost to earnings. The yuan has fallen 0.1 percent against the greenback in 2016, and strengthened 0.1 percent versus Hong Kongs dollar. In comparison, an index that measures the Chinese currencys performance against the exchange rates of 13 trading partners has dropped 4.5 percent to the lowest since 2014. It does help to provide a little bit of relief from an exchange perspective, said Tai Hui, Hong Kong-based chief Asia market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management. However, the performance issue with Hong Kongs tourism industry is not only the currency issue. But its also the fact that Chinese tourists, which are often the bulk of Hong Kong tourists, have more choices. Chinese visitors flocked to Japan in recent years as the declining yen made it cheaper to buy everything from rice cookers to toilet seats. Tourists from China made up 5 million of the record 19.7 million people who went to the country in 2015, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. Relaxed visa rules, frequent flights and short journey times favor Japan, South Korea and Thailand for Chinese travelers, who make up about 10 percent of global tourism, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Australia and Russia have also gained in popularity. The Hong Kong Tourism Board estimates that the number of tourists from the mainland will drop 3.2 percent for the year and their average spending will shrink 4 percent. The currency by itself may not lead to a recovery, said Mehta. But it will surely help things bottom out. Kana Nishizawa, Bloomberg The government on Saturday launched a 30-day public consultation on revisions to the Legislative Assembly (AL) Election Law. The consultation period will last until the end of June 5. The Secretary for Administration and Justice, Sonia Chan, said on Friday during a press conference that the revisions are aiming to ensure the maintenance of a just, fair and open environment for elections to that body. The revision proposes, among other aspects, the introduction of a scheme to monitor campaign expenses and the introduction of a ban on elected members of the Legislative Assembly holding any political position in a foreign country. The latter proposal is being seen as a way to prevent cases such as that of Pereira Coutinho, who was a candidate in latest legislative elections in Portugal while also being a lawmaker in Macau. The revision also covers enhanced management of electoral affairs, including the appointment of the members of the relevant Electoral Affairs Commission, well in advance of each election; the appointment of a body to handle minor cases of rule infringement; and the imposition of regulations regarding campaign advertising in newspapers and on websites. According to Sonia Chan, the suggested revisions were based on the governments observation of the fifth Legislative Assembly Election; the findings of a report on the election; and suggestions from the Commission Against Corruption and the Public Prosecutions Office. The New Macau Association (ANM) is calling for the resignation of Chui Sai On amid claims of the Chief Executives poor integrity and alleged involvement in corruption, after news broke of the Jinan University donation controversy. Last week the Macau Foundation announced that it was donating RMB100 million to Jinan University to coincide with the institutions 110th anniversary. Controversy ensued following the implication that Chuis double role as the president of the Council of Trustees of the Macau Foundation and his time serving as Vice Chairman of Jinan University Council would, as ANM put it, make him undoubtedly involved in [a] conflict of interest. ANM is now calling for the resignation of Chui over the RMB100 million donation and ensuing claim that the agreement could be considered a case of corruption. They are also demanding that the donation be withdrawn and that the enactment of a law to regulate the use of public funds be made to prevent future instances of alleged corruption. It is widely speculated that Chui agreed to the funneling of Macau public money to Jinan University in the name of donation, reads an ANM statement. We find these tricks that abuse the public resources of Macau intolerable. A petition has been submitted to the government calling for their response to the three demands within 48 hours. According to New Macau, as of last night the petition had gathered over 2,000 signatures. The association has given the government until the end of today to respond. In the absence of a response from the government, ANM is ominously threatening to consider taking further actions to safeguard the proper use of public money and to demand Chui step down. The Government Spokesperson Office issued a statement over the weekend justifying the donation. They explained that the MSAR maintains strong links with the mainland and wants to give back to the motherland through contributions to its educational development. The office says that such donations are an obligation of Macau. The statement assured the public that financing these new facilities at Jinan University would in no way affect the finances available to local tertiary institutions. However, ANM President Scott Chiang said in a TDM telephone interview that the donation lacked transparency in [light] of all the cut-backs [to the] local budget and other support to local universities. The Spokesperson Office also claimed that the financing may indirectly benefit Macau since there are many locals that were educated at Jinan University. As many as 30 percent of overseas students receiving scholarships from Jinan University are locals from Macau, it added. According to the Macau Foundation, approximately 300 Macau students are admitted to Jinan University each year. Supporting the development of Jinan University is in fact a long-term investment in the training of talented local people, so it will eventually benefit Macau, another statement from the Macau Foundation reads, echoing the words of the Government Spokesperson Office. The Macau Foundation further stressed that Jinan University had not been the only institution to benefit from public funding from Macau. Others, such as Peking University, Qinghua University, and Renmin University, have also received funding in recent years. This most recent donation, however, represents the single largest donation to the university since 1978 when the school reopened, according to a report by Macao Daily News. A proportion of the funds will be dedicated to the construction of two dormitories for students from Macau and Hong Kong. The Government Spokesperson Office concluded its statement with an appeal for the rational treatment of the issue in order for us to show commitment to the development of education in mainland [China] and in Macau. Daniel Beitler The Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) has announced a ban on proxy voting at VIP tables through mobile phones. The regulator told GGRAsia that as of today VIP operations will only accept bets from gamblers who are physically present on the premises. The move is being seen as a new blow to a VIP sector that has been besieged in recent years by Beijings anti-corruption policy, which has resulted in large numbers of Mainland VIP gamers avoiding travel to the MSAR. The announcement was foreshadowed by hints of the policy change on Thursday from Wynn Macau Chairman, Steve Wynn, and Chief Executive of MGM China, Grant Bowie. In separate conference calls on Thursday, the two gaming executives told analysts that the move was likely to be on the way. During a call with MGM investors, Grant Bowie said, On proxy betting, I think it seems [that there] is going to be a government announcement in the next few days to clarify the situation. Whatever happens in the notion of proxy, it will probably be yet another continuation of pressure for the junkets themselves, but it probably is not going to be that significant for any of the [casino] operators, certainly, not that significant for us, the gaming executive added. Wynn representatives agreed that the exposure of the new arrangement would have an insignificant effect on the company. The ban comes at a time when casino operators in Macau are increasingly moving away from their dependence on the VIP gaming segment, and looking toward mass gaming and non-gaming divisions to make up the shortfall. VIP gaming accounted for as little as 54.1 percent of overall profits during the first quarter of 2016, down by 19.3 percent year-on-year in terms of gaming revenue. This, however, marked significant improvement over the 42 percent fall between the first quarter of 2014 and the first quarter of 2015. Sterne Agee analyst David Bain echoed the sentiments of the two gaming executives, agreeing that the effect of the new policy would be minimal, since phone betting only accounts for between five and ten percent of VIP revenue. The impact on casinos should be fairly minor given thin VIP margins, he said. According to gaming lawyers in Macau, proxy betting can create complications with the know your customer protocol, which is encouraged under international best practices for tackling the threat of money laundering. Separately, the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lionel Leong, has reported that the mid-term review of the citys gaming industry is close to completion and is likely to be disclosed to the public this week, according to a statement from the Government Information Bureau. The review will outline the achievements of the citys six gaming concessionaires, their involvement in the community and the extent of their non-gaming offerings. It will also examine the welfare of employees and what opportunities have been offered to them regarding vertical or horizontal mobility. In comments to the media, the secretary stressed that the government would continue to allow growth in the number of new-to-market gaming tables of no more than three percent annually, up until the beginning of 2023. This will be the guiding principle for the governments assessments of new applications for gaming tables, he explained. Daniel Beitler bets at the table A representative of Sands Chinas public relations team told the Times: Sands China Ltd. has noticed recent news about the possibility of new policies against proxy betting. Sands China prohibits the use of electronic devices at gaming tables and only accepts bets from patrons at the table. The group of 14 countries and organizations providing direct support to the Mozambique Budget has decided to suspend aid to the country following the disclosure of debts omitted from the public accounts, said Wednesday in Maputo the President of the Republic of Portugal. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that the suspension was decided for the purpose of clarification, and was not definitive, adding that talks on the subject had already begun. The Portuguese President was speaking at a joint press conference with Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi after a meeting between the two heads of state at the presidential palace of Mozambique in Maputo. Rebelo de Sousa reiterated that the decision by donor countries and agencies was related to clarifying the real extent of public debt and also the need to stabilise the operation of the institutions and the country in economic and financial terms. The President of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, said he believed the decision to suspend direct aid to the state budget was a temporary measure to make room for clarification of Mozambican public debt. Cited by daily newspaper Noticias, Nyusi said he understood the programme support partners fears, as they do not feel comfortable to continue to send money as the issue of debt is not properly understood. I believe that there is no donor that wants to sacrifice the Mozambicans, as the measures that are being taken are aimed at creating a state of sustainability, said Nyusi, adding that the most important is whether the debt is sustainable. MDT/Macauhub china donates usd16m China has donated USD16 million to Mozambique under an economic and technical cooperation agreement signed Wednesday in Maputo by representatives of the two countries, Mozambican daily newspaper Noticias reported. The deputy minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Nyeleti Mondlane, said the signed document is the Chinese governments contribution to the Mozambican governments efforts to further the objective of economic and social development. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country will not use its nuclear weapons unless its sovereignty is invaded and announced a five-year economic plan at a milestone congress of North Koreas ruling party, which entered its third day yesterday. Kim said he is ready to improve ties with hostile nations, and called for more talks with rival South Korea to reduce misunderstanding and distrust. He also urged the United States to stay away from inter-Korean issues. Our republic is a responsible nuclear state that, as we made clear before, will not use nuclear weapons first unless aggressive hostile forces use nuclear weapons to invade on our sovereignty, Kim said in a roughly three-hour speech shown yesterday on the Norths Korean Central Television. Kim is believed to have delivered the speech at Pyongyangs April 25 House of Culture the day before, but its content wasnt made public until early Sunday. At the congress, Kim also announced a five-year plan starting this year to develop the Norths moribund economy, and identified improving the countrys power supply and increasing its agricultural and light-manufacturing production as critical parts of the program. He also said the country must secure more electricity through nuclear power. It was first time North Korea has announced a five-year plan since the 1980s and detailing it in such a public way demonstrated that Kim is taking ownership of the countrys economic problems, something his father, Kim Jong Il, avoided as leader. Kim stressed that the country needs to increase its international trade and engagement in the global economy, but didnt announce any significant reforms or plans to adopt capitalist- style marketization. Market-style business has become more common in North Korea, in large part because of its economic crisis and famine in the 1990s, which made it impossible for the government to provide its citizens with the necessities they had come to rely on and forced many to learn how to fend for themselves. But while the realities on the ground have shifted, officials have been reluctant to formally embrace significant reforms as state policy. Kim said that North Korea will sincerely fulfill its duties for the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons and work to realize the denuclearization of the world. The North is ready to improve and normalize ties with countries hostile to it if they respect its sovereignty and approach it in a friendly manner, he said. Despite the talks about more diplomatic activity, Kim also made it clear that the North has no plans to discard its byongjin policy of simultaneously developing its nuclear weapons and its domestic economy. In a speech published by the Norths Rodong Sinmun newspaper, Kim described the twin policy as a strategy the party must permanently hold on to for the maximized interest of our revolution. Many outside analysts consider the policy unlikely to succeed because of the heavy price North Korea pays for its nuclear program in terms of international sanctions that keep its economy from growing. North Korea carried out its fourth nuclear test in January and followed with a satellite launch in February that was seen by outside governments as a banned test for long-range missile technology and brought tougher U.N. sanctions. The North responded to the punitive measures, and also the annual U.S.-South Korean military drills in March and April, by firing a series of missiles and artillery into the sea. It also claimed advancements in developing nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, and combined them with threats of pre-emptive nuclear strikes on Washington and Seoul. South Korea has taken a hard- line approach to North Korea following its nuclear test and long-range rocket launch, shutting down a jointly run factory park in a North Korean border town that had been the last remaining symbol of cooperation between the rivals and slapping Pyongyang with its own economic sanctions. Seoul has also been in talks with Washington on deploying a sophisticated U.S. missile defense system in South Korea. Kim said fundamentally improving inter-Korean relations was an urgent matter for his government and also called for the South to hold hands with the North as a companion for unification, KCNA said. He urged the need for more talks with the South, and in particular called for a meeting between military officials of both sides to reduce border tensions. But he stressed that the South must first employ practical measures to improve ties and throw out laws and institutional systems that have hampered them. He also said that the United States should no longer be involved with matters on the Korean Peninsula, and that if enemy forces ignite the fire of war, the North was ready to mercilessly punish the aggressors and accomplish the historical feat of unification. Kim called for Seoul and Washington to stop their military drills and also said the United States must withdraw its 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea as a buffer against possible aggression from the North. South Koreas Foreign Ministry had said ahead of the congress that the priority of any future talks with the North would be its denuclearization. Eric Talmadge, Pyongyang , AP Philippine presidential candidates made a final push for votes in rallies on Saturday that drew thousands of supporters two days before the tightly contested election. All five contenders held their final rallies in the capital, Manila. By 7 p.m. local time, police said about 300,000 supporters of front-runner Rodrigo Duterte, the firebrand mayor of Davao city, had gathered at Luneta Park, where Pope Francis delivered his Mass last year. A recent opinion poll from Social Weather Stations puts Duterte, 71, in the lead with 33 percent of the votes in Philippines first-past-the-post system. He is ahead of Senator Grace Poe with 22 percent and Mar Roxas, a former interior secretary endorsed by outgoing President Benigno Aquino, with 20 percent. Dutertes tough talk, including calling for the extra-judicial killing of criminals, has been criticized by human rights groups, but his populist rhetoric to combat crime and deal with infrastructure backlogs has won him support among Filipinos. Aquino made a last-ditch effort this week to get rival candidates, Roxas and Poe, to agree on a united front to prevent Duterte from winning. Roxas said on Saturday hell continue with his campaign after failing to convince Poe to combine forces against Duterte. Bloomberg CHINAs navy is searching for 17 sailors after their fishing boat collided with another vessel. Three navy ships operating in the East China Sea off the coast of Zhejiang province were diverted to join the search and another five vessels dispatched because of poor visibility in the area. MALAYSIA Scandal-ridden Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak secured a major victory for his ruling coalition in elections Saturday in the countrys biggest state, boosting his rule despite corruption allegations. USA Donald Trump wont have to go on trial over allegations his namesake university cheated students in California, Florida and New York at the same time hes running for president of the United States. A federal judge in San Diego ordered that the jury trial on behalf of thousands of former Trump University students will start Nov. 28, 20 days after the presidential election. INDONESIA Seventeen passengers and crew were injured when a Hong Kong Airlines flight ran into severe turbulence early Saturday on the way from Indonesias resort Bali island to Hong Kong. PHILIPPINE voters head to the polls in a hotly contested election thats seen Rodrigo Duterte, the controversial mayor of Davao City, propelled to the front of the pack with his tough talk to combat crime and deal with traffic-clogged roads. IRAQ Officials say multiple attacks in and around Iraq have killed at least 12 people. Police say the deadliest in yesterdays attacks was in Baghdads western suburb of Abu Ghraib when a suicide bomber blew up himself outside a funeral tent for the wife of a local official, killing three policemen and two civilians. At least 16 others were wounded in that attack. EGYPT Gunmen opened fire on a minibus filled with plainclothes policemen south of Cairo, killing eight and undercutting the governments efforts to stamp out violence and revive investment. The attackers stopped the police van in the city of Helwan, then sprayed it with bullets before fleeing the scene. Wynn Resorts Ltd last week released their financial results for the first quarter of 2016, ending March 31, showing a significant year-on-year decline in Macau operations, which was slightly offset by an increase in revenue from Las Vegas operations. According to a statement from the company, net revenues for the first quarter of 2016 were USD997.7 million, down from USD1.09 billion in the first quarter of 2015. The decline was led by a 13.8 percent (pct) decrease from the Macau side of the business, partially offset by a 0.7 pct increase from Las Vegas operations. Adjusted Property EBITDA was USD300.3 million for the first quarter of 2016, a 7 pct decrease from USD323 million in the first quarter of 2015. The net revenue for Macau operations was down to USD608.2 million in the first quarter, a decrease from USD705.4 million a year earlier. Adjusted Property EBIDTA in the first quarter amounted to USD191.2 million, down 9.9 pct from USD212.3 million in the same period in 2015. Table games turnover in the VIP segment for Macau totaled USD13.47 billion for the first quarter of 2016, a 21.4 pct decrease from USD17.13 billion a year earlier. Meanwhile, the average number of VIP tables decreased to 189 units in the first quarter of 2016, from 252 units in the first quarter of 2015. In terms of the mass- market segment, income from gaming tables measured USD1.21 billion in the first quarter, down 5.6pct from the equivalent period in 2014. Table games winnings in the mass market decreased 11.5 pct to USD247.5 million. As a percentage the mass market tables games winnings were at 20.5pct, below the 21.8 pct experienced in the first quarter of 2015. DB Happy Mothers Day to all the law enforcement moms and the moms of law enforcement. Q: I had somebody report that I was neglecting and abusing my children, which I knew was totally false. I was investigated and it was found that I did not abuse or neglect my children. Is there a law against reporting false reports of abuse? Anonymous A: Yes, however it would be a civil penalty. Idaho Code 16-1607 states that any person who makes a report or allegation of child abuse, abandonment or neglect knowing the same to be false or who reports or alleges the same in bad faith or with malice shall be liable to the party or parties against whom the report was made for the amount of actual damages sustained or statutory damages of five hundred dollars whichever is greater, plus attorneys fees and costs of suit. If the court finds that the defendant acted with malice or oppression, the court may award treble (Fancy word for triple) actual damages or treble statutory damages, whichever is greater. The reporting party must know that the act is false and not just be mistaken. People making these charges that they know were false could also be charged with filing a false report and the financial costs occurred by the police in the investigation could be restitution as well. I would like to remind everybody that it is against the law not to report known child abuse or neglect. Q: What is the rule for hitting a parked car in a parking lot and you cant find the owner? Do I have to wait until the owner comes out to exchange information? Peter A: No you dont have to wait for the owner of the car to come out to the car. What you do have to do though, is to leave your information, which includes your name, address, phone number and a description of what you did. This usually can be left under the wiper of the car. You can give your insurance information at the time of contact with owner of car. You could also call the police and see if they might be able to find the owner and try to get information exchanged. The police are not required to write private property crashes but sometimes will as a public courtesy. I must add that if you dont leave any information or give false information as to what you did, you could be charged with a misdemeanor. The charge would be leaving the scene of a damage crash. This could turn a simple exchange of information to a simple exchange of you going from freedom to lack of freedom (AKA handcuffs, jail, etc.) Officer down: Happy to report that as of time of submission there were no officers down to report. Have a question for Policemandan? Email your question(s) to policemandan@yahoo.com or look for Ask Policemandan on Facebook and click the like button. Mail to: Box 147, Heyburn, Idaho 83336 TWIN FALLS The 16-year-old boy gunned down Saturday afternoon was Vason Widaman, a student at Canyon Ridge High School who lived in Twin Falls with his grandparents who adopted him as a baby. The teens body will be taken to Boise for an autopsy, County Coroner Gene Turley said. Widaman was killed in a what police are calling a drive-by shooting just before 4 p.m. Saturday while he rode his bicycle near Canyon Ridge High School. Several witnesses reported hearing four or five shots. Sunday, people placed colorful flowers and candles where Widamans body fell the day before. No one has been arrested and police are still looking for suspects, Twin Falls County Prosecutor Grant Loebs said. Saturday, police said they were looking for a dark-colored car and pulled over several during a city-wide search, including a black Dodge Charger near Norco on Pole Line Road. The names of the people in the car were checked and they were released. While rumors of more shootings spread on social media Saturday night and Sunday morning, neither Twin Falls police nor Twin Falls County sheriffs deputies reported responding to any other shootings overnight. Several people reported seeing a man held at gunpoint by police near Falls Avenue and Frontier Road. Police said no one was arrested. Police are talking with witnesses to identify suspects. A police statement said several leads indicate that the shooting was an isolated incident and there is no threat to the public. The incident was the second time in as many days a gun was fired in public in Twin Falls. On Friday, a middle schooler accidentally discharged a handgun in a classroom at Robert Stuart Middle School, less than a mile from the scene of Saturdays shooting. No one was injured, and three students were arrested. The Twin Falls School District sent a message to parents Sunday night saying the incidents weren't likely connected. Nevertheless, security is being increased Monday at Robert Stuart and Canyon Ridge. The district asked that parents who keep their children at home call in to report the absences. TWIN FALLS A teenage boy was slain in a what police are calling a drive-by shooting just before 4 p.m. Saturday while he rode his bicycle near Canyon Ridge High School. About a dozen police officers, the county coroner and county prosecutor had descended on the normally quiet upper-middle class residential neighborhood near the North Pointe subdivision by 4:30 p.m. and yellow police tape blocked off several streets. Police have not released the boys name and are still trying to reach his next of kin. Saturday night, police were talking with witnesses to identify suspects. A police statement said several leads indicate that the shooting was an isolated incident and there is no threat to the public. This is unusual all around for our area, city spokesman Joshua Palmer said. By all accounts, the neighborhood is quiet and has the familiar signs of suburbia: the smell of charcoal from barbecue grills and kids running through backyards. Residents were shocked this kind of violence could happen so close to home. Some heard five shots. Others heard four. All looked on some with cellphones out taking pictures as investigators scanned the crime scene for evidence with an infrared gun. Evidence like casings or blood might not be seen with the naked eye especially on the rocky entrance to the subdivision where the body fell. One woman who lives in the subdivision but wanted to remain anonymous said she heard five shots but didnt see a shooter. This kind of violence, she said, is unheard of. Nothings happened like this before, she said. This is a quiet neighborhood. Her neighbor, a long-time resident who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said she hasnt noticed anything unusual in the neighborhood leading up to the drive-by shooting. Ive lived here 19 years and Ive never heard anything like this, she said. Crime-scene investigators worked Saturday afternoon, holding a white sheet that blocked the body from view. His bicycle, shoes and a pair of sunglasses on the ground were the only things visible. Based on witness accounts, investigators are looking for a dark-colored car. The search sent police scrambling all across the city looking for suspects. During the search, police pulled over a black Dodge Charger near Norco on Pole Line Road. The names of the people in the car were checked and they were released. Several people reported seeing a man held at gunpoint by police near Falls Avenue and Frontier Road. Police said no one was arrested. Meanwhile, across town police were searching for another person down in Rock Creek Canyon. Police said that incident was unrelated. The Twin Falls Police Department is saddened by this act of violence in our community, Police Chief Craig Kingsbury said in a statement. We are designating our resources to identify and apprehend the suspects in this incident, and we want to assure the community that we will bring those responsible to justice. The incident is the second time in as many days a gun has fired in public in Twin Falls. On Friday, a middle schooler accidentally discharged a handgun in a classroom at Robert Stuart Middle School, less than a mile from the scene of Saturdays shooting. No one was injured, and three students were arrested. The subdivision shooting is the first gun-related homicide in Twin Falls County this year. Four gun-related homicides happened in 2015. SPOKANE | With his Republican rivals no longer a threat, presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump took aim at Hillary Clinton, the countrys fiscal policies and even some members of his own party in a speech delivered to roughly 4,000 people at the Spokane Convention Center on Saturday. This political correctness is killing our country, the bombastic New York real estate mogul proclaimed, launching into an improvised speech lasting about an hour in which he called his political opponents dopes and accused the media of twisting his words. Trump and Stephen Miller, a senior policy adviser who spoke before the GOPs presumptive nominee took the stage, focused their attacks on Clinton. Riding a wave of support that has left many in the Republican Party stunned, Trump predicted an unlikely Washington victory over Democrats in the November general election. I guarantee that were going to be back numerous times because were going to win the state of Washington, Trump said. I guarantee you. No Republican for president has taken the state since 1984, when Ronald Reagan beat Walter Mondale with 56 percent of the vote. Trump claimed hed be a better candidate for women than Hillary Clinton, focusing on the infidelity of her husband, whom he called the worst abuser of women in the history of politics. Shes playing the womens card, Trump said of Hillary Clinton. By the way, if she didnt play the womens card she would have no chance, I mean zero, of winning. Trump also criticized Clinton for failing to lock up her partys nomination as quickly as he was able to defeat his Republican foes. She cant put the deal away, Trump said, referring to Clintons continued primary fight against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. We can. We can close the deal. Trump promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act, knock the hell out of ISIS and put a stop to the Common Core educational standards that have been adopted by many states. He criticized President George W. Bushs decision to go to war with Iraq and Secretary of State John Kerrys work to craft a nuclear deal with Iran. Responding to criticism that hes sexist and prejudiced, he professed his love multiple times in the speech, including for women, Hispanics, China and the Mexican people. I love China. Ive got a lot of friends in China, he said at one point. I sell condos to their people. He stood by many of his controversial promises. Were going to build a wall, folks. Were going to do it, Trump said. He promised that he would make the Mexican government pay for it. Trump said the free trade agreement proposed with countries in Asia, the Tran-Pacific Partnership, would hurt American jobs. He called the North American Free Trade Agreement, signed by Bill Clinton, a disaster. This is going to be worse, Trump said of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The speech was interrupted briefly when Trump pointed out what appeared to be a protester in the crowd. Is this guy on our side or not, Trump said, pointing to a member of the audience in the middle of a comment about unemployment statistics. Are you on our side? No? Out. Get out of here. Trump said he appreciated the protesters because they drew the cameras to the crowd, which he said was close to 10,000 people. Safety officials said at the height of Trumps speech that 3,929 people had entered through the gates. I love protesters, Trump said. Those cameras, they twist like pretzels. Otherwise they just stay in one place. Trump did not spare members of the Republican Party from criticism, saying his victories in states such as Indiana had put members of the GOP establishment on their heels. He mocked and impersonated conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer and criticized former GOP presidential candidates Jeb Bush and Lindsey Graham. He targeted Graham and Bush for not endorsing him after signing a pledge to back the Republican nominee. He called Graham a total dope. Jeb Bush is not an honorable person, he said. Lindsey Graham is not an honorable person. But Trump said he was hopeful hed be able to smooth a rift with Republicans on Capitol Hill. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said in a televised interview this week he wasnt ready to endorse Trump as the partys candidate yet, a claim echoed by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Spokane. I would imagine things will be OK with Paul Ryan, Trump said. Well see how things go. Im meeting him on Thursday. Were going to see what happens. While many high-profile local Republicans were absent from the event, including McMorris Rodgers, there were some who attended, including state Sen. Brian Dansel of Republic, Spokane County Prosecutor Larry Haskell and Josh Kerns, a Republican candidate for the Spokane County Commission. Hes our nominee, Kerns said of Trump. Im going to vote for him. Spokane Valley City Councilman Ed Pace led the rally with a prayer, asking that the Walls of Jericho of the Republican establishment come tumbling down. Spokane City Councilman Mike Fagan led the Pledge of Allegiance. Trump asked his supporters to vote in Washingtons May 24 presidential Republican primary, even though hes the only one still actively campaigning. He promised to go on to victory in November. Were going to win, win, win, and youre going to love it, Trump said. Youre going to love it. Rachel Alexander contributed to this report. TWIN FALLS Bhutanese refugee Shar Upreti has an opportunity for his children to get a preschool education something hed struggle to pay for otherwise. Upreti and his wife, Khina Bastola, have three children; two are in Head Start and attend preschool classes four days a week. The couple recently filled out an application seeking Early Head Start services for 3-month-old Suzana. It is a great thing for me, Upreti said. The College of Southern Idahos Head Start and Early Head Start programs strive to serve a diverse population of low-income families representative of Twin Falls demographics. In reality, they have a higher percentage of refugees than the population does. Nearly one in four families in CSIs Head Start and Early Head Start have parents who are refugees. Upreti and Bastola have been in Twin Falls for four years and got involved with the program in 2013. With the language barrier, Upreti said, hed have a tough time making sure his children are ready for kindergarten. And Upreti, who works at Chobani, said he couldnt afford to pay for private preschool. Program director Mancole Fedder said he wouldnt comment about controversy surrounding refugee resettlement in Twin Falls. But Head Start and Early Head Start, he said, are fortunate to have the CSI Refugee Center here. It brings diversity to our center, said Ruby Hite, Head Start enrollment coordinator. In total, 160 children in Twin Falls receive services 44 in Early Head Start and 116 in Head Start and 22 percent are from refugee families. Federal funding covers the cost; families pay nothing. Refugees arent guaranteed enrollment. But the lower a familys income, the more points its application receives. Most refugees fall within that category, Hite said. Certain risk factors such as being a refugee or a child whose parent is incarcerated also earn an application extra points. If families with similar incomes apply, the risk factors determine whos accepted. Theyre the tie breaker, Hite said. A parent council comes up with the risk factors and scoring, and families disclose whether any of the factors apply to them. In south-central Idaho, 669 children receive Head Start or Early Head Start services at 11 centers from American Falls to Hagerman, and Hailey to Twin Falls. Head Start offers preschool classes, while Early Head Start is for pregnant women, infants and toddlers up to age 3. The Refugee Center refers families with children younger than 4, Fedder said, and provides an interpreter to help with the application process. But after that, Head Start and Early Head Start pay for an interpreter using their federal grant money to operate programs. We dont absolutely have to have an interpreter, but we couldnt get much done without one, Fedder said. Early Head Start families get home visits each week 90 minutes to two hours and the cost of an interpreter adds up quickly, Fedder said. Plus, in rural south-central Idaho, it can be a challenge finding interpreters for each language needed, Hite said. Among families in Twin Falls programs, 11 languages are represented. Two years ago, Fedder encountered a family who needed a Nepali sign language interpreter. That was a challenge. Parents want their children to be prepared and know English before they enter kindergarten, Hite said. And learning at an early age is ideal. Three- and 4-year-olds learn language so quickly. Without the program, many children would go without preschool education. Unless a child has a documented disability, most communities with the exception of Blaine County dont have free preschool services, Hite said. Preschool can get expensive easily $400 per month or more. Theres also a gap in accessibility, Hite said: families who dont qualify for Head Start but cant afford to pay for preschool. Upretis family heard about Head Start from friends. In preschool, son Sahil, 5, and daughter Salina, 3, are learning English and academic skills. Sahil will enter kindergarten in the fall and already has learned how to socialize with classmates, listen to a teacher and follow school rules. A Head Start teacher is helping the family navigate the kindergarten registration process including gathering documents such as a birth certificate and immunization records. Without Head Start, Fedder said, more children would arrive at kindergarten without any school experience. The local schools would be overwhelmed, he said. It doesnt take an educator to realize that. January: Fazliddin Kurbanov a refugee from Uzbekistan living in Boise is sentenced to 25 years in prison. Authorities say Kurbanov instructed people how to create bombs to target transportation systems and other public places. January: Gov. C.L. Butch Otter tells journalists at the Associated Press legislative preview he doesnt expect any legislation about refugee resettlement. But there could be pushback, he says, if President Obamas administration increases the number of Syrian refugees being let into the country. January: The Idaho Republican Partys central committee passes a resolution asking the state Legislature to stop Idahos refugee resettlement and disbursement of funding for refugee benefits until economic costs are analyzed and national security concerns put to rest. January: Few lawmakers attend a speech at the Idaho Capitol by controversial anti-Islam pastor Shahram Hadian, who warns states must protect their citizens from Muslim extremists because the federal government will not. Protesters gather in the Capitol hallways, some carrying signs welcoming refugees. January: Refugee resettlement is a topic during a Twin Falls County Sheriffs debate pitting Sheriff Tom Carter against candidate Cliff Katona, a retired Idaho State Police detective. Katona says he would make sure refugees feel welcome, but they must abide by American laws. During his 24 years in ISP, he says, he never investigated a refugee for a crime. Carter says he supports the governors call to fix a broken vetting system but said refugees are more likely to be victims of a crime. January: A resolution honoring the 130th anniversary of the unveiling of the Statue of Liberty is introduced in the states House State Affairs Committee. The resolutions sponsor, Rep. Hy Kloc, D-Boise, was born in a refugee camp in Germany after World War II, and his parents were Holocaust survivors from Poland. The resolution passes the House and Senate and in mid-March is delivered to the Secretary of State. February: State legislators hold off on a resolution praising Azerbaijan for its ancient traditions of interfaith tolerance, inclusion and positive multiculturalism after lobbying by members of the Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region. Liyah Babayan of Twin Falls, an Armenian Christian refugee from Azerbaijan, meets with the House State Affairs Committee to share her stories of persecution. February: Twin Falls City Council votes unanimously to appoint a liaison to the Magic Valley Refugee Advocates, a local grassroots group. City Council members dont offer support for the groups efforts but agree to an exchange of information. Its the citys first time to engage in the heated debate over refugee resettlement. February: Twin Falls High School Principal Dan Vogt blocks a story students prepared about perceptions toward local immigrants for an edition of the Bruin News. Some students and parents raised concerns about a survey created by a student journalist asking for student opinions about Muslims and Islamophobia in the U.S. March: State legislators consider a bill banning foreign law in Idaho. Sponsor Rep. Eric Redman, R-Spirit Lake, gives committee members a packet of information on the dangers of Sharia law, including a picture of a severed hand. The bill doesnt make it to the full House or Senate. March: U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador an Idaho Republican sponsors legislation to give Congress more control over the number of refugees coming into the country and let communities that dont want refugee resettlement reject them. It would cap the number of refugees to be allowed into the U.S. at 60,000 per year and bar the president from raising the ceiling without congressional approval. March: In response to the Idaho controversy, 11 students from the University of Idaho spend spring break volunteering for the College of Southern Idahos Refugee Center. March: Mormon women are given a special assignment during The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints general conference: to be part of a refugee relief effort called I Was a Stranger. April: A petition for a ballot measure to ban refugee centers in Twin Falls County falls almost 3,000 signatures short of whats needed to get onto the May ballot. At the deadline, the petition has 894 signatures. It needed 3,842. April: The first Syrian refugee family arrives in the U.S. Kansas City, Mo. under President Obamas surge operation to resettle 10,000 Syrians by Sept. 1. So far, about 1,000 have come since October. April: German officials plus business professionals and volunteers visit Boise for two days to gain insights into how the city handles refugee resettlement. April: President Obama visits Germany and says the U.S. and Europe must welcome incoming refugees. He announces plans to send as many as 250 more U.S. troops to Syria bringing the total up to 300. Julie Wootton However voters cast their ballots for the two races for county commissioner in Twin Falls, the county will be well-positioned for success. All four candidates have impressive political pedigrees, temperaments and leadership qualities. But we are most impressed with one candidate above all, Don Hall. A Twin Falls city councilman and former mayor, teacher and former police officer and firefighter, Halls track record of public service makes him tailor-made for the commission. Hes also a former director of the Boys & Girls Club of the Magic Valley. We believe him when he says hes running to make a difference for county residents. His opponent, incumbent Leon Mills, is a statesman in his own right. In his tenure, the county completed a massive move to County West, the old hospital complex. The countys finances are in check. And Mills has taken on numerous side projects as a volunteer that have enriched our community. But in this race, Mills is simply outmatched. The breadth and depth of Halls background and his ideas for moving forward make him the best candidate. Hall has deep connections throughout southern Idaho and across the state that will come in more than handy on the board. The county has a comprehensive plan, but Hall says it needs updated immediately to reflect the regions recent rapid growth, and that the county must develop a strategic plan for reaching its goals. Hall also wants to tighten the countys spending so it doesnt always assess the maximum 3 percent tax increase allowed under the law. And Hall wants to restore the diversion programs that have been cut to intervene earlier in the lives of troubled kids. Where Hall has the moxie to unseat an incumbent, were not convinced the same is true for challenger Jack Johnson, a longtime Jerome County sheriffs deputy and Murtaugh resident who ran unsuccessfully for sheriff in 2012. Johnsons chief complaints are that Urie isnt visible enough in the community and that the county lacks transparency when it comes to posting meeting minutes on its website. Both complaints may be true, but theyre not enough for voters to oust Urie, a longtime commissioner with decades of experience. His institutional knowledge is invaluable to the board. Urie says the countys next big project should be expanding the aging court facilities, which have become too cramped in a growing community. And commissioners should start planning soon, he said, for a possible jail expansion. Economic development is a key issue for each candidate, as it should be. With the countys population expected to keep soaring, commissioners will have to balance an increased need for public services with a county budget thats within their means. We trust Urie and Hall to do the best job. Urie and Hall are the clear candidates to continue to build on what has worked and bring the forethought to take the county into a new era. Reading the letter-to-the editor pages in Twin Falls Times-News these days, one would think Grant Loebs is being considered canonized for sainthood. Those who sing his praises the loudest seem to think he is a hybrid between the fictional legal character of Perry Mason and the real life court room strategist of Clarence Darrow. In truth, Mr. Loebs is neither. Since being appointed to the office in 1997 Mr. Loebs has enjoyed the privileges of incumbency, including the endorsement of a local talk radio personality Bill Collie, who has lived in Twin Falls area for a little over a year. One wonders how one year in the area merits knowledge of Mr. Loebs job performance and such a glowing endorsement from someone not in the legal profession. Mr. Loebs endorsement-zombies would have us believe that he is leading the countys phalanx on the point of the prosecutorial spear, keeping us safe from neer-do-wells and criminals. In fact, Mr. Loebs rarely appears in court, delegating most court proceedings to deputy prosecutors. Mr. Loebs also seems to have a penchant for taking high-profile cases and losing, most notably the domestic violence case against former Twin Falls Sheriffs Deputy Michael Cooper. A second-year law student would have known there was no basis for the charge and dismissed it out of hand. Instead, Mr. Loebs insisted on prosecuting Cooper, only to lose handily in court and remedially tutored by Keith Roark. Many wondered why Mr. Loebs was hell-bent on pursuing this bogus charge: political favor, personal vendetta. We can only wonder. Perhaps our countys legal dollar could be better spent? Maybe we should consider voting for his opponents, both in the primary and the general election? Mr. Loebs sycophants would have us believe that he wears a thick down parka of legal jurisprudence that shields the countys citizens from the criminal gales and squalls, but is in fact, wearing far few too clothes for a blustery Idaho spring. Rob Morris Hollister Please take a close look at Don Hall and Jack Johnson who are running for Twin Falls County commissioner positions against incumbents. They are the most qualified candidates who have sought that position in the last 10 years. Both lead from the front, are articulate and have made impressive contributions in their respective careers. Don Hall has excelled in every position he has held Twin Falls Police, Boys and Girls Club executive cirector, CSI instructor, city council member and two-time mayor. Jack Johnsons 32-year service in law enforcement, including experience as an administrator, attests to his expertise and professionalism. His commitment to community service endeavors demonstrates his concern for the welfare of all who live in Twin Falls County. They have both run positive campaigns which focus on Twin Falls Countys future, and they will bring fresh approaches and pro-active leadership to a county that will truly be fortunate if these tow men are elected. Steve Kaatz Buhl During President Barack Obama's visit to Cuba in March 2016, dictator Raul Castro said he would be willing to release all political prisoners; all he needed was a list of names. Only the biggest fool would believe him, but several groups almost immediately released their lists. Of course, there was no mass release. On April 25, the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation, one of the most credible sources in Cuba for information on political prisoners released its updated list of 93 political prisoners. A major goal of this blog since its inception more than 10 years ago is to recognize those brave Cubans imprisoned because of their opposition to, and their actions in service of their beliefs, against the Castro dictatorship. It is one small step to ensure that they, and their oppressors, know that they are not forgotten. In that spirit, Uncommon Sense has revived one of its most important features, the Cuban Political Prisoner of the Week. |---| The Kardashians will never meet Cubans like Andres Fidel Alfonso Rodriguez as they tape their reality show, because for Alfonso and other Cuban political prisoners, there is nothing entertaining about the reality of Cuba. Alfonso, 57, an activist with the Pro Human Rights Group with the Andrei Sajarov Foundation and the National Civic Resistence Front. has been in jail since Dec. 24, 2013. He has served about half of a 4-1/2-year prison sentence for "assault." In prison, he has continued with his resistance to regime, refusing to wear the uniform of a common criminal and paying the consequences. In response, he has carried out at least one hunger strike in protest. Tunisian Premier indicated Friday during an unannounced visit to Tripoli that the Tunisian consulate will soon re-open after it was closed in June last year following an abduction of diplomats. We are accelerating steps in order to open the consulate as soon as possible, Habid Essid said at a joint press conference with Libyan counterpart. Tunis last year in June shut down its consulate in Tripoli following the abduction of some of the consulate staff who would be released later after long negotiations. Essid said his visit was to support the new Libyan authorities who have the historic role of laying down foundations for a new Libya, restoring security and fighting terrorism. He added that the task awaiting the Libyan authorities is purely Libyan internal affairs. Tunisia supports Libyans so that they attain the goals set. Essid said. On his part, Libyan nominal Prime Minister Faiez Serraj indicated that joint commissions will be established to examine security measures at the border crossings and that flights from and to Tunis-Carthage airport will resume, Tunisian National Press agency reports. Tunisian authorities last year in December suspended all in and fro flights between Tunis international airport and Libya after Tunisian authorities were tipped that terrorists based in Libya were plotting attacks against Tunis-Carthage airport following November suicide attack in Tunis which killed 12 members of Presidential security unit. Serraj called for close political, economic and security coordination between the region members, stressing the need to enhance security coordination to fight terrorism which has spread across the region. Tunisia hosted until late March the Libyan unity government birthed in Morocco, in December. Scissors used to cut open plastic bags containing heroin hang from a cable attached to a table in a room where addicts inhale heroin fumes in a clinic in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Tuesday, April 12, 2016. One of three injection sites in the Dutch capital, the facility distributes free heroin to long-term addicts as part of a government program created for hardened addicts who might otherwise commit a crime to pay for their fix. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) Across the United States, heroin users have died in alleys behind convenience stores, on city sidewalks and in the bathrooms of fast-food jointsbecause no one was around to save them when they overdosed. An alarming 47,000 American overdose deaths in 201460 percent from heroin and related painkillers like fentanylhas pushed elected leaders from coast to coast to consider what was once unthinkable: government-sanctioned sites where users can shoot up under the supervision of a doctor or nurse who can administer an antidote if necessary. "Things are getting out of control. We have to find things we can do for people who are addicted now," said New York state Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, who is working on legislation to allow supervised injection sites that would also include space for treatment services. "The idea shouldn't be dismissed out of hand. I don't see anyone else coming up with anything new and innovative." Critics of the war on drugs have long talked about the need for a new approach to addiction, but the idea of allowing supervised injection sites is now coming from state lawmakers in New York, Maryland and California, along with city officials in Seattle, San Francisco and Ithaca, New York, who note that syringe exchanges were once controversial but now operate in 33 states. In this Tuesday, April 12, 2016 photo, containers for used needles and drug use information are provided at each of the injecting cubicles at Sydney's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre in Sydney, Australia. At Sydney's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre, more than 5,900 people have overdosed since it opened in 2001. No one has died. It's the same at Insite in Vancouver, British Columbia. About 20 overdoses happen there every week, but the facility has yet to record a death.(AP Photo/Rick Rycroft) While such sites have operated for years in places such as Canada, the Netherlands and Australia, they face significant legal and political challenges in the U.S., including criticism that they are tantamount to waving a white flag at an epidemic that should be fought with prevention and treatment. "It's a dangerous idea," said John Walters, drug czar under President George W. Bush. "It's advocated by people who seem to think that the way we should help sick people is by keeping them sick, but comfortably sick." But proponents argue such sites are not so radical outside the U.S., pointing to examples where they offer not only a place to shoot up, but also health care, counseling and even treatment beds. In many cases, the users are there to shoot up heroin or dangerous opioids like fentanyl, though some take painkillers in pill form. At Sydney's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre, more than 5,900 people have overdosed since it opened in 2001. No one has died. It's the same at Insite in Vancouver, British Columbia. About 20 overdoses happen there every week, but the facility, which is jointly operated by a local nonprofit and the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, has yet to record a death. In this Tuesday, April 12, 2016 photo Marianne Jauncey, medical director at Sydney's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre lays out syringes and other equipment provided to clients using the center in Sydney, Australia. At Sydney's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre, more than 5,900 people have overdosed since it opened in 2001. No one has died. It's the same at Insite in Vancouver, British Columbia. About 20 overdoses happen there every week, but the facility has yet to record a death. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft) "A big fat zero," said Insite site coordinator Darwin Fisher. Sydney's facility is tucked between a hostel and a Chinese restaurant in Kings Cross, the city's red-light district. Aside from the security guard posted just inside the front door, it looks like a typical health clinic. At least two staffers, including a registered nurse, monitor the injection room. They are not allowed to administer drugs, though sterile needles are provided. If a patient overdoses, the nurse delivers the antidote Narcan, which quickly reverses the overdose. After users get their fix, they head to a second room with a decidedly warmer feel. Colored Christmas lights hang from the ceiling; books and magazines line the shelves. Clients can relax with a cup of coffee or tea or talk to staff. Some stay for 15 minutes; others spend hours. They exit through a back door to protect their privacy. In this Tuesday, April 12, 2016 photo, people walk past the nondescript building housing Sydney's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre tucked between a hostel and a Chinese restaurant in Kings Cross, the city's red-light district. At Sydney's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre, more than 5,900 people have overdosed since it opened in 2001. No one has died. It's the same at Insite in Vancouver, British Columbia. About 20 overdoses happen there every week, but the facility has yet to record a death. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft) The center opened on an 18-month trial basis following a sharp increase in heroin use in Sydney. The trial was repeatedly extended by government officials until 2010, when it was granted permanent status. It's run by the social services arm of the Uniting Church and is funded by police-seized proceeds of various crimes. A clinic in Amsterdamone of three injection sites in the Dutch capitalgoes even further, distributing free heroin to long-term addicts as part of a government program created for hardened addicts who might otherwise commit a crime to pay for their fix. About 80 users visit up to three times a day. Most are men, and the average age is 60. Many began using in the 1970s and 1980s. "We would ideally like them to cut back their use," said Fleur Clarijs, a doctor at the facility. In this Tuesday, April 12, 2016 photo Marianne Jauncey, medical director at Sydney's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre, right, explains the use of the centre's "crash mat" and recovery equipment used for clients that overdoes while using the center in Sydney, Australia. At Sydney's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre, more than 5,900 people have overdosed since it opened in 2001. No one has died. It's the same at Insite in Vancouver, British Columbia. About 20 overdoses happen there every week, but the facility has yet to record a death. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft) But, she said, the main objective of the facility is to reduce risk to usersand their effects on the community. In Vancouver's seedy Downtown Eastside neighborhood, Insite offers patients treatment services just up the stairs from where they shoot up. About a third of Insite's visitors request referral to a detox program, the clinic said. A woman who gave her name as Rhea Jean spoke to The Associated Press after recently injecting herself there. She felt nauseous and ran outside to the curb to vomit. Her face covered with scabs, the longtime heroin user looks far older than her 33 years. "It's a great place for active users in full-blown addiction. It links you up to other programs," said Jean, who herself hasn't sought treatment through Insite. In this Tuesday, April 12, 2016 photo Marianne Jauncey, medical director at Sydney's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre, points to designs on the wall in a second room clients use after injecting themselves at the center in Sydney, Australia. At Sydney's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre, more than 5,900 people have overdosed since it opened in 2001. No one has died. It's the same at Insite in Vancouver, British Columbia. About 20 overdoses happen there every week, but the facility has yet to record a death. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft) A 65-year-old man who gave his name only as James because he's in a 12-step program that requires anonymity said he has been using heroin since age 22. He was clean for 17 years before relapsing; he said he was sexually abused as a child and spent 23 years in prison. He keeps returning to heroin, he said, because it provides release from his problems. Insite is the one place he can go and be treated if he reacts badly to the drug, he said. "They saved my life three times," he said, adding that addiction shouldn't be demonized. "There's a large section of society that still refuses to accept it as a disease," he said. Surveillance cameras, right, are mounted underneath a metal table with chairs bolted to the floor where addicts can inhale heroin fumes in a clinic in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Tuesday, April 12, 2016. Such facilities have operated for years in Vancouver, British Columbia; Sydney, Australia, and other cities. Lawmakers in New York, California and Maryland have proposed allowing the centers, but the idea faces significant legal and political challenges. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) The three clinics visited by the AP initially faced opposition from politicians and members of the public but gradually won support, in part because of studies showing reductions in overdose deaths and open-air drug use in the surrounding community. A 2010 survey of residents and businesses in Kings Cross, for instance, found strong support. Insite was targeted for closure by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party. The case went to the Supreme Court of Canada, which in 2011 told the government to issue an exemption to the drug laws allowing Insite to operate. "Insite saves lives," Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin wrote in the decision. "Its benefits have been proven. There has been no discernible negative impact on the public safety and health objectives of Canada during its eight years of operation." Surveillance cameras, right, are mounted underneath a metal table with chairs bolted to the floor where addicts can inhale heroin fumes in a clinic in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Tuesday, April 12, 2016. An alarming 47,000 American overdose deaths in 201460 percent from heroin and related opioid painkillers like fentanylhas pushed elected leaders in New York, California and other states to consider what was once unthinkable: government-sanctioned sites where users are under the supervision of a doctor or nurse who can administer an antidote if necessary. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) Advocates in the U.S. have long discussed the potential benefits of injection sitesbut they point to the tripling of heroin and opioid overdose deaths since 2000 as one reason why the suggestion is starting to get serious consideration. The deaths of actors Philip Seymour Hoffman and Heath Ledger put celebrity faces on the risks of overdosing alone, and it was revealed recently that representatives for Prince sought help for his addiction to painkillers just a day before the musician was found dead. In an effort to stay safe, some addicts are taking matters into their own hands. In Boston, after Massachusetts General Hospital equipped security guards with Narcan, the hospital began seeing an uptick in addicts shooting up in bathrooms and parking garages. Elsewhere in the city, a nonprofit recently set aside a room where addicts can go after using drugs. The users can't inject there, but a nurse monitors those in the room and will intervene in case of overdose. A rack holds colored plastic cups with their owners' names taped onto them in a room where addicts inject heroin in a clinic in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Tuesday, April 12, 2016. The cups contain an tourniquet used by the addicts to help find a vein. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) U.S. federal law effectively prohibits injection facilities, but supporters say that if a state or city were to authorize one, Washington officials could adopt a hands-off approach similar to the federal response to state medical marijuana programs. Kevin Sabet, a former drug policy adviser to the Obama administration, put the chances of injection sites getting approval anytime soon at zero. He believes supporters want full legalization of all drugs and are exploiting the opioid crisis to advance their agenda. California Assemblyman Tom Lackey, who served on the California Highway Patrol for 28 years, said he understands that supporters are looking for a new approach. But he has deep reservations about legislation in his state which would create clinics where users could use heroin, crack or other drugs. "These facilities send a message that there is a safe use, and I don't think there is any safe use of heroin," he said. A rack holds colored plastic cups with their owners' names taped onto them in a room where addicts inject heroin in a clinic in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Tuesday, April 12, 2016. The cups contain an tourniquet used by the addicts to help find a vein. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) In Maryland, state House of Delegates member Dan Morhaim is an emergency physician who himself has administered Narcan "many, many times." He sees his bill for supervised injection sites as just one of many creative approaches that will be needed to solve the heroin problem. "It's not going to cure everyone," he said. "But moving people from more dangerous behavior to less dangerous behavior is progress." Marianne Jauncey, medical director at Sydney's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre, said she would prefer better ways to help hardened addicts. Her facility will work to keep them alive until that happens. "Given their histories," she said, "I think the least that we can do as a society is try." Sheets of tin foil used for smoking heroin lie on a counter behind a window next to a room where addicts inhale heroin fumes in a clinic in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Tuesday, April 12, 2016. About 80 users visit up to three times a day. Most are men, and the average age is 60. Many began using in the 1970s and 1980s. "We would ideally like them to cut back their use," said Fleur Clarijs, a doctor at the facility. But, he said, the main objective of the facility is to reduce risk to usersand their effects on the community. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) Surveillance cameras, left, are mounted underneath a metal table with chairs bolted to the floor where addicts can inhale heroin fumes in a clinic in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Tuesday, April 12, 2016. One of three injection sites in the Dutch capital, the facility distributes free heroin to long-term addicts as part of a government program created for hardened addicts who might otherwise commit a crime to pay for their fix. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) Explore further Are safe injection facilities for heroin users a step in the right direction? 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. It's easy to talk about art's capacity to heal and soothe. It's rarer to see it, like Youpa Stein has. For the past 23 years, Stein has seen that capacity at Living Art of Montana, a nonprofit she co-founded that offers free writing and art workshops for people coping with cancer, chronic illness or loss. "No matter what's going on physically or emotionally pain, challenge, illness we have the capacity to be whole, and oftentimes when you're under a challenge or stress, that feeling of wholeness is diminished. It doesn't mean it's not there; it's just hard to feel it and know that sense of wholeness in yourself," Stein said. She's seen people near the end of their lives find that feeling of wholeness in the space that Living Art offers. They come in feeling diminished but soon find a sense of well-being in creating and sharing. "I think in an evolutionary way we're primed to get satisfaction from making, because that took us and helped us learn something new. That's the only way we can keep evolving," she said. "We get a reward for that. When you think about, how important is that to our wellness? How important is that to our health? If you're feeling really horrible, isn't that important to practice? When you share it with someone else, how does that connect you and change your relationship to the world?" While Living Art has been around for a long time, Stein said this year the nonprofit finally came up with a slogan that properly communicates its mission: "a place to create, share and heal." "Creating helps us see in new ways, and if we're able to share that with someone else those new perspectives that helps the connection to self, to others and our environment," she said. While the work has offered both sadness and excitement, Stein is stepping down as program director at the end of June. "We feel very fortunate to have that experience. It helps remind us daily: why are we here as humans? To have that opportunity to connect with someone else in that kind of way, is something that I treasure deeply. It has this balance of the whole range of what it means to be human. To experience that in a regular way is kind of amazing," she said. Tracy Pohndorf, Living Art's executive director, will step into the program director role. Pohndorf, who's worked with Stein for almost five years, said it's been great to "be with the founder of an organization for that long and really get a feel of where the organization started. Carrying that forward is just an honor." *** Living Art began in 1993 with Stein; Beth Ferris, a writer and filmmaker who was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome; Linda Swab, a friend of Stein's who had been diagnosed with cancer; and Dorrit Karasek, an art therapist. The other three had begun meeting, writing and envisioning the project by the time Stein completed graduate school in psychology and drama therapy and returned from California and reconnected with Swab. "They had found a way to connect that made them feel most alive under those circumstances of pain and illness and loss. They wanted to share that with others," Stein said. The early workshops included a wide range of art forms, in addition to documentary filmmaking under the wing of Montanans for Quality Television, a predecessor of Missoula Community Access Television, and then Very Special Arts Montana. In 1998, it was spun off into its own nonprofit. Now, it offers art and writing workshops that serve an estimated 500 people a year, and has four employees and 20-some facilitator volunteers. After her last day in June, Stein will focus on a few different projects. She will continue helping Living Art find a larger, more permanent home and eventually wants to come back and facilitate workshops. She's also enrolled in the Montana Artrepreneur Program, a program of the Montana Arts Council designed to teach artists how to develop the business side of their careers. Stein has made masks, often using materials gathered in the forest. She's going to shift to using manmade materials, a change spurred by her work with Living Art. "Our creativity and expression of it is a way to work with our emotional responses to the world, and one of the things that's very painful to me is what we're doing to our environment, especially with plastics how it breaks down and becomes a part on the micro level of everything: in the ocean, in our bodies, in animals," she said. She's also pursuing another medium: "Photography is a newer way to pay attention to the world and what intrigues me or captivates me," she said. While she's sad to leave Living Art, in a way she can never leave the experience behind. "I feel like it's woven into me," she said. "Everything I've learned, every person I've met, actually feels like it's woven into my being. So in that way, I can't lose it." Pat Emile is Assistant Editor and Jill-Of-All-Trades for this column. Were it not for her help I couldn't keep these weekly selections coming. Here she is in another role, as a poet, stopping in a little food market and noticing things the way a poet should notice them. They Dance Through Granelli's He finds her near the stack of green plastic baskets waiting to be filled and circles her waist with his left arm, entwines her fingers in his, pulls her toward him, Muzak from the ceiling shedding a flashy Salsa, and as they begin to move, she lets her head fall back, fine hair swinging a beat behind as they follow their own music a waltz past the peaches bursting with ripeness in their wicker baskets, the prawns curled into each other behind cold glass, a woman in a turquoise sari, her dark eyes averted. They twirl twice before the imported cheeses, fresh mozzarella in its milky liquid, goat cheese sent down from some green mountain, then glide past ranks of breads, seeds spread across brown crusts, bottles of red wine nested together on their sides. He reaches behind her, slides a bouquet of cut flowers from a galvanized bucket, tosses a twenty to the teenaged boy leaning on the wooden counter, and they whirl out the door, the blue sky a sudden surprise. *** We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright 2016 by Pat Hemphill Emile, They Dance Through Granelli's. Poem reprinted by permission of Pat Hemphill Emile. Introduction copyright 2016 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. The status of the Missoula fairgrounds as a national historic district could be jeopardized by a draft for a new grounds under scrutiny by county commissioners. My opinion as one of the authors of the nomination is the historic district will go away, Dan Hall of Preserve Historic Missoula said Thursday night. Hall brought up his fears near the end of a meeting of the citys Historic Preservation Commission, which was otherwise dominated by discussion of the Missoula Mercantile. He helped write the successful nomination to the National Register of Historic Places in 2010, making the fairgrounds the newest of 12 historic districts in Missoula County. There are 17 contributing buildings in the fairgrounds historic district. Thirteen of those are going to go away, and possibly 14, because of the plan, Hall told the commission. The fairgrounds advisory committee approved A&E Architects general concept for the fairgrounds on April 25. It was the end product of hundreds of hours of public comment over several years. County commissioners will open a 90-day comment period for the plan at their public meeting on May 25, though they welcome input prior to that at fairgroundsconcept@missoulacounty.us. Hall pointed out to the preservation commission that the former fair office, once a barracks at the World War II internment camp at Fort Missoula, has already been demolished. On Thursday, a wooden crows nest on top the grandstands was removed by a giant crane for safety reasons. As a later addition to the 1954 grandstands, the crows nest was not a contributing structure to the historic district. A&Es plan calls for keeping what Hall called the grand dames of the fairgrounds the iconic Ole Bakken-designed Commercial Building, built in 1915, and the 1937 Culinary Building. Also remaining are the 1959 Floriculture Building and the open carnival area, which contribute to the historic footprint of the grounds. Penciled into the A&E concept is a 1-acre parking garage in the northwest corner of the carnival grounds, in case a public-private partnership can be worked out with Allegiance Benefits across South Avenue. Should the A&E fairgrounds concept be approved and funded, the half-mile racetrack and associated barns and jockey room in the paddock area would disappear from the ground. So would the grandstands, an open parking area along South Avenue, and a number of other buildings. We wrote the National Register nomination for the expressed purpose of having an informed public conversation when fairgrounds renovation came up, Hall said. If there are things here that are not historically significant and theyre going to go away during the planning process, thats fine. Lets not worry about that. But if there are things here that are important, lets have an informed public conversation about the future of those buildings. Mark Baumler said in his 28 years as the state historic preservation officer he hasnt seen the delisting of a national historic district in Montana. The process is not one that we spend a lot of time with, to be honest with you, Baumler said Friday from his Helena office. What I mean is, we dont try to go through and determine when properties are no longer eligible. They kind of come to us. Should a potential delisting of a historic property be brought to his offices attention, the plaintiff would be called to present an argument to the preservation review board the same body that looks at nominations. Ultimately, Baumler said, the Keeper of the National Register would have to rule on the removal. We have bridges and other things that have been long demolished and still appear on the register, Baumler said. Im not defending that. Sure wed like a cleaner list, but its something that well discover when were dealing with new projects down the road, whether theyll have an impact on a listed property or not. People will come back and tell us its been gone for 10 years. We try to clean up that. *** Its more than a loss of face and importance to be stripped of national historic district status. While government properties like those at the fairgrounds arent eligible for commercial tax credits, Baumler said they can qualify for federal grants. Missoula County is one of four Preserve America communities in Montana and has used funds from that program to help restore the bear cage in Greenough Park, to tell stories of the confluence of the Blackfoot and Clark Fork rivers after the Milltown Dam was removed, and to interpret the Lewis and Clark campsite at Travelers Rest. Baumler said there are no set guidelines for when a national historic district doesnt get to be called that any more. In getting listed, one of the criteria and its not a fixed number is there should be more contributing than noncontributing resources within the boundaries, he said. Hall appeared before the Historic Preservation Commission to ask that it get involved in the fairgrounds discussion, even though as a city board the HPC has no regulatory powers over the county-owned fairgrounds. Representatives of the new Preserve Historic Missoula and members of the Historic Preservation Commission were the only ones who showed up for a fairgrounds planning event in 2007. I would also remind you that you have a financial stake in the planning of the fairgrounds," he said. "Youre the ones that paid for that national register nomination that we wrote. There are still a lot of questions that can and should be asked in the process, and I think your voice would carry some weight. Hall pointed specifically to two buildings on the chopping block: the sprawling, 76-year-old fairgrounds maintenance building on the east side and another old Fort Missoula barracks on midway row. He called the maintenance building the last piece of WPA architecture that we have left in Missoula. A&E architect Paul Filicetti is not sure if we can breathe life back into that building, Hall said. "I think thats a valid conversation that should happen. The former Fort Missoula barracks, called the 4-H Exhibit Building, housed various fair displays over the years. Unlike their former companion, the fair office, they are in functional shape. The Historical Museum at Fort Missoula has expressed interest in getting the 100-foot-long building back for an interpretive exhibit. Im not really sure it was adequate comment just calling up the museum and saying, Do you want to take this before we knock it down? Hall said Thursday night. We had that conversation back in the 70s with developers. Thats not meaningful public comment. If the buildings going to go, then so be it. Then it should be on the county fair boards dime and not the museums dime. The museum is strapped. They want the building but they dont have the money. Also of concern are the historic themes represented in the nomination of the fairgrounds as part of the historic contextual statement. The horse racing track and accompanying structures represent one theme that will be lost. The fair could still survive that, Hall said. But another is the historic association with 4-H. Theyre going to continue with 4-H, but the 4-H Cafe and 4-H Exhibit Building are going to go away. That would be a huge hit to the historic themes of the fairgrounds. Ethan Roachs birth on Wednesday was the best early Mothers Day gift Hannah Subry could have asked for. Four months ago, she wasn't sure he would live. I went in there crying cause I was like, hes going to tell me that we cant make it, that Im going to have another stillbirth, cause my first was a stillbirth, Subry, from Helena, said of her first visit to Dr. Bardett Fausetts office at Community Medical Center. And I went in, and he was like, I got this, hes going to be fine. By 17 weeks, Roachs blood count was down to 9. Typically at that point, it should be between 45 and 50. Its because Subry has Rh disease, meaning her blood is Rh-negative, and her babys blood is Rh-positive. Rh is a protein in some peoples red blood cells. Essentially, it means Subry's body developed antibodies that crossed the placenta and attacked and destroyed Roach's red blood cells. By 17 weeks, Roach was severely anemic, and his heart was failing. Fausett said had he not given an in utero blood transfusion when he did, Roach likely would have died within a few days. There isnt really a good way to stop the mother from making those antibodies or to stop them from crossing the placenta, Fausett said. The only way, really, to treat it is to give the baby blood in the womb. So thats what happened. *** Thats what happened and its likely the first time its happened successfully in the United States. Blood transfusions in utero before 20 weeks are rare, especially through the umbilical vein. During his research, Fausett could only find two other cases in which it had succeeded, and those were in Paris. Even in those cases, intravascular transfusion (in the fetus umbilical vein) was only attempted after intraperitoneal transfusion (in the fetus abdomen). Its a risky procedure, especially that early in a pregnancy. The needle Fausett had to use, 0.5 millimeters, was the same size as the umbilical vein the biggest vein babies have at that point. He definitely had someone steadying that hand for him, Subry said of Fausett. When we did the 17-week, he told me, I dont know how I did it, but I did it. An ultrasound guided Fausett to the umbilical vein, where it attaches to the placenta. Its like trying to stick a fork in a piece of spaghetti in a boiling pot of water, he said. Its going to move away from you. That first blood transfusion was terrifying, Subry said. You know, youre wondering, whats going to happen? How is it going to happen? Is it going to work? Is it going to help? And luckily it did, she said. Knowing that he was so close to not being here, and that Fausett was able to save his life, was fantastic. Normally, if a fetus needs a blood transfusion in utero, a doctor tries intraperitoneal transfusion. That wasnt an option in this case, because at that point Roach was hydropic (swollen). The only way this baby could survive is to get blood into the cord, and thats not been done, basically, Fausett said. We tried, and we were blessed and fortunate and successful. Subrys first baby was stillborn, and her second baby, Annabelle, also suffered from anemia at birth. Annabelle is now a spunky, blonde, blue-eyed 4-year-old who lives up to her southern belle name, Subry said. When I had my daughter, I had her in Great Falls, and the specialist there told me I wouldnt have another one, that it wouldnt make it, Subry said. So when I came to Fausett, I came thinking I wasnt going to be able to have this little boy. She tried to keep herself busy at home to take her mind off the complication. Subry came in for an ultrasound every week, which was reassuring, but she was still scared. If anything felt wrong, she went to the hospital. Every morning, her daughter would ask, Are you going to the doctor again? *** By 34 weeks, Roach had had seven blood transfusions. The shortest was 15 minutes and the longest was three hours a harrowing procedure because Fausett had to move the needle right past Roachs eye to reach the umbilical vein. Annabelles question started switching to Is my brother out of your belly yet? Then his heart rate started to drop. Subry had a choice: another in-utero blood transfusion or a C-section. She chose the latter. Out came Roach at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday: 4 pounds, 5 ounces. At birth, his blood count was 33 low, but not too low, Fausett said. Beforehand, NICU staff tried to prep Subry for a tough road ahead, being honest with her about the complications Roach would likely face. Hell have to be rushed away when hes born, they said. And yet, the minute he was born, Dr. Kara Arvin said, I lied. You can hold him. Roach had another transfusion after he was born, and he was on oxygen Wednesday night. By Thursday morning, he was off oxygen, and so far hasnt needed another blood or platelets transfusion. Hes nursing well. Subry isn't sure when theyll leave the NICU. It could be six weeks, it could be next week. Hes my little fighter, Subry said. Both of my kids are my miracle children. They really are miracles. Fausett is thankful the transfusions were successful. In little old Missoula, Montana, were doing world-class fetal therapy, Fausett said. I think thats pretty cool. It wouldve been a pretty tough thing to not help. My whole desire is to help him and its hard if you cant. On Saturday, Subry rested in her room in the NICU. Roach snoozed on her chest, glowing blue from the bilirubin lights (light therapy used to treat jaundice). He was eventually moved to his crib, where the nurse situated his cords and tucked him in. Roach yawned and started to settle in except for his tiny legs, which wouldnt stop dancing. Mel was born in Eli, Nebraska, on Oct. 28, 1934. Mel and his brothers and sisters attended country school while at Eli, they all graduated from high school at Ainsworth. After high school Mel worked for a utility company, stringing the first power lines across the South line of South Dakota, he then served two years in the Army, in Arizona and Alaska. When Mel finished his tour in the Army his family had moved to Montana and Mel joined them. He then worked as a truck driver on highway construction, working all over the state of Montana. Mel met and married Linda Weber in Whitefish in 1979. He worked for the City of Whitefish on the maintenance crews. Mel and Linda eventually moved to Charlo where Mel went to work for Lake County for the Road Maintenance Department, he worked for them until he retired in 2001. Mel and Linda have two children, Kerrilu and Jeff, who he loved dearly and enjoyed immensely. He was very proud of them. He retired in 2001 from Lake County to enjoy time at home puttering in the yard and shop. Missoula is pretty good at studying problems and great at making plans to resolve them. It isnt always so great at taking action. It must be different this time. Missoulas city and county leaders have in their hands a 115-page Jail Diversion Master Plan, released in late April, that provides a lengthy list of sensible recommendations for significantly reducing the number of non-violent, low-risk inmates at the Missoula County Detention Facility. While the plan does call for some further study, Missoula must not allow the current momentum to die a studious death, as has happened before. Instead, our local leaders must get to work prioritizing and acting on the recommendations right away. They can start with the no- and low-cost options, and build community support for the bigger, pricier projects. As a community, Missoula will have to pull together and pull toward enacting both short- and long-term changes in the way offenders who commit first-time, minor crimes are treated. Only then can we hope to relieve chronic overcrowding at the local jail and avoid having to build a bigger one. According to the Jail Diversion Master Plan, 4,223 people were booked into jail in Missoula in 2015. A full 83 percent of them were arrested on a nonviolent offense, and of these, more than one third remained in jail for the duration of their case because they could not pay bail. Thats a good set-up for a lawsuit given that the Montana Constitution specifies that (a)ll persons shall be bailable except in the most extreme cases. Imagine the justified outrage of a person of limited means who is arrested for a minor offense, forced to spend days or weeks in jail and is ultimately found innocent. Missoula County Sheriff T.J. McDermott commissioned the Jail Diversion Master Plan shortly after taking office. State Sen. Cynthia Wolken worked with a steering committee and advisory board to research and draft the plan. Its primary aim is to relieve jail overcrowding by keep as many non-violent offenders as possible out of jail. Instead of automatically jailing certain low-risk offenders simply because there is no other place to put them, Missoulas criminal justice system would divert them to programs that provide effective alternatives to incarceration. The plan recommends alternatives that have been proven successful in other communities. After all, Missoula is far from the only county experiencing chronic jail overcrowding, in Montana and in other states throughout the nation. Indeed, the total population of prisoners in Montana grew by 48 percent over a period of 15 years, according to a Pew Charitable Trust study requested by the state of Montana in 2014. Of particular interest, the study found that the number of low-risk offenders in prison rose by 133 percent. Responding to reports that the prison population will exceed Montanas detention bed capacity by 2019, the 2015 Legislature created a state Sentencing Commission to study many of the same things taken up in the Missoula plan. The commission will meet next June 22-23. Its one avenue Missoula could pursue to start building partnerships between the city and county and the state. Among the Jail Diversion Master Plans recommendations is that the city and county lobby for the elimination of mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent offenses, an action that would have to take place at the state level. Its an idea that already has the support of Missoula judges who would prefer to be allowed more discretion in sentencing. Local law enforcement would doubtless prefer to have someplace other than jail to take those experiencing a mental health or addiction-related crisis. The Missoula plan noted that 16 percent of those booked into jail in 2015 had mental health needs, while 35 percent were under the influence of drugs of alcohol. One of the most important recommendations in the plan calls for local government to work with Providence St. Patrick Hospital and the Western Montana Mental Health Center to create a new plan to build a detox facility for low-income offenders. Securing the money for such an endeavor will be a challenge. The plan also asks for the city and county to partner with local hospitals to take action on the citys 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness, such as a drop-in center. The good news is, many of the reports other recommendations can be made in short order and with little cost. If successful, these changes will not only keep Missoulas jail from overcrowding, they will create a more just criminal system that relieves some of the burden on the courts and law enforcement, prevents recidivism and ultimately lead to less crime in Missoula. However, the changes will not be successful if they are never carried out. As pointed out in the Jail Diversion Master Plan, the Missoula Board of County Commissioners commissioned a report on jail overcrowding just a few years ago. The 2009 report offered several recommendations that could have prevented many of the problems Missoula is now dealing with, but they were never implemented. Missoulas city council members and county commissioners must make sure this plan doesnt meet a similar fate. They should approve the plan, and then provide the focus and oversight needed to prioritize the plans recommendations and see that they are carried out as soon as feasibly possible. Remember, every day of delay is another day someone must spend in jail, waiting for justice. I encourage you to support Dave Strohmaier for Missoula County commissioner. Strohmaier and I have been friends for close to 20 years. I know him as a person of integrity, compassion, discernment and intelligence. There is no one I trust more than Dave Strohmaier to act according to the values he publicly articulates and keep his role as a servant of the public central to his actions. His long public service has demonstrated Strohmaier's intelligent, honorable and responsive approach to leadership. One of the most important issues for me is securing long-term affordable housing in a manner that also promotes environmental principles and fosters a strong sense of working together. Dave Strohmaier has been one of the central influences in helping me explore and refine this commitment through his practical and ethical perspectives. Strohmaier shares these values. He believes we can develop effective policies promoting vibrant, healthy and sustainable human and physical environments. Dave Strohmaier was a colleague of mine when we both worked for the U.S. Forest Service. Strohmaier was an exceptional supervisor and managerskills that hes since demonstrated in municipal government and the private sector, and skills that set him apart in this race. Also, I was very pleased to learn that he was the only candidate endorsed in this race by the Montana Conservation Voters, which is no surprise given his solid record of conservation both in elected office and with federal land management agencies. Dave Strohmaiers exceptional communication skills and balanced approach to complex issues has served him welldemonstrated in the two books hes published on the subject of wildland fire, a topic very important to those of us who live in the Northern Rockies. Dave Strohmaier has my wholehearted support, and is the clear choice in this years Democratic primary. Jack Rowan, Missoula A ninth-grade female student, age 15, is in need of a haircut for her job and a large backpack. A new or used backpack would be wonderful. If you would like to help with this need, you can either donate $40 and My Student in Need will purchase a gift card so the student may get a haircut, or you can donate a new or used backpack for her. Hellgate No. 1624. Bernie Sanders will host rallies in Missoula and Billings on Wednesday. The Democratic Party presidential candidate and U.S. senator from Vermont will discuss "a wide range of issues, including getting big money out of politics, his plan to make public colleges and universities tuition-free, combating climate change and ensuring universal health care," according to a campaign announcement. The rallies, called "A Future to Believe In," are free and open to the public, but RSVPs are strongly encouraged and admission is first come, first served. Due to limited parking, carpooling is encouraged; the pavilion is also accessible by bike or on foot. The Missoula rally is scheduled to open at 10 a.m. in the Caras Park Pavilion in downtown Missoula. The public entrance will be located on the north side of the pavilion. "For security reasons, please do not bring bags and limit what you bring to small, personal items like keys and cell phones," the announcement noted. "Weapons, sharp objects, chairs, and signs or banners on sticks will not be allowed through security." Doors will open for the rally in Billings later that same day, at 5 p.m. in the Montana Pavilion at MetraPark, at 308 6th Ave. N. There's good news for people who want to float this summer without the expense of owning a raft. Outdoor Adventure Rentals whose acronym fittingly spells "OAR" arrived on the Butte small business scene last year and rents 14- and 18-foot rafts. The Uptown rental company also offers kayaks, pontoon boats, and inflatable paddle boards which come in a 30-pound backpack for easy transport. Co-owner Emmett Riordan said all customers need to have a rafting adventure is access to a river, noting that rentals come with paddles, pumps, patch kits and life jackets. "Just add water," Riordan said. Rentals cost $150 to $200 per day depending on the size of the raft, but for an additional cost, prospective adventurers can purchase a package, which includes the raft primed and ready to go on a trailer. Riordan owns the business with his brother Gene. The two launched Outdoor Adventure Rentals last year because they saw a need for rentals in Butte and surrounding area. Riordan said the conversation started when he and his brother began kayaking but didn't want to purchase the small boats right away. They looked for places to rent but couldn't find a rental location near Butte. "There's places to rent boating equipment in Bozeman, Helena, Craig and Missoula, but there really wasn't anybody in this part of southwest Montana." Thus, OAR was born. When asked whether there's a market for water-sport rentals in Butte, Riordan said that, although a river doesn't run through the Mining City, Butte residents like to float on nearby waterways like the Big Hole, Beaverhead and Jefferson. But regardless of whether Montanans prefer to kayak or raft, one thing's for certain: people in this state are passionate about their rivers. Owen Canavan, 29, is one Montanan who says he enjoys being able to get out on the water. Canavan describes himself as "an avid fisherman sans a boat." He rented from Outdoor Adventure Rentals last summer for a trip on the Big Hole and says the raft he received was river-ready on the trailer. Canavan said one of the best parts of living in Montana is having access to the state's waterways. "It's the most therapeutic activity I can think of," said Canavan, adding that fly fishing in particular helps him clear his mind because the finesse and concentration required to cast the line in the long, elegant arcs the sport is known for. "I tend to lose sight of everything that's bothering me," he said. Other Montanans who are passionate about Montana's rivers include Riordan and his brother Gene. Riordan said he and his brother are life-long rafters who cultivated a love for the sport from an early age, when they began taking family rafting trips. "The state stream-access law gives us access to all the rivers," said Riordan, noting Butte's proximity to several waterways. "We're 30 minutes from the Big Hole a blue-ribbon trout stream," he added. Riordan is also an experienced white-water rafter. He said he's rafted notorious waterways like the middle fork of the Salmon River in Idaho, which is dotted with Class III and Class IV rapids. "Once you're in, you're in," said Riordan, pointing out that once people launch a raft on the middle fork, it's impossible to leave without completing the 103-mile journey, due to the river's isolation and deep canyon walls. While it's true this type of journey can be risky, Riordan said the adrenaline rush he experiences from white-water rafting is well worth the risk. "There's the thrill of adventure there, you know?" said Riordan. However, Riordan says he also loves the sense of solitude he gets from calm, multi-day trips that take him away from the hustle and bustle of modern life. "You're pretty self-sufficient for three or four days," said Riordan as he spoke about multi-day trips on the Smith River. "It's a pretty good way to relax there's no cellphone coverage." "Being at the bottom of a river canyon it's a pretty good place to be," Riordan said. As for Canavan, he said there's no other place he'd rather be than on a river in Montana. "I don' think there's a more beautiful place in the world other than here at home," he said. GREAT FALLS James Gregory Dickinson entered the Montana 8th Judicial District Veterans Treatment Court with nothing but an addiction to meth no home, no job, no identification. When he graduated from the program about 18 months later, he had a job, a place to live and access to the benefits he was entitled to as a U.S. Navy veteran. He had completed a near-perfect program, having few violations of rules or requirements. But on March 25 Dickinson died of a heart attack after what appeared to be a relapse only seven weeks after Veterans Treatment Court graduation. "At the end of the day you're dealing with a disease whose sole objective is to consume the host," District Judge Greg Pinski said of addiction. Pinski is also the Veterans Court judge. "It took the team to help get me through," Dickinson said of the staff at the graduation ceremony on Feb. 2. "I thought I was too far gone." Yet less than two months later, those staff members gathered for Dickinson's memorial service. "What happened in those weeks? How did it fall apart?" Pinski recalls asking himself. "You can't help but have feelings of failure." Pinski's questions are valid, given the nature of drug addiction. "Drug addiction should be treated like any other chronic illness," the National Institute for Health, wrote on its website. "Relapse serves as a trigger for renewed intervention." According to the NIH, drug addiction relapse rates after treatment are lower than some other chronic illnesses such as asthma or hypertension. The NIH cites data from a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showing relapse rates between 40 and 60 percent of patients who have been treated for drug addiction. Pinski says the Veterans Court team will learn from this loss and remember their graduates are still vulnerable to relapse, no matter how well they perform in the program. Pinski spoke at Dickinson's April 7 memorial service at the Montana Veterans Memorial. Veterans Court Mentor Coordinator Joe Parsetich officiated and arranged the service. "James, like all of us here today, faced a daily war," Parsetich told the gathered crowd of Dickinson's friends, co-workers and loved ones, "good versus evil, good choices versus bad ones." Dickinson died of a heart attack the morning of March 25. Some of the details of his death and its aftermath are documented in court records because one of the last people to see Dickinson alive, Tyler Meinhardt, has been charged with evidence tampering for allegedly moving Dickinson's vehicle and taking some of his personal items before calling for help. The charging document says a woman named Heather Winney was performing CPR on Dickinson when medical personnel arrived around 5 a.m. They continued CPR, the report says, but Dickinson passed away a short time later. A responding Great Falls police officer described Meinhardt as showing "no emotion toward what was going on" and described Winney as "hysterical." Meinhardt told investigators Dickinson and Winney were dating or very close friends. Meinhardt and Winney gave inconsistent accounts of what happened, according to the report. Both changed their stories later. Winney eventually told police she and Meinhardt saw Dickinson's vehicle parked on the lawn with Dickinson unconscious in the driver's seat. It was later determined the vehicle struck the front porch of a residence. Winney reported that Meinhardt pulled Dickinson out of the car and placed his body on the ground. He moved the car and told Winney "not to say anything." Meinhardt later admitted he pocketed Dickinson's keys and wallet. Police documented Winney's statements as she was being transported to the police department for questioning. She said, "I'm sorry we lied," and "We didn't mean to hurt him." Winney indicated she, Meinhardt and Dickinson had been smoking meth together earlier. Meinhardt and Winney, who are both on probation, tested positive for methamphetamine that day. Pinski mentioned in his remarks at the service that people who treat addiction sometimes see "seemingly impossible cases with miracle outcomes" and "easy cases with tragic ones." Dickinson's case was the latter. "We have to be willing to accept the tragic outcomes along with the successful ones," Pinski said. The NIH notes that treating chronic diseases, whether it's heart disease, diabetes or drug addiction, involves changing well-established habits and behaviors, "and relapse does not mean treatment has failed." That means the "miracle" cases are vulnerable to relapse, too. "Even when your life is better than it has ever been," Pinski said. "The true test is can you do it by yourself for the rest of your life?" Treatment is about improving someone's life. Veterans Treatment Court is a prison alternative. The goal is to build a productive member of society by the end of the program. Pinski says Dickinson would have most likely ended up right back on the streets if he had been incarcerated for drug possession rather than entering Veterans Court. "For the last two years he had an impact on the community, and he had an impact on himself," Pinski said. Dickinson's good work earned him a promotion and prompted his employer to hire another Veterans Court participant to fill his job. One of Dickinson's co-workers spoke at the memorial service. "To us, James was one of the most kind, compassionate and caring hearts," she said, explaining that most of Dickinson's co-workers were not aware of his struggle with addiction. "Despite the best treatment, death is still an outcome of addiction," Pinski said after the service. One relapse is all it takes. One last time can be the last time. "James would not want his death to be viewed as a failure," Pinski told the group at the memorial, "and it was not one. . He reclaimed his life, but it was too short. Two years he deserved more." With periodic bouts of moisture expected this summer to help keep forest fuels from getting too dry, experts say Montanans can expect an average wildfire season. An average season still means about 170,000 acres could burn across state and federal land. Last year, by contrast, over 350,000 acres burned in Montana. Meteorologist Bryan Henry, in a briefing Friday with Gov. Steve Bullock and others in Butte, said the El Nino weather which tends to bring warmer-than-average temperatures to some parts of the U.S. is weakening and the weather pattern is moving toward normal conditions. A wet period in late to mid fall of last year, plus a snowpack near normal this winter, have helped lower the risk of wildfire, even though the snowpack has been melting faster than average this spring, he said. Typically, a quickly melting snowpack means a significant fire season, Henry said. Henry told the Standard that Butte is below normal for rainfall averages in the last 60 days, but he said moisture is expected to arrive, which should help keep fuels in the area from getting too dry. This week Butte is predicted to get up to half an inch of rain. Average annual rainfall in Butte is 12.75 inches, according to U.S. Climate Data. So far this year, rainfall is 2.08 inches for Butte compared to the normal year-to-date average of 3.11 inches so about an inch below normal. Henry said a pattern of warm days alternating with surges of wet days should get Montana through the rest of spring and summer. The state also may get out of drought conditions this year, he said, adding that soil moisture is "looking pretty good." Henry said he has moderate confidence that this season would not turn into a significant fire year, though the wildcard is the timing and frequency of convection or warm air. Areas expected to see the biggest forest fires this summer are Hawaii, Alaska, southern parts of California, New Mexico, and Arizona. Already, though, an out-of-control wildfire has consumed more than 250,000 acres in central Alberta, Canada, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people. The fire was expected to double in size on Saturday, according to the Associated Press. In 2006, the Corette Memorial, or Stodden Pool, ended a glorious 38-year run. Opened in 1968, the pool was among the finest in Montana, providing Buttes children and families a place to learn, swim and play. Despite attempts to resurrect the existing pool, an affordable, long-term solution was not found. As a result, a generation of kids have missed out on the many benefits an outdoor pool has to offer. Buttes voters have an opportunity to change our future by voting to pass a bond issue in June. Passage will enable the community to replace the pool, providing a safe and affordable summertime activity for the families of Butte. Recognizing the need for an outdoor pool, a group of people has come together to support this effort by forming the Friends of Stodden Park. Wed like to share what we know about this project and why we support it. First, efforts to bring a pool back to Butte have been underway for some time. Two city administrations, a variety of private parties, and members of the general public have discussed options over the last decade. Friends of Stodden Park believes the city has done its homework and is presenting a realistic proposal to the community for consideration. The proposed option is similar to city-supported water parks in Helena, Great Falls, Missoula and (soon) Lewistown. Like the other cities with outdoor pools, use will be seasonal, coinciding with summer vacation. Affordable operation of most outdoor pools depends on school-aged children and their families, as a result, seasonal pools make perfect sense. Year-around operation without this population is not practical in most areas -- regardless of climate concerns. FOR ALL AGES Water parks, like the one proposed, consisting of a pool with slides, a lazy-river and splash-pad are replacing the plain old pool to attract a broader range of age-groups. The youngest guests can enjoy water features on the splash pad and access the pool safely through the beach-like zero depth entry portion. Older children, teens and adults dive, swim and enjoy water slides that are becoming common features at city facilities. The lazy river offers a slow current that provides an opportunity to float or walk against the current for exercise. The variety of options allows an option for all family members, increasing the benefits of the park for Buttes families and guests. City officials carefully considered the options after examining what worked well in other Montana communities and matched the proposal with Buttes needs and resources. The result is a waterpark that will be an attraction, yet smaller scale than those of Great Falls or Missoula to remain affordable. In addition to looking at what would best serve Butte families, site considerations were carefully considered. Based on surveys and focus groups, Stodden Park continues to be the site supported by the majority of the public. To ensure long-term stability of the new pool, the elevation of the site will be raised by three to four feet and the pool will not be as deep as the old facility, eight feet deep as opposed to 14. This combination raises the pool well above ground water levels that contributed to the failure of the prior pool but still allows diving. The amount of thought and planning is further evidenced by considering the needs of other Stodden users. For example, the new changing rooms are to be shared with Bulldog and Maroons softball teams. Both currently use Stodden fields but lack on-site changing rooms. Plans are also being made to share staffing, such as lifeguards, with the YMCA -- also a supporter of this project. Other partners at the site, such as the Butte Carousel, a project supporter, are ideal companions, complementing the water park and attracting Butte families and friends to the site. Recently, sponsors and city government have come forward with significant contributions to help offset costs of the water park. The $1.5 million pledged covers the costs of the lazy river and slide additions. As a result, the cost to the average property owner (based on an assessed property value of $100,000) is estimated to be about $19 per year until the 20-year bond is paid off. That amounts to about a nickel a day. After the 20-year bond is paid, support will still be needed to assist with operating expenses. However, these costs will be offset by admission fees and concession operations. To ensure adequate resources for safe operation/staffing and upkeep, up to $350,000 per year will be authorized. The operating costs to the average property owner will be $8 per year or 2 cents a day. This operating amount is capped and it is hoped that admissions and concession will make that full amount unnecessary. AFFORDABLE INVESTMENT When shared by the community, this is an affordable investment for what we, our families and future families of Butte will receive. We urge you to support improving Butte and the opportunities we can offer our families. We urge you to vote for a pool for Butte. To find out more, visit the Friends of Stodden Park Facebook site or website at FriendsofStodden.com. -- Friends of Stodden Park is a non-profit committee supporting the needs of Buttes parks and the Stodden Pool Project. Officers: Katie Green, president; JR Richardson, vice president; Matt Stepan, treasurer; Jennifer Shea, secretary. Active Members: Cathy Tutty, Haley Egan, Jim Murphy, Katie Green, Jim ONeill, Karen Corbin, Kathy Kenison, Barbara Kenison and Don Peoples Sr. After Yellowstone National Park welcomed a record 4 million visitors in 2015, what will Americas first national park do for an encore in 2016? Probably more of the same. Tourism experts are predicting that 2016 should be another banner year for Montanas tourism industry. Montana hosted 11.7 million nonresident travelers in 2015, an 8 percent increase from 2014. However, the $3.6 billion, in spending represented a decrease of 8 percent from the previous year. Officials from the University of Montana Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research suspect that lower gas prices likely contributed to the decline in nonresident spending last year. But other factors may be in play. Travelers belonging to the millennial generation might account for a dip in tourism spending. In general, millennials people who were born between 1980 and 1995 have less disposable income and are more likely to be paying down student debt. Millennials are also more likely to take advantage of the sharing economy, using services such as Uber and Airbnb, a website that allows people to list and rent out their property to travelers, usually at a discount compared to what motels charge, said Norma Nickerson, director of the Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research at UM. UMs research shows that Yellowstone and Glacier National Park represent the biggest draw to out-of-state travelers. A number of events that will coincide with the centennial of the National Park Service could also boost visitation this year. The U.S. Army protected Yellowstone from poachers and other unsavory characters for most of the three decades prior to the creation of the National Park Service in 1916. Conservationists had long advocated for the creation of a civilian corps of rangers to protect Yellowstones resources and ensure the safety of tourists. I earnestly recommend the establishment of the bureau of National Parks, President William Howard Taft wrote in 1912. Such legislation is essential to the proper management of those wonderful manifestations of nature, so startling and so beautiful that everyone recognizes the obligations of the government to preserve them for the edification and recreation of the people. The Yellowstone Park, the Yosemite, the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, the Glacier National Park and the Mount Rainer National Park and others furnish appropriate instances. In only one case have we made anything like adequate preparation for the use of a park by the public. That case is the Yellowstone. Writing in The Yellowstone Story, historian Aubrey L. Haines mentioned that Congress refused to allocate any money for the park service, although the Department of the Interior established a quasi-park service in 1913 and seasonal rangers worked in the park in the years before the Park Service was established. The idea of a centralized national park administration rattled around in the federal bureaucracy for years before the National Park Services was created on Aug. 25, 1916, writes Paul Schullery, author of Searching for Yellowstone. The National Park Service Act charged the new agency to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations. Several special events have been planned as the Park Service centennial approaches. The National Park Service will host local, state and national dignitaries for the National Park Service centennial, on Aug. 25 at Roosevelt Arch. The Buffalo Bill Center of the West will host a symposium commemorating the centennial on June 15. Six scholars will share their perspectives on the history of art and artists in Yellowstone with Inspiring Sights: Yellowstone through Artists Eyes. Were excited to share in the 100th anniversary of the National Park Serivice especially since Yellowstone is right in our back yard, said Karen McWhorter, the centers Scarlett Curator of Western Art. The symposium coincides with an exhibition of the same name in the in the Whitney Western Art Museum, as well as the publication of a revised edition of art historian Peter Hassricks book Drawn to Yellowstone. WASHINGTON, Iowa Lucy Bonham, who will turn 89 in July, said she looks forward to her 24th RAGBRAI. "I remember the first time I saw RAGBRAI, it came through Washington and I was so excited, I thought it looked like so much fun. I loved riding my bike. I told Jack and said Man, this would be so much fun and he turned to me and said, Well, we better get you another bike. Thats how it all started, she said. She began riding in RAGBRAI in 1992, the year she turned 65, and said that although her husband and her daughter teased her about receiving her first Social Security check the same year she embarked on her first ride across Iowa, she loves the exhilaration that comes with the journey. I cant express the feeling I had when we left Glenwood, which is the same town were leaving from this year. I was just going to go once, and I dipped my hind tire in the Missouri and I dipped my front tire in the Mississippi and theres Jack waiting for me and I said Honey I want to do this again! she said. Her husband, Jack Bonham, follows her in their van, and she said they often call each other along the route to meet for lunch, or to stop and say hi. Bonham said she debated stopping the more than 400-mile ride when she turned 70, but her husband would not have it. At 70 I said, Oh I dont need to go again and he said Why not, you want me to go all the way across Iowa in the van by myself? Hes my support, she said. She said she began to feel nervous about RAGBRAI when the participation grew from 5,000 when she began to over 10,000, but her husband found a way to fix that. He made her signs for the back of her bicycle, like 81 having fun or 82 ahead of you. She said that made other bicyclists pay more attention, and they either gave her space or stopped to talk. I was pretty apprehensive when it got to be over 10,000. I ride clear over on the side because Im slower, but you know they gave me space. I think that sign has helped. I think they read that sign and say Oh gosh thats an old woman, better move over, so I felt at ease, she said. She said she begins her outdoor training in May, and she tries to get at least 400 miles of riding in before RAGBRAI. She said that she trains alone, often going to Lake Darling and riding 10-12 miles two to three times per week. I think 15-30 miles is enough. You dont have to get out there and go long periods in order to train your body. People keep asking me what I do in the winter months and I said well, I have an Airdyne at home and I ride that five and six times a week until its time to go out on my outside bike biking is such a thing with me, Ive always enjoyed it, she said. Her RAGBRAI day begins at daybreak, because it allows her to get ahead of the crowds, which leave between 7-9 a.m., and she arrives in the overnight town in the early afternoon. Her husband, however, will not let her begin her day until they have said a prayer. Jack doesnt let me go down the road before we pray together, as soon as I get my bike out. And not only for me, his wife, hes praying for the thousands of bikers out there and the support people. His prayer is for everything that surrounds RAGBRAI, and hes not the only one saying prayers, she said. Lucy Bonham said she always remembers feeling happy while riding across Iowa and meeting new people, especially when they tell her of their surprise at Iowas beauty. The first memory is just the delight I get in the ride itself, because I enjoy riding, and the many, many people that I meet. I like the hills, I like the view, I like the comments that people from out of state make about Iowa. I like the surprised look when they say Iowa is so beautiful, and I like the comments that I get and the pride I take in it because Im from Iowa, she said. She has tried different methods for staying in the overnight towns, including a camper, motorhome, staying with hosts, and, most recently, motels. The most memorable experiences, she said, were when she stayed with hosts. We stayed in homes, and that was exciting because of the people that we met in the towns. They were so nice. We stayed everywhere from rich peoples homes, to one lady who gave up her bedroom and gave us her bed, she slept on the couch. We always felt welcome, she said. Her husband agreed. "The greatest thing is the hospitality and the people. All the years that we had the camp trailer and the little motor home, they would provide electricity and welcome us and try to feed us and take care of us, and when we did stay in the homes, you just couldnt ask for any better treatment than we got, he said. Although he has not been able to ride in RAGBRAI, Jack Bonham said he loves the drive, and meeting people along the ride. It is a wonderful experience. The things I enjoy the most are the scenery, the beauty of the country, the beauty of the farm fields. Ive seen farm fields a landscaper couldnt make any prettier, with crops planted in rows up and down The thing is, when theyre out on the trail, everybodys the same, and any time somebody has trouble, therell be a half a dozen people around taking care of it and helping, he said. His wife said she would not be able to do RAGBRAI without him. If it wasnt for him sitting in the car, reading his books and waiting two or three hours while Im riding, I would never be able to do this. He just so encourages me with everything he does. I wouldnt have all this fun that Im having without him, she said. Lucy Bonham said she would recommend to everyone to try RAGBRAI, and said the best advice she can give is to focus on every mile as it comes. I just take it one mile at a time, she said. MUSCATINE, Iowa Jaclyn Thompson experienced her first Mothers Day as a mom differently than she expected. Her son, Sutton James DeVore, was born prematurely at 23 weeks, six days, weighing 1 pound, 8 ounces, and measuring 12 inches long. He was born on April 23, only nine months after her daughter, Symone, was born. Last Mothers Day, I did not have any children. This Mothers Day I have two that are not twins," she said. She, and Symone and Suttons father, Steve DeVore, live in Hermosa Beach, California. Although they are far from their Iowa roots, they said their home town of Muscatine has been overwhelmingly supportive, and they are optimistic about their sons progress. Sutton is doing great for his size and his gestational period, how small he really is. He still has a breathing machine that helps him breathe, which hell have for a while The doctors are all really impressed with his progress. Every day is day by day, and you never know whats going to happen, Thompson said. She said he will most likely remain in the hospital, Providence Little Company of Mary in Torrance, California, until Sutton's original due date, Aug. 14, but an outpouring of support has been coming from Muscatine, especially since the creation of a GoFundMe page. As far as the community goes, Im shocked at how many people were willing to give. Some people I hadnt seen or heard from since the third grade, numerous people we havent talked to in 10-plus years, since we were in high school. Its really heartwarming and comforting to know that so many people do care from our hometown. No words can really describe it, and its an amazing feeling, she said. A childhood friend of Thompson, Nicole Newcomb-Baker, set up the GoFundMe page, which not only allows people to give donations for Sutton, but also provides regular updates on his progress. As of Friday afternoon, the page had raised almost $11,000 in donations. If people want to just follow his progress and be supportive that way that is more than enough. We also want to help people who may be in this situation in a year, five years, or ten from now. We want to be able to help them out with our experiences. And even if they just comment or like a photo, it helps with our daily battle, DeVore said. He agreed that the support from Muscatine has been almost overwhelming. Were kind of speechless by the support, Ive been out here for 16 years and I feel like people back home are so supportive. Im just such a big fan of Muscatine, I really pride myself from being from such a small town in Iowa. Yes, Im surprised that $11,000 was raised in eight days. Am I surprised that the community of Muscatine would get behind somebody like that? No Im not surprised by that. I think that the community of Muscatine is one of a kind, he said. A hashtag has also been created for Sutton, #suttonstrong, through which people have posted pictures of themselves in support. The pictures are hanging on the wall of his hospital room. DeVore also said that his brother has begun selling T-shirts that say #suttonstrong. To donate or to follow their story, visit https://www.gofundme.com/2vsufewc, or to purchase a T-shirt, visit http://krazyauntkatie.com/collections/suttonstrong. Les emplois a Rennes sont abondants et varies. Il y a quelque chose pour tout le monde. Que vous soyez a la recherche dun emploi [] Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes [] Schools in cash-strapped Zimbabwe would soon have to install point-of-sale machines to force local residents to use plastic money, the central bank chief has said. In an article in the Sunday Mail, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwes John Mangudya said he was pushing for a revolution in the use of plastic money. This is why we have announced that all retailers, wholesalers, businesses, local authorities, utilities, schools, universities, colleges, service stations and the informal sector are required to install point-of-sale machines, Mangudya said. A large proportion of Zimbabwes hundreds of primary and secondary schools are in the rural areas, where 70% of the population lives. Few formally banked Few of them are formally banked. However, mobile money transfer platform Ecocash has made inroads into this sector since it was launched in 2011. Similar platforms have followed suit. Biting cash shortages in Zimbabwe prompted the central bank chief to announce a number of changes to policy earlier this week, including the introduction of bond notes, a local alternative to US dollars. The announcement prompted panic in a country with not-so-distant memories of fevered bank note printing that culminated in the Zimbabwe dollar being abandoned in early 2009. But Mangudya called on Zimbabweans not to be afraid. He said the bond notes were part of an export incentive facility and would not be printed in Zimbabwe. The bank chief also told the Voice of America radio that there were more than 17 000 point-of-sale machines currently in operation in Zimbabwe but they are concentrated in urban areas, mainly Harare and Bulawayo. News24 More on Zimbabwe Eskom to the rescue for Zimbabwe Zimbabwe to get e-tolls, courtesy of SA firm: report Measure Y has fans and skeptics among the eight candidates running for three Napa County supervisor seats on the June 7 ballot. The proposed quarter-cent sales tax would raise an estimated $8 million annually and would last for 10 years. Although a general tax, the Board of Supervisors has said money would plug a $68 million funding gap for a $103 million new jail along Highway 221. In addition, supervisors said they would spend any tax revenue not needed for the jail on childrens programs, such as affordable child care and child abuse prevention. Running for the 2nd District seat are incumbent Supervisor Mark Luce and challengers Derek Anderson, Ryan Gregory and James Hinton. Running for the 4th District seat are incumbent Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza and challengers Chris Malan and Diane Shepp. Running for the 5th District seat is Belia Ramos, who is not opposed. Luce made his view known on March 8. Thats when the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to place Measure Y on the ballot. Im excited well finally have the revenue needed to build our jail, Luce said. Weve been under pressure for so many years. Luces 2nd District opponents have various views of the proposed sales tax. Gregory, a civil engineer, supports Measure Y. He sees a nexus between a new jail and childrens programs that he said will help keep children out of jail when they grow up. He likes the idea that tourists would pay part of the cost. He has other ideas for a new jail, such as trying to establish a regional, multi-county jail, with the various agencies sharing in the cost. But those ideas qualify as Plan B. Measure Y is the best way to get a new jail built the fastest, Gregory said. Anderson, a business consultant, said Napa County must fix its downtown jail. But he wishes the tax was for a lower amount. The county can do such things as send long-term inmates to other counties that have jail vacancies, he said. Lets be smart about our money before we ask taxpayers to raise the cost of living and make the (affordable) housing problem worse, Anderson said. Also, a jail tax measure should be for a special tax requiring a two-thirds vote, Anderson said. That would ensure that the money must be spent on a jail. The county is seeking a general tax that gives money to the general fund and can be passed by majority vote. Hinton opposes Measure Y and noted the new jail is to be built near the Syar quarry. Hinton is among the Syar quarry expansion opponents who fear that dust drifting from the quarry contains crystalline silica and other hazardous particles. County studies find no health hazard, but the Syar opponents say the studies are inadequate. Why are they asking us to invest all of this money into all of this infrastructure out there where we know it will be full of carcinogens? the longtime local political observer said. The earthquake-damaged county jail needs to be safe, he said. But he referred to a recent, local court case involving medical cannabis and said he doesnt want a system that locks up people up who dont need locking up. You dont look around this community and say, There are too many dangerous people on the street, if we only had more cells to put them in, Hinton said. In the 4th District race, Pedroza and Shepp embrace Measure Y. Pedroza said the county needs to build a new jail. Hes sensitive that an additional sales tax would impact peoples lives and that the county cant constantly look to the taxpayers. In this case, the county tried to secure state money and tried other options before turning to Measure Y, he said. Its not the first thing we do, Pedroza said. Shepp, a member of Vision Napa 2050, said she supports Measure Y. She recently visited the jail and saw such sights as a three-inch gap between buildings caused by the earthquake and five inmates in a cell designed for two or three inmates. In addition, Shepp said, Napa County has enjoyed economic growth and needs to invest in its children. She cited the Measure Y campaigns statistic that half of the countys children live in or near poverty. She cited research showing children develop most of their behavior patterns by age 3. How critical are those first three years of bringing a child up, Shepp said. Malan, a county mental health professional, said she has no problem with the county going to voters to raise money for a jail. But called a sales tax increase a regressive tax that hurts the poor. The families she works with must budget their dollars, she said. She suggested that the county seek to increase the hotel tax to raise money for the jail. Ramos, an American City councilwoman, is running unopposed for the 5th District seat. She has endorsed Measure Y. The good news is that there is an abundance of strong contenders for the Fourth District Assembly seat being vacated by Bill Dodd. The bad news is that we can only elect one of them. Five candidates are vying to take the Assembly seat, which Dodd is leaving after just one term to pursue the state Senate seat opened up by the term limit retirement of Lois Wolk. The candidates bring an impressive assortment of experience and talents. Choosing among them proved difficult for the Registers editorial board. Returning this year after his unsuccessful run at the seat in 2014 is Davis Mayor Dan Wolk, who works as a deputy county counsel for Solano County, handling issues related to water and government finance. Both his elective experience and his day job give him a deep knowledge of local government. He also happens to be the son of Sen. Wolk, so he comes with the knowledge and connections that derive from being part of a successful political family. He has the endorsement of much of the Democratic Party establishment in the district and beyond, including Congressman Mike Thompson, Bill Dodd, and (fortunately) his own well-regarded mother. It would be fair to think of Wolk as the front-runner in the contest, if only because of the depth of his connections and political organization. Winters Mayor Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, a Democrat, meanwhile, is making a formidable showing of her own, despite being a much less well-known figure. She brings to the race a background in private sector accounting and business, including a stint at Oracle. She and her siblings grew up on and around their fathers farm and now run the ranch themselves, giving her direct experience with the struggles of agriculture. As mayor of Winters, she has helped engineer a promising comeback for the long-blighted downtown. We were impressed with her passion and the novelty of her thinking about economic development and progressive, sustainable public services for her residents. Yolo County Supervisor, and former Davis mayor, Don Saylor brings to the race a resume that would be difficult for any candidate to match. In addition to his time as supervisor and mayor, the Democrat has served as a school trustee, the chair of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, and worked as a legislative analyst in Sacramento, giving him profound insight into the workings of the State Legislature. He speaks with authority and commitment about the workings of local government and the need to act regionally. Also returning from 2014 is Republican former Marine Corps officer Charlie Schaupp, a farmer and director of the Esparto Community Services District. The colorful and charismatic Schaupp upset two Davis powerhouses Wolk and then-Mayor Joe Krovoza in 2014 to come in second in the June primary. Although he could not best Dodd in November, Schaupps strong showing suggested he was a more formidable candidate than his rivals appear to have assumed. Finally, biotechnology consultant Mark Kropp is a new face to local politics, though he has run unsuccessfully for office in Southern California and Connecticut, both on Republican and Democratic platforms. Kropp touts his business and medical experience, and speaks with great passion about his philanthropic efforts, which include clinical work in poor communities in Brazil. How to choose? This was difficult for us. Aguiar-Curry and Saylor deeply impressed the board, she with her passionate and innovative leadership qualities, he with his knowledge and depth of experience. As was the case in 2014, Schaupp was passionate and entertaining. Kropp impressed us with his heartfelt life story, though we were concerned about his relative lack of political experience. In the end, though by a narrow margin, we concluded that Wolk should get our endorsement this year. He seems to have learned a searing lesson about the political power of Napa County in his loss in 2014, and of all the candidates, he spoke most articulately and specifically about the issues and needs of Napa County. It was clear he understands that he must attend carefully to the voters of Napa County if he is to win and hold the seat. Moreover, he seems to have the personality and political connections that would make him an effective legislator. There would, however, be no shame in electing Aguiar-Curry and Saylor. Both are, in their own ways, remarkable public servants, but we felt they are so effective in their current roles that it would be unfortunate for the city of Winters and Yolo County to lose their voices at the local level. And for those of a more conservative bent, Schaupp remains a strong option, with his small government message and feisty personality. We urge a vote for Dan Wolk and encourage all the other candidates to continue their course of public service. It is a pity we couldnt have them all in Sacramento. A recent letter opposing the Walt Ranch project (Defenses of Walt Ranch miss the point, May 2) has prompted me to write a response in favor of the proposal. The writer argues that it is not relevant that Craig and Kathryn Hall have followed all the rules and that they are nice people. In my opinion, both points are very relevant. It is obvious that the writer just does not agree with the current rules and therefore concludes that following them is not the "real issue." First, why is it missing the point to insist that all project proposals follow strict rules and procedures, which in this case includes completing an Environmental Impact Report that has been described as one of the most extensive in the history of Napa County? The study concludes that there will not be a significant impact on the land and watershed if the Halls are allowed to develop a vineyard that they have planned meticulously over the last decade. The project follows all existing rules of agricultural land use that have been approved and strengthened repeatedly by the voters of Napa County. In the writers conclusion, he simply dismisses these as not the right rules. I attended the lengthy April 6 hearing with the Napa County planning director and have tried to acquaint myself with key issues. The Halls have made numerous concessions and mitigations in response to neighbor concerns and the draft EIR, yet it is evident that opponents will settle for nothing less than total denial of their right to farm the land. The fact that the Halls have met all county and environmental requirements is very relevant, particularly in the current political climate in which wineries are receiving close scrutiny as to whether they are following the rules, or if they are doing whatever they want and then begging for forgiveness. Certainly not following the rules has relevance in evaluating the merits of a proposal, so why does following the rules not count for the Halls? Second, the Halls are, in fact, very nice people and they have been extremely generous supporters of dozens of charitable causes. This is relevant because it demonstrates that they are good Napa neighbors and good stewards of the land. Opponents to the project have inaccurately and unfairly characterized them as out-of-state and out-of-touch and have totally ignored the point of how much the Halls have given back to the greater Napa community. LEED Gold certification (the first winery in California to earn such distinction), their commitment to organic and sustainable farming practices, and Kathryns deep roots in Northern California wine country only begin to tell the story. Whether they are supporting Auction Napa Valley, the V Foundation Wine Celebration for Cancer Research, Festival Napa Valley, their very own Cabernet Cookoff for numerous local charities, school fundraising events, or providing paid time for their employees to volunteer for charities of their choice, the Halls are showing their passionate philanthropic character. The point is that the Walt Ranch project should be approved because the Halls have followed all the rules, they have established a solid, long-standing commitment to the land and people of Napa County, and a thorough and unprecedented EIR has concluded that there will be no significant impact on the environment. So, who is really missing the point? Patrick Warfield Napa Since 1971 when we moved to Napa we have supported and worked for organizations and individuals who are sensitive to environmental and land use issues that make Napa County a very special place. Over the years many people have worked to pass laws and elect officials who share our values. Now economic pressures and outside investors are threatening the progress we have made to preserve the quality of life for the working people and families of Napa County. Last year we were pleased to see a coalition of local action committees form an organization called "Napa Vision 2050." Many individuals, organization leaders, and members of neighborhood committees were seeing each other at planning commission hearings and board of supervisors meetings. These concerned citizens are now working together as Napa Vision 2050. We believe this coalition of people from every part of Napa County is a strong and positive force. We have joined with Napa Vision 2050 and the Sierra Club to endorse and work for the election of Diane Shepp to District Four Supervisor. Diane has the values, experience, and work ethic to make a difference. She is a coalition builder and knows how to work with people to get things done. Diane is running a grass roots campaign without contributions from large development interests that would compromise her integrity. She will stand up to the powerful forces that are threatening the environmental integrity and quality of life in Napa County. As reported in the Napa Valley Register her opponent in District 4, Alfredo Pedroza, has raised over $200,000 in campaign contributions. Some of his major contributors are; The California Real Estate PAC ($2,500), Craig Hall of Hall Winery and the Walt Ranch Project ($7,500), Charles Wagner of Caymus Vineyards ($7,500), V. Sattui Winery Inc. ($7,500), Florencia Palmaz of Palmaz Vineyards who wants a helipad on Hagen Road ($4,100), Silverado Resorts ($4,700), J. D. Company associated with James Syar president of Syar Industries ($4,000). We urge you to vote for Diane Shepp for Supervisor of District 4 the candidate whos first and only allegiance will to the working people and families of Napa County. Richard and Marsha Niemann Napa Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy Its Mothers Day weekend, and there is no better way to celebrate the occasion than by honoring our moms with some of our favorite country songs by them, for them, and about them. Whether it is a legendary male artist singing a story song, a feisty female sharing the stresses of a mothers every day life, or a daughter honoring her mom, country artists have been singing about the toughest job imaginable for years. Here are some of our top picks for your Mothers Day mix this year! In alphabetical order by artists first name: Carrie Underwood Mamas Song Before she was a mom herself, Carrie Underwood was thanking her mother for shaping her into the woman she is today. Mamas Song was also a way for Underwood to reassure her own mom that she would never lose her even as she was giving her away to the man of her dreams. Now, Underwood is celebrating her second Mothers Day as a parent to little Isaiah Michael Fisher. Garth Brooks Mom In the song that captured the hearts of everybody in America, Garth Brooks shares a conversation between an unborn baby and God as the child gets ready to make an appearance on Earth. Throughout the song, God encourages the baby that a mothers love is something to look forward to, and, by the end, He prepares to introduce the child to his/her mom. Jamie ONeal Somebodys Hero Jamie ONeal hits the nail on the head as she sings of a woman who may not live a glamorous or abundantly exciting lifestyle, but still comes out on top when it comes to one special girl. Thats right, moms. You dont have to walk red carpets or have your name in lights to be a star simply kissing boo boos and wiping tears will make you somebodys hero. Jo Dee Messina A Womans Rant Being a parent isnt all about sentimental stuff. That job is hard work! Just ask Jo Dee Messina, who wrote A Womans Rant after her husband snored through a screaming baby. Leave it to this fiery, funny woman to have a fast-paced vent session about her PMS and PTA; but we assure you Messina loves her two young and adorable sons more than anything and wouldnt trade those sleepless nights! Laura Bell Bundy Thats What Angels Do In 2014, Laura Bell Bundy released her Mothers Day video for her song Thats What Angels Do, honoring her mom for being her rock during the most trying times in her life. To cap off the sentimental music video, Bundys mom made a cameo, angelically hugging her daughter tightly as if she never wanted to let go. Martina McBride Teenage Daughters Teenage daughters are what parents fear the most when they hear those three words: Its A Girl! McBride reflects on how impossible her seventeen year old has become, admitting that she is an awful lot like she was at that age. Dont worry, moms. Its just a phase. We all go back to wanting mommy eventually. Reba McEntire Youre Gonna Be No matter what we do or the chaos we cause, Reba McEntire ensures that a mothers love is endless in Youre Gonna Be. In fact, though life may take us off course and hit us with a left and a right, McEntires guarantee that she will love her child unconditionally reminds us that our moms will do the same for us. Taylor Swift The Best Day Taylor Swift released The Best Day in 2009, complete with home videos of her childhood as an ode to her mom, Andrea. In the song, Swift shares that throughout all stages of her life, her mom made the worst days into the best just by being by her side. Sorry I cant give you this kind of homemade Mothers Day gift, Mom. That construction paper card is just going to have to do. Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers out there! We wish you the best day! ST. CLOUD, Florida A Florida man is in the Osceola County jail after he was arrested for allegedly shooting and killing his brother in a fight over a cheeseburger. Just after 10 p.m. on Thursday, May 5, 2016, the St. Cloud Police Department received a 911 phone call that a shooting had occurred at 601 Sixth Street in St. Cloud, Florida. Investigators say that 25-year-old Benjamin A. Middendorf shot his 28-year-old brother, Nicholas Middendorf, in the chest with a 9mm handgun after a verbal dispute rose between the two over a cheeseburger. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Their mother told police that she and Nicholas had just returned to the residence from a bar when the brothers started arguing, the Orlando Sentinel reported Nicholas was pronounced deceased at the scene. Benjamin was arrested and charged with first degree premeditated murder. He was later transported to the Osceola County Jail where he is being held with no bond, court records show. GoldSeek.com Radio: Louis Navellier and Arch Crawford, and your host Chris Waltzek By: Chris Waltzek, GoldSeek.com Radio -- Published: Sunday, 8 May 2016 | Print | Disqus Featured Guests Louis Navellier & Arch Crawford Summary Arch Crawford, head of Crawford Perspectives showcases his investing methods that he's honed over forty years in the markets. His mentor Bob Farrell guided Arch during his tenure at Merrill Lynch. Bob Farrell's investing rules are available online: 10 rules of technical investing success. For the first time in 5 years, gold is making higher highs and higher lows, a solid sign of recovery. If the yellow metal holds $1,280, "Buy with both hands," according to his latest newsletter. Regarding US shares, the "Sell in May and walk away," theme may persist in 2016, making the overvalued indexes more attractive in October / November. Louis Navellier of Navellier & Associates, returns to the show with must hear market commentary. The gold bullion aficionado prefers real money over currency, which carries a negative interest rate. The precious metals will remain essential core holdings for every investment portfolio. He recommends that investors follow the steps he's taking to insure his personal portfolio, by increasing their allocation of gold and PMs shares. The perma-bull is less sanguine on US equities, amid sagging sales / earnings news. While the major indexes tread water, many top flying blue chips are showing signs of distress. Although small-cap stocks are red hot, much of the excitement is due to low floats amid a short-covering rally. Stocks with solid sales figures and low P/E ratios relative to the S&P present opportunities, such as Facebook (FB) and CostCo (COST). The S&P 500 dividend yield is higher than the less risky 10-year Treasury Bill, suggesting that stocks are undervalued relative to bonds, a rare indication of underlying strength. Show Host Chris Waltzek About Chris Contact Host: gsradio@frontier.com NEW - Hotline - Q&A: 1-206-666-5370 Guest Biographies Arch Crawford Stockmarket Cycles Arch Crawford cut his technical analysis teeth as first assistant to top Wall Street technician Robert Farrell at Merrill Lynch in the early 1960s. In 1977, following Archs extensive research into astrophysical phenomenon, astrology and its correlation to market performance, he edited and published the premiere issue of Crawford Perspectives market timing newsletter. Today, nearly 40 years later, Crawford Perspectives continues to bring readers one of the most highly regarded and consistently accurate market timing newsletters available. Website: click here. Louis Navellier The Little Book That Makes You Rich Chairman/CEO/CIO Louis Navellier is Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Investment Officer of Navellier & Associates, Inc., located in Reno, Nevada. Mr. Navellier is also editor of four leading stock advisory newsletters: Emerging Growth, Quantum Growth, Blue Chip Growth, and Global Growth. A recognized expert in translating what had been purely academic techniques into real market applications, he believes that disciplined, quantitative analysis can select stocks that will significantly outperform the overall market. Mr. Navellier employs a three-step, highly disciplined, bottom-up stock selection process, focusing on quantitative analysis, fundamental analysis, and optimization of the securities selected for the portfolio. In 1980, Mr. Navellier began publishing his research in his stock advisory newsletter, the MPT Review. Since 1987, he has been active in the management of individual portfolios, mutual funds, and institutional portfolios. A charismatic figure with a reputation for solid leadership, Louis Navellier has been covered by a wide range of international media. In addition to appearing on CNBC, Bloomberg, The Nightly Business Report, and Wall Street Week, he has been featured in Barron's, Forbes, Fortune, Investor's Business Daily, Money, Smart Money, and The Wall Street Journal. Most recently he was profiled in Kenneth A. Stern's book Secrets of the Investment All-Stars in the interview "Louis Navellier, A Man Who Has Beat Them All." He is also featured in Alan R. Ackerman's Investing Under Fire: Winner Strategies from the Masters for Bulls, Bears, and the Bewildered. To visit my website: click here. | Digg This Article -- Published: Sunday, 8 May 2016 | E-Mail | Print | Source: GoldSeek.com Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. comments powered by Disqus Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid has said the defeat of Zac Goldsmith against Sadiq Khan in London mayor's election had deflated the balloon of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan's so-called popularity abroad. Zac Goldsmith is the brother of Khan's former wife Jemima Goldsmith. "Pakistanis in London by voting for their compatriot Sadiq Khan have not only proven their patriotism but also exposed the hollow claims of Imran Khan's popularity among the expats," the Express Tribune quoted Rashid as saying in a statement issued on Saturday. Rashid said that Zac Goldsmith's defeat had virtually raised 'Ro Imran Ro' slogan even in the United Kingdom's capital. "The PTI chief along with his entire family had campaigned for Zac but the people of London have rejected his politics of lies by voting for Sadiq," he said. He congratulated Sadiq Khan, the son of a Pakistani bus driver, who became London's first Muslim mayor on Friday for the coveted post and said that was a source of happiness for all Pakistanis. "The victory of the son of a labourer is a matter of pride and honour for every labourer and every Pakistani.With Sadiq's election, the people of London have also rejected the negative propaganda against Pakistan and Pakistanis," he added. The Information Minister said that Sadiq Khan through his performance would garner further respect for Pakistan. "Imran's attempts to hoodwink the Pakistanis at home and abroad by claiming to visit London to gather proofs regarding the Panama Papers leaks speaks volumes about the contradiction in his claims and deeds," Rashid said. He added the people of Pakistan knew that Imran's priority was his family and not compatriots. (ANI) Chinese soybean imports surged 33 percent higher in April from a year ago, setting a monthly record, amid strong demand for soymeal and soyoil. Iron ore imports also climbed last month on a recovery in steel production in the second quarter.China imported 7.07 million tonnes of soybeans in April, up 15.9 percent compared to the previous month, preliminary figures issued by the General Administration of Customs showed on Sunday. This is a record for April imports.March imports were also a monthly record and soybean imports have surged in 2016 on rising demand for soymeal for hog farms in China. For the first four months of the year, imports have climbed 11.4 percent from a year ago to 23.33 million tonnes.Improving margins for steel production starting this quarter pushed iron ore imports higher, with deliveries rising 4.6 percent from a year ago to 83.92 million tonnes in April, a monthly record, customs said. However, that was down 2.2 percent from March imports.Iron ore shipments from Port Hedland in Australia, China's biggest supplier, slipped 0.9 percent on the month to 32.6 million tonnes in April, official data showed.Chinese coal imports slipped last month, dropping 5.8 percent from a year ago to 18.8 million tonnes. Expectations had been for an increase as power plants sought to replenish stockpiles with cheaper foreign supplies ahead of the summer peak power consumption period.The total volume over the first four months reached 67.25 million tonnes, down 2.5 percent compared to the same period of 2015. Imports over the whole of 2015 dropped 30 percent.Copper ore and concentrates imports stood at 1.26 million tonnes, down 8 percent on the month, though they were up 21 percent from a year ago, the customs data showed.REUTERS AKC PS NS1321 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0432-721668.Xml The Police has filed its status report in which it states that the complainant has not given any strong evidence on basis of which investigation can be proceeded. A Delhi Court had earlier sought an Action Taken Report (ATR) from the police on a criminal complaint requesting the registration of an FIR against Owaisi for his alleged sedition offences. The complaint was filed before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Munish Markan. The development came after Owaisi allegedly made a statement earlier this month that "even if somebody puts a knife at me, I will not say 'Bharat Mata ki jai'" The complainant in his complaint alleged that on March 13, Owaisi had voluntarily said, "Even if somebody puts a knife at me, I will not say 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai" and his expression showed 'disaffection and includes disloyalty and all feeling of enmity.' The petitioner had sought a direction to the SHO Karawal Nagar Police Station to lodge an FIR against Owaisi for the alleged offences under Sections 124A (sedition) and 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race etc) of the Indian Penal Code. (ANI) Both sides have filed FIRs at the Jadavpur Police station against each other . The University Registrar also filed a complaint with the police of attack on the students by the outsiders. Leading educationists and intellectuals have criticized the alleged efforts of outsiders to engineer JNU like disturbances in JU. JU students, faculty and staff members have announced to organize a protest procession from the University campus to Garia in the evening today. State Governor and Chancellor of JU,K.N. Tripathi today said that the authorities concerned should take stern action to check chaos at the university. The clash at JU last evening had broken out between SFI and ABVP over screening of a film, Buddha in a Traffic Jam. (ANI) In a demonstration of India's commitment to maritime relations with countries in the Gulf, Indian Naval Ships Delhi, Tarkash and Deepak under the Command of the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet, Rear Admiral Ravneet Singh, NM have arrived at Dubai on a four day visit. INS Delhi is commanded by Captain Sandeep Singh Sandhu, INS Tarkash is commanded by Captain Pradeep Singh, NM and INS Deepak is commanded by Captain Sujit Kumar Chhetri. During the visit, the crew of IN ships will undertake professional interactions with the UAE Navy towards enhancing co-operation between the two forces. In addition, calls on senior government and military authorities, sporting and cultural interactions and sharing of best practices, aimed at strengthening mutual understanding between the two navies, are also planned. The visiting IN ships are also likely to conduct exercises with the UAE Navy. Bilateral relations between India and UAE are characterised by strong bonds of friendship based on cultural and economic ties dating back to nearly 3000 BC. These have been further strengthened in recent times by a vibrant economic relationship and growing convergence on security issues. UAE is India's second largest trading partner and Indians are the largest expatriate community in the UAE. The visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to UAE in August 2015 heralded the beginning of a comprehensive strategic partnership, wherein both nations agreed to cooperate in maritime security and strengthen defence relations. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar is scheduled to visit UAE from May 18-19. Maritime cooperation between the two countries has increased steadily since the inaugural Navy-to-Navy Staff Talks in January 2007. Reciprocal port visits, high-level delegations and training exchanges have further bolstered naval cooperation between the two countries. IN ships last visited UAE in September 2015 wherein Delhi, Deepak, Trishul and Tabar berthed at Dubai. India and UAE are also members of Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), a voluntary and co-operative initiative between 30 countries of the Indian Ocean Region, which has served as an ideal forum for sharing of information and cooperation on maritime issues. UAE hosted the 2010 edition of IONS at Abu Dhabi. The current visit seeks to bolster the strong bonds of friendship between India and UAE and contribute to security and stability in this vital part of the Indian Ocean Region. (ANI) Third accused-Rosy Ferros had allegedly helped the mother of the victim to sell her to Babush. The police had earlier also arrested the mother of the victim on the charges of trafficking. Monserrate was arrested reportedly after he surrendered before the Goa Police. The Goa Police on May 4 registered an FIR against Monserrate under section 8 of the Goa Children's Act and sections 3 and 4 of the POCSO Act, besides various IPC sections of rape, assault and restraining the survivor. Earlier, the police searched his properties on the outskirts of Panaji. Monserrate was expelled from the Congress Party on charges of anti party activities after the Panaji Assembly by polls last year. Monserrate, who is an unattached member in the Goa Assembly, has reportedly also a history of being chargesheeted for extortion. He had recently announced of taking control of the United Goans Democratic Party (UGDP) with eyes on the next assembly polls scheduled in early 2017. (ANI) Asserting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was afraid of Sonia Gandhi as she knew a lot about the many 'scams and scandals' that the former was involved him, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday came out guns blazing against the Congress Chief, calling for her arrest and demanded that she be grilled for at least two days in connection with the AgustaWestland case. "It's been two years that Modiji has been in power and he has failed to take any concrete action in the matter. The Italian government finished investigation into the company that gave bribe to Indian officials and the accused were sent behind bars. Our Prime Minister has not taken the matter ahead even an inch," Kejriwal said addressing a rally here. Asserting that Sonia and Congress leader Ahmad Patel's names had showed up in the report by the Italian government among other names from the grand old party, Kejriwal said that despite all evidence present Modi does not have the guts to take action against the Congress Chief and have her grilled. "We made you the Prime Minister to take action and not leave all the work on the Italian government. Even we would be sporting a 56 inch wide chest if he had Sonia arrested, but when our Prime Minister cowers and says that it was not him but Italy who raised Sonia's name in the matter, its baffling. Why is he so afraid of her? Is this how you investigate? If we knew you were involved with the Congress in the scam then you would never have been made the Prime Minister," Kejriwal said to applause from the crowds. "Arrest Sonia Gandhi and grill her for two days and all the names of those responsible in the matter will spill out," he added. Talking about the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre launching a spur of baseless attacks on members of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Kejriwal said that government, instead of focusing on Sonia Gandhi, had trained its gun on Somnath Bharti who was undergoing marital problems. "Somnath Bharti had a spat with his wife and they threw him in jail for five days. Who does not have marital problems? Mahender Yadav was jailed for two days when he was protesting against the rape of a four year old child. They had the CBI raid me and at the end of the day all they could find were four mufflers....but even after all this, they will not touch Sonia Gandhi," Kejriwal said. Accusing the Congress and the Prime Minister of being in cahoots, he alleged that in the 10 years that the UPA govt ruled, they managed to gather a lot of dirt of Modi and on all his scams, which is why he was tight lipped, as he knew that if Sonia was implicated, then his secrets would spill out as well. "One of the scam is his degrees. I'm not saying that you need to have high levels of education to become a Prime Minister. Someone does not need to be highly educated to be resourceful. We have no problem if he is 12th pass but he should at least admit to it as the nation will respect him more. But if he keeps lying and cheating the nation, the people will not tolerate it," the Chief Minister said. Questioning Sonia and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi of not raising their voice or even showing the slightest interest in Modi's alleged degree scandal, he added that there was a deal or some sort of 'setting' between the two leaders. Kejriwal also challenged the Prime Minister to hand over the Anti-Corruption branch over to the Delhi government for a year so as to see the 'real meaning of investigation'. (ANI) Millions of pilgrims flocked to take a holy dip in Kshipra river on 'Vaishakh Krishna Amavasya' yesterday despite facing hardships after the tents were damaged and electricity supply cut off. Heavy rush of pilgrims prompted police to put up barricades at the main intersections and stop vehicular traffic on the approach roads to the Ramghat. Around 2 million pilgrims are said to have visited the Kshipra ghat on Friday. Devotees who faced problems in procuring food ate at the community kitchen of various Akharas. The district administration drew flak after a drainage line burst at the Ram Ghat on Thursday evening and dirty water flowed into the river, raising health concerns. However, Akhara Parishad president Narendra Giri said it was a natural disaster and that the administration responded swiftly. (ANI) Security and other arrangements are in place as "Darbar Move", seat of the Jammu and Kashmir government, reopens in this summer capital tomorrow. The authorities have decided to deploy additional personnel to regulate traffic movement in the city, where frequent traffic jam has become a daily routine on almost all routes, particularly in the civil lines, uptown and down town. Additional state police personnel and security forces have been deployed in strength in Srinagar, particularly in and around the Civil Secretariat, seat of the government, where Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti will be presented a guard of honour by a contingent of Jammu and Kashmir police. This will be for the first time Ms Mufti will enter the Civil Secretariat as Chief Minster after assuming office at winter capital Jammu last month, following the death of her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on January 7 in AIIMS, New Delhi. Security forces have been deployed on specially build towers, with the help of binoculars around the Secretariat. A number of security forces could be seen on the top floor of the seven-storied Secretariat. Security forces have also intensified night and foot patrolling in the areas adjacent to civil secretariat to foil any attempt by militants to carry out attack. Security forces were seen guarding all roads, being used by VIPs and employees, leading to civil secretariat from different areas. Similar security arrangements have also been made in and around other move offices which are also reopening in the summer capital tomorrow. The Darbar move offices were closed in winter capital, Jammu on the last working day of last month. Special buses and trucks were pressed into service to transport employees and office record from Jammu to Srinagar.UNI BAS RJ NS1323 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-721635.Xml Only one-way traffic from Jammu to Kashmir was allowed on the 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu national highway today to allow free movement of vehicles, carrying employees as Darbar Move, seat of the government, reopens in the summer capital tomorrow. The Darbar, including the office of Chief Minister and her Cabinet colleagues and top bureaucrats was closed in winter capital Jammu, on the last working day of last month. Meanwhile, the historic Mughal road, connecting Shopian in south Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region and national highway linking Ladakh with valley were open with some restrictions. However, road from Bandipora to border town of Gurez and Synthan and Kishtwar road remained closed since December last year. A traffic police official told UNI that in view of movement of vehicles carrying Darbar move employees and keeping in view the condition of road, only one-way traffic from Jammu to Kashmir valley was allowed today. No traffic, including the convoy of Army, BSF, CRPF, SSB, ITBP and other security force agencies would be allowed from Kashmir to Jammu today under any circumstances, he said adding however, these restrictions will not apply to ambulances carrying emergency patients. He said movement of all types of Kashmir bound passenger vehicles and oil tankers would be permitted from Nagrota (Jammu) from 0400 hrs to 1500 hrs whereas the movement of trucks shall be allowed from Jammu after 0600 hrs to 1400 hrs. Similarly from Nagrota, Jammu, movement of all kinds of traffic bound for Doda and Kishtwar were allowed from 0400 hrs onwards 1500 hrs only. However, from tomorrow passenger traffic will ply from both sides while trucks and heavy vehicles will continue to ply on alternate days on the highway. He said historic Mughal road through for traffic. However, movement of traffic was allowed from 0800 hours upto 1200 hours from Bufluaz towards Shopian and from 1300 hours upto 1600 hours from Shopian towards Bufliaz. Similarly Srinagar Kargil-Leh highway was also through for traffic. However, the cut off time for all types of vehicles plying from Kargil towards Sonamarg, in the central Kashmir was 0630 hours at Drass and 0900 hours at Minimarg whereas cut off time for all types of vehicles plying from Srinagar towards Kargil was 1100 hours at Sonamarg.UNI BAS ASM RJ NS1343 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-721657.Xml A new lot of 1044 pilgrims will visit Dwaraka, Somnath, Nageshwar Jyotriling and Bhet Dwarika during their six days long tour to be conducted by IRCTC of the Indian Railways. Official sources here today said that the the yatra would start from Lucknow of May 23 and the special train will return back to the state capital after covering the religious places on May 28. During the tour, the pilgrims would be provide free food besides medical facilities and other benefits. The selected pilgrims would also be provided free bus service from their respective districts to Lucknow railway station. Senior citizen interested have been asked to apply from their respective districts till May 15. Ten pilgrims would be selected from each of the 75 districts of the state. Last month the Yatra had taken pilgrims to Jagnath Puri and Konark. Earlier the pilgrims went to Haridwar, Ajmer, Pushkar and some other religious places of the country.UNI MB PS RJ NS1413 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-721666.Xml Police have launched a massive manhunt to arrest the ruling JD (U) MLC Manorama Devi and her son Rockie Kumar after the latter shot dead a youth in road rage under Rampur police station area. Under the local people`s mounting pressure, police today raided the house of the JD (U) MLC and arrested her husband and former district board president Bindi Yadav, informed Gaya`s Senior Police Superintendent Garima Mallik. She said that a bodyguard who was accompanying Rockie, had also been taken into custody. Providing details, police said here that Vipin Sachdeva (20) was returning home at Swarajpur mohalla under Civil Lines police station area with his friends in a car from Bodh Gaya when he overtook the car of Rockie, Kumar. Enraged over the "audacity" of Vipin, Rockie forced the youth to stop his car and later shot at him leaving him seriously injured. The youth was rushed to the Madgdh Medical College and Hospital where he was declared 'brought dead'. Relatives of the deceased had lodged an FIR against Rockie. Infuriated over the incident, local residents blocked main roads of the city and disrupted traffic. Senior civil and police authorities are trying to pacify them, sources added. Meanwhile, all police stations in the district had been alerted to arrest the MLC and her son. Further investigation is on.UNI XC DH PL SDR RJ NS1300 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-721595.Xml The Tripura government has urged External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to extend Trans-Asian Railway Network (TARN) up to Singapore via Myanmar, Malaysia and Thailand from Jawharnagar of Dhalai district of North Tripura.In a letter to Ms Swaraj, Tripura Transport Minister Manik Dey demanded considering lying of the 109 km railway track between Jawharnagar of Tripura and Darlawn of Mizoram and extension of 148 km railway line to connect Kalay of Myanmar.Mr Dey said there is a missing railway link of 95 km between Dawei and Namtok of Thailand and if it is connected the northeast would get connected up to Singapore and Cambodia without much problem."India needs to take up the issue with neighbouring countries to connect Trans Asian countries in railway link for better trade, commerce and closure people to people contact. The Act East Policy of Modi government will also fruitful and comprehensive if TRAN is established," Dey pointed out.Justifying the argument of Tripura government, Dey maintained that Tripura is well connected by road to Bangladesh and soon it will be connected by railway. Both Chittagong sea port and Ashuganj port on call would fully be operational by next couple of years, which will open up waterways to entire South East Asian countries."Sea connectivity through Chittagong port is the opportunity only for Tripura in the region. Agartala is well connected to Bangladesh via Dhaka by road and Akhaura of Bangladesh is going to be connected by rail in next three years. If Tripura is connected by alternative railway line with Myanmar, other neighbours up to Singapore and Cambodia will automatically connected," he argued. Besides, Ms Swaraj, he has sent a separate letter to Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu with a request to take necessary steps for connecting the state with TARN. A proposal along with a detailed map was made to the Centre for construction of 257-km railway route from Jawharnagar to Kalay via Darlawn of Mizoram.According to Dey, the 15-km Agartala-Akhaura rail project was approved in 2012-13 and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the project was signed between India and Bangladesh governments on February 16, 2013.The total cost of the Akhaura-Agartala rail project has been estimated Rs 967.85 crore while Rs 97.63 is required for land acquisition in the India's part; he said adding that though the DoNER already sanctioned money, the state government is yet to get the amount.UNI BB PL PS SB VN1429 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-721608.Xml The two-month-long bitter, no-holds-barred campaign for the West Bengal assembly elections turned into a slugfest between development and corruption, with the ruling Trinamool Congress tom-tomming its infrastructural projects and welfare schemes and the opposition hitting back with missiles like the Narada and Saradha scams and the flyover collapse in the city. Chief Minister and Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee, who had a headstart over her opponents by making public the party candidates' list minutes after the Election Commission announced the poll schedule on March 4, began her campaign with a bang by highlighting the development agenda. The Trinamool manifesto, as also the party's posters, banners and flexes, widely advertised the government's schemes like distribution of foodgrain at Rs.2 a kg, doling out of scholarships to girls, bicycles and shoes to students and loans to jobless youth for self employment. Banerjee's pet project Kanyashree - a cash-transfer programme for the education of girls - and the government's "success stories" in building roads, ensuring drinking water and arranging for street lighting even in remote villages were played up by the party. "The massive development we have ushered in will be the subject of global research in future," said Banerjee. The opposition seemed in disarray, with the fledgling Left Front-Congress alliance battling discord over seat adjustment and seemingly confused on crucial matters like joint campaigning and platform sharing. But then came March 14, and the script completely changed. A purported sting operation carried out by a portal - Narada News - caught on camera over a dozen Trinamool leaders including former union ministers, state cabinet heavyweights and MPs accepting wads of currency notes as "bribes" in return for showing favours to a fictitious company. A further jolt came on the last day of the 2015-16 fiscal. The under-construction Vivekananda Road flyover collapsed, taking 26 lives. Media reports claimed people with little experience in handling such projects were handed out the various contracts because of their proximity to Trinamool leaders. There were allegations about use of substandard material, faulty drawings and poor supervision. Even the main construction company was said to have been blacklisted elsewhere. As the opposition went to town pillorying the Trinamool on the issue of corruption, the ruling party appeared rudderless, constantly shifting its stand. Having initially dismissed the Narada sting as "doctored" and a "political conspiracy", Banerjee virtually ate her words, by publicly claiming she would have given "a thought to changing the candidates" caught in the tapes, had the videotapes been released before the announcement of her party's nominees' list. Her comments late last month "slap me if I have committed mistakes, I won't' mind. But I'm hurt when called a thief", were seen by some as an indication of her nervousness. Banerjee tried to counter the flyover issue by pointing out the contract was given out when the Left Front was in power, but drew sharp repostes from BJP and the CPI-M on why the project was not completed during her five years in office. Political scientist Biswanath Chakraborty felt the corruption issue derailed Banerjee's development plank. "She went on harping on development till the end. But somehow it lost its sheen after the skeletons of corruption tumbled out from the Trinamool wardrobe," Chakraborty told IANS. CPI-M politburo member Mohammed Salim spoke on similar lines. "Initially they started campaigning about development. But people soon called their bluff. All infrastructure projects were started or planned during the LF rule. Some of them are still incomplete. Funds were diverted, corruption crept in. Quality was compromised. "Only construction activities have taken place to aid the Syndicate mafia, the suppliers' chains and contractors. Everywhere there is bribery, kickback and extortion," Salim told IANS. He said the loot of chit fund money was seen during the Saradha scam. "Now the Narada expose is there." State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the fight was against Trinamool's reign of terror and its unbridled corruption. "Under the Trinamool there is complete anarchy everywhere. There is no democracy, there is no law and order in the state. Our fight is to re-establish democracy," Chowdhury told IANS. BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said the biggest issue was "complete lack of development and the all-round corruption." "The chief minister keeps making tall claims about development, about jobs and industry, but on the ground it's only bomb making factories that exist," Ghosh told IANS. (Anurag Dey can be contacted at anurag.d@ians.in and Sirshendu Panth at s.panth@ians.in) --IANS and-ssp/vm ( 749 Words) 2016-05-08-14:56:19 (IANS) After all the separatist organisations, the Communist Party of India (M) today opposed establishments of Sainik Colonies in the Kashmir valley.However, Peoples Democratic Party and Bharatiya Janata Party coalition government spokesman has already rejected the reports about establishment of any such colony.Senior CPI(M) leader and lone MLA in the state, Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami said J&K State Committee of CPI(M) has affirmed that it will vehemently oppose any move to establish "Sainik Colonies" for retired Army personnel in Jammu and Kashmir. ' "Since the plan in a way envisages to settle the non permanent resident retired soldiers in J&K, it amounts to virtual scrapbing of the state's special status covertly," he said. In a statement issued here Mr Tarigami said at a time when the support for retaining and strengthening the article 370 and special status of the state is rapidly growing, such move will further alienate the overwhelming majority of the state."One is constrained to infer that this motivated move may be the hidden item of the Agenda of Alliance. It is our party's considered opinion that the move will further complicate the Kashmir imbroglio and the efforts to resolve it would be seriously jeopardised". Keeping these factors in view, it is in the best interest of the state and the country at large that the plan, if envisioned, should be renounced permanently so that the fragile peace is not disturbed, he said. All separatist organisations, including both the factions of the Hurriyat Conference (HC) and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) have strongly opposed any such move describing it a conspiracy against the Muslim charactor of the state. UNI BAS AE RK1523 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-721713.Xml A soldier of Territorial Army (TA) died when he slipped from a top and fell into a deep nullah near the Line of Control (LoC) in the frontier district of Kupwara, a defence ministry spokesman said. Col N N Joshi said that a soldier of TA Seopy Kishori Lal, a resident of village Dhar, Kishtwar in Jammu region slipped and fell into a deep nullah while he was repairing anti-infiltration fence which was damaged due to heavy snow fall this winter. He said speedy resuscitating of the anti-infiltration is undertaken every year soon after the snow melts. This is vital to maintain a robust anti-infiltration posture and prevent infiltration of terrorists through the highly treacherous areas along the Line of Control. The soldier was immediately evacuated by helicopter to Army Base Hospital at Srinagar, where he succumbed to his injuries.Lal had joined the TA last year. Born into a family of farmers, he is proudly remembered by his peers for his indomitable spirit, a very high camaraderie quotient, commitment towards duty and thrust of achieving higher goals. He was physically tough and was a natural choice to his team to undertake challenging tasks and he proved it last month when he was part of a detachment which repaired a critical portion of the fence in record time.Paying tributes to the brave soldier, Lt Gen Satish Dua, GOC Chinar Corps saluted the courage and selflessness of Late Sepoy lal whose commitment to work could be gauged from the fact that he volunteered to supervise the work in the most difficult part of the terrain. He saluted the bereaved families and offering his condolences for their loss, The General Officer reaffirmed the Army's commitment towards looking after their honour and well being.The mortal remains of the martyr was flown in an army helicopter from Srinagar to Kishtwar for cremation at his village with full military honours.UNI BAS SB BD1544 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-721836.Xml A parcel containing a detonator and explosive powder with a letter threatening JNUSU union president Kanhaiya Kumar was received at FTII office here.The letter received last evening, warned the institute director not to allow Kanhaiya's entry at FTII campus.Recently Kanhaiya Kumar had addressed a gathering at Bal Gandharv auditorium on April 24. However Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) students could not go there as the whole drama surrounding his visit to Pune was hijacked by Nationalist Congress Party and Congress. Earlier FTII students had supported Kanhaiya to visit Pune.Incidentally the parcel was addressed to Prashant Pathrabe, the former director of FTII , who has beenreplaced by Bhupendra Kainthola two weeks back.When contacted, Kainthola said, "The parcel arrived last evening and it was found suspicious therefore we informed the police."Joint Commissioner of Pune police Sunil Ramanand said, "The parcel is similar to those earlier sent tooffice bearers of Sambhaji Brigade. A team from the bomb detection and disposal squad (BDDS) checkedthe contents of the parcel which contained a small detonator and white powder suspected to be someexplosives powder. It has been sent to forensic lab for further analysis. We are registering a case againstunknown persons with local Deccan Gymkhana police station." So far no one has been arrested and further investigation is on.UNI SP SF SB RK1658 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0140-722041.Xml 'Pardes' fame Bollywood actor Mahima Choudhury today said that she plans to return to active film career very soon."After my marriage and giving birth to a daughter, I had left the films. But now after a long time I have played the role of a mother in a Bengali film. Soon I will return to Hindi films," she said here.Mahima was here to inaugurate the Lucknow chapter of the Indian Television Academy(ITA) school of performing Arts."Presently I am enjoying life as a mother and it is a coincidence that today happens to be Mother's Day," she said, adding that she really misses the Hindi films.Asked about the talents of the present Bollywood actors and particularly about the sons and daughters of the actors, she said that," every actor is talented as no one can survive in the industry if he or she lacks talent."Claiming that this ITA school will certainly give the youths of Lucknow and its neighbouring areas facilities to get training on a par with Mumbai or any other place, Mahima said she too will visit Lucknow regularly to encourage the youths of the school."But the youngsters who get admitted to this school will have to work hard. I also worked hard as my Hindi was not good and had to engage diction teachers to improve my language," she said.ITA School of Performing Act founder and a big name in Bollywood Shashi Ranjan said that this school will give a good exposure to the youths and will provide a platform to the talented students.UNI MB SB VN1727 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0138-722100.Xml The accused Jagdish attacked his neighbour with a sharp edged weapon as a dispute broke out between the duo over Rs 600 which the attacker had given to the victim as loan. Later a police team managed to arrest the culprit after thevillagers alerted the police. Meanwhile the body has been sent forpost-mortem to RIMS.UNI AK PL SB VN1708 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-721946.Xml Jammu and Kashmir police arrested three drug peddlers and recovered brown sugar and other prescribed drugs from their possession in the summer capital, a police spokesperson said this afternoon. Police said continuing its efforts to eradicate drug menace in the city, Srinagar police headed by Superintendent of Police (SP) and SDPO West arrested three notorious drug peddlers.Giving details he said during the routine checking at Hamdania Colony, a suspicious person was intercepted by the patrolling party of Police Station Parimpora who was identified as Reyaz Ahmad Mir , a resident of Sangam, Pulwama. On his search, 12.2 grams of Brown Sugar was recovered from his possession.He said in yet another incident, during naka checking at Fruit Mandi, a drug peddler Adnan Firdous Qureshi was arrested and 750 bottles of codeine phosphate were recovered from his possession. He said at Bypass Bemina one more drug peddler Pervaiz Ahmad Chesti was arrested and 3900 bottles of codeine phosphate were recovered from this possession. UNI BAS CJ SB VN1841 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-722020.Xml Nagaland's Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Kumar has expressed concern over the number of bogus voters in the electoral roll. A substantial number of bogus entries, which should not be there, are there, he told a meeting organised by the Nagaland Tribes Council yesterday in Dimapur. According to an NTC release issued today, the meeting, which was held on the issue had an 'interactive session with civil bodies on illegal influx and floating population with special focus on purification of the Electoral Rolls in Nagaland'. It witnessed a good number of representatives from ACAUT Nagaland, Gaon Burha Federation of Nagaland, Youth Association of Nagaland and Survival Nagaland. The CEO, while admitting this, also made it clear that the agency needs the unconditional and unrelenting support of all strata of the civil society. "We all know the problem. Let us not perpetuate the blame game," he said. According to him, the entries in the e-Roll are simply preposterous and defy logic. Double entries are common but it does not end there. To name a few, the anomalies range from mismatched names and photos to villages where the number of electors is equivalent to or more than that of the population of the village. Nagaland has at present 2,138 polling stations. He cited the instances of senior government officials who have names registered in more than one polling station, while reminding that there is legal penalty for wrongful registration. On a suggestion by the ACAUT to link up the e-Roll with Aadhar, the CEO said it may sound logical but is not practical when applied. Stating that there is a downside to it, he cited Haryana as an instance where admission to schools declined after the biometric system of admitting children to schools through Aadhar was introduced. On another suggestion to crosscheck the figures with church enrolment, the CEO responded, "We've requested. But all we could do is request." Joint CEO N Moa Aier said locals facilitating the inclusion of people of dubious origins are not helping the effort to clean up the e-Roll. The Nagaland E-Roll at present is stated to be 11, 40,000 which is a fair drop from the figure of 13, 38,000 in 2011. However, conservative estimates suggest it should be no more than 7, 00,000. The problem is all too evident as Survival Nagaland members pointed out during the interaction-the recently held Assam elections witnessed thousands of non-Nagas flocking to their respective place of origins in Assam to vote. UNI AS PL AE BL1821 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-721959.Xml India's celebrated film icons and Kalyan Jewellers brand ambassadors Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan today regaled huge crowds and inaugurated three showrooms of Kalyan Jewellers in Salt Lake, Gariahat and Camac Street. The stars had come exclusively to Kolkata on a whirlwind visit to launch three showrooms on the same day. They were accompanied by Kalyan Jewellers' Chairman and Managing Director T S Kalyanaraman and Executive Directors Ramesh Kalyanaraman and Rajesh Kalyanaraman. Kalyan Jewellers Chairman of Mr Kalyanaraman said, "People in Kolkata can look forward to a compelling shopping experience at the three Kalyan showrooms in Salt Lake, Gariahat and Camac Street. The showrooms will feature Kalyan's popular and authentic Polki, gold, diamond and precious stone studded jewellery designs from across the country combined with exclusive privileges and superior customer service." "Kalyan will augment West Bengal's unique jewellery heritage and help strengthen the state's position as India's leading jewellery destination by bringing the best jewellery practices in quality, design, service, pricing and innovation,'' he said.Kalyan Jewellers has been expanding its distribution network to consolidate its leadership position across the country and with the three showrooms in Kolkata, the brand will reach the landmark figure of 100 showrooms. In FY 2016-17, Kalyan Jewellers plans to open 20 showrooms five in the Middle Eastand 15 in India including 3 that opened in Rajasthan in April and 3 in Kolkata. Since its inception Kalyan Jewellers has been at the forefront of educating customers on the intricacies of buying jewellery through its educational campaigns. The brand also pioneered BIS Hallmarking in India and is credited with ushering transparency in a largely opaque and unorganised Indian jewellery sector.UNI BM SB VN1819\\ -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-722102.Xml Two militants were arrested and arms recovered in separate operations in Assam and Mizoram respectively by security forces. In Mizoram, 39 Assam Rifles in a joint operation along with Mizoram Police recovered two AK 56 Assault Rifles and 500 rounds of ammunition from the house of Mr Lalrintluanga resident of Laungmual, Aizawl yesterday. This came close on heel of recovery of four AK 56 Assault Rifles by 10 Assam Rifles in Hnahlan on May 5. In assam, the Army launched a joint operation with Chirang Police in General area of Nagdalbari in Chirang district . The joint team cordoned a suspected house in the area and apprehended one ADF cadre. The apprehended individual was identified as Lakhiram Murmu. He is a local trained cadre of ADF and was involved in carrying out extortion activities in the area.One Pistol and three live rounds were recovered from the apprehended individual. In another incident based on specific information, the Army and Kokrajhar Police launched a joint operation and apprehended one terrorist of NSLA (AT) from Village Guruphella in Kokrajhar district. The apprehended terrorist was identified as Junas Mardi @ Joyking Mardi. He was an active terrorist of the banned organization and was involved in numerous cases of extortion, money collection and providing administrative support to the banned organisation. One Rifle along with one live round was recovered from the terrorist.UNI SG BM SB BL1837 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-722127.Xml Reeling under severe drought, Latur drew the attention of the Central Railways which dispatched around 1000 bags of certified water pouches to the drought hit areas of the Marathwada city. Carrying the pouches, Nagpur-Kolhapur express left for Latur last evening. Railway sources said here today that the employees of Nagpur Central Railway loaded the pouches themselves in the train after its arrival at the Nagpur railway station. The sources said the employees have decided to dispatch water to Latur every Saturday. According to the source, the employees collected Rs 40,000 and bought the water pouches with each pouch having capacity of 300ml and dispatched it to Latur. The sources informed that to ensure the quality of water ,the employees purchased the certified pouches with a plan to distribute them among the people in Harunbhai, Bhusmurd and Nandgaon villages having population between 2,000-3000. A team of four-five employees also went to Latur to execute the initiative and find out more such needy villages. The employees with the help of scout guides who have cooperated in transportation of the water will also survey major drought-affected areas. The employees have decided to continue the initiative for about next eight Saturdays and were taking casual leaves and earned leaves to execute the mission in Latur. UNI PK RS SF RSA BL1855 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-722066.Xml Two days ahead of the floor test in the Uttarakhand assembly, a video of a new sting operation allegedly showing a Congress legislator talking of bribe to at least a dozen party MLAs to keep them on ousted chief minister Harish Rawat's side has surfaced. The sting allegedly shows Congress MLA Madan Singh Bisht admitting to payment of Rs.25 lakh each to 12 legislators. It has been done by a news channel that earlier released a video clip allegedly showing Rawat indulging in horse-trading. In the latest video, Bisht is purportedly seen and heard talking with longtime colleague but now dissident MLA Harak Singh Rawat -- who is not visible in the clip -- about how he managed to extract money from Harish Rawat for the "poor MLAs". Taking potshots at Harish Rawat, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday said he was power hungry and could go to any extent to remain in power. "Bribes are being given to MLAs to win their support in Uttarakhand. I call it a 'danavi khel' (diabolical game). This brokering of 'dev bhoomi' (gods' land) should be stopped immediately," BJP MP and former Uttarakhand chief minister Bhagat Singh Koshiyari said here. "Can anything be more ridiculous and shameful than a former chief minister offering bribes to satisfy his own MLAs? This is murder of democracy," Koshiyari said. Bharatiya Janata Party spokesman Anil Baluni asked for legal action against Rawat while party general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya took a dig at Rawat and said he must have done something wrong so that his own MLAs are unhappy with him. On the other hand, the Congress called the sting operations a "BJP conspiracy" to discredit Rawat and wrest control in the state. "The BJP has been attempting to discredit Harish Rawat and this so-called sting video, and the earlier video as well, are part of their conspiracy," state Congress chief Kishore Upadhayay told IANS. He said the Congress is confident of proving the party government's majority in the assembly on Tuesday, as directed by the Supreme Court. The Harish Rawat government was dismissed by the Centre under Article 356 of the constitution on March 27 after nine Congress MLAs, led by former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna, revolted against Rawat. The Supreme Court has fixed May 10 for Rawat to prove his majority in the assembly. --IANS mak/tsb/dg ( 403 Words) 2016-05-08-20:22:04 (IANS) The BJP's all out efforts to break the bi-polar politics in Kerala got further momentum today with Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling upon the people of the state to think of their future rather than electing those believed in politics of violence and indulged in corruption. Addressing three election rallies in Kerala, Mr Modi lashed out at both the ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Opposition Marxist-led Left Democratic Front for the 'adjustment politics' being practiced by them. "A new model of politics has come up in Kerala. It is an adjustment politics, politics of compromise, politics of corruption and politics of contract to save each other,'' he said, adding that those who had ruled the state for the past 60 years had even failed to provide drinking water to the people. Mr Modi alleged that while the Congress was indulging in corruption at all levels, the Marxist party was practicing politics of violence. The Congress indulged in 2G/3G, coal and helicopter scams at the Centre, its Kerala unit was involved in solar scam. On the other hand, the CPI(M) was known for practicing politics of violence. ''Even LDF's Chief Ministerial candidate was an accused in a case relating to the murder of BJP worker at Thalassery years ago,'' he said. ''It is the time for the educated masses in Kerala to think about the future. Who will save Kerala and who will give job to Kerala's youth,'' he asked the mammoth gathering at Kasaragod in the morning. Both the Congress and the Communists have ruled the state by turn. ''They have decided to taste power for five years in rotation and decided not to look each other's sin,'' he said on his second leg of electioneering in the southern state for the May 16 elections. The BJP is yet to make an electoral breakthrough in Kerala and the party is pinning its hope to open account in the State Assembly either from Thiruvananthapuram, Kasaragod or Palakkad. The Left and Right fronts had ruined the state for the past 60 years. ''The unemployment rate in Kerala is at least three-times higher than the national average. Infant mortality rate among the Scheduled Tribe community in Kerala is worse than Somalia. The state can meet only 13 per cent of their requirement of agricultural products. Even after 70 years of Independence, Kerala depends other states for 70 per cent of its power requirements. Similarly, most of the youth in Kerala are forced to leave their home state in search of job. Only through overall development, the state could be brought back to its past glory,'' the Prime Minister said. Mr Modi also slammed the Congress and the CPI(M) over their tie-up in West Bengal, saying that the adjustment politics of the Congress and the Left have to be understood. "Is West Bengal in India? Is Kerala in India? Then why are speeches of Left and Congress leaders different in both states? Can people who speak in different voices in Kerala and West Bengal be trusted by the people. This is insulting people's sensibilities," he added. ''If we have to secure Kerala's future, then corruption should be weeded out, politics of development instead of politics of violence should be embraced and the BJP should be given a chance", he said, pointing out that there was no corruption charges against his government for the past two years. ''My government is committed to eradicate corruption in all sectors. Earlier, there used to be corruption even in the matter of allotting LPG cooking gas connections. We have provided 30 million LPG connections to the poor and our target is to provide 50 million more LPG connections in the next three years,'' he added. Even though Kerala had not elected even a single BJP member to the state Assembly or Parliament, the NDA government would not neglect the interests of the people of Kerala. ''When there was a tragedy in Sabarimala hill shrine when 102 people were killed in a stampede during the UPA regime, no one turned up here. However, when a fire tragedy occurred in a Kerala temple recently, the Prime Minister rushed to the spot within a few hours with a team of doctors,'' he said, adding that the Central Government had taken a number of steps for the welfare of Keralites settled abroad. The Centre always feels pain if something untoward incidents happens in Kerala, he said referring to the recent brutal rape and murder of a dalit law student at Perumbavoor in Kerala. Referring to the crisis in the agriculture sector, Mr Modi said his government was working out steps to help arecanut and coconut farmers. "We have a dream. By the year 2022, when the India celebrates its 75th anniversary of independence, we want to double the income of farmers in the country", he added.UNI CR SHK 2032 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0329-722461.Xml The body was handed over at a Commandant level flag meet held this evening at Pargwal in Akhnoor sector. Neeraj Dogra,18, alias son of Sham Lal, resident of Nandowal, Khour, who was a class 12th student, on April 28 committed suicide by jumping in river Chenab from the new bridge Akhnoor. On receiving the request from police, BSF approached Pak Rangers to search for the body, official spokesman here said. He said that keeping in view the sentiments of the family members of the deceased, BSF made consistent efforts with the Rangers to locate the body. "On receiving confirmation from the rangers regarding recovery of a body, photo and identification marks of the individual were handed to the rangers," he said adding that finally, a Commandant level flag meeting was conducted in the Pargwal area this evening in which the body, after proper identification, was handed over by Pak rangers to the family members in the presence of BSF and Police.UNI VBH CJ RSA 2034 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0329-722467.Xml Addressing the party workers meet in this district he said Raghubar Das had cheated the people of the state by announcing the domicile policy and if it is not rolled back than the party would be organising economic blockade on June 11 and 12. "During the blockade not a single piece of mineral transportation from Jharkhand would be allowed for the other states," he said. Mr Marandi asked the workers to participate in the annual convention which is scheduled to be held on May 23 at the Morabandi Grounds of Ranchi. Condemning the communal clashes which took place during Ramnavmi in the Hazaribagh district, he blamed the state government for the incident and said since BJP has come to power more than 60 instances of communal clashes have taken place in Jharkhand. He said the party has already demanded a judicial probe into the action and called for strict action against the culprits.UNI XC-AK BM AE SB RAI2031 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-722247.Xml Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and senior RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav today said his party would make all sincere efforts to broaden its support base among youths in all states. Mr Yadav told newspersons here that youths had established themselves as a force to reckon with in the present day politics and hence RJD would strengthen party`s youth wings in all states to make an impact on the national politics. He said the Narendra Modi government had betrayed youths by not creating job opportunities for them even as BJP before coming to the power at the Centre had made tall promises to lure them. Mr Yadav said the youths played a major role in installation of the NDA government at the Centre but still their aspirations had not been met during the last two years. Newly nominated national president of Yuva RJD and MP Shailesh Kumar alias Bulo Mandal was also present in the press conference. Mr Yadav said RJD made highest number of youths as party candidates in the last state Assembly election. He said contrary to the indifferent attitude of the NDA government towards youths, his party as a partner in the grand alliance government was fulfilling all pre-poll promises made to youths. Mr Yadav said a youth commission under the leadership of Art, Culture and Youth Affairs Minister Shivchandra Ram would be constituted soon. Taking a dig at the Centre, Mr Yadav said the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) constructed only 60 km long NH in the state during 2015-16 against construction of 1500 km long road by the state road construction department during the same period.UNI DH BM RSA BL2059 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-722507.Xml Over 145 platoons of armed police, two company of rapid action force (RAF) besides scores of home guards besides bomb detection and disposal units would be pressed into service for smooth conduct of the annual Puri car festival. The Rath Yatra of lord Jagannath, his elder Balabhadra and sister Subhadra is scheduled to begin on July 6. A preparatory meeting of the officials of the state and the temple body besides representatives of the several temple priest clans was held here yesterday to chalk out the plans and programme for the festival. The committee expressed concern over incomplete infra structure work initiated before the Nabakalebar and rath yatra of the detities. Officials of PWD, PHD and departments were directed to complete all the ongoing development work before the fete. Engineers of power department informed that special steps were being taken for uninterrupted supply of necessary power supply to the city during the fete. The Puri civic body chief said all the city drains would be cleaned by end of this month. The meeting directed the public works department to repair all the roads leading to Puri. Of the 865 timber logs required for construction of the three rathas the forest department has provided 725 logs till date, officials said. Among other things the meeting discussed supply of power, potable water, essentials and illumination of the Badadanda the venue of the fete, plying of more trains and passenger transport buses to Puri.UNI XC DP BM RSA BL2110 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-722487.Xml Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today flagged off the exposure visit of the top 20 budding astronomers of Odisha to Satellite Centre of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Bengaluru. These promising youngsters were selected through a series of tests of Young Astronomer Talent Search (YATS)-2015-16, organised by Tata Steel in collaboration with Pathani Samanta Planetarium. Congratulating the students and conveying his best wishes, Mr.Patnaik expressed hope that the young talents would utilise this visit to enhance their knowledge. He also appreciated the efforts of Pathani Samanta Planetarium and Tata Steel for successfully organizing the Young Astronomer Talent Search program. In addition to visiting the facilities at Satellite Center of ISRO, these students will have the rare opportunity of interacting with some of the top space scientists of the country during their visit. The Bengaluru centre of ISRO is engaged in developing satellite technology and implementation of satellite systems for scientific, technological and application missions. With an aim to popularise the excellent contributions of legendary astronomer of Odisha, Pathani Samanta the Tata Steel has been identifying and encouraging young talents from high school students of the state in the field of astronomy and space science since 2007. To provide world class exposure to young talents of Odisha, every year, 20 winners of YATS, selected through three levels tests from amongst students from class VIII- to X across the state, are sent on a visit to different centres of ISRO. The young students not only get first-hand experience of visiting the renowned ISRO Satellite Centre, but also have opportunities to visit other important centers of Science in the city and interact with the senior scientists there.UNI DP BM RSA RAI2122 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-722492.Xml A day after Nepal cancelled the visit of its President Bidhya Devi Bhandari's visit to India and recalled its ambassador to protest the alleged backing of a plot to topple the KP Oli government by India, its envoy to New Delhi today rejected such theories, saying that Kathmandu should cross check facts before spreading canards. Nepali Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa has dispelled the rumors that the government was mulling expulsion of Indian Ambassador Ranjit Ray. Nepalese Ambassador Deep Kumar Upadhyay said in interview that he never visited Terai region with Indian envoy as was being alleged by some government officials in Kathmandu. "No proof, only imagination, unnatural, unethical stories being spread by Kathmandu," he said. India's External Affairs Ministry kept a studied silence over the sudden chill which has descended between the relations of the two neighbours. With rumours doing the rounds about Nepali's government next step, the foreign minister of the Himalayan nation clarified in a series of tweets that some media speculations regarding Nepal government mulling the expulsion of the Indian envoy were completely baseless and aimed at damaging Nepal-India relations. More UNI MK RSA 2306 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0090-722612.Xml Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has said that the Afghan demanded to abandon its peace efforts and take immediate military action against the Taliban leaders., reports Dawn. Aziz offered to push for resuming the reconciliation talks as soon as possible. When asked for comments on the Pakistani position, a State Department official reminded Islamabad that in December last year Afghanistan and Pakistan signed a joint statement, agreeing, 'not to allow use of their respective soil against each other'. The official noted that Afghanistan and Pakistan had also agreed to 'sternly handle any elements crossing over and getting involved in violence on either side, through active intelligence sharing and intelligence-based operations'. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani urged Pakistan to evict Taliban insurgents through military action or arrest and hand them over to Kabul for trial and punishment for killing innocent Afghans. President Ghani also said that he would no longer seek Pakistan's help in arranging reconciliation talks with the Taliban. Aziz said that the Afghan outrage at Pakistan was 'an expression of frustration' at the delay in reconciliation talks. Aziz added that Taliban had gone ahead with their Spring Offensive, pushing aside Islamabad's efforts for re-starting the talks. The United States has underlined the need for an effective engagement with Pakistan as critical for promoting peace and stability in the region.(ANI) Issuing a directive to senior police officials at Nepal Police Headquarters Prime Minister Oli said that Local body elections will be held by November, reports The Himalayan Times. The Prime Minister claimed that the general elections would be held next year. The nine-point agreement signed with the UCPN-Maoist, the second-largest ruling coalition partner, would help to strengthen the activities of government, Prime Minister Oli said. The nine-point agreement is the agreement paper of the government to carry out works, he added. On the occasion, he lauded Nepal Police for playing a coordinating role between society and government.(ANI) Pakistan needs modern F-16 fighter jets for its ongoing war against terrorism, but has rejected the conditions that United States has attached with their sale, said Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry. The Dawn reports that the foreign secretary said no conditions should be attached to the sale of F-16s because Pakistan plans to use the jets only for the purpose of fighting terrorists. The US State Department said Pakistan will have to pay from its own funds if it wants to buy F-16 fighter jets, after the US Congress last month withdrew funds for the deal to force Pakistan to act against the Haqqani network. Chaudhry said that diplomatic efforts were underway to convince the Congress to subsidise the sale of the fighter jets. Pakistan had earlier reached an understanding with the US for buying eight F-16 planes. Under the deal, Pakistan was required to pay about $270m from its national funds. The US was supposed to provide the rest from its Foreign Military Financing (FMF) fund. Pakistan has conveyed to the US that it does not have the money to buy F-16 jets from its resources and has cautioned that if the stalemate over funding is not resolved it may consider buying some other fighter aircraft to meet its needs.(ANI) Authorities in Pakistan must be held accountable for the human rights abuses that they are committing, feel political activists, observers and experts. Some of these experts have even gone to the extent of making comparative and contrasting studies between the situation prevailing in Pakistan and in India, particularly in the Kashmir Valley. It is a well known fact what Pakistan does with political activists who disagree with the system that is in place today. Most of them are tortured or murdered, or simply become non-existent or are eliminated. Contrastingly, in Indian-administered Kashmir, a feeling exists that there is political acceptance and democracy, and political activists are allowed to voice their opinions without fear. Take the recent case of Mutahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) activist Aftab Ahmad, who allegedly died while in the custody of the Pakistani Rangers in Karachi. Reacting to Ahmad elimination on May 3, Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the authorities in Pakistan to order an independent civilian investigation into the incident. What came as a surprise was the admittance by Pakistan Rangers' Director General Major General Bilal Akber that Aftab was tortured in their custody. What was even more shocking was the complete absence of a safeguard of individual human rights on the part of the provincial government in Sindh, which took the extraordinary step of extending the Rangers powers to operate under the Anti-Terrorism Act for 77 days. "Extending the Pakistan Rangers' special powers on the same day they admit to torture shows the government's disregard for the safety and well-being of the population," said Brad Adams, Asia Director at Human Rights Watch. It may be recalled that May 2, a special Anti-Terrorism Court sent Aftab Ahmad to 90-day preventive detention for unspecified crimes. The next morning, authorities brought him to the Jinnah Hospital with no pulse and no blood pressure and he was declared dead in minutes. An autopsy report found that over 35 to 40 percent of Ahmad's body was covered in bruises and abrasions inflicted while he was still alive, indicating torture. The autopsy did not provide a cause of death, but Major General Bilal Akber claimed he died from a heart attack and not because of torture. The fact that Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff, General Raheel Sharif, ordered a military inquiry into Ahmad's alleged custodial death highlighted the gravity of the security-related faux pax, and the inability of the civilian administration to rein in aggressive posturing and actions of the country's premier paramilitary outfit. The army chief's instruction that "justice must be done", as mentioned in an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement, is being taken with a pinch of salt, as a majority are of the view that nothing might come out of it. Pakistan Rangers have been deployed in Karachi under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997, which authorizes them to prevent terrorist acts or other terrorism-relative offenses, which are prosecuted by a special Anti-Terrorism Court. In September 2013, they were given additional policing powers to act against criminal suspects implicated in targeted and sectarian killings, kidnappings for ransom, and extortion, and this has resulted and facilitated serious human rights violations. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), a non-governmental human rights organization, has criticized the Pakistan Rangers for enforced disappearances and other violations of due process rights, and stressed on "the need for transparency in security operations." It has cited the case of Dr. Asim Hussain, a medical doctor and a member of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), who has been in Rangers' custody since August 26, 2015, on charges of "harboring and treating terrorists and gangsters" at his hospital, among other charges. The HRCP believes that Dr. Hussain's mental health is a cause for alarm, and has repeatedly appealed to the authorities to release him immediately. Being a party to the Convention against Torture and Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Pakistan is obliged under Article 12 of the convention, to "ensure that its competent authorities proceed to a prompt and impartial investigation of an act of torture committed in any territory under its jurisdiction." Reacting to Ahmad's death, MQM's Khawaja Izharul Hassan urged the Sindh government to form a top level medical board to investigate this brutal killing and identify those responsible for it. Ahmad had been associated with the MQM since 1990 and was serving as senior MQM leader Farooq Sattar's coordinator since 2002. Sattar said Ahmad's death and subsequent autopsy report had proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he had died due to the physical torture afflicted on him. He said many things had become clear after Ahmad s death, and maintained that the MQM has been saying all along that whatever was happening in Karachi and in other parts of Pakistan was not good. Another MQM leader, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, was quoted by the Dawn, as saying that revenge is being taken against the MQM under the guise of a security operation because of its determined bid to expose existing civilian and security-related shenanigans in Pakistan. The situation in India, especially in politically sensitive Jammu and Kashmir, presents a contrasting view. Many on this side of the sub-continental divide will say that there is an uneasy calm, but will admit that it is not as grim as is being projected in Pakistan. They admit that conflagrations do surface from time-to-time, but such incidents also have a way of getting quelled quickly. There is politics, there is civilian unrest and polarisation, and there are security patrols to ensure that law and order does not get out of hand or out of control. Residents of Jammu and Kashmir will judge the working of the incumbent Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance on the basis of how issues are dealt with. Even 26 years after militancy rocked the Kashmir Valley; there is a view that education can be the bridge that links the region with the rest of India. As Prime Minister Modi recalled last month only inclusive development and stability is the bedrock on which peace can prevail in Jammu and Kashmir. (ANI) Vietnamese police broke up a demonstration in the capital, Hanoi, today when protesters gathered for the second time in a week to denounce a Taiwanese firm they accuse of causing mass fish deaths in central coastal provinces.Hundreds took to the street in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's second-largest city, last week to vent their anger at a unit of Taiwan's Formosa Plastics, even though an official investigation found no links between the fish deaths and Formosa's 10.6 billion dollar coastal steel plant.A group of protesters sat on the bank of a big lake in Hanoi before police shepherded them on to a waiting bus, Reuters witnesses said. Demonstrators were also put on buses at a square in front of the nearby Hanoi Opera House. Formosa denies any wrongdoing.Demonstrations are rare in Vietnam and are often quickly suppressed by uniformed and plain-clothes police. State-controlled media has not reported any of the demonstrations.The fish mass deaths emerged a month ago in the central province of Ha Tinh, where the Formosa unit runs the steel plant. Fish also washed ashore in three other provinces along a stretch of 200 km (125 miles).The government has invited experts from Germany, Japan, the United States and Israel to inspect the Ha Tinh site in an attempt to find the cause that led to the fish deaths.The inspectors have yet to announce their findings.The government's initial investigation said the cause could be "red tide", when algae blooms and produces toxins, or a release of toxic chemicals by humans. REUTERS AKC PS NS1153 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0432-721554.Xml The Egyptian Interior Ministry today issued a statement on its official Facebook page confirming the deaths. The Interior Ministry said that four gunmen with automatic weapons got out of a small pick-up truck, stopped the police car, sprayed it with bullets and then fled, reports the Guardian. The residents said that the gunmen wore masks. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far. (ANI) The Afghan National Army (ANA) 201st Silab Corps in its statement said that the militants were killed during a fierce gun battle with the security forces in Ghaziabad district, reports the Khaama Press. The coordinated attack by Taliban on several security posts in Ghaziabad was successfully repulsed by the Afghan forces, the statement said. The local officials had earlier said that at least 28 Taliban militants were killed and 30 others wounded during the clash. The officials also said that a member of the Afghan National Army lost his life and three others were wounded in the attack. However, the Taliban group spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid earlier claimed that two Taliban militants were killed and five others were wounded during the gun battle. Mujahid also said that eleven soldiers of the Afghan National Army were killed during the clash. Kunar is one among the volatile provinces in the country where the anti-government armed militants are actively operating. (ANI) Good times, good music at St Lucia Jazz Young piano prodigy Joey Alexander and saxophone giant Donald Harrison brought down the National Cultural Centre in Castries with their distinctive but captivating styles of Jazz. The 12-year-old Indonesian jazz pianist recently wowed audiences at the 58th Annual GRAMMY Awards, at the White House in Washington DC and now at the St Lucia Jazz Festival. Accompanied by his bassist and drummer, Alexander played five jazz arrangements. His love for all types of music was evident in his original compositions titled City Lights and Sunday Waltz as the sounds that emanated from his piano ranged from traditional jazz, to jazz that sometimes rang of the Blues, Gospel, and Classical music. Obviously enjoying himself as he played, Alexanders feet bounced, his shoulders moved to the beat, and a few times he got on his feet as the musics intensity increased. The same vibe affected the audience as people of all ages, races, classes and fashion choices bobbed their heads, swayed, shook their heads in disbelief, and some even stared open-mouthed as Alexanders fingers flew across the keys. Before playing his final pieces for the evening, he addressed the packed auditorium and told them how thrilled he was to be present at such a great festival with its great energy. He went on to play Footprints by Wayne Shorter which gained him and his bandmates a standing ovation when they eventually left the stage to make way for Harrison. The jazz saxophonist from New Orleans definitely lived up to his title as The King of Nouveau Swing. From the first song he set a different tone to Alexander, almost tempting the audience to get up and dance. Dressed in a white suit, when Harrison began to play, the sound seemed to flow from him, as if it were a natural part of his being; with complicated combinations of notes that, at times sounded abstract and yet so powerful that one could even say it was saxy. While Harrisons band, complete with piano, bass, guitar and drums, complimented his sound, it was the trumpet of Brian Lynch that carried it to another level. Together, the men created smooth, rich sounds that were so in sync with each other that it was obvious the men had played together many times over the years. Harrisons music screamed of New Orleans with its mixture of African drum beats, and sounds of Soul, Blues and Funk. He played and sang songs such as Iko-Iko and Hay Pocky A-Way and at one point connected his smart phone to the sound system to play and sing Steppers Paradise. He encouraged couples to get up and dance the Lindy Hop Step. Although no one complied, the audience clapped their hands, waved, and sometimes sang along to the upbeat music before he left the stage to a standing ovation and a hearty round of applause. All Saints Anglican holds extra special mass The Church is like a mother so why not recognise both occasions. All congregations will come together as we pay tribute to, our Mother of the Year, Phyllis Weekes, mother of Justice Paula Mae Weeks the Chancellor of the Diocese and current leader of our Sunday School. Phyllis is one of the many persons who contributed over the years to the parish in more ways than one, including having taught Sunday School to Patrick Bynoe, who is today chairman of the All Saints Building and Lands Committee. Father Mungal has handed over the celebration of the Eucharist to Bishop Claude Berkley and concelebrants retired Bishops Rawle Douglin and Clive Abdulah. Retired Bishop Bess, and Canon Winston Joseph, a people person who made good things happen at All Saints over 27 years, are unable to take part and sent their blessings. The Very Reverend Dr Knolly Clarke, Dean Emeritus and a former assistant curate in the parish, will preach the homily. As the interim rector seeks to maintain a very normal sense of Sunday morning fellowship, members of different church groups will participate in the elements of the mass, after which there will be a sharing in the new church hall. International court judge Lucky: Foreign vessels overfishing in Caribbean waters The warning was sounded by Justice Anthony Lucky on Friday night in San Fernando, in his capacity as a judge of the United Nations International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (UNTLS), based in Hamburg, Germany. The sea around the Caribbean Islands including Trinidad and Tobago, he said, is being over-fished, but fishermens compaints fall on deaf ears. Where are these vessels coming from, Lucky asked? The UNTLS judge who also is president of the tribunals Environmental Chamber Court in Germany, said that they are international vessels fishing in our waters as depletion of fishstocks in the Atlantic Ocean becomes more severe due to global climate change, with fish seeking breading grounds in warmer waters. Lucky was at the time delivering an address to the Trinidad and Tobago Legal Network (TTLN) dinner function whose president is former Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj SC. Among those attending were Chief Justice Ivor Archie, president of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Sir Dennis Byron and judges of the High Court. Speaking on the topic: The Importance and relevance of the Law of the Sea to Caribbean Governments and the peoples of the Caribbean, Lucky said that there were large vessesls from countries from across Asia, that were fishing just 60 and 100 kilometers off Trinidad waters, and nothing is done about it. Complaints from fishermen in the last couples of years, Lucky told the distinguished gathering, has been too numerous. In fact, the UNTLA judge said that he found that out himself when he donned a cap and went to Mayaro beach. There he saw fishermen pulling seine and he assisted them. But the international court judge was extremely disappointed, that the fish caught, were few and far between the net. Lucky said, What are we doing for these fishermen? How many fishing villages are around our coast. Are there regular patrols? I submit that Caricom and the Caribbean Court of Justice, has a vital role to play. Urgent attention is needed. The rights and benefits of coastal States over these resources must not be violated or imperiled at the national, regional and international levels. Even in the smallest States, governments must ensure that political, economic and military power does not infringe the rights of coastal States over their internal waters, territorial seam contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. Saying that the role international law of the sea also applies to Caribbean States, Lucky reminded the audience, that two years ago, it was reported that an Indonesian fishing vessel ran aground in the Bocas in Trinidad waters. But the vessel was released, the international court judge said, but no one asked why an Indonesian fishing vessel was in Trinidad and Tobago waters. Lucky said that CCJ has the authority to implement the rules of international law if there is violation of maritime borders. He called for coast guard surveillance and for Caricom to play a greater role in protection fishing grounds and also, preserving the environment. AG summons all senators to meeting The senators have also been informed that experts and technocrats will be at this meeting to discuss the relevance of the SSA Bill and how it could assist in the fight against crime. The meeting will be held in-camera (in private), so members of the media will not be allowed to cover the meeting. Sunday Newsday understands that Opposition senators are to meet to discuss whether they will be attending the May 10 meeting or not because they are of the view that such a meeting should not be held in-camera, and should be open to members of the media who they claim could also be strongly affected by this SSA Bill. Both Opposition and some Independent senators have already indicated that they will not support the SSA Bill in its current form. The Bill was piloted in the Senate last Tuesday (May 3) and saw contributions from the AG, some Independent senators and a newly-sworn in Temporary Opposition Senator, lawyer Gerald Ramdeen. Speaking with Sunday Newsday yesterday, Leader of Opposition Business in the Senate, Wade Mark, described the planned meeting as a very desperate reaction by Government to criticism of the Bill. The Governments reaction is very desperate and bordering on panic because this Bill is so sweeping in its reach and impact, the Government ought to have held meaningful consultations with all critical stakeholders (before). So to come at the eleventh hour next Tuesday (after debate started) to attempt to give the impression that you are having some kind of consultation, is really a gimmick and tomfoolery, Mark declared. The decision to hold the meeting in-camera was another concern of Marks. He told Sunday Newsday the SSA Bill is not only a matter of public interest, it deals with cyber crime and the use of computers. Noting the media uses computers, Mark said the media therefore has an interest in the Bill and should be allowed to cover the May 10 meeting. PM meets BP in London The meeting was held at the BP headquarters located at St James Square London. Accompanying Prime Minister Rowley were Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young and Professor Ken Julien while BP was represented by Group Chief Executive Officer of British Petroleum Bob Dudley and Regional President Norman Christie. The Trinidad and Tobago delegation leaves London today for Ghana where they will be joined by members of Trinidad and Tobagos business community. We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. Mortar shells fired by IS militants killed five people and wounded scores as people gathered at Kish Square in Benghazi to celebrate the Libyan National Army (LNA) and distance themselves from the unity government. A medical source at Jalaa Hospital told media five bodies including a woman and a child were brought to the hospital. Reports also said around 40 people were wounded in the attack. The attack came as hundreds of people were gathered at Kish Square in the city to celebrate loyal forces of the Tobruk-based Libyan parliament and reject the UN-backed unity government. The LNA headed by the self-style army Gen. Khalifa Haftar has been fighting militants in the city. The army recorded significant victories but militants who have been in the city for several years, still control some parts. Libya Herald, quoting military sources, reports that the shells were fired from a building. Mustafa Al-Ragig, head of Benghazi Security Directorate reportedly went to the square to assess the situation. He hailed the dead and wounded as martyrs and heroes saying that the LNA would not be deterred from attacking IS, Libya Herald reports. We are at the gate of Sirte. Nothing will stop us. We will continue, Ragig said. Meanwhile in a separate report, militia commanders in charge of the countrys third city of Misrta, rushed militiamen to a key crossroads on Friday after it was overrun by ISIS in an assault in which a suicide bomber killed two police agents. The move came after IS fighters were believed to have taken control of the Abu Grein crossroads situated 120 kilometres south of Misrata, not far from the city of Sirte now in the hands of the terrorist group. IS in a statement relayed by the SITE Intelligence Group indicated that one of its fighters, from Tunisia had blown up a vehicle at the crossroads allowing other fighters to advance and take control of Abu Grein and five other villages in the area. The attack was followed by clashes between militants and the militia men posted at Zamzam checkpoint, south of Abu Grein crossroads. Medical sources at Misrata said they received six wounded militia men. After it entered the country in 2014, IS has taken control of most coastal regions of Libya including the city of Sirte, hometown of former ruler Col. Gaddafi. Sirte has been turned into nerve center wherefrom the terrorist group launches attacks and where it trains its militants and future militants. German is set to offer a double digit military package to Tunisia to help it bolster security at its border with Libya in the fight against IS militants. German media Der Spiegel reported on Friday, without indicating sources, the sum will be used to buy armoured personnel carriers to improve national forces fight against extremists at the Libyan border. The sum estimated at 10 million, it said to be part of a 100 million euro fund to strengthen partner states south of the European Union with crisis prevention, reports say. Apart from Tunisia, Jordan will also receive 25 million to buy Marder armored personnel carriers, Der Spiegel said. Germany had earlier this year offered Tunisia military aid including electronic equipment to the Tunisian army to help it combat the illegal crossing by IS militants into Tunisia via Libya. Three major terror attacks rocked the North Africa country last year. In March two IS commandos stormed the Bardo museum in Tunis killing 21 people most whom where foreign tourists. A couple of months later, a lone Tunisian believed trained in Libya, mowed down 38 people at a Sousse resort hotel in June. In November, a suicide bomber also said trained in IS training camps in Libya killed 12 members of Tunisian presidential guard. The army has been on the alert to ward off crossings by IS militants across the border with Libya. Authorities have built a wall along the Libyan order and dug trenches filled with water and equipped with electronic detectors to deter crossings. Saturday Night Live hit the nail on the head last night with this fake commercial for Mattels President Barbie as a way to celebrate just how far weve come. The tweens are absolutely over this Hillary Clintonlike doll, or any doll really they prefer Legos to the first female Commander-in-Chief. She doesnt smile enough, shes too stiff, and giving her sunglasses and a smartphone with Snapchat just makes her look like shes trying too hard. You know, whatever, theyre gonna go play with this dusty broom instead. I know ONTD hates Jodie given how hard she capes for someone who shall not be named, but I really want to see Money Monster. It seems like my kind of movie and I actually like George and Julia in movies together. Doubt I'll get to see it in theaters tho. Reply Thread Link Money Monster is getting a wide release though so you probably should be able to see it. Reply Parent Thread Link I meant because of time. I just started a new job and have a different schedule from those I'm sharing a car with. I hope I make it to it though. Reply Parent Thread Link At this point I'd be surprised if there's a celebrity ontd DOESN'T hate tbh Reply Parent Thread Link I want to see all of these except Money Monster which looks like some 90s thriller. I also might not see Ab Fab depending on if they cut the yellow face or not. Reply Thread Link +1. That just sold the movie to me. Reply Parent Thread Link True Lies OP Reply Parent Thread Link I wanna see Money Monster mostly because it looks like a cheesy 90s thriller lol Reply Parent Thread Link Are you looking forward to any female directed movie this summer? Apparently not :/ shame on me. I can only hope some of these get good online distribution. Reply Thread Link i'm definitely seeing the fits and probably money monster bc it reminds me of a bad 90s thriller and those are my guilty pleasure lol. also i recently watched the invitation and it's one of my favorite horror/thrillers ever now. the ending was perfect. Reply Thread Link Lol yes Reply Parent Thread Link I want to see the invitation but idk if I handle it alone in my room on my comp lol Reply Parent Thread Link I'm a huge scaredy cat when it comes to horror movies and The Invitation is really more atmospheric. It creeped me out juuuuuust enough that I had to pause it to collect myself a couple of times but I was able to handle it overall. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link yeeesss the invitation was awesome Reply Parent Thread Link Oh god, not fucking Julia Roberts and Clooney again... theu're insufferable together. Also that Fits movie seemed interesting but then it got weird. Reply Thread Link How are people coming with 52 Films by Women? I'm up to 19. I mostly try to watch one a week. I really wish there was an easier way to search for films directed by women on Netflix and Amazon Prime, as that's really where I watch most of mine. Reply Thread Link I've been behind on movies in general this yr so I'm barely hitting 10 at the moment for the challenge! it's really making me look for more indie releases though so I'm glad that I have that on my mind now. :) I don't expect to be able to achieve it but for the first time I'll at least have a good chunk of my yearly movie count to be directed by women. I'll def try again next year. and every year, actually! Reply Parent Thread Link I'm so behind. Only on #9. I have so many on my list on Netflix but I'm bad at making time to watch them. I'm gonna try to get caught up this month. ia about the searching. I have to keep searching for lists of films directed by women and then seeing if they are on Netflix or Amazon. So annoying. Reply Parent Thread Link Yeah, that's what I do, too. Then I find a list that is specifically about female-directed films on Netflix, but it's outdated, so half of them aren't on there anymore. Reply Parent Thread Link I'm on 31. I'm not sure if these are still on netflix/prime but here are some you might not have heard of that used to be on there: Paris is Burning Girlhood Mississippi Damned The Golden Era Tig Advantageous Ayanda Echo Park Walking & Talking A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night Making a Murderer (a docu TV series but you could count it if you wanted to) Yelling to the Sky Wadjda The Babadook The Second Mother Beyond the Lights Tiny Furniture Mosquita y Mari After Tiller A Very Murray Christmas Reply Parent Thread Expand Link same Reply Parent Thread Link Polanski Reply Parent Thread Link she signed the Polanski petition and worked in a Woody Allen movie Reply Parent Thread Link I think that Julia/George movie looks great reminds me of Payphone or w/e with Colin Farrel, he was so hot in that movie Reply Thread Link Phonebooth! I love that movie. Reply Parent Thread Link I had no time this year but I really could've checked off more for my Edited at 2016-05-08 11:12 pm (UTC) thanks for the post! I love these lists. :)I had no time this year but I really could've checked off more for my #52FilmsByWomen challenge at Hot Docs. apparently the festival had 40% of the documentaries directed by women, which is fantastic. Reply Thread Link right around 1:00 in that ab fab trailer, that scream that you hear in every single movie? Does it have a name? It's not the Wilhelm Scream Reply Thread Link i'd be more interested in seeing money monster if they didn't give away all the biggest scenes in the trailer. also, the fits looks interesting. Reply Thread Link that's how i felt seeing the trailer when it played before Civil War, I was like, "Hm I'd be entertained by this... wait... nope don't do it, don't give... okay yep you're giving everything away" Reply Parent Thread Link I can't wait for Maggie's Plan. I was meh about Money Monster bc I can't stand George Clooney. But I'll watch it for my 52 Films by Women challenge. Plus I'm trying to make sure I pay for these movies in theaters. I watched The Meddler twice this weekend. I really liked it. Reply Thread Link Continued reliance on energy derived from coal may have an unintended consequence to the environment in the countries where it is burned the most, according to a new study. Along with all the negative health effects associated with coal-burning, the study published in the Journal of Climate concludes that if China and India keep increasing their share of coal-derived power, precipitation over a large expanse of land masses would be suppressed, resulting in drought conditions. The researchers looked at two scenarios: one, a high-coal use future, where energy demand in Asia necessitates rapid increases in the burning of coal; and a second scenario where impacts of coal use are shifted by using cleaner-burning natural gas and renewables. In the high-coal-use scenario where emissions double their year 2000 benchmark levels from 2030 to 2100, increased sulfate aerosols mostly black carbon and sulfur dioxide (SO2) released into the atmosphere would offset warming from greenhouse gas emissions including carbon dioxide, resulting in a cooling effect throughout the Northern Hemisphere, along with South Asia and Southeast Asia. The cooling effects would suppress rainfall. Related: Germany About To Make Big Changes To Its Renewables Policy For the high-emissions scenario, we found reductions in rainfall across much of Asia, especially East Asia (including China) and South Asia (including India), and a remote effect leading to a possible increase in rainfall in Australia as well as a suppression of rainfall in the Sahel region of Africa, says Benjamin Grandey, a research scientist at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology. We see more reductions in rainfall than increases, especially in regions already struggling with water resources. Of course, whether the study's scenario comes to fruition is highly speculative, considering the moribund coal market and recent efforts made in China to combat pollution. In Beijing, for example, all coal-fired power plants will be banned by 2020. Still, as MIT News points out, coal remains the primary source of electricity throughout Asia. For the high-emissions scenario, we found reductions in rainfall across much of Asia, especially East Asia (including China) and South Asia (including India) Related: Beleaguered Chesapeake to Sell Off More Assets to Reduce $9B Debt In December the International Energy Agency reported that "peak coal" in China is drawing near, noting that coal consumption has fallen for the last two years. Lately China, the worlds largest coal consumer, is stepping up efforts to shrink both oversupply and a worsening pollution crisis in its major cities by reducing the number of working days for its coal miners to 276 a year from 330. Between them, China and India accounted for 98 percent of the increase in world coal trade between 2008 and 2013, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). However the administration last November noted that data for 2014 and 2015 indicated a reversal of this trend, with declines in China's coal imports currently on pace to more than offset slight increases in other countries in both years. By Andrew Topf via Mining.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The Truth Beyond the Tip of Our Nose (Image by Marcello Rollando) Details DMCA Nineteen years before becoming our fourth president, James Madison suggested our Constitution was not good enough. So on June 8, 1789, he introduced ten constitutional amendments: The Bill of Rights. On September 12, 2001 I drove to Gettysburg, seeking solace the day after. Tearfully I envisioned John Kennedy defining our Bill of Rights, not only as what our Founding Fathers were offering, but expecting of us, as our patriotic duty to each other. With differing visions for America, FDR and Eisenhower stood, separately, in the wooded hills of Catoctin Mountain, through which I was driving. Observing the magnificent vista of nature's beauty and power, FDR called it, Shangri-La -- Eisenhower , Camp David. To me, the vision of the First Amendment of our U. S. Constitution, capsulizes the very essence of what America hoped to be when Americans grew up. The greatest difference between Left and Right brains, is our vision of America. By law, this exceptional constitutional amendment legally guarantees to people like Craig Cobbs and Donald Trump -- to the same degree it shields citizens of every religion, race and sexual preferences, from such men as these -- freedoms of speech, press and the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Consequently, the right to call ourselves patriotic, is a privilege earned by being the living embodiment of our Statue of Liberty, loving our neighbors in every neighborhood -- even those we deem our polar opposites, politically, financially and morally -- while insisting for them, the same Bill of Rights, in full and equal measure. True global champions of freedom, let go of chaos, bigotry, prejudice, mayhem, inciting to riot, police state mentality, violence of any kind, rape of the earth's atmosphere, resources and all life upon it, and with open hearts, invite in the Free Will of Civics, the power of unity, the balance of civility, the wisdom of listening and the common sense of compromise. That's when we merit the freedom to utter the words, liberty and justice for all. TV news favors voters who defend with, he tells it like it is, which is neither proof of presidential nor intellectual acumen. However, the wise judge a man's character by the company of endorsements he keeps: Mitch McConnell & Jeff Sessions, Rick Scott & Chris Christie, Jan Brewer & Sarah Palin and of course, Sheriff Joe Arpaio & Rick Perry. Even in this age of rage, anger motivated choices and intoxication with fear, there are millions of untelevised republicans who know America and the world deserve better -- despite the desperate seeking Backward Ho, clamoring to touch the cuffs of his Brioni. We can't stop an international league of economic vampires from bleeding earth dry, until we stop believing our Definite Major Purpose is making money at any cost, while drowning in The Red they've created. Strength of character requires more than being advertised into nicotine, alcohol and prescription drug addiction -- more than guns in the hands of dead toddlers to be a good father -- more than building a wall around the nation to which God sends his favorite immigrants. Emotional maturity welcomes a cleansing flow of cascading neurological events, like a rainbow of light streaming through stained glass windows -- filling us with refreshing awakenings to truth, beyond the tip or our noses, beckoning to us. If reason doesn't speak for the future of the living, the ashes of democracy will be the only testimony to our existence. Duluth, Minnesota (OpEdNews) May 7, 2016: In the spirit of a hunter-gatherer of ideas, Rob Kall, founder of OEN, recently interviewed Darcia Narvaez in psychology at the University of Notre Dame about her award-winning integrative 2014 book Neurobiology and the development of Human Morality: Evolution, Culture, and Wisdom (Norton). It received the American Psychological Association's 2015 William James Award -- named after the Harvard pragmatist philosopher and psychological theorist William James (1842-1910). Today the Compartment of Psychology at Harvard is housed in William James Hall. Rob Kall's interview of Darcia Narvaez prompted me to buy her book. No doubt OEN readers are aware that Rob Kall tends to be really, really interested in charming psychopaths. But I tend not to be as interested in them as he is. However, I agree that charming psychopaths can be problems, as can non-charming psychopaths. In any event, I may have a somewhat different squint on Darcia Narvaez's 2014 book. I'd like to discuss four of the numerous integrative themes she works with in her remarkable book: (1) small-group hunter-gather people; (2) early childhood development; (3) David Bakan's work on agency and communion; (4) Paul D. MacLean's work on the triune structure of the human brain. (1) For more than 50 years, I have studied the work of the American Jesuit cultural historian and theorist Walter J. Ong (1912-2003). On the one hand, Ong uses the various verbal expressions primarily oral culture and primary oral culture and primary orality (= primary oral culture 1.0) to refer globally to all of our pre-literate and mostly pre-historic human ancestors. On the other hand, Ong uses the various verbal expressions secondarily oral culture and secondary oral culture and secondary orality (= oral culture 2.0) to refer globally to our still emerging cultural matrix under the influence of communications media that accentuate sound. In Ong's bold essay "World as View and World as Event" in the journal American Anthropologist, volume 71, number 4 (August 1969): pages 634-647, he makes sweeping characterizations. On the one hand, Ong claims that the prestige culture in Western culture as exemplified in antiquity in the work of Plato and Aristotle is characterized by the world-as-view sense of life. Also see Andrea Wilson Nightingale's book Spectacles of Truth in Classical Greek Philosophy: Theoria in its Cultural Context (Cambridge University Press, 2004). On the other hand, Ong claims that all of our pre-historic and pre-literate human ancestors embodied cultures characterized by the world-as-event sense of life. Also see David M. Smith's chapter "World as Event: Aspects of Chipewyan Ontology" in the book Circumpolar Animism and Shamanism, edited by Takako Yamada and Takashi Iromoto (Sapporo, Japan: Hokkaido University Press, 1997, pages 67-91). Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). As members of Congress -- as well as candidates for the presidency -- repeatedly speak about rolling back women's reproductive rights, it's time to take a hard look at the actual status of women in the United States. Chances are, if the average American woman were stopped on the street and asked, "Do you have equal rights in America under the law?" she would reply, "Yes." But does she? Women were granted the right to vote in 1920 via the 19th Amendment . It prohibited any citizen from being denied voting rights on the basis of sex. And that's all it did. [Ed. note: And even then, women of color, especially in the South, often faced de facto barriers to voting until the 1960s.] Suffragettes realized that the 19th Amendment alone would not be sufficient to prohibit discrimination based on gender. Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman spearheaded efforts to make gender a classification for protection. Paul wrote up the verbiage, which was co-introduced in Congress in 1923 by Rep. Daniel Anthony, Susan B. Anthony's nephew. Despite being brought before the Congress annually, the amendment got no traction until 1972 when the Equal Rights Amendment ( ERA) finally passed in the House and Senate. Ratification required 38 states to sign on. Before opposition and the 1979 deadline stymied efforts, 35 states had stood firm in their support. Then time ran out. The amendment was reintroduced in 1982 and has been consistently put forth on a yearly basis. Now, one of its staunchest advocates, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), has teamed up with Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) to serve as bipartisan co-sponsors of a new ERA Amendment. Forces are currently coalescing to finish off business that is almost a century overdue. Jessica Neuwirth, a lawyer and human rights activist, founded and serves as the president of the ERA Coalition/Fund for Women's Equality. I spoke to her by telephone, to discuss the goals of the organization and her book, Equal Means Equal: Why the Time for an Equal Rights Amendment Is Now. ( Meryl Streep sent copies to all the members of Congress with a cover letter asking for support of the amendment. She heard back from only five people.) "We need a culture of accountability," Neuwirth told me emphatically, underscoring that the amendment gives women a remedy for discrimination encased in a legal provision. "It's a matter of principle. It should be set in stone as a fundamental right." Neuwirth walked me through some basic legalese. However, the bottom line is simple: An amendment to the Constitution would "create a new baseline and measuring stick on the legal landscape." Cases that appear in front of the Supreme Court, from pay equity to gender violence, usually fail on the grounds that there is no constitutional basis for protection. The Supreme Court most frequently evaluates sex discrimination claims under the 14th Amendment, using "a lower standard of review" than it does for racial and religious discrimination. This is known as "intermediate scrutiny." "In order to have inviolable protection, an amendment to the Constitution is needed. It would relieve the necessity of having to prove the intent to discriminate," Neuwirth pointed out. Plainly speaking, when a specific policy is detrimental only to women, then the principle of "equal rights on the basis of gender is violated." Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Earlier this year, CODEPINK: Women for Peace was chosen to receive the Wilhelmina von Bayreuth Prize for Tolerance and Humanity by the City of Bayreuth, Germany. Soon after the announcement of the award, Benjamin Weinthal, a staffer of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a right-wing think tank closely aligned with Israel, published an article in the Jerusalem Post, claiming that CODEPINK is a Holocaust-denying, anti-Semitic organization. The main argument referenced CODEPINK's support for the Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment (BDS) movement. Weinthal followed up the initial article with several more to continue the smear campaign against CODEPINK. Weinthal is spearheading a campaign throughout Europe to silence any challenge to the state of Israel's apartheid wall, illegal settlements, imprisonment of Palestinians without trial, inhumane checkpoints and land and sea blockade of Gaza. His systematic and frequent anti-Semitic accusations have created a climate of fear in Germany and Austria. As a result of his intimidation tactics, several events with organizations and speakers who oppose Israeli actions toward Palestinians have been cancelled. The false allegation of anti-Semitism scared the Mayor of Bayreuth and she suspended the award. This led to a tremendous outpouring of letters from persons who know about the work of CODEPINK and cited the difference between criticism of the policies of the state of Israel and anti-Semitism. Even members of the German Parliament weighed in, with 10 of them signing a letter in support of CODEPINK. The City Council of Bayreuth demanded a vote, and approved the reinstatement of the award. By the time our seven-person delegation arrived in Bayreuth on April 15 to receive the award on behalf of CODEPINK, news reports were still publishing the false allegations and adding statements by the Israeli Ambassador to Germany that any organization that participates in the BDS movement was repeating the actions of the Nazis in their "Boycott Jews" program. In February, 93-year-old Hedy Epstein, whose family was killed in the Holocaust, was accused by Weinthal of anti-Semitism because of her approval of BDS actions. Epstein was to speak in March 2016 at a conference called "In Grandmother's Words...The Fate of Women in the Second World War." She was invited as a witness of the Holocaust to talk about her experiences when she fled Nazi Germany in 1939 with the British-sponsored Kindertransport operation. The entire event in Vienna, Austria was cancelled due to fears of allegations of anti-Semitism. The 2016 Anita Augsburg prize for "excellent commitment to peace, women's education and equality" was awarded by the Equal Opportunity Commission of the City of Munich, Germany to the Munich chapter of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). However, the March 2016 award ceremony was cancelled by the Munich City Council and the prize rescinded due to unfounded allegations of anti-Semitism equating WILPF's work on Palestinian rights as anti-Semitic. WILFP is the oldest women's peace and human rights organization in the world, having celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2015. In their press release concerning the City Council denying WILPF the award, the organization stated that "Anita Augsburg would be turning over in her grave to know that WILPF had been accused of anti-Semitism." To assist the discussion of the difference between legitimate criticism of the policies of the State of Israel and anti-Semitism, CODEPINK announced at the award ceremony in Bayreuth that CODEPINK would use the award money to sponsor a symposium in Europe to discuss this difference and how false allegations of anti-Semitism have been used to silence this criticism. The symposium will be conducted by human rights organizations and will include representatives of all views on this issue. The date and location of the symposium will be announced in the near future. Anti-Semitism in today's world is very real, and very disturbing -- but so is conflating criticism of the state of Israel with anti-Jewishness. Palestinians, just like Jewish people (and all people in the world), deserve to live with human rights and dignity, and not in fear. Censoring and denying their plight only perpetuates their suffering and does a disservice to those who declared "never again." "Never again" means for everyone. By Taxpayer Association of Oregon, OregonWatchdog It appears that hundreds of voters have complained to the Secretary of State Office that their ballot contains the wrong party affiliation. We also have heard of complaints. KOIN-TV news did some investigating to shed some light on the issue. Tense Pakistan-Bangladesh Relations 08 May, 2016 By Asif Haroon Raja An international conspiracy was hatched in 1971 to cut Pakistan to size and create Bangladesh (BD). India supported by former Soviet Union had engineered the gory plan of dismemberment. SEATO, CENTO, Common Wealth of which Pakistan was a member as well as the UN and Muslim world quietly and helplessly watched a sovereign country getting brutally bisected and did nothing to prevent the amputation of Pakistans eastern limb. Indian PM proudly claimed in Dacca last year that India had played a pivotal role in the creation of BD. Deputy Speaker of Bangladesh Parliament Shawket Ali had stated in 2011, I would give 100% credit to India for the liberation of Bangladesh. (Bangladeshi Newspaper The Independent December 17, 2011). Archer Blood in his book: The Cruel Birth of Bangladesh Memoirs of an American Diplomat published by The University Press Limited, Dhaka in 2002: p-304, writes, Indian soil was made available for training camps, hospitals and supply depots for the Mukti Bahini of the Bengali resistance movement. The Mukti Bahini came to enjoy that great asset of a guerrilla army, a safe haven to which it could retire for rest, food, medical supplies and weapons, safe from the pursuit of its conventionally operating and legally restricted foe. India was in fact waging a proxy war against Pakistan. After surrender to the joint command of India and BD on December 16, 1971, the Mukti Bahini who had carried out genocide of non-Bengalis in March 1971 and then had taken part in the nine months insurgency, undertook second round of mass killings and rapes of Biharis and pro-Pakistan Bengalis in the border towns captured by Indian forces from October/November 1971 onwards. The third round of massacre was undertaken by several Bahinis after the surrender. The killers using bayonets and lances were not stopped by anyone. Survivors were declared as collaborators, interned and subjected to trial and worst persecution for decades and they are still suffering. 93000 Pakistani prisoners of war (25000 regulars, 20,000 irregulars and 48000 civilians) were shifted to India where they languished in prison camps till mid-1974. Being signatory to Geneva Convention, India had an obligation to treat them lawfully with respect and dignity that the soldiers are entitled to in accordance with provisions of Geneva Convention. BD government (govt) however insisted on trial of 1100 military prisoners for war crimes. This figure was later reduced to 195. In retaliation, Pakistan decided to use 400,000 Bangladeshis living in West Pakistan as bargaining chips. Many were accused of giving information to India during the war. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and other Bengali leaders in the meanwhile gave fuel to the orchestrated propaganda campaign against the troops that were deployed in former East Pakistan by stating that 3 million Bengalis had been killed and 300,000 Bengali women and girls raped by soldiers. These myths that were fed to Mujibur Rahman by India have now been proven to be concocted, baseless and frivolous. Like many Bengali and western writers, Sarmila Bose a senior research fellow at Oxford University a former BBC presenter and author of book Dead Reckoning says the Pakistani army has been demonized by the pro-liberation side and accused of monstrous actions regardless of the evidence, while Bengali people have been depicted as victims. Her book says the Bengali nationalist rebellion in what was then East Pakistan turned into xenophobic violence against non-Bengalis especially against West Pakistanis and mainly Urdu-speaking people who migrated to East Pakistan from India at the time of partition who were known as Biharis. (BBC News June 16, 2011) On July 2, 1972, Bhutto-Indira signed Simla Agreement without deciding the fate of prisoners. On August 10, 1972, Bhutto stated that in case all Pak prisoners were not released, Pakistan will not recognize BD and China will use its veto power to bar BD from becoming a member of the UN. These pressure tactics worked and India-BD-Pakistan signed an accord at Delhi on August 28, 1973 to repatriate prisoners simultaneously. First consignment of 6000 prisoners were released by India in November 1972. This gesture was reciprocated by Pakistan by releasing 10,000 Bengalis. When BD held on to its demand of trying 195 prisoners on criminal charges, Pakistan rejected their stance saying the alleged criminal acts were committed in a part of Pakistan by citizens of Pakistan and as such only Pakistan had the right to try them. Pakistan then seized 203 Bengalis and announced that they will be put on trial. BD finally accepted Pakistans proposal and withdrew its demand of trial of 195 prisoners. (This list included the names of Lt Gen AAK Niazi, all division, brigade and battalion commanders). This was formalized on April 10, 1974 through a tripartite agreement. It was mutually agreed to forgive and forget the mistakes of the past in order to promote reconciliation. Consequently all the prisoners returned home by mid-1974 and Pakistan not only released all the stranded Bengalis but also agreed to take back 50,000 Biharis. Pakistan recognized BD in February 1974. BD went through most agonizing times after its independence and it did not take long for the people to realise that they had been taken for a ride. Only 9% had wished for independence, while the rest were against it. People fondly recalled the contributions made by Ayub Khan and hated Indias meddlesome role. They developed aversion for India after seeing the systematic plunder of their resources by the Indian Army while returning home in 1972. Those who had remained in refugee camps in India narrated sorrowful tales of mistreatment and rape of every Bengali/Bihari girl and women by the camp custodians. Their sins were put in the basket of Pak Army. Sheikh Mujib distrusted BD Army and gave preference to Mukti Bahini and other freedom fighters groups over them, which bred discontentment. Ultimately, a military coup took place and troops murdered Mujib and 23 of his family members in August 1975. All were dumped in a mass grave. Later on, Gen Ziaur Rahman took over the reins of power. He restored some semblance of order by pursuing Ayub Khans policies and he mended fences with Pakistan. Alarmed by these developments, RAW created trouble for BD by instigating insurgency of Chakmas in Chittagong hill tracts and supporting the rebels. Likewise, RAW had been assigned Sindh and Baluchistan in Pakistan as future targets of subversion in 1973. RAW in collaboration with KGB and KHAD actively supported Marri-Mengal led Baloch insurgency in Baluchistan and also supported Sindhu Desh movement in Sindh. Pakistan-BD relations remained friendly when Gen Ziaur Rahman, Gen Ershad Hussain and Khalida Zia (Begum of Gen Zia) were in power. However, relations strained during the two previous and ongoing third stint of Sheikh Hasina Wajid, daughter of Mujibur Rahman. She owes her third time premiership to India and she has virtually made BD a satellite of India. In order to further spoil Pak-BD relations, Hasina Wajid at the behest of India started trials of the collaborators in 2010, accused of alleged war crimes in 1971 war. Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) members (political ally of Khalidas Bangladesh Nationalist Party - BNP) are the main target since Islamists are posing a serious threat to secularism espoused by ruling Awami League. An International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) of BD by 2012, indicted nine members of JI and two from BNP. They were accused of collaborating with Pak Army and carrying out genocide of Bengalis. Kangaroo courts have utterly failed in giving due justice to the accused. Al Jazeera recorded on October 29, 2014, Human Rights Watch and the International Bar Association are just two of a number of bodies that have formally criticized the ICT for being incompatible with international standards on matters of transparency and fairness, and for not following due process. So far four JI leaders (Abdul Kader, M. Kamaruzzan, Salahuddin Quader Chowdhry and Ali Ahsan Muhammad) have been hanged to death and some awarded life sentence and several more are in firing line. Ghulam Azad awarded 90 years jail sentence died in custody. Most were ministers in BNP govt and were Islamic scholars. When Pakistan condemned the trials and executions saying those were in violation of the 1974 tripartite agreement, Asma Jahangir consistently supported so-called war of liberation of Bengali rebels in 1971 and accused Yahya regime for denying power to Sheikh Mujib She stated: It is ridiculous for Pakistan to be so concerned about executions in BD when the govt failed to raise any concern about Pakistanis executed in Saudi Arabia, or about own trials which result in executions. There are quite a few morons in Pakistan who have persistently put the entire blame on Gen Yahya Khan, Gen Tikka Khan and Gen Niazi for the genocide of Bengalis and breakup of Pakistan and projected Mujib and extremist Bengalis as victims and innocent. They ignored Mujibs rebellion against the state and gruesome atrocities of Mukti Bahinis who had initiated the carnage against non-Bengalis. The likes of Asma Jahangir and Hamid Mir have been demanding trial of the military and said so on BD TV, which in my view was a treasonous act. They didnt have the modesty to mellow it down by asking for the accountability of the Mukti Bahini and those who conspired with India to breakup Pakistan. The two as well as Saleema Hashmi received awards from BD govt for promoting BD cause. As if this was not enough, the BD ruling junta has now decided to carry out a symbolic trial in absentia of 195 Pak Army officers for their alleged war crimes. It has taken the plea that the 1974 Tripartite Agreement was not ratified by BD Parliament and hence trials could be held under their ICT formed in 1972. The ICT Act is not an international tribunal, and more so, it was promulgated in 1973, much after the war. As such, it cannot be applied retrospectively. There is no clause in 1974 Tripartite Treaty which says that the act of clemency can be withdrawn by BD govt. Furthermore, ICT Act 1973 is inconsistent with Constitution of BD as well as of Tripartite Agreement. BD govt has also decided to move the case in International Criminal Court (ICC) in Hague. Of course, ICC is not empowered to undertake a trial for 1971 war crimes. Richard Sisson and Leo E Rose writing in 1990 in their book War and Secession: Pakistan, India and the Creation of Bangladesh stated that it remained impossible to obtain reliable estimates of how many liberation fighters were killed in combat, how many Bihari (non-Bengali) Muslims and supporters of Pakistan were killed by Bengali Muslims, and how many people were killed by Pakistani, Indian or Mukhti Bahinis fire and bombing during the war. In this case, the only credible source would have been the population census conducted before 1971 and after the war which BD did not do. So how come BD govt has determined the atrocities committed per person per Army officer and why it has completely excluded barbarities committed by Mukti Bahini. In case BD still wishes to proceed with the trials despite glaring oddities, it will have to request Pakistan to extradite 195 accused for trials. A request if made after lapse of 45 years, will be unjust and entirely politically motivated and Pakistan will be on a high moral ground to turn it down. BD decision to start mock trials related to 1971 war carry a sinister agenda. On one hand India wants to keep Pakistan and BD at loggerheads since friendship between the two will become a security hazard for India. India remains fearful of the possibility of the two joining hands and collaborating militarily to pose a twin threat to India. BD threatens the soft belly of India in the northeast which is the hub of so many insurgencies. It is widely believed in Pakistan that war trials are aimed at raking coals to besmirch Pak Armys image which has scaled new heights of popularity among the public because of its splendid performance against foreign funded terrorists. Political weather is also getting rough because of Panama Leaks involving the highest civilian office that has created a serious credibility issue for the incumbent Prime Minister. After 9/11, another international conspiracy against Pakistan was conceived. This time India had the support of USA, Israel, Afghanistan, and the West. These conniving partners created terrorist groups TTP in FATA, and BLA, BRA, BLF in Baluchistan and cultivated MQM in Karachi. Later on, all the militant groups in FATA and Punjab as well as Kashmir specific Jihadi groups were brought under the umbrella of TTP. The situation is however different to what it was in erstwhile East Pakistan although the scope and dimensions of the conspiracy are much wider and dangerous. 14 years have gone by and mercifully the conspirators have failed in their sinister schemes because of matchless bravery and dogged fortitude of armed forces and ISI, and resilience of the people. In the wake of Pakistan having submitted substantive evidence of involvement of RAW in FATA, Baluchistan and Karachi to the UN and the US and informing the international community, India is now playing all sorts of tricks to hide its crimes and to put Pakistan on defensive. Besides the false flag operation in Pathankot, it has asked Afghan unity government to adopt a hostile posture against Pakistan. Trial of 195 in BD, blocking sale of eight F-16 jets to Pakistan by the US Congress are indicators that adversaries of Pakistan are as active as ever. The writer is retired Brig, war veteran, defence analyst, columnist, historian, Directors Measac Research Centre, Director Board of Governors Thinkers Forum Pakistan. He delivers lectures and takes part in TV talk shows. His five books include Maarka Hilli and Roots of 1971 Tragedy, and his sixth book East Pakistan Crisis: Battle of Hilli is under publication. asifharoonraja@gmail.com PML-N decided to talk with Opp on Panama leaks ISLAMABAD: The ruling PML-N and its coalition partners on Saturday decided to hold consultations with the opposition on the issue of investigation into revelations made by the Panama Papers and the terms of reference (ToRs) proposed by the combined opposition in this regard. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has tasked Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to contact the opposition leaders after JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman refused to lead the governments negotiation team, saying he would play only as a facilitator in this matter. It was decided at the meeting of the coalition partners chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at the Prime Ministers House that the government would form a committee to hold talks with the opposition. The committee would also have Mehmood Khan Achakzai and Ijazul Haq as members, besides a nominee of the JUI-F. Expressing reservations over the terms of reference proposed by the opposition for the Panama inquiry, the meeting observed that their ToRs aimed at targeting the prime minister only and lacked seriousness on the whole. Speaking at the meeting, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said oppositions demands were growing with each passing day although he had already written a letter to the Supreme Court for formation of a judicial commission to investigate the matter. He said that the government would not tolerate any conspiracy against democracy, especially in the guise of accountability. The prime minister consulted with his partners on the proposal of convening a joint session of parliament on the issue. The meeting also discussed proposal that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should directly contact PPP chief Asif Zardari and take him into confidence over government-opposition talks on the Panama investigation. It needs to be mentioned here that Nawaz Sharif keeps a soft corner for the PPP and has already made contact with PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari on the issue of Panama leaks. During his London visit too, the prime minister consulted with Asif Zardari on the current political scenario and it appears that he is pursuing the Zardari formula while dealing with the present crisis. The prime minister wants to isolate PTI as soon as possible and has suggested to his coalition partners that they should take all the political parties on board on the issue of Panama leaks but the PTI. It has been learnt that the prime minister has decided to give another ministry to the JUI-F in reward for its support to the government on the issue of Panama leaks. Nawaz Sharif praised Maulana Fazlur Rehman during the Saturdays meeting for his support to the government and made him sit next to him throughout the meeting. Fazl told the prime minister not to worry as he had already made contacts with several opposition leaders on the Panama issue and that they all had positive views in this regard. He told the prime minister that media attention will be diverted after the second episode of Panama leaks appears on May 9. The prime minister while expressing his dissatisfaction over Information Minister Pervez Rashids inability to thwart the opposition propaganda said that even though the government had several media cells working round the clock and was doling out money on the advertisement campaign, yet the opposition was more visible everywhere. Later, talking to reporters along with Mir Hasil Bizenjo of the National Party and Ejazul Haq, Fazlur Rehman said the oppositions ToRs were in contradiction to the constitution and the law. He regretted that opposition parties had adopted a contradictory stance on the investigation of Panama leaks. He said the prime minister first announced formation of the commission under supervision of a retired judge but the opposition did not agree to it and made it controversial. He said it was a matter of surprise that the opposition was ready to get the investigation done by a retired bureaucrat but not by a retired judge. He said the opposition parties should make demands while remaining within the norms of democratic traditions. This set of images from NASA's Cassini mission shows how the gravitational pull of Saturn affects the amount of spray coming from jets at the active moon Enceladus. Enceladus has the most spray when it is farthest away from Saturn in its orbit (inset image on the left) and the least spray when it is closest to Saturn (inset image on the right). Water ice and organic particles gush out of fissures known as "tiger stripes" at Enceladus' south pole. Scientists think the fissures are squeezed shut when the moon is feeling the greatest force of Saturn's gravity. They theorize the reduction of that gravity allows the fissures to open and release the spray. Enceladus' orbit is slightly closer to Saturn on one side than the other. A simplified version of that orbit is shown as a white oval. Scientists correlate the brightness of the Enceladus plume to the amount of solid material being ejected because the fine grains of water ice in the plume are very bright when lit from behind. Between the dimmest and brightest images, they detected a change of about three to four times in brightness, approximately the same as moving from a dim hallway to a brightly lit office. This analysis is the first clear finding that shows the jets at Enceladus vary in a predictable manner. The background image is a mosaic made from data obtained by Cassini's imaging science subsystem in 2006. The inset image on the left was obtained on Oct. 1, 2011. The inset image on the right was obtained on Jan. 30, 2011. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Cornell/SSI During a recent stargazing session, NASA's Cassini spacecraft watched a bright star pass behind the plume of gas and dust that spews from Saturn's icy moon Enceladus. At first, the data from that observation had scientists scratching their heads. What they saw didn't fit their predictions. The observation has led to a surprising new clue about the remarkable geologic activity on Enceladus: It appears that at least some of the narrow jets that erupt from the moon's surface blast with increased fury when the moon is farther from Saturn in its orbit. Exactly how or why that's happening is far from clear, but the observation gives theorists new possibilities to ponder about the twists and turns in the "plumbing" under the moon's frozen surface. Scientists are eager for such clues because, beneath its frozen shell of ice, Enceladus is an ocean world that might have the ingredients for life. It's a Gas, Man During its first few years after arriving at Saturn in 2004, Cassini discovered that Enceladus continuously spews a broad plume of gas and dust-sized ice grains from the region around its south pole. This plume extends hundreds of miles into space, and is several times the width of the small moon itself. Scores of narrow jets burst from the surface along great fractures known as "tiger stripes" and contribute to the plume. The activity is understood to originate from the moon's subsurface ocean of salty liquid water, which is venting into space. Cassini has shown that more than 90 percent of the material in the plume is water vapor. This gas lofts dust grains into space where sunlight scatters off them, making them visible to the spacecraft's cameras. Cassini has even collected some of the particles being blasted off Enceladus and analyzed their composition. Not the Obvious Explanation Previous Cassini observations saw the eruptions spraying three times as much icy dust into space when Enceladus neared the farthest point in its elliptical orbit around Saturn. But until now, scientists hadn't had an opportunity to see if the gas part of the eruptionswhich makes up the majority of the plume's massalso increased at this time. Dramatic plumes, both large and small, spray water ice out from many locations along the famed "tiger stripes" near the south pole of Saturn's moon Enceladus. The tiger stripes are fissures that spray icy particles, water vapor and organic compounds. More than 30 individual jets of different sizes can be seen in this image and more than 20 of them had not been identified before. At least one jet spouting prominently in previous images now appears less powerful. This mosaic was created from two high-resolution images that were captured by the narrow-angle camera when NASA's Cassini spacecraft flew past Enceladus and through the jets on Nov. 21, 2009. (For other images captured during the same flyby, see PIA11686 and PIA11687). Imaging the jets over time will allow Cassini scientists to study the consistency of their activity. The south pole of the moon lies near the limb in the top left quadrant of the mosaic, near the large jet that is second from left. Lit terrain seen here is on the leading hemisphere of Enceladus (504 kilometers, 313 miles across). Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute So on March 11, 2016, during a carefully planned observing run, Cassini set its gaze on Epsilon Orionis, the central star in Orion's belt. At the appointed time, Enceladus and its erupting plume glided in front of the star. Cassini's ultraviolet imaging spectrometer (or UVIS) measured how water vapor in the plume dimmed the star's ultraviolet light, revealing how much gas the plume contained. Since lots of extra dust appears at this point in the moon's orbit, scientists expected to measure a lot more gas in the plume, pushing the dust into space. But instead of the expected huge increase in water vapor output, the UVIS instrument only saw a slight bumpjust a 20 percent increase in the total amount of gas. Cassini scientist Candy Hansen quickly set to work trying to figure out what might be going on. Hansen, a UVIS team member at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, led the planning of the observation. "We went after the most obvious explanation first, but the data told us we needed to look deeper," she said. As it turned out, looking deeper meant paying attention to what was happening closer to the moon's surface. Hansen and her colleagues focused their attention on one jet known informally as "Baghdad I." The researchers found that while the amount of gas in the overall plume didn't change much, this particular jet was four times more active than at other times in Enceladus' orbit. Instead of supplying just 2 percent of the plume's total water vapor, as Cassini previously observed, it was now supplying 8 percent of the plume's gas. Call a Plumber This insight revealed something subtle, but important, according to Larry Esposito, UVIS team lead at the University of Colorado at Boulder. "We had thought the amount of water vapor in the overall plume, across the whole south polar area, was being strongly affected by tidal forces from Saturn. Instead we find that the small-scale jets are what's changing." This increase in the jets' activity is what causes more icy dust grains to be lofted into space, where Cassini's cameras can see them, Esposito said. The new observations provide helpful constraints on what could be going on with the underground plumbingcracks and fissures through which water from the moon's potentially habitable subsurface ocean is making its way into space. With the new Cassini data, Hansen is ready to toss the ball to the theoreticians. "Since we can only see what's going on above the surface, at the end of the day, it's up to the modelers to take this data and figure out what's going on underground." Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Here are the instructions how to enable JavaScript in your web browser Her name is Judy. She was born in July of 1954, to an amazing woman named Helen. She lived in Schroon Lake until her teen years, and then her family moved to Queensbury. She met and married my dad in November of 1974. On Sunday, May 9, 1976 (Mothers Day that year), her name became Mom. We all lived in Luzerne. In 1979, she became a mom again. She was fortunate enough to be a stay-at-home mom for years until deciding to go back to work because my brother and I were both in school. On March 8, 1997, her name became Grandma. Then again on Aug. 8, 2003, and again on Nov. 21, 2014. She has two grandchildren in New York, and one grandchild in New Hampshire. And to be honest, I think Grandma is her favorite name. My mom is not one for flowers or a fancy bottle of perfume. She loves the handmade gifts she has gotten over the years from us and her grandchildren. She also loves a big dinner with everyone, which is what we plan to do this afternoon. If you do need some ideas for some last-minute Mothers Day shopping, any of these are great deals on things your mom may enjoy! 1-800-Baskets: Take 20 percent off Mothers Day gifts with code GIVE until Monday. 1-800-Flowers: Take 15 percent off all flowers and gifts with code FLWRFFTN until July 3. FruitBouquets.com: Take 20 percent off any order with code FRUITNOW until Sunday. Kay Jewelers: Save $50 off a jewelry purchase of $149 or more with code KE550000001011 Zales: Get 20 percent off select emerald styles with code EMERALD20AFF until June 1. Bed Bath & Beyond: Take 20 percent off one item in-store with a printable coupon on their website, through May 30. Kohls: Get 15 percent off when you spend $100 or more with code EBATES15 until Dec. 31. Ticketmaster: Use code TMN241 for buy one, get one free tickets until May 31. I am so thankful to have my mom each and every day. I am also thankful for my Grandma Sidusky, my mother-in-law, Linda, and all the other wonderful moms in my life. Make sure you do something special for your mom today. Remember, she celebrates this day because of you. In my monthly class at The Post-Star, I go into detail about using coupons and how it will benefit your family and your pocket book! You can sign up for the next class, scheduled at 6 p.m. May 25, by calling 742-3309, or visiting poststar.com/couponclass. Head over to my blog at Making Cent$ About Extreme Couponing to find some great deals around the region this week. Post your questions, comments and deals in the comments section. Tammy DeLorme has a dream. The Washington County commissioner of Social Services would love an abundance of foster homes, so many that she could carefully select each foster childs new home, rather than calling every home to find someone who would say yes. If we have more homes, I think kids would have less time in foster care, she said. They wouldnt have to go to accelerated levels of care if a family could give them individual attention. Sometimes theres so many kids, its just overwhelming. For Mothers Day, county officials described the importance of foster parents at a time when a childs biological parents cant take care of them. Foster parents do far more than simply house and feed a child. They help the child recover from the trauma of being ripped from home, while also working with the childs parents to get them to a point where they can care for the child again. That might mean encouraging a single mother to make it through rehab, or to stay on mental health medications. At the same time, the foster parents must learn how to raise a child who may be acting out. Is it because of trauma? Is the child just infuriated being in foster care? If the foster parents are at a loss, that child might move to another home, and then another. The more children bounce from place to place, the harder it is for them to connect to their caregivers and begin to thrive, DeLorme said. Some of those children end up in a psychiatric hospital, or a group home, or a residential camp like the one proposed in Hebron. It doesnt have to be that way, DeLorme thinks. She envisions a system in which every foster home takes just one foster family at a time. That means siblings stay together, and dont move into a home that has any other foster children. That would allow the foster parents to focus on working with just one set of birth parents, she said. And they would be able to focus on the issues of just one family, she added. Theres not enough foster parents for that dream right now. My biggest need in the foster care realm is family homes. We really, really need more family homes, she said. While it might seem counter-intuitive, in that ideal world children might change foster homes a little more often, added Washington County Director of Childrens Services Karen Baker. If there were more families to choose from, they might move children to a better match after learning about the childrens needs, she said. We learn things after kids are placed, she explained. I feel like at times, we may work really hard to salvage (the foster relationship) because what we have is all weve got. They also bend over backwards to keep the children in their school district, which sometimes involves complex transportation agreements when the only available foster home isnt in the school district. In one case, a bus stop was three miles away from the home. Then theres the other relationship to consider. We would want the foster parents and birth parent to make an immediate connection, she said, envisioning a relationship in which the two sets of parents could operate as smoothly as an amicably divorced couple. Its rare, she admitted. If the birth parents children are spread among two or more foster families, its also harder for the multitude of foster parents to connect with the birth parent. But right now, most foster and birth parents are in that situation. The county has 10 sibling groups spread among 17 foster homes. Less than half of them move from home to home, Baker estimated. But for those who move several times, its still devastating, said foster parent Cindy Wheeler of Hudson Falls. Wheelers husband Jeff knows about that first hand. He spent his teen years in foster care. I wasnt in the best of homes, and I thought we could do much better, he said. Its not really too hard. You just treat everyone the same. Theres no favoritism. Everyone comes into our house with a clean slate. Cindy Wheeler of Hudson Falls, who cares for seven children, including three biological children, said the trauma of being forced to leave parents is compounded by repeated moves in foster care. Theyre already dealing with loss from being taken from their homes, she said. Moving is just more loss. So when they get to her house, they stay. She treats them all as her own children, and they respond to that. It starts with little things. Her oldest child is 18 and still gets a hug at bedtime. So Wheeler offers a hug to every child. There are two children in each bedroom at her house. One child does not stay with the family. Nine times out of 10, they want a hug, she said. After a couple nights, I dont ask anymore. They just get a hug like everyone else. During the day, she drives them to their appointments, activities and jobs, while Jeff works as a mechanic. The state pays for the childrens food, health care and other expenses. Theres a subsidy for clothing and foster parents can also ask for special payments for sports, summer camp or even prom dresses. Every weekend they all go to the family camp at Adirondack Gateway Resort, and the Wheelers go through the sometimes arduous task of getting permission for each child to attend the familys longer vacations as well. When we go on vacation, I dont send them to a respite home, she said. I just make sure theyre involved in everything. That goes for big things, too. Her brothers girlfriend once told her that she couldnt bring foster children to her nieces birthday party. I said, then Im not coming. Her brother stepped in. He told her, basically, if you cant accept her whole family, you cant accept any of them, Wheeler said. Treating them as members of her family comes with a price, though. It can be devastating to say goodbye. Her first placement was two children, ages 2 and 3. She cared for them for seven months, until their mother was able to care for them again. Ill never forget the day they left, she said. I was to drive their stuff to their moms place. The two-year-old was crying and holding me. The mother promised me visits, which I never got. Theyre 7 and 8 years old now. She got to see them recently. They dont remember us. It was heartbreaking, she said. Theres been other losses as well. Thats what she calls them: losses. Shes lost members of her family. Its that hard. But opening her heart to them is not just the right thing to do, she said. Its the only way. I just try to make them feel like theyre part of the family, she said. Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan described Thomas Libous as a good man this week. A man of character. Someone who was universally admired. And one of the finest senators the state has ever known. Libous, who died Tuesday at the age of 63, spent the last six months of his life under house arrest after lying to FBI agents about plans to steer government business to a law firm in exchange for a $150,000-a-year job for his son. Libous was the second-ranked member of the state Senate at the time. Perhaps, this makes me heartless, but it makes me angry to read Sen. Flanagans words. Nowhere in the five-paragraph news release from Flanagan does it acknowledge the scandal that chased Libous out of Albany. Nowhere in that news release does it apologize for the harm that has been perpetrated on the people of New York and the lack of any political will to pass ethics reform. I never met Thomas Libous. By the accounts I have read, he was an affable, well-liked member of the Legislature who worked hard for his community in the Southern Tier. Even after he was indicted, his constituents re-elected him to another term. When he returned to the floor of the Senate last June after a long absence spent battling prostate cancer, his colleagues rose with a standing ovation. He would be convicted a month later. In another news release, state Republican Chairman Edward F. Cox stated, As an astute leader of our party, he stood firmly in his beliefs, never failed to give sound advice and was a true friend. Chairman Cox also failed to mention the scandal. Or the need for ethics reform. Even when our leaders fail us, the political machines provide cover for the fallen. Yes, that makes me angry, too. Libous death came hours before former Democratic Speaker Sheldon Silver was sentenced to 12 years in prison. It allowed Libous to escape this world quietly, without fanfare, with just a small mention of his misdeeds. At his sentencing, Libous said, Finally, to my constituents who still re-elected me after my indictment, you have known me for 30 years and you know my heart. I appreciate and thank you for your support and God Bless you all. Did they know what was in his heart? Do we now? If there was an apology, I have not been able to find it, nor an acknowledgement from Libous of his lapse in judgment. The federal prosecutors showed compassion and agreed to let Libous serve his six-month sentence under house arrest at home. That was kind and humane, but not Im sure it was just. The eulogies from this past week were insulting for anyone choosing a good and righteous path. It was another acknowledgment that the culture of corruption is alive and well in Albany and its politics. As with every edition of the event, most people came out looking like a million bucks after putting careful thought into whatever they wore right from the crown of their head to the soles of their feet on the red carpet. Others on the hand were not successful in pulling any jaw-dropping look or style on the red carpet. Here is the Pulse Fashion Style Verdict for this years VGMAs. undefined The VGMA was just another night for last years host to catch everyones attention in a beaded jumpsuit with a side train that got most of the cheers for the event. OUR VERDICT: Total Hit undefined: The president of the Bhim Nation got his style game on point as he looked in debonair in a shawl lapel tuxedo with his dreadlocks tied up in a nice bun. OUR VERDICT: Hit undefined: Ghanas Anna Wintour threw many heads and eyes towards her direction in a low-back gown with sheer fabric detailing in nude fabric. She just looked like Cinderella ready for the ball. OUR VERDICT: Hit undefined: TV/Radio Presenter and host of this years red carpet, Berla Mundi spared no one on the red carpet as she slayed in a high-slit Sima Brew gown that swept the floor in a gorgeous manner. OUR VERDICT: Total Hit undefined: The Reggae/Dancehall artist shone in a velvet gown with diamond details and silver clutch to match. OUR VERDICT: OK undefined: The Live FM Radio Host also stood out in a ruffled gown in nude color on the red carpet with hair braids pulled up in a bun. She was just breathtaking. OUR VERDICT: Absolutely Gorgeous undefined: The actress, and mother of two beautiful twins, still has it in there and she dazzled in a high slit floral gown with a t-strap heel. OUR VERDICT: OK undefined: Aside EL winning artiste of the year, he deserves best dressed artiste as well in his white tux over black pants and white hat. OUR VERDICT: Total Hit undefined: Fast rising actor, Toosweet Annan stole our hearts in a plaid shawl collar jacket and waist coat for the night. OUR VERDICT: Total Hit undefined and Naa Ashorkor: The duo that emceed the event from start to end also came out complementing each other in a black charcoal suit and red beaded ball gown. OUR VERDICT: OK Gifty Osei: The gospel musician was totally flop in a bridal gown with a train that didnt flatter the look in any way. She just looked like she was at the wrong event. OUR VERDICT: Total Miss undefined: No one is even quite sure what Reggae musician Blakk Rasta was trying to achieve in the white calico and waist belt. Did he think he was Moses delivering the Israelites from Egyptian bondage? OUR VERDICT: Absolutely Disastrous Kofi Kinaata: The Susuka hit maker obviously didnt consult his mirror before making it to the event and everyone failed to prompt him in bicolor shoes which didnt match the classic man look he was trying to achieve. He needs a stylist ASAP. OUR VERDICT: Total Miss undefined: Someone need to tell these hip-hop men that the red carpet is big business and should be treated as such. Unfortunately, the award winning music producer didnt know of this and appeared on the carpet looking rather shabby. OUR VERDICT: Total Miss undefined: The former beauty queen and entrepreneur showed a bit too much on the red carpet with boobs all over the place. The off-shoulder mini dress was below performance and frustrating to many viewers. OUR VERDICT: Total Miss undefined: If her vocal prowess could match her fashion sense, life will be better for everyone. The songstress looked a heaping mess in whatever she was clad in and her make-up was just too horrid. Sweetheart great voice but you need to wake up, its 2016 and no one is playing with fashion. OUR VERDICT: Total Miss undefined: The gospel musician should have been sent home because that was a total miss. No one wears a blazer without a proper shirt. Fashion has rules and for a police officer he should know darn well that breaking rules has so many consequences. He deserves a 0/10. OUR VERDICT: Absolutely Disastrous undefined: For the host of the red carpet for an event as the VGMA. You would have expected something daring and trendy from him. Apparently he just threw on a tailcoat, ripped pants and some very unflattering boots. BOOOOO!!!!! We need to collectively prioritise immunisation as a key intervention to reduce child mortality. As President of the Organisation of African First Ladies Against HIV & AIDS (OAFLA), and together with my colleague First Ladies, we have joined hands to strive to achieve our common vision of 'making Africa a continent free from HIV and AIDS, Maternal and Child Mortality, and a place where women and girls are empowered to enjoy equal rights and opportunities', she wrote. On Thursday, the Sixth African Vaccination and Child Health Promotion Week was launched in Accra, the week comes on the theme: Good Life, Start Right; Close the Immunization Gap with the slogan Stay Polio Free, and runs from May 9 until May 13. In a speech at the launch, Dr Mahama said "Worldwide, 1.5 million children under five still lose their lives annually to diseases that could be prevented by vaccines; this is unacceptable...we need, collectively, to prioritise immunisation as a key intervention to reduce child mortality. The annual event aims at strengthening immunisation programmes in the Africa Region by increasing public awareness on the importance of every persons right to be protected from vaccine-preventable diseases.In her Mothers' Day statement, she also wrote about President Mahama's campaign to end child marriage. During his acceptance speech for the "Most Popular Song of the Year" award, the "Mansa" hitmaker stated that he will forever be remembered as a pioneer of Ghanaian Highlife music. "I thank everyone for the support...I will forever be remembered as a pioneer of Highlife music," he said and walked out of the stage. His statement immediately created buzz on social media and even at the Accra International Conference Centre auditorium. However, upon receiving his last award on the night, Bisa Kdei retracted his statement and said it was just a lapsus linguae thus, Ghanaians should forgive him. "I didn't mean to say I am a pioneer...I wanted to say, I am part of those making Highlife music successful," sedated Bisa admitted. Structures and community facilities like schools and healthcare facilities have also seen substantial amounts of damage, according to the NADMO District Office. According to Amadu Sulemana, the District Coordinator, the disaster has claimed five lives with five others receiving medical attention. Displaced people have taken refuge with relatives in other areas of the district, with others lodging at the Wenchiki LA Primary School, he said. The ruling come after a case was brought to the Supreme Court by the former Peoples National Convention Youth Organiser, Abu Ramadan, and associates. Speaking on Citi FM, Cudjoe said the court ruling was a bit baffling since it failed to grant the plaintiffs more reliefs including fixing Ghanas ID system. I found that ruling and the reliefs given not bold enough. Maybe the Supreme Court may not go ahead and suggest that fix your ID system because you did not take it to court but that is where we depart. In other jurisdictions, the judges have been on record for saying things, or making recommendations actually way beyond what people will ask for, he said. Meanwhile, lawyer for the two plaintiffs for the case has hinted of a possibility of them going back to court for clarity on the judgment pronounced on the case. According to Nana Asante Bediatuo who represented the plaintiffs, clarity might be necessary given the different interpretations people are giving to the verdict . Some have argued the court did not order the removal of names of persons who registered with the NHIA cards from the electoral roll. The tweep tweeted at Ill Bliss, saying that he is not regarded as a rapper and that rapping was not his calling, prompting the rapper's reply and a back-and-forth tirade which culminated in the rapper warning the tweep to watch his mouth, and then going on to block him. The hip-hop recording artiste and Capital Hill boss, went very hard on the user, Song Writer (@PazqalEriq), but later apologized, saying that he was sorry for the choice of his words, and that the tweep was entitled to his opinions. The rapper has deleted the tweets. Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! Everyone was welcomed by the hospitable and warm La Brioche team and press, as the event kicked-off with an informal introduction of media representatives followed by a brief chat on her journey, outstanding work and accomplishments. The press delved into questions about her passions, her status as an African fashion icon and her career as TV & Radio Presenter, Producer and Entrepreneur, as they were all so excited to have her in the country. The gorgeous lady, popularly known as queen B, dressed in a white top, with blue ripped jeans and white pumps with a beautiful gold belt, shared her story on her rise from gigs in youth and educational programmes at the age of 15, to becoming an internationally renowned brand with associations with E! Africa, Ciroc, Revlon and Woolworths. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nwangele was found dead, dumped at the roadside in the area with cuts all over his body. Confirming the situation to NAN on Sunday, the commands Public Relations Officer, Mr George Okafor, said that the deceaseds younger brother, Chukwuma, reported the matter to the police. Chukwuma reported the matter on April 30.'' He said Chukwuma also reported to police that the deceased mentioned three people as his assailants before he died. Our officers have visited the scene of the crime, photographed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary while awaiting the autopsy reports. Investigation into the matter is ongoing; no arrest has been made because his assailants ran away after committing the crime. We will ensure that the culprits are arrested and determine whether they were actually involved in the murder. The President of the organisation, Aliyu Ibrahim Kyautawa said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Sokoto. We are praying and fasting every two weeks for peace, tranquility and success of President Muhammadu Buhari who means well for the people of this country. Kyautawa stated that the organisation does not have any link with the President or any of his ministers, nor belonged to any political party. According to him, our resolve is borne out of love for the country.We are not sponsored by anybody and we dont belong to any political party and we are not doing it for any material gain, he said. Kyautawa said that the members of the group were convinced that Buhari had the ability to liberate the Nigerian masses from the bondage of poverty, insecurity and bad governance because of his track records. This is why we decided to embark on voluntary prayer and fasting every two weeks for peace in the country. We are also praying for the success of Gov. Aminu Tambuwal in Sokoto state. Buhari has the masses at heart, but his efforts are being frustrated by some unpatriotic Nigerians. They have been sabotaging his efforts in a bid to make this nation ungovernable for him, but all their efforts would be in vein, he said. According to him, the organisation has been sponsoring media campaign to educate the public on the need to also change their attitude and support the government, both morally and spiritually. It was further reported that the renewed order is coming following the groups attack on Chevrons platform in Warri, Delta State, on Thursday, May 5, 2016 and its blowing up of pipelines linking Warri and Kaduna refineries on Friday, May 6, 2016. ALSO READ: VP says pipeline vandals are like terrorists The President gave special instruction to the military, especially to the Chief of Naval Staff, that this ugly development of vandals in the Niger Delta should end immediately, a presidential aide reportedly divulged. The Acting Director, Defence Information, Brig. -Gen. Rabe Abubakar, was also reported to have confirmed the renewed directive to battle the vandals. In his words, We have the order from the President and we are monitoring the activities of the new group. All efforts will be made to bring out those behind it. 'The suspects who perpetrated the first vandalism were apprehended and paraded the day before yesterday (Thursday). 'These ones are not going to be different. We are going out on our operation to stop and apprehend them in accordance with the presidential directive,' he said. Continuing, Abubakar said, 'We are not deterred; nobody is happy about it but we are not deterred from doing what we are doing. And more proactive measures would be put in place. 'What they are doing is complete economic sabotage; it is economic terrorism,' he said. Workers at Escravos reportedly confirmed that following the attacks, they counted about 10 military air patrols over the pipelines on Saturday, May 7, 2016. Chief Samingo Etukakpan, the Coordinator of the organisation, made the condemnation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in the oil town of Eket, Akwa Ibom. NAN recalls that the militants identified as members of Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) have already claimed responsibility for the attack. The facility is jointly owned by the NNPC and Chevron and is operated by the American oil firm. Etukakpan said that the re-emergence of militancy in the Niger Delta was a sad development and a threat to the unity and progress of the nation. He said that the Amnesty Programme of the Federal Government was an elaborate youths enhancement package aimed at ending militancy in the region. We condemn in its totality the recent attacked on Chevrons oil facility and wish to advise the perpetrators of the dastardly act to embrace the amnesty programme. The recent clean-up exercise in the Niger Delta by the Federal Government shows the good intention of President Muhammadu Buharis administration towards the Niger Delta region, he said. We in CWN view it as an economic sabotage the recent act of vandalism by the militant group which is capable of resulting in a shortfall in electricity generation in the country. We wish to call on Nigerians to join hands with the present administration in moving the county forward, he said. This is contained in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja by the Ministers Special Adviser (Communications), Mr Hakeem Bello. It said that Fashola gave the assurance when he spoke at the African Alliance 2016 Investors Day in Lagos. It stated that the ministry was determined to achieve results by doing things differently to develop sustainable infrastructure to convert current challenges to opportunities for economic growth. He was quoted to have decried the problems inherent in the entire power chain, from distribution to transmission, generation and gas supply, including a cross-cutting liquidity problem. The statement said the existing gap of meter supply in the distribution segment of the power chain had created enormous opportunities for local production for estimated three million consumers. ``Local producers or investors are expected to meet a significant local content participation that would help Small and Medium Enterprises supply an estimated three million consumers who needed to be metered. ``Apart from metering, the distribution companies have aging assets: Transformers, ring main units, poles, cables, breakers and so on, some of which are 20 to 30 years old. It is a problem on one hand and enormous opportunity on the other hand," it said. The statement stated that the ministry planned to complete about 47 transmission projects to deliver 1,000 MW more carrying capacity this year to expand national growth plan. This is the first step to sustainability. But it is not enough to budget. ``It is important to implement the budget and use the finances properly. ``We plan to phase 206 roads over three years to ensure completion or substantial progress of existing roads with heaviest traffic and strategic economic significance in each of the six geo-political zones.'' The statement also reported the Minister as saying that an agreed common purpose and parameters must be defined to have a sustainable and affordable housing design that had national acceptability. Col. Sani Usman, the Acting Director Army Public Relations, stated this in a statement issued in Maiduguri on Sunday. ``As the ongoing clearance and rescue operations gained momentum, troops of 28 Task Force Brigade have successfully cleared enclaves of Boko Haram terrorists along Galtha Baba, Galtha Musa, Bulakurma, Shatimari, Chukruk, Bulangaje, and Disa villages. ``During the operation, one Boko Haram terrorist was captured alive,'' Usman said. He listed other items recovered to include: suicide bombers hijab, a cell phone and one Dane gun, as well as foodstuffs and cooking utensils.'' ``The troops also rescued 15 persons that were held hostage by the Boko Haram terrorists in the area,'' Usman said. He said that unfortunately, two Armoured Fighting Vehicles (AFVs) over ran an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), but however, said the formation did not sustain any human casualty as the damage to the AFVs was minimal. Malam Ali Zoaka, the Zonal Controller of DPR, who disclosed this, said that the seized items were handed over by officials of Nigerian Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Maiduguri. Zoaka said that the items were seized at various filling stations in the state capital by men of the NSCDC. ``We have decided to auction the commodities to members of the public, while the money would be remitted to the Federal Government account. ``We have stepped up our surveillance on filling stations in the metropolis to ensure compliance and selling of all petroleum products at government approved pump prices,'' he said. Speaking, earlier Mr Ibrahim Abdullahi, the state Commandant of NSCDC, said the command also intercepted a tanker laden with 44, 000 litres of petrol for product diversion. ``The tanker driver was intercepted when he tried divert the product meant for Maiduguri to Damaturu by men of the command. ``Our men swung to action following a tip off from patriotic citizens of the activities of the unscrupulous elements who were contributing to woes of motorists in the state. ``These elements are always sabotaging efforts of the Federal Government in making the product available to consumers. The Secretary of the society in Yobe, Mr Zabu Buba, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Damaturu. ``As we celebrate the World Red Cross day today, the society in Yobe is dedicated to providing humanitarian assistance to victims of disaster across the state. ``In Yobe, we will work to contribute to the relocation of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) back home. ``The Red Cross is dedicated to the safe return of the displaced persons, their resettlement and rehabilitation process," he said. The secretary urged people to assist one another for the development of the state, adding, ``we have commenced educating people on the need to be our brothers keeper." In a report by Punch Newspaper, the attacked facility which has been set on fire since the attack has not been quenched. The fire is still on and its going to be hard to stop it because its huge, the workers said on Saturday night. Meanwhile, Chevron spokeswoman, Isabel Ordonez was quoted to have said the incident had affected about 35,000 barrels per day of its own net crude production and or about 15 per cent of its output in the country. Satomi, who disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Maiduguri, said 35, 000 households had so far benefited. ``We are targeting the most vulnerable couples, widows and those who have passed through great hardship as a result of the insurgency. ``Apart from our IDPs in the 28 camps, we also have about a million of them taking refuge in host communities of Jere and Maiduguri Metropolitan Council. ``The token would be given to them to encourage them to start up something that would enable them cater for their families to alleviate their suffering. ``We will go to each and every of these households to obtain their bio-metric data and head count. ``We will also try to see how we can empower them on basic skills acquisition as well as entrepreneurship which will go a long way in assisting the beneficiaries. ``So far, we have started with Gwange one, two and three, Meri and Shettimari areas in the state capital," Satomi said. Justice Minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba ordered the national prosecutor general on Wednesday to investigate Katumbi's alleged use of mercenaries, including several retired American soldiers. Hours later, Katumbi declared himself a candidate for president in an election scheduled for November. Katumbi's lawyer, King Kasongo Mushilanama, told Reuters that his client had received a summons on Saturday to appear in the office of the prosecutor general of Congo's second city of Lubumbashi on Monday to respond to the government's charges. Katumbi will comply with the summons, he added. Katumbi has denied the charges and accused the government of resorting to smear tactics. The U.S. Embassy in the capital Kinshasa also said that it believed the accusations were false. Tensions are high ahead of the election in part because President Joseph Kabila, in power since 2001, has not declared whether he plans to step down this year, as required by the constitution. The poll looks likely to be postponed as the government cites budgetary and logistical obstacles to holding it on time. Critics say Kabila is deliberately delaying the vote in order to remain in power after his mandate ends. Kasongo also said that Katumbi's farm outside of Lubumbashi was searched on Saturday by elite Republican Guard troops, who are responsible for guarding the president and securing strategic installations. Government spokesman Lambert Mende said he could not confirm the search, as it is a judicial matter, but added that Congolese law permits the use of the Republican Guard in such situations. The prosecutor general in Lubumbashi was not immediately available for comment. Katumbi governed Katanga, Congo's southeastern copper-mining heartland, from 2007 until last September when he quit Kabila's ruling party, accusing it of plotting to keep the president in power beyond a two-term limit. Regeni, who was doing postgraduate research into the union, was last seen by his friends on Jan. 25. His body, which showed extensive signs of torture, was found in a roadside ditch on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital on Feb. 3. Italy, which has repeatedly complained that it has not received full cooperation from Egypt over the killing, has asked for the phone records of 13 individuals as well as a mass of other information, including video from surveillance cameras. Earlier this week, the Egyptian authorities sent to Rome the records of five people, including Mohammed Abdullah, the head of the street vendors union, said the legal source, who has direct knowledge of the probe but declined to be named. In the aftermath of the 2011 uprising, vendors were often used by police to attack protesters or acted as informers. Some vendors were also targeted by the police for blocking roads. Reuters was not able to contact Abdullah or the Interior Ministry on Friday, a weekend day in Egypt. A Foreign Ministry spokesman declined to comment. The legal source said Italy was also requesting help from Google about Regeni's email account. An email was sent from the account on March 23 and investigators are trying to find out who hacked into it, and why. Italy last month recalled its ambassador to Egypt for consultations to protest what it said was the slow pace of the investigation and the perceived lack of cooperation. Italian investigators are due to fly to Cairo on Sunday for talks with their Egyptian counterparts. Human rights groups have said the torture indicated Regeni, 28, died at the hands of the security forces, an allegation Cairo denies. Three Egyptian intelligence officials and three police sources told Reuters that Regeni was detained by police and then transferred to a compound run by Homeland Security on the day his friends say he disappeared. The Interior Ministry and Homeland Security department denied this, saying Regeni was not held by police or Homeland Security. Women and children were among the wounded when the shells hit Al-Keesh square. Demonstrators had gathered in support of the Libyan National Army, whose leader General Khalifa Haftar is spearheading a campaign against Islamist militants. A U.N.-backed unity government in Tripoli is trying to end a conflict between rival factions, one of which took over the capital in 2014 and forced the other to rebase in the east of the country. First, a word about the definition of kapo. A kapo, or a prison functionary, was a concentration camp prisoner assigned as an administrator or a supervisor of labor carried out by other prisoners in the camp. This allowed the camps to function with fewer SS (Schutzstaffel) troops. Victims often turned against victims simply to survive and to stay in the good graces of their SS guards. Some of the kapos were recruited from the criminal element, whose brutal methods were encouraged by the guards. Kapo in Jerusalem is set mostly in 1946 in Israel. Its a look at mostly two characters: Sarah (Maya Dagan) and Bruno (Gil Frank), both of whom are survivors of Auschwitz. Bruno was among the kapos who were spared by the concentration camp guards and who had certain privileges the other prisoners could not even dream of. Bruno is a physician, and Sarah is a pianist. Sarah, obviously troubled by her past and Brunos as well, subsists with her child as best she can. One by one, various people including surviving prisoners -- who personally encountered Bruno speak in monologues about the past and, in particular, Brunos connection to it. Some call Bruno a monster, the head of a block where people were murdered and some, it is said, were killed by Bruno himself. Bruno himself talks about the moral dilemmas he encountered and why took the actions he did. Sarah, who wants to believe that the man she loved is a good person, is conflicted by what she knows for certain about the horrors of the camp and what could have happened there. A non-fiction book thats similar to this film was published in 2014. A Jewish Kapo in Auschwitz: History, Memory, and the Politics of Survival (The Schusterman Series in Israel Studies) is a study of Eliezer Gruenbaum, a native of Poland who became a block leader in Auschwitz for about three years. He then immigrated to Israel and lived in Jerusalem. Gruenbaums life was the inspiration for this movie. The way the film is directed is riveting: The characters monologues contain some of the most compelling lines youll ever hear in a blend of feature film and stage production approach. This is, incidentally, the United States premier of this film, and its a fine one to close out this top-notch series. Art enthusiasts had multiple options to sample Saturday in the Quad-Cities. Families checked out the Village in Bloom Festival of the Arts in the Village of East Davenport while a variety of artists displayed their work at the Beaux Arts Festival in front of the Figge Art Museum on Davenport's 2nd Street. Beaux Arts continues today. Phil Young of Davenport brought his family to Village in Bloom. "This is the third time we've made it down with the crew," he said. "There's a lot of fun stuff for kids." His daughters Sydney, 4, and Ginny, 2, saw puppets, created their own art and got their faces painted. "What's his name?" Ginny asked her father while he was holding her as she pointed up at Ronald "Toto" Johnson, the stilt walker. The girls said they like the face painting and the jugglers. "And the popcorn," Sydney said. "She likes that kettle corn," Young said. The sweet smell of kettle corn filled East 11th Street as bagpipes were played from the live stage behind Lagomarcino's while jazz music came out of the 11th Street Precinct. The event, in its fourth year, has become a tradition for families like the Youngs as well as for Rebecca Drummond of Bettendorf, who has been bringing her son Jayden, now 5, to the event for three years. Drummond also had her 7-month-old daughter, Bella. "The balloons," Jayden said when asked what he likes best. "It's just fun and it's good for kids," Drummond said. "And it encourages art." Stacy and Frank Slaby of Pleasant Valley were attending Village in Bloom for the first time. Their 5-year-old son, Frankie, began jumping when asked what he likes about coming to the event. "The music," Frankie shouted. "The magic." He said he wants to be a wizard when he grows up. Donna Young, Village in Bloom organizer, said she has tried to hold the event the first weekend of May while school is still in session so student artists can participate. Student-made sculptures lined the center of East 11th Street. Young said the theme had to do with flying and the sculptures were made with 90 percent recycled products. The Village in Bloom Festival has attracted about 4,000 people, including visitors, volunteers and performers, Young said. "It's a celebration of arts to honor the lives of John and Isabel Bloom," Young said. "We want to keep their legacy alive." Over at the Beaux Arts Festival, Sigred and Larry Chasey of Orion, Ill., said they usually come every year to visit with artists they admire. "I like seeing unique things," Sigred Chasey said, adding she had bought a ring. "It's a nice day, and with the sunshine there is a reason to walk outside." Larry Chasey said he enjoyed seeing the "good quality" art. Curt and Marlene Morrow of Kenyon, Minn., said they have brought their homemade baskets to sell at Beaux Arts for several years. "The people are friendly and it is well organized," Marlene Morrow said. Curt Morrow, who retired after working as a superintendent of a company that made seating for fast food restaurants, said he got into making baskets because he needed "something to keep my hands and mind going." Marlene Morrow, a retired fourth grade school teacher, said she likes traveling and meeting people. Jim Bodine of Erie, Ill., said he also wanted to reinvent himself. So after he said he became "burned out" as a high school guidance counselor, he turned to making wooden frames. "I bought some old sheet music years ago, but there was no way to buy frames," he said. "So I made my own frames and people wanted to buy them. That was the birth of my business." Bodine also sells his work at the Riverssance Festival of Fine Art, which will be Sept. 19 and 20 in Lindsay Park, Davenport. He said he likes the urban setting of Beaux Arts in front of the Figge Art Museum. "For a small city, it's a really nice event," he said. In a 4-3 decision, the Iowa Supreme Court has ruled that previous domestic violence incidents can be entered as evidence in a case where self-defense is being claimed as long as the evidence is clearly useful to prove something during trial. On Dec. 16, 2013, a Scott County jury convicted Toby Ryan Richards, 42, of Davenport, of one count domestic abuse assault causing bodily injury. The charge is a serious misdemeanor under Iowa law that carries up to a year in jail. He was sentenced to 120 days in jail and ordered to pay a fine of $315 and court costs of $2,706.88 for a total of $3,021.88, which he still owes. According to court records, during his trial, Richards claimed self-defense saying that his girlfriend at the time attacked him and he was defending himself from her during an argument between the two on Feb. 2, 2013. Scott County prosecutors introduced evidence during the trial that Richards had previously abused the woman, allegedly slapped her, struck her in the neck with his cellphone and threw her against a refrigerator, according to court records. Prosecutors said the acts were admissible as evidence because they were probative of Richards intent on committing the charged assault. Richards objected to the evidence, contending that because he had asserted self-defense, his intent was not at issue, and that the real purpose of the other-acts testimony was to establish his violent propensity and suggest that if he had assaulted the woman in the past, he must have done so again. The Iowa Court of Appeals upheld the district courts decision and Richards conviction. Writing for the majority in an opinion issued Friday, Justice Daryl Hecht affirmed Richards conviction saying that a defendant does not eliminate the relevance of intent evidence by asserting self-defense. Accordingly, other acts evidence may be admissible to prove a defendants intent in connection with the claim of self-defense, provided the evidence does not otherwise present a danger of unfair prejudice that substantially outweighs its probative value. Writing for the minority, Justice David Wiggins said the ruling was another example of the high court overreaching in terms of other acts evidence. Wiggins said that Richards claimed self-defense and never disputed that he had the requisite intent to be convicted of the past crimes. Secondly, the danger of unfair prejudice outweighed the evidences probative value. Since that case, Richards pleaded guilty to a charge of domestic battery in Rock Island County Circuit Court on Sept. 23. He was sentenced in October to six months in jail and is currently serving two years on probation in that case. On May 1, Richards was arrested on a charge of felony domestic battery by Davenport police. He was released Friday from the Scott County Jail after posting bond through a bonding company. He is scheduled to appear Thursday in Scott County District Court for a preliminary hearing. The Senate refuses to advance President Obamas nomination of Merrick Garland to fill the vacant seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. And the man in the Oval Office is none too pleased about it. To force the issue, on Monday, Mr. Obama conducted a whirlwind virtual media tour of six states including Iowa where White House advisers believe Republican senators might be pressured into calling for hearings on the nomination. According to him and his allies, senators who wont rubber-stamp the nomination are somehow avoiding work, or in dereliction of duty. In fact, the Senate is doing its job perfectly, and doing right by the country. Lets backtrack a bit: The most important thing about a Supreme Court justice is that he or she interpret the Constitution not according to what they want it to say but based on the original public meaning of the text at the time it was adopted. Most Americans (outside of some Washington lobbies) agree with that. Most Americans would also agree that this isnt a decision to be made lightly. Senators shouldnt be bullied into considering someone who isnt right for the job. The Supreme Court is a lifetime appointment, after all. You dont want someone who hates the Second Amendment or always sides with federal agencies against regular Americans to be sitting there for the next 30 years. The seat now vacant used to belong to a judicial giant, Antonin Scalia. He had a long record of sticking to the original public meaning of the Constitution, even when it made him unpopular with the president or special interest groups. Now that hes gone, we deserve a successor who lives up to Scalias legacy. Fortunately, the Constitution also tells us exactly how judges are to be confirmed. Article II says that the president can only appoint a Supreme Court justice by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate. That means the president can pick anybody he wants. He can pick the head of Harvard Law School or his great-aunt Sally. And then the Senate gets to give its advice and consent or withhold it to ensure the right candidate gets through. Senators can hold hearings, or not hold hearings. It all depends on what they think is best for the country and the rule of law. Ill admit I have a dog in this fight. First off, I used to be a senator for South Carolina and I dont like seeing the president push around a co-equal branch of government. Sometimes its easier to shout dont just stand there, do something than to do the right something. Secondly, even outside of Congress, these days I try to educate politicians to respect our founding principles and understand our Constitutional rights as theyre written. If senators are concerned that an Obama nominee might bring his own agenda to the Supreme Court which, given this administrations record, is not unlikely they are absolutely right to take their time. The president can nominate anyone he likes to the Supreme Court. The Senate can consider the nominee, or not, as it sees fit. For once in Washington, everyone is doing their jobs. And eventually, when our senators finally settle on a nominee who respects the Constitution, they will have done their job as it was intended. Kudos to the Iowa Legislature for standing up against hatred and bigotry by passing the anti-BDS (Boycott, Sanctions, Divestment) bill which prohibits state funds from being invested in companies that boycott the Jewish State of Israel. Unfortunately in todays world, most Israel-hatred has become the modern form of Jew-hatred or anti-Semitism. Legitimate criticism of Israel is certainly OK. After all, no country is perfect. But one crosses the line into Jew-hatred, as clearly defined by human rights activist, Natan Sharansky: When Israel is demonized and its leaders are being depicted as Nazis, serpents or the embodiment of evil; when Israel is blamed for all the unrest in the Middle East or the world. When Israel is held to a double standard, a much higher (virtually impossible) standard of behavior than any other country in the world, especially in regards to her right of self-defense. When Israel is delegitimized by being denied the fundamental right to exist as the state of the Jewish people; when the Jewish people are denied the right of self-determination and equality according to international law; and when Israel is accused of being an apartheid state. As columnist Thomas Friedman so correctly summed it up: "Criticizing Israel is not anti-Semitic and saying so is vile. But singling out Israel for opprobrium and international sanction - out of proportion to any other part in the Middle East is anti-Semitic and not saying so is dishonest." Allan Ross Geneseo, Illinois Editor's note: Ross is executive director of the Jewish Federation of the Quad-Cites. DES MOINES Among the many features of landmark education reform passed in Iowa in 2013 was $10 million in annual funding for schools with high populations of at-risk students. The money was to be used for programs designed to help students who come from families in poverty or for whom English is their second language. Studies have shown those students have a harder time learning and achieving at the same rate as their classmates. So when state lawmakers and the governor crafted the 2013 education reform package, they included that $10 million in annual funding to help those students. The money has never been delivered. General public school funding over the past few years has become a contentious issue among Iowa state lawmakers. Generally, Democrats have decried state funding levels for education, saying districts need more to sustain staff and education programs, while Republicans have preached fiscal restraint, saying the states budget cannot afford Democrats wishes. That heated school funding debate has left few state dollars for targeted funding, including the $10 million intended for high-needs schools and at-risk students. As a result, three years later the program remains unfunded. As a practical matter, weve never had the money to fund it, said state Sen. Herman Quirmbach, a Democrat from Ames and an associate professor of economics at Iowa State University. Quirmbach is a vocal advocate for education policy and funding in the Legislature. In 2013, he pushed for inclusion of the $10 million funding for high-needs schools, and in recent years, he has proposed legislation to add more funding for at-risk students by tweaking the states general school funding formula. There are lots of needs in lots of districts, Quirmabach said. With the right kind of assistance, these kinds of kids are going to do great. But they need some help getting going. The annual $10 million would support programs such as extended learning time or boost staff by allowing districts to hire more instructional support, provide additional training or supplement teacher salaries in high-need schools, according to a report from the states nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency. The state Department of Education said it has not yet developed guidelines that would determine which schools would receive funding, should the program ever be funded. But officials said the most likely recipients would be schools with relatively high percentages of students who are English language learners or those who receive free or reduced-price lunches, which is the metric by which school officials make their best estimate as to how many students come from families in poverty. The more we can do for (those students), the better, said Brad Hudson, government relations specialist for the Iowa State Education Association. They need different services than the other kids do. The Sioux City Community School District is among the states top 10 districts in both categories, with 17.5 percent of its students classified as limited English proficiency and roughly two-thirds on free or reduced-price lunches. Paul Gausman, the Sioux City districts superintendent, said the high-needs program funding would help the district provide, as possible examples, additional mentoring and tutoring or programs that address dropout prevention, chronic absenteeism and remediation. Some of the resources that some people not in poverty enjoy, Gausman said. Poverty is really the driver. So the things we can do educationally to address poverty are the things that we can do to move education forward. Back in 2013, we were certainly supportive of the education reform but also of this greater investment in high-need schools. There have been models in our nation that have shown when you invest in schools with higher-need education, you show positive gains. Quirmbach said his primary focus is improving general state education funding, then, if the state budget allows, boosting financial support for targeted programs such as the high-need schools funding. One of my principles is trying to do the greatest good for the greatest number, he said. Gausman said he understands state officials must make difficult budget decisions, but he hopes at some point the program can be funded as originally intended three years ago. We still look forward to the day when they feel they have the funding to provide supports to those students who have greater needs, he said. Q. I have a daughter who lives in another state, and she is having financial problems. I suggested that she contact a credit counseling agency in her area to see if she could get some help. She did contact someone, but the organization wanted her to sign a cease and desist order and some other unusual forms. This didnt sound right to me, so I told her not to sign any of the forms. Given the situation, I dont know what other advice to give her. A. You advised your daughter well. Based on your reference to a cease and desist order, your daughter probably contacted a debt settlement company. Unfortunately, many credit repair and debt settlement companies call themselves credit counseling agencies. They pay large amounts of money to search engines to have their businesses listed at the top when people search for credit counseling agencies. When I refer to credit counseling agencies, Im referring to ones that are 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations that complete a rigorous accreditation process. Most are also HUD-approved housing counseling agencies, and many are also United Way agencies. These agencies would not provide credit repair or debt settlement services. Non-profit credit counseling agencies offer debt management programs for those who are struggling with their debt, but who can pay their creditors if they are able to make reduced payments. The non-profit agency seeks reduced interest and fees from the creditors on a clients behalf. In turn, the individual makes a monthly payment to the credit counseling agency, which the credit counseling agency sends each month to the clients creditors. On the other hand, in a debt settlement program, an individual sends a monthly payment to the debt settlement company. The company does not send it to a persons creditors each month. As a result, each month that creditors dont get paid, they add on late fees and interest. When the debt settlement company has collected enough money, they will make a settlement offer to creditor. Meanwhile, the other creditors still dont get paid. A settlement is recorded on an individuals credit report. In addition, the IRS will tax a person based on what is written off in a settlement. With a credit repair service, a company offers to help a person improve his or her credit for a fee. They prey on a persons desire to have their credit wiped clean, but laws dictate how long negative information stays on persons credit report. While credit repair companies make big promises, they are generally limited to helping a person remove incorrect information. This is something people can do on their own, without having to pay any hefty fees in the process. With so much confusion and misleading information in the marketplace, what can a person do? I encourage you to contact a non-profit credit counseling organization in your area. Ask for a referral to a credit counseling agency that is a part of this agencys network and that serves the state where your daughter lives. Greeted with rum drinks and salsa dancers, the first passengers to cruise from the U.S. to Cuba in nearly 40 years streamed last week into a crowd cheering the rebirth of commercial travel on waters that served as a stage for a half-century of Cold War hostility. Many watching the festive arrival praised a Cuban government decision to drop a longstanding ban on Cuban-born people returning to their homeland by sea, a step that allowed 16 Cuban-Americans to make the journey from Miami. "This is history," said Mercedes Lopez, a 54-year-old nurse who waited for hours to see Carnival Cruise Line's 704-passenger Adonia pull up to Havana's two-berth cruise terminal. "We Cubans must unite, all of us. This is a step forward, a little step toward normalization, peace, family unification." The passengers of the Adonia were welcomed by live music and dancing inside Havana's single state-run cruise terminal. Outside, police carved a single lane into the crowd of hundreds of Cubans waiting in Old Havana's Plaza San Francisco for passengers taking walking tours of the restored colonial center. The group included dozens of plainclothes security agents and hawkers promoting restaurants and souvenir shops, as well as many trying to witness history. Cruise ships stopped crossing the Florida Straits from the U.S. after a brief window in the late 1970s when President Jimmy Carter allowed virtually all U.S. travel to Cuba. U.S. cruises to Cuba once again become possible after Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro declared detente on Dec. 17, 2014. Both sides hope it is the first step toward a future in which thousands of ships a year could cross the Florida Straits, long closed to most U.S.-Cuba traffic due to tensions that once brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. "I feel hopeful for the people of Cuba and for Cuba, hopeful that Cuba can realize its full potential," said North Miami Beach City Manager Ana Garcia, who left the island nation in 1968 when she was 6. Setting sail from Miami shortly before 5 p.m. last Sunday, the Adonia took nearly 17 hours to cross the Florida Straits, steaming through a waterway blockaded by the U.S. during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Tens of thousands of Cubans have fled to Florida on homemade rafts in recent decades, with untold thousands dying in the process. The number of Cubans trying to cross the straits is at its highest point in eight years, and cruises and merchant ships regularly rescue rafters from the straits. U.S. cruises are expected to bring Cuba tens of millions of dollars in badly needed foreign hard currency if traffic increases as expected. More than a dozen lines have announced plans to run U.S.-Cuba cruises, and if all actually begin operations, Cuba could earn more than $80 million a year, the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council said in a report Monday. The Adonia will take eight days to circumnavigate Cuba and return to Miami. Part of the Fathom brand, the Adonia is one of Carnival's smaller ships, roughly half the size of some larger European vessels that already dock in Havana. Environmental scientists fear that if they're joined by dozens more ships, there will be serious damage to an island that boasts the Caribbean's healthiest marine life in large part due to decades without large-scale development. "An influx of supersized ships in coastal waters of Cuba presents real risks to fragile coral reef ecosystems," said Dan Whittle, head of the Environmental Defense Fund's Cuba program. "Discharge of sewage into near pristine waters may degrade water quality and harm coral reefs and marine life." Before the 1959 Cuban revolution, cruise ships regularly traveled from the U.S. to Cuba, with elegant Caribbean excursions departing from New York and $42 overnight weekend jaunts leaving twice a week from Miami, said California-based cruise ship historian Michael L. Grace. New York cruises featured dressy dinners, movies, dancing and betting on "horse races" in which stewards dragged wooden horses around a ballroom track according to rolls of dice that determined how many feet each could move per turn. Cruises dwindled in the years leading up to the revolution and ended entirely after Castro overthrew the U.S.-backed government. After Carter dropped limits on Cuba travel, 400 passengers, including musical legend Dizzy Gillespie sailed from New Orleans to Cuba on a 1977 "Jazz Cruise" aboard the MS Daphne. Like the Adonia, it sailed despite dockside demonstrations by Cuban exiles, and continued protests and bomb threats forced Carras Cruises to cancel additional sailings, Grace said. The following year, however, Daphne made a several cruises from New Orleans to Cuba and other destinations in the Caribbean. Cuba cut back on all cruise tourism in 2005 after Fidel Castro blasted cruise ships during a 4-hour speech on state television. "Floating hotels come, floating restaurants, floating theaters, floating diversions visit countries to leave their trash, their empty cans and papers for a few miserable cents," Castro said. Today, the Cuban government sees cruises as an easy source of revenue that can bring thousands more American travelers without placing additional demand on the country's maxed-out food supplies and overbooked hotels. The number of Americans coming by boat has climbed since 2014, including passengers on cruise ships registered in third countries and sailing from other Caribbean ports. Traffic remains low, however, for a major tourist attraction only 90 miles (145 kilometers) from Florida. Cruise traffic is key to the government's reengineering of the industrial Port of Havana as a tourist attraction. After decades of treating the more than 500-year-old harbor as a receptacle for industrial waste, the government is moving container traffic to the Port of Mariel west of the city, tearing out abandoned buildings and slowly renovating decrepit warehouses as breweries and museums connected by waterfront promenades. A South Dakota Department of Transportation news release reminds the public that political campaign and ballot-issue signs cannot be placed on state highway rights of way. That includes highway rights of way inside city limits, according to the news release. With the primary election coming up in June, election signs are showing up along the states roadways, says Jason Humphrey, construction engineer for the DOT. Were asking everyone to pay attention to where they put the signs and make sure they are outside of the rights of way and in locations that will not create safety hazards or distract motorists. The use of right of way is reserved for official highway signage. All signs in the right of way that are not required for traffic control, as authorized by law (SDCL 31-28-14), are prohibited and will be removed. That includes both candidate and ballot-issue signs. Municipal ordinances regulating placement and removal of campaign signs within towns and cities do not have precedence over state jurisdiction and supervision of state highway rights of way within municipalities. SPEARFISH | Tom Hoffman will never forget the day he received his death sentence. Hoffman awoke on the morning of March 9, 2014, ready to report to work at Juneks car dealership in Spearfish. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, erasing the remnants of sleep, when his wife, Connie, startled him. She said, 'Youre yellow, Hoffman recalled. I said, 'What do you mean Im yellow? and she said, 'Youre as yellow as a yellow piece of paper. After consulting with her daughter, Julie McIntosh-Kammerer, an emergency room nurse in Clarksville, Tenn., Connie rushed her husband to the emergency room at the VA Medical Center at Fort Meade in Sturgis. A doctor conducted a series of tests and sent Hoffman home, believing he was suffering from hepatitis. A couple days later, Hoffman returned to Fort Meade for a CT-scan and to receive his test results. The doctor walked into the room and says, 'You have pancreatic cancer, and you have maybe four to six months to live, so get your stuff together." I was in shock. What are you talking about? I was 56 years old," Hoffman said. And he thought to himself, I cant die. I have grandkids to see graduate. I want to ride my Harley, and there are things I want to see yet. No stranger to tragedy Hoffman grew up in Onida, S.D., about as far from an ocean as one could get. But, even before graduating from Sully Buttes High School in 1975, he had enlisted in the Navy. Following basic training, Hoffman was assigned to one of the smallest ships in the Navy, and spent the next three years towing ships and barges up the Pacific coast, and sailing to exotic destinations that included Australia, Japan, Hong Kong and the Philippines. You name it and we were there, he said. It was fun, but I didnt like always being in the engine room. It was always hot. Four engines kept the boat going and, as a diesel mechanic, it was my job to keep them running. Following his discharge, he returned to South Dakota in October 1979, and got a job as a mechanic in Gettysburg, north of Pierre, and spent the next two years traveling West River country, primarily servicing tractors. When an acquaintance wanted to retire from farming, Hoffman took over his operation, got married, had a daughter, and spent the next two decades tending crops. I thought it was something Id do for the rest of my life, he said. But after 20 years, the combination of economics, bad timing and poor prices drove me out. I had to quit and give it all up. But, that wasnt the greatest tragedy that would befall the failed farmer. In November 2003, his wife of 19 years, Brenda, finished the night shift at a Pierre nursing home and was driving home in a snowstorm with a co-worker when she lost control of her vehicle, slid into oncoming traffic, and slammed into another car. Both drivers, including his wife, were killed. We had two funerals in one day and the whole community of Onida was devastated, he recalled. She was gone, and it was just me and my disabled daughter. Broken-hearted, yet resolved to be the best father he could be to Sarah, his eighth-grader, Hoffman decided on a new start when a friend in Spearfish told him about the Northern Hills Training Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping the disabled lead independent lives. In August 2004, he traveled to the Black Hills and checked it out. Making the move A cousin introduced him to Pope & Talbot sawmill, where he got a job. Sarah got into the system, Hoffman bought a trailer, and later a house. I never expected to ever get married again, he remembered. Im in my 40s, content with my life, had my Harley out here in a beautiful place to ride. I had a life about as good as it gets. But loneliness makes a man do unusual things. One night he got online, visited cupid.com, and connected with a woman named Connie. After corresponding online and by phone for weeks, in January 2005, the two agreed to meet at Shoot the Bull Restaurant in Spearfish. We hit it off and talked, oh my goodness, until they closed, Hoffman said. They were sweeping around us. The next day was one of those 70-degree Saturdays and Hoffman decided to get his Harley-Davidson motorcycle out of the garage and blow the cobwebs out of it with a ride through Spearfish Canyon. He called Connie and asked if she wanted to join him, and she acquiesced. The rest is history, Hoffman said. We waited about a year and in December 2006, we eloped. There were just too many relatives, too many people to ask, and we didnt really want a gigantic thing. So we went to Vegas, stayed at the Golden Nugget, had a limo pick us up and take us to the Chapel of the Bells, and we got married. Pancreatic no picnic Seven years later, Hoffman found himself at the Mayo Clinic with Stage 3 advanced pancreatic cancer, undergoing a battery of tests in a last-ditch effort to stay alive. He says he knew then that he faced a death sentence, and that few victims of the disease, as few as three percent, survived two years after diagnosis. The doctor at Fort Meade had told me, `You dont have much hope, but there has to be people who make up that 3 percent of survivors and theres no reason you cant be one of them, Hoffman recalled last week. Following nine days of tests that confirmed the diagnosis, Hoffman was introduced to Dr. Mark Truty, assistant professor and section chair of hepatoeiliary and pancreatic surgery at the famed clinic in Rochester, Minn. The doctor, part of a team of Mayo oncologists developing pioneering protocols in the treatment of pancreatic cancer, was blunt. His words were cut and dried, Hoffman said. He said, `Well do what we can. Im not going to guarantee anything. But where do you want to start? Back home, Hoffman started six weeks of intense chemotherapy in Rapid City. In the midst of it, a bout with kidney stones put him in the hospital for three days, and when he was finally well enough to resume chemo, he was devastated when his wavy black hair began to fall out in clumps. Hoffman said he was most worried about how his three young granddaughters would react to his changing appearance. To lose all my hair, even my eyelashes and eye brows, was among the most devastating things, and I couldnt even look in the mirror anymore, he said. But I didnt want my granddaughters, who were 8, 4 and 1 at the time, to be scared. So, we went out on the deck and they literally took what was left of my hair and cut and pulled it off my head. It worked. Now out of work, his savings exhausted, some friends of the Hoffmans banded together in the spring of 2014 and staged a benefit at Crow Peak Brewery which raised about $6,000, enough to cover the years travel expenses. It was one of the most touching moments of the whole experience, Connie remembered. After a check-up at the Mayo, Hoffman underwent six more weeks of chemo, followed by a return to Rochester for six weeks of radiation on the tumor. Then came the hard part: a 10-hour operation performed by Dr. Truty. Basically he took my insides out and laid them on a tray, including five different organs, just to get to my pancreas, Hoffman explained. He ended up removing a third of my pancreas, part of my stomach, my gall bladder and, of course, they took out part of my intestines and re-routed it." Three weeks after the surgery, Hoffman was discharged from the Mayo and returned home, where he underwent his last round of chemo-therapy in November and December 2014. Cancer-free so far Although hes since suffered a few physical set-backs, and continues to deal with the financial toll of his illness, Hoffman, now 58 and cancer-free, has returned to work a few days each week at Juneks. He is once again able to ride his beloved Harley, and takes pleasure in playing with his granddaughters, Jaelynn, 10, Hayley, 6, and Peyton, 3. Im lucky to be alive, Hoffman said, crediting Dr. Truty for his treatment and wife, Connie, for her incredible patience and care. There are too many people to thank: family, friends, doctors, nurses, the list never ends. And, Hoffman noted, despite odds that were overwhelmingly against him, that cast of caregivers, a pioneering doctor, and his own determination and will to live, allowed him to persevere. Faith also had a lot to do with it, he said, quietly. I just decided Im going to do what I can to keep living. WASHINGTON | The Republican Party this week is like fifth-century Rome must have been after the Visigoths stormed the city's gates. Anarchy and confusion reign, there is the sound of anguished wailing, and political leaders are making an urgent calculation: Resistance or collaboration? The suddenness of Donald Trump's final victory over the GOP establishment was shocking. On Monday, Pollyannas were still convincing themselves that Trump could be thwarted at a contested convention. Within 48 hours, he had won the Indiana primary in a landslide and his last two opponents, Ted Cruz and John Kasich, had surrendered. Even Trump couldn't have expected it to happen so fast. But no one should be surprised, at this point, that the result of the Republican primary process is Donald J. Trump as the party's presumptive nominee for president. He has been the clear front-runner for the better part of a year. Too many observers, both inside and outside the party, saw the race as they thought it should be, not as it actually was. They ignored the obvious fact that Trump was gaining momentum as the primaries went on. They believed it was unthinkable that he would win, so they gave too little weight to clear evidence that he was doing just that. I mention these issues of perception only because I'm now seeing a lot of analysis predicting how easy-peasy it will be for likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton to wipe the floor with Trump in the fall. Anyone buying into this story line should first try to ascertain whether it's based on reality or wishful thinking. As for me, I'll continue not to take anything for granted. Republican elected officials and party leaders do not have time for such retrospective contemplation. They have a decision to make. The party belongs to Trump now, just as Rome belonged to the barbarians, and GOP politicians have to decide whether to fall in line or take up arms against the new order. So far, GOP luminaries are mostly choosing collaboration over resistance although many have so far declined comment and seem to be still pondering. The biggest blows to Trump's legitimacy as the standard-bearer of the Party of Lincoln were struck by the two most recent Republican presidents. Spokesmen for George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush announced that 41 and 43 have no plans to endorse Trump an extraordinary rebuke from the family that has defined the party since the era of Ronald Reagan. Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts said he will not vote for Trump or for Clinton, a spokeswoman added. Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, who has vehemently opposed Trump, was unbowed in a lengthy Facebook post that called for a third-party candidate. Most of the rest of the party, however, seems to be boarding the Trump train, even if it might be heading over a cliff. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus set the tone Tuesday night just minutes after Cruz's withdrawal with a tweet announcing that Trump was the presumptive nominee and that the party should unite behind him. The most commonly stated position of prominent Republicans who have spoken thus far is that they will support "the nominee of the party." For example, this is the view of Sen. John McCain of Arizona, whom Trump cruelly ridiculed for being shot down and captured during the Vietnam War. According to Politico, McCain said at a fundraiser last month that his re-election bid "may be the race of my life" because of Trump's vicious rhetoric about Latino immigrants. Some other senators facing tough battles to hold on to their seats seemed to disappear into witness protection. One who emerged, but probably shouldn't have, was Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, who tried to stake out the impossible position that she would "support" Trump but not "endorse" him. Sorry, Senator, but that's not even a distinction, much less a difference. You're on board. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley also said she "will support the Republican nominee for president," treating Trump's name like that of Lord Voldemort. Then she hastened to add her name to the growing list of rising GOP stars who say they are not interested in being considered as you-know-who's running mate. What does "I support the nominee" buy you? Trump's allegation that Mexican immigrants are "rapists." His promise to deport 11 million people living here without papers. His pledge to ban Muslims from entering the country. His misogyny. His bigotry. His willful ignorance of foreign and domestic policy. And much, much more. The emerging Republican message: We're all Visigoths now. RAPID CITY | Melvin H. Jackson, 90, passed away on Fri., May 6, 2016, at Rapid City Regional Hospital. Melvin was born Feb. 17, 1926, at the home place near the mouth of White Thunder Creek and the Big White River to Arthur and Laura Clairmont Jackson. The home place was located north of Wood, SD, in Mellette County. This was a good place to grow up for Melvin and his brothers and sisters, even during the troubled Depression years of the 1930s. This was the Bad Nation Indian community in the Rosebud Country. Melvin attended Rosebud boarding school until his sophomore year when he left for Defense Training School. After his training was completed, he worked for the Lake Washington shipyards as a certified welder. He was 17 years old. Melvin enlisted in the U.S. Navy on June 7, 1943, where he served as a gunner on a supply ship. He later served with the U.S. Naval Group China based at Kunming, China, at the end of WWII. He was discharged on Feb. 17, 1947. Melvin reenlisted in 1948 and served on the USS Pollux KS-4, a supply ship stationed at Tsingtao, China, in late 1948 and 1949. The U.S. Navy ordered the evacuation of all shore personnel and ships from the area. The USS Pollux got underway on the evening of April 30th with passengers and deck cargo. The Chinese Communist Army marched into Tsingtao on May 1, 1949, occupying the area. The ship proceeded to the U.S. Naval Activities Base at Yokuska, Japan, and off loaded the passengers and cargo. The ship then visited ports in the Philippines, Taiwan and Hong Kong, the British Crown Colony. Melvin served on the Repair Ship USS Jason ARH repairing Destroyers and other ships at Sasebo, Japan, at the end of the Korean War. Melvin also served on various ships and stations. His last sea-duty assignment was on board the USS General Mitchell TAP 114, a troop transport and made many trips to the Western Pacific. Melvins last duty station was at the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Reserve Training Center located near Lambert Field in St. Louis, MO, where he was an Instructor of Shipboard Firefighting and Damage Control equipment use and procedures. Many of the trainees served in the Vietnam War. Melvin retired from active duty on July 2, 1966, as Chief Ship Fitter USN. Melvin made his home in Rapid City in August 1966 and worked for the Northwestern Engineering Co. from 1967 to 1970. He also worked for the Rapid Tank Co. and K & K Sheet Metal Co. Melvin worked as a welder in the Missile Sites upgrade from Minuteman I to Minuteman II in western South Dakota. During 1972 until February 1973 he did not work after his wife, Marian, died from leukemia. Melvin worked for the Rapid City School District as a custodian at North Junior High School from 1975 until he retired in 1988. During this time he authored his book War Pipe-Peace Pipe Heritage on the Rosebud, a family history. In 2011 Melvin attended the Honor Guard Flight to Washington, DC, to see the WWII Memorial. He was a life member of Rapid City Post 1273 of the VFW. He was also a Member at Large of the U.S. Naval Fleet Reserve Association. He loved driving in the Black Hills and the open country and reading the history of the area and the settlement of the West. Melvin loved his wife, Lenora, who helped him enjoy the good life. They were married on June 12, 1988. Her love was the reason for his long life. Mass of Christian Burial is set for 10 a.m. Thurs., May 12, at St. Isaac Jogues Catholic Church in Rapid City, with Father Ed Witt, SJ as celebrant. Visitation will be for one hour before services at the church. Interment with honors will follow at Black Hills National Cemetery. Friends may sign Melvins online guestbook at Kirk Funeral Homes website. Daniel Lyon knows that his road to recovery will be long and difficult. But the young firefighter badly burned last summer in an incident that killed three others is thankful to be back home in Stevensville and for the outpouring of support that he has received since that sad day last August. People have definitely made this terrible situation into the best that it could possibly be, Lyon said, while sitting at his parents kitchen table at the family home southeast of Stevensville. Wherever I go, people recognize me and they thank me for my service. Im grateful that I can be here. The 25-year-old was a member of a small engine crew protecting homes near Twisp, Washington when the winds shifted 180 degrees on Aug. 19. Their vehicle missed a curve on a steep gravel road and crashed over a 40-foot embankment. The fire overtook the engine. Richard Wheeler, 31, Andrew Zajac, 26, and Tom Zbyszewski, 20, were later found inside the burned vehicle. Lyon somehow managed to survive, but he suffered third degree burns over more than 60 percent of his body. Lyon spent three months at Seattles Harborview Medical Center where he endured multiple surgeries, including the amputation of his badly burned fingertips and multiple skin grafts. He was discharged from the hospital one day short of three months from the day of the accident. On his way home to Montana, he stopped at the scene of the Twisp River fire to pay his last respects to the men that he served alongside. It was a beautiful day, Lyon remembered. It was crystal clear, but it was hard to be there. It was the first time that I got to say goodbye to my three buddies. Lyon said the place had dramatically changed from what he remembered. The scenery was so different, he said. It had been so green and beautiful and now it was essentially a wasteland. When he returned to Montana, Lyon was met by an outpouring of support from both local wildfire fighters and the local community. I didnt realize just how big the Forest Service wildfire fighting community was, he said. They welcomed me with open arms. Some local smokejumpers retrieved Lyons hound, Ozark, from the kennel and brought the dog to his parents home in time for his arrival. I had been looking forward to seeing my dog again, Lyon said. When we pulled up at the house, he was there running in the yard. That meant a lot to me. There was also a cooler filled with food sitting on the front porch. A lot of members of the community provided us with meals, he said. They helped us in a lot of different ways. Before the accident, Lyon was working toward a career in law enforcement. Some day, he hopes to continue on that path. Im hoping to join the community policing program and slowly work my way back into law enforcement, he said. For now, Lyon said it means a lot to him to know that his poster is pinned to the front door of the Stevensville police station. Its nice to know that so many people here honor and recognize what we do as firefighters and the risk of it, he said. Its nice to live in a place where people understand that. Lyons days now are filled with long hours of rehabilitative therapy that focuses on preparing him for the long list of surgeries that are to come. The therapy includes deep massage that works to soften his scarred flesh. You can hear it crackle and pop, Lyon said. Of course, you feel that. He and his parents, Dan Sr. and Barbara, make the trip into Missoula five or six times a week for the day-long therapy sessions. When he gets into the car, he falls fast asleep, Barbara Lyon said. The rehabilitation and his parents care is making a difference. He has gained 30 pounds of weight since returning home. Hes also regained some of the use of his left hand. My endurance is coming back too, he said. I still have a lot of surgeries ahead of meat least a half of dozen. Its probably going to be a two or three year process. Lyon wants people to remember that hes not alone. There are a ton of other firefighters in this country who have been injured and they deserve attention too, he said. My case received a lot of national attention, which meant that I received a lot more support than others who were just as badly hurt. Those who want to support injured firefighters can do so through the Wildland Firefighter Foundation. That organization has helped Lyon meet many of the expenses that arent covered through insurance and other sources. Lyon recently joined fellow injured firefighters, Shane Ralston of the Bitterroot Valley and Brendan Mullen of Bozeman, as honored guests at a Putt and Pull Fundraiser sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service in Missoula that raised funds for the foundation. They had a really, really good turnout, Lyon said. In the first day, they raised $43,000. Its nice to know that people do care about us. People havent forgotten Lyons sacrifice and his courage in facing the challenges to come. In March, Lyon accompanied his father to the local banquet of the Sapphire Range Chapter of the Mule Deer Foundation. Dan Sr. serves as its the chapters president. Both men didnt know that Tom Powers had been working behind the scenes with the National Mule Deer Foundation to honor the younger Lyons. Working with members of both the local and national chapters, Powers had obtained a Savage 25/06 rifle with a beautifully carved stock and a flag that had flown over the states capitol. It was a special gun, Powers said. There were only 100 made and this was the first one out of the box. Dan Sr. was just as surprised as his son when the time came for the presentation of the two pieces. I was overly impressed and a little bit emotional, Dan Sr. said. Shooting had always been a part of the younger Lyons life. I have a huge passion for guns, he said. I cant go out and shoot right now, but my number one goal is to be able to do it again someday. Someday, Lyon said the rifle and the flag will be displayed in a prominent place in his home. That flag is very, very symbolical to me, especially knowing that it flew over our states capitol, he said. I didnt even fight fires here. It shows that they still support me. That definitely means a lot to me. The members of the Hamilton Government Study Commission had an opportunity to examine the citys government and find ways to improve it. The majority of commissioners chose not to do that. Instead they approached their study with a predetermined purpose to change the government from an elected mayor/council form to an appointed (by city council) manager/council form. When members of the public were given an opportunity to make a comment, one person asked specifically what issues they were addressing with their final recommendation; every solution needs an issue for its justification. There was no response by anyone on the commission to this query. This writer observed little more than various blank stares or avoiding eye contact. At other times the chair of the commission admitted our current government is working fine. But, she added, ... we think we can do it better. On occasion she offered that, the city is taxing its citizens as much as the law allows and we still dont have enough money. In other words, this ballot issue comes down to how the city can soak more money out of its citizens. The majority of the three commissions are former members of the city council. During all of the meetings this writer attended, their only vocal supporter was a former mayor who didnt complete her first term in office. It stands to reason that their current lack of relevance may harbor reasons for this singular effort to drastically change the nature of our city. The commissions Ex Officio is city planner and self appointed Special Projects Director, Dennis Stranger. Bureaucrat Stranger openly expressed his contempt for amateur citizens who, in his view, should not be involved in running government, ...because they dont know what theyre doing. Under Strangers guidance, the city is planning a special project; to build a multi-million dollar justice center. Are these the kinds of projects the city really needs? And if the citizens are being taxed as much as possible, how would the city extract even more money from them (or from any source and at what cost to autonomy)? Nothing is free. The commission hasnt spelled out how a city manager might come up with more money. But the examination of other manager/council cities may reveal what to expect. When the voters of Bozeman rejected their CMs proposed $8,000,000 justice center, he turned to Gallatin County and cut a deal to build the project - jointly in spite of the voters. Who will be pick up that tab? Under Gallatin County it will be the citizens of Bozeman and the county. There is a reason the Declaration of Independence says, ...governments are instituted among (mere) men, deriving their just authority from the consent of the governed, because without our consent, the government is free to do as it pleases. This isnt the only example of Bozemans creative CM; the most amazing fees develop on all kinds of monthly extractions (such as a storm water fee on water bills) and permits of every kind, complete with penalties. Hamilton should expect the same from its unaccountable, professionally trained and costly CM. Bozeman isnt the only example. The manager/council appears one-sided to many of Polsons residents living in the less affluent portions of the city where they remain largely ignored. Polson, once a quaint, post-frontier town, is fast becoming a slick, progressive community. Hamilton, yet as Americana as any small town USA, will likely transform in the same way. Ultimately, the cost of living and progressive contention will rise and the enjoyed liberties and neighborly atmosphere will decrease. Many of us will no longer be able afford living here. Please consider the real reasons you live in Hamilton as you cast your ballot. Derrell Poole Hamilton sacw.net - 9 May 2016 I was fortunate to gain access to the correspondence between Shyma Prasad Mookherjee, member of the Indian Parliament and leader of the Praja Parishad, predecessor of the RSS, and Jawarlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India as well the correspondence between Mookherjee and Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, Prime Minister of J & K. After Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modias visit to Jammu and his attempt to rake up the issue of Article 370, Shyama Prasad Mookherjias role in the elimination of the permit required by all non-state subjects to enter Kashmir, these letters had a new found importance for me. After 66 years of Independence, the politics of the subcontinent really hasnat evolved, and most politicians continue to harp on the same old issues without looking for resolutions. Some of the current problems in J & K can be traced to the surging Saffron wave in India. From the 1970s onwards, the effective generation in the Kashmir Valley came to be the new educated middle class which was witness not to the tremendous work of their predecessors toward communal amity traceable to hundreds of years of collective zeitgeist, but found themselves victims of unemployment and a decrepit infrastructure. They were witnesses to the rising Saffron wave in India. They were witnesses to an All India Party struggling to capture power at the centre and foregrounding in their election manifesto their aim of demolishing a mosque in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. Kashmiri Muslims, getting central government jobs in a ratio not in proportion to their demographic percentage, compounded this feeling. I find it pertinent to point out that Sheikh Mohammad Abdullahas arduous attempts to pull Kashmiri Muslims out of the morass of illiteracy and servility were misinterpreted as his communal and divisive politics. He would probably have been lauded for his efforts if he had been a revanchist member of the majority community. From the 1970s onwards Islam became resurgent at the international level. After the Islamic Revolution of 1979 in Iran, the secular government of the Shah of Iran was ousted and he fled the country in disgrace and ignominy. Political unrest in the Soviet Union generated a demand for independence by its Central Asian republics of Kazakhastan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan, and Tajikistan, which resisted even offers of a federal or confederate connection with the erstwhile Soviet Union, resulting in their independence in 1991 and the formation of a Commonwealth of independent states comprising different racial, linguistic, ethnic groups of people. [1] The ultimate surrender by withdrawal of the massive forces of the former Soviet Union from Afghanistan in 1989, after having been an occupation force in that country for ten years with enormous fire power, instilled in the youth of Kashmir a feeling that no military might can keep a resistant people tethered to another by sheer force. But we forgot to pay attention to the damage wreaked in Afghanistan because of the proxy war between the former Soviet Union and the United States, which was fought on its soil. We also failed to take notice of the attrition and polarization caused in that society by regressive forces and patronage-based politics. The process of nation-building is messier than some of us thought it was. Sloganeering is not a sufficient condition for successful nation-building. The Kashmir imbroglio has worsened partly out of disillusionment that was generated by perceiving the hollowness of Indian secularism, partly out of the ignominy that Kashmiris felt in being tied to a government and a polity that is getting increasingly religionized, and partly out of the shallow Pakistani propaganda of Jihad. The insurgency in Kashmir grew into a low intensity warfare made lethal by the firepower of two nation-states. The backcloth has remained the same for the past twenty-four years, which is a recipe for disaster. The increasing communalization of Indian politics is a juggernaut that seriously questions the myth of secularism in India, and the increasing religiosity in Pakistan is just as damaging. As a poignant reminder to the student of Indian history and subcontinental politics, I would like to point out that Jawaharlal Nehru observed in the Constituent Assembly of India that the greatest danger to India will not be from Muslim communalism but from Hindutva which could potentially become expansionist and communally belligerent. Here I make the segue into those portions of the correspondence between Mookherjee and Nehru as well as the correspondence between Mookherjee and Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah that are relevant to my larger point. Shyama Prasad Mookherjee wrote to Jawaharlal Nehru on January 9, 1953, aThe Praja Parishad rightly puts a pertinent question. If the ultimate accession of the State to India continues to be undecided and if decision will have to be based on a general plebiscite of the people, what will be the fate of Jammu in case the majority of the people, consisting of Moslems, vote against India? A general plebiscite on a highly controversial issue, which may easily give rise to communal passions, especially on account of Pakistani propaganda, is not at all a safe criterion for knowing the real will of the people. . . . The other question relates to the extent of accession of the State of Jammu and Kashmir with India. No doubt Article 370 lays down that apart from defence, foreign affairs, and communications, accession with regards to other matters will be determined with the previous consent of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir. As you will remember, this is a temporary provision and Shree Gopalaswamy Iyenger who had moved the adoption of the Article had clearly indicated that this was so and that it was the hope and wish of everybody concerned that the State of Jammu and Kashmir would finally accede to India just as other States had done. . . . The provision for an elected President or a separate flag has to be looked at from the point of view of those who honestly feel that this may be destructive of the political unity of India which it must be the duty of every State and citizen to maintain at any cost.a In his reply to Mookherjee, Jawaharlal Nehru wrote on January 10, 1953, aSurely it does not require any proof to substantiate the fact that violence on a widespread scale has been indulged in by the Praja Parishad people. The fact that a large number of officers and policemen have been injured and damage done to public buildings, is adequate proof of violence. What happens in Jammu is not a local matter. It has the largest implications on the whole Kashmir issue, on the future of the Jammu and Kashmir State, on Pakistan, on the U. N. etc. The question has to be viewed in that larger context. To me it seems perfectly clear that the Jammu agitation, if it succeeded, would ruin our entire case relating to the State. . . . the case of Jammu and Kashmir cannot be considered in exactly the same light as other States in India. . . . it is not some kind of legal decision or change in the Constitution that will finally settle this question of the State. There are other factors that are at play, including international factors. Foreign policy does not just mirror our wishes, nor is it a mere exhibition of temper.a Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in his reply to Syama Prasad Mookerjee on February 4, 1953, says, aYou have referred to the legitimate demands of the Praja Parishad and have pleaded that they should be accepted. Before I touch this aspect we might pertinently examine the attitude of the Parishad to the question of accession itself. There is conclusive evidence to show that the Praja Parishad is determined to force a solution of the entire Kashmir issue on communal lines. Its leaders have expressed their views publicly to this effect . . . . . . . Let me mention here that there seems to be a fundamental difference of approach to the Kashmir problem between various political parties in India. You refer to the Kashmir question being a national question. This would naturally presuppose a uniformity in the viewpoints of different parties in India. But, unfortunately, much ill-informed and contradictory comment has been offered in regard to the position of the State. Not only is there lack of unanimity in regard to the objective but also in the methods suggested for achieving it. This adds to the obscurity of the issue nationally as well as internationally. It is the legitimate right of every Indian to understand properly the Kashmir problem. But when such understanding becomes vitiated, it naturally warps judgment. I understand that the Jan Sangh has secured the cooperation of Master Tara Singh, the Akali leader. It is interesting to know what Masterji has to say about Kashmir. In his speech at Lucknow, he is reported to have said, aKashmir belonged to Pakistan. It is a Muslim State. But I claim it in lieu of the property that the refugees have left in West Pakistan.a Once the ranks of the Stateas people are divided, any solution can be foisted on them. . . . While agreeing that the balance in the State should not be disturbed, you, at the same time, plead for the acceptance of the demand of the Praja Parishad for the complete merger of Jammu irrespective of what happens to the rest of the State. You even believe that this course would compel Pakistan to give up its claim finally. . . . We cannot ignore that the activities of the Praja Parishad, which you justify, are meanwhile working as a dangerous influence against the unity and integrity of the State. . . . I do not know how the present constitutional position of the State can be adjusted with a demand for merger. Whatever has been done by the Government here is strictly in conformity with the Indian Constitution. And yet you speak about this position in a manner which suggests that we have been flouting the Constitution. It is painful for me to note that even a person of your eminence should have been carried away by an emotional slogan like ek pradhan, ek bidhan, ek nishan (February 4, 1953). By virtue of the Stateas accession and its constitutional relationship with India, all these symbols are supreme as much in our State as in any other. If internally there have been some variations in the policies of the State Government, it is precisely because the right has specifically been conceded to the State by the Indian Constitution. This arrangement has not been arrived at now but as early as 1949 when you happened to be a part of the Government. When talking about the constitutional aspect, it is sometimes conveniently forgotten that the Praja Parishad wants that Article 370 should be expunged from the Constitution. So far as we are concerned, we have maintained that the special position accorded to the State can alone be the source of a growing unity and closer association between the State and India. The Constituent Assembly of India took note of the special circumstances obtaining in the State and made provisions accordingly. To entertain the doubt that the Muslims of Kashmir would now give up their secular ideals would be uncharitable, although the statements and the pronouncements made by the leaders of communal parties in India from time to time and the inspiration and guidance they are providing at the moment to the Praja Parishad leadership in Jammu is, no doubt, giving them a rude shock. But let me assure you and the people of India that the Muslims in Kashmir will not falter from their ideals even if they are left alone in this great battle for secularism and human brotherhood.a After the unfortunate death of Mookherjee in Srinagar during his incarceration for which Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was blamed by the Praja Parishad and its allies, the government headed by Abdullah was ousted and he was unceremoniously arrested. The uncertainty and unpredictability created then still exists and continues to tell on the minds of the people. It also has an adverse impact on administrative activities in every sphere. aAlmost all measures for raising the economic standards of the people carry a stamp of unreality in face of the over-riding uncertainty. Efficiency in administration suffers as the civil servants get mixed in opposite groups of power and vested interest. It becomes difficult to plan and delay occurs in the implementation various nation-building schemes, which must all wait for an over-all solutiona (Speech which Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was scheduled to make on Eid in August 1953, but he was arrested a few weeks before the occasion). The prevalent uncertainty helps in the institutionalization of corruption, and opportunists make hay while the unpredictability remains unresolved. Obviously, an important challenge then and now is the restoration of a democratic process in J & K, the validation of a secularism that recognizes diverse religious identities and allows for the accommodation of those identities within a secularist framework, creating new openings for people, including the young, to discuss public issues and become active participants. The aims of that process should be repair of the frayed ethnic fabric in all parts of the State. (Nyla Ali Khan is a faculty member at the University of Oklahoma, and member of Scholars Strategy Network. She is the author of Fiction of Nationality in an Era of Transnationalism, Islam, Women, and Violence in Kashmir, The Life of a Kashmiri Woman, and the editor of The Parchment of Kashmir. She is editor of the Oxford Islamic Studiesa special issue on Jammu and Kashmir.) I give my consent to Sakshi Post to be in touch with me via email for the purpose of event marketing and corporate communications. Privacy Policy New business incubation space in the works for downtown Salina Saline County is in the approval process for an incubator space for retail and specialty food businesses in downtown Salina. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. Shirley Contreras lives in Orcutt and writes for the Santa Maria Valley Historical Society. She can be contacted at 623-8193 or at shirleycontreras2@yahoo.com. Her book, The Good Years, a selection of stories shes written for the Santa Maria Times since 1991, is on sale at the Santa Maria Valley Historical Society, 616 S. Broadway. If you are currently a print subscriber but don't have an online account, select this option. You will need to use your 7 digit subscriber account number (with leading zeros) and your last name (in UPPERCASE). At the urging of "the community," the hunger strikers known as the Frisco Five decided to end their hunger strike after 17 days on Saturday. Via some representatives, they issued a video statement that you can hear above, via 48 Hills, and spokesperson Yayne Abeba said. "The Frisco 5 and their supporters the Frisco 500 are calling for a general strike on Monday. We ask supporters to demand that Chief Suhr be fired, the mayor needs to know that theyll be no business as usual." ABC 7 reports that the five strikers are still being monitored by doctors in the hospital. Also, they continue to insist that Kenneth Harding was killed by the SFPD. Here's the full statement. Last night we saw the community once again rise up in support of #Frisco5. We began with 5 but now we are growing to #Frisco500 and will soon be #Frisco5000. From the more than one thousand marchers on May 3 to the community members who echoed the #Frisco5 calls for justice last night at City Hall, a movement has been born. After nearly two days of being hospitalized (doctors orders), the #Frisco5 continue to be monitored closely. As the health of #Frisco5 grows uncertain, the whole San Francisco community took the step to demand the hunger strikers suspend their hunger strike so they can return to the front lines and help shape this movement and the pursuit of justice for the black and brown citizens of San Francisco. They have decided to listen to the community that they love. Considering the strength of the movement that has been galvanized through the last 17 days of the hunger strike, the community has made their voice heard. We must still send the #Frisco5 our prayers and positive energy because the re-feeding process after not eating for 17 days is long one. They will likely be in the hospital for a number of days. The end of the strike is in no way a concession - its a victory of monumental proportions. They have been told in no uncertain terms by the community that they are needed here to help fight a corrupt administration and a racist and violent police department. They have been asked to help build opportunity for the very community that they were willing to lay down their lives for. They still hold true to their demands. They ask that the entire Bay Area Community join them in a general strike this Monday May 9, 2016 - leave work, leave school, and do not purchase from large chain stores, and join the #Frisco500 in front of City Hall at 8:30am. Previously: Lengthy, Angry Protest Breaks Out As Frisco Five Supporters Storm City Hall Friday 125 years ago DENTISTS GO ROWING: About 200 dentists attending the Iowa state convention in Sioux City took a special train on the Riverside Motor line, along with an escort of prominent Sioux City people, to the banks of the Sioux. After a lunch at the boathouse, the dentists were at liberty to stroll, chat and ride the switchback railway. Most popular was rowing on the river. PANTLESS BURGLAR: A burglar entered the home of Cilo Chesterman, at 120 Perry street, Friday night. He gained entrance to the room of Robert Graham, who lives in the house, robbing him of a fine pair of dress pants and a gold watch and chain. BIG HONEYMOON: The home of Mr. and Mrs. A. Halseth, at 905 Seventh street, presented a brilliant appearance Tuesday evening to the more than 150 family and guests who attend the marriage of the eldest daughter, Miss Marie Halseth, to Charles O. Harstad. The brides parents presented the newlyweds a check for an all-expense-paid trip to Europe. They expect to be gone three to four months. 100 years ago BADGEROW ESTATE: Gordon R. Badgerow, former Sioux City postmaster, died at Tacoma, Wash., during a visit, leaving an estate valued at more than $1 million. His wife, Adelia, is named his sole beneficiary in his will. Mr. Badgerow made no provisions for his sons, Ralph and Harve, of Chicago, and Egbert of Tacoma, because he felt confident that his wife would make a fair distribution to each of them. Mr. Badgerow had extensive lumber and real estate interests in Washington, owned a large number of buildings on lower Fourth street in Sioux City and had property in New York City. NO EDUCATED BURGLAR: N.H. Lipscomb a traveling salesman of Kansas City, Missouri, reported to police that books valued at $700 were taken from his automobile at Fourth and Iowa streets. The encyclopedias were encased in four cardboard boxes. Police think someone thought the boxes resembled beer cases and made off with them. COMMUNITY NEWS: Williams Jennings Bryan, three times the democratic nominee for president, spoke to an overflow crowd at the Sioux City Auditorium. He advocated womens suffrage in Iowa and railed against the sale of liquor. Mrs. P.E. Sawyer, of Sioux City, was elected president of the state association of P.E.O. chapters in Newton, Iowa. She belongs to DH Chapter. 50 years ago BRAWLING JUDGE: Well-known District Judge George Paradise, 69, was assaulted by a group of teen-agers while trying to quiet a disturbance in front of his home, at 912 Nebraska St. On Thursday, he ordered four young men to show cause why they should not be held in contempt of court for the assault. The boys range in age from 16 to 19. The judge suffered several bruises. MAKING NEWS: Burdette Knudsen, 18 of rural Ida Grove, Iowa, has been named the Star Farmer of Northwest Iowa at the state FAA convention. Sioux City attorney Wiley Mayne announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for 6th District congressman, seeking to unseat Rep. Stanley Greigg, a Democrat. Craig Bainbridge, son of Mr. and Mrs. Delmar Bainbridge, will receive valedictorian honors at commencement exercises for Kingsley-Pierson High School. MARKET ROBBED: Burglars broke into the Economy Market, 412 Plymouth St., for the third time in 18 months. They took more than $5,600 from the safe sometime between 9:30 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday. The take included $4,500 in bills, $170 in coins, $500 in federal food stamps, checks and Lucky Bucks store coupons. 25 years ago TULIP TIME: ORANGE CITY, Iowa -- Juliana Van Engelenhoven and her court will reign over the 51st tulip festival Thursday through Sunday. It will be among the biggest ever, perhaps attracting more than the 150,000 who attended last year. The main attractions at each days activities will be the Straat Feest and Volksparade. CHASE THE BUNNY: NORTH SIOUX CITY -- The betting windows remain open all year now at Sodrac Park, but the infamous bunny has been on vacation since last fall. The mechanical rabbit will come out of storage Saturday and the greyhounds will resume the chase theyre never permitted to win as Sodrak opens its 37th season. The track now offers simulcasting 52 weeks a year. NEWSMAKERS: East High School senior Rebecca Mason is the first woman from Sioux City to be accepted into the U.S. Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs. The 45th Annual Truckers Day will be held at the Siouxland Convention Center and Marina Inn in South Sioux City. Peter Hathaway of North High School has been named the 1991 Assistant Principal of the Year by the School Administrators of Iowa. The following items were published in the Journal May 8-14, 1891, 1916, 1966 and 1991. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. LAWTON, Iowa | When his wife, Dorothy, started snoring, Richard Uhl would move from his bed to the couch or tap her and say, "Dorothy, you gotta quit snoring." Two years ago, when Dorothy's doctor prescribed a CPAP, or continuous positive airway pressure, machine to keep her airways open while she slept, Richard was thankful. "I thought, 'Oh my god, this is great!'" the 78-year-old said as he sat next to his wife in the living room of their Lawton home. Little did Richard know, he too was suffering from sleep apnea, a condition that would land him in the hospital not once, but twice, and would nearly cost him his life. Obstructive sleep apnea, the most common form of the disease, occurs when the soft tissue at the back of a person's throat collapses obstructing their airway and interrupting their breathing. An estimated 18 million Americans stop breathing up to hundreds of times each night often for longer than a minute. Snoring is the main indicator of the condition, which if left untreated can cause high blood pressure, heart attack, congestive heart failure, stroke and depression, according to the National Sleep Foundation. A study conducted by U.S. researchers that was published in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Medicine in 2009 found that severe sleep apnea increases the risk of dying early by 46 percent. "It could save a lot of lives if people would use it," Richard said of a CPAP machine. At 2:30 a.m. on Feb. 28, Dorothy awoke to find Richard gasping for air. She thought her husband of 55 years was having a heart attack. She jumped out of bed and called 911. The dispatcher told Dorothy to remove the pillow from underneath Richard's head and start performing chest compressions. "I started giving CPR to him and she said, 'Do it faster,'" Dorothy recalled, as tears welled up in her eyes. Soon the paramedics arrived to whisk Richard away to UnityPoint Health-St. Luke's. At the hospital, Dorothy said doctors ran all sorts of tests, suspecting that heart problems, stroke and even pneumonia were causing Richard to stop breathing. Three days later, he woke up in the intensive care unit. "I turned around and looked and said, 'Where am I?'" Richard recalled. "(Dorothy) said, 'You're in the hospital.' I said, 'The hospital! For what?'" Richard couldn't believe it. He had no recollection of anything that had transpired. After spending six days in the hospital, he was discharged. "After they sent him home they still didn't know. I didn't know," Dorothy said of what had caused the incident. "I was scared to go to bed at night. On April 18 at 10:30 p.m., Richard had another episode. Dorothy awoke to find her husband covered in sweat and struggling for breath. She called 911. The paramedics rushed Richard to St. Luke's again, where a doctor decided to order a sleep study. Although people of all ages, including children, can be affected, sleep apnea is most common in people over age 40. Men are more likely to suffer from the condition than women. Being overweight is the main risk factor. Sleep apnea is diagnosed through polysomnography. Overnight, a patient's sleep cycle is measured by equipment that records sleep, respiration, muscle activity, snoring, position and heart rhythm. During the study, Richard stopped breathing for as long as 76 seconds at a time. "He would go into seizures because his body was out of oxygen and he was fighting for oxygen," Dorothy said. Richard was prescribed a CPAP machine, which he wears when he sleeps at night and when he takes a nap during the day. CPAP consists of a mask that goes over the nose and mouth which connects via a hose to a machine that houses an air pump. Pressurized air flows from the machine through the hose to the face mask. Wearing the mask took some getting used to, but Richard said what the device has done for him is "wonderful." "Since I've been using this one that they gave me I feel 100 percent better," he said. "I sleep so much better at night. It's just amazing what they can do for you." SOUTH SIOUX CITY | At least one person was injured in a four-vehicle crash near the intersection of Dakota Avenue and 29th Street in South Sioux City Saturday morning. Sgt. Jeanette McFee with the South Sioux City Police Department said it appears two cars, a pickup and a van were traveling the same direction on Dakota Avenue when one of the vehicles struck another from behind, causing a domino-effect crash. South Sioux City Police and South Sioux City Fire and Rescue were dispatched to the scene around 10:28. McFee said at least one person was taken to Mercy Medical Center -- Sioux City with injuries. Three of the vehicles were towed from the scene, she said. No names have been released. Prominent opinion leaders and leading American politicians have roundly rejected the unrealistic and impractical idea, championed by a member of Congress from Vermont, to provide a four-year college education at no, or very low, tuition cost to every American high school student who qualifies for admission. What many of the critics either have forgotten or never knew is that this frankly radical notion is not new. In fact, the Vermonter who originally advocated this major federal intrusion was not a socialist named Bernie Sanders, but a Republican named Justin Smith Morrill. Sen. Morrill sponsored the law and President Abraham Lincoln signed it in 1862, in the middle of the Civil War when more Americans died than in all other U.S. conflicts combined. The Morrill Land Grant Act gave each northern state 30,000 acres of federal land for the number of its congressional seats. Some states used the funds from the sale of the land to establish new colleges that would provide an education for the industrial classes. These were the children, not of the aristocracy, but of the farmers and laborers who previously never had the opportunity to study engineering or agriculture or liberal arts. Some of the land-grant schools funded by the Morrill Act helped establish such universities as MIT, Cornell, Purdue, and the great universities of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Colorado and Illinois -- some 70 colleges in all. When exactly did the United States dare to dream such great dreams and boldly act on them? During the darkest days of the nation's deadliest struggle (625,000 American lives lost), with the very survival of the Union in doubt -- that's when. At the time President Lincoln signed the law, the population of the U.S. was just 33 million, and the nation's gross domestic product is estimated to have been less than $7 billion. Some crackpot idea indeed. In 1868 when the land-grant-funded University of California was founded -- charging no tuition -- there were barely 500,000 people living in the Golden State, fewer than now reside in the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico. For the next 90 years, until the governorship of Ronald Reagan, the University of California school system remained free of charge. Since then, it has become one of the world's great university systems, producing 63 Nobel Prize winners to date. What is as intriguing as it is distressing is that in 2016, the U.S., a powerful continental nation with impressive statistics (a population of 323 million with a GDP approaching $18 trillion) seems to lack the imagination to dream even semi-great public dreams, let alone the collective will and mutual trust to dare greatly. Thank goodness that once, more than 150 years ago, there were Americans like Morrill and Lincoln who did dare to act fearlessly upon their belief that the legitimate object of government is "to do for the people what needs to be done, but which they cannot, by individual effort, do at all, or do so well, for themselves." That America can-do spirit is sadly missing in this campaign of small ideas. As even casual readers of Our Opinion know, the members of our editorial board believe in the value of political candidate debates - at any level. The time-honored tradition of public debates demonstrates respect for voters, respect between candidates, and respect for the election process itself. Face-to-face debates provide, we believe, an invaluable opportunity unlike any other for the public to take the measure of candidates for office. To this end, we commend 4th District U.S. Rep. Steve King and his Republican primary opponent, Iowa State Sen. Rick Bertrand, for agreeing to debate one another in Sioux City on June 3. King, in particular, deserves credit for acceptance of the debate offer because, let's be honest, it would have been easy for him as a seven-term incumbent in the state's most Republican congressional district to take the safe route and decline to debate his first re-election primary challenger. The primary election is June 7. Its winner will enter the general election campaign as a prohibitive favorite against Democrat Kim Weaver. The King-Bertrand debate will be sponsored by The Journal and KTIV-TV. The hourlong event, which will be broadcast live by KTIV, will begin at 7 p.m. in Eppley Auditorium on the campus of Morningside College. In our view, a series of debates between King and Democratic opponent Christie Vilsack in 2012 (the first House re-election campaign debates in which King participated) and the single debate between King and Democratic opponent Jim Mowrer in 2014 produced an instructive new dimension for 4th District congressional campaigns. For Republican constituents, we believe what we are confident will be nothing less than a spirited King-Bertrand debate will generate similar value. Whatever its outcome, the real winners will be primary voters. 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 This Week at NASA: Getting Ready to Launch from Wallops Again and More. NASA On May 3, NASAs Wallops Flight Facility hosted Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and others for an employee town hall and a tour of the Virginia facility including Pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. Preparations are underway there to conduct an engine test of Orbital ATKs Antares rocket in anticipation of returning Antares to flight operations this summer following a launch mishap in 2014. The medium-class launch facility provides NASA the capability to launch Orbital ATKs Antares and Cygnus spacecraft on resupply missions to the International Space Station. Also, NASA Astronauts on Future ISS Crews, Facility Dedicated to NASA Mathematician, View Mercurys Transit of the Sun with NASA, Three Potentially Habitable Worlds Found, and Webb Mirrors Unveiled. El Aaiun (Occupied Territories), May 7, 2016 (SPS) - The Moroccan occupation authorities on Friday expelled two Polish journalists from the occupied city of El Aaiun, capital of Western Sahara. The journalists concerned are Dominik Sipiniski and Anna Suzanna Olczak, they are experts in coverage of international conflicts, zones of conflict and social and political events. The two journalists were in association with Saharawi activist Abdelkrim Emboirkat when his house was besieged by ten Moroccan police cars, the journalists were forcibly removed, insulted and their documents confiscated. They were transferred to the Moroccan city of Agadir. The Polish journalists had intended to visit the occupied territories to find out about the state of human rights and the miserable situation in which the Sahrawi population live under the Moroccan occupation. (SPS) 062/090/TRA On the other hand, "the revival of nationalism in Germany should be taken much more cautiously. Along with anti-Americanism and anti-globalism, such a revival will inevitably entail a partial rehabilitation of NazismIf hopes of a new German revanchism form, against whom will they be directed?" "Polish and Baltic nationalisms are clearly directed against Russia. Russophobia in these countries is organic and the predominant component of the national mythology. Here we have no illusions." "As far as Trump is concerned," Linderman writes, "I would be careful not to make projections. If nationalism in Europe is represented by parties which have come a long way politically, Trump jumped on to the scene like a blot from the blue. Behind the ideology of the National Front, or say the Austrian Freedom Partythere are decades of political struggle, while when it comes to Trump, all we know about is his juicy statements made to appeal to voters." Ultimately, the columnist notes, "Trump's successful advance merely proves that a significant number of ordinary Americans are fed up with their country's role as the world's policeman and its missionary, and want to live 'for themselves'. Such isolationist sentiment doubtlessly benefits Russia." It would mean, for instance, a decline in the number of color revolutions attempting to overthrow Russian allies, and hopefully, an end to the military buildup on Russia's borders. "But would Trump, were he to become president, be able to depend on these popular moods and turn away from the US's anti-Russian course, and would he want to? Here, all we can do is guess." MOSCOW (Sputnik) Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull requested the United Kingdoms Queen Elizabeth IIs representative to dissolve both houses of parliament and call elections on July 2, he said at a press conference Sunday. "The governor-general has accepted my advice to dissolve both houses of parliament effective tomorrowand call the election on July 2," Turnbull said in televised a press conference after visiting Peter Cosgrove approximately an hour earlier. The Australian constitution envisages a mechanism, known as the double dissolution, which empowers the government to call for an election if the Senate blocks a piece of legislation twice. Turnbull said in late March that voting to elect lawmakers in Australia would be held on July 2 if the current parliament failed to pass two union bills. BEIJING (Sputnik) Authorities in China detained 20 crew members of a cargo ship flying the Maltese flag that collided with a Chinese fishing vessel in the East China Sea, killing at least two, Chinese online media reported Sunday. Chinas Lu Rong Yu 58398 collided with a foreign vessel in the early hours of Saturday off the coast of Ningbo in Zhejiang province. Two of the 19 crew members on board were confirmed dead, while search operations are underway for the remaining 17. 2 killed, 17 missing after Chinese fishing boat collided with Maltese cargo ship and sank in East China Sea Sat. pic.twitter.com/rX6l4AuFNh People's Daily,China (@PDChina) 7 2016 . Twenty of the Catalina bulk carriers crew, whose nationalities have not been provided, were detained in Ningbo and are currently providing evidence to authorities, the Sina outlet reported. MOSCOW (Sputnik) At least 50 people died and more than 60 sustained injuries in a collision of two passenger buses with a fuel tanker in the Afghan southeastern Ghazni province on Sunday, local media reported, citing officials. "The buses caught fire after the crash and most of the injured people are in a critical condition," a spokesman for the provincial governor, Aghagul Jawid Salangi told Afghanistans TOLO News. Afghan: Ghazni Bus Tanker Hadsa, 50 Afrad Janbahaq* At least 50 dead passenger bus collide with fuel tanker in Afghanistan Ghazni province. World Search (@WORLDLYSMS) 8 2016 . One of the passenger vehicles has reportedly overturned. PYONGYANG (Sputnik) North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un urged the country on Sunday to put in a great deal of effort and develop defense industry amid escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula and in the world. "It is necessary to channel serious efforts into the development of the defense industry, because the fate of the nation depends on the security of the state. The current tense situation on the Korean Peninsula, as well as the global trend requires to boost the modernization of weaponry," Kim said in a televised address to the seventh congress of the Workers' Party of North Korea. DUSHANBE (Sputnik) Some 200 people will take part in the "Immortal Regiment" march honoring victory over Nazism in World War II the in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, on May 9, organizers of the event said Sunday. "We have sent calls through social media, more than 200 people have responded," Nur Umarov, the deputy chairman of Tajikistan's Union of Internationalist Soldiers, told RIA Novosti. MOSCOW (Sputnik) At least 12 people, including three children were injured when a hand grenade exploded in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi on Sunday, media reported. According to the Xinhua news agency, two militants threw the grenade into a restaurant and fled the scene. Police have cordoned off the area. All those injured have been taken to hospitals, two of them are in critical condition. No extremist group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. Leading the suit against the oil companies is the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines, a constitutional body. Companies listed include ExxonMobil, BP and Chevron. Last month, the commission gathered climate scientists to serve as expert witnesses in the hearings. Several scientists believe that extreme weather events like Storm Desmond, which hit the UK in December, are linked to climate change. Moreover, they emphasize fossil-fuel emissions as key factors in exacerbating climate change. The Philippines is one of the worlds countries most exposed to natural disasters. Weather-related catastrophes affected 130 billion people in the Philippines between 1995 and 2015. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan killed more than 6,300 people. BEIJING (Sputnik) Chinas bilateral trade with Russia climbed by 0.7 percent to $5.59 billion in April, Chinas General Administration of Customs data published Sunday indicated. Chinese exports climbed by 4.4 percent to $2.7 billion from April 2015, while imports from Russia declined by 2.8 percent to $2.89 billion, the data showed. First-quarter figures announced on April 13 demonstrated 3.6-percent growth in Russian-Chinese trade at $14.2 billion. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Tehran will not accept any plan entailing freezing of oil production, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said Sunday. "I even had discussions with Saudi oil minister at that meeting [in Doha, Qatar, in April] because they wanted us to lower oil production in our country to the levels of early 2016. I said to him, You have got to be kidding!," Zangeneh said, as quoted by the IRINN television channel. Iran got the opportunity to resume oil trade since it reached an agreement with leading world powers, according to which it pledged to guarantee the peaceful nature of its nuclear activities in exchange for the sanctions against it being lifted. The Defense Minister expressed hope that the talks would bring desired results, despite provocations that we have to face from the side of Russian Federation. He added that Poland is waiting for a critical decision that would put an end to breaches of peace in Europe and partial occupation of Ukraine. We are confident that the upcoming NATO summit to be held in Warsaw in July will bring long-awaited changes, he added. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Brexit supporters argue that EU membership has eroded Britains national sovereignty, while opponents have argued that leaving the 28-member bloc could impact everything from the economy to national security. "The terms on which we exchange data with other European countries are set by agreement within the EU An agreement reached without us would probably be too restrictive for our needs this could undermine our ability to protect ourselves," former MI6 head John Sawers and MI5 chief Jonathan Evans wrote in an op-ed in The Sunday Times. The two argued that the UK shapes the data-exchange debate as an EU member "and we benefit from the data flows as a result." Sawers and Evans further warned that intelligence sharing in the event of a Brexit would be damaged because Brussels would restrict surveillance powers used by security services. In late antiquity, it was Islam which divided the Mediterranean world in two, the historian explains in his article for The Atlantic magazine Early in the fifth century A.D., when Saint Augustine lived in what is today Algeria, North Africa was as much a center of Christianity as Italy or Greece, reads his article. But the swift advance of Islam across North Africa in the seventh and eighth centuries virtually extinguished Christianity there, thus severing the Mediterranean region into two civilizational halves, with the Middle Sea a hard border between them rather than a unifying force. Earlier on Sunday, a military exhibition that includes equipment from the United States opened on the central square of the Moldovan capital opposite the government building. US soldiers, involved in military exercises in Moldova, alongside local troops, are participating in a commemorative event to honor the victims of World War II. The Socialists Party activists plan to hold a demonstration against the presence of US military equipment in Chisinau, Dodon told RIA Novosti. "They are only being punished for what they have written. The court insisted that they have revealed 'state secrets.' Those secrets are not secrets; everybody knows about them, there are tons of publications about them, it's not a secret any longer, this has already been published before." Oral believes that the current state of journalism in Turkey is the worst she's seen in her 45-year career, and has resulted from the government's political interference in the media and arbitrary use of the court system. "I have lived through three different military coups and in none of them was it so bad. At least when you had the military coups you knew what you could write, what was forbidden to write, what was not forbidden to write, what was permissible." "Now there is uncertainty, you can be prosecuted for anything you write. The same article can be written by different names and one will be prosecuted and the other will not be prosecuted. For me this is a completely political court case, it has nothing to do with justice," Oral said. At first the Turkish government claimed the trucks were only taking humanitarian aid to Syria, then changed their story and said they were providing arms for the Turkmen in Iraq. "Then the Turkmen said no, we're not receiving any arms from the Turkish government." "Then Mr. Erdogan declared, 'I shall not let them go free, they'll have to pay for this.'" "I think the court obeyed the orders of Mr. Erdogan." ROME (Sputnik) At least five people were injured in an explosion, which occurred on Sunday in one of the residential houses in the northeastern part of Rome, local media reported, citing police. According to the Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper, the injured were recovered alive from the rubble of the partially collapsed building. Four of them have reportedly been sent to hospitals. There is no official version of the event's causes, but investigators are reportedly considering the possibility of a gas boiler explosion as the reason for the incident. The second reason for the crisis is the very logic of the European project itself, according to Shmelev: "The logic of European integration inevitably leads to the concentration of decision-making in a single center. But national elites in many countries do not want to give up their sovereignty to the European bureaucracy." At the same time, the analyst noted, more and more Europeans are facing a demographic, economic, social and cultural crisis (including the loss of national identity), and "have come to view their national governments as an entity with intrinsic value, with whose help they hope to express and implement their interests." The current crisis, he adds, has only been compounded by US efforts to push through its Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) initiative, "which would factually constitute a hostile takeover of the European market by American corporations. I think that Washington will push this agreement through, using the widest possible arsenal of tools at its disposal." One of these tools, used by both Washington and Brussels, is the straw-man propaganda of a 'threat from the East', i.e. from Russia. This is taking place, "even though the Europeans are trying to fight back. It's not by chance that 55 of 98 lawmakers in the French National Assembly recently endorsed a resolution calling on the government to come out against anti-Russian sanctions. In other words, the desire to rebuild ties with Russia has already been articulated at the political level." "A similar position has been taken by the Alternative for Germany Party, the French National Front, the leaders of Austria, Hungary and several other countries. Even if the Euro-Atlantic powers that be do not allow Marine Le Pen the presidency, her party is likely to take second place, which will have a major impact on political decision-making in the Fifth Republic." CHISINAU (Sputnik) Several hundred activists of the opposition Socialist Party in Moldova gathered in the central square of Chisinau on Sunday to protest against US troops presence in the Eastern European country, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported. Earlier on Sunday, a military exhibition that included equipment from the United States opened at the same square. US soldiers, involved in military exercises in Moldova, alongside local troops, participated in a commemorative event to honor the victims of World War II a day before the Victory Day celebrations. "We want Moldova to remain a neutral state," parliament member Vlad Batrincea said, adding that the presence of the US equipment in Chisinau is "unlawful." PRAGUE (Sputnik) Some 700 people on Sunday took part in the first "Immortal Regiment" patriotic initiative held in the Czech capital of Prague, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported. The initiative is honoring victory over Nazism in World War II. Many young people from Russia, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Slovakia, Belarus and other countries took to the streets carrying portraits of their relatives who fought in the war or worked in the home front. Veterans of Czechoslovak and Russian units that fought against the Nazi troops were also among those taking part in the campaign. The participants of the march wore the orange-and-black-striped ribbons of St. George, symbolizing the Soviet contribution to the Allied victory in World War II. While nuclear weapons were originally developed as a substitute for massed bombing attacks, the idea of a single weapon capable of wreaking so much destruction and killing so many people quickly turned it into "the embodiment of hell," he adds. And as nuclear weapons became associated with the apocalyptic end of the world, it also became clear that a world leader would have to be completely insane to use them. "Since World War II, no nation has used nuclear weapons for any purpose. For the US in Vietnam and the Soviets in Afghanistan, nuclear weapons had no utility. Even if they had, both countries would have accepted defeat rather than use them. The empirical reality is that of all the nations that have nuclear capability, and wish ill toward their neighbor, none have used it," Friedman remarks. Conventional wars, "waged by helicopters, armored fighting vehicles and well-trained infantry firing wire-guided missiles at tanks," are a much more probable threat than a nuclear attack, according to Friedman. However, the US continues to display a "fixation with complex weapons designed to handle improbable threats," while Poland and Romania consider the BMD system a symbol of US commitment to protect them, the forecaster concludes. VIENNA (Sputnik) The "Immortal Regiment" march honoring victory over Nazism in World War II has brought together some 300 people in the Austrian capital of Vienna on Sunday, thrice the amount that came to the rally last year, the organizers said. Sofia Parfenova, the organizer of the event, told RIA Novosti that people from Germany, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia and Austria had applied to take part in the event. The rally was headed by Russian ambassador to Austria Dmitry Lubinsky, while Russian envoy to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Alexander Lukashevich also took part in the march. Factually, the UPA, which operated in Western Ukraine between 1943 and 1949 and numbered about 100,000 at its peak strength, carried out a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing against Poles, Jews, Russians and other Ukrainians, and fought against the Red Army and pro-Soviet partisans (6 million Ukrainians fought in the ranks of the Red Army). During Yushchenko's presidency, Ukraine filed an official request to the German government for information from the Wehrmacht's wartime archives about the UPA's fight against the Nazis. Apart from a few skirmishes and supply raids, nothing was found. In fact, throughout eastern Ukraine and in Russia, the UPA is viewed instead primarily as Nazi collaborators. In his time, Yushchenko's efforts to glorify the UPA were met with strong criticism from Red Army veterans and their families. "At the same time," Podgorny recalls, despite being "an explicit nationalist, Yushchenko [nevertheless] tried to keep up appearances, and was present at the May 9, 2005 parade in Moscow, and attended the Museum of the Great Patriotic War and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Kiev." "Viktor Yanukovych, in contrast to Yushchenko, began his presidency with a large-scale and spectacular celebration of Victory Day. On May 9, 2010, parades were held in major cities across the country, and Kiev saw a parade comparable in scale with Moscow's. In the Ukrainian capital, thousands of people wore the ribbon of St. George, and on Kreshchatyk, Kiev's main street, veterans and ordinary people carried a 142-meter Ribbon of St. George made in Odessa." At that time, the journalist noted, the crowd in Kiev applauded as Russian and Belarusian troops marched alongside the Ukrainian army in the parade. Unfortunately, Podgorny added, "already then a 'center of resistance' had appeared in Lviv. It's possible that this occurred with the tacit approval of the Yanukovych administration, which attempted to cultivate 'pocket' nationalists for its own purposes. In 2010, the local court banned any celebrations, and activists from the [neo-fascist] Svoboda Party threatened veterans, trampled and burned the Soviet flag," and the Banner of Victory (the military flag raised over the Reichstag on May 1, 1945). "A year later, in 2011, May 9 saw real street fighting in Lviv, with Ukrainian radicals opposed by veterans and the pro-Russian Rodina Party, which, after a series of fights using weapons, rocks and smoke bombs, was able to raise the red Banner of Victory over Glory Hill, Lviv." From the video report on the violence presented to Ukraine's parliament. "On that day, local police did not allow veterans to lay flowers at the local war memorial, and the Russian Consul General had his wreath taken away and trampled on; Svoboda activists attacked people wearing ribbons of St. George and forced them to take them off, eventually resulting in street battles between nationalists and Berkut riot police." Unfortunately, Podgorny notes, "Kiev at the time preferred to hush up the situation and not to draw any conclusions, and today we can only guess to what effect this decision had in untying the hands of the ultranationalists in their frenzied activity, which ended in the coup d'etat of the winter of 2014." MOSCOW (Sputnik) Italian special police arrested a Slovenian suspected of ties to an international terrorist group, Italy's Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said Sunday. "Another operation against the threat of international terrorism has been brought to a successful conclusion by the Carabinieri of the [Special Operations Group] who in collaboration with the Slovenian police arrested a 26-year-old Slovenian citizen suspected to be a foreign fighter," Alfano said as quoted by La Repubblica newspaper. The detainee is also suspected of radicalizing and recruiting "aspiring jihadists." MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) Colombian government forces killed a rebel leader nicknamed Franklin during a raid in the northwestern region of Choco, the Colombian military said in a statement Sunday. "Crushing blow against [the National Liberation Army] ELN as Resistance Front ringleader Cimarron [killed] Alias Franklin top leader Cimarron of the ELN Resistance Front was responsible for financing and partly arming the front structures," the Military Forces of Colombia tweeted. The military added that Franklin's killing "represents a blow against ELN because it is not easy to replace him with someone to continue the activities of this terrorist." MOSCOW (Sputnik) Two North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) soldiers from Romania died in an attack on a base in southern Afghanistan, the Romanian Ministry of National Defense said in a press release. "Two Romanian soldiers have died and a third was injured following an incident which took place Saturday, May 7, at 10.45, near the town of Kandahar," the ministry said Saturday. The attack was reportedly carried out by two insurgents dressed in Afghan army uniforms at the Kandahar airfield. The gunmen were killed in retaliatory fire. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Unidentified gunmen killed eight plainclothes police south of the Egyptian capital of Cairo, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement Sunday. Four gunmen ambushed and opened fire at a microbus carrying Helwan city plainclothes police, killing a first lieutenant and seven police officers, the ministrys spokesperson said. An active investigation is underway to find the assailants, the ministry added. CAIRO (Sputnik) The Egyptian Security Forces are combing the area of the Greater Cairo's city of Helwan, looking for gunmen who killed eight police officers, the country's Interior Ministry said Sunday. Earlier in the day, four unidentified men ambushed and opened fire at a microbus carrying local plainclothed policemen from automatic firearm south of Cairo, killing a first lieutenant and seven police officers, the ministrys spokesperson said in a statement. Egypt gunmen shoot dead 8 police in Cairo Al-Arabiya Al-Arabiya Egypt gunmen shoot dead 8 police in Cairo A https://t.co/uirdGiOVCQ Quilts 1700 2010 (@quilts_uk) 8 2016 . According to investigators, over 100 bullet casings have been found at the site of the attack. Each victim got more than ten gunshot wounds. The gunmen were firing point-blank, pathologists said. Earlier in the day, four unidentified men ambushed and opened fire on a microbus carrying local plainclothes policemen using automatic weapons in Helwan, a city in Greater Cairo, killing a first lieutenant and seven other police officers. Each victim sustained more than ten gunshot wounds. According to the newspaper Youm7, the movement placed a corresponding statement on their Facebook page, claiming the attack was carried out to honor those who died during protests at the square near the Rabiyah Aladawiah Mosque on the 1,000-day anniversary of the massacre. ANKARA (Sputnik) The Turkish Armed Forces have killed 55 Daesh terrorists in shelling north of the Syrian city of Aleppo, local media reported Sunday, citing security sources. The targets of the bombardment were selected based on reconnaissance data, the news portal Dunya Bulteni reported. Three vehicles and three rocket installations were destroyed by the Turkish military as well, the security sources claimed. Turkey shares a border with Aleppo province, which had a population of 4.87 mln in 2011. HOMS (Syria) (Sputnik)A group of 210 militants laid down its arms in the Syrian western city of Homs on Sundays as part of the national reconciliation program, a source in the city's administration told RIA Novosti. "Work on the rehabilitation of former militants out of workers from the [Homs] industrial area of Hisya has begun after they laid down their arms. A total of 210 people," the source said. Syria has been mired in civil war since March 2011, with government forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad fighting numerous opposition factions and extremist groups. The experts explained that "although we know of the recent presence of experts from other countries in Palmyra, [the right] to the restoration of Syrian heritage cannot be appropriated unilaterally by one side; first of all, it must take place as a result of a national consensus [in Syria]. In addition, Palmyra's status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site implies that the international community must be involved in the restoration. This consensus will be the fruit of long process on several fronts political, social, scientific and technical." Commenting on the archeologists' appeal, PolitRussia noted that while "caring for humanity's cultural heritage is no doubt laudable, what's unclear is what caused such concern among respected scholars in this case. Russian scholars have no claim to any exclusive role in restoration works." In fact, the journal added "the first foreign expedition which visited Palmyra after its liberation was Polish. Between April 7-17, archeologists from the University of Warsaw worked in the ancient Roman city. And no one interfered with their work. On the contrary, they arrived at the official invitation of the Syrian Department of Antiquities, and the Russian military was directly or indirectly involved in ensuring their safety." As for Russian archeologists' participation in the restoration, PolitRussia recalled that there was nothing strange that they too be involved in the work, given that the Russian Hermitage Museum is one of the largest archeological centers of the world, whose staff have unique experience in restoration work, including with antiquities from Palmyra. Ultimately, the journal suggests, "it's very curious to see this surge in activity on the need to 'preserve' the cultural heritage of the Middle East right now, and to 'protect' it from Russia. Why, previously, had these guardians calmly looked on over the past several years as the region's historical and archeological heritage was savagely destroyed by terrorist groups who have a relationship with the US or its allies?" Two unidentified gunmen attempted to enter a police station's parking lot in the Mecca's city of Taif, the Al Ekhbariya television channel said. The militants opened fire after spotting servicemen and subsequently escaped to mountainous area, where Saudi army private Saeed Harithy was killed in a shootout, the TV channel reported. An explosive belt and bomb-making substances were confiscated from the gunmen. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Saudi Arabia will continue carrying out its current policies in the oil sector, new Energy Minister Khalid Falih said Sunday. On Saturday, Falih was named the new minister as part of a government reshuffle. "The kingdom will stick to its stable policies in the fuel sector," Falih said, as quoted by the Sky News Arabia TV channel. These attacks included mortar shelling, suicide bombings, the detonation of car bombs and other IEDs, as well as machinegun and sniper fire. They also included targeted massacres, including the January 16 Daesh massacre of an estimated 300 men, women and children in the village of Baghiliyah, Dayr al-Zawr region. Since the ceasefire was signed, attacks have continued, with the website listing details of more than 55 such attacks, again including mortar and rocket fire, the detonation of explosive devices, and sniper fire. In all, in only the three month period from January 1 to March 31, Voltaire Network registered nearly 180 attacks, some of them consisting of serial rocket attacks with multiple targets and casualties, and many of them carried out by groups formally unaffiliated with the Islamic State and the Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's franchise in Syria (neither of these groups is party to the ceasefire). Unfortunately, the website notes, "the Western press does not have anything to say about terrorism in Syria," nor about the fact that these acts are perpetrated by foreign combatants and Syrian insurgents who have received funding and other support from the US, European countries, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Turkey. The Turkish authorities suspect that the explosive device had been planted by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) , outlawed in the country. Severe clashes between the Turkish Armed Forces and PKK have been arising sporadically in Turkey since a July terror attack in the city of Suruc, which killed over 30 people, most of them Kurds. As Kurds killed two Turkish policemen in what they called a retaliation attack, Ankara declared a military campaign against the PKK, which it considers to be a terrorist organization. DAMASCUS (Sputnik) The Turkish army used munitions containing phosphorus against the Kurdish-inhabited city of Nusaybin in the countrys south, a Kurdish source told Sputnik on Sunday. "The Turkish army shelled a district of the Nusaybin city in southern Turkey using munitions which are likely to contain the banned substance of phosphorus," the source said. Nusaybin is located in the Mardin province, where two Turkish servicemen were killed during a raid against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), outlawed in the country, earlier in the day. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Yemeni Houthi rebels and their allies have refused to participate in a meeting, scheduled as part of the intra-Yemeni peace talks in Kuwait, in protest against the Arab coalitions airstrikes, media reported Sunday. The latest round of the UN-mediated talks in Kuwait, attempting to reconcile the Houthi rebels with Yemeni government headed by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, launched on April 21. According to the Al-Jazeera broadcaster, UN special envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed rescheduled the meeting, initially set to be held Sunday, to an undetermined date. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Four people died and 10 others were injured as Islamist militants shelled the Syrian city of Aleppo, with another person killed in the province of Idlib, local media reported Sunday. According to the SANA news agency, two children and two women were killed when extremists shelled Aleppos district of Midan, amid ceasefire in force in Aleppo. Sources in the Idlib province claimed that one person was killed and at least two people were injured after militants shelled of the town of Fuah. Earlier this week Erdogan refused to change Turkey's anti-terrorism legislation, as it was meant by the Turkey-EU deal, orchestrated by PM Ahmet Davutoglu, saying that Europe should first remove tents of Kurdish "terrorists" from the square at the EU Headquarters in Brussels. As Erdogan put it, the demand to change Turkish legislation came at a time when the country is under constant threat of terrorist attacks. According to the deal, Turkey was to accept a significant amount of migrants that used Turkey to illegally cross the EU border. In exchange, the EU was to provide, among other things, visa-free travel for Turkish tourists. However, in order to fulfill this deal, Turkey was to change its own anti-terrorism legislation, which Erdogan refused to do. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Six ceasefire violations were registered in Syria over the last 24 hours in Syrias Damascus and Aleppo, the Russian reconciliation center said in an information bulletin published by the Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday. The ceasefire has been observed in most provinces of the Syrian Arab Republic. Within last 24 hours, 6 ceasefire violations have been registered (Damascus province 4, Aleppo province 2), the bulletin said. The militants from al-Nusra Front jihadist group, banned in Russia, continue shelling of Syrias Aleppo, according to the bulletin. The efforts of the US-coalition to change the tide of war on Daesh are so unimpressive to Iraqis that it summons beliefs that the US fights Daesh with one hand and support it with another. Many view the coalition's true intentions as "destabilizing" Iraq, providing a constant level of chaos for both oil resources control and constant demand on weapons shipment. And now the US struggles to convince Iraqis they are the good guys. According to US Army Colonel Steve Warren, the coalition spokesman, "The Iranians have something to say every day, the Russian have something to say every day, ISIL has something to say every single day, so we need to make sure that this coalition and this Iraqi government is also saying something every day." In their search for something to say every day, the coalition information fighters resorted to claims that US oil interests in Iraq are "rumors" and "conspiracy theory". Instead, they measure their involvement in money, with $7 billion being the number of expenditures for the operation since 2014. While this number can be impressive, there is little information about how effective these expenditures turned out, as it is very important to choose the right weapon against such an elusive enemy as Daesh (or any other militant group). There are numbers of pitiful examples when poor choice of weapons cost states dear, both in human losses and money. Now the US must fight not only the belligerents out in the desert, they also have to spend time, money and efforts to fight bad reputation and rumors they didn't exactly strived to prevent in the first place. BRUSSELS (Sputnik) The Friends of Syria format is a group of countries and international organizations that convene to discuss the topic of Syrian crisis outside the UN Security Council. France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, the HNC, the Arab League, the European Union, the United Nations are among the members of the group. "The High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini will participate at the meeting of Friends of Syria on ministerial level in Paris, also in presence of the Syrian opposition representative, Riyad Hijab. The meeting will aim at supporting the Geneva process and preparing for the next round of intra-Syrian talks in order for parties in conflict to reach an agreement for a political transition in Syria," the statement read. Earlier in the day, Nazarbayev arrived in Moscow to attend the Victory Parade to be held on the following day. "Without doubt, this is a sign of our special, allied relations, it is very pleasant for us, we want to thank you for this. Your gesture will strengthen our trust and create good conditions for further development of our friendly relations," Putin said at a meeting with his Kazakh counterpart. MOSCOW (Sputnik) An unidentified gunman has shot and killed five people in a village in the east of Moscow region, a source in the region's emergencies services told RIA Novosti on Sunday. "There has been an attack on a group of bikers, five people were killed. The attacker was armed with a Saiga hunting carbine, [law enforcement] is now looking for him," the source said. According to the emergency services, a search warrant for a male of about 30 years old, who might still be armed, has been issued by the competent authorities. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Early on Sunday, a person armed with a Saiga semi-automatic rifle shot and killed five people in a village in the east of Moscow region. "Officers of the Moscow region police have found out the location of a suspect in the murder of five bikers, he has been detained," the source said, adding that the suspect has been identified as 27-year-old local resident Ilya Aseev. According to the investigative committee, Aseev has disclosed all the circumstances of the incident. Details have not been made public by the investigators so far. Pennsylvania has been making more than $157 million by selling drivers license records to private companies and government agencies since 2010, according to an investigative report by NBC10. The report indicates PennDOT sold personal information and drivers records to customers in every state in the US. The more than 32,000 recipients include car dealerships, insurance companies, and credit agencies. The merchandise includes names, addresses and driver histories. "It doesnt belong to whoever runs PennDOT. That information is mine, Pennsylvania driver Albert Lopez told NBC10. "I started preparing this event about three weeks ago through the Facebook page. We did not expect that so many people will join us. And I am so happy that so many have come with their children, parents and grandparents. This is a uniting event," Hill said. Most people were holding the portraits of their relatives who participated in the WWII. Yevgeniy Nosov and his wife Mrs. Nosova were carrying the photographs of Mrs. Nosova's parents held Leningrad's defense during the blockade. "My mom and I survived, but my father was heavily wounded and died from the injuries," she told Sputnik. "It is so important for us that we were allowed to honor our parents today here in Washington." Sergei Kurbassky held the photo of his father. "I wanted to walk with him today, and showed people that my father was fighting in that war," Kurbassky told Sputnik. "They took me sometimes in a car and sometimes on foot and said, Tell us who is al-Shabab'," on boy said. "It's scary because you know everyone can see you working with them." The children were used on other missions to collect intelligence and sometimes told to wear NISA uniforms. According to the boys, they were threatened if they refused to cooperate, and their parents didn't know where they were. "Maybe they thought because we were young we would be easier to manipulate," said one 15-year-old boy who goes under nickname Yariso ("Shorty"). Several boys were killed. One tried to hang himself while in custody. According to several current and former US officials, the US government for years has supported The Somali agency in terms of funding and training, although its use of child informants goes in violation with the international law. CHISINAU (Sputnik)US military personnel and equipment involved in military exercises in Moldova have been stationed at the central square of Chisinau on Sunday to take part in commemorative events honoring the memory of World War II victims. The event is scheduled to start at 10:00 a. m. local time (07:00 GMT). "Military equipment has arrived in Chisinau this morning. Five units of US military equipment and 12 [units of] the Moldovan National Army [equipment] are at the central square," the Defense Ministrys spokeswoman told RIA Novosti. By the middle of the century, during the warmest periods, temperatures will not fall below 30 degrees at night, and during the daytime could rise to 46 degrees Celsius (approximately 114 degrees Fahrenheit). By the end of the century, midday temperatures on hot days could even climb to 50 degrees Celsius (approximately 122 degrees Fahrenheit). And heat waves could occur ten times more often and last for much longer than they do now. Between 1986 and 2005, it was very hot for an average period of about 16 days, by mid-century it will be unusually hot for 80 days per year. At the end of the century, up to 118 days could be unusually hot. Climate change will significantly worsen the living conditions in the Middle East and in North Africa. Prolonged heat waves and desert dust storms can render some regions uninhabitable, which will surely contribute to the pressure to migrate, says Jos Lelieveld. The team also found that desert dust in the atmosphere over Saudi Arabia, Iraq and in Syria has increased by up to 70 percent since the beginning of this century. The researchers mainly attribute it to an increase of sand storms as a result of prolonged droughts. It is expected that climate change will contribute to further increases, which will worsen environmental conditions in the area. BEIRUT (Sputnik) The "Immortal Regiment" march honoring victory over Nazism in World War II has brought together on Sunday some 200 members of the Russian diaspora in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, the spokeswoman of the Russian cultural center in Lebanon said. "This is the second time that the 'Immortal Regiment' is taking place in Lebanon. The campaign began at a church at 10:30 [07:00 GMT] after a memorial service. The procession then went from the church to the cultural center, after which childrens play 'The bitter memory of war' took place," Svetlana Safa told RIA Novosti. The "Immortal Regiment" is a patriotic initiative that commemorates WWII soldiers in marches held across Russia and other countries in early May. During the marches, people carry photographs of their ancestors who participated in the war. Some 12 million people have participated in the 2015 Immortal Regiment march throughout Russia. ALMATY (Sputnik) Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev arrived in Moscow on Sunday to attend the Victory Parade to be held on the following day, his press service said. "Nursultan Nazarbayev arrived in Moscow to attend the military parade on the occasion of the 71st anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War," the statement read. Nazarbayev will also meet Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit. America may seem strong regarding its military capability in the region, but for some reason local leaders are becoming frequent visitors in Moscow, not Washington DC, Ross wrote in a piece for Politico. The diplomat noted that the Arabs as well as Israelis gave up on Obama because of his indecisiveness. "Because perceptions matter more than mere power: The Russians are seen as willing to use power to affect the balance of power in the region, and we are not," he explained. According to Ross, the problem lies in Barack Obama's different approach and view on the situation. He believes that the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan influenced Obama's reluctance to apply force unless his country is directly threatened. It explains why the US president is justifying preemptive action against terrorists and why he thinks Moscow will lose as a result of its military operation in Syria. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Around $1.3 trillion have been funnelled from Russia by the end of 2014, US research cited by British media claimed on Sunday. "All of these felons and kleptocrats are, in a way, essentially dependent on the rule of law when it comes to protecting their money," James Henry, author of the research carried out for the Tax Justice Network, told The Guardian daily. The figures, compiled and cross-checked from IMF and UN data over 18 months, are part of findings that over $12 trillion have been siphoned out of emerging economies that include China, Nigeria, Angola, as well as Brazil and Argentina. Balinska Hanover returned to her winning ways after recovering from sickness and dominated the elimination round for the Bev Sears Stakes at Century Downs on Saturday afternoon (May 7). Balinska Hanover powered out to the lead from post four in the first of two $6,000 eliminations for three and four-year-old pacing mares and she never looked back. The 1-5 favourite cruised through panels of :27.3, :57.3 and 1:25.3 en route to a career-best victory in 1:55.3. Monstrous tried to reel in the race leader during the final quarter as she closed from mid-pack, but was still three and three-quarter lengths away at the wire. You Name It finished third, with pocket-sitter Credit The Shark and Apple Blossom Time earning the final paycheques. Travis Cullen drove the four-year-old Somebeachsomewhere mare for brother-in-law Ed Hensley, who is currently recovering from broken ribs that he sustained in a a racing accident two weeks ago. The Ashleigh Hensley trainee was purchased at the Ohio sale last December for $19,000 with this stakes event on her radar. She has now won six of her seven starts since, with her only loss -- a sixth-place finish last week in a conditioned event -- attributed to a throat infection. The Cullen-Hensley combination went on to sweep the eliminations with P L Impressive taking the second division. The four-year-old daughter of Sportswriter fought to clear Mozelle Hanover by the quarter in :27.3 and proceeded to carve out middle splits of :58.2 and 1:26.2 on the way to the one-length victory in 1:56.2. Cenalta Artistry maneuvered out in the lane and finished second, just ahead of Mozelle Hanover. Yellow Mustang went first over with Hanalei Bay following her cover and they finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Miss Hoozzitz staged a big move on the final turn rallying wide from last into second-place, but broke stride and took herself out of contention. A pair of driver objections involving the third through fifth-place finishers during the commotion were both disallowed by the judges. The win for P L Impressive, the 2-1 favourite, was her second in 16 starts this year. The $30,000 final of the Bev Sears, which is for fillies and mares that are non-winners of $35,000 lifetime as of December 31, 2015, is scheduled for next Saturday, May 14. Prior to the eliminations in the third race, a minor accident occurred involving One Tuff Cowboy, who jumped off stride leaving the gate and dumped his driver Jamie Gray. One Tuff Cowboy, who caused interference to Avonlee Knight, just to his outside, and Cenalta Eclipse, ran loose before being corralled by the track's outrider. Gray did return to action in the following race. To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Century Downs. Reddam Racing LLCs Nyquist added yet another major triumph to his spotless resume in capturing the 142nd running of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, May 7 under the Twin Spires at Churchill Downs. Trained by Doug ONeill and ridden by Mario Guiterrez, the bay son of Uncle Mo attended the early pace set by Danzing Candy, who was also tracked by Gun Runner to his outside. Those three headed into the final turn together, but Danzing Candy faded as Nyquist and Gun Runner continued their battle in the lane. Gun Runner proved no match for Nyquist, who drew off only to have Exaggerator whittle away at his final margin in the shadow of the wire. Nonetheless, the 2-1 favourite was a comfortable winner while finishing 1-1/4 miles over the fast main track in 2:01.31. Nyquist paid $6.60 as the 2-1 favourite in the Run for the Roses. Exaggerator got the best of Gun Runner, who in turn was on top of a blanket finish that included Mohaymen in fourth and Suddenbreakingnews in fifth. Nyquist is now a perfect eight-for-eight in his career, with seven of those wins coming in graded events. Amongst those were the Breeders Cup Juvenile (G1), Florida Derby (G1), FrontRunner (G1) and Del Mar Futurity (G1). The Breeders Cup Juvenile victory and his unbeaten mark saw Nyquist honoured with an Eclipse Award as the 2015 champion two-year-old male. The Kentucky-bred colt is the first registered foal out of the Forestry mare Seeking Gabrielle and comes from the same female family as Grade 1 victors Sahara Sky and Bachelor Beau. Nyquist is now the eighth undefeated Derby winner in the race's history. His connections also won the 2012 first Triple Crown leg with I'll Have Another. (With files from Kentucky Derby) Pink Pistol rocketed through the lane to pull off a 10-1 upset in the fastest division of Saturdays $161,047 Pennsylvania Sires Stakes for three-year-old filly trotters at The Meadows. The event, known as the Stenographer, was contested over three divisions, with Ginny Weasley (13-1) and Spicedbourbongirl (9-1) completing the longshot parade in the PASS opener. Jeff Gregory enjoyed a stakes double behind Pink Pistol and Spicedbourbongirl. Pink Pistol hadnt raced in a month, as Rob Harmon, who trains the daughter of Cantab Hall-August Revenue for Harmon Racing Stable, Knightstalker Stable and Lynne Mondrick, gave her an extended break to help cure her gaiting problems. She needed to go home and not ship so much, Harmon said. She has a little tying-up issue, and shipping is not her best thing. Shell stay right here in the sires stakes. Shes eligible for a couple in Canada, but she has to show us that shes back to herself before we start going up there. In the Stenographer, she got away third, saved ground and brushed through the stretch to triumph in 1:55, one and a half lengths better than Sunset Glider, with Candy Lane third. It was the fifth win for Pink Pistol in eight lifetime outings. Ginny Weasley never had won a stake, but Lucas Wallin nevertheless used her twice once for early position from post eight, once to pursue the leader second over. She avoided the breaking Moots out of the final turn and scored in 1:55.1, a career-best clocking. Miss Tezsla was second, one and a half lengths back, while Black Broadway earned show. She showed a lot of speed last year, and I won at the Meadowlands with her earlier this year, Wallin said. So we told the owner to give her a little break and aim for the stakes races. The trip went great today, but she won pretty easy. Ake Svanstedt trains the daughter of Andover Hall-Donepunk for Torp Trotting, Inc. Spicedbourbongirl also collected her first stakes victory when she zipped past the 1-5 favourite, Womans Will, in the lane and prevailed in 1:55.4 for owner William B. Weaver III. Womans Will saved place, half a length in arrears, while Kathy Parker completed the ticket. She won pretty handy at Pocono in an overnight, so we thought we might as well give her a shot against the better girls, said Gregory, who also conditions the daughter of Cantab Hall-All In The Muscles. It was only her second start of the year, so I didnt want to abuse her. I was hoping I could get lucky and save some ground. Saturdays card also featured a $60,000 PA Stallion Series stake for sophomore filly trotters yet another showcase for Goodtogo Hanover, who won her seventh consecutive race. Witnesstheprincess and Shelovesumore also took $20,000 splits. As Goodtogo Hanover zipped to the top from post seven, driver Brian Zendt, noticed an unusual problem. A GoPro camera attached to her sulky to capture live images had loosened and flipped. The images transmitted may have been upside down, but the daughter of Explosive Matter-Grammy Hall stayed atop her game, winning in 1:56.2. I dont know if it [the GoPro] bothered her, but it was rubbing her, Zendt said. She was a little extra hot today. I thought she was a little quieter last time. I didnt plan on being at the quarter in :27.2, but as you could see, I was a passenger. Keystone Taylor finished three and a quarter lengths back in second, with Best Of Dreams third. Bill Zendt trains Goodtogo Hanover and owns with Gary Saul. Witnesstheprincess rebounded from a pair of break-marred outings to collect a front-end victory for Aaron Merriman and trainer Chris Beaver, who owns the daughter of Andover Hall-Mystical Moonlight with Synerco Ventures and Michael Robinson. Mystical Power earned place, three and a quarter lengths back, while Glidinthruparadise finished third. She had a couple good starts here earlier this year, but we had some issues with her shoeing and her feet, Merriman said. She wasnt getting over the track. Chris made some adjustments and thought she would be better. She really showed it today. Shelovesumore emerged from several months of vexing medical issues to rally for a half-length victory at 20-1 over Summer Moonshine in 1:57.1. Explosive High finished third. Tony Hall drove for trainer Sharon Donella, who owns the homebred daughter of War Paint-Wasador with Kathleen Quinn-Hodel. Its been a torturous three months, Donella said. She had some problems with her cycle. Then she got a real bad sinus infection. We finally got the hormones worked out, the sinuses cleared up, and we got us a horse. In the $22,500 Winners Over 10,000 Life/Preferred Handicap Pace, Unlocked powered to a front-end victory in 1:49, fastest ever at The Meadows by an older pacer. Fred And Ginger held the previous mark of 1:49.2. Jim Pantaleano piloted the five-year-old son of Duneside Perch-Miss Major Power, who boosted his career bankroll to $417,244, for trainer Norm Parker and owner Megan Rogers Racing Stables. (The Meadows) Considering the devastating fire that claimed the lives of 43 horses earlier this year at Classy Lane Training Centre, the fact that trotting mare Elegant Serenity is set to return for her four-year-old season is tinged with divine intervention. There is an abundance of talent and horsepower in the bulging 79-member Stable That God Loves, and multiple stakes winner Elegant Serenity is one of its rising starlets who is getting ready for her return to the races. The royally-bred, four-year-old daughter of Kadabra out of the superbly talented Elegantimage, Elegant Serenity graced the winner's circle in six of her dozen trips postward in 2015, and earned a pair of seconds and thirds, for a whopping $425,652 in earnings making her the top money-earner of her division in Canada. She will face tough assignments in this years campaign against some of the best aged trotting distaffers on the continent. Elegant Serenity is owned by her breeder, Woodstock, Ont. horseman Doug Millard, who longtime friend and horseman Harry Rutherford describes as a special kind of guy, who is no stranger to helping horsemen down on their luck. Following impressive stakes victories in last years Casual Breeze and Simcoe Stakes at Mohawk Racetrack where she took a mark of 1:53.2, Elegant Serenity displayed her toughness strutting to victory lane in an Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Series division, staving off rivals and stopping the clock in 1:55 for a half-length tally. She is a special kind of trotting mare, and one that any trainer would love to have in his stable. Each time she heads postward, she brings home an average of $35,471. She is so easy to work with and she knows how to win, said her trainer/driver Roger Mayotte. Following the Breeders Crown on October 24, 2015, Millard decided to send her to Floridas Gilcrest Training Centre, where she was turned out for two months before being put back into training by Sandra Burns. If she had been left with veteran horseman Roger Mayotte at the Classy Lane Training Centre, she could have been destroyed in the disastrous fire that claimed the lives of 43 horses on January 4, 2016. Elegant Serenity is now back at the Classy Lane Training Centre and in training with Mayotte. Apart from Elegant Serenitys natural gait, gameness and natural ability on the trot, it was Mayotte who brought her along and developed her good manners and adaptability on the racetrack since the very first day he sat behind her as a two-year-old, and liked what he saw. She is the best trotting filly that I have trained, said Mayotte. A horses four-year-old year is often difficult racing against older campaigners, but Mayotte feels that Elegant Serenity will continue to mature and grow stronger as the year plays out, and she will tell him when she is ready for maximum effort. She is entered to qualify on Monday at Mohawk Racetrack. Elegant Serenitys dam, 22-year-old Elegantimage, was bred last year but did not catch, according to Millard. As a member of the Stable That God Loves, one per cent of Elegant Serenitys 2015 purse earnings will be donated to support the excellent work of the Standardbred Racetrack Chaplaincy of Canada, a non-denominational, non-profit charity dedicated to providing for the emotional, physical, spiritual and human needs of the horse racing workforce in southwestern Ontario. Stalls are always available in the Stable That God Loves. Every trotter, pacer, Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse is welcome and guaranteed a stall. Please send requests for stall space to Ken Middleton at [email protected] or Norm Clements at [email protected]. For regular up-to-date postings on the Stable That God Loves, follow along on Facebook and on Twitter @StableGodLoves. (with files from the Stable That God Loves) Pocketed Outrageous Art (Jason Bartlett, $29) and two-move Luminosity (George Brennan, $7.90) shared the Saturday Derby Night glory, winning Yonkers Raceways co-featured $40,000 Open Handicaps. The weeks marquee pace was a two-speed number, with 6-5 favourite Atta Boy Dan (Brennan) and Outrageous Art leaving from post position Nos. 5 and 4 (each in one after an inside scratch), respectively. The peoples preference led through intervals of :28, :56.4 and 1:24.3, negating a second move from outside assignee Lucan Hanover (Brian Sears). Atta Boy Dan owned a length and a half lead into the lane, with Outrageous Art ducking inside. The double-digit number picked off the favourite, winning by a half-length in a seasons-best 1:52.1. Stolen Car (Tyler Buter), Jeneral Patton (Pat Lachance) and Texican N (Jordan Stratton) completed the cashers. For fifth choice Outrageous Art, a nine-year-old son of Art Major trained by Rene Allard and owned by Allard Racing and Ameer Najor, the win was his sixth in 13 career starts. The exacta paid $83, the triple returned $619 and the superfecta paid $1,923. The weeks trotting feature saw Luminosity get thrown in play early and that tact served him well. From post No. 7, he wedged into a three-hole behind Somebody AS (Stratton) and Monroe County (Bartlett). The former put up early weigh stations of :27.2 of :56.3, while Luminosity was planning his next move. That one engaged the leader through a 1:25.2 three-quarters before wearing him down off the final turn. Luminosity then finished it off, defeating a second-up Major Athens (Sears)the slight 2-1 choiceby two and a quarter lengths in 1:54.1 Homicide Hunter (Mark MacDonald) was an uncovered third in his four-year-old/local/half-mile track debut, while Monroe County and Newcastle (Buter) settled for the remainder. For Luminosity, a six-year-old Cash Hall gelding co-owned by trainer Ron Burke (as Burke Racing) and Weaver Bruscemi, hes now three-for-eight this season. The exacta paid $25.80, with the triple returning $132. Yonkers Raceways Kentucky Derby party featured all the obligatory ingredients, including music, food and drink specials, the occasional wager or two and, of course, the spiffy hat contest. The celebrity judge for said contest was none other than Bethenny Frankel, who brought out the crowd for pictures, autographs, andnot coincidentallyautographed pictures. Ms. Frankels visit would not have been complete, it says here, without a photo op with one of Yonkers own, Jordan Stratton. The man who chauffeured Bit Of A Legend N to his victory in the last months final of the George Morton Levy Memorial Pacing Series made his way to the winners circle again for this money shot. Were going with Real Housewife of New York Greets Real Harness Driver of Yonkers. (With files from Yonkers Raceway) hidden As one would-be father of bitcoin falls by the wayside, squabbling among the web-based currency's lead developers is exposing a fundamental flaw: it must evolve to meet growing demand, but may lack a governance structure to achieve this. The latest bickering erupted after Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright promised to prove he was the mysterious creator of bitcoin - which allows users to move money across the world quickly and anonymously - but then said on Thursday he could not provide further evidence to back this up. Wright stopped short of reneging on his claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto, assumed to be a pseudonym for the person or people who launched the digital cryptocurrency in 2009. However, he apologised for damaging the reputations of bitcoin experts who had believed him. Many members of the bitcoin community reckon this is all a distraction and agree with Wright when he said that the identity of Nakamoto "doesn't, and shouldn't, matter". "Satoshi's biggest achievement was to create a system that doesn't require his participation to run," said Peter Todd, one of bitcoin's core software developers. "That's what makes all this stuff kind of funny. It's like searching for the creator of a system that's designed not to require a creator." While grey-suited central bankers print conventional currencies and commercial banks control transactions in them, no one person or entity is in charge of bitcoin. Instead it runs on a decentralised system of shared trust without any third-party verification of transactions - one reason why many people are attracted to it. Critics, however, say it needs a "benevolent dictator" or at least some "adults" to manage the expansion that it needs to cope with the increasing number of transactions. Someone, or some group, must decide how to meet users' requirements, they say. Trades are handled by thousands of "mining" computers around the world which validate blocks of transactions by competing to solve mathematical puzzles every 10 minutes. The first computer to solve the puzzle clears the transaction and is currently rewarded with 25 new bitcoins, now worth around $11,250.. This is how the computers' owners cover their costs - largely power bills - and make a profit. The system also ensures there is no single point in the system that might fail. CIVIL WAR In practice, there do appear to be people who can make decisions, but it is also possible to be excluded from this magic circle. One of the bitcoin experts who initially believed Wright's claim is Gavin Andresen. Nakamoto handed control of bitcoin's software to Andresen when he stepped aside in 2011, a transfer that kept the creator's identity a mystery as it was conducted in cyberspace without human contact. Andresen later shared that control with others. But when he stated publicly he believed Wright, sceptical developers responded by revoking his "commit access" to a shared repository of bitcoin rules. Initially, these developers justified their move on security grounds, saying his computer must have been hacked - something Andresen denied. When Reuters asked Todd whether Andresen's access would be reinstated, he responded: "Heck no", saying a belief in Wright amounted to "inexcusable incompetence". Andresen admitted to bewilderment over whether he still believed Wright's claims. "Ask me in six months; I don't trust my own judgement right now after all the drama," he said on Twitter. The squabbling is not new. One of the lead developers, Mike Hearn, stood down from bitcoin in January because of a power struggle nicknamed the "bitcoin civil war". Hearn and Andresen had proposed increasing the size of the blocks in which transactions are processed but the other developers opposed this. In quitting, Hearn said that "what was meant to be a new, decentralised form of money that lacked systemically important institutions" had now become "a system completely controlled by just a handful of people". Many investors and start-up firms remain optimistic about bitcoin and are making money from it. But Emin Gun Sirer, a computer science professor at Cornell University, said the appearance of internal conflict was undermining it. "For bitcoin to retain its value, it's important to have hope that there's good management in charge, that there are adults in charge," Sirer said. "When we see opportunistic moves, that's a problem." BENEVOLENT DICTATORS But Sirer also said that any open-source project such as bitcoin, which runs using software that anyone can access, change, and distribute, faces the challenge of governance. "Is it a pipe dream to expect to be able to build a currency system that is completely decentralized and free of any control whatsoever? The short answer to that is yes, but that's not what anyone should have expected anyway," he said. Sirer added that he was concerned that his brightest young students at Cornell were being deterred from getting involved with bitcoin because of the in-fighting and the appearance that developers were unable to agree on change. One other digital currency system which is attracting bright young minds is Ethereum, created in 2013 by Russian-Canadian Vitalik Buterin when he was just 19. It works with the "benevolent dictator model", as Sirer calls it, with Buterin holding the decision-making power. "Over the last couple of years it's become apparent that having a static protocol is just not a viable approach," Buterin told the Consensus bitcoin conference in New York earlier in the week. "Software has to evolve ... and there has to be some mechanism for agreeing on how software is going to upgrade." Most, however, reckon that even if Nakamoto were to be found, the other developers - many of whom have written more code than he ever did in the seven years since bitcoin was launched - would not accept his having ultimate power. "(Nakamoto) would be thanked for creating this amazing thing, but if there comes a time when there's a technical debate over whether we should go one way or the other, his opinions would only be persuasive, not controlling," said Jerry Brito, executive director of bitcoin advocacy group Coin Center. Reuters tech2 News Staff Facebook Inc lost the first round in a court fight against some of its users who sued the social networking company, alleging it "unlawfully" collected and stored users' biometric data derived from their faces in photographs. The judge presiding over the case in a California federal court on Thursday turned down Facebook's motion seeking dismissal of the suit. Facebook filed the motion arguing that the users could not file a complaint under Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) as they had agreed in their user agreement that California law would govern their disputes with the company, and that BIPA does not apply to "tag suggestions." The court found that Illinois law applies and that the plaintiffs have stated a claim under BIPA. The complainants had alleged that Facebook's face recognition feature that suggests "tags" on photos unlawfully collected and stored biometric data, in violation of the Illinois BIPA. The case was filed by some Illinois residents under Illinois law, but the parties agreed to transfer the case to the California court, the court order showed. Facebook was also hit with a lawsuit over its plan to issue new stock last month. The company said in April it will create a new class of non-voting shares in a move aimed at letting Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg give away his wealth without relinquishing control of the social media juggernaut he founded. Facebook was not immediately available for comment. Reuters tech2 News Staff It is Mother's Day today and technology companies have come out with interesting ways to celebrate the day. Google as usual has a doodle out which shows what looks like either sand on a beach or the welcome mat outside your house with two pairs of shoes representing the bond between mother and child. Facebook, in a bid to celebrate Mothers Day with women across the globe, has introduced a special feature to help its users send floral decorated greetings to their mothers via Messenger, the social networking giant recently announced. For a short time (May 7-May 9), youll see a new purple flower icon in Messenger. Tap on the flower to decorate your messages text, photos, GIFs and more with colourful blooms. The person youre sending the message to will see the flowers on their end, too, the statament said. Hike Messenger has launched a 'microapp' for users to celebrate Mother's Day. "This Mother's Day, hike wishes all the mothers and enables hikers to show their love for their moms," hike said in a statement on Saturday. The company will share the "microapp" with its 100 million users. With this, hikers can add an image, edit quotes or simply add a message as a token of love to their mothers. In addition, they can also post customised e-cards and stickers on their timeline or share amongst friends, not only on hike but also on other platforms. The special feature will be live for two days, the company said. Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May. This celebration started off in 1908 in the United States and is celebrated to honour motherhood. With inputs from IANS tech2 News Staff Apple has named company executive Sanjay Kaul, according to at least two people familiar with the matter, says a report in The Economic Times. There has been no response from Apple regarding the same according to the paper. Apple, which along with Lenovo, emerged as the fastest growing smartphone vendor in India - with a 56 percent jump in smartphone shipments, is certainly looking at India much more seriously now. This also comes at a time when Tim Cook himself has expressed the fact that he sees huge potential in India. Sanjay Kaul who is currently the country sales director will take over as the India head after Apple's current India head Maneesh Dhir will quit the company for other opportunities. Kaul has been associated with Apple since 2011 when he was tasked with the responsibility of heading Apple's iPhone business in India. Before Apple, Kaul worked for three years at BlackBerry where he headed the company's sales channels. According to ET, Apple is generating close to $1.3 billion in revenues from India. Though in eighth place overall in terms of smartphone sales, Apple continued to climb in India, increasing shipments by 56 percent to make it the second fastest-growing vendor in the top 10, despite the fact that global iPhone sales took a hit this quarter. "Apple is outperforming the overall market in India, and still has great growth potential," said Canalys Mobility Analyst Wilmer Ang. It is seriously challenging Samsungs dominance of the premium segment. For devices priced over $300 (Rs 20,000), Samsungs market share fell from 66 percent in Q1 2015 to 41 percent in Q1 2016, while Apple grew its market share from 11 percent to 29 percent. Successive price cuts to the iPhone 5s made it the most popular Apple device on the market, despite its smaller screen and outdated hardware. hidden In fresh sparring among telecom players, major differences have emerged in the industry over the government's proposal to impose uniform annual spectrum charges at reduced rate of 4.5 per cent on all players over revenue earned by them from telephony services. While industry body COAI has cited a study showing reducing SUC by 1 per cent can increase GDP by about Rs 1.76 lakh crore, another telcos lobby AUSPI has cited loss of about Rs 1.65 lakh crore to national exchequer if government meets the former's demand. COAI, which represents operators like Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, has written to Telecom Secretary J S Deepak demanding uniform spectrum usage charge on all companies, but at 3 per cent level. It has said that one of its members, Reliance Jio Infocomm, has differed on its view. "It is submitted that except for one of the Telecom Service Providers, the entire industry strongly believes that a uniform fee would not only result in a level playing field but will also remove the ambiguities, arbitrages and their misuse," COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews said in the letter dated May 4. Reliance Jio did not comment on the latest move of COAI but earlier it had opposed uniform SUC on telecom operators as demanded by the industry body. Opposing the COAI's demand, AUSPI, which represents Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices, said, "The proposal of ex post-facto reduction in SUC rate (at 3 per cent) is not only against the principle of transparency and level playing field, but benefiting only few operators acquired large quantum of spectrum in previous auctions." "Proposal of government to have flat rate of SUC for all type of spectrum will lead to a loss of more than Rs 1.65 lakh crore to the government over a period of 20 years and gain to a handful of incumbent operators who have been holding a large amount of spectrum acquired administratively," AUSPI General Secretary Ashok Sud said in a letter to Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Deepak. COAI has cited a study by Deloitte which says beside increasing GDP, reducing SUC by 1 per cent can reduce number of people below poverty line by 4.7 per cent. The present level of SUC collection by government is around 4.69 per cent of revenues earned by companies from mobile phone services. Telecom regulator Trai has recommended SUC at uniform rate of 3 per cent across the industry and gradually bring it to 1 per cent. SUC was earlier linked to quantum of spectrum held by an operator and varied between 3-8 per cent of adjusted gross revenue. Telecom operators in January 2014 were asked to pay the weighted average of their existing SUC (on old rate of 3-8 per cent), and 5 per cent if they acquire new spectrum. Telecom operators provide mobile services using various spectrum bands -- 800 Mhz (2G,4G), 900 Mhz (2G,3G,4G), 1800 Mhz (2G,4G), 2100 Mhz (3G), 2300 Mhz (4G) and 2500 Mhz (4G). According to a source, technical committee at Department of Telecom has suggested levying 4.5 per cent uniform SUC on all operators as it is not possible to ensure their earning from any particular spectrum band for service like 4G. Trai recommended SUC at uniform rate of 3 per cent across the industry and gradually bring it to 1 per cent. "As per the GSMA report, even at 1 per cent AGR, tax neutrality will be achieved by 2017," COAI said. AUSPI alleged that recommendations of Trai on SUC in September 2013 were given suo-moto just to benefit few incumbent operators. Inter-ministerial panel Telecom Commission (TC) has decided to take legal opinion on the issue and discuss it along with the technical committee report in the next meeting. Reduction in SUC by 1 per cent can lead to increase in economy wide investments of about Rs 58,000 crore, tax revenues by Rs 28,000 crore, 3G penetration by 2.3 crore connections and mobile revenues next of tax by Rs 14,600 crore, COAI said citing the Deloitte report. Reliance Jio has contested this view as it pays only 1 per cent SUC on its spectrum in 2,300 Mhz band and proposal to levy 3 per cent fee would put extra burden on the company. However, Bharti Airtel, also holding spectrum in 2,300 Mhz band, favours uniform levy, according to COAI submission. PTI Disclaimer: Jio is owned by Reliance Industries, who also own Network18, the publisher of Firstpost and tech2 Petition filed seeking stay on HC verdict over 16th amendment Dhaka, May 8 (UNB) - The government on Sunday filed a petition to the Supreme Court, seeking a stay on the High Curt order that had declared the 16th constitutional amendment illegal and contradictory to the constitution. Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said the state filed the petition to the bench concerned of the Supreme Court. The Chamber Judge court of the Appellate Division will hear the petition on Monday. On May 5, the High Court declared the 16th amendment to the Constitution establishing parliament's power to remove Supreme Court judges illegal and contradictory to the national charter. A three-member special HC bench, headed by Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury, passed the order following a writ petition. In its order, the court said the amendment is contrary to the provisions enshrined in the Constitution for the freedom of the judiciary. It said the provision to remove judges by parliament is an accident in the history although the law exists in several countries of the world. In most of the Commonwealth countries, judges are not removed by parliaments. Noting that parliament members cannot go against the party decision as per the section 70 of the Constitution and they have to vote in favour of the party even if they do not approve of the matter, the court said judges will have to wait for MPs' mercy if the 16th amendment remains in force. Nine Supreme Court lawyers filed the writ petition with the High Court on November 5, 2014, praying to consider the 16th Amendment as illegal and unconstitutional. The petition also sought an order staying the operation of the 16th Amendment and also against enacting any law in a bid to remove the Supreme Court judges, as per this amendment, until disposal of the rule. The hearing on the rule began on May 21 last year. Four eminent lawyers -- Dr Kamal Hossain, Barrister M Amir-Ul Islam, Barrister Rokon Uddin Mahmud and Barrister Ajmalul Hossain QC -- made their depositions to the court as amici curiae. London`s new Muslim Mayor condemns `Trump-style` attacks Britain\'s incoming London Mayor Sadiq Khan attends his swearing-in ceremony at Southwark Cathedral in Cental London on Saturday. AFP, London :London's new Muslim mayor Sadiq Khan accused Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday of using "Donald Trump playbook" tactics to try to divide communities in a bid to prevent his election.The day after being sworn in with a promise to be "mayor for all Londoners", the Labour lawmaker condemned Cameron's Conservatives for trying to link him to Islamic extremists during the election campaign. "They used fear and innuendo to try to turn different ethnic and religious groups against each other - something straight out of the Donald Trump playbook," Khan wrote in The Observer newspaper. "Londoners deserved better and I hope it's something the Conservative party will never try to repeat." Khan won 57 per cent of the vote in Thursday's mayoral election, securing 1.3 million votes to see off multimillionaire Tory Zac Goldsmith and making history as the first Muslim mayor of a major Western capital.The 45-year-old, the son of a Pakistani immigrant bus driver, hailed his victory as a triumph of "unity over division" after weeks of Tory criticism over his past appearances at public events alongside radical Muslims.A number of Conservative politicians criticised the tone of the campaign, but Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said the questions raised had been legitimate.Khan had admitted representing some "pretty unsavoury characters" during his previous job as a human rights lawyer but said their views were "abhorrent"."Both candidates were asked questions about their backgrounds, their personalities, their judgement, the people they associate with," Fallon told BBC radio. "That's the nature of our democracy and the rough-and-tumble of politics." Khan broke from convention by taking his oath of office in a multi-faith ceremony at Southwark Cathedral, promising to represent "every single community, and every single part of our city, as mayor for all Londoners". Myanmar in bid to resuscitate sluggish property market Xinhua, Yangon : Myanmar Construction Entrepreneurs Association has called for efforts to resuscitate the sluggish property market, urging to convene a five-party meeting to resolve the issue. The five parties are to involve the government, the parliament, entrepreneurs, buyers and sellers. Currently, the cost of condominiums and purpose-built affordable housing is beyond the reach of low-income families who lack capital or do not meet the requirement for a housing loan. Myanmar's housing market reached its high water mark between 2011 and 2014 but is currently at almost a complete standstill despite recent legislation opening the rental and ownership market to foreign investment. Rental rates for condominium prices for foreigners have dropped 20 percent in Myanmar so far this year compared with last year as the number of apartments is increasing in the real estate market. The number of foreign tenants is also on decline, according to real estate circle. Previously, well-furnished 1,250-square-feet condominium cost about 1.8 million kyats (1,531 U.S. dollars), a drop from 3 million kyats last year and apartment rental rate for foreigners range from 1 million kyats to 2 million kyats per month, the average rate for houses is over 3,000 U.S. dollars. In accordance with the approved Condominium Law, beginning this year, foreigners have been allowed to purchase not over 40 percent of condominium apartments in Myanmar. BNP demands re-election in 12 UPs in Hathazari Chittagong Bureau : BNP Hathazari Upazila unit demanded re-election in 12 unions of Hathazari upazila for alleged vote dacoity by the ruling party cadres in favour of their nominees in the UP polls held on Saturday. Convenor of the Upazila BNP SM Fazlul Hoque disclosed it at a press conference at Chittagong Press Club yesterday. The press meet was told that rampant vote dacoity committed in all 12 unions of the upazila but in two unions viz. Burirchar and Chipatali unions, the ruling party cadres away following the resistance by the local voters. In these 2 unions, ruling party nominees were defeated . If the election is fair , BNP will sure win inall the unions, he added. The press meet also blamed the local administration for extending cooperation to the ruling party candidate for massi ve vote rigging. SM Fazlul Hoque in his written statement said the dwellers of theHathazari never seen election like this type of vote rigging, ballot hija. cking , andballot sealing outside the polling centres. He also blamed the ruling party cadres for their heinous acts before one week of the polling date with threat to torefrain from election campaign and threat of killing if they proceed for election. The press meet also blamed that the supporters of ruling party torn out the posters, banners of the opposition candidates, obstructed the election campaign in the locality. The press meet demanded fresh election in 12 unions again abrogating the election results.among others, member secretary of north district BNP unit Abdullah al Hasan, Engr. Belyet Hossain Conveor of Fatikchari BNP Sarwar Alamgir, hairman candidate HM Jasimuddin, Kamaluddin, Musa alam, Yousuf Khan, Golam Mostafa were present in the press meet, sources said. Polls in 28 UPs end: The fourth round of Union Parishad (UP) polls in 28 UPs under Hathazari and Raozan upazilas of the district ended amid stray incidents on Saturday. At least six persons were injured at Enayetpur primary school of Dholoy union of Hathazari UP during polling shortly after the end of the voting on Saturday. Supporters of two candidates tried to snatch ballot boxes, attacked at two centers of Enayetpur of Dholoy and five other centers of Hathazari UPs 2.30 pm, police said.The injured persons were admitted to local health complex. Local election commission postponed the election process of four voting centers of Hathazari upazila for irregularities.Election officials said the overall polls were held in a fair and peaceful manner. Talking to journalists, they claimed the voters cast their votes amidst enthusiasm and festivity excepting a few centers in Hathazari upazila. President for unity being imbued with Tagore's spirit President Md Abdul Hamid addressing a function on Biswa Kabi Rabindranath Tagore\'s 155th birth anniversary as Chief Guest at Osmany Smrity auditorium in the city yesterday. President Abdul Hamid has urged people from all walks of life to get united against exploitation, deprivation, conflicts, militancy and communalism being imbued with the spirit and ideal of great poet Rabindranath Tagore for building a happy and prosperous Bangladesh. "Rabindranath is the name of our pride; he is an eternal symbol of the existence of Bengalis. The meaning of taking lesson from Rabindranath is to make harmony with the nature and achieve self-emancipation rising above all sorts of prejudice and narrowness," the President said while addressing a programme organized by Cultural Affairs Ministry marking the 155th birth anniversary of Tagore here yesterday. "It is my prayer on this birth anniversary of Rabindranath: let rise good thinking and human value everywhere in the society," said President Hamid. "His thoughts about poverty alleviations, rural society, health and environment still inspire us. When the world has become a global village, the thoughts and philosophy of Rabindranath bear immense importance," he added. The President said democratic, economic and social justice and the dream of a human globalization irrespective of nation-religion-caste were at the root of the philosophy of Rabindranath and with the message of world peace he travelled to different parts of the world. His strong position against colonialism and fascism still inspires the people, he added. Abdul Hamid said Rabindranath had a very deep relation with the present Bangladesh. He came very close to the people of Shahjadpur of Sirajganj, Patisar of Naogaon and Shilaidah of Kushtia when he lived a part of his life in these places for the purpose of looking after Zamindari. The great poet had tried to free the people from poverty through taking various social initiatives, including introducing cooperatives and agriculture banking there which is very relevant even in the present days of development, he added. "Peace, unity and harmony are the inner message of the songs of Rabindranath. The people and the soil of this part of the world have been depicted very simply in his poems-stories-songs," he said, adding that Rabindranath imagined this country as "Golden Bengal" because of its beautiful nature and resources. "The lifelong desire and struggle of our great leader Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was to establish self-right of Bengali nation and we have been able to establish the "Golden Bengal" as was dreamt by Rabindranath under the leadership of Bangabandhu," the President added. He appreciated the government for taking special steps to preserve the places rich with the memories of Rabindranath Tagore. Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor presided over the programme while Professor Sanat Kumar Saha and Cultural Affairs Secretary Akhtari Momtaz addressed it, among others. Thousands of foreigners visit BD Embassy's 'Open House' programme Thousands of enthusiastic foreigners visited Bangladesh Embassy in Washington DC on Saturday, marking the day-long 'Open House' programme. The US Department of State proclaimed the event as International Cultural Awareness month in honour of Cultural Tourism DC's 'Passport DC' in May. Visitors from all over the USA and other countries joined the 'Open House' programme organised in collaboration with Cultural Tourism DC, a Washington-based nonprofit organisation. Bangladesh Ambassador to the USA Mohammad Ziauddin and all officers of the embassy welcomed the guests, said a media release on Sunday. The 'Open House' programme included display of Bangladesh's handicrafts, tourism destinations, historical places and cultural programmes. The Bangladesh Embassy availed of the opportunity of exhibiting Bangladesh's rich culture and heritage as well as Bangladesh's contributions to peacekeeping missions under the United Nations. Local artistes performed folk songs and dances. The visitors took keen interest in the display of a three wheeler 'Rickshaw', a popular mode of transport in Bangladesh while youngsters in henna demonstration. The visitors also enjoyed traditional Bangladeshi cuisine. More than 3,000 people visited the Embassy at the Open House programme, aimed at showcasing cultural diversity through holding of such events in liaison with the foreign embassies in Washington DC. As many as 50 embassies from Africa, Asia, Oceania, the Middle East, and the Americas participated in the program with artists and artisans, performers, lecturers, teachers, and others provide a range of educational and cultural programming. Participants enjoyed food, art, dance, fashion, and music of different countries. This was the ninth consecutive year that this cultural programme was organised at the Bangabandhu auditorium of the chancery building. Is globalization really fuelling populism? Daniel Gros : On both sides of the Atlantic, populism of the left and the right is on the rise. Its most visible standard-bearer in the United States is Donald Trump, the Republican Party's presumptive presidential nominee. In Europe, there are many strands - from Spain's leftist Podemos party to France's right-wing National Front - but all share the same opposition to centrist parties, and to the establishment in general. What accounts for voters' growing revolt against the status quo? The prevailing explanation is that rising populism amounts to a rebellion by "globalization's losers." By pursuing successive rounds of trade liberalization, the logic goes, leaders in the US and Europe "hollowed out" the domestic manufacturing base, reducing the availability of high-paying jobs for low-skill workers, who now have to choose between protracted unemployment and menial service-sector jobs. Fed up, those workers are now supposedly rejecting establishment parties for having spearheaded this "elite project." This explanation might seem compelling at first. It is true, after all, that globalization has fundamentally transformed economies, sending low-skill jobs to the developing world - a point that populist figures never tire of highlighting. Moreover, educational attainment correlates strongly with income and labor-market performance. Almost everywhere, those with a university degree are much less likely to be unemployed than those without a secondary education. In Europe, those with a graduate degree are, on average, three times as likely to have a job as those who have not finished secondary school. Among the employed, university-educated workers earn, on the whole, much higher incomes than their less-educated counterparts. But if these factors account for the rise of populism, they must have somehow intensified in the last few years, with low-skill workers' circumstances and prospects deteriorating faster vis-a-vis their high-skill counterparts. And that simply is not the case, especially in Europe. In fact, higher education has provided significant labor-market advantages for a long time. Judging from the available data, the "wage premium" for workers in occupations that require high levels of education has been roughly constant in Europe over the last decade. While it has increased in some countries (Germany and Italy), it has decreased in others (France, Spain, and the United Kingdom). The difference in employment rates of the highly educated and the less educated has also remained relatively constant, with the less educated actually closing the gap slightly in recent years. A comparison between trends in the US and Europe further weakens the "losers of globalization" argument. The wage premium is substantially larger in the US (300-400%) than in Europe (50-80%). Other labor-market statistics, such as unemployment rates, show a similar pattern, indicating that higher education is more valuable in America's labor market. Yet the US economy is less open to - and less affected by - trade than the European economy is. The final nail in the coffin of the globalization-based explanation for the rise of populism in Europe is the fact that the share of low-skill workers (who have not completed a secondary education) is declining rapidly. At the turn of the century, there were more than 50% more low-skill workers than university graduates. Today, university graduates nearly outnumber low-skill workers in the work force; following the prevailing logic, the share of voters supporting anti-globalization parties should be shrinking. A clear-cut economic explanation for a complicated political phenomenon is certainly appealing. But such explanations are rarely accurate. The rise of populism in Europe is no exception. Consider the situation in Austria. The economy is relatively strong, underpinned by one of Europe's lowest unemployment rates. Yet Norbert Hofer, the leader of the right-wing populist Freedom Party (FPO) managed to defeat his competitors from both of the centrist establishment parties in the first round of the presidential election last month. Hofer's main area of focus was immigration. The attraction to Hofer's anti-immigrant rhetoric is telling, and mirrors a broader pattern across northern Europe. Amid relative economic stability, rising real wages, and low unemployment rates, grievances about the economic impacts of economic globalization are simply not that powerful. Instead, right-wing populist parties like the FPO, Finland's True Finns, and Germany's Alternative fur Deutschland are embracing identity politics, playing on popular fears and frustrations - from "dangerous" immigration to the "loss of sovereignty" to the European Union - to fuel nationalist sentiment. In the southern European countries, however, the enduring impact of the euro crisis makes populist economic arguments far more powerful. That is why it is left-wing populist parties that are winning the most support there, with promises of, say, tax credits for low-paid workers. The most extreme case is Greece's leftist Syriza party, which rode to victory in last year's elections on pledges to end austerity. (Once in power, of course, Syriza had to change its tune and bring its plans in line with reality.) Calling the rise of populism in Europe a revolt by the losers of globalization is not just simplistic; it is misleading. If we are to stem the rise of potentially dangerous political forces in Europe, we need to understand what is really driving it - even if the explanation is more complex than we would like. (Daniel Gros is Director of the Brussels-based Center for European Policy Studies. He has worked for the International Monetary Fund, and served as an economic adviser to the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the French prime minister and finance minister). Courtesy: Project Syndicate Tagore's birth anniv observed UNB, Dhaka :The 155th birth anniversary of the most celebrated Bangla poet and polymath, Rabindranath Tagore, was celebrated on Sunday.What this literary and musical genius had offered to the world during his lifetime is still felt by millions of Bangla-speaking people. Kobi Guru Rabindranath who is accredited as one among the shapers of modern vernacular of Bangla issomething omnipresent through language. The government and different socio-cultural organisations observed the day with elaborate programmes. A colourful event was held at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital where President Abdul Hamid was present as the chief guest while Cultural Affairs Minister Assaduzzaman Noor presided over it. In his speech, the President urged all to get united being imbued with the spirit and ideal of great poet Rabindranath Tagore against militancy and communalism."I'm calling upon all the citizens to engage themselves in establishing a happy and prosperous Bangladesh standing together against all types of exploitation, deprivation, injustice, conflict, militancy and communalism being imbued with the spirit and ideal of Rabindranath," he said. This year, the theme of Tagore's birth anniversary was 'Aspects of Rabindranath in 21st century '. Tagore researcher Professor Sanat Kumar Saha delivered a memorial speech on the theme at the event. A cultural programme was also held after discussion on the life and works of the Nobel Laureate poet. Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA) organised a programme focusing on the folk related works of Tagore and an exhibition of his paintings was also arranged.Various programmes were also held at Shilaidah in Kushtia, Patisar in Naogaon and South Dighi in Khulna, the three districts that harbour the memories of Rabindranath Tagore. The district administration of Kushtia celebrated the first day of the three-day programme, marking the birth anniversary of the magical poet, with much enthusiasm. Local administrations across the country arranged various programmes on the occasion.The Cultural Affairs Ministry and Bangla Academy published a commemorative booklet and posters marking Tagore's 155th birth anniversary. Dhaka University also observed the day with due respect to the great poet of Bengali literature, while Bangla Academy held a discussion meeting and cultural programme on its premises.Tagore, also known as Bhanusimha Thakur, was a poet, visual artist, playwright, novelist, as well as a composer whose works reshaped Bengali literature and music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born on May 7 in 1861 at Jorasanko mansion in Kolkata, he was the youngest of 13 surviving children of Debendranath Tagore and Sarada Devi. He became Asia's first Nobel laureate after winning the Nobel Prize in literature for his mesmerised book Gitanjali in 1913. Two songs from his canon are now the national anthems of Bangladesh and India-Amar Sonar Bangla (My Golden Bengal) and Jana Gana Mana -- respectively.Tagore wrote novels, short stories, songs, dance-dramas, and essays on political and personal topics. Gitanjali, Gora, and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World), Chokher Bali are among his best-known works. Khaleda sits with Sr. BNP leaders tonight Staff Reporter :The BNP's highest policymaking body standing committee's meeting will be held today. It will discuss the country's latest political situation and the party's organisational issues, sources said. Party Chairperson Khaleda Zia summoned the meeting yesterday. The meeting is scheduled to begin at the BNP Chairperson's Gulshan office around 8:30 PM with Khaleda in the chair. Sayrul Kabir Khan, a staff of Khaleda Zia's media wing told The New Nation.The party leaders said, the meeting is expected to discuss organisational issues like the formation of the party's new committee and latest political situation, including the ongoing union parishad polls and the government's move on the Hill tracts. HR activist Khurram killed in Karachi Unidentified gunmen killed prominent Human Rights activist Khurram Zaki in Karachi on Saturday midnight Al Jazeera News :Unidentified gunmen have killed prominent activist Khurram Zaki in Karachi, the latest in a string of attacks on human rights defenders in Pakistan. Police Muqadas Haider told Dawn News on Sunday that four suspects opened fire on Zaki, 40, while he was at a restaurant in the city, killing him and injuring a friend and a bystander. The attack took place close to midnight on Saturday in a northern part of the city.A former journalist, Zaki was a campaigner for human rights and the editor of the website and Facebook page Let Us Build Pakistan (LUBP) with the stated aim to "spread liberal religious views and condemn extremism in all forms". He was known to be an avid campaigner against sectarian violence.Police said on Sunday it was not immediately clear who was behind the attack.Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi, a close friend of the slain activist, told Al Jazeera that Zaki believed in "zoning in the nexus of the enablers of violence [and] spoke freely against the anti-Shia lobby".Zaki was also a member of the campaign against Maulana Abdul Aziz, a prominent leader of the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad who is known for his anti-Shia rhetoric and refused to condemn the Taliban attack on the army school in Peshawar that killed 146 people. Pakistan is facing rising sectarian violence, with armed Sunni groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan often attacking gatherings of Shias, who make up some 20 percent of the country's Muslim population. The killing of Zaki has outraged activists across the country and comes at a time when Pakistani rights advocates are increasingly under attack. On April 25, Pakistani activists marked one year since human rights activist Sabeen Mahmud was murdered. Mahmud was also 40 when she was gunned down in Karachi last year. On Saturday, it was two years since human rights lawyer Rashid Rahman was shot dead. 17 bullet hit among 30 injured AL factions clash at Mirpur during anti-hartal procession Four injured people, who suffered bullet injuries in a clash between rival groups of Awami League in city\'s Mirpur area being hospitalised on Sunday. Staff Reporter :At least 30 leaders and activists of Awami League and its front bodies were injured in a factional clash between supporters of two ruling party lawmakers when they brought out an anti-hartal procession in the city's Mipur area on Sunday morning. Of them, 17 bullet injured activists were admitted to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) in a critical condition, police and hospital sources said. They are Shamim Ahmed, General Secretary of AL Ward No. 93, Jubo League leaders Monir Hossain, Jakir Hossain, Chhatra League President of Shah Ali Thana unit, AL activists Monowar Hossain, Al Amin, Imon, Habib, Korban Ali, Abul Kashem, Rafi, Sujan, Shubho, Sabur Ali, Ibrahim, and Shamim.The shops and other institutions were shut during the clash in the area. The agitated men vandalized several shops and vehicles at that time. "The supporters of local lawmaker Aslamul Hoque Aslam locked into a quarrel with the supporters of female reserved seat MP Sabina Akhter Tuhin over holding a rally against the Jamaat-e-Islami enforced hartal at Mirpur-1 Gol Chattar around 11:30am," DMP's Additional Deputy Commissioner (Mirpur Zone) Masud Ahmed said. He said, "At a stage of the quarrel, the supporters opened fire at each other that left 30 people injured, including 16 bullet wounded."Police fired three rounds of bullet to bring the situation under control, the police official said. Police are investigating into the matter, the ADC said. When contacted, MP Sabina Akhter Tuhin said, "Everyone knows who the attackers were. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will do justice to us."However, Aslam refused to make any comment regarding the matter.Brigadier General Mizanur Rahman, Director of DMCH, told journalists that 16 people, all wounded by stray bullets, were brought to the hospital. All of them are now out of danger, he said. Law enforcers fired blank shots to disperse the clashing party men around 12:30pm, said Anwar Hossain, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Shah Ali Police Station. Additional police were deployed in the area to avert any untoward situation, the police official said. "We are trying to arrest the culprits in this connection," the OC said. Jamaat-e-Islami enforced 24-hour hartal from 6:00am on Sunday protesting the Supreme Court verdict that upheld the death penalty awarded to Jamaat chief Motiur Rahman Nizami on May 5. City lacks civic planning Experts suggest 'coordination body' Besides a big uncovered manhole on the middle of the road at posh area in Gulshan, huge brick chips were being dumped causing an added misery to locals. This photo was taken from nearby British High Commission in city on Sunday. Kazi Zahidul Hasan : Urban planners on Sunday urged the government to form a high-powered 'coordination committee' to solve the civic problems in capital Dhaka. They observed that the two mayors in the bifurcated Dhaka city corporations are serious to solve the city's existing civic problems. They are making endeavours to clean the city, reduce traffic snarl and remove water-logging. But they could not show much success in these areas during their first year into the office because the tasks are beyond their authority. "Mayors may not fully comply with their promises and plans but they have made a good start," Prof Nazrul Islam, a leading urban planner of the country, told The New Nation on Sunday. Prof Islam came up with the observation when he was asked about the performance of the two mayors during their first year into the office. "The mayors did well during their first year into the office and both of them had taken many praiseworthy steps," he said, adding, "They have also sought experts opinion and held meetings with the community and citizens to resolve the city's civic problems. Prof Islam further said that they were serious about resolving the problems and came out to the streets when a problem has arisen. "But the activities of the elected councilors were not visible to remove the city's civic problems and community development, and this could be regarded as a major failure to the mayors." "They have showed a little success in managing the city's traffic anarchy and haphazard road digging and remove hawkers from the footpaths creating much frustration to the city dwellers," he added. The renowned urban planner said mayors are working diligently to improve the civic facilities in Dhaka but they could not improve much as the power is also vested to different other service bodies. The mayors are not authorized to intervene operation of other utility service bodies like Wasa, Desa, T&T, Rajuk and Dhaka's district administration. The prevailing situation has created a major drawback in managing the city affairs in an organised way. "Decentralisation of power and coordination among different agencies is a must to make the city corporations effective and service-oriented," he said, adding that if the power is not decentralized, the government should form a high-powered coordination committee under the Prime Minister's Office so that all the relevant authorities come under a unified management system to provide services to the city dwellers in a coordinated manner. "Mayors have made plethora of promises to improve things in this problem-ridden city. They are working for the better," Mobasher Hossain, another urban planner and noted architect of the country told The New Nation on Sunday. He said, both the majors have taken various programmes to clean the city, remove footpaths and bus stands from illegal occupation. They have also launched short, medium and long-term programmes to resolve these problems and improve services of the city corporations. "But one year after getting two elected mayors for the first time to run the city, most of the civic problems, including traffic jam to open dustbins on thoroughfares, scarcity of public toilet to water shortage, remained as they were before due to lack of coordination among the concerned government agencies," he observed. Echoing Prof Nazrul, he also urged the government to form 'coordination committee' to manage the civic problems in capital Dhaka and run the city's day-to-day affairs in an organised manner. "Dhaka will be changed and ultimately it will be turned into a green city. We need time and help from all quarters," Annisul Huq, Mayor of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), told The New Nation yesterday He said Dhaka is one of the fastest growing mega cities in the world with as many as 15 million inhabitants. The city is now full of civic menace and it will take time to mange the city. "We are working hard to resolve the city's civic problems. We have taken programmes to clean the city and remove water logging," Sayeed Khokon, Mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) told The New Nation on Sunday night. When asked, he said, "We are trying to coordinate with other stakeholders and hope we will be able to provide better services to the city-dwellers, but it will take time." Female RMG worker stabbed to death in N'ganj Staff Reporter : A female garments worker succumbed to her injuries at the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital on Sunday. She was seriously injured when a gang of miscreants stabbed her indiscriminately failing to rape. The victim, identified as Meghla Akter, 14, worked at Nawab Ali Industry at Kanchpur under Sonargaon Thana in Narayanganj district. She lived in a rented house with her father Rashid Mia and other family members. Elahi Mia, Sub-Inspector of Sonargaon Police Station, said that the perpetrators picked up Meghla on Sunday when she was on her way to workplace and brought her to a building owned by one Aziz Mian in order to rape her. When she screamed and tried to escape, the perpetrators stabbed her indiscriminately and fled the scene. Injured Meghla managed to return home and disclosed the attackers' identities to her family members. Meghla was admitted to DMCH, but she succumbed to her injuries. RU teachers, students vow to continue protests RU Correspondent :The Teachers and the students of Rajshahi University yesterday (Sunday), ignoring the vacation, continued their demonstration programmes on the campus for the sixteenth consecutive day demanding the trial of the killers of Prof AFM Rezaul Karim Siddiquee. Although a 20 days long summer vacation began last Saturday, the teachers and the students of the university vowed to continue their protest programme. They also declared that they would continue their demonstrations until the 'perpetrators' are brought to light and handed punishment. Over 200 hundred teachers of the university under the banner of "RU Teachers' Association" staged a human chain in front of the university senate building around 10:00 am, demanding immediate arrest and exemplary punishment to the killers. Addressing the human chain, RUTA former President Prof Ananda Kumar Saha said there was no sign of visible progress into the case though sixteen days have already elapsed. "When we want to know about the progress about the investigation into Professor Siddiquee killing, the law enforcer agencies reply that they cannot disclose anything now for the sake of investigation." he said. RUTA General Secretary Professor Shah Azam said that they would form a human chain in front of the senate building everyday till May 12, the day Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal is supposed to visit RU campus.Later, the teachers and the students of RU English department brought out a silent procession at 10:30am that paraded the main streets of the campus. They also joined a short rally at Mukul Mancha, a makeshift platform set up after the nickname of the slain professor. Addressing the rally, Professor AFM Masood Ahter, chairman of the department said, they would also continue their programme until the justice to their fellow was ensured. It is notable that, Prof Siddiquee, a teacher of RU English department was brutally murdered in Rajshahi's Shalbagan area on April 23 by some unidentified miscreants.Following the murder, protests from teachers and students of the university sparked on campus. 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Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe 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. President Joe Biden has decided to ban Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia's economy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine. The United States generally imports about 100,000 barrels a day from Russia, only about 5% of Russia's crude oil exports, according to Rystad Energy. Last year, roughly 8% of U.S. imports of oil and petroleum products came from Russia. Gas prices have been rising for weeks due to the conflict and in anticipation of potential sanctions on the Russian energy sector. The U.S. national average for a gallon of gasoline soared 45 cents a gallon in the past week and topped $4.06 on Monday, according to auto club AAA. Should the US ban Russian oil imports over Ukraine war? You voted: Francis has previously published a novel, a collection of essays and several educational texts, including anthologies of student writing in Simbu. He is also one of the main driving forces behind the Simbu Writers Association, the only writers organisation to so far operate successfully in Papua New Guinea. FRANCIS Nii has been associated with PNG Attitude for many years and the Crocodile Prize since its inception in 2011. Walk My Song by Francis Nii, Pukpuk Publications in association with the Simbu Writers Association, ISBN: 978-1533091604, 94 pages. Available here from Amazon He is a prolific and wise contributor to PNG Attitude and he also edits and prepares for publication works by other Simbu writers. This is his first collection of poetry and he is working on a second novel. Although restricted to a wheelchair and his bed in the isolation ward of Kundiawa Hospital, he is a very busy man. Francis doesnt call himself a poet but says his interest in writing began with poetry when he was in high school and then at university. He believes poetry may be the highest form of communication through which people can express thoughts, observations, feelings, emotions and views about the world around them, including their interactions with each other and the issues affecting them and their society. He sees poetry as a useful antidote to people descending into venality, vice, fraud and other forms of dishonesty, which he compares to swimming in a pool of contaminated water. Francis emphasises that people must discipline themselves from getting involved in any of these sins and deceits and ensure that their countrymen and women, especially children, are not infected. This is central message in this collection. Maintaining an ethical and upright country where people are treated fairly and to which people are loyal. This volume is aimed at educating both old and young Papua New Guineans to be patriotic about their motherland and conscious of the evils affecting their country so they can play their part in building a prosperous and progressive nation. It is a timely and powerful message in these troubling times. 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. U.S. Rep. John Katko had seen enough. In Washington, he's witnessed the debate over whether to establish a federal paid family leave program up close. Nothing has come out of those ongoing discussions, mainly because of Republican opposition to creating what they consider a new mandate for businesses. That's why Katko, R-Camillus, unveiled what he billed as an alternative to a federal paid leave program optional parental savings accounts that would allow workers to set money aside if they plan on taking medical leave to care for a newborn child or a sick relative. The legislation has a Democratic cosponsor U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. And it has the support of some central New York business leaders who joined Katko at a press conference in March. "We figured we'd do something different, and the different is make it voluntary, non-government-run and just like a health savings account," Katko said in an interview Tuesday at his Syracuse office. "If you want to save, you want to plan, you can. If you don't want to you don't have to." Katko believes his measure is a compromise between some of the other proposals in Congress, including a bill introduced by U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand that would establish a federal paid leave program. Under Gillibrand's plan, the program would be managed by the Social Security Administration and funded by employee and employer payroll deductions. One supporter of Gillibrand's legislation is Colleen Deacon, a Democrat who is seeking the party's nomination to challenge Katko in the 24th Congressional District race. Shortly after Katko rolled out his parental savings account bill, Deacon criticized the proposal and said he doesn't understand the need for paid leave. "Paid family leave is good for the economy, businesses, workers and families but the United States remains one of the only industrialized nations not to have it," she said in March. Katko said he wouldn't engage in a "war of words," but thinks his bill is better. "It gives people the option," he said. "When you talk about income inequality, why would you take and tax every single working poor person in this country, whether or not they want to take advantage of a program, instead of giving them the option to pay that same tax? "I like our alternative better. I'm not saying they're out of touch. I'm just saying I like our version better. I think the more flexibility we have and the less you have government in your pocket, the better." So far, Katko's bill hasn't advanced in the House of Representatives. It has been referred to the Ways and Mean committee, which hasn't reviewed the measure. The committee must approve the legislation before it heads to the floor for a vote. DU QUOIN Mayor Guy Alongi plans to ask the Du Quoin City Council to extend by two weeks the comment period for the proposed Amusement Tax, to give the governor's office time to offer an alternative to the measure. The city council voted to implement a 5 percent tax on gross amusement income at the Du Quoin State Fair to allow the city to raise funds to pay for expenses associated with its police and fire coverage at the state fair and other fairground events. The taxes from a percentage of fair and fairground sales would be split 75 to 25, with the larger portion going to the city of Du Quoin. The mayor has said that if the tax is implemented this year, it could generated between $25,000 to $30,000 for the city by the end of the year. At a Du Quoin Chamber of Commerce luncheon this past week, a Du Quoin State Fair representative read from statements expressing the agency's displeasure with the proposal. That prompted the mayor to call the governor's office to express his dissatisfaction and the subsequent request for an additional two-week extension. Du Quoin mayor miffed at state's public response to proposed tax increase DU QUOIN Mayor Guy Alongi said he was more than miffed that the State Department of Agricu Citizens can follow the dialogue at the city council's regular meeting at 6 p.m. Monday at Council Chambers, Du Quoin City Hall, 28 S. Washington St. The council is also expected to pass an ordinance waiving the necessity of accepting bids for restoration work on the city's 40-plus year old swimming pool, because of the nature of the materials being used and the lack of competitors in that field, according to Alongi. That measure authorizes the mayor to enter into a contract not to exceed $150,000 with RenoSys, an aquatics construction and renovation company out of Indianapolis. Du Quoin city council votes to condemn wing of a motel DU QUOIN A city order voting to condemn a wing of a local motel might have been the motiva The company has done work on the Mattoon swimming pool, Alongi said. Theyve got an excellent reputation, Alongi said. Were certain they are going to do the best work. The mayor also expects to make a proclamation announcing May 2016 as Older Americans Month. PINCKNEYVILLE Pinckneyville City Council members are hosting a public hearing Monday night to discuss expanding the city's business district. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers at Pinckneyville City Hall, 104 S. Walnut St. The public hearing is being held to discuss expanding the city's boundaries to include the 226-acre Industrial Park area, which is east of Pinckneyville, off Illinois 154 on Blue Bunting Road. "You cant have a business district, in my opinion, without having an Industrial Park (in it)," said Mayor Robert L. Spencer. On hand will be a representative from the city's economic development consultants, Economic Development Resources LLC from St. Louis, who will discuss the tax incentives, grants and other benefits available to businesses within the business district, Spencer said. After that public hearing, the council will move into its regularly scheduled meeting, where members plan to discuss passing a resolution to OK the city borrowing money to fill any shortfall from unpaid bills from the Pinckneyville Correctional center. Spencer said the correctional center owes the city about $705,000 for providing gas, water and sewer to the facility. The city received a payment this past week from the state for the prison, but for services rendered in October 2015. "It doesn't mean we're going to, as a city, borrow money yet," city clerk Larry West said of the resolution. "Anytime you put a tax anticipation warrant on an agenda, you get worried," West said. "And the city runs off of gas and water and sewer. With the summertime getting here, those revenues are going to decline. We're borrowing our tax money ahead of time. We get tax revenue (from property taxes) until the end of August." West said city officials understand the state's situation, adding, "A lot of municipalities are in the same situation as Pinckneyville." The city council just adopted a general fund budget for fiscal year 2017. We all can't agree more that this project is to the economic future of the region. River transportation opportunities are growing each and every day, and it's the most economical form transportation that there is. CHAMPAIGN Police in a central Illinois village searched Sunday for a suspect in a weekend shooting of a police officer. The (Champaign) News-Gazette reported Mahomet officer Jeremy Scharlow, 35, was shot in the arm Saturday night outside a home. Mahomet Police Chief Mike Metzler said that Scharlow was recovering after being released from a hospital Sunday morning. Metzler told the newspaper that the officer, a nine-year veteran of his department, was shot after a traffic stop initiated by a different police officer. The suspect then got into a fight with the second officer, who reportedly attempted to use a stun gun on the driver. A Champaign County judge on Sunday issued an arrest warrant for Dracy "Clint" Pendleton, 34, of Bellflower, accusing him of aggravated battery with a firearm. The Illinois State Police said later Sunday that Pendleton, who was also believed to be wounded, has additionally been charged with attempted murder of a police officer. Authorities. said Pendleton fled the area in a stolen pickup truck and is armed with an AK-47 assault rifle. An extended family member told the newspaper that Pendleton had recently moved out of his marital home after separating from his wife. Jack Dollahon said that Pendleton his grandson's half brother works as a contractor and is a father of two sons, both under 2. May 8, 1936 Robert Murray's interpretation of "From a Speech in the Virginia Convention," was awarded first prize of $5 at the annual prize speaking contest of Port Byron High School in Federated Church Auditorium. Second prize of $2.50 went to Laurence Knapp, who spoke on "Selection From Who Owns the Mountain?" Miss Marie Moroney won first prize among the girls with "Monolog Between a Salesman and Woman Shopper." "Jim Bludso of the Prairie Bell," given by Miss Mabel VonNostrand was judged second best. May 8, 1961 (Pictured) 4-H TALENT SHOW Cayuga County 4-H department held open house for 4-H members and their guests Friday night at the new Farm, Home and 4-H Center on Grant Ave. Taking part in the talent show was this quintet consisting of, from the left, Mary Cuddeback, 11; Darlene Rowe, 13; Mary Lee LeFever, 14; Rose Cuddeback, 14; and Beatrice Barner, 12. May 8, 2006 Imagine a beehive with the Austin Park Pavilion as the hive, and dogs as the bees. Thats what the 10th annual Pet Walk, held in Skaneateles to support the Fingerlakes SPCA, looked like Sunday. Except these bees came in all colors and shapes, and never mind about the trees. Close to 200 hundred people (and their dogs) took the 1.1 mile walk through the village of Skaneateles, it was estimated, strolling as representatives of pledges made for the animal shelter, or to donate a pledge of their own. Some canines, however, did cheat. Witness Hanna and Cassie, a Chinese Crested Hairless and Shiatsu, respectively, who came rolling up in a baby stroller. May 8, 2011 Steve Tokarz, of Auburn, had Kyle Petty sign two collectable NASCAR cars during Pettys stop at Emerson Park in Owasco Saturday on his annual charity motorcycle ride. Fans surrounded Petty asking for autographs and photos with the former NASCAR driver during the lunch stop. DENMARK For the benefit for local employers, Denmark Technical College will hold an informational session and dinner on Thursday, May 12, at 6 p.m. on the DTC campus for companies interested in participating in a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. The American Apprenticeship Initiative grant was awarded to the S.C. Technical College System for apprenticeships and Denmark Technical College will be participating in the grant by expanding apprenticeships and providing the training. The grant will focus on three business sectors: manufacturing, professional services and information technology. We are excited to participate in this grant and bring this opportunity to our local businesses in our service area, President Leonard A. McIntyre said. By developing worker skills, employers benefit from increased productivity. At the same time, employees benefit by increasing their job skills and marketability. It is a win-win situation. The AAI grant will provide companies who apply for and receive grant funds a maximum of $2,500 per apprentice and $12,500 per location to pay for education provided by their local technical college, in this case Denmark Technical College. In addition, South Carolina offers an additional $1,000 per apprentice offered through the states registered apprenticeship initiative, further offsetting training costs. DTC has a number of programs that will qualify for the grant offering either curriculum courses offered toward a degree, or short-term continuing education courses offered through the Economic Workforce Development. The requirements for participating companies to be awarded funds from the new grant initiative are to register their apprenticeship program through the Department of Labor, receive the training at their local technical college and participate in a return-on-investment study when the grant is completed. For more information or to register for the free information session, interested companies in the Denmark Technical College service area should contact Stephen Mason, associate vice president for economic and workforce development at 803-793-5155 or Robert Peacock, program coordinator, at 803-793-5153. The Sadie Harter Cooner Endowed Scholarship has been awarded each year since 2000 by Trinity United Methodist Church in Bamberg. The scholarship was established in December 2000 by Mr. and Mrs. James Wilson (Anne Harter) and Mrs. Marian B. Harter of Salisbury, North Carolina, nieces of Mrs. Cooner. Cooner was organist at Trinity for 55 years and choir director for 36 of those years. She was also a well-known performer in the community and statewide. The scholarship(s) will be awarded to a deserving student(s) of music, preferably organ or piano. If no student of applied music submits an application, someone studying in other areas in the musical field or related arts may be considered. Financial need is a consideration and rising high school juniors through rising college seniors may apply. The winner of the 2015-2016 scholarship was Laura Lynn Brickle of Branchville, who is attending Furman University. The deadline for applying for the scholarship is May 16, 2016. Application blanks may be obtained from the office at Trinity United Methodist Church, 11761 Heritage Hwy., P.O. Box 335, Bamberg, SC 29003, telephone 803-245-4275. Church office hours are 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Application blanks may also be obtained by calling Chris Ness, chairman of the Sadie Harter Cooner Scholarship Committee, at 803-245-2662. NORWAY Members of Norway Girl Scout Troop 407 received bronze medals for their community service during a ceremony at the Girl Scouts of Eastern South Carolina 2016 Recognition Ceremony at Lake Marion High School last month. The scouts were recognized for assisting with the painting of the newly rebuilt Three Crosses Outreach Ministry, which was destroyed by a fire on Aug. 26, 2014 that spread from a nearby business in an alleged act of arson. Bessie Peeples, troop leader, said, This building burned. When they rebuilt it, the girls came in and painted Three Crosses. In addition to the bronze medals, the Girl Scouts were presented personalized handbags by Peeples and their other trooper leader, Jacqueline Tyler. Girl Scout Phelesia Yon, 10, said, I got the bronze medal by visiting nursing homes and painting at the Three Crosses Ministry. How I got the bronze award is I visited the nursing home, painted Three Crosses and took care of the environment through cleaning up litter, Girl Scout Autumn Smith, 10, said. Visiting the residents of the nursing home was, in part, an idea one of the Girl Scouts came up with, Peeples said. Lynnea Edwards, 11, in her paperwork for the award selection, said, I went to the nursing home and saw old people that were alone and wanted to talk to someone ... I went back to my team and told them what I saw and that we needed to make up a plan so that we can go and visit the old people at the nursing home to keep them from feeling so lonely. Troop 407 also celebrated an early Mothers Day by providing a meal for Norway senior citizens on April 26, Peeples said. Fallon Josephine Stanley is one of six children and the first among her siblings to graduate from college. It is a milestone she relished at Claflins Universitys 146th commencement on Saturday. Stanley was among 422 graduates the largest graduating class in Claflins history who walked across the stage at the South Atlantic Seventh-day Adventist Convention Center. I am so elated to be graduating! There were moments where time flew by and other moments when time seemed to stand still. All of my family especially my mom are so excited for me. Finally walking across the stage will show that my persistence and hard work has truly paid off, Stanley said. Hailing from Spanaway, Washington, Stanley is a summa cum laude graduate who walked away with a bachelors degree in biology and a 4.0 GPA. I came to Claflin, stuck with my biology major, struggled and excelled through each class and am now reaping the fruits of my labor. May 7 is such a joyous day for me and my peers, she said. Stanley chose Claflin based on the advice of two friends who told her of the universitys opportunities and family-oriented environment. Thats exactly what I got: caring professors, access to many opportunities and a close-knit community that encourages one another and celebrates each others successes. ... Choosing to come to Claflin was one of the best decisions Ive ever made. Claflin has been so good to me, she said. Stanleys pathway to success demonstrated the type of courage and persistence that the commencement speaker said would be needed of the graduates who ranged in age from 20 to 69 as they seek to fulfill their goals as global visionaries. Cheryl Pearson-McNeil is the senior vice president of U.S. Strategic Community Alliances and Consumer Engagement for the Nielsen Company. The self-described expert in fear extolled the graduates academic achievements, but implored them to not ignore, deny or stay stuck in fear, but learn to embrace it, befriend it and then move beyond it. Pearson-McNeil said she was fearful she would not get into college, make it out of college or graduate on time, but she did all three of those things. She was afraid about leaving her hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana for the big city of Chicago, Illinois to pursue her goals, but she left. I did pretty well. My biggest fear was being average, Pearson-McNeil said, noting that she learned to not be defined by someone elses standards, but her own. In quoting the late poet and author Maya Angelou, she said, If you always try to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be. Pearson-McNeil said the graduates need to use fear as jet fuel to propel themselves to the next level in life. Fear will be a part of your everyday life, she said. How it is handled makes the difference. Pearson-McNeil said millennials are expected to make up 75 percent of the global workforce in a little more than a decade. You have to be risk takers. My future depends on you and how you handle fear, she said. She advised the graduates that it is never too late to go after what is important. Dont take that first job just because its that first job. Dont be afraid to wait for that great job. Life needs to be lived on your own terms. You have to be true to you, she said. Stanley said she could appreciate the advice. By setting the bar high for ourselves, we can accomplish major feats, Stanley said. The Claflin graduate said she plans to move to Atlanta, Georgia, to attend Emory University, where she will pursue an accelerated bachelors degree in nursing, along with a masters in nursing through a dual-degree program. When I graduate in two and a half years, I will be a practicing family nurse practitioner, have my own patients and be doing work day in and day out that makes a difference and ultimately makes me happy, Stanley said. Also during the commencement, Pearson-McNeil and internationally known artist Jonathan Green each received an honorary doctorate of humane letters. Orangeburg native Dr. Randall Harris, an associate professor in Claflins biology department, was awarded the James E. Hunter Excellence in Teaching Award. Along with the presentation of Presidential Awards, 21 members of the Claflin Class of 1966 received Golden Diplomas upon their 50th year anniversary. Bamberg Police Department A 31-year-old Middle Street man was arrested on charges of third-degree assault and battery and disorderly conduct on May 1. The arrest followed a disturbance at his residence. Family members called officers to the scene about 1:40 a.m. A woman at the home told police that when she heard her brother arguing with her father, she got between them and was slapped by her brother more than once. The report noted that the 23-year-old woman had apparent minor injuries. When placed under arrest, the brother questioned why and refused to get into the patrol car, the report states. While being placed in the car, he made multiple threats to his family and continued to be disorderly, according to the incident report. During the booking process at the Bamberg County Detention Center, officers learned the man was also wanted on warrants from the Bamberg County Sheriffs Office and the Orangeburg County Sheriffs Office. In other reports: Police arrested a 36-year-old Bamberg Street man on April 27 and charged him with breach of trust after an incident at his home. The mans mother contacted police to report her son had broken her cellphone. Officers noted the man smelled strongly of alcohol and had been drinking. Officers were contacted by a 72-year-old Sunset Street woman who said her wallet had disappeared after she left it at the Bi-Lo checkout. Police and the store manager reviewed store video and determined that a 47-year-old Railroad Avenue woman had taken the wallet. When officers contacted the alleged thief at her residence, she denied any knowledge of the wallet or the money that had been in it. However, while police were investigating the incident, the suspects two daughters came up and told her to just give the money and the wallet back. The suspect then showed officers where she had told her daughter to throw the wallet. The victims money was retrieved and all other contents of the wallet were accounted for, the report states. The Railroad Avenue woman was arrested and charged with larceny. Two men were arrested on April 29 after police were alerted to a possible shoplifting incident at EZ Shop #1 on Main Street. A 22-year-old Orangeburg man and a 17-year-old male resident of Crestview Drive in Bamberg were both charged with shoplifting and disorderly conduct. They allegedly took several containers of beer from the store without paying for them. A 29-year-old Wrightsville, Georgia man was arrested and charged with not having a South Carolina drivers license on May 1. The man was originally stopped just after 11 p.m. on U.S. 301 North for failing to dim his lights. His Georgia license had been suspended for failure to pay traffic tickets. WASHINGTON It wasnt precisely an act of moral courage, but House Speaker Paul Ryans comment that hes not ready to support presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump was at least ... something. Whether its a start or a finish remains to be revealed, but it would seem that were witnessing the beginning of the end. To wit: A Republican friend, who has abandoned her behind-the-scenes work of getting conservatives elected, called me recently to express her condolences. I feel sorry for you, she said, because you (given your job) cant ignore the collapse of Western civilization. Now a renegade from the nominating process, she is like so many others disillusioned by the Trump movement whove slipped the noose of politics in search of meaning beyond the Beltway. But Trumps triumph, though most insiders thought it impossible, should have surprised no one. He was inevitable not because he was The One but because hes a shrewd dealmaker with deep pockets and unencumbered by a moral compass. Both his platform and style were crafted to fit the findings of extensive polling he commissioned before announcing his run. In other words, Trump didnt write a book you loved; he wrote the book you SAID youd love. If people were outraged about immigration, why then hed build a wall. If they were upset about manufacturing jobs lost overseas, well fine, hed kill the trade agreements. Trump was never about principle but about winning, the latter of which he kept no secret. What this means, of course, is that his supporters have no idea whom they nominated. He simply paid to read their minds and then invented a drug that would light up the circuit boards corresponding to pleasure and reward. Believe me, he crooned to the roaring crowed. Im not there right now, said the speaker, crossing himself in the sign of the cross. Poor Ryan a man of conscience in an unconscionable time. He wants to support the Republican nominee, but, at the end of the day, he has to answer to a higher authority. Trump, the partys standard bearer, isnt bearing the standard, Ryan said. But what Ryan expressed as the basis for a desired meeting of the minds isnt about those standards, except the hope that Trump will behave better in the future. You know, act presidential and all that. Otherwise, Ryan is standing by the phone to hear that Trump will unify the party. How, pray tell? What would satisfy the Ryans of the party? For Trump to say, Hey, I was just kidding? The problem, as with all relationships, is that certain words, once expressed, cant be taken back. No amount of backtracking can erase memories of what Trump really thought and said in a particular moment. It isnt only that his wildly conceived and frequently revised positions are at odds with those of leveler heads, but Trump has embarrassed those who can still be embarrassed. Among those with either the gumption or nothing to lose by expressing no-support for Trump are both George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush. Neither will endorse the Republican nominee. Laura Bush, a consistent voice of sanity, recently hinted at a Women in the World conference that shed rather see Hillary Clinton as president than Trump. This is utterly treasonous to most Republicans. Not only is Clinton a Clinton, notwithstanding her Rodham-ness, but the next president likely will select up to four Supreme Court justices. Republicans magically think that at least Trump would pick good justices. But upon what shred of fact or fiction do they base this assumption? Still other Republicans are expressing disapproval by vowing not to attend the party convention in July. These include the last two GOP presidential nominees, Mitt Romney and John McCain, though McCain is on record saying hell support Trump, which can be viewed as loyal or merely sad. The sads have it. McCain seemingly has forgiven Trumps remark that he was a war hero only because he was captured. I like people who werent captured, said the anti-hero who managed to avoid service and once compared his navigation of the sexually risky 1960s to sort of like the Vietnam era. This is the man who would become commander-in-chief. Meanwhile, were told, the party that adopted Trump without really knowing him is suffering an identity crisis and facing a moment of truth. Phooey. The GOP began digging its own grave years ago and dropped one foot in when McCain selected Sarah Palin as his running mate. With Trumps almost-certain nomination, the other foot has followed. I know the fish are biting, I told my good friend Gordon Swygert. Everybodys telling me theyre tearing it up on the lake, I added. But theres another whole week of turkey season to go, and the fish will just have to wait. With that being said, I headed back to the Lowcountry last Saturday morning. There were two trucks at the clubhouse when I rolled in just before 5 a.m. Mr. Bill Hall was sitting at the table in the dim light of a lantern. Troy Murphy was snoring from one of the beds across the room. I greeted Mr. Bill and we sat talking for a while. Bill and his wife Libby are from Orangeburg, and they are good people. Troy is their nephew. Sign-in time starts at 5 and I asked Mr. Bill if we should wake Troy. Not til we sign in he said with a chuckle. But, he got up and went over and tried to rouse Troy without much luck. Troy had driven down from Greenville the evening before. He probably needed the rest. We went ahead and signed in and walked back over to try Troy again. This time with two flashlights in his face and our loud voices booming in his ears, he showed some signs of life, and eventually looked up at us, then started talking. Good enough. We went back to the table and continued our conversation. After a while I realized the time was slipping up on us, and we needed to get going. Daylight waits for no man. Troy was getting dressed now and Mr. Bill and I wished each other good luck and headed out. The eastern sky was beginning to show a change. I drove down the River Road and pulled into a little turnout. There wasnt much time to waste and I had a good little walk to get to the listening spot I had in mind. I knew there was a gobbler in this area and I needed him to let me know where he was. A nice series of gobbles from him would do the trick. At the crossroads where I stopped the birds were already singing and the time was right. With the first crow call a gobbler sounded off behind me, back toward the truck. I immediately turned around and started back. This one kept gobbling, so I could pinpoint his location and get closer. I got within a hundred yards, put a decoy in the road, and sat back in the edge of the woods. It was a good set-up. As soon as I sat down the bird got quiet and I knew he was about to fly down. Within a minute or two I heard him fly out and it sounded like he was coming my way. But, he kept on flying right over the treetops, over my head, over the road and out of sight over a big cut-down. Oh no! There is no way to approach a wild turkey gobbler out in a big open area, and all I could do was sit there and call. Which I did for nearly an hour. I finally decided that this turkey could be saved for another day and I picked up my decoy and headed back to the truck. I knew where another gobbler was hanging out and it was still early enough to give him a try. I drove back past the clubhouse, out to the highway and down to a logging road that borders another club. I had an encounter with another gobbler there, but it just didnt work out. It might be a good story for another day. Well actually I should probably just keep it to myself. It was getting hot now, and I was tired of messing with these uncooperative turkeys, so I headed back to the clubhouse. Back at the clubhouse Mr. Bill and Troy were sitting at a table talking and I pulled up a chair. It soon became evident that they were covering a pretty important subject, and I almost felt like an intruder. But, they are friends and easily accepted my presence. I sat quietly and just listened. Sometimes thats all another person needs. A couple of times Mr. Bill announced This is a pretty deep subject. And, I even added a word or two of encouragement of my own. Soon the conversation came to a natural conclusion, and we got up to leave. I learned a long time ago that the outdoors is not just about the birds, and animals, and woods and streams. Its about the people too. The turkey season is over now, and there are new adventures awaiting. We might soon forget about those unruly turkeys, or the big ones that got away. But, lets not forget about the people that we meet and get to know. They make the outdoor experience complete. - T&D outdoors columnist Dan Geddings is a native of Clarendon County currently residing in Sumter. He is founder and president of Rut and Strut Hunting Club in Clarendon County and a member of Buckhead Hunting Club in Colleton County. Regional Medical Center President and CEO Tom Dandridge has been awarded the 2016 Lewis W. Blackman Patient Safety Champion Health Executive Award by the South Carolina Hospital Association. Dandridge was recognized for his passion for safe patient care and continuous process improvement as well as his dedication to allocating resources to patient safety as RMCs top priority. Dandridge has overseen the hospitals commitment to SC Safe Care and personally holds daily safety huddles with the hospitals clinical leaders. He works with staff asking probing questions and holds leaders accountable for follow-up and resolution of any safety issues. Under his leadership, RMC has also invested heavily in the serious safety event investigation process to include the training of 15 staff members as champions of a Just Culture, a program which ensures balanced accountability for both individuals and the organization responsible for designing and improving systems in the workplace. Engineering principles and analysis of human factors influence the design of these systems so they are safe and reliable. I am honored to be recognized by the South Carolina Hospital Association as the recipient of the Lewis W. Blackman Patient Safety Champion Award, said Dandridge. But this award is a reflection of the entire RMC team. Their daily dedication to patient safety and continuous improvement is what makes the difference for our patients. Health care is experiencing monumental challenges on the state and national levels, said Dandridge, in spite of those industry challenges, the RMC team has continued to stay focused on whats most important the care and safety of our patients. I am very proud to be associated with this team and this healthcare system. The Lewis W. Blackman Patient Safety Champion Awards were created in 2008. to recognize individuals who demonstrated exemplary dedication and leadership in advancing the quality and safety of healthcare across South Carolina. The awards are named in honor of Lewis Blackman, a bright, talented 15-year-old who died in 2000 after an elective surgical procedure due to preventable medical complications. His mother, Helen Haskell, has provided inspiration for this award with her dedication to promoting patient safety and quality improvement across the state and the nation. The Lewis W. Blackman Patient Safety Champion Awards are sponsored by: the South Carolina Hospital Association, the leadership organization and principal advocated for the states hospitals and healthcare systems; PHT Services, providing a variety of risk management services to South Carolinas healthcare industry; Health Sciences South Carolina, a statewide biomedical research collaborative; Mothers Against Medical Error, a South Carolina-based citizens advocacy group; and BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, the only South Carolina-owned and operated health insurance carrier. In his book "Not in Gods Name," Jonathan Sacks, the former chief rabbi of Great Britain, writes: Never say, I hate, I kill, because my religion says so. Every text needs interpretation. Every wisdom needs careful negotiation between the timeless and time. Fundamentalism reads texts as if God were as simple as we are. That is unlikely to be true. Religions, especially religions of the Book, have hard texts: verses, commands, episodes, narratives, that if understood literally and applied directly would not merely offend our moral sense. They would also go against our best understanding of the religion itself. Rabbi Sacks is one of those writers that I read, not because I think that I will simply read, memorize and follow, but because I know that he is counting on his readers to read, think, feel and experience the human consequences, and then decide whether to follow or argue. While the main target of his book is the Islamic State, he is also targeting those who argue that religion has been discredited because it has been used so many times as an excuse for human brutality. That is why he titled his book "Not in Gods Name." He expects us to do this with our religious scriptures, as well as any other book. Rabbi Sacks is well-aware of the fact that when people merely read and follow orders, they risk getting into trouble, as well as causing problems for the rest of the world. As the 16th-century Unitarian Francis David once said, We need not believe alike to love one another. This is true, whether one self-identifies as a Roman Catholic, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu or Unitarian Universalist. It is why many of us who are clergypersons place great importance on religious education, as well as our weekly sermons. As I often say to my congregants, 'The Way We Were' isnt in our hymnal. God gave us hearts and minds to think, reason and feel for ourselves. When we neglect these important steps, we dishonor God, or whatever we call Holy. When we merely read and behave the way a Muslim did in the seventh century, at the time of Muhammad, or a Jew did 500 or 1,000 years before the Common Era, we risk repeating the un-Jesus-like behaviors that Christians perpetrated during the Crusades or the Inquisition. Does anyone seriously think that Jesus would have condoned sending children off to the Holy Land in the 13th century, torturing people during the Inquisition, or burning them at the stake because of their beliefs? On a trip to Europe when my sons were in elementary school, we visited a couple of torture museums. (I think they have a chain of them!) They were shocked to learn that Popes and even some of the early Protestant reformers used torture to terrify people into following their religious teachings. One can easily imagine both God and Rabbi Sacks loudly protesting, Not in Gods Name at the sight of such atrocities. The fact that people have been willing to carry out such odious behaviors, professing to do so in the name of their God, shows us why we have had pogroms, holocausts and other massive religious persecutions. Action without reflection leads to people doing the ungodly work of the Crusades, the Inquisition and the Islamic State. Rabbi Sacks argues that these aberrant mass killings and wars, conducted in the name of various religions, should really be looked at in the context of social groups. On this, I believe that he is partially correct. In their worst manifestations, social groups use religion to divide us into dichotomies such as saved/unsaved, believers/infidels, and the party or people of God versus the heathens, pagans, or others. When this happens, religion is used or exploited, and it displays a weakness when it does not embolden people to question why they are being asked to commit torture or even murder in the name of their God. As we learned from the Nuremberg trials, only following orders is not an acceptable excuse for killing people, even if the commands are attributed to God. If there is one lesson that we can learn from the Islamic State, it is that when we fail to think and imagine ourselves within the human bodies of those we are being asked to judge and persecute because they believe differently, we dishonor God or whatever we consider most holy and righteous. As we commit what I am calling slothful theology, we ourselves risk becoming the unrighteous and unholy. The world has seen too many examples of this throughout history to ever allow it to happen again. Baku has hosted a joint meeting of the Regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications (RCC) Commission on postal service and the Council of the RCC Postal Operators. The meeting was chaired by department head at Azerbaijan`s Ministry of Communications and High Technologies Novruz Mammadov. The event featured discussion about the course of implementation of the Plan of Action on the execution of decisions of the 25th congress of the Universal Postal Union, and preparations for the organizations 26th congress due in Istanbul. The meeting also heard reports of the RCC working groups and country representatives in Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. /By Azertac/ Heydar Aliyev legacy and multicultural values conference has been organized by the New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) to mark the 93rd anniversary of founder of modern Azerbaijan, national leader Heydar Aliyev. The event featured the presentation of a book titled Heydar Aliyev legacy and multicultural values. Participants in the conference included top management of YAP, state and government officials, members of parliament, leaders of religious communities. Deputy Chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Ahmadov made an opening speech at the event, and highlighted national leader Heydar Aliyevs services to the Azerbaijani people. Ahmadov said: The conference addresses multiculturalism because 2016 was declared by President Ilham Aliyev a Year of Multiculturalism in the country. He said representatives of different religions had lived in Azerbaijan in peace and mutual understanding for years. This is evidenced by the co-existence of Christian, Jewish and other communities in Azerbaijan, where they enjoy all conditions. Chairman of the Caucasian Muslims Office Sheikhulislam Allahshukur Pashazade hailed the national leader`s role in Azerbaijan`s overall development. He also praised the role of first lady, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva in preserving and promoting Azerbaijan`s cultural and multicultural values. Pashazade said the first lady also made huge contribution to restoration of holy religious monuments both in Azerbaijan and abroad. State Adviser on Multinational, Multicultural and Religious Affairs, academician Kamal Abdullayev said the national leader had put values of multiculturalism and tolerance in a state policy, which continues today. Archbishop of Baku and Azerbaijan Eparchy Alexander Ishein underlined the importance of studying rich legacy of national leader Heydar Aliyev, and hailed the national leaders attention to the activity of the eparchy. Chairman of the Religious Community of Mountain Jews in Baku Milikh Yevdayev drew the audience`s attention to respect for the Jewish community in Azerbaijan. Head of the Catholic community in Azerbaijan Ordinary Vladimir Fekete thanked President Ilham Aliyev for successful continuation of national leader Heydar Aliyev`s multiculturalism policy. /By Azertac/ Azerbaijani serviceman Ali Heydarov was killed May 8 as a result of shootout on the line of contact between the troops of Azerbaijan and Armenia, said the message of the Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry. The ministry has extended condolences to the family and friends of the killed soldier. 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. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday hit out at "circles" disturbed by Turkey's growing global position. Addressing NGO representatives in Malatya, eastern Turkey, he said: "Turkey has become a country that has gained resistance to global crises and has overcome these crises on its own. "We know that there are some circles who cannot digest this situation." The president said these circles benefited a weak Turkey beset by internal problems because "for them, Turkey is a country to benefit, not a homeland to die for." Erdogan said there were a number of Turkish groups who were enemies of the country. "Whatever their names and representatives are, their aim is same," he said, going on to identify the "parallel state" led by U.S.-based cleric Fetullah Gulen as one such group. Twelve PKK terrorists have been killed in counter-terrorism operations in Turkey's southeast, the military said Sunday, Anadolu agency reported. In a statement, the Turkish General Staff said eight terrorists were killed in Nusaybin, in the Mardin province, two in the neighboring Sirnak province, and two in the Tunceli province. Operations to counter the PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and the EU, in Nusaybin and Sirnak have been ongoing since mid-March. The statement added that 11 terrorists were also captured in the Cukurca district of the southeastern Hakkari province. The PKK resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state last July, since when more than 430 members of the security forces have been martyred and around 3,800 PKK terrorists killed. KING FERRY Sunday was a first in many ways for Moravia woman Faye Hacker. It was the first time Hacker had ever taken part in a paint party, testing her skills at Sunday's Sip 'n' Paint Mother's Day Party at Treleaven by King Ferry Winery. She said she was encouraged by her daughter, Sara Herman, who had previously done a class and thought the winery event would be fun. Sunday was also the first Mother's Day the two have celebrated without Hacker's mother or father, who both died last year. Hacker said her family traditionally went to her parents' house for dinner on Mother's Day to spend time together. "We wanted to do something different where we could make new memories," Hacker said before adding, "Family is everything, so to do something with your family, that's what it's all about." Herman added, "It was something special for us to do together just the two of us." Sunday marked the second annual Mother's Day wine and paint party hosted at Treleaven by King Ferry Winery, said Stephy Scaglione, a winery taster. Around 30 participants were guided through the painting of a sunset by Julianna Paradiso of Wine & Design. Meanwhile, musician Charlie Ellis played an acoustic set from atop the winery's interior balcony, while the King Ferry winery hosted Alexander's Food Truck out of Ithaca for Sunday's event. Scaglione said paint parties have consistently been a great draw for the winery, adding that Sunday's event was sold out. She said wine relaxes people who may have inhibitions about being creative. "It's a good way to have a good laugh," Scaglione said. "It's really, I think, more about spending the time together and less about making good art." Dubai-based Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) was recognised with the Productivity Award at the recently concluded Ideas Arabia 11th International Conference in Dubai, UAE. EGA won the award in the events Idea of the Year Competition, held coincidently with the conference, said a statement from the company. The aim of the annual contest is to honour employees and organisations by recognising the most significant ideas implemented in the preceding period. It also provides an opportunity for participating companies to benchmark against other leading organisations, and motivate employees, it added. EGAs award-winning suggestion, entitled Welding flexible instead of clamping to reduce joint drops, was submitted by Zakir Hussain, Venkateswara Rao, Reejan Joseph, and Syed Fakruddin Jaleel from Cell Lining (Jebel Ali Operations) and has successfully reduced voltage drops of joints, with a substantial recurring energy saving, and avoided use of clamps to connect flexibles, said the statement. The suggestion also won the Gold Award in the Best Suggestion Idea of the Year Awards (Jebel Ali Operations) category at annual EGA Rashid Awards earlier this year, it stated. A key driver in the formation of Ideas Arabia as a subgroup of the Dubai Quality Group (DQG), EGA has supported the conference and associated competitions for 11 consecutive years since the inaugural edition in 2006. With this win, EGA has to date secured a total of 26 wins across various categories in the Ideas Arabia Idea of the Year competition. Salman Abdulla, executive vice president health, safety, sustainability, environment and quality, said: Continuous improvement and innovation is integral to the DNA at EGA. In todays highly competitive world, the creativity and innovation of all employees is an operating necessity for the success of the organisation. What makes our company different from our competitors is our award-winning employee involvement programme, where employees have a stake in the organisations growth and sustainability by offering improvement ideas and problem-solving solutions, he said. Our continuous foundational support for DQG and Ideas Arabia is further testament to this, he added. TradeArabia News Service Abu Dhabi Ports, the master developer, operator and manager of ports and Khalifa Industrial Zone (Kizad) in the emirate, recently organised an open day to recruit young Emiratis holding secondary school certificates for port operations jobs. The recruitment process under The National Way to Ramp Up Success (Nawrus) is part of the Abu Dhabi Ports continuous Emiratisation efforts in line with the UAE strategy to build a national cadre of trained employees, said a statement from the company. Nawrus programme, named after a sea bird associated with ports and ships, is an important initiative of Abu Dhabi Ports to train young Emiratis for port operations jobs. This is the second intake of this annual programme, it added. The open day attracted around 100 candidates who had expressed their interest in jobs with Abu Dhabi Ports at Tawdheef, Abu Dhabis leading recruitment event for UAE Nationals, held in February 2016, it said. The process is ongoing to select candidates for various trainee positions such as multi-skilled operators, technicians, security officers, operation supervisors and clerks, said the statement. This initiative is part of Abu Dhabi Ports well-planned efforts to achieve 51 per cent Emiratisation in 2016. Building on the 47 per cent Emiratisation rate achieved in 2015, the company is rolling out this years programme that will train secondary school graduates to take up technical jobs. It has framed a career path for the selected candidates, which will inspire them to work hard and reach higher positions in their career, it added. Abdullah Humaid Al Hameli, acting /executive vice president - corporate services, at Abu Dhabi Ports, said: The enthusiasm of young Emiratis to train for diverse positions within port operations is welcomed. Their positive attitude indicates the young generations willingness to take up the wise leaderships vision of developing a local workforce that can independently manage all critical infrastructures of the nation. It is our privilege to support, encourage and develop these young talents who inspire us to develop additional Emiratisation programmes, such as Nawrus and many others, he added. TradeArabia News Service Offtec Holding Group (OHG), a leading provider of innovative business and technology solutions in the areas of banking and office technologies and furniture, IT and physical security, IT infrastructure, plastic card technologies and software solutions, has registered a 60 per cent growth in its net profit for 2015 compared to the previous year. This was revealed at the company's annual ordinary general assembly meeting, which was followed by the extraordinary general assembly meeting headed by OHG chairman, Elias Baddour. Senior company officials including chief executive Basim Said, financial manager Dr Nabil Nasser, external auditor Walid Taha attended the meeting besides Muath Rababa, the representative from the Companies Control Department. At the meeting, the officials lauded the notable increase in profit achieved by the group compared to previous years and outlined its future strategy. Established in Jerusalem in 1910, Offtec has today built a large customer base spanning all industries including banks, private sector companies, governmental agencies and educational institutions.-TradeArabia News Service A Saudi soldier died in a gunbattle with militants in the western Taif region outside Makkah on Sunday, state news agency SPA said. Two assailants opened fire on a police station before retreating to the mountain village of Thaqeef where the soldier, named as private Saeed Al-Harithy, was killed in an exchange of fire, SPA reported. Troops found an explosive vest and bomb-making material and the security operation was ongoing, the news agency added. Saudi forces have been caught up in an escalating confrontation with Islamic State militants in the last week after troops shot dead two Islamic State fighters and two others blew themselves up in a raid on their compound outside the holy city of Makkah on Thursday. Two other Islamic State suspects were killed and a third was wounded in southwestern Bisha province on Sunday. - Reuters It was January 2016 and oil prices had crashed to their lowest in more than a decade. Saudi Arabia's Health Minister Khalid Al-Falih, a favourite to take over the oil ministry from his mentor Ali Al-Naimi, was not panicking. Al-Falih told an audience of oil executives, bankers and policymakers at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the world's top oil exporter might benefit from oil below $30 per barrel. It could help to speed up reform and restructure the economy, and move Saudi Arabia to a smaller and more effective government and unleash its private sector, he said. For decades Saudi Arabia, a de facto leader of Opec, had targeted certain oil price levels. If it did not like the price, it would try to orchestrate a production cut or increase together with its fellow Opec members. Things were different this time. For the first time in decades, output cuts were not on the agenda to fix the growing global glut that Saudi Arabia helped create by ramping up supply to drive higher-cost producers such as US shale firms out of the market. Also for the first time in decades, a royal rather than a non-royal - Deputy Crown Price Mohammed bin Salman - had been appointed a few month earlier to oversee Saudi oil policies and drive the massive change. Do you not think Prince Mohammed, who is just 30, is doing it all a bit too fast for the generally conservative Saudi society, Al-Falih was asked. "The Royal Highness is very ambitious where he wants Saudi Arabia to be sooner rather later. I can assure you that everybody who works around him is very excited by his vision and energised by his energy," Al-Falih told the audience. "Some people were concerned that we were too slow in the past.. As a former runner, I can tell you that it helps to go through sprints at times to develop your muscular strengths. We are accelerating reform." The writing was on the wall, said the executives leaving the Davos conference. Al-Falih would soon become oil minister reporting to Prince Mohammed, who is quickly turning into the world's most powerful oil figure. Three months later, Prince Mohammed had a chance to showcase his might when he effectively ordered the Saudi delegation led by Al-Naimi not to agree to a global production freeze deal with Opec and non-Opec Russia. Fellow Opec members accused Al-Naimi, who initially said he liked the deal, of no longer speaking with the voice of authority. Three weeks later on Saturday, Al-Naimi was gone and Al-Falih became energy minister. "It is an end of an era when Naimi fought hard and struggled to create a price environment which would have been good for both consumers and producers," said Gary Ross, a veteran Opec watcher and founder of New York-based consultancy PIRA. "We are moving to a new era where Opec will no longer be managing the market while supply and demand will determine the price. The new Saudi oil leadership believes the market will dictate the price and that means higher volatility. We will see higher highs and lower lows," Ross said. IMPETUS TO REFORM Al-Naimi, born in 1935, had orchestrated several Opec oil output cuts and increases since taking on the oil minister job in 1995. The former Saudi Aramco's clerk-turned-chairman saw oil priced as low as $9 per barrel during the Asian financial crisis at the end of 1990s, as high as $147 in 2008 and back to $36 several months later after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Rumours about Al-Naimi being finally allowed to retire have been hitting the market periodically in the past four years. But even though the Riyadh-born and US-educated Al-Falih has long been tipped to replace Al-Naimi, his fortunes and career kept zigzagging from Saudi Aramco's chairman to health minister until finally securing the job on Saturday - combining energy, industry and mineral resources in a new super ministry. Al-Falih takes the job in a much better market environment compared to January - oil prices have indeed recovered from their January lows of $27 per barrel to trade at around $45 last week on the prospect that the market has began to rebalance thanks to lower US output. Born in 1960, Al-Falih joined Aramco in 1979, and went to study engineering at Texas A&M University in 1982 on an Aramco sponsorship programme. Al-Falih probably knows every oil chief executive in the world as he was the key negotiator behind a Saudi initiative to jointly develop gas resources with oil majors in early 2000. Over the past year, when Al-Naimi was carefully choosing his words or not commenting at all, Al-Falih has become more vocal about his views that the oil market needs to rebalance through low prices and that the Saudis have the resources to wait. "That doesn't really point to somebody who would invest a lot of time and energy in trying to reconcile different Opec members," said Richard Mallinson from Energy Aspects. Al-Falih says job creation and economic reforms are top worries for the Saudi government these days, not an obsession with oil price levels. "Those transitions sometimes takes years, sometimes decades. The current low oil prices will give us an impetus to accelerate this," Al-Falih said in Davos in January. - Reuters A London-based company has launched a new portal to reach out to 1.8 billion Muslim travellers from across the globe who are looking for Halal options for accommodations for short and long stays. The newest player in the peer-to-peer rental accommodation market - Bookhalalhomes.com - is the first of its kind platform to provide a community-driven services for Muslim travellers. The halal tourism market, once seen as a niche revenue stream and limited to those travelling to Saudi Arabia for the annual Hajj pilgrimage, is widening to cater to those who travel worldwide for business and leisure. With a surge in demand, the company is now planning to set up bases in Dubai and Kuala Lumpur as their Middle East and South East Asia headquarters during the second leg of their expansion by the end of 2017, said Karima Bihaki, the founder and CEO of Book Halal Home. "Why Dubai? We see Dubai as a hub of the highest potential region for us. Following the launch of Dubai The Capital of Islamic Economy project under the visionary command of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai has become the magnet for Halal investments, stated Bihaki, who currently runs an Islamic market consultancy business in London. She started this online community platform after recognising that there was a need for more Muslim-friendly holiday accommodations. As someone who, for many years, hosted guests in her own home and rented out short-term accommodations whilst travelling with her family or for business, she wanted to contribute to the Islamic travel market in particular, and Islamic economy in general. When asked in a media interview what led her to set up Book Halal Homes, she said: "As a Muslim woman, I feel safer, more myself, and enjoy my time away more when staying in a private home as opposed to a packed noisy hotel." Bihaki pointed that Book Halal Homes-listed accommodations are required to fulfil certain criteria before getting approval. "The key amenities include halal food, non-alcoholic drinks, non-smoking areas, private pool and spa, prayer facilities on site, leisure facilities for traveling men, women or families and business facilities for business travellers," she added.-TradeArabia News Service Emaar Hospitality Group has officially opened the doors to Rove Downtown Dubai, its latest hospitality experience in the UAE emirate. The new hotel is the first property under Rove brand, a joint venture by Emaar and Meraas, a Dubai-based holding company. A contemporary new midscale hotel and residences brand, Rove Hotels is defined by its cosmopolitan, high-tech, cultural and social outlook a new niche for Dubai. The 420-room Rove Downtown Dubai exemplifies all the core values that Rove Hotels will bring to Dubai, as the first of 10 planned hotels operational in the city by 2020, seven of which have already been announced. Just about 20 minutes from Dubai International Airport and located right next to Downtown Dubai, Rove Downtown Dubai celebrates the very pulse of modern Dubai, with its unique approach to delivering high quality hospitality experiences that transcend typical value hotel norms. Chris Newman, corporate director of operations at Emaar Hospitality Group, said: Rove Downtown Dubai marks the beginning of a new journey for us, inspired by the city of Dubai, past, present and future. It delivers up-to-date convenience packaged in a thoughtfully developed hotel concept that complements Dubais booming tourism sector, which welcomes visitors from across the globe. Rove Hotels is a concept whose time has truly arrived in Dubai. With the profile and aspirations of the modern traveller changing, it is important that we deliver them the right value experiences while contributing to supporting the Dubai Tourism Vision 2020 to welcome 20 million annual visitors by the turn of the decade. He added: Rove Downtown Dubai is novel on many counts but largely because it sets a new norm in midscale hotel pricing, making it at once affordable yet highly distinctive in its design excellence, location, amenities and fuss-free service. Thoughtfully designed, Rove Downtown Dubai is an uncommon hospitality experience. It welcomes visitors with its design that integrates contemporary urban styles with enriching Arabesque features. Drawing from both Dubais heritage and its remarkable development over the past few decades, it is conceived as a social and cultural hub for modern-day explorers. Rove Downtown Dubai offers a hospitality experience that celebrates the city's cultural diversity and modern outlook in understated, authentic and casual elegance. Here, technology is an extension of the lifestyle and efficiency is the essence of service. Connectivity is key to Rove Downtown Dubai. Leisure guests will be delighted with the ease of access to Burj Khalifa and The Dubai Mall, while business travellers have the perfect space to re-energise at a hotel that is in close proximity to the Dubai International Financial Centre and Dubai International Convention Centre. The hotel also offers ease of access to the Dubai Metro station, and all public transport. With Rove Downtown Dubai, Emaar Hospitality Group pays ode to the modern traveller, who traverses without borders. Envisaged as a global travellers hub, it integrates 21st century innovation with Dubais cultural heritage in a thought-provoking and uncommon series of instagrammable moments dotted throughout the hotel. What truly sets Rove Downtown Dubai apart is its emphasis on celebrating the local culture. From vintage photographs to illustrations, installations and sight-and-sound shows all drawn from historic and modern Dubai the cultural context of the hotel will be a refreshing experience for guests and visitors. The interiors reflect the inspiration that Rove Hotels assimilates from its surroundings with the blend of Dubai's heritage and cosmopolitan outlook with a modern, unexpected twist. Highly design-influenced, it uses its limited service offering to facilitate and encourage interaction and exploration of the venue. The 420 rooms in Rove Downtown Dubai are located on 14 floors, and serve as stylised and culturally inclined getaways for guests. Contemporary comfort is the watchword with all rooms being a spacious 26-sq-m, with designer mattresses, and a modern bathroom complete with power rain showers. The rooms also feature 48-inch TV screens with media hub and free wi-fi. In addition, a third of the rooms are interconnecting, making Rove Downtown Dubai a family-friendly destination, with comfortable yet affordable accommodation. Rove Downtown Dubai is designed for the tech-savvy and socially networked generation with effortless connectivity being extended across the guest journey. These include a self-check-in station that eliminates waiting time and the convenience of 2pm check-outs as standard. The hotel also has a 24-hour self-service laundromat, boutique convenience store, luggage lockers and safety deposit boxes, all of which add to the independent lifestyle Rove Hotels offers guests. The state-of-the-art services in Rove Downtown Dubai are counterbalanced by the dining option within the hotel, ensuring that it lives up to its standing as a culturally stimulating social hub. Visitors can head to The Daily - an all-day neighbourhood hangout with quality coffee and healthy comfort food inspired from across the globe served till late. For business guests, Rove Downtown Dubai offers flexible setups for meetings, events, networking and digital hangouts, with well-connected meeting rooms that can soon be booked online by the hour. A Pit Stop is also offered for more relaxed gatherings. Lunch options during business events include grab and go bento boxes or dining at the neighbourhood hangout. Coffee, tea and water are complimentary. Rove Downtown Dubai also offers a choice of leisure amenities which cultivate a peaceful ambience within the hotel. These include a 24-hour gym for those more active Rovers, and a welcoming pool and sun deck for those looking to relax and unwind. The launch of Rove Downtown Dubai underlines the full spectrum of Emaar Hospitality Groups lifestyle experiences offered through its other popular brands, The Address Hotels + Resorts, Vida Hotels and Resorts, and now, Rove Hotels. Designed for the young and young at heart, Rove Hotels defines a new niche in the hospitality sector offering reliable, modern, fuss-free, and efficient service. Ten Rove Hotels are being planned in the coming years in central locations in Dubai. - TradeArabia News Service Fairmont The Palm, Dubai, a luxurious resort in the UAE emirate, has named Alain Gobeil as its new executive chef. A Canadian national, Gobeil brings almost two decades international experience on three continents to the high profile role. A graduate of the Institut de Tourisme et dHotellerie du Quebec, Gobeil is no stranger to the Fairmont brand, having worked at renowned locations including the Fairmont Chateau Laurier, Ottawa, and Fairmont Queen Elizabeth, Montreal in his native Canada, as well as at the groups UAE flagship properties Fairmont Dubai and Fairmont Bab Al Bahr. Alain is a highly motivated and quality-focused chef with an eye for detail and natural passion for all aspects of the food and restaurant business, both creative and commercial; as well as boasts extensive UAE market knowledge. As a resort property with six unique and award-winning outlets operating in a highly competitive marketplace, his mandate is to not only maintain our position as a culinary destination on Palm Jumeirah, but to ensure that we are trend-setters on the Dubai dining scene, said Mark Sawkins, general manager, Fairmont The Palm. His early international career saw him train under the watchful eye of industry greats, the Roux brothers, during his time at the two Michelin-star Le Gavroche, London. This was interspersed with various stints both back home with Fairmont Chateau Whistler and at the Four Seasons Resort Whistler, as well as management positions at Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman and Four Seasons Sharm El Sheikh. His UAE experience also includes roles with Fairmont Dubai, where he was part of the pre-opening team involved in setting up the hugely successful Spectrum on One multi-kitchen restaurant, and Fairmont Bab Al Bahr, Abu Dhabi, where he was executive sous chef from pre-opening, with an active role in the recruitment and hiring process. Dubai foodies, and our resort guests, have a great selection of dining venues on their doorstep, and the challenge to keep Fairmont The Palm in the spotlight as a diverse and innovative hub for relaxed yet inspired dining is one that I am very much looking forward to; its an exciting time to be involved in the food and beverage industry in the city, said Gobeil. Gobeil joins Fairmont The Palm from a similar role at another luxury five-star hotel and brings with him wealth of knowledge, experience and oodles of ideas of where he wants to take the culinary experience of the popular Palm resort next. Alain will also spearhead the launch of new food and beverage concepts for the resort as we expand our well-rounded collection of venues, and keep Fairmont The Palm front of mind when it comes to hugely successful concepts like the Ultimate Family Friday Brunch at Flow Kitchen, Seagrill on 25 Restaurant and Lounge, home of our famed lobster burger and the Saturday BBQ Brunch, noted Sawkins. Other outlets under his remit include the popular Brazilian churrascaria, Frevo, and the popular Mashrabiya Lounge, with its award-winning Arabia-inspired afternoon tea. - TradeArabia News Service So when they butt-stroked me to the head from an AK-47 and I was bleeding down the side of my face and they threw me back in the cell I could CHEYENNE The mountain pine beetle outbreak that spanned almost two decades is all but over locally, but dead and dying trees remain. Since the outbreaks beginning in 1996, the pine beetle has killed thousands of mature lodgepole pine trees across Wyoming, Colorado and other Rocky Mountain states. But as the beetle has run into fewer trees to attack, the outbreak has subsided. The mountain pine beetle epidemic for Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests has basically run its course, said Mark Westfahl, a timber program manager for the national forests and Thunder Basin National Grassland. Westfahl said evidence from aerial surveys shows the number of acres affected by pine beetles has decreased. On Medicine Bow National Forest land, which covers the Laramie, Snowy and Sierra Madre ranges, Westfahl said 1,700 new acres of timber were affected by the beetle outbreak in 2015. That compares to a total of 681,000 acres affected from 1996 through 2015. On Routt National Forest land, which is in northern Colorado around Steamboat Springs, no new land was affected by the pine beetle in 2015, and a total of 613,000 acres have been affected since 1996. Medicine Bow National Forest totals about 1.1 million acres, and Routt National Forest totals about 1.125 million acres. The mountain pine beetle is native to the region and was able to have a population outbreak due to mild winters and low precipitation. But after feasting on trees for 20 years, the insects are running out of food. Theyve probably eaten up the trees theyre going to attack, Westfahl said. The Forest Service has been tackling the issue of dead trees for several years, and has been clearing dead trees from roads, campgrounds and other recreation areas. The Forest Service has also made use of stewardship contracts to clear dead trees from areas people use, Westfahl said. We now have a landscape that has hundreds of thousands of trees on it, and those trees are beginning to fall down, he said. Another beetle responsible for tree deaths, the spruce beetle, has subsided in Wyoming, though Colorado is still being markedly affected. Westfahl said 750 new acres affected by spruce beetle were found on Medicine Bow National Forest land in 2015, bringing the total to 118,000 acres affected since 1996. Meanwhile, 8,000 new acres affected by spruce beetle were found on Routt National Forest Land, bringing the total to 176,000 acres affected since 1996. The dead trees also contribute somewhat to the potential for forest fires, though to varying degrees as they pass through the stages of death. The fire danger goes up and down through that whole cycle, Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests spokesman Aaron Voos said. When the trees initially die, their needles dry out and turn red, known as the red phase, making the tree very flammable. The needles then begin to fall and the tree enters a gray phase, and fire danger is reduced. Eventually the tree will fall, increasing fire danger once more. Its not that its more flammable, its that it would burn hot on the forest floor, Voos said. Finally, the tree will rot, and the fire danger drops again. Of course, fires are also strongly influenced by other factors, like dry weather and wind, and living trees can burn quickly under the right conditions. Research as to if and how the mountain pine beetle contributes to the threat of forest fires is ongoing. The pine beetle didnt hit the entire forest at once, creating different levels of tree death throughout the region. Voos said that in general, the worst of the beetle outbreak chronologically moved north into Wyoming from Colorado, and the Pole Mountain Unit of the Medicine Bow National Forest was one of the last areas to get hit hard by the beetle. Regardless, forest users need to be mindful of their surroundings when visiting the forest, Westfahl said. Dont camp or park a car near dead trees, and be aware of their location when engaging in other activities. Just be aware of your surroundings, Westfahl said. The Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests and the University of Wyoming have collaborated to create a website, www.beyondbarkbeetles.org, for more information about the effects of the outbreak. When Flagstaff Medical Center closed and transferred the rehab and outpatient clinics at its Heart and Vascular Center Monday, the phones didnt stop ringing all day. On Thursday, the Arizona Daily Sun sat down with FMC officials to discuss the changes and its new partnership with Mountain Heart. Participating were Flo Spyrow, executive vice president and Flagstaff Medical Center Chief Administrative Officer; Dr. Kent Winkler, cardiologist and founding partner of Mountain Heart; and Richard Smith, vice president of Northern Arizona Healthcare Development and Communications. Arizona Daily Sun: Why did Flagstaff Medical Center and Mountain Heart wait so long to notify patients of the change? Spyrow: We had to wait until all of the contracts were signed to notify patients. We didnt want to cause more anxiety for patients. Staff has been telling rehab patients over the last week of the move and letters were sent out last week to patients. Sun: What happened to the doctors and staff at the Heart & Vascular Center? Were they all offered jobs at Mountain Heart? Winkler: All Flagstaff Medical Center staff and physicians were offered the chance to apply for any open positions at Mountain Heart. Cardiologists Eric Cohen, Omar Wani and Andrew Atiemo have already moved their practices to Mountain Heart and are seeing patients there. All patient records have moved with the doctors. Atiemo is seeing Dr. Craig Peters patients here and in Winslow. We are also making calls to all of the Heart & Vascular Center patients to notify them of the change and answer any questions they might have. All patients who have questions or concerns should call Mountain Heart. Sun: Does Mountain Heart accept the same health insurance that FMC does? Smith: There are no gaps in insurance coverage for patients. Sun: What services will be offered at FMC, and what services will be offered at Mountain Heart and DeRosa Physical Therapy? Spyrow: All (catheterization) lab work, emergency room and surgical work will be done at Flagstaff Medical Center. All outpatient and office visits will be held at Mountain Heart, but there is still a relationship between FMC and Mountain Heart. Doctors at Mountain Heart will be able to use the surgical suites and equipment at FMC for any procedure they may need to do, including open heart surgery. Smith: All of the same outpatient testing and evaluations that the Heart & Vascular Center of Northern Arizona was doing at Flagstaff Medical Center can be done at Mountain Heart. Spyrow: Mountain Heart also has the ability to do some tests that the Heart & Vascular Center was not able to do. Spyrow: Winkler is also working as a cardiac hospitalist at Flagstaff Medical Center. This will allow Flagstaff Medical Center to have a cardiologist on call for emergencies and to check on recovering patients. (A hospitalist is typically a doctor who only sees patients that are staying in a hospital. They usually dont have an outside office where they see patients. They are usually general practice doctors and dont have a specialty in any one medical field. Having a specialist work rounds as a hospitalist is unusual.) Winkler: Were actually looking at expanding our services. Were partnering with one of the oldest and most established electrophysiology groups in the state, the Arizona Arrhythmia Consultants, to provide electrophysiology services here. Electrophysiology works with the electrical rhythms of the heart. They treat patients who may have an irregular heartbeat. Sun: Why did FMC and Mountain Heart create this partnership? Winkler: Mountain Heart and FMC have a similar mission to provide the best possible care for patients and their family. Flagstaff Medical Center is really good at inpatient care and Mountain Heart is really good at outpatient care. This is a partnership that strengthens both of us in a way that provides better care across the board. Smith: This type of care model is being adopted all over the country. Were not reinventing the wheel on this. Most patients prefer going to a free-standing clinic for rehab or outpatient services. They dont have to navigate the halls of the hospital and they can park and walk into one building for services. Spyrow: We wanted to create a destination, a place where patients from across northern Arizona can come for quality cardiac care. This will better serve the outlying areas of northern Arizona by providing one place for patients to go for all of their outpatient needs and a hospital that is better able to focus on acute or emergency cardiac care needs. Winkler: A lot of our patients come from outside of the Flagstaff area. I would say about a third of our patients are from out of town. Mountain Heart provides a better location for many of them to come to. Its close to Interstate 40 in a free-standing building that offers a convenient one-stop place for all of their clinical and outpatient needs. Sun: Does the partnership provide a better cost savings to either the patient or the hospital? Smith: Hospitals like FMC have to provide multiple lines of service because there is no other provider in the area. Some of those services that FMC provides such as open heart surgery, brain surgery and cancer care are rare for hospitals of FMCs size. Some of those specialties, while necessary for the community, dont provide a lot of income to the hospital, so the cost to provide those services is spread across all of the hospitals departments, which drives up the cost of care for patients. By moving the cardiac outpatient services and rehab to facilities outside of FMC, the hospital does lose the revenue from those departments, but it also frees up space for the hospital to expand services for patients who have the most urgent health needs. It also frees up hospital bed space for those patients, creating a more efficient use of both office space and bed space and reducing the cost of service. The move also lowers the cost of service to patients who only need outpatient or rehab services. They dont have to help pay for all of the equipment, office space and bed space that they arent using for their treatment. Winkler: Mountain Heart ..has to provide the best care with the recognition of the cost to patients and insurance companies. Otherwise the patients and insurance companies will look for better, more cost effective care elsewhere. The hospital was actually willing to sacrifice a portion of that profit for its patients. Sun: What will happen to the open office space for The Heart & Vascular Center and the rehab facility at FMC? Spyrow: We have a couple of ideas for the open office space in the Heart & Vascular Center. One idea is to expand the hospitals behavioral health program into the area. The rehab facility will be used as a wellness center for employees. Tucked inside one of the most photographed vistas in Wyoming rest two pieces of land in limbo. No fences mark their boundaries. A casual viewer couldnt tell them apart from the rest of Grand Teton National Park. Pronghorn move through the area on their now-famous 120-mile migration. Bison and elk graze in the meadows. But inside that picturesque view with yawning sagebrush fields and jagged peaks are two 1-mile square sections of land owned by the state of Wyoming. The fate of those pieces has been the focus of negotiation, debate and controversy for decades, and the clock is ticking on a deal to secure them as national park land forever. The Department of the Interior has until the end of this year to purchase the two parcels. If it doesnt, the land could be put up for sale to the highest bidder, which could result in houses or condominiums marring the pristine views. A deal is in the works right now to buy one of the pieces for $46 million. The federal government may be willing to commit almost half of the asking price, but the rest of the money depends on private donations. Even though these negotiations have challenging moments, we really believe it is worth this uphill climb, said Sharon Mader, Grand Teton Program Manager for the National Parks Conservation Association. It would be a real victory for Wyoming and the Park Service and everyone who loves and enjoys Grand Teton National Park. Unresolved issue Wyoming has long struggled with what to do with the two state parcels. By law, land owned by the state should be used to generate revenue for the benefit of the schools system. Most state land in Wyoming is leased for commercial purposes such as ranching or energy development, earning the state about $243 million in 2015. But these Grand Teton parcels are different. They appraise for millions, and as is, make the state very little, said Bridget Hill, director of Wyomings Office of State Lands and Investments. One parcel is not currently leased. The other is used for cattle grazing and earns $1,855 a year. Thats a far cry from the $92 million the state says the parcels are worth together. So in 2010, then Gov. Dave Freudenthal, told the federal government it needed to either buy the parcels along with a few other items in the area for their appraised value, or they would be sold. The state and feds worked out a deal giving Washington until the end of 2016 to buy the various portions. Department of the Interior bought a small mineral interest for $2,000 and another parcel worth $16 million. But then things stalled, Hill said. Some Wyoming lawmakers tried unsuccessfully to pass a bill extending the deadline for the federal government during the 2016 legislative session. I would very much like to see this transaction completed, Hill said. Its been around a long time, and we continue to have conversations with them, but the big thing that needs to be done is finding the funds. Uncertain future The National Park Service has made purchasing these parcels its No. 1 priority, said Mader, with the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association. A bill moving through Congress to reauthorize the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund has $22.5 million set aside in fiscal year 2017 to buy one of the pieces, called the Antelope Flats section. The state wants $46 million for the parcel. The remaining funds will be raised through private philanthropy, which I think is really exciting and really demonstrates how these public, private partnerships can really help to accomplish some of these big lifts in terms of raising millions of dollars, Mader said. Leslie Mattson, president of the Grand Teton National Park Foundation, said the group is exploring the possibility of a private philanthropic solution, but she was not prepared to announce anything. If the deadline runs out, the feds can still buy the land, Hill said, but they would have to compete with other bidders. Selling land to only one party without going to public auction, as the feds can do until the end of the year, requires legislative approval. And even if the deal falls through, they might not be sold, Hill clarified. They could also be exchanged for other parcels of federal land in the state. We can continue to hold onto them until we figure out what to do with them, she said. We can figure out additional ways to generate revenue. Hill, Mader and others are still hopeful the deal will work. They agree the land is best suited as part of the National Park system. But selling is an option, and one that worries people like Mader. Auctioning off the land could result in houses, condominiums or even commercial development in the middle of the national park, she said. These lands are very visible to millions of tourists going by, Mader said. Our economy is a tourism economy, and it would really be a blight on the face of national park lands if these extremely scenic and wildlife rich lands would be developed. It didn't take long for three Colorado State University undergrads to notice they weren't like most computer science students. Grace Walkuski realized the difference during the 2015 Ram Welcome when she and other freshman were introduced to CSU's Computer Science Department. "I was looking around and there were like 10 girls out of at least 100 people," she said. " ... So many guys." CSU isn't alone in struggling to get females interested in computer science majors. Dozens of schools across the country are seeing a similar gender gap that could prevent thousands of women from accessing high-paying, in-demand computer science jobs. "Beyond a purely practical sense, computer science is just a really cool field and it's really sad that women who might be really, really good might choose not to pursue computer science," sophomore Laura South said. South, Walkuski and Amber Nolte lead CSU's Association for Computing Machinery - Women to support female students pursuing computer science and draw more women to the department. The group of about 40 members is one of a handful of efforts that have sprung up at CSU in recent years to increase female enrollment in computer science. The department is experimenting with ways to attract, retain and graduate more women, professor Chris Wilcox said. In recent years, Wilcox and other faculty introduced new scholarships, training events, curriculum changes and high school outreach programs. The changes follow Wilcox and others realizing the gender gap in classes and hearing a growing national chorus about declining female participation in computer science. In 2016, CSU's Computer Science Department started training teaching assistants to recognize and report harassment and to grade without gender bias. The department also started talking to students in introductory classes about creating a positive environment for all students. For the last two years, the department has been luring a handful of incoming diverse students to the major with $1,000 scholarships. The school also gives one or two diverse students excelling in the program $5,000 annually. "We want to keep the same high standards while increasing female participation," Wilcox said. "We owe it to them to give them the opportunity because these are some of the best-paying jobs that exist right now and if they're being edged out or discouraged, then we're doing this group of students a disservice." The average starting salary for computer science majors was projected at $61,287 in 2015, according to an analysis published by USA TODAY. The only college majors expected to earn more $62,998 on average were engineering grads. Money alone might not be enough to meet the workforce needs of employers. To help address demand for programmers, developers and other professionals, Google and other companies are looking at ways to get more women interested and enrolled in computer science programs. In 2014, Google published a study stating, " ... the lack of female participation in computer science exacerbates a pre-existing problem with labor supply shortages: the overall need for computer science professionals has severely outstripped the number of graduates entering the workforce." The study found that universities and employers can take action to address the lack of women in computer science. "That's not to say this is a problem that can be solved easily, but it is a problem that can be tackled with deliberate and directed action focused on encouragement and exposure." It's hard to understand why so few women are coming into computer science, said Janice Nerger, dean of the College of Natural Sciences at CSU. "You have to be able to recognize people like yourself in your discipline." Nerger plans to ask for money for diversity efforts during the January budget hearings at CSU. "I don't think we should be asking for more funds until we've run the experiment and seen what works," she said. "I don't have a specific goal (for graduation rates) except to be better than the national average." National and Local Computer Science Graduation Rates During the most recent 2014-2015 school year, 9 percent 10 of 116 undergraduate computer science degrees were conferred to women at CSU, according to CSU data. Nationwide, undergraduate women earned 18 percent of computer and information-science degrees in 2013-2014, down from a 37 percent peak in 1983-1984, according to the National Center For Education Statistics. The federal organization did not have more recent numbers readily available. A legislative committee will discuss Monday state laws that entangled Wyoming in the Panama Papers, 11.5 million leaked documents from a Central American law firm accused of helping wealthy people create shell companies to avoid paying taxes. Of the 214,488 entities mentioned in the Panama Papers, 24 were found to be registered in Wyoming as limited liability companies, according to a statement from Ed Murray, the Wyoming Secretary of State. The leaked client records came from the Mossack Fonseca & Co. law firm, headquartered in Panama City. The Wyoming Legislatures Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Interim Committee will discuss the states limited liability company statutes at a regularly scheduled meeting in Lander. Murray and some of his staff members will attend. At least one corporate attorney will participate in person and other corporate attorneys will testify via telephone, said committee chairman Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne. Its unclear whether any of the attorneys will be critical of Wyomings laws, which have tied the state to several shell company scandals over the years. Federal regulators are not attending the meeting. Zwonitzer said thats because he believes Wyomings laws have been congruent with federal laws since an overhaul of the statute in 2009. An investigation by journalists for the McClatchy Co. found that Wyomings laws are attractive to foreigners because they offer anonymity. The state does not require disclosure of the identities of the organizations officers. The state only requires a Wyoming-based address, but a registered agent can suffice. A registered agent must accept mail for the companies and be a point of contact if the company gets sued. The practice has resulted in a cottage industry of professional registered agent companies in the Cowboy State. Some of the companies employees told McClatchy they didnt themselves know really who was behind the limited liability corporations they represented. Zwonitzer believes Wyomings laws are mostly strong. The state may be attractive to foreign groups because of a reputation it had before the 2009 reform and because the state lacks an income tax. Murrays office will suggest the legislative panel change two small parts of state statute, Zwonitzer said. The secretarys office met with attorneys and compared Wyoming law to other states laws, and found the changes necessary, he said. One change will prohibit companies from advertising that they have shell companies that they can rent or sell to people. The Star-Tribune found last month many professional registered agents brag online about Wyomings lax corporation laws, which proponents of the laws would describe as business-friendly. They can still say we have great laws, Zwonitzer said. They cant say, We have (shell) companies you can buy. There are no good reasons why someone would want to buy a shell company that is 30 years old. The second change requires an additional person be disclosed as representing the company, Zwonitzer said. It basically mandates you have two separate individuals who have responsibility for the company, he said. And they have to be separate. One cant work for the other. Wildlife advocates said recently they will seek a court order halting a United States government program that allows tens of thousands of pelts from bobcats and a small number of gray wolves to be exported annually for sale on the international fur market. Representatives of WildEarth Guardians said the little-known program should not continue without a detailed study of its effect on wildlife populations. Government figures show more than 57,000 bobcat pelts and a handful of wolf pelts were exported from the U.S. in 2014, the most recent year for which data was available. Exports over the past decade ranged from a low of 30,000 bobcat pelts in 2009 to almost 68,000 in 2013. The pelts typically are used to make fur garments and accessories. Russia, China, Canada and Greece are top destinations, according to a trapping industry representative and government reports. The governments been allowing this to happen blindly without doing any analysis. When were talking about such high numbers, its just preposterous, said Bethany Cotton, director of WildEarth Guardians wildlife program. The group filed a lawsuit in federal court in Missoula challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service program. The agency regulates trade in animal and plant parts according to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which the U.S. ratified in 1975. Bobcats are not considered an endangered species, nor are wolves in much of the Northern Rockies including Montana and Idaho. Nevertheless, the international trade in bobcat and wolf pelts is regulated because they are look-alikes for other wildlife population that are listed as endangered. State wildlife agencies have opposed the inclusion of bobcats in the CITES treaty, arguing the species is thriving and protections are unnecessary. The animals are about twice as large as house cats and feed primarily on rabbits and hares. They range across the contiguous U.S. and portions of Canada and Mexico, according to the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. Between 2.3 million and 3.6 million bobcats lived in the U.S., with populations that were stable or increasing in at least 40 states, according to a 2010 study from researchers at Cornell University and the University of Montana. Cotton said her organization became aware of the scale of bobcat fur exports when it sued state game officials in Montana over the accidental capture of another wild cat, Canada lynx, by trappers pursuing bobcats. Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Laury Parramore said the agency would not comment on pending litigation. But she said the government requires exported pelts to be legally acquired and not detrimental to the survival of the species. National Trappers Association President Chris McAllister says the targeting of exports marks a new tactic in a long-running campaign by advocacy groups to shut down the industry. Prior lawsuits have focused on the types of traps used and the inadvertent trapping of protected species. Theyre trying to use anything they can, McAllister said. If they can shut us down from exporting furs, it would definitely have an impact. McAllister could not immediately provide figures on how many bobcats are trapped across the U.S. annually. He said prices for pelts from the animals fell drastically over the past several years, from as much as $1,000 for a top-quality pelt to just $200 today. After 10 long years, the Forest Service is finally ready to make a critical decision about oil and gas leasing in the Wyoming Range. And they need to hear from us all of us who love this incredible place. Back in 2006, against the wishes of citizens, local businesses, elected officials, ranchers, outfitters, hunters and anglers, the Forest Service agreed to open up roughly 40,000 acres along the eastern slope of the Wyoming Range to oil and gas leasing. And most people whove spent any time in this area felt it was a terrible decision. These leases were found to have been offered improperly, and so the fate of this part of the Wyoming Range has been in limbo ever since. There are a lot of places where oil and gas development makes sense. The Wyoming Range is not one of them. We talk about balance, but what does that mean? Simple: Balance means you leave some places alone. Theres no good reason to expand oil and gas development into this beloved landscape. Anybody who knows the Wyoming Range will tell you: The trophy class elk and mule deer herds here are unparalleled. Half the entire states moose population lives right here. And native cutthroat trout habitat? Theres none better. The Wyoming Range is where locals go every chance we get. Its where we camp, hunt and fish. Its where we take our kids. Its where we make new memories. Why would we risk losing all of this just so a couple of companies can drill 20-some wells? It doesnt make sense. Not with thousands of wells already in production or in the works nearby in Sublette County. Most everyone agrees on this point, but we need to let the Forest Service hear that, loud and clear one last time. Ten years ago, the Forest Service made a mistake. And for 10 years weve been waiting for the Forest Service to right this wrong. The people who love the Wyoming Range have been working to make sure this kind of mistake wont happen again. We worked together to pass the Wyoming Range Legacy Act, bipartisan legislation envisioned by late Sen. Craig Thomas and supported by Gov. Freudenthal and Sens. Barrasso and Enzi. The act protects our treasured mountain range from future oil and gas leasing. Then we worked together to raise $8.75 million to buy out and retire adjacent oil and gas leases in the Upper Hoback Basin. Now we have to work together one more time. A new analysis is out and the Forest Services preferred alternative of no leasing is right on. These are our lands. This is our legacy. A no leasing decision is the only one that will protect our legacy. The Forest Service is accepting comments through May 23. Were asking everyone to weigh in during the comment period and support the good direction the Forest Service is going. For more information, visit www.wyomingrange.org. The Better Business Bureau has helped Southern Arizonans tell good businesses from bad for more than 60 years. But while its been around a long time, there are still some misconceptions about what the group does and how it operates. A lot of people think were some sort of government agency, but we have no enforcement authority at all, said Alan Schultz, director of marketing and program development. The real power that we have is we are an authoritative voice, so if we say that a company is behaving badly, people listen to that. What does the BBB do? The nonprofit certifies companies as trustworthy, handles consumer complaints and alerts about scams and disreputable business practices. The Southern Arizona BBB covers five counties: Pima, Santa Cruz, Cochise, Graham and Greenlee. The group keeps and updates a database of more than 33,000 businesses, along with their corresponding information, rating and any complaints filed against them. Anyone can go to tucson.bbb.org and search for a business operating in the area, regardless of whether its an accredited business or not. What is an accredited business? Companies are not members of the BBB, instead they are called accredited businesses. There are several standards a business has to meet before it is accredited by the group. These requirements include maintaining a positive track record, transparency, being responsive, safeguarding customer privacy and not engaging in false advertising. Accredited businesses pay dues based on the number of employees, starting at $350 per year for an owner-operated company. The fee covers the right to use the BBB seal to advertise or identify the business. The group is primarily funded this way. Do companies pay for a good rating? Companies cannot pay to improve their rating or to make complaints go away, BBB officials said. Out of the more than 30,000 businesses in the region, only about 3,000 are accredited by the BBB. There are many businesses that are not accredited with us that have an A-plus rating, but there are no accredited businesses that have bad ratings. If anyone falls below a B-rating they lose their accreditation, Schultz said. An established company can see a drop in its rating if it fails to satisfactorily resolve any valid complaints. How does the complaint process work? The complaint must be made in writing. The most common ways for customers to file a grievance is by filling out a form online or visiting the groups Tucson office, 5151 E. Broadway, No. 100. Consumers can also write or call the BBB at 888-5353 and they will be mailed a complaint form. The group will send the complaint to the business and ask for a timely response, which it will then forward to the consumer. The BBB will try to mediate and resolve the problems to everyones satisfaction and post the process online. Complaints stay up on a companys rating page for three years. For accredited businesses, the complaint has to be resolved satisfactorily in order for them to continue to be accredited, Schultz said. For non-accredited businesses, sometimes they dont respond or their response is less than friendly, and we post all that, he said. In 2015, the Southern Arizona BBB processed 2,799 complaints. Can the Better Business Bureau take legal action? While the group does not have any legal enforcement powers, it is in direct contact with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Arizona Attorney Generals Office and the Arizona Registrar of Contractors, said Ryan Foster, communications manager for the BBB. But if a company is doing something wrong or is scamming consumers, officials said, the authorities tend to work a lot faster when there is public pressure. My best defense, at least in my position, is we get out to the media. Once people learn about whats going on they will stop visiting them or theyll get out of town and stop operating here, Foster said. Tucsons Five Palms Steak and Seafood is in the middle of a copyright lawsuit for not having the proper licensing for some of the music played there. The upscale Foothills restaurant has live music five to seven nights a week. Theres dancing, a DJ and recorded music, too, said Jodie Thomas, a spokeswoman for BMI, the company suing Five Palms. When copyrighted music is performed in an establishment, regardless of whether it is performed by a live band, DJ, karaoke or a jukebox, the business owner must obtain permission from the copyright owner, Thomas said via email. The copyright lawsuit is the latest episode in recent troubles for the restaurant, which include a failed health inspection last month, its second in six months. That inspection found excessive buildup of debris on kitchen equipment and utensils and a walk-in fridge running at higher temperatures than code standards allow. The restaurant also previously failed two consecutive inspections in June of 2014, according to Star news archives. It passed its re-inspection last week. Nino Aidi, the restaurants owner, said Five Palms is currently paying its music licensing fees to ASCAP and is making arrangements with BMI for its licensing. BMI holds 10.5 million musical works in their BMI Repertoire. A proper license allows businesses to play the copyrighted songs in public, Thomas said. BMI reached out to Five Palms owner 109 times starting in September of 2013, including 69 phone calls and messages, at least 40 letters including cease and desist notices and emails in an attempt to warn the establishment of its obligation to pay for the music, court documents show. Ten claims of willful copyright infringement were made by BMI. Some of the claims are for well-known songs like Blue Suede Shoes, Margaritaville and Oh, Pretty Woman. . Penalties for not paying BMI can range from $750 to $150,000 per song if willful infringement is found, Thomas said. We never want to see things escalate to a lawsuit, which is why we spend a lot of time trying to educate, said Thomas, noting lawsuits are a last resort for the company. We want to work with businesses to ensure that everyone benefits from the music. According to Thomas, a license can cost less than a dollar a day depending on the size of the establishment, the type of music being played and how often the music is performed. Some business owners are unaware of the federal copyright law, according to Thomas, so BMI spends a lot of time educating them about the laws requirements and the importance of obtaining a music license. Thomas said that most business owners comply with the copyright law and obtain a music license, which is why they advertise on social media and charge for admittance. But for those who dont, several attempts at contacting the business owner through phone calls and letters are made, after which an in-person visit may occur . As a performing-rights organization, it is our mission to work on behalf of the songwriter to make sure they are compensated for their work whenever their music is played or performed in a public place, Thomas said. Songwriters are entitled to be paid for their creative works. When the company would call Five Palms about the copyright violations, Aidi says the former manager would inform them that the restaurant was already paying dues to ASCAP. That manager was not aware that multiple music companies had to be paid to cover many different songs. Aidi said he is currently negotiating to have the lawsuit dismissed by paying the dues and becoming a member of BMI in addition to ASCAP. Now if we are a member of both companies, that means we are 90 percent of the market, Aidi said. And thats what we are trying to do. Growing up, Perla Vanesa Barraza knew about her legal status in this country. It was not something she had to deal with until one day at high school she sought to enroll in a Pima Community College course. While filling out the paperwork, she reached the line that asked for legal residency. I literally broke down, said Barraza, who was 3 years old when her parents brought her and a younger sister to the U.S. from Tijuana, Mexico. A second sister was born in the United States. Barraza made a beeline to a teacher at Desert View High School and revealed something she had never before told a teacher. I said it: Im illegal, she said, quickly adding, And I hate that word. But that hateful, abusive word doesnt even come close to defining who Barraza is and what dreams the 24-year-old Tucson resident has. Shes a daughter and a sister. Shes an avid learner and an aspiring actress. Shes animated and pensive. Shes a Dreamer and a recipient of DACA (the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy), someone who, meeting specific requirements, received a temporary job permit and a stay of deportation. I caught up with Barraza at the downtown office of Borderlands Theater, where she works part time and is a member of the grass-roots theater ensemble. In the recently concluded Borderlands production, Ghosts of Lote Bravo, Barraza played the challenging role of Raquel, a teenager caught in a vise of poverty and violence in a Mexican border city. Hers was an emotionally draining role, one that she relished. Theater, she said, allows her to channel her energy and focus, diverting the emotions and worries. Theater, she added, is her safe haven. Like the tens of thousands of others who are working, studying and dreaming under the 2012 provisions of DACA, Barraza is waiting for a critical U.S. Supreme Court decision. The court will decide whether to uphold President Obamas executive orders that granted temporary reprieve to a fraction of undocumented immigrants under DACA, along with the policys expanded version in 2014 and that years Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA), which granted temporary status to parents of U.S. citizens or residents. Last month, an ideologically divided high court heard arguments in support of the administration and from 26 states, including Arizona, opposing the regulations. The court is expected to make a ruling this summer, as early as June. The law might be upheld, struck down or left alone for the next president after the November election. Regardless, Barraza said her life will remain unchanged. She will pursue acting and worry about her mother, who is undocumented and remains unprotected from deportation. Barrazas father lives in Nogales, Sonora, after he was deported in October. We do the fence thing, she said, referring to how she and her father visit, fingers touching fingers, separated by the border barrier. At home, Barraza lives with her mother on Tucsons south side. My mom struggles every day, Barraza said. Some days her mother makes money cleaning houses. Other days she doesnt. I dont know how she does it every day, Barraza says. In addition to her Borderlands work, Barraza works two days a week as a tutor in Sells on the Tohono Oodham Nation. She also continues to complete her associates degree at Pima, with the goal of transferring to a university to study theater. But, again, her legal status will determine if she can attend or even afford a university. Arizonas public universities charge DACA students in-state tuition, which is still steep for Barraza and other working-class Dreamers. Barraza, who had a near-perfect GPA in high school, could have received a Pima College scholarship, but was ineligible because of her legal status. Still, she cobbled together several scholarships afforded to DACA students. She has worked with Scholarships A-Z, a state group that supports DACA students with resources and information, and organizes workshops for students and educators. Its a struggle, she said, living under political uncertainties, and constantly facing risks and rejection from a sizable portion of the public. Its depressing. Its like living in a cage, she said. Youre trying to feed yourself, but some people dont want you to eat. Barraza will persevere. She intends to find her lifes sustenance performing on the stage. She said: I can use theater as a form of activism. There's nothing wrong with having your parents choose your name just because they like the name. But my guess is that those people are in the minority. Even so, by the time we're grown most of us have stories we can tell about our names. Stories like this: My parents are named Brooke and Terry. Brooke is my dad and Terry is my mom, but you can understand that some people reverse them when they are first introduced as a couple. These things happen with family names that are passed down. My brother is named after our uncle. Their birthdays are one day apart. At one time they both had vacation homes on the same street. The mail carrier was not amused. When I talk to my sons about Uncle Dan, I have to say "my Uncle Dan" or "your Uncle Dan." Here are a few stories some Arizona Daily Star staffers and friends have revealed about their names. If you read all the way to the end, you'll be rewarded with Myles Standish's story. Tell us your story We want to know your story. Send the story of your name to eds@tucson.com and we'll collect them and publish them online later in May. Of course, we'll need to know your first and last name, which will be published, and contact information, which will not be published, in case we have questions. A photo is not required, but we sure would like one. Please include the name of the photographer and the names of anyone recognizable in the photo. PHOENIX -- State lawmakers wrapped up the 2016 legislative session Saturday with what some critics say is a last-minute poke at voters. Over the objections of several Democrats, the House voted 31-25 to give final approval to HB 2296.. The main provision would curb the ability of both the Secretary of State's Office and the Citizens Clean Elections Commission to demand that certain "social welfare'' groups disclose information on their donors. If all that sounds familiar, it should: The same provisions were in SB 1516 signed into law earlier this year by Gov. Doug Ducey. But the wording of that bill means it cannot take effect until sometime later this summer. HB 2296 would become law no earlier. But in a bit of legislative sleight of hand, it contains language making it effective, retroactively, later this month. Rep. J.D. Mesnard, R-Chandler, said the aim was simply to have the provisions in place for this year's elections. But Rep. Ken Clark, D-Phoenix, said he sees something more sinister in the measure which is now on the desk of Gov. Doug Ducey. Clark is spearheading a petition drive to put the provisions of SB 1516 on the ballot in November. If voters reject what lawmakers have done, that legislation self destructs. But here's the thing: If SB 1516 goes away, the law -- and specifically the provision designed to go after "dark money'' -- defaults to the way it was before the November election. And that would be the identical language in HB 2296. Put another way, the changes in campaign disclosure laws would still remain. Clark said that leaves only one option: Have two separate petition drives to force a vote on both measures. That adds to the effort and expense. Mesnard denied that was the intent. But a clearly angry Clark said that does not matter. "If you are a responsible lawmaker and you know that your actions have an unintended consequence that will force the voters to have to go twice to the ballot to overturn one law, then you are acting against the spirit of our constitution,'' he said. It is a constitutional provision that gives voters the right to have the last word on virtually anything approved by the legislature. It takes just 75,321 valid signatures on petitions gathered within 90 days of the end of the legislative session to put any legislative act on "hold'' until voters get to decide whether they want the new law. But asking voters to review two separate measures, even if they have identical language, means two separate petition drives. Mesnard conceded Clark's point. "That's true,'' he said of the need for two petition drives. But Mesnard said the new version and its retroactive effect is designed to short-circuit what he believes are improper investigations by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission. That goes to the heart of the battle. Current Arizona law requires groups that spend money to influence elections to register first with the state. SB 1516 -- and now HB 2296 -- say none of that is necessary if the groups are registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a non-profit "social welfare'' organization. More to the point, the groups would not have to disclose their donors. Proponents say IRS rules prohibit such groups from spending more than half of their money influencing elections. But Tom Collins, executive director of the Citizens Clean Elections Commission, said there are two problems with that. First, he said the IRS does not consider anything spent to promote or kill ballot measures to be political spending. So as long as it spent less than half to elect candidates, it would be free to spend without disclosing donors. "That's a real sea change,'' Collins said. Beyond that, Collins the record shows that the IRS does not police these social welfare groups to see how they are spending their money to ensure they are not violating the limits on political spending. With the new law putting a group's records off limits to state officials, Collins said that pretty much gives them permission to do what they want in secret. "This bill would result in less disclosure than current law requires of who is contributing money for elections in the state of Arizona,'' he said. Mesnard sees the issue through a different lens: the right of privacy. "Folks have the right to influence their elected officials because their elected officials are going to influence them and their way of life,'' he said during debate on the measure earlier this session. "The end result is a registry of every person and who they donated to,'' Mesnard said. "I think that is entirely dangerous.'' And Mesnard said he would not have pushed the second bill, with its retroactive enforcement date, if Collins' commission were not trying to look into the books -- and the donors -- of social welfare groups. "This is about the Clean Election Commission overstepping its bounds,'' he said. "There's fear that they're going to insist on essentially be able to going in and prying open the books of private nonprofits,'' Mesnard said. "And we're trying to say, 'No, you can't do that.' '' -30- The fate of more than 420 greyhound dogs will play out over the next several months as rescue groups as far away as Canada offer to help. While the last day of racing at Tucson Greyhound Park has not yet been made official, legislation passed unanimously by the Arizona Senate on Saturday means Arizona could soon sound its last call to the starting gate and join 39 other states in banning the sport. The Senate followed the Arizona House in unanimously approving the measure, which will now go to Gov. Doug Ducey for his signature. Local rescue groups say they are already seeing more dogs coming out of the park for adoption, apparently as kennel owners anticipate the change. The date for the last race will likely be set at a racing commission meeting Thursday, said Michael Racy, of Racy Associates Inc., a lobbyist for the track. The current permit requires racing to continue to the end of the year, but the commission can modify that date. Under the new legislation, Arizona must discontinue live racing by Dec. 31. Simulcast wagering will continue, he said, but there will be some layoffs of employees who work directly with the dogs and live racing. Track manager Dale Popp declined an interview request and referred questions to Racy. Thats one of the sad and unfortunate things, Racy said. This was the longest-running greyhound track in the United States and is the largest employer and taxpayer in South Tucson. For some greyhound advocates, the end of racing here is news theyve been waiting to hear for years. This legislation is something weve been working on for 10 years, and we couldnt be happier that the day has finally arrived, said Christine Dorchak, president of Grey2K USA, one of the nations largest greyhound protection organizations. She called Tucson Greyhound Park one of the worst in the United States, and a deathtrap for dogs. During 2015, state records show at least six dogs died either at the track or immediately following their departure of ailments and injuries such as twisted gut, a broken back and tick fever. Nonlethal but serious injuries have been quite common. A local greyhound rescue organization spent more than $200,000 on veterinary care since July 2013 to help 74 dogs that came off the Tucson track with significant injuries and illnesses, including broken legs and torn muscles. Anybody with a heart for their own pet has to be celebrating this, said Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik, a longtime critic of dog racing here. Tucson Greyhound Park has been the end of the line for so many dogs, and now those of us who have advocated to get the place shut down have to work hard to make sure the kennel operators do the right thing and adopt out the animals under their care and not send them out to farms, blood banks or auction them as hunting bait. Most rescue groups in the state maintain a neutral position on racing because, they say, taking a stand may mean not getting access to the dogs they want to help. Jean Williams, president of Arizona Greyhound Rescue, said they are hoping to have more greyhounds trained to become service dogs through their Heartfelt Hounds program. Training is coordinated with Handi-Dogs. Foster families are needed for animals training to be service dogs and for greyhounds in general. We look at every dog coming off the track and into our family and assess them to see if they can do service work or emotional support work, she said. People in need of this kind of dog might be a war veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Others might have mobility issues, which is how Williams dog, Blaze, supports her. Williams said donations are needed to help the dogs. The cost is about $500 to $700 per dog, she said, including spaying or neutering, dental work, microchipping, shots and deworming. Williams and Steve Machtley, president of Southern Arizona Greyhound Adoption, said many of the efforts are being coordinated by Phoenix-based Greyhound Pets of Arizona. Right now, were doing our best to pull out the dogs that are ready for adoption, said Linda Nelson, vice president of Greyhound Pets of Arizona, which handles about 150-180 adoptions per year. Nelson said they are reaching out to groups both in Arizona and out of state, as well as Canada, and that they dont anticipate there being any kind of crisis. I think its important to realize that these dogs are not in any danger, she said. Racy also said the transition for the dogs will be carefully managed. Some dogs might continue racing at other tracks, or could return to the care of their owners, Racy said. Others will need adoptive homes. Former Pima County Supervisor Ann Day was killed in a crash this morning, hit by a car that jumped a median and struck her Prius head-on, officials say. Its just sad because heres this lady in her mid-to-late 70s, early in the morning, probably just driving home, and you just cant prevent that, theres nothing she could do," Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said. The 23-year-old driver of the other car is suspected of impaired driving, and was seen driving erratically at excessive speeds before the crash, Nanos said. Day was driving eastbound on East Ina Road near the Westward Look Resort on Tucson's northwest side shortly before about 8 a.m.. The driver of a Chevrolet Impala crossed the median and crashed into her Toyota, authorities said. Her vehicle was then struck by a pickup truck that was behind her. Nanos said a doctor was riding his bicycle nearby, and a Northwest Fire battalion chief and a Marine paramedic all saw the crash and tried to assist, but no one was able to help Day. She was pronounced dead at Banner University Medical Center at 8:37 a.m. Nanos said the vehicle that hit Day had been seen by witnesses bouncing off of curbs and driving at a high rate of speed in excess of 80 mph before the crash. Later statements from the driver led deputies to suspect he was on some sort of drugs, and a toxicology screen was conducted, the sheriff said. The driver was in the hospital for injuries related to the crash and had not been arrested as of Saturday afternoon. Deputy Ryan Inglett, a sheriff's spokesman, said the driver of the pickup also had serious injuries but they were not life-threatening. I worked with her for a long time. She was a very capable and reasonable co-worker on that board, Supervisor Ray Carroll said Saturday. She was a very loyal and treasured friend of mine. Day, 77, a Republican, represented the countys District 1 until she decided to end two-decades of political service by in 2011 by not seeking re-election. Day, the sister of former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day OConnor, called herself a "cowgirl from the Lazy B" ranch, a Star profile in 2011 said. Day served 10 years in the state Senate and 12 years representing District 1, which runs north of the Rillito and includes Oro Valley, parts of Marana and the Catalina Foothills. Her downtown office was filled with mementos and relics, from cowboy poetry to pictures of her grandchildren and a photo of her father branding a calf. Her grandfather, H.C. Day, started the Lazy B in 1880 and served as the chairman of the Board of Supervisors in Graham County. Day's upbringing on the rural Eastern Arizona ranch gave her an independent streak that shaped her politics, the Stars 2011 article noted. That streak served her in a legislative caucus that often ran counter to her moderate breed of politics. It helped fuel her reputation as a consumer advocate, spearheading reforms in the HMO industry and helping establish cancer patients' rights to clinical trial treatments, the article said. Former state Sen. and Pima County Supervisor Ann Day was remembered by heartbroken friends, family and colleagues as a problem-solving conservationist with integrity and cowgirl common sense after she was killed Saturday in a car crash. Day, 77, was the sister of former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day OConnor and a member of a pioneering Southern Arizona ranching and political family. A Chevrolet Impala driven by a man suspected of driving under the influence jumped a median on East Ina Road near Westward Look resort shortly before 8 a.m. Saturday and slammed head-on into Days Toyota Prius, authorities said. A pickup behind Days car was unable to get out of the way and hit her vehicle from behind. You just cant prevent that, theres nothing she could do, said Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, adding, Its so sad ... early in the morning, probably just driving home. A doctor riding his bicycle nearby, a Northwest Fire battalion chief and a Marine paramedic all saw the crash and tried to help, Nanos said, but could not save Day. She was pronounced dead at Banner-University Medical Center at 8:37 a.m. The Impala had been seen bouncing off of curbs and driving at a high rate of speed in excess of 80 mph before the crash, Nanos said. Statements later made by the 23-year-old driver led deputies to suspect he was driving under the influence, the sheriff said. A toxicology test was taken. The man was hospitalized with injuries from the crash and no charges had been filed as of Saturday night. The driver of the pickup was also injured and hospitalized. The injuries of both drivers were considered to be serious but not life-threatening, authorities said. Day, a Republican, was a state senator for 10 years and a supervisor for District 1, covering the Tucson metro areas northwest side, for 12. She was known for her love of the environment and her family, and for being really fierce, and really loyal, said her granddaughter Caitlin Watters, 24. She pushed my siblings and I, her three grandkids. She constantly called me her soulmate and I know that I was, Watters said, adding that she, her sister Cassandra, 18, and brother Courtland, 22, were Days whole world, and vice versa. Since she was 5 and Day began teaching her to shake peoples hands and look them in the eye, her grandmother inspired her, Watters said. Im currently in law school at ASU and thats in huge part from her. She wanted me to go to law school more than anything and its always been my dream to run for office. I just wish shed be here to see me graduate and run one day. She was one of the most incredible women Ive ever known. Day received her bachelors degree from the University of Arizona and her masters degree in education from Arizona State University. She spent time teaching and then as a therapist before entering politics in 1990, said Patrick Cavanaugh, who was Days chief of staff from 2004 until she decided not to run for county re-election in 2012. Ann was somebody that I had tremendous respect for. We were very close; we worked day in and day out together, Cavanaugh said. Sometimes it could be stormy, as things are in politics, but at the end of the day we were tremendous friends. I cant emphasize enough that she had tremendous integrity, and put policy in front of politics time and time again. Pima County Supervisor Sharon Bronson agreed. She had an R after her name and I had a D after my name, but we reached across political boundaries and found a way to pursue common goals. She wasnt an ideologue, she was a problem solver, said Bronson, a Democrat who knew Day for more than 20 years. I most remember her for her cowgirl common sense that she brought to politics, to problem solving, to life in general, Bronson said. Mike Boyd, a Republican former county supervisor, reflected, She believed that Republicans didnt pave roads any better than Democrats picked up the garbage. Her job was to resolve local issues, even if it took a little horse trading. Pretty ironic for the daughter of a rancher, that horse trading is now a dirty word. To a number of hardliners its selling out. Politics and the environment both had prominent legacies in Days family. In addition to her sisters groundbreaking role as the nations first woman justice on the Supreme Court, their grandfather, H.C. Day, was chairman of the Graham County Board of Supervisors and founded the Lazy B Ranch in 1880. Day, her sister and their brother, Alan Day, spent much of their childhood on that patch of land, 160 miles east of Tucson near the New Mexico border. She had tremendous reminiscences from her days on the Lazy B, I think she drew on them often, said Cavanaugh, recalling a story of Days in which a truck tire and the spare both went flat and stranded her on a country road. She did everything she could to get herself back home, and she always said thats what you do. It was a sense of self-reliance, that you shot straight and tried to do the right thing. Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll also remembers she told great stories of her time growing up on the Lazy B Ranch. Like the time one of her cowboy friends gave himself a root canal with a hot branding iron. She loved that story but she had a million just like it. ... She was capable of negotiations as well as standing her ground when she had to. But my appreciation for Ann Day really came in the area of conservation and land use. She gave us a lot of credibility with ranchers in terms of sustainable grazing and property rights, said Carroll, a fellow Republican. Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry highlighted that fact, as well. As a rancher, she had a great respect for the land, and that came through in her support of the (Sonoran Desert) Conservation Plan, said Huckelberry. The conservation plan was originally passed in 1999, intended to protect habitat for vulnerable species during development. It grew to include environmentally sensitive road designs, riparian protection and county acquisition of ranches for conservation. New development on state land threatens to strain our infrastructure and degrade our environment, Day wrote in a District 1 newsletter in 2008. Change is certain, but with careful management our community can be sculpted in a way that reflects and enhances the landscape; where development blends more readily, in form and function, with the natural environment and we create a community where citizens are allowed to prosper. Bronson called the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan one of Days lifetime achievements, and said Day will be sorely missed at the dedication of the North Oracle Road Wildlife Crossing on Tuesday, May 10. I was hoping to see her later this week at the dedication of the wildlife crossing that connects the Catalinas to the Tortolitas. I think a good way to remember her would be to name that crossing after her, and thats something Im going to try to pursue, Bronson said Saturday. Day was also instrumental in developing Brandi Fenton Memorial Park at 3482 E. River Road, Huckelberry said. She knew about the importance of open space and being good stewards of the land, said Valerie Samoy, an aide for Day for 12 years. As a Republican she would upset the party with that sometimes, but she was a fierce advocate for the Sonoran Desert. It was that fierceness, both in her politics and in her devotion to her friends and family, Samoy said shell remember most. Ann was not only the epitome of a public servant in every sense of the word, but I got to know the gentler, warmer side of Ann. She was a very caring human being and loved her family and her children, and loved my family and my children fiercely, but also gently, Samoy said. No matter what she did, if she was taking me shopping or we were talking about law school, she did it with intention and heart and passion, said Days granddaughter Watters. I just hope that I get a little bit of that in my life. She was and will always be a cowgirl. Day is survived by her three children, Jill Watters, Barry Simpson and Curtis Simpson, and her three grandchildren. PHOENIX -- State lawmakers sent Gov. Doug Ducey legislation Friday to allow lawsuits against cities and local gun regulations. SB 1266, approved by the House on a 31-23 margin, is designed to add teeth to existing state laws that prohibit local communities from enacting firearms laws thatexceed what the legislature has permitted. It says a court that finds there was a knowing or willful violation of state law can assess a civil penalty up to $50,000 and remove public officials from office. The measure is aimed largely at Tucson, which has refused to repeal two gun regulations that former Attorney General Tom Horne concluded in 2013 are beyond the city's authority. One allows police to request a breath sample from someone who has negligently discharged a firearm and appears intoxicated. Horne said Arizona law bars cities from passing ordinances relating to the "discharge and use of firearms.'' Horne also said Tucson cannot require people to report the loss or theft of a gun to police because it relates to the possession or transfer of firearms, something the legislature has said is solely within its purview. And Horne said the $100 civil penalty for failing to report a missing gun conflicts with another law that bars gun ordinances that have a penalty greater than what exists in state law. The city has ignored Horne's formal legal opinion. Sen. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, sponsor of SB 1266, said this legislation would ensure that does not happen. There was no debate on the measure. PHOENIX Doctors who lie about whether they've examined patients before recommending medical marijuana are subject to criminal prosecution, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Friday. The justices acknowledged the 2010 voter-approved Arizona Medical Marijuana Act does grant immunity to physicians against being charged with any crimes in connection with writing the written recommendations for patients. But Justice Clint Bolick, writing for the unanimous court, said that does not mean doctors are free to break other laws, even if the act involves a marijuana recommendation. And Bolick said that's the case here. Arizona law allows those with certain medical conditions to obtain up to 2 ounces of marijuana every two weeks. But they must first get a written recommendation from a doctor. Court records show a confidential informant working for the Navajo County drug task force went to the office of Robert Gear, a naturopath, to get a recommendations. She completed a medical questionnaire and medical records statement provided by Gear's staff and disclosed information about her medical history and physical condition. Rules adopted by the state Department of Health Services require doctors to review a patient's medical records for the past 12 months before writing a recommendation. In this case, the woman said she had seen other doctors during that period but did not "have a complete set of medical records'' with her. But she agreed she would either request that her records be sent to Gear or that she would bring them to the doctor on her next visit. Gear issued the written certification anyway. He was indicted on charges of forgery and committing fraudulent schemes and artifices. A trial judge threw out the charges based on the immunity provisions of the 2010 law, a decision upheld by the Court of Appeals. Bolick said both decisions were wrong. He said the law spells out doctors cannot be prosecuted for providing written certification. Nor can they be charged with a crime for exercising their medical judgment that a patient would benefit from marijuana. What Gear was charged with, Bolick said, was certifying that he had reviewed the patient's medical records for the prior 12 months when he had not done so. And Gear attested that "the information provided in the written certification is true and correct.'' Bolick rejected Gear's contention that the immunity extends to anything related to the certification, saying such an interpretation "could lead to troublesome outcomes.'' "For instance, would immunity extend to theft or sexual assault committed in the course of a physical examination conducted during the certification process?'' the justice asked. The justices rejected arguments that subjecting doctors to criminal prosecution would chill the willingness of doctors to give advice to patients on medical marijuana. Help India! By Najiya O., TwoCircles.net Kozhikode: Muslims have played a very important part in the freedom struggle of the country. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Ali brothers, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan are a few examples. Our school syllabi, both state and central, cover the freedom struggle. But how many Muslim freedom fighters find their place in the history text books, which are the first source of information for the growing generation about our past? Support TwoCircles The number of Muslim freedom fighters is very less in our history text books, said K Kunhali, principal and teacher of history, Hidayathul Muslimeen Yatheemkhana Higher Secondary School, Manjeri, in Malappuram district. Only Abul Kalam Azad is given at least a mention in our books. Even Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan is presented as pro-British and communalist. Books portray Muhammed Ali Jinnah as the only reason for the partition of the country. So students have only such an idea about our past. Vakkom Muhammed Abdul Khadir Moulavi Mr Kunhali says this with his experience as the teacher of history for years. He also talked about the portrayal of Muslim freedom fighters in the text books in Kerala. Muhammed Abdurahman found only mention in our textbooks but more importance was given to K Kelappan. Even though Variyankunnath Kunhahammed Haji and Ali Musliyar fought against the British and captured power, their struggle for independence has no much space in our books. They were staunch suppoerters of the Congress and wore qadar (khadi). They captured power and ruled some parts of Malabar for about six months. At last the British caught and executed them. But this glorious age in history can be known only from books other than text books. And this happens at a time when even Pazhassi Raja and Veluthampi Dalawa are adored by text books. Both had sided with the British in the beginning, but turned against them only when the British sidelined their interests. Of course the books do mention Maulana Azad and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. But can one understand from the books that Azad was the president of the Congress at the most crucial age of the Second World War? That Azad was the president when the Congress passed the Quit India resolution? That Azad had actually chalked out a plan so as to avoid the partition of the country, which even the Muslim League accepted? The books of yore covered the role of Muslims in the freedom struggle, said Abdul Ali of Manjeri in Malappuarm. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, books mentioned the Ali brothers, Dr MA Ansari, Hakim Ajamal Khan, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Hazrath Mohani among other leaders of the freedom struggle. The Jamiat Ulema-I-Hind too was mentioned, though nothing was given in detail. Muhammed Abdurahman Sahib was the lone Muslim from Kerala who found a place in text books. Abdul Jaleel of Malappuram also recollects that he had not studied about the revolt of 1921 in text book. The struggle for freedom had begun at a very early age in Kerala, the state being the first to be entered by the Europeans. Veliyankode Umar Qadi began the first civil disobedience movement in the 17th century. He assembled people through his various works and speeches. He educated the Muslims of their religious duty to fight against oppressors. Vakkom Abdul Qader Moulvi began a newspaper Swadeshabhimani. He gave total journalistic freedom for his editor who later became more famous than him. The revolt of 1921 took place at a time when the whole Muslim world was fighting for the restoration of khilafath. Gandhiji and Ali brothers began it in the country as the Khilafath movement. The movement took the shape of an open revolt in Malabar where Muslims and Hindus fought together against the British Raj. However, studies are going on in the field. The revolt of 1921 is again subject to study by many scholars. One of the reasons for the revolt not to find a place in books of the past could be that details about it were present only in the Arabic-Malayalam script. Nowadays when the Arabic- Malayalam script has given way to Malayalm, Muslims too learn Malayalam. So there is an increased awareness, but still there is a need to include at least the names of Muslim freedom fighters in text books so that at least the coming up generation may realize that Muslims too had fought for the country. They could understand that Muslims were not traitors but real patriots. Distorting history may suit certain people, but isnt it better to learn facts as such? Help India! By Asghar Ali Engineer, A friend of mine Daniel Mazgaonkar gave me a Hindi copy of Vinoba Bhaves book on Islam to see whether the Quranic verses and hadith have been correctly quoted. I am reading it particularly those portions wherein Vinoba Bhaveji has quoted Quranic verses and ahadith. I have yet to go through the whole text but meanwhile certain portions which I read are worth writing about. Support TwoCircles Those who do not know Vinoba Bhave I should say he was closely associated with Gandhiji and his philosophy and as per Gandhijis approach undertook land distribution among landless peasants, the land obtained from landlords on voluntary basis. This was thought to an alternate model to state acquiring surplus land through legislation and re-distributing it among the landless. However, this alternative proved to be as much a failure as the state model as the landlords mostly donated, where they did donate, infertile and uncultivable land. That apart, here we are concerned only with Vinoba Bhaves views on Islam. I had heard that Vonobaji knew several languages including the Arabic and that he read the Quran in original Arabic. I do not know the truth of this claim by some of his followers but I must say that his understanding of the Quran appears to be quite sound and his comparison of Hinduism and Islam in many places in this book is very authentic and of the same standard as that of Dara Shikoh in his Majmul Bahrayn (Commingling of Two Oceans Islam and Hinduism) In my opinion this book when published will be quite helpful in promoting better understanding between Hindus and Muslims, a vital need today when so-called scholars, academics and media analysts spread misunderstanding on the basis of very superficial knowledge of both Islam and Hinduism. After Dara Shikoh, Maulana Azad was a great scholar of comparative religion who, in his commentary of Quran, Tarjuman Al-Quran rendered great service to understanding correct message of Islam and other religions including Hinduism. I think after Maulana Azad, Vinobaji from amongst Hindus, has showed proper understanding of spirit of religions including Islam. Today unfortunately scholars of religions and I am referring to scholars of all religions, project religion more to serve political needs than as religion per se, much is being written on Islam, for and against, but to serve certain political agenda. Either way religious spirit is lost or we score some political points. It is therefore highly necessary to retrieve original spirit of Islam and Hinduism and project them on the basis of their religious philosophy and this can indeed do a yeoman service to our conflict torn country. Democratic politics, having become merely a power politics, politicians put their own religion at stake. Power must be won at any cost even by rendering immense disservice to ones own religion. Hindutvawadis distort their own religion and Muslim extremists do same disservice to Islam. In the sixth chapter of his book Vinoba Bhave attempts to capture true spirit of both Hinduism and Islam. Before I put forward Vinobajis views on Islam I would like to point out one error committed by him right in the beginning of the chapter itself. He says that Muhammad Rasulullah was coined by his followers and he himself never claimed that. This is fundamental mistake which must be corrected by the editors of the book perhaps in the footnote. Quran itself, which is divine, proclaims Muhammad as Rasulullah (Messenger of Allah). But when Vinobaji says Muhammad never claimed to take Allahs place, he is very right. Quran itself describes Muhammad (PBUH) as abduhu wa Rasuluhu (i.e. His servant and His messenger). Vinobaji rightly points out that Muhammad (PBUH) said that he has brought no new truth but is proclaiming what the same truth as proclaimed by previous prophets. Perhaps in this respect Hinduism comes close to Islam as it also accepts truth everywhere and the Rigveda also proclaims that truth is one but the wise call it by various names. But then Vinobaji also repeats that Muhammad Saheb only claimed that I am merely Allahs messenger and Allahs servant, I am not Allah. I am there to proclaim His Message, nothing more. Vinoba also points out that Quran says that for every people there is guide (messenger. 13:7). He also points to another significant verse of the Quran; We do not distinguish between any of them (messengers of Allah). (2:136). He also points out that Quran has given names of certain prophets but has said there are many more prophets all of whom not have been named here. Thus Islam accepts truth of all other religions. Vinobaji also points out with reference to the Quran that there are many ways of ibaadat (worshipping Allah). Quran says For every one there is direction in which he turns (himself), so vie with one another in good works. (2:148). Thus one should not fight about ways of worshipping but excel each other in good works. Here I would like to refer to Nizamuddin Awliyas story. One day early morning he was walking along the bank of Jamuna in Delhi and he saw some Hindu women bathing in Jamuna and worshipping sun. He told his disciple Khusro: O Khusro! these women are also worshipping Allah though their way is different. Thus the Sufi saints were closer to the spirit of the Quran as they were more spiritual in their attitude and did not take ibadat in mere technical and mechanical sense. Vinobaji also throws light in chapter five on the concept of Allah. Prophet Muhammad mainly preached oneness of God and Vinoba refers to chapter 112 (Qul Huwallahu Ahad). Muhammad (PBUH) did not accept any form or idol or picture or even symbol of Allah. And, he says, prophet also cannot be incarnation (awtar) of Allah. Then he compares this with the Indian philosophy (Bhartiya Darshan) of advaita. Vinobaji says in India, Brahma has been accepted as nirgun, nirakar (i.e. without attributes and without form). Islam believes, according to Vinobaji, in Allah as formless but with attributes (nirakar and sagun) Quran describes various attributes of Allah (sifat) But this is not fully correct as Muatazilas and Shiahs believe in Allah without attributes and explain away these attributes in different way. According to Muatazila and Shias any attribute makes Allah dependent and this goes against tawhid (oneness of Allah) Then Vinobaji discusses idol worship in Hindu religion and explains its meaning and significance. This whole discussion is worth reading. He says in Hindu Shastras there is no idol worship but it has not been prohibited either. He very skillfully explains importance of amurt Bhagwan i.e. formless God and throws light on its importance. He says worshipping an idol would mean confining God to the idol and not seeing God elsewhere. He, therefore says if you confine God to an idol you will be deceiving yourself. But then he also explains why Hindus worship idols. He says the Hindus have made idols of different attribute of God and by worshipping these idols he worships different attributes of God. He also points out that on one hand Muslims believe in one formless God but Quran also refers to wajhullah, yadullah (i.e. Mouth and Hands of Allah). He says these are problems of human language. You want to worship a formless God but also in terms of human language you have to use these words. I must say Vinobaji comes close to Mazhar Jan-i-Janan, an eighteenth century Sufi saints from Delhi who gave an opinion that Hindus are not kafirs when asked by one of his disciples. He gave various reasons for that. He also quoted from Hindu shastras to show that ishwara is nirgun and nirakar in Hindu philosophy and this is the highest form of tawhid. He also quotes the verse from the Quran that We have sent prophet to every people and how can Allah not fulfill His promise in case of Indian people. He must have sent His prophets to Hindustan also. Then Mazhar Jan-i-Janan explains away idol worship among Hindus. He says, like Vinobaji that there is no idol worship in Hindu shastras but common Hindus cannot conceive of formless God and then something concrete to worship and that is how idol worship developed among Hindus. He says idols are not ishwara in itself but a way to Ishwara and idol worship he describes as a journey from aakar to nirankar i.e. from form to formlessness and then compares it with Sufis concept of Shaikh. According to Mazhar Jan-i-Janan a sufi reaches Allah through a sheikh, a master. Shaikh cannot be Allah but a way to Allah so an idol is not Ishwara but a way to Ishwara. Though it is not possible to attempt full exposition of Vinobas explanation of idol worship in this book but it comes quite close to that of Jan-i-Janan. Thus in Indian tradition and in Indian Islam we find several parallels if we rise above power struggles and try to understand religions on their own ground. Many great thinkers, sufi saints, philosophers and religious leaders have, in their own way struggled to arrive at this truth. Among them in India are Guru Nanak, Kabir, Sufi Saints like Nizamuddin Awliya, Jaan-i-Janan, Dara Shikoh and in our own times Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Vinobaji and several others. However, in our communal fights we have appropriated them too as our property. [Photo: imgtest.blogster.com] The Coconino County Sheriffs Office is asking the public for help in locating an Arizona State University professor reported missing in Oak Creek Canyon. Debra Schwartz of Tempe was last seen camping by herself the morning of May 4 at Pine Flat Campground. According to the Sheriff's Office, she was supposed to either check out Friday morning or pay for another day. When she never showed up, the campground host went to investigate. Schwartz's vehicle, tent and personal belongings were all still at her campsite but she was missing. The Pine Flat Campground host then called the local 911 dispatch center to report her as a missing person at about 9 a.m. According to the Sheriffs Office, there is concern for Schwartz's welfare. Schwartz is a 59-year-old white woman who is 5-foot-4-inches tall, weighs about 160 pounds and has green eyes and brown hair. It is unknown what kind or color of clothing she was wearing when she disappeared. Sheriff's Office deputies and Search and Rescue are combing the area around Pine Flat in Oak Creek Canyon, and an Arizona Department of Public Safety helicopter from Kingman is conducting searches from the air. Anyone with information about Schwartz should call the Coconino County Sheriffs Office at (928) 774-4523 or 1-800-338-7888. Anyone who wants to provide information but wishes to remain anonymous may call Silent Witness at 774-6111 or (877) 29-CRIME, submit a tip online at www.coconinosilentwitness.org, or text the word Flagtip along with your information to 274637 (CRIMES). Help India! By Shafeeq Hudawi, Twocircles.net Kozhikode: The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has for long, been portrayed as the choice of Muslims of Kerala when it comes to elections. However, with elections only a week away in the state, it is becoming increasingly evident that the IUML may not be the default choice of the states Muslims, with many considering voting for the CPI (M)-led Left Democratic Front instead of the IUML. This recent trend has been in the making for a few years now, as some experts point out, and it has left the IUML slightly worried about its prospects. Support TwoCircles The patronage politics followed by the IUML to woo the Muslim voters is at stake in the Kerala assembly polls. The failure in countering issues faced by the minorities, especially Muslims across the country, has hurt the expectations of the party to sail to an easy win. The recent C for Survey, the opinion poll survey by leading Malayalm channel Asianet, gave strong indications to the possibility of a Left-turn by Muslims in Kerala. LDF Candidate K T Jaleel holding campaign at Thavanur consituency According to the survey, the LDF will secure 43% of Muslim votes with best-ever performance in Muslim strongholds, including Malabar, the northern region of Kerala. Almost all of Muslim majority constituencies in the state belong to Malabar. According to the survey, the LDF will bag 26-28 seats in Malabar by securing 40 per cent votes while 19 to 21 seats will go to Congress led United Democratic Front (UDF) with a vote share of 38 per cent. IUML is the second largest party in the UDF. Presently UDF has 27assembly members while LDF has 21 MLAs in Malabar. To add to this, the gains made by LDF in last years civic polls in Muslim strongholds of Malabar stand as indication of the behaviour of Muslim votes in the assembly polls. Encouraged by the recent upsurge, the CPI (M) is making every possible effort in Muslim-majority areas to target IUML over alleged laxity in resisting Sangh fold. IUML is turning a blind towards the woes of minorities. It is high time we expose the party. The partys (IUMLs) stand is now drawing strong ire from the minorities and it is under their scanner, said former Youth League leader KT Jaleel MLA, who is now contesting for LDF at Thavanur in Malappuram district. LDF leadership believes that strong campaigns against IUMLs failure in challenging the attacks against Muslims will help the front to break the monopoly of IUML in Malabar. IUML has committed criminal lapses in defending the minoritys rights. The party leadership kept mum against Dadri lynching and beef ban, said CPI (M) Malappuram district general secretary P P Vasudevan. Jaleel said that IUML was being swiftly replaced by CPM. Muslims see CPI (M) as their sole protector as the party is making sincere efforts to defend Sangh Parivars moves against them, he added. CPI (M) Candidate P Sreeramakrishnan during a campaign at Puthanpally Dhargah in Ponnani constituency Besides, CPI (M) alleges that a secret pact was formed between IUML and BJP in order to ensure the defeat of the Communists. IUML is really hand in glove with BJP. The two parties dream the decline of CPI (M). IUML leaders have fallen prey to the lure of money and power. Minority welfare is no more a concern for them, Vasudevan said. The public statements by some Muslim clerics against IUML leaders have also kindled the expectation of CPI (M) in the polls. All India Sunni Jamiyyathul Ulama general secretary Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker Musliyar had asked his followers to defeat some of the IUML leaders citing they were taking anti-Sunni stances. Meanwhile, one of IUML ideologues P A Rasheed termed the campaigns by CPI (M) as a bid to gain votes through polarisation. In Muslim strongholds they are campaigning that IUML is no minority champion, while in other areas they allege that IUML is ruling the state in a bid to create an anti-UDF wave among Hindus. This type of allegation will be of less impact in IUML strongholds, he said. He went on to say that Muslims in Bengal were fed up with the Left Regime and had bidden adieu to CPI (M). The Muslim strongholds there have taken a turn to TMC camp, he said. Help India! By Rana Safvi Hakim Ajmal Khan a philanthropist, freedom fighter, famous hakeem and nationalist is a well known personality. Support TwoCircles So I was very surprised when I was told that his grave was I one corner of The Hazrat Rasool numa compound in Panchkuian Road of Delhi this is the entrance to what once once a cultural and religious hub of Mughal India. Now its a slum In between a whole row of beds tucked away in one forgotten corner sleeps one of the greatest leaders of our Freedom movement. Revered by Muslims and Hindus alike. I couldnt believe my eyes so went up closer to read the tombstone Yes it was Hakim Mohammad Ajmal Khan. I checked up his dated on the net to find they were correct. The lady who lives there then showed me many graves of Hakeems from his family scattered around the beds and chores of daily life. Amita Paliwal a Delhi historian and keen heritage lover informs me this is probably the famous Doctors lane where Bernier apprenticed to learn Unani medicine. It may have been famous then but its forgotten now and I dont know why his very rich trust( he had gifted most of his income to charity) and rich family doesnt do something about it. You can read more about him below I have taken it from He was the founder of the Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi. He is the only person to have been elected President of both the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League, as well as the All India Khilafat Committee.Hakim Ajmal Khan was born in 1863 to the illustrious Sharif Khani family of Delhi, family that traces its lineage to court physicians who served the Mughal emperor Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire in India. Khan studied the Quran and traditional Islamic knowledge including Arabic and Persian in his childhood, before studying medicine at home, under the tutelage of his relatives. All of whom were well-known physicians. His grandfather Hakim Sharif Khan sought to promote the practice of Tibb-i-unani or Unani medicine and for this purpose, had setup the Sharif Manzil hospital-cum-college that was known throughout the subcontinent as one of the finest philanthropic Unani hospitals that charged no fees from poor patients. Once qualified, Hakim Ajmal Khan was appointed chief physician to the Nawab of Rampur in 1892. Soon he met Syed Ahmed Khan and was further appointed a trustee of the Aligarh College, now known as the Aligarh Muslim University, now the Aligarh Muslim University. Hakim Ajmal Khan took much interest in the expansion and development of the indigenous system of medicine, Tibb-i-Yunani, or Unani. Khans family established the Tibbiya school in Delhi, in order to expand the research and practice of Unani. As his family of Hakims served as doctors to the British rulers of India, in his early days Hakim Khan supported the British. He was part of a deputation of Muslims that met the Viceroy of India in Shimla in 1906 and even supported the British during World War I. In fact, the British Government awarded him the titles Haziq-ul-Mulk and Qaiser-e-Hind for his contribution to the expansion of the Unani system of medicine. But once the British government changed its stance and sought to derecognize the practice of Indian schools of medicine such as Ayurveda and Unani, this turn of events set Hakim Ajmal Khan gathering fellow physicians on one platform to protest against the Raj. Actually, Hakim Ajmal Khans political career commenced with his writing for the Urdu weekly Akmal-ul-Akhbar, which was founded in 1865-70 and run by his family. Subsequently, when the British clamped down on the freedom movement and arrested many Muslim leaders, Hakim Ajmal Khan solicited Mahatma Gandhis assistance and together they joined others to start the Khilafat movement. He was elected the President of the Congress in 1921, and joined other Congress leaders to condemn the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. He was imprisoned for many months by police authorities. Hakim Khans pursued his political career side-by-side his medicinal and educational endeavours. Often, the interests overlapped. Hakim Ajmal Khan resigned from his position at the AMU when he realized that its management would not endorse the Non-Cooperation Movement launched by the Indian National Congress. He envisaged a place of learning that would be free of government control. He worked towards this aim with the help of other Muslim luminaries. Together, they laid the foundations of the Jamia Millia Islamic (Islamic National University) in Aligarh in 1920, in response to Mahatma Gandhis call for Indians to boycott government institutions. The JMI subsequently moved to Delhi and slowly grew to be the prestigious university it is today. Ajmal Khan served as its first Chancellor until his death. He was a key patron of the university, financially bailing it out of sticky situations throughout the rest of his life. In fact, Hakim Ajmal Khan also established the Tibbia College for higher studies in medicine. Realizing the need for private funding, he simultaneously established a commercial venture the Hindustani Dawakhana to manufacture Unani and Ayurvedic medicines and issued a diktat that doctors practicing in the Sharif Manzil could only recommend medicines from the Dawakhana. The Dawakhana is known to have patented 84 magical herbal formulas. Tibbia College is presently located Delhis Karol Bagh area. As a mark of respect to this man, Karol Baghs most popular part is still called Ajmal Khan Road. Hakim Ajmal Khan died in 1927. In the ensuing years, both the Sharif Manzil and the Dawakhana have languished for want of upkeep and restoration. Although Hakim Khan renounced his government awards during the freedom movement, Indians who appreciated his work and held him in high esteem conferred upon him the title Masih-ul-Mulk (Healer of the Nation). Freedom fighter, educationalist and beyond doubt, the greatest contributor to Unani medicine in India in the 20th century: Hakim Ajmal Khan. Dr. Khan died of heart problems on December 29, 1927. He was succeeded in the position of JMI Chancellor by Dr. Mu Rana Safvi is the author of the book Where Stones Speak. The future of Arizonas troubled pension system for firefighters and police officers will be in the hands of the voters during the May 17 special election. If passed, Proposition 124 would amend the Arizona Constitution, giving state lawmakers authority to fully enact a legislation package designed to reduce the amount of money local governments will have to pay into Arizonas underfunded Public Safety Personnel Retirement System starting in 2017. It still gives police and fire a very good retirement that is more sustainable by the cities, said Flagstaff Mayor Jerry Nabours, who wrote a statement in favor of Prop. 124 in the Arizona Secretary of States special election guide. It will allow the cities to hire new officers (and firefighters) as needed without worrying that they cannot afford it and it simply balances the contributions to the pension plan more equally between the employer and the employee. Right now, the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System is more than $6 billion short of what it will need to pay out its future pension obligations. Deputy City Manager Barbara Goodrich was part of a statewide task force that examined the public safety pension problem and made recommendations to the League of Arizona Cities and Towns more than a year ago. When the recession hit at the end of 2007, she said, investments like the states Public Safety Personnel Retirement System trust took a hit. At the same time, police and fire departments cut staffing, leaving fewer active employees to pay into the system. The statistics for the city of Flagstaff were much worse, Goodrich said. For every Flagstaff Police Department officer on salary, the city has to pay another 45 percent of that salary into the state pension system. Thats an additional $22,500 coming out of the general fund every year for an officer with an annual salary of $50,000. But thats nothing compared to Flagstaff Fire Department. The city pays premiums equal to 70 percent of every firefighters salary $35,000 annually for a firefighter with a $50,000 salary. Goodrich said that is partially because Flagstaff firefighters do not pay into the Social Security system and therefore rely only on their pensions and personal savings to pay for retirement. But a big part of the problem is that so many firefighters retired during the recession that Flagstaff Fire Department now has more retirees getting benefits than active firefighters making contributions. Prop. 124 addresses just one part of the three-bill public safety pension reform package that passed with overwhelming support in both the state House and Senate in February. Namely, its passage would give the Legislature permission to change the way the pension system doles out future cost-of-living increases for existing public safety employees, as well as those who have already retired and are receiving benefits. Right now, public safety retirees are guaranteed a benefit increase any time the fund's earnings exceed a certain amount. While there have been no increases for the last two years, pensioners have seen 4 percent increases for more than a decade before. The new plan would replace that with cost-of-living allowance capped at no more than 2 percent a year. It would be pegged to annual changes in the Metropolitan Phoenix-Mesa Consumer Price Index. Goodrich said that means retirees could see smaller or less-frequent permanent increases to their benefits. It wont impact anything theyre getting today but it will impact future increases, Goodrich said. The latest actuarial reports show Flagstaff with an unfunded public safety pension liability of $82 million. The city is on a payment plan of sorts to pay down that debt over the next 18 years. In fiscal year 2017, for example, the city will pay about $7.4 million into the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System. About $5 million of that is going toward the unfunded liability about the same amount Flagstaff collects in property taxes each year. Goodrich said she is confident Prop. 124 would help keep that $82 million figure under control, but there is no way to know for sure how much money it will actually save the city. I know it will be a savings but it really would depend in all future years what the investment earnings were, how many people retired, she said. I just dont have any way of calculating what the savings would be to the city but we do know that will help in future years in controlling the rapidity of how quickly that unfunded liability is growing. Public safety pension system reform has been on the City Councils list of goals for at least four years, but the council has little power to change anything because it is a statewide system protected by the Arizona Constitution. Several council members have expressed their support for the Legislatures changes. The long-term structural shape of our pensions has been a challenge for quite some time, so I am supporting this to encourage long-term stability in the pension system, said Councilmember Jeff Oravits. Councilmember Eva Putzova also spoke in favor of the changes. The negotiating parties, including public safety employees, found an acceptable compromise in the Proposition 124 language, which while not as generous to any employees hired after July 2017 could stabilize the system, she said. This is currently the best, politically viable solution to prevent this retirement system from collapsing. So far, there has not been much public opposition to Prop. 124, and it has received endorsements from a number of city officials statewide, as well as the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, League of Arizona Cities and Towns, Professional Fire Fighters of Arizona and the Fraternal Order of Police State Lodge. We are not trying to take anything away from the public safety employees, Nabours said. In fact, the public safety employees recognize the needed changes and are in support of it. We want a system that will go on indefinitely. Flagstaff Fire Department and Flagstaff Police Department are both prohibited from taking an official position on Prop. 124, but Flagstaff Police Department Chief Kevin Treadway said local public safety employees recognize there is a problem with the pension plan as it stands. The current public safety retirement system is in need of revision, he said. It just doesnt look like its sustainable so we definitely understand, at the Flagstaff Police Department, that something needs to be done. Prop. 124 requires voter approval because of a 1998 amendment to the Arizona Constitution stating that public retirement benefits shall not be diminished or impaired for anyone already enrolled in the pension plan. Other provisions in the Legislatures pension reform package did not need voter approval because they will only affect police and fire employees hired after the legislation takes effect in 2017. Proponents have projected the entire pension reform package could save taxpayers about $1.5 billion over 30 years. Some of the changes include a cap of $110,000 on how much of any new employee's salary could be considered in computing their pension. That is designed to put a halt to pension "spiking" when a worker defers sick pay and overtime until the end of their career to artificially boost their final salary, the figure on which pensions are based. The legislation will require public safety employers and any employees hired after July 1, 2017 to split pension plan contributions, rather than requiring cities to pay for the bulk of them. Those new employees also will not have some of the same options as current workers, including the ability to retire early and collect benefits. New hires will have the option to go into the existing "defined benefit" plan, with pensions based on salary and years of service, or an optional "defined contribution" plan. That is similar to 401(k) plans where employers and employees contribute set amounts and the pension is based on how much those funds have earned. The only concern, I think, with most police administrators is with recruitment, perhaps, in the future, Treadway said. I think that the revisions would provide a retirement system that is still better than most that are out there. Because of that, it is certainly our hope that we wont suffer too much in terms of trying to recruit new applicants in the future. Search and rescue teams with Coconino and Yavapai counties were continuing to search Saturday for a 59-year-old woman who went missing in Oak Creek Canyon two days ago. Debra Schwartz of Tempe, who is a professor at Arizona State University, was last seen camping by herself the morning of May 4 at Pine Flat Campground. On Friday, May 6, the campground host notified the Coconino County Sheriff's Office that Schwartz had not returned to her campsite to check out and pay, said Sheriffs Office spokesman Gerry Blair. On Friday afternoon, 10 volunteers with Coconino County Search and Rescue searched the area by foot, including the two trails closest to Pine Flat Campground, a one-mile section of Oak Creek upstream and downstream of the campground and a perimeter around the campground on both sides of Highway 89, Blair said. An Arizona Department of Public Safety ranger out of Kingman also did overflights of the trails and the area east of campground. On Saturday, 40 people from the Yavapai and Coconino county search and rescue, including eight with dogs, continued to search the area by foot, including the Harding Springs and Cookstove trails. The county's detective division also is working with a contact at the ASU police department, Blair said. Law enforcement knew that Schwartz's plans were to camp at Pine Flat Tuesday through Thursday, Blair said. The search will continue Sunday if Schwartz is not found, he said. Anyone with information about Schwartz should call the Coconino County Sheriffs Office at (928) 774-4523 or 1-800-338-7888. Anyone who wants to provide information but wishes to remain anonymous may call Silent Witness at 774-6111 or (877) 29-CRIME, submit a tip online at www.coconinosilentwitness.org, or text the word Flagtip along with your information to 274637 (CRIMES). I Agree This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Privacy Policy China encourages more Chinese enterprises to invest in Chad: state councilor Updated: 2016-05-08 09:34 (Xinhua) Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi meets with Chadian President Idriss Deby in the Chadian capital on May 7, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] N'DJAMENA - The Chinese government encourages more Chinese enterprises to come to and invest in Chad, said visiting Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi here on Saturday. During a meeting with Chadian President Idriss Deby in the Chadian capital, the Chinese state councilor said that Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Deby, who held talks on two occasions last year, have provided guidance for the future development of Sino-Chadian relations. China and Chad face new opportunities in bilateral cooperation, said Yang. China stands ready to make joint efforts with Chad to implement the important consensus reached by the heads of state and further enhance mutual trust, said Yang. As steps are taken to materialize the fruitful outcomes achieved at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit, China would also like to work with Chad to enhance strategic cooperation in development and strengthen bilateral cooperation in the petrochemical industry, farming and animal husbandry, infrastructure construction, water conservancy, human resources development, poverty reduction and green development, he said. China encourages more Chinese enterprises to come to Chad for investment and cooperation, and contribute to the social and economic development of Chad, said Yang. For his part, President Deby commended China for her long-standing advocacy of African unity and development, hailing China as a great friend of the Chadian and African people. Fruitful results have been achieved and hearts have been won over through the cooperation between Chad and China, and between Africa and China, said Deby. The Chadian side is quite satisfied with the development of bilateral relations, and is grateful of the Chinese help in Chad's economic development, said the president, adding that his country welcomes the investment of Chinese enterprises and is willing to further promote mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields. Also on Saturday in a separate meeting, Yang and Chadian Prime Minister Albert Pahimi Padacke agreed that bilateral cooperation for mutual benefit has been fruitful and the two countries will take more steps to enhance pragmatic cooperation in the fields of communication, electricity, mining, water conservancy, farming and animal husbandry. China's exports rise, imports drop in April Updated: 2016-05-08 14:35 (Xinhua) A total of 350 vehicles are to be loaded on a cargo ship for export at a port in Lianyungang, East China's Jiangsu province, Jan 9, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] BEIJING - China's exports in yuan-denominated terms rose 4.1 percent year on year in April, while imports dipped 5.7 percent, customs data showed Sunday. That led to a monthly trade surplus of 298 billion yuan ($45.9 billion), up from March's 194.6 billion yuan, according to figures from the General Administration of Customs (GAC). The export growth in April was milder than the 18.7 percent increase in March, while imports fell at a faster pace compared with the 1.7 percent fall in the previous month. Foreign trade edged down 0.3 percent year on year to 1.95 trillion yuan last month and that for the first four months combined slipped 4.4 percent to 7.17 trillion yuan. In the January-April period, exports dropped 2.1 percent year on year while imports went down 7.5 percent, leading to a trade surplus of 1.11 trillion yuan, widening 16.5 percent from a year earlier. The leading index for the country's exports rose 2.2 points to 33.8 in April, with sub-indices for new export orders and managers' confidence both up from March, signaling smaller pressure on export growth in the second quarter, the GAC said. Exports to the European Union, China's largest trade partner, climbed 1.3 percent year on year in the first four months, the GAC data showed. In the same period, exports to the United States and the Association for Southeast Asian Nations, China's second- and third-largest trade partners, both declined 3.5 percent. Imports of iron ore, crude oil and copper posted strong increase in the four months - up 6.1 percent, 11.8 percent and 23.1 percent, respectively. But imports of coal, steel and refined oil fell. Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Loading... Checking your browser before accessing the website. This process is automatic. Your browser will redirect to your requested content shortly. Please wait a few seconds. In countless commencement speeches at high schools and colleges in the coming weeks, graduates will be advised to chase their dreams, pursue their passions and settle for nothing less. That is terrible advice. Comedian and TV host Stephen Colbert offered wiser counsel during a graduation speech at his alma mater, Northwestern University, a few years ago. Recalling that he once aspired to perform Shakespeare in the street while living in a barren loft apartment, he said he has no regrets that things turned out differently. If wed all stuck with our first dream, noted Colbert, the world would be overrun with cowboys and princesses. Second or third dreams the ones that college freshmen bring to campus are seldom much better. In some cases, this is obvious to most everyone except the dreamer: the pre-med student who wants to cure cancer but falls asleep in his biochem class; the aspiring diva who ignores her C in music (as well as her A in physics). But even when an 18- or 22-year-olds passion for a particular vocation is grounded in impressive achievements and serious reflection, its like other relationships at that age. To give up immediately might be a mistake, but wedding oneself to it is a bigger mistake still. Better to stay open to new ideas and career possibilities. One of us was editor of his high school newspaper, president of a regional association for aspiring journalists and founder of a national newsmagazine before arriving at college as a journalism major. By his junior year, he was well on his way to his dream career when a sociology professor recognized that he had other interests and talents as well. After a series of conversations with the professor and enjoying several courses outside his major, he decided to attend graduate school in sociology. The other one of us entered college after an educational journey that at best could be described as unfocused and uneventful. But after sitting in two poetry classes with a brilliant teacher who made the subject seem to be the most important thing in the world, he decided that he wanted to become, of all things, a professor. After strongly considering graduate school in art history, his love of public policy brought him at the last minute to economics. Even in graduate school let alone college neither of us imagined ending up in our current positions. Who dreams of becoming a college president? But after many years as full-time teachers and researchers, compelling opportunities presented themselves and we were attracted to what some faculty members call the dark side, the world of university administration. College students never consider many potentially rewarding vocations, either because theyre not glamorous enough to draw their attention, or because they do not yet exist. Any would-be Steve Jobs would be well advised to recall that in 1972, when Jobs graduated from high school, no one aspired to head a company that makes pocket telephones that connect to something called an Internet. Young people should also take note of Jobs oft-cited remark that had he not sat in on a calligraphy course in college, the Mac would not have its extraordinary typefaces. A single-minded focus on a particular profession during college might increase your odds of a home run in the first-job market or the graduate school admissions game, but it reduces your ability to respond to the many curveballs thrown at you over the course of your working and personal life. Soon-to-be graduates who have no idea what they want to be when they grow up need not fret. And those who think they know their life plan at the age of 22 would be well advised to recognize that they are still developing as human beings and that their visions about what would make for a satisfying life might soon be very different than what they imagine today. A word for parents who find themselves in bleachers listening to bromides about following ones dreams: You didnt let your babies grow up to be cowboys. Why would you want their latest ambition to be their last? In a human world of second and third chances, shouldnt wild predators like bears that enter that world be treated the same? Its a question that bubbles to the surface in Flagstaff every time a bear or a mountain lion wanders into a neighborhood. They are clearly out of their natural habitat and likely just lost, hungry or curious. But does that automatically place humans in harms way? To the Arizona Game and Fish Department, which responded to a bear in the Boulder Pointe neighborhood two Fridays ago, the answer was a conditional yes. The bear was an adult male, and department policy is to "destroy" any adult male black bear exhibiting unacceptable behavior, found in an unacceptable location or posing a potential threat to human health and safety. PRECEDENT CITED Those are subjective terms, of course, and its up to field officers to make the call. But they dont appear to have much choice. The department has determined that adult males come into human contact most often and that relocating them to a different territory is ineffective a majority find their way back. In addition, the department is short on time and resources to undertake relocation, even if they could find a suitable new territory in Arizona. And it cites a 1996 incident in Tucson in which a girl was mauled by a bear that had been relocated after a first offense. Since then, there have been 11 recorded attacks in Arizona by black bears on humans, one resulting in a fatality. So the department kills about 10 to 20 black bears a year, including the one in Boulder Pointe, most of them males. By comparison, hunters kill between 150 and 200 bears each year out of an estimated population of 3,000 animals. Black bears are not unique to Arizona the species is found in 40 states. And as we reported last week, not all have the same inflexible policy toward adult males as Arizona. Colorado will euthanize only those bears showing aggressive behavior or returning to human settlements after initial relocation, and California wildlife officers have much the same latitude. NOT AGGRESSIVE So how would those policies have worked with the Boulder Pointe bear? According to Game and Fish, the animal had no prior documented contact with humans. And even though it eluded capture for three hours by climbing fences and running through yards, it exhibited no aggressive behavior. It did violate the stricture against being in an unacceptable location Game and Fish theorized it was a young bear that had been pushed out of its territory by an older animal. Our guess is that the Arizona bear, had it been found in similar circumstances in California or Colorado, would have lived to see at least another day. The resources needed by the department to relocate the Boulder Pointe bear might be considerable for a day or two, but at 10 to 20 times a year we dont think they would break the bank. But what about the states legal liability if a relocated bear harms a human or just the outcry that would occur from the public? MORE FLEXIBILITY Once again, we would point out that other neighboring states with black bears have considered those outcomes and acted in a different way. We dont want to dismiss the seriousness of the injuries suffered by the Tucson girl in 1996, but using one incident from two decades ago seems to ignore both experience and the hard science used by other states to justify different and more flexible approaches Would there by second-guessing and recriminations if the Boulder Pointe bear, once relocated, were to return? Perhaps, but less than Game and Fish might think, especially in Flagstaff, a city where surveys show a primary value is the opportunity residents have to get close to nature on a daily basis. A city bordered on three sides by national forest will inevitably see the occasional bear and mountain lion wander through, along with the elk, deer, coyotes and foxes. Quite frankly, those rare sightings are magical moments and a reason many of us call Flagstaff home. Living with wildlife, however, comes with responsibility, and the best way to protect wild animals is to make sure they come into as little contact with humans as possible. Dont leave out dog food or even water dishes the only wild animals that legally can be fed in Flagstaff are squirrels and birds. If you see a big predator lingering in a neighborhood, make noise by yelling or honking a horn the longer it stays, the more at risk it will be. If you are in a campground, follow all the rules about disposing of trash properly. If you are in bear or mountain lion country, make some noise as you hike, especially at dawn or dusk. ACTIVE STEWARDSHIP Finally, those of us living in small cities in the Mountain West must adopt an attitude of active stewardship toward the wild things that continue to live just beyond our back yards. They are no longer living in pristine wilderness and thus by necessity must adapt to human encroachment, if only to the lights and sounds of the city in the distance. But wild animals deserve our consideration when inadvertent contact occurs. We urge Game and Fish to take that circumstance and where it occurs into consideration as it reviews its predator control policy. At least in Flagstaff, such consideration will almost certainly have strong public support. Hanoi, May 7 (VNA) Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and other candidates running for the seats in the 14 th National Assembly presented their action plans while meeting with voters in Hanois Ba Dinh, Hoan Kiem and Tay Ho districts on May 6-7. They will be voted at Hanois constituency No.1. At the meeting, voters appreciated the action plans of the candidates, and discussed many interesting issues with them such as food safety, health care, educational reform, eco-environmental protection and corruption prevention. They expressed their hope that the 14 th legislature will continue improving itself to build a socialist state ruled by law and of the people, by the people and for the people. The legislative body should intensify supervision over important projects and programmes, as well as carry out more decisions to boost socio-economic development and maintain defence and security. Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong thanked constituents for their practical ideas and recommendations. He stressed that there are a lot of things to do to make the economy grow sustainably, better the building of the Party and the political system, prevent corruption and wastefulness, and maintain defence security, national sovereignty and territorial integrity. The candidates affirmed that if elected they will actively contribute to making and enforcing laws, and coordinate with competent agencies to address voters petitions. In any position, they will also do their utmost to fulfil all tasks assigned by the Party and State, they said. Deputies to the 14th NA will be chosen at the same time as all-level Peoples Councils for the 2016 2021 term on Sunday May 22. /. VNA/VNP On occasion of Europe Day today (on May 9), Viet Nam News presents an article written by Ambassador Bruno Angelet, head of the Delegation of the European Union to Viet Nam. Today, the 9th of May, we celebrate "Europe Day". On this day, in 1950, five years after World War II, Robert Schuman proposed a plan to integrate Europe, an indispensable step to maintain peace. That plan achieved outstanding success. Today Europe is facing major challenges, but the new Europe through its Member States and Institutions - also brings fantastic opportunities, to Europeans and to friends all over the world. This world is full of potential. International integration creates opportunities for Viet Nam, in particular through your unique friendship with Europe. For decades our countries and institutions have been helping Viet Nam improve conditions for your citizens. First with humanitarian aid, now in almost all provinces and cities, all areas of governance: health, education, justice, agriculture, infrastructure, energy or trade. Our companies invest and trade with Viet Nam, bring your goods to international markets, including the EU. Many of you are proud to have your children studying in Europe. You travel increasingly to our continent. Together we have created better opportunities for all. The world is also facing great challenges. States brutal recourse to force, and hatred inspired by extremist ideologies destroy so many lives. Many Vietnamese friends warmed our hearts with their care following recent terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels. Yet, beyond Europe, many more people live in much worse conditions and suffer even more from other threats: climate change, pollution, disruptions from the world economy. Over the last 20 years Europe never lacked resolve to address these challenges, while undergoing sweeping change. Back then we were only 15 countries, today we are 28. Back then, the EU was an internal market dealing with agriculture, aid and trade. Now were the worlds biggest economy, generating 30 per cent of its wealth. In space we will soon deploy a state of the art satellite navigation system Galileo, which, by 2020, will serve societies and businesses in Asia. We lead the fight against climate change and in greening the economy. Were the most generous contributors to development aid and were key in achieving the Millennium Development Goals and concluding the new Sustainable Development Goals. In the last 15 years, the EU has engaged in foreign policy and crisis management. We brought peace between Kosovo and Serbia, contributed to a truce in Georgia and stopped civil war in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The EU was the chief negotiator in the recently concluded agreement on Irans nuclear programme. Since 2003, the EU has deployed over 80.000 military and civilian personnel in peace-keeping missions that stabilised the Balkans, Chad and the Congo, accelerated the peace process in Aceh (Indonesia) and helped eliminate piracy on the seas of the Horn of Africa. The EU is facing major challenges, but is proud of our achievements. Viet Nam has understood our increasing capacity to promote a "prosperity and peace agenda", including in South-East Asia. This inspired Viet Nams leadership to promote a strategic partnership between the EU and ASEAN, to conclude with a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement". Our companies are the biggest investors in ASEAN. They bring the biggest non-Asian investment volumes to Viet Nam. Our Free Trade Agreement with Viet Nam, to be implemented by early 2018, will trigger a second wave of European investments. We support Viet Nams pursuit of sustainable and environmentally responsible development through energy sector reform and fostering renewable energies. Both the people of Europe and of Viet Nam aspire for just, free and prosperous societies, and international relations ruled by law. As with free and responsible citizens in society, the world community should be made of free, equal and responsible nations protected by the international rule of law. Celebrating Europe Day, we wish that Europe will bring fantastic opportunities to friends all over the world, in particular to the people of Viet Nam. Our partnership is the best we have for the future, our future, both in Asia and Europe. VNS HA NOI Hanoians will have the opportunity to enjoy traditional Japanese dance music to give thanks for a plentiful harvest during a performance this Sunday, May 15. The Kawashima-bayashi troupe will present Sound and Dance of Locals as a part of the Japan Foundation Garage Concert series. The dance has been performed by Japanese farmers since the beginning of the 18th century among people living in Kawashima district in Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama City. In 1980, the dance became the first designated intangible cultural asset in the city. The Kawashima-bayashi was founded to be performed at annual festivals. Today, however, the dance has an important role beyond seasonal festivals, such as the summer festival and New Years festival or feasts. Performers play drums, gongs and bamboo flutes, accompanied by dancers wearing traditional masks and costumes. The comical performances are popular among local residents as an essential element in celebrations. It is hoped that audiences will enjoy traditional Japanese sounds and dances, and feel the spirit of local Japanese people. The performance, with its free admission, begins at 10.30am in the courtyard (open stage) of the Japan Foundation Centre for Cultural Exchange in Viet Nam, 27 Quang Trung Street, Ha Noi. VNS QUANG NINH The northern province of Quang Ninh is taking measures to ensure the safety of tourists when visiting the area, said Vice Chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee Le Quang Tung. Quang Ninh is home to the UNESCO-recognised world natural heritage site, Ha Long Bay. Tung made the announcement at a press conference, after a cruise ship caught fire in Ha Long Bay earlier on Friday. The ship, owned by VIT Tourism Limited Company, caught fire after arriving at Tuan Chau Port following a cruise on Ha Long Bay. All 37 tourists aboard, including 36 foreigners, were brought to shore safely after abandoning the burning ship. Tung said that following the fire, all boats belonging to the company have stopped operating until inspections have been completed. He told reporters that to manage the tourist ship fleet on the bay, Quang Ninh has created numerous regulations, especially after a ship sank in Ha Long Bay in early 2011, claiming the lives of 12 foreign tourists. The province recently issued a temporary regulation that allows wooden ships to operate in the bay for a maximum of 15 years, as opposed to the 25 years allowed in Decree 111/2014/ND-CP. The change was made for safety reasons, as this type of ship degrades more quickly in saltwater, as well as in Ha Long Bays strong winds. After the 15 year period, these ships can still operate outside the bay. Passenger ships will soon be banned from staying overnight in Ha Long and Bai Tu Long bays, provincial authorities said. In the near future, only daytime travel will be allowed. Currently, there are 533 tourist ships operating across the two bays, 202 of which dock overnight, and 81 per cent being wooden ships. However, Quang Ninh is working to assure that no wooden ships operate in Ha Long Bay by 2030. Quang Ninh aims to welcome five million tourists to Ha Long Bay by 2020, up from 2.2 million in 2015. Ha Long Bay, which spans 1,553sq.km and includes 1,969 islands of various sizes, was twice recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in 1994 and 2000. In 2011, it outranked 261 other sites from around the world to be voted one of the seven New Natural Wonders of the World. The bay is an iconic destination for visitors to Quang Ninh, with its rich biodiversity, stunning beauty, and significant historical and cultural sites. VNS SON LA A 115-km stretch of the National Highway No 6 running through the provinces of Son La and Hoa Binh was re-opened to public on Saturday, May 7, 2016, by the Ministry of Transport after a year of road works. The upgraded stretch, funded to the tune of VN600 billion (US$26.9 million) by the World Bank under the Viet Nam Road Asset Management Project, made traffic smoother for road users and shortened travel time from Ha Noi to Son La to about 4 hours. Cam Ngoc Minh, chairman of the Peoples Committee of Son La said National Highway No 6 was known as the arterial route connecting Ha Noi and the north-west region, so the upgrade was important. It would help boost socio-economic development in the province and the north-west region, he said. Speaking at the opening ceremony, National Assembly Vice-chairwoman Tong Thi Phong asked the transport ministry to co-operate with administrations of the two provinces to operate the stretch. Victoria Kwakwa, Regional Vice President for East Asia and Pacific, said modernisation and upgrading of infrastructure was important, but sustainability was crucial. Road maintenance was the key to sustainability, as the costs of maintaining new facilities was rising rapidly, but it was often not taken into account in budget allocations, she said. Studies had proven that one dollar spent on road maintenance would save three dollars in later rehabilitation, she said. VNS To the editor: Donald Trump promises to make America great again. His path to greatness includes a wall along the US-Mexican border, deporting 11 million illegal immigrants, refusing Muslims entry into the US, criminalizing abortion and starting a trade war with a nation we are indebted to, to the tune of $1.238 trillion. Unbeknownst to Mr. Trump, none of the above ever elevated a nation to greatness. The title of "Greatest Nation "will go to the country that provides the best education for its young people, has the best educated workforce and has leaders who make schooling their top priority. Because of a court order our Republican legislators were forced to bring education to the forefront, but their priorities reside elsewhere. Fighting losing battles with the federal government, costing us millions, is one of them. Limiting womens' reproductive rights is another. Then comes the all-encompassing fixation with the Second Amendment that was adopted in 1791 when the US had a population of 4 million. To insist that this amendment should be the law of the land for a population of 320 million, defies all logic. If our Republican legislators' priorities are a reflection of Republicans' priorities nationally, Donald Trump's dream of a great America will never become a reality. MARGRIT NOVACK Flagstaff HCM CITY The ultraviolet (UV) radiation index in much of the southern region, including HCM City, will continue to be at 10-12 high-risk level until the end of this week, according to a meteorologist. Le Thi Xuan Lan, lecturer at the HCM City University for Natural Resources and Environment, said that the prolonged dry season and hot weather since the beginning of the year had caused the high UV level. According to the Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting in the Southern Region, the average temperature since Monday has been 34-40 degrees Celsius. All southern provinces and the areas two major cities, HCM City and Can Tho, received a total of 10-50 millimetres of rain, beginning on May 1. Lan said that the UV index of 8 to 10 is considered "very high" exposure, and 11 to 13 is considered "extreme", according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. UV radiation is strongest between 10 am and 4 pm. The overexposure could lead to high risk of harm to health, Lan said. She forecasted that the radiation would diminish after May 15 as the region would see increased rainfall. Moreover, ozone is depleting, leading to an increase of ultraviolet C on earth, which could cause cancer or mutant skin cells. Residents should pay attention to the UV index and protect themselves, she said. The Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting in Southern Region also should publish the index in the media and on its website, Lan added. Dr Le Ngoc Diep, head of HCM City University Medical Centres dermatology and venerology ward, said that too much exposure can cause skin cancer. However, it is not right to say that people should completely avoid the sun because they also need Vitamin D provided by the sun, Diep said. People should avoid going outside between 10am and 4 pm when UV radiation is the strongest, she added. They should wear a broad-brimmed hat, long-sleeved clothes, sunglasses and masks. Sunscreen should also be used, she said. It is best to use sunscreen 30 minutes before going outside and once every two hours, she added. Such prolonged hot weather could make people weak and dehydrated, she said. In HCM City, Nguyen Nam Hoang of District 10 who sells drinks at the corner of February 3 Street has had to cover his stall with a large umbrella. Its very hot and sunny. I get headaches and am always thirsty, Hoang said, adding that he now closes his stall at an earlier hour because of the heat. VNS By Phan Xam With a great passion for books since a young age, Trinh Hung Cuong today owns a precious collection of more than 10,000 books, newspapers and magazines. They include the works of the countrys veteran writers, poets and historians. He is also proud to own Gia inh bao, the countrys first newspaper written in quoc ngu (national Romanised Vietnamese language), published in 1865 in Sai Gon (old name of HCM City). He also has two copies of the first French version of the Tale of Kieu (regarded as the most significant epic poem in Vietnamese literature) which was published in 1884. Everybody was surprised to know that Cuong is an electrical engineer but he was passionate about collecting old books. Many people thought that only researchers, journalists and writers had a special passion of books and newspapers. What surprised them the most was his age, as he was just 35. Endless passion Cuong was born in a family whose members are in the electrical and water equipment business. Actually he is an employee of the urban environment company in Bac Ninh Province. Besides, he works on the lighting-service development of the province. Cuong said that his passion for collecting books began with his love for reading. When he was young, he used to go to the library of his maternal grandfather and stay there for hours reading books. When he was 12 years old, he began to save money to buy books. When he was a student at the Ha Noi University of Science and Technology, he used to go to book shops on Lang Street selling old books. In 2000, when he was in the second year at the university, he sold his newly-bought computer to have enough money to buy a collection of history books that he liked. A computer at that time was very precious for me, but as I loved this book collection so much, I did not have to think too long before selling my computer, he said. When I was a student, I bought books only because I loved reading them. At that time, I was not thinking of collecting them. But as time went by, I gradually realised that these are precious books, so I thought of collecting them, he said. In his house in Ngo Gia Tu Street in Bac Ninh city, the large book collection is well preserved from the second floor to the fourth floor of his house. To own such a big collection, Cuong organised several hunts. In 2011, his family was surprised as he hired a lorry to transport books from Ha Noi to his house. To own such a large number of books, he spent two years travelling between the two cities to convince the owner of those books to sell them to him. Two years earlier, he knew that in HCM City, someone wanted to sell books which were written by Nguyen Van Vinh, the veteran journalist and translator of Western literature in colonial Viet Nam. He then saved money to fund a trip to HCM City, and spent up to VN100 million (US$4,500) to buy a bag of books, and manuscripts that had been written by the late journalist. That trip stunned my family, and surprised my friends, he recalled with a smile. Each year, he goes once or twice to the south to hunt for precious books. Cuong said that in many libraries and universities in the world, there are several people looking to buy old books of Viet Nam that can be used for their research, and teaching of Oriental culture. In foreign countries, with modern techniques, ancient books will be better preserved. But Viet Nams books are part of the countrys culture and property, and it is good to bring them back. We should respect the books and ensure preservation techniques become better, Cuong said. The young man has tried hard to keep the books in a good condition. He uses powdered lime, and the dryer to desiccate. And then he uses white pepper to prevent termites from destroying the books. After that he covers the books with nylon, backs them, and then, preserves them in a wooden cupboard. I collect books to satisfy my passion. But moreover, I want to preserve the cultural value of my country and promote the intellectual value of the books among other people, he said. He also took part in several important book exhibitions in Ha Noi. Moreover, the young collector plans to invite some friends from France and Belgium to open an exhibition featuring the equipment to preserve the books. Some people asked him if one day he would sell his treasure to others and he said he had never thought about it. The passion cannot be converted into money. I am determined to preserve this collection during my lifetime, he affirmed. To make his passion useful to other people, he plans to soon open a book coffee shop. VNS Inner Sanctum: Do you think Viet Nam really has a fashion industry ? Not yet! Viet Nam does not really have a fashion industry. Our TV reality programmes about fashion and international fashion weeks have just created a start for the fashion industry and given a new face to the countrys fashion. Asian countries likes Japan, South Korea, Thailand and China have a developed fashion industry. Viet Nam is ranked fifth for garment outsourcing worldwide. Several international famous fashion brands have their products made in Viet Nam. Our workers have the ability to create sophisticated clothes. We have not built our own brands or taken advantage of our resources. Viet Nam has a lot of potential which has not been exploited well. Fashion is not the only thing displayed on the catwalk. It is lifestyle. When people ride a beautiful car, they love to dress in beautiful clothes and shoes, nice hand bags, and luxurious jewelry. Inner Sanctum: What conditions should Viet Nam have to develop a fashion industry like other countries in the region? First, we should build fashion brands for ourselves. The government has not seen the potential and importance of the fashion industry. In South Korea, the government invests a lot in movies to promote their culture. More than 10 years ago, nobody knew about Korean fashion. Korean films introduce cars, mobile phones and fashion, creating new lifestyle trends that influence the younger generation. In order to do that, the government had to invest a lot of money. We also need an army of skilled designers. Currently, schools of fashion design in Viet Nam are rare. Only a few schools have the ability to the worlds fashion trend. Fashion is a harsh sector. It changes every six months. Having skilled designers is still not enough. The other important thing is the source of materials. Most materials used in Viet Nam are imported. Our old weaving factories have been closed for a long time. I think we should revive craft villages. We used to have a strong silk weaving trade at villages. The government should create favourable conditions to revive the villages. I know that several international famous brands buy silk fabrics made in Viet Nam for their products. The workmanship of Vietnamese workers is very good. World-famous fashion brands have their products made in Viet Nam and their products meet international standards. If we have our products made and sold in Viet Nam, the business sector will benefit. Viet Nam has 90 million people. If 30 per cent of them wear Vietnamese clothes, the countrys economy will benefit. At that time, we would not have to import clothes. Inner Sanctum: You have been to several countries with Vietnamese models and designers to attend fashion events. Which countrys fashion industry impressed you the most? Before entering the fashion sector, I sold television copyright. I visited South Korea often to buy their films and sell to local television stations. I was their client, so they offered me free hotel accommodation and air tickets. After every visit, I bought several US$100,000 films. The films were screened in Viet Nam. Unintentially, Korean culture, including tourism and fashion, was promoted in Viet Nam. In the last two years, when I began organising international fashion weeks, I returned to South Korea to study more carefully the countrys fashion industry. The money for organising their international fashion weeks is paid by the government. I have to pay myself for a similar event. When they organise an event, the people of Asia rush to South Korea. They not only receive a huge amount of money from the fashion industry, but also from tourism and other services. Inner Sanctum: You have successfully paved the way for Viet Nams future fashion industry by training a new generation of models and designers acknowledged by the world. Has any garment corporation come to you for cooperation? Major garment companies in Viet Nam focus on outsourcing. They dont really have a design staff. We are not ready to cooperate with the companies. We want to assist those who are enthusiastic about fashion such as designers and local fashion brands including Canifa, Ivy Moda and others. The private fashion brands are very dynamic and active. They are willing to change and keep up to date with the worlds fashion trends. I realise that local garment companies are not really enthusiastic in developing the domestic fashion sector. Viet Nam should have a fashion association to develop the local fashion industry. The association that I have proposed would coordinate with the Viet Nam Textile and Apparel Association. Inner Sanctum: As an industry insider, what can you do to influence regional countries as South Korea has done in Viet Nam ? Recently, we worked with Chinese Hong Kong, to promote the fashion sector. When we have an association for fashion, cooperation between countries will be more convenient. There will be more cooperation opportunities and we will work with other countries to promote Vietnamese fashion. Organising international fashion week is also a way to promote Vietnamese fashion. Beside inviting foreign designers to Viet Nam for the events, in the future, I will send Vietnamese designers to introduce their collections in foreign countries. Embassies of several countries including France, Italy and Japan have paid a great deal of attention to Viet Nam International Fashion Week. The ambassador of Israel wants to invite Vietnamese designers to attend a fashion week in Israel and Israeli designers will visit Viet Nam. I hope that after 10 years Vietnamese fashion will become a new market in Asia. Several foreigners were surprised to hear about international fashion week in Viet Nam. They thought we would not be able to organise such a professional event. After our fashion weeks, several local fashion brands have become more popular and more people have started wearing dresses of Vietnamese brands. Inner Sanctum: You originally were not trained in the fashion field. Did you face challenges in reaching these achievements? I am neither a model nor a designer. I began my career as an accountant. Later, I had an opportunity to work in the television industry. Without my experience in finance and accounting, I would not have reached todays achievement. Working in fashion, I look at everything with the eye of a business person. When I brought designers Hoang Minh Ha and Ly Giam Tien to attend international fashion weeks in other countries, instead of sitting in the hall to see the wonderful world of fashion, I chose to sit backstage to see how the fashion world operated. VNS by Khoi Vu The old man left his fifth place, behind the other four, in the queue to reach its head. Excuse me lady, allow me to stand ahead of you so that I may ask the youth in the booking office one question, just a short one, he entreated the pretty girl ranking first. After that, Ill return to my former place, please, he added. Yes certainly. Come on, please, she answered. Standing in front of the glass compartment, he asked the young man behind it, Excuse me, are there any soft seats left on the SE1 train bound for Bien Hoa City early today? A lot, sir! Youre in a hurry, arent you? he asked. Exactly! Id like to visit my relative in the municipal hospital there, as soon as possible. By the way, mate, youd better provide him a ticket right away, another person in the queue suggested. Keeping it tightly in hand, he thanked everybody for their help before taking a seat in the waiting room. Our train leaving Hue will pull into a Nang Station in a few minutes. After that, it will take about 17 hours to finish the remaining section of the journey. Leaving here, it will arrive at Bien Hoa Station at 4 oclock in the morning, echoed a soft female voice over the loudspeaker. * * * His sleep on the soft seat came to him in fits and starts whenever the train stopped or left. His ration of food for dinner was unfinished, let alone the rice porridge free of charge by the waitress of the night train. Earlier, at 10 a.m., he had received a phone call from his wife at home while he had been staying in a 4-star hotel in a Nang. This morning, both our son and daughter-in-law have been taken to hospital due to a high fever, she said. So, he was compelled to end the planned partys trip ahead of schedule: only three of the eight-day visit to a Nang, Cham Island, Son Tra Peninsula and Hoi An City. Therefore, he packed his belongings at once before saying goodbye to the other two roommates. See you later. I must be going now, he told them. He hurriedly took the lift downstairs. Outside, he found a taxi close to the pavement in front of the hotel. Take me straight to the railway station, please, he told the driver. Our train is pulling into Bien Hoa Station. Passengers who need to exit are requested to get their belongings ready, that announcement over the loudspeaker again startled him. It was now five to 4 oclock. He approached a row of taxis parked near the entrance to the station. Finding the first one with the drivers eyes half closed, he knocked at the window. Where to, Sir? asked the man behind the steering wheel. Right to Phuc Hai Street, not its condo, please. Yes, sir. Sitting comfortably in the vehicle, the passenger phoned his wife: Im on the way home, honey. Stay ready at the gate, will you? Well, whats the matter with our children at home? Their fever seems very high while theyre in hospital, my darling. So, your children are not very well, remarked the driver. Exactly! Our single son and his wife are now under treatment there. One of them is suffering from dengue fever, whereas the others illness is still unidentified. Poor them! To the best of my knowledge, dengue is now raging wild in this city, he said. Bless both of them! I wish that they would soon recover from the serious disease, he prayed. Thanks a lot! said the old man. Anyway, Ive met another kind-hearted person, he whispered to himself after paying the fare. * * * Your daughter-in-law has dengue fever, whereas her husbands case is still under check, reported the hospital nurse on duty. Consequently, the old mans wife had to look after their 7-month-old granddaughter. In the meantime, their youngest daughter, who resided in Bien Hoa City, too, was so busy teaching that she could only help her mother in the evenings. Therefore, his presence in the family for the time being was indispensable. On the second day of treatment, his sons serious illness was also found out. It was dengue fever, too. The next day, his daughter-in-laws health conditions appeared a bit better. She only felt slightly itchy. Surely, shell soon be all right, said the doctor in charge. Everybody in the family was in high spirits. Their daughter-in-law could take care of her husband quite at ease. What the old man had to do every day was to take weak rice porridge for his sons breakfast and other items of food like cooked rice, vegetable and meat or fish for his wife in the morning and early afternoon. Later in the afternoon, in his youngest daughters turn, she replaced her father to that effect. Soon, his daughter-in-laws parents, brothers and sisters covered a distance of 20 kilometres, from the rural district, to visit these patients by motorbike. Moreover, his sons colleagues at work also dropped in on his son, group by group. Im very hungry, he often complained. No problem, after being given a few doses of serum, your health will return to normal, explained the doctor. Later on the evening of the fifth day, the old man received a phone call from his daughter-in-law at home. She told him that her husband had vomited lots of blood. Have you told the doctor? he asked her. Yes, father. But after visiting him, the doctor said nothing. He prescribed nothing else, except for the previous ones for him. Ok, no problem, provided that his health conditions have been carefully checked, the old man consoled her although he thought that his case was serious. When he reached the hospital for the first time, he found that the building and its pieces of equipment were all brand new since it had just been put into operation. It seemed to him that it was like a four-star hotel whose rooms had each an air-conditioner, two beds separated from each other by a heavy blind, an expensive toilet and two extra folding beds available for use when necessary. However, the appearance of the building doesnt matter much. The services of its staff are of more important, he said to himself. Finding his sons health much better, he felt at ease to some extent. In the morning, my temperature is normal, say, around 37 degrees Celsius, Dad, his son said to him. Early in the afternoon, it might be a bit higher. At 8pm., the doctor on duty comes to check on me. Later, they inject three bottlefuls of serum Ringer Lactate, one after another, he went on. His daughter-in-law asked him to look after her husband. Ill take our dirty clothes home, she said to the old man. Early in the afternoon, Ill return here with lunch for both of you, she added. When he began relaxing, his son suddenly rose up and embraced his chest tightly with both hands. He darted to his sons bed. What he saw was a reddish mass of semi-liquid. Maybe its the porridge hes recently eaten, he whispered to himself. A doctor on duty was requested to come to his sons bed. She examined him. Ill let him take some anti-nausea medication. Perhaps his disease has turned into a common fever. Itll take him three more days to recover. No problem! Its only a transitional stage of the disease, she explained. Her piece of advice made the old man quite assured. * * * When the doctor left, he told his son to stay calm so that the nurse could clean the floor. Not until the ninth day did the patients high fever end. He began eating well-cooked rice. At one oclock in the early afternoon the old man got a massage from his wife while he had just fallen into a sound sleep. Our sons just told me that todays lunch seemed wonderful, especially the dish of shrimp cooked with tomato sauce. He thanked us as well, darling, said his wife. Surprisingly, so far hes never shown his affection so deeply. All patients express their consolation to their parents or wives to ease their worries. No exceptions at all! Come what may, the old man felt as if he was in seventh heaven. Over the past days, the old man kept on arriving at the hospital in the mornings. Today, he rode his motorcycle right into the underground floor. Stopping at the ticket counter to receive a tag for his vehicle, the old man opened a broad smile. We often see you entering this place twice a day. Why do you have to do so? Few members in your clan, arent there? asked one of the two youths at the table. Exactly, just a few! My better half has to look after the kid and prepare our meals at home. Poor you! What about your sons health? Any better? Thanks a lot. Hes been allowed to leave the institution this morning. Congratulations! both of them said. He took the lift to the 11th floor in a good mood like the days when he, together with a few staff members of the office, had paid visits to some employees at hospital in the past. Theyre all the matters of obligation or hospitability of yore with a few cheap presents, now a bag of fruit, now a few pouches of sugar, even some banknotes wrapped in an envelope; quite different from what his children in hospital had received over the past weeks. Another difference between the two types of hospitals, past and present, was that the present-day one looked like a large, clean hotel with up-to-date equipment, whereas the old one was rather outdated with less instruments in poorly constructed buildings. His short life, more hopeful than real, like in an imaginary world, has passed for good. In fact, he is now enjoying the meaningful days of his lifetime. Dad, we can return home by ourselves. Why do you have to arrive here? the young couple asked him. Simply because Im your father, thats all, he replied in an unaffected voice. When refugees end up in poor neighbourhoods in a new land, they may also end up with increased risk of type 2 diabetes, a Swedish study suggests. Researchers analysed data for more than 61,000 refugees who arrived in Sweden from 1987 to 1991 to see how many of them developed diabetes roughly two decades after settling into their new communities. "Our study takes advantage of a natural experiment the Swedish government unwittingly created when it dispersed refugees across the country, more or less at random, to ease labour market conditions and help new arrivals integrate more easily into Swedish society," said lead study author Justin White, a health economics researcher at the University of California, San Francisco. "After two decades, refugees who had been assigned to the most deprived neighbourhoods were 15 per cent more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than those in the least deprived neighbourhoods," White added. Globally, about one in nine adults have diabetes, and the disease will be the seventh leading cause of death by 2030, according to the World Health Organization. Most of these people have what's known as Type 2 diabetes, which happens when the body can't properly use or make enough of the hormone insulin to convert blood sugar into energy. Advanced age, obesity and stress are among the factors that can lead to this type of diabetes. To see how different settlement communities influenced the odds of diabetes among refugees, White and colleagues used data on poverty, unemployment, schooling and welfare enrollment to sort neighbourhoods into three groups based on overall deprivation levels. Then, they looked at how many refugees were diagnosed with new cases of diabetes from 2002 to 2010 and mapped these cases to the level of deprivation in the communities where people lived. Refugees included in the study were from 25 to 50 years old and most were married with children. Half of them came from Iran or Arabic-speaking parts of the Middle East and northern Africa, while 10 per cent came from other parts of Africa, 19 per cent from Eastern Europe and 14 percent arrived from Latin America. Most refugees settled in larger cities, with 47 per cent in high-deprivation areas and another 45 per cent in moderate-deprivation communities. Overall, about 4,500 of them developed diabetes, or 7.4 per cent of the study population. But when researchers sorted diabetes cases based on the neighbourhood characteristics, they found 7.9 per cent developed diabetes in the highest deprivation areas, compared with just 5.8 percent in the least deprived communities. One limitation of the study is that even though researchers focused on a period in Swedish history when most refugees were randomly assigned to housing, they can't be certain all refugees in the study were in fact subject to this policy. It's possible some refugees selected their own housing, and the factors influencing this might also impact their odds of developing diabetes. The study can't prove that bad neighbourhoods cause diabetes or show which specific types of deprivation - like poverty or bad schools - might be most responsible for the added disease risk. "It could be related to a variety of effects - such as poorer access to healthy food, less opportunity for physical activity, perhaps greater psychological stress which of itself might increase diabetes risk," said Nigel Unwin, a professor at the Chronic Disease Research Center at the University of the West Indies and author of an accompanying editorial. Still, the findings highlight a need to consider the health impacts of neighbourhoods when assigning refugees to housing as Europe grapples with high unemployment and historically high numbers of incoming refugees, the authors conclude. "It's well known that people living in poorer neighbourhoods in high income countries, such as in North America or Western Europe, tend to have higher rates of chronic health problems including obesity, type 2 diabetes, and greater risk of stroke and heart attack," Unwin added by email. "It could simply be that the people who are unable to afford to live in more affluent neighbourhoods are at greater risk of these conditions, perhaps related to poorer education and a greater prevalence of unhealthy behaviors," Unwin added. The Pakistan-India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) on Saturday urged union minister not to "mislead Parliament" on the issue of handling prisoners of the two countries languishing in each other's jails. The PIPFPD took serious umbrage at the minister of state for external affairs's reported statements in the parliament that as per a bilateral agreement in May 2008, India-Pakistan Joint Judicial Committee on Prisoners (IPJJCP), consisting of retired judges of superior judiciary from the two countries are meeting every six months and visiting jails to ameliorate the conditions, ensure humane treatment and expeditious release of prisoners. "However, the fact is that the IPJJCP has not met even once since more than two years and we demand this committee should be made active immediately," PIPFPD general secretary Jatin Desai said. "We would like the governments of both India and Pakistan to specify that the work of this committee needs to be facilitated with the support of both governments and hence immediate action is required in this matter," Desai added. He said the IPJJCP was formed in 2008 and served as a crucial mechanism to ensure that the prisoners belonging to the two countries in each other's jails are ensured their rights. On May 5, the issue of Indian fishermen arrested in different countries was raised in the Rajya Sabha and it was stated that 272 of them are in jails in four countries. They comprise 220 in Pakistan, 34 in Sri Lanka, 10 in Bangladesh and 8 in Iran. Desai added the PIPFPD had written to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in March on the undue delay of handing over bodies of fishermen who are prisoners and die in jails on both sides of the border. He reiterated that ideally, whenever someone dies, the body should be sent back to his/her home country in the next available flight as there is no justification in keeping them back for weeks and months and they start decomposing. The MoS for External Affairs Gen V K Singh (retd.) on Saturday said India has raised its concerns with China over the development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and was awaiting its response. "There are problems with the project (CPEC). It is through a territory which belongs to India," the minister said. He was speaking on the sidelines of a seminar on "India-China Relations - The Future" organised by the Research Centre for East and North East Regional Studies, Kolkata. "We expressed our points that China needs to consider... what exactly is the status of the territory. We will wait a bit for what China says about it," Singh said. He, however, said there was "no time limit" as to when China would respond. In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, the minister had recently said China was assisting Pakistan in the development of . "Some of the proposed projects under CEPC are in Pakistan occupied Kashmir," he had said. Former Security Adviser M K Narayanan also termed as a major threat to India. " must be viewed as a major threat. Both countries (Chian and Pakistan) have a common intention to undermine India's position in the region," he said. He further said that Chinese 'One Belt, One Road' (OBOR) initiative could have adverse impact on relations between India and China. "Chinese OBOR initiative could possibly have the most degrading impact on relations between India and China," Narayanan said. To some, what follows might be considered the answer to a question. Or, to a prayer. Either way, The Panda House restaurant is reopening for Mothers Day. Soon when new signage arrives it will operate under a new name: Hometown Szechuan. New York-based chefs will bring 20-year culinary backgrounds to Waterloo to serve up authentic Chinese food, beginning at 11 a.m. daily. On Wednesday, I spoke to a group of about 40 business people at a 1 Million Cups event at the Waterloo Center for the Arts. During a round of dialogue with the group, a question came up: What will you do about following up on some of these stories you report on? The answer, of course, is that we follow up where and when we think it appropriate. Some stories are ongoing and have a wide-ranging impact, and we follow their progress and report changes as needed. A little more than a month ago, we reported that Yanzhen Jane Chen, who had just lost her 33-year-old husband, Jinqing Li, to cancer, had to close down their restaurant, The Panda House, at 1415 E. San Marnan Drive, in Waterloo. The couple had played key active roles every day in running the restaurant, which they had opened in 2012 in the former location of the old A.J.s Bistro. The couple had several factors working against them, even before they endured the tragedy: The name of the restaurant occasionally was confused with the Panda Express, which is nearby and in an arguably more-visible location, Jane said. Li had worked in the kitchen as head chef, while Jane took care of customers in the dining room. Without Li, there was no restaurant, at least until Jane could figure out a way to find somebody to take over his duties. She contacted family members in New York and China in a quest for ideas. Local friends got involved, too. Jane had ready-made support system at her church. Brett Engstrom, a vice president with Veridian Credit Union, as well as a regular customer, launched a GoFundMe account to raise $15,000 to help Jane take on an avalanche of medical bills and provide a bit of breathing room for her and her 7-year-old-son, Jason. Such efforts also gave Jane a chance to come up with a plan to reopen the dining establishment she and her husband had moved to Waterloo to start. The community inside and outside the Cedar Valley responded. One day, a kind-sounding elderly gentleman, who said he had no access to a computer, called me to find out how he could contribute to the fund, and I put him in touch with Engstrom. Others contributed from all points of the globe, Im told. In short, the campaign raised $15,400, Jane said. It was awesome, Engstrom said. It was one of those things I wanted to help any way I could. Media chipped in with getting publicity out there. There were (contributors) from other countries. And, there was so much support from their friends and family. Engstrom said he and his family will drop by the restaurant as part of their Mothers Day observance. Anyone else who has questions can call the restaurant at 232-6669. WATERLOO College of Hair Design needed more space. It found plenty at College Square Mall. So, next fall, CHD founded in 1957 as Waterloo Barber College will move from its current location in the Squiers Square Building, at 722 Water St., to 11,500 square feet of space adjacent to Planet Fitness in College Square in Cedar Falls. The move will roughly double the schools available square footage over the 6,000 it currently occupies on Water Street. It also will open under a new name: Salon Professional Academy. Weve actually franchised with Redken, which is a huge educational company in our industry, said owner Deb McFarland, who bought the company from her father, Joe Squiers, in 2007. Squiers had held at least partial ownership of the school since 1970 and became sole owner in 1985. Were going to be able to have some additional educational formats and enhancements, and well be working closely with Redken. Its going to be a lot of fun being able to get into a college town and a great location. The move wont be the first in the schools history. Waterloo Barber College was launched in 1957 at 221 E. Fifth St. In 1987, Squiers moved the school to 810 La Porte Road and changed its name to College of Hair Design. Squiers purchased the Water Street building in 1996 and moved the school there in 1998, McFarland said. The next move will have to wait for a redesign of the space, which will accord with a Redken design, according to McFarlands husband, Wayne, owner of McFarland Construction in Waterloo, primary contractor on the redesign. It will look completely different, he said, as he scanned the empty space in the mall. Were going to have lot of people working in here very soon. The company signed a 10-year lease with College Square, with options to go up to 20, Deb McFarland said. She said she hoped to have the revamped school in September or October. There will be plenty of space for growth, she said. Well have room for 72 students, and well be able to hold classes from licensed hairdressers, she said. Redken will offer training in numerous specialties, McFarland said. College Square was the ideal location for a growth-minded schools plans, McFarland said. Theres kind of an air of higher ed in Cedar Falls, and being close to the university is going to be great, she said. The ongoing major reconstruction of University Avenue around the mall is not a deterrence, McFarland said. I think that this whole area, in spite of all the construction, is going to be beautiful when its done, she said. Good traffic flow. The mall is really easy to work with. College of Hair Design currently has five employees, but there are two more being trained to join the staff when the move is complete, Deb McFarland said. There also will be a new partner in the business, as longtime education director Ferida Dolic is buying a 10 percent share, with plans to buy in more as time goes on, McFarland said. The schools departure creates a second major vacancy in the Water Street building. Steve Schmitt, the buildings owner, recently sold his company, Schmitt Telecom Partners Inc., to Waterloo-based office supply firm Advanced Systems Inc. and moved his seven employees to Advanced Systems headquarters near Waterloo Regional Airport. The building still houses Kohls Retirement Investments, Genesis Studio Spa, Boyle Counseling, the Pieters Law Office and the New York Life office of Jeffrey and John Fitzpatrick. Schimitt has fielded inquiries about the available space. With the college space on main floor, I have had a pretty serious level of interest, to convert that back into a restaurant, he said, noting that it had served that function several times. The Guardian, by Rachel Shabi All the countries of the Middle East argue over who invented the chickpea snack. The inaugural London falafel festival gave fans the chance to compare and the Egyptians won The Pilpel stand at the London falafel festival. The Pilpel stand at the London falafel festival. Photograph: Alecsandra Dragoi for the Guardian Rachel Shabi Perhaps it takes the diplomatic neutrality of an international pulse organisation to deal with the global falafel feud. The subject of who owns these savoury fried delights has been consuming the Middle East for many years part of the wider politics of who stole what from whom, and on par with the notorious hummus wars. However, the pulse people arent taking sides they are just pushing the pulses. To which end, the Global Pulse Federation (yes, I checked, its real) hosted the inaugural London falafel festival at Borough market last Sunday, as part of what the UN has decreed to be the International Year of Pulses (again, yes). Its all about the pulses as a force for good a nutritious, sustainable and affordable good, to be more precise. Daniel Young, the food critic and writer who hosted the event, says that falafels, while potentially healthy, are now in the category of dude food like tacos, cheese burgers or fried chicken, they are all about moreish, tasty, non-virtuous eating. Impulse food, instant excitement, he says. Im not sure about this claim, but falafels have been wildly popular across the Middle East for some time. Im often amused at the speed with which two people from that region, discussing travels to Beirut, say, or to Cairo, get on to the pressing matter of where to find the best falafel. Competing for the title of falafel champions at Borough market are representatives of various styles, although unfortunately the Lebanese team were refused visas. But there is the Egyptian chef Moustafa Elrefaey from the Cairo chain Zooba, alongside the Israeli offering from Uri Dinay of Pilpel, which has four branches in London. There are also variations from two London-based chefs, the Palestinian-Lebanese Rasheed Muhammed of Hoxton Beach, and Abdullah Amin of Origin Of, who brings a fusion falafel. The Hoxton Beach stand. Photograph: Alecsandra Dragoi for the Guardian The event is sold out meaning that the four competitors are each serving up some 500 falafel plates but thats hardly a surprise. Long-suffering falafel fans have seen their favourite food eroded by dubious aberrations and bland supermarket versions, so the chance to enjoy four authentic, fresh street-food samples has obvious appeal. And there are plenty of non-aligned, straight-up foodies here avowed carnivores, even patiently joining the long queues to taste each stalls offering. The fusion version from Origin Of is creative and has a great consistency, but with a three-bean mix sprinkled with two different seeds and served with three dips, there is perhaps too much going on. Pilpil goes full Israeli style, crisp but slightly dense chickpea balls stuffed into pitta bread with fresh salads, pickles and sauces. Hoxton Beach has perfectly crumbly but somehow bland falafel balls smashed into a wrap along with salads, tahini and an incredible, freshly made, Iraqi-style mango pickle. I am not an unbiased observer. I was raised on falafels comprising a 50/50 fava bean/chickpea mix, made by my Iraqi-born mother who lived in Israel. But Im a falafel fundamentalist and think the Egyptian variety is clearly the king of falafels. I took precautions to avoid unjustifiable support for the Egyptian team, visiting their stall last after filling myself with all the other falafels first (the purity of research is hard). But even then, theirs just killed it. Made with ground-on-the-spot fava beans, leeks, fresh coriander and spices, and stuffed with smoky aubergine, this falafel is light and delicate and delicious. And it wins the overall competition, closely followed by the falafel from Pilpel. Elrefaey, the chef from Zooba (and a culinary ambassador for Egypt), is grinning from ear to ear while frying the falafel. I dont think falafel is Egyptian, he tells me. I know it is. His offering, he says, is an authentic, classic recipe, with a tweak. When I speak to Dinay, who runs Pilpel, he is gracious about the whole thing. We didnt invent falafel, he says, referring to Israeli attempts to claim the food as its own. He tells me that, on a plate, the Egyptian competitors were the best, hands down. Zoobas winning falafel offering. Photograph: Alecsandra Dragoi for the Guardian Its most likely that falafel did start in Egypt one theory being that Coptic Christians created it about 1,000 years ago, another being that it goes back to the time of the pharaohs. In any case, the dish migrated to the Levant, to be consumed by Lebanese, Palestinians and Israelis and all those countries have at some point claimed falafel as their national dish. Arguments about origins aside, most people just want to eat the best falafel that can be found. Anissa Helou, the Middle East food expert and writer, tells me what to look out for. They have to be very crisp on the outside, with a nice crust that is not too dark, she says. And this is the art of proper frying they should be crumbly and fluffy, without being too wet on the inside. When it comes to consistency as well as flavour, the ingredients are key: Helou suggests a good mix would be chickpeas and fava beans, along with fresh coriander, leeks, garlic and spices, and a bit of bicarbonate of soda added at the end, so that the falafel balls puff up when fried. What is essential, though, is that they are served on the spot. As Young says: Its better to have people wait for the falafel, than to have the falafel wait for people. Bear that in mind whenever youre remotely tempted by some pre-packaged, refrigerated fried bean balls masquerading as this champion Middle Eastern food. Moustafa Elrefaeys Egyptian broad bean falafel (Serves 4) 500g dried broad beans, soaked 40g Spanish onions 12g garlic 35g parsley 35g fresh coriander 7g salt 2g ground cumin Thoroughly wash the beans in a bowl under running water then cover and soak them (unrefrigerated) for at least 8 hours. Wash and drain the beans well. In a food processor, puree the vegetables and herbs for 2 mins then add the soaked beans and keep it running for 10 mins. Add the salt and cumin until the mix is slightly foamy. Heat the oil to 180C/350F/gas mark 4 and, if you have one, use an ice-cream scoop to form a ball from the puree. Press it between your fingers into a patty and fry it for 2 mins on each side. WATERLOO The children of Yin Yin Tun and Laldin Liana may never know the hardships their mothers have endured to provide them with safety, comfort, health and a good education. Liana has two children, ages 5 and 6, and said the memories are too painful to share with them. If I share, they are heartbroken, she said. Tun may share the story of her long, arduous journey with her children now 13, 11 and 9 when they are older. For now I tell them to try so hard, Tun said. In Burma and Thailand they dont have opportunity like here. We feel very safe here and have opportunity to learn. Tun, 34, and Liani, 29, are refugees from Burma who became fast friends in the English Language Learner program at Hawkeye Community College Metro Center. Theyve been attending English classes there for four years and are now in the advanced ELL class. Thats the highest level we offer here, said Sandy Jensen, director of the Metro Center. They are speaking English very well. So well, in fact, theyve become student ambassadors, helping Burmese refugees who are new to the program. Its a role desperately needed. We have students from 38 countries, and 40 percent of those are Burmese, Jensen said. Theyre our largest demographic. Tun and Liana also participate in the optional Family Literacy Program, which provides bilingual childrens books, written in English and the familys native language. We stress the importance of reading to their children every day, Jensen said. The goal is to strengthen them in their role as the childs first teacher and to prepare them to be successful in school. And its very important to maintain their first language. Tun was 18 when she fled Burma. Civil war raged. Burmese soldiers burned our village. I followed my uncle to the refugee camp in Thailand, she said. She lived at the camp for 11 years, and in 2010 emigrated to Milwaukee with her husband and three small children. There, they were assigned a caseworker who tried to help them navigate their new lives. But the caseworker didnt speak their language, so they struggled to figure out many things on their own. Electricity, stove, we have never seen before, Tun said. In the dead of a January winter, temperatures dipped to freezing inside the familys home because they didnt know what a thermostat was or how to use it. I cry every night then, but my husband say we can do it, she said. She enrolled in an English class, and did fine until the day she no longer had a ride to class. My caseworker said tomorrow I have to go to school by myself, she said. I dont know how to take bus. When in our country, there is no bus, car, big building only walking. On her first bus ride alone, Tun rode past her transfer station, not knowing where to disembark. A discarded ticket and an expired transfer later, she arrived at her destination. Class was almost over. I was very late, she said. Getting home proved worse. She got off the bus at the wrong stop and walked for an hour and a half in Milwaukees frigid winter temperatures. I know my house is red, but I couldnt find my house, she said. When I got home, I couldnt speak. My mouth was frozen. It was a lot of snow, and very hard. But I say I will not cry, because I am trying. The family moved in 2012 to Waterloo where Tuns husband took a job at Tyson Fresh Meats. Lianas husband also works at Tyson. She was 20 years old when her husband was forced to flee from Burma to Malaysia. The government question me, Where is he?, she said. Two years later, she, too, fled to Malaysia. Further oppressive conditions greeted her there. Two to three families occupied tiny rented rooms. Work was scarce. Worse, freedom was threatened. In Malaysia they arrest refugees. They put all people in jail. Women, kids, pregnant women, she said. The family applied for refugee status and landed in Washington state, where, once again, work was hard to find. There were no jobs for if you didnt speak English, Liana said. A cousin who had settled in Waterloo drew them here in 2010. Today, Liana and Tun are community navigators for Ethnic Minorities of Burma Advocacy and Resource Center, where they help other refugees learn their way in a new life how to use the post office, how to go to the doctor and, yes, how to use the public bus system. In Thailand, Tun was a nurse and plans to earn her nurse certification here. Liana has the same ambition. The pair will enroll in a pilot certified nurse aide program in the fall, which will include a nursing instructor and an ELL teacher. They share the same goal to become registered nurses. My kids look at pictures from Burma and say, Mom, its very different, Tun said. In Burma we dont have enough food to eat or opportunity like here. I know my kids will have a full life here. CEDAR FALLS A flash of light in the middle of the night was the last thing Vern Kolpek saw. Ever. On June 10, 1966, the Cedar Falls police officer had pulled over a robbery suspect in front of the fire station at East 18th and Main streets. The Clark station up the road at East 18th and Waterloo Road had been robbed shortly after midnight; the suspect got away with $12. Kolpek saw a young man step out of his car, swing out a shotgun from behind him and point it. He fired once, shattering the windshield of Kolpeks squad car. The officer saw the muzzle flash, then darkness. Pain like about a hundred white-hot pokers seared through his brain from the shot and shattered glass that struck his face. That was 50 years ago. Kolpek was blinded for life. He could have died that night. He didnt. Hes 82 now. I consider myself pretty lucky, he said. Ive done a lot of the things that I wanted to do that most people said I couldnt. He raised a family, roofed his house and tiled his basement with his childrens help. He played a guessing game with one young daughter as he walked her home from school, astounding her as he correctly tapped ever tree along the way with his cane. He attended the University of Northern Iowa and served as president of the Cedar Falls Exchange Club. He learned to play the drums and led a country band, Misty, for 33 years. He organized numerous fundraisers with big-name talent for local police associations. He also served four years on the Cedar Falls City Council and once even ran for mayor. In short, hes had a full life. He doesnt dwell on the shooting. But there are reminders. He still pulls pieces of glass from his face, wife Nancy said. But he views blindness as a nuisance, not a handicap. You can do a lot of stuff if you have to, he said. You make up your mind. You either sit around, or you do. I sit a lot more now, he quipped, hobbled by age, a bad knee, heart problems and diabetes. Ive been very, very lucky, Kolpek said. Ive got four super-good kids. Their mom, my first wife (Stella) was a super-good person. She died in 1990. Im very, very lucky for a second wife; Nancy and I have been together for almost 20 years. So youve got to look at the good parts of stuff. He knows very well his children could have been without a father. I can remember when I pulled up with the squad car. I can remember him getting out of the car and I can remember the shotgun coming out from behind him. I can remember the bam! Kolpek said. He radioed his sergeant for help and firefighters Ed Reed and Vernon Mitchell came to his aid. You know the scariest part? I remember Mitchell saying Who is it? And Reed said, I cant tell. That just sent a chill down my back, Kolpek said. His face was a bloody mess from the shooting. Another officer, Gerald Reisem, responded immediately from a call a few blocks away, arriving just in time. I was pretty lucky, because that kid was walking back to the (squad) car. He was going to shoot me again. So I was reeeal lucky. Reisem, officer Kenneth Longseth and Waterloo officers Gil Hansen, Don Kehoe and Larry Dolan assisted and pursued the assailant down Main and East 15th streets to the street department grounds. Hansen, a childhood friend of Kolpeks, pulled the suspect out of Dry Run Creek, where hed fled after an officer shot one of his car tires. Albert L. Fullbright, then 17, of South Dakota, was sentenced in August 1966 to 30 years in prison for assault with intent to commit murder and 25 years for aggravated robbery. He was eventually paroled; Kolpek believes he served about five years. I felt sorry for him, Kolpek said. He was young and made a quick decision. ... I dont know how he thought he was going to get by with it. I hope he got his life straightened out. After an extended stay at University Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City failed to restore Kolpeks eyesight, he got on with the rest of his life. He enjoys cards and coffee with friends and still has a drum set at home. You know what? Im pretty lucky, Kolpek said. Number one, Im lucky to have survived it. Number two, I am so lucky to have the people around me that Ive got around me, the people I had around me. I just am. It makes you feel good. And I have a great family. CEDAR FALLS The Board of Education Monday is expected to approve a contract with Struxture Architects for design work at North Cedar Elementary School. The board meets at 7 p.m. in the James L. Robinson Administrative Center, 1002 W. First St. Plans for additions and remodeling of North Cedar were included in a $32 million bond issue approved by Cedar Falls Community Schools voters April 5. According to an agreement with the Waterloo firm coming before the board, construction on the project is anticipated to begin next spring and be completed by the fall of 2019. The board will also consider approving 2016-17 contracts with three employee groups. The agreements include wage and benefit increases of 4.64 percent for Cedar Falls Educational Support Professionals, 4.65 percent for Chauffeurs, Teamsters and Helpers Local 238, and 4.71 percent for Cedar Falls Education Association. Each contract will go into effect July 1. In other business, the board will consider approving: Purchases of 890 student Chromebook computers and operating systems for $207,698 from CDW-G of Vernon Hills, Ill., which submitted the lowest bids of four companies. A boost in some student fees starting next fall. Those include increases of $2 in round-trip transportation fees for the full school year to $80 and 10 cents for individual meals at breakfast and lunch for students and adults. Meal fees will range from $2.15 for preschool and elementary breakfast to $3.90 for adult and second lunches. WATERLOO The city is losing its city clerk and human resources director this year. Suzy Schares, who fills both roles for the city of Waterloo, submitted her resignation Thursday and plans to start her own business in the fall. Shares, who was hired as the city clerk in January 2010, took on human resources responsibilities in January 2012 when the former director, Bob Stringer, was laid off. The Waterloo native worked as a deputy city clerk in Colorado before returning to the Cedar Valley. She has acquired a business franchise, which will be announced soon and wont leave her current position until October. Mayor Quentin Hart said he was grateful for the time to find a replacement, but said the effort needs to start soon. We are looking at that department to see whats best suited to fulfill our city clerk and human resources needs, Hart said. Both positions are absolutely important to the city of Waterloo. While Schares had been overseeing both the clerks office and human resources, Hart said he isnt certain a replacement can be found to maintain the current structure. Discussion and research will be necessary to determine whether to begin searching for someone to fill both roles or whether the positions should be separated. The City Clerks Office has a large number of duties, which include meeting notices and minutes, city ordinance codification, business licenses and permits, payroll, maintaining records and overseeing the telecommunications commission, public access studio and Memorial Hall Commission. Iowa Code gives the City Council, not the mayor, the power to appoint the city clerk. WATERLOO A once-rejected grant for a Cedar River white-water course may resurface this week. Waterloo City Councilman Jerome Amos Jr. has called for reconsideration Monday of a $750,000 grant application to be submitted to the National Park Service to help pay for the planned downtown project. Amos was absent for medical reasons last week when council members voted 3-1 in favor of the grant, falling short of the four votes required to pass a resolution. Councilmen Ron Welper, Bruce Jacobs and Pat Morrissey supported the action, while Steve Schmitt abstained for a perceived conflict of interest. Tom Lind cast the lone vote against the application. Only Amos, Lind or Schmitt can call for reconsideration and second such a motion. Council members attempted Thursday to hold an electronic meeting an email vote allowed under Iowa law but the effort was abandoned after Lind claimed the process was illegal and refused to participate while other council members struggled with the motions required. The grant application, which would be prepared by the Iowa Northland Regional Council of Governments is required to be submitted by Tuesday. The Waterloo Development Corp. is driving the proposal for a $2.6 million white-water course along the east banks of the river between the Park Avenue and Fifth Street bridges. More than $300,000 in Black Hawk County Gaming Association funding paid for the design. The federal grant requires a $750,000 local match, which has not been identified to date. The City Council could reject the grant, even if it is approved, if matching funds are not secured to their satisfaction. The meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday in the council chambers on the second floor of City Hall. WATERLOO -- The Cedar Valley Woodworkers will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Waterloo Center for the Arts. The Show and Tell will include members showing what they were challenged to make from construction grade lumber and other craft items. Lt. Bill Beck of the Waterloo Fire Rescue will speak about fire safety in a wood shop and the proper fire extinguisher for the shop. Guests are welcome. For more information, call Dan Webb, 266-4445. On May 1, the government of Puerto Rico defaulted on some $400 million of bond repayments. This default has added urgency to a bill in Congress to rescue the island from its financial crisis, which is getting worse by the day. Puerto Rico faces more than $70 billion of debt, and the government is already in technical default on many of its bonds. Billions more come due in the weeks ahead, and the government is reportedly out of funds to repay. These debts dont even include an additional $43 billion of unfunded pension liabilities. Add it all together and the debt reaches 150 percent of GDP. All the government has done is raise taxes, with the sales tax recently hiked from 7 to 11.5 percent. Tragically, Puerto Rico has become the Detroit of the Caribbean. By law, Puerto Rico cant declare bankruptcy, but the territory is in de facto Chapter 9 already. The House Republican rescue plan would allow the island to restructure its debt and delay payments as it attempts to rebuild its shattered economy. The statistics are heartbreakingly bleak: Almost half the residents are in poverty (and more than half of all children); only about 40 percent of adults are in the workforce; half of families collect welfare benefits; and more than 10 percent of the islands residents have left for Florida, Texas, New York or other safe havens. Puerto Ricans are American citizens whose lives have been turned upside down. The U.S. government has a moral, if not legal, obligation to help. But as a territory Puerto Rico needs to agree to help itself. Here is what shouldnt happen: a financial cash bailout from U.S. taxpayers. Puerto Rico is 100 percent responsible for all of its taxes and spending except its Social Security tax and spending. And as such, U.S. taxpayers had no say whatsoever in the amount of debt Puerto Rico took on and should not have to pay for Puerto Ricos bad decisions. A U.S. bailout would only reward bad behavior and finance another spend-and-borrow binge. The media have invented a story here that the villains are the investors and hedge funds who bought the Puerto Rico bonds. The bondholders are certainly not guiltless for lending money to a government that is recklessly out of control. And bondholders will surely pay a heavy price for their financial mistake: They are likely to get, at most, 70 cents for each dollar they are owed. So the bondholders will be punished by the marketplace. The real source of the crisis is the Puerto Rican government. Puerto Ricos elected government has failed its citizens. Even on the eve of the crisis, Puerto Rico continued to spend and borrow as if it were running a Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. The Republican plan that has the support of House Speaker Paul Ryan would create a strong financial oversight board to take control of the governments finances, taxes and budgeting decisions. We know this model works. In the 1990s it helped save Washington, D.C., during its darkest hours of financial troubles. Now the city is booming. Democrats, such as Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, are unfortunately playing politics and are accusing Republicans of acting like colonists. In reality, the GOP plan offers a financial life raft for the island, and if the Puerto Rican legislature or voters prefer to go it alone, they should have a simple up or down vote on whether to agree to a control board. The thorny and controversial issue is how to restructure the outstanding debt. There are at least a dozen classifications of bonds, and the bondholders do have a legal right to repayment or to be able to sue in court. About one-quarter of the debt carries a constitutional full faith and credit guarantee of repayment granted by the government of Puerto Rico. Those constitutionally guaranteed bondholders must be put first in line for repayment as is consistent with their legal rights. The Republican plan as currently written would take away their right to sue in court. Puerto Ricos government would like nothing more than a cram down repayment structure without the bondholders consent. This would not only be unfair to the bondholders; it would also hurt Puerto Rico in the long term, because only a nitwit would ever again agree to buy PR bonds when the island has shown it will blatantly violate contractual obligations. None of this will work unless there is improvement in the islands economy. Why not turn Puerto Rico into a Hong Kong in the western hemisphere through new rounds of tax, regulatory, property rights and welfare reforms? The first step is to restructure the debt and then jump-start the dormant private economy so that the standard of living starts rising again and Puerto Rico has the economic muscle to pay its bills. An optimistic attribute of human beings is that every child is born with no knowledge of life other than innate, reflexive skills needed for survival. As the famous song from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific notes, Youve Got to Be Carefully Taught to love or to hate. Evolution, however, instills certain behavioral ticks in us known as knee-jerk reactions. Hillary Clinton recently said it is in our DNA to recognize danger when we see threats of violence at political gatherings. While most of us did not personally fight in World War II, we were taught the chain of events that lead to the deadliest war in human history. Within the short span of five years, from 1939-1945, more than 40 million people lost their lives. Being a worldwide event, its impact on our DNA is expected. But, slogans like never again must be combined with constant reminders that we must learn from the past. Those still alive today who witnessed the rise of Hitler in the 1930s or those who studied the events before and during the Third Reich may begin to feel flashbacks. Lets be clear: Our a direct comparison cannot be made between our current society and Germany of the 1920s and 1930s. Germany was financially broke, and police protection at political rallies was not robust. But there are lessons that can be learned from the human experience of those years. In his book Mein Kampf, Hitler claimed Marxists were determined to disrupt his political rallies and bragged about how he openly enticed his Storm Troop forces to violence. He wrote before the start of a public gathering in November 1921, he told his stormtroopers to remember that he defends himself best who personally attacks. He also made it clear to his boys that when the fight started none of us would leave the hall, except he was carried out dead, and he himself would stand behind to personally see they showed no cowardice. The response from his stormtroopers was a threefold heil. The violence that ensued put many in the hospital. Recent editorials have been nearly unanimous that violence at political gatherings is not acceptable. Freedom of speech was placed in our Constitution for a reason: Venting through words exposes the good and the bad. An alternative to free speech would be dictatorship on one side and underground sabotage on the other. Thankfully, in this country there is protection for free speech and people trust law enforcement when we assemble and speak. We must protect this right, and we cannot emphasize this fact enough to our youths as well as to those new arrivals who are learning. That is why we react with high emotion when we hear those who think violence is a solution to stopping bad things from happening. We surely see examples of this on television where, in developing countries, demonstrations turn violent. In some of these countries fist fights break out between elected officials in their assemblies. That tells us they still have years ahead of them before they can appreciate the value of free speech. We sometimes have to explain to our European or Canadian friends that what appears to be extreme in our TV news is just that. Those with extreme views get a lot of air time, and it brings out their supporters to vent. It is only through this exposure that the great masses in the middle react and hopefully bring a balance. 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there are several things that will help you make a decision. Heres what you should look for when choosing an online casino Are they regulated? A lot of the larger ones have licenses issued by the authorities in their respective regions, so its worth checking this first. Do they offer games from different software providers? Some casinos just use one software provider and limit your selection. This is fine if you like playing those types of games but you may want to check other casinos as well. What does their payout percentage look like? The payout rate refers to how much money you can expect to win after every bet. A high payout rate means youll be able to play more often without having to worry about losing all your money. Its also important to know the minimum and maximum bets allowed on each game. If youre going to play roulette, for example, then you probably dont want a casino with a minimum bet of less than $2.50 or even lower than that. The players used to play the game slot online in the land based casinos in the past time. But now with time after the invention of the online casinos players play the game slot online. Online platform provide the players with the convenience in playing and even better winning. Even after keeping a good percentage of the profits, they distribute good funds to players. How many games do they offer? There are lots of different types of games to choose from. Roulette, blackjack and poker are some of the most popular options, but you might find slots, video pokers, video bingo and others as well. You can usually filter these games down to only show the ones that interest you best, so make sure that your list isnt too long! Is there a bonus offer? Many online casinos offer free bonuses as part of their welcome package which includes new players being awarded 100% up to $10 instantly, for example. These offers are great but not everyone has access to them all the time (and some require you to deposit real money). If youd prefer to avoid paying a fee, some casinos offer no-deposit bonuses where you can get a certain amount of funds before you need to put any actual money into the account. These are usually offered alongside welcome bonuses, so make sure you read both parts of the terms and conditions carefully before signing up. Does it offer live dealer games? Live dealers are much preferred by many over regular virtual versions, so it pays to check this option out too. Most online casinos now offer live dealer games in addition to their regular offerings, allowing you to experience the thrill of the real thing without needing to leave home. Now that youve got an idea of what to look for when choosing an online casino, heres some tips for making the right choice It really comes down to personal preference. No two people are exactly alike, so everyone has an opinion on what they like and dislike about each casino. That said, here are some things to consider in order to narrow down your choices Popularity. Check out reviews, forums and Facebook pages to see what other people think of the casino. Also, ask around at work or friends houses who they would recommend to you. You could always take a look at the casinos website too, to see what kind of information they provide about themselves. Reputation. Find out what the general public thinks about the casino. Check out any customer reviews on sites like Trustpilot, Amazon and Google Play to find out more. As far as gaming goes, you can also check out the Better Business Bureau to see whether there have been any complaints against the casino. Security. Make sure the casino uses SSL encryption to secure its transactions, meaning that your private data stays safe during transactions. Other than that, look for security seals on the site itself and verify that theyre legitimate. You can also check out the casinos privacy policy to see how they handle confidential information. Payment methods. Its good to have multiple payment options available, especially if you plan to play frequently. Its also nice to find a casino that accepts cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. If youre worried about safety, you can always opt for a credit card or PayPal instead. With all those criteria in mind, heres our top picks Betway: Betway is a relatively new UK casino offering online gambling to residents of the United Kingdom and European Union. They offer hundreds of games across both land based and digital platforms, with plenty of top software providers like Net Entertainment, Microgaming and Yggdrasil Gaming Network. With a generous welcome offer that gives players 100% up to 100, you really cant go wrong with Betway. Coral Casino: Coral Casino is operated by the same company that runs the famous Caribbean casino, Grand Reef. Like many casinos, Coral Casino offers a wide variety of games, including plenty of video slots and table games. New players can benefit from a huge 100% match bonus up to 1000, while existing customers enjoy 25% cash back on deposits made within 48 hours of opening an account. Ladbrokes Casino: Ladbrokes Casino is owned by the same company as the famous bookmaker that started life in 1921. With more than 500 games from leading software providers such as Amaya, NetEnt and Microgaming, you wont be disappointed by the quality of the games here. New players get a 200% match bonus up to 500, while existing customers can claim 35% cashback on their first three deposits. Paddy Power Casino: Paddy Power is another Irish-owned casino that operates throughout Europe. Not only does Paddy Power Casino offer traditional casino games like blackjack, roulette and slots, but it also provides a full range of sports betting, including football, tennis, boxing and horse racing. New players can receive a massive 100% match bonus up to 200, while existing customers can claim 35% cashback on their first three deposits. William Hill Casino: William Hill Casino is one of the biggest names in the industry, operating in Europe, Asia and North America. Founded in 1984, this online casino has more than 400 games to choose from, including slots and table games, with a wide array of software providers like WagerLogic, Big Time Gaming and Rival. Bonus: 100% Match Bonus up to 100 Register Now Betway: 100% Match Bonus up to 100 Claim Now Coral Casino: 25% Cash Back on Deposits Claim Now Ladbrokes Casino: 35% Cash Back on First 3 Deposits Claim Now Paddy Power Casino: 100% Match Bonus up to 200 Claim Now William Hill Casino: 100% Match Bonus up to 200 Claim Now If youre interested in trying out an online casino but arent quite ready to commit to one, why not try out one of the many no deposit casinos weve reviewed? You can test drive various casinos completely risk-free, so you can feel confident about your choice before you make a single penny deposit. May 8, 2016 | By Kira A staggering 42.9% of natural disasters occur in the Asia Pacific region alone. In the past 20 years, these natural disasters, including typhoons, tsunamis and earthquakes, have left more than 25 million people homeless, and at risk of starvation, disease, and death. To make matters worse, the intensity of natural disasters is expected to increase in the next five to ten years. The current common solution for emergency relief is to deploy tents. While cheap and lightweight, tents lack security, they arent adapted to hot and tropical climates, and they cant provide energy or basic furniture. Looking to marry design and technology as a solution for disaster relief, Singapore-based architecture firm WY-TO has designed the Living Shelter: an affordable collapsible capsule that is easy to ship and assemble, and optimized for disaster relief in Southeast Asia. The Living Shelter prototype provides everything devastated communities require following a natural disaster: security, climate-adapted ventilation, clean water, solar energy, and even practical, 3D printed furniture for daily use. As world citizens and professional architects and engineers based in Singapore, we felt the urge to support the populations affected by these catastrophes. We decided to use our skills to create a shelter solution designed specifically for the climate, geography, and cultural habits of Southeast Asia, explained WY-TO Architects. During the design process, WY-TOs architects and engineers were inspired by traditional kampung housing. Originating from Malaysia, kampung can refer to the houses themselves, which are adapted specifically to their environments (for example, many Malay kampung houses are built on stilts to avoid wild animals or floods). At the same time, the term can refer to a village defined by its strong community ties. The Living Shelter is also about both: it is a refuge that is adapted to its environment so as to keep individual inhabitants safe, while at the same time helping communities re-connect and re-buildan absolutely essential part of the recovery process. The Living Shelters features include a water bag for collection, a built-in solar panel on the roof to provide basic energy, clever openings for natural ventilation, and even built-in, foldable furniture such as beds and hammocks. To achieve both the foldable, portable furniture and the custom-made folding mechanism of the structure itself, WY-TO has been exploring 3D printed and composite materials that can provide stability without adding extra weight. Because it is based on a collapsible design, the entire structure ships in convenient flat packs and can be assembled without special tools, just like Ikea furniture. When no longer needed, the components can be just as easily dismantled and each piece can be re-used for other purposes post-emergency. Another advantage is that the Living Shelter can be assembled on uneven terrain, which is often the case in these regions. Though still in its prototype stage, the Living Shelter is currently being patented in Singapore for its overall engineering and design, as well as particular technical features. Looking to take it beyond prototype stage and into the real world of disaster relief, WY-TO will be exhibiting the 1:1 Living Shelter Prototype at the 15th Biennale de Architettura, taking place in Venice this Mayand they are raising funds via an Indiegogo campaign to help make their debut as powerful and effective as possible. The project is ready to bring its innovative solution in the disaster relief market and start to help the communities in need, said WY-TO, who has found initial funding from the Design Singapore Council. Even with the great support of our sponsor, Living Shelter requires additional funding. Every dollar counts to bring the prototype to the Biennale. The Indiegogo campaign, is currently seeking $40,000 to help prototype new materials, including 3D printed composites for the portable furniture, as well as pay for workmanship, shipping, and marketing fees. Rewards include personalized recognition, as well as 3D printed keychains and even a 3D printed model miniature of the Living Shelter. 3D printed housing may still be several years, if not decades, away for most of us, however those in disaster-prone areas may not have that long to wait. In addition to WY-TOs flat-pack shelter, 3D printing has been a part of several other disaster relief efforts: Field Ready has used 3D printing to help Nepals earthquake recovery, while 3D printer drones are being developed to build emergency shelters around the world. Posted in 3D Printing Application Maybe you also like: Idrees Ahmad in Medium: Imagine Guernica. On April 26, 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, the Basque town was bombed for three hours by Hitlers Luftwaffe in support of Francisco Francos fascist regime, leaving over 1,600 people dead. Picasso immortalized the episode in a celebrated painting, Neruda wrote poems about it, and it became an enduring metaphor for peoples suffering in war. Now imagine a different response to Guernica. Imagine people applauding the bombings, reproaching the victims, and slandering the witnesses. If you can imagine that, then you know Aleppo. Aleppo one of the last major rebel strongholds is on the verge of collapse. Backed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Lebanese Hezbollah, and US-equipped Iraqi militias, the Syrian regime army is advancing from the south; from the east, the Islamic State (IS) is rampaging ahead; and, exploiting the stretched rebel defences, the Kurdish YPG is sneaking in from the north. All have been assisted, directly or indirectly, by the relentless attrition of Russian bombs. But as the conflict moves toward a grim denouement, its mounting toll has elicited a curious response. Many in the west, including prominent liberals, have used the logic of lesser-evilism to welcome this outcome. But to sustain this argument, theyve had to battle the stubborn resistance of facts. More here. Mona Eltahawy in the New York Times: After I gave a reading in Britain last year, a woman stood in line as I signed books. When it was her turn, the woman, who said she was from a British Muslim family of Arab origin, knelt down to speak so that we were at eye level. I, too, am fed up with waiting to have sex, she said, referring to the experience I had related in the reading. Im 32 and theres no one I want to marry. How do I get over the fear that God will hate me if I have sex before marriage? I hear this a lot. My email inbox is jammed with messages from women who, like me, are of Middle Eastern and Muslim descent. They write to vent about how to get rid of this burden of virginity, or to ask about hymen reconstruction surgery if theyre planning to marry someone who doesnt know their sexual history, or just to share their thoughts about sex. Countless articles have been written on the sexual frustration of men in the Middle East from the jihadi supposedly drawn to armed militancy by the promise of virgins in the afterlife to ordinary Arab men unable to afford marriage. Far fewer stories have given voice to the sexual frustration of women in the region or to an honest account of womens sexual experiences, either within or outside marriage. More here. How to watch and what to know about South Dakota State at North Dakota Mention Rough Riders and it might prompt the reply, Oh yes, Teddy Roosevelts cavalry that stormed San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War. That answer is partly true. The Rough Riders were members of a volunteer cavalry regiment. Horses reached the regiments officers in Cuba, but not the troops; the would-be riders ended up as foot soldiers in the short war in 1898 that the United States won. Thats because there werent enough ships to transport the horses out of the port of Tampa, Fla. They never went on the transports to Cuba, Mark Lee Gardner said in a phone interview. Gardner is the author of the new history book Rough Riders Theodore Roosevelt, His Cowboy Regiment and the Immortal Charge Up San Juan Hill. In fact, not all of the Rough Riders got to Cuba. It was one of many snafus that reigned in Tampa. The volunteers who were forced to stay back were crestfallen. Among them was cowboy Frank Brito of southwestern New Mexico. Gardner writes that Brito had ridden hours on a pony from a ranch to his parents home in Pinos Altos, then on to Silver City to enlist in the regiment. The New Mexico Territory contributed about 250 recruits to the Rough Riders. Congress authorized 3,000 volunteers from across the country to supplement the regular Army cavalry in the fight. Gardner quotes the secretary of war as saying the volunteers were supposed to be frontiersmen possessing special qualifications as horsemen and marksmen. Still, men from all walks of life, from all parts of the country, were accepted in the regiment miners, carpenters, barbers, teachers, Roosevelts high-society friends from Harvard and a 24-year-old railroad night telegrapher named George Hamner from Wagon Mound. Hamner fought in Cuba. Gardner said he tried to tell the story of the Rough Riders from the perspective of both Roosevelt and his men; a you-are-there narrative. So youre experiencing what they experienced. I feel my book is a more visceral read because of the first-person accounts, he added. Gardner succeeded. His rich accounts detail the war fever, the hurried war preparations, the sweaty Rough Riders bushwhacking through jungle paths; Roosevelt making in-the-moment battlefield decisions, even shooting to death an enemy soldier; the coordinated strategy with Cuban insurrectionists; the Buffalo Soldiers and regular cavalry fighting side-by-side with Rough Riders; the bravery of wounded and fatally shot Americans facing the entrenched, well-armed Spaniards. One thing that was a revelation for me: Roosevelt really was a hero, Gardner said. He exposed himself in the heat of the battle, led the charge. The same Teddy Roosevelt rode his popularity as a war hero to the governorship of New York and to the presidency of the United States. Gardner will sign at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 12, at Collected Works in Santa Fe; 6 p.m. Friday, May 13, at Los Lunas Public Library and 3 p.m. May 14 at Bookworks in Albuquerque. I was pleasantly surprised after trundling upstairs in the Richard Levy Gallery building to reach the Central Features gallery, where I found a stunning show by Jami Porter Lara and J. Matthew Thomas arranged in a beautifully appointed and well-lit contemporary art space. Actually, the artists are having two solo shows together. Lara is exhibiting luscious ceramic sculpture titled Unhyphenated, and Thomas is showing mixed media paintings titled Geometries through May 21. WHAT: Unhyphenated, 11 ceramic sculptures by Jami Porter Lara, and Geometries, 13 mixed-media paintings by J. Matthew Thomas WHEN: Now through May 21. There is an Artists Walkthrough at 4 p.m. Saturday, May 14. Hours are: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Call 252-9983. WHERE: Central Features, 514 W. Central (second floor above the Richard Levy Gallery) HOW MUCH: Free I have been curious about Lara since I saw her work last year in the Public Selects exhibition at the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History. Her work is also featured in a Colores segment through the public television network. Thanks to a weeklong visit to Mata Ortiz to work with master traditional potters and her own independent research several years ago, Lara uses ancient methods like coil building, reduction atmosphere wood firing, stone polishing and the use of a puki (a Native American round starting base for pinch and coil pottery making). Laras visit to Mata Ortiz was the result of her participation in the Land-art Project at the University of New Mexico. During that time, she explored the U.S.-Mexican border, where she discovered prehistoric pot shards intermingled with 2-liter plastic water bottles carried and discarded when empty by migrants. The breathtaking shining black sculptural results of Laras studies and hard labor bridge our contemporary throw-everything-away culture with traditional Native American conservation-dedicated cultural norms. In LDS-MHB-KABR-0316CE-01 Lara offers a jaw-dropping design incorporating the body form of a plastic bottle with a hollow circular handle/spout. Without references it stands alone as a contemporary abstract sculpture that would be comfortable in any museum setting. Her vessel-inspired forms are elegant abstractions embracing and co-mingling the ubiquitous 2-liter plastic bottle with prehistoric wedding jars, bowls and water carriers from the Anasazi, Mimbres and Casas Grandes pottery traditions. To achieve her Maria Martinez-inspired polished black finishes on what is a natural red clay body, Lara fires her work after stone polishing the surface, using a reduced-oxygen wood fire that prevents oxidation of the iron-rich clay. The result is a lustrous iron black. Her designs are at once industrial and organic, and her impeccable mastery of her craft makes these objects quite seductive. Lara has harnessed the wow factor and isnt letting go of the reins. Thomas is an artist/architect like the late Robert Walters, whose creative efforts move between designs for buildings and the painters studio. His outstanding palimpsest surfaces are achieved through layering and sanding smooth scraps of paper ranging from newspaper to canceled checks and junk mailers. Over the haphazard albeit lusciously variegated paper surface, Thomas draws and paints highly structured geometric one would say architectonic patterns. And yet Thomas is not satisfied with the resulting imagery until he sands and retouches the painted areas until they too have been antiqued and have taken on the character of an ancient sacred manuscript. Only then does Thomas finish the job with a clear varnish that intensifies the pale and bold colors alike. One beautiful example titled SG951, 2014 allowed Thomas to truly integrate the aesthetics of fine art and architecture. The black-, white- and yellow-colored geometric pattern visually shifts between flat graphics and relief sculpture. In SG050, 2014 Thomas achieves a fluid organic image that feels like sunlight filtering through leaves in a light breeze. It has the look of a digital photo that has been enlarged enough to become pixelated. Both of these beautifully integrated and compatible solo exhibitions are well-worth the climb from street level. This gallery stands up among the best in New Mexico. Composer Gyorgy Ligeti considered his polyrhythmic Piano Concerto his most complex and technically arduous score. Pianist Conor Hanick calls it a masterpiece. The Chatter regular will perform the piece at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, May 15, at Las Puertas Event Center. His performance here advances a date with the same piece for the New York Philharmonic Biennial at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in June. The composer scored his formidable concerto with a reduced orchestra augmented by unusual instruments such as a harmonica, slide whistles and an ocarina, a kind of vessel flute. About a handful of pianists play this piece because it is so treacherous, Hanick said in a telephone interview from New York. In the vanguard of the avant-garde, Ligeti was writing in post-World War II Europe. Born in Romania, he lived in Hungary before immigrating to Austria in 1956 after the Soviet Unions violent oppression of the Hungarian revolution. He never adhered to one school or aesthetic, Hanick said. WHAT: Chatter Sunday: Conor Hanick plays Ligeti Piano Concerto WHEN: 10:30 a.m. Sunday, May 15 WHERE: Las Puertas Event Center, 1512 First NW HOW MUCH: $15 regular; $9 students and those under 30; $5 children under 12. Visit Chatter Sunday: Conor Hanick plays Ligeti Piano Concerto10:30 a.m. Sunday, May 15Las Puertas Event Center, 1512 First NW$15 regular; $9 students and those under 30; $5 children under 12. Visit chatterabq.org/boxoffice Ligeti is probably best-known to the public as the composer of music in Stanley Kubricks films, including 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining and Eyes Wide Shut. Martin Scorsese incorporated his music into the 2010 psychological thriller Shutter Island. His Requiem was used in the 2014 version of Godzilla. In concert, Hanicks performances range from the music of the early Baroque to newly written pieces. I like the discovery element of contemporary music, he said. Theres something about a score thats never been decoded before. I dont look at a Beethoven sonata in the same way after playing all this gnarly music. University of New Mexico alum Freydoon Rassouli didnt think twice when he donated a piece of artwork for Art Groove: Free Your Mind and Shine. I went out to Los Angeles to visit Rassouli, says Lainie Sevante Wulkan, co-creator of the show. He showed me this one giclee and told me it was for the event. Some of his pieces are selling for tens of thousands of dollars. The inaugural event is to shine a spotlight on suicide prevention and mental health awareness. Dozens of artists from all over the country donated pieces of art for an auction, which will then go the three New Mexico nonprofit organizations, National Alliance on Mental Illness, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and Compassionate Touch Network. WHAT: Art Groove: Free Your Mind and Shine WHEN: 5-9 p.m. Friday, May 13 WHERE: Tortuga Gallery, 901 Edith SE HOW MUCH: $20 at Art Groove: Free Your Mind and Shine5-9 p.m. Friday, May 13Tortuga Gallery, 901 Edith SE$20 at artgroovenm.com Rassouli is a UNM graduate who has gained an international fan base. He recently came back tot the Duke City to support UNM as the keynote speaker for UNMs Fine Arts Department. Sevante Wulkan says there will also be art donated by Denise Weaver Ross, Eliza Schmid, Roe Libretto, Sarah Hartshorne, Bobby Wright and Denise Kyer Alverez. In addition to art, Sevante Wulkan says, there will be about nine perfomances. The headliner for the night is Albuquerque resident James Whiton. Whiton, who has recorded with Tom Waits and Keith Richards and has performed with George Clinton and Thomas Dolby, will perform a solo looping set and has put together a trio specifically for the event with his good friends Muni Kula of Le Chat Lunatique and Greg Williams of Le Chat Lunatique and Wildewood. More information can be found at artgroovenm.com. Nicole Boyd, born with an omphalocele, a birth defect where the gastric organs are outside the body, has had 13 surgeries. Here, she enjoys time with her family at Sister Cities Park in the Northeast Heights. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal) Nicole Boyd was born with health problems. Amber and Taylor Boyd want to bring more children with special needs into their home and are saving for a van. Ambers sister created an online fundraiser at gofundme.com/cnqyxxfw. (Courtesy of Amber Boyd) Taylor Boyd, left and his wife Amber Boyd have adopted Nicole, 6, after Amber, a healthcare worker, looked after her and her medical conditions. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal) Nicole Boyd was born with health problems. Amber and Taylor Boyd want to bring more children with special needs into their home and are saving for a van. Ambers sister created an online fundraiser at gofundme.com/cnqyxxfw. (Courtesy of Amber Boyd) Nicole, 3, has been with her adoptive mother, Amber Boyd, a nurse, since a few months after she was born in December 2012. Amber and Taylor Boyd officially adopted their first child, Nicole, on Feb. 24. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal) Prev 1 of 5 Next Amber Boyd is spending her first official Mothers Day as Nicoles mom, although shes cared for the little girl since she was about 6 months old, first in the hospital as a pediatric nurse and later as her foster mom. In February it became official. Were Nicoles mom and dad, Amber, 28, says. This surprised us both, but we wanted both our own and adopted children. So it seems like destiny. Nicole, 3, has a smile for everyone she meets. She offers her tiny fist for a bump to say hello. Playing in a park near her home one recent afternoon, she reaches for her grandmother, Kathy Rutherford, to put her into a swing. Nicole doesnt talk yet, but maybe she will later this year when her tracheotomy tube is removed. She and my mom are pals, Amber says. She verbalizes. She lets us know what she wants. A big change Nicole, a twin, was born with an omphalocele, a birth defect where the digestive organs are outside the body. Nicole was in pediatric intensive care for several months after she was born Dec. 26, 2012. By spring Nicole was transferred to Ambers nursing unit at the University of New Mexico Hospital. And thats where Amber and Nicole bonded. She was on her own and she was really sick. It was meant to happen, Amber says. Nicoles birth mother wasnt able to care for her twins and Nicoles sister, who didnt have the same health issues, was already living with another family. When she was about 18 months old, her medical team was ready to release Nicole. She needed special nursing care at home, so the state was looking into medical foster care. I knew I could do that, but it would be a big change for us, Amber says of her relationship with her husband, Taylor Boyd, also 28. Taylor says he wasnt surprised that Amber, who is also adopted, wanted to adopt Nicole. Amber is the best. Shes such a giving person. Shes always putting the needs of others ahead of herself. Taylor, who now works as a social worker for New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department, at the time was a special education teacher, so he had a place in his heart for kids with all kinds of abilities. We both came to settle on it, in our own ways, in a couple of days, Amber says. We worried if we were qualified, Taylor explains. Overcoming fears It was a hefty decision. Nicole, who has some developmental delays, has already had 13 surgeries in 19 procedures that required general anesthesia. Shes small, about the size of a 1-year-old, Amber says. She has monitors that beep several times a night. Along with removing her trach tube, she needs an eye surgery and she will need special attention as she grows. The couple says they worried, like many new parents, that somehow they wouldnt be enough for this little girl they loved. We want to do the best for her. Are we the best to advocate for her? To help her grow up in a safe environment to give her a place where she can flourish? Amber says. It finally clicked for us. We finally came to have confidence in knowing we were doing our best, she says, adding, I learned from the best. I had loving parents, who did everything for me. Rutherford says she knew Amber and Taylor would be great parents, but she also understood the fears they expressed, because she had them as an adoptive mom. I was older. I was 35 years old when I adopted Amber, she says, adding she adopted another girl who became Ambers sister two years later. It was an open adoption. I wanted them to know where they came from. I wanted them to know for medical reasons. Kids waiting On any given day in New Mexico more than 2,200 kids need foster parents to care for them, says New Mexico Children, Youth and Families spokesman Henry Varela. Many require extra attention because they have special needs, whether physical, like Nicole Boyd, or developmental or emotional. The state offers initial and ongoing training for adults, older than 18, who step up to care for kids. The kids have medical care and families receive a small stipend to help cover expenses. Visit cyfd.org for information and to find an informational meeting near you. Taylor and Amber say they have kept communication open with Nicoles twin sisters family and her biological mom. We plan to honor those relationships, Amber says. The couple and their small daughter have been featured on national TV. Amber says they went public with their story because they realized just how desperately children like Nicole, who have medical and other special needs, need foster families. Amber, who doesnt work at the university hospital any longer, is working on her nurse practitioner degree. She and Taylor plan to provide medical foster care to more children in their home. But otherwise there is nursing support for other willing, qualified families. And healthy children need foster families, too. You can be normal people in normal situations, she explains. If you work, you can find daycare. You treat the kids just like your own family. A San Ysidro feast day tradition in Agua Fria is to throw flowers into the Santa Fe River when the water is flowing. (Courtesy of William Mee) An image of San Ysidro Labrador, the patron saint of laborers and farmers, is depicted on a prayer card produced for the New Mexico Acequia Association. The feast day of San Ysidro is on May 15. Many communities hold ceremonies to bless the acequias. (Courtesy of the New Mexico Acequia Association) Residents of Agua Fria near Santa Fe process through the streets honoring the feast day of San Ysidro, patron saint of laborers and farmers. Historical sources say Isidro was a peasant born around 1070 near Madrid. He is credited with several miracles related to water and people traditionally have invoked his aid in times of drought. (Courtesy of William Mee) Santiago Maestas, front, Deacon Leroy Sanchez, left, and Deacon Joseph Segura, right, lead the 2013 procession to the acequia at Sanchez Farm during the San Ysidro y Santa Maria de la Cabeza ceremony. (Marla Brose/Albuquerque Journal) Lorenzo Candelaria of Albuquerque listens to a traditional blessing ceremony and prayers for rain during the 2013 San Ysidro y Santa Maria de la Cabeza celebration at the Sanchez Farm acequia in the South Valley. (Marla Brose/Albuquerque Journal) Prev 1 of 5 Next Communities in New Mexico still follow centuries-old traditions that came from Spain with ceremonial blessings for the waterways that give life to the crops. They honor the May 15 feast of San Ysidro, patron saint of laborers and farmers, with processions, singing, dancing and a blessing of local acequias. Historical sources say Ysidro, sometimes spelled Isidro, was a Spanish peasant born around 1070 who worked on the lands of Juan de Vargas near Madrid. According to legend he was very devout and spent so much time praying that his co-workers complained. But when De Vargas went to check on his work, he found an angel driving the oxen to plow the field so Ysidro could continue his devotions. Ysidro is credited with miracles such as making a spring gush by banging the ground while plowing. Its also said that when his only son fell into a well and Ysidro prayed, water rose in the well bringing the boy to the surface. Ysidro and his wife, Maria Torribia, known as Santa Maria de la Cabeza, are also revered for helping to relieve drought. Valentin Sanchez, a resident of the Spanish city of Salamanca, said cities and villages in Spain still celebrate San Ysidros feast day with processions carrying a statue of the saint through the streets, blessing the fields and asking for rain. Spanish settlers who came to New Mexico 400 years ago brought the tradition of building irrigation waterways known as acequias, and the custom of venerating San Ysidro. Its very much a celebrated part of acequia culture, said Pilar Trujillo, director of community projects for the Santa Fe-based New Mexico Acequia Association. South Valley procession In the South Valley, residents will honor San Ysidro with a procession on Saturday, May 14. The procession will start at 10 a.m. at the Carousel at the intersection of Isleta and Arenal and proceed along Arenal to the Sanchez Farm Open Space at Lopez Road. Once there, dancers from the Aztec group Circulo Solar Ollin Xochipilli will perform, South Valley native Deacon Leroy Sanchez of Rio Rancho will say a blessing and children will throw rose petals on the waters of the nearby acequia. Some of the San Ysidro celebrations around New Mexico: Albuquerque South Valley: Procession starts at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 14, Carousel de San Ysidro at the intersection of Isleta and Arenal and will proceed to the Armijo acequia at Sanchez Farm Open Space at Lopez Road. Aztec dancers from Circulo Solar Ollin Xochipilli will participate. Blessings of the acequia and land. Corrales: Fiesta de San Ysidro, Sunday, May 15, 10 a.m. Mass at San Ysidro Church 5015, Corrales Road, followed by procession to Historic Old San Ysidro Church at 804 Old Church Road. Matachines dancers from Bernalillo will perform. Volunteers will carry a statue of the saint. After a blessing ceremony the procession will return to the church on Corrales Road which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. San Fidel, near Grants: residents of the village will gather at at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 15, at the acequia San Jose de la Cienega where a priest will bless the acequia and people will drop rose petals in the water. After the blessing ceremony there will be a potluck at the home of Leon Tafoya whose land is along the acequia. Agua Fria, Santa Fe: Noon Mass Sunday, May 15, at San Isidro church, 3552 Agua Fria St., Santa Fe, followed by procession from the San Isidro Church Community Center to the San Ysidro Crossing of the Santa Fe River. There will be musicians, singing and a blessing of the water and throwing flowers into the water. Each year, a different family in the community has the honor of safeguarding the statue in their home and keeping it supplied with corn and atole, a cornmeal drink, said Santiago Maestas, president of the South Valley Regional Association of Acequias. Maestas said anyone is welcome to join the procession and offer a blessing. A big feature of the procession is a statue of the saint, his oxen and an angel. We have even had a Buddhist blessing, Maestas said. Other celebrations In Corrales, residents will be celebrating the saints day on Sunday, May 15, as well as the 50th anniversary of the San Ysidro Catholic church at 5015 Corrales Road. Following 10 a.m. Mass, there will be a procession to the Historic Old San Ysidro Church at 804 Old Church Road. Volunteers will carry a statue of the saint and Matachines dancers from Bernalillo will perform. After a blessing ceremony at the old church, the procession will return to the current church where there will be festivities until 5 p.m. The community of Agua Fria, near Santa Fe, will celebrate on Sunday with Mass at San Isidro church. Afterward, a procession with music and song will head north from the church community center to where the street crosses over the Santa Fe River. A local priest will lead prayers asking for good rains and bless flowers that children will then throw into the river. The priest will also bless donated packages of seeds and hand them out to those in attendance. Leon Tafoya of San Fidel, a tiny rural community near Grants, said his community will celebrate San Ysidros feast day with a potluck dinner, a blessing of the Acequia San Jose de la Cienega, and casting rose petals upon the water. Police are searching for a group of four people who left a man with an apparent gunshot wound at a local hospital early Saturday, where he was pronounced dead, according to an Albuquerque Police Department spokesman. Officer Simon Drobik said the man, who has not been identified, was dropped off at the Presbyterian Kaseman Hospital emergency room just after 5 a.m. Saturday. He had a possible gunshot injury and was dead when police arrived. Drobik said the foursome arrived to the hospital in an unknown vehicle, and two females in their late teens or early 20s got out. They went into the emergency room and asked a janitor for a wheel chair. The women returned moments later, joined by two men, also likely in their late teens or early 20s, wheeled in the man with a gunshot wound. After they wheel him into the emergency room, they just all run out of the building, Drobik said. APD released two video clips from a hospital surveillance camera. One shows three people leaving the hospital, and another shows two people standing inside. Drobik asked that anyone who may know the identity of the people shown in the video clips to contact police at 242-COPS. Any small piece of information might help identify them, he said. Drobik said homicide detectives are still trying to locate a crime scene. Were kind of working this one backward, Drobik said. We have an individual thats deceased, but we dont have a scene. MEXICO CITY Convicted drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, who twice pulled off brazen jailbreaks and is fighting to avoid extradition to the United States, was transferred to a prison in northern Mexico near the Texas border early Saturday. Lawyers for Guzman, who was recaptured in January, have filed multiple appeals against their client being sent to the U.S., and Mexican officials have said it could take as long as a year to reach a final ruling. There was no immediate indication that the transfer could be a sign that the process is nearing a conclusion. The Sinaloa cartel boss was moved from the maximum-security Altiplano lockup near Mexico City to a prison in Ciudad Juarez, a security official said, without giving a reason. Mexicos National Security Commission said in a statement that the transfer was in line with security protocols, and it has rotated more than 7,400 inmates nationwide as part of a security strategy implemented last September. Michael Vigil, the former head of international operations for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said Guzman was moved because of security concerns. Vigil, who said he had been briefed by Mexican officials, did not specify those concerns or say whether Mexican officials had information about possible new escape plots. He also did not specify the officials with whom he spoke. Jose Refugio Rodriguez, an attorney for Guzman, confirmed that he was sent to the Cefereso No. 9 prison. He said Guzmans defense team was not notified beforehand, and one of his lawyers was traveling to Juarez to try to meet with their client. I dont know what the strategy is, Refugio said. I cant say what the government is thinking. He confirmed that Guzmans lawyers are still trying to block extradition. Guzman faces charges from seven separate U.S. attorneys offices, including in Chicago, New York, Miami and San Diego. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman in El Paso referred inquiries to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which did not immediately respond to telephone and email messages. Messages left with representatives of the U.S. Attorneys Office and the U.S. Marshals Service in El Paso also were not returned immediately. The U.S. Justice Department declined to comment. El Chapo first broke out of a Mexican prison in 2001. He was recaptured in 2014, only to escape the Altiplano lockup the following year through a mile-long tunnel dug to the floor of the shower stall in his cell. Mexican marines rearrested him in the western state of Sinaloa in January, after he fled a safe house through a storm drain. He was returned to Altiplano, where officials beefed up his security regimen. Guzman was placed under constant observation from a ceiling camera with no blind spots, and the floors of top-security cells were reinforced with metal bars and a 16-inch layer of concrete. WASHINGTON Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. last week showed he has no intention of inserting himself into the current political controversy over filling the seat on the Supreme Court left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. But, in a 10-minute answer to a question in an Embassy Suites ballroom in northwest Arkansas, Roberts made clear what he does consider his job to be as the nations 17th chief justice: a fierce defender of the judiciarys independence and a firm believer in judicial restraint albeit a kind that at times is apparent only to him. Roberts, 61 and now more than 10 years into his tenure, spoke to judges and lawyers from the St. Louis-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, which stretches from Arkansas to North Dakota. In what were his most extended public remarks since Scalias death in February, Roberts was determined not to take sides in the fight between Republicans and Democrats over whether to make the court whole again by confirming President Obamas nominee, Judge Merrick Garland. Roberts batted away a question about how the ideologically divided eight-member Supreme Court is functioning and refused to talk even about his own earlier observations that the courts reputation is suffering collateral damage from Washingtons partisan political gridlock. But Roberts was far more revealing when 8th Circuit Chief Judge William Jay Riley asked what the chief justice had learned from the 16 men who proceeded him. Roberts did not need to remind the audience that his official title is chief justice of the United States. You realize, first and foremost, your responsibility to protect the separation of powers, which is of vital importance, even in little things, Roberts said. I know that I represent you judges, here, in Washington. Roberts has made clear that he is not a fan of the presidents State of the Union address. But he has gone every year he has been in his office and he says his place of prominence in the front row is only proper. If the president is going to be here and the speaker of the House is going to be here, Im going to be here, or Im not going, he said. Because I represent the judicial branch and that has to be shown [respect], even as a matter of protocol. Robertss actions on the bench back that up. The only time he teamed up with the courts liberal justices to save a campaign finance restriction was upholding Floridas ban on judges asking directly for campaign contributions. Judges are not politicians, even when they come to the bench by way of the ballot, Roberts wrote. Last month, he disagreed with his colleagues who held that a statute passed by Congress to help terrorism victims win their lawsuit against Irans national bank did not intrude on the judiciarys powers. Roberts wrote a lofty dissent that detailed and praised the framers decisions to safeguard the judiciary in the Constitution. The authority of the political branches is sufficient; they have no need to seize ours, Roberts wrote. That separation, Roberts said, is also the lesson to be learned from former chief justices John Marshall the greatest hero of our profession and Roger B. Taney the greatest failure. Marshalls 1803 opinion in Marbury v. Madison established that it is the judiciarys exclusive province to say what the law is. But the genius of Marshalls opinion, Roberts said, was its finding that the court lacked the power to grant William Marburys commission as a justice of the peace. The decision was the epitome of restraint, Roberts said. Marshall said this is up to Congress to resolve. He diffused the conflict by staying out of it. Roberts said Taney did the opposite in his landmark 1857 ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford, which said that slaves and their descendents could not be American citizens, and thus could not sue in federal courts. Taneys view of the slavery question that was tearing the country apart was the president is not doing anything about this, Congress cannot solve this, its up to me. He says, Congress, you do not have the power to enact the Missouri Compromise because African-Americans arent people under the Constitution,' Roberts continued. Its not just the shamefulness of the legal opinion, its the fact that it was an exercise of judicial activism. He inserted the judiciary into most divisive political controversy in our history. Roberts paused. So you learn that. Robertss remarks last week were a reminder of his modest, but engaging, performance more than a decade ago at his confirmation hearings. But some of his most important decisions as chief justice have shown that judicial restraint is in the eye of the beholder. Many Republicans simply will not forgive him for his majority decision in 2012 upholding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. He believed it was the courts responsibility to look for a way to find the act constitutional. But not a single fellow justice was willing to join the entirety of his compromise opinion, which eventually won five votes. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) seemed to be referring to the Obamacare decision when he said that many of my constituents believe, with all due respect, that the chief justice is part of the problem of the court being seen as political. They believe that a number of his votes have reflected political considerations, not legal ones. And certainly there are academics who agree. Some of those academics last week were even debating whether Robertss role in saving the Affordable Care Act led to the anger in the Republican Party that gave rise to Donald Trumps success. On the left, the charge is that Roberts has abandoned his sense of restraint when the subject is a conservative cause in which he believes. They point to his vote in striking a key part of the Voting Rights Act that had only years before been reauthorized by overwhelming majorities of Congress. Roberts had long been a critic of a provision that required some states with a history of discrimination to have any changes in election law approved in advance by the Justice Department or federal judges. Neither of those cases is finished business. More opportunities remain for the court to, as Roberts said last week, do our job and mind the business that is ours under the Constitution. Its Mothers Day. And for the first time in 52 years, I dont have my mother here to celebrate. I dont write much about my life, because I think other peoples are so much more interesting. My moms is one of them. And as Mothers Day arrives, I realize I have entered that club of children of all ages who will always miss their moms, who finally understand how much they owe them, who will try to make their lessons last not just one Sunday but all year long. We know who we are. And we know there are many, many more moms out there like ours than the few who make the front page because they kicked their child the wrong way. Sharon Lynn Westphal died at the age of 80, a great accomplishment made all the more so considering the really crummy health cards she was dealt, and all the more amazing by her always upbeat, always interested approach to every day she was given on this earth. Like many unsung mothers, Sharon worked hard her whole life. Her first job was not in retail or a malt shop wearing a cute outfit; it was on the line of a canning factory in Columbus, Wis., dealing with the burning juice from peas leaking out of overhead pipes and dripping down the back of her shirt to scald her. The men in the factory said shed never last; that ensured she would show them and work the whole summer to earn money to buy the cashmere sweater twin sets she couldnt afford. Like many unsung mothers, Sharon was private but had crazy stories to tell if you only asked. Her dad ran bootleg liquor for Al Capone out of Canada. She worked in a hospital that had been part of the Underground Railroad. She cared for Ed Gein, the killer said to have inspired the Texas Chainsaw Massacre film. She went on nighttime margarine runs to Illinois and smuggled it across the state line because it was illegal in Wisconsin. Like many of those unsung mothers, Sharon knew she had to get an education to be able to support herself and ultimately a family. She graduated from nursing school with her R.N. and chose psychiatric nursing because she didnt want death to be a regular visitor at work. She always wore bright clothes to cheer up her patients, and we could not go anywhere in El Paso without someone she had helped stopping us to hug her. Like many unsung mothers, Sharon married a handsome jock who didnt turn out to be the best provider. For as long as I can remember, and long before she was widowed, she worked two jobs to make ends meet and ensure my brother, sister and I had what we needed: In Wisconsin, then Dallas, then El Paso, it was always overnights at the psychiatric hospital, supplemented by a morning shift at a nursing home or, later, shifts on her days off at another psychiatric hospital. Yet there was always dinner, lunch money, school clothes, gifts things lucky, oblivious kids like us took for granted, things every one of us who is now a working parent knows come at a price. It breaks my heart now to think of all she did without so we didnt have to. Like many unsung mothers, Sharon made sure all her kids went to, and finished, college. There was no nagging, because there was never any question we would; it was never up for debate. The closest thing to a discussion happened when I was still in grade school and I was told I could not depend on a Prince Charming to take care of me. Mom said he might show up, but Id better be prepared in case he didnt. (FYI, he did show up, but as always, I took her advice and made sure I got my Ph.D. just in case.) Like many unsung mothers, Sharon did not question her role as a member of a sandwich generation, though it wasnt called that back then. She helped care for her grandmother when she became frail, then she cared for her mother when a heart attack, then a stroke took her independence all while still working more than full time to support her three children. Like many unsung mothers, Sharon worked until she couldnt, until osteoporosis and years of physical takedowns with patients made one more shift walking concrete floors on an understaffed unit impossible. And unfortunately, like many unsung mothers, Sharon did not have an easy retirement. Sure, we took great vacations on cruise ships, we flew to New Orleans and Las Vegas and Disneyland; we went to the opera every summer; we ate too many lobsters and too many prime ribs. But in between were too many surgeries: 19 back; two hip; right leg, ankle and foot. And then, not that long ago, came the time when age and frailty made surgery no longer an option. Yet like many unsung mothers, Sharon had always powered through a challenge, and because she was my mom, I assumed she always would. She moved here after retiring, and as we would go around Albuquerque and Rio Rancho over these past 10 years, first with her walker, later a wheelchair, it was rare that another daughter did not come up and touch my arm and tell me, You are so lucky. I would give anything to have my mom back. I would agree that I was lucky to have so much time with her that I could take it for granted. And now, like them, I would give anything to have my mom back. Mothers like ours rarely make the news. They go to school, they work hard, they raise their kids and make sure they turn out OK, they look on the bright side, they put themselves last. Its not sexy or exciting, but in my mind its one of the most important things anyone can do. My mom is the reason I am who and where I am today, and I think I just figured that out when I lost her. For those still lucky enough to have their mothers here, please remember that this Mothers Day. UpFront is a daily front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to assistant editorial page editor DVal Westphal at 823-3858 or road@abqjournal.com. Go to www.ABQjournal.com/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor. Copyright 2016 Albuquerque Journal Cooks, childcare workers and other employees who are ill could stay home and still get paid under a ballot initiative that will be unveiled in Albuquerque today. Supporters of the proposed city ordinance, called the Healthy Workforce Act, say it would require employers large and small to offer employees the chance to earn paid sick leave. They estimate it would cover more than 100,000 employees in the city who dont already earn sick time. A coalition of left-leaning groups OLE New Mexico, the SouthWest Organizing Project, El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos and others will announce the proposal today at Nexus Brewery. Everyone gets sick, campaign spokeswoman Adriann Barboa said Saturday, but not everyone in the city can take time to care for themselves or a loved one. Business groups are skeptical. Carol Wight of the New Mexico Restaurant Association said that imposing new requirements on employers in Albuquerque could put them at a competitive disadvantage with businesses elsewhere. In general, she said, this kind of legislation will send more jobs to Texas where individual cities are not able to consider these job-killing initiatives. Terri Cole, president and CEO of the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, said its better to allow employers and employees to address sick leave on their own. Mandates on businesses especially small businesses hurts our ability to create jobs in the private sector, Cole said in a written statement. We ought to think pretty hard right now about going down that road. The campaign will have about 60 days, starting this week, to gather enough signatures to require the City Council to send the proposal to voters either this fall or next. It would be the first city ordinance of its kind in New Mexico, supporters say, though New York City, San Francisco and some states have similar rules for earned sick time. One hour for 30 Under the proposed ordinance, Barboa said, an employee would earn one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked in Albuquerque. Employers at large businesses 40 or more employees would be required to offer up to seven sick days a year, if an employee earned that much. Employers at smaller businesses would have to allow them to earn up to five days a year, or 40 hours. The ordinance would cover all employers in Albuquerque whether they employ one person or 1,000. Any employee who works at least 56 hours in the city would get sick leave. Waiters and other tipped employees would be paid their base hourly wage for the sick time, Barboa said, not the amount they usually make with tips. The paid sick leave could be used by the employees to care for themselves or a sick family member or for absences related to domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking, according to a proposed legal summary of the ordinance released to the Journal . The city would be charged with enforcing the ordinance, and employees could also sue their employers for damages to ensure compliance. July 8 deadline To secure a spot on the ballot, the campaign will have to gather at least 11,128 signatures from people registered to vote in Albuquerque. Supporters hope to start gathering signatures this week, triggering a 60-day deadline to finish by July 8. Its the same method thats been used in recent years to propose abortion restrictions, a tax for the BioPark and increases in the minimum wage. (The abortion ban made it onto the ballot in 2013 but was rejected by voters. The others passed.) If supporters gather enough signatures this summer, the proposed sick-leave ordinance would go to the City Council, which can either approve the measure outright or send it to voters in the next general or municipal election. Supporters hope the council will agree to put the proposal on the Nov. 8 general-election ballot this year. The next regular city election is in October 2017. One supportive owner Tahir Gauba, co-owner of Donut Mart in Albuquerque, said he doesnt offer sick leave yet, but hes examining the possibility of offering it to employees later this year. He said he supports the ordinance because it could reduce turnover among employees and ensure sick workers arent serving food. Small increases in costs, such as the citys minimum-wage ordinance, havent harmed Donut Mart in the past, he said, even when prices climb a little. What if a customer walks in, Gauba said, and you have a sick employee? Theres a high chance that customer may not come back. Barboa said the campaign chose to announce the proposal on Mothers Day as a link to the working mothers who would benefit from sick leave. Business groups said they still need to evaluate the ordinance in detail, but are not quick to support it. Generally, we think it is more appropriate for these kinds of issues to be addressed between the employer and the employee, Cole said. We all know how scarce private-sector jobs are in this city and state. Wight, of the Restaurant Association, said she fears harming city businesses. In principle, she said, NMRA is against any legislation that kills jobs and creates an advantage for businesses outside of Albuquerque. Supporting the Healthy Workforce ABQ campaign, Barboa said, are Organizers in the Land of Enchantment, or OLE; the SouthWest Organizing Project; El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos, an immigrant-rights group; Strong Families New Mexico; and Early Educators United. This bill isnt about privilege that can be exploited, Barboa said. Its about giving employees the time they need to take care of themselves or a sick loved one. Copyright 2016 Albuquerque Journal As soon as he finished his probation for failure to register as a sex offender in San Juan County, Michael Lee Johnson moved to Shiprock on the Navajo Nation Indian Reservation out of the jurisdiction of the sheriffs deputies who had been tracking him for several years. But the deputies werent through with him. He immediately went back to what he does, said San Juan County Sheriffs Office Detective Robert Tallman, who investigates crimes against children. He immediately started reaching back into Farmington communicating with a 14-year-old girl from San Juan County, trying to lure her into a sexual relationship. Tallman said deputies intervened and stopped the encounter from happening, and Johnson was arrested in April 2015 on sex crime charges that stemmed from two separate sex sting operations. Johnson, 43, who already had served prison time in Utah for sexual abuse, pleaded guilty to a third- and two fourth-degree felonies and is scheduled to be sentenced in the 11th Judicial District Court this week. His case illustrates a serious problem for law enforcement agencies throughout the region: the area is made up of a patchwork of jurisdictions that allows suspects to hopscotch across boundaries to avoid prosecution. Poor communication The tragedy of 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike illustrates another problem caused by the checkerboard of jurisdictions the potential for a breakdown in communication between agencies that hampers investigations of crimes ranging from drunken driving to the sexual abuse of a child. On Tuesday morning, two San Juan County sheriffs detectives stopped the man authorities said killed Ashlynne, Tom Begaye Jr., at a convenience store in west Farmington, suspecting he was involved in Ashlynnes disappearance. But the deputies released Begaye because they didnt have any information on the FBI and Navajo police investigation, San Juan County Sheriff Ken Christesen said. Begaye was taken into custody on the reservation about eight hours later. Questions also have been raised about the gap between the time Ashlynne was reported missing Monday evening and the Amber Alert issued early Tuesday. New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah all meet at the point about 40 miles north from where Ashlynnes body was found. In all four states, Indian reservations are interwoven and each are governed by their own laws. San Juan County prosecutors and detectives agree that the web of jurisdictions can, at times, allow offenders to skirt justice. Who has jurisdiction in a case if a child says she was abused but cant definitely say if the abuse happened in Red Valley, Ariz., or Shiprock, N.M., both on Navajo Nation, or Kirtland in San Juan County, which are all within a 60-mile stretch? There are many crimes that we dont get to charge, said San Juan County Chief Deputy District Attorney Dustin OBrien. When you have a child who has been molested dozens or sometimes hundreds of times, they can no longer tell you when and where. If I cant prove where and when, I cant charge it. Farmington police Detective Paul Gonzales, who investigates crimes against children, said it becomes difficult to interview a suspect, or a victim who reported a crime, if the person has moved within a tribes boundaries. Theres some frustration there, he said. We do have to play by some different rules. A lack of resources, authority and community involvement in the criminal justice system have been a recipe for problems with crime on Indian reservations, said Kevin Washburn, former assistant secretary of Indian affairs for President Barack Obama. They have been treated like mall cops for decades, Washburn, former dean of the University of New Mexico School of Law and a current professor, said of tribal police. He said a lack of authority and finances for tribes to police themselves can lead to tribal members using the reservation boundaries to avoid heavy consequences. Statistics misleading Its also been difficult to grasp the true toll of sexual abuse in northwest New Mexico. Per capita, San Juan County had the seventh most rape cases in the state in 2014, according to the most recent report from the Interpersonal Violence Data Center Repository. But that doesnt include data on offenses committed on the Navajo reservation. County Manager Kim Carpenter estimated about 40,000 of San Juan Countys 118,000 people live on Navajo lands. The only reports that come to our attention are reported to the police departments, said Betty Caponera, the director of the group that completes the sex-crimes study every year. Unfortunately, the agencies that dont participate are the tribal agencies. The Navajo tribe does have its own sex offender registry, but the total number wasnt made available last week. San Juan Countys registry total reaches 266. Thats 132 more than in Santa Fe County and 100 more than in Sandoval County, both counties with larger populations. I like to think its because were catching more (sex offenders) than other places, but I have a suspicion that its not, said San Juan County Sheriffs Office Detective Jimmy Dearing, who also investigates crimes against children. Theres probably a higher rate of incidents here. Eleana Butler, executive director of Sexual Assault Services of Northwest New Mexico, believes assaults on children are far more pervasive than the states crime stats show. She said her organization completed the fourth most sexual assault nurse exams in 2014, compared with any other agency in the state that offers those services, and the number of exams the agency completed in 2015 and so far in 2016 has been increasing. The agency performs exams, advocates for and counsels victims in all of San Juan County, reservation included, and beyond. The agency already has performed 31 exams on minors this year 22 on children under 12 years old. Its really staggering, she said. I think people would be shocked. EL MALPAIS NATIONAL MONUMENT Scorched earth is the phrase that comes to mind when you gaze across the mostly black, mostly bleak, mostly forbidding terrain that makes up the 114,277 acres of this site near Grants. And thatd be right. Volcanic eruptions started roughing up this country 115,000 years ago and were still slapping it with hot lava as recently as a couple of thousand years back. Then, from late 1942 to May 1944, training missions flying out of Albuquerques Kirtland Army Air Field used nine square miles of the harsh lava field here as a target range on which planes dropped live 100-pound bombs. These lava grounds were among eight locations considered for detonating the first atomic bomb, but someone must have figured this country had been through enough. Instead, the U.S. exploded the first A-bomb at the Trinity site on White Sands farther south. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan made these acres a national monument supervised by the National Park Service. Well, why not? What else could you do with it? The monuments name, pronounced el-mal-pie-ees, is Spanish for no surprise the badlands. The lava is still here. Probably always will be. How do you get rid of lava? Obviously, bombs wont do the job. This unexploded bomb was found during a 1995 survey of an old bombing range at El Malpais National Monument. (Courtesy of Army Corps of Engineers) Plates of broken, jumbled lava lend an eerie, other-worldly feel to the fierce terrain at El Malpais National Monument near Grants. (Courtesy of Larry Crumpler) An unexploded bomb is wedged into a crack at El Malpais National Monument in 1984. From late 1942 to May 1944, the Army used part the monument's grounds as a test range for bomber crews. (Courtesy of Army Corps of Engineers) Volcanic eruptions have formed the distinctive landscape of El Malpais National Monument near Grants. (Courtesy of National Park Service) Lava flows dating from 2,000 to 115,000 years ago make up much of El Malpais National Monument's challenging terrain. There is no drinking water in the monument's backcountry.(Courtesy of National Park Service) Prev 1 of 5 Next Bombs are probably still here, too. Maybe even some that have not exploded. Thats why there was a public meeting this past week at the monuments El Malpais Visitor Center. The Army Corps of Engineers wanted to tell people about the study it is doing to determine the possible presence and extent of contamination resulting from those bombing runs in the early 1940s. Mark Phaneuf of the Corps Albuquerque office is the technical lead on the project. He said any contamination present would be in the form of bombs and bomb fuses. Previous studies, Phaneuf said, have shown that these lava grounds are too hard to absorb chemical contamination from explosives. You cant even poison this place. But live bombs and fuses are a possibility. They have been found here before. An explosive ordnance disposal unit out of Fort Bliss, Texas, destroyed a 100-pound bomb here in 1986 and three 100-pound bombs and a tail fuse in 1989. In clearances carried out by the Alabama Army National Guard in 1994 and 1995, 25 100-pound bombs were found and destroyed, as were 12 explosive fuses. A Kirtland Air Force Base EOD unit destroyed one bomb in 2010. Designated a Formerly Used Defense Site (FUDS) by the Corps, the bombing range is a 649-acre circle 20 miles south-southwest of Grants. The circle encloses a distinctive physical feature called McCartys Crater. The old bombing range is open to hikers, but Phaneuf said it is not easy to get to. He should know. In 2015, he was part of a round-trip hike to the site that included personnel from the Corps, the New Mexico Environment Department and the National Park Service. Phaneuf said there is not even a parking area at the nearest access point. We had to pull off into the grass and crawl under a barbed-wire fence, he said. We had a GPS centered on the crater. It was a grueling 4 to 4 hike to the crater and a grueling 4- to 4-hour hike out. Two people were injured during the expedition. Sabin Chavez, the Native American Land Environmental Mitigation Program representative for nearby Laguna Pueblo, said the terrain around the old bombing range may be more dangerous than unexploded bombs. We were invited to do a site visit but only got a quarter of the way there, said Chavez, who attended last weeks public meeting. Due to the rough terrain, Phaneuf said the study being done now will rely on the analysis of site investigations done previously and will forgo additional field work. He said the results of the study will likely be a recommendation to warn the public of possible hazards through information posted at kiosks or bulletin boards at trail heads, ranger stations and the visitor center. If there was an established trail to the site, we might be a little more concerned, he said. Phaneuf said posted literature will advise visitors to follow the three Rs of explosive safety: Recognize. Retreat. Report. That means that people who come upon what they think might be an explosive device should stop, keep their distance and avoid two-way radio, citizens band radio or cellphone transmissions that might trigger an explosion. They should note the location of the device, leave the area and report the device by calling 911. Mitzi Frank of the National Park Service is superintendant of El Malpais National Monument. She said she likes the approach outlined by Phaneuf. It meets our responsibility of educating the public, she said. Frank said there has been evidence of modern-day hikers in the bombing range area. In the future, she said, the monument may institute a backcountry permit system similar to the system that now requires permits for people who want to explore the monuments caves in order to keep track of hikers. Dick Cochran, a retired uranium miner who lives in Grants and does a little light hiking at the monument, was among the dozen or so members of the public who turned out for the public meeting. I was just curious about what their plans are, Cochran said. Essentially, they are going to do nothing, which is the wisest course of action because of the remoteness and the difficulty of the terrain. Steve Owen, another retired miner living in Grants, agreed. It is so remote, people wont get there by accident, he said. But I think it is a good move to alert people to possible dangers. Its a good idea because more than 100,000 visitors come here each year. El Malpais is alluring and irresistible, as only the most forbidding and unattainable things can be. Its fascinating, Cochran said. E SOCORRO Socorro County Sheriff William Armijo will attempt to enforce the local wolf-human interaction ordinance that prohibits the release of Mexican wolves in the county if the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tries to release them here. Ive been put in a bad position, Armijo admits about the possibility of coming in conflict with federal law. Im bound by county ordinance, Armijo said. If I have to intervene, I will. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced on its website two weeks ago that it planned an aggressive release of a pack of wolves in New Mexico as part of its Mexican Wolf Recovery Program. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials said last year that release sites included locations in Socorro County. Last week, two pups born in captivity in Missouri were released in a den in Catron County and were accepted into a litter by its mother, the Albuquerque Journal reported. New Mexico state officials notified the U.S. Wildlife Service shortly after the announcement that the state Department of Game and Fish planned to sue to stop the release. Socorro County Attorney Adren Nance said it is possible the Board of County Commissioners may also pursue a federal injunction. Nance said he was sure the commissioners support the states effort to block the release. Catrons position They would not be alone. Catron County Commissioner Anita Hand said she also supported the Department of Game and Fish in their stance that the USFWS needs an updated recovery plan and their decision to not allow any further releases until the recovery plan is updated. Hand has been among the most vocal leaders in opposition against the release because of reported attacks in her county. The Journal reported last week that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has reached a tentative settlement with wolf advocacy groups and Western states to develop a plan by 2017, but New Mexico declined to join the settlement. The settlement would have to be approved by U.S. Judge Jennifer Zipps in the District of Arizona. The service has failed to complete an updated plan since the original plan was adopted in 1982. Nance said he is unsure if Socorro County will be able to enforce the ordinance because federal law was mixed on the subject. Im pretty sure they can release the wolves on federal land, Nance said. But we all know wolves dont stay on federal land. Armijo said his office has not had any calls about wolf attacks since the ordinance went into effect earlier this year. He and Nance were aware of only one wolf sighting, which was near the Rio Grande. Nance said it was possible local ranchers werent reporting sightings out of fear federal officials would be watching their land as a result. He also said Socorro County did not yet have a reporting system in place that was as effective as the one used by Catron County. Hand said there have been no documented attacks in Catron County in several months, though there have been many documented and investigated attacks in the last several years. Catron County has remained diligent in doing everything we can to prevent such attacks, Hand said. We rely on our local law enforcement and Wildlife Investigator to be well informed and to keep the residents informed the best we can. Defending the program U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Public Affairs Specialist John Bradley said the Mexican Wolf Interagency Field Team, located in Alpine, Ariz., works daily with livestock producers to implement management measures to reduce conflicts between Mexican wolves and livestock. In particular, the IFT hazes wolves away from areas with humans and livestock, and provides supplemental feeding until the wolves are able to hunt on their own, Bradley said. Also, the Mexican Wolf/Livestock Council directs funding for depredation compensation and payments for presence of wolves to livestock producers to assist with economic costs incurred due to presence of wolves in the area of their livestock operations. Bradley did not say how many wolves U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service planned to release and did not list any locations where the releases would take place. We will be assessing conditions for releases over the next few months, Bradley said. The agency wanted to work with the state and local governments, despite opposition, he said, citing the comments of Regional Director Benjamin Tuggle in the announcement about the planned release. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service values the partnership we have with the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, and it remains our policy to consult with the States in our joint efforts to recover species, Tuggle said. Recovery of the Mexican wolf remains the Services goal. We have a statutory responsibility and the authority to recover the Mexican wolf and strive to do so in a collaborative manner with our partners. We aim to bolster the wild Mexican wolf population and improve population genetics through strategic releases of genetically desirable wolves, which will eventually lead to Mexican wolf recovery and state management of the species. Current wolf population Bradley said the most recent count of the wolves shows a slight decrease in population. We conduct an annual count every year, Bradley said. For 2015, there were a minimum of 97 Mexican wolves in the wild, which represents a slight decline from the 2014 population of 110. He said the releases were needed to introduce diverse genes into the population. He said inbreeding among the Mexican wolves is threatening their survival. Fitness is generally described as an animals ability to survive and reproduce, Bradley said. Inbreeding can lead to a reduction in fitness, which may be exhibited as smaller litter sizes, higher pup mortality, reduced ability to adapt to a changing environment, etc. On average, the wolves currently in the wild population are considered highly related. If left unmanaged, it should be expected that relatedness among individuals within the population would not improve, resulting in more inbreeding and potential negative effects on the populations ability to thrive. Releases of wolves from the more genetically diverse captive population can improve all the genetic parameters (gene diversity, relatedness, inbreeding, etc.) to help ensure the long-term conservation of the Mexican wolf. Critics of the program including those in attendance at a Socorro County Board of Commissioners meeting in November claim the Mexican wolf isnt a pure species, that the wolf is a mixture of wolf, dog and coyote. Those claims are 100 percent false, Bradley said. Copyright 2016 Albuquerque Journal As the news of the sexual assault and murder of 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike sent shock waves of grief and fear through the Navajo Nation last week, Jana Pfeiffer, 31, couldnt stop thinking about her own kidnapping and sexual assault at the hands of a Navajo family member 20 years ago. You think you have trust in that person, and you wouldnt think that something like this would happen, Pfeiffer said. As shocking as the crimes against Ashlynne were, sexual assault is all too common in Native communities. Research shows that Native women are 2 times more likely to experience sexual assault than women of all other races, and the community knows it. The road from Farmington to Shiprock is dotted with billboards proclaiming 1 in 3 Native women is sexually assaulted and display a number for a local sexual assault center. But resources on the reservation for victims of sexual assault are few and far between. Just last week, the only domestic violence shelter for women and children in the northern Navajo Nation closed due to lack of funding. Deleana OtherBull, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women, said a lot of sexual assault and domestic violence cases can be traced back to the other issues common to Native populations. Our community faces large numbers disproportionate to larger cities of substance abuse and poverty, OtherBull said. We refer to violence as a symptom of larger issues that are happening. Although Native women are more likely to be assaulted by non-Native men nationally, OtherBull said, statewide research published in 2014 shows that 88 percent of sexual assaults against Native women in New Mexico involved Native offenders. Tom Begaye Jr., 27, the man charged in Ashlynnes kidnapping and murder, is Navajo and lived on the reservation. Federal investigators said he admitted sexually assaulting Ashlynne before hitting her over the head with a tire iron, killing her. Assaulted as a child When she was about Ashlynnes age, Pfeiffer said, she was staying with her cousin in Red Mesa, Ariz., when a relative came to her in the middle of the night and told her he would take her back to her parents home. Instead, he sexually assaulted her in a car a couple miles away, she said. She managed to escape by running through mud and over hillsides, scraping her legs on her way back to safety. I somehow made my way back by just a little light from my aunties house, she said. She took me to the nearest phone booth and called my parents. Pfeiffers parents reported the kidnapping and assault, and another girl also came forward with a similar story about that relative. She said he was tried in federal court, took a plea agreement and served several years in prison. Although Pfeiffer got justice, she knows there are countless women and children among the Native population who never spoke up about their abuse. She said several of her family members have similar stories but never filed a report. Pfeiffer said close family ties in tribal communities make reporting sexual assault difficult. After she reported her relative to authorities, many in her fathers family stopped talking to her. Women become ashamed that theyve been violated, she said. We have to strengthen each other in sisterhood among our aunties and our mothers, and this is something that we can come together and fight against. Pfeiffer said people living in the small rural communities on the reservations often dont have access or knowledge about the resources that are available for them to report abuse. Now she works with the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women to try to change this. She said she has studied traditional ceremonies that celebrate a girls transition into womanhood while educating them about how to protect themselves. That ceremony is so crucial where women are given direct tools, Pfeiffer said. If we bring that tradition back, our answers are there, in our songs, our ceremonies and our prayers. Corrine Sanchez, the executive director of Tewa Women United, a nonprofit that supports Native women, said her organization runs programs in schools to teach children about proper boundaries and how to stay safe and report if they are abused. Unfortunately, she said, the bulk of the training takes place in dense-population areas because the small, rural communities and tribal areas around the state are hampered by a lack of resources. It costs two or three times as much to reach these areas, Sanchez said. When funding is tied to population, smaller rural communities lose. But these communities have higher substance abuse and violence rates. Shortage of officers Tribal police are tasked with protecting thousands of square miles of the nations largest reservation. Ivan Tsosie, police captain in the Navajo Police Department in Shiprock, said funding and the lack of infrastructure are chronic issues. Only 38 officers covering four shifts respond to calls in the 4,500 to 5,000 square miles of the Navajo Nation where Ashlynne was abducted. Tsosie said he has been recruiting new officers, but there isnt enough money to hire them. The vast landscape and unnamed, sparsely distributed dirt roads make it hard for officers to respond to calls quickly. Once a call comes in, it generally takes an officer more than two hours to reach the area where it was reported, Tsosie said. Then it can take another 30 minutes to an hour to find the exact location, he said. There are no street addresses out here. People will say, I live seven miles south of the tree. Often, the offenders have fled by the time police arrive, he said. In the days since Ashlynne was killed, the Navajo Nation and other Native populations throughout the state have come together to grieve and to ignite the conversation about funding and other systemic failures that lead to the high rates of violence and sexual assault. San Juan Chapter President Rick Nez said he hopes the tragedy will encourage the community to take a hard look at these issues for future generations. Its time we take action, Nez said. Its not a time to falter and look the other way. This is a time to straighten knees and stand up for our children. Pfeiffer echoes this sentiment and says she hopes her story, as well as Ashlynnes, will help others and increase public awareness of sexual assault on the reservation. I can share my story and hope that it gives strength and courage to get away from the taboo of sexual assault and violence, she said. It plagues our communities. A roundup of our favorite recent tax fraud cases. Fontana, Calif.: Preparer Kismaea Rouzan has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison and ordered to pay $312,600 restitution for filing bogus returns. According to case records, Rouzan, who pleaded guilty late last year to two counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false returns, owned and operated a prep business named Mobile Tax Preparers in 2011 and 2012. There she obtained personal ID information, including names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth and addresses of taxpayers from runners who were also involved in the scheme. Rouzan used the information to prepare fraudulent returns filed in the names of the taxpayers claiming fraudulent wages and qualified education expenses. The IRS refunds were deposited directly into Rouzans bank accounts in full or split between her bank accounts and prepaid debit cards. The refunds were divided between Rouzan, runners and taxpayers. For the 2010 and 2011 tax years, Rouzan prepared or caused to be prepared more than 400 fraudulent returns that cost the government $846,782. Minneapolis: Preparers Ishmael Kosh, 39, of Philadelphia, Amadou Sangaray, 36, of New York and Francis Saygbay, 43, have been sentenced to prison for their involvement with a fraudulent prep business. Kosh was convicted of one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and eight counts of aiding and assisting in the filing of false returns; Sangaray was convicted of one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., four counts of aggravated ID theft and eight counts of aiding and assisting in the filing of false returns; and Saygbay failed to appear for trial but later pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., one count of aggravated ID theft and two counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false returns. Kosh received 52 months in prison, Sangaray 50 months and Saygbay 40 months in prison. Kosh and Saygbay were each also ordered to serve three years of supervised release and Sangaray to two years of supervised release following their release from prison. According to the evidence at trial, Kosh, Sangaray, Saygbay and a fourth individual, Chatonda Khofi, 50, of St. Paul, Minn., established a storefront location of Primetime Tax Services in the Minneapolis area. Along with a fifth individual, David Mwangi, 47, of Arlington, Texas, the defendants prepared more than 2,000 fraudulent individual income tax returns on behalf of clients for filing with the IRS for the years 2006, 2007 and 2008. The defendants also prepared approximately 1,700 fraudulent state income tax returns for filing with the state of Minnesota for those years. Authorities said the defendants conduct caused a total tax loss of $1.5 to $3.5 million. On the fraudulent returns, the defendants included false dependents, fake business income and losses, inflated deductions and credits and false filing status to inflate refunds. They also bought and sold dependents for use on clients returns to falsely qualify clients for inflated deductions and tax credits. When a client came to pick up a refund check or debit card, the defendants sometimes demanded an additional fee in cash or escorted that client to a check-cashing location or ATM. In November 2014, Mwangi pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and Khofi pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and one count of aggravated ID theft. They await sentencing. A sixth individual associated with this scheme, Stephanie Robinson, 33, of Minneapolis, pleaded guilty in August 2013 to one count of filing a false return in her own name and one count of aiding and assisting in the filing of a false return for another individual. Birmingham, Ala.: The U.S. has filed to permanently bar tax preparer Jessica Leverett, a.k.a. Jessica Harris, from preparing returns for others and asked the court to order Leverett to turn over a list of all returns she has prepared. According to the complaint, Leverett owns and operates a number of prep businesses in the area, including Tax Money Now, Dynamic Tax Services, Dynamic Tax Solutions and Express Money Tax. The government alleges that Leverett and her associates prepared returns that fabricate self-employment businesses and business losses to offset clients taxable income from other sources and increase clients EITC. When a client does have a small business, the complaint alleges, Leverett and her associates mischaracterize the business income as household employee wages to avoid paying self-employment tax. The complaint also alleges that Leveretts businesses claim education credits that the clients are not entitled to. According to the complaint, the IRS examined 264 returns that Leveretts businesses prepared and found that 206 understated the tax owed by Leveretts clients by, on average, thousands of dollars. The complaint also alleges that Leveretts activities may have cost the federal government more than $2.5 million in understated taxes or fraudulent refunds, or both. Phenix City. Ala.: Two men who conspired to file more than 1,200 false returns using stolen IDs have been sentenced to prison: Ernest James Simmons Jr., 29, was sentenced to 24 months and 15 days in prison followed by five months of home detention, and Calvin J. Perry, 28, of Atlanta, received 32 months in prison. Simmons and Perry each pleaded guilty in December to one count of conspiracy to defraud the government with respect to filing false income tax refund claims and one count of aggravated ID theft. According to court documents and evidence, between 2010 and 2012, Simmons and Perry conspired with Perrys mother, Pamela Ann Smith, to run a large-scale stolen ID refund fraud scheme from Smiths tax prep business, Jaycal Tax Service, in Phenix City. As part of the conspiracy, Smith, Perry and Simmons opened multiple bank accounts and post office boxes. They filed more than 1,200 federal income tax returns using the stolen personal ID information of actual individuals, which included their names and Social Security numbers. Simmons was directly connected to false returns claiming more than $700,000 in fraudulent refunds and Perry was directly connected to false returns claiming more than $1 million in fraudulent refunds. U.S. Treasury checks were mailed to physical addresses and post office boxes and then deposited into multiple bank accounts, all under the control of Simmons, Perry and Smith. Perry personally obtained more than $300,000 and Simmons more than $150,000, from the scheme. Perry and Simmons were also each ordered to serve three years of supervised release. Perry was also ordered to pay $308,152 restitution; Simmons was ordered to pay $167,194 restitution. In February, Smith was sentenced to serve 51 months in prison after pleading guilty for her role in the scheme. It seems that there is no end to Uttarakhands controversy. The Supreme Court ordered a floor test in the Uttarakhand Assembly on May 10 for deposed Congress Chief Minister Harish Rawat to prove his numbers and end the controversy over the proclamation of Presidents rule in the State. It held that the nine Congress MLAs disqualified by the Speaker would not be able to vote. The floor test will be the single item on the agenda for the House on that day. However, the apex court clarified that there would be no status quo ante for Rawat. This means that Rawat would not be automatically restored as Chief Minister when Presidents rule is lifted for the duration of the test. Anyway, Rawat would have to prove he had the numbers to return as Chief Minister but under the present Narendra Modi government, democratic values and welfare of the common people have taken a backseat. We can only see intolerance to criticism and all out efforts to ensure single party rule with none to check. Under such grave situation, the Judiciary is the ultimate resort to save our country and its constitutional provisions, but that is also under stress. The present NDA government which has resorted to open murder of democracy by pulling down the duly elected state governments in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and flouting the Constitutional provision, brazenly commenced before Honble Supreme Court that it is seriously considering holding Floor Test in Uttarakhand for serving the cause of democracy. This is the height of hypocrisy indeed! If the present NDA government had even least respect for democracy, Narendra Modi owes an answer to the people of India as to why his government prevented the Floor Test on 28th March 2016 by imposing Presidents rule on 27th March. Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand episode rotates around the disqualification of the MLAs. It is the lack of sound guidelines in dealing with the defections and imposition of the Presidents rule in the states resulted in the current development. The major political parties in the country are responsible for the current situation. It is the failure of the political functionaries that has forced the judiciary to step in and decide the course of action. The stability of any government will be at stake in the state and it is better that the Assembly is dissolved and fresh elections ordered at the earliest. Moreover, BJP is going too far and out of its way in defending the action of rebel Congress MLAs and calling it as not defection. It will be paying a huge price for this if some other party does the same with its MLAs in the future and uses the same argument in its defense. Anyhow, this tussle has reached a noteworthy stage now. All eyes are on the HC verdict on 9th. Now, the question is that what will happen if the aggrieved party on 9th approaches SC the same day and seeks its intervention in its favour. As usual, public can only remain a mute spectator to all this happenings and bear the consequences thereof? If you notice, the defections from one party to another are been in fashion for long time. The ruling party MLAs or MPs are changing parties after winning the elections from a particular party. We all know that how much they are spending on elections and then earning by joining another party being a part of horse trading. The Election Commission also could not control the election expenditure though in some instances huge amount is being caught. We all know why they are changing parties. Politicians crave for only power, money and status; there is no ethics or accountability. As a result, the common party members those are hoping for good positions are seating back in the dark. This should be checked and strict law should be passed on defections. Anti-defection law under which speaker has disqualified the MLAs only refers to the action of MLAs inside house voting against whip. Their travelling with somebody or giving even statements outside the house does not attract disqualification. Though, the Attorney-General strongly advocated an observer a retired Chief Election Commissioner to be appointed to monitor the proceedings, the court agreed with Rawats counsel, senior advocates Kapil Sibal, A.M. Singhvi and Rajeev Dhawan, that an outsider should not be permitted in the House. The floor test to decide the majority is the time tested convention in democracy and should be welcome. The SC direction in this regard in the tricky Uttarakhand may go a long way in guiding the centre on the dismissal of the state governments and the enforcement of the Presidents Rule. (Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com) An Ola cab driver has been arrested in Delhi for allegedly molesting a Belgian woman on Saturday, the police have said. The taxi aggregator has said in a statement that the driver has been sacked. In her complaint to police, the 23-year-old woman has reportedly said that while she was traveling in a cab from Gurgaon to Delhi, the driver requested her to sit in the front seat and help him with directions claiming his GPS device was not functioning. The driver, Raj Singh, then kissed her, she has alleged. After stepping out of the cab, she informed her friend and later lodged a complaint at the CR Park police station in South East Delhi. The driver was identified by tracking booking details. We have detained the driver, Raj Singh, who is a resident of Alwar in Rajasthan, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mandeep Singh Randhawa said. Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj confirmed receiving the complaint and said that Lt Governor Najeeb Jung has been asked for a report on the case. She reiterated that the government is committed to the safety and security of all foreign nationals in India. Whether the woman is a tourist or has been staying in the country for some time is not confirmed yet. The Shiv Sena said it will contest about 20 seats in the Goa Legislative Assembly polls scheduled in 2017, while claiming that the people of the state are fed up with the BJP-led Goa government and that the party is the only alternative left in the state. We have dissolved the executive working committee of the party in Goa and we are in the process of forming a new one. We have decided to contest around 20-22 seats in the Goa Assembly polls. Our work there is going on in full swing, said Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, who has been appointed Incharge of Goa. He said the partys star campaigner would be Uddhav Thackeray and that the schedule of his rallies would be made in the upcoming days. When asked if the Sena is contesting the polls to plug a hole in the BJPs vote share, Raut said, People of Goa are fed up with the BJP and the Congress. Therefore, Shiv Sena is the only alternative left. We are contesting the polls to win, so there is no question of us trying to diminish the BJPs vote share, Raut said. When asked about the electoral issues for Sena, he said there are many, including Goa governments inability to control the Russian and Nigerian drug mafia prevalent there. One of the electoral issues is language. The BJP had promised to give prominence to local languages like Marathi and Konkani. But they have failed to keep their promise, he said. Also, the promise of closing down casinos has not been kept. Apart from that, unemployment, law and order issues need urgent attention. A staggering 50 per cent of Goa is controlled by Russian and Nigerian drug mafia. But the state government has been unable to stop them. People are completely fed up, Raut said. Out of 40 Assembly seats, the BJP had bagged 21 of the 28 seats it contested in the 2012 elections, polling 35.53 per cent votes. Assyrians in Sydney Demonstrate Against Kurdish Occupation of Assyrian Villages ( AINA) Sydney -- Over 500 people descended on Martin Place in a public demonstration organised by the Assyrian Council of Australia. The demonstrators demanded an end to Kurdish aggression in the occupied Assyrian homeland as well as the brutal atrocities currently taking place against the Assyrian Christians in Iraq and Syria as a whole. The basis of the protest gave strong justification for the unremitting call for the establishment of an Assyrian safe haven under international protection. The protesters entreated the government and media to take immediate action to end the genocide of Assyrian Christians. With a united voice the people chanted slogans though the streets of Sydney city including "Hey hey, no no, Kurdish occupation has to go" "1234, Land grabbing no more, 5678 Assyrian lands we must liberate" and "Hands off Assyrian Land". The demonstration was teeming with demonstrators flying Australian and Assyrian flags and carrying placards. Participants in the peaceful protest comprised mainly of the Assyrian Christian community from Sydney. They were joined by demonstrators from different backgrounds who stood in solidarity with Assyrians against the belligerent actions of the Kurdish Regional Government as well as the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS). The protest was attended by Members of both State and Federal Parliament. The Parliamentarians delivered wholehearted speeches giving unconditional support to the establishment of an Assyrian homeland in Iraq as well as condemning Kurdish aggression. Speakers were: Mr Craig Kelly MP, Federal member for Hughes; The Hon David Clarke, MLC, Parliamentary Secretary for Justice; Mr Milan Maksimovic, the Christian Democratic Party candidate for McMahon who represented The Hon Reverend Fred Nile MLC; Dr Nicholas Al-Jeloo; Gilgamesh Dawood from Entity of Abnaa Al- Nahrain; Ms Ravina Joudo from the Assyrian Patriotic Party; and Ms Sana Gewargis from the Coordinating Body for Assyria World Conference . Mr Hermiz Shahen, the Deputy Secretary General of the Assyrian Universal Alliance delivered a speech on behalf of the Assyrian Council of Australia. During his address he expressed how "The Australian Assyrian community is profoundly distressed by the ethnic and cultural genocide perpetrated against their kin in Iraq and Syria. The Kurds are intensifying their aggression to occupy the Assyrian territory by force to remove the Assyrian population. The Kurds under the watchful eye of their regional government are systematically and unlawfully forcing Assyrians from their villages and homes in the occupied Assyrian lands in Northern Iraq and in Al-Hassaka province in North East Syria, declaring Assyrian lands as their own." He went on to declare that "These land-grabs are achieved by acts of aggression and violence exposing innocent civilians to imminent attacks, placing their lives in danger, and driving them out of their ancestral lands." Mr Shahen propositioned the Australian government "to lay out a comprehensive strategy assisting the Assyrian nation's needs for the establishment of a self- governed safe haven in the Assyrian heartland in Northern Iraq (between the Upper Zab and Tigris Rivers) for the Assyrian Christians, Yezidis and Mandaeans, so that they can live in peace and security, where they can practice their religion, culture and language in freedom and with human dignity. This strategy does not necessarily need to include Australian boots on ground but could be accomplished by training and funding existing Assyrian Christian militia who can protect their lands themselves." Mr Shahen also presented a letter on behalf of the Assyrian Council to Mr Craig Kelly MP requesting it to be hand delivered to the Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP, Prime Minister of Australia. The protest also included an Artistic Piece performed and recited by the 2016 Young Assyrian of the Year recipient Mr Ramos Jacob. The piece was based on the poem 'Homeland' by Naum Faiq who is duly considered one of the founding fathers of modern Assyrian nationalism. The Assyrian Council of Australia calls on all Assyrian organisations around the world to continue in their efforts to bring attention to the plight of Assyrians in Iraq and Syria and in particular their ancestral homeland of the Nineveh Plains and surrounds of Northern Iraq. May 6, 2016 While the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement is viewed and described by the Netanyahu government as a strategic threat to Israels international legitimacy, in the Palestinian government, there is only lukewarm support for the movement. A senior PLO official in charge of relations with Israeli civil society told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that the Palestinian Authority (PA) supports the BDS movement, but has been careful not to make it its own official policy. He claims that Israeli institutions being boycotted may indeed present a moral boost to many Palestinians, but in terms of the Israeli occupation policy, the real damage has so far been minimal. The policy of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is to initiate dialogue with many segments of the Israeli public in favor of the Palestinian cause. As long as our strategy is a peaceful one aimed at negotiating a two-state solution, we have to convince important parts of the Israeli constituency that a two-state solution is in their favor, the PLO official said. President Abbas has instructed us to follow a systematic policy aimed at affecting the hearts and minds of Israelis. According to the official, this policy includes several key elements, such as encouraging joint Palestinian-Israeli anti-settlement protests. Other important elements are organizing tours of the PA so Israelis can see firsthand Palestinian suffering from the occupation and exposing the Israeli public to Palestinian success stories such as the new West Bank town of Rawabi, hi-tech startups, Palestinian culture and so on. Establishing official Hebrew internet sites and a Hebrew radio station to inform Israelis about Palestinian lives and plights are another goal. In addition, Abbas encourages outreach to Israeli academia, businesses, youth groups, as well as to Israelis emanating from Arab countries, and cooperation between Palestinian and Israeli womens groups. The official told Al-Monitor that the PAs efforts are bearing some fruit, and while the Israeli government actively seeks to destroy any eventuality of a two-state solution, the Israeli public is split in the middle. Once most Israelis are confronted face to face with Palestinian life, they tend to moderate their voices on Palestinian statehood. According to the official, these Israel-oriented policies are part of the Palestinian effort to end the occupation. These policies are not for normalizing relations with Israel; normalization could only take place after the creation of a Palestinian state on a border based on the 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital. In the meantime, Palestinians would have much to gain from cooperating with Israeli civil society, he argued. Boycotting Israeli peace organizations and academic institutions would actually be counterproductive, the official said. This Palestinian policy, unlike the BDS approach, differentiates between the occupying Israel and the part of Israel that supports a realistic two-state solution. On the Israeli governmental side, one tends to exaggerate the strategic danger emanating from the BDS movement and takes for granted the PAs policies of cooperation with Israeli civil society. A senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official dealing with the Palestinian issue told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has prioritized the fight against BDS, both in policy and budget. Netanyahu sees it as an Arab move to delegitimize Israel a process that in the West integrates anti-Semitic elements. The official also claimed that the Palestinian outreach to Israelis is driven by financial and economic motivations. There are flaws in both the Palestinian and Israeli views of the relationship between the two sides. The Palestinian leadership is right to reach out to Israelis. Israeli public opinion is of strategic importance in order to achieve Palestinian viable statehood. While the current government will not be convinced by these arguments even if Abbas were to join the Likud movement the mainstream Israeli public could indeed opt for a two-state solution on the condition of having a reliable security partner on the Palestinian side. Therefore, the Palestinians have little choice but to expose to the Israelis their successful security cooperation with Israel and the Fatah struggle against Hamas. This depends, to a large degree, on the rhetoric of the Palestinian leader, who should emphasize his moderate positions more forcefully to the Israeli public. This necessity of highlighting cooperation was in past years well understood by former President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and by King Hussein of Jordan, who expressed strong empathy with Israeli security concerns and its legitimacy. As to the Israeli government, its approach to this issue is wrong. BDS is not the problem; the occupation is. BDS is an Arab platform for European radical leftists who are hostile to Israel or just critical of the occupation. It is not an effective boycott movement, as was the case with apartheid South Africa, and it generally alienates liberal Israeli institutions that are willing to cooperate with Palestinians. Most Israelis have little interest in it. The more effective anti-occupation movements are related to international governmental and nongovernmental efforts to boycott the settlements and label their goods. These campaigns emphasize the cost of occupation. In continuing with its current policies, Israel risks not just boycotts by the West, It jeopardizes its international standing and its long-term relationships with the European Union. These policies even risk its relations with the United States. Hence, it is time for Israel to partner with the Palestinian leadership on a two-state solution based on the 1967 lines and to regain its place among nations. May 6, 2016 ALEPPO, Syria Ever since the start of the Syrian revolution in mid-March 2011, the Syrian regime's security forces have spared no effort to arrest peaceful protesters who called for the downfall of the regime. Their waves of arrest were not limited to men; they also included hundreds of women and girls who opposed the Syrian regime. According to a joint report issued by the Syrian Network for Human rights (SNHR) and the Syrian Center for Statistics and Research, 2,850 women, 120 of whom are girls below 18 years of age, continue to be held by the Syrian security forces across the country. Meanwhile, the Center for Documentation of Violations in Syria reported about 1,800 cases where women have been arbitrarily detained, including 69 girls who are below 18. The three organizations confirmed that since March 2011, at least 19 women, including girls below 18, have been killed due to torture during detention. Although many of the women arrested by the regime made it out of prison, these women had another suffering to deal with outside the prison. They had to face a society whose treatment of women is governed by customs and traditions, and most of the women were subjected to physical abuse and raped by those in charge of the security branches where they were detained. Ever since the first months of the protests, the government forces adopted a sexual violence policy aimed at terrorizing and suppressing protesters. The SNHR reported 52 cases of sexual violence during detention, and it estimated the cases of sexual abuse at 7,500, including many children below the age of 18. Um Layal, 45, had her share of psychological and physical torture during her detention in the regime's prisons. She was arrested twice, and her second detention lasted four months where she experienced the worst kinds of torture. Layal, current director of the local council women's bureau of the city of Aleppo, which is affiliated with the Syrian interim government, told Al-Monitor, I was a high school teacher, and I live in rebel-controlled areas. I was arrested on May 28, 2013, by security agents near the civil court, located in regime-controlled areas. They took me to the political security branch, where I spent three days, and they accused me of participating in demonstrations against the regime. The first time I was arrested, I denied all of the accusations made against me, and I was released three days later. Once released, I was surprised that my monthly salary was withheld by the Directorate of Education, so I started a special process to get my monthly salary back. On Dec. 31, 2013, I visited the Directorate of Education to ask for identification papers and get my monthly salary back. While I was there, members of the political security branch asked me to accompany them to the branch to sign some papers. When we got to the branch, I waited for three hours near the office of the university, and a certain Abu Yazen summoned me and asked me to show my ID. He told me I was under arrest again. Layal continued, I was detained for four months during which I suffered from the worst kinds of psychological and physical torture. Despite my diabetes and high blood pressure, they denied me any medical consultation while in detention. I was accused of protesting against the regime, of being involved in terrorism and of harboring militants in my house. I denied all the charges except those related to protesting against the regime. My statements had to be consistent with the statements I made in the first investigation so as to avoid being kept in jail for several years, or even being killed. On March 1, 2014, and following great suffering, I was finally released but only to find out that all of my acquaintances were rejecting me. To them, I was no longer the woman they knew. Everyone kept their distance from me and avoided seeing me. I spent a year by myself with only my siblings by my side. They were the only ones to understand the reason behind my arrest. They were the only ones who knew full well that what happened was out of my control. In light of the reality that women face after their release, the Syrian Institute for Justice held a symposium April 17 in Aleppo titled The social reality that awaits detained women following their release. The symposium dealt with society's outlook on women released from prison and showed how they are perceived as criminals rather than victims. Zakaria Amino, a lawyer and member of the Syrian Institute for Justice, told Al-Monitor, Once women are released from prisons, they face a very unjust treatment by society. Therefore, it was necessary to conduct awareness campaigns in conjunction with the local council of Aleppo in order to raise awareness, reintegrate women in society and adopt a humanitarian outlook worthy of women who have a role in society. Amino added, We have agreed with the local council of Aleppo and the neighborhood councils on the need to create psychological support centers for detained women all the while providing them with job opportunities so that they can be active in the community. These centers should honor the detained women, reward them both financially and morally, provide them with suitable houses and fight any kind of sex discrimination in this regard. The conclusions reached by the seminar will be raised to the institute's administration in order for it to take the necessary action and establish centers in locations to be determined at a later stage. People in Syria have two different outlooks on detained women. Some believe these women are victims of a brutal regime, while others, governed by customs and traditions, find them guilty despite all the suffering and pressures they experience. This occurs even while men who are released from prison are viewed as heroes who should be rewarded. Abu al-Mutasim, a resident of al-Mowasalat neighborhood, told Al-Monitor, We should treat the released women as innocent victims despite everything they may have experienced inside the prisons. Our religion teaches us that if women are forced to do something, then they are not guilty. However, some people are governed by blind customs and traditions. This requires a lot of awareness campaigns, especially considering that any woman we know could be arrested at any time. For some Syrians, the concept of honor and dignity has led detained women to live between two fires. The first is the detention fire, which even the mightiest of men cannot bear given the brutality of the Syrian regimes security members. The second is the fire of injustice and moral defeat that the released women experience in a community that judges them. Such a reality can be tougher than prison itself, especially when relatives and friends are involved. May 8, 2016 CAIRO The Egyptian security forces began an intense arrest campaign the evening of April 21 aimed at nipping in the bud the second wave of popular protests against the Egyptian government's ceding the islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia. On April 25, 16 human rights organizations most notably the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and the Cairo Institute for Human Rights issued a statement denouncing the arrest campaign, stressing that police had arrested at least 100 people in eight provinces. The statement described the arrest campaign as an attempt to intimidate and thwart the protests planned for April 25. In the same context, the Egyptian presidential office denied a story published in Al-Shorouk newspaper April 20 about a meeting where President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said that he would not accept a repetition of the Land Friday demonstrations that took place April 15. During a speech commemorating the 34th anniversary of the Sinai Peninsulas liberation, Sisi vowed to confront any attempt to break the law or compromise state institutions. On April 25, upon touring the streets and squares of Cairo and Giza, Al-Monitor noted that a large number of police officers dressed in both civilian attire and official uniforms had sealed off the journalists' union headquarters and stepped up their presence in Tahrir Street in Dokki and in areas where the Egypt is Not for Sale campaign said that protests would be held. Police seemed ready to confront anyone they suspected of intending to protest. The intense state security alert led us to change the gatherings location, political activist Mustafa Raghib told Al-Monitor. He said that he and others were planning to converge at the Bohoos area on Tahrir Street, following a protest map, but that the heavy security presence forced them to move their gathering to the nearby Nahia area. However, security forces then used tear gas and buckshot to disperse dozens of protesters a few minutes after they gathered. The Egyptian Interior Ministry announced in a statement issued on the evening of April 24 that it will respond with the utmost firmness and decisiveness to any action that could disturb public security. Any attempt to harm vital or important installations or any police installations or facilities will be forcefully dealt with. Raghib stressed that he decided to protest despite the extensive arrest campaign, which had an impact on his colleagues before and during the protests. He stressed that street actions and continuous protests are the best way to send a message to the regime that there is opposition to its policies in the Egyptian street, similar to what happened when thousands of people demonstrated on Land Friday April 15. The security services only allowed government supporters to be present in the streets such as at Tahrir Square and around the journalists' union. Government supporters went to the streets to commemorate Sinais liberation. They waved the Saudi Arabian flag and expressed their support for the decision by the Egyptian administration to cede the islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia. Raghed added, Since when do Egyptians celebrate Sinais liberation in the streets? I have no reason to doubt that those who gathered [for Sinai] were directed by certain pro-government forces. Ahmed Hussein, a university student in his 20s, told Al-Monitor that before going to demonstrate he learned that the security forces had closed off access points to the protest location and that there was a protest gathering at Masaha Square in Dokki. We aimed for about 500 protesters in Masaha Square, said Hussein. He said the protesters, despite knowing that the security forces had surrounded the square, gathered and chanted Bread Freedom These islands are Egyptian (a variation of the common refrain from the January 25 Revolution Bread Freedom Social Justice) and The people want to overthrow the regime, but then the security forces entered the square and broke up the gathering with tear gas. Hussein said that he used one of the streets leading to the square to evade security forces and their helpers, whom he described as thugs. He said the security forces were able to detain dozens of protesters and trap more than 100 at Dignity Party headquarters overlooking the square. The security forces ended the siege after a number of political figures, most notably leftist leader George Isaac, intervened. The Egyptian Interior Ministry announced that 270 protesters were detained in the governorates of Cairo and Giza on April 25. The Egyptian Demonstrators Defense Front published a list of 239 protesters detained, which included journalists, activists and members of political parties. A young journalist named Assem Mohammed was detained twice by the security forces. The first was at the Great Sea Street in Giza on the eve of the protest, and the second was at Ramses Square in central Cairo the afternoon of April 25. Assem told Al-Monitor that he was beaten the first time despite his showing the detaining officers his journalist identity card. They searched his mobile phone and checked what he published on his personal Facebook account before being released, he said. When they detained Assem the second time, he was taken to a prison bus. He noted that they checked his criminal record and confiscated his mobile phone, but a major in the national security agency cleared him. Assem was given back his identity card and phone after his journalist colleagues intervened. The security forces of Cairo governorate announced the arrest of 15 people in the vicinity of Ramses Square after searching their mobile phones. A security source told Al-Shorouk newspaper April 25 that WhatsApp messages showed that the detainees were trying to mobilize protesters. According to Article 57 of the Egyptian Constitution, personal privacy is protected and inviolable for paper and electronic messages, telephone conversations and other communications. They cannot be confiscated or examined except by judicial order and only for a definite period. Gamal Eid, the head of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, told Al-Monitor that more than 400 people had been arrested from April 21 until the evening of April 26, stressing that efforts by human rights lawyers resulted in the release of around 150 detainees, with more than 240 still being held. The human rights lawyers claimed they were harassed while trying to get the detainees released. Eid said the April 25 protests achieved their goal of sending a message to the government that peaceful civil opposition is still present and influential despite the governments attempts to undermine it by tightening its security grip. Eid confirmed that lawyers and human rights activists have found that pro-government demonstrations were organized by forces affiliated with the government as evidenced by the meals that were distributed to the participants. He pointed out that the state has lost a lot of its popularity and is now resorting to paid supporters. May 8, 2016 CAIRO There are fears that the dispute over Halayeb and Shalateen, a small border region claimed by Cairo and Khartoum, will cast its shadow over Egyptian-Sudanese coordination on the negotiations over the Renaissance Dam between the two countries and Ethiopia. On April 18, state-owned channel Ethiopian TV interviewed Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who said that the dam benefits both Sudan and Ethiopia. Egyptian media considered this declaration as clearly reflecting the escalating crisis on the Halayeb triangle between Cairo and Khartoum. Bashir's remarks came a few hours after Sudan demanded, in an official Foreign Ministry statement April 17, direct negotiations with Egypt to resolve the crisis in a way similar to how it dealt with Saudi Arabia in regard to the islands of Tiran and Sanafir or via international arbitration. But Cairo rejected the demand, stressing that the triangle is Egyptian territory and that it will not negotiate or resort to international arbitration on the matter. The Halayeb area is located on the African side of the Red Sea. The area contains three major towns: Halayeb, Abu Ramad and Shalateen. The area belongs to Egypt politically and administratively but is subject to a border dispute between Egypt and Sudan. A government source in the Egyptian Committee on the Renaissance Dam told Al-Monitor that Egypt fears that the Halayeb and Shalateen crisis with Sudan would escalate to a new stumbling block in the Renaissance Dam negotiations between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. Cairo had put in place a number of alternative scenarios to resolve the crisis of the hampered technical track, and Egypt counts on Khartoums support for the Egyptian position toward Addis Ababa. According to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the Halayeb and Shalateen issue had affected the Renaissance Dam negotiations several times before. In February, there was tension during the meeting in Khartoum of the Renaissance Dam Tripartite Commission between the Egyptian and Sudanese delegations. Egypt objected to the maps supplied by the French companies conducting border studies between Egypt and Sudan, as the maps showed the disputed Halayeb and Shalateen area to be situated on the Sudanese side of the border. The meeting ended with Egypt requesting that topographic maps that do not show the border demarcation between the three countries be used instead. Ambassador Mona Omar, who is the former deputy foreign minister for African affairs, told Al-Monitor that the Sudanese president's remarks in which he said that the dam brings many benefits shows that the Sudanese position in the dam negotiations completely differs from the Egyptian position. There are currently no negotiations over the Renaissance Dam between the three countries. The matter depends on ending the crisis of the contracts with the consulting firms involved in producing technical reports regarding the damage that the dam could cause Egypt and Sudan. Our chance now depends on the French advisory reports becoming internationally recognized documents proving the damage caused by the dam, she said. Samir Ghattas, an Egyptian member of parliament and head of the Middle East Forum for Strategic Studies, expected Sudan to use the Halayeb and Shalateen issue to pressure Egypt in the Renaissance Dam negotiations by likening the issue to that of the Tiran and Sanafir islands. The result is the same whether or not Egypt complies with the request to sit down and negotiate the Halayeb crisis because Sudan supports Egypt only in official statements, while in reality Sudan is an ally of Addis Ababa in all of the latters decisions with regard to the Renaissance Dam, he told Al-Monitor. Ghattas pointed out that the Egyptian government is adjusting its negotiating line by requesting a political track parallel to the technical negotiations, which have exhausted their utility in light of the harm that will befall Egypt when the dam starts undergoing tests in a few months. For his part, Hani Raslan, the head of the Nile Basin Studies Unit at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, told Al-Monitor that Sudans bargaining with Egypt regarding the Halayeb issue will directly impact the dam negotiations in the coming period, saying, "Sudan will use the Halayeb crisis as a pretext to justify an open alliance with Ethiopia against Egypt." Raslan said that Khartoum tried to hide the Sudanese-Ethiopian alliance by making contradictory statements, either by pretending to mediate between Egypt and Ethiopia or by announcing that it is a completely independent party. On the dam negotiations, a government source pointed out that the recent visit by Egyptian Minister of Irrigation Mohamed Abdel Ati to Sudan and Ethiopia to push the negotiations forward resulted in an agreement to resume the work of the Tripartite Commission and to sign contracts with the two French companies to quickly finalize their studies determining the dams negative effects. Raslan said that the contracts will probably be signed despite Egyptian reservations about how the studies are being conducted and their design flaws that may cause inaccurate results. This would be a collapse of the Egyptian negotiating position and a big failure, according to him. From time to time in the past, Khartoum denied accusations that it was siding with Ethiopia because of the Halayeb dispute. Egypt used this denial to grasp at straws as it tried to find an ally in its negotiations, but it seems that things are changing after the direct confrontation over Halayeb and Shalateen between the Egyptian and Sudanese foreign ministries. May 8, 2016 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stepped up his no-holds-barred offensive on Turkeys sagging democratic traditions and institutions. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) last week introduced a bill to deprive parliamentary deputies of immunity from prosecution, which will allow the government to prosecute pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) lawmakers on charges of collusion with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which both Turkey and the United States consider a terrorist organization. Amberin Zaman writes, Coming on top of the collapse of a two-year cease-fire in August and a sharp escalation in violence between Turkish security forces and the PKK, the ouster of the HDP deputies would deal an additional blow to the country's fraying democracy. It would also increase political instability and deepen the chasm between Turks and Kurds, perhaps even thrusting them into the intra-ethnic conflict [HDP leader Selahattin] Demirtas recently warned against. On May 6, two journalists were sentenced to prison for publishing state secrets, and Can Dundar, editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet, was the target of an assassination attempt outside the courthouse. Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said, What was really on trial was the Turkish criminal justice system, which is guilty of gross misconduct. Zaman reports that the United States has been restrained if not muted in response to Erdogans actions. In recent months, Washington has been bending over backward to accommodate Turkey. The United States has stepped up air support for Turkish-backed Syrian rebels, including the jihadi Ahrar al-Sham. These rebel groups are fighting to eject IS thus far unsuccessfully from areas bordering Turkey, with the aim of preventing the YPG from doing so and laying claim to those territories. Washington has reportedly arranged for meetings between Arab members of the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Turkish officials in order to appease Ankara's fears over an imminent US-backed SDF operation to wrest control of the Syrian town of Manbij, an operational center for IS overseas attacks. In a recent Senate hearing, US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, who is cited as one of Erdogan's fiercest critics within the Obama administration, confessed that the YPG and the PKK were closely linked, thereby ending nearly two years of formal denial of a well-established fact. Meanwhile, Washington has said little if anything about the gross human rights violations opposition lawmakers insist were committed by Turkish security forces as they flush out PKK militants embedded in neighborhoods in the mainly Kurdish towns and cities in southeast Turkey. Metin Gurcan explains that as a result of increased Islamic State terrorist bombings and attacks on Turkish border towns, as well as US pressure, Turkish decision-makers have noticeably changed their approach against IS. After virtually ignoring the IS threat to Turkey since the summer of 2014, they seem to have belatedly recognized the danger. One impediment to a clearer understanding of the threat is that some Turkish officials have been promoting conspiracy theories about foreign powers being behind IS. Another hurdle is Turkish political parties' inclination to identify the IS threat according to their ideologies, and not through joint political and popular approaches. Gurcan cites a Police Intelligence Department report that estimates that since April 2011, 2,750 Turkish Salafists had moved between Turkey, Syria and Iraq. The report said there are 1,222 Turkish Salafists in Syria, 749 of them with IS and 136 with Jabhat al-Nusra. It added that 457 Turkish Salafists have been killed in the region. There was also the resignation of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who Mustafa Akyol describes as ending up being a slight nuisance for Erdogans bid for absolute power. Akyol writes, The only way Davutoglu betrayed Erdogan was that he tried to be relatively more moderate and less authoritarian. Unlike Erdogan, for example, Davutoglu seriously considered forming a coalition government with the main opposition party after the elections on June 7, 2015, when the Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost the parliament majority. Unlike Erdogan, he opposed the jailing of journalists and academics who were put on trial. And unlike Erdogan, he tried to build a consensus with environmentalist protesters rather than demonizing them as political provocateurs. That's why, compared to Erdogan, Davutoglu became a relatively less negative figure in the eyes of the opposition circles. For Erdoganists, however, all this translated into treason. Cengiz Candar offers a more critical political obituary for Davutoglu, who will continue to serve as a representative of the AKP in parliament. As Candar puts it, Davutoglu, who began as an obscure Islamist academic in one of the fringe universities of Istanbul, and rose in the AKP on the coattails of former President Abdullah Gul, is effectively finished as a politician of consequence. He continues, Davutoglu has been acquiescent in the wrongdoings of AKP rule and has had a major role in them. He is leaving the scene with such a weak standing that it would be nearly impossible for him to make a comeback. And even if he did return, it is very unlikely that he would have a significant following. Also, Davutoglus is not an attractive name for Abdullah Gul, his former mentor, and for many AKP elders currently out of favor with Erdogan. They see Davutoglu as a person who deserted them and sided with Erdogan. Davutoglu had no grassroots constituency in the AKP and thus his departure will be fairly easy. He is now entering the 'pantheon' of political corpses who were once upon a time big names of AKP power. What is perhaps tragic about him is that despite the growing wrath for the name of Erdogan, there are not many who are mourning Davutoglu's demise. Pinar Tremblay writes that Davutoglu is said to be the main architect of Turkey's failed Syria policy. Davutoglu's forced departure may indeed provide a graceful exit to Erdogan from the Syrian morass. Davutoglu is seen as a political figure but not a policymaker. His critics blame the Syrian mess on Davutoglu's love for grand rhetoric, which they say lacks substance. Akyol describes what happens next. The AKP, meeting on May 22, will appoint Erdogans chosen candidate as head of the party, replacing Davutoglu, and Erdogan will then appoint the new party chief as prime minister. But that will not be enough, Akyol writes. Erdogan wants to turn his de facto power into a constitutional reality. That's why he still wants a presidential system with an all-powerful presidency. For this he needs to change the entire constitution, but the AKP does not have enough seats for that. So, Erdogan will either try to gain more seats in the current parliament, or call for new elections when he feels the time is right. The option of getting the votes needed in the current parliament "could develop from the cooperation with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), whose leader, Devlet Bahceli, has lately been flirting with the AKP to suppress the political rebels in his own party. Or it could develop from the jailing of a few dozen deputies of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), for links with terrorism and running a mini-election for the emptied seats, which the AKP is likely to win. "The second option, yet another early general election, is what those in Ankara consider possible also. Accordingly, early elections at the right time perhaps this autumn could push both the pro-Kurdish HDP and the nationalist MHP below the 10% threshold, giving the AKP more than enough seats to present its new constitution, and the 'presidential system,' overnight." Local investors paid $1.695 million for 96.88 acres at the northwest corner of Eliza Jordan Road and Airport Boulevard in west Mobile, according to Jacob Hartley of Bellator Real Estate & Development, who represented the sellers, Alabama Pecan Development. Jerry Englund of Englund Realty worked for the buyer, JLE Investments. The site has been approved for two single-family subdivisions, Sierra Estates and Burlington. A developer paid $1.15 million for more than 1 acre with 300 front feet on Ala. 59 in Gulf Shores, south of Waterville USA, and plans to build Bayou Sunrise, a 22-unit condominium project, according to Ken Crabtree of Re/Max Paradise, who handled the transaction.The two-bedroom, two-bath units will average 1,100 to 1,200 square feet and be priced at $239,000. All the units will face the state park and bayou. Louisiana-based investors paid $660,000 for the historic Staples Pake building at 100 N. Royal St., in downtown Mobile, and plan to develop retail space on the first floor and apartments on the upper floors, according to Burton Clark of Cummings & Associates, who represented the sellers. David Milstead of Bellator Real Estate & Development worked for the buyers. The three-story building is 150 years old. A local developer paid $500,000 for the former Crichton Elementary School land at 2825 Springhill Ave.,in Mobile, and plans to develop retail on the front parcel, according to Vallas Realty. The 4.5 acre-site was owned by the Mobile County Board of School Commissioners. The school had been demolished in the 1990s. The city of Mobile and the developer are in discussions about locating a new fire station on some of the property. The former office building of Heggeman Realty at 725 Executive Park Drive in Mobile, was purchased by local investors for $260,000, according to Realtors. Ruffin Graham of RJG represented the sellers and Watson Realty worked for the buyers. The property was owned by the estate of the late Bernie Heggeman, a well-known commercial Realtor who passed away in May 2014 while fishing on Dauphin Island. The Shoppes of Bel Air owners plan to overhaul the shopping mall on Airport Boulevard at Interstate 65 in Mobile, and are seeking an economic development grant for tax breaks from the city, according to city records. The Mobile City Council is reviewing the request. Bel Air plans to bring in a number of new tenants after the renovations. Beauty Giant has leased 6,800 square feet at 4805 Moffett Road in the Forrest Hill Shopping Center at the southwest corner of Moffett Road and Forrest Hill Drive, according to Ann White-Spunner of The McAleer Tunstall Company, who represented the landlord. Matt Cummings of Cummings & Associates worked for Beauty Giant, which will open in early June. Eastern Shore Children's Clinic plans to open a new 2,300-square-foot office at 9797 Timber Circle in Daphne in early August, according to Jill Meeks of Stirling Properties. The clinic will continue to see patients at its main office in Fairhope. Expeditors International of Washington, a global logistics company, has leased 2,100 square feet of office space in the Wells Fargo building at 61 St. Joseph St., in downtown Mobile,according to Jill Meeks of Stirling Properties, who represented the property owner. Fischer Company worked for the tenant. It began as a protest, but changed into something more positive. That's what organizers said Saturday when more than 120 people, most of them from Calhoun County, attended a rally Saturday in Oxford City Park is support of transgendered people. Attendees came with signs reading "We bleed the same," "Love Still Wins" and "Free 2 Be U." The event began in response to an ordinance passed last week by the Oxford City Council making it illegal to use a public restroom different from one's biological gender at birth. But Jan Bunten of Equality Calhoun said planning for the event went on even after the City Council rescinded the ordinance on Wednesday. "This was not an 'in your face' kind of thing," Bunten said. "We just want to show people who are transgendered that we support them. It's more like a rally. We were kind of blindsided by what the City Council did. I think it was probably politically popular what they did, but people responded and the people who proposed rescinding it took a big challenge politically." The rescinded ordinance made it a crime punishable by a $500 fine and six months in jail. City officials said it was passed as a public safety measure after a decision by Target to allow employees and customers to use restroom and changing rooms of the gender they individually identify with. Much of the talk from city officials about why the ordinance was passed dealt with curbing child predators and acts of violence against women. But Bunten said transgendered people are more likely to be victims of violence in bathrooms. Other people attending agreed. Beejay LeeMasters, 24, of Oxford, came to the rally with Sean Blair, 24, of Oxford, and Anjelique Pegg, 24, of Anniston. They said the old ordinance felt similar to the Jim Crow laws affecting black Americans in the 19th and 20th centuries. "It's never about safety, it's about separation," Blair said. "If you're worried about your kids, don't send them into the bathroom alone." Earlier Saturday, Oxford City Councilwoman Charlotte Hubbard proposed a new ordinance affecting restrooms with stiffer penalties. It does not mention gender. Instead, Hubbard said, it aims at criminal intent. LeeMasters said she thought that was a good idea "as long as they don't use it as an excuse to do the same thing." Blair, a gay man, said he feels homosexuality will never be widely accepted by society in the South. But the response to the Oxford ordinance is "a foot in the door." Drag entertainer Ambrosia Starling, named by Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore as being part of a move to have him removed from office, arrived in a red mini-dress and heels. Starling said she got up at 6 a.m. to make the trip from Dothan to attend, donning "the armor that I put on to go out and do battle for my community." "I have had friends who were attacked and murdered," she said. "At heart, I'm a Southern lady, and I believe in good manners, and I believe it's very poor manners to treat someone like a toilet just because they need one. I don't think that's very respectful, I don't think that's who we are as a country, and I should certainly hope that's not who we are as Southerners." Oxford police were stationed throughout the park and civic center complex, as several events were taking place at the same time as the rally. Police Chief Bill Partridge said there had been some mention on social media of a counter protest, and police were stationed near an area designing on the other side of a ball field. However, no protest materialized. Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has issued or participated in hundreds of decisions during his two terms on the Alabama Supreme Court, but he is primarily defined by his stances on two issues - the Ten Commandments and gay marriage. His refusal to remove the Ten Commandments from the Alabama Supreme Court resulted in his removal from the high court in 2003 and a complaint issued by the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission regarding his public stances and orders on same-sex marriage saw him suspended from the bench for the rest of his term in 2016. Hes twice lost bids for Alabama governor over the years and in 2017 lost in a narrow vote to Doug Jones in a special election for U.S. Senate after allegations of sexual misconduct arose. Now, on Thursday June 20, 2019, it appears he may announce he wants to run again for the same U.S. Senate seat. Complete coverage of Roy Moore's charges, his suspension, his run for Senate and history of his career. From al.com and the Associated Press A Roy Moore timeline: From Ten Commandments to Gay Marriage Don't Edit AP File Photo 1992-1995 Controversy over Ten Commandments plaque in Etowah County 1992 1995 Alabama Gov. Guy Hunt appoints Roy Moore as circuit judge in Etowah County in 1992. Moore hangs a wooden Ten Commandments plaque which he had carved in his courtroom. In 1995 the American Civil Liberties Union sues Moore, claiming the plaque and courtroom prayers are unconstitutional. The state of Alabama files suit seeking a declaratory judgment that Moores display is constitutional. Both suits are dismissed. Etowah County Circuit Judge Roy S. Moore addresses the media in front of a wood carving of the Ten Commandments in his courtroom at the Etowah County Courthouse on Feb. 7, 1997. (AP file photo) Don't Edit Jan. 15, 2001: Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is sworn into office with a pledge: "God's law will be publicly acknowledged in our court." Moore had already stirred controversy as an Etowah County Circuit judge over hanging a wooden plaque of the Ten Commandments in his courtroom. He won the 2000 election for chief justice. (AP Photo/Kevin Glackmeyer) Don't Edit July 31, 2001: Moore installs Ten Commandments monument in the rotunda during the night without telling the eight associate justices, but allowing a Christian television ministry to film it. Moore says, "To restore morality we must first recognize the source from which all morality springs." AL.com file photo July 2001 Roy Moore has Ten Commandment monument installed at Alabama Supreme Court building Don't Edit Oct. 30, 2001: Lawsuits are filed on behalf of three lawyers seeking removal of the monument from the Alabama Judicial Building. The suits say the monument "constitutes an impermissible endorsement of religion by the state." October 2001: Lawsuits filed to remove monument File photo Don't Edit Don't Edit Nov. 18, 2002: U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson of Montgomery orders the monument removed for violating the constitution's ban on government establishment of religion. He wrote, "The Ten Commandments monument, viewed alone or in the context of its history, placement, and location, has the primary effect of endorsing religion." November 2002: Federal Judge orders monument removed U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson File Photo Don't Edit July 1, 2003: Three-judge panel of 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejects Moore's appeal of Thompson's ruling. The court visualizes what might happen if Moore's monument were allowed: "Every government building could be topped with a cross, or a menorah, or a statue of Buddha, depending upon the views of the officials with authority over the premises." Just over a month later, on Aug. 5, 2003, Thompson gives Moore an Aug. 20 deadline to remove the monument from its public setting in the rotunda, or face the possibility of fines against the state. File photo July 2003: Federal appeals court rejects Moore's appeal of Thompson's ruling Don't Edit Aug. 14, 2003: Moore says he has "no intention" of removing the monument, and lawyers suing to have it moved file a complaint against Moore with the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission for defying a federal court order. (Photo AP Photo/Dave Martin) August 2003: Roy Moore says he won't remove monument despite court order Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore makes a statement to reporters at the State Judicial Building in Montgomery, Ala., Thursday, Aug. 14, 2003. Moore announced his decision to defy a federal court order to remove the Ten Commandments monument from public display in the building. At right is his wife Kayla. Don't Edit Aug. 20, 2003: Moore refuses to move monument by deadline after losing pleas to the U.S. Supreme Court and 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A crowd of monument supporters grows at the building; some are arrested for refusing to leave the monument. Aug. 21, 2003: Associate Justices of Alabama Supreme Court unanimously overrule Moore and order the monument moved by the building's manager. The eight justices write that they are "bound by solemn oath to follow the law, whether they agree or disagree with it." Aug. 22, 2003: State Judicial Inquiry Commission charges Moore with violating six canons of ethics for disobeying a federal court order to move the monument. He is suspended with pay pending trial before the Alabama Court of the Judiciary. (AP Photos/Dave Martin) Aug. 20-22, 2003: Protests in favor of keeping the monument grows; Alabama justices order monument's removal and Roy Moore suspended after complaint Don't Edit Aug. 25, 2003: Monument supporters file suit in federal court in Mobile seeking to block the monument's removal. It is filed on behalf of two Alabama residents described as Christians who believe "the United States was founded upon Jesus Christ" and their freedom of religion is being violated. An emotional Moore. who was on suspension, wipes his face during an address to supporters in front of the State Judicial Building in Montgomery that same day. (AP Photo/Dave Martin) Aug. 27, 2003: The monument is moved out of the rotunda of the Judicial Building to comply with the federal court order. A federal judge cancels a hearing on the lawsuit filed by monument supporters seeking to block the monument's removal. (Photo Mobile Register, Mike Kittrell) Aug. 25 & 27 2003: Ten Commandments supporters file lawsuit; monument removed Don't Edit Don't Edit Nov. 13, 2003: Alabama Court of the Judiciary unanimously orders Moore removed from office as chief justice. Nine days earlier the U.S. Supreme Court had refused to hear Moore's appeal. November 2003: Moore is removed from the bench by the Alabama Court of the Judiciary Moore arrives inside the Alabama Supreme Court chamber to hear his verdict before the Alabama Court of the Judiciary in Montgomery, Ala., on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2003. Moore was removed from office for refusing to follow a federal court order to remove his Ten Commandments monument from the building. (AP Photo/Mickey Welsh, Pool) Don't Edit June 6, 2006: Moore loses bid for Republican nomination for Alabama governor to incumbent Bob Riley. June 2006: Moore loses bid for Republican nomination for Alabama governor Moore speaks at a news conference, Friday, Jan. 6, 2006, in Birmingham, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill) Don't Edit June 1, 2010: Moore loses bid for Republican nomination for Alabama governor, this time to Robert Bentley who won in a runoff against another candidate. Kent Faulk | kfaulk@al.com June 2010: Moore loses bid for Republican nomination for Alabama governor Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, left, and his wife Kayla ride their horses back to their farm after voting at the Gallant Volunteer Fire Department, Tuesday, June 1, 2010, west of Attalla, Ala. (AP Photo/ Gadsden Times, Marc Golden) Don't Edit Jan. 11, 2013: Moore is sworn in as Chief Justice a second time. "We've got to remember that most of what we do in court comes from some scripture or is backed by scripture," Moore says after taking the oath of office. Kent Faulk | kfaulk@al.com January 2013: Moore sworn in for a second time as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore puts on his robe with the help of his wife, Kayla, after being sworn into office Friday, Jan. 11, 2013, at the Heflin-Torbert Judicial Building in Montgomery, Ala. (Julie Bennett / jbennett@al.com) Don't Edit Jan. 23, 2015: U.S. District Judge Callie V.S. "Ginny" Granade rules Alabama's marriage laws outlawing same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. She gives the state of Alabama until Feb. 9, 2015 to win a stay from an appeals court or same-sex marriages can begin that day in Alabama. Moore, who has long been publicly critical of same-sex marriage, is critical of Granade's ruling. "For one district judge to overturn the laws of Alabama -- she can't do that ... Federal rules don't allow her to do that," he says. Kent Faulk | kfaulk@al.com January 2015: Federal judge in Mobile rules Alabama's marriage laws banning same-sex marriage unconstitutional File Photo Don't Edit Don't Edit Jan. 28, 2015: The Southern Poverty Law Center lodges the first of four complaints to the Judicial Inquiry Commission stating that Moore has violated judicial canons of ethics for his public comments on same-sex marriage. The complaint comes after Moore writes Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley and says he will stand with the governor "to stop judicial tyranny." Kent Faulk | kfaulk@al.com Jan. 28, 2015: Southern Poverty Law Center files first of four complaints to the Judicial Inquiry Commission SPLC President Richard Cohen is critical of Moore's stance and actions in opposition to federal judge's order. FILE photo Don't Edit Feb. 3, 2015: Moore writes an advisory letter and memorandum to the state's probate judges saying they are not required to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples despite Granade's ruling.That same day the SPLC files a supplement to its JIC complaint, citing comments Moore made about same-sex marriage on a radio talk show. Moore had responded "that's a very hard decision" when asked what he would do if the U.S. Supreme Court ruled state bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional. Feb. 3, 2015: Moore advises Alabama probate judges against issuing marriage licenses; SPLC files second complaint Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore talks in an interview Friday, Feb. 13, 2015, in Montgomery, Ala. about his stance on gay marriage. (Julie Bennett/ jbennett@al.com) Don't Edit Feb. 9, 2015: Some probate judges issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, while others don't. Feb. 9, 2015: Some Alabama probate judges begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples Adrian Thomas and Yashinari Effinger of Birmingham are first couple to to get license in Huntsville (AL.com File photo) Don't Edit March 3, 2015: The Alabama Supreme Court orders probate judges to halt the issuance of same-sex marriage licenses. Roy Moore, without explanation, does not vote on that order. All 67 probate judges in the state halt the issuance of the licenses. The order, called a writ of mandamus, had been requested by the Alabama Policy Institute and the Alabama Citizens Action Program, two groups that oppose same-sex marriage. March 3, 2015: Alabama Supreme Court orders state probate judges not to issue same-sex marriage licenses AL.com file photo Don't Edit June 26, 2015: The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 majority opinion, legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. The Foundation for Moral Law, which Moore founded, reacts in a press release, saying that the "the battle for traditional marriage will continue" despite the ruling. "This means we've got more work to do, but we are determined to do it," said Foundation President Kayla Moore -- wife of Chief Justice Roy Moore. "The Foundation is involved with a same-sex marriage case in the Middle District of Alabama, and that case will continue. There are issues in this case that the Supreme Court's decision didn't resolve." June 26, 2015: U.S. Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage nationwide Carlos McKnight of Washington, waves a flag in support of gay marriage outside of the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday June 26, 2015. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Don't Edit Don't Edit July 29, 2015: The SPLC files another supplement to its JIC complaint, stating that Moore was continuing to violate judicial ethics through numerous speeches suggesting the U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage shouldn't be followed. July 29, 2015: Southern Poverty Law Center files another complaint to the Judicial Inquiry Commission against Moore Photo/Mike Cason AL.com Don't Edit Jan. 6, 2016: Roy Moore issues an administrative order to state probate judges advising them they "have a ministerial duty not to issue any marriage license contrary to the Alabama Sanctity of Marriage Amendment or the Alabama Marriage Protection Act" and adding that the orders by the Alabama Supreme Court from March 2015 - before the U.S. Supreme Court's decision - were still in effect. The order is largely ignored by probate judges, although more than a half-dozen probate judges continue to issue any marriage licenses to same-sex or opposite sex couples to get around having to issue the licenses to gay couples. That same day the Southern Poverty Law Center sends its third supplement to its original complaint to the Judicial Inquiry Commission saying that Moore "continues to flout and violate the Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics." Jan. 6, 2016: Moore issues administrative order to probate judges saying Alabama Supreme Court order from March 3, 2015 still in place Emma Kaitlin Hammer of Mobile, Ala., and dozens of others turned out for an "impeach RoyMoore" rally in front of Government Plaza in downtown Mobile, Ala., on Saturday Jan. 9, 2016. "I'm here because I think he has overstepped his bounds completely. Not only do I believe that anyone of age has the right to get married, the Supreme Court also agrees that everyone has the right to get married," said Emma Kaitlin Hammer of Mobile, Ala. (Sharon Steinmann/ssteinmann@al.com) Don't Edit April 27, 2016: Roy Moore holds press conference and accuses the Southern Poverty Law Center and groups of "atheists, homosexuals and transgender individuals" of bringing a politically motivated complaint about his administrative order to probate judges not to issue same-sex marriage licenses gay marriage to the Judicial Inquiry Commission of Alabama. April 27, 2016: Moore holds press conference defending himself against the Southern Poverty Law Center complaints to the Judicial Inquiry Commission Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore listens to Attorney Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel, respond Wednesday, April 27, 2016, to complaints made against Moore in January by various groups protesting his administrative order explaining the legal status of the Alabama Sanctity of Marriage Act and the Alabama Marriage Protection Act in Montgomery, Ala. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com) Don't Edit May 6, 2016: The Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission issues complaint against Moore. The move suspends Moore from the bench, with pay, while the charges are pending before the Alabama Court of the Judiciary. The court of judiciary could remove him from the chief justice job for the second time in his career. "The Judicial Inquiry Commission has no authority over the Administrative Orders of the Chief Justice of Alabama or the legal injunction of the Alabama Supreme Court prohibiting probate judges from issuing same-sex marriage licenses. We intend to fight this agenda vigorously and expect to prevail," Moore stated after the complaint as filed. JULIE BENNETT May 6, 2016: Roy Moore is suspend from the bench for the second time in his career after the Judicial Inquiry Commission files ethics charges Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore responds Wednesday, April 27, 2016, to complaints made in January by various groups protesting his administrative order explaining the legal status of the Alabama Sanctity of Marriage Act and the Alabama Marriage Protection Act in Montgomery, Ala. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com) Don't Edit Aug. 8, 2016: Court of the Judiciary denies Moore's request to dismiss charges; set Sept. 28 trial The Alabama Court of the Judiciary denies Roy Moore's request to dismiss the Judicial Inquiry Commission judicial ethics charges. The COJ sets Sept. 28, 2016 for Moore's trial. Don't Edit Don't Edit Mickey Welsh Sept. 30, 2016: Moore is suspended for rest of term The Alabama Court of the Judiciary ruled Moore was to be immediately suspended from office without pay after finding him guilty on the six charges that claimed he violated canons of judicial ethics regarding a Jan. 6 administrative order to the state's 68 probate judges. In this picture, Moore testifies during his ethics trial before the Alabama Court of the Judiciary at the Alabama Judicial Building in Montgomery on Sept. 28, 2016. (Mickey Welsh/Montgomery Advertiser via AP, Pool) Don't Edit Kent Faulk | kfaulk@al.com April 26, 2017: Roy Moore resigns and announces run for U.S. Senate Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore and his wife Kayla, leave a press conference where he announced his plans to run for U.S. Senate Wednesday, April 26, 2017, on the steps of the Capitol in Montgomery, Ala. He had resigned the week before after special Alabama Supreme Court upholds his permanent suspension without pay for the remainder of his term. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com) Don't Edit Aug. 15, 2017: Roy Moore leads Luther Strange into primary runoff Roy Moore gets about 40 percent of the vote in the Aug. 15, 2017 Republican Primary for U.S. Senate. He led U.S. Sen. Luther Strange, who had been appointed to the position after Jeff Sessions was confirmed at U.S. Attorney General earlier in the year. Don't Edit Kent Faulk | kfaulk@al.com Sept. 26, 2017: Roy Moore defeats Luther Strange to win Republican runoff Roy Moore wins Republican Runoff for U.S. Senate seat after facing Donald Trump endorsement and visit for opponent Luther Strange. Moore had his own celebrities including political operative and Trump supporter Steve Bannon, Chuck Norris and Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson. Don't Edit Roy Moore was considered a virtual shoe-in to win the general election race after defeating Luther Strange in the Republican Primary. But then on Nov. 9 The Washington Post published a story saying that women had stepped forward to allege sexual misconduct against Moore when he was in his early 30s and they were in their teens - including Leigh Corfman who was 14 at the time. Moore denials varied during different interviews. Coverage of Roy Moore By the time election day rolled around a number of Republicans had distanced themselves from Moore or directly called for him to drop out. Others, most notably President Donald Trump and former White House adviser Steve Bannon, actively endorsed Moore. During the controversy Democrat Doug Jones began gaining support from different sources, including celebrities, sports figures, and last minute robo calls from former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden. Jones is the U.S. Attorney who prosecuted the KKK members responsible for the 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church that killed four little girls. Don't Edit Don't Edit Dec. 12, 2017 Democrat Doug Jones wins election to the U.S. Senate representing Alabama over Roy Moore. Moore and his wife have said there were misinformation campaigns waged against Moore in the 2017 race. In 2017, Republicans and Democrats alike conspired to defeat Judge Moore in the U.S. Senate special election, a Facebook message in April 2019 from Kayla Moore said. "Groups spent upwards of $50 million dollars to spread falsehoods and deceit among Alabama voters. Don't Edit 2018 -- Since his defeat Moore has been involved with several lawsuits and countersuits involving his accusers and one in which he sued comedian Sacha Baron Cohen and Showtime for defamation. Roy Moore talked with the audience Nov. 16, 2019, before speaking at the Republican Men's Club in Huntsville. 2019 - Moore announces 2020 campaign for U.S. Senate seat he lost to Doug Jones in 2017. Others in the race for the GOP nomination include Jeff Sessions, Bradley Byrne, Tommy Tuberville, Arnold Mooney, Stanley Adair and Ruth Page Nelson. Alabama lawmakers ended the 2016 session without action on three of the largest items: oil spill settlement division; Medicaid funding and prison construction Gov. Robert Bentley said recently that he's considering calling lawmakers back into special session later this year for another try. "Everybody's got to rest a little bit right now ... but we certainly do not rule that out," Bentley said. "We'll have to make a decision on that. If we were to come back it would include the prison bill and it would also include the BP situation." Bentley's $800 million prison construction plan -- an attempt to replace almost all state prisons with new facilities -- failed to win final approval. Lawmakers could also not agree on how to divide oil spill settlement funds -- which could also provide extra money for Medicaid. OIL SPILL FUNDS A feud has erupted among lawmakers over how to use $1 billion in settlement funds that the state will receive over 18 years after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Legislators from south Alabama have argued more money should go to counties hit with the most damage from the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Other lawmakers argued that since coastal restoration projects were funded with a separate pot of money, that the settlement on the statewide claim should help the entire state. "It's two counties versus the rest of the state," Bentley said of the disagreement. Many legislators support the idea of getting a smaller amount of the money up front -- an estimated $640 million __ by conducting a bond issue instead of taking $50 million a year. They just can't agree what to do with the money A House-passed bill would use the proceeds to pay back $450 state debt and then give another $190 million to coastal road projects. The bill died after a Senate committee seemed to favor a plan to use $540 million to pay back all the debt and then spread the remaining $100 million in road projects across the state -- with a double portion going to the two coastal counties. "I do want to pay off debts, but I do think that Mobile and Baldwin counties deserve a little bit more of that," Bentley said. "We've got to get people together and come up with a reasonable compromise." The state debt is from lawmakers tapping into other state coffers in recent years to avoid budget cuts during the economic downturn. By law the money must be paid back: $161 million to the General Fund Rainy Day Fund by 2020 and $437 million to the Alabama Trust Fund by 2026. Hubbard said the state needs to address the issue at some point. "The fact that we really need to securitize that payment so that we have some cash so we can pay down our debt is very, very important. We have that $161 million payment coming due very quickly. That is like a gun to our head," Hubbard said. MEDICAID CUTS The Alabama Medicaid Agency has said it needs $785 million in state funds to avoid service cuts next fiscal year. Lawmakers appropriated $700 million, with legislative leaders saying they could not longer cut other state agencies to fund Medicaid. Medicaid Commissioner Stephanie Azar said there would be cuts to the program unless additional money becomes available. "We've got to start talking to CMS and having some really hard conversations about what we are going to do moving forward," Azar said. A side benefit from the oil spill settlement proposals was that paying debts early would have freed up an additional $70 million for Medicaid next fiscal year. Azar said that was disappointing that did not win approval. The state passed legislation to delay the implementation of a switch to regional managed care to give some fiscal breathing room. PRISONS The centerpiece of the governor's legislative agenda was a massive prison construction project. Bentley proposed to borrow $800 million to build four new large prisons -- housing up to 4,000 inmates each-- and close most existing facilities. Lawmakers concluded the session at midnight Wednesday before Bentley could get a scaled-back bill $550 million bill, an attempt at a last-minute compromise, approved by the House. Bentley said he intends to try again at some point. "We were disappointed. We had all worked extremely hard to try to get our prison bill through. It's a major part of our agenda. It still is. We have not given up on this," Bentley said. KIM CHANDLER, Associated Press A Missouri couple is keeping a good sense of humor when it comes to the field of candidates for president, they say. They are showing their sense of humor by placing an unusual campaign sign in their yard, which reads: "Everybody Sucks 2016. The U.S. is doomed." The sign has received plenty of attention from not only those in their Kansas City neighborhood, but on a national level as images of the sign have gone viral. Debbie Butler told KSHB-TV News that she and her husband, an Army veteran who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq, bought the sign as a joke. "It's just fun," she said. "We just thought it was funny when we saw it, so we bought it and put it in the front yard." The website listed on the sign offers signs, stickers and T-shirts with the slogan. Sarah Palin, who has already endorsed the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, said in an interview today that she will support Speaker Paul Ryan's opponent, according to The Washington Post. In an interview today with CNN's Jake Tapper, the former Alaska governor said that Ryan is "soon to be 'Cantored,'" referring to the former House majority leader Eric Cantor, who lost in a 2014 primary. Ryan has said that he is not ready to support Trump. The two are scheduled to meet later this week, the Post reported. "His political career is over but for a miracle, because he has so disrespected the will of the people ... and for him to already come out and say who he will not support was not a wise decision of his," Palin said. Palin also added in the CNN interview that she does not want to be the real estate mogul's vice president. "I want to help and not hurt, and I am such a realist that I realize there are a whole lot of people out there who would say, 'Anybody but Palin.' I wouldn't want to be a burden on the ticket, and I realize in many, many eyes, I would be that burden," she said. She said that she doesn't think she will be able to help Trump win. Palin added that there are "so many other great people out there" for his VP pick. Businessman Paul Nehlen is challenging Ryan in a Republican primary in August, and Nehlen has said that he will support Trump. Palin told Tapper that she will do whatever she can do to help Nehlen win. A Selma man died last night in a Dallas County crash, Senior State Trooper Reginal King said. At 9:10 p.m. Saturday, the victim's 1999 Ford Bronco left Dallas County Road 16 and struck a guardrail. The Bronco then overturned. The crash happened 10 miles east of Selma. The victim has been identified as David Earl Spangenberg, 55. Spangenberg was not using a seatbelt, King said. He was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. King also said that the preliminary investigation has indicated alcohol may have been a factor. Alabama State Troopers are continuing to investigate the wreck. Afghan presidents speech signals return to a consultative and consensual relationship between the state and society. Afghan President Ashraf Ghanis April 25 address to his countrys parliament signalled a much-anticipated shift in his administrations war and peace policy, according to many observers. Ghanis domestic critics, though, quickly branded the speech as demagoguery. Ghanis actions over the next few weeks will determine whether this was an attempt to temporarily appease domestic opposition to his controversial peace initiative or a true genesis of a fresh policy. But, perhaps as pivotal as the content, was the Afghan presidents method of adjusting and communicating his stance. Clearly, the content indicated Ghanis moving away from his previously conciliatory position towards Islamabad. He bluntly declared, The leadership of terrorists is in Peshawar and Quetta, adding that the Haqqani Network and some groups of the Taliban are goons, assassins and only foot soldiers for other countries interests. Duty of the state Afghanistan does not expect Pakistan to bring the Taliban to talks, Ghani explained. Rather, Islamabad should either conduct military operations against them or extradite them to be tried in Afghan courts. He branded the Taliban, baghi, an Islamic term for armed insurgents, whose killing is a duty of the state. ALSO READ: Afghanistan War must end but not at any cost A striking moment in the speech that received little media attention came when he said, the dignified women of this land still remember the whiplash of those ignorant oppressors and would never again tolerate such a group, referring to Talibans draconian treatment of women. Beyond the specifics of Ghani's address, one detects a fundamental procedural shift to a more consultative and consensus-based approach to governance. by This was the first time an Afghan leader acknowledged, in a public speech, Afghan womens legitimate concerns in the war and peace discourse. But, beyond the specifics of Ghanis address, one detects a fundamental procedural shift to a more consultative and consensus-based approach to governance. The event was prompted, in part, by mounting discontent by Afghan politicians and the general public with Ghanis peace policy and deteriorating security. It was also a move to disprove claims that his governance style was becoming autocratic. His political opposition as well as supporters of Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, were increasingly becoming louder in complaining about a lack of discussions and inclusion in important national policies. Tribal context As in many tribal contexts, the relationship between the state and society in Afghanistan was, for centuries, one of reciprocity between leaders and the populace. Historically, a good leader in the eyes of the Afghans is the one who acts as a primus inter pares. From Ahmad Shah (r. 1747-1782) to Zahir Shah (r. 1933-73), monarchs who could skillfully implement their vision while maintaining humility and dialogue with their subjects, were considered successful leaders. Unlike the classical Iranian model of absolute rule, or the post-colonial pseudo-Western or military dictatorships of the rest of the region, leadership in the Afghan context was defined by its dynamic nature, a work in progress and dependent on continuous negotiation and consensus building. From the 1973 coup detat that ended Zahir Shahs constitutional monarchy, successive Afghan leaders moved increasingly away from that tradition and adopted various forms of autocratic rule. ALSO READ: Is an Afghan Awakening the solution? Whether it was the communist central committee in Kabul, the mujahidins tanzims (organisations) in Pakistan and Iran, or the Talibans leadership Shura (council) in Kandahar, governance became strictly top-down and decisions non-negotiable. At the community level, too, the previous give-and-take relationship that existed between constituents and the community leaders was changed. Local leaders primary function in the past was to facilitate resolution of disputes. Their authority was derived and maintained through an organic and consultative relationship with their communities. The new community leaders Resistance commanders with direct ties to Mujahidin leaders became the new community leaders by supplying arms and money. In the wartime modus operandi, traditional leaders were rendered irrelevant and the principle of consensus building faded. Afghanistan's benefactors ignored the fact that without attention to processes, rule of law and political will, institutions alone cannot achieve effective governance. by The post-Taliban order reinstated state institutions and added a few new structures to meet contemporary demands. Foreign aid allowed for the state to once again begin its functions. However, Afghanistans benefactors ignored the fact that without attention to processes, rule of law and political will, institutions alone cannot achieve effective governance. With jihadist personalities back in power, hopes for the establishment of healthy processes and generation of political will were dim from the start. These were politicians who only knew the patronage system as an effective governance model. The state-society relationship neither returned to its traditional consensual mode, nor did an efficient modern style become operational. For the next 13 years, the US and other coalition states in Afghanistan continued to insist on prioritising stability at the cost of the rule of law and good governance. Ghanis predecessor, Hamed Karzai, had succeeded in creating a semblance of consultative rule by using international aid, appointments and impunity to bribe political leaders into acquiescence. Ghani entered this environment with two handicaps: an extra-constitutional power-sharing arrangement with his rival Abdullah Abdullah and no background in jihadi-style governance. Accommodating the old guard that constituted the majority of both his and Abdullahs campaign allies while implementing his vision of governance has proved more difficult than Ghani had probably imagined. ALSO READ: The dangers of short-sighted policies in Afghanistan The dramatic increase in insurgency activities and the weakening of the Afghan economy, both largely correlated to the US and NATO military withdrawal, has further complicated the situation. Perhaps in a bid to bring fundamental procedural changes that would result in curbing of corruption and weakening of patronage networks, Ghanis presidency fell into a highly centralised style of governance. Critics have accused him of micromanaging the affairs of the state only to consolidate his power. A part of the criticism, of course, stems from the old guards fear of losing control. But, while they may not have the capacity to break their jihad-era mould, they have quickly learned to use modern means of communication, in addition to endlessly holding meetings with their networks, the traditional way. On the administration side, the presidents brilliant concepts and fresh approaches have suffered implementation glitches, but Ghanis fundamental problem lies in his hitherto failure to effectively communicate with the public and the political elite. CEO Abdullahs public relations savvy could remedy the governments communication discrepancy. However, unresolved issues about division of power mostly appointments and his legally precarious position had kept him from playing the communicators role. The cooperation that led to Ghanis parliament address signals a new understanding between the two partners and a shift of focus to greater issues like security and placating the growing discontent of the countrys politicians with the unity government. The speech was preceded by closed-door meetings between Abdullah and Ghani and Afghan MPs, in which a serious effort was made to listen to the concerns of the nations representatives. In parliament, Ghani pledged to act on most of the MPs suggestions and promised continued consultations with them on a regular basis. If followed through sincerely, this signals a return to consultative and consensual relationship between the state and society, a revival of the traditional Afghan political culture in a modern form. Helena Malikyar is an Afghan political analyst and historian. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. Richard Seymour is a London-based writer and editor. He is author of The Twittering Machine (Indigo Press, 2019) and a founding editor of Salvage magazine. London now has its first ever Muslim mayor. Sadiq Khan, the Labour party candidate, received the largest ever number of votes of any London mayoral candidate and won with a margin of more than 10 percent. The Conservative party, having run a campaign attempting to depict Khan as a security menace with links to Muslim extremists, found that it was blowing a dog whistle in a city where theres no dog. In other circumstances, this election might have been rather dull. Both Khan and his opponent Goldsmith are centrist politicians, with differences chiefly of emphasis. But with the pendulum swinging towards Labour, the Conservatives decided to road-test an approach, which they have been developing since Jeremy Corbyn won the Labour leadership, of attacking Labour on traditional Cold War grounds of national security, with the added Islamophobic inflections of the war on terror era. Guilty by association Thus, the Conservatives adopted a strategy of guilt-by-association, hyping Khans alleged extremist links. For example, in the House of Commons, Prime Minister David Cameron used parliamentary privilege meaning he couldnt be sued for his remarks to make libellous allegations against Suliman Gani, an imam who had appeared on a platform with Khan. Cameron asserted that Gani supported the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group. When this was found to be false, the prime ministers office, almost with a perceptible shrug, claimed that Cameron had only meant to say that Gani supported an Islamic state. This did not prevent broadcasters from repeating the charge, nor Defence Secretary Michael Fallon from defending the claim after the election. This campaign period shocked many Conservative figures. Peter Oborne, a Tory journalist, compared the campaign to an infamous 1964 general election in which the Conservatives had run on the slogan: If you want a nigger for a neighbour, vote Labour. OPINION: Londoners win as Sadiq Khan cruises to victory Andrew Boff, the former leader of the Conservative group of the London Assembly, excoriated the partys outrageous campaign. Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, a former cabinet member, declared that the right needs to weed out its Islamophobes. Mohammed Amin, chairman of the Conservative Muslim Forum, took the opportunity following Khans win to denounce the smears, claiming that Islamophobia would drive some impressionable young British Muslims into the arms of ISIL. Muslim leaders of the Conservative Party have congratulated Khan for his victory. In-party strife The smears were not for want of prophylaxis on Khans part. No sooner had he been selected as Labours mayoral candidate as part of the same process that saw Corbyn elected as party leader than he was denouncing Corbyn for encouraging terrorism and inciting anti-Semitism. He also made sure to distance himself from his twice-elected Labour predecessor, Ken Livingstone. And he repudiated his past support for boycott campaigns aimed at Israel. But this only alienated Labours grassroots and was not enough to placate Conservative opponents, nor Labour politicians who wanted to see him lose. Khan's overwhelming victory is all the more remarkable for one other factor: the attempt on the part of some Labour Party big beasts to throw the election in order to damage Corbyn. by Khans overwhelming victory is all the more remarkable for one other factor: the attempt on the part of some Labour Party big beasts to throw the election in order to damage Corbyn. Shortly after Khans nomination, the columnist Dan Hodges let it be known that anti-Corbyn Labour MPs were quietly briefing him that they wanted Khan to lose. In some cases, the opposition was explicit. Lord Alan Sugar, a Labour peer, wrote a scathing article for The Times urging Londoners not to elect Khan because of his support for Ed Miliband, his nomination of Jeremy Corbyn, and his willingness to talk to the trade unions. In the months before the election, former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott denounced a clutch of bitter former advisers to Tony Blair for trying to sabotage Labours chances behind the scenes. OPINION: Beware of What British Muslims Really Think? Finally, in the weeks before the election, a number of Labour MPs used a handful of cases of alleged anti-Semitism in the party, linked to anti-Israel sentiment, to create a crisis for the leadership. If they knew that they were playing into Conservative attempts to depict Khan as a pawn of extremists in doing so, they did not care. Khans victory in part despite his own efforts is a repudiation of this fearmongering. Had the Conservative strategy worked in London, it would have been rolled out across the United Kingdom. The long backlash against multiculturalism has hit a solid wall in London. On social media, the racist carping about the capital becoming Londonistan a sobriquet analogous to old anti-Semitic complaints about Jew York is being rehashed by the Islamophobes. But it is also being joyfully, ironically appropriated by those who are glad to see a racist campaign defeated. Welcome to the 21st century. Welcome to free Londonistan. Richard Seymour is an author and broadcaster based in London. He has written for The Guardian, the London Review of Books and many other publications. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. Protests grow before emergency Eurogroup meeting to determine Athens ability to pay back the billions it owes. Mondays emergency Eurogroup meeting on Greece promises to be a showdown between creditors, rather than the usual tug-of-war between Greece and those it owes. The International Monetary Fund, the worlds most senior financial institution, on Friday told eurozone finance ministers that it will not be part of the Greek bailout unless they relax unrealistic terms of repayment on Greece. Workers in Greece would seem to agree with the IMF. On Saturday night and Sunday morning they staged rallies in front of parliament, protesting against a bill that introduces $6bn in new austerity measures. IMF chief Christine Lagarde wrote Europes finance ministers a frank letter that was leaked to the Financial Times. Greece debt crisis: brinkmanship or bust? We do not expect Greece to be able to sustain a primary surplus of 3.5 percent of GDP for decades to come, she said. Only a few European countries have managed to do so, carried by a strong social consensus that is not in evidence in Athens. In signing on to a third $98bn loan last July, Greece committed itself to generating a budget surplus equal to 3.5 percent of its economy each year, with which to repay debt. The IMF believes 1.5 percent is a more realistic and sustainable figure, which is coincidentally the margin Greeces former finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, asked for in 2015. The IMF accordingly refused to be part of last years bailout and is technically not part of the Greek programme any longer, except in an advisory capacity. The German government wants the IMF involved to enforce a tight fiscal policy, but it also wants the Greeks to repay their loans sooner German Chancellor Angela Merkel has promised that to German taxpayers. When Greece signed its loan last year, eurozone creditors promised it a discussion on extending its debt repayment the IMF suggests 40 years rather than the current 16. Lagarde wants them to have that discussion now. READ MORE: Anti-austerity protests grind Greece to a halt But the IMF is equally pressing Greece to reform its pension entitlements, which it says are about two times higher than they should be. The government in Athens hopes that passing the bill on Sunday night will convince creditors to be more pliable. The bill would cut $2bn in spending on pensions, which are the governments biggest expenditure by far, absorbing 25 percent of all tax revenue. It would also raise workers pension contributions to one quarter of their income. Greek businesses say they cannot remain competitive with such high social security costs, but the government has little choice. Figures it released on Thursday revealed that since 2000, Greece has spent $176bn from the budget shoring up pensions an amount equal to half its current debt of $373bn. If Greece wants Germany to forgive some of that debt, it can hardly perpetuate the principal cause of it. Blaze may reach major oil sands mine and even neighbouring province of Saskatchewan. Canadian officials say they expect the massive wildfire that has destroyed large parts of Albertas oil sands to continue burning for months. The Alberta government said on Saturday the massive blaze in the province will cover more than 2,000sq km by Sunday and continue to grow because of high temperatures, dry conditions and high winds. Chad Morrison, Albertas manager of wildfire prevention, said it is not uncommon to fight such an inferno in forested areas for months. There is fear the growing wildfire could double in size and reach a major oil sands mine and even the neighbouring province of Saskatchewan. In no way is this fire under control, Rachel Notley, Albertas premier, said. No deaths or injuries have been reported since the fire started a week ago but thousands of people have been made homeless. Notley said about 12,000 evacuees have been airlifted from oil sands mine air fields over the past two days, and about 7,000 have left in highway convoys escorted by police. She said the goal was to complete the evacuation from northern work camps by Sunday. The fire could reach the edges of the Suncor oil sands facility, about 25km north of Fort McMurray. Non-essential staff have been evacuated and efforts have been made to protect the site. Notley, however, said that the facility was highly resilient to forest fires. Oil sands mines are cleared and have no vegetation. Low humidity, high temperatures nearing 30 degrees Celsius and gusty winds in forests and brush dried out from two months of drought are helping to fan the flames. Cooler conditions expected Environment Canada forecast a 40 percent chance of showers in the area on Sunday as cooler conditions were expected on Sunday and Monday. Al Jazeeras meteorologist Everton Fox said an area of rain is currently moving across Alberta and some of that rain is forecast to reach Fort McMurray. Unfortunately it will not be heavy or prolonged. In fact, we expect it to be light and rather patchy at times, and it is likely to fizzle out by Monday morning, he said. It is, however, bringing cooler north or northwestern winds that will feed across the region, bringing the temperatures down. The mass evacuation has forced as much as a quarter of Canadas oil output offline and is expected to affect a country already hurt by a dramatic fall in the price of oil. The Alberta provincial government has declared a state of emergency. Fort McMurray is surrounded by wilderness in the heart of Canadas oil sands the third largest reserves of oil in the world behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Last May, wildfires led to the evacuation of hundreds of workers from the region. Upcoming detainee reviews highlight the plight of dozens of men languishing in US prison, some for more than 15 years. Karim Bostan was forced to flee his village in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion and spent his formative years as a refugee in Pakistan. In the early 1990s, Bostan made his way back to his home country to start anew. He married and had six children one of whom, a girl, died in infancy. Bostans youngest child was born after he was detained and then imprisoned by the United States in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The US alleges that he was probably an al-Qaeda member. After 15 years, theyre still not sure. Bostan is one of nine Guantanamo prisoners scheduled to have a parole-style hearing in May. These hearings have picked up significantly in pace with 21 having taken place by the end of the month. In all of 2014, only eight cases were heard. Bostan made his plea for release on May 3. The prisons only Kenyan citizen and another man who has been held since day one will also appear before the Periodic Review Board (PRB) this month. Inside Story Guantanamo: Will it ever close? President Barack Obama tried to make light of his failure to close Guantanamo at the recent White House correspondents dinner by chiding Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Theres one area where Donalds experience could be invaluable and thats closing Guantanamo Trump knows a thing or two about running waterfront properties into the ground, joked Obama. But with time running out on his presidency, it is hard to imagine that the men most of whom have been held at the prison for 15 years without charge will find humour in their situations. Trump, who said we should go tougher than waterboarding, could potentially win the White House. Prisoners best chance The hearings are proving to be the prisoners best chance of leaving the infamous US prison. In contradiction to the presidents stated desire that he wants to close the site, his Justice Department has consistently opposed the prisoners releases by fighting their habeas petitions. In June 2008, the Supreme Court ruled Guantanamo prisoners have a constitutional right to challenge the grounds for their detentions in the federal courts. But judges on the DC circuit quickly handed down a series of decisions gutting that right ruling [detainees] have no substantive right to due process of law, and that any evidence presented against them must be presumed to be true, according to lawyer Tom Wilner, who was a counsel of record for Guantanamo detainees in that 2008 case. Since these decisions, not a single habeas petition contested by the government has been granted, and every prior district court grant of habeas has been reversed, noted Wilner. The prison now holds 80 men. Ten are in various stages of military commission proceedings and 26 are cleared for transfer. A further 44, sometimes referred to as the forever prisoners, are not cleared for release, but have also not been charged with a crime. READ MORE: US sends nine Guantanamo detainees to Saudi Arabia The Periodic Review Board is a six-agency panel that includes officials from the Joint Staff, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Defense, Homeland Security, Justice and State Departments. The board has ruled in favour of the prisoners about 70 percent of the time. Nine of the men once deemed too dangerous to release but were then cleared by the board are either back home or resettled in a third country. There has even been a recent US admission of mistaken identity that kept one prisoner locked up for more than a decade and the man is still there. As of May 1, only eight men have lost their appeals, including a now-prolific artist Muhammad al-Ansi. He is among the last men held from the so-called Dirty Thirty, a group accused of being the security detail for former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. When Ansi travelled to Afghanistan in 2001, he was not yet 20 years old. Further, he lacked the strategic or technical skills required to plan or carry out any threatening attacks against anyone, according to what his lawyer Lisa Strauss told the board. The board, however, decided continued law of detention remained necessary citing the prisoners lack of candor resulting in an inability to assess the detainees credibility and therefore his future intentions. Yet Yemeni prisoner Majid Mahmud Abdu Ahmed alleged to have committed the same offenscs was given the okay for transfer. The Defense Department accused at least three other forever Yemeni prisoners of the same near verbatim allegations as Ansiand Ahmed faced, according to Department of Defense files released by WikiLeaks. One of those prisoners is awaiting his initial PRB hearing, another is awaiting the results and a third, Moath al-Alwi, who lost his appeal in front of the board, reportedly was on the receiving end of non-lethal gunshots while imprisoned. These five Yemeni men were young when Pakistani forces captured them in mid-December 2001 while attempting to cross the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Analysts do not think all these Dirty Thirty men could have been bodyguards for bin Laden. I doubt it very much, said Ahmed Rashid, a journalist and expert on the region. Bin Ladens bodyguards knew him for a decade or more, some he even brought from Sudan. I doubt if he would have hired new guys. However, its not hard to deduce from the publicly available evidence why the US has concluded it would be hard to obtain a conviction in their cases, because there is little of substance in them and because some of the main charges come from men who were tortured or were found to be unbelievable. Admitting guilt US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, does not transfer a detainee unless he is confident that the threat is substantially mitigated and its in the national security interests of the United States, said Paul Lewis, special envoy for Guantanamo detention closure. But it is not clear how the threat these men pose is being determined. The PRB is described as a discretionary process that does not address the legality of any individuals detention. While it is hard to assess what happens in the classified reviews of the prisoners, an analysis of PRB statements by Al Jazeera seems to suggest that, in part, the board wants to hear prisoners admit past mistakes, accept responsibility, and not have anger at the US. However, it is a risk if a prisoner makes a statement accepting guilt when there is none, as his statement could be used against him either in a future trial or hearing by the US, or by a country where the prisoner may be repatriated or transferred, noted Wells Dixon from the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which represents several Guantanamo prisoners. READ MORE: The dark prisoners Inside the CIAs torture programme There seems to be this sense, even in the government, to try to cast this war on terror in terms that people are familiar with, for example calling the PRB parole-like hearings, said David Glazier, a professor of law at Loyola Law School, who follows Guantanamo developments. But what I think people in the government are forgetting with respect to Guantanamo is that these folks have never been proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, Glazier said. Once a US court in an American criminal setting has found as a matter of law that the individual has committed a crime, it seems perfectly reasonable [for] a parole board to expect the individual to show remorse, added Glazier. But what is missing is the fact that many of these folks, in fact, probably never were truly associated with al-Qaeda. And if they have to lie in order to admit responsibility for things they havent done and show remorse for conduct that they havent engaged in order to be released, it shouldnt surprise us that some of them do that. The US governments expectation that the prisoners be compliant is also interesting to Glazier. According to the code of conduct for American service members, they are under lawful orders to continue to resist once they are detained and yet we criticise the Guantanamo detainees for being difficult captives when that is exactly what we expect of American personnel in parallel situations. Torture and hearings ahead There are tougher hearings on the horizon, including that of Guantanamo Diary author Mohamedou Slahi and Mohammed al-Qahtani, the only Guantanamo prisoner the US government openly admitted was tortured. The latter survived the First Special Interrogation Plan that was given the okay by former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, after which Qahtani who the US alleges was an intended hijacker in the September 11 attacks was caged in solitary confinement for five years. Qahtani belongs to a theoretical group of detainees remaining at the base who the government somehow knows are guilty but cannot prosecute because the only evidence against them is tainted by torture, according to the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents him. The fact is, if the only evidence against an individual is obtained through torture, there is no reliable evidence. Period. Follow Jenifer Fenton on Twitter: @jeniferfenton Gunmen opened fire on police vehicle in Cairo suburb and fled, interior ministry says. Eight police officers have been killed in a Cairo suburb, the Egyptian interior ministry said, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL, also known as ISIS). The ministry said on its official Facebook page on Sunday that four men armed with automatic weapons got out of a small pick-up truck, sprayed a police minibus with bullets and then fled. The ministry added that a lieutenant and seven low-ranking policemen in plain clothes were killed in the attack. Egyptian official news agency MENA said that the police were inspecting security in the south Cairo suburb of Helwan early on Sunday. ISIL claimed the attack in a statement circulated on social media. Interior Minister Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar ordered an investigation into the attack, calling the eight heroes of the police martyrs who sacrificed their lives to preserve the security of the homeland and the people. Armed groups, mainly based in North Sinai, stepped up attacks on soldiers and policemen after the army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi overthrew elected President Mohamed Morsi after protests against his rule in mid-2013 and replaced him. The Ministry of the Interior says 732 members of the security forces have been killed in attacks since 2011 and 18,000 have been injured. While most of the unrest has been centred in the northern part of the Sinai peninsula, there have been attacks in the rest of the country as well, mainly small-scale bombings targeting police. The frequency of attacks in the mainland had declined in recent months. Unidentified gunmen have killed prominent activist Khurram Zaki in Karachi, the latest in a string of attacks on human rights defenders in Pakistan. Police official Muqadas Haider told Dawn News TV channel on Sunday that four suspects opened fire on Zaki, 40, while he was at a restaurant, killing him and injuring a friend and a bystander. The attack took place close to midnight on Saturday in a northern part of the city. A former journalist, Zaki was a campaigner for human rights and the editor of the website and Facebook page Let Us Build Pakistan with the stated aim to spread liberal religious views and condemn extremism in all forms. He was known to be an avid campaigner against sectarian violence. Police said on Sunday that it was not immediately clear who was behind the attack. Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi, a close friend of the murdered activist, told Al Jazeera that Zaki believed in zoning in the nexus of the enablers of violence [and] spoke freely against the anti-Shia lobby. A few weeks ago it was Sabeen's death anniversay. Yesterday it was Rashid Rahman's & today khurram martyred. All unarmed peaceful activists M. Jibran Nasir (@MJibranNasir) May 7, 2016 Zaki was also a member of the campaign against Maulana Abdul Aziz, a prominent leader of the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad, who is known for his anti-Shia rhetoric and refused to condemn the Taliban attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar that killed 146 people. Pakistan is facing rising sectarian violence, with armed Sunni groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan often attacking gatherings of Shias, who make up some 20 percent of the countrys Muslim population. The killing of Zaki has outraged activists across the country and comes at a time when Pakistani rights advocates are increasingly under attack. On April 25, Pakistani activists marked one year since human rights activist Sabeen Mahmud was murdered. Mahmud was also 40 when she was gunned down in Karachi last year. On Saturday, it was two years since human rights lawyer Rashid Rahman was shot dead. Additional reporting by Alia Chughtai in Karachi. Gaza The piercing voice of Umm Kulthum reverberated over the noise of the engine. I asked the taxi driver, a bespectacled man in his late 20s, to change to a news station, as Israel had been pounding Gaza over the past few days. Why bother? he snapped. Enjoy the music. When the war breaks out, booms will tell. It is much calmer on the ground in the Gaza Strip than on social media platforms. Over the last few days, personal reflections on the prospects of an imminent war, analyses of what may or may not happen, and prayers against the inevitable war have permeated Facebook and Twitter. One thing is certain: Palestinians in Gaza live in a constant state of uncertainty, fear and helplessness, brought about by Israels impunity in the previous three wars and international silence towards a decade-long siege and occupation that seems it will never end. To the majority of Palestinians in Gaza, the question is no longer if, but rather when the next Israeli onslaught will materialise. Israeli threats against Gaza have been unabated and, almost two years after the 2014 assault, Palestinians still die and are occupied, besieged and divided . Over the last year, Israel killed almost 30 Palestinians in Gaza, wounded over 800 and arrested dozens. Its tanks rolled into Gaza about 50 times. Meanwhile, the siege is still intact and even worse than before: Medical patients die waiting for an Israeli permit, Rafah rarely opens, and the Gaza rebuilding process is proceeding at a snails pace. Have Palestinians become immune, or, worse, indifferent to death? No one knows for sure [But] people have learned to adapt, and to make the most of their miserable lives. Isnt it laughably sad that a Mediterranean city like Gaza imports fish, mainly from Israel? Limiting the fishing range to within a stones throw, Israel has reduced the great Mediterranean Sea into a small pond with very few fish. And it is in that Mediterranean that dozens of Palestinians have drowned, attempting to escape suffocation and death in Gaza. Sealed border crossings have prevented emigration from becoming a trend, but for thousands of travellers waiting for the crossings to open, each day serves as a reminder that Gaza has been rendered inhospitable, uninhabitable and dream-crushing. Palestinian farmers have received one of the most devastating blows, as an arbitrary third of Gazas agricultural land has been swallowed by the Israeli-imposed buffer zone. Farmers are exposed to constant machine fire from automatic towers that within changeable, undisclosed ranges target any moving object. Yet, scores of metres beyond the armistice line, Israeli farmers are allowed to plough, plant and prosper. Recently, Israel has been attempting a de facto no-grow zone. Those Palestinian farmers wallow in doubt because they do not know when Israeli planes will spray their farms with toxins, set their crops ablaze or invade and bulldoze. In a bid to enforce the new reality, the Israelis have over the past few days invaded the Gaza Strip on five occasions, but they were met by defiant Palestinians who refused to let them pass. What was picked up later in the news was not the 15 Israeli air strikes or the 57-year-old Palestinian woman killed by artillery shelling. As if parroting memos from the Israeli armys information desk, many mainstream news agencies highlighted the few mortars fired by Palestinians at these invading tanks. Victims are being blamed for their own deaths for being there, for bleeding, for breathing. But what should Palestinians do, then, in a sea of crises: power outages, fuel shortages, rationed cooking gas, limitations on movement, delayed salaries, skyrocketing unemployment and constant persecution by Israeli drones? Should they just keep silent, count their blessings (if any), and thank the occupier for allowing them to breathe? We have few things to lose, and everything to gain, said Refaat Alareer, a TEDx Shujaiya speaker and English teacher whose house was demolished and brother killed in 2014. Two years later, Alareer still waits for his turn to rebuild his house. Israel is the last colonial enterprise, one that shows the horrifying symptoms that took place in Nazi Germany, according to Yair Golan , one of Israels generals. It is an occupation that openly calls for adopting genocidal, racist practices against non-Jews, supported by a society that has repeatedly accepted the extrajudicial executions of Palestinians. This is the kind of oppression that Palestinians are struggling against now for survival, and in the long run, for freedom, justice and human rights. Although we have paid a heavy price already and are fed up with the divisions among Palestinian factions, we can reclaim some dignity by not standing idly by amid these constant Israeli aggressions. Still, Palestinians are not looking for another confrontation in Gaza. We are not ready for another war, said Alaa Rustom, a fellow doctor who volunteers at Al Shifa hospital. I am still recovering from the previous one. The hospital and this whole city are still recovering. No matter what the coming days may bring, Palestinians will receive it with spirits that never falter. Despite my not-so-easy clinical laboratory science exams, a student of mine, who only two months earlier lost her younger brother to an Israeli sniper, earned the second-best score. It is a difficult thing to diagnose. Have Palestinians become immune or, worse, indifferent to death? No one knows for sure. We have to adapt, and to make the most of our miserable lives, opined the wise taxi driver. Indeed, people have learned to adapt, and to make the most of their miserable lives. Palestinians have come to accept that as long as the Israeli occupation remains, nothing will ever be truly normal. In my opinion, the worst part of the Gaza story will always remain man-made: All the suffering can be lifted with a stroke of an Israeli commanders pen. George Orwell said in one of his brilliant novels: Remove man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished forever. Remove the occupation from the scene, and the root cause of our misery is abolished forever. Activists feel under attack after murder of Khurram Zaki, who spread liberal religious views and condemned extremism. The murder of Khurram Zaki by armed men in Karachi has underscored the vulnerability of activists and civil-liberties defenders in Pakistan. Khurram Zaki, 40, was killed on Saturday in the southern Pakistani city by unknown assailants in an attack that also left a journalist dead and a bystander critically injured. Zaki, whose funeral took place on Sunday, was known for his outspoken stance against the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni sectarian group; the Pakistani Taliban; and Abdul Aziz, a controversial religious leader. In December 2015, Zaki led street protests demanding that Aziz be arrested and charged with hate speech for allegedly justifying attacks such as the Peshawar school massacre in 2014 in which at least 132 school children were killed. A faction of the Pakistan Taliban, the Hakeemullah group, claimed responsibility for Zakis killing, but the police were unable to verify those claims and said the group had previously taken responsibility for attacks it did not carry out in Karachi. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Jibran Nasir, a Pakistani lawyer and activist, said he had no doubt why Zaki was targeted. The primary reason behind Zaki being shot dead was his constant activism in a bold manner, Nasir said. Zaki had an idea of what he was getting into. He received various threats. Weve registered an FIR [First Information Report] in Karachi after his murder and given the names of people who should be held responsible. Aziz has been named as the prime suspect in the FIR. Vulnerable targets The killing of Zaki, a former journalist and an active campaigner for human rights, comes at a time when Pakistani rights advocates feel they are increasingly under attack. Saturday marked two years since Rashid Rahman, a human rights lawyer, was shot dead. On April 24, Pakistan marked one year since Sabeen Mahmud, another prominent liberal activist, was murdered in Karachi. READ MORE: Meeting Pakistans Maulana Mohammad Abdul Aziz Activists are vulnerable targets, Nasir said. Terror outfits continue to spread a reign of terror by shooting them and achieving their purpose. But as activists, we knew what we were getting into and we signed up for this. Were talking about certain aspects of the law and core issues, and when you talk about this loudly, you make a lot of enemies. But we expected all this. It hasnt changed my life in any way and it didnt change Zakis life either. Mahmud was shot shortly after hosting a discussion on Balochistans disappeared people. She was the director of The Second Floor (T2F), a cafe and arts space that has been a mainstay of Karachis activists since it opened its doors in 2007. Alleged culprits confession Mahmud had been present at the opening of the discussion in which Mama Qadeer, Farzana Majeed and Muhammad Ali Talpur three prominent Baloch rights activists had been speaking. The alleged culprit, who also confessed to being involved in the killing of 45 members of the Shia Ismaili community in Karachi, told police that Mahmud had been targeted for her campaign against Aziz. Weve pursued charges of different kinds against Aziz, including him having allegiance with ISIL [the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group, also known as ISIS] and him claiming a Shia lobby is working against him, Nasir, the Pakistani lawyer and activist, said. He knows who we are. Ive seen videos of him naming me and Zaki. And a lot of social media campaigns have taken place against us, creating rumours and endangering our lives. Ive suffered from that and Zaki suffered from that. https://twitter.com/sohailcheemamd/status/729041260393209856 Farewell #KhurramZaki you fought brave and hard. Hundreds turned up at his funeral to pay their respects to him pic.twitter.com/TZm3GAwt7E Bilal Farooqi (@bilalfqi) May 8, 2016 But our actions and activism of the people landed him in hot water and we were able to break this insurmountable reign of terror that Aziz had over Islamabad. It is widely believed that Aziz enjoys support in many parts of Pakistan, including that of his students at Jamia Hafsa, a madrassa in the heart of Pakistans capital, Islamabad. What is the harm in trying the Islamic system? Ayesha, a 26-year-old graduate of one of Azizs seminaries, said to Al Jazeera earlier this year. The media raise all kinds of propaganda against us, but they never ask us for our or the maulanas [Azizs] point of view. Follow Faras Ghani on Twitter: @farasG More than 465,000 Syrians have been killed in the fighting, over a million injured, and over 12 million half the countrys prewar population have been displaced. Here is how and why the conflict started: What caused the uprising? While lack of freedoms and economic woes drove resentment of the Syrian government, the harsh crackdown on protesters inflamed public anger. Arab Spring: In 2011, successful uprisings that became known as the Arab Spring toppled Tunisias and Egypts presidents. This gave hope to Syrian pro-democracy activists. That March, peaceful protests erupted in Syria as well, after 15 boys were detained and tortured for writing graffiti in support of the Arab Spring. One of the boys, a 13-year-old, was killed after having been brutally tortured. The Syrian government, led by President Bashar al-Assad, responded to the protests by killing hundreds of demonstrators and imprisoning many more. In July 2011, defectors from the military announced the formation of the Free Syrian Army, a rebel group aiming to overthrow the government, and Syria began to slide into war. While the protests in 2011 were mostly non-sectarian, the armed conflict surfaced starker sectarian divisions. Most Syrians are Sunni Muslims, but Syrias security establishment has long been dominated by members of the Alawi sect, of which Assad is a member. In 1982, Bashars father ordered a military crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood in Hama, killing tens of thousands of people and flattening much of the city. Even global warming is said to have played a role in sparking the 2011 uprising. Severe drought plagued Syria from 2007-10, causing as many as 1.5 million people to migrate from the countryside into cities, exacerbating poverty and social unrest. International involvement Foreign backing and open intervention have played a large role in Syrias war. Russia entered the conflict in 2015 and has been the Assad governments main ally since then. Regional actors: The governments of majority-Shia Iran and Iraq, and Lebanon-based Hezbollah, have supported Assad, while Sunni-majority countries, including Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia supported anti-Assad rebels. Since 2016, Turkish troops have launched several operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) near its borders, as well as against Kurdish groups armed by the United States. Anti-ISIL coalition: The US has armed anti-Assad rebel groups and led an international coalition bombing ISIL targets since 2014. Israel carried out air raids inside Syria, reportedly targeting Hezbollah and pro-government fighters and facilities. The first time Syrian air defences shot down an Israeli warplane was in February 2018. US and Russia The US has repeatedly stated its opposition to the Assad government backed by Russia but has not involved itself as deeply. Chemical red line: Former US President Barack Obama had warned that the use of chemical weapons in Syria was a red line that would prompt military intervention. In April 2017, the US carried its first direct military action against Assads forces, launching 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian air force base from which US officials believe a chemical attack on Khan Sheikhoun had been launched. One year later, on April 14 , despite Russian warnings, the US launched an attack together with France and the UK, at chemical weapon sites. , despite Russian warnings, the US launched an attack together with France and the UK, at chemical weapon sites. CIA training: In 2013, the CIA began a covert programme to arm, fund and train rebel groups opposing Assad, but the programme was later shut down after it was revealed that the CIA had spent $500m but only trained 60 fighters. Russias campaign: In September 2015, Russia launched a bombing campaign against what it referred to as terrorist groups in Syria, which included ISIL as well as anti-Assad rebel groups backed by the USA. Russia has also deployed military advisers to shore up Assads defences. At the UN Security Council, Russia and China have repeatedly vetoed Western-backed resolutions on Syria. Peace talks Peace negotiations have been ongoing between the Syrian government and the opposition in order to achieve a military ceasefire and political transition in Syria, but the main sticking point has been the fate of Assad. Geneva: The first round of UN-facilitated talks between the Syrian government and opposition delegates took place in Geneva, Switzerland in June 2012. The latest round of talks in December 2017 failed amid a tit-for-tat between the Syrian government and opposition delegates over statements about the future role of Assad in a transitional government. In 2014 Staffan de Mistura replaced Kofi Annan as the UN special envoy for Syria. Astana: In May 2017, Russia, Iran and Turkey called for the setup of four de-escalation zones in Syria, over which Syrian and Russian fighter jets were not expected to fly. After denouncing plans to partition Syria in March 2018, a follow-up trilateral summit was held in Turkey to discuss the way forward. Sochi: In January 2018, Russia sponsored talks over the future of Syria in the Black Sea city of Sochi, but the opposition bloc boycotted the conference, claiming it was an attempt to undercut the UN effort to broker a deal. Since the conflict began, as a Syrian rebellion against the Assad government, many new rebel groups have joined the fighting in Syria and have frequently fought one another. The Free Syrian Army (FSA) is a loose conglomeration of armed brigades formed in 2011 by defectors from the Syrian army and civilians backed by the United States, Turkey, and several Gulf countries. In December 2016, the Syrian army scored its biggest victory against the rebels when it recaptured the strategic city of Aleppo. Since then, the FSA has controlled limited areas in northwestern Syria. In 2018, Syrian opposition fighters evacuated from the last rebel stronghold near Damascus. However, backed by Turkey, the FSA took control Afrin, near the Turkey-Syria border, from Kurdish rebel fighters seeking self-rule. ISIL emerged in northern and eastern Syria in 2013 after overrunning large portions of Iraq. The group quickly gained international notoriety for its brutal executions and its energetic use of social media to recruit fighters from around the world. Other groups fighting in Syria include Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, Iran-backed Hezbollah, and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) dominated by the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG). Fighting in Syria continues on several fronts: Idlib: In February 2018, shelling by Russian and Syrian forces have intensified on Idlib, especially since fighters from the Hayet Tahrir al-Sham group shot down a Russian warplane. In April, Russia brokered a deal to evacuate opposition fighters from Eastern Ghouta in the south to Idlib in the north, Idlib being one of the few strongholds controlled by opposition fighters. The province is strategically important for the Syrian government and Russia for its proximity to the Russian-operated Syrian Khmeimim airbase. Homs: In April, an airbase and other Syrian government facilities in Homs became again the target of Israeli and US-led air strikes in which UK and French forces also participated. The Syrian army recaptured the city of Homs in 2014, but fighting continues with rebels in the suburbs between Homs and Hama. Afrin: Turkey and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) began in January 2018 a military operation against US-backed fighters in northwestern Syria, and announced the capture of Afrins city centre in March. US troops are stationed in nearby Manbij, prompting fears of a US-Turkey confrontation. Who is controling what in Syria? https://t.co/MlPM1aJf4Q pic.twitter.com/qz2dY2qvT0 Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) March 3, 2018 Now having gone on longer than World War II, the war in Syria is causing profound effects beyond the countrys borders, with many Syrians having left their homes to seek safety elsewhere in Syria or beyond. Thousands protest in Athens and Thessaloniki as parliament votes in favour of controversial tax and pensions overhaul. Greeces parliament has approved a controversial overhaul of taxes and pensions despite mass rallies against the measures. Police said almost 18,000 people turned up in Athens and about 8,000 in Thessaloniki on Sunday against the changes demanded by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund that the government approved in the lead-up to a crucial meeting of eurozone creditors in Brussels. Security forces fired tear gas to disperse protesters throwing petrol-bombs in Athens. The reform aims to reduce Greeces highest pension payouts, merge several pension funds, increase contributions and raise taxes for those on medium and high incomes. Central Athens was largely closed to traffic, with a significant police presence in the city, although numbers were significantly down on Februarys protests when 40,000 people marched in Athens alone. Al Jazeeras John Psaropoulos, reporting from Athens, said some self-employed and salaried professionals would end up paying up to 55 percent of income tax if the measures were to be applied. People here feel that this bill coming at the end of a whole series of austerity bills over the last eight years simply adds too much to the burden of the average Greek household, he said. The austerity measures are part of a package demanded by the EU and IMF in exchange for a $95bn bailout approved last July, the third for Greece since 2010. Failed state warning Alexis Tsipras, Greek prime minister, defended the tax and pensions overhaul on Friday, telling legislators from his Syriza party which holds a slim majority with 153 seats in the 300-seat parliament that they would spare the poorest. Shrinking Greeces pension system is crucial for preventing the system collapsing in a few years, Tsipras said. Euclid Tsakalotos, Greeces finance minister, has called on the eurozone to back the changes, warning of a failed state if the Brussels talks run aground. The elements for closing the first review and providing debt relief are, I firmly believe, all there, according to a letter from Tsakalotos to the eurozones finance chiefs seen by the AFP news agency. Nobody should believe that another Greek crisis, leading perhaps to another failed state in the region, could be beneficial to anyone. Greeces budget deficit has expanded as it struggles to keep up with its debt payments, which the IMF believes is unsustainable. In its official agenda for Mondays meeting, the Eurogroup said it would review the progress achieved by Greece as well as discuss possible debt-relief measures. Picture an imaginary drive-in theater at the edge of a cliff. The movie is an assortment of grainy black and white vignettes of spaghetti westerns, furtive foreigners smoking, and retro surfing footage. The soundtrack is Pineapples and Ashtrays, performed by Beninghove's Hangmen. These guys play what they call 'creeptastic surf noir,' which defies further definition, but makes interesting listening.The man behind this eccentricity is Bryan Beninghove, a versatile multi-instrumentalist, who is admittedly out to have fun while making complicated music. This is the third release of the Hangmen, and they are taking it over the top. "Astronete," possesses the mysterious Spanish tinge, with a rugged dose of power blues, but it's the horn attack which is the propulsion. The visually enhanced "Pineapples and Ashtrays," presents trombonist Rick Parker leading the way down into the cellar lounge, where the colored drinks have the little umbrellas. The guitarist with the flowered shirt is on a surf trip to the Hawaiian islands, smoke fills the room, the bartender awaits last call.A reggae infused tempo takes "Lola Gotta Gun," into a vortex of cinematic drama, with snippets from songs that are unknown, yet sound familiar. Strains of gypsy jazz manouche carries "La Girafe," past a French carnival barker, into a sunny park with children playing and people taking sun. There is a soul dimension to "Roebuck," that displays the best in the horn arrangement, moving straightforward along the southern highway, with a great blues sax solo by Beninghove."Elephant Stampede," brings out the heavy metal guns, as guitarists Dane Johnson and Eyal Maoz, show their affinity to Jimmy Page and other guitar heroes. As if to show how twisted minds produce amidst controlled chaos, Neil Diamond's "Girl, You'll Be Woman Soon," actually adheres to the original parameters, but veers off into a psychedelia free-fall, before coming back up for air. The final cut "Terminator," takes polytonal twists and turns as the screaming trumpet of Jonathan Powell turns the rave way up past the threshold of sanity, the rest of the band follows suit. The do not go gentle into the night.This music blurs the lines of what should be. Beninghove's Hangmen are all accomplished jazz musicians, but are attracted to the bizarre, and avant-garde. As one deconstructs the layers of music, attempting to make sense of it all, it flows along, like a raging river after a heavy rain. Though not intended for everyone, those lost souls brave enough to try, will find these guys can play at a depth just out past the reef. Where things get really weird. 2005 .. ACTUALITES North American Delegation Calls for an End to Impunity in Honduras - 8 Mai 2016 Tegucigalpa, Honduras - May 6, 2016 -Officials of the United States Embassy will meet a North American solidarity delegation in honor of Bertha Caceres; organized by Agricultural Missions with participation of the Indigenous Environmental Network. The issues the delegation will raise with the United States Department of State, include: 1. That the US Embassy use their extensive political and economic leverage, as well as their strong presence in the investigation of Berthas death, to support the call that the Inter American Commission on Human Rights to investigate the assassination of Bertha Caceres; 2. That the US Government evaluates the 51 concessions issued to corporations on the Lenca indigenous territories to ensure that human rights and Indigenous rights, including the right to free, prior, and informed consent is respected, pursuant to international agreements that Honduras has ratified. 3. That all security and military aid from the US government to Honduras be suspended until the massive violation of human rights, including extrajudicial killings be clarified and the rule of law be established in Honduras. 4. That US aid be suspended to Honduras until the situation of gross and massive violations of human rights is resolved. The Delegation met with COPINH, Lenca communities, several human rights organizations and the family of Bertha Caceres over the past week. The Delegation heard testimonies about the militarization of the State, the persecution of human rights defenders, journalists and entire Indigenous communities. Just the great number of extrajudicial executions, over 60,000 since the Coup, is alarming, said Steven Bartlett of Agricultural Missions. Given the emblematic nature of the assassination of Berta Caceres, the announcement on May 2nd of the arrest of four suspects associated with the Honduran military, and the DESA Corporation, the outcome of this affair is of utmost importance. The intellectual authors also must be identified and prosecuted, said Alberto Saldamando of the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN). Until there is accountability at the highest levels of Honduran government there is little safety for those who are defending the well-being of their communities and their human rights, or for the Honduran people. Dans la meme rubrique : < > Le rugby a Madagascar : le pays fou du rugby TeslaCoin : plateforme de trading ou cryptomonnaie ? Tchad : un projet dassistance et de protection en faveur des migrants au Batha Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena) AR's Editor Joe Shea Talks About Elections On Iranian TV Bear Stearns Saved By Fed As Lehman Bros. Falters; Major Bank Failure Looms Over Wall Street, Sends Markets Into 200-Pt. Dive Lie Upon Lie Five Years Into the Iraq War The Administration Still Churns Out Lies by Randolph Holhut A Small Tragedy Even at 90, As Friends Turn Cool She Knows the Show Must Go On by Joyce Marcel I'll Take Me Imagine John Wayne or Arnold In Heels, Silk and a Girdle by Elizabeth Andrews Sen. Nelson Calls For New Fla. Primary; Gov Crist Backs 'Do-Over' Who'll Win? Ask Spock Spock.com Engine Predicts Winners By Site Searches; It Can be Wrong by Jay Bhatti Chatting Up The Cat God Gave Me Dominion Over Him But I Think He's a Non-Believer by Constance Daley Death of a Thug The Life and Horrors of Suharto by Andreas Harsono ___________________________ This Just In Sierra Club: McCain Ducked All 15 Key Votes On Green Laws (AR) A Work By AR's T.S. Kerrigan Is Chosen As 'Best Poem' By Wordpress Site Murder At Mile 63 The Deadly Assault and Bush Administration Cover-Up by S. Eben Kirkesby and Andreas Harsono 5427 14th St. West, Bradenton, FL 34207 $6.99 Fish Fridays! Manatee Co.'s Only 24-Hr. FREE Wi-Fi Paid Advertisement On Native Ground AFTER 5 YEARS, WE'RE STILL LIED TO ABOUT IRAQ by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Next week is the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. And it is likely that sometime in the next couple of weeks, the 4,000th American soldier will die in Iraq. [MORE] Momentum OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - It's 1931, and a 14-year-old girl is standing alone on a stage. She's small and lively with dark curly hair, widespread hazel eyes, slender wrists and an open, eager face filled with the wonder of performing. Her name is Rose, and one day she will be my mother. But now she is performing an Eugene O'Neill monologue called "Before Breakfast" for a ladies' club in a wealthy suburb of Long Island. [MORE] One Woman's World COMFORTABLE WITH MYSELF by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I'm not sure but I think I may be socially incorrect. [MORE] On Native Ground ENOUGH FOR A WAR, NOT FOR A PEOPLE by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Last week, the National Governors Assn. met in Washington, D.C. One of the tasks the NGA had on its agenda was to ask President Bush to increase federal spending on roads, bridges and other public works projects as a way to stimulate the economy. He rejected their pleas out of hand, claiming that infrastructure projects wouldn't offer any short-term economic boost. [MORE] Brasch Words BEWARE THE SELF-REVERENTIAL PRESS by Walter Brasch BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Shortly before the primary votes this past week, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter called Sen. Barack Obama's surge to the Democratic nomination "inevitable." It also called for Hillary Clinton to "start her campaign for Senate majority leader." [MORE] Constance A CONVERSATION WITH MY CAT Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Normally, when the cat starts his evening rant of meowing continuously until he makes his point, I just take it as long as I can, pick him up, and put him in the garage for the night. He doesn't want to go, but the meowing stops and I don't care if he likes it or not. [MORE] Momentum OUT OF STRUGGLE, ART by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Here we are again at the crossroads of art and social change, having the opportunity to watch good and great films about the lives of women in support of the Women's Crisis Center. [MORE] Campaign 2008 HOW TO PREDICT SUPER TUESDAY II WINNERS? ONLINE SEARCH by Jay Bhatti NEW YORK, March 4, 2008, 7:00PM ET -- With the outcomes of the Texas, Vermont, Ohio and Rhode Island primaries to be decided tonight, how possible is it that online searching can predict who will win tonight's primaries? [MORE] One Woman's World DON'T VOTE; IT ENCOURAGES THEM by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Call me angry and disgusted but don't call me un-American because I won't be voting come November. [MORE] On Native Ground BUSH AND THE KEYBOARD COMMANDOS by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- As the days tick down toward the eventual departure of President George W. Bush from the White House, it's a hopeful sign that most Americans are no longer moved by his Administration's constant exploitation of terrorism for political gain. [MORE] Momentum WHICH AMERICA DO YOU LIVE IN? by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- It's a little confusing. [MORE] Make My Dat THE LAWYER THAT ATE NEW YORK by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way. [MORE] On Native Ground FIDEL RETIRES: NOW THE COLD WAR IS REALLY OVER by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Maybe now, we can finally say the Cold War is over. [MORE] Make My Dat THE LAWYER THAT ATE NEW YORK by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way. [MORE] One Woman's World POLITICS IS NO PARTY by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Are you having a hard time focusing your eyes? Do you have faint red spots all over your body? Is there a ringing in your ears and do you see wavy lines when you look at your television set? Do your hands shake when you try to hold a cup of coffee? And have you recently been forgetting what day of the week it is - or what year? [MORE] Make My Day FOR BETTER OR WORSE ... A LOT WORSE by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- "Marriage: It's Only Going to Get Worse." [MORE] Constance YOU CALL THESE RIGHTS? by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- When you express an opinion you hope to persuade others to your point of view. It doesn't always happen but still, opinion writers try. [MORE] Momentum THE BRIDGE WOMAN by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - Out there in America - yes, still - is a generation of women who were born in the 1940s, raised in the 1950s, and who came to radical consciousness in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I am one of them. Hillary Clinton is one of them. [MORE] On Native Ground OBAMA AND MY GENERATION by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- I originally planned on voting for Dennis Kucinich in the Vermont Primary on March 4. [MORE] The Willies: WARNING: THIS MEDICATION MAY MURDER YOUR FRIENDS by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla. -- You've heard the warnings, haven't you? Stop Prozac and you may take a shotgun, an Uzi or an AK-47 and mow down your family and friends, or even a whole classroom full of your fellow students. You didn't? Well, that warning is not on the bottle, but like countless mass-murder incidents before it, Friday's shootings at Northern Illinois University, as well as the Virginia Tech shootings that killed 32 last year, was probably precipitated by the effect of stopping medications that suppress anger and other powerful emotions but do not relieve the underlying cause. Isn't it time we started warning people - or stopped prescribing these medicines? [MORE] One Woman's World DON'T KNOCK ON MY DOOR by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I wish I could feel delight in my poet's mansion being like Grand Central Station all the time, but I can't. And I wish my place was such a place that someone would one day write: "Her door was always open and she always made you feel all fuzzy and warm in her presence. She could make a cup of coffee seem like a banquet." [MORE] Reporting: Panama PANAMA'S VIOLENT LABOR UNREST INTENSIFIES Mark Scheinbaum PANAMA CITY, Panama, Feb, 15, 2008 -- After just one day of relative calm, wildcat construction strikes by some members of Panama's largest union flared up again Friday morning, four days after a police sniper shot one worker. More than 140 demonstrators have been injured and at least 500 arrested, authorities say. [MORE] Brasch Words TO STIMULATE ECONOMY, BUY A CHINESE-MADE U.S. FLAG by Walter Brasch BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Walking down Main Street, pushing a grocery cart loaded with clothes, toys, and appliances was Marshbaum. Fastened to the right front corner of the cart was an American flag tied onto a three-foot ruler. [MORE] Make My Day THE TOOTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TOOTH by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- To commemorate the death of noted shark exploder Roy Scheider, and the "Jaws" movies that resulted in Erik never setting foot in the ocean again, we are reprinting this column from 2003. Shark Experts 0, Sharks 1 [MORE] Momentum THE WINTER OF MY DISCONTENT by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - As I write this, it's raining ice. Maybe a half a foot of snow and ice has already landed up here in the woods of Dummerston. Our cars are encased in it, and the door to the house is blocked. The satellite dish that brings in our Internet service quit about 20 minutes ago - frozen solid. [MORE] The Willies AMERICA TO HILLARY: GET OUT! by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 13, 2008 -- Sen. Hillary Clinton has adopted the Rudy Giuliani strategy, and it's working - for Sen. Barack Obama. It turns out to be the strategy all Democrats are seeking - an exit strategy. But it's not for Iraq. It's for her exit from the race for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination. [MORE] Constance CONFESSIONS OF A DISAPPOINTED VOTER by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- A week ago at just about this time, I completed an article and was about to submit it as scheduled to The American Reporter. I was feeling rather elated, ready to show up on Super Tuesday morning, firmly touch the X next to Rudy Giuliani's name and get on with my day. He was my choice; he would get my vote. [MORE] Reporting: Florida SIERRA CLUB SET TO SUSPEND FLA. CHAPTER by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 10, 2008 -- The national Sierra Club is set to suspend its Florida chapter after years of divisive infighting, the president of the national club told Florida members in a letter delivered to some this weekend. It is the first time in its 116-year history that such a step has been considered by the club, according to news reports. [MORE] One Woman's World PLANT A NEW WORLD THIS SPRING by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- For a little while, the men will just have to toss and turn in their fear-free-women beds. For a small space of time Hillary Clinton will just have to trudge on toward the White House without my faint applause in the background. [MORE] On Native Ground VERMONT AND THE 5 STAGES OF CONSERVATIVE GRIEF by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- First, Vermont tried to convince the nation to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney. [MORE] Make My Day REBEL WITHOUT A TONGUE by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Kids' brains work in amazing ways. At times, they can grasp complex concepts and make impressive discoveries. Other times, you have to wonder how we ever survived as a species. [MORE] The Willies FOR DEMOCRATS, NOW IT'S ABOUT RACE, INCOME AND GENDER by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Feb. 6, 2008 -- It's not a good time to be a Democrat. As the Super Tuesday results demonstrated, the presidential race between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has divided the partly along clear racial, income and gender lines - the very distinctions the party has sought to erase in principle but has emphasized in its pursuit of diversity. [MORE] Momentum SUPER TUESDAY BLUES by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Super Tuesday has come and gone and I still can't get excited about the upcoming presidential elections. [MORE] The Willies ON THE BRINK OF HISTORY, YOUR PUSH IS NEEDED by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 5. 2008 -- I'm expecting a sea change tonight. I believe that for the first time in this nation's history we will once and forever banish racism as the deciding factor in the destiny of African-Americans, and indeed adopt diversity as our path to the future. [MORE] Campaign 2008 AT 88, EVERY VOTE REALLY COUNTS by Ted Manna DENVER, Feb. 5, 2008 -- Pearl Turner will caucus for Mitt Romney tonight in Denver. [MORE] One Woman's World STAND BY YOUR WOMAN by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- The black vote. The gay vote. The fundamentalist vote. The Hispanic vote. [MORE] An AR Special SUSPECTS IN BENAZIR ASSASSINATION HAVE TIES TO MUSHARRAF by Ahmar Mustikhan WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When Gordon Brown this past Monday feted coup-leader-turned-President Pervez Musharraf at 10 Downing Street, Britain's new prime minister probably didn't ask the Pakistani dictator a question that is now on many minds: Did you order the murder of Benazir Bhutto? [MORE] Momentum TO THE VERMONT DELEGATION: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR US LATELY? by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. Back when President George W. Bush and Dick Vice President Dick Cheney were building up to their loathsome war in Iraq, very few people were brave enough to call the bullies' bluff. [MORE] On Native Ground IF BUSH HAS HIS WAY, WE'LL NEVER LEAVE IRAQ by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. - In his final State of the Union address on Jan. 28, President Bush cautioned against accelerating U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq, saying that it would endanger the process that has been made over the past year. [MORE] Campaign 2008 CLASH OF COMMENTS AND PROTESTORS AT CLINTON, OBAMA RALLIES IN DENVER by Ted Manna DENVER, Feb. 1, 2008 -- At least four presidential campaigns of both partiers rolled into in Denver this week ahead of the Feb. 5 "Super Tuesday" primaries in 22 states, but it was the Democratic presidential contenders who drew the big crowds and duked it out Wednesday. If sheer numbers are any indication, Sen. Barack Obama - preceded by a buoyant and beautiful Caroline Kennedy - won the round handily. He is the overwhelming favorite to win the Colorado primary next Tuesday. [MORE] The Willies WHY THE FLORIDA PRIMARY STINKS by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Jan. 30, 2008 -- I was with my wife and daughter driving the back way from Miami home to Bradenton when we stopped at a McDonald's in Clewiston, the only big town along the vast shore of Lake Okeechobee, the state's precious freshwater reservoir. The McDonald's had three televisions at a central seating area, each tuned to a different network, and our table was in front of CNN as the very first election results started to pour in around 7:30PM. With them, almost as counterpoint, suddenly came such an overwhelming odor of cow plop that my wife started to throw up as we all ran to the parking lot. [MORE] Passings: Suharto DEATH OF A KEMUSU THUG by Andreas Harsono JAKARTA - A few minutes after hearing that former president Suharto had died in his hospital bed, Marco, a militia leader in downtown Jakarta, raced to Suhartos house, wearing his jungle camouflage and began guarding the Suhartos residence on Cendana Street. [MORE] Constance I REMEMBER YOU by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga.. -- It seems to be more often lately that the sentiment is spoken but it's always been out there: "You never get over the death of your child." This is true. But the heartfelt expressions come from some who cannot fathom the notion of losing a child; their own child is who is in their mind, not another mother's child. [MORE] Coyotes, like the Western coyote shown above, are resourceful predators and will take advantage of small unprotected livestock. All photos by Stephanie Butzer. Click on all photos to expand. Winding lane for Mexican gray wolves Lynne Nemeth is on the steering committee for the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Program in Flagstaff, Ariz. Wolves are one of the only predators capable of bringing down an adult elk. Without a predator, elk populations starve and cause massive damage to forests. Crying wolf or crying coyote Click for interactive image and more information on these species. Getting hit trying to help Joe Allen is a nationally-ranked expert in wildlife control. He receives about 20 calls a week asking for the removal of a coyote or bobcat. As he drove 50 mph across his pasture, it became more and more clear to Mike Corn that the coyote he was chasing was going to make it back to the safety of the trees.But Corn wasn't going to give up easily. The business he runs out of his ranch in New Mexico, Roswell Wool, is one of the largest wool warehouses in the country and the loss of 100 lambs in a month had hurt the company. Each dead lamb cost him $200, bringing the total loss that month to $20,000.The felon was a lone coyote beyond its prime. It had probably slowed to the point at which it was no longer able to hunt its typical prey, like rabbits and other small mammals. Corn, the owner and manager of the ranch, was frustrated with the loss. The predator jumped fences and had already avoided traps, snares and aerial shooting.Before he lost any more lambs, Corn recruited his neighbors to help him catch the coyote. On this afternoon was the chase. In a single moving line, the group drove 10 four-wheelers across his pasture. They scanned the grasses, jouncing in their seats and looking for signs of movement.Halfway across the pasture, Corn spotted the predator and raced toward it. But the wiley coyote ran for a fence. Corn knew there was no way of cutting it down if it got past it, so he slid to a stop and pulled out his rifle."I pull the trigger at nearly the same time and guess what? I hit that coyote in a full run and he rolled several times," Corn said.His friends congratulated him for his next-to-impossible shot, but Corn knew the problem was not solved. He had killed just one coyote in an immeasurable population. There would be another on the property the next day.As the U.S. population pushes toward 314 million, people have expanded to regions of the country where interactions with wild animals are a daily occurrence. When coyotes and wolves start becoming a part of people's daily lives, the response is often fear and anger.Thousands of Americans must ranch and farm not only for their own livelihood, but to provide food and clothing for millions of others. The success of ranches like Roswell Wool is generally seen to be of higher value than the maintenance of predators in U.S. ecosystems. The controversy over all of this raises fiery emotions and countless questions.Animal advocates, especially those who not live with these predators, think the wild canines deserve to play a role and thrive and survive. Sometimes, they see things in a different light from ranchers.Steve Clark, president of the Arizona Elk Society, said such people do not understand the situation fully. "They're not hunters or hunting for sustainable meat for their family," he explained. "They're sitting in their posh New England home in Maine or somewhere saying, I love wolves. I want to see more wolves.' Do they even know the affect that it's having on the population of the wildlife? Do they care?"Biologists agree predators are necessary for a healthy ecosystem. Without them, populations of herbivores and mid-level predators, such as foxes and raccoons, grow out of control. This can lead to undesirable consequences such as over-grazing on agricultural crops and national forests or mid-level predators raids on sea turtle nests.The task, methods and purpose of predator control for coyotes and two of the world's rarest wolves have grown into a passionate argument for the rights of survival. Catron County in New Mexico includes 7,000 mountainous square miles - perfect for wildlife. For 15 years, the people of this county have struggled to coexist with an endangered predatory animal."I've looked in the eyes of Catron County ranchers," said Jess Carey, wildlife investigator in the county. "I've seen them fall by the wayside. Some of these family ranchers have worked all their lives to be able to have a ranch and then they lose it because the wolves devastate their livestock."Mexican gray wolves, a subspecies of the gray wolf, went extinct in the United States by the mid-1990s, but 20 years later, a captive breeding program captured five wolves from Mexico and placed them in Arizona. By 1998, 11 wolves were rereleased and today, 75 wolves remain in the wild. One of the release locations is in Catron County.Carey said Mexican gray wolves are habituated and don't act like wild wolves. The county has records of wolves defecating on porches and approaching people at close range.Carey said the bully in the situation isn't just the predator. It's also the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which picked the county as a suitable reintroduction location. But Carey said the county doesn't have the voting power or money to fight the department and that is why the area was chosen for the reintroduction."Even to this day, we still have children who wake up screaming and crying in the night thinking the wolves are going to get them because of what they've seen the wolves do on their front porch - killing their pets, killing their farm animals," he said. "It's almost like the only people that care are the ones who have to live with them."The county has resorted to building kid cages - small wooden shelters with wired windows - at school bus stops to keep their children safe should a wolf approach. Carey said environmentalists think the kid cages are a scam to make people more frightened of the Mexican wolf, but they have been put in place to give children a peace of mind."To prevent a wolf-child interaction - that's all they're for," Carey said. "Nothing more, nothing less. They're there if they want to use them. Anything that sheds bad light on the wolf recovery - the pro-wolf organizations want to belittle that and make all kinds of accusations on things they know nothing about."Lynne Nemeth, a member of the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Program, said the federal government used to pay generations of ranchers to kill wolves. When wolves were admitted on the Endangered Species list, the rules had to change."The federal government turns around 20 years later and says, Oops. We made a mistake. We shouldn't have exterminated them. We're going to bring them back on the landscape,'" Nemeth said. "The mistrust of the federal government is very, very high, particularly in Catron County."Nemeth said the kid cages are "absurd" since there aren't any documented cases of a healthy wolf attacking a human being in the United States.Like Carey, Sylvia Allen, the Navajo County Supervisor, is frustrated with people calling kid cages a publicity stunt since the shelters have been in place for 15 years."If you're a mother, do you want to take a chance that this wolf hanging around, which will attack your dog, your cat, your chickens, is not worth worrying about?" Allen asked. "You can't even trust sometimes the neighbor's dog to come in your yard and not bite your child. Yet, you're telling these people, You're silly for being afraid of these wolves.'"Over the past decade, many Mexican wolf packs were released in the Gila Wilderness, part of which is in Catron County. But, data showed they left that area and went to where people live. In one instance, a female and male were released in the forest and the female went to a ranch, where she was legally shot by a landowner after attacking a cow. The male migrated to a home, attacked a calf, was trapped and rereleased, and started approaching people in Catron County. After nine incidents in two days, U.S. Fish and Wildlife sent its Interagency Field Team to dart and remove the male wolf.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife's Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Program has plans to expand beyond the current recovery area, and Carey said the people who will be affected by those plans can't imagine the nightmare coming to their community.Allen has kept a careful eye on the recovery program. Navajo County is one of the counties where the wolves would be reintroduced should the program expand. Allen is hoping the challenges in Catron County do not spill over to her community.She sympathizes with the ranchers who are not compensated for predator attacks on livestock, also known as depredations, but she also feels sympathy for the wolves."They can't be a wild animal out there doing its thing," she said. "They're constantly monitored and manipulated. It's not even normal for the wolves."The Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Program is aiming to reintroduce wolves in the Grand Canyon, away from populated areas. Nemeth, who is on the steering committee for this effort, said if the program succeeds, there will be a healthy population of Mexican gray wolves back in the Grand Canyon, where they went extinct in the early 1900s."There're no wolves any more on the north rim," Nemeth said. "There're no wolves on the south rim. There're no wolves around Flagstaff. There could be. There should be."She said Flagstaff and the surrounding area could support a wolf population because of the abundance of elk, a favorite meal for wolves. When all the gray wolves were killed in Yellowstone National Park in the 1920s, the elk population exploded and the ecology of the park teetered on total destruction. While some elk were shot, others were transported and released in the southwest to ensure young trees could grow and recreate the forest. Nemeth said this happened before Americans understood biological relationships and the importance of predators to the ecosystem.A new recovery plan, which will ensure the Mexican gray wolf does not get delisted with the gray wolves, is in the works after much influence from the Wolf Recovery Program.But Nemeth does not believe a full recovery is possible.Political and public support is too low to allow a healthy population to exist. Although she said she thinks they will make some sort of comeback, the wolves will have to be a heavily managed population."One needs to make a level of adjustment in one's thinking to allow predators," Nemeth said.Coyote hunting along the coast of North Carolina is a delicate matter, and hunters are starting to examine their targets a little harder before pulling the trigger.Five coastal North Carolina counties - Beaufort, Hyde, Dare, Tyrrell and Washington - make up the 1.7 million acres of the Red Wolf Recovery Area, the only place on Earth where red wolves still live. The animals - fewer than 100 remaining - share the land with hundreds of other mammals, including coyotes, which to an untrained eye look similar to red wolves.Last July, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission approved a rule allowing coyotes to be hunted at night with artificial lighting in hopes of expanding recreational coyote hunting. The red wolves have already felt the impact of the new rule."We have seen, this year, an increase in illegal red wolf killings by gunshot," said Kim Wheeler, the executive director at the Red Wolf Coalition . "That's the No. 1 reason for red wolf mortality. The night hunting thing just made that worse."In 2013, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported 14 red wolf deaths , nine of which were confirmed or suspected gunshot mortalities. That's almost a 15-percent cut in the population in one year.But the deaths didn't stop in 2013.The New Year rang in with gunshots. A collared wolf was found shot to death in Tyrrell County Jan. 7, 2014.The Red Wolf Coalition decided it was time to take legal action. In February, the Coalition and other conservation groups will argue in court that coyote night hunting is responsible for these deaths.The story of the red wolf's reintroduction is very different from that of the Mexican gray wolf because the coast of North Carolina is not a suitable region for livestock. But both species started with extinction. The red wolf was first reintroduced after extinction in the wild in 1987 at North Carolina's Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge North Carolina's Fish and Wildlife Service discussed the wolf's reestablishment with the public in advance. These meetings helped persuade the public to work in a collaborative environment with the Fish and Wildlife Service, said Rebecca Bartel, assistant coordinator of the organization's Red Wolf Recovery Program The U.S. Endangered Species Act - passed in 1973 to reverse a species' route to extinction - gives some relaxation in the protections of the red wolf. The wolf is considered a nonessential experimental population, meaning they're treated more as a threatened species than an endangered species. This was necessary as a compromise with some concerns for public safety and property issues, Bartel said. They have not received any significant complaints from landowners about the wolves.Another relaxation of the law protected accidental shootings. If a hunter unintentionally shoots a red wolf and reports it within 24 hours, it is not considered a violation of federal regulation. But people aren't reporting the deaths, which leads to suspicions of foul play, Bartel said.The gunshots aren't the only danger to the red wolves . Wolf-coyote hybrids are impacting the wolves' ability to produce a pure population. Rising sea levels are also threatening the red wolves since their habitats undergo severe flooding during storm surges."If we don't understand everything that comes with being a wolf then I think we do such a disservice to that animal," Wheeler said. "There's been a lot of research. We know a lot of things. We need to pay attention to it and not let our own prejudices and bias get in the way when we're reading all that data and scientific information and stories."Unlike the red wolves, coyotes have learned to not only live, but thrive around humans. While this is unsettling for some people, others are content to coexist.Joe Allen, president of Allen Animal Exterminating in Arizona, gets calls almost every day requesting coyote removal. He also uses his skills to help the Arizona Deer Association recover the decreasing population of mule deer, a main prey item for coyotes, by shooting the predator before the fawns drop. This gives the baby deer a chance to survive.But this doesn't come without backlash."I get called a murderer and a killer all the time because I'm for predator management," he said. "Somehow it's OK for a coyote to tear a fawn away from the mother and eat it while it's still alive. That's fine in their eyes. But a well-placed bullet or arrow to take that animal out so you can have more animals - now, I'm the bad guy."After 30 years in the wildlife business, Randy Babb of Arizona Game and Fish still finds it impossible to satisfy both parties."People like wildlife," he said. "Most people love wildlife. But they want wildlife on their own terms."In Arizona, coyotes are abundant and the state's Game and Fish department receives several calls every day reporting sightings. Even though people see them often - public complaints make up about 80 percent of the calls to Game and Fish - it would be difficult for the department to do anything about a sighting."Other complaints we'll get are pet attacks or an animal acting aggressively," Babb said. "Those are handled differently. If the animal is a big enough problem where we can identify it as a specific animal, we'll often take or make offers to remove it. We're most concerned with animals that are presenting a threat to human safety."Babb said even though some people consider them pests, coyotes are part of the ecological system. It has been far too many years since the Woke theology interlaced its canons within the fabric of the Indoctrination Realm, so it is nigh time to ask: Does this Representative Republic continue, as a functioning society of a self-governed people, by contending with the unusual, self absorbed dictates of the Woke, and their vast array of Victimhood scenarios? Yes, the Religion of Woke must continue; there are so many groups of underprivileged, underserved, a direct result of unrelenting Inequity; they deserve everything. No; the Woke fools must be toppled from their self-anointed pedestal; a functioning society of a good Constitutional people cannot withstand this level of "existential" favoritism as it exists now. Impeachment is an English word, yet it now rings across the vastness of Brazil. It is chanted in the massive street demonstrations in the country's cities and intoned in the Congresso Nacional (Brazil's parliament), where the lower house voted to impeach Dilma Rousseff, the nation's first female president. Impeachment entered the Portuguese-speaking country's political lexicon as a result of the heavy northern influence in matters of democracy. Brazil's state-based federal presidential system was copied from America's. The constitution of what is now called the Old Republic (1889-1930) was patterned on the United States constitution. Since then, Brazil has had a rough ride to democracy, most notably the heavy-handed military regime that lasted from 1964 to 1984. The first president elected by popular vote following army rule, Fernando Collor de Mello, was impeached in 1992. For Brazil, which has long suffered from high levels of inequality and corruption, impeachment was a vast improvement from the golpes de estado (coups) that were an integral part of Latin America's politics until the 1980s, when democratization began to take hold across the continent. So it was a great step forward for Brazilian democracy when the country became one of the founding members along with the United States of The Open Government Partnership. The Partnership is an initiative of the United Nations that aims "to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance." At the first annual summit of The Open Government Partnership, which took place in Brasilia in 2012, then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton lavishly praised her co-chairperson, President Dilma Rousseff: There is no better partner to have started this effort and to be leading it than Brazil, and in particular, President Rousseff. Her commitment to openness, transparency, her fight against corruption is setting a global standard. Hillary, who attended Rousseff's first inauguration in 2011, admires the Brazilian economist, who in her twenties was imprisoned and tortured by the military regime for her activities in Marxist urban guerilla groups. The tough-minded Dilma served as chief of staff for her wildly popular predecessor, Lula da Silva, before seeking her first elected office with his backing. Now a year and a half into her second term as president, Dilma's case is on its way to the Brazilian Senate where, as in the US model, she will be tried for undermining the country's financial well-being by fudging the national budget. Ironically, Hillary is seeking the presidency while under investigation for risking national security by using a personal server to convey classified information. Neither woman denies the facts; both claim that while their actions were in bad judgement, they were not illegal. Both Rousseff and Clinton point to the political motivations behind the proposed criminalization of their acts. Meanwhile, deeper accusations of corruption lurk over both women. In Rousseff's case, her government is deeply mired in a scheme to siphon off billions from Petrobras, Brazil's oil conglomerate. While there is no evidence of wrongdoing on her part, she was chairwoman of the company's board of directors when the scandal occurred. Clinton is being investigated for "the possible 'intersection' of Clinton Foundation work and State Department business which may have violated public corruption laws." Dilma Rouseff and Hillary Clinton are the same age (68) and share a similar leftist ideology. A comparison of their alleged misconduct and their pretexts can tell us a lot about how our potential first female president's legal baggage and personal corruption could damage the United States. Alleged misconduct Rousseff is accused of "pedaladas fiscais," creative accounting techniques, which hid some 26 billion dollars of debt incurred by her government's social programs. Cooking the books may have allowed her to be re-elected in 2014 by a slight margin, but it has also contributed to the reduction of the country's credit rating to near junk levels. Brazil is mired in its worst recession since the 1930s. From 2009 until 2013, then-secretary of state Clinton operated a private basement server in her New York home, which had been in use by her husband's Clinton Foundation, to conduct classified State Department business. She communicated on her personal BlackBerry through a private email domain set up on the server by a staffer. Although no security breaches have yet been reported, Jason R. Baron, a former director of litigation at the National Archives and Records Administration told the New York times, "It is very difficult to conceive of a scenario short of nuclear winter where an agency would be justified in allowing its cabinet-level head officer to solely use a private email communications channel for the conduct of government business." They should have known better: "Dilma was alerted in 2013 that the 'pedaladas' were illegal and could lead to the downgrading of Brazil's investment grade rating. [Y]et the President took no action." according to Ives Gandra Martins, a leading jurist interviewed by Brazils' Globo network (author's translation). He declared her directly responsible for violating Brazil's fiscal responsibility law. According to the Washington Post, "Clinton took obvious security risks in using the basement server, while her aides and senior officials neglected repeated warnings about the security of the BlackBerry." Their excuses: everybody does it Rousseff claimed that her accounting techniques have been employed by previous governments at both the state and national levels. "The same practices that today are called pedaladas were done by all governments prior to me." "It wasn't the best choice," Clinton said during the March 9 Democratic debate in Miami. "I made a mistake. It was not prohibited. It was not in any way disallowed. And as I have said and as now has come out, my predecessors did the same thing and many other people in the government." Blame the opposition Rousseff reacted to the vote in Congress, saying: "In the past I confronted a dictatorship out of conviction. Now I am also confronted by a coup ... under the guise of democracy" (author's translation). In fairness to Dilma, it is true that many of those involved in the impeachment process are directly implicated in crimes more serious than hers. Corruption in Brazil is a matter of degree. The New York Times reports: Altogether, 60 percent of the 594 members of Brazil's Congress face serious charges like bribery, electoral fraud, illegal deforestation, kidnapping and homicide, according to Transparency Brazil, a corruption-monitoring group. Clinton compared the email investigation to the alleged scandals during her husband's presidency: During the '90s there were a bunch of them. [A]ll of them turned out to be not true. I can't predict to you what the Republicans will come up with, what kind of charges or claims they might make. Dilma is being impeached for "crimes of responsibility," a somewhat vague clause in the Brazilian constitution akin to the equally open to interpretation "high crimes and misdemeanors" of the U.S. Constitution. Hillary's emails may well constitute a "high crime," yet it is doubtful that she could be impeached as president for acts committed in a previous position. What is clear is that both women have failed to live up to the lofty ideals expressed in Brasilia. "The cure for corruption is openness," Hillary said in her remarks at the Open Government Partnership plenum with Dilma by her side. Brazil's fragile democracy is at a crossroads. The rot of corruption has become endemic. While the United States' relations with the southern colossus have sometimes been rocky, we have served as Brazil's role model for its democratic aspirations. Instead of providing a hemispheric ideal, a Clinton government will mirror the corruption and political dysfunctionality of many of our Latin American neighbors. The author is a "self-made multiculturalist" who has lived and worked in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. He recently began blogging at The Multicultural Conservative: Conservative by Nature Multicultural by Choice. An interesting debate has developed on this site in the past few days. Thomas Lifson published a piece titled "It's Trump. Get Over It." In it he wrote, "[Trump] is not a perfect man, but those Republicans contemplating a cup of hemlock instead of coffee this morning... need to take a deep breath and contemplate Trumps upside potential for America, for conservatives, and for the Republican Party." The next day, obviously dismayed by Lifson's argument, C. Edmund Wright asked, "So what exactly should we get over? What does getting over it look like?" He then proceeds with a list of reasons to not vote for Donald Trump. Howard Hyde then followed up with his excellent piece that urges conservatives to disengage, but to help push to retain Congress. Lastly, he encourages conservatives to hold their nose and vote for Trump. However, for me, #NeverTrump means never Trump. I agree with Mr. Wright and with Mr. Hyde. It's not time to get over it or to give up. When a burglar enters your house you don't quit and let them have the run of the place. You do everything you can to stop them. Also, Hyde's call to work to retain Congress is also vital to the conservative cause. However, it doesn't have to be Trump vs. Hillary. The reality of our Electoral College system still gives us hope. Following is my strategy to deny the presidency to both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. There are six months between now and Election Day. That may not seem like a long time, but in our one-hour news cycle (forget 24 hour), that is a near eternity. Six months is enough time for those dissatisfied with both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump to formulate a strategy and carry it through. Americans, even those who have a deep knowledge of our electoral system, have become so accustomed to our current paradigm, i.e. Republican vs. Democrat, that we've forgotten what the candidates must do in order to win the presidency: win a majority in the Electoral College. To do so, the winner must win 270 electoral votes. In 2000, George W. Bush won the Electoral College with a 271 to 266 (with one abstention) tally. Had an independent candidate or third party candidate won a single state that Bush won, the election would have gone to the House of Representatives for a vote. This is not without precedence in our history; however, that election took place nearly 200 years ago. Article II Section 1 of the Constitution lays forth the process of determining the president. This was changed with the 12th Amendment, but the process is still the same. That is, if no candidate earns a majority of Electoral votes, the House of Representatives will determine who is president. Each state delegation has one vote. Only the top 3 vote getters are eligible. Republicans currently controls 33 of 50 state delegations. If reports of a rejection of Donald Trump's nomination in Congress are true, then there is little doubt that an insurgent conservative candidate could win if the election goes to the House of Representatives. 2016 will likely be a nip and tuck election, much like 2000 and 2004 were. If this holds true, one or two states going to an independent candidate could deny a majority to either Clinton or Trump. However, not since libertarian John Hospers in 1972 has a non-major candidate won an electoral vote. But before that, in 1968, George Wallace won 46 electoral votes. In four other 20th Century presidential elections, minor candidates won electoral votes -- the most notable was Theodore Roosevelt in 1912, who won 88. The point is, an insurgent candidate does not have to win the Electoral College vote -- they would merely need to win enough electoral votes to deny a majority to either Clinton or Trump. I am remiss to posit a "retread" candidate, but the only type of person that could pull this off must have serious name recognition, have personal wealth, and legitimacy as a candidate. The name of Mitt Romney comes to mind, as do the likes of former senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Jim DeMint (R-SC). I would not have supported Romney had he run in this cycle (I much preferred Walker or Cruz). However, since we are faced with the reality of a Clinton vs. Trump race -- the political equivalent of choosing leukemia or colorectal cancer -- I would gladly get behind Romney, even if it were for only one term. This candidate could restore some sanity to our country in the next four years and then a new, revitalized Republican Party could go through another nominating cycle in 2020. The problem with the usual insurgent candidacy is that they feel they need to try to win nationally and run in as many states as possible. In my strategy of merely winning enough electoral votes to deny an Electoral College majority, only a certain number of states need to actually be won. It would then go to the House of Representatives, which, as mentioned, would likely go to the insurgent candidate. Were Romney, or someone like him, to run in a few select states, he could accomplish the goal set forth here. The best way to select the states to compete in are those where Ted Cruz defeated Donald Trump. There is little doubt this candidate would win Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and probably Montana. They could compete in Mormon-heavy Arizona and Nevada and in the purple state of Colorado. These six states combine for over 30 electoral votes. Is that enough to deny one or the other major party candidate from a majority? Possibly. However, this candidate should run in a few other states to give them a better chance of succeeding in denying a majority. Cruz won handily in Texas, but he is a Texan. It is likely Trump would win Texas, but the vote-rich state should be an option. Wisconsin and Iowa, which Cruz also won, are both purple states and should be targeted. Florida, which Romney lost by only 40 thousand votes in 2012, is also a deep purple state. Although Trump would likely dominate the mid and deep South, Romney, or more especially Tom Coburn, could fare well in the prairie states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Kansas. The Midwest and Northeast wouldn't be very promising for Romney, but he could possibly nab New Hampshire, which isn't always a gimme for Democrats. Running a viable insurgent candidate is desirable for many reasons, but most important is the fact that he could actually win in a vote in the House of Representatives. This would also force the other candidates to run harder and spend more money in states they now take for granted. With a targeted, specific game plan, this candidate (whether Romney or someone else) could shrink the map and expend less effort and resources. Most of all, by not running nationally, they would have a better chance at getting onto the ballots they need. The point is, conservatives must never give up. Layne Hansen is a PhD student in American politics. He can be reached for comment at layne.d.hansen@gmail.com. Though his sonnet was on Westminster Bridge, London, William Wordsworth might have used the same words to describe Venice, a sight so touching in its majesty. Everyone is enchanted by its incomparable beauty, admires the splendor and majesty of Piazza San Marco, and is amazed by the uniqueness of a city built on more than 150 islands, a UNESCO World Historic Site. A part of the city, less known for its artistic splendor but historically significant is the Jewish Ghetto in the Cannaregio district that is in 2016 being commemorated on the 500th anniversary of its creation. The word Ghetto comes from the Italian geto or metal foundry. The Venetian Ghetto, one of the first to be established in Europe but unique and unforgettable in character, was created on March 29, 1516 by the Doge Leonardo Loredan to segregate Jews from the rest of the population of the city. Walls enclosed the Ghetto in an area, the Campo di Ghetto Nuovo, little more than one acre in size, and the gates were locked at night. Jews, except doctors, leaving the Ghetto were obliged to wear distinctive clothes with a yellow badge, hat, or scarf. It was tantamount to a benevolent prison, but at the same time it showed that Jews were accepted, if isolated, as part of Venetian society at a time when Jews were not allowed in Britain. In the 17th century about 5,000 Jews lived in the Ghetto, out of a total population of 58,000 people in the city. It was cosmopolitan, as different groups of Jewish immigrants, from Spain, Portugal, the Levant, and Eastern Europe, entered the area, and set up five synagogues. In 1797, French troops under Napoleon entered the city and ended the Ghetto as a confining area. Jews could move out, and the rich members did so. The number of Jews in the area declined. At the start of World War II in 1939 there were 1,200 in Venice, and 50,000 in the whole of Italy. They suffered during the war, first because of the 1938 Italian race laws and then from the Holocaust. In Venice 246, including the Chief Rabbi, were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, of whom only eight survived. In the whole of Italy, 8,564 Jews were deported, 1,009 of whom returned, while another 300 were shot or died in police custody. The percentage of Jews murdered by the Nazis was therefore about 15% in Italy, compared with 26% in France, 60% in Belgium, 70% in Hungary, and 77% in Greece. Today, the center of Jewish life is still, religiously and symbolically, the Ghetto, but only a small part of the 400 Jews in Venice live there in debilitated buildings, although they attend religious services in the five synagogues there. The Campo di Ghetto Nuovo also contains a yeshiva, two Holocaust memorials, an old age home, and social activities. But it is a reminder of the continuing existence of the disease of anti-Semitism in Italy as in the rest of Europe that police in a booth at the end of the Campo are on guard night and day. Jews in Italy now number 25,000 in the general population of 60 million. According to the 2015 Institute for Jewish Policy Research report, some 63 per cent of Italian Jews believe anti-Semitism to be either a very big or fairly big problem, especially now that the Internet is the chief vehicle for transmitting it. In addition, 43 per cent of Jews believed that anti-Semitic harassment came primarily from the political left, compared with 29 per cent who thought it came from the political right. Manifestations of anti-Semitism, interrelated with animosity towards the State of Israel, though far less than in France, have occurred in a number of Italian cities, including a demonstration on the famous Rialto Bridge in Venice, one mentioned by Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice, presumed to have been written in 1595. Security measures have been necessary at Jewish schools and synagogues since the mid-1980s after the attack on Romes Great Synagogue in 1982. One particularly disturbing incident concerned the memorial to those who died in the Nazi death camps. A swastika was scrawled on the Jewish small memorial plaque in the building on the Via della Lungara, near the Vatican. This is the very place where in the razzia, the mass roundup on October 16, 1943, 1259 Jews, including more than 900 women and children, were taken and held after their arrest by the Nazis. They were deported to Auschwitz and only 16 survived. Controversy still exists over the behavior on that occasion of Pope Pius XII, on whether he helped to save the Roman Jews and on whether he ordered church officials to open the doors of their properties to save Jews. The usual anti-Semitic attitudes were found in the March 2012 ADL survey of Italians. 61% thought that it was probably true that Jews are more loyal to Israel than to Italy, while 39 per cent thought Jews had too much power in the business world, 43% that they had too much power in industrial finance, and 48% they talked too much about the Holocaust. In the light of these attitudes of Jews and non-Jews, the 500th anniversary of the creation of the Ghetto is a symbolic event, a significant sign of the official Italian determination to honor it, and to envisage it as a meeting place of people and of cultures. The intention is to illustrate the relationship between Jews and the rest of Venetians throughout the ages. The events will feature a performance of Mahlers First Symphony at the Fenice Opera House, and exhibition on Venice, the Jews, and Europe, at the Palazzo Ducale, and performances of The Merchant of Venice in the Ghetto itself. Perhaps most interesting of all is that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will preside over a trial of the unforgettable character Shylock which may result in a verdict different from that given in the play by Portia. Many are pessimistic or realistic about the forthcoming death of Venice through the effect of the anarchy of water. Venice is sinking up to 0.08 inches a year as well as tilting towards the east. This floating jewel of a city may disappear as the sea level rises. This 500th commemoration of the Ghetto is all the more welcome as an optimistic reminder not only of the place of Jews in Venetian life but also of the emancipation of Jews from confinement there as elsewhere. The Ghetto now can be seen as a center for the revival of Jewish life and culture, not as a confinement or contrivance for possible annihilation of Jews. There has been evil in the world ever since Cain slew Abel with a rock and technology will not get rid of it. Despite accumulating evidence that the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun, the Obama administration continues to blame guns, retaining a fear of inanimate objects that one would have hoped we left behind in the Middle Ages. Case in point is President Obamas announcement that through executive order he will speed the development of so-called smart gun technology. As the New York Times reported: President Obama will use the power of his office to try to jump-start long-stalled smart-gun technology that could eventually allow only the owner of a firearm to use it, the White House announced Friday. Over the opposition of gun rights groups, he also vowed to push ahead with a new federal policy giving the F.B.I. access to more mental health records of some Social Security recipients to better flag people who might be banned from buying a gun. In a post on his Facebook page, Mr. Obama wrote that as long as weve got the technology to prevent a criminal from stealing and using your smartphone, then we should be able to prevent the wrong person from pulling a trigger on a gun. In his Facebook post, President Obama forget to mention that a precipitous drop in federal gun prosecutions and the enforcement of existing laws by his administration has made it easier and more likely that the wrong people will pull the trigger on a gun. Or that the steady decrease in violent crime nationally comes in tandem in a striking increase in armed citizens. In an analysis published December 31, 2015 in the Washington Times it was noted: The administration has overseen a striking drop in prosecutions of gun crimes, winning only about 6,000 convictions in 2015 -- down more than 15 percent from five years ago, and giving added weight to claims by gun rights groups that President Obama has failed to enforce the laws already on the books. But the push comes as his lawyers at the Justice Department are winning fewer cases using the laws already passed to ban criminals from buying or owning firearms, according to data compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. Erich Pratt, a spokesman for Gun Owners of America, said the drop in convictions makes sense because there has been an overall drop in murders -- and he credited expanded gun rights for the good news. The fact is, armed citizens serve as a deterrent to crime, he said. The number of concealed-carry holders has tripled since the time Obama took office, even while the national murder rate has fallen 25 percent. Obamas Chicago, where opposition to private gun ownership has been fierce amid record carnage, is a perfect example of the consequences of the federal failure to enforce existing laws and prosecute violators. In an April 2, 2013 editorial, Investors Business Daily noted: Cleopatra Cowley-Pendleton, the mother of murdered 15-year-old Chicago teen Hadiya Pendleton, was one of 20 mothers who lost children to criminal violence who were at the White House last Thursday to hear President Obama speak once again on the need for gun control. Obama met with her and some of the others in a small group before his formal remarks and told them how serious this issue really is and something needs to be done about it, she said. But President Obama did not tell this group that Syracuse Universitys Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) shows that the Northern Illinois district ranked 90th out of 90 in prosecutions of federal weapons crimes per capita. David Burnham, co-director of TRAC, states their analysis says that according to case-by-case U.S. Justice Department information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, there were 52 federal gun prosecutions in Illinois North (Chicago) in 2012, or 5.52 per million in population. By this measure, compared with the 90 federal judicial districts in the U.S., the prosecution rate in Chicago was the lowest in the country. Considering that there were 522 people murdered in Chicago in 2012, one would think that the documented lack of enforcement of existing gun laws by a president seeking more of them would be a national scandal. Smart-gun technology will not solve the problem of federal neglect or liberal hypocrisy. The problem is not that there are too many bad cases with easy access to guns but too few good guys with access to guns to protect themselves and their families. As Joseph Steinberg, writing in Forbes, notes, there are dangers in smart gun technology, which uses computers to identify whether the person holding the gun is authorized to pull the trigger: 1. Electronic devices require a power source, and smart guns are no exception. Without electricity they cannot be fired. Someone intent on using a firearm for home defense could find herself in serious danger if she drew a weapon on an armed intruder only to find that its batteries are drained. 2. Computers malfunction, and authentication technology is not perfect. Lawfully armed citizens protecting themselves and/or their families could be killed if their weapons malfunction during a home invasion or attempted rape. While some have argued that conventional semi-automatic handguns also periodically jam, smartguns add a whole new dimension of failure possibilities. 3. At least one smartgun that has entered the marketplace requires the owner to wear a special watch; the gun will only fire if it is within a short distance of the watch. While such a scheme may afford some level of protection in certain scenarios, it might do little in others; the watch approach would seemingly not prevent a criminal from grabbing someones weapon and shooting him at point blank range (as long as the gun was always near the watch), or stop a crook from stealing both the watch and the gun. 4. Some upcoming smartgun models use biometrics to authenticate users, but biometrics take time to process and are often inaccurate especially when a user is under duress as is likely going to be the case in any situation in which he needs to brandish a gun. Furthermore, fingerprint readers and other forms of biometric analyzers are prone to error when people sweat profusely, shake, or are bloodied. If a cop is shot and killed, can his or her partner pick it up and use it? Can a housewife use the gun of her slain husband and fire it at the intruder before she is raped and murdered? These and other issues remain unaddressed as is the issue of computer hacking -- by criminals or even government. Viruses and hackers can play havoc with smart guns as can other electronic interference. There is even the issue of a government agency shutting down smart guns remotely. This may seem a tad paranoid but there are those who trust Smith and Wesson more than they do the Department of Justice. The best defense against bad guys with guns remains good guys with guns and a government willing to enforce existing laws. Daniel John Sobieski is a free lance writer whose pieces have appeared in Investors Business Daily, Human Events, Reason magazine and the Chicago Sun-Times among other publications. In his poem, A Prayer for My Daughter (1919), W.B. Yeats laments the unfortunate pairing of exceptional women with odd and unworthy men: Its certain that fine women eat / A crazy salad with their meat / Whereby the Horn of Plenty is undone. It serves as a fitting metaphor for the Republican Party now that Donald J. Trump is its presidential nominee. A lifelong Democrat, crony capitalist, avowed leftist, and strident nationalist prone to issuing diktats and floating conspiracy theories, Trump indeed makes for the strangest of bedfellows, threatening to undermine the cornucopia of American conservatism. In truth, though Trump is not a conservative in the American context of the term, he champions a form of backward-looking orthodoxy, or conservatism in the general sense, not unlike that of the Early Modern European reactionaries. Among the latter were groups like the monarchists and feudalists who opposed the classical liberal principles of limited government, free markets and trade, rights such as the freedoms of speech and press, and individual liberty. Thus the ascendency of Trump within the Republican Party obfuscates the difference between the American conservative, i.e. the ideological descendant of nineteenth-century liberalism, and the common reactionary. For example, in a recent interview with Bill OReilly, Stephen Colbert declared, Conservatism is always a losing battle because culture always changes, implying that the Republican Party is merely an enclave for disparate groups of reactionaries. In the 1960s, at a time when the American elite began pushing the so-called progressive march toward collectivism, F.A. Hayek predicted that the defenders of individualism would find themselves alongside those who perpetually resist change. Today, the conservative who opposes bad ideas, such as state-sponsored impingement on personal liberty in service of the welfare state, and the reactionary who opposes all new ideas irrespective of merit share a foe in the effete Obama Administration and its insidious agenda of social subversion and identity politics. However, the enemy of my enemy is not a friend in this case. Reactionary Trumpism, as I will refer to the phenomenon henceforth, is ideologically antagonistic to American conservatism and cannot coexist in the same political habitat for the following reasons. First, the reactionary stubbornly resists placing faith, as Hayek describes in The Constitution of Liberty (1960), in the intangible forces that sustain economic freedom. Not surprisingly, an unwillingness to trust the fundamental theories of basic economics is manifest in Trumps attacks on free trade and in his unabashed advocacy of protectionist policies such as high tariffs on imports. By casting China as the great rapist of American fortunes for manipulating its currency valuation, he names a seemingly credible sponsor for the economic woes ravaging the industrial heartland. It enables him to offer spurious solutions that promise security. Second, to cope with a prevalent fear of the unknown, the reactionary finds solace in submitting to coercion so long as s/he finds the actions of the authoritarian acceptable. If Big Brother were to enforce upon others a set of moral or religious values with which the reactionary agrees, then s/he would support the use of arbitrary power. Consequently, many hail the pugnacious and politically incorrect (and often vile) Trump as the Rights counterpunch to President Obamas eight-year long assault on America. His bravado then is especially appealing to those demographics -- such as white men, heterosexual couples, traditional families, and religious communities -- that have been intentionally maligned by the Obamacrats. Third, that the reactionary finds no objection in surrendering power to a demagogue symptomizes a larger ailment -- the lack of political principles. In such apathy toward limiting the power of government, the reactionary finds common ground with the socialist, which explains the affinity between Trump and Bernie Sanders. Finally, the inclination for political expediency and consolidating power in a select few, combined with a stubborn distrust of ambiguity and foreignness, tends to culminate in fervent nationalism. Indeed, Trump has reaped great success at the ballot box by masquerading jingoistic rhetoric as sincere patriotic pride. (To be sure, the left consistently misrepresents his remarks on illegal immigration as xenophobic; like a broken clock that is right twice a day, Trump is not always wrong). It is therefore evident that the Grand Old Party cannot condone the reactionaryism espoused by Trump and his followers, and also function as a viable conduit for conservative principles. The nomination of Trump has brought Republicans to an important crossroads, wherein we must either wed our destiny to that of Trumpism or strike off anew. For the conservatives amongst us, the choice is clear. Meg Hansen holds an M.A. from Dartmouth College and directs the political communications of the Vermont House Republican Caucus. Her writing can be found at www.piersonharleth.com. It started in the second Eisenhower administration, so that makes it a fairly long stretch of working for, supporting, and voting for the Republican nominees. No more! There are not that many political figures that I truly admired. Eisenhower, a soldier and a statesman, incorruptible. Senator Everett Dirksen, a conservative pillar. Barry Goldwater, a clear conservative choice, a patriot. There was Secretary Kemp, who kept Bush One from wimping out on independence for the Baltics. Ronald Reagan, one of a kind, who truly understood the essence of this country and its God-inspired founding. All those times, I pulled the straight national Republican lever. In some years I did it holding my nose, but the GOP was always closer to my values of a less intrusive government at home and a clearer comprehension of our enemies abroad. There is a large list of conservative columnists, opinion writers, and pundits whom I follow in print, on the internet, and on radio who give me much pleasure and additional insight into the political world. Quite often, they confirm my own opinions. The first was William Buckley, whom I first saw on a small black and white TV covering the conventions. A giant! I will not name them all, but among those who stand out today and in no particular order are Jonah Goldberg, Paul Greenberg, Mark Steyn, Kevin Williamson, Charles Krauthammer, George Will (I don't always understand him), Thomas Sowell (I never miss reading his column), and Walter Williams (the most informative substitute host for Rush). Naming these people is my way of whistling past the graveyard, hoping that they remain true to their conservative beliefs. I lost a few whom I liked and respected. My list of favorites has been shortened; some men and women have gone over to the dark side. I will not name them...but how on Earth can anyone with a quark of intelligence support a draft-dodging egomaniac, a lifetime Democrat donor, who cannot even spell "conservative"? Now Priebus is asking us to unite behind The Donald. I have three words for you, Reince. And the same goes in spades to the Republican Party leaders like Boehner; my senator, Kirk; and many others who traded their principles for their continuous access at the public trough. Enough! So what now? Options are few, none very promising. The choice between the two presumed nominees is no choice at all. "Never Trump, never Hillary" could be carved on my tombstone, and yet the Donks are not stupid, and I cannot believe that they would allow a congenital liar and a felon-in-waiting to carry the banner for Obama's third term. Comrade Sanders? Pazhalstva! The whispers I now hear about resurrecting Biden for one term to hold the door open for the Cherokee woman make much sense, and if that is their choice...goodbye, Trump. Can Biden-Warren win in November? You know the one about the bear in the woods. The W in the D column would result in dimming the light in the Shining City on a Hill, but at least that light would not be extinguished as it would with Clinton or Trump. No, I would not vote for them to keep Trump out. It is my hope that during the next four to six years, a reborn conservative party, perhaps built on the Tea Party foundation, can scrub itself of the RINOs in the Senate, retain the House, and restore the conservative good name with leaders like Paul Ryan, Mike Lee, and Carly Fiorina, and let's not forget Ted Cruz. Many will say the Republican Party can make a comeback from this train wreck. Perhaps, but for me, its funeral will take place in Cleveland this July. Even as I write this, naming conservatives working to restore the good name, their numbers get smaller as they dump their principles and jump on the Trump wagon. Sheer insanity, because there is no way Trump can win. The Donks could nominate their symbol and still beat Trump, and the turncoats like Rick Perry and Chris Christie will live the rest of their lives as former conservatives, no longer knowing which public toilet door to access. Not being the brightest corrupt and man-hating light bulb in Canada's provincial leader sockets, British Columbia premier Christy Clark who failed to graduate from any post-secondary institution she attended "slams [Donald] Trump on trade, warns of 'poisoned' relations": B.C. Premier Christy Clark is taking presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to task for his anti-trade stance equating it with building a wall between the U.S. and Canada. "It's not helpful when down in the States there are serious presidential candidates who are talking about building a wall between Canada and the United States. Trade barriers are just another kind of wall," Clark said in an interview with Chris Hall on CBC Radio's The House. The technically unelected B.C. premier who, through the prehistoric and anti-democratic nature of Canadian politics, actually lost her electoral race in the last election and had to be parachuted into the legislature through the back door is one of the most unpopular provincial leaders in the country, with just a 31% approval rating, and her party sits at less than 35% in the polls. She may be around for only a few months after a President Trump takes office, what with the B.C. election slated for early May. Ms. Clark perhaps was feeling a bit cocky, because the U.S. was actually running a slight merchandise trade surplus with her province in recent years, and thus figured she could exert some pressure on Trump via the trade advantage America had in her jurisdiction. Alas, the times, they are a-changing, and if trends continue, any bargaining power Ms. Clark had is about to evaporate as the U.S. slides back once again into its traditional trade deficit territory with British Columbia. Perhaps Ms. Clark should have just kept her mouth shut? Since 1988, the U.S. has run a $68-billion cumulative merchandise trade deficit against B.C., and that deficit is highly correlated with the U.S.-Canada currency exchange rate (negative values indicating U.S. trade deficit, positive values signifying trade surplus): As the Canadian dollar progressively weakens, that trade surplus for the USA is likely to evaporate and return to the historical norm of a large trade deficit removing any bargaining power Ms. Clark has against Mr. Trump on trade issues. Indeed, 2016 is shaping up for near trade parity between the U.S. and B.C., or potentially even a modest U.S. trade deficit. Hopefully, Mr. Trump is taking notes and keeping score on these comments, as payback is a...well, you know. And that payback for the B.C. premier may be on its way if Canada's currency continues to slide against the greenback. Of course, if things don't work out, Ms. Clark could always go naked kitesurfing with Richard Branson. Have you recently been asked to sign a petition, boycott a company or show support for a business, or send letters to a politician in support of a conservative cause you believe in? Did you do it? The greatest lesson of the Tea Party movement was not bringing awareness to the constitution or the need for limited government. It wasn't about bringing more Democrats and independents into the Republican tent (although it did accomplish that). It wasn't about taking a stand against Obama's big-government policies. It was that conservatives got off of their couches, got involved, and started protesting. They recognized the need to be seen and heard and not just in the voting booth. They took to the streets and held signs, chanted slogans, and gave interviews to their antagonists in the press. They started using Facebook and Twitter and email. For the first time in my lifetime, conservatives mobilized. So the next time you are asked to show up to an anti-Hillary rally, wear a silly shirt, or jiggle a foam finger, you had better do it. The next time you are pressured to swarm a business with Facebook posts, emails, and tweets stating that you will no longer use its products or services (or will use them more often) because of a stance the business took on an issue you better do it. Why? Because the left is masterful when it comes to mobilizing crowds loud crowds. And no, they aren't just collecting random homeless people who are bused in and given a sign and T-shirt for their efforts. They mobilize all of their supporters on all fronts the street and the information highway and they utilize every tool available. Most importantly, they twist every issue to suit their agenda. And they are relentless: there are no issues they leave untouched, there are no constituents they ignore, there is no invective they are afraid of hurling. They understand that noise, bodies, and being a constant irritant are the only way to get things done their way. Conservatives and Republicans are the exact antithesis of this. If we don't change our behavior now we will continue to lose political power and political will. So what is MoveOn.org up to this time? They are pressuring Jeff Bezos and Amazon.com to cease from selling Donald Trump's line of menswear. The text of their email is reproduced below. So far they are just shy of the 50,000 signatures they need to forward this petition to Amazon. FYI this isn't their only line of attack. They are mobilizing hard against The Donald and are openly planning to disrupt the convention in Cleveland and as many of his campaign appearances as possible. They are fomenting hate among their followers with false claims of hate. What are you going to do about it? I suggest the following: Go to Amazon.com and purchase a Donald Trump menswear item Father's Day is just around the corner. Buy Dad a tie. Make sure to post a favorable review of these products. Send an email to Amazon telling them not to kowtow to the pressures of left-wing activists and to leave the shopping experience to the individual customer. For every left-wing radical they will appease by eliminating Donald Trump products, there will be a conservative they will antagonize. Or post such a message on the Amazon Facebook page and "like" Donald Trump menswear products. Post the same message on your Facebook page. Tweet #LoveTrumpMenswearAtAmazon. Start a petition at Change.org or another petition site: PETITION TITLE: Amazon: Sell Trump Menswear. Let the consumer decide. PETITION: Mr. Bezos please do not give in to pressure to stop selling Donald Trump's menswear. If you give in to political pressure on every issue, soon Amazon won't be selling anything. Continue to make it available, as well as other products objectionable to this or that group, and let the individual consumer decide. PETITION BACKGROUND: Corporations shouldn't be forced to give in to political pressure from this or that group. There are serious costs to any corporation that will bend to the political will of a particular group. Moreover, the individuals who are employed in any given corporation, or who shop there, do not speak with one voice, but instead hold differing political, religious, and ethical views. Let Amazon do what it does best sell products online and let the individual consumer decide if he wants to buy Trump products. Don't just comment on this post. Tell me in your comment what you have done, and give others the info they might need to take similar actions. We have to utilize every tool at our disposal. If Donald Trump is willing to go to bat for ordinary Americans like you, are you willing to go to bat for him? Like him or not, he's our presumptive nominee. This is a prime opportunity to swarm protectively around our candidate while attacking and swarming against his vile detractors. MoveOn's email: Bill Clinton is an accomplished liar, but it was Hillary* who was called a congenital liar in William Safires enduring label. But she admits she is not a natural politician is also not a natural liar, if there is any distinction between the two roles. An amazing 13 minute compilation of Hillary Clintons lies in public offers us the opportunity to examine in detail her tells when she lies. Screen grabs from her very first lie on the video, under sharp questioning by Anderson Cooper on her disingenuous claim to have been consistent on gay marriage, offer a tutorial on how to recognize a self-conscious Hillary lie. In brief, the eyes tell the story. Step one: The tight smile and a look downward with mostly closed eyes, as she realizes she is going to have to spin: Step two: half opens her eyes, still looking down, as the lie begins: Step 3: eyes open further, but not focused; facial expression suggests doubt: Step 4: looks at questioner, but with eyes closed: Step 5: looks off into space, as she seems to wonder if the audience is buying it. This is a video for your friends and family who are not (yet) disgusted by Hillary Clinton. Some have called this a hold your nose election, because there are many who find Donald Trump not to their taste. That being the case, Hillary must be held accountable, and this YouTube video, posted by Michael Armstrong, which I found on Twitchy via a link on Instapundit, is a start. *Thanks to the many people who corrected my faulty memory that it was Bill who was called this by Safire. President Obama said during a commencement address at Howard University that race relations have improved over the last 3 decades and admitted that his presidency had not led to a "post racial society." Obama also advised graduates not to "sleepwalk through life" - which is pretty much what the president is doing when he claims improvement as a result of his election. Reuters: President Barack Obama said in a commencement speech on Saturday that U.S. race relations have improved over the last three decades, but that significant work still needs to be done. "I tell you this not to lull you into complacency, but to spur you into action because there's still so much work to do," Obama told about 2,300 Howard University graduates in Washington, acknowledging that racism and inequality still persist. "We cannot sleepwalk through life," he said. The United States has faced a number of racial controversies in recent years, including the 2014 shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, that sparked sometimes violent protests. The United States has a racial gap in economic opportunities, Obama said, noting that the overall U.S. employment rate is around 5 percent, but it is near 9 percent for African-Americans. Obama, the son of a white mother and African father, told the graduates to embrace their racial identity. "Be confident in your blackness," Obama said, adding "there is no one way to be black ... There's no straightjacket, there's no constraints, there's no litmus test for authenticity." He added that "my election did not create a post-racial society," but was one example of how attitudes have changed. Obama also urged the crowd not to try to prod colleges and universities into disinviting controversial speakers - something that has taken place regularly at campuses throughout the United States. Howard University is one of about 100 historically black colleges and universities in the United States. Obama argued that the United States and the world has progressed dramatically since 1983 when he graduated from college. "America is by almost every measure better than it was" in 1983, Obama said, noting that U.S. poverty rate is down, the number of people with college degrees is up and the number of women in the workforce have risen. For the record, a CNN poll from last year shows that only 11% of whites and 25% of blacks see race relations as getting better under President Obama. The poll also showed that 45% of whites believe race relations have gotten worse while 26% of blacks think so. True, over the last 30 years, race relations have probably improved some. But lately, there has been a backlash against political correctness, affirmative action, and anti-police movements like Black Lives Matter. All of these problems have been made worse by the Obama administration and the Department of Justice. There will never be perfect equality. And whatever strides are made in improving race relations won't come from government and their racialist allies like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Both those men, and many blacks and whites like them, have a vested, financial interest in racial division. Until we can look beyond those with the loudest voices making the most paranoid and fantastical claims about either real or perceived racial incidents, there will continue to be great disatisfaction with the state of race relations in America. Welcome to criminal justice reform, the "1984" edition. Today's lesson: How to obfuscate, hide, and obscure the fact that people released from prison are convicts and those who are convicted of committing a crime are felons. We must commit double speak in identifying criminals because otherwise, we hurt their feelings. Yes, really. Washington Times: The Justice Departments Office of Justice Programs is eschewing the terms felon and convict when officials refer to individuals convicted of crimes, opting instead for less disparaging labels, Assistant Attorney General Karol Mason announced last week. The Office of Justice Programs plans to substitute terminology such as person who committed a crime and individual who was incarcerated in speeches and other communications as part of an effort to remove barriers that officials say hinder progress of those who re-enter society after completing their prison sentences. I have come to believe that we have a responsibility to reduce not only the physical but also the psychological barriers to reintegration, Ms. Mason wrote Wednesday in a guest post for The Washington Post. The labels we affix to those who have served time can drain their sense of self-worth and perpetuate a cycle of crime, the very thing reentry programs are designed to prevent. The announcement follows a series of initiatives introduced as part of the Justice Departments first National Reentry Week, through which law enforcement officials hope to reduce recidivism by changing features of the criminal justice system. A criminal record can prevent people from obtaining employment, housing, higher education or credit, the Justice Department noted. These often-crippling barriers can contribute to a cycle of incarceration that makes it difficult for even the most well-intentioned individuals to stay on the right path and stay out of the criminal justice system, states the departments Roadmap to Reentry Plan, which lays out steps the department plans to take to reduce recidivism. The re-entry plan does not contain the words convict or felon. Ms. Mason said she issued a recent memo to staff within the Office of Justice Programs directing our employees to consider how the language we use affects re-entry success. What concept is loonier? The notion that not calling a convict a convict will speed his re-entry into society or the magical thinking that not using the word "felon" will prevent a convict from committing another crime? Self esteem is not built by changing the nomenclature of criminal justice. The psychological impact of not referring to a convict as a "convict" is minimal. The reason for the change in labels is to make the people that use them feel better and morally superior to those who continue to respect the English language and use it appropriately. It's the same mindset that magically changes the idea of "illegal aliens" into "undocumented workers" or "migrants." I sincerely doubt that illegal aliens are offended by being referred to as "illegal aliens." But those who use the term "undocumented worker" smugly feel superior to those who prefer to communicate in plain English. Recividism is a serious problem with released felons. The Department of Justice is taking an unserious approach to address it. Once upon a time, you'd look forward to a commencement speech. They were supposed to be inspirational and uplifting. They were designed to congratulate the graduates and encourage them to achieve the best in the real world. Not long ago, one of my sons graduated from Texas A&M, and Gen. David H. Petraeus delivered a fabulous speech. Our #2 son graduated from SMU Law School, and President Bush spoke with humor and inspired the graduates to be great. Well, that was then, and this is now. This is a commencement address by Secretary Kerry just days ago: John Kerry used his commencement speech at Northeastern University on Friday to take a thinly veiled swipe at Donald Trump, saying, "Greatness isn't about bragging, it's about doing." "There are no walls big enough to stop people from anywhere, tens of thousands of miles away, who are determined to take their own lives while they target others," he said. The secretary of state noted that this year's graduating class represented students from nearly 80 different countries "the most diverse class in Northeastern's history." "In other words, you are Donald Trump's worst nightmare," said Kerry. Are you kidding me? Donald Trump's worst nightmare? Maybe Secretary Kerry should talk to a few young people this week. He may be shocked to learn that their worst nightmare is finding a job or paying off college debts. Is this what we have sunk to? We can't pass up an opportunity to indoctrinate young people with the party dogma. That's what they do in Venezuela and Cuba, not the U.S. Secretary Kerry, you should be worried about the Iran nuclear deal and ISIS. That's what really threatens our young people. P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter. Donald Trump told ABC's "This Week" that he doesn't think the Republican party needs to be unified for him to win the presidency. The Hill: Does the party have to be together, does it have to be unified? he said during an interview on ABCs This Week that will air Sunday. Im very different from anybody whos perhaps ever run for office. I actually dont think so. I think it would be better if it were unified, I think there would be something good about it, but I dont actually think it has to be unified," he said. The presumptive GOP nominee said that he can win without the backing of the full party by drawing Democratic voters, specifically supporters of Bernie Sanders. I have to stay true to my principles also. And Im a conservative, but dont forget, this is called the Republican Party, not the conservative party, Trump said. The Donald is correct. The GOP is no longer "the conservative party." Just 42% of Republicans identify as social and economic conservatives. That's the lowest it's been since 2001. But Trump may be whistling past the graveyard when he claims that GOP unity isn't necessary for him to win. And he is thinking magically if he actually expects Bernie Sanders supporters to vote for him. The fact is, Trump is likely to receive the lowest percentage of GOP support ever recorded. A recent Rasmussen survey showed 60% of Republican voters would definitely vote for Trump but 18% said they'd never vote for him. Since Mitt Romney received 93% GOP support in 2012, any number significantly less than that means that Trump is in big trouble. And what of Trump's claim that he can attract Bernie Sanders supporters? By an 86-10 margin, Sanders voters reject the idea of voting forTrump. No doubt Trump will attract many blue collar, white Democrats. But there simply aren't enough white people that can offset Trump's loss of Republican support. The Donald better think twice about reaching out and trying to unify the party. He's going to need every Republican vote he can get to win the White House. The University of Albany expelled two students and suspended a third for two years following their indictment for lying about an incident on a municipal bus where the women alleged a hate crime against them had been committed. Washington Times: Ariel Agudio and Asha Burwell have been dismissed from the university and Alexis Briggs has been suspended for two years, according to an email sent to the school community Thursday by President Robert J. Jones, the Albany Times Union reported. The women grabbed national headlines and a sympathetic tweet from Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton after claiming that a group of 12 to 20 white men hurled racial slurs and attacked them on a CDTA bus about 1 a.m. Jan. 30 while others stood by and did nothing. The alleged incident sparked a large on-campus rally defending women of color and the social media campaign #DefendBlackGirlsUAlbany. Police now say there is no evidence to back up their story and that the women were the actual aggressors, according to footage captured by cameras on the bus and by witnesses. The actual victim, police said, was a 19-year-old white woman who was also a bus passenger. The three women were indicted this week by a grand jury and arraigned for 10 misdemeanor charges, including assault, attempted assault and false reporting, along with a violation for harassment, the Times Union reported. They have pleaded not guilty. The three didnt show up for their student conduct board hearing March 9, because their lawyers cited a conflict of interest in which UAlbany served as judge in the board hearings and witness in the criminal case, the Times Union reported. Ms. Burwells lawyer Frederick Brewington noted that Ms. Burwell had already withdrawn from the university before she had been given a hearing and then dismissed, the Times Union reported. Inspector Paul Burlingame of the University Police Department, a witness who testified at the hearing, said the real victims of the assault stayed mum during the media storm because they feared for their safety. One of the female victims, Mr. Burlingame said, withdrew out of concern for her physical safety. Welcome to creeping Sharia, Austria. When Muslims reach a critical threshold in the share of population, especially among young adult males, they begin enforcing new social rules. That is what is happening across Western Europe with the arrival of refugees from Syria and many other places. The Local cites news from Vienna: A student attacked by a gang of four men has accused police of blaming her because she had blonde hair and sexy clothing. The incident happened when the young woman, identified only by her first name Sabina, who lives in the capital Vienna had been waiting for a train on the S6 line at the city's main Westbahnhof station. The 20-year-old, who was hospitalised after the attack by four men in which she was beaten and robbed, told Heute newspaper: "I felt so helpless." screen grab via Heute "I had been standing on the platform waiting for the train when a man came up to me and spoke to me in a foreign language. He then started putting his hands through my hair and made it clear that in his cultural background there were hardly any blonde women. I told him to go away, and for a short while he really did go away." "But it was only to get his pals and a bit later he came back with three others. They stole my handbag and my cards." And if that was not enough, she said that the four had then attacked her, bashing her to the ground in a rage before running off. She said that from what they had said she understood they were from Afghanistan and that as she lay on the floor in agony nobody on the platform had helped. After being treated at hospital for bruising to her head, shoulder and elbow as well as her spine and hips, she went to police. And her distress had turned to anger when police had told her that she should change her hair colour and should not have been travelling alone after 8pm on public transport. She said: "At first I was scared, but now I'm more angry than anything. After the attack they told me that women shouldn't be alone on the streets after 8pm. And they also gave me other advice, telling me I should dye my hair dark and also not dress in such a provocative way. Indirectly that means I was partly to blame for what happened to me. That is a massive insult." Thanks to Donald Wilkie for continuing the trade discussion. A few points are needed in response to Mr. Wilkie's concerns. Regarding "good" and "bad" trade, there are indeed both categories when you look at trade from a national perspective rather than just that of the individual. Individuals engage in trade because it is mutually beneficial, but what is good for the individual trader may not be good for the nation. This statement will set off the libertarians, but conservatism is not about unbounded liberty in commerce or any other facet of life. Mr. Wilkie asks the following profound question: Who is to determine what trade is "good" and what trade is "bad"? Would you rather trust some faceless bureaucrat in Washington with a bunch of letters after his name or Joe Doaks, who is operating a business on Main Street? I believe that the answer is self-evident. I, too, believe that the answer is self-evident, and it is neither of the options. It is the collective American public that should determine what trade is "good" or "bad." And the public is speaking very clearly this election cycle. Donald Trump's positions on trade are quite clear, and refreshingly so after decades of babbling hand-waving incoherence and obfuscation by the corporatist think-tanks and their puppet politicians. The GOP base has clearly chosen Trump over any and all comers in a very convincing manner. Trump got the GOP nomination before Hillary Clinton will formally get the Democratic side locked up. Trump won in a landslide, and his stance on trade was a key plank for victory. The polling data on this issue strongly favors Trump's positions. Take the Bloomberg general election poll from late March that I discussed a couple of days ago. This poll is clearly biased toward liberals, and since polling data shows that liberals view trade more positively than conservatives in recent years, the bias probably underestimates the concern over trade among the American public. When respondents were asked, "[D]o you think U.S. trade policy should have more restrictions on imported foreign goods to protect American jobs, or have fewer restrictions to enable American consumers to have the most choices and the lowest prices," two thirds (65%) of those surveyed said "more restrictions," while just 22% wanted "fewer restrictions." When asked, "[D]o you think NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, has been good or bad for the U.S. economy," 44% said "bad," and only 29% indicated "good." The rest were unsure. When asked, "[W]hich do you think would be better for your community ... [a] factory owned by an American company that employed 1,000 workers [or a] factory owned by a Chinese company that employed 2,000 workers," 68% said they want the American company with fewer workers, while just 23% desire the Chinese company with twice as many workers. When asked, "Are you willing to pay a little more for merchandise that is made in the U.S., or do you prefer the lowest possible price," 82% said they want "made in the USA" versus only 13% preferring the lowest price. The public overwhelmingly wants economic nationalism, so that is who determines what trade is "good" or "bad." Politicians who oppose this are going to get decimated at the polls come November. It is also worth referring readers to a useful article Julia Hahn published Friday at Breitbart listing the protectionist measures employed by former president Ronald Reagan. As Hahn notes, "Reagan's record on trade far more closely resembles Trump's position than it resembles the view of those in the #NeverTrump movement. In fact, by their own definition, Reagan would have been a radical 'protectionist'." I've made similar points before that while Reagan often espoused and promoted free trade, he never had to govern under it, and his economic success is in large part due to fairly protectionist policy preferences on many trade issues. As for Douglas Irwin's article on U.S. trade history from the National Bureau of Economic Research that I referenced, Irwin does indeed claim that the "nearly complete embargo on international commerce from December 1807 to March 1809 ... provides a rare opportunity (or natural experiment) to observe the effects of a nearly complete (albeit short-lived) elimination of international trade [and that] the static welfare cost of the embargo was about 5 percent of GDP." Irwin's article contains some useful facts on the protectionist nature of U.S. trade history which is why I cited it but he is wrong on any serious insights from this extremely rapid trade embargo. From 1807 to 1808, trade dropped from 56% of GDP down to 19% of GDP, and real per capita GDP declined nearly 6% over these two years. So what? It is self-evident that such a dramatic change in trade over such a short period of time would cause massively disruptive impacts to the American economy. There is always going to be some economic pain with sharp movements as the economy has to readjust to a new equilibrium. But what Irwin fails to discuss is how by 1810, that loss in real per capita GDP had already been recovered, and the American economy was back on track meanwhile, trade remained at its new low level. So there was some short-term pain for long-term gain, a fact that Irwin conveniently fails to discuss. A plot of trade as a percentage of GDP over U.S. history makes the point nicely: From the founding up to 1807, trade increased from 32% of GDP up to 56% of GDP, and the actions of Thomas Jefferson and Congress between December 1807 to March 1809 reversed that trend, sending trade in a progressively downward contribution toward American GDP that continued until the early 1960s. Another point Irwin doesn't make in his article is that from 1790 to 1806 the year before the embargo started there is a substantial negative correlation between real per capita GDP growth and trade. In fact, over the two decades between 1796 and 1806 under the high-trade regime, the average annual real per capita GDP growth rate was just 1.0%, which is hardly something to use as a basis for claiming that trade made the U.S. rich. By comparison, average annual real GDP growth for the remainder of the 19th century under the low-trade regime from 1809 through 1899 was 1.6%. In short, the 16-month embargo hurt the economy in the very short term but appears to have helped it over the long term. That is solid policymaking in the national interest. As for Mr. Wilkie's point that both China and India have high trade percentages and strong economic growth, the reply is, indeed, they do. In general, poor countries win when trading with rich countries, so the ability of China and India to prosper in recent decades as trade became ever more important to their respective economies isn't an argument for increasing U.S. trade; it is an argument against it. We are making these developing nations richer at our own expense. Furthermore, the communist state of China is hardly a free market, making it a poor comparison for the U.S. when it comes to trade impacts on economic growth. The same applies to India, which is a quasi-democracy but littered with massive regulatory corruption. Regardless, here are the relations between trade and real per capita GDP growth for rich countries like the U.S. since 1960 compared to lower-middle-income economies such as India and upper-middle-income economies such as China over the past three decades: The more we trade, the lower our economic growth rate. The more they trade, the richer they get wealth transfer 101, from the rich to the poor. I guess the trade advocates support wealth redistribution, as long as it is not their specific wealth being redistributed. In the increasingly polarized societies of the West, another divide has formed: those who favor high trade rates and those who do not. The minority who benefit from ever increasing trade, regardless of net negative macroeconomic impacts, want more trade. The majority who are suffering under the high-trade regime clearly have a different view. Since quotes are in vogue, Upton Sinclair once observed that "[i]t is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it." There will not be a meeting of minds between the minority in the West who reap the rewards of globalization and the majority who do not. Onward the policy battles go within the conservative movement, as many on the right side of the spectrum increasingly find they have more in common economically with those in the center and center-left portions. Ergo the meteoric rise of Donald J. Trump and the re-awakening of the silent majority. The next generation of Moto devices under the Lenovo brand, appear to be getting close to an announcement. Weve seen plenty of leaks and rumors about the upcoming Moto G4 and now were seeing even more on the Moto X4. According to +HelloMotoHK, it appears that the picture above is a render of the upcoming Moto X4. They also posted a couple of devices that appear to be DROIDs for Verizon, which will be launching later in the year. Judging by the picture above, we can tell quite a few things about this upcoming device. One is that it appears to be an aluminum build with a glass front. The front looks a bit odd, with a physical button and two black dots on either side. Those dots are likely the IR blasters that are used in conjunction with Moto Display. The button there is said to be a fingerprint sensor. Theres no word on whether its a home button and fingerprint sensor or just a fingerprint sensor. Well likely have to wait until the announcement to find out for sure. The camera module is also fairly large, and if you look closely, it looks like all parts of the camera module are in that circle. Including the flash thats at the bottom giving the camera a flat tire look, like the Moto 360. There also appears to be a couple other sensors there, perhaps a laser auto-focus sensor, which will make auto-focus much faster on this new smartphone. At the bottom though, youll see 8 gold dots on either side of a vertical what looks a bit like a USB Type-C port. These may be charging contacts. So we could see some new accessories coming with the Moto X4 when its announced. Advertisement Speaking of the Moto X4 being announced. The rumor going around right now is an August 24th announcement. Last year, Motorola announced the Moto X and Moto G at an event in July. So this would put the successors being announced over a year later. Now this is all rumors and leaks. So well want to take this with a grain of salt. But one thing is for sure, Lenovo will be announcing this device fairly soon. On the Solemnity of Jesus Ascension to heaven, Francis stressed the importance of the mission entrusted to his disciples and the whole Church. We should leave our churches every Sunday to go into homes, offices, schools, meeting places, hospitals, prisons, seniors centres, crowded immigrant gatherings, city suburbs [. . .]. Vatican City (AsiaNews) Pope Francis spoke about the solemnity of the Ascension before the Marian prayer the Regina Caeli. In commenting todays Gospel, the pontiff said that this observance makes us contemplate the "mystery of Jesus leaving our earthly space to enter into the fullness of God's glory, carrying our humanity with him." Luke the Evangelist shows us the disciples reaction to the Lord as 'he parted from them and was taken up to heaven' (Lk 24:51). There was no pain in them nor sense of loss, but 'They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy (Ibid, 24:52). This is the return of someone who no longer fears the city that had rejected the Master, who had seen Judas' betrayal and Peter's denial, the dispersion of the disciples and the violence of an authority that felt threatened. " Since that day, the pontiff went on to say, "it was possible for the Apostles and for every disciple of Christ to live in Jerusalem and in all the cities of the world, even the most troubled by injustice and violence, because the same sky lies over every city and every resident can look up with hope. [In] Jesus, God is a real man: with his human body, he is in heaven. This is our hope, [and] our anchor. We are firm in this hope, if we look up at the sky." This God who revealed himself so close to take the face of a man, Jesus of Nazareth, lives in this heaven. He remains forever the God-with-us. Let us remember this, Emmanuel, God with us who does not abandon us! We can look up to see our future before us. The Ascension of Jesus, the Crucified and Risen One, holds the promise of our participation in the fullness of life with God." Before parting from his friends, said the pope, "Jesus, speaking about his death and resurrection, told them, You are witnesses of these things (Ibid, 24:48). The disciples, the Apostles are witnesses of Christs death and resurrection. On that day, even of the Ascension. In fact, after they saw their Lord ascend into heaven, the disciples went back to town as witnesses who can joyfully announce to all the new life that comes from the Risen Christ, in whose name repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations (Ibid, 24:47). This, Francis noted, "is the witness made not only with words but also with everyday life the witness that should leave our churches every Sunday to go into homes, offices, schools, meeting places, hospitals, prisons, seniors centres, crowded immigrant gatherings, city suburbs during the week [. . .] We bear this witness, every week. Christ is with us. Jesus ascended to heaven, he is with us. Christ is alive. " Jesus assured us that, in this announcement and witness, we are clothed with power from on high (Ibid, 24:49), i.e. with the power of the Holy Spirit. Here lies the secret of this mission: the presence among us of the Risen Lord, who continues to open our minds and our hearts with the gift of the Spirit to proclaim his love and mercy even in the most resistant milieus of our cities. The Holy Spirit is the real architect of the manifold witness that the Church and every baptised person bears to the world. Therefore, we can never neglect gathering in prayer to praise God and invoke the gift of the Spirit." After the Regina Caeli, Francis mentioned the 50th World Communication Day, which falls today. "Vatican Two was behind it. In fact, the Council Fathers, reflecting on the Church in the contemporary world, understood the crucial importance of communications, which can build bridges between individuals and within families, social groups and peoples. This is possible both in the material world and the digital world (Message 2016). To all those who work in communications, I send my cordial greetings, and express hope that our way of communicating in the Church will always have a clear evangelical style, a style that combines truth and mercy." After greeting the various groups of pilgrims, the Holy Father turned his thoughts to mothers. "Today many countries celebrate Mother's Day. Let us remember with gratitude and affection every mother, those who are now in the square, our mothers, those who are still with us, and those who have gone to heaven. Let us entrust them to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Let us say the Hail Mary! at that point, people in the square recited the prayer along with the pope. I wish you all a good Sunday. Please do not forget to pray for me. Have a nice lunch and goodbye!" Hi All, just trying to submit our PMV to 820 app this am after yesterdays maintenance. Immiacct wont let me upload my PDF's , says they are an unsupported file type :-(. They are def PDF's, Im using the same program to make em as I did for the PMV. 'Soda Pdf". Im using Firefox browser Any ideas ?? Ive just converted a few of the important docs back to word doc'ss and uploaded them but would prefer not to have to do it to the others wolforius said: Hi, My American fiancee is currently on an ETA VISA. She will be coming back to Australia soon to be with me. When her 3 months is up, we plan to both travel to the USA to get married so her family can be present. After that, we want to apply for a partner VISA. The question is, can we travel back to AUS after the wedding and apply for the Onshore Partner VISA? Or do we have to apply for the Offshore version while we are over there? Thanks in advance for your reply! Click to expand... You could do either. Obviously if your partner finds herself back in Australia on a valid visa without 'no further stay condition" (like an ETA) it would be a lot more convenient to apply in Australia, as she will be granted a bridging visa with full work rights.If you apply offshore, she'll have to offshore again for the grant of the visa, her stay in Australia will be limited and she will not have a bridging visa. If it was up to me, I'd get married in Australia in a simple ,civic wedding, apply for the visa, then do the big family wedding in the USA after, but that might not suit your particular circumstances. Hello everyone,Currently, I am planning to apply for 190 visa within next 10 to 15 days as I have been nominated by the NSW state.Currenlty, although I am at a 572 visa and it will expire in the last week of June 2016, I need to travel overseas because of some unavoidable circumstances in the last week of May 2016.My question is that since I am planning to apply 190 visa before I leave, I will be granted a bridging visa "A" BUT IT WILL NOT BE EFFECTIVE BEFORE MY STUDENT VISA EXPIRES (i.e. "June 2016").My goal is to travel overseas on a bridging visa B which allows me to come back to Australia. However, I believe I will not be back before a decision on my application is made due to personal circumstances.Please advise, if two requests are required to be made to department at present. After applying 190, firstly "request to cancel student visa immediately", secondly, "request to grant a bridging visa B". How long these two requests take to complete by the departmentPlease reply to me as I am a bit confused.Thanks,Regards,Henry 9 May 2016 00:01 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli May 9 marks the 71st anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, the bloodiest war of the mankind. Notwithstanding the fact that Azerbaijans capital did not get the title of hero city, Baku was one of the main characters in the World War II. During the World War II, Azerbaijan played an important role in the plans of large states because of its natural resources and favorable geographical position. Germany sought to seize Baku oil to move to the East -- to the Iranian channel, and the Indian Ocean. Hitler's Birthday Cake 1942--a slice of Baku. For the Soviet Union, which also included Azerbaijan then, the war started in June 1941. Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi Party was set on capturing Baku's oil fields to fuel his own efforts of the war. Hitler's plan was to attack Baku on September 25, 1942. Anticipating the upcoming victory, his generals presented him a cake of the region - Baku and the Caspian Sea. Delighted, Hitler took the choice piece for himself - Baku. Fortunately, the attack never occurred and German forces were defeated before they could reach Baku. Azerbaijans oil was one of the decisive factors in the Great Patriotic war. Oil production in Azerbaijan reached its peak in 1941 that made 23.5 million tons. That figure comprised 71.4 percent of all the oil produced in the USSR and up to 50 percent of the world production. Azerbaijani oil workers lifted 75 million tons of oil and 22 million tons of petrol to the country during war years. The 416th Division formed of Azerbaijani soldiers held a valiant battle way from the Caucasus to Berlin. Ziya Bunyadov and another 20 people were awarded the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union for the liberation of Poland and Czechoslovakia from the Nazis. The first Azerbaijani Hero of the Union was Sergeant Israfil Mammadov, assistant to platoon commander of the 42nd Rifle Regiment. In December 1941, his group of fighters fought near Novgorod and repulsed four attacks by superior enemy forces. They entered the melee and hold the position. Another prominent person was twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Hazi Aslanov. This legendary hero of World War II was promoted to the rank of the major general of tank troops in March 1944. He showed valor and bravery in many battles, including the battle of Stalingrad, the largest land battle in history. Legendary partisan Mehdi Huseynzade, famous in Yugoslavia as Mikhailo fought against the Nazis in the Yugoslav-Italian partisans guerrilla corps after suffering severe wounds in the battle of Stalingrad and a spell in German captivity. From 600,000 Azerbaijanis sent to the front during five years, over 300,000 dead and missed. In other words, one out of every six Azerbaijani became a victim of this war. This was a dramatic quantity for Azerbaijan, after all, in those years Azerbaijan has a population of 3.4 million people. Thus, Azerbaijan put in the struggle against fascism as much of its citizens as France, Greece, Albania, Norway, Romania, Hungary, the Netherlands, Denmark and Belgium taken together. -- Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 8 May 2016 18:04 (UTC+04:00) Azerbaijani Ambassador to Spain Anar Maharramov has said his country is protecting its territorial integrity and national interests in compliance with norms and principles of international law. He spoke at a ceremony to mark the 71st anniversary of the Victory over Fascism, which was organized by the Russian Embassy at the Fuencarral Cemetery in Madrid. The ceremony was attended by diplomatic representatives and military attaches of Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Armenia. Maharramov responded to groundless accusations of the Armenian Ambassador, and said that the people of Azerbaijan were a peace loving nation. Azerbaijan pursues an independent policy, and has never laid any territorial claims against any country. We do not want war. We are protecting our sovereignty, territorial integrity, national interests based on the norms and principles of international law. We want peace to be established in our region as soon as possible, the Ambassador said. Ambassador Maharramov also highlighted Azerbaijan`s tremendous role in the victory over Fascism and Azerbaijanis` valor in the war. He said Azerbaijan accounted for 70% of the Soviet Union`s total oil output during the years of war. More than 600,000 Azerbaijanis fought in the war, with 121 of them awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union title, he added. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 8 May 2016 10:15 (UTC+04:00) Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan says the Islamic Republic sees no limits to holding military maneuvers in its territorial waters in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman. "The Islamic Republic of Iran makes no claims on any grounds in coastal, regional and trans-boundary waters beyond international demarcation lines," Dehqan said on Saturday. He added that Iran has the right to defend its airspace, land and waters and will "allow no one to carry out any act of aggression." "We have no limitations to holding military plans and those who came [to the region] from thousands of kilometers away and claim to establish security in the region must know that their presence is a source of insecurity," he pointed out. The Iranian defense minister's remarks came after Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on May 2 that Iran must show off its military power to the US in the Persian Gulf waters. "The Persian Gulf coast and much of the coasts of the Sea of Oman belong to this powerful [Iranian] nation, therefore we have to be present in this region, [stage] maneuvers and show off our power," the Leader said. He emphasized that this is while Iran contributes to stability and sustainable security in the region In recent years, Iran has made major breakthroughs in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in the production of important military equipment and systems. The country has also conducted major military drills to enhance the defense capabilities of its armed forces and to test modern military tactics and state-of-the-art equipment. The Islamic Republic maintains that its military might poses no threat to other countries, stating that its defense doctrine is merely based on deterrence. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 8 May 2016 10:30 (UTC+04:00) Iran is in talks with two Norwegian and Sweden companies to make firefighting equipment it needs in the oil industry, said Shahab Tafazoli, a member of the Oil Industry Equipment Producers Association of Iran. From Sweden Firemax and from Norway FFS has been chosen for the purpose, he said, Mehr news agency reported May 6. He added that the agreement underlines the transfer of technology to Iran for making the equipment rather than buying produced goods. Tafazoli added circumstances are also being studied to pave the ground for exporting the products in future to neighbor countries such as Iraq. The oil industry is one of the most important industries in Iran that have been hit hard by sanctions. Tehran is now trying to refurbish the industry as soon as possible in order to streamline its oil production. As a general rule, the government stresses that it will not buy goods from abroad as much as possible. Rather, it says tis post-sanction cooperation with foreigners will be limited to importing technology and fund. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 8 May 2016 10:45 (UTC+04:00) In the result of the progress achieved, the growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP) of Turkmenistan in January-April 2016 has remained steady at the level of 6.3 percent, the country's President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said, the government reported in a message May 7. The president, speaking at a meeting of the county's cabinet of ministers, said that the volume of investments in the various sectors increased by 5.7 percent. In average, wages increased by 9.6 percent in Turkmenistan, he added. Construction of various facilities worth over $50 billion is being held in the country. On the results of the four months, more than 30 major facilities have been built and commissioned. Turkmenistan's GDP growth will be 5.4 percent in 2016 (compared to 6.5 percent in 2015), according to the forecast of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Turkmenistan ranks fourth in the world in terms of the volume of natural gas and has opportunities to export it to China and Iran. Meanwhile, Russia suspended the purchases of Turkmen gas in 2016. Ashgabat chose a course to diversify the local economy. The textile industry, as well as the area of petroleum products, advanced. The oil, gas and chemical industry and the production of building materials are being actively developed. Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 8 May 2016 11:00 (UTC+04:00) Iran has invited Leonardo DiCaprio, famous Hollywood star and environmentalists to visit Iran to see the latest situation of the country's Lake Urmia. After DiCaprio posted a warning message on his Instagram account, about the decline of Lake Urmia, Hadi Bahadori, head of the Western Azerbaijan Province's Committee for the Restoration of Lake Urmia invited him to visit the drying lake, Mehr nIews agency reported. Two days ago DiCaprio posted a picture of the lake, located in Iran's West Azerbaijan province and wrote "A dilapidated ship dock remains on dried up Lake Urmia in northwestern Iran. It used to be the biggest salt lake in the Middle East, but it now contains five percent of the amount of water it did two decades ago due to climate change, dam construction and decrease in precipitiation." DeCaprio's move was welcomed by many Iranian figures including environmentalists, climate change activists and officials. Bahadori, who is also an MP from Urmia constituency expressed his appreciation for DiCaprio's concerns and invited him to visit the lake. He expressed hope that these kinds of social movements will trigger a significant rise in sensitivity and cooperation among people across the world towards the lake, the Iranian official said. Bahadori further said that global movement to save the world's second largest saline lake will be very promising and fruitful. Lake Urmia is in the northwest of Iran. Over 70 percent of its area has dried up. The level has been declining since 1995. Its area is about 6,000 square kilometers. Lake Urmia needs 3.1 billion cubic meters of water per year to survive. The lake water contains high amounts of salt and other minerals. If the lake dries out, these can be carried over adjacent areas by wind, causing serious hazards. President Hassan Rouhani has set up a working group for saving Lake Urmia. Recent heavy rains and initiatives such as the release of water from other lakes and the channeling of rivers to Urmia have recently resulted in a relative rise in its water levels. It should be noted that Worried about environmental issues, DiCaprio set up the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 1998, to promote environmental awareness and later in 2014, he was appointed as a United Nations representative on climate change. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 8 May 2016 11:45 (UTC+04:00) Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev and John Watson, chairman of the board and CEO of the US Chevron Corporation have discussed the expansion of the company's participation in developing the fields in Kazakhstan, press service of Kazakh president said. The discussions were held during a meeting in Astana. The parties also discussed the future cooperation between Kazakhstan and Chevron in the oil and gas sphere, as well as in the implementation of joint projects. Watson noted that overhaul work will be carried out at Kazakhstan's Tengiz field where Chevron has the largest share. He added that this work will make it possible to stop the sulfur emissions into the atmosphere. Nazarbayev, for his part, noted that Kazakhstan is going through hard times due to the lower oil prices. "It is necessary to learn to live with such prices," he added. Chevron is a shareholder of the projects for developing the largest oil fields - Tengiz and Karachaganak - in Kazakhstan. It has a share in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium and owns a plant for manufacturing polyethylene pipes in Kazakhstan's Atyrau city. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says that establishment of security should be the first priority for the administration. He made the remarks addressing a group of Iran's Police commanders and staff May 8 in Tehran, the official website of the leader reported. If there is no poverty in a society, but it has no security either, the life will turn sour, Khamenei said. He further said that without the security, necessary works including education, business and diplomacy cannot be done in the country and management of the country would not be possible. Khamenei added that police must be strong, but strength is not like what is happening in some western countries showing a brutal force. He further referred to police's recent measures in the field of "moral security", saying "it's not less important if not more important." Police should pay attention to the issue of moral security in the society, Khamenei said, adding some violate norms and spread sin in the society. The Leader also advised the Iranian police to pay serious attention to establishment of moral security in the society, including by cracking down on miscreants, drug traffickers, and those people who do not show respect for social norms. "If you rationally conclude that certain steps should be done [regarding the moral security], ignore oppositions," he added. It should be noted that Police in Tehran has recently deployed 7,000 undercover morality agents to monitor the observance of the social norms including Islamic dress code. Tehran's police chief General Hossein Sajedinia announced on April 18 that the new unit is tasked to report "abnormal moves" including removal of veils and playing loud music inside cars, driving recklessly and parading in the streets as well as harassing women. Earlier Iranian President Hassan Rouhani criticized the police plan, saying human dignity is more important than religion. He further said that his administration is not responsible for certain plans in the country which is implemented by other governmental bodies such as the Judiciary. Iran's police have a morality control department which implements enforcement against people who have been violating the Islamic rules including Islamic dress code in the country. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Iran's oil export to Europe in April amounted to around 500,000 barrels per day (bpd), including 100,000 bpd to Turkey and 50,000 bpd for Syria, International Oil Daily (IOD) reported with reference to shipping data. By far the biggest individual lifter was France's Total, which accounted for some 230,000 bpd. Spain's Cepsa, Italy's Iplom and Greek duo Hellenic Petroleum and Motor Oil Hellas were the other buyers. Through the contracts it has signed with France's Total and Spain's Sepsa, Iran expects to be exporting 250,000 to 300,000 bpd of crude to Europe in the near future. Iran's crude output stood at 4.2 million bpd before the sanctions, some 2.3 million bpd of which used to be exported. Under the sanctions the output fell to 3.3 million bpd while the exports dropped to 1 million bpd. Since the sanctions were lifted in January, Iran has increased the crude export to 1.7 million bpd aiming to redeem its previous place in the world market. Earlier director of international affairs at National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) Mohsen Ghamsari said Iran has increased oil exports by 900,000 bpd since January after the removal of international sanctions against Tehran. Iran's oil output has reached 3.8 million barrels per day, of that figure almost 1.8 mbpd is supplied to the domestic refineries, according to Ghamsari. Iran plans to increase its daily output to four million barrels until March 2017. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Kern County residents can use the new website from the High-Speed Rail Authority to see HSR plans in the county and learn more about opportuni The Dunedin Fire Department is joining forces with the community to pay tribute to those who died on Sept. 11, 2001. The fire department obtained a steel beam from the World Trade Center eight months ago, and plans are in the works to use it for a 9/11 memorial. Their vision is to have a pair of stainless steel hands lift the World Trade Center beam out of a brick and granite memorial. Dunedin Fire Department obtained steel beam from WTC Department plans to use it in 9/11 memorial but doesn't have funding Community organizations, businesses supporting project The memorial, which Deputy Chief Trip Barrs hopes will be complete by Sept. 11 of this year, will be placed outside the Dunedin Fire Departments Station 61 on Michigan Boulevard. "We lost 343 firefighters on that day in NYC," he said. "We wanted a tribute to those firefighters to their sacrifice, and what better place to do it than in front of our newest fire station?" However, Barrs says that because of budget problems, they havent been able to get the project started. As a result, local community organizations and business owners have joined in to support the project. Joe Kokolakis, who owns J.Kokolakis Contracting, Inc., said he lost a cousin in the terror attacks and is thrilled by the idea of having a memorial in Dunedin. He recently donated $5,000 to the memorial fund. "It's important that people remember how frightened and angry and sad they were on that day and then it's important they remember how wonderful they felt when they saw the unity of a nation that came together in response to that day," he said. "But so many people lost their lives for that to happen. As time goes on it's easy to forget, but we can't. We can't forget." The fire department will host a pancake breakfast to raise money for the memorial on Saturday, June 4, at Fire Station 61, at 903 Michigan Blvd. in Dunedin. A veteran Pinellas County Sheriff's deputy was fired Saturday, hours after he was arrested and charged with DUI manslaughter. Timothy Vaughn, 37, a nine-year veteran Pinellas County Sheriff's deputy Vaughn involved in a crash involving his car and two motorcycles Passenger on one of the motorcycles died Florida Highway Patrol investigators say the crash occurred just before 10:30 p.m. Friday. Vaughn, reportedly driving drunk, was on U.S. 41 in Palmetto driving in the left lane when he drifted over into the left turn lane. The front of Vaughn's 2015 Kia Sportage then struck the back of a motorcycle carrying driver Zachary Morris, 21, and passenger Alexandria Marler, 20. Marler was thrown from the motorcycle into the street, at which time Vaughn struck her with his car. Marler was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash. She was pronounced dead Blake Medical Center later that night at Blake Medical Center. Morris suffered minor injuries in the crash. Onlookers at the scene could tell even from a distance just how serious the situation was. I saw someone crying and there was a bunch of people. A lady pulled over and was giving CPR, and I mean it was bad." said Chris Lembachner. Vaughn was not hurt in the incident. He is currently being held in the Manatee County jail without bond. Two children were injured Saturday after a car deputies were chasing crashed into a gas station pole, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Maurice Betard, 28, crashed into a 7-Eleven pole and gas pump Sarasota County deputies were pursuing Betard before the crash Two children, five and one, were injured Maurice Betard, 28, of Tampa was traveling east on State Road 72 when he lost control of his Toyota Corolla and ran off the roadway. He crashed into a pole and gas pump at the 7-Eleven located at 3156 Clark Road in Sarasota. Troopers said Betard was fleeing Sarasota County deputies prior to the crash. According to the FHP report, Betard fled the scene of the crash on foot in an unknown direction. Two children inside the car, Maurice Betard, 5, and Roman Betard, 1, were seriously injured and taken to All Childrens Hospital in St. Petersburg. Another adult inside the car, Donald O. Ware, 38, of Louisville, Kentucky was not injured. SEVILLE Kantar Media helps advertising businesses measure the reach of content across many media. The new challenges are measuring digital screens and tying together measurement of multiple screens. Speaking with Beet.TV, CEO Andy Brown explains Kantar Medias approach to new TV and video platforms: Its a process of evolution, theres a roadmap: We start with Extended TV, which is inserting tags in the online players and capture people who are watching the online version of TV content, and the ads. The next stage is to start to include all online video for a Total View. The new approaches are the result of an alliance struck between Kantar and comScore in 2015, which includes another program. At the I-Com Global Forum, comScore and Kantar brief delegates on the roll-out of Total View in the Netherlands and of Extended TV measurement in Spain and the Czech Republic. This interview was recorded at the I-com Global Forum for Marketing and Data Measurement in Seville, Spain, April 18 to 21. This video is part of a series from the Forum sponsored by Xaxis. Please visit this page for more videos from Seville. The Durrells star Milo Parker admitted fearing that children his age are more interested in Xboxes than the plight of endangered species. The 13-year-old actor, who stars as Gerald Durrell in the hit ITV adaptation of the famous conservationist's childhood memoirs, said he wanted to inspire a new environmentally-minded generation as he was named ambassador for the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. He said: "I think with all the technology these days kids are more interested in Xbox than realising what's out there and how we really need to play a part in helping to conserve and save these species that are endangered. "I think it's important that the message to young people is given that Xbox or PlayStation isn't all we need to focus on, it's what out there." He said he was "truly humbled to have the opportunity to contribute in my small way" to the work of the Jersey-based wildlife park and charity, founded by Durrell in 1963, which works to save species from extinction. Parker joins Superman star Henry Cavill as an ambassador and he has his eye on the actor for a role in the second series of The Durrells. "If he's up for it, it would be a dream!" he said. The Durrells, which tell the story of the young Gerald and his childhood on the Greek island of Corfu in the 1930s and also stars Keeley Hawes, was an immediate hit with Sunday evening audiences. Parker said working with all the animals in the series as he played wildlife-enthusiast Gerry bolstered his enthusiasm for the new role, although it did not come without its hazards. "In the scene where I bury a bat, I had to sprinkle soil over the tin that the bat's in and the pelican thought that was food and started nipping my shoulder and trying to snatch this tin off me," he said. A second series will begin filming in the autumn and Parker said he was excited to get back to Corfu and his "family" of fellow cast members, including Hawes, who was like the "protective" mother of the group. Speaking about the show's success, he said: "I never expected it to do quite as well as it did but after reading the scripts I thought, I'm part of an amazing experience and I'm really chuffed it's done so well and I think it deserves it." Baby Trixie is the third child for Matt and Emma Willis Television presenter Emma Willis has officially announced the birth of her baby daughter - on her husband Matt's 33rd birthday. The Big Brother host, 40, thanked her Twitter followers for their messages of congratulations and in doing do referenced that her third child had been born on Star Wars day - May 4. Willis, who is married to Busted band member Matt Willis, and already have a young daughter and son, have named their new addition Trixie. Willis, who presented The Voice UK final, told her 1.2 million followers: "Thank you so much for all your lovely messages. Trixie arrived in the world on Wednesday. May the 4th be with her indeed!" The couple are also parents to daughter Isabelle, six, and a son, Ace Billy, four. Today Matt celebrated his birthday just days before he is set to return to the stage with his Busted bandmates for their reunion tour which kicks off in Wembley next week Willis is currently promoting her upcoming TV documentary series What Would Be Your Miracle? Prince Harry will attend the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games today, joining US first lady Michelle Obama at the event. The razzmatazz of the launch show, featuring British acts James Blunt and soprano Laura Wright, will also see Hollywood star Morgan Freeman perform. Harry has spoken about his hopes for the "amazing'' tournament and acknowledged the pressure of maintaining the event's legacy. The 31-year-old royal said he may have set the bar too high with the inaugural games staged in London in 2014, but after touring the Florida venues on Friday and chatting to competitors, he declared the sporting facilities in Orlando "awesome''. Harry has been the driving force behind the Paralympic-style event for injured servicemen and women and veterans and over the five-day tournament more than 500 athletes from 14 countries will compete in a range of sports. The Prince told the Press Association: ''It's going to be amazing, the atmosphere is going to be incredible. ''There's still a few more tickets to sell but we're just inviting people to come down and enjoy what's going to happen, it's going to be fantastic. ''Speaking to all the competitors, they're very happy, the food's great - which is what they care about - the accommodation is excellent. Once they're over the jet-lag they just want to get going.'' The first medals were presented yesterday by Harry but the tournament where sportsmen and women from countries like Italy, Germany, Australia, Estonia, Jordan and the UK will compete will begin in earnest tomorrow. During the day Former US president George Bush will present a symposium about the ''invisible wounds'' of war, like post traumatic stress, and the prince will join him at the start of the day-long event held before the Invictus opening ceremony. Three Spanish freelance journalists held captive in Syria for nearly 10 months returned home on Sunday, tearfully hugging relatives as they got off a military jet sent to Turkey to bring them back. Antonio Pampliega, Jose Manuel Lopez and Angel Sastre shook hands with Acting Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria on the tarmac of the Torrejon de Ardoz air force base on the outskirts of Madrid. They then smiled and cried as relatives ran to hug them. Images on Spain's state-owned TVE television channel showed their arrival but reporters were kept outside the base and away from the three journalists, only catching sight of a dark blue van carrying them from the base. Spain's prime minister Mariano Rajoy posted a photograph of the journalists descending from the aircraft with a caption saying "Welcome!" on his official Twitter account. "Allied and friendly" countries had assisted in ensuring the journalists' release, his office said in a statement late on Saturday. It highlighted Turkey and Qatar, saying they had helped out "especially in the final phase" of the journalists' liberation. It provided no information on the captors and how they were convinced to give up the journalists. The three journalists went missing on July 12, near the city of Aleppo in northern Syria. At the time, the region was under the control of al-Qaida's branch in Syria known as the Nusra Front. Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said the journalists left Turkey from the southeastern city of Hatay after their release. "This adventure has ended happily," Mr Garcia-Margallo said. TVE said in its afternoon news broadcast that the journalists, after arriving at the base, went to a Madrid cafeteria with friends and relatives, where they received a phone call from King Felipe VI. They told journalists that they did not know where they had been held in Syria. The broadcaster said Mr Lopez explained that the three had been incarcerated together for the first three months, after which Mr Pampliega was taken away and not seen again until just before the flight home. Mr Pampliega's mother, Maria del Mar Rodriguez, told the Reporters Without Borders organisation that it was "marvellous" to speak with her son. "He had the same voice he's always had, since he was a boy, and he continually asked my forgiveness for what he'd put me through," she said. "I'm going to prepare him a plate of spinach in bechamel sauce, his favourite dish." Spain's political leaders, campaigning for a general election on June 26, expressed relief and joy at the captives' release. "I join in with the happiness felt by their families, colleagues and friends," Mr Rajoy said in another tweet. The journalists, who provided reports to various media outlets, went to Syria to report on the war that started in 2011. All three had worked in Syria previously and knew what precautions to take before entering the country, said Elsa Gonzalez, president of Spain's federation of journalists. Three other Spanish journalists were released in March 2014 after being held hostage by Syrian extremists for months. The Spanish government has never given details of how it secured their release. ein Google-Unternehmen Google-Dienste anzubieten und zu betreiben Ausfalle zu prufen und Manahmen gegen Spam, Betrug und Missbrauch zu ergreifen Daten zu Zielgruppeninteraktionen und Websitestatistiken zu erheben. Mit den gewonnenen Informationen mochten wir verstehen, wie unsere Dienste verwendet werden, und die Qualitat dieser Dienste verbessern. neue Dienste zu entwickeln und zu verbessern Werbung auszuliefern und ihre Wirkung zu messen personalisierte Inhalte anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen personalisierte Werbung anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen Wenn Sie Alle ablehnen auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies nicht fur diese zusatzlichen Zwecke. Nicht personalisierte Inhalte und Werbung werden u. a. von Inhalten, die Sie sich gerade ansehen, und Ihrem Standort beeinflusst (welche Werbung Sie sehen, basiert auf Ihrem ungefahren Standort). Personalisierte Inhalte und Werbung konnen auch Videoempfehlungen, eine individuelle YouTube-Startseite und individuelle Werbung enthalten, die auf fruheren Aktivitaten wie auf YouTube angesehenen Videos und Suchanfragen auf YouTube beruhen. Sofern relevant, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auerdem, um Inhalte und Werbung altersgerecht zu gestalten. Wir verwenden Cookies und Daten, umWenn Sie Alle akzeptieren auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auch, umWahlen Sie Weitere Optionen aus, um sich zusatzliche Informationen anzusehen, einschlielich Details zum Verwalten Ihrer Datenschutzeinstellungen. Sie konnen auch jederzeit g.co/privacytools besuchen. Big B & Jaya Bachchan Flaunting Their Desi Look At Kalyan Jewellers Event Bollywood Wardrobe Kaustubha What happens when good old Jai and Radha from Sholay meet with a jewellery brand? They become the brand ambassadors of that brand. We all know Big B's and Jaya's equation with the popular Kalyan Jewellers. Recently, the duo was present at the inauguration of one of the stores and boy, they looked nice in their desi avatar. Starting with Big B, he wore a crisp white kurta paired with white pyjama. He paired his ensemble with a sky blue sleeveless jacket. He looked and very desi for this event. On the other hand, wife Jaya Bachchan looked pretty in a beige saree. Jaya is not much of a glamourous being so she kept her look to a minimum and added a twist of black sunglasses. Who do you think rocked the show? Big B or Jaya? Sonam Kapoor Is Ready For Cannes & This Is What She Wore Before Taking Off! Bollywood Wardrobe Kaustubha The fashionista Sonam Kapoor had a series of fashion mishaps at the Cannes International Film festival. This year, let's see what she has for us. Is she going to delight us with her uber fashion sense or is she going to go too edgy and turn us off? Well, what has to happen will happen, and time will tell what Sonam has in store for us. But in this piece, we have something even better for you. Sonam's look right before she took off for the Cannes. Sonam wore a black and white piece by Diogo Miranda at the recently held press conference for Cannes 2016. She picked an interesting outfit for an event like that. An off-shoulder white top tailored with wide-legged pants, accentuated at the waist. Sonam added a touch of top knot and winged-eyeliner to the look. So what do you think of Sonam's pre-Cannes look? Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 08/05/2016 (2360 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. MONTREAL An ever-declining birthrate in Quebec as well as an aging population are putting the spotlight on the provinces immigration levels against the backdrop of issues such as the economy, identity, culture and language. The provinces statistics bureau said the 2015 rate was 1.6 children per woman, down one per cent from 2014 and marking the sixth consecutive year it had edged lower. While that figure may not appear abnormally low, the province also has a rapidly aging population and a growing shortage of skilled workers. Syrian refugees Jamil Haddad (left to right), Tony Batekh, George Louka and Edmon Artin have some fun while they attend French classes at a school Wednesday, February 17, 2016 in Montreal. An ever-declining birthrate in Quebec as well as an aging population are putting the spotlight on the province's immigration levels against the backdrop of issues such as the economy, identity, culture and language. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz Quebec estimates 1.1 million people will retire between 2013 and 2022 and a recent document published for the Immigration Department said this situation underscores the need to reassert immigrations role and its contribution to Quebec. Immigrants, however, are not spread out evenly across the province, and Statistics Canada estimates visible minority groups will represent 31 per cent of Montreals population by 2031 but no more than five per cent everywhere else in Quebec. Universite de Montreal demographer Marc Termote said hes very, very worried about the growing cultural and linguistic divisions between Montreal and other cities. Whats happening is a profound break between Montreal and the rest of Quebec, he said. For example, he explained, there are more immigrants in one of Montreals suburbs, Brossard, than in all of Quebec City, the capital and second-largest city in the province. Furthermore, Termote said its a widely publicized myth that increasing immigration will help labour shortages or the economy. All the studies show immigration creates a neutral benefit to the economy, he said. And we will need to welcome many, many more people than we do now for it to affect our aging population figures or fix labour shortages. Montreal is having trouble integrating the immigrants it already has, with unemployment rates for those born outside Canada at 11 per cent in the city compared to seven per cent for non-immigrants. Quebec has more control over its immigration policy than other provinces and selects newcomers largely based on language; between 2010 and 2014, 61.3 per cent of immigrants were francophone. The policy helps preserve Quebecs linguistic distinctiveness, but it also creates tensions, Termote said. The pool of French immigrants is not France or Belgium or Switzerland, he said. Its French Africa, the Maghreb and sub-Saharan, and there are cultural and economic implications to this. There are also political implications, explains Daniel Weinstock, director of the McGill Institute for Health and Social Policy. Weinstock said Quebec is witnessing a hollowing out of the moderate, nationalist position on immigration and diversity that has characterized politics in the province since the 1960s and the time of Rene Levesque, said Weinstock. Debate is being polarized between the Liberal government, which wants to increase immigration to 60,000 people a year and welcome them based on their economic potential, and an opposition wary of the provinces ability to properly integrate them. There was a kind of consensus, largely the idea that Quebec is an immigrant society and a francophone society and being a full-fledged Quebec citizen means accepting that social contract, Weinstock said. That is changing, he said, as many in the province are beginning to think its not just about protecting the French language but protecting all other aspects of Quebec culture which certain immigrants, even when they do speak French, may not share. An example of the new thinking was the values charter the Parti Quebecois government introduced in 2013 that would have prohibited public-sector workers from wearing conspicuous religious symbols on the job. The charter was never adopted as the PQ was defeated in the 2014 election. The Liberal government quickly backtracked on its proposal to welcome more immigrants after receiving criticism, stating it was planning on keeping immigration levels constant at 50,000 people a year for the time being. When the Coalition for Quebecs Future, a right-of-centre party that is the third largest political party in the province, questioned the merits of increasing the number of immigrants, Couillard accused its leader, Francois Legault, of fanning the flames of intolerance. With 50,000-60,000 immigrants a year we are going to change the cultural face of Quebec and the challenges of a francophone society that is culturally distinct will increase, Weinstock said. How that will play out politically is anyones guess. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 08/05/2016 (2360 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA The Trudeau government has yet to respond to an offer by Russia to dispatch massive water bombers and fire fighting specialists to battle the growing inferno around Fort McMurray, Alta. The proposal was made late last week by Vladimir Puchkov, the Russian minister of emergency measures. A spokesman for Russias embassy in Ottawa, Kirill Kalinin, said Sunday that they continue to stand ready to help our Canadian partners to fight the ongoing wildfires in Alberta. Russia's emergency situations minister Vladimir Puchkov heads a conference call with representatives of Egypt and St. Petersburg to discuss the plane crash in Egypt, in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015. The Trudeau government has yet to respond to an offer by Russia to dispatch massive water bombers and fire fighting specialists to battle the growing inferno around Fort McMurray, Alta.The proposal was made late last week by Puchkov. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko The offer involves sending converted Ilyushin Il-76 transport planes the kind occasionally leased by the Canadian military that can dump as much as 42 tons of fire retardant into fire spots, according to a statement on the web site of Russias Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters. In addition, Moscow said it has rescuers and specialists with necessary equipment ready to help on the ground, if need be. There has been a diplomatic chill between Canada and Russia since Moscows annexation of Crimea in the spring of 2014, but since the election the Liberal government has said it wanted a constructive relationship with President Vladimir Putins government. Speaking on CTVs Question Period on Sunday, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said the fire, which is expected to cover up to 3,000 square kilometres by the end of the day, continues to grow. But he made no mention of the Russian overture or any other potential pitch of international assistance. Its big. Its out of control and the end is not in sight, Goodale told the news program. The Department of Global Affairs was asked about the Kremlins offer and whether other countries had extended similar proposals, but no one was immediately available to comment. Canadian officials did tell Russian media that the proposal was being studied. At least 27 air tankers and 15 helicopters are involved in fighting the wildfire that has driven over 88,000 people from their homes in the oil patch community. Goodale was also not prepared Sunday to call out the army to join the over 600 firefighters from Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba and New Brunswick who have been part of the effort to contain the blaze, the origins of which remain a mystery. Troops were deployed last year to help contain a massive woodland blaze in Saskatchewan, but Goodale said Sunday it was best to leave the current disaster to full-time firefighters. This is a beast of a fire and it needs the most professional fighters to contend with it, he said. The air force, meanwhile, deployed one of its new heavy-lift battlefield helicopters Sunday for the first time in support of the disaster relief operation. The CH-147F Chinook took two loads of food, medicine and emergency supplies to a First Nations community 50 kilometres outside of Fort McMurray. It bolsters the existing four CH-146 Griffons and the one C-130J Hercules, which have been involved since midway through last week. The Chinook, with its 10,886-kilogram load capacity, is an important addition for moving relief supplies quickly into remote area, said Maj. Gord Gushue, the deputy commander of the air task force supporting the operation. He said the skies around the wildfire are already pretty congested and military pilots have had to take care. You can appreciate that the (civilian pilots) might be running a bucket ops where they scoop up water and move it around, going up and down quite a ways. So, they have to be very careful to make sure no one is flying underneath them or overhead, Gushue said in an interview from Edmonton. The pilots have faced some pretty severe smoke conditions that in one case saw a Griffon helicopter take off from Fort McMurray and fly out using instruments because the conditions were so bad. Follow @Murray_Brewster on Twitter Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version said the Chinook helicopter had a load capacity of 36,700 kilograms. The Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan has called on opposition parties to play a "positive and constructive" role in their dealings with the new government. Sinn Fein has been critical of the new coalition - claiming it's effectively a coalition between Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. Roisin Shortall has accused Simon Harris of taking the Social Democrats' plans for the health service. In one of his first interviews since he was appointed Minister for Health in the new Cabinet on Friday, Fine Gael's Simon Harris claimed he had a 10-year plan for the sector. He also said he needed cross-party support for his ideas and promised to take politics out of the portfolio. Among the other changes we could see is an extension of free GP care to the under 12s by the end of this year, and free visits for under 18s within the lifetime of the Government. However, Social Democrats co-leader Roisin Shortall said the plans came from her party. "We've been working on this for the last few weeks, we have a very comprehensive Dail motion ready to run, we have a majority of TDs signing up to that Dail motion," she said. "Look," she added, "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery, let us say. "I was surprised, I smiled when I heard him coming up with this idea because it was exactly what I discussed with him on Friday night." Turkish artillery fire has targeted the Islamic State group in Syria, killing 55 militants and destroying three vehicles and three rocket launchers, the state-run Anadolu Agency said. Turkish warplanes also struck positions of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in northern Iraq on Sunday. NEW YORK: Earnings reports from the four biggest US companies by market capitalization in the coming week may test a... TEHRAN: Iran has once again rejected allegations that it has supplied Russia with weapons "to be used in the war in... The CSIRO has begun the hunt for a partner to deliver a major redevelopment of its massive Ginninderra Field Station to make way for a new urban area on Canberra's northern outskirts. On Monday, the research organisation will begin advertising a tender calling for expressions of interest for a joint development partner. The CSIRO plans to allow a developer onto its Ginninderra field station land for an urban development. CSIRO general manager for business and infrastructure Mark Wallis stressed the organisation was not looking to sell the site. "We are looking for a joint-venture development partner and one that's aligned with our aspirations for the site, which is to ensure we deliver the benchmark in urban sustainable design and also to tackle the problem of affordable housing," he said. Lawyers acting for an allegedly negligent doctor probably misled a court about why vital evidence was not given to a teenage patient infected with a flesh-easting bacteria during knee surgery, a judge has ruled. The actions of the solicitors, which may constitute professional misconduct, arose during a medical negligence case against an orthopaedic surgeon and John James Hospital in the ACT Supreme Court. Lawyers for a surgeon have been accused of deliberately withholding evidence from a teenage patient suing for negligence. Credit:Gabriele Charotte The patient, a 13-year-old girl, was being treated for a ligament injury to her left knee, and was referred to the surgeon. He did three operations between May 2000 and May 2002. The last two were needed to deal with complications arising from the first. The gun midfielder should be assessed early in the week, but when asked on Sunday whether he would play against the Swans, Cotchin said "I'd like to think yes". Cotchin missed the Tigers' loss to Hawthorn on Friday night after breaking his cheekbone in the round six loss to Port Adelaide. Richmond captain Trent Cotchin is hopeful of returning for Saturday night's MCG clash with Sydney, but says his availability for the match will be guided by a meeting on Monday. Richmond should in any case regain key defender Alex Rance in time to face Coleman Medal leader Lance Franklin. Rance was suspended for the matches against Power and the Hawks. Cotchin said the club's middle band of players needed to lift if the Tigers (1-6) were to salvage something from a season that is fast turning into a write-off. "I think we forget about how important those guys are to us playing consistent footy," he told Channel Seven. "We can talk about the leaders, we can talk about our young players, but our middle tier group is probably the most important ... and where you're going to get a lot of your wins from. "The expectation is that you're going to have 15, 16 players performing at a consistent level, week in, week out, and then you have the ability to carry a few." Cotchin added that the Tigers needed to be more composed with ball in hand. Trailing by nine points at three-quarter time on Friday night, Damien Hardwick's men succumbed meekly, conceding nine final-term goals. The corporate watchdog is ready to follow this year's review of mortgage broker commissions with detailed investigative work in the sector, including shadow-shopping or file reviews, after consumer groups said the initial probe was too narrow in scope. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has been asked by the government to this year inquire into commissions paid by banks to mortgage brokers, who arrange half of all new home loans. Extra funding will help ASIC step up scrutiny of mortgage brokers. Consumer groups earlier this year raised concerns with ASIC the review may not put enough scrutiny on responsible lending or ethical behaviour from brokers, as it was focused on reviewing data on commissions and ownership structures of brokers rather than on-the-ground surveillance. After receiving a funding increase last month, ASIC now says it is also ready to carry out "shadow-shopping" and reviews of brokers' files, ensuring brokers remain under scrutiny beyond this year's review. The discussion generated by the selection of partners for the construction of future submarines has been fascinating. Crispin Hull ("Subs spending is illogical") has suggested the submarine spending is illogical because submarines are going to be obsolete and that, if we are going to have them, they should be nuclear-powered. This is a bit like saying your next car is a choice between a horse-drawn cart or a solar-powered, autonomous vehicle which picks you up and reads you the email as it drives you home. Our navy, indeed our whole defence force, is much greater than the sum of its parts. While grey warships and black submarines are some of the most obvious and important parts, they are most effective and useful as part of the sophisticated capability systems which make up our navy. A navy consists of people, activity, networks, bases, equipment, industry partners, international allies, knowledge, and operations; some of these elements are wrapped up in steel hulls which can travel around the world and are called warships, but that does not disconnect them from rest of the navy or the national naval enterprise. While warships can and do operate alone, at their peak capacity they are intended to work together in groups, connected, as part of powerful systems; these are known as task groups and can vary in size and composition, depending on the requirement. They can have submarines, aircraft, ships and amphibious army units in them, each with a particular role to play. To suggest our navy, or any credible navy, would not have submarines as a part of their future force structure is mistaken. While they are indeed significant acquisitions, they are also excellent value for money, even if just considered as a military capability. Submarines provide a sovereign strategic deterrent capability for Australia which is unlike any other we possess. Hooray at last! Another election; another opportunity for the mug punter to decide the collar shade of the crooks who run the country for the next three years blue or white. The political class, whose members pontificate in Canberra while handing out favours to those of their supporters who can afford to fund them, have the temerity to bemoan the fact that so many of us who are compelled to vote, actually vote informal. But the system is such that only financial masochists could support it. We are one of the most over-governed countries in the Western world. For every dollar our Kiwi friends spend on government, we in the land of Oz spend more than two. New Zealand gets by with a unicameral Commonwealth government and a series of local councils. We could do likewise with a little political will. But the political class will beef about the massive federal deficit without addressing the greatest expense we have in this country, that of government itself. John Hinde Millers Point I fully understand why Bill Shorten wants the election to be based on policy rather than personality. Everything Bill Shorten says is delivered without any passion, without any panache, without any personality. Graeme Milton Newtown Given that we live on a planet with finite resources, when can we expect to hear the mantra "Jobs without Growth"? Yours sincerely Hugh Barrett Narrabri It is worth remembering that Malcolm Turnbull has never won an election. It would be a shame to ruin his record. Glenn Meeves Penrith I hope Malcolm Turnbull has apologised to Lady Cosgrove for ruining her Mother's Day lunch. Stephanie Edwards Wollstonecraft Dilution of environmental protection flawed policy When I was growing up in western Sydney I could walk out of the house into some nearby bushland area and see Jackie lizards scurrying out of my way, photograph native orchids and see blue triangle butterflies , flying around, after they emerged from their cocoons on "weed" camphor laurel trees. There were also native birds such as willy wagtails and blue wrens. That area is now wall-to-wall houses. With their habitat gone the fauna either moved on or died. The immovable flora no doubt went under foot. To read that one ecologist in the public sector ("Land-clearing push not enough, say critics", May 7) said "So long as [the flora species] doesn't become technically extinct, you can gut it," condemns the proposed biodiversity components of the changes to the Native Vegetation Act. Anthony Healy Willoughby East As an older landholder in NSW who has lived my entire life on mixed farms, I would like to argue against the state government's dilution of environmental protection under the NSW Biodiversity Review. My youth was spent among skeletons of trees ringbarked before bulldozers were invented. As water-tables rose, my father discovered it was salt that followed clearing, not fertility. Cleared country that escaped salt was often marginal, supporting one or two crops a decade. Such land would probably have been better left as open forest. Queensland, 2014, had something like 300,000 hectares dozed when clearing wasn't controlled. The NSW Vegetation Act has been restrictive, but necessary. We don't like being told how to manage our farms, but many farm families have gone. Previous lessons get forgotten. The Baird government should not lower these safeguards, we need them more than ever. Geoff Reid Rock Valley Little transparency on planning issues It is becoming very evident that the Baird government has a secret master plan it is keeping from us ("Developers eye Long Bay site", May 7-8). What with a multimillion-dollar footbridge to a non-existent stadium (no doubt long planned but now canned), historic trees vandalised and sacred Aboriginal sites desecrated for a light rail to a race course, all despite unprecedented public outcry, and now we add in the sale of Long Bay prison complex, it all begins to make sense. Despite urgent transport needs elsewhere we are providing infrastructure, easily extendable to an as-yet undeveloped site, which will no doubt enhance the desirability of the area for the subsequent developer. Among the questions we need to ask in this government's rapacious asset sale agenda is how transparent is the sale tender processes? With humble public housing residences in Millers Point fetching between $3 to $8 million it is hard to reconcile the 99-year lease of the Department of Education building in Bridge Street for a mere $35 million. What will the Power House Museum site fetch and with all these things occurring with no consultation and such unseemly haste, we can only wonder what the next revelation will be? Michael Emmett Umina Beach Like all developers, the state government thinks a good block is an empty block. However, the 41-hectare Long Bay Jail site has been fully heritage-listed by local and state governments for 15 years. Demolition or alteration is only best achieved by adaptive reuse, which limits financial viability. This bean-counter government, lead by former investment banker, Mike Baird, is hooked on its abacus mentality and only sees open space as a development opportunity. No blade of grass is safe in NSW. Andrew Woodhouse Potts Point I believe there is a misprint in the article regarding the sell-off the Long Bay prison complex. It states the government is accelerating the closure and sale of the site and construction of another prison to cope with a record number of inmates. I think it should have read "mates", not inmates. Matthew Burke Dee Why Unit 2/Block 3, Bunnerong Road, Long Bay. A bargain at $1.5 million. I wonder what the current occupant thinks? Keith Fawcett Moruya Heads Contaminants worry Thanks for your article "Blood runs high over failure to test for contaminants," May 7-8. The shabby treatment of those affected by Ministry of Defence contamination of the environment by chemicals banned in Canada and severely restricted in US and EU is reminiscent of the behaviour of the California power company in the movie Erin Brockovich. When a government treats its own citizens in such a devious and heartless way, it's no surprise that it subjects asylum seekers to such cruel and inhumane treatment. In both cases, our government is morally bankrupt. Richard Edmonds Balcolyn To reassure the locals of Williamstown and Oakey would the researchers and bureaucrats be willing to back their beliefs with actions and voluntarily ingest some PFCs to get their blood levels up to 30-60 times the community average? Alan Garrity North Narrabeen Cut Manildra ties "Chopper" Baird needs to cut all ties to Manildra ("Ethanol ruling spells trouble at the bowser for Baird", May 7-8). I am sick of the argument we must have ethanol in petrol. It is a destroyer of cars, causing wasted money on repairs and protracted legal claims, let alone the loss of time without a car. Alastair Browne Cromer Heights Suburbs vandalised "How well I know the gut-wrenching feeling that Patrick McGrath must have about the loss of the magnificent century-old figs along Anzac Parade and Alison Road ("Despair at the politicians and bureaucrats who axed trees", May 7-8). Just a few kilometres away we are experiencing the same feeling as the Baird government smashes down century-old Federation houses in the heritage suburb of Haberfield, to make way for the environmental, planning and financial disaster of the WestConnex tollway. This will bring years of hell for us as WestConnex is constructed 24/7. The end result will be the Parramatta Road and Wattle Street interchanges, each the best part of 100 metres wide and several hundred metres long, great concrete gashes in our urban fabric, discharging traffic onto already congested roads. This is just the start of the swath of destruction that WestConnex will bring across inner Sydney. Residents of St Peters, Newtown, Rozelle, Lilyfield, Annandale, Camperdown etc should drop by Haberfield and Ashfield in the next few weeks to see what WestConnex has in store for them if it is allowed to go ahead. John Hyde Ashfield Vandals who desecrate a war memorial can be arrested and fined. Baird desecrates and destroys the trees which are the war memorial of Anzac Parade and gets away with it. Shame! Shame! Shame! Gabrielle Merten Hurstville Oils ain't oils What great news that the Oils are getting the band back together ("Oooohhhh, the power and the pension", May 7-8). And about time Peter Garrett gave away that adolescent political nonsense and got back to a real job with credibility. Bob Guy Cootamundra It is becoming very evident that the Baird government has a secret master plan it is keeping from us ("Developers eye Long Bay site", May 7-8). What with a multimillion-dollar footbridge to a non-existent stadium (no doubt long planned but now canned), historic trees vandalised and sacred Aboriginal sites desecrated for a light rail to a race course, all despite unprecedented public outcry, and now we add in the sale of Long Bay prison complex, it all begins to make sense. Despite urgent transport needs elsewhere we are providing infrastructure, easily extendable to an as-yet undeveloped site, which will no doubt enhance the desirability of the area for the subsequent developer. Among the questions we need to ask in this government's rapacious asset sale agenda is how transparent is the sale tender processes? With humble public housing residences in Millers Point fetching between $3 to $8 million it is hard to reconcile the 99-year lease of the Department of Education building in Bridge Street for a mere $35 million. What will the Power House Museum site fetch and with all these things occurring with no consultation and such unseemly haste, we can only wonder what the next revelation will be? Michael Emmett Umina Beach Like all developers, the state government thinks a good block is an empty block. However, the 41-hectare Long Bay Jail site has been fully heritage-listed by local and state governments for 15 years. Demolition or alteration is only best achieved by adaptive reuse, which limits financial viability. This bean-counter government, lead by former investment banker, Mike Baird, is hooked on its abacus mentality and only sees open space as a development opportunity. No blade of grass is safe in NSW. Andrew Woodhouse Potts Point I believe there is a misprint in the article regarding the sell-off the Long Bay prison complex. It states the government is accelerating the closure and sale of the site and construction of another prison to cope with a record number of inmates. I think it should have read "mates", not inmates. Matthew Burke Dee Why Unit 2/Block 3, Bunnerong Road, Long Bay. A bargain at $1.5 million. I wonder what the current occupant thinks? Keith Fawcett Moruya Heads Contaminants worry Thanks for your article "Blood runs high over failure to test for contaminants," May 7-8. The shabby treatment of those affected by Ministry of Defence contamination of the environment by chemicals banned in Canada and severely restricted in US and EU is reminiscent of the behaviour of the California power company in the movie Erin Brockovich. When a government treats its own citizens in such a devious and heartless way, it's no surprise that it subjects asylum seekers to such cruel and inhumane treatment. In both cases, our government is morally bankrupt. Richard Edmonds Balcolyn To reassure the locals of Williamstown and Oakey would the researchers and bureaucrats be willing to back their beliefs with actions and voluntarily ingest some PFCs to get their blood levels up to 30-60 times the community average? Alan Garrity North Narrabeen Kaye ahead of his time now running out Not only was John Kaye's behaviour impeccable ("Vale John Kaye: A role model for better politicians" May 7-8), he had vision about global warming/climate change. Even before 2006 he was publishing material with titles such as "Averting a Climate Catastrophe" and "Averting a Global Catastrophe". Sadly, the time for averting has passed, the appropriate word is now mitigating. George Carrard Oatley This weekend Sydney proved to be a world beater. ("Sydney air quality back to 'hazardous' after city blanketed in smoke, smh.com.au, May 8) as the smoke from the Rural Fire Service burn-offs enveloped our city, from the mountains to the sea. Eat your heart out, Beijing. Paul Doyle Glenbrook So the RFS has just blanketed a city of 5 million people in choking pollution for what? Many Blue Mountains suburbs have been allowed to creep into bushland areas and now require vast resources (and massive hazard reduction burns) to safeguard this relatively small number of properties. I would like to see the government do more to either restrict the growth of streets that abut wilderness or stop punishing the great majority for the lifestyle choices of the few. Martin Lilford Katoomba CSIRO plans to close its ice lab and cease key Antarctic science activities, moves that scientists warn will damage Australia's international partnerships and run counter to a new $2 billion-plus government plan for the region. Staff in CSIRO's key climate science units within its Oceans & Atmosphere division will be told as early as Monday where the intended axe of 74 jobs will land, according to a leaked union document obtained by Fairfax Media. Australia's Aurora Australis at work in the Antarctic. Credit:Mike Zupanc, Australian Antarctic Division The cuts are part of the agency's plan to slash 275 jobs and shift resources elsewhere. Monday is expected to mark the start of the formal contacting of staff to inform them their positions will go. Antarctic science will bear part of the brunt just days after Environment Minister Greg Hunt announced government support topping $2 billion over 20 years to boost Australia's position on the icy continent. The funds include an ice-breaker ship but also ice-core research now at risk. There's more of the same weather in store for Monday and Tuesday, with a high chance of rain in the morning and afternoon for both those days. There were several minor car accidents on the wet roads. In Chisholm, a car crashed into a light pole, knocking the pole across the road. More than 15 millimetres of rain fell on the capital on Sunday, dampening journalists and political junkies who were out to watch the Prime Minister visit the Governor-General and call a double-dissolution election . Monday and Tuesday are also predicted to be windy, with speeds of about 20-30km/h. The skies are likely to clear up by Tuesday afternoon, but the wind is forecast to stay for the week. Access to the southern end of Googong Foreshore via London Bridge Road was closed on Monday due to the wet weather. Senior forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology Neale Fraser said May had already had more rain than the entire month of April. More than double the amount of rain fell over Canberra on Sunday than had fallen in the entire month of April. And on top of Sunday's 15mm received, May 1 had 6.8mm. "April was very dry, [Canberra] only had 6.8mm for the whole month," Mr Fraser said. "If we go back to March, March had 28.4mm but only five days got anything." Nothing dampens the collective mood like the cold snap that swept into Canberra on Sunday. Like a harbinger of the gruelling eight-week battle ahead, the capital's extended Indian summer of mild nights and sunny windless days, suddenly yielded to persistent rain and a gloomy overcast as Malcolm Turnbull pulled the election trigger - a reminder right from the get-go, that this is a winter poll. A blustery wet election day could put voters in a grumpy mood and for Shorten, if he's close when it counts, that might be enough. The good news for Labor is that its stocks in Western Australia are set to improve in the federal election. The bad? That is largely because things have never been worse and the only way would seem to be up. Labor holds only three lower house seats in WA compared to the Liberals' 12 - which includes Foreign Minister Julie Bishop - in what has long been a Liberal stronghold. In the Senate, the party has only three out of 12 WA seats. Many studies show parents' positive influence on their children's education, but hardly anyone will discuss the opposite: when parents stymie that education and ambition. It's not uniquely Australian, but sentiments unsupportive of education are part of our cultural DNA. We know about our sporting heroes, but who knows about our Nobel Prize winners? And worse, who cares? Hey true blue: Australia's historical dependence on physical work and a can-do capacity has bred a disdain for formal learning. Credit:Simon Letch I witnessed the consequences of these educationally-destructive factors when attending rural secondary schools in the '60s, and more recently when teaching in metropolitan schools. In 2001, aged 46, I was first-year teaching at an outer-suburban government school. Expecting a new educational era accompanying the new millennium, I discovered little had changed since my schooldays. Children planning major cosmetic surgery will be subject to a three-month cooling off period and must pass an independent mental health check under new national standards. The Medical Board of Australia will on Monday release new guidelines for doctors performing all cosmetic procedures, from anti-ageing injections to full body makeovers. They require a seven-day cooling off period for adults before major procedures, and impose a mandatory requirement that doctors prescribing anti-ageing injections and dermal fillers see the patient at least by video before doing so. Joanna Flynn, chairwoman of the medical board, said the public guidelines should send the message that all surgery is serious and requires proper consideration by patients. In the first electoral test of the controversial plan for council amalgamation, NSW South Coast voters have joined a growing backlash against the state government's scheme. The state electoral commission has reported that 95.5 per cent of Kiama voters who took part in a voluntary referendum said "no" to the amalgamation of Kiama and Shoalhaven councils. Of 16,829 eligible voters, just under half turned up to vote on Saturday. Result should send "a clear message t the government": Kiama Mayor Brian Petschler. Credit:Albey Bond Kiama mayor Brian Petschler said it was an "excellent result given the voluntary nature of the poll". He said the result sent a "clear message to the NSW Government that it should not proceed with this forced amalgamation" with Shoalhaven City Council. In one of the most memorable scenes of David Lean's epic Lawrence of Arabia, Lawrence and his motley crew of would-be kings, gold diggers, brigands and desperados have just wrecked a train. As they loot the train, Lawrence begins walking across the top of the wrecked carriages, and the mob begin to chant in adoration: "Lawrence! Lawrence! Lawrence!" Lawrence had given them a unity of purpose. Lawrence Springborg, 'father of the LNP', gave the conservative side of politics unity of purpose. However, beyond that, what is his legacy? At the next state election voters will not be asking 'Do you prefer Optional Preferential Voting (OPV) or Compulsory Preferential Voting (CPV)'. Instead they will be asking 'who do we trust to create employment security for us and our children?' Compulsory Preferential Voting is a George St insider issue. That one of the most animated commentators on this issue is the ABC election analyst and living psephological treasure Antony Green evidences this. That's it for Melbourne Express for today. Handing over now to the www.theage.com.au and Melbourne Express on Facebook. Expect more on the triple shooting from our reporter on the scene Tammy Mills. Also check in to senior football writer Rohan Connolly's blog from midday. We will be back on deck tomorrow. A prominent Middle Eastern crime figure has been shot for the second time in the latest exchange of gunfire in Melbourne's bullet-ridden north-west. It is understood Mahmoud Kheir, 37, was one of three men injured when a shooter "let rip" at a house in Erinbank Crescent in Westmeadows at 11.40pm on Sunday. Two of the men were shot in the legs, while another was shot in the upper body. The other men, 26 and 28, and Kheir, all suffered injuries that were not considered life threatening. It is not the first time Mahmoud Kheir has been shot. In 2009, Kheir, his younger brother, Nasser, jailed drug kingpin Mohammad Oueida, and well-known underworld figure Fadi Haddara, tried to free a man who had been held captive at a house in Coolaroo. Mexico City: Mexican drug boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was moved on Saturday from a jail in central Mexico to a prison in Ciudad Juarez on the US border, a development that appears to bring him closer to extradition to the United States. Guzman, head of the Sinaloa drug cartel, was one of the world's most wanted drug kingpins until his capture in January, six months after he broke out of a high-security penitentiary in central Mexico through a 1.6-kilometre-long tunnel. Chapo, or "Shorty," faces charges ranging from money laundering to drug trafficking, kidnapping and murder in cities that include Chicago, Miami and both Brooklyn and Manhattan, New York. Rapidly growing independent merchant Huws Gray has acquired Shropshire Building Supplies for an undisclosed sum. The Anglesey-headquartered business has added to its expanding portfolio the five Shropshire Building Supplies branches: Leebotwood, Newport, Ludlow, Shrewsbury (Battlefield) and Shrewsbury Plumbing Outlet. Shropshire Building Supplies was first established in 1977. This acquisition makes a great addition to the existing Huws Gray branches in Shrewsbury, Telford and links up geographically with branches in other regions. The recent acquisition is Huws Grays largest acquisition to date and takes the total number of Huws Gray branches to 53 and the number of employees to nearly 700, following six acquisitions in the last six months and 11 sites since September 2015. Terry Owen, Huws Gray's managing director, said: "As a company we are always looking to move forward and this recent acquisition offers new challenges and exciting opportunities for everyone. We are extremely privileged to be in a situation to acquire such a well-respected independent merchant and we would like to thank Ian Beaver for his co-operation during this acquisition. We have known the family for a number of years and formed a great relationship. Were delighted to have completed the deal and were looking forward to working with the existing teams at all five branches to help continue their success. The combined knowledge and experience of Shropshire Building Supplies and Huws Gray employees will benefit all our branches. Ian Beaver, SBS managing director, added: "This is the right time to hand over the reins of Shropshire Building Supplies to Huws Gray. Since 1977 weve built something very special in the area and were very proud. I would like to thank all the employees for their hard work over the years and wish them the continued success with Huws Gray. It was important for Shropshire Building Supplies to find a likeminded progressive business to acquire us and we are delighted to be able to secure a deal with Huws Gray who will take the company to the next level." Moorestown honors Percheron that helped build the town Percheron Park opened in downtown Moorestown with a tribute to the horse of yesteryear and its owner, who first brought the breed to the U.S. THREE vehicles have been submrged in just 24 hours on Brean beach this weekend as high Spring tides catch out drivers, prompting a fresh safety warning. Coastguards from Burnham-On-Sea and Weston, plus crews from BARB Search & Rescue and Weston RNLI, were called to the beach besides Brean Down on Saturday after the trio of vehicles succombed to the exceptionally high tide. An Audi A5, pictured above, was completely submerged on Saturday evening at 7.30pm next to Brean Down where the vehicle was only partially visible poking out of the sea. The owner, from Barton Hill in Bristol, said: We went up onto Brean Down for an evening walk and were unaware the tide could reach the car its come as a shock. A BMW 323, pictured above, could also not be saved in time before the tide reached it near the slipway onto Brean beach at 7.30pm. Its owner, who is visiting the area from Berlin in Germany, said there were no visible warning signs other than that the car park was to close at 8pm. She added: Its a company car and Im due to drive back to Germany on Monday so I dont know what I will do. A third vehicle, a Honda 44, pictured above, got stuck in mud and was swamped by the incoming tide on Friday evening. The driver, a Polish-speaker from London, said he was unaware of the dangers. The crew of BARBs Light Of Elizabeth hovercraft, pictured below, and Burnham Coastguards worked together during Saturday to pull the vehicle out of the mud. During a four-hour operation, the vehicle was freed and was taken away by the owner, who also made a donation to the rescue service for its help. A Burnham Coastguard spokesman told Burnham-On-Sea.com: We would urge anyone using local beaches this week during the high Spring tides to check the tide times. Speak with the beach warden if you have any questions before leaving your car. Also, always heed the warning signs and stay away from the muddy areas of the beach to ensure you do not put yourself into any potential difficulty. The Weston lifeboat crews inspecting one of the two cars at Brean on Saturday evening to check no-one was in any difficulty. A shocked beach walker watched as the BMW became surrounded by the rapidly incoming tide A crowd of holidaymakers and residents watched the incidents unfold from the dunes and sea wall in Brean The Honda was finally hauled from the mud and its interior was coated in mud and wet sand after spending many hours under the sea. RELATED LINK: Tide times for Burnham-On-Sea and Brean ALTER EGOS Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and the Twilight Struggle Over American Power Mark Landler Random House 406 pages; $28 Ever since she stepped down as secretary of state in 2013, Hillary Clinton has been positioning herself to the right of Barack Obama on foreign affairs. In her 2014 memoir, Hard Choices, Ms Clinton recalled her foreign policy differences with the president, stating that she had opposed demanding an Israeli settlements freeze in 2009 and warned about Russian President Vladimir Putin's malign intentions long before anyone else in the administration. But would Ms Clinton actually preside over a more robustly interventionist foreign policy than Mr Obama? Or is she simply adopting hawkish plumage to woo swing voters and to deflect criticism from the right during the general election? In Alter Egos, his lively and informative study of the relationship between Mr Obama and Ms Clinton, Mark Landler, who is a White House correspondent for The New York Times, comes down emphatically on the side of an interventionist Ms Clinton. Mr Landler expertly quarries her recently released emails from her secret web server, and he has conducted numerous interviews with Obama administration officials (though Ms Clinton and Mr Obama both declined to be interviewed for this book). He depicts Mr Obama as an idealist who disdains the idea of American exceptionalism and Ms Clinton as an inveterate liberal interventionist who firmly believes that the mandate of America extends, to borrow the language of George W Bush, into "any dark corner of the world." Nonetheless, he does not demonstrate that there has ever been a profound clash of foreign policy visions between them. There can be no doubting that tensions existed between the Obama and Clinton camps after the brutal 2008 primary campaign, when Clinton depicted Mr Obama as naive about national security. Ms Clinton immediately surrounded herself with loyalists at the state department, and she had difficulties penetrating the Obama inner circle. In the early days of the administration, Mr Landler writes, "White House officials on the secretary's plane were sometimes viewed as spies." The angriest Mr Obama became with Ms Clinton, Mr Landler says, concerned the Arab Spring and the uprising in Egypt's Tahrir Square. Mr Obama pushed for the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, while Ms Clinton was more cautious about parting with a long-time ally and friend of the United States. But, Mr Landler also shows that after Islamic radicals attacked and murdered American diplomats in Benghazi, Mr Obama, who had been urged to intervene in Libya by Ms Clinton, drew closer to her personally. "For Obama," Mr Landler says, "Libya was less a loss of innocence than a confirmation of what he had always believed: that American interventions, more often than not, end in ashes." Mr Landler also shows that Mr Obama and Ms Clinton rapidly altered their stances in responding to unpredictable developments: "From Egypt and Bahrain to Yemen and Libya, the president and his secretary of state struggled to reconcile values with interests, democratic hopes with geopolitical realities - often wrapping themselves around the axle in the process. Their struggle culminated in the horrors of Syria, where the United States ended up a bystander to the deadliest war of the 21st century." In Mr Landler's view, Mr Obama and Ms Clinton "are more than just two of the most riveting political figures of our time. They are protagonists in a great debate over American power - one that will decide not only who sits in the Oval Office but the direction she or he will take a nation that faces a new twilight struggle against the forces of disorder." This is unpersuasive. Any disputes between Mr Obama and Ms Clinton over dealing with issues like Iran, Syria or China are about tactics, not substance. At bottom they are both liberal internationalists. She wasn't calling for ground troops in West Asia, any more than he was. What's more, any conflicts between them pale into insignificance next to the battle over foreign policy in the Republican Party, which is pitting crusading neoconservatives against outright isolationists. Mr Landler says Mr Obama became sceptical about American intentions during his childhood years in Indonesia and that "his Kenyan roots added another layer to this carapace of suspicion." But was it necessary to have lived in Indonesia and have a Kenyan father to arrive at these sensible views? A number of American presidents, including Dwight D Eisenhower, who grew up in Kansas, were apprehensive about becoming entangled in West Asia. Mr Landler concludes that Mr Obama and Ms Clinton are "very different people with very different instincts about how to wield American power - like Truman and Acheson, the plain-spoken Missouri haberdasher and the aristocratic Connecticut Yankee, who together embodied the idealism and realism of America in the 20th century." But this comparison is dubious. There were no great frictions between Truman and Acheson. Both tried to work with Stalin's Soviet Union as late as 1946 before adopting a pragmatic containment policy toward it. Given Ms Clinton's own pragmatism, it would be surprising if once in office she tried to embark on a crusade for a new dawn of justice to replace the twilight struggle identified by Mr Landler. Despite Mr Landler's contention that Ms Clinton and Mr Obama exemplify a grand debate, his book inadvertently suggests the surprising thing isn't that they had occasional disputes. It's that they worked together as well as they did. 2016, The New York Times News Service Zuverlassig, German meaning is reliable. That is what inspired Sidhant Mally and Sovin Hegde, to name their on-demand driver supply start-up venture as Zuver. It offers reliable, skilled, well-trained and well-mannered drivers on-demand at your door step. They found the driver market is unorganised and there is a demand for reliable, well-trained drivers. The company, Jobbie Services India, was launched in January. Zuver was launched in March. It was earlier offering services under the name of Quick Driver. Zuver claims it can help customers save cost of maintaining a full time driver with a monthly payment for a few trips during the day. For instance, monthly salary of a driver could be Rs 15,000 in a city like Mumbai, whereas the actual requirement would be only for a few trips a day. "We can send a driver to the customer in 40 minutes and the payment starts at Rs 100 per hour. This means the customer can save money and drivers earn more by taking making more trips during the free hours," said Mally. Hegde said such customers can save 70 to 80 per cent of their cost. It provides 1,800 trips a month from Mumbai. Zuver gets 20 per cent of the payment as commission. From 60 to 65 drivers at present in Mumbai, it is planning to increase the supply to 120 to 150 by the end of this month. In May, it announced raising of Rs 1.2 crore ($180,000) seed funding from Shruth & Smith Group, Bengaluru and Hermes Group, Mumbai. This would help them to expand to Bengaluru and Pune. The next round of funding, expected to be of $1.5-2 million would be in June. This would help them to expand to Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai. By the end of this year, it plans to be in 10 cities with strong presence in at least 5-6 cities and around 1,000 drivers. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has sought an Interpol notice against (pictured) for his alleged role in siphoning off part of an IDBI Bank loan of Rs 950 crore, sanctioned to Kingfisher Airlines in 2010. According to ED sources, the agency's Mumbai office has officially moved for a "red-corner notice" against the Kingfisher Airlines promoter on the basis of a non-bailable warrant issued by a special court on April 18. A red-corner notice is issued to seek the location and arrest of wanted persons with a view to extradition or similar lawful action in a criminal case probe, an ED source told Business Standard. The legal request has been forwarded to the head office of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to get a notice issued through its Interpol wing. CBI sources confirmed the request. "It will be processed after due verification," a highly placed source at the investigative agency said. CBI is the nodal agency for Interpol-related affairs in India. Once the red-corner notice is issued, Interpol will seek to arrest the person concerned in any part of the world. "In the RCN (red-corner notice) request, we have emphasised the fact that Mallya had been actively involved in criminal activity and the investigation could not be finalised without Mallya's statement on his role in the bank loan fraud case," said an ED source in the know. "Mallya's personal information, a detailed account of the circumstances of cases in which he is wanted and charges has been submitted," said the source. The modus operandi of allegedly siphoning off Rs 423 crore of the Rs 950-crore sanctioned and disbursed by IDBI Bank in 2010 has been also provided, the source added. These apart, the agency has enclosed the list of properties abroad that Mallya created by allegedly siphoning off a part of the loan. In addition, the report includes the progress that the enforcement agency has made in determining how the loan was restructured in 2010 and converted into preferential shares and, eventually, into equity shares of Kingfisher Airlines. A special court for the Prevention of Money Laundering Act had issued warrants against Mallya after he failed to appear before the agency even after three summons. Subsequently, on the request of the probe agency, the ministry of external affairs has made a deportation request to the UK authorities against Mallya, who is living there now. Now the agency has sought the global notice as they have exhausted all domestic legal options. Rohan Kamat is betting on his start-up to tap into the growing market for in India. Viravecs Labs LLP, Kamat's Bengaluru-based start-up incubated at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-Camp), is building an array of cell lines with an aim of drastically reducing cost of . is emerging as the next big segment in medical diagnostics. Start-ups such as MapmyGenome, Datar Genetics, MedGenome Labs and Strand Life Sciences, a decade-old firm founded by former Indian Institute of Science (IISc) professors, offer services - sequencing the genes of individuals and finding diseases they are genetically prone to. The cost of sequencing a human genome, over 3.2 billion base pairs, has dropped faster than Moore's law, from $100 million when first done by Craig Venter in 2001, to around $1,000 in 2015, according to the US-based National Genome Research Institute. In India, it costs between Rs 5,000 and Rs 50,000 to find out disease markers an individual could be prone to. Indian labs have built customised tests to identify diseases that individuals could be prone to and alter their lifestyle; help women in planning pregnancy, pre-natal tests to identify if the baby is prone to diseases like Down Syndrome, etc. There are no reliable estimates on market size of genetic tests in India. "When we know that our genes are prone for some diseases, we can proactively take preventive measures," says Anu Acharya, founder of MapmyGenome, a three-year old Hyderabad-based genomic start-up backed by Google India's Rajan Anandan. India is at the cusp of a revolution in medical diagnostics. When it comes to embracing genetic testing to forecast and treat some of the most complex diseases, including cancer, India is only a few years behind some of the most developed countries. The Indian population is also prone to specific diseases such as Thalassemia, an inherited blood disorder in which the body makes an abnormal form of haemoglobin. Indians are also genetically prone to heart diseases or Retinitis Pigmentosa, a genetic disorder that can affect the retina's ability to respond to light, leading to partial blindness. "We can identify, based on the mutation (in the gene), whether the disease is severe or not," says V L Ramprasad, chief operating officer, MedGenome. But the biggest impact the world has seen is in cancer treatment. Indian labs sequence 152 genes by testing a cancer tumour, identify drugs that could be most effective, helping oncologists improve the rate of recovery. In the case of lung cancer, gene testing helps in identifying the right treatment. Bengaluru-based Strand offers such customised service in the US. And, MedGenome has had patients who recovered from lung cancer, through such treatment. Kumar Prabhash, an oncologist and president at Tata Memorial Hospital, has published a paper in scientific journal PLOS ONE on how targeted therapy, following gene testing, has helped in treatment of lung cancer patients. He says gene testing has become a vital part of choosing the right treatment for lung cancer. "As far as the availability of tests goes, I think most of the metros they have it. In Tier-II and Tier-III cities, access and cost is still a problem," Prabhash says. Pharma also accept that genetic testing helps in targeted therapies. "For targeted therapies, genetic testing and profiling is an important component for giving the right treatment at the right time," says Bhavesh Kotak, V-P - medical and regulatory affairs, AstraZeneca. "The presence or absence of certain mutations can predict the patients who can benefit from certain drugs and those who may not respond." There are efforts by several labs to reach out directly to consumers like Noida-based Datar Genetics, which has set up units in 110 towns across the country. "The proportion of patients receiving these tests remains small but data point at enumerating benefits of such tests. With higher adoption of such tests into the treatment pathways by clinicians, this number will significantly rise," says Vineet Datta, executive director, Datar Genetics. ECONOMICS OF GENOMICS Cost of human genome sequencing drops to $1,000 from $100 million in 2001 Genetic testing has helped in faster treatment of lung cancer, other diseases Labs offer genetic testing to identify diseases individuals are prone to Several start-ups offer services, lowering costs further Genetic testing still an urban phenomenon, smaller towns yet to catch up Sources: National Human Genome Research Institute, USA; BS Research Bureau Diversified group Ltd on Sunday said it is progressively resuming production of cigarettes. cigarette factories have resumed production in a phased manner with the specified 85% graphical warning pending hearing by the Karnataka High Court, an spokesperson said. Earlier, following Supreme Court's interim order last Wednesday, asking tobacco to comply with the Union health ministry's directive to print tobacco packs with 85% health warnings, cigarette major ITC had shut its factories. The company has had to shut its cigarette factories from May 4, 2016 until the company is in a position to comply with the interim requirements pending hearing in the Karnataka high court, the company had said in a filing with the BSE on May 5 when it went ahead to shut its factories. In April this year, the Kolkata-headquartered company had suspended rolling out the cigarettes at all its five factories stating lack of clarity in policy regarding printing of larger pictorial warnings on the packets. However, following a High Court order in mid-April, it resumed production only to stop it again on May 4. A notification by the Health Ministry on September 24, 2015, for implementation of the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labeling) Amendment Rules, 2014, had come into force on April 1, 2016. Paytm, India's largest mobile wallet, is going all out to prove that it is a relevant player in the e-commerce marketplace system. From reinforcing its marketplace portfolio with about 1,000 top brands to a treble growth in online vehicle sales category, the Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led company is doing it all. Though still a smaller company as compared to Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon, believes a better line-up of brands and categories, coupled with its 125-million strong user base would help it gain a percentage of the marketplace pie. According to Paytm, about 1,000 top brands are opening their online stores on its portal. These include brands such as Samsung, Dell, HTC, HP, Whirlpool, Woodland, Lakme, Casio, Samsonite and Puma, among others. "Brands stores will help our brand partners choose and independently control the merchants who sell their inventory, pricing and promotions. These would be spaces where they can run promotional campaigns specific to their brands. Brands will also be able to choose what type of analytics they want to see. Also, we will help the brands understand the traffic and the consumers," Amit Bagaria, vice-president. Bagaria also said the stores were designed in a way that it gives complete flexibility to brands in deciding the look of the store. Brands would also be able to tag their physical stores and generate sales for their offline channel through this online store. would also help brands create online campaigns for diverting traffic to their stores. According to Paytm, this move would help a seamless online to offline transfer of sales as well and add to the footfall at brick and mortar stores. Strengthening its automobile category on its marketplace, Paytm's Cars and Bike category is clocking a 3x growth in online purchases. The company sold about 1,000 motorcycles in April this year, while contributing to five per cent of Hero Electric's pan-India total month sales. "Orders for two-wheelers came from at least 100 different cities spread across 18 states in April. Customers from as far as Tinsukia in Assam and Ranipet in Tamil Nadu purchased bikes on Paytm," the company said. To gain a stronghold in the automobile market, will launch the service of vehicle financing this month, followed by insurance service in the coming months through third-party partners. Currently, Paytm has over 800 dealers already functioning in their network and local commerce is being used to build this category. "Overall, two-wheeler segment is around 16 million units (number of vehicles), and we are targeting at selling half a million bikes this year. By next quarter, we will have the largest network of dealers on our platform with an integrated solution for a customer looking to buy a bike. We also plan to do a few exclusive launches with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) like we did for Mahindra Gusto 125 last month," said Renu Satti, vice-president. On the strategy towards the four-wheeler category, she further added, "We aim at becoming the preferred one-stop solution for booking a car, getting financing and other related services like car insurance. We are speaking to the OEMs and third-party partners to enable it on our platform." Some of the brands in its automobile portfolio involve Hyundai, Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra, Datsun, Hero and Yamaha. Women return after collecting water from a lake in drought-hit Dambadahalli near Chikmagalur in Karnataka Saraswat Bank, country's largest urban co-operative bank which recently crossed a total business of Rs 50,000 crore, has announced donation of Rs 1 crore towards drought relief in Maharashtra. Caused by the two deficient years of the monsoon rainfalls, the drought has been a major problem resulting into shortage of water availability across the country including Maharashtra. Taking a serious note of the drought situation, therefore, the bank donated Rs 50,00,000 each to the Chief Minister's Drought Relief Fund, Maharashtra and to the NAAM Foundation, an NGO started by actors Nana Patekar and Makarand Anaspure, specifically aimed at alleviating the impact of drought. Gautam E Thakur, Vice Chairman of the bank handed over the cheque of Rs 50,00,000 to Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis. Also, Kishore Rangnekar Director handed over another cheque of Rs 50,00,000 to Nana Patekar, Founder, NAAM Foundation. Union mines minister Narendra Singh Tomar has called a meeting with his state counterparts to discuss key issues in the mining sector such as states' mining auction preparedness and setting up of District Mineral Foundation (DMF) on May 27 in Goa. Despite problems in auctioning non-coal mineral blocks in the first phase, states told the central government last month that they were ready to auction 82 blocks in the second phase. Read more from our special coverage on "MINING LAW" Nod for captive mine rights transfer likely this week In the first phase, expected to be over by June, states had planned to auction 52 blocks. Till date, only six blocks have been auctioned. This issue is at the top of the agenda for discussion in Goa. States are said to be facing various problems such as land acquisition, court orders, less interest from bidders, etc. Five major mineral-rich states are yet to set up DMF - a local benefit-sharing mechanism - even after a year of the new mining law, which introduced this provision. The Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Amendment Act, 2015, known as MMDRA Act, 2015, passed by Parliament in March last year, mandated DMFs in all districts affected by mining-related operations. This new law mandated auction for every non-coal mine, too. According to information provided by the states to the Centre in April, it has come to light that Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Telangana are yet to constitute DMFs. Moreover, some states have established DMFs, but they have not started the revenue collection for it till date. In India, most districts affected by mining-related operations are extremely poor, not having even basic amenities such as clean water, schools or hospitals. The Union mines minister is likely to take up these issues with states at the meeting. Another important issue to be discussed in Goa is various measures which can be taken to curb illegal mining. Currently, a Mining Surveillance System (MSS) for major minerals is being developed with the help of Bhaskaracharya Institute of Space Applications & Geo-Informatics, Gujarat, to curb the incidences of illegal mining with the use of space technology. The Centre has requested the state governments to provide the available digitised lease-wise information for all major mineral leases in their state for expediting the development of MSS. The other issues to be discussed include the setting up of National Mineral Exploration Trust and IT adoption in mineral regulation and administration by state governments. AUCTION AGENDA When Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed the government's seniormost bureaucrats to present innovative ideas as part of a 'Transforming India' initiative, one was to advance the date of presentation of the Union Budget to December 31, from the last day of February. This suggestion is said to have not made to it the list of final recommendations culled from around seven presentations by groups of secretaries on topics such as 'Accelerated growth with inclusion and equity', 'Employment generation strategies', 'Health and education: Universal access and quality', 'Farmer-centric issues in agriculture and allied sectors', and 'Innovative budgeting', among others. Sources in the government said, that the proposal wasn't rejected either; it might be explored. Presenting the Budget a good three months before the start of a financial year comes with both advantages and disadvantages. Plus Retired and serving officials say the biggest plus would be that the Finance Bill, incorporating the Budget proposals, could be passed by February or March. So, government departments, agencies and state-owned companies would know their allocations right from April 1, when the financial year begins. In the existing system, the Lok Sabha passes a vote on account for the April-June quarter, under which departments are provided a sixth of their total allocation for the year. This is done by March. The Finance Bill is not passed before late April or early May. If the Budget is read in December and passed by February-March, it would enable the government to do away with a vote on account for the first three months of a financial year, said a retired senior. It would also help the private sector to anticipate government procurement trends and evolve their business plans. And, civil society could deliberate on and give feedback in time for the parliamentary ddiscussions, the person said. A serving official used the example of the current drought in parts of the country to illustrate how advancing the Bill's passage could help. "The vote on account provides a sixth of the total allocation to a ministry and this includes salaries and operational expenditures. Hence, departments have not had enough money to put into rural schemes till the Finance Bill sees passage. Had the Bill passed before April 1, the government could have had more monetary resources to deal with the drought." The Finance Bill was passed last week and Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha has directed all departments to hasten drought relief work under the Integrated Action Plan. Minus However, one big disadvantage of advancing the Budget preparations is lack of comprehensive revenue and expenditure data. Currently, work on the Budget begins in earnest by December. By the time it is finalised in mid-February, data on revenue collections and expenditure trends is available for the first nine months of the financial year, i.e April-December. Based on which, projections for the full year can be made. "To read the Budget in December, you will have to start preparing it by early October. To go by less than six months of data and making projections for the full year and the next year, based on such an incomplete picture, will be an impossible task," said a second official. Former Reserve Bank of India governor C Rangarajan, also an ex-head of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, said advancing the Budget dates would be fraught with practical difficulties. Effective Budget planning also depends on the monsoon forecasts for the coming year, making the advancing the whole exercise even more difficult. "On balance, there is no great advantage in shifting the Budget presentation from February to December," says Rangarajan. A GOOD-AND-BAD IDEA Finance Bill, incorporating the Budget proposals, could be passed by February or March Government departments, agencies and state-owned companies would know their allocations right from April 1 Would help the private sector to anticipate government procurement trends and evolve their business plans Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor and 14th Finance Commission chairman believes global slowdown on the whole had a positive impact on Indian economy. It has affected the Indian economy, both positively and negatively. However, the net effect has been positive, he said at the valedictory function of a six-week induction training programme for India Administrative Services (IAS) officers conducted by the MCR HRD Institute here. Citing the enormous savings India was able to make on its oil import bill due to fall in global oil prices and other such examples, Reddy said this welcome proposition will result in innumerable beneficial outcomes for the country. Talking about the nature of All India Services job, Y V Reddy, himself an IAS officer, said the ultimate success of IAS officers depends not only on their technical and conceptual competencies but also on their people related skills as they need to deal with multiple stake holders, including the elected leaders. Considering their high level of intelligence quotient, the IAS officers posses an inherent potential to diversify and enrich their skills to effectively deal with people, he said. More than 60 IAS officers promoted from the State Civil Services from thirteen states attended the training programme, according to a statement issued by the institute. A Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-affiliate has decided to oppose foreign direct investment (FDI) in e-commerce, food processing and marketing sectors. The Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), a key affiliate of the RSS, would pass a resolution against the economic reforms of the BJP-led government at its national council meeting slated later this month. We will urge the government to take back its decision. in these sectors would go against the interests of small shopkeepers, SJMs national co-convener Ashwani Mahajan told PTI. The Manch will meet in Bhopal for its annual National Council meeting on May21 and 22. The Manch believes that in e-commerce was coming in an "illegal" way earlier and allowing it now amounts to rewarding those who had been flouting the rules and circumventing the law. Mahajan said e-Commerce companies have been adopting "predatory pricing" by allowing heavy discounting on products which are adversely affecting the small Indian shopkeepers. "These companies are incurring huge losses by adopting predatory pricing of products and their sole purpose in doing so is to capture the huge Indian consumer market, that will render the traditional shopkeepers jobless," he said. It is a reality that such transactions have made life easy and products come cheap, he said. He said though e-Commerce is not so prevalent in purchase of products of daily use, online buying is on the rise. The SJM leader said there are nearly 2,000 small and big portals involved in e-commerce, though most most transactions are limited to a few big ones. Mahajan apprehended if e-commerce continues to grow at the present pace, it may reach 4 per cent of GDP by the year 2020. In 2009, total retail business of e-commerce companies was hardly Rs 6,000 crore, which shot up to Rs 78,000 crore in 2013. The SJM leader said even chemists have been effected by it as some portals are also offering discounts on medicines in the Indian market. The SJM has been frequently opposing government's decisions. It had earlier protested against field trial of genetically modified (GM) Mustard crop and the policy on Intellectual Property Rights, among other issues. Tamil Nadu has to potential to drive the growth of India, but could not achieve this full potential in the past, said Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu. Speaking to reporters before addressing a gathering in Chennai, he said that the State has been contributing to national building and has a potential to become the driving force of the country's growth similar to California driving the growth of United States. "We feel sorry that Tamil Nadu is not able to achieve the real potential of economic and social growth," said the minister. He claimed that in the last two years, the BJP lead government in the centre has brought in significant changes in the landscape of India through various projects such as Make in India, Digital India and others. Standard and Poor has said that the effects of Make in India has started reflecting in the growth. He said once BJP came to power in states like Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, which earlier did not choose the party, it has been repeatedly elected later. He added that the Railway Ministry has implemented 139 points it has mentioned in the Railway Budget and has tied up with companies like GE and Alstom for faster growth in the sector. When asked whether the Railway Ministry received support from the Tamil Nadu government on its various projects, he said that Tamil Nadu has an important role in the projects and the State government has an important part to play in it. He added that the ministry will continue discussions with the new government related to the special purpose vehicle (SPV) to execute projects in the State. The ministry has earlier announced it would set up SPV with various State governments for execution of its projects. However, Tamil Nadu government has said that there were certain concerns regarding the draft MoU for the SPV, which has to be addressed by the Railway ministry. It may be noted that Piyush Goyal, Minister of State with Independent Charge for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy, Pon Radhakrishnan, Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping among others have earlier alleged that the State government and the Chief Minister are not accessible for them for execution of various projects. Ends The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee paid floral tributes to Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore on the occasion of his 155th birth anniversary at Rashtrapati Bhavan today (May 8, 2016). He paid floral tributes in front of a portrait of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Officers and staff of Rashtrapati Bhavan were present on the occasion. . . Appreciating the work of State Government in Prime Ministers Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) during 2015-16, the Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Shri Kalraj Mishra on Sunday said that 23,140 people of Jammu and Kashmir were employed in 3,772 PMEGP units across the state. . . The minister added that a record sum of approximately Rs 38 crores was utilised in past two years for assisting a record number of more than 2200 PMEGP units in Jammu and Kashmir. During the last two years more than 6,80,000 persons were employed by setting up of 92,508 PMEGP units in whole of India. Out of which 23,140 persons were employed in 3,772 units in the state of Jammu and Kashmir," Mishra said while addressing a press conference here on Sunday. . . Earlier, the Union Minister inaugurated and addressed to the participants of PMEGP workshop at institute of Hotel Management Rajbagh, here. Jammu and Kashmir Minister for Industries and Commerce, Shri Chander Parkash Ganga was also present on the occasion. . . He said his ministry vide its Gazette Notifiction, dated 29th May, 2015, notified framework for revival and rehabilitation of micro, small and medium enterprises which is the simpler and fastest mechanism to facilitate the protection and development of MSMEs. My ministry has developed a transparent system of grievances redressal and attends all the grievances on Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS)," Shri Mishra said. . . He added that under Technology Centre System Programme 15 new technology centres with the help and assistance from World Bank will be set up in various parts of the country. One such centre is being set up in the state of Jammu and Kashmir," he said, adding that to facilitate the enterprises to get benefits of various schemes of the ministry, a web-based application module, namely MY MSME", which is to be converted into mobile app. . . Shri Mishra said that the ministry of MSME was always there to ease the lives of stake holders. More than 6,50,000 units have already got registered on Ydyog Aadhaar Memorandum (UAM) and 15 new technology centres at a cost of Rs 2200 crores are coming up in various states of the country one of which will now be located in IGC Samba as proposed by the state government," he said. . . The Union Minister, however, desired that J&K was not making much use of various schemes of the Ministry and asked the state government to come up with more proposals so that more assistance could be given. He even expressed his preparedness to look into assistance of more industrial states, even in one district, provided the proposal is good for the development of MSMEs. . . The Minister stated that it has always been the endeavour of the NDA Government to bring all sections of society into the mainstream, especially the ones who are militancy affected. Earlier, while interacting with the representatives of Khadi Federation, the minister assured them for early reease of MDA. He added that for the first time Rs 155 crores of MDA has already been released in the first months of financial year. . . The Union Minister also inaugurated the Marketing Plaza and first ever National Khadi Exhibition in Srinagar. On Saturday, the Union Minister inaugurated the Harmukh Khadi Gram Udyog Sansthan, a spinning and weaving centre and marketing plaza for khadi goods at a function here. The Minister also distributed 25 new model charkhas among local artisans at the function, which was organised Khadi and Village Industries Board Srinagar at 90 Feet Road, Soura. Speaking on the occasion, Shri Mishra said that the charkha is a symbol of resistance and can help maximum number of unemployed youth and women in far flung areas to attain economic independence. . . BV/GA/AAN/SAD The Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Shri Kalraj Mishra inaugurated the Harmukh Khadi Gram Udyog Sansthan, a spinning and weaving centre and marketing plaza for khadi goods at a function in Srinagar today. . . The Minister also distributed 25 new model charkhas among local artisans at the function, which was organised Khadi and Village Industries Board Srinagar at 90 Feet Road, Soura. Speaking on the occasion, Shri Mishra said that the charkha is a symbol of resistance and can help maximum number of unemployed youth and women in far flung areas to attain economic independence. . . The Minister said that the Centre is ready to provide all sorts of assistance to the state of Jammu and Kashmir in order to remove regional imbalances and urged the state to come forward and seek maximum help from New Delhi. He said that the Centre is especially interested in the progress of Jammu and Kashmir state in view of the disturbed state of affairs here. . . Jammu and Kashmir Minister for Industries and Commerce, Shri Chander Parkash Ganga was also present on the occasion. Addressing the gathering, he thanked the Union Minister for the ministries supportive attitude and helping approach towards J&K and also requested the central ministry to increase the targets for the state so that it benefits the local artisans. . . The Union Minister was also accompanied by Chairman Khadi and Village Industries Commission Shri Vinay Kumar Saxena and Secretary Ministry of MSME Shri K. K. Jalan. . . BV/GA/AAN/SAD Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, the architect of the 2014 switch in Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) policy that's since roiled the energy market, companies and entire economies from Mexico to Nigeria, is leaving his post. An 80-year-old who rose from modest Bedouin roots, al-Naimi headed the ministry for almost 21 years, steering the world's largest crude exporter through wild price swings, regional wars, technological progress and the rise of climate change as a key policy concern.Read more from our special coverage on "OPEC"Shift in Saudi oil ... By seizing the Republican presidential nomination for Donald J Trump on Tuesday night, he and his millions of supporters completed what had seemed unimaginable: A hostile takeover of one of America's two major political parties. Just as stunning was how quickly the host tried to reject them. The party's two living former presidents spurned Trump, a number of sitting governors and senators expressed opposition or ambivalence toward him, and he drew a forceful rebuke from the single most powerful and popular rival left on the Republican landscape: The House speaker, Paul D Ryan. Rarely if ever has a party seemed to come apart so visibly. Rarely, too, has the nation been so on edge about its . Many Americans still cannot believe that the bombastic Trump, best known as a reality television star, will be on the ballot in November. Plenty are also anxious about what he would do in office. But for leading Republicans, the dismay is deeper and darker. They fear their party is on the cusp of an epochal split - a historic cleaving between the familiar form of conservatism forged in the 1960s and popularised in the 1980s and a rekindled, atavistic nationalism, with roots as old as the republic, that has not flared up so intensely since the original America First movement before Pearl Harbor. Some even point to France and other European countries, where far-right parties like the National Front have gained power because of the sort of resentments that are frequently given voice at rallies for Trump. Yet if keeping the peace means embracing Trump and his most divisive ideas and utterances, a growing number are loath to do it. The ties between Republican elites - elected officials, donors and Washington insiders - and voters have actually been fraying for years. Traditional power brokers long preached limited-government conservatism and wanted to pursue an immigration overhaul, entitlement cuts, free trade and a hawkish foreign policy, and nominees like John McCain and Mitt Romney largely embraced that agenda. Republican leaders also vilified President Obama and Democrats, stoking anger with rank-and-file conservatives. Many Republican voters trudged along with those earlier nominees, but never became truly animated until Trump offered them his brand of angry populism: A blend of protectionism at home and a smaller American footprint abroad. And he was able to exploit their resentments and frustrations because those same Republican leaders had been nurturing those feelings for years with attacks on Obama, Democrats, illegal immigrants and others. Trump, with his steadfast promises to deport immigrants who are in the country illegally and to build a wall with Mexico, may have done irreversible damage to his general election prospects. But he quickly earned the trust that so many of those voters had lost in other fixtures of America - not just in its leaders, but in institutions like Congress, the Federal Reserve and the big-money campaign finance system that Trump has repudiated, as well as in corporations, the Roman Catholic Church and the news media. And he has amplified his independent, outsider message in real time, using social media and cable news interviews - and his own celebrity and highly attuned ear for what resonates - to rally voters to his side, using communication strategies similar to those deployed in the Arab Spring uprising or in the attempts by liberals and students to foment a similar revolution in Iran. "Trump leveraged a perfect storm," said Steve Case, the founder of AOL, in an email message. "A combo of social media (big following), brand (celebrity figure), creativity (pithy tweets), speed/timeliness (dominating news cycles)." Trump is an unlikely spokesman for the grievances of financially struggling, alienated Americans: a high-living Manhattan billionaire who erects skyscrapers for the wealthy and can easily get politicians on the phone. But as a shrewd business tactician, he understood the Republican Party's customers better than its leaders did and sensed that his brand of populist, pugilistic, anti-establishment would meet their needs. After seething at Washington for so long, hundreds or thousands of miles from the capital, many of these voters now see Trump as a kind of savior. Even if he does not detail his policies, even if his language strikes them as harsh sometimes, his supporters thrill more to his plain-spoken slogans like "Make America Great Again" than to what they see as the cautious and poll-tested policy speeches of Ryan and other Washington Republicans. "I love the death out of Paul Ryan, but honestly, I'm going to vote for Trump anyways," said David Myers, 49, who attended a campaign rally for Trump in Charleston, West Virginia, on Thursday night. "Because Paul Ryan, and I love him to death, but he's one of those career politicians." Trump now feels so empowered that he does not think he needs the political support of the party establishment to defeat the likely Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton. He is confident that his appeal will be broad and deep enough among voters of all stripes that he could win battleground states like Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania without the support of leaders like Mr. Ryan, Mr. Trump said in an interview on Saturday. Although he plans to meet with Mr. Ryan and House Republican leaders on Thursday, Mr. Trump said he would not materially change his policies or style to win their endorsements. "Everything is subject to negotiation, but I can't and won't be changing much, because the voters support me because of what I'm saying and how I'm saying it," Mr. Trump said. "The establishment didn't do anything to make me the nominee, so its support won't really make much difference in me winning in November." (Mr. Trump will, though, be somewhat dependent on the party's fund-raising muscle since he has indicated he will not fully self-finance his general election campaign.) One reason Mr. Trump takes a skeptical view of establishment support is that he does not believe much in the power of the Republican elite. He is the party's presumptive nominee, after all, because the political forces that once might have halted his rise have been enfeebled. Leaders such as Mr. Romney warned in the direst terms that Mr. Trump's nomination would stain the party and lead it to ruin. Venerable media outlets on the right, like National Review, sought to reprise their role as arbiters of who is fit to carry the banner of conservatism. Their pleas fell on deaf ears. Mr. Trump's arsenal was far more fearsome. Combining modern-day fame and an age-old demagogy, he bypassed the ossified gatekeepers and appealed directly to voters through a constant Twitter stream that seemed interrupted only by television appearances. In doing so, he seemed to grasp that a new twist on direct democracy was in the offing: that disaffected voters who tune out the traditional modes of political communication might be reachable through their smartphones, and Twitter messages or Reddits might be more relevant to those voters than the findings of a more scientific poll. On the left, too, Senator Bernie Sanders has built his own movement with millions of voters, and $210 million in fund-raising, by using online tools as simple as email to seek support. Yet Mr. Trump's celebrity has been an enormous asset with voters who feel gratified and inspired that he would lavish them with attention and bluntly express some of the ideas and attitudes they share. For 12 consecutive years, polls have indicated that Americans believe the country is on the wrong track, and Republicans have been especially vulnerable to a political campaign like Mr. Trump's that seeks to channel voter anger. In every state where the question was asked in exit polls during the primary season, 50 percent or more of Republicans said they felt betrayed by their leaders. The adhesive that once held Republicans together - a shared commitment to a strong national defense and limited government - was weakened by the demise of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. But internal divisions were papered over when new, unifying threats emerged after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. It was not until near the end of President George W. Bush's second term that those fissures broke open again, first with Mr. Bush's attempt at an immigration overhaul, including a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, and then after the financial rescue of big banks from the 2008 financial collapse. Alongside the turbulent economy were signs of something more profound plaguing blue-collar white communities, which have increasingly become core Republican constituencies: an increase in children born to single parents, higher rates of addiction and suicide, and shortened average life spans. "The economic deprivation of the last 30 years for working-class whites, combined with growing social isolation, was really dry tinder," said Robert D. Putnam, the Harvard political scientist who wrote "Bowling Alone." And Mr. Trump, Mr. Putnam contended, "lit a spark." "He constructed a series of scapegoats that these folks would find plausible," said Mr. Putnam, citing Mr. Trump's attacks on Muslims and immigrants. "He was willing to say things that might have always been popular, but you couldn't say it." With Mr. Trump now saying it loudly and clearly, many Americans feel deeply unsettled by the nation's . Not since Mr. Bush invaded Iraq have so many liberals been murmuring about moving to other countries. And many Republican officials and donors just hope to get through the election with their party intact. "The party has never been more out of touch with our voters," Vin Weber, a former Minnesota congressman, said of the two factions, acknowledging that Republicans could splinter completely after this election. "I don't know how you reconcile a lot of them." Mr. Weber expressed hope that Mr. Trump and Mr. Ryan would find some common ground. But few in the party now deny that the threat of an enduring split is real. "I think there's a pretty clear Trump wing of the party coming to life," said Barry Wynn, a prominent fund-raiser who supported Jeb Bush for president and has not yet fallen in behind Mr. Trump. "But I have to think that four or eight years from now, the Trump wing will be a little more traditional, a little less hard-edged, and will be blended into the party just like the evangelical Pat Robertson voters were after the 1988 election." "At least," he added, "I hope that's what'll happen." 2016 The New York Times News Service Digital will become the second largest branding medium after television in India soon, Manish Vij tells Sangeeta Tanwar The rules of digital marketing are still evolving. What are the cornerstones of an efficient digital marketing strategy? Digital marketing is a dynamic, ever-evolving business. With continuous shifts in the technology landscape and unprecedented rise of smartphone users in the country, consumers' content consumption patterns and buying behaviour have also changed. It's not just ads, any content for that matter only has a fraction of a second to capture the attention of the user before she moves on by scrolling past or closing it. It's only natural that if you are not keeping a close watch on your digital marketing strategies you are bound to go more wrong than right. So if digital marketers are still buying digital media the same way it was bought, say, a year back, and pegging their digital buying on just the number of clicks then it's not in the best interest of business. If marketers are still not using data to drive their strategies or not collecting and analysing their own data to arrive at actionable insights, it is a sign of problems for them in the near future. While data has its own place, digital marketing strategies should not lose creativity, that's the only way brands can remain fun, relevant and connect with consumers much better. Do Indian marketers still harbour any misconceptions about digital marketing? The digital spends don't seem to be rising as expected... The biggest misconception is that a brand cannot be built on digital. This is partly correct; a brand might not be built only on the basis of digital. But, digital media formats are now available, which are as comparable as television and as mass. Therefore, the digital media should be used very carefully as a branding medium as well. Digital will possibly become the second largest branding medium after television in India very soon. My guess is that it will be equivalent to television by 2020. With so much consumer data floating about in social - or digital if we look at the big picture - it is natural for managers and decisions makers to get overwhelmed. How should a marketing manager pitch social media to the C-suite? That's a very common problem faced by marketing managers. Though boardrooms of organisations are warming up to the idea of social, there is still a long battle to fight. A marketing manager needs to understand that C-suite executives will most likely be focused on business results and until it's shown how social can help in achieving this end objective, social may remain a big question mark for them. Explain how social media can enhance the functions they are associated with - be it sales, customer retention, marketing etc. Take them through case studies of competitors who have used social and benefited from it. What are the top three must-have social media tools for enterprises? I'm a fan of concentrated marketing and alternative marketing. So, of course, budget is an important factor but then companies can do a lot with limited budget as well. And, big players can spoil their large budgets. That's why I like concentrated and alternative marketing. What does that mean? If you have limited budgets, focus on the media cycles and use it the way others haven't even used so far; so that you are not a blind eye to the consumer. Because media starts to become blind-eyed very soon. So a combination of these two things can do justice to companies with limited budget. And which would be those two-three digital marketing vehicles that burst into the scene with great gusto but were never able to live up to their potential? One, digital audio advertising is still facing challenges of scale and acceptance. The data platform, to make display advertising more effective, is still struggling to find mass adoption. Last but not the least, location-based advertising for local advertisers continues to be a niche. How important is a business's online reputation to building their brand? What is the one best practice about using social media to grow a business? Online reputation is paramount in this digital age when it comes to building a brand. No organisation, which aims to be successful, can think of ignoring online reputation . 2015 was an exciting year for social marketers but as social media continues to evolve strategies around it cannot remain static and need constant upgradation. In my opinion, a best practice all social media marketers should follow is taking data-driven decisions. The kind of information marketers have today about consumer preferences is unprecedented and this data can help gain valuable insights around platform-specific strategies. However, numbers or data should not replace creativity. There should always be a fine balance between the science of data and art of creativity. We keep talking about data and big data analytics, but now the problem is that there is so much data and there is a possibility that you'll get lost. What are the dos and don'ts when dealing with data? I think a lot of data-oriented digital marketing teams stop experimenting. They forget one aspect of marketing that at some level emotional connects with a consumer to your brand is much bigger than or equally bigger as compared to the usage of data in marketing. We deal with some advertisers who are so data-savvy, but brand is a connect, it has a life. Brands, like humans, need not be rational all the time. Brands need to have emotions. With several marquee deals up for grabs, investment bankers are again undercutting each other. Sources say, banks were quoting fees of around one per cent for bagging the $2-billion-plus Vodafone IPO mandate. More changes in gold policy? Gold traders have been taken by surprise at the Reserve Bank of India's latest move to renew import licences to banks for only one quarter. Traditionally, this licence is given for one year. This has led sector veterans to believe more policy changes could be on the anvil for gold imports. While the market is unsure about the next step, government officials say as there is a need to promote the gold monetisation scheme, there is expectation of restrictions on imports because smart traders can use the opportunity to import gold and put it in the monetisation scheme for additional returns. Salary disclosure sparks HR concerns for MFs Within a week of declaring salaries of officials earning over Rs 60 lakh annually, there is a strong feeling in the mutual fund sector that the pitch has been queered further for fund houses. Most fear that attrition rates may go up as there would be many unhappy fund managers and marketing professionals within the same fund house getting lower salaries despite having spent more years or even doing a better job than younger or less-experienced persons. Some of these people could be seen by other fund houses as ideal candidates for poaching as well. On the occasion of Mother's day, Bollywood celebrities, including Farah Khan, veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan, director Madhur Bhandarkar, Karan Johar and actress Hema Malini, took to the social media to express love for their mothers. Sharing a throwback picture with her mother, filmmaker Farah tweeted, "MOTHER... The most powerful word in the world.. N also the most taken for granted! #happymothersday." Wishing his mother, Madhur tweeted, "Mom, your memories are my life's only solace. I miss you. #Happy Mother's Day." Big B, who owes his success to his mother Teji Bachchan, tweeted, "T 2249 - Mother's Day: 1 year of PIKU: 28 years of KHUDA GAWAH: but without Ma nothing of this would have happened !" Taking to her Twitter handle, Hema wrote, "Here's wishing all mothers a Very Happy Mother's Day! And all kids out there,fill ur Moms hearts with joy by fulfilling all her wishes today." Remembering his mother, actor Sonu Sood shared a collage of pictures, writing "Miss you maa..in a son's life..everyday is Mother's Day." Mahesh Bhatt tweeted a throwback snap, writing, "Life for me began with waking up and loving my mothers beautiful face. ( In the left back ground my mother Shirin )" He then, tweeted, "Hemlata my 'other' Mother. The memory of her smile & the warmth of her touch lives on even after she has passed away." Director Shoojit Sircar tweeted: "Happy Mother's day." Karan Johar shared a sweet pic with his mother and tweeted, "A mother child dynamic is the Sholay of relationships...#happymothersday." Juhi Chawla wrote, "Any woman can be a mother but it takes someone special to be called "Mom" #HappyMothersDay to all the moms out there." Posting a snap with his mother, Sidharth Malhotra tweet, "Men are what their mothers made them."-Ralph Waldo Emerson thank you Mom ? #HappyMothersDay." Mother's Day is a celebration honoring one own's mother, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds and the influence of mothers in a society. It is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, most commonly in the months of March and May. Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Saturday said the investigation in the case of a Dalit law student who was brutally raped and murdered is on, adding his government won't spare the culprits. "Our Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala is personally looking at the case of the Dalit law student who was brutally raped and murdered; we will book the real culprits," Chandy told ANI. "The enquiry is going on in the case and we will find out everything on time," he added. Chandy, who had announced an ex-gratia of Rs. 10 lakh as compensation to the family of the Dalit law student, further said his government has provided all possible assistance to kin of the victim. "We gave everything to the family of the victim, they wanted money for purchase of land and a new house and we have sanctioned everything," he added. Meanwhile, both the BJP and the CPI(M) has held the ruling Congress-led UDF responsible for the deteriorating law and order situation in Kerala. As per the investigation by Kerala Police so far, 30 persons have been detained based upon accusation. However, no arrests have been made so far. The Janata Dal (United) on Sunday condemned the road rage incident in which party MLC Manorama Devi's son shot dead a youth and assured that appropriate action would be taken against him as per the law. "Whether it is JD (U), RJD, BJP or any other criminal, law is equal for everyone and everyone before law. Even before, one MLA each of the JD (U) and RJD have been arrested," senior JD (U) leader K.C. Tyagi told ANI. "Appropriate action would be taken against those who indulge in any criminal activity. Once the investigation starts, only then the action would be taken," he added. Another party leader Ali Anwar, on his part, assured that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar would not spare anyone, who is involved in any kind of misdeed. "I don't know about that incident. But I am sure that Nitish Kumar ji won't spare anyone, who is involved in any kind of misdeed. They won't be getting any kind of protection," Anwar told ANI. Bindi Yadav's son Rocky Yadav shot dead Aditya Sachdeva late last night in Gaya when the latter was returning home after celebrating his birthday. The incident took place as Sachdeva overtook Rocky's car. The MLC's husband Bindi Yadav, who was detained by the Rampur Police in connection with this case, told ANI that there was no enmity or friendship with the youth, who died. "Both were returning from Bodh Gaya. All five of them (present in the victim's car) were under the influence of alcohol.They overtook the car and stopped it. My son (Rocky) was driving the car. Four to five of them pulled him out the car and started beating him," Yadav told ANI. "The bodyguard came out of the car. During the scuffle, my son took out his licensed pistol in defence and by mistake it happened," he added. Meanwhile, Manorama Devi's bodyguard has been arrested by the police. Sachdeva's friend Aayush, who was with him when this incident happened, said they tried overtaking their car, but the other side started firing shots in the air. "One of them was wearing a commando dress. They assaulted my friends and fired shots after which my friend died," he added. A new study has found that stress can trigger Alzheimer's disease by encouraging the accumulation of key proteins in the brain. The newly discovered pathway leading to neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease (AD) may unlock the door to new approaches for treating the disease. The findings focus on the tau protein, whose abnormal aggregation (clumping) has long been known to drive the nerve damage in AD. New research shows that the tau protein directs the formation of stress granules, which are molecular complexes that allow nerve cells to adapt to stresses, such as injury. The tau-stress granule complex is usually short lived, but in the setting of chronic stress, tau persistently forms into a cluster, leading to the degeneration of nerve cells seen in AD. Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) researcher Benjamin Wolozin explained, "Scientists have known for a long time that during disease, tau protein gets modified, changes its location in nerve cells and then aggregates." According to Wolozin, with this finding, comes hope. His team found that reducing the amount of one of the key stress granule proteins, TIA1, prevented tau aggregation and nerve cell degeneration. Wolozin and his team are now planning to test their research findings in animal models of Alzheimer's disease. The study is published in the journal Cell Reports. Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said on Saturday that 13 of its military advisers have been killed recently Syrian conflicts, Press TV reported. In a statement issued on Saturday, the IRGC said that 21 other Iranians were also wounded in the clashes. They were killed and injured in the town of Khan Tuman, south of the Syrian province of Aleppo. The Nusra rebels unleashed a wide-scale offensive on the town of Khan Tuman in the Syrian city of Aleppo over the past two days, succeeding eventually to take control of the town. Aleppo, Syria's second largest city and once an economic hub, has been carved out between the government in the western part of the city and the rebels in the east. Iran, a major regional ally of the Syrian government in its fight against the militant groups, has earlier announced the presence of its military advisors in Syria. --IANS ahm/ Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator Kartar Singh Tanwar's car was attacked here on Sunday, leaving a friend injured, party leaders said. Unidentified men staged the attack with iron rods near Katwaria Sarai area in south Delhi. Police said the legislator, who was not injured, had filed a complaint. "The goons attacked his vehicle and injured the friend, Ajit," AAP leader Deepak Bajpayee told IANS. The injured man was rushed to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. According to other AAP sources, the attackers escaped in their car after Tanwar's driver came out. Tanwar is one of the 67 AAP legislators in the 70-member Delhi assembly. --IANS aks-kd/tsb/mr Actor Kabir Duhan Singh, who made a smashing Tamil debut last year with Ajith Kumar-starrer "Vedalam", has now teamed up with actor Vijay Sethupathi in his next outing "Rekka". He will be playing the antagonist in the film. "There were a few offers after 'Vedalam' but I didn't find them appealing. I wanted my second film to be as good as my first. So I waited for the right opportunity and then came 'Rekka'. I'm excited about working with Vijay Sethupathi," Kabir told IANS. The just-launched "Rekka" also stars Lakshmi Menon and Harish Uthaman. "I'm a fan of Vijay Sethupathi's work. Everybody I spoke to in the industry had only good things to say about him. Even before I signed the project, there was a lot of positivity and that convinced me to accept the offer," he said. While Kabir doesn't divulge much about his role, he says he plays a businessman. "I play the main antagonist. I join the sets on May 12," he said. He will soon start working on his Kannada debut film with actor Sudeep. The project is not yet titled. In Telugu, Kabir's latest release "Supreme" is turning out to be a successful venture. "I'm really happy with the response to 'Supreme'. This success has come at the right time. I'm also working on Sunil's 'Jakkanna' currently," he added. --IANS hp/nn/mr Tehran considers the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad before the end of his term in office its redline, a senior adviser to Iran's supreme leader said on Sunday. "Since the Syrian nation chose Bashar al-Assad as president two years ago, he will remain in the post until the Syrian people decide to change him," Xinhua news agency quoted Ali Akbar Velayati, who is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's advisor on international affairs, as saying. The Syrian nation and government are firmly defending their country against their enemies, Velayati said, rejecting the idea of imposing a president on Syria who would serve the interests of Saudi Arabia or any other party. Foreigners cannot impose their will on the Syrian nation, Velayati said. He reiterated his country's unwavering support for resistance of the Syrian and Iraqi people against terrorists. Iran, a major regional ally of the Syrian government in its fight against the militant groups, has earlier announced the presence of its military advisers in Syria. On Saturday, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said 13 of its military advisers were killed in recent Syrian conflicts. They were killed in the Syrian province of Aleppo, it said. --IANS py/dg World No.1 Novak Djokovic advanced to the Madrid Open final for the second time in his career with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) victory over Japan's Kei Nishikori, his fourth consecutive straight-set victory at this year's event. The top seeded Serbian dominated the majority of the match and was on the verge of victory when he blew a 40-0 lead when serving at 5-4 here on Saturday night, reports Efe. Nerves played a part as Djokovic double-faulted twice in that game and squandered four match points en route to dropping serve for the first time in the tournament. Nishikori suddenly had all the momentum, winning 13 of 18 points to go ahead 6-5 on the scoreboard. But Djokovic regained his composure to send the second set to a tie-breaker and then finish the match off in just under two hours. The Japanese No.6 seed gave Djokovic his toughest battle of the tournament but the Serbian's superior first serve gave him the edge as he put more first balls in play (73 percent to 61 percent) and also won more first-serve points (75 percent to 69 percent). With the win, the Serbian improved his career head-to-head record against Nishikori to 8-2. Next up for Djokovic in Sunday's final of this clay-court event will be British No.2 seed and defending champion Andy Murray, who defeated Spanish No.5 seed and four-time winner Rafael Nadal 7-5, 6-4 in Saturday's other semi-final. Djokovic will be vying for his second Madrid Open title and also looking to break a tie with Nadal for most all-time World Tour Masters 1000 titles, with both players now knotted at 28. Murray will be seeking his third Madrid Open title, the first of which came in 2008 when the tournament was an indoor hard-court event played in the fall. The Madrid Open is now a key tune-up event for Fench Open, which gets under way on May 22. --IANS sam/mr Five people including three students went missing after they went for a bath in the sea off the popular R.K. Beach here on Sunday, police said. The five are suspected to have drowned. Police have launched a search for them with the help of divers. Those missing include three students - Shravan, Prasad and Sheshu - from a private school in Kothavalasa mandal of Vijyanagaram district of Andhra Pradesh. Seeta of Odisha and Babar from Bihar were the other two who were missing at the popular beach, which was thronged by hundreds of people. --IANS ms/vd Supreme Court Chief Justice T.S. Thakur on Sunday once again raised the issue of shortage of judges and said the government cannot afford to deny the people their fundamental rights, which included access to justice. He said the shortage of judges was one of the formidable challenges the Indian judiciary was facing at present. "Access to justice is a fundamental right and the government cannot afford to deny the people their fundamental rights," Thakur said after inaugurating the centenary celebrations of Orissa High Court circuit bench here. He said that while the Law Commission of India in 1987 suggested for 44,000 judges to deal with cases pending at that point of time, the country at present had only 18,000 judges. "Thirty years down the line, we continue to work with a depleted strength. If you go by the number of people added to the (Indian) population, we may now require more than 70,000 judges to clear the pending cases," he said. Supreme Court Justice Dipak Mishra, Orissa High Court Chief Justice Vineet Saran, and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik were among those present at the event. The chief minister said the state government had taken up with the Centre the issue of filling up vacant posts of judges in the high court. "The government has rendered all assistance and financial support for infrastructural development of the courts in the state. We have established 30 judicial magistrate first class courts for ensuring speedy trials of crime against women in Odisha," Patnaik said. He said another 26 additional judicial magistrates' courts were set up in remote and topographically challenging areas of the state. "Odisha has established rural courts to cater to the population living there. A modern court complex of the high court has been constructed and an Odisha Judicial Academy set up for capacity building of judicial officers," Patnaik added. The government favours a "carrot and stick" approach to prevent the spread of the Islamic State. Highly placed sources in the home ministry say the security agencies are keeping a strict vigil on the social media activity of the "potential targets" of terror modules. "The terrorist organisations have been using various social media platforms to spread their propaganda and recruit more footsoldiers for their cause. There is no reason to not believe that they may be setting their eyes on India," a senior home ministry official told IANS. "It's a two-pronged approach. One is to keep an eye on the social media activity of those who might be the target of terror propaganda. At the same time, the efforts should be made to bring them into the mainstream through welfare and employment schemes," the official said. Simultaneously, there is an effort to bring youth from the minority community into the mainstream through various sops and employment prospects. "The youth who do not have anything to do, who are unemployed, may go astray. We have been trying to educate and skill them so that they earn a decent livelihood and enjoy their lives," Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptulla told IANS. For implementing this strategy, state governments and their police forces have been asked to pitch in in the effort apart from the central agencies, according to sources. As for the ministry of minority affairs, it has been asked to implement various welfare and employment oriented schemes, especially in the "vulnerable pockets" of the country and has been allocated Rs.87 crore for this fiscal. "The ministry has been asked to implement various schemes including those under the Skill India mission in various parts of the country, with a special focus on madrasas," a senior ministry official, who did not wish to be named, told IANS. At the same time, officials say, with cases of Indian Muslims going to fight for IS in other countries few and far between, there is no major threat as of now, but "why give them a chance?" It was virtually 'poetic justice' for entrepreneur Falguni Nayar. An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad and occupying top posts in the financial sector for over 24 years, Nayar's life took a turn after a Greek poet's work shared by her daughter inspired her to set up an e-commerce multi-brand retail store for beauty products that employs 230 people and is eyeing a Rs.300 crore ($45 million) turnover by 2017. Nayar, who started her entrepreneurial journey almost four years back, admits she would still have been an investment banker if the 'Ithaka' inspirational poem by Constantine P. Cavafy (1863-1933) hadn't helped her trudge an entrepreneur's path. "This is just the beginning of a journey, we reached some distance and there are still miles to go," Nayar told IANS in an interview here. 'Ithaka' means an inner self quest for rediscovering who you really are and what you really want from your life. The 54-year-old, who firmly believes that any time is a good time to start a business, was here to promote her Nykaa.com retail store. Born in a Gujarati family and married to Punjab-origin Sanjay Nayar, the chief executive officer with global investment firm KKR-India, the entrepreneur said: "That in business only men could take risks is a wrong perception." "Women should come out of this mindset that if they handle the business, it will affect their personal and professional life. I believe if a woman with strong determination and will power aims to do something, she will definitely achieve it." In a word of advice for young start-ups, she said: "Being an entrepreneur is not an easy job. An entrepreneur is like a roller-coaster. If he/she is stronger from inside, he/she can enjoy it." Nayar said she is enjoying her new role as the founder and chief executive officer of the retailer. "Now I feel that I should have taken a call on starting the business a little earlier." Mother of twins - a boy and a girl - Nayar, who launched Nykaa.com on the lines of Sephora, the French chain of cosmetics stores, said: "When you are able to constantly focus on a single goal, your achievements reach their theoretical limit." She said it was her experience in investment banking that helped her to quickly succeed with the start-up, initially with family investments. She later raised funding of Rs.90 crore. "When you are in a job, you can keep on hopping. But not in business," she said. Nayar believes e-commerce has a huge untapped potential in India. Quoting Google's annual online shopping growth trends report, she said the online shopper base in India would reach 100 million by 2016. It was 35 million in 2014. "There are over 100 million smartphone users in India that makes it easier to integrate online shopping." Rolling up her sleeves, she said she is in talks with Indian investors to raise Rs.100 crore to expand beauty business by four-fold by investing in its own brands and opening up three more offline stores - two in Mumbai and one in Bengaluru. Currently, Mumbai-based FSN E-Commerce Ventures that owns Nykaa sells branded products across categories of bath and body, fragrances, hair care, makeup, skincare and luxury products for men and women. It has one offline store in New Delhi. (Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in) --IANS vg/vm/ky/tb The National Film Development Corporation's (NFDC) next Marathi film "Vees Mhanje Vees" ("20 Mhanje 20") will release across Maharashtra on June 10. Written and directed by debutant filmmaker Uday Bhandarkar, the film will release with English subtitles across the major cities of Maharashtra, read a statement. "Vees Mhanje Vees", the first film from the NFDC's slate of releases in 2016, narrates the story of a young college student named Shailaja, who returns to her native village to reopen the school that her ailing father -- a retired school teacher -- had started. The film spans her journey as she struggles through all odds to keep the school running and fulfil the promise made to her father. "Vees Mhanje Vees" brings together an ensemble cast with Mrinmayee Godbole playing the pivotal role along with child stars Parth Bhalerao (of "Bhoothnath Returns" fame), Mrunal Jadhav (of "Drishyam" fame), Mihir Mule, and Arun Nalawade. The NFDC spokesperson said: "NFDC has a slate of very interesting films releasing this year starting with 'Vees Mhanje Vees'. It's a beautiful Marathi film and we are sure that it will strike a chord with the wider audience as we are releasing the film with English subtitles." Talking about his debut film as a writer-director, ad filmmaker Bhandarkar shared: "The subject of 'Vees Mhanje Vees' is very close to my heart." "At a time when small schools in remote villages in India are facing closure simply because they do not have 20 children, 'Vees Mhanje Vees' will bring back the focus to education in its truest sense." --IANS sug/nn/dg Prominent Pakistani rights activist Khurram Zaki was shot dead while having dinner with a friend at a restaurant here, and his NGO blamed "Takfiri Deobandi militants" for the killing. Zaki, 40, was with his journalist friend Rao Khalid when two attackers arrived on a motorcycle, sprayed bullets at them and sped away, the media quoted police as saying. Rao Khalid and a bystander were critically wounded in the attack. The News International said Zaki suffered multiple bullet wounds. The attackers used a 9mm pistol. Ten spent bullet shells were found from the scene of the crime. A former journalist, Zaki was an active campaigner for human rights and edited the website and Facebook page "Let Us Build Pakistan (LUBP)", which claimed to "spread liberal religious views". LUBP Editor in Chief Ali Abbas Taj offered condolences "to Pakistani nation on the martyrdom of Zaki" and said he was second from the editorial team of LUBP to be killed by Deobandi militants. "For the last one year, Zaki was a target of a systematic hate campaign by Deobandi fanatic Shamsuddin Amjad of the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan in collaboration with the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP)." Taj said "hateful and violence inciting posters" against Zaki had been published recently by the Facebook page run by the pro-Taliban fanatics of Jamaat-e-Islami. According to his Twitter profile, Zaki was the former head of current affairs for TV Channel News One, where he looked after infotainment and religious programming. Zaki's website Lubpak.com is currently blocked in Pakistan, Dawn News reported on Sunday. Zaki was last in the media limelight alongside activist Jibran Nasir in a campaign against Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz for inciting hatred against Shia Muslims. The campaigners had managed to get a case registered against Aziz. Rights activist Sabeen Mahmud, who was also gunned down in Karachi, had also taken part in the protest against Lal Masjid. According to social media, Zaki was also a research scholar, blogger as well as human rights activist. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) condemned the killing and demanded the immediate arrest of the murderers. "Zaki's murder is condemnable. Incidents of targeted killing are occurring in spite of on-going operations in the city," the MQM said. LUBP described Zaki as a staunch critic of the systematic attacks on Shia Muslims, Sunni Sufis Muslims, Christians and other communities in Pakistan at the hands of Deobandi militants. "In boldly highlighting and supporting the rights of Sunni Barelvis, Shias, Sufis, Ahmadis, Hindus and Christians, his contribution as citizen journalism was much bigger than all journalists combined in Pakistan. "His death is the grim reminder that whoever raises voice against Taliban and Jamaat-e-Islami Deobandi mafia in Pakistan will not be spared. And when they have to murder, they never fail." --IANS mr-ruwa/ External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Sunday sought a report from Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung on the molestation of a Belgian woman by an Ola cab driver. "I have asked Lt Governor Delhi for a report on the molestation of a Belgian girl by a Cab driver." Swaraj tweeted. "We are committed to the safety and security of all foreign nationals in India," she posted in another tweet. A 23-year-old Belgian woman on Saturday complained to the police in South Delhi that she was molested by the driver of an Ola cab while she was travelling from Gurgaon in Haryana to Delhi. The driver, identified as Raj Singh, 23, a resident of Rajasthan, was arrested on Sunday from Gurgaon. The web-based cab aggregator has terminated the driver with immediate effect from its platform. --IANS aks/kb/dg NASA's MESSENGER mission has unveiled the first global digital elevation model (DEM) of Mercury, revealing in stunning detail the topography across the entire innermost planet. It will also pave the way for scientists to fully characterise Mercury's geologic history. "The wealth of these data has already enabled and will continue to enable exciting scientific discoveries about Mercury for decades to come," said Susan Ensor, software engineer at The Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). This new model reveals a variety of interesting topographic features, including the highest and lowest points on the planet. The highest elevation on Mercury is at 4.48 km above Mercury's average elevation, located just south of the equator in some of Mercury's oldest terrain. The lowest elevation, at 5.38 km below Mercury's average, is found on the floor of Rachmaninoff basin, an intriguing double-ring impact basin suspected to host some of the most recent volcanic deposits on the planet. More than 100,000 images were used to create the new model. "This has become one of my favourite maps of Mercury. Now that it is available, I'm looking forward to it being used to investigate this epic volcanic event that shaped Mercury's surface," added Nancy Chabot, instrument scientist for the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) in a NASA statement. "During its four years of orbital observations, MESSENGER revealed the global characteristics of one of our closest planetary neighbours for the first time. The data from the mission will continue to be utilised by the planetary science community for years to come. --IANS na/kb Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry said that the country needs modern F-16 fighter jets for its ongoing war against terrorism but rejects the conditions the US has attached over their sale. Speaking to journalists, scholars and corporate leaders at a meeting in Islamabad on Saturday, the foreign secretary said no conditions should be attached to the sale of F-16s because Pakistan plans to use the jets only for the purpose of fighting terrorists, Dawn online reported. The US State Department earlier this week said Pakistan will have to pay from its own funds if it wants to buy F-16 fighter jets, after the US Congress last month withdrew funds for the deal to force Pakistan to act against the Haqqani network. Chaudhry said diplomatic efforts were underway to convince the Congress to subsidise the sale of the fighter jets. Pakistan had earlier reached an understanding with the US for buying eight F-16 planes. Under the deal, Pakistan was required to pay about $270 million from its national funds. The US was supposed to provide the rest from its Foreign Military Financing (FMF) fund. Pakistan has conveyed to the US that it does not have the money to buy F-16 jets from its resources and has cautioned that if the stalemate over funding is not resolved, it may consider buying some other fighter aircraft to meet its needs. Among the key reasons behind the Congressional hold are concerns that Pakistan has not taken enough action against the Haqqani network; jail sentence for Shakeel Afridi - the physician who had cooperated with the US in tracking late Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden; and fears about Pakistani nuclear programme. --IANS ksk Prince Harry, the grandson of Great Britain's celebrated Queen Elizabeth II, complained on Sunday that there are "incessant" intrusions into his private life. Harry said the line between his public and private life has become almost non-existent, Efe news agency reported. "Everyone has a right to their privacy, and a lot of the members of the public get it, but sadly in some areas there is this incessant need to find out every little bit of detail about what goes on behind the scenes. It's unnecessary," said the 31-year-old son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana. "We will continue to do our best to ensure that there is the line," he added. --IANS py/dg Unidentified assailants gunned down social media campaigner and civil society activist Khurram Zaki on Saturday night in Pakistan's Karachi city. Central District SSP, Muqadas Haider told Dawn online that four suspects riding on two motorcycles opened fire on Zaki, 40, while he was having dinner at a restaurant. The activist was killed, while two others - journalist Rao Khalid and a bystander - were critically wounded in the attack. A former journalist, Zaki was an active campaigner for human rights and was the editor of the website and Facebook page 'Let Us Build Pakistan (LUBP)' which claimed to "spread liberal religious views and condemned extremism in all forms". According to his Twitter profile, Zaki was the former head of current affairs for TV Channel News One, where he looked after infotainment and religious programming. Zaki's website Lubpak.com is currently blocked in Pakistan. Zaki was last in the media limelight alongside activist Jibran Nasir in a campaign against Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz for inciting hatred against Shia Muslims. The campaigners had managed to get a case registered against Aziz. Rights activist Sabeen Mahmud, who was also gunned down in Karachi, had taken part in the protest against Lal Masjid as well. --IANS ksk A smartphone app designed to provide security to about 3,000 schools of Pakistan's Karachi city was launched, a media report said. Sindh Rangers on Saturday announced the application will help educational institutions in the metropolis alert law enforcers in case of an emergency, Dawn online reported. "In case of any emergency or untoward situation, the head of the educational institution is advised to send a message to the system," said a senior Rangers official. He added the message will be received at the central command (Rangers headquarters) and also the cell phones of the zone's company commander, wing commander and the sector commander. It will facilitate a rapid response. The official stated the system also allows deployment of additional personnel if necessary. Named 'Rangers School College Protection System', so far 3,000 schools have been registered with the system. Other schools can also apply for induction into the system. "In future, we will add hospitals, shopping malls and media houses into the system," said the Rangers official. Security concerns have forced closure of many schools in Karachi and other parts of Pakistan after an attack on Bacha Khan University (BKU) earlier this year. Last month, the paramilitary force announced a WhatsApp helpline allowing the people of Karachi to send texts, videos and pictures related to any criminal or illegal activity to the force. --IANS ksk A JD-U party legislator's son allegedly shot dead a class 12 student in Bihar's Gaya town for overtaking his car, police said on Sunday. Aditya Sachdeva, son of a businessman, was allegedly shot dead on late Saturday night by Rocky Yadav, son of JD-U MLC Manorma Devi and Bindi Yadav, a criminal turned politician. After a protest in Gaya over Aditya's killing, police have detained Bindi Yadav for interrogation, a district police official said. According to police, preliliminary investigation suggested that in a fit of rage, Rocky killed Aditya after a heated arguement for not giving side to his new Land Rover car. Police have also recovered Rocky's car from his parents' house. --IANS ik/ksk A group of Congress leaders from Tripura, including suspended legislature party leader Sudip Roy Barman, on Sunday met Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Roy in Kolkata to discuss their joining the Mamata Banerjee party, party sources said here. "Barman accompanied by party's former state working president Ashish Saha, and Youth Congress' former state chief Sushanta Chowdhury met Trinamool vice president Mukul Roy on Sunday in Kolkata and discussed about their joining the party," said a dissident Congress leader. He said that the leaders would meet Banerjee on Monday to finalise their joining. Protesting against the Congress' electoral tie-up with the Left in West Bengal, many top Congress leaders in Tripura including Barman, Saha and Chowdhury quit their posts last month. The party high command on Saturday suspended Barman and Youth Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Brar took similar action against 14 youth Congress leaders including Chowdhury from the party for an indefinite period. Immediately after the announcement of the suspension, their angry supporters Saturday ransacked the party headquarters and vandalised furniture, computers and other property. Other senior leaders who have also earlier quit the party on the same issue include women's front state chief Kalyani Roy and scheduled caste front head Prakash Chandra Das, besides 32 block presidents and many student leaders. On Sunday, two more senior leaders - Amal Mallik and Balai Goswami - also quit their party posts on the same issue. Barman, in his resignation letter to party chief Sonia Gandhi, said: "In spite of your understanding of the CPI-M's unpredictable character, its treacherous role in the past, anti-national thinking and activities and the immense barbaric atrocities upon Congressmen in West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala, you have given the nod to this so-called alliance/seat adjustments." He said the party's alliance with the Left Front led by Communist Party of India-Marxist in Bengal would have a far-reaching political impact at the national level. Tripura Congress president Birajit Sinha meanwhile said here that all the party leaders who quit their posts and criticised the central leadership would be suspended from the party soon. Meanwhile, dissident Congress leaders on Sunday organised protest demonstrations and burnt effigies of central and state leaders in various parts of Tripura to protest the Congress-Left tie-up in Bengal. --IANS sc/vd Abu Dhabi, May 8 (IANS/WAM) The UAE cabinet launched a national campaign to strengthen family ties and endorse the family's core role in preserving the identity and culture of society. The campaign 'Cohesive Family 2021' chaired by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, said President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has stressed family cohesion as the area of focus in the UAE. Al Maktoum said: "We aim to be among the best countries in the world, and this can only be achieved by strengthening families which form the nucleus of society. Cohesive families constitute the most definitive path to a strong community." 'Cohesive Family 2021' introduces several initiatives and designs a number of cultural activities and events under its umbrella "The Family Pledge" being the most important among them. --IANS/WAM py/dg The proposed discussion on the 2016-17 Uttarakhand budget and the Enemy Property Bill are likely to generate much heat between the treasury and opposition benches in both houses of parliament during the coming week. Numerically stronger in the Rajya Sabha, the opposition parties are geared up to embarrass the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government yet again as members insisted they could stall the passage of the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill. Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari has said the government's move to take up discussion on the Uttarakhand budget a day ahead of the vote of confidence by the Harish Rawat government -- as directed by the Supreme Court -- is "unconstitutional". "The government should await the result of the floor test," Tewari said. Uttarakhand was placed under President's Rule on March 27, necessitating parliamentary nod for the state's budget. According to sources, the government's agenda for the ensuing week -- the last week of the second budget session of parliament -- also includes passage of bills pertaining to anti-hijacking, Indian trusts (amendment) and child labour (amendment). In the Rajya Sabha, Congress members K. Rahman Khan, Hussain Dalwai and P.L. Punia have already submitted note of dissent on the Select Committee report on the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016. The report, prepared by a panel headed by Bharatiya Janata Party member Bhupender Yadav, was submitted on May 6. "The provisions of the bill or the ordinance, as brought by the government, violates the very basic principle of natural justice, human rights and settled principles of law. The provisions of the present bill also disturb the balance on the subject. The new law will not sustain in a court of law," a Congress member told IANS. K.C. Tyagi (Janata Dal-United), D. Raja (Communist Party of India) and Javed Ali Khan (Samajwadi Party) also gave note of dissent identical to that of the Congress members. The note of dissent says that this bill does not follow the lines of The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Second Bill 2010, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha and referred to the standing committee. "Further, the bill seeks to insert certain provisions which totally violate Articles 14, 19, 300A of the constitution and is also against the principles of natural justice," it said. The Enemy Property Ordinance, 2016, was promulgated on January 7 to seek amendments to the Enemy Property Act, 1968. The amendments through the ordinance include one that says that once an enemy property is vested in the custodian, it shall continue to be vested in him as enemy property, irrespective of whether the enemy, enemy subject or enemy firm has ceased to be an enemy due to reasons such as death. The Lok Sabha passed the bill in March. In the Lok Sabha, where BJP sources claim the treasury bench scored a major victory during the debate on the AgustaWestland chopper deal on Friday, discussions on the Uttarakhand budget and passing of the Uttarakhand Appropriation (vote on account) Bill are listed by the government for Monday. President's Rule was imposed in Uttarakhand on March 27, ousting the Harish Rawat-led Congress government. It was lifted following an Uttarakhand High Court order on April 21 but was reimposed by the Supreme Court a day later. The apex court on Friday cleared the decks for Uttarakhand's ousted chief minister Harish Rawat to take a vote of confidence on his government in the assembly on May 10. --IANS nd/tsb/dg TCI should be pushing on an open door with its litany of complaints about pay, governance and operations at Volkswagen (VW). Chris Hohn's $10-billion activist hedge fund has in the past taken on the likes of Japan Tobacco and Coal India. That puts the German auto producer in some pretty embarrassing company. Yet an acerbic letter on Friday, however on point, can only do so much at a company like VW. Hohn says he has accumulated a two per cent stake in the Euro 61-billion carmaker. Porsche Automobil Holding SE retains 52 per cent voting rights, and Lower Saxony has 20 per cent. That means there's no chance of seeding a shareholder revolt. What TCI can do, though, is reinforce moves that the controlling owners should already be making in the wake of the diesel-emissions cheating scandal that VW now estimates will cost it Euro 16 billion to Euro 17 billion, or some $19 billion. That has to be paid for, and fixing a business whose performance "has gone significantly backwards," as TCI puts it, would help. So would reducing compensation habits that led to the "disgrace" of VW handing Euro 63 million to the 12-member management board in 2015, by TCI's tally, while paying just Euro 68 million in dividends. Toughening lax governance that helped allow the emissions debacle to happen in the first place would be another important step. With new bosses in place at VW, decisions about changes in some of these areas are due over the summer. It may be, therefore, that TCI is just making its views known rather than trying to foment further upheaval. There is a hint, however, that the family interests in control of the carmaker may share some of Hohn's frustrations. Porsche SE, which allots dividends to the insiders, in April decided abruptly on a far higher payout than initially planned. VW will have to make much more money - and pay it out to shareholders - for Porsche SE to keep that up. TCI's Japan Tobacco stake, largely sold last year according to Reuters, did better financially than the Coal India campaign. Both illustrate that the fund doesn't shy away from difficult cases. Hohn's best shot at influencing VW, though, may be to keep its top executives under a spotlight of shame. I recently wrote that the policy changes the Narendra Modi government has been putting in place promise to return the economy to miracle growth in the near future. Today, I document the turnaround in one important area - infrastructure. More will follow soon. The Code appears to club secured creditors with unsecured creditors. This treatment could lead to certain unintended consequences: (a) If secured creditors constitute less than 25 per cent of the financial debt, the unsecured creditors would be able to "cram down" a resolution plan. This is counter-intuitive, since secured creditors in such a situation may opt out of the insolvency process and enforce their rights separately. (b) If secured creditors constitute a significant majority of the financial debt of the company (say greater than 75 per cent, as might be the case with several companies), then unsecured creditors are denied their veto rights, which they would ordinarily have if separate classes were recognised. Vodafone's decision last week to set the ball rolling on a $2.5-billion initial public offering was a smart decision as it reiterated the British telecom major's long-term commitment to the Indian market. The commitment was anyway never in doubt as the company continues to invest around Rs 8,500 crore every year in India for mobile network expansion and new technology deployment. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the United Kingdom, Vodafone committed investments totalling Rs 13,000 crore for Digital India, Make in India and payments bank initiatives in India despite the Rs 14,200-crore retrospective tax dispute related to Vodafone's 2007 acquisition of Hutchison Essar. It is encouraging, therefore, that the government is reportedly holding negotiations with the company to settle the issue once and for all, even as arbitration proceedings are going on. Last month, when Karnataka notified On-demand Transportation Taxi Aggregators Rules, it used provisions in the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act, 1988, not just to get companies like Ola and Uber registered with the transport department but also to regulate such operators, which have so far maintained that they do not come under any legal framework. Karnataka has used its powers under Sections 93, 95(1) and 96(1) of the MV Act, 1988, to frame the rules. Though these companies have raised issues on this with the state and so far not registered, the Delhi government, too, is in the process of framing rules for aggregators of taxis and buses. The Union government, on its part, had last year come up with an advisory for "licensing, compliance and liability of on-demand information technology based transportation aggregator". It said cab aggregators should obtain licence under Section 93 of MV Act, 1988 which provides for licensing of agents that solicit customers for public service vehicles. A detailed questionnaire sent to both Uber and Ola for their point of view remained unanswered. The aggregators, unlike conventional taxi services, do not own vehicles, but provide an on-line market place to drivers and customers. In 2015, Uber, along with other cab providers, was barred from plying in Delhi. The government said, "Uber's services were also in contravention of the MV Act, 1988, and rules framed under it'' but the companies maintained that the Act did not apply to them since they were not taxi operators. The crackdown came after the December 2014 rape incident in an Uber taxi. The Delhi government later amended the Radio Cab Scheme to include aggregators and service providers which do not own a vehicle. In addition, the aggregators were brought under the purview of the Information Technology Act, 2015. Almost at the same time, the local administration in the Salt Lake area of West Bengal came out with regulations that brought drivers under the MV Act and the companies under the IT Act. In case of Karnataka rules, both IT and MV Act will apply to the service provider. Amit Jain, partner, BMR & Associates LLP, says the rules issued by the Karnataka government are based on the Centre's recommendatory guidelines. They mandate the licensing requirements for taxicab operators in the state. "Even in countries like the UK, a standard operator's licence is required for operating private taxicabs. Similar licensing requirement is applicable across the US," said Jain. The latest crackdown by the Delhi government came because of surge pricing, a demand-linked fare system, that led to complaints of overcharging. Usually, the fares rise only during peak traffic hours, but during the odd-even scheme of the Delhi government, the demand for taxis shot up and fares rose. Surge pricing was not only banned during that period hurting the business model of the companies but the Arvind Kejriwal government declared it would ban it permanently. Karnataka has already shown the way by capping the fares of aggregators, says Jain. Surge pricing in some form is prevalent in other sectors, too. Fares of private airlines increase during peak season. Even during natural calamities, like the Chennai floods and when train and road services were impacted due to the Jat agitation in Haryana, airlines jacked up fares. Government-operated Indian Railways, too, introduced dynamic pricing in 2014, which meant higher fares when demand is higher but later decided to regulate the pricing. Jain says even FMCG companies have varying retail selling price, depending on the channel and place of sale. "Implementing such restrictions for taxi aggregators only appears to be selective and discriminatory. However, given the current provisions of law, the operators will have to keep the pricing within the limits provided under Karnataka rules, although the prices can fluctuate within such limits." Jain says the Karnataka rules are a much needed piece of legislation in the current era. With advancement of technology and fast changing urban lifestyle, cab business has seen unprecedented growth in the last one decade and is already valued at $6-$9 billion. Most provisions of the Karnataka Rules, such as control over fares to prevent surge pricing, vehicle age restriction, requirement for licensee to have an office and officer in charge in the area of operation, requirement to furnish details of cars, drivers, number of trips, fares, origin and drop destinations etc are largely aimed at safeguarding the larger public interest, he says. "Some provisions, however, do not adequately factor in business realities and market dynamics, like restrictions on surge pricing, the requirement to have an office in the area etc," says Jain. Also in the works is a whole new legislation called the Road Transport and Safety Bill, which will provide an umbrella framework for regulation. Section 2 of the Bill drafted by the Union government defines 'aggregator' as including a digital intermediary or online marketplace for a passenger to connect with a driver for the purposes of transportation. Its Section 87 empowers the proposed National Transport Authority to "make schemes including scheme for aggregators". With the Centre and states now determined to regulate the services of these technology-driven companies through these frameworks, the argument that existing rules do not apply to them might no longer hold ground. REGULATING THE AGGREGATORS Necessity for Licence: No person shall act or permit any other person to act as an aggregator unless he holds an effective licence issued under the rules Licencees are required to comply with applicable rules under the Motor Vehicles Act and Information Technology Act, 2000 Should have minimum 100 taxis, either owned or through a pact with individual permit holders Hire charges capped at govt approved rates. Not more than Rs 19.5 per km for AC cabs and Rs 14.5 per km for non-AC cabs, inclusive of all taxes A borrower can file an appeal against the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) before the appellate tribunal only if he deposits 50 per cent of the due amount or 50 per cent ordered by the DRT, whichever is less. That is the rule under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (Sarfaesi) Act. The appellate tribunal may reduce the amount to 25 per cent. What is the fate of such deposit on the disposal of the appeal? The Supreme Court ruled that the amount is deposited by the borrower with the tribunal and not the creditor and it is not bailment. In the Axis Bank versus SBS Organic case, the borrower sought the return of the pre-deposit after the disposal of the suit. But the bank opposed it and claimed it on the ground that the amount had to be set off against the dues of the borrower. The bank contended that it has to secure the entire debt by proceeding against the secured assets, and therefore, the deposit is liable to be appropriated by the bank. Rejecting the arguments of the bank, the judgment stated that the Act permitted the secured creditor to proceed only against the secured assets. The pre-deposit as a condition is neither a secured asset nor a secured debt, since the borrower has not created any security interest on such pre-deposit in favour of the secured creditor The bank has no lien on the amount either, the judgment said, ordering the return of the pre-deposit. The entity called paid news, whereby a media outlet is remunerated to carry editorially a particular piece of information without any disclosure and often before an election, has become more and more common in recent years and correspondingly the demand for banning such news and punishing those who carry it has grown. The Press Council of India appointed a committee in 2010 to examine the issue but, thanks to intensive lobbying with the council by sections of the media industry which were cast in poor light by the report, it took considerable effort and time to put the report in the public domain. The government now, according to a news report, is contemplating changing several laws to make carrying paid news not just a punishable offence but also liable to serious penalties. The one measure which appears to have wide support is to declare publication of paid news an electoral offence. This will put it in the domain of the Election Commission which is held in high esteem. Hence there is comfort over any censure or more emanating from the Election Commission which will thereby acquire legitimacy. Last week, the Patna High Court heard a series of petitions challenging the way prohibition had been enforced in Bihar. At one point, a petitioner's counsel told the court that due to prohibition no investor would come to the state. "Why will they come to the state when they are not allowed to do things of their choice," he asked. Justice Navaniti Prasad Singh, part of the bench, asked the petitioner's counsel, "Are investors not going to Gujarat?" Gujarat was the first state to implement total prohibition in 1958. During the hearing of a public interest litigation filed by a doctor, senior counsel Y V Giri pointed out that alcohol was extensively used in homoeopathic medicine. "Even Dr (Naresh) Trehan said that limited intake of liquor is not harmful to health," said Justice Singh. He was alluding to heart surgeon Naresh Trehan, whose company Medanta is developing a super-speciality hospital in association with the state government and who shared the dais with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the hospital just a day before. KERALA Sangh Parivar units have been functioning in Kerala since 1942, when three Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharaks, including the former Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh chief, the late Dattopant Thengdi, started their career in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode. The Sangh Parivar floated over two dozen social, cultural and educational organisations from mid-1960s but it is yet to make a sizeable dent in the electoral of the state. Can this Assembly election pull off what the RSS aspired to do but was unable to? In the past two years, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has gone about consolidating its outreach to Dalits and backward castes, particularly Ezhavas, in a state where Hindus comprise 53 per cent of the population. According to a party source, an opinion poll shared by a leading television network of Kerala with the bosses suggests the party candidates would perform beyond expectation in at least half a dozen of the 14 Assembly seats in Thiruvananthapuram district. TAMIL NADU Hindu nationalism has had little traction in a state where the principal political force, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), defined its as "a war for supremacy between north and and Tamil versus Hindi". Tamil cultural nationalism became the dominant political culture of the state. After a long hiatus, the BJP contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections with new determination. The strategy in the general elections of 2014 was to ally with smaller parties that were opposed to both the DMK and the AIADMK. Thus, Vijayakanth came into the National Democratic Alliance fold. In terms of vote share, with around five per cent of the vote, the BJP ranked third after the AIADMK and DMK in 2014. However, in this Assembly election, despite expending a lot of effort, the BJP's message in the Tamil Nadu election is not clear. The argument of the BJP is to offer itself as an alternative to both the Dravidian parties. But, in terms of the alliance that rules in the state, even its erstwhile partner, Vijayakanth has deserted it. Many BJP leaders themselves agree that it will take some time for the party to establish itself as an independent entity. ANDHRA PRADESH & TELANGANA But the party is rapidly tiring of this situation. In divided Andhra or Seemandhra where Assembly elections took place for the first time in 2014 as a separate state, the BJP agreed to ally with the TDP, and arguably gave more than it got. The TDP got a ministership in the Centre as part of the pre-election bargain in return for BJP ministerships in the state. But the tension between the alliance partners is palpable. The BJP reckons it can displace the main Opposition YSR Congress, led by Jaganmohan Reddy as the Opposition, if it comes out of government and trains its guns on Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu's promotion of his family and corruption in government. On the other hand, because of internal pulls and pressures within the state unit of the BJP, the gains of such a move could be limited. The two poles of power in the BJP in Andhra Pradesh are represented by the Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu and the powerful general secretary of the BJP, Ram Madhav. Daggubati Purandeswari, who crossed over to the BJP from the Congress just ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha election, is also a contender. In Telangana, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi has gone from strength to strength. It has won every election it has contested and keeps a wary distance from the BJP. So, the possibility of the BJP's growth in Telangana is either on its own, or not at all. KARNATAKA The BJP opened its Lok Sabha account from Karnataka in 1991 when it won four seats and was placed in second position in 12 seats. It also secured first position in 59 Assembly segments in this election. In Karnataka's caste politics, the BJP is seen largely as a party of Lingayats, the community that rallied behind the party, when in 1990 Virendra Patil, a Lingayat chief minister, was sacked by the Congress high command and a backward caste leader Bangarappa, who succeeded him did not give due representation to Lingayats in his council of ministers. This caste consolidation was further strengthened, when in 1994 Assembly election H D Deve Gowda, a Vokkaliga; S R Bommai, a Lingayat; and R K Hegde, a Brahmin, fought unitedly and came to power as the Janata Dal. But the BJP also secured 40 Assembly seats. The Lingayat factor was exploited by B S Yeddyurappa, who became the first BJP chief minister of any southern state in 2007 after the compact between the Janata Dal (Secular), or JDS, headed by H D Deve Gowda's son, and the BJP, which had allied with JDS to form the government failed. The BJP has a hold, especially in north and coastal Karnataka, and is looking to form the next government in the state, leveraging on the factionalism in the ruling Congress when Assembly elections come round in 2018. It is not as if the BJP is united. The re-appointment of Yeddyurappa as the party chief in the state has created great heartburn among senior leaders like Jagadish Shettar and Anantha Kumar. However, in the absence of a third force and divisions in the Congress, the BJP could form a government in the state. The noise of the Assembly elections will hit fever pitch in the following days, as Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry prepare to elect their representatives to the Legislative Assembly. Leaders of all political parties are likely to make a beeline to the south, where campaigning will cease on Friday evening. The high point of the week will be the exit polls conducted by most media houses that will come out on the evening of May 16 - the day the election concludes. Since most of the top leaders - Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi - have already completed their tour of the states, it will fall on local leaders to provide the elbow grease and gear up for the final campaign push. GST caught in Agusta crosshairs This week, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will meet the Congress brass for a second time to discuss if the rate of taxation should be part of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Constitution Amendment Bill or not? Last week, when in Frankfurt for a meeting of the Asian Development Bank, the minister had said: "I had a round of discussion with the Congress on GST. I think it should take a responsible position in the larger interest of the economy and cooperate in its passage, particularly when every other political party is in favour, including its own allies." He had said the only sticking point between the government and the Congress now is whether or not the 18 per cent GST rate should be put in the Constitution Amendment Bill. It is not clear whether the Congress sees it the same way. After all the bitterness in Parliament over the Agusta helicopters debate, how will the Congress respond to Jaitley's call for talks? In any case, there is no time left in the Budget session to discuss GST; now it will be deferred to the monsoon session. Twelve passengers were killed and 39 others injured when a Himachal Road Transport Corporation bus plunged into a deep gorge near Jogindernagar in Mandi district late last night. The bus carrying over 55 persons was on its way to Rekong Peo, when the mishap took place about 210 km from here. The condition of some of the injured persons was critical, police said, adding 39 people have been injured. Among whom 20 were admitted in JoginderNagar Hospital and 19 have been rushed to PGI Chandigarh and Government Medical College, Tandain Kangra, Deputy Commissioner, Kangra, Ritesh Chouhan said. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh this morning met the injured in Tanda hospital and announced an ex-gratia relief of Rs five lakh for the next of kin of each of the deceased. Expressing grief over the mishap, the Chief Minister said, "It was painful to see the seriously injured at Tanda Hospital. We will provide all possible help to the injured and kin of diseased." The victims are yet to identified, police said. The rescue operations are still on and further details are awaited. Three personnel of Madhya Pradesh Police Special Task Force (MPSTF) were injured while on duty in an attack by a group of Sikligars (a local weapon manufacturing tribe) at Lalbagh village in Dhamnod town in the district, police said today. "The incident took place last night when acting on a tip-off, STF sleuths, led by Police Sub-Inspector (PSI) Santosh Pande, raided a hideout of Sikligars," Dhamnod police station In-charge Dinesh Chouhan said. The assailants retaliated by pelting stones on the policemen, injuring three personnel, he said, adding they fled the spot after the attack. The wounded cops were admitted to a hospital in Indore for treatment, he said. The condition of policemen Vishnu Yadav and Manish Rathore is serious, he said. On Pande's complaint, a case was registered against Malkhan, Pratap, Rajmal, Ter Singh and few unidentified persons under relevant sections of the IPC, he said, adding further investigation is on. Three Spanish journalists who were kidnapped some 10 months ago in Syria returned home to Spain today, a day after their release, the government said. "The Spanish journalists Jose Manuel Lopez, Angel Sastre and Antonio Pampliega who were kidnapped in Aleppo in northern Syria almost 10 months ago have arrived at Torrejon air base" near Madrid, the government said in a statement. The trio, who had been working for various Spanish media as freelancers around the time of their disappearance, were last seen in July 2015 in Aleppo where they had been reporting on fighting. Their release had been "possible thanks to the collaboration of allies and friends especially in the final phase from Turkey and Qatar", the Spanish government said yesterday in a statement. Some Spanish media, including top-selling daily newspaper El Pais, said the three had been abducted by Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, the Al-Nusra Front. After they disappeared, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said officials were working with members of Spain's National Intelligence Centre who were in Syria to try and secure their release. At least 41 people were missing and seven others injured today when a massive landslide engulfed the construction site of a hydropower station and its office building in China's southeastern Fujian province. Over a lakh cubic meters of mudburied temporary sheds at a hydropower station construction site and damaged its offices located in Taining County. State-run Xinhua agency reported that 41 people were listed missing and seven others injured. State television showed footage of hundreds of rescue workers trying to dig through the massive pile of mud to locate survivors. The landslide was triggered by heavy downpours that unleashed 191. 6 millimeters of rain in 24 hours since Saturday. The local tourism administration has ordered all scenic spots to shut down. The mountainous county boasts rich scenic lakes and canyons. Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered he Fujian local government and related departments to make maximum efforts to rescue the trapped people. He called for all-out efforts to search for buried and missing people, and stressed proper treatment for the injured, while consoling the relatives of the injured and missing. Xi also urged strengthening local monitoring and safety checks for hidden dangers to prevent secondary disasters. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has also called for all-out efforts to search for and rescue those missing in the landslide and to treat the injured. Li also asked the Ministry of Land and Resources to take the lead to form and dispatch a work team under the State Council (Cabinet) to Fujian to oversee and help with rescue work. At least eight persons have been killed and several others injured in the past 24 hours in clashes during local council elections in Bangladesh amidst reports of irregularities and rigging in the polls held for the first time on party lines. In the fourth phase yesterday, elections were held in 703 Union Parishads. Since the announcement of schedules on February 11, at least 70 people have been killed in polls-related violence until Friday. The election to the smallest tier of local government is being held for the first time on party lines. The last phase will be held on June 4, BD reported. One person died and at least 30 others were injured during a clash between supporters of Awami League's rebel candidate and law enforcers at Dhaperhat of Sadullapur in Gaibandha. Two persons died and at least 10 others were injured when supporters of the Awami League candidate clashed with supporters of the party's rebel candidate in Rajshahi's Bagmara. Deputy Inspector General of Police M Khurshid Hasan said Awami League activist Siddikur Rahman was shot dead while an unidentified person died from cardiac failure during the clash at Auchparha union. He said police opened fire and lobbed tear gas shells to bring the situation under control. In Narsinghdi, a 60-year-old supporter of an independent candidate died in an attack by supporters of ruling Awami League candidate, police said. Three others were 'critically' injured in clashes at Sreenagar union, he added. Locals at Harinmari union of Baliadangi Upazila in Thakurgaon alleged that a person died in police firing during clashes between supporters of rival candidates. In Comilla, a youth was hacked to death near a polling centre at Madhabpur union. The Awami League candidate was among six others injured in the incident, police said. The violence erupted amid reports of irregularities and rigging in the polls at several places. Nine persons were killed today in separate road accidents in Himachal Pradesh, police said. Seven persons were killed and 35 injured when a private tourist bus, enroute to Jwalaji from Amritsar, met with an accident near Daliara in Kangra district, Deputy Commissioner Kangra, Ritesh Chouhan said. Sixteen of the injured have been shifted to Tanda while the other injured are being treated at Dehra, Chouhan said. The victims have been identified as Chandan (16), Anil Sharma (50), Suman Kumara (40), Parvati(65), Sourabh (32), Surinder (40) and Satish (20). He said an immediate relief of Rs 25,000 has been announced for the kin of the deceased and Rs 5,000 for the seriously injured. In another incident, two persons were killed in Pangi of Chamba district when the jeep in which they were travelling fell in Chanderbhaga river. Manu and Rakesh Kumar died on the spot while driver Chander Parkash was injured, police said. A relief of 10,000 each has been released for the kin of the deceased, SDM Pangi Karam Singh said. Aam Aadmi Party MLA Kartar Singh Tanwar and two others sustained injuries when they were allegedly attacked by four unidentified men who stopped the car in which the legislator was travelling in south Delhi's Fatehpur Beri area this morning. "Murderous attack on AAP MLA, Kartar Singh Tanwar. Chhatarpur. Driver is injured. Attackers were carrying pistol. Kartar is safe," senior party leader Ashutosh tweeted. According to police, the incident took place in the morning when Tanwar, the Chhatarpur MLA, was heading somewhere with an associate in his SUV, when four persons stopped them in Fatehpur Beri area and hit the windshield of the car with a rod. The assailants then entered into a scuffle with the driver and the MLA's associate. The MLA sustained injuries while trying to defend the two. The police were informed and all injured persons were taken to AIIMS. The police have received a complaint in connection with the matter. A Manipur MLA's assistant, who was abducted by militants for ransom last month, was rescued by security forces from Senapati district of the state, police said today. A team of security forces last night rescued P Thangsiangbiak, assistant of Singhat MLA G S Haopu, after exchanging fire with the cadres of the Tribal Revolutionary Army (TRA) at the densely forest area in the vicinity of Kontam village in the district. The site from where the police rescued the victim was disclosed by one TRA cadre Letkhomang Kipgen who was caught from Churachandpur district on May 6, a police official said. Thangsiangbiak was abducted last month for ransom allegedly by Douthanglen Kipgen, President of the newly floated TRA. He was recently declared "wanted" by the Manipur Police. A cash award of Rs one lakh was offered to anyone who could provide information which would lead to the capture of D Kipgen, a police statement had said. Two bike-borne persons opened fire on an accountant of brick kiln at Kiwana village, leaving him seriously injured, police said. The victim, identified as Billu (30), was rushed to hospital in Delhi. The assailants attacked him when he was returning home from the brick kiln, Station House Officer, Sahab Singh said. He said that the brick kiln was owned by ex-MLA Balbir Singh Kivana. Preliminary inquiry found that old enmity was the reason behind the incident, Singh said. Though she will be seen in a deglam avatar in her coming film "Sarbjit", director Omung Kumar says Aishwarya Rai Bachchan agreed to be a part of it within 15 minutes. The film is based on Sarabjit Singh, an Indian national who was jailed in Pakistan on the charge of spying. Aishwarya plays the role of his sister Dalbir Kaur. Omung says he wanted to cast an actress who could pull off being a twenty-year-old and a sixty-year-old with equal ease. "There are a very few actors who are in the middle range (in age) and mature enough to play a 22-year-old and a 60-year-old also. Young actors can be aged but it looks fake. I wanted that middle person," Omung told PTI. "Nobody would think of Aishwarya in this role at all. Because people might say 'from which angle she looks like Dalbir'. I made Dalbir my way. All the mannerisms of Dalbir are there, the walk, the talk, but look-wise I've made Aishwarya not to look like Aishwarya," the director added. This will be the second biopic Omung has made after his national-award winning "Mary Kom". "It just took 15 minutes for Aishwarya to say yes to the film. I know her for a long time, since her Miss India days and we have been friends. But I wanted to go to her with a solid role. She saw the full research I had done, I narrated one scene because I didn't have a script then, and she was on board," he said. The film stars Randeep Hooda in the titular role. Omung was all praise for Aishwarya's professionalism. "When she is on set, she won't move from one place. If lighting is required, she will herself stand there...If it is a shot change, for continuity purpose she would retain her position for as long as one hour so that nothing should change in her style," he said. The film is scheduled to release on May 20. Megastar Amitabh Bachchan is visiting Thrissur, Kerala's cultural capital, on Tuesday to be a part of temple festival. Bachchan will attend the inaugural ceremony of the 10 day-long 'Vasanthothsavam' festival at Pushpagiri's Seetharamaswamy temple after he accepted the invitation from businessman T S Kalyanaraman, a patron of the shrine. The Vasanthothsavam festival is a regular feature in town and over the years, has seen classical performances by artistes like Shankar Mahadevan and Hariharan. Bachchan, 73, has been in Kerala in the past for movies and advertisement shoots. However, this will be his first visit to the temple town of Thrissur. After taking part in the inaugural ceremony, he will return to Mumbai in the night, a release from the organisers said. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has rejected government headhunter PSEB's recommendation for appointment of Gopal Singh as Chairman and Managing Director of NMDC, according to official sources. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has also directed the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PSEB) to start afresh the selection process for the post. PSEB had earlier recommended the name of Gopal Singh, who is the chairman and managing director of Central Coalfields, for NMDC's top post, which fell vacant after the retirement of Narendra Kothari on December 31. Additional Secretary and Financial Adviser to Steel Ministry Bharathi S Sihag has been given additional charge as CMD of the iron ore company with effect from January 1. The ACC has not assigned any reason for not accepting the PSEB and subsequent Steel Ministry's recommendation favouring Gopal Singh's name for the NMDC's top post, according to official sources. The ACC has directed the Ministry to initiate the selection process for appointment of NMDC CMD afresh, they said. Gopal Singh refused to comment on the subject. There was no fresh notification seeking application for NMDC CMD post on the PSEB's website. The previous CMD of the country's largest iron ore miner Narendra Kothari retired on December 31, 2015. Those interviewed for the NMDC post included four directors of NMDC (National Mineral Development Corporation), two directors of SAIL and one director each from RINL, CIL, HCL apart from the CMD of HSCL Moyukh Bhaduri, CCL CMD Gopal Singh, PGCIL executive director V Sekar and KIOCL CMD Malay Chatterjee. Two senior officials from two different PSUs who were in the race for the post during initial stages withdrew their candidatures for "unexplained reasons". An official in the Steel Ministry on condition of anonymity alleged that three names were included in the original list of candidates selected for interview at a later stage. Sources also said that the post of Director (Personnel) at NMDC is also vacant for nearly one year and there has been no communique from the government. "Though the PSEB has recommended Sandeep Tula's name for the post of Director (Personnel) last year, there has been no word on his appointment so far from the government," they added. Tula is currently with NMDC as executive director of personnel and administration. Australia will hold elections on July 2, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced today barely eight months after he ousted his predecessor Tony Abbott, promising to revive the sluggish economy which he said was in danger of stopping "dead in its tracks" if his rivals won. Turnbull said the election would be held after the Governor-General accepted his advice to dissolve both houses of Parliament from tomorrow. "This election Australians will have a very clear choice; to keep the course, maintain the commitment to our national economic plan for growth and jobs, or go back to Labour, with its higher taxing, higher spending, debt and deficit agenda, which will stop our nation's transition to the new economy dead in its tracks," he said. "But if we embrace this future with confidence and with optimism, with self-belief and a clear plan, then we will succeed as we have never succeeded before. Our economic plan for jobs and growth is as clear as it is critical - to support this transition to the new economy of the 21st century," the prime minister said. In the House of Representatives all 150 seats will be contested, as well as the 76 Senate seats - the first time this has happened in an early election since 1987. The opposition Labour Party needs to gain 21 seats in the lower house to win although changes to electoral boundaries mean it nominally holds three of those seats already. "It is the most exciting time to be an Australian. These are exciting times. But we must embark on these times, embrace these opportunities, meet these challenges, with a plan and we have laid out a clear economic plan to enable us to succeed," said Turnbull, who heads a Liberal-National coalition. Wealthy former banker Turnbull, 61, became the fourth premier in two years when he ousted Abbott in an internal party battle in September. He said it was time to embrace opportunities and that thousands of high tech jobs will be created around the nation. "Every dollar we can spend in Australia, we will. Our greatest days are surely ahead of us," he said. He further stressed thathis government had set the stage for strong trade with China and Asia. "And we live in a region that has seen the most remarkable growth. Little more than a generation ago, China was an impoverished nation barely part of the global economy. It is now the world's second largest economy," he said. REOPENS FGN 11 "In a few years more than half of the world's middle class will be living in Asia. The opportunities for Australia are enormous. But we have to have the means to seize them. And we have established export trade deals right across the region with Korea, Japan, and with China itself. "That is providing jobs and economic growth right across Australia in services, in tourism and education, agriculture, right across the board, opening those markets has created enormous opportunities for jobs and growth," he said. Turnbull also outlined severalkey points of his national economic plan for growth and jobs encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as a significant defence plan. Fingerprinting drivers for ride-hailing companies must continue in Texas' capital city after voters rejected a USD 9 million campaign by Uber and Lyft to overturn the safety measure. Both Uber and Lyft threatened to leave Austin, which hosts major annual events such as the South by Southwest and Austin City Limits music festivals, on Monday after Saturday's defeat, the Austin American-Statesman reported (http://atxne.Ws/1O8v8tb ). "Lyft and Austin are a perfect match and we want to stay in the city," Lyft spokeswoman Chelsea Wilson said in a statement. "Unfortunately, the rules passed by City Council don't allow true ridesharing to operate." Voters decided to keep city rules that require ride-hailing company drives to undergo fingerprint-based background checks by Feb 1, 2017. Austin also prohibits drivers from stopping in traffic lanes for passenger drop-offs and pick-ups, includes requirements for identifying vehicles for hire and imposes data reporting on the ride-hailing companies. The finger-printing question was the key fight in the campaign, and spurred the most expansive campaign in city history. Austin appeared to be the chosen battleground for ride-hailing companies that are facing similar restrictions in major cities across the country, including Chicago, Los Angeles and Atlanta. Uber recently threatened to Houston, which requires drivers to be fingerprinted, drug-tested and undergo a physical before they can drive for the service. Advocates for fingerprinting say it's the best way to weed out drivers with criminal records. Ride-hailing companies have said their background checks suffice and that fingerprint databases can be out of date. Fingerprinting can also slow down the process of quickly adding new drivers. "Uber, I think, decided they were going to make Austin an example to the nation," said political consultant David Butts, who led the Austin campaign to defeat the repeal. "And Austin made Uber an example to the nation." Uber Austin general manager Chris Nakutis said the company was disappointed to be shutting down operations in Austin. "We hope the City Council will reconsider their ordinance so we can work together to make the streets of Austin a safer place for everyone," Nakutis said. With the Supreme Court set to take up the matter of ban on diesel cars and SUVs on Monday, the world's largest automaker Toyota said continued restrictions on vehicles that comply with all regulations would be the "worst advertisement of India". The ban has been imposed on diesel vehicles with an engine capacity of above 2,000 cc in Delhi and NCR. The company, which operates in India as a joint venture -- Toyota Kirloskar Motor -- with the Kirloskar group, is among the worst hit and has not been selling its popular vehicles Innova and SUV Fortuner in the Delhi-NCR region since the ban was imposed in December last year. "If we don't get a breakthrough on Monday, our vehicles despite being compliant of all regulations in India would continue to be banned. That's the worst advertisement of India," Toyota Kirloskar Motor Vice-Chairman and Whole-time Director Shekar Viswanathan told PTI. Stating that the environment lobby is not adequately informed, he said: "Does the ban suggest to mean that other diesel, petrol and CNG driven vehicles don't pollute? Why is the ban only on 2,000 cc and above diesel cars and SUVs?" On the company's plans in case the ban stays, Viswanathan said: "Then, we will sit out of the market where the ban is imposed. We cannot change the engine specification as our customers may not desire it." He also cautioned that there would be "losses, laying off of people and hardships for dealerships" in the auto industry if other cities were to seek a similar ban on such diesel vehicles as is being currently done in the capital and NCR. Questioning the rationale of the ban, he said: "While the latest BS-IV compliant cleaner vehicles are banned, old vehicles of pre-BS era, BS I, I and III continue to pollute." Asked if Toyota is ready for an environment compensation cess on the lines of the Supreme Court asking the Delhi Police to pay 30 per cent of the real value of new vehicles as a pre-condition for their registration, Viswanathan said: "That would be too much of a burden for ordinary customers." Besides Toyota, other manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar Land Rover and Mahindra & Mahindra are the major automobile firms hit by the ban. The automobile industry has been against the ban, saying such restrictions will not help achieve the desired objective of reducing pollution and will only vilify diesel technology. Maruti Suzuki India Chairman R C Bhargava had termed the ban as "totally arbitrary". People who believe themselves to be "food addicts" eat less, claims a new study which found that the perception of being a foodie makes them concerned about their eating behaviour. Obesity is often attributed to an addiction to food and many people believe themselves to be "food addicts." However, until now no studies have looked at whether believing oneself to be a food addict influences how much we eat, researchers said. Researchers from University of Liverpool in the UK examined the impact of changing participants' personal food addiction beliefs on eating behaviour. In two separate studies, women completed a series of computer tasks about food. On completion, they were given bogus feedback on their performance which indicated that they had either high-, low-, or average-levels of food addiction. Their intake of unhealthy foods (chocolate and crisps) was then measured in a taste test. Participants who were told they scored highly in food addiction went on to consume fewer calories than those who were told they had a low or average score, researchers said. Participants who were told they scored highly in food addiction reported greater concern about their eating behaviour, they said. This, in turn, reduced the amount of time they spent tasting the foods during the taste test. "Our research found that participants who believed themselves to be 'food addicts' reduced the amount of time they were exposed to unhealthy foods and ate less as a result," said Helen Ruddock from University of Liverpool. "This appears to be because the perception of being a food addict made them concerned about their eating behaviour," said Ruddock. "Our study is first to show that personal beliefs about food addiction can influence how much we eat," she added. The findings were published in the journal Obesity. Cab aggregator Ola is said to have partnered Kempegowda International Airport Bangalore (KIAB) to allow drivers on its platform to wait within the airport premises for picking up passengers. Currently, drivers of taxi aggregators like, Ola and Uber are not allowed to wait within the premises at most of the airports. According to sources, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the two parties last month. "Many times, cab drivers, including those from other radio taxi companies would create nuisance for drivers of taxi aggregators. As a result of this, Ola and Uber drivers are not available within the airport premises," sources said. This extends the waiting time for passengers booking cabs through apps, they added. Spokesperson from Ola was not available for comment, while response from KIAB could not be elicited. * * * * * * * * * * * Bharti Airtel ties up with Microsoft for cloud services * Expanding cloud services portfolio, telecom operator Bharti Airtel today said it has tied-up with Microsoft to provide a seamless and scalable private connection to enterprises. "Bharti Airtel today announced the launch of Connexion, direct private connectivity to cloud, and announced its collaboration with Microsoft Corp for Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute," a company statement said. "With Connexion - we are confident of helping customers seamlessly and more securely connect to Microsoft Azure, by bringing down their network cost substantially and improving performance", said Ajay Chitkara, Director and CEO - Global Business, Bharti Airtel. * * * * * * * * * * BookMyShow enhances experience for cinema goers * Ticketing platform BookMyShow aims to partner restaurants and food chains across 25 cities to offer offers and discounts to enhance user experience. The company has already partnered about 100 brands in two cities -- Mumbai and Pune, where the service is currently live. "We found that after a movie, people would look for eating options near the theatre and that's a good point of engagement. We are partnering with restaurants near these theatres to offer discounts and special offers for our customers. This service is all about user experience," BookMyShow Vice President (Business Intelligence and Marketing) Marzdi Kalianiwala told PTI. BookMyShow has started this service in Mumbai and Pune and has already partnered 100 brands. "The intent is to scale this up to 20-25 cities in the next one year and partnering 400-500 brands," he said. These include local brands as well as chains like Subway and Cafe Coffee Day. Currently, the service is available only to desktop users but the company will extend this to its app as well in the next few months. Users, when the book their tickets, are given a list of offers and they can download the coupons for using at the outlet. Kalianiwala added that the company has set up a sales team to get these offers, which will be customised for BookMyShow users. RBI shifts supervision of some urban coop banks to Nagpur * The Reserve Bank of India today said it has shifted supervision and monitoring of select non-scheduled urban cooperative banks to Nagpur from Mumbai earlier. The supervision location for urban cooperative banks whose head offices are located in Dhule, Nandurbar, Jalgaon and Solapur districts has been shifted from Mumbai to Nagpur with effect from June 7, RBI said in a release. It said any correspondence about these urban cooperative banks should be addressed to its Department of Cooperative Bank Supervision, Nagpur office. * * * * * ICICI Bank adds new features to its mobile banking application * ICICI Bank has added new features under its mobile banking application to allow customers pay taxes, book rail tickets as well as clear cheque-based transactions. "ICICI Bank has added five new industry-first features on its mobile banking app iMobile taking the total number of services that the users can avail of to over 150," said the bank in a statement. Among other new features customers can apply for personalised debit card as well as buy travel, motor insurance and mutual funds. ******** NRL's first consignment of Type-II paraffin wax off to Kenya * Numaligarh Refinery Limited today flagged off the first consignment, comprising 60 MT Type-II paraffin wax, to Kenya's Rok Industries from the Refinery's Marketing Terminal. The consignment was flagged off by NRL Director (Technical) S R Medhi in presence of the company's senior officials, an official release said here. NRL's Wax Plant was dedicated to the nation on February 5 this year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The 50,000 Metric Tonne (MT) wax plant worth Rs 676 crore was commissioned in March 2015 and is the country's largest wax producing unit with indigenous technology developed by IIP Dehradun, EIL and NRL. ******** CreditVidya raises USD 2mn from Kalaari Capital * CreditVidya, a financial technology startup has raised USD 2 million in funding from Kalaari Capital. The Series A investment will support CreditVidya's plans to advance their technology platform and launch additional products that help lenders approve more customers, minimise fraud rates and accelerate verification processes of potential customers, it said in a statement today. "Non-traditional internet and mobile data sources provide a rich source of social, behavioural and transactional data which when combined with advanced analytics is fuelling a new wave of credit risk assessment," CreditVidya co-founder and CEO Abhishek Agarwal said. Coursera bets on enterprise learning mkt * Online education firm Coursera has launched 'Coursera for Business', an enterprise platform, to tap into the USD 31-billion global corporate e-learning market. It has also roped in customers like L'Oreal, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) as well as India's Axis Bank. "Coursera for Business enables companies to utilise Coursera's learning content, created by 145 universities and other institutions, to help address the rapidly evolving training and development needs of their businesses," it said in a statement. The launch marks Coursera's entry into the multi-billion dollar global corporate online learning market, which is growing at over 10 per cent a year, it added. Coursera reaches over 21 million registered learners globally. It is currently growing at the rate of 5 lakh learners every month. * * * * * * EXL acquires IQR Consulting for undisclosed amount * BPM major EXL today said it has acquired IQR Consulting, a US-based marketing and risk analytics solutions provider to the banking industry. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. With a global delivery model and marquee clients across the United States, IQR will help EXL accelerate its analytics growth in the banking and financial services industry, it said in a statement. IQR will become part of EXL Analytics and maintain its delivery hub in Ahmedabad, India. * * * * * * Uber launches new features in driver app * Transportation app Uber today said it has added new features in driver app, aimed at predicting, preventing and reducing number of crashes due to factors like rash-driving and fatigue. These features will be rolled out for drivers in Bangalore over the next few weeks, with more cities coming soon, it said in a statement. Among the new features, driver partners will now get daily reports about their driving pattern is compared to other drivers in their city with suggestions on how to provide a smoother, safer ride. Also, display in the app will alert drivers about the speed of their vehicle, it added. A slew of publications, including on the colonial-era peasant agitation and the famous 1974 student movement spearheaded by firebrand leader Jaiprakash Narayan that led to the imposition of Emergency will soon be released by the Bihar State Archives. "We have lined up a number of publications on various subjects of historical significance and used our archival records for them. A five-volume book each on the 1974 JP movement and 'Kisan Aandolan' are the major ones. "One of the volumes on the 1974 agitation also contains several old pictures, newspaper clippings, cartoons, among other material published during that era. It includes rare photographs showing 'JP' being lathicharged during a stir," BSA Director Vijoy Kumar told PTI. He said work on these publications had been going on for over a year and now "we are waiting for a suitable date for their release, preferably by the chief minister." "The book on the JP movement has been authored by a researcher who himself was part of the movement, so the account is also first-hand and the five volumes try to paint a picture of that period, which continues to haunt people's imagination," Kumar said. For archival material, he said, besides looking into "our own records, we also approached people who were part of the movement and they shared the photographs and clippings with us." The student movement which started in Patna soon spread to other parts and 'JP' as the veteran leader was fondly called, took the movement to Delhi. The transition of the massive stir from Patna's Gandhi Maidan to Delhi's Ramlila Maidan, dubbed the 'Total Revolution' or 'Sampoorna Kranti', threated to shake the Indira Gandhi government which imposed the Emergency on June 25, 1975. "The other five-volume work is on the British-era 'Kisan Aandolan' and covers the period from 1920s to 1947," he said. Rare documents and images, including a graphic depiction of the hanging of Bhagat Singh and his two aides Rajguru and Sukhdev, which were banned during the colonial-era were published by BSA last year in three huge volumes besides a book on Subhash Chandra Bose with material drawn from the local archive. "The other publications awaiting release this year include a volume on Shilbhadra Yagni, who was an associate of Netaji, one on famous Hindi author Rambriksh Benipuri and a volume each on former Congress leaders and Bihar ministers Jaglal Choudhary and Ram Charitra Singh," Kumar said. "Previous writings of the late N M P Srivastava, author of the 'History of Searchlight', which were proscribed during the colonial rule have also been published in a book. Besides, we will release our annual 'Abhilekh Bihar' journal for the year 2015-16," he said. Incidentally, Bihar government is currently celebrating the centenary year of the first arrival of Mahatma Gandhi in Bihar which will culminate on April 10, 2017. "Since, we are marking Gandhi's first arrival in Patna and the centenary of his Satyagraha in Champaran, we are contemplating research publications on that subject too," the BSA director said. Besides, publishing books, the state archive has also been undertaking digitisation work of its old records for the past several years. "Starting with the oldest records, we have digitised over 10 lakh folios and work is still going on. Some of the documents are very fragile and so we are taking due care," BSA director Kumar said. The Bihar State Archives which currently sits in its own building on Bailey Road began its journey from the Patna Secretariat where it was housed in the Record Room there. After independence, the records were moved to its separate building. "Besides, digitising our work, we are also in talks with NIC (National Informatics Centre) for developing our own website. Currently, we are linked with the Cabinet homepage," he said. The director said, as part of its calendar of activities for this year, several lectures are also lined up. "Five memorial lectures named after eminent people -- K K Datta, R S Sharma, D P Mishra, S H Askari and Vijay Thakur - will be held this year," he said. The MeT department today said the people of Bihar can expect respite from heat after May 12 when another spell of rains is predicted. "The temperature will remain normal in Bihar for the next two days with winds blowing at a considerable speed. Besides, some parts of North East and South East of Bihar will witness drizzle," senior meteorologist R K Giri told PTI. There are chances of most parts of Bihar expecting rainfall on May 12 and 13, providing relief from the scorching conditions, Giri said. Following the intermittent showers on May 3 and 4, humidity had increased in the region, raising the discomfort level. Met officials said heat-wave conditions are unlikely in Patna till May 12. Gaya remained the hottest place in the state with maximum temperature recorded at 40.5 degrees Celsius. Patna today recorded a high of 38 degrees Celsius, while Bhagalpur recorded 39 degrees Celsius and the maximum temperature in Purnea stood at 35 degrees Celsius. State-owned BSNL is in advanced talks with Reliance Jio and Vodafone for signing a 2G roaming agreement this month. "We are in advanced stages for signing 2G intra-circle roaming agreement with Reliance Jio and Vodafone. I believe agreement with them should be signed this month," BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava told PTI. Under the agreement, customers of Reliance Jio and Vodafone will get access to BSNL network where there is a coverage gap. The state-run firm has deep presence in rural areas as other companies have invested very conservatively due to low return on investments. Once the agreement is finalised, BSNL customers will also have access to the networks of Reliance Jio and Vodafone. In terms of mobile base stations, BSNL stands second in the country. It has around 1.14 lakh and is in process of installing another 21,000 mobile towers. "Soon, we will start signing 3G intra-circle roaming agreement with other players. We are working on rates for 3G roaming agreement. Being a government firm, we need to have uniform rate for all companies," Shrivastava said. With the telecom ministry objecting to the 3G-ICR among the telecom operators mainly Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular, these players acquired customers using each others network in telecom circles where they did not have 3G spectrum. The telecom tribunal TDSAT upheld the agreement signed by the private telecom operators. Shrivastava said under 3G-ICR agreement, BSNL will follow law of the land. The public sector firm also held discussion with telecom major Bharti Airtel for spectrum sharing in two circles - Rajasthan and Maharashtra. "We had discussion with Airtel for spectrum sharing in three circles - 1800, 900 and 2100 Mhz band. If talks are finalised, then we will liberalise spectrum in these circles," Shrivastava added. With liberalised spectrum, BSNL will be able to provide 4G service to its customers through the airwaves which it is currently using for 2G services. When contacted, Airtel spokesperson said, "We have only held preliminary discussions with BSNL in the past and there is nothing ongoing or at an advanced stage. "Being a PSU, BSNL will always run a transparent process for spectrum sharing and the same will be open to all operators. As and when that were to happen, Airtel will examine and explore possibilities of cooperation." The spectrum sharing allows companies to share burden of government levies. It also helps increase wireless bandwidth capacity for providing good quality mobile services. Director Anirban Guha's "Elixir" has been selected for Cannes Short Film Corner to be held from May 11 to 22, one of the six Bengali shorts making the cut to the prestigious film festival. With an interesting star cast including unconventional actor Daminee Benny Basu, "Elixir" talks about a mind-journey. "I am humbled that it got selected by Cannes jury. Watching our movie screened at Cannes will be an amazing experience," Guha, a Delhi-based banker, told PTI. The film's male lead (Akash) is debutant actor Mahul Brahma, a corporate communicator in his professional life. The editing has been done by FTII alumni and National Award winning editor (2008) Sreya Chatterjee. As the story goes, the female lead (Daminee) has a dual life after having drunk the Elixir. The other selected short films are Abhiroop Basu's "Afternoon with Julia', Aniket Chattopadhyay's Saubala, Lubdhak Chatterjee's "In a Free State", Charles Kinnane's "Generation Hope" and Moumita Mondal's "Adieu". Among the other works, Moumita's "Adieu" looks at a hospital ward through the eyes of a young boy who is admitted there, while Charles' "Generation Hope" has been made in Bengali, Creole and English languages as per the demands of the locations. China's exports and imports fell more than expected in April, customs data showed today, the latest sign of weakness in the world's second largest economy. The export growth in April was milder than the 18.7 per cent increase in March, while imports fell at a faster pace compared with the 1.7 per cent fall in the previous month, General Administration of Customs said. Foreign trade edged down 0.3 per cent year on year to 1.95 trillion yuan last month and that for the first four months combined slipped 4.4 per cent to 7.17 trillion yuan. In the January-April period, exports dropped 2.1 per cent year on year while imports went down 7.5 per cent, leading to a trade surplus of 1.11 trillion yuan, widening 16.5 per cent from a year earlier. The leading index for the country's exports rose 2.2 points to 33.8 in April, with sub-indices for new export orders and managers' confidence both up from March, signalling smaller pressure on export growth in the second quarter, the GAC said. Exports to the European Union, China's largest trade partner, climbed 1.3 per cent year on year in the first four months, state-run Xinhua quoted the GAC data as showing. In the same period, exports to the US and the Association for Southeast Asian Nations, China's second- and third-largest trade partners, both declined 3.5 per cent. Imports of iron ore, crude oil and copper posted strong increase in the four months -- up 6.1 per cent, 11.8 per cent and 23.1 per cent, respectively. But imports of coal, steel and refined oil fell. Sharp depreciation of yuan coupled with neighbours' suspicions are "holding back" China from the full rollout of its mega Silk Road project, prompting the country's think tanks to term the ambitious initiative as a "high risk project". The depreciation of yuan late last year raised the cost of currency settlement for Chinese firms conducting overseas businesses, Chu Yin, an associate professor at the University of International Relations here said. "The use of the yuan as a settlement currency overseas is a problem as the government is very cautious to take bold steps out of fear of shorting the yuan in the offshore market," Chu was quoted as saying by Hong Kong-based 'South China Morning Post'. The depreciation almost amounting to four per cent helped Chinese exports to post better numbers but depreciated yuan denominated overseas investments. "Moves such as draining offshore yuan are a retreat of the currency's global push. Companies are facing a complicated process in currency settlement along with its very limited use in the region [of Southeast Asia]," Chu said. "'One Belt, One Road' (official name of Silk Road) is a high-risk project. We are bound to see some ill-conceived projects in the future, but it is more important to see how many are successful rather than how many fail," he said. The 'One Belt, One Road' push also needed to maintain "a low profile" to counter suspicion among neighbouring countries, Chu said. The Silk Road plan initiated by Chinese President Xi Jinping involved a maze of roads including the revival of ancient Silk Road connecting China and Europe through Central Asia, Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar (BCIM), 21st Maritime Silk Road (MSR) and the USD 46 billion China, Pakistan Economic Corridor (CEPC) through the Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). China has set up USD 40 billion Silk Road Fund to roll out the initiative. India for its part backed only BCIM and declined to endorse the MSR over its concerns of Chinese domination in Indian Ocean and protested over CEPC as it goes through the PoK. Chinese enterprises signed nearly 4,000 project contracts across 60 countries - with a cumulative value of USD 92.6 billion - last year. The figure is equivalent to 44 per cent of China's total overseas project contracts. (REOPENS FGN 16) Despite the impressive investment figures, there are concerns both within and outside the Chinese government that the initiative may have been "too hasty, too broad, too ambitious and without sufficient preparations for unexpected contingencies," Post quoted Christopher Johnson, a senior researcher with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington as saying in a research report. Profits should be the key focus, Chu said. "We should scale back some of the infrastructure projects as many of them don't make money," he said, adding that "some projects saw returns of about one per cent". Some infrastructure projects were even at risk of default because of the market turmoil in neighbouring countries, accentuated by an economic slowdown in the region and capital flows to the US, Chu said. China should allow more market access to foreign companies when Beijing itself is reaching out to other global markets. This will help dispel the speculation that the initiatives are self-serving, hesaid. "The success of the 'One Belt, One Road' relies on how we view it and also how our neighbouring countries treat it," Chu said. China is pushing its initiatives in Kazakhstan and other central Asian countries that have traditionally been strongholds of Russia. Speculation is also rife that Russia is getting worried over China's increasing presence there as Astana, Kazakhstani capital, wants to use Beijing's economic strengths to cut its dependence on Moscow, the report said. Meanwhile, in Southeast Asia, Beijing is challenging the presence of Japan, which has enjoyed strong economic dominance in the region for over three decades. "Almost every province and some cities in China have set up funds or unveiled projects to dovetail with One Belt, One Road, but there was no agency to coordinate overseas investment," said an economist at a think tank in Jakarta. "The ministries do not share information. Each goes its own way. Without proper communication with local people, it is easy to fuel fears of neocolonialism and speculation about China's real intentions," the report quoted Jakarta-based economist as saying. The Supreme Court has directed CBI to complete within six months its probe into the mysterious disappearance of 12-year-old schoolgirl Navrauna Chakravarty from Muzaffarpur in Bihar. "On the court inquisition into the matter's completion, the CBI counsel sought time till December 31. However, the court directed to complete it by October 31, 2016," Abhishek Ranjan, one of the petitioners who approached Supreme Court with a contempt petition against CBI told PTI. Navrauna disappeared on the intervening night of September 18-19, 2012. The Supreme Court had directed transfer of the case to CBI on November 23, 2013 but the agency filed the case nearly one-and-a-half-year later on February 14, 2015. In its probe, Bihar Police initially claimed that rivalry was behind the crime saying three criminals had entered the house, rendered the girl unconscious, folded her in a bedsheet and abducted her. The police said the girl's father Atulya Chakravarty had his house spread over huge land and had other properties too. Local strongmen had eyes on them and they had kidnapped the girl to get the property, they claimed. Later, police changed the theory claiming that the student of class VIII of St Xavier's School allegedly had an affair and had eloped with the boy. All these theories were trashed by the family which took resort to social media and also wrote number of times to the Bihar Chief Minister, Prime Minister's Office, besides other platforms. Under pressure from people who took out marches demanding release of the girl, police had claimed to have set up a team consisting of two deputy SPs and eight policemen to search every nook and corner of the district. On the petition of Abhishek Ranjan, a law student of Delhi University, the apex court had handed over the case to CBI. After CBI took over case, it found a human skeleton in the gutter behind the house of the victim which it claimed to be of Navruna and submitted its forensic report to the special court in Muzaffarpur but did not file any charge sheet. Ranjan again approached the Supreme Court with a contempt petition. "They (CBI) have time and again claimed that the case is now one of murder and that the remains found are that of Navaruna but have never despite the repeated requests of the family handed over the remains found for completing the final rites," Ranjan alleged in his petition. He had claimed that since the transfer of the matter, CBI has not filed any charge sheet making it clear that it has not yet completed the investigation despite the lapse of more than two years. "Petitioners had requested the investigating agency to provide them with the DNA report of the human remains but they did not get any official response from them and were just told that the DNA of the remains that were found matched with the parent's DNA, without ever providing any documentary proof of the same," he had claimed. The family claimed that the skeleton did not have any skull and even tapped recording of a purported conservation with a CBI investigation officer who claimed that the skull was destroyed during the forensic examination in Patna. The absence of skull ruled out any chances of facial reconstruction to assert that the skeleton was of the girl. The agency could not ascertain whether the skeleton was of the girl. It also has not filed any charge sheet or closure report in the matter. It was indeed a confluence of cultures when the warrior dancers from Georgia matched steps with mekhla clad Bihu performers from Assam twirling on the rhythms of the dhol, at the 14th edition of the International Festival of Language and Culture (IFLC) here last evening. The festival, which has been in vogue for the last 14 years debuted in India this year to witness students from 17 countries come together and celebrate the diversity of language through the medium of song and dance. The three-hour-long event began with a slew of songs that professed the idea of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam - the world is one family' as students donning traditional attires of their respective countries swayed in unison, with the virtues of kindness, friendship, equality, peace etc flashing in the background. Organised by city-based non-profit and nongovernmental organisation, The Educational Endowment Trust (EET) in association with the Ministry of Culture and the UN Information Centre for India and Bhutan, the event was hosted at the Talkatora stadium here. "IFLC is a platform which aims at sowing the seeds of harmony and understanding among the people no matter which culture, creed or religion you belong to. We believe that we are all brothers and sisters in humanity. We believe that these ideas will be harvested in the future for friendship and peace," Ersin Karaoglan, President, EET, said. Karaoglan said that the 43 visiting students along with over 400 students from across Delhi schools, had rehearsed over a period of 8 months to present the colourful cultural evening. "They are visiting historical sites of India and being hosted by Indian families, thereby experiencing the warmth of Indian hospitality. They will hopefully be the goodwill ambassadors of Indian culture in their respective countries," Karaoglan said. Today, they will be visiting the Taj Mahal in Agra. The opposition parties today targeted Arvind Kejriwal government over the alleged molestation of a Belgian national by a cabbie with Congress' Sheila Dikshit claiming that there has been a spike in crime against women in the national capital under AAP. Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta also demanded a through investigation into the case. The AAP government has "gone back" on its promise to ramp up women's safety, he alleged. "Be it molestation or rape, Delhi has seen an increase in such crimes and they have risen all the more under the Kejriwal dispensation. I want him and his ministers to focus on women's security. Where else will women feel safe if not the national capital?" Dikshit asked. Gupta accused AAP of indulging in "big talk" while doing nothing productive on ground. He reminded Kejriwal of his poll promises including installation of CCTV cameras and deploying marshalls in buses. "Have they implemented a single measure in reality? They are always in a confrontationist mode," Gupta said. Dikshit said Kejriwal had repeatedly raised similar issues during her tenure to criticise her. "We are waiting for him to take some steps in this regard." A 23-year-old Belgian woman was allegedly molested by an Ola cab driver in south east Delhi's CR Park area last night. The accused was arrested today. Ahead of the crucial Punjab polls, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal today launched a scathing attack on the state's Congress and SAD, alleging that both the parties have "ruined" every household there through "corruption" and "drug menace". Kejriwal in his tone and tenor indicated that drug issue in Punjab is going to be major poll plank and claimed that his party is "going to win the elections" in the state due in 2017. "Both Congress and SAD have through corruption and drug menace pushed the state backward, and people have lost faith. The successive governments installed in the state after Independence have ruined each and every household there," Kejriwal alleged. The AAP leader was addressing a gathering here after launching a Punjabi video song 'Ek Nasha: Nashe ke Khilaf' penned and sung by fellow AAP leader Kumar Vishwas, aimed at weaning the people of the state away from drugs and narcotics. The video makes veiled references to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukbhir Badal, and even as both Kejriwal said, the purpose of the video was "apolitical", a "broom" has been shown in the video in the end. "You see poets like Vishwas tell things through clues. And, you see what clues he has left in the video," Kejriwal said, as he took a dig at the Badal dispensation. "But, the enthusiasm you people have shown here, we are finding the same enthusiasm in Punjab, and AAP will win the elections there and for the next governement...The issue of eliminating drug menace will be a daunting task but it won't be impossible," Kejriwal claimed. "Once we form the government, we will punish all those involved in running this drug network," he said. Further alleging that Badal government has "slapped false cases" against people who got involved in drug business, he said, "We will also make sure that such false cases are withdrawn." Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party had swept the 2015 Delhi Assembly polls, winning 67 of the 70 seats, and the party is exuding confidence of repeating its performance in Punjab. Vishwas earlier said, "People who do drugs are not culprits but patients. We have to help them. Culprits are people who are running the drug network," and alleged that "we all know that in Pathankot attack, how the drug business was one of the factors." Kejriwal praising the video said, "This video is impactful and should be in mobile phones of every person in Punjab." AAP ministers Satyender Jain and Kapil Mishra, other party leaders Sanjay Singh and Ashutosh were also present on the occasion. (REOPENS BOM11) Meanwhile, Kejriwal also assured that his party will close down the casino industry in Goa if voted to power in the coastal state. "One of the person from casino industry met me and said that minimum of Rs 4,000 crore revenue in the form of tax should be collected from the casinos but in reality only Rs 200 crore are going into the state coffers," he alleged. London's new mayor Sadiq Khan today accused David Cameron's ruling Conservative party of using "fear and innuendo" in a bid to turn religious and ethnic groups against each other during the mayoral campaign and said the tactics were straight out of the "Donald Trump playbook". Khan, who is the first Muslim to occupy the top post, criticised British Prime Minister Cameron's government and his mayoral campaign rival Zac Goldsmith for their divisive election campaign. The 45-year-old mayor, who is the son of a Pakistani bus driver and was elected by an overwhelming mandate earlier this week, said he wanted to focus on issues like transport and housing in London. "But David Cameronand Zac Goldsmith chose to set out to divide London's communities in an attempt to win votes in some areas and suppress voters in other parts of the city," Khan wrote in 'The Observer', his first article a day after being sworn-in as London's mayor. "They used fear and innuendo to try to turn different ethnic and religious groups against each other -- something straight out of the Donald Trump playbook. Londoners deserved better and I hope it's something the Conservative party will never try to repeat," the Labour party MP said. Throughout the mayoral campaign, the Tories were seen as trying to paint Khan as a radical, suggesting he had questions to answer because he had shared platforms with extremists in the past and defended them in his time as a human rights lawyer. "I learnt a great deal throughout the course of the campaign -- about myself, about London and about the importance of reaching out to all sections of society," Khan said. "But there are two lessons in particular. First, Labour only wins when we face outwards and focus on the issues that the people actually care about. And secondly, we will never be trusted to govern unless we reach out and engage with all voters -- regardless of their background, where they live or where they work," Khan wrote. Indicating that Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn was failing to appeal to a wide enough electorate, he said, "Labour has to be a big tent that appeals to everyone -- not just its own activists. Campaigns that deliberately turn their back on particular groups are doomed to fail. (Reopens FGN 21) Khan, who is now being described as the most powerful Muslim politician in Europe, chose Southwark Cathedral for his swearing-in as mayor yesterday. At the ceremony, Khan said he was determined to govern for all Londoners and "every single community". Khan, one of eight children born to Pakistani immigrants -- a bus driver father and a seamstress mother -- who grew up on a south London housing estate, has vowed to do all in his power to make London "better" in his new post and be a mayor for "all Londoners". He would be stepping down as MP for Tooting to take charge of his new City Hall role, which will trigger a by-election in the east London constituency. Various organisations in the country are now extending additional benefits to working mothers to ease getting back to work after pregnancy and help them establish a work-life balance and that includes women who opt for adoption and surrogacy options to raise children. From adoption to surrogacy, companies have been giving leverage to mothers by allowing them to work from home, additional leave during adoption and surrogacy along with maternity leave which is common to all organisations. For example, Coca-Cola India provides a 15-day leave period for adoption to the mothers who want to adopt a child. Similarly, in Airtel, women employees can avail 12 weeks of leave and if the age of the child is within two years then the leave would be six weeks. To support an adoptive parent, 36 days of paid leave each year is available for women employees and single fathers at ICICI bank. In a unique initiative, PNB MetLife grants four weeks of leave as maternity benefit to women employees opting for surrogacy with the same benefit for adoption. The company also gives a recovery period for an unfortunate incident of miscarriage during pregnancy. "Motherhood is one of the most sensitive stages in a woman's lifecycle and our maternity policy allows 12 weeks of leave with an option to increase it by clubbing sick leave, earned leave or casual leave with it. New mothers can avail an additional one month leave with pay in case of any complications during delivery. "Our women employees going in for surrogacy or adoption can avail of 4 weeks of leave as a maternity benefit. In the unfortunate event of a miscarriage, a 6-week leave can be availed," says Tim Braswell, Director HR, PNB MetLife. To manage 'tiresome' toddlers companies have come up with creches that would not only help the mothers keep an eye on their children but also give children an opportunity to meet others in their age group. The creche support policy at Coca-Cola gives freedom to employees in selecting a creche of their choice and get reimbursement annually from the company. Additionally, the company's 'Kids@Work' policy allows employees to get their children to work on at least two days. Special arrangements are made in the office to engage and entertain the children which include magic show, film screenings, games, fun activities etc. The Airtel office in Gurgaon, provides Day Care facilities for children by accommodating babies starting 5 months to 5 years and also have an after school programme age. CCTVs are installed for constant surveillance and make it accessible to employees along with medical facilities available for emergency. "Women often take a break from their careers due to various life-stage needs like maternity and child care. To provide an enabling environment and to ensure that working women do not leave the workforce. We have has designed several policies to help and support its women employees at different life stages. This includes maternity leave, child care leave, fertility leave and flexible working hours, among others," says T K Srirang, Senior General Manager & Head- Human Resources, ICICI Bank. Besides, the company also provides a 180-day fertility leave for employees undergoing fertility treatment and 36 days of paid child care leave is available each year for mothers or single fathers till the child attains the age of 2 years. Many companies have also started work from home policy which enables employees to balance their children and work at the same time. At companies like ICICI bank, women employees have a provision of working from home. They can have seamless access to their required 'IT applications' for their resistance. "The technology that we have developed has a unique 'in-built' identity check that gives access only to the employee. We have used facial recognition technology to ensure that no one can impersonate the employee and get access to our applications. This is part of an overall 3-level security process, which ensures that the bank's data remains protected and secure," says Srirang. Breaking yet another proverbial glass ceiling, country's largest paramilitary force is set to deploy over 560 women commandos for undertaking anti-Naxal operations in select Left Wing Extremism-affected states. The ambitious plan to deploy such a large number of women personnel in most challenging combat theatres in the country's internal security domain got moving with a batch of 567 women passing out from the force's training centre in Rajasthan's Ajmer last week. Director General K Durga Prasad told PTI that the full batch will now be deployed in phases in LWE areas in the 'company formation' style, which means about 100 personnel at one time. "These women who passed out on May 6 from Ajmer have been trained keeping in mind the LWE tasks rendered by us. We thought to give them the toughest assignment in the initial years of their service itself. Initially these women personnel will be deployed in one company at a time and after some time their deployment and work utility will be scaled up," Prasad said. The DG added the force has already created living infrastructure and barracks for these women at certain locations while more such facilities will be created in due course of time. The CRPF, officials said, has been working on the concept that if Maoists can have women in their ranks, why not the security forces. Recently, border-guarding force Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) had declared that it will post its women personnel in full combat role in its units along the Sino-Indian border. The latest batch of Central Reserve Police women personnel have been trained for 44 weeks in jungle warfare, unarmed combat, smart weapons firing and other drills after which they got commissioned in the 232nd battalion of the force. This is the fourth 'mahila' battalion of . A CRPF battalion has about 1,000 personnel. Officials had earlier said the induction of these women squads will be made in West Bengal and Jharkhand. The force had initiated a plan in this regard last year when two small teams of these women personnel were sent for familiarisation exercises and based in CRPF camps in the worst-affected Bastar region of Chhattisgarh and some sensitive LWE hit areas of Jharkhand. Officials said the women personnel, once deployed, will be operating from active CRPF bases and will carry arms and undertake patrols like their male counterparts. The nearly three lakh personnel-strong CRPF is the lead anti-Naxal operations force of the country. Officials said there are specific reasons and operational benefits of deploying women combatants in LWE areas. They can easily interact with the local women folk which will not only help in gathering good intelligence but also help bring the force closer to the locals. In a move to increase farmers' income in the state, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today urged them to take up cultivation of alternative crops. He said the farmers should take up cultivation of alternate crops such as fruits, vegetables, flowers and medicinal plants instead of the traditional wheat and paddy. "This would boost the income of farmers, which could be more than Rs 1 lakh per acre. Farmers could also increase their income by rearing cattle and selling milk and milk products," Khattar said while addressing a public meeting at Pataudi. The Chief Minister made a slew of announcements for accelerating the pace of development in the National Capital Region (NCR). These included an engineering college in Panchgaon, metro service from Gurgaon to Manesar and development of the area within one kilometre on both sides of the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway to boost industrial and commercial activity. He also announced Rs 15 crore for the development of rural areas and Rs 5 crore for urban areas in Pataudi. The other projects include construction of a stadium on six acres in Heli Mandi and gymnasiums in 10 villages, construction of new roads from Ramnagar to Gurawara and Baspur to Kapriwas, expansion of veterinary hospital in Pataudi and of the civil hospital from 50-bedded to 100-bedded, a new fire station in Pataudi, and community centres in Nawada-Rajpur-Nakhraula along with Pataudi. Khattar said that after coming to power, the present state government had fixed three areas of priority-- honesty, zero tolerance towards corruption and sensitivity towards society. According to the feedback received, the government has been successful in these areas, he added. Urging the people to intervene directly to end corruption, the Chief Minister said that if complaints regarding corruption were received, strict action would be taken against those found guilty. Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh said that he had recently met the Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, who had agreed to consider the proposal to offer up to 70 per cent rebate in toll at the Kherki Daula Toll Plaza to Gurgaon residents. He also raised a demand to exempt villages falling within the Gurgaon Municipal Corporation area from house tax on the lines of what has been done in Delhi. Proof that diamonds are getting harder to find can be seen in the South African bush, where one of the world's largest mining companies is spending USD 2 billion tunnelling beneath a vast open-pit mine. De Beers spent 25 years digging a 450-metre deep by one-kilometre wide hole to access diamond-rich rock from the surface at the Venetia mine, close to the border with Zimbabwe and Botswana. Now a whole new underground mine is being constructed underneath the hole to reach diamonds more than 1,000 metres below ground -- a big bet by De Beers that their investment will reap decades of profit. "We are in very challenging times," Ludwig Von Maltitz, the mine's general manager, told AFP on the edge of the cavernous open-pit as trucks rumbled up to the processing plant. "Worldwide, the easier diamond sources have probably been found but, with this resource here, we hope we have something that can extend well into the future." As the hunt for diamonds becomes tougher, mining companies must go to greater lengths -- and absorb higher costs -- to secure the ultimate precious stone and symbol of love. "Across the globe, the big diamond deposits have been exploited, and I don't see any big new mines coming online," Peter Major, mining specialist at Johannesburg-based Cadiz Solutions, told AFP. "We are often told that the growing world population, combined with the increasing difficulty of finding diamonds, will mean prices always rise, but we will see. Many producers are losing money. "The project at Venetia is stupendous -- especially as very few other firms are investing in mining in South Africa." Demand for diamonds over the last decade has been driven by a new generation of buyers in China and India that have adopted the tradition of giving diamond engagement rings. Latest figures suggest that such new markets are fragile. De Beers last month reported that global demand for diamond jewellery grew two per cent in 2015 with growth strongest in the United States and China. But a dip in India and across the Gulf region pointed to weakening growth in many emerging markets. "China and India drove diamond prices up, along with speculation that the growth rate would continue indefinitely," industry analyst Paul Zimnisky said, speaking from New York. "People got overly optimistic and greedy," he said. Zimnisky believes "it is misleading to say we are running out of diamonds" as "when prices rise, mines that were uneconomic become profitable". However the industry can't react that quickly to a rise in demand and prices. Amidst a growing list of opponents in the Republican establishment, the party's presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump today said he does not want the support of those leaders who do not want to endorse him. "If somebody doesn't want to endorse, I don't want their endorsement. It's OK. I'm going to release them," Trump told the ABC in an interview, amidst reports that two former presidents - George H W Bush and George W Bush - along with two presidential aspirants Jeb Bush and Lindsay Graham have refused to endorse him. "I understand Jeb Bush. I was rough with Jeb Bush. I think if I was Jeb Bush, I wouldn't vote for me either, if you want to know the truth, George. But they should do that. They're Republicans," he said. The House Speaker Paul Ryan has said he is not ready to support him. The two leaders are scheduled to meet next week. "We're going to see what happens. He wants to meet. He'd like to meet. And I think we're meeting on Thursday. And we'll just see what happens. It's just more drama," he said. Talking about endorsements, Trump said: "I think it's a mistake not to do this. We want to bring the party together. Does the party have to be together? Does it have to be unified? I think it would be better if it were unified," Trump said in response to a question. The real estate tycoon said he will do what he has to do to unite the party and win the November general elections. "I'm going to do what I have to do. I have millions of people that voted for me because I want strong borders, because I want strong trade. "I don't want to be an isolationist, but what's happening with China, what's happening with Japan, what's happening with Mexico, they're just absolutely eating our lunch. It's a shame. It's terrible," he said. "So, I have to stay true to my principles. I'm a conservative, but don't forget, this is called the Republican Party. It's not called the Conservative Party. You know, there are Conservative Parties. This is called the Republican Party," he said. In response to a question, Trump did not rule out raising Hillary Clinton's personal issues if her husband, the former US President Bill Clinton, gets involved in the campaign. "I think fair game," he said, adding, "It depends on if he's (Bill) involved in the campaign. I think if he's involved in the campaign, he shouldn't be. And he probably will be involved. I think he gets involved when she plays the women card," he said. "When she said Donald Trump was nasty to a woman, number one I've worked so well with women for so many years. I broke -- you know, you talk about the glass ceiling, what I've done in terms of jobs for women and I've gotten so much credit, and to this day I have so many women in my company that are doing so well, making so much money, I mean, in many cases making more money than men in comparable positions," he added. A large haul of mobile phones, narcotics and cash was seized by police during simultaneous raids carried out in jails across Punjab today. Narcotics like opium and other tablets, scores of mobile phones along with SIM cards, and syringes used for injecting drugs were seized during the raids, a police spokesperson said. Simultaneous search operations were conducted in jails in Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Fazilka, Moga, Faridkot, Mansa, Muktsar, Patiala, Sangrur, Ropar, Nabha and Sub jail in Barnala. The largest haul was in Amritsar, with police seizing 21 mobile phones including four androids, 11 charging leads, three head phones, eight SIM cards and two memory cards. Besides that, 310 used syringes, silver foil paper, bundles of bidis, nearly 30 tablets used as intoxicants, along with an amount of Rs 14,340 cash were also recovered. An FIR under Section 52A of Prisons Act and section 21 and 22 of NDPS Act has been registered in Amritsar in this connection. The syringes were used for injecting intoxicants and the foil papers for consumption of smack. The connivance of jail officials in smuggling the items into Amritsar prison cannot be ruled out, police said. About 430 grams of narcotic powder and six mobile phones along with a SIM card were seized from inmates of the jail in Gurdaspur, district police chief Jagdip Singh Hundal said. A gram of opium, two mobile phones and as many SIM cards were seized in Patiala. A large stash of mobiles were also found from the jail in Tarn Taran and modern jail in Nabha with police seizing 12 and 15 phones respectively. Four SIM cards and Rs 5,500 in cash were also seized in Tarn Taran. Four mobiles each were recovered from Mansa and Sangrur jails, while one phone was found in Hoshiarpur. Besides the phones, three bluetooth devices, bidis, four sachets of tobacco and Rs 1,800 in cash was recovered in Sangrur, while a SIM card was seized in Mansa. Four SIM cards have been recovered from Barnala sub jail, while one SIM card, a blade, eight electric bulbs, and an electric wire was found in Ropar jail. An acute shortage of jail staff, doctors and pharmacists, besides poor infrastructure of drug de-addiction centres came in to notice during the raids, the spokesperson said. There is a need for installation of CCTV cameras in large numbers to cover crucial points of jails, along with regular checking with sniffer dogs to keep prisons free from drugs, he said. Actress Kaitlin Doubleday has tied the knot with her DJ fiance Devin Lucien in a California wedding a year after their engagement in Paris. The Rhonda Lyon of "Empire" exchanged wedding vows with Lucien on Friday, May 6 in Big Sur, California in front of 140 of their closest friends and family members, reported Us magazine. The 31-year-old bride walked down the aisle in a Mark Zunino gown and tied the knot with her DJ beau against the stunning backdrop of the Pacific Ocean. The couple got engaged in May 2015 during a trip to Paris. "I'm excited to be married to [Devin]," she said. "I just want to have fun and go on our honeymoon and enjoy our home and have fun with our friends and not be thinking about planning a wedding. I'm really excited about that." Kaitlin Doubleday's marriage to Devin Lucien was held just a month after her TV husband, Trai Byers, married his own fiancee Grace Gealey, who is also a cast member on their hip-hop musical drama series. Members of Etah Bar Association who are on strike since May 3 demanding withdrawal of cases against 40 advocates for allegedly assaulting a police officer today decided to continue and expand their agitation. In a resolution passed by the Etah Bar Association yesterday, the advocates have decided to seek cooperation of fellow advocates in other districts, Satya Prakash Sharma, Etah Bar Association president said. The police are playing withlaw and order, Sharma said, adding the administration has paid no attention. A delegation of advocates met the SSP AK Tipathi in this connection who said he would look into the matter. On Thursday, 40 advocates were booked for allegedly assaulting a police officer when they were protesting the handcuffing of an advocate. Two former employees of the Serum Institute of India here have been booked for breach of trust for allegedly stealing confidential information about a vaccine before quitting the company, police said. Police identified the accused as Dr Manoj Kumar Chhikara and Dr Rakesh Rana, who worked as assistant managers (R&D) and Quality Control, respectively. No arrests have been made in case yet, they said. The two are now working with Delhi-based MSD Wellcome Trust Hilleman Laboratories. "Both of them were working on the vaccine called 'MenAfriVac', however, in 2011, Rana left the job and in 2013 Chhikara too resigned from the Serum Institute of India," inspector Anjum Bagwan of Hadapsar Police station said. "The suspects, who were privy to the confidential details of vaccine, filed for patent on the basis of these details on behalf of their present employer and put their names as researchers in the patent application," Bagwan said. When the Serum Institute officials filed an online patent application for their vaccine, they found another application with same specifications and names of these two scientists as researchers. "When Chhikara and Rana were working on the project at Serum, they had signed a contract that they would not divulge information outside but they allegedly violated the term after leaving the Institute," the police officer said. Police yesterday registered a case under IPC (Indian Penal Code) sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), and provisions of the Information Technology Act. Serum Institute of India, which belongs to the Cyrus Poonawala Group, is a producer of diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, BCG, r-hepatitis B, measles, mumps and rubella vaccines. The fate of the 17 crew members of a Chinese fishing boat reported missing after the boat capsized in the East China Sea following a collision with a Maltese ship remains uncertain, even as the Chinese navy today carried out a search and rescue mission. Seven vessels of the Chinese Navy's Donghai Fleet have combed the waters with an area of 1,200 square nautical miles today but without success, state-run Xinhua agency reported. The accident happened in the waters about 80 nautical miles away from Ningbo port of east China's Zhejiang Province early yesterday. An initial investigation showed the fishing boat from Shandong Province, with 19 on board, was suspectedly hit by the Maltese ship. Two crew members were saved yesterday. The navy and civilian search teams found floating life jackets and mattresses though they did not find any crew member, Li Qingyin, captain of the Quanzhou, one of the navy vessels in the search, said over the phone. China has opened its first Confucius classroom in a prison in east Shandong province to improve its cultural atmosphere. The classroom opened yesterday in Luzhong Prison as part of a charity program funded by the China Confucius Foundation. Luzhong Prison will pilot a series of changes, including classroom and library design, training prison instructors in Confucian teachings and family activities in order to improve the prison's cultural atmosphere, Lin Guojun, deputy head of the provincial prison management bureau said. Guojun said that the classroom will encourage the traditional teaching methods of handwriting, reading classics and moral education, state-run Xinhua agency reported. Named after the ancient Chinese philosopher, Confucius schools and classrooms are generally run as non-profit public institutions to help foreigners understand China through language and culture classes at overseas universities. The first such institute was established in 2004. An Italian economist says his flight was delayed for over two hours after a fellow woman passenger saw him working on an equation she thought was some special secret terrorist code and alerted the cabin crew. Guido Menzio, 40, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania, was taken off and questioned by agents in Philadelphia, after the woman next to him said she felt ill. The Ivy League economist was flying from Philadelphia to Syracuse on Thursday to give a talk at Queen's University in Ontario, Canada. American Airlines confirmed yesterday that a 30-something woman expressed suspicions about Menzio. She said she was too ill to take the Air Wisconsin-operated flight 3950. Before the flight took off, the woman sitting next to him passed a note to a member of the cabin crew. She initially told them she was feeling unwell but then voiced her suspicions about Menzio's scribblings. The plane, ready to take off, then returned to the gate and the woman passenger left. Menzio was then asked to disembark the plane and "met by some FBI looking man-in-black". He was solving a differential equation, but said he was told the woman thought he might be a terrorist because of what he was writing. American spokesman Casey Norton said the crew followed protocol to take care of an ill passenger and then to investigate her allegations. They determined them to be non- credible, he said. Menzio showed the security agents what he had been writing and the flight eventually took off - more than two hours late. He wrote on Facebook that the experience was "unbelievable" and made him laugh. "It's a bit funny. It's a bit worrisome. The lady just looked at me, looked at my writing of mysterious formulae, and concluded I was up to no good," he wrote. He told the Washington Post that he was "treated respectfully throughout" the process but remains perturbed by a system that "relies on the input of people who may be completely clueless". The woman was re-booked on a later flight. French President Francois Hollande today led low-key commemorations in Paris marking the end of World War II in Europe. Under a basking sun, Hollande began the proceedings by laying a wreath at the statue of Charles de Gaulle, the former president and leader of the French WWII government-in-exile. In his last Victory in Europe Day ceremony before next year's presidential election, Hollande observed a minute of silence before a rendition of the French national anthem. He then shook hands and chatted with General De Gaulle's grandson, Yves. A cortege followed Hollande up to the Arc de Triomphe war memorial at the Place de l'Etoile. The French president laid another wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where another moment of silence was held. The Arc de Triomphe has a special significance for WWII since Adolf Hitler marched his Nazi troops through the iconic monument when Germany took over France in 1940. It was also the site where Allied troops celebrated victory over Germany 71 years ago. Victory in Europe Day is celebrated on May 8 to mark the date in 1945 that WWII ended in Europe following Nazi Germany's surrender of its armed forces. From sweepers to senior managers, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has sought permission to prosecute 96 employees working with various public sector banks found allegedly involved in corruption. Of these, 85 employees, including six sweepers, are working with Indian Overseas Bank (IOB). Out of the total 42 cases awaiting sanction for prosecution, 15 involve public sector banks. The CVC has sought permission to prosecute 96 bank employees in these cases, as per Commission's monthly report for March. Among banks, seven cases are of IOB, two are of Bank of India and one each of Oriental Bank of Commerce, Corporation Bank, State Bank of Patiala, Exim Bank, United Bank of India and Bank of Baroda, it said. Those found involved in alleged corruption are at the level of Chief Manager, General Manager, Assistant general Manager, Special Assistant, Clerk and 11 Messengers, the CVC said. Sanction is awaited from these banks for more than four months. As per norms, the matter of granting sanction for prosecution has to be decided within four months. Not only banks but other government departments are also delaying permission to punish the corrupt officials, sources said. As many as six cases involving at least eight government officers, most of them belonging to the elite Indian Administrative Service (IAS), are pending with Department of Personnel and Training, which acts as the nodal authority on anti-corruption measures. Besides these, four cases involve officials of the Railway Ministry, three of Defence Ministry, two each of Health and Steel Ministry, and one each of Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) and Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), among others. The officers at the level of Deputy Commissioners, Senior Intelligence Officers and Appraisers are involved in these cases, the CVC said. The Commission is also awaiting sanction to prosecute officials working with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) Ltd, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), Commerce Ministry, South Delhi Municipal Corporation, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Rural Development and Home Ministry. Some of them are Senior Managers and Sales Managers of IOC, Assistant Loco Pilot (Railways), Subedar Major (Defence), and former Vice Chancellor and Professors (HRD Ministry). Citing a Supreme Court order, the CVC has already told all government departments that "time limit of three months for grant of sanction for prosecution must be strictly adhered to. However, additional time of one month may be allowed where consultation is required with the Attorney General or any other law officer". Actress Naomie Harris feels it's "ridiculous" that anyone can thinks it's acceptable for female stars to be paid less than male actors. The "Spectre" actress is the latest female movie star to have her say on the ongoing inequality issue in Hollywood and she strongly believes no one can argue that is right for an actress to be paid less than an actor, reported Female First. "I think the issue absolutely ridiculous that an actress can be paid less than an actor when they are both contributing equally to the movie, it doesn't make sense. "I don't think it is justifiable in any shape or form. I don't think anyone can come up with an argument that makes it justifiable. Especially If both actors are coming to set every day and working the same hours. It doesn't make any sense," Harris, 39, said. Keen on strengthening ties with Iran, the government has allowed National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to buy office in Mumbai and is processing requests to allow three of its banks to open branches in the country. With the lifting of international sanctions, major economies including China and Korea are courting Iran, which has the world's second-largest gas reserves after Russia. Not to be left behind, India too is keen to raise its engagement with a nation which once was its second biggest oil supplier. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Tehran shortly to bolster ties. "Permission has been granted to NIOC for purchasing property for an office," a finance ministry official said. Indian refiners are looking at nearly doubling buying of crude oil from Iran's national oil company, NIOC to 20 million tonnes this year and it having a permanent office would help trade. Also, Iran has sought permission for three of its banks to open branches in India. "Bank Pasargad and Parsian Bank want to open offices in India while Saman Bank is interested in opening a subsidiary," the official said. "The Iranian request is being looked into by relevant authorities including the Reserve Bank of India." The Finance Ministry had in 2012 declined permission to Parsian Bank to open a branch in India apparently due to security concerns and threat of money laundering. The ministry decision then was based on a report from RBI. In that year, Home Ministry too had denied security clearance to applications by Parsian Bank and the other two banks fearing threat of money laundering and terror financing in banking transactions as cautioned by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). "The applications are being examined," the official said. Establishment of banking channels is key to Iran regaining the trade it lost due to sanctions. But while the sanctions were listed in January, it still is not able to access past oil dues, including nearly USD 6.5 billion from Indian refiners, as it is yet to be accepted in global banking system. Iran has ended the three-year old system of getting paid 45 per cent of the bill on selling crude oil to India in rupees and keeping the rest 55 per cent in abeyance for opening up of banking channels. The official said NIOC has nearly Rs 12,000 crore in the Uco Bank account where it received the rupee payment. "Iran wants to use this money to settle bills for goods and services imported from India. We have in principal no issues with that provided the transactions are backed by proper invoices and exports from India actually taking place," he said. The 55 per cent component of oil dues now total to nearly USD 6.5 billion and will be remitted once banking channels are established. Iran plans to use its bank branches in India to settle not just the oil trade but also that of other commodities. After it reconstituted the management of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), the government is likely to soon announce some high-level appointments to organisations under the Culture Ministry. Around 50 high-level posts are currently lying vacant in about 15 organisations under the Ministry with as many as 36 of these to be filled up in Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) alone. "The process for appointment to these posts is almost in the final stages. Things are moving very fast and Culture Ministry may soon come out with the names," a source said. A Parliamentary panel had recently expressed concern over vacancies at higher levels in various organisations under the Culture Ministry and called for time-bound steps to fill up those. Another source said, all 50 vacant posts may not be filled in one go. "In the first round, the vacancies may be filled in some of the organizations, including National Archives of India (NAI), National Museum and National Gallery of Modern Art," he added. The posts of Director General are vacant at the National Museum and NAI, while post of Director is lying vacant in National Gallery of Modern Art. According to the source, the post of Director of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library lying vacant, after Mahesh Rangarajan stepped down post, may not be filled in the first phase. In September last year, Rangarajan had quit the post after the BJP government questioned the way his appointment was approved by the previous UPA government on its last legs. About eight posts of Directors are lying vacant in various organisations, including Indian Museum and Delhi Public Library, while 3 posts of Directors General are yet to be filled in National Archives of India (NAI), National Museum and National Library. Last month, the Modi-government had reconstituted the management of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) bringing in veteran Hindi journalist Ram Bahadur Rai as its head in place of Chinmaya Gharekhan, a former diplomat. Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal today blamed "corrupt" DMK and AIADMK and their party-led governments for losses in the power sector in Tamil Nadu. "For the past so many years, Tamil Nadu has only seen corruption, corruption and corruption... There is a race to the bottom between the two, as if they are fighting for a certificate in corruption," Goyal said while blaming DMK and AIADMK of 'ruining' the state in their respective rules. Highlighting statistics since 2008-09, when DMK was in power in Tamil Nadu, Goyal said state discoms had suffered a loss ranging between Rs 8,000 crore to Rs 12,000 crore in the subsequent years and alleged that both DMK and AIADMK governments were responsible for the losses accrued by power generation companies. On AIADMK's poll promise of giving 100 units of free power to all, he said such "free power will be no power" in the future. Goyal, who had earlier created a flutter with his Chief Minister "Jayalalithaa is inaccesible" remarks, made similar allegations against DMK President M Karunanidhi, saying the two parties were run by "leaders who are disconnected" with people. "I have not met him (Karunanidhi) as he is not in government. But I suspect he will be as inaccessible (as Jayalalithaa). I will challenge anybody, the media; does anybody has the access either to Chief Minister or the opposition leader (Karunanidhi)." "Can you meet them? You can't. I don't think you can. Both these parties are run by leaders who are disconnected with the people of the state," he told reporters, responding to a question in this regard. The "Jayalalithaa is inaccessible" remark at a conference in New Delhi was an "innocent" one but I had realised that it "touched a raw nerve," Goyal said. He said BJP was the "only party" whose leaders were available for people and claimed that they would address public grievances honestly and transparently. On the state government not coming forward to implement the Centre's scheme, UDAY, aimed at benefiting discoms, Goyal said its implementation will result in a saving of over Rs 22,000 crore for the people of Tamil Nadu. He had personally met a state delegation led by state Power Minister Natham R Viswanathan last year and had explained the benefits of the scheme. Besides his officials had made follow-up efforts with the state, Goyal said. Underlining Centre's commitment for ensuring adequate power supply to Tamil Nadu, Goyal said the transmission network between north and south India has been expanded by 71% and three coal blocks have been allotted for the state to ensure there was no shortage in the state's coal-fired power stations. With both DMK and AIADMK offering freebies in their election manifestos, Goyal urged the voters "not to get swayed away by these small gifts," and asked them to vote for BJP saying it will be honest and transparent. "Don't get carried away by false propaganda and freebies," he said. Earlier, he released the manifesto of party's state unit President Tamilisai Sounderrajan for her Virugambakkam constituency here. Police today arrested former Gujarat Congress chief Arjun Modhwadia's son, Parth and 24 others for allegedly consuming liquor at a party in Satellite area of the city. Acting on a tip-off, police raided a residential apartment in Asawari tower near S G Highway early this morning and nabbed Parth (25) along with 24 others who were celebrating their friend's birthday, said Satellite Police Station Inspector M U Mashi. "We found more than 20 bottles of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) from the apartment, owned by one Varun Jain. We have arrested 25 persons, including Parth, as they were found to be in inebriated state. We have lodged an FIR against the 25 youths under the State Prohibition Act," said Mashi. Later, all of them were taken to Sola Civil Hospital, where doctors collected their blood samples for examination. "All the accused have been released on bail in the afternoon," said Mashi. When contacted, Modhwadia admitted that his son was present at the apartment but denied that the latter had consumed alcohol. "As per the primary report of Sola civil hospital, Parth was not found to be under the influence of liquor when he was examined by doctors. I agree that Parth was present there, but he had not consumed liquor. In fact, police demanded Rs 11 lakh from them to settle the matter," the Congress leader alleged. However, police refuted Modhwadia's allegations and maintained that no bribe was demanded. "The primary report by doctors is not final as we only take into account the blood test report which is yet to come. Only that report can prove if someone had consumed liquor or not. If we wanted to settle the matter, then we would have let all of them go after taking money," said Mashi. Gujarat is a "dry" state where the manufacture, sale and consumption of alcohol is prohibited within its boundaries. The Women and Child Development Ministry has proposed a "health card" for women for their compulsory health check-up on a regular basis, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi said today. "We are proposing a compulsory health card for women making five to six most vital tests compulsory," Gandhi said during an event on the occasion of International Mother's Day here. Gandhi put the onus of ensuring the annual check-up of women on their husbands, saying it is often the negligence on their part that aggravates the condition of a woman suffering from diseases such as cancer or TB. "It will be the responsibility of the woman's spouse to ensure that the tests are done and it has to be done every year. If anyone does not, many other avenues and direct transfer benefits would be stopped. "As an MP I often see that women are brought with serious illnesses by their husband at their last stage. There are various excuses by husbands to not take her to hospital," she said. Women and Child Development Ministry, which Gandhi is in charge of, has proposed the measure although Health Ministry will have to work on the proposal and implement it, she said. Apart from the health card, Gandhi also spoke about her ministry's resolve on the issue of ensuring eight months maternity leave. "We would like to give mothers an eight-month break. I won't like working mothers to worry about their child suffering from cold and cough and so that they get to spend time with their children. We hope to get orders from the department of Personnel and a decision from cabinet on this soon," she said. Speaking briefly on the government's flagship programme 'Beti -Bachao, Beti Padhao', Gandhi stressed that it has achieved a great deal of success in providing safety and education to girls. "At the end of one year, we had conducted an exhaustive survey on all the 100 constituencies (where the programme was implemented) and the child sex ratio there (from 700) had gone up to 907 which for me is amazing. If we continue like this we will reach a 1000," said Gandhi. Listing down the steps taken by her ministry to ensure healthy well-being of mothers and pregnant women, especially in rural areas, Gandhi said that more than anything else, the government seeks change in people's attitude. "We seek change in the attitude of people. It is not about girls being born, it is about people valuing them enough to let them live," she added. Malian special forces have arrested a suspected jihadist leader in the south of the country, security sources have said. "Yacouba Toure, number two in the Ansar Dine of the South terrorist group, was arrested on Thursday outside Bamako," a security source told AFP. His group is suspected of providing weapons to other jihadist groups in southern as well as in Burkina Faso, the source added. Read more from our special coverage on "MALI" The arrest follows that of Souleymane Keita, described as the top jihadist leader in southern Mali, in March. Keita has been linked to the Ansar Dine group, which was one of three Islamist factions that conquered vast swathes of the country's north in 2012 before being repelled by French troops. Some areas remain beyond the control of Malian and foreign forces and the jihadist attacks, previously concentrated in the north, have spread to the centre and south since last year. According to a second security source, Toure, a Malian in his forties, first joined Islamic fighters in the northeast Kidal region in 2010. It was there that he met Keita and Boubacar Sawadogo, head of Ansar Dine's Burkinabe branch. Toure provided the arms and grenades used by Sawadogo's fighters to launch a deadly attack on a police station in Burkina Faso last October, the second source said. He had tried to evade capture last week by posing as a livestock dealer, according a source close to the enquiry. Last year Keita was accused by security services of heading a jihadist military training camp discovered outside Bamako. He was also accused of attacks in Fakola and Misseni near the border with neighbouring Ivory Coast in 2015 as well as in Bamako. What do a sizeable chunk of people in Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts have in common? Discoloured teeth, a manifestation of dental fluorosis found in the huge section of the populace, which the Hogenakkal Combined Drinking Water Supply and Fluorosis Mitigation Project is intended to tackle, besides providing potable water. Besides discoloured teeth, they also suffer from conditions like skeletal fluorosis affecting the bones. "Look at my teeth" is the answer of V Mathaiyan of Pennagaram in Dharmapuri district when asked about implementation of the project. In essence, alleged deficiencies in the distribution and implementation of the much talked-about Hogenakkal project is the single biggest poll issue in the western districts of Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri for the May 16 Assembly election. While the ruling AIADMK claims it has successfully implemented the project, DMK alleges it was "scuttled" as the plan was "conceived" by it during it's previous regime. Besides the water issue, continuing migration of youth to other cities, including Bengaluru and Tirupur for jobs, insufficient availability of water for agri and horticultural needs and lack of new job opportunities are the top poll issues in these two neighbouring districts. Mathaiyan says if people had properly got fluoride free water from Hogenakkal issues like dental fluorosis would have vanished. Notably, reports like that of Central Ground Water Board too had recorded more than permissible limit of fluoride in Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts. A top Tamil Nadu Public Health official who did not wish to be named says that once teeth discolouration occurs due to fluorosis it can be corrected only through cosmetic treatment. "People falsely believe that once they get good water, discolouration due to previous contamination would go," he told PTI. On frequency of water supply, Mathaiyan says "water supply is quite erratic. The frequency of supply is once in three days or even more," he told PTI, adding that in some localities like his, which are on a relatively elevated plain, the water supply becomes even more difficult. Many others echoed his view, including farmers in Donnakuttahalli Panchayat, residents of Koothapadi Panchayat and people in villages off Uthangari in Krishnagiri district. Sitting Pennagaram MLA (CPI) N Nanjappan admitted that the Hogenakkaal water supply plan faces many issues. "There are operational and distribution problems and administrative inefficiencies. As MLA I and my party did our best to address all issues," he told Two-wheeler major Motorcycle and Scooter India has set a target of over 20% sales growth this fiscal as it hopes to banish the long waiting period for its flagship Activa scooter with the commissioning of the second line at its Gujarat facility. "We hope to sell over 20% more units this year. The second assembly line in Gujarat, with a capacity of 0.6 million by the end of this quarter, should help us end the near six-month waiting for the Activa now. "We hope from the Diwali season one can drive away an Activa over the counter," the company's Senior Vice-President for Sales and Marketing Yadvinder Singh Guleria told PTI. The Japanese company got off to a stellar start this fiscal, with April sales zooming 26.51% to 4,31,011 units, while rival Hero MotoCorp, which saw sales falling in 2015-16, witnessed a 15% spurt in sales to 6,12,739 units. Third-placed Bajaj saw volume falling 2% to 3,30,109 units. For the full fiscal 2015-16, as per SIAM data, while two-wheeler sales inched down 0.24% to 1,07,00,466 units, sales rose to 44,83,459 units from 44,52,005 units, out of which domestic sales stood at 42,83,345 units, up from 42,63,746 units earlier. "For the first time, we will be able to cross the 5 million sales mark this year," Guleria said, adding that the 1.2 million scooters-only Gujarat plant will help in reaching the target. With the second line in Gujarat going on-stream, Honda's total capacity will touch 5.8 million from the present 4.6 million from its four plants. "FY17 is going to be our most definitive year here. Our priorities will be strengthening our connect with the youth, make all our models BS-IV compliant at the earliest while continue to aggressively make inroads into rural markets, which now contributes around 35% of total sales," Guleria said. opened the 6-lakh unit first line in Gujarat ahead of schedule in February and a similar capacity second line will be on-stream next month, Guleria said. The Japanese auto major had a whopping 56% share of the scooters market in 2015-16 and expects it rise further with more supplies from the Gujarat plant. The Rs 1,100-crore plant at Vithalapur near Ahmedabad is the world's largest scooter factory. Since its entry, Honda has invested over Rs 7,800 crore and employs around 20,000 people, including the 3,000 people at the Gujarat plant. Honda began independent operations (after split with Hero) in 2001 with a 1.65 million units plant at Manesar in Haryana. In 2011, it launched the second plant at Tapukara in Rajasthan with 1.2 million capacity. It opened the third plant at Narsapura in Karnataka in 2013 with 1.8 million units, making it Honda's largest two-wheeler plant in the world.. . Akram Zaki, a social media campaigner and human rights activist known for his strong stance against religious extremism in Pakistan was killed by unknown assailants in the country's financial capital of Karachi. Zakir, 40, was killed last night by four armed assailants who came on two motorcycles while he was having dinner at a restaurant in Sector 11 of New Karachi. A journalist, Rao Khalid who was with Zaki and a bystander Aslam were critically wounded in the attack. The assailants attacked Zaki and Khalid with bullets and Aslam a bystander was caught in the firing, Senior Superintendent of Police Muqaddas Haider said. Zaki, a former journalist gained fame when he launched a Facebook page, "Let Us Build Pakistan" and became editor of a website devoted to working for human rights and spreading liberal religious views. He had condemned extremism in all forms and came into limelight when he led a campaign against Lal Masjid cleric, Maulana Abdul Aziz for inciting hatred against Shia Muslims. He and other campaigners built up pressure and got a case registered against Aziz. Zaki's assassination came on the same day when Karachi police announced that they had arrested a prime suspect in the murder of social activist Parveen Rehman who was killed in May 2013. Parveen who worked for the development of the impoverished neighbourhoods in the Orangi town was killed in the same area while returning home. Last year in September, another prominent social activist and rights campaigner Sabeen Mahmud was also killed in the defence area in Karachi while returning from her office. Her assailants are yet to be nabbed by the police. The Indian Institute of Gems and Jewellery (IIGJ), Mumbai has sought support from Maharashtra government to provide land for a students hostel on lines of the Rajasthan government's decision for IIGJ, Jaipur. IIGJ chairman Vasant Mehta said they have sent a proposal to state government seeking land for a hostel as the institute is growing with students from neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh enrolling with it. "The institute attracts foreign students from countries such as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. We have sent a request for allocation of land to state government for construction of a hostel," Mehta said. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said the government will consider look into the proposal of IIGJ when it receives it. "As of now, we haven't received their request. But, when we do, we will certainly consider it," Fadnavis told PTI. Mehta said the institute IIGJ Mumbai has trained 8,000 students over 11 years and has been engaging with Mumbai University to grant jewellery degree course accreditation. He said while skill development is one of the key agendas of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government, a hostel will not only help students and the institute to grow, but the entire gems and jewellery industry and skill development agenda of the Centre. IIGJ has recently announced a three-year Graduate Program in Jewellery Design and Manufacturing Techniques with an introduction to Management studies in collaboration with Welingkar Institute of Management. Meanwhile, Praveenshankar Pandya, chairman of GJEPC (Gem Jewellery Export Promotion Council) has said that the Union government and the industry collaborated to create IIGJ 12 years back and German courses were designed then and IIGJ became the best in the world. "Now it is time to take it to next level and we need support from Maharashtra government to train top manufacturers who are already the best," he said. To encourage horticulture and cultivation of alternative crops, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today said his government has decided to provide incentives to farmers who use new farming techniques within 100 kilometres around Delhi in the National Capital Region. "This would boost the income of farmers, which could be more than Rs 1 lakh per acre. Farmers could also increase their income by rearing cattle and selling milk and milk products," Khattar said addressing a public meeting at Pataudi in Gurgaon district. This was the first constituency-level rally held in Pataudi since the formation of the present state government, an official release said. The Chief Minister said farmers should take up cultivation of alternative crops such as fruits, vegetables, flowers and medicinal plants instead of the traditional wheat and paddy. He also made a slew of announcements for accelerating the pace of development in the NCR. These include the status of National Highway to Gurgaon-Rewari road according Pataudi, an engineering college in Panchgaon, Metro service from Gurgaon to Manesar, and development of the area within one kilometre on both sides of the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway to boost industrial and commercial activities. Director Suvahhdan Angre has roped in actors Irrfan and Priyanshu Chatterjee for his forthcoming film "Dreaded Gangster", focusing on the extradition of gangster Abu Salem from Portugal. Set to make comeback with the film, the "Tum Bin" actor will essay the role of Salem while Irrfan will play a CBI officer. "The film would soon hit the floors. Chatterjee is currently going though rigorous training schedules to look like Salem. Irrfan would be roped in to play the role of CBI's top officer DIG O P Chhatwal who was instrumental in extraditing the gangster from Portugal," Angre told PTI. Salem, currently lodged in Taloja jail of Navi Mumbai, is currently facing trials for serious crimes such as murder, extortion and terrorism, including the 1993 bomb blasts case. Along with Salem, his friend and starlet Monika Bedi was also brought from Portugal to India by CBI. The role of Bedi has not yet been finalised but efforts are on to approach actress Zarine Khan for the slot, he said. The film would highlight the strong side of the Indian law because of which the gangster, who evaded arrest earlier in criminal cases in India by escaping to foreign countries, was extradited to India to face trials, Angre said. The movie focuses on Salem's early days at his native place in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, his migration to Delhi in search of a job, and his relocation to Mumbai, where he joined the infamous Dawood Ibrahim gang to take up petty crimes and went on to became a notorious gangster with a gang of his own, he said. The film will also depict how Salem allegedly handled underworld Don Dawood Ibrahim's crime syndicate and helped it flourish in Mumbai, besides his hold over Bollywood. However, the main hero of the film is the CBI officer O P Chhatwal who put in his best to bring back Salem to India from Portugal from where the gangster allegedly operated his underworld activities, said Angre. He said the movie aims to convey a message to masses that law ultimately catches up with everyone and that in India the laws are strong enough to book the offenders. Angre's two films- "Aadesh -- Power of law" inspired by the high-profile public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, and "Billu Ustaad", a film on child terrorism, are slated to be released this year. Pakistan's powerful ISI had brought in Haqqani network's chief Sirajuddin Haqqani as the deputy leader of the Taliban last year to protect him from the Americans, a media report said today. The New York Times, quoting Afghan and American officials, said in a report that the "closer integration of the feared" Haqqani militant network into the leadership of the Taliban is "changing the flow of the Afghan insurgency this year, with the Haqqanis' senior leader increasingly calling the shots in the Taliban's offensive. It quoted Afghanistan's former intelligence chief Rahmatullah Nabil as saying that "the ISI brought Sirajuddin as the deputy to the Taliban to give him protection, so if the peace talks get serious, the Americans wouldn't be able to say, 'We will make peace with the leader but not with the deputy'." Nabil, who now runs a charity for wounded Afghan soldiers, said the merger had been helped by the fact that the Haqqanis were struggling financially, after their chief fund-raiser was gunned down near Islamabad in 2013, and that the Taliban needed Haqqani's expertise in waging complex attacks. Brigadier General Charles Cleveland, the chief spokesman for United States and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said that "Sirajuddin increasingly runs the day-to-day military operations for the Taliban, and, we believe, is likely involved in appointing shadow governors." "The Haqqani network's closer integration with the Taliban command also creates awkwardness for the Obama administration, and is raising tension between Pakistan and Afghanistan," it said. The report cited some senior Afghan officials as saying that the Pakistani military was "central" to bringing the Haqqanis more closely into the Taliban during the insurgency's leadership councils last summer, which were held in Quetta. The report said that the Haqqanis have "refined a signature brand" of urban terrorist attacks and cultivated a sophisticated international fund-raising network, factoring prominently in the United States military's push to keep troops in Afghanistan. It added that the group's growing role in leading the entire insurgency in the war-torn country has raised concerns about an even deadlier year of fighting ahead, as hopes of peace talks have collapsed. "The shift is also raising tensions with the Pakistani military, which American and Afghan officials accuse of sheltering the Haqqanis as a proxy group," it said. (Reopens FGN 13) While the Haqqani network has always nominally been a branch of the Taliban, the report said the selection of Sirajuddin Haqqani to become the deputy leader of the Taliban during a leadership struggle last summer has turned out to be far from a "symbolic move" with Haqqani bringing to the Taliban a "more applied and lethal military expertise" than the supreme leader of the group, Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour. "Mullah Mansour has been consumed with a campaign to quell dissent against his leadership, and he is said to have limited his movements and access since a reported attack on his life in Quetta, Pakistan. Accordingly, Haqqani has stepped in, at times even running meetings of the Taliban leadership council," the report said citing senior Afghan security officials. A senior Taliban commander in southern Afghanistan said Haqqani had been in "constant contact" with Taliban field commanders in the south and the north of the country, in addition to his stronghold in the southeast. Mawlawi Sardar Zadran, a former Haqqani commander in eastern Afghanistan, said Haqqani had a central role in appointing Taliban governors. "No one can be appointed without his advice," he said. "The influence of Sirajuddin in the Taliban ranks seems to be just growing." The report quoted a Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, as confirming Haqqani's elevated role, saying it was because of "his bravery". "We can say that not only his military obligations but all his obligations have increased," Mujahid said. The State Department had officially listed the Haqqanis as a terrorist group in 2012, and there is a USD 5 million American bounty on Sirajuddin Haqqani. The report added that the Afghan Taliban, as a group, have remained off that terrorist list, "partly to ease the prospect of starting peace talks between them and the Afghan government - a process that American officials have been centrally involved in. "With the clear and public integration of the Haqqanis into the Taliban leadership over at least the past year, American officials have essentially been unable to dodge the claim that they are trying to broker talks with terrorists," it said. In a revenge attack, Islamic State gunmen today shot dead at least nine policemen in southern Egypt's Helwan district, the latest in a series of attacks on security personnel. The gunmen travelling in a truck stopped a microbus carrying the plainclothed policemen, including a lieutenant, in Omar Ibn Abdel Aziz street and sprayed it with bullets before fleeing from the scene, a security official said. Four armed terrorists got out of the truck and opened fire on the police microbus, according to a statement by the Ministry of Interior. Security forces have rushed to the place of the incident and are currently searching for the attackers, it said. The Islamic State group's Egyptian branch claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement circulated on social media. The group said "a squad of the soldiers of the caliphate" opened fire on the microbus in Helwan, killing the policemen before making off with their weapons. The attack was retaliation for "the pure women imprisoned" in Egyptian jails, the group said in its statement. Earlier, an Islamist group Shabab el-Mokawma el-Shabia (public resistance) had claimed responsibility for the attack. In a statement published on its Facebook page, the group said the attack was carried out in memory of Rabaa victims (who were killed during the dispersal of the Muslim Brotherhood's Rabaa sit-in in August 2013 by police). The attack came to commemorate 1000 days of the attack, it said. Egypt has witnessed several violent attacks by militants since the January 2011 revolution that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak. Terrorists, including from dreaded Islamist State outfit, have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers in attacks conducted mostly in the Sinai Peninsula and in and around Cairo. The attacks targeting police and military increased after the ouster of Islamist ex-president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 by military following massive protests against his rule. Over 700 security personnel have reportedly been killed so far. Diversified group ITC today said there is "progressive resumption" of production at its cigarette factories, which was suspended from May 4 over the large pictorial warning issue. "The cigarette factories are commencing production progressively," ITC said in a BSE filing. On May 5, ITC had said it has shut down its production till the time it is able to comply with "interim requirements" of 85 per cent pictorial warnings. On May 4, the Supreme Court had directed tobacco companies to implement the rule mandating larger pictorial warnings and refused the manufacturers' plea to stay the implementation of new cigarette packaging rules introduced from April 1. The apex court said the tobacco companies have to follow the rules till Karnataka High Court, where all the petitions from various high courts are being transferred, pronounced its final order. "In the meantime, the company has had to shut its cigarette factories from May 4, 2016, until the company is in a position to comply with the interim requirements pending hearing in the Karnataka High Court," ITC had said in a BSE filing on May 5. Last month, the company had resumed manufacturing of cigarettes at its factories, which it had suspended from April 1, in protest against the larger pictorial warnings issue. The Kolkata-headquartered firm had suspended manufacturing at all its five factories saying there was a lack of clarity in policy regarding printing of larger pictorial warnings on the packets. All other cigarette manufacturers had taken similar decisions. A notification by the Health Ministry on September 24, 2015, for implementation of the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labeling) Amendment Rules, 2014, had come into force on April 1, 2016. It prescribed larger pictorial warnings, covering 85 per cent of packets on tobacco products. ITC manufactures a range of brands, including India Kings, Classic, Gold Flake, Navy Cut, Capstan, Bristol, Flake, Silk Cut, which are manufactured at plants in Bengaluru, Munger, Saharanpur, Kolkata and Pune. In 2014-15, ITC had a consolidated sales of Rs 17,765.99 crore from cigarettes, which accounted for 46.22 per cent of its net sales of Rs 38,433.31 crore. A nationwide strike called by Bangladesh's fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami to protest against the apex court verdict handing down death sentence to its chief for war crimes largely went unheeded today. Witnesses and media reports said the 24-hour strike call beginning at 6 am - three days after the final verdict on Motiur Rahman Nizami was given - affected little the public life across the country including the capital Dhaka, that witnessed its regular notorious traffic jams nevertheless. Schools, offices, shopping malls and financial institutions operated as usual while transport operators said intercity buses, trains and ferries also plied as scheduled. "We have kept a sharp vigil but no law and order situation was reported," a police spokesman told reporters here. Witnesses, however, said Jamaat activists tried to stage brief small street marches at parts of the capital carrying banners but quickly dispersed fearing police action. Jamaat on its website claimed to have staged demonstrations across the country "against the heinous plot to kill" Nizami, carrying a picture of one such 'protest march' in Dhaka. Prison officials, meanwhile, said they expect the Supreme Court judgment to reach them anytime. They said they were prepared to execute the order soon after the copy of the judgment reaches them through the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD), which originally had handed down Nizami the capital punishment for committing crimes against humanity siding with the Pakistani troops during 1971 Liberation War. He was particularly found guilty of systematic killings of more than 450 people alone in his own village home in northwestern Pabna, siding with the Pakistani troops. "He (Nizami) heard himself the that the Supreme Court has rejected his final review petition (seeking reversal of its own previous judgment) as he has been provided with a one-band radio at his cell, earmarked for death row convicts," a prison official told PTI, requesting anonymity. But, he said, the system would require prison authorities to serve him the death warrant formally once the verdict wrapped in a red cloth reached the prison. The prison officials are also obligated to ask the death row convict if he wanted to seek presidential clemency. 73-year-old Nizami lost his last legal effort to save his neck on May 5 when the Court reconfirmed the death penalty to chief of Bangladesh's biggest Islamist party - which opposed the country's 1971 independence from Pakistan, upholding its own previous judgment that had confirmed his death sentence. Family members met him the next day at suburban Kashimpur Central Jail while prison officials hinted he might be shifted to Dhaka Central Jail for execution. They said simultaneous preparations were underway at Kashimpur jail as well. Nizami, a former lawmaker and minister in ex-prime minister Khaleda Zia's cabinet, has been in jail since 2010, when he was arrested to be tried 1971 war crimes in the ICT-BD which handed him down death penalty on October 29, 2014 on charges of mass murder, arson, loot and rape. The Minister for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) Kalraj Mishra today inaugurated a spinning and weaving centre and marketing plaza for khadi goods in Srinagar. At the centre -- Harmukh Khadi Gram Udyog Sansthan -- Mishra also distributed 25 model charkhas among local artisans at a function, said a government release. "The charkha is a symbol of resistance and can help maximum number of unemployed youth and women in far flung areas to attain economic independence," Mishra said. The event was organised by Khadi and Village Industries Board Srinagar. The minister said the Centre is ready to provide all sorts of assistance to the state of Jammu and Kashmir in order to remove regional imbalances and urged the state to come forward and seek maximum help from New Delhi. He said the Centre is especially interested in the progress of Jammu and Kashmir state in view of the disturbed state of affairs here, said the statement. Jammu and Kashmir Minister for Industries and Commerce, Chander Parkash Ganga requested the Union ministry to increase the targets for the state so that it benefits the local artisans. Students sung 'Baitalik' (prayer songs) and scores of people visited 'Gurudev' Rabindranath Tagore's ancestral home to pay rich tributes on his 155th birth anniversary today. A special prayer was also held at Udayan, the house where Tagore had celebrated his last birthday in 1941. At Visva Bharati university in Santiniketan, set up by the bard, the day began early with students singing the 'Baitalik' (prayer songs). According to the English calendar, Tagore was born on May 7 but Bengalis celebrate the occasion according to the Bengali calendar - 25th day of 'Baisakh' month which is today. At Rabindra Bharati University in Kolkata and at other places all over the city, Gurudev's birthday was celebrated with songs, poems and recitals from his repertoire. In Kolkata, hundreds paid a visit to Tagore's ancestral home Jorasanko Thakurbari where cultural programmes were held to mark the occasion. The West Bengal government also organised a programme in Rabindra Sadan to pay obeisance to the Nobel laureate. Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who was here to launch a jewellery showroom, recalled that he had sung the national anthem 'Jana Gana Mana' written by Tagore in 'Thakurbari'. "I pay my tribute to him on this day and seek his blessings," the 73-year-old actor, who was accompanied by actress-wife Jaya Bachchan said. BJP general secretary Ram Madhav today expressed concern over the growing "anti India rhetoric" in Nepal and said the internal "power struggle" in the neighbouring country was responsible for the recent developments there. "Palace coup not new in Nepal. Growing anti-India rhetoric holding it responsible fr what actually ws an internal power struggle is a concern," Madhav tweeted. Nepal recently recalled its Ambassador to India over charges of non-cooperation and indulging in anti-government activities. Ambassador Deep Kumar Upadhyaya had "confronted" with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli regarding the cancellation of President Bidya Devi Bhandari's scheduled visit to India, Nepalese Foreign Ministry sources said. The conversation between Oli and Upadhyaya reportedly took place after the cancellation of the President's trip. The Nepalese Cabinet had decided to recall Upadhyaya after his brief conversation with the Prime Minister, they said. Nepal government has levelled three charges against Upadhyaya to justify its decision to recall him, with officials saying he was working 'against national interest'. Nepal's President Bidhya Devi Bhandari had recently cancelled her visit to India, which would have been her first foreign trip after assuming office, in the wake of the political instability in her country. Bhandari was scheduled to visit from May 9 as the state guest at the invitation of President Pranab Mukherjee. She was also scheduled to participate in a 'Shahi Snan' in Ujjain's Simhastha Kumbh on May 14. Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao today called for integrating spiritual and traditional education to develop the personality and character of students. "The teachings of Mahavira such as Ahimsa (non-violence), Anekant (respect for plurality of viewpoints) and Aparigraha (non-possession) have the potential to restore peace in the world and lead humanity on the path of enlightenment," Rao said while inaugurating a National Symposium on 'Jain Philosophy and Science in Context of Bhagavati Sutra' at Yogi Sabhagriha at Dadar in Central Mumbai. "There is a need to integrate spiritual education with traditional education to develop the personality and character of students," he said. The Governor also released the Hindi commentary of the 5th Volume of Bhagvati Sutra, a Jain Aagama containing scientific aspects of Jainism, on the occasion. Justice K K Tated of the Bombay High Court, Jain Muni Mahendra Kumar, Namra Muni, Ashok Kothari, Honorary Director of the Symposium and science leaders from various institutions and members of Jain community were present at the event. Actress Sonal Sehgal says "Mantostaan" might be a small film, but its biggest USP is celebrated Pakistani writer Saadat Hasan Manto, whom she calls the "Shah Rukh Khan" of the project. The "Aashayein" actress believes that Manto has his set of huge fan following owing to his literary works, which will bring the target audience to the theatres. "Manto is our Shah Rukh Khan. He is our biggest USP. Manto was a huge star in himself. He has a rich legacy, his set of fan following and people who have closely followed and admired his work. There are so many who are eager to watch the film simply because it is based on his work," Sonal told PTI. The film brings to celluloid Manto's some of the most controversial stories - "Khol Do", "Thanda Gosht", "Aakhri Salute" and "Assignment". Sonal, who features in "Thanda Ghost", plays the role of a mistress to a man who goes missing during India-Pakistan partition. The woman is then concerned about her uncertain future. For the "Damadamm" actress, who is "big fan of Manto", the fact that she had to keep the character free from any judgement, from herself and the audience, was a challenge. "She is a feisty sardarni. You don't know whether to feel bad for her or hate her. One minute she will come across as selfish and the other minute you would understand her concern. "I didn't want to judge the character at all. And to play it in a certain way where even the audience doesn't judge her was challenging. She is just a practical woman who behaves that way because of certain reasons," she said. Directed by Rahat Kazmi, "Mantostaan" deals with the issue of India-Pakistan partition. The film will mark the return of Sonal in realistic cinema after her debut in the national award winning director Nagesh Kukunoor's "Aashayein" opposite John Abraham. The actress, who then went on to work in films like "Radio", "Damadamm", both co-starring Himesh Reshammiya, and "Future to bright hai ji", says she never enjoyed commercial cinema that much. "It is definitely great to be back in the zone of 'Aashayein'. I started out with that film and then did a few commercial movies. But honestly, I never enjoyed them as much. "Masala films are good with song and dance, but the joy of working in a brilliant film with a great director is something else. I am glad to be in this space of movies," she added. Heeding to the regulator Sebi's direction, the mutual fund houses have agreed to contribute 0.01 per cent of their total asset under management (AUM) to the industry body Amfi for investors awareness programmes -- a move that could entail contribution of over Rs 140 crore. The fund houses, however, are yet to decide whether this contribution is to be made on a monthly basis or on a quarterly basis. Moreover, Amfi is likely to form a committee to decide how to utilise the fund and the issue may come up for discussions during the forthcoming monthly board meeting scheduled later this month. "Fund houses have already started contributing 50 per cent of the two basis points corpus meant for the IAP to Amfi from April 1. We are likely to form a committee to decide how to utilise the fund during the board meeting slated for the later month," Amfi chief executive CVR Rajendran told PTI. At the end of April, the total assets under management of the industry stood at Rs 14 trillion, which translates into Rs 140 crore for the IAP from 43 fund houses. Sebi has asked AMCs to invest 2 basis points of their AUMs on investor awareness activities and half of that should go to the Amfi. "Asset management companies have already shared 50 per cent of their unutilised IAP corpus accrued until March 2016 to Amfi, though this is a very small amount," Rajendran said. He further said the issue was already discussed at the last board meeting in which it was felt that the Amfi panel on financial literacy will not be able to manage such a huge fund and hence the need to form another committee to decide on fund utilisation. Taurus Mutual Fund's chief executive Waqar Naqvi said his company has "already contributed Rs 1 crore of unspent IAP corpus for the last fiscal to the Amfi and we will be contributing the same amount from April 1 onwards in a similar manner. However, we are yet to decide if it has to be done on a monthly or on a quarterly basis. Jammu and Kashmir Forest Minister Lal Singh has asked law enforcement agencies to seize vehicles and other machines of a road construction company for dumping debris on the forest land at the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway. Expressing concern on illegal dumping of debris in the forest by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and other companies, the minister instructed the law enforcement agencies to seize three trippers and two JCB machines at Nashri along the highway, a spokesperson said. The minister also gave instructions to seize a tipper at Mehar Ramban and another tipper at Sherbibi near Chamalwas and Directed the construction company to adhere to the terms and conditions of the contract agreement, he said. Singh directed the district administration Ramban to issue instructions to National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and other executing agencies not to dump debris in Forests land, adding such practices badly affects the beauty of the ecology. Members of Pakistan-based MQM have held a peaceful demonstration in front of the White House protesting against the alleged extra-judicial killings of its workers by Pakistani security forces in Karachi. Holding placards and banners and shouting slogans for justice, the demonstrators yesterday demanded the Pakistan army chief "to stop terrorism and aggression against detained Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) supporters" in Rangers' custody. They also called for taking stern action against Rangers personnel allegedly involved in the brutal killing of Aftab Ahmed, a MQM leader, in Karachi recently. MQM alleged that Aftab Ahmed, who died in the custody of the paramilitary Rangers earlier this week, was subjected to torture 'before his death' with around '35 to 40 per cent' of his body bearing bruises. This has been confirmed by a post-mortem report, it said. Addressing the demonstrators, MQM's Mateen Yousuf welcomed the decision of the Pakistan army chief to order for an impartial inquiry into the death. He also welcomed US state department statement showing concern on extra judicial killing of MQM worker Aftab Ahmed and human rights violations by security forces in Karachi. The state operation is continuing to crush and eliminate the MQM, but despite all sorts of brutalities, supporters and activists of the party were determined and had faith in the party and its chief, he said. MQM is a Karachi-based major political party of Urdu- speaking people who migrated from India after partition but it ran into troubles after Rangers and police launched operation in the city in 2013 to create peace with the backing of the powerful army. The party was accused of having links with criminals and having a militant wing. Expressing concerns over loan disbursal under MUDRA scheme, traders body CAIT today said the benefits are yet to reach the last mile borrower. "It appears that out of more than Rs 1 lakh crore so far disbursed under MUDRA, the major financing has been done to existing borrowers and it is yet to reach the last mile borrower who is deprived of funds and for whom actually MUDRA was launched," CAIT said in a statement. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said it has drawn attention of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley towards Parliamentary Standing Committee report on MSME Ministry suggesting more inclusive role of micro-finance institutions and non-banking finance companies. There are about 5.77 crore small businesses in the country and out of which only 4 per cent could able to obtain loans from formal institutions and rest 96 per cent were dependent upon money lenders and private sources for getting financial assistance, CAIT National President B C Bhartia and Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said. "However, so far the last mile borrower has not been able to get requisite finance from the banks who have done major refinancing so far under MUDRA," they said in the statement. CAIT also cited report of the Parliamentary panel that in first tranche of Rs 5,000 crore made available to MUDRA, only Rs 2,184 crore were sanctioned, out of which only Rs 1,364 crore were disbursed. Besides, CAIT said despite MUDRA tipped to be separate regulator out of RBI's ambit by way of a legislation to be passed in Parliament, nothing more than been done expect one draft for the proposed legislation. "The committee formed to draft MUDRA legislation has so far held only one meeting in past about one year." CAIT said the scheme could be a game changer for the economy but it appears that invisible forces have again come on its way. "The CAIT will sought an audience with both Prime Minister and Finance Minister to apprise them with the ground realities in respect of MUDRA and will urge them to take necessary steps to convert the vision of Prime Minister into reality," the statement added. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un told a rare ruling party congress that the country would only use its nuclear weapons if its sovereignty came under threat from another nuclear power, state media said today. Kim also promised that the North would follow a policy of non-proliferation, and said Pyongyang was willing to improve and normalise relations with countries that had been "hostile" in the past. His remarks came in a report delivered on the second day yesterday of the first Workers' Party congress to be held since 1980. Kim had opened the conclave on Friday with a defiant defence of the North's nuclear weapons programme, and praised the "magnificent... And thrilling" test of what Pyongyang claimed was a powerful hydrogen bomb on January 6. It was the North's fourth nuclear test, and there are growing signs that a fifth test could be imminent. "As a responsible nuclear weapons state, our republic will not use a nuclear weapon unless its sovereignty is encroached upon by any aggressive hostile forces with nukes," Kim was quoted as telling the party gathering yesterday. He also vowed that Pyongyang would "faithfully fulfil" its non-proliferation obligations and push for global denuclearisation, the North's official KCNA news agency said. withdrew from the global Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 2003 -- the first signatory country to do so. Pyongyang's nuclear weapons use policy has never been completely clear. At the time of the first nuclear test in 2006, stated it would "never use nuclear weapons first", but has since made repeated threats of pre-emptive nuclear strikes against South Korea and the United States. Kim's latest statement does not seem to amount to a clear "no first-use" policy, as it does not specify what kind of "encroachment" might justify a nuclear strike. In recent years, has put a focus on the development of tactical nuclear weapons, with numerous -- and increasingly successful -- tests of a submarine-launched ballistic missile system. In his address, Kim also waved what might be taken as a potential olive branch, with his statement that North Korea would seek better relations with friendly countries, "(even) though they had been hostile in the past." There has been speculation that, in the wake of the party congress, Pyongyang might renew its push for talks with Washington. US and North Korean officials have held a number of informal discussions in neutral venues in recent years, but they are understood to have stalled over the basis for beginning any substantive dialogue. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today flagged off the exposure visit of the top twenty budding astronomers of the state to Satellite Centre of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Bengaluru. The promising youngsters were selected through a series of tests of Young Astronomer Talent Search (YATS) 2015-16, organised by Tata Steel in collaboration with Pathani Samanta Planetarium, a company release said. Congratulating the students and conveying his best wishes, Patnaik expressed the hope that the young talents would utilise this visit to enhance their knowledge. He also appreciated the efforts of Pathani Samanta Planetarium and Tata Steel for successfully organising the Young Astronomer Talent Search programme. In addition to visiting the facilities at the Satellite Centre of ISRO, the students would have the rare opportunity of interacting with some of the top space scientists of the country during their visit. The Bengaluru centre of ISRO is engaged in developing satellite technology and implementation of satellite systems for scientific, technological and application missions, it said. With an aim to popularise the excellent contributions of legendary astronomer of Odisha Pathani Samanta, YATS is being organised since 2007 to identify and encourage young talents from high school students of the state in the field of astronomy and space science, the release said. To provide world class exposure to young talents of Odisha, every year 20 winners of YATS, selected through three levels tests from among students from class VIII to X across the state, are sent to different centres of ISRO. The students not only get first-hand experience of visiting the renowned ISRO Satellite Centre, but also have opportunities to visit other important centres of science in the city and interact with the senior scientists there, the release added. Opposition NC today rebutted Jammu and Kashmir government's assertion that no land has been allotted for Sainik colony in the state, claiming there is "unambiguous proof" in official records and wondered if it was an effort to cover up PDP's tacit understanding with its partner BJP on the sensitive issue. "There is unambiguous proof that successive PDP-BJP governments headed by Late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and (now) Mehbooba Mufti were involved in the process of allocating hundreds of kanals of land for the proposed Sainik Colony in Srinagar," National Conference spokesperson Junaid Mattu said. He said official documents "prove it beyond any reasonable doubt" that the process of identification of land for such colony, from the initial allocation of 173 kanals (about nine hectares) to the subsequent 350 kanals (about 18 hectares), was initiated twice in 2015 and 2016. "Late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed took oath of office on March 1 in 2015. The very next month, the Divisional Commissioner (Kashmir) in a letter on April 10 agreed in principle to provide 173 kanals of land for the proposed 'Sainik Colony' in Srinagar and Budgam districts. This is not a matter of speculation or hypothesis, it is a matter of official record," the NC Spokesperson said. The PDP-BJP government yesterday asserted that it has not allotted any land for establishing Sainik colony housing project for ex-servicemen in the Valley and slammed such claims saying they were "highly motivated" and "aimed at disturbing peace". In a fresh bid to resolve the political impasse, Nepalese government today invited the Madhesi Front for talks to iron out the differences over the new Constitution. The government sent a formal invitation to the United Democratic Madhesi Front to resolve the differences through talks. "We have already formed a high level commission to address the issues related to re-demarcation of federal provinces, one of the major demands of the Madhesi people," read the letter sent to the Madhesis by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa, who is the chief government negotiator for holding the talks. Over 50 people have lost their lives during the agitation by the Madhesis. The agitation, however, ended unexpectedly in February just before Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli's maiden visit to India without any political agreement. Madhesis had enforced months-long blockade of Nepal's all trading points with India, creating huge shortage of essential commodities in the country and souring Indo-Nepal ties. Nepal had accused India of imposing an "economic blockade", which India strongly denied. The major political parties had amended some provisions of the Constitution to address the demands of the agitating Madhesi Front which rejected the move. Nepal's Ambassador Deep Kumar Upadhyay today continued to stay put in his post here, two days after his country's government was said to have ordered his recall, and was reported to have denied he had colluded with India to topple the K P Oli dispensation back home. "We have not received any official communication from Kathmandu over Ambassador's recall. What we know is only through media. So, he very much remains in his current position," sources in the Nepal embassy told PTI here. Though no formal announcement was made about Upadhyay's recall by the Nepalese government, reports emerging from Kathmandu quoting unnamed Foreign Ministry officials said he was being recalled because of his alleged role in the power struggle that nearly deposed Oli's government. His non-cooperation with his country's Foreign Ministry and a reported visit to the Terai region with Indian Ambassador in Kathmandu Ranjit Rae recently were also cited as reasons for the decision. However, earlier in the day, the Nepalese envoy reportedly rejected the charges, saying he did not conspire with the Indian government to bring down Prime Minister K P Oli-led coalition rule in Nepal. He also denied having visited the restive Madhes region in Nepal's foothills with Rae. Nepal had yesterday cancelled the visit of its President Bidhya Devi Bhandari to India hardly 72 hours before her departure for Delhi. Though no reason was assigned for cancellation of the trip, it was believed to indicate Nepal's unhappiness with India over the latter's alleged meddling in the internal affairs of the Himalayan nation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today criticised the deputy head of Israel's armed forces for remarks appearing to compare contemporary Israeli society to Nazi Germany. "The comparison drawn in the words of the deputy chief of staff regarding events which characterised Nazi Germany 80 years ago is outrageous," said Netanyahu. "They do injustice to Israeli society and cause a belittling of the Holocaust," the Israeli leader added. "The deputy chief of staff is an outstanding officer, but his remarks on this issue were utterly mistaken and unacceptable to me." In an address delivered Wednesday on the eve of Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day, Major General Yair Golan said the commemoration "must bring us to reflect deeply on the nature of man, even when that man is ourselves". "If there is something that frightens me with the memory of the Holocaust, it is identifying horrifying processes that happened in Europe, and specifically in Germany, 70, 80 and 90 years ago, and finding testimony to them amongst us, today, in 2016," he said. "There is, after all, nothing easier and simpler than hating the foreigner... Arousing fears and terrifying," he said. The chief-of-staff, Lieutenant General Gadi Eisenkot, angered politicians in February with remarks warning young soldiers not to use excessive force in subduing suspected Palestinian assailants. A wave of unrest that erupted in October has so far killed 203 Palestinians and 28 Israelis. Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, Israeli authorities say. Rights groups have called on Israel to stop using "lethal force" against attackers, and Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom has accused the Jewish state of carrying out "extrajudicial executions". In March an Israeli soldier was caught on video shooting to death a wounded Palestinian assailant, an incident condemned by a senior United Nations official as "gruesome, immoral and unjust." The soldier, an infantry sergeant, has been charged with manslaughter. And there have been concerns about civilian mobs attacking people they deem suspicious. Notable was a case in October, when an Eritrean immigrant was shot by a security guard at a bus station after being mistaken for an Arab assailant in an attack that killed an Israeli soldier. Footage of the man bleeding as an irate crowd rained blows on his head and body prompted soul searching among some Israelis over their response to a wave of attacks as well as their treatment of African migrants. When penning a book of Bengali short stories, it is only natural to begin with Rabindranath Tagore's 'Kabuliwallah,' the iconic tale of friendship between an Afghani dry-fruit seller and a 5-year-old girl, that continues to be recited till date in homes and classrooms across Bengal and beyond. Award winning translator, Arunava Sinha who has taken upon himself the task of translating Bengali literature into English and make it accessible to a wider audience, has compiled a selection of what in his opinion are the 21 'Greatest Bengali Stories Ever Told,' in the form a book of the same name. Although the book opens with one of Tagore's stories, Sinha's selection reflects a thoughtful yet personal curation that gives equal prominence to almost all the literary stalwarts that Bengal has ever produced and also those who remained unheard of. There is Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's rare combination of sharp societal observation and high emotional quotient along with the subaltern studies of Bibhutibhushan and Tarashankar Bandopadhyay. Satyajit Ray's introspective lense finds resonance with Sunil Gangopadhyay and Nabarun Bhattacharya's deep plunges into the darker recesses of the heart and mind. And with writers of the likes of Buddhadeva Bose, Premendra Mitra, Ritwik Ghatak, Mahashweta Devi and Ashapurna Debi, there are also narratives laden with political, social and gender consciousness. However, Sinha insists that it is "not a potted history of the Bengali short story" and the choice has not been determined by any form of critical sieving or literary era. "These are, simply, stories I have loved and that have made a deep impression on me," he writes in the introduction, titled "My love Affair with Bengali Stories" to the book. The anthology, he says, is devoid of any design and showcases the "rich variety to be found in Bengali literature - whether in terms of form, voice, setting or subject." Those who have read the stories in Bengali will know that loss in translation is inevitable, but it cannot be denied that Sinha has tried to retain the fervour of the original to the best of his capacities, using phrases both in Hindi and Bengali here and there, to suit the narrative. What binds the 21 stories together is really a very personal emotion felt by the translator alone and therefore, he admits to have given many renowned and "expected" names a miss. Having grown up in dingy lanes of north Kolkata that continues to reek of musty history, his attachment with Bengali literature is an amorous one. And, his acceptance of a story as his "own", he says, depends on his transformation from a being reader to becoming a character "right in the middle of the action." For the popularly acknowledged "great short stories" that are not a part of his latest feat, Sinha, very innocently reasons, "It is just that I have no romance to recall with their stories, though I have read, admired and marvelled at them. But somehow I haven't found myself in them. Scientists have discovered two new wasp species from India and South Africa, and named one of them after Hollywood actor Brad Pitt. The new wasp species, called Conobregma bradpitti, belongs to a large worldwide group of wasps parasitising in moth or butterfly caterpillars. These wasps lay their eggs into a host, which once parasitised starts hardening. Thus, the wasp cocoon can safely develop and later emerge from the 'mummified' larva. Despite their macabre behaviour, many of these wasp species are considered valuable in agriculture because of their potential as biological control. The researchers, including Santhosh Shreevihar and Avunjikkattu Parambil Ranjith from the University of Calicut in Kerala, also describe another new species of parasitic wasp. It is the first from its subtribe spotted in the whole of India, while its closest 'relative' lives in Nepal. While thinking of a name for the new wasp, Buntika A Butcher, from Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, recalled her long hours of studying in laboratory right under the poster of her favourite film actor. This is how the parasitic wasp from South Africa was named after Pitt, the researchers said. Pitt's flying namesake is a tiny creature measuring less than 2 mm. Its body is deep brown, nearly black in colour, while its head, antennae and legs are brown-yellow. The wings stand out with their much brighter shades. Interestingly, the wasp with celebrity name unites two, until now, doubtful genera. Being very similar, they had already been noted to have only four diagnostic features that set them apart. However, C bradpitti shared two of those with each. Thus, the species prompted the solution of the taxonomic problem and, as a result, the two were synonymised. The research was published in the journal ZooKeys. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed Century Pulp and Paper Ltd to pay Rs 30 lakh as environmental compensation for failing to manage pollution caused due to effluents discharged in a local water stream from its paper mill in Nainital. A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said release of effluents exceeding the permissible norms were bound to cause environmental imbalance placing the flora and fauna under illegitimate stress. "The effluents exceeding the permissible norms being released in the environment are bound to cause environmental imbalance placing the flora and fauna under illegitimate stress and in the long run such effluents are bound to have deleterious effect on the environment. "Considering the period of industrial activity and the volume of daily effluent generated, we are of the considered opinion that the respondent no.6 paper industry (Century Pulp and Paper Ltd) is liable to pay damages of Rs 30 lakh," the bench said. Besides this, the tribunal also directed the firm to pay Rs three lakh cost to applicant Gauri Maulekhi who had filed a petition seeking to restrain the paper industry from allegedly discharging harmful toxic effluents without any treatment and disposing wastes in forest and other revenue areas. The bench also constituted a team of senior scientists from the department of Environment Science, University of Jammu, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and IIT Roorkee, to carry out survey and study of the area and the Gola river to ascertain environmental degradation caused and also suggest remedial measures for restoration of environment. "The team so constituted shall carry out such study and submit its findings to respondent no 2 State of Uttarakhand within three months and respondent no 2 shall carry out such remedial measures and submit its compliance report before us within next two months," the green panel said. It said the paper industry shall credit the Rs 30 lakh environmental compensation to Environment Relief Fund established under the NGT Act 2010 for being utilised for the purposes of restitution of the environment in Lal Kuan area of district Nainital in Uttarakhand. (Reopens LGD4) In the application, Mulekhi had alleged that the firm had established a paper mill in 1984 in Nainital and huge flow of untreated toxic effluent was flushed out of the plant from its eastern side into the local stream which has been a source of drinking water and irrigation for nearby villagers. It alleged that the local stream joins Gola river which ultimately flows into Ram Ganga, a tributary of river Ganga. Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board (UEPPCB) told the tribunal that the paper industry had in place full fledged effluent treatment plant with primary, secondary and tertiary systems. The paper industry contested the application raising preliminary objections about its maintainability and asserted that it had adopted complete scheme for treatment of effluent and for water conservation. Denying the allegations levelled in the application, the firm said it has efficient effluent treatment plant capable of giving primary, secondary and tertiary treatment to effluent generated and discharged from the industry and the efficacy of the treatment given was being strictly monitored with the aid of well-equipped environmental laboratories. Referring to the report of the joint inspection team, the tribunal said Gola river water quality had showed significant pollution levels at Pullbhatta. "Significantly, joint inspection report made a comment that respondent no. Six paper industry had a poor record of pollution control in the past, i.E prior to the year 2011. Except the denial, the respondent no six paper industry has nothing much to comment as regard this observations made by the joint inspection team," the bench said. It also directed Century Pulp and Paper Ltd to comply with the recommendations made by the joint inspection team in its March 2015 report within a period of three months. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has planned to take his anti-liquor campaign beyond Bihar, today met here activists working for prohibition in various parts of the country. Kumar, who is on a visit to the national capital, also held talks with leaders of Gurjar community which has sizeable presence in Uttar Pradesh where JD(U) is trying to have an alliance with smaller parties for the 2017 Assembly elections in its effort to widen its support base in the country. The JD(U) Chief met Pooja Chabada, a social activist based in Jaipur, who is leading a movement for total prohibition in Rajasthan, among others. He also met representatives of All India Gurjar Mahasabha at Bihar Bhawan including its president Ram Sharan Bhati and vice president Birendra Bidudi, Sumant Bhati, president Haryana JD(U) and Jile Singh, retired director, Horticulture, NDMC. He also met other social and political activists from UP, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Haryana. After imposing total prohibition in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has plans to visit a number of states including Uttar Pradesh, where assembly elections are due next year, to lend support to anti-liquor movements as his party JD(U) seeks to widen its reach. Kumar, who is believed to be having a strong support base among women voters in the state, has got invitations from a number of women organisations engaged in anti-liquor movements in UP, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. Party General Secretary K C Tyagi had earlier said the Chief Minister has agreed to visit these states and hold interaction with women organisations. "Invitations are from Jaipur in Rajasthan, Wardha in Maharashtra, Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand and some places from Uttar Pradesh. The Chief Minister will be visiting these states in May," Tyagi had told PTI. Nitish Kumar government had announced a complete ban on liquor, domestic and spicy (masaledaar), as well as Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) in Bihar, fulfilling a major election promise. There is no "adverse" report about the 40 people from Punjab held hostage in Iraq by ISIS militants and a Catholic priest from Kerala abducted by the same group in Yemen, the Centre said today. "There is no confirmation whether he is dead or he is alive....Anything adverse is not there," Minister of State for External Affairs, General V K Singh, told reporters here when asked whether Fr Tom Uzhunnalil, the Indian priest who was kidnapped by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria militants in March, was still alive. "It is the same situation that we are facing for 40 people from Punjab. They are in the captivity of IS in Iraq. We don't have any confirmation. But we don't have any adverse report," Singh said. "We just know a person has been abducted...Or the 40 people are in captivity but anything adverse is not there. It is not coming out," the minister said, adding, the government would not be able to say anything till the time any information reaches it. The Indian nationals were taken hostage by the ISIS on June 11 in 2014 in northern Iraq's Mosul town. Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who hails from Ramapuram in Kottayam district in Kerala, was abducted in March this year by the terror group in Yemen, a conflict zone. He had gone missing after the militant group attacked a care home run by Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity. Gunmen had stormed the refuge for the elderly and killed a Yemeni guard before tying up and shooting 15 other employees. Four foreign nuns, including an Indian, were among those killed. Father Tom was captured from the southern Yemeni city of Aden by gunmen who killed at least 15 people in an attack that was condemned by Pope Francis. (REOPENS MDS9) Singh appealed people not to travel to strife-torn countries like Libya and Yemen and urged the media to create awareness among people about the situation in these countries. The minister, who played a crucial role in evacuating Indians stranded in Yemen last year, said of the 5000-odd people evacuated -- many of whom were from Kerala -- some refused to return to India. "Last six months...Many people have gone to Yemen and they are going through all kinds of routes. They take a tourist visa to Dubai, from Dubai some touts arrange them visa to Jordan and from there they travel to Yemen," he said, adding the situation in that country is very dangerous. A 43-year-old man was arrested for allegedly stealing cash from the counter of a bank located in Fort area of Mumbai, police said today. The accused, identified as Sameer Sayyed, yesterday stole Rs 2.5 lakh from a counter of a nationalised bank and ran out after pushing aside the branch's security guard, police said. Police officials from MRA Marg police station, who were on patrol duty, chased the accused and managed to catch him, they said. The man was arrested and the stolen cash was recovered from his possession, police said. The accused, a resident of Thane, is a notorious conman and has several cases registered against him in various police stations of Mumbai and its satellite cities, they said. A case was registered against the accused under section 392 (punishment for robbery) of the IPC, the police said, adding further investigation is on. Hardik Patel-led Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), a prominent organisation demanding OBC quota for the Patel community, today cancelled a mass gathering of the community at Kansa in Mehsana district as no one turned up. Its leaders alleged that the large police deployment at the venue of the event, termed by PAAS as 'Maha-panchayat', was the reason, though the police denied it. "It is a baseless allegation that police prevented anyone from attending the programme....Our deployment was a routine affair. It was not meant to threaten anyone," said Mehsana District Superintended of Police Chaitanya Mandlik. On Friday, PAAS had announced that the next round of its agitation would start from Kansa, near Visnagar town. Local PAAS leader Ravi Patel alleged that Gujarat government "put pressure" on the organisers to cancel it. "Patel leaders from across the Visnangar tehsil were supposed to remain present. However we were forced to cancel the event today, as a large number of police were deployed. It was a pressure tactic by the government," he said. Meanwhile, a letter by the jailed quota leader Hardik Patel which was circulated today said the community should not "bow down" before the BJP. Hardik is in jail in a sedition case. The letter, addressed to his father Bharatbhai Patel, said the people of Gujarat were "suffering" under the BJP rule which was "worse than the British rule". Police in Pakistan today arrested three men for allegedly parading two children naked in a street here after they were caught stealing water melons. Senior police officer Mustansar Feroz said that Basharat and Irfan had caught two children, aged between 9 and 13, for allegedly stealing water melons from their shop. "Both men not only subjected the children to severe torture but also paraded them naked in the street," Feroz said. He said the accused also made a video of the children and used abusive language. On the complaint of the father of one of the children police registered an FIR against Basharat, Irfan and their accomplice and arrested them. "They will be produced before a court on Monday for physical remand," Feroz said, adding the police have also recovered the cell phones the suspects used for making the children's video. Rights activists called upon the government to pursue the case and ensure exemplary punishment to the culprits. Khurram Zaki, a leading Pakistani rights activist known for his strong stance against hatred and violence targeted at Shia Muslims, and his friend have been shot dead by motorbike-borne Taliban militants here in an apparent sectarian attack. Zaki, 40, was having dinner last night with his friend Rao Khalid at a restaurant when four armed assailants came on two motorcycles and sprayed bullets. Both Zaki and Khalid were rushed to a hospital where they succumbed to their injuries. A bystander named Aslam was also injured in the firing. The Hakimullah Mehsud faction of the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement to the media. The group said Zaki was targeted for his views on Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz. Police, however, said it could not confirm the claim by the Taliban faction. A senior police investigator said it was more likely a case of target killing and a sectarian attack as both men killed belonged to the Shia community. Zaki, a social media campaigner, civil society activist, blogger, journalist and religious scholar, was known for his strong views on the Lal Masjid cleric and led a campaign against him for his extremist views since last year. Zaki had condemned extremism in all forms and came into limelight when he led the campaign against Aziz for inciting hatred against Shia Muslims. He and other campaigners built up pressure and got a case registered against Aziz. Zaki also gained fame when he launched a Facebook page "Let Us Build Pakistan" (LUBP) and became editor of a website devoted to working for human rights and spreading liberal religious views. The page was recently blocked by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority. Following Zaki's murder, Sindh Home Minister Sohail Anwar Sial ordered a probe and sought report from police within 48 hours. Meanwhile, protesters carried the body of Zaki to the Chief Minister's House and staged a protest. Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) has also announced to stage a protest demonstration outside the Chief Minister's House. A spokesperson of MWM said that Zaki was not only a prominent civil society activist but also a religious scholar who tended to attend programmes on various TV channels. "For the last one year, Khurram Zaki was a target of a systematic hate campaign organised by Deobandi fanatic, Shamsuddin Amjad of the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan in collaboration with the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan," Ali Abbas Taj, LUBP's Editor-in-Chief, said in a statement. Khurram Zaki, a leading Pakistani rights activist and social media campaigner known for his strong stance against religious extremism, was killed by unknown assailants in the country's financial capital here. Zaki, 40, was killed last night by four armed assailants who came on two motorcycles and sprayed bullets while he was having dinner at a restaurant in Sector 11 of New Karachi. Rao Khalid, a journalist who was with Zaki and a bystander were critically wounded in the attack. "The assailants fired at Zaki and Khalid and the bystander was caught in the firing," Senior Superintendent of Police Muqaddas Haider said. No one has taken responsibility for the attack. Zaki, a former journalist gained fame when he launched a Facebook page "Let Us Build Pakistan" and became editor of a website devoted to working for human rights and spreading liberal religious views. The page was recently blocked by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority for viewers in the country. He had condemned extremism in all forms and came into limelight when he led a campaign against Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz for inciting hatred against Shia Muslims. He and other campaigners built up pressure and got a case registered against Aziz. Sindh Home Minister Sohail Anwar Sial has ordered a probe and sought report from police within 48 hours. Following the incident, protesters carrying the body of Zaki reached the Chief Minister's House and staged protest. Majlid Wehdat-e-Muslimeen has also announced to stage a protest demonstration outside CM House. A spokesperson of Majlis Wahdat Muslimeen (MWM) said that Zaki was not only a prominent civil society activist but also a religious scholar who tended to attend programmes on various TV channels. The MWM spokesperson said they believed that banned sectarian outfits were involved in this gruesome murder. Zaki's assassination came on the same day when Karachi police announced that they had arrested a prime suspect in the murder of social activist Parveen Rehman who was killed in May 2013. Parveen, who worked for the development of the poor neighbourhoods in the Orangi town, was killed in the same area while returning home. Last year in September, another prominent social activist and rights campaigner Sabeen Mahmud was also killed in the defence area in Karachi while returning from her office. Her assailants are yet to be nabbed by the police. A Pakistani national was apprehended after he crossed over to the Indian side along the International Border in R S Pura sector of Jammu district, police said today. Sahanulla (38), a resident of Wajid Wali village in Chawinda in Sialkot district of Pakistan, was arrested yesterday by the Border Security Force (BSF) when he crossed into the Indian side in Pindi area of the sector, an officer said. Except for Rs 10 in Pakistani currency, no significant recoveries were made from him. It seems he had crossed the IB inadvertently, he said. The Pakistani national has been taken into custody and further questioning is underway, the officer said. has reached a deal to transfer to Mexico nearly 4,000 US-bound Cubans stranded on its territory, an official has said, but added the flights would not be extended to future Cuban migrants. " will transfer some 3,800 Cubans to Mexico after an agreement with that country," the Panamanian official told AFP on condition of anonymity because details were not to be released until Sunday. The official said that daily flights would begin on Monday from City's airport, going to Juarez, in Mexico's north near the US border. Each planeload would carry 154 Cubans who would pay the cost of the trip themselves. They have been blocked in Panama since March. The next two Central American countries to the north of Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, have since late last year closed their borders to Cubans trying to head north overland. Between January and March, Costa Rica oversaw flights for thousands of Cubans to El Salvador and Mexico to clear a backlog of the migrants who had become stuck by Nicaragua's border closure. Panama in March did likewise, organising flights to Juarez for 1,300 Cubans. Officials back then insisted the operation would not be repeated. But since then, thousands more have arrived, aiming to get to the US, where a law dating back to the Cold War gives them privileged entry and a fast track to residency. Many Cubans risk a perilous trip through South and Central America because the United States seeks to throw back to Cuba any found crossing by sea to Florida. Panama's foreign minister, Isabel De Saint Malo, has called Costa Rica and Nicaragua's position "contradictory". But as a result, she said, her country now believes it has also become necessary for it to close off access to Cubans "to discourage the flow of migrants". The Delhi High Court has directed the AAP government to reply on a plea seeking direction to install CCTV cameras and depute security guards at all government hospitals in the national capital under its jurisdiction. Justice Pratibha Rani issued notices to the authorities concerned on the plea by a staff nurse who alleged she was stalked by a patient within the hospital, where she works, and this would not have happened if CCTV cameras were installed. She alleged that though the matter was communicated to the patient's doctor, who also works at the same hospital, as well as the management there, no action was taken with regard to the incident of December 31 last year. In her plea, filed through advocate Rajesh Sharma, she sought direction to the police to lodge a case against the doctor and the hospital, as no action was taken on her complaint and alleged she and her colleague were threatened of dire consequences. The court has now fixed the matter for July 12, by when the government was asked to file its status report. The petition states it is "responsibility of area municipal body, police and the hospital to comply with the Vishaka guidelines, for formation of committee to investigate case of sexual harassment against women at workplace and provide safety and security to the petitioner." "The authorities concerned are responsible for installing CCTV cameras in all hospitals, but they failed to do so," the plea said. The nurse also claimed in her plea that the doctor under question allegedly has the habit of outraging modesty of women employees and nurses by way of filthy, abusive, foul language. "Respondent No 2 (Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal) in his manifesto committed to act for security and safety of women in Delhi, by way of installing CCTV cameras and private guards, but after becoming chief minister he failed to act in this direction," the plea said. She also sought damages and compensation to the tune of Rs 25 lakh each from the authorities concerned and Kejriwal for the "loss and inconvenience suffered by her due to being deprived of her legal right (under Vishaka guidelines)". Director Suvahhdan Angre has roped in actor Priyanshu Chatterjee for his forthcoming film "Dreaded Gangster", focusing on the extradition of gangster Abu Salem from Portugal. Set to make comeback with the film, the 43-year-old "Tum Bin" actor will essay the role of Salem, while the director wants to cast Irrfan Khan in the role of a CBI officer. "The film would soon hit the floors. Chatterjee is currently going though rigorous training schedules to look like Salem. Irrfan would be roped in to play the role of CBI's top officer DIG O P Chhatwal, who was instrumental in extraditing the gangster from Portugal," Angre told PTI. Salem, currently lodged in Taloja jail of Navi Mumbai, is currently facing trials for serious crimes such as murder, extortion and terrorism, including the 1993 bomb blasts case. Along with Salem, his friend and starlet Monika Bedi was also brought from Portugal to India by CBI. The role of Bedi has not yet been finalised but efforts are on to approach actress Zarine Khan for the slot, he said. The film would highlight the strong side of the Indian law because of which the gangster, who evaded arrest earlier in criminal cases in India by escaping to foreign countries, was extradited to India to face trials, Angre said. The movie focuses on Salem's early days at his native place in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, his migration to Delhi in search of a job, and his relocation to Mumbai, where he joined the infamous Dawood Ibrahim gang to take up petty crimes and went on to became a notorious gangster with a gang of his own, he said. The film will also depict how Salem allegedly handled underworld Don Dawood Ibrahim's crime syndicate and helped it flourish in Mumbai, besides his hold over Bollywood. However, the main hero of the film is the CBI officer O P Chhatwal who put in his best to bring back Salem to India from Portugal from where the gangster allegedly operated his underworld activities, said Angre. He said the movie aims to convey a message to masses that law ultimately catches up with everyone and that in India the laws are strong enough to book the offenders. Angre's two films- "Aadesh -- Power of law" inspired by the high-profile public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, and "Billu Ustaad", a film on child terrorism, are slated to be released this year. Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya today said there is a proposal to start separate Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) blocks in all major state-run hospitals in Telangana. Speaking to reporters along with Telangana Health Minister C Laxma Reddy after a review meeting here, Dattatreya said he would hold talks with higher officials in Delhi in this regard and a decision will be arrived at. "I will ensure for the central funds for the benefit of the state-run hospitals in all the districts of the state," the Minister of State for Labour and Employment said. Dattatreya said he would soon request Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to make budgetary allocations for starting an AIIMS hospital in Telangana. He further said there is an urgent need for Central and state governments to focus on communicable diseases as they were among the main reasons for deaths of tribal people last year. The services at the government hospitals should be strengthened for the benefit of the tribal and weaker sections of the society, the Minister said. Dattatreya also said starting with construction workers all the unorganised sector workers will be brought under social security schemes. He informed that Rs 21,000 crore have been collected as cess from the construction industry in the country but states have transferred only Rs 3,000 crore to the Centre. In the second stage, auto-rickshaw drivers and rickshaw pullers will be covered in the social security schemes which will be followed by angnawadi and domestic workers, he added. Stating that all hospitals in Telangana will be strengthened, Laxma Reddy said support from Centre is also needed in this regard. The review meeting was attended by officials of the health department, NIMS hospital director and superintendents of all major government hospitals and principals of medical colleges. Delhi Transport minister Gopal Rai who recently underwent an operation for removal of a bullet lodged in his neck for past 17 years was discharged from the hospital this evening. "The minister has been discharged and he will go to a branch of the same hospital in Hyderabad for further treatment possibly in the coming week," a close aide of the minister said. The bullet was removed successfully from the minister's neck in a surgery performed on April 6. Rai had suffered a gun shot injury in 1999 during an agitation against criminalisation of students politics at Allahabad University. He had recovered after a long treatment but the bullet was still lodged in the body. Sri Lanka's former President Mahinda Rajapaksa today warned the public against a new Constitution formulated to satisfy the Western nations' wishes. "These are constitutions made by foreign governments. People must take care to preserve the unitary nature of the country," Rajapaksa said while addressing a gathering at Galewela in the central province. He said that at the last parliamentary election held in August, the Western nations conspired to divide his Freedom Party in order to ensure its defeat. Rajapaksa's comments referred to the ongoing process to draft a new Constitution replacing the current executive president-headed constitution adopted in 1978. In the new Constitution, the Prime Minister will hold the supreme executive power. His remarks came as the head of the public representations committee on constitutional reform Lal Wijenaike announced that the panel had finalised its report and will take it up with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Wijenaike's panel was taking public views regarding shaping up of the new Constitution. He made actors like Sanjeev Kumar, Shabana Azmi and Amjad Khan wait for over half an hour on the set of "Shatranj ke Khilari" (1977) as the soot in a lamp was not up to his satisfaction. He rejected around 100 shaving brushes and cancelled shooting for several days till he got the perfect one in the 1966 movie "Nayak" (The Hero) starring Uttam Kumar. Remains of carcasses were collected from roads during journey, to be used in a dumping ground scene in the 1981 Hindi Doordarshan film, "Sadgati" (The Deliverance). Satyjit Ray's famous eye for detail was thus remembered by the master film maker's technical craftsmen at a programme, organised by Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute (SRFTI), the fully funded autonomous institute under the Ministry of I&B, here last evening. One of those having taken part in the programme, held as a part of Ray's 95th birth anniversary, was Subrato Lahiri, assistant cinematographer and assistant director in 21 of his films. Lahiri remembered that during the shooting of a scene in "Shatranj Ke Khilari" (The Chess Players), a lamp was a part of the set and soot should have accumulated on it. "However, the amount of soot accumulated was not to his liking and he asked art director Bangshi Chandragupta to add more soot to it. It took over half an hour and renowned actors like Sanjeev Kumar, Shabana Azmi and Amjad Khan waited without complaint," said Lahiri. Ray's assistant editor and assistant director for over 30 films, Ramesh Sen, shared an anecdote in which the filmmaker rejected around 100 shaving brushes and cancelled shooting for several days. Though the brush was required for a brief scene, the "Pather Panchali" director was not satisfied with the ones he was provided with to be used in the shoot. Finally, he settled for one shaving brush brought from the home of another film director Tarun Majumder, said Sen. Sen, now a member of Ray's son Sandip's film unit, also recalled how Ray made him (Sen) collect remains of animal carcasses during travel to recreate the dumping ground scene of "Sadgati", starring Om Puri and Smita Patil. Assistant cinematographer on Ray's 22 films, Anil Ghosh, too shared an interesting incident in which the director-producer tweaked the script of "Sadgati" on the sight of rain clouds. During the shooting in Rajasthan in early '80s, Ray sighted rain clouds one day and decided to shoot an emotional scene between Puri and Patil. Ghosh said Ray exactly predicted that the rain will continue for one hour and it did and no rain machines were used in that scene. The discussion, "Spectrum - Satyajit, a series of seminars" was moderated by Ray researcher Sujoy Shome, who said the Museum of Modern Art in New York hosted the world premiere of "Pather Panchali" on May 3, 1955. It was again screened there on the 60th year of the film in May last year and "So it seems prophetic," Shome said. Students of class VIII in Rajasthan schools will no longer study the contribution of Jawaharlal Nehru in their social science textbook as references to the first prime minister have been dropped. The references to Nehru have been removed in two chapters in the revised textbook which will be introduced from this academic session for class VIII in schools affiliated to Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (or Ajmer Board). Though the book is not available in the market yet, the information has been uploaded on the website of the Rajasthan State Textbook Board, which publishes the book for the state board. The new name that has been included in the textbook is that of freedom movement leader Hemu Kalani. While the names of Mahatma Gandhi, Veer Sawarkar, Bhagat Singh, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Subhas Chandra Bose are among those figured in the textbook, there is no mention of Nehru either in the chapter on Freedom Movement or in that on India After Independence. The revision of several textbooks has been carried out under curriculum restructuring by the Udaipur-based State Institute of Education Research and Training (SIERT). The earlier edition of the book titled 'Social Science for Class VIII' also had a table on 'Major Leaders of National Movement' that featured the names and briefs on contribution of Dadabhai Naoroji, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose. In that particular box, the reference to Nehru stated, "After becoming a barrister, he joined the national movement. He later became the President of Congress, leader of the Interim Government and the first Prime Minister of Independent India." That particular box, besides other references to Nehru in the book, is also not there in the new edition of the book. Opposition Congress has hit out at BJP saying that the state government has touched a "new low" by omitting references to Nehru in the school book. "The BJP government in Rajasthan is carrying out its agenda and touching a new low by omitting references to the freedom fighter and the first prime minister of India who had great contribution in the freedom struggle and in the foundation of independent India," Rameshwar Dudi, Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly, told PTI. He said the issue will be taken up in a major way. Union minister Kiren Rijiju has met three persons in two different hospitals of Guwahati, who were injured in police firing in Tawang district last week. At least two persons were killed and eight others injured last Monday, when policemen opened fire on anti-dam activists trying to barge into a police station demanding release of a monk at Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh. Yesterday, at Hayat Hospital, Rijiju met Wangpo Thutan from Bombay Village, Tawang while at Downtown Hospital he met Rinchin and Dondup Chonste of Pharmey and Sakyur villages respectively. The Union minister of state for home affairs assured full support from the government after speaking to the Hospital administration and the family members of the injured. Rijiju is expected to reach Tawang today to meet the administrative officers, peace keeping team, monks, general public and others to understand and address the issue for a better solution and peace to Mon region, said an official communique. On Saturday, he made two attempts to reach Tawang by chopper but could not land due to bad weather. On May 2, two people including a Monk were killed after police opened fire on protesters in Tawang who were demanding the release of Lama Lobsang Gyatso, the anti-dam crusader from police custody. More than Rs 7,000 crore from the 'Namami Gange' programme will be spent in Uttar Pradesh, Union Minister Uma Bharti said today as she asked the Akhilesh Yadav government not do politics on the project for cleaning the holy river and co-operate with the Centre. "Of the Rs 20,000 crore allocated for the project, seven to eight thousand crore rupees would be spent in Uttar Pradesh alone," Bharti told reporters in Vrindavan. "The project is starting from October this year and will becompleted by 2017," she said. Bharti sought co-operation from the Akhilesh Yadav government for this purpose. "On one hand, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, BSP chief Mayawati and other leaderssay in Parliament that political mileage should not be derived out of the project for cleaning Ganga and Yamuna, on the other hand, Uttar Pradesh government is acting otherwise," she said. The Water Resources minister alleged that the UP CM was not granting time to officers of her department to give a presentation on the project for granting of NOC. "I asked Akhilesh to grant NOC to the project and, on his request, said I would present it before him within three days. However a week has passed and the Chief Minister has not yet given time to officers of my department," she alleged. She said she considers herself as a "dear younger sister" of Mulayam Singh Yadav. "I am Akhilesh's 'bua' (aunt). He should not do politics on the issue. The officials are waiting for last seven days. He should give an NOC soon so that the work can start," she said. Bharti said work on the project started yesterday in Delhi, while it will commence from Monday in Jharkhand. "We do not want Yamuna water to be polluted when it reaches here. The polluted water of Yamuna will be treated by refinery and can be used by farmers for irrigation purpose," she said. "Discharge of clean water from Delhi to Mathura now has been ensured by launching a scheme to remove solid waste with trash skimmers in Delhi," she said. Bharti said Rs 825 crore would be spent in Mathura-Vrindavan area for the project. 500 crematoriums will be built while scores of ghats will be developed. "So we are expecting that the state government would start cooperating soon and decks will be cleared to start the work." The minister said state government need not spend a single paisa for the project as it is centrally funded. "The states will save their money and the Centre will save its time with this decision of the Prime Minister," she said. Actor Samuel L Jackson has compared alcoholism to cancer, saying he is under no illusion that his previous battle with alcohol and drugs may return. The 67-year-old "Snakes On A Plane" star, who has been open about his previous battle with alcohol and drugs, says he is under no illusion that those tendencies may return but insists he is "not planning on it", reported Female First. "I didn't drink yesterday and I'm not planning on it today. People treated for cancer might go into remission, but there's a chance it will come back. I feel the same about alcoholism. I still have drug dreams. It's hard because I understand the weed is really good now!" he said. Anticipating heavy influx of pilgrims in Vrindavan and Goverdhan on Akshay Tritiya tomorrow, four magistrates would remain on duty round-the-clock as part of beefed up security arrangements in the area. "While four magistrates would remain on duty during day time, as many magistrates would remain on duty during night. One Magistrate would be inside Bankey Behari temple and one outside it," ADM A K Awasthi said. Police in plain clothes would also be deployed at important temples. To prevent incidents of cholera, random sampling of eatables has been started today, he said. Entry of four wheelers inside Vrindaban have been banned for tomorrow. "While four wheelers coming from Delhi side would park in Rukmini Vihar parking on Vrindaban Parikrama Marg, vehicles coming from Mathura side would park near Pagal Baba parking," SP (Traffic) Ashutosh Dwivedi said. The today said it will contest about 20 seats in the Goa Legislative Assembly polls scheduled in 2017, while claiming that the people of the state are "fed up" with the BJP-led Goa government and that the party is the only alternative left in the state. "We have dissolved the executive working committee of the party in Goa and we are in the process of forming a new one. We have decided to contest around 20-22 seats in the Goa Assembly polls. Our work there is going on in full swing," MP Sanjay Raut, who has been appointed Incharge of Goa, told PTI. He said the party's star campaigner would be Uddhav Thackeray and that the schedule of his rallies would be made in the upcoming days. When asked if the Sena is contesting the polls to plug a hole in the BJP's vote share, Raut said, "People of Goa are fed up with the BJP and the Congress. Therefore, is the only alternative left." "We are contesting the polls to win, so there is no question of us trying to diminish the BJP's vote share," Raut said. When asked about the electoral issues for Sena, he said there are many, including Goa government's "inability" to control the Russian and Nigerian drug mafia prevalent there. "One of the electoral issues is language. The BJP had promised to give prominence to local languages like Marathi and Konkani. But they have failed to keep their promise," he said. "Also, the promise of closing down casinos has not been kept. Apart from that, unemployment, law and order issues need urgent attention. A staggering 50 per cent of Goa is controlled by Russian and Nigerian drug mafia. But the state government has been unable to stop them. People are completely fed up," Raut said. Out of 40 Assembly seats, the BJP had bagged 21 of the 28 seats it contested in the 2012 elections, polling 35.53 per cent votes. Bangladesh today asked Pakistan to refrain from interfering in its internal affairs, two days after it expressed "deep concern" over the death penalty given to fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami chief for the war crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan. "We are disappointed with Pakistan's reaction. We never welcome anyone interfering in our internal issues," junior foreign minister Shahriar Alam said. "Despite repeated reminders, they are still doing it. They keep saying they are saddened by the verdict. But those being tried are Bangladeshi citizens after all," Alam said. The reaction came after Pakistan's foreign ministry on May 6 expressed "deep concern" over the dismissal of Jamaat chief Motiur Rahman Nizami's final review petition against his death sentence by the Supreme Court. Nizami, 72, has been convicted of murder, rape and orchestrating the killing of top intellectuals during the 1971 Independence War. He was given capital punishment in October 2014 after being convicted of "superior responsibility" as the chief of the infamous Al-Badr militia forces in 1971. "I find this a serious issue, as these war criminals are trying to assure their future generation with the notion that Pakistan as a state will be by their sides. Otherwise, why would Pakistan be so saddened by Nizami's death penalty," Alam asked. He asked Pakistan "to stop misinterpreting" the 1974 tripartite agreement signed by Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. (Reopens FGN 32) According to the tripartite pact, it was agreed that the 195 Pakistani war criminals who were repatriated to Pakistan would be given immunity, but it was not mentioned anywhere in the agreement that the Bangladesh nationals who were involved in war crimes would not be tried, Alam further said. He said the trial "hurts Islamabad as these war criminals had carried out their atrocities against humanity on behalf of Pakistan". Following the verdict, the Pakistani foreign ministry in a statement on Friday said: "We are concerned over Bangladesh Supreme Court verdict that rejected Jamaat-e-Islami leader Motiur Rahman Nizami's petition to review his death penalty." The statement also termed the trial controversial. That was not the first time Pakistan had remarked on the trial of war criminals. In late 2015, Pakistan sharply reacted to the executions of two warcrime convicts - Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury of BNP and Jamaat's Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed. The comments have strained Bangladesh-Pakistan relations. The two countries had in January detained each other's diplomatic staff for hours. According to officially estimates about three million people were killed during the nine-month-long war against Pakistan. Jamaat was opposed to the country's independence and sided with the Pakistani troops in 1971. Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy today flayed the reported move by the Tamil Nadu Bishops' Council to extend support to DMK-Congress alliance for the May 16 state Assembly polls. "Those who talk of secularism, is this a proper thing (to do)? This kind of politics will ruin the country," he told PTI here. Flaying the reported move, Swamy, a Rajya Sabha MP, said the saffron party had not asked Sadhus to appeal to Hindus to vote for his party. Further, he alleged that his party's Royapuram candidate in Chennai, R Jemeela, was denied entry into a church and condemned it. Predicting that there will soon be more readers of Rabindranath Tagore in China than in India, Chinese Consul General Ma Zhanwu has said values of the bard can show the path to the new relationship between the two neighbouring countries. "Tagore's idea on China-India relationship could serve as useful guide as we work to deepen mutual trust, enhance friendship and develop bilateral exchanges and cooperation," Zhanwu said. He said Tagore believed in Asian resurgence at a time when the West was dominant and Asians were looked down upon. "Tagore was the first Asian to be awarded the Nobel Prize in 1913. He gave us the courage that our message could also be useful and valid for the rest of the world," the diplomat told PTI. It was for the first time yesterday that the Chinese consulate had celebrated Tagore's 155th birth anniversary in a big way with a conference on the bard's relationship with China where he had gone in 1924. According to the English calendar, Tagore was born on May 7 but Bengalis celebrate the occasion according to the Bengali calendar - 25th day of 'Baisakh' month which is today. The consul general said Tagore has a huge following in Asia, but nowhere is he more alive than in China, where his works have been part of middle-school curriculum for decades. "We will soon have more Tagore readers in China than you have in India," he said, adding that there may already be more Yoga teachers in China than India. He cites the example of her 14-year-old daughter Yuning Ma, who started reciting Tagore poems when she was nine. "She does it in a very emotional way and in both Chinese and English languages," Zhanwu said. On Tagore's philosophy, he said the Nobel laureate envisioned and advocated India-China fraternal partnership and civilisational leadership, which is increasingly pertinent with the rise of both the countries as important nations in the world and when mankind needs more contribution by the two neighbours. Tagore's idea was that Asia must find its own voice to build an Asian synergy, he said. "We have our own ways of doing things and it may suit us better than if we just copy things from the West," the diplomat said. Professor Liu Shuxiong of Peking University said Bengali is taught in various universities of China and they have plans to take more students in the language, which he describes as being very important to study India and Tagore. China has translated a number of poems, essays and dramas written by Tagore. "Tagore's values are very much shared by the people of the two countries. Tagore was very much inspired by Chinese philosophy," Zhanwu said. Scores of diesel taxi drivers, affected by the recent ban imposed by the Supreme Court, today staged a protest outside Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence here. The protesters, under the banner of Delhi Taxi Transport Association, later held a rally at Jantar Mantar, which was addressed by Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta. Gupta said he will lead a delegation of drivers holding All India Tourist Permits (AITP) to Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari tomorrow and apprise him of the issues arising out of the ban. "We will urge him to protect the livelihoods of thousands of drivers by enforcing the ban in phases while putting an end to new registrations. Delhi government has failed to effectively apprise the SC of the matter," Gupta said. Sanjay Samrat of Delhi Taxi Transport Association said their demands include the permission to existing AITP holders to ply their vehicles as long as the validity of the permits last. "We also want the government to keep us in the loop before formulating any new policy that affects our lives. It seems only diesel taxis pollute and not lakhs of private cars running on the same diesel," Samrat said. On April 30, the Supreme Court had refused to give more time to cab operators to convert their vehicles to CNG and put a ban on diesel cabs in the city from May 1, a decision that affected over 27,000 taxis. Those who trim or shave beard and hair, smoke or drink alcohol cannot vote in the elections to Sikh religious bodies, with President Pranab Mukherjee giving assent to a bill passed recently by Parliament. The Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Act, 2016, which changed the provisions of a 91-year-old law that regulated administration of Gurdwaras in Chandigarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, got the Presidential nod on Thursday, according to an official notification. As per the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925, every Sikh who is above 21 years of age and is registered as a voter, will be entitled to vote in the elections to Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) constituted to look after the overall administration and management of the religious shrines of the community. The new law makes it clear that "no person shall be registered as an elector who trims or shaves his beard or 'keshas', smokes and takes alcoholic drinks". The Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was introduced in Rajya Sabha by Home Minister Rajnath Singh on March 15, this year and passed the next day. The Lok Sabha passed it on April 25. The development assumes significance as the law, which fulfils the long-pending demand of the Sikh community to bar Sahajdhari Sikhs from voting, comes ahead of Assembly elections due in Punjab next year. Replying to a debate on the Bill in Parliament, the Home Minister had said the demand for not giving voting rights to Sahajdhari Sikhs--those who shave their beard or hair--was made by SGPC members and office bearers. The Sahajdhari Sikhs have no religious sanction as far as the fundamental tenets of the religion are concerned. This nomenclature was added to the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925 under certain circumstances prevailing then. The Bill has proposes to remove the exception given to Sahajdharis in 1944 to vote in elections to select members of the Board and the Committees constituted under the Act. The law will be applicable retrospectively. "It shall be deemed to have come into force from October 8, 2003," the notification reads. Union Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju today said while the Centre was considering according the 'special category state' status to Andhra Pradesh, three chief ministers were opposed to the move. On the other hand, AP chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who claimed to have been "relentlessly pursuing" the issue, is understood to have ruled out severing ties with the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre. As the special status issue turned a burning topic in the state, Andhra Intellectuals' Forum president Chalasani Srinivas today launched an indefinite hunger-strike in Anantapuramu town demanding that the Centre honour its promise made to the state on the eve of the bifurcation. All these developments are taking place in the wake of recent statements in Parliament by some Union Ministers that according special status to AP was "not possible". Speaking to reporters at his hometown Vizianagaram, Raju, the Union Civil Aviation Minister, said the current situation would not have arisen had the special category status issue been incorporated in the AP Reorganisation Act-2014. "Finance Minister Arun Jaitley spoke in Parliament saying injustice was done to AP (due to bifurcation). The Centre is also considering the special status issue but three Chief Ministers are opposing it," Raju said. "The 14th Finance Commission clearly said in its report that in the next five years AP will be left with a revenue deficit of Rs 23,000 crore, while the newly formed Telangana will have a surplus of Rs 1.18 lakh crore. All the power has gone to Telangana, while AP is left with debts (due to bifurcation)," the TDP MP said. "The Centre should hence give a handholding to AP so that it could become a premier state once again. We will work hard to develop but we need some handholding," the Union Minister said. "This would happen only if the Centre and the state worked hand-in-hand. But some forces don't want this to happen for political reasons," Raju remarked. In Vijayawada, Naidu chaired a high-level meeting this evening with senior ministers and party leaders which was attended by some top bureaucrats also. The Chief Minister reportedly said the TDP would continue to be a part in the NDA government at the Centre and would not severe ties with the BJP. "Coming out of the NDA will only be detrimental to the interests of the state," Naidu reportedly said. "We will continue negotiations with the Centre on the special status and other issues enshrined in the AP Reorganisation Act. At the same time we will also build pressure on them," Naidu is said to have told his colleagues. He asked the officials to prepare a detailed report on the quantum of central financial assistance extended to the state in the last two years. He wanted the officials to specifically list out the grants made as per the Reorganisation Act. Deputy Chief Minister N China Rajappa, Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, TDP AP unit president Kala Venkata Rao, among others, attended the meeting. Three Spanish journalists taken hostage in Syria by an Al Qaeda-linked group returned today to Madrid where they were welcomed by overjoyed family members after nearly a year in captivity. Antonio Pampliega, Jose Manuel Lopez and Angel Sastre were flown on a Spanish defence ministry jet from Turkey to Torrejon air base near Madrid where they were greeted by Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria. The three men smiled as they descended from the plane as officials held up umbrellas to shield them from driving rain, according to a video released by the government. Pampliega kissed his sister Alejandra on the forehead and gave her a hug after she ran to greet him. "Crying from joy falls short," she said on Twitter yesterday when the broke that the three experienced conflict zone reporters had been released and were in good health. Pampliega's mother Maria del Mar Rodriguez Vega said she planned to cook her son's favourite dish to celebrate his return - spinach with bechamel sauce. "It was wonderful when I spoke to him by telephone," she said in a statement released by the Spanish branch of media rights group Reporters Without Borders, known by its French acronym RSF. "He had the same voice as always, from when he was a child, he repeatedly asked me to forgive me for what he made me go through." The three journalists were kidnapped by armed men on July 13 while they travelling together in a small van in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo where they had been reporting on fighting for various Spanish media. They were held by Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, the Al-Nusra Front, government sources told AFP. The trio appear to have been treated better than three other Spanish journalists who were released in March 2014 after being held for six months in Syria by the Islamic State group, Al-Nusra's rival which has executed many of its hostages, the sources added. The release was "possible thanks to the collaboration of allies and friends especially in the final phase from Turkey and Qatar", the government said yesterday, without giving further details. With an aim to gain firsthand training on crowd management over 120 newly-recruited IPS officers, currently receiving training at National Police Academy, Hyderabad, arrived at ongoing Simhastha (Kumbh) mela here. A total of 136 trainee officers from the academy - 121 from India, six from Royal Bhutan Police, four from Maldives, and five from Nepal - arrived here, an official of Madhya Pradesh's government public relation department said today. Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) S L Thousen explained in detail yesterday about the importance of Simhastha fair, its history, religious and cultural importance on the occasion at the Police Control Room. The officers were also informed about the arrangements made for crowd management and also about similar melas being held in Haridwar, Prayag and Nasik, the official said. Thousen also shared how police managed a sea of crowd during 'Panchkroshi Yatra' during which 12.50 lakh devotees visited the Simhastha mela two days back. Ujjain's Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Ujjain Range Rakesh Gupta also informed the trainee officers about arrangements made by police to manage the crowd. Police Academy DIG, G S Rao was also present on the occasion, he said. Singapore Airlines' long-haul budget arm Scoot, which is scheduled to launch operations in India later this month, expects transit passengers to form a major chunk of its traffic from Jaipur and Amritsar. The Singapore-based budget carrier had last month announced the launch of its flight services to Chennai and Amritsar from Singapore from May 24. The flights to Jaipur, however, will commence from October 2, it had said. "Jaipur and Amritsar may be 80 per cent transit (passengers). We have advantage of flying out of Amritsar and Jaipur as we can connect to the entire network of Singapore Airlines. Passengers from Jaipur can fly to Singapore on Scoot and from there they can fly on Singapore Airlines' network to the destined airport on the same ticket," Scoot India Chief Bharath Mahadevan said. Flights from Chennai, however, are likely to have an equal ratio of transit and Singapore-bound passengers, he said. A large part of Scoot's flight services are to Australia and China. Mahadevan said the airline is eyeing around 70-80 per cent seat factor on its flights from the three Indian cities. Launched in 2012, Scoot has deployed an all-787 Dreamliner fleet to operate in India. While Chennai and Jaipur will have 335-seater Boeing B787-800 aircraft, services to Amritsar will be operated with a 375-seater Boeing 787-900 aircraft. From the all three cities, Scoot's combined seat factor should be as much as 70 per cent, Mahedvan said, adding, "in some cities, it may be even as high as 80 per cent. The Democratic presidential front runner Hillary Clinton today reiterated that Donald Trump, the Republican presidential presumptive nominee, is a loose cannon and many of his policies announced in recent months are concerning. "I think that being a loose cannon means saying that other nations should go ahead and acquire nuclear weapons for themselves, when that is the last thing we need in the world today," Clinton told CBS in an interview when asked about her allegations early this week that Trump is a loose cannon. "Being a loose cannon is saying we should pull out of NATO, the strongest military alliance in the history of the world and something that we really need to modernise, but not abandon," she said. "I think saying that he's a loose cannon really focuses on some of the statements he's made which I find concerning, going back to torture, killing terrorist families, which would be a war crime," she said. Clinton said the Republicans themselves are raising questions about their presumptive nominee. "When you have former presidents, when you have high- ranking Republican officials in Congress raising questions about their nominee, I don't think it's personal, so much as rooted in their respect for the office and their deep concern about what kind of leader he would be," she said. The former Secretary of State alleged that Trump has slogans and not policies. "He doesn't have a view. He has a slogan. And he needs to be really pressed on that. When he says climate change is a Chinese hoax, what does that mean? Has he ever talked to a scientist, or is he just again assuming a slogan?" she asked. "When he says women should be punished for having abortions, what does that mean, and how would he go about that, or rounding up 11 million, 12 million people, which he again repeated, which would entail the most comprehensive police and military action inside our borders that is imaginable?" she questioned. Clinton reiterated that she would not indulge in personal mudslinging. "I'm not going to run an ugly race. I'm going to run a race based on issues and what my agenda is for the American people," she said. "I don't really feel like I'm running against Donald Trump. I feel like I'm running for my vision of what our country can be and to knock down all the barriers that stand in the way of Americans getting ahead," she said. Trump, she alleged, doesn't understand that running the government is not the same as making real estate deals. "Putting the full faith and credit of the United States of America at risk would be a horrible outcome," she warned. (REOPNES FGN 4) "My opponent chose to make many of his products overseas. He buys cheap Chinese steel and aluminum instead of good American steel, made by American steel workers. He's gone all over this country, and he's gone all over Michigan talking about how he's gonna really get more jobs and he's going to bring back what used to be there. "Well I'll tell you what. Look at his record, don't just listen to his rhetoric," Clinton said. She alleged that Trump's economic plan has cut trillions of dollars in taxes from millionaires, billionaires and corporations. "That is trickle-down economics on steroids. I profoundly disagree. I think the way you build an economy is from the middle out and the bottom up, not from the top down," she added. "When you think about it, Donald hasn't paid anything for 20 years. He's paid zero to support our military, our vets, Pell grants for students here at Grand Valley, our highways - and I am still pondering, I am just pondering how anybody can lose a billion dollars in one year," Clinton said. She claimed that Trump's economic approach will cost the United Stated jobs. "We can't afford that. We need to keep building. We have recovered from the worst financial crash since the Great Depression but we're not where we need to be yet. "The last thing we need is a failed economic policy coming back in and pushing us back down. And depriving people of the jobs that we want to create," Clinton said. Two persons were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor girl at a slum in the eastern part of the city today. According to the police, the two accused Deepak and Amit Roy allegedly sexually assaulted the minor when she was on way to the toilet outside her room in the Barafkal locality of Beliaghata. One of the two accused grabbed the victim from behind while the other one tried to undress her, upon which the girl screamed for help, an officer of the Kolkata Police said. Local people, who heard the minor's scream, caught hold of the two and handed them over to the police. The two have been remanded to police custody for 14 days after they were produced at a city court. Two Turkish soldiers were killed in a bomb blast today in the southeast of the country, where the military is waging an offensive against Kurdish rebels, a military official said. Another soldier was also wounded when the device -- which the official said was planted by Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters -- exploded in the city of Nusaybin as the soldiers were trying to defuse it. The military has been battling for months against Kurdish fighters in Nusaybin, and eight PKK militants were killed there on Saturday, according to a military statement. Turkish warplanes also hit PKK bases in northern Iraq overnight, destroying bunkers and weapons depots, the Anatolia agency reported. Fighting between Turkish security forces and the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organisation by Ankara and its Western allies, erupted again last summer after the collapse of a two-year ceasefire. Since then, hundreds of members of the Turkish security forces and several thousand Kurdish rebels have been killed. In all, tens of thousands of people have been killed since the PKK took up arms in 1984 demanding a homeland for Turkey's biggest minority. Since then, the group has pared back its demands to focus on cultural rights and a measure of autonomy. A British Muslim woman who is among the world's most wanted female terror suspects has threatened new strikes against Britain on social media, according to a report today. Sally Jones, a former punk rocker who travelled to Syria after converting to Islam, praised the publication of a hit-list of US drone pilots amid claims that Islamic State (IS) hackers have also identified British military personnel involved in airstrikes in the region, the Sunday Times reported. Resurfacing on Twitter last week after a prolonged absence the 47-year-old wrote, "U can't just sit there with ur tea & scones ordering RAF (Royal Air Force) drone strikes on UK brothers with no comeback from the Islamic State (Isis)". In a reference to her dead husband, Junaid Hussain, 21, who was killed by a US drone strike in Syria, Jones added, "Yes, it's Abu Hussain's wife. Shouldn't you be calling for the resignation of Mike Fallon (UK defence secretary) after IS said it has a mole in the MoD?". Jones even chose to 'like' a story about her by the Sunday Times, a social media move that could eventually help Western intelligence agencies track her location. Jones has been placed on a Pentagon 'kill list' after being named as a "specially designated global terrorist". She and Hussain are known to have orchestrated attacks against the West from Syria. IS hackers linked to Jones recently published the personal details of about 75 US staff. They now claim to have a similar list of RAF personnel. "We are not releasing it publicly right now; let the UK wonder who's on it," they boasted on Twitter. "No one would choose this, it's obvious," said Anders who has unwanted sexual thoughts about children. He is at the forefront of a unique scientific study underway in Sweden to see if drugs can prevent paedophiles from acting on their urges. Anders, who agreed to be interviewed using a pseudonym, says he has never abused children but sought help because he knew his sexual fantasies were "not normal". He hopes the ground-breaking trial will halt his "improper" urges. At Stockholm's Karolinska Institute, patients like Anders who have sought help for paedophile fantasies, but have not acted on them, are being given a drug normally used to treat advanced prostate cancer to determine if it reduces the risk of them sexually abusing a child. "The goal is to establish a preventive treatment programme for men with paedophiliac disorder that is both effective and tolerable so that we can prevent child sexual abuse from happening in the first place," psychiatrist and lead researcher Christoffer Rahm told AFP. Various types of chemical castration are used around the world on paedophiles convicted of actual sex offences, but the treatment is not used preventively. "What we introduce with this study is a way of shifting perspective from being reactive to proactive," Rahm said. Clinical studies on paedophiles are also rare, because of ethical issues and difficulties gathering data. Conducting research where patients risk harming a third party requires special cooperation with legal and child welfare experts, Rahm said. In the clinical trial, half of the 60 subjects receive an injection of the drug Degarelix and the other half get a "dummy" drug, or placebo. Subjects who receive Degarelix will have non-detectable levels of testosterone after three days, an effect that lasts about three months. Testosterone is involved in several of the most important risk factors for committing child sex abuse, including high sexual arousal, diminished self-control and low empathy, Rahm said. Anders does not know if he has received the real drug or the placebo, and will only find out when the study is completed in two to three years. "I have noticed that my sex drive has been sinking lately but I don't know if it's attributable to the medicine," Anders says. Subjects will also undergo brain scans using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) while they are looking at computer-generated pictures of partially-clothed people of all ages, to see how different areas of their brains react. "We're trying to establish objective markers to determine the risk of the patient actually committing child sexual abuse," brain scan expert Benny Liberg said. Delhi government's Trade and Taxes department has caught a VAT inspector for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 5000 from a dealer and has started proceedings for his dismissal. "The department has also asked the Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) to register an FIR against the accused VAT inspector who was caught with the bribe of Rs 5000 taken from the complainant dealer on May 6," said a senior government official. The department has taken a "very serious" view of this incident and has initiated proceedings to dismiss the VAT inspector from service, he said. A team of senior officers of the department acting on a written complaint of the dealer recovered the money paid as bribe from the inspector at Ward 93 office. The details of the bank notes recovered matched with those provided by the dealer in his complaint, the officer said. The process of recovery was videographed to build a foolproof case against the accused. The department has filed a complaint with ACB alongwith the video clip of recovery of bribe money and other documents to lodge an FIR against him. Internal vigilance has been stepped up by the department and close watch is being kept on all the employees. Complaints of such nature will be taken seriously and strictest possible action will be taken against the guilty, the officer added. The Centre has asked all its departments and state governments to widen the scope of Direct Benefit Transfer scheme to include all monetary and in-kind transfers to beneficiaries, like NGOs and others assisting in implementation of the ambitious DBT programme. It has been realised that the scope of the DBT can be expanded to include all welfare or subsidy schemes operated by the ministries and departments of government of India, directly or through implementing agencies, which involve transfer of benefits in cash or kind to individuals, a communication sent by the Cabinet Secretariat under which the DBT Mission functions, said. "Ministries and departments are requested to examine various programmes and schemes implemented by them or their attached offices, public sector undertakings, autonomous organisations and implementing agencies in the light of the expanded scope of DBT and may establish internal DBT cell to take advantage of information and communication technology to improve government to people interface," it said. Ministries should develop information technology-based applications to capture real time information about the DBT status of various programmes and schemes on their respective websites so that issues of efficiency, transparency and accountability are effectively achieved, the Cabinet Secretariat said in a communique to secretaries of all central ministries and chief secretaries of state governments. The DBT programme, a major reform initiative to check leakages of welfare funds, was launched on January 1, 2013 with regard to 24 selected schemes of eight ministries for re-engineering the existing delivery systems and process-flows to reach out to end beneficiaries directly using modern technology. DBT, since then, has been universalised to cover all central sector and centrally-sponsored schemes, where cash benefits are transferred to individual beneficiaries. In order to give further fillip to it, DBT Mission was last year shifted to Cabinet Secretariat and its implementation is being monitored by the Prime Minister's Office. The scope of DBT has been expanded to include cash transfer to an individual beneficiary through (Pratyaksh Hanstantrit Labha or Pahal), transfer of LPG subsidy to individual consumers, wages under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme or MGNREGS and National Social Assistance Programme. There is also in-kind transfer to beneficiaries through an intermediate agency. For example, Fair Price Shops are provided with Point of Sale or POS devices that enable authentication of beneficiary details and disbursement of subsidised foodgrains to the targeted population. While Department of Food incurs internal expenditure for providing subsidised foodgrains, biometric authentication ensures targeted disbursement of such in-kind subsidies, the Cabinet Secretariat said. The DBT programme also includes other transfers within the programme design, like those made to the various enablers of government schemes like community workers and NGOs, in the form of honorarium or incentives, for successful implementation of the schemes, it said citing processes which can be included in the scheme. For example, ASHA workers under National Health Mission, Aanganwadi workers under Integrated Child Development Services, teachers in aided schools and sanitation staff in urban local bodies who are not the beneficiaries but are given wages, training, incentives for their service to the beneficiaries or community. Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha today said it will continue to observe the Republic Day eve and Independence Day as "black days" and has conveyed it to the police which it claimed was inquiring into a complaint against the outfit over the issue. Pandit Ashok Sharma, national Vice President of the Hindutva body said that an inspector from Thana Brahmpuri came to his office yesterday and told them that their "actions were seditious". Sharma said that he told the inspector, who is inquiring into the complaint against the Mahasabha, that the outfit would continue the practice in protest against the Partition. "The country was divided on the basis on religion on August 15, 1947 and we got a split Hindu Rashtra. It is unfortunate that on January 26, 1950, the provision of Hindu Rashtra was abolished and power seekers adopted India as a secular country. "The Hindus and the nation were deceived. Since then, the Mahasabha is protesting against the Constitution," Sharma said. Meanwhile, the Mahasabha claimed that the complaint had come through the Prime Minister's Office but SP Om Prakash said he has no information about it. A 70-year-old woman in Florida who was been blind for over 20 years has regained her sight after falling over and hitting her head at her home, baffling her neurosurgeon who says it is a "true miracle". Mary Ann Franco, gradually became blind after injuring her spine in a car accident in 1993. Then, more than two decades later, another accident and a subsequent operation appears to have led to the recovery of her sight, although doctors are still trying to work out how exactly this could have happened. "I was fully blind - all I could see was blackness," she told The Independent. "I was in my living room, going over to the door. My foot caught on a tile, and it flipped me. I hit my head in the back, and hit it on something else, maybe the fireplace," she said. After the fall, which took place in August 2015, she was incapacitated and had to wear a neck brace until an operation a few weeks ago. She was in hospital recovering from four hours of surgery on her neck when she came round from the anesthetic and realised her sight had returned. However, in her confused state, she did not realise what had happened straight away. "They gave me more medication, and the next morning I could see all the trees, and white houses below from my small window on my side in hospital," she said. Neurosurgeon Dr John Afshar, who performed the operation, told ABC that he had not expected Franco's vision to be affected. "The restoration of Mary Ann Franco's vision is a true miracle," he said. "I really don't have a scientific explanation for it." He said that one theory for the exceptional story was that the accident could have affected an artery and restricted blood flow to the part of the brain which controls vision. "It could have been a result of the artery being kinked, and then when we performed the surgery itself, we unknowingly probably unkinked that vessel re-establishing blood flow and, therefore, she could have regained her vision," he said. Franco is a firm believer in God and attributes the extraordinary return of her sight to her faith. She spoke of how happy she was to be able to see her family once again, and added that regaining her sight had changed how she thought of the world. "Everything seems so much smaller to me, since I can see. I felt like the room was bigger than it was ... But they weren't as big as I thought," she said. "My sight is great now, although I went to the eye doctor and he said I had to have cataracts [operations] on both eyes. But I said no - I've got my eyesight back, I'm not having surgery now. A 20-year-old youth was shot dead allegedly by JD(U) MLC Manorama Devi's son Rocky for overtaking his vehicle near police line in Bihar's Gaya district, triggering protests in the area. Devi's husband Bindeshwari Prasad Yadav alias Bindi Yadav and her security guard Rajesh Kumar were today arrested in connection with the incident. DIG, Magadh Range, Saurabh Kumar said the incident took place last night as JD(U) MLC's son Rocky Kumar Yadav and his men were travelling in a MUV which intercepted a SUV in which Aditya Kumar Sachdeva (20) was travelling along with four friends from Bodh Gaya to Gaya town. According to complaint lodged with the police, Rocky Kumar Yadav then shot at Sachdeva apparently to teach him a lesson for overtaking his vehicle. The DIG said Sachdeva was brought to Anugrah Narayan Medical College and Hospital where the attending doctors declared him as brought dead. The police officer said following the incident, the JD(U) MLC's husband and security guard were arrested today and 70 rounds of ammunition and a carbine found in her residence in connection with the murder case of Sachdeva. A manhunt has been launched for the arrest of Rocky Kumar Yadav too, the DIG said. The youth's murder took political overtones this morning with the Leader of Opposition (LoP) Prem Kumar meeting the family members of the victim to express sorrow and later addressed a large number of people who had blocked road near Mahabir bridge to protest against the murder. The protesters, led by the Gaya district unit BJP President Anil Swami, raised slogans against the district police demanding arrest of the prime accused in the murder case. The JD(U) MLC, however, denied her son's role in the murder of Sachdeva and said Rocky Kumar Yadav was innocent. MLC Manorama Devi's husband Bindeshwari Prasad Yadav had in past been arrested and 6000 rounds of ammunition of a weapon banned for used by public in 2011 recovered from him. He had also been jailed in a sedition case. China's April exports disappointed analyst expectations, falling 1.8 percent from a year earlier, while imports fell by 10.9 percent, customs data showed on Sunday. That left the country with a trade surplus of $45.56 billion for the month, the General Administration of Customs said. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected exports to fall by 0.1 percent, and predicted imports would fall by 5.0 percent. By Rania El Gamal and Dmitry Zhdannikov LONDON/DUBAI (Reuters) - - If Ali al-Naimi were to review his time as Saudi oil minister, he might feel events had turned full circle. Two years after the long-serving technocrat's 1995 promotion to become only the kingdom's fourth oil minister in 40 years, Naimi pushed through an ill-fated Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries deal in Indonesia to lift supply just as Asia went into economic tailspin. Designed to punish Venezuela for flouting its output quota, the decision has gone down in OPEC lore as the most poorly-judged in cartel history. Oil prices halved to $10 a barrel. Nearly two decades later, Naimi, 80, is facing another supply crisis, driving oil prices to the lowest in six years -- at below $40 per barrel, more than $100 below the 2008 pre-financial crisis peak. And as in Jakarta in 1997, today's crash has been orchestrated by Naimi himself with the same aim in mind: to defend Saudi market share against rivals -- primarily this time against booming U.S. shale oil supply. Throughout his career, Naimi has worked to avoid a repeat of the error of his legendary predecessor, Sheikh Zaki Yamani, who was dismissed in 1986 as he unsuccessfully tried to fight an oil price collapse by unilaterally reducing Saudi output. Instead, through three cyclical downturns in oil prices, Naimi has always chosen to use Saudi Arabia's vast oil supply scale - Riyadh produces more than a tenth of global crude - and its financial muscle to drive out higher cost rivals. That survival-of-the-fittest strategy means refusing to cut output unilaterally, waiting to outlast other producers before they beg Riyadh to collaborate in joint supply curbs to rescue prices. "In everything Naimi did, he never wanted to repeat the Yamani mistake," said Gary Ross, a veteran OPEC watcher and the founder of U.S.-based PIRA Energy. "He was prepared to manage the market and cut only when he had reasonable partners," said Ross, who participated in the first and only successful oil cooperation talks between OPEC and Russia in early 2000. "Today, from the Saudi prospective, they have no allies." RECRUITING RUSSIA Oil market watchers pore over Naimi's every word, and his past actions, to try to predict how the veteran tactician will act. He has always found a way to act jointly with other producers, rather than cut supply alone. After the 1997 oil slump, Naimi eventually steered OPEC out of trouble by engineering a series of cuts with arch-rival Iran supporting the strategy amid a thawing of political relations. Meanwhile, non-OPEC Mexico helped bring Venezuela on board. In 2001, Naimi found new allies as, after months of standoff, leading OPEC rival Russia pledged to join cuts, later reneging on its promises. In 2008, all OPEC members quickly supported supply curbs led by Saudi as oil plunged in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. As a result, oil prices bounced back quickly, providing the capital for new investment in the controversial hydraulic fracturing technology that saw U.S. shale oil supplies rocket. That new supply source and China's slowdown have caused the latest downturn. Saudi oil sources say this time around Naimi will stick to his policy of high output levels, even if crude prices fall further, until he finds partners to cooperate. "If the price falls, it falls, you cannot do anything about it. But ... others will be harmed greatly before we feel any pain," Naimi told the Middle Eastern Economic Survey last year in the most detailed explanation of his current thinking. Naimi did not respond to requests to be interviewed for this article. But his track record of holding firm until other countries join Saudi Arabia for joint action speaks volumes. "You can't beat experience, and Naimi has loads of it. He earned his wings in the 70s and 80s at Aramco and has now gone through three iterations of a crude price cycle: early 1980s, late 1990s, and the current one," said Yasser Elguindi of Medley Global Advisors. ISOLATED The problem for Naimi is that he now appears more isolated than ever before. Described by admirers and critics alike as a great technician, he has won respect in the industry for driving OPEC policy along business lines and, where possible, avoiding politics. Yet in the Middle East, politics and oil cannot always be kept apart. And when politics come into play, even the most adept negotiator may be prone to miscalculation. OPEC has weathered internal strife and conflict many times before: wars between members -- Iran and Iraq in the 1980s, and Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in the 1990s, both before Naimi took the helm of the Saudi oil ministry. But the Sunni-Shia conflicts now setting Saudi Arabia and Iran at each other's throats in places like Syria and Yemen are unprecedented during Naimi's tenure as minister. In addition, predominantly Shia Iraq has become a de facto ally of Iran within OPEC since a U.S. invasion ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, and both countries have enormous potential to increase supply. Outside OPEC, Russia is at odds with Riyadh in Middle Eastern conflicts, joining the war in Syria two months ago on the side of Iranian ally Bashar al-Assad. Meanwhile, many Saudis believe the U.S. shale oil boom has prompted Washington to reassess its military commitment in the Middle East that protects Riyadh in return for a sure supply of crude. OPEC tensions spilled into the cartel's meeting last week when the group failed to agree a production target for the first time in decades, with Iran saying it would steeply increase supply after Western sanctions are lifted next year and Iraq saying it would boost exports too. "Some member countries produce as much as they wish," Iranian oil minister Bijan Zangeneh told reporters after the meeting in a clear reference to Saudi Arabia. "Iran will need no one's permission to raise its output." One executive from a major oil company said that while Naimi's tactics against U.S. shale were working and the low oil price was beginning to depress rivals' output, the Iranian comeback has complicated the picture: "Sometimes it feels that the Saudis have miscalculated how quickly Iran could clinch the nuclear deal and return to the markets". CHANGES AT HOME At the age of 12, Naimi joined state oil giant Saudi Aramco, riding in the back of crowded trucks to get to work. Not many years into the job, he impressed Aramco managers by stating his ambition to run the company. Naimi became President of Aramco in 1983 and CEO in 1988, the first Saudi to hold those posts, previously held only by Americans in the historically Arab-American oil company. As one of the country's highest-ranking non-royals, Naimi grew from a cautious public face into an outspoken policymaker, given full and sole responsibility for Saudi oil policy, leaving oil markets hanging on his every word. Growing tired of multiple OPEC meetings a year, he blamed the press for failing to understand his utterances and called reporters "agents of disturbance". "He wants the best price and the best volumes for his country. As for the image with media -- I don't think he really cares," said PIRA's Ross. Naimi has taken care to avoid entanglement in Saudi royal politics. He took office the same year King Fahd suffered a stroke and Fahd's half-brother, Abdullah, a cautious reformer, became de facto regent. Abdullah ruled as king from 2005 until his death earlier this year. This year's political changes have been the most profound Naimi has seen - with new King Salman elevating a fresh generation of leadership in the form of his nephew Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and son Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Mohammed bin Salman, 30, became the ultimate oil decision maker in April. Last month he said the kingdom was working on reducing subsidies and introducing new taxes so the budget could withstand the pain of lower oil prices for longer. Some interpret that as a signal of support for Naimi's policies, but say the days when Naimi's voice alone spoke for Saudi oil policy may be over. One insider said an indication that changes may be brewing was that comments on oil policy had been coming not only from Naimi and the deputy crown prince, but also from Aramco's chairman Khalid al-Falih and from another son of Salman, Prince Abdulaziz, Naimi's long-serving deputy. "It is like having four oil ministers now in Saudi Arabia. Everyone talks about oil policy and is a spokesman for the oil industry.? It should be only Naimi as he is the minister, but he is slowly losing influence," said the insider, who asked not to be identified. (Editing by Richard Mably and Peter Graff) SHARE Environmental consultant agency opens The Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce hosted a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday for W&M Environmental Group. Councilman Brian Rosas was in attendance and the event featured a meet-and-greet with company owners. Officials said W&M Environmental Group has a growing client base in South Texas. The Corpus Christi location was opened to better serve the South Texas and Rio Grande Valley clients. The location at 301 Texan Trail becomes W&M's sixth office in Texas, joining existing locations in Austin, Fort Worth, Houston, Plano and San Antonio. Information: www.wh-m.com Compiled by Natalia Contreras Contributed Rendering Flatiron Constructors Inc. and Dragados USA Inc., the firm the state hired to design and build the span that will replace the Harbor Bridge, have called their concept a "100-year bridge." The Port of Corpus Christi has made its living over the nine decades of its existence moving oil, cotton and grain. But its biggest test may be in how successful it is in moving people. The port, the city of Corpus Christi, other local governments and the Texas Department of Transportation are committed to building a new span over the Inner Harbor to replace the aging Harbor Bridge. The Hillcrest subdivision will be in the shadow of the new span. The residents, predominantly black, fought the route for the new bridge. By putting their community in the path of the new bridge, they said, Corpus Christi was laying another insult on a community that had been isolated, been ignored and, yes, segregated over its history. But the bridge now has a go-ahead. The Port of Corpus Christi is committed to spending up to $20 million in buying up properties of residents who choose to leave. Now that the bridge decision has been made, those residents face a big decision? Stay or go? On Wednesday, the process by which perhaps hundreds of residents will decide whether to sell or to stay got off to a hopeful beginning. That's because the community introduction of the person, Del Richardson, who will guide the process was carried off with all the trappings of a welcoming party. Residents attending the event at the Oveal Williams Senior Citizens Center watched local officials hail Richardson, of Inglewood, California, with welcomes and hugs, according to Caller-Times reporter Chris Ramirez. Ramirez noted that Richardson was flanked by the president of the local chapter of the NAACP, Terry Mills, and Tanya Simpson, the widow of the much-revered Floyd Simpson, the city's first black police chief. Simpson died in a traffic accident a year ago this past Monday. The involvement of such luminaries from the city's minority community has to be a positive for a process that must be sensitive to the hundreds of residents whose lives are being affected. It helped that Richardson said all the right things. "We are a company with a heart for the people and a mind for the business," Richardson said. "I want to thank you for this opportunity to serve you." Her success in making the process work will be crucial to the residents who may be making the biggest financial and personal decision of their lives. That success will also be crucial for the Port of Corpus Christi whose expertise is in moving cargo, shipping oil and dealing with heavy industries. The port has rarely been called upon to use the softer skills of human relations, of persuasion and of empathy toward neighbors facing tough choices. The port says it will move residents who decide to relocate to "comparable homes." Residents have three years to make a decision. The decision by the residents will be voluntary. The crucial element that must be present as each resident reaches a decision is trust. That is, trust by each resident that the Port of Corpus Christi is acting in good faith. It could be tricky if things go awry. Relations between the port, its industries and neighboring Hillcrest have at times been tense and even confrontational. Advocates for the residents have said that Hillcrest residents have been subjected to environmental hazards for decades. Even as plans for the bridge were being rolled out two years ago, Hillcrest residents said they were being forgotten. "The priority has to be the lives of the people who will be most affected," Henry Williams, of the Hillcrest Residents Association, told a public meeting in 2014 as possible routes were debated. Groundbreaking for the new bridge, estimated to cost some $898 million, is scheduled to begin this summer. The new bridge is badly needed by Corpus Christi. The present Harbor Bridge is aging badly, its traffic patterns are a hazard, and its height is an impediment to the passage of bigger ships expected in the future. Making the new bridge happen at time when public funds are scarce is a community political and economic victory. The port, the city of Corpus Christi, Nueces County and the state of Texas unified in getting the bridge approved. If the Port of Corpus Christi and Richardson can help Hillcrest residents make the best decisions for themselves, then the success of the bridge will be complete. Nick Jimenez has worked as a reporter, city editor and editorial page editor for more than 40 years in Corpus Christi. He is currently the editorial page editor emeritus for the Caller-Times. His commentary column appears on Wednesdays and Sundays. COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES Chris Perez performs during the second day of the Fiesta de la Flor festival on Saturday. More than 50,000 attended the two-day festival honoring Tejano superstar Selena Quintanilla Perez. By Beatriz Alvarado and Julie Garcia of the Caller-Times Like more than 50,000 others a love of Selena's music brought the Muniz and Reyes families together in Corpus Christi. Daniel Muniz, his wife, Jessica, and their daughters Aubrey, Marley, Hazel and Marcy, drove from Dallas to reunite with extended family members Martin Reyes and Leticia Reyes for a weekend by the bay celebrating Selena Quintanilla Perez. "Our kids love her," Daniel Muniz said. "Especially with her being Mexican-American, she really came close to blowing up(everywhere). That means something to us." After Corpus Christi Mayor Nelda Martinez helped introduce the Chris Perez Project on stage, she said the family atmosphere was moving. "It's just magnetic," Martinez said. "People are all in and present in every single event. It's truly wonderful how the legacy can continue in the hometown of Selena." Out-of-towners bringing their children who are bigger Selena fans than their parents amazed the mayor, she said. "Seeing children who know every single word of Selena's songs and they weren't even born yet," she said. "Children are so passionate about their love of Selena, and that's a reflection of how much we are affected still." Fiesta de la Flor met all expectations this year, Corpus Christi Convention & Visitors Bureau spokeswoman Ashley Simper said. "We had an amazing turnout(Friday) and (Saturday)," Simper told the Caller-Times halfway through the festival's second day. "Because last year was the first, we didn't know what to expect. This year it's met our expectations so far. We're so happy to see the crowds." Last year crowds included fans from an estimated 35 states. Though final ticket tallies weren't in, many fans traveled even further to celebrate Selena's legacy this year. Some came from as far away as Mexico, Ecuador and France. This year, Simper said the crowds also didn't only attend for the performances at North Bayfront Park. The Art Museum of South Texas and the American Bank Center also saw high attendance. "The Mercado (at the American Bank Center) has literally been packed since it opened," she said. The Silent Disco hosted by Dusty "El Dusty" Olveira was one of the newest attractions at the expanded fiesta. "People are just singing and dancing," said Mikki Gonzales, a local who made special T-shirts with Loriana Salazar and Regina Gonzales. "It's so much more organized. Less lines and it's less packed. It's so much fun." The second day of celebration for Corpus Christi's Tejano superstar started sunny and hot, but the breeze off the bay worked wonders for festival goers. Local emergency medical technicians said there hadn't been dehydration calls, only the occasional bandage needed. Although some may argue Selena's legacy has been at its prime since she started hitting the charts, her presence really made a comeback and has grown in the past several years, Corpus Christi musician Clarissa Serna said. It seems as though the festival and city's overwhelming support for it helped remind all of us of her enduring influence in so many fans' lives, she explained. "I'm so happy to see (Selena) bringing the city back to life," Serna said minutes before taking the stage. "Something as simple as passing by a bus stop and seeing her face really brightens my day. It brings color to the community and it really gives us a sense of culture." Twitter: @Caller_Jules Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times Tony Pantoja, a vector control officer, identifies and counts female mosquitoes collected at one of several collection sites across the city on March 26. SHARE Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times Tony Pantoja, a vector control officer, collects samples from a mosquito trap at an old cotton gin on Chapman Ranch on March 26. City workers collect whatever bugs land in the containers, then separate the female mosquitoes out from the rest and identify the type and total. Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times This Aedes aegypti mosquito is one of two that was discovered at collection sites by vector control workers on March 26. Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times Tony Pantoja, a vector control officer, identifies and counts female mosquitoes collected at one of several collection sites across the city on March 26. Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times Tony Pantoja, a vector control officer, collects samples from a mosquito trap at the South Texas Botanical Gardens & Nature Center on March 26. City workers collect whatever bugs land in the containers, then separate the female mosquitoes out from the rest and identify the type and total. Related Photos Corpus Christi officials prepare for Zika virus By Julie Garcia of the Caller-Times It's been an educational year for Capt. Christopher White. Before he was promoted to the head of Corpus Christi Police Department's Animal Care Services and Vector Control, it never crossed his mind that he would have to learn the correct temperature to make puddle conditions perfect for mosquito breeding. But in the battle against the pesky insects that knowledge 83 degrees, by the way means snaring a strategic advantage. "I got tired of trying to explain everything I was learning about mosquitoes during staff meetings, so I made these," White said as he pulled out two packets. One he dubbed "Mosquito 101" and the other details Corpus Christi's management policy in varying mosquito risk levels. "Now they know I'm not just making these words up," he said. With mosquito-borne Zika virus declared an international health emergency by the World Health Organization, a larger emphasis has been placed on battling the different mosquito types found in the Coastal Bend, including the two species that can carry the disease. So far, Texas has confirmed 32 cases of Zika virus, 31 of which are related to out-of-country travel to countries actively affected, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. One case in Dallas was likely the result of sexual contact with someone who acquired the disease abroad, officials said. The virus is spread to people primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes aegypti mosquito. This mosquito, and Aedes albopictus (which can carry Dengue fever, West Nile virus and Zika) tend to be abundant during South Texas summers. White said there is no Zika test for mosquitoes currently available in Texas. To activate a mosquito combat plan, there would have to first be a human diagnosed with the virus in the Coastal Bend. Local vector control expects it will handle Zika in the same way it does West Nile virus. It's important to note there is no vaccine or treatment available for humans with Zika virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The virus infection in pregnant women is associated with birth defects, such as microcephaly, a condition where a baby's head is abnormally small because of a malformed brain. Zika symptoms are usually mild, including an itchy rash, fever, joint pain and pink eye. Eighty percent of patients have no symptoms at all, according to the CDC. The CDC predicts Zika could flourish in Texas, Florida and Hawaii based on prior experience with similar mosquito-borne viruses like West Nile. As temperatures rise and humidity settles in for the next few months, the question remains: will Zika make its way to the Gulf Coast? PREGNANT AND WORRIED Some residents like Staci Strauss aren't waiting to find out. The mother, who is expecting her second child, said her obstetrician hasn't yet brought up the Zika virus. Still, she's already taking precautions to protect her unborn baby girl. "It is something I'm concerned about. My husband has been fogging and spraying all over my house," Strauss said. "I don't see how it couldn't come here with people traveling to other countries and coming back here." Strauss said her mother even recommended she move north until after her October due date. "But that's just my mom being a mom," she said. Even though peak mosquito season hasn't hit, Strauss, a new contributor to Corpus Christi Moms Blog, wears bug spray, long sleeved-shirts and pants daily. "Mosquitoes are bad in Corpus anyway. (Zika) makes it more of a concern besides the annoying bites," she said. The Corpus Christi-Nueces County Public Health District, the department that would handle any human cases of Zika virus, is also on alert for potential cases. As the liaison between hospitals and the state, the department is tasked with tracking Coastal Bend cases. "Every test and person tested for Zika has to come to the health district, and we would send that to the state and they would run the test," said Dr. Dante Gonzalez, public health administrator. If a diagnosis was made, the health district would conduct trapping and testing, follow-up interviews with the patient and work with vector control to monitor and test the area where they live, he said. "The plan we would follow would mimic the West Nile plan," Gonzalez said. "It's the same mosquito, so if we want to get rid of the disease, we have to reduce the population of the mosquito." THE PLAN Locally, vector control has two people dedicated to controlling mosquitoes. About 40 traps are placed in strategic parts of the city to trap and kill a sample size of the pest so they can be counted and a portion can be sent to the state for testing, White said. Gravid trap, one of the two types used, is specifically designed to attract virus-positive mosquitoes like those carrying West Nile virus. A batch of hay is placed in the trap with water and left to saturate for a month, said Tony Pantoja, a vector control officer with nearly 18 years in the field. These traps are monitored Monday through Friday and sent for testing of arbovirus, or any of a group of viruses transmitted by mosquitoes, ticks or other insects. From April through November, routine testing is conducted each week to prevent an outbreak of any insect-borne virus. About 10 different types of mosquitoes are identified and counted before specimens are sent off. If a trap yields a positive result from a sample, a control plan is activated. Though they have been ordered, the city doesn't have any traps that are specifically geared to catch the two types of mosquitoes that can carry the Zika virus. Six of those traps are currently on back order, but White said they should be delivered by the end of May. LEVELS OF RESPONSE The city's primary defense is the larvicide program to treat public areas like pools, canals and ditches. According to the policy, this measure is designed to prevent larval-stage mosquitoes from developing into adults and breeding. Mosquito risk is assessed on five levels from normal to public health alert. Control measures are put in place depending on time of year, extent of previous control activities, level of mosquito activity, weather conditions and surveillance results. The next step is adulticide, or ground spraying, to eliminate the adult population. This is usually activated when the risk level is considered a public health concern. White says it costs about $5,000 a barrel for the spray, which has been known to be effective for a third of a mosquito population in a 1-2 mile area. Spraying is conducted three consecutive days at dusk and dawn to be as effective as possible, he said. The highest risk level is reserved for times when there's been a human outbreak of a virus. At that level, there were would be more trapping and testing along with larvicide and targeted ground spraying around a mile of the affected area of positive human cases over three days. JOINING THE FIGHT Even with all precautions taken, mosquitoes will have a presence in the Coastal Bend. The breezes off the Gulf of Mexico bring in marsh-bred pests and rainstorms lead to standing water. Health officials say there are still ways for individuals to combat bites, such as insect repellent with DEET, clothing that repels bugs and using an at-home mosquito-control fogging system that can be bought at most stores. Avoiding going out during peak biting hours like dusk and dawn also is recommended. "People breed their own mosquitoes," Pantoja said. "Dump all your containers, tires, buckets, bird baths, flowerpots. If there's a low area in your yard, fill it with dirt." Twitter: @Caller_Jules SHARE Adaptability is a useful if not noble survival mechanism in nature and politics. The mighty tiger, which can't change its stripes, is endangered. Some lowly lizards that can change color thrive, which brings us to the subject of Rick Perry's endorsement of Donald Trump. Our former governor, whom we elected more times than any in Texas history, didn't just endorse Trump. He also preened for the job of running mate like a contestant on "The Apprentice." Perry's candidacies and performance in office seldom pleased and often alarmed this editorial board. But the one thing he did right was repudiate Trump. His assessment of Trump in July as "a toxic mix of demagoguery, mean-spiritedness and nonsense that will lead the Republican Party to perdition if pursued" was not particularly illuminating. Anyone with half a brain, or Perry's, already knew it. Saying it is another matter. And who was saying it Perry, who's too far right for conservative made it all the more meaningful. Perry preaches states' rights, mixes Christian fundamentalism and politics, opposes gay marriage and a woman's right to choose, got flirtatious with secession, was an early adopter of the shockingly nihilistic position of refusing billions of Medicaid dollars connected to the Affordable Care Act, mobilized National Guard troops against little refugee children, and toured blue states to urge their businesses to move to Texas. How much more of that thing that passes for bedrock conservatism can a professional politician be? Now Perry says that Trump, "not a perfect man," nevertheless "loves this country and he will surround himself with capable, experienced people and he will listen to them." Perry will not be alone among salamander-like sellouts who adopt this wistful thinking. This is a win-at-any-cost position, divorced from principle, the predictable path of the typical professional politician Trump campaigns against and pretends not to be. Respect the ones who stick to their principles and reject Trump by supporting Hillary Clinton, a third-party candidate or no one. Those who can take their blinders off and get over Clinton being a Democrat and Mrs. Bill will see that she is much more conservative than Trump. And those who can't, should check out the presumptive Libertarian nominee, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, who describes himself as fiscally conservative, socially liberal and non-interventionist. His fiscal conservatism is a matter of documented New Mexico state history and he favors legalization of drugs, a position shared by some of Ronald Reagan's closest associates. No matter which non-Trump direction they choose, disaffected Republicans have an opportunity to redefine the party from the shambles Trump is making of it. They should consider that some of their principles don't work in practice if taken too far, and that other principles aren't principled. For example, too much so-called fiscal conservatism is pound-foolish if the result is a failure to invest in the infrastructure such as highways and the institutions such as education that made the country great. States' rights in practice is just an excuse for infringing on the individual and civil rights of women and minorities. Same for so-called religious freedom. At the very least, the so-called party of Reagan could try to be more like Reagan collaborative and agreeable, not hateful toward those with whom it agrees to disagree. Trump and Perry, despite their differences, may be compatible because they are similar style-wise. Both have a history of saying attention-getting outrageous things. Both enjoy it. Perry, whose experience includes playing second fiddle to George W. Bush when Bush was governor, is pliable enough to do the same for Trump. The traditional wisdom, which hasn't applied to Trump thus far, is that he needs someone like Perry to reassure the Republican base. Whether Trump buys that or not, he'll get off to his former repudiator being the minion that Perry has chosen out of opportunism to be. Anyone else with a shred of self esteem Republican, Democrat, independent, Green, whatever should find a Trump-Perry ticket as easy to reject as any Trump ticket. SHARE Last December, the federal government repealed a 40-year ban on exporting U.S. produced crude oil, legislation that was enacted originally to protect the United States from foreign oil shortages. This landmark achievement positions the Coastal Bend to be a major hub for crude exports, further strengthening the case to deepen and widen the Corpus Christi Ship Channel. For 90 years the Port of Corpus Christi has served as a major economic engine for the Coastal Bend Region in its role as steward of waterborne commerce. This role has one main driver behind it to position all its customers for success. Founded in 1926, the port was originally developed to assist local cotton growers in selling their crops overseas. While still an agricultural hub, the port has evolved as its customer base has diversified from cotton growers to refineries, oil and gas midstream companies, iron producers, and a host of other industries as the Coastal Bend continues to attract large industrial investments. Currently more than $75 million of goods value per day move through the port. The port is at another major inflection point in its rich history. The significant increase in U.S. energy production has presented a golden opportunity to increase exports. However, this opportunity can only be fully realized with the proper infrastructure required to ship U.S. goods overseas to the markets where they are most in demand. South Texas is on the tip of the spear of this opportunity, but its full potential will slip away without additional investments in the Corpus Christi Ship Channel, the mainstay of the Port of Corpus Christi. Much like when the city of Corpus Christi needed the Crosstown Expressway and South Padre Island Drive in 1939 and 1958 respectively, the Corpus Christi Ship Channel also required change over the years. Originally built to a depth of 25 feet, the Corpus Christi Ship Channel is now a 35-mile-long, 45-foot-deep vessel "highway" allowing ships and barges to carry products to and from the South Texas region. It has been deepened five times, all in an effort to accommodate the evolution of larger ships and the increased traffic demands of growing businesses in the region. Further deepening of the channel combined with a new Corpus Christi Harbor Bridge will prove as a true game changer for South Texas. Recent economic forecasts indicate huge growth in exports of liquefied petroleum gas through the port. With the ability to export crude, the ship channel undoubtedly requires further deepening and widening to handle the modern class of vessels essential for shipping these goods competitively to global markets. Many vessels leaving the port today depart half-full due to current depth restrictions. This is inefficient and ultimately noncompetitive. Global ports, as well as the Suez and Panama canals, have deepened and widened their infrastructure to handle larger more fuel-efficient vessels. Ports that cannot or will not make the necessary investments will soon be obsolete. The question of who pays for these improvements always leads the argument against these projects. Yet the bigger question is who pays if these improvements are NOT made. Simply put, the Port of Corpus Christi through its normal revenues (non-taxpayer funds) and the federal government pay for these improvements, and the Coastal Bend and the nation benefits. There is strong backing for this project with community and business interests as well as bipartisan congressional support. Based on the most recent economic analysis completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2015, the project, estimated at $325 million to construct, would allow up to $86 million of transportation savings each year to industry. If the federal government commits one dollar of appropriation for the project, the port could begin the project with its cost share portion without raising user fees. Thankfully, the Port of Corpus Christi has continued to position itself competitively over the years. This is largely due to its excellence in governance and its leadership in recognizing the necessary investments it must undertake to remain relevant in the highly competitive global markets. If the Corpus Christi Ship Channel deepening project does not start soon, Corpus Christi and South Texas will be left behind. Scrambled eggs combined with saut? ed spinach are perfect for any time of day. Eggs are inexpensive, quick to prepare and a source of complete protein, making them a great alternative to meat. Serve with whole wheat toast or sliced fruit.? Portion size 4 servings Credits : Canadian Living Magazine:September 2012 Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact. Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here. Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing. You are our people. You Care. We Care2. Runners & walkers dash around Delphi The Do It In Delphi Dash was Saturday morning with the 5K walk/run beginning downtown on the Courthouse Square. The... Special prosecutor issues report on Liggett campaign The Comet sponsored a sheriffs candidate debate on Sept. 29. After the debate, Sheriff candidate and deputy Tony Liggett provided... Delphi Council member Conner resigns post It has been an upward struggle for Delphi City Council member Gayle Conner to represent her constituents as witnessed at... According to Red Bull Racings motorsport consultant Helmut Marko, the 2017 rule changes will help his team not only win some races, but challenge for a title again. In a recent interview, Marko was asked if he sympathizes at all with Mercedes, who were reluctant to accept the rule changes. He openly replied Not at all. Because it was all about not losing any advantage. Now all the teams again have the chance to close the gap. Of course we are probably the biggest beneficiary, as in the past when new regulations came in weve always been ahead. Marko also feels that despite better midfield racing this year, at the top things are still too predictable. The midfield racing has been sizzling. But when it came to winning the race you knew that it would be a Mercedes driver. The Mercedes driver who comes out of the first corner in first is the race winner. Hopefully that will change. Red Bull is also waiting on a pretty significant power unit upgrade, the likes of which should put them back in a situation where we can win races again on circuits like Budapest and Singapore tracks that dont have long straights. When asked to differentiate about the teams expectations for this season and the next, Marko agreed with the fact that in 2017, his team will no longer need to be at the mercy of particular tracks or the misfortune of others, because they will be able to win races everywhere. The Red Bull consultant also stated that he hopes the RB12 will be able to threaten Ferrari this year, which is plausible considering that right now, the two teams are separated only by 19 points in the Constructor standings. PHOTO GALLERY Photo: Wayne Moore - Castanet File Photo Those closest to what's happening on the streets of Kelowna have joined the growing list of agencies concerned about the prolific use of fentanyl in the city. Randy Benson, executive director of Kelowna's Gospel Mission said staff are very aware of the drug around the mission. "As a staff, we have to be more vigilant and keep our eyes open," said Benson. "We are seeing it all across our community and all across the province. It's just a very bad drug." Along with monitoring the situation, Benson said staff have also been trained in the use of Narcan, an injection that can be given to someone who has overdosed. "Our staff is trained in that, and we've got those kits in our emergency shelter. "There have been at least two occasions where our staff have kept a person from expiring." That's the good news, said Benson. "It's scary." Two people did pass away inside the Gospel Mission over the past few weeks. However, Benson said there has been no indication those were drug related. The coroner has yet to issue any official findings. These are just the second and third deaths at the Gospel Mission in the nearly 40 years it has operated. Meanwhile, Benson said the mission continues to work with city bylaw concerning the congestion of people, carts and personal items on Leon Avenue around the Gospel Mission. "What bylaw has asked us to do is make sure the front of our building is clear," said Benson. "Our staff is very vigilant in doing that. We're assisting bylaw in any way we can." Part of the problem is the sheer number of people on the streets. Numbers are increasing, and like others, Benson is asking why. "Nobody seems to have the answer." One possible solution to the congestion issue is making storage available for those on the streets. It's something that is being explored. He said the mission is working with Metro and other agencies to try and find some practical storage during the day. The problem is where? "And if so, what is it going to cost and how will it be managed?" asked Benson. "Other cities have had creative solutions, but it takes the space, it takes the finances and it takes the manpower to do that." Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer A steady stream of customers came in to get tattoos at a Penticton shop, Saturday, in support of those impacted by the fire in Fort McMurray. Nate Browns, owner of Kettle Valley Tattoo Company, opened the doors at 2 p.m., and planned to stay open until people stopped coming. "I have lots of friends, family and clients being impacted by the fire, and the Okanagan is also a place where there's fires, so I wanted to help," said Browns, as he worked on a tattoo on a customer's leg. Browns was offering 10 pre-drawn designs, ranging in price from $60 to $160, with 100 per cent of the proceeds going to the Red Cross. The selection included one saying Fort Mac, another saying love and others featuring hearts, flowers and wheat. Boston Pizza also supplied the shop with free pizzas and Good Guy Tattoo Supply provided them with all the needles and tubes and discounted the price on some of the barriers. Jordan Ronaniuk came down from Kelowna to get a tattoo on his arm and decided to get one of the pre-designs of a bird with the word love on it, on his leg. "I'm Alberta born and raised and I want to donate to a good cause," he said. Justin Hill, of West Kelowna, said he's spent a lot of time working in Fort McMurray and wants to do his part to help out. While Travis Taylor of Kelowna ended up getting two tattoos for the fund-raiser. "It's just so close to what we've had to deal with," he said. "We've watched Kelowna burn and now see what is happening there. So I jumped on it in a heartbeat." Photo: CTV A wildfire burning in and around Fort McMurray continues to grow. Government officials acknowledge numbers associated with the fire can fluctuate as information becomes available. Size: More than 1,560 square kilometres and expected to possibly reach the Saskatchewan boundary by the end of day Saturday. --- Structures burned: 1,600 (as of Wednesday afternoon). No updated figure available. --- Total number of people displaced: More than 80,000. --- Evacuees: The last of 25,000 in oilsands work camps to the north of the city were scheduled to be moved to south of the fire by the end of the day on Saturday. --- RCMP officers deployed: 300 to 350 officers at any one time. --- Firefighters on scene: More than 500. --- Weather: On Sunday, cloudy and becoming a mix of sun and cloud near noon. Wind from the west at 30 km/h, gusting to 50 km/h. High 17. A few showers are forecast for Sunday night, ending overnight then cloudy. Photo: Contributed An event showcasing products that reflect the 'slow-food mantra' is set to take place in Osoyoos today. The fourth annual Market of Taste by Slow Food Thompson Okanagan will be hosted by the Watermark Beach Resort, on Sunday. It is free to attend and a way to introduce family and friends to the flavours of the Okanagan. Held in conjunction with the Devour! Food Film Festival, the market of taste is about celebrating the amazing clean, fair food in our region," said Jen Bitz, of Slow Food. Its about fully appreciating our bounty, about not taking for granted that we have access to local healthy food." Devour! Film Fest, the worlds largest film festival dedicated to all things culinary held in Nova Scotia, is making a cross-country stopover in the Okanagan wine country this year. Its a perfect fit with Slow Food Thompson Okanagan and our annual market of taste," said Bitz. The event is from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. Photo: David Ogilvie Castanet is receiving reports of a motorcycle crash, with injuries, on Glenrosa Road, Saturday afternoon. Firefighters, the RCMP, BC Ambulance and a tow truck were reported to be at the scene. Glenrosa was also closed for a time to deal with the incident. Castanet will provide more details as they become available. Photo: BC Wildfire Service British Columbia wildfire officials are reminding the public that flying drones near fires can be dangerous and costly. Fire information officer Amanda Reynolds said the BC Wildfire Service received two reports of unmanned aerial vehicles near wildfires on Friday. Crews saw some people getting ready to launch a drone near the Beatton Airport Road fire, burning 45 kilometres north of Fort St. John, but when they were approached, the people got in their vehicle and drove away, Reynolds said. A report was also received about a drone flying above the Alberta portion of the Siphon Creek fire, which B.C. crews are continuing to fight in a bid to relieve pressure on their Alberta counterparts. An unauthorized drone flying near the Testalinden Creek fire near Oliver, B.C., last August grounded eight helicopters and five planes for more than three hours, hampering firefighting efforts. Federal regulations ban the use of drones near wildfires, and violators can face penalties of up to $25,000 and 18 months in jail. Flames from both the Beatton Airport Road fire and the Siphon Creek fire have forced people to flee their homes, while others are prepared to leave at a moment's notice. Fort St. John Mayor Lori Ackerman has assured residents that the city is ready if a fire does encroach. "Our staff have set up an emergency operations centre and a reception centre. We have a plan in place and we don't need it yet," she said in a video posted to the Fort St. John Facebook page Friday night. She encouraged residents to keep their gas tanks full and go-bags ready. "Stay safe. Stay informed. We've got your back," Ackerman said. Scattered showers in the region may provide some relief for crews fighting the blazes. Reynolds said rain fell Saturday on both the Beatton Airport Road fire and the Siphon Creek fire, both of which are burning north of Fort St. John. "We are having some windy conditions and winds are never good for fire suppression. But there is rain right now," she said. Photo: Contributed The West Kelowna RCMP responded to a report of a Sea-Doo incident on Okanagan Lake near Princeton Beach in Peachland, Friday evening. A woman in her 20s from Quebec was thrown from her Sea-Doo and discovered face down in the water after colliding with a break wall near the area of Blind Angler in Peachland. The victim was wearing a life jacket when was rescued from the water by another boat. The woman, who suffered potentially life threatening injuries in the crash, was rushed to hospital where she remains in critical condition. The investigation is ongoing. Police suspect that speed and alcohol may have been contributing factors to this crash. Anyone who may have witnessed this incident and have not yet spoken to police are asked to contact the West Kelowna RCMP, Const. Kent Hall at 250-768-2880. Photo: Contributed Parents of some 12,000 students caught up in the Fort McMurray, Alta. wildfire disaster can send their children to schools in the communities where they have taken refuge, the provincial government said Saturday. Alberta's Municipal Affairs Minister Danielle Larivee said schools across the province are prepared to welcome students from the Fort McMurray area. "We have been in contact with all 61 public school boards in the province and have asked that they open their doors to our displaced students," Larivee said, noting that school systems in Calgary and Edmonton are best able to absorb students. "Our schools across Alberta will be prepared to accommodate you," she said. The Calgary Board of Education is one of many that has already begun registering evacuees. Larivee said that schools in Edmonton and Lac la Biche have also signed up some students. Others in smaller centres are gearing up to offer as much help as they can. Diane Bauer, assistant superintendent of the Lakeland Catholic School District, said in a recent interview that schools in cities such as Bonnyville and Cold Lake have been instructed to open the door to anyone arriving from Fort McMurray. "Our message to our principals is, 'you take them all,'" Bauer said of the students. "... If there's any individual family needs that we can help with, whether it's transportation or breakfast or lunch, our schools would be happy to accommodate and support these families." Bauer said enrolling in school may be a way for children to regain a sense of normalcy as their home community grapples with the enormity of the damage wrought by the fire. For some families, however, enrolling in a new school may not be the answer. Steve Andrejiw said his eight-year-old daughter was deeply traumatized by the fire and ensuing flight from her lifelong home, but seemed to turn a corner once she saw familiar faces from her school at a gathering for displaced people in Edmonton. "That's what's made her OK was seeing that there's kids in her class in the same situation, that they are OK," he said in an interview last week. "Their teacher was there hugging her and telling her about all the other kids that she'd run into." Andrejiw said it may be worthwhile to wait to allow his daughter to resume her education in a familiar environment rather than putting her through the upheaval of a potentially short-term transfer. Whether such a transition really would be short-term is the key question dogging local officials. Politicians, school board leaders and principals started meeting last week to gauge the damage to Fort McMurray's schools and assess when people may be able to return. Phil Meagher, chief deputy superintendent of the Fort McMurray public school board, said he doesn't anticipate any speedy or easy solutions. Officials must determine how many schools are still fit for use. Teachers will have to see if their homes are intact and if they wish to return. Even when those immediate issues are resolved, Meagher said the mass relocation could have future implications. "It's always a balancing act," he said. "Let's say a number of our students don't come back, then that will mean we don't need the x number of teachers that I've planned for next year. It's very difficult." Photo: Jeanine Wiens-Konrad While there was smoke rising into the sky, there was no need to worry this time. A very small blaze caught the attention of many in West Kelowna and Kelowna Saturday evening as the smoke could be seen rising from an area at the bottom of Lindley Drive off Westside Road. West Kelowna fire crews first received a report of a house on fire, then a grass fire and by the time crews arrived the story was entirely different. By the time we got there bystanders had extinguished a camp fire that had spread into nearby cedar trees, says chief Jason Brolund. They had created a bucket brigade out of the lake and did a really great job. While there is currently no campfire ban in effect, circumstances like this one leave firefighters concerned about irresponsible campers and the need for a ban soon. Photo: Contributed UPDATED 2:36 P.M. While the Vernon RCMP are focussing their resources on locating the driver of a truck involved in a double hit and run, Cathy Hooper is taking to social media to catch the culprit. On Friday May 6, at 8:10 p.m., Hooper's sister and niece were riding their bikes along Buchanan Road in Coldstream when they were both struck by the same truck. Both were taken to Vernon Jubilee hospital by ambulance. My niece was released from hospital early Saturday morning. My sister was released from hospital Saturday afternoon and is recovering at home. My niece and sister are both local athletes and were training together when the hit and run happened. "My niece, Hannah, just returned recently from the World Junior Women's Championships (Nordic Skiing) in Romania and is preparing to graduate from Seaton School this year, said Hooper. Our family is amazed and can not express how grateful we are that she survived such an impact and after landing in a pile of big rocks. They were hit on a very straight section of Buchanan as they were climbing this hill and staying as far right as possible. They bike Buchanan road all the time, as do many others. Just prior to this hit and run they had a near miss from a car that went by them at high speed driving erratically. The suspect vehicle is described as black, full-size pick-up with darkened windows, a suspension lift kit and dark rims. The gas-powered truck may also have damage to the passenger's side. Police are seeking the public's assistance in identifying the truck that fled the scene. If you have any information, call 250-545-7171 or CrimeStoppers. Two cyclists were struck in a hit-and-run collision in Coldstream, Friday night. About 8 p.m., RCMP and BC Ambulance paramedics responded to the 8400 block of Buchanan Road, where the cyclists had been hit. They were thrown from their bikes, which sustained major damage. A 55-year-old Vernon woman sustained a concussion and back injuries in the collision, while her 17-year-old daughter suffered a scraped knee. Both cyclists were taken to Vernon Jubilee Hospital for treatment. A dark-coloured, full-size, newer truck is believed to have been involved in the incident. Police are seeking the public's assistance in identifying the truck that fled the scene. If you have any information, call 250-545-7171 or CrimeStoppers. Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer UPDATE: 2:45 p.m. Penticton RCMP confirm a death this weekend in Okanagan Lake is not suspicious. Cpl. Dan Moskaluk says Penticton RCMP responded to a call of a non-responsive woman floating in shallow water in Okanagan Lake near the SS Sicamous on Saturday. Emergency personnel responded and confirmed a woman was deceased, says Moskaluk. Penticton RCMP have determined that the death is not suspicious. The name of the deceased is not being released pending next of kin notification. ORIGINAL: 10:30 a.m. Penticton RCMP are still investigating after a body was discovered behind the SS Sicamous on Saturday. RCMP report a body was found and that there was no immediate indication of foul play, however police say the case is still under active investigation. Multiple reports from the scene state a body was pulled from the water, but RCMP say they are not ready to comment on possible cause of death. Police arrived on scene early Saturday morning and remained on scene until they cleared it at 8 p.m. Saturday evening. Penticton RCMP say an official release on the incident will be sent out on Monday. CHI Memorial Foundation announced the Elizabeth R. Smith Melanoma Program through the CHI Memorial Reese Skillern Cancer Institute. The Smith family made a generous gift to establish this program. Elizabeth Smith was at Niagara Falls on vacation with her family in June 1989 when a spot on her shoulder began to bother her. After being diagnosed with stage 2 melanoma, she had surgery and thought the cancer was gone. Almost 20 years later, the cancer was back and Elizabeth passed away May 10, 2009 Mothers Day. Elizabeths family began holding events seven years ago to raise money for the fund they started in her memory, the Elizabeth R. Smith Melanoma Fund. They began the walk four years ago. The Smith family joined forces with CHI Memorial Foundation to help organize this years event as part of a new partnership around CHI Memorials melanoma program. This year, Elizabeths Out Run Melanoma 5K and Walk took place Mothers Day weekend as a special tribute to her. We are pleased to partner with the Smith family in the development of the Elizabeth R. Smith Melanoma Program, says Larry Schumacher, CEO, CHI Memorial. Melanoma can be curable when found early. This program will provide education about prevention and detection as well as treatment those who receive a melanoma diagnosis. Skin cancer is the most common cancer and affects men and women of all ages. Melanoma is more likely to grow and spread to other parts of the body that can be harder to treat. Melanoma causes the most skin cancer deaths according to the American Cancer Society. It estimates 76,000 new melanomas will be diagnosed this year and 10,000 will die. College student Jerry Pollard never pulled an all-nighter cramming for an exam. No frat parties. He doesn't text or use Facebook. Forget sharing a campus dorm room with a roommate. His only typical college experience: He took a spring break trip trekking up one of the world's tallest mountains. Advertisement On Monday, Pollard will graduate as thousands of other collegians will do across the country this spring. But at 84, Pollard will graduate with a special distinction: He's the oldest student to earn his first bachelor's degree at Northeastern Illinois University in the last 55 years. His collegiate career began more than six decades ago, but military service, marriage, children and full-time work would steer him away from school. It would be years before he returned to the classroom. After he retired in 2000, he found his schedule suddenly wide open and no hobbies to fill it. For most of the last 10 years, he's taken one class a semester, careful not to take on too much and still have time to travel and volunteer. Advertisement "I'm not in a hurry. I don't need a job. No one's going to hire anybody my age anyway," said Pollard, who lives in Northbrook. "I had a good time here. I got a reasonably good education." He is the oldest student to earn his first bachelor's degree from NEIU since at least 1961, a spokesman said. Another student earned her first bachelor's degree in sociology in 1984 at age 73, a second degree in speech at 76, a third degree in English at 81 and a fourth bachelor's degree in history in 1998 at 87, the spokesman said. Pollard is graduating summa cum laude with a bachelor of arts in interdisciplinary studies and history. Nationally, Pollard's achievement is rare. Data from the National Center of Education Statistics show that fewer than 1 percent of bachelor's degree recipients who had no prior degree or certificate were 55 and older in the 2007-08 academic year, which were the most recent data available. For that year, the average age of students receiving a bachelor's degree was 25. It's been a running family joke to bet on which grandkids would graduate before Pollard, whom they affectionately call Zada Yiddish for "grandfather." Turns out two of his nine grandchildren have beat him to the stage. Becca Pollard, 22, graduated last spring from Ohio State University, and her sister Elana, 25, graduated in 2013 from the University of Colorado. "He's basically been in college as long as I can remember," Becca said. Now, the joke is whether he'll try to get his master's degree, she said. "He loves school and likes learning and likes being around students, people who are generally my age." A sign of how much he values education is the investment he made in paying for his grandchildren's college tuition, ensuring they wouldn't have to struggle with debt after graduating. When I retired, I thought, 'I don't have any hobbies. What am I going to do?' So I decided to go back to school. Jerry Pollard Pollard was born in Canada and grew up in Chicago, blocks away from his college campus. After high school, he attended DePaul University during the academic year 1949-50. He served in the Army for three years, returned home in 1954 and "found a girl." They got married and started a family of four children. Advertisement He said he worked at a department store downtown and had unsuccessful business ventures in owning a dry cleaning business and ice cream trucks before he landed on building a truck brokerage company in which he was the middleman connecting businesses that needed to move freight with truckers to provide the transportation services. His parents expected him to go to a university, Pollard said, adding that he felt like he had disappointed them. In retrospect, that may be part of what pushed him to earn his degree. He considered returning to the classroom before retirement but didn't think he could work and go to school at the same time. "When I retired, I thought, 'I don't have any hobbies. What am I going to do?' So I decided to go back to school," Pollard said. "I thought an education never hurts. It's about time. It's something I should have done 50 years earlier." He began with courses at Oakton Community College, where he earned his associate degree in five years. "I had a good time here. I got a reasonably good education," 84-year-old Jerry Pollard said of his studies at Northeastern Illinois University. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune) His grandchildren were not surprised he focused his studies on history, given the stories he shared. "He's basically a walking history book," Becca said. He's got a reputation for being a bookworm. Teachers have spotted him reading in between classes in the hallway. On family vacations, Pollard often spends time engrossed in a history tome or biography; his grandchildren know well they'll be chided to "read a book" if he sees them texting. His own reading list is so lengthy that he said he won't finish it even if he lives to be 120. In his spare time, he has volunteered at Bernie's Book Bank in Lake Bluff, where he helps sort books being donated to children. Advertisement While his friends have had hip and knee replacements that have slowed them down, Pollard wanders around Chicago as a volunteer tour guide, tinkers with his 1923 luxury car and takes adventurous trips. In fact, the number 14,700 in glow tape will be stuck to the top of his graduation cap, a nod to another accomplishment: how high, in altitude, he hiked during his two-week trip in March to Mount Everest in Nepal. Pat Hill, an NEIU justice studies instructor who taught Pollard two courses, said they shared a mutual respect in that they are both very much into their respective cultures she as an African-American woman and he as a Jewish man. Hill said she called on him in class to share his perspective and give insight to his classmates about what life was like during a certain time period. For example, in a discussion about racial discrimination, she said he reflected on how his father struggled as a pharmacist because he was Jewish. Pollard is the only student who invited Hill to a graduation party in her 10 years teaching at Northeastern. Hill, whose justice studies course included a class trip to Selma, Ala., plans to surprise him with a book and a traditional African gift. "It's like an honor to an elder who has achieved a milestone," Hill said. That status as an elder made it difficult, at first, for her to use his first name. "I don't usually call people who are older than me by their first names so he kept getting on me about that, (saying) 'Jerry, Jerry, Jerry' (not) 'Mr. Pollard.' So I finally got to Gerald," she said. Advertisement On Monday, as he accepts his diploma during the commencement ceremony at the University of Illinois at Chicago's Pavilion, years of personal and academic accomplishments will come together. But even as proud relatives and friends fly in from all over the country, there will be one important person missing: his wife, Jacqueline, his supporter and travel companion of 57 years who died in 2013. "It's the biggest thing to happen in our family in a long time," his granddaughter Elana said. "We're all just so happy for him. We all wish our Bubbie was here to see this for him." But don't think just because he's got his degree that he's finished with school. He has enrolled in the Precolonial Sub-Saharan Africa history class for the fall at Northeastern. "You can always learn something," Pollard said, "can't you?" lvivanco@tribpub.com Twitter @lvivanco A member of the Chicago Police Department works the scene of a fatal shooting on the 5200 block of South Kolin Avenue on May 7, 2016. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune) Three men were shot to death and at least 15 others have been wounded in shootings since Saturday afternoon across the city, police said. A 58-year-old man died after a bullet ripped through the front door of his Southwest Side home and struck him in the head as he was eating dinner, police said. Advertisement The shooting happened at 8:08 p.m on the 5200 block of South Kolin Avenue in the Archer Heights neighborhood, said Officer Kevin Quaid, a police spokesman. The man, identified as Andres Rivera, was sitting at his kitchen table when a bullet entered through a front door and struck him in the head as he was eating, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner's office. Rivera was pronounced dead at 8:38 p.m. on the scene. Advertisement Police think that while the shooting was gang-related, the man was not the intended target. In the most recent fatality, a 35-year-old man was shot to death about 5:10 a.m. Sunday while he was in a vehicle on Lake Shore Drive on the North Side, police said. The man killed was identified as Keon Lewis, whose address was not immediately know, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. The man was sitting in the rear passenger seat of a car traveling north in the 4400 block of North Lake Shore Drive when another car pulled up and an attacker inside fired shots, said Officer Jose Estrada, a Chicago police spokesman. The man was hit in the back, and the car he was in crashed into a pole in the 5000 block of North Lake Shore Drive, Estrada said. The man was taken in critical condition to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead, Estrada said. He was pronounced dead at 5:46 a.m., according to the medical examiner's office. The driver and the second passenger inside the car did not appear to suffer any injuries, Estrada said. A 26-year-old man was also discovered shot to death in the South Austin neighborhood on the West Side about 10:50 p.m. Saturday, said Officer Hector Alfaro, a Chicago police spokesman. Advertisement Police officers found the man with a gunshot wound to his right shoulder in front of a funeral home in the 400 block of South Cicero Avenue. He was taken to Loretto Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Alfaro said. Early Sunday morning, police officers blocked off the sidewalk in front of the funeral home on Cicero where the man was found. Officers shone flashlights on the sidewalk and nearby buildings in search of evidence. Inside the crime scene, an evidence technician swabbed some of the man's blood, found on the sidewalk. In other shootings: About 3:55 a.m. Sunday, a 27-year-old man was wounded in a shooting in the South Austin neighborhood, Alfaro said. Advertisement The man was in the 5400 block of West Thomas Street when he was shot in the right thigh. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where his condition stabilized, Alfaro said. About 3:15 a.m., a 21-year-old man was wounded in a shooting in the West Garfield Park neighborhood, Alfaro said. The man was sitting in a parked vehicle in the 4400 block of West Washington Boulevard when he heard gunshots and realized he was struck, Alfaro said. He was hit in the thigh and the scrotum, and he managed to get to West Suburban Medical Center. He was transferred to Stroger Hospital, where his condition was stabilized, Alfaro said. About 2:55 a.m., a 25-year-old man was wounded in a shooting in the Brighton Park neighborhood, Alfaro said. The man was on the sidewalk in the 4400 block of South California Avenue when someone in a tow truck fired shots at him, Alfaro said. Advertisement The man was hit in the abdomen. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where his condition was stabilized, Alfaro said. About 1:30 a.m., a 21-year-old man was wounded in a shooting in the East Garfield Park neighborhood, Alfaro said. The man was walking on a sidewalk in the 3800 block of West Adams Street when he heard gunshots and realized he was struck, Alfaro said. The man was shot in the right arm, and he was taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition was stabilized, Alfaro said. About 1:15 a.m., a 27-year-old woman was wounded in a shooting in the Brighton Park neighborhood, Alfaro said. The woman was sitting in a parked vehicle in the 4100 block of South Sacramento Avenue when an attacker walked up and fired shots, striking her in the right arm, Alfaro said. Advertisement The woman was shot in the right arm, and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital. About 12:45 a.m., a 20-year-old man was wounded in a shooting in the West Rogers Park neighborhood, Alfaro said. The man was standing in an alley in the 6100 block of North Oakley Avenue when a male attacker shot him during an argument, Alfaro said. The man was shot in the left buttocks, and he was taken to Presence St. Francis Hospital, where his condition was stabilized, Alfaro said. About 12:35 a.m., a 35-year-old woman was shot in the Little Village neighborhood, Alfaro said. The woman was driving in a vehicle in the 3600 block of West Cermak Road when someone in a gray sedan fired shots at her, Alfaro said. Advertisement She was shot in the right torso and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where her condition was stabilized, Alfaro said. About 12:15 a.m., a 27-year-old man was wounded in a shooting in the Hermosa neighborhood, Alfaro said. The man was sitting in a parked vehicle in the 4100 block of West North Avenue when he heard gunshots and realized he was struck, Alfaro said. He was shot in the upper right arm, and he was taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition was stabilized. About 11:25 p.m. Saturday, a 26-year-old man was wounded in a shooting in the Lawndale neighborhood, Alfaro said. The man was walking on the street in the 3300 block of West 13th Street when several male attackers walked up to him and fired shots. The man was hit in the foot, and he managed to get to St. Anthony Hospital, Alfaro said. Advertisement At 9:05 p.m. a 17-year-old boy was injured after being shot on the 1300 block of South Lawndale, Quaid said. The teen was shot in the right leg and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition, said Quaid. The boy said he was on a corner when he heard shots, felt pain and realized he was shot. At 7:35 p.m., a 39-year-old man was shot in the leg in the 2200 block of South Kirkland Avenue. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition. At 5:40 p.m., a 16-year-old boy was shot in East Garfield Park. He was in the 3300 block of West Washington Boulevard when someone behind him fired shots, hitting him twice in the hip. He got himself to Mount Sinai Hospital and was listed in good condition. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Earlier Saturday afternoon, a 16-year-old boy was wounded in a domestic-related shooting in the Gresham neighborhood while a 16-year-old girl and a man were injured in a separate shooting, Chicago police said. About 1:15 p.m., the girl and a 20-year-old man were at a bus stop on the 10200 block of South Michigan Avenue in the Roseland neighborhood, police said. The man was shot in the stomach and the left arm and the girl was shot in the right arm, police said. The two were taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where his condition had stabilized and the girl was in good condition, police said. Advertisement The 16-year-old boy was shot at noon on the 400 block of West 79th Place, according to police. He was having an argument with a 33-year-old man, who brandished a gun and shot the teen three times in the torso, police said. They said the incident was domestic-related. The boy was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where his condition was stabilized, police said. The offender fled the scene, police said. No one was immediately in custody in connection with the shootings. Donald Trump had always described his run for president as unique. Going it alone without support from senior leaders of the Republican Party may just be another thing that sets him apart. "Does it have to be unified? I'm very different than everybody else, perhaps, that's ever run for office. I actually don't think so," Trump told George Stephanopoulos on ABC News' "This Week" on Sunday. A growing roster of Republicans have said they won't back their party's presumptive nominee in November, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who competed against Trump this year, and Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee. On Sunday, the 2008 nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain, said "a lot of things would have to happen" before he'd campaign for Trump. While that hasn't rattled Trump, he sounded disappointed after House Speaker Paul Ryan wasn't ready to back the real-estate developer and television personality who's dominated the Republican primaries. "I was blindsided a little bit, because he spoke to me three weeks ago, and it was a very nice call, a very encouraging call," Trump said on NBC's "Meet the Press." Ryan told CNN on May 5 that Trump needed to stop the bullying and demonstrate his conservative credentials. "I hope to support our nominee," the Wisconsin representative said. "At this point, I'm just not there." Ryan's remarks were a sign of how much Trump needs to do to bring Republicans along with him after a divisive and bruising primary season. Trump's final opponents, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, bowed out after the May 3 Indiana primary, where Trump captured 53 percent of the vote. Asked on NBC if Ryan should still chair the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July if he continues to withhold support, Trump punted: "I will give you a very solid answer, if that happens, about one minute after that happens." Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday that Ryan's political career "is over but for a miracle" after he "disrespected" the more than 10 million Republican voters who've supported Trump. Ryan may soon be "Cantored," said Palin, in a reference to former Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, considered to be the front-runner to become House speaker before he lost his primary election in 2014 to an unheralded college professor. While some Republicans in Congress reject Trump, other current and former lawmakers have said they will back the reality TV star as the nominee -- if nothing else, than to block Democrat Hillary Clinton's path to the White House. "I think it would be better if it were unified, I think it would be -- there would be something good about it," Trump told ABC, referring to the Republican Party. "But I don't think it actually has to be unified in the traditional sense." Trump's rise has been fueled by dissatisfied Americans who've lost their jobs, and young people saddled with debts, and the party needs to take heed, McCain said on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday. "You have to listen to people who have chosen the nominee," McCain said. Still, he called on Trump to apologize for belittling comments made in 2015. Campaigning in Iowa in July, Trump said McCain, a naval aviator shot down during the Vietnam War and held as a prisoner of war for five years, was "not a war hero." "It's important for Donald Trump to express his appreciation for veterans -- not John McCain, but veterans who were incarcerated as prisoners of war," McCain said. Pivoting to his likely general election opponent, Trump told ABC that bringing up Bill Clinton is "fair game" because he's involved in Hillary Clinton's campaign, though the offensive treatment of spouses like his own wife, Melania, is "unfair." At rallies over the weekend Trump linked the Democratic front-runner with husband Bill Clinton's past marital infidelities and 1998 impeachment. "She's married to a man who was the worst abuser of women in the history of politics," he said in Spokane, Washington, on Saturday. "Hillary was an enabler and she treated these women horribly." "He was impeached for lying about what happened with a woman, and she's going to take ads about little Donald Trump?" Trump said, referring to the Clintons. "I don't think so." Groups supporting Clinton have reserved millions of dollars in television advertising that's expected to focus on the Republican's past demeaning statements about women. Bloomberg Centro de Informacion Executive Director Jaime Garcia greeted guests Friday to the group's annual community luncheon at the Elgin Country Club. (Mike Danahey / The Courier-News) Oscar Chacon served up a lesson in demographics and the economic impact of Latinos in the U.S. Friday afternoon during the ninth annual Centro de Informacion Community Day Luncheon. "There are 55 million Latinos in the United States, two million here in Illinois," Chacon said. "You tend to hear the bad news, but not the good news (about Latinos)," Chacon told the 150 or so gathered at the Elgin Country Club. Advertisement Chacon is co-founder and executive director of Alianza Americas, a network of related organizations, he said, that works to improve the quality of life for Latinos in the United State and to create opportunities for people living in nations throughout the Americas. The 55 million figure would make Latinos in the United States the 26th most populous nation on Earth, Chacon said. With such a large population, "to think all would do the same thing is ridiculous. There are opinions of all sorts much like you wouldn't expect everyone in Argentina not to think or vote the same way." Advertisement Alianza Americas Executive Director Oscar Chacon (center) talked about the impact of Latinos on the U.S. economy at the Centro de Informacion Community Luncheon Friday. (Mike Danahey / The Courier-News) According to Chacon's presentation, a majority of Latinos in the U.S. are under 40. A third were born abroad, with that figure at 40 percent in Illinois, he said. The purchasing power of Latinos in the U.S. is approaching $1.7 trillion, which would make them the 11th largest world economy, Chacon said. Collectively, tax contributions paid by Latinos in 2013 totaled $190 billion. And unauthorized immigrants about 85 percent who are Latino contribute about $11 billion annually in payments made to Social Security and Medicare via false credentials. Latinos now make up about 18 percent of the United States' population, Chacon said, and nonwhites are predicted to be the majority by 2044, he said. That the Latino population is young, "provides capacity for the country to replenish itself (population-wise)," Chacon said. About 27.3 million people of Latino backgrounds currently are able to vote in the United States, with the highest turnout, percentage-wise, being 49.7 percent in the 2008 presidential election. With the electoral college system, Latino votes could play a role in the swing states of Nevada, Colorado and Florida this November, Chacon said. With immigration issues and the number of Latinos in the United States, the collective community has been a source of polemics, with a good deal of misinformation and mistrust bantered about, said Chacon, a U.S. citizen who came to the U.S. from El Salvador in 1980. About 150 people attended the 9th annual Centro de Informacion Community Luncheon Friday at the Elgin Country Club. (Mike Danahey / The Courier-News) Groups such as his and Centro play roles in "enabling Latinos to become better citizens, to become engaged in basic civic duties," Chacon said. On an individual level, Chacon said, "Get to know who our neighbors happen to be." Centro de Informacion Executive Director Jaime Garcia said, "Look around you. This is community. This is what we are here to celebrate." Advertisement Guatemalan-born Pastor Jorge Mazariegos, who heads the Vida y Fe congregation in Elgin, echoed Garcia's sentiments. "One of the things I learned today is that community comes from the diversity of its people," Mazariegos said. MDanahey@tribpub.com Daniel McAllister, of McAllister Sign Company, poses outside his business, which has been on Sheridan Road for 60 years. (Michael Joyce / Lake County News-Sun) A new study has named North Chicago the second best small city in America to start a new business. WalletHub study analyst Jill Gonzales said many sources were used to conduct the survey, including data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics. Advertisement Gonzales said there are a many common traits found among small cities that lend themselves to good business. "Small cities that are good for business offer abundant resources," Gonzales said. "Like easy access to financing and a high prevalence of investors. Business costs are low, with affordable rent for office spaces, competitive corporate tax rates and cheaper labor costs." Advertisement Gonzales said one advantage in North Chicago is competitive rent. "When it comes to business costs, North Chicago has a much more affordable asking rate per square foot ... North Chicago ranked second overall, propelled by having the best business environment with the highest average revenue per business at $66 million annually," she said. North Chicago entrepreneur Jason Newman agreed the city is business friendly and recently opened the craft beer bar and gambling parlor BeerAbility on Sheridan Road. "From a business owners standpoint there's openings, there's space available," Newman said. "You have a city that's open to working with you from an economic development standpoint, just to help you along the process." Newman said the North Chicago government was also helpful in opening BeerAbility. "Their economic development director at the time was instrumental at helping us out with the liquor license process which was the first step in this," he said. "The building itself was a shell. We really built the inside of it out completely. It didn't have water or anything like that, it only had HVAC. Every step of the way they said what can we do for you, how can we help you with the process? It was an open door. We haven't encountered anyone that's been an impediment to us getting things done." Newman said North Chicago is ripe for business, but is finding it hard to leave behind it's prior reputation as a high crime area. "People unfortunately hear a name but they don't do due diligence on the town," Newman said. "They don't know they people. It's interesting because people will say, 'oh my gosh, how could you open there?' And I'll say I'm proud of it. You don't know the people." Advertisement Just a few blocks up Sheridan Road is a business that has witnessed North Chicago's change over the last decades. Daniel McAllister, of McAllister Sign Company, inherited the business from his father, who established the store in 1952. McAllister said there was once a time when crime was rampant on Sheridan Road. "A few years back, it was kind of rough on this block," McAllister said. "Drugs, prostitution. It was everywhere around here. Terrible, Terrible. People were coming around trying to get a job. Not that I would turn anybody away, but they can't do what I do." McAllister said that this is no longer the case, and credits the opening of a nearby police station with the decline in crime. McAllister said he doesn't understand why there aren't more businesses opening in North Chicago. "They cleaned that up really good." McAllister said. "I just wish there would be more people down here so we could get more stuff going. I don't know what the hold up is." Michael Joyce is a freelancer for the News-Sun People visit the "Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China's Silk Road" exhibition at Getty Center in Los Angeles, the United States on May 6, 2016. The exhibition "Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China's Silk Road" opened to public on Saturday. The exhibition will last until September, offering visitors the chance to learn about the art and history of the Mogao Grottoes, which thrived as a Buddhist center in China from the 4th to the 14th centuries. [Xinhua] An exhibition on Buddhist art at the world-renowned Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes in Northwest China opened to public on Saturday in Los Angeles. The exhibition at the Getty Center, titled "The Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China's Silk Road," features three full-scale hand-painted replica caves transported from China, an immersive 3D tour experience, and three exhibit halls showcasing some of the most prized artifacts from international collections, many of which have never traveled to North America before. A temporary building houses three replica caves, Cave 275, 285 and 320, which are filled with exquisite Buddhist paintings and sculptures. Wandering in the building, people would feel like they are visiting the remote Mogao Grottoes in the deep Gobi Desert in Northwest China. Over 40 objects discovered at Mogao in 1900 in Cave 17, known as the "Library Cave," reflect the diverse ideas, beliefs, and artistic styles of China and the Silk Road between the 8th and 10th centuries. Meanwhile, 3D stereoscopic immersive technology will enable visitors to examine in detail the magnificent Cave 45 from Tang Dynasty. The Mogao Grottoes are home to a huge collection of Buddhist artworks -- more than 2,000 colored sculptures and 45,000 square meters of frescoes -- in 735 caves carved along a cliff by ancient worshippers. They were China's first UNESCO world heritage site, inscribed in 1987. "This Getty exhibition will make the magnificent cave temples of Dunhuang Mogao world heritage site much better known in the United States," said Mimi Gardner Gates, chairperson of Dunhuang Foundation. "We never dreamed there will be such magnificent treasures on view." Timothy Whalen, director of the Getty Conservation Institute, said: "The scale and quality of the wall paintings and their location in this unspoiled and stark desert setting is what I find most remarkable about the Mogao Grottoes." "It is one of the world's most impressive and complete cultural heritage sites and it bears witness to a millennium of human artistic achievement and cultural exchange." Emerged as a global hub of art, culture, and trade along the Silk Road at the remote edge of the Gobi Desert, Dunhuang was a place where major world cultures from Greece and Rome, the Persian Empire, the Middle East, Central Asia and China came together centuries ago. The exhibition will last till September. You are here: Home The Confucius classroom in Shandong Province's Luzhong Prison encourages the traditional teaching methods of handwriting, reading classics and moral education. [Youth.cn] China's first Confucius classroom in a prison opened in east China's Shandong Province on Saturday. The classroom opened in Luzhong Prison in central Shandong as part of a charity program funded by the China Confucius Foundation. Lin Guojun, deputy head of the provincial prison management bureau, said that Luzhong Prison will pilot a series of changes, including classroom and library design, training prison instructors in Confucian teachings and family activities in order to improve the prison's cultural atmosphere. He said that the classroom will encourage the traditional teaching methods of handwriting, reading classics and moral education. Named after the ancient Chinese philosopher, Confucius schools and classrooms are generally run as non-profit public institutions to help foreigners understand China through language and culture classes at overseas universities. The first such institute was established in 2004. Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi meets with Chadian President Idriss Deby in the Chadian capital on May 7, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] The Chinese government encourages more Chinese enterprises to come to and invest in Chad, said visiting Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi on Saturday. During a meeting with Chadian President Idriss Deby in the Chadian capital, the Chinese state councilor said that Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Deby, who held talks on two occasions last year, have provided guidance for the future development of Sino-Chadian relations. China and Chad face new opportunities in bilateral cooperation, said Yang. China stands ready to make joint efforts with Chad to implement the important consensus reached by the heads of state and further enhance mutual trust, said Yang. As steps are taken to materialize the fruitful outcomes achieved at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit, China would also like to work with Chad to enhance strategic cooperation in development and strengthen bilateral cooperation in the petrochemical industry, farming and animal husbandry, infrastructure construction, water conservancy, human resources development, poverty reduction and green development, he said. China encourages more Chinese enterprises to come to Chad for investment and cooperation, and contribute to the social and economic development of Chad, said Yang. For his part, President Deby commended China for her long-standing advocacy of African unity and development, hailing China as a great friend of the Chadian and African people. Fruitful results have been achieved and hearts have been won over through the cooperation between Chad and China, and between Africa and China, said Deby. The Chadian side is quite satisfied with the development of bilateral relations, and is grateful of the Chinese help in Chad's economic development, said the president, adding that his country welcomes the investment of Chinese enterprises and is willing to further promote mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields. Also on Saturday in a separate meeting, Yang and Chadian Prime Minister Albert Pahimi Padacke agreed that bilateral cooperation for mutual benefit has been fruitful and the two countries will take more steps to enhance pragmatic cooperation in the fields of communication, electricity, mining, water conservancy, farming and animal husbandry. China recorded weaker growth momentum in exports and an accelerated decrease in imports in April, showing persistent pressure on the economy due to feeble domestic and external demand. China's exports in yuan-denominated terms rose 4.1 percent year on year in April, while imports dipped 5.7 percent, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said Sunday. Export growth in April was milder than the 18.7-percent increase in March, while imports fell at a faster pace compared with the 1.7-percent drop in the previous month. China's exports remained positive but continued to be affected by weak global demand, said Bloomberg chief Asia economist Tom Orlik. Another drop in imports was a surprise, as firmer commodity prices and a weaker yuan should have buoyed the figure, Orlik wrote in an analysis note. HSBC chief China economist Qu Hongbin said the import drop in April was steeper than expected. Qu viewed it as evidence of a shaky recovery in domestic demand. Meanwhile, slower export growth showed external demand will remain subdued in the short term, he said. In the January-April period, exports dropped 2.1 percent year on year while imports went down 7.5 percent, leading to a trade surplus of 1.11 trillion yuan, widening 16.5 percent from a year earlier. Foreign trade edged down 0.3 percent year on year to 1.95 trillion yuan last month, while foreign trade for the first four months combined slipped 4.4 percent to 7.17 trillion yuan. "A run of lackluster data shows the economy holding steady at the start of the second quarter, but failing to maintain the momentum evident at the end of the first quarter," Orlik said. The tepid trade data were in line with a drop in the country's manufacturing activity indicator. China's purchasing managers' index came in at 50.1 in April, down slightly from 50.2 in March, an official survey showed earlier this month. China's economy expanded 6.7 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2016, the slowest growth since the global financial crisis hit in early 2009. But a slew of upbeat economic data in March raised hopes for a stronger turnaround than expected. Orlik said policy makers will likely remain in wait-and-see mode before deciding on further stimulus. One option for China to bolster export growth is to let the yuan depreciate more significantly, but that would likely trigger competitive devaluations by trade rivals and risk more capital flight, Orlik said. "China will have to wait for a combination of stronger global demand and the slow process of upgrading its manufacturing base to restore vitality to exports," he noted. The Chinese yuan is now down about 8 percent against a basket of currencies from its peak in August last year, according to a Bloomberg estimate. On a brighter note, the GAC said a leading index for the country's exports rose 2.2 points to 33.8 in April, with sub-indices for new export orders and managers' confidence both up from March, signaling smaller pressure on export growth in the second quarter. Exports to the European Union, China's largest trade partner, climbed 1.3 percent year on year in the first four months, the GAC data showed. In the same period, exports to the United States and the Association for Southeast Asian Nations, China's second- and third-largest trade partners respectively, both declined 3.5 percent. Imports of iron ore, crude oil and copper posted strong increases in the four months, up 6.1 percent, 11.8 percent and 23.1 percent respectively. But imports of coal, steel and refined oil fell. A screen shot from China Central Television shows rescuers searching for the missing crew members in the waters of the East China Sea. Two crew members died after their fishing boat was rammed by a foreign cargo ship and sunk in the East China Sea on Saturday, leaving 17 crew members still missing, state broadcaster China National Radio reported. The fishing boat, Lurongyu 58398, with 19 on board from Shandong province was hit by a Maltese cargo ship, the Catalina, in waters about 80 nautical miles east of Ningbo, Zhejiang province, around 3:40 am, Zhejiang Maritime Search and Rescue Center said. The maritime and fishery bureau in the city of Weihai received the report of the accident at 6 am. Two crew members were saved by a nearby fishing boat, but they later died. Ships from the maritime authorities, the Donghai Fleet of the Chinese navy and in nearby waters are searching for the missing. Meanwhile, the maritime search and rescue center in the northeastern city of Dalian received two reports on Saturday morning, saying it had lost contact with one fishing boat and another that had been missing for over 50 hours was found capsized in the sea in waters east of the city. The center said six crew members were aboard the first boat and eight were on the second boat. Search and rescue operations are under way. Seventeen Chinese nationals were injured on Saturday when a Hong Kong Airlines flight hit severe turbulence over Borneo Island after taking off from Bali Island of Indonesia, officials said. The incident occurred above Banjarmacin city, the capital of South Kalimantan province, about one hour after the Hong Kong-bound flight HX6704 take off from the Bali international airport, forcing it to return to the airport, said Herni Pramuharjo, spokesman of the transport ministry. "Twelve people were rushed to a hospital, one of whom got very serious injury. Five others were only treated at the health clinic of the airport. All of them (17 people) are Chinese nationals," he told Xinhua via telephone. One of the injured is a crew of the airline which carried 204 passengers and 12 crews, Pramuharjo said. The turbulence incident is the second time involving Airbus 300-200 in Indonesia this week. On Wednesday, Etihad Airways flight EY74 from Abu Dhabi to Jakarta encountered severe turbulence, 45 minutes prior to landing at the main airport in Jakarta, leaving 31 people wounded with 9 of them taken into hospital, and damaging cabin storage area, according to the spokesman. Flash Photo taken on April 5, 2016 shows the lighthouse on Zhubi Reef of Nansha Islands in the South China Sea, south China. [Xinhua] The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is one of the best treaties in the world, but should not be politically used by countries to grab "illegal rights and interests," a top Chinese envoy has said. Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Yi Xianliang told Xinhua in a recent exclusive interview that if the arbitral tribunal and UNCLOS were used by some countries in this way, the framework of the UNCLOS would be destroyed. This, he said, is a dangerous trend, posing a critical challenge to the UNCLOS. China maintains the respect for countries along the South China Sea and without stability in the waters, the development achievements of China and its neighbors would not have been realized, said the Chinese diplomat. "Attempts have been made by countries outside the region to stir up the South China Sea issue, which causes troubles for China and other coastal states of the South China Sea," said the ambassador. "Some specific state lost its way and fell into the trap," Yi said. He emphasized that peace and stability have prevailed in the waters over the past decades and there has never been any incident affecting freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. The envoy said upholding peace, stability and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea is crucial to China's security and interests in the South China Sea. "China will not make any trouble itself in the South China Sea and will not allow any other country to cause disturbances either," said the envoy. "Certain countries outside the region, coming from thousands of miles away, tried every means to make troubles in the South China Sea, politicized the South China Sea issue and undermined the stability of the South China Sea, so as to cause disturbances and seek geopolitical influence. "These were the root causes of the rising of the issue. I believe that people are able to come to a fair conclusion. "Territory disputes may not be resolved within a limited short of period, It needs time and patience, not only for China, but also for other claimants which have illegally occupied some of China's Nansha Islands and reefs." Yi said the maritime delimitation is another key issue. When the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) was signed in 1982, some experts believed that maritime delimitation would have rules to follow and disputes would be solved. However, unilateral interpretation of the UNCLOS and claims for rights and interests have resulted in more disputes, he said. "Even between Sri Lanka and India, which have completed maritime delimitation, there are still fishery disputes." The ambassador said the UNCLOS is not a "constitution" to address all maritime issues. "In practice, many maritime disputes were not resolved by the UNCLOS." Yi said among hundreds of disputes over maritime delimitation, only a small number have been resolved, and a majority of the resolved disputes were done through negotiations and consultations. He said the basic solution to the South China Sea issue relies on the political willingness and patience. Resolving disputes, he said, requires them to manage and narrow differences through cooperation. "This is a matter involving claimant countries only. However, some forces outside the region repeatedly interfere in the South China Sea issue and became more and more aggressive, which were the key factors affecting and disrupting regional peace and stability. "If things go on like this, all of the coastal states of the South China Sea would become victims without exception." The ambassador said fishermen of coastal states have lived in harmony and shared the resources. As for oil and gas resources, Yi said, the disputes have not arisen until modern times. "The Chinese side initiated the suggestion of joint development in the 1980s. We negotiated with coastal states of the South China Sea including Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei on the joint development. China will be committed to promoting such cooperation." Regarding maritime cooperation in "low sensitivity areas", including ecological environment protection, pollution prevention, disaster prevention, rescue and combating piracy, said the ambassador, China has devoted huge human and financial resources bilaterally and through the China-ASEAN mechanism to promote such cooperation. "But some countries were quite uncooperative and even resistant to cooperate." Yi said the international community have formulated a vast amount of treaties and rules requiring coastal states to strengthen cooperation, which is an obligation for coastal states. Certain country disregarded the obligations and assumed the posture of "the blind opposition to anything related to China" and "no negotiation on the South China Sea issue", said the Chinese envoy. "Turning away all the cooperation proposals, while illegally and unilaterally initiated the so-called arbitration to resolve disputes, it is really beyond comprehension," he said. Flash The authorities in the Pakistani port city of Karachi said Saturday they have arrested an alleged Indian "agent" who was living illegally and was involved in anti-state activities. "Security officials and the police raided a house at Jamshed Quarters area and arrested the Indian intelligence agent, Arshad Hussain," an official told the media. He said Hussain had arrived in Pakistan in 2011 and had traveled abroad six times. The authorities have recovered three mobile phones and 10 sim cards, laptop, sensitive documents and an internet device. The accused has revealed the names of six people who were in contact with him, sources close to the investigators said. The security officials and the police conducted raids in some areas to arrest Hussain's accomplices. Officials said it is the arrest of second Indian agent in Pakistan in less than two months. The Pakistan security forces arrested an Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) serving Navy officer in Balochistan province in late March. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs had confirmed the man held in Pakistan was ex-Navy man but had no links with the Indian government. Flash Iran will be an exporter of gasoline by the middle of 2017, an Iranian energy official told Tasnim news agency on Saturday. Iran will end importing gasoline once the first phase of the Persian Gulf Star oil refinery comes on stream later this year, said Abbas Kazemi, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC). The refinery complex, together with the other development plans in the oil and refining industry, will make Iran an exporter of gasoline, sometime in the middle of 2017, Kazemi said. Once completed, the output of the Persian Gulf Star refinery, in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, will stand at around 360,000 barrels per day, according to reports. Around three billion U.S. dollars has been poured in the project, and an extra 500 million dollars is needed for its completion, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganehin said in March. Flash Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said Saturday that 13 of its military advisers have been killed recently Syrian conflicts, Press TV reported. In a statement issued on Saturday, the IRGC said that 21 other Iranians were also wounded in the clashes. They were killed and injured in the town of Khan Tuman, south of the Syrian province of Aleppo. The Nusra rebels, branded as a terrorist organization by the United Nations, unleashed a wide-scale offensive on the town of Khan Tuman in the Syrian city of Aleppo over the past two days, succeeding eventually to take control of the town. Aleppo, Syria's second largest city and once an economic hub, has been carved out between the government in the western part of the city and the rebels in the east. Iran, a major regional ally of the Syrian government in its fight against the militant groups, has earlier announced the presence of its military advisors in Syria. Flash Members of the trade union PAME participate during a 48-hour nationwide general strike against tax and pension reform bills that the government promotes in exchange of further aid by international lenders, in Athens, Greece, May 7, 2016. [Xinhua] A new Greek crisis will not be beneficial to anyone, Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said in a letter addressed to his European counterparts ahead of Monday's Euro Group meeting, Greek media reported on Saturday. The official argued that the Greek government has done everything it has promised under the third bailout deal reached last July regarding the introduction of reforms and even more, asking in return for some concrete swift steps from the creditors'side, Vima (Tribune) daily reported. "No government could pass from the parliament measures worth 9 billion euros (10.26 billion U.S. dollars) instead of the expected 5.4 billion euros," Tsakalotos stressed in his letter. The minister dismissed the request of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) for the immediate legislation of an additional 3.6 billion euros contingency measures to be implemented in case Athens fails to achieve a 3.5 percent GDP primary surplus in 2018. After seven months of negotiations between Greece and its lenders, the two sides were very close to finalize the next set of 5.4 billion euro worth prerequisites for the release of the next bailout tranche to Athens, according to Greek officials. However, the Greek government rejected as unconstitutional and not feasible the IMF's demand for the legislation of the additional contingency measures. In his letter ahead of Monday's extraordinary Euro Group meeting, Tsakalotos urged the lenders to agree with no more delays on a comprehensive solution that will include the conclusion of the first review of the new bailout and a clear statement on the start of talks on debt relief that would ensure investors that Greece is on the path to economic recovery and growth. The Greek official underlined that such a final comprehensive solution is to the benefits of all sides. "Nobody should believe that a new Greek crisis, which may lead to another failed state in the region, would be beneficial to anyone," Tsakalotos stressed, according to the media report. The letter was sent as Greek lawmakers were debating a controversial tax and pension reform bill. As the parliament was scheduled to vote on the bill on Sunday night, from Friday labor unions have declared a 48-hour nationwide general strike which has paralyzed the public sector, including mass transport services. Thousands of strikers participated in a series of rallies in Athens on Friday and Saturday which will culminate on Sunday. (1 euro = 1.14 US dollars) Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. Flash A 23-year-old Belgian woman was molested by a cab driver here on Saturday, a senior police official said on Sunday. "The woman hired the cab to come to Delhi from Gurgaon, a city on the outskirts. On the way, the driver asked the woman to seat in the front to help him with the navigation device and then kissed her on some pretext," the official said, on condition of anonymity. Police said they have arrested the cab driver after the foreign tourist lodged a complaint at a police station in Delhi, along with one of her friends. "We have detained the driver, Raj Singh, who is a resident of Alwar in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan, from Gurgaon," Delhi Police official Mandeep Singh Randhawa told the media. You are here: Home Flash Gunmen shot dead eight Egyptian policemen in the Helwan district south of the Capital Cairo in the early morning , the interior ministry said Sunday. Gunmen shot dead eight Egyptian policemen in the Helwan district south of the Capital Cairo in the early morning , the interior ministry said Sunday. [Photo/Xinhua] Four assailants in a pickup truck intercepted the policemen, while traveling in minivan, and showered them with automatic rifle fire, the ministry added. The dead included a lieutenant and seven lower ranking policemen who were patrolling the area south of the capital, it added. Anti-security attacks have escalated following the ouster of the Islamist president Mohamed Morsi by the army in response to mass protests against his rule. The Jihadists took from the restive Sinai Peninsula a center for most their operations. Other attacks have crept to the Capital and other cities. Hundreds of police and army men have been killed in the attacks. The militants often claim their attacks are in retaliation for a harsh police crackdown on Islamist supporters of Morsi, which has killed hundreds of protesters and detained thousands. Ansar Beit Al-Maqdes, an affiliate to the Islamic State (IS) in Sinai, has claimed responsibility of most of the attacks. It has been almost a year since last such attack occurred in the region. In June 2015, Militants killed a policeman standing guard outside a museum in Helwan area. Bodies of the victims have been transferred to the Helwan Hospital morgue, and security men still comb the surrounding areas to catch the militants, who escaped the scene, the interior ministry added. IS flag was waving on the assailants' pickup, eyewitnesses told independent Youm7 news website. Flash Some three police personnel and 10 militants were killed after Taliban attacked security checkpoints in Lashkar Gah city, capital of Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand, on Saturday night, the Interior Ministry said Sunday. The ministry said in a statement that 10 militants and four Afghan National Police (ANP) members were also wounded during the clashes which took place in Baba Ji locality in the city, 555 km south of Kabul. Helmand, notorious for poppy growing, is also a known Taliban stronghold. Furthermore, a Taliban local leader was killed during a gunfight with ANP in western Farah province Saturday night. "Mullah Ghani, who served as Taliban deputy shadow governor for Farah, was killed along with three other militants during a clash in Bala Buluk district, Farah province. But no ANP personnel was hurt during the clashes," the ministry confirmed in a statement earlier on Sunday. The Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since early April when the militant group launched its annual rebel offensive in different areas of the country. The Taliban urged civilians to stay away from official gatherings, military convoys and centers regarded as legitimate targets by militants besides warning people not to support the government. Jack Ma, chairman of the China Entrepreneur Club and chairman of the Alibaba Group. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] Alibaba Group chairman Jack Ma thinks Chinese companies should integrate and participate in local markets while going global. "Globalization is not about opening some factories overseas, nor about speaking good English. It is not about just going abroad, but about integrating and participating in building local markets, creating value, and paying taxes to the local country," he says. "This is the only way Chinese companies will be able to gain respect. " Ma was elected as the chairman of the China Entrepreneur Club last month after the retirement of previous chairman Liu Chuanzhi Ma was in Beijing meeting with more than 130 members of the media on Sunday where he shared his understandings about business. While talking about the prospect of global markets, Ma says that he is quite confident in the recovery of Europe's economy The Western economic system is clear and complete, and is able to deal with their problem and that only needs time. Moreover, Chinese companies would have great opportunities in Europe, more than any other areas. He says that as Chinese economy is going to put more focus on consumption, service and technology, in which Europe has strength and a lot to share. "I personally think Europe is the best place to go, easier than entering the United States, the Asia, and Africa and Latin America markets. The CEC is now increasing communications with the Europe, because we see the opportunities there," Ma said. Established in 2006 as an NGO by 31 Chinese business leaders, the China Entrepreneur Club has been promoting a sustainable development of economy and entrepreneurship. At present, most of the member companies are leaders of various industries, and the annual income of the 49 member companies totaled more than 3 trillion yuan. Ashley Sutcliffe (left), public relations manager at Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, one of Chinas biggest private carmakers, holds a discussion session with his colleagues in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, on Friday. GAO ERQIANG / CHINA DAILY Demand for skills grows as government pledges to introduce more imported talent for pillar industries Chinese employers with a shortage of highly skilled workers have opened their doors wider to foreign talent. The trend is being spurred by a new government manpower policy that encourages companies to hire directly from the international market. Major international headhunting companies have benefited from the change, seeing robust growth in such business in recent years, a China Daily investigation has found. Spring Professional, a subsidiary of leading human resources company Adecco Group, has operated on the Chinese mainland for more than 10 years. It says that in the past three years, its annual revenue in China has grown by between 70 and 100 percent, thanks to the growing demand from Chinese companies for international staff. "Three years ago, 80 percent of our business was to find candidates for multinationals in China. Now, more than 60 percent of our business has shifted to searching for international candidates for Chinese employers," said Xiao Lirong, director for Beijing and Shanghai at Spring Professional. "Besides the private sector, even State-owned enterprises have become our clients," she said. State companies have traditionally relied on government agencies to introduce overseas talent. Robert Parkinson, CEO and founder of RMG Selection, another international human resources company that focuses on China, said its annual placement for foreigners in Chinese companies has doubled in four years. Parkinson said the demand for skilled technical foreign talent is growing as China moves from low-cost manufacturing to more diversified innovative business. "In the past, foreign talent we searched for focused on marketing or selling. Now, Chinese companies increasingly need technical experts," Parkinson said, adding that this business will continue to grow. Business for international recruiters is poised to continue soaring after the government pledged to introduce more overseas talent for pillar industries during the 13th Five-Year-Plan (2016-20), with "the market playing the leading role", instead of government-initiated recruitment. China targets top overseas talent, including professionals in innovation, breakthrough technologies and new industries, as well as scientists in strategic sectors. The government has simplified the visa application process to hire them. One example is new-energy vehicles. Last year alone, China manufactured 379,000 such vehicles, a fourfold increase year-on-year, which has demonstrated the shortage of overseas talent. Audrey Deng, a recruitment manager with more than eight years' experience, said six automobile clients have created more than 80 new positions, mainly for leading experts from countries including the United States, Germany and Japan. Christine Raynaud, Greater China CEO for Morgan Philips Group, a global recruitment company, said that despite the growing demand, international recruitment is difficult for local and foreign companies in China. "Chinese firms and brands are internationalizing to compete in global markets, and this means they have to attract and integrate foreign experts on critical projects," she said. "However, the traditional recruitment model is too local' in terms of sourcing and recruiter experience." Raynaud said the internet could speed up the screening process, but when it comes to the final interview, only professional human resources experts can judge whether candidates are suitable. Backed by international resources and professional experts worldwide, recruitment firms are expected to bridge the gap. Deng said, "We have branches in many countries that can help Chinese employers to expand their channels to search for international candidates." Traffic police officers in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, seize unlicensed electric bikes and freight tricycles in March. XUAN HUI/CHINA DAILY SHENZHEN - Five express delivery firms in south Chinese city of Shenzhen signed agreements with local authorities on Saturday, pledging to outdate electric motor tricycles in two months. The five firms include SF Express, JD, Yhd, Sinfor and Deppon, said the local traffic management bureau. The firms were given 3,046 electric bicycles in quotas to fill the gap. They also will buy electric minivans. The city launched a campaign to ban the use of motorcycles and motor tricycles in late March, triggering harsh backlash particularly from the express delivery industry. Related: Shenzhen's clampdown on e-bike hits courier services Most delivery workers in Shenzhen use electric motor tricycles. But China do not have a national standard for electric tricycles and most in Shenzhen are illegally assembled and are not entitled to vehicle plates, said the bureau. Related: Govt releases proposed national standards to regulate e-tricycles The city will mull new control measures after the national standard on electric motorcycles for the express delivery industry is rolled out, it said. A road is blocked by a landslide in Lin'an, East China's Zhejiang province, Saturday, May 7, 2016. The western rural area of Lin'an city was hit by strong rain beginning at 2 am Saturday and some village roads were blocked by landslides. No casualties were reported. [Photo/chinanews.com] BEIJING - China's meteorological authority on Saturday warned of possible geological disasters in the south as heavy rain that had hit most regions in the south showed little sign of weakening. The National Meteorological Center (NMC) warned of high risks of geological disasters in parts of Fujian, Jiangxi provinces and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, suggesting people in the areas take precautions against possible mountain torrents, mud-rock flows and landslides. The NMC renewed a blue alert for rainstorm on Saturday afternoon, forecasting that heavy rain will continue in Guizhou, Hunan, Guangxi, Jiangxi, Fujian and Zhejiang from Saturday night to Sunday night, with precipitation expected to reach up to 120 millimeters. China has a four-tier color-coded warning system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue. Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi meets with Chadian President Idriss Deby in the Chadian capital on May 7, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] N'DJAMENA - The Chinese government encourages more Chinese enterprises to come to and invest in Chad, said visiting Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi here on Saturday. During a meeting with Chadian President Idriss Deby in the Chadian capital, the Chinese state councilor said that Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Deby, who held talks on two occasions last year, have provided guidance for the future development of Sino-Chadian relations. China and Chad face new opportunities in bilateral cooperation, said Yang. China stands ready to make joint efforts with Chad to implement the important consensus reached by the heads of state and further enhance mutual trust, said Yang. As steps are taken to materialize the fruitful outcomes achieved at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit, China would also like to work with Chad to enhance strategic cooperation in development and strengthen bilateral cooperation in the petrochemical industry, farming and animal husbandry, infrastructure construction, water conservancy, human resources development, poverty reduction and green development, he said. China encourages more Chinese enterprises to come to Chad for investment and cooperation, and contribute to the social and economic development of Chad, said Yang. For his part, President Deby commended China for her long-standing advocacy of African unity and development, hailing China as a great friend of the Chadian and African people. Fruitful results have been achieved and hearts have been won over through the cooperation between Chad and China, and between Africa and China, said Deby. The Chadian side is quite satisfied with the development of bilateral relations, and is grateful of the Chinese help in Chad's economic development, said the president, adding that his country welcomes the investment of Chinese enterprises and is willing to further promote mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields. Also on Saturday in a separate meeting, Yang and Chadian Prime Minister Albert Pahimi Padacke agreed that bilateral cooperation for mutual benefit has been fruitful and the two countries will take more steps to enhance pragmatic cooperation in the fields of communication, electricity, mining, water conservancy, farming and animal husbandry. A rescue is underway in Fujian province after a landslide buried more than 30 people on May 8, 2016. [Photo/CCTV News] The number of people missing from a landslide that hit Southeast China's Fujian Province on Sunday has risen to 41, according to a press conference held Sunday night. The landslide occurred at about 5 a.m. in Taining County, where about 100,000 cubic meters of mud and rocks flowed downhill, burying a temporary shed at a hydropower station construction site and damaging its offices. Preliminary data show that seven people were rescued while 34 remain missing, China News Service cited Sanming government officials as saying. The seven injured were rushed to the hospital, with one in critical condition. Most workers were sleeping when about 100,000 cubic meters of mud and rocks flowed downhill, burying the construction site of the station and its office building, fjsen.com reported. A rescue is underway but it is hampered by the heavy rain. More than 100 firefighters are searching for survivors as of 11 am Sunday, China News Agency reported. The local tourism administration in Taining county ordered all scenic spots to suspend business starting at 8 am. The mountainous county boasts rich scenic lakes and canyons. Provincial leaders, including You Quan, Party chief of the province, and Yu Weiguo, the governor, rushed to the scene. Rescuers attributed the landslide to continuous heavy rain in recent days. The county was battered by heavy rain between Saturday and today, with rainfall hitting 191.6 mm in some areas in 24 hours. A rescue is underway in Fujian province after a landslide buried more than 30 people. [Photo/CCTV News] In an instruction following the accident, President Xi Jinping urged the Fujian local government and related departments to organize rescue work as quickly as possible. He demanded all-out efforts to search for buried and missing people, and stressed proper treatment for the injured, while consoling the relatives of the injured and missing. Xi also urged strengthening local monitoring and safety checks for hidden dangers to prevent secondary disasters. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang issued a written instruction calling for full efforts to search for and rescue those missing in the landslide and to treat the injured. Li also asked the Ministry of Land and Resources to take the lead to form and dispatch a work team under the State Council to Fujian to oversee and help with rescue work. A screen shot from China Central Television shows rescuers searching for the missing crew members in the waters of the East China Sea. Two crew members died after their fishing boat was rammed by a foreign cargo ship and sunk in the East China Sea on Saturday, leaving 17 crew members still missing, state broadcaster China National Radio reported. The fishing boat, Lurongyu 58398, with 19 on board from Shandong province was hit by a Maltese cargo ship, the Catalina, in waters about 80 nautical miles east of Ningbo, Zhejiang province, around 3:40 am, Zhejiang Maritime Search and Rescue Center said. The maritime and fishery bureau in the city of Weihai received the report of the accident at 6 am. Two crew members were saved by a nearby fishing boat, but they later died. Ships from the maritime authorities, the Donghai Fleet of the Chinese navy and in nearby waters are searching for the missing. Meanwhile, the maritime search and rescue center in the northeastern city of Dalian received two reports on Saturday morning, saying it had lost contact with one fishing boat and another that had been missing for over 50 hours was found capsized in the sea in waters east of the city. The center said six crew members were aboard the first boat and eight were on the second boat. Search and rescue operations are under way. About 80 professionals from government, academia, business, non-governmental organizations and international organizations gathered in Beijing for the 2016 China Poverty Reduction International Forum on Sunday to discuss the use of South-South and Triangular Cooperation initiatives to eradicate poverty. The forum, themed "China's Poverty Reduction Experience Sharing under the SDGs (sustainable development goal) Framework", mainly focused on how China's success in poverty reduction could be shared and applied to other contexts. China has lifted more than 600 million people out of poverty in the past 30 years, about 70 percent of those brought out of poverty worldwide. China's top leaders announced the decision to win the battle against poverty last year, promising to take "extraordinary measures" to lift over 55 million rural people out of poverty in the next five years. Niels Knudsen, assistant country director of United Nations Development Program (UNDP) China and team leader for South-South Cooperation, said China has made great examples in the past to eliminate poverty. Many regions, such as some countries in Africa, could use China's successful models, such as expanding economic zones and reforming public administration. "One of the benefits of e-commerce companies contributing to poverty elimination is to allow people from rural areas to adopt technical skills to start or expand their traditional business," said Zhang Ruidong, senior expert at the research institute from e-commerce giant Alibaba group. As the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development states, the goal is to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030 for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day. China is committed to supporting the agenda and taking responsibility to tackle the problem. The forum was co-hosted by the International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC) and the China Internet Information Center (CIIC) and organized by China.org.cn, China Development Gateway (CnDG) and Ada Tech (Beijing) Co Ltd. The Global Poverty Reduction & Inclusive Growth Portal (GPIG) was also launched at the forum, aiming to become a platform to share poverty reduction knowledge and best practices in China and around the world. It will offer information such as poverty reduction news, events and experts' opinions, as well as the latest cases and research to help officials, experts and the public to learn more about poverty and related issues. Initiated by the World Bank and supported by the Asian Development Bank, the website is operated by IPRCC and CnDG. Think tanks from Asia, Africa and the Americas are also invited to contribute their knowledge and experience. A sharp increase in cases of consular protection and assistance last year shows a strong need for Chinese people and businesses abroad to enhance their awareness of self-protection, according to experts. Such cases taken up last year by Chinese embassies and consulates as well as the Foreign Ministry's Center for Consular Assistance and Protection reached nearly 87,000. They involved about 96,000 Chinese citizens and 1,928 deaths, the ministry said in a report, adding that the security situation for Chinese abroad is still "complicated and severe". The figures show a significant increase from 2014, when about 60,000 cases were reported, involving some 73,000 Chinese. There was also an increase in the number of Chinese students abroad in such cases with 6,000 involved last year, compared with just 932 in 2014. More than 523,000 Chinese studied abroad last year, an increase of about 14 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Education. Ren Yuanzhe, associate professor in the Department of Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs Management at China Foreign Affairs University, said cases of Chinese students being deceived, injured or even killed abroad require such students to be vigilant over their safety, while Chinese embassies and consulates should provide better services for them. The Foreign Ministry said the safety of Chinese people in Africa needs to be watched, as more and more Chinese businesses are setting up there. Yang Guang, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of West Asian and African Studies, said the number of Chinese doing business in Africa is growing fast, while the governance of some African countries is too weak to provide a safe environment. "Chinese workers should get safety training before going there. Chinese embassies and consulates should improve their service, and companies should prepare themselves with emergency plans, so that they won't be caught off guard," he said. Yang added that Chinese companies in Africa should develop relations with local communities by contributing to community development. Asia contributed to more than half of the cases last year, with 37 percent of all the cases reported from Thailand, the Republic of Korea, Japan and Singapore countries that have increasing numbers of Chinese tourists. The largest proportion of cases involved those in which people were barred from entry or exit, followed by cases concerning security, and business and labor disputes. Chinese mainland residents last year made a record 128 million visits abroad, the Foreign Ministry said. Ren said the increase in consular protection and assistance cases is a natural reflection of the rapid growth in Chinese going abroad and their stronger need for improved and diversified consular services. "It shows that Chinese citizens are more aware of protecting their rights abroad and are more aware of turning to consular services for help," Ren said. Armed Police Force officers help evacuate stranded local people in the wake of a massive landslide which trapped more than 40 people in Sanming, Fujian province, on Sunday. ZE XIN / FOR CHINA DAILY Rescuers have pulled thirteen people alive from a massive landslide while 41 remained missing at a hydropower construction site in Southeast China's Fujian province on Sunday following days of heavy rain. The landslide occurred at about 5am on Sunday in Sanming, central Fujian, when 100,000 cubic meters of rocks and mud flowed downhill, burying a station office and the construction workers' dormitory at the site, according to Xinhua report. A team that includes about 100 firefighters and professional rescuers, 60 medical personnel and more than 300 local officials and residents has been mobilized, and rescue and detection equipment is being used, local authorities said on Sunday afternoon. After the accident, President Xi Jinping urged local governments and departments to make all-out efforts to search for the buried and missing people, as well as requiring proper treatment for the injured and condolences for relatives. Premier Li Keqiang issued written instructions that called for strengthening monitoring and safety checks against hidden perils in surrounding areas to prevent secondary disasters. The Ministry of Land and Resources dispatched a work team, joined by specialists from the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, to Fujian to lead and instruct the rescue work. However, the continuing downpour, instability of mountain terrain and boulder obstacles are causing problems for the rescue efforts, said Guo Weihong, commissar of a municipal firefighting troop working on the site. "It's difficult to transport large search and rescue machinery to the site because stones block the main road. We are clearing the road to bring in more rescue forces while searching the site," he was quoted as saying by China Central Television on Sunday afternoon. According to the CCTV report, an 86-member team from a local garrison of the armed forces, with heavy equipment, and two expert rescue crews from Beijing and nearby Anhui province were on their way to the site Sunday evening. The heavy downpours, which unleashed 191.6 millimeters of rain in 24 hours starting on Saturday, contributed to the landslide, according to local officials. Heavy rain will continue to sweep South China in the next two days, the National Meteorological Center forecast on Sunday, saying torrential rain will hit the provinces of Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian and Zhejiang as well as Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. Parts of those regions were to see thunderstorms or hail from Sunday to Monday morning while the rain was to spread southward without signs of relenting, the center said. Meteorologists warned the public to stay away from mountainous areas and river valleys as floods, mudslides and rock flows are possible. Xinhua contributed to this story The first Caribbean Film Festival is held in Beijing during May 6 to 8, during which 12 films from the Caribbean countries are played open to the Chinese public. [Photo by Yan Dongjie/chinadaily.com.cn] People in Beijing got a chance to watch Caribbean movies for free at Instituto Cervantes on May 6 all the way up to May 8 during China's first Caribbean Film Festival. China's Ministry of Culture, in collaboration with the Embassies of Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago, screened 12 films to public during the festival. Chandradath Singh, the ambassador of Trinidad and Tobago to China, said: "Chinese people in Trinidad and Tobago have made a great contribution to the economic and cultural development in the country, and we'd like to show that relation between us to Chinese people." The Embassy of Trinidad and Tobago to Beijing showed a film named "Chinese girl" on Saturday evening, which was about the roles Chinese girls in Trinidad and Tobago have played in the society. Chandradath Singh, the ambassador of Trinidad and Tobago to China, says that he wishes the Cultural Exchange Year, people in China and his country can get to know about each other more. [Photo by Yan Dongjie/chinadaily.com.cn] Ambassador Singh said that the first Chinese person to go to Trinidad and Tobago was about 210 years ago, and from that time, the communication and cooperation between the two countries have gotten more and more intense. "They have opened businesses all around the country, contributed to the art field, and also get involved in politics," said ambassador Singh, adding that about two percent of the 1.2 million people in Trinidad and Tobago are Chinese. This year marks the 2016 China-Latin America and Caribbean Year of Culture Exchange, which was proposed by President Xi Jinping at the 2014 China-Latin American and Caribbean Countries Leaders' Meeting in Brasilia. It's the largest cultural program ever held by China and Latin America and Caribbean regions since the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Up to 30 countries present their traditional culture and modern developments. As a part of the whole Cultural Exchange Year, the Inaugural Caribbean Film Festival is also a part of the Latin America and Caribbean Arts Festival held from April to July in China. Latin American and Caribbean countries will be presenting a series of activities including music festival, food festival, film festival, and exhibitions. (Photo : Youtube.com) In its latest move to control pornographic content on the internet China has imposed a ban on erotic banana eating on live streams. Advertisement In its latest censorship move, Chinese regulators have banned people from eating a banana in erotic fashion on live streaming channels. The new regulation requires live streaming channels to supervise their content round the clock to ensure that the ban is enforced completely. Along with the ban on banana eating, wearing stockings and suspenders on live streaming channel is now also forbidden. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement These bans come just a month after China's Ministry of Culture announced that it is in the process of investigating several live-streaming sites including Douyu, Panda.tv, YY and Zhanqi TV for allegedly broadcasting pornographic and overtly violent content. The investigation is a part of the Chinese government's latest campaign to clamp down on the growing vulgarity on the internet which "harms social morality." The government's censorship campaign is reported to be targeted specifically at young people, who form a large part of the internet users across the country. According to the latest data, 26 percent of the viewers of live-streaming websites are under 18 years, and 60 percent of those uploading contents on live streaming channels are under 22 years old. Some Chinese people are unhappy with the latest ban. Many have vented their frustration about the new rules on social media. "How do they decide what's provocative when eating a banana?" one user asked. "They will all start eating cucumbers, and if that's no good, yams," another user said. Advertisement TagsErotic Banana Eating, china, Erotic Banana Eating China, Internet Censorship China, censorship in china (Photo : UPenn) Prof. Guido Menzio writing an equation Advertisement An economics professor writing math equations while aboard an American Airlines flight to Syracuse was fingered as a terrorist by the woman sitting next to him who thought the equations were a terrorist language (read Arabic). Professor Guido Menzio, who is an Associate Professor, Department of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania, was briefly detained on the ground by airport authorities at Philadelphia after the plane turned back following the woman's complaint he was writing something "cryptic" on his notepad. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The Ivy League economist is an Italian whose dark, curly hair might have made him look like a Middle East man. He is a theoretical macroeconomist interested in the behavior of markets characterized by search, matching and informational frictions, said the UPenn website. Menzio, 40, later said he was solving a differential equation included in a speech he was set to give at Queen's University in Ontario, Canada. A spokesman for American Airlines said the woman expressed concerns about Menzio's "suspicious" behavior writing something she couldn't understand. An airline security official questioned Menzio after the plane returned to the airport. Menzio was later released and the plane again left for Syracuse after a two-hour delay. The woman who started it all took a later flight, claiming she was too sick to travel on this one. American Airlines, however, said the unnamed woman told a flight attendant she was feeling sick and wanted to return to Philadelphia. The pilot obliged. "I thought they were trying to get clues about her illness," Menzio said after he was questioned by the pilot and a security officer at Philadelphia. "Instead, they tell me that the woman was concerned that I was a terrorist because I was writing (strange) things on a pad of paper." American Airlines later said Menzio was determined not to be a "credible threat" after his interview by security personnel. Advertisement TagsGuido Menzio, university of pennsylvania, American Airlines, Queen's University, differential equation (Photo : Lam Yik Fei/Getty Images) A staff sells balloons on April 19, 2016 in Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Advertisement Shanghai Disneyland will provide safe and high-quality service to its guests, as the US-based theme park gears up for its much-anticipated opening on June 16. This was the commitment made by Robert Iger during a meeting with President Xi Jinping shortly before the amusement park's began its trial run last Saturday, China Daily reported. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement "It's good to see the fruits of efforts over the years," Xi said, as he congratulated Iger. "By working together, our two countries can accomplish some big tasks." The amusement park is a partnership between Walt Disney Co and Shanghai Shendi Group Co, in which the companies have agreed to share profits. The proposal to establish a Shanghai Disneyland was approved in 2007 when Xi was still the Shanghai's Party chief. The Chinese president noted that the park is a symbol of the deepening cooperation between China and the United States. "it is important for both sides to expand new areas of cooperation and carry on cooperation in greater depth," Xi said. "The Chinese government is totally open to such efforts" and will provide support. The Chinese leader also expressed his desire to see the passage of a bilateral investment treaty between China and the United States. "What the Walt Disney Co has achieved in China I think is a perfect example of cooperation, but it also came after years of understanding, years of building up deep respect for one another and appreciation for each other's interests," said Iger, who is also deputy chief of the US-China Business Council. "I support many efforts to strengthen US-based companies' cooperation in China," he added. "I am particularly a supporter of the bilateral investment treaty." Jia Xiudong, a research fellow with the China Institute of International Studies, pointed out that the park is clear example of "win-win" cooperation between the two nations. "It earns money, provides convenience to Chinese tourists and promotes cultural exchanges," Jia said, as he said that Shanghai Disneyland is the result of the strengthening China-US cooperation. Advertisement TagsShanghai Disneyland, Shanghai Disneyland Opening, Disneyland (Photo : Getty Images/Guang Niu) China has condemned a US report which criticized the state of religious freedom and human rights in China. Advertisement China has filed a formal diplomatic complaint against a report released by the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). The commission used critical language to condemn the state of religious freedom in China. In response, Beijing has said that the report is biased and described it as an 'attack.' Like Us on Facebook Advertisement China has filed the complaint with the United States against the report which branded China as a "country of particular concern." The report criticized the Chinese government for "deliberate and unrelenting crackdown on human rights and dissent." Speaking at a press briefing, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei stated that "The Chinese government fully respects and protects its citizens' freedom of religion in line with the law, and Chinese citizens enjoy the rights to full religious freedom in accordance with the law." He accused the US government of distorting facts to malign China's reputation. China has faced criticisms for its widely reported campaign to remove crosses from the roofs of churches. Authorities have reportedly removed more than 2,000 church crosses in Zhejiang province. The campaign was labeled a 'beautification' program. Pastor Boo Guohua and his wife, who lead a congregation in opposition to the move to remove crosses from churches, has been arrested and sentenced to 14 years and 12 years respectively in prison. The US report accused China of pursuing "policies to diminish the voices of individuals and organizations advocating for human rights and genuine rule of law." In April, five priests belonging to an underground Catholic Church in China went missing. China is an officially atheist country but offers religious freedom to all. However, the Chinese Communist Party has been wary of foreign influence through religion which may topple the country's social balance. Advertisement Tagschina, USCIRF, Catholic Church (Photo : Twitter/ASUS) Asus will launch the ZenFone 3 in Taipei on May 30. Advertisement Taiwanese Smartphone maker Asus is hosting a 'Zenvolution' event in Taipei on May 30, where it is will likely to launch the ZenFone 3 series. The company will also launch a ZenFone 3 Deluxe smartphone, ZenPad tablets, ZenBook laptops and a new ZenWatch. The event will be held at the upcoming 'Computex Taipei,' an annual technology trade fair in Taiwan. Live stream of the event, which starts at 6 a.m. GMT/2 a.m. ET on May 30, will be available here. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The third-generation smartphone in the ZenFone series comes with the Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system with the latest version of Zen UI. The budget-friendly device is likely to feature a fingerprint scanner and USB Type-C port. Asus is looking to replicate the unexpected success of the ZenFone 2 with its new ZenFone model. According to rumors, the upcoming device is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 chipset and comes with 3GB RAM, 32 GM storage, 5.5-inch 2.5D glass display screen with a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels. The Deluxe variant of the smartphone is likely to come with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB internal memory. It is expected to be powerful than the ZenFone 3 as it is likely to come with 16 MP rear camera, 8 MP front camera and a 5.9-inch display with 1280 x 720 high definition resolution. Following the success of Zenfone Laser and Zenfone Max, the company recently introduced Zenfone Zoom and ZenFone Go 4.5. Zoom is powered by a 64-bit quad-core processor and comes with a 13MP PixelMaster camera with 3X optical zoom and laser auto-focus. On the other hand, Go 4.5 features a 5-megapixel primary camera on the rear and a 0.3-megapixel secondary camera for selfies. Advertisement TagsAsus Zenfone, release date, Taipei, Zenvolution, Live Stream (Photo : Getty Images) Philippine President Benigno Aquino III. China has said whatever decision the Hague tribunal will hand down in the case filed by the Philippines against China on the South China Sea dispute will be 'illegal' Advertisement China continues to defend its maritime claims in the South China Sea. Now, Beijing says that regardless of its decision, the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration on the territorial case filed by the Philippines against China will be 'illegal.' "Those who expect that the arbitration could compel China to yield are doomed to be disillusioned. The arbitration is illegal and invalid whatever it will be. China will reject and will never acknowledge it," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters at a press briefing on Friday. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Hong's statement comes on the heels of an impending ruling by the arbitration tribunal in the Hague on the Philippines' territorial case against China. The verdict is expected to be against China. Beijing has since questioned the tribunal's legality and refused to recognize its jurisdiction saying the case does not fall within the purview of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Territorial Sovereignty Hong said Beijing continues to uphold its sovereignty in its territories in the disputed waters while complying with the provisions of international law, particularly, the UNCLOS. "China is rock-firm on safeguarding the international rule of law and the integrity and sanctity of UNCLOS," he said. China and the Philippines have been trading barbs over the issue of who owns the Scarborough Shoal, located a little more than 100 miles (160km) from the Philippines and 500 miles from China. Chinese Foreign Ministry official Ouyang Yujing has said that the Scarborough Shoal and the Spratly Islands belong to China based on the provisions of three previous international treaties. The rule of law "The core of the territorial dispute between China and the Philippines is that the latter is attempting to harm China's interests in the Nansha Islands (Spratly Islands). China firmly opposes a certain country's taking hostage the international rule of law for its own selfish gains. They are violating the law under the guise of the 'rule of law,' and China won't accept any of these acts," Ouyang said. China is claiming ownership of a large portion of the South China Sea, according to its nine-dash line. Beijing has insisted that its ownership of the islands and reefs dates back to ancient times when the entire region belonged to China. The Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei have overlapping claims in the disputed waters where $5 trillion worth of ship-borne trade passes through every year. Advertisement TagsPermanent Court of Arbitration, unclos, nine dash line, Philippines, Hague court, china (Photo : Getty Images) A new Japanese etiquette guide aimed at Chinese tourists asks travelers to stop openly farting and belching in public areas. Advertisement In a brochure called The Traveler's Etiquette Guide to Hokkaido, Japan advises tourists against openly farting and belching in public. The guide targets Chinese visitors. The brochure is an updated version of a previous guide that was only published in Chinese. Tourists complained that the first edition was patronizing, prompting the revision. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Chinese travelers may not feel much better about the new guide, which uses a Chinese proverb as a principle for tourists to follow. "A Japanese proverb of Chinese origin states, 'When you enter a village, act like its people do,'" the guide offers. The guide wastes no time getting to bodily functions. On page two, the booklet informs tourists that "Japanese will avoid bodily functions such as belching or flatulence in public entirely, or perform bodily functions as discreetly as possible." Other matters of etiquette covered by the guide include trash disposal, waiting in lines, and public smoking. There is even a section titled "The Importance of Punctuality," warning that being late could throw staff "into a panic." There are 85,000 copies of the guide in circulation on Hokkaido, which hosted more than 218,600 Chinese tourists last summer. Japan has benefited from Chinese tourism, and the Shanghaiist quoted one Chinese tourist in Japan as saying, "The Chinese are helping Japan. We've come to help solve their economic problems. The Japanese ought to thank the people of China!" Chinese tourists, while definitely providing an economic boost to Japan, have also made news for their behavior. While taking selfies with Japan's famous cherry blossoms, they have climbed and shaken trees, causing damage. One Japanese news report about the treatment of the cherry trees recommended that the Chinese tourists' access be restricted to certain areas. Advertisement TagsJapan, Chinese Tourists, Japan etiquette guide, farting, belching, Japan-China relations, cherry blossoms, Selfie (Photo : Getty Images) Rescue work in ongoing to find thirty five workers who went missing after flooding at a hydro-power construction site in southern China. Advertisement Thirty-five workers have been reported missing after a landslide triggered by heavy rain hit a construction site of a hydropower project in southeastern parts of China on Sunday. The deadly landslide occurred early Sunday morning in Taining County, Fujian Province. A rescue operation is underway, and at least nine workers have already been saved. The rescued workers have been sent to a local hospital. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement According to Chinese state media, more than 400 rescue workers are searching for the missing people at the construction site. President Xi Jinping has directed provincial authorities to organize rescue work as quickly as possible. He urged 'maximum efforts' to search for buried and missing people. Premier Li Keqiang dispatched a working team, under the State Council, to the province to oversee the rescue operation. The southern parts of China have been affected by the extremely heavy rain, leading to flooding and fatal landslides in past few days. Another landslide triggered by heavy rainfall damaged parts of a railway line in southwest China on Friday. China Meteorological Administration had issued a warning about the heavy rainfalls and floods in southern China. "The amount of rain in the area will be far above the same period in previous years," the state forecaster said last week. Advertisement Tagschina, landslide, Fujian, China Floods, Xi Jinping (Photo : Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images) A Chinese man has shown unusual kindness to rats, feeding and sharing his home to them. Advertisement An elderly Chinese man has shown unusually kind behavior to a huge number of rats, feeding them and even letting them stay in his flat, a news report says. The man, a 72-year-old father who lives with his mentally disabled daughter in southwest China, has been feeding nearly 200 rats in flat for about two months now, reports the Chongqing Economic Times. He said he felt pity for some rodents who appeared in his house at that time, and fed them. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement He would often put leftovers on the floor so that the rats could eat. He did this so that they wont be hungry, and so that more rats would come. Asked if he knew that the rodents can bring him and his daughter dangerous diseases, the man simply said that he could not harm the rodents, and that he was doing a good thing. This mans unusual hospitality to the animals shocked neighbors when they found out about it. A dozen big rats were standing in a circle on the dinner table, eating food from the bowls, said a neighbor, adding that it was while the father and daughter were having their dinner. Professionals sent by authorities to clean and decontaminate the mans flat were able to catch about 170 rats on Saturday. Authorities also tried to convince the father and daughter to transfer to a nursing home where they could be taken care of. Opposite Behaviors If that man possessed uncanny hospitality to rats, workers from a certain restaurant in China dont, as seen in a video footage posted online in December 2015, reports Daily Mail. The one-minute video shows workers at a certain unnamed restaurant pick rats up by the tail, dunk them in a bucket of boiling water, then strip them of their fur. Viewers of the video will find that the rats are squealing in pain, while the workers just go ahead with their job, laughing. The report says that this is done before the rats are turned into kebabs. Although the name and specific location of the restaurant where the video is filmed is not revealed in the report, it is reported to be in China, where rats are eaten as part of a wider meal or snack. Watch the video below. Advertisement Tagschina, rats, rodents, flat, leptospirosis (Photo : ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images) Authorities in China say that crowds, like the one pictured, should not encourage suicidal people to go on with killing themselves. Advertisement A woman from east China was trying to commit suicide and instead of stopping her, onlookers who saw her prep herself up for the act even urged her to push through, a news report says. The woman, aged about 50, was preparing to jump off the terrace located on the third floor of a building in Jinan, Shandong province when onlookers and passers-by encouraged her by shouting "just jump," the Jinan Times reported. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Rescuers were still busy planning their rescue attempt when the onlookers started shouting. They had a hard time because aside from that, they found it very difficult to place an air cushion in the floor area beneath the woman because the spot was full of temporary stalls. The woman also refused to negotiate with rescuers, and kept rejecting them for about two hours before a rescuer could finally bring her to safety - approaching her through a nearby billboard and pulling her inside to a safer area. It is unclear as to why she wanted to commit suicide. She has been transported to the hospital for examining. Public Encouragement The general public's behavior of urging suicidal persons to go on with their plan is something that Chinese authorities want to stop. It was earlier reported that in March, bystanders were also urging a man to commit suicide, this time in Hubei province. The young man, depressed from family problems and a breakup with his girlfriend, climbed up the Yiling Yangtze River bridge in Yichang in Hubei. He was still undecided in his plan to kill himself, so he did not jump upon arriving there. Bystanders who saw him climb, however, urged him to "just get on with it and die quickly." Police arrived just in time to stop the young man from possible demise. They also said that the public should not give such comments to people in similar circumstances. Advertisement TagsSuicide, Jinan, Shandong province, just do it, Hubei, Yangtze Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore gets suspended over his anti-gay marriage stance, faces removal from office Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has been suspended from his job and faces possible ouster for trying to block gay marriage despite a federal U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalised same-sex marriage throughout America. This is the second time that the Christian conservative Republican is facing a backlash for his action. In 2003, he was removed from the same position he is holding now for his refusal to follow a federal court order directing him to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the state's judicial building, The Guardian reports. He later regained his position after getting re-elected. In the current case, the 69-year-old Moore is charged with abuse of office when he issued an administrative order to probate judges in January, telling them an Alabama court order and law banning same-sex marriages remained in effect despite the U.S. Supreme Court decision affirming same-sex marriage six months earlier. In a statement he issued right after his suspension, Moore said the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission (AJIC) did not have the authority to question the order he issued. Moore criticised the AJIC for bowing to the wishes of gay and transgender people. "The JIC has chosen to listen to people like ... a professed transvestite and other gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals, as well as organisations which support their agenda," he said. "We intend to fight this agenda vigorously and expect to prevail." The Alabama Court of the Judiciarythe same body that ousted him in 2003will later decide whether Moore violated judicial ethics. If found guilty, he could be removed from office, once again. The case against Moore was triggered by a lawsuit filed by two lesbians in 2013 against Gov. Robert Bentley, Attorney General Luther Strange and Mobile County Probate Judge Don Davis. The lawsuit sought to overturn Alabama's marriage amendment after one of the women was denied from adopting the other woman's child, Christian News reports. In January 2015, U.S. District Judge Ginny Granade ruled in favour of the women. This prompted Moore to send a memo to probate judges throughout the state, advising them that they are not required to issue "marriage" licences to same-sex couples, saying that Granade's ruling only applied to the two women. Moore's letter sparked confusion in court, prompting one judge to ask the full Alabama Supreme Court for further guidance. In March 2015, six of the nine judges of the Alabama Supreme Court ordered a halt to the issuance of same-sex "marriage" licences in the state. Moore recused himself from the case. However, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) filed a judicial ethics complaint against Moore over his letter. The homosexual activist group Human Rights Campaign likewise submitted 28,000 petition signatures to the JIC calling for Moore's removal. On Friday, the JIC announced that it had filed ethics charges against Moore as a result of the SPLC complaint, and suspended the chief justice while he faces a trial before the Alabama Court of the Judiciary. Christian healthcare sharing ministries become popular alternative to Obamacare Membership in Christian healthcare sharing ministries in the U.S. has increased as people try to look for alternatives to the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, of the Obama administration. One beneficiary is the youngest child of James Lansberry, vice president of the Christian healthcare sharing group Samaritan Ministries. The child almost didn't survive his birth as he spent 11 days in a neo-natal intensive care unit, which cost over $200,000. Yet "every single dollar of those bills was paid and it was paid through gifts and notes and cards and bearing the burden from hundreds of different families across the country people who I'll never meet on earth, who took the time to not only bear the financial burden of my family, but I have cards and notes from 43 different states," said Lansberry, according to the Catholic News Agency. Instead of enrolling in private insurance or public health exchanges, member families of healthcare sharing ministries pay a monthly premium that covers each other's healthcare costs. They can also volunteer to pay even more for others' needs. Each Samaritan member has a limit of $250,000 in sharable amount, but even when costs exceed the amount, other members can volunteer to pay the additional costs. "Healthcare sharing is specifically, as we practice it at Samaritan Ministries, is a lot like moving a piano," Lansberry said Healthcare sharing ministries are allowed under Obamacare provided that the ministries existed before 2000. The number of members in the three largest health-sharing ministries Samaritan Ministries International, Christian Care Ministry or "Medi-Share," and Christian Healthcare Ministries has increased from 190,000 in 2013 to more than 311,000 in 2014, according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute. Last year, the three ministries had $253 million in healthcare costs. Scott Daniels, author of the report on ministries, says the popularity of healthcare sharing ministries can be attributed in part to the desire of families to pay only for insurance coverage they need while others also sought alternatives because of the abortion and contraception mandates under Obamacare. A government watchdog report in 2014 discovered that in federally subsidised health plans on public exchanges, insurers were not billing abortion coverage separately, leaving a possibility that federal dollars were used for elective abortions. "We need to go back to what we were as an early Christian community," says Louis Brown, director of CMF CURO, a Catholic healthcare sharing ministry that has partnered with Samaritan Ministries, meaning "accompanying each other in all aspects of our life" and ensuring that the Lord is "Lord over everything" including healthcare. Christians being pushed out of their own church by Buddhist monks in Myanmar Christians in Myanmarthe Southeast Asian country formerly known as Burmaare methodically being pushed out of their own church property by a powerful Buddhist monk and his followers. Despite the provocative action, the Christian leaders in that country are graciously enduring the Buddhist campaign so as not to inflame religious and ethnic conflicts in a country where a newly-elected democratic government is striving for national reconciliation, the Morning Star News reports. The Christian community initially raised an outcry in media when U Thuzana, a powerful monk better known as Myaing Kyee Ngu Sayadaw, called on his supporters to build a Buddhist pagoda on Anglican church property in southeastern Karen state on Monday. It would be the third Buddhist temple to be built on church lands in Myanmar. Bishop Saw Stylo of St. Mark Anglican Church said Christian leaders are trying their best not to inflame the situation since they do not want to disturb the peace in their area. Hence, they have yielded some tracts of land for the construction of the new Buddhist pagoda. "The new democratic government that came into power is trying for national reconciliation and ending armed conflict," Stylo told Morning Star News. "If we ignite [religious dispute] while the country is moving forward to a new chapter of the journey, it is likely that we will pass down a bad inheritance to our next generations. We don't want to pass down this kind of inheritance, so we don't respond." Another reason to explain the Christian community's passive response to the Buddhist campaign is based on faith. "We have to forgive each other," Stylo said. "We can only see God if we forgive. So we always have to keep forgiveness with us." All that the Christian community is praying for is for the new government under the de facto leadership of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who officially holds the titles of state counselor and foreign minister, to take action against the illegal construction of Buddhist pagodas on Christian lands. However, Stylo said they're not very hopeful of a government intervention since Buddhist organisations are among the most powerful institutions in Myanmar. Moreover, the Christians in Myanmar, mostly from the Karen minority group, have long been subjected to persecution by the country's Buddhist majority. When Britain colonised Burma, the Karen minority sided with British troops and also fought alongside the British against the Burmese government army during World War II. Many Buddhist Karen people then converted to Christianity with the help of missionaries at that time. Because of these historical events, the Christian Karen people have been subjected to discriminatory government policies. Myanmar is about 80 percent Buddhist and 9 percent Christian. Minnesota state universities lift North Carolina travel ban over bathroom law The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) have lifted the ban on non-essential travel to North Carolina that stemmed from the bathroom law signed by Gov. Pat McCrory last month. In a statement, the MnSCU, composed of 30 community and technical colleges and seven state universities, said with the recent move by the U.S. Department of Justice, "Minnesota State Colleges and Universities have lifted their ban on travel to North Carolina." Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton banned all non-essential travel to North Carolina on April 2, citing the enacted Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act that he said "blocks local governments from passing anti-discrimination rules to grant protections to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women and men." Following the move, the MnSCU presidents implemented a similar travel ban for state colleges and universities. Last May 4, the Justice Department told North Carolina that House Bill 2 violates the U.S. Civil Rights Act and Title IX, and asked that the law should not be implemented. "In light of the intervention from the U.S. Justice Department, the presidents of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities are confident that the deplorable discrimination embedded in North Carolina's legislation is being addressed," the MnSCU said. North Carolina could lose federal education funding if the law is implemented. For 2014-2015, the University of North Carolina system received $1.4 billion in funding, The Charlotte Observer reports. The Justice Department has given North Carolina until Monday to resolve the issue. In response, Gov. McCrory said, "The Obama administration has not only staked out its position for North Carolina, but for all states, universities and most employers in the U.S." He added that "the right and expectation of privacy in one of the most private areas of our personal lives is now in jeopardy. We will be reviewing to determine the next steps." Republican lawmakers in North Carolina criticised the Justice Department and President Obama. House Speaker Tim Moore described the letter as "a huge overreach (by) the federal government." Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger called the decision "a gross overreach." "The DOJ should be ashamed of itself for bullying North Carolinians, compromising the privacy and safety of our citizens, and spreading lies about what the clear language of Title IX and Title VII state," the North Carolina Values Coalition said. Planned Parenthood now offers sex change services for transgenders in bid to earn more money Planned Parenthood is now offering to help transgenders undergo a sex-change process to provide additional revenues for the abortion service provider. Fox News reports that in the wake of the undercover videos that purportedly showed Planned Parenthood officials selling baby parts, the organisation has stopped accepting reimbursements for providing foetal parts to researchers although it denied any wrongdoing. The sex-change service may make up for the lost cash, the report says. "Whether you're transgender or cisgender, you can visit your local Planned Parenthood health center for STD testing, birth control, physical exams, other sexual and reproductive health services, and referrals," Planned Parenthood's website reads. "Some Planned Parenthood health centres are able to offer hormone treatments for trans people," it adds. Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council said the backlash may come "from clients who recognise this was not in their best interest." The Mar Monte Planned Parenthood website says it only needs prospective patients to give "consent for services" although the Standards of Care manual designed by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health provides that anyone seeking sex change should be examined by a health professional to "assess clients' gender dysphoria." There are 32 Planned Parenthood clinics in 10 states California, Colorado, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, Vermont and Washington that provide hormone treatments. For younger patients, Planned Parenthood needs a parent's permission. "I'm concerned about young people. We're seeing an increasing trend with minors, children being given puberty-blocking hormones to prevent them from going through the typical process of puberty in order to make it easier for them to transition to the opposite sex," said Sprigg. The abortion provider currently offers only hormone therapy, which costs about $1,500 per year, but does not engage in sex change surgery. Sprigg said Planned Parenthood has now become a "central clearing house for the sexual revolution in all respects." President Obama includes 'transgender' moms in Mother's Day proclamation U.S. President Barack Obama found just the right occasion to once again underscore his support for the LGBT community as he included transgenders as a new class of mothers in his 2016 Mother's Day proclamation, WND reports. "On Mother's Day, we celebrate those who are first to welcome us into the world," Obama said as the nation marked the occasion on Sunday. "Performing the most important work there is, mothers biological, foster, or adoptive are our first role models and earliest motivators. They balance enormous responsibilities and shape who we become as adults, their lessons guiding us through life." Obama went on: "Regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status, mothers have always moved our nation forward and remained steadfast in their pursuit of a better and brighter future for their children." It was the first time that Obama included the phrase "gender identity" in his Mother's Day proclamation, according WND. It was not included in his 2015 proclamation where he only gave a shout-out to mothers who are "married or single, LGBT or straight, biological, adoptive, or foster." In 2014, Obama's made no mention of sexual preference or gender identity at all in his Mother's Day announcement. The President's inclusion of transgenders as a new class of mothers could add fuel to the raging controversies concerning transgender issues. The latest of such controversies was the decision taken by the Obama administration to expand alternative sexual lifestyles to the college campus. This came about after the Department of Education launched a website which critics say is dedicated to "shaming" Christian colleges that follow biblical principles rather than a leftist social agenda. The "shame list" posted online by the Department of Education features colleges that have sought exemptions to Title IX requirements that provide special treatment to transgenders. Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice threatened North Carolina with financial penalties, claiming that a new "anti-transgender" bathroom privacy law it adopted violates the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Defenders of the law said it only sought to protect women and children from being confronted by male intruders inside women's restrooms. Q: Which country hosts one of the world's fastest growing Christian communities? Clue: Mount Everest Nepal, the home of the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest, has gained another distinction. The landlocked South Asia country of 31 million people has now become one of the fastest-growing Christian communities in the world. Christians in the Hindu-majority nation now number more than 300,000, and the numbers are still rising, CBN News reports. Recent studies have shown that more and more Hindu Nepalese are embracing Jesus Christ as their Saviour. They say one reason for this phenomenon is the adoption of a new Constitution in September 2015, which turned the country from an official Hindu kingdom into a secular state. Although the new Nepalese government under President Bidhya Devi Bhandari has allowed freedom of religion, proselytising is still punishable by law. Christians in Nepal continue to suffer from inequality and persecution, according to CBN News. But despite this, Nepalese are turning to Christianity because of the love shown to them by Christians, according to Evelyn Martin, a Filipino missionary. Martin said she and her daughter Sam are "trying to bring salvation in a country where they worship 330 million gods." "Our goal is to empower and to affect other churches as well," she said. "Young people are the ones who are open to the Gospel and the young people are also on fire and they share this to their classmates, to their family members, and they have become bold." Hinduism is the religion of 80 percent of Nepal's population, according to government sources. Recently, more than 3 million Hindus from all over the world gathered in Nepal to celebrate Sheva Ratri, one of their biggest festivals. Haary Pandey is one of the former Hindus who converted to Christianity. "When I was in the Hindu religion, I had no faith in the God of that religion, but I was worshiping the gods and idols and photos," he told CBN News. Haary said he had hoped that by following rituals, the Hindu gods could solve his personal problems. Unfortunately, his problems became worse, and he was forced to leave Nepal to live with his uncle in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where he continued his studies. "When I was in UAE, I heard about Jesus Christ. My friends ... encouraged me to read the Bible, to read the Word of God," he said. Five years later, Haary went back to Nepal. A friend brought him to an annual youth camp organised by Martin. In that youth camp Haary had a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. "I couldn't believe that the Holy Spirit came inside me. From that time my faith grow bigger and bigger and I keep saying, 'Wow! God is alive. God is alive.'" Jesus freed Haary from depression and "demonic oppression." "Some of my uncles are witchdoctors and it's very hard for me to tell them I got saved, I've become a Christian," he said. "I am praying that all my family will be saved like me." There are thousands of small businesses in the greater Houston area that have operated successfully over the years. Annually, the Houston District of U.S. Small Business Administration recognizes the achievements of seven of the best of these entrepreneurs at the Small Business Awards Luncheon/Workshops/Expo hosted by the Houston Chapter of SCORE. This year's event will be held on Thursday at the Westin Houston Memorial City Hotel, 945 Gessner. By attending, you will hear the stories of these prestigious award winners, participate in topical workshops on small business, visit exhibits, and network with sponsors, representatives of banks and other lending institutions, small business entrepreneurs, SCORE mentors and other SCORE Alliance Partners. A woman died Saturday night after a medical emergency forced her flight from Chicago to San Franciso to divert to Billings. At about 9:30 p.m., air control at Billings Logan International Airport received notice the Star Alliance Boeing 737 would be making the unplanned stop. The aircraft was above South Dakota at that point and arrived in Billings about 30 minutes later, said Mike Glancy, supervisor for operations and aircraft rescue firefighting operations. Emergency crews staged ahead of the jets arrival and paramedics boarded shortly after it landed. Glancy said he did not know if the woman was alive when she arrived in Billings but she was pronounced dead at the scene. Passengers deplaned while it was inspected by mechanics and refueled. The aircraft left Billings at about midnight after it was cleared by airport personnel. The 7:15 p.m. flight from Chicago landed in San Francisco at about 1:20 a.m. Pacific Time, according to Rahsaan Johnson, United Airlines spokesperson. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Beyonce has spent much of her life as a superstar, a pop goddess and a down-home diva. Those were all on glorious display Saturday night during her sold-out show at NRG Stadium. But something has happened to Beyonce in 2016. Success has emboldened her, made her defiant and braver and bolder. The Formation World Tour is more than a concert. It's a portrait of an artist at the peak of her considerable powers, making big statements on blackness and womanhood and adult relationships. "If you didn't know, Houston, Texas is where I'm from," she quipped to the crowd. "I represent Houston, Texas." She emerged amid smoke, under a wide-brimmed hat, to the unmistakeable strains of "Formation." The crowd erupted in cheers that seemed to shake the stadium and never subsided. The massive stage was anchored by a towering LED cube and a wall of lights. A runway with a conveyor belt jutted into the aisles and onto a smaller stage near the back of the stadium. She smirked as she uttered one of the song's key lines -- "You know you that bitch when you cause all this conversation." It had added relevance given recent events. Local TV stations breathlessly reported about protests planned outside the stadium by police officers and critics who call Bey's recent work "anti-police." Members of the Nation of Islam and fans quickly assembled counterprotests. Houston Police Officers' Union President Ray Hunt, who represents more than 5,000 local police officers, said that spaces for security work at the show "quickly filled up" and he has no issue with Beyonce's artistic expression. She called the "Formation" video and Super Bowl performance anti-police brutality. Inside the stadium, it all seemed faraway and irrelevant. Merch booths sold "Boycott Beyonce" T-shirts that proved popular with fans. "I'm home," she said during a brief pause. "Thank you guys for being y'all and making me who I am. No place like Houston." The setlist drew heavily from "Lemonade," Beyonce's compelling new visual album. She charged through "Don't Hurt Yourself" with a steely gaze. Showcased kitschy country-soul during "Daddy Lessons," complete with square dancing. A bit of pop classic "I'm Sorry" preceded Beyonce's own "Sorry," which gave way to the defiant "Bow Down" and "Run the World (Girls)." She strutted across the stage with a black panther emblazoned across one of her endless supply of latex/leather/lace leotards. There were plenty of throwbacks. It's staggering, in fact, how much memorable material Beyonce has amassed in a relatively short amount of time. She flailed her arms and stomped her legs during "Baby Boy." Enchanted the crowd with silky ballad "Me Myself and I." Seamlessly blended snippets of "Countdown," "Ring the Alarm" and "Diva" with Destiny's Child classics "Independent Women" and "Bootylicious." She stood solo onstage during "Drunk in Love" and "Rocket." A row of female dancers flanked her for several numbers, including a terrifically staged "Partition" that could have been pulled from a Broadway production of "Sweet Charity" or "Chicago." "1+1," a ballad from 2011's "4" album, was a vocal standout, all pleading power notes and reverb. And the crowd lit up the entire venue with cell phones during a playback of Prince's "Purple Rain." She kicked off "Crazy in Love" with the ominous "50 Shades" version before launching into the blaring original. It fed into the backyard groove of "Party" and disco redux "Blow" (spiced up with a bit of Vanity 6's "Nasty Girl"). It was exhausting to watch. But Queen B presided over it all with an easy confidence. She traipsed barefoot across the smaller stage, kicking water onto fans, during an empowering "Freedom" and DC3's "Survivor." The best artists, performances -- and art in general -- go beyond simple adulation and temporary enjoyment. The work becomes aspirational, a reflection of your best self. It was in the small moments that Beyonce emanated that light. During "Halo" (appropriately enough), the joy was all over her face. She skipped through the water and beamed with a mix of pride and gratitude. Maybe it was the hometown love. But Beyonce truly seemed to be on top of the world. "Now," she said, "I'm gonna have me some good ol' food." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate It was a scene plucked from a zombie apocalypse at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport Saturday morning. Near the west side of the airport, a group of about 100 to 150 people stood huddled, with what appeared to be cuts, bruises, severe burns and disfigured faces with shards of glass lodged in their skin appearing like characters from "The Walking Dead." However, their smiles and laughter gave the facade away. This was only a drill. Every three years, the Federal Aviation Administration requires airports to conduct a full-scale exercise to test, train and evaluate the emergency management system in a stress environment. The exercise includes actual mobilization of police departments, fire departments, hospitals and federal agencies, such as the CDC. This is like insurance, said Bill Begely, Houston Airport Systems spokesman. You always want to have it in case of emergency, but you never want to have to use it. This weekend's scenario involved a airliner that departed from Miami landing in Houston, but colliding with a much smaller jet while on the runway. The volunteers or injured passengers were shuffled to the crash scene where they played the role they were given. They wore colored bands that signified to first responders if a passenger was injured, severely injured or dead. First responders were also given marks that they needed to hit after the mock collision. We have everyone come in waves to simulate real-life scenarios because theres an emergency were not all going to in the same location, said Ted Kitchens, George Bush Intercontinental Airport general manager. Every agency is responsible for making sure the worst-case scenario is handled in the best manner. Police officers are responsible for barricading roadways, hospitals must begin prepping for mass injuries or casualties and public information is responsible for gathering and releasing factual information. According to the FAA, an airport has the option to choose from at least 10 scenarios to choose from including incidents that involve terrorism, fires, natural disasters or crowd control. The airport system makes an effort to rotate scenarios to make sure first responders are ready to tackle whatever is thrown their way. Begely emphasized the importance of holding drills to be prepared for accidents. Houston has had its share of near disasters. In 2014, twice two planes almost collided mid-air before air traffic controllers corrected their course. Federal Aviation Administration rules say that aircraft must remain separated a half-mile vertically and 3 miles horizontally. According to 2009, American Public University System report on airport exercises, two very strong conclusions emerge from this study. First, U.S. airports have generally been aggressively planning for disasters beyond the traditional boundaries and that airport managers have a deep understanding and appreciation that good working relationships with surrounding emergency management agencies are essential to airport preparedness. In the past in the airport held similar drills. In 2002, the airport staged a mock plane crash. The imaginary flight from Cleveland crashed as it was trying to land on the runway. The airport even went as far as to give one of the volunteers the role of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. Dismembered mannequins were used to simulate body parts strewn outside of the jet. Three years ago, officials say the scenario was a hijacking. Results from the full-scale emergency drill will be assessed at a later date and utilized to strengthen Intercontinentals emergency response efforts and strategies. The exercise took place on a runway that was under maintenance, so regularly scheduled flights and operation were not affected. "This is important to our operation," Kitchens said. "Safety is a priority and something we discuss regularly, not just once every three years." UP Degrees of success. Saturday was higher ed graduation day in Billings. Montana State University Billings awarded 958 degrees, including 126 masters degrees and 226 associate degrees from City College. Additionally, 14 City College certificates were awarded. Rocky Mountain College presented degrees to 184 undergraduates, including three who also received a masters of accountancy in a dual degree program. Twenty-three RMC grads received master of educational leadership degrees. UP Community cleanup. Billings Great American Cleanup, cleared away an estimated 25 tons of litter and refuse, thanks to hundreds of Bright n Beautiful volunteers who worked last weekend. This weekend, volunteers in Laurel, Shepherd and Huntley pitched in for their spring community cleanups. UP Arbor ardor. More than 150 adult volunteers planted and pruned trees Thursday in North Park. They set up educational stations for 500 students. Kudos to the Billings Parks, Recreation and Public Lands Department on a great event and congratulations on receiving the National Arbor Day Foundation Celebration Award. DOWN Years of protest. Several million dollars in taxes protested by the CHS Laurel refinery are likely to remain in limbo till 2019, Montana Revenue Director Mike Kadas told Yellowstone County officials Tuesday. Local oil refineries have repeatedly protested and sometimes litigated their tax assessments in recent years, so the county and local schools so the county and local schools dont know how much of the revenue they will see or when. There has to be a better way to assess and resolve these refinery cases. UP Clearing our air. The Billings industrial corridor including ExxonMobil and Phillips 66 refineries has finally met federal sulfur dioxide standards and later this year will be officially designated by the Environmental Protection Agency as being in compliance. The excess SO2 designation has included the South Side and Lockwood. An emergency room nurse at Lame Deer Health Center turned to a red box on the wall and pushed a button to call for backup. With that, a silver web camera pointed to the top corner of the room swiveled around and down to look toward the patients bed, and a nearby television flickered on to show a woman in scrubs sitting at a desk in Sioux Falls, S.D. Avera ER, this is Carol, the distant nurse answered one recent April morning. She was ready to bring over a doctor to assist with diagnosis and monitoring, or to make calls and do paperwork so on-site staff would not have to leave a patient alone. The clinic in Lame Deer is the first Indian Health Service facility in the country to bring board-certified specialists into its emergency room via teleconference. The model on the Northern Cheyenne reservation is planned to expand to other reservation health centers in Montana and Wyoming starting early this summer once the Billings-area office finalizes a contract. The program reflects a broader strategy of the federal agency, which was created to fulfill the United States treaty promises to provide health care to more than 560 tribal nations in exchange for ceding most of their land. The Indian Health Service sees telemedicine as a cost-effective way to bring specialists into its hospitals and to fill gaps at rural facilities that often struggle to recruit enough medical professionals to operate at full staff. Telemedicine is part of the future, said Dr. Jonathan Gilbert, clinical director for the Billings-area IHS office. Its a fantastic way to bring board-certified specialists to a frontier community and to raise the bar. Telemedicine is not new to Montana or the Indian Health Service, but technology improvements, shifting health care demands and new, more permissive laws have spurred increasing use nationwide. For decades the costs and quality of teleconferencing often were prohibitive, particularly in a medical setting where communication must be clear, secure and reliable. Among the first telehealth projects was a partnership between the Indian Health Service, NASA and others. From 1972 to 1975, a van packed with medical instruments and equipped with a satellite connected on-site paramedics with specialist doctors at a distant hospital using a two-way microwave radio transmission. In the early 1990s, several federal programs offered grants for hospitals to research telemedicine or to pay for the needed connectivity improvements in rural areas. By the early 2000s, the Indian Health Service began rolling out telemedicine specialty programs and support services for some of its hospitals that are still used today. Echocardiograms, X-Rays and retinal images could be sent from isolated communities to specialists in the Phoenix-area office to be interpreted, reducing or eliminating the need to pay for those staff locally. In 2009, the agency received $85 million to improve electronic and telehealth capabilities, including the purchase of several video conferencing units that cost more than $15,000 each. Nowadays, other solutions are available that are software-based and can be used on existing computers, so with a nice web camera for $80 we can lower that cost bar to maybe $100, said Dr. Chris Fore, director of the IHS TeleBehavioral Health Center of Excellence, remarking on the pace of technological innovation. 'Were spending hundreds instead of thousands." Insufficient internet Some technical challenges remain. Unlike a Skype chat with distant relatives, doctors must be certain their digital communications are secure enough to transmit confidential patient information. File transfers became easier once federal law required hospitals to implement electronic patient records, variations of which had been tested years earlier at some IHS facilities. Services that require video conferencing, such as psychiatric appointments, must have reliable Internet connections with sufficient bandwidth. Those improvements can be costly for rural reservations like those in Montana, but Fore, a clinical psychologist, said it is a quality benchmark that should not be compromised. You dont want to be in the middle of a patient disclosing a sensitive, painful event and have the connection drop, he said. Additionally, many hospitals delayed implementation of telehealth technologies because it is more difficult or impossible to bill for those services as is done for the same treatments provided in-person. Twenty states still do not have parity laws that outline rules for billing telehealth services, according to the American Telemedicine Association. Montana passed its law only three years ago. Although the ability to bill insurance will help reduce program costs paid with federal funding, the Indian Health Service must provide care regardless of whether a patient has insurance. For decades, critics have argued that Congress has shortchanged the system, leading some IHS hospitals to limit services, prioritize referrals or delay care that would be routine in private hospitals. Federal leaders spend less per capita to fulfill treaty promises for Indian health care than they appropriate for patients accessing care through Medicare, Medicaid, veterans programs or serving time in federal prisons, according to a periodic review of federal records by the National Congress for American Indians. In 2012, the latest year available across all programs, Congress spent an average of $2,896 per capita on IHS patients compared to $12,042 for Medicare and $6,206 for Medicaid. And that level is nearly double the amount that had been spent before a series of increases advocated by President Barack Obama and approved by Congress. Telemedicine has been one way local IHS leaders can stretch their funding. But first, the money must be available for the initial investment. "The truth is I don't know if they have the resources to set it up (in more facilities)," said Sen. Jon Tester, the Montana Democrat who serves as vice chair of the Indian Affairs Committee. "I see plenty of examples where it's used in rural hospitals, in emergency rooms, used in the VA for mental health treatment and they're very successful, but you've got to have the infrastructure to support it. You've got to have the fiber going in and then you've got to have the people to do it and you've got to pay for the training on how to use it. All of that costs money. But it's a one-time expense." Some telemedicine programs are in-house at the federal agency. Others operate through private contracts or partnerships with medical schools. Although in-house programs tend to operate more cheaply than contractors, Fore said all provide cost savings for participating clinics by leveraging regional wage differences and economies of scale. Federal payroll records show that the Indian Health Service pays most physicians from ER doctors to cardiologists about $200,000 a year. Those salaries quickly eat up local operating funds at IHS hospitals and clinics even though they tend to be less than private sector pay. Retina examined remotely A health tech, paid a fraction of the salary of an ophthalmologist, sat next to a blue-and-white retinal scanner tucked in the corner of a small room at the Crow-Northern Cheyenne Hospital in Crow Agency recently. Dr. Lynelle Noisy Hawk, the hospitals clinical director and a patient, sat in front of the blue-and-white scanner for an eye exam that is part of the facilitys comprehensive diabetes screening. The tech pushed a button and the $85,000 machine hummed louder and louder as it warmed up. As Noisy Hawk pressed her face against the scanner, the tech touched the screen to take an orange-hued photo of blood vessels snaking through the back of the eyes light-sensitive retina. The blood vessels here are the smallest in the body, making them the first place doctors can identify diabetic complications such as a loss of vision or hypertension. Although Noisy Hawk herself doesnt have diabetes, she said she is considered high-risk for developing the condition because of her family health history. All right, lean back, the tech directed Noisy Hawk as they finished the four-minute exam. Im going to send these images down to our national reading center. From there an ophthalmologist will look at it to grade it for a specific level of diabetic retinopathy. From there, a follow up will be recommended. That small crew of ophthalmologists at a Phoenix IHS office providing advice to local physicians and optometrists saves participating hospitals the cost of those specialty salaries. Noisy Hawk said the technology also has made it easier to examine more patients by adding a quick scan to any visit rather than having to schedule around a doctor. Although the program is only available at about half of the agencys facilities, internal statistics show a 20 percent increase in the rate of exams conducted nationwide since 2007. In nearby Lame Deer, the contract with Avera Health for its teleER services costs about $72,000 a year, which is cheaper than hiring emergency medicine physicians. Nursing Director Mardell Nichols, who spearheaded the program, said it also helps solve another persistent challenge: recruitment and retention. The challenge with rural health care is youre not going to find a board-certified ER doctor or emergency family practitioner to work in your ER, Nichols said. Rural facilities in particular struggle to recruit doctors as the number of primary care providers plummets and pay surges for those in specialty fields. If they do hire someone skilled, it is often not long before neighboring urban hospitals offer them a raise. The next site expected to launch a teleER like the one in Lame Deer is the Blackfeet Community Hospital in Browning. CEO Dee Hutchison said the facility has struggled to bring emergency-medicine doctors to the small Hi-Line community, forcing family practitioners to take extra rotations through the ER that reduce their availability for primary care patients. Fore said that while the cost efficiencies are critical in a cash-strapped system, the primary driver behind IHS' telehealth programs are to increase access to specialties that improve the quality of care. Discussions about telemedicine really have changed, Fore said. It used to be at conferences that wed ask, Is telehealth effective? Is it as good? Now, the research shows that, in some cases, it may be better than in person. Mental health care Fore said some advantages of telemedicine can be surprising, listing examples from his experience with the agencys psychiatry program. Patients travel to the same hospitals for a counseling appointment whether it is in-person or by video conference, yet they are 2 times less likely to skip a teleconference session, according to internal data from 2012. Likewise, initial internal reviews and anecdotal evidence suggest that the physical distance helps patients open up about difficult experiences more quickly than if they received therapy in-person, potentially speeding up treatment progress. Many tribal communities are small, insular, everybody knows everything going on, Fore said of the program used at Fort Peck Indian Reservation, among others. Patients have told us they like that they wont see their provider at a gas station or at Wal-Mart. Theres a feeling that its more confidential. Nathan Moyer, nurse ER director at Crow-Northern Cheyenne Hospital, said he is excited about the possibility of the teleER program coming to the Crow Agency facility. Weird stuff happens that you dont know what to do about. Having the ability to do a quick video consult with a specialist and ask, 'How do you manage this?'" he said. We dont have a lot of resources at three oclock in the morning. When we have a multi-trauma come in, it would be great to have another set of eyes to take a look at your patient or monitor their vital signs. Simple things where you can free somebody up for 5 minutes to care for someone else. Even when an ambulance arrives with seriously wounded patients, Nichols agreed that it helps to have a doctor available at the push of a button to issue lifesaving medical orders. We have a doctor on call at night, but hes 30 miles away, she said, noting that delaying care even minutes can matter. Its a safety net for sure. Houston voters on Saturday selected Jarvis D. Johnson to fill the remainder of the unexpired term of former District 139 State Representative Sylvester Turner, now mayor of Houston. Johnson, a former Houston city councilman, defeated Rickey "Raykay" Tezino in Saturday's race, according to unofficial results. He was the only challenger. Johnson will serve until at least January. To hold on to the position past that point, Johnson will have to defeat Kimberly Willis in a May 24 special election. Willis, a social worker and community activist, did not choose to compete in Saturday's bid to fill Turner's unexpired term, instead focusing her efforts on the May 24 match up. Primary runoff elections in judicial, sheriff's and constable races will also be held that day. In other races Saturday, Joe R. Zimmerman had a slight lead over the other candidates vying to become the new mayor of Sugar Land, replacing James A. Thompson who could not seek re-election due to term limits. It was also too early to say whether voters had approved a proposal to modify the term limits of Sugar Land council members to no more than three consecutive three-year terms in a 10-year period. Also in Fort Bend County, Allen Owen had a lead over businessman and political newcomer Fred G. Taylor in Missouri City mayor's contest. Richmond voters selected Barry C. Beard to fill an open commissioner's seat and also approved increasing the number of commissioners from two to four while representing certain districts. Fulshear voters selected Jeff Roberts as mayor and Tricia Krenek, Stephen Gill and James Murdoch as aldermen. They also voted to approve a home rule charter for the growing Fort Bend county community. In Montgomery County, Jim Gentry was elected mayor of Conroe, according to unofficial results. Current Mayor Webb Melder could not seek re-election due to term limits. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Google Maps Screen Shot Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Google Maps Screen Shot Show More Show Less 3 of 3 A League City father shot and killed a man allegedly trying to rob him while he was in his car at a drive-thru on South State Highway 3. The would-be robber approached the car with a man and child in the drive-thru with a gun. The driver, a licensed handgun carrier, shot the man multiple times in the chest. He was taken to Clear Lake Regional Medical Center, where he died, authorities said. Houston voters Saturday selected Jarvis D. Johnson to fill the remainder of the unexpired term of former District 139 State Representative Sylvester Turner, now mayor of Houston. Johnson, a former Houston city councilman, defeated Rickey "Raykay" Tezino in Saturday's race, according to unofficial results. He was the only challenger. Johnson will serve until at least January. To hold on to the position past that point, Johnson will have to defeat Kimberly Willis in a May 24 special election. Willis, a social worker and community activist, did not choose to compete in Saturday's bid to fill Turner's unexpired term, instead focusing her efforts on the May 24 match up. Primary runoff elections in judicial, sheriff's and constable races will also be held that day. In other races Saturday, Joe R. Zimmerman become the new mayor of Sugar Land, replacing James A. Thompson, who could not seek re-election due to term limits. Voters rejected a proposal to modify the term limits of Sugar Land council members to no more than three consecutive three-year terms in a 10-year period. Also in Fort Bend County, Allen Owen defeated Fred G. Taylor in Missouri City mayor's contest. Richmond voters selected Barry C. Beard to fill an open commissioner's seat and also approved increasing the number of commissioners from two to four while representing certain districts. Fulshear voters selected Jeff Roberts as mayor and Tricia Krenek, Stephen Gill and James Murdoch as aldermen. They also voted to approve a home rule charter for the growing Fort Bend county community. In Montgomery County, Jim Gentry was elected mayor of Conroe, according to unofficial results. Current Mayor Webb Melder could not seek re-election due to term limits. In Friendswood, Mike Forman and Carl W. Gustafson were elected to the city council. Voters there also approved a street maintenance sales and use tax and a downtown improvement sales and use tax. Voters on Saturday also decided several school board races. In Spring Branch ISD, realtor J. Carter Breed defeated Julie Jaehne in the only contested school board race. In Katy ISD, George Scott narrowly upset incumbent Joe Adams for a seat on the school board. The Splendora school district narrowly approved a $30 million bond measure. It passed by nine votes - 254 supported it, 245 voted against. A Houston SWAT team spent several hours early Sunday negotiating with a man who barricaded himself in a southwest Houston apartment after he assaulted his girlfriend and commanded his pit bull to attack her. Houston police responded to an assault-in-progress call at 11:30 p.m. Saturday at an apartment complex at 5500 El Camino Del Rey, near Chimney Rock. Upon arrival, officers found an injured woman and a man who barricaded himself inside when he saw authorities. 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. Wolbaum certified Dorleen Wolbaum, director of Heartland Child Nutrition, has earned the Child and Adult Care Food Program Management Professional Certification from the National CACFP Sponsors Association. Wolbaum attended training and workshops to further her knowledge of the CACFP program. Changes at Kupper Two employees at Kupper Chevrolet, Mandan, have new roles. Bill Hilfer, with the dealership as a detail technician since 2013, was promoted to recon manager. Bill Stepp, who joined the sales staff in 2015, has switched departments to act as an adviser in the service department. Ellison recognized Bruce Ellison, a representative at 4431 Memorial Highway in Mandan, has been named the April adviser of the month by Securian Financial Advisors of N.D. Inc. based on production and client service. Shaw hired by KLJ Allen Shaw has been hired as a paleontologist at KLJ, Bismarck. Shaw earned a masters degree and a bachelors degree in geology from Brigham Young University. He has more than 20 years of experience in geology and paleontology. De Leon joins Carlos de Leon has joined the audio/visual department at KK BOLD in Bismarck. De Leon graduated from the University of South Dakota with a bachelors degree in mass communication and worked for advertising agencies and video production companies in the Midwest and Southwest. Dittus with Oaktree Tammy Dittus has joined Oaktree Realtors as a real estate agent in Bismarck. Three join Bianco Chris Braun, Chris Hall and Phyllis Rittenbach recently obtained their real estate licenses and have joined Bianco Realty in Bismarck. With changes to federal regulations, condos in Bismarck-Mandan could be more marketable, particularly to first-time home buyers. About 80 percent of first-time buyers use Federal Housing Administration loans when buying a home, said Century 21 Realtor Amy Hullet. The loan program lowers the down payment required to buy a home but it comes with a lot of guidelines. Many times, with a few small improvements, Hullet can make a home qualify for FHA, but condos are more tricky. The condo market is not as buyer friendly to first-time home buyers using FHA, Hullet said. FHA approval on condos requires application by the condo association, which can be a long and confusing process for the associations run by condo owners. Many of the older condos around Bismarck-Mandan fall into the $150,000 to $200,000 range good for homebuyers using FHA, but a lot of buyers cant buy them because the units dont have the approval. Hullet said she can think of one unit in particular that she has had to turn down buyers on several times. Less than half of the condos on the market locally are FHA approved, Hullet said. If a condo is FHA approved, it is bolded in the listing and often flies off the market. People still want to own something, said Hullet, adding that many are trying to get out of apartment living. In November, FHA issued a temporary guidance to streamline the condo recertification process. The guideline will last one year, at which time FHA will revise its condominium approval process with a rule change. The streamline would take the application from 25 pages to about three pages, Hullet said. In order to change the rule, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which runs the program has to release a proposed rule in the Federal Register, open it for public comment for 60 days, implement suggested changes then publish the final rule. This week, Hullet will travel to Washington, D.C., for a mid-year meeting of realtors to visit with officials and learn about national trends and programs, including the status of the changes. Hullet said the impetus for change came from coastal states, such as Florida and California, because condo living is more of a lifestyle there. But it could have implications on the Bismarck-Mandan market, too. There were 87 condos on the market in Bismarck-Mandan Wednesday. Of those, only three were above $250,000 and unavailable to FHA buyers. About 20 were under contract and several were pending closing, but about 60 were open for sale. Currently, there are not many new condos being built in the area, with builders opting more for patio homes and twin homes, Hullet said. But when condo developments, such as Edgewood Vista, went up, the demand was fast and furious, she said. Theres a need for that middle-of-the-row condo, she said. I cant find condos that meet the need for my turnkey clients. The rule change would help but whether developers would take advantage is unknown. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- It's time to meet all the dogs named Lola through Maeby in cleveland.com's contest to find the Cutest Dogs in Greater Cleveland. With more than 2,000 dogs entered in the contest, cleveland.com is publishing all of the pictures over a two-week period organized in alphabetical order by dog names. In the photo gallery above are all the dogs named Lola through Maeby. Two photo galleries will be posted each day -- one in the morning and one in the afternoon -- at cleveland.com/best through Friday, May 13. The galleries contain one photo of each dog entered in the contest through email or by attending the free photo shoot event that was held at Edgewater Park in April. Scroll down for links to all the other galleries that have been published to date. Or, click this link just below to see an overall index of photo galleries. Meanwhile, a five-person selection committee from cleveland.com is pouring over the photos to decide the 100 finalists. From there, readers will determine the Top 10, as well as the order of the Top 10 through voting in online polls. Here are key dates in the Cutest Dogs contest: Monday, May 2: Contest begins with daily series of photo galleries of all dogs competing in the contest, published in alphabetical order by dog names. Friday, May 13: Final photo galleries publish. Monday, May 16: The 100 Cutest Dogs finalists are announced, along with an online poll to determine the Top 10. Readers will be able to vote for their favorite in a poll on cleveland.com. Monday, May 23: Top 10 winners from the online poll are announced. New poll begins to decide overall winner and order of Top 10 finish. For the Top 10, 80 percent will be based on the online poll, 10 percent will be based on voting by a celebrity/dog expert panel, and 10 percent will be based on voting by a panel of children judges. Friday, May 27: Winner of Cutest Dogs contest announced, along with the order of the Top 10 finish. Here are links to the photo galleries that have been published thus far: Note: During the week of May 23 we will also publish special category winners such as Cutest Nose, Best Hair, Cutest Ears. Look for lots more content throughout the month at cleveland.com/best, including videos and features. Remember, if you don't see your dog pictured yet please be patient and watch for the alphabetical galleries to roll out daily through May 13. Notable: To be eligible for the Top 10, the dog must reside in Northeast Ohio (Cuyahoga, Lorain, Medina, Summit, Portage, Lake and Geauga counties). Note to cat lovers: Cleveland.com will conduct a big contest to find the Cutest Cats in Northeast Ohio later this year, including a free photo shoot event. More details will be announced at cleveland.com/best. wellness-nutrition-2 Big opportunity making its rounds in Northeast Ohio tech industry. (Courtesy photo) CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Big opportunity is making its rounds in the Northeast Ohio tech community this year. Take note, entrepreneurs. Acceleration Systems is experiencing the largess of a new product launch rapidly Michael C. DeAloia achieving market acceptance. 43North, a Buffalo, New York-based tech accelerator, is seeking Cleveland companies to apply to join its next class of startup companies. Top winner at the accelerator this year wins a cool $1 million investment. And finally, Cleveland-based OnShift continues to reap investor confidence and cash as the company recently completed an $18 million Series D round of capital. Accelerating Success. For all of you who follow the regional tech scene, I might suggest you keep an eye out for Acceleration Systems. This is a company that is going to have every opportunity for great success. The core technology at Acceleration Systems delivers bandwidth optimization designed to increase the speed and efficiency of "any last-mile Internet connection." In essence, if you are using a slow Internet connection or are in a rural area - the technology created by Acceleration will help create fast, reliable Internet connections. The technology has been in the works since 2010, although the company was created in 2012 and patents were filed in 2013. In April of 2013, Mike Kister became president and CEO of the company. Kister has a spectacular entrepreneurial resume including former president/CEO of SkyCasters, LLC (a satellite telecom/ISP) and co-founder of Multiverse, a startup ISP. Since joining the company, Kister has focused on proof of concept and completed a seed round in late 2013. The key investor in Acceleration Systems is Pete Musser, famed founder, chairman and CEO of Safeguard Scientifics and now CEO of The Musser Group, a partnership capital group based in Philadelphia. To date the company has raised $5 million. Acceleration Systems is now focused on a new product - StreamBed - that can compress and accelerate streaming data and encrypted data. Both open new doors for revenue growth. Encrypted data was roughly 3 percent of all Internet traffic in 2013, nearly 35 percent of all Internet traffic in 2015, and expected to be 70 percent of all Internet traffic this year. Businesses need their encrypted data to move faster through the Internet ... queue Acceleration Systems for their entrance onto the national stage. Kister has created a "global startup" by having software development in Ireland and CIO located in Hong Kong. Customers are global. "I love doing startups in Northeast Ohio," Kister said, because rent is inexpensive, tech talent is abundant and there's a great Midwestern work ethic. "We move at a startup pace. Meaning we move really, really fast." Buffalo Billion. For all the startup entrepreneurs in Northeast Ohio ... I am curious to know if you would like $1 million dollars? If so, you should apply for 43North's $5 million Start-Up Competition where the grand-prize winner receives a $1 million investment for a 5 percent equity stake (for those of you keeping score at home that is a $20 million post-money valuation). Nine other winners will share $4 million in investments. Other prizes include a year of free space in the 43North's incubator, mentorship and incentives from Start-Up NY (including free taxes for 10 years). Not to mention a boatload of media exposure. 43North's Director of Marketing Peter Burakowski recently met with various groups in Northeast Ohio to stir up a lot of excitement for the Buffalo, NY-based incubator's startup competition. Borne out of the Buffalo Billion Initiative to invest heavily in high-tech ventures - 43North is a world-renown incubator that has helped companies from Israel, Boston, New York, Taiwan and, yes, even Columbus, launch fast. The ultimate goal of 43North is to target great tech companies, invest in them, and move them to Buffalo. This activity then reshapes local perspectives on the city. Smart. Burakowski was quick to offer, "Companies of 43North are treated like Rock Stars in Buffalo." When was the last time anyone said that in Cleveland? If interested, the 50-question application form can be found on the 43North website. There is an application fee of $100 and applications are due May 31. I would be interested in knowing of any Cleveland companies that apply. 18 Million and Counting. OnShift CEO Mark Woodka and Vice President of Marketing Marti Bowman recently talked with me about the company's successful $18 million Series D capital raise. Luckily, Marty Felsenthal, managing member of Health Velocity Capital and lead investor of the company's Series D round, was also available to chat. It's always exciting to sit down with an investor not from the Cleveland area to pick his or her brain on what attributes of the company made them want to invest. Turns out that Felsenthal was introduced to OnShift through Jim Weisman over at BioEnterprise. While the initial conversation did not lead to an investment by Felsenthal and Health Velocity Capital - both he and Woodka kept in touch and maintained a great relationship. When the opportunity presented itself for an investment, Felsenthal was captivated by the special culture of OnShift. "Not often in your investment career is a company executing well, has little churn in employees, is experiencing high growth, high margins and continuously beating its national competition, " Felsenthal said. Yet OnShift is doing all of that and more. Felsenthal is reassured about his investment, "I have a lot of conviction around OnShift." As do others in Draper Triangle Ventures, Early Stage Partners, Fifth Third Capital, HLM Venture Partners, North Coast Venture Fund and West Capital Advisors joined Health Velocity Capital in completing OnShift's latest round. Uses for the $18 million in committed capital include building a larger sales and marketing department, adding products and other applications to the core software and enhancing OnShift's customer care processes. Woodka was quick to point out the great faith and respect he has in his investor base not to mention his four "take aways" in raising capital: establish relationships with investors before you need them focus on the business and what investors care about be great stewards of the capital be honest (not all news is good news) Cheers to seizing opportunities and wishing great success to everyone involved at OnShift - one of the best managed tech companies in Northeast Ohio and now one of the best capitalized, as well. 9 y.o. boy shot on Cleveland's East Side Cleveland police remained at the scene about 9 p.m. of a possible drive-by shooting on East 66th Street near Superior Avenue on Cleveland's East Side. A 12-year-old boy was shot in the knee. (Jane Morice, cleveland.com) CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The 12-year-old boy injured in a drive-by shooting Saturday in Cleveland is recovering at a hospital, family and friends said. The boy suffered a gunshot wound to the knee in the shooting on East 66th Street near Superior Avenue, police said. He is recovering at Rainbow Babies & Children's hospital, a man who identified himself as the boy's uncle said Sunday. Neighbor Laura Stochl said she spoke with the boy's mother on Sunday morning. The mother said the boy could be in the hospital for several days, Stochl said. No arrests have been made in a drive-by shooting, police said Sunday. Investigators believe an unknown person opened fire when a van drove by a house about 8 p.m., police said. The uncle -- who refused to provide his name during an interview outside his house -- said he and friends had been involved in an argument with several unidentified men at a nearby convenience store. The other men followed the uncle and his friends back to East 66th Street and opened fire on the house, the uncle said. The boy was on the porch with several other people at the time, police said. The uncle denied knowing the shooters. A Cleveland police spokeswoman did not respond to a request for more information about the shooting. Neighbors described the injured boy as being kind and helpful. He would often help rake yards, Stochl said. "He's a good kid," she said. "I like him. I feel bad." Investigators remained at the shooting scene late Saturday. Numerous evidence markers sat in the middle of East 66th Street, and officers could be seen looking at a bullet hole that went into a white van parked in a house's driveway. Note: Earlier police reports identified the victim as being 9 years old. The victim is 12 years old, police said Sunday. If you'd like to comment on this post, please visit the cleveland.com crime and courts comments section. cleveland police car.jpg A Cleveland man is dead and another injured after an early Saturday shooting outside a strip club on the city's East Side. (File photo) CLEVELAND, Ohio - A Cleveland man is dead and another injured after they were shot early Saturday by an unidentified man outside a strip club on Cleveland's East Side. Joel December, 27, was shot in the head and leg, Cleveland police spokeswoman Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia said. December was found in the parking lot of the Bug-A-Boo Strip Club on the 5600 block of Harvard Avenue in Cleveland's South Broadway neighborhood. Police responded to the club about 1:45 a.m. after receiving a call of shots fired, Ciaccia said. Officers found December lying on his back, and paramedics pronounced him dead about 2 a.m. at the scene. December's 35-year-old friend was also struck in the leg by a bullet, and he was taken to MetroHealth by paramedics for treatment, Ciaccia said. During their initial investigation, Cleveland homicide detectives learned that the shooter was escorted by a bouncer out of the strip club minutes before the incident because he was intoxicated. In the parking lot, the shooter started arguing with December and his friend and fired shots at the duo, Ciaccia said. The shooter left the club in a car, but police did not get a description of the car, Ciaccia said. No arrests have been made. The incident remains under investigation. If you'd like to comment on this post, please visit the cleveland.com crime and courts comments section. CLEVELAND, Ohio - Happy Mother's Day! We hope you're celebrating mom with a card and a hug. Are you graduating from college? How are decorating your cap? We want to see it. In case you need a break from either holiday, he's a look at recent news you may have missed. What would you like to see in Cleveland? Duckboats? Parasailing? Medieval Times? Check out the list of tourist attractions we've seen elsewhere and would like to import. Looking to take a hike? Historical walking tours of downtown Cleveland start again May 15. Looking for a home? Cleveland State University will spend $5,015 a month to lease the new home for President Ronald Berkman, Karen Farkas reports. CSU is leasing the $800,000 home from the university's Euclid Avenue Development Corporation, a non-profit organization formed by CSU to finance and manage housing and parking projects. The house is the second for Berkman. Hit by a foul ball? The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that a spectator hit by a foul ball during a Cleveland Indians game can seek damages from the team, Sabrina Eaton reports. Working overtime without getting paid overtime? You could be on the verge of a bigger paycheck, Stephen Koff reports. Thanks to a federal rule that could come out in a week, your boss would have to pay you overtime or else increase your salary to just north of $50,000. Smoking e-cigarettes? They're about to get more regulation, Koff reports. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday that it will regulate e-cigarettes, cigars, hookah tobacco and pipe tobacco. And minors will no longer be able to buy e-cigarettes. Wondering what will happen to the Cudell gazebo? The Smithsonian is not interested. The museum blamed poor communication for a false impression that the museum wanted to preserve the Cleveland gazebo where 12-year-old Tamir Rice was fatally shot, Bob Higgs reports. Feeling broke? East Cleveland is too. The troubled city has asked the state to approve a petition for municipal bankruptcy -- a step that could give breathing room to the city's problems, Emily Bamforth reports. Tired of driving to Pittsburgh? Ikea Columbus breaks ground off I-71 near Polaris on May 25, Bamforth reports. It should open next year. Reading up on competing marijuana pushes? Most lawmakers in the GOP-controlled General Assembly don't like the idea of legalizing marijuana for any use, Jackie Borchardt reports. But all signs indicate Ohioans would approve a medical marijuana ballot measure, and lawmakers would rather be able to control legal cannabis through legislation instead of catering to a law crafted by advocates or out-of-state interests. Trying to balance gay rights with religious freedom? One Ohio lawmaker is. Borchardt explains his bill. 9 y.o. boy shot on Cleveland's East Side Cleveland police remained at the scene about 9 p.m. of a possible drive-by shooting on East 66th Street near Superior Avenue on Cleveland's East Side. A 12-year-old boy was shot in the knee. (Jane Morice, cleveland.com) CLEVELAND, Ohio -- No arrests have been made in a drive-by shooting that injured a 12-year-old boy Saturday evening on Cleveland's East Side, police said. The boy suffered a gunshot wound to the knee in the shooting on East 66th Street at Superior Avenue, Cleveland police spokeswoman Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia said. His uncle took him to Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital to be treated. The boy's current condition is unknown. Ciaccia confirmed the boy was wounded in a drive-by and released new information about the shooting Sunday morning. Investigators believe an unknown person opened fire when a van drove by about 8 p.m., Ciaccia said. The boy was on a porch with several other people at the time. Investigators remained at the shooting scene late Saturday. Numerous evidence markers sat in the middle of East 66th Street, and officers could be seen looking at a bullet hole that went into a white van parked in a house's driveway. Note: Earlier police reports identified the victim as being 9 years old. The victim is 12 years old, Ciaccia said Sunday. If you'd like to comment on this post, please visit the cleveland.com crime and courts comments section. Wind Energy Nebraska Guest columnist Sarah Batke, of Lakewood, urges Ohio to move forward on clean energy initiatives. (Nati Harnik/AP Exhange/file photo) Sarah Batke Guest columnist Sarah Batke is a mom and member of the clean energy advocacy group Climate Parents. She lives in Lakewood. In our fractious political climate, there is an issue that cuts through the partisan divide: support for clean energy. And for good reason -- clean energy means good jobs, economic growth, energy independence, cleaner air, and healthy communities. Democrats and Republicans alike have benefited from the $775 million capital investment the wind industry has made in Ohio. The growth in wind was a factor in attracting companies like Amazon and other tech companies to Ohio. States that move fastest into clean energy have a competitive economic advantage. Unfortunately, Ohio took a big step backward on clean energy when the legislature voted to freeze Ohio's renewable portfolio standard in 2014. It took another step backward when Attorney General Mike DeWine joined Ohio to the lawsuit challenging the Clean Power Plan -- the federal policy to cut fossil fuel pollution from electricity generation, the nation's largest source of carbon emissions. The anti-clean power lawsuit recently worked its way to the Supreme Court, which voted 5-4 to stop implementation of the Clean Power Plan until the legal challenge is heard by a lower court. Despite the Supreme Court decision, states can -- and must -- continue planning for a rapid transition to clean energy and energy efficiency. It's not just public health and environmental leaders that are making this call. The Executive Director of the Ohio Conservative Energy Forum, Mike Hartley, recently told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that "we must not allow the Clean Power Plan delay to serve as an excuse to keep Ohio's energy future on hold. Such a move would be misguided and result in the state falling even further behind the rest of the nation." Governor John Kasich has not yet signaled his intentions on clean energy planning, although he has stated on the presidential campaign trail that he acknowledges human-caused climate change and supports development of all renewables. To make good on those words, Kasich should join the growing number of governors around the country that have already committed to moving forward now with strong state clean power plans. States that choose to sit on their hands during the Clean Power Plan legal challenges will find themselves falling behind states that are embracing a clean energy future and reaping benefits like good jobs, cleaner air, and better health. The demand for low-carbon energy is growing quickly, and will only get stronger as technologies advance, prices come down, and supportive policies are enacted. If Ohio is to be a clean energy leader, it should be a leader, not a follower, in developing a state clean power plan. Moving quickly to develop and implement a strong clean power plan based on renewable energy and energy efficiency is the right thing to do, and will send an important signal to energy investors that Ohio is very open to clean energy business. The only beneficiaries of delaying a shift to clean power are big polluters, who would have us continue to take a high stakes gamble on our kids' future. The time is now for Ohio to move forward on clean, renewable energy by developing a state clean power plan. Readers are invited to submit Opinion page essays on topics of regional or general interest. Send your 500-word essay for consideration to Linda Kinsey at lkinsey@cleveland.com. Essays must also include a brief bio and headshot of the writer. Essays rebutting today's topics are also welcome. Christian Vittorio In this May 20, 2015, file photo, Christian Vittorio, an American Electric Power transmission field coordinator, gives a tour of an AEP electrical transmission substation in Westerville, Ohio. After its recent decisions in favor of AEP and FirstEnergy Corp., the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio's politically skewed composition needs to be rethought, writes Thomas Suddes. (John Minchillo, Associated Press, File, 2015) Utility rates, fracking, workers' compensation: Ultimately, state government referees or umpires rival demands on Ohioans' checkbooks, liberties and natural resources; or tries to address injuries; or aims to right wrongs. For that to work, the refs or umpires in Columbus are supposed to see both sides, then reach decisions fair to the public interest as well as private interests. Common sense, though, suggests it'd be dicey - in terms of fairness - if all the officials at the Ohio State-Michigan game were Michigan grads, or if a Browns-Steelers game were refereed only by Pittsburghers. Which brings us to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, which is supposed to be sure that electric and gas companies charge Ohioans fair prices. Three of the five PUCO members are Republicans, though, a party that, all else equal, is friendly to big businesses, such as utilities. Rank-and-file Ohioans, regardless of politics, have to get by. And utility rates are a factor in making ends meet. Yet the Statehouse utilities lobby, along with lobbies representing banks, insurance companies, nursing home proprietors and oil-and-gas frackers, is among the most powerful in Columbus. Utilities and other corporate giants will argue, and they're correct, that they're big employers - "job-creators," and all that. But they're also big political players - and not just out of civic-mindedness. Four-term Republican Gov. James A. Rhodes is credited with the slogan, "Profit isn't a dirty word in Ohio." Today, those words might as well be chiseled on the outer walls of the Statehouse. (And given what goes on inside, "chiseled" is the perfect word, in more ways than one.) A looming PUCO vacancy means Republican Gov. John Kasich will soon appoint a new PUCO member. True, given the five-member commission's seeming ... deference ... to FirstEnergy Corp. (the Illuminating, Ohio Edison and Toledo Edison companies) and American Electric Power Co. (the Ohio Power Co.), a new PUCO member likely wouldn't re-orient the panel, at least not much. Besides, anybody who might rock the boat wouldn't be picked. Still, it's beyond ridiculous that none of the PUCO commissioners is a Democrat. Besides the three GOP incumbents (including Chairman Andre Porter, who's leaving the commission May 20, creating the vacancy Kasich will fill), two independents are PUCO members. Ohio law forbids more than three of the five commissioners to belong to the same party but doesn't require at least one commissioner to be selected from each major party. Ohio law would require that, if the General Assembly passed House Bill 122, sponsored by Rep. David Leland, a Columbus Democrat. But for some mysterious reason, even though HB 122's co-sponsors include a GOP conservative, Rep. Kristina Roegner, of Hudson, Leland's bill has moved about as far as an anvil pushed by an ant. Complete coincidence: Republicans, led by Speaker Clifford A. Rosenberger of Clinton County's Clarksville, run the Ohio House 65-34, a bigger majority than any that the House's 20-year speaker, the late Scioto County Democrat Vernal G. Riffe, ever had. And the last time Democrats ran the state Senate was in 1984. Ohio law creates a mechanism for a nominating council to recommend people for gubernatorial appointment to the PUCO. But Kasich, like previous governors of both parties, can pretty much appoint whomever he wants to the Public Utilities Commission. And he will. PUCO appointments matter, because the commission is supposed to work out compromises between the competing interests of Ohio consumers and giant, politically connected utilities. If you don't know whether today's PUCO is doing that fairly, look at your next electric bill. That'll suggest an answer. Thomas Suddes, a member of the editorial board, writes from Athens. To reach Thomas Suddes: tsuddes@gmail.com, 216-999-4689 Richard Tollef Novy, 65, Aurora, Colo., died May 3, 2016, at his home. Services will be held at Lord of the Hills Lutheran Church in Centennial, Colo. A wake will be held at 7 p.m. MDT Monday with services at 10:30 a.m. MDT Tuesday, May 10. Following church services, will be Richard's interment at 1:30 p.m. MDT at Fort Logan National Cemetery, Denver. Richard was born Feb. 3, 1951, in Bismarck. He was the middle of three children. He was preceded in death by his grandmother, Ethel Suby; his grandfather, Tollef Suby; and his father, Peter Novy. He is survived by his wife, Barbara; his mother, Donna Novy; his brother, Peter Novy; his sister, Susan Novy; his son, Richard Jr.; and his daughter, Danielle; his son, Robert and his wife, Jennifer, their daughter, Jourdan and sons, Chance and Riley; and son, Ryan, his wife, Cindy, and their son, Ryan Jr. and daughter, Charly. Richard graduated from Mandan High School in North Dakota and joined the Army in 1969 and proudly served until he retired after 27 years in 1996 in Fort Drum, N.Y. While a member of the U.S. Army, he spent time in Germany, Korea, Alaska, Panama, and Haiti as well as numerous state side assignments. While in northern New York, he volunteered with the cities of Carthage, W. Carthage and Watertown. After his time in northern New York, he and Barb moved to Aurora, Colo., to be close to family. Richard and his wife, Barbara, enjoyed traveling to all parts of the world after retirement and always enjoyed being outside, both as a soldier and civilian. His interests included: hunting, camping, fishing, hiking, volunteering, genealogy, military history, and most of all lately spoiling and enjoying his grandchildren. In lieu of flowers the family would prefer anyone who would like to make donations to donate to any military charity in Richard's memory. (Memoriams.com, Englewood, Colo.) 09FGELDERLY.jpg (Plain Dealer photo illustration, Andrea Levy) Raymond Abbott is a retired social worker My mother is gone now, been gone for four years. She died a few days shy of her February birthday when she would have turned 99. Up until the previous Thanksgiving, she was walking well and still able to drive her car. She learned to drive at age 62 when I just insisted she learn. She lived alone, my father was elsewhere, and so I bought her driving lessons. The mobility, the freedom a car represented meant a lot to her, more as the years passed. And she didn't easily give up driving, let me tell you. I spoke at her funeral mass in Newburyport, Massachusetts, where she lived most of her life. I know she had prepaid for her own funeral, but I did not know until I was back in Newburyport how much she had paid. They ought to have been ashamed. I kept quiet though, because I knew she would wish for me to be silent about it. But it still grates me today. I said to the crowd in the church that day, and there were quite a number for a woman as old as she was, how my mother had a memory of a rally in Newburyport celebrating the end of World War I. Woodrow Wilson was then president; she was that old. But mostly, what I had to say to those gathered was to tell them to be careful what they wish for, meaning most of the people there, for I imagined they hoped to live to the age of 100 or more. I explained how my mother was well for nearly all of her life. She sometimes boasted how she went through all of grade school and high school without missing a single day. And she was 73 before she took so much as an aspirin. (Perhaps that is an exaggeration.) Yet there was an abiding loneliness she suffered with. I saw it up close. It was something she was unprepared for, too, and I believe she never got used to it. Oh, she had a lot of family around her right up to the end. But by her 90s, there were no friends or relatives of her generation left. Not so much as a second cousin, she told me more than once. And there was an added sadness at the death of my sister, Kathy, two years before, her youngest child. My mother and I traveled together a lot in her later years. Twice, we went to Yellowstone National Park. She was 95 the last time we were there. She loved the wildlife, the wolves, bears, and of course, bison. She wasn't much for the glitter of a place like Las Vegas, but she'd go there too, if invited. She'd go anywhere, and always insisted on paying her own way, too. And it was something to watch her deal with the chaos of airports these days, and doing so alone more times than I care to remember. Some years, I would spend two weeks with her in Newburyport. I was born there. She had her own apartment right up to the end of her life. We would take day trips, sometimes hours driving around the back roads of Newburyport and nearby towns. She would show me a stream where she went swimming as a child or point out the house of a farmer who used to beat his wife and children. Then she would say with a small smile how he did not live a long life. He got stepped on hard by a cow. And there was the matter of Graf Road in Newburyport which used to be called Common Pasture Road. "Imagine," she would quip, "a beautiful-sounding name like Common Pasture Road changed to Graf Road because Mr. Graf got himself elected mayor." Close to the end of her life, we were in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, one summer day. She had to be well past 95 by then. We had had lunch in a seafood place on the water. After we left the establishment, on the drive back to Newburyport, I told her the waitress had asked me how she had lived so long and was so healthy -- my mother had left the table for a couple of minutes. My reply was (what I told my mother, anyway), that every morning with breakfast and without fail she had a shot of Irish whiskey. She was very Irish, by the way. "You didn't say that!" My mother came back at me in a scathing tone. "But I did," I lied. "Well, I will never be able to show my face in that restaurant again." "I suppose not." I tried to keep from smiling. She was quiet for a moment or two, as if to consider the issue at hand. "Ah well, that's okay, Ray. I never much liked Portsmouth anyway. It's too hilly." Raymond Abbott is a retired social worker in Kentucky. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Indians and Royals will battle on Sunday afternoon in the finale of their three-game set. Get scoring updates and participate in a live chat in the comments section as the teams square off at Progressive Field. Game 28: Indians (14-13) vs. Royals (15-14) First pitch: 1:10 p.m. Broadcast info: SportsTime Ohio, WMMS 100.7 FM, Indians Radio Network Pitching matchup: RHP Josh Tomlin (4-0, 3.13 ERA) vs. Edinson Volquez (3-2, 3.13 ERA) Fact du jour: Over his last 12 starts following an Indians loss, Tomlin is 11-0 with a 2.57 ERA. Big data is increasingly viewed as a strategic asset that can transform organizations through its use of powerful predictive technologies. But when it comes to systems that help make such decisions, the methods applied may not always seem fair and just to some, according to a panel of social researchers who study the impact of big data on public and society. The event, organized recently by New York University's Politics Society and Students for Criminal Justice Reform, centered on issues arising out of big data's use in machine learning and data mining to drive public and private sector executive decisions. The panel that included a mix of policy researchers, technologists, and journalists, discussed ways in which big datawhile enhancing our ability to make evidence-based decisionsdoes so by inadvertently setting rules and processes that may be inherently biased and discriminatory. The rules, in this case, are algorithms, a set of mathematical procedures coded to achieve a particular goal. Critics argue these algorithms may perpetuate biases and reinforce built-in assumptions. In regards to the editorial (April 28) involving the implied perception that the entire state of North Dakota does not see the benefit from the coal-producing areas mostly located around the cities of Beulah and Hazen, I want to disagree wholeheartedly with that implication. I want to point to the enormous growth that has occurred throughout western North Dakota, before the most recent oil boom, most noticeably in the Bismarck-Mandan area. While I think all of North Dakota has seen a huge economic impact from the coal mines and plants, Bismarck-Mandan has seen the most benefit, I would dare to say more of a benefit than the Beulah-Hazen area. Bismarck-Mandan has directly benefited immensely by the hundreds of millions of dollars in salaries, taxes and donations that have been made by the coal industry. Without all the workers who live in Bismarck-Mandan and the multitude of residents who live close to the plants spending a sizable portion of their wages daily there, we would not see the growth that has happened. I don't believe there would be the options that have become available to all of us without coal dollars, such as Lowe's and Sams Club, to name a few. To have the Tribune print an editorial, that to me, seems like a thinly veiled judgment on our legislators to do all they can do to help a coal industry that is in deep trouble is not good business. The coal industry is investing billions of dollars to improve emissions while staying competitive. An investment by North Dakota government to encourage more cleaner technologies is not only good for the industry and the environment, but it is also good business for all the people directly and indirectly tied to the wealth that coal has created, most noticeably Bismarck-Mandan. They may look like play money to us, but the 100 $1 million Federal Reserve notes confiscated from a home in Taiwan were taken quite seriously by the islands Justice Ministry Investigation Bureau. Taiwans China Post reported on April 28 that the bureau first learned something was amiss when someone attempted to donate a $1 million bill to a Taiwanese foundation. The foundation deposited the note at a branch of Citibank in Taiwan, after which the note was transferred the banks New York City headquarters for authentication. Investigators went to the suspects home in November where they found 100 more notes. The individual, named Hsu, claimed to have lost a fortune in a shoe business on the mainland about 20 years ago. He told investigators that he did not forge the bills but that an official on the mainland gave them to him as compensation for his loss. The Post says that an American authentication bureau determined that the notes were made using genuine currency paper issued in 1963. Investigators said the denomination was so monstrously large that their fraudulence was assumed, but that the work was otherwise quite good. Hsu will be prosecuted for forgery and faces up to seven years in prison. Connect with Coin World: Sign up for our free eNewsletter Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter NEW ORLEANS -- A federal announcement this week that promotes students using unmanned aircraft as part of their education is drawing praise nationwide, including from University of North Dakota students and faculty. Michael Huerta, administrator for the Federal Aviation Administration, announced Wednesday that students now can use small unmanned aircraft for educational and research purposes. "Schools and universities are incubators for tomorrow's great ideas, and we think this is going to be a significant shot in the arm for innovation," Huerta said at Xponential, a major unmanned industry convention held this past week in New Orleans. Prior to the announcement, students and instructors could fly the aircraft indoors but otherwise would need an exemption from the FAA to fly outside. Educating UAS students is treated like a business, and commercial operations of unmanned aircraft are prohibited without special permission, known as a Section 333 exemption. "The problem of course is, to a large extent, they consider what we do to be a commercial operation," UND aviation professor John Bridewell said. "What this (announcement) is saying is if you're an institution, you don't have to get a Section 333 exemption, just go do it. But does that mean, in my class for example ... you can go outdoors and do it?" Bridwell was in attendance at the conference during Huerta's speech. He said he already had heard a few interpretations of the announcement among attendees and would like to see more clarification. That clarity will likely come this summer when a set of operating guidelines for small unmanned aircraft is expected to be released by the FAA. 'Great step forward' While more guidance is desired from some, many are still calling the announcement a positive move for the industry. "This is a great step forward in the ever-expanding world of small unmanned aircraft systems," UND junior Connor Grafius said. Grafius is enrolled in the school's UAS program and also attended Xponential. He serves as chief pilot for SkySkopes, a Grand Forks aerial inspection and photography company composed of mostly of UND students. Grafius and other students would be able to operate aircraft as part of their education as long as they abide by rules the FAA has set forth for hobbyists, such as not flying more than 400 feet above ground and maintaining minimum distances from airports, people and buildings. An instructor in UND's unmanned aircraft systems program, Bridewell said getting students outside and flying is critical to the school producing the best pilots it can. "Take our manned aviation program. Well, if they couldn't get into an airplane and fly around, that'd be pretty difficult to learn how to fly," he said. "So we're kind of in that same boat. We have simulation and that type of thing like we do for manned aircraft, but there's nothing like a real airplane." Keeping up While Huerta's announcement may alleviate one of UND's challenges, there are others that include meeting the demand employers have for its students. Unmanned aircraft use started with the military, but the commercial side of the industry continues to grow as researchers and businesses find more applications for the technology. Bridewell said the shift was noticeable at Xponential, with some booths missing from major defense contractors. "But there was lots and lots of activity because I think everybody is getting ready for small UAS rules to be put in place, and then everybody's expecting things to really skyrocket," he said. "Already, we have a greater demand for our students than we have students." In the spring semester, UAS-related majors had an enrollment of 148 students, according to a UND Institutional Research report. The program has seen continued growth since its inception in 2009, and Bridewell said one of its upcoming challenges is handling that growth. As the unmanned industry continues to evolve, programs at UND and other colleges also will need to do so to keep up with technology and standards. In his Xponential speech, Huerta also acknowledged the schools, researchers and businesses that make up the unmanned industry need to keep pushing forward. "I'm confident we'll meet tomorrow's challenges through cooperation, collaboration, through respect and through trust -- and, above all else, a commitment to being creative in our thinking and flexible in our approaches," he said. Family aims to raise awareness about invisible illness Michelle and Jason Kemp's two children were born with cystic fibrosis. The Columbia family shares their story to raise awareness about the genetic disorder. FARGO -- A Grand Forks man was arrested Friday in Fargo after police said he drove while intoxicated, crashed his vehicle into a ditch and bit a responding officer. Authorities responded around 8 p.m. to a call of an individual driving erratically, including speeding at about 90 mph, in the 3200 block near 19th Avenue North near Hector International Airport. The driver turned into oncoming traffic, swerved the vehicle and drove into a nearby ditch, according to Fargo police. Officers said they found the vehicle in the ditch with the driver, who later was identified as David Daniel Fitzpatrick of Grand Forks, inside. Police said Fitzpatrick, 45, came out of the vehicle and made threatening statements to officers in an aggressive manner. Officers commanded him to get on the ground, but police said Fitzpatrick ignored the commands and showed signs of being combative. Police said they eventually tased Fitzpatrick, but when they approached the suspect to place him in handcuffs, he bit one of the officers, according to police. Media reports indicate the Fargo officer was bit on the arm and was later treated for minor injuries. Fitzpatrick was arrested and faces charges of assaulting a police officer, reckless endangerment, preventing arrest, DUI and refusal to take a chemical test. He was booked into the Cass County jail. A court date had not been set for Fitzpatrick as of Saturday afternoon. April 18, 2016 Construction workers continue progress on the 75-acre, $975 million TVA natural gas-fired electrical generating plant that will replace the Allen Fossil Fuel plant at the Frank C. Pidgeon Industrial Park. Roughly 280 workers are working shift around the clock to the keep the project on schedule. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal) SHARE April 18, 2016 A construction worker connects conduit that will feed electricity from the main power generator to the rest of the plant at the Tennessee Valley Authority's new $975 million natural gas-fired electrical generating plant under construction in the Frank C. Pidgeon Industrial Park. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal) April 18, 2016 Laura Green Tennessee Valley Authority, Vice President, Supply Chain (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal) April 18, 2016 Althea Jones, Tennessee Valley Authority Supply Chain Senior Program Manager, Supplier Diversity (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal) By Kevin McKenzie of The Commercial Appeal With a price tag of about $975 million, the natural gas-fueled power plant that the Tennessee Valley Authority is constructing in Southwest Memphis is a large target for local companies of all types competing for government contracts. To begin with, as a corporate agency of the United States with federal guidelines to follow, TVA officials said, winning a slice of the project carries an unusual requirement in a right-to-work state like Tennessee. Craft labor better known as union members in the skilled building trades is required for companies working on the gas-fired plant, as well as minority hiring provisions for the union, TVA officials said. "So that's the labor we're using to build this facility, union labor, you have to go through the local union hall," said Laura Green, TVA's vice president of supply chain. The project will pump an estimated $70 million to $90 million in payroll to workers hired through local union halls. Contractors can also bypass unions by matching union wages as a potential alternative. Organized labor is expected to account for as much as 30 percent of about $300 million estimated to be spent for all goods and services in Memphis for the construction project. The plant is scheduled to be completed by June 2018. "It's having a great impact for the building trades in Memphis," said Paul Shaffer, business manager for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 474. Construction of the new TVA plant, providing a cleaner alternative to the coal-fired aging Allen Fossil Plant on the other side of Plant Road in Frank C. Pidgeon Industrial Park, also provides a window on TVA's commitment to diversity with its spending. The issue of local government spending with local, minority-owned and women-owned firms has heated up this year with a new disparity study of Shelby County government spending. It shows that businesses owned by African-Americans won less than 6 percent and those owned by white women slightly more than 5 percent of county government's $190 million in spending from 2012 to 2014. Shelby County was 53 percent African American and 52 percent female in 2014, U.S. Census figures show. The TVA and Kiewit Power Group Inc., the Kansas-based contractor providing the engineering, procurement and construction for the new Memphis power plant, both pledge that supplier diversity is a goal. However, diversity for the TVA, which provides power to virtually all of Tennessee and parts of seven other states, is broader and more complex than for local governments. "Diverse spend" for the TVA is a category for firms that include small, minority-owned, women-owned, veteran-owned, service disabled veteran-owned and located in "historically underutilized business zones," said Althea Jones, TVA supply chain senior program manager. She and Green are based in Chattanooga. Of a total $3.7 billion in TVA supply chain spending in its 2015 budget year, 10 percent, or $380 million, went to "diverse" suppliers; 25 percent, or $946 million, to small businesses and 77.5 percent to suppliers based in the TVA region, the agency reports. Kiewit has identified subcontracting opportunities totaling $100 million to $110 million for the Memphis projects, TVA officials said. Of that, about $30 million is earmarked for small and diverse businesses, the officials said. By March 15, about $6.5 million of the $30 million had gone to Memphis-based small businesses and about $5 million to Memphis-based diverse businesses, Jones said. The contracts for small and diverse businesses so far has flowed to 19 firms, with nine of those owned by minorities, women or veterans. The work ranges from traffic study engineering to circulatory water piping, erosion control, site fencing, temporary asphalt and equipment fueling, TVA officials reported. "We're early in the project, there are still lots of opportunities, we'll exceed that $30 million number," Jones said. Of a total of $49 million committed in spending by mid-March, another $20 million has gone to large Memphis-based companies, the officials said. The subcontracting by Kiewit does not include an additional $40 million that TVA plans to pay Memphis Light Gas & Water Division for pipeline infrastructure upgrades. TVA's Green praised MLGW's diversity spending efforts. "We absolutely have goals and if you're not aware, MLGW is the example everybody else follows for supplier diversity," said MLGW chief executive officer Jerry Collins. The utility spent $47 million in 2015 on spending with minority-owned, women-owned, local small businesses, or 37 percent of a total $127 million in spending, Collins said. Of the total, $25 million went to minority-owned firms, $18 million to locally owned small businesses and $4 million to women-owned firms, MLGW reported. MLGW has a $24 million contract with TVA for constructing a 13-mile, 24-inch pipeline to supply the new plant with natural gas. A 20 percent goal for spending with minority- and women-owned firms was met when the Texas-based prime contractor on the project, Willbros Construction LLC, chose to award a contract of more than $5 million to a local woman-owned firm, Airfield Etc. Inc, Collins said. MLGW also is budgeted to receive from $5 million to $40 million from the TVA project to upgrade its electrical system. The city's Public Works Division is slated for $10 million in upgrades to pump biogas causing a stench at the T.E. Maxon Waste Water Treatment Plant to use as fuel at the power plant. The TVA also estimates that the project will result in spending $5 million to $10 million on lodging and meals in the Memphis area. Carolyn Hardy, chairman of the Greater Memphis Chamber, said that the TVA plant project was one of the last ones the late Clifford Stockton, the chamber's first African American senior manager, "fully expected to see minority millionaires come out of it." "TVA has always been a strong partner with the chamber for economic development," Hardy said in a statement. "We will work with Kiewitt and all the other contractors, and based on past relationships, I'm confident there will be significant local, small, women and minority business contracts for this project." April 20, 2016 - Dr. Manoj Jain (right) talks with Lashondia Palmer before the conclusion of two weeks of ECMO treatment by Palmer at Baptist Memorial Hospital. Palmer, who is 22 weeks pregnant, began the treatment after being hospitalized for ARDS. (Brandon Dill/Special to The Commercial Appeal) Manoj Jain Columnist SHARE April 20, 2016 - Dr. John Craig describes the Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) machine in use at Baptist Memorial Hospital. (Brandon Dill/Special to The Commercial Appeal) By of Special to The Commercial Appeal When I first saw Lashondia Palmer, 41, in Baptist Memorial Hospital's intensive care unit, she looked as if she were in a torture chamber. On a special bed rotated at 180 degrees, she was facing the floor, with a dozen black belts and blue pads strapped to hold up her body. Only her dark hair in cornrows was visible. A large tube exiting her mouth was attached to a ventilator machine that was pumping 100 percent pure oxygen at near maximum pressure. "It was the most horrible sight," her husband, Mianju Delk, recalled. "It broke me down It was hard to hold myself together." Two weeks earlier, Palmer was busy holding down two jobs. When she developed fever, chills and a cough, she thought she could shake it off. On her second visit to the emergency room, she was airlifted from Starkville, Mississippi, to Memphis. Palmer's lungs had failed. Lung washings showed she had the H1N1 flu (aka swine flu), and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, a severe form of inflammation of the lungs. With ARDS, half the patients do not survive. The special bed, called "RotoProne," had been the best hope of keeping her alive by rotating the body, taking pressure off the inflamed parts of her lungs, and getting oxygen to her brain and unborn baby. The 21-week-old fetus, too, was starving for oxygen. During my initial examination of Palmer, I listened to her failed lungs. I was certain we were going to lose two lives. I realized there was one hope for survival: a technique called ECMO, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, which can be used to bypass the heart and lungs. Recently, Baptist had become one of 148 centers in the country to provide this treatment. Once before at Baptist, the team had placed a pregnant woman on ECMO. The baby survived, but the mother died from a brain hemorrhage, likely caused by the blood thinners required for the procedure. Now Palmer was off the RotoProne bed and on ECMO with a large catheter piercing her neck. The line stretched nearly a foot into a great vessel alongside her heart with one bore hole in the catheter drawing nonoxygenated blood and another bore hole supplying fresh blood. "These tubes are like the mother's umbilical cord supplying her with oxygen," said Dr. John Craig, a cardiothoracic surgeon. In essence, we had created a womb for the mother to allow the lung inflammation and stiffness to subside and normal lung function to recover. Each day for two weeks, we monitored Palmer's oxygenation, while the obstetricians monitored the fetal heart rate. The baby was not in any fetal distress. In fact, for much of the severe course of her illness Palmer too was sedated. "She woke up wondering where she was," Delk said. A "perfusionist" a specially trained nurse-technician minds the machine 24/7, in addition to the ICU nurse caring for Palmer. A dozen other doctors and nurses mind her kidneys, brain, heart, nutrition and the growing baby inside her. The same week Palmer was hospitalized, a review paper was published on the successful use of ECMO in pregnant patients. Researchers reported on 45 pregnant patients across the nation, who on average were 26 weeks pregnant and required ECMO for nearly two weeks. In the study, nearly 80 percent of the mothers and 65 percent of the fetuses survived. "This is beyond critical care," Craig said. "What we were providing to the mother and baby is life supporting and life saving." I think it is more. It is life changing and life giving. I often wonder what would have happened if there were no ECMO center, if there were no surgeon or if I had not made a call in sufficient time. Life is fragile, and something as simple and prevalent as the flu can go really badly. We only need to ask Lashondia Palmer, who will give birth to a healthy Christopher Palmer Delk in August. SHARE By Jody Callahan of The Commercial Appeal Memphis police are investigating after two separate shootings left three people in critical condition early Sunday morning. The first incident happened around 12:35 a.m. when police responded to the Regional Medical Center. Officers found a man who had been driving on Watkins when someone driving a white Hyundai Sonata pulled in front of him. The victim then tried to enter Interstate 40 when the same suspect pulled beside and opened fire. The 24-year-old victim was in the passengers seat; he is in extremely critical condition at the Med. Then, about an hour later, police spotted a white Nissan Maxima driving the wrong way on Second south of Beale. When police approached the car, both the driver and the passenger got out and said they had been shot while they were driving near the Happy Mexican at 385 S. Second. Both men were taken to the Med in critical condition. The victims told police that the suspects were in a black four-door car, which was last seen heading south on Second. No arrests have been made in either case. SHARE By Michael Collins, mcollins2@gannett.com WASHINGTON Doug Oliver was legally blind. Now he can see. For the first time in a dozen years, he can make out the dollops of sunlight sparkling on the tops of parked cars. He can read road signs, count the leaves on a tree and clearly see the faces of loved ones, including his wife, Ann, whom he met after his vision had begun to fade. Oliver, who lives in Nashville, passed another milestone in December when he finally got his driver's license back. He was barred from getting behind the wheel a decade ago after almost running over four pedestrians crossing the street. "No more driving," the doctor wrote in his medical files after that near-calamity. The stem-cell treatment that gave Oliver back his eyesight has been life-changing. A year ago, he couldn't see well enough to read a newspaper. Now, he's poring over government documents and advising Congress on legislation that he hopes will eventually give other Americans access to the kind of clinical health trials that restored his vision. "When these treatments and trials are available," Oliver said, "we should welcome them with open arms." His contribution to the legislation, set for a Senate vote within a few weeks, has been crucial, said U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, the Tennessee Republican who chairs the committee that oversees health issues. The legislation is a compilation of bipartisan proposals that aim to speed approval of drugs and medical devices and boost funding for medical research into treatments and cures for diseases like cancer and the hereditary condition that robbed Oliver of his sight. Alexander says the bill is the most far-reaching, and one of the most important, of his career. The senator asked Oliver for his input. Oliver had written to Alexander and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, hoping they could clear the way for him to tell his story to the Food and Drug Administration. The hearing where Oliver had hoped to testify was eventually canceled, but Alexander was so taken with him that he asked for Oliver's advice on the biomedical legislation his committee was preparing. "When Doug and I talked, I told him that his powerful personal story highlights exactly what we're trying to accomplish to take advantage of this exciting time in science so that patients can access the safe, cutting-edge care they need," Alexander said. Oliver reviewed drafts of the bill and suggested changes in its language. He also offered his opinion on several sections that seek to give people with chronic, incurable diseases a pathway to treatments with minimal federal regulations or barriers. "It's crucial that Congress and the FDA listen to people like Doug when evaluating the benefits and risks of policy and medical products," Alexander said. Oliver, 54, underwent stem-cell treatment in Florida last August to correct a rare form of macular degeneration, an incurable disease that affects the retina. In his case, the vision in both eyes was severely impaired. Following the suggestion of a doctor at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute, Oliver searched for clinical trials and eventually discovered the Stem Cell Ophthalmology Treatment Study. The privately funded, federally approved trial being conducted near Fort Lauderdale, Fla., tests stem-cell treatment on people with macular degeneration and various retinal disorders. Last August, doctors used a needle to extract stem cells from Oliver's hip bone, spun them in a centrifuge, then injected them into the damaged areas of his eyes in the hope they would help grow into healthy cells that could restore his vision. Almost immediately, Oliver's eyesight started to improve. Two days after the procedure, his peripheral vision returned. The next day, for the first time in years, he could clearly see the lines on a grid vision test. "I began weeping," he said. Oliver sees the study as an example of the medical miracles that are possible with stem-cell treatment and the impact it can have on people's lives. The FDA regulates stem cells to make sure they are safe and effective, but Oliver thinks the agency should eliminate regulatory barriers to the kind of treatments that restored his vision. "There are treatments of different sorts available," he said, "And people who desire to try to be treated should have access to that privilege." Now that his vision has returned and his work on the legislation is nearing an end, Oliver is ready to get back to enjoying life's simple pleasures. "After all of this is said and done and the legislation is passed," he said, "I'm going fishing."

Former Shelby County Democratic Party chairman Bryan Carson, left, watches as the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance board discusses whether to fine the county party for late-filing financial disclosures required by the state. During the meeting, interim party chairman Dave Cambron, second from left, and his wife, auditor Diane Cambron, right, discussed the party's efforts to correct deficiencies in the party's financial controls.

By Ryan Poe, poe@commercialappeal.com The Shelby County Democratic Party subcommittee overseeing mediation with former chairman Bryan Carson accused Carson of "fraud" or misappropriation and said he should repay $26,336 in party expenses, according to a copy of a settlement agreement proposed earlier this year that was obtained by The Commercial Appeal. Former SCDP chairwoman and a subcommittee member Randa Spears verified the settlement offer, which she said was based on two reviews of the SCDP's finances. Only the first review, showing $6,091.16 in "unsubstantiated activity," had previously been made public. Carson declined to comment, but his attorney in the mediation, Robert Spence, said Carson rejects the allegations of fraud or misuse and is only considering settling the expenses brought into question by the first financial review. "Under no circumstances do any of the facts prove or indicate that Mr. Carson owes anything close to $26,000," Spence said. "I'm not sure he owes anything." The three-member subcommittee composed of Spears and attorneys Yolander Hardaway and Larry Pivnick settled on $26,336 by reviewing all party bank accounts over Carson's tenure, said Spears, who was elected chairwoman shortly after Carson resigned in early 2015. She resigned the post in mid-April this year. The party's internal disagreement over a settlement amount and whether the party should involve authorities has all but sidelined the mediation between the party and Carson, and Spears said arbitration should be explored instead. "One of the reasons this has drug on is because there are staunch views on what should happen," she said. Del Gill, a member of the SCDP executive committee, said in an email Sunday that the committee's April meeting was adjourned for lack of a quorum after he proposed turning the investigation into Carson's handling of party finances over to authorities, and several members walked out of the meeting. The proposal could be voted on at the next meeting June 2, Gill said. Spence also said the problems leading to the mediation impasse weren't "on our end." "What we take issue with is some members of the party being unwilling to resolve this in a professional manner," he said. The subcommittee recommended a settlement agreement that would require Carson to pay $5,257.20 in cash immediately, then $585.24 a month until paid. The party is still recovering from the chaos that came with Carson's resignation in February 2015 amid allegations of financial mismanagement and after $1,500 in fines for the late filings of three campaign finance disclosures in 2013 and 2014. Carson personally paid the fines in February 2015. The party is currently facing fines that could reach higher than $10,000 for the late filings of its year-end and first-quarter finance reports, although Spears said that was the fault of the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance. She said TREF was sending filing notices to an old mailing address. "We've had a minor glitch, but overall we're at a completely different place than where we were," she said. The TREF board meets next month to discuss whether fines should be levied, said Norma Lester, who sits on the board as well as the Shelby County Election Commission. Spears said she spent her year putting the party's financial house in order. "We were adamant about doing things differently financially," she said. Under Carson, the party was paying hundreds of dollars in overdraft and out-of-network ATM fees, according to the financial reviews and The CA's own investigation into the party's finances. The SCDP was charged $135 for 54 out-of-network ATM withdrawals between June 6, 2014, and Feb. 28, 2015, according to monthly Bank of America checking account statements obtained by The CA. Many of those withdrawals happened at convenience stores and gas stations, as well as other banks. The party was also charged $490 for overdrawing its account or remaining overdrawn 14 times, at $35 each, according to the statements. Carson said he paid the overdraft fees and contributed $2,000 to the party in February. John Barnes was in Vietnam for "double of everything:" two Christmases, two Thanksgivings, two birthdays. And, oddly, though he'd grown up in Bismarck, the journey started and ended in Seattle. As he was building airplanes for Boeing in 1967, his parents mailed him his draft notice. He knew it was coming. All of his buddies had been drafted. Having nothing but a motorcycle to drive, he rode 1,200 miles home to enlist. "I thought I was going to die," he said recently of the road trip. Discharged from the Army in 1969, he put on his greens and leapfrogged his way back, this time by plane Spokane, Billings, Minneapolis, Fargo, Bismarck. Minneapolis was -24 degrees, and, coming from 90-degree Vietnam, "I just about froze up," he said. In the intervening months, Barnes was a Specialist 5 in Vietnam. He started by loading 200-pound shells into artillery, but was soon offered a job as an administrator for his battery. He was glad to leave the field. The guns were only accurate for a certain number of rounds, and his battery would fire the extras overnight so they could recalibrate in the morning, dousing him in dirt while he slept. In the new job, there would be a roof over his head and intermittent running water. He was stationed at Artillery Hill in Pleiku, an anomalous bump in a place as "flat as Fargo." He kept track of daily counts and sick men, people going home and people coming to replace them. Carrying wads of cash, Barnes traveled to meet the battery once a month, wherever they were stationed at the time, often hitching a ride on the back of a truck or, if he was lucky, in a helicopter. He handed men their pay and sent money to their parents. The Vietnamese countryside was beautiful, he remembered, until the U.S. Army started to use Agent Orange. He once photographed a gated church and found it had been destroyed just a week later. In the dry season, the dirt was so powdery that Barnes likened it to "walking on flour." In the monsoon season, it rapidly turned to mud. One of Barnes' jobs was to write commendation letters for men about to be discharged. Bored with the boilerplate, he and a friend, an English teacher, started dropping in big words just to see what corrections they would get back. "We used a dictionary to see if we could really smoke 'em," he said. "We finally got chewed out for it." Though Barnes was eager to go home at the end of his tour, he stayed an extra three months. That way, when he got back to the U.S., he could go straight back to Bismarck. His replacement showed up as his expected tour ended, and he soon had little to do. Artillery Hill was frequently hit with rockets, and the bunker in place was full of rats and flooded every time it rained. It would have hardly withstood a shell, Barnes said. He and a friend decided to build a new one. They mixed concrete by hand and poured foot-thick walls with five-gallon buckets, their skin burning in the sun. Scrounging materials from whomever would lend them, they made a roof of tank tracks and scored steel beams. The bunker was featured in an Army newspaper. "We were pretty proud of ourselves," Barnes remembered. In January 1969, the Army flew Barnes from Japan back to Seattle. Once officially discharged at the base, he was off. "We're done with ya," he felt like the U.S. Army was saying. He taxied to the airport with five guys and flew the convoluted route back to Bismarck. He counts himself lucky for having arrived at night. He wore his uniform to get a discounted a ticket, but he felt "sheepish" in it, knowing how people perceived Vietnam veterans. He started working with cars right away, first at a gas station then in the parts department at a Chevy dealership. He recently bought a new home with his wife. For a long time, being a veteran had hindered his chances at a home loan, he said. But a man at a local bank helped him get the right papers and another man took his home off the market for him, so that Barnes, a veteran, could be the one to buy it. May 7, 2016 - Ptorey Crutchfield hula-hoops during the Brooks Museums Party for the Century gathering Saturday afternoon. The day-long celebration marked the museums 100th anniversary with music, cake and confetti while highlighting a world-class art collection and a new creative year-round programming. (Mark Weber/The Commercial Appeal) SHARE May 7, 2016 - Thousands of people converged on Overton Park during a busy day that feature the newly opened Zambezi River Hippo Camp at the Memphis Zoo, Latino Memphis Festival and the 100th anniversary celebration at the Brooks Museum. (Mark Weber/The Commercial Appeal) Mark Weber/The Commercial Appeal Ptorey Crutchfield hoops it up Saturday afternoon during Memphis Brooks Museum of Art's Party for the Century. The daylong celebration marking the museum's 100th anniversary jostled for space with the zoo, as well as events including Memphis College of Art's Art in the Park, and Rotary's Cafe du Memphis event. Kielbasa sausage sizzles at Carson Rodizio grill stand at Latino Memphis' Festa do Brasil celebration of Brazil's food and culture. May 7, 2016 - Thousands of people converged on Overton Park during a busy day that feature the newly opened Zambezi River Hippo Camp at the Memphis Zoo, Latino Memphis Festival, and the 100th anniversary celebration at the Brooks Museum. (Mark Weber/The Commercial Appeal) By Kayleigh Skinner of The Commercial Appeal Between the food, the festivals and a 5K race, nearly every corner of Overton Park was packed Saturday with a full slate of events. By 10:30 a.m. there was no street parking left inside the park and the north section of the greensward was almost entirely full of cars belonging to visitors to the Memphis Zoo and its new Zambezi River Hippo Camp. Many festival attendees parked in the nearby Evergreen neighborhood and walked in, or took advantage of the shuttles from one of two churches. White confetti spit out of cannons and rained down onto the crowd standing outside of the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art to celebrate its 100th anniversary with a "Party for the Century." "Every great city deserves a great museum and being here today is a profound demonstration that Memphis believes in this one," said Carl Person, vice president of the museum board. The event was filled with activities inside and outside the museum, including birthday cake, red velvet cake pops and performances from Ballet Memphis, Opera Memphis and many other local artists. Museum board director Lisa Kranc told the audience "this is the kickoff to the second 100 years of this museum." Hundreds attended the Latino Memphis' "Festa do Brasil," a celebration of Latin cuisine and music with an emphasis on the food and culture of Brazil. Vendor Monica Gilliam, a native of Brazil, traveled from Virginia to participate. She and her staff wore clothing adorned with the Brazilian flag as they prepared brigadeiros for those with a sweet tooth. Gilliam said the tiny balls of chocolate or creamy coconut are a common treat in Brazil. Festival attendees of legal age also tried caipirinhas, Brazil's national cocktail made with simple syrup, lime and Cachaca 51. Angi Ramsey and Kathryn and Brett Jones each ran the Cinco K Mayo 5K in the park in the morning and stopped by the La Michoacana Popsicle truck to cool off after the race. Memphis College of Art hosted its Art in the Park festival on the lawn outside Rust Hall, giving students and alumni the opportunity to showcase and sell their work. Student Sabrina Simmons displayed her prints and handmade stickers featuring African-American female figures on a table in hopes of selling some of her art. It was a chance "to earn some extra cash and also put myself out there and work a lot on my confidence." Across the park, Bud Richey prepared 18 pounds of tasso ham for the bowls of shrimp and grits served at Cafe du Memphis, a charity brunch benefiting the Dorothy Day House of Hospitality. The Rotary Club of Memphis hosted the event. Dorothy Day House development director Tracy Burgess said the event was expected to raise at least $16,000, the amount raised at the same event last year. Associated Press file photos As Donald Trump's nomination becomes more certain, Republicans are having to figure out their level of support for him. Last week, House Speaker Paul Ryan (right) refused to support Trump, insisting that he must do more to unify the party. Next month, Ryan will unveil a program aimed at giving GOP congressional candidates a list of conservative policies they can campaign on, whether they correspond to Trump's positions or not. SHARE In this photo taken April 13, 2016, House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis. pauses during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Ryan said Thursday, April 14, 2016, that the whole world is watching American politics and he can understand how Middle East allies would be rattled by Republican front-runner Donald Trump's controversial comments. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) By Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times Rarely in modern history has a party appeared as divided over its nominee as Republicans are over Donald Trump. But will his GOP critics really keep their backs turned through November, or will they come around? Some leaders of the conservative movement claim they will never vote for him not only think-tank intellectuals, but also members of Congress, such as Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska. Columnist George Will, once a backstairs adviser to Ronald Reagan, says good Republicans shouldn't merely withhold their votes, but work to make sure Trump loses all 50 states to make sure Trumpism is discredited forever. Still, as Trump's nomination becomes more certain, more Republicans are finding nice things to say about the businessman. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Trump had done an impressive job attracting new voters to GOP primaries. Former Utah governor Jon Huntsman said Trump's centrist positions might have bipartisan appeal. Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Trump was showing promise as a foreign policy thinker. Rep. Duncan Hunter, one of Trump's earliest backers in Congress, offered a more practical assessment: "People like to be with the winner." And that is what's really going on here. Republicans aren't falling in love with Trump; they just figure that, since the real estate promoter is about to become the leader of their party, it's better to grit their teeth and hope for the best than to fight a losing battle. Even Jeb Bush, whose presidential hopes were demolished by Trump, now says he will support the nominee. He just won't say his name. But the never-say-#NeverTrump Republicans have a problem: In private, many of them perhaps most of them don't think Trump can win the general election. "The structural problem of the Trump candidacy is his 'unfavorable' numbers," GOP pollster David Winston told me. "Among women, who did I mention? are the majority of the electorate, his unfavorables are in the 70s. Those aren't easy numbers to turn around, particularly when a candidate has had as much exposure as Trump." That's why even if, in the end, few Republican politicians will actively oppose Trump, many won't actively support him either. One bellwether to watch: how many Senate candidates in tough races skip the Republican convention, which is likely to be a weeklong celebration of all things Trump. "You're going to see a lot of Senate candidates staying home and doing their own knitting that week," GOP strategist Scott Reed told me. Instead of focusing on the presidential campaign, many in the GOP not just candidates, but also activists and donors will focus on congressional races. Republicans are terrified that a Trump defeat would lose the GOP its majority in the Senate, which they gained only two years ago. Some even worry that a Democratic landslide could endanger the GOP's majority in the House of Representatives. In some states, candidates "are going to depend on people who are voting for (Democrat Hillary) Clinton to switch sides and vote for the other party" when it comes to Congress, Winston noted. "That's hard to do." One answer: the program House Speaker Paul Ryan plans to unveil next month, aimed at giving GOP congressional candidates a list of conservative policies they can campaign on, whether they correspond to Trump's positions or not. In effect, the GOP could enter the fall campaign with two platforms: one espoused by its mercurial presidential candidate, the other by the more orthodox conservatives around Ryan, who last week refused to support Trump as the nominee. "I'm just not ready to do that at this point. I'm not there right now," Ryan said. "And I hope to. And I want to, but I think what is required is that we unify this party." "House candidates are going to need a sense of direction, and they don't necessarily want to rely on Trump to provide it," Winston said. If Trump appears headed for defeat, the Ryan program could give them a lifeline. Political parties can, of course, recover from bad elections even from campaigns that divide them internally. Four years after the 1964 election, which Republican Barry Goldwater lost in a landslide, the GOP won the Oval Office. Four years after Democrat George McGovern lost in the landslide of 1972, the Democrats came back, too. "Everybody writes off a party after it has a bad election," Winston said. "After 2008, when Obama won, people said it was the end of the Republican Party. But two years later we had 2010 and won a majority in the House." To many Republicans, the prospect of a Clinton victory looks painful, but it also presents a familiar, even comfortable problem: At that point, their mission will be to make Clinton a one-term president. The greater dilemma the fear they won't acknowledge, at least publicly is that Trump might win. If that happens, conservatives who don't love their candidate will face four years of having to defend his policies and trying to tame his excesses. That's when their real troubles would begin. SHARE Dr. Stephen Gammill Memphis In a May 1 letter to The CA, Frayed health care, the author claims that physicians are depressed because we do not have socialized medicine (Medicare for all). I agree that physicians are depressed. Dr. Frank T. Masur Ph.D., clinical psychologist, after years of study states that ... medical professionals are sinking under the weight of increased federal regulations ... I have talked with many physicians about problems of practicing medicine today. They identify the reams of paperwork, ridiculous rules and regulations, and bureaucratic nonsense under Medicare as the cause of their depression. Would not the implementation of socialized medicine cause more ... mangled care and managed cash ... than is now the case? More than 25 percent of physicians do not accept Medicare patients. If you are on Medicare, you had better have a private Medicare supplemental plan, as Medicare pays only part of your medical bills. The government recently began to allow veterans on the VA plan (a socialized Medicare for all system) to have access to private physicians if they cannot get care from the VA in a timely manner. England has a socialized system. The Hospital Corp. of America (a private company) is building hospitals in England that take private health insurance or cash only for care. They are full of patients. These are examples of two Medicare for everyone systems that have clearly failed. Obviously having socialized medical insurance does not mean that you receive medical care. SHARE By Steve Basar, Special to Viewpoint Education is the key to economic development in Shelby County. Employers need an educated workforce and education reduces poverty and leads to a higher quality of life. As a Shelby County Commissioner, funding education is my top priority. I propose a four-point plan to better utilize our education dollars. First, in order to determine what is "adequate" we need to better understand what we are spending education funds on. I believe the Shelby County Commission needs to fund an efficiency study of SCS that would focus on looking at all non-classroom positions in order to determine what the proper size and shape should be for administrative positions. This means more dollars would be spent on teachers and books in the classroom. There is a perception that there is "too much" overhead and this study would identify opportunities to put more money in the classroom. Second, there needs to be a comprehensive plan for the "future state" of SCS facilities. A facility study was completed, but it did not address the most important question what should the physical footprint look like? We know that many facilities are in need of repair, but we also need to face the uncomfortable reality that there are too many schools that are under utilized. For example, assuming the optimal size of a high school is 1,300 to 1,500 students, we need to consolidate 15 low-utilization high schools into five. We need a comprehensive plan for aligning the geography of schools with the population. Third, we need to aggressively reduce SCS overhead by having county government provide some of the services that have been traditionally part of SCS. We need to take a "core competency" approach and remove from SCS those functions and services that can be provided by the existing Shelby County infrastructure. For example, the County Health Department could provide services currently being done by SCS nurses. This is one example, there are many more. The sheriff could replace the SCS security force. Payroll, accounts payable, purchasing are all non-core functions that could be done by the county. With a shift in overhead from SCS to the county, there would be more funding available for education. More dollars would be available for the classroom, which would benefit both students and teachers. Finally, we need more involvement and coordination from the Greater Memphis Chamber and the city of Memphis. Currently both bodies are absent from discussions. I would like to see the chamber as a facilitator and resource to help both the commission and the SCS board members. While blight is an important issue, it is more critical that we improve our graduation rate, reduce truancy and have high school graduates prepared to enter the workforce. Collierville, Lakeland, Germantown, Bartlett, Arlington and Millington all recognize that they need to participate in funding education. Where is the chamber support for additional state funding for education? This budget cycle is going to be one of the most difficult because there are many opinions on what amount of funding is "adequate." The commission is really the funder of last resort and it appears that SCS is looking to the commission to increase funding when our tax revenue is fairly flat. We need to pay our teachers better and provide the best environment for students. Some functions done today by SCS need to be eliminated or transferred to county government. We need to align the physical footprint of schools with current population densities. Finally, we need more key stakeholders to participate in making decisions and securing resources for education. Steve Basar represents Shelby County Commission District 13. Microsoft last week confirmed that it has stopped letting business customers block the Windows Store in Windows 10 Pro, removing a feature that had been present in the operating system's initial summer 2015 release. Instead, the ability to turn off the Store -- Microsoft's distribution channel for not only apps but also games, music and movies, and about as consumer-grade as a Windows component gets -- has been restricted to Windows Enterprise, the top-tier SKU (stock-keeping unit) available only to large customers. IT administrators had been using Group Policy to block the Store within Windows 10 Pro, largely to keep workers from installing apps not on their company's approved software list. Some admins, however, had ditched the Store for other reasons, including bandwidth consumption as scores of apps frequently updated. When asked to offer a rationale for the change, a Microsoft spokesman said, "As we design Windows 10 as a service and bring new offerings to market, we learn from customer feedback about the types of service, control and access they need to manage their environments and we make decisions based on that feedback." Microsoft has heavily relied on the "customer feedback" refrain when questioned about its Windows 10 decisions, even those that have been loudly criticized by customers, such as 2014's removal of the popular "placeholders" feature of OneDrive in Windows 10. When 10 debuted in July 2015, administrators could set Group Policy for Pro to made it impossible for employees to reach the Windows Store. But as soon as Microsoft released version 1511, the November 2015 major upgrade, customers began reporting that Pro no longer let them block the Store. "I'm inclined to think that this is a bug, but I'd love to hear suggestions if anyone has any," said a stymied tsew2674 in a Microsoft support forum on Nov. 21, 2015, about two weeks after 1511's release. Users were puzzled, and traded suggestions in the discussion threads about how to stifle the Store. Eventually, it dawned on them that 1511 had retracted block-Store-on-Pro. By mid-December at the latest, word circulated on Microsoft's TechNet website, aimed at IT professionals, that Microsoft had blocked the blocking with the November upgrade. The fact that numerous news stories and blogs reported on the change only recently was likely due to its increased visibility as 1511 landed on a much larger number of Windows 10 Pro PCs after Microsoft promoted the November build to the Current Branch for Business, the release track that many companies with Windows 10 have adopted. Microsoft did not suddenly switch on the change this year. Customers, some of whom had relied on on blocking the Windows Store prior to November, were frustrated that the option had been eliminated. "Our Windows 10 implementation has come to a screeching halt until this is straightened out," said someone identified as sckbassg3 in message on a TechNet thread before it became clear that the removal of the Store blocking ability was a feature, not a bug. "I assume ad revenue from the Store is the reasoning behind this, but it seems like a pretty low-blow, there are lots of businesses out there not running Enterprise editions of Windows," added tsew2674 on the same thread last year. "As an admin, you deploy Windows 10 Pro to your users with a GPO [Group Policy Object] to turn the Store off that worked, and then an update comes out and enables the Store allowing your users to install games, apps, etc.," said Bulldogs111 last month in a different TechNet thread. "This is an escape that will make any company question whether to deploy Windows 10 to their environment since they don't know what could change next." Microsoft admitted that removing Store blocking from Windows 10 Pro -- making it Windows 10 Enterprise-only -- was to cast the latter as the preferred business edition. "Windows 10 Enterprise is our offering that provides IT pros with the most granular control over company devices. Windows 10 Pro offers a subset of those capabilities and is recommended for small and mid-size businesses looking for some management controls, but not the full suite necessary for IT pros at larger enterprises," a company spokesman said in a statement [emphasis added]. "The ability to block access to the Windows Store is typically for organizations who want more control over corporate-owned devices. This fits into the value of Windows 10 Enterprise." Customers can also block Store apps using AppLocker, but like the Group Policy approach, that too is an Enterprise-only feature. Baghdad On Military Lockdown Over Fear Of Protests By Bill Van Auken 07 May, 2016 WSWS.org Security forces erected heavy concrete blast walls and strung barbed wire across two strategic bridges in the capital of Baghdad Friday as heavily armed troops deployed across the city. The security lockdown was meant to prevent a repeat of the events last Saturday, when thousands of demonstrators stormed the Green Zone, the walled-off seat of the Iraqi government. On April 30, demonstrators denouncing the Iraqi governments corruption, failure to provide basic services and inability to prevent terrorist bombings pulled down the massive blast walls surrounding the Green Zone, a high-security enclave created by the US occupation authorities after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. They occupied the parliament, breaking up furniture and sending lawmakers fleeing for their lives. Friday saw no repeat of those dramatic scenes, in large measure because the populist Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who called on his supporters to join the siege of the Green Zone last weekend, this time urged them to only protest outside the citys mosques at the end of Friday afternoon prayers. Sadr, whose Mahdi Army militia waged an insurgency against US occupation troops a decade ago, was called to Iran after the events of last weekend. He had supported the protest ostensibly to further the bid by the US-backed Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, to overhaul the current government with the aim of curbing corruption and introducing more competent governance. It appeared, however, that Sadr was in less than full control of the protest, which followed a series of largely spontaneous actions demanding that the government provide basic services and denouncing its corruption. Last weekends attacks on the parliament and assaults on several legislators expressed the bitter hostility of the masses of Iraqs impoverished population toward a regime dominated by reactionary exile politicians brought back to the country by the US war of aggression. The storming of the Green Zone shook the Baghdad regime and has provoked serious consternation in both Washington and Tehran, which are both allied with the Abadi regime in the conflict with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Among the security forces occupying Baghdads bridges and major roads on Friday were reportedly three regiments of the elite US-trained counterterrorism police, which had been withdrawn from the battle against ISIS to protect the Iraqi regime from the people of Baghdad. These troops, equipped with armored Humvees armed with machine guns, also took up positions inside the Green Zone itself. On Thursday night, Prime Minister Abadi delivered a televised speech vowing to prevent any repeat of the storming of the Green Zone. A day earlier, he sacked the officer in charge of security in the fortified enclave, Gen. Karim Abboud al-Tamini, who in an earlier protest had been filmed kissing the hand of Sadr in a sign of loyalty to the Shia cleric. We fear that some may take advantage of the peaceful protests to pull the country into chaos, looting and destruction, Abadi said in his televised remarks. This is what happened in the attack on the parliament and the MPs. At the center of the current crisis is the dispute over the attempt by Abadi to replace incumbent ministers drawn from the various Iraqi political parties with a cabinet of technocrats. The proposal is bitterly opposed by the politicians and parties that have benefited from the divide-and-rule system imposed by the US occupation, which accorded political positions and influence based on a religious- and ethnic-based quota system. Shia, Sunni and Kurdish parties all have used their control of different ministries as a means of looting public funds derived from the countrys oil exports, while infrastructure and basic services continued to deteriorate and masses of people were plunged into deepening poverty. The parliament has blocked Abadis appointments, and there are growing calls for his ouster, including from within his own ruling Dawa Party. In one recent parliamentary session, 100 out of the legislatures 328 members called for the prime minister to resign. Meanwhile, the Iraqi government is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, in large part due to the collapse in oil revenues, which are the source of 95 percent of its budget. Jan Kubis, the United Nations Secretary Generals Special Representative to Iraq painted a grim picture of the political situation there in a report Friday to the UN Security Council. He said that the country was engulfed in a profound political crisis that will only be worsened by the ongoing escalation of the US-led war against ISIS. Under conditions in which the government is beset by paralysis and deadlock, the envoy said, Iraqs humanitarian crisis is one of the worlds worst. Nearly a third of the populationover ten million peoplenow require some form of humanitarian assistance, Kubis said. He warned that the US-led assault now being prepared against the ISIS-held city of Mosul would lead to mass displacement in the months ahead. In a worst case scenario, more than 2 million more Iraqis may be newly displaced by the end of the year, the envoy warned. Adding that political crisis and chaos would only strengthen ISIS, the special representative told the Security Council that the demonstrations are set to continue. In apparent anticipation of deepening unrest, the Pentagon rushed an additional 25 US Marines to Baghdad to beef up the security force guarding the US Embassy. Located in the heart of the Green Zone, the heavily fortified embassy is the largest such facility in the world, built at a cost of over $750 million and occupying a space roughly equivalent to that of Vatican City. The political crisis in Baghdad is unfolding even as the US steadily escalates its military intervention in Iraq. The increasingly direct involvement of US troops in the fighting was underscored by the announcement Tuesday of the death of a Navy SEAL in combat with ISIS fighters in the north of the country. And it was announced Friday that US Apache attack helicopters will be sent into combat imminently. What the simmering protests make clear is that ISIS is merely one of the symptoms of the catastrophe created by the US war of aggression begun in 2003, which claimed the lives of over a million Iraqis and left an entire society in ruins. Obama: TTIP Necessary So As To Protect Megabanks From Prosecution By Eric Zuesse 08 May, 2016 Countercurrents.org On May 7th, Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten, or German Economic News, headlined, "USA planen mit TTIP Frontal-Angriff auf Gerichte in Europa or U.S. Plans Frontal Attack on Europes Courts via TTIP, and reported that, Americas urgency to sign TTIP with Europe has solid reason: Megabanks must protect themselves from claims by European investors who allege that they were cheated during the debt crisis. The U.S. Ambassador to Italy has now let the cat out of the bag on this probably unintentionally. In this particular case, the megabank thats being sued isnt American but German, Deutsche Bank, which the U.S. Ambassador to Italy has cited as his example to defend, perhaps so as to appeal to Germans to protect their megabanks against lawsuits from foreign investors (such as Italians) who complain. In that case it was investors in the Italian city of Trani, population 53,000. The smallness of the city was an issue the Ambassador raised against the suits having been brought there. Reuters headlined on May 6th, "Italian prosecutor investigates Deutsche Bank over 2011 bond sale, and reported that, "An Italian prosecutor is investigating Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) over its sale of 7 billion euros ($8 billion) of Italian government bonds five years ago, an investigative source told Reuters. A prosecutor in Trani, a town in southern Italy, is investigating because Deutsche Bank allegedly told clients in a research note in early 2011 that Italy's public debt was no cause for concern, and then sold almost 90 percent of its own holding of the country's bonds. The U.S. bond-rating agencies are also subjects in this suit, because Trani had relied upon their ratings of those bonds. The Obama Administration (through its Italian Ambassador) seems thus to be saying, in effect, that unless TTIP is passed into law, Europes megabanks (and the U.S. bond-rating agencies, S&P, Moodys and Fitch) will be able successfully to be sued by cheated investors, just as has been happening with such American banks as JPMorgan/Chase and Goldman Sachs in the United States, which since TTIP hasnt yet been in force anywhere, including in the U.S. were forced to pay billions to cheated investors. Apparently, Obama would be happier if those suits had been impossible in the U.S. The argument here, though only implicitly, seems to be that TTIP is the way to protect megabanks and the bond-rating firms. It concerns specifically the selling of sophisticated derivative investments. If this is the argument behind the remarks by Obamas Italian Ambassador, John Phillips, hes obliquely warning Europeans that unless TTIP gets signed, their megabanks might similarly be forced to pay billions to investors who were cheated. As quoted by Reuters, he said that, in the U.S., it's "highly unlikely that such a case would be brought outside the major financial centers, where prosecutors have both jurisdiction and expertise in securities fraud prosecutions, and that megabanks need the protection thats provided by such prosecutors, since they possess expertise in securities fraud prosecutions. Phillips was clearly implying that small-city prosecutors (such as are allowed to prosecute such cases in Europe) arent such experts, as are needed in order to protect the megabanks. Reuters characterizes Phillipss argument as asserting, Italys justice system was deterring investors. However, no clarification of the meaning of that statement was provided by Reuters. DWN alleges that under the TTIP such a court-issue would probably not even have been raised but would simply have ended before an arbitration panel, in which the aggrieved investors exert no influence and where it would be almost impossible for these investors rights to be protected. Another example is cited, where the German city of Pforzheim successfully sued, at the Federal Court of Justice, the U.S. megabank JPMorgan/Chase, and where that court allowed Pforzheim to seek accumulated damages of 57 million euros. Under TTIP, a megabank fined this way might in turn sue the nations taxpayers to restore the megabanks ensuing loss of profits. If the cheated investors win, taxpayers might thus end up bearing the cheated investors' losses. Under TTIP, the fined company would be arguing that the law under which it had been fined is in violation of TTIP and thus constitutes a violation of that treaty, so that the violating government is obliged to be paying the fine the law against fraud would itself be violating the fined companys rights. If the three-arbitrator TTIP panel rules in the megabanks favor, the government would need to pay the fine it had assessed against the bank, and no appeals court exists for any of these arbitration-panels rulings these rulings are final. Obama and other proponents of that system, which is called ISDS for Investor State Dispute Settlement, say that its a more efficient way of handling such disputes. In international commercial affairs, it not only eliminates appeals courts, it gradually eliminates democracy, by fining the government into ultimate submission to these three-person panels of international-corporate-accountable arbitrators. On the same basic idea, Benito Mussolini was praised for making the trains run on time. 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. EDDY CREEK, Ky. Fishing always will have an inherent element of luck. Are the fish biting when you can actually go? Are the weather and water just right? Are the fish zigging when you're zagging? But when you work harder than everyone else, prepare like an Eagle Scout and leave almost nothing to chance, you can move from angler to artisan, elevate fishing from hobby to craft. Henry Haley, a 70-year-old Carmi, Illinois, crappie fishing pro, is such a man. His Illinois vanity plate reads "croppie" (the southern spelling) and his custom-appointed Ranger 205CX with a 250-horse Mercury on it instantly illustrate the level of his commitment. In the boat he had four 12-foot B&M crappie poles set in his "rocket launcher," enough minnows to handle every crappie in the north end of Barkley Lake for a day and a custom setup on the bow for a pair of anglers to fish shoulder-to-shoulder all day. He even brought lunch. But the reason we would tally 29 keeper crappie (10 inches or better) on Haley's clicker and throw back dozens of other fish (short crappie, yellow bass, white bass, channel catfish and largemouth bass to three-plus pounds) had little to do with what we were packing on the water. It was all about what Haley had been doing for "30 or so years" under it. The man is into stake beds. Anyone who has fished Kentucky and Barkley lakes has seen their share of "driven" stake beds sticking out of the water in plain sight. Those are where anglers have driven long, hardwood stakes into the lake bed like most fences or signs are erected. Haley works differently. He assembles several stake beds at a time back in Carmi and then takes them to Barkley (and other well-known crappie lakes) with his work boat on work days. "I don't fish on work days," Haley said. "We just put them out and mark them." That's on his top-secret GPS, which plays a prominent role on his bow, along with the flasher, fish finder and six-rod "spider rig." He wouldn't say how many. "If I told you, people would think I'm crazy," Haley said with a laugh. "Let's just say there are several." We visited a dozen or so near the marina and had one fish to show for it in our first hour of fishing into a northeast wind, which is never good news. "We're going to make a little run," Haley said. "I've some beds I haven't fished in a while." When I finally caught my first fish instantly the biggest crappie of my life I could see things were changing. About half the crappie were certifiable monsters in my eyes and I end up with at least four, including one of more than two pounds, that were bigger than any crappie I'd ever caught before. "Most guides down here fish the way we did," Haley said. "And most guys have gone to stake beds because you don't hang up as often as you do in brush, which is what I grew up with. Stakes will spoil you, though." More than half our fish eventually fell to a live-bait jig tipped with a minnow. My best fish came on a skirted jig tipped with a minnow. We were fishing in 6 to 13 feet of water. "We didn't do anything special today," said Haley, who fishes tournaments with his wife, Jo. "But we did catch some good fish." Maybe it was nothing special for my artisan friend, but it was simply the best crappie fishing trip of my life. SHARE If you hear the term "cozy mystery," you might think about talking cats and dogs. Yes, occasionally, but think again. You're more likely to find amateur sleuths who are small business owners, midwives, even a librarian or two. In other words, the amateur detective is often a hardworking person thrust into unlikely situations. Sometimes, the authors themselves are just as hardworking. Take Jenn McKinlay. Jenn is the author of three cozy mystery series. One series features best friends who own Fairy Tale Cupcakes. The latest book is "Vanilla Beaned." That series includes recipes. She writes a series set in a London hat shop. Two cousins, co-owners of the shop, are caught up in murders. "Copy Cap Murder" is the latest book. And McKinlay's third active series features a library director in Connecticut. Miranda James' Cat in the Stacks mysteries have successfully moved into hardcover, and spun off another series. Charlie Harris, a widowed librarian, and his Maine coon cat, Diesel (who does not talk) deal with murder in a college town, Athena, Mississippi. "No Cats Allowed" is the most recent book. Two of the characters, the Ducote sisters, proved so popular, they now have their own Southern Ladies mystery series. Don't think cozy mysteries are just for women. These mysteries are written by Dean James, a librarian, under the pseudonym of Miranda James. Edith Maxwell writes three series. "Delivering the Truth" is the first in her new series, featuring a Quaker midwife in a mill town in 1880s Massachusetts. She appeared at the North Park Branch Library when she launched the Country Store mysteries, set in fictional South Lick, Indiana. Maxwell has connections to Indiana University, and she used the area near Bloomington as background for "Flipped for Murder." She also writes the Local Foods mysteries, featuring an organic farmer. Laura Bradford is another hardworking author. Under the name Elizabeth Lynn Casey, she writes the Southern Sewing Circle mysteries. At the moment, every copy of the latest in that series, "Needle and Dread," is checked out of the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Libraries. As Laura Bradford, she writes the popular Amish mysteries set in Heavenly, Pennsylvania. "A Churn for the Worse," and the others in the series, feature a shopkeeper and a police detective. Now, Bradford is starting a new series, and she's launching it at the North Park Branch Library at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, June 7. "Eclair and Present Danger" is the first book, featuring a bake shop owner who delivers desserts in an inherited ambulance. These mysteries are usually set in small towns and feature a limited cast of characters. Readers get to know the community of business owners, friends and family. The amateur sleuths may be farmers, housewives, bakers, bookstore owners or restaurant owners. Author Carolyn Hart says the correct term is traditional mystery, rather than cozy. Raymond Chandler was sneering at all the village mysteries when he coined the pejorative term "cozy." But, Hart said, "Great evil can happen in a small village just as much as in New York City." If you're looking for a traditional mystery, featuring small towns and "great evil," check out some of these books available at EVPL. Lesa Holstine, Collection Development Manager, Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library SHARE ITEMS FOR AGENCIES Brother's Keeper is in need of couches, chairs, lamps, televisions, twin beds, dressers, microwave, and a washer and dryer. They will pick up. Call Dave at 812-453-1747 for more information. Goodwill Family Center needs hand sanitizer, silverware/flatware, pot holders, kitchen towels and dishcloths. For more information call Loretta at 812-424-4663. Optimal Rhythms/Access Academy is seeking bottled water, paper towels, AA and AAA batteries, black dry erase markers, large exercise balls, book shelves, student & office desks, office chairs, kitchen items, iTunes gift cards, laptop computers with Wi-Fi access, new or used iPads (second generation or newer), smart boards and monetary support for field trips. For more details call Karmen at 812-491-9401. ITEMS FOR CLIENTS Albion Fellows Bacon Center is in need of toiletry items for their hospitality bags, as well as Walmart gift cards, new pajamas (toddler to adult size), new slippers (all sizes), and diapers (sizes 3 or 4). For a more detailed list or any questions call Kathy or Jenny at 812-422-9372. The Arc of Evansville needs adult men's pants/sweatpants (L and XL), new under garments in various sizes for men & women, A&D ointment, assorted sizes of band aids, canned fruits and vegetables, reusable plates and cutlery, liquid dish detergent and craft items. Call Jennifer at 812-428-4500, ext. 307, for more information. YWCA Live Y'ers needs full size personal care items such as deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, bath soap, hand soap, body lotion, combs, brushes, hair goods, toothpaste and toothbrushes, backpacks and various school supplies. Call Courtney at 812-422-1191 or email cedwards@ywcaevansville.org for specialized student needs. VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES Tri-State Food Bank is seeking volunteers to help sort food at various Post Office locations on Saturday, May 14, during the National Association of Letter Carriers' annual food drive. For more details or to sign up for this event, call Steve at 812-425-0775. United Way of Southwestern Indiana is in need of volunteers to assist with receptionist pool, health fair representatives and telephone surveyors. Volunteers are also needed for community projects with United Way Partner Agencies. For more information call Birdie at 812-421-7475 or email bharrison@unitedwayswi.org. Vanderburgh County CASA is seeking volunteers who are interested in learning more about becoming a Court Appointed Special Advocate for abused and neglected children. Potential volunteer requirements are: 21 years of age or older, high school diploma or a GED, clean criminal history, obtain references (personal and/or professional) and complete a screening interview with CASA staff. Additional requirements: 30 hours of pre-service training and 12 hours of in-service per year. An informational session will be held at 728 Court St. on Monday, May 16, at 5 p.m. Training begins in July. Call Christine at 812-424-5825 to reserve your spot. Nonlocal callers should call 800-639-9271 or call their local United Way in Posey, Daviess, Perry, Gibson and Pike counties. From Vanderburgh, Warrick and Spencer counties contact United Way of Southwestern Indiana, P.O. Box 18, Evansville, IN, 47701-0018 or by fax at 812-402-2821. This column is compiled by the United Way of Southwestern Indiana. SHARE By Thomas B. Langhorne, langhornet@courierpress.com / @TomLanghorne It turns out all those visits to Evansville by three presidential candidates and one ex-president didn't cost much. Six visits Ted Cruz three times and Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and Bill Clinton once each happened, luckily for local law enforcement agencies, during daylight hours. And that made all the difference. "The dates and times they came in were kind of during our normal business hours, and they were in hours where we have a lot of people that we can adjust their schedules," Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding said. The temporary absence of officers whose hours were "adjusted" to provide coverage for presidential candidates didn't hurt services to the public much, Wedding said. He used officers whose details wouldn't be affected immediately by their absence. The presidential visits didn't require that much time, either. "We didn't take anybody off patrol. We didn't take anybody away from court screening or anything where you have to have somebody there all the time," the sheriff said. "We took somebody who has a little bit of flexibility built in. Now, we wouldn't want to do it every single day, but these are presidential candidates that are afforded presidential protection." The Indiana State Police didn't participate at all, Sgt. Todd Ringle said, because Evansville and Vanderburgh County agencies could handle the load by themselves. "They didn't need our assistance," Ringle said. The presidential mania, beginning with a visit by Cruz on April 25 and ending with Cruz again on May 3, was precipitated by both major parties' presidential primary elections on the day of Cruz's last visit. Wedding said he and Evansville Police Chief Billy Bolin both had to get in on the protection for presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump when Trump visited on April 28. With an estimated 12,000 people jammed into areas inside and outside Old National Events Plaza, it was easily the largest political event of the week. Trump's visit required a lot of local law enforcement officers. So many, in fact, that Wedding and Bolin personally joined Trump's protection detail to save money on other officers who would have put in for overtime pay, the sheriff said. "The police chief and I, we just went out there (to Tri-State Aero) because we were being nosy," Wedding said with a laugh. Wedding and Bolin escorted Trump's entourage to his hotel with a sheriff's deputy who was working that night. They used a motor patrol officer to guard Trump's hotel in conjunction with the Secret Service. "We were both interested, just seeing that big ol' jet and everything, so we went out there and hung out," the sheriff said. "We drove him by squad car, got him to his hotel, and we went home. And that saved us having two police officers doing it, because we (Wedding and Bolin) don't get overtime." Wedding doesn't know just how much overtime pay his officers accrued in all while protecting presidential candidates. That will be sorted out with new timesheets in the near future. But he said it amounted to virtually no money. "Damn near zero," the sheriff said. Bolin wasn't that lucky, although he said he was lucky. He estimates his department spent slightly more than $1,500 out of an $860,000 overtime budget, given officers' differing rates of pay and the 38.5 extra hours recorded. "Actually, I'm thrilled that we made it out of last week at that level." Bolin wrote by text message. "My fear was that we would have a big rally in an evening or on the weekend, when we didn't have all of our specialty units to pull from." Bolin recalled the night visits that accompanied the hot-and-heavy 2008 Indiana Democratic presidential primary between then-Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. "One night rally (last week) would have been much more than we just spent total," he wrote. "We were very lucky this year." There are scenarios other than night visits that could have sent overtime costs much higher. "I know for the Trump rally, toward the end we started having the protesters get a little iffy, so we held over our day shift patrol just in case we needed them," Bolin said in a separate interview. In the end, those officers were not needed, so they were sent home. Any visit by a sitting president would have sent overtime costs through the roof, Wedding cautioned. "Because of the amount of people you'd need," he said. "We don't have enough bodies to guard a president without calling people in on their time-off.'' Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Spokane, Wash., May 7, 2016. SHARE By Donovan Slack, USA TODAY Glenn Kessler, the Washington Post fact checker who doles out Pinocchios for politicians misstatements, seems a little angry. He and his colleagues determined that 70% of the statements by Donald Trump that they fact-checked rated four out of four Pinocchios like, completely false. And yet, Kessler noted Saturday, TV hosts allow Trump to repeat them unchallenged: For instance, Trump says he was against the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but research by BuzzFeed found that he did express support for an attack. He said the White House even sent a delegation to tell him to tone down his statements and we found that also to be false. Yet at least a dozen television hosts in the past two months allowed Trump to make this claim and failed to challenge him. There is no excuse for this. He and his colleagues have amassed a helpful list of The Donalds whoppers for them and other media. Kessler said that while most politicians will change talking points after fact-checkers have deemed them false or misleading, Trump doesnt seem to care. His representatives dont even respond when they seek to verify the truthfulness of Trumps statements. Politifact in December awarded Trump's campaign falsities "2015 Lie of the Year," something he didn't take too well. He called the Pulitzer-winning fact-checker "bad news" and a left-wing group that will "make it out to a lie if youre a certain person. They are a very dishonest group in my opinion, Trump said. Um, OK. SHARE By Thomas B. Langhorne of the Courier and Press Still a little tired and facing a long list of chores that got put on hold before Tuesday's primary election, Cheryl Musgrave spent much of last week resting and fielding congratulatory phone calls. The former Vanderburgh County Commissioner met and defeated the full mobilization of Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke's political machine to seize the Republican nomination to her former seat. Supporters are calling it the greatest victory of her political career. But Musgrave said she has not spoken to Winnecke, from whom she is politically estranged. Not yet. The two did not speak to each other during Tuesday's balloting, even though they spent several hours standing just a few yards apart at Washington Square Mall's polling place. Winnecke was wearing a sticker boosting Musgrave's opponent, Alex Schmitt. Winnecke's office said Thursday and Friday that the mayor was too busy with visiting family and preparation for an impending trip to Germany to talk about last week's election. Musgrave, 58, said she and Winnecke should bury the hatchet and make common cause now that GOP voters have nominated her to become one of Vanderburgh County's three mayors. "That's what grown-ups do," she said. "I think it would be appropriate if he called me. But I'm not going to stand on ceremony.'' If Winnecke doesn't reach out to her in the next few days, Musgrave said, she will pick up the phone herself. She will ask for his verbal and financial support in the fall campaign against Democratic Commissioner Steve Melcher. "It's time to put (their estrangement) behind us and work together on issues the voters told us they wanted us to work on," she said. But Musgrave noted that she still has policy differences with Winnecke, and he with her. She said she will maintain her independence. "In the areas where we agree, I hope we can forge ahead on those projects and issues and not let the areas where we don't agree interfere with joint activity," she said. Mark Owen said Musgrave's refusal to kowtow to Winnecke or throw in with other Republicans who support him unconditionally should be no surprise to anyone who knows her. Owen, a former Democratic Party chairman and county commissioner who hosted a local TV current affairs show with Musgrave in 2015, said her unpopularity with other politicians is an inevitable consequence of her disdain for politics. "Cheryl is not the kind of candidate that other politicians can call and ask for political favors or favors to donors," Owen said. "She's always been her own person. She's not going to just fall in line." Owen recalled Musgrave's tenure as county assessor in the 1990s, when she made enemies by reviewing the property tax exemptions of churches, clubs and other nonprofit organizations and recommending removal of exemptions where she felt they did not qualify. "All of them had everything tax-exempt, and she was determined to follow the law," he said. "(The law) said, 'It's tax-exempt only if you're using it solely for the purpose for which your organization was established.' For example, a lot of them had different facilities they'd rent out and that's taxable income, so the property tax should not have been waived. "They even hired Republican attorneys to try to influence her, and it didn't work. She put them back on the tax rolls." 'The right way' Winnecke is not the only one who gambled and lost trying to defeat Musgrave. Encouraged by the mayor, about a dozen contractors, consultants and engineering firms that do business with local governments supported opponent Schmitt's campaign financially. If Musgrave is elected on Nov. 8 and these companies want to do business with the county, they have to hope that she will not hold a grudge. It is the County Commissioners, after all, who award contracts for county road engineering, construction and inspection, and building architectural and design services. Musgrave said she has no interest in payback. "This is business. This is taxpayers' business," she said. Not that the companies won't try to get on Musgrave's good side anyway. She anticipates they will do what they typically do when someone becomes a major party nominee for a commissioners seat. They will want to be her friend. "They will probably offer money. If they do offer me money, they need to understand that I will operate the way I did when I was commissioner before and that is, everybody's going to get an equal chance at the bids," she said. "The bids will be written so that the widest possible audience can participate in the bids. We will review objectively folks' bids, and it won't be dependent on whether or not you gave me money or (gave money to) any other commissioner. "I will do it the right way. We're going to get best bid, lowest price, greatest return.'' Contributions by companies or employees of companies that do business with local governments are not uncommon and not illegal, as long as there is no quid pro quo arrangement of money for contracts. Local government contracts for road engineering and pre-construction inspection, and building architectural and design services are not required to be competitively bid, although the County Commissioners can issue formal "requests for proposals." In the case of contracts for road and building construction, which must be competitively bid, companies typically want to be invited to submit bids. Political achievement The campaign that put Musgrave back on the map was a political oddity, placing a veteran former elected officeholder in the position of outsider and making a political newcomer the insider. Schmitt, with no history of involvement in the Republican Party and no visible base of support, brought few political assets of his own to the race. He did bring enthusiasm for the community and likability. And he brought liabilities a history of being sued for unpaid bills and incurring late payment penalties for not paying county property taxes on time. But Schmitt had the all-out support of Winnecke's political organization, an asset of immense value in a Republican primary. Encouraged by the mayor, his top aides and wife Carol McClintock, many political and business supporters of the mayor fell in line behind Schmitt. At the local GOP's Feb. 12 Lincoln Day dinner, a party fundraising event popular with donors, activists and officeholders, some people wearing Schmitt stickers admitted they hadn't actually met the candidate. By contrast, Musgrave's campaign was reliant almost entirely on the candidate's own political skills. She won the endorsements of the Vanderburgh County Farm Bureau Inc. and the Southwestern Indiana Builders Association political action committee, but had only a small cadre of volunteers and less than half Schmitt's war chest. Josh Claybourn, one of the few prominent Republicans who is friends with both Schmitt and Musgrave, said her victory was a remarkable political achievement. "She lacked party infrastructure and fundraising and was able to overcome that deficit," Claybourn said. Likewise, the 32-year-old Schmitt acquitted himself well despite his lack of experience and news stories about his financial issues, Claybourn said. "It was impressive, the percentage that he ultimately got," Claybourn said. "I think he has potential to stay involved, and that would be great if he does." Sarah McKinney was failed by those expected to protect her, thanks to a lack of communication between law enforcement agencies, a court error and a single arrest warrant floating among hundreds issued each week. If he would have been arrested in court like I was told he was going to be, I wouldnt be here right now, she said. I wouldnt be shot. (Photo: Michael Anthony Adams/IndyStar) SHARE By Madeline Buckley/ USA Today Netowrk/ The Indianapolis Star Sarah McKinneys ex-boyfriend stood over her as she lay bleeding from four gunshot wounds, she said, and held a gun to her face. She thought she was going to die. She begged for her life. Just one day earlier, McKinney had called police, pleading with them to arrest her ex-boyfriend, 38-year-old Paul Thompson, whom she had recently left after what she described as years of abuse. And police were obligated to do so. Prosecutors had charged Thompson nine days earlier with felony intimidation after he threatened to kill her. Still, for nine days, authorities never tried to serve the arrest warrant. Not that he was hard to find. On April 15, the day before the shooting, Thompson walked into a Marion County courtroom packed with sheriffs deputies and court security officers. He dutifully appeared for his hearing in another case. But no one bothered to arrest Thompson on the felony warrant. Instead, he remained free to make good on those threats. The next day, Thompson approached McKinney at her job at a Marriott hotel on the citys southeast side, prosecutors later alleged in court documents, and shot her four times. Police say he fled and shot a man at a home about 3 miles northwest of the hotel. Thompson was jealous of her friendship with the man, McKinney said. Six days later, McKinney lay hooked up to machines at Eskenazi Hospital, propped up by pillows on an unadorned hospital bed. Rhythmic beeping enveloped the room, where the 23-year-old mother of three children Thompson is the father of the two youngest lay with bandages encasing the feet she couldn't feel. She couldnt control her bladder or bowels. She could barely walk a few painful steps at a time, and only with the help of a walker, physical therapist and medication. McKinney thought she had taken the necessary steps to protect herself. She secured a protective order. She told police about the threats. She pressed charges, even though she feared Thompson would come after her if he wasn't arrested. But McKinney was failed by those expected to protect her, thanks to a lack of communication between law enforcement agencies, a court error and a single arrest warrant floating among hundreds issued each week. If he would have been arrested in court like I was told he was going to be, I wouldnt be here right now, said McKinney, lying in her hospital bed, crying. I wouldnt be shot. A system that failed For several hours April 15, McKinney felt a respite from her daily fear of Thompsons threats. She assumed he would finally be arrested after his court hearing. Her struggle to escape the regular outbursts of abuse began around Valentines Day. Thompson was drunk and angry, she said, and held a gun to her head, then put it inside his mouth. She said he then fired shots into their bedroom. She was afraid, and she felt trapped. There was a time two years ago, she said, when he forced her face into a car dashboard, injuring her. And when she was in the early stages of pregnancy with her third child, she said, he slammed her to the ground, then casually told her mother she was pregnant. She finally moved out in March, she said, and took the children to her mothers house. Yet Thompson continued to threaten to kill her, according to the affidavit that charged him with intimidation. She told police of the February incident and showed them a text message in which Thompson wrote, Dont make me kill you, (expletive), the affidavit says. She heard gunshots on the street outside her mothers home, she told police. Leaving Thompson was a risk. Experts say domestic violence victims face a heightened danger when they end the relationship. When a victim takes that step to separate themselves is when the escalation of violence occurs, said Laura Berry, executive director of the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence. (Abusers) try to gain back control of that relationship. Thompson's public defender, Elizabeth Klees, did not respond to a request for comment on Thompson's behalf. McKinney said an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department detective told her Thompson would be arrested at his April 15 hearing. The hearing, court records show, was to determine whether he had complied with the terms of his probation in a separate misdemeanor case. IMPD, however, disputed that account. According to Capt. Rick Riddle, a department spokesman, the detective said he never spoke to McKinney about the April 15 hearing and was not even aware of it. McKinney learned that Thompson hadn't been arrested when she spoke with one of his family members. McKinney then received a call from a friend who told her that he had seen Thompson after his court hearing, and that Thompson had threatened to kill McKinney. She called police again that night, McKinney said, and asked why Thompson had not been arrested. Riddle confirmed that McKinney spoke to an officer that night, but he did not know specifics of the conversation. McKinney told IndyStar she informed the IMPD officer that Thompson's death threats continued after the hearing and throughout the day, and asked whether police could arrest Thompson. She said the officer told her there was nothing he could do, and that an error was the likely reason Thompson wasnt arrested in court. His exact words were, Its Marion County, McKinney said of the officer. Riddle said it was not an issue of taking McKinney's complaint seriously. It was an IMPD detective who ensured the warrant on the intimidation charge was processed immediately. But why, then, was no arrest made? Riddle explained that IMPD did not know Thompson's whereabouts at any point during the nine days. The address on the warrant wasn't current. After a warrant is filed, one of two things typically occurs: Marion County Sheriff's Office deputies seek out the accused and serve the warrant, or an officer arrests the accused when their paths cross, such as during a traffic stop. No one in the sheriff's office attempted to serve the warrant, confirmed Katie Carlson, a sheriff's spokeswoman. When asked why, Carlson said that even though violence-related warrants are a priority, about 135 to 150 warrants are issued each day in Marion County. In short, deputies had just not gotten around to it. Still, the most egregious oversight occurred when Thompson walked into court. A court bailiff, employed by Marion Superior Court, should have checked whether Thompson had an outstanding warrant. Marion Superior Court Administrator Emily VanOsdol could not say exactly how the process failed but acknowledged that an "error by court staff" resulted in the failure to arrest Thompson. VanOsdol said the court is reviewing the case to determine just how the error occurred. The bottom line is that each of the three agencies could have attempted to arrest Thompson before the shooting. But no one tried to take him into custody until after McKinney and her friend were shot. "We had done everything we could possibly do, said McKinneys mother, Amy New. I feel like the system failed us. 'I knew I needed to beg McKinney remembers the emotions that flooded through her at the Marriott hotel April 16. There was the initial surge of fear before the shooting, then the strange calm that came after. And, finally, relief in the ambulance. Her matter-of-fact recounting of her story was punctuated by bursts of grief and tears. McKinney was working the front desk at the Courtyard Marriott at 4650 Southport Crossing Drive when Thompson called her. He called me, and we spoke, and the last thing he said to me was, Is there any way we would get back together? McKinney said. I said no. Twenty minutes later, she said, Thompson showed up at the hotel and raised the gun at her. She ran, and he fired four shots at her back. She was hit twice in her left hip and once in her right thigh, and one devastating shot lodged in her vertebrae. She fell to the ground and realized she couldnt stand. Then, she said, Thompson hovered over her motionless body. McKinney recalled the moment when she looked into the barrel of a gun while she lay bleeding on the floor of the hotel. She was determined to survive. I knew I needed to beg him, McKinney said. She said she looked straight into his eyes, and said, Please, babe, dont. Thompson then ran away, she said. Soon after, police say, Thompson shot McKinney's friend in his home. Thompson remained free until later that night, when police in Illinois arrested him while he tried to flee to Chicago. He was extradited to Indiana and is being held in the Marion County Jail on a $100,000 bond. He faces two counts of attempted murder and one count of illegally possessing a handgun in addition to the intimidation charge. His next hearing is scheduled for June 14. As McKinney rode away in the ambulance, she felt free. Because I just knew that from this point, I would never have to deal with him again, McKinney said, and my kids would never have to deal with him again. A long recovery McKinney lies in a sterile, white room at Eskenazi Hospital. It has a sweeping view of the city, and the window ledge is bedecked with cards and flowers. She can barely move. Her feet and legs are numb. She feels helpless, unable to care for her three young children, Riley, 4; Dominic, 2; and Jayda, 1. Dominic and Jayda are too young to understand what happened. Riley, though, is angry. He knows Daddy shot Mommy, McKinney said. He overheard a phone call, she said, and understood what happened. McKinney cant run and play with her children. She hopes to someday. I cant be with my kids. I cant be running around with them. I cant be taking care of them by myself, McKinney said, crying. Her doctors think she will be able to walk after extensive physical therapy. She has since moved from the hospital to a rehabilitation center. The doctors cant say whether the numbness in her feet and legs will completely go away. Im going to do everything I can, go through the therapy, so I can get as close to normal, McKinney said. Right now, that means gripping a walker and taking a couple of steps a day. Lees.jpg Former state Sen. Brian P. Lees, R-East Longmeadow, is shown in this file photo when he worked as an assistant to U.S. Sen. Edward W. Brooke. Lees was recently honored with a distinguished public service award named in Brooke's honor. (SUBMITTED PHOTO) Former state Sen. Brian P. Lees, R-East Longmeadow, this week received the Edward W. Brooke Distinguished Public Service Award by the Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus, named in honor of Lees' former boss. Some years before launching his career by winning the state Senate seat in the 1st Hampden-Hampshire District (he defeated former Springfield City Councilor Frank Keough), Lees served as staff assistant to the U.S. senator. That was when Lees, the one-time minority leader of the state Senate, was still sporting a mustache and, obviously, when wide neckties were still "in." Lees, who went on serve as Superior Court clerk for Hampden County, currently works as an associate with the government relations firm of Travaglini, Eisenberg & Kiley, headed by Democrat and former Senate president Robert Travaglini, who presided when Lees served in the Senate. At a time of political polarization, the Lees-Travaglini alliance shows that members of the two parties can get along, even after Lees introduced live television cameras into Senate deliberations. SHARE CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) Police in a central Illinois village searched Sunday for a suspect in a weekend shooting of a police officer. The (Champaign) News-Gazette (bit.ly/2756XCj ) reported Mahomet officer Jeremy Scharlow, 35, was shot in the arm Saturday night outside a home. Mahomet Police Chief Mike Metzler said that Scharlow was recovering after being released from a hospital Sunday morning. Metzler told the newspaper that the officer, a nine-year veteran of his department, was shot after a traffic stop initiated by a different police officer. The suspect then got into a fight with the second officer, who reportedly attempted to use a stun gun on the driver. A Champaign County judge on Sunday issued an arrest warrant for Dracy "Clint" Pendleton, 34, of Bellflower, accusing him of aggravated battery with a firearm. The Illinois State Police said later Sunday that Pendleton, who was also believed to be wounded, has additionally been charged with attempted murder of a police officer. Authorities. said Pendleton fled the area in a stolen pickup truck and is armed with an AK-47 assault rifle. An extended family member told the newspaper that Pendleton had recently moved out of his marital home after separating from his wife. Jack Dollahon said that Pendleton his grandson's half brother works as a contractor and is a father of two sons, both under 2. By Zach Evans of the Courier and Press Nearly 150 blighted, vacant structures in Evansville could be demolished this year if the City Council approves the first lump of funding for a land bank project. Mayor Lloyd Winnecke is asking the council on Monday to move $1.7 million from the city's Riverboat cash fund to finance the program. This is the mayor's second attempt to launch the program the first attempt last year was shut down by the previous City Council. Kelley Coures, the city's director of the Department of Metropolitan Development, said the need is great to address blight and a housing deficit in the city's urban core. "If we don't do something now, in 10 years its going to be a lot worse," Coures said. The $1.7 million is a part of the $12.5 million the city received in early rent payments from Tropicana Evansville late last year. The cash will launch the new Land Bank of Evansville. The full five-year plan is to target nearly 2,000 blighted and vacant properties in town. The first round of funding up for a vote Monday will focus on about 250 parcels the city will receive from Vanderburgh County Commissioners that never sold as part of the tax sale. About half of those parcels have structures that will need to be demolished, said Carolyn Rusk, a Department of Metropolitan Development employee. Rusk also leads the Evansville Brownfields Corp., a city-managed nonprofit that already acts a pseudo-land bank in the Haynie's Corner area. If the money is OK'd by the council, the Brownfields Corp. will assume the cash and the properties while the city forms a new nonprofit the Land Bank of Evansville. Money not spent on demolitions will fund the boarding and sealing of buildings awaiting demolitions, maintaining vacant lots, legal work as well as hiring two contract employees to work for the nonprofit to oversee the projects, she said. The city has lost about $700,000 on city liens and property taxes on 217 of the properties, she said. The idea of a land bank is to collect and maintain property, then find a developer or landowner to take over the property or properties. Some of the vacant lots could go to adjacent neighbors, Rusk said. Others will be banked for developers, both private and nonprofit. Building Commission Director Ron Beane said the growth of blighted properties in Evansville has consumed his office's resources. In 2010, half of the work of Building Commission inspectors was on structures and the other half on addressing overgrown lawns, weeds and trash, Beane said. "It's grown so much that 75 percent of the inspections we do are on the weeds and trash, so basically our time is being eaten up more by cleaning these vacant properties," he said. The $1.7 million will be the "first bite into a big apple of blight we have in this city," he said. Coures also painted a bleak picture of housing in Evansville. A recent study Coures commissioned to review the state of housing in town showed that hardly any new houses are built within the city limits, and that the average home sale price are dropping in the urban core of the city, he said. While housing construction booms in the county, the city suffers, and Coures said it's because vacant and blighted properties are tying up potential land for development and bringing down the value of neighborhoods, making new development and buying homes in the area unattractive. Winnecke said if the funding is approved by council and OK'd by the Department of Local Government Finance, then the land bank process could start in mid to late summer. The goal is to have all of the dilapidated properties razed this year, he said. Read more Who Owns That? articles Jersey Shore Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN) Banner On Saturday, May 7th dozens of walkers made the 2 mile trek along Bradley Beach boardwalk in Bradley Beach, NJ to raise funds and awareness about Bladder Cancer. According to the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network's webpage, AMP UP! Move to End Bladder Cancer is a movement happening across the country during the month of May, National Bladder Cancer Awareness Month. This promises to BCAN's biggest year as we bring together bladder cancer survivors, loved ones, medical professionals, and the community to support our mission. Our goal is to have over 5,000 participants across the United States making a commitment to take action in their communities. We need them to make commitments to represent the 500,000 people living with bladder cancer in the US; to support the 75,000 new diagnosed this year; and to honor the 16,000 who will not survivor their bladder cancer journey. As the 6th most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States, it impacts both men and women of all ages and races. (reprinted from BCAN website) Survivor Pin In 2012, I was diagnosed with Bladder Cancer. I didn't know it until I urinated and there was blood in the toilet bowl. I knew something was not right as I was clearly in menopause. I immediately went to a gynecologist who ruled out gynecological problems and was referred to a urologist. I underwent a cystoscopy which is a painless procedure (thanks to lubricant) with a lighted scope that allows the doctor to see what is happening in my bladder. Seven tumors were located in my bladder and after a routine surgery removed. None of the tumors were muscle invading, which makes me a lucky woman. I now have a new rhythm to life where my bladder is surveilled every 90 days. To date, I have had 35 tumors removed, some surgically, others at the time of my cystoscopy without anesthesia. All have been stage one tumors. When they grow in, they are promptly removed. As for my treatment, I have had 18 rounds of chemo therapy and 6 rounds of immunotherapy as of November 2015. At my last scope in January 2016, I had no detectable tumors and believe you me, that was a welcomed result of my examination. I am living with Bladder Cancer. I am surviving and in many respects thriving despite it, as I get to do the work I love as a part-time clinical social worker on behalf of vulnerable children and families. Other's aren't so lucky. I was reminded of that today when I talked with many of the walkers on the boardwalk in Bradley Beach. These were somber conversations about men and women who lost their lives to Bladder Cancer. Other's were people like me, living with it and doing our share with our loved ones and friends to help raise awareness and funds to find the cure and end bladder cancer. The walk is one day a year in New Jersey. The struggle to end the scourge of the disease is a 365 day a year campaign. BCAN helps me with information and resources I need all year long. They connect me to others and I have a community of support which is so important. They advocate for the research, medication, clinical trials and services that patients and their families need to survive and thrive. We joined in today. You can join in tomorrow. According to BCAN's website: By joining the movement or making a donation, you can help BCAN with the following: Provide materials for those searching for information such as the Patient Handbook: Bladder Cancer Basics for the Newly Diagnosed. Provide funding for direct patient support programs such as Survivor 2 Survivor, BCAN Connection, and the Inspire Online Community. Provide for the continuation of our free and informative workshops such as the Patient Insight Webinars. LET's GET AMPED UP! and help BCAN change the lives of those impacted by this life changing disease, all year long. For more information on Bladder Cancer, go to www.bcan.org. Harvey Norman has entered into a deal to acquire Mac1, the independent Apple service provider formerly owned by Dick Smith. CRN understands that the electronics retailer will acquire most of the assets from Mac1, including the majority of full time staff. During the most recent creditors meeting, McGrathNicol administrator Joe Hayes said that securing the required Apple contracts would be key to finalising the acquisition. Dick Smith bought Mac1 in September 2014 for $1. It was understood that hiring founder Kenneth Hogg to drive Dick Smiths education business was central to the deal. Nine months later, Dick Smith revealed its plans to bring Mac1 in as dedicated service kiosks inside its existing stores. When Dick Smith sank into administration in January, Hayes told creditors it would be best if Mac1 was sold off as a separate company to see a better credit return. However, if Dick Smith was wound up, its creditors would also become creditors of Mac1. At the time, Mac1 had 13 in-store kiosks in Adelaide, Albury, Armidale, Campbelltown, Canberra, Hobart, Innaloo, Marion, Melbourne, Narre Warren, Newcastle, Perth and Wollongong, and two dedicated retail stores in Canberra and Wollongong. There are still lingering questions that are likely to be answered after the deal is made public. Its unclear what specific assets Harvey Norman is set to acquire, other than employees. CRN understands there are approximately 40 staff employed by Mac1 through Dick Smith. Its also not yet known whether Harvey Norman will adopt the same strategy Dick Smith used, by integrating Mac1 service desks into existing retail stores. Mac1 was founded in 1990 and was one of the largest independently owned Apple partners in Australia. It provided Apple services through its education technology business and had account executives in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory. The Fredericksburg Police Department has issued a warning to Central Park shoppers after at least 37 people had their payment cards compromised, and bank accounts drained. In each reported case of theft, the victim had used their card at the local Walmart. According to a statement from the law enforcement agency, Walmart confirmed that cards used at the Central Park location were compromised. "Detectives believe the suspects are obtaining debit/credit card numbers by placing overlay devices on credit card readers at checkout counters. Today, Fredericksburg detectives received information from Walmart Global Investigations that debit/credit cards used at the Central Park Wal-Mart have been compromised," said the agency in a statement issued on Saturday. "A credit union in the Fredericksburg area has reported 37 of their members are victims where their debit cards were used at ATMs to make large cash withdrawals. The Central Park Walmart has been identified as the place where their members debit card numbers/pins were obtained. Nearly all of the 'known' victims had large ATM withdrawals made using their debit card numbers." It's believed the cards were compromised earlier this year, in either March or April. Police are still investigating in order to determine what registers had skimmers installed. Customers who shopped at that location in either month are encouraged to contact their financial institution and request a new card. Late last year, debit card fraud was detected at Walmart locations in 16 states, including Virginia. The overall volume of fraud led some institutions to deny debit card purchases entirely. The Front Royal Federal Credit Union still has an active warning on their website regarding the problem, warning customers about the fraud and informing them that they'll be limited to purchases of $200.00 or less. As for the skimmer likely being used by the crooks, the video below was posted to XSS in March shortly after it was released by the Miami Beach Police. It's a good example of the technology being used for this type of theft. The entire process takes less than three seconds. Salted Hash has reached out to Walmart and the Fredericksburg Police Department for additional information. This story will be updated as new details become available. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate NORWALK Chatham Manor, a fixture in Norwalk for the last 75 years, is back in business. Not that the popular banquet and catering facility ever left. But after a brief hiatus, the local venue officially reopened its doors this week. It appeared owner Ginger Sollazzo Raymond, a part of the family business most of her life, was ready to close those same doors a couple of years ago and lease the property. My mother just said Im tired and Im done, Lisa Sollazzo Guarente, who helped her mother operate the business, recalled. She said, If you kids want to run with it, go ahead. At first, Guarente and her husband, Gary, didnt run with it, although they did honor a few requests for events there. It was just word of mouth, Guarente said. If we got a party, we said, OK, well do it. They turned away more events than they took, however, and the plan was still to eventually close. But when her mother retired in March, they had a change of heart. We said, Lets go for it, Gary Guarente said. Our kids (five of them) were at a good age. If you asked me 10 years ago, we couldnt have done it. When you have an event, its a 17-hour day, he added. You start in the morning prepping everything and you dont leave until between 12 and 1 at night. Then you need a day to recover. Knowing all that, however, the Guarentes decided to keep the family tradition alive and reopen for business May 1. On June 4, Chatham Manor will celebrate its 75th anniversary with a grand re-opening complete with buffet dinner and Tim Curries Motown Band that the public can purchase tickets for by calling 203-838-8598. It wasnt always known as Chatham Manor. In 1941, right before World War II, Thomas Maisano, Gingers father and Lisas grandfather, opened Chatham Oaks. It was the first, and for a long time the only, banquet hall in Norwalk. This is the original building, Lisa Guarente said as she sat at a table at the 493 Connecticut Ave. location. Obviously, weve expanded and added on, but its the same building. Back then Connecticut Avenue was one lane. While Maisano handled the business end, his wife Rose ran the kitchen. If there was a celebratory event in Norwalk in the 40s and 50s, it was held at Chatham Oaks. A couple who got married (in 1955) and had their reception here came back for their 50th anniversary party, Lisa Guarente noted. The Guarentes even came across an old bill from a Sweet 16 party held there in the 1950s. It was for 50 people at $2.75 per person. Throw in a few other charges and the total cost was $227.62. That includes $25 for liquor, or 50 cents per person. Is that hysterical or what? Lisa Guarente said. When we found the bill, we said we have to frame this. In 1962, when family commitments demanded more of his time, Maisano rented the facility for the next decade. The family still owned the building and it operated under the name of Chatham Oaks. The Maisanos returned in 1972 with their daughter, Ginger, and her husband, Paul Sollazzo, joining in the day-to-day operation. But when the previous permittee took the name Chatham Oaks with him to another establishment in Danbury, the Maisanos changed the name of the facility to Canongate. Why Canongate? We used to go to Florida on vacation every winter and the condominium we lived at was called Canongate, Lisa Guarente explained. My mother and father loved the name. Canongate thrived for the next three decades and in 2000 Lisa Guarente became involved in the business. She was actually involved long before that, though. I used to come up here when I was small and my grandfather paid me for rolling meatballs, she laughed. A penny a meatball. Wow, I thought I was rich. Within two years of returning, however, Thomas Maisano died from a massive heart attack, while in 1982 Paul Sollazzo also died from a heart attack. My dad ran it till he passed away, then my mother and my brother ran it, and eventually my mother took control, Lisa Guarente said. The business continued to thrive. So much so that in 2003 it underwent a $1 million makeover, which included two new dance floors, new lighting and sound system, and the addition of a second floor with separate rooms for wedding parties. It was all accentuated by a 20-step bannister staircase to the main ballroom. It was just as the remodeling began that Lisa Guarente became more involved and assisted her mother with events. I was a travel agent, I was a waitress, but I didnt work in the family business until we started to do all the remodeling. Then I got involved. With the new facelift came a new name: Chatham Manor. Since it was originally Chatham Oaks, I wanted to keep part of that name, she said. While Ginger Sollazzo Raymond remains the owner, she retired from the day-to-day operation in March. Thats when Lisa and Gary Guarente took over as permittees. Lisa wanted to keep the family tradition going, her husband said. The catering business is grueling work and you have to make a commitment. But we said, Lets try to give it a go. As a result, Chatham Manor is back. SHELTON-Heroin overdoses are quickly becoming commonplace across the state. And on two cold February days in the Valley they became deadly. So on Monday night Shelton Police along with the citys Board of Education, the Parent-Teacher Organization and the Greater Valley Substance Abuse Council will be conducting a parental primer on recognizing signs of substance abuse as well as offering resources for help. The program will begin Monday at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Shelton Intermediate School, 675 Constitution Boulevard North. It comes just three days after Bradley Commerford pleaded guilty in federal court to supplying heroin to a 16-year-old earlier this year. It was Commerfords heroin law enforcement says was responsible for two overdoses in Shelton as well as a fatal one on Hawthorne Avenue, Derby from Feb. 16-17. The second death on Summit Street in Derby is not related to Commerford, according to investigators. Nevertheless there have been two heroin-related deaths and 20 overdoses in Shelton during the past year. Statewide there were 724 opioid-related deaths in 2015. As part of a plea bargain agreement worked out between Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Spector and Assistant U.S. Public Defender James Maguire, Commerford, a 20-year-old Derby resident and admitted addict, will face a recommended prison sentence falling between 57 and 71 months. He will be sentenced July 28 by U.S. District Judge Alvin W. Thompson in Hartford. Shelton and Derby Police working with a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force arrested Commerford after Monroe police uncovered several cell phone text messages on the dead mans phone. Police arrested Commerford on his way to meet with his Waterbury supplier, according to his girlfriend. For Commerford this was not the first heroin-related death involving one of his friends. When he was 10, Commerford invited a 13-year old friend to sleep over his house. The boy, Frank Korondi, of Shelton died after snorting heroin supplied by Commerfords sister and her husband. The pair, Angela and James Krasowski were sentenced to 17 years in prison. A court later awarded $2.25 million in damages against the couple to the boys parents. Like many municipalities across the country, towns and school districts in the Danbury area were forced to tighten their belts in the wake of the Great Recession of 2007-08. But even as the economy has slowly recovered, most local governments continue to run leaner than they did in the past. An analysis of employment figures showed Brookfield, Danbury, New Fairfield, New Milford, Newtown, Redding and Ridgefield slashed municipal staff following the recession, and most continue to operate with fewer employees than they had before 2008. Everybody is trying to figure out how to do more with less, said Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton. According to the data, which was compiled from the towns Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, Danbury city government employed the equivalent of 14 fewer people in 2009 than it did a year earlier, when the recession hit in earnest. But Boughton said those numbers dont tell the full story. At the time, Boughton said, the city was opening a new firehouse, which partly offset the decline in staff numbers. But at City Hall, the impact was much more severe. What happened is we redeployed resources in City Hall to public safety and other areas, Boughton said. The impact in City Hall was much greater. When I got here in 2001, there were a lot of people here, the mayor added. I dont want to say its a ghost town now, but were very, very lean. To cope with the new staffing levels, Boughton said the city has used more technology and automation to modernize how it does business. The post-recession era has seen a renewed focus on consolidating and sharing services among neighboring towns, said David Hannon, the deputy director of the Western Connecticut Council of Governments. Were looking to find ways to come together and identify types of municipal services that could be regionalized and trying to find a way to make that happen, Hannon said. The recession had a well-documented financial impact. Municipal employee pension contributions skyrocketed to offset a decline in the value of pension fund investments. In some cases, a drop in tax collection rates temporarily depleted town coffers. But Bethel First Selectman Matt Knickerbocker said the recession had a more long-lasting impact. The recession caused more of an attitude shift within the town government, Knickerbocker said. Knowing that people were sensitive to the financial conditions, we tried to minimize the impact on the budget. Bethel was the only town surveyed that did not immediately reduce staff during the throes of the recession. But Knickerbocker explained pressure to keep taxes flat increased the workload in some town departments. Were understaffed severely in our highway and parks and rec, Knickerbocker said. We dont have enough people and thats a plain fact. The town has grown and our needs have grown, but there is tremendous pushback for hiring new people. When the stock market crashed in 2008, Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi met with department heads and leaders of the towns collective bargaining units. At the time, he said, he sought concessions on health care contributions and other ways to limit the harm on staffing levels and to avoid layoffs. Boughton said similar negotiations took place in Danbury, where city contributions to employee pension funds more than doubled, meaning that money had to be drawn from other areas of the budget. Mayors and first selectmen have been doing it since 2008-09, Boughton said. Weve had to renegotiate contracts, downsize our workforce and become leaner. The constraints on municipalities also extended to school districts, which were also forced to trim staffs during the recession era. In some cases, teachers who retired were not replaced and some full-time employees were reduced to part-time status. In Brookfield, school employment dipped from 421 FTEs (full-time equivalents) in 2007 to 388.4 in 2008. Similar declines took place in New Milford, Newtown and Ridgefield. Brookfield Superintendent John Barile said many districts were forced to downsize because lower year-to-year budget increases meant less money was available to cover salary increases mandated in employee contracts or to cover soaring special education costs and other state mandates. Prior to the recession, if you look at budget history, many school districts were getting regular increases of 2-3 percent per year, said Barile who was the superintendent in Bethany before coming to Brookfield this year. After the recession, budgets are leaner and we have to work more creatively with our resources. But unlike the towns employment, which continues to remain low, some area school districts are returning to pre-recession staffing levels. Some, like Newtown and Ridgefield, have more employees than they did before the economic downturn. Barile said that as the economy continues to recover, some of the pressure to keep taxes flat might be lessening. While Brookfield schools are still staffed below pre-recession levels, he said, the district is slowly trying replace some of the losses. Were starting to see some of it normalize, Barile said. But I dont know if well ever get back to 3 percent per year (budget increases). There's more scrutiny, and frankly thats a good thing, he said. We should be held accountable for every penny we spend. awolff@newstimes.com; 203-731-3333; @awolffster BRIDGEPORT Four area college presidents have collectively penned a letter to the state commissioner of education expressing concern over what they called the dysfunction of Bridgeports Board of Education. In their letter, Fairfield University President Jeffrey von Arx, Housatonic Community College President Paul Broadie II, University of Bridgeport President Neil Salonen and Sacred Heart University President John Petillo tell Commissioner of Education Dianna Wentzell that the recent rancor and public displays at board meetings by some members have called into serious question the boards ability to carry out its charge. The letter goes on to suggest that other board members on the nine-member panel have grown silent as a result, and the situation is detrimental to the citys morale and an embarrassment. The presidents, who together form the Bridgeport Higher Education Association, also expressed support for Interim Schools Superintendent Fran Rabinowitz in their letter, and said they are concerned the search for a new superintendent wont go well, based on unprofessional and erratic behaviors of some board members. We ask for your assistance in resolving these Board issues, states the letter . All Bridgeport Board of Education members were sent a copy of the letter on Friday. In an email response, board member Maria Pereira said having passionate debates and differences of opinion are marks of a democracy, not a dysfunctional body. Still, she said, I, for one, agree with some of these non-Bridgeport residents views. There are certainly some BOE members that have completely abdicated their responsibilities. Pereira cited delays in evaluating Rabinowitz and getting on with the search for a permanent superintendent as examples. She also said there are a number of parents who attend board meetings who oppose Rabinowitz continuing to serve as the interim superintendent. As for getting the state to intervene, Pereira said that did not work out well last time it was tried. In 2011, the state moved to replace the city school board, only to have that action overturned by the state Supreme Court. On Sunday, Joe Larcheveque, vice chairman of the school board, also responded to the letter. He called the presidents assessment a sad but true representation of the current state of the board. There is so much to do; funding and legislation that the board needs to be advocating for. We have board members who desire to move these items to the forefront and provide the support the interim superintendent needs to continue her good work, Larcheveque said. Instead we are bogged down with continued rancor, misguided efforts to micromanage the district and constant personal attacks. He added that democracy in action calls for a spirited debate, not viciousness. Larcheveque said the support for Rabinowitz is overwhelming. I believe the recent improvements in test scores are proof-positive that the efforts are paying off, he said. My daughter recently informed me that she'd like to travel for a year before going to college. I was a little taken aback. When I started talking about college in high school, my parents made me a very clear offer: Go to college after high school and we'll pay for four years, no more, and when you graduate, you must get a job and fully support yourself. This seemed like such an incredibly generous offer that I never thought to push my luck and postpone my studies to explore the world and find myself. Asking them to fork over extra cash for backpacking around Europe or building latrines in Africa would have been absolutely terrifying. And so my immediate response to my daughter was, "And who's paying for this?" My daughter shot me one of those indignant teenage looks that reeks of confidence, disgust and clearly says, "Well, I can do anything I want! You're not stopping me!" And then news broke yesterday that Malia Obama, the president's older daughter, will be taking a gap year before attending Harvard. Suddenly, my know-it-all 13-year-old and her grand idea had some clout. That gorgeous and studious Obama girl who is breezing through her teenage years in the White House spotlight with admirable grace and strength is going to take a break from the classroom to do something meaninful before attending what many consider the best university in the country. I'll admit, Malia's decision and her parents' endorsement led me to think more deeply about my conversation with my own daughter a few weeks ago. It also spurred me to do research on the gap year, which is loosely defined as a one-year hiatus from the structure of a classroom between high school and college to expand your horizons. Abby Falik, the founder and CEO of Global Citizen Year, an Oakland-based nonprofit that gives students the opportunity to live and volunteer in a developing country, describes it with more beautiful language. "A breath between two stages of life where everything is possible," she said. Falik said less than 1 percent of American students take a gap year, while in Scandinavia and some other European countries that number is as high as 50 percent, and she thinks 99 percent of American children are missing out on something special. "We're starting to recognize that we're missing something transitionally by blowing by this period when kids need a moment to breathe, a transition, time to explore and understand themselves. "The short of it is that our education system is increasingly moving our kids along a conveyor belt without giving kids opportunities to explore and test their curiosity. We're seeing a third of college freshman don't come back for a second year. Many are overwhelmed by anxiety, depression. "We can't afford to not break up this treadmill-like process in a way that allows students to get off the track, to figure out who they are, figure out who they want to become, to see more clearly that there is a bigger world, that they have agency to figure out how to use their education to further their potential and then get to college not burned out and with questions they're looking to answer." All of this sounded pretty convincing, and here's more evidence that I found in support of the gap year: The majority of today's students start college uncertain of their career path and this helps explain why 68 percent of students do not graduate in four years, and 44 percent fail to graduate in six years (Bookings Institute). Students who take a gap year return to school more focused on their academic goals and ultimately, are more satisfied in their careers (Karl Haigler & Rae Nelson, The Gap Year Advantage, independent study of 280 Gap Year students between 1997 2006). As a result of this focus, students who take a gap year are more likely to graduate in four years or even less, Falik said. Ninety-seven percent of college presidents will say their students are ready for the work force while only 11 percent of companies hiring these students agree. Falik believes students who take a gap year are better prepared when they graduate because they have a clear idea of what they want in life. I was beginning to be convinced, but how do you ever pay for it? My husband and I have both chosen career paths that are more about doing meaningful work than making money and we're raising three children and would like to at least help pay for them all to go to college. (With the crazy expense of college these days, I'm uncertain whether I'll be able to make my children the same offer my parents made me.) In an NPR Marketplace segment yesterday, it was noted that the average gap year program started at $19,000 for eight months. The tuition for Global Citizen Year is about $32,000 though Falik said 80 percent of her fellows receive some financial aid and one-third are fully funded. Of course, your child doesn't have to enroll with an organized program with tuition. Personal finance expert and reporter Erica Sandberg suggests students work for a year. "Obviously Malia is in a privileged position, since she can use the time off to gain new experiences and relax," Sandberg said. "I can't imagine she'll be hurting for cash, as a good portion of the general population will. "However, less advantaged high school graduates can enjoy many of the same gap year benefits. Live with parents or a large group of friends to minimize costs, then dive in, get some jobs, and work hard. Spend almost nothing and save like mad. Use some cash for fun and the rest for upcoming tuition." She added: "Twelve dollars net per hour (here in San Francisco my friend was just quoted and paid $25 per hour for housekeeping), working full time equals nearly $2,000 a month. If you can set aside $1,000 per month for a year, thats a clean $12,000 to distribute as you wish." "I shake my head when people say it's not possible. It absolutely can be done. Any young, healthy, unencumbered teenager who is motivated can do it. It's an opportunity to understand your strengths and learn to be humble." And so after all this, my attitude toward my daughter's desire for a gap year has changed slightly, and here's my new response: "Great idea. In fact, I think you should do it. But you'll need to pay for it and I'm here to help you figure that out." IDT Corporation has been a visionary in the VoIP space for almost two decades and Ive always been impressed with the companys technology and range of solutions in the SIP trunking and hosted PBX spaces. Recently, they have become very aggressive in the UC space, going after a channel and looking to be the disruptor in the market they helped create in the 1990s. In an in-person interview, IDT/Net2Phone President Jonah Fink told me he thinks his company will keep people up at night. For example, IDT has had decades to build out its international infrastructure which includes POPs and nodes in five cities in Brazil as well as London, Hong Kong, Chile and Peru. They offer unlimited calling to Mexico and Canada as well as a core hosted PBX/SIP trunking plan which consists of South America, Western Europe and Central America. Not all companies have the need to call internationally so they have another incentive up their sleeve as well. They provide free Polycom phones which become the property of the customer at the end of the contract term. All of this for $19.99 a fully loaded service which has features which compare to the $45/month service of some of the newer competitors in the space, said Jonah. Some of these features include a calling queue, call reporting, CDRs custom welcome greetings, call transfer and failover. In addition to a great value for customers, agents and channel partners get a shot to win incentive prizes like $5,000 drawings. An interesting area of differentiation for the company is they are in it for the long haul heck, if the last twenty years hasnt proven that, what will? Jonah said they dont have an exit plan contrasting the company from so many players in a market with frequent M&A. In addition, they have 600 people on the phones who can help customers program IVR, auto attendants and help with other issues customers might have. More differentiation comes in the investment Jonah says they make in their human beings. He explained others are spending exclusively on their portals while IDT also invests in its people. He said emphatically, Others want a sexy portal, we want a sexy customer service experience, he continued, Thats our strategy If youve ever flown on an airplane in the last 15 years, you have likely seen ads for IDT calling cards and Jonah wants you to rest assured the company has come a long way from calling cards and cyber-cafes. In fact, he said he took the best of these experiences connecting calls in war zones in Africa and brought them to the US. He went on to say, We know about CODECs. The bottom line is we have a huge race for customers coming in the future and companies like RingCentral, 88 and Vonage will be gunning for IDT and vice-versa. IDT is a no small company at almost $350 million in market cap meaning the fight for marketshare in the hosted UC space will have a lot of muscle behind it. What Ive been seeing in the market is an increased demand or cloud-based telecom services meaning the market is growing nicely and there is likely room for all the major cloud vendors to keep growing for a long while. The story of Harry Weichsels flight from Nazi Germany across France and Spain in 1941 is a gripping, horrifying and inspiring one. It has been recounted here before and it should be periodically as a reminder of the Holocaust in particular and of mans capacity for vicious, ignorant intolerance in general. Harry by way of full disclosure, a longtime, dear friend lives in Bridgeport and was the keynote speaker the other day at a Holocaust Memorial service in Bridgeport City Hall. Today is Mothers Day and it suddenly struck me as I listened, maybe because I am older and a parent and a grandparent, that this is a Mothers Day story. In this dash to freedom, after all, Harry was 8 years old the same age as my beautiful, wide-eyed, trusting and totally dependent grandson James and never would have made it alone. He was swept along with an incredible, indomitable woman who was his mother. Harrys given name was Helmut Kutsch, the son of Fritz and Flori Kutsch. It was one of the early signs of her independent spirit that Flori Hess, a Jew, fell in love with and married Fritz, a Christian, not a common practice in German of the 1930s. In 1936, the Nazis declared such mixed marriages illegal. Flori was forced to leave the little town of Wetter that was their home and go to Frankfurt. Fritz was drafted into the army. Young Helmut stayed in Wetter with his grandparents, David and Freida Hess. Kristallnacht, Nov. 9, 1938 the Night of Broken Glass terrorized German Jews. Harry remembers the rocks crashing through the windows of his grandparents home. Flori returned from Frankfurt to get Helmut, encountering at least once, Harry recalled, high school classmates of hers who had become Nazis, and shaming them for their behavior in the small town theyd once all called home. She brought him to an orphanage in Frankfurt. The situation in Germany was deteriorating. Flori, then 28, pulled Helmut out of the orphanage, and equipped with two visas arranged by two of Floris brothers who were living in America, Flori got them on a refugee train and headed out of Germany into a war-torn France. It was the beginning of a monthlong journey by train, by foot, by bicycle from Nazi Germany to Lisbon, where they ultimately boarded a boat for America. As long as I was with my mom, that was my security. That was her skirt I hung on to, Harry said in a documentary done by local filmmaker Frank Borres. Just weeks after Harry left the orphanage, the other orphans were rounded up and sent off either to labor camps or to extermination. So they arrived in America in 1941 and ultimately landed in Bridgeport. Flori went to night school to learn to speak English. She worked at a factory in Bridgeport where her job was sanding wooden rifle stocks to support the ongoing war effort. Harry recalls her coming home, her hands crusted with blood. She worked also for another German Jewish refugee who had a door-to-door cosmetics trade and Flori, her English imperfect but her smile sparkling, went to houses around the citys South End and West Side selling tubes of lipstick and rouge and the other beauty items of the day. Flori reconnected in America with another refugee, a former suitor, Bernie Weichsel Two lonely people in a strange country, speaking the same language, Harry recalled the other day and in the new familys continuing quest for acceptance and assimilation, Helmut Kutsch became Harry Weichsel. Flori worked hard, cleaning houses. She was not afraid or ashamed, Harry said the other day. Wed drive by a house years later and shed laugh and say, I used to clean the toilets in that house. There was Flori moved on to the clothing business, buying apparel on credit from Jewish merchants in New York City, and selling the garments, often on credit a 50-cent payment here, a 50-cent payment there in Bridgeport neighborhoods. Flori eventually got a car for her clothing business, then a small truck and then, a larger truck the size of a UPS truck, as Harry describes it that was fitted with racks. There werent many women driving trucks at the time, Harry said. And she was all of 5-foot-2 and always wore high heels. They had to make a special seat. He laughed at the memory. With an assist from local cartoonist Ray Dirgo he of The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, etc. Harry created a name and a sign, Fashion on Wheels. the forerunner to the East Side business, Fashion Showcase, that Harry ran for years. Flori spent the last years of her life in Florida. She died in 2006, just days shy of her 94th birthdday. Harry is 83 now. Hes a remarkable fellow. Its hard to grasp that, living in a place and time when Nazis exterminated 6 million people, its not likely hed have lived had it not been for a remarkable mother. Watch Frank Borres documentary, My Friend Harry, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A6r22xX0Dk. Michael J. Daly is editor of the editorial page of the Connecticut Post. Email: mdaly@ctpost.com. The injustice done by the state of Connecticut to Charla Nash, the woman who was brutally mauled by a berserk chimpanzee in Stamford in 2009, lingers. Not only does it linger, its compounded by the new development that signs have shown her body is rejecting the full-face transplant she received, and that at least part of the reason may be a drug protocol shes undergoing as part of a program intended to help military veterans who receive transplants. The chimpanzee that attacked Nash had been identified by state officials as a potential danger at least three months before the attack. The state did nothing to seize the 200-pound animal from its owner. Nashs attempt to hold the state accountable through a lawsuit was rejected by former state claims commissioner J. Paul Vance, who subsequently resigned suddenly after a ruling in another controversial case. The General Assembly also rejected Nash when she appealed Vances decision. Meanwhile, in the closing hours of the most recent General Assembly session, legislators voted to reverse another Vance decision and has allowed a Trumbull man to go ahead with a suit against the state after a seven-year legal battle. Overturning the commissioners decision is a rare step. And were not advocating some wholesale relaxation or rewriting of rules that protect the state from frivolous lawsuits. Defenders of the sovereign immunity concept that protects the state from lawsuits argue that letting such a suit go forward would open a floodgate of suits. We disagree. There does need to be a threshhold for such actions and safeguards against frivolous action. The Nash case is not one of them. An employee of the then state Department of Environmental Protection, in an email to supervisors in October 2008, more than three months before the attack, identified this privately owned animal as an accident waiting to happen. The Nash suit would not be based on a speculative theory that someone somewhere should have known about the existence of this animal and should have done something to prevent a random attack. No, its clear that individuals in a state agency charged with handling such matters not only knew the existence of Travis, the coddled, privately-owned chimpanzee, for at least five years before the attack, but also discussed him with escalating urgency. The email cited above also warned that even an armed police officer could be in danger if he tried to remove Travis from the Stamford home in which he was kept. One supervisor said in a sworn deposition that he did not open the email; another said he thought the other supervisor was handling it. And on Feb. 16, 2009, the fears took gruesome form: Charla Nash responded to the home of her friend, Sandra Herold, Travis owner. The chimp was out of control, attacked Nash, literally ripping off her face and hands. The chimp was shot and killed by a police officer that he was preparing to attack next. The continuing injustice to this woman should be corrected. Her suit may not prevail, but she should be heard. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Hearst Connecticut Media file photo Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Morgan Kaolian / AEROPIX / File photo Show More Show Less 3 of 3 HARTFORD In the waning hours of the General Assembly session, some unlikely allies ganged up to kill legislation they claimed would have been a giveaway to the energy company that runs the only nuclear plants in Connecticut. Environmentalists and the oil and natural gas industries joined forces against Dominion Resources, which owns the Millstone Power Station in Waterford and the new fuel-cell plant in Bridgeport. For all the lamentation about the level of rhetoric in this Trumped-up election year, the race between Donald Trump and all-but-certain Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is already shaping up to be a debate over Americas global role of the kind we havent had for decades, perhaps since the last America First movement of the late 30s. And it is a debate that some foreign-policy experts suggest is long overdue, even if it tends to distress U.S. allies around the world. ("The unthinkable has come to pass," Germanys Die Welt wrote after Trump became the presumptive GOP nominee this week.) It is also a debate that, were they still around to witness it, a majority of past U.S. presidents going back to George Washington would probably welcomeand most of them, believe it or not, might well take Trumps side. Story Continued Below In his big foreign-policy rollout speech last week, Trump declared it was time to shake the rust off of Americas foreign policy and drop American pretensions about remaking the world in our image any longer. Or as he put it, in an obvious reference to the failed invasion of Iraq and intervention in Libya, America should abandon the dangerous idea that we could make Western democracies out of countries that had no experience or interest in becoming a Western democracy. Brazenly calling his agenda America Firstnever mind that was the name of the notorious pre-World War II isolationist movementhe also directly challenged the 70 years of bipartisan consensus over the post-World War II global order that America created. He suggested that the world needs America far more than the other way around, and he effectively warned U.S. allies that without a new global deal that demands a kind of tribute paid to Washington for its defense umbrellahe wants them to prove they are our friends, he sayshed walk away from the worlds trade table, so to speak. We will no longer surrender this country or its people to the false song of globalism, Trump said. The nation-state remains the true foundation for happiness and harmony. I am skeptical of international unions that tie us up and bring America down. Predictably, Trumps views have outraged commentators who lament the allusions to the prewar, anti-Semitism-laced isolationism of Charles Lindbergh and other members of the America First movement. His statements have also invited mockery from allies of Clinton, who as a pro-interventionist former secretary of state sees Trumps turn away from the world as a naive and dangerous anachronism. Madeleine Albright, a mentor to Hillary on foreign policy and, as a refugee from Nazi Germany, a lifelong and passionate advocate of the idea that America is the indispensable nation in overseeing global order, accused Trump of historical illiteracy. Maybe he never read history or he doesnt understand it, former Secretary of State Albright told reporters in a conference call organized by Clintons campaign. Trump does appear to be giving short shrift toand perhaps does not fully comprehenda lot of the history that underlies Americas modern approach to the world. He doesnt always make sense when he talks about foreign policy, calling at once for steadiness and unpredictability, a military buildup and a major war on ISIS but also restraint in the use of U.S. force overseas. In March, he embraced NATO in one interview and then declared it obsolete six days later. He speaks of upgrading NATOs outdated mission and structuregrown out of the Cold Warto confront our shared challenges, including migration and Islamic terrorism, without appearing to understand that NATO has been engaged in that very enterprise for at least a decade, especially in Afghanistan. He is cavalierly dismissive of the international alliance-and-trading system that grew up in the ruins of World War II, and which many experts would say helped to win the Cold War and preserve American dominance. He has also said things so offensiveopenly embracing torture and other war crimes, such as killing the wives and children of terrorists, promising to ban all Muslims from entering the U.S. and to round up and deport every one of the 11 million illegalsthat even many Republicans are horrified, saying such policies would undercut whatever moral authority America still has on the world stage. Some of his proposals, like imposing 45 percent tariffs on Chinese goods, could seriously disrupt or even destroy the world trading system, causing a global depression. But Trump is also correct in suggesting that the current global system is an aberration in American history, that it may not be sustainable forever under current conditions, and that America should focus more on fixing our own economic house for a long time to come (a view shared, incidentally, by Barack Obama, who loves to say its time to focus on nation-building at home). The U.S. share of global defense spending has soared to more than a third of the total, while the American economy has dropped in size to one-quarter of global GDP; America spends more in total than the next seven largest countries combined: China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Britain, India, France and Japan. And to what end exactly? No one can quite say. Since the end of the Cold War and the breakup of the Soviet Union, weve lacked a coherent foreign policy, Trump said in his speech. This is also arguably true. From Bosnia to Kosovo to Iraq, America has bounced around from idea to idea and intervention to interventionfrom the idea of humanitarian war to the idea of preventive war. There is nothing even close to the ragged consensus that existed over Cold War containment. So Trump may be an id with hair, as Hillary Clinton calls him, but at least when it comes to his foreign policy views, hes an all-American id. His America First campaign theme has far deeper roots in the history of this country than most pundits are acknowledging. Indeed, Trump shouldnt be dismissed as a mere apostate in his view of Americas role in the world; against the backdrop of all 239 years of Americas existence, he represents more a reversion to the American norm. Trump, in condemning one of the worst instances of American overreach in U.S. history, the Iraq invasion, declared in his speech: The world must know we do not go abroad in search of enemies. The line was an allusion to the famous injunction of John Quincy Adams in 1821 that America "does not go in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. Adams went on to warn, somewhat presciently, America should know that once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself, beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom. The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force. Read today: Iraq. Trump is consciously invoking this tradition hence his line about the futility of trying to forcibly transform nations, like Iraqand the Adams allusion was quite intentional, a senior Trump campaign official told me. Several sections of the speech were intended as a return to several foreign policy directives from our founding generation, he said. Among them were a Hamiltonian emphasis on having financial independence through manufacturing, and seeking to avoid complex foreign entanglements. Most modern internationalists, both Democratic and Republican, have long since relegated John Quincys injunction to history, that of a 19 th century America that was still a developing country and wanted only to be left alone. The internationalists have been, until now, so dominant and sure of themselves and the postwar system that in recent years no one has questioned it (though the unilateralist George W. Bush administration did an effective job of largely ignoring its institutionsespecially NATOin its first term). Unwinding this system today is almost unthinkable: American power overlays every region of the planet, and it supplies the control rods that restrain belligerents and arms races from East Asia to Latin America (if not always successfully, as weve seen in the Mideast and Afghanistan). Nor does Trump appear to be going so far as to say he wants to withdraw from the global systemTo all our friends and allies, I say America is going to be strong again. America is going to be a reliable friend and ally again, he said in his speechbut he does seem willing to renegotiate the terms and conditions for it, as well as Americas role in it. * * * When Adams gave his monsters abroad speech, he was only channeling the fundamental beliefs of the Founders, starting with his father, John Adams, and his mentor, Thomas Jefferson, who warned against entangling alliances abroad. And of course George Washington, who wrote in his farewell address on Sept. 17, 1796 (though the actual words were probably drafted by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison): Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course. Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice? It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world ... Think about that: the Father of Our Country with the imprimatur of Madison and Hamilton (he of the expansive view of federal power)declared Americas true policy to be avoiding permanent alliances abroad. And yet thats exactly what weve got 220 years after Washingtons declaration, tons of themnot to mention permanent membership in global organizations such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organization that we Americans had the largest hand in creating. Princeton scholar John Ikenberry, author of Liberal Leviathan: The Origins, Crisis, and Transformation of the American World Order, says that starting in 1946, the United States added a new allya nation with which it had some kind of security relationshipevery five years or so. Today, it has a total of 62 permanent allies, including many from the former Soviet bloc. (Washington also has a fairly recent strategic partnership with India, another world power.) Most historians and experts see this Western alliance system as a great triumph of American foreign policy (not least because it helped bankrupt the Soviet Union as Moscow tried to keep up with the more open Western economies), one that keeps delivering rewards. Thanks in part to this system, a quarter century after the Cold War, the U.S. still has no real challenger as the lone superpower on earth, and U.S.-created global institutions like the U.N., International Monetary Fund and WTO provide layers of multilateral cover that serve to take the raw edge off American hegemony, making it acceptable to much of the world. That is highly unusual in the history of great powers, which in the past have always provoked new rivalries and alliance-building against them. The overall prosperity created by this worldwide system, despite the inequities of globalization, has provided a powerful and enduring motivation for nations to remain part of it. In order to gain power and influence, countries must prosper; in order to prosper, they must join the international economy. Everyone inside this international system gets richer and stronger, while everyone outside it grows relatively weaker and poorer. Even Russia and China appear to realize this, which is one reason why Vladimir Putins fitful efforts to form a permanent balancing alliance with Beijing never amount to much, another boon to Washington. But it is fair to ask, as Trump is, why we are simply continuing, through inertia and with little change, a system that was built up to thwart a set of threats that no longer exist. Maybe this vast, expensive global order was necessary against Hitler, and later Stalin, Khrushchev and Brezhnevthe very real threats of tyranny, totalitarianism and international communism in the 1940s, 50s, 60s, 70s and 80sbut is Putins Russia, or Xi Jinping's China, really enough of a threat to justify the same expense and effort? Its also fair to askas Trump does, in his blunt waywhether U.S. allies have grown a bit spoiled and barely notice any longer whos holding that defense umbrella over their heads, allowing them to continue massive spending on their welfare states. Even Obama calls them free riders. According to a report by NATO last summermentioned by Trump in his speechonly five of the 28 total NATO members are meeting the alliances goal of spending 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense: the U.S. (at 3 percent of GDP), Great Britain, Poland, Greece and Estonia. Trump is also questioning fundamental assumptions that no major party nominee-in-waiting (Im not counting Pat Buchanan, Trumps most recent ideological forebear) has seriously second-guessed for nearly 25 years: free-trade norms that were deployed against communist economies that no longer exist; the almost-religious assumption that globalization is always good, never bad. The flat-out opening of capital and labor markets to lower cost competitors abroad has plainly helped create an angry dispossessed middle class that no longer feels connected to their own economy. In his usual way this week, flirting with incoherence, Trump again promised a simplistic but enticing cure, declaring at a rally: We will be the smart country from now on, not the dummies, OK? Not the dummies, because this is a movement that's going on. Translated, what Trump is calling for is nothing less than a return to an American normalcy that frankly has always been somewhat isolationistor at least extremely leery of overinvolvement abroad. America First is Trumps way dismissing what many Americans once viewedand many still doas a necessary evil: the entire globalized system of which America is in effect a guarantor. Trump would prefer to return home, unless we can make a profit by dunning our allies and trade partners. In talking about a return to historical normsmany Americans must wonder why our politicians seem more interested in defending the borders of foreign countries than their own, Trump said in his speechTrump is tapping into a powerful national myth, the tradition known as American Exceptionalism. This is the idea that America wasand still isa glorious experiment in nation-building that must be kept apart from the corrupting influences of the world, especially those bad old Europeans; that America was conceived, uniquely in history, as an ideaan apotheosis of the best ideas about the rights of man coming out of the Enlightenmentand that God blessed the new nation with the luxury of conducting this grand experiment on its own continent with two broad oceans to protect it. As Thomas Paine wrote in Common Sense in 1776: We have it in our power to begin the world again. Abraham Lincoln also harked back to this founding mythology when he asked, in 1837: From whence shall we expect the approach of danger? Shall some transatlantic giant step the earth and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe and Asia could not by force take a drink from the Ohio River or make a track on the Blue Ridge in the trial of a thousand years. If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. * * * Why are retreading all this old history and having this debate now? Its not just the arrival of Trump on the scene; its also the mood he has tapped intothe reason his candidacy took off. Trump is exploiting much of the self-doubt already set into motion by the launching of a completely unnecessary war in Iraq, which seriously damaged the postwar alliance-and-trading system by grossly abusing Americas position within it. The Iraq War was made possible only because American governments after the Cold War had kept the mantle of leader of the free world, and George W. Bush convinced himself that his war was part of that tradition. It was not, and in the aftermath of that disaster a pendulum swing back to John Quincy Adams restrained well-wisher tradition was probably inevitable. This could be a problem for Hillary Clintonwhom Trump has begun hammering, as Obama did before him in 2008, for voting to authorize the Iraq invasionif it turns out that Trump has better captured the American temper. Clinton fully supports this global system and Americas oversight of it; she flew around the world several times as secretary of state to defend the just exercise of American power. According to Mark Landlers new book, Alter Egos: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and the Twilight Struggle over American Power, this isnt just political expediency; she genuinely has the instincts of an interventionist hawk. She will no doubt continue to defend the system heart and soul, as will her husband, Bill Clinton, who was known in his time as the "globalization president. (There is no longer a clear division between what is foreign and what is domestic," he said at his first inaugural in 1993, and reiterated the point in his final foreign policy address in 2000; both sentiments now appear to be outdated in this time of Trump.) Hillary Clinton will have a good case to make. If a Trumpian America really did withdraw behind its oceans, what would we likely see unfolding overseas? Probably a restoration of the old power jostle that has sent humankind back to war for many millenia. Suppose, with the end of the Soviet Union, America had mysteriously disappeared as well, or more realistically had retreated to within its borders, as it had wanted to do ever since the end of World War II. Japan would likely have nuclearized and bid for regional hegemony with a nuclearized China. Europe would have had no counterbalance to yet another descent into intraregional competition, and lacking the annealing structure of the postwar Atlantic alliance may never have achieved monetary union. Russia would have bid for Eurasian dominance, as it has throughout its modern history and now appears to be doing again. Most important of all, the global trading system, which the United States virtually reinvented after World War II, would almost certainly have broken down, killing globalization in its infancy. Perhaps that might have been good for some Americans, especially the manufacturing workers who have watched their jobs lost by the thousands to cheap overseas competitors. But most data show that globalization has created a far wealthier (if unequal) world overall. And the absence of a globalized, open economy in turn would have accelerated almost all of the above developments. A major war of some kind would be extremely likely. And given the evidence trail of the past century, the U.S. would likely end up being pulled in againthis time, to a conflict in a high-tech, nuclearized and very lethal age of warfare. Instead, today, the American-led international system has managed to restrain the behavior of the next two great powers, China and Russia, through such institutions as the WTO and, yes, even the despised U.N. Security Council. China, for all of its aggressive behavior in its own backyard in East Asia, especially the South China Sea, has been a fairly benign player globally. It has cooperated in containing Irans nuclear program through the U.N., contributed to peacekeeping in Africa, and it has been prevented from declaring unity with Russia because of all its international trading interests, especially in the United States. Russia under Putin has also restrained its roguish behavior in spite of its move into Ukraine; it too signed on to the Iran deal and is negotiating in Geneva over a truce in Syria. Clinton will argue all thisplaying up her part in it, of courseand more. But if shes perceived as too hawkishand too much of a pro-globalization one-worlderit still could hurt her at the polls . A new Pew Research Center poll finds that most Americans say it "would be better if the U.S. just dealt with its own problems and let other countries deal with their own problems as best they can," according to Pew. Surveys in recent years have shown a decided shift among Americans, a majority of whom now view globalization as a negative. Whose view will win? There are limits to how much change a president can really effect, and inevitably even a Trump administration would probably maintain most of Washingtons now-entrenched role of global overseer. But its worth asking how much he would be able to pare it back or disrupt itand whether a badly divided America can, or wants to, sustain this role forever. One thing is certain: Trump truly is standing on the shoulders of giants in questioning it. And perhaps it is long past time, given the warnings of our Founding Fathers (after all, they were right about a lot of other stuff), to engage in a true debate about the domestic costs of globalism. *** The real question is whether, even if he wanted to, Trump could manage to tinker very much with a world system that appears to be a natural evolution of Americas rise to superpowerdom. Oddly enough, it all came about as a historical accident. For most of Americas first century of existence, U.S. policy abroad was constrained by the Monroe Doctrine, which restricted U.S. intervention abroad (with the exception of the Barbary pirates) to the goal of preventing European intrusions into this hemisphere. That began to change with Teddy Roosevelt, but even he knew it wasnt going to be easy. As he took office upon President McKinleys death in 1901, TR was intent on becoming the first true internationalist American president, and he was perhaps the most traditionally imperialist-minded of presidents. Initially, he confined himself to reasserting the Monroe Doctrine, mainly in an effort to secure the new Panama Canal for trade and to rid the New World of lingering European claims in Cuba and Latin America (which had led to the Spanish-American War). When the first major global crisis of his tenurethe Russo-Japanese War in the Far Easterupted, he declared at first that America would remain neutral. But America had growing trade interests in the Pacific, having recently taken possession of the Philippines and a territory called the Hawaiian Islands, and Roosevelt was a keen student of geopolitics. He presciently predicted Japans victory over troubled Czarist Russia in 1905, and just as presciently worried about the small island nations growing power: In a dozen years the English, Americans and Germans, who now dread one another as rivals in the trade of the Pacific, will have to dread the Japanese more than they do any other nation. Worried about the rise of the Japanese in the Pacific, TR stepped in and negotiated the Treaty of Portsmouth between Japan and Russia. It was a first foreshadowing of the U.S. presidents arbitrator-in-chief role that would become familiar to later generations. But Roosevelt, fearing like his predecessors excessive American entanglements, later retreated partially from East Asia, lamenting after the Philippine War that America lacked the stomach for empire, as historian H.W. Brands has written. Still TR had cracked open the door to a new path in American history, and Americas gradual engagement in global, as opposed to hemispheric, politics proceeded in fits and starts from there. But again, it was cautious. TRs successor but one, Woodrow Wilson, is still seen today, especially by conservatives, as a crusading idealist who led America down a path at odds with its interests and 19th century nativist traditions. In fact, like every American president before and since, Wilson was dragged reluctantly into the world. When World War I erupted in Europe in 1914, Wilson, like TR before him, at first responded in traditional American fashion: he declared neutrality. Later he proposed playing an arbitration role not unlike the one TR undertook in the Russo-Japanese war. In 1917, German aggressiveness provoked America to enter the war in Europe, though there was more of a domestic motive than is often remembered: the notorious Zimmerman Telegram, in which Berlin pledged to help Mexico regain the American territory it had lost in 1848 in return for an alliance, was a key trigger. Bolshevized Russia also represented for the first time an ideological threat. That led Wilson to turn exceptionalism on its head; if America was going to get dragged into a world war, then it would make the world safe for democracy, Wilson said on April 2, 1917, in asking Congress to declare war. America would use the war to remake the world in its image so that dictators and monarchs couldnt start another one. Ikenberry points out that the paradox of Wilsons agenda was that he wanted to avoid involvement in European politics, so he pursued a vision that entailed the utter transformation of European politics. Wilson, a former Princeton University president who had made his scholarly reputation as a political philosopher, knew he was treading on sensitive ground as he consciously sought to bridge the two American erasthe gap between Quincy Adams warning and what he, Wilson, saw as Americas emerging global world role. You know that the United States has always felt from the beginning of her history that she must keep herself separate from any kind of connection with European politics, he told an audience in England. But she is interested in a partnership of right between Europe and America. At another point, he reassured the U.S. Senate, There is no entangling alliance in a concert of power. But out in the heartland, and among their representatives in Congress, many Americans continued to believe that John Quincy Adams was still right. Wilson himself failed, finally, to impose a new international structure; his League of Nations went down to defeat in the Senate when Henry Cabot Lodge, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, refused to sign off on Article 10, which obligated all League members to intervene in the event of aggression against other members. Lodges objection, of course, was merely the old fear of entanglement, and his unilateralist justification for this stance was very much along the lines of the thinking of todays unilateralism. Thanks in part to Lodgeand to Wilsons overreachingAmerican isolationism enjoyed a resurgence in the interwar years. The hapless Wilson died embittered, paralyzed by a stroke, to be replaced by a self-described normal Republican president, Warren Harding, who never brought up the League again (and was followed in succession by two other isolationist GOP presidents, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover). We have torn up Wilsonism by the roots, Lodge crowed after Harding won in a landslide. That was followed by other abject failures of international law, especially of the 1929 Kellogg-Briand Pact outlawing war. The effort to abolish war can come to nothing, Walter Lippmann wrote, unless there are created international institutions, international public opinion, an international conscience which will play the part which war has always played in human affairs. He was right, but the rise of something like an America First movement was foreordained, and American internationalism would lay dormant for another decadeuntil Dec. 7, 1941. Like Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt decided that if he was going to get involved overseas he would correct the mistakes that his predecessors made; he would do more than just create a League of Nations and he would fix the weaknesses in Wilsons League. We will not accept a world, like the postwar world of the 1920s, in which the seeds of Hitlerism can again be planted and allowed to grow, FDR said. The U.N., with its Security Council designed around Roosevelts Four Policemen conceptthe U.S., Russia, Britain and China each overseeing stability in their regionswas the first such attempt combining realist armed might with idealist international law. Still, the U.N. always made the American right queasy, and even NATO was hardly a given. In the early days of NATO, the Truman administration pined for a self-contained European security pact that would allow the Americans to deemphasize or even unwind NATO, giving rise to Lord Ismays famous comment that the point was to keep the Americans in, the Russians out, and the Germans down." Americans after the war, wrote historian Robert Divine, yearned for a magic formula which would permit them to live in peace without constant involvement abroad. But the magic formula never appeared. Thus the global system we have today is truly a kind of accidental American empire. The question now is there really anything we can do about it, and should we really want to? Do we really want to alienate critical allies by driving a harder bargain with them at a time when China and Saudi Arabia are flush with capital to spend on their own alternative regional systems? Nations have no permanent friends or allies, they only have permanent interests, Lord Palmerston famously said. If Americas friendships and alliances have come to look permanent, perhaps thats only because the United States has done a good job of convincing other nations that their interests are aligned with ours long term. The argument that Hillary Clinton will no doubt make is that especially in a post 9/11 world, a world in which both opportunities and threats have become globalized, the task of securing freedom, prosperity and safetyand American dominancemeans securing the international system. She will insist there is no other choice. But at a time when many Americans are angry and feel dispossessed, and when they blame the rest of the world for their illsegged on by Trumps rhetoric about getting raped, for example by Chinait may be that voters do want another choice. Trump appears to be offering one, and a lot of people are listening. Pa. is about to vote. Here's what to know about voting and ballot access in 2022 Elections Gov. Ron DeSantis and Charlie Crist square off in their only TV debate Gov. Ron DeSantis and Democrat Charlie Crist are expected to tussle over the economy, abortion and culture war issues. Lifestyle | Daily Life | News | The Sydney Morning Herald Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. Were working to restore it. Please try again later. Dismiss Just after one oclock yesterday morning, Londons new mayor Sadiq Khan arrived at the trendy Brigade bar, a former fire station just off Tooley Street, to greet his ecstatic campaign workers. You change society by winning elections, he said, to raucous cheers. There is no such thing as heroic failure we have to get back into the habit of winning elections. It worries me that too many of you here dont know what winning is about. Throughout the day Khans leader Jeremy Corbyn had been trying to convince his party and the country of precisely the opposite. That Labours defeat in Scotland, its worst electoral drubbing since the introduction of the universal franchise, was an heroic defeat. That even though Labour had actually lost seats the first such reversal for a new leader of the Opposition in more than half a century they were making steady progress. And that if they remained true to themselves and their ideals, winning and losing would prove to be little more than opposite sides of the same coin. Opposites: The two Labour parties cannot continue in their denial. Noderates have to follow Jeremy Corbyn on his chosen path or chart a new one. They can choose the Khan way or the Corbyn way As Labours leader was trying to sell his disciples on the bitter but virtuous taste of electoral failure, his party was descending into open warfare. I dont think the public see the Labour Party led by Jeremy Corbyn at the moment as a being a credible party of future government, said sole surviving Scottish Labour MP Iain Murray. Put up or shut up, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell ordered his colleagues. McDonnells attempt to bully and silence his opponents would make even his friends in Sinn Fein blush, retorted a veteran former Labour Minister to me. Shut up or get out, Norwich South MP Clive Lewis raged at his leaders critics. Straight-talking, honest politics, as the slogan goes. Whilst Labour MPs were fighting each other for the spoils of defeat, Downing Street insiders could hardly contain their delight. These are basically the perfect results for us, said one aide, with justification. The Conservative dream scenario before the election was of minimal Tory losses, minimal Labour gains, but with Corbyn still in place. That has been realised. In addition they have enjoyed the added bonus of supplanting Labour as the official opposition in Scotland seismic was how one No 10 adviser described it and of seeing little evidence that the voters were preparing to punish the Government for their ongoing divisions over Europe. Even the one setback Zac Goldsmiths drubbing in London had a silver lining. A key opponent of the Governments Heathrow expansion has been politically neutralised. And a potential alternative power base to George Osborne has been removed. One of the worst-kept secrets at Westminster has been the Chancellors ambivalence towards the Goldsmith campaign. Boris Johnson has complained for months that Downing Street was threatening his legacy by deploying the B-team in support of Goldsmiths candidacy. And former Labour mayoral candidate Tessa Jowell still regales friends with the story of how Osborne had approached her at a social function and told her that if she secured Labours nomination, she would get his vote. Over the past 48 hours a lot of attention has inevitably shifted to the impact of the results on planning for Labours long-awaited leadership coup. The consensus view is that the results were sufficient to stay the plotters hand. But as I wrote last week, most Labour moderates had already formed the view it would be impossible to put together a challenge in time for the four-week window of opportunity that was identified between the end of the EU referendum and the summer recess. And unless Goldsmith had pulled off a remarkable upset in London, these elections were never going to be a launch pad for action. There is only so long you can get away with losing, said one leading moderate. My view is he has until this time next year to prove he wont hand 2020 to the Tories on a plate. He pointed me to how Labour deputy leader Tom Watson had urged MPs to be patient and give their leader more time. Hes putting Corbyn on notice, he said. Boris Johnson has complained for months that Downing Street was threatening his legacy by deploying the B-team in support of Zac Goldsmiths candidacy And perhaps he has. Maybe next summer is indeed the date Labour MPs have finally inked in for the move against their leader. But in truth, it no longer matters. Labour is a party in denial. Actually, Labour is two parties in denial. There is Corbynite Labour, clinging to the belief it can bully, threaten and cajole recalcitrant MPs and activists into embracing their vision of a hard-Left socialist utopia. And there is moderate Labour, which clings to its own belief that all that is required is the swift, clean removal of Corbyn and his acolytes, at which point the Labour family will come together, hug, and march in step along the road to a post-Blairite Jerusalem. It is a fantasy. A fantasy that Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell and Diane Abbott can happily or even grudgingly exist alongside Chuka Umunna, Dan Jarvis and Liz Kendall. Pick any issue of import. Defence. Foreign policy. Law and order. Immigration. Welfare. Economic policy. The two Labour parties do not just hold different opinions, they sit on opposite sides of diametrically opposed ideological battle lines. Nor are the differences simply ideological. One of the defining moments of this Parliament one which may prove to be a defining moment of any post-war Parliament was that shaky camera footage of the confrontation between John Mann and Ken Livingstone over the latters comments linking Hitler and Zionism. The two Labour parties must go their separate ways. They have to stop seeking vainly for what unites them, and be honest about what divides them. Which is everything What came across was the hatred. Not two men with political differences, but a naked hatred of one another. It was shocking picture of the Labour Party in 2016. But an honest picture. A moment when all the self-indulgent guff about solidarity and comradeship was stripped away, and people saw the Labour Party for what it now is. And the party finally saw itself for what it now is. Labour's schism is now unbridgeable. A Shadow Cabinet Minister said to me yesterday: I now expect we will be facing Momentum candidates in 2020. It was said with dread, understandably given the potential political implications. But the two Labour parties cannot continue in their denial. Clive Lewis was right Labours moderates do have to shut up or get out. They have to follow Jeremy Corbyn on his chosen path or chart a new one. They can choose the Khan way or the Corbyn way. But what they cannot do is go on battering themselves into submission in the way they have this week. Most importantly, Labour must realise that unity is no longer strength. Its not my party, its not the party I joined, Alan Johnson said earlier this week. Hes right, it isnt. And it never will be again. Corbynism is not a passing phase. It is not a fad that Labours 300,000 new activists will get bored with like a political Rubiks Cube. Even if Corbyn is removed, his supporters in the parliamentary party will remain. His supporters among activists will remain. And in the trade unions. And in the wider Labour movement. The two Labour parties must go their separate ways. They have to stop seeking vainly for what unites them, and be honest about what divides them. Many believe Boris Johnson (pictured) is motivated more by positioning himself for the future than by the real issue of the EU As analysts pore over the results of Thursdays votes across the UK, it is important to step back and appreciate that it is not only elections which determine a political partys fate. Policy, conduct and unity are all crucial to its success or failure. One year ago, the Conservatives won an overall majority in Parliament and despite the obvious setback in the race for London Mayor in the latest polls, displacing Labour as the official opposition in Scotland is a substantial achievement. It allows the Conservatives to claim to be the countrys one truly national political force. Around the world, many governments are either in decline or in deep trouble. Many European countries face political drift, and we are all rather astonished at the unfolding presidential race in the US. The Arab world is battling to cope with lower oil prices. In these unstable times, with unprecedented challenges such as the rise of Islamic State, the UK stands solidly as a country with stable and responsible government. We of course face pressures on our economy and public finances, and threats to our national security from many sources, but our Government is striving to address all these challenges. Within this overall picture, the one area of instability unique to the UK is the looming EU referendum. While my personal conclusion is that the UKs interests are best served by remaining in the EU, there are many perfectly cogent arguments for the opposite view. The only legitimate arguments until June 23, however, are those about the EU itself, after which we must accept the will of the people. But given the importance of policy, conduct and unity to the long-term interests of the Conservative party and indeed the country what is not acceptable is anyone using the referendum as a cover for political scheming, personal ambition or a surrogate leadership bid. What people want is facts about the EU not the spectacle of someone abusing the PMs suspension of collective responsibility by playing games behind the scenes. Peoples suspicion about the motivation of the principal leaders of the Brexit campaign is complicating the debate we all need to have. Many on the doorstep believe that Boris Johnson is motivated more by positioning himself for the future than by the real issue of the EU. Many say they think he would like the Remain campaign to win, in the knowledge that he can then claim to be the darling of party activists without facing the consequences of a UK exit. Likewise, the rather unexpected intervention on the Leave side of Michael Gove who, like Mr Johnson, has a background in journalism has attracted undue focus on his own position in the partys hierarchy. The rather contrived proposal that he should become Deputy Prime Minister has hardly attracted universal acclaim amongst parliamentary colleagues. Johnson and Michael Gove's jostling for leadership (pictured) has got out of hand, and press comment has lost its sensible perspective Jostling for some putative leadership contest has got out of hand, and press comment has lost its sensible perspective. Lists of future contenders which include junior Ministers with limited experience have bordered on farcical. Put bluntly, this self-indulgence must stop. The likes of Theresa May protecting our national security, Philip Hammond influencing world diplomacy, and George Osborne steering our economy, are all senior figures who are simply getting on with their job in the interests of the country. In contrast, we are seeing too much attention and significance paid to that new breed of character, the journalist politician. Real politics and genuine competence are not the product of chums in the media. Excessive attention is being paid to celebrity and image. Too much credence is given to those who cultivate mates who can get them in the papers, or claim personal friendship with the Prime Minister. This is not real politics, it is self-promotion. It has given a distorted picture of peoples support in Parliament and their real significance in national politics. Who and what matters needs an urgent reality check. Someone needs to press the re-set button. It is a pity the Prime Minister was ever enticed into saying he would stand down before the next Election. Even now, I would prefer him to say he will stay on. But in the meantime, we should be deeply unforgiving of anyone who tries to undermine him. Fortunately, most MPs themselves can see what is going on and possess the good sense to support stability over disruption. We must not squander our historic political advantage by allowing focus on the party to subside into disunity and jockeying for personal gain. As we approach the Queens Speech and the prospect of government after the EU referendum, the Prime Minister will require great skill in managing his party. As an extremist, I am very worried about the planned Extremism Bill, which our Prime Minister is about to ram through Parliament. So should you be. You are probably extremists, too, or will soon become extremists. You may well remember when many opinions now viewed as despicable and more or less criminal were freely expressed often by the same people and media who now condemn them. Prime Minister David Cameron (pictured) will push a planned Extremism Bill, through Parliament - which extremists should be worried about I certainly do. Much of the conservative patriotic Christianity which my parents generation saw as normal has now been driven underground, and those who express it especially in the public sector face discipline or the sack, and are sometimes prosecuted. Many of the current establishments attacks on Labour arent disagreements among free people in a free society. They are demands for abject recantations expressed by people who clearly think such views should not be allowed. And the expression extremism doesnt mean anything objective or measurable. It just means a view that is out of favour with the current government and establishment. Whats more, new and startling evidence from France (barely noticed here) suggests strongly that all these anti-extremist strategies are wholly useless anyway for their main stated purpose. Its not the robed and bearded Islamist zealots we need to fear at all. An undercover French journalist, who infiltrated a jihadi cell in Paris, described those he found there as fast-food Islamists who knew nothing of their supposed religion. I never saw any Islam in this affair, the reporter told Canal+ TV. The cell members had no will to improve the world but were lost, frustrated, suicidal, easily manipulated youths. This is what I have been pointing out for many months. Track the backgrounds of the perpetrators of these crimes, here and abroad, and you do not find fanatical Wahhabi hard men, trained in the arts of death. You find, almost invariably, low-life drifters in a haze of dope, on the borders of mental illness (and sometimes beyond it), capable of murder because they have fried their brains for so long that they no longer know right from wrong, or fantasy from reality. Some of these commit crimes which they then justify with a political purpose; many just commit crimes. This is where we should be looking and what we should be discouraging by enforcing our criminal laws properly. Yet, instead, we waste our time and destroy our freedom by futile attempts to control what people think. Poor Maxine's not shocking anyone Someone should tell the BBC that nobody is actually shocked any more by lesbian kisses. Theyre so common now, verging on the compulsory, that Im surprised when they dont feature in the weather forecast. I absolutely decline to be shocked. So poor old Maxine Peake, who has to perform one of these osculations as Titania, in a new production of A Midsummer Nights Dream, is wasting her time. Poor old Maxine Peake (pictured), who has to perform a lesbian kiss as Titania, in a new production of A Midsummer Nights Dream, is wasting her time The desire to shock us has taken over drama. So, apart from the same-sex snogging, Richard III (or Julius Caesar, or Henry V, or Coriolanus) dresses in Nazi uniform, Hamlets a girl (Maxine Peake again), War And Peace has incest in it, Sherlock Holmes is a bad copy of Doctor Who, and it cant be long before someone stages a version of Peter Pan played entirely by pensioners, or A Christmas Carol in which Scrooge is the hero and Christmas never happens. Is it possible that the people who do these things havent understood that the books and plays they spoil were perfectly good and interesting before they meddled with them? It is. Theyre taking a free ride on top of someone elses talent and genius. The really shocking thing these days is a production of anything which sticks to the text. Butchering our lovely language I had a proper old-fashioned education, and I have forgotten almost all of it, apart from the times tables and poems learned by heart, which I still use every day, the passable French vocabulary, which sometimes comes in handy, and a bit of geography. My mother taught me to read, using what I now know was synthetic phonics. The Latin has almost all gone. The history was a good starting point, but I loved it anyway and have carried on learning it ever since. I must be one of the last people alive who had to sit for hours doing parsing and analysis of English sentences. It has never been any use to me at all, and I make my living by writing. But until last week, I had no idea what a digraph is. Having found out, I have now deliberately forgotten. English is not Latin, and its beautiful, flexible, living architecture is best learned by being read to, and then by reading. Yet many children never learn to read properly and are never read to. This is what the schools should be doing, not pestering the poor things with wearisome fronted adverbials and dreary trigraphs. You might as well try to explain the beauty of a goldfinch by killing it, pickling it and cutting it up on a slab when all you need to do is to see the lovely bird in flight, full of grace and truth. As I write this, news has just been brought to me that the Conservatives have retained control of Basingstoke, which fails to thrill. But the word control is important. A small number of votes can decide whether someone keeps or loses enormous amounts of power over money, lawmaking, people, war and peace. So our voting system should surely be absolutely fair and beyond reproach. I think it used to be. But apart from recent sordid scandals over postal voting, which never got the attention they should have done, we now have major new worries. One is the very serious accusation that the Tory Party broke legal spending limits by bussing supporters into target seats. If big money is to be allowed to decide elections, then we are absolutely lost. And the other is the Third World chaos on Thursday at polling stations in one part of Greater London, with properly registered voters turned away by officials. I foresee worse problems in the EU referendum, especially as so many people have yet to realise they are not on the new voting roll, thanks to a major change in the registration rules, which has been poorly advertised. If this happens, and there is a close result, will the losers respect it? And then what? A broken voting system can poison the whole country. Severe reforms are needed, and fast. Step up, Mr Cameron It is hard to think of a nastier business practice than trying to keep your customers by scaring them. Yet this is what the power company SSE has been doing. Its employees have been trained to pretend that switching to rival suppliers will be harder than it really is. Why does this sort of thing continue to happen? After the long years of state ownership, governments have struggled to bring the bracing breeze of competition back into our utilities. Too many still prefer to behave like monopolies. SSE should have learned its lesson by now. Only three years ago it was fined a severe 10.5 million by regulators for mis-selling gas and electricity. SSE cant pretend it doesnt know that it is supposed to make it as easy as possible for customers to switch suppliers. It is time to levy penalties for this sort of misbehaviour on individual directors. Proper competitive business means real personal responsibility as well as richer rewards. If they wish to reap the rich benefits of privatisation, they must also accept the tough risks involved. Step up, Mr Cameron It is ridiculous and beyond belief that the BBC could hand Jeremy Corbyn the role of chief defender of Britains membership of the European Union, while Boris Johnson speaks for Brexit in the key televised debate on our national future. Apart from the fact that Mr Corbyns stodgy and schoolmasterly speaking style is calculated to damage any cause he espouses, and that quick-fire debate is not exactly his strong point, it is hard to believe that this elderly Bennite is heavily committed to the cause. Yet David Camerons refusal, so far, to take part, has left the BBC with little real choice. The Prime Minister must change his mind. In fact, he must try harder in general, and soon. This is his cause. He is not some lofty neutral referee but the chief participant. He offered and called the referendum. He flung himself into the negotiations which preceded it, assuring us that he would win serious concessions and used all his considerable powers of persuasion to recommend what he did get. He has always sought to embody the reasoned, moderate case for remaining. Yet, as the most significant combat of the campaign approaches, he proposes to sit it out. In other circumstances, his reluctance to go head to head with a fellow Tory might seem reasonable. But this is probably the most important issue he has ever tackled. From now on he simply must engage with it, heart and soul. The country expects no less from its head of government. A victory to celebrate London has become the first great Western city to choose a Muslim as its Mayor. Forgetting party politics for a moment, we should celebrate this fact. It is a great declaration of open-mindedness by a great city. London has become the first great Western city to choose a Muslim as its Mayor It is the best answer we could possibly give to the intolerant voices of extreme Islam. To their bitterness, we respond with friendship. And now we most earnestly hope that Sadiq Khan who has rightly promised to be a Mayor for all Londoners shows in practice that he will have no further truck with the militants with whom he has associated in the past. The first lesson I learned when I started working in Westminster was also the most important. Its that youre rarely judged on how youve actually done. Youre judged, rather, against the expectations people have of you. On any objective view, Jeremy Corbyn would now be counting the days until the end of his leadership, slinking back into the obscurity he deserves. Everything he has touched has been a disaster. He is appalling at speaking in the Commons. He has handled the anti-Semitism row as if he couldnt care less. His policies are barking. On any objective view, Jeremy Corbyn would now be counting the days until the end of his leadership Left, Hillary Benn and right, Andy Burnham. They put their careers first rather by taking a job in the Shadow Cabinet And now voters have judged him to be perhaps Labours worst ever leader. He has led the party to one of the most calamitous electoral performances in history. It is a truism in politics that new leaders have a honeymoon period. Even the useless Iain Duncan Smith managed to win the 2002 local elections in his first year as Conservative leader, gaining five councils. But for Mr Corbyn, Thursday was an utter calamity. Labours share of the vote crashed to 31 per cent down by 7 per cent from its performance in 2012, when the same local authorities were last contested. Thats 7 per cent worse even than Labour managed under Ed Miliband who went on to lead his party to disaster at last years General Election. Left, Gloria De Piero and right, Chris Bryant. Its obvious that Mr Corbyn is taking his party towards oblivion. These results show that as a party of government, Labour is now effectively dead Its obvious that Mr Corbyn is taking his party towards oblivion. These results show that as a party of government, Labour is now effectively dead. No wonder the bookies make 2031 or after the favourite for the first year in which Labour could again win a majority. And yet astonishingly there are people saying he has done enough to remain as Labour leader. Going into Thursdays vote, the received wisdom was that Labour could lose 150 of the 1300 seats it held. It turned out that Labour lost only around two dozen seats. It was a calamity rather than a catastrophe. Only two dozen seats! The only previous Labour leaders to have lost council seats were Michael Foot and Neil Kinnock. Now Mr Corbyn must be added to the list. And yet Mr Corbyns cheerleaders are saying he deserves to stay as leader because Labour did better than expected. They won the highest share of the vote as well as taking back the London mayoralty. The best that can be said is that, as Mr Corbyn himself put it on Friday, Labour hung on. At a time when any halfway decent opposition leader would be storming the country, ripping the Conservative vote apart, Labours leader boasts he has hung on. In truth, the Conservatives performance was little short of astonishing. After Marchs Budget so inept it makes George Osbornes 2012 omnishambles look like a model of good political sense and the brutal rows over Europe that are ripping the party apart, the Conservatives still managed to be only 1 per cent behind Labour on Thursday. Since governments almost always do worse midterm than they do come the General Election, the Tories are cock-a-hoop. Whats truly depressing is that its not just Mr Corbyns cheerleaders who are now behaving as if Thursday was anything other than a disaster for Labour. The real villains of the piece are Labours moderates the vast bulk of its MPs who refuse to act. Theyve already decided Mr Corbyn will have another year to prove himself. AS IF anyone needs another year to find out if he is up to the job. One moderate Labour MP explained it to me a few months ago: There are just over a dozen of us who actively want rid of Corbyn. And he has a similar number who are loyal to him. But although the bulk of MPs would rather he was gone, they wont do anything about it. They like being an MP and just want a quiet life. Andy Burnham and Lucy Powell: They behave like the descendants of the Labour politicians who stood by while the Bennites ran riot in the 1980s What he meant is the vast bulk of Labours moderates are spineless. They can see Labour is heading for oblivion. But they cant see a parapet without ducking underneath it. Where are the likes of Chuka Umunna and Dan Jarvis now? For years we were told Mr Umunna was the great hope of the Labour Party. But he couldnt even bring himself to go through with standing for the leadership when there was a contest, let alone speak up now. No one can accuse former soldier Mr Jarvis of lacking the stomach for a fight, but he is playing political games. Instead of biding his time, he should be forcing his party to confront the calamity it faces. The contrast between the Tories and Labour could not be more stark. If a Tory leader is failing they are removed. Coldly and swiftly. If a Labour leader isnt up to it, they moan. And thats all. Worst of all are the so-called moderates who prop Mr Corbyn up by serving in his Shadow Cabinet. We know that the likes of Hilary Benn, Andy Burnham, Gloria De Piero, Lucy Powell and Chris Bryant think the Labour leader is an aberration who would make a disastrous Prime Minister. And yet they put their careers first rather by taking a job in the Shadow Cabinet. If they all refused to serve, they would force the issue. Instead, they behave like the descendants of the Labour politicians who stood by while the Bennites ran riot in the 1980s. They didnt agree with what was happening then, either, but they behaved as if their backbones had been surgically removed. You might wonder why any of this matters. First, and most importantly, because we need a strong opposition. Democracy cannot function if there is only one party that is remotely fit for government. Second, because a Labour Party run by unelectable extremists disenfranchises millions who would never vote Conservative, but equally have no truck with Mr Corbyns brand of 1970s quasi-Marxism. It was the cult book that touched a nerve with middle class women all over the world, selling more than 10 million copies and remaining on the New York Times bestseller list for a staggering 187 weeks. Eat Pray Love, the smash hit memoir by American writer Elizabeth Gilbert, chronicled her travels around the world after leaving an unhappy marriage and finding solace in food, meditation and eventually a new romance. Such was its popularity, Gilbert's book was even turned into a hit film starring Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem in 2010. Scroll down for video Eran Sudds, 36, is one of nearly 50 women who say that Eat, Pray, Love changed their lives. Eran was inspired to quit her job and go travelling, and claims the book encouraged her to seek help for postpartum depression Kitty Taylor, 36 (left) was inspired to leave an unhappy marriage, find a new job as a chaplain and take up burlesque dancing. Regan Spencer, 26 (right) says the book helped her break free from anorexia and addiction Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem star in the film adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir, which chronicled her adventures after leaving her marriage and finding solace in food, meditation and eventually a new romance And 10 years after its publication, it's not just the number of copies sold that are testament to it legacy, but how it has changed women's lives - often with dramatic consequences. Eat Pray Love Made Me Do It is published by Bloomsbury on paperback and Ebook, 8.99 Now, a new book by Elizabeth Gilbert has compiled the stories of a staggering 47 women who claim her memoir was responsible for shaking up their lives. Eat Pray Love Made Me Do It: Life Journeys Inspired by Elizabeth Gilberts Bestselling Memoir features intimate accounts of divorce, heartache, impromptu trips around the world and even overcoming postnatal depression - all inspired by the 2006 book. Three contributors shared their stories exclusively with FEMAIL. 'I LEFT MY HUSBAND, QUIT MY JOB TO BECOME A CHAPLAIN... AND TOOK UP BURLESQUE' Kitty Taylor, 36, is a community and prevention education coordinator who lives in Georgia Kitty had been married for two years when, at the age of 27, it dawned on her just how unhappy she was. 'I was married and miserable,' she explains. 'Made more miserable by being twenty-six and barely one year into vows I had written.' Kitty, who had been with her partner for four years before marrying at the age of 25, explains: 'One of the problems was that we were young and we didn't quite partner in the way we should have done in terms of communication and adult responsibility.' During that time Kitty, who was working at a university library, began taking some religious classes. 'I realised I wanted to pursue my education further and didn't see that happening in that marriage,' she says. Having tried to read Eat, Pray, Love on several occasions, she says: 'I couldnt make it through sixteen pages without tears; sometimes it was only ten.' The story of Elizabeth Gilbert's unhappy marriage resonated deeply with Kitty, who was embroiled in an affair at the time. She recalls: 'It took me a couple of attempts, but when I was actually able to finish the book I felt like I had been granted permission to be sad about a decision I was making. Even though I was the one initiating [the divorce]. 'Prior to that, I thought if I was feeling sad then I must be having doubts.' Kitty Taylor was trapped in an unhappy marriage in her mid-20s and initially struggled to read the book. She says: 'I couldnt make it through 16 pages without tears; sometimes it was only ten' Kitty (right) meets Bishop Gene Robinson (centre) during her time as a chaplain. The former librarian was inspired to study theology after reading the book and realising she was not fully satisfied with her own life She asked her husband for a divorce, quit her job and moved to Nashville, Tennessee to take a theology degree, funding her studies by working as a student assistant part-time. 'For three months, I slept on an air mattress, and for the first few weeks, I often cried myself to sleep,' she says. But Kitty's hard work paid off and she went on to become a resident chaplain at a local hospital, something she found challenging but hugely rewarding. Then, in 2014, she took on a new venture and something completely out of character: burlesque dancing. 'A friend introduced me to it,' Kitty explains. 'I was originally very hesitant - I saw it as something that wasn't empowering to women and objectified their bodies. 'But then I went to a festival and listened to different women's stories about the challenges they had overcome. After reading the book, Kitty asked her husband for a divorce, quit her job and moved to Nashville, Tennessee to take a theology course, funding her studies by working part-time as a student assistant Kitty (second right) with her Clinical Pastoral Education group at grad school in Tennessee. She went on to become a resident chaplain at a local hospital, something she found challenging but hugely rewarding 'I met a woman who was part of a burlesque troupe, and went along to watch her show that night. I realised they all had complete control about the way they were telling their stories and their bodies.' Kitty, who was also going through a 'pretty devastating break-up', booked herself in for six weeks of classes. 'I was hoping to get body confidence and to challenge myself with something I hadn't done before,' she explains. 'Going into a class where I'm having to watch myself in a mirror and embrace my body and fall in love with it was the most empowering thing I had ever done.' Now, she is living in North Georgia, has a new partner, and has just started another new job working with victims of domestic violence and of sexual assault. Kitty attends an author event for the US book launch of Eat, Pray, Love Made Me Do It in March. Speaking of the impact the original book had on her life, she says: 'The gave me the feeling that I had a right to my own life' Kitty, centre, with fellow Elizabeth Gilbert fans at an event in 2013 (left) and with two of her friends from grad school in 2008 (right) Kitty says the book changed her life: 'I have taken a number of risks that have been unexpected, starting with, "I'm going to leave my marriage and to move to a different city, chaplaincy, burlesque"... it was a risk' Reflecting on the past few years that have seen her life turned upside-down, Kitty says: 'The book is what started it. 'I have taken a number of risks that have been unexpected, starting with, "I'm going to leave my marriage and to move to a different city, chaplaincy, burlesque"... it was a risk. 'The book gave me the feeling that I had a right to my own life. You have a right to make decisions about your own life. 'All of them have been truth-seeking adventures, and I would absolutely say that reading the book showed me it's OK to make a decision - even if I know it's hard.' 'IT HELPED ME BREAK FREE FROM ANOREXIA AND DRUG ADDICTION' Regan Spencer, 26, lives in Washington State and runs her own business running workshops and retreats This time two years ago, Regan was suffering from anorexia and drug addiction a toxic mixture of what she refers to as pills, pot and partying. Regan Spencer, 26, says that if it wasn't for her reading the book, she may still be in the throes of anorexia and a drug addiction that she battled with for most of her life - a mixture of pills, pot and partying Regan before attending rehabilitation. She says: I didnt really fit the stereotype you might picture when you think of anorexia, although now I look back at pictures and I do think I look pretty sick in some of them' Anorexia, drugs and alcohol helped me feel OK, she admits. They numbed pain, anxiety, depression, self-hatred, and shame, all of which totally overwhelmed me from an early age. The problem came when I became so dependent on the anorexia, drugs and alcohol that I couldnt stop using, despite negative consequences. Regans weight fluctuated over the years, but it mostly stayed around 7 stone 2 lbs (100 lbs). I looked pretty normal, she says. I didnt really fit the stereotype you might picture when you think of anorexia, although now I look back at pictures and I do think I look pretty sick in some of them. Her health declined to the point where she was constantly feeling very shaky and anxious and emotionally volatile. Despite initially being skeptical about Eat, Pray, Love, she ended up watching the film at a friends house one night in 2014. Regans weight fluctuated over the years, but it mostly stayed around 7 stone 2 lbs. She says: I became so dependent on the anorexia, drugs and alcohol that I couldnt stop using, despite negative consequences Regan says she thinks she looks 'pretty sick' when she looks back at photos of herself when she was battling with anorexia. During that time she was constantly feeling very shaky and anxious and emotionally volatile I was too arrogant to buy the book, she explains. So I went online and found videos of someone who had simply recorded themselves reading the book. I listened to the book and watched the movie almost every day for that entire summer. It came to me at the exact moment in my life that I was really starting to break down and comprehend that I needed help. Regan left her job, her home and her long-term partner to go to a rehab centre on Vancouver Island, Canada. I really felt like I was leaving behind everything familiar to me, she recalls. After her treatment, Regan and her partner ended things, and she began a new life in Seattle. Regan celebrated one year of being clean and sober shortly before her 26th birthday and says that, while she no longer weighs herself, she has gone from a clothing size XS to L/ XL and is happy with her healthy new body. Regan now. After reading the book, she left her job, her home and her partner to go to a rehab centre on Vancouver Island, Canada. I really felt like I was leaving behind everything familiar to me, she recalls Regan today. She celebrated one year of being clean and sober shortly before her 26th birthday and says that, while she no longer weighs herself, she has gone from a clothing size XS to a size L/ XL Speaking about the impact the book has had on her life, she says: It gave me the push I needed to make the same kind of choice that [Elizabeth] Gilbert made: I chose to take a chance and maybe live a life that I love instead of continuing to live a life I thought I was resigned to, a life in which I wanted to die. I didnt want to want to die anymore, and Eat Pray Love told me that maybe I deserved more than that. 'It inspired me to seek help for postpartum depression' Eran Sudds, 36, is a photographer. She lives in Tsawwassen, British Columbia, with her husband Justin and their son Henry, three At 27, Eran Sudds was working in a good, stable nine-to-five job as an events coordinator for a non-profit organisation. It was a good job with good pay and great people, she says. But I was having regular anxiety and panic attacks, which were very much related to how unhappy I was in this line of work and the lifestyle I was living.' Eran Sudds was inspired to quit her job, go travelling and carve out her dream career after reading the book. But after initially feeling 'cocky' about her new life, she was hit by postpartum depression after her son's birth Eran with her husband, Justin, and their son Henry, now three. Eran said she didn't feel ready for a child at first, and after reading the book she decided: 'I just felt like I needed to take this one last big solo trip by myself' She added: I had huge expectations of myself and I felt like I wasn't meeting any of them. After reading Eat, Pray, Love in 2007, Eran was inspired to quit her job and go travelling. From the very first time I read Elizabeth's words, I was desperate to do what she did - live my life on my own terms, she recalls. Her story stirred something within me, and I kept dreaming of what I would do and where I would go, if only I wasn't feeling so tied down to my regular life. Despite the idea of starting from scratch seeming far-fetched, Erans husband encouraged her. After Eran left her job, she and her husband travelled to Australia. Eran then spent about three to four years just exploring taking various classes that interested her, travelling, working various random jobs and writing a blog. Eran with her son Henry. Before having children, she wanted to 'really examine my life and all the avenues I had explored and figure things out for myself before we had children' After she left her job, Eran and her husband travelled to Australia. She then spent about three to four years just exploring taking various classes that interested her, travelling and writing Eran says Justin (pictured) was 'incredibly supportive': He had seen me floundering and struggling over the last few years, and he also knew that my life would change so dramatically once we had a child But Eran, who says she and her husband were starting to feel the pressure of starting a family something she didnt feel ready for still felt lost. So, in 2011, she took the plunge and travelled completely alone to Bordeaux, France, a place she had visited with her husband in the past. When we started talking seriously about starting a family, I just felt like I needed to take this one last big solo trip by myself, so I could really examine my life and all the avenues I had explored and figure things out for myself before we had children, Eran explains. My husband was incredibly supportive of the idea - he had seen me floundering and struggling over the last few years, and he also knew that my life would change so dramatically once we had a child. Eran pursued a lifelong dream of starting her own photography business. But after her first child, a little boy called Henry (pictured) was born in March, 2013, she was hit by a huge chasm of past-partum depression Speaking of her battle with postpartum depression, Eran says: It felt like I was at the bottom of a giant hole, and I had no idea how to climb out. I was tied to this little person, and I felt so hopeless After her four-week-long hiatus, Eran returned feeling completely certain about who she was. I totally had my s*** together, and I was cocky as all get-out about that fact, she says. She even pursued a lifelong dream of starting her own photography business. But after her first child, a little boy called Henry, was born in March, 2013, she was hit by a huge chasm of postpartum depression. It felt like I was at the bottom of a giant hole, and I had no idea how to climb out, she says. I was tied to this little person, and I felt so hopeless. She turned to the book that had now become like a bible to her Eat, Pray, Love and came to a page that read: Tell the truth, tell the truth, tell the truth. Eran says her life is now incredibly blessed. She says: I think [the book] will always be a part of my life - I try to read it at least once a year. It's a bit like my own personal bible After facing a difficult time in her life, Eran turned to the book that had now become like a bible to her Eat, Pray, Love and came to a page that read: Tell the truth, tell the truth, tell the truth The passage resonated with Eran. Up until this point, I didn't feel like I could be 100 per cent honest about how I was feeling, she says. I was supposed to be kicking butt at this motherhood thing, and I felt like I couldn't tell everyone that I was struggling. But this one quote made me realise that I just really needed to acknowledge what was going on within myself, so that I could start crawling out of that hole I was in. It encouraged her to sign up for counselling, and she went on to launch the Good Mother Project a photography project to raise money for a postpartum depression helpline, which evolved into an online collective of motherhood stories. Ms Lawson said the book brought on As a child Jane Lawson remembers washing the family car with her brother for 20 cents. With the money burning holes in their pockets they would walk under the hot summer sun to the local milk bar. There they would buy a milkshake or a bag of mixed sweets, which their father would later pick through to find his favourites. Its these childhood memories that inspired the Sydney resident to write her latest cookbook Milkbar Memories. Bringing back memories: Chef and cookbook author Jane Lawson (pictured second left) has written Milkbar Memories, sharing her favourite recipes from the seventies Delicious: The book shares recipes for milk bar favourites, from sweets such as musk sticks (pictured) to sausage rolls Nostalgic: Jane said creating the recipes was like taking a trip down memory lane, as she tasted the food from her childhood Its the fun food associated with a simpler time, and a care free time, Ms Lawson told Daily Mail Australia. As we get older in life and things get a bit more stressful we are able to think back to that time, to fun and carefree Sundays and holidays and weekends where they didnt have to think about anything else than going to the milk bar and buying a packet of mixed lollies. As an early teen you were pretty cool hanging out down at the milk bar. Also on road trips with the families, dad always knew where to get the best pies. Young and crefree: Its the fun food associated with a simpler time, and a care free time, Ms Lawson said Family fun: The author said she remembers trips with the family where her father always knew where to get the best pies Aussie favourite: The book includes recipes for savoury treats, such as meat pies and sausage rolls The book truly is a trip down memory lane, with recipes for musk sticks, wagon wheels, coconut roughs, sausage rolls, meat pies and fish and chips. Or as Ms Lawson said: All those yummy things we dont necessarily have recipes for. When I was developing the recipes I kept tasting things and thinking this is really good, it tastes like my memory, she said. MILKBAR MEMORIES BY JANE LAWSON - MUSK STICKS RECIPE (MAKES 32) INGREDIENTS: Mild-flavoured cooking oil spray 4 small gelatine sheets (6 g/ oz in total), each about 7 cm x 11.5 cm (2 inches x 4 inches) 1 tablespoon liquid glucose teaspoon good-quality musk essence A few drops of pure vanilla extract 2 drops of red food colouring (optional) 250 g (9 oz/2 cups) icing sugar mixture, sifted Delicious: Make your own musk sticks METHOD: Spray two baking trays with cooking oil spray. Line the trays with baking paper. Soak the gelatine sheets in cold water for 5 minutes, or until soft and pliable. Drain and squeeze out the excess water. Put the gelatine in a saucepan with the glucose and 60ml cold water. Stir over high heat until the gelatine sheets have melted. Remove from the heat and tip into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. When the mixture is cool, add the musk essence, vanilla and food colouring. Add 125g of the icing sugar and beat at low speed until well combined. Increase the speed to high and whisk for 1 minute, or until smooth and evenly coloured. Turn your machine off and add the remaining icing sugar. Mix in slowly, then increase the speed to high for about 3 minutes, to ensure it is all well incorporated, and a little like a thick, raw meringue mixture. Put the mixture into a piping (icing) bag fitted with a 1cm star-shaped nozzle and pipe 10cm lengths onto the baking trays. Leave in a cool, dry place to set overnight. The musk sticks should be crisp and dry all the way through. They will keep in an airtight container for several months, but will soften over time Back to basics: Ms Lawson said the recipes aimed to replicate what food used to taste like forty years ago The only hard part was choosing her favourite. There are so many things: potato scallops, Neenish tarts, caramel buds, she said. Really good pies and sausage rolls is such a quintessential Aussie milk bar treat. Broad appeal: While the days of the milk bar are gone, the memories are ones that are shared between parents and their children MILKBAR MEMORIES RECIPES Recipe in the book include: Banana splits Coconut ice Caramel buds Meat pies Sausage rolls Custard tarts Sherbet Apple pie with fresh cream Neenish tarts Vanilla slice Calamari rings Onion rings Milkshakes Without naming names, Ms Lawson said many treats from her childhood were not as big, or as flavoursome, as they were 40 years ago. The recipes aim to bring the sweets back to their former glory. While the days of hanging at the milk bar are gone, the legacy they leave behind is one that appeals to people of all ages. Its quite an important piece of our social history, she said. Even though we dont have milk bars the way they used to be, everyone has a connection about that time whether its talking to their kids about it or engaging their kids with cooking. Mouth-watering: Its quite an important piece of our social history, Ms Lawson said of the milk bar Get your copy: Milkbar Memories is available online and in all leading book stores Milkbar Memories is a step away from the healthy living cookbooks that currently saturate the market. But Ms Lawson said if youre going to have some naughty weekend food, you may as well make your own and know whats in it. The book is the latest in a string of successful titles by the chef, who has previously released cookbooks on Japanese cuisine and family favourites. The bake-off was to raise money for post and antenatal depression Each of them recreated the cakes with modern decorations and skills The Australian Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake book, first published in 1980, stirs up fond childhood memories for many across the country. The iconic recipe book fast became a cult Australian classic and has inspired many parents to get creative for birthday parties and surprise their children with their favourite cake. And on Saturday, one Canberra organisation decided to bring back some of that nostalgia to raise funds for perinatal mental health services. Taking a trip down memory lane: On Saturday, women came together to recreate all 107 cakes from the iconic Australian Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake book to raise funds for post and antenatal depression The Humpty Dumpty cake: Laura Elphick recreated the classic cake with a new, modern Humpty (right) with a realistic wall and brand new outfit The Dancing Girl: Megan Jeremenko used a brand new Barbie Doll (right) to recreate this iconic cake Mothers from across Canberra gathered for a bake off on Saturday afternoon to bake all 107 cakes from the cookbook for PANDSI - an organisation offering support to women dealing with post and antenatal depression. The women - including 10 of Canberra's best bakers - got to work and showed off their skills before the cakes were all sold in a silent auction at the Hyatt Hotel in Canberra where they raised over $9,000. Among those judging the cakes was Pamela Clark who wrote and edited the original book, as well as Senator Katy Gallagher and the Hyatt Hotel executive chef Nitin Kumar. The Rocket Ship: Mothers from across Canberra gathered for a bake off on Saturday afternoon to bake all 107 cakes from the cookbook for PANDSI to help women dealing with post and antenatal depression The Choo Choo Train: Jo Binkin's modern train cake (right) won the Most Original award on the day Rubber Ducky: Sonya Curran's recreation of the Rubber Ducky cake closely resembled the original The impressive recreations had a modern flair compared to the originals, with cakes like the Humpty Dumpty and the Old Women Who Lived in a Shoe cake featuring new skills and contemporary decorations. The Choo Choo Train cake won the Most Original category, the Smiley Shark Cake won the Most Closely Resembling the Original category and The Cuddly Koala cake won the Most Love category. The Dancing Girl cake by Megan Jeremenko was created using a modern Barbie doll and the Rubber Ducky cake closely resembled the original. Original: The Old Women Who Lived in a Shoe cake was a popular cake for many growing up Old Women Who Lived in a Shoe cake: Linda Materns showed off her original and realistic take on the popular cake PANDSI President Christine Spicer said the idea came from PANDSI member Ginger Gorman. Ms Gorman convinced her to put on a show of all of the 107 cakes from the cookbook because people loved them so much. 'I was a bit sceptical but she talked me around,' Ms Spicer told Daily Mail Australia. So they decided to get all the cakes made and put on a show, with thousands of people paying to see them. Impressive: Kate Morrison created her version of the Sewing Basket cake Talent: Trish Barber and her Dolly Varden Cake were a crowd favourite on the day The judging process took into consideration a variety of elements, with Ms Spicer revealing it was as much about passion as it was about talent. 'They were judged on love and flair, not necessarily which was more perfect,' Ms Spicer said. 'We had awards for the most original cake, the cake made with the most love, and the closest cake to the original picture.' Popular event: The judging process took into consideration a variety of elements, with Ms Spicer revealing it was as much about passion as it was about talent All smiles: The women who participated in the cake off were proud to be able to contribute to a great cause Although it wasn't the winner, Ms Spicer she had a soft soft for the Rubber Ducky cake. 'My favourite is the duck cake because its controversial,' she said. 'People are unsure of it because of the savory element, the chips as a bill.' Ms Priyanka said she will be honoured to represent her country of birth The 24-year-old will now compete for Fiji in December's She took out four different categories An Australian based model has been crowned Miss World Fiji 2016 after wowing judges in four different categories during the prestigious beauty pageant. Pooja Priyanka, 24, from Sydney, sparkled in the spotlight after defeating nine other finalists in the Miss World Fiji beauty pageant on Saturday night at the Grand Pacific Hotel in the island nation's capital, Suva. 'This is like a dream come true for me and I am just lost for words,' Ms Priyanka told FijiLive. Pooja Priyanka, 24, from Sydney, sparkled in the spotlight after defeating nine other finalists in the Miss World Fiji beauty pageant on Saturday night in the island nation's capital, Suva The stunning model, who was born in Lautoka, Fiji's second largest city, will now represent her country of birth at the 66th Miss World finals for a chance to be crowned Miss World. 'I always wanted to give something back to my country of birth and this win tonight surely will allow me to promote Fiji on the world front,' she said following the competition. 'This platform will open up many pathways for me and I want to closely work with local organisations and help the unfortunate and needy members of our community.' The actor and dancer dominated throughout the competition, taking out the Best Talent, Multi-Media, Top Model and Best Evening Gown categories. Ms Priyanka has had the pleasure of travelling across the globe to learn from some of the most talented Bollywood dancers on the scene, using her skills to cinch the talent portion of the pageant The stunning model, who was born in Lautoka, Fiji's second largest city, will now represent her country of birth at the 66th Miss World finals for a chance to be crowned Miss World The actor and dancer dominated throughout the competition, taking out the Best Talent, Multi-Media, Top Model and Best Evening Gown categories I always wanted to give something back to my country of birth and this win tonight surely will allow me to promote Fiji on the world front,' she said following the competition Ms Priyanka has strut her stuff on runways at leading fashion shows across Sydney, but said her passion has always been dance The young beauty queen was pictured wearing the coveted crown in a breath-taking white lace and sequin dress alongside first runner up Nanise Raboiliku (left) and second runner up Vika Fifita (right). She was tipped to make the final three after representing Australia at the annual Miss Universal Peace and Humanity pageant last year and gracefully accepted the crown from the 2015 winner, Brittany Hazelman She was tipped to make the final three after representing Australia at the annual Miss Universal Peace and Humanity pageant last year and gracefully accepted the crown from the 2015 winner, Brittany Hazelman. Ms Priyanka has strut her stuff on runways at leading fashion shows across Sydney, but said her passion has always been dance. She has had the pleasure of travelling across the globe to learn from some of the most talented Bollywood dancers on the scene, using her skills to cinch the talent portion of the pageant. The young beauty queen was pictured wearing the coveted crown in a breath-taking white lace and sequin dress alongside first runner up Nanise Raboiliku and second runner up Vika Fifita. Married to one of the most famous and at times most notorious drummers in the history of rock, Kudzai Baker could reasonably expect to find herself the chatelaine of a luxury mansion, the proud patron of Chanel and Dior, or perhaps the mistress of a sprawling polo ranch or two? After all, her husband is Ginger Baker, the legendary drummer and founder of the short-lived super group Cream which sold 15 million records whos enjoyed a life of huge wealth and eye-popping hedonism. Yet today finds Kudzai doing the dishes in nothing more impressive than a small rented cottage on the outskirts of Canterbury and, if she is to be believed, she is barely in charge of that. Legendary but down on his luck - Drummer Ginger Baker, 76, with his wife Kudzai, 42 years his junior - and accused of abusing him (lower right) and his irate daughter Nettie, 55, who thinks she'll be cut out of his will (upper right) For at a time when 76-year-old Ginger should be relaxing with his young wife and enjoying the fruits of his hard work and creativity in the peace of the Kent countryside, their world has been torn apart by a rancorous dispute with his eldest daughter Ginette in a battle for control of his affection, his estate and his legacy. According to 34-year-old Kudzai, Gingers daughter treats her like a servant in her own home. She says Ginette has accused her of abusing and manipulating her elderly husband, who was recently forced to abandon his drumming after the shock diagnosis of a serious heart complaint. In reply, Ginette, or Nettie, has reported Kudzai to the police, accusing her of harassment which Kudzai denies. Perhaps some degree of tension might be expected. Kudzai is Gingers fourth wife, and 42 years younger than the former hellraiser. And she is a full 21 years younger than her 55-year-old step-daughter. But even by the standards of his turbulent past, this is a quite extraordinary situation, and causing potentially dangerous stress to Ginger, who is still recovering from bypass surgery last month. Stars: Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton and Ginger in their prime Despite his current frailty, Ginger remains his characteristically irascible self, determined, he says, to support Kudzai 100 per cent. And in a show of unity they have taken the unusual step of speaking out to clear the air. She told my doctor that my wife is abusing me Looking pale and weary, his once-famous mop of thick curly red hair now thin and washed out, Ginger is sprawled on a plump brown leather armchair in a sparsely furnished living room. He suffers from degenerative osteoarthritis of the spine and the wild carousing of his youth seems to have taken just as much a toll on him as this family tussle. This was a rocker whose violent outbursts, debauched sexual escapades and epic drug-taking once led him to be voted the man least likely to survive the Sixties. Kudzai sits calmly by his side, seemingly content to let him tell the story. My eldest daughter started all this drama before I was even diagnosed with my heart condition, he says wearily in a rasping south London accent. What she did to my wife was really unforgivable. It came to light about six weeks ago, when I went to see my doctor and he asked me: Does your wife abuse you? The trio's first two of their four huge-selling albums I was flabbergasted. It was the most ludicrous thing imaginable. I said absolutely not and started to laugh. He did, too. He told me that Nettie had rung to make the allegation and that she also claimed that my wife was blackmailing me. She even reported this to her local police in London, who called the house and demanded that my wife go to a police station in Limehouse for an interview. Kudzai was so upset that she wrote some unpleasant emails to Nettie, who handed them to the police and accused her of harassment. He has now asked his solicitor to send a strongly worded letter telling Nettie to stop attacking his wife. Ginger continues: Somehow Nettie has come to the conclusion that shes not in my will, when, in fact, she still is because Ive never changed it. Ill only cut her out if she doesnt stop. I love and trust my wife completely and I know she feels the same. She does everything for me Im old and now Im ill, but she has been my rock. Looking forlorn, her eyes seemingly red from crying, Kudzai is no gold digger, whatever some cynics might imagine. The truth is that I dont care about the money. I have said to Ginger that maybe he should leave everything to charity, if it would make Nettie feel more secure. We have been together for ten years and married for five. When I first met him he was a millionaire and I didnt have to work. We lived a very good life in South Africa, but then he lost everything. If all I wanted was his money, surely I would have left by now, as we are barely comfortably off. I have been made to feel like some sort of servant or hired carer, instead of a wife who loves and cares for her husband. It all went to s*** in South Africa, so I came home Its insulting. I dont need for her to welcome me with open arms, but I did not expect such open hostility. She even tells me to take the day off and not be in the house so that she can spend family time with Ginger; as if I was just his carer. The two women have never really got on. It would be understandable that Nettie was ruffled by her father taking up with a woman he had met on an internet dating site, especially one who is less than half his age. Ginger had settled in South Africa, where he had sunk his last 1 million into a polo ranch in the Western Cape. Kudzai was then 23 and working as a hospital nurse. When Kudzai and I first got together in South Africa, Nettie caused trouble and they had a really big row. I dont want to going into the ins and out of it, but Nettie has always been against us being together, Ginger says. And he firmly believes it is because his daughter, who did not attend the couples nuptials in South Africa, fears losing her inheritance. She keeps asking to be the executor of my will or asking if she is in the will. Im still alive, for Christs sake! Another issue, he says, is that Nettie also wants to take over the management of his financial affairs, which remain firmly under his control. Im afraid that in the past Ive given her the opportunity and shes made a total balls of it. It is all the sadder because he and Nettie were very close. Indeed, she even helped him to write his book: Hellraiser, The Autobiography Of The Worlds Greatest Drummer. It must have been uncomfortable to hear her father admit that he had initially wanted to abort her, even if he did also say that he was delighted that the drugs failed. A self-taught musical genius with a distinctive and explosive style Ginger was voted the third-best rock drummer of all time by Rolling Stone magazine Baker started out on the London jazz scene while still in his teens and never really considered himself a rock musician largely because, unlike many of his peers, he could actually read musical scores. The bricklayers son grew up in Lewisham and found fame after Cream was formed in 1966 with Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce. But the band broke up after just two years, partly because Baker and bass player Bruce could not stand one another. Bruce, who died in 2014 aged 71, wrote most of the songs and so earned the lions share of royalties from the bands massive record sales. Baker had married his first wife, Liz Netties mother in 1959. They had a fiery, passionate relationship, and though she accepted his affairs, she was prone to violent outbursts and attacked him several times. Ginger played with other bands and became friendly with Jimi Hendrix. After Cream split up, Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Ric Grech and Ginger formed the shortlived blues rock band Blind Faith. His working-class roots left far behind, Ginger developed a love of polo, which led to him mingling with Prince Charles and Major Ronald Ferguson, the late father of the Duchess of York, among others. It was a passion, however, that would eventually leave him broke. At Tulbagh, on the Western Cape, where Baker built his polo ranch, he took on a beautiful young woman from the local bank as a personal accountant. She fleeced his account and tried to delete all the evidence. After a two-year legal battle during which time he met Kudzai, he says, it all went to sh** and he came back to Britain to try to work. I was broke and was starting all over again, he says. He had booked to tour with a new band when the need for a heart bypass, meant he had to cancel. And the problems with his daughter have only escalated since his ill-health became public knowledge. Her behaviour is causing me a lot of pain, Kudzai complained. She said my 18-year-old daughter, Lisa, who Ginger regards as his own child, should not go to a private school. She suggested that Lisa, who is doing her A-levels, should get a job as a cleaner. How insulting is that. Despite the conflict, Kudzai appears to want to make peace though a newspaper interview seems an unlikely forum for conciliation. Not to mention the emails she rashly sent, telling Nettie she is evil and a devil. I was so angry at her. I regret it now, but I was just so angry, she says. I really didnt want things to get this far, but Im very unhappy. I dont want to make too much drama and maybe we should not be doing this, but I feel suffocated and sad. It is a horrible situation. I want this row to end - and to make a new record When contacted by The Mail on Sunday Nettie admitted having reported Kudzai for harassment after receiving abusive emails and phone calls. This matter is in the hands of the police as this person was given a formal warning on May 2 not to harass me further, she said. That said, her friends say she is genuinely concerned for her father. Nettie told me that the wife had emailed her to say she was going to cut Nettie and her two siblings out of his f***ing will and she was worried about him, said one. The family feud leaves Ginger with two sustaining dreams for the loves of his life. The first is peace with his daughter and domestic harmony in his declining years. My wife and I are extremely happy together. We just want the bad blood and harsh words to stop, he says. And then there is his first passion which, despite the shock of his heart condition, he describes with real and optimistic enthusiasm. I want to make one more record and maybe do a tour with my jazz band, he says. Im already feeling much better since my operation and think I should be ready soon possibly in about three months. Crown Princess Mary of Denmark ensured all eyes were on her on Wednesday during her annual Mary Foundation meeting at Amalienborg, Copenhagen. The striking 44-year-old hosted the annual meeting with 20 others to discuss the future of the organisation and the successful results so far. The Australian-born royal arrived to the business meeting in a stunning bright red Hugo Boss dress - the Princess standing out among the attendees who were dressed in corporate blacks, neutral dresses and suits. Scroll down for video Lady in red: Crown Princess Mary of Denmark ensured all eyes were on her on Wednesday during her annual Mary Foundation meeting at Amalienborg where she wore a bright red Hugo Boss dress Stunning: The striking 44-year-old hosted the annual meeting with 20 others to discuss the future of the organisation and the successful results so far The mother-of-four looked effortlessly elegant in the knee-length dress which she paired with a sophisticated red belt and a pair of stylish t-strap pumps. She also accessorised with earrings and a diamond bracelet from her favourite designer Ole Lynggaard Copenhagen - the official jeweler of the Danish royal court. Snaps of the meeting show Princess Mary leading discussion via a projector screen and notes as she talked through the Free of Bullying Program and thanked her staff for all of their hard work. Standing out: Snaps of the meeting show Princess Mary leading discussion via a projector screen and notes as she talked through the Free of Bullying Program and thanked her staff for all of their hard work She appeared animated as she discussed their work and future goals before she and her staff stepped out for a group photo to celebrate their efforts. The Foundation is a passion of Mary's and focuses on combatting social isolation through three areas: bullying and wellbeing, domestic violence awareness and loneliness. The first project was launched in 2008 and since, the Princess has travelled the world with an aim of raising awareness about women's and children's rights and helping to make a difference in a number of countries. On a mission: The Foundation is a passion of Mary's and focuses on combatting social isolation through three areas: bullying and wellbeing, domestic violence awareness and loneliness Over the past 12 months Princess Mary has worked hard on a number of different projects for the foundation, including conducting a survey on loneliness, speaking about domestic violence at the 3rd World Conference of Women's Shelters in The Hague and making a donation to the young advocates of women's rights in Denmark. Recently, she visited Burkina Faso in Africa after her trip was cancelled in January due to terrorism fears. She captured the nation's heart with her honest account of bouncing back from an acrimonious break-up and going on to become a successful author. Katy Colins, 30, from Formby, Merseyside, was just three months away from her 20,000 wedding in 2012 when her then-fiance called time on their relationship. But instead of wallowing in self-pity, she quit her job, sold her car and used the proceeds to travel the world, travelling alone to India and Thailand, and chronicling her adventures in a blog which would go on to become a book. Scroll down for video Katy Colins says that despite being dumped by her fiance just three months before their scheduled 20,000 wedding in 2012, she wishes him well. 'It's in the past,' she said, revealing she is now seeing someone new Thomas Soutter broke off his engagement to Katy Colins (pictured) shortly before their planned wedding, inspiring her to travel and write a book Now Katy, whose second book in her Lonely Hearts Travel Club series comes out next month, has insisted that despite everything she's been through, she wishes her ex, Thomas Soutter, well. 'It's in the past,' she told the Sunday Times Magazine. 'I've since signed a six-book deal, and I'm seeing someone new.' Katy, who has recently jetted off to Australia added: 'The main thing I want to convey in my books is that there's hope, a second chance to make something of your life when things go wrong.' In January Katy, who was then travelling the Philippines, appeared on ITV's This Morning via video link to reveal the thing she misses most about England is 'proper pub grub'. She also revealed that since her new-found fame she had been on the receiving end of a stream of proposals from smitten strangers. Katy Colins, 30, appeared on This Morning in January to reveal what she missed most about living in England Speaking via FaceTime from the Philippines, Katy told Holly and Phil that she felt compelled to embark on her adventure in order to 'make something good comes out of a bad situation.' Holly - who had been out all night partying at last night's National Television Awards - asked Katy what had given her the strength to embark on a round-the-world adventure following her break-up. She replied: 'I just kind of knew deep down that I wanted to make something good come out of what was a really horrible, confusing and upsetting situation, and I decided to go completely opposite. 'Everyone was saying to me: "The world is your oyster," so I decided to go and see if that was true.' When asked by Phil if she was a typically adventurous person, she replied: 'No. I like to-do lists, I like order, I like to see where I am, so it was completely out of character. Despite having a good job, Katy set off after the split and backpacked around south-east Asia and India Katy's book is the first in a series and the series has been hailed as 'Bridget Jones goes backpacking' Her book deal was granted after she turned her experiences into a blog, called Not Wed Or Dead 'But I think I needed that, I think I needed to kind of push myself, to kind of find myself again in the non-cheesiest way.' When Holly suggested that her adventures had not inspired many people, but led to Katy getting proposals from men, she coyly replied: 'Yeah. This week has just been insane, I never expected any of this to happen. 'This has all happened because I've had the courage and the confidence, I guess, to say "I'm not going to let this affect me and I'm going to do what I want to do".' She confided that she had never imagined she'd be a published author, adding: 'It's a dream come true. Since I was a little girl I've always loved to write and I've also found out the news today that it's going to be taken into paperbacks in three weeks' time. 'So to be able to hold a copy of my book, it's been really emotional.' Since embarking on her adventure, Katy has already visited Thailand, India, Nepal, France and South America. But she admitted that she would be returning home eventually. 'I miss my friends and family too much, and English food,' she said. 'Pub grub - you can't get that anywhere.' In January, Katy's former fiance Thomas hit out at the way his ex-girlfriend had treated him since the split and believed her book will be more fiction than fact. He told The Sun: 'It's not anything like the way it's been portrayed. I wish Katy well but I'm not pleased she's chosen to do this. I don't want to be portrayed as this horrendous person. 'I'd already walked out once. My mistake was I went back. We tried to make it work but it wasn't happy on both sides.' Holly and Phil introduced Katy as 'Bridget Jones goes backpacking' on today's This Morning Speaking from the Philippines back in January, Katy told This Morning: 'This week has been insane' Thom said he felt Katy had become obsessed with the wedding and that it came between them. He also disputed he claims that she sold their 130,000 home in Stockport, Cheshire, and said she left to go travelling eight months after the split instead of the next day. Former Manchester Airport public relations worker Katy told earlier that week how the heartbreak of her split from Thomas inspired her to write the book. The 30-year-old said: 'His decision, although devastating at the time, was the wake-up call I needed. I had a good job, a lovely house and lived a comfortable lifestyle but it lacked adventure. 'That is something I hoped travelling half-way around the world on my own would give me, and luckily it paid off.' The couple met at Salford University before their engagement was called off three months before the 20,000 planned ceremony, and after guests had already told them they were coming. Katy's heartbreak has since turned to the joy as she started writing her popular blog which she has led to her securing a deal with Carina UK, part of world-renowned publisher Harper Collins. The 30-year-old, pictured at Machu Picchu in Peru, is looking forward to a writing career after quitting her job Despite having her wedding dress still hanging, unused, in a wardrobe, Katy says Thom did her the biggest favour he could have by calling off the wedding, as she has since had so many great experiences. She said: 'I have climbed an active volcano in Chile, slept in a Thai jungle, got covered in Holi powder in India, skydived in France and even taken a flight past Mount Everest.' Advertisement Zara Phillips may be one step closer to going to the Olympics this summer, but daughter Mia Tindall seemed to be more interested in winning the attention of her doting father at the Badminton Horse Trials earlier today. The two-year-old was clearly in a playful mood as she and father Mike Tindall horsed around while watching Zara compete in the jumping event at the Gloucestershire course. The toddler, who was wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the phrase, 'I'm Super Cute' appeared to be in high spirits as her father lifted her up into the air as her grandmother Princess Anne looked on. Scroll down for video Two-year-old Mia Tindall stole the show at the Badminton Horse Trials as she played with father Mike, with Princess Anne looking on The boisterous toddler appeared to be in high spirits and even attempted some press-ups with the help of 37-year-old Mike Father and daughter cheered on mother Zara, who was taking part in the jumping phase of the horse trials at the Gloucestershire course She also enjoyed getting up to mischief with her cousins Savannah, 5, and Isla, 4, who were there with parents Peter Phillips and Autumn. Mia clearly takes after her rugby star father - trying to rugby tackle cousin Savannah to the ground. The youngsters clearly enjoy each others' company, holding hands affectionately as they walked around the course in the glorious sunshine. Meanwhile, Zara, 34, managed a solid 23rd place on her return to four-star eventing with her horse High Kingdom before being reunited with her adorable daughter later in the day. Zara, 34, managed a solid 23rd place on her return to four-star eventing with her 15-year-old gelding High Kingdom Mia seemed to be pleased to be reunited with her mother later on in the day, as the rest of the family also offered their support Zara has put herself in a strong position to qualify for the Olympics, although selectors will officially announce the GB team for Rio in July Princess Anne was also looking relaxed in the sun as she supported her daughter from the sidelines on the fifth day of the event Although selectors will only announce their team for Rio in early July, the 2012 Olympic silver medallist is a strong contender to make the four-strong team after achieving the qualification standard at the horse trials. Britain had three finishers in the top eight, Gemma Tattersall, Tina Cook and Izzy Taylor, but it was Germany's Michael Jung who took the title with a new record score. The 33-year-old secured 320,000 for the victory, becoming the first German to win Badminton in its 67-year history. Mia - wearing a 'I'm super cute' T-shirt - enjoyed a fun family day out with her cousins Savannah (centre) and Isla Phillips (left) The boisterous toddler seems to take after her rugby star father, attempting to tackle cousin Savannah to the ground But she also showed her affectionate side, giving her cousin a hug from behind as they played together in the sunshine Mia, who is clearly full of energy, also played with cousin Isla Phillips, 4, after watching her mother Zara compete At one point, the cheeky toddler seemed to be trying to tickle her older cousin as the pair have a play fight on the sidelines Peter Phillips and Autumn were also there to cheer on Zara, while making sure the young royals were kept under control Savannah and Isla seemed to enjoy taking on a sisterly role as they played with their adorable younger cousin Yesterday, Princess Anne revealed her playful side as she kept her granddaughter Mia highly entertained at Badminton Horse Trials. The royal laughed and joked with the two-year-old while her mother Zara was taking part in the cross country race around the Gloucester course. And clearly Anne, 65, is a brilliant babysitter as she pulled silly faces and pointed at Mia, while her husband Sir Tim Lawrence even dangled the toddler by the ankles. As her mother tore around the course on her 15-year-old gelding High Kingdom, husband Mike Tindall held a wriggly Mia in his arms, before his sister-in-law Autumn Phillips cuddled the youngster. The Princess Royal pulled silly faces at the little girl in an amusing game, that showed the bond the pair have. The toddler reached out to her grandmother, who wore sunglasses and a country-casual outfit of khaki jumper, gilet and a striped shirt, and was more than happy to play along. Zara won silver at the London 2012 games on her beloved horse High Kingdom on his first four-star outing in more than a year. Princess Anne, 65, jokingly pointed at the toddler in an amusing game as she was held by the princess' daughter-in-law Autumn Phillips Zara plants a kiss on Mia's cheek after competing as she's held by dad Mike Tindall while Princess Anne looks on Princess Anne strokes the hair of her granddaughter Mia as she wriggles in her father's hands at the Badminton Horse Trials Mia squirms in her father's arms but looks unhappy as Anne comforts her and strokes her hand while Timothy also appeases her Autumn holds Mia as Anne still can't take her eyes off her granddaughter after they've watched Zara compete She said: 'He was a little bit keen early on, so I couldn't let the handbrake off. But I had so much fun,' 'When a horse does their job and does everything you ask from it, that's why you do it. And while Zara was the sporting star, off the course Mia was the star of the show as she laughed and played with her cousins Savannah, six, and Isla, four. On Friday, former world champion Zara put in a respectable performance in the dressage, winning 48 penalties and putting herself and High Kingdom at 26th on the leaderboard. Mike holds Mia over his head so she can see the action as they walk around the course Princess Anne's husband Sir Tim Lawrence dangles Mia upside down as the family joke while Autumn Phillips holds her waist and Zara's brother Peter Phillips looks on Zara jumps the lake during the cross country test with horse High Kingdom Zara screams in delight at clearing The Lake at the cross country test at the Badminton trials Zara speaks to Anne after she has competed in the cross country, she has now effectively qualified for the Rio Olympics After competing yesterday at the Badminton Horse Trials, in Gloucestershire, Zara was reunited with Mia, two, who looked delighted to see her mum Zara kisses Mike after competing as he holds daughter Mia for a family reunion Her husband Mike Tindall, 37, was spotted carrying Mia in his arms as she wriggled and played with her comforter. As they walked around the grounds of the Gloucestershire stately home she yawned, drummed on his head and bit her cuddly toy. And as soon as her mother left the saddle, Mia made a grab for her top hat. High Kingdom missed almost all of last season after suffering a freak stable accident just before dressage at the Rolex Kentucky event in America. But Zara was pleased with him, saying: 'He was a little bit jolly in there, but it is better to be that way. He hasn't been in a proper arena for a year, so I am pleased with him. Some of his work was really good. 'There are bits we have got to work on, and he was a little bit fresher than he normally probably is, but you just have got to deal with what you get and make sure everything is accurate. Now, he can go and do the fun bit!' Because High Kingdom had not completed at a top-level event since 2014, he needed to gain his individual qualification in order to be considered for Britains team for the Rio Olympics this summer. He and Zara had to gain a qualifying result recognised by the Federational Equestre Internationale at one of the sport's elite events before 19 June, which she's now achieved. Zara Tindall kisses husband Mike and daughter Mia after riding High Kingdom in the Cross-Country phase during day four of the 2016 Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials, as Princess Anne watches on proudly Zara enjoys a cuddle with toddler Mia and a kiss with former England rugby player Mike after a successful performance in today's event Former world champion competitor Zara clears the lake fence during the cross-country test on day four of the Badminton Horse Trials Zara was riding horse High Kingdom during the event, on who she won a silver medal at the London Olympic Games in 2012 Zara previously said it would be 'amazing' to compete at another games and her performance today puts her in a good position to do that The Queen's granddaughter Zara Tindall screams in delight as she leaves Fence 26 on High Kingdom during the trials in Gloucestershire At The Mail on Sunday we take great pride in the quality of our journalism. All our journalists are required to observe the Editors Code of Practice and The Mail on Sunday is a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), the regulatory body for the Press set up in response to the Leveson Inquiry. We aim to correct any errors as promptly as possible. A feature about childhood homes said Jo Wood grew up in Benfield, Essex. In fact, it was Benfleet, Essex. If you wish to report an inaccuracy, please email corrections@mailonsunday.co.uk. o make a formal complaint under IPSO rules please go to www.mailonsunday.co.uk/readerseditor where you will find an easy-to-use complaints form. You can also write to: Readers Editor, The Mail on Sunday, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or contact IPSO directly at ipso.co.uk On Planet Fashion there is not so much a face of this season as a haircut a layered, fringed, 70s-inspired creation seen on many a top model and ad campaign at the moment. Brunettes carry it off best: see exhibit A, Spanish model Steffy Argelich (below), who is the star of Mangos latest campaign shot on location in sun-drenched LA. She told us its a smile, not a haircut, that makes anyone picture-perfect: Its the only beauty trick you need. Its a lovely thought, but we think we might need a trip to Daniel Hersheson, too mango.com. Wear Where... Vogue The Jewellery Exhibition Until 31 May at the Cartier boutique, 40-41 Old Bond Street, London W1 Trousers, 189, Luisa Cerano, 020 7323 6100. Blouse, 49, Finery, finerylondon.com. Jacket, 248, Me & Em, meandem.com Donna Ida continues her reign as the Jean Queen this season with the launch of the popular and much-Instagrammed Sadie boilersuit (you think you cant, but you can) and Ramona dungarees. And, if you were in need of another reason to pop into a Donna Ida store before 31 May, her Denim Drive is a clever initiative which invites customers to donate old jeans to the charity Newlife Foundation, which recycles clothing to buy equipment for disabled children. Youll receive 20 off a new purchase, while the best jeans donated will be customised by design students and auctioned for Jeans for Genes in September. Dungarees, 195 WE LOVE: These stylish shoppers, 90 (small) and 110 (large), are exclusively available at the Marni Charity House pop-up at Bicester Village from Thursday until 17 May. A percentage of the profits will be donated to the international childrens charity Associazione Vimala. Marrakech is fast becoming a well-established luxury travel destination with a wealth of high end hotels and restaurants for style savvy travellers and without doubt The Royal Mansour is the best the city has to offer. Built at the behest of King Mohammed VI it represents the very finest of Moroccan craftsmanship, where tradition and luxury meet in jaw dropping harmony. Where Situated a mere stroll away from Jmaa El Fna, Marrakechs main square, the Royal Mansour offers an oasis that transports you a million miles away from the cultural hubbub of the city. The ancient honey coloured city walls extend to envelope the hotel, seamlessly set away on a private road, your arrival is announced by grand 2 tonnes brass doors a mere hint of what is yet to come. The smartly uniformed staff meet you on the steps offer you a further clue that you are about to enter something very special. Rather than the typical hotel layout, The Royal Mansour stays true to traditional Morrocan hospitality offering guests their own riads. Creating their own medina in the lush 8 acre grounds, consisting of 53 riads, each individual dwelling has between 1 to 4 bedrooms. Whilst navigating the winding paths which open to idyllic squares of palms, bougainvilleas and bountiful fruit trees, it seems impossible to believe your central location, but all of the cities hussle and bussle is somehow lost and only the tranquil sound of running water from the fountains and the occasional bird can be heard. A true oasis in the city centre. With decoration that can only be described as traditional opulence, it does not come as a surprise to learn that 1500 of the finest craftsmen worked for years on this project, it is truly a showcase of the best in Moroccan taste. Special mention must also go to the riads roof terrace, which each contain their own pool and Bedouin tent, offering the perfect place for relaxing or entertaining whilst looking over the beautiful skyline. Who goes there? The understated high profile guest, The Royals Mansour level of service is second to none. On your arrival to the Riad your butlers (of which there are two on duty at your riad at any given time) non-intrusively make their presence known. Having the space of a riad rather than a hotel room or suite, you have numerous places to entertain within and the butlers can serve tailor made menus from your own kitchen. Interesting fact: The Royal Mansour 500 staff make their way around subterranean tunnels so you will not see them around the medina but there will always be someone on hand should you need them. Things to do Le Piana bar boasts black and gold enamel walls be sure to take the time and of course a cocktail in there to fully appreciate the workmanship. Should you be able to drag yourself away from the divine comfort of your riad, Royal Mansour has 3 restaurants onsite, all of which are overseen by 3* Michelin chef Yannick Alleno. For dinner there are the gourmet French and Morrocan restaurants, accompanied by skilled local musicians add a perfect finish. YOU recommends Make sure you pay the spa a visit or forever regret the missed opportunity!! A sanctuary of white lacework framing its impossible to not leave your troubles at the door. It would be a crime to leave Marrakech without enjoying the serenity that comes from a traditional Hammam treatment and the Royal Mansours treatment is award winning, how many more excuses do you need? Getting there British Airways and Easyjet offer daily flights from London Gatwick to Marrakech Menara Airport, flight length approximately 3 hours 25 mins. The Royal Mansour service starts on arrival, with express passes through passport control and Mercedes to meet you at arrivals to take you on the 15 minutes journey to the hotel. Hotel details Paris Hilton apologised for posting the old Instagram snap Paris Hilton has apologised to United Nations officials after posting a clip of her posing with an orangutan online. The former reality star shared a video on Instagram back in 2014, which showed her cuddling the one-year-old animal from Dubai, named Dior, who was dressed up in little girl's clothes. She's the cutest little girl in the world, Paris said in the footage, kissing the orangutan on the head. This is baby Dior, she captioned her post. She's a lil (sic) princess. The social media upload attracted some criticism from animal rights activists at the time, and on Wednesday, Paris found herself under fire once more after experts at the United Nation's (UN) Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP) highlighted the hotel heiress post, claiming images like hers hurt conservation efforts to protect the endangered species and instead promote captive abuse. Great apes are neither playthings nor pets, GRASP bosses stated, and Ms. Hilton's lack of perspective is appalling. Paris has since apologised for her past actions, explaining that she never intended to do any harm. I do agree with what they're saying, she said.contactmusic.com Justin's first single in two years Justin Timberlake has just released his first single in more than two years. Timberlake, who has won nine Grammys and has notched 16 top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, debuted his latest song, "Can't Stop the Feeling," on his Vevo channel Thursday night. He had posted a sneak peek video on Twitter earlier on Thursday, previewing the song with a dance party featuring his Trolls co-stars Anna Kendrick, James Corden, Gwen Stefani and Ron Funches. He is also serving as the executive music producer for Trolls, writing original music for the film. hollywoodreporter.com Zika virus stunts neurons' growth The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently concluded that Zika virus infection in pregnant women can stunt neonatal brain development, leading to babies born with abnormally small heads, a condition known as microcephaly. Now, for the first time, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have determined one way Zika infection can damage developing brain cells. In a development that could trigger a serious diplomatic crisis, sources in Kathmandu suggest that the KP Oli government in Nepal may take legal action against the Indian Ambassador to the Himalayan country. The Nepalese government, according to reports, is contemplating the legalities and implications of declaring Indian envoy Ranjit Rae as a PNG or persona non grata. Following recent political developments in the country, Nepal has accused New Delhi of trying to destabilise the KP Oli government, and the Indian ambassador of interfering in its internal matters. Reports suggest the Nepalese government has taken against Indian envoy Ranjit Rae. The Ambassador said he was awaiting final orders before packing his bags. The last week has revealed signs of worsening ties. Nepal sought to cancel the scheduled visit to India of its first woman President - Bidhya Devi Bhandari - 72 hours before her departure without any official reason. Bhandari was scheduled to land in New Delhi on Monday to hold parleys with President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and other top leaders. Nepalese Ambassador to India Deep Kumar Upadhyay had advised against the cancellation of the visit. Orders for his recall soon followed, with the Nepalese citing non-cooperation and lack of trust. Speaking to Mail Today, the Nepalese Ambassador said he was still waiting for final orders before packing his bags. As an envoy of Nepal I am supposed to carry on orders of government as well as welfare of people and country. Until I do not get exact text of decision it will be better for me to not comment on hearsay media reporting, he said. The Union Health Ministry has written to embassies in the national capital telling them not to refuse entry to anti-mosquito squads. Due to security reasons, embassies and Union ministries dont currently let such squads enter their premises, which has led to cases of dengue and the presence of dangerous mosquito larvae in the past. Last year, dengue cases were reported from embassies in Delhi. We have written to the authorities that they should cooperate with the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) staff in carrying out checks, said a senior Union Health Ministry official. Foreign diplomatic missions are not bound by law to allow officials to check mosquito breeding - but the Health Ministry hopes they will see sense as dengue season approaches According to officials, over 20 diplomats from Germany, the UK, US, Canada, Pakistan, Australia, Italy and Palestine, and their family members suffered from dengue last year. As per norms, NDMC officers inspect all buildings falling within NDMC areas every year to check mosquito breeding levels. They issue notices if breeding is noticed, and defaulters are asked to reply within a week on what measures they have taken to stop it. If breeding is still found within their premises, NDMC issues challans. Foreign diplomatic missions are not bound by law to allow officials to check mosquito breeding, and NDMC does not have the authority to issue challans or notices to them. Heavy breeding NDMC is now planning to approach embassies and foreign missions, requesting access for its staff to inspect their premises. In 2015, NDMC found heavy mosquito breeding in at least 12 embassies including those of Ghana, Singapore, Malaysia, Ethiopia and the Czech Republic. We can help them with remedial measures, said a ministry official. As well as embassies, authorities at government offices often dont let NDMC staff enter their premises for regular checks. Last year, when NDMC inspectors walked into the Home Ministry building to check if there was mosquito breeding, they faced resistance from officials. Later, when they somehow managed to enter the premises, heavy breeding of mosquitoes was found, said the health ministry official. With dengue season approaching, mosquito breeding has been noticed in over 200 prominent buildings in Delhi's VIP zone, including the offices of the Environment and Telecommunication ministries, and AIIMS. The civic body has served notices to them. Lady Hardinge Hospital, AIIMS, RML Hospital, Paryavaran Bhawan, Meghdoot Bhawan, Sanchar Bhawan, Baroda House, Kashmir House, Red Cross Society, Shivaji Stadium and Delhi High Court have been served notices by the NDMC after vector-carrying mosquitoes were found breeding in their premises. A challan has also been issued to the All India Radio. Counter steps Our inspection team has already started field visits and surveillance work. A total of 225 notices have been issued so far in the first phase. The team is reviewing the mosquitogenic conditions and offices are being asked to take preventive measures, said Dr RN Singh, Chief Medical Officer, NDMC. Last year, NDMC had issued over 125 notices to the President's Estate after heavy mosquito-breeding was found at various places on its sprawling campus. However, officials say the situation has improved this year. After repeated notices were sent to Rashtrapati Bhawan, a four-member team was formed to work closely for taking precautionary and control measures, and the situation has largely improved. No breeding has been detected so far, Dr Singh said. Last year, with over 15,500 cases till mid-November, the dengue outbreak was reported to be the worst in the city since 1996 when 10,252 cases and 423 deaths were reported. The report According to a municipal report, at least seven cases of dengue have been reported in the national Capital this year, with five of them in the first 10 days of April. The mosquitoes that transmit dengue live among humans and breed in discarded tyres, flower pots, old oil drums and water storage containers close to human dwellings and coolers etc. Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore participated in a live Facebook Q&A session with the public, and replied to questions fielded by people from different parts of the country. Emphasising the need to stay connected, Rathore requested the citizens to interact with the government on Mygov.in and the NaMo App on a regular basis, to send questions and topics to PMs Mann Ki Baat, and to stay connected with all ministers on their respective social media pages. No house entry for GST Bill The BJP-Congress confrontation over the Agusta Westland chopper deal and Presidents rule in Uttarakhand forced the government managers to defer the ambitious GST Bill in the last week of the ongoing Parliament session. The GST Bill was part of an agenda when the second half of the Budget session started April 25, but finds no mention in the list of business to be taken up in the coming week. Rahul marks Mother's Day Congress V-P Rahul Gandhi sent good wishes to his mother and party chief Sonia Gandhi on mothers day, saying that mothers inspire us every day. To mothers, who inspire us, guide us and make us who we are, thank you for what you do everyday, for your strength and perseverance. Happy mothers day, Rahul tweeted. Though Rahul is increasingly deciding on big issues in the party, he regularly consults his mother on important matters. Congress readies GSPC gun for BJP Stung by the AgustaWestland chopper deal charges, the Congress is set to protest against alleged corruption in the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) in Parliament. The Opposition party has already petitioned President Pranab Mukherjee over the issue, demanding a judicial probe. The Congress says the GSPC scam runs into Rs 19,700 crore, much more than the Agusta deal which was worth Rs 3,600 crore. Presidents Nobel tribute President Pranab Mukherjee, who hails from West Bengal, paid tribute to Nobel winner Rabindra Nath Tagore on his birth anniversary, saying people should draw inspiration from his life and work. The litterateur was respected all over the world. A woman is pictured recovering after undergoing chemotherapy in a day hospital. The new method is set to be tested on humans within months A cancer vaccine which kills tumours then stops them coming back is set to be tested on humans within months, The Mail on Sunday has learned. The new approach involves injecting two chemotherapy drugs into tumours, kick-starting the immune system to fight back. Scientists have had stunning results in mice, clearing cancer in up to 80 per cent of cases, then keeping them tumour-free. Researchers hope that trials in people with common cancers, including bowel, breast and skin diseases, will yield similar results. One said the jab triggered an extremely powerful immune response, while another said there was every reason to think the method would work in humans too. The technique involves smuggling two established drugs into tumours, thanks to a third chemical that makes the walls of cancer cells more porous. It allows for precise targeting of drugs and lower dosages, which should reduce side effects such as hair loss and fatigue. Trials will soon start on up to 50 patients in the US and Canada. Dr Ian Walters, of Intensity Therapeutics, the US firm behind the new treatment, said: Even though we are using chemo, this works on the immune system. The tumours die from the inside out. When that happens, the immune cells can see that its cancer, and form an extremely powerful immune response. Its almost a personalised vaccine. The company was founded by Lew Bender, who is not a cancer expert but a chemical engineer. He recalled: My wife said, Youve never worked in cancer before, and you are going to be the genius who tells everybody whos spending billions of dollars on fighting cancer that you have a better idea than they do? Dr Jay Berzofsky, of the US National Cancer Institute, said of the mice experiments: The immune system develops memory, so if you try to give those animals the same tumour, they will reject it before it even starts to grow. Asked whether the results could be repeated with humans, he replied: The only way to find out is to do a clinical trial. Advertisement North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un has said he will not be the first to push the red button, and will only use nuclear weapons of an attacking enemy does first. Speaking to thousands of delegates at the North Korea Workers' Party congress this weekend, Kim said his country is a responsible' nuclear weapons state, that 'will not use nuclear weapons first unless aggressive hostile forces use nuclear weapons'. Kim also said he is ready to improve ties with 'hostile' nations in a diplomatic overture in the face of international pressure over its recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch. Scroll down for video Kim Jong Un told the Workers' Party conference in Pyongyang that North Korea 'will not use nuclear weapons first unless aggressive hostile forces use nuclear weapons' Adoring public: North Koreans clap as they listen to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speak at the party congress during a television broadcast on a public screen near the Pyongyang train station Military officers applaud as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gives speech at the party congress in Pyongyang, where Kim also said he is ready to improve ties with the US and South Korea He called for more talks with rival South Korea to reduce misunderstanding and distrust between them and urged the United States to stay away from inter-Korean issues, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. 'Our republic is a responsible nuclear state that, as we made clear before, will not use nuclear weapons first unless aggressive hostile forces use nuclear weapons to invade on our sovereignty,' Kim said in a speech carried by state broadcaster KCNA. He said that North Korea 'will sincerely fulfill its duties for the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and work to realize the denuclearization of the world.' The North is ready to improve and normalize ties with countries hostile to it if they respect its sovereignty and approach it in a friendly manner, Kim said. Despite the talks about more diplomatic activity, Kim also made it clear that the North has no plans to discard its 'byongjin' policy of simultaneously developing its nuclear weapons and its domestic economy. In a speech published by the North's Rodong Sinmun, Kim described the twin policy as a strategy the party must permanently hold on to for the 'maximized interest of our revolution.' Changing jhis tune: Kim's call for talks with his 'enemies' is a diplomatic overture in the face of international pressure over North Korea's recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch North Korean guides read newspapers showing coverage of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un delivering a speech at the 7th Workers Party Congress, in the lobby of the Yanggakdo hotel in Pyongyang North Korea Workers Party delegates attend the party congress in Pyongyang - the first in more than 30 years Kim Jong Un and delegates held the party conference under the watchful eyes of images of his father and grandfather Many outside analysts consider the policy unlikely to succeed because of the heavy price North Korea pays for its nuclear program in terms of international sanctions that keep its economy from growing. At the congress, Kim also announced a five-year plan starting this year to develop the North's dismal economy and identified improving the country's power supply and increasing its agricultural and light-manufacturing production as the critical parts of the program. He also said the country must secure more electricity through nuclear power plants, according to the state media. Analysts have anticipated Kim would use the first Workers' Party congress in decades to propose talks with rivals to exploit what he considers to be increased leverage as a nuclear power. North Korea carried out its fourth nuclear test in January and followed with a satellite launch in February that was seen by outside governments as a banned test for long-range missile technology, earning worldwide condemnation and tougher U.N. sanctions. The North responded to the punitive measures, and also the annual U.S.-South Korean military drills in March and April, by firing a series of missiles and artillery into the sea. It also claimed advancements in developing nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, and combined them with threats of pre-emptive nuclear strikes on Washington and Seoul. People listen to Kim Jong Un speak at the party congress during a broadcast on a public screen near the Pyongyang train station North Korean women tie flags as they decorate the streets in downtown Pyongyang, North Korea North Korean men wait with their bicycles to cross a street decorated with flags of their ruling Workers' Party A pin of the late North Korea leaders Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim Jong Il is displayed on a North Korean man's suit North Koreans, adults and youths, ride on an electric trolley bus Saturday, May 7, 2016 in Pyongyang, North Korea. The ruling Workers' Party symbols are erected by the portraits of the late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim Jong Il while workers decorate the vicinity with flowers at the Kim Il Sung Square Analysts said that the North's belligerent stance might have been intended at rallying North Korean people around Kim ahead of the congress and also promote military accomplishments to the domestic audience to make up for the lack of tangible economic achievements to present at the party meeting. South Korea has taken a hard-line approach to North Korea following its nuclear test and long-range rocket launch, shutting down a jointly-run factory park in a North Korean border town that had been the last remaining symbol of cooperation between the rivals and slapping Pyongyang with its own economic sanctions. Seoul has also been in talks with Washington on deploying a sophisticated U.S. missile defense system in South Korea. North Korea had spent the past months resisting talks with the South and threatening attacks against it, but Kim spoke with a different tone at the conference. He said 'fundamentally improving' inter-Korean relations was an urgent matter for his government and also called for the South to 'hold hands' with the North as a 'companion' for unification, the KCNA said. He urged the need for more talks with the South, and in particular called for a meeting between military officials of both sides to reduce border tension. However, Kim stressed that the South must first employ practical measures to improve ties and throw out laws and institutional systems that have hampered them. He also said that the United States should no longer be involved with matters in the Korean Peninsula, and that if enemy forces 'ignite the fire of war,' the North was ready to mercilessly punish the aggressors and accomplish the 'historical feat' of unification. Kim called for Seoul and Washington to stop their military drills and also said the United States must withdraw the 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea as a buffer against possible aggression from the North. South Korea's Foreign Ministry said ahead of the North's ruling party congress in Pyongyang that the priority of any future talks with the North would be its denuclearization. A woman is dwarfed as she walks past giant portraits of the late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim Jong Il A North Korean man reads the local newspapers displayed in a subway station as seen during a press tour North Korean commuters enter a new subway carriage in Pyongyang, as the city is shown to journalists A nurse checks on a pre-mature baby undergoing phototherapy at he Pyongyang Maternity Hospital as seen during a press tour Saturday Alabama's Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has been suspended for trying to block gay marriage despite the US Supreme Court's landmark ruling recognizing same-sex unions. Roy Moore is accused of abusing his office after he issued an order to probate judges in January instructing them to refuse marriage licenses to same-sex couples. This is the second time Moore has been removed from his position. In 2003, he commissioned a monument of the Ten Commandments and refused a federal court order to remove it. Roy Moore, Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, (pictured) was suspended from office Friday and faces possible ouster over his attempts to block gay marriage following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on same-sex unions Moore was suspended with pay on Friday until the Alabama Court of the Judiciary hears the case. The 69-year-old may be removed from office for defying the Supreme Court ruling in June 2015 by issuing an administrative order to probate judges stating an Alabama law banning same-sex marriages remained in effect. His attempts also flew in the face of a federal judge's ruling in Mobile making same-sex marriage legal in Alabama last year. Most counties issued same-sex licenses anyway. In a statement after his suspension, Moore said the Judicial Inquiry Commission doesn't have the authority to police the order he issued. Moore criticized the commission last week by referring to a recent protest outside his office that included gay and transgender people. The 69-year-old issued an administrative order to probate judges stating an Alabama law banning same-sex marriages remained in effect after the US Supreme Court ruling. Pictured, a protester in February In a statement after his suspension, Moore lashed out at the Judicial Inquiry Commission saying it doesn't have the authority to police the order he issued. (file photo, Alabama's only openly gay legislator Patricia Todd, far left, in a same-sex marriage rally in 2013) 'The JIC has chosen to listen to people like Ambrosia Starling, a professed transvestite, and other gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals, as well as organizations which support their agenda. 'We intend to fight this agenda vigorously and expect to prevail.' Drag queen, entertainer and activist Ambrosia Starling, has participated in several anti-Moore rallies and filed one of many judicial complaint against him. Moore has previously attacked her and suggested she was mentally ill, but she responded on Saturday by telling AL.com: 'Every bully always picks on the weakest kid in the room, and he thought that was going to be the drag queen. 'A lot of people make that mistake.' The Court of the Judiciary also removed Moore from office in 2003 for his refusal to follow a federal court order. Moore had commissioned and installed a washing machine-sized Ten Commandments monument, complete with quotes from the Declaration of Independence and the founding fathers. A US district judge found the 2.6ton granite carving in the rotunda of the state's judicial building was an unconstitutional endorsement of religion. Moore refused to remove the monument and was removed from office for 'willfully and publicly' disobeying the order. He easily won re-election later. A female Pennsylvania high school student has said that she was barred from attending her prom because she wore a suit rather than a dress. Aniya Wolf said she's a lesbian who has worn a shirt and pants for all three years she has attended Bishop McDevitt High School in Harrisburg, according to WHTM-TV. Aniya explained to the TV station: 'I've just always been like this, ever since I was little. 'I was always more masculine. You wouldn't catch me playing with any Barbie dolls, Ill tell you that right now.' Scroll down for video A female Pennsylvania high school student has said that she was barred from attending her prom because she wore a suit rather than a dress She and her mother, Carolyn Wolf, have said the family got a last-minute email saying girls had to wear dresses to attend Friday's prom. Carolyn Wolf told WHTM-TV she didn't think the dress code barred her daughter from wearing a suit and the last-minute message was unfair because they had bought a new suit. Aniya said she decided to go to the prom anyway but was thrown out. She told WHTM-TV: 'You know, a lot of girls' dresses, I mean I'm not saying that all of them are this way, but they do show a lot of skin. 'I think Im dressed pretty modestly.' She and her mother, Carolyn Wolf, have said the family got a last-minute email saying girls had to wear dresses to attend Friday's prom. Aniya said she decided to go to the prom anyway but was thrown out The school released a statement Saturday saying the dress code was sent to parents three months ago specifying girls must wear formal dresses, and those who didn't follow it would not be admitted Aniya posted a photograph on Facebook Friday which showed a girl attaching a boutonniere to her jacket. She wrote: 'Sadly, I was not admitted into the Prom. I was forced to leave. 'The principal threatened she would get the cops. What an experience. Lol they can't take my pride.' The school released a statement Saturday saying the dress code was sent to parents three months ago specifying girls must wear formal dresses, and those who didn't follow it would not be admitted. A reminder was sent to all students on March 6, the school said. The school said: 'Bishop McDevitt will continue to practice acceptance and love for all of our students. 'They are tremendous young men and women There may be much Republican hand-wringing over Donald Trump's presumptive nomination to face against his Democratic challenger to the White House, but the boastful billionaire says he doesn't care, and it doesn't matter. A growing chorus of senior Republican leaders have joined the 'anyone but Trump movement,' including 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and the last two Republican presidents, George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush. 'Does it have to be unified?' Trump asked George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week about the Republican Party. 'I'm very different than everybody else, perhaps, that's ever run for office. I actually don't think so.' Scroll down for video Trump told ABC's This Week that he doesn't think the Republican party needs to be unified, saying he will get 'millions of people from the Democrats' The presumptive GOP presidential nom spoke at a rally on Saturday in Lynden, Washington Asked how he could win in that case, he said: 'I think it would be better if it were unified, I think it would be - there would be something good about it. But I don't think it actually has to be unified in the traditional sense.' Trump said he expected even some Democratic voters to throw their support behind him to win the general election. 'I'm going to go out and I'm going to get millions of people from the Democrats,' Trump said. 'I'm going to get Bernie (Sanders) people to vote, because they like me on trade,' he added, referring to the Democratic candidate in an uphill fight to clinch his party's nomination instead of Hillary Clinton. 'I'm a conservative, but don't forget this is called the Republican party, not the conservative party.' A supporter at a campaign stop for US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Lynden, Washington, on Saturday Notable Republicans breaking from the pack to throw their support behind The Donald include New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former Vice President Dick Cheney, and 1996 Republican nominee Bob Dole. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, however, said they planned not to vote in November, according to CNN. Despite Trump feeling it doesn't need it, Ryan announced he would meet with Trump next week in an effort to unify the party. See more of the latest Netflix news at www.dailymail.co.uk/netflix Netflix claims that if nothing catches the eye of a viewer within 90 seconds, they will lose interest and then move on to do other activities. A great deal of thought goes into the artwork and images that are chosen for each particular show The user interface aims to help members find and enjoy stories as fast as possible It can sometimes feel as though there's nothing worth watching on television. Netflix knows the feeling all too well and has specially designed its artwork so that when you browse through its offerings you will be drawn in. The company has said its research has shown that Netflix users are drawn to certain photos or artwork when choosing a show or film. Netflix said it already knew that if the company doesn't capture a viewer's attention within 90 seconds, that person will lose interest and move on to another activity. All about faces: The image on the bottom right proved to be the most popular for the second season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Introducing: Season 1 of Orange Is The New Black went with this movie-style poster Well-known: For season two, just one face from the show was used instead the entire cast of characters as the company found an image tended to draw more support when it contained fewer than three people In a blog post, the company wrote that the artwork on its content has the biggest influence on what people choose to watch capturing '82 percent of their focus while browsing Netflix.' Of course, Netflix is a giant carousel of image thumbnails, but the window for getting someone's attention is short, with users spending an average of just under two seconds looking at each show or film they come across. Nick Nelson, Netflix's global manager of creative services, explained in a company blog post that research conducted in early 2014 found artwork was 'not only the biggest influencer' for a user's decision about what to watch, it also constituted over 82 percent of their focus while browsing Netflix. 'We also saw that users spent an average of 1.8 seconds considering each title they were presented with while on Netflix,' Nelson wrote. 'We were surprised by how much impact an image had on a member finding great content, and how little time we had to capture their interest.' Learning their lessons: A different take for season 3 with just a single actor used to promote the show Sense8 has many international actors and storylines that resonate different people. The diversity was reflected in the winning artwork images and how much they varied between different countries and cultures The company also adjust the thumbnails depending on demographics, including nationality and gender. It found that the pictures differed in popularity between Germany, the US, the UK, and Brazil. The difference in Netflix's examples appear to be driven partially by racial identity. Netflix also says it identified several other winning strategies: show close-ups of emotionally expressive faces; show people villains instead of heroes; don't show more than three characters. 'Over the last few years, we have worked hard to learn how a winning combination of technology and creative helps members discover stories they will enjoy faster,' Netflix writes. 'It is clear that an image can move people in powerful ways.' Netflix has found that 'images that have expressive facial emotion that conveys the tone of the title do particularly well.' It also adds: 'Artwork featuring recognizable or polarizing characters from the title tend to do well. Selecting the best artwork has improved the Netflix product experience in material ways.' Detectives say the man had 'obviously' been the victim of a homicide Martinez was allegedly in the G Stone Crips crew, it's been reported A man whose face was wrapped in duct tape and feet encased in concrete when his body washed ashore in New York City this week died of asphyxia, the New York City Medical Examiner's Office said on Friday. The body of the 28-year-old victim, Peter Martinez of Brooklyn, was wrapped in garbage bags and his arms were tied behind him when he was found on Monday along the shore in the borough's Sheepshead Bay area. 'The cause of death is asphyxia, including covering of the mouth and nose by duct tape,' said Chief Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson in a statement. 'The manner of death is homicide.' Martinez was identified by a fingerprint and the tattoo of the Virgin Mary with a rose on his back. A man whose face was wrapped in duct tape and feet encased in concrete when his body washed ashore in New York City this week died of asphyxia, the New York City Medical Examiner's Office said. Peter Martinez is seen left and right Police sources told DNA Info that Martinez was in the Bobby Shmurda-linked G Stone Crips crew. Sources told the newspaper Martinez owed cash to someone and was missing for three weeks. Shmurda was arrested in 2014. The rapper is in jail with bail set at $2million and faces various charges. Convicted on ID theft charges, Martinez was given a two-year sentence in 2011, according to The New York Daily News. Martinez also had 31 arrests under his belt, the newspaper reported. A Kingsborough College student came across the corpse, NBC New York reported. NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce told the TV station: 'This individual was wrapped in plastic bags and his arms were tied behind him and his feet were submerged in concrete. 'Obviously a homicide.' Former student Daniel D'Angelo told NBC New York: 'It's a little crazy, especially in this area, for something like that to happen. 'Especially near a college campus and everything. It's crazy.' Police are still investigating but so far no one has been arrested. Cement shoes, where a victim's feet are submerged in concrete before they are dumped in the river or sea, are something of mob legend. But there are real-life stories of when an unfortunate soul has crossed a mafia boss. Ernest 'the Hawk' Rupolo's body was found anchored by concrete blocks when in 1964 in Jamaica Bay the body was fished out, according to a 2008 article from Washington City Paper. That same article said Philadelphia racketeer Johnnie 'Chink' Goodman's body was anchored by a concrete block weighing 40 pounds when it was found in 1941 in a creek located in New Jersey. Martinez was in the Bobby Shmurda-linked G Stone Crips crew, it's been reported. Shmurda (pictured in a file photo) was arrested in 2014. The rapper is in jail with bail set at $2million and faces various charges Remain hope Brown will bolster campaign as he did in Scottish referendum With alarm in the pro-EU campaign mounting, No 10 has been forced to rely on two unlikely allies to help swing the debate former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Mr Brown is expected to be deployed by No 10 this week as part of a co-ordinated In offensive after recent polls frayed nerves in downing Street by giving the Leave campaign a lead. And Mr Corbyn is being tipped to step into Mr Camerons shoes in a crunch TV debate in which the Prime Minister refuses to face Boris Johnson, to avoid a blue-on-blue confrontation. Jeremy Corbyn is being tipped to step into David Camerons shoes in a crunch TV debate in which the Prime Minister refuses to face Boris Johnson, to avoid a blue-on-blue confrontation Organisers of the BBC event at Wembley Arena, scheduled on the eve of the June 23 poll, are in negotiations for the Labour leader to lead the In team after both Mr Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne ruled themselves out. The plan has led to fury among senior In strategists, with one saying last night: The BBC needs to behave like big boys and think long and hard about whether this entire event is going to work. Mr Brown is expected to make his first big set-piece appearance as part of Downing Streets attempts to regain the initiative after two polls last week gave the Out camp a narrow advantage. Mr Osborne will launch the first salvo of the new In offensive today, using an appearance on Robert Pestons new ITV political show to put forward the economic case for staying in the EU, followed by a speech by the PM tomorrow. Mr Cameron will say he wants to set out the big, bold patriotic case for Britain to remain a member of the EU, arguing voters should back membership if you love this country, if you want to keep it strong in the world and keep our people safe. Mr Brown is likely to make his intervention later in the week. The In strategists hope the former premier will be as effective in arguing their case as he was during the Scottish Independence Referendum, when his extempore stump speeches were credited with helping to swing the vote towards the Unions cause. They also hope he will help to drive more Scottish Labour supporters into the pro-EU camp. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown (pictured with David Cameron) is expected to be deployed by No 10 this week as part of a co-ordinated In offensive after recent polls frayed nerves in downing Street by giving the Leave campaign a lead The depth of feeling aroused in the Tory Party by the EU campaign is also revealed today by former Minister Sir Alan Duncan, who accuses scheming Mr Johnson and fellow Brexit campaigner Michael Gove of using the campaign for the UK to leave the EU as a surrogate ploy to topple Mr Cameron. In todays Mail on Sunday, Sir Alan says the former London Mayor is more interested in getting himself into No 10 than in getting Britain out of the EU. SPY CHIEFS IN BREXIT WARNING Two former spy chiefs warned last night that quitting the EU could undermine Britains ability to protect ourselves. In a newspaper article, former MI5 Director-General Jonathan Evans and ex-MI 6 chief Sir John Sawers claimed a vote to quit the EU could damage intelligence sharing. They raised fears that outside the EU, British security services would no longer shape the debate on exchanging data with other countries to reveal the associations and activities of terrorists and cyber attackers. Europes open borders policy is putting UK schools under huge pressure, it was claimed last night. Figures reportedly show almost 700,000 school-aged children have a parent who is a citizen of another European country double the number from 2007. And he claims Johnsons anti-EU ally Mr Gove is using the campaign in his own bid to become Deputy Prime Minister. The BBCs Great Debate, hosted by David Dimbleby, will feature three figures each from the In and Out campaigns, arguing their case in front of an audience of 6,000 at Wembley Arena. Downing Street is nervous because it is being held just two days before the vote and could have a critical bearing on the result if the two sides are still neck-and-neck in the polls. Sources close to the negotiations say the working line-up on the Out side is Mr Johnson, German-born Labour MP Gisela Stuart and a Eurosceptic businessman such as Digby Jones. But with the Prime Minister and Mr Osborne refusing to be part of a blue-on-blue contest with Boris, the most senior Government figure they are prepared to field is Defence Secretary Michael Fallon. Mr Corbyns aides are understood to have told the BBC that the Labour leader would agree to appear on condition Ms Stuart stood down: Corbyn has argued that a red-on-red clash is unnecessary because there are so few Eurosceptic Labour MPs. Karren Brady is expected to be the In business figure. A Corbyn-Fallon line-up would be a strained alliance, as the Defence Secretary has in the past criticised anti-nuclear Mr Corbyn as a danger to national security. Downing Street, which has long had reservations about the Wembley Arena debate, has already forced the BBC to scale back its plans for a crowd of 10,000 on security grounds. Out of the 6,000 audience, 2,000 will be In supporters, 2,000 Out and 2,000 from the audience pool for BBC programmes. Newsnights Emily Maitlis and Radio 4 Today presenter Mishal Husain, will help present the show. The BBCs Great Debate, hosted by David Dimbleby (pictured), will feature three figures each from the In and Out campaigns, arguing their case in front of an audience of 6,000 at Wembley Arena The BBC is also planning to hold a Question Time showdown on June 15, where a leader from each camp would take questions from a studio audience, one after the other. Sky and ITV are trying to thrash out their own arrangements. A BBC spokesman said: We are in discussions with each campaign and the line-ups are not finalised. The senior In strategist said: We said from the outset that holding a pop concert style event just two days before the vote did not strike us as a good idea. Writing in todays Mail on Sunday, Sir Alan says some even believe cynical Mr Johnson would like the Remain campaign to win (so) he can claim to be the darling of Tory activists without facing the consequences of a UK exit. And he derided the unexpected intervention of Mr Gove on the Leave side. The contrived idea that Gove could use it as a platform to become Deputy PM was not taken seriously by Tory MPs. This is not real politics, its self-promotion, he writes. In a warning shot to pro-Brexit Ministers, Sir Alan urges Mr Cameron to use a post-referendum reshuffle to fire those who overstep the mark. Those who have made the most noise may not deserve the greatest reward, he writes. He was echoed by pro-EU Tory elder statesman Kenneth Clarke. Im reeling from the surprise of finding [Boris] is on the Leave side of the EU [campaign], he said on a radio show on Friday. I cant imagine why hes suddenly decided he was on that side he was on the other side till the very last minute. It is believed several inmates have been hospitalised from the events and rapists targeted are then beaten and sexually assaulted A longstanding white supremacist gang are targeting paedophiles and rapist brutally serving out their own form of justice as a 'side effect of overcrowding'. Willing 2 Kill (W2K), along with newly formed gang Eight Kings have been assaulting new prisoners over the last couple of weeks inside Kirkconnell jail, between Lithgow and Bathurst, in New South Wales, reported The Daily Telegraph. Sources told the Telegraph that new inmates are being forced to hand over reports detailing their charges, before being beaten up and assaulted with an assortment of sex offences. Willing 2 Kill (W2K) has assaulted several inmates brutally serving out their own form of justice against paedophiles and rapists in Kirkconnell jail (pictured) located between Bathurst and Lithgow It is believed several prisoners have been hospitalised and segregation is 'almost impossible'. Public Service Association Corrections Branch chairman Steve McMahon told the Telegraph: 'Some white supremacist gangs have decided it's their role within the jail system to punish inmates who are known to be sex offenders. 'It's a side effect of the overcrowding issue where we just don't have an appropriate amount of space to be able to separate people out properly.' A corrective services spokesperson said it is confirmed that W2K members involved have been removed from the centre and their security classifications increased. Prison sources have attributed the brawls to overcrowding - making segregation of inmates 'almost impossible' (stock) The government reopened Kirkconnell jail just three years after it was shut in 2011 costing $4million. The shadow spokesman on corrections, Guy Zangari, told The Sydney Morning Herald: 'When the Minister is seriously prepared to spend $10m to reopen the oldest existing jail in NSW then it's clear that the crisis that is gripping the state's correctional system is even greater than we first thought. It was reported that the Baird government have also issued a controversial plan to ease overcrowding in New South Wales prisons by reopening Parramatta jail also shut in 2011. With the adult prison population hitting highs of 12,390 in March - the Burea of Crime Statistics has attributed the rise to harsh new bail laws which were introduced in 2015. Minister for Corrections, David Elliott told The Sydney Morning Herald that he was 'at odds' to transform Parramatta into 'Sydney's dual Central Business District'. 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. A 27-year-old woman has been charged with dangerous driving causing death after she ploughed into a father of three, killing him. Alan Dunlop, 31, died at the scene on the Western Ring Rd when his stationary car, parked in the emergency lane, was struck by the womans car. The unnamed woman from Altona Meadows, was charged on Saturday night with dangerous driving causing death. Victoria Police are investigating reports of a vehicle matching hers driving erratically on the Western Highway around Deer Park earlier. Her vehicle is described as a dark purple Holden Commodore sedan. An unnamed woman, 27, was charged with dangerous driving causing death on Saturday night after ploughing into father-of-three Alan Dunlop from Melbourne (pictured) Alan Dunlop, 31, died at the scene on the Western Ring Rd when his stationary car, parked in the emergency lane, was struck by a car The purple Holden Commodore veered into the emergency lane of Melbourne's Western Ring Road. Victoria Police are investigating reports of a vehicle matching hers driving erratically on the Western Highway around Deer Park earlier A 27-year-old woman from south west Melbourne was taken to hospital under police guard. She is due to appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday Mr Dunlop was described as a 'great dad' to his three children. He was hanging out of the car to be sick when he was hit and killed The 31-year-old from the Melbourne suburb of Werribee was described as a 'great dad' to his three children, reported the Herald Sun. Mr Dunlop, had been feeling ill and was at least partly out of his stationary vehicle being sick when the accident occurred around 10.40am. The driver of the car, Mr Dunlops cousin, sustained an injury to his arm. He was outside of the car when the womans vehicle, veered into the left-hand emergency lane. Detective Sgt Darren Williams, of the Major Collision Investigation Unit, said Mr Dunlop had died in a fairly big impact. Its a tragic set of circumstances. When youre stationary in an emergency lane you dont expect to be hit from behind by another vehicle. They were doing everything right they had pulled over and were well away from traffic but they ended up being involved in the crash. Its unfortunate someone has lost their life. The female driver was taken to hospital under police guard after the accident, and was bailed after being charged. She is due to appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday. Tributes to the Melbourne man have appeared on social media with family and friends expressing their devastation over Mr Dunlop's death. 'May you rest peacefully and shine bright Alan,' wrote one user. Another posted that they were in absolute shock about what happened: 'Another life taken to soon, I'm going to miss you and your smartass attitude mate.' A GoFundMe page has been set up by friend Pam McGuire to help support the family, she writes: 'A dear father, son, brother and friend has passed in a horror crash so I wanna try a start this page to help out any way we can and try take some of the stress off the family in this heart breaking time.' She adds that her thoughts are with Mr Dunlop's three 'beautiful kids' as well as his whole family. Tributes to the Melbourne man have appeared on social media with family and friends expressing their devastation over Mr Dunlop's death A GoFundMe page has been set up by friend Pam McGuire to help out any way she can and to take some of the stress off the family Mr Dunlop had been feeling ill and was at least partly out of his stationary vehicle to be sick when the accident occurred around 10.40am The presence of Nigerias president at David Camerons anti-corruption summit this week may surprise many in his nation which receives vast amounts of UK aid. Self-proclaimed Peoples President Muhammadu Buhari began a war on corruption after taking power last year, but critics allege it is a political witch-hunt. The Government is giving nearly 250million in the coming year to oil-rich Nigeria, whose president sends his daughter to a 26,000-a-year English school. The presence of Nigerias president at David Camerons anti-corruption summit this week may surprise many in his nation which receives vast amounts of UK aid In April the opposition PDP party unearthed a ticket stub showing Hanan, 16, had flown first-class from London to Nigeria, despite her fathers ban on officials using premium travel. And a Nigerian newspaper claimed Mr Buhari has spent 150,000 on educating his daughter Zahra, a Surrey University student. The president is reported to have failed to give a full account of his worth, but even his partial admission included more than 1million in the bank, five houses and two plots of land. Supporters say 49 arrests of members of the previous regime show the anti-corruption war is genuine, but opponents say it is politically driven. Nigeria has the highest-paid government officials in the world but is one of the largest beneficiaries of UK foreign aid. The Nigerian Embassy did not comment. It is almost beyond comprehension how could British-born teenagers educated in British schools in British towns and cities be drawn to international jihad and Islamic State? Yet during my three years working at Fitzalan High School in Cardiff a city where three young men were eventually jailed for helping IS I watched as children were radicalised under my nose. And astonishingly, senior staff did nothing in response Nothing could have prepared me for my first day at Fitzalan High School in Cardiff. On the face of it, the school is a typical, sprawling comprehensive. There is no external clue to the reality that this is a place where girls can feel bullied into wearing the hijab, where many boys wear traditional robes, and where teenagers dare not listen to pop music. A place, that is, where radical, intolerant Islam is the dominant culture, where 70 per cent of students are Muslim, and the most strident and aggressive set the tone. Of course, it would come as a shock for any teacher to see an ex-student appear in an Islamic State propaganda video, as did Reyaad Khan, a former student at another Cardiff school. He would later be killed by an RAF drone strike. Or to see a former Fitzalan pupil sent to prison in this country for helping fellow fundamentalists, including another from Fitzalan, join IS in Syria, which is what happened to Kaleem Brekke. British jihadist Reyaad Khan - who went to another Cardiff school - grips a machine gun while clad in bullets. He was killed in Syria from an RAF drone But I cant say I was entirely surprised. My three years at the school gave me a disturbing insight into an Islamic culture in our cities, which revolves around family, the mosque and Koranic school. It is a segregated world and it provides a fertile recruiting ground for IS terrorism. I taught many lovely, respectful, intelligent children at Fitzalan, but there were some things that all my Muslim pupils seemed to agree on. When, for example, they brought up the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris or the murder of Lee Rigby in London, it was clear that they saw the perpetrators as heroes, and the victims as villains who deserved to be killed. I believe most of my pupils were pretty moderate individuals until, that is, they came to school, where the more extreme imposed their views. For example, many girls wore the hijab to school because they had previously been bullied by Muslim boys for not wearing one. Similarly, pupils into Western music were told it was haram forbidden. They even tried to convert me to Islam. As an experienced teacher for the record, I am white and a lapsed Christian I didnt find it a problem that I was not the same colour or faith as the majority, who I stress were largely respectful and eager to learn. This is borne out by glowing official inspection reports, in which Fitzalan appeared as a shining example of academic improvement, integration and community cohesion. I found it to be anything but integrated, even though the majority were born in Britain. Holidays were spent with family in Pakistan, Bangladesh or Saudi Arabia. On school trips where we came across students from other schools, I witnessed the discomfort of some children because theyd never been around so many white people. Under the Governments Prevent scheme to combat Islamist radicalism, it is now mandatory for teachers to report incidents of extremist behaviour in schools. But when I followed the protocol, nothing was done. Senior staff, who were mostly white, did not want to recognise they had a problem with Islamic extremism. I dont know whether it was political correctness, an unwillingness to cause upset, or sheer inertia, but radical Islamist views were not challenged. When Kaleem Brekke was arrested under terror laws for helping a friend to fight for IS in Syria, a staff email went out to say that we werent to discuss anything with the press. I taught Kaleem during my first year at Fitzalan. He was a young white convert to Islam, who was very quiet, respectful and wore traditional Islamic garments. Kaleem explained that he had changed his name from Kristen on reverting to Islam the previous year he believes all people are born Muslim. He thought that he had been lucky to rediscover the truth during a difficult time after his parents had separated. As most of his friends at Fitzalan were Muslim, he had taken up their invitation to attend the local mosque. Teacher: 'Nothing could have prepared me for my first day at Fitzalan High School in Cardiff' I sat down with him towards the end of his course and asked why he was struggling to meet deadlines. Kaleem replied that he was torn between school, a part-time job and studying in his mosque, which he thought could lead to great things. His mosque in the Riverside area of the city was paying for him to complete a course studying the Koran, which, he explained, would eventually lead to him becoming an imam. I forgot about Kaleem until a few months ago, when I read of his conviction at the Old Bailey for assisting terrorist activities. He was jailed for four-and-a-half years after helping a friend obtain a new passport and buying him combat clothing. Reyaad Khan, who went to another Cardiff school, was devout, a straight-A student who once wanted to be Britains first Asian Prime Minister. But Reyaad featured in a prominent IS propaganda video, which was exposed in The Mail on Sunday in 2014, alongside his friend Nasser Muthana, also from Cardiff. Nasser's brother, Aseel, another former Fitzalan pupil, also went to Syria. A frequent user of social media, Reyaad boasted about carrying out IS executions. He was killed in an RAF drone strike in Syria in 2015. Kristen Brekke arrives at The Old Bailey on January 14, 2016 in London Little wonder that I came to believe that Fitzalan High School and the mosques within its catchment area had a real problem. Two young pupils in my Year 7 class told me they were beaten if they failed to pay attention at Koran school. One described beatings with a cane. His friend explained how his teacher at the school had squeezed his fingers around the sharp edges of a steel ruler. I reported this to the school. In a telephone conversation with a colleague responsible for child protection, I was told that while shocking, its fairly widespread throughout the country. The school had tried to raise these allegations of abuse several times in the past but they were met with a wall of silence from the parents. In May 2013, my Year 10 group were discussing the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby. I stated my dismay and decried the cowardice of the perpetrators. I was met with stunned silence. Finally, a rather interesting character within the classroom quiet but shifty voiced his opinion: the two killers, he said, were true Muslims and would go to heaven for their actions. He then asked me what I thought about Abu Qatada, the extremist Muslim cleric. I replied that he was a criminal wanted in this country and many others. The student replied that Qatada was a don, indicating respect. I reported the incident to the school, but did not hear of any intervention. In January 2015, the shooting at the offices of French magazine Charlie Hebdo came up in a debate in a GCSE class. One girl voiced the opinion that the people at Charlie Hebdo were asking for it and it was wrong to draw cartoons of the Prophet. The other girls agreed before I brought the conversation to a close. Again, there was no response when I reported the matter. Many of my students were delighted that I took an interest in their culture and taught me phrases in Arabic. The most confident of the group was a young man who would alternate between Western clothes and full white robes. He revelled in the opportunity to educate me. The class found it hilarious that he brought me a miswak (a stick used as a toothbrush in many Arab countries) or dates that he claimed would benefit me in all sorts of ways. I declined the offer. Later that year, in May 2012, his attitude changed. He tried to add me as a friend on Facebook but I had declined. One day he confronted me in a corridor as to why. I explained that online interactions between teachers and pupils were unwise. He invited me to meetings at his mosque. Again I declined. At the end of a lesson, he and a small group of his friends stayed behind in an attempt to convert me to Islam. It culminated in a diatribe about sharia law and how my beliefs were laughable. I reported the incident to the school but was not told of any intervention. In the next lesson, the boy explained it was his duty as a good Muslim to challenge my beliefs, as if I did not convert to Islam I would ultimately end up in hell. A year later, I recall asking what his plans were for life after Fitzalan. His answer troubled me. He stumbled through a response about leaving to study in Pakistan. I asked him about the course, but he could not answer. My time working at Fitzalan has changed my outlook on the Muslim community in Cardiff and on a school which often had an imam to address the children at assembly, but never seemed to invite a vicar, rabbi or a representative of the Hindu or Sikh communities even though those faiths were represented there. There are times when I feel that I should make more of an effort to remember all the likeable young Muslim people that I have taught. And then I feel angry at those individuals who are instilling fear and mistrust on both sides. I feel let down by the system and the apparent refusal to intervene effectively. I am certain that our failure to tackle radicalism openly and head-on is helping its poison spread through so many young people in this country. A spokesperson for the school said: "Anyone who knows Fitzalan would not recognise the picture of the school that is being painted here. "In a recent peer review, visiting teachers recognised how positive the atmosphere is at the school. "Fitzalan is a very popular and over-subscribed school, serving a diverse community. The school population is made up of children and young people from 40 different nationalities and a number of religions. "The school is actively engaged in the work of Prevent. It is fully committed to the safeguarding of children and young people and it works proactively on countering extremism. "Staff are fully trained in how to identify the early signs of extremism. They understand the work of Prevent. They know how to get help, guidance and intervention. "Where concerns arise, the school is quick to respond and follow up appropriately. Prevent staff are complimentary of the work being done at Fitzalan." Millions of pounds worth of British aid to Syria may have ended up in the hands of Islamic State, a Government report has warned. The astonishing revelation comes in a report from the Department for International Development (DFID) about a programme to provide humanitarian relief to refugees caught up in the conflict in Syria. In the report, DFID concedes that the most serious risk to its programmes in the war-torn country is from the large scale diversion of aid, including for the purposes of terrorism. In the report, DFID concedes that the most serious risk to its programmes in the war-torn country is from the large scale diversion of aid, including for the purposes of terrorism And the officials admit that aid may have been diverted, possibly to jihadis. They describe its value as well below one per cent of the 510 million of British aid that has gone to Syria since the civil war began in 2011 but this still could represent something close to 5.1 million. The admission was greeted with incredulity. MP Andrew Bridgen said last night: The British public would be horrified to learn that any of their generously given aid had gone to the death cult Islamic State. The shocking revelation comes in a report on a 13million project dedicated to helping refugees originally from Palestine who are now in Syria. Under the heading Assessment of financial risk and fraud, the DFID report states that it carries with it a risk of aid being diverted to armed and terrorist groups, including ISIL [another name for Islamic State] and Al-Nusra Front [an offshoot of Al Qaeda]. The report, published in December, adds that there is a limited range of mitigating actions suggesting there is little the Government believes it can do to stop such losses. It will only add to the increasing pressure the Government has come under over its commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of the nations gross national income each year on foreign aid. Critics from across the political spectrum have lent their support to The Mail on Sundays campaign calling for an end to the ring-fencing. Almost 230,000 people have signed our petition, securing a parliamentary debate in June. Members of the al-Khansaa' Brigade, ISIS' all-female unit operating in Raqqa, Syria The 13million in aid to help the approximately 460,000 Palestinians in Syria is given as support for the United Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Syria Emergency Appeal. The aid, paid for by the UK, European and US governments, consists of food, medicine, clothes and hygiene kits. Chris Guinness, a spokesman for the UN agency, said: Some relief items have been lost, stolen or taken as they were being transported by road. In comparison with the huge amount of aid we are getting through to Palestine refugees, the lost items are infinitesimal and insignificant. Last night MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said the Government had to do more. He said: The aid money spent in Syria is by-and-large a proper use of aid money. However, there are obviously dangers in failing states that it will go to the wrong people and the Government has a huge duty to make sure this doesnt happen. A DFID spokesman said: There are of course risks to delivering life-saving aid in a war zone but the alternative is to turn our back on millions of Syrians who are in desperate need. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has penned a touching Mother's Day tribute to his wife Lucy and daughter Daisy, detailing how he 'counts his blessings' for his 'healthy family'. The lengthy post titled 'Thank heavens for all the mothers,' was uploaded to Mr Turnbull's website on Sunday morning and detailed how his wife's 'fierce mother's love' has saved their two children from some potential tragedies, including a house fire and near-snake bite. The Turnbull's were pictured spending the morning in a local park with their grandson Jack, just before the prime minister headed to Canberra to ask the Governor General for a double dissolution election. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has penned a touching Mother's Day tribute to his wife Lucy and daughter Daisy (both pictured) The Turnbull's were pictured spending Sunday morning in a local park with their grandson Jack Mr Turnbull uploaded a picture to his Instagram page of Mrs Turnbull with daughter Daisy as a toddler to celebrate the special day. 'Thank heavens for all the mothers! Celebrate them, respect them and love them, today and every day,' he captioned the image. He detailed how Mrs Turnbull rescued their son Alex from a brown snake while the family were planting trees in a paddock when he was just two-years-old. 'Lucy and I both looked up and saw a brown snake between us and Alex. Without a word she leapt through the air, over the snake, scooped up Alex and in another equally enormous bound was many metres away,' he wrote. 'It seemed to happen in an instant. I have never seen anyone move so fast.' Mr Turnbull said his wife also remained remarkably calm when smoke began to fill their home and told her husband: 'Theres a fire. Ill get the kids, you put out the fire'. The lengthy post titled 'Thank heavens for all the mothers,' was uploaded to Mr Turnbull's (pictured with wife Lucy, son Alex, his wife Yvonne, their daughter Isla, pregnant daughter Daisy, her husband James and their son Jack) website on Sunday morning The Prime Minister also shared an old photograph of himself as a baby with his late mother Coral Lansbury The Mother's Day post also outlined the Prime Minister's commitment to teach children to 'respect their mothers and sisters' The Prime Minister also shared an old photograph of himself as a baby with his late mother Coral Lansbury. Mrs Lansbury left Mr Turnbull's father Bruce in 1963 for another man, professor John Salmon, and up and left Australia to move to New Zealand, taking most of the family's belongings, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Mr Turnbull was raised by his father and was reliant on scholarships for his education at Sydney Grammar. The Mother's Day post also outlined the Prime Minister's commitment to teach children to 'respect their mothers and sisters'. 'Disrespecting women doesnt always end in violence against women, but that is where all violence against women begins,' he wrote. 'Disrespecting women doesnt always end in violence against women, but that is where all violence against women begins,' he wrote Mr Turnbull (pictured with grandson Jack) also revealed his daughter Daisy is expecting her second child in September, making him a grandfather to three He detailed how Mrs Turnbull (pictured) rescued their son Alex from a brown snake while the family were planting trees in a paddock when he was just two-years-old He also revealed his daughter Daisy is expecting her second child in September, making him a grandfather to three. 'Our son Alex and his wife Yvonne have a daughter, Isla, who is nearly one,' he said. 'They live in Singapore, but yesterday we chatted on facetime as though they were here - little Isla reaching out to touch us on the screen. 'Daisy with Jack, Yvonne with Isla - another generation of mothers in our family, young women filled with a love as ancient as it is pure, a love that is so natural, so human it connects all of us today and from the beginning of time.' Mr Turnbull left his Point Piper home on Sunday morning to make the trip to Government House in Yarralumla where he asked Sir Peter Cosgrove to dissolve Parliament, making way for the first double dissolution election in Australia in 30 years. Yvonne Mosquito, who has been suspended as West Midlands Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner The Labour Party is embroiled in a new race row after a black police tsar accused her white boss of running a year-long campaign of racist bullying against her. Yvonne Mosquito, who has been suspended as West Midlands Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner, claims David Jamieson suspended her for racial reasons. She also says his bullying forced her to go on sick leave for stress. She has now sent a 22-page complaint about Police and Crime Commissioner Mr Jamieson a former Labour MP to the partys powerful National Executive Committee. She has also complained to the West Midlands police and crime panel. The allegations come on the back of an anti-Semitism row which has seen Labour members suspended. A spokesman for Mr Jamieson, who was re-elected as the regions crime tsar on Thursday, has strongly denied the allegations. In her complaint which has been leaked to The Mail on Sunday Ms Mosquito accuses Mr Jamieson of: Belittling her in front of others because she is a black woman, while never treating white female colleagues in the same manner; Questioning any meetings she had with Afro-Caribbean people; Dismissing her demand to address black-on-black crime, suggesting it is not a concern for white people; Warning her to be careful when meeting an Asian contact, saying Asians always want something. Ms Mosquito who is a Labour councillor herself made her complaint a month after she was suspended by Mr Jamieson over claims that she interfered with an active murder investigation by visiting the victims family. MP Keith Vaz, a member of Labours National Executive Committee, said: I am very concerned' A police officer complained to Mr Jamieson about the visit, and he suspended his deputy immediately. But in her allegations, Ms Mosquito says the real motivation behind her suspension was racial. She said she visited the household in a personal capacity to offer prayers, as she is also a Christian pastor. Ms Mosquito says she was told she was suspended because she breached protocol but insists that, at the time, there was no defined protocol about visiting victims families. She maintains that when she was suspended, she was already on medical leave due to the stress of 12 months of victimisation by the PCC. Ms Mosquito could not be contacted for comment last night. MP Keith Vaz, a member of Labours National Executive Committee, said: I am very concerned with what has occurred, and have referred this to the Labour General Secretary for a full inquiry. They are destined to be barristers and judges but undergraduates studying law at Oxford are being told before lectures on cases involving violence or death that they can leave if they fear the content will be too distressing. The revelation marks the arrival from the US of trigger warnings the politically correct notion that students should be warned before they encounter material that could elicit a traumatic response. Lecturers have been asked by the director of undergraduate studies for law to bear in mind using trigger warnings when they give lectures containing potentially distressing content. Traumatic? Students at Oxford University are being told before lectures on cases involving violence or death that they can leave if they fear the content will be too distressing One law student explained: Before the lectures on sexual offences which included issues such as rape and sexual assault we were warned that the content could be distressing, and were then given the opportunity to leave if we needed to. But some staff are unhappy with treating students as such fragile creatures. 'You have to deal with things that are difficult': Law lecturer Professor Laura Hoyano ridiculed the idea Law lecturer Professor Laura Hoyano last week ridiculed the concept when she jokingly warned any students from a farming family that she was about to discuss a case involving foot and mouth disease. Last night, Prof Hoyano said: We cant remove sexual offences from the criminal law syllabus obviously. If youre going to study law, you have to deal with things that are difficult. An Oxford spokesman said: The university aims to encourage independent and critical thinking and does not, as a rule, seek to protect students from ideas or material they may find uncomfortable. However, there may be occasions when a lecturer feels it is appropriate to advise students of potentially distressing subject matter. And the warnings extend beyond Oxfords law department. One undergraduate studying English was given a warning about Robert Lowells poem For The Union Dead, because it contains a racial epithet. She said: We were warned that the poem contained a racial slur and that we could leave the room before it was read out or cover it up on the page. Sociologist Professor Frank Furedi, said: Trigger warnings diminish the quality of intellectual freedom on campuses as weve seen in America. It was just a few days ago that parts of Britain were shivering in freakishly wintry conditions. But yesterday spring arrived in style, with temperatures soaring to 25C (77F), prompting sun-seekers to dust off the barbecue or rush to the beach. And today is forecast to be even warmer reaching or even exceeding 27C (80F), on the hottest day of the year so far. Almost the entire country is expected to bask in sunshine, with London and the home counties likely to see the highest temperatures. Sunbathers Carly Houghton and Alexandria Jones enjoy the weather in London's Green Park on Saturday Florence, 13 and Jemima, 10 splash around at the seaside on Hayling Island beach, near Portsmouth The heavy rain, thunder and lightning that hit parts of the South West, Birmingham and North Midlands yesterday are not forecast to return. Even more cheering, Britain will be hotter today than most of the rest of Europe, beating Ibiza, Athens and Rome. People planning to enjoy the sun have been advised, however, to use sunscreen and appropriate clothing to protect themselves against high UV levels. Yesterday, even dogs donned hats and sunglasses to cope with the midday sun, while children plunged into the sea to cool off. Others took to punts on the river Cam in Cambridge, while urban sun lovers headed for city parks. Bookies have been slashing their odds for todays forecast, which could see the mercury rise above 26C (79F), which is already around 10C (18F) higher than the monthly average. Ladbrokes said that bets have been pouring in and are offering 2/1 for the mercury to reach 30C or higher before the weekend is out. Experts are warnings that parts of the country could be affected by toxic smog, posing a risk to the elderly or those with underlying health problems. As temperatures soared to 25C people flocked to Britain's beaches, including this one at Broadstairs in Kent Angus the cocker spaniel gets his hat and sunglasses on as glorious sunshine hits Northern Wales People make the most of the hot weather whilst out punting on the River Cam in Cambridge on Saturday But the country was warned to enjoy the balmy weather before it faded away into next week. Met Office spokeswoman Emma Boorman said: Temperatures are expected to drop gradually into the start of next week. Things are going to become cooler, back to where we would expect temperatures to be at this time of year. Junior doctors leaders last night offered to restart talks with the Government over a controversial new contract if Ministers agree that no subject is off limits. The decision by the British Medical Association follows a plan by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges last week calling for both sides to return to the negotiating table. On Thursday, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the Government would re-enter talks, as long as they focused on payment for working Saturdays and other unsocial hours. Demonstrating: Junior doctors march through London last month in protest over a controversial new contract On Thursday, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the Government would re-enter talks, as long as they focused on payment for working Saturdays and other unsocial hours Yesterday, junior doctors leader Dr Johann Malawana said the union would get back around the table as long as other matters were up for discussion too. He said: Junior doctors concerns extend far beyond pay, and our principle in talks will be to deliver a fair contract that does not discriminate against women or any other group. Prince Harry has jokingly expressed fears that he might soon be perceived as boring now that his brothers children are starting to steal Royal headlines. In an interview ahead of the Invictus Games, Harry said: I am in this privileged position and I will use it for as long as I can, or until I become boring, or until George [his nephew] ends up becoming more interesting. Responding to recent workshy jibes, he said: I dont get any satisfaction from sitting at home on my a***. Prince Harry is pictured with a Dutch competitor and her daughter at the Invictus Games in Orlando, Florida He said he would have loved a job after the Army but was unable to find one that he could have combined with Royal duties. Harry said his mother, Princess Diana, had left a gaping void and a lot of unfinished business. He said she smashed the stigma around HIV and inspired him to continue her work. Harry is now an ambassador raising HIV awareness in Britain. Prince Harry is pictured sharing some banter with a British competitor at the Invictus Games in Florida He spoke of how it was difficult for him to lead a normal life. When people finish work... if you want to have a bit of downtime you might go to the pub with your mates. I do that less because its not downtime for me... I dont know who I am going to bump into. I dont know if someones going to try and grab a selfie. Mystery surrounds how an oil tanker washed ashore on a remote beach in West Africa - and what exactly happened to its crew. The 60 metre-long Tamaya 1 was found abandoned and stranded on a beach in Liberia earlier this week. Theories about how it ended up in Robertsport, near the border with Sierra Leone, range from piracy to the crew not being paid. But the truth is, no one has any idea. The Tamaya 1 oil tanker washed ashore in Liberia earlier this week, without its crew or its life boats on board The 60 metre ship (pictured in 2009) is apparently registered in Panama, and was built in 1980 According to website G-Captain, the boat's last known position was just south of the port in Dakar, Senegal, on April 22. What exactly happened in the 10 days in between the ship - which seems to be registered in Panama - leaving Senegal and it appearing on the beach some 600 miles south is shrouded in mystery. But residents appeared to be more worried by the fact the authorities were apparently unaware of its existence until Thursday, when they finally sent someone to investigate. 'How could the security officers not know what was unfolding?' one asked the Liberian Daily Observer. 'That it took over two days before they knew about the ship's presence, is troubling.' No one knows what happened to it after it was last registered near The Gambia on April 22, more than 600 miles north of Liberia However, a source within the National Port Authority (NPA) was defensive, telling the Observer they were unaware because 'Robertsport does not have a seaport'. It is claimed that Matthew Offord (pictured), 46, refused to apologise to the retired fire officer A Tory MP is being investigated by police over extraordinary allegations that he subjected Labour rivals to a barrage of obscene gestures and insults as they drove past his office. Matthew Offord is said to have leaned out of the first-floor window of his constituency base to direct the foul-mouthed abuse at a local Labour candidate and a member of the Fire Brigades Union who were out campaigning in a fire engine during Thursdays elections. When the campaigners stopped and demanded an apology from the MP, receptionists at his constituency office in Hendon, North London, allegedly claimed Mr Offord was not there. But when police arrived at the scene, he came down the stairs and was then asked to come outside to settle the matter amicably. It is claimed that Mr Offord, 46, refused to apologise to the retired fire officer who bore the brunt of his alleged outburst, prompting a further dispute in the street. The MP is now facing an investigation for using insulting words or behaviour, an offence under the Public Order Act 1986 that could land him with a 1,000 fine as well as a criminal record. Eyewitnesses have given statements to Scotland Yard while officers are checking CCTV. The incident began when the Labour campaigners drove along the road in Mill Hill where Mr Offord has his local base. They were in an old fire engine decorated with posters for Labours mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan. Andrew Dismore, the former Hendon MP standing for re-election to the London Assembly, was also on-board. The vehicle was being driven by Steve James, a retired fire brigade official and union member from Biggin Hill, Kent. The song Youve Got A Friend In Me from the film Toy Story was blasting out from its sound system. Mr James, 53, said: The blinds were pushed across and this fellow was standing at the window. Straight away this guy was making offensive signs. I thought, OK, a bit of rivalry, fair enough. But then it got worse and worse. It wasnt even funny it was absolutely obscene. It was aggressive and threatening. Mr James parked and went into the foyer of the office block while Mr Dismore remained inside the fire engine. He claims he told receptionists that someone on an upper floor had been going mad at him and he wanted an apology, and that he had been told by his passenger it was the local MP himself. The woman allegedly told him: No its not hes not even in the office. Matthew Offord is said to have leaned out of the first-floor window of his constituency base to direct the foul-mouthed abuse at a local Labour candidate and a member of the Fire Brigades Union who were out campaigning in a fire engine during Thursdays elections Mr Offord reportedly said he had only been gesturing for his rivals to go away, so Mr James insisted he came down to resolve the matter face-to-face. Paul Embery, regional secretary of the London FBU, said: Its scandalous for an MP to behave in that way in public to somebody theyve never met. Admitting all: Kaylyn Huval, 28, pleaded guilty to one count of carnal knowledge of a juvenile, and will never teach again A 28-year-old former junior high school teacher from Breaux Bridge has been given a suspended prison sentence after she admitted to having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old boy, according to St. Martin Parish prosecutors. Kaylyn Huval pleaded guilty to one count of carnal knowledge of a juvenile, said Assistant District Attorney Chester Cedars, according to a report on Thursday by KATC-TV. She was teaching at Cecilia Junior High when she was involved in a sexual relationship with the boy. Huval was arrested in March 2015. The television station reported that she was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but that was suspended and she was given five years of supervised probation. She was also ordered to get sex offender counseling, avoid juveniles other than family members, and register as a sex offender. She is also prohibited from teaching again. Earlier this year, the mother of the teen victim filed a lawsuit against the school system alleging that the sexual contact caused her son to suffer mental and emotional problems, KATC reported then. The lawsuit claims Huval 'would create situations and scenarios in which she would keep the minor student in the classroom after the other students in the class were dismissed' for 'sexual activity which included ... acts of touching, kissing, hugging, all the way up to acts of oral and sexual intercourse.' I find myself haunted by that image of Donald Trump, his glamazon daughter Ivanka on his right and glamazon wife Melania on his left. Both are gazing blankly into the middle distance as if on strong prescription meds, as the newly anointed presumptive Republican nominee declares he is going to make America great again. The picture says, Look at me, with my beautiful bitches, and reminds us that if nothing goes to plan, the current Mrs Trump a 6ft, 125lb Slovenian model with the ice blue eyes of a snow leopard about to sneeze could become the 47th First Lady of the United States. Melania: The current Mrs Trump a 6ft, 125lb Slovenian model with the ice blue eyes of a snow leopard about to sneeze could become the 47th First Lady of the United States And for the first time in the history of the land of the free, we will have a man in the White House who talks about his wife as if shes a blow-up sex doll. A talk-show host, Howard Stern, once asked Trump whether he would stay with his perfect wife if she was in a terrible car accident? He paused. How do the breasts look? Trump asked. Because thats important. The breasts are OK, Stern replied. Then Trump stays. He would date Ivanka (who also has a perfect body, he says) if she wasnt his daughter. Childcare? He doesnt do it. Never has. He has a repellent caveman attitude to women and what he regards as womens work, and this is far more important, in the end, than the fact that the potential next FLOTUSs career high point to date has been a shoot where she lay naked on her tummy on a white bearskin rug. Melania didnt sign up to be FLOTUS, but the mere thought that a Mrs Trump might fill the shoes of Eleanor Roosevelt, of Barbara Bush, of Jackie K, even of Hillary Clinton (who declined to stay home and bake cookies), or of legal eagle Michelle Obama, freezes the marrow and would catapult the womens movement back many decades. Shed be great at picking out the china patterns, shed be a classic First Lady, says a stylist whos worked with the Trumps as if this was a good thing. At one rally (Trump is wheeling his wife out more to chase up his low ratings with female voters), Melania addressed the Trumpers. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is joined by his wife Melania, right, daughter Ivanka, left, and son Eric, background left Hes a hard worker. Hes kind. He has a great heart. Hes tough. Hes smart. Hes a great communicator, Melania recited, like a hostage reading out a kidnap ransom note written by someone else. OK, Mrs Trump has a make-up and jewellery line and website, where she self-describes as a captivating presence in front of the camera, an aqua-eyed beauty, a wife, a mother, a philanthropist, a New Yorker, and a participant in numerous television commercials. And she is all of those things. BUT to me shes also become an expressionless fembot, whose recreations are reading magazines and doing Pilates, of whom Donald once boasted that hed never heard her fart or make doodie ie the best thing about her, to him, is how unreal she is. He may like it, but we dont want a plastic fantastic Stepford Wife in the White House, however stunning. Donald Trump? Yes, the stuff of nightmares. But its the way that hes turned his poor wife into a walking, talking living doll that scares the living daylights out of me. Red carpet? I'll stick to my camo trackies, thanks The Met Gala generated 135,029 Instagram posts of women tensely getting ready, then posing on the red carpet in a succession of terrifying outfits (ie Madonna, Naomi Campbell not to mention Beyonce in wet-look peach rubber by Givenchy). Never has a quiet evening in, wearing my new camo tracksuit bottoms by Topshop, and watching telly with dirty hair, seemed a more seductive prospect. The Met Gala generated 135,029 Instagram posts of women tensely getting ready - including Beyonce in wet-look peach rubber by Givenchy I was thrilled when my husband told me hed voted for the Womens Equality Party in last weeks election for London Mayor. Zacs for Brexit, Sadiqs a vote 4 Jezza, he texted in explanation. Under cross-examination, he admitted his first preference actually went to the Lib Dems. Now thats a wasted vote. Men wear the same outfit every day but when women choose similar frocks its a fashion fail. I refer you to Dame Joan Collins and Susanna Reid, who appeared on a breakfast TV sofa together in cream floral dresses. No wonder in the US women now all wear boring Melanie Griffith Working Girl office suits. (One told me: Its so people listen to what I say rather than look at what Im wearing.) Indeed. Does anyone have a clue what Susanna and Joan actually said on the occasion of their historic sofa-side print clash? Chuck leaf-blowers on the compost heap My rant against double basements in Channel 4s Posh Neighbours At War was drowned out by the high-decibel roar of Tom Conti complaining about leaf-blowers. Its very, very loud and unnecessary, he moaned from his 15 million mansion in Hampstead. If these people cant stand the sight of a leaf then its not a leaf-blower they need, its a psychiatrist. Tom has a point. There are Euro laws that regulate the maximum noise of lawnmowers in fact, my own father brought them in, in 1984 but not leaf-blowers, which can emit so much noise they cause hearing loss and are therefore banned in some parts of the US. Surely it is time for us to lobby Brussels for these annoying hand-held rocket-boosters to be included in my dads historic EU lawnmower directive? Another reason to vote IN not LEAF! A Romanian hacker known as 'Guccifer,' who posted unofficial emails sent to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has said he's been interviewed at length by the FBI. Marcel Lehel Lazar, 44, also known by the Internet moniker 'Guccifer' who was extradited from Romania to Virginia last month, told Fox News that he was grilled extensively while on the plane. 'They came after me, a guy from the FBI, from the State Department,' he revealed to the outlet during a jailhouse phone interview. He said the conversation was 80 minutes long, recorded, and that he took his own notes. Fox says a government source confirmed the FBI had spoken to the admitted hacker on the plane, but offered no details of the conversation. Lazar is in Alexandria, Virginia, where he is being held on cyber crime charges involving breaking into the email servers of power brokers such as Clinton confidant Sidney Blumenthal, Colin Powell, and a Bush family member. Clinton denies her email was ever compromised by the hacker. Fox News says that inside sources indicate that a review of her server doesn't show any compromise. Romanian hacker Marcel Lehel Lazar (above), 44, was extradited to the U.S. from Romania last month, accused of cyber crimes. He claims he 'easily' hacked his way into Hillary Clinton's email and then was grilled by the FBI As for what was talked about on the plane, Lazar would only say it was about 'hot' data hidden on Google drives, but it's unclear whose Google drives he is referring to. He also indicated the data was not related to the ongoing investigation into Clinton's email server. However, he claimed that he couldn't say more 'because I want to talk to the FBI. It is a matter of national security.' The email sleuth previously told the outlet that while he was able to break into Hillary Clinton's emails twice in 2013, they were 'not interesting' and contained mostly 'political voting stuff.' As for how he got in, he claimed it was a cinch: 'For me, it was easy... easy for me, for everybody,' he bragged to the news outlet. Lazar said he first went into journalist and Clinton pal Sidney Blumenthal's email account by doing extensive research on him and then correctly guessing his security question. He said Blumenthal's emails were 'interesting', as he was talking about 'the Middle East and what they were doing there', but it's unclear who he was talking to. Lazar said he then would see emails from political operatives, such as Clinton, and was able to trace their IP addresses and use 'IP scanner' software to see if ports were open and email addresses 'alive.' He claims he compromised Clinton's emails 'like twice' and said the contents 'were not interesting.' 'I was not paying attention. For me, it was not like the Hillary Clinton server, it was like an email server she and others were using with political voting stuff,' he said. Lazar, who goes by the cyber handle 'Guccifer' says it was 'easy' for him to break into Clinton's personal email - but he admitted that her emails weren't 'interesting' Fox News said it could not independently confirm Lazar's claim, but spoke to security experts who said it seems plausible. 'This sounds like the classic attack of the late 1990s. A smart individual who knows the tools and the technology and is looking for glaring weaknesses in internet-connected devices,' Bob Gourley, a former chief technology officer (CTO) for the Defense Intelligence Agency, said. Lazar says he is self trained and did most of his hacking from his small village in Romania. 'Cybersecurity expert Morgan Wright told the outlet: 'The Blumenthal account gave [Lazar] a road map to get to the Clinton server. You get a foothold in one system. You get intelligence from that system, and then you start to move.' Clinton and her camp deny that her personal email server was compromised by any foreign hackers Lazar's victims aren't named in his nine-count indictment, but they reportedly include Colin Powell, Sydney Blumenthal and a Bush family member But Gourley also warned that 'Unfortunately, in this community, a lot people make up stories and it's hard to tell what's really true until you get into the forensics information and get hard facts.' For her part, Clinton denies her personal email server had been compromised by foreign hackers, saying 'No, not at all' when asked by MSNBC. 'There is absolutely no basis to believe the claims made by this criminal from his prison cell,' Clinton's national press secretary, Brian Fallon, told NBC News. 'In addition to the fact that he offers no proof to support his claims, his descriptions of Secretary Clinton's server are inaccurate. It is unfathomable that he would have gained access to her emails and not leaked them the way he did to his other victims.' He added that her server shows no trace of foreign hacking. Clinton's private server contained nearly 2,200 emails containing information now deemed classified, and another 22 at the 'Top Secret' level. The government has publicly posted about 45,000 pages, with roughly 7600 still left to be released at the end of February, according to NBC News. Lazar is also accused of hacking into the personal accounts of Colin Powell and a Bush family member, two former U.S. presidents, a former U.S. Cabinet member, a former member of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and a former presidential advisor. with a large bald patch on the front of her head The woman now has to She was attempting to eat a cob of corn in under tens seconds using a drill A lock of her hair gets caught in the rotating drill and is torn from her scalp A woman from China has spectacularly failed at the 'corn drill A woman will spend years regrowing a tuft of hair on the front of her head after partaking in an unusual new internet challenge that sees people eat corn from a rotating power drill. An eye-watering video emerged on Sunday of a unidentified woman's failed attempt at the 'corn drill challenge' which shows the excruciating moment a lock of her hair is caught in the power tool and ripped from her scalp. The shocked woman doesn't appear to make a sound as she reaches up to feel the large bald patch on her head as the long strands of her dark hair still rotate on the drill in front of her. An eye-watering video emerged on Sunday of a unidentified woman's failed attempt at the 'corn drill challenge' Leaning in for a closer inspection, the permanency of what should have been a ten second grab for internet fame appears to weigh on the young woman's mind. A second video, detailing a visit to the doctors shortly after the incident, shows a man spraying an unknown liquid on her exposed scalp before gently dabbing it with a tissue. According to Live Leaks, the woman was told her hair would grow back normally, but it would be a painstakingly long process. The woman puts her teeth against the rotating cob of corn without considering tucking away her long locks As her hair gets caught in the power drill, it moves up from her mouth and towards her scalp The shocked woman doesn't appear to make a sound as she reaches up to feel the large bald patch on her head A second video, detailing a visit to the doctors shortly after the incident, shows a man spraying an unknown liquid on her exposed scalp before gently dabbing it with a tissue The risky manoeuvre was made popular by a vlogger dubbed Eater Yang, whose initial attempt of eating a cob of rapidly rotating corn in under ten seconds has been viewed millions of times across the globe. Facing the camera, Eater Yang slowly pulls the cob across his teeth and as he does so, bits of corn go flying in every direction. Within seconds, the cob has been completely stripped of the small yellow kernels. Social media users criticised the challenge, labelling it 'completely unsafe', however most seemed to be concerned the rotating drill would damage the competitive eater's teeth, not tear out his hair. Despite a continuing epic drought in California, one exclusive enclave is being ordered to by the home owners' association to beautify its lawns. Residents in Blackhawk, in Contra Costa County, let their formerly emerald lawns go brown as California residents were ordered to restrict their water usage, and the facades of the million-dollar plus homes suffered as a result. But recently the home owners' association sent residents a memo telling them that the lawns needed to be restored to their former luster, reports CBS News. Scroll down for video Blackhawk, a community of million dollar-plus homes in California, is being told by its home owners' association to green up its brown, barren lawns According to one resident, the home owners' association has given residents suggestions on how to beautify their lawns - it's unclear if watering them in the midst of a drought was part of the directive The gated community 'They've recommended you put in tanbark and drought-tolerant plants. They've offered suggestions. ... If you don't put in proper landscaping, they're gonna ask you in a nice way to improve it,' said Blackhawk homeowner Gary Schenck. Some residents have given up on grass lawns and installed turf. If owners don't comply, they could be fined, said Schenck. It's unclear if the association expects owners to water their lawns - but if it does, it could be breaking the law. Residents in the exclusive gated community of Blackhawk (above) are being told to beautify their lawns, despite a state-wide drought. The community's green lawns stand in contrast to the brown arid area just outside of it - some residents have resorted to drought-resistant plants or turf 'It's illegal. It's a state law right now that homeowners associations cannot fine anyone for refusing to water their grass,' NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory senior water scientist Jay Famiglietti told the outlet. The combination of Californians skimping on their water and some El Nino rains means that some of the state's biggest sources of water, like Lake Oroville, are full again after being nearly emptied last year during the height of the drought, however, the shortage is far from over. He has directed more than 20 full-length features including Platoon, JFK and Natural Born Killers, and won Academy Award twice Director Oliver Stone tried to reassure graduates at the University of Connecticut by recounting how his academic failures ultimately led him to launch a successful film career. Stone, who received an honorary doctorate of fine arts on Saturday, gave the graduate school commencement speech at UConn's main campus in Storrs. The Oscar-winning director of Platoon, JFK and Natural Born Killers told graduates he flunked out of Yale, where former President George W. Bush was a classmate. Director Oliver Stone told graduates at the University of Connecticut his academic failures ultimately led him to launch a successful film career Stone dropped out of Yale after just one year, and left in 1965 to teach at a Catholic high school in Saigon, Vietnam. During his service in the Army during the Vietnam War, he was wounded twice and later awarded a Bronze Star as well as a Purple Heart. After the war, he earned a film degree from New York University at the suggestion of his friend, but not before he was arrested for smuggling marijuana from Mexico. The charges were eventually dropped. Stone has won the Academy Award for Best Directing twice and directed more than 20 full-length feature films. His speech encouraged graduates not be discouraged if things don't go their way shortly after graduation. More than 6,000 undergraduates and 2,200 graduate students will received their diplomas from UConn this year. CBS Sunday Morning host Charles Osgood will address the school of Medicine and Dental Medicine on Monday. Two best friends from a remote outback town have set out to release a 12-inch vinyl record made entirely up of sampled sounds from a coffee machine. Former Alice Springs community radio personalities, known to their fans as Kamkorda and Rocklishus, took their love of coffee to bizarre lengths, recording 100 unique sounds extracted from their coffee machine as they made the experimental noise album, The Grinds. The idea was hatched late 2012 and finally came alive when the pair locked themselves in Kafe Gonzo - a venue which was owned by Kamkorda in the middle of town - and started recording. Scroll down for video Former Alice Springs radio hosts, known to their fans as Kamkorda and Rocklishus, took their love of coffee to bizarre lengths, recording 100 unique sounds from a coffee machine to make an album known as The Grinds Using a mixer and a software program known as Traktor, the pair known as the Humbug Rehab, pioneered a new genre of music, which they've called 'Experimental Coffeeshop Electronic Instrumental'. The unusual five track album hosts a colourful mix of slurps, bubbles, and scratches with the pounding sound of coffee being tamped used to create a powerful bass line. Listeners can look forward to an eerie assortment of sounds mashed together to create 'accidental sound combinations' according to the musicians. Using a mixer and a software program known as Traktor, the pair known as the Humbug Rehab, pioneered a new genre of music, which they've called 'Experimental Coffeeshop Electronic Instrumental' Footage from the video shows the two friends working in the cafe cut together with a shot of Rocklishus dressed similar to a genie wearing leopard pants and novelty glasses (pictured) Expected to be the most unusual album to be made this year, The Grinds did not always have such a hopeful future. During a two year break from the music scene, Kamkorda and Rocklishus turned a blind eye to the music they had created and it sat quietly on a hard drive 'collecting dust'. In 2014 a crowd funded campaign was launched in a hope to revive the dying pipe dream of the Alice Springs musicians, who needed $3,000 to record their vinyl and make record sleeves. Kamkorda (pictured) is dressed less flamboyantly, and in true rock and roll fashion, can be seen in black shirt and jeans During a two year break from the music scene, Kamkorda (right) and Rocklishus (left) turned a blind eye to the music they had created and it sat quietly on a hard drive 'collecting dust' A poorly made video trying to help raise funds was posted to the crowd funded campaign page and featured music from their unique album. A COFFEE LOVERS TRACK LIST TO 'THE GRINDS' The Grinds track list: 1. Rolling Fork 2. Agent Dale 3. Pulptations 4. Short Black 5. Darktribe Source: humbug rehab Footage from the video shows the two friends working in the cafe, cut together with a shot of Rocklishus dressed similar to a genie, wearing leopard pants and novelty glasses. Kamkorda is dressed less flamboyantly, and in true rock and roll fashion, can be seen in black shirt and jeans. With 48 supporters the budding musicians reached their goal and raised $3,180 to follow their 'coffee beats wax dream'. Humbug Rehab describe themselves on their website as 'good time BFFs on a serious mission to rehabilitate humbuggery through the sharing and celebration of sweet tunes'. A pre-sale of The Grinds started in late April and the pair are set to host a launch party in May for the record release. Police say attempted carjackings were the likely motivation at two shooting scenes in suburban Maryland parking lots that left two people dead. Sixty-two-year-old Eulalio Tordil was arrested Friday after a two-day shooting spree at three separate crime scenes. The first occurred Thursday, when police say Tordil fatally shot his estranged wife, Gladys Tordil, in a high-school parking lot. She had recently obtained a protective order against him and was the first of three deaths. Hero: Malcom Winffel was trying to help a woman being carjacked by Eulalio Tordil, who had allegedly just killed his estranged wife, when he too was shot, say police Loving mother: Claudina Molina (with her daughter Meli) was killed when Tordil tried to carjack her and she resisted, say police On Saturday, police released new details about the final two shootings, which occurred Friday. Assistant Chief Russ Hammill with Montgomery County Police said they now believe Tordil was trying to carjack a woman at the Montgomery Mall when two men ran to her rescue and he shot them. One of the two men, 45-year-old Malcom Winffel, later died and the other man suffered serious injuries and was in critical condition Saturday, police said. 'In an instant, after the female victim cried out for help, these two men acted selflessly and heroically not only coming to her aid, but likely saving her life,' Montgomery County Police Assistant Chief Russ Hamill said at a press conference, according to NBC News.'These men are heroes. Malcom Winffel gave his life for somebody he doesn't know, in order to protect her from a predator.' According to his Facebook page, Winffel worked at Naval Sea Systems Command, started studying at Montgomery College in 2014 and is originally from Lima, Peru. Eulalio Tordil, 62, was taken into custody outside of a Dunkin' Donuts in Aspen Hill, Maryland, Friday afternoon His GoFundMe page describes him as an active churchgoer who leaves behind a wife and two children. Tordil then allegedly shot and killed another driver, 65-year-old Claudina Molina, after she resisted a carjacking outside a Giant supermarket in Aspen Hill, police said, according to NBC. Her daughter, Meli Altamirano, described her as 'the sweetest mother, was always laughing and joking and could find the positive in everything.' She left behind two children and two grandchildren, according to her GoFundMe page. Her family says she worked 16 hours a day for 25 years to support her family, according to WUSA. Tordil is being held without bond and is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder and other charges, according to police. Gladys Tordil, 44, was a chemistry teacher at Parkdale High School, according to NBC. She was picking her two teen daughters up from school when she was killed. It has also emerged that Mrs Tordil previously alleged that he sexually abused her two children, subjected them to 'intense-military-like discipline' and slapped her across the face during a row. Court documents from a restraining order filed against Tordil also revealed that he had seven guns, including one that he was given as part of his job but was later confiscated after the domestic violence allegations were made. Tordil was a federal security officer, but was on leave from his job since March, when his estranged wife filed a restraining order against him Dedicated husband and father: Malcom Winffel died after being shot by a man who had just killed his estranged wife, say police, when he rushed to the rescue of a stranger who was being carjacked The third shooting in 24 hours took place half an hour after the mall shooting, in the parking lot of a Giant grocery store in Aspen Hill, Maryland Above, the three shooting scenes. The first happened Thursday at High Point High School in Beltsville. The next morning, a man was killed and two people injured at a shooting at the Westfield Mall. Thirty minutes later, a woman was killed in a shooting at the Giant grocery in Aspen Hills Tordil was arrested in a strip mall with a Boston Market and Dunkin' Donuts, just across the street from scene where a woman was shot outside of a Giant grocery store Mrs Tordil claimed in a petition for a temporary protection order filed on March 2 and seen by WTOP that her husband sexually abused at least one of her children and touched one 'inappropriately'. She also alleged that he subjected the two young girls to 'intense-military-like discipline' which saw them forced to do push-ups and locked in a dark closet, the Washington Post reported. The mother also told a court that in a fight in 2010 'he slapped me so hard during our altercation, my glasses broke on my face'. Mrs Tordil added that he 'threatened to harm me if I leave him'. After the restraining order was granted - which barred Tordil from approaching his estranged wife, her children or their school - the Federal Protective Service stripped Tordil of his badge and gun. The mother told the authorities that he had five guns - a .40-caliber hand gun, a .45-caliber hand gun, an M-4, a revolver and a hunting gun. But he actually had seven firearms at home, the Daily Beast reported, including the one he handed over. A woman was approached going into the mall on Friday morning and shot by the gunman. Two men that ran to her aid were also shot. One of those men has since died and the other man is in grave condition The woman was reportedly walking into the Macy's at the Westfield mall when she was approached by the stranger with a gun Police responded to the scene just after 11am Friday morning. While they were on the scene of the mall shooting, they received another call of a similar incident at a grocery store five miles away Gladys Tordil (pictured), who took out a protective order against her husband in March, was a teacher at another school Police said a plain clothes officer spotted Tordil's vehicle while searching the area around the third shooting scene Friday afternoon. That officer then saw a man matching Tordil's description inside the Dunkin' Donuts. Police kept surveillance on the man until he exited the cafe and they arrested him without incident as he returned to his car. Tordil was an employee of the Federal Protective Service, and carried a gun as part of his job. However, he was on leave from his position and was supposed to have turned over his weapon. His wife was a science teacher at another school. He is said to have followed Mrs Tordil to the high school school their children attend on Thursday. When she got out of her car and started walking into the school, her husband got out of his vehicle and confronted her. A male bystander then tried to intervene and Tordil allegedly took out a gun and fired several shots at him, before turning the gun on his wife. Mrs Tordil was killed while the other man was taken to the hospital. He was last reported in stable condition and is expected to survive. He has not been publicly identified. Nestled in a lush green valley of ferns is a spring with water so clear it turns a brilliant blue colour. The crystal-clear water of Blue Spring, New Zealand, flows out of the ground after taking as long as 100 years to filter up through the ground. A pool of stunning blue that is the spring is surrounded by bright green foliage that overhangs the water and creates an idyllic scene. Scroll down for video Crystal-clear water in New Zealand's Blue Spring turns a beautiful blue colour A pool of stunning blue that is the spring is surrounded by bright green foliage that overhangs the water Blue Spring is located in the Waikato region of the country's North Island. Until recently, the stunning location was thought to be relatively unknown Blue Spring, located in the Waikato region of the country's North Island, is fed by water from the Mamaku Plateau which stays at about 11 degrees year-round. According to a tourism website, water from the spring flows at about 42 cubic metres per minute, enough to fill a 25-metre, six-lane swimming pool in about 12 minutes. The water is so pure that about 70 per cent of the country's bottled water is sourced from the spring and it serves as the water supply for a nearby town. Footage of people swimming at the spring reveals seemingly perfect visibility in the refreshing-looking, blue tinted water. The spring is fed by water from the Mamaku Plateau which stays at about 11 degrees year-round Footage of people swimming at the spring reveals seemingly perfect visibility in the blue tinted water The water is so pure that about 70 per cent of the country's bottled water is sourced from the spring About 70 per cent of New Zealand's bottled water is sourced from the spring The serenity of the beautiful location is accentuated by photos showing the spring with a glass-like surface revealing it's incredible colour The serenity of the beautiful location is accentuated by photos showing the spring with a glass-like surface revealing it's incredible colour. Until recently, the stunning location was thought to be relatively unknown, according to Stuff.co.nz. Since gaining media attention, the number of photos posted to social media with the location of the spring tagged have dramatically increased. Those wishing to visit the spring will have to work for it - it's only accessible via a walking track with two starting points, with walks of either 4.7km from one entrance, or a shorter, 30 minute hike from the other. Water from the spring flows at about 42 cubic metres per minute, enough to fill a 25-metre, six-lane swimming pool in about 12 minutes Since gaining media attention, the number of photos posted to social media with the location of the spring tagged have dramatically increased Locals and tourists flock to the area to experience first-hand the stunning blue waters of the isolated spring Headmaster Ivan Banks said college was willing to listen to An elite private school has been forced to call in debt collectors to chase parents who fail to pay school fees on time after it was left hundreds of thousands of dollars out of pocket. Ivan Banks, the headmaster at Trinity College in Perth, informed parents of the news via a school newsletter last term outlining a 'concerning' rise in families who had not paid up, Perth Now reports. Almost 40 families at the school were in arrears in 2015 and had not notified the all-male college in any way, Mr Banks said in the newsletter. Elite private school Trinity College (pictured) in Perth has been forced to call in debt collectors to chase parents who fail to pay school fees on time after it was left hundreds of thousands of dollars out of pocket Headmaster Ivan Banks (pictured) at Trinity College in Perth informed parents via a school newsletter last term outlining a 'concerning' rise in families who had not paid up Fees for primary students are $8800 and $14,000 for high school students. He said that the college is willing to listen to all requests for assistance but that 'it is essential that this trend be stopped.' 'In these challenging economic times the college is mindful of the financial pressures being experienced by some families and is always willing to listen to their concerns and assist wherever possible,' he told The Sunday Times. In the newsletter, the headmaster pointed to a clause in the school's fees and charges agreement that stated the college would call in debt collectors if final payments were not received by October. 'It is essential that this trend be stopped' - Headmaster Ivan Banks said that the college is willing to listen to all requests for assistance but would continue to seek payment Parents are turning to tracking technology to keep their children safe after a horrific childcare abduction and sexual assault in Western Australia last month. A four-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy were allegedly led away from a community hall where a school holiday care program was being run in North Perth on April 19, the ABC reports. Child Abuse Squad detectives have charged a 52-year-old man with three counts of sexual penetration of a child under 13 years of age and two counts of deprivation of liberty. Scroll down for video A man allegedly led a four-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy away from their childcare centre in North Perth in April this year The incident has led to a huge spike in tracking software, with desperate parents looking for new ways to keep their children safe It seems concerned Western Australian parents are turning to the latest GPS technology to help keep their children safe from predators. Claude Raiola, owner of Queensland-based Tracking Central, said he has seen a spike in watch tracking sales in WA. Mr Raiola said that Western Australia accounted for 14 per cent of sales so far this financial year, up from nine per cent the previous year, according to Perth Now. Tracking technology has been developed specifically for parents wanting to keep an eye on their child's whereabouts(stock image) 'I am getting increased inquiries in WA. It's not yet common place, but I am getting calls daily from parents,' he said. While GPS technology is itself not new, its potential in harnessing the safety of children is only recently being utilised. It seems the trend is spreading to the far corners of the globe, with international businesses beginning to develop similar products. Hong-Kong-based electronics manufacturer, iberry Auxus, recently launched a waterproof GPS-based tracking device made for children, the Economic Times reports. Faheem Sulaiman, director and founder of Auxus said: 'We are excited to step into the new and one of its kind vertical which primarily focuses on the safety of kids.' Online safety experts believe cyber bullying of boys is being under-reported, as altering images to bully others grows in trend. Since July, the Office of the Children's eSafety Commissioner has dealt with 15 serious cases of cyber bullying in Western Australia, 14 of which involved girls. Across Australia it was found that 68 per cent of the 109 'resolved' cyber bullying cases targeted girls. Online safety experts believe cyber bullying is a larger issue than many realise. Girls are targeted in the majority of cyber bullying incidents and are also the most likely to cyber bully others Lelia Green from Edith Cowan University said girls were the most likely to report incidents of cyber bullying and the number of incidents involving boys might be under-reported Lelia Green, Communications professor at Edith Cowan University, told Perth Now that she wasn't surprised girls made up most cases. 'Girls are more likely to call for help,' Professor Green said. 'It's more socially acceptable for a girl to ask for help and I would imagine there would be an under-reporting on the part of boys who experience this.' The body has recently dealt with cases including pictures of children being edited by cyber bullies, being told to 'get themselves a coffin', children being told to kill themselves and fake social media pages being set up making the victim appear gay. In a few cases, eSafety Commissioner complaints manager Julia Cornwell McKean told Perth Now, police had needed to be called. She opened up as she advocates for a pro- Tracey Spicer has opened up about the moments when her terminally ill mother begged that she end her suffering, as the journalist continues to advocate for voluntary euthanasia to be legalised. Ms Spicer, a successful columnist and newsreader, said she was torn between her natural protective instincts and her desire to alleviate her mother Marcia's pain after she was diagnosed with lung and pancreatic cancer in 1999, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. The 49-year-old's mother, who had always believed in having the right to die with dignity, writhed in pain as she screamed for drugs, temporary relief and eventually death, pushing Ms Spicer to a point of desperation where she stood over her bed and contemplated smothering the 52-year-old. Tracey Spicer (left) said she was torn between her natural protective instincts and her desire to alleviate her mother Marcia's (right) pain after she was diagnosed with lung and pancreatic cancer in 1999 'Don't let me suffer,' her mother had asked according to the Sydney Morning Herald. 'But I just couldn't do it,' Ms Spicer wrote in an emotive open letter to her mother in 2013. 'How could I take life from the one who gave it to me?' she added. Marcia succumbed to her illness some hours later, but not before leaving Ms Spicer feeling as if she had failed to protect her mother - a 'betrayal' she claims to live with to this day. 'How could I take life from the one who gave it to me?' Ms Spicer wrote in an emotive open letter to her mother i Marcia succumbed to her illness some hours later, but not before leaving Ms Spicer feeling as if she had failed to protect her mother - a 'betrayal' she claims to live with to this day (Pictured with father) But the acclaimed journalist had done everything within her power while still considering the constraints of the law. She would have faced a murder charge had she held the pillow to her mother's face and taken her life. The former newsreader said it was not only her who feared legal ramifications for euthanising a patient, with doctors and nurses both rejecting her pleas for help in her mothers last days. Ms Spicer said she even pushed an oncologist up against the wall and demanded that he let a morphine overdose lull her into a quiet, painless and arguably humane death. Ms Spicer said she even pushed an oncologist up against the wall and demanded that he let a morphine overdose lull her into a quiet, painless and arguably humane death 'Is there nothing else you can do you for my mother's pain?... Can't you up the morphine to put her out of her misery?' Ms Spicer pleaded. 'If I do that, I'll lose my job. I'm sorry,' she said the doctor answered. Ms Spicer has spoken out about the inner conflict that arises from having a family member beg for death as she supports senate candidate for the Voluntary Euthanasia Party Shayne Higson's campaign. Ms Higson's also watched her healthy, happy and vibrant mother beg for relief after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. Ms Higson's also watched her healthy, happy and vibrant mother Jan beg for relief after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer Dog savaged two terrorists, forcing them to flee the battle US Army dog handler unleashed Alsatian on the terrorists A military dog has been hailed a hero after saving a team of British special forces from a group of ISIS fighters in northern Iraq. The Alsatian reportedly attacked two jihadists during an ambush near the Kurdish frontline, forcing the terrorists to retreat. This follows news that coalition forces killed 48 ISIS fighters in a number of airstrikes in Syria on Saturday. Scroll down for video Man's best friend: The heroic Alsatian had been travelling with an SAS convoy which came under attack in northern Iraq, and charged at two ISIS fighters, forcing them to flee while screaming in agony and fear The heroic Alsatian had been travelling with an SAS convoy of four vehicles which came under attack after finishing a training operation with Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Iraq last month. The convoy came under attack by around 50 ISIS fighters, after which a firefight ensued, Daily Star Sunday reports. According to the newspaper, the dog's U.S. Army handler unleashed the dog during the fight, which charged at the terrorists and attacked two of them. It bit the neck and face of one ISIS fighter, and the arms and legs of another, sending them both running and screaming, the paper said. The SAS convoy eventually received backup from U.S. fighter jets, which forced the attackers to flee. The special forces convoy was ambushed by 50 ISIS fighters after carrying out training with Kurdish Peshmerga troops near the fronline (file photo) Coalition forces carried out a number of airstrikes on Saturday, killing dozens of ISIS fighters, Turkey'sstate-run Anadolu Agency said, quoting the Turkish military. F-16 and A-10 warplanes killed 44 members of the militantgroup and injured others in Harjalah, Delha, Baragitah and HawarKilis, it said. Four more members of the hardline Sunni group were killed inseparate airstrikes in the Karakopru region. Gun installationsand barracks were also destroyed in that attack, it said. A little boy has died in hospital after suffering horrific burns to his legs, arms and stomach in a house fire at his family home. Austin Cotterill, 2, underwent surgery last month at Brisbane's Lady Cilento Children's Hospital after a blaze gutted his family home at Eidsvold, southwest of Bundaberg, about 8.30pm on April 26. The Logan House Fire Support Network, which has been supporting Austin's family since the blaze on April 26, announced Austin's death on its Facebook page. Two-year-old Austin Cotterill has died at Brisbane's Lady Cilento Hospital after a blaze gutted his family home in April 'Little Austin put up a brave fight, but sadly he has succumbed to his injuries,' the statement read. 'The family are understandably deeply upset and devastated at his passing.' The group asked that the family's privacy be respected to allow them to grieve. 'We will continue to offer the help and support the family need to get them through this,' the statement said. Tributes have started to flow on a GoFundMe page set up to help Austin's family, raising more than $4,800 by Sunday evening. 'Little Austin put up a brave fight, but sadly he has succumbed to his injuries,' Logan House Fire Support Network, which has been supporting Austin's family since the blaze, wrote in a statement 'Words are inadequate to express the grief you must feel,' Lindsay Walker posted with a donation. Another donor wrote: 'My thoughts and love are with you and your family Austin. 'Rest in peace little man.' Surgeons had previously told Austin's father Steven his toddler's burns to 90 per cent of his body were the worst they had seen. 'The surgeons we spoke to said they've never seen burns like that on a child before,' the father told Courier Mail last week. The family had announced their decision to turn off his life support a day prior, Brisbane Times reported. Authorities have been investigating whether candles sparked the blaze. The boy's mother, Mandy, only had enough time to drag his two siblings away from the fire but was too late to save Austin from his extensive burns, according to Nine News. Police also confirmed the two-year-old's death in a statement on Sunday. Austin underwent surgery last month at Brisbane's Lady Cilento Children's Hospital after a blaze gutted his family home at Eidsvold, southwest of Bundaberg The boy's mother, Mandy, only had enough time to drag his two siblings away from the fire but was too late to save Austin from his extensive burns An elderly couple tortured in their home by a gang of robbers had a full kettle of boiling water poured over them three times as their attackers demanded to know where they had money hidden. The couple, aged 66 and 64, were subjected to both physical and mental torture during their terrifying two-hour ordeal in their home in the village of Halstead, near Sevenoaks, Kent. The couple were watching television in their living room of their 750,000 house when three men armed with knives kicked down the front door and burst in. Detectives were today hunting an armed gang who broke into a retired couple's home near this road in Halstead, Kent, tied them up and poured boiling water over them in a two-hour torture ordeal After tying the couple up, the gang demanded money, backed up by death threats to them and their relatives. They poured a number of kettles of boiling water over their heads until having extorted an unspecified amount of cash they fled. Twenty minutes later their victims managed to untie themselves and alerted a neighbour who called police. The husband, a businessman aged 66, has suffered 10 per cent burns but his wife, aged 64, is now in a specialist London hospital after suffering 20-30 per cent burns. The wife has undergone surgery and has suffered complications as a result of her burns. She has remained unconscious in intensive care at a London hospital since she had the operation on Wednesday. The husband and wife, both in their 60s, were left with 'life changing' injuries after the burglary at their home in the village of Halstead, and are still being treated at a specialist burns unit Her husband is recovering at a specialist burns unit. Both are expected to remain in hospital for a number of weeks as they recover. Family members are comforting the couple who are understood to be at different hospitals due to the extent of their injuries and they called for help to catch the gang responsible. The couple have three children and a number of grandchildren. Speaking outside the victims home, the husbands 68-year-old brother said the attack was shocking. It is outrageous I just cannot comprehend it, he added. I was completely astonished when I saw them. It was just shocking to see the extent of their injuries. 'They were just sitting at home watching the TV my sister-in-law was knitting something for one of their grandchildren when the three robbers kicked in their front door. They were on them within seconds. Their ordeal went on for a long time it is beyond what you can imagine. My brother had boiling water poured over his head and body and was kicked all over and they threatened to cut his ear off The victim's brother My brother had boiling water poured over his head and body and was kicked all over and they threatened to cut his ear off. His face was cut. My sister-in-law was beaten and had boiling water over her face. There must be a local connection because they knew things. They threatened other family members. He said he could not understand why anyone would carry out such a savage attack. He added: People are quite outraged that two innocent people have been subjected to all this. So I do hope the police get some leads soon. These people need to be off the streets. The robbery took place shortly after 9pm on Tuesday at the couples detached home on the outskirts of Halstead near Sevenoaks in Kent. The village is close to the M25 in an area popular with wealthy London commuters. The husband, a 66-year-old businessman, sustained 10 per cent burns but his wife is in a specialist London hospital after suffering more serious injuries. She has had surgery and both are expected to remain in hospital for a number of weeks. Officers in Kent Police and the victims relatives have asked for their identities to be protected because of the threats the gang made to other members of the family. Detective Sergeant Simon Harrold said yesterday: The victims of this crime have been subjected to a horrendous ordeal. Both husband and wife have suffered some severe burns and possibly been left with life changing injuries. They are both continuing to require treatment in specialist burns units and I can only imagine the trauma and shock they have suffered. Spanish officials have not released information on their captors Three Spanish journalists held captive in Syria for ten months returned home Sunday, tearfully hugging relatives as they got off a military jet near Madrid. Antonio Pampliega, Jose Manuel Lopez and Angel Sastre shed tears of joy as they reunited with their families on the tarmac of the Torrejon de Ardoz air force base on the outskirts ofthe capital. The trio, who were kidnapped by an unknown group last July, shook hands with Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria after regaining their freedom. Freed: Spanish journalist Antonio Pampliega, left, enjoys and emotional reunion with a family member as he arrives at the Torrejon military airbase in Madrid, Spain after ten months in captivity Emotional return: Angel Sastre, Jose Manuel Lopez and Antonio Pampliega touched down at a Spanish air base in Torrejon de Ardoz, outside Madrid, Spain on Sunday Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy posted a photograph of the journalists descending from the aircraft with a caption saying 'Welcome!' on his official Twitter account. 'Allied and friendly' countries had assisted in ensuring the journalists' release, his office said in a statement late Saturday. It highlighted Turkey and Qatar, saying they had helped out 'especially in the final phase' of the journalists' liberation. It provided no information on the captors and how they were convinced to give up the journalists. The three journalists went missing on July 12, near the city of Aleppo in northern Syria. At the time, the region was under the control of al-Qaida's branch in Syria known as the Nusra Front. The journalists went missing on July 12, near the city of Aleppo in northern Syria, but it is not known who or which organisation carried out the kidnapping Antonio Pampliega, right, Jose Manuel Lopez, left, and Angel Sastre said they did not know which party of Syria they had been held in for the past ten months Spanish officials have provided no information on the captors and how they were convinced to give up the journalists after ten months Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said the journalists had taken off 'at midnight from a city in southeast Turkey called Hatay,' accompanied by Ambassador Pablo Gutierrez Segou, head of consular emergencies. 'This adventure has ended happily,' said Garcia-Margallo. TVE said in its afternoon news bulletin that the journalists had gone to a cafe in Madrid with their friends and relatives, where they received a phone call from King Felipe VI. They told journalists that they had no idea what part of Syria they had been held captive in. Jose Manuel Lopez and Angel Sastre, center, arrive at the Torrejon military airbase in Madrid, Spain The broadcaster said Lopez explained that the three had been incarcerated together for the first three months, after which Pampliega was taken away and not seen again until just before the flight home. The journalists, who provided news to several media outlets, had traveled to Syria to report on the war that broke out there in 2011. All three were experienced freelance journalists who had worked in Syria before and knew what type of precautions they would need to take, according to Elsa Gonzalez, president of Spain's federation of journalists. Three other Spanish journalists were released in March 2014 after being held hostage by Syrian extremists for months. Sadiq Khan today accused David Cameron of using tactics 'straight out of the Donald Trump playbook' in the London mayoral race. The defeated Tory candidate Zac Goldsmith repeatedly attacked Mr Khan for his alleged links with Muslim extremists, highlighting his previous record of sharing a stage with radical preachers and defending extremists in his former career as a human rights lawyer. In his second day in his new job as London's first Muslim mayor, Mr Khan hit out at the 'nasty' and 'divisive' Tory tactics, which had the full backing of the Prime Minister. He accused the Conservative campaign of trying to divide the capital's ethnic communities against each other in the campaign for City Hall instead of focussing on policies. But Mr Khan also launched a blistering attack on Jeremy Corbyn by telling him to take note of how he had won back London for Labour. Scroll down for video Sadiq Khan (pictured on the Andrew Marr Show this morning) accused David Cameron of using tactics 'straight out of the Donald Trump playbook' in the London mayoral race The new mayor, the son of an immigrant bus driver, accused the Labour leadership of 'divide and rule' tactics that would fail to win over the necessary Tory voters to win a General Election, adding: 'Labour has to be a big tent that appeals to everyone, not just its own activists'. He easily beat Mr Goldsmith in the campaign to replace Boris Johnson as London Mayor - winning with a record number of votes. After second preference votes had been counted, Mr Khan received 57 per cent of the vote to Mr Goldsmith's 43 per cent. The Labour mayor won a record 1,3million votes and also became the first directly elected Muslim mayor of any major European capital. Looking back at his bitter campaign against Mr Goldsmith, Mr Khan expressed anger at that he was forced to defend himself against allegations of links to Muslim extremists. The defeated Tory candidate Zac Goldsmith (pictured centre with Boris Johnson (left) and David Cameron (right) repeatedly attacked Mr Khan for his alleged links with Muslim extremists, highlighting his previous record of sharing a stage with radical preachers and defending extremists in his former career as a human rights lawyer Sadiq Khan compared the Tory campaign tactics in the London mayoral election to those used by Donald Trump, who has attacked Mexican immigrants and pledged to ban Muslims from entering the United States until US authorities can 'find out what's going on'. He also claimed parts of London were 'so radicalised' that police were 'afraid for their own lives' Sadiq Khan looks away as he shakes Michael Gove's hand on the Andrew Marr Show this morning. He said it was up to the Tories whether they should apologise for their 'nasty' campaign in the London mayoral race He said the Conservative's campaign had distracted attention from debating London's housing policy, the transport network and the NHS. And he compared the Tory campaign tactics to those used by Donald Trump, who has attacked Mexican immigrants and pledged to ban Muslims from entering the United States until the country's authorities can 'find out what's going on'. Mr Trump, who has secured the Republican nomination in the presidential race, has also claimed parts of London were 'so radicalised' that police were 'afraid for their own lives'. 'But David Cameron and Zac Goldsmith chose to set out to divide London's communities in an attempt to win votes in some areas and suppress voters in other parts of the city,' he wrote in today's Observer newspaper. 'They used fear and innuendo to try to turn different ethnic and religious groups against each other something straight out of the Donald Trump playbook. Londoners deserved better and I hope it's something the Conservative party will never try to repeat.' Chuka Umunna was among a host of Labour MPs to highlight Sadiq Khan's appeal for the Labour leadership to appeal beyond the party's core base and target a 'big tent' Sadiq Khan also launched a blistering attack on Jeremy Corbyn (pictured leaving his home on Friday) by telling him to take note of how he had won back London for Labour Sadiq Khan (left) sits alongside his wife Saadiya during his swearing-in ceremony at Southwark Cathedral yesterday Sadiq Khan (left) chose to sign in as London Mayor at Southwark Cathedral, where former Labour leader Ed Miliband (pictured right with Labour MP Karen Buck) was present in the audience. Mr Khan was Mr Miliband's campaign manager for his successful leadership bid in 2010 Last night Mr Goldsmith's family hit back last night over claims that his 'racist' campaign against Mr Khan had contributed to his defeat in the London Mayoral election. ZAC GOLDSMITH'S FAMILY HITS BACK FOLLOWING CLAIMS OF RACIST CAMPAIGN Zac Goldsmith's mother Lady Annabel (pictured), said he was the 'least racist' person she knew Zac Goldsmith's family hit back last night over claims that his 'racist' campaign against Sadiq Khan had contributed to his defeat in the London Mayoral election. Tory Mr Goldsmith, who lost to Labour's Mr Khan by a margin of nearly 14 points, has received a barrage of criticism for highlighting his rival's alleged links to extremists. Even his sister Jemima said the tactic 'did not reflect who I know him to be'. But his mother, Lady Annabel, shot back at the 'unfair' criticism. 'Zac is the least racist person I know,' she said. 'I'm very sad for him... with a family man like Zac, who's mad about his children and likes to be with them the whole time, I think being mayor would have been a difficult juggle for him, but he would have made a very good one. 'I think all these things that have been said about him are very unfair.' Lady Annabel, 81, told The Mail on Sunday that her son was close to Jemima's children by the Pakistan cricketer Imran Khan, adding: 'How can Zac be racist when he has two beloved nephews he adores, Jemima's boys?' Zac was also defended by his financier brother, Ben, who said: 'I am proud of my brother. He is the most decent, thoughtful, visionary man I know. It is because of his influence that I have grown up an environmentalist. 'Of course I'm sad he did not win this election. But fundamentally London is a Labour city. Boris Johnson with the advantage of being a household name at the time won in 2008 against the backdrop of an unpopular Labour government. 'My brother was right to ask entirely legitimate questions of Mr Khan as to his past associations with Islamists. Jeremy Corbyn is having to answer precisely the same questions.' He added: 'Those who sought to stifle such debate with disingenuous cries of 'racism' were the ones who brought race and religion into this election. Nobody else. As former Labour peer Alan Sugar has pointed out, Labour has been overrun by 'militants, anti-Semites and terrorist sympathisers'. Let's hope Mr Khan can now present an alternative vision for Labour.' In the wake of his defeat, Mr Goldsmith was accused of being 'divisive' for using such campaign tactics as highlighting the fact that Mr Khan once shared a platform with five Islamic extremists at a political meeting where women were told to use a separate entrance. He has received a barrage of criticism for highlighting his rival's alleged links to extremists. Even his sister Jemima said the tactic 'did not reflect who I know him to be'. But his mother, Lady Annabel, shot back at the 'unfair' criticism. 'Zac is the least racist person I know,' she said. 'I'm very sad for him... with a family man like Zac, who's mad about his children and likes to be with them the whole time, I think being mayor would have been a difficult juggle for him, but he would have made a very good one. 'I think all these things that have been said about him are very unfair.' Mr Khan's victory was immediately overshadowed by fresh infighting in Labour, with Mr Corbyn's allies accusing the newly elected London Mayor of treating him like a 'pariah' by avoiding appearing in public with him. The Labour leader was conspicuous by his absence from Khan's official swearing-in ceremony at Southwark Cathedral in South-East London yesterday. To add insult to injury, Corbyn's predecessor as Labour leader, Ed Miliband, was there to see Mr Khan become Boris Johnson's successor. And the pair even missed each other at Khan's official victory party on Friday, with Corbyn arriving and leaving several hours before the London Mayor showed up. During his campaign, Mr Khan disowned Mr Corbyn's Left-wing style, such as his refusal to sing the National Anthem. A spokesman for the London mayor denied snubbing Mr Corbyn, saying: 'There was an open invitation to all London MPs to the cathedral.' Mr Khan himself said he could not explain why the Labour leader had failed to attend yesterday's ceremony, saying: 'I'm not sure what Jeremy's doing today.' In a scathing assessment of Mr Corbyn's leadership since he took over in September, Mr Khan wrote: 'I learnt a great deal during the campaign about myself, London and the importance of reaching out to all sections of society. 'But there are two lessons in particular: first, Labour only wins when we face outwards and focus on the issues that people care about; second, we will never be trusted to govern unless we reach out and engage with all voters regardless of their background, where they live or where they work. 'Squabbles over internal structures might be important for some in the party, but it is clear they mean little or nothing to the huge majority of voters. As tempting as it might be, we must always resist focusing in on ourselves and ignoring what people really want.' Deputy Labour leader Tom Watson dismissed the prospect of Mr Corbyn facing a challenge and pleaded for 'patience' after a 'mixed bag' of election results. Writing in the Sunday Mirror he said a leadership challenge was 'about as likely as a snowstorm in the Sahara'. But he acknowledged: 'The truth is Labour still has a mountain to climb if we are to return to Government in 2020.' He said: 'If there is one quality Labour Party members will need as we seek to return to Downing Street it is patience. 'Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of our party eight months ago with an overwhelming mandate to take the party in a new direction. 'But that won't happen overnight. Our share of the vote was higher than it was a year ago, when we suffered a painful election defeat. 'Of course it isn't enough. We need to do far more. We need to do better. 'I have been a member of the Labour Party for well over 30 years and I know that members are fair-minded people. 'That's why a leadership challenge is about as likely as a snowstorm in the Sahara.' Mr Khan's victory has triggered a by-election as he announced he will stand down as MP for Tooting. Labour's national executive will draw up a short list of candidates next week to fight a by-election in the seat held by the new mayor of London. The NEC will meet on Wednesday following the resignation of Sadiq Khan, who beat his Tory rival Zac Goldsmith to succeed Boris Johnson in last week's mayoral poll. The Press Association understands that Martin Smith, a national officer with the GMB, is seeking nomination. The newly elected mayor said he will step down as MP for the south London seat to concentrate on his duties in City Hall. Mr Khan has been MP for Tooting since 2005 and held the seat with a majority of under 3,000 in 2015. Corbyn allies accuse Khan of treating him like a 'pariah' by avoiding appearing with him after new mayor gives leader the slip Allies of Jeremy Corbyn last night accused newly elected London Mayor Sadiq Khan of treating him like a 'pariah' by avoiding appearing in public with him. The Labour leader was conspicuous by his absence from Khan's official swearing-in ceremony at Southwark Cathedral in South-East London yesterday. To add insult to injury, Corbyn's predecessor as Labour leader, Ed Miliband, was there to see Mr Khan become Boris Johnson's successor. And the pair even missed each other at Khan's official victory party on Friday, with Corbyn arriving and leaving several hours before the London Mayor showed up. 10.50am: Jezza looks for the new Mayor at the victory party 1.15am... No chance! Khan waits 'til coast is clear Labour sources claimed Mr Corbyn's office had made repeated attempts to arrange a joint photo call last week but could not get through. 'Corbyn's team couldn't get Khan's office to pick up the phone,' said one insider. 'He clearly doesn't want anything to do with Jeremy.' The row broke as anti-Corbyn Labour MPs privately said that the coup against him was 'postponed not cancelled' after a raft of election results across the UK was deemed bad for Labour but not dire enough to force him out now. One MP admitted: 'We're keeping our powder dry, but Corbyn can't lead us into a General Election.' Allies of Jeremy Corbyn last night accused newly elected London Mayor Sadiq Khan of treating him like a 'pariah' After seeing his party beaten into a humiliating third place in Scotland behind the Tories and losing council seats in England on Thursday, Mr Corbyn was desperate to be seen with triumphant a Mr Khan. Mr Khan, the first Muslim mayor of a European capital, now has a huge personal mandate after his thumping victory over Tory candidate Zac Goldsmith. In a sign of his new international standing, he was yesterday congratulated by US Democrat presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, who praised him as 'a champion of workers' rights and human rights'. Sources said the new mayor appeared determined not to have his moment of glory tarnished by association with Mr Corbyn. During his campaign, Mr Khan disowned Mr Corbyn's Left-wing style, such as his refusal to sing the National Anthem. A spokesman for the London mayor denied snubbing Mr Corbyn, saying: 'There was an open invitation to all London MPs to the cathedral.' Mr Khan himself said he could not explain why the Labour leader had failed to attend yesterday's ceremony, saying: 'I'm not sure what Jeremy's doing today.' Mr Corbyn's attempts to appear alongside Mr Khan included an appearance on Friday night at a celebration party at 10.50pm in a bar not far from City Hall. However, this was thwarted after the final result declaration was delayed and Mr Khan himself only showed up at his own victory bash at 1.15am. Despite the denial, Labour MPs privately said the mayor would be entirely right to carry on keeping his distance from Mr Corbyn. 'Sadiq knows he won the mayoral election in spite of Corbyn, not thanks to him,' said one. 'All the anti-Semitic nonsense around the Corbyn camp caused huge damage to our campaign. Sadiq will run London his way, not Corbyn's.' In a further sign of the gulf between them, Mr Khan last night said his victory showed how Labour could win back power nationally and invoked Tony Blair's 'big tent' mantra as the way to win elections. In comments that will be seen as a dig at Mr Corbyn for turning the party in on itself, he said in a newspaper article: 'Labour has to be a big tent that appeals to everyone not just its own activists. Campaigns that turn their back on particular groups are doomed to fail.' The Labour leader and the new mayor even missed each other at Khan's official victory party on Friday, with Corbyn arriving and leaving several hours before the London Mayor showed up Mr Khan also took aim at a Tory campaign which included accusations he had shared a platform with Islamist extremists. He claimed the 'fear and innuendo' tactics were 'straight out of the Donald Trump playbook' a reference to the controversial US Republican presidential hopeful who has called for a ban on Muslims entering America. 'I hope it's something the Conservative Party will never try to repeat,' Mr Khan said. A Nigerian illegal immigrant made female genital mutilation allegations against her ex-husband as part of an 'immigration scam', a High Court judge has concluded. The pair's three daughters - aged 13, 10 and seven - had been among the first females to be made the subject of female genital mutilation (FGM) protection orders. A High Court judge decided in July that the girls needed protection because there was evidence that their Nigerian father was making arrangements for them to be 'cut'. Mr Justice Holman had stressed that he had only heard the 'one-sided account' of the woman - and he said the girls' father could mount a challenge. A Nigerian illegal immigrant made female genital mutilation allegations against her ex-husband as part of an 'immigration scam', a High Court judge has concluded The man, who lives in Nigeria, subsequently travelled to London to appear in court and deny the allegations made by his ex-wife. Now another High Court judge has concluded that the woman 'fundamentally and dishonestly misrepresented the true position'. Mr Justice MacDonald said it was 'more likely than not' that she had made allegations and sought orders 'as part of what is known colloquially as an immigration scam.' The judge has also ruled that the children should no longer live with their mother in London but be cared for by their father - and he has given the man permission to move the youngsters to Nigeria. He has revealed his conclusions in a written ruling published following a four-day trial in the Family Division of the High Court in London. Mr Justice MacDonald said no-one involved could be identified. He detailed how the woman had made a series of allegations, including that her ex-husband's family had 'forced her to undergo FGM'. Mr Justice MacDonald said it was likely she had made allegations as part of an 'immigration scam' She also said he had asked her to send the children to Nigeria so that FGM could be carried out on the two older girls, and had sent 'white ceremonial robes'. Mr Justice MacDonald said the family had arrived on a two-year visitor visa more than three years ago. Evidence showed that the man had returned to Nigeria and agreed to the woman and their children staying in England. The mother had admitted being an 'over-stayer' when she made the allegations in July 2015. On June 4, 2015 the woman had failed in a bid to persuade Home Office officials to give her leave to stay in the UK, Mr Justice MacDonald said, and the appeal was dismissed later than month. In July she made FGM allegations against her ex-husband, and subsequently claimed asylum on the basis of the 'alleged threat of FGM' to her daughters. 'Having considered the evidence, I am satisfied that the mother fundamentally and dishonestly misrepresented the true position,' Mr Justice MacDonald said. 'Indeed ... I am satisfied that it is more likely than not that the mother made the allegations that she did and sought the orders that she did as part of what is known colloquially as an 'immigration scam'.' He added: 'Having listened carefully to the evidence in this case and considered the submissions of the parties, I am satisfied that there is no appreciable risk of the children being subjected to female genital mutilation were they to return to the care of their father in Nigeria and that the mother's application for a continuation of the FGM orders first made in July 2015 should be dismissed.' Another group of people were arrested for blocking a coal rail bridge Up to 200 protesters paddled in kayaks to impede the path of coal ships Police arrested 66 people apart of the demonstration on Saturday About 1500 gathered to protest fossil fuels and coal exports from the city Dozens of environmentalists have been arrested after staging an elaborate demonstration that involved blocking a railway bridge and paddling kayaks into the path of coal ships, causing a major headache for police. Police arrested 66 people in Newcastle, north of Sydney, after more than 1,500 people protested against fossil fuel and coal exports from the city on Saturday, with one daring group of people lying across a rail bridge before they were forcefully removed. Members of the group, who were dressed in white with red crosses marked on the back of their costumes, were removed from a bridge in Sandgate, northwest of the city, with 57 arrested by police. More than 1,500 people protested against fossil fuel and coal exports from Newcastle on Saturday Protesters dressed as angels stand at the shoreline of Newcastle Harbour as hundreds of protesters block shipping access to Australia's largest coal port Up to 200 protesters paddled in kayaks into Newcastle Harbour at 11am on Saturday to impede the path of coal ships arriving and leaving the city for the remainder of the day Members of the activist group 350.org seen dressed in white with red crosses marked on the back of their costumes were removed from a bridge in Sandgate, northwest of Newcastle, on Saturday with 57 arrested by police Up to 200 protesters paddled in kayaks into Newcastle Harbour at 11am to impede the path of coal ships arriving and leaving the city for most of the day. Police say they deployed 20 vessels to control the protesters on Newcastle Harbour. A 41-year-old man who police say was hanging from a conveyor belt above a ship was charged with entering enclosed lands and destroying or damaging property. Three women - aged 26, 27 and 22 - were charged for abseiling from Stockton Bridge at the Port Waratah coal facility. Further charges were laid against protesters accused of attaching themselves to equipment and ships, and a woman, 25, who allegedly climbed up mooring lines of a coal carrier. 'All have been granted police bail and are due to appear in Newcastle Local Court on June 9,' police said. Dozens of environmentalists have been arrested after staging an elaborate demonstration that involved blocking a railway bridge and paddling kayaks into the path of coal ships Police say they deployed 20 vessels to control the protesters on Newcastle Harbour A spokesman from environmental activist group 350.org, who was involved in the protest at Sandgate bridge, said climate change was an important issue to raise as the country prepared for the July 2 election NSW Police Operation Commander, John Gralton, said police respect the right to protest but condemned lawbreaking demonstrators who put themselves and others at risk. A spokesman from environmental activist group 350.org said climate change was an important issue to raise as the country prepared for the July 2 election. 'On a day when the election is going to be called, it's sending a signal to our elected leaders,' spokesman Campbell Klose told AAP. Members of activist group 350.org , dressed in white overalls, displayed a banner as they occupy the coal rail line at Sandgate in Newcastle Protesters dressed as angels stand at the shoreline as hundreds demonstrate against coal and fossil fuels in Newcastle Student Jesse Kalic was among the protesters at Sandgate and told AAP she was one of more than 50 who expected to be arrested and possibly fined. 'We are putting ourselves at risk by being here today but we feel that it's far riskier to not take action on climate change,' she said. Despite the arrests, the protests were mainly peaceful, Mr Klose said. Protesters from the Pacific islands wearing traditional dress stand at the shoreline as hundreds of protesters block shipping access to Australia's largest coal port Student Jesse Kalic was among the protesters at the bridge in Sandgate (pictured) said she was one of more than 50 who expected to be arrested and possibly fined A man who stole more than $200,000 from a money exchange turned himself in two weeks later because he 'felt too guilty'. Daniel Philipp, 40, broke into the Cowon Money Exchange in Melbourne's city centre and stuffed $211,000 into a backpack last month, the Herald Sun reports. The 40-year-old forced his way inside the building by using screwdrivers he bought from a nearby shopping centre. A man who stole more than $200,000 from a money exchange turned himself in to police two weeks later because he 'felt too guilty' (stock image) Daniel Philipp, 40, broke into the Cowon Money Exchange in Melbourne's city centre and stuffed $211,000 into a backpack last month (stock image) Once inside, Philipp searched around the store for a key to the safe, using his mobile phone as a torch, according to the newspaper. The Melbourne Magistrates' Court heard Philipp spent about $5000 on drugs and cab trips in the two weeks following the break-in, before he turned himself in to police. 'I felt too guilty,' he told police after handing himself in, the court was told. Philipp was granted bail under the conditions he reports to police four times a week and does not enter the city centre in Melbourne, and will return to court on May 12. After stuffing the money in a bag, Phillipp calmly walked out of the currency exchange on Bourke Street in Melbourne (stock image) Added pictures of Nikki Elliott, who said it was 'outrageous' he was let off A revenge porn pervert who posted pictures online of his own pregnant sister - who he called 'jailbait' - and other women he encouraged viewers to rape has been let off with a caution. Olly Whiting, 36, posted pictures of 13 women on a sick website where twisted people share their disgusting fantasies, including on of an ex-girlfriend performing a sex act while naked. The father of one, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, wrote: 'Rape this slut, she deserves it,' next to the post. Pervert: Olly Whiting (pictured), 36, posted pictures of 13 women on a sick website where twisted people share their disgusting fantasies, including on of an ex-girlfriend performing a sex act while naked Let off: Whiting, a labourer, was arrested after three women complained about him, but was given just a caution after admitting that he had posted the pictures He then went on to post pictures of his 21-year-old sister, Charley Hough, while pregnant, and another of her in school uniform, calling her 'Proper jailbait'. Whiting, a labourer, was arrested after three women complained about him, but was given just a caution after admitting that he had posted the pictures. His sister, Miss Hough, said: 'I am honestly disgusted with the police. I never want to see him again . he is evil,' reports The Sun. Whiting, who used to run a pub, also posted pictures of pretty Nikki Elliott, 25, with her child, who said it was 'outrageous' that he had been let off, and that he should be sectioned. He also posted pictures of Charlotte White, 23, who he barely knows but said he would 'pay 100 to rape her'. Whiting could have been prosecuted under revenge porn laws introduced in 2014, which made it illegal to post indecent images of other people without their consent. However, he was let off with just a caution and it is not yet clear if he has been made to sign the Sex Offenders Register. Sussex Police say that the sentence fits with sentencing guidelines, but charity Rape Crisis called him 'a monster' and insisted that he should have been charged. Investigations in to the cause of the fire are ongoing Four people, including one staff member, have been hospitalised Video has captured passengers jumping into the ocean as the boat burns DFAT have reported no Australians were on board the cruise ship After huge flames enveloped the boat, it sank to the ocean floor Holidaymakers were forced to jump for their lives after their wooden cruise ship burst into flames in Vietnam on Friday. More than forty people are believed to have been on the Aphrodite Cruise ship when it caught fire, including tourists from Taiwan, France, Switzerland, UK, New Zealand, Korea and India. Shocking video shows passengers jumping from the side of the ship to escape the growing flames, which are believed to have started in the kitchen, as they quickly engulf the boat. Scroll down for video The ship burst into flames after a two-day trip around Ha Long Bay on Friday They appear to have then been rescued by other boats on the harbour as crowds gather on the shore. A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said: 'Following reports of a cruise ship sinking off the coast of Vietnam, Australian consular staff made enquiries with local authorities and were advised that there were no Australians on board.' An passenger on board told the NZ Herald he was one of those that had jumped into the water. 'I climbed over the front balcony down two decks by just dropping and hoping for the best,' he said. Vietnamese news service, VN Express, reported that the ship sank after ninety minutes. According to the cruise line's Facebook page, four people have minor injuries, including one crew member. The rest of the passengers have been taken to Hanoi. The company say they will compensate passengers for treatment and the loss of their belongings. The cruise line has made considerable efforts to apologise to their guests, and those who were not injured were transported to Hanoi The fire is believed to have started in the kitchen, before quickly spreading to other parts of the wooden boat An investigation will commence into the cause of the fire, and the cruise line has been told to stop operating until all of their boats have been inspected The cruise line will not be allowed to operate until all of its boats have been inspected. An investigation into the cause of the fire is underway, and deputy director of Quang Ninh Provincial Police, Colonel Vu Van Duong, said there was a chance the fire could have been caused in the kitchen or by a careless smoker. Mr Duong said the lack of an automatic firefighting system on the wooden boat was responsible for the quick spread of the fire. Vice Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Le Quang Tung said there are currently 533 tourist ships operating in the area, 81 per cent of which are wooden ships. Quang Ninh aim to have no wooden ships operating in Ha Long Bay by 2030. Police have arrested a film producer in Spain in an international man-hunt after being accused of conning British investors out of 45million. Felix Vossen, 42, was seen by police after he attracted their attention by acting suspiciously in Valencia. The producer of The Sweeney, starring Ray Winstone, is now facing charges in connection with a fraud estimated at between 10-45million. He has been extradited by Spanish authorities to Zurich after friends alleged that he had run off with millions of pounds they had invested in his films. The former City trader also produced the film 'I, Anna', starring Charlotte Rampling. Felix Vossen (pictured), 42, was seen by police after he attracted their attention by acting suspiciously The producer of The Sweeney, starring Ray Winstone, is now facing charges in connection with a fraud estimated at between 10-45million His last sighting had been when he was boarding a flight from London City Airport to Zurich. He is said to have left all his possessions at his London home before travelling to the Swiss city where he has another property. Instructions were also believed to have been made to shred all of his documents after he left London. The hunt for Vossen involved Scotland Yard and the FBI after a warrant for his arrest was issued. A group of 26 of investors have obtained a High Court order requiring Vossen to pay 45 million damages for breach of trust. The investors put pressure on the authorities to locate their man - even producing a video on You Tube in their efforts. Vossen was captured in late February and was questioned but then attempted to leave. He was arrested again and searched after a brief chase. He was found with a Greek driving licence, an Italian identity card and a quantity of cash in different currencies. Police found fake French, Greek and Dutch passports when they searched his City apartment. Money, including 82,310 in Swiss francs, 13,010 in Sterling and 5,905 in Euros was also discovered. Vossen was extradited by Spanish authorities to Zurich after friends alleged that he had run off with millions of pounds they had invested in his films Officers also cataloged 11 mobile phones, six laptops and 244 grams of drugs, thought to be cocaine. The Swiss authorities then asked Vossen to be taken to Zurich on April 26. He has been remanded in custody awaiting the investigation's conclusion. In a statement, the office of the Zurich prosecutor, told The Telegraph: 'Based on police reports from within and outside of Switzerland, the public prosecution office for economic crime opened criminal proceedings against the accused due to fraud in May 2015. 'Because the accused had already gone into hiding at that point in time, Zurich's public prosecution office issued an international arrest warrant for him. Thanks to the good collaboration between domestic and foreign authorities, the accused could be arrested mid-February in Spain.' Vossen sent two apologetic text messages to his former girlfriend Sophia Rafaat, a model and television presenter. A former MI5 chief was dragged into a Brexit row last night amid claims he had changed his mind over whether Britain was safer inside the EU. No 10 hailed an intervention from Jonathan Evans, along with ex-MI6 chief Sir John Sawers, in which the two men said in an article that leaving would hamper our ability to protect ourselves from terrorists. The pair added that the UK benefited from sharing information with fellow EU countries and a vote for Out on June 23 could trigger instability on the continent. Scroll down for video Defence Committee chairman Julian Lewis (left) accused David Cameron (right) of manipulating spy chiefs into warning that Britain's security would be put at risk if we quit the EU But Tory MP Julian Lewis, a former member of Westminsters intelligence and security committee, said he had met Lord Evans in Westminsters Portcullis House less than a month ago and been given a different story. Dr Lewis, who has known Lord Evans for many years and is now chairman of the Commons defence committee, questioned whether the Government machine was guilty of manipulation. He added: I was quite impressed by the fact that although he told me he was in favour of remaining in the EU, it would make no difference to our security. 'I am very surprised and rather disappointed to see this article has appeared. I find it rather difficult to believe he has changed his mind in such a short period of time. Dr Lewis, an Out campaigner who stressed he was speaking in a personal capacity, added: I can only wonder if theres some sort of manipulation going on here. Two ex-spying chiefs warned today that staying in the EU was the safer option for protecting Britain against terror attacks, such as the deadly blasts witnessed in Paris (pictured) and Brussels over the last six months Ex-MI6 director Sir John Sawers (pictured on the Andrew Marr Show this morning) and Sir John Sawers, the former MI6 chief said the UK benefited from sharing information with fellow EU countries and leaving the Brussels club would trigger 'instability on the Continent Justice Secretary Michael Gove (pictured on the Andrew Marr Show) directly contradicted the intelligence experts by insisting this morning that Britain would be safer outside the EU MAJORITY OF SCOTS WILL VOTE FOR BREXIT, GOVE PREDICTS Michael Gove told Andrew Marr this morning: 'When we vote to leave I think a majority of people in Scotland will also vote to leave as well' A majority of people in Scotland will vote to leave the European Union, leading Brexit campaigner Michael Gove has predicted. The Edinburgh-born Conservative MP, co-convener of the Vote Leave campaign committee, dismissed suggestions that Scotland is less Eurosceptic than the rest of the UK and that Scots will back independence if the UK leaves the EU. The Tory Justice Secretary also erroneously claimed that there 'there wasn't a Scottish nationalist MP elected at any general election when we were outside the EU'. Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show, Mr Gove said: 'When we vote to leave I think a majority of people in Scotland will also vote to leave as well. 'And I think when we vote to leave it will be clear that having voted to leave one union the last thing the people of Scotland will want to do is to break up another. 'The economic basis on which Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish nationalists made the case for separation was based on an oil price much higher than it is at the moment so there will be no case for it.' He added: 'If we vote to leave then I think the (United Kingdom) union will be stronger. 'Scottish nationalism has grown since we entered the European Union. 'There wasn't a Scottish nationalist MP elected at any general election when we were outside the EU. 'Secondly, the SNP has been checked. Nicola Sturgeon is not mistress in her own house any more, she does not have a majority. 'Ruth Davidson led the Scottish Conservatives to a storming result on the basis that there should not be a second referendum.' He repeatedly avoided the question of whether the UK Government should block another independence referendum if the SNP tries to stage a re-run in the event of a Brexit. Pressed on the issue, he said: 'I don't believe that there is a need for one, and Ruth Davidson has said that there is no need for one. I agree with Ruth.' Donald Stewart was the first SNP MP returned in a general election when he won in the Western Isles in 1970, over two years before Conservative prime minister Edward Heath took the UK into the European Economic Community (EEC) in January 1973. The SNP scored two previous wins in by-elections in 1945 and 1967, and its biggest pre-devolution success came in 1974 when it stood on a policy of withdrawal from the EEC in both general elections that year. However, in a statement last night, Lord Evans denied his views had changed since his meeting with Dr Lewis. He told the Daily Mail: As John Sawers made clear this morning the initiative for the article that was published today came from a conversation between the two of us in February, not from any political quarter. 'The article reflects views I have held and expressed for some time. John Sawers and I remain politically neutral. Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, both leading Out campaigners, dismissed the intervention by the two spy chiefs. Mr Johnson said: Well, thats total nonsense and lots of people will testify to that. The [information] sharing that is done is not a function of the EU that was always done inter-governmentally anyway and most of our important security work is done between the Americans, Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders. Speaking on LBC Radio, he added: 'One of the difficulties people have within the Schengen group, and why it's now under such pressure, is that people can move rapidly across these frontiers and some very bad people are exploiting that. 'That's why we should be able to make use of our borders more systematically to fight those enemies.' Mr Gove said the European Court of Justice was endangering Britains national security and he proposed emergency laws after a Brexit vote to take the UK out of its jurisdiction. Dismissing Sir Johns warnings, he pointed out that other experts, including former MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove and ex-Interpol boss Ron Noble, had issued warnings about the EUs open borders policy. He added: I have enormous respect for Sir John and his tradition of public service, but he is flat wrong. Im the Justice Secretary, I know that the European criminal records information system doesnt allow us to know whether or not criminals come into this country. We only find out whether or not people have criminal records after they have already committed an offence in this country. It is a gossamer-thin protection. But Sir John told the BBC: Its not just about the day-to-day co-operation, its about the wider stability of our continent. We are only secure because wider Europe is secure. Pulling out will make it more dangerous. There is a real risk of the pressures on the European Union migration pressure, economic pressures, pressures from Russia pulling the European Union apart. As the EU campaign intensifies following the conclusion of the local election campaigns last week, health chiefs also warned today of the risks of leaving the EU, while economists claimed the EU had had added 1,800 to workers' salaries since the start of the single market in 1986. Sir Andrew Witty, CEO of GlaxoSmithKline, along with 92 other leading life sciences figures, set out the case for the Remain campaign for the sector in a letter to the Observer. They warned that Brexit would limit our access to new new medicines more quickly and stands to benefit from continued investment in 'cutting-edge science' if the UK votes to remain. Sir John Sawers (ex-director of MI6, right) told the Andrew Marr Show Britain must stay in to protect our national security, saying: 'It's not just about the day-to-day co-operation, it's about the wider stability of our continent. We are only secure because the wider Europe is secure' David Cameron tweeted this morning saying Lord Evans and Sir John Sawers had given an 'important message' about the threat to national security but he was immediately accused by one of his own MPs of orchestrating their intervention to boost the Remain campaign Sir Andrew Witty, CEO of GlaxoSmithKline, along with 92 other leading life sciences figures, sets out the case for the Remain campaign for the sector in a letter to the Observer. The life sciences industry employs more than 222,000 people across the UK and attracts high levels of investment. BREXIT WOULD BAR ACCESS TO KEY MEDICINES, HEALTH EXPERTS WARN Staying in the EU gives us greater access to new medicines, industry experts warn today Staying in the EU would mean Britons are able to access new medicines more quickly, top health industry leaders have warned. The UK also stands to benefit from continued investment in 'cutting-edge science' if the UK votes to remain, it had been claimed. Sir Andrew Witty, CEO of GlaxoSmithKline, along with 92 other leading life sciences figures, sets out the case for the Remain campaign for the sector in a letter to the Observer. The life sciences industry employs more than 222,000 people across the UK and attracts high levels of investment. Sir Andrew claims it would benefit staying in the EU saying it would 'enable the sector to continue to operate within an established and harmonised regulatory approval system, ensuring that UK patients benefit from medicines more quickly, and that medicines researched and manufactured in the UK are available across the EU sooner'. The signatories to the letter, who include executives from AstraZeneca and Pfizer, say that Brexit would mean 'added complexity and uncertainty' which is bad for business and research. Overall they claim a vote to remain would be better for both the 'health and wealth' of the UK. The letter states: 'Continued UK membership of the EU will also benefit scientific activity and R&D jobs. UK researchers and small businesses will continue to benefit from access to EU funding and from collaborations with cutting-edge science across the continent. 'This will help the UK to continue to attract investment for the R&D activities that will help to discover and develop the next generation of treatments for cancer, respiratory disease and Alzheimer's, and to continue pioneering work in new vaccines and antibiotics.' Sir Andrew claims it would benefit staying in the EU saying it would 'enable the sector to continue to operate within an established and harmonised regulatory approval system, ensuring that UK patients benefit from medicines more quickly, and that medicines researched and manufactured in the UK are available across the EU sooner'. The signatories to the letter, who include executives from AstraZeneca and Pfizer, say that Brexit would mean 'added complexity and uncertainty' which is bad for business and research. Overall they claim a vote to remain would be better for both the 'health and wealth' of the UK. The letter states: 'Continued UK membership of the EU will also benefit scientific activity and R&D jobs. UK researchers and small businesses will continue to benefit from access to EU funding and from collaborations with cutting-edge science across the continent. 'This will help the UK to continue to attract investment for the R&D activities that will help to discover and develop the next generation of treatments for cancer, respiratory disease and Alzheimer's, and to continue pioneering work in new vaccines and antibiotics.' Meanwhile, research by Frontier Economics for the business lobby group London First, concluded that EU membership had boosted trade which in turn led to higher productivity and pay rates. The findings suggest that around 29 per cent of real wage growth from 1986 to 2014 is associated with EU membership. 'This implies that average real wages across the UK were 1,800 higher than would otherwise have been if the UK had not been part of the EU,' the report said. The figure in the capital could be as high as 3,100, the report suggested. 'Conservatively assuming that the impact on trade creation from the EU has been similar for London as it has been across the UK, and the responsiveness of productivity to trade openness is the same in London as it is across the UK, the estimated impact of EU membership has been to raise London wages by 3,100 on average,' the report said. Will Higham, campaign director at London First, said: 'Our EU membership has helped Britain makes a real difference to the size of people's pay packets. Throwing away our EU membership could harm exporters and would certainly make us a less attractive to global companies seeking to invest in London. 'This would have a worrying knock-on effect on the rest of the country and there would be an inevitable downward effect on salaries.' Brexit campaigners have claimed that wages could rise if the UK quits the EU, because controls on immigration could stop workers from the EU competing with Britons for jobs. Lord Rose, the head of Remain campaign Britain Stronger In Europe acknowledged to MPs that wages for low-skilled workers could go up if the UK left the EU. He told the Treasury Select Committee in March: 'If you are short of labour the price will ... go up, so yes. That's not necessarily a good thing.' The EU has boosted our wages by 1,800 since 1986, claim economists The research, by Frontier Economics for the business lobby group London First, concluded that EU membership had boosted trade which in turn led to higher productivity and pay rates Membership of the European Union has added 1,800 to workers' salaries, researchers have claimed. The research, by Frontier Economics for the business lobby group London First, concluded that EU membership had boosted trade which in turn led to higher productivity and pay rates. The findings suggest that around 29 per cent of real wage growth from 1986 to 2014 is associated with EU membership. 'This implies that average real wages across the UK were 1,800 higher than would otherwise have been if the UK had not been part of the EU,' the report said. The figure in the capital could be as high as 3,100, the report suggested. 'Conservatively assuming that the impact on trade creation from the EU has been similar for London as it has been across the UK, and the responsiveness of productivity to trade openness is the same in London as it is across the UK, the estimated impact of EU membership has been to raise London wages by 3,100 on average,' the report said. Will Higham, campaign director at London First, said: 'Our EU membership has helped Britain makes a real difference to the size of people's pay packets. Throwing away our EU membership could harm exporters and would certainly make us a less attractive to global companies seeking to invest in London. George Osborne (pictured on the Peston on Sunday show this morning) claimed leaving the EU would hit house prices and hike up mortgages 'This would have a worrying knock-on effect on the rest of the country and there would be an inevitable downward effect on salaries.' Brexit campaigners have claimed that wages could rise if the UK quits the EU, because controls on immigration could stop workers from the EU competing with Britons for jobs. Lord Rose, the head of Remain campaign Britain Stronger In Europe acknowledged to MPs that wages for low-skilled workers could go up if the UK left the EU. He told the Treasury Select Committee in March: 'If you are short of labour the price will ... go up, so yes. That's not necessarily a good thing.' Brexit would cause a 'major hit' to house prices and hike up mortgages for first-time buyers, George Osborne warns House prices would be dealt a hammer blow and mortgages would be hiked up if Britain leaves the EU, George Osborne claimed today as he stepped up his warnings over Brexit. The Chancellor clashed with his Tory colleague and close friend Michael Gove on the airwaves this morning as the EU campaign once again took centre stage following last week's elections. Mr Osborne said the 'significant hit' to the value of homes was the 'kind of economic impact' that would result from leaving the EU. George Osborne (left) opted not to wear a tie on the debut Peston on Sunday show this morning as he took a swipe at his Tory Cabinet colleague Michael Gove (right) over his admission that the UK would leave the EU's single market after a Brexit vote on June 23 And he pounced on Mr Gove's admission minutes before that Britain would leave the EU's single market following an Out vote in the June 23 referendum, saying exiting the market would be 'an absolutely catastrophic economic mistake for our country'. The Chancellor also revealed that the Treasury is working on another document that will assess the impact on the housing market from a Brexit vote. He said the evidence he had seen from the document backed up research from banks that leaving the EU would deal a 'significant shock' to the housing market the cost of mortgages. Mr Osborne and Mr Gove exchanged blows this morning as security chiefs warned Britain's naitonal security would be undermined if we quit the EU. Lord Evans, ex-director of MI5 and Sir John Sawers, the former MI6 chief said the UK benefited from sharing information with fellow EU countries and leaving the Brussels club would trigger 'instability on the Continent. But Julian Lewis, chairman of the Defence Committee, made the remarkable accusation that Downing Street had manipulated their intervention. He revealed that Lord Evans had told him privately that the UK's security would not be at risk if Britain left the EU. George Osborne (left) told Robert Peston (right) on ITV this morning that a Brexit vote would cause a 'significant hit' to the housing market and would also hike up mortgages Mr Osborne, asked whether house prices will fall if voters back Brexit in June's EU vote, told the debut Peston on Sunday show on ITV this morning: 'I'm pretty clear that there will be a significant hit to the value of people's homes and to the cost of mortgages. 'That is one example of the kind of impact, economic impact, that we get form leaving the EU. And you have today the leave campaigners saying we would leave the single market. 'I mean, for me, that is an absolutely catastrophic economic mistake for our country and, you know, if you're working in a car plant in the North East of England, if you're working in a call centre in Bournemouth for a bank, if you're in any of these businesses that rely on being able to trade into this enormous market on our doorstep, you will be affected by that in a very bad way.' Giving an early preview of a new Treasury analysis on the economic impacts of Brexit, Mr Osborne added: 'It's already clear from the Treasury analysis that for example, there would a significant shock to the housing market, that would hit the value of people's homes, that would hit the cost of mortgages', he said. 'We're doing the work on it now but the emerging Treasury analysis backs up what you are hearing from major banks like Virgin Money that the value of people's homes will be affected and people trying to get on the housing market would be hit because mortgage costs would go up.' Jeremy Paxman has withdrawn an article criticising the EU from the next issue of the Radio Times under pressure from the BBC, it has been claimed. It is understood the outspoken journalist and presenter's views raised concerns with broadcast bosses ahead of a documentary set to air later this month. He will appear on Paxman in Brussels on May 19, described by the BBC as 'an impartial look at the fundamentals of what actually goes on between the UK and the EU'. Jeremy Paxman is said to have withdrawn an article critical of the EU from the Radio Times after BBC bosses feared it would damage his impartiality for his upcoming Paxman in Brussels documentary, pictured Although the article is not thought to have called for Britain to leave Brussels, the organisation fears his words will damage his neutrality, according to The Sunday Times. The paper claims the article sees the former Newsnight presenter 'express doubts' about the EU, its procedures and the loss of British sovereignty, and that the 65-year-old was 'unhappy' with proposed changes to his work asked for by a senior BBC executive. A spokesman for the Radio Times said it was not commenting on the claims. It is understood the article was commissioned but never actually submitted to the publication, owned by the Immediate Media Company after being sold by the BBC in 2011. In the documentary, by Brook Lapping productions, Paxman, will meet EU officials and politicians from across the continent to find out 'what makes Brussels tick'. He will take a closer look at how EU laws are adopted in Britain and 'hear the full spectrum of opinion' on whether the UK should remain in the organisation in a series of interview, according to the programme's official description. The former Newsnight presenter, left, is said to have hit out at EU procedures and Britain's 'loss of sovereignty' in his article commissioned by the magazine, file picture right Speaking at a the independent Godolphin and Latymer School in London earlier this year, Paxman was critical of the EU. The University Challenge presenter said: 'Its unquestionable that Britains standing in the world now is much reduced from what it was. The problem with the EU is that it makes that abundantly clear. 'My own hunch, for what its worth, is that the British people will vote to stay in. People cordially detest the EU, of course they do, but they have come to realise that they lead European lives, and they enjoy leading European lives.' A BBC spokesman said: 'Our coverage of the EU referendum is fair and balanced so that across the campaign period audiences are given clear and impartial information about both sides of the argument.' A child marriage activist in India risked death threats to save a 17-year-old child bride from going to live with an 'alcoholic' husband to whom she had been married aged 12. Kriti Bharti, 29, has annulled 29 child marriages and amazingly stopped over 900 unions involving underaged boys and girls in the last four years. Her most recent act of heroism involved the 17-year-old girl who ran away from home to avoid having to go live with her 21-year-old husband who she was forced to marry five years ago. Hero: Relentless activist Kriti Bharti, 29, has stopped over 900 child marriages in the last four years Saviour: Miss Bharti, 29, saved a 17-year-old from Jodhpur, Rajasthan, who had been married aged 12 and was now being forced to go live with her husband The girl ran away from home in the middle of the night when Kriti saved her and took her to a government safe house in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, northern India. My work means so much to me, Kriti said, who is the founder of Saarthi Trust, which is a charity to protect victims of child marriages. I dedicate my life to helping these defenseless children from their families who force them into the most barbaric circumstances because of tradition. When I picked up this young girl she was hiding behind a tree at 4am in a desert in the middle of Rajasthan, absolutely terrified. 'She had been pushed to her limits, and preferred to risk her life out in the desert than stay with her family a moment longer. As soon as she got in the car she hugged me tightly. She couldnt speak she was crying so much. Like all the other victims of child marriages, Kriti will now keep the girl safe in a shelter home before approaching the family and the courts to annul the marriage. Admirable: Kriti is the founder of Saarthi Trust, which is a charity to protect victims of child marriages Kriti has been added to the World Records of India catalogue and awarded with the titles the Fastest Legally Annulled Child Marriages and First Ever Child Marriage Annulment in India Kriti said: I will speak to her family and the husbands family to try to make them understand. Some parents eventually understand and help their daughters escape the clutches of the marriage, but others dont. It would be great if this family allowed the annulment to take place and support the girl, but if they dont we will turn to the law. But the young girl comes from the Bhandiawas community, in Pachpadra, Rajasthan, where honour killings are prevalent. Kriti is even more worried about her safety. I will make this case my priority and ensure her safety. Her education, counseling and rehabilitation is of utmost priority for me and my team, Kriti added. The 17-year-old victim always wanted to attend school and get an education but her parents were forcing her to join her 21-year-old husband who she was forced to marry five years ago. She claims hes unemployed, illiterate and an alcoholic. She said: I always wanted to be educated but my parents forced me to quit my studies and into gauna (when a girl is sent to her in-laws when she comes of age after a child marriage). I told my parents I didnt want to go but they started to mentally torture me and started to beat me. It was getting worse day by day, I couldnt take any more so thats when I contacted Kriti and walked out of that house. Miss Bharti with one of the many teenagers she has saved from a forced child marriage Knowing the system well, Kriti made sure she followed protocol. She took the girl straight to the Child Welfare Committee, in the nearby town of Barmer, before taking her to the Child Welfare Committee in Jodhpur, who handed her over to the governments all girls shelter home. Since the girl has been in the custody of the government her brother has visited demanding her return but she has refused. Kriti will now arrange a safe meeting with the girls family to discuss the next step. I will give them a chance to come round and agree to their daughters wishes. But if they dont I will turn to the courts myself and Ill allow the law to do its job, she said. The girl added: I look forward to the time I am out of this unwanted wedlock and then I can resume my studies to become a police officer, so that one day I can get justice for other child brides. This week Kriti has been added to the World Records of India catalogue and awarded with the titles the Fastest Legally Annulled Child Marriages and First Ever Child Marriage Annulment in India. For as long as I have to I will keep saving victims of child marriages, she said. Its a tradition that needs to stop, and we have to educate rural communities and teach them that there is a better way. We have a duty to change this. Advertisement This series of fascinating composite images show the stark contrast between the London of World War Two during the Blitz and today. They were made to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of the Blitz in the capital on May 11, 2016 - although the campaign continued on other parts of the UK for another two weeks. The Blitz (from the German word, 'lightning') was the most intense bombing campaign Britain has ever seen. Between September 1940 and May 1941 there were major raids with more than 100 tonnes of high explosives were dropped on 16 British cities. London was attacked 71 times and bombed by the Luftwaffe for 57 consecutive nights. More than one million London houses were destroyed or damaged, and more than 40,000 civilians were killed, almost half of them in London Birmingham, Liverpool and Plymouth were also hit eight times, Bristol six, Glasgow five, Southampton four, Portsmouth three, and there was also at least one large raid on another eight cities. Deeply-buried shelters provided the most protection against a direct hit, although the government in 1939 refused to allow tube stations to be used as shelters so as not to interfere with commuter and troop travel. However, by the second week of heavy bombing the government relented and ordered the stations to be opened. Each day orderly lines of people queued until 4 pm, when they were allowed to enter the stations, and by mid-September 1939 about 150,000 a night slept in the Underground. Despite the blanket bombing of the capital, some landmarks remained intact - such as St Pauls Cathedral, which was virtually unharmed, despite many buildings around it being reduced to rubble during the 57 nights of raid. On the evening of Saturday May 10, 1941 the Luftwaffe mounted its last major bombing raid of the Blitz on London, known as 'The Longest Night', bringing to an end a deadly campaign. Slide me September 9 1940: A bus was left leaning against the side of a terrace in Harrington Square, Mornington Crescent, in the aftermath of a German bombing raid on London in the first days of the Blitz. The bus was empty at the time, but eleven people were killed in the houses Slide me May 3 1941: Severe bomb damage in London's Leicester Square caused by German air raids during the Blitz - today it is a Vue cinema Slide me September 7 1940: A view east down the Thames towards smoke rising from fires in Surrey docks, following the first German air raid Slide me October 16 1940: Londoners sheltering on a platform at Bounds Green tube station during an air raid in The Blitz Slide me 1941: A blaze in the Negretti and Zambra building at Holborn Circus, London, after a German bombing raid - the statue was untouched Slide me April 29 1942: Severe bomb damage caused during a German air raid on Berkeley Square, London which destroyed a number of buildings Slide me September 19 1940: An area near St Pancras Station in London showing the damage caused by a German air raid during the London blitz Slide me September 14 1940: A crater and damaged railings outside Buckingham Palace, London, after a German bomb was dropped in an air raid Slide me 1940: A huge hole in the Strand, where a bomb fell near the Gaiety Theatre. The church of St. Mary-le-Strand can be seen in the background Slide me October 15 1940: Residents step around the wreckage of a Humber car which was hit by a bomb in Pall Mall, London Slide me May 1941: The interior of Westminster Abbey after a German bombing raid. The Blitz lasted for eight months and killed thousands Slide me 1940: Soldiers help to clear the debris of Bank Underground Station, in front of The Royal Exchange, London, the morning after receiving a direct hit during the Blitz. The slogan 'Dig For Victory' adorns the Exchange Slide me September 19 1940: A police officer and a soldier inspecting the aftermath of a German air raid, Portman Street, London This is the dramatic moment dozens of police officers swarmed around the man suspected of shooting three people dead in Maryland and arrested him. Eulalio Tordil, 62, was taken into custody on Friday after cops say he went on a nearly day-long killing spree that also left three people seriously injured. The dead have been identified by police as Tordil's estranged wife Gladys, 44, father-of-two Malcom Winffel, 45, and grandmother Claudina Molina, 65. CCTV has been released showing Maryland shooting spree suspect Eulalio Tordil, 62 (circled) in a Dunkin Donuts parking lot moment before police swooped in to arrest him Officers said they followed Tordil for hours after he threatened to 'commit suicide by cop' before surrounding his car at gunpoint (pictured) and arresting him without incident Police say Tordil shot and killed estranged wife Gladys on Thursday outside her daughters' high school before going on the run and killing Winffel and Molina in suspected failed carjackings. Winffel was shot saving a woman that Tordil allegedly opened fire on close to a Westfield shopping mall in Bethesda, Maryland, before police say he shot and killed Molina as she sat in her car near a Giant grocery store five miles away in Aspen Hill. Tordil is now in jail charged with ten counts, including three of first-degree murder, pending a court appearance on Monday An undercover police officer spotted Tordil close to the scene of the second shooting shortly afterward and officers tailed him for several hours waiting for the right time to make their arrest after he had earlier threatened to commit 'suicide by cop'. Cops even watched as Tordil made his way into a Dunkin Donuts store for a bite to eat before swooping in to make the arrest in the parking lot outside. Meanwhile relatives paid tribute to Winffel on a GoFundMe page set up to help pay his funeral costs, saying the fact that he died saving a life was typical of a man who was 'always trying to help'. The page says: 'He was an active member of his church and very involved in his children's lives. Malcom was always laughing and joking and could find the positive in everything. 'He made everyone around him laugh. He will be missed more than words could ever say.' Meanwhile on another GoFundMe page dedicated to Molina, her daughter Meli Altamirano also paid tribute. She wrote: 'Anyone who knew her, knows that she was always trying to help everyone around. 'She was an active member of church, she was the sweetest mother, was always laughing and joking and could find the positive in everything. 'She will be missed more than words could ever say. She leaves behind a devoted daughter and son, two grandchildren and friendships that last a life time.' Malcom Winffel, 45 (pictured), was identified by police as one of the shooting victims. Cops say he died saving a woman after Tordil allegedly opened fire in a Westfield shopping mall parking lot Claudina Molina, 65, a grandmother, was named as the third victim of the shooting spree after she was killed in a suspected failed carjacking outside a Giant grocery store Police revealed on Saturday night that Winffel was shot alongside a friend who remains in grave condition in hospital, though officers say they are hopeful he will survive. He has not been identified. Pilar Winffel, Malcom's sister, told CBS that he went for lunch with a friend at Westfield Montgomery Mall on Friday and was heading through a parking lot when Tordil allegedly opened fire. Pilar said Tordil started shooting at a woman who ran towards Winffel, and her was shot as he reached his arms out to help her. She said Tordil appeared to be smiling as he fired the fatal shots. Montgomery County Police Assistant Chief Russ Hamill said: 'In an instant, after the female victim cried out for help, these two men acted selflessly and heroically - not only coming to her aid, but likely saving her life. 'These men are heroes. Malcom Winffel gave his life for somebody he doesn't know, in order to protect her from a predator.' Tordil is now in custody facing at least ten counts including three of first-degree murder, two of first-degree attempted murder, assault and various weapons charges. Tordil was arrested on Friday after police say he went on a day-long shooting rampage that started with him killing his estranged wife Gladys, 44 Hamill said Tordil had been speaking to investigators a little about the shootings, but added: 'I would not describe him as being remorseful.' Hamill said a search of Tordil's car had uncovered a .40-caliber Glock handgun which investigators believe was used in all three killings. Tordil was a federal security officer and carried a gun as part of his job, but was forced to hand it over after he was put on leave because of a protective order taken out by his wife. Officers think that Tordil may have bought the handgun he used in the killings after the order was issued. In a petition for the protective order, Gladys accused her husband of sexually abusing her teenage daughters and subjecting them to a 'military-style' discipline regime. According to the Washington Post she also said Tordil had threatened to harm her if she left him. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has set the date for Australia to go to the polls, with a Federal Election set for July 2. However, instead of waiting 54 days, millions of Australians will make their decision early thanks to postal and pre-poll voting. The number of people voting ahead of time soared to new highs at the last election, with more than 3.2 million early votes cast in 2013, according to the Australian Electoral Commission. Scroll down for video Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (pictured) has set the date for Australia to go to the polls, with a Federal Election set for July 2, however millions will vote ahead of time More than 3 million people cast their vote ahead of time in 2013, while others voted from overseas (pictured) The figure equated to an increase of 28 per cent, after about 2.5 million people voted early in 2010. There was also an massive increase in the number of people who applied to for postal votes, with more than 1.3 million received in 2013 compared to about 950,000 in 2010. For the 2013 Federal Election, more than 500 early voting centres were set up around the country, and about 80,000 temporary staff were hired to help. Before someone is allowed to vote early in Australia, they must meet a number of criteria, including whether they will be outside of their electorate on the day of the election, or working and unable to leave the office. HOW TO VOTE EARLY IN AUSTRALIA To be eligible to vote early in Australia you must meet the following conditions: You are outside the electorate where you are enrolled to vote You are more than 8km from a polling place You are travelling You are unable to leave your workplace to vote You are seriously ill, infirm or due to give birth shortly (or caring for someone who is) You are a patient in hospital and can't vote at the hospital You have religious beliefs that prevent you from attending a polling place You are in prison serving a sentence of less than three years or otherwise detained You have a reasonable fear for your safety Australians cast their vote at the polling station in Australia House on September 3, 2013 in London Voters prepare to cast their vote for the Federal election, at the Mt Alexander College in Melbourne, Saturday, September 7, 2013 The number of people voting ahead of time soared to new highs at the last election, with more than 3.2 million early votes cast in 2013, according to the Australian Electoral Commission Other eligibility rules include if you are travelling, have religious beliefs that prevent you from attending a polling place or in prison or detained. Thousands of Australians also vote from overseas for every election, with some making their choice ahead of time while others swarm to consulates and embassies on the day. One of his victims fears he would attack again due to his lack of remorse He digitally penetrated the women and claimed it helped relieve stress A woman sexually assaulted by an Italian massage therapist who was jailed for digitally penetrating clients has spoken of her fear he will attack again if given the opportunity. Marcello Scariati, 30, from Italy, will remain behind bars until at least 2018 after he sexually assaulted five female clients when he was working as a massage therapist at businesses in Perth. One of Scariati's victims has spoken out since he was sentenced last week and said he is a 'danger to society'. Marcello Scariati, 30, from Italy, will remain behind bars until at least 2018 after he sexually assaulted five women clients when he was working as a massage therapist at several parlours in Perth 'How can you rehabilitate someone who does not think they've done anything wrong?' one of his victims told Perth Now. 'I think he's a danger to society who should never be given the opportunity to prey on women again. 'I hope one day he realises how wrong his actions were.' Scariati worked as a freelance masseuse and digitally penetrated women during massage sessions, later claiming it was a method to release stress. He has been incarcerated since July 2015. He claimed putting his finger or thumb in the women's anuses during massage was a 'tantric' technique, The West Australian reported. And he believed he had been doing the women 'a favour by doing something extra and pleasurable', according to the ABC. His victims were assaulted in Perth between February and June last year while he was working as a massage therapist at businesses in Scarborough and Hillarys, and he also indecently exposed himself to a woman at North Beach. 'Danger to society' - One of Scariati's victims has spoken out since he was sentenced saying she fears he will reoffend if given the opportunity He was sentenced in the West Australian District Court last Tuesday to four-and-a-half years in jail and must serve at least two-and-a-half years. The court last week heard some victims resisted, telling Scariati during the massage sessions 'I don't feel comfortable with this' or making an excuse to go to the toilet then leave. One woman had a panic attack then called her boyfriend in tears to tell him what happened. The woman at the beach had said 'no' and pushed Scariati away when he suddenly kissed her, telling him 'you know you're not meant to do this - it's illegal' when he pulled down his pants. He was arrested after a victim told one of the salon owners, then more came forward after police called for information from the public. The court heard the university-educated man arrived in Perth in 2012 and was in line to work at the Italian Consulate but that didn't eventuate, so he fell back on massage work. He was sentenced in the West Australian District Court on Tuesday to four-and-a-half years in jail and must serve at least two-and-a-half years Scariati was only married for three months when the offending began but his wife remains supportive. He sobbed when Judge Schoombee said his parents, who were police officers and had travelled from Italy to visit him, were ashamed of his actions. Sex Assault Squad Detective Senior Sergeant Neville Beard urged victims to report any such behaviour to police. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin fired a warning shot in the direction of House Speaker Paul Ryan for not immediately supporting Donald Trump by backing his primary opponent on live television this morning. 'I think Paul Ryan is soon to be "Cantored," as in Eric Cantor,' Palin told CNN's Jake Tapper, name-dropping the ex-House Majority Leader who lost his congressional seat in an upset 2014 Virginia primary to a grassroots favorite on the right. Asked if she would be supporting Paul Nehlen, Ryan's conservative challenger in Wisconsin, she said yes and admitted the candidate didn't even know about the endorsement. 'Well, that's a good question and seeing as I haven't even gotten to call him and tell him I'm supporting him,' she began. 'But yes, I will do whatever I can for Paul Nehlen,' she said. Scroll down for video Former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin - an early Donald Trump backer - endorsed House Speaker Paul Ryan's primary opponent on live television after the congressman refused to immediately support Trump 'I haven't even gotten to call him and tell him,' Sarah Palin (right) said to CNN's Jake Tapper of her support for Paul Nehlen, the Republican challenger who's trying to wrestle away Paul Ryan's congressional seat As one of Trump's original big name supporters, Palin was asked to come on the show to discuss what was a tumultuous week in Republican politics. On Tuesday night, after being handily beat by Trump in Indiana, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz shocked the political world by dropping out, followed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich less than 24 hours later, leaving Trump the presumptive GOP nominee. Sarah Palin said she's supporting Paul Nehlen (pictured) in the Wisconsin primary. Nehlen is going up against House Speaker Paul Ryan But then Ryan also surprised by saying on CNN that he was 'not ready' to endorse Trump, citing The Donald's tone and party unity. 'I'm just not there right now,' Ryan told Tapper, speaking 'candidly.' Palin shook her head at Ryan's reaction though suggested she thought he had fully ruled a Trump endorsement out. 'His political career is over but for a miracle because he was so disrespectful of the will of the people, and as the leader of the GOP, the convention, certainly he is to remain neutral, and for him to already come out and say who he will not support was not a wise decision of his,' Palin said. Palin also suggested that Ryan's reluctance to immediately fall in line behind the presumptive Republican nominee was self-serving. 'It kind of screws his chances for the 2020 bid, that he's gunning for,' Palin said.'If the GOP were to win now, that wouldn't bode well for his chances in 2020, and that's what he's shooting for.' Palin called Ryan's concerns about Trump's tone 'superficial.' House Speaker Paul Ryan surprised the political world this week by saying he was 'not ready' to endorse his party's presumptive nominee Donald Trump 'Who cares?' Palin said. 'The people of America care about getting things done, finally, taking our government back and putting it on our side. It's all about We the People and we're rising up, fed up with people who have screwed the American people by breaking their campaign promises.' 'We worked so hard to get Paul Ryan back in there and so many other "conservatives" and look what they have done,' Palin added. As for Nehlen, the Republican challenger said Friday that he would support Trump because that's the 'will of the voters.' Palin praised him for that move. 'This man is a hard-working guy, so in touch with the people,' she cooed. 'Paul Ryan and his ilk, their problem is hey have become so disconnected by the people whom they are elected to represent, as evidenced by Paul Ryan's refusal to support the GOP frontrunner that we just said, "he's our man."' The Jerusalem District Court has ruled to suspend all legal proceedings against an alleged pedophile and ex-principal of a religious Jewish girl's school in Melbourne. The move further delays a call for Malka Leifer's extradition to Victoria where she would face prosecution for 74 sexual abuse offences against girls at the school she headed. Leifer failed to appear in the Jerusalem District Court for the eighth time in two years, and her legal team have persistently argued she is unfit to stand trial due to her psychiatric state. Leifer's defence, headed by Yehuda Fried, has argued she suffers panic attacks and bouts of depression as each court hearing approaches. Malka Leifer has been accused of 74 sexual abuse offences against students of the Adass Israel School in Melbourne, where she worked as principal A psychiatrist's report presented to the court in April said that she suffered a psychotic episode ahead of a scheduled hearing in April and had to be hospitalised for two days. So far eight court hearings have gone ahead without her being present, a move many say is a delaying tactic by her defence. In a hearing at the Jerusalem District Court on Sunday, prosecutor Avital Ribner Oron urged Judge Amnon Cohen to hospitalise Leifer for treatment if she was indeed suffering psychotic episodes. 'If Leifer is not fit to stand trial and if in fact she is having some kind of psychotic episode, or she is psychotic, then she needs treatment and she should be hospitalised,' Oron said. 'It is the most intensive type of care and they will be able to oversee her mental situation and once we receive an update that she is able to stand trial then we can return to court and ask that proceedings resume and the extradition hearings begin.' In a surprising move on Sunday, Leifer's defence and the prosecution both agreed that all legal proceedings should be suspended until she received medical treatment, pending a psychiatrist's report on what that treatment should be. Ribner Cohen told the judge the state believed Leifer should be hospitalised and not treated in an outpatient capacity. Judge Cohen called for a psychiatric recommendation on what treatment Leifer should receive. The options were hospitalisation, outpatient treatment, or no treatment. The district psychiatrist would deliver his recommendations by the end of May and they would be assessed in court on June 2. Those recommendations were not binding. Board members of the Adass Israel School, where Leifer allegedly sexually abused her female students, are under investigation for helping the alleged pedophile flee to Israel At a hearing in February, which went ahead without her presence, Leifer's lawyers asked for the case to be dismissed entirely. 'After receiving the assessment of the district psychiatrist - who gave a very clear assessment according to Israeli law - all legal proceedings must stop against the suspect,' the judge ruled. 'I call on the original psychiatrist to assess if he thinks a hospitalisation order should be issued, or if he would recommend another possible treatment.' Leifer has been living under house arrest in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish city called Beni Brak in Israel, where she fled in 2008 allegedly with the help of senior board members of Melbourne's isolated religious Jewish Adass community. It took six years for the law to catch up with Leifer in Israel - she was placed under house arrest in 2014 after an extradition request from Australia. Leifer headed Adass Israel School from 2003, until 2008 when she fled. She was highly regarded in the community, running day-to-day operations at the school, while also teaching Jewish studies. She spent three weeks in hospital before returning to UK to make recovery Adele, 41, got her daughter into recovered position and cleared her airways as she continued down water slide in Turkey A quick-thinking mother battled to save her daughter's life after she broke her neck in a horrific waterslide accident while on holiday abroad. Adele Olcer, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, saw Zara, five, fall backwards out of a double rubber ring on a high-speed slide in Turkey. The mother-of-two was then forced to watch her unconscious daughter lifelessly slump down the rest of the flume to the shallows below at Nirvana Lagoon in Kemer. She grabbed Zara and managed to get her in the recovery position and clear her airways by cracking her tooth before the youngster was rushed to hospital. Adele Olcer, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, saw Zara (left in hospital), five, fall backwards out of a double rubber ring on a high-speed slide in Turkey. Ms Olcer and her daughter are pictured right Ms Olcer grabbed Zara and managed to get her in the recovery position and clear her airways by cracking her tooth before the youngster was rushed to hospital The mother-of-two was then forced to watch her unconscious daughter lifelessly slump down the rest of the flume to the shallows below at Nirvana Lagoon (pictured) in Kemer Doctors said Zara could have been paralysed - but she spent three weeks in hospital before returning back to the UK to make a full recovery. Ms Olcer, 41,said: 'My initial reaction was she was dead - I turned her over when I got to the bottom and her eyes were open. 'I thought that was it. She wasn't breathing and her jaw was locked.' As the tunnel slide opened out, Ms Olcer, who was sitting in the front ring, and Zara, who at this point had fallen out the ring, collided and the little girl came to a stop, face-down and lifeless. Zara's panicked father and sister had been waiting next in line and frantically made their way down the steps towards them. Cash and Carry manager Ms Olcer sprang into action and pushed one of Zara's teeth in to help open her mouth because her jaw was locked. She was then able to move her tongue and clear her throat. Describing the horrific ordeal, she said: 'I could see what had happened and was screaming, I tipped myself out of the ring to try and get to her but the water was so powerful I couldn't do anything so I had to wait until we came to a stop.' 'Then I heard her breath and so I put her in the recovery position until the ambulance arrived,' she recalled. 'I had done an advanced first aid course a week before we went on holiday with work, which is what I think made me stay calm.' Zara broke bones in her neck and skull, broke her arm in two places and was left with double vision after the accident. Doctors said Zara (right in hospital and left with her family) could have been paralyzed - but she spent three weeks in hospital before returning back to the UK to make a full recovery Firat Olcer is pictured with daughters Isobel, eight, and Zara Olcer, five, shortly before Zara broke bones in her neck playing on the waterslide Ms Olcer said: 'It was horrendous, I can't begin to tell you what was going through my mind. 'On top of it all when she got to hospital the doctors did very little until we could prove we had insurance. 'Of course, you never keep those documents on you, so it took us about half-an-hour of going through emails to prove we had insurance.' Medics later told the family, including father Firat, 39, and Zara's older sister Isabel, aged nine, that things could have been much worse - if the break had been a quarter-of-an inch nearer to her spine, she would have been paralysed from the neck down. Zara was kept in hospital abroad for three weeks, while Zara's grandfather Frank, 74, who was holidaying with the family flew home with Isabel. Firat's colleagues at Asda in Handsworth raised 2,300 to cover the cost of keeping both parents by her side. Zara was then looked after by Sheffield Children's Hospital as an outpatient following her return home. Ms Olcer (left) grabbed Zara and managed to get her in the recovery position and clear her airways by cracking her tooth before the youngster was rushed to hospital Zara had to wear a neck collar for four months and could not return to school full-time until September 2015 Speaking about her daughter's injuries, Ms Olcer said: 'Her broken arm wasn't even picked up until we got home - we did keep saying that it didn't look right.' Zara had to wear a neck collar for four months and could not return to school full-time until September 2015. She was given the all clear in December and Ms Olcer said her daughter was now back to her normal self. She said: 'We know how lucky we are - so many children have similar accidents and are not as lucky as Zara.' She added: 'This year we've booked to go away, but we've been very careful not choose one near a waterpark or a pool with a slide.' Zara has marked her recovery with a fundraiser to raise money for people who have not been as lucky. The family have collectively raised 1,600 for Sheffield Children's Hospital's spinal cord injury centre to date - which helped to care for her when she returned to the UK. Zara also completed a sponsored 2.2-mile bike ride around Rother Valley Country Park, which Firat ran with her, while sister Isabel swam a mile in 49 minutes at Rotherham Leisure Centre. Ms Olcer said: 'They were both so excited for their challenges, and watched each other along with a couple of friends and family.' Glowing in her white gown, her hair braided in a classic updo, Yiru Sun was the picture perfect bride as she looked out at her 60 guests on Saturday. But Yiru wasn't getting married, and she didn't know a single one of them. The Princeton graduate and Corporate Vice President at New York Life Insurance had canceled her wedding two months ago after she refused to sign the proposed prenuptial agreement. But instead of canceling the reception - which she put down a nonrefundable $8,000 deposit for - at the luxurious Harold Pratt House in the Upper East Side, Yiru decided she would find a group of children and families in need to attend instead. Scroll down for video Yiru Sun looked every bit the glowing bride on what was supposed to be her wedding day at the Harold Pratt House in New York's Upper East Side on Saturday But Yiru wasn't getting married at all. Instead she turned what was supposed to be her wedding reception into a pre-Mother's Day luncheon for local children and families who were in need And so the wedding day turned into a pre-Mother's Day luncheon, with Yiru joining forces with the Salvation Army and Inwood House to find the guests for the special day. 'At that moment, I started to think it was God's plan,' Yiru told the New York Post. 'I cannot be the princess of my wedding day, but I can give the kids a fairy tale.' The children, who had their faces painted and were given balloons and ice pops, said the day made them feel special. Some guests also gave musical performances on the piano and ukulele. 'I thought it was an incredibly selfless act,' guest William Natal told CBS New York. Yiru, who cancelled her wedding after she refused to sign the prenup, joined forces with the Salvation Army and Inwood House to find guests for the special day The event also helped Yuri, single mother to a six-year-old girl, take her mind off the fact that she would not spend the day tying the knot 'Just to turn around and do something that helps others is an amazing show of character.' The event also helped Yuri, single mother to a six-year-old girl, take her mind off the fact that she would not spend the day tying the knot. Yuri would only say that she was not comfortable with the prenup, adding that she 'initially felt frustrated' when she decided to call the wedding off. But the day was not for wallowing. Instead Yuri told her guests about how she had grown up poor in China before studying in America and winning a full scholarship to obtain her PhD in electrical engineering at Princeton. Yuri said she couldn't have enjoyed the day more, and she believes her guests felt the same way. 'My guests feel even more happier than wedding guests,' she joked. 'They don't need to prepare wedding gifts.' The children, who had their faces painted and were given balloons and ice pops, said the day made them feel special Yiru, the Corporate Vice President of New York Life Insurance, inspired guests with her story about growing up poor in China before obtaining a PhD from Princeton Jeremy Corbyn faces an angry showdown with Labour MPs tomorrow after reports revealed he is planning to take a holiday overseas just days before June's EU referendum. Clashes were already certain to take place at the party's weekly meeting on Monday night after Mr Corbyn delivered the worst election performance of any opposition in 30 years last week. But following reports that he is due to take nearly a week off at the end of this month, Shadow Cabinet ministers could not hide their fury. Jeremy Corbyn (pictured on a visit to Bristol yesterday to congratulate the new Labour mayor of the city, Marvin Rees) is planning to take nearly a week off work at the end of the month - just days before the EU vote According to the Sunday Times Mr Corbyn will take a break overseas following an official trip abroad, meaning he could be away from the UK for up to 10 days. He is expected to take advantage of the Parliamentary recess between May 26 and June 6, which coincides with the May bank holiday weekend. Shadow Scottish Secretary Ian Murray, still reeling from Labour's worst performance in Scotland since 1910 after they were beaten into third place by the Tories in Thursday's poll, told Mr Corbyn to reconsider any plans to take a holiday. 'Given Jeremy Corbyn 's significant mandate within the Labour membership and given it's going to be Labour members who are knocking on doors to make those arguments, we should be making sure we are pulling out all the stops to win that European Union referendum,' he told the BBC. Emily Thornberry (pictured next to Jeremy Corbyn, left) defended the Labour leader's right to take a holiday at the end of this month - just days after the party suffered the worst election performance of any opposition since 1985 Sadiq Khan's easy victory over Zac Goldsmith to be elected the first Muslim mayor of London gave Mr Corbyn a glimmer of hope, but the positives were immediately overshadowed after Mr Khan launched a blistering attack on his leadership. Above, Sadiq Khan appears on the Andrew Marr Show this morning after being sworn in as the first ever Muslim mayor of London 'We should be fighting with every single sinew to make sure the UK stays in the European Union, because that's the right thing to do.' And fellow Labour MP Neil Coyle said Mr Corbyn had his priorities wrong. 'Obviously his time would be much better spent campaigning to stay in the European Union and it is disappointing to hear that time off is taking priority over the UK's future,' he said. Mr Corbyn's latest plans for a break will take his tally of holidays since he became leader in September to four, having already enjoyed a spa break in Malta, a few days in the Scottish Highlands in October and an Easter break in Devon, where he was pictured having a lemon drizzle cake for breakfast. But Mr Corbyn's close friend and constituency neighbour Emily Thornberry defended his right to take a break. The Shadow Defence Secretary said: 'I think it's been pretty full on for Jeremy, hasn't it, since he was elected as leader. 'I do think that when Parliament is not sitting he should be allowed to have a few days off.' Jeremy Corbyn only avoided facing an immediate leadership challenge because expectations were even worse and Labour's Marvin Rees (pictured with Mr Corbyn in Bristol yesterday) winning the Bristol mayoralty also helped stave off a coup A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said: 'We don't discuss Jeremy's movements but he will undertake a significant number of public engagements with the Labour In campaign in the next few weeks.' Mr Corbyn is expected to face angry voices tomorrow night as Labour MPs confront him over the party's poor showing in English council elections and a disastrous showing in Scotland. Labour MP Neil Coyle said Mr Corbyn had his priorities wrong. 'Obviously his time would be much better spent campaigning to stay in the European Union and it is disappointing to hear that time off is taking priority over the UK's future,' he said. The party won just 24 MSPs in the Scottish parliament in Thursday's election and was humiliated after the Tories leapfrogged it into second place. In council elections in England, Labour lost 23 seats - the worst performance of an opposition party to lose council seats since 1985. Mr Corbyn only avoided facing an immediate leadership challenge because expectations were even worse and Labour's Marvin Rees winning the Bristol mayoralty also helped stave off a coup. Sadiq Khan's easy victory over Zac Goldsmith to be elected the first Muslim mayor of London gave Mr Corbyn a glimmer of hope, but the positives were immediately overshadowed after Mr Khan launched a blistering attack on his leadership. The new Mayor of London told Mr Corbyn to take note of how he had reached beyond the party's core base to win back the capital for Labour. Mr Khan, the son of an immigrant bus driver, accused the Labour leadership of 'divide and rule' tactics that would fail to win over the necessary Tory voters to win a General Election, adding: 'Labour has to be a big tent that appeals to everyone, not just its own activists'. He easily beat Mr Goldsmith in the campaign to replace Boris Johnson as London Mayor - winning with a record number of votes. After second preference votes had been counted, Mr Khan received 57 per cent of the vote to Mr Goldsmith's 43 per cent. The Labour mayor won a record 1,3million votes and also became the first directly elected Muslim mayor of any major European capital. Shadow Scottish Secretary Ian Murray, still reeling from Labour's worst performance in Scotland since 1910 after they were beaten into third place by the Tories in Thursday's poll, told Mr Corbyn to reconsider any plans to take a holiday Sadiq Khan looks away as he shakes Michael Gove's hand on the Andrew Marr Show this morning. He said it was up to the Tories whether they should apologise for their 'nasty' campaign in the London mayoral race During the campaign Mr Khan attempted to distance himself from Mr Corbyn's policies and he was also among the first to call for the Labour leader to suspend his close friend and former London mayor Ken Livingstone over his alleged anti-Semitism. CORBYN ALLIES ACCUSE KHAN OF TREATING HIM LIKE A 'PARIAH' Allies of Jeremy Corbyn last night accused newly elected London Mayor Sadiq Khan of treating him like a 'pariah' by avoiding appearing in public with him. The Labour leader was conspicuous by his absence from Khan's official swearing-in ceremony at Southwark Cathedral in South-East London yesterday. To add insult to injury, Corbyn's predecessor as Labour leader, Ed Miliband, was there to see Mr Khan become Boris Johnson's successor. And the pair even missed each other at Khan's official victory party on Friday, with Corbyn arriving and leaving several hours before the London Mayor showed up. Labour sources claimed Mr Corbyn's office had made repeated attempts to arrange a joint photo call last week but could not get through. 'Corbyn's team couldn't get Khan's office to pick up the phone,' said one insider. 'He clearly doesn't want anything to do with Jeremy.' The row broke as anti-Corbyn Labour MPs privately said that the coup against him was 'postponed not cancelled' after a raft of election results across the UK was deemed bad for Labour but not dire enough to force him out now. One MP admitted: 'We're keeping our powder dry, but Corbyn can't lead us into a General Election.' After seeing his party beaten into a humiliating third place in Scotland behind the Tories and losing council seats in England on Thursday, Mr Corbyn was desperate to be seen with triumphant a Mr Khan. Mr Khan, the first Muslim mayor of a European capital, now has a huge personal mandate after his thumping victory over Tory candidate Zac Goldsmith. In a sign of his new international standing, he was yesterday congratulated by US Democrat presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, who praised him as 'a champion of workers' rights and human rights'. Sources said the new mayor appeared determined not to have his moment of glory tarnished by association with Mr Corbyn. During his campaign, Mr Khan disowned Mr Corbyn's Left-wing style, such as his refusal to sing the National Anthem. A spokesman for the London mayor denied snubbing Mr Corbyn, saying: 'There was an open invitation to all London MPs to the cathedral.' Mr Khan himself said he could not explain why the Labour leader had failed to attend yesterday's ceremony, saying: 'I'm not sure what Jeremy's doing today.' Mr Corbyn's attempts to appear alongside Mr Khan included an appearance on Friday night at a celebration party at 10.50pm in a bar not far from City Hall. However, this was thwarted after the final result declaration was delayed and Mr Khan himself only showed up at his own victory bash at 1.15am. Despite the denial, Labour MPs privately said the mayor would be entirely right to carry on keeping his distance from Mr Corbyn. 'Sadiq knows he won the mayoral election in spite of Corbyn, not thanks to him,' said one. 'All the anti-Semitic nonsense around the Corbyn camp caused huge damage to our campaign. Sadiq will run London his way, not Corbyn's.' Mr Corbyn failed to show up at Mr Khan's swearing-in ceremony at Southwark Cathedral in South-East London yesterday, opting to stay at home less than five miles away. The Labour leader's allies accused the newly elected London Mayor of treating him like a 'pariah' by avoiding appearing in public with him. To add insult to injury, Corbyn's predecessor as Labour leader, Ed Miliband, was there to see Mr Khan become Boris Johnson's successor. And the pair even missed each other at Khan's official victory party on Friday, with Corbyn arriving and leaving several hours before the London Mayor showed up. During his campaign, Mr Khan disowned Mr Corbyn's Left-wing style, such as his refusal to sing the National Anthem. A spokesman for the London mayor denied snubbing Mr Corbyn, saying: 'There was an open invitation to all London MPs to the cathedral.' Mr Khan himself said he could not explain why the Labour leader had failed to attend yesterday's ceremony, saying: 'I'm not sure what Jeremy's doing today.' In a scathing assessment of Mr Corbyn's leadership since he took over in September, Mr Khan wrote: 'I learnt a great deal during the campaign about myself, London and the importance of reaching out to all sections of society. 'But there are two lessons in particular: first, Labour only wins when we face outwards and focus on the issues that people care about; second, we will never be trusted to govern unless we reach out and engage with all voters regardless of their background, where they live or where they work. 'Squabbles over internal structures might be important for some in the party, but it is clear they mean little or nothing to the huge majority of voters. As tempting as it might be, we must always resist focusing in on ourselves and ignoring what people really want.' Deputy Labour leader Tom Watson dismissed the prospect of Mr Corbyn facing a challenge and pleaded for 'patience' after a 'mixed bag' of election results. Writing in the Sunday Mirror he said a leadership challenge was 'about as likely as a snowstorm in the Sahara'. But he acknowledged: 'The truth is Labour still has a mountain to climb if we are to return to Government in 2020.' He said: 'If there is one quality Labour Party members will need as we seek to return to Downing Street it is patience. 'Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of our party eight months ago with an overwhelming mandate to take the party in a new direction. 'But that won't happen overnight. Our share of the vote was higher than it was a year ago, when we suffered a painful election defeat. 'Of course it isn't enough. We need to do far more. We need to do better. 'I have been a member of the Labour Party for well over 30 years and I know that members are fair-minded people. 'That's why a leadership challenge is about as likely as a snowstorm in the Sahara.' Mr Khan's victory has triggered a by-election as he announced he will stand down as MP for Tooting. Labour's national executive will draw up a short list of candidates next week to fight a by-election in the seat held by the new mayor of London. The NEC will meet on Wednesday following the resignation of Sadiq Khan, who beat his Tory rival Zac Goldsmith to succeed Boris Johnson in last week's mayoral poll. The Press Association understands that Martin Smith, a national officer with the GMB, is seeking nomination. The newly elected mayor said he will step down as MP for the south London seat to concentrate on his duties in City Hall. Mr Khan has been MP for Tooting since 2005 and held the seat with a majority of under 3,000 in 2015. Sadiq Khan accuses David Cameron of using the 'Donald Trump playbook' of race tactics in London mayoral election Sadiq Khan today accused David Cameron of using tactics 'straight out of the Donald Trump playbook' in the London mayoral race. The defeated Tory candidate Zac Goldsmith repeatedly attacked Mr Khan for his alleged links with Muslim extremists, highlighting his previous record of sharing a stage with radical preachers and defending extremists in his former career as a human rights lawyer. In his second day in his new job as London's first Muslim mayor, Mr Khan hit out at the 'nasty' and 'divisive' Tory tactics, which had the full backing of the Prime Minister. He accused the Conservative campaign of trying to divide the capital's ethnic communities against each other in the campaign for City Hall instead of focussing on policies. But Mr Khan also launched a blistering attack on Jeremy Corbyn by telling him to take note of how he had won back London for Labour. Scroll down for video Sadiq Khan (pictured on the Andrew Marr Show this morning) accused David Cameron of using tactics 'straight out of the Donald Trump playbook' in the London mayoral race The new mayor, the son of an immigrant bus driver, accused the Labour leadership of 'divide and rule' tactics that would fail to win over the necessary Tory voters to win a General Election, adding: 'Labour has to be a big tent that appeals to everyone, not just its own activists'. He easily beat Mr Goldsmith in the campaign to replace Boris Johnson as London Mayor - winning with a record number of votes. After second preference votes had been counted, Mr Khan received 57 per cent of the vote to Mr Goldsmith's 43 per cent. The Labour mayor won a record 1,3million votes and also became the first directly elected Muslim mayor of any major European capital. Looking back at his bitter campaign against Mr Goldsmith, Mr Khan expressed anger at that he was forced to defend himself against allegations of links to Muslim extremists. The defeated Tory candidate Zac Goldsmith (pictured centre with Boris Johnson (left) and David Cameron (right) repeatedly attacked Mr Khan for his alleged links with Muslim extremists, highlighting his previous record of sharing a stage with radical preachers and defending extremists in his former career as a human rights lawyer Sadiq Khan compared the Tory campaign tactics in the London mayoral election to those used by Donald Trump, who has attacked Mexican immigrants and pledged to ban Muslims from entering the United States until US authorities can 'find out what's going on'. He also claimed parts of London were 'so radicalised' that police were 'afraid for their own lives' He said the Conservative's campaign had distracted attention from debating London's housing policy, the transport network and the NHS. And he compared the Tory campaign tactics to those used by Donald Trump, who has attacked Mexican immigrants and pledged to ban Muslims from entering the United States until the country's authorities can 'find out what's going on'. Mr Trump, who has secured the Republican nomination in the presidential race, has also claimed parts of London were 'so radicalised' that police were 'afraid for their own lives'. 'But David Cameron and Zac Goldsmith chose to set out to divide London's communities in an attempt to win votes in some areas and suppress voters in other parts of the city,' he wrote in today's Observer newspaper. 'They used fear and innuendo to try to turn different ethnic and religious groups against each other something straight out of the Donald Trump playbook. Londoners deserved better and I hope it's something the Conservative party will never try to repeat.' Chuka Umunna was among a host of Labour MPs to highlight Sadiq Khan's appeal for the Labour leadership to appeal beyond the party's core base and target a 'big tent' Sadiq Khan also launched a blistering attack on Jeremy Corbyn (pictured leaving his home on Friday) by telling him to take note of how he had won back London for Labour Sadiq Khan (left) sits alongside his wife Saadiya during his swearing-in ceremony at Southwark Cathedral yesterday Sadiq Khan (left) chose to sign in as London Mayor at Southwark Cathedral, where former Labour leader Ed Miliband (pictured right with Labour MP Karen Buck) was present in the audience. Mr Khan was Mr Miliband's campaign manager for his successful leadership bid in 2010 Last night Mr Goldsmith's family hit back last night over claims that his 'racist' campaign against Mr Khan had contributed to his defeat in the London Mayoral election. ZAC GOLDSMITH'S FAMILY HITS BACK FOLLOWING CLAIMS OF RACIST CAMPAIGN Zac Goldsmith's mother Lady Annabel (pictured), said he was the 'least racist' person she knew Zac Goldsmith's family hit back last night over claims that his 'racist' campaign against Sadiq Khan had contributed to his defeat in the London Mayoral election. Tory Mr Goldsmith, who lost to Labour's Mr Khan by a margin of nearly 14 points, has received a barrage of criticism for highlighting his rival's alleged links to extremists. Even his sister Jemima said the tactic 'did not reflect who I know him to be'. But his mother, Lady Annabel, shot back at the 'unfair' criticism. 'Zac is the least racist person I know,' she said. 'I'm very sad for him... with a family man like Zac, who's mad about his children and likes to be with them the whole time, I think being mayor would have been a difficult juggle for him, but he would have made a very good one. 'I think all these things that have been said about him are very unfair.' Lady Annabel, 81, told The Mail on Sunday that her son was close to Jemima's children by the Pakistan cricketer Imran Khan, adding: 'How can Zac be racist when he has two beloved nephews he adores, Jemima's boys?' Zac was also defended by his financier brother, Ben, who said: 'I am proud of my brother. He is the most decent, thoughtful, visionary man I know. It is because of his influence that I have grown up an environmentalist. 'Of course I'm sad he did not win this election. But fundamentally London is a Labour city. Boris Johnson with the advantage of being a household name at the time won in 2008 against the backdrop of an unpopular Labour government. 'My brother was right to ask entirely legitimate questions of Mr Khan as to his past associations with Islamists. Jeremy Corbyn is having to answer precisely the same questions.' He added: 'Those who sought to stifle such debate with disingenuous cries of 'racism' were the ones who brought race and religion into this election. Nobody else. As former Labour peer Alan Sugar has pointed out, Labour has been overrun by 'militants, anti-Semites and terrorist sympathisers'. Let's hope Mr Khan can now present an alternative vision for Labour.' In the wake of his defeat, Mr Goldsmith was accused of being 'divisive' for using such campaign tactics as highlighting the fact that Mr Khan once shared a platform with five Islamic extremists at a political meeting where women were told to use a separate entrance. He has received a barrage of criticism for highlighting his rival's alleged links to extremists. Even his sister Jemima said the tactic 'did not reflect who I know him to be'. But his mother, Lady Annabel, shot back at the 'unfair' criticism. 'Zac is the least racist person I know,' she said. 'I'm very sad for him... with a family man like Zac, who's mad about his children and likes to be with them the whole time, I think being mayor would have been a difficult juggle for him, but he would have made a very good one. 'I think all these things that have been said about him are very unfair.' Mr Khan's victory was immediately overshadowed by fresh infighting in Labour, with Mr Corbyn's allies accusing the newly elected London Mayor of treating him like a 'pariah' by avoiding appearing in public with him. The Labour leader was conspicuous by his absence from Khan's official swearing-in ceremony at Southwark Cathedral in South-East London yesterday. To add insult to injury, Corbyn's predecessor as Labour leader, Ed Miliband, was there to see Mr Khan become Boris Johnson's successor. And the pair even missed each other at Khan's official victory party on Friday, with Corbyn arriving and leaving several hours before the London Mayor showed up. During his campaign, Mr Khan disowned Mr Corbyn's Left-wing style, such as his refusal to sing the National Anthem. A spokesman for the London mayor denied snubbing Mr Corbyn, saying: 'There was an open invitation to all London MPs to the cathedral.' Mr Khan himself said he could not explain why the Labour leader had failed to attend yesterday's ceremony, saying: 'I'm not sure what Jeremy's doing today.' In a scathing assessment of Mr Corbyn's leadership since he took over in September, Mr Khan wrote: 'I learnt a great deal during the campaign about myself, London and the importance of reaching out to all sections of society. 'But there are two lessons in particular: first, Labour only wins when we face outwards and focus on the issues that people care about; second, we will never be trusted to govern unless we reach out and engage with all voters regardless of their background, where they live or where they work. 'Squabbles over internal structures might be important for some in the party, but it is clear they mean little or nothing to the huge majority of voters. As tempting as it might be, we must always resist focusing in on ourselves and ignoring what people really want.' Deputy Labour leader Tom Watson dismissed the prospect of Mr Corbyn facing a challenge and pleaded for 'patience' after a 'mixed bag' of election results. Writing in the Sunday Mirror he said a leadership challenge was 'about as likely as a snowstorm in the Sahara'. But he acknowledged: 'The truth is Labour still has a mountain to climb if we are to return to Government in 2020.' He said: 'If there is one quality Labour Party members will need as we seek to return to Downing Street it is patience. 'Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of our party eight months ago with an overwhelming mandate to take the party in a new direction. 'But that won't happen overnight. Our share of the vote was higher than it was a year ago, when we suffered a painful election defeat. 'Of course it isn't enough. We need to do far more. We need to do better. 'I have been a member of the Labour Party for well over 30 years and I know that members are fair-minded people. 'That's why a leadership challenge is about as likely as a snowstorm in the Sahara.' Mr Khan's victory has triggered a by-election as he announced he will stand down as MP for Tooting. Labour's national executive will draw up a short list of candidates next week to fight a by-election in the seat held by the new mayor of London. The NEC will meet on Wednesday following the resignation of Sadiq Khan, who beat his Tory rival Zac Goldsmith to succeed Boris Johnson in last week's mayoral poll. The Press Association understands that Martin Smith, a national officer with the GMB, is seeking nomination. The newly elected mayor said he will step down as MP for the south London seat to concentrate on his duties in City Hall. Advertisement ISIS has carried out yet another barbaric execution of a young man for allegedly being homosexual, by throwing him off the top of a building. The unidentified man had been accused of 'sodomy', according to local sources, and was punished for this supposed 'crime' by being thrown off a five-storey building in Manbij, Aleppo province. Pictures released by ISIS show the young man fall to his death in front of a large crowd, including dozens of children. Barbaric: ISIS fighters throw a young man off the roof of a building in Manbij, Aleppo province, reportedly as punishment for being gay The images show ISIS terrorists standing on the roof of a building under construction in central Manbij city with their young victim blindfolded, barefoot and bound in front of them. Residents in Manbij had been ordered to gather below to witness the execution of a man convicted of 'sodomy', ARA News reports. They push the man off the building, after which his corpse is stoned by the baying mob in the streets below. 'The man was thrown brutally by ISIS masked members from the top of the building in the city. The barbaric execution took place in front of hundreds of people,' media activist Nasser Taljbini told ARA News. MailOnline has not been able to independently verify these claims but ISIS has previously publicly executed men in a similar manner for being found guilty of homosexuality. Images released by the terrorist organisation show jihadist enforcers standing on the roof of a building in central Manbij city, with their young victim blindfolded, barefoot and bound in front of them The brutal execution was carried out in front of hundreds of people, including dozens of young children Residents in Manbij had been ordered to gather below to witness the execution of a man convicted of 'sodomy' A Queens man was killed while 'subway surfing,' on a Brooklyn train early Friday, police said. James Rubio was riding on top of a Coney Island-bound F train when his head slammed into a metal beam in the tunnel, causing him to fall between two cars, according to the New York Post. Rubio, who was an electrician, was found unconscious, lying between the train cars, by a passenger at the Jay St./MetroTech station around 2.30am. He was rushed to Brooklyn Hospital, where he died from head trauma. James Rubio (pictured) was riding on top of a Coney Island-bound F train when his head slammed into a metal beam in the tunnel, causing him to fall between two cars An official for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said Rubio, who lived in Astoria, hit his head while riding on the outside of the subway car An official for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said Rubio, who lived in Astoria, hit his head while riding on the outside of the subway car, possibly on top, according to the New York Daily News. Rubio hit his head on a low hanging piece of metal as the train entered a tunnel, officials said. Carol Magee, 54, told The Post that Rubio lived with her and her son, who she said 'can't even talk right now, he's been so upset'. She said that Rubio and her son grew up together. Magee added: 'His mother is a basket case right now,' Magee said. 'I just talked to her and she was like 'I want my Jimmy back'. She's really devastated by this, it's a shock for everyone' Magee said Rubio was 'a great kid' who 'looked for the good in people' and 'just enjoyed life'. An autopsy has been scheduled. Rubio (pictured) hit his head on a low hanging piece of metal as the train entered a tunnel, officials said. An autopsy has been scheduled. Commuters have been repeatedly warned about the dangers of 'subway surfing' The MTA has warned commuters about the dangers of surfing along the side or on top of subway cars. Last year a 23-year-old man was seriously injured after attempting to 'surf' alongside the 2 train that was heading into Brooklyn. In 2013, a 17-year-old subway 'surfer' was seriously injured when he struck his head on a steel beam while riding on top of an F train in Brooklyn. And a few days before that a 45-year-old man was killed after he hit his head on a beam while riding on top of a 6 train. Pressure is mounting on a scandal-hit police force after it was claimed that thirteen of its officers were probed over claims of sexual misconduct in four years. Northumbria Police has been accused of having a 'culture of sexism' after a string of allegations against top staff were revealed during an employment tribunal last week. The hearing comes after a lawyer was sacked for gossiping about a love affair between two married police officers that her force was trying to keep quiet. The affair - between two senior police officers - is said to have resulted in a violent brawl at a barbecue, with the husband of one of them punching his love rival in the face. Mike Craik (right), former chief constable of Northumbria Police, allowed a colleague to keep his job despite allegations that he pressured a vulnerable colleague into a sex act, a tribunal has heard. Details of the allegations have emerged during a tribunal brought by Denise Aubrey (left), an ex-member of the force It is understood that police officers were called to break up the fight - but records of this were deleted and press officers ordered to deny the story if it got out to the Press. The latest claim that 13 officers have been probed for sexual misconduct, reported by the Sunday People, is the latest in a string of bombshells against the force. Former head of legal Denise Aubrey was sacked after she was accused of discussing the relationship with her colleagues at Northumbria Police. Another scandal at the force heard by the tribunal involved a senior officer allegedly pressuring a vulnerable colleague into a sex act in exchange for confidential information about her boyfriend. David Borrie, a superintendent at Northumbria Police, allegedly persuaded the younger woman to pleasure him in his car when she asked him to check her new partner's police records. The co-worker, who was said to have been 'extremely vulnerable' at the time, had asked for Mr Borrie's help because she feared her boyfriend had a history of domestic violence. Despite the disturbing allegations, the 57-year-old detective was said to have been allowed to keep his job so that he could claim his pension. In another shocking claim, it is alleged that it was former chief constable Mike Craik - who has himself been at the centre of sensational allegations about the conduct of senior officers at the force - who helped Mr Borrie keep the allegations hushed up. A tribunal heard how the police chief apparently had a 'quiet word' with Mr Borrie and failed to launch a formal investigation, simply telling his colleague: 'Don't apply for a promotion'. It was only when the police watchdog carried out an independent probe that Mr Borrie was given an official warning, the hearing was told. Ms Aubrey claims she was bullied and that Northumbria Police ruined her 'life, mental health and career. Jim Peacock (left), chief superintendent at Northumbria Police, allegedly attacked Mr Craik after finding out that he was having an alleged affair with his wife Carolyn (right), also a high-ranking officer in the force In her statement, Ms Aubrey said Mr Borrie pursued the civilian member of staff - who cannot be named for legal reasons - and 'groped her in the office'. She said that he then took her for an afternoon in the pub before pressurising her into performing a sex act. It was sometime later, when the woman became concerned that her boyfriend might have had a history of domestic violence, that she asked for Mr Borrie's help. Ms Aubrey said: 'He used the fact that he had this information to get her into his car and again pressurised her into giving him oral sex.' The woman eventually told her female colleagues and the external probe was launched. Ms Aubrey said: 'Borrie was not dismissed, whilst it was felt that a criminal charge would not succeed, he had clearly breached police standards. 'Instead, it was decided to move him but to allow him to complete his service so that he could get his pension. 'Mr Craik decided to have a "quiet word" with him and told him "not to bother applying for promotion". However, the IPCC insisted that he received a formal written warning.' Ms Aubrey also claimed that lower ranking officers were not suspended, despite being accused of much more serious misdemeanours than her. She said in evidence that, at the time of her suspension, one detective constable was facing allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a female suspect who was on bail and whose charges were later dropped. She said he was also accused of failing to investigate arson and fraud, misleading other officers about the investigations and disclosing police information to criminals. Assistant chief constable Greg Vant (left) was allegedly involved in a secret relationship with Juliet Bains (right), the secretary to the chief constable, while they were both employed at Northumbria Police Another detective sergeant was facing allegations of serious misconduct, she said. She said: 'Despite these and more serious allegations, which took many months to investigate, they were never suspended pending their disciplinary hearing. 'They were just moved and continued to have unfettered access to all police information systems. 'In contrast, I was suspended for what I am supposed to have said when I was mentally ill.' Today's allegations are the latest in a string of bombshell claims in which Northumbria Police are accused of trying to cover up staff misconduct. It has previously been alleged that Mr Craik had an affair with Carolyn Peacock, one of his assistant chief constables, while she was married to the force's chief superintendent, Jim Peacock. The alleged tryst is said to have ended in a punch-up, when Mr Peacock, now 60, turned up at Mr Craik's home during a summer barbecue and allegedly assaulted him. The tribunal was told how Mr Craik's wife Sharon pressed a panic alarm, leading to armed officers to storm the property. But it is alleged that the incident was later wiped from the police log, amid fears it would be leaked to the Press. Yesterday, the tribunal was also told how Mr Craik seconded a colleague to another post, despite fears of sexual harassment against his secretary, in a move which 'smacked of covering up allegations.' Mr Craik had allegedly become angry when he discovered flirtatious messages between former Assistant Chief Constable Greg Vant and PA Juliet Bains while they were both working at Northumbria Police. The messages - which Ms Aubrey deemed to be 'banter' between two consenting adults - involved suggestions of hula hoops, nipples with tassels and groin-stroking, the hearing was told. Their relationship caused a row within the force, with Mr Craik accusing Mr Vant of sexually harassing Mrs Bains, who was Mr Craiks secretary at the time. However, Ms Aubrey said these messages had now gone missing, along with any specific mention of the investigation and the fact that Mr Vant was sent on secondment. Miss Aubrey, 54, was dismissed when she was accused of gossiping to colleagues about Mr Craiks relationship with Mrs Peacock. She is also said to have disclosed confidential information by telling other lawyers that she had spent two weeks giving advice on what action should be taken against Mr Vant. She now accuses her former bosses of 'unfair dismissal following a protected disclosure, sex discrimination, disability discrimination, victimisation and harassment'. He took up the second-in-command post at Northumbria in 2000, after 23 years with the Met Police in London. He was promoted to the top of the force in 2005, before resigning five years later. The tribunal continues. Warburtons said to be the only major brand to achieve growth this year A massive 50 million fewer loaves of bread have been sold in High Street supermarkets in the past year as hard-pressed workers are too short on time to make their own packed lunch, according to a new report. Today's workers prefer to pick up on-the-go meals in stores during their breaks, the latest research shows. Data from market analysts Kantar Worldpanel reveals that a hefty total of 138.3 million has been sliced off the UK bread category in the past year alone. There were 50million fewer loaves of bread sold in British supermarkets last year, costing the industry 138.3million, a new report has revealed Trade magazine The Grocer said that the decline of wrapped bread is gathering pace. A year ago the magazine reported it had lost 5.4 per cent of its value - but now it was down a further 8.9per cent bringing the value of the sector beneath the 1.5 billion mark. The report says that the average price of a loaf has sunk to a new low in the past year with the 75p price point on standard 800g products now commonplace. The Grocer said: 'There are a number of factors at play here. Bread is falling from favour as growing numbers of Brits dodge carbs on health grounds. 'What's more, in the past few years more have been opting to pick up food on the go, rather than packing lunch in the morning. 'Fewer sarnies, of course, mean fewer loaves sold - 50 million fewer have been sold in the supermarkets in the past year.' The magazine said that value is falling even more steeply as prices are slashed ever deeper. The cost of wrapped bread has dropped to an average of just 90p per unit - down from 98p a year ago. In addition, it says that bagged loaves are still heavy weapons of choice for the multiples, where cheap prices are a permanent sight in the bakery aisle and temporary price cuts are more frequent. Analyst Kathryn Brown, of Kantar Worldpanel said: 'The fall in total bakery is largely down to the poor performance of wrapped bread and rolls, driven by lower prices and shoppers buying fewer packs per trip. Less workers are making their own packed lunches due to a lack of time, the research suggests (file picture) 'Price wars have seen wrapped bread prices drop to an average of just 90p - the result of everyday low prices and an increase in temporary price reductions. 'The largest decline for wrapped consumption is at lunchtime as more shoppers opt for food to go. 'Shoppers are buying more often - averaging 92 trips this year - however this is not enough to offset losses.' Police are hunting for Darcy Clint Pendleton, 34, after he allegedly shot an officer on Saturday night before fleeing in a pickup truck Police in Illinois are hunting for a 34-year-old man who allegedly shot an officer during an argument before fleeing in a pickup truck. Darcy Clint Pendleton, from Mahomet, a small town in central Illinois, allegedly shot officer Jeremy Scharlow, 35, in the arm with a handgun at around 11pm Saturday after picking a fight. Detectives from the Mahomet Police Department say Pendelton then ran into the house where he was staying with his step brother, grabbed an AK-47 rifle and fled in a pickup truck. Officers are still hunting for Pendleton who they say is heavily armed and injured. On Sunday morning Judge Tom Difanis charged him with aggravated battery with a firearm and issued a warrant for his arrest, The News Gazette reports. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 45 years behind bars. Bond was set at $5million. Cops said that Scharlow, a nine-year veteran of the force, stopped Pendleton for a minor traffic violation at around 11pm on Sunday night, according to NBC News. Pendleton was let off with a warning but moments later did something that caused officer Scharlow to go back over before a fight broke out between the pair. Police say Scharlow was hit in the head and tried to use his Taser on Pendleton without having and effect. Pendleton is then accused of pulling out a handgun and firing multiple times at the officer, who was struck at least once in the armbefore returning fire, hitting Pendleton. The suspect then ran into his home where he retrieved the rifle and came back outside before firing several more rounds at the officer. Two other cops nearby heard the gunfire and were able to drag their wounded colleague to safety as Pendleton jumped into a pickup truck, rammed the officer's car, and fled, police say. Pendleton is accused of shooting the officer once with a handgun on this street in Mahomet, Illinois, before getting an AK-47 from inside his house, firing several more rounds and then fleeing in a truck A short while later officers found that truck crashed into a nearby sand and gravel plant. Officers searched the area for Pendleton, but found no trace of him. Cops now believe Pendleton could have a stolen white 2007 GMC pickup truck with Illinois registration 165533B. Meanwhile Scharlow was taken to hospital and treated for his wounds before being released this morning and is now at home resting. Police Chief Mike Metzler said: 'He is in good spirits and anxious to see this guy caught. 'He understands that he has the support of a lot of people in law enforcement and the community behind him and that we're working diligently to find this guy.' Anyone who sees Pendleton is asked not to approach him and to call 911 A mother-of-eight who has not been in work for 16 years has finally got a job - but it means she will now be given even more handouts totalling 31,000 a year while not paying a penny in tax. Former lapdancer Marie Buchan, 33, from Selly Oak in Birmingham, has started working for three days a week as a carer but admits she took the job in order to get past a benefits cap which meant she was limited to 26,000 a year. Ms Buchan, who earns 7.50-an-hour in her new job as a carer, told the Daily Star Sunday: 'I'm going to have near enough everything paid. I'm not going to have to worry any more.' Scroll down for video Former lapdancer and mother-of-eight Marie Buchan, 33, from Selly Oak in Birmingham, has started working for three days a week as a carer but admits she took the job in order to get past a benefits cap The single mother, who has been dubbed 'Octomum', works Friday, Saturday and Sunday while her ex-partner looks after their children. And although she will no longer receive 183-a-month in income support, because she is now in work the 600-a-month rent for the four bedroom house she lives in with her children will be paid for by the taxpayer. Ms Buchan, who earns 7.50-an-hour in her new job as a carer, told the Daily Star Sunday: 'I'm going to have near enough everything paid. I'm not going to have to worry any more' She will also keep getting 440-a-month child benefit and 1,604 tax credits for her eight children, who are all aged between one and 15, which means combined with her wage she will end up taking home 37,500 a year. The average salary in the UK is 26,500. But because her salary will only come to 6,240 a year - under the 11,000-a-year income tax threshold Ms - Buchan will not pay any tax. She told the newspaper: 'I'm a bit nervous, I'm still getting a lot of hate messages. I just want to scream out 'I've got a job'.' Jonathan Isaby, from watchdog the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: 'It's great that the system is helping people back into work but it seems absurd that getting a job can end up costing taxpayers more. 'Ministers should seek to make work pay without causing the benefits bill to rise further.' He added: 'It is also unfair that the welfare system forces taxpayers to fund a lifestyle for others that they probably can't afford for themselves. 'Many Brits make difficult decisions about how big a family they can afford and those relying on benefits should not be immune from those tough choices.' When she appeared on Channel 5's Benefits Britain: Life on the Dole, Ms Buchan claimed she worked a 21-hour day looking after the children. She admitted last Christmas to buying her seven girls and one boy dozens of presents each and racking up over 1,000 in debt. Despite this, she also bought herself a new puppy because she was feeling 'broody'. And although she will no longer receive income support, because she is now in work the 600-a-month rent for the four bedroom house (pictured) she lives in with her children will be paid for by the taxpayer She sparked outrage in 2013 for whinging that she could not live on 500-a-week benefits after David Cameron introduced the initial 26,000 benefits cap. She had previously been scrounging a whopping 30,264-a-year in child tax credits and child benefits. The Cape Town waitress humiliated by #RhodesMustFall activist and Oxford masters student Ntokozo Qwabe says he doesn't deserve his Rhodes Scholarship and should be disciplined for his 'idiot' behaviour. Last week Qwabe sparked online outrage when he gloated on Facebook that he and his friend Wandile Dlamini made Obz Cafe waitress Ashleigh Schultz cry by not tipping her and writing on their bill 'We are waiting for the land'. The social media war of words spiralled into a global tipping frenzy on a crowdfunding site and through Twitter that raised around R145,000 (6,760) for Schultz. The 24-year-old, who has waited tables at the restaurant for the last four years, says she is not going heed the advice of those urging her to officially charge Mr Qwabe with racism. Scroll down for video Ashleigh Schultz, pictured left and right with her mother Cheryl Grundlingh, 51, has called for Oxford University student Ntokozo Qwabe to be 'disciplined' after he gloated about making her cry Mr Qwabe, pictured, bragged online that he and a friend had made her cry typical white tears 'But I think Oxford should discipline him,' she said speaking from the untidy kitchenette in the cramped one-bedroomed Boston, Bellville, flatlet she shares with her frail mother who is dying of lung cancer. 'Revoking his scholarship is not going to help. But I do think the university should have a word with him. 'Oxford isn't a place where racists from South Africa are fit to go. It's a privilege to be there. He is far more privileged than me. 'He's at Oxford and I can't afford to study and then I get harassed! But he doesn't deserve to lose everything for that for being a little bit of an idiot.' That said Miss Schultz thinks there are many intelligent, underprivileged South Africans far more deserving of a Rhodes Scholarship than Mr Qwabe. 'He wants to tear down statues of somebody who has contributed a lot to Oxford scholarships. 'There are a lot of people out there who would respect that they got a scholarship and that the past is the past. They wouldn't bite the hand that feeds them.' The incident sparked an online 'tipping' fundraiser for Miss Schultz, right, that has raised almost 7,000, which she said she would use to pay medical bills for her mother's, left, lung cancer treatment By her own admission, Miss Schultz has little clue what the #RhodesMustFall movement is about. 'It's something about complaining about Rhodes's statue' She also confesses she's politically naive even though she has been living and working in a university neighbourhood for three years. 'I support the DA, but I'm not big on politics at all. I've always been like that and my parents are like that too.' She does however have an opinion about Mr Qwabe's politics. Miss Schultz, pictured, said Mr Qwabe's 'idiot behaviour' pushed her over the edge due to her mother's medical issues and her financial problems 'An eye for an eye makes the world blind. Because of something that happened in the past you blame the people in the future. 'And then they carry on and carry on and the racial issues will never be solved. Because you will start an entire racial war again and the next victims will start the next war and so on.' Miss Schultz says she cried what Qwabe called 'white tears' because his behaviour was the straw that broke the camel's back. 'I was down to my last R10 (50p), I had to move out of my place because I hadn't even earned enough to cover even half my rent and I had nowhere to stay, my mom was having chemo and is struggling financially. The incident was just the last straw. It was already beyond freak out' Schultz says although it irritated her, not getting tipped was no big deal as the bill was only for about R150 (7). This even though she was just earning R15 (70p) an hour and pulling a double shift that day. 'I was just shocked by what he wrote. I've handled lots of rudeness in my four years because it's made sense. 'Like the customer's food is taking too long or I've forgotten to do something. And then I can take responsibility for it. But I couldn't do anything about his complaint. 'What made me cry was the fact that someone could be so rude without understanding somebody else's circumstances. 'I can understand protests and aiming at political figures and stuff like that. But you can't go into a restaurant and demand your land back. ' I have got nothing to do with this. I'm not racist in any way, shape or form. I wasn't rude to him once. I get the idea of what he is on about but, you know, pick your fights basically.' Mr Qwabe also picked on the wrong person, says Schultz, because neither she nor her family have ever owned any land to give back. Throughout her childhood she grew up in rented accommodation, flip flopping between her dad in Milnerton and her mother in the Steurhof Station side of Diep River. Mr Qwabe, ppictured, is also one of the leaders of the Rhodes Must Fall movement, which wants the statue of the 19th-century imperialist removed from Oriel College During that time mother Cheryl Grundlingh, 51, who has been a government hospital nursing sister for almost three decades, and father Philip, 50, a boat shop repair manager, have worked hard to provide. 'We never went hungry as kids. But we weren't ever wealthy. I didn't have a privileged childhood.' Schultz says her parents also sacrificed to raise her. When she wasn't coping at Milnerton High and became depressed her mother gave up her home and moved in with her dad again to afford her Grade 10 school fees at Abbotts College where she blossomed and eventually matriculated with a 70 percent average. From there Schultz enrolled at Ruth Prowse School of Art to study photography only to drop out halfway because 'I didn't want my mom to carry on paying for something that I wasn't sure I wanted to continue studying or pursue as a career. So I started waitressing.' Then, four years later, just as Miss Schultz decided she didn't want to be a waitress for the rest of her life, along came Mr Qwabe who unwittingly revolutionised her life. 'This is the most money I've ever had in my life,' says Schultz whose bank balance has never topped more than R7,000 (326). 'I want to spoil my mom but I don't want to rush things. I don't want to splurge. I first want to settle my mom's medical bills which are about R30,000 (1,400). 'I want to donate some cash to the Animal Anti-Cruelty League because they helped my dog who was badly injured in an accident, and to a hospice organisation that my mom chooses.' Replacing her broken cellphone is as much money as Miss Schultz wants to spend on herself while she plots her future studies which will probably involve working with animals. In the meantime, she is still coming to terms with her life's rise. 'It's the weirdest thing that's every happened to me. It's all still surreal and hasn't quite sunk in. 'My mom and I are still operating in the mentality of whether we have enough cash to last us until the end of the month. This has literally changed my life and my mom's life. A young boy had to be rescued by firefighters after he got himself stuck in a washing machine in southwest China's Sichuan province. The incident took place on Thursday evening in Lingjia town, Neijiang city when the two-year-old climbed into what appears to be a dryer drum. After his parents failed to remove the crying toddler, they called the local firefighting department for help. A group of firefighters were sent to the boy's home and it took them around 20 minutes to rescue him, after they dismantled the washing machine with tools. The boy was shaken, but suffered no injuries. Game gone wrong: The young boy got himself stuck into his parents' washing machine after climbing into what appears to be the appliance's dryer Stuck: The toddler's parents had tried and failed to remove the child themselves, and were forced to call the local fire brigade for help Unfortunate adventure: After trying to pull out the child, emergency services ended up cutting him loose Rock and hard place: It took firefighters 20 minutes to break open the washing machine and remove the child Nearly there: The boy reportedly suffered no injuries as a result of his washing machine adventure The family of an Irish backpacker killed by a coward punch outside a kebab shop have been left angry after the man jailed over his attack had his sentence reduced. Thomas Keaney, 23, died in hospital after he was punched by an off-duty bouncer outside a kebab shop in Perth in December 2013. The man jailed over the attack, Abbas Yahya Al Jrood, had his sentence reduced from nine years to seven last week - a ruling that left Mr Keaney's family 'speechless, exhausted and confused,' Perth Now reports. Scroll down for video Irishman Thomas Keaney, 23, was killed by a coward punch during a trip to Perth in 2013. His killer will now only face five years behind bars Mr Keaney's sister Lauren said the family flew back to Ireland after the first sentencing feeling that they had achieved 'a little bit of justice' after the man was jailed, but it has been ripped away from them. 'My brother's attacker will be out by his 30s,' she said. 'He will still be able to meet the love of his life, raise a family and get to have life experiences. My brother was a great person; we fully feel we are the ones with the life sentence.' Court of Appeal president Justice Carmel McLure said Al Jrood's sentence was cut last week after mitigating factors such as his youth, remorse, acceptance of responsibility, victim empathy and prior good character were considered. Mr Keaney was attacked while waiting for a taxi after a night out in Perth with friends in 2013. Abbas Al Jrood, an off-duty bouncer, hit him in the back of the head. Thomas' sister Lauren said the family were serving a life sentence without him, and it wasn't fair that his killer would only have all the opportunities he took away from her brother The young Irishman, who was drunk, fell backwards and hit his head on the ground while his attacker fled the scene. He died 10 days later in hospital. Al Jrood was found guilty of manslaughter and was sentenced to nine years behind bars in July last year. The updated sentence means the killer could walk free by May 2020, aged 28. 'It was a relief to hear Thomas and my family were getting a little bit of justice,' Lauren told PerthNow. 'We were told that we could move on and start the healing process. Fast forward almost one year later, we are told the sentence has reduced to seven years ' five mandatory. We are speechless, exhausted and confused.' Abbas Al Jrood fled the scene when Thomas hit the ground and was not charged until 2015. He could be released as early as May 2020 Donald Trump brought back up the Republican Party's loyalty pledge in the wake of at least two former rivals saying they don't plan to support him. Trump, in an interview the aired this morning on Meet the Press with Chuck Todd, aimed his ire at former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who have both publicly said they would not support the presumptive nominee in recent days. 'He signed a pledge. He pledged he would support the nominee,' Trump said blasting Bush, before turning to Graham. 'And so did this lightweight Lindsey Graham. He pledged he would support the nominee.' Scroll down for video Donald Trump told Chuck Todd that he never planned to break the GOP loyalty pledge - though noted that Lindsey Graham and Jeb Bush seem to be breaking it now , as they won't support The Donald Donald Trump told Chuck Todd that Lindsey Graham and Jeb Bush 'are not honorable people' because they're not upholding their end of the loyalty pledge agreement 'They ran,' Trump continued. 'They lost.' The Donald became the GOP's presumptive nominee this week after an impressive showing in the Indiana primary, which caused both Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich to bow out. Since then, a number of Republicans have come forward to say they wouldn't be attending the convention or wouldn't support Trump right away. On Facebook Friday, Bush posted that he would not be supporting Trump. 'Donald Trump has not demonstrated that temperament or strength of character. He has not displayed a respect for the Constitution. And, he is not a consistent conservative. These are all reasons why I cannot support his candidacy,' Bush wrote. His brother, former President George W. Bush, and his father, former President George H.W. Bush, also don't plan to help Trump win. Graham came out against his former rival on Friday too. 'I cannot in good conscience support Donald Trump because I do not believe he is a reliable Republican conservative nor has he displayed the judgment and temperament to serve as Commander in Chief,' Graham offered. Trump countered this by releasing a statement online. 'Every time I see Lindsey Graham spew hate during interviews I ask why the media never questions how I single-handedly destroyed his hapless run for President,' Trump said. Former GOP candidate Jeb Bush put out a statement on Friday telling the world that he would not be supporting his former rival Donald Trump Donald Trump skewered Sen. Lindsey Graham (pictured) saying the South Carolina senator has 'zero credibility' because he did so poorly against Trump in his home state 'As a candidate who did not receive 1 percent in his own state - compared to my victory at nearly 40 percent with many others in the race he has zero credibility,' Trump added. He was slightly nicer when talking about his rivals on the Sunday shows. On ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos Trump said he understood why Graham didn't support him. 'I was rough with him and I beat him badly, I mean 48-2 in his own state,' Trump said. The brash billionaire gave a similar line when talking about Bush. 'You know, he thought I was too rough on him,' Trump said back on Meet the Press. 'He doesn't say that he spent $10 million on negative ads. But Jeb Bush, I was tough on him, and he was trying to be tough on me, but he's not a very tough guy,' Trump added. Because Trump flirted with the idea of running as a third-party candidate when he first launched his bid for the White House, Trump's signing of a GOP loyalty pledge was a big media moment in September of 2015. But all the other candidates signed the pledge too. And although Trump would sometimes troll establishment Republicans by threatening to break the pledge, which in the end he didn't need to do, Trump told Todd he planned to stick to it. 'Despite what a few people think, I happen to be a very honorable guy,' Trump said. 'I signed a pledge. And that's a binding pledge. You know I heard, "It's not binding." Well, it is a binding pledge, I have the best lawyers in the world. They say it's an absolutely binding pledge.' While the pledge's main goal was to keep a former Republican candidate from running against the eventual nominee as an independent, it was to inspire party unity as well. 'I, [name] affirm that if I do not win the 2016 Republican nomination for President of the United States, I will endorse the 2016 Republican presidential nominee regardless of who it is,' the pledge reads. 'I further pledge that I will not seek to run as an independent or write-in candidate nor will I seek or accept the nomination for president of any other party.' Trump called attention to the very strict language of the pledge. 'Chuck, remember this, Jeb Bush signed a pledge. A binding pledge. Lindsey Graham signed binding pledge that they would endorse,' Trump said on Meet the Press. 'That they would support and endorse. That's what it says.' 'Now they're breaking. You know, that's a question of honor,' Trump continued. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten are neck-and-neck as a massive 53-day election campaign gets underway. The latest polls suggest the difference between the two parties is essentially nonexistent, with one putting the Government ahead by one percentage point and another having them one behind. A Newspoll taken in the days after Mr Turnbull and Treasurer Scott Morrison released the Budget on Tuesday had the Government trailing 49 to 51 in two-party-preferred, The Australian reports. Scroll down for video Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (pictured) finds himself neck and neck with Bill Shorten as the election campaign kicks off Bill Shorten (left) said he looked forward to facing Malcolm Turnbull (right) in an election, saying Labor's 'positive plan for the future' including fighting for schools, education, health and climate change Mr Turnbull held a substantial advantage in preferred Prime Minister in the same poll however, leading Mr Shorten 49 per cent to 27. Another poll taken had the Government slightly ahead of Labor 51 to 49 on two-party-preferred terms, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. However, despite holding the overall edge in that count, Mr Turnbull couldn't escape some bad news - with the Ipsos poll saying 46 per cent of people were 'dissatisfied' with his Budget. A further 43 per cent said the Federal Budget was 'unfair', according to the newspaper. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (pictured) speaks to the media while announcing the Federal Election will be held on July 2 Malcolm Turnbull (second right) and Julie Bishop (right) speak with Nationals Leader Barnaby Joyce (second left) and Deputy Leader Fiona Nash (left) in Parliament House, Canberra It comes after Mr Turnbull confirmed a double dissolution election will be held on July 2 after formally seeking approval from the Governor General. After meeting Sir Peter Cosgrove at his official residence in Canberra for just 16 minutes on Sunday, Mr Turnbull was driven to Parliament House, where he announced his government's plans for jobs and growth - while saying Labor will 'stop our nation's transition to the new economy dead in its tracks.' 'At this election, Australians will have a very clear choice - to keep the course, maintain the commitment to our national economic plan for growth and jobs, or go back to Labor,' Mr Turnbull told reporters. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (pictured) is essentially tied with Bill Shorten in the latest polls ahead of the election in July A Newspoll taken in the days after Mr Turnbull and Treasurer Scott Morrison released the Budget on Tuesday had the Government trailing 49 to 51 in two-party-preferred to Bill Shorten (pictured) Opposition leader Bill Shorten welcomed the challenge, announcing Labor's 'positive plan for the future' including fighting for schools, education, health and climate change. 'I will fight the election on issues vital to millions of Australians. I will fight this election on schools and education. I will fight this election for health, hospitals and Medicare,' Mr Shorten said. 'I will fight this election for real action on climate change. I will fight this election to help create a vibrant economy, growing jobs, with reasonable conditions, and security for all.' 'At this election, Australians will have a very clear choice - to keep the course, maintain the commitment to our national economic plan for growth and jobs, or go back to Labor,' Mr Turnbull told reporters on Sunday In his speech, Mr Turnbull laid out his plan to return to government, highlighting his plans for innovation and science, Australian industry and high tech jobs. 'If we embrace this future with confidence and with optimism, with self-belief and a clear plan, then we will succeed as we have never succeeded before,' he said. 'These are exciting times. But we must embark on these times, embrace these opportunities, meet these challenges, with a plan and we have laid out a clear economic plan to enable us to succeed'. Mr Turnbull is seen leaving Government Houe in Canberra after a brief conversation with the Governor-General about setting an election date Mr Shorten shared a beer the survivors of the 2006 Beaconsfield mine disaster, Todd Russell and Brant Webb at the Waterfront Hotel in Tasmania He said his government had set up the stage for strong trade with China and Asia. 'The transpacific partnership is enhancing our free trade agreement and military cooperation with the Republic of Singapore,' he said. 'That is providing jobs and economic growth right across Australia in services, in tourism and education, in agriculture, right across the board'. Mr Turnbull vowed to re-establish the building industry watchdog if the coalition wins the election - the twice-rejected legislation that triggered the double-dissolution election 'At this election, Australians will have a very clear choice - to keep the course, maintain the commitment to our national economic plan for growth and jobs, or go back to Labor,' Mr Turnbull told reporters Mr Turnbull vowed to re-establish the building industry watchdog if the coalition wins the election. 'Now, the double dissolution that the Governor-General has agreed to is brought about because the Senate has twice refused to pass legislation relating to the accountability of unions and employer organisations and, most critically, has twice refused to pass legislation to reestablish the Australian building and construction commission,' he said. The Australian Building and Construction Commission would restore the rule of law to the construction sector that employs one million Australians, Mr Turnbull said. He was photographed smiling as he sat next to Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop Following Mr Turnbull's speech, Mr Shorten addressed the media from Launceston, Tasmania Mr Turnbull was smiling as he headed into Parliament House on Sunday afternoon 'It is a vital economic reform and critical to our continued success.' The upcoming double dissolution election means both houses of parliament have been dissolved and all 76 Senate and 150 House of Representatives seats are up for election. The last double dissolution in Australia was in 1987 when Bob Hawke was prime minister. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull formally asked Governor General Peter Cosgrove for a double dissolution election at Government House in Canberra (pictured) Mr Turnbull spent some time at his official residence, The Lodge, before being driven to meet with the Governor General Following Mr Turnbull's speech, Mr Shorten addressed the media from Launceston, Tasmania after visiting the survivors of the 2006 Beaconsfield mine disaster. He said the July 2 election is about more than the two parties, but instead a 'choice about what sort of Australia we want to live in'. 'Will this country be a country that ensures that the fair go is for everyone? Or that the fair go is just limited to the fortunate few?' he said. Sir Peter Cosgrove arrived at Government House at 12.30pm and the Prime Minister (pictured leaving The Lodge) asked to have both houses of Parliament dissolved Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull arrives at Parliament House after visiting the Governor General at Government House The Opposition Leader outlined his party's plan to focus on renewable energy, budget repair and multinationals pay their 'fair share' WHAT DOES A DOUBLE DISSOLUTION ELECTION MEAN? If the Senate twice rejects a bill, the governor general has the power under Section 57 of the Constitution to dissolve both houses. The process can only continue if the current Prime Minister formally call on the governor general to do so. This means all 76 Senate and 150 House of Representatives seats are up for election. In an ordinary election, only half the seats in the Senate are up for grabs - but in a double dissolution, all seats are vacated. The last double dissolution in Australia was in 1987 when Bob Hawke was prime minister. The Opposition leader outlined his party's plan to focus on renewable energy, budget repair and multinationals pay their 'fair share'. 'The centrepiece of [the coalition] budget this week was to reward millionaires with a $17,000 tax cut to provide $50 billion of tax breaks to Australia's largest companies,' Mr Shorten said. 'It is very important that Australians understand that my opponent's views and those of his party are a real risk to the living standards of all Australians.' Mr Shorten said if the Liberal Party were to be re-elected, it would 'go to war with itself again'. 'Debut this election as a skirmish between themselves. Mr Turnbull's problem is that eight months ago, many people hoped that he could change the Liberal Party,' he said. Mr Shorten said if the Liberal Party were to be re-elected, it would 'go to war with itself again' A 'revolution' in the American workplace has contributed to the growing number of first time mothers in their forties, a leading social psychologist has claimed. Susan Newman told CBS News: 'I think the opening up of careers and jobs for women, actually paved the way more than anything else. 'This is no blip. This is a seismic shift. There is no question.' Scroll down for video The number of babies born to women 45 and older has more than tripled in the past two decades and the average age of first-time mothers has climbed in every state across the country. Pictured, Ayala Donchin had her first child aged 45 Ayala Donchin said her baking business Evelyn's Kitchen was a 24-hour a day, seven days a week project that left no time for children. The number of babies born to women 45 and older has more than tripled in the past two decades and the average age of first-time mothers has climbed in every state across the country. But while 40 may be the new 30, there are certain risks involved with falling pregnant later in life. Dr. Joanne Stone, director of Maternal Fetal Medicine at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City told the site that one in five couples who are over 40 will have infertility. She added: 'The woman who's 40 may have about a 1-in-50 chance, a 1-in-40 chance that the fetus may have a chromosome abnormality, and that increases by a lot.' Stone also explained that the medical complications are also higher, such as developing high blood pressure or diabetes during pregnancy and the likelihood of premature or still birth becomes higher. The use of fertility treatment has more than tripled in the last decade, with options including in-vitro fertilization from frozen eggs or frozen embryos from an earlier time period, or donor eggs oral medication of injections and insemination. Leading social psychologist Susan Newman (left) told CBS News: 'I think the opening up of careers and jobs for women, actually paved the way more than anything else.' Dr. Joanne Stone, right, said one in five couples who are over 40 will have infertility But often, these treatments cost tens of thousands of dollars and are not always covered by insurance. Many women across America however, have found that their forties has been the perfect age to have a child. One mother, Ayala Donchin had her first child aged 45 after her baking business, launched in 2009 took up the majority of her time. She explained that Evelyn's Kitchen was a 24-hour a day, seven days a week project that left no time for children. But when her priorities shifted and she decided she did want children she suffered several miscarriages and was close to giving up. But in 2014, she fell pregnant and on March 2, 2015, gave birth to Brooklyn Emanuelle. And 45-year-old Susan Willis was able to fall pregnant with her second child after freezing her eggs and embryos. She had her first son at 43, also with the use of frozen embryos. Willis explained that she didn't want to not have children because she 'didn't meet the right guy'. Susan Willis, 45, was able to fall pregnant with her second child after freezing her eggs and embryos Schools are coming under 'unsustainable pressure' from a surge in the number of pupils from European migrants' families, statistics have shown. Nearly 700,000 school-aged youngsters have a mother or father who is a citizen of another country in Europe - more than double the number in 2007. The statistics include pupils who have come to the UK with their families as well as those who were born to parents who had already moved to Britain. Employment minister Priti Patel (pictured) said schools are coming under 'unsustainable pressure' from a surge in the number of pupils from European migrants' families In one year alone numbers of school-aged children coming to Britain from Europe reached 25,000, the figures showed. According to the Sunday Telegraph, which found the statistics on Parliament's website, 27 average-sized new secondary schools would be needed to accommodate such an influx. The newspaper said the highest number came from Poland, followed by Lithuania and Germany. Employment minister Priti Patel, told the Sunday Telegraph: 'These figures show how the EUs open borders policies, and the uncontrolled immigration that stems from that, is leading to huge and unsustainable pressures on our schools. 'This is undermining efforts by local councils to ensure they keep class sizes down, and provide school places for all children in their communities.' In one year alone numbers of school-aged children coming to Britain from Europe reached 25,000, the figures showed (file picture) The data was released by Government statistician John Pullinger last week, the newspaper reported. Last month, Ms Patel said migration had pushed the education system to breaking point. The shortage of primary school places is yet another example of how uncontrolled migration is putting unsustainable pressures on our public services, she said at the time. Education is one of the most important things the Government delivers, and its deeply regrettable that so many families with young children are set to be disappointed today.' As a hot-tempered chef Gordon Ramsay is known for telling people off - but this time it was his turn to receive a scolding. Ramsay ruined what should have been a magical moment between a couple celebrating their engagement - when he congratulated them before the man had actually popped the question. The incident happened at his Las Vegas pub and grill, Caesar's Palace. Gordon Ramsay ruined the proposal taking place at his Las Vegas pub and grill, Caesar's Palace (pictured) Speaking at a food and wine festival in America called Vegas Uncork'd, the 49-year-old chef said: 'Three weeks ago, one of my maitre d's asked me if I would go over to table seven, who were celebrating their engagement. 'So I said: "Send two nice glasses of champagne over to them". 'When the champagne arrived I went over to congratulate them - and he hadn't asked her.' Ramsay promptly told the waiter off, for 'getting his tenses mixed up'. He added: 'I was like, "how am I going to get out of that?" This comes after a man who planned to propose to his girlfriend at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant in Las Vegas last week was left devastated after airport staff told him he couldn't fly due to a passport clampdown. Neil Webster, 30, arrived at Manchester Airport with his partner Louise Donnelly, 28, but was turned away because he did not have the latest biometric passport. Mr Webster, from Manchester, had booked a limousine from the airport as well as three nights at the famous MGM Grand and a table in Gordon Ramsay's Las Vegas Boulevard restaurant for his grand proposal. But it was ruined following stringent rules in the new US passport clampdown. Ramsay ruined what should have been a magical moment between a couple celebrating their engagement - when he congratulated them before the man had actually popped the question And during the event at Caesar's Palace, Gordon also compared cooking to making love. He said: 'Making a risotto is like making love. 'You have to take you time, spend about 25 minutes doing it absolutely right. You have got to get close it . Democrat Hillary Clinton hinted that she might be receiving some across-the-aisle support now that longtime GOP frontrunner Donald Trump has essentially nabbed the Republican nomination. 'I am asking people to come join this campaign and I've had a lot of outreach on Republicans in the last days who say that they are interested in talking about that,' Clinton revealed during an interview that aired on Face the Nation this morning. Clinton stands to benefit from disaffected Republicans who find Trump's approach to politics for example, calling for a ban on non-Americans Muslims from entering the United States distasteful. Scroll down for video Democrat Hillary Clinton acknowledged that Republicans were reaching out to her campaign now that Donald Trump is the GOP's presumptive nominee With some Republicans dissatisfied with their party's choice in Donald Trump, Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton could position herself to pick up some of their vote As the Republican Party saw its two challengers to Trump, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, drop out this week, Democratic aides to Clinton started talking about 'Republicans for Hillary,' suggesting the Democratic frontrunner could gobble up some of that GOP vote. Face the Nation John Dickerson, sitting down with the candidate on Friday, asked Clinton how she planned to appeal to those voters. 'Well, obviously I'm reaching out to Democrats, Republicans, Independents, all voters who want a candidate who is running a campaign based on issues,' Clinton began. 'Who has been willing to put out plans and explain those plans and talk about how to pay for those plans. Who has a track record of getting results for people,' she continued. 'Who understands that although we do live in a dangerous world, there's nothing we can't meet in terms of challenges we face if we put our minds to it,' Clinton went on. 'And so I think that for a lot of people, again, who take their vote seriously and who really see this as a crossroads kind of election,' Clinton added, before acknowledging she's received some hints of getting at least some Republican support. Democrats, on the other hand, aren't quite done with their primary with Clinton's rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, still in the race, and likely to be so until the end of the Democratic primary contests, which conclude with Washington, D.C. voters on June 14. That hasn't stopped Trump, however, from already whacking Clinton around at his rallies. Yesterday at a rally in Spokane, Washington, he reminded the audience of her husband, former President Bill Clinton's impeachment, which began with a sexual harassment case that uncovered an extramarital affair with a White House intern. 'She's married to a man who got impeached for lying,' Trump told his crowd. 'He was impeached and he had to go through a whole big process and it wasn't easy. He was impeached for lying about what happened with a woman.' 'Hillary was an enabler and she treated these women horribly. Just remember this,' Trump added. 'And some of those women were destroyed not by him, but by the way Hillary Clinton treated them after it went down.' Hillary Clinton hasn't hit Trump quite as hard and told Dickerson she didn't plan to do so. 'Well, I'm not going to run an ugly race,' she said. 'I am going to run a race based on issues and what my agenda is for the American people.' 'I don't really feel like I'm running against Donald Trump,' she added. Dominic Chappell (pictured) faces claims that he took 315,000 out of his previous company Olivia Petroleum to spend on himself Fresh questions were raised last night over why a playboy businessman was allowed to take control of troubled retailer BHS after it emerged he has been bankrupt three times. Former BHS owner Dominic Chappell - who yesterday claimed there had been a witch hunt against him - had previously admitted to being declared bankrupt twice. The first time was in 2005 after a fee dispute with estate agent Foxtons, and then over a failed property development in 2009. But ahead of Parliamentary hearings today into the retail melt-down, it emerged he was also declared bankrupt in 1992 when he was just 25. The latest revelation comes amid allegations that Chappell was ousted from a venture in 2012 after he took around 315,000 out of the company for his own personal use. Chappell had a 40 per cent stake in Spanish start-up Olivia Petroleum. It is understood he moved the money out of the firm without the permission of other shareholders. Chappell yesterday denied the third bankruptcy, claiming it had been annulled, and said it was totally untrue that he took money out of Olivia Petroleum. But the latest claims raise further questions as to why the playboy businessman was allowed to take control of BHS for 1. The high street stalwart fell into administration just 13 months after the purchase, leaving 11,000 jobs at risk and a 571m deficit in the firms pension fund. Today MPs will quiz pension experts on how the retirement funds of thousands of BHS workers will be protected. MPS will ask the Pension Regulator whether it could do more to stop pension scandals such as the one BHS is facing. The Work and Pension Select Committee will ask what the impact will be on the Pension Protection Fund if it is forced to bail out the scheme. The latest claims raise further questions as to why the playboy businessman was allowed to take control of BHS for 1 It will be investigating whether the savings of 20,000 members were properly looked after in the BHS pension scheme. Last year the chief executive of the Pension Protection Fund- which is part-funded by a levy on final salary pension schemes - warned officials at the regulator about huge pension deficits at companies such as BHS. One said: There is concern that the regulator doesnt have teeth. It should be acting sooner in issues such as BHS. Mr Chappell (pictured) said he had been the subject of 'witch hunt' from the moment he bought BHS A spokesman for The Pensions Regulator said: We can confirm that we are undertaking an investigation into the BHS pension scheme to determine whether it would be appropriate to use our anti-avoidance powers. These powers allow the regulator to take action if they think an employer has deliberately tried to avoid looking after a pension scheme, knowing it would leave the taxpayer-funded protection fund to pick up the bill. It is understood that Phillip Green, who sold BHS to Chappell, could be forced to plug the gap in the BHS pension fund if the investigations conclude that he had left it under-funded. The pair are set to face MP questioning about the fiasco in the coming weeks. There could also be a further investigation by the Insolvency Service. As well as that it is thought that the Serious Fraud Office will be conducting inquiries into the activities of Chappells business Retail Acquisition in the months leading up to his purchase of BHS. Chappell has said he will appear before a committee of MPs in the new few weeks to clear his name. Rather than taking cash out of BHS, he claims to have invested 10million in the company. The 49-year-old has not been seen since the collapse of the former high street giant. Last week he was reported to be in Vancouver, Canada, raising funds from potential investors. Chappell, who used to be a Formula 3 racing driver, has said he would like to buy back the ailing firm minus 40 of its most loss-making stores. Yesterday Chappell said: [The bankruptcy] was 25 years ago. I was unaware of it; it was annulled and dismissed from court. I was away in the US at the time and I cant even remember what it was about. The first cruise ship to Cuba in decades set sail on its historic voyage a week ago but it has returned to Florida with a suspected norovirus outbreak on board. Carnival Corporation's Fathom Line ship Adonia left Miami for Havana with just over 700 passengers on board on May 1. The ship returned to Miami a week later - around 6.30am on Sunday but during the cruise's journey, there were reports that several passengers had fallen ill. Carnival confirmed to Daily Mail Online that 14 passengers reported suffering stomach-related symptoms, but all have now recovered. Scroll down for video The first cruise ship (pictured above, docked in Havana on May 2) to Cuba in decades set sail on its historic voyage a week ago but has returned to Florida with a suspected norovirus outbreak on board It is believed that the passengers in question had norovirus, CBS News reports. However, a spokesman for Carnival told Daily Mail Online that there was 'no indication or verification' that the illnesses reported it were tied to Norovirus. 'Following our arrival to Havana, we had 14 individuals (out of more than 1,000 on board) during the course of the remainder of the cruise who reported stomach symptoms,' the spokesman said. 'The doctor reported yesterday that all were recovered and no new cases were reported. 'There also was no indication or verification that it was tied to Norovirus and all the passengers departed today from the ship in Miami in good health. 'It is an important reminder to be cautious of the foods and water when visiting any new country. The vast majority of the guests drank and ate freely of all of the local tastes of Cuba without incident.' Garcia Baxe, a dance instructor for Carnival who was born in Angloa but has lived in Cuba, waves the U.S. and Cuban flags as the ship Adonia arrives in the port of Havana The Adonia took nearly 17 hours to cross the Florida Straits and reach Cuba, steaming through a waterway blockaded by the U.S. during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The voyage was the first of what Carnival says will be week-long cruises twice a month to promote cultural exchange between Cuba and the United States. It comes ties between the U.S. and the communist-ruled island nation began warming in December 2014 and the two countries restored full diplomatic relations last year. The 'cultural exchange' aspect is key as ordinary tourism to Cuba is still banned under a U.S. trade and financial embargo, which remains in force despite the detente. For now, Americans can only travel to Cuba for cultural, academic, sports-related or religious events. Recently, Chanel became the first fashion house to send models down the catwalk in Cuba, when Karl Lagerfeld transformed a street in Havana into a private runway to debut the Cruise collection - inspired by the 'cultural richness and opening up of Cuba.' Meanwhile, Carnival is the first cruise line company to win permission from both governments to offer trips, which ended after the Cuban Revolution in 1959. People watch the ship Adonia as it leaves Havana bay passing in front of the El Morro castle on May 3 WHY WERE CUBANS NOT ALLOWED TO TRAVEL TO THE ISLAND BY SEA? The restriction on Cubans entering from the United States by sea goes back to the tensest days of the Cold War, after the Cuban Revolution of 1959. It was designed to prevent anti-communist militants from landing on Cuban shores to try to overthrow the government, as in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 against Fidel Castro. As it freed up maritime travel Friday, the Cuban government urged the United States to find ways 'to prevent and confront the carrying out of terrorist actions against Cuba, which were what gave rise to the regulation' in the first place. The lifting of the restriction on Cubans leaving on U.S.-bound cruise ships is also sensitive. Many Cubans fleeing poverty attempt to reach Florida in rickety vessels, and the dangerous trips have been on the rise. Cubans fear that with the resumption of ties with Washington, the Americans will end a preferential policy under which Cuban migrants who make it to land in America are allowed to stay, but sent back if caught at sea. Advertisement The Adonia has scheduled cultural activities in its ports of call in Havana, Cienfuegos and Santiago de Cuba including meetings with artists, musicians and business owners, as well as dance classes and guided tours. However, the outbreak of sickness is not the first issue Carnival has encountered in its bid to offer 'a chance to help build new bridges to a rich and vibrant culture that, until now, most U.S. travelers have only seen in photographs,' as its website states. The cruise line first sparked controversy for initially refusing to accept reservations from Cuban-born passengers because of the communist country's restrictions on visits to and from the United States by sea. Carnival, the world's leading tour ship operator, attracted a huge backlash from Miami's large Cuban-American community, largely opposed to the Cuban government, and from the US government. The cruise line eventually relented and began allowing reservations from Cuban-born customers but its conditions to start the visits were for Cuba to allow its citizens to sail freely. Cuba backed down after intense negotiations as part of the normalization process, which culminated in President Barack Obama's visit to Cuba in March. Chanel became the first fashion house to send models down the catwalk in Cuba when it debuted the 'Cruise collection' in Havana on May 3 Vin Diesel poses before the Chanel fashion show on May 3. The actor is filming the latest instalment of the of the multibillion-dollar 'Fast and Furious' action movie franchise in Cuba On April 22, Cuba lifted the restriction that barred travelers born in Cuba from the trips. Before, Cubans were only permitted to travel to and from the United States by plane. The restriction dates back to the Cold War and stemmed from fears of a U.S.-backed invasion from the sea. One of the Cuban-born passengers to arrive in Cuba on the Adonia was Isabel Buznego, 61, who left the island when she was five and was returning for the first time. 'My dad wanted to come... but he passed away,' she said. 'So I'm coming in his name. That is why I have so many different emotions, but I am mostly happy.' Another passenger, Regina Patterson, 58, from Delaware, said she wanted to take the cruise because it was historic. 'And it is a place I always wanted to visit,' she said. 'I want to see how they live, the music, what they eat, and shopping, shopping, shopping!' The cost of a ticket on the cruise ranges from $1,800 to $7,000 per person. Regular flights from the United States to Cuba are expected to begin later this year. The school district issued a statement that said they will investigate matter School yearbook tweeted an apology saying it was unintentional mistake A California student, who wore a hijab for her yearbook photo, was incorrectly identified as 'Isis'. Eleventh grader, Bayan Zehlif, said on Facebook that she was 'extremely saddened, disgusted, hurt and embarrassed' that her high school's yearbook was 'able to get away with this'. A page from the Los Osos High School yearbook listed Bayan as 'Isis Phillips'. 'Apparently I am 'Isis' in the yearbook. The school reached out to me and had the audacity to say that this was a typo. I beg to differ, let's be real.' Scroll down for video A California student, who wore a hijab for her yearbook photo, was incorrectly identified as 'Isis'. Eleventh grader, Bayan Zehlif (pictured), said on Facebook that she was 'extremely saddened, disgusted, hurt and embarrassed' that her high school's yearbook was 'able to get away with this' A student who worked on the yearbook staff, Trevor Santellan, said there actually was a student named Isis Phillips at Los Osos who transferred earlier in the year. The yearbook staff issued an apology on Twitter saying that it was an unintentional mistake A student who worked on the yearbook staff, Trevor Santellan, said there actually was a student named Isis Phillips at Los Osos who transferred earlier in the year, according to KABC. The school's yearbook account tweeted an apology, saying it was an unintentional mistake. 'We are extremely sorry for what occurred in the yearbook. It is our duty to represent the students of Los Osos High School and by mis-tagging and giving the incorrect name, we failed to do so.' The tweet went on to say that the yearbook staff should have 'checked each name carefully' and there 'was no intention to create this misunderstanding'. 'It is our fault and this is absolutely inexcusable on our part.' The yearbook staff also wrote that they are working with school officials to 'remedy this situation'. Bayan tweeted that her mom 'wants to meet with the principle and if there's no answers she's gonna open a case'. he school's principal, Susan Petrocelli, tweeted: 'LOHS is taking every step possible to correct & investigate a regrettable misprint discovered in the yearbook. We sincerely apologize' The Chaffey Joint Union High School District released a statement that said the district is 'investigating to figure how this happened at Los Osos High School (pictured) She added that it was 'really low' of the school to identify her in the yearbook that way. The school's principal, Susan Petrocelli, tweeted: 'LOHS is taking every step possible to correct & investigate a regrettable misprint discovered in the yearbook. We sincerely apologize.' The Chaffey Joint Union High School District released a statement that said the district is 'investigating to figure how this happened and we are certainly sensitive to the young lady', according to KABC. 'We have been in contact with the family and will continue to work with them to determine how this could happen and how we can remedy the situation.' The Council on American-Islamic Relations has been in contact with the student and her family and said she will likely not return to school 'until the issue is resolved appropriately', according to KABC. Hens are being housed in 'high-rise' sheds to keep up with the surging demand for free range eggs at one of Britain's biggest poultry farms. More than 172,000 hens spend most of their time in three multi-tiered barns at the expanded farm where they produce a million eggs each week to be sold on the free range market. Combwell Farm installed the new system to cope with the move away from caged hens to free-range eggs and says it offers higher welfare standards and efficiency. But critics attacked the scheme as the equivalent of 'high-rise urban living for hens' and claim the chickens are being forced to live in 'incredibly cramped' conditions. More than 172,000 hens spend most of their time in three multi-tiered barns (like those pictured) at the expanded Combwell Farm in Kent where they produce a million eggs weekly to sell on the free range market The new sheds at the free range poultry farm run by Fridays Ltd near Cranbrook, Kent where the number of birds has risen from 95,000 to 172,180 - are up to 850ft long with access to an 80 acre paddock. In the past, free-range sheds normally housed between 3,000 to 5,000 birds, but the largest at Combwell contains 64,000. Their food arrives on a mechanical feeding line while the eggs and manure are collected on conveyor belts. Combwell, which is a major supplier to supermarkets including Morrisons and Lidl, says the transformation of its 12 hen houses into three new units is a positive move. 'The redevelopment of Combwell Farm has allowed us to invest in better welfare for the hens and more efficient hen houses,' a company spokesperson told the Sunday Times. 'Each individual hen chooses when to leave the hen house and will range for different periods at different times. 'Depending on the weather, typically 40 per cent of the hens with be out on the range at any one moment during the day.' The new sheds at the free range poultry farm run by Fridays Ltd near Cranbrook, Kent (pictured) - where the number of birds has risen from 95,000 to 172,180 - are up to 850ft long with access to an 80 acre paddock This multi-tier production system is approved by the RSPCA and is covered in its welfare standards for laying hens. The conditions include that there should be a maximum flock size of 16,000 birds and there should be no more than nine hens per square metre inside a shed. However, animal welfare activists are against the tiered system which they claim can accommodate up to 100,000 birds in one unit alone. 'This is intensive farming, with the chickens living in incredibly cramped conditions with limited access to the outside,' Isobel Hutchinson, campaign manager for lobby group AnimalAid, told the newspaper. THE RULES OF THE ROOST... Just over 11.5billion eggs are consumed in the UK every year - around 32million a day. An average hen lays about six eggs a week. Commercial hens are moved to laying farms at around 16 weeks old. They're typically kept until 72 weeks old, when egg production and quality declines. Organic Eggs: Max flock size: 2,000 Max hens per square metre inside a shed: 6 Free Range Eggs: Max flock size: 16,000 Max hens per square metre: 9 Barn: Hens have space and can roam freely inside but have no access to the outdoors Perches are provided for roosting as well as material to dust bathe and forage in, and nest boxes. Max hens per square metre: 9 Max flock size: 32,000 'Enriched' Cages: Max per square metre: 13 Free-range egg producer Blackacre Farm Eggs in Somerset has launched a campaign against the system which it says is 'high-rise urban living for hens' and also reduces feed consumption. It is taking its 'No Multi-Tier Here' campaign to exhibitions, conferences and schools and is calling for free range eggs produced in such conditions to be clearly labelled. However, the system has been backed by other producers and is supported by large retailers including Tesco who say it is cleaner with more places to roost. Award-winning free range producer Phil Twizell has said he thinks the multi-tier was better for the welfare of birds. He said it allows them to express 'natural behaviour' as they are able to perch high as well as range on the ground. 'Some Consumers would not recognise this as free range because there are more birds than perhaps some of them would have thought, but the important thing for us is that the birds are well looked after. 'There is plenty of space for these birds to roam around,' Kevin Coles of the British Egg Information Service said. Phil Brooke of Compassion in World Farming said the multi-tiered systems have more space and allow the hens to perform a range of 'natural behaviours which are not possible in cages.' 'Both multi-tier and flat deck systems are approved by the RSPCA; there are pros and cons for both systems, but both meet the welfare standards required by the RSPCA and it is up to individual producers to decide which method of production is best for them,' BFREPA's director of policy, Robert Gooch, told the Ranger. Headteacher Charlotte Blencowe pledged to turn the failing Hatfield Academy around - but has since advertised for unqualified teachers to join its staff A failing school which was told not to appoint newly qualified teachers has caused fury among parents after it advertised for unqualified ones instead. Hatfield Academy in Sheffield was branded 'inadequate' and placed in special measures after Government school inspectors condemned it for failing pupils. They said ineffective leadership and the poor quality of teaching led to bad behaviour and low achievement levels among pupils. As part of a root and branch bid to improve teaching at the 413- pupil academy, Ofsted inspectors recommended that no newly qualified teachers (NQTs) be appointed. Headteacher Charlotte Blencowe pledged to turn the failing school around and start providing high-quality teaching for pupils. But bosses at Hatfield Academy have now advertised for an unqualified teacher to take up the task of teaching Year 4 pupils. Last night angry parents accused the school of flushing their children's future down the drain by not investing in senior teachers. One furious mother said: 'This is just a cynical ploy to get round the Ofsted recommendations and it is putting the future of our kids at risk. 'The school is already abysmal with poor standards and dreadful teaching and I think it is an utter disgrace and the headteacher and the governors should be ashamed. 'Surely there must be some checks and balances in place but this is an advert for a Year 4 teacher which is a critical role in the development and education of our children. 'Since it turned to academy status this school has been in chaos and it is time someone stepped in and sorted it out once and for all.' On Facebook Angela Bowling posted: 'That is disgusting! No wonder our kids' futures are going down than a year ago. Its most recent interim report says that it should not employ newly qualified teachers (NQTs) as it's failing to put recommended improvements in place.' A spokesman for the National Union of Teachers in Sheffield said: 'We want to see qualified teachers in every classroom in the country rather than pupils being taught by unqualified teachers. 'It is ridiculous that a school told not to use newly qualified teachers by the Government's own inspectors can, quite legitimately, then advertise for unqualified teachers. 'Schools that are unpopular to work at often have a high turnover of staff but we say the teachers' working conditions often equates with the pupil learning conditions and standards suffer as a result.' Angry parents accused the school (pictured) of flushing their children's future down the drain by not investing in senior teachers The school overseen by controversial headteacher Charlotte Blencowe who caused outrage at a previous school by introducing a 'tinkle pass' allowing them out of lessons to use the toilet once a week. The card, which read: 'I am missing a super learning opportunity because I need a tinkle' caused anger which led to staff being pelted by eggs. Miss Blencowe, formerly headteacher at Birmingham's Castle Vale Performing Arts College, also insisted the secondary school pupils keep quiet in class and instead talk to teachers in through a bizarre series of hand gestures. These included putting their fingers to their eyes then pointing at the board for: 'I can't see' and clasping hands for: 'I need paper or a book.' According to the Ofsted report all pupils make inadequate progress and reach below-average standards in reading, writing, mathematics and science by the end of Year 6. Pupils are not well prepared for learning in secondary school. 'Teaching is inadequate and fails to ensure that pupils achieve as well as they should. Senior leaders and governors have allowed standards to decline and the quality of teaching to deteriorate. Poor systems for monitoring and evaluating the academy's performance mean that leaders are not held sufficiently to account. 'The curriculum fails to meet the needs of pupils. Science is not taught to all pupils and standards reached in this subject are low. Assessment of pupils' learning in science is inadequate. 'Several subjects, including English and science, lack a named teacher to provide much-needed leadership to improve teaching in these subjects. Ms Blencowe with her boyfriend's father Barry Elliot, one part of the famous children's TV duo the 'Chuckle Brothers' who proposed to found his own free school Rotherham Central Free School 'Since the academy opened, governance has been poor. It fails to provide a strategic lead to arrest decline and improve the academy's provision and pupils' outcomes.' Hatfield Academy, which has more than 400 pupils aged 5-11 years, converted to become an academy school in May 2012 from Hatfield Primary School. When the primary school was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be good overall providing a sound level of education for pupils. Last night a spokesman for Reach4 which runs Hatfield Academy said they had now decided to fill the post with a qualified teacher. 'We recently advertised for two Year 4 teachers. We look for either professionals that are already qualified, or those who are looking to train as teachers. 'This allows teacher trainees to work whilst they gain their qualifications through a higher education provider. 'This mirrors many other schemes in the country, including Teach First, which is one of the largest graduate recruiters. Ultimately though, both roles were filled by staff who are already fully qualified.' Research: Electric, hybrid and other eco-friendly cars fill the air with as many toxins as dirty diesel vehicles, scientists have found (file photo) Electric, hybrid and other eco-friendly cars fill the air with as many toxins as dirty diesel vehicles, scientists have found. The greener alternative produce more tiny particles from tyre and brake wear because batteries and other parts needed to propel them make them heavier. It happens because when eco-cars accelerate or slow down the tyres and brakes wear faster, in turn producing more particulates. More particles are also whipped up from the road surface because of the extra weight. These extra emissions are almost equal to the toxic particulates saved by reduced engine use, according to Jonathan Leake at The Sunday Times. The research, led by Peter Achten and co-author Victor Timmers of Edinburgh University, is published in the journal Atmospheric Environment. Achten said: 'We found that non-exhaust emissions, from brakes, tyres and the road, are far larger than exhaust emissions in all modern cars. 'These are more toxic than emissions from modern engines so they are likely to be key factors in the extra heart attacks, strokes and asthma attacks seen when air pollution levels surge.' The research used technical data from the motor industry and government research agencies, including direct tests of brake, tyre and road wear rates. The aim was to show that non-exhaust emissions a vehicle produces its directly related to its weight. Scientists found that electric and eco-friendly cars weighed around 24 per cent more than conventional vehicles, a discovery that linked to anecdotal complaints from greener car owners that their tyres wear out faster. A leading professor at the University of Hertfordshire, Ranjeet Sokhi, also led a study into the impact of non-exhaust emissions. After installing particulate air pollution monitors in the southbound Hatfield tunnel on the A1(M), which has 49,000 vehicles a day travelling through it, scientists found that each one produced 34-39 micrograms of particles per kilometre. But only a third came from the engine. The greener alternative, including hybrid cars (similar to the one pictured), are said to produce more particles from tyre and brake wear because batteries and other parts needed to propel them make them heavier HOW THE WEIGHT OF CONVENTIONAL CARS COMPARE TO ECO VERSIONS Model Volkswagen Golf Fiat 500 Ford Focus Smart coupe Toyota Prius V Petrol/diesel version 1,390kg 1,149kg 1,500kg 820kg Hybrid petrol/electric Eco-car version 1,617kg 1,427kg 1,719kg 1,055kg 1,514kg % Difference +16.3% +24.2% +14.6% +28.7% N/A Source: Journal Atmospheric Environment Everything else was from small pieces of bitumen whipped up from the road, rubber from tyres and brake dust. Professor Sokhi said the findings highlighted the significance of non-exhaust emissions and a need for legislation. It was one of the big secrets of the murderous Nazi regime: a camp of 72 female prisoners used as experiments to test torture techniques. The girls, all high school-age Catholics from Poland, were dubbed the 'rabbits' since they were treated like laboratory animals, and their injuries meant many had to hop instead of walk. When they war ended, they were rescued by the Red Cross along with the hundreds of other prisoners in Ravensbruck concentration camp - but all accounts of their 'treatments' had been destroyed. It meant their ordeal paled into oblivion as the world grappled to deal with the aftershocks of the Holocaust, particularly the horrific obliteration of the Jews. But the women were finally brought out of the shadows in 1958 by an unlikely fairy godmother: a socialite from Connecticut. Bringing their story to light: Caroline Ferriday (far right) seen with four of the so-called Ravensbruck Rabbits after she flew them over from Poland to be treated for their horrific injuries inflicted in a concentration camp Tortured: The girls (survivors pictured post-war), all high school-age Catholics from Poland, were dubbed the 'rabbits' since they were treated like lab animals, and their injuries meant many had to hop instead of walk Horrific: One of the prisoners Jadwiga Dzido (left) shows one of the scars after she underwent six operations such as having bones broken without painkillers. Pictured right: Ferriday, a socialite from Connecticut Caroline Ferriday, a philanthropist who split her time between New York City and Bethlehem, CT, Caroline Ferriday heard of their ordeal after the war. She made it her mission to bring them to the States for medical treatment, a road trip across America, Christmas at her holiday home, and a dinner with senators in Washington, D.C. The rabbits were not meant to survive; Heinrich Himmler planned to have them all murdered before word got out. They were brought in to Ravensbruck, 50 miles north of Berlin, in August 1942 to test different kinds of surgical procedures. In total, each underwent six operations, having bones broken, muscle tissue removed, limbs amputated, and more - all without painkillers. The wounds were then deliberately infected so the surgeons could test whether sulfonamide - a kind of penicillin - would cure it. It came after Himmler's personal doctor, Dr Karl Gebhardt, failed to save the life of a senior Nazi officer, Reinhard Heydrich. Heydrich, one of Hitler's closest friends, died in a car bomb. Gebhardt did not use sulfonamide, a drug similar to penicillin, to treat his gangrene. Hitler believed that decision killed Heydrich. To disprove Hitler's theory - and to save his own skin - Gebhardt designed a series of experiments: his team at Ravensbruck would wound prisoners and deliberately infect the wounds then see whether sulfa drugs could cure the infections. At first they operated on male prisoners. Accounts differ on why they switched to women. Some historians say women were typically healthier prisoners. Others say Gebhardt assumed females would be more docile and submissive. Word of the rabbits leaked outside the walls of Ravensbruck thanks to notes passed from prisoners to sympathetic guards to their families, and so on. But for a number of reasons their cause did not receive widespread attention for more than a decade. First, Ravensbruck was one of the last concentration camps to close, its leaders had more time than most to deal with their incriminating paperwork, which informed and dictated the schedule of the war trials. The women were brought in to Ravensbruck, 50 miles north of Berlin, in August 1942 to test different kinds of surgical procedures. Ravensbruck (pictured) held prisoners from 30 different countries until 1945 This is an internal view of Ravensbruck and the furnaces which burned gassed prisoners' bodies Second, the world was reeling at the sheer scale of attacks on Jews. Women and Catholics were not immediately the primary focus. Third, there was not very much that could be done to support the women without funds and connections. Cue Ferriday, who had spent time in France before the war. In the 1950s she joined the Association of Deportees and Internees of the Resistance, a group started by four French women, including General Charles de Gaulle's teenage niece, who were all political prisoners in Ravensbruck. The women, like many of Europe's underground resistance workers, were passionate about the rabbits' cause - something Ferriday had never heard of. Once she became aware of the story in 1957, she contacted her friend Norman Cousins, editor of the Saturday Review, who was paying to fly Hiroshima victims to the US to receive reconstructive surgery for their injuries. Ferriday implored Cousins to also champion the rabbits of Ravenbruck. He agreed. Fourteen of the women had either died of their wounds or were shot after their treatment. The surviving 58 were taken to Sweden then back home to Poland after they were liberated. Ferriday flew to Poland to meet with a prosecutor who represented Jewish victims of the Holocaust, and persuaded him to represent the rabbits too. How it began: Dr Karl Gebhardt (left) designed the experiments after failing to save the life of Hitler's friend Reinhard Heydrich (right) who died in a car bomb. Hitler believed he would have lived if Gebhardt used sulfa drugs to treat infected wounds. Gebhardt recreated the wounds on prisoners to prove that was not the case She then returned a number of times, with Norman Cousins, to meet the women and gain their trust. Finally, she came back with an American doctor, who surveyed each of the victims and gave a prognosis for what could be done to treat them. During that time, Ferriday publicized her cause, raising a hefty $5,000 (about $43,000 in today's money). In December 1958, 35 of the women who wished to go flew to America. They stayed for a year. They were spread about various cities across the US based on which hospitals were best for their medical needs. Four of the women spent Christmas in Connecticut with Ferriday. And all of them united in San Francisco at the end of the year to go on a road trip across America, stopping in Washington, D.C., to be hosted by senators for a dinner. Cousins wrote three articles about the cause. He said of Ferriday: 'Caroline Ferriday has an almost magical gift for inspiring confidence. 'Her first few days in Warsaw were not without their difficulties, but after awhile the project began to move. In a blow to the Home Office, ruling allows the terror suspects to walk free Six Algerian terror suspects with links to Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda can stay in Britain after winning a ten-year legal battle. In a blow to the Home Office, the Islamist extremists including two connected to a poison murder plot will be freed to walk the streets of the UK after the human rights ruling. An immigration court said there was a real risk they would be tortured by the Algerian security services if they were deported. This would have violated Article 3 of the Human Rights Act, which guards against torture or degrading or inhuman treatment. Home Secretary Theresa May will not challenge the decision which will see the Islamist extremists freed to walk the streets of the UK after the human rights ruling The ruling undermines the Home Offices ability to boot out terror suspects to countries with dubious human rights records. It is understood Home Secretary Theresa May will not challenge the decision. It came as ex-MI6 chief Sir John Sawers blasted judges for repeatedly putting human rights ahead of security when making rulings, especially in the European Courts. The former spy chief spoke out after intervening in the EU referendum debate to argue that Brexit could hamper the UKs ability to protect against terrorism by hampering intelliegence sharing. He said: I think judges generally tend to err on the side of human rights rather than erring on the side of security. 'Thats beginning to change as judges understand the scale of the security threat that Europe faces. In the latest case, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), sitting in London, ruled that the Algerians, who cannot be named for legal reasons, should not be deported even though they are deemed a threat to national security. The Algerians, who are now living in England on strict bail conditions, include a leading organiser for atrocities overseas with direct links to Osama Bin Laden (pictured) They include associates of hate preacher Abu Hamza, the hook-handed cleric serving a life sentence in the US for terror-related offences, and a leading organiser for atrocities overseas with direct links to Bin Laden. Another pair are extremists arrested over an alleged plot to commit mass murder using the poison ricin in 2003. The ringleader of that plot, Kamel Bourgass, murdered Detective Constable Stephen Oake during a 2003 police raid in Manchester. He is not involved in this case. The Algerians are now living in England on strict bail conditions. The Home Office said: We are extremely disappointed with SIACs judgement. Our priority remains the safety and protection of the British public and we will continue to take every measure possible to remove foreign nationals who we deem a risk. Hundreds of Britons are said to have been struck down with diarrhoea and vomiting after a norovirus outbreak on a luxury cruise between Southampton and the US. More than a quarter of passengers - 252 of 919 - were reported to have been hit by the virus on the Fred. Olsen ship Balmoral. It is currently on a 34 night 'Old England to New England' cruise, prices for which start at 1,800. While the ship was docked in Virginia it was boarded by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officers to assess the situation and gather specimens. Hundreds of Britons are said to have been struck down with diarrhoea and vomiting after a norovirus outbreak on a luxury cruise between Southampton and the US on the Fred. Olsen ship Balmoral (pictured) The CDC issued a statement on the outbreak, although Fred. Olsen has since downplayed it by claiming that there were just seven guests in isolation, out of a total of 1,434 guests and crew. It also dismissed reports the ship, which left the UK on April 16, had been quarantined. The statement said: 'A gastro-enteritis type illness has affected a number of guests on board... 'There are currently just seven guests in isolation, out of a total of 1,434 guests and crew on board, and the incidences have substantially reduced. 'There are two US nationals on board this cruise, with the majority of guests being from the UK.' The crew has stepped up cleaning and disinfection procedures. Passenger Robert Bruce, who lives in northern England, told the Virginian-Pilot that he and his wife have enjoyed the cruise despite the incident. He told the paper the reports of illness spiked on April 20. According to Fred. Olsen, it is believed the highly-contagious gastric illness was brought onto the ship. It is spread by person-to-person or surface-to-surface contact. Norovirus outbreaks happen when many people are in a small area, including places such as nursing homes, restaurants, hotels, hospitals and cruise ships (file photo) Its statement added: 'Fred. Olsen is co-operating fully with all the necessary maritime agencies and authorities, as she continues on her cruise, and will continue to make every effort possible to ensure the safety and well-being of all its guests and crew on board, which is of paramount importance. 'Fred. Olsen exceeds the requirements of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in that it isolates its guests in their rooms for 48 hours, instead of the 24 hours required by the CDC. 'Fred. Olsens cruise ships meet, at all times, the highest safety, hygiene and health standards, and comply fully with the strict requirements and inspections of their Flag State, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and other relevant authorities.' The top two finishers at the Kentucky Derby are on track for a rematch at the Preakness Stakes after pulling up well on Sunday morning, according to connections of both horses. Winner Nyquist could not be doing better, his trainer Doug O'Neill said, while second-placed Exaggerator was also in fine fettle, groom Vic Bargac reported. 'He's doing great,' O'Neill said of Nyquist after checking up on the unbeaten colt before dawn. 'He had his head out over the webbing, looking bright eyed.' Bargac, meanwhile, said of Exaggerator: 'He's good. He ate it all last night and he liked his breakfast today, too. He's doing very well.' Scroll down for video Nyquist stormed to victory in the 142nd Kentucky Derby after the 2/1 favorite came from behind to win the first jewel in the Triple Crown O'Neill said that Nyquist, now 8-0 in his career, would head to Maryland on Monday for the next step in the Triple Crown, the May 21 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico in Baltimore. Exaggerator's trainer Keith Desormeaux says he was looking forward to having another crack at Nyquist at the Preakness. Nyquist recorded a relatively comfortable victory by 1-1/4 lengths at Churchill Downs, but Exaggerator closed strongly near the end. And who knows how close it might have been had Exaggerator, according to his jockey, not been checked rounding the final turn. 'My horse slammed on the brakes ... ducked back to the inside and then took off,' said jockey Kent Desormeaux. Trained by Doug O'Neill and ridden by 2012 Derby-winning jockey Mario Gutierrez, the thoroughbred (second from right) was odds on to win and came through to take the $1.425million in prize money Nyquist started the Derby as a 2-1 favorite, with Exaggerator second most popular with the punters. The Preakness is the second leg of the U.S. Triple Crown for 3-year-olds, with the 1-1/2 mile Belmont Stakes closing the gruelling series on June 11. There have been 12 Triple Crown winners, most recently last year by American Pharaoh, who ended a Triple Crown drought stretching back to 1978. A man, who goes by the name 'Murder', was charged with the crime after a deadly home invasion in Florida. Courtney Lawrence, 27, was charged with murder after a home invasion turned into a deadly shooting between the resident of the home and Lawrence and his accomplices, according to the Bradenton Herald. Police said four or five gunmen entered the home of a 38-year-old man around 10.26pm Wednesday and demanded money. Courtney Lawrence (left), 27, was charged with murder after a home invasion turned into a deadly shooting between the resident of the home and Lawrence and his accomplices. The resident and suspect, Emanuel Johnson (right), 27, were injured. Johnson was later pronounced dead at a local hospital The resident and the suspects exchanged gunfire, causing injury to the resident and one suspect, Emanuel Johnson, 27, who was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Shortly after shots were fired, the resident's wife arrived at the home from a trip to 7-Eleven with two children to find her husband and Johnson wounded in the driveway, according to the Miami Herald. She was pointing a gun at Johnson when deputies arrived. Lawrence, who has the word 'murder' tattooed on his neck, is on probation for armed robbery with a deadly weapon and sale or delivery of a controlled substance, according to the newspaper. He was released from prison on August 26 after serving three years and three months for the charges. Lawrence also served less than four years of a five-year sentence for two separate armed robbery convictions. Armed home invasion and other charges are still pending against Lawrence. Lawrence charged with murder and booked into the Manatee County jail. He is being held without bond. This incredible footage captures the teenage son of a police officer leading her colleagues on a 108mph chase through the streets of Manchester. But Thomas Johnson, 19, walked free from court after he turned up at his sentencing hearing with a letter from his mother promising to keep him under control. Police tried to pull over Johnson's Vauxhall Vectra in Ardwick at 1.15am on February 22 after noticing that that the exhaust seemed to be hanging off it. Instead of pulling over Johnson raced down Stockport Road - a 30mph zone - at 70mph. This incredible footage captures the teenage son of a police officer leading her colleagues on a 108mph chase through the streets of Manchester Police tried to pull over Johnson's Vauxhall Vectra, in Ardwick at 1.15am on February 22, after noticing that that the exhaust seemed to be hanging off it But instead of pulling over, Johnson drove down Stockport Road - a 30mph zone - at 70mph Reaching speeds of up to 80mph, he sped through Longsight and Levenshulme before ending up in Stockport, where he drove the wrong way down a single carriageway. He accelerated onto the M60, coming off at junction 24 at 108mph. He then sped through Gorton, driving down at Hyde Road at 90mph, undertaking another car at 80mph, before finally driving into a car park by mistake and being arrested. Sentencing him to an eight-month detention and training order, suspended for two years, Judge Michael Leeming banned him from the road for two years, ordered him to attend a rehabilitation requirement, and 100 hours unpaid work. The judge told Johnson from, Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, that he of all people knew the difficult job police did. The teenager, who had no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, having no insurance, no driving licence, and failing to stop for a police officer at an earlier hearing. His defence barrister told his sentencing hearing that he had fallen in with the wrong crowd after his parents separated. The court heard he was now moving back in with his mother, a serving officer, who was going to keep him on the straight and narrow. He sped through Longsight and Levenshulme before ending up in Stockport, where he drove the wrong way down a single carriageway. He accelerated onto the M60, coming off at junction 24 at 108mph Thomas Johnson, 19, walked free from court after he turned up at his sentencing hearing with a letter from his mother promising to keep him under control An internet dating fraudster who posed as a grieving businessman has been jailed for conning lonely hearts out of 13,000. Kris Lyndsay told one woman he ran a solar power firm, then posed as a family man struggling to overcome the loss of his wife and daughter in a car crash when he met his second victim. The serial con artist was sentenced to four years over what a judge called 'callous, manipulative and pre-meditated' lies. Annemarie Fletcher, from Glastonbury, parted with a Cartier watch and diamond ring worth 40,000 when Kris Lyndsay claimed he was having cash flow issues at work. He later pawned the jewellery for a tenth of its value He was out on licence from a jail term for another fraud when he met both women, Taunton Crown Court heard. Lyndsay targeted his first victim, Anna Walczak, a Polish national working as a care assistant in Devon, just weeks after being released in December 2014. He was seen arriving at court with a new Polish girlfriend, whom he met on another dating website. Lyndsay convinced Miss Walczak to invest 3,250 from the proceeds of selling her family's land into a fictitious nightclub, the court heard. He repaid 1,000 after the pair split last spring. Soon after, he persuaded mother-of-two Annemarie Fletcher, from Glastonbury, to part with a Cartier watch and diamond ring worth 40,000 by claiming he was having cash flow issues at work, pawning the jewellery for a tenth of its value. Both women were duped by the well-dressed conman's lies about owning a water bottling plant, a networking firm and nightclubs. Prosecutor Ian Fenny said he worked part-time for a logistics firm, while his online CV and profile on dating app Tinder were fictional. He also described Lyndsay's claim to Miss Walczak that he ran a solar panel firm as a 'complete sham'. Miss Fletcher, 42, joined Tinder after separating from her husband. Lyndsay soon approached her and they formed a relationship. In return for 'borrowing' 5,930 he offered to pay the following year's school fees for her daughter to continue at the elite Millfield public school in Somerset. Kris Lyndsay (pictured right with his new partner) has now been sentenced to four years in prison for the lonely hearts con, which a judge at Taunton Crown Court called 'callous, manipulative and pre-meditated' lies But the child had to be withdrawn from the school because his deceptions left Miss Fletcher unable to meet the cost. He was finally rumbled when he begged 2,000 off Miss Fletcher, supposedly to complete the purchase of a 950,000 home in Somerton, Somerset. When he failed to repay her, she discovered the house was still on the market. She then contacted Queen's College, a public school in Taunton where Lyndsay had said his daughter had been a pupil until her death and discovered the child was alive and had only left the school due to unpaid fees. Lyndsay, from St Austell in Cornwall, admitted three counts of fraud involving the two women at a previous hearing. A landlord is accused of demanding sex in lieu of rent, police charge. Richard A. Bruno, 44, of Waterford, Connecticut allegedly attempted to exhort sexual favors for rented properties he had leased to tenants, and also allegedly tried to solicit sex acts from children, according to Connecticut police. It's unclear if he owned the properties or managed them, or both, or how many properties and tenants are in question. Cops say that Richard A. Bruno of Waterford, Connecticut was trying to get sex out of his tenants in exchange for free rent - and tried to solicit sex from what he thought was a 13-year-old girl Police released a statement saying that they had arrested Bruno in New London on Thursday after he agreed to meet what he thought was a 13-year-old girl online and arranged to pay her for sexual acts. He was actually talking to a member of the Connecticut State Police Computer Crimes Unit. He is charged with six counts of sexual criminal acts, including attempts at sexual trafficking and enticement of minor. Police say they also searched his home and seized evidence to support allegations of trying to solicit underage persons for sex. It's unclear if any evidence was obtained to support the allegations of soliciting sex for rental properties. Bruno's address is registered to a plumbing company called Bruno Plumbing, reports NBC New York. See more Logies 2016 updates at www.dailymail.co.uk/logies However others slammed Aly as a 'racist' and 'self-righteous' for Aly on his win Social media has been alight with SBS Presenter and fellow Gold Logie nominee Lee Lin Chin has lead the congratulatory messages flooding social media for winner Waleed Aly. The Project co-host became the first Muslim-Australian to be awarded the coveted 'Best Personality' award during Sunday Night's ceremony, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Aly used to his address to call for more diversity in the television industry, and began his humble speech with a loving tribute to his wife Susan. Scroll down for video Congratulatory messages have flooded in for the 2016 Gold Logie winner Waleed Aly SBS newsreader and fellow Gold Logie nominee Lee Lin Chin tweeted that 'Australian TV needs more of' Waleed Aly after his win Fellow Gold Logie nominee - SBS newsreader and The Feed regular Lee Lin Chin - congratulated Aly writing 'Australian TV needs more of you'. 'As much as I would have loved to won the Logie, I would have never been as articulate as him. Australian TV needs more of you,' she tweeted. 'Congratulations to Waleed, as a newsreader I respect the hell out of you. As a narcissist I will bathe in your blood,' she earlier wrote. The majority of the online response to Aly's win has been supportive, with thousands of Australia's praising The Project co-host for his refreshing take on news and current affairs. The Project co-host is the first Muslim-Australian to be awarded the coveted 'Best Personality' award Lee Lin Chin, known for her humor online, took a more serious not when she congratulated Aly However she did also tell him she would 'bathe in your blood' 'My man Waleed Aly doin' it for the brown folks', Don wrote. 'It might just be a TV award but Waleed Aly's Gold Logie will continue to change our culture for the better', Reezy posted. 'So proud as a Muslim Australian on Waleed Aly's Gold Logie win. Congratulations #WaleedAly', Rose tweeted. Fellow Muslim Mariam Veiszadeh Australian congratulated Aly, but also shared a meme which read: 'Bloody Muslims: Coming here, winning our Logies', joking about the negative reaction to his win. Fellow Muslim Mariam Veiszadeh Australian congratulated Aly, but also shared a meme satirising the negative response to his win Others said they had their minds changed while watching Aly take on the tough topics Anne said the award was great for 'multicultural Australia' 'This will continue to change our culture for the better' Reezy wrote Others poked fun at what some more conservative commentators might think of the win Kelly described Aly as the 'classiest man to win a Gold Logie' However not everyone was supportive of his win, with some social media users branding him 'racist' and 'self-righteous'. 'Screw you Waleed Aly you divisive 'pr***'. Apparently I'm racist because I disagree with you. Well done causing divisions', Jimmy wrote. 'So Waleed Aly won the Gold Logie. Disappointing, but not surprising', Donald posted. Others were less impressed with Jimmy writing: 'Apparently I'm racist because I disagree with you' Donald said the win was 'disappointing, not surprising' Peter Hatfield (pictured in hospital) thought he was suffering from a chest infection when he fell ill on holiday but he had suffered a 'silent' heart attack When Peter Hatfield fell ill on holiday he thought it was a chest infection but the 68-year-old had suffered a silent heart attack so severe he needed a transplant. The father-of-two said the only thing that kept him going as he waited for a donor heart was the determination to walk his daughter Kath, 32, down the aisle on her wedding day. And, just a month after being given a new heart, the widower, from Warrington, Cheshire, did just that. He said: It was one of the happiest days of my life. It was a combination of luck at the onset and then just sheer will, determination, and a huge mental battle once I found out what was wrong with me, that kept me alive until a donor heart became available. Mr Hatfield, who was a teetotal non-smoker, had fallen ill as he was travelling through Norway to the Arctic Circle on a trip to see the Northern Lights. He said: I felt hot and sweaty and managed to rush to the ship in port and to my cabin. I was sick, there were no pains whatsoever but my breathing was laboured, my strength had gone. Initially I assumed my lunch of smoked fish, salad and dried reindeer meat probably hadnt agreed with me. But when my sickness subsided my breathing was laboured, and I struggled with the slightest exertion. Travelling back to the UK was a nightmare journey. I just wanted my own bed and I immediately booked in with my GP, who told me it was a bad winter for chests. He confirmed my lungs appeared to be clear and prescribed antibiotics. When I didnt improve, I booked myself into my local hospital. He was discharged but by the time he arrived home, he was struggling to breathe again. Doctors found he had suffered a silent heart attack, which do not have the usual symptoms but can be just as damaging. He said: The attack had produced a 7mm [0.3in] blown hole in the heart, which was in a very difficult position for surgery, and if I was opened up there was only a two-thirds chance of success. Father-of-two and widower Mr Hatfield walks arm-in-arm with his daughter Kath, 32, during her wedding day In July 2014 five months after the heart attack Mr Hatfield was admitted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham and placed on the urgent heart transplant list. His six-hour operation took place on September 22, and he was discharged on October 18. He said: The icing on the cake came one week later, when I walked downstairs at a hotel in the Peak District, holding my daughters hand on her wedding day the very thing that I had willed myself to stay alive for. For any father it is a special moment in his life to escort his daughter. But this truly was a special, magic moment to be there at all, and we both felt and knew it. Eight months later he saw his son Rob, 35, marry in New York. Mr Hatfield raises funds for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital charity, giving talks about his experience. Her speeches are among the most memorable ever given by a British politician. But Margaret Thatcher never fully overcame her anxiety about public speaking, a new book claims. The former Prime Minister had to muster the courage to give a speech by saying to herself Come on, old gal, you can do it. She learned to use the fear of standing up in front of an audience to inspire her to press onwards and give her address. Come on, old gal, you can do it: What former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher used to tell herself The disclosure about the woman known as the Iron Lady suggests that during even some of her most famous speeches she may have actually been extremely nervous. During her career Mrs Thatchers addresses became legendary including her speech to the Conservative party conference speech in Brighton in 1980. Defying her critics she said: You turn if you want to. The ladys not for turning. Voicing her opposition to greater integration of Europe, she famously told the House of Commons in 1990: No. No. No. In True Reagan: What Made Ronald Reagan Great and Why It Matters. James Rosenbush, Nancys chief of staff and Ronald Reagans deputy assistant, reveals Mrs Thatchers true thoughts on public speaking. According to Mr Rosenbush, Mrs Thatcher hid her anxieties even though they were very real to her. He wrote: I remember asking Margaret Thatcher, another master of stagecraft, why she was such an effective public speaker. In his book, James Rosenbush reveals Mrs Thatchers true thoughts on public speaking She told me: You never completely lose the fear, no, never. Sometimes when I reach the podium I have to say to myself: Come on, old gal, you can do it. But that little bit of fear always sticks with you, and the energy you derive from it gives you more courage to press onward with what you have to say. Mrs Thatcher made her mark as a public speaker from her first day in office in 1979. Speaking on the steps of Downing Street she said that where there is discord, may we bring harmony; where there is error, may we bring truth; where there is doubt, may we bring faith; and where there is despair, may we bring hope. In 2002 she was ordered to give no more public speeches by her doctors after she suffered a number of small strokes. Mrs Thatcher died in 2013. In True Reagan, Mr Rosenbush offers an analysis of why she was such a great leader, and says that she and Mr Reagan had many qualities in common. He writes: Lack of need for approval, acceptance, recognition, acclaim or fame, was one of the rare human qualities and secret ingredients in the impervious armour he wore. Untoward events and blame did not stick to him... ...Being impersonal allowed him to make tough choices based on the principle of the situation rather than having the decision making process clouded by personal consideration or attachment to the people or sentimentality. Hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting mobile phone customers are being sent premium-rate texts they never asked for and charged up to 4.50 a time. They have complained of being billed hundreds of pounds for the weekly or monthly texts, which advertise gaming services, glamour videos or pornographic content. Messages do not always make recipients aware they are paying, or how to opt out. Hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting mobile phone customers are being sent premium-rate texts they never asked for (file photo) In the past two years, regulator PhonepayPlus received 7,462 complaints and adjudicated 38 times against firms for the unsolicited texts. Up to several hundred people were wrongly charged in each case. Fines totalling 1.6million were levied against the rogue firms in 2014/15 and 1.4million in 2015/16. But only two-thirds of the penalties have been paid and some of the firms are based abroad. John Mann MP, of the Commons Treasury Committee, called for tougher fines than the current 250,000 maximum. These text messages are theft and customers are being left totally exposed, he said. There will be hundreds of thousands of people affected, many of whom probably dont even know they have been charged the numbers who complain are the tip of the iceberg. Mr Mann added: The mobile phone companies appear to be collaborating They should be dragged over the coals on this customers need protection. They should be contacted by the phone companies to check if they have consented to these charges. Consumer Action Groups Marc Gander said: If the mobile phone companies were obliged to surrender their profits on these scams as well as paying fines to the regulator, Im quite sure the scam would stop overnight. Consumer group Which? advises those who receive the texts, which come from a five-digit number, to check their bills carefully. A Which? spokesman said: Customers should reply to the message with stop, then complain to the company then to their mobile provider as they may be eligible for a refund. Keep the message for evidence. UK-based Intrugo was last month fined 250,000 for its 3-a-week unsolicited text messages advertising Hot New Babes. Between March 2015 and January this year, 329 people complained. One customer charged 100 wrote: I have never agreed to subscribe to anything by this company. I do not know where they got my number. Intrugo was ordered to give refunds. But it has moved from its offices in Edgware, north London. Its sole registered director could not be reached at his address. Firms that do not pay the fines risk being banned from operating. The regulator says it has issued 25 such bans since 2014. Premium-rate text providers say they obtain customers numbers legitimately through people entering them on websites. But mobile phone operators believe random number generators are used and there is the possibility of numbers being erroneously entered on websites. A spokesman for PhonepayPlus said it sets and enforces clear rules and firms must have robust verifiable evidence which establishes the consumers consent. Customers have complained of being billed hundreds of pounds for the weekly or monthly texts, which advertise gaming services, glamour videos or pornographic content O2 said it undertakes due diligence tests on premium-rate firms and if issues are flagged we take immediate action to put things right. Vodafone said: The customer is contracting with the third party merchant so we always advise customers to contact them If this doesnt resolve the issue, we try and help in any way we can. A Three spokesman said: We have clear rules on premium rate messaging and work closely with the regulator to take action against providers who dont meet our standards. Vodafone admits making a small margin on the texts. O2, EE and Three would not confirm if they make any profit. Dire warning: David Cameron will deliver a dramatic speech that will invoke Winston Churchill, the Second World War and the graves of the fallen Europe risks sliding back into conflict and genocide if Britain votes to leave the EU, David Cameron will say today. In an extraordinary escalation of the referendum battle, he will invoke Winston Churchill, the Second World War and the graves of the fallen. The Remain camp will also wheel out military veterans in an emotive video warning against jeopardising the sacrifices of the dead. Out campaigners have accused Downing Street, which yesterday claimed house prices would collapse following a vote to leave, of desperation. They say No 10 is panicking with the polls neck and neck despite the intervention of Barack Obama and a series of dire warnings about the risks of Brexit. Historians have dismissed the suggestion that the EU had kept the peace in Europe, citing instead the crucial role of Nato. But in a speech to mark the start of the final 45 days of the referendum contest the Prime Minister will insist a leave vote would be catastrophic. 'Isolationism has never served this country well,' he will say. 'Whenever we turn our back on Europe, sooner or later we come to regret it. We have always had to go back in, and always at much higher cost.' In other developments in the increasingly bitter referendum fight: Downing Street was accused of trying to scupper TV debates; The former head of MI5 was dragged into a row over whether British citizens are safer inside the EU; Environment Secretary Liz Truss claimed 40,000 jobs in the Scottish whisky industry would be put at risk. The Prime Minister's speech, described as his biggest of the campaign so far, will claim that 'the serried rows of white headstones in Commonwealth war cemeteries stand as silent testament to the price this country has paid to help restore peace and order in Europe'. He will add: 'Can we be so sure that peace and stability on our continent are assured beyond any shadow of doubt? 'Is that a risk worth taking? I would never be so rash as to make that assumption. It's barely been 20 years since war in the Balkans and genocide in Srebrenica. Lone stand: David Cameron will say that Britain stood as a bulwark against a new dark age of tyranny and oppression in 1940. Pictured, Hitler's SA officers on an exercise outside Munich 'In the last few years, we have seen tanks rolling into Georgia and Ukraine. And of this I am completely sure. The European Union has helped reconcile countries which were at each others' throats for decades. 'Britain has a fundamental national interest in maintaining common purpose in Europe to avoid future conflict between European countries. And that requires British leadership, and for Britain to remain a member.' Mr Cameron will also cite the threats to Britain from the Spanish Armada and in the Napoleonic Wars. He will say: 'We know that to be a global power and a European power are not mutually exclusive. And the moments of which we are rightly most proud in our national story include pivotal moments in European history Blenheim, Trafalgar, Waterloo. Striking back: Boris Johnson will also speak today 'Our country's heroism in the Great War. And most of all our lone stand in 1940, when Britain stood as a bulwark against a new dark age of tyranny and oppression. But it wasn't through choice that we were alone. Churchill never wanted that. He spent the months before the Battle of Britain began trying to keep our French allies in the war, and then after France fell, he spent the next 18 months persuading the United States to come to our aid. 'And in the post-war period he argued passionately for Western Europe to come together, to promote free trade, and to build institutions which would endure so that our continent would never again see such bloodshed. 'The truth is this: what happens in our neighbourhood matters to Britain. Either we influence Europe, or it influences us. 'And if things go wrong in Europe, let's not pretend we can be immune from the consequences.' Mr Cameron's intervention will take place at 8am, three hours before Boris Johnson, a biographer of Churchill, is due to deliver a major speech for the Leave campaign. He is expected to strike back against the Prime Minister by seeking to 'debunk and destroy the myth that the EU single market has ever done anything useful'. The former London mayor will then embark on a nationwide bus tour starting on Wednesday. Leading historians, including the former head of history at Cambridge University, Professor David Abulafia, have dismissed the claim that the EU has brought peace to Europe as 'historically illiterate'. They say it is Nato that has kept us safe since 1945. It was also the Nato alliance that managed Europe's defence against the Soviet Union in the Cold War and which organised European action after 9/11, it is argued. But to ram home the PM's point, the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign will release a video in which four war heroes will make the 'patriotic case' for the EU. Harry Leslie Smith, David Meyland, Patrick Churchill and Field Marshal Lord Bramall will all make their arguments for staying in the EU over the 'isolationism' that would be foisted on Britain. It will be bad news for astrologers, but the moon does not affect us at all. A study has concluded that we sleep the same amount regardless of where the moon is in its cycle. Researchers found only a tiny alteration during a full moon which was not statistically significant enough to matter. No other behaviours were substantially modified during the entirety of the lunar cycle. The study has concluded that we sleep the same amount regardless of where the moon is in its cycle (file photo) The findings will surprise those who follow astrology, for whom the moon has significant importance. Astrologers believe that the moon controls the emotions and symbolizes the relationship between a mother and a child. It can also have an impact on intellect and intuition. The study looked at 5,812 children across five continents from a wide range of backgrounds, ages, sexes, sleeping patterns and levels of physical activity. Children were chosen because the researchers said they were more amenable to behaviour changes due to lack of sleep than adults. The study lasted 28 months, which is equivalent to 28 lunar cycles. Each lunar cycle was split up into three phases; full moon, half-moon and new moon. The findings showed that sleep time around a full moon was five minutes less than a new moon, a one per cent difference, which the researchers said was not significant enough to matter. No other moods or activities saw a substantial change. For the research, each lunar cycle was split up into three phases; full moon, half-moon and new moon Lead researcher Dr Jean-Philippe Chaput, from the Eastern Ontario Research Institute, said the five minute difference in sleep time did not constitute a considerable threat to health and should be discounted. He said: Our study provides compelling evidence that the moon does not seem to influence peoples behaviour. Overall, I think we should not be worried about the full moon. Our behaviours are largely influenced by many other factors like genes, education, income and psychosocial aspects rather than by gravitational forces. According to mythology a full moon can turn people into werewolves and ancient Chinese people believed it was linked to fertility. Astrologers believe that the moon governs your past and your emotional development. Dr Chaput said: Folklore and even certain instances of occupational lore suggest that mental health issues or behaviours of humans and animals are affected by lunar phases. Recovery has been hit by global slowdown as well as domestic issues Economy is growing at the slowest rate for more than three years Output in the North East and South West of England fell last month Flagship policy: Business leaders have complained that George Osborne's national living wage has added an unfair burden, forcing them to slash jobs Parts of Britain are already in decline as the national living wage and global uncertainty batter the fragile economy, figures out today reveal. Output in the North East and South West of England fell last month in a worrying sign the recovery is fast running out of steam. A report by Lloyds Bank shows the economy is growing at the slowest rate for more than three years fuelling fears of a fresh downturn. The recovery has been hit by a slowdown around the world from the US to China as well as domestic issues such as the new national living wage. Under George Osborne's flagship policy, the minimum hourly pay for staff aged 25 and over jumped from 6.70 to 7.20 last month. It is due to top 9 by 2020. However, business groups have complained the living wage added an unfair burden, forcing them to cut staff perks or slash jobs just as the economy is slowing. Supermarkets Tesco, Morrisons and Waitrose are among those to have taken action to offset the increased costs, along with DIY giant B&Q and homeware retailers Wilko and Dunelm. Tim Hinton, a managing director at Lloyds, said the introduction of the living wage has put companies off hiring new staff. He added that firms have also been hit by rising fuel prices. 'The majority of regions have started the second quarter on a weaker footing, with business activity no longer showing the robust growth that we have seen over the past two to three years,' he said. 'A knock-on effect of stronger cost pressures from the national living wage and higher fuel prices has seen a slowing in the rate of job creation. 'There were some exceptions to the pattern of weaker growth, for instance in the East of England and East Midlands.' The slowdown provides a grim backdrop for inspectors from the International Monetary Fund, who arrived in Britain this week for their annual health check on the UK economy. Warning: The collapse of high street chain BHS (pictured in file image) and the crisis in vast swathes of British industry, including steel and North Sea oil and gas, have underlined the fragile state of the recovery The collapse of high street chain BHS and the crisis in vast swathes of British industry, including steel and North Sea oil and gas, have underlined the fragile state of the recovery. Lloyds said its index of activity in the economy where scores above 50 show growth and scores below 50 show decline fell from 53.6 in March to a 37-month low of 51.9 in April. The worst performing region was the North East, which picked up a score of just 49, while the South West recorded a reading of 49.9. By contrast, the East Midlands scored 55.7 and the East of England 55. The economy grew by just 0.4 per cent in the first quarter of the year down from an expansion of 0.6 per cent in the final three months of last year. But it is feared that the current second quarter will be even worse as the living wage, worries about the outcome of the referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union, and global turmoil take their toll. The economy was rocked by a 'triple-whammy' of bleak news last week as manufacturers, builders and the powerhouse services sector all slowed sharply. High street diners and cafes have also been criticised for taking staff tips to make up for the costs of introducing the higher national living wage. Coffee shop chain Le Pain Quotidien came under fire for stopping paid breaks and for failing to pass on all staff tips, while pizza chain Zizzi was also accused of slashing perks, including the amount workers take home from tips, ahead of its introduction. Looking a picture of health, this is the first baby to be born in Britain using a revolutionary IVF technique. Biagio Russu was conceived thanks to genetic screening that allowed doctors to select a healthy, early-stage embryo. The method means that each round of IVF is far more likely to succeed sparing couples the agony of repeated attempts at having a child. Biagio Russu, pictured with parents Ewa Wybacz, 36, and Sergio Russu, 42, was conceived thanks to genetic screening that allowed doctors to select a healthy, early-stage embryo Birth rates are said to rise from 40 per cent to 65 per cent for a woman in her mid-30s. For Biagios parents, Ewa Wybacz, 36, and Sergio Russu, 42, it worked first time round. Tim Child, the Oxford University professor who led the trial they took part in, said the chromosome testing technique was a leap forward. The majority of embryos that humans make have the wrong number of chromosomes, and this is much more likely with older couples, he explained. The wrong number of chromosomes means that the embryo either will not implant, or there will be a miscarriage, or the child will be born with a genetic disorder such as Downs syndrome. Under the technique, doctors study the DNA of each embryo when it is just five days old. Then they select the one that has the best chance of implanting in the patients womb. It has changed our lives The counting of chromosomes makes the doctors decision more likely to be accurate than standard microscope methods. The test adds between 2,000 and 3,500 to the cost of IVF treatment, which is typically 5,000 a cycle. Professor Child says the price will fall as the technique becomes more widely used. The method means that each round of IVF is far more likely to succeed sparing couples the agony of repeated attempts at having a child Mr Russu, a chemical scientist in the car industry who took part in the embryo trial with his wife at Professor Childs clinic, Oxford Fertility, said the procedure had been remarkable. His wife, who was born in Poland and is now a housekeeper at Mansfield College, Oxford, had been told she would never conceive after a bout of appendicitis at the age of 12 left her ovaries damaged. But, four months ago, their child was born at Swindons Great Western Hospital. He is a beautiful and healthy boy, said Italian-born Mr Russu. It has changed our lives, he added. We were told we could not have a child, and what science has achieved is remarkable. That it worked on the first attempt was very surprising, but shows what can be done. I am so grateful. I hope we have shown that this can work and others can also benefit. Professor Dagan Wells, a fertility expert at Oxford University, said the new genetic tests were showing huge potential. Our aim is to bring these tests within reach of all patients undergoing IVF, not only the wealthy. It is gratifying to see that spirit of scientific innovation that led to the development of IVF in this country is still alive, well and continuing to benefit patients. After six horses in the Queens stable died within short period of time, group faces dwindling membership, financial trouble and loss of license Work also keeps inner-city kids off the streets through outreach programs A group of horse enthusiasts are giving the Naked Cowboy a run for his money by fighting to preserve a slice of the wild west in New York City. The Federation of Black Cowboys, which operates out of the Cedar Lane Stables in Queens, formed 18 years ago to preserve the legacy of black people on the American frontier while helping to keep kids off the streets. But after six of their horses suddenly died within a short period of time in 2012, the group faces financial troubles, a dwindling membership, and the looming loss of their stables license in August. Scroll down for video The Federation of Black Cowboys, which operates out of the Cedar Lane Stables in Queens, formed 18 years ago to preserve the legacy of black people on the American frontier while helping to keep kids off the streets Members of the federation range from cowboys in their 70s to a 22-year-old who has taken up the craft of horseshoeing Decked out in fringed leather jackets, cowboy boots and ten-gallon hats, the remaining 18 members of the FBC hope to rewrite history books that have erased black people from its pages Kesha Morse, the president of the federation, told ABC: 'When children see us with he fringe jackets and the boots, that stays with them for life' Members of the federation range from cowboys in their 70s to a 22-year-old who has taken up the craft of horseshoeing. 'Riding makes you feel free. It's in your heart,' Arthur Fulmore, 68,a former auto mechanic from North Carolina told ABC. 'Being a cowboy means being good and honest with people, and being straight up.' Decked out in fringed leather jackets, cowboy boots and ten-gallon hats, the remaining 18 members of the FBC hope to rewrite the history books that have erased black people from its pages. In addition to carrying on the legacy of thousands of black cowboys and pioneers who headed West, the group also works at a grass-roots level, spreading their love of horses to keep kids out of trouble. By running school visits, rodeos and programs for young people, the FBC 'uses[s] the uniqueness of horses as a way to reach inner-city children and expose them to more than what they are exposed to in their communities', president Kesha Morse told the Village Voice. Morse told ABC: 'When children see us with the fringe jackets and the boots, that stays with them for life.' She would know - watching her father ride horses in Brooklyn's Prospect Park growing up in Fort Greene made an early impression on the 67-year-old. The group also works at a grass-roots level, spreading their love of horses to keep kids out of trouble But the group is facing hard times, after six horses at the stable died within a short period of time, prompting the organization to shut down after the city forced it to pay for renovations But the group is facing hard times, after six horses at the stable died within a short period of time, prompting the organization to shut down after the city forced it to pay for renovating the stables. In addition to the financial woes that followed, the city put the stable license up for grabs. A non-profit group GallopNYC, which pairs therapy horses with disabled people, will be taking over Cedar Lane Stables in August after they outbid the FBC. While the FBC are allowed to keep their horses on the 11-acre property for a fee, it remains unclear how the group will hold up over time. Despite the hardships, members of the federation are trying to recruit young people and instill their good old-fashioned cowboy values of patience, hard work, and kindness in the community. They lost their stable license to a non-profit group GallopNYC, which pairs therapy horses with disabled people, after they outbid the FBC An average of more than three incidents of lasers being shone at aircraft were reported to the UK's aviation regulator every day last year, new figures show. Pilots reported 1,439 such incidents in 2015, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said. Heathrow was the airport with the most laser incidents at 121, followed by Birmingham with 94, Manchester recording 93 and Leeds Bradford with 77. Pilots reported 1,439 incidents where a laser was shone at an aircraft in 2015 as the 'menace' continues The overall total is similar to the figure for 2014, when 1,447 cases were reported. Stephen Landells, flight safety specialist at the British Airline Pilots Association, expressed his disappointment at the lack of a significant reduction. He told the Press Association: 'The problem with lasers just isn't going away despite all our efforts. 'We continue to work with the CAA and the Department for Transport in trying to find ways to counter this menace.' Heathrow Airport recorded the highest number of laser incidents in 2015 with Birmingham in second spot THE AIRPORTS MOST AFFECTED BY LASER INCIDENTS Heathrow - 121 Birmingham - 94 Manchester - 93 Leeds Bradford - 77 London city - 62 Newcastle - 59 Edinburgh - 55 Liverpool - 51 Bristol/Lulsgate - 46 Glasgow - 44 Nottingham East Midlands - 44 Gatwick - 39 Luton - 33 Stansted - 28 Total - 1,439 In February, a Virgin Atlantic flight was forced to return to Heathrow when the co-pilot reported feeling unwell after a laser was directed at the plane shortly after take-off. Mr Landells said: 'Even with the smallest laser, the dazzle and distraction that a pilot experiences at night is putting an aircraft and its passengers in danger.' He called for the police to be given the power to stop and search people they suspect may be carrying a laser for illegal use. He also wants more restrictions on the importation of high-powered lasers, and stressed the importance of making more people aware that pointing a laser at an aircraft is dangerous. The CAA issued a statement which read: 'We strongly urge anyone who sees a laser being used in the vicinity of an airport to contact the police immediately.' This is the moment a 51-year-old British woman was airlifted to hospital after plunging 40 feet onto rocks after losing her footing on a hike in Menorca. The horror incident happened at the bay village of Fornells, a popular tourist spot for walkers and climbers. The footage, filmed at the base of the operation, shows the stricken tourist on a stretcher as she is winched up into the helicopter. A member of the air ambulance crew secure the stricken tourist after she fell 50ft onto rocks The paramedic then signals that the woman is ready to be winched up into the emergency helicopter The helicopter then lifts up the woman, who plunged off rocks at Fornells in Menorca, and right, over the sea on the Balearic island She is firstly secured onto the stretcher by paramedics, before the sign is given to lift her up into the emergency aircraft. Due to where she had fallen, ambulance and firefighters could not reach the injured tourist, and so the air ambulance was scrambled from Majorca. She was taken by helicopter to Mateu Orfila Hospital with a fractured pelvis and injuries to three vertebrae, reports Mallorca.info. It is believed she was walking on rocks with her partner when she lost her footing and tumbled down to an area of rocks difficult to access. Emergency services took the decision to try and reach the Briton by boat, but it soon became apparent an air ambulance was required. It is believed she was walking on rocks with her partner when she lost her footing and tumbled down to an area of rocks difficult to access After it proved too difficult for ground emergency services to get to the woman, the air ambulance was called This is the area where the 51-year-old British tourist lost her footing and slipped down onto rocks below Photos of the rescue operation were shared on Twitter by the Balearic Islands emergency services. As well as hiking, catamaran excursions, kayaking and windsurfing are all popular activities offered around the bay of Fornells. About three million British holidaymakers flock to the Balearics, for sun, sand and adventure every year. Other hikers at the site near to the bay village of Fornells moved to where the woman had fallen to help guide the air ambulance A plane carrying 66 passengers skidded off the runway while trying to land in wet weather in India, with one person on board describing how it felt like the plane was 'thrown to the ground.' The Jet Airways flight, that had earlier set out from Delhi, ended up in the grass at Indore Airport as rain lashed the runway. The 66 passengers, as well as four flight crew, were safely escorted off the aircraft and into the terminal building. There are no reported injuries. The Jet Airways flight ended up in the grass at Indore Airport after it skidded off a wet runway No injuries have been reported from the incident, but one passenger described how the plane went 'left then right' as it touched down The runway was temporarily closed last night (Saturday) while the plane was moved from the grass and into a hangar. Pankaj Agrawal, who was a passenger on the flight said that the plane banked left and then right on the hard landing, before coming to a stop adjacent to the runway. Speaking to the Times of India, Mr Agrawal said: 'Minutes before landing, we experienced heavy turbulence. 'When the plane landed on the wet tarmac, it felt as if it was thrown on the ground. 'The airline authorities informed us that the right wing of the plane was badly damaged due to the landing.' Staff move to help passengers off the aircraft that made a hard landing in bad weather in India HOW DANGEROUS IS TURBULENCE? On the subject of what happens to an aircraft during an episode of turbulence, Patrick Smith, an active airline pilot and author said: 'During turbulence, the pilots are not fighting the controls. 'Planes are designed with what we call positive stability, meaning that when nudged from their original point in space, by their nature they wish to return there. 'The best way of handling rough air is to effectively ride it out, hands-off. (Some autopilots have a turbulence mode that desensitizes the system, to avoid over-controlling.) 'It can be uncomfortable, but the jet is not going to flip upside down.' Passengers were instructed to leave their hand luggage behind as they were moved off the plane. These were then delivered into the terminal after an hour. The airline posted a statement on their Twitter page shortly after the incident, saying: 'Jet Airways flight 9W 2793 from Delhi to Indore, had departed the paved surface after landing. 'All 66 guests and four crew aboard have been deplaned safely and taken to the terminal building. 'Inspection of our aircraft at Indore is in progress. Our teams are working to move the aircraft on to the tarmac.' Last week MailOnline reported how passengers were evacuated from a Turkish Airlines aircraft after it skidded off the runway during landing at Kosovo's only airport. The plane reportedly had 143 passengers including several children and eight crew from Istanbul on board when the accident happened in the country's capital Pristina. Local media has released images of the Turkish Airlines jet parked on a grassy area next to the runway. They've overcome many testing times in their eventful 34-year marriage. But Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne's relationship could finally be over for good after the former X Factor judge accused her husband of cheating with a celebrity hairstylist 22 years his junior, according to The Sun. The fiery redhead allegedly kicked Ozzy out of their $10 million Beverly Hills home last week after claiming she had proof he had been having an affair with blonde beauty Michelle Pugh, 45. Scroll down for video Pictured: Images have surfaced of the pretty blonde stylist, who is rumoured to have enjoyed an affair with the legendary rocker leading to a devastating turn in his marriage. A source told the publication: 'Sharon went ballistic with Ozzy and accused him of having the affair. She said she had suspected something had been going on for some time and now had proof. 'Ozzy was extremely sheepish and admitted being close to Michelle. It is likely Sharon has discovered calls and possibly meetings.' Images have surfaced of the pretty blonde stylist, who is rumoured to have enjoyed an affair with the legendary rocker. MailOnline has contacted representatives for Sharon, Ozzy and Meche hair salon and is awaiting comment. Going through changes? Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne's relationship could finally be over for good after the former X Factor judge accused her husband of cheating with a celebrity hairstylist 22 years his junior Working it out: The couple have overcome many testing times in their eventful 34-year marriage In March, Sharon, 63, shocked her fellow The Talk panellists when she revealed that Ozzy, 67, slept with two of the nannies hired to look after their children. She said: 'We used to have four nannies, because I had three children - I would work five days a week - I would travel because you can't work a nanny seven days a week. 'I'm telling you, they were the bane of my existence. They were all wanting to be celebrities. They were all wanting money. Then, out of nowhere, dropped: 'I caught two of them in bed with Ozzy! At different times. It goes on and on.' Revelations: In March, Sharon, 63, shocked her fellow The Talk panellists when she revealed that Ozzy, 67, slept with two of the nannies hired to look after their children When one of her cast members suggested maybe she should be angry at her 67-year-old rocker husband, Sharon excused his behaviour as Ozzy was not sober at the time. She said of when she busted him: 'He's out of his mind and he's calling them his first wife, he's calling them me.' The couple split briefly in 2013 after Sharon discovered that Ozzy was back off the wagon as the couple celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary. Troubled past: The couple split briefly in 2013 after Sharon discovered that Ozzy had fallen off the wagon as the couple celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary Writing in her autobiography Unbreakable, she said: I would never have imagined our anniversary would be the start of one of the worst periods in our marriage. She explained that she went through his texts and discovered that Ozzy had been taking prescription drugs for a year-and-a-half. The star said: I thought, I cant carry this any more. Its what I have always done and Im tired. I said, I want a divorce. But Ozzy has since started seeing a counsellor and psychiatrist on his own, with Sharon learning to accept her husband, saying: You cant change people. You either accept them as they are or you go. The couple have been known for their fiery relationship, with Ozzy blacking out and almost strangling Sharon after a five-day Vodka binge in 1989. Ozzy met Sharon, the daughter of Black Sabbaths manager Don Arden, when she was aged 18. They married in 1982 and have three children Aimee 32, Kelly 31, and Jack 30. In addition to coping with Ozzys addictions, Sharon battled colon cancer in 2002, and two years ago underwent a double mastectomy after she discovered she has a gene that puts her at greater risk of breast cancer. She's famous for her stellar sense of style. But apparently everybody needs a day off, as Gwyneth Paltrow was spotted sporting a set of basic grey pajamas when visiting a friend on Saturday. The 43-year-old Seven actress looked laid-back in the airy ensemble as she made her way from a house to her car. Scroll down for video Lazy weekend: Gwyneth Paltrow was spotted sporting a set of grey pajamas when visiting a friend on Saturday A grey long sleeve top and a set of long PJ trousers featuring a grey-themed camouflage pattern rounded out the simple look. As it was quite bright out, she did opt to shield her eyes with some gold-frame aviator-style shades. She appeared mostly make-up free, and her long golden locks were parted in the middle and left to cascade down past her shoulders. It must have just been a short stay, as she traveled light, carrying only car keys, phone and a bottle of premium water. Nothing fancy: A grey long sleeve top and a set of long PJ trousers featuring a grey-themed camouflage pattern rounded out the basic look Later in the day, Gwyneth turned her efforts to helping a sick fan. The Iron Man star took to Instagram with a lengthy message accompanying a picture of the fan, Ryan Wilcox, in his hospital bed. She began with a fun suggestion for some of the Avengers cast: 'Hey @robertdowneyjr and #chrisevans, want to take a road trip? I will drive you guys down.' A plea for a fan: The Iron Man star took to Instagram with a lengthy message accompanying a picture of the fan, Ryan Wilcox, in his hospital bed 'This is Ryan Wilcox, he's an 18 year old guy from San Diego battling cancer and he absolutely LOVES Captain America and the Avengers,' she told her 2.1 million followers. 'What we want for Ryan if possible is to meet the actors and actresses of the Avengers, especially Chris Evans who plays Captain America. He isnt doing too well and this would be a major way to boost his spirits and quite frankly be the best moment of his life if he literally got to meet his hero!(sic)' Gwyneth of course has co-starred with Robert Downey Jr in three Iron Man films, although she does not appear in the most recent Avengers movie, Captain America: Civil War, which debuted this week. He's set to make an explosive comeback to the square ahead of his fictitious mother Peggy Mitchell's death. And Ross Kemp looked ready for business as he filmed his first EastEnders scenes since leaving the BBC soap in 2006. Furrowing his brow deep in concentration, the 51-year-old actor appeared to be in the midst of filming a tense scene that would see his character listen to a voicemail from ex-wife Sharon. Scroll down for video Back in action: He's set to make an explosive comeback to the square for fictitious mother Peggy Mitchell's death. And Ross Kemp looked ready for business as he filmed his first EastEnders scenes as Grant Mitchell Grant was last seen on Albert Square ten years ago before he disappeared to Portugal. The barman turned mechanic appears to still be in the balmy climes of the Mediterranean when he receives the call, which will no doubt inform him of his ailing mother's poor health. Showing off his muscular physique in a fitted grey vest and navy tracksuit bottoms, his worried expression hinted that he had received some bad news. See more Eastender's spoilers as Ross Kemp films first scenes as Grant Mitchell Family ties: Grant was last seen on Albert Square ten years ago before he disappeared to Portugal. He played the brother of Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) and son of Peggy (Dame Barbara Windsor) Grant's return to EastEnders comes as Peggy Mitchell prepares to film her final scenes before being killed off on the soap. The sassy landlady returned to Walford in January to reveal she was dying, after Dame Barbara Windsor told bosses she wanted her character to be killed off as she is leaving the show permanently. Peggy initially left the square in 2010, but has made occasional reappearances on the soap. Meanwhile, Peggy's other son has remained a permanent feature on the square. Grant's brother Phil - played by Steve McFadden - is currently battling alcoholism, but will see his family reunited as they come together to say their goodbyes to Peggy. Back in business: Grant's return to EastEnders comes as Peggy Mitchell prepares to film her final scenes before being killed off on the soap Talking about playing Grant again, Kemp recently joked he was 'wetting himself' at the prospect. 'When I was approached about returning to EastEnders for Barbara's final episodes, it was something I could not turn down,' he said. 'Barbara is a very close friend, so when I learned of the storyline it felt right that the Mitchell brothers are reunited with their mother for the last time.' They are the veteran writers behind some of the best-known lines in British comedy. But Ray Galton and Alan Simpson say they would never have had their glittering career, which has included Hancocks Half Hour and Steptoe And Son, had they not contracted tuberculosis when teenagers. The pair who will tonight receive Baftas most prestigious honour, the Fellowship met while recovering from the disease in Milford Sanatorium in Surrey in 1948. Rags to riches: Harry H Corbett and Wilfrid Brambell in Steptoe and Son, created by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson Simpson, 86 said: There is no way Ray and I would have dreamt of being writers if we hadnt met there. We were there from the ages of 17 to 20 while everyone else was doing their National Service. We used to read and read avidly three books a day. During the first year we didnt move out of bed, we just lay there educating ourselves. During their three-year stay, they started writing sketches for the facilitys radio station. Their big break came in the 1950s after a chance meeting with Tony Hancock. And when the comedian parted company with them in 1961, the writers went on to create Steptoe And Son, the rag-and-bone sitcom which ran until 1974. The Bafta TV awards will be shown on BBC1 at 8pm tonight. Plenty of mother's were treated to breakfast in bed on Sunday for Mother's Day. But David Jones ambassador Jessica Gomes and her mother opted for a more active morning and participated in the Mother's Day classic for the National Breast Cancer Foundation on Sunday. The 30-year-old beauty was joined by fellow department store ambassadors Jesinta Campbell, Montana Cox and Adam Goodes. Doing their part: David Jones ambassador Jessica Gomes (second left) and her mother participated in the Mother's Day classic for charity on Sunday with Jesinta Campbell (left), Montana Cox (right)and Adam Goodes The bevy of models flaunted their trim figures in black leggings paired with tank tops printed with the iconic David Jones houndstooth pattern. Jessica showed off her striking features as she pulled her dark locks off her face into a ponytail to reveal her makeup free skin. The beauty wrapped an arm around Jesinta who wore her dark tresses loose around her shoulders as they celebrated finishing the charity run. She proudly took to Instagram and wrote: 'SQUAD// so much fun participating in the @davidjonesstore Mothers Day Classic @nbcfaus #djscommunity #MDC2016 go team we did it...raising funds for a good cause. ' Happy: The 30-year-old snapped a selfie with her mother and fellow David Jones Ambassador Jesinta (c) as they beamed for the camera In another image the brunette beauty stretched out her arm to snap a selfie with her mother, and Jesinta. The trio beamed bright smiles as the stopped to pose for the picture among the crowd of participants in the charity event. Jessica captioned the image: 'MORNING // Running for breast cancer research today! With my ladies @jesinta_campbell & my mum!' Montana also appeared delighted to have her mother with her for the fun run and walk and also snapped a celebratory selfie. Smile! Montana also appeared delighted to have her mother with her for the fun run and walk and also snapped a celebratory selfie The warm up: Before the charity fun run and walk Jessica and Jestina stretched their muscles with former AFL player and fellow brand ambassador Adam Goodes Jessica Gomes is set to continue her duties for the department store giant after reportedly re-signing with David Jones as their key brand ambassador. According to PS Sydney, the 30-year-old will stay on with the department store for another 12 months, for a rumoured $350,000. The Perth-born beauty has been an ambassador for the department store for three years and regularly appears on the runway during Fashion Week and at new season collection launches. Jessica's renewed commitment to the store, means Jesinta Campbell will continue to be number two to the LA-based model. Australian actress and comedian Rebel Wilson attended a film industry charity gala in Hong Kong at the weekend. And it seems she worked up quite a thirst on Saturday evening, when she revealed online that she went looking for the hotel mini bar after the event. Sharing a black and white selfie to Instagram from her hotel room and saying she wanted to relax with a bath, Rebel wrote: 'Up all night!! Where's the mini bar? #bubblebathtime.' Scroll down for video Worked up a thirst? Funnywoman Rebel Wilson attended an industry charity gala in Hong Kong on Saturday and afterwards afterwards said she needed the mini bar In the shot, Rebel sits back on a couch in her glamorous black dress which she wore on the red carpet. Putting on a sultry display, she gazes at the camera, her hair out and over her shoulders, and shows off her busty frame. The 36-year-old had attended the gala held for charity FilmAid, which helps refugees and other communities in need. A good cause! The 36-year-old had attended the gala held for charity FilmAid, which helps refugees and other communities in need Rebel wore an off-the-shoulder long black dress that showed off her bust and carried a black and gold clutch. She also rubbed shoulders at the event with Harry Potter star Jamie Campbell-Bower. Rebel also shared various images from the night on her Instagram page, including a shot of herself taking a selfie with other guests. She captioned it: 'Huge congrats to local Hong Kong film director Jessey Tsang who I had the pleasure to present the Humanitarian Film-maker Award to x #filmaidasia #poweroffilm #moetfilmaid16.' Hello there! She also rubbed shoulders at the event with Harry Potter star Jamie Campbell-Bower It seems the star has enjoyed her time in China and joked her hair was 'frizzy' from all the humidity. The Pitch Perfect star has recently been spotted working out of late and revealed last month that she attended a lifestyle camp with the aim to lose weight. She shared a shot of herself online saying she had lost an impressive eight pounds in four days at the Malibu retreat, The Ranch. Playing tourist! It seems the star has enjoyed her time in China and joked her hair was 'frizzy' from all the humidity She recently arrived in Stockholm, Sweden, ahead of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest. And on Saturday Dami Im pulled out all the stops as she took part in an official dress rehearsal for the popular music contest, which is watched by an estimated 180 million viewers worldwide. The 27-year-old looked spectacular in a silver Steve Khalil gown with an open front that revealed her toned, tanned legs. Preparing: Dami Im stunned in a Steve Khalil gown as she attended dress rehearsal for the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest The talented Korean-Australian teamed a pair of sparkling silver stilettos to the ensemble, which further elongated her pins. She added some more sparkle to the eye-catching outfit by adoring herself with glitzy hand jewellry, which featured chains connected to bands on her arm. The beauty decided to change her signature sleek bob for the occasion, blowing her luscious black locks into waves and chopping a parting into her bangs. Legs eleven out of ten! The 27-year-old star flaunted her slender toned legs in the stunning gown New hair, don't care! The beauty decided to change her signature sleek bob for the occasion, blowing her luscious black locks into waves and chopping a space into her bangs She added a pop of bright colour to her look with fuschia lipstick. Second to vocal ability, stage presence plays a huge part in the coveted Eurovision contest, and Dami Im is sure to turn some heads come her performance later this month. On Wednesday, the former X Factor contestant revealed the incredible bespoke gown in an exclusive behind-the-scenes video for Vogue Australia. 'Since Im representing Australia at Eurovision I thought it was important I wear something designed by an Australian designer,' she explained to the magazine. Chart topper: The Korean-Australian performed her new single, the power ballad The Sound of Silence Hit machine: Dami's most recent album, Classic Carpenters, debuted at No. 3 on the ARIA charts 'So proud to be wearing this incredible design,' she later wrote on Instagram. The frock, a voluminous gown of Italian organza, will aim to capture the lights of the stage with the metallic piping throughout the fabric. 'Dressing Dami for the world stage of Eurovision, it's a different spotlight,' said Steven, who's known for his bridal couture, but his work as also been showcased on the red carpet. 'The dress shows the vulnerability, which is what the song is about, but it also empowers you,' she said in reference to her song Sound Of Silence. The announcement that Dami would be the Australian representative at this year's contest was made by 2014 Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst earlier this year. 'So proud to be wearing this incredible design': Dami Im revealed on Wednesday the stunning custom gown she will wear on stage for Eurovision 2016 Keeping it local: The former X Factor contestant said that because she was representing Australia, it was important for her to wear an Australian designer 'It's a different spotlight': Steven explained that to have his work showcased on the world stage was very exciting Australia's 2016 entrant revealed her plans for her performance in Sweden next month, saying: 'I don't want the performance to be bigger than the song.' 'I want there to be a sense of intimacy as well as grandeur, so we're working that out.' 'It needs to be amazing and spectacular but I also want the meaning to really come across,' she added. The 2016 Eurovision semi-finals start on May 10 with the grand final taking place on May 14. Its not hard to see why Scott Disick has fallen for Australian beauty Megan Blake Irwin. Just hours after they were spotted out on a fancy dinner date in Malibu, the 21-year old model posted a raunchy photo from a lingerie photoshoot. Clad in just a lacy purple one-piece and matching high heels, Megan shows off her silky smooth toned legs crouching against a luxurious bed in LA. Scroll down for video Sultry: Megan Blake Irwin shows off her silky smooth toned legs in a lacy purple one-piece a she crouches against a luxurious bed in LA Her wide eyes rimmed with dark eyeshadow, she stares down the camera with her mouth seductively open and her long blonde hair framing her face. The legless lingerie is see-through save for a strategically placed floral design, hugging her slender physique. The completely white and gold room featuring an ornate bedding backboard and classic lampstand makes the dark colours of the clothing and Megans tanned skins stand out. Her ensemble is completed with a white cable knit jumper thrown back to cover only her forearms as she braces herself against the bed. Megan has been rumoured to be dating reality star Disick, 32, who split from Kourtney Kardashian last year, for several months though they are yet to confirm their romance. New romance? Megan has been rumoured to be dating reality star Scott Disick (right), who split from Kourtney Kardashian last year, and were snapped leaving upscale Japanese restaurant Nobu on Friday night The pair were snapped leaving upscale Japanese restaurant Nobu on Friday night, the same day his three kids returned from a trip to Cuba with Kourtney. Her new romance seems to have come with a bit more unwanted attention than Megan is happy with, recently hiring 'bad boy' Israeli bodyguard Mikki Moor. Scott seems smitten with his new belle, but he appeared listless in a deleted clip from Keeping Up With The Kardashians which was released earlier this week. Poser: Megan pulled a few seductive faces in a short video uploaded to her Instagram earlier this week The star showed Kris Jenner around his new 'Hamptons style' abode, and while she gushed that it was 'beautiful', he wasn't thrilled about the situation. Scott told Kourtney's mother that having the whole house to himself was 'a lot to deal with' and said he was 'living like a lonely Lord'. Meanwhile, in a recently episode of her family's reality show, Kourtney confessed that she doesn't plan to get back with Scott in the near future. 'When it comes to Scott, I'm not looking to get back together anytime soon,' she told cameras of her ex, who she dated for nine years before they split last July. 'I don't have specific boundaries set, but coming to help him pick out stuff for his kitchen and his new house as a friend. Like I'm totally OK with that, and I don't feel like I'm giving any false hope.' Scott Disick was back on daddy duty on Saturday, 24 hours after taking his much younger new girlfriend out on a date at swanky Nobu in Malibu. The 32-year-old joined his two eldest children Mason, six, and Penelope, three, as they treated Kourtney Kardashian to an early Mother's Day dinner at an Italian eatery in Calabasas. The 37-year-old reality star has just returned from a short trip to Cuba with Mason, Penelope and her youngest with Scott, son Reign, one, where they filmed scenes for Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Scroll down for video Family outing: Scott Disick reunited with Kourtney Kardashian for an early Mother's Day dinner with their son Mason, six, and daughter Penelope, three, in Calabasas on Saturday Kourtney threw Scott out of their home last summer because of his persistent partying and cheating. But the pair, who never married, have tried to remain on friendly terms for the sake of their kids. And Scott continues to appear in the family's reality show. See Kourtney Kardashian updates as Scott Disick treats her and kids on Mother's Day Bite to eat: The four strolled together through a shopping center to an Italian restaurant near to Kourtney's home Estranged: Scott held onto Mason's hand while Kourtney carried Penelope on her back Kourtney stepped out in ripped black skinny jeans with black ankle boots, and wore a camel colored suede jacket over a black top. She left her long raven locks loose and gave her little girl a piggyback as the group walked from their car to the restaurant. Scott was casual, too, in jeans and t-shirt with tan shoes and looked happy to spending time with his children. In fact, Mason seemed to be relishing spending time with his father, holding his hand and laughing as they headed to their meal. Father and son: Scott, 32, was casual in jeans and a t-shirt with tan loafers, while Mason wore a hoodie and baggy pants with black trainers and sported a freshly styled asymmetrical haircut Bonding: The little boy appeared delighted to be spending time with his dad, after traveling to Cuba with his mom and her sisters Kim and Khloe to film scenes for Keeping Up With The Kardashians Mason wore a hoodie and some baggy pants with hi top black trainers and his dark hair was freshly styled with an asymmetrical haircut. Little Penelope held on tightly to her mom as she was carried and wore her dark blonde hair in a messy ponytail. She appeared to be wearing a black and white dress with frilly collar and went bare-legged in a pair of black ankle boots. Her special night: Kourtney, 37, wore ripped black jeans with black ankle boots and a black top, adding a camel-colored suede jacket Piggyback time: The reality star was seen laughing as she carried her daughter who played with her mom's hair as they walked On Friday night, Scott was spotted leaving Nobu with Australian model Megan Blake Irwin, 21. The blonde beauty and the father-of-three have been seen enjoying several dates recently on both coasts. Meanwhile, Kourtney has been linked romantically with Justin Bieber, 22. Moved on: On Friday night, Scott was photographed leaving trendy eatery Nobu in Malibu with 21-year-old Australian model Megan Blake Irwin, with whom he's enjoyed several dates recently Change: But on Saturday he was in full daddy mode with Mason Unit: Kourtney seemed happy to see her kids with their dad and to be able to celebrate Mother's day as a family She's made a lucrative living flaunting her enviable bikini body on some of the world's most beautiful beaches. And Natasha Oakley's hunky model boyfriend Gilles Souteyrand is in an enviable position himself, having been in a relationship with the bikini model for about a year now. The 25-year-old Natasha put her pert derriere on display as she hit the beach with her man in Miami on Saturday, clutching his hand as they frolicked in the shallows. Scroll down for video He's a lucky guy! Bikini blogger Natasha Oakley cut a sexy figure in a cheeky cut bikini as she walked along a Miami beach with her boyfriend Gilles Souteyrand The A Bikini A Day blogger cut a sexy figure as she walked across the stand, covering her assets with a simple black bandeau top. Meanwhile her rounded rear was on display in a cheeky-cut string bikini, clearly the result of her disciplined exercise regime that includes hundreds of squats on a weekly basis. She shielded her eyes from the sun with a pair of orange perspex framed sunglasses in a retro shape. Taut and terrific! Natasha's rounded bottom is clearly the result of her disciplined regime with often includes hundreds of squats per week Who could blame him? Gilles was seen to be checking out his blonde beauty beau as they frolicked in the shallows Cute! At one point, Natasha was perched on her lover's shoulders as they enjoyed the cool ocean Gilles flexed his muscular arms as he held the hand of his beau, showing off his rippling physique in a pair of nautical striped board-shorts. As the pair splashed in the shallow water, he was seen to be taking a cheeky look at his lover's bottom with an expression of admiration strewn across his face. Later, the blonde beauty was playfully perched on her lover's shoulders and holding his hand while he smiled. Rippling: Gilles flaunted his rippling physique in a pair of nautical striped board-shorts Stunning: The genetically blessed couple looked picture perfect as they made their way along the sand 'We are very much in love': Natasha confirmed her relationship with the blue-eyed Frenchman last year Keeping it a secret: She revealed at the time they had been dating for six months Gilles is accompanying Natasha and her best friend/business partner Devin Brugman, who flaunted her assets in a plunging black bikini by the girls' own swimwear brand Monday Swimwear. Speaking with Daily Mail Australia in November, Natasha confirmed her relationship with the blue-eyed Frenchman: 'We are very much in love,' she said. She also said they had been dating for about six months before going public. As a TV host she's usually seen in conservative suits among many other demure ensembles. But Leila McKinnon is showing a little more skin at this year's Logie awards. The 43-year-old showed off a sneak peek of her stunning Carla Zampatti gown while she got ready at the Crown Towers on Sunday. Scroll down for video Looking all white: Leila McKinnon showed off a sneak peek of her stunning Carla Zampatti gown while she got ready for the 2016 Logie Awards at the Crown Towers on Sunday The blonde beauty shared to Instagram a snap of herself posing in a bathroom and taking a full length selfie in the mirror. Her dress features a high-neck and stunning caped sleeves. It also showed off her curves being figure-hugging in design and had a thigh split. See Logies red carpet updates as Leila McKinnon stuns in a backless Carla Zampatti gown Angelic! Her stunning gown also showed off her curves being figure-hugging in design and had a thigh split Daring split: Her white gown also features a high-neck and stunning caped sleeves and a cut out back panel Her hair slicked back off her face while her make-up included a smokey eye. She also showed off a deep golden tan for the event. The TV personality captioned the shot: 'And the front @carlazampatti #tvweeklogies2016.' She also shared a selfie, and said she did her best Kim Kardashian 'session.' 'Exhausted myself doing @kimkardashian selfie session - kudos Kimmy it's harder than it looks #tvweeklogies2016,' Leila captioned the shot. Adding some height: She completed her look with a pair of gold lace up heels Simple: Her hair slicked back off her face while her make-up included a smokey eye. She also showed off a deep golden tan for the event Perfect from every angle: She also shared a selfie, and said she did her best Kim Kardashian 'session' Family: Leila is married to former Channel Nine CEO David Gyngell, with the pair sharing two young children together, son Ted, three, and daughter Gwendolen, 23 months In the image, she gave a glimpse of her accessories, including her diamond earrings. Meanwhile the back of her dress can be seen, where she has two cut outs across her shoulders. Leila is married to former Channel Nine CEO David Gyngell, with the pair sharing two young children together, son Ted, three, and daughter Gwendolen, 23 months. The pair have been married since 2004. She also this year celebrated a career milestone, celebrating 20 years at the Nine Network. Career woman: She also celebrated a career milestone, celebrating 20 years at the Nine Network Advertisement Celebrating Australian television's night of nights, the biggest names in the industry stepped out in Melbourne on Sunday evening for the 2016 TV Week Logie Awards. Sashaying down the red carpet at Melbourne's The Crown Palladium, the likes of Jesinta Campbell, Carrie Bickmore and Jessica Marais certainly had heads turning. Former Miss Universe Australia Jesinta cut a daring figure in a dark green bodysuit over which she wore a long-sleeve netted frock to show off her lithe model figure. Scroll down for video Winning look: Jessica Marais dared to bare in a revealing gown and she ended up taking home a Silver Logie Taking the plunge: Her stunning gown featured a low neckline, revealing a glimpse of her cleavage Sexy back: Jessica put her svelte figure on display for all to see The ensemble by local designers Camilla and Marc was cinched at her waist to add a dramatic hourglass silhouette. Jesinta pumped up her already statuesque height with a pair of strappy black heels, which could barely be seen underneath the thick lace. Her long brunette locks were styled straight and slicked back behind her ears to show off some dazzling stud earrings. Her jewellery was otherwise subtle, but her enormous engagement ring from her fiance Lance 'Buddy' Franklin was hard to miss. See Logies 2016 updates as Jesinta Campbell, Carrie Bickmore and Jessica Marais dare to bare on the red carpet Quite a display: Beauty queen Jesinta Campbell stepped out in a revealing Camilla and Marc number at the 2016 Logie Awards in Melbourne on Sunday Revealing: She cut a daring figure in a dark green bodysuit over which she wore a long-sleeve netted frock to show off her lithe model figure Mother and son: Home And Away star Pia Miller brought her son along for the red carpet experience Epitome of elegance: The soap star chose to wear a beautiful design by Steven Khalil Ruffling feathers: The X Factor Australia judge Dannii Minogue wasn't afraid to make a style statement Tie me up: Dannii's dressed was secured at the back with criss-cross straps Glamour queen: The Project host and Gold Logie nominee Carrie Bickmore arrived in a sophisticated black outfit Making her way: The blonde beauty stepped out in front of the media wall with care, strutting her stuff in a pair of white strappy heels Allowing for the drama of the dress to speak for itself, her makeup was subdued but elegant, with light smoky eyes and bronzed cheeks. Jesinta added subtle colour in the form of a burgundy manicure. Meanwhile, Gold Logie nominee Carrie Bickmore showed off her slim frame in a semi-sheer black beaded dress that cascaded down to the floor with an elegant train. The blonde beauty posed with her hand on her hip, drawing attention to her hourglass figure as she flashed a glimpse of her slim legs underneath the semi-sheer fabric. To help her withstand the cool autumn weather, the garment featured long sleeves with the graphic print working its way down her arms with sequins and beading. The popular TV host styled her blonde locks in a stylish bun, sweeping her side-fringe in gentle curls to one side. Lovely couple: Gold Logie winner Waleed Aly arrived with wife Susan Carland Ethereal: Singer Delta Goodrem arrived at the television awards in a sheer lace, bridal-inspired dress Glamorous display: The Voice Australia coach's floor-length gown also featured a stunning trail Ramsay Street stunner: Neighbours star Olympia Valance stunned in a J'Aton couture gown Flaunting it: The brunette beauty wasn't afraid to reveal a hint of her cleavage while posing for photos Her makeup was radiant, with luminous cheeks and a nude lip, finishing off her look with an off-white manicure. Pregnant Rebecca Judd was also certainly dressed to impress, the wife of retired AFL star Chris Judd arriving in a light blue J'Aton gown. With a fitted bodice and off-shoulder sleeves, her glamorous gown was complete with a tutu-style skirt that fell to the floor. Also in lace: Model Megan Gale also opted for the popular lace trend on the red carpet Red alert: Megan stepped out in a maroon coloured gown embellished with lace and featuring a thigh-high slit Rocking it: Ksenija Lukich worked her best angles for the cameras in this Burberry ensemble Putting her best fashion foot forward: Tasma Walton stunned in a light pink lace ensemble as she attended with husband Rove McManus Cute couple: The pair cuddled up on the red carpet The brunette beauty, who is expecting twins, also accessorised with a pair of glimmering earrings from Paul Bram Diamonds. While mingling with other big names at the prestigious television event, the weather presenter held onto a shiny clutch bag that complemented her gown. Her makeup was also applied to absolute perfection, with a slick of light pink lipstick and lashings of jet black mascara. Going green: The Bachelor star Laurina Fleure stood out with her OTT green gown Supporting the locals: Laurina's dress was designed by Australian couture label Con Ilio Centre of attention: Laurina was impossible to ignore making her way through the crowds while a glamourous pal helped with the train In good spirits: The I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! star performed a playful hand gesture for the cameras Meanwhile, her light brown locks were pulled up into a bouncy, high ponytail. Miss Universe Australia Monika Radulovic treated the red carpet like her own runway, arriving at the soiree in a stunning white Vera Wang dress. The 25-year-old catwalk sensation's strappy dress showcased her slender arms, the glamorous gown also falling to the floor, complete with an elegant trail. Her dark tresses were pulled back for the occasion, and she accessorised with a stunning clutch. House Husbands actress Julia Morris stepped out in a stunning red Alin Le' Kal dress. The fit and flare frock featured a plunging neckline that revealed a glimpse of her cleavage, and was embellished with delicate floral petals to add a soft touch to the ensemble. Metallic magic: Sonia Kruger arrived in a shiny gold ensemble with shredded detail Attention to detail: The mother-of-one's dress was designed in such a way to allow her back to be on show for all to see Working it: Former Miss Universe Jennifer Hawkins stepped out in a midriff-baring olive green outfit Mix and match: She accessorised her look with a pair of sleek black heels and a matching clutch Meanwhile model and television presenter Lauren Phillips opted for a similar coloured outfit. The brunette beauty arrived in a maroon-coloured dressed designed by Australian couture label, Con Ilio. The media personality's gown featured a corset-style bodice that hugged her petite frame perfectly. Hot couple alert: The Bachelor's Snezana Markoski and Sam Wood certainly had heads turning Sultry stunner: Snezana's outfit features sheer-cut out panels on the sides to showcase her taut waist Summer Bay stunner: Home And Away star Ada Nicodemou arrived in a Paolo Sebastian number Red got: The NRL Footy Show star Erin Molan certainly knew how to make a statement in this striking scarlet gown Meanwhile, the back of Lauren's dress featured a cut-out complete with intricate laced detail. With her caramel tresses pulled up in a chic high bun, she certainly knew how to work her best angles on the red carpet. Someone who certainly wasn't afraid to flash some flesh on the night was Dannii Minogue. Fun duo: Julia Morris was joined by her I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here co-host Dr Chris Brown on the red carpet On show: Julia wasn't afraid to flash the flesh, with the back of her dress dipping quite low Statement look: Home And Away star Philippa Northeast opted for a striking headpiece to complement her scarlet gown Accessoriser: The brunette beauty also wore a pair of matching earrings and a silver clutch Striking: Real Housewives Of Melbourne stars Chyka Keebaugh (L) and Susie McLean (R) opted for maroon and red gowns accordingly The 44-year-old proved to be an arresting sight courtesy of her embellished sheer gown that exposed plenty of flesh as she arrived at the event. The younger sister of pop icon Kylie was all the more eye-catching thanks to the daring thigh-high slash that fully revealed her left leg. Sheer arms and a chest partially obscured by the gown's intricate embellished design served to reinforce her red carpet style credentials as she posed for an obligatory round of photos as she made her way inside. Dressed to impress: Television presenter Lauren Phillips arrived in a maroon dressed designed by Australian couture label Con Ilio Sheer daring: The skirt element of Lauren's outfit was made of see-through material, allowing her trim pins to be on display Sultry: The back of Lauren's dress featured a cut-out complete with intricate laced detail Flaunting that figure: The media personality's gown featured a corset-style bodice that hugged her petite frame perfectly Working it: The model certainly knew how to work her best angles on the red carpet The X Factor Australia judge added to her look with strappy black heels, while her accessories were reduced to earrings, a single statement ring and simple clutch - thus allowing her dress to take centre stage. Dannii gave the otherwise neutral look a welcome splash of colour by sporting vibrant red lipstick and a rather generous application of matching red blusher. The singer and TV personality was evidently in high spirits on the night and offered onlookers a characteristically warm smile as she crossed the red carpet and made her way into the venue. Belle of the ball: Rebecca Judd was certainly dressed to impress when arriving at the 2016 Logie Awards in Melbourne on Sunday in a light blue J'Aton gown Absolutely beautiful: With a fitted bodice and off-shoulder sleeves, her glamorous gown was complete with a tutu-style skirt that fell to the floor Glitz and glamour: The brunette beauty, who is expecting twins, also accessorised with a pair of glimmering earrings from Paul Bram Diamonds Nice in navy: Glitch actress Emma Booth (L) and The Block star Vonni Coser (R) stepped out in dark blue frocks Looking immaculate: The Today Show host Lisa Wilkinson stunned in a Pallas Couture creation Co-stars: Lisa happily posed for photos alongside Sylvia Jeffreys who is the newsreader on Channel Nine's The Today Show Another star who made a dramatic entrance was Erin Molan. The host of the NRL Foot Show showed off her super slim frame in a backless red frock, with thin straps criss-crossed over her shoulder blades. Featuring a high thigh split, the sleek crimson garment draped beautifully as it dragged behind her in a long train. Here they are: The Real Housewives Of Melbourne stars posed for a group photo in front of the media wall Hello sunshine: Real Housewives Of Melbourne star Janet Roach (L) wore a bright yellow gown on the red carpet while Sarah Snook (R) opted for orange Quirky: Gold Logie nominee Lee Lin Chin exuded confidence as she arrived at the television event Very bright: The SBS newsreader opted for a vibrant outfit on the night The blonde beauty styled her long tresses in loose waves with a middle part, tucking her hair behind her ears to reveal stunningly simple gold studs. Her makeup was glowing, with a light dusting of blush to highlight her high cheek bones and light smoky eyes to add some Hollywood glamour. Erin accessorised with a simple gold choker so as not to distract from the eye-catching garment. Reality couple: The Bachelorettes Sam Frost and Sasha Mielczarek made their Logies red carpet debut as a couple That's a change: Former X Factor Australia winner Samantha Jade showed off a new hairstyle Turning heads: Samantha'd dress featured a peek-a-boo cut-out across the front which revealed a glimpse of her cleavage Gothic chic: The Block host Shelley Craft deviated from her usual style, with this black and white dress and dark makeup Busty display: Susie Elelman flaunted her assets in a sleek black gown embellished with white laced detail Daring: Channel Seven newsreader Melissa Doyle's black dress featured flared sleeves as well as criss-cross detail along the neckline That night, she posed with her co-hosts Beau Ryan, Paul 'Fatty' Paul Vautin and Darryl Brohman, showing the frock from front-on. This year some popular faces from the small screen were nominated for the coveted Gold gong. The Project's Waleed Aly took out the award, defeating his co-host Carrie Bickmore, as well as SBS newsreader Lee Lin Chin, The Block host Scott Cam, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries actress Essie Davis and Family Feud host Grant Denyer. Looking quite all white: Beauty queen Scherri-Lee Biggs took the plunge in this stylish number White hot: Home And Away star Bonnie Sveen wore a gorgeous white gown with a daring cut-out across the front White on the mark: Miss Universe Australia Monika Radulovic treated the red carpet like her own runway, arriving at the soiree in a stunning white Vera Wang dress Beautiful: The 25-year-old catwalk sensation's strappy dress showcased her slender arms Thigh's the limit: Both Leila McKinnon and Livinia Nixon arrived in white gowns with a sultry thigh-hight slits Working it: Home And Away star Isabella Giovinazzo stepped out in a stunning two-piece ensemble Fashionistas: The Real Housewives Of Melbourne stars Jackie Gillies (L), Pettifleur Berenger (C) and Gamble Breaux (R) opted for neutral coloured gowns Here come the Housewives: Pettifleur (L) and co-star Gina Liano (R) both flaunted their ample assets in cleavage-baring gowns Movers and shakers: Model Cheyenne Tozzi (L) posed next to her friend, fashion designer Alex Perry (R) Lady in red: Cheyenne looked simply stunning in a Valentino floor-length dress and gold high heels Exotic: All Saints star Georgie Parker matched her low-cut dress with a dramatic statement necklace Veteran: Georgie is already a two-time Gold Logie winner, earning the top prize in 2001 and 2002 Blooming beautiful: Studio 10 presenter Jessica Rowe was dressed to impress in a white gown splashed with a blue floral design Floral fun: A Place To Call Home actress Marta Dusseldorp arrived in a floor-length floral gown In bloom: Marta Dusseldorp was certainly a stand-out with her colourful, full-length dress and statement earrings Stepping out: Actress Miranda Tapsell cut a glamourous figure in a silver gown with a thigh split and matching choker Busty display: Sports reporter Yvonne Sampson flaunted plenty of cleavage in her plunging black dress Close-up: Ex-AFL star Darren Jolly and his wife Deanne, who previously appeared on The Block together, put on an affectionate display Silver spectacle: Actress Sophie Lowe dazzled in a sparkly off-the-shoulder dress and opted for a slick of red lipstick No aprons here: Masterchef judges Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston were all suited up In pairs: Ryan 'Fitzy' Fitzgerald and Michael 'Wippa' Wipfli (L), Jordan and Zac Stenmark (C) and Pete Helliar and Anthony 'Lehmo' Lehmann (R) all posed for snaps Looking sharp: The Block host Scott Cam (L) and Darren Palmer (R) both opted for smart bow ties It's the day of the year where mothers are showered in presents from flowers, chocolates and breakfast in bed. And on Sunday actress Jodi Anasta enjoyed her first Mother's Day as a single woman since splitting from husband Braith in December. Taking to social media to gloat about her day the 31-year-old beamed with happiness as she cuddled up to her two-year-old daughter Aleeia. Scroll down for video Moments: Actress Jodi Anasta enjoyed her first Mother's Day as a single woman on Sunday since splitting from husband Braith in December In the image the toddler sat firmly on the model's lap as they both displayed super wide smiles for the camera. Aleeia looked like a princess as she sported a pink tutu gown which featured embroidered flowers across the top. Jodi looked flawless in the shot as she slipped her slender frame into a tanned dress that featured flared long sleeves. Getting ready: Last week Jodi revealed how she intended to spend her first Mother's Day as a single woman Bond: Speaking to Daily Mail Australia the model explained she would enjoy the day with her two-year-old daughter Aleeia as well as family and friends While opting for very minimal makeup, she wore her two-toned brunette locks out and tucked behind her ears. 'The most special day celebrating with my little princess,' she captioned the shot. 'Especially loved seeing Aleeia in her @tutudumonde and our matching @melissa_harris_jewellery necklaces. Happy Mother's Day everyone! #tutudumondexmelissaharris.' Last week the mother-of-one explained to Daily Mail Australia that she would enjoy Mother's Day with her two-year-old daughter as well as her close family and friends. Family...and friends! The actress explained she will begin the day with 'a gorgeous breakky with my friends and Aleeia' before relocating to the Sydney Aquarium for lunch with her own mother Bronwyn Gordon Moving forward: The pair announced their separation in December after three years of marriage She explained she will begin the day with 'a gorgeous breakky with my friends and Aleeia' before relocating to the Sydney Aquarium for lunch with her mother Bronwyn Gordon. 'It will be a full but wonderful day with all my loved ones,' Jodi continued to tell Daily Mail Australia. The Myer ambassador and Braith welcomed their daughter in 2014. They've been dating since 2014, shortly after his 19 year marriage to actress Melanie Griffith ended. And Antonio Banderas and Nicole Kempel proved they were still going strong as they stepped out in style for the AMBI GALA in Rome on Saturday which honoured the Spanish actor for his cinematic endeavours. While the 55-year-old actor looked typically dapper, it was his beautiful other half who stole the show in a mini-dress which flaunted her toned pins. Scroll down for video Going strong: Antonio Banderas and Nicole Kempel stepped out in style for the AMBI GALA in Rome on Saturday which honoured the Spanish actor for his cinematic endeavours She looks gorgeous! While the Spanish actor looked typically dapper, it was his beautiful other half who stole the show in a show-stopping mini-dress The sparkly red and gold animal print dress skimmed her impressive figure. Falling short of her knees, the beauty stood tall in a pair of open-toe silver strappy heels. Her perfectly slicked down blonde locks boded well with the eye-catching number and ensured her emerging fashionista status. The Dutch investment consultant went on to put on a flirty display as she smiled with her glossy nude lips and her black lined eyes. Show-stopper! The sparkly red and gold clad dress featured animal prints throughout and skimmed her impressive figure Turning heads: Her dress featured a criss-cross design on her back showcasing her svelte back Complementing the sexy look was a dramatic black and gold handbag as she clung on to the man of the night. Banderas cemented his dashing reputation in a black suit over a crisp white shirt and slick black tie. The high-quality suit featured slight gold and red hues which complemented his shiny black boots. Beauty Her perfectly slicked down locks boded well with the eye-catching number and ensured her emerging fashionista status Pose! Antonio shows takes a selfie with fans Hard work pays off: The opulent event also honoured his soon to be Black Butterfly co-star Jonathan Rhy Meyers Keeping is casual: He wore a light blue shirt, which was buttoned down halfway with a pair of specs hung in the middle As an industry veteran, he has no doubt perfected his red carpet pose which was evident as he made eyes at the camera with his brown eyes and scruffy grey beard. The opulent event also honoured his future Black Butterfly co-star, Jonathan Rhy-Meyers. The Tudors actor, 38, looked extraordinarily handsome and healthy after his long battle with the booze. Being honoured: The two actors posed together with their large silver trophies at the AMBI Gala Having a laugh: They even shared a jokey conversation Can't take him anywhere: Jonathan can't wipe the grin off his face as Banderas cracks his jokes Great night: The men looked pleased as they posed with their trophies Opting for a slightly more casual attire than Banderas, he wore a light blue shirt, blazer, black jeans and cool brown boots. The two actors posed together with their large silver trophies and enjoyed a fun-filled conversation whilst receiving a frenzy of support from other attendees. Model Yvonne Scio stepped out in style, along with producer Monika Bacardi and entrepreneur Andrea Lervolino. Fiery beauty: Antonio poses with attendee model Yvonne Scio Glam guests: From (L-R) Producer Lady Monica Bacardi, Andrea Iervolino, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Mara Lane, Antonio Banderas and Nicole Kimpel His dramatic skills and rugged good looks have helped him to make quite a name for himself in Hollywood. And while Joshua Sasse is the picture of confidence on camera, it seems he was in need of a boost when it came to his thinning hairline - having reportedly undergone a 5,000 hair transplant. According to The Sun, Kylie Minogue's 28-year-old fiance is said to have had the procedure to due to 'a confidence thing' after he became concerned about his follicles - despite not being anywhere near bald. Scroll down for video Bolstering his bonce? While Joshua Sasse is the picture of confidence on camera, it seems he was in need of a boost when it came to his thinning hairline - having reportedly undergone a 5,000 hair transplant The actor - who is best known for his role in ABC's hit fairytale drama - has been seen wearing a number of hats and headscarves in public, leading to speculation on the state of his pate. However, it's believed that his 47-year-old fiancee was very supportive of the matter, and even chipped in to help out with the cost of the procedure - reportedly around the 5,000. Speaking to the newspaper, one insider explained Joshua's reasoning behind the procedure was purely for his own peace of mind. Speaking about the London-born star's decision to undergo the cosmetic procedure, one insider said: 'It may come as a surprise to some as he was definitely nowhere near going bald. It's a confidence thing: According to The Sun, Kylie Minogue's 28-year-old fiance is said to have had the procedure to due to 'a confidence thing' after he became concerned about his follicles 'However, his hair was starting to thing and it was a confidence thing so he decided to get it done.' MailOnline has contacted representatives for both Joshua and Kylie for comment. The news comes just months after the couple announced their engagement, with the pair revealing their plans to marry in February. The couple publicly announced their plans to marry earlier this year, despite the two decade age gap. The Spinning Around pop star revealed the upcoming nuptials with Sasse less than 48 hours after her lover sent fans into a frenzy by calling her his fiancee. 'His hair was starting to thing and it was a confidence thing so he decided to get it done': An insider told The Sun though he was far from bald, the actor has had the procedure to bolster his self-esteem A forthcoming marriage announcement was placed in Daily Telegraph beneath the names Mr JS von Sasse and Miss KA Minogue. It read: 'The engagement is announced between Joshua, son of the late Dominic Sasse and of Mary Heale (nee Macauley), of Herefordshire, and Kylie, eldest daughter of Ronald and Carol Minogue, of Melbourne, Australia.' Kylie met her husband-to-be in September after appearing on his hit-show in a cameo role, and she has spoken publicly about their romance, as well as appearing at showbiz events sporting a glittering jewel on her wedding finger. The second whole house transformation was revealed on Sunday night's episode of House Rules. And its had been a long week away for South Australia parents, Brooke and Michelle, whose set of house rules left everyone guessing. But as judges Joe Snell and Wendy Moore gave their verdicts, newcomers Fil and Joe's family bathroom was branded a 'disaster' after they spent 'half' their budget on blue tiles. Oh, dear! House Rules newcomers Fil (left) and Joe's (right) bathroom was branded a 'turquoise disaster' after they spent 'half' their budget on blue tiles for Adelaide couple Brooke and Michelle's home last week But despite these strong criticisms, homeowners Brooke and Michelle surprisingly loved the results, which satisfied the 'rule' to transform their bathroom into a 'turquoise delight'. Last week, Fil and Joe struggled to find their feet during the first stages of the renovation as they were handed the master bedroom and family bathroom as their designated zones. After purchasing a bulk of the small rectangle-shaped tiles, Fil spent a whopping 'half' of the couple's budget, telling her husband: 'You dont want to know how much I spent!' Not impressed? Judge Joe Snell (right), an architect and designer, was not impressed with Fil and Joe's choice of blue tiles in their first renovation - but Home Beautiful editor Wendy Moore (left) was more sympathetic Room for improvement: Wendy 'didn't mind the tiles' but criticised them for not spanning the height of the wall Brooke and Michelle's house rules - Play up the elegant charm of our period home - Add a funky, modern living area - Give Michelle a tough luxe work space with guest bed - Surprise with a playful piece in every zone - Make our bathroom a turquoise delight At first it seemed their budget was wasted as expert Joe Snell, an architect and designer, ruled their tiled bathroom 'a disaster'. He said, witheringly: 'For me, this a turquoise disaster'. Home Beautiful magazine editor Wendy Moore said she 'didn't mind the tiles' but criticised them for not spanning the full height of the wall. Tough love: Joe said, witheringly: 'For me, this a turquoise disaster' and Wendy also noted that they had 'bitten off more than they can chew' A risky investment? Last week, Fil spent 'half' of the couple's budget on a bulk of small rectangle-shaped tiles Both experts also found fault with the bathroom door which opened out into the hallway, rather than back into the room. 'People will be moving out of here and clobber someone who's walking in the hallway', noted judge Joe. Wendy added: 'They've bitten off more than they can chew. They've got so many big ideas about what they can do but they've just got no idea how difficult it is to get this zone done in seven days. 'They need to hit the ground running next week,' she concluded. When it came to offering their verdicts, both Joe and Wendy gave the Melbourne couple a distinctly average five out of 10, adding up to a total of 10 out of 20. At least they like it! Despite judge Joe's complaints, Adelaide homeowners Michelle and Brooke were delighted by the choice of tiles Job done! One of the couple's rules was to 'make (the) bathroom a turquoise delight', and they weren't let down Happy customers: 'I was worried about the turquoise delight and they've just got it right,' said Michelle (right) Designated rooms - Luke and Cody: kitchen, walk in wardrobe and main - Fil and John: master bedroom and family bathroom - Nancy and Daniel: girl's bathroom, Michelle's work space and guest bedroom - Claire and Hagan: girls bedroom, dining and pantry - Rose and Rob: living room, laundry and hall way Wendy acknowledged there were 'good elements' in their zone but observed they noticeably 'struggled' with their first renovation. And half way through the episode, Fil and Joe placed joint bottom of the leader board alongside rivals Rose and Rob. But when it was homeowners Brooke and Michelle's turn to give their all-important verdict, they specifically praised the tiled family bathroom. Rookie error: Both experts also found fault with the bathroom door which opened out into the hallway, rather than back into the room 'They need to hit the ground running next week': Expert Wendy said Fil and Joe need to up their game Criticism: They narrowly avoided last place on Sunday, but the couple's poor performance was noted by Joe 'Are you serious? They (the tiles) are amazing. I was worried about the turquoise delight and they've just got it right', remarked Michelle. 'Well done whoever did this,' she concluded. But Brooke said 'the only downfall' was - as the judges previously pointed out - the outward opening bathroom door. The couple were also left perplexed by the $1350 vase Fil chose for the master bedroom - which they reckoned was a hazard around their young children. Oops: Fil and Joe also renovated the master bedroom, but Brooke and Michelle said it 'wasn't (their) style' Back in the studio: Brooke and Michelle offered Fil and Joe six out of 10 for their efforts, taking their final score to 16 and pushing them just ahead of Rose and Rob, who placed last with 15 points Previously, Wendy described it as an 'unnecessary extravagance' but Fil nonetheless remained confident in her decision. Back in the studio, Brooke and Michelle offered Fil and Joe six out of 10 for their efforts - taking their final score to 16. In the updated leader boards, this pushed them from bottom of the pile to just ahead of Rose and Rob, who placed fifth and last with 15. She's never afraid to put her best foot forward on the red carpet, and at 2016 TV Week Logie Awards, Gamble Breaux she upped the anti. The Real Housewives Of Melbourne star stepped out on the red carpet in a glamourous nude gown. And while the dress itself was left surprisingly void of embellishment, the 45-year-old jazzed it up with an extremely intricate jewelled leg piece. Scroll down for video Best leg forward! Real Housewives Of Melbourne star Gamble Breaux stepped out on the red carpet in a glamourous nude gown by designer Alin Le'Kal Gamble's Alin Le'Kal gown featured a high neckline and cinched in waist, which then gathered to one side with a revealing thigh-high split. The House of Emmanuele leg bling clung to the reality star's leg, which peaked out from the split, and it featured a web of black white crystals and gold chaining. Gamble completed her awards night look with oversized jewelled earrings that reached her collarbone. Her long blonde tresses were swept to one side in loose curls while Gamble opted for sleek winged eyeliner, lightly blushed cheeks and a light pink lip for makeup. See more Logies red carpet style as Gamble Breaux opts for an usual accessory Bling! While the dress itself was left surprisingly void of embellishment, the 45-year-old put her best leg forward wearing an extremely intricate jewelled leg piece by House of Emmanuele Shining bright: The bubbly blonde put on a shining display as she arrived at the Crown Casino for the event Turning heads: As she strolled down the Melbourne streets, bystanders couldn't help but stare at the stunning reality star and her darling leg split She completed her Logies look with sky-high bedazzled peep-toe heels and a sparkly white clutch, which she held in her perfectly french manicured hands. Designer Alin Le Kal is close friends with the starlet, having designed Gamble's wedding dress when she tied the knot with Dr Rick Wolfe in Byron Bay. The 26kg dress featured a plunging neckline and was covered in 120,000 glass pearls and beads. Gamble was joined on the red carpet by her Real Housewives co-stars, who all put on glamourous displays of their own. Bedazzled: She completed her Logies look with sky-high bedazzled peep-toe heels and a sparkly white clutch, which she held in her perfectly french manicured hands The whole gang: Gamble arrived with her Real Housewives co-stars In good company: Gamble was joined by her equally glamorous Real Housewives Of Melbourne co-stars Getting ready: The co-stars fussed with the dresses while posing for photos at the annual event Designer pal: Designer Alin Le Kal is close friends with the starlet, having designed Gamble's wedding dress when she tied the knot with Dr Rick Wolfe in Byron Bay She split from her fiance James Stewart last year after five years together. But Jessica Marais arrived on the arm of her Love Child co-stars at the 2016 Logie Awards in Melbourne on Sunday night. And the 31-year-old certainly made a statement when it came to her style on the night, showing off plenty of skin in a black lace J'Aton gown. Back to the Eighties: Jessica Marais made a style statement in an Eighties-inspired lace gown at the 2016 Logies in Melbourne on Sunday night Flashing the flesh: Jessica's dress showed off plenty of skin, especially her toned back The sweeping backless gown was made from intricate lace material and the cut of the garment featured a low-cut front and a boxy shoulder. Meanwhile, the rear of the garment showed off nearly all of her very muscular back, which was covered with a very nude material. For her accessories Jessica, who won a silver Logie for Best Actress on the night, wore two diamonds rings - one on her right hand and another on her left hand wedding finger, but it was not her engagement ring from ex-James. See Logies 2016 updates as Jessica Marais wear a VERY low-cut and backless gown Revealing: Jessica's gown revealed plenty of her cleavage In the nude: The rear of the garment showed off nearly all of her very muscular back, but was covered with a very nude material Pulling her hair back into a tight ponytail, she revealed some large gold stud earrings and carried a black clutch. Jessica's appearance on the red carpet is her first since it became apparent that her former partner may very well have moved on. The 40-year-old former Packed To The Rafters star was recently pictured with blonde beauty Jessica Nock in a social media snap. Peace out: Jessica's appearance on the red carpet is her first since it became apparent that her former partner James Stewart may very well have moved on Friends: Jessica arrived on the arm of her Love Child co-stars at the event Glowing: The Packed To The Rafters star glowed from head-to-toe The image, posted to an Instagram page, which claims to be James' account, shows the pair seated next to each other while enjoying a meal with fellow actors Ryan Corr and George Mason. Jessica appears to have her arm around James while his hand looks to be resting on her knee. Also joining the pair at North Bondi hot spot Porch and Parlous, was Ryan and George, along with their respective girlfriends. Ryan, who worked with James on Packed To The Rafters, was seated next to his ladylove Kyla Bartholomeusz. Accessories: Jessica accessorised with two diamond rings and a pair of large gold studs Meanwhile George, who has become well acquainted with James on the set of Home And Away, was accompanied by his girlfriend Manon Buchalet. In May last year James and actress Jessica Marais announce they had split. The couple's management released a statement at the time revealing the news of their split, saying that the two actors were focusing on their daughter Scout. Touching up: Jessica was seen reapplying her lipstick once inside the event 'Jessica Marais and James Stewart have amicably separated. Their main focus at this time is the co-parenting of their daughter and they ask that media respect their privacy,' it read. The couple met on set of Channel 7 family drama Packed To The Rafters in 2009, and made their first public appearance as a couple at the Logies nomination breakfast in March 2010. As romance blossomed between their characters - he played cheeky electrician Jake Barton opposite Jessica's career girl, Rachel Rafter - it seems sparks also flew off screen. Flawless: Jessica, who won a silver Logie for Best Actress, pulled her long blonde locks back tight into a ponytail In high spirit: Jessica appeared to be having a ball at the event They got engaged in October that year and announced they were expecting their first child in November 2011, with Scout born in May 2012. After a brief stint in Hollywood, where Jessica tried to crack into the market, the small family returned home, with the actress starring in a leading role on popular series of Love Child. She is next set to appear on Channel Ten drama, The Wrong Girl, while James will be starring on Channel Seven's Home And Away. Emotional The actress dedicated her win to her daughter, Scout Proud: Jessica posed backstage in the press room with her award Her eccentric sense of style has perhaps won her as much attention as her hugely successful TV career, and Sunday evening proved to be no exception as Lee Lin Chin made a rather colourful entrance at the 2016 TV Week Logie Awards. The SBS presenter and journalist sported a garish lemon yellow shirt and trousers for her arrival at Melbourne's Crown Casino ahead of the annual event. Lee Lin, 62, added to the ensemble with braces and a matching yellow bow-tie, while intentionally mismatched red shoes rounded things off. Scroll down for video Colourful: Her eccentric sense of style has perhaps won her as much attention as her hugely successful TV career, and Sunday evening proved to be no exception as Lee Lin Chin made an entrance at the 2016 TV Week Logie Awards The Jakarta born star added to her look with a floral head-piece that proved to be something of a focal point as she posed for photos while holding onto the arm of a young companion. Bold red lipstick added an extra splash of colour to Lee Lin's ensemble as she made her way inside the venue for the annual ceremony - where she finds herself nominated for two awards. Lee Lin has been nominated for both Best Presenter and the most coveted Gold Logie, and the SBS presenter took to social media after being given the news in April to tweet her excitement, writing: 'Waking up a gold Logie nominee just feels better you know?' In good company: The Jakarta born star was joined by a young companion ahead of the annual event The sassy newsreader has pushed her Logies campaign on her followers on Twitter for months, and she thanked them for their support. Lee Lin finished her message in true to form style, writing: 'I believe I truly deserve this.' Late last year she couldn't pass up the opportunity to use the holidays as another excuse to vote for her. See Logie Awards 2016 updates as Lee Lin Chin is at her eccentric best on the red carpet Finishing touches: Lee Lin, 62, added to the ensemble with braces and a matching yellow bow-tie, while intentionally mismatched red shoes rounded things off 'Merry Christmas, let's exchange presents. I'll continue to let you live and you give me your vote in the TV Week Logies,' she tweeted to her 76,800 followers at the time. Lee Lin's work with the SBS2 program The Feed has been a key to her rising popularity, with videos that saw her facing off against fellow newsreaders and a kitchen fight with Maggie Beer. Since her nomination was announced she has updated her Twitter bio to include 'gold Logie nominee' and received support from fellow journalist and gold winner Karl Stefanovic. Friendly: The media personality walked arm in arm with her companion towards the red carpet She has allegedly split from her husband of nine years Chrys Xipolitas. And on Sunday, Home And Away's Ada Nicodemou stepped onto the 2016 TV Week Logie Awards red carpet solo. The 38-year-old stunned in a custom red Paolo Sebastian gown that showed off her slender frame. Scroll down for video Coming in red hot: Home And Away's Ada Nicodemou showed off her slender frame on Sunday in a custom Paolo Sebastian gown as she atteneded the 2016 Logie Awards in Melbourne on Sunday night The garment featured a plunging neckline that showcased her cleavage while a high split at the front revealed her slim pins. The satin piece gathered tightly around Ada's torso and dropped loosely to the ground as it formed a metre-long train. She slipped on a pair of deep red peep toe heels and added a touch of bling to her attire with a silver diamond necklace. See Logies 2016 red carpet news as Home And Away's Ada Nicodemou wears a red gown Revealing: The garment featured a plunging neckline that showcased her cleavage while a high split at the front revealed her slim pins Perfect fit: The satin piece gathered tightly around Ada's torso and dropped loosely to the ground as it formed a metre-long train Keeping it simple:The mother-of-one wore her caramel locks out and parted down the middle while styling them in a loose curl Nude: She opted for a natural eye makeup look, consisting of brown eye shadow, light black mascara and some nude lipstick The mother-of-one wore her caramel locks out and parted down the middle while styling them in a loose curl. She opted for a natural eye makeup look, consisting of brown eye shadow, light black mascara and some nude lipstick. Her best friend and Home And Away, co-star Lynne McGranger, attended the awards ceremony by Ada's side. Pals: While on the red carpet Ada posed alongside her co-star and new mother Emily Symons, who showed off her post-pregnancy figure Returning: The new mother flaunted her slim figure in a tight-fitting ball gown that featured a mermaid tail Red hot: Philippa Northeast also stunned in a vibrant coloured gown Feeling blue: Home And Away's Lynne McGranger attended the awards ceremony in a royal blue off-the-shoulder gown The actress, who portrays Irene Roberts of the award-winning show, stunned in a royal blue off-the-shoulder gown. The piece featured a V-cut front and hugged tightly around her frame as a sheer cape draped down her back. The 63-year-old had her recently dyed mahogany-coloured hair out and blow-dried with a wave. Pia Miller was quite a sight, also sporting an off-the-shoulder gown. Hot mama! Pia Miller was quite a sight at the event, sporting a black off-the-shoulder gown Model material: The revealing dress, which featured a bandeau-style neckline, flattered the mother-of-two's enviable figure Stunning in white: Her close friend and colleague, Isabella Giovinazzo, left heads turning as she rocked a flawless white two-piece ensemble Pretty in green: Tessa De Josselin looked amazing in a green sequinned gown Head-turning: The piece featured a thigh high split at the front and a backless display The revealing dress, which featured a bandeau-style neckline, flattered the mother-of-two's enviable figure. With her dark locks left loose, Pia let her beauty shine through with a natural makeup look. Meanwhile, her close friend and colleague Isabella Giovinazzo left heads turning as she rocked a flawless white two-piece gown. She's back: Former Home And Away star Demi Harman flaunted her curves in a velvet floor length gown Together: Long time actress Georgie Parker (second from right) sported a gold plunging gown to the awards while Bonnie Sveen (right) opted for a white cut-out dress that flaunted her toned torso Hunky: The show's popular doctor Kyle Pryor (left) slipped into a navy and black suit which he paired with a white button-up shirt and bow tie Winners are grinners: During the night the cast of Home And Away took out the Silver Logie Award for Best Drama She flaunted her super toned torso in a one-shoulder top and matching high-waisted skirt that wafted along the ground behind her. The 25-year-old tucked her long brunette hair behind her ears and added a touch of colour to her thanks to her deep purple lipstick. During the night, the cast of Home And Away took out the Silver Logie Award for Best Drama. It keeps growing: Over 28 years Home And Away have won 45 Logie Awards Veteran screen star Noni Hazlehurst has used her Logies Hall Of Fame speech to take aim at the snail-like pace of change within the Australian TV industry. Hazlehurst said the industry was slow accept women and non-Anglo Saxon Logie nominees Waleed Aly and Lee Lin Chin. She said: 'The fact that I'm only the second woman to be given this honour is merely a reflection of the prevailing guard. Scroll down for video Veteran actress Noni Hazlehurst has become only the second woman ever to be inducted into the Logies Hall of Fame 'As is the suggestion, in some quarters, the eligibility of esteemed colleagues Waleed Aly and Lee Lin Chin going for gold is questionable. 'Things are changing. They're changing slowly. The great thing about glaciers if you're not on them you go under. I've been riding that glacier for 40 years. And I'm staying on top of it.' Hazlehurst joins Ruth Cracknell, who was inducted in 2001, as the only females in the Hall Of Fame which started in 1984. See Logies 2016 updates on winners as Noni Hazlehurst is inducted into the Hall of Fame Hazlehurst used her acceptance speech to slam the lack of diversity within the Australian TV industry Now starring in A Place To Call Home as Elizabeth Bligh, her career stems back to the mid-seventies. Her list of TV credits include Division 4, The Sullivans, The Shiralee, City Homicide and even Playschool on which she was a presenter from the late 1970s until 2002. Hazlehurst said she looks forward to the day when it's 'not an issue whether a man or woman or an Asian person or a Muslim gets anything in this country'. In her speech, Hazlehurst said: 'The fact that I'm only the second woman to be given this honour is merely a reflection of the prevailing guard' 'We share more similarities than differences and I think I'm really keen to promote that idea because I think any other idea is divisive and potentially disastrous,' she later told reporters. The veteran actress, who learnt a month ago she would receive the honour, also touched on depression in her speech. 'The message that I would like to get across to people who are really feeling isolated and alone and like they don't understand the world anymore is that's you're not alone,' she told reporters. Hazlehurst said she looked forward to the day when issues like gender or race did not determine who was successful in Australia 'There are people who do amazing things in the world and you just don't get to hear about them very often because if they don't bleed they don't lead. 'We need to find some balance. And for anyone to say nobody would watch that it's too worthy, I'd say, well if you knew what people wanted to watch why would there be any failures? It makes no sense.' A plethora of TV stars and former co-stars spoke glowingly of Hazlehurst, who was given a standing ovation when she appeared on stage to accept the award. Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett described Hazlehurst - pictured here on hit TV show A Place to Call Home - as one of the most fearless actresses she had worked with Fellow entertainers were quick to heap praise on Hazlehurst following the induction. Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett said: '[Noni is] one of the most fearless actors that I ever had the pleasure to work opposite.' Indigenous Australian actor Ernie Dingo said: 'When you've wanted quality you've always added. But now you can just put a name to it and it's Noni Hazlehurst.' Hazlehurst's speech was also met with an overwhelmingly positive response on social media. Many praised Hazlehurst's bravery for using the Logies stage to tackle such polarising issues. Twitter user Petra Elliot said: 'I am so glad I grew up watching Noni Hazlehurst. 'What an amazing woman! Can she run in the next election.' Tim Price said: 'Noni Hazlehurst just straight up delivered the best Logies speech ever.' It seems Adrien Brody has more than just a spring in his step thanks to his romance with gorgeous model Lara Lieto. The Oscar-winning actor, 43, had to be careful not to go head-over-heels for Lara, after he accompanied her on a shopping trip - on his skateboard. He was certainly feeling in a playful mood as he held Lara's hand while carefully navigating the pavements carefully in New York on Saturday. Scroll down for video Skate mates! Adrien Brody proved he's a big kid at heart after keeping up with stunning girlfriend Lara Lieto on his skateboard The couple were dressed low-key for their outing - with Adrien opting for a casual cover-up jumper and skinny joggers with knee protectors for his ride. He looked cool with his hair swept under a beanie hat and a long grey scarf added a splash of colour to his dark ensemble. Meanwhile, Lara also ditched her usual glam and went for a fuss free off-duty look. Romantic date on skates! The undercover couple were dressed low-key for their outing - with Adrien opting for a casual cover-up jumper and skinny joggers with knee protectors for his ride She teased her flowing brunette locks into a bun, and while a few baby hairs escaped to frame her face. She hid her stunning curves under a blue shirt with a white T-shirt underneath, and wore khaki pants and trainers alongside her famous beau. Lara kept her make-up simple with just a touch of kohl as she let her natural beauty shine through. Undercover couple: She hid her stunning curves under a blue shirt with a white T-shirt underneath, and wore khaki pants and trainers alongside her famous beau Houdini: The Houdini star was quick on his feet. Brody was nominated in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his performance in the History channel miniseries Houdini A celebrated star whose role in 2002's The Pianist made him the youngest winner of the Best Actor Academy Award, Adrien has stayed busy in the movie industry over the past decade. Adrien celebrated again being part of an Oscar winning team again when his 2014 film The Grand Budapest Hotel received several Academy Awards including Best Director for Wes Anderson. He was nominated in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his performance in the History channel miniseries Houdini. It was the highlight of Sunday's night episode of MasterChef Australia - for all the wrong reasons. A contestant paid tribute to her son with an unusual parsnip dish that left the judges speechless - as fans erupted on Twitter, with one commenting: 'This is a cooking competition. Not play school'. Cecilia Vuong placed in the bottom three - and become a popular topic on social media - after serving up a root vegetable stuffed with lamb along with a dedication to her child, Nathan. Scroll down for video The right decision? On Sunday night, MasterChef Australia contestant Cecilia Vuong (right) placed in the bottom three - and become a popular topic on social media - after paying tribute to her son Nathan in an unusual parsnip dish which left the judges, including Marco Pierre White (left), momentarily speechless Dinner is served? Cecilia cooked a root vegetable stuffed with lamb along with a dedication to her child, Nathan Throughout the episode, the mother-of-two was shown struggling being apart from her young kids - which was clearly affecting her performance in the kitchen. And in the second challenge of the day, Cecilia decided upon a 'parsnip surprise' recipe inspired by her little boy, but the resulting dish failed to impress the panel. Notably, the 32-year-old finished off the meal by pumping the words 'For Nathan' on the plate in red sauce - which several Twitter users deemed an unsuitable flourish for the dish. See more Masterchef updates as Twitter erupts over Cecilia's parsnip tribute to her son Twitter responds: Several social media users questioned the 32-year-old teacher's decision Oh, dear: In the second challenge of the day, Cecilia decided upon a 'parsnip surprise' recipe inspired by her little boy, but the resulting dish failed to impress the panel One Twitter user @somersby81 wrote: 'In honour of Cecilia's disaster, I'm laying some parsnips at the door,' along with the hash-tag 'Put out your parsnips'. Another tweeted, 'Did Cecilia just dedicate a parsnip dildo to her son?', remarking upon the unfortunate shape of the dish. And @LauraBatt22 observed that it was unusual for Cecilia to admit herself the meal was 'ugly' after saying it was inspired by her son. 'Maybe writing your sons name in blood was not a good idea (sic)' wrote Twitter user @Hendrikv_ Twitter user @Hendrikv_ also remarked on the accidentally sinister quality of the dish, as the wilted parsnip curled around the dedication. 'Maybe writing your sons name in blood was not a good idea (sic)' they wrote. And @sanderlands quipped: 'Wait til the contestants get come home and find 'nathan' written in lipstick on every mirror in the house'. Horror reference: Twitter user @sanderlands quipped: 'Wait til the contestants get come home and find 'nathan' written in lipstick on every mirror in the house', likely alluding to 1980 horror The Shining 'Parsnip lady has lost the plot': Social media was rather unforgiving towards Cecilia Elsewhere, @broncook76 noted that it was inappropriate to make a 'fun dish for kids' on a serious cooking show like MasterChef. 'Oh no Cecilia,' they wrote. 'This is a cooking competition. Not play school.' And fellow Twitter fan @missesnash observed, bluntly: 'Parsnip lady has lost the plot'. In progress: The Victorian teacher previously explained that she envisioned the dish 'like a little present' that a child could open up, before finishing off the meal by pumping the words 'For Nathan' on the plate in red sauce Second thoughts: When she was called up to present the meal, Cecilia admitted: 'I look around and I realise that my dish is pretty ugly by comparison. I don't think this is what the judges are looking for' The Victorian teacher previously explained that she envisioned the dish 'like a little present' that a child could open up. But when she was called up to present the meal, she admitted: 'I look around and I realise that my dish is pretty ugly by comparison. I don't think this is what the judges are looking for.' And the panel - including Marco Pierre White, Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris, and Matt Preston - were momentarily left speechless. Surprised: The MasterChef Australia panel - including Marco Pierre White, Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris, and Matt Preston - were momentarily left speechless The decider: Cecilia placed in the bottom three alongside fellow hopefuls Nathaniel and Con and on Monday night's episode one of them will be eliminated One of the judges observed: 'I love the idea that you cooked something that your child loves. But you've got to enjoy this and not let that sort of weight or that stress overshadow your cooking.' She placed in the bottom three alongside fellow hopefuls Nathaniel and Con and on Monday night's episode one of them will be eliminated. Notably, Cecilia made it through to the Top 24 of MasterChef back in 2014 but was forced to withdraw after suffering a serious snowboarding injury. MasterChef Australia continues Monday night at 7.30pm on Network Ten. Together they brought Lewis Carroll's famous characters alive in Tim Burton's live action movie Alice In Wonderland. So it was no surprise to see Johnny Deep (The Mad Hatter) and Mia Wasikowska (Alice) leading the cast up the red carpet at the Alice Through The Looking Glass photocall in London. Arriving at the Corinthia hotel on Sunday afternoon, the 52-year-old A-Lister and his glamorous co-star, 26, looked delighted to be reunited on the promotional trail. Scroll down for video Happy to see you again: Johnny Deep and Mia Wasikowska led the cast up the red carpet at the Alice Through The Looking Glass photocall in London The pair - who first starred in Burton's original fairytale fantasy in 2010 - appeared well at ease in each other's company. Johnny - ever the bohemian - threw on a navy shirt with a pin-stripe waistcoat, which he teamed with a pair of dark denim bootcut jeans and some black biker boots. As usual the Black Mass star added a plethora of scarves to his look, wearing the knotted around his neck and with another tied to his belt. Alice and the Hatter return: Arriving at the Corinthia hotel on Sunday afternoon, the 52-year-old A-Lister and his glamorous co-star, 26, looked delighted to be reunited on the promotional trail The A-Lister also sported a plethora of jewellery, including necklaces and rings, whilst he also carried a pair of shades. With his long dark hair swept back in a dishevelled manner, Johnny sported his trademark goatee and mustache combo. Mia meanwhile went for a demure and highly seasonal look, with the Australian actress wearing a retro-inspired floral-print dress. His alter-ego: Johnny - ever the bohemian - threw on a navy shirt with a pin-stripe waistcoat, which he teamed with a pair of dark denim bootcut jeans and some black biker boots His own unique twist: As usual the Black Mass star added a plethora of scarves to his look, wearing the knotted around his neck and with another tied to his belt A familiar face: With his long dark hair swept back in a dishevelled manner, Johnny sported his trademark goatee and mustache Slipping into the A-Line frock, Mia retained an air of modesty whilst flashing a tantalizing hint of leg and decolletage. She teamed the dress with a pair of towering black stiletto heels, which helped to define her lithe legs. She kept the rest of her look uncluttered, and opted to go without accessories, bar a pair of earrings. Demure dame: Mia meanwhile went for a demure and highly seasonal look, with the Australian actress wearing a retro-inspired floral-print dress A new member of the crew: The pair were joined by their co-star Sacha Baron Cohen, who plays the role of Time, and was greeted with smile All together again: The trio looked delighted to be back together again Wearing her blonde locks scraped back and coiffed to perfection, the Aussie beauty let her striking features shine through - choosing a minimal palette of make-up to highlight her pretty face. The pair were joined by their co-star Sacha Baron Cohen, who plays the role of Time, and was greeted with smile. The trio posed for a series of photos together, before being joined by Johnny's long-time collaborator Tim Burton and his co-producer, Suzanne Todd, as well as the feature's director, James Bobbin. She is best known for her work on the cobbles of Coronation Street as the lovable barmaid Tina McIntyre. But Michelle Keegan has demonstrated her versatility in the recently filmed army TV drama Our Girl, in which she plays the tough army medic Corporal Georgie Lane. The 28-year-old actress spent two months filming the show in South Africa and was snapped with the rest of the cast toting a gun and enjoying the all-male company. Tough work: Michelle Keegan has demonstrated her versatility in the recently filmed army drama Our Girl in which she plays army medic Corporal Georgie Lane The fun on and off-set photos were uploaded by castmembers' personal Instagram profiles. It had been rumoured her marriage to former TOWIE star Mark Wright was on the rocks after the actress was spotted without her wedding ring in a series of selfies and her husband's solitary visit. But the show's stuntman Paul Pieterse told the Mirror the reason for Wright's single appearance in South Africa was to allow her to concentrate on her work and get into the mindset of her military character. 'Michelle is playing a tough, dedicated soldier who has to get everything right and she didn't want her husband distracting her,' he said. Three's a crowd! The friendly off-set photos were uploaded to cast members' personal Instagram profiles Friendly: The 28-year-old actress spent two months filming the show in South Africa and was snapped with the rest of the cast 'She was alone in Cape Town the whole time because she wanted to focus on her character. 'Her husband didn't stick around at all. When Michelle is working, she is working. It's a tough role. She did very well.' And back in Essex, Michelle flaunted her dazzling wedding ring as she made her way to the gym on Thursday - dispelling speculation there was rift between her and Wright. It was later reported the actress had left her ring at home for safe keeping while she was filming. Still as smitten as ever: Michelle shut down allegations she has been leading a separate life from husband Mark Wright are untrue According to new! magazine, it was alleged the Heart radio presenter was unimpressed when fans linked Michelle to her handsome co-star Ben Aldridge. Michelle had innocently shared a group picture with some of the cast at their read through which was captioned: Me and some of the boys at our cast read through for Our Girl 2! X She's the mother to his two young children. And Kanye West showed just how much he values his wife Kim Kardashian, by hiring a string orchestra to wake her on Mother's Day. Playing a medley of songs, the violins and cello players provided a fairytale start to the day for the 35-year-old, who shared a series of Snapchats of them performing the surprise private concert in her Bel Air home. Daddy's done it again! North West and her mother Kim Kardashian look on in wonder at the string orchestra hired to wake them on Mother's Day by Kanye West 'Surprise!': Playing a medley of songs, the violins and cello players provided a fairytale start to the day for the 35-year-old, who shared a series of Snapchats of them performing the private concert in her Bel Air home 'Mother's Day surprise in my living room!' wrote the thrilled reality star - who didn't seem to mind missing out on the traditional lie-in. In classic Kanye style, the perfectionist musician had obviously created the dreamlike scene himself. The female musicians wore flowing white skirts, and sat evenly spaced on a cream woolen rug with their sheet music in front of them. The group of ten violin and cello players were placed in front of the Kanye-designed floor to ceiling two-storey glass wall, which sent the early morning sunlight flooding over them. See Kim Kardashian updates as Kanye West wakes her with an orchestra on Mother's Day Moment to treasure: In classic Kanye style, the perfectionist musician had obviously created the dreamlike scene himself Kim and daughter North snuggled as they watched the scene below from the raising landing outside their rooms, having been woken by the music. Among other tunes the orchestra played Tomorrow from the film Annie, and Let It Go from Frozen - both obviously picked with three-year-old North in mind. And Kanye didn't stop there. Breakfast symphony: The group of ten violin and cello players were placed in front of the Kanye-designed floor to ceiling two-storey glass wall, which sent the early morning sunlight flooding over them Setting the bar higher than ever, the doting father and husband presented Kim with a bench bedecked in pink flowers, which she shared an image of online. Of course, Kanye has every reason to pamper his wife this Mothers' Day. The reality star welcomed son Saint in December - a feat worthy of celebrating in style. Kanye style: Setting the bar higher than ever, the doting father and husband presented Kim with a bench bedecked in pink flowers, which she shared an image of online Meanwhile Kim herself was celebrating her own mother - taking to her paid-for website KimKardashianWest.com to share her thoughts. 'As a daughter, granddaughter, sister and a mother of two myself, I consider all the moms in my life to be the strongest women I know,' she wrote, alongside a picture of her mother Kris Jenner and maternal grandmother Mary Jo. 'It's so important to remember the women who brought us into the world and everything they do for us. Happy Mother's Day, everyone!!!' Grateful: Meanwhile Kim herself was celebrating her own mother and grandmother - taking to her paid-for website KimKardashianWest.com to share her thoughts Her sister Khloe celebrated all the mothers in her life - from Kris to Kim and Kourtney. 'Kris Jenner, I am so lucky that you're my mom,' she wrote. 'You are such an inspiration. You've gone through so muchyou've pushed six kids out!!!and are still the most kind, caring, generous and intelligent woman I know. Love you!!! 'MJ, you inspire me everyday with your elegance! 'Kimberly and Kourtney, you guys are such incredible mothers and I feel so lucky to be an auntie to your kids. I hope you both have the best Mother's Day!' Kylie later Snapchatted a shot of her sister Kim who was rocking tight braids for Mother's Day celebrations. Shaking things up: Kim later showed off tight braids in a Snapchat shared by sister Kylie Advertisement It's one of the biggest nights on the television calendar so you can guarantee that glamorous outfits will be aplenty. And the 2016 edition of the British Academy Television Awards was no exception as a bevvy of British beauties, including Tess Daly, Amanda Holden and Lucy Mecklenburgh, commanded the red carpet of the Royal Festival Hall in some seriously show-stopping looks. Leading the glamour was 47-year-old Tess who offset her sun-kissed skin in a white floor-length gown as she mingled with some of the biggest stars on British television. Scroll down for video A bevvy of British beauties, including Tess Daly, Amanda Holden and Lucy Mecklenburgh, commanded the red carpet of the Royal Festival Hall in some seriously show-stopping looks for the British Academy Television Awards on Sunday evening The Strictly Come Dancing presenter's alluring gown was perfect for showcasing her lithe legs with its daring thigh-high split, while it's one-shoulder design flaunted her flawless decolletage and a glimpse of her pert bust. The gown highlighted her slender waist with its metallic belt, with the band coordinating perfectly with the barely-there silver stilettos she sported as she walked alongside Strictly co-star and good friend Claudia Winkleman, who looked equally gorgeous in a simple, yet infinitely chic, black bandeau jumpsuit. But of course the picture perfect looks didn't end there as Britain's Got Talent judge Amanda went for an even more dramatic style that was bound to capture eyes as she posed for photographers. See more news from the BAFTA TV Awards as Tess Daly, Amanda Holden and Lucy Mecklenburgh sizzle on the red carpet Wonderful in white: The Strictly Come Dancing presenter's alluring gown was perfect for showcasing her lithe legs with its daring thigh-high split, while it's one-shoulder design flaunted her flawless decolletage and a glimpse of her pert bust Monochrome magic: The beauty walked alongside Strictly co-star and good friend Claudia Winkleman, who looked equally gorgeous in a simple, yet infinitely chic, black bandeau jumpsuit Beauties galore: Of course, the picture perfect looks didn't end there as Britain's Got Talent judge Amanda went for an even more dramatic style that was bound to capture eyes as she posed for photographers Dressed to impress: The ornate gown possessed glistening silver bead detailing as well as a theatrical sheer tail that skimmed the floor as she walked Little help! The trail of Amanda's dress required a little extra assistance as a member of her team fanned out the design as she sauntered Dramatic: Amanda was determined to make sure all eyes were on her in her billowing and beautiful gown With the stars: Among such a glamorous crowd, Amanda no doubt understood the importance of making a fashion statement Not so mellow yellow! Alesha Dixon went above and beyond in a mustard yellow gown which was skintight before billowing into a glamorous fishtail hem Posing up a storm: Within the event cheeky Leigh Francis was larking around behind the Britain's Got Talent judge The fairest of them all: Former TOWIE star Lucy resembled a princess in her lilac gown which was adorned in a foiled floral motif Gorgeous: The fitness enthusiast tied her trademark brunette tresses were tied up, though a few strands of hair that framed her stunning face were left free and gently tousled to create a pretty polished look Drama queen: Lucy looked worlds away from her TOWIE roots in her glamorous gown which stole the show Up close: Lucy looked simply sensational for her turn on the red carpet Oozing elegance: Lucy was shimmering and shining in the bright sunlight Amanda's ornate gown possessed glistening silver bead detailing as well as a theatrical sheer tail that skimmed the floor as she walked, while her locks were tied into an elegant chignon with a slightly bouffant crown. Her style was similar to that rocked by former TOWIE star Lucy, who also went for a show-stopping floor-length frock that was adorned in a foiled floral motif. The fitness enthusiast tied her trademark brunette tresses were tied up, though a few strands of hair that framed her stunning face were left free and gently tousled to create a pretty polished look. Operatic sensation Katherine Jenkins looked beyond ravishing as she shunned a theatrical gowns in favour of a sexy, yet understated, royal blue frock, which hugged her slender silhouette to perfection. BAFTA TV AWARDS 2016 - THE WINNERS Leading Actor Mark Rylance, Wolf Hall Leading Actress Suranne Jones, Doctor Foster Supporting Actor Tom Courtenay, Unforgotten Supporting Actress Chanel Cresswell, This Is England '90 Entertainment Performance Leigh Francis, Celebrity Juice Female performance in a comedy programme Michaela Coel, Chewing Gum Male performance in a comedy programme Peter Kay, Peter Kay's Car Share Single Drama Don't Take My Baby Mini-series This Is England '90 Single Documentary My Son The Jihadi Comedy and Comedy Entertainment Programme Have I Got News For You Scripted comedy Peter Kay's Car Share Special Award in honour of Alan Clarke Lenny Henry Entertainment Programme Strictly Come Dancing Features The Great British Bake Off Drama series Wolf Hall Soap and continuing drama Eastenders International Transparent Factual Series The Murder Detectives Specialist Factual Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners Reality and Constructed Factual First Dates Current Affairs Outbreak: The Truth About Ebola (This World) News Coverage Channel 4 News: Paris Massacre Sport The Ashes Live Event Big Blue Live Radio Times Audience Award (voted for by members of the public) Poldark Thigh's the limit! Rochelle Humes was a sight for sore eyes in her low-cut white dress that boasted perhaps the highest thigh split of them all Loved-up: Mark Wright was unsurprisingly smitten with his enchanting wife Michelle Keegan as he put a protective arm around her What a pair: Mark and Michelle certainly cut a glamorous figure as they swarmed the red carpet What a pair: Pulling their very best poses, Michelle and Mark posed and pouted up a storm Beautiful in blue: Katherine Jenkins shunned a theatrical gown in favour of a sexy yet understated royal blue frock which hugged her slender silhouette to perfection Singing sensation: Katherine no doubt knew the slinky midnight blue number was made for her fabulous figure From back to front: Clearly opting to go braless, Katherine made sure she showed off both the front and back of the look Outlandish: Caroline Flack injected the awards with her typically edgy style in a black jumpsuit with quirky splits along either leg Whoops! The design looked to be a little problematic as the wind blew the legs of her ensemble back as she attempted to pose for snaps Breaking the mould was Caroline Flack, who injected her signature edgy style into proceedings in a daring black jumpsuit that featured risuqe splits up either leg, though the design looked to be a little problematic as the wind blew the legs of her ensemble back as she attempted to pose for snaps. 25-year-old Georgia May Foote channeled her inner sexy senorita in a breathtaking floor-length gown and a sleek centre-parted up-do. The former Coronation Street star was bound to turn heads in her sultry monochromatic style that boasted an array of intricate embellishments. Laura Whitmore, 31, sported a style that was both sultry and demure in equal measure in a black jumpsuit which boasted a provocative keyhole cut-out that began at the top of her neckline before conceding just above the navel. Sexy sernorita: Georgia May Foote was bound to turn heads in her sultry monochromatic style that boasted an array of intricate embellishments Fashionista: Laura Whitmore, 31, sported a style that was both sultry and demure in equal measure in a black jumpsuit which boasted a provocative keyhole cut-out that began at the top of her neckline before conceding just above the navel The flared style was perfect for elongating her lean legs, with the hem of the trousers allowing for a mere peep of her skyscraper stilettos as they skimmed the floor. Never one to scrimp on accessories, the TV presenter gave the look some added pizzazz with a dainty gold pendant necklace, an arm cuff and a myriad of rings on either hand. She toted her BAFTA essentials in a chic box clutch, rendered in an array of textures that ranged between luxurious gold and champagne tones. Stunning: Kate Garraway kept it classy in a teal pencil dress which boasted lace arms and a strips of fabric along the skirt and torso Turning heads: Ferne McCann looked summer ready in a floor-length bandeau gown that was emblazoned with a colourful baroque print dress that wouldn't have looked out of place on the runways of Versace Her leading man: Samantha Faiers was joined on the red carpet by boyfriend Paul Knightley. The two put on an affectionate display as they stood and held hands while smiling for snaps Mixing it up: The reality star opted for a structured platinum skirt with an asymmetric hem, making the look slightly androgynous by pairing the statement piece with a simple white shirt Sprightly: Dreamworks' Trolls stars Justin Timberlake put on a particularly animated display as the A-listers graced the event Touch of Hollywood: The co-stars will present an award at this evening's proceedings Extending the glamour of the look to her mane, Laura's honey blonde locks were styled into sizable waves around her face, which sampled a dazzling make-up look comprised of a glitzy silver eyeshadows in the inner corners of her eyes and a slightly over-lined nude lipstick. But the Irish beauty wasn't the only celebrity to sizzle on the red carpet as This Morning's showbiz presenter Ferne pulled out a stunning look of her own, which fit perfectly with the hot British weather. The 25-year-old star looked summer ready in a floor-length bandeau gown that was emblazoned with a colourful baroque print dress that wouldn't have looked out of place on the runways of Versace. The look was a stark contrast to that worn by Ferne's close friend former co-star Samantha Faiers, who opted for a structured platinum skirt with an asymmetric hem. She made the look slightly androgynous by pairing the statement piece with a simple white shirt as she held hands with boyfriend Paul Knightley, who was sharp-suited for the occasion. Short and sweet: Sheridan Smith opted to flash some leg in a knee-length frock which boasted a lace fabric around the torso and a hooped skirt Breathtaking: Kara Tointon looked simply stunning in a plunging gown that was rendered in a stunning semi-sheer fabric Laughing up a storm: Idris Elba and his girlfriend Naiyana Garth couldn't contain their giggles Smitten kittens: Fearne Cotton put on a loving display with husband Jesse Wood as the couple held hands on their way into the event Here she is! The TV presenter was hard to miss in her bright yellow lace frock that featured a bow collar Night off from the baking! The Great British Bake Off's Mary Berry attended the event alongside last year's champion Nadiya Hussain Beautiful: Eleanor Tomlinson complemented her red locks with a khaki gown that boasted ornate floral embroidery and a mesh fabric across the decolletage Fashion's favourite colour: Doctor Foster star Suranne Jones dressed to impress in an enchanting black frock, the same shade worn by her former Coronation Street co-star Kate Ford who opted for a more summery look From the gown to the awards: New mum Suranne showed off her phenomenal figure on the red carpet before being feted with her award She's a winner: Suranne proudly raised her prize while beaming at the cameras Game of gowns: Eternally kooky Maisie Williams looked stylish and sophisticated in a quirky tulip hemmed mini So cute! Game of Thrones' Maisie Williams kept it cute in a short pink number which was beautified with glistening beads Double date night! Britain's favourite TV presenting duo Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly were accompanied by their wives Lisa Armstrong and Ali Astall Wow! No Offence and Utopia actress Alexandra Roach looked stunning and saucy in a plunging black jumpsuit with a long, flowing wrap Batwoman: Alexandra went from pillar-like beauty to billowing drama in one swoop All black everything: Elaine Cassidy and Lesley Manville opted for similar looks in dramatic black from head to toe Man of the hour! Host Graham Norton put a flamboyant spin on his tuxedo that possessed some rather jazzy detailing along the waistcoat and lapels A fine pair: Newscaster Krishnan Guru-Murthy and his stunning wife Lisa cut a smart figure as they walked the red carpet Upping the romance: First Dates star Fred Siriex was on his First Date to the BAFTAs as he walked the red carpet in a blue velvet blazer Suave: Will Mellor made an appearance sporting a dapper three piece suit Drinks o'clock! Tess and Claudia sipped on some bubbles once they were escorted into the event's champagne reception Playing the fool! Claudia was quick to pull some silly faces on the red carpet - to the delight of her fellow stars Rubbing shoulders: Mary and Nadiya looked to be in their element as they mingled with some of the others stars inside the soiree Ever the entertainer: Michelle Gomez was on comical form as she indulged in a glass of white BAFTA nominees Idris Elba and Mark Rylance were among the actors hoping to take home a mask statuette at the British Academy Television Awards. The award-winning stars went head-to-head in the leading actor category for their work in Luther and Wolf Hall respectively, with Rylance taking the prize. They have already been nominated for Golden Globe and SAG Awards for their performances in the dramas, with Elba triumphing at the SAGs. Party time! Binky Felstead was ravishing in a ruched ice blue gown as she mingled with Made in Chelsea star Ollie Locke The look of love... Konnie Huq looked lovingly at husband Charlie Brooker as they waited for the show to begin Friendly red-heads! Game of Thrones' Rose Leslie and Eleanor Tomlinson stopped to chat ahead of showtime The BBC's historical drama Wolf Hall, an adaptation of Hilary Mantel's hit novel, leads this year's nominations with a total of four nods, and took away two of those, also the Drama series title. Peter Kay's Car Share and This Is England '90 picked up three nominations each, with both of them winning one. The Great British Bake Off, which sees amateur bakers face off in a series of challenges, received its fifth consecutive nomination and won in the Features category. It won the same prize in 2012 and 2013. An honour: Lenny Henry was there to collect the prestigious Special Award on the evening and renewed his call to enshrine diversity in the BBC charter as he accepted the special recognition award for his career in television Proud: The star name-checked shows including Some Mother Do 'Ave 'Em, Boys From The Black Stuff, The Great British Bake Off and Goodness Gracious Me, he said he believed British TV was 'the best in the world' Congratulations: Greg Davies was typically imposing behind the podium as he presented Strictly with the Entertainment gong Well-deserved: Michaela Coel scooped the Female in a Comedy gong for Chewing Gum and was presented the prize by Idris Elba Tongue in cheek: Graham Norton opened proceedings on the night in typically cheeky fashion with an array of gags at the expense of celebrities in the audience Typically cool: Idris was even more gruff than usual after admitting he had lost his voice when presenting the Female Performance in a Comedy Programme Award Singer Adele competed for her first BAFTA for best entertainment programme for her TV special Adele At The BBC. The programme, which saw her in conversation with Graham Norton about her career and comeback, was nominated alongside Britain's Got Talent, Strictly Come Dancing and the TFI Friday anniversary special - she missed out to Strictly. Sir Lenny Henry was honoured at the ceremony when he was presented with a special award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to television. The British stand-up comedian, actor and writer, who is best known for his work on Comic Relief and as a presenter of TV programmes including The Magicians, The Lenny Henry Show and Three Of A Kind took home the Alan Clarke Award. Sir Lenny has previously received two Bafta nominations for The Lenny Henry Show and was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the British Comedy Awards in 2003. Ooosh! Alesha Dixon presented Leigh Francis with the gong for Entertainment Performance Joking around: Leigh and Alicia were seen playfully posing together minutes afterwards as they made their way backstage Mellow yellow: Both Alesha and Ferne both opted for bright yellow gowns which were a hit on the red carpet Master of accents: Leigh put on a faux posh accent when collecting his award which was worlds apart from his Keith Lemon alter-ego Funny man: Peter Kay didn't need to do any talking to elicit laughs from the star-studded crowd Class acts: Dermot O'Leary and Fearne Cotton presented EastEnders Popular pairing: Dermot was typically dapper while Fearne looked radiant in a quirky yellow dress Winning big: Wolf Hall was named Best British Drama at the awards, and its Mark Rylance bagged the leading actor award Master of his craft: Academy-Award winner Rylance was overwhelmed by his win for his portrayal of Thomas Cromwell Funnyman: Peter Kay looked happy and healthy as he signed a bottle of Tattinger champagne backstage at the BAFTAs Cooking up a storm: Mary Berry helped a charity sell an auction piece, which saw countless celebs sign a bottle of champagne Man of the moment: Fresh from raising temperatures in The Night Manager, Tom Hiddleston added his appeal to the auction bottle Three's a crowd: Strictly trio Claudia Winkleman, Tess Daly and Craig Revel-Horwood enjoy some backstage fun at the ceremony Blonde ambition: Strictly Come Dancing alumnus Helen George was dwarfed by the magnum bottle as she signed it Taking a seat: Enjoying some respite amid all the festivities, Chanel Cresswell poses with her BAFTA Award Cheers to that! Cush Jumbo cuts a glam figure as she also signs the bottle while being flanked by Olivia Grant It's hard to imagine Kim Kardashian getting her hands dirty. But in what is perhaps a surprising admission, the reality star has revealed she imagines herself as a private investigator - had she not become famous. Talking to Vogue Australia as she covers the magazine for a second time, the mother-of-two opened up about her imagined alternative lifestyle. Scroll down for video 'I'd live a normal life': Kim Kardashian imagines being a 'forensic investigator' if she wasn't famous... as she covers Vogue Australia 'I would be a forensic investigator and live a normal life,' explained Kim, who received her high school diploma but unlike sister Kourtney and brother Rob did not attend college. While Kanye West's wife may have been watching too many crime-based box sets, she is certainly hard working, making millions with her multiple business interests. And she tells Vogue Australia that her momager Kris Jenner is the one who inspires her to do this. 'I want to live her life and be successful, work hard and still have so many kids and still take care of everyone else,' says Kim, who also compliments her late father, the lawyer Robert Kardashian. See Kim Kardashian updates as she covers Vogue Australia for a second time Asked who her real life heroes are, the 35-year-old explains: 'My dad was, for sure.' On the cover of the magazine's June edition, a stylish Kim gazes into the camera, her head tilted. Her face is barely made up, black make-up smudged under her eyes, as she gazes out from beneath a messy bobbed hair style. She's nominated for the prestigious Leading Actress gong at Sunday night's BAFTA TV Awards, which ended up being won by Doctor Foster star Suranne Jones. But Sheridan Smith, 34, ensured she looked stunning in an intricate black lace dress with sheer sleeves and a hooped bottom as she arrived at the Royal Festival Hall for the prestigious ceremony. The much-loved actress looked to have put recent stage troubles behind her as she smiled for the cameras while walking the red carpet. Scroll down for video Leading lady: Sheridan Smith, 34, looked stunning in an intricate black lace dress with sheer sleeves and a hooped bottom as she arrived at the Royal Festival Hall for BAFTA TV Awards She put on a fine sartorial display matching her stylish dress with a simple black clutch and teetering heels. The C Word star posed expertly with her hand on her hip while flashing a sultry look at the cameras. Her short and choppy blonde locks were coiffed in a modern style with a wavy quiff, and she sported a classy application of make-up complete with ultra-thick eyeliner. The star's red carpet appearance comes after the cancellation of one evening performance of her West End hit Funny Girl made headlines. See BAFTA TV Awards updates as Sheridan Smith cuts a stylish figure as she attends Simply chic: The much-loved actress looked to have put recent stage troubles behind her as she smiled for the cameras while walking the red carpet Strike a pose: She put on a fine sartorial display matching her stylish dress with a simple black clutch and teetering heels Although the theatre blamed technical issues, some audience members claimed Sheridan 'appeared drunk on stage'. A production source told the Mail there had 'a lot of fear and terrible upset. The cast have been told to keep their mouths shut and support Sheridan'. Audience member Abigail Richter told one newspaper: It was an unbelievable disaster. Sheridan was all over the place. At one point, she was standing centre stage and her leg went from underneath her. Despite reports, the theatre and Sheridan have issued vehement denials, with the actress' spokesperson saying: 'I have spoken to my client and this is categorically not true.' Working it: The C Word star posed expertly with her hand on her hip while flashing a sultry look at the cameras Hello there: Her short and choppy blonde locks were coiffed in a modern style with a wavy quiff Sheridan has been in the role since December when the production originally opened in the smaller Menier Chocolate Factory in Borough, before moving to the West End last month. BAFTA nominees Idris Elba and Mark Rylance were among the actors hoping to take home a mask statuette at the British Academy Television Awards. The award-winning stars went head-to-head in the leading actor category for their work in Luther and Wolf Hall respectively, with Rylance taking the prize. They have already been nominated for Golden Globe and SAG Awards for their performances in the dramas, with Elba triumphing at the SAGs. The BBC's historical drama Wolf Hall, an adaptation of Hilary Mantel's hit novel, leads this year's nominations with a total of four nods, and took away two of those, also the Drama series title. Feeling good: Sheridan sported a classy application of make-up complete with ultra-thick eyeliner Moving on: The star's red carpet appearance comes after the cancellation of one evening performance of her West End hit Funny Girl made headlines Peter Kay's Car Share and This Is England '90 picked up three nominations each, with both of them winning one. The Great British Bake Off, which sees amateur bakers face off in a series of challenges, received its fifth consecutive nomination and won in the Features category. It won the same prize in 2012 and 2013. Singer Adele competed for her first BAFTA for best entertainment programme for her TV special Adele At The BBC. The programme, which saw her in conversation with Graham Norton about her career and comeback, was nominated alongside Britain's Got Talent, Strictly Come Dancing and the TFI Friday anniversary special - she missed out to Strictly. Sir Lenny Henry was honoured at the ceremony when he was presented with a special award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to television. The British stand-up comedian, actor and writer, who is best known for his work on Comic Relief and as a presenter of TV programmes including The Magicians, The Lenny Henry Show and Three Of A Kind took home the Alan Clarke Award. Sir Lenny has previously received two Bafta nominations for The Lenny Henry Show and was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the British Comedy Awards in 2003. Here's a very modern social dilemma: when posting pictures online, should you cut out images of former partners? Supermodel Lily Cole's ex-boyfriend, American actor Enrique Murciano, did just that and the results were disastrous. While staying in Venice at the weekend, he shared an old photograph on Instagram from when he visited the city with Lily for actress Salma Hayek's wedding in 2009. Supermodel Lily Cole's ex-boyfriend, American actor Enrique Murciano, shared an old photograph on Instagram this week from when he visited Venice with Lily - but cropped her out of the picture (as seen above) In response to his Instagram post, Lily Cole posted the image of her that he had cropped out, without comment Commenting on the snap of him dressed in a dinner suit, he wrote: 'The good ones wear black.' However, he cropped out the face of Lily, who was holding his hand behind him. This appeared to upset the model, who split up with Enrique in 2012 after a four-year relationship. In response, she posted the image of her that he had cropped out, without comment. 'Your (sic) so f***ing funny,' Enrique told Lily. 'How dare you? I was being respectful [by leaving her out of the pic].' He then posted a different picture of the pair holding hands. 'Better?' he asked Lily, who had a baby last year with technology boss Kwame Ferreira. 'Is this cool? Because I love you and always will and want to make sure I am never uncool again.' The full image of Enrique Murciano and Lily Cole taken as they attend a theatre performance in April 2009 It's not a job for the faint-hearted: Prince Charles is advertising for a chef to travel with him. Notoriously fussy, the heir to the throne wants a cook with a good understanding and working knowledge of organic food. The ad on Clarence Houses website doesnt reveal the salary, but states candidates must have a pride and passion for the industry as well as an interest to learn. When making visits to the Royal Opera House, Charles is known to bring containers of his own organic meat and vegetables, as well as his white leather lavatory seat. Chef Atul Kochhar, who has cooked for Charles, revealed in 2014 that Palace officials were so paranoid the Prince would be poisoned that a secret service agent was deployed just to watch him in the kitchen. Heiress Jemima Goldsmith publicly criticised her brother Zacs London mayoral campaign for its treatment of Labours Muslim winner Sadiq Khan. But some Tories are still at it. Chairman of British Tamil Conservatives, Aru Sivananthan, warned: This is the beginning of London being turned into Londonistan. He added on Twitter: I now shudder at the thought of Sadiq Khans associates being placed in close proximity to influence the Met Police. Stella is a victim of her own fashion Stella McCartneys creations are worn by Hollywood stars, but the designers own look seems to be less red carpet and more hospital ward. Sir Paul McCartneys 44-year-old daughter wears a pair of her own unflattering baggy blue trousers as she takes a stroll in Londons West End. Reminiscent of medical scrubs, the Scott drill trousers were matched with a pair of thick-soled white shoes that heightened the comparison. Originally priced at 590, the trews have been reduced to 236. Form an orderly queue. Sir Paul McCartneys 44-year-old daughter Stella wears a pair of her own unflattering baggy blue trousers as she takes a stroll in Londons West End Sir Elton Johns husband David Furnish is a man who believes in honesty about public figures love lives. To prove it, the 53-year-old film-maker took to social media on Saturday to praise his friend, American actor Colton Haynes, for announcing that hes gay. So proud of my friend on coming out, gushed Furnish next to a picture of them together. Takes real courage. Furnish burnished his wholesome, family-man credentials by posting a picture yesterday of himself with his arm round his elderly mother, Gladys. Baby joy for SamCam's brother Will During last years General Election campaign, David Cameron was overheard telling his wife Samantha that they should have another baby before later admitting: Nothing is going to happen on that front. Sam can, though, hear the patter of tiny feet, thanks to her half-brother, Will Astor, 37. The asset managers wife, former model Lohralee, gave birth to a boy named Conrad Charles Astor last Friday. We are absolutely thrilled with Conrads safe arrival, Lohralee tells me. He weighed in at a healthy 6lb 8oz. Great timing, as the Canadian celebrated her 36th birthday the next day. Will Astor's wife Lohralee (pictured together) has given birth to a boy named Conrad Charles Astor This will NOT go down well with junior doctors striking over new contracts: Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has received 855,000 in dividends from his firm Hotcourses, an international guide to higher and adult education. Thats enough to pay the salary of 37 newly qualified medics. He regularly tops male best dressed lists. And Tom Hiddleston lived up to his stylish reputation when he attended the British Academy Awards 2016 on Sunday evening - where he revealed some very exciting news for fans of The Night Manager. The 35-year-old actor was as sharp-suited as ever in a navy tuxedo, which featured contrasting satin lapels and a coordinating bow tie. Scroll down for video Here he is! Tom Hiddleston lived up to his stylish reputation when he attended the British Academy Awards 2016 on Sunday evening - where he revealed some very exciting news for fans of The Night Manager But it was more than just his dapper appearance that was sure to put smiles on the public's faces across the evening, as the event saw the Thor star reveal that he would happily return to the series if a sequel was announced. Beautiful in blue: Tom gets cosy with Amanda Berry, CEO of BAFTA, both of whom looked a million dollars in contrasting tones of blue In for a kiss: Tom put a smile on everyone's face when he said he would be keen to appear in a sequel of The Night Manager if the successful drama went into production for a second time He said: We set out to make an adaptation of John Le Carres novel and thats what we did. So currently no more night to manage but you never know, it could be the day manager. 'The thing is, John Le Carres work, when its been adapted onto film or television has always been adapted from his original novels. See BAFTA TV Awards updates as Tom Hiddleston smoulders in navy tux Very dapper: The 35-year-old actor was as sharp-suited as ever in a navy tuxedo, which featured contrasting satin lapels and a coordinating bow tie Smile! The Hollywood actor seemed in high spirits as he sauntered along the red carpet, posing for pictures as he went Hurray! It was more than just his dapper appearance that was sure to put smiles on the public's faces, as the event saw the Thor star reveal that he would happily return to the The Night Manager for a sequel He added: 'So if there were to be more Night Manager, it would bethe first time theres ever been anything that doesn't currently exist in literature if its come from him, so it would be very new. But Tom reiterated that he wouldn't rule out a second series as he said on stage at the event that he would be 'very happy to manage the night at any time.' The A-list actor was at the star-studded bash to present Doctor Foster star Suranne Jones with the leading actress gong. This one's for you! The A-list actor was at the star-studded bash to present Doctor Foster star Suranne Jones with the leading actress gong Sprightly: The talented thespians even larked around together on the red carpet after the event, threw out his arms in Suranne's direction as she held up her prestigious merit, laughing Congrats! Suranne bagged the gong for her amazing performance in Doctor Foster The talented thespians even larked around together on the red carpet after the event, threw out his arms in Suranne's direction as she held up her prestigious merit, laughing. The leading Hollywood star wasn't the only actor to dazzle on the night however. Matching Tom in the style stakes was his Tinseltown counterpart Idris Elba, who looked as handsome as ever in a double-breasted black tuxedo of his own. Hunks galore! Matching Tom in the style stakes was Idris Elba, who looked as handsome as ever in a double-breasted black tuxedo of his own, a look similar to that sported by Josh Hartnett Time to party! The Penny Dreadful star - who welcomed a daughter with girlfriend Tamsin Egerton last year - took a night off from parenting duties to present the International gong The Luther star lost out on the leading actor gong to Wolf Hall's Mark Rylance on the evening, though the 41-year-old may not have been to gutted about his loss given comments he made ahead of the showcase. Ive lost my voice over the last two days so Im a little bit nervous if I do win, I wont have much to say,' he quipped on the red carpet. Also cutting a suave figure was American actor Josh Hartnett, who also went for the classic black tuxedo. Heartthrob: Josh wasn't the only American hunk to sizzle at the bash as Justin Timberlake made an appearance alongside Trolls co-star Anna Kendrick Turning heads: War & Peace star James Norton looked remarkably suave as he attended the event to present the award for Best Supporting actress The Penny Dreadful star - who welcomed a daughter with girlfriend Tamsin Egerton last year - took a night off from parenting duties to present the International gong. And Josh wasn't the only American hunk to sizzle at the bash as Justin Timberlake made an appearance alongside Trolls co-star Anna Kendrick. The Mirrors crooner was as handsome as ever in a contrasting navy and black tuxedo as he posed alongside the Pitch Perfect beauty. Taking a night off from hosting were Britain's favourite TV duo Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, better known as Ant and Dec, who looked to be wearing matching three-piece suits as they graced the soiree alongside their wives, Lisa Armstrong, who Ant wed in 2006, and Ali Astall, who Dec married last year. Similar styles: Taking a night off from hosting were Britain's favourite TV duo Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, better known as Ant and Dec, who looked to be wearing matching three-piece suits Smouldering: Mark Wright ditched a bow tie in favour of a simple black tie, offset by his crisp white shirt A long way from the Shire! The Hobbit's James Nesbitt (L) and Martin Freeman (R) went for black suits, though the Fargo star instilled a pop of colour into his otherwise monochromatic look with a burnt orange tie Jazzy! Host Graham Norton put a flamboyant twist on his black suit as the waistcoat and the lapels of the ensemble were adorned with intricate beaded embellishments Graham Norton was the host of Sunday night's proceedings and the comedian didn't hold back when it came to his style. The 53-year-old funnyman put a flamboyant twist on his black suit as the waistcoat and the lapels of the ensemble were adorned with intricate beaded embellishments. Other award-worthy looks on the night came from TV presenter Mark Wright, Irish actor James Nesbitt and War & Peace stand-out James Norton. Boys' night! Other award-worthy looks on the night came from rapper Professor Green and TV presenter Reggie Yates Obama tackles race in university address Barack Obama visited a predominantly black college Saturday, making the case that the last decades and his presidency had brought substantial improvements for African-Americans. Acknowledging that more needs to be done to reduce inequality, Obama took head-on the issue of race relations that have sometimes appeared to fester under his administration. Since Obama came to office in 2009 as the first African American president, a strain of opposition to him has emerged that often appears racially driven. US President Barack Obama told the commencement ceremony for Howard University, "America is by almost every measure better than it was when I graduated from college" Saul Loeb (AFP) Meanwhile, cities from Ferguson, Missouri to Baltimore, Maryland have exploded amid the killing of young black men at the hands of white police officers. African-American men are still far more likely to have served time in jail and to earn less than their white peers. But Obama insisted progress had been made. "America is by almost every measure better than it was when I graduated from college," he said, looking back to 1983. "Race relations are better since I graduated. That's the truth. No, my election did not create a post-racial society, but the election itself and the subsequent one -- because the first one, folks might have made a mistake... was just one indicator of how attitudes have changed." "Racism persists. Inequality persists," he told graduating students at Washington's Howard University, while offering a litany of examples of how things had changed for the better. "When I was graduating, the main black hero on TV was Mr. T," the burly, Mohawk-wearing former professional wrestler. "Rap and hip-hop were counter-culture, underground. Now, Shonda Rhimes owns Thursday night, and Beyonce runs the world." "We're no longer entertainers, we're producers, studio executives. No longer small-business owners, we're CEOs, we're mayors, representatives, presidents of the United States." In a nod to the lingering problems that have spurred the Black Lives Matter movement, Obama insisted that anger at injustice was not enough. "You have to go through life with more than just passion for change. You need a strategy. "I'll repeat that. I want you to have passion [but] you have to have a strategy. Not just awareness but action. Not just hashtags but votes. You see, change requires more than righteous anger." There was also a call for young black graduates to put themselves in the minds of others, police officers who may have bias or "the middle-aged white guy" who "you may think has all the advantages, but over the last several decades has seen his world upended by economic and cultural and technological change and feels powerless to stop it." "You got to get in his head, too," he said. Amid an election that has seen millions of white Republican voters embrace Donald Trump's populist message, Obama tried to offer a strategy. "There's been a trend around the country of trying to get colleges to disinvite speakers with a different point of view or disrupt a politician's rally. Don't do that. No matter how ridiculous or offensive." "My grandmother used to tell me, every time a fool speaks, they are just advertising their own ignorance. "Let them talk." Graduating students listen as US President Barack Obama speaks during the commencement ceremony for Howard University in Washington, DC, on May 7, 2016 Saul Loeb (AFP) Thousands protest against axing of Mauritania senate Thousands of people gathered in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott to protest against a move by President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz to abolish the senate. The president, who seized power in a coup in 2008, announced on Tuesday that he would hold a constitutional referendum that would remove the senate and replace it with a "regional council". The protesters massed under the banner of a coalition of 10 opposition parties, which promised further protests if the president continued to "provoke", and chanted slogans including "Get out", "No to the gang of predators" and "No to the extension of mandates". Thousands of Mauritanian opposition activists demonstrate on May 7, 2016 in Nouakchott against a move by President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz to abolish the senate "Our protest today it to tell Ould Abdel Aziz that the constitution is a red line," said Saleh Ould Henenna, president of the opposition's Forum for Unity and Democracy (FNDU), addressing the rally in the centre of Nouakchott. "The opposition will not accept entering into a dialogue when Ould Abdel Aziz has already defined the themes, but only to a process of consultation that would include guarantees and subjects that have been adopted by consensus," he added. Former general Abdel Aziz said on Tuesday there would be a political dialogue ahead of the referendum, and that he would give the opposition "three to four weeks" to decide if they wanted to take part. He did not give a date for the vote. In his speech he did not make reference to claims by the opposition that he was attempting to seek a third term in office, but said it was "quite normal" for the government to reexamine the constitution. However, several government members said they were in favour of a change to the constitution to allow Abdel Aziz to run for a third term. Abdel Aziz came to power in a coup in 2008. He was then elected president in 2009 and again in June 2014 for a second five year term. 'Mad Max' creator Miller rides into Cannes on top of the world Australian director George Miller is at a highpoint in a masterful career. His "Mad Max: Fury Road" won a swag of awards, adding to a long list of acclaimed movies, and this week he will bask in the glory of presiding over the Cannes film festival jury. Even missing out on the best director gong at this year's Oscars, won by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for "The Revenant", could not take the gloss off the success of the latest of his post-apocalyptic "Mad Max" action movies, released last year. "You'd be a fool to be disappointed when we did so well," the 71-year-old director told The Sydney Morning Herald on returning to the city in March after the movie won six Academy Awards and four British Baftas. Leader: Geroge Miller will lead an eight-member jury including: Arnaud Desplechin, Kirsten Dunst, Valeria Golino, Mads Mikkelsen, Laszlo Nemes, Vanessa Paradis, Katayoon Shahabi and Donald Sutherland As a writer, director and producer Miller is a pioneer of Australian cinema -- with a career that runs from the original 1979 "Mad Max" starring a young, leather-clad Mel Gibson, to "Babe" and the feel-good animated classic "Happy Feet" in 2006. Miller was part of a renaissance of Australian cinema in the 1980s which included Peter Weir ("Dead Poets Society", "The Truman Show"), Bruce Beresford ("Driving Miss Daisy") and Phillip Noyce ("Patriot Games", "Salt"). But his career in cinema was not always assured, with Miller at first setting out to be a doctor, and working in the medical profession for a time. He has said that working as an emergency doctor, and seeing "the kind of carnage as a result of car accidents or bike accidents", affected him deeply and went on to influence his violent "Mad Max" movies. "It kind of disturbed me quite a bit. And I think all those things were part of the mix of the 'Mad Max' films," he told Australian Screen Online in a 2006 interview. - 'A singular vision' - After the original smash hit, Miller went on to make "Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior" (1981) and "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" (1985), but "Fury Road" was a long time coming. In the meantime, he produced the coming-of-age film "The Year My Voice Broke" (1987) and the thriller "Dead Calm" (1989) -- which launched his compatriot Nicole Kidman on the world -- as well as Australian television series such as "Vietnam" and "Bodyline". He has a string of acclaimed films to his credit including the fantasy comedy "The Witches of Eastwick" (1986) and the heart-tugging drama "Lorenzo's Oil" (1992), as well as winning an Oscar for the animated feature "Happy Feet". Close on 40 years after he launched the "Mad Max" series, Miller is enjoying the lasting appeal of the frantic action films which have been praised for reconciling mass audience expectations with the highest artistic standards. David White, who won an Oscar for sound editing on the movie, has praised Miller's ability to bring his vision to the screen, despite the difficult logistics of producing frenetic action. The film also faced other setbacks, including Mel Gibson dropping out, making way for the younger Tom Hardy, and shifting the filming from the Australian desert to Namibia. "There's probably less than a handful of people in the world like George," White told the Herald earlier this year, adding that he was "the smartest person I've ever met". "This guy has had a singular vision to do this film." Miller has two children with wife and film editor Margaret Sixel and an older daughter from a previous relationship. Business titans secretly fund Philippine presidential bets Philippine presidential favourite Rodrigo Duterte has flippantly brushed aside campaign trail allegations of accepting million-dollar gifts, while his rivals have refused to disclose their backers, deepening concerns over business titans' shadowy grip on politics. The Philippines has one of Asia's biggest rich-poor divides, with poverty rates remaining stuck in recent years despite strong economic growth, and analysts say one of the reasons for the disparity is the debt that politicians owe their secret backers. Under the nation's campaign financing laws, there are no caps on how much people or companies can give to candidates, nor are there limits on individual donations. Presidential candidate and Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte holds the national flag as he addresses his supporters during an election campaign rally in Manila on May 7, 2016 Mohd Rasfan (AFP) They also do not have to reveal their backers until a month after polling day. Duterte has entrenched himself as the clear frontrunner for Monday's elections by portraying himself as a frugal, anti-establishment politician who is tough enough to take on the elites. "When I become president, by the grace of God, I serve the people, not you," Duterte told reporters this week, referring to the elite. But in the final stages of the campaign trail Duterte, who is meant to earn less than $2,000 a month as the mayor of the southern city of Davao, was hit with allegations that millions of dollars had poured into secret bank accounts. He initially denied there were any hidden accounts. After a journalist deposited money into them, he admitted they did exist and that 193.7 million pesos ($4.2 million) were deposited into them on his birthday two years ago, nearly 10 times his declared assets. "That only means I have many rich friends," he said, refusing to disclose who they were. Asked at an earlier national television debate to name his campaign donors, Duterte gave a mocking answer, answering "Emilio Aguinaldo", a leader of the Philippines' 19th-century war for independence from colonial power Spain. - Buying politicians - His rivals similarly have felt no obligation to tell voters who their backers are, let alone how much they have been paid by them. Senator Grace Poe, who has been in politics for just three years and fashions herself as a lily-white poster image of change and probity, has been widely rumoured to be backed by taipans Eduardo Cojuangco and Ramon Ang. They are in charge of San Miguel Corporation, one of the nation's biggest conglomerates. Cojuangco was one of dictator Ferdinand Marcos's cronies until the 1986 "People Power" revolution sent the strongman into US exile. Cojuangco fled on the same plane but returned three years later and kept building his business empire, while also running a political party that today is backing Poe. When asked by AFP to confirm that Cojuangco and Ang were funding her campaign, Poe spoke only in general terms that there was nothing wrong with taking money from people linked with Marcos. "All candidates have support from both sides of the fence. If they say they don't have any they're lying," Poe replied. She said her backers and their donations would be revealed after the election, as per the law. Marcos's son and namesake, who is seeking to cement a remarkable political comeback for the family by being elected vice president on Monday, also referred only to his legal obligations, when asked by AFP in an interview to disclose his backers. Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, whose late father was accused of looting $10 billion from state coffers during his two-decade rule, rejected the notion that he would be beholden to his secret donors. "That would imply that you bought a politician. I don't think I would allow that to happen to myself," Marcos Jnr said. - Weak laws - In the Philippines, campaign spending is meant to be capped at 10 pesos per voter, which this year will mean a maximum budget for each presidential candidate equivalent to about $11 million. In some advanced Western democracies the donations are typically limited to relatively small sums to encourage a larger section of the population to put their representative into office. However in the Philippines the uncapped donations mean the funding can be provided by big-money donors in hopes of currying favours with an entire government, according to Ronald Mendoza, newly appointed dean of the Ateneo School of Government in Manila. He said said the porous election finance safeguards made the economy vulnerable to being held captive by big-time punters' personal interests. "Only a few can give such large amounts.... so you're no longer accountable to people who voted you in. You become more accountable to the person who actually financed you," Mendoza told AFP. Historically, Mendoza said this led to monopolies and economic stagnation, since reforms were blocked and competition discouraged to enable campaign benefactors to recoup their investment on the new leader. A mere 308 Filipinos funded the 2010 presidential election, turning them into virtual venture capitalists financing high-risk startups, according to a study by the Manila-based Philippine Centre for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ). Presidentiable candidate Grace Poe hands over T-shirts to supporters at a rally in Manila on May 7, 2016 Jake C Salvador (AFP) Rwandan genocide survivors hope for justice from Paris trial Twenty-two years after the Rwandan genocide, Jean-Damascene Rutagungira still cannot bear the sight of the Catholic church in the eastern village of Kabarondo, where his family was massacred before his eyes. Sitting in front of his house, set in the midst of corn fields and banana plantations, the fifty-something farmer, who lost his wife, three children and his mother in the attack, admitted: "Whenever I get close to that church, I go crazy." On Tuesday, two former Kabarondo mayors go on trial in France over the killing of hundreds of people at the church in April 1994, at the height of the genocide in which 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis, were killed by Hutu extremists. Workers unearth remains from a mass grave in Nyamirambo, close to Kigali, containing the remains of at least 32,000 people in Rwanda in 2000 Marco Longari (AFP/File) Rutagungira will travel to Paris to testify against Octavien Ngenzi, 58, Kabarondo's mayor at the time of the killings, and his predecessor Tito Barahira, 64, both of whom are accused of genocide and crimes against humanity in just the second trial of suspected perpetrators living on French soil. Rutagungira is convinced the two men, who were sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment by a local Rwandan community court, played a key role in the massacre in Kabarondo. "If they hadn't been there, there wouldn't have been so many dead," he insisted. On April 13, 1994, a group of mostly Tutsi families who had sought shelter at the church came under attack from villagers backed by the genocidal Hutu "Interahamwe" militia. Rutagungira and several others attempted to fight back with stones but they were no match for the gun and grenade-toting attackers and the soldiers sent in as reinforcements. "There were a lot of dead. There were bodies everywhere in front of the church," Rutagungira recalled. - 'It's time to chop' - The militia then broke down the door to the church and ordered all the elderly people and children hiding inside, including Rutagungira's family, to leave. Rutagungira's mother was among the first of those who emerged to be killed, bludgeoned to death despite her pleas for clemency. An elderly woman who claimed to be Hutu followed. The woman appealed directly to Barahira, the former mayor, to save her, but he shoved her aside and she too was beaten to death, he said. Next, said Rutagungira, the militia ordered the refugees onto their knees and told them to cover their faces. "And then one of them shouted 'It's time to chop' and they began killing people with machetes." Rutagungira himself managed to escape and hide in a forest until Tutsi rebels from the armed wing of what is now the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front came to the rescue in late April. Rutagungira said Barahira's lead role in the killings in Kabarondo was clear, citing his decision to spare a Hutu man whose mother was a Tutsi as proof that he called the shots. Richard Musoni, another survivor of the attack, also pointed the finger of blame at Barahira, who was arrested in 2013 in the southwestern French city of Toulouse. At the start of the genocide, 38-year-old Musoni said, "people here didn't want to kill Tutsis". It was Barahira, he said, who set the killings in motion, inciting attacks at a rally on the day of the church massacre where, armed with a spear, he demanded people get to "work" -- code for killing Tutsis. Rutagungira said Ngenzi, who was captured in 2010 in the French overseas territory of Mayotte, off southeast Africa, was also instrumental in the killings, quietly giving orders at the scene, with a gun tucked into his belt. - Second French trial - Oreste Incimatata, who was parish priest of Kabarondo at the time, described the two men as figures with "a lot of influence over the population". "They incited, they gave orders and they sent people forward to kill," he charged. Both Barahira and Ngenzi deny the allegations. Barahira's lawyer said he went to the church "to see if he could do something to help the refugees". Ngenzi's lawyer has described him as "a good mayor" who was overtaken by events. The mayors' trial comes two years after that of Pascal Simbikangwa, a former Rwandan intelligence boss who was jailed for 25 years for his role in the genocide. Simbikangwa's trial was seen as a turning point in the quest to bring Rwandans suspected of involvement in the slaughter, who later fled to France, to justice. Rwanda's 100-day bloodbath, a modern genocide At least 800,000 people were slaughtered in a 100-day orgy of violence instigated by the extremist Hutu regime in power in Rwanda in 1994. The bloodbath was unleashed after Rwanda's President Juvenal Habyarimana was killed when his plane was shot down over Kigali on April 6, 1994. He was returning from talks in Tanzania with Tutsi rebels of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) commanded by Paul Kagame, now president of the small central African nation. Tutsi children, who were mutiliated by machetes in Rwanda's civil war, rest in the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) hospital in Kigali in 1994 Gerard Julien (AFP/File) President Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi was also killed in the crash. In the hours that followed, soldiers killed Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, 10 Belgian paratroopers guarding her and other top officials in a coalition government. Troops from the Hutu-dominated government and allied militia killed thousands of Rwandans, Tutsis for the most part, who were accused of collaborating with the rebels. The genocide had begun. By April 8 the killings had spread to other parts of the country. Soldiers and militiamen set up roadblocks, and lists of those to be killed, mostly Tutsis but also opposition Hutus, were distributed to all levels of government. The notorious Mille Collines radio station spouted propaganda against the Tutsis, referring to them as "cockroaches". Mille Collines and other media outlets, as well as officials, incited the general population to kill, loot and rape. Men, women and children were felled by machetes, grenades and bullets, in the streets or in their homes, and even in churches and schools where they had sought sanctuary. A UN peacekeeping operation, UNAMIR, proved unable to stop the massacres and on April 21 it was reduced from around 2,500 to 270 men. A week later, the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said a "genocide" was under way. "It is total horror, We are in the heart of darkness," said a spokesman for the International Committee for the Red Cross. It was not until June 22 that France deployed Operation Turquoise, a UN-mandated force tasked with ending the genocide, also to little effect. The nightmare finally ended when the RPF took the capital Kigali and the city of Butare on July 4. Hundreds of thousands of Rwandan Hutus sought refuge from the RPF across the border in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, mostly around Goma and Bukavu. On November 8, the United Nations set up the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, in Arusha, Tanzania, to try the masterminds of the genocide. In 1998 the court handed down its first life sentences and included rape and sexual violence in acts of genocide. These decisions constituted the first recognition of genocide against the Rwandan Tutsi minority by the international justice system. Since then, the country has charged more than 90 people and sentenced more than 60, including high-ranking figures. Digging deep in South Africa as diamond hunt gets tougher Proof that diamonds are getting harder to find can be seen in the South African bush, where one of the world's largest mining companies is spending $2 billion tunnelling beneath a vast open-pit mine. De Beers spent 25 years digging a 450-metre (1,500-foot) deep by one-kilometre wide hole to access diamond-rich rock from the surface at the Venetia mine, close to the border with Zimbabwe and Botswana. Now a whole new underground mine is being constructed underneath the hole to reach diamonds more than 1,000 metres below ground -- a big bet by De Beers that their investment will reap decades of profit. The Venetia Diamond Mine, owned by De Beers, is South Africa's largest producer of diamonds Majahid Safodien (AFP) "We are in very challenging times," Ludwig Von Maltitz, the mine's general manager, told AFP on the edge of the cavernous open-pit as trucks rumbled up to the processing plant. "Worldwide, the easier diamond sources have probably been found but, with this resource here, we hope we have something that can extend well into the future." As the hunt for diamonds becomes tougher, mining companies must go to greater lengths -- and absorb higher costs -- to secure the ultimate precious stone and symbol of love. "Across the globe, the big diamond deposits have been exploited, and I don't see any big new mines coming online," Peter Major, mining specialist at Johannesburg-based Cadiz Solutions, told AFP. "We are often told that the growing world population, combined with the increasing difficulty of finding diamonds, will mean prices always rise, but we will see. Many producers are losing money. "The project at Venetia is stupendous -- especially as very few other firms are investing in mining in South Africa." In recent years, diamond prices have fluctuated sharply. After the global economic crisis in 2008, prices recovered quickly to hit a peak in 2011 before falling about 20 percent to slightly below their current rate. Amid such swings, mining companies must judge whether it is profitable to prospect for diamonds in increasingly difficult geological conditions, or in unstable countries such as Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. - Are diamonds forever? - Reflecting widespread uncertainty in the industry, De Beers -- the world's largest supplier of diamonds by value -- shut diamond mines in Canada and Botswana last year. It also sold its last mine in the South African town of Kimberley, where the diamond industry was born and where De Beers was founded in 1888 by British colonialist Cecil Rhodes. But the Venetia mine is set to become one of the world's five biggest diamond mines after its conversion from open-pit to underground operations is finally completed in 2022. Current predictions suggest the mine will then operate until at least 2043. "The troughs and the peaks (of diamond prices) happen more frequently now but I am optimistic," said Von Maltitz. "If we can do it well enough, I can't see why mining should not be a lucrative business going forward." Demand for diamonds over the last decade has been driven by a new generation of buyers in China and India that have adopted the tradition of giving diamond engagement rings. Latest figures suggest that such new markets are fragile. De Beers last month reported that global demand for diamond jewellery grew two percent in 2015 with growth strongest in the United States and China. But a dip in India and across the Gulf region pointed to weakening growth in many emerging markets. "China and India drove diamond prices up, along with speculation that the growth rate would continue indefinitely," industry analyst Paul Zimnisky said, speaking from New York. "People got overly optimistic and greedy," he said. Zimnisky believes "it is misleading to say we are running out of diamonds" as "when prices rise, mines that were uneconomic become profitable". However the industry can't react that quickly to a rise in demand and prices. Zimnisky said "it takes time to get a new diamond mine started -- perhaps 10 years. That is what makes the $2 billion expenditure at the Venetia mine so significant." A fresh challenge that the industry faces is the emergence of synthetic diamonds, which are predicted to rapidly fall in price over the next 10 years as the manufacturing technology and quality improves. But mining companies hope a real diamond dug out of the deep ground will still be the last word in luxury long into the future. "The Venetia project is definitely worthwhile to pursue," said Richard Grieg, a senior site manager at the mine, which employs 4,500 people. "We are already re-training the miners to enable them to work in the very different conditions underground." The Venetia Diamond Mine is situated close to the South African town of Alldays in the Limpopo province and within the 360 km Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve Majahid Safodien (AFP) An employee walks through a tunnel in the Venetia Diamond mine in South Africa Majahid Safodien (AFP) Scores held as Vietnam breaks up fish deaths protest Vietnamese police detained scores of people as they broke up a protest against a Taiwanese company accused of being behind a toxic leak that has caused mass fish deaths off the central coast. The protest in Hanoi, which follows a similar demonstration last weekend, was swiftly dispersed by authorities on Sunday morning, an AFP reporter witnessed, in a communist country where all shows of dissent are tightly controlled. Several hundred demonstrators had gathered in the heart of the capital outraged at the poisoning of waters near Ha Tinh province that has left tonnes of fish and clams dead and decimated the local fishing industry, accusing Taiwanese steel mill Formosa of overseeing a toxic leak. The square outside Hanoi's Opera House stands empty after police broke up a protest against a Taiwanese company accused of being behind a toxic leak that has caused mass fish deaths Hoang Dinh Nam (POOL/AFP) "Never has the Vietnamese sea been this badly polluted," army veteran Nguyen Manh Trung, 68, told AFP. But "the police are now more and more professional in breaking up protests," he added of the scores of people taken away in unmarked cars. Vietnam's prime minister has vowed to get tough on those responsible for the leak, but an official inquiry has yet to apportion blame. However state-run media has pointed the finger at a 1.5 kilometre (one mile) waste water pipeline from Formosa's multi-billion dollar steel plant into the ocean. The company has a bad record of environmental scandals spanning the globe. But it has not formally been linked to the mass fish poisoning. As the scandal unfolded in April a Formosa communications official was sacked after he said Vietnam needs "to choose whether to catch fish and shrimp or to build a state-of-the-art steel mill". "You cannot have both," the official said. The company later apologised for the comments and has launched its own inquiry but public anger is snowballing. Vietnam's central provinces are heavily dependent on seafood, including farmed shrimp, catfish and wild-caught tuna. Last year the country earned $6.6 billion from seafood exports. Art gives former station in US capital new lease on life A quirky art installation featuring 650,000 plastic balls is breathing new life into a dingy and long-forgotten former underground trolley station in the heart of the US capital. Through June 1, the expanse below Washington's bustling Dupont Circle is being transformed into a hands-on show where visitors young and old can get creative. "They invite you to build your own thing and to make it interactive," said Holly Joseph, who came in from the suburbs to check it out and leave her mark. A woman holds up a structure made of blocks of balls in the Underground Recycled Balls Exhibit below Dupont Circle in the former trolley station in Washington, DC Brendan Smialowski (AFP) The installation uses white translucent balls from a popular previous one at Washington's National Building Museum. They have been repurposed into bricks of sorts. With velcro, visitors can stack the cubes and let their building imaginations run wild. The Dupont Underground, a non-profit, launched a competition to transform the venue into "an unexpected experience." Some 153 candidates from 19 countries took part, with New York architecture and design studio Hou de Sousa submitting the winning proposal. The studio is a collaboration between Jia Min Nancy Hou and Josh de Sousa. With the tracks exposed as a reminder of years past, Hou de Sousa assembled the bricks in a semi-circle and in huge columns. The public part is located in the open, central area. The creations -- a large face mounted on a wall, a princely palace, an arch -- are immortalized on smartphones before being destroyed by their creators or other visitors. "We proposed a reusable system rather than a specific form or design, resulting in a dynamic and direct relationship between creation and destruction," Hou de Sousa said of their "Raise/Raze" concept. The installation -- put on in partnership with the nearby Phillips Collection modern art museum among others -- conjures up the Minecraft video game and life-size Legos. But Dupont Underground's art director Craig Cook prefers a beach analogy. "It's like the buckets that kids put sand in and then they make shapes," he told AFP. "The beach" was the theme of last year's installation at the National Building Museum, in which visitors -- including families -- could go plunge into the balls for improvised swims. - Hidden from view - The installation isn't widely publicized, with no address or hours online and the entrance off Dupont Circle resembling a subway station. That could be because only 49 people are allowed in the space at any given time. Opened in 1949, the trolley station closed in 1962 when the streetcar system shut down. It has largely been empty since, attracting the homeless in the 1960s and briefly hosting a food court in the mid-1990s. In late 2014, Dupont Underground signed a five-year lease with the city "to permanently redevelop the entire site as a mixed-use cultural destination." The organization, in envisioning a future for the space, points to New York's High Line, elevated tracks in the Big Apple that have been transformed into a popular outdoor destination, as an example of the type of urban revitalization it espouses. With money tight, visitors are asked to pay an entrance fee. "We hope to generate enough funding to make a bunch of improvements to this space," Cook said. "It means a lot of work. We don't have any plumbing, we don't have any bathrooms, we don't have any doors." Looking ahead to the fall, Cook hopes to bring smaller music and cinematography installations to the venue. People walk through a light exhibit in the former trolley station below Dupont Circle in Washington, DC Brendan Smialowski (AFP) People move blocks of balls in the Underground Recycled Balls Exhibit below Dupont Circle in the former trolley station in Washington, DC Brendan Smialowski (AFP) Security forces on alert ahead of tense Philippine elections Security forces fanned out across the Philippines Sunday on the eve of national polls, following a vicious and deadly election campaign dominated by presidential favourite Rodrigo Duterte's threats to kill thousands of criminals. Surveys show Duterte, mayor of the southern city of Davao, has a clear lead in Monday's presidential elections as millions of voters embrace his threats to unleash security forces in an unprecedented crime spree, and shut down Congress if lawmakers oppose him. President Benigno Aquino, who is limited to a single six-year term, has likened Duterte to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and warned of a looming dictatorship, with the presidential tensions fuelling an already volatile and violent political culture. Filipino police eat lunch at a roadside stall ahead of the presidential and vice presidential elections in Tondo, Manila on May 8, 2016 Mohd Rasfan (AFP) "Their rhetoric is quite vicious, their exchanges are quite vicious and this is a signal to a lot of supporters to up the ante and be more aggressive," Eric Alvia, head of the watchdog group, National Citizens Movement for Free Elections, told AFP. "This campaign has been divisive and its polarising a lot of people. They (feel they) can do whatever they want." Duterte has accused Aquino's administration of planning "massive cheating" to ensure that his preferred successor, former interior secretary Mar Roxas who surveys show is trailing in second place, wins. His followers have warned of a "revolution" if Duterte loses, while military-linked figures have threatened a possible coup attempt if he wins. Alvia said that the violence was largely taking place on the local levels, but with the leaders' angry rhetoric fuelling matters. At least 15 people have died in election-related violence this year, according to national police statistics. In the latest suspected case, a grenade blast killed a nine-year-old girl behind the house of a powerful political warlord in the strife-torn province of Maguindanao late on Saturday, said Chief Inspector Jonathan del Rosario. Her death has not yet been included in the tally although it likely will be, according to del Rosario, spokesman for a police election-monitoring taskforce in Manila. "This looks like it is election-related but we have a process we have to follow," del Rosario told AFP. - Security, vote buying - In the wake of the blast, armoured vehicles could be seen patrolling the streets of the town while soldiers in camouflage stood guard on vital chokepoints. Del Rosario said 90 percent of the nation's police force, or about 135,000 officers, were already on election-related duty and had been authorised to carry their assault rifles. The military has said their forces are also on election duty. Del Rosario said policemen were guarding polling and canvassing places and manning road checkpoints and were even acting as election officials in a few towns that have been identified as "election hotspots," due to the heated rivalry between politicians. With more than 44,000 people running for 18,000 positions ranging from president to town councillor, the competition has also resulted in a surge of vote-buying. "The strategies have changed. We've seen... a shift from just pure money to other things of value, like pigs, livestock," Commission on Elections spokesman James Jimenez told AFP. "We are receiving stories like people giving away things that are contained in (plastic) dippers, with names of candidates. Sometimes, they give out pails with groceries inside." Jimenez said politicians had been increasingly forced to resort to buying votes as other tricks, like manipulation of vote tallies, could no longer be applied since elections had largely been automated since 2010. Election watchdogs said the sums paid for a vote could be as low as a hundred pesos ($2.10) for a post like town councillor with higher amounts for higher positions. Such small gifts are an effective, if illegal, way for politicians to win support in a nation where roughly one quarter of its 100 million people live below the poverty line. In response, the commission has banned cellphones from polling places to prevent voters from photographing their ballots so they can get paid when they present proof that they voted the right way. Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has a clear lead in the polls ahead of the presidential elections Mohd Rasfan (AFP) A Filipino boy shows his dog with a collar supporting presidential candidate and Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte ahead of the presidential and vice presidential elections in Tondo, Manila on May 8, 2016 Mohd Rasfan (AFP) Philippines Gal ROMA, Adrian LEUNG (AFP) Philippine's ruling political party presidential candidate Mar Roxas greets supporters at a campaign rally in Manila on May 7, 2016 Ted Aljibe (AFP) Uber, Lyft set to leave Texas city over fingerprinting rule Ride-sharing services Uber and Lyft are set to quit the Texas city of Austin after voters said fingerprinting should be part of driver background checks, reports said. The companies had poured $8.6 million into a campaign to keep fingerprinting, which can be expensive and time-consuming, out of driver checks. Results from the vote on Proposition One -- the most expensive campaign in city history -- showed 56 percent in favor of fingerprint checks, compared 44 percent against, according to the Austin American-Statesman newspaper. Ride-sharing services Uber and Lyft had poured $8.6 million into a campaign to keep fingerprinting, which can be expensive and time-consuming, out of driver checks in Austin, Texas Geoffroy Van der Hasselt (AFP/File) The vote came after the City Council passed an ordinance in December that, among other rules for ride-sharing companies, required their drivers to undergo fingerprint-based background checks by February 1, 2017. Uber and Lyft announced after the results of Saturday's vote that they were set to suspend operations in Austin, the capital city of Texas, on Monday morning. "Disappointment does not begin to describe how we feel about shutting down operations in Austin," Uber Austin general manager Chris Nakutis said in a statement. "We hope the City Council will reconsider their ordinance so we can work together to make the streets of Austin a safer place for everyone." Lyft added in its own statement: "We're very disappointed to leave the Lyft Austin community -- and we hope to come back soon. If you'd like to help make Austin rideshare-friendly again, reach out to your City Council member and tell them." Currently, New York and Houston are the only US cities that require fingerprinting for ride-sharing drivers, media reports said. Uber has threatened to pull out of Houston if fingerprinting rules aren't changed, saying they hamper driver recruitment. Business is booming for ride-sharing companies but they face tricky regulatory issues in cities around the world. They are up against stiff resistance from traditional taxi drivers, as well as bans in some places over safety concerns and questions over legal issues, including taxes. Afghanistan hangs six prisoners in tough anti-Taliban push Afghanistan on Sunday hanged six Taliban-linked inmates, the government said, in the first set of executions carried out as part of President Ashraf Ghani's new hardline policy against the insurgents. Ghani carried out his threat to execute militants after an insurgent attack last month left 64 people dead in Kabul, in seemingly the deadliest attack on the Afghan capital since 2001. The executions, the first endorsed by Ghani since he came to power in 2014, have dashed the last traces of hope of reviving Taliban peace talks that broke down last summer. Afghan police keep watch at Pul-e-Charkhi prison, on the outskirts of Kabul, where five Afghan men were hanged for the gang rape of four women Wakil Kohsar (AFP/File) "In accordance with the Afghan constitution... Ghani approved the execution of six terrorists who perpetrated grave crimes against civilians and public security," the presidential palace said in a statement. "This order has been carried out today after... considering the human rights obligations of Afghanistan... and in accordance with Afghan laws." Five Taliban inmates and one from the Taliban-allied Haqqani network were executed in Kabul's Pule Charkhi prison, Afghanistan's spy agency said, releasing their photographs. Most of them were convicted of militant strikes across Afghanistan, including one charged with facilitating the 2011 assassination of former president Burhanuddin Rabbani. In its response, the Taliban vowed revenge attacks against government offices responsible for carrying out the executions. The Taliban, which announced the start of their annual spring offensive on April 12, have already stepped up their campaign against the Western-backed Kabul government. - 'Cycle of violence' - In an unusually vitriolic speech last month, Ghani pledged a tough military response against the Taliban and vowed to enforce legal punishments, including executions of convicted militants. His remarks were in response to a brazen Taliban assault on April 19 on a security services office in the heart of Kabul, seen as the opening salvo in this year's spring offensive. The carnage left 64 civilians and military personnel dead and cast a pall over international efforts to jumpstart Pakistan-brokered peace talks, which stalled last summer after the Taliban belatedly confirmed the death of longtime leader Mullah Omar. Rights groups had pleaded with Ghani to not press ahead with the executions. "By hastily seeking retribution for the horrific bombings that killed 64 people in Kabul... the government plans to execute those convicted of terror offences will neither bring the victims the justice they deserve, nor Afghanistan the security it needs," Amnesty International said in a statement last week. "There is no evidence that the death penalty serves as a deterrent, and there are fears that it will only serve to perpetuate a cycle of violence without tackling any of the root causes." Ghani has also threatened diplomatic reprisals against Pakistan if it refuses to take action against insurgent havens on its soil. Ghani's remarks reflected his frustration after he expended substantial political capital since coming to power in 2014 in courting Pakistan in the hope of pressuring the militants to the negotiating table. The Pakistani government recently admitted, after years of official denial, that the Taliban leadership enjoys safe haven inside the country. Afghan president Ashraf Ghani vowed a new hardline stance against the Taliban after an insurgent attack killed 64 people in Kabul in April Wakil Kohsar (AFP/File) China landslide buries 41 workers at construction site More than 400 rescuers were mobilised to search for 41 people missing after a landslide engulfed workers at a construction site in southeastern China early Sunday, state media reported. A torrent of mud buried a temporary shed used by workers building a power plant in Taining County in Fujian province, the official Xinhua news agency said. The earth was dislodged by heavy rain, it added. Rescuers search for survivors following a landslide in Taining Count, in China's eastern Fujian province on May 8, 2016 Xinhua earlier said 34 were missing, and reported President Xi Jinping had urged "maximum efforts" to find survivors. Deadly landslides are common in China. Israeli Islamic cleric starts nine-month prison term Israeli Arab Muslim leader Raed Salah started a nine-month prison sentence on Sunday for fomenting riots at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque. Salah was accompanied by about 100 well-wishers, including Israeli Arab lawmakers, as he arrived at the prison in the city of Beersheba in southern Israel's Negev desert, an AFP journalist said. At a farewell rally earlier in his home town of Umm al-Faham, in the north of the country, he exchanged hugs with supporters, local news agency Q-Press, considered close to the Islamic Movement, reported. Israeli Arab Mulsim leader Sheikh Raed Salah (C) arrives at the Eshel prison in the Israeli city of Beer Sheba to begin a nine-month prison sentence for incitement to violence, on May 8, 2016 Ahmad Gharabli (AFP) "It is an honour for me to enter prison to defend and protect Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem," it quoted him as saying. "I enter prison by the will of God, not the will of Netanyahu." Salah leads the radical northern wing of the Islamic Movement in Israel, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered banned last year after accusing it of encouraging violent protest that contributed to the October outbreak of a wave of unrest that has so far killed 203 Palestinians and 28 Israelis. Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, Israeli authorities say. Salah has previously spent time in Israeli prisons for offences ranging from incitement to spitting on a policeman to funding Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas. His latest jail spell comes after the Israeli Supreme Court last month denied him leave to appeal against convictions for incitement to violence and racism. The convictions stem from a 2007 rally against Israeli construction work near the Al-Aqsa compound, in which he urged "all Muslims and Arabs (to) start an intifada (uprising) to support holy Jerusalem and the blessed Al-Aqsa mosque." In clashes with Israeli police which followed, a number of officers were injured. The protests reflected fears among Muslims that Israel was planning to change rules governing the site, the third holiest in Islam. Revered by Jews as their most sacred shrine and known by them as the Temple Mount, the compound is a crucible of tensions in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Netanyahu vows to press hunt for Gaza tunnels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday criticised the deputy head of Israel's armed forces for remarks appearing to compare contemporary Israeli society to Nazi Germany. "The comparison drawn in the words of the deputy chief of staff regarding events which characterised Nazi Germany 80 years ago is outrageous," said Netanyahu. "They do injustice to Israeli society and cause a belittling of the Holocaust," the Israeli leader added. Israel accuses Hamas militants of using tunnels to launch deadly attacks from the Gaza Strip Mahmud Hams (AFP/File) "The deputy chief of staff is an outstanding officer, but his remarks on this issue were utterly mistaken and unacceptable to me." In an address delivered Wednesday on the eve of Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day, Major General Yair Golan said the commemoration "must bring us to reflect deeply on the nature of man, even when that man is ourselves". "If there is something that frightens me with the memory of the Holocaust, it is identifying horrifying processes that happened in Europe, and specifically in Germany, 70, 80 and 90 years ago, and finding testimony to them amongst us, today, in 2016," he said. "There is, after all, nothing easier and simpler than hating the foreigner... arousing fears and terrifying," he said. The chief-of-staff, Lieutenant General Gadi Eisenkot, angered politicians in February with remarks warning young soldiers not to use excessive force in subduing suspected Palestinian assailants. A wave of unrest that erupted in October has so far killed 203 Palestinians and 28 Israelis. Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, Israeli authorities say. Rights groups have called on Israel to stop using "lethal force" against attackers, and Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom has accused the Jewish state of carrying out "extrajudicial executions". In March an Israeli soldier was caught on video shooting to death a wounded Palestinian assailant, an incident condemned by a senior United Nations official as "gruesome, immoral and unjust." The soldier, an infantry sergeant, has been charged with manslaughter. And there have been concerns about civilian mobs attacking people they deem suspicious. Notable was a case in October, when an Eritrean immigrant was shot by a security guard at a bus station after being mistaken for an Arab assailant in an attack that killed an Israeli soldier. Footage of the man bleeding as an irate crowd rained blows on his head and body prompted soul searching among some Israelis over their response to a wave of attacks as well as their treatment of African migrants. Turkish army 'kills 55 IS members' in Syria Turkish forces launched a salvo of artillery strikes on northern Syria that killed 55 members of the Islamic State group, Turkish news agencies reported on Sunday. Artillery units stationed near the border struck IS group targets near Aleppo on Saturday evening, destroying three missile launchers and three vehicles according to the state-run Anatolia news agency and the Dogan news service. The reports could not immediately be independently verified. Frequent rocket attacks on the Turkish border town of Kilis have prompted Turkey's army to respond with howitzer fire Bulent Kilic (AFP/File) Since the start of the year, the Turkish border town of Kilis has come under frequent attack from rockets fired across the border from Syria that have killed at least 21 people, prompting the army to respond with howitzer fire. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said this week that Turkey is ready to send troops into Syria "if necessary". Turkey has previously discussed a land invasion but ruled out intervening alone. Turkey, which has been hit by attacks blamed on jihadists including two deadly suicide bombings in Istanbul that targeted foreign tourists, began to carry out air strikes against the IS group in Syria last summer. At least 73 people died on Sunday after a crash between two passenger buses and an oil tanker in Afghanistan. The vehicles burst into flames in the head-on collision in the east of the country, health officials said, calling it one of the worst road accidents in the war-battered nation's history. Many of the dead, including women and children, were burned beyond recognition and dozens of others were left badly injured in the accident in the Ghazni province, near the Afghan capital, one of the areas worst affected by the Taliban insurgency. Two passenger buses and an oil tanker collided on Sunday in eastern Afghanistan, killing 73 people An injured Afghan man sits in an ambulance in Ghazni following the accident The vehicles were completely gutted and clouds of acrid smoke shrouded the scene of the crash on the Kabul-Kandahar highway, a major roadway linking Afghanistan's two largest cities. 'The death toll has soared to 73,' said ministry spokesman Ismail Kawoosi, warning that the toll was expected to rise still further. 'Most of them are completely burned.' Mr Kawoosi gave a sharply higher toll than other officials. Ghazni's Governor Mohammad Aman Hamimi earlier reported seven fatalities but his own spokesman gave a death toll of 50. Bloodied, dazed and badly burned, many of the survivors streamed into Ghazni's main provincial hospital, while many others were rushed in ambulances to health facilities in southern Kandahar city. Bloodied, dazed and badly burned, many of the survivors streamed into Ghazni's main provincial hospital Many of the dead, including women and children, were burned beyond recognition and dozens of others were left badly injured in the accident in the Ghazni province The Kabul-Kandahar highway passes through militancy prone areas and many bus drivers are known to drive recklessly at top speeds so as not to get caught in insurgent activity. 'Our driver was at fault - he was driving too rashly,' said Esmatullah, one of the few lucky passengers who survived Sunday's crash with minor injuries. 'Most bus drivers on the highways are known to smoke hashish, opium and other drugs. They are completely out of control.' Afghanistan has some of the world's most dangerous roads, often in dilapidated condition and traffic rules are seldom enforced. Many in the country rely on old and rickety passenger vehicles, meaning that high casualty road traffic accidents are common. At least 18 people were killed in May last year when a minivan overturned in the western province of Badghis. The Kabul-Kandahar highway passes through militancy prone areas and many bus drivers are known to drive recklessly at top speeds so as not to get caught in insurgent activity The collision occurred on the highway connecting the cities of Kabul and Kandahar and was one of the worst road accidents in the war-torn nation's history And in April 2013 a bus hit a wrecked fuel tanker in the southern province of Kandahar, killing 45 people. The World Bank in November signed off a $250million (170million) grant to upgrade roads crossing Afghanistan's Hindu Kush mountains, crucial trade links that are often closed in winter by snow. Insecurity is growing around Afghanistan as the Taliban press on with their 15-year insurgency against the Western-backed Kabul government. Saudi to maintain 'stable' oil policies, says new energy minister The new energy minister of Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, on Sunday pledged continuity in the kingdom's oil policy, after being named in a major government overhaul. "Saudi Arabia will maintain its stable petroleum policies," Khalid al-Falih said in a statement a day after King Salman appointed him to replace longtime former oil minister Ali al-Naimi. "We remain committed to maintaining our role in international energy markets and strengthening our position as the world's most reliable supplier of energy," Falih added. Saudi Arabia produced about 10.1 million barrels of oil per day in March, according to OPEC Salman tapped Falih, the chairman of state oil giant Saudi Aramco, to head an expanded energy, industry and mineral resources portfolio. His predecessor Naimi had led the now-defunct ministry of petroleum and mineral resources for about two decades. Naimi oversaw a major change in policy towards the end of his tenure when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) refused to cut production despite a price plunge. Instead, OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia focused on protecting its market share and driving out less-competitive players, including the developers of US shale oil. Major oil producers failed to reach an agreement on freezing output in Qatar last month as Saudi Arabia insisted any deal must include all OPEC members, including rival Iran which boycotted the talks. The price collapse, from above $100 in early 2014 to less than $45 on Friday, has intensified Saudi efforts to diversify the economy away from oil which makes up the majority of its revenue. Falih was appointed as part of a government shakeup that saw several ministries merged in what analysts said reflected the government's determination to diversify the economy under its wide-ranging Vision 2030 plan announced last month. Falih said the new ministry was created "in line with the ambitious objectives" of the vision which has pledged "transparency and accountability". The new approach "will help the kingdom to better meet domestic and international energy demand," while integrating and diversifying energy and other resources, he said. An oil industry source, speaking shortly before Falih issued his statement, said he did not expect any change in Saudi oil policy under the new setup. The kingdom produced about 10.1 million barrels of oil per day in March, according to data cited by OPEC. OPEC oil production 2015 Ali al-Naimi served as Saudi oil minister for around two decades, making him one of the most powerful figures within OPEC Ashraf Shazly (AFP/File) Israeli ex-president Katsav, jailed for rape, seeks pardon Israeli ex-president Moshe Katsav, in prison for rape and other sexual offences, has asked the current head of state for a pardon, President Reuven Rivlin's office said on Sunday. "A request for pardon arrived at the president's office today," it said in a brief statement. "As is the custom with every request for a pardon it has been passed for handling to the presidential legal department," the statement added. Moshe Katzav served as Israeli president from 20002007 Yoav Lemmer (AFP/File) Katsav, the first Israeli head of state to be sent to prison, was jailed in 2011 for seven years on two counts of rape as well as sexual harassment, indecent acts and obstruction of justice. A parole board last month turned down his application for early release, saying that Katsav, 70, "expressed no regret and no sympathy toward the victims of his crimes". "The prisoner has presented himself as a victim and has continually attributed responsibility for his situation to others," the justice ministry said in a statement following the decision. Katsav's 18-month trial included harrowing accusations and portrayed him as a sexual predator who routinely harassed his female staff. The offences committed against his employees were said to have occurred when he served as tourism minister and later as president. Katsav became president in 2000, resigning over the allegations in 2007. UN envoy bids to break Yemen peace talks impasse The UN special envoy to Yemen held talks Sunday with the country's warring parties in a bid to break an impasse, a day after the government pulled out of direct negotiations. Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed held separate morning talks in Kuwait City with delegates, and plenary or committees' meetings were planned in the afternoon, spokesman for the UN envoy Charbel Raji said. Yemen's government on Saturday pulled out of direct negotiations with representatives of the Huthi rebels after there were no signs of any progress. More than 6,400 people have been killed and 2.8 million displaced by the Yemen conflict since March 2015, according to the United Nations Saleh Al-Obeidi (AFP) A source close to the government delegation said the talks had reached a delicate stage after "the rebels backtracked to the starting point". "That has complicated the situation," the source told AFP, requesting anonymity. The rebels and their allies have demanded the formation of a consensus transitional government before forging ahead with other issues that require them to surrender arms and withdraw from territories they occupied in 2014. The rebels have also demanded the withdrawal of a small US force operating in the south of the country against Al-Qaeda militants. On Thursday, Ould Cheikh Ahmed said the foes had begun discussing major political and security issues in face-to-face negotiations aimed at bringing an end to 13 months of devastating war. The working groups exchanged views on resolving political and security issues and the release of prisoners and detainees, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2216. This orders the rebels to withdraw from territory they have taken since 2014 and to surrender heavy weaponry they had seized. There has been mounting international pressure to end the Yemen conflict that the United Nations estimates has killed more than 6,400 people and displaced 2.8 million since March last year. Philippine mother's plea against 'death squad' Duterte Mother's Day is always tough for Philippine slum dweller Clarita Alia, whose four teenage sons were believed to be killed by vigilante squads, but this year even more so as the man she blames is close to becoming president. Alia, 62, lives a bitter existence in a shanty town in the southern city of Davao, with a gutter running through her kitchen and only fading photos of her sons who were murdered between 2001 and 2007 after various run-ins with the local police. Davao is the long-time domain of Rodrigo Duterte, the tough-talking lawyer who has surged to become the favourite to win Monday's presidential elections on a platform of abandoning human rights laws and killing tens of thousands of suspected criminals across the country. Clarita Alia lives a bitter existence in a shanty town in the southern Philippine city of Davao Noel Celis (AFP) Duterte, 71, is promising to clean up the Philippines with the same methods he employed in Davao, a city of nearly two million people in the violence-racked far south of the country that he has ruled as mayor for most of the past two decades. Millions of Filipinos have embraced his authoritarian dogma, as they seek a saviour to the chaos and corruption that dogs their lives. Roughly one quarter of the nation's 100 million people live below the poverty line, and crime is rampant. But Alia wants to warn other Filipinos of the dangers she believes Duterte would bring to the nation if he rises to the presidency. "I don't want him to become president," Alia, one of the few people willing to speak out publicly against Duterte in Davao, told AFP on Sunday as mothers around the world celebrated being with their children. "He doesn't have any morals. God forbid if he becomes president. So many children will be victims." Duterte is accused of running death squads in Davao that summarily executed suspected criminals. Human rights groups say the squads -- made up of local police, former communist rebels and hired assassins -- have killed more than 1,000 people. Alia's sons were aged between 14 and 18 when they were killed. She and rights groups believe they were murdered by the death squads, after police warned the boys they were on hit lists. - 'Forget human rights' - Duterte has at various times acknowledged his involvement in the death squads, and on one occasion boasted of them killing 1,700 people. At other times he has denied any knowledge of them. But he has repeatedly made it clear on the campaign trail that thousands of people will die if he becomes president, as he unleashes security forces with shoot-to-kill orders in a bid to achieve the seemingly impossible goal of eradicating crime in six months. "Forget the laws on human rights," Duterte said in his final campaign rally on Saturday night in Manila. "If I make it to the presidential palace, I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, hold-up men and do-nothings, you better go out. Because as the mayor, I'd kill you." On an earlier occasion he vowed that 100,000 criminals would die in his crackdown, and so many would be dumped in Manila Bay that the "fish will grow fat" from feeding on them. President Benigno Aquino, who is limited by the constitution to serving a single term of six years, launched a desperate bid in the final stages of the campaign to derail Duterte, accusing him of being a dictator in the making and likening him to Hitler. "I need your help to stop the return of terror in our land. I cannot do it alone," Aquino said in an appeal to voters in Saturday's final rally for his preferred successor, Mar Roxas. But many Filipinos appear ready to sacrifice the rule of law for what they hope will be a safer society. Duterte goes into Monday's election with a big lead over Roxas and Senator Grace Poe, the adopted daughter of movie stars. "It's nothing," Grace Quiniones, a market stall vendor in Davao and Duterte fan, told AFP when asked about his promises to kill thousands of suspected criminals. "He doesn't kill people who are not criminals. Only those people who break the law disappear, like drug pushers." Presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte is promising to clean up the Philippines with the same methods he employed in Davao Noel Celis (AFP/File) Trump: Hillary Clinton an 'enabler' of Bill's infidelity Donald Trump has launched a bitter broadside against Hillary Clinton depicting her as an "enabler" of Bill Clinton's past infidelities -- the latest nasty and deeply personal turn in the US presidential campaign. Trump, who has all but locked up the Republican nomination, made the bizarre allegation while on the stump this weekend in an apparent bid to undercut his Democratic rival's appeal to women voters. "Hillary hurt many women -- the women that he abused," Trump told a rally in Spokane, Washington late Saturday -- reiterating past criticism of Clinton over her handling of the former president's affairs. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on stage with her husband Bill Clinton after winning the New York primary on April 19, 2016 Spencer Platt (Getty/AFP/File) "And just remember this, she was an unbelievably nasty, mean enabler, and what she did to a lot of those women is disgraceful." "Some of those women were destroyed not by him, but by the way that Hillary Clinton treated them after everything went down." The likely Republican nominee charged that Bill Clinton had "abused women more than any man that we know of in the history of politics." "Bill Clinton was the worst in history, and I have to listen to her talking about it?" he thundered. - Charges of misogyny - Trump has accused Clinton, the presumptive Democratic candidate in November's presidential election, of using her gender to her political advantage -- playing the "woman's card" -- and says she would not be seen as a qualified candidate if not for her sex. His remarks recalled one of the most contentious eras in American politics, when the nation was simultaneously riveted and revolted by the Monika Lewinsky sex scandal. Clinton at first denied, but later acknowledged an affair with the White House intern, a scandal that ultimately led to his impeachment and deepened the partisan divide between Republicans and Democrats. Trump's latest attack, reprising the sordid scandal, seemed designed to inoculate himself against anticipated charges of misogyny from the Clinton camp. On and off the campaign trail, the tycoon has used crass and abusive language -- "bimbo," "dog," "fat pig" and other epithets -- to denigrate women he dislikes. The twice-divorced billionaire, who was celebrated for decades as one of New York's most sought-after bachelors, has also admitted to cheating on his first wife with the woman who became his second. Clinton signaled in an interview broadcast on Sunday that attacks against Trump over his stance on women will definitely be part of her campaign battle plan. "When he says, 'women should be punished for having abortions,' what does that mean? And how would he go about that?" the former first lady said on the "Face the Nation" program, referencing comments made by Trump earlier in the primary season. - 'Ugly race' - Over the past few days Trump has engaged in a Twitter war with US Senator Elizabeth Warren -- tipped by some as a possible Democratic running mate -- trading a stream of barbs and insults. The former first lady said she would not engage in the mudslinging that helped her Republican rival vanquish his challengers for the nomination. "I'm not going to run an ugly race. I am going to run a race based on issues," Clinton said. "I don't really feel like I'm running against Donald Trump. I feel like I'm running for my vision of what our country can be, and to knock down all the barriers that stand in the way of Americans getting ahead." But Clinton has labeled Trump a "loose cannon" for his erratic policy pronouncements, while he nicknamed her "crooked Hillary" in an allusion to the scandal over her use of a private email server as secretary of state. Questioned by CBS over reports the FBI was expected to interview her as part of its probe into her email use, Clinton said she had not been approached. "No one has reached out to me yet," Clinton said, adding: "I made it clear I'm more than ready to talk to anybody, anytime." She went on to press for the real estate mogul to show similar transparency and release his tax returns ahead of the election. "So what's there?" Clinton asked. "He owes it to the American people." US political pundits are closely watching how Clinton responds to the escalating attacks from Trump, who has felled one opponent after the other with his brawling, no-holds-barred style of campaigning. Howard Dean, who several years ago led a failed insurgent campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, said the best strategy for the former secretary of state is counterattack, then take the high road. "She needs to smack him hard, because everybody wants a strong president. But then she needs to pivot away from Trump, not engage and talk about her positive platform for America," Dean told MSNBC on Sunday. The challenge, he acknowledged, is that while Clinton tries to put out a positive message, "the media will only focus on the sex scandal." Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks after winning the New York state primary on April 19, 2016 John Moore (Getty/AFP/File) Egyptologists differ on Tut tomb 'hidden chambers' Egyptian Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Anani said on Sunday new technology is needed to determine whether Tutankhamun's tomb contains hidden chambers which a British archaeologist believes may hide queen Nefertiti's remains. Anani spoke to archaeologists and reporters at a conference in Cairo dedicated to King Tutankhamun and his world-famous golden funerary mask. The mood at Sunday's conference was sceptical months after former minister Mamduh Damati said the secret chambers probably existed, raising expectations of another historical find. Archaeologists plan to resume the search for lost burial chambers in King Tutankhamun's tomb (pictured). The news follows more than a year of speculation after British Egyptologist, Nicholas Reeves, said he found signs of a hidden doorway in King Tut's tomb Damati inspected the tomb last September with the theory's proponent, British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves. His theory and the attention paid to it came as Egypt struggles to revive its key tourism industry after years of political turmoil. However, experts disagreed on Sunday over how the search for the chambers was handled. "Handling the project wasn't done scientifically at all," said former antiquities minister Zahi Hawass. Damati himself said more tests were needed. "The infrared scan said we need to repeat it because we have something that we cannot be sure what it is exactly," he said. Damati had said in March that there was a "90 percent chance" that the tomb had two hidden chambers containing organic material. Reeves theorised that Tutankhamun's tomb was in fact Nefertiti's, and when the boy king died unexpectedly at a young age, he was rushed into her tomb's outer chamber in Luxor's Valley of Kings in southern Egypt. Hawass suggested that the current antiquities minister hire an autonomous committee of experts to handle the investigation. "We have to stop this media presence, because there is nothing to publish," he said. To reassure archaeologists at the conference, Anani said: "I will not make any drills (in the tomb walls) until I am sure 100 percent that there is a cavity behind the wall... I'm very satisfied with the warm scientific debate." Nefertiti was famed for her beauty as depicted in the famous bust now in Berlin. She, Tutankhamun and Akhenaten ruled during a turbulent time, and were one of ancient Egypt's most controversial ruling families. Nefertiti was married to Akhenaten, who tried and failed to force Egypt to convert to monotheism. DNA evidence has shown that Akhenaten was Tutankhamun's father, but Egyptologists do not agree on who his mother was. Egyptologists rely on a mix of DNA evidence as well as information documented in ruins and historical calculations to map the pharaohs' family tree. Most tombs contain more information about the passage to the afterlife rather than solid information about the deceased's biological lineage. Egypt's Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Anani (C) attends the Tutankhamun Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) conference on May 8, 2016 in Cairo Mohamed el-Shahed (AFP) The secrets of Tutankhamun's tomb Philippe MOUCHE, Sandrine BLANCHARD, Alain BOMMENEL (AFP) Aid plane lands at Yemen's Mukalla after Qaeda ouster An aircraft carrying medical aid from the United Arab Emirates landed on Sunday in Yemen's southeastern city of Mukalla which was retaken from Al-Qaeda on April 24. "The plane chartered by the Emirates Red Crescent is the first to land at Mukalla airport since it closed more than a year ago after Al-Qaeda entered the city," airport director Anis Abdel Kader told AFP. He said work was under way to make the airport operational again, with UAE help, so it can be "used as quickly as possible for commercial flights". Boxes of humanitarian aid stacked at a warehouse near the Emirates Red Crescent headquarters in Abu Dhabi on March 30, 2016 Handout (WAM/AFP/File) Militants from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula imposed harsh Islamist rule on Mukalla, capital of the vast desert province of Hadramawt, after capturing it. Special forces from the UAE, a member of the Saudi-led coalition battling Shiite Huthi rebels across Yemen, played a major role in retaking the city. Panama reaches deal to send 3,800 US-bound Cubans to Mexico Panama has reached a deal to transfer nearly 4,000 US-bound Cubans stranded on its territory to Mexico, an official said on Sunday, but added the flights would not be extended to future Cuban migrants. "Panama will transfer some 3,800 Cubans to Mexico after an agreement with that country," the Panamanian official told AFP on condition of anonymity because details were not to be released until Monday. The official said daily flights would begin on Monday from Panama City's international airport, going to Juarez, in Mexico's north near the US border. Cuban migrants in Puerto Obaldia, Panama on May 15, 2015 Rodrigo Arangua (AFP/File) Each planeload would carry 154 Cubans who would pay the cost of the trip themselves. They have been blocked in Panama since March. The next two Central American countries to the north of Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, have since late last year closed their borders to Cubans trying to head north overland. Between January and March, Costa Rica oversaw flights for thousands of Cubans to El Salvador and Mexico to clear a backlog of the migrants who had become stuck by Nicaragua's border closure. Panama in March did likewise, organizing flights to Juarez for 1,300 Cubans. Officials back then insisted the operation would not be repeated. But since then, thousands more have arrived, aiming to get to the US, where a law dating back to the Cold War gives them privileged entry and a fast track to residency. Many Cubans risk a perilous trip through South and Central America because the United States seeks to throw back to Cuba any found crossing by sea to Florida. Panama's foreign minister, Isabel De Saint Malo, has called Costa Rica and Nicaragua's position "contradictory." Turkey left to fight Islamic State alone, Erdogan says Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday accused the international coalition battling the Islamic State group in Syria of leaving his country to fight the jihadists alone on its own soil. "They have left us alone in our struggle against this organisation which is shedding our blood both through suicide bombings and by attacks on Kilis," he said, referring to a Turkish border town regularly targeted by rockets fired from Syria. "In Syria none of those who say they are fighting Daesh (Islamic State) have suffered the kind of losses that we have, nor paid such a heavy price as us," added Erdogan, speaking at a film contest in Istanbul. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) visiting the Special Forces Command in Ankara, Turkey on May 3, 2016 Yasin Bulbul (Turkish Prime Minister Press Office/AFP/File) Turkey is on maximum alert after a series of attacks attributed to Islamic State in recent months, with Ankara and Istanbul among the places targeted. Last summer Turkish forces began carrying out air strikes against the jihadist group across the border. The border town of Kilis has come under frequent attack from rockets fired across the border from Syria that have killed at least 21 people, prompting the army to respond with howitzer fire. Ankara also allows US jets to use its air base in southern Turkey for air strikes on the extremist group. Turkish forces on Saturday launched a salvo of artillery strikes on northern Syria that killed 55 members of the Islamic State group, Turkish news agencies reported. Israeli nuclear whistle-blower charged over release terms Israeli prosecutors charged nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu Sunday with violating the terms of his release, more than a decade after he completed an 18-year jail term, the justice ministry said. Upon his release in 2004, Vanunu was slapped with a series of restraining orders, some of which he has violated in recent years, the indictment read. According to the charge sheet, Vanunu in 2013 met with two US nationals in Jerusalem without having permission to do so. Former Israeli nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu (C) walks out of the high security prison of Shikma in Askelon, southern Israel in 2004 Menahem Kahana (AFP/File) In 2014, he moved to a different flat in his apartment building and failed to inform police. And in 2015, he granted an interview to Channel 2 television, in which he relayed to the interviewer "classified information that was by cut out by censors", read the indictment served at Jerusalem magistrates' court. The former nuclear technician was jailed in 1986 for disclosing the inner workings of Israel's Dimona nuclear plant to Britain's Sunday Times newspaper. He spent more than 10 years of his sentence in solitary confinement. In the 2015 interview, Vanunu said he no longer has any secrets to spill and just wants to join his new bride in Norway, theology professor Kristin Joachimsen whom he married at a Lutheran church in Jerusalem in May that year. He has been barred from emigrating on the grounds that he still poses a threat to national security. Vanunu, 61, converted to Christianity shortly before being snatched by Mossad agents in Rome and smuggled to Israel. In 2010, he was jailed for 11 weeks after breaking the terms of his release by meeting a foreigner, a prison official said. Israel is the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power, refusing to confirm or deny that it has such weapons. Duterte the favourite as Philippines holds presidential elections The Philippines will on Monday hold elections to elect a new president with anti-establishment firebrand Rodrigo Duterte the shock favourite after an incendiary campaign in which he vowed to butcher criminals. Duterte, the longtime mayor of the southern city of Davao, has hypnotised millions with profanity-laced tirades promising brutal but quick solutions to the nation's twin plagues of crime and poverty. However Duterte's critics have warned he will plunge the country into another dark period of dictatorship and turmoil, three decades after a "People Power" revolution ended the regime of Ferdinand Marcos. Presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte speaks to supporters during an election campaign rally ahead of the presidential and vice presidential elections, in Manila on May 7, 2016 Mohd Rasfan (AFP/File) Duterte, a pugnacious 71-year-old, has rocked the political establishment with cuss-filled vows to kill tens of thousands of criminals, threats to establish one-man rule if lawmakers disobey him, and promises to embrace communist rebels. He has also boasted repeatedly about his Viagra-fuelled affairs, while promising voters his mistresses would not cost a lot because he kept them in cheap boarding houses and took them to short-stay hotels for sex. Duterte has caused further disgust in international diplomatic circles with a joke that he wanted to rape a "beautiful" Australian missionary who was killed in a 1989 Philippine prison riot, and by calling the pope a "son of a whore". Departing President Benigno Aquino, whose mother led the democracy movement that ousted Marcos then led the nation for six years, has warned repeatedly the nation is at risk of succumbing to another dictatorship. "I need your help to stop the return of terror in our land. I cannot do it alone," Aquino said in an appeal to voters in a final rally on Saturday in Manila for his preferred successor and fellow Liberal Party stalwart, Mar Roxas. Across town, Duterte was outlining to tens of thousands of cheering fans his plans to end crime within six months of starting his presidency. "Forget the laws on human rights," Duterte, who has been accused of running vigilante death squads in Davao, said in his final campaign rally. "If I make it to the presidential palace, I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, hold-up men and do-nothings, you better go out. Because as the mayor, I'd kill you." - Big lead - Duterte has an 11-percentage-point lead over his rivals, according to the latest survey. Roxas, who is promising to continue the slow reform process seen under Aquino, is tied for second place. Aquino, who is limited by the constitution to a single term of six years, has overseen average annual economic growth of six percent and won international plaudits for trying to tackle corruption. However his critics say he has done little to change an economic model that favours an extraordinarily small number of families that control nearly all key industries, and has led to one of Asia's biggest rich-poor divides. Roxas belongs to one of those families, with his grandfather serving as the Philippines' first president after the nation achieved independence from the United States post-World War II. Senator Grace Poe, the adopted daughter of a late movie star, is in equal second place, having seen her popularity slide after critics pointed to her taking US citizenship then later giving it up. Vice President Jejomar Binay, the early favourite, has fallen to fourth place under the weight of a barrage of corruption allegations. Highlighting the panic among Duterte's opponents, Aquino on Friday called for a last-minute alliance against him. This would have seen one or more of his rivals withdraw in favour of the candidate with the best chance of beating Duterte. However none of the rivals were willing to stand aside. In an intriguing sub-plot, Marcos's son and namesake is equal favourite to be elected vice president, which would cement a remarkable political comeback for his family. Philippine elections are traditionally a violent affair and 15 people have been killed in politically related violence, according to police. Polls were due to open at 6:00 am (2200 GMT Sunday). Election commission officials said a result could be known as early as Monday night, although it could also take days. Philippines presidential candidate Mar Roxas gives a speech in front of his supporters during his campaign in Manila Noel Celis (AFP/File) Supporters of presidential candidate and Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte cheer during an election campaign rally ahead of the elections in Manila, Philippines on May 7, 2016 Mohd Rasfan (AFP/File) Presidential candidate Senator Grace Poe in Manila on May 5, 2016 Noel Celis (AFP/File) High-ranking jihadist arrested: Mali security sources Malian special forces have arrested a suspected jihadist leader in the south of the country, security sources said Sunday. "Yacouba Toure, number two in the Ansar Dine of the South terrorist group, was arrested on Thursday outside Bamako," a security source told AFP. His group is suspected of providing weapons to other jihadist groups in southern Mali as well as in Burkina Faso, the source added. Fighters of the Islamic group Ansar Dine at the Kidal Airport in northern Mali Romaric Hien (AFP/File) The arrest follows that of Souleymane Keita, described as the top jihadist leader in southern Mali, in March. Keita has been linked to the Ansar Dine group, which was one of three Islamist factions that conquered vast swathes of the country's north in 2012 before being repelled by French troops. Some areas remain beyond the control of Malian and foreign forces and the jihadist attacks, previously concentrated in the north, have spread to the centre and south since last year. According to a second security source, Toure, a Malian in his forties, first joined Islamic fighters in the northeast Kidal region in 2010. It was there that he met Keita and Boubacar Sawadogo, head of Ansar Dine's Burkinabe branch. Toure provided the arms and grenades used by Sawadogo's fighters to launch a deadly attack on a police station in Burkina Faso last October, the second source said. He had tried to evade capture last week by posing as a livestock dealer, according a source close to the enquiry. Last year Keita was accused by security services of heading a jihadist military training camp discovered outside Bamako. Ariya Jutanugarn overcomes nerves to become first Thai LPGA winner Ariya Jutanugarn fought off back nine nerves to par the 18th hole and win the Yokohama Tire Classic, becoming the first Thai player to win on the LPGA Tour. Ariya on Sunday started the fourth round with a three-stroke lead and despite a roller-coaster ride she managed to close with an even-par 72 to claim her first victory. "It was so tough. I can't control anything. My legs were shaking, my hands were shaking," Ariya said. Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand poses with the trophy on the 18th hole, after winning the LPGA Yokohama Tire Classic, in Prattville, Alabama, on May 8, 2016 Matt Sullivan (Getty/AFP) The 20-year-old from Bangkok finished at 14-under 274 to beat South Korea's Amy Yang and Americans Morgan Pressel and Stacy Lewis by one shot and finally reach the winner's circle after three top-10 finishes this year. Yang had a 67, Pressel and Lewis both shot 68 as the trio finished tied for second at 13-under. Ariya needed a par on the final hole to get the victory, and her drive on the 18th hole went into the left rough. Her second shot fell short of the green but landed above a bunker. Ariya chipped to within five feet before sinking her par putt. It wasn't the way she drew it up, but Ariya finally broke through after a couple of near misses. She has twice held 54-hole leads but failed to convert those to wins. Earlier this season at the ANA Inspiration, the first major of the year, she led by two shots with three to play in the final round but bogeyed her final three holes to lose to Lydia Ko. Ariya was just 17 years old when she let a two-stroke lead with one hole remaining slip through her fingers at the 2013 LPGA Thailand. Her triple bogey resulted in her finishing one shot behind. It was also a special win for another reason as her mom was in attendance on the US Mother's Day. The Thai Mother's Day is August 12. "Thank you for my mom for being with me all the time to support me and happy Mother's Day," said Ariya. Lewis, who has won 11 times on the LPGA Tour, has now gone 49 tournaments without a win. Her runner-up finish Sunday was her 11th-second-place finish during her title drought. South Korean Ryu So-Yeon, who led after 36 holes, had a 72 and finished at 10-under 278. First round leader Laetitia Beck of Israel also shot 72 to finish with three others six shots back of Ariya. Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand watches her tee shot on the third hole during the final round of the Yokohama Tire Classic, in Prattville, Alabama, on May 8, 2016 Matt Sullivan (Getty/AFP) Radiohead inches back to rock roots on bleak new album Radiohead, the band for two decades synonymous with experimentation, has inched back to its rock roots on a long-awaited album that seizes on space as a symbol of individual darkness. "A Moon Shaped Pool," the ninth album by the Oxford, England-based group, came out Sunday with two days prior notice and, in an affirmation of its principles, Radiohead boycotted leading streaming service Spotify. Radiohead had heralded a new chapter in music culture in the mid-1990s by moving away from the jamming guitars that characterized alternative rock and heading full-speed into synthesized innovation on now seminal albums such as "OK Computer" and "Kid A." Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke on December 4, 2015 in Paris Martin Bureau (AFP/File) "A Moon Shaped Pool" does not come full circle, with Radiohead little interested in simply revisiting the past. But the album nonetheless offers some of the band's most accessible music since its transition. "Burn the Witch," the first single off the album, is built off strings played by the London Contemporary Orchestra but comes together as a tightly written rock song with a hard-driving bassline, as frontman Thom Yorke sings of mass hysteria with lines such as, "This is a low-flying panic attack." Radiohead returns even more to a rock base on "Desert Island Disk," built off a minimalist acoustic guitar, and the gloomy "Decks Dark." Yorke expands on the space imagery on "Decks Dark," singing, "In your life, there comes a darkness / This spacecraft blocking out the sky / And there's nowhere to hide." The idea of an individual alone in the universe is also apparent on "Daydreaming," a melancholy piano track accompanied by a video in which Yorke strolls alone through stages of life from a delivery room to snowy mountains. Yorke is a famously abstract lyricist, but "A Moon Shaped Pool" comes a year after his separation from his longtime partner, printmaker Rachel Owen, and amid the rocker's intense environmental activism. Yorke turns the space imagery into a message of resilience in "The Numbers" as he sings, "We are the earth / To her we do return / And the future is inside us / It's not somewhere else." - Long wait for 'True Love Waits' - Yet Radiohead would never be so straightforward as to switch direction completely. "A Moon Shaped Pool" ends with "True Love Waits," one of Radiohead's concert favorites that had never appeared on a studio album. On the version on the 2001 live album "I Might Be Wrong," Yorke sings of fears of an irreversible separation -- "True love waits in haunted attacks" -- to the strumming of an acoustic guitar. But the song that had come close, by the band's standards, to a clear-cut ballad takes on the latter-day Radiohead sound on "A Moon Shaped Pool." The guitar is gone and instead "True Love Waits" turns deliberately challenging, with a surprise piano progression that could have come from Satie. Elsewhere on the album Radiohead brings soaring strings into "The Numbers," which is led by tight guitar licks, and incorporates an ominous choral backdrop on "Identikit." "A Moon Shaped Pool" is the first Radiohead album since 2011's "The King of Limbs," on which the group shook up traditional song structure by playing off a repeated loop of previously recorded music. A touch of "The King of Limbs" returns on "Ful Stop," with a fast-paced synthesized bass line crescendoing into an electronic haze. - Boycott of Spotify - Radiohead has for years sought not just new musical forms but fresh ways to release albums. In 2007, Radiohead took the unusual measure of inviting listeners to pay whatever they wanted to download "In Rainbows." For "A Moon Shaped Pool," Radiohead has become more conventional -- to a point. The band sold downloads directly on its website and within an hour made the album available on streaming services such as Apple Music and Tidal -- with the major exception of Spotify, the largest company in the fast-growing sector. Yorke has been an outspoken critic of Spotify -- in 2013 describing its role for the music industry as "the last desperate fart of a dying corpse." Unlike most streaming services, Spotify features a free tier that is backed by advertising. Once unthinkable in US, drug shoot-up rooms get serious look Across the United States, heroin users have died in alleys behind convenience stores, on city sidewalks and in the bathrooms of fast-food joints because no one was around to save them when they overdosed. An alarming 47,000 American overdose deaths in 2014 60 percent from heroin and related painkillers like fentanyl has pushed elected leaders from coast to coast to consider what was once unthinkable: government-sanctioned sites where users can shoot up under the supervision of a doctor or nurse who can administer an antidote if necessary. "Things are getting out of control. We have to find things we can do for people who are addicted now," said New York state Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, who is working on legislation to allow supervised injection sites that would also include space for treatment services. "The idea shouldn't be dismissed out of hand. I don't see anyone else coming up with anything new and innovative." Scissors used to cut open plastic bags containing heroin hang from a cable attached to a table in a room where addicts inhale heroin fumes in a clinic in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Tuesday, April 12, 2016. One of three injection sites in the Dutch capital, the facility distributes free heroin to long-term addicts as part of a government program created for hardened addicts who might otherwise commit a crime to pay for their fix. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) Critics of the war on drugs have long talked about the need for a new approach to addiction, but the idea of allowing supervised injection sites is now coming from state lawmakers in New York, Maryland and California, along with city officials in Seattle, San Francisco and Ithaca, New York, who note that syringe exchanges were once controversial but now operate in 33 states. While such sites have operated for years in places such as Canada, the Netherlands and Australia, they face significant legal and political challenges in the U.S., including criticism that they are tantamount to waving a white flag at an epidemic that should be fought with prevention and treatment. "It's a dangerous idea," said John Walters, drug czar under President George W. Bush. "It's advocated by people who seem to think that the way we should help sick people is by keeping them sick, but comfortably sick." But proponents argue such sites are not so radical outside the U.S., pointing to examples where they offer not only a place to shoot up, but also health care, counseling and even treatment beds. In many cases, the users are there to shoot up heroin or dangerous opioids like fentanyl, though some take painkillers in pill form. At Sydney's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre, more than 5,900 people have overdosed since it opened in 2001. No one has died. It's the same at Insite in Vancouver, British Columbia. About 20 overdoses happen there every week, but the facility, which is jointly operated by a local nonprofit and the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, has yet to record a death. "A big fat zero," said Insite site coordinator Darwin Fisher. Sydney's facility is tucked between a hostel and a Chinese restaurant in Kings Cross, the city's red-light district. Aside from the security guard posted just inside the front door, it looks like a typical health clinic. At least two staffers, including a registered nurse, monitor the injection room. They are not allowed to administer drugs, though sterile needles are provided. If a patient overdoses, the nurse delivers the antidote Narcan, which quickly reverses the overdose. After users get their fix, they head to a second room with a decidedly warmer feel. Colored Christmas lights hang from the ceiling; books and magazines line the shelves. Clients can relax with a cup of coffee or tea or talk to staff. Some stay for 15 minutes; others spend hours. They exit through a back door to protect their privacy. The center opened on an 18-month trial basis following a sharp increase in heroin use in Sydney. The trial was repeatedly extended by government officials until 2010, when it was granted permanent status. It's run by the social services arm of the Uniting Church and is funded by police-seized proceeds of various crimes. A clinic in Amsterdam one of three injection sites in the Dutch capital goes even further, distributing free heroin to long-term addicts as part of a government program created for hardened addicts who might otherwise commit a crime to pay for their fix. About 80 users visit up to three times a day. Most are men, and the average age is 60. Many began using in the 1970s and 1980s. "We would ideally like them to cut back their use," said Fleur Clarijs, a doctor at the facility. But, she said, the main objective of the facility is to reduce risk to users and their effects on the community. In Vancouver's seedy Downtown Eastside neighborhood, Insite offers patients treatment services just up the stairs from where they shoot up. About a third of Insite's visitors request referral to a detox program, the clinic said. A woman who gave her name as Rhea Jean spoke to The Associated Press after recently injecting herself there. She felt nauseous and ran outside to the curb to vomit. Her face covered with scabs, the longtime heroin user looks far older than her 33 years. "It's a great place for active users in full-blown addiction. It links you up to other programs," said Jean, who herself hasn't sought treatment through Insite. A 65-year-old man who gave his name only as James because he's in a 12-step program that requires anonymity said he has been using heroin since age 22. He was clean for 17 years before relapsing; he said he was sexually abused as a child and spent 23 years in prison. He keeps returning to heroin, he said, because it provides release from his problems. Insite is the one place he can go and be treated if he reacts badly to the drug, he said. "They saved my life three times," he said, adding that addiction shouldn't be demonized. "There's a large section of society that still refuses to accept it as a disease," he said. The three clinics visited by the AP initially faced opposition from politicians and members of the public but gradually won support, in part because of studies showing reductions in overdose deaths and open-air drug use in the surrounding community. A 2010 survey of residents and businesses in Kings Cross, for instance, found strong support. Insite was targeted for closure by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party. The case went to the Supreme Court of Canada, which in 2011 told the government to issue an exemption to the drug laws allowing Insite to operate. "Insite saves lives," Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin wrote in the decision. "Its benefits have been proven. There has been no discernible negative impact on the public safety and health objectives of Canada during its eight years of operation." Advocates in the U.S. have long discussed the potential benefits of injection sites but they point to the tripling of heroin and opioid overdose deaths since 2000 as one reason why the suggestion is starting to get serious consideration. The deaths of actors Philip Seymour Hoffman and Heath Ledger put celebrity faces on the risks of overdosing alone, and it was revealed recently that representatives for Prince sought help for his addiction to painkillers just a day before the musician was found dead. In an effort to stay safe, some addicts are taking matters into their own hands. In Boston, after Massachusetts General Hospital equipped security guards with Narcan, the hospital began seeing an uptick in addicts shooting up in bathrooms and parking garages. Elsewhere in the city, a nonprofit recently set aside a room where addicts can go after using drugs. The users can't inject there, but a nurse monitors those in the room and will intervene in case of overdose. U.S. federal law effectively prohibits injection facilities, but supporters say that if a state or city were to authorize one, Washington officials could adopt a hands-off approach similar to the federal response to state medical marijuana programs. Kevin Sabet, a former drug policy adviser to the Obama administration, put the chances of injection sites getting approval anytime soon at zero. He believes supporters want full legalization of all drugs and are exploiting the opioid crisis to advance their agenda. California Assemblyman Tom Lackey, who served on the California Highway Patrol for 28 years, said he understands that supporters are looking for a new approach. But he has deep reservations about legislation in his state which would create clinics where users could use heroin, crack or other drugs. "These facilities send a message that there is a safe use, and I don't think there is any safe use of heroin," he said. In Maryland, state House of Delegates member Dan Morhaim is an emergency physician who himself has administered Narcan "many, many times." He sees his bill for supervised injection sites as just one of many creative approaches that will be needed to solve the heroin problem. "It's not going to cure everyone," he said. "But moving people from more dangerous behavior to less dangerous behavior is progress." Marianne Jauncey, medical director at Sydney's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre, said she would prefer better ways to help hardened addicts. Her facility will work to keep them alive until that happens. "Given their histories," she said, "I think the least that we can do as a society is try." ___ Klepper reported from Albany, New York. Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Mike Corder in Amsterdam, Kristen Gelineau in Sydney and Jeremy Hainsworth in Vancouver. In this Tuesday, April 12, 2016 photo, containers for used needles and drug use information are provided at each of the injecting cubicles at Sydney's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre in Sydney, Australia. At Sydney's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre, more than 5,900 people have overdosed since it opened in 2001. No one has died. It's the same at Insite in Vancouver, British Columbia. About 20 overdoses happen there every week, but the facility has yet to record a death.(AP Photo/Rick Rycroft) In this Tuesday, April 12, 2016 photo Marianne Jauncey, medical director at Sydney's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre lays out syringes and other equipment provided to clients using the center in Sydney, Australia. At Sydney's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre, more than 5,900 people have overdosed since it opened in 2001. No one has died. It's the same at Insite in Vancouver, British Columbia. About 20 overdoses happen there every week, but the facility has yet to record a death. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft) In this Tuesday, April 12, 2016 photo, people walk past the nondescript building housing Sydney's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre tucked between a hostel and a Chinese restaurant in Kings Cross, the city's red-light district. At Sydney's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre, more than 5,900 people have overdosed since it opened in 2001. No one has died. It's the same at Insite in Vancouver, British Columbia. About 20 overdoses happen there every week, but the facility has yet to record a death. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft) In this Tuesday, April 12, 2016 photo Marianne Jauncey, medical director at Sydney's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre, right, explains the use of the centre's "crash mat" and recovery equipment used for clients that overdoes while using the center in Sydney, Australia. At Sydney's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre, more than 5,900 people have overdosed since it opened in 2001. No one has died. It's the same at Insite in Vancouver, British Columbia. About 20 overdoses happen there every week, but the facility has yet to record a death. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft) In this Tuesday, April 12, 2016 photo Marianne Jauncey, medical director at Sydney's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre, points to designs on the wall in a second room clients use after injecting themselves at the center in Sydney, Australia. At Sydney's Medically Supervised Injecting Centre, more than 5,900 people have overdosed since it opened in 2001. No one has died. It's the same at Insite in Vancouver, British Columbia. About 20 overdoses happen there every week, but the facility has yet to record a death. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft) Surveillance cameras, right, are mounted underneath a metal table with chairs bolted to the floor where addicts can inhale heroin fumes in a clinic in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Tuesday, April 12, 2016. Such facilities have operated for years in Vancouver, British Columbia; Sydney, Australia, and other cities. Lawmakers in New York, California and Maryland have proposed allowing the centers, but the idea faces significant legal and political challenges. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) Surveillance cameras, right, are mounted underneath a metal table with chairs bolted to the floor where addicts can inhale heroin fumes in a clinic in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Tuesday, April 12, 2016. An alarming 47,000 American overdose deaths in 2014 _ 60 percent from heroin and related opioid painkillers like fentanyl _ has pushed elected leaders in New York, California and other states to consider what was once unthinkable: government-sanctioned sites where users are under the supervision of a doctor or nurse who can administer an antidote if necessary. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) A rack holds colored plastic cups with their owners' names taped onto them in a room where addicts inject heroin in a clinic in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Tuesday, April 12, 2016. The cups contain an tourniquet used by the addicts to help find a vein. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) A rack holds colored plastic cups with their owners' names taped onto them in a room where addicts inject heroin in a clinic in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Tuesday, April 12, 2016. The cups contain an tourniquet used by the addicts to help find a vein. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) Sheets of tin foil used for smoking heroin lie on a counter behind a window next to a room where addicts inhale heroin fumes in a clinic in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Tuesday, April 12, 2016. About 80 users visit up to three times a day. Most are men, and the average age is 60. Many began using in the 1970s and 1980s. "We would ideally like them to cut back their use," said Fleur Clarijs, a doctor at the facility. But, he said, the main objective of the facility is to reduce risk to users _ and their effects on the community. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) Nursing homes turn to eviction to drop difficult patients NEW YORK (AP) Nursing homes are increasingly evicting their most challenging residents, testing protections for some of society's most vulnerable, advocates for the aged and disabled say. Those targeted for eviction are frequently poor and suffering from dementia, with families unsure of what to do, according to residents' allies. Removing them allows an often stretched-thin staff to avoid the demands of labor-intensive patients in favor of ones who are easier and more profitable. "When they get tired of caring for the resident, they kick the resident out," said Richard Mollot of the Long Term Care Community Coalition, a New York advocacy group. In this April 14, 2016 photo, Phyllis Hotchkiss talks to her son, Glen Hotchkiss, at her nursing home in Adrian, Mich. Phyllis, 93, who has dementia and is confined to a wheelchair, was involuntarily discharged from her nursing home earlier in the year, to one further away from her family. Nursing homes are increasingly evicting their most challenging residents, advocates for the aged and disabled say, testing protections for some of societys most vulnerable. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) Complaints and lawsuits across the U.S. point to a spike in evictions even as observers note available records only give a glimpse of the problem. An Associated Press analysis of federal data from the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program finds complaints about discharges and evictions are up about 57 percent since 2000. It was the top-reported grievance in 2014, with 11,331 such issues logged by ombudsmen, who work to resolve problems faced by residents of nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other adult-care settings. The American Health Care Association, which represents nursing homes, defends the discharge process as lawful and necessary to remove residents who can't be kept safe or who endanger the safety of others, and says processes are in place to ensure evictions aren't done improperly. Dr. David Gifford, a senior vice president with the group, said a national policy discussion is necessary because there are a growing number of individuals with complex, difficult-to-manage cases who outpace the current model of what a nursing home offers. "There are times these individuals can't be managed or they require so much staff attention to manage them that the other residents are endangered," he said. The numbers of both nursing homes and residents in the U.S. have decreased in recent years; about 1.4 million people occupy about 15,600 homes now. The overall number of complaints across a spectrum of issues has fallen in the past decade, though complaints about evictions are down only slightly from their high-water mark in 2007, the federal figures show. Meanwhile, the share of complaints that evictions and discharges represent has steadily grown, holding the top spot since 2010. Advocates say offending facilities routinely flout federal law, attempting to exploit and widen justifications for discharge. They say hospitalizations are a common time when facilities seek to purge residents, even though the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987 guarantees Medicaid recipients' beds must be held in their nursing homes during hospital stays of up to a week. "They try and take the easy way out and refuse to let the person back in," said Eric Carlson, an attorney who has contested evictions for the advocacy group Justice in Aging. Bruce Anderson, 66, suffered a brain injury more than a decade ago, and had been through several transfers before ending up at Norwood Pines Alzheimer's Care Center in Sacramento, California. His daughter, Sara Anderson, said the facility began insisting it wasn't an appropriate setting for him, and after he was hospitalized with pneumonia, he wasn't allowed back. She saw the action as retaliatory after repeated complaints about her father's care. She appealed the facility's action and won, but said it still refused to let him back. He remains hospitalized. "It doesn't matter if you win or lose it, there's not enforcement of these hearings. We didn't know that the hearing was pointless," she said. Norwood Pines did not return calls seeking comment. Federal law allows unrequested transfers of residents for a handful of reasons: the facility's closure; failure to pay; risk posed to the health and safety of others; improvement in the resident's condition to the point of no longer needing the home's services; or because the facility can no longer meet the person's needs. Though that final category is often cited in evictions, advocates dispute how often it fits. "The majority of the time, it's because the resident is considered difficult," said Tony Chicotel, an attorney for California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform. Chicotel says involuntary discharges are almost entirely focused on Medicaid beneficiaries and that economics sometimes play a role in the ousters. Rather than a long-term Medicaid patient, many facilities would prefer to fill a bed with a private-pay resident or a short-term rehabilitation patient, whose care typically brings a far higher reimbursement rate under Medicare. Vicki Becker of Sammamish, Washington, said she began receiving pressure from administrators at her mother's assisted living facility about two years ago to have the then-94-year-old transferred elsewhere. For the first six years she had lived in the home, she had paid more than $5,000 monthly. It was only after Becker's mother exhausted her savings and went on Medicaid that the facility initiated discharge proceedings, making her wonder if money was a factor. Becker hired a lawyer and enlisted the help of the local ombudsman to fight the eviction. Though the facility eventually dropped the discharge case, it left her feeling as if her mother's rights had been violated. "It was her home," she said. "What an awful thing to do to somebody." Whatever facilities' reasons, the process can be harrowing. "It's not just losing their home. It's losing their whole community, it's losing their familiar caregivers, it's losing their roommate, it's losing the people they sit with and have meals with," said Alison Hirschel, an attorney who directs the Michigan Elder Justice Initiative and has fought evictions. "It's completely devastating." Agyemang Bediako knows the feeling well. After breaking both legs in a jump from a burning building, he found himself recovering at a New York City nursing home. He said he was still undergoing rehabilitation when the facility told him it would be discharging him to a homeless shelter. "I was panicked," he said, describing his thoughts before a successful appeal of his case. "What am I going to do? I couldn't even eat. I became depressed. I wanted to kill myself." ___ Sedensky can be reached at msedensky@ap.org or https://twitter.com/sedensky In this April 14, 2016 photo, Phyllis Hotchkiss talks to her son, Glen Hotchkiss, at her nursing home in Adrian, Mich. Phyllis, 93, who has dementia and is confined to a wheelchair, was involuntarily discharged from her nursing home earlier in the year, to one further away from her family. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) In this April 14, 2016 photo, Glen Hotchkiss holds the hand of his mother, Phyllis Hotchkiss, at her nursing home in Adrian, Mich. Phyllis, 93, who has dementia and is confined to a wheelchair, was involuntarily discharged from her nursing home earlier in the year, to one further away from her family. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) In this Friday, April 15, 2016 photo, John Wilson, who suffers from Lou Gehrig's disease, sits outside the Dignity Health St. John's Pleasant Valley facility in Camarillo, Calif. When Wilson, 61, was refused readmission, the family sued to get him back into the nursing home, but even when they prevailed, the facility refused. Jeremy Wilson said his father was needlessly kept hospitalized for more than seven months until management changed and the home finally relented. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) In this Friday, April 15, 2016 photo, nurse Zachary Notario, center, and Janette Wilson, right, look after her husband, John Wilson, who suffers from Lou Gehrig's disease, at the Dignity Health St. John's Pleasant Valley facility in Camarillo, Calif. When Wilson, 61, was refused readmission, the family sued to get him back into the nursing home, but even when they prevailed, the facility refused. Jeremy Wilson said his father was needlessly kept hospitalized for more than seven months until management changed and the home finally relented. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) In this Friday, April 15, 2016 photo, nurse Zachary Notario, center, and respiratory therapist Jeanne Devine care for John Wilson, who suffers from Lou Gehrig's disease, at the Dignity Health St. John's Pleasant Valley facility in Camarillo, Calif. When Wilson, 61, was refused readmission, the family sued to get him back into the nursing home, but even when they prevailed, the facility refused. Jeremy Wilson said his father was needlessly kept hospitalized for more than seven months until management changed and the home finally relented. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) Researchers in 4 states unite for rare wolverine study GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) Researchers are working on a plan to study wolverines in four Rocky Mountain states to see if the animals that look like small bears with big claws can be reintroduced to some regions to boost their numbers and see how they might travel between mountain ranges. Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Washington state are working together because there are so few wolverines and they are spread across a wide area, a researcher with Montana's wildlife agency said. "It doesn't occur that often that four states start to think about managing a species together," said Bob Inman, carnivore and fur bearer coordinator for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. FILE - This undated file photo shows a wolverine in Montana's Glacier National Park. Researchers are working on a plan to study wolverines in four Rocky Mountain states in the winter of 2016 to see if the animals can be reintroduced to some regions to boost their numbers and see how they might travel between mountain ranges. A researcher for Montana's wildlife agency says that state, Idaho, Wyoming and Washington are working together because there are so few wolverines and they are spread across a wide area. (Jeff Copeland/Glacier National Park/The Missoulian via AP, File) NO SALES The study is expected to begin next winter, using trail cameras to capture images and copper brushes to collect DNA when the animals pass by. Wolverines are rarely seen by humans and roam in deep snow and steep terrain. There are now up to 300 in the four states. The work will be done in the winter when bears are hibernating so researchers can focus on the wolverines. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation are helping pay for the study. Representatives from the states began discussing what could be done for wolverines and came up with a study proposal about a year ago, the Great Falls Tribune reported (http://tinyurl.com/zmc3dvq ). "We're identifying places that are good habitat that don't have wolverines so we might be able to put them there to increase population size," Inman said. Under the plan, the states will come up with a map of wolverine habitat that will be useful for land trust organizations working with private landowners on conservation easements to prevent development. ___ The Latest: Police: Details of Maryland shootings emerge ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) The Latest on the shooting spree in Maryland that left three people dead and a man in custody (all times local): ____ 8:25 p.m. Police take Eulalio Tordil, 62, a suspect in three fatal shootings in the Washington, D.C., area into custody in Bethesda, Md., Friday, May 6, 2016. Tordil is an employee of the Federal Protective Service, which provides security at federal properties. He was put on administrative duties in March after a protective order was issued against him. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Police say attempted carjackings were the likely motivation at two shooting scenes in suburban Maryland parking lots that left two people dead. Sixty-two-year-old Eulalio Tordil (you-LALL'-ee-oh torr-DEEL') was arrested Friday after a two-day shooting spree at three separate crime scenes. The first occurred Thursday, when police say Tordil fatally shot his estranged wife, Gladys Tordil, in a high-school parking lot. She had recently obtained a protective order against him and was the first of the three deaths. On Saturday, police released new details about the final two shootings, which occurred Friday. Assistant Chief Russ Hammill with Montgomery County Police said they now believe Tordil was trying to carjack his victims, but that they resisted. In all, Tordil now faces three counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder related to the shooting spree. ____ 11:25 a.m. A federal security officer is now facing multiple murder charges in a shooting spree across three Maryland parking lots that left three people dead. Court records show 62-year-old Eulalio Tordil of Adelphi was formally charged Saturday in Montgomery County with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder. Tordil had already been charged with first-degree murder in Prince George's County for the shooting death of his estranged wife, Gladys, in a high-school parking lot Thursday. Gladys Tordil's was the first in a string of shootings Thursday and Friday in the Maryland suburbs of Washington. Police say he shot three people, one fatally, in the parking lot of Montgomery Mall in Bethesda Friday, then shot and killed a woman at a shopping center in Aspen Hill. ___ 2:45 a.m. SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) A shooting spree that began with a domestic slaying outside a suburban Washington high school ended up provoking memories of the 2002 sniper attacks that left 10 dead. Three people were killed and three others were wounded in roughly 20 hours before police took Eulalio Tordil into custody on Friday afternoon. Tordil is a federal security officer who was suspended from duty after his estranged wife took out a protective order against him. Police say Tordil shot and killed his wife and wounded a bystander on Thursday afternoon in the parking lot of a high school. Detectives worked throughout the night but couldn't track him down. On Friday, police say Tordil shot three people outside a mall, one of them fatally. Then, police say he killed a woman outside a supermarket Montgomery County, Md. Police Capt. Paul Starks speaks to the media in the parking lot outside the Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, Md., Friday, May 6, 2016. A woman was killed and three people were wounded in two shootings within an hour Friday at a mall and a shopping center in the Washington suburbs, police said. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) This photo provided by the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration shows Eulalio Tordil. A manhunt was under way May 6, 2016, after authorities said they were looking into whether three fatal shootings in the Washington area were connected. The first shooting occurred May 5 at a high school. The second occurred in a mall parking lot and the third happened minutes later at a nearby shopping center. Police have identified the school shooting suspect as Tordil, an employee of the Federal Protective Service, which provides security at federal properties. (Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration via AP) Kyle Busch finally gets first Sprint Cup win at Kansas KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) Kyle Busch has seemingly dozens of reasons to despise Kansas Speedway, from the two times he crashed out of Chase races to the innumerable misfortunes in other series. Now he has one big reason to speak fondly of it. Busch sailed away from Kevin Harvick after a late wreck collected several of the leaders Saturday night, and finally won a NASCAR Sprint Cup race at one of three tracks that had eluded him. Kyle Busch celebrates after winning a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., Saturday, May 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann) "I didn't know we'd have that much speed in our race car. I guess I should have known," said Busch, who still needs to win at Charlotte and Pocono to knock off every current track in the series. "We had a top-five car in the middle part of the race. We kept making improvements to it, kept making it better." Busch won for the third time this season, and gave team owner Joe Gibbs his sixth victory already this season. But this one may have been the sweetest given Busch's history at Kansas. "This is a place that's been tough on me over the years, and probably almost caused me to go into retirement," Busch said, laughing. "There's been a lot of rough days at Kansas, that's for sure." Harvick was second after making major changes to his car following a poor qualifying effort. Kurt Busch was third, Matt Kenseth finished fourth and Ryan Blaney wound up fifth. "You know, it's our best finish of the year. That's the bright side," said Kenseth, who was alongside Busch on the final restart with 19 laps to go. "I thought we were as good as the 18 if we could have had position, but it was tough restarting on that bottom." Martin Truex Jr. won his first pole in two years and looked like he'd be the one to finally get the victory that has eluded him at Kansas, drawing away for big leads on every restart. He still had a comfortable lead entering the final round of scheduled stops with 54 laps to go, but Truex radioed to his team that he had a loose wheel after leaving his stall. He had to come down pit road again and dropped off the lead lap, another late-race gaffe costing him a chance to win. Truex led 95 laps at Kansas last spring, but fuel and tire strategy conspired left him ninth. His team also made a strategic mistake that cost him earlier this season at Texas. "I couldn't believe it," he said. "Went around 1 and 2 and was like, 'Damn, the wheel is loose.' I kept telling myself maybe it's not. ... Frustrating but that's how it goes." Tony Stewart briefly took the lead in his return to the No. 14 full-time, but everything changed when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. slapped the wall moments later. That bunched up the field and ultimately led to the only major wreck after last weekend's crash-filled race at Talladega. Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin got sideways going through a corner, and that forced Kyle Larson into the wall. Joey Logano had nowhere to go, slamming into Hamlin and ending both of their nights. "I was just going for it. We got to win. It's win or nothing with this type of format, so why not go in there and take a chance?" said Hamlin, who admitted to pressing the issue after two speeding penalties on pit road cost him track position. "I have to get better on pit lane to give us a chance." Logano was strong once again after winning two of the past three races at Kansas. "It's just racing, the end of a race," he said. "It kind of stinks, two weeks in a row I'm walking out of the infield care center. ... It's just racing. Things happen." Busch elected to stay on the track to protect his position, rather than pit for tires, hoping that the clean air of running in front would pay off. It was a risky gamble by crew chief Adam Stevens, but one that he was willing to make to change his team's fortunes at Kansas. "It's always cool to get to Victory Lane, but to knock off another place we haven't won at is really special," Stevens said. "He's had a really storied career and done a lot of great things, and to help him accomplish one of the things he hadn't done is really cool." Kyle Busch (18) celebrates with the checkered flag after winning a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., Saturday, May 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner) Kyle Busch celebrates on the finish line after winning a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., Saturday, May 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner) Kyle Busch (18) celebrates after winning a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., Saturday, May 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner) Kyle Busch (18) crosses the finish line to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., Saturday, May 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann) Kyle Busch celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the MASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., Saturday, May 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner) Kyle Busch (18) crosses the finish line to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., Saturday, May 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner) Friend says he was unaware of shooting suspect's troubles ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) A friend of a Maryland man charged with killing his estranged wife and two other people said he saw the couple as recently as three weeks ago and was not aware they had any troubles. Gary Cochran of Sterling, Virginia, said in a telephone interview Sunday evening that Eulalio Tordil of Adelphi was "always smiling and very polite," and he was stunned that the federal police officer is accused of a two-day shooting spree in suburban Maryland parking lots. Along with the three fatalities, three other people were wounded in the shootings. Police take Eulalio Tordil, 62, a suspect in three fatal shootings in the Washington, D.C., area into custody in Bethesda, Md., Friday, May 6, 2016. Tordil is an employee of the Federal Protective Service, which provides security at federal properties. He was put on administrative duties in March after a protective order was issued against him. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) "He was a very quiet person, very soft-spoken," Cochran said of Tordil, who attended high school with his wife. "We're shocked because we can't imagine this is the person we invited into our home." Tordil, 62, is scheduled to make an initial court appearance Monday in Rockville, a suburb near the nation's capital. He faces charges including first-degree murder. Police said the shootings began Thursday when Tordil fatally shot Gladys Tordil, a chemistry teacher, in a high-school parking lot. A bystander was wounded. The shootings continued Friday at two different mall parking lots. At the first, authorities said, one man was killed and his friend was wounded while coming to the aid of a woman, who also was wounded. At the second, a woman was shot and killed in her car. Police said late Saturday that the shootings on Friday were likely botched carjackings. They also identified those who died from Friday's shootings: Malcom Winffel, 45, of Boyds, was shot and killed at the first crime scene Friday. Claudina Molina, 65, of Silver Spring, died at the final crime scene. Molina's daughter established a GoFundMe page online to raise money for funeral expenses. "She was an active member of church, she was the sweetest mother, was always laughing and joking and could find the positive in everything," the daughter wrote. At a news conference Saturday night, Montgomery County Assistant Police Chief Russ Hamill said Winffel and his friend, who was not identified, were coming to the carjacking victim's aid when they were shot. "Those two men acted selflessly and heroically, most likely saving her life," Hamill said. Hamill also said Winffel's friend, who was described Friday as being in grave condition, is "making progress. We remain hopeful he'll survive." Hundreds of people attended a vigil remembering Winffel on Saturday evening at Clarksburg High School, where his two children are enrolled. A gofundme page set up to help the family with funeral expenses and the kids' college expenses had received nearly $30,000 in donations as of Saturday evening. At Saturday's news conference, Hamill said Tordil spoke to investigators a little about the shootings. "I would not describe him as being remorseful," Hamill said. Hamill said a search of Tordil's car uncovered a .40-caliber Glock handgun that was used in Friday's shootings. Hamill said police believe it also was used in Thursday's shooting of Gladys Tordil but that more testing is needed to confirm. Hamill said Saturday that Tordil appeared to have purchased the Glock after being subject to the protective order. Tordil, a federal security officer employed by the Federal Protective Service, was put on administrative duties in March after a protective order was issued against him when his wife said he had threatened to harm her if she left him, The Washington Post reported (http://wapo.st/1WOrwyg). Tordil subjected their children to "intense-military-like discipline," such as pushups and detention in a dark closet, according to the order. The protective service said Tordil's weapon, badge and credentials were taken when he was placed on leave. Cochran said he had no idea about the protective order, and never suspected any problems in the Tordil family. "I just saw a beautiful family," he said, adding that Tordil never mentioned the disciplinary action taken against him at work. The charges against Tordil carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. Maryland abolished the death penalty in 2013. ___ Associated Press contributors include Ben Nuckols, Jessica Gresko, Sarah Brumfield and Alex Brandon. Police take Eulalio Tordil, 62, a suspect in three fatal shootings in the Washington, D.C., area into custody in Bethesda, Md., Friday, May 6, 2016. Tordil is an employee of the Federal Protective Service, which provides security at federal properties. He was put on administrative duties in March after a protective order was issued against him. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Police take Eulalio Tordil, 62, a suspect in three fatal shootings in the Washington, D.C., area into custody in Bethesda, Md., Friday, May 6, 2016. Tordil is an employee of the Federal Protective Service, which provides security at federal properties. He was put on administrative duties in March after a protective order was issued against him. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Montgomery County, Md. Police Capt. Paul Starks speaks to the media in the parking lot outside the Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, Md., Friday, May 6, 2016. A woman was killed and three people were wounded in two shootings within an hour Friday at a mall and a shopping center in the Washington suburbs, police said. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) This photo provided by the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration shows Eulalio Tordil. A manhunt was under way May 6, 2016, after authorities said they were looking into whether three fatal shootings in the Washington area were connected. The first shooting occurred May 5 at a high school. The second occurred in a mall parking lot and the third happened minutes later at a nearby shopping center. Police have identified the school shooting suspect as Tordil, an employee of the Federal Protective Service, which provides security at federal properties. (Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration via AP) Assistant Montgomery County, Md. Police Chief Darryl McSwain leaves after speaking to reporters under a tent during a heavy rain outside Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, Md., after a shooting Friday, May 6, 2016. Police say three people were hurt in the shooting. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) A Montgomery County, Md. Police officer marks evidence after a shooting outside the Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, Md., Friday, May 6, 2016. Police in Maryland say three people were hurt after the shooting. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) Montgomery County, Md. Police officers investigate the scene after a shooting outside the Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, Md., Friday, May 6, 2016. Police say three people were hurt in the shooting. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) Oliver Stone speaks of college failures during UConn address STORRS, Conn. (AP) Oliver Stone has told University of Connecticut graduates of his academic failures that led him to drop out of school for a while before starting fresh at a new university and ultimately launching a successful film career. Stone gave the graduate school commencement address Saturday at UConn's main campus in Storrs. The Oscar-winning director of "Platoon" and "'JFK" also received an honorary doctorate. He told graduates he flunked out of Yale, where former President George W. Bush was a classmate. After joining the Army and serving in the Vietnam War, he says a filmmaker friend suggested he go to film school. He did, earning a degree from New York University. FILE - This April 16, 2014 file photo shows director Oliver Stone at the 4th Beijing International Film Festival held in Beijing, China. On Saturday, May 7, 2016, Stone told University of Connecticut graduates of his academic failures that led him to drop out of school for a while before starting fresh at a new university and ultimately launching a successful film career, during a graduate school commencement address at UConn's main campus in Storrs, Conn. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File) France's leads World War II commemorations in Paris PARIS (AP) France's president on Sunday led low-key commemorations in Paris marking the end of World War II in Europe. Under a baking sun, Francois Hollande began the proceedings by laying a wreath at the statue of Charles de Gaulle, the former president and leader of the French World War II government-in-exile. In his last Victory in Europe Day ceremony before next year's presidential election, Hollande observed a minute of silence before a rendition of the French national anthem. French President Francois Hollande, center, lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier during commemorations at the Arc de Triomphe marking the 71st anniversary of the end of World War II, in Paris, France, Sunday, May 8, 2016. Victory in Europe Day is celebrated on May 8 to mark the date in 1945 that WWII ended in Europe following Nazi Germany's surrender of its armed forces. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu, Pool) He then shook hands and chatted with De Gaulle's grandson, Yves. A cortege followed Hollande up to the Arc de Triomphe war memorial. The French president laid another wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where another moment of silence was held. Adolf Hitler marched his Nazi troops through the Arc de Triomphe when Germany took over France in 1940. It was also the site where Allied troops celebrated victory over Germany 71 years ago. Victory in Europe Day is celebrated on May 8 to mark the date in 1945 that World War II ended in Europe following Nazi Germany's surrender of its armed forces. Hollande urged young generations to remember "what happened in history and that it can happen again in the future." "Unfortunately, war is also on our doorstep," Hollande said, referring to bloodshed in Syria and Iraq. "We know war can resurface." French President Francois Hollande re-kindles the eternal flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier during commemorations at the Arc de Triomphe marking the 71st anniversary of the end of World War II, in Paris, France, Sunday, May 8, 2016. Victory in Europe Day is celebrated on May 8 to mark the date in 1945 that WWII ended in Europe following Nazi Germany's surrender of its armed forces. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu, Pool) Israeli leader rebukes top general over Holocaust comments JERUSALEM (AP) Israel's prime minister has publicly rebuked a top general for comments appearing to liken the atmosphere in Israel to that of Nazi-era Germany. Benjamin Netanyahu says Sunday that Maj. Gen. Yair Golan, the military's deputy chief of staff, erred when speaking on the country's annual Holocaust memorial day. Golan sparked outrage, particularly among nationalists, for saying that he sees evidence in present-day Israel reminiscent of the "nauseating processes" that took place in Nazi Germany. The defense minister, military chief and other officials came to his defense, saying that he was warning of troubling trends in society. But Netanyahu called the comments outrageous, saying at his weekly Cabinet meeting that "they cause harm to Israel and cheapen the Holocaust." Turkey attacks IS in Syria; 55 militants killed ANKARA, Turkey (AP) Turkish artillery has fired at the Islamic State group across the border in Syria, killing 55 militants and destroying three rocket launchers and three vehicles, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Sunday. Meanwhile, Turkish F-16 and F-4 warplanes struck positions of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, in northern Iraq, hitting the rebels' shelters, ammunition depots and weapons emplacements, the agency also reported. The regions targeted included Qandil mountain, where the PKK's leadership is based. The group has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state and is designated by Ankara and its allies as a terrorist organization. The Turkish military strikes come as Turkey is facing twin threats from the PKK and the IS, which have carried out six major suicide attacks in Turkey since July, killing some 200 people. The IS has fired almost daily rocket salvos from Syria into the Turkish border town of Kilis, which have killed 21 people and injured 70 others since mid-January. The Turkish military has been retaliating to these attacks in line with its rules of engagement. Anadolu, citing unnamed military sources, said the military late on Saturday attacked IS targets in Soran, north of Aleppo and in regions northeast of Tal el Hisn. For nearly two years, U.S. airstrikes, military advisers and weapons shipments have helped Iraqi forces roll back the Islamic State. The U.S.-led coalition has carried out more than 5,000 airstrikes against ISIS targets in Iraq at a total cost of $7 billion since August 2014, including operations in Syria. On Tuesday, a U.S. Navy SEAL was the third serviceman to die fighting ISIS in Iraq. But many Iraqis still aren't convinced the Americans are on their side. Government-allied Shiite militiamen on the front-lines post videos of U.S. supplies purportedly seized from ISIS militants or found in areas liberated from the extremist group. Newspapers and TV networks repeat conspiracy theories that the U.S. created the jihadi group to sow chaos in the region in order to seize its oil. Scroll down for video The U.S.-led coalition has carried out more than 5,000 airstrikes against ISIS targets in Iraq at a total cost of $7 billion since August 2014 but many Iraqis still aren't convinced the Americans are on their side Despite spending more than $10 million on public outreach in Iraq last year, the U.S. government appears to have made little headway in dispelling such rumors. An unscientific survey by the State Department of Iraqi residents last year found that 40 percent believe that U.S. policy is working to 'destabilize Iraq and control its natural resources,' and a third believe America 'supports terrorism in general and (IS) specifically.' Skepticism about U.S. motives is deeply rooted in Iraq, where many still blame the chaos after the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein on American malice rather than incompetence. The conspiracy theories are also stoked by neighboring Iran, which backs powerful militias and political parties with active media operations. Among the most vocal critics is al-Ahad TV - a 24-hour satellite channel funded by Asaib Ahl al-Haq, an Iranian-backed militia allied with the Iraqi government. The channel airs front-line reports and political talk shows where the allegedly harmful role of the U.S. government frequently comes up. Newspapers and TV networks repeat conspiracy theories that the U.S. created the jihadi group to sow chaos in the region in order to seize its oil. Above, people read newspapers in Baghdad, Iraq, on May 5 The U.S. 'aims at weakening Iraq and the Arab world as well as the Shiites,' al-Ahad's spokesman Atheer al-Tariq said. 'They spare no efforts to destabilize Iraq and neighboring countries in order to continue selling weapons and strengthening their presence in the region through establishing more military bases,' he added. While supervising the channel's war reporting last year, he claimed to have witnessed incidents when U.S. forces helped IS. As Iraqi security forces prepared to enter the city of Tikrit in April, he said two U.S. helicopters evacuated senior militants. A few months later, during an operation to retake the Beiji oil refinery, crates of weapons, ammunition and food were dropped over militant-held territory, he said. 'Is it logical to believe that America, the source of technology and science, could fire a rocket or drop aid materials in a mistaken way?' he asked. Videos uploaded to social media by front-line militiamen purport to tell a similar story. One shows U.S. military MREs, 'meals, ready-to-eat,' as well as uniforms and weapons said to have been found in an area held by IS. Another shows the interrogation of a captured IS militant. 'Check out his boots, they are from the U.S. army,' a fighter says. Another fighter points to a pile of rocket-propelled grenades he says were made in the U.S. and shipped to IS. Iraqis watch the news on a television at a cafe in Sadr city in Baghdad, Iraq, on May 4 There are more plausible explanations for U.S. supplies being found in the hands of the extremists. When IS swept across northern and western Iraq in the summer of 2014 it captured armored vehicles, heavy weapons and other U.S. equipment that had been provided to Iraqi security forces at a cost of billions of dollars. And despite the U.S. military's technical sophistication, it's not unheard of for airdrops or strikes to miss their mark in the heat of battle. The U.S. Embassy and the U.S.-led coalition have invested considerable time and resources in refuting the allegations. Both run Twitter feeds, Facebook pages and hold regular press conferences, and U.S. officials frequently appear as guests on Iraqi TV networks. With a budget of $10.67 million for the 2015 fiscal year, the public diplomacy section for Iraq is the third largest in the world, according to a 2015 report by the State Department's Special Inspector General. 'There are a lot of players out here on this information and media battle space,' said U.S. Army Col. Steve Warren, the spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition. 'The Iranians have something to say every day, the Russian have something to say every day, ISIL has something to say every single day, so we need to make sure that this coalition and this Iraqi government is also saying something every day,' he said, using an alternative acronym for IS. Many Iraqis still blame the chaos after the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein on American malice rather than incompetence 'This coalition is here to fight ISIL,' he said, 'not provide them MREs.' But if there is a media war underway, the U.S. appears to be losing it. In December 2014, 38 percent of Iraqis had a favorable view of the U.S., but by August 2015 that had dropped to just 18 percent, according to the State Department's unscientific survey. A group of Iraqi men smoking cigarettes and sipping tea outside a Baghdad shop selling books and newspapers said their skepticism extends beyond U.S. officials. They say Iraqis are well aware that most media outlets are run by political parties furthering their own agendas. 'Iraqi media isn't professional, it's all just ideology,' Abu Muhammed said, asking that his full name not be used for fear of reprisals. But he said the accusations of U.S. support for IS are hard to ignore because of America's confusing tangle of regional alliances. 'The U.S. is always fighting groups on one side that they also support on the other side,' he said. He pointed to Syria, where the U.S. supports Syrian Kurdish fighters who are considered terrorists by NATO ally Turkey. Others simply can't understand how the world's most powerful military hasn't been able to defeat the extremists. Saudi policeman killed in shootout with militants RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) Saudi Arabia says a policeman was killed in a shootout with militants in the western city of Taif. Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki says in a statement Sunday that two militants tried to sneak into the car park of a police station late the night before. Police exchanged fire with the two gunmen, who fled by car to a mountainous area. The police were combing the area on Sunday. Filipinos set to vote: Slow reform or promise of big change? MANILA, Philippines (AP) Thirty years after emerging from a brutal dictatorship, Filipinos will face a dilemma when they pick a new leader on Monday: Should they choose a sharp-tongued mayor with an audacious promise to wipe out crime and corruption within months, or back reformists who aren't regarded as a threat to democracy? It's a make-or-break decision with plenty at stake for the Southeast Asian nation, which has turned around under President Benigno Aquino III with one of the highest growth rates in Asia but remains fragile with its massive poverty, inequality and insurgencies. One of America's closest allies in Asia, the Philippines is in the dead center of long-seething territorial conflicts with China and four other governments that threaten to boil over as the new president takes office on June 30. A Filipino Muslim mother cuddles her baby as she checks her name and polling precinct a day before the country's presidential elections at the front-running presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte's hometown of Davao city in southern Philippines Sunday, May 8, 2016, Philippines. Millions of voters are expected to troop to polling precinct all over the country to elect the successor of President Benigno Aquino III. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) "We were called the sick man of Asia before, but are Asia's rising tiger now," Aquino said last week on a trip to campaign for the candidate he's backing, Mar Roxas, a former Cabinet member who has pledged to continue his "straight path" style of reformist presidency. "We have begun to walk and surely that would be followed with a run. But we couldn't sprint forward if we step back ... if we take a U-turn back to the style of martial law," Aquino said as he criticized presidential front-runner Rodrigo Duterte's threats to close down Congress or establish a revolutionary government should he face impeachment or stonewalling legislators. In final campaigning Saturday, Aquino warned voters that Duterte could be a dictator in the making and cited the rise of Hitler as an example of how a despotic leader can gain power and hold on to it without public resistance. Filipinos have been hypersensitive to potential threats to democracy since they rose in a 1986 "people power" revolt that ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who faced allegations of plundering a crushingly poor country and condoning widespread human rights violations by state forces. In 2001, a similar uprising forced Joseph Estrada from the presidency over alleged large-scale corruption. Aquino's parents, who are revered democracy champions, played a central role in the anti-Marcos resistance movement. Aquino triumphed in 2010 elections with a landslide victory on a promise to fight corruption and poverty. After introducing new taxes, more accountability and reforms, including in the judiciary, and cracking down on tax evaders, the Philippines posted average GDP rates of 6.2 percent from 2010 to 2015 to become one of the world's fastest-growing economies at a time of global economic slowdown. The country earned an investment grade from credit rating agencies and economic upswing fostered the rise of a stronger middle class. Although the government has reported that more than 7 million Filipinos have been lifted from poverty under Aquino, more than a quarter of the country's 100 million people remain poor. Annual debt payments, some of them dating back to the Marcos-era years, and limited funds stymie infrastructure improvement and public services, including law enforcement, fueling frequent complaints. On the campaign trail, all of the candidates but Duterte promised reforms. Duterte's opponents Roxas, Sen. Grace Poe, Vice President Jejomar Binay and Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago have all criticized him for remarks that threaten the rule of law and the Philippines' hard-won democracy. "Duterte is completely out of the system, he's out of the box," said Political Professor Richard Heydarian of De La Salle University in Manila, adding that in the mayor's portrayal of social problems, "there is a gap between the rhetoric and reality but it's working, it's creating panic among a lot of people and rallying them behind Duterte." Duterte is among the strongman-type leaders who have emerged in recent years in developing countries like the Philippines, with his strong rhetoric resonating amid public insecurities, Heydarian said. "Fear-mongering is the No. 1 strategy of all these strongman candidates. They always say that if not for us, the country will fall apart," he said. Duterte, a 71-year-old lawyer and former government prosecutor, built a political name with his iron-fist approach to fighting crime in southern Davao city, where he has served as mayor for 22 years. His campaign vow to eradicate crime, especially drug trafficking, as well as corruption in three to six months if he becomes president has won attention and support, but has also sparked alarm and doubts. "All of you who are into drugs, you sons of bitches, I will really kill you," Duterte told a huge cheering crowd Saturday in his final campaign rally in Manila. "I have no patience, I have no middle ground, either you kill me or I will kill you idiots." Despite his devil-may-care way with expletives and irreverence and allegations of corruption hurled against him by a senator, Duterte has been leading election polls by more than 10 percentage points over Roxas and Poe. While it may be difficult for rivals to catch up, analysts say the race remains too close to call. "I am supporting Mayor Duterte to give change a chance," said real estate broker Jose Allan Bacalando, who joined the mayor's Manila rally, adding that fears that he would threaten democracy "is the spiel of his enemies." While it remains to be seen whether Duterte is serious with his remarks about resorting to authoritarian steps to deal with opponents who would block the radical changes he would pursue in case he becomes president, Aquino and other critics say he causes alarm just by uttering them. "We may have a self-fulfilling prophecy," Heydarian said. "Perception makes reality in politics, unfortunately, and if the perception is Duterte wants to create a dictatorship, that will create its own dynamics." Election workers distribute voting equipment in suburban Quezon city, north of Manila, Philippines on the eve of election day Sunday, May 8, 2016. Thirty years after emerging from a brutal dictatorship, Filipinos will face a dilemma when they pick a new leader on Monday: Should they choose a toughie mayor with an audacious promise to wipe out crimes and graft within months or back reformists who would not be as bold but say they wouldn't put democracy at risk. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) A Filipino checks a list of voters and their corresponding precinct numbers at a polling center in suburban Quezon city, north of Manila, Philippines on the eve of election day Sunday, May 8, 2016. Thirty years after emerging from a brutal dictatorship, Filipinos will face a dilemma when they pick a new leader on Monday: Should they choose an outspoken mayor with an audacious promise to wipe out crimes and graft within months or back reformists who would not be as bold but say they wouldn't put democracy at risk. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) Residents receive t-shirts on front-running presidential candidate Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of Davao city, his hometown in southern Philippines Sunday, May 8, 2016. Millions of voters are expected to troop to polling precinct all over the country to elect the successor of President Benigno Aquino III. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) Filipino Muslims check their names and their polling precincts a day before the country's presidential elections at the front-running presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte's hometown of Davao city in southern Philippines Sunday, May 8, 2016. Millions of voters are expected to troop to polling precinct all over the country to elect the successor of President Benigno Aquino III. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) Residents make free prints on t-shirts of front-running presidential candidate Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of Davao city, his hometown in southern Philippines Sunday, May 8, 2016. Millions of voters are expected to troop to polling precinct all over the country to elect the successor of President Benigno Aquino III. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) An armed Filipino trooper walks through a polling center in suburban Quezon city, north of Manila, Philippines on the eve of election day Sunday, May 8, 2016. Thirty years after emerging from a brutal dictatorship, Filipinos will face a dilemma when they pick a new leader on Monday: Should they choose an outspoken mayor with an audacious promise to wipe out crimes and graft within months or back reformists who would not be as bold but say they wouldn't put democracy at risk. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) An election worker carries official ballots as they are distributed to polling centers in suburban Quezon city, north of Manila, Philippines on the eve of election day Sunday, May 8, 2016. Thirty years after emerging from a brutal dictatorship, Filipinos will face a dilemma when they pick a new leader on Monday: Should they choose an outspoken mayor with an audacious promise to wipe out crimes and graft within months or back reformists who would not be as bold but say they wouldn't put democracy at risk. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) A Filipino checks a list of voters and their corresponding precinct numbers at a polling center in suburban Quezon city, north of Manila, Philippines on the eve of election day Sunday, May 8, 2016. Thirty years after emerging from a brutal dictatorship, Filipinos will face a dilemma when they pick a new leader on Monday: Should they choose an outspoken mayor with an audacious promise to wipe out crimes and graft within months or back reformists who would not be as bold but say they wouldn't put democracy at risk. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) 5 Russian bikers shot dead; suspect arrested MOSCOW (AP) Russian investigators have arrested a man suspected of killing five members of a motorcycle club who had gathered in a village near Moscow. Investigators said in a statement the victims were shot with a hunting rifle shortly after dawn Sunday. Two women who were with them witnessed the killing in Chelokhovo, a village 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Moscow. The investigators said the 27-year-old suspect was arrested at his nearby home and confessed to shooting the bikers after a conflict. Senate's power brokers are aging; several to seek new terms WASHINGTON (AP) Millennials have emerged as the nation's largest living generation yet that demographic shift isn't reflected in the upper reaches of the Republican-controlled Senate, where the body's oldest members are the power brokers. And several are asking voters for new six-year terms. At 82, Chuck Grassley wants Iowans to send him back to the Senate for a seventh time. The Republican chairman of the Judiciary Committee pitches his seniority as a plus, telling voters he gives them a "big voice at the policymaking tables" in Washington. FILE - In this March 16, 2016 file photo, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Millennials have emerged as the nations largest living generation yet you wouldnt know it from the power brokers in the Republican-controlled Senate. The bodys eldest members wield the gavel as committee chairmen, and several of them are asking voters to give them another six years. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) Arizona's John McCain, the 79-year-old chairman of the Armed Services Committee, also is running for re-election. So are Richard Shelby of Alabama, the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee chairman who turned 82 on Friday, and 71-year-old Johnny Isakson of Georgia, who leads the Veterans' Affairs Committee and the Senate's ethics panel. Other committees are controlled by senior Republicans whose terms don't end for at least a few more years. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the chairman of the Finance Committee, is 82 and has been a senator since 1977 the same year Jimmy Carter was inaugurated as president, Elvis Presley died and the first Stars Wars movie came out. Oklahoma's James Inhofe is 81 and heads the Environment and Public Works Committee. Pat Roberts of Kansas, 80, runs the Agriculture Committee and 78-year-old Thad Cochran of Mississippi leads the powerful Appropriations Committee. At 75, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee is chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is 74. Three senior Democrats have opted to retire at the end of the year: Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who is 76, along with Maryland's Barbara Mikulski, 79, and California's Barbara Boxer, 75. But Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, 76, is running for another term. Leahy, first elected in 1974, has been in office longer than any other currently serving senator 41 years. He's the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. The average age of all senators actually has decreased from 63 to 61 since 2009 due to younger members from political parties being elected, according to the Congressional Research Service. The youngest are members of Generation X: Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who turns 39 on May 13, and Cory Gardner, R-Colo., 41. Millennials, who are Americans born between 1981 and 1997, numbered 75.4 million as of last July and surpassed the shrinking baby boomer population, according to Pew Research Center senior researcher Richard Fry. He projects millennials to peak in 2036 at 81.1 million. The Senate also remains overwhelmingly white and male. Of the Senate's 16 full-time "standing" committees, 10 are chaired by white Republican men over the age of 70. One is led by a female Republican: Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska runs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, leads a special Senate Committee on Aging. Overall, there are 20 women in the Senate six are Republican. There are three Hispanic senators, two African-American senators, and one Asian-American senator. Age, strictly as a number, can be deceiving. Cochran isn't the oldest senator, but questions about his mental state have persisted since he was re-elected to a seventh term in 2014. During a bruising primary campaign in Mississippi, supporters of Cochran's tea-party backed opponent accused Cochran of erratic behavior and struggling to recall recent events. During Senate hearings, Cochran reads primarily from prepared text and he often cedes his prerogative as chairman to be the first to question witnesses. Cochran asked no questions of Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at an April 27 hearing despite deep divisions between Republicans and the Obama administration over defense spending and the strategy for defeating the Islamic State group. Chris Gallegos, Cochran's spokesman, said the allegations during the 2014 primary were "not based on facts." He said the senator is in fine health and keeps a vigorous schedule. "He knows what's going on," Gallegos said. McCain shows no signs of losing his edge. He's prone to skewering witnesses who appear before the Armed Services Committee, particularly if he finds inconsistencies in their testimony. McCain also regularly fields questions from throngs of reporters as he's coming and going from votes on the Senate floor. Isakson announced last June he has Parkinson's, but said the disease is in its early stages and won't affect his ability to serve. Parkinson's is a chronic and progressive movement disorder, and it's caused Isakson to walk with a slower, shuffling gate. Yet Isakson, in his second Senate term, is favored to win a third in heavily Republican Georgia. He won 58 percent of the vote in 2010. In Iowa, Grassley's age hasn't been an issue before. He's not lost a general election in more than 50 years, usually getting more than 60 percent of the vote. First elected to the Iowa Legislature in 1958, Grassley has served in Congress since 1974 including six years in the House and 36 years in the Senate. Grassley isn't the oldest senator. He's a few months younger than Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, who turns 83 on June 22. ___ Follow Richard Lardner on Twitter at http://twitter.com/rplardner FILE - In this Feb. 9, 2016 file photo, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Millennials have emerged as the nations largest living generation yet you wouldnt know it from the power brokers in the Republican-controlled Senate. The bodys eldest members wield the gavel as committee chairmen, and several of them are asking voters to give them another six years. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File) London's new Muslim mayor joins Holocaust memorial DUBLIN (AP) London's newly elected Muslim mayor paid respect Sunday to the millions of Jews slain in the Holocaust as his first public engagement in office and received a hero's welcome from London's Jewish community at the end. Sadiq Khan attended the north London ceremony following a racially charged election campaign during which Conservative Party opponents sought to portray him as an apologist for Islamic extremism and to highlight cases of alleged anti-Semitism within the ranks of Khan's Labour Party. The annual Yom HaShoah event inside a rugby stadium brought together thousands from London's Jewish community, including more than 150 Holocaust survivors and a combined choir from five Jewish elementary schools. Khan attended alongside Lord Levy, one of Labour's most senior Jewish supporters and the party's former lead fundraiser. Londons newly elected mayor, Sadiq Khan, center, sits with Ephraim Mirvis, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, at the Yom HaShoah ceremony at Barnet Copthall Stadium in London, Sunday May 8, 2016. Khan joined an annual memorial to the millions of Jews slain in the Holocaust as his first official act in office following a racially charged election campaign during which Conservative Party opponents sought to portray him as an apologist for Islamic extremism and to highlight cases of alleged anti-Semitism within the ranks of Khans Labour Party. (Yui Mok/PA via AP) UNITED KINGDOM OUT "I was really privileged and moved to meet survivors of the unimaginable horrors of the Holocaust as well as their children, their great-grandchildren and even their great-grandchildren," Khan said after being mobbed by well-wishers. Some said they had come specifically to meet London's first Muslim political leader. Many said they had been offended by recent anti-Israeli comments attributed to other Labour politicians, but they applauded Khan's attendance. "Some people have said having a Muslim mayor will mean us Jews will all have to move to Israel, but I do not think so at all," said Mariam Mendelsohn, 78. "I think he will be good to all people. He looks like a very, very kind man. He has kind eyes." London's previous Labour mayor, Ken Livingstone, was suspended last month from the party after he claimed that Adolf Hitler had supported the Zionist aim of establishing Israel. Livingstone, who served as mayor from 2000 to 2008, has defended his comments and has vowed to fight potential expulsion from Britain's main opposition party. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has established an independent inquiry into the extent of anti-Semitic views within party ranks. The left-wing party traditionally has sympathized with Palestinian demands for nationhood and adopted a critical line on Israel. "Labour is an anti-racist party to its core and has a long and proud history of standing against racism, including anti-Semitism," Corbyn said when establishing the fact-finding probe April 29. It is supposed to recommend party reforms including sanctions against members who adopt bigoted positions. London's newly elected mayor Sadiq Khan, right, and Lord Levy arrive for the Yom HaShoah ceremony at Barnet Copthall Stadium in London, Sunday May 8, 2016. Khan joined an annual memorial to the millions of Jews slain in the Holocaust as his first official act in office following a racially charged election campaign during which Conservative Party opponents sought to portray him as an apologist for Islamic extremism and to highlight cases of alleged anti-Semitism within the ranks of Khans Labour Party. (Yui Mok/PA via AP) UNITED KINGDOM OUT London's new mayor Sadiq Khan looks at his watch during the official signing ceremony in Southwark Cathedral, London, Saturday May 7, 2016. On Friday the 45-year-old Labour Party politician became the first person of Islamic faith to lead Europe's largest city. (Yui Mok/Pool via AP) London's new mayor Sadiq Khan attends the official signing ceremony in Southwark Cathedral, London, Saturday May 7, 2016. On Friday the 45-year-old Labour Party politician became the first person of Islamic faith to lead Europe's largest city. (Yui Mok/Pool via AP) London's new mayor Sadiq Khan attends the official signing ceremony in Southwark Cathedral, London, Saturday May 7, 2016. On Friday the 45-year-old Labour Party politician became the first person of Islamic faith to lead Europe's largest city. (Yui Mok/Pool via AP) London's new mayor Sadiq Khan attends the official signing ceremony in Southwark Cathedral, London, Saturday May 7, 2016. On Friday the 45-year-old Labour Party politician became the first person of Islamic faith to lead Europe's largest city. (Yui Mok/Pool via AP) London's new mayor Sadiq Khan gestures during the official signing ceremony in Southwark Cathedral, London, Saturday May 7, 2016. On Friday the 45-year-old Labour Party politician became the first person of Islamic faith to lead Europe's largest city. (Yui Mok/Pool via AP) Sadiq Khan, Labour Party candidate, speaks in front of Zac Goldsmith, Conservative Party candidate, after winning the London mayoral elections, at City Hall in London, Saturday, May 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) Sadiq Khan, Labour Party candidate, speaks on the podium in front of other candidates after winning the London mayoral elections, at City Hall in London, Saturday, May 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) Sadiq Khan, Labour Party candidate, speaks on the podium after winning the London mayoral elections, at City Hall in London, Saturday, May 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth) Multiple attacks in, around Baghdad kill at least 12 people BAGHDAD (AP) Separate attacks in and around the Iraqi capital on Sunday killed at least 12 people and wounded dozens, officials said. The deadliest was in Baghdad's western suburb of Abu Ghraib when a suicide bomber blew up himself outside a funeral tent for the wife of a local official, killing three policemen and two civilians, a police officer said. At least 16 others were wounded in that attack, he added. Elsewhere, three civilians were killed and 10 wounded in a bomb explosion in a commercial area in the town of Madain, about 20 kilometers (14 miles) southeast of Baghdad, another police officer said. Four other civilians were killed and 17 wounded in two separate bomb attacks on commercial areas in Baghdad, police added. Medical officials confirmed the causality figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information. While no one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, the Islamic State group regularly targets public areas and government installations in an effort to destabilize the Shiite-led government in Baghdad. The group controls large swaths of territory in Iraq and neighboring Syria, on which they declared an Islamic Caliphate in summer 2014. Despite recent progress by the Iraqi army, backed by Shiite and Sunni militia fighters, in retaking some of that territory, Iraq still sees near-daily bombings that are often claimed by IS. ___ UK treasury chief sees Clinton as winner, calls Trump 'odd' LONDON (AP) Britain's treasury chief says he expects America's next president to be a woman. Guess who? In an unusual diplomatic departure, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne offered his coy take Sunday on the race between leading Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton and the Republicans' sole campaign survivor, Donald Trump. "We look forward to working with whoever the next president is, whoever she may be," Osborne, an ally of Prime Minister David Cameron, told the broadcaster ITV. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally at La Escuelita School in Oakland, Calif., Friday, May 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) Conservative Party leader Cameron has repeatedly criticized Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric. In December he called Trump's idea of banning Muslim travelers from U.S. soil "divisive, stupid and wrong." Obsorne described Trump as part of "an odd collection" of extremists who want Britain to leave the European Union. Britain votes on the issue June 23. North Korea willing to reconcile unless Seoul 'opts for war' PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) North Korea's ruling party adopted a resolution on the third day of its first full congress in 36 years to strive toward a more prosperous and modern economy and stressed that it will push for the peaceful reunification of Korean Peninsula, but warned that if Seoul "opts for a war" its military will mercilessly wipeout all opposition. The resolution was adopted by the congress on Sunday, but foreign journalists brought into the country to cover the biggest political event in North Korea in decades have not been allowed inside the meeting hall to see the proceedings and must rely on the North's state-run media, which has been reporting the events hours later, or even on the following day. A Korean Central News Agency report Monday said the congress was to enter its fourth day after hearing a three-hour speech by leader Kim Jong Un the previous day reviewing the country's situation and progress since the last congress was held in 1980, before Kim was born. In this image made from video by North Korean broadcaster KRT, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks at the party congress in Pyongyang, North Korea, Saturday, May 7, 2016. North Korea will not use its nuclear weapons first unless its sovereignty is invaded, state media on Sunday, May 8, quoted Kim as saying during a critical ruling party congress. Kim also said he is ready to improve ties with "hostile" nations in a diplomatic overture in the face of international pressure over its recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch. He called for more talks with rival South Korea to reduce misunderstanding and distrust between them and urged the United States to stay away from inter-Korean issues, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. (KRT via AP Video) NORTH KOREA OUT In his speech, Kim announced a five-year economic plan, the first one made public since the 1980s, when his grandfather, "eternal president" and national founder Kim Il Sung, was in power. The speech, in which he said North Korea was a responsible nuclear state that will not use its nuclear weapons first unless its sovereignty was threatened, underscores Kim's dual focus on building up the military while trying to kick-start the North's economy, which has seen some growth in recent years but remains hamstrung by international sanctions over its nuclear program. Walking a fine balance between the two, he said the North is willing to develop friendly relations even with countries that had in the past been hostile toward it a possible overture to the United States. But he made clear that the North has no intention of unilaterally giving up its nuclear program or bending to international pressure aimed at forcing its regime into decline or collapse. Kim said North Korea "will sincerely fulfill its duties for the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons and work to realize the denuclearization of the world," but that statement is predicated on other countries again, mainly the United States also giving up their weapons, a highly unlikely scenario. The congress is something of a formal inauguration for Kim Jong Un, who became leader after his father's death in 2011. But it also suggests he is more oriented toward working through the party and formal government organs to achieve his goals, unlike Kim Jong Il, who never called a party congress and preferred to work through his own personal network of trusted individuals to get things done. On South Korea, Kim Jong Un stressed the need for talks to ease cross-border animosities and emphasized reunification under a federal system, a decades-old proposal that would largely keep the North's brand of socialism intact that has received no traction with Seoul. "But if the South Korean authorities opt for a war, persisting in the unreasonable 'unification of social systems,' we will turn out in the just war to mercilessly wipe out the anti-reunification forces and achieve the historic cause of national reunification, long-cherished desire of all Koreans," he said. South Korea's Unification Ministry on Monday dismissed Kim's offer for talks as "propaganda" that lacks sincerity. Spokesman Jeong Joon Hee told reporters that talks can resume only when North Korea demonstrates how sincere it's about nuclear disarmament. Though North Korea appears to be making significant progress in developing what it calls a nuclear deterrent, its economy is still recovering from the collapse of the Soviet Union and its East bloc allies and a massive famine in the 1990s. It depends heavily on trade with China and has fallen light years behind its southern rival. Kim identified a number of key areas, including the country's power supply, agriculture and light-manufacturing production, as critical parts of the program. Kim stressed that the country needs to increase its international trade and engagement in the global economy, but didn't announce any significant reforms or plans to adopt capitalist-style marketization. Detailing the economic policy in such a public way demonstrated that Kim is taking ownership of the country's economic problems, something his father avoided as leader. Kim has promised to improve living standards and the focus of the congress on the economy reflects that. But it was also decidedly conservative in its wording giving no hint that fundamental changes are in the offing on how the state-run economy functions. Market-style business has become more common in North Korea, in large part because of its economic crisis and famine of the 1990s, which made it impossible for the government to provide its citizens with the necessities and forced many to learn how to fend for themselves. But while the realities on the ground have shifted, officials have been reluctant to formally embrace significant reforms as state policy. Even so, the North has given individual enterprises more autonomy in managing themselves so that they can become more efficient. That has led to increased salaries for better-performing workers and, to some extent, increased production on at least some farms, where farmers have more incentive to produce more so that their own take what's left after meeting government quotas is bolstered and can be sold in markets for a profit. Still remaining on the agenda of the congress, which gathers more than 3,400 delegates at the ornate April 25 House of Culture, are elections to give Kim the party's top post he is already its first secretary, and his father posthumously holds the title of "eternal general-secretary" and for other party leadership positions. Though no date has been announced, and surprises can never be ruled out, the congress was expected to go on for a couple more days. Mass rallies will likely be held to mark its conclusion in a celebratory fashion. __ Associated Press writer Hyung-jin Kim contributed to this report from Seoul. In this image made from video by North Korean broadcaster KRT, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, speaks at the party congress in Pyongyang, North Korea, Saturday, May 7, 2016. North Korea will not use its nuclear weapons first unless its sovereignty is invaded, state media on Sunday, May 8, quoted Kim as saying during a critical ruling party congress. Kim also said he is ready to improve ties with "hostile" nations in a diplomatic overture in the face of international pressure over its recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch. He called for more talks with rival South Korea to reduce misunderstanding and distrust between them and urged the United States to stay away from inter-Korean issues, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. (KRT via AP Video) NORTH KOREA OUT In this image made from video by North Korean broadcaster KRT, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks at the party congress in Pyongyang, North Korea, Saturday, May 7, 2016. North Korea will not use its nuclear weapons first unless its sovereignty is invaded, state media on Sunday, May 8, quoted Kim as saying during a critical ruling party congress. Kim also said he is ready to improve ties with "hostile" nations in a diplomatic overture in the face of international pressure over its recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch. He called for more talks with rival South Korea to reduce misunderstanding and distrust between them and urged the United States to stay away from inter-Korean issues, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. (KRT via AP Video) NORTH KOREA OUT In this image made from video by North Korean broadcaster KRT, military officers and delagates applaud as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gives speech at the party congress in Pyongyang, North Korea, Saturday, May 7, 2016. North Korea will not use its nuclear weapons first unless its sovereignty is invaded, state media on Sunday, May 8, quoted Kim as saying during a critical ruling party congress. Kim also said he is ready to improve ties with "hostile" nations in a diplomatic overture in the face of international pressure over its recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch. He called for more talks with rival South Korea to reduce misunderstanding and distrust between them and urged the United States to stay away from inter-Korean issues, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. (KRT via AP Video) NORTH KOREA OUT In this image made from video by North Korean broadcaster KRT, military officers applaud as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gives speech at the party congress in Pyongyang, North Korea, Saturday, May 7, 2016. North Korea will not use its nuclear weapons first unless its sovereignty is invaded, state media on Sunday, May 8, quoted Kim as saying during a critical ruling party congress. Kim also said he is ready to improve ties with "hostile" nations in a diplomatic overture in the face of international pressure over its recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch. He called for more talks with rival South Korea to reduce misunderstanding and distrust between them and urged the United States to stay away from inter-Korean issues, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. (KRT via AP Video) NORTH KOREA OUT A man pushes his bicycle past the Pyongyang train station which is decorated with the ruling Workers' Party flags Sunday, May 8, 2016, in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said during a critical ruling party congress that his country will not use its nuclear weapons first unless its sovereignty is invaded. He also announced a five-year plan starting this year to develop the North's dismal economy and identified improving the country's power supply and increasing its agricultural and light-manufacturing production as the critical parts of the program, state media reported. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) North Korean school children play in a park Sunday, May 8, 2016, in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said during a critical ruling party congress that his country will not use its nuclear weapons first unless its sovereignty is invaded. He also announced a five-year plan starting this year to develop the North's dismal economy and identified improving the country's power supply and increasing its agricultural and light-manufacturing production as the critical parts of the program, state media reported. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) North Korean soldiers stand by a sidewalk while people carrying decorative flowers make their way from the Kim Il Sung Square Sunday, May 8, 2016, in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said during a critical ruling party congress that his country will not use its nuclear weapons first unless its sovereignty is invaded. He also announced a five-year plan starting this year to develop the North's dismal economy and identified improving the country's power supply and increasing its agricultural and light-manufacturing production as the critical parts of the program, state media reported. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) North Korean men and women carrying decorative flowers walk from the Kim Il Sung Square after rehearsing for a parade Sunday, May 8, 2016, in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said during a critical ruling party congress that his country will not use its nuclear weapons first unless its sovereignty is invaded. He also announced a five-year plan starting this year to develop the North's dismal economy and identified improving the country's power supply and increasing its agricultural and light-manufacturing production as the critical parts of the program, state media reported. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) North Korean women carrying decorative flowers walk from the Kim Il Sung Square after rehearsing for a parade Sunday, May 8, 2016, in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said during a critical ruling party congress that his country will not use its nuclear weapons first unless its sovereignty is invaded. He also announced a five-year plan starting this year to develop the North's dismal economy and identified improving the country's power supply and increasing its agricultural and light-manufacturing production as the critical parts of the program, state media reported. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) In this Saturday, May 7, 2016, photo, North Korean men drink beer at the Taedonggang Beer shop in Pyongyang, North Korea. Ahead of the ongoing congress of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, the nation was called upon to do massive overtime to boost production and show their devotion to leader Kim Jong Un in a 70-day "loyalty campaign." And that's in addition to the hour after hour of rehearsals for huge rallies when their ruling party wraps up its first congress in decades. So how does a tired North Korean unwind? Beer. Beer. And more beer. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) In this Saturday, May 7, 2016, photo, beer servers Kim Yon Hui, 29, left, and Yang Pok Yong, 42, right wait to serve customers at the Taedonggang Beer shop in Pyongyang, North Korea. Ahead of the ongoing congress of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, the nation was called upon to do massive overtime to boost production and show their devotion to leader Kim Jong Un in a 70-day "loyalty campaign." And that's in addition to the hour after hour of rehearsals for huge rallies when their ruling party wraps up its first congress in decades. So how does a tired North Korean unwind? Beer. Beer. And more beer. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) In this Saturday, May 7, 2016, photo, North Korean men gather at the Taedonggang Beer shop in Pyongyang, North Korea. Ahead of the ongoing congress of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, the nation was called upon to do massive overtime to boost production and show their devotion to leader Kim Jong Un in a 70-day "loyalty campaign." And that's in addition to the hour after hour of rehearsals for huge rallies when their ruling party wraps up its first congress in decades. So how does a tired North Korean unwind? Beer. Beer. And more beer. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) Two North Korean school girls walk past a kiosk selling snacks to people Sunday, May 8, 2016, in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said during a critical ruling party congress that his country will not use its nuclear weapons first unless its sovereignty is invaded. He also announced a five-year plan starting this year to develop the North's dismal economy and identified improving the country's power supply and increasing its agricultural and light-manufacturing production as the critical parts of the program, state media reported. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) Foreign journalists leave a venue after being told that coverage plans had changed until further notice on Sunday, May 8, 2016, in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said during a critical ruling party congress that his country will not use its nuclear weapons first unless its sovereignty is invaded. He also announced a five-year plan starting this year to develop the North's dismal economy and identified improving the country's power supply and increasing its agricultural and light-manufacturing production as the critical parts of the program, state media reported. The North has invited over 100 foreign journalists to cover the event, though none have been let inside the convention hall. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) North Koreans read a speech by their leader Kim Jong Un, published in the local newspaper on Sunday, May 8, 2016, in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said during a critical ruling party congress that his country will not use its nuclear weapons first unless its sovereignty is invaded, state media reported. (AP Photo/Kim Kwang Hyon) In this image made from video by North Korean broadcaster KRT, military officers applaud as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gives speech at the party congress in Pyongyang, North Korea, Saturday, May 7, 2016. North Korea will not use its nuclear weapons first unless its sovereignty is invaded, state media on Sunday, May 8, quoted Kim as saying during a critical ruling party congress. Kim also said he is ready to improve ties with "hostile" nations in a diplomatic overture in the face of international pressure over its recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch. He called for more talks with rival South Korea to reduce misunderstanding and distrust between them and urged the United States to stay away from inter-Korean issues, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. (KRT via AP Video) NORTH KOREA OUT In this Saturday, May 7, 2016, photo, North Korean men drink beer in the Taedonggang Beer shop in Pyongyang, North Korea. Ahead of the ongoing congress of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, the nation was called upon to do massive overtime to boost production and show their devotion to leader Kim Jong Un in a 70-day "loyalty campaign." And that's in addition to the hour after hour of rehearsals for huge rallies when their ruling party wraps up its first congress in decades. So how does a tired North Korean unwind? Beer. Beer. And more beer. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) A North Korean women uses her decorative bouquet of flowers to shield herself from the sun Sunday, May 8, 2016, in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said during a critical ruling party congress that his country will not use its nuclear weapons first unless its sovereignty is invaded. He also announced a five-year plan starting this year to develop the North's dismal economy and identified improving the country's power supply and increasing its agricultural and light-manufacturing production as the critical parts of the program, state media reported. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) University of Wisconsin works to improve racial climate MADISON, Wis. (AP) University of Wisconsin graduate student Michael Davis says he feels isolated, excluded and afraid as a black student on the predominantly white campus, where he's been called a racial slur multiple times. "It hasn't been a positive experience at all," Davis said. Davis is among an increasing number of students at the flagship Madison campus demanding the administration make changes for inclusivity's sake. They also join college students around the U.S. who've expressed growing frustration with discrimination and racism on predominantly white campuses, especially in the wake of protests at the University of Missouri in November and the growing Black Lives Matter movement. In response, UW administrators have agreed to cultural competency training, have added student support hours and are asking students how to improve the climate, but activists say the response is inadequate and intend to get some outside help. "That's going to be our focal point, is organizing people in the city of Madison to help bring outside pressure to hold the university accountable," said Davis, who's pushing for community control of university police. Universities nationwide have conceded to various demands from protesters, including resignations of administrators at the University of Missouri. But it's still unclear how many of the requested changes will be carried out. At the University of Kansas, plans for a multicultural student government are in doubt after the chancellor recently vetoed a proposed student fee meant for it. There is usually no accountability for delivery on the promises administrators make, said Shaun Harper, a professor in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. "I've seen college presidents and other senior leaders skillfully sort of get students to calm down," Harper said. "Students are starting to see that some of the assurances made to them are not real." At the University of Wisconsin, a series of racially charged incidents fueled the students' pressure for change: photos of swastikas posted on a dorm room door, stereotypical war cry sounds shouted at a Ho-Chunk tribal elder and graffiti using other Nazi symbols. For many students of color, though, it's the smaller instances. Betty Nen, a freshman whose father is from Papua New Guinea, said a guy started touching her hair at a party to see what it would feel like. Nima Cheraghi, also a freshman, said a girl called him Aladdin because of his Iranian descent. "I believe that many, especially white, students just don't understand the privileges they're given," said Cheraghi, a spokesman for Associated Students of Madison, the student government. About 76 percent of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's undergraduate population is white, making it the second-whitest campus among the 14 universities in the Big 10 conference. It also has the smallest percentage of black undergraduate students, at just over 2 percent. Sergio Gonzalez, co-president of the Teaching Assistants' Association and a doctoral student in history, said people are realizing they don't have to put up with discrimination just because they're in the minority. "I think that what's happened is students have just gotten fed up," said Gonzalez, whose parents are from Mexico. UW students have interrupted Board of Regents meetings with lists of demands and have aired grievances and stories of discrimination on social media using #TheRealUW hashtag. Hundreds also protested the in-class arrest of a 21-year-old senior for anti-racist graffiti, such as "White supremacy iz a disease," painted around campus. UW administrators say they are trying to be responsive to student needs and demands, and a university committee consisting of students and staff is evaluating more than 100 proposals from the community to improve the campus climate. "My hope is that we are a campus that is really trying to do it differently," said Lori Berquam, vice provost for student life. "We're not perfect, but we're trying to do it in a way that manifests the ideas of our students." The conversation includes a broader range of people than it has in the past, Vice Provost for Diversity and Climate Patrick Sims said. He said "majority" students in other words, white students are just now finding out about issues he's been hearing about for twelve years. "The burden cannot be on black and brown students and faculty," Berquam said. ___ Looming marijuana ruling could limit federal prosecutions SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Rolland Gregg and his family have fought federal marijuana charges for more than three years, arguing that the roughly 70 marijuana plants investigators found on their Washington property were for their own medicinal use and fully complied with state law. A federal jury last year convicted Gregg, his mother and his then-wife of growing 50 to 100 marijuana plants amounts their attorney said are in compliance with state medical marijuana law. With prison sentences looming, they have now turned to a recent act of Congress that they say should have stopped the U.S. Department of Justice from prosecuting them because they were doing what their state allowed. Marijuana is illegal under federal law, and the DOJ disagrees with Gregg's understanding of the new law. "It's been the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with in my life when you see the government coming down on you for simply trying to be healthy," Gregg said. In this photo taken Tuesday, May 3, 2016, Rolland Gregg poses for a photo at his home in Kirkland, Wash. Gregg and his family have fought federal marijuana charges for more than three years, arguing that the plants investigators found on their Washington property were for their own medicinal use and fully complied with state law. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson) A federal appeals court is expected to issue a ruling soon on the scope of the law that could pave the way to end or overturn at least six federal marijuana criminal prosecutions and convictions in California and Washington, including Gregg's, and limit future prosecutions of medical marijuana users and dispensaries in eight Western states that allow them. "The 9th Circuit is the biggest circuit, one that contains lots of marijuana states. If they were to say, 'The federal government is prohibited from enforcing medical marijuana law,' that would be huge," said Sam Kamin, a professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law who studies marijuana regulation. At issue is a Congressional amendment that said the DOJ could not use funding Congress allocated to it for 2015 and 2016 to prevent states that have legalized medical marijuana from implementing laws that permit its use, distribution and possession. The amendment's bipartisan sponsors California Congressmen Sam Farr, D-Carmel, and Dana Rohrabacher, R-Costa Mesa, say it prohibits the DOJ from prosecuting people who are complying with state medical marijuana laws. California and more than 20 other states have legalized marijuana for medical use. The drug, however, remains illegal under federal law. The DOJ has interpreted the law more narrowly, saying it prevents prosecutors from trying to block state medical marijuana laws or charging state officials who implement them, yet permits U.S. attorneys to go after marijuana dispensaries and growers. The 9th Circuit is expected to clarify the amendment in appeals by three sets of defendants who have cited it as grounds for judges to dismiss their marijuana charges. Steve McIntosh, a dispensary owner in Los Angeles, had permits from local officials that show him in compliance with state law, according to his attorney, Marc Zilversmit. Under the Congressional amendment, the most the federal government can do is refer him to state authorities for prosecution, Zilversmit said. Another defendant, marijuana grower Samuel Doyle, met Washington's requirements for collective cannabis grows for medical marijuana patients, his attorney Douglas Hiatt said. "He was growing medical marijuana for people who needed it, whether they could afford it or not," Hiatt said. The DOJ says McIntosh's dispensary had ties to a street gang, and Doyle and his co-defendants did not meet the legal requirements for medical marijuana in Washington. Investigators found more than 550 plants growing on the Spokane property Doyle oversaw, and at least one of Doyle's co-defendants indicated the marijuana was being sold, prosecutors said. The DOJ did not respond to a request for further comment. Gregg's case is not among the ones the 9th Circuit is set to rule on. But he has raised the same argument as the other defendants, and the 9th Circuit has put his appeal on hold pending the outcome of the other appeals, his attorney Phil Telfeyan said. "The feds think they have the power to override voters of the State of Washington and the will of Congress," said Telfeyan, co-founder of the nonprofit civil rights group Equal Justice Under Law. "It's up to the 9th Circuit to tell them, 'Enough is enough. You can't keep prosecuting people who are using medical marijuana for their needs.'" The DOJ cited a county investigator's testimony that he saw evidence of a for-profit marijuana growing operation on Gregg's family property. The investigator said he found records that he believed were for drug sales, a scale and packaging material in the house as well as firearms, according to court documents. Gregg, 34, who owns an alternative energy company, denied he sold marijuana, saying he used the drug to treat pain following a snowboarding accident that left him with a broken back and neck. His mother has rheumatoid arthritis and his then-wife had an eating disorder, he said, adding that all three had medical marijuana authorizations. But the DOJ argued in his case and Doyle and McIntosh's cases that the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment doesn't bar it from prosecuting people violating federal drug law, even if they meet state law. Alex Kreit, a marijuana law expert at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, said the DOJ and marijuana defendants have strong arguments for their conflicting interpretations of the amendment. "The (amendment's) language is not a model of clarity," he said. "It really is open to a number of different interpretations." A look at the candidates in Philippine presidential election MANILA, Philippines (AP) Philippine voters on Monday will elect a successor to President Benigno Aquino III, choosing from among a diverse cast of candidates. A look at the five presidential hopefuls, with their positions on the South China Sea territorial disputes, the U.S. pivot to Asia and ending decades of communist and Muslim insurgencies: ___ FILE - In this file photo taken on Oct. 27, 2015, Philippine Vice President Jejomar Binay talks about his economic platform during a dialogue with the country's business sector in suburban Pasay city south of Manila, Philippines. Binay is one of five candidates in Monday's Philippine presidential election. The next Philippine president will inherit daunting security problems, including territorial rifts with China, Muslim and communist insurgencies and law and order concerns. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File) JEJOMAR BINAY Elected vice president in 2010, Jejomar Binay was a human rights lawyer who helped fight dictator Ferdinand Marcos before serving as a longtime mayor of Manila's financial district. Many regarded him as a strong contender for the presidency, but corruption allegations, which he denies, sullied his image. The 73-year-old may be charged with corruption when his vice presidential term ends. Binay backs talks with China on territorial rifts and a stronger U.S. military presence. He regards peace talks as the best way to end decades of Muslim and communist insurgencies. ___ MIRIAM DEFENSOR-SANTIAGO A former trial court judge and immigration commissioner, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago was diagnosed with stage-4 lung cancer in 2014 but proceeded to run for president after saying she has recovered. Unable to campaign fully due to her health condition, the 70-year-old Santiago has trailed in pre-election polls. She was elected to serve as an International Criminal Court judge but passed the chance due to illness. The tough-talking senator says the Philippines should not be fully dependent on the U.S. militarily and backs a strengthening of the local military amid the sea dispute with Beijing. ___ RODRIGO DUTERTE Despite his threats to kill criminals, obscene remarks and cursing of Pope Francis, Davao city Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, 71, has topped the pre-election polls. His pledge to end crime nationwide in three to six months has resonated among crime-weary Filipinos, but has been dismissed by police as undoable. The president has campaigned against Duterte after the latter threatened to close Congress in case he wins and faces impeachment. Duterte is open to talks with China on the sea feud and describes himself as a socialist wary of the U.S.-Philippine security alliance. Communist rebels, he says, can play a role in his government if he wins. ___ GRACE POE A political neophyte, Sen. Grace Poe, 47, banks on the celebrity name she inherited from her movie parents, who adopted her after she was found abandoned as a newborn in a church. Her being a foundling and a naturalized American citizen once sparked attempts to nullify her candidacy in legal challenges that she hurdled. The former preschool teacher backs Aquino's policy on the sea rifts and an arbitration complaint against China, although she says she'll try to engage Beijing constructively. If she wins, Poe says she'll hold talks with communist rebels. ___ MAR ROXAS A U.S.-educated investment banker and the richest Philippine presidential aspirant, Mar Roxas, 58, is banking on his clean image in a country where two presidents have been forced out and a third remains in detention on alleged corruption. President Benigno Aquino III has endorsed the candidacy of Roxas, who in turn vows to continue his "straight path" style of leadership and support most of his policies, including allowing U.S. forces access to local military camps amid the sea feud with China. Roxas, however, doesn't favor the Philippines joining the U.S.-led Trans Pacific Partnership, fearing it will adversely impact local agriculture. FILE - In this file photo taken July 13, 2011, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago gestures during a Philippine Senate hearing in Manila, Philippines. Defensor Santiago is one of five candidates in Monday's Philippine presidential election. The next Philippine president will inherit daunting security problems, including territorial rifts with China, Muslim and communist insurgencies and law and order concerns. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File) FILE - In this file photo taken April 29, 2016, presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte answers questions from the media in Manila, Philippines. Duterte is one of five candidates in Monday's Philippine presidential election. The next Philippine president will inherit daunting security problems, including territorial rifts with China, Muslim and communist insurgencies and law and order concerns. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File) FILE - In this file photo taken on May 7, 2016, presidential candidate Sen. Grace Poe addresses supporters during her last campaign rally Saturday, May 7, 2016 in Manila, Philippines. Poe is one of five candidates in Monday's Philippine presidential election. The next Philippine president will inherit daunting security problems, including territorial rifts with China, Muslim and communist insurgencies and law and order concerns. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File) Leipzig joins 2nd-division champion Freiburg in Bundesliga BERLIN (AP) Leipzig joined German second-division champion Freiburg in the Bundesliga next season, clinching promotion Sunday with a 2-0 win at home over Karlsruher SC. Emil Forsberg and Marcel Halstenberg scored in the second half for Leipzig to reach 67 points, five more than third-place Nuremberg with one round of games remaining. Nuremberg, which defeated visiting St. Pauli 1-0, is assured of the relegation/promotion playoff against the team that finishes third from bottom in the Bundesliga. Freiburg, which clinched promotion last week, secured the second-division title with a 1-0 win at home over Heidenheim thanks to substitute Florian Niederlechner's 87th-minute volley. Arrest made in hit-and-run death of MMA fighter in Florida DELRAY BEACH, Fla. (AP) Police in Florida have arrested a 28-year-old man in the fatal crash that killed mixed martial arts fighter Jordan Parsons. Delray Beach police spokeswoman Dani Moschella said in a statement Saturday that Dennis Wright faces multiple charges including leaving the scene of a crash causing death. Moschella says Wright's license has been suspended six times. Parsons was wearing headphones in a crosswalk when he was hit by a Range Rover traveling at least 120 miles per hour on Federal Highway last Sunday. The Range Rover never stopped. An anonymous tipster passed on Wright's name to detectives and they discovered that Wright's mother owned a Range Rover. Wright's attorney, Robert Resnick, told The Palm Beach Post (http://pbpo.st/1WSV7Xd ) that all the facts in the case haven't yet come out. ___ This story corrects suspect's age to 28 ___ Nevada reluctantly killed bighorn sheep to save them RENO, Nev. (AP) Nevada state wildlife veterinarian Peregrine Wolff worked at zoos in the Midwest, with farm animals in Florida and exotic species on movie sets in Hollywood. She never dreamed she'd have to help pull the trigger on a contentious strategy to slaughter a diseased herd of bighorn sheep. Ed Partee, a state game biologist who's spent much of his 24-year career rebuilding bighorn populations, drew the grim task of tracking and gathering the carcasses of the 27 sheep. The animals were gunned down from a helicopter in February in an emergency attempt to save a neighboring herd. "Having to kill an animal like that is probably one of the worst feelings I've ever had in this job," said Partee, a native Nevadan who grew up fishing and hunting and knew by the time he was in junior high that he wanted to be a wildlife scientist. ADVANCE FOR SUNDAY, MAY 8 AND THEREAFTER - In a 2003 photo, A desert bighorn sheep is released in the Granite Mountains of northern Nevada near the Oregon line. Nevada Department of Wildlife officials say they reluctantly had to slaughter one herd of bighorns in the Montana Mountains of northwest Nevada earlier this year in a last-ditch effort to try to stop the spread of deadly disease to a neighboring herd. (Kim Toulouse/Nevada Department of Wildlife/Reno Gazette via AP) Now, they wait to see if their gamble paid off in a race against the spread of pneumonia that's also hit bighorns in Washington, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Montana and Utah, and threatens efforts to rebuild native populations that were on the brink of extinction a half century ago. About 2 million bighorn sheep roamed North America before numbers started declining in the late 1800s to about one-tenth of that today due primarily to overhunting, habitat loss and disease often transmitted by domestic animals. "It's been a concern since the Old World European settlers started bringing their domestic sheep with them across the West," said Wolff, president of the American Association of Wildlife Veterinarians. She suspects Desert bighorns in northwest Nevada contracted the biological agents that spread the pneumonia from domestic sheep or goats, as has been the case elsewhere. That's been a point of contention in Montana and Idaho, where ranchers and conservationists have been fighting for decades over management of domestic sheep that biologists blame for transmitting the disease. Livestock producers suffered a setback in March when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2010 U.S. Forest Service decision to protect bighorns in Idaho's Payette National Forest by closing 70 percent of the domestic grazing allotments. The Idaho Wool Growers Association had argued that the service failed to consult the Department of Agriculture's research service before it pushed 10,000 sheep out of the area, running many ranchers out of business. It's a "heated topic that has vast socio-economic and ecological impacts in the western United States," said Maggie Highland, a USDA animal disease researcher at Washington State University. She's among those who question the science and wonder whether Nevada acted prematurely, "without really understanding all of the factors that caused the first outbreak." "I'd also question how we know for certain that none of the members of the affected herd hadn't already intermingled with the herd that they were reportedly trying to protect," Highland wrote in an email to AP. Skeptics include Mark Thurmond, professor emeritus of veterinary epidemiology at the University of California-Davis. "What they are doing is illogical to say we found these agents therefore we've got to eradicate this entire herd," Thurmond said. He says disease transmittal involves a complex combination of multiple agents and outside impacts, ranging from drought and wildfires, to extreme cold and snow. "If the herd is doing well otherwise, why destroy the gene pool that has been able to handle these agents?" he told AP. But by all accounts, the Nevada herd was not doing well. State officials knew if they didn't act fast, the sheep would disperse as the snowpack melted. Partee said they were lucky to get an early warning of trouble in December because they'd just fitted several sheep with radio-signal collars in a partnership with Oregon to monitor movement across state lines. "You could tell right away there was something not right because of the fact they weren't moving," Partee said. "Within weeks we started realizing we were at the start of a devastating disease event." Necropsies confirmed the dead animals had pneumonia. Others were in such bad shape that Wolff was "surprised they were still alive." "In January, we started talking about the fact that if we lost this herd, it would be tragic, but if it spread to the neighboring herd to the south, we'd lose both of those," Wolff said. By the time the decision was made to kill the herd, fewer than a third of the 100 animals remained and those were so weak that they barely attempted to flee when the helicopter approached. The move wasn't without precedence. British Columbia killed a herd in hope of saving others in 2000. Utah officials killed 25 in 2010, and Washington 63 in 2013. Wolff consulted experts, including those in British Columbia, before conceding that killing the herd was the only hope to keep the disease from spreading in the state with the most bighorns in the Lower 48. Nevada is the only state with all three North American species Desert, California and Rocky Mountain. Early indications are the kill may have kept the disease from reaching the neighboring herd. Wolff stands by the decision. "I take exception to anyone in the domestic sheep industry looking over my shoulder and telling the Nevada Department of Wildlife how to manage," she said. "I totally understand the politics. But to deny the science because of the politics is sort of short-sighted to me." ADVANCE FOR SUNDAY, MAY 8 AND THEREAFTER - In a 2003 photo, Desert Bighorn sheep is pictured in the Granite Mountains of northern Nevada near the Oregon line. Nevada Department of Wildlife officials say they reluctantly had to slaughter one herd of bighorns in the Montana Mountains of northwest Nevada earlier this year in a last-ditch effort to try to stop the spread of deadly disease to a neighboring herd. (Kim Toulouse/Nevada Department of Wildlife/Reno Gazette via AP) ADVANCE FOR SUNDAY, MAY 8 AND THEREAFTER - In a Nov. 2011 photo, Nevada Department of Wildlife game biologist Ed Partee carries a young desert bighorn sheep during a capture and trasnplant operation in the Pine Forest Range of northwest Nev. Partee, who has spent much of his career working to rebuild bighorn populations, was given the grim task earlier this year of tracking and recovering bighorn carcasses after the state decided to slaughter one herd to try to stop the spread of deadly disease to a neighboring herd. (Kim Toulouse/Nevada Department of Wildlife/Reno Gazette via AP) Czech defense university improves air marshals' ammunition BRNO, Czech Republic (AP) The best use for air marshals' ammunition is no use. But when the undercover officers who board passenger jets to prevent hijackings or extremist attacks have to open fire, it needs to be 100 percent effective, and as safe as possible. After five years of development, researchers at the University of Defense in the Czech city of Brno say they can offer a solution that meets those requirements. In this picture taken on Wednesday, April 13, 2016, hollow point bullets are displayed at a underground research facility at the University of Defense in Brno, Czech Republic. Researchers at the university have optimized existing hollow point bullets to serve air marshals. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) The research was commissioned and fully financed by the Czech Interior Ministry that is in charge of the secretive air marshals' program established in the Czech Republic in 2004 as a reaction to the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S. There are such ammunition development programs in other European countries. While the Czechs haven't invented anything new, researchers say they have improved existing hollow point bullets. The interior of a plane is a specific environment that isn't suitable for common ammunition. After a target is hit from a short distance, conventional bullets can cause catastrophic damage to the aircraft, or kill an innocent passenger. To prevent that, the Czech researchers focused on developing projectiles that get deformed once hitting a target, significantly reducing the chance of passing through. The result of testing in an underground lab is 9mm ammunition with a brass bullet, weighing about 5 grams (0.18 ounces). It leaves the gun at a speed over 500 meters (1,640 feet) per second, higher than the 350-400 meters per second that is common for this caliber, providing a sufficient wounding capability. On impact, the bullet expands its surface, imparts all its kinetic energy into the body and remains in it. "By developing this 9mm ammunition, we've reached its technical and ballistic limits," said Lt. Col. Ludek Jedlicka from the Department of Weapons and Ammunition at the Faculty of Military Technology. With the bullet ready, the next step for the researchers is to get it on the market. Air marshals units in neighboring countries and elsewhere have already expressed an interest in testing the ammunition. Katerina Rendlova, a spokeswoman for a police unit that deals with foreign issues, said Czech air marshals were cooperating on the development of the new ammunition but declined to elaborate. In this picture taken on Wednesday, April 13, 2016, hollow point bullets are displayed at a underground research facility at the University of Defense in Brno, Czech Republic. Researchers at the university have optimized existing hollow point bullets to serve air marshals. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) In this picture taken on Wednesday, April 13, 2016, Lt. Col. Roman Vitek loads a ballistic rifle with hollow point bullets during a demonstration at a underground research facility at the University of Defense in Brno, Czech Republic. Researchers at the university have optimized existing hollow point bullets to serve air marshals. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) In this picture taken on Wednesday, April 13, 2016, a hollow point bullet remains in a cube representing the human head during a demonstration at a underground research facility at the University of Defense in Brno, Czech Republic. Researchers at the university have optimized existing hollow point bullets to serve air marshals. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) Yemeni officials say forces evicting northerners from Aden SANAA, Yemen (AP) Pro-government forces in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden were detaining and evicting hundreds of civilians to the north, Yemeni officials said Sunday. The officials said armed groups have been raiding shops, restaurants and homes, arresting more than 2,000 northerners they say pose a threat to "security." The officials said they suspect the evictions are the work of secessionists who want southern Yemen to break away from the north, with which it was united in 1990. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Aden was among the first cities where forces of the internationally recognized government drove out Shiite rebels known as Houthis as part of Yemen's war pitting government forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, against the rebels and their allies. Also Sunday, the United Arab Emirates said its forces delivered 20 tons of medical aid to civilians in the southern coastal city of Mukalla. The statement carried on the UAE's official WAM news agency said it marks the first airplane carrying aid to reach Mukalla after al-Qaida militants were run out of the city late last month, a year after they had captured it. Tomic retires after less than 10 minutes due to sickness ROME (AP) Bernard Tomic retired from his first-round match at the Italian Open against Benoit Paire after less than 10 minutes Sunday due to sickness. Paire was ahead 2-1 in the first set when Tomic ended it. "I was feeling bad all night," Tomic said. "I couldn't play with the heat. I felt so, so bad and I felt like I was going to collapse. It was the best thing for me to do to retire. ... The main thing is to get it out of my system." The retirement comes less than a week after the young Australian was widely criticized for giving up on match point in a loss at the Madrid Open. Facing Fabio Fognini, Tomic turned his racket around when facing three match points and with the handle facing forward, he only watched as the ball bounced for an ace. Paire, a Frenchman, next faces fourth-seeded Stan Wawrinka. In other matches on the red clay at the Foro Italico, 12th-seeded David Goffin of Belgium rallied past Leonardo Mayer of Argentina 2-6, 7-6 (8), 6-3 and 16th-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa beat Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-4, 7-6 (5). Turkish president accuses Europe of 'dictatorship, 'cruelty' ANKARA, Turkey (AP) Turkey's president has kept up his rebuke of European nations, accusing them of "dictatorship" and "cruelty" for keeping their frontiers closed to migrants and refugees fleeing the Syrian conflict. Addressing an audience attending a short film competition titled "Mercy and Justice" in Istanbul Sunday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said European nations had "no mercy and no justice." This week, Erdogan threw into doubt the future of a deal with the European Union which would allow Turkish citizens visa-free travel in Europe, by suggesting that Turkey wouldn't meet a EU demand for his country to reform its anti-terrorism legislation. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a meeting on work security, in Istanbul, Sunday, May 8, 2016. Erdogan on Saturday again hit at Europe for demanding that his country reform its anti-terrorism legislation as part of a deal that would allow Turkish citizens visa-free travel in Europe.(Yasin Bulbul, Presidential Press Service, Pool via AP) His harsh words against the EU came after Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who negotiated the deal, announced he would step down later this month, following a rift with Erdogan. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan weeps as he listens to a poem about mothers during a meeting on work security, in Istanbul, Sunday, May 8, 2016. Erdogan on Saturday again hit at Europe for demanding that his country reform its anti-terrorism legislation as part of a deal that would allow Turkish citizens visa-free travel in Europe.(Yasin Bulbul, Presidential Press Service, Pool via AP) Driver charged in death of former Justice O'Connor's sister TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) An Arizona man is facing a manslaughter charge in connection with a collision that killed the sister of former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Pima County Sheriff's officials in Tucson said Sunday that 24-year-old Jarrad Barnes has been booked on one count each of manslaughter and driving under the influence. Barnes was arrested immediately after being released Saturday night from a hospital for injuries that were not life-threatening. Jarrad Barnes is seen in an undated photo provided by the Pima County Sheriff's Department. is facing a manslaughter charge in connection with a collision that killed the sister of former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Pima County Sheriff's officials in Tucson said Sunday that 24-year-old Jarrad Barnes has been booked on one count each of manslaughter and driving under the influence. Authorities say 77-year-old Ann Day was driving Saturday morning, May 7, 2016, when Barnes' vehicle crossed the median and struck her car head-on. (Pima County Sheriff's Department via AP) The sheriff's office did not know if he had an attorney. Authorities say 77-year-old Ann Day was driving Saturday morning when Barnes' vehicle crossed the median and struck her car head-on. The collision also led to a truck rear-ending Day's car. That driver also was hospitalized for injuries that were not life-threatening. Day also is a former Republican state senator and Pima County supervisor. In this July 2000 photo, Ann Day poses during her campaign for Pima County Board of Supervisors in Tucson, Ariz. The sister of former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has died in a car crash in Tucson. Pima County Sheriff's officials say 77-year-old Ann Day suffered fatal injuries Saturday, May 7, 2016, after her vehicle was struck by two other cars. (Benjie Sanders/Arizona Daily Star via AP) ALL LOCAL TELEVISION OUT; PAC-12 OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT; GREEN VALLEY NEWS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT Harry to join Michelle Obama at Invictus Games opening ceremony Prince Harry will attend the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games today, joining US first lady Michelle Obama at the event. The razzmatazz of the launch show, featuring British acts James Blunt and soprano Laura Wright, will also see Hollywood star Morgan Freeman perform. Harry has spoken about his hopes for the "amazing'' tournament and acknowledged the pressure of maintaining the event's legacy. Prince Harry as he visits venues ahead of the Invictus Games 2016 The 31-year-old royal said he may have set the bar too high with the inaugural games staged in London in 2014, but after touring the Florida venues on Friday and chatting to competitors, he declared the sporting facilities in Orlando "awesome''. Harry has been the driving force behind the Paralympic-style event for injured servicemen and women and veterans and over the five-day tournament more than 500 athletes from 14 countries will compete in a range of sports. The Prince told the Press Association: ''It's going to be amazing, the atmosphere is going to be incredible. ''There's still a few more tickets to sell but we're just inviting people to come down and enjoy what's going to happen, it's going to be fantastic. ''Speaking to all the competitors, they're very happy, the food's great - which is what they care about - the accommodation is excellent. Once they're over the jet-lag they just want to get going.'' The first medals were presented yesterday by Harry but the tournament where sportsmen and women from countries like Italy, Germany, Australia, Estonia, Jordan and the UK will compete will begin in earnest tomorrow. Amir Khan loses Las Vegas gamble as Saul Alvarez brutally knocks him out Amir Khan's world-middleweight title dreams ended in the heartache of defeat in Las Vegas when WBC champion Saul Alvarez stopped him with a heavy knockout in the sixth round. The 29-year-old had made the promising start to the fight he required by capitalising on his speed to build an early lead, but ultimately proved too small and not elusive enough to evade the bigger fighter for the 12-round distance when he was caught with a huge right hand. The Briton stayed on the canvas for some time before getting to his feet and giving a lucid interview - but he was taken to hospital as a precaution afterwards. Amir Khan, pictured, lost to Saul Alvarez in Las Vegas Khan had always needed to use his range and superior speed and mobility to land scoring shots on the powerful Mexican, to excel early while at his freshest and when the champion was more patient. The Briton, a natural welterweight fighting beyond 147lbs for the first time and clearly the smaller man in the ring, had spoken of his belief that he lacked the power to stop Alvarez - and his performance demonstrated that. Khan sought to land and evade danger, beginning promisingly with jabs and fast combinations and taking what Alvarez threw back - until the elements of the unknown he had never experienced came into play. The intense levels of concentration required to read his dangerous opponent - coupled with his need to continually move and the gradual influence of Alvarez's size and strength - could easily have drained the Bolton fighter's sharpness which was so key. There was also the possibility that some of his speed would have been sacrificed by carrying the additional weight, and that not only would that also contribute to him tiring but that Alvarez would adapt and make the adjustments required to read and time his vulnerable challenger. The fight threatened to turn when, in the third round and in the smaller ring that suited Alvarez's attempts to limit Khan's space, the 25-year-old champion began to find his range with the powerful left hook he repeatedly threw. Khan retained his speed and continued to land in return but the difference was that when he did he barely left a mark, beyond scoring. When Alvarez did there was a fear the Briton could instantly be hurt, and that it would gradually catch up with him and slow him down. At times Khan made Alvarez clearly miss and there were signs of the frustration the Mexican demonstrated when losing his undefeated record to Floyd Mayweather in 2013, particularly in the fifth. Khan impressively took another left at the start of the sixth. Although hurt, he fought back to land further combinations. However, almost from nowhere, a huge Alvarez right hook landed directly on his chin and sent him flying to the canvas so heavily it was obvious the fight was instantly over. For a few moments there were fears Khan was seriously hurt as referee Kenny Bayliss waved the action over after two minutes and 37 seconds of the round. However, he eventually returned to his feet, devastated, and the champion could celebrate making the first successful defence of his title. Remarkably, only one of the three judges had Khan leading at the time of the stoppage, via a score of 48-47. The other two had Alvarez 48-47 and 49-46 in front. The defeat and its nature does little to damage Khan's reputation or prospects. In receiving his biggest purse to date, he lost to a fighter few expected him to defeat and two divisions beyond his natural weight. Gareth Southgate backs Middlesbrough to maintain Premier League status Middlesbrough's promotion-winning heroes can be excused for aiming high after securing their return to the Barclays Premier League with a 1-1 draw against Brighton at the Riverside Stadium on Saturday. Coming on the same day as 5,000-1 shots Leicester lifted the title, ambitions amid the celebratory Teesside atmosphere inevitably strayed to top-flight success, with midfielder Adam Clayton insisting: "We'll have two months off and come back ready to go and try to do a Leicester." Cristhian Stuani, recalled to the starting line-up by Boro boss Aitor Karanka because he felt the Uruguayan "had something more to give", struck the 19th-minute opener which got the party started before Dale Stephens - who was shortly afterwards sent off - ensured an anxious ending with a 55th-minute equaliser. Middlesbrough confirmed promotion back to the Premier League after a seven-year absence Ultimately, Mike Dean's whistle guaranteed Boro the point they needed and sparked a jubilant pitch invasion to mark their first return to the top tier since their relegation under Gareth Southgate seven years ago. Southgate, still fondly remembered on Teesside, offered a much more sober assessment of Boro's Premier League chances next season, but believes the club, backed by a sell-out crowd of over 33,000 on Saturday, can stay there and prosper. "It's fantastic closure for them," Southgate told BBC Radio Five Live's Sportsweek. "Aitor's done a fantastic job, they've recruited really well and that's key - we've seen that with Leicester. "I think there will be a momentum with Middlesbrough. I think for the next couple of years, maintaining that status will be seen as a positive. "The expectations will be a bit lower, but the energy in the stadium will give the team every chance of success." Brighton boss Chris Hughton was gracious in defeat, although he did criticise Dean for sending off Stephens following a scything challenge on Gaston Ramirez which left the Uruguayan requiring stitches. Stephens' dismissal effectively ended any momentum the Seagulls had gained from his equaliser three minutes earlier, and consigned them a two-legged play-off semi-final against Sheffield Wednesday. Hughton said: "In another season we would have gone up automatically, but that's how it is - you're always going to look back at the moments when you could have got more points. Sadiq Khan has warned that Labour cannot rely on its "core vote" to win elections ahead of a meeting with party leader Jeremy Corbyn. The new mayor of London warned that appealing to "natural Labour voters" alone would not be enough to secure success at a general election. Mr Khan secured an overwhelming victory over Tory Zac Goldsmith following a bitter campaign which saw his rival attempt to link him to Islamic extremists. Sadiq Khan said 'we've got to stop talking about ourselves and start talking to citizens about the issues that matter to them' The Labour mayor said the Conservative campaign was "straight out of the Donald Trump playbook". Asked on BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show whether he owed some of his election victory to Mr Corbyn, Mr Khan replied: "Success has many parents and I think what's important is the victory on Thursday was a victory for London because what it showed was London chose hope over fear and unity over division. "My point is very simple, we've got to stop talking about ourselves and start talking to citizens about the issues that matter to them." Mr Corbyn was notably absent from the ceremony on Saturday which saw Mr Khan signed in as mayor - an event attended by previous Labour leader Ed Miliband. Mr Khan used an Observer article setting out the lessons from his campaign to issue a clear message to the Labour leader that the party needed to broaden its appeal and reach out to Tory voters. He said that "it should never be about 'picking sides'" - strikingly similar language to the "Elections are about taking sides" slogan used on the party's posters in the local election campaign. Asked if he was directly attacking Mr Corbyn's campaign strategy, Mr Khan said: "My point is this. I want a big tent, you know, whether you're a Conservative trying to be the mayor of London, or a Labour Party trying to form the next government, we've got to speak to everyone. "There's no point in us just speaking to Labour voters, our core vote." Mr Corbyn, who travelled to Bristol to celebrate with that city's new mayor Marvin Rees rather than attend Mr Khan's ceremonial event, has insisted the pair are "getting on fine". Mr Khan said: "I think we're seeing each other tomorrow." In his Observer article, Mr Khan said David Cameron and Mr Goldsmith had sought to "divide London's communities in an attempt to win votes". "They used fear and innuendo to try and turn different ethnic and religious groups against each other - something straight out of the Donald Trump playbook. Londoners deserved better and I hope it's something the Conservative Party will never try to repeat." Although Labour's council election results were better than many had predicted, it was relegated to third place in Scotland and lost ground in Wales, where it remains the largest party. Deputy Labour leader Tom Watson dismissed the prospect of Mr Corbyn facing a challenge and pleaded for "patience" after a "mixed bag" of election results. Writing in The Sunday Mirror, he said a leadership challenge was "about as likely as a snowstorm in the Sahara". But he acknowledged: "The truth is Labour still has a mountain to climb if we are to return to Government in 2020." Shadow cabinet minister Emily Thornberry defended Mr Corbyn's decision not to attend Mr Khan's signing-in ceremony because he went to Bristol and "you can't be in two places at once". She told Sky News' Murnaghan programme that Mr Corbyn would agree with Mr Khan's call for Labour to be a "big tent" party. The shadow defence secretary said: "We've got to make sure that we stop talking amongst ourselves about ourselves and gazing at our navels and we've got to be able to get out there and fight some elections and speak to people about issues that matter." She also defended Mr Corbyn over his reported plans to take a holiday at the end of the month as the European Union referendum campaign enters its final few weeks. "Well I think it's been pretty full-on for Jeremy, hasn't it, since he was elected as leader," she said. "I do think that when Parliament is not sitting he should be allowed to have a few days off. "We will be campaigning full out to stay in Europe, Labour is a united party on this issue and we will be speaking with one voice. It is a team effort and for Jeremy to have a few days off I don't think is anything that anyone should begrudge him." A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said: "We don't discuss Jeremy's movements but he will undertake a significant number of public engagements with the Labour In campaign in the next few weeks." Shadow housing minister John Healey told the Murnaghan programme Mr Corbyn had to have a "mission to win" elections. He said: "Every new party leader has to prove himself. It's only eight months since he was elected. "But for my money, that mandate to lead must also be a mission to win and it's that single-minded job now, our sole purpose, must be to win back a hearing and then the support of the millions of people in Scotland and across swathes of middle and southern England and Wales that deserted us and weren't convinced by us in 2015." Former home secretary Alan Johnson told BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend the "Super Thursday" contest had been "no triumph, no disaster, it was kind of a stand still election". George Osborne defended Mr Goldsmith's controversial campaign but said Mr Khan had answered the questions posed to him. The Chancellor told ITV's Peston On Sunday: "Politics is a robust thing in a democracy and (in) elections there's a lot of rough and tumble." He went on: "You are asked who are you, who do you associate with, what are your ideas. "But if you can answer those questions, and clearly Sadiq Khan did answer those questions to the satisfaction of London voters, you get yourself elected. "But that is the process we go through to make sure people are up to the jobs." Labour MP Clive Lewis, a close ally of Mr Corbyn, denied there was a rift between the leader and Mr Khan, and said the pair were "good friends". He told BBC One's Sunday Politics: "Sadiq didn't win in spite of Jeremy Corbyn or because of Jeremy Corbyn, he won because he worked with Jeremy Corbyn, all the voters and the people in London that are supporting the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn, and by reaching out. "That's what I take from this and I'm sure that Jeremy and Sadiq will be meeting in the very near future. I don't think it's a big issue, that it's some kind of big division between Jeremy and Sadiq, I really don't." Mr Lewis said Mr Corbyn is beginning to realise Labour needs to win over more Tory voters. "We've got to start reaching out to people who in the past have voted Conservative," he said. "That is a message that Jeremy Corbyn needs to listen to and I think it's a message that he will listen to." But Labour former minister Caroline Flint insisted the party needs to make "a hell of a lot more progress". She told the programme: "John McDonnell said in the run-up to these elections 'we're looking to hang on'. "Looking to hang on isn't enough, this is the worst result for an opposition party after a general election in 30 years. "The year after Michael Foot was elected I think we gained a thousand council seats, Tony Blair 1,800, Ed Miliband over 800. We actually had a loss of 28." Shadow cabinet minister Ian Murray told BBC Radio 5 Live's Pienaar's Politics: "We have to build a big tent. Jeremy Corbyn has a significant mandate within the party membership of the Labour Party, he now needs to extend that mandate both to the PLP but (also) to the wider public." He suggested that Mr Corbyn and shadow chancellor John McDonnell would have to "move their positions to a more pragmatic approach". "The Labour Party can't get into power in 2020 without attracting votes back from the Scottish National Party in Scotland, without attracting Conservative voters - who voted Conservative in 2010 - back," he said. Asked about Mr Corbyn's holiday plans, Mr Murray said: "'Given Jeremy Corbyn's significant mandate within the Labour membership and given it's going to be Labour members who are knocking on doors to make those arguments, we should be making sure we are pulling out all the stops to win that European Union referendum." He added: "We should be fighting with every single sinew to make sure the UK stays in the European Union, because that's the right thing to do." Shadow chancellor Mr McDonnell, seen as a potential successor to Mr Corbyn, insisted he had no ambitions for the leadership. Mr McDonnell told BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour: " Jeremy is my closest friend in politics over 30 years. What do I have to do? Have a civil partnership with him or something? It's ridiculous." He added: "I have waited most of political life for a socialist to be leader of the Labour Party and here he is and I am doing everything I can to support him." Mr McDonnell vowed that he and Mr Corbyn would unite the party: "When Jeremy was elected he invited everybody who was in the existing shadow cabinet to come and play a role including people like Caroline Flint and others and he created that big tent and some of them have just excluded themselves from offering their services to the party and that's up to them. "That's fair enough. Of course people can express their dissent and we can have that policy debate and then we'll arrive at a democratic decision and then we expect people to unite in the interests of the party and the country overall what to what we don't expect is people going to the media two days before polling to say there is going to be a coup against the leadership. That is not the loyalty we'd expect from any element of the party. "However we will move on from that. We'll unite the whole party. Every one of those dissenters will be invited in to see Jeremy, they will offered roles in the campaign in the future and in our administration. "Everyone has got the opportunity to serve and we hope then we can unite the party and move on and campaign now into the referendum campaign." Vincent Kompany to miss start of next season, says Belgian physio Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany is set to miss the start of next season, according to a Belgian physio who has examined him. The Belgium defender limped out of City's Champions League loss at Real Madrid after just 10 minutes with a thigh injury in midweek and has already been ruled out of Euro 2016. Now, according to Lieven Maesschalck, a former Belgium national team physio who is reportedly close to Kompany, the 30-year-old could be sidelined for four months. Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany could miss the start of next season That would rule him out until September and see him miss the start of Pep Guardiola's reign as City manager. As yet there has been no confirmation from the club regarding the extent of the injury with the previous update coming from the player himself. Maesschalck told Belgium's Radio 1: "I saw Kompany on Thursday. It was very clear - he has a complete tear of the slender thigh muscle. He has been operated on yesterday and it will take about four months to get match-fit again." The injury is the latest in a long line of problems to have beset the influential defender's career. It is his 33rd injury since he joined City in 2008 and his fifth this season alone. City boss Manuel Pellegrini confirmed Kompany had undergone surgery but was not sure when the player would be fit again. Pellegrini, who is leaving the club at the end of the season, said after his side's 2-2 draw against Arsenal on Sunday: "I cannot talk about the future of this club because it is not my duty. "But Vincent Kompany has had surgery in his muscles. I don't know how many months he will be out but it will be a long, long time. Finnish finance minister faces new challenge as party leader HELSINKI, May 4 (Reuters) - Interior Minister Petteri Orpo said on Wednesday he would seek to oust Finance Minister Alexander Stubb as leader of Finland's conservative National Coalition Party because of its declining public support. Orpo joins second-term parliamentarian Elina Lepomaki in seeking to replace Stubb at a party congress in June. Stubb, elected chairman in 2014, has faced growing criticism from Lepomaki and other right-wing members of the party, for making too many compromises in the ruling centre-right coalition and for failing to force through tougher labor-market reforms in negotiations with trade unions. But Orpo, a more centrist candidate than either Stubb or Lepomaki, said his conservative party's declining poll numbers made him join the race. "The party needs to be stronger. I can't be satisfied with our current popularity," Orpo told reporters on Wednesday. A poll by Finnish broadcaster YLE showed the conservative party on 17 percent support, putting it behind both the opposition party Social Democrats and the coalition-leading Centre party. As interior minister, Orpo has received support for his handling of the migration crisis from coalition partners in the anti-immigration Finns party, as well as from opposition lawmakers. Finland received close to 32,500 asylum seekers last year, compared with just 3,600 a year earlier. Along with other Nordic countries, Finland has recently tightened its immigration policies. Malaysia's ruling party sweeps state polls despite scandals around PM Najib KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 (Reuters) - Malaysia's ruling coalition secured a landslide victory in the Borneo state of Sarawak on Saturday after a campaign led by the prime minister, who is facing a financial scandal involving a state-owned fund. The Barisan Nasional (BN) alliance expanded its majority to 72 out of the 82-seat state legislative assembly, a result that Prime Minister Najib Razak is likely to use as an endorsement of his tumultuous leadership. But the coalition's win is largely credited to the popularity of Sarawak's Chief Minister Adenan Satem, who took over the reins in 2014. Sarawakians have rallied behind Adenan, who is seen as a Najib's ally, after the state leader brokered greater autonomy for the resource-rich state and dealt with long standing issues such as recognition of native land rights. "As BN chairman, I thank the voters for their trust," Najib said in a statement after the poll results. His party would not squander the mandate of the people, he said. Najib's critics have said that the Sarawak polls are not a measure of the support for Najib or the ruling party as they are fought on local issues. Najib has for months faced calls for him to step down after news broke that $681 million were deposited into his bank account before the 2013 national election, and over his handling of a multi-billion dollar scandal linked to state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). The prime minister has denied any wrongdoing and consolidated power by sacking dissenters within his party, the United Malay National Organisation (UMNO), and using a controversial sedition law to clamp down on other critics. The strong showing by the BN coalition was also helped by a breakdown in the opposition alliance, the Pakatan Harapan. The ethnic Chinese-dominated Democratic Action Party (DAP) - which had a sizeable haul of 12 seats in the last state polls in 2011 - was left with just seven seats this time around, while the People's Justice Party (PKR), the party of jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, retained three seats. Saturday's win, however, comes with its fair share of controversy as federal opposition leaders cried foul over the state government's decision to bar entry to most of them over the two-week campaign period ahead of the polls. Immigration remains a sovereign right of the state. Vietnam police break up protest against Taiwan firm over fish deaths HANOI, May 8 (Reuters) - Vietnamese police broke up a demonstration in the capital, Hanoi, on Sunday when protesters gathered for the second time in a week to denounce a Taiwanese firm they accuse of causing mass fish deaths in central coastal provinces. Hundreds took to the street in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's second-largest city, last week to vent their anger at a unit of Taiwan's Formosa Plastics, even though an official investigation found no links between the fish deaths and Formosa's $10.6 billion coastal steel plant. A group of protesters sat on the bank of a big lake in Hanoi before police shepherded them on to a waiting bus, Reuters witnesses said. Demonstrators were also put on buses at a square in front of the nearby Hanoi Opera House. Formosa denies any wrongdoing. Demonstrations are rare in Vietnam and are often quickly suppressed by uniformed and plain-clothes police. State-controlled media has not reported any of the demonstrations. The fish mass deaths emerged a month ago in the central province of Ha Tinh, where the Formosa unit runs the steel plant. Fish also washed ashore in three other provinces along a stretch of 200 km (125 miles). The government has invited experts from Germany, Japan, the United States and Israel to inspect the Ha Tinh site in an attempt to find the cause that led to the fish deaths. The inspectors have yet to announce their findings. Mexico rumbled by 5.9 magnitude quake, no immediate damage reported MEXICO CITY, May 8 (Reuters) - A 5.9 magnitude earthquake shook southern Mexico before dawn on Sunday and was felt as far away as Mexico City, prompting buildings to sway and some people to rush into the steets, but there were no immediate reports of damage. Mexico rumbled by 5.9 magnitude quake, no damage reported MEXICO CITY, May 8 (Reuters) - A 5.9 magnitude earthquake shook southern Mexico before dawn on Sunday and was felt as far away as Mexico City, prompting buildings to sway and some people to rush into the streets, but there were no immediate reports of damage. The quake struck 29 kilometers (18 miles) northeast of the town of Pinotepa de Don Luis, in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, at a depth of 24.4 kilometers. Luis Felipe Puente, the national head of emergency services, said on Twitter that there were no immediate reports of damage in much of southern Mexico, including the states of Puebla, Chiapas and Guerrero. Prominent Pakistani anti-militant activist shot dead in Karachi By Syed Raza Hassan KARACHI, Pakistan, May 8 (Reuters) - Gunmen shot dead a prominent Pakistani rights activist, known for his outspoken stance against the Taliban and other radical Islamist groups, in the southern port city of Karachi late on Saturday night, police said. The police said Khurram Zaki was killed at an outdoor cafe in central Karachi, while a companion was wounded. A faction of the Pakistani Taliban, the Hakeemullah group, claimed responsibility for the attack in a phone call to Reuters, saying Zaki had been targeted for his stance against radical cleric Abdul Aziz. The police could not verify the Hakeemullah faction's claim, and said the group has previously taken responsibility for attacks it did not carry out in Karachi, a teeming metropolis of 20 million people that is known for its complex mix of ethnic, sectarian and political violence. "Zaki was sitting at a cafe where he was targeted by four armed men arriving on two motorcycles," Muqadas Haider, a senior police official said on Sunday. Zaki was known for his outspoken stance against the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni Muslim sectarian militant group, the Pakistani Taliban, and radical cleric Abdul Aziz. In December 2015, Zaki lead street protests against Aziz, demanding the cleric be arrested and charged with hate speech for allegedly justifying attacks, such as the Peshawar school massacre where 134 schoolchildren were killed in 2014. In 2007, Aziz and his followers were engaged in an armed standoff with government forces at his mosque in the capital Islamabad, culminating in a eight-day military operation that saw Pakistani commandoes raid the mosque. Aziz has since been exonerated of all criminal charges by Pakistani courts, but still calls for the overthrow of the government and for a strict version of Islamic sharia law to be imposed. Zaki had confided to friends that he was on several militant "hitlists", Jibran Nasir, a fellow activist who was also involved in protests against Aziz, told Reuters on Sunday. Nasir said that Zaki did not specify which groups specifically had threatened him. According to a statement released after Zaki's death by a website he helped run, the activist had been "a target of a systematic hate campaign" by an Islamist political leader and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Targeted killings are common in Karachi, although violence has declined significantly since the launch of a paramilitary operation in the city almost three years ago. Around 50 killed in Afghanistan in bus crash with fuel tanker GHAZNI, Afghanistan, May 8 (Reuters) - Around 50 people were killed and scores were injured in Afghanistan when two buses collided with a fuel tanker on a highway in the central province of Ghazni, causing a massive explosion, officials said on Sunday. Jawid Salangi, a spokesman for the governor of Ghazni said two buses, carrying some 125 passengers from Kabul to Kandahar in southern Afghanistan crashed into the tanker, which was travelling in the opposite direction, setting off a fire that quickly engulfed all three vehicles. He said Afghan army units were rushed to the scene of the accident in Moqor district and managed to save some passengers but many of the injured were in a critical condition. Fifty people were killed and 73 injured, he said. Even by the standards of Afghanistan's notoriously dangerous highways, the accident was a huge one, but there was no indication that it was caused by anything other than a road crash. Zimbabwe suspends tax chief, managers after improper car imports HARARE, May 8 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's tax authority, ZIMRA, has suspended its chief and five managers in connection with the purchase of luxury cars which were undervalued by a local dealer in order to pay lower import duty, it said on Sunday. Critics and the opposition accuse President Robert Mugabe, in power since independence in 1980, of failing to tackle high level graft, and say endemic corruption is one reason that foreign companies are hesitant to invest. Many Zimbabweans perceive officials at ZIMRA, especially those operating on the country's borders, to be corrupt and the suspension will only reinforce their views. ZIMRA commissioner general Gershem Pasi's suspension followed the appearance in court last week of two men accused of undervaluing and preparing fake import documents for cars that they imported on behalf of the five suspended managers. The five managers had received car loans last year and approached a dealer to import vehicles on their behalf. Pasi is not listed in the court case, but ZIMRA said in a statement it expected all its employees to act beyond reproach. "The ZIMRA board has become aware that questions have been raised and indeed criminal proceedings instituted pertaining to the importation of vehicles by some ZIMRA employees," the agency said. Because of this, ZIMRA had suspended Pasi and the five managers with pay. Pasi, who has been at the helm of ZIMRA for 15 years, could not be reached for comment on Sunday. This is the first time that senior ZIMRA officials have been publicly accused of malfeasance in a country where arrests and prosecution of public officials is rare. U.S., allies conduct 25 air strikes against Islamic State militants - U.S. military WASHINGTON, May 8 (Reuters) - The United States and its allies targeted Islamic State in Iraq with 17 air strikes on Saturday, and hit the militant group with eight air strikes in Syria, the U.S. military said on Sunday. Six of the strikes in Iraq were near Mosul, hitting four Islamic State tactical units and destroying four vehicles. MIDEAST STOCKS-Gulf rises, government reshuffle buoys Saudi market By Andrew Torchia DUBAI, May 8 (Reuters) - Most major Gulf stock markets rose on Sunday in response to a modest recovery on Wall Street and in oil prices at the end of last week, while a sweeping reorganisation of Saudi Arabia's economic policy-making apparatus boosted shares there. The Saudi stock index closed 0.2 percent higher after rising as much as 1.0 percent at one stage. Petrochemical blue chip Saudi Basic Industries gained 0.3 percent. The Saudi reorganisation replaced the oil minister and central bank governor and restructured some major ministries, creating a super-ministry under Khalid al-Falih to manage the growth of industry and resource extraction. Many fund managers still have questions about how a wide-ranging economic reform programme unveiled on April 25 can be financed and whether it can be fully implemented, but local investors have been reacting bullishly. State utility Saudi Electric climbed 1.8 percent. Saturday's reshuffle moved the electricity portfolio to the new super-ministry; this could give fresh impetus to a restructuring of Saudi Electric, which has been discussed for years with little progress. Insurers were also strong, with Saudi Arabian Cooperative Insurance jumping its 10 percent daily limit. Dubai's index gained 0.6 percent to 3,326 points, bouncing from near technical support on the late March lows of 3,248-3,253 points, though trading volume was low. Dubai Parks & Resorts, the most heavily traded stock, rose 2.3 percent. Trading in rights to a major share issue in the company began last week and will continue through next week. Abu Dhabi's index gained 0.5 percent as Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank rebounded for a second day from a slump following its first-quarter earnings. The stock rose 1.3 percent. Qatar edged down 0.2 percent although Dlala Brokerage added 2.7 percent in unusually heavy trade. Kuwait's Burgan Bank rose 1.5 percent after reporting an 18.5 percent fall in first-quarter net profit to 14.3 million dinars ($47.66 million), largely because of lower foreign exchange income; HSBC had forecast the bank would make 12.68 million dinars. Kuwait's index edged down 0.1 percent. Egypt rose 0.3 percent, buoyed by gains in a few blue chips such as Orascom Telecom Media, which was up 2.7 percent. SUNDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS SAUDI ARABIA * The index climbed 0.2 percent to 6,672 points. DUBAI * The index rose 0.6 percent to 3,326 points. ABU DHABI * The index gained 0.5 percent to 4,449 points. QATAR * The index fell 0.2 percent to 9,730 points. EGYPT * The index rose 0.3 percent to 7,572 points. KUWAIT * The index edged down 0.1 percent to 5,371 points. OMAN * The index rose 0.3 percent to 5,996 points. BAHRAIN Syrian warplanes counter-attack rebels near Aleppo By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN, May 8 (Reuters) - Syrian warplanes attacked Islamist militants near the northern city of Aleppo on Sunday, both sides said, as the government tried to push back a insurgent advance in the area. Dozens of air strikes hit near the town of Khan Touman, which rebels took from forces loyal to the government and its ally Iran late on Thursday, insurgents and state media reported. Aleppo - one of the biggest strategic prizes in a war now in its sixth year - has been divided into government and rebel-held zones through much of the conflict. The surrounding region is also crossed by valuable supply routes into neighbouring Turkey. The Syrian army said it had hit what it described as terrorist groups hard on Sunday, but did not give details of any territorial gains. Manar, the media outlet of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group supporting Syrian government forces in the area, said heavy fighting was going on against the hardline Sunni Muslim rebels. Government forces had made significant advances in the northern region after their other main ally, Russia, entered the war in September. But the seizure of Khan Touman on Thursday by an alliance of Islamist insurgents known as Jaish al-Fatah, including the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, marked a major counter-attack by forces opposed to President Bashar al-Assad. The loss of the town south of Aleppo was a particular blow for Iranian troops who suffered one of their biggest single-day losses in the conflict. A fighter from the Nusra Front - which is not involved in a shaky ceasefire across Syria - said on social media it was now pushing further south towards the town of al Hader, a stronghold for Hezbollah and Iranian forces. Inside Aleppo, where Russia said it extended a truce that began on Wednesday until Monday, rebels said the Syrian army shelled and bombed overnight their posts near a frontline in the western part of the city near the Jamiyat al Zahraa neighbourhood. "We don't know how to take cover from the intensity of rockets and air strikes that are showering us," said Ahmad al Wawi, a fighter from Jaish al Mujahdeen. Rebels are seeking to take over the area that would allow them to enter the heart of government-held parts of Aleppo. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebels fired rockets on residential areas in government-controlled areas and in the main Saad al Jabiri square injured seven, with reports of more casualties in the collapse of a building in Midan district which was hit by a missile. In the western Aleppo countryside in the rebel-held town of Kafrnaha, a air strike hit a hospital with several killed, the Observatory said. Separately Amaq news agency, which is associated with Islamic State, said the group had destroyed a gas plant in the desert outside the central city of Palmyra on Sunday. Islamic State militants retreated from the ancient city two months ago but continue to operate in the surrounding area. Taiwan's new government accuses China of interference in its WHO status TAIPEI, May 8 (Reuters) - The incoming Taiwanese government on Sunday accused China of "political interference" after a senior Chinese official cast doubt over the island keeping its observer status at the World Health Organisation if bilateral relations deteriorated further. China and self-ruled Taiwan underwent a rapprochement under the outgoing government which was run by China-friendly Nationalists, but ties have begun to strain with their successors, the independence-leaning Tsai Ing-wen and her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Tsai and the DPP won landslide presidential and parliamentary elections in January, in part on rising anti-China sentiment on the island. She has said she will maintain the status quo with China, but has never conceded to a key bilateral agreement, the "one China" principle. Under this agreement with the Nationalists, Taiwan and China agree they are both part of a single China although both sides lay claim to being its legitimate government. On Friday, Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office, China's top agency that deals with the island, said that Taiwan's participation in the World Health Assembly was an arrangement based on the "one China" principle, and that this could cease "should the political foundation of cross-Strait ties be destabilised in the future," according to a state-run Xinhua report. Taiwan, an island separated by the Taiwan Strait from mainland China, has attended the annual gathering of the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the WHO, since 2009 in an observer status. Incoming DPP cabinet spokesman Tung Chen-yuan said the comments by the Taiwan Affairs Office were unacceptable. "We believe this is political interference in our participation in the WHO. We cannot accept this and express our solemn protest," Tung said at a press conference late Sunday. "Taiwan people's health and their right to fully participate in the international community must not be constrained by any political framework," he said. China has considered self-ruled Taiwan a wayward province ever since defeated Nationalists fled to the island after a civil war with China's Communists in 1949. Beijing has never renounced the use of force to take back the island, particularly if it makes moves toward independence. Tung said Taiwan's participation in the upcoming WHO meeting and the issue of "one China" were not associated matters, indicating the new government was not conceding to accepting the "one China" principle. Taiwan has diplomatic ties with only 22, mostly small and poor, states. Most major nations and multilateral organizations, like the WHO which falls under the United Nations, formally recognize China. The WHO invited Taiwan, but the invitation also referenced a resolution under the U.N. that recognises China, according to the Taiwan government. Tung said the incoming government will send its new health minister Lin Tzuo-yien to the meeting, which will be held in Geneva May 23-28. Turkish warplanes attack Kurdish militant targets in Iraq -sources ANKARA, May 8 (Reuters) - Turkish warplanes hit targets belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq on Sunday, military sources said, as weekend operations against the insurgents also took place in southeast Turkey. The F-16 and F-4 2020 aircraft destroyed bunkers, ammunition depots and gun installations in four northern Iraqi regions, including Qandil, where the PKK has camps, the sources said. The air strikes were launched early on Sunday and the aircraft returned safely to their bases, the sources said. Turkey has been regularly attacking PKK targets in mountainous northern Iraq since the collapse of a ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish state in July last year. It has also been clashing with militants in sweeps across the largely Kurdish southeast of Turkey, which has seen some of the worst fighting since the height of the insurgency in the 1990s. On Saturday, security forces killed a total of 12 militants in the southeastern provinces of Mardin and Sirnak and the eastern province on Tunceli, the military said in a statement. Explosives were destroyed in those operations and 11 militants were arrested in Hakkari province, the military said. Peru's Fujimori has slight lead in run-off election -poll LIMA, May 8 (Reuters) - Peruvian presidential contender Keiko Fujimori has a slight lead over rival Pedro Pablo Kuczynski ahead of the June 5 run-off election, according to a poll published on Sunday. The two pro-business candidates emerged from a first round election on April 10. The latest Ipsos poll, published by daily newspaper El Comercio, showed Fujimori with 42 percent support compared with Kuczynski's 39 percent. It also showed 14 percent of respondents were either undecided or planned to leave their ballots blank. President Ollanta Humala's term ends on July 28 and the two candidates vying to succeed him have both promised to boost growth through infrastructure spending. Center-right former congresswoman Fujimori, the 40-year old eldest daughter of imprisoned ex-president Alberto Fujimori, faces stiff opposition from detractors of her father's authoritarian government but enjoys the backing of his admirers. Kuczynski, a 77-year-old former prime minister, is popular in the capital, Lima, especially among young people and the country's upper classes, but he lacks strong support in rural areas. Turkish warplanes attack Kurdish militant targets in Iraq -sources ANKARA, May 8 (Reuters) - Turkish warplanes hit targets belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq on Sunday, military sources said, as three soldiers and 12 militants were reported killed in separate clashes over the weekend. The F-16 and F-4 2020 aircraft destroyed bunkers, ammunition depots and gun installations in four northern Iraqi regions, including Qandil, where the PKK has camps, the sources said. The air strikes were launched early on Sunday and the aircraft returned safely to their bases, according to the sources. Turkey has been regularly attacking PKK targets in mountainous northern Iraq since the collapse of a ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish state in July last year. It has also been clashing with militants across the largely Kurdish southeast of Turkey, which has seen some of the worst fighting since the height of the insurgency in the 1990s. Three soldiers were killed on Sunday in a sweep of the city of Nusaybin in southeastern Mardin province, security sources said. They were searching a house when a home-made explosive went off, the sources said. A day earlier, security forces killed a total of 12 militants in Mardin and the southeastern province of Sirnak, and in the eastern province on Tunceli, the military said in a statement. Explosives were destroyed in those operations and 11 militants were arrested in Hakkari province, the military said. Former Brazil minister, BNDES head pressured firms for donations -report RIO DE JANEIRO, May 8 (Reuters) - A former Brazilian finance minister and the current head of the nation's state development bank allegedly pressured big construction firms into making campaign donations for President Dilma Rousseff, a newspaper reported Sunday. The Folha de S.Paulo newspaper cited testimony it says Marcelo Odebrecht, the jailed former chief executive of the Odebrecht construction conglomerate, gave while trying to broker a deal to become a state's witness. According to Folha, Odebrecht told prosecutors that former Finance Minister Guido Mantega and BNDES head Luciano Coutinho were in charge of pressuring businesses that secured BNDES loans for overseas work to make contributions to Rousseff's 2014 reelection. In a written statement given to Folha, Coutinho denied playing any role in Rousseff's campaign, while Mantega's lawyer Jose Batochio said his client also had nothing to do with obtaining donations for the president's reelection. Neither Mantega nor BNDES responded to requests for comment, and Rousseff's office did not return calls. Odebrecht's lawyers also did not respond to calls and emails seeking comment. Folha did not say how it acquired the leaked testimony or when Odebrecht gave it. Odebrecht, who ran Latin America's largest engineering firm, was sentenced in March to more than 19 years on corruption charges for his role in a massive graft scheme that has engulfed state-run oil company Petrobras. His company used BNDES loans to finance several large projects abroad. If prosecutors accept him as a witness he could cut his sentence in half under Brazilian law. The report is the first time that Brazil's BNDES development bank has been linked to the Petrobras scandal, though federal prosecutors speaking on background have long indicated the institution is a likely target in the probe. The investigation into graft at Petrobras, dubbed "Operation Car Wash," has uncovered a kickback scheme that has ensnared dozens of top politicians and high-level executives at Brazil's biggest construction and engineering firms. Prosecutors say company officials paid billions in bribes over several years in return for bloated contracts. Italy to appoint EU envoy as new industry minister - Renzi MILAN, May 8 (Reuters) - Italy is set to appoint its European Union ambassador, Carlo Calenda, as the new industry minister this week, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Sunday. "We asked him to come back from Brussels. He'll be sworn in this week," Renzi said during a show on state television. Calenda, a former deputy junior industry minister, was picked by the government to become Italy's top representative in Brussels in January, as Renzi launched a sustained attack on EU rules and rigidity, arguing that without change the 28-nation bloc might disintegrate. Calenda will replace former industry minister Federica Guidi, who resigned in March over allegations of a conflict of interest after her partner was placed under investigation for influence peddling. Calenda was the first politician to be named as envoy to Brussels after a string of career diplomats, as Italy sought to have a bigger say in EU affairs and voiced increasingly loud complaints at what it saw as Europe's confused response to the migration crisis, its demands for budget rigour and new rules aimed at increasing the euro zone's financial stability. Court says Australia cannot force asylum seeker to have abortion in PNG By Peter Gosnell SYDNEY, May 7 (Reuters) - A pregnant woman who says she was raped at an Australia detention centre for asylum seekers on the tiny South Pacific island of Nauru cannot be forced to have an abortion in Papua New Guinea because it is unsafe and illegal, a court has ruled. Under Australia's hardline immigration policy, asylum seekers intercepted at sea trying to reach Australia are sent for processing to camps on Nauru and on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and are told they will never be settled in Australia. The harsh conditions and reports of systemic child abuse at the camps, which house asylum seekers fleeing violence in Syria, Iraq, South Asia and Africa as well as those deemed economic migrants, have drawn wide criticism from the United Nations and human rights groups. The African woman, identified in court documents only as S99, has claimed she was raped while she was in Nauru and has sought an abortion in Australia. Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton however ordered that she should be sent to Papua New Guinea for the procedure, Australia's Federal Court heard. Justice Mordecai Bromberg ruled late on Friday that the procedure was illegal in Papua New Guinea and that PNG lacked the medical expertise and facilities to treat several other undisclosed physiological and psychological conditions. "The abortion in Papua New Guinea made available to the applicant is attended by safety and lawfulness risks that a reasonable person in the minister's position would have avoided," Bromberg said in his 150-page judgment, a heavily redacted copy which has yet to be published. Bromberg also ruled that the woman should remain in PNG until at least May 15. A spokesman for Dutton said the court's decision was "under consideration" and foreshadowed an appeal. The woman's lawyer, George Newhouse, said PNG law prohibits abortion, although there are exemptions for when the procedure is needed to save a mother's life. Australia has been at loggerheads with PNG since the government ordered the Manus Island camp closed late last month. The camp, which holds about 850 people, had been ruled illegal by the PNG Supreme Court. The number of people trying to reach Australia is small compared with Europe but immigration has long been a hot political issue and has flared again during campaigning for likely July elections. Bolivia's Morales accuses Chile of setting up military base near border By Daniel Ramos and Anthony Esposito LA PAZ/SANTIAGO, May 8 (Reuters) - Bolivian President Evo Morales accused Chile on Sunday of threatening the landlocked Andean nation by establishing a military base near their shared border, an accusation that Chile's government said was false. Morales said Chile had set up a base 15 km (9 miles) from the border and close to the disputed Silala River, adding that international norms prohibited installing military bases less than 50 kilometers (30 miles) from international borders in order to avoid confrontations. "This installation is an aggression to the life, homeland and to Bolivia," the leftist Bolivian leader said during a public appearance in the Santa Cruz region. Chile and Bolivia have long had thorny relations and are at loggerheads again over access to the Silala River, which crosses their border. Morales threatened in late March to go to the International Court of Justice in the Hague to resolve the dispute, which had until recently been a low-profile issue. "Bolivia's government is again looking to divert attention away from its domestic problems with false claims against Chile," Chile's Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement. It added: "The Bolivian president's accusation that Chile has installed an illegal military base less than 15 kilometers from their border, near the Silala River is completely unfounded. The supposed military installation does not exist." The ministry said the only military installation near the border was Bolivian, just 1.5 km (0.9 mile) from Chile and near the Silala River. It said there had been increased military patrols inside Chilean territory to avoid attacks against civilians, theft, contraband and drug trafficking from Bolivia. The strategy had been effective in reducing crime, it added. Morales, who has been under pressure at home over an unfolding scandal involving a former girlfriend, has argued that Chile has no right to use water from the river, which originates in Bolivian territory and flows into Chile. Like journalistic intros, the scathing attack of the government by Arun Shourie sets the tone for significant portions of the xxx annual appraisal of Modi Sarkar. Quite predictably, the Bharatiya Janata Party labelled the critique as a case of sour grapes. These are not what I have written today but in fact, are the first few lines of an article I wrote for The Economic Times last year. We have just witnessed an encore: Another castigating Karan Thapar interview with Shourie and the expected damnation from Modi Bhakts. Why even a person like Vijay Chauthwale, in-charge, foreign affairs department of Bharatiya Janata Party, tweeted: #Arunshourie can now happily surrender himself to 10 Janpath. How much more "bhakti" of Gandhi family needed? https://t.co/TlNjqZQAJ1 Vijay Chauthaiwale (@vijai63) May 6, 2016 So is this becoming another annual feature? Arun Shourie on Karan Thapar's To The Point, India Today. Even as the government begins selectively disclosing information on how it is celebrating its birthday bash, the former disinvestment minister (and a few other portfolios at different points of time) in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime warms up to another interview with the veteran journalist. Like always, the interview will grab headlines, resulting in heat and dust in the social media and requiring commentators like yours truly to write several hundred words for website this and the paper mentioned above. This annual event will be repeated every year during the Modi tenure till Shourie decides to stop having his annual date with the headlines for opening his mouth or if Thapar chooses to stop plugging Shourie. It cannot cease for the two other reasons, which could have otherwise termated it: Modi placating Shourie by inducting him in his cabinet (absolutely not possible now because in November the former editor and writer-turned-politico will turn 75). The other way the annual exercise could lose relevance is if Modi stops giving Shourie reasons to be critical. But is there any likelihood of this? My guess is a categorical no. For the moment lets accept that Shouries is indeed a case of sour grapes. After all, he waited for an entire year before deciding sometime around this time last year that a call from Modi would never come. And so, he opened up to Thapar. Let us also assume that had Modi in any way offered an olive branch to Shourie over the past year and had it been accepted, (though Shourie now says that there was no way he could have worked with this bunch) this interview wouldnt have been granted. Without a doubt, Shourie, was not a consistent critic of Modi because in the run-up to the polls in 2014, he had often spoken as virtual finance minister designate once the victory of the Modi-fied BJP became evident. But should this have been a reason to dismiss what Shourie spoke of last year? Should we, for the same reasons, not take his current words for what they are and on face value? Should we examine Shouries motivation or is it more important to examine if what he has said is true or not? Narendra Modi in Tamil Nadu. Lets take a few human failings that Shourie thinks are prominently part of Modis persona. Narcissist and Machiavellian are two labels that he affixes to Modi. Lost in the haze generated by political affronts are the stories of what the words denote. Narcissus, the character in Greek mythology, was so much in love with himself that he could not tear himself from his own image in a pool. Machiavellianism, one of Modis failings according to Shourie, is an extensively used term to denote a negative human trait in unscrupulous politicians that the Italian renaissance scholar Niccolo Machiavelli described in his famous treatise The Prince. The word is used as a pejorative and Shouries makes no bones about it. If anyone has any doubts on whether or not the traits are reflected in Modi, one has to just recall the famous pin-stripes and the manner in which Modi went about finishing one potential rival after another remember the story about Rajnath Singhs son? Let not one ever overlook that Modi does not believe in forgetting and forgiving. And to realise his ambition, he can destroy anything reputations, careers or relationships. A social climber always, he has, as Shourie said, used people like paper napkins. Remorselessness is another word Shourie has used for Modi. He is right in saying that it is difficult to believe how a prime minister could storm inside a medical ward with a camera and TV crew in tow where patients with more than 80 per cent burns were struggling for their lives. And be lauded by Bhakts! For what acting like the chief medical officer just to earn a few kudos during poll time? Modi is clearly that man who loves spotlight. Has anyone forgotten the how he pulled Mark Zuckerberg aside because he came between the cameras and Modi? I can go on endlessly on this. But then this article is neither to analyse Shouries interview nor a critique of Modis two years in office. The Shourie interviews need to be heard by everyone. I use the word in the plural because very word of what he said last year is still valid. Even if someone does not like Shourie or disagrees with several of his past positions I for instance disagree with some. But there is no way one can accuse Shourie of saying anything that is not correct or that he is motivated. Anyone can make out the anguish and the genuineness of his emotions. Like last year, many of the words and arguments which Shourie used had already been written or spoken by several commentators, each of his formulations this year will again echo as appraisals of the government start doing the round. One million Indians die every year for the want of healthcare facilities. 700 million have no access to specialist care, with 80 per cent of specialists based in urban areas. An abysmal 1.2 per cent of GDP is spent on public health. There is only one bed per 1050 patients in India while it is 1 for 350 in the US. Indian ratio of 0.7 doctors and 1.5 nurses per 1,000 people is significantly lower than WHO average of 2.5 doctors and nurses per 1,000 people. Certainly, India's healthcare has been ailing and medical education - its integral part - faces several ills. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court of India made yet another attempt to fix the regulator of medical education in India, the Medical Council of India (MCI), which has often been charged with inept and corrupt practices. The SC appointed a three-member oversight committee to oversee all statutory functions and policy decisions of MCI for one year. The committee includes Justice RM Lodha, Vinod Rai and Prof Shiv Sareen, who are tasked to set the course right for an "ossified and opaque" MCI, which manages all of India's 183 government and 215 private medical colleges which produce nearly 52,000 medical undergraduates each year. Reports of the 31-member Parliamentary Committee Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare and the Ranjit Roy Chaudhury committee, both of which has scathingly criticised MCI for its management of medical colleges and have called for revolutionary changes in its functioning, formed the bulk of reason for the apex court to appoint overseers for MCI until the Indian Parliament to set MCI in order. The doctor-patient ratio remains woefully short in India. Demand - supply gap A planning commission report states that to attain the ideal doctor population ratio of 1:1000, a maximum of 187 new government medical colleges needs to be established by 2022, with Rs 100 crore invested per college. Depending on which report you wish to believe the deficit of doctors in India is in the range of six to 10 lakhs to match the world average. With the demand too high, the supply meagre, that one MBBS seat becomes coveted (also due to social reasons like marriage prospects, etc) and worth killing (think Vyapam!) or paying through the nose for. Opening a medical college in India is governed by Establishment of Medical College Regulations, 1999. Among others, possession of adequate land, essentiality certificate, consent of affiliation, operational hospital and submission of financial guarantees are necessary to apply to the MCI for establishing a new college. Many of these requirements need to pass through state government, and others can be played around depending on how strong a legal team one has. The oversight committee would do good to set this part of the house in order by addressing the rot where grants and permissions needed from state government opens the first door of corruption which eventually grows bigger. Demand supply gap in undergraduate and very importantly in post graduate education needs plugging to establish equilibrium. Inspection Raj Ask people from any medical college about the "MCI inspectors" and the reaction one receives ranges from outright horror to disdain. MCI has been using 'serial inspectors' for reasons well understood. Of the 261 inspections held in 2014, inspectors from the state of Gujarat were present in 100 of them. The tainted, once arrested by CBI, former MCI boss and yes, the president-elect of World Medical Association, Ketan Desai happens to be from Gujarat. Did the dots join? I teach in a medical school which is ratified by the Malaysian Qualifying Agency (MQA is the MCI equivalent in Malaysia) and our medical school had inspection last year. The stark difference in conduct, process, focus and the behaviour of the team of six inspectors when compared to an MCI inspection was telling. Justice Lodha and his team should set right this ghost of inspection which focuses on nitty-gritty of infrastructure and human staff (with examples of penalizing for finding a room measuring three square feet less than prescribed) and not on what the priority should be - pedagogy, skills training, competency based curriculum, soft skill training, etc. When what is evaluated eventually becomes important, it is essential that the evaluation parameters of MCI be revisited and tuned to churn out, what the Supreme Court has said is found in wanting, a competent doctor. Elephant in the room The sole problem however is not with MCI. The elephant in the room, the politics and economics of medical education in India continues to be unacknowledged. The "profiteering" in medical education that the constitution bench of the Supreme Court has cited in its judgement exists and the beneficiaries of that are often the political class. It is common knowledge that in the five southern states which hold 44 per cent of all medical seats in the country (with Karnataka having the maximum) most private medical colleges are owned by or linked to politicians of all hues. However the Supreme Court's comment on "business of education" appears erroneously placed on moral high ground. The court commenting on liberal market economies made a point that "Justification for regulatory bodies even in such industries managed by private sector lies in the welfare of people. Regulatory measures are felt necessary to promote basic well-being for individuals in need." While it might find popular acceptance, "profit" or "private" in itself are not unsavoury words and medical education which is capital intensive, more so when high quality is aimed for, cannot be bracketed with terms like "noble", "no profit no loss" and left to grapple in mediocrity. The oversight committee in assessing policies should embark on pragmatism, come clear on cost of education, for earlier the same apex court have made provision for "reasonable excess" in the fees by private colleges. Of late technology has been successfully used to make a dent in corrupt practices and should be continued. MCI, called as "an exclusive club of medical doctors" by the parliamentary committee needs diversity and perhaps fragmentation to manage so many and newer challenges. Major overhaul Medical care cannot be separated from medical education. Rise in medical debt leading to suicides has been reported by P Sainath. India's Out Of Pocket (OOP) spending rate is one of the highest in the world which pushes about 63 million people to poverty each year. Unnecessary diagnostic tests, unwanted surgeries and other unethical healthcare practices are part of this vicious cycle. The burden on healthcare, largely owing to lifestyle disorders, is only set to rise in years to come. Time for course correction is alarmingly running out. A police official confirmed the death saying Aditya Sachdeva was returning to his home and he was shot dead. (Photo: Twitter/ANI) Gaya: A 19-year-old youth was shot dead allegedly by Janata Dal (United) politician Manorama Devi's son Rocky for overtaking his vehicle in Bihar's Gaya district, triggering protests in the area. Devi's husband Bindeshwari Prasad Yadav alias Bindi Yadav and her security guard Rajesh Kumar were arrested on Sunday in connection with the incident. Saurabh Kumar, Deputy Inspector General of Magadh Range, said the incident took place Saturday night as JD(U) MLC's son Rocky Kumar Yadav and his men were travelling in a MUV which intercepted a SUV in which Aditya Kumar Sachdeva (20) was travelling along with four friends from Bodh Gaya to Gaya town. Rocky killed Aditya after a heated argument for not giving side to his new Land Rover car. (Photo: Twitter) According to complaint lodged with the police, Rocky Kumar Yadav then shot at Sachdeva apparently to teach him a lesson for overtaking his vehicle. The DIG said Sachdeva was brought to Anugrah Narayan Medical College and Hospital where the attending doctors declared him as brought dead. The police officer said following the incident, the JD(U) MLC's husband and security guard were arrested today and 70 rounds of ammunition and a carbine found in her residence in connection with the murder case of Sachdeva. A manhunt has been launched for the arrest of Rocky Kumar Yadav too, the DIG said. The youth's murder took political overtones this morning with the Leader of Opposition (LoP) Prem Kumar meeting the family members of the victim to express sorrow and later addressed a large number of people who had blocked road near Mahabir bridge to protest against the murder. The protesters, led by the Gaya district unit BJP President Anil Swami, raised slogans against the district police demanding arrest of the prime accused in the murder case. The JD(U) MLC, however, denied her son's role in the murder of Sachdeva and said Rocky Kumar Yadav was innocent. MLC Manorama Devi's husband Bindeshwari Prasad Yadav had in past been arrested and 6000 rounds of ammunition of a weapon banned for used by public in 2011 recovered from him. He had also been jailed in a sedition case. NEW DELHI: Launching a scathing attack on the Narendra Modi government and the Congress over the AgustaWestland copter scam, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said the Prime Minister does not have enough courage to arrest Congress president Sonia Gandhi and that the two parties have an alliance in corruption. Mr Kejriwal was addressing a protest rally at Jantar Mantar by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) demanding the arrest of Mrs Gandhi for interrogation. Questioning the silence of Congress on the issue of Mr Modis alleged fake degree, Mr Kejriwal also said that the two parties had an arrangement that the BJP government will not arrest Mrs Gandhi in the copter scam and the Congress will not raise the issue of Mr Modis educational qualification. The Italian court order also has names of Sonia Gandhi, Ahmed Patel, certain officers and Congressmen, but Modi is not able to gather enough courage to arrest Sonia Gandhi to ask her even two questions, to interrogate her. Modiji, you have been made PM to take action... not to leave the task for the Italy court. Our chest would also be of 56 inches if you send her to jail. When my PM says that Italys court is taking Gandhis name not and not he, I want to ask Modiji, Why are you scared of her? Mr Kejriwal asked. Meanwhile, the CBI on Saturday questioned cousins of former Indian Air Force Chief S.P. Tyagi Sanjeev, Rajeev and Sandeep besides advocate Gautam Khaitan for nearly eight hours asking exhaustively about finances, firms established by them and their relations with European middlemen in Agusta Westland VVIP helicopter deal. The sources said questioning revolved around accounts of IDS Tunisia and remittances received by it. They said some documents which Khaitan was not carrying on Friday were brought by him. CBI claimed that Khaitan was being evasive during questioning and concealing information. The Managing Director of IDS Infotech Partap K. Aggarwal and CEO of Aeromatrix Info Solutions Pvt. Ltd Praveen Bakshi have been called in connection with its probe in the case. It is believed that their firms were used to route alleged bribe money in India. Former Air Force Chief S.P. Tyagi has also been called on Monday again for a fresh round of questioning. Internet propaganda is believed to have played a key role in drawing some 500 Indonesians to the Middle East to join IS, particularly among those living in cities where it is easier to get online. (Representational Image) Jakarta: A group of Indonesian "cyber warriors" sit glued to screens, as they send out messages promoting a moderate form of Islam in the world's most populous Muslim-majority country. Armed with laptops and smartphones, some 500 members of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) -- one of the world's biggest Muslim organisations -- are seeking to counter the Islamic State group's extremist messages. "We'll never let Islam be hijacked by fools who embrace hate in their heart," tweeted Syafi' Ali, a prominent member of the NU's online army, a typical message to his tens of thousands of followers. They are trying to hit back at IS's sophisticated Internet operations, which have been credited with attracting huge numbers from around the world to their cause. Internet propaganda is believed to have played a key role in drawing some 500 Indonesians to the Middle East to join IS, particularly among those living in cities where it is easier to get online. The dangers of the growing IS influence in Indonesia were starkly illustrated in January when militants linked to the jihadists launched a gun and suicide bombing attack in Jakarta, leaving four assailants and four civilians dead. It was the first major attack in Indonesia for seven years, following a string of Islamic militant bombings in the early 2000s that killed hundreds. 'Wrestling with propaganda' As well as firing off tweets, the NU members have sought to dominate cyberspace by establishing websites promoting the group's moderate views, an Android app and web-based TV channels, whose broadcasts include sermons by moderate preachers. The initiative has been building momentum for a while but started to pick up pace a few months ago. A handful of cyber warriors operate from a small office in Jakarta, while the rest work remotely, and the group mostly communicate with one another over the web. But it will be an uphill battle and the NU, which has been promoting moderate Islam for decades, conceded they have previously struggled to take on IS's hate-filled messages. "NU has for a while wrestled with this radical propaganda," said Yahya Cholil Staquf, secretary general of the NU, which claims at least 40 million followers. "Every time we defeated them, it didn't take long for them to regain their strength." The online drive comes as the NU is set to take its campaign to promote their tolerant form of Islam onto the international stage this week, with a two-day meeting from Monday of moderate religious leaders from around the world. They aim to showcase their particular brand of the Muslim faith, known as "Islam Nusantara", to counter the IS jihadists' radical interpretation of Islam. Meaning "Islam of the Archipelago" -- Indonesia is the world's biggest archipelago, comprising over 17,000 islands -- it is accepting of diversity and stresses non-violence. It grew up organically in Indonesia, as the religion entered the country gradually and had to mix with existing traditional beliefs such as praying at tombs, making it a naturally tolerant form of Islam. Nowadays, most of the approximately 225 million Muslims in Indonesia practise a moderate form of Islam. The NU wants to persuade Muslims from around the world to look for inspiration to Indonesia, where religious minorities and a multitude of ethnic groups mostly coexist harmoniously, rather than to harsher forms of Islam from the Middle East. Fight the rising tide The group nevertheless has a long way to go to fight the rising tide of IS propaganda. Despite their good intentions, the NU cyber warriors appear amateur next to IS's well-funded set-up. The jihadists, who control huge swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, have a sophisticated online operation, using social media, apps and slickly produced videos. They send about 200,000 tweets a day into the United States alone, according to US officials. It even has its own news agency, Amaq, which is often the first to report that ISIS is claiming responsibility for attacks. In Indonesia, there are two main ways that IS propaganda spreads -- by supporters posting on websites and apps such as Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter and Line, and through returnees from the Middle East preaching the group's radical ideology. Most of the NU's online army are volunteers, often reaching into their own pockets to cover costs. "ISIS has oil, while the only oil we have is for hair," Ali said, explaining the project's start was delayed for more than a year due to funding problems. Oil smuggling has been a key revenue source for IS. Robi Sugara, a terrorism expert from NGO the Indonesian Muslim Crisis Center, welcomed the NU's online approach. "It's a good strategy to make Google searches fill up with moderate Islamic content," he said. "The battleground for Islamic ideology has moved to the Internet, and by producing as many moderate websites as they can, they can keep more minds healthy." Kim Jong-Un told a ruling party congress that the country would only use its nuclear weapons if its sovereignty came under threat. (Photo: AFP) Pyongyang: Leader Kim Jong-un told a rare ruling party congress that North Korea would only use nuclear weapons if attacked by a nuclear power, and said he wanted improved relations with previously "hostile" nations. Speaking on Saturday to thousands of delegates gathered for the first Workers' Party congress in more than 35 years, Kim also promised that the North would pursue a policy of non-proliferation and push for global denuclearisation. His remarks, published by state media on Sunday, came amid growing concerns that the North might be on the verge of conducting a fifth nuclear test. Kim had opened the congress with a defiant defence of the North's nuclear weapons programme, praising the "magnificent... and thrilling" test of what Pyongyang claimed was a powerful hydrogen bomb on January 6. But his report to the conclave on Saturday stressed that North Korea's status was that of a "responsible" nuclear weapons state. "Our republic will not use a nuclear weapon unless its sovereignty is encroached upon by any aggressive hostile forces with nukes," he said. The Korean-language version of his address made it clear that the scenario involved an actual nuclear attack on the North. Non-proliferation pledge He also vowed that Pyongyang would "faithfully fulfil" its non-proliferation obligations and push for global denuclearisation, the North's official KCNA news agency said. North Korea withdrew from the global Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 2003 -- the first signatory country to do so. Pyongyang's nuclear weapons use policy has always appeared quite fluid. At the time of the first nuclear test in 2006, North Korea stated it would "never use nuclear weapons first", but has since made repeated threats of pre-emptive nuclear strikes against South Korea and the United States. In recent years, North Korea has put a focus on the development of tactical nuclear weapons, with numerous -- and increasingly successful -- tests of a submarine-launched ballistic missile system. In his address, Kim also waved what might be taken as a potential olive branch, stating that North Korea would seek to improve and normalise relations with friendly countries, "(even) though they had been hostile in the past." There has been speculation that, in the wake of the party congress, Pyongyang might renew its push for talks with Washington. US and North Korean officials have held a number of informal discussions in neutral venues in recent years, but they are understood to have stalled over the basis for beginning any substantive dialogue. Peace treaty Pyongyang wants a permanent peace treaty to be the focus of any dialogue with Washington, while the United States, backed by South Korea, insists the North must first take tangible steps towards denuclearisation. The 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice that has never been formalised by a peace treaty, meaning that the two Koreas technically remain at war. The party congress has offered no sign whatsoever that Pyongyang would consider offering up its nuclear arsenal for negotiation, with Kim underlining the importance of a credible nuclear deterrent to the country's national security. Two of the North's four nuclear tests have been conducted since Kim came to power following the death of his father, late leader Kim Jong-Il, in late 2011. Speculation that the North might be readying a fifth test, in defiance of toughened UN sanctions, was fuelled Saturday by recent satellite imagery of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in the northeast of the country. Analysts at the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University said the presence of vehicles at the complex's test command centre signalled the possibility of a test "in the near future". The party congress is widely seen as Kim's formal "coronation" and recognition of his status as the legitimate inheritor of the Kim family's dynastic rule which spans almost seven decades. Brussels: India and the US want the UK to stay in the EU to "look after their interests", a top European Parliament member has said and underlined that Brexit would be a "seismic shock" for the bloc if it goes through. "Countries like India and the US, they want us in the EU in order to bring a bit of common sense to the institution and to look after their interests within this European organisation," Geoffrey Van Orden, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and Britain's Conservative Party leader, said. With just over a month left for the June 23 referendum on Brexit, Van Orden, however, said he has not yet declared his position but will do so in due course of time. "I oppose so much of what goes on in this place (European Parliament) and in the European Union. I think a lot of it is detrimental to British interests and indeed in the interest of many of our European countries," Van Orden, the Chair of the European Parliament's Delegation for relations with India, told a visiting group of Indian journalists in Brussels. "I would say about an 80 per cent of what goes on here I oppose. So you would think therefore I would naturally be a Brexiter. My heart says leave but there are some serious reasons why one has to hesitate about that. And included among these reasons are...we don't know how easy it would be for us to negotiate new trade arrangements with the bloc that we are leaving behind," the 71-year-old said. Van Orden said he has no doubt that the UK would be able to negotiate arrangements separately but how long will that take and how much of an economic upset would that be in the meantime are all factors that need to be considered before deciding on Brexit, a term used for the UK's exit from the 28-nation European Union. "Another very strong consideration particularly for me is that none of our Commonwealth friends and allies including India are saying to us leave the European Union. Indeed many of them are saying please stay for selfish reasons in fact this was indeed (the case) with our great American friends," the Vice-Chair of European Conservatives and Reformists Group in the European Parliament said. Asked if India and the UK should work on a bilateral trade agreement with the India-EU FTA talks not progressing much, Van Orden said such a step will have to "wait till June 23". "This is one of the arguments -- how easy would it be for the UK (to negotiate trade pacts)...," he said. "After all if the UK were to leave the EU, this would be a seismic shock to the EU and it would unlock a whole lot of forces in many other countries and lead to a lot of questioning of the EU relationship in many other places," Van Orden said. Giving his insight into how he feels the referendum campaign was panning out in the UK, Van Orden said the outcome hangs in balance and could swing both ways. "If you ask me more widely that what is the situation in the UK regarding Brexit. My answer to that is it is finely balanced. I would say at this moment it is probably 50-50. I think the turnout might be lower than what people expect," he said. Asserting that there were a lot of arguments in favour of Brexit, Van Orden said there were certain key considerations that were holding him back from supporting the 'Leave' campaign. Talking about such considerations, he said Britain relies a lot on foreign investment and there might be some nervousness on the part of investors that they would no longer have unfettered access to that single market on the European continent if the UK were to leave. "The fact is if you have a seat at the table why would you give it up. If you have some influence...and I know that there is a lot of criticism about the degree of influence that we have and how often we get voted down in the council of ministers and how there have been sort of power shifts since the treaty of Lisbon. This place now has equal decision-making standing with the council of ministers," Van Orden said. "I think all these are regrettable moves but nevertheless it is now the reality that we now have to face. And so one has to think that if we left this thing is still going to be there 20 miles across the English Channel and we will have no foothold in it and no influence over it. So these are the things that hold me back and in due course I will give my views on what I think are people should do," he said. The influential MEP said he wants the UK to play to its strengths and asserted that the country has offered so much and can offer much if it stays in the EU. "I would like to see the UK playing a stronger role in the world not defined by its membership of the EU even if we decide to remain in. In other words that is just one of a number of clubs we belong too, it is not our be all and end all," he said. Van Orden said that in the EU "any number of people" from different nations are telling him not to leave. "The Germans say to me don't leave us alone with the French. The Danes will say don't leave us alone with the Germans. All around we have people saying please stay which brings me back to the thought we should have got for more in those negotiations. I blame ourselves, I don't think we asked for enough and we should have pushed harder," Van Orden said. "Whatever I might think about French ambitions in Europe, nevertheless I do have respect for French diplomacy. I have actually said to the British Prime Minister why don't we behave like the French. In other words make outrageous demands and then people will say what can we give them. We can't give them a 100 per cent of what they want but we give them 75 per cent," he said. "But we are not French and so we didn't behave like that," he added. The Turkish military strikes come as Turkey is facing twin threats from the PKK and the IS Ankara: Turkish artillery has fired at the Islamic State group across the border in Syria, killing 55 militants and destroying three rocket launchers and three vehicles, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Sunday. Meanwhile, Turkish F-16 and F-4 warplanes struck positions of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, in northern Iraq, hitting the rebels' shelters, ammunition depots and weapons emplacements, the agency also reported. The regions targeted included Qandil mountain, where the PKK's leadership is based. The group has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state and is designated by Ankara and its allies as a terrorist organization. The Turkish military strikes come as Turkey is facing twin threats from the PKK and the IS, which have carried out six major suicide attacks in Turkey since July, killing some 200 people. The IS has fired almost daily rocket salvos from Syria into the Turkish border town of Kilis, which have killed 21 people and injured 70 others since mid-January. The Turkish military has been retaliating to these attacks in line with its rules of engagement. Anadolu, citing unnamed military sources, said the military late on Saturday attacked IS targets in Soran, north of Aleppo and in regions northeast of Tal el Hisn. The Associated Press couldn't independently verify the death toll. The collision happened on the main highway linking the capital, Kabul, to the southern city of Kandahar (Photo: AP) Kabul: At least 73 people were killed on Sunday when two buses and an oil tanker burst into flames in a head-on collision in eastern Afghanistan, health officials said, in one of the worst road accidents in the war-battered country. Many of the dead, including women and children, were burned beyond recognition and dozens of others were left wounded in the accident in Ghazni province, near the Afghan capital, one of the areas worst affected by the Taliban insurgency. "The death toll has soared to 73, most of them severely burned," ministry spokesman Ismail Kawoosi told AFP, warning that the toll was expected to rise still further. "Many of the wounded have been rushed to hospitals in (southern) Kandahar city and Ghazni." Kawoosi gave a sharply higher toll than other officials. Ghazni's governor Mohammad Aman Hamimi earlier reported seven fatalities but his own spokesman gave a death toll of 50. Afghanistan has some of the world's most dangerous roads and deadly accidents are common. At least 18 people were killed in May last year when a minivan overturned in the western province of Badghis. And in April 2013 a bus hit a wrecked fuel tanker in the southern province of Kandahar, killing 45 people. The World Bank in November signed off a USD 250 million grant to upgrade roads crossing Afghanistan's Hindu Kush mountains, crucial trade links that are often closed in winter by snow. Karachi: Khurram Zaki, a leading Pakistani rights activist known for his strong stance against hatred and violence targeted at Shia Muslims, has been killed by unidentified assailants here in an apparent sectarian attack. Zaki, 40, was killed last night by four armed assailants who came on two motorcycles and sprayed bullets while he was having dinner at a restaurant in Sector 11 of New Karachi. Rao Khalid, a journalist who was with Zaki and a bystander were critically wounded in the attack. Zaki, a former journalist and a social media campaigner, gained fame when he launched a Facebook page Let Us Build Pakistan (LUBP) and became editor of a website devoted to working for human rights and spreading liberal religious views. The spokesman for a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban has said they were behind the shooting, BBC reported. He said they killed him because of his recent campaign against a cleric of the Red Mosque in Islamabad. Mr Zaki and other campaigners had filed a court case charging Abdul Aziz with incitement to hatred and violence against the Shia minority. The case was brought in response to the cleric's refusal to condemn attacks such as that on a school in Peshawar in 2014 in which 152 people, most of them schoolchildren, were killed. His black, blue-green and ochre metal sculptures are overwhelming, and they virtually forge their ambience. He sculpts female bull-tamers with flowing hair, swaying clothes and toned muscles that throb with power, caught at the instant of stillness that occurs just before the gathered energy is released; the instant that the human eye is too slow to catch. He zeroes in on the piercing action sequences of the martial arts kalari, featuring female warriors. He fashions village drummers who beat the thappu in exhilaration and abandon; the divine Krishna immersed in his own music sitting on boulders; standing gracefully on inordinately large lotus leaves; bulls and cows beaming benevolence and majesty; bullock carts; the exotic Nagalingam flowers; and panchabootham (the five primordial elements). These sculptures indicate the pitch and the tempo of artist P Elanchezhiyans narratives, the emotionally charged forms that are rooted in tradition, and that soar with imagination. The 36-year-old sculptor brings to the fore the aesthetics, the spirituality and the raw energy of rural life. Man, animal and nature come alive in utter non-self-consciousness, a quality that perhaps exists only in rural pockets now. Every sculpture that I create is an expression of my belief, not just an artistic foray, Elanchezhiyan says. Tale within tales Do female bull-tamers exist? In bullrings, it may be the men who tame the raring bulls and the women who watch this coyly. But the women of village have true power over the bulls as they rear them (and cows) like beloved family members. I have seen fierce-looking bulls follow their female keepers docilely. That was the inspiration, he explains. In his eyes, nature and divinity are not far removed. Since he is no stranger to farming, having worked in his fathers rice fields as a boy, his mind has been etched indelibly by the visuals of activities of cows and bulls, including their postures. He especially reveres cows, knowing that they sustain the fertility of fields; he likes gender equality almost as much, which is why there are female bull-tamers and kalari warriors. Every stance or gesture of his women protagonists projects liberation, assurance and drive. He sees the taming of bulls or the combating warriors as being as much about taming ones own ego and arrogance at one level, and the whimsical shackles that patriarchy imposes, at another level. So the veera vilayattu (game of valour) of jallikattu (bull taming) and the por kalai (martial arts) of kalari have become a symbol of intellectual prowess, drive and conquest in his hands. This makes for a potent mix. In the same mould as his jallikattu and kalari works is his Krishna series, in which the lord is seated on boulders, while his music mesmerises the cowherds. But taking a different tone virtually (or a different hue actually) are the newer works in the series the blue-green sculptures show a tiny Krishna playing his flute, sitting lightly on the edge of a huge lotus leaf, dangling his legs casually. These stylised works on Krishna bring out a tenderness, something only a child would evoke. These are in contrast to the dynamic and powerful resonance evoked by his kalari and jallikattu works, which had come to define him earlier. Lately, Elanchezhiyan has taken to embellishing scripts (drawn from classical literature) on the surface of his sculptures. This young man seems to celebrate tradition and modernity through his art at one go. Where it began... Elanchezhiyans life began in the small Alathambadi village located near Tamil Nadus Kumbakonam district the land that nurtured the Chola bronzes. Born to an agriculturist father, who is also a school teacher, he was encouraged by his family to pursue art. He completed BFA and MFA in Sculpture at the Government College of Fine Arts, Kumbakonam. He followed this up with MPhil in Sculpture from Tamil University, Thanjavur (2009-2010). The eldest of 3 children, Elanchezhiyan says, My mother has been a huge influence, while my father has been a guide. His parents never feared or opposed a career in arts for their eldest son. Though he now lives in and works from his studio at Panayur, just outside Chennai, he has never really left his village behind. At his studio, the sculptor relies on the technique of sand-casting for sculpturing. But how does he arrive at the vivid shades seen on the metal? Post casting, he cleans and coats the metal with acid for an hour or more, to clear away any impurities. The acid reacts with the metal to render different shades. Much of this happens without planning, so, many of the hues are happy accidents like the brown seen on his Jumping Bull, born when he unintentionally left sodium sulphate on the cast for several hours, because he forgot to wipe it off. Another noticeable fact about his sculptures is they sport an antiquated look, in contrast to the shiny finish seen on temple idols. As he uses dewaxing techniques, the resulting texture is alluring, and highlights the sculptures details. The volume of his artistic output continues to be massive, even though each one of his sculptures involves a lot of work done over a long period of time. Mention this and he adds, Today, its easy to create a bronze sculpture. Bronze is now available as nuggets. One can just melt it and cast it. The Chola stapathis (sculptors) of yesteryear had devoted several years to make a single piece, as they created alloys and even added gold to it, if they fancied. Elanchezhiyans biggest sculpture is the Avan Indri Anuvaum Asaiyadhu, currently showcased at Delhi. It portrays the 5 elements of nature earth, fire, wind, water and ether and aims to convey that without shakti, nothing moves. He used up 6 months to create it. We have always been nature worshippers. Mariamman, the female goddess we revere, is a rain goddess, Agni Veeran is the god of fire, and so on. he explains. No wonder, Elanchezhiyan is an alluring draw to art lovers across the world. In fact, he is one of the few Indian sculptors who have exhibited at Londons Gallery Cork (2007), as well as at Singapores Guyana Art Gallery (2007) and Madras Canvas (2010), Malaysia. A number of private entrance tests for medical and dental admissions in Karnataka have either been cancelled or postponed following the cancellation of the entrance test conducted by the Consortium of Medical, Engineering, and Dental Colleges (COMEDK). The consortiums decision to cancel its exam followed a Supreme Court order on Friday that no private college or association can hold their entrance exams to undergraduate medical or dental courses. The exam under the Karnataka Religious and Linguistic Minority Professional Colleges Association (KRLMPCA) for MBBS admission to 12 religious and linguistic minority institutions has also been cancelled. Shafi Ahmed, secretary of the association, said: We will follow the line of COMEDK, but an official decision will be taken on Monday when all members meet. The meeting will also discuss other matters such as reimbursing students the application fees, he said. Fr Muller Medical College, Mangaluru, has also decided to cancel its exam. Director Fr Patrick Rodrigues said that all these years they were going by the COMEDK exam and since it had been cancelled, they had no other option. Nitte University, Mangaluru, will also postpone its entrance exam scheduled for Monday. We have postponed the exam indefinitely, said the universitys public relations officer. Similarly, the Yenepoya University Assistant Registrar Nandeesh said they would wait and watch and take a decision on cancelling their test on Monday or Tuesday. The exam is scheduled for May 23. Although Manipal University conducted its own exam before the Supreme Court gave the ruling, its PRO said it would wait and watch. Hike in engg fees? Meanwhile, the government is yet to decide on the fee hike demanded by private engineering colleges. Higher Education Minister T B Jayachandra said on Saturday a meeting was held with representatives of colleges on Friday and a decision would be taken soon. Engineering colleges have demanded a hike similar to medical colleges whose demand for a 10% hike was approved by the Medical Education Department recently. Love for the reel reportedly got an Uttar Pradesh police inspector, who was roped in by a film director for the lead role in his movie Real Singham suspended. According to the reports, the UP police officer Anirudh Singh, who was known as an encounter specialist, and was posted with the crime branch in Allahabad, was suspended on charges of being absent from duty without information for more than a month. Sources in the police department here said that Singh had been posted in the crime branch two months back. Real singham He suddenly went missing about a month back and all efforts to communicate to him proved futile, said an official in Allahabad. It later turned out that Singh had been busy with the shooting of the movie Real Singham at different locations. The police officer had also posted the pictures of the shooting on his Facebook pa-ge. A superintendent of police level official was later asked to probe the matter and on his report that Singh had been absent from duty without approval for the past over one month, he was suspended. Singh has been asked to explain his absence without permission. We will take stern action if he fails to explain, said a police official. Sources said that Singh was not likely to quit the shooting even if he had to resign from his job. Sources also said that Singh had taken prior permission from his superiors before signing the movie. Singh had been in the limelight for gunning down several dreaded criminals in encounters at different places in the state in the past few years. The movie Real Singham is being made in Hindi and Bhojpuri and was likely to be completed in the next few months. Singh, who hails from Jalaun district in UP, had been given out of turn promotion for gunning down an alleged maoist Sanjay Kol a few years back. Delhi University has unused plots of land across the Capital, measuring twice the size of universitys South Campus. Vice Chancellor Yogesh Tyagi told Deccan Herald that his administration wants to save some land for future academic expansion, even as DU grapples with shortage of hostels. Nearly, one lakh students enroll in the university every year. For accommodating students coming from outside Delhi, Tyagi suggests construction of large housing complexes around Metro stations. Last year, more than half of the 2.9 lakh undergraduate applicants were non-Delhi residents. It will be premature to announce that it will be implemented. But there is an attempt to think of a solution beyond constructing of hostels by the university, he said. He adds that shortage of lodging houses for students can be solved with the involvement of government agencies, non-profits and corporates in large-scale housing projects in Metro-connected suburban areas like Dwarka, Najafgarh, Noida and Gurgaon. DU has vacant plots of land in Maurice Nagar (6 acre), Mall Road (2 acre), Dhaka Complex, Mukherjee Nagar (over 50 acres), Bawana (46 acre), Surajmal Vihar (15 acre), Najafgarh (16 acre) and Dwarka (2 acre), a university source claimed. Besides, the university has five high-value properties leased out in the city. According to the Vice Chancellor, the comfort of living near the university campuses has resulted in mushrooming of paying guesthouses. Kamala Nagar, Vijay Nagar, Outram Line, GTB Nagar and Mukherjee Nagar near North Campus and Satya Niketan and Anand Niketan near South Campus are popular amongst student destinations in the Capital. Less than one-fourth of the DU colleges have hostel facilities at present, as per the DUs admission bulletin for undergraduate courses, issued last year. The hostel shortage forces many students to go for alternate accommodation, which means shelling out more money. Many pay anything between Rs 9,000 to 15,000 for double occupancy rooms in Mukherjee Nagar, said Karan Mahanta, a student of Satyawati College. Giving example of a Dutch university in Hague, Tyagi said the many western universities provide students with lodging options at the time of admission. You get a list of institutions, addresses and contacts of families who have surplus space in their houses, and other information such as distance from the school you are applying to, rent of the place, etc, he said. Vice Chancellor, however, said doing the same in Delhi is implausible. Probably, we will have to encourage more and more people to live at places having connectivity to Metro, he said. Many DU colleges fall in the vicinity of 114-km long Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) network. The university is mulling over having new colleges and departments. There is a proposal to have a separate campus for running the five-year integrated course in law, a university official said. A teenager allegedly shot himself and approached the police to file an attempt to murder case over personal enmity. Police have arrested the complainant, Bhajanpura-resident Nonu Arora, and two of his accomplices. Arora, 19, claimed to have been attacked at Krishna Nagar late on Wednesday. He had sustained a gunshot wound on his right thigh and underwent treatment at Swami Dayanand Hospital. On the basis of Aroras statement, a case under Indian Penal Code and Arms Act was registered with Krishna Nagar police station. Arora told police that he was attacked by a former neighbour named Akash Napa. Napas family had shifted to east Delhis Kondli last year. A team of local police later apprehended Napa from his house. On being questioned, Napa claimed that he was being framed over a police complaint filed against Arora. Napas father Prakash had filed the complaint last week over harassment along with a local criminal. The police team then questioned Arora and confronted him with evidence. He confessed to have shot himself to implicate the Napa family members, said a police officer. The investigators have also nabbed Aroras friends Gaurav Sharma and Tarun Kumar. In his statement, Arora had told police that Napas elder brother Vikas used to misbehave with his sister. It was alleged that Vikas was in the illegal business of property encroachment due to which the Arora family was threatened by local goons. Arora claimed to have been attacked after he filed a police complaint against Vikas last week, the officer added. He told police that Napa met him at Krishna Nagar at 10.45 pm on Wednesday. Napa, however, told police that Arora met him to apologise over the police complaint. Arora had gone to Napas house on Wednesday. They had a heated argument after which Arora left the house. Arora later shot himself and made a call to the police control room. His statement was recorded at the hospital. Arora, who works as a driver in north Delhis Burari, now faces a case of providing false information to police. As she walked along with President Pranab Mukherjee, Indian-born Rebecca Taylor, a 'Guinness' record holder, could hardly imagine that her dream will one day come true in New Zealand far away from her Bengaluru home. "When I used to see the grandeur of Rashtrapati Bhavan during my childhood, I always wondered whether I will be able to meet any of its occupants. I never knew that it will come true thousands of miles away," said 29-year-old Rebecca, who is doing a degree course in Event Management at Auckland University of Technology. The President was here on May 2 for a function organised by the University where he addressed the students during the course of his state visit to New Zealand. The President had spoken about his ardent love for teaching and said he had accepted the invitation as "a teacher in me, which of course I buried almost five decades ago when I entered into Parliament, still remains." "When I meet the shining eyes, bright mind, receptive and always questioning, young men an women, sometimes that instinct arises in me and try to convert myself as a teacher, always not acceptable, may be more than of a nagging but nonetheless a teacher," he had said. But Rebecca, who holds Guinness world record for making the largest tealight candle, had her moment of glory when she presented her art work to the President in which she had interspersed traditional design and colour, representing the Indian National bird, animal and flower, with a dash of a silver fern which is widely representative of New Zealand. "The design itself comes together with traditional mango motifs that tell a story of the two nations and the environment," she said. "Beautiful", was the immediate reaction of the President on receiving the art work and congratulated her for holding a Guinness record. The University Vice Chancellor Derek McCormack's words asking Rebecca to accompany the President to his car was music to her ears and she could not control her excitement. "He was the best teacher I could have had and of course even if he termed himself as a nagging teacher, I would like to have such a teacher who himself is a walking encyclopedia on global and country's history," she said. And as the President was ready to leave, the Vice Chancellor took Rebecca's phone for clicking her picture with the President to which Mukherjee joked "this is the new age where the Vice Chancellor takes a picture of the student." In traditional Indian custom, Rebecca, who hailed from Bengaluru, touched the feet of the President as a mark of respect and received his blessing. PTI SKL GSN ASK NSA 05081215 Khurram Zaki, a leading Pakistani rights activist and social media campaigner known for his strong stance against religious extremism, was killed by unknown assailants in the country's financial capital here. Zaki, 40, was killed last night by four armed assailants who came on two motorcycles and sprayed bullets while he was having dinner at a restaurant in Sector 11 of New Karachi. Rao Khalid, a journalist who was with Zaki and a bystander were critically wounded in the attack. "The assailants fired at Zaki and Khalid and the bystander was caught in the firing," Senior Superintendent of Police Muqaddas Haider said. No one has taken responsibility for the attack. Zaki, a former journalist gained fame when he launched a Facebook page "Let Us Build Pakistan" and became editor of a website devoted to working for human rights and spreading liberal religious views. The page was recently blocked by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority for viewers in the country. He had condemned extremism in all forms and came into limelight when he led a campaign against Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz for inciting hatred against Shia Muslims. He and other campaigners built up pressure and got a case registered against Aziz. Sindh Home Minister Sohail Anwar Sial has ordered a probe and sought report from police within 48 hours. Following the incident, protesters carrying the body of Zaki reached the Chief Minister's House and staged protest. Majlid Wehdat-e-Muslimeen has also announced to stage a protest demonstration outside CM House. A spokesperson of Majlis Wahdat Muslimeen (MWM) said that Zaki was not only a prominent civil society activist but also a religious scholar who tended to attend programmes on various TV channels. The MWM spokesperson said they believed that banned sectarian outfits were involved in this gruesome murder. Zaki's assassination came on the same day when Karachi police announced that they had arrested a prime suspect in the murder of social activist Parveen Rehman who was killed in May 2013. Parveen, who worked for the development of the poor neighbourhoods in the Orangi town, was killed in the same area while returning home. Last year in September, another prominent social activist and rights campaigner Sabeen Mahmud was also killed in the defence area in Karachi while returning from her office. Her assailants are yet to be nabbed by the police. Pakistan's powerful ISI had brought in Haqqani network's chief Sirajuddin Haqqani as the deputy leader of the Taliban last year to protect him from the Americans, a media report said today. The New York Times, quoting Afghan and American officials, said in a report that the "closer integration of the feared" Haqqani militant network into the leadership of the Taliban is "changing the flow of the Afghan insurgency this year, with the Haqqanis' senior leader increasingly calling the shots in the Taliban's offensive. It quoted Afghanistan's former intelligence chief Rahmatullah Nabil as saying that "the ISI brought Sirajuddin as the deputy to the Taliban to give him protection, so if the peace talks get serious, the Americans wouldn't be able to say, 'We will make peace with the leader but not with the deputy'." Nabil, who now runs a charity for wounded Afghan soldiers, said the merger had been helped by the fact that the Haqqanis were struggling financially, after their chief fund-raiser was gunned down near Islamabad in 2013, and that the Taliban needed Haqqani's expertise in waging complex attacks. Brigadier General Charles Cleveland, the chief spokesman for United States and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said that "Sirajuddin increasingly runs the day-to-day military operations for the Taliban, and, we believe, is likely involved in appointing shadow governors." "The Haqqani networks closer integration with the Taliban command also creates awkwardness for the Obama administration, and is raising tension between Pakistan and Afghanistan," it said. The report cited some senior Afghan officials as saying that the Pakistani military was "central" to bringing the Haqqanis more closely into the Taliban during the insurgencys leadership councils last summer, which were held in Quetta. The report said that the Haqqanis have "refined a signature brand" of urban terrorist attacks and cultivated a sophisticated international fund-raising network, factoring prominently in the United States military's push to keep troops in Afghanistan. It added that the group's growing role in leading the entire insurgency in the war-torn country has raised concerns about an even deadlier year of fighting ahead, as hopes of peace talks have collapsed. "The shift is also raising tensions with the Pakistani military, which American and Afghan officials accuse of sheltering the Haqqanis as a proxy group," it said. While the Haqqani network has always nominally been a branch of the Taliban, the report said the selection of Sirajuddin Haqqani to become the deputy leader of the Taliban during a leadership struggle last summer has turned out to be far from a "symbolic move" with Haqqani bringing to the Taliban a "more applied and lethal military expertise" than the supreme leader of the group, Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour. "Mullah Mansour has been consumed with a campaign to quell dissent against his leadership, and he is said to have limited his movements and access since a reported attack on his life in Quetta, Pakistan. Accordingly, Haqqani has stepped in, at times even running meetings of the Taliban leadership council," the report said citing senior Afghan security officials. A senior Taliban commander in southern Afghanistan said Haqqani had been in "constant contact" with Taliban field commanders in the south and the north of the country, in addition to his stronghold in the southeast. Mawlawi Sardar Zadran, a former Haqqani commander in eastern Afghanistan, said Haqqani had a central role in appointing Taliban governors. "No one can be appointed without his advice," he said. "The influence of Sirajuddin in the Taliban ranks seems to be just growing." The report quoted a Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, as confirming Haqqani's elevated role, saying it was because of "his bravery". "We can say that not only his military obligations but all his obligations have increased," Mujahid said. The State Department had officially listed the Haqqanis as a terrorist group in 2012, and there is a USD 5 million American bounty on Sirajuddin Haqqani. The report added that the Afghan Taliban, as a group, have remained off that terrorist list, "partly to ease the prospect of starting peace talks between them and the Afghan government a process that American officials have been centrally involved in. "With the clear and public integration of the Haqqanis into the Taliban leadership over at least the past year, American officials have essentially been unable to dodge the claim that they are trying to broker talks with terrorists," it said. JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who is out on bail in a sedition case, today wrote an open letter to HRD Minister Smriti Irani on occasion of Mothers Day and asked how can a "mother" punish her children on basis of biased probe reports and doctored videos. Referring to the university investigation report of the controversial February 9 event during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised, Kanhaiya, who has been attacking Irani for her reference to all students as her children, said in the letter, "we are trying hard to study in the warmth of your motherly love. Under your reign, we are learning how to study despite police canes and hunger". In an open letter with sarcastic overtones, the 29-year-old researcher referred to Irani as "anti-rational" mother of "anti-nationals" and extended her Mothers day wishes on behalf of students. "Today a friend sent asked me how under Mr Modi's regime--where besides our own mother, we also have Mother Cow, Mother India, Mother Ganges and Mother Smriti--how could Rohith Vemula die. I am asking you this because I have no answer. The same anti-national friend also said that Mother Smriti's ministry sent several letters to punish Rohith and was also responsible for withholding his fellowship for seven months," he said in the letter. "In a great country like India, can a mother force drive her child to suicide? Can a mother accept punishments on her children based on doctored videos and a biased probe? Your children, starving for 11 days, are asking you this question. Please reply, if you find the time. The friend also called you an 'anti-rational mother of anti-nationals'. I hope you will prove this allegation false in your factual reply," he added. Meanwhile, the indefinite hunger strike by JNU students in protest against the punishments awarded by university in connection with the Afzal Guru event, entered 11th day today. Kanhaiya had withdrawn from the fast last week after his health deteriorated and he had to undergo treatment for dehydration and ketosis at AIIMS. So far, six students have withdrawn from the strike while 14 others are still continuing with their fast. In celebration of mothers day at JNU, various mothers residing on campus and outsiders including an 80-year-old wheel chair bound woman, joined the fasting students by going on a one day hunger strike in solidarity. ABVP member Saurabh Sharma, who was complainant of the February 9 event and has been slapped with a fine of Rs 10,000 for blocking traffic, started a donation campaign today to pay his penalty. "I have been penalised for protecting 'bharat mata' and standing up against the anti-nationals. So on mothers day, we have started a campaign in support of protecting the dignity of mother India. I am requesting people to donate one rupee in my paytm account," Saurabh, who is lone ABVP member in JNU students body said in a statement. Saurabh along with four members of ABVP, who had also gone on hunger strike last week, called off their stir on Wednesday claiming they have got an assurance from the JNU administration that their demands will be considered. The JNU administration had appealed the students and teachers to not invite outsiders saying it might vitiate the academic atmosphere and peace on campus. The administration also asked the students to refrain from using "direct or indirect coercive measures and come forward for dialogue and discussion". Terming the hunger strike to be an "unlawful activity" JNU VC Jagadesh Kumar had also appealed the students last week to put forward their demands using "constitutional" means and asked them to come for a "dialogue" to resolve the matter. Two other students --Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya -- were arrested along with Kanhaiya in the sedition case. While Kanhaiya has been slapped with a penalty of Rs 10,000, Umar, Anirban and a Kashmiri student, Mujeeb Gatoo have been rusticated for varying durations. For decades, the computer industry has been guided by a faith that engineers would always find a way to make the components on computer chips smaller, faster and cheaper. But a decision by a global alliance of chipmakers to back away from reliance on Moores Law, a principle that has guided tech companies from the giant mainframes of the 1960s to todays smartphones, shows that the industry may need to rethink the central tenet of Silicon Valleys innovation ethos. Chip scientists are nearly at the point where they are manipulating material as small as atoms. When they hit that mark within the next five years or so, they may bump into the boundaries of how tiny semiconductors can become. After that, they may have to look for alternatives to silicon, which is used to make computer chips, or new design ideas in order to make computers more powerful. It is hard to overstate the importance of Moores Law to the entire world. Despite its official sound, it is not actually a scientific rule like Newtons laws of motion. Instead, it describes the pace of change in a manufacturing process that has made computers exponentially more affordable. In 1965, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore first observed that the number of components that could be etched onto the surface of a silicon wafer was doubling at regular intervals and would do so for the foreseeable future. When Moore made his observation, the densest memory chips stored only about 1,000 bits of information. Todays densest memory chips have roughly 20 billion transistors. Without those remarkable improvements, todays computer industry wouldnt exist. The vast cloud-computing data centres run by companies like Google and Amazon would be impossibly expensive to build. There would be no smartphones with apps that allow you to order a ride home or get dinner delivered. And scientific breakthroughs like decoding the human genome or teaching machines to listen would not have happened. Signalling their belief that the best way to forecast the future of computing needs to be changed, the Semiconductor Industry Associations of the United States, Europe, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan will make one final report based on a chip technology forecasting system called the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors. Nearly every big chipmaker, including Intel, IBM and Samsung, belongs to the organization, though Intel says it is not participating in the last report. To replace what the semiconductor industry has done for nearly 25 years, a professional organization called the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers announced Wednesday that it will a create a new forecasting system, called the International Roadmap for Devices and Systems, that is intended to track a wider range of computer technologies. One technology could be so-called quantum computing, a cutting-edge reimagining of how computers work that taps quantum physics a branch of physics that explains how matter and energy interact. Another could be graphene, a form of carbon and an alternative to silicon that could produce smaller and faster transistors that use less power. The end of Moores Law is what led to this, said Thomas M. Conte, a Georgia Institute of Technology computer scientist and co-chairman of the effort to draw up a new set of benchmarks to replace the semiconductor reports. Just relying on the semiconductor industry is no longer enough. We have to shift and punch through some walls and break through some barriers. Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh on Sunday clarified that he never gave a clean chit to Jagdish Tytler for his involvement in the anti-Sikh riots. "It is for the investigating agencies and courts to probe and decide, he said. Capt Singh was interacting with Punjabi NRIs who had gathered at Hotel Hilton in New York on Saturday night. Replying to another question, Capt Singh said he had never said that the Sikhs should forget what happened in Delhi in 1984. "How can I ask anyone to forget 1984 when I myself resigned from the Parliament and my party to protest what happened at that time? Sikhs can never forget what happened in 1984 and it will always remain etched in our memory, he asserted, while pointing out, We have suffered so many massacres in the past and they are all part of our history and so is 1984. At the same time, Capt Singh added that it does not serve any purpose to rake up the issue during every election. Referring to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, he asked, "Why does Badal recall 1984 only during the election days and never before or after that? The senior Congress leader supported the demand of several NRIs that there should be no blacklist and nobody should be barred from visiting the country of his roots. The former Chief Minister said the Akalis had "brutally victimised" and persecuted the NRIs by slapping false cases on them so that they are not able to visit Punjab. "We will review all the cases pending against NRIs and ensure that no person facing investigation is arrested," he said. In a controversial move, references to Indias first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru have been dropped in the new social science textbook for Class VIII in BJP-ruled Rajasthan. The Congress cried foul and accused the Vasundhara Raje government of touching a new low by the shameless act of omitting references to Nehru in the book while carrying out a revision of textbooks. Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee president Sachin Pilot said the Opposition party would launch an agitation against the deliberate omission of Jawaharlal Nehrus name, saying the RSS-BJP can tweak text books but cannot rewrite history. The references to Nehru have been removed in 2 chapters in the revised textbook which will be introduced from this academic session for Class VIII in schools affiliated to Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (or Ajmer Board). Though the book is not available in the market yet, the information has been uploaded on the website of the Rajasthan State Textbook Board, which publishes the book for the state board. The new name that has been included in the textbook is that of freedom movement leader Hemu Kalani. While the names of Mahatma Gandhi, Veer Sawarkar, Bhagat Singh, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Subhas Chandra Bose are among those figured in the textbook, there is no mention of Nehru either in the chapter on Freedom Movement or in that on India After Independence. The revision of several textbooks has been carried out under curriculum restructuring by the Udaipur-based State Institute of Education Research and Training (SIERT). The earlier edition of the book titled Social Science for Class VIII also had a table on Major Leaders of National Movement that featured the names and briefs on contribution of Dadabhai Naoroji, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose. In that box, the reference to Nehru stated: After becoming a barrister, he joined the national movement. He later became the president of Congress, leader of the interim government and the first prime minister of independent India. Two former employees of Serum Institute of India were booked for stealing confidential information about a vaccine and filing for patent on behalf of their present employer. The duo, identified as Dr Manoj Kumar Chhikara and Dr Rakesh Rana, who worked as assistant managers (R&D) and Quality Control at the institute respectively, put their names as researchers in the patent application. The police on Saturday registered a case against them under IPC (Indian Penal Code) sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), and provisions of the Information Technology Act. No arrests have been made in case yet, they said. The 2 are now working with Delhi-based MSD Wellcome Trust Hilleman Laboratories. In a shocking incident of road rage, the son of a ruling party legislator shot dead a 19-year-old student who overtook his car near Bodh Gaya. The tragic incident took place on Saturday night when Rocky, son of JD(U) MLC Manorma Devi, was returning from Bodh Gaya to Gaya. His SUV was overtaken by one Aditya, nephew of another JD(U) leader. Aditya, a student of Class XI, was also returning from Bodh Gaya. A scuffle took place between the 2 on the issue of overtaking. Gaya police sources said Rocky and his friends pulled out Aditya from his car and thrashed him mercilessly for overtaking his vehicle. We have been informed that it was Rocky who eventually shot dead Aditya following the scuffle, said ADG (Headquarters) Sunil Kumar here on Sunday. Meanwhile, Senior SP (SSP) of Gaya, Garima Mallick, who has deputed the city SP to nab Rocky, said that husband of the JD(U) MLC, Bindi Yadav and bodyguard Rajesh Kumar (who was travelling along with Rocky and has been named as accused in the murder case) have been arrested. Police teams have been formed to carry out raids to arrest Rocky, said the SSP. Bindi Yadav, who had a shady background before his wife Manorma Devi became JD(U) legislator, showed no remorse for the tragic incident. It was a fight over overtaking of cars. My son fired in self-defence. Unfortunately, it hit Aditya. Thats it, Bindi said at the police station, without expressing any regret. Meanwhile, the BJP-led NDA has called for Gaya bandh on Monday to protest the killing and police failure to arrest the main accused. The incident shows what we had predicted months back (about return of jungle raj) has come true. In most such cases of murder and assault, its the ruling party leaders who have been named accused. We are now heading towards Maha-jungleraj, said leader of the Opposition in the Assembly and BJP MLA from Gaya, Prem Kumar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asked the people of Kerala to think of their future and not just change regimes. He continued his tirade against ruling UDF and the LDF saying both failed to provide even drinking water to them in so many years. Addressing his second election rally here, Modi also accused the Congress and the CPM of covering each others corruption and said they would get to know that governments have to work for the people only when they are defeated. Kerala is surrounded by water, but still there is no drinking water here. India will next year complete 70 years of her freedom. Both Congress and Communists have ruled the state by turn (all these years) but they are not concerned about even providing drinking water, Modi, whose party has so far played a marginal role in state politics, said. Asking the people whether those who have failed to provide even basic things like drinking water should be elected or not, Modi said both the Congress and Communists are in sync when it comes to indulging in corruption. These people have decided to taste power for 5 years in rotation. This way, they decided not to look at each others sins and open their files (expose corruption), he said. You need to think if you just have to change the government or your future also, Modi exhorted the crowd. This was his second election rally in the poll-bound state, which is all set to go for polls on May 16. Earlier in the day at a poll rally at Kasaragod, Modi took a dig at the 2 main political parties of Kerala, saying both were insulting the educated people of Kerala through their adjustment politics. A new model of politics has come up in Kerala. It is an adjustment politics, politics of compromise, politics of corruption and politics of contract to save each other, he said at the election meeting at Kasaragod. It is a contract rule between UDF and LDF. For 5 years you rule and for another five years we will rule. This is how the 2 fronts have been returning to power in the state, Modi said attacking the 2 fronts in the state, he had said. The Indian Navy is set to bid adieu to its Sea Harrier fighter jets that flew from the decks of Indias first 2 aircraft carriers INS Vikrant and INS Viraat in the last 3 decades. The last 11 Sea Harrier aircraft would be de-inducted at a function in Panaji on May 11 in the presence of outgoing Navy chief Admiral R K Dhowan. These fighters were commissioned way back in 1983 for operations on-board INS Vikrant and later for INS Viraat, which too is now slated for decommissioning within a few months. The last task of these aircraft was to fly at the International Fleet Review in Visakhapatnam in March, when seven Harriers were on-board INS Viraat and 6 of them flew. With its manufacturers Bae Systems and Rolls- Royce giving up on supplying the spares, the Navy can no longer fly these aircraft even as a vintage platform. Some of the airframes, however, may be retained as stationary display items in naval establishments. The National Law Universitys study on death penalty has pointed out that most of the convicts are backward, uneducated and first time offenders. A comprehensive study report published by the Centre on the death penalty revealed that out of 1,486 death sentences imposed by the trial courts, only 4.9% (73 prisoners) remained on death row after the appeal in the Supreme Court. The report focussed on the death penalty in India, which undergoes through a crisis-ridden criminal justice system, made an elaborate study on the life of convicts awaiting death sentence in various prisons across the nation. As many as 1,810 people were sentenced to death in India from 2000 to 2015. The Centre interacted with 373 prisoners on death row in 20 states and 1 Union Territory between June 2013 and January 2015 for preparing its report. According to the report, Uttar Pradesh (79), Bihar (53), Karnataka (45), Maharashtra (36) and Delhi (3) are the top 5 states with the highest number of prisoners sentenced to death for different crimes. Out of the 373 prisoners sentenced to death penalty, 361 were men and 12 were women. The study also showed in Gujarat, as many as 15 prisoners (79%) facing death penalty belonged to religious minorities, about 12% of the states population. In Maharashtra, 18 prisoners (50%) were Dalits and Adivasis, who formed 20% of the states population while Kerala with 14 prisoners (93%) had the highest percentage of those sentenced to death from economically vulnerable communities. As much as 80% of the prisoners in the study who spoke about their experience in police custody admitted to having suffered custodial torture. Not only was the number astonishing, the methods employed by the police while inflicting torture were inhuman, degrading and inflicted extreme forms of physical and mental suffering, the report stated. The report also pointed out that 78% death row prisoners have not studied beyond Secondary school and majority of them have not even completed Secondary. The state government sounded high alert against bird flu on Sunday, following detection of such cases in a poultry farm in Bidar district. Animal Husbandry Minister A Manju said cases of Avian Influenza (H5N1), commonly known as bird flu, have been reported at Melakera village in Humnabad taluk of Bidarrecently. The government has decided to cull all 1.5 lakh birds in the affected poultry farm as per the scientific protocol. He said about 23,000 birds had died in the farm owned by Ramesh Gupta. The state Animal Husbandry and the Health and Family Welfare departments had sent the samples from the farm to the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal. The institute has confirmed that the cases were positive for Avian Influenza, he added. All the poultry birds within a radius of 1 km from the affected farm would be culled. All new vehicles in the city may soon have a maximum fitness life span of 10 years, as against the current 15 years, with the Delhi government considering a change in rules to enforce a compulsory fitness test at the age of 10 years to check pollution. At present, all private vehicles have a fitness age of 15 years meaning that they can continue to ply after undergoing a fitness test. Commercial vehicles need to be taken off road after 15 years. Apart from reducing the fitness age of vehicles, the transport department is also preparing to introduce a temper proof pollution under control (PUC) check system, said an official. While no commercial vehicle can run on city roads after completing 15 years of age, private vehicles can undergo a fitness test and continue to be used after 15 years. The first fitness test that a vehicle undergoes could be 10 years instead of the present 15 years, said an official. The proposal to reduce the fitness age from 15 to 10 years is based on the findings of a study which said that old vehicles are the biggest culprits in contributing to vehicular emission. The 15-year fitness age limit was set on the direction of the Supreme Court in 1998. The court had also suggested to the Delhi government to consider setting a similar 15-year age limit for private vehicles, but this could not be implemented even almost two decades after the apex court observation. Transport department officials say the government is now exploring the possibility of restricting at 10 year the maximum age for a vehicle to continue plying without a fitness test. The proposal will have to be approved by the Delhi Assembly and then sent to the central government for change in the Motor Vehicle Act, said an official. Officials admit that enforcement of fitness age of vehicles holds the key fighting air pollution in the coming years. Many commercial motorists have managed to evade the 15-year restriction, said an official. This is the reason why the transport department recently issued a notice warning owners and other persons having possession of these commercial vehicles to obtain a no objection certificate and transfer these vehicles out of NCT of Delhi. It took the Central Crime Branch (CCB) seven attempts to expose a highly organised and ingenious prostitution racket being run in a lodge in a busy locality just 300 metres from their headquarters in Chamarajpet, central Bengaluru. The CCB sleuths had credible information that a prostitution racket was being run at Shiva Palace Deluxe Lodge in NT Pete near Chamarajpet. They made six failed attempts to expose the racket. The lodge owner used an ingenious method to hoodwink them. The policemen had searched every nook and corner of the lodge to find the brothel. They did the same on Saturday afternoon but could not trace it. Just as they were leaving, an informant gave them another tip-off: the brothel was located in a mezzanine that was created with a false flooring between first and second floors. Buoyed by the information, they searched the lodge all over again. This time, they werent disappointed. They found the mezzanine and several secret passages that led to it. When they stepped into the mezzanine, they found five women and four customers. The mezzanine was created with a false flooring and no one could make it out. Tiny passages, camouflaged with some materials, led to it. From the mezzanine, a person could easily go down to the ground floor and escape through backdoor exits. Only regular visitors were let into the mezzanine. The lodge owner ran a grocery store on the ground floor and got a wireless alarm bell installed. Whenever he found something suspicious, he rang the alarm bell, giving enough time to those in the lodge and the women to escape through the backdoor exits. He managed to hoodwink us for long. We made several attempts but failed to find anything suspicious in the lodge, a senior police officer said. It was a highly organised prostitution racket and they made sure no one got a hint about what was going on inside. Since the lodge is located in a busy area, local residents didnt have even the faintest idea that something so sinister was going on there, he added. The racketeers had lured poor girls from different places by promising them jobs in Bengaluru. They later confined them to the lodge and forced them into prostitution by telling them they could make far more money this way. The police arrested six men, including two pimps, and rescued five women, four of them from Kolkata and one from Mysuru. Manjunath, 29, from Uttara Kannada, and Mahesh, 21, from Mandya, were pimps, while B Raghu, 30, from Sadehalli, Dharmendra Kumar, 27, from Tumakuru, Ashraf, 37, from Goripalya, and Chand, 24, from Kalasipalya, were the customers. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday denied any irregularity in establishing water-testing laboratories in the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Department. Speaking to reporters after taking part in a function to mark Kalasha Prathistapana of the renovated Kalikamba Kamateshwara Swamy temple at Nagarthpet here, he refuted BJP leader Jagadish Shettars accusation of corruption in awarding the contract to set up the laboratories. The chief minister, however, said a CID inquiry had been ordered into the matter and action would be taken if anybody was found guilty. Interestingly, RDPR Minister H K Patil on Saturday admitted to the scam and announced the cancellation of the Rs 71-crore tender for setting up 43 water-testing laboratories. Shettar had suggested that the contract was awarded to companies owned by an individual named Prasad Rayapati by breaking all rules. He also demanded Patils resignation. The chief minister refused to comment on unauthorised parking of funds in various banks by the RDPR department. The funds were meant for rural drinking water supply schemes, including opening pure drinking water supply units. When asked when was he planning to reshuffle his council of ministers, Siddaramaiah said he would do that after visiting drought-affected parts of Karnataka. Garbage trucks parked outside temple doors at Hosakerehalli Two to three huge garbage trucks of the BBMP are being parked daily right in front of the main entrance to the Sri Raghavendra Swamy Temple at Hosakerehalli, Banashankari 3rd Stage. Every day, many mini-trucks bring garbage from all over Hosakerehalli and surrounding areas and dump the garbage in front of temple. A government primary school is located next to the temple where hundreds of children study. Many houses and the main bus stand are located in the area. The unbearable stench from the garbage is making people vomit. Dumping of garbage and parking of garbage trucks are causing severe health problems to the citizens of the area and the young children attending the Government Primary School. Cattle and dogs are attracted to the garbage and are causing traffic jams and accidents in front of the temple. I request the BBMP to shift the garbage trucks to a different location and stop dumping of garbage in front of the temple. D A Mohan, Hosakerehalli, Banashankari 3rd Stage Clear garbage Nowadays, the bank deducts some amount on a few transactions done as Swachh Bharat tax. However, in spite of paying certain fees to the person who collects the garbage, the pourakarmikas do not come regularly to collect garbage. On our repeated pleadings, they come once a week with reluctance blaming others for their lapse. I have complained to the local MLA office at Malleswaram, but to no avail. When we are being taxed twice, is it not the duty of the BBMP to strictly instruct their staff not to harass the residents. B S Chandrashekar,12, 11th Main Road,13th Cross, Malleswaram Ticket counter sought at Metro stn A ticket counter at platform 10 is very much a necessity at the City Railway Station. If people getting out of the Metro station cross over to platform 8 to get tickets, they will be caught and penalised as ticketless travellers. There is no sign board to warn such people at the exit point of the Metro station at platform 10. This shows that the Railways is not sensitive to the needs of the travelling public. P Pappanna Steep gradient at BDA complex The traffic junction at the BDA Complex, Nagarabhavi, is one of most dangerous. There is a gradient of over 50 feet sloping towards Annapoorneshwarinagar. There is no automatic signalling system and sometimes a lone home guard valiantly regulates erratic traffic. There is no pavement worth the name and the road on the gradient is dug up with no asphalting since one year. Through these columns, I request the authorities concerned to visit the place to get an idea of what is happening there. In spite of a No Parking sign, vehicles are erratically parked on the gradient putting pedestrians to great danger. Ravishankar K A Areas without Metro link It is good for the citizens that the Metro service has started operations and there is a good response from commuters. This has considerably reduced the journey time for many office-goers. But there are many areas in Bengaluru which do not have Metro connectivity and wherein a few commuters have to depend both on the BMTC and the Metro. If a single pass is introduced for commuters, which can be used for the Metro and the BMTC, it will be of great help to a lot of commuters. Shubha,154, 18th Cross, Vijayanagar TR-12 route long and redundant The BMTC is operating Route TR-12 from Srinagar to Yeshwantpur RMC Yard and was subsequently extended further up to Peenya satellite bus station. The buses on this route touch KR Market from Chamarajpet 5th Main Road and reach Sirsi Circle through Chamarajpet First Main Road again. As this route is quite long up to Peenya satellite bus station and as umpteen routes are available towards KR Market from this point, the coverage of TR-12 to KR Market is simply redundant. The BMTC may, therefore, actively consider change of route of TR-12 from Chamarajapet 5th Main Road to Sirsi Circle. C R Sridhar, West Anjaneya Temple Road, Basavanagudi Traffic jam on Ballari Road I was stuck in the traffic jam for hours on May 4 night on Ballari Road. I was cursing my fate having caught up in the slow procession of vehicles which took nearly one and half hours to reach Mekhri Circle from Ananda Rao Circle. I understand it was due to the marriage at the Palace Grounds of two MLA families which seemed to have hired many BMTC buses to transport people to the venue, which I saw while reaching Mekhri Circle. If it is done by an ordinary individual, will the authorities keep quiet? Really, it was a big nightmare and I felt miserable like umpteen number of people who were victims like me. Why not the government deny permission for large-scale weddings which cause public inconvenience? V S Ganeshan, AECS Layout, 2nd Stage, Sanjaynagar Dog menace in Shastrinagar There are about 30 to 40 dogs in LB Shastrinagar, 2nd Main, HAL Post, causing unbearable noise throughout the night disturbing sleep and becoming a big nuisance in the locality. The authorities are requested to deploy dog catchers and rid us of this hazard as soon as possible. Sharon Traffic woes at Rupena Agrahara We are facing a problem crossing the road from one side to the other at Rupena Agrahara bus stop. To make things worse, there is no traffic policeman. We have to wait for more than 15 minutes to cross the road. This could be reduced if the Bengaluru traffic police get their act together and a skywalk is built in the place. K Sunitha BBMP tax payment issue I have been trying desperately to pay tax online. However, the form does not allow to click on the correct zone of the residence as per 2008 against the entry in item No 5A. It was an e-zone. But there is already a dot placed on C, the new zone for 2016-17) and the software does not allow clicking on E. It does not allow capping on D in item 5B. Now, the mayor has said it will be flat 20 per cent. When will the software be ready to do that? I request the BBMP authorities to allow editing of the form. Srinivas S,102, 1st Cross, Victoria Layout Footpath on Diagonal Road in bad shape Broken, cheap quality stones were used for laying the footpath a few years back at Diagonal Road, VV Puram. Now, the footpath is in a dilapidated condition with pits in between and it is uneven leading to injuries. Many schoolchildren and even senior citizens use the stretch. I have complained to the MLA of Basavanagudi locality. Hope action is taken quickly before any serious issues happen. Aditya V The massive wildfire in the heart of Canadas oil country is helping send crude prices higher. Canada is the leading exporter of crude oil and natural gas to the United States, according to figures from the Energy Information Administration. S&P Global Platts, which tracks the energy industry, estimated that up to 820,000 barrels a day of crude oil production were disrupted by the fire. Canada sends about 100 million barrels of crude and 240 billion cubic feet of natural gas per month to the U.S. It definitely is helping to boost the prices, although (the increase) is not that high considering the amount of crude that is being threatened, said Jeff Mower of S&P Global Platts. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 34 cents to $44.66 a barrel Friday in New York after earlier dropping by nearly 2 percent. Oil prices often spike when there is concern that production could be curtailed. Mower attributed the restrained market reaction to high inventories of crude in the U.S., especially in the Midwest, where much of the Canadian crude goes for refining. Suncor Energy, Royal Dutch Shell and Husky Energy are among companies that shut plants or reduced production due to the raging wildfires in Fort McMurray. Its the latest blow to Alberta, already grappling with the economic toll of a two-year oil price slump in one of the worlds most expensive places to extract crude. More than 40,000 energy jobs have been lost in Canada since the price crash began in 2014, pushing the provincial economy into recession. More than 80,000 people have left Fort McMurray, where the fire has torched 1,600 homes and other buildings. So far there are no reports of damage to production facilities. Most of Albertas oil and gas facilities have their own firefighting crews and have physical defenses against wildfires, such as gravel fields and fire breaks, said Chad Morrison, a senior wildfire manager for the Alberta government. Theyre highly trained and have great emergency response plans in place, he said. This is a dynamic, challenging, extreme fire, so many things can happen. But at this point, the prediction for the next two days is for the fire to move away to the northeast. Key pipelines were closed Thursday, and a major one reopened Friday morning, according to analysts for Genscape, which monitors the pipelines. Much of the oil from the tar sands is refined in the U.S., including at the Suncor plant in Commerce City. The impact on the U.S. oil market will depend on how long the interruption lasts. If facilities are not damaged, then the production cuts are only as long-lasting as the fires, said Dylan White, an oil storage analyst with Genscape. Once the fires are subdued, workers can come back to the production sites. Ritterbusch and Associates, which advises oil traders, said that such a short-term outage shouldnt have much effect on oil prices because of a huge surplus of U.S. crude supplies. Residents of Boulder may get a chance this fall to choose whether they agree with Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton on soda taxes. Progressive Sanders doesnt like them one bit. Too regressive, he says, so theyll hurt the poor. But liberal Clinton says a soda tax will discourage consumption and the revenues can be used for a useful purpose. The group Healthy Boulder Kids is proposing a 2 cents per ounce tax on soda and other sugary drinks to fund programs that improve access to healthy foods, nutrition education, and physical activity. Its not on the ballot yet, but its a serious effort. At 24 cents per 12-ounce can, thats a steep tax twice what Berkeley, Calif., approved two years ago when it became the first city to adopt such a levy. But were here today not to argue against the size of the tax or in favor or against the notion of a soda tax. Whats interest us all right, concerns us is how the proposal has been framed for the ballot (it still needs approval by the city clerk before signatures are collected). It would be an excise tax paid by the sugary drink distributors, not a direct tax on retail sales. To be sure, adopting an excise tax follows Berkeleys model and makes the plan more palatable politically. Proponents wont have to fend off every small retail outlet concerned about the complexity of collecting the tax. Meanwhile, the city will have a much easier time monitoring collections. But on the downside, whats to keep distributors who also supply soda to stores outside Boulder from quietly off-loading some of the cost to those consumers as well? Apparently nothing. So long as the soda distributors pay the city the required tax for the quantity sold in Boulder, they have wide latitude in how to recoup that money or absorb the cost. We put the question directly to a spokeman for the campaign. What if a distributor sells to stores both within and outside Boulder? Could that distributor raise prices across its network (although more so in Boulder, no doubt) to pay for some of the tax it must forward to the city since there doesnt appear to be anything in the ballot language to prohibit it? You are correct, spokesman John Lamson replied. The measure doesnt tell the distributor what do with their business model, it only levies the excise tax as per the formulas laid out in the measure. The distributors have all of the discretion and flexibility on their end with what to do with their pricing, and their products, as they do today. As the measure is tweaked for the ballot, it should explicitly bar any cost-shifting onto consumers outside Boulder which might well be a temptation even if it is never acknowledged. After all, in Colorado we have a constitutional provision known as the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, which bars tax hikes on voters without their consent. And Boulder voters dont necessarily speak for the rest of us. To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by e-mail or mail. So often the desire for a home improvement comes out of the ether. You dont even realize youre dissatisfied with your kitchen, then you see a spread in a magazine, or you walk through a model home, or a friends kitchen. You come home and something in you shifts. Suddenly you want your brown cabinets white, or your raised panels recessed. You cant look at your kitchen the same way anymore. You pine, or oak (sorry), for a change. Sometimes alcohol is involved. Next, you are looking into what new cabinets would cost and stop right there. Which is wise. Because if you have ever priced new kitchen cabinets, you know that buying a new house is cheaper. This is why I have never replaced my kitchen cabinets. I have always moved. But while talking recently to a couple of kitchen cabinet experts who have personally had to pick up passed-out customers off the floor and revive them with smelling salts and brisk slaps to the cheeks after the customers got their estimates for new cabinets I familiarized myself with two other less-costly, less-invasive cabinet update alternatives: refacing and refinishing. Most home improvers dont know that a whole world of possibilities exists, that they can get an all-new look without ripping out their cabinets, said Ted Gibson, national install merchant for the Home Depot. Refinish or repainting cabinets (and replacing the knobs and pulls while youre at it) is the easiest, fastest, least expensive way to get a new look. If you like the style and placement of your cabinets, but not their color, or if they look tired and are wearing a film of grease and dirt, refinish, said Jennifer Wagner, kitchen install merchant for The Home Depot. You can restain and not cover the grain, said Wagner. Restaining lets you take old yellow oak and turn it to cherry or espresso, or you can stain with a tint of color, like sage. You can also repaint dark wood sleek white or another color, like French blue. When I got my parents house ready to sell, I painted the 45-year-old walnut colored cabinets glossy white and added brushed nickel knobs. Wow, what a difference for not much cost. If you like the basic layout of your kitchen but cant stand the look of the cabinets, refacing gets you new door fronts, new drawers, and a whole new veneer, including shelf edges and cabinet sides. Plus, you can keep your counters, which you cant if you replace your cabinets. Refacing results in a much more high-end, custom finish than most customers expect, said Gibson, especially if you add crown or under-cabinet molding, and toe-kick trim. Costs mount when you decide you really, really dont like the layout of your kitchen. Say you have a galley kitchen, and want a U-shaped one, or you have a U-shaped and want to add an island, or you want the sink closer to the refrigerator, or the refrigerator next to your bed. If thats the case, and you want to change your kitchens footprint, add cabinets, move appliances and relocate plumbing, then youre looking at new cabinets. Ouch. Im sorry. When you reface, you can add a few cabinets and do a little reconfiguring, but at a point youre better off replacing, Gibson said. A good rule of thumb is if you are adding or reconfiguring more than 50 percent of your cabinetry, replacing is your best option. And thats how it happens. One minute youre idly flipping through a home magazine while waiting at a doctors appointment, and next thing you are waking up on the floor of the design center while someone fans an estimate over your face. Soon after, you are eating your meals out of Styrofoam cartons, and washing cups and making coffee in the bathroom. Of course, nothing is ever as simple as those selling home improvements would make it seem. Here are some other factors to consider when weighing the options for updated kitchen cabinets. New or old counters. When you replace your cabinets you have to replace your counters, too. Ka-ching! However, if you reface or refinish, you can keep your counters if you want. Cost comparison. Generally, refinishing costs half the cost of replacing, and refacing costs about 75 percent of the cost to replace not counting the counter cost. Replacing is only about 25 percent more, said Gibson, because most of the cost of new cabinets are in the doors. Inconvenience. Refacing may not seem like it saves much, yet it does when you factor in down time. Professionals can refinish cabinets in two days and reface them in two weeks. But replacing cabinets can leave you out of your kitchen for eight to 12 weeks, said Gibson. Todays trends: Five years ago, everyone wanted raised panel doors. Todays minimal looks are causing more customers to opt for recessed panel or Shaker-style doors. White and gray are also in demand, but dark wood, including cherry and espresso, is still strong, Wagner said. Whats included. When you replace cabinets, you get it all: new cabinet boxes and shelves, new knobs and pulls, glides and hinges. Refacing includes new hinges, knobs, pulls, drawers and glides. When you refinish you typically keep your old hinges, drawers and glides, but most homeowners update knobs and pulls. The rest of the house. Most homes have consistent cabinetry throughout. So consider whether changing cabinets in the kitchen will require you to revisit the cabinets in other parts of the house. Cabinets dont have to match throughout, but they all should get along. Like I said, you may just want to buy a new house. Syndicated columnist Marni Jameson is the author of two home and lifestyle books, and the newly released Downsizing the Family Home What to Save, What to Let Go (Sterling Publishing 2016). Dee Ledger can remember exactly when she found solace, if not salvation, after the death of her 10-week-old son, Obed. It is where she found it, and how, that surprised her: in a coloring book. Ledger, a former English teacher and hospice chaplain, had always been able to use words and prayer to find peace in difficult times and to help others do the same. But after her son died in April 2011, she needed something more, something different, to calm her nerves and help soothe her grief. I was looking for something quiet that could get rid of this restlessness, she says, to help quell the churning thoughts that made it hard for her to focus or sleep. Back then, coloring books werent the phenomenon they are today. Ledger found hers in a spiritual catalogue. Now, of course, adult coloring books are ubiquitous, crowding bookstores and best-seller lists. Coloring-book groups have sprouted up everywhere in cafes and libraries and on Facebook and Instagram. In 2015, an estimated 12 million adult coloring books were sold in the United States, according to Nielsen Bookscan. There are adult coloring books for hipsters, Doctor Who fans, cat lovers, Taylor Swift devotees, and admirers of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg pretty much anyone with a niche interest and a need to relax. In other words, everyone. Its easy to pooh-pooh coloring books as just another fad, Ledger says. But maybe, she says, we shouldnt be so dismissive: Anything can be a fad, even prayer. For Ledger and others, coloring books offer a real elixir, a way of getting past hurdles mental, physical or both that cant be replicated by more-traditional approaches. Joanne Schwandes, a 67-year-old Silver Spring, Md., resident, says that coloring books have boosted her confidence in fine motor skills weakened by a tremor in her arm. A Virginia mother says that coloring has helped her stay calm in the face of her sons violent behavior. On one Facebook coloring group, members share their creations along with their stories of healing using coloring as a tool against self-harming or as a way to manage the effects of physical illness or fend off depression and other difficulties. Coloring books work like other mindfulness techniques such as yoga and meditation, says Craig Sawchuk, a clinical psychologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Such approaches work almost like a volume knob to turn down the sympathetic nervous system, the stress response. Coloring can help slow heart rate and respiration, loosen muscles and stimulate the brain, he says. Coloring has a grounding effect he says, a benefit that can be amplified with deliberate focus on the process the gentle pressing of the crayon or pencil on the page, the texture of the paper across your hand, and the soft sounds of the coloring instrument moving back and forth in a rhythmic fashion, he says. Although there have been no large clinical studies of coloring books, the benefits of coloring are comparable to those of mindfulness practices, he says, which have been studied. And coloring can help with more-severe problems beyond stress; Sawchuk spoke about one patient who used coloring books to stop an obsessive habit of picking at her skin. Indeed, art therapists have been using coloring books for years. Theres a self-soothing meditative benefit because you are doing the same motion over and over, especially with symmetrical drawings, says Lina Assad Cates, a psychotherapist and board-certified art therapist in Washington who uses coloring books as part of her practice. The books help create boundaries the literal boundaries of the lines and the metaphorical boundaries for drawing healthy boundaries in relationships. Theres also the potential benefit of just mastering something youve created. This reflects Ledgers experience. As a pastor, I am fascinated by how easily coloring becomes meditative, she says. By selecting colors and working with the design, I find that I can lose myself in ways that are healing and creative. Ledger, who lost her husband to cancer in 2013, less than a year after giving birth to twins, spends about three hours a week coloring, mostly at night, when her children are asleep and she can sit quietly in the kitchen of her Rockville, Md., home and gather her thoughts. (Her sons, Griffin and Eli, have their own coloring books.) Now pastor at Bethesda United Church of Christ in Maryland, Ledger approaches her hobby with a mix of pride and self-deprecating humor. Im not an artist, she says as she spreads out her works on her bed. Some she keeps in a hardback binder, others in a small journal that fits in her purse. In a small office carved out of a second bedroom, her pencils and markers are neatly organized in plastic containers that once held Cascade detergent. Ledger, 46, has colored her way not only through grief but also through physical pain. When she had back surgery a few years ago, she asked the doctors to make sure that the intravenous lines were in her right arm so that she could use her left, her coloring arm, as soon as she was awake. I literally colored in the recovery room at the hospital, she says. Still, she understands that coloring is neither a panacea nor for everyone. If someone was grieving, I wouldnt just pay a visit on them and say, You should color, and that would take your grief away, she explains. I dont believe that. But coloring has given her a sense of power in a life that has spun wildly off plan. Being able to sit there and actually control that little world inside a coloring book has been really instrumental in my starting a new chapter of my life, she says. Psychologists tips for getting started Using coloring books to help relieve stress is like learning a new habit, says Craig Sawchuk, a clinical psychologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. New habits are best learned when you set aside routine time each day to focus, he says. Sawchuk offered a few tips on how to get into the habit of coloring and to make the most of your time once you do. While coloring, try to reduce or eliminate other distractions, such as texting or watching television. If you initially have trouble sustaining attention, it may be helpful to start with a limited amount of time and gradually increase every few days. For example, begin with five to 10 minutes per day then gradually increase by five minutes every week. Some people focus better while working on simple, symmetrical designs while others benefit from more complex, abstract patterns. Try both types before giving up. The brain craves novelty, so having different options more than one coloring book may be useful in building and strengthening the habit. Nora Krug, The Washington Post Fewer storms have coated Colorado mountains with red dust swirled from parched northern Arizona and southern Utah, which bodes well for water managers trying to predict how quickly the states snowpack will melt. The lack of dust at least on Colorados central and northern mountains removes one capricious ingredient from the always tricky formula of forecasting runoff. Many factors impact the timing and flow of spring runoff, including soil moisture, snowpack, weather, dust on snow and solar radiation. Given all the variables that play a role, wed hesitate to say that the lack of dust makes it easier to predict runoff, Denver Water spokeswoman Stacy Chesney said. The lack of dust on snow benefits water managers because, all other variables held constant, it means a slower and more predictable melting of the snowpack. It takes careful coordination to fill all 19 of Denver Waters reservoirs, a balancing act that weighs a range of inflows, water rights, customer demands and projects, all influenced by dust, weather, snowpack, soil moisture and sunshine. Sometimes, water managers release water to make room for a surge of snowmelt. Strong snowpacks in the South Platte Basin in recent years, combined with increased conservation by Front Range users in 2014, meant Denver Water diverted the least amount of Western Slope water through the Roberts Tunnel beneath Dillon Reservoir since it opened in 1963. Last year, also one of very low dust, Denver Water diverted the second-least amount since the tunnel opened. Snow researchers in southern Colorado for 13 years have studied the red dust swirled onto the snowpack from the Colorado Plateau. The Colorado Dust on Snow Program was launched up Red Mountain Pass outside Silverton in 2003, where researchers with the Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies had started noting stronger dust storms laminating the San Juans in a pink patina of sun-sucking dust. When the spring sun began melting the snowpack, those dust layers would collapse on top of one another, creating a dark blanket that absorbed sunshine and hastened snowmelt from a slow trickle into a sudden surge. By 2008, the dust-on-snow researchers were studying snowpacks atop a dozen Colorado mountain passes, compiling data that now are essential tools for water managers tasked with corralling as much of Colorados own water before it rushes downstream to other users. They measured three dust storms the first year. There have been big years, with as many as 12 dust events: 2008-09 and 2011-12. And there were years with only three: 2003-04 and 2014-15. This winter was about average, with six dust events and most of them relatively small. Most interesting this year was the lack of dust accumulation on Berthoud, Loveland and Rabbit Ears passes. A slight bit of dust fell on Hoosier Pass, but the central mountains largely escaped without much airborne dirt this year. And each of the dirt-flinging storms that blanketed southern Colorado were followed by snow that quickly covered the sandy bits of Utah and Arizona, preventing an early melt. Those layers are starting to get exposed on southern aspects with this weeks warm weather. We are seeing an uptick on the stream discharge gauges, said Jeff Derry, the new boss of the Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies. Central Colorado is doing great so far. Seems like the southern half of the state is bearing the brunt of this years dust. We were really surprised to see nothing on Rabbit Ears and Berthoud this year. Still, water watchers such as the Colorado River Water Conservation District are hardly kicking back. The recent storms bolstered Colorados snowpack, which in April improved 7 percent, marking the first month-over-month increase in 2016. The Natural Resources Conservation Service on Friday announced that April snowfall pushed the states overall snowpack to 110 percent of normal, with year-to-date precipitation hitting 100 percent of normal. But even with the lack of dust and healthy snowpacks across the state hovering a little above the long-term average, managers are bracing for the typical dryness that follows an extra-wet El Nino weather pattern. Colorado is in a time of plenty, district manager Eric Kuhn said. But that barely translates to good news for Lake Powell, which is dangerously low and nearing a drop below the level of the power generators on Glen Canyon Dam. Lake Mead, feeding the extraordinarily thirsty Las Vegas area, is equally low, threatening to drop below the level of intake straws that sate southern Nevada. Even with healthy conditions up high on the Colorado River, demand continues to outpace supply in the lower river basin, Kuhn said. So hes among many managers planning widespread conservation measures. Its time to think about phasing out of our time of plenty, Kuhn said. Storms forecast for the coming days are good news. New snow expected across the high country should cover the dust layers in the southern mountains, slowing the inevitable runoff. Yet the dust season is not over. Utah and Arizona typically share the largest portion of their desert in April and May. A lot of people are praying for what happened last year, Derry said, noting how that exceptionally wet spring bolstered emaciated snowpacks to above average across the state. The forecast looks good. Well see if we get that miracle May two years in a row. Jason Blevins: 303-954-1374, jblevins@denverpost.com or @jasonblevins The chance that Colorados unaffiliated voters might be able to participate in an open presidential primary in 2020 has dropped at least for now after state legislators Friday proposed a new compromise bill. Backed by a bipartisan group of sponsors, the Senate bill was racing to get through the General Assembly in the final days of the session, which ends Wednesday. It would reinstate the primary on the third Tuesday of March for presidential selections but keep it closed to unaffiliated voters, as the major political parties prefer. The bill, which faces some resistance, raises the stakes before a potential November ballot measure that would force a statewide vote on the issue. The Senate bill also is narrower than a House bill that would allow for participation by unaffiliated voters. That one has been held back in the Democratic House from a final floor vote because of uncertain prospects in the Republican Senate. An organization called Let Colorado Vote is preparing a ballot measure that would let unaffiliated voters Colorados largest group participate easily in a mail-in primary. A win at the ballot box this fall would override any new primary law approved by the General Assembly. Sen. Kevin Lundberg, a Republican from Berthoud, proposed Senate Bill 216 on Friday afternoon, drawing as co-sponsors Sen. Lucia Guzman, a Denver Democrat, and the House bills original sponsors. The bill quickly won 5-0 approval from the Senate State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee. It had a harder time getting through the Appropriations Committee, which advanced the bill later Friday on a 4-3 party-line vote; it was eligible for Senate floor consideration as soon as that night. I really believe this will serve the people of Colorado best, Lundberg told the first committee, because its simple and straightforward. He said he had some real problems with a system that allows somebody who is not going to align themselves with a party (to then be) voting in that partys election. The earlier bill, House Bill 1454, proposed to let unaffiliated voters request one partys primary ballot by activating a temporary party affiliation that would expire 30 days after the vote. Guzman told the committee: We as well in our party understand how important it is to have a presidential primary replace the presidential caucus situation that we all just experienced. The latest impetus of a return to the primary was crowding at caucuses in March, particularly on the Democratic side, which had a presidential poll. Yet those crowds represented much lower turnout than is typical in primaries, prompting criticism that the outcome doesnt represent the majority. The Senate bill only emboldens Let Colorado Vote, the ballot initiative effort spearheaded by the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce. This bill doesnt go far enough, said Curtis Hubbard, Let Colorado Votes spokesman. Its going to ask all Colorado voters to pay for an election, and its going to leave nearly four in 10 voters the unaffiliated group out of that election. We suspect voters in November would support our measure, which would open not just the presidential primary but all primaries to the voters who pay for them. Lundberg, anticipating such criticism, said Colorado law already lets unaffiliated voters participate in the states regular June primary. But if they must declare an affiliation, and if they wait until too close to the election, they must do so by filling out an affiliation form in front of an election judge. Colorado had a caucus for most of the 20th century but switched to primaries before the presidential elections in 1992, 1996 and 2000. It reverted to caucuses after that, in large part because of cost concerns. The parties pay the tab for caucuses, which they likely still would hold to select delegates if the primary returns. But the state would resume paying for a statewide primary election, estimated to cost up to $5.1 million in 2020. Lundbergs bill would allow one of the parties to opt out of participating in the primary by a vote of its state central committee. In her comments to the committee, Guzman acknowledged some legislators may have questions about the approach. Sen. Pat Steadman, a fellow Denver Democrat, said he would have preferred to retain involvement by unaffiliated voters. He said he and other swing voters in both chambers will have to be persuaded to accept a primary with narrower participation. I do think we need to get the presidential politics out of our precinct caucuses, Steadman said. It overruns the caucus process every eight years, or every four years. And Id like to see our caucus process preserved and have a focus on the local races. And the presidential race with all the extra attention and fair-weather voters it attracts should have a different process. There are still other legislators who oppose having a presidential primary. In the state affairs committee, Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, a Republican from Sterling, voted to advance the bill while noting he likely would vote against it. He noted that time was running short. Id like to let the sponsors know that Im not thrilled about running legislation with a gun to my head, he said. Replied Lundberg: Im not holding that weapon. Im actually trying to dodge around anything of that sort myself. Jon Murray: 303-954-1405, jmurray@denverpost.com or @JonMurray Peter Atencio claims ignorance when it comes to how much money his debut film, Keanu, made in its nationwide premiere last weekend. I try to stay out of those conversations as much as possible, said the 33-year-old director, who reunited with his Key & Peele stars, Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, for the action-comedy about a lovable kitten sucked into the world of violent drug gangs. The films plot may seem out of left field, but its tone is not. The well-reviewed movie hews closer to a mistaken-identity or buddy comedy than experimental art. Fans of Key & Peele, the five-season Comedy Central series of which Atencio directed nearly every second, will find Keanu on par with the shows daring but breathtakingly efficient use of humor. Theyre happy with the movie and have been very supportive of it, Atencio, a Denver native now based in Los Angeles, said of New Line Cinema, which funded the film. And its a cheap movie for them. Cheap here means $15 million, a figure that Keanu fell short of with an opening-weekend haul of $9.3 million but will probably make up before it exits theaters. It was an especially impressive feat since Keanu was up against the big-budget Disney film The Jungle Book, as well as the Julia Roberts romantic comedy Mothers Day, which it bested. It all spells more opportunity for Atencio, who weeks ago moved onto his next directing project after proving himself a nimble, inventive director on one of Comedy Centrals biggest hits of recent years. Unlike when he first started working on Key & Peele in 2011, Atencio is now a known quantity in Hollywood. His cinematic eye and knack for drawing the best out of his actors so apparent in the polished sketches and viral videos of Key & Peele, which have accumulated hundreds of millions of views on YouTube were catnip to his latest suitors. They pursued me pretty hard when I was making Keanu, he said of the producers. I was so overwhelmed with that project and kept saying no to them, which only made them want me more. Eventually, I came around once my plate was clear, in part because the script was hilarious. That new project is John-Claude Van Johnson, a pilot for Amazon starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as an aging, undercover black-ops agent posing as a Hollywood star and gearing up for a big-budget adaptation of Huckleberry Finn. Not exactly your average sitcom setup. Its a mix of satire, relationship comedy and action film, Atencio said over the phone from a scouting trip for the show. Its fun and crazy, and were fools for even attempting it. Its also an ideal mix of elements for Atencios comedic sense: risky but goofy, accessible but full of self-commentary. In dozens of sketches on Key & Peele, Atencio and his stars tweaked race, masculinity, politics and other topics with a pointed, consistently fearless voice. Our stated goal from the pilot was Lets make the best sketch show of all time knowing thats a fools errand because there have been so many amazing ones, Atencio said in an earlier interview with The Denver Post. Using seminal series such as Saturday Night Live, Mr. Show, Kids in the Hall and others as jumping-off points, Atencio found his own sensibility amid a bloom of quality sketch series on Comedy Central (including Inside Amy Schumer and Kroll Show) and the general rise of stand-up, podcasts and online humor over the past five years. But for Atencio the son of John Atencio, a jewelry designer and retailer, and Sylvia Atencio, an image consultant it wasnt just about the jokes. The nice thing about what Keegan and Jordan and I do is that we strive for more than just laughs, Atencio said. Theres nothing wrong with going for just laughs, because if its funny, who gives a crap about anything else? But we always try to get as many different layers in there as possible. Atencio is about to add another layer to his life in November, when his longtime partner Patsy Fitzgerald, a location manager he met on Key & Peele, is expecting their first child. The intensely competitive nature of show business tends to toughen people up over time, but Atencio feels grateful he has been able to work with people he feels retain a genuine sensitivity. I think it comes across in their comedy, and especially in their interviews, but more people should realize how kind and intelligent (Key and Peele) are, Atencio said of his longtime co-workers, whom he plans to work with again. Ive worked with other funny people who I wont name, and theyre just kind of disasters. They put everything into their comedy to make it work and are not necessarily pleasant to be around. But I just cant say enough enough about how wonderful working with those guys is. You could be making the worst garbage with them and still be like, That was a good experience! John Wenzel: 303-954-1642, jwenzel@denverpost.com or @johnwenzel The Denver City Council on Monday approved a beefed-up odor-control ordinance that will require commercial marijuana grow facilities and other smelly businesses to freshen up. After months of grueling debate over marijuana industry caps, resulting in a split vote last week, the odor ordinance was easy for council members. Theyve had repeated pushback from community activists over the impact of grows on neighborhoods near the industrial areas where theyre concentrated starting with the smells. The council approved the proposal 13-0 in a block vote, with no new debate. In addition to expanding who can file complaints, the ordinance will require certain types of businesses to submit odor-control plans to the Department of Environmental Health for smells they expect to produce and then follow them. The rule applies to marijuana grows, and also operations and businesses that manufacture pet food, process meat byproducts, manufacture asphalt shingles or coating materials, refine oil, preserve wood or treat sewage. Health officials have estimated that more than half of marijuana grows in the city already use some kind of odor-filtration technology. The health department plans to convene an odor advisory group, which is expected to adopt detailed odor rules by early next year. The requirement for odor-control plans would take effect 90 days later. Jon Murray: 303-954-1405, jmurray@denverpost.com or @JonMurray Eleven-year-old Ana Padilla plans to become the first marine biologist to discover the extinct here, she pauses to emphasize her own air quotes Megalodon shark. An $800,000 Lockheed Martin investment into a Denver Public Schools STEM program announced Friday is hoping to keep Ana absorbed in all things science, technology, engineering and math. The money will underwrite the cost of bringing the nonprofit organization Project Lead the Ways STEM-based curricula to up to 100 elementary, middle and high schools in DPS over a three-year period. Were going to make sure the future president and CEO of Lockheed is a DPS graduate, said Veronica Figoli, president of the Denver Public Schools Foundation. The nearly million-dollar contribution will go toward implementing STEM lessons through additional resources such as 3-D printers and science kits partnered with teacher training. It would be irresponsible to say, Heres a curriculum. Good luck, said Vince Bertram, president of Project Lead the Way. Training will take place at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs and will walk elementary to high school teachers through lessons such as overseeing first-graders as they build the tallest bean stalk. With the second-largest aerospace economy in the nation, Colorado has a need to fill its talent pipeline with skilled, technical graduates the base of which is built upon early access to STEM education, according to a Lockheed Martin news release. The funding announcement, which was made in the Colorado Convention Center, was held down the hall from 1,000 middle school girls from around the state flexing their STEM muscles at the Society of Women Engineers Girls Exploring Science, Technology, Engineering and Math event. Ana and her group were competing to build the best makeshift spacecraft to protect her teams egg during an egg drop on the convention centers Mars simulation. The girls padded the egg with aluminum foil and attached a grocery bag parachute to the top and held their breath as a volunteer launched their creation appropriately named Extra Terrestrial from the top of a ladder. E.T. landed safely. We did it, you guys, Anna said through giggles. I learned that people at NASA have to find new ways to make landings like this happen, she said. I salute you, NASA. But Im headed to San Diego and the ocean for college, baby! Elizabeth Hernandez: ehernandez@denverpost.com Pueblo County authorities arrested two men and seized more than 200 marijuana plants early Friday in their 17th bust of suspected illegal pot since mid-March. Carlos A. Casias, 42, and Samuel Molina, 47, were taken into custody and face charges in connection with the discovery. The county sheriffs office says investigators found 235 plants on the property of an eastern Pueblo County home 211 plants more than what was allowed by the medical marijuana license held by Casias. The grow was discovered, officials say, after a patrol deputy driving by the residence at 2254 40th Lane early Friday morning saw lights on in an exterior building and smelled pot. The sheriffs office found the majority of the marijuana plants were in an unsecured structure. Fridays bust is the 17th in Pueblo County since March 14 and the second in less than 24 hours. The raids have led to the seizure of more than 5,100 illegal marijuana plants and 25 arrests. Several of those arrested have been Cuban nationals with ties to Florida. Sheriff Kirk Taylor told The Denver Post he believes much of the marijuana discovered since March was being grown for transport and sale of out state. The busts come among a string of similar police operations in southern Colorado over the past month and as federal and local authorities clamp down on marijuana being illegally grown in homes across the state. RELATED: More illicit pot being grown in Colorado homes, shipped out of state Colorado law allows people 21 and older to grow up to six plants three or fewer of which can be mature, flowering plants provided its done in an enclosed, locked space. Some cities have limited the number of plants that can be grown in a single house, and some cities have imposed other zoning or code restrictions on home-growing. Denver has a cap of 12 plants. Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or @JesseAPaul Animal-welfare group The Dumb Friends League lapped up more than $940,000 for homeless animals at the 23rd annual Furry Scurry on Saturday morning. Roughly 10,000 people and 5,000 dogs came to Denvers Washington Park to participate in the 2-mile walk that raises money for the group. This community is the cornerstone of our work to change the lives of homeless pets, group president and CEO Bob Rohde said in a news release. Only together can we achieve our goal of ending pet homelessness and animal suffering. The Dumb Friends League took in more than 20,000 homeless pets last year. In addition to finding homes for pets, the agency also offers foster care, behavior training, animal-welfare investigations, lost and found assistance, and spay and neuter services for cats and dogs in underserved areas of metro Denver. People can donate the Furry Scurry effort through June 7. Go to furryscurry.org. Katy Canada: 303-954-1043, kcanada@denverpost.com or @KatySusanna A report of a possible bomb in a moving car proved inaccurate, Denver police said Saturday after an hour-long investigation turned up nothing. Denver police had earlier stopped a vehicle believed to be carrying a suspicious device. The vehicle was stopped near Logan Street and East Speer around 5:30 p.m. after police received a call with the information and the license plate of the vehicle. Because it was a report of a suspicious device, we had to treat it as suspicious, department spokeswoman Mary McIver said after the investigation was completed. It was not a bomb or anything like that. It has been cleared. Tamara Chuang: tchuang@denverpost.com or visit dpo.st/tamara A new legal reckoning of the 2012 Aurora movie theater shooting begins Monday, one thats poised to put Americas climate of mass shootings on trial. In an Arapahoe County courtroom, 28 survivors of the attack and relatives of the victims will attempt to convince a jury that Cinemark, the movie theaters owner, should be held accountable for the shooting. The trial will take place in the same courtroom where the gunman last year was convicted of murder and sentenced to a lifetime in prison. But, while the criminal trial focused on questions of mental health and motive, the first civil trial over the shooting will ask jurors to weigh the foreseeability of such attacks in an era where they are both statistically rare and terrifyingly routine. In other words, are mass shootings in public places now so common that a movie theater chain can be held liable for not guarding against them? Our belief, said Ken Citron, one of the lawyers for the victims, is that Cinemark had inadequate security measures to guard against a foreseeable danger. And, had they implemented proper security measures, this act would have never happened and our clients would have never been injured. Twelve people were killed in the shooting and another 70 people were wounded, some with life-altering injuries that left them paralyzed or permanently disabled. But those injuries are not in dispute during the civil case, meaning the trial that begins Monday will not see the same kind of wrenchingly emotional testimony that punctuated the criminal case. Instead, the testimony is expected to focus on the days and months prior to the shooting, when killer James Holmes carefully cased the theater and when Citron and other plaintiffs lawyers contend Cinemarks corporate headquarters received broad warning from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that movie theaters might be targeted by terrorists. Cinemark never shared that warning with its theater managers, the victims lawyers say. On the night of the shooting, the Century Aurora 16 theater had no extra security on hand, no surveillance-camera coverage for large areas behind the theater where Holmes prepared, and no alarm on the exit door through which he entered and began shooting. But does that make them liable for the tragedy? In court filings, Cinemark describes Holmes as both highly motivated and heavily armed. The company is expected to argue that no security measures could have stopped him and that no one could have foreseen such horror. There had never been a mass shooting at a movie theater prior to the July 20, 2012, attack on the Century Aurora 16, Cinemark noted in a court document. Legal history supports Cinemarks case. After a 1984 attack on a San Ysidro, Calif., McDonalds, courts ruled that the victims couldnt sue the restaurant chain over a once-in-a-lifetime massacre. But, three decades later, the nation is a different place, something a federal judge in Denver acknowledged in 2014 when he rejected a Cinemark bid to dismiss a lawsuit against the company in federal court filed by a different group of theater shooting victims. That case is currently scheduled for trial in July. [W]hat was so unlikely to occur within the setting of modern life as to be unforeseeable in 1984 was not necessarily so unlikely by 2012, U.S. District Court Judge R. Brooke Jackson wrote. How jurors decide this question of mass shooting predictability could cause broad ripples through American businesses. As three liability experts explained last year in the legal trade journal For The Defense, many states require companies to act when they know of even a general risk to patrons. Thus, a verdict against Cinemark could put companies on notice to guard against mass shootings. If a premises owner has reason to anticipate a criminal act, even in the absence of prior criminal incidents, it has a duty to exercise ordinary care in its response to knowledge of the potential criminal act, the experts wrote. Opening statements in the trial are expected Monday afternoon. The trial is scheduled to last up to three weeks. John Ingold: 303-954-1068, jingold@denverpost.com or @johningold In the aftermath of Donald Trumps victory last Tuesday, others may look forward, to the heat death of the Republican Party and the triumphant ascent of Hillary Clinton to the position of least popular Democratic president since Jimmy Carter. But Id like to take a moment to remember the folks who have brought us to this strange pass: the four horsemen of the Republican apocalypse, if you will. We would not be in this situation if Republican primary voters had mostly rationally tried to pursue two goals: 1) nominate someone as conservative as possible and 2) win the general election. The field would have consolidated around Marco Rubio, and Democrats would now be anxious rather than openly celebrating the nomination of a no-hoper. Thats usually the outcome we see in both parties: the field consolidates around the most ideologically congenial candidate who is capable of winning a general election. Why didnt that happen? Blame the four horsemen. Donald Trump There are any number of explanations for what Trump is bringing out in the electorate. But the most compelling explanation also, curiously, gets the shortest shrift: Hes a celebrity candidate, and celebrity candidates break election models. Jesse Ventura in Minnesota, Arnold Schwarzenegger in California: These people bring out folks who dont normally vote. In a low-turnout election, or a badly divided field, thats enough to turn things in their favor. Celebrity candidate voters arent normal voters. Normal voters care more about policy than normal non-voters, care more about party identification, care more about ideology. Simply trying to transfer analysis of normal voters over onto the new people that celebrity candidates bring out to the polls doesnt work very well, because youre searching madly for clues to things that arent really there. This is why such candidates often surprise political scientists by winning. Jeb Bush I have nothing against Bush as a man or a governor. But his decision to run for president in this cycle has to rank as one of the stupidest political bids of all time, simply because his last name is toxic. His brother left office after an unpopular war and an even more unpopular economic crisis, with an approval rating of 35 percent. Why on earth would anyone think that he had any chance at the nomination? Even if his brothers presidency had ended better, it would have been folly, simply because voters dont like the idea that they get to have only Republican presidents named Bush. Yet somehow, Jeb Bush not only threw his hat in the ring but also managed to convince Republican donors to come along for the ride. To Bush, I am sympathetic. His brother gets unfair blame for things that are not really his fault, and it can be hard to see yourself, or your family, with the crystal clarity of an outsider. The Republican donors have no such excuse. These folks suddenly and for no apparent reason decided that it would be a great idea to donate $100 million to the cause of running a completely hopeless establishment candidate. And as soon as it became clear he couldnt win, they incinerated the remainder of the bundle taking down Rubio, the only candidate who could plausibly unite enough of the partys factions to stop Trump at the voting booth. When those donors are sitting in their living rooms, wondering how their beloved party has come to this pass, I invite them to get up and take a long look in the nearest mirror. Chris Christie He should never have stayed in the race as long as he did. I think he was a pretty good governor of New Jersey and, at one point, a plausible presidential candidate. But well before New Hampshire, it was clear that the rest of the electorate did not agree, and it was time to drop out. But as mentioned above, I do understand that it can be hard to see these things with perfect clarity when its your candidacy, your dreams on the line. So now we must address Christies somewhat odd decision, when the hopelessness of his cause became clear even to him, to use the remainder of his candidacy to help destroy Rubio, the aforementioned only candidate who could plausibly unite enough of the partys disparate factions to stop Trump. That decision started looking less crazy when Christie dropped out and actually endorsed Trump. Only now we have to deal with the fact that a sitting governor burned immense political capital and tanked his own approval rating to endorse a man whose policy knowledge was oftentimes negative (consisting of more wrong facts than right ones) and who was prone to pro political moves like making fun of POWs and the handicapped. John Kasich I have but two questions for the Kasich campaign: What color is the sky on your planet? and On your visit to Earth, why havent you bothered to get out and meet some actual human beings? Kasich was never going to be president, primarily because he is not a particularly compelling candidate, lacking charm or a strong political base. This is why he was forced to fall back on selling himself as the least conservative guy on the debate stage a really terrible selling point in a Republican primary, which should have been obvious to his campaign long before the polls confirmed it. What puzzles is his decision to stay in, splitting the establishment vote so that Trump could become the nominee. None of the stories his campaign told ever made the least bit of sense. The party would consolidate around him ummm-hmmm. And why arent Ted Cruz and Rubio ranked as the fifth and sixth horsemen? Certainly Cruz is a charmless candidate with little hope of winning outside the Bible Belt, and Rubio is a charming politician who failed to win many primaries, and shot himself in the foot making jokes about the size of Trumps hands. But both of them behaved basically rationally throughout this campaign. Cruz executed by far the most masterful campaign this cycle, hoped that this would be enough to give him a chance outside the Bible Belt, and dropped out when it became clear things were hopeless. Rubio was a good politician facing impossible odds, as a series of completely irrational decisions by Bush, Christie and Kasich battered him, then siphoned off just enough of his voters to make it impossible to consolidate a lead. He made a Hail Mary pass by attacking Trump on Trumps own terms, and it didnt work. And as soon as it became clear that it hadnt, he left the race. If everyone else had been behaving as rationally as these two, I suspect we would not be now looking forward to another six months of Donald Trump speeches. And perhaps then another four years of same. Megan McArdle is a Bloomberg View columnist writing on economics, business and public policy. To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by e-mail or mail. Not as funny as HBOs Veep nor as subtle as that unsubtle, laugh-out-loud satire of presidential politics David Mamets November is a political comedy unmoored from any particular election cycle. And thats a disadvantage. In this political season ripe for sendup, the evergreen November is a generic look at the egomania that infects politicians, the power-madness thats a danger in any Oval Office. In 2016, the era of Trump, the play feels dated in its discussion of adopted Chinese baby girls, American Indian casinos and gay marriage. But the Avenue Theaters production deserves notice: The cast is first-rate, the acting enlivens the material and the one-liners often land, even when the content itself is stale. Kevin Hart plays the perfect narcissist as President Charles Smith, a failed incumbent, disliked by the people, losing in the polls, running for re-election. Hart smoothly rages and fumes as this POTUS admits incompetence, bigotry and ethical lapses. He is so good carrying on telephone conversations, you can imagine the voices on the other end of the line. Hes a likable buffoon on the order of Julia Louis-Dreyfus Selina Meyer who is so out of his depth that you feel sorry for him. (Hart is reprising the role from the 2008 production at the Avenue.) The presidents chief of staff and yes-man, Archer Brown, played by Eric Mather, attempts to keep the boss on track, but its a losing battle. Mather, a comic treasure, creates a living caricature, alternately horrified and servile. His rapid-fire responses and well-timed reactions are hilarious. Bernie Cardell appears physically rubberized and effectively cartoonish as the representative of the National Association of Turkey and Turkey Products, who has brought turkeys to the White House for the annual pardoning. Amie MacKenzie has the thankless role of Clarice Bernstein, the lesbian speechwriter, who has adopted a Chinese girl with her female partner and hopes to persuade the president to legalize gay marriage. Apparently this was once an extraordinary concept. * * political comedy And Sam Gilstgrap shows up as Chief Dwight Grackle, affording the president a chance to insult American Indians in general. November is certainly not Mamet at his best, but the production features a fun local cast having another go-round in the Oval. Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com NOVEMBER By David Mamet. Directed by John Ashton. With Kevin Hart, Eric Mather, Bernie Cardell, Amie MacKenzie and Sam Gilstgrap. Through May 21 at the Avenue Theater, 417 E. 17th Ave. Tickets at 303-321-5925 or online at avenue- theater.com. Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. As the weather gets warmer, thoughts immediately turn to summer holidays. It was while pondering the pros and cons of sipping cocktails in the sun in Havana (pros lots; cons zilch), that your spy recalled a pretty awesome time at the city's popular Cuban bar; Revolucion de Cuba, a couple of years ago. And so where better to head for a bit of holiday inspiration than the vibrant rum bar and cantina in the Strand, Derby, that is always packed to the rafters at the weekend. The Derby branch is one of nine nationwide and your spy's previous visit was on a busy Saturday night. My latest visit took place during the week and your spy was pleased that it was quieter because I could truly appreciate how beautiful the old Georgian building is. Formerly the Co-op bank but originally built in the 1880s as the Mechanics Institute by Royal Crown Derby sculptor William John Coffee, who was commissioned by Joseph and Edward Strutt, the building has retained its charm but has been sympathetically renovated by the restaurant chain. There is a giant map of Cuba on the wall and there are huge, red letters that spell out the word 'Cuba' and are emblazoned with light bulbs above the main bar. There is a separate, smaller bar area the Havana Bar for private parties and a dining area away from the heart of the bar for those wanting privacy. It was only just midday when your spy and companion arrived and so we found solace in a corner of the building, on a comfy if a little worn L-shaped sofa. We didn't have to wait long before our waiter Michael popped over to take our drinks order. He pointed us in the direction of the lunchtime specials menu, which offers a raspberry, strawberry or passion fruit mojito alongside a few specially selected dishes for 9.95. If you prefer a soft drink, then it's just 7.95. Always keen to take advantage of a bargain, your spy opted for a mushroom and spinach burrito with a raspberry mojito. My companion chose a slow-cooked beef burrito from the main menu and we ordered a side of patatas bravas and mojito-glazed onion rings too along with a pint of Peroni. If you like your food a little spicy then Revolucion de Cuba is just perfect. They offer Latin American-inspired dishes such as fiery patatas bravas, served as a tapas dish, classic Cuban sandwiches, an unusual twist on the traditional brunch and even a special version of the Spanish staple, paella. The menu is also ever-changing to keep diners on their toes. We didn't have to wait long for our drinks to arrive and your spy was keen to see if the raspberry mojito tasted as good as it looked. Served in a tall glass with torn mint leaves, crushed ice and a single raspberry for decoration, it was delicious. The first few sips had barely passed your spy's lips when our food arrived. Sometimes, when ordering from a special lunch-time menu, portion sizes are reduced. They aren't at Revolucion de Cuba and the burrito your spy ordered would have been ample without the accompanying onion rings and patatas bravas. But, in the name of research, your spy tried the onion rings giant rings of white onion glazed in a mojito-flavoured batter. They were simply divine, as were the patatas bravas. Again, this tapas dish was of huge proportions. The diced chunks of potato were a good size and the thick, fiery tomato sauces tasted good. How about the main event? The floured mushroom burrito was packed with spinach, mixed beans, spicy rice, sour cream and cheese and was garnished with a tasty tomato salsa. It came served with a few nachos and an unusual black bean dip, which was topped with chopped spring onion. The only gripe I had and it's a very small one is that there weren't enough mushrooms. My companion raved about the beef burrito, which had been slow-cooked for seven hours and tasted wonderful. That too was garnished with tomato salsa; fine pieces of chopped tomato, onion and coriander. Again, it was served with nachos and the black bean dip. Your spy had wanted a dessert but was too full. Michael, our waiter, tried to persuade us to change our minds and he almost succeeded but was equally as happy to chat away, telling us about how popular the place is becoming with young families who fancy a Sunday morning treat and its plans to introduce mocktail masterclasses for little ones. And with a family gathering to plan for shortly, your spy may have to revisit this tiny bit of Havana in Derby once more REVOLUCION DE CUBA 9 The Strand, Derby 01332 896196 Mushroom burrito served with raspberry mojito 9.95 Beef burrito served with Peroni 9.95 Onion rings 3 Patatas Bravas 4.50 TOTAL: 27.40 *This special offer is available Monday-Friday until 5pm CONTACT: 01332 896196 or www.revoluciondecuba.com/bar/derby Vikram Kumar To Come Up With Two Bilingual Biggies Post '24 You can leave a response , or trackback from your own site. by Kathleen Gilbert BEIJING, September 7, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) Escaped Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng is leading international opponents of forced abortion in calling upon the worlds largest company to end compliance with the Chinas one-child policy. Family planning police have targeted employees (569) Sign up below to have the hottest Catholic news delivered to your email daily! Close Sign up below to have the hottest Catholic news delivered to your email daily! Church Militant, we need to band together to protect our religious liberties and win the culture war! Commodities markets were awash in green at the end of the week despite another small gain for the US dollar, as data showed that investors were continuing to pile into the asset class. Gold was among the strongest performers, with the June 2016 COMEX contract up by 1.71% to $1,294.00/oz. by the closing bell. Commodity funds had another week of inflows, the 17th so far this year, pushing year-to-date inflows to almost $6bn, analysts at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch said citing figures from EPFR Global. In parallel, the exodus from equity funds extended into a 13th consecutive week, bringing the grand tally for YTD outflows to $27bn, with fixed income and credit funds also among the main beneficiaries after the European Central Bank last ramped-up its asset purchase programme, the broker said. Energy futures did well on Friday too. Front month West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures were up by 0.77% to $44.66 per barrel by the closing bell. Natural gas futures on the New York mercantile exchange gained 1.20% to $2.10/MMbtu. Copper was flat on COMEX, with July 2016 futures ending the day flat at $215.40/lb., with traders likely waiting on key macro releases scheduled for release over the coming weekend from China, with other first-tier data on Asia's largest economy due out over subsequent days. Acting as a backdrop, over the weekend wildfires in Canada's oil-sands regions in Alberta continued to extend, affecting over 1m barrels a day of oil output, according to estimates from IHS Energy. Soft commodities were also wanted, aside from cocoa. Corn futures on the Chicago Board of Trade rose 1.0% to $3.7570/bushel and live cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange by another 0.92% to $1.2073 per pound. Cocoa futures on the ICE lost 2.66% to trade at $3,074 per metric tonne. The Bloomberg commodity index advanced 0.83% to 168.22, alongside a tick higher in the US dollar spot index of 0.12% to 93.888. China's exports improved last month as a weaker currency boosted sales overseas, yet initial market talk was of a lack of a sustained improvement in exports which was having a 'knock-on' effect on suppliers to Chinese firms throughout the Asia-Pacific region. In yuan terms exports increased by 4.1% on a year before, but were still lower by 1.8% over that same time-frame when measured in US dollars, according to the country's customs administration. Economists had been expecting exports to remain virtually flat versus the prior month. That followed a 11.5% jump in exports in US dollar terms during the month of March, with the data flattered in part by a low base of comparison with the year before. Imports on the other hand were down by 10.9% in US dollar terms in April, more than doubling market forecasts in terms of the expected percentage variation, resulting in a trade surplus of $45.6bn. The year year-to-date falls for exports and imports in yuan terms came in at -2.1% and -7.6% in dollar terms. Thus far in 2016, the value of the Chinese currency had changed little against the US dollar but had depreciated 4.3% when measured against a basket of its 13 main trading partners or in so-called trade-weighted terms - helped in part by the slower pace of rate hikes in the US. Data released on 7 May revealed the country's international reserves rose edged higher for a second consecutive month, by $7.1bn to $3.2trn, albeit flattered by weakness in the greenback which results in a higher value for China's holdings of euro and yen-denominated assets. "We think the April data should be compared with the average for Q1 as a whole in order to iron out seasonal distortions due to year-to-year shifts in the timing of Chinese New Year, which dragged down trade growth in February then boosted it in March. On this basis, the latest data appear less downbeat. Both imports and exports remained basically stable last month in seasonally adjusted level terms," Julian Evans-Pritchard at Capital Economics said in a research report sent to clients. Evans-Pritchard also sounded an optimistic note regarding the risk of capital outflows should the US dollar appreciate again later in the year. "There is a risk that large scale capital outflows could return later this year if, as we expect, the dollar begins to strengthen again. But with the stock of liquid external liabilities now significantly reduced compared to a year ago, the likelihood that outflows accelerate to the pointthe renminbi has diminished." Jake Wagner says he 'had no other choice' but to kill Hanna Rhoden crime-and-courts A community bowl-making night will be held May 17 from 6-8 p.m. at the Cultural Arts Center in Dothan. Participants will make clay bowls for the 2017 Empty Bowls event. Empty Bowls is designed to raise awareness about hunger and raise money for the Wiregrass Food Bank. Handmade bowls are created by residents and then sold. A meal of soup and bread is served during the annual Empty Bowls event. Community bowl-making events will be held in The Messy Space building at the Cultural Arts Center, located on South St. Andrews Street. Call 334-699-2787 or email ann@theculturalartscenter.org to register for the event. Tiffany Swan said her mother, Bobbie Johnson, was never one to insist Swan follow through with something about which she wasnt passionate. When Swan chose to ride horses over taking dance classes at the age of 7, Johnson didnt push her to dance again. After taking another dance class at the age of 11, and loving it enough to continue dancing around the world through adulthood, Swan said she told her mom she would never move back to Dothan. I told her to never say never, Johnson laughed as the two stood inside Li-Bos Dance Barre on West Main Street. Johnson and Swan now work together at Li-Bos. The store is a dance specialty shop Johnson helped start more than 30 years ago with Linda McGrath so she and other dancers parents wouldnt have to spend a day traveling to Montgomery which then had the nearest dance retail store to buy their dancewear basics and pointe shoes. Swan returned to Dothan in 2005 from Atlanta and started working with her mother full-time five years ago. The duo is among a potential trend in family-owned businesses led by women and expected to have a female successor. According to a 2014 study by Kennesaw State Universitys Family Business Center of Excellence, 41 percent of women gained interest in joining their familys businesses. About 22 percent of family businesses were managed by women and 70 percent of women in family businesses were under consideration for chief executive positions at the time of the study. Johnson, who worked in her familys restaurant when she was a child, said she never took dance lessons when she was young but wanted to at least give Swan the opportunity to see if it was something she wanted to do. Swan said it wasnt at first. I absolutely hated it when I was 7. I wanted to ride my horse, and Mom said if you ever decided this is not for you, let us know, so I did, Swan said. I had a cousin in Texas I would visit in the summers who had been dancing since she was 3, so I decided I would try again. I took classical ballet when I was 11 at a studio here in Dothan. I was hooked in the first month. So hooked, Johnson said, that Swans instructor noticed her natural ability and suggested Swan audition for the Alabama School of Fine Arts in Birmingham. Swan was accepted and spent her high school years studying and traveling with the school. From there, Swan said she pursued a dancing degree at the University of Alabama , despite being told if she didnt get into a professional ballet company right out of high school that she would never have the opportunity. Perhaps the mentality of her mother to follow her dreams, even if the path wasnt ideal, was what moved Swan to finish her dance degree before gaining the opportunity to dance in New York City, France, and other parts of the world. Her choreography has also won multiple awards. Swan continued to become a master instructor and artistic director for multiple agencies before making the decision to return to the store her mom helped start because of her. Since Swan has returned to Li-Bos, Johnson said clients especially seek Swans guidance in pointe shoe fittings and overall dancers health. Swan said her decision to move back to Dothan was a stretch from her goal to direct a dance company, but that the experience has been worthwhile. I was hesitant to make the leap because I didnt want to not be a part of the dance world, but even though Im not in the studio I am around more dancers from all the studios in the tri-state area, Swan said. Im able to help more dancers than when I only worked as an artistic director, so it feels more rewarding. Ive had a fantastic life. Johnson said she is thrilled Swan made the decision to move back to assist in the store. Johnson once sold her portion of the store to McGrath when Johnson moved to New York with her family shortly after starting the store. Johnson purchased the entire store from McGrath in 1995 after McGrath relocated with her husband. I did not want to take over the store again, but I did, and weve thankfully done well even as a niche market, Johnson said. Having Tiffany here allows her to pass on a true art form. Her knowledge is incredible so what she brings to the table is not only for the dance student to dance, but to experience a true art form. Swan said the trust between she and her mother, as well as their knowledge of different parts of the dance industry, gives them the balance they need to successfully operate the store. We feed off each other, Swan said. Moms good at what she does, and Im good at what I do. 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. Dundalk Chamber hosted another very successful embassy visit when Estonian Embassy came to Dundalk to meet local companies in order to forge business links. H. E. Mrs. Kristi Karelsohn, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, with the Estonian Embassy visited Dundalk Tuesday 26th April for a series of one-to-one meetings with various companies from around the North-East. This is just one in a series of many visits which Dundalk Chamber has organized. H. E. Mrs. Kristi Karelsohn was delighted with the number and variety of contacts and was sure that the visit would enhance trade in both directions. She also stated that a representative from the Estonian Embassy would be delighted to visit Dundalk in the future to meet with more companies in the hope of forging business links between Ireland and Estonia. Due to the success of the meetings, Dundalk Chamber will play host to more Embassies in the near future, including the Nigerian Embassy which will take place on the 25th May in Oriel Hub in the Finnabair Business Park. If your company would like to attend one of these free meetings please call Karolina or Malvina in Dundalk Chamber on 042 9336343 or email projectadmin@dundalk.ie Sussex News Story Saved You can find this story in My Bookmarks. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. That lady in the photo is my mom, Jacki Savage. If youve read my story Two North, already know a bit about her. She was born Jacqueline McCann and was at the top of her high school class taking Latin and basically shooting the lights out academically when she got pregnant with me and dropped out of school. She was 16. The McCanns, it wont surprise you, were a very Catholic family and in 1963 getting an abortion wasnt much of an option anyway. My moms priest suggested that she put me up for adoption and then become a nun. Thankfully she didnt do that. But it wasnt easy for her. By the time she was 18 she had two kids and by the time she was in her early 20s, she was a single mom of two going to school full-time at Eastern Michigan University and working a part-time job. My brother Pat and I were true latchkey kids and we were on every social welfare program there was. Aid to Dependent Children (ADC). Food stamps. You name it, we were on it. It was that foot up in the world that government assistance provided that allowed my mom to get her college diploma and move up in the world. By the time she took early retirement, she was an executive in the Chrysler Corporation and had accumulated a tidy nest egg. Anything she received from the government was paid back many times over. While I was growing up, my mom was an ardent feminist and a fierce warrior for womens issues. She took me to my first political rally, a march to pass the Equal Rights Amendment in Chicago, when I was in high school. Later she became an activist for LGBTQ rights and helped form the group People of Diversity at Chrysler that eventually led to them being one of the first large corporations in the country with domestic partner benefits, something that allowed my moms partner (she didnt live to see marriage equality in the U.S.A.) to keep her home and live reasonably comfortably after my mom died thirteen years ago. I miss my mom but the thing that makes me the most sad is that she never got to see the person I have become and to see how her life so profoundly shaped mine. She would have been so proud to see my own activism and the voice that I have cultivated through my writing and organizing. So, today on Mothers Day, I send out my best wishes for a grand day for all of you moms (even dog and cat moms like my wife Anne) and to all of you who have been shaped by your mother. I truly believe that the most effective way to change the world is to raise exceptional kids and to be an important part of the lives of kids, even if you arent a parent yourself. Happy Mothers Day to you all. Hindu College recently installed metallic Braille signage indicating the principals room, classrooms, womens hostel, auditorium, seminar hall, cafeteria and toilets. It has about 120 visually impaired students in a student body of 3,700. The colleges society for the visually impaired, Ankur, had asked its students parliament to provide Braille inscriptions outside classrooms and other rooms. In October last year, the parliament approved the proposal and the college administration sanctioned Rs 16,000. Sandeep Kumar, a visually impaired student, said the signs would help them identify the rooms and halls without seeking help. We will be more independent as sometimes, people do not respond to us as they tend to be in a hurry to run for their class, he said. Rishabh Gupta, minister for physically weak and disabled students, said, The proposal was tabled in parliament in 2014 as well. But it could not be taken up because of the money. This time, the college administration approved it because we found a manufacturer who agreed to a lower price. Anju Srivastava, officiating principal, said, With the motto Strength in Weakness, Ankur has become the nodal agency promoting inclusion of students with disabilities into mainstream academic and cultural life. Braille signboards at key locations have been placed keeping in view the requirements of the rising number of students with visual impairment. Batteries Maintenance free solid-state battery free of metallic lithium Date: 03-05-16 A UK-based material science research based company Ilika plc made a solid-state battery by using its advanced materials science expertise. The miniaturised battery can be integrated into other electronic components. This battery is very much suitable for outdoor/portable battery dependent IOT featured monitoring and other devices. The Battery named Stereax M250 supports always-on, self-charging and efficient energy requirements. The applications such as home automation, transportation and healthcare can make use of this battery to make IOT devices more miniaturized and also maintenance free. It's called fit and forget design that enables IoT sensors to be fitted without further maintenance, including changing batteries. Whether you need short bursts of power, or a slow trickle of energy consumption, and also wide temperature operation, all these requirements are met by this fit and forget battery. Ilika focuses fully on material innovation where it says "Ilikas high throughput technology enables functional materials to be made, characterised and tested up to 100 times faster than traditional techniques". Ilika applies its material research knowledge to areas such as energy, electronic components, automotive, and aeronautics. Graeme Purdy, CEO, Ilika Plc posted an article named "Ilika transforming the battery space for IoT" in his company's website, where he explains "The Stereax M250 brings additional benefits to those found in other solid state batteries. It has a 40% improvement in energy density for a given area so you can either make it smaller if you have less energy requirements or you can pack more energy into the space". To read this article visit:http://www.ilika.com/news/blog/ilika-transforming-the-battery-space-for-iot/ In another article titled "Solid state battery innovation opening up IoT innovation" posted in company website by Denis Pasero, Product Manager, Ilika explains the construction of the battery, where he says "Although Stereax M250 is essentially a lithium ion battery, it is also free of metallic lithium. This sounds like a paradox. However in our battery the lithium ions, which are the electrical charge carriers, are alloyed (intercalated)." To read this article visit: http://www.ilika.com/news/blog/solid-state-battery-innovation-opening-up-iot-innovation/ Mexico City, May 8 (EFE).- A magnitude-6.0 earthquake rocked southern Mexico early Sunday, setting off the seismic warning system in the capital, where thousands of people poured into the streets, but no injuries or damage have been reported, the National Seismology Service said. The temblor occurred at 2:33 a.m. and its epicenter was located 13 kilometers (8.1 miles) southeast of Pinotepa Nacional in Oaxaca state, the service said in a Twitter post. The earthquake was registered at a depth of 35 kilometers (21.7 miles), the service said. Government Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong announced minutes before the earthquake occurred that the "warning protocols" had been activated, turning on the loudspeakers in Mexico City streets that warn residents of a quake. "After the quake of a few minutes ago, no damage has been reported in the states of Guerrero, Oaxaca, Puebla and Mexico City," national emergency management office director Luis Felipe Puente said. The earthquake caused buildings across Mexico City to sway, prompting residents, many wearing their pajamas, to head into the streets and away from nearby structures. Mexico, one of the countries with the highest levels of seismic activity in the world, sits on the North American tectonic plate and is surrounded by three other plates in the Pacific: the Rivera microplate, at the mouth of the Gulf of California; the Pacific plate; and the Cocos plate. The Cocos tectonic plate stretches from Colima state south and has the potential to cause the most damage since it affects Mexico City, which has a population of 20 million and was constructed over what was once Lake Texcoco. In September 2015, Mexico City's government activated the Seismic Warning System to mark the 30th anniversary of the temblor that devastated the capital. The magnitude-8.1 earthquake that hit Mexico City on Sept. 19, 1985, was the most destructive to ever hit Mexico, killing some 10,000 people, injuring more than 40,000 others and leaving 80,000 people homeless. Cairo, May 8 (EFE) .- Egyptian authorities have agreed to pay $140,000 in compensation to the families of each of the eight Mexican tourists who were mistakenly killed in an airstrike by the armed forces while visiting Egypt's Western Desert last September. The amount of compensation has already been determined and now Cairo is working on the details of the agreement, the spokesperson for the Egyptian Tourism Ministry, Omaima al-Husseini, told EFE. Al-Husseini said it was hoped that the payment would be made "as soon as possible" but said the method of payment was still being studied. EFE, meanwhile, contacted the Mexican Embassy Cairo, which declined to comment on the compensation agreement finally reached eight months after the tragic deaths of the tourists. The Al Watan newspaper reported on the compensation deal, citing a Tourism Ministry official, who said that a Mexican delegation representing three of the victims and a diplomat from the Mexican Embassy signed an agreement with Egyptian Travel Agents Association chairman Khaled El-Manawi last Friday. The agreement calls for $140,000 to be paid in compensation for each of the eight dead Mexicans and 170,000 Egyptian pounds ($19,000) for each of the four Egyptians who accompanied them and lost their lives in the airstrike. Al Watan said only the three families represented by the delegation accepted the compensation offered by Egypt. Egypt promised, at the time of the incident, to conduct immediate investigations into the attack and compensate the injured Mexicans, as well as the families of those killed, but so far the results of the investigations and who ordered the airstike have not been revealed. The Egyptian ambassador to Mexico, Yasser Shaaban, was told by the government to proceed with compensation procedures for the families of the dead tourists as well as the six wounded. Relacionados Number of Mexican tourists killed in Egypt rises to eight Forget those rumors that say Nick Cannon and Mariah Carey can't stand to even be in the same room with one another, because it looks like that couldn't be any further from the truth. In fact, the ex-couple, who pulled the cord on their marriage back in December of 2014, shared a personal family moment with the world this past week on Cannon's Instagram account. Apparently, the television host and celebrity dad knows how to treat his ex right on Mother's Day by taking Carey out to dinner along with the couple's 5-year-old twins, Moroccan and Monroe. Cannon shared a snap of the four of them on his Instagram account and captioned it with, "A little dinner after Karate Class!!" A photo posted by Nick Cannon (@nickcannon) on May 5, 2016 at 7:23pm PDT And it looks like Cannon's social media followers agree that the two are definitely doing co-parenting right. A lot of comments from fans include, "Aaaw it's sad to see family's break up and then have to coparent. The kids hurt the most," along with, "Coparenting, can be hurtful to the kids if it's not done the right way. I honestly think these two have what it takes to make that happen. They seem like they're doing everything and anything for the kids to feel that there loved & United. There is no reason they should feel that their family is broken. I doubt that is the case between Mariah and Nick. Keep doing what you're doing because it seems to be working." Another fan wrote, "You make a beautiful couple they should go back again for the sake of the kids forgiveness is the best medicine to last in a marriage God bless your family." Even though the two exes still get together from time to time, Carey is now engaged to Australian billionaire James Packer, although they haven't set a wedding date just yet. A new addition in the growing number of studies using brain organoids to understand how the Zika virus leads to microcephaly reveals that human neural stem cells infected by the virus subsequently trigger an innate immune response that leads to cell death. On May 6 in Cell Stem Cell, University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers report that if this immune response is blocked, it helps neural stem cells survive Zika infection. Zika contributes to cell self-destruction by activating an infected brain cell's innate immune receptor TLR3, which has long been known to coax cells into producing antiviral proteins as a first line of defense against microbial invaders. Graduate student Jason Dang, whose research interest is in how TLR3 responds to different viruses, stumbled upon this connection when he decided to test TLR3 levels in Zika-infected brain organoids developed in the lab of Tariq Rana at UC San Diego's Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program. "We were wondering how strong the evidence was, and we were excited when we saw that when we inhibit TLR3 in the Zika-infected brain organoids, the reduction in their size was less dramatic," says Rana, a professor of pediatrics and senior author on the paper. "I was still not convinced, so we used a chemical to enhance TLR3 activation and observed that the brain tissue started to shrink a lot faster." Previous work in Zika-infected brain organoids helped establish the connection between viral infection and the death of neural stem cells, but Rana's team adds in a new piece about the role of the immune system. Inhibition of TLR3 may help neurons infected by Zika survive and continue to function as well as their uninfected counterparts, thus providing a target for therapeutic development. "A part of my lab works on other viruses and we always look at macrophages and other external immune cells--we never would have thought to look at this system," Rana says. "There are many other viruses that cause central nervous system damage, and now I want to go back and look at those as well." ### This work was supported in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health. Cell Stem Cell, Dang and Tiwari et al.: "Zika Virus Depletes Neural Progenitors in Human Cerebral Organoids through Activation of the Innate Immune Receptor TLR3" http://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fulltext/S1934-5909(16)30057-1 Cell Press Statement on Data Sharing in Public Health Emergencies The Cell Press family of journals is committed to ensuring that the global response to public health emergencies is informed by the best available research evidence and data, and as such, we will make all content concerning the Zika virus free to access. We will work in partnership with reviewers to fast-track review all submissions concerning Zika. We will adapt the editorial criteria that we apply to Zika submissions by asking reviewers to evaluate only if the research methods are sound and support the conclusions and if the work will contribute in some way toward resolving the immediate challenges. We will expedite publication of papers that meet these two criteria. Cell Stem Cell (@CellStemCell), published by Cell Press, is a monthly journal that publishes research reports describing novel results of unusual significance in all areas of stem cell research. Each issue also contains a wide variety of review and analysis articles covering topics relevant to stem cell research ranging from basic biological advances to ethical, policy, and funding issues. Visit: http://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell. To receive Cell Press media alerts, contact press@cell.com. With reduced FED interest rate hike best following tepid data, safe-haven demand has been more beneficial for the Japanese Yen exchange rates over the past week. USD/JPY exchange rate trends higher despite diminished FED hike odds. Japanese yen weakens after official talks intervention. The US dollar has been strong against the Japanese Yen recently, but this may not be set to last. This is on account of tomorrow mornings Japanese leading and coincident preliminary indexes for March. Although only one positive outcome is on the cards, a double rise could give the Yen the boost it needs to climb against the competition. Despite the limited odds of imminent policy action from the Fed the US dollar to yen exchange rate continued to trend strongly higher. Investors were inclined to move away from the Yen after Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso indicated a willingness to intervene and weaken the currency if recent volatility continued. In the run-up to Thursday, the US dollar exchange rates will have a quantitative results advantage against the Yen. The US Dollar is expected to have a greater sway over the Japanese Yen until Thursday, although both currencies will have notable data releases then. Japan will bring its Eco Watcher surveys, trade balance and stock and bond statistics, along with a Bank of Japan (BoJ) speech. US contributions will consist of claims data for April and May, as well as three planned Fed speeches. After US ecostats failed to inspire confidence the USD/JPY exchange rate declined, albeit briefly, as the US dollar manged to recoup losses against the Japanese currency by the end of the day. Although the US Dollar is a safe-haven asset, damp market sentiment has done little to support demand thanks to reduced bets regarding the timing of a Federal Reserve rate hike. This week US Advance Retail Sales and University of Michigan Consumer Confidence reports will be most likely to cause USD/JPY exchange rate movement. Latest Dollar/Yen Exchange Rates On Monday the Japanese Yen to British Pound exchange rate (JPY/GBP) converts at 0.006 The pound conversion rate (against japanese yen) is quoted at 168.038 JPY/GBP. The pound conversion rate (against pound) is quoted at 1 GBP/GBP. FX markets see the pound vs swiss franc exchange rate converting at 1.129. Please note: the FX rates above, updated 24th Oct 2022, will have a commission applied by your typical high street bank. Currency brokers specialise in these type of foreign currency transactions and can save you up to 5% on international payments compared to the banks. Other Foreign Exchange News US Dollar (USD) Exchange Rates Today: Retail Sales and Consumer Confidence Data in Focus Over the past week the US Dollar exchange rates fared poorly versus most of its rivals thanks to weak domestic data and speculation that he Fed will delay a cash rate increase for a considerable period. With political uncertainty also weighing on USD demand, as controversial potential presidential candidates gain momentum, there is potential that the US Dollar will continue to hold a weak position over the coming week. There will be a number of domestic ecostats with potential to cause USD changes, however. The most significant of which will be Fridays Advance Retail Sales and University of Michigan Consumer Confidence reports. Japanese Yen (JPY) Exchange Rates Contiue to Rally Against Foreign Exchange Peers Although Japans markets were closed for a few days last week for a national holiday, the Yen managed to make some healthy gains versus a number of its major peers. The appreciation was the result of heightened safe-haven demand as commodity prices fell and global stock markets saw heightened volatility. There will be several data publications with potential to cause Yen movement this week. Perhaps the most closely observed will be Fridays speech from Bank of Japan (BoJ) Governor Kuroda given ongoing concern regarding negative rates and potential for even more accommodative policy measures. Top USD/JPY Exchange Rate Forecasts in the Near-Term Scotiabank analysts remain cautiously bearish in their latest Us dollar to yen exchange rate outlook: "We are cautious on the basis of positive divergence, with momentum failing to confirm lows in USDJPY over the past few months." JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. One of the first credits on Beyonces visual album Lemonade doesnt belong to a producer, director or songwriter. It belongs to a poet: Warsan Shire, a rising 27-year-old writer who was born in Kenya to Somali parents and raised in London. Shires verse forms the backbone of Beyonces album and its exploration of family, infidelity and the black female body. I dont know when love became elusive. What I know is: No one I know has it, Beyonce says in a voice-over, lines derived from Shires previously published poem the unbearable weight of staying (the end of the relationship). She continues: My fathers arms around my mothers neck, fruit too ripe to eat. I think of lovers as trees ... growing to and from one another. Searching for the same light. Lemonade, which credits Shire with film adaptation and poetry, may catapult Shire to a new level of pop-culture fame, but she is already known to many as a compelling voice on black womanhood and the African diaspora one particularly resonant in the digital age. And her international following, captivated by her quiet charisma and compulsively shareable lines, may be as devoted as the Beyhive. Shire has published chapbooks of poetry including Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth in 2011 and Her Blue Body in 2015 but much of her reputation was built online by publishing on Tumblr and using Twitter like an open notebook. In 2014, she was appointed the first Young Poet Laureate of London. Her first full poetry collection, Extreme Girlhood, is expected in the next year or so. In the days after her work was proclaimed by one of the worlds most influential black female artists, Shire laid low. She did not promote Lemonade or even tease its existence on social media. Then she finally published a tweet with a link to Lemonade and the note yosra i hope youre proud of us. Yosra El-Essawy, a friend of Shires and Beyonces official tour photographer, had served as an early link between the worlds of the young British poet and Queen Bey. She died of cancer in 2014. (Through her agent, Shire declined to be interviewed for this article.) For Shires friends, colleagues and fans, Lemonade was a pleasant surprise. London poets have been bowled over by Warsans collaboration with such a huge star, which, of course, was a big secret, so we had no idea this was happening, said Bernardine Evaristo, a British writer and professor of creative writing at Brunel University London. Nii Parkes, a founder of flipped eye, Shires publisher, helped handle permissions for Shires poetry to be featured in Lemonade, and kept the collaboration secret for several months even from Jacob Sam-La Rose, Shires primary editor. It was a shock to me, Sam-La Rose said. Warsan can be sneaky. Shire stepped into the poetry world when she was a teenager. More than a decade ago, Sam-La Rose, the poetry editor of flipped eye, put on a student poetry workshop at a northwest London community center, and Shire was the first to show up. Her work was stunning, Sam-La Rose said. A few years later, the two began working together while Shire was studying creative writing at London Metropolitan University. Shire graduated in 2010 and released her first chapbook with flipped eye the next year. The editing process was amazing and, at times, infuriating, Sam-La Rose said. Shire would hand in a manuscript, and by the time Sam-La Rose could finish his notes, she would turn in another batch of poems for review. In elite London poetry circles, the initial reception was underwhelming, Parkes said. But online, readers were enthralled. They pulled out lines and posted them on their own blogs. One of her most-quoted prose poems is Difficult Names: Give your daughters difficult names. Give your daughters names that command the full use of tongue. My name makes you want to tell me the truth. My name doesnt allow me to trust anyone that cannot pronounce it right. Early on, Shire experimented with form. In 2012, she recorded the spoken-word album warsan versus melancholy (the seven stages of being lonely and posted it on Bandcamp. Fan art circulated, too. Christine Mehr, a San Francisco digital content creator, shot an impressionistic short film featuring Shire reading her poem for women who are difficult to love. To many readers, Shires clear voice in the online cacophony felt transformative. There was a consumer pull, Parkes said. People were saying her name all over the place. Thats when other publishers started to get interested in her work, when the bookstores started calling. Second of two columns Some time ago (the Express-News) published an item about the Catholic Archdiocese demolishing Mary Catherine Hall on their acquired property, while the San Antonio Conservation Society was still trying to save it. I think this was perhaps about the year 2000. The hall was given in the 1920s to the previous Westmoorland (Methodist ) College as a womens dormitory by (Mr. and Mrs. R.M.) McFarlin in memory of Mrs. McFarlins mother (Mary Catherine Barnard). Westmoorland merged with Trinity University about 1941 and was sold to the Archdiocese in the 50s. Can you tell me what year the hall was torn down? Harold Burkhardt Completed in 1926 as a state-of-the-art womens dormitory for Westmoorland College, Mary Catherine Hall went on to outlive the original college, Trinity Universitys first San Antonio campus and its own usefulness to the Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio, which bought the property in 1952. The Woodlawn-area building next was used as a dorm for Assumption Seminary until 1969, says Brother Ed Loch, archivist for the archdiocese. When Father Virgilio Elizondo had the genius to come up with the Mexican American Cultural Center (MACC, now the Mexican American Catholic College) says Loch, the hall housed the new institutions first offices and classrooms from its opening in 1972 until the center gradually was able to shift all these functions into a new campus across the street. MACC moved out of the hall completely during the spring of 2000, and the battle over its fate soon commenced. The archdiocese considered returning it to its former use as dorm for Assumption Seminary but found it would cost too much to yield too little an estimated $2 million to bring it up to code to house at most 38 students when room for 60 was needed. Leaving it intact would crowd a new building and separate it from the rest of the campus. Nor did the archdiocese need the classy old white elephant for anything else. At that time, the vacant building had not been identified as a historic structure. On the advice of the architect who was set to build a replacement, a demolition crew was ordered to gut the building during the summer of 2000. Without a permit, the wreckers removed all of the doors and windows, gutted most of the interior walls and removed the plumbing, cabinetry and other interior fixtures, says the Express-News, Aug. 11, 2000, after city officials stepped in with a restraining order to halt the work. For nearly two months, the matter dragged through the citys Historic Design Review Commission, the Zoning Commission and City Council as the structures historic and architectural value was assessed. On the preservationists side, the building was designed by Adams & Adams, noted local architects, and its Spanish style was a precursor of the firms better-known, later project, Jefferson High School. The residence hall also was a tangible link from Methodist-founded Westmoorland, which educated women through junior college; to historically Presbyterian Trinity, which merged with the earlier school when it moved in 1942 from Waxahachie to San Antonio; and finally to Catholic MACC, a pioneer in multicultural pastoral education. A San Antonio Conservation Society official said the hall remain(ed) structurally sound and adaptive to reuse and offered to help pay for a renovation, while the historic commission declared it historically significant. On the demolitionists side, the 74-year-old building was an ungodly mess. In the Express-News, Sept. 20, 2000, then-Archbishop Patrick Flores said he had always admired the exterior, but the interior has been horrible. People who worked there were always calling me that the plumbing didnt work, the electricity (was off) and the water wasnt running, A seminary official said the hall was suitable for the monastic style of seminaries 50 years ago but not for those today. Rooms were small, doorways were too narrow to be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and there were no elevators in the three-story building. Meanwhile, chancery officials gathered statements from other organizations that might claim historical standing. Methodist and Presbyterian officials said they had no stake in preserving the building, and a Trinity University statement said there had been no alumni interest. "I've been here for 50 years," said Monsignor Larry Steubben, as quoted in the Express-News, Sept. 19, 2000, "and neither the Presbyterians nor the Methodists have ever celebrated it as a historic place." After many hearings and mediation, the resolution was that the archdiocese could resume the demolition as long as photographs were taken to document the halls exterior and some of the cast stone and other ornamental details was retained to be incorporated into future buildings. The one built on the site of the old Mary Catherine Hall was the seminarys new Flores Hall. (Architect Robert) Morkovsky designed a simple, two-story stucco building, Loch says, and the stonework did not fit into the plan. Some pieces have been incorporated into the grounds of the archbishops residence. A few stones are still available to be used, including the lintel carved with the old buildings name. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Amid the recent discovery of two bound toddlers in a backyard, the areas chronic child abuse problem intensified with the death of a 1-year-old girl Thursday and a homicide ruling in the case of a deceased 2-month-old boy. In every case, a parent or caretaker is facing charges ranging from neglect to capital murder. Authorities on Friday announced new charges for two more parents in the case involving the toddlers and six unsupervised children in a home in the Camelot II neighborhood on the Northeast Side. In the most recent cases, a 1-year-old Blanco girl died in a San Antonio hospital with head trauma and sexual injuries, while a father faced charges in the death of his son in March. The recent cases underscore the chronic child abuse cases that plague the area. In fiscal year 2015, there were 4,941 confirmed child victims of abuse or neglect in Bexar County. Four children died from maltreatment. Last year, more than 5,400 children were removed from their homes in the county the highest removal rate in Texas, said Anais Biera Miracle, a spokeswoman for the Childrens Shelter in San Antonio. On Wednesday, Blanco police found Sunny Dakota Flade-Bort, 1, lying in the middle of the living room floor of the home of Jamie Petronella, the girls 23-year-old mother, and her boyfriend John Lawrence, 26, about 5:48 p.m., according to an arrest affidavit. Sunny was unresponsive and not breathing. She had a dried wound and bruises on her head. Lawrence was trying to administer CPR to the child while he was on a cellphone, police said in the affidavit. Petronella told an officer that she had put the child in her crib and that she was there for about 45 minutes when her breathing became choppy and then stopped. Petronella told police thats when she called 911, the affidavit said. Petronella told police that her 2-year-old daughter caused the infants injuries by striking her with a plastic chair and knocking her into a table. Petronella also has a 3-year-old son. Lawrence told Blanco Police Chief Mike Ritchey that a large bruise on the infants forehead was caused by him trying to rub away a smaller bruise. The child was transported by helicopter to University Hospital, where she died at 9:02 a.m. Thursday. A treating physician told a Child Protective Services investigator that the child had a cerebral hemorrhage along with trauma to the anus and vagina consistent with sexual assault, the affidavit said. The child also suffered from a spinal injury, bruising to the face with contusions to the temple, and a fractured arm, according to the affidavit. Doctors placed the child on life support but considered her chances for recovery slim. Petronellas other two children also were taken to the hospital, according to the affidavit, where doctors found evidence of sexual assault after examining the 2-year-old girl. A CPS investigator told police she had investigated how the 3-year-old boy had suffered a broken arm days prior to the incident involving the 1-year-old girl, according to the affidavit. The infant did not have the injuries when the investigator looked into the broken arm, she told police. Lawrence had been arrested in 2015 on a charge of assault, domestic violence, police said. Petronella and Lawrence have each been charged with three counts of injury to a child and are currently being held in Blanco County Jail. In the other fatality, Arjunkumar Rana, 19, faces a capital murder charge in the death of son Alexander Rana, who the medical examiner determined died of asphyxiation by neck compression, according to the San Antonio Police Department. SAPD spokesman Jesse Salame said police were initially called to Ranas home March 24 for an unresponsive baby. Alexander Rana was taken to Methodist Childrens Hospital, where he was pronounced dead that day. A week later, officers responded to a disturbance at the Northwest Side apartment of Rana and the childs mother in the 3200 block of Northwest Loop 410. During the phone call, (Rana) confessed to murdering his son ... to the dispatcher, Salame said. At the time, the medical examiner was still conducting an investigation into the childs death, but a homicide ruling was not yet reached, police said. When investigators arrived on the scene, Rana told them also that he was responsible for the death of his son, Salame said. He was released that day as the examiner continued investigating the childs death. The examiner ruled the death a homicide Wednesday. Salame said detectives have not charged the infants mother in the case and that they have no reason to believe that shes involved. Rana talked about being awoken in the middle of the night and being frustrated by that, Salame said when asked about the childs death. Investigators said the medical examiner is still looking into any prior medical history the infant might have had. As Rana was led in handcuffs to a police SUV late Thursday at the Public Safety Headquarters downtown, he denied the accusation to reporters. I didnt murder my son. I lied about it, he said, referring to the confession police said he had given. Rana told media that his son had been in a hospital because he was spitting up blood. He said his son was diagnosed with high liver enzymes, as well as anemia, a condition in which the blood doesnt have enough healthy red blood cells. He attempted to continue talking but was placed in the SUV by police. In a case that shocked officials last week, Cheryl Reed, 30, the mother of the two bound children, was taken into custody at a motel off Interstate 10 near Vance Jackson Road late Thursday, according to Bexar County Sheriffs Office spokesman James Keith. Reed faces two third-degree felony counts of injury to a child. Also, Deandre Dorch, the 36-year-old father of some of the children found unattended in the home, has been accused of injury to a child, Keith said Friday. Deputies are searching for Dorch. Reed returned to San Antonio several days ago after investigators tracked her in California while investigating the April 28 abuse case. Reeds two children a girl, 3, and a boy, 4 were among the eight children in the care of Porucha Phillips, 34, who was arrested April 29 and faces two felony charges of injury to a child by omission. According to the Sheriffs Office, Phillips is the mother of the six children found unharmed in the home. Its not clear who tied up the other children. The two toddlers, who were hospitalized after being rescued, had hundreds of injuries and scars from old and fresh injuries that could have taken place over months or years, doctors told investigators. The girl also suffered from hypothermia, according to the Sheriffs Office. On Friday, authorities also announced that Phillips, who is pregnant with her seventh child, had been moved to a new unit at the Bexar County Jail after reports that she was assaulted by other inmates Dorch, Phillips common-law husband, is the father of an unspecified number of those children, Keith said Friday. Investigators have said Phillips was responsible for Reeds two children but that they are trying to determine the exact nature of their relationship. Keith said Reeds charges stem from separate incidents in November and February in which she allegedly grabbed a switch from a tree and whipped the two children. Dorch told investigators that he saw Reed whip both children several times between November and February but didnt report what he saw because hes not a snitch and hes not God, the Sheriffs Office said Friday. Investigators are still gathering evidence in the case and are working to determine whether any other adults will be charged or if more charges will be filed against Phillips, Reed or Dorch. Both toddlers have been released from the hospital, the Sheriffs Office said Friday, and have joined the other six children in the care of Child Protective Services. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate REYNOSA - Merlen Gonzalez stood between two rows of empty bunk beds, gazing forlornly at her daughter playing with a collection of toys on the migrant shelter floor. After three months, Gonzalez, 21, had lost count of the mothers with small children who had briefly occupied the beds here. Sooner or later they all cast their lot with a smuggler promising safe passage to Texas, while Gonzalez stayed behind. She had trusted a smuggler who lost control of a van crammed with hapless immigrants. Gonzalez and her 4-year-old daughter, Jennifer, were ejected from the vehicle. The sight of it tumbling across a Tamaulipas highway is seared into her memory. I heard (Jennifer) calling Mama Gonzalez said. When she found Jennifer lying on the side of the road, she was bleeding from a gash on her arm. She said Mama, my legs hurt Several people died in the crash, Gonzalez said, including her 6-year-old nephew. His mother learned of the boys death after emerging from a month-long coma, and returned to their Guatemalan homeland. Another cousin set out for Texas with a child in tow. Since the start of the fiscal year in October, rescues of immigrants in the Rio Grande Valley have surged 27 percent compared with all of fiscal year 2015. At the same time, there have been 62 immigrant deaths so far this year, nearly as many as the 67 recorded a year ago, and the hottest and busiest months are still ahead. If it were up to Manuel Padilla Jr., the U.S. Border Patrol sector chief in the Rio Grande Valley, immigrant families like the Gonzalezes seeking asylum would turn themselves over to U.S. authorities on an international bridge, not to smugglers. Why not turn that person over at the port of entry? Padilla asked during a recent interview. What is totally unacceptable is the atrocities smugglers commit as they smuggle these people. Padilla heads up the busiest corridor for illegal immigration across the length of the 2,000-mile Southwest border, a region that has been witness in recent years to hundreds of thousands of immigrant families and children spilling across the border, and into the waiting arms of border agents to begin the protracted legal battle for asylum. Smuggling organizations in Mexico control who crosses the Texas-Mexico border illegally, charging immigrants hundreds of dollars, and sometimes significantly more, to wade across the milky green waters of the Rio Grande. Gonzalez paid $2,600 for her smuggler, yet many Central Americans cough up thousands more to reach destinations throughout the United States. Its unclear how many immigrants actually hire smugglers, in part, because immigrants apprehended in Mexico report using smugglers far less than those caught by Border Patrol, according to a report by El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, a Mexican research institute. While as many as 11 percent of Central Americans have told Mexican officials they used smugglers, more than 50 percent of those apprehended by U.S. officials said they had hired a smuggler. In the spring of 2014, when the number of immigrants fleeing murderous gangs and crushing poverty spiked in the Northern Triangle countries El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras smugglers began utilizing the low-risk (to them), high-reward tactic of leaving their human cargo on the riverbank, and instructing them to seek out border agents on their own. But when Border Patrol agents found a 2-year-old girl from El Salvador near the banks of the Rio Grande in late April, left there by a smuggler, Padilla insisted there is a safer way. She could have very easily been handed over to Mexican authorities, or to authorities at the port of entry without putting her in unnecessary danger of having her cross the river, Padilla said of the toddler. Instead, the little girl was placed in an inflatable raft, then entrusted to a group of 14 immigrants about to push off the banks of the Rio Bravo, as the river is known in Mexico, to cross the narrow channel illegally. She wore a white T-shirt with the name and telephone number of her mother, living in the country illegally. The girl remains in Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement, and she is expected to be reunified with her mother soon, El Salvadors consul in McAllen said. Little Jennifer Gonzalez, meanwhile, is on the mend, and Gonzalezs husband, who is working in Dallas, has arranged for them to be smuggled across the border. But Gonzalez is not ready to leave. We cant go back, because there is nothing for us in Guatemala, she said. But Im scared to continue on. Increasingly dangerous Over the past two weeks, the frequency and variety of abuses against immigrants has grown disturbingly routine. Several days ago, a 2-year-old Honduran boy was left behind by smugglers. A Border Patrol camera captured footage of the boy wandering alone in the brush near Hidalgo. At the station, an agent found the names and telephone numbers of the childs parents on the boy. In a yet another incident, Border Patrol agents responding to a 911 call in Brooks County found a severely dehydrated 13-year-old girl and her 15-year-old sister from Mexico who had stayed with her after their smuggler left them in the unforgiving brushland. They were rushed to a Corpus Christi hospital, where the 13-year-old girl was placed on a breathing tube, which has since been removed as her health improved. Immigration authorities were overwhelmed in 2014 as smugglers directed a flood of 68,000 Central American children into the Rio Grande Valley. Since then, the government has built infrastructure and streamlined policies to better manage the sudden influx of people. What Padilla is suggesting is a further tweak. I think hes presenting an interesting option that could make some sense, said Doris Meissner, senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank. We are talking about a large majority of Central Americans who are going to pursue a claim for asylum, and presenting themselves at the port of entry does allow for a safer entry into the country. There is a precedent for large-scale processing of immigrants at ports. Customs and Border Protection officers have been processing Cuban immigrants by the thousands since 2014, paroling them into the country under the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act through ports on Texas-Mexico border. Once Cubans enter the country they can ask for asylum, which nearly all will receive. Still, the number of Central American immigrants entering Texas at official ports remains low, with roughly 3,140 crossing between October and April. And unlike Cubans, CBP processes most immigrants for expedited removal, then transfers them to Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention. By contrast, Border Patrol or ICE may release an immigrant who enters the country illegally with a notice to appear before an immigration judge. But even if immigration authorities could direct smuggling patterns on the U.S. border to international bridges, the larger goal of slowing migration at its source, especially through the governments sustained media awareness campaign in Central America, appears to be having little impact. The issues are so much bigger than those messages are going to say, said Alexis Stoumbelis, executive director of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador. Instead of focusing on helping to protect migrants, the State Department is funding ad campaigns. Record migration La 72 migrant shelter in Tenosique on Mexicos southern border has served as a barometer of sorts for the flow of Central American migration. Last month, the shelter registered a record 1,570 migrants fleeing violence and poverty, surpassing even the busiest months of 2014. Facing heavy pressure from the United States to crack down on illegal immigration at its southern border, Mexico ramped up enforcement and deportations nearly two years ago. Of the 11,500 migrants at La 72 served a year ago, 1,500 reported suffering some type of crime or human right violation by smugglers and Mexican authorities. And still it has done little to stem the tide of migrants. Observers say immigrant smugglers have adapted their methods; in some cases, they pay off authorities and in others forge new routes, at no small risk to migrants. In Tamaulipas, authorities routinely break up immigrant stash houses. The latest came in April as marines rescued 23 migrants from El Salvador, including a child. Between January and March, Mexican immigration authorities deported more than 32,200 immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. The situation is alarming, said Ramon Marquez, who runs the shelter. We havent stopped registering the systematic violation of fundamental rights. In my humble opinion, the Southern Border Plan has not only increased but legitimized and institutionalized crimes against people in transit through Mexico. Meanwhile, more than 32,000 immigrant families, a majority of them from the Northern Triangle, were caught entering the U.S. illegally between October and March, up 120 percent compared with the same six-month period a year ago. The total of 27,754 unaccompanied children apprehended since October is nearly as high as the same six-month period in 2014. For many, life in El Salvador is untenable. The country is one of the deadliest in the world, and teenagers like Brian Serrano, 14, are at the center of a brutal gang war. He watched as gangs forced his friends into their ranks, but when they came for him he stopped going to school. His mother, Iris Serrano, 30, knew they would find him soon enough. She scraped together $11,000 and began asking around for a reliable smuggler. I wasnt going to go with just anybody, she said from Sacred Heart Catholic Church in McAllen, which has for the past two years served as a temporary shelter for migrants. In mid-April, Serrano left her home in San Salvador with Brian and her 7-month-old son, Matthew. She put her faith in God when hunger pangs set in or a frigid night holed up in a stash house kept her awake, and she steeled herself to creeping fears. Now safely in Texas, she warned her sister in El Salvador from following in her footsteps. Her family had been lucky but many others suffer far worse, she reasoned. I dont want her to live that experience, she said. How many have died coming here in search of something better? But I understand, she said of the desperation spurring her countrymen to migrate, of course I do. anelsen@express-news.net Twitter: @amnelsen This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Jesus Ramirez walked along Broadway toward downtown Saturday afternoon, pushing a wheelchair that held a yellow placard emblazoned with a cannabis plant and the words Dont Fight. Make It Right. Legalize. He joined about 100 people taking part in San Antonios second annual marijuana march to build support for grass-roots efforts to ease Texas marijuana laws and decriminalize pot use. Ramirez brought the wheelchair to the event, which was hosted by the local chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), to honor his younger brother, a paraplegic who uses cannabis to relieve chronic pain. Im here because I think we need more compassion for people who are suffering, said Ramirez, 44, a former glazier who also uses cannabis to reduce pain from a neck injury that forced him to retire five years ago. Marijuana helps people cope. Why would anyone be against that? During the three-mile march that began at Brackenridge Park and ended at Pinks Patio, he joined the crowd in chanting slogans, among them The problem is the law, not the plant! and Free the weed for those in need! Richard Nino, who carried a sign reading WE WANT POT, criticized pharmaceutical companies for working to thwart marijuana reform in Texas and elsewhere. The medical drug industry has tried to fight change as much as it can, said Nino, 29, who lives in Poteet. The result of that is people arent getting the help they need. A new Texas law went into effect in January that allows people with intractable epilepsy to use cannabis oil for relief from seizures. Under the narrowly defined compassionate use program, the state will start licensing dispensaries by June of next year. Two dozen states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws to legalize marijuana to varying degrees, including limited use of cannabis to treat medical conditions. Several states have also moved to decriminalize possession of small amounts of pot. Broader efforts at loosening marijuana laws in Texas have floundered over the past decade. But Destiny Young, executive director of San Antonios NORML chapter, regards the creation of the compassionate use program and the success of initiatives in other states as reasons for optimism. The passage of the bill to help people with epilepsy shows that the work were doing to educate people is paying off, Young said. She called Saturdays rally a chance for supporters to come out of the cannabis closet. A lot of people dont even realize that you can talk about marijuana and marijuana issues openly, she said. This is a first step for people to express themselves. You dont have to be hush-hush about it. Dean Becker, a Houston radio show host for the Drug Truth Network and author of To End the War on Drugs: A Guide for Politicians, the Press and Public, urged lawmakers to pass reforms to show mercy for those suffering in silence. mkuz@expressnews.net Twitter: @MartinKuz This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON For Ted Cruz, it all came to a head outside The Mill restaurant in Marion, Indiana, site of a final campaign stop on the eve of the Hoosier State primary that would end his bid for the White House. As the junior senator from Texas headed for a waiting car, he spotted a half-dozen protesters across the street. Some were holding up signs for front-runner Donald Trump. With news cameras in tow, Cruz, a Harvard-trained lawyer, walked over to talk. What do you like about Donald Trump? he asked. Everything, said a man in sunglasses. Further efforts to engage were met with insults and jeers. Indiana dont want you, said the man in the shades. Vote Trump! he yelled as Cruz turned to leave. Everybody, vote Trump! For Cruz backers, that moment on national television encapsulates everything their candidate was up against in a Republican primary that would become shaded by all things Trump. It was emblematic, said former Cruz national spokesman Rick Tyler, who had worked closely with the campaign since its rollout 13 months ago at Liberty University, the Virginia evangelical college founded by the late televangelist Jerry Falwell. This was Ted Cruz trying to reason with a voter, like he would normally do. But this guy was not reasonable, Tyler said. He didnt want to hear anything Cruz had to say. Some Trump fans, Cruz found out, would not respond to political messages in the same way as supporters for more conventional politicians. There was something in the air. Bold colors When Cruz launched his campaign for president, in just his second year in the Senate, he asked his supporters to imagine a conservative tableau painted in bold colors, not pale pastels. As the first major candidate to announce, Cruz sensed voters appetite for a political outsider. He devised a strategy to go hard right, tea party, libertarian and, most of all, evangelical. Today, roughly half of born-again Christians arent voting. Theyre staying home, Cruz told the students at Liberty. Imagine, instead, millions of people of faith all across America coming out to the polls and voting our values. Nurtured from the same soil as Texas grass-roots tea party base, Cruz would truck down the outside lane to Washington. He would be at the head of a convoy of values voters, and he would crush an insider cartel of corrupt politicians and lobbyists. Then, on June 16, to Neil Youngs tune Rockin in the Free World, Donald Trump and his wife Melania rode down an escalator in New Yorks Trump Tower, where the flamboyant real estate mogul announced his candidacy. This is beyond anybodys expectations, Trump said. Month after month, poll after poll, those words proved to be prescient. The endgame Cruz envisioned - a showdown with an establishment conservative out of touch with the GOPs angry base - would never materialize. Instead, he got a big-haired rival with a turbocharged street-talk sensibility that ultimately trumped Cruzs prim career as a government lawyer and senator, albeit as a movement conservative. Cruz also faced a reality TV star with almost universal name recognition - the gold standard of politics. What we ended up with was a celebrity, and celebrities have fans, Tyler said. They dont have supporters. And fans dont behave the way political supporters do. Prone to error Cruz had to recalibrate, and he did. Others in the growing GOP field - notably Jeb Bush, Rick Perry and Marco Rubio - impaled themselves in a variety of attacks on the new alpha male of the Republican primaries. Cruz, instead, made a trip to the Trump Tower in July to strike a deal with the author of The Art of the Deal. He not only wouldnt go after Trump, he would defend Trumps controversial statements on immigration. The conventional wisdom was that Trump would fall under the weight of his own outsized ego and outspoken pronouncements on women, minorities, even war veterans like Sen. John McCain, a former Vietnam POW. He is prone to error, said Katie Packer, the head of Our Principles PAC, an anti-Trump group that still had hopes of blocking Trump right up until his last rival, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, quit the race on Wednesday, a day after Cruz. As the primaries neared and Cruzs poll numbers went up, he made no secret of his desire to sweep up Trumps die-hard fans. He saw no need to offend them needlessly. You wouldnt get Taylor Swift fans to get off Taylor Swift by criticizing her, Tyler said of the country and pop music star. The budding bromance, however, fizzled in December when Cruz was caught on tape at a private New York fundraiser questioning Trumps preparedness to be president. He also confessed what everyone knew to be his strategy to overtake Trump and then co-front runner Ben Carson: Smother them with love. Trump readied to counterattack. He will fall like all others, he tweeted. Cruz played down the incident, and his patience seemed to pay off in February when he won the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses. It was largely on the strength of a matchless ground operation fueled by the states strong network of evangelicals, home-schoolers and social conservatives. Some also would credit Trumps decision to boycott the GOP debate in Des Moines over a snit with Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly. Lyin Ted For one cold, stark moment, Trump looked vulnerable, and Cruzs plan seemed to be working. Then, nine days later in New Hampshire, Trump bounced back. The news got worse for Cruz later in February when Trump dominated the field in South Carolina. That upended Cruzs hopes for the much-hyped SEC Primary - the early-voting states of college sports Southeastern Conference. Texas, as expected, was good to Cruz, providing a needed boost in the delegate race. Elsewhere, Cruzs southern firewall was crumbling, and, worse, he was losing the critical evangelical demographic to Trump. To some outside the campaign, it looked like the Cruz strategy might have been too rigid. They have this idea that everybody is in a lane, said Steve Munisteri, a former Texas GOP chairman who worked on the Rand Paul campaign. They have a libertarian lane, conservative late, etc. The problem is that voters are much more complex Theyre not nearly as ideological. People look at personality, leadership, appearance. With a succession of Trump victories in February and March, the GOP race started to take on the feel of a contest for second-place, with Cruz and Rubio vying for the slot. Their growing rivalry focused mostly on their differences over immigration reform. For some Cruz partisans, it became heated to the point of distraction. Distraught at Trumps runaway success, some Cruz backers started to question his strategy, including his reluctance to focus more directly on Trump. Chief among them was Iowa radio host Steve Deace, a Cruz surrogate, who argued on the air that it was time to heed the message sent by voters in South Carolina: That message is that they want him to go back to being that alpha male conservative leader that people fell in love with. Trump helped end what was left of the unspoken truce in a series of jabs at Cruz. He got some traction resurrecting questions about Cruzs Canadian birth. He also jumped on allegations that the Texans campaign had falsely told Iowa caucus-goers that Carson was leaving the race. Thus was born Trumps oft-repeated moniker for Cruz: Lyin Ted. Cruz denied the accusation, but his campaign was buffeted by a troubling news narrative of missteps and internal turmoil, capped by Cruzs decision to fire Tyler after he posted a video falsely purporting to show Rubio denigrating the bible. Turning point Cruz got back on track in Wisconsin, this time with a huge assist from Trump. Cruzs victory, which he called a turning point, came as Trump was on the defensive about retweeting an unflattering picture of Cruzs wife, Heidi. It was an act that seemed to underscore a broader national narrative of Trumps alleged coarseness and disrespect toward women. Cruz also accused the Manhattan mogul of being behind an out-of-the-blue National Enquirer story accusing Cruz of multiple affairs. The Wisconsin victory buoyed Cruz just as he was capturing a bounty of delegates in local conventions in states such as Colorado and Wyoming that did not hold presidential preference elections. To Trump, the behind-the-scenes delegate losses to Cruz were a clear threat to his prospects of reaching the 1,237-delegate majority needed to lock down the GOP nomination. He complained bitterly about a rigged system driven by party insiders. From Cruzs perspective, it represented his central advantage over Trump. I dont think its debatable that Ted Cruz had the best ground campaign, said JoAnn Fleming, the Texas Tea Party chairwoman for Cruz. It was patterned after our 2012 Senate campaign. Ground organization, combined with a methodical, data-driven outreach operation, advanced a fundraising apparatus that raked in 1.5 million contributions averaging $60 each. While Cruz had been considered a long shot in the early days of the campaign, he became one of the best-financed candidates in a crowded GOP field. His ability to fund-raise, frankly, surprised the GOP establishment and others who were writing his obituary from the very beginning, Fleming said. Cruzs ground game, however, was no match for Trump media hype and his advantage in free or earned coverage, which has been estimated to exceed $2 billion. He was able to stay on TV all the time, Fleming said. It became the Trump show, particularly on Fox. It was hard to compete with that. It also was hard to compete with Trump in his native New York and much of the rest of the East Coast, where Cruz suffered a string of devastating defeats. Having campaigned against New York values in Iowa, Cruz had to live down the attack line in places like the Bronx and in Brooklyn, where he tried in vain to salvage a few Republican delegates. Cruzs pivot Mathematically eliminated from reaching the 1,237 threshold, Cruz was forced into a rear-guard action to stop Trump from getting the needed delegates, as well. A once-hazy strategy now was taking form: Force a contested convention in Cleveland, where Cruz organizers could poach Trump delegates who would not be committed to the billionaire after the first round of balloting. For a growing #NeverTrump movement of conservative Republicans, this was the only hope. For Cruz, it may have been the kiss of death. Cruz - the unpopular Senate rebel who wrought a government shutdown - now was cast as the establishment candidate fending off a hostile takeover of the party by the maverick billionaire. In retrospect, Cruzs pivot to being the face of the establishment was a mistake, said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. Cruz ceded the outsider mantle to Trump at the very same time the Republican bases desire for an outsider grew. As Trump closed in on the delegate threshold, it became clear that the race would come down to Indiana, back in Cruzs Midwestern comfort zone. Going all out for a final stand, Cruz cut a deal with Kasich to bow out of the Hoosier State, and then called in ex-rival Carly Fiorina as his running mate. Both moves proved controversial. Neither seemed to help. The last day of the long journey would not end with a whimper. Trump struck first with a television interview giving credence to another National Enquirer story, this one suggesting a link between Cruzs father, Cuban emigre Rafael Cruz, and the President Kennedy assassination. Hours before the polls closed on Tuesday, the 45-year-old senator stood before a gaggle of reporters and unleashed one final, blistering attack: Im gonna tell you what I really think of Donald Trump, he said. He went on to call the presumptive GOP nominee a pathological liar, a serial philanderer, and a narcissist. In his concession speech later that night, Cruz made no mention of either Trump or the Republican Party. Instead, he spoke of a movement, which now sees him as its leader. Our movement, Cruz said, will continue. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Water consumption by the 100 biggest residential users in the San Antonio Water System spiked in 2014 and remained high in 2015 despite drought restrictions on outdoor watering, a San Antonio Express-News review of SAWS records showed. By state law, public water utilities that depend on an aquifer must disclose names of the highest-consuming users, along with the amounts, when asked in an open records request. SAWS provides water to 1.7 million people, most of it drawn from the Edwards Aquifer, which was severely strained in recent years by one of the worst droughts in Texas history. The newspaper asked for records for May through November to account for outdoor watering. From 2013 to 2014, the total amount of water consumed by SAWS 100 largest users jumped from nearly 73.8 million gallons, enough for 1,486 average residential users, to more than 112 million gallons, which could supply 2,265 average users. In 2015, the top 100 used slightly less, 108 million gallons, enough for 2,176 average users. More Information The 10 biggest residential water users of 2015 1. James F. Cotter - 2,437,311 gallons 2. William E. Greehey - 2,271,231 gallons 3. Ashley Weaver - 2,207,645 gallons 4. Amy Sherill Duncan - 1,921,429 gallons 5. David and Suzette Munson - 1,817,884 gallons (leak) 6. Arturo Quintero - 1,756,541 gallons 7. Allan B. Polunsky - 1,683,976 gallons 8. Reynaldo Plascencia - 1,624,125 gallons 9. Tom Turner - 1,613,507 gallons 10. Peter M. Holt - 1,481,238 gallons The 10 highest residential water users of 2014 1. Veronica Shirk - 2,213,627 gallons (leak) 2. Alexander Zweibach - 1,755,790 gallons 3. Trinity University - 1,720,629 gallons (leak) 4. Morris A. Miller - 1,673,500 gallons (irrigation usage) 5. John Stoll - 1,559,603 gallons 6. Tom Turner - 1,547,203 gallons 7. Shalay Peterson - 1,538,095 gallons (leak) 8. Elijah Homestead LLC - 1,505,925 gallons 9. William E. Greehey - 1,502,186 gallons 10. Leslie N. Negley - 1,495,454 gallons See More Collapse The average residential user, according to SAWS, consumes 7,092 gallons a month, or 49,644 gallons over seven months. The biggest users 50 percent increase from 2013 occurred even while SAWS limited outdoor watering to only eight hours once a week because of the drop in the aquifer. SAWS does not restrict the volume of water customers can use, only the day and hours for outdoor watering. SAWS did not have an explanation for exactly why those users consumed about 35 million gallons more in 2014 and in 2015 than 2013. Water use is very variable among homes, SAWS conservation director Karen Guz said. I would have to know what was happening on those properties. SAWS records also show that the 100 biggest users consumed more even as customers overall conserved more. Per-customer water use fell from 143 gallons per day in 2011 to 121 in 2014, according to SAWS. Its wonderful that water use trended down so much over that time period, Guz said. Most of the utilitys biggest users live on large lots near others on the top 100 list, according to a review of addresses included in the records. Of the 100 entries in 2015, all but 18 live in the Dominion gated community between Interstate 10 and Camp Bullis; Hollywood Park, Hill Country Village and Shavano Park just south of Loop 1604; and Olmos Park and Terrell Hills, near downtown. Fifteen asked SAWS not to reveal their addresses. The No. 1 user in 2015 was James F. Cotter, president of commercial real estate company Cotter & Sons, who lives in the Dominion and used more than 2.4 million gallons in seven months. Cotter has appeared on list every year since 2012. He did not respond to a phone message. NuStar Energy chairman and philanthropist William Bill Greehey came in at No. 2 in 2015 for his Dominion home. Greehey also made the list all four years and used the most in 2015, 2.3 million gallons. In response to the newspapers questions, Greeheys irrigation contractor Paul Newsome of Newsome Sprinklers sent a letter April 27 saying Greeheys irrigation system had high pressure and at least two leaks. High pressure can cause damage and can leak more water through holes in the system, Newsome said. We feel that this is more than likely the biggest cause for high water usage at this residence for at least the last (nine to) 12 months, the letter stated. Newsome wrote that his company audited Greeheys system and found no excessive watering schedule. He plans to install a pressure regulator. No. 3 for 2015 was the Olmos Park home of James C. Rad and Ashley Weaver. Rad Weaver is CEO of McCombs Partners, the investment strategies arm of the business run by billionaire B.J. Red McCombs. In 2009, the Weavers bought the historic Kiddie Park on Broadway. Calls to their home and a message left at Kiddie Park were not returned. Other businessmen that made the lists in 2014 and 2015 were former AT&T and General Motors CEO Edward Ed Whitacre, billionaire oil tycoon Rod Lewis and Gunn Automotive Group chairman Curtis Gunn Jr. Several on the list have San Antonio Spurs affiliations, including construction equipment dealer HoltCAT CEO and longtime Spurs majority shareholder Peter Holt, who through a spokesman declined to comment. Amy Sherrill Duncan, who split from Spurs star Tim Duncan in 2014, was No. 4 in 2015 and made the list for the fourth year in a row. Efforts to reach her at her Hill Country Village home were not successful. Former Spurs player David Robinsons home in Shavano Park also made the list, though under his wife Valeries name. She did not return a message left with an agent. In 2014, the couple said they would sell the home and move into a penthouse near downtown. The Shavano Park home is still listed for sale. Former Spurs player-turned-commentator Sean Elliott made the list, No. 85, in 2015 for the first time since 2012, when he told the newspaper he and his wife, former Express-News health columnist Claudia Zapata, would conserve more water. SAWS records indicate they cut their use to 851,055 gallons, half what it was four years ago. Mike Beldon, chairman of Beldon Roofing, former chairman of the Edwards Aquifer Authority and the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, and a big proponent of conservation, said publishing the names of SAWS biggest water users is not an effective way to encourage conservation. Beldon does not appear on any big user lists. San Antonio needs to attract more high-wage jobs, and people in those positions often want to live in the kind of homes that require high water use, he said. Youre going to have executives who come to San Antonio, and they feel like theyre going to be picked on in the newspaper because they water their lawn, he said. St. Marys University School of Law professor Amy Hardberger, who specializes in water law and policy, said there are some indirect ties between certain attitudes about water consumption and SAWS quest for additional supplies besides the Edwards Aquifer to serve what is a semi-arid growing city. Its just this general notion that people should be able to move here and live as they want, including having sloping green lawns, as long as they can pay for it, she said. The reality is, as a region, thats just not possible. More expensive water The utility is building the first phase of a plant to treat salty groundwater in South Bexar County. By 2020, SAWS wants to add its biggest water project to date, the planned Vista Ridge pipeline that would deliver water from 142 miles away in Burleson County. Though the utility hopes to sell a portion of Vista Ridge water to other cities in the Interstate 35 corridor, SAWS and the projects supporters say it must add more water for the additional 1 million residents San Antonio is projected to gain by 2025. If we dont, people 50 years from now will look back and say, What were you guys thinking? Beldon said. Those two projects alone will cost more than $1 billion, not counting interest on debt, among the most expensive in its history and far more than water pumped from the Edwards. SAWS has consistently raised rates overall and plans more increases to fund those projects and others, such as required sewer upgrades and maintenance. New SAWS rates approved in November favors low water use: the price per 100 gallons of water rises in tiers from 6 cents to 40 cents as use increases. Beldon said sending a price signal is the best way to encourage conservation. I think if youre going to use a lot of water, youre going to pay a lot of money on it, he said. Hardberger does not think capping the amount an individual can use would be effective, citing the difficulty of choosing the limit and enforcing the rules. She said the city needs to do more to require conservation through land-use ordinances. One member of the City Council, Ron Nirenberg of District 8, thinks once-a-week irrigation watering should be made year-round to instill conservation even when there isnt a drought. In August, he proposed that in a memo to council members, but the idea did not take hold. In Austin, it did. On Thursday, the city council there voted to allow sprinkler irrigation just once a week year-round. Such limits could become more widespread as, some climatologists predict, droughts become more common and worse. The most recent drought started in late 2010 to early 2011 and became one of the most severe and long-lasting here and in vast sections of the Texas, rivaling a record-setting one in the 1950s. Under Edwards Aquifer Authority regulations that required all users to cut pumping more and more as the aquifer dropped, SAWS mandated stage 2 (once a week) watering restrictions for all or much of 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. SAWS, which can ticket violators, said 14,547 citations were issued from January 2012 to December 2015, when the aquifer finally recovered and watering limits ended. The number of citations per year held steady through during most of the drought, then dropped in 2015. SAWS issued 4,482 citations in 2012, 4,193 in 2013 and 4,461 in 2014. In 2015, the utility sent out 1,408 citations, a decline that SAWS communications vice president Gavino Ramos attributed to increased rainfall and the end of drought restrictions. When it rains a lot, people turn off their irrigation completely in San Antonio, he said. We had some favorable weather in there that led to less irrigation going off. We were also out of restrictions for a while in 2015. Leaks and errors SAWS also sends out alerts to customers if someone reports a possible leak or water being wasted. SAWS maintains an online form where people can do so anonymously. The alerts are nonthreatening letters, phone calls or emails saying, there might be a problem; these are the rules, said Guz, the conservation director. I like to think that all of these alerts people receive are preventing them from getting a ticket, she said. The number of SAWS alerts has steadily dropped over four years, according to SAWS records: 10,570 in 2012, 7,288 in 2013, 6,489 in 2014 and 4,019 in 2015. Some of the people who appeared on the biggest 100 user lists say leaks put them there, not chronic water use on a grand scale. A few, including Rex Wilcox No. 23 on the list and Ellen Swann Van Delden No. 31, blame SAWS billing mistakes in full or in part. In fact, when the Express-News first requested the top 100 list for 2015, No. 1 was a one-story ranch home on a small lot on the far Northeast Side with no swimming pool or water-hungry landscaping. SAWS data showed the customer used nearly 30 million gallons in seven months, 12 times that of Cotter, the actual No. 1 user that year. A woman who answered the door at the house said her landlord had received an outrageously high SAWS bill last summer but was eventually able to negotiate with the utility to have it reduced. (SAWS later corrected the top 100 list and removed that house.) Hundreds of SAWS customers were also hit with inaccurate bills, a result of errors in meter reading and estimating by the utilitys staff. SAWS said it would have to spend at least $1 million to credit customer accounts. The utility has since improved its people, processes and technology to ensure nearly all meters are being read directly instead of estimating, SAWS analyst Dan Crowley said. Some customers didnt have billing errors as a defense. Elisea Floyd, who with her husband Guy Floyd came in at No. 24 on the 2015 list, said the couple returned from a trip last summer to find a river in the backyard. An irrigation line there had leaked while they were away, Floyd said, spilling enough water to earn the couple a bill about 25 times higher than normal. A similar problem landed Trinity University at No. 3 on the 2014 list for a home on Oakmont Court that was converted into office space. The university uses SAWS recycled water on the property, but an old, capped irrigation line leaked treated water that year, assistant vice president Sharon Jones Schweitzer said. Instead of pooling on the property, the water percolated into the rock below and disappeared, Schweitzer said. Trinitys facilities workers did not find the leak until the university received a curiously high SAWS bill. The leak was soon repaired, she said. We got to it as quickly as we could, she said. Its unfortunate it got us on this list. Guz said SAWS offers free conservation advice to help individual customers find ways to save water. An irrigation system can use between 2,000 and 5,000 gallons in just 20 minutes, she said, adding thats not an estate-sized home. Were talking a more typical property. Her conservation team also works with homeowners associations to offer the consultations. Guz called them neighborhood sweeps and she usually receives a response from 10 to 12 percent of the residents. The utility recently did sweeps in the North Side neighborhoods of Rogers Ranch and Inverness and has plans to do them in Olmos Park and Terrell Hills, she said. When we target these higher-use neighborhoods, the higher the water use, the more we save, she said. bgibbons@express-news.net Twitter: @bgibbs A woman will soon wield the gavel at Kerrville City Hall, where the good-old-boy network was an issue among voters, while Fair Oaks Ranch residents sent Mayor Cheryl Landman packing in favor of Garry Manitzas. Other high-profile ballot measures in areas outlying San Antonio saw voters approve issuing bonds to fund facility upgrades in the Boerne Independent School District and Medina Valley ISD. Im really overwhelmed, Kerrville Councilwoman Bonnie White said of her victory over Glenn Andrew in the race to succeed Jack Pratt as mayor. My platform of transparency and citizen involvement resonated, said White, the only woman on council, who often clashed with Pratt since being elected last May. I heard many, many times from voters that theyre tired of the good old boy system and they want the citizens to have a voice, she said Saturday night. Andrew, who was endorsed by Pratt, couldnt be reached for comment. In Fair Oaks Ranch, Manitzas elected to city council last year as an agent of change soundly defeated Landman, who served 10 years on council before becoming mayor in 2010. Manitzas, backed by the grassroots group Save Fair Oaks Ranch, touted his business skills while campaigning on a platform of increased transparency and accountability at City Hall. Neither he nor Landman could be reached after the final results were in. Boerne ISD voters overwhelmingly backed issuing $175 million in bonds election to fund construction of two new elementary school campuses, a middle school and other improvements. We are gratified by these results and pledge to be excellent stewards of the resources and the trust placed in us by the voters of the district, said Superintendent David Stelmazewski. The facilities are needed due to enrollment growth thats forecast to add 4,400 students by 2026 in the district that now has 7,900 students. In Castroville, home to Medina Valley ISD, voters soundly supported issuing $78 million in bonds in the face of forecasts that its enrollment, now at 4,500, will steadily increase. Plans call for building a new elementary school and a new middle school, and to expand the capacity of the high school in Castroville. The need was clearly evident, school board President Roland Ruiz said, citing strong voter support for the bonds. Its a positive outcome for the district and the community. zeke@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Theres a false media narrative out there about Donald Trump. Not the one about how the presumptive Republican presidential nominee gets his orange complexion by consuming four bags of Cheetos a day. Or the one about how his phones ringtone is a snippet of Im Too Sexy. I just made those up. No, the false narrative Im talking about concerns Trumps performance in the March 1 Texas primary. In the two months since Donnie With the Bad Hair finished second to Ted Cruz in the Texas race, weve seen a spate of stories about how well the brash billionaire performed in heavily Latino border communities. Each of these stories have suggested that Trumps hawkish stance on immigration (including his promises to deport more than 11 million undocumented immigrants and force Mexico to build a border wall) did not deter Latinos from voting for him. The implication is that Latinos agree with Trump. Last Sundays Los Angeles Times devoted 1,700 words to an examination of how Trumps immigration positions appealed to Texas Latinos. The Washington Post stated that the primary results along the Texas border would suggest that something about Trumps message say his support for a border wall resonated there. The Guardian looked at Trumps success in Laredo and came to this conclusion: A candidate who has described Mexicans as rapists and criminals and whose core immigration plan is to make Mexico pay for a giant wall ought not to prosper on the Southern border. Yet Donald Trump was embraced by voters in Americas most Hispanic city. A March 2 Breitbart headline proclaimed, Trump Wins Along Border Where Wall Would Be Built. The next day, Bloomberg served this up: The Border Votes for the Wall. In fact, the border did no such thing. Yes, its true that four of the six Texas counties that Trump carried were along the border, and anecdotal evidence suggests that at least a few Latino Democrats crossed over and voted for him. But lets look a little closer at what those victories really tell us. In Zapata County, Trump triumphed with a whopping 34 votes out of 86 cast in the GOP primary. By comparison, the Democratic turnout in that county was 2,906, with Hillary Clinton Trumps likely general-election opponent receiving 1,973 votes. In other words, Clinton received 58 times as many votes as Trump in Zapata County, and the media somehow interpreted it as evidence that Latinos on the border are clamoring for a wall. In Webb County, Trump received 1,427 out of 4,089 GOP votes. The Democratic turnout in that race was 25,826, with Clinton garnering 18,559 votes. That means Clinton received 13 times as many votes there as Trump. In Terrell and Hudspeth, the other two border counties carried by Trump, the ratios were less extreme, but turnout still leaned Democratic. Trump won Terrell with only 50 votes (out of 118 cast) and Hudspeth with 76 votes (out of 186). Can we really draw major conclusions from turnout numbers that are comparable to what wed see with a Von Ormy City Council runoff? The enduring lesson for all of us should be that we dont learn a whole lot from Republican primary results in overwhelmingly Democratic counties, and vice versa. After all, I didnt see any 2014 stories proclaiming that Lyndon LaRouche acolyte Kesha Rogers is beloved in the panhandle community of Hutchinson County, simply because she won a plurality there with 49 votes in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate. If were looking for more telling information about Trumps relationship with Latinos, consider the Gallup Poll that showed his unfavorable rating at 77 percent, compared to only 12 percent favorable. Consider the Latino Decisions poll that found 76 percent of Latinos leaning toward Clinton, with only 11 percent for Trump. Consider Arizona Sen. John McCain fretting in a private conversation with supporters that Trumps presence at the head of the GOP ticket has the Latino community roused and angry in a way that Ive never seen in 30 years. Deep down, Trump knows all of this. Thats why he celebrated Cinco de Mayo with a laughably clumsy pandering effort, tweeting about the quality of the taco bowls at the Trump Tower Grill and gushing, I love Hispanics! At least for now, the feeling isnt mutual. ggarcia@express-news.net Twitter: @gilgamesh470 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate When community activist Andy Hernandez was a young boy, he learned a lesson at La Trinidad United Methodist Church that continues to resonate with him more than 50 years later. I was 9 or 10 and I was in Sunday school. I still remember the teachers name: Senora Anita Real, said Hernandez, 63. She asked us, Is it Gods will for children to go hungry? It was a slow pitch. Of course its not Gods will that children go hungry, we answered. Then it shouldnt be ours, she said. Ill never forget it, said the former president of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project. Its what got me involved in politics, in social justice issues. My faith led me to an involvement in politics, and my political involvement has strengthened my faith. Its a full circle. Hernandezs life-changing memories echoed many of those recounted May 1 during a celebration of the churchs 140th anniversary. More than 350 people packed the historic church on the near West Side for the 11 a.m. service. Many had spent a pleasant hour before at a reception in the church gym, browsing albums filled with photos and memorabilia dating back to the early 1900s. I remember this, said Yolanda Mendoza Rivera, 75, smiling as she pointed to a faded photo from the 1960s showing an outdoor service. When the pastoral house moved to King William, there was construction going on where it used to be, and we would have the service outside. I remember people would pass by before it started and ask, Van hacer los hallelujahs? she recalled, laughing. I guess we were loud. Men and women around her smiled and nodded their heads, remembering. Shared history seems the bedrock of this thriving church. Unlike some, shrinking as their congregations age, La Trinidad is flourishing. Children of all ages, young parents, middle-age professionals, grandparents and even great-grandparents are active members. Maybe weve found the fountain of youth, joked Alex Gonzalez, 75, who directed the churchs youth group for more than 50 years. He wasnt the only one to say that. Clemencia Villarreal, 85, joined the church in 1956. Shes a relative newcomer, considering that many of the families count ancestors among the eight generations who have worshiped there. The church means the world to me, she said, beaming, echoing a frequent comment that morning. My husband was born in the church. And we were married here. My children were baptized here and were in the youth choir. In a particularly moving part of the music-filled service, Marion David Tafolla donated a 1906 Spanish-language Book of Discipline, the Methodist guide to doctrine and church organization, to La Trinidad. It was used by his forebear, Santiago Tafolla, the church pastor from 1905 to 1911, then passed down from generation to generation. I never knew the true value of it until I got a good look at it, Tafolla said. The small maroon volume will occupy a place of honor in a room being renovated for the churchs archives, Pastor John P. Feagins said. Its not leaving the Tafolla family, he said. Its just exchanging stewards so it can be enjoyed by everybody. The book has an inscription by Santiago Tafolla, asking that it be returned if found. Le suplico que se acuerde del 8 mandamiento, he wrote, meaning, I beseech you to remember the 8th commandment (Do not steal). The church started in 1876 as the San Antonio Mexican Mission, the first Latin-American Methodist congregation organized in San Antonio. It was a Spanish-language church until the 1990s. Its now truly bilingual; at services, everyone switches easily from one language to the other during preaching, congregational responses and singing. Its a diverse congregation, said David Feagins, 17, the pastors son. Its quite familial. Theres always someone to talk to, someone to welcome you, warm food to eat. We enjoy being together. dfuentes@express-news.net In America, weve learned that when we work toward a common goal, we can do anything. As a nation, our melting-pot diversity fuels our engine. But its frustrating when youre doing everything you can to be seen but still remain invisible. Or visible under a weird, uncomfortable light. Express-News Staff Writer Elda Silva recently wrote about the National Association for Latino Arts and Cultures 30th Regional Arts Training Workshop. One issue the artists talked about was how Latino artists are underrepresented, even in places with a significant Latino population. One artist, Vincent Valdez, spoke of the lack of Latino representation in the arts world and the way Latino issues are viewed politically. It seems like the only presence Latinos have in this country politically speaking is when it comes to immigration, and I think that here the saying Art imitates life, really rings true. For a lot of people, Latinos are immigrants or at least the Johnny Come Lately kids or grandkids of immigrants. Theyre the reason we have to enter 1 for English and 2 for Spanish. Theyre either a downtrodden necessity or a heavy burden and not much else. One would think this group was hard to come by seen outside the overburdened emergency room. This, of course, isnt true; Latinos are everywhere in America and have been for many generations. Immigration isnt as big a deal to a lot of us as those who think they know the metrics of the political world would have everyone believe, but being lumped into a huge non-English speaking, one-issue voting bloc is. A lot of us are charting the course of that aforementioned American engine. A lot of us dont even speak Spanish, but a lot of us speak English and Spanish. We write in them, too. And we create art that stirs the human heart and inspires the human mind. But youd be hard-pressed finding them in lead roles in Hollywood even though we dont live in a world where everyone looks like the cast of Mothers Day. Thats not a dig at Jennifer Anniston, Julia Roberts or Kate Hudson; theyre all very beautiful, of course, but they arent the cast of everyday life in America. This is important because motion pictures are kind of the apex predator in the arts world. Hollywoods offerings eventually get to all of us. And when the art that stirs our American hearts and inspires our American minds fails to mirror our American truth, theres going to be a problem in how we see ourselves. And it affects where we are going. No one group should have to rally to be represented in the arts, because when that happens it creates an us-vs.-them dynamic that is too often going to cast the underrepresented as the squeaky wheel. But the reality is that money is what often makes art possible. Its the duty of the curators, directors and gatekeepers of the art world to see that we stay balanced in what were presented. Because while art imitates life, how we perceive life is too often skewed by what we get to see. mariaanglin@yahoo.com It was always going to be a rough road for first-term Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas to secure the GOP presidential nomination. But he had a plan to mine evangelical voters, to position himself as the most conservative candidate, to be tough on immigration and to tap into those frustrated by what he termed the Washington cartel. And it worked for a time. Before his withdrawal from the race Tuesday after yet another drubbing by Donald Trump (in the Indiana primary), he had won 11 state primaries or caucuses and was the great Texas hope for the anyone-but-Trump crowd. But Trump, a candidate whose pronouncements would have sunk less celebritized candidates, has tapped into something greater. That would be a yearning among GOP voters for someone even more outsider than Cruz has billed himself to be. And, in this, Cruzs candidacy grudgingly endorsed in the later stages by establishment candidates points to an evolving truth for the Republican Party. And a path ahead, post-Trump. Even a guy who was a ringleader in shutting down the federal government in 2013 could not sell himself as an outsider. This points to a deeper frustration among GOP voters with their party, its leaders and their direction. Cruz was mistaken to have entered the presidential race. He lacked the experience and the temperament. As a senator, he has consistently mistaken obstruction for leadership. He mistook advantages in a crowded field to be a preference for him. And he has worn his colleagues scorn as a badge of honor rather than reading it as an inability to get anything done by compromise and collegiality, the very essence of politics if meaningful public policy is the goal. But the promise of Trump is precisely that he will get things done. That he will defy the considerable forces arrayed against substantive change and make deals and protect the entitlements that the party has said it wants to diminish. We doubt the ability of a President Trump to deliver given his character and policy flaws, but this is his allure. In the early stages, Cruz refused to take the bait as did other GOP candidates and get down in the mud with Trump. But as the number of candidates winnowed, he went there and relished it way too much. We didnt think it was possible for a candidate to position himself to the right of pre-campaign Cruz. But Cruz managed to do that, to himself on immigration, on wanting to learn if sand can glow in the dark and on barring Muslim refugees but allowing in Christians. He was seemingly in a race to out-outrage Trump. House Speaker Paul Ryan has been trying to craft a workable, constructive, non-finger-pointing plan of GOP governance. This is the path ahead for the party not constant bomb throwing. Its a lesson Cruz can learn. Cruz can best serve his Texas constituents remember them, Senator? by returning to the Senate to do the job they elected him to do. That wasnt running for president. The state has always needed two senators. Shropshire A Full-Time position is available for an assistant herdsperson on a family dairy farm in mid Shropshire. We have a 250 dairy herd rearing own replacements together with a b... Bragg soldiers say barracks they're being relocated to also have mold Some Smoke Bomb Hill soldiers say barracks they're being relocated to are just as bad as the ones that were deemed substandard. Pamela Anderson sold selfies for $500 at an event last week. Brandon Lee and Pamela Anderson at the Champions of Jewish Values International Awards Gala The former 'Baywatch' actress attended the Champions of Jewish Values International Awards Gala on Thursday (05.05.16) with 19-year-old son Brandon and reportedly made the affair, which was held in New York, a profitable one as she auctioned off the chance to have pictures with her for the three-figure sum. The 48-year-old star - who has previously visited Tel Aviv and Jerusalem - praised Israel's efforts on "conservation" and then made a speech about ecology. However, according to the New York Post newspaper's Page Six column, some attendees were unimpressed by the serious tone of the evening. One guest reportedly said: "This feels like a climate-change conference." Meanwhile, the blonde beauty - who also has 18-year-old son Dylan with ex-husband Tommy Lee - has donated $50,000 to The National Domestic Violence Hotline (The Hotline) on behalf of the Pamela Anderson Foundation. The money will be used by the organisation to support their work in educating and providing resources to parents who are experiencing abuse, as well expanding the online resources available for parents in abusive relationships, and Pamela is "delighted" to help. She said in a statement: "I've had an opportunity to meet the men and women who, day in and day out, offer compassion and information to anyone who needs help with domestic violence. As the mother of two children, I am delighted to know that our donation will help ensure that other parents seeking help and information will continue to find that trusted resource at The Hotline." The 'Barb Wire' actress previously donated $60,000 to The Hotline when she visited their headquarters last year. Victoria Beckham won't do any more magazine cover shoots because she is an "old bag". Victoria Beckham The 42-year-old fashion designer has admitted she thinks she is too old to be on the front page of glossy publications, although she has made the same claim before and later appeared on another spread. Speaking to The Sun newspaper at the Vogue 100: A Century of Style exhibition held at London's National Portrait Gallery on Thursday (05.05.16), the brunette beauty said: "When I hear another Vogue cover has come up, I always say, 'This is the last one, because I'm a bit of an old bag now. Surely this is the last one? I'm 42, I've got four kids.'" Meanwhile, the mother of four - who has sons Brooklyn, 17, Romeo, 13, Cruz, 11, and daughter Harper, four, with husband David, 41, - revealed she had the largest budget to spend on clothes in comparison to her former 'Spice Girls' band mates, Emma Bunton, Geri Horner, Mel C and Mel B. She admitted: "I was always the one that loved fashion and it was quite a result for me because the girls always used to get their clothes for free because they were c**p and so there was a lot of budget for me to have my little Gucci dress." Victoria admitted she was always the "sensible" member of the band and never felt comfortable with their wild antics, although she blamed her controlled behaviour on her skimpy mini dresses and knee high platform heels. She said: "When all the other girls were being fun and spontaneous and jumping on tables, I was always the one checking the table wasn't going to collapse. I was always the sensible one. "Luckily because I used to wear heels, I just used to jig about a bit and I got away with it." We are now just a couple of days away until Cannes Film Festival 2016 gets underway - and the festival has brought together another fantastic programme of films, directors, writers, and actors. Money Monster Cannes is one of the biggest and most prestigious festivals on the calendar and we are going to be treated to a whole host of movies of different genres from around the world. Today we are taking a closer look at some of the female filmmakers and the movies that they are showcasing at the festival. - Andrea Arnold - American Honey Andrea Arnold is one of the most exciting British female directors and she is about to return with her latest film American Honey, which will compete for the Palme d'Or at the festival. American Honey is the fourth feature film of her career and comes after success with Red Road, Fish Tank and Wuthering Heights, which was her last movie back in 2011. As well as being in the director's chair, Arnold has also penned the film's screenplay. I am a huge fan of Arnold's previous work and it is always exciting when one of her movies is on the horizon. Sasha Lane is set to take on the central role of Star in the film and is joined on the cast list by Shia LaBeouf, Riley Keough, McCaul Lombardi, and Arielle Holmes. Star (Lane), a teenage girl from a troubled home runs away with a travelling sales crew that drives across the American mid-west selling magazine subscriptions door to door. Finding her feet in this gang of teenagers, one of whom is Jake (LaBeouf), she soon gets into the group's lifestyle of hard partying, law-bending and young love. Arnold is no stranger to Cannes, having twice won the Jury Prize for Red Road and Fish Tank. Could this be the year she finally wins the Palme d'Or? - Nicole Garcia - From the Land of the Moon Nicole Garcia is another female filmmaker who is in the mix for this year's Palme d'Or, as she returns to the director's chair with her latest film Mal De Pierres (From the Land of the Moon). From the Land of the Moon is a big screen adaptation of the novel by Milena Agus and has been adapted into a screenplay by Garcia and Jacques Fieschi. Garcia has brought us movies such as The Adversary, Charlie Says and A View of Love but this is her first feature film since Going Away back in 2013. She has assembled a fantastic cast as Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard takes on the central role of Gabrielle. Louis Garrel and Alex Brendemuhl are also on board. Set after World War II, From the Land of the Moon is set over twenty years and follows Gabrielle, a free-spirited woman who is in a loveless marriage when she falls for another man. Garcia has been nominated for the Palme d'Or on two other occasions for The Adversary and Charlie Says but has never won. She is going to be a strong contender again this year. - Maren Ade - Toni Erdmann Maren Ade is back in the director's chair with her latest feature film Toni Erdmann and will join Andrea Arnold and Nicole Garcia in the battle to win this year's Palme d'Or. Toni Erdmann is the third feature film of Ade's directing career and comes after success with The Forest for the Trees and Everyone Else. However, it has been seven years since we have seen her in the director's chair as Everyone Else was released back in 2009. As well as being in the director's chair, Ade has also penned the screenplay for Toni Erdmann. The film sees the director team up with actor Peter Simonischek, who takes on the title role in the film. Sandra Huller will play his daughter while Lucy Russell and Hadewych Minis are also on board. The movie follows Toni as he tries to reconnect with his daughter. He begins to play pranks on her after finding her too self-serious. Ade's work has won awards at the Sundance Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival but she has never competed for the Palme d'Or. - Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin - The Stopover Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin have reunited for their new film The Stopover, which will screen out of competition as part of the Un Certain Regard section of the festival. The Stopover is the second feature film for Delphine and Muriel, who teamed up with write and direct 17 Girls back in 2011. As well as being in the director's chair for The Stopover, the filmmaking sisters have also showed off their writing skills once again. SoKo, Ariane Labed, Ginger Roman, and Karim Leklou have come together to take on the central roles. The Stopover follows two French soldiers who take three days leave to Cyprus after finishing their tour of Afghanistan. The Coulin sisters are no strangers to the Cannes Film Festival with 17 Girls playing there in 2011. The Stopover is set to premiere at the festival later this month. - Jodie Foster - Money Monster Jodie Foster is as exciting a filmmaker as she is an actress and she is back in the director's chair with her latest movie Money Monster. Money Monster is one of the big American movies to play at the festival this year, alongside The Nice Guys and The BFG. Money Monster is the fourth feature film of Foster's career and the first since The Beaver back in 2011. This time, Foster teams up with Oscar winners George Clooney and Julia Roberts - it is good to see these two actors sharing the screen once again. Jack O'Connell, Dominic West, and Giancarlo Esposito complete a very exciting cast list. In the taut and tense thriller Money Monster, Lee Gates (Clooney) is a bombastic TV personality whose popular financial network show has made him the money wiz of Wall Street. But after he hawks a high-tech stock that mysteriously crashes, an irate investor (O'Connell) takes Gates, his crew, and his ace producer Patty Fenn (Roberts) hostage live on air. Unfolding in real time, Gates and Fenn must find a way to keep themselves alive while simultaneously uncovering the truth behind a tangle of big money lies. Foster is just one of a number of high profile actors in the director's chair this year and I cannot wait to see what she delivers with Money Monster. Cannes Film Festival 2016 runs from 11th - 22nd May. by Helen Earnshaw for www.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on Azealia Banks thinks TV and movies are boring because of censorship. Azealia Banks The outspoken rap star - who is best-known for her frequent Twitter spats - has endorsed Donald Trump as the next President of the United States and responded to claims that his policies are racist by saying narrow-minded attitudes are woven into the fabric of American society. She wrote on Twitter: "I REALLY want Donald Trump to win the election. "I told you guys [Democratic Presidential candidate] Bernie Sanders didn't have the clout. i told you all he wasn't going to be the nominee. (sic)" The '212' hitmaker responded to claims made against Trump by saying racism was part of America's identity. She tweeted: "Racism/Racialism is sewn into the fabric of our nation. It's just who the f**k we are." Azealia also blasted censorship generally, saying it was responsible for the decline of TV and the movie business. She explained: "Trying to be all PC and pretending as if we aren't racial/racist is not good for culture. Censorship is boring. "Censorship is trash. Television and Movies are even boring now because of it. No one can say anything anymore. (sic)" The Twitter rant comes shortly after the rapper launched a foul-mouthed tirade against Australia's Iggy Azalea, who criticised Beyonce for supposedly poking fun at "stereotypical white names" like Becky on her new album 'Lemonade'. In response to Iggy's claim, the New York-born star said: "YOU CALLED YOURSELF A RUNAWAY SLAVE MASTER, YOU SILLY WHITE B***H. STAY OUT OF GROWN FOLKS BUSINESS. "Igloo is the f**king dumbest most condescending white b***h on the face of the earth. She honestly is just so f***ing dumb and delusional. "Who asked her white ass to say anything? You are not invited to this conversation Rebecca. (sic)" Stephanie Davis is "moving on" after split with Jeremy McConnell. Jeremy McConnell and Stephanie Davis The 23-year-old former 'Hollyoaks' actress - who began a tumultuous relationship with the Irish model during this year's 'Celebrity Big Brother' - has admitted she "sacrificed" everything for her romance with Jeremy, 26, and has publicly announced she is now taking the time to focus on herself. Speaking on the Irish radio show SPIN 1038 on Saturday (07.05.16), the blonde beauty - who is set to return to her former brunette hair colour later this week during a trip to Ireland - said: "I'm moving on now. I have always put him first. "I sacrificed everything for love. This only happened last night so it is really raw ... You have to give up and walk away at some point. "I'm getting back to myself again, putting myself first again and having a good time." The couple broke up this week after Stephanie revealed her former beau had exchanged private messages with model Mia Portman. Following the pair's split the tattoo covered heartthrob swiftly contacted the former 'Geordie Shore' star Vicky Pattison over social media, although Stephanie understands why he did it. Speaking about Jeremy's heartless action, she said: "Half an hour after we split up he was tweeting Vicky Pattison. I've stood by him through everything and there's been a lot of accusations ... In a weird way it is out of love. He loved me that much he is trying to hurt me, trying to get a reaction out of me. It's heart breaking." And Stephanie has since been informed of more alleged cheating rumours. Talking about further claims Jeremy has been unfaithful, she said: "I have been sent more [messages]. He swore that they weren't true so I've obviously believed him. But I have had the wool pulled over my eyes." Despite the numerous rows, which has seen the couple endure a number of break ups and make-ups, Stephanie has admitted she is still infatuated with the lothario. She said: "It's hurtful, if anyone that knows me knows I love Jeremy and I wouldn't hurt him. "I tried and tried and tried. I am the biggest believer in love. He pushes everyone away. "I am still in love with him and I'll never stop. It's messed with my head." Meanwhile Stephanie feels completely isolated, after she fell out with her family following the whirlwind romance, and she has not returned home in six months. She said: "I just feel like I've got no one, it's really sad. The only person was Jez." Moments ago at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, WBC middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez made a successful defense of his title, defeating former world champion Amir Khan via 6th round knockout. Although Khan was competitive in the first few rounds, he was unable to stay away from the power of Canelo, who landing a crushing right hand to bring an end to the night. Relive all the action in FightHype's round-by-round results! ROUND 1 Both fighters fall short with their jabs. Khan jabs to the stomach. Canelo lands a shot that gets the crowd's attention. Hard body shot lands for Canelo. Khan circles. Quick left lands for Khan. Another jab to the body lands for Khan. Canelo backs him up to the ropes. They trade lefts. Canelo stalking. Good left hook lands for Canelo. Round to Canelo. Canelo 10 Khan 9 ROUND 2 Khan lands a jab. Canelo chasing him down. Quick combo from Khan, but he punches fall short. Canelo swings a wild left hook that misses. Khan lands a nice 1-2. Good right to the body for Canelo. Stiff jab to the body for Canelo. Khan answers. Short right lands for Canelo. Couple of jabs land for Khan. Nice 1-2 lands for Kha. 1-2 gets through for Khan. Round to Khan. Canelo 19 Khan 19 ROUND 3 The crowd is chanting, "Canelo! Canelo! Canelo!" Hard left hook lands for Canelo. Canelo backs him up to the ropes. Khan escapes behind some jabs. 1-2 from Khan. Right to the body lands for Canelo. Stiff jab lands for Canelo. Another right to the body for Canelo. 1-2 lands for Khan upstairs. Left hook lands for Canelo. Another 1-2 from Khan. Right hand counter lands for CAnelo. Nice 1-2 lands for Khan. Close round, but I give it to Khan. Canelo 28 Khan 29 ROUND 4 Left hook from Canelo backs Khan up. Left to the body lands for Canelo. 1-2 from Khan. Canelo returns a right to the body. Left hook lands for Canelo. Khan circles and lands a jab. Another left hook upstairs lands for Canelo. Nice 1-2 lands for Khan. Jab lands for Khan. Overhand right lands for Khan. A couple of jabs land for Khan. Jab lands for Canelo. Another close round that I give to Khan. Canelo 37 Khan 39 ROUND 5 Left hook lands for Canelo. Khan gets off a 1-2. Canelo misses with a wild left hook. 1-2 from Khan. Canelo just headhunting. Right to the body lands for Canelo, but Khan knocks his head back with a left. 1-2 from Khan. Right hand lands for Canelo. Uppercut from Canelo. 1-2 from Khan. Stiff jab lands for Canelo. Uppercut from Canelo. Canelo fires a right to the body. 1-2 from Khan. Round to Canelo. Canelo 47 Khan 48 ROUND 6 HARD left hook from Canelo gets Khan's attention. Best punch of the night for Canelo. 1-2 lands for Khan. Canelo lands a jab. Another. Overhand right lands for Khan. HUGE right lands fo rCanelo and Khan is down. He's asleep on the canvas. That's it. It's over. THE WINNER BY WAY OF KNOCKOUT...CANELO ALVAREZ [ Follow Ben Thompson on Twitter @fighthype ] No matter how big a star Aamir Khan is, the actor is still below his mother and she has moulded him to be the man that he is today. In a super sweet gesture on Mother's Day, Aamir Khan, took a break from his busy schedule and flew down to Nagpur so he could spend the whole day with his mother. Check out pictures of Aamir Khan with his mother Zeenat Hussain here! A source close to Aamir Khan was quoted as saying, "Despite his busy schedule, he has taken time off today to spend the day with his mom. Aamir has asked his team to not fix up any meetings for him on Sunday so he can spend all day at his mom's place in Bandra. He has always been a doting son to his mom. No work for Aamir today - it's just Aamir, the son who will be with his mother." Hilarious! These Funny Pictures Of Aishwarya Rai Can Make You Laugh Aamir Khan, apart from being busy for the shoot of his upcoming flick Dangal, was also in the drought- hit region of Vidarbha's Amravati district last week. The Dangal actor, participated in the water conservation scheme conducted by the State Government, and he educated farmers about water conservation. Hot Pictures! Riya Sen Sets The Temperatures Soaring To New Heights "Aamir isn't just the brand ambassador of CM Devendra Fadnavis's project Jal Yukta Shivar, but has also started the Paani Foundation, which will train villagers from 120 villages in water harvesting and applaud them for their efforts. He has been currently training for more than five hours each day to lose weight for Dangal and also giving ample amount of time to the cause he has taken up of solving the water issues." Red Hot Pictures! Shruti Haasan Braces The Cover Page Of GQ Magazine So Aamir Khan, might be eating yummy 'ghar ka khanna made by mummy' when you're reading this! Wish you all a 'Happy Mother's Day'! TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 05/08/16 -- Hundreds gathered just steps away from the Ryerson Students' Union this Mother's Day to express outrage at their illegal firing of a Toronto mother on maternity leave. Gilary Massa was fired from the Ryerson Students' Union (RSU) December 1, 2015 -- three months into her maternity leave. Ms. Massa was the former Executive Director of Communications and Outreach, and worked for the organization for seven years. The IStandWithGilary campaign was launched by concerned community members shortly after Massa filed a human rights case against her employer in early March. Supporters rallied to demand that Massa be reinstated and a woman's right to maternity leave be upheld. "There is no better day than Mother's Day to stand up for all parents in Toronto and across the country," said Denise Martins, an organizer with the IStandWithGilary campaign. "We have come together as workers, parents, and students to defend a woman's right to have a career and a family, and to let this bad boss know that their actions will not go unchecked." "Not only is this a violation of her legal rights, but it is a hostile move that strikes at the heart of women's equality," said Candace Rennick, Secretary-Treasurer of CUPE Ontario. "The right of women to take pregnancy and maternity leave without fear of losing their jobs is fundamental to creating an equal society." In at least 178 countries around the world, maternity leave is guaranteed for working mothers. Canada is one of them. The illegal firing by the RSU has thrown the reputation of the Ryerson University community as a leader on equity and diversity into question. "This is one of the most egregious human rights code violations in Ryerson University history and it has created a chilly climate on campus for women," says Saron Gebresellassi, Massa's legal counsel. "In 2016, Canadian women should not have to fight for the right to care for their newborn child. This employer must act now to ensure they are not left on the wrong-side of history." Contacts: Saron Gebresellassi Litigation Lawyer 416-854-6645 saron@gebrelaw.ca (English, French, German, Spanish, Tigrinia, American Sign Language) KARACHI, Pakistan Gunmen shot dead a prominent Pakistani rights activist, known for his outspoken stance against the Taliban and other radical Islamist groups, in the southern port city of Karachi late on Saturday night, police said. The police said Khurram Zaki was killed at an outdoor cafe in central Karachi, while a companion was wounded. A faction of the Pakistani Taliban, the Hakeemullah group, claimed responsibility for the attack in a phone call to Reuters, saying Zaki had been targeted for his stance against radical cleric Abdul Aziz. The police could not verify the Hakeemullah faction's claim, and said the group has previously taken responsibility for attacks it did not carry out in Karachi, a teeming metropolis of 20 million people that is known for its complex mix of ethnic, sectarian and political violence. "Zaki was sitting at a cafe where he was targeted by four armed men arriving on two motorcycles," Muqadas Haider, a senior police official said on Sunday. Zaki was known for his outspoken stance against the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni Muslim sectarian militant group, the Pakistani Taliban, and radical cleric Abdul Aziz. In December 2015, Zaki lead street protests against Aziz, demanding the cleric be arrested and charged with hate speech for allegedly justifying attacks, such as the Peshawar school massacre where 134 schoolchildren were killed in 2014. In 2007, Aziz and his followers were engaged in an armed standoff with government forces at his mosque in the capital Islamabad, culminating in a eight-day military operation that saw Pakistani commandoes raid the mosque. Aziz has since been exonerated of all criminal charges by Pakistani courts, but still calls for the overthrow of the government and for a strict version of Islamic sharia law to be imposed. Zaki had confided to friends that he was on several militant "hitlists", Jibran Nasir, a fellow activist who was also involved in protests against Aziz, told Reuters on Sunday. Nasir said that Zaki did not specify which groups specifically had threatened him. According to a statement released after Zaki's death by a website he helped run, the activist had been "a target of a systematic hate campaign" by an Islamist political leader and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Targeted killings are common in Karachi, although violence has declined significantly since the launch of a paramilitary operation in the city almost three years ago. Rights activists are increasingly among those targeted in Karachi. In April last year, prominent activist Sabeen Mahmud was shot and killed while travelling in her car. (Writing by Asad Hashim. Additional reporting by Saud Mehsud in DERA ISMAIL KHAN and Asad Hashim in ISLAMABAD; Editing by Drazen Jorgic and Christian Schmollinger) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. LONDON/DUBAI - If Ali al-Naimi were to review his time as Saudi oil minister, he might feel events had turned full circle. Two years after the long-serving technocrat's 1995 promotion to become only the kingdom's fourth oil minister in 40 years, Naimi pushed through an ill-fated Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries deal in Indonesia to lift supply just as Asia went into economic tailspin. Designed to punish Venezuela for flouting its output quota, the decision has gone down in OPEC lore as the most poorly-judged in cartel history. Oil prices halved to $10 a barrel. Nearly two decades later, Naimi, 80, is facing another supply crisis, driving oil prices to the lowest in six years -- at below $40 per barrel, more than $100 below the 2008 pre-financial crisis peak. And as in Jakarta in 1997, today's crash has been orchestrated by Naimi himself with the same aim in mind: to defend Saudi market share against rivals -- primarily this time against booming U.S. shale oil supply. Throughout his career, Naimi has worked to avoid a repeat of the error of his legendary predecessor, Sheikh Zaki Yamani, who was dismissed in 1986 as he unsuccessfully tried to fight an oil price collapse by unilaterally reducing Saudi output. Instead, through three cyclical downturns in oil prices, Naimi has always chosen to use Saudi Arabia's vast oil supply scale - Riyadh produces more than a tenth of global crude - and its financial muscle to drive out higher cost rivals. That survival-of-the-fittest strategy means refusing to cut output unilaterally, waiting to outlast other producers before they beg Riyadh to collaborate in joint supply curbs to rescue prices. "In everything Naimi did, he never wanted to repeat the Yamani mistake," said Gary Ross, a veteran OPEC watcher and the founder of U.S.-based PIRA Energy. "He was prepared to manage the market and cut only when he had reasonable partners," said Ross, who participated in the first and only successful oil cooperation talks between OPEC and Russia in early 2000. "Today, from the Saudi prospective, they have no allies." RECRUITING RUSSIA Oil market watchers pore over Naimi's every word, and his past actions, to try to predict how the veteran tactician will act. He has always found a way to act jointly with other producers, rather than cut supply alone. After the 1997 oil slump, Naimi eventually steered OPEC out of trouble by engineering a series of cuts with arch-rival Iran supporting the strategy amid a thawing of political relations. Meanwhile, non-OPEC Mexico helped bring Venezuela on board. In 2001, Naimi found new allies as, after months of standoff, leading OPEC rival Russia pledged to join cuts, later reneging on its promises. In 2008, all OPEC members quickly supported supply curbs led by Saudi as oil plunged in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. As a result, oil prices bounced back quickly, providing the capital for new investment in the controversial hydraulic fracturing technology that saw U.S. shale oil supplies rocket. That new supply source and China's slowdown have caused the latest downturn. Saudi oil sources say this time around Naimi will stick to his policy of high output levels, even if crude prices fall further, until he finds partners to cooperate. "If the price falls, it falls, you cannot do anything about it. But ... others will be harmed greatly before we feel any pain," Naimi told the Middle Eastern Economic Survey last year in the most detailed explanation of his current thinking. Naimi did not respond to requests to be interviewed for this article. But his track record of holding firm until other countries join Saudi Arabia for joint action speaks volumes. "You can't beat experience, and Naimi has loads of it. He earned his wings in the 70s and 80s at Aramco and has now gone through three iterations of a crude price cycle: early 1980s, late 1990s, and the current one," said Yasser Elguindi of Medley Global Advisors. ISOLATED The problem for Naimi is that he now appears more isolated than ever before. Described by admirers and critics alike as a great technician, he has won respect in the industry for driving OPEC policy along business lines and, where possible, avoiding politics. Yet in the Middle East, politics and oil cannot always be kept apart. And when politics come into play, even the most adept negotiator may be prone to miscalculation. OPEC has weathered internal strife and conflict many times before: wars between members -- Iran and Iraq in the 1980s, and Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in the 1990s, both before Naimi took the helm of the Saudi oil ministry. But the Sunni-Shia conflicts now setting Saudi Arabia and Iran at each other's throats in places like Syria and Yemen are unprecedented during Naimi's tenure as minister. In addition, predominantly Shia Iraq has become a de facto ally of Iran within OPEC since a U.S. invasion ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, and both countries have enormous potential to increase supply. Outside OPEC, Russia is at odds with Riyadh in Middle Eastern conflicts, joining the war in Syria two months ago on the side of Iranian ally Bashar al-Assad. Meanwhile, many Saudis believe the U.S. shale oil boom has prompted Washington to reassess its military commitment in the Middle East that protects Riyadh in return for a sure supply of crude. OPEC tensions spilled into the cartel's meeting last week when the group failed to agree a production target for the first time in decades, with Iran saying it would steeply increase supply after Western sanctions are lifted next year and Iraq saying it would boost exports too. "Some member countries produce as much as they wish," Iranian oil minister Bijan Zangeneh told reporters after the meeting in a clear reference to Saudi Arabia. "Iran will need no one's permission to raise its output." One executive from a major oil company said that while Naimi's tactics against U.S. shale were working and the low oil price was beginning to depress rivals' output, the Iranian comeback has complicated the picture: "Sometimes it feels that the Saudis have miscalculated how quickly Iran could clinch the nuclear deal and return to the markets". CHANGES AT HOME At the age of 12, Naimi joined state oil giant Saudi Aramco, riding in the back of crowded trucks to get to work. Not many years into the job, he impressed Aramco managers by stating his ambition to run the company. Naimi became President of Aramco in 1983 and CEO in 1988, the first Saudi to hold those posts, previously held only by Americans in the historically Arab-American oil company. As one of the country's highest-ranking non-royals, Naimi grew from a cautious public face into an outspoken policymaker, given full and sole responsibility for Saudi oil policy, leaving oil markets hanging on his every word. Growing tired of multiple OPEC meetings a year, he blamed the press for failing to understand his utterances and called reporters "agents of disturbance". "He wants the best price and the best volumes for his country. As for the image with media -- I don't think he really cares," said PIRA's Ross. Naimi has taken care to avoid entanglement in Saudi royal politics. He took office the same year King Fahd suffered a stroke and Fahd's half-brother, Abdullah, a cautious reformer, became de facto regent. Abdullah ruled as king from 2005 until his death earlier this year. This year's political changes have been the most profound Naimi has seen - with new King Salman elevating a fresh generation of leadership in the form of his nephew Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and son Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Mohammed bin Salman, 30, became the ultimate oil decision maker in April. Last month he said the kingdom was working on reducing subsidies and introducing new taxes so the budget could withstand the pain of lower oil prices for longer. Some interpret that as a signal of support for Naimi's policies, but say the days when Naimi's voice alone spoke for Saudi oil policy may be over. One insider said an indication that changes may be brewing was that comments on oil policy had been coming not only from Naimi and the deputy crown prince, but also from Aramco's chairman Khalid al-Falih and from another son of Salman, Prince Abdulaziz, Naimi's long-serving deputy. "It is like having four oil ministers now in Saudi Arabia. Everyone talks about oil policy and is a spokesman for the oil industry. It should be only Naimi as he is the minister, but he is slowly losing influence," said the insider, who asked not to be identified. (Editing by Richard Mably and Peter Graff) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. New Delhi: The government has scrapped an over 20-year-old provision of conducting medical examination in cases of non-invasive sexual harassment like gestures or acts intended to insult the modesty of women and stalking against SC and ST victims to enable them get quicker relief under a new law. The new Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Rules, 2016, notified recently by government, also has provision of increased relief to victims ranging from Rs 85,000 to Rs 8.25 lakh. Earlier the amount ranged between Rs 75,000 and Rs 7.5 lakh, depending upon the nature of the offence. Earlier 50 per cent of the amount was paid after medical examination and remaining 50 per cent at the conclusion of the trial, according to a senior official from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. "However, the new Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act 2015 which came into force on 26 January, included a series of new offences following which the rules had to be modified," the official said. Under the newly formed rules, separate provision of relief for offences of rape and gang rape have been introduced for the first time to give effect to the amended provisions. "These offences fall under the category of invasive offences and also offences like assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty, use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe, sexual harassment, voyeurism, stalking which fall under non-invasive category have also been specifically mentioned," the official said. "Now, in cases of non-invasive offences, we have done away with the medical examination part. Medical examination is now required only in crimes of invasive nature," the official said. The new rules also mandate that investigation and filing of charge sheet in cases of atrocities against SC/ST women will now have to be completed within 60 days of commission of the offence. Earlier, there was no time limit for filing of charge sheet, but the investigations had to be completed within 30 days. The rules envisage that for "victims of gangrape [Section 376D of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860)], payment of Rs 8.25 lakh be made to the victim with 50 per cent after medical examination and confirmatory medical report, 25 per cent when the charge sheet is sent to the court and 25 per cent on conclusion of trial by the lower court." In the case of rape [Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860)], "a provision of Rs five lakh rupees payment is to be made - 50 per cent after medical examination and confirmatory medical report, 25 per cent when the charge sheet is sent to the court and 25 per cent on conclusion of trial by the lower court." For immediate withdrawal of money from the treasury so as to timely provide the relief amount, the concerned state government or Union Territory administration may provide necessary authorisation and powers to the District Magistrate. "These rules will speed up the process of dispensation of justice to victims of atrocities. They are strongly sensitive in cases of offences against women and liberalise and expedite access to relief for the members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes who have been victims of atrocities," said the official. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment notified the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Rules, 2016 on 14 April, the birthday of BR Ambedkar. Its a big victory for some 1,200 people of Lippa village in Kinnaur district in . After a seven-year struggle, the villagers have become the first grass-root people in the hill state to get empowered under Gram Sabha (village body of locals) to decide whether a hydel power project would be set up in their area or not. The empowerment came when the rights of the villagers under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) were recognized following a judgment of National Green Tribunal (NGT) on 4 May. But it was not an easy task for the villagers of Lippa, with 200 odd families, to challenge the Himachal Pradesh government and prevent setting up of hydel projects. But they did, as it was a matter of their livelihood and existence. The battle that began on ground as simple protest by tribals, gradually transformed into a litigation and reached the green tribunal in Delhi. The judgment The NGT in its order said that the government should ensure that prior to forest clearance for hydro-electric projects (Kashang Integrated Hydro Electric Project), the proposal is placed before the Gram Sabha of the villages in Kinnaur district. The NGT judgment has recognized the key argument of non-compliance to a critical legislation like Forest Rights Act, especially in a tribal area. The tribunal has acknowledged the role of Gram Sabha in the process of forest diversion. Itll prove to be a milestone in all the similar cases of forest land diversion in Himachal Pradesh, where large number of hydro power projects has been mushrooming over the years, Ritwick Dutta, advocate representing the villagers of Lippa at NGT told Firstpost. Its a landmark judgment as the role of gram sabhas has finally been recognized here. It shall have far-reaching impact as there are many proposals to set up power projects in Spiti Valley, Hungrang valley in Kinnaur, etc where diversion of forest land is an issue. Now, these gram sabhas will have a strong say. Were trying to create awareness among tribals and villagers related to forest and land rights, but its limited. Ultimately, its the local people who have to come forward and villagers of Lippa have shown the way. The government and corporate entities need to understand that this unilateral decision of politicians, bureaucrats and companies wont sustain anymore, said RS Negi, a retired IAS officer and convener of Him Lok Jagriti Manch, Kinnaur. The Beginning: Protest by tribals and villagers It all began in 2009, when Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) gave sanction for diversion of 17.6857 hectares of forest land for the construction of 130 MW Integrated Kashang Hydro Electric Project to be set by the state-owned body Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (HPPCL). Forest clearance and permission for diversion of forest land were given without consulting the gram sabha a mandatory clause. Another threat that was apparently ignored was the diversion of Kerang stream that will prevent the huge loads of slit flowing from the Pager stream near Lippa village. According to experts this would result in flooding of the village and the Lippa would be buried under the debris brought by Pager. Moreover, the fact that project lies in the snow bound high altitude, where any increase in temperature would cause heavy precipitation resulting in landslidewas also ignored. The tragedy in the entire episode is that the state government never recognized the rights of the tribals, who are the actual right holders of the forest land and not encroachers. As per the MoEF 2009 guidelines, before taking forest clearances and NoC, a project promoter has to consult gram sabha, which wasnt done at Lippa or any other place. Its an irony that the FRA came into existence during the UPA government in 2006, whereas the Congress-led state government never considered the provisions of the Act seriously, added Negi. It was a difficult period for the Lippa villagers to contest litigation in Delhi. Under the banner of Paryawaran Sanrakshan Sangharsh Samiti led by Devigyan Negi, the locals decided to challenge both the MoEF and state government at NGT in 2013 for alleged violation of the FRA 2006 and Panchayats Act 1996. Right from collecting funds to travelling down the mountains all the way from Lippa to attend to the court hearings was a daunting task. The villagers of this hamlet, which is nestled in the Himalayas, proudly recall their long struggle, as they have become an icon for the entire Himachal Pradesh. First we tried to convince our sarkar (government) through representations, then demonstrations, but nothing worked. They refused to recognize our rights. We could see the danger of losing our livelihood due to the hydel project. It was then we decided to file petition in Delhi. As our society here in Kinnaur is very cohesive, all the families joined hands and we collected money to file petition to go to Delhi for the hearings, Vishnu Negi, a Lippa resident told Firstpost. Similarly, South Korean steel manufacturer Posco in Odisha too got stuck due to land acquisition issue and faced violent protests from locals. Ecological threat Forty years have passed since the devastating earthquake in the Himalayas, but no lessons have been learnt. Himachal Pradesh, especially Kangra and the tribal areas, fall in the most sensitive seismic zone V, highly prone to earthquakes. Kinnaur district has already witnessed four major floods in the region in 1982, 1994, 2000 and 2013 and there had been incidences of landslides. A 2009 order of the Himachal Pradesh High Court mentions that there were more than 150 hydel projects under varying stages of construction in the state. By now, it has doubled. Besides, HPPCL and state-owned power generation companies, there are a large number of private players who have applied for setting up of big, small and micro hydropower projects, raising the risk levels. Allowing hydel projects in the state at such an alarming scale will result into serious ecological and environmental consequences and the lives of people living in these tribal areas is on high risk. Technically, there is no implementation of FRA. Many projects have been proposed on very high altitudes, without considering the risk associated like earthquakes, landslides and the effect of climate change on glaciers. The courts should come up strongly on this matter and issue orders to stop such projects instead of putting responsibility on villagers, remarked geologist R Sreedhar of Environics Trust. The state government is giving rampant approval in lure of getting 12.5 percent of free electricity from each project, besides taxes and duties. Due to this several Himalayan states have engaged in this game of setting up of hydel power projects on the pretext of green power, giving a blind eye to environment norms, he added. It is not just about the threat to mountains and environment, but to the livelihood of tribals as well. Threat to livelihood The villagers strongly objected the project as loss of livelihood and irrigation facilities werent considered while approving diversion of forest, thus jeopardizing the existence of 200 families. As the project lies on the Chilgoza pine belt, the existence of the species which is already endangered, the project posed a big threat. Prakash Bhandari of Himdhara Collective, an environment group said, There are close to 150 natural water springs in the area on which people depend for irrigation. There are orchards and Chilgoza on which livelihood of locals depend. All would have finished had the project been constructed. Far reaching effect Himachal Pradesh has a forest area of about 67 percent, whereas agricultural land holding is 9-10 percent only. The NGT order has come as a major relief to people of the affected areas due to upcoming power projects, especially the tribals in far flung areas. The NGT judgment shall have a far-reaching effect on other areas of the state. The gram sabhas will get to play its role of decision making. Till now state government gave a blind eye to FRA and adopted short cut means to issue approvals to projects. Due to small agricultural land in hills, its imperative to protect it, rather than lose it to power projects, added Bhandari. The villagers adjoining Lippa village and other areas will gather on 8 May to discuss modalities to empower gram sabhas in respective villages. Kasaragod (Kerala): The politics of "compromise and contract" between the UDF and the LDF has so far ruled Kerala whose educated electorate have been "insulted" by the two sides, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday. "A new model of politics has come up in Kerala. It is an adjustment politics, politics of compromise, politics of corruption and politics of contract to save each other," he said at an election meeting in Kerala. "It is a contract rule between UDF and LDF. For five years you rule and for another five years we will rule". This is how the two Fronts have been returning to power in the state, Modi said attacking the two Fronts in the state. Embarking on his second leg of electioneering for the 16 May assembly polls in Kerala, Modi took a swipe at the tie-up between Congress and CPI(M) in West Bengal and said both these parties were "insulting" the educated people of Kerala and they should understand the adjustment politics of the two parties. He also attacked the CPI(M)'s "politics of violence" and said the Marxist party led Left Democratic Front's Chief Ministerial candidate was an accused in a case relating to the murder of BJP worker at Thalassery years ago. "Congress leaders in Kerala talk about the violence unleashed by CPI(M) cadres in the state, but when they go to West Bengal, they say only Communists can save West Bengal", he said. "I want to ask the educated people of the state if they would trust the parties who speak two languages in two places at one time", Modi asked. "This election is not about who will form the government in Kerala, but who will save Kerala and who will give jobs to Kerala's youths and secure their future", Modi said. Seeking votes for BJP-NDA candidates, Modi highlighted the various development and welfare schemes launched by NDA government in the last two years in office. "Government in Delhi is working out steps to help are canut and coconut farmers and we are aware of the crisis faced by them", he said. The Prime Minister also mentioned about the benefits of Agriculture Crop Insurance and Mudra Yojana introduced by the NDA government. "We have a dream. By 2022, when the India celebrates its 75th anniversary of independence, we want to double the income of farmers in the country", Modi said amidst cheers from the huge crowd. Attacking the CPI(M), Modi said Kerala has been "destroyed by politics of violence" as he mentioned the murder of a BJP activist years ago in Thalassery in Kannur district. "One among those who killed him (BJP worker) is now the Chief Ministerial candidate of CPI(M) in Kerala. Will Kerala's future be safe in the hands of these people," Modi asked. "I want to tell the media in Delhi, in Kerala, which is known as God's Own Country, these innocent people have been killed and people of country were not aware of it", he said, adding that people who were sitting with "eyes closed" should be aware of the politics of violence in this part of the country. At the meeting, the Prime Minister also introduced to the crowd a victim of alleged CPI(M) violence, Sadananda Master whose legs were chopped off. "He did not make any mistake, his only mistake was attackers did not agree with the victim's ideology", he said. The Supreme Court order prescribing the three -hour long proceedings of Uttarakhand legislative assembly on 10 May to test whether unseated Congress government led by Harish Rawat enjoys confidence of majority votes on the floor of the House is unprecedented in more ways than one. Firstly, the anti defection law would itself remain in abeyance when the Principal Secretary of the legislative assembly orders the House in order on Tuesday morning at 11 am. There will not be any speaker or pro-tem speaker to conduct the proceedings but these would be monitored by the top court delegated key executive officer in the state. The speaker who had earlier ordered disqualification of nine legislators belonging to the erstwhile ruling Congress would be sharing the treasury benches or along with the supporters of Rawat to demonstrate his support to him, he if he so desires. The disqualified legislators will not be allowed to enter the House. Another crucial feature of the court-designed and monitored proceedings is that the law makers will raise their hands either against or in support of the confidence vote in the Rawat government that was dismissed by Modi government a few hours ahead of the deadline fixed by Governor K K Paul for the floor test. On a law suit filed by union of India against the decision of Uttarakhand High Court on 21 April last quashing the imposition of Presidents rule in Uttarakhand, a Supreme Court bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh passed an order on 6 May with the litigating parties Union government and the aggrieved Congress agreeing on its contents. A battery of lawyers including Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, Kapil Sibal, Rajeev Dhavan, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and C A Sundaram, appearing and the disqualified legislators, debated over the suggestions which were given by the Court. Sometimes with appreciable amity and sometimes with some cavil, but, eventually, there has been an agreement, the top court expressed its pleasure. The three-hour special session will have only agenda and that would be the Vote of Confidence sought by the respondent No 1 (Harish Singh Rawat). Nothing else shall be discussed in the Assembly. The proceedings in the Assembly are expected to be absolutely peaceful and without any disturbance. This Court expects that all the Members and all concerned with the affairs of the Assembly shall abide by the same in letter and spirit. The Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police, State of Uttarakhand, shall see that all the qualified Members of the Legislative Assembly, freely, safely and securely attend the Assembly and no interference or hindrance is caused by anyone therein, judges noted in an unusual order. On the Confidence Motion having been put, a division of the House shall take place and the Members who are inclined to vote in favour of the Motion, shall sit on the one wing or side and the others who are against the Motion, shall sit on the other side. The Principal Secretary, Legislative Assembly of the State of Uttarakhand, shall see to it that the voting is appositely done and recorded. The Members voting in favour of the Motion shall singularly vote by raising their hands one by one and that will be counted by the Principal Secretary, Legislative Assembly. Similar procedure shall be adopted while the Members voting against the Motion, the order adds. Since there wouldnt be a speaker to conduct the proceedings on that day, the Principal Secretary of the Assembly will act as eyes and ears of the Supreme Court. He will get the entire proceedings video-graphed and the video recording shall be placed before the Court. He will personally place the result of the voting in a sealed cover before the judges of the Supreme Court on 11 May at 10.30 am sharp. Judges will declare the result; a job that court watchers feel had never been done by the apex court in the recent years. In a way its an unprecedented order says constitutional lawyer Sanjay Hegde. He cant recollect any other case with similar facts in which court had to intervene in the manner prescribed by it now in Uttarakhand crisis. In the absence of a designated speaker and vote by raise of hands, the cross voting wouldnt be difficult as the anti defection law will have been dysfunctional for the limited period of three years when the central rule is lifted in the State. Thought the controversial court decision to hold the floor test in assembly by raise of hands and not secret ballot, it may be recalled that that Bombay High Court in December 2014 upheld the order passed by the speaker of Maharashtra legislative assembly for conducting the voting by raising hands on a motion moved by newly appointed Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. However, BJP had strongly opposed open voting when Chief Minister of Bihar, Jitan Ram Manjhi was asked to show his strength through show of hands by legislators. BJP demanded secret voting during the vote of confidence sought by Manjhi government on the floor of the House two years ago. "We favour that the members of the state legislative assembly be allowed to cast secret ballot to decide the fate of the Manjhi government on the floor of the House," senior BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Sushil Kumar Modi had said. In the Maharashtra assembly case, however, states Advocate General Sunil Manohar had argued before HC that the "the first option for the Speaker is voice vote followed by a division of votes. If majority is proved by a voice vote then there is no need to go for a head count. Later, the High Court ruled that it did not have the jurisdiction to hear petitions challenging the decision of the Speaker who had ordered a 'voice vote' instead of a head count, enabling the newly-elected BJP government to prove its majority in the House. The PILs challenging the Speakers order contended that under the constitutional provisions, the respondents (Speaker and Chief Minister) are duty-bound to hold a secret ballot or head count to establish government's majority in House. Noted constitutional lawyer Tehmtan R Andhyarujina, who was also the counsel for disqualified legislators of Uttarakhand, had challenged the order passed by Maharashtra speaker. He had contended that it is the mandate of the Constitution to have a vote of confidence and you cannot have it be a voice vote. This (passing the vote of confidence motion by voice vote) is completely contrary to the constitutional provisions, as the Constitution requires proper vote of confidence ie by division. He had also cited judgments of the Supreme Court in three different cases involving government in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Karnataka. He told the bench that in all the cases, the SC had not only entertained the petitions but also directed to hold a special session of Houses and conduct a 'floor test' to ascertain the majority of the ruling governments. To this, Manohar had pointed out that in none of the judgments cited by Andhyarujina the top court said that the 'floor test' means voice vote or vote by division. Division entails voting through secret ballot. The possibility of raising a challenge to the Supreme Court order regarding Uttarakhand cant be ruled out, particularly if cross voting evident on 10 May. New Delhi: Investigators have got some "vital" leads on the Indian contacts and fund sources of Christian Michel, an alleged defence middleman, after interrogating his local driver here in connection with the money laundering probe in the nearly Rs 3,600 crore VVIP chopper deal. Officials said Michel's driver, Narayan Bahadur, was questioned at length by ED sleuths in the last few days and he has divulged vital information about contacts of the British national who has emerged as the crucial link in the case where agencies are probing alleged payment of kickbacks that helped swing the deal in favour of AgustaWestland for supply of 12 choppers for flying VVIPs. They claimed the driver was getting money through global wire fund transfer services till recently and this could help investigators in locating the current operations and activities of Michel against whom both the ED and CBI have obtained Interpol Red Corner Notices for arrest. The driver, sources said, used to ferry Michel during his visits to India and worked with him for close to four years. He used to pick up Michel from his hotel in central Delhi and took him to his Indian and foreign contacts in Lutyens Delhi and southern part of the national capital. Though Bahadur had been questioned by the agencies earlier too, they stumbled upon some vital leads recently when ED sleuths searched his premises and are understood to have seized some documents, phones and a few other things which could throw light on Michel's role in the scandal. The VVIP choppers deal probe has shed light on the involvement of three alleged middlemen Carlo Gerosa, Guido Haschke and Michel in swinging the deal in favour of UK-based AgustaWestland, a subsidiary of Italian firm Finmeccanica. Investigating agencies are probing their role in the specific context of alleged payment of bribes and extension of favours by the company to clinch the multi-million dollar deal. On 1 January, 2014, India scrapped the contract with the company over alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of paying kickbacks of Rs 423 crore by it for securing the deal. Both the probe agencies have also issued separate Letters Rogatories (LRs) to various countries seeking assistance to take the probe forward. A joint team of the two agencies is likely to travel soon to a few overseas locations to track the trail of funds, both through wire tranfer and cash. digital and print publisher. digital and print publisher. We are Americas largest We are Americas largest The brands you love. The experiences you want. 2000 - 2022 24 .- . focus-news.net, () . 24 . 24 . . 24 . DARPA wants a new space shuttle -- and it's getting closer to building one. For two years now, we've been following the progress of the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency's "XS-1" project, a continuing mission to build a reusable vehicle for launching small payloads into orbit. Unlike the actual Space Shuttle operated by NASA from 1981 to 2011, DARPA calls its project a "space plane." Here's the crucial difference: Unlike the Space Shuttle, which launched like a rocket, orbited like a space ship, and then returned to Earth to land like an airplane, XS-1 will never actually enter orbit itself. Instead, it will rocket "to the edge of space," and once there, boost a payload the rest of the way into low Earth orbit. After releasing the payload, XS-1 will land like an airplane, refuel, and be ready to launch again the next day. Ideally, DARPA wants its space shuttle to be so reliable and so reusable that it can fly "10 times in 10 days." Also, XS-1 will have no pilot. It will be a drone. Where we are now When last we checked in on XS-1, DARPA was wrapping up Phase 1 of the project, in which three industry teams -- Boeing (BA 0.67%), working in collaboration with Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin; Northrop Grumman (NOC 0.76%) plus Virgin Galactic; and privately held Masten Space Systems, working with also-private XCOR Aerospace, all helped DARPA explore the technical feasibility of building a space plane/space shuttle capable of delivering payloads to orbit at a cost of $5 million per flight. That accomplished, now DARPA is ready to proceed to Phase 2 -- building a prototype. Phase 2 Actually, make that Phases 2 and 3. Because as best we can tell, DARPA plans to award both of its next two contracts simultaneously -- and to a single winner. Last month, DARPA held a "Proposers Day" at which all interested parties -- not just the six companies named above -- were invited to float ideas for building a prototype XS-1. The next step will be to issue an official request for proposals, evaluate them, and pick a winner, perhaps as early as next year. This winner (or winning team) will then design, build, and test a prototype (Phase 2). This winner will also be awarded the Phase 3 contract to conduct flight tests of the new vehicle. While DARPA hasn't set a firm deadline for completion, it has stated that the winning bidder must use a propulsion system that it expects to "be ready for flight no later than fiscal year 2020." That implies that the XS-1 space plane must itself be ready for testing by 2020. How much is it worth? In a special notice to participants in the Proposers Day, DARPA clarifies that it plans to award $140 million to the winner of the Phase 2 and 3 contracts. Who will win it? Figuring the odds on the XS-1 competition isn't easy. We know that Boeing, for example, already possesses an unmanned vehicle capable of orbital flight -- its X-37B "drone space shuttle" -- which it uses to deliver military payloads to orbit. But X-37B is pretty top-secret stuff, and we have little visibility into how much it costs to operate -- or whether it comes close to DARPA's targeted $5 million-per-mission price tag. Also, as a true spaceship, X-37B doesn't precisely match DARPA's concept of a suborbital "space plane." Northrop, meanwhile, built the original suborbital WhiteKnightTwo space plane that services Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo launch vehicle. "WK2," as it's often called, seems to hew much more closely to DARPA's desire to build a suborbital space plane with "a physical size and dry weight typical of today's business jets." The mechanics of how WK2 works (fly up like a plane, boost payload into orbit, land like a plane) are much closer to what DARPA is asking for than is X-37B. And measuring 79 feet long with a 141-foot wingspan, WK2 seems to be closer to the right size for a business jet. (Gulfstream's G650, for example, measures 100 feet x 100 feet. Boeing's X-37B measures 29 feet x 15 feet.) What Masten and XCOR have up their sleeves is more of an unknown. In any case, DARPA's insistence that the winner of Phases 2 and 3 "cost share" on the project could put too much financial strain on these privately held companies for them to compete. In contrast, both Boeing and Northrop have ample cash at their disposal to fund this project. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence data, Northrop boasts $1.3 billion in cash reserves, and Boeing $8.3 billion. Knowing what we know now, if I were betting on a winner, I'd place my money on Northrop Grumman's team first, and Boeing's second. The Obama administration recently issued regulations designed to reduce the number of well blowouts offshore to prevent another Deepwater Horizon-like event. The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon in 2010 produced the largest offshore oil spill in American history and cost BP more than $40 billion in penalties and clean-up fees. Although the White House says the new regulations will cost less than $1 billion over the next 10 years, ExxonMobil has said the new rules could cost the industry as much as $25 billion over the next decade and could stifle deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Let's examine how the new rulings affect Chevron (NYSE: CVX) and its deepwater prospects. Controversial regulation Although they're intended to make drilling wells offshore safer, the new regulations will add extra costs. They'll require real-time monitoring of certain types of high-pressure or deepwater drilling. They'll require more testing and maintenance on blowout preventers. The energy industry thinks the regulations go too far. Because of the Deepwater Horizon incident, the regulations governing offshore drilling had already been strengthened. New regulations were put in place to address well-bore integrity and well-control procedures and equipment. Operators were required to obtain third-party certification and inspection of proposed drilling processes. Because of their added costs, the regulations could cost the offshore Gulf of Mexico industry many jobs. Analysts generally peg deepwater as requiring $60-per-barrel crude or higher to be economical, versus the $50 to $60 per barrel for shale. Because of the higher costs, more upfront capital needed, and longer lead times, the new rulings will make companies interested investing in deepwater think twice. Some analysts think the net result of the new regulations will slash deepwater activity in the Gulf of Mexico by 70% over the next 20 years and cost 190,000 jobs. Other analysts don't think the regulations will have as big of a negative effect due to the fact that the estimated costs of the regulations are spread out over 10 years. ExxonMobil and Chevron management didn't really talk about the impact of the new regulations on their first quarter conference calls, for example. How the new regulations affect Chevron Given that it was the largest leaseholder in the Gulf of Mexico at the end of 2015, Chevron will be negatively affected by the new regulations. Because of its strategic goals and the need to raise cash to support its dividend, Chevron has deemed its Gulf of Mexico shelf assets as non-core and plans to divest the assets by the end of 2017. Analysts believed Chevron could realize more than $1 billion for the assets. Because the new industry regulations increase the cost to operate offshore, Chevron will realize less in sales of those assets on the shelf. Although it plans to divest its more-mature operations on the shelf, Chevron is still committed to the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Chevron is one of the top leaseholders in the area, and the company holds leases over very promising reservoirs, such as the Wilcox. Because Chevron has already done much of the work exploring and building infrastructure over the reservoir, the company's brownfield wells have promising economics and can break-even if Brent trades at $20 to $40 per barrel. The new regulations are unlikely to cause Chevron to shelve those projects and the company plans to focus 80% of its development spend in the Gulf on those brownfield deepwater opportunities over the next few years. Given that greenfield projects will require more work and have higher break-evens, the new regulations will likely dissuade Chevron from investing more in unproven or less developed locations, however. The net effect could be less production growth for Chevron in the Gulf overall. The new regulations might cause Chevron to invest less in the Gulf and more into the Permian Basin. Earlier in the year, Chevron announced that it was mothballing a $500 million deepwater Gulf of Mexico development in favor for investing in the Permian basin because the economics in the Permian were better. Given the higher costs in the Gulf due to the new regulations, Chevron management might decide to divert even more capital away from the Gulf and into shale and tight plays. Because the regulations do not apply to projects outside of U.S. sovereignty, the new rules might also cause Chevron to invest more into its operations in deepwater West Africa and deepwater Brazil. Chevron holds working interest in several deepwater fields located in the Campos Basin that are promising. Investor takeaway The new regulations will cost Chevron money and could cause the company to focus more on brownfield projects and divert some investment from the deepwater Gulf of Mexico to the Permian. Given Chevron's improving costs in the Permian and the basin's promising potential, Chevron could ultimately come out ahead in the long run from the change in investment, however. If the new regulations reduce overall supply in the long run, some of the negative effects of the regulations might be offset by the increase in crude price caused by the drop in supply. In this clip, Gaby Lapera and David Hanson honor David's days of hosting Where the Money Is (now known as Industry Focus) by playing a round of Two Truths And a Lie. Listen in to hear some hard-to-believe facts about Bank of America's (BAC 0.57%) Countrywide disaster, Lloyds Bank's username kerfuffle, and Bitcoin's recent EU news. And, like David, maybe you'll spot Gaby's lie immediately. A transcript follows the video. This podcast was recorded on April 25, 2016. Gaby Lapera: As a throwback to your throwback days, I thought that we should play Two Truths and a Lie. For listeners who haven't been in college recently, or gone to summer camp, or anything like that, Two Truths and a Lie is exactly what it sounds like. I'm going to tell David Hanson two truths and a lie, and he has to pick out which one is which. David Hanson: OK, go. Are these all banking related, or is this just like life? Lapera: Oh, well I could tell you two truths and a lie about me. Hanson: Let's just stay in the banking zone maybe. Lapera: OK, they're financially related is what it is. Hanson: OK. Lapera: Do you remember Countrywide? Hanson: Yes. Of course. I don't know if you know this, I worked at Bank of America before I worked here. Lapera: No, I did not know that. Hanson: I didn't buy Countrywide, I wasn't involved in that decision, so I don't lose all credibility, but I was there during the aftermath of digesting it. Lapera: That must have been terrible. Bank of America really needed some Tums for Countrywide. Hanson: Countrywide, yeah, I'm familiar. Lapera: Just for our listeners, just in case you don't know or don't remember Countrywide; they were a sub-prime mortgage lender that was really active before the financial crisis. I actually was looking up some statistics on them, it turns out that they were responsible for 20% of all mortgages issued pre-financial crisis. Which is insane. It was something like 3.5% of America's GDP was accounted for by Countrywide, which is nuts. Anyway, back in the midst of the financial crisis Bank of America decided to purchase Countrywide. This is 2008, they bought them for $2.5 billion, and this is a decision they would come to regret in the next eight years, because they spent around $20 billion in fees -- in legal fees and bad mortgages and everything associated with Countrywide. This is my first fact. Hanson: OK, got it, taking notes. Lapera: OK, good, you're very organized. In 2008, one of the men who banked with Lloyd's got pretty mad at them, and so he changed his telephone banking password, which I did not know was a thing, to what in American English essentially translates too, "Lloyd's blows chunks", and the bank, some bank staffer got really mad, and changed it to "No, it doesn't" without telling him, which he realized when he attempted to call in. The bank refused to let him change it to either "Barclays is better" or "Censorship." Hanson: OK. Lapera: I don't know, maybe he's still trying to change his bank password to this day. I'm not really sure. Then my third fact is, that this morning, Bitcoin won the right to be a payment institution in Luxembourg and thus in the rest of the EU. This is a big deal for them because they'd been blocked out of the EU for quite a few years. Hanson: Luxembourg was or Bitcoin? Lapera: Bitcoin. Hanson: OK, what's the price of the Bitcoin now? That was also a recent topic on Where The Money Is, I don't know if you know this but The Motley Fool actually owns a fraction of a Bitcoin. Lapera: A fraction of a Bitcoin? Hanson: That we purchased as part of a research project a couple years ago. Lapera: How much Bitcoin worth? I'm Googling it right now. It is worth $463.73. Hanson: That may be similar to a year and a half ago. I see nothing has changed since I left this podcast. Lapera: It is similar to a year a half ago, it's slightly higher. Hanson: Two truths and a lie, I'm going to say that the Countrywide fact is a lie. Lapera: Why do you think it's a lie? Hanson: $20 billion sounds low. Lapera: It is low! Congratulations, this mind boggling to me. Do you want to know how much it actually was? Hanson: I guess I do, yeah. Lapera: $64 billion. Hanson: Wow. Lapera: That's a lot of money. Hanson: So $2 billion, purchased for $2.5 billion? Lapera: Around that, I think they said that when all was said and done they spent around $4 billion with all the shenanigans with actually having to purchase it. Hanson: That's incredible, $64 billion. Lapera: In total, Bank of America has spent around $195 billion settling problems from the financial crisis. On the bright side, they're done with that, so maybe they can move on. Hanson: It's really crazy to sit back and think about it. Like I said, we're less than 10 years out of this cycle, or from the event of the financial crisis. I think we're going to look back in 40 years and be like, "Wow, 2016 was still really close to the financial crisis." In the scheme of history of these huge banking crises, we look back and eight years is still relatively close. It's going to take a long time for this to fully be in the rear view mirror, despite them having to still pay out $100-something billion. I think it will still be around for a couple more years. Lapera: Yeah, and things changed a lot with the financial crisis, just in terms of regulations, so we don't really know 100% how it's going to shake out. Banks are still trying to come up to code, it takes longer than eight or nine years to come up to code, because they're so big and there's so many assets and they're complicated. Even Wells Fargo is complicated. This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices. Image source: InvenSense, InvenSense is set to release fiscal fourth-quarter 2016 results after the market close on Monday, May 9. After a reasonably strong quarter was overshadowed by disappointing guidance three months ago, investors would love for the motion sensor chip company to demonstrate that its efforts to diversify away from its core mobile market are yielding fruit. But what, exactly, should investors be watching when InvenSense's report hits the wires? First, note that InvenSense's guidance calls for quarterly revenue in the range of $77 million to $83 million, the midpoint of which represents a decline of roughly 19.4% from the same year-ago period. Meanwhile, InvenSense expects gross margin to remain steady at 44% to 45%, and adjusted operating expenses should rise roughly $2 million, partly given an extra week in the quarter compared with the same year-ago period. On the bottom line, InvenSense told investors to expect adjusted earnings in the range of breakeven to $0.02 per share. Based on generally accepted accounting principles, that should translate to a per-share net loss of $0.09 to $0.11. To be fair, this guidance included some seasonality. But management also suggested that the majority of the top-line decline will come from expected softness in the smartphone and tablet markets, which together comprised around 65% of total revenue last quarter. For perspective, optical image stabilization represented 14% of total revenue in fiscal Q3, while all other segments, including Internet of Things products, comprised the remaining 21%. On top of that, InvenSense had two customers individually account for 47% and 13% of total sales in fiscal Q3. InvenSense also revealed 51% of revenue came from customers in the United States last quarter, while South Korean customers represented around 16%. So while InvenSense wasn't naming names, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize those figures almost certainly corresponded to shipments sent to to Apple and Samsung , respectively. Considering Apple just detailed its first-ever decline in iPhone unit sales last week, it seems to follow that InvenSense's cautious outlook might prove merited. That said, there remains at least some hope for the possibility of outperformance. During last quarter's conference call, InvenSense CFO Mark Dentinger stated that the mobile market appeared to be showing signs of stabilization, while InvenSense's "other bucket" category -- which contains much of the company's products focused on the Internet of Things -- were offering a "little bit of a tailwind." Similarly two quarters ago, Dentinger reminded investors that it's difficult to accurately forecast how that tailwind will play out in these early stages of growth. "If that were to go well," he elaborated at the time, "that would probably give us a little bit of upside." And that's fair enough. Around 80% of InvenSense's design win pipeline is outside of the mobile industry, which, as CEO Behrooz Abdi summed up last quarter's call, gives the company "confidence that the mobile market will be one of many in which InvenSense can take a leadership position as the proliferation of sensors continue in the [Internet of Things] era." Finally, if last year's fiscal Q4 results are any indication, InvenSense management will probably offer guidance for its current (fiscal 2017 first) quarter, including expectations for revenue, gross margin, adjusted operating expenses, and adjusted earnings per share. That said, I'm not holding my breath for the company to offer quantitative comments on the full fiscal year ahead, especially given the uncertain state of the smartphone market and its emerging OIS and "other bucket" opportunities. But for now, this near-term view should give us a solid base from which to gauge the state of InvenSense's business. The article What to Expect When InvenSense Reports Earnings originally appeared on Fool.com. Steve Symington owns shares of Apple and InvenSense. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple and InvenSense. 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. One of AECOM's many big projects. Image source: AECOM. AECOM is a giant construction and engineering company. The projects it takes on are often huge and last for years. That's why backlog, work that is scheduled for the future, is so important to watch. Essentially, this is work that AECOM is expecting to do, but it hasn't done it or been paid for it yet. It's pretty much a glimpse into the future. North of the borderIn mid-April, AECOM was awarded a contract valued at as much as $80 million from the Canadian government. AECOM will provide "technical advisory services" for a pair of light-rail projects. But here's the thing: Canada's not going to write a check for $80 million on day one. The contract runs for seven years, and the work, and payment, will be spread out over that span. This is work that will be done, and unless something big changes, AECOM will get paid for it. But it just hasn't done the work yet and won't get paid until it does. A lot of what AECOM does falls into this same mold. That's why the construction company tallies all this pending work up and reports what's known as backlog. The one number to watchThere are a couple of things you can glean from examining backlog. Another big project. Image source: AECOM. The most obvious thing about backlog is it gives you an idea of what the future will look like. AECOM's backlog is its future. It's no different from, say, Boeing , only Boeing's backlog is more specific. For example, the airplane maker's backlog was roughly $490 billion at the start of 2016. But because it makes the same things over and over again, it also provides a little more detail -- specifically, it has orders for nearly 5,800 commercial airplanes. AECOM's work isn't as specific as that, so it only gives an absolute number. In this case, at the end of the fiscal first quarter, AECOM had roughly $40.2 billion worth of work on the books for the future. The value of this is that, as long as everything remains the same, Boeing and AECOM have built-in work for some period into the future. That can help this pair weather a downturn in stride. But you can get an idea of around how much future work there is by dividing the backlog by revenues. For example, AECOM's fiscal first-quarter revenue was about $4.3 billion. So it has a touch over nine quarters, two years or so, of work lined up. Now that's only a rough estimate, because construction and engineering revenues can be lumpy. But it should provide some comfort to you when you look at the top and bottom lines. The future is the pastThat said, you can't just look at backlog in a vacuum. Just like the top and bottom lines, backlog is a moving target. AECOM's backlog was actually down from $40.7 billion year over year. Not a lot, but clearly the future isn't quite as bright as it was a year ago. To be fair, AECOM's contract wins are somewhat episodic, so there can be large changes from period to period. But you'll still want to look at what's called the book-to-build ratio. Yet another project ... not including the guy doing tai chi -- he costs extra. Image source: AECOM. In this case, AECOM's revenue was $4.3 billion in the fiscal first quarter. Its contract wins during the period were just slightly more than that at $4.4 billion. So the book-to-build ratio was over 1. Put another way, it replaced all the work it performed with new business in the quarter. Keep an eye on this, since a falling backlog spells lower revenues and earnings in the future, and a rising backlog suggests better times ahead. The book-to-build ratio is something of a warning system. Don't get overly concerned about a quarter or two of weak trends. However, if you see that the company isn't brining in enough orders to keep its backlog up over a few quarters or a year, then there could be a probelm brewing. The top, the bottom, and the futureThere are plenty of important numbers to keep an eye on at AECOM. And while the top and bottom lines are the ones that most investors will focus on, you should make sure you keep an eye on the future. Unlike some companies, AECOM can actually clue you in on what that looks like if you pay close enough attention to backlog. That's why backlog is one key AECOM number you need to watch if you're looking at this construction and engineering company. The article 1 Key AECOM Stock Number You Must Know originally appeared on Fool.com. Reuben Brewer has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. 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. Welcome to the future of medicine! Over the past few years, the FDA has approved over 100 new drugs. Guess how many the agency has described as a "cure." If you guessed zero, then pat yourself on the back. Don't blame the government. The word "cure" isn't in the FDA's vocabulary for a reason. With the exception of most infections, practically all diseases require lifelong therapy. But that's about to change -- rapidly. I think you'll agree that a one-time treatment that permanently alleviates symptomsisa cure, no matter how it's described by any government agency.Thanks to the tireless efforts of Editas Medicine, bluebird bio , and Ionis Pharmaceuticals here are five diseases that just might have a "cure" available by 2026 or earlier. 1. Blindness You can't swing a dead cat in Cambridge, Mass., without hitting a Ph.D. trying to harness the potential of CRISPR-Cas9. This cool new gene-editing system is about a zillion times more effective than previous techniques, and companies built around it are popping up like dandelions. Image source: Editas Medicine. Arguably furthest ahead is Editas Medicine. It raised $94.4 million in its first public offering this February, and the stock has risen more than 80% since,valuing Editas at over $1 billion. People with a rare form of blindness known asleber congenital amaurosis 10 will be thrilled to learn that Editas will use its vast resources on their disease first. The company thinks it can program the Cas9 protein to "cut and remove" the mutation responsible. Since Editas has yet to submit an application for testing a product in humans, it'll be a while before we know if this will work. This particular fix might affect less than 4% of children destined for school-age blindness,but if Editas can fix one genetic defect, many more could follow. 2. Sickle cell diseaseTechnically, stem-cell transplantscan alleviate sickle cell disease, but they're extremely risky because of graft-vs.-host disease, and so they're rarely performed. Bluebird bio's LentiGlobin program could help the 100,000 Americansand millions more people around the globe with the disease. LentiGlobin treatment involves stem-cell transplant with a patient's own cells, practically eliminating the risk of rejection. Bluebird's approach involves infecting patients' stem cells with a functional hemoglobin-producing DNA, outside their body. The modified cells are transplanted back into the patient's bone marrow. So far, only a handful of severe sickle cell disease patients have been given the treatment, and only one has been examined one full year after treatment. That patient is doing great, and two patients in a separate study have shown fantastic progress as well. 3. Beta thalassemiaBeta thalassemia is similar to sickle cell, except the estimated 70,000 patients affected worldwide don't produce enough hemoglobin, and many of these patients require frequent blood transfusions. Since this disease is also the result of a faulty hemoglobin gene, Bluebird's LentiGlobin could be a two-for-one deal. When the company last checked in, a couple of patients who had begun early had gone more than 20 months without requiring a blood transfusion, and one was producing generally normal hemoglobin levels. It's a bit early to draw concrete conclusions, but a handful of patients more recently treated exhibited positive signs as well. 4. AdrenoleukodystrophyWithout control groups for comparison, it could be years before Bluebird can file new drug applications for LentiGlobin, but another stem-cell treatment (Lenti-D) could be ready for the FDAmuch sooner. Bluebird ran simultaneous trials: one with Lenti-D, and another with regular stem cell transplants in children with cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy, adeadly genetic disorder that involves destruction of nerve cells responsible for thought and muscle controlthat affects between 35 and 40 newborn boys in the U.S. each year..Those receiving Lenti-D -- another modified version of their own cells -- are doing well with minimal side effects. Four of 35 receiving stem cell transplants from donors, the standard treatment,have died, and the trial isn't finished yet. Bluebird isn't running the standard donor-stem-cell transplant trial to be cruel, for the record (and remember this is the standard of care) but rather as a control group for comparison with patients given Lenti-D therapy. 5. Spinal muscular atrophy This neuromuscular degenerating disease is the leading genetic cause of infant mortality,and partners Ionis and Biogen could file an application for its potential cure late next year. The treatment consists of asingle spinal injection with drug called nusinersen, and it's in registrational studies for children and infants. Nusinersen is far different from Bluebird's cellular therapies, but it too involves fixing a faulty gene, allowing production of vital protein that could help the roughly 250 children born with this disease in the U.S. each year. Watch. This. Trend.In case you haven't noticed, each of these cures involves a genetic fix of sorts. While Ionis uses the oldest technology, its stock might be the safest of the three. While not yet profitable, Ionis' annual revenue rose 32% to $283 million last year, and nusinersin could finally push it into profit territory. Bluebird has little revenue to speak of, but a cure for sickle cell disease could bring in billions. While I find Editas Medicine's technology platform most exciting, it's in its infancy. It's hard to say which of these stocks will perform best in the decades ahead. One thing I can say with confidence: The biotech industry is on the cusp of a gene-fixing cure bonanza. The article 5 Diseases That Could Be Cured in the Next Decade originally appeared on Fool.com. Cory Renauer has no position in any stocks mentioned. You can follow Cory on Twitter @coryrenauer. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Ionis Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool recommends Biogen and Bluebird Bio. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Source: Flickr. The Obama administration recently issued regulations designed to reduce the number of well blowouts offshore to prevent another Deepwater Horizon-like event. The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon in 2010 produced the largest offshore oil spill in American history and costBPmore than $40 billion in penalties and clean-up fees. Although the White House says the new regulations will cost less than $1 billion over the next 10 years, ExxonMobilhas said the new rules could cost the industry as much as $25 billion over the next decade and could stifle deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Let's examine how the new rulings affect Chevron (NYSE: CVX) and its deepwater prospects. Controversial regulationAlthough they're intended to make drilling wells offshore safer, the new regulations willadd extra costs. They'll require real-time monitoring of certain types of high-pressure or deepwater drilling. They'll require more testing and maintenance on blowout preventers. The energy industry thinks the regulations go too far. Because of the Deepwater Horizon incident, the regulations governing offshore drilling had already been strengthened.New regulations were put in place to address well-bore integrity and well-control procedures and equipment. Operators were required to obtain third-party certification and inspection of proposed drilling processes. Because of their added costs, the regulations could cost the offshore Gulf of Mexico industry many jobs. Analysts generally peg deepwater as requiring $60-per-barrel crude or higher to be economical, versus the $50 to $60 per barrel for shale. Because of the higher costs, more upfront capital needed, and longer lead times, the new rulings will make companies interested investing in deepwater think twice.Some analysts think the net result of the new regulations will slash deepwater activity in the Gulf of Mexico by 70% over the next 20 years and cost 190,000 jobs. Other analysts don't think the regulations will have as big of a negative effect due to the fact that the estimated costs of the regulations are spread out over 10 years. ExxonMobil and Chevron management didn't really talk about the impact of the new regulations on their first quarter conference calls, for example. How the new regulations affect ChevronGiven that it was the largest leaseholder in the Gulf of Mexico at the end of 2015, Chevron will be negatively affected by the new regulations. Because of its strategic goals and the need to raise cash to support its dividend, Chevron has deemed its Gulf of Mexico shelf assets as non-core and plans to divest the assets by the end of 2017. Analysts believed Chevron could realize more than $1 billion for the assets. Because the new industry regulations increase the cost to operate offshore, Chevron will realize less in sales of those assets on the shelf. Chevron deepwater activities in Gulf of Mexico Source: Chevron investor relations. Although it plans to divest its more-mature operations on the shelf, Chevron is still committed to the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Chevron is one of the top leaseholders in the area, and the company holds leases over very promising reservoirs, such as theWilcox. Because Chevron has already done much of the work exploring and building infrastructure over the reservoir, the company's brownfield wells have promising economics and can break-even if Brent trades at $20 to $40 per barrel. The new regulations are unlikely to cause Chevron to shelve those projects and the company plans to focus 80% of its development spend in the Gulf on those brownfield deepwater opportunities over the next few years. Given that greenfield projects will require more work and have higher break-evens, the new regulations will likely dissuade Chevron from investing more in unproven or less developed locations, however.The net effect could be less production growth for Chevron in the Gulf overall. The new regulations might cause Chevron to invest less in the Gulf and more into the Permian Basin. Earlier in the year, Chevron announced that it was mothballing a $500 million deepwater Gulf of Mexico development in favor for investing in the Permian basinbecause the economics in the Permian were better. Given the higher costs in the Gulf due to the new regulations, Chevron management might decide to divert even more capital away from the Gulf and into shale and tight plays. Because the regulations do not apply to projects outside of U.S. sovereignty, the new rules might also cause Chevron to invest more into its operations in deepwater West Africa and deepwater Brazil. Chevron holds working interest in several deepwater fields located in the Campos Basin that are promising. Investor takeawayThe new regulations will cost Chevron money and could cause the company to focus more on brownfield projects and divert some investment from the deepwater Gulf of Mexico to the Permian. Given Chevron's improving costs in the Permian and the basin's promising potential, Chevron could ultimately come out ahead in the long run from the change in investment, however. If the new regulations reduce overall supply in the long run, some of the negative effects of the regulations might be offset by the increase in crude price caused by the drop in supply. The article How Will This New $25 Billion Rule Affect Chevron and Its Deepwater Prospects? originally appeared on Fool.com. TMFJay22 has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Chevron. The Motley Fool owns shares of ExxonMobil. 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. There was one big story in solar last week: the potential divorce of the co-sponsors of 8point3 Energy Partners. I've covered that here, and will discuss it more in the coming week as I talk to those involved in making decisions about the future of the yieldco. But for my weekly recap, there was some interesting research that may have a big impact on solar stocks over the next year or two. And two tech giants may even make their mark on solar energy. Image source: SunPower. Big tech bets on microgrids Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) are joining with investment firm Allotrope Partners to build a microgrid investment fund that will help bring electricity to developing regions around the world. Between 2018 and 2020, the fund expects to deploy around $50 million in India, Indonesia, and East Africa. Microgrids have an opportunity to transform the energy landscape in developing regions that don't have access to electricity. Transmission lines are expensive to buildout, but if solar and energy storage can be built cost effectively to serve communities it will be a big win for the industry. And partners like Facebook and Microsoft, which have a vested interest in getting electricity to people around the world, could help advance these efforts by financing needed capital investments. The U.K.'s solar growth National Grid (NYSE: NGG) came out with some interesting information last week, saying 2.4 GW of distributed solar was added in the U.K. between February 2016 and February 2017 and another 1.5 GW is expected in the next year. The U.K. isn't exactly a hotbed for solar activity, but it's growing as an important market. As more markets become multi-GW markets for the solar industry, there are more opportunities for businesses to fill niches in each region, and more stability as they're less dependent on a single market. So, while the U.K. may not seem like a big solar hotspot, it's a key place for distributed solar energy. Maybe 2017 won't be so bad after all A couple of months ago, I wrote that projections in the solar industry were that installations may fall from 74 GW in 2016 to 69 GW globally in 2017. Last week, GTM Research upped that estimate and said that they expect installations to grow to 85 GW this year. The driver of the increased projections is a new flood of Chinese installations in the first half of 2017 and India's solar market doubling in the past year alone. And as the cost of solar energy falls, the opportunity for the industry only grows. In fact, new projections from GTM Research suggest that solar energy could fall below 2 cents per kWh by the end of this year. That would truly be a game changer for the energy industry. 10 stocks we like better thanWal-MartWhen investing geniuses David and TomGardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter theyhave run for over a decade, the Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tomjust revealed what they believe are theten best stocksfor investors to buy right now... and Wal-Mart wasn't one of them! That's right -- theythink these 10 stocks are even better buys. Click hereto learn about these picks! *StockAdvisor returns as of April 3, 2017The author(s) may have a position in any stocks mentioned. Teresa Kersten is an employee of LinkedIn and is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft. Travis Hoium owns shares of 8point3 Energy Partners and SunPower. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Facebook and National Grid. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Image source: Roche. A bunch of new, expensive, and incrementally better multiple sclerosis therapies approved over the past decade sent global spending on such drugs skyrocketing to nearly $20 billion last year. Those of you that understand this awful disease will be glad to learnRoche has a drug on deck that could send all those rookies back to the minor leagues. No two multiple sclerosis patients are the same, and despite the recent plethora of options, neurologists still face an awful dilemma. They must decide if a patient's disease is serious enough to warrant treatment with a drug that's highly effective, but potentially fatal. Or, physicians could prescribe a wonderfully safe drug that might not stop their disease from progressing. Needless to say, it's not a decision taken lightly. A hint of what lies ahead for RocheTecfidera from Biogen seemed like the solution to this horrid dichotomy. This led to outstanding global sales of $2.9 billion in its first full-year post-approval. Sadly, the pill has since been associated with several cases of a deadly brain infection (PML) more common among the highly effective therapies.The subsequent warning added to Tecfidera's label means demand for a highly effective therapy that's safe-as-milk stronger than ever. After looking over some largely ignored data recently presented at a conference for nerds, I think Roche's Ocrevus is poised to revolutionize treatment of the neurodegenerative disease. I wouldn't be surprised if it's one of the most successful drug launches of 2017, if approved, and able to maintain a stellar safety profile. First-in-classOcrevus is the first multiple sclerosis drug to specifically target immune cells in the CD20 positive stage. Today's immunology lesson image source: Roche. By targeting this type of cell, investigators believe they can effectively slow progression of the disease, while leaving the immune system capable of fighting off the opportunistic infections that make today's most effective multiple sclerosis drugs the most dangerous. Also first in primary progressive multiple sclerosisIt's also the first drugever to show efficacy in the 10% to 15% of patients with a form of the disease that continually worsens, known as primary progressive multiple sclerosis. During the study that will support Ocrevus' application in this group of patients, the candidate reached its main goal, reducing the risk of disability progression by 24% and 25%, at 12- and 24-weeks, respectively. Even more encouraging was the highly significant reduction in brain lesions measured by MRI scans (I won't bore you with the figures, but they're pretty good -- and if you're curious, you can find them here). Good news for the majorityIt appears Ocrevus is also effective in the majority of multiple sclerosis patients described as relapsing or remitting. During studies that could lead to an approval for this group, patients receiving Ocrevus showed a 47% reduction in their annualized relapse rate compared to the standard-of-care, a once popular drug from Merck KGAA (the German Merck)called Rebif. Image source: Roche. To give you a clue of just how amazing that is: Tysabri (another Biogen drug) and Tecfidera showed 67% and 53% reductions in annualized relapse rates, respectively, againstplacebos. I can't tell you how 47% "better" than Rebif compares to 67% "better" than nothing, but it's surelyan incredible improvement. We can't draw concrete comparisons without head-to-head trials, but you should know Tysabri is one of the drugs so strongly associated with deadly brain infections, it's reserved for severely relapsing patients. While brain infections associated with Tecfidera didn't surface until after its approval, they occurred in three patients who receivedTysabri in clinical trials. As for Ocrevus, there haven't been any brain infections, and the drug appears generally well tolerated. Best of all, it only needs to be administered by intravenous infusion about twice a year. What's next for OcrevusRoche intends to file applications for both relapsing remitting and primary progressive multiple sclerosis in the U.S. and EU in the first half of the year. Nothing is certain, but my guess is the drug will become available for relapsing remitting patients in the first half of 2017. Image source: Roche. The FDA recently granted Ocrevus a Breakthrough Therapy Designation in primary progressive multiple sclerosis. The agency reserves this designation for drugs that show potential to significantly improve outcomes compared to what's available, which in this case is practically nothing. The designation is intended to speed an application along in a quick, yet prudent fashion, and I think Ocrevus could earn an FDA approval for primary progressive multiple sclerosis by the end of this year. If my predictions for the relapsing remitting indication play out, practically every drugmaker with multiple sclerosis products will feel some pressure from Ocrevus by the end of next year. Don't cry for BiogenRoche and Biogen began a partnership over 20 years ago with a CD20 targeting blood cancer therapy first approved in 1997, called Rituxan.Back then, Biogen didn't have the means to develop these drugs itself, and it let Roche do the heavy lifting in return for a share of sales. Last year, Biogen's share was over $1.3 billion,nearly all of which filters straight to its bottom line. While Biogen's multiple sclerosis product sales will get slapped hard by Ocrevus, if approved, tiered royalties between 13.5% and 24% on U.S. net sales of the drug ought to take some of the sting out. As for the Swiss pharma giant, it has quite a few underappreciated drugs in late-stage development that put it on my list of cheap-looking healthcare stocks. With a bit of luck they should more than to offset losses from its stable of aging blockbusters. The article The Revolutionary Multiple Sclerosis Drug You've Never Heard Of originally appeared on Fool.com. Cory Renauer has no position in any stocks mentioned. Like this article? Follow Cory on Twitter @coryrenauer. The Motley Fool recommends Biogen. 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. Boston Beer's sales of its flagship brand Samuel Adams have gone as flat as day-old beer, which may make it an attractive buyout candidate for someone with deep pockets. Image source: Flickr userSotaro OMURA. Craft beer sales may still be frothy. But that hasn't translated into higher revenues for the face of the industry, Boston Beer Co. , which recently reported a 5% decline in quarterly sales as core shipments fell 6%, leading to a near-50% drop in net profits. With an equally ugly outlook for the rest of the year, the leading craft brewer may just end up attracting unwanted attention. Anheuser-Busch InBev has been on a shopping spree, amassing a portfolio of craft beers and microbreweries both to tap into the growing consumer preference for such brews and to help offset the decline it's experiencing in its own mass-brewed suds. But the megabrewer seems to understand where future growth will come from, and following the success of its craft-like beer Shock Top, which Anheuser-Busch launched in 2006 in response to the success MillerCoors enjoyed with Blue Moon, A-Bbegan buying up true craft beers in earnest. Since 2011, the Budweiser maker has bought the following craft brewers: There's good reason Anheuser-Busch wants to tap craft beer's keg: it's the only segment really growing and it's doing so at a torrid pace. Although Anheuser-Busch InBev's Shock Top brand is considered more "crafty" by beer aficionados than craft, it's still a popular choice among beer drinkers. Image source: Flickr userslgckgc. Crafting a growth spurtAccording to the Brewers Association, which represents the industry, craft beer now accounts for 12.2% of all beer produced in the U.S., asproduction rose 13% in 2015 to 24 million barrels. But A-B isn't alone in its thirst for snapping up small brewers. SABMiller bought Meantime, a U.K.-based brew (which Anheuser-Busch agreed to sell as part of its merger with its rival); Heinekenbought a 50% stake in Lagunitas; and Constellation Brands spent $1 billion buying Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits for $1 billion. It's clear the big brewers want to bite off some of the success their smaller brethren are enjoying, and as one of the biggest craft brewers in the country, Boston Beer would be an attractive addition to the portfolios of any of its competitors. And although analysts say it will be a long time before founder and CEO Jim Koch would consider selling his brewery, they've begun speculating that in its weakened state it might make an attractive target for someone. While that's led them to suggest Constellation Brands as a logical choice, due to its willingness to drop big bucks in the space and a tradition of allowing managers to continue running their businesses (something that might be attractive to Boston Beer's Koch), there's an argument to be made for Anheuser-Busch making the purchase too. Sure, it's in the midst of a huge $103 billion buyout of SABMiller that will tie up its funds and attention for some time -- an integration that large requires management to stay focused -- but here are a couple of reasons why Budweiser could buy Samuel Adams. Clearing shelf spaceIn addition to hoovering up craft beers, A-B has also been scooping up distributors, and allegedly using its clout (and pocketbook) to crowd out competing craft beers. It has apparently offered lucrative concessions to distributors that agree to carry only A-B brands, a practice that has now comeunder scrutiny. Because of its own positioning, Boston Beer's flagship brand commands a lot of shelf space that A-B would want, and it has used its preeminent place as the leading craft brewer to get its seasonal beers carried as well, not to mention its hard teas and cider. Although it hasn't yet been able to replicate that success with the hard soda it recently introduced, it's still early days in a niche that could have big potential. By buying the maker of Samuel Adams, Anheuser-Busch would immediately gain significant shelf space without the legal risk associated with its current strategy. A backdoor approach to globalizationA-B's global reach would also help Boston Beer increase its international ambitions. Samuel Adams has been exported to Germany since 1985, when it became the first U.S. beer to pass Germany's beer-purity law, the Reinheitsgebot, and Jim Koch was the first non-German to receive the Bayerischer Bierorden (Bavarian Order of Beer) in its 35-year history.But while Boston Beer already exports to over 30 countries, with Anheuser-Busch distributing it could increase its reach significantly. Moreover, in its attempt to acquire SABMiller, A-B is giving up the rights to a number of popular beers to appease regulators. It's selling Miller'sstake in China's popular CR Snow; it's selling Italy's Peroni and The Netherlands' Grolsch; and just the other day it said it would sell Miller's breweries in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Romania. U.S. craft beer exports may still be small -- just over 446,000 barrels, according to the Brewers Association -- but that's up 16% from the year-ago period, which itself was 36% higher than in 2013. A rich pot to stirThere are almost 4,300 craft brewers operating in the U.S., and Boston Beer -- even having been dethroned as the largest by Yuengling, following a change in the definition of what constitutes a craft brewer -- is still arguably the best-known craft beer around. That makes it a valuable prize for anyone. And Anheuser-Busch just might find it has too great a thirst to expand in the craft beer market to pass up a chance to guzzle this brewer down. The article Should Budweiser Buy Samuel Adams? originally appeared on Fool.com. Rich Duprey has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Boston Beer. The Motley Fool recommends Anheuser-Busch InBev NV. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Image source: Apache Corporation. What: Shares of Apache jumped double digits in April on the back of a rally in the crude oil market and some praise from the analyst community. So what: Crude continued its torrid rally off the bottom, jumping more than 20% last month. Fueling that oil price enthusiasm was growing optimism that the oil market is getting closer to closing the gap between supply and demand. That improving oil price has analysts starting to pick their favorite oil stocks for what appears to be an improving oil market, with Apache catching the eye of analysts at both Wells Fargo and Simmons. In fact, Wells upgraded it from market perform to outperform on the basis of the company's solid balance sheet and international assets, which put it in position to outperform even if oil prices stay weak. Meanwhile, Simmons gave the thumbs up to nine E&P stocks, including large-cap names such as Apache and Concho Resources . It sees these stocks having an average potential upside of 13% based on its view of oil prices. What was noteworthy about the names on its list was that most had a heavy presence in the Permian Basin. Apache, for example, spent the past few years streamlining its portfolio, which is now anchored by the Permian Basin as its key growth driver. Concho Resources, likewise, put its focus on that basin, which is now its only operating area. That's important because the Permian is the place to be right now because it still offers solid drilling returns at current oil prices. That not only enables both Apache and Concho Resources to still make decent money during the downturn, but it also positions both to really cash in when conditions improve. Now what: With the oil price improving, investors and analysts are growing more optimistic about Apache's future. That optimism is based not only on the company's solid balance sheet, which has it well positioned to weather the storm, but also on its opportunity set in the Permian Basin. It is a position that is still delivering solid returns, which will only improve along with the oil price. The article This Is What Fueled Apache Corporation's 14.5% Rally in April originally appeared on Fool.com. Matt DiLallo has the following options: long January 2018 $45 calls on Wells Fargo. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Wells Fargo. The Motley Fool has the following options: short May 2016 $52 puts on Wells Fargo. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Image source: Lumber Liquidators. What: Shares of Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc jumped 13.6% in April, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence, after the company got some good news in California. So what: A lawsuit in California accused the company of violating a law that requires businesses to post warnings about potentially harmful chemicals in their products. This stems from a 60 Minutes investigation that found high formaldehyde levels in Chinese-made laminates. But a judge in early April made a preliminary ruling that plaintiffs hadn't met the burden of proof required by law. It's only a preliminary ruling, but California is typically a very strict regulatory environment, so a win there could mean the company is closer to putting the laminate fiasco behind it. Now what: Lumber Liquidators' stock has fallen a whopping 78% since the start of 2015, driven by the formaldehyde reports. Revenue and net income have also fallen off, but management has said it has put measures in place to make sure its products are safe. The California preliminary ruling doesn't end the court battle for Lumber Liquidators or restore investor confidence in its products, but it could stop some of the bleeding and begin the heal the wounds. That's what investors were betting on in April -- now it's time for the business to show that the renewed confidence is deserved. The article Why Shares of Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc Jumped 14% in April originally appeared on Fool.com. Travis Hoium has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Lumber Liquidators. 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. Kristen Bell is candidly opening up about dealing with mental health issues. The 35-year-old actress reveals that she struggles with anxiety and depression in a new interview on "Off Camera with Sam Jones," and says she's been on a prescription for years. Bell shares that her mother, a nurse, sat her down when she was 18 years old, and explained that there's "a serotonin imbalance" in their genetics. "I've always had a really open and honest dialogue about that -- especially with my mom -- which I'm so grateful for, because you have to be able to cope with it," Bell says. "I mean, I present this very cheerful, bubbly person, but I also do a lot of work." WATCH: Dax Shepard Reveals He Was Molested as a Child: 'I Was Like, It's My Fault' "I got on a prescription when I was really young to help with my anxiety and depression and I still take it today," she continues. "I have no shame in that, because my mom had said to me, 'If you start to feel this way, talk to your doctor, talk to a psychologist -- see how you want to help yourself. And if you do decide to go on a prescription to help yourself, understand that the world wants to shame you for that, but in the medical community you would never deny a diabetic his insulin -- ever.' But for some reason when someone needs a serotonin inhibitor, they're immediately crazy or something. I dont know, its a very interesting double standard that I don't often have the ability to talk about, but I certainly feel no shame about." Bell, who says her grandmother was one of the first people they tested electroshock therapy on, also gets candid about other issues she is mindful about. "I'm extremely co-dependent," she admits. "I shatter a little bit when I think people don't like me. That's probably why I lead with kindness, and I compensate by being very bubbly all the time, because it really hurts my feelings when I'm not liked. And I know that's not very healthy, and I fight it all the time." "I changed who I was often," she says about her experience in high school. "I changed my interests based on what my friends liked, and I really didn't realize that until I was in my 30s -- that I had sort of changed for everybody." WATCH: Ashton Kutcher and Dax Shepard Surprise Mila Kunis and Kristen Bell to Play 'Never Have We Ever' Last November, the "Bad Moms" star opened up to ET about undergoing couples therapy with her husband, Dax Shepard. "Our relationship wasn't perfect," Bell openly said, although the pair is definitely one of the most beloved couples in Hollywood. "We had a couple years of fighting and of growing pains and hating each other, then loving each other and going to couples therapy and we worked it out ... We earned each other." Bell and Shepard have been married since 2013, and have two daughters together -- 3-year-old Lincoln and 1-year-old Delta. The couple certainly appears to be more in love than ever these days, making an adorable music video together in January of their vacation to Africa. next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 Caitlyn Scaggs was 26 weeks pregnant with her first child when she asked her husband for a massage to alleviate her back pain. I remember him saying, That spot on your back doesnt look right, Scaggs, who lives in Christianburg, Va., said. Their OB-GYN had already told them to monitor the mole, but Scaggs, then 24, didnt mention it at her next visit. Then, her husband went with her and asked the doctor to look at it. Her doctor agreed the mole should be removed and sent her to a dermatologist, who removed and biopsied the growth. I was mind blown that anything could be wrong with me or my skin, Scaggs said, noting that she lived a healthy lifestyle. When her doctor called with the results, panic set in. When he said the word melanoma, the floor dropped out. The idea that something is wrong with me that could hurt [my daughter] or somethings wrong with me that could impact her having a mommy one day, it was unbearable, she recalled. The good news was that the melanoma, which was .74mm in depth, was an early stage cancer and her pathology looked promising. The next day, Scaggs met with her surgeon and within a week she had wide excision surgery to remove the melanoma. Although she doesnt have a family history of skin cancer, Scaggs thinks her melanoma diagnosis was likely a result of a history of sitting out in the sun and using tanning beds before special events. I never burned and I thought because I wasnt burning, my skin was OK and thats not true, she said. About 1/3 of melanoma cases are in young women Having melanoma diagnosed during pregnancy is not a rare event, said Dr. Lynn Schuchter, chief of the division of hematology oncology at the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania Medicine in Berwyn and Philadelphia. In fact, almost one-third of melanoma cases are diagnosed in women during their childbearing years, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. Whats more, women diagnosed with melanoma during or shortly after pregnancy are significantly more likely to have tumors spread to other organs and tissues, and are also much more likely to have the cancer recur after treatment, a recent study in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology found. The five-year survival rate for early stage melanoma is 98 percent, but for stage III cancer, its 78 percent. Advanced stage melanoma is also one of the few types of cancer that can cross the placenta, although its rare, said Dr. Keith LeBlanc Jr., a dermatologist and a Mohs surgeon in the New Orleans area. In fact, between 1966 and 2002, there were only 87 such cases, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Hormones mean cancer? Although its not clear why melanoma is common during pregnancy, experts say there are plausible causes. Data has shown that certain melanomas have estrogen and progesterone receptors, which could potentially cause melanoma to grow more rapidly. Another theory is that because the immune system is altered during pregnancy in order to prevent rejection of the fetus, the very same changes that suppress the immune system could lead to melanoma. One of the problems with identifying melanoma during pregnancy is that normal skin changes might be mistaken as skin cancer not to mention that an increase in pigmentation is more common during pregnancy. Even normal moles are going to change slightly during pregnancy, LeBlanc said. Melanoma treatment options Unlike basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, which are less serious and less aggressive forms of cancer, experts say women who are diagnosed with melanoma must have surgery immediately to remove it. A biopsy looks at the depth of the melanoma under a microscope and checks for certain features to determine how serious it is. If the melanoma is thin enough, wide excision surgery, which removes the melanoma and the surrounding normal skin, will be done. The amount of normal skin around it depends on how deep the melanoma is, Dr. Alicia M. Terando a surgical oncologist at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center in Columbus. In general, melanomas that are at least 1 mm in depth would have a significant chance of metastasis to the lymph nodes. In that case, a procedure called a sentinel lymph node biopsy is performed. A CAT scan may also be used to see if the melanoma has spread, Schuchter said. The safest time during pregnancy to do surgery is during the second trimester, but if the cancer is found during the first trimester, the physician may perform a wide excision surgery and then sentinel lymph node biopsy in the second trimester. For stage 3 and stage 4 melanomas, the primary treatment for melanoma is immunotherapy, but it isnt deemed safe in pregnancy. After pregnancy, waiting between two and three years to become pregnant again is a good idea because studies show melanoma can re-develop within this time period. Some research suggests waiting five years, LeBlanc said. For women who have already been diagnosed with melanoma or have a family history, they should get frequent skin checks during pregnancy. Bring the attention of any new mole or changing mole to your obstetrician, see a dermatologist for anything concerning and dont wait and postpone until after the baby is born, Schuchter said. Since surgery, Scaggs has had two abnormal moles and 10 lesions removed. She has also had another child, now 2 years old. If I see anything that looks like its starting to change, we air on the side of removing it rather than leaving it, she said. She also goes to her dermatologist every six months for skin checks, is vigilant about wearing sunscreen every where she goes, and sits in the shade when shes at the beach with her family. While Im very careful about skin care, I also refuse to let melanoma steal my joy in life, she said. Sen. Bernie Sanders snagged nearly 50 delegates in Washington state on Saturday, but didn't dent his opponent's overall lead. According to district-level data obtained by the Associated Press, Sanders picked up 49 delegates, while Hillary Clinton received 18. Back in March, Sanders won Washington state's caucuses by a significant margin. The delegate count in Washington state was announced on the same day Clinton won Guam's caucuses with 60 percent support to Sanders' 40 percent. Only seven pledged delegates were up for grabs in the U.S. territory; Clinton picked up four delegates, and Sanders got three. The state of the Democratic primary remains unchanged. Clinton leads Sanders by a wide margin according to the latest AP tally, and has the Democratic nomination essentially in hand. With 2,228 delegates, the former secretary of state is just 155 delegates shy of clinching the nomination. Sanders meanwhile has 1,454 delegates. Read more on WashingtonExaminer.com Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich have quit the GOP presidential primary race but continue to snipe about whos to blame for letting front-runner Donald Trump crush them Tuesday in the Indiana primary and end both of their campaigns. "Post mortem's on POTUS race must include a healthy dose of Kasich, Cruz campaign manager Jeff Roe tweeted Friday. Defeating Trump required a head to head. Kasich kept that from happening. The campaigns formed a loose alliance in mid-March as Trump trounced in his home state of New York, then a week later swept in five Northeast primaries. Cruz, in second place at the time, realized his brand of conservatism wouldnt play well in that region and entered into a deal that would allow him to compete alone against Trump in Indiana, while allowing Kasich to compete head-to-head with Trump in Oregon and New Mexico. However, the deal began to fray within hours of its conception, in part because of apparent voter trepidation. Their deal was purportedly forged because Kasich refused to drop out and allow Cruz to go one-on-one with Trump. Kasich chief strategist John Weaver apparently tweeted Friday in response to Roes comments: "Other losing campaigns, especially with candidates nearing record-level negative ratings & zero ability to grow, should look inward. #exuses" Weaver also tweeted: "Nothing worse than entitled losers. #Excuses I mean ... . Cruz, a Texas senator, was essentially eliminated from the race before Indiana, trailing Trump in the delegate county by an insurmountable number of them. And Kasich, who won only his home state, had just 153 delegates in the race to win 1,237 of them to secure the partys presidential nomination. North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory said Sunday that he will comply with the Justice Departments Monday deadline to either scrap the state's transgender bathroom law or face legal action and risk losing federal funds. Ill make a decision in 24 hours, the Republican governor told Fox News Sunday. However, McCrory would not say what his decision will be when repeatedly pressed for an answer, saying only that hes exploring all legal options. One option would likely be a court challenge. The state law requires transgender people to use bathrooms that correspond with the sex on their birth certificate. The Justice Department says that's against the federal law. McCrory says the North Carolina law applies only to government offices, universities and road-side rest stops, not every bathroom in the state. The Justice Department sent McCrory a letter Wednesday stating that the law violates federal civil rights laws. The governor also said he asked the department for an extension and was given only until the close of business Monday. I dont think that three working days is enough time for such a pretty big threat, he told Fox News. "Its the federal government being a bully, making law. McCrory also said he doesnt have the legal authority to change laws and that the expectation that he can is unrealistic. McCrory, who signed the bill into law in March, said last week that the department seems to be breaking new ground in claiming the North Carolina law violates Civil Rights Act protections against discrimination in education and the workplace. And he said the administration's warning means the issue is no longer confined to North Carolina and could impact other states. This is not just North Carolina, said McCrory, arguing that every university that accepts federal funding is now in the same situation as those in his state. Meanwhile, the administration is expected to soon take the bathroom issue further, to ensure that transgender student rights are fully protected under federal law, according to Politico. The move reportedly would be related to a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs and activities, and multiple agencies are expected to be involved. The Associated Press contributed to this report. In a dustup between former GOP vice presidential candidates, Sarah Palin said Sunday she will work to unseat House Speaker Paul Ryan after Ryan refused last week to endorse Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Trump, asked about Palin's remarks on Monday, called her a "free agent" and said he had nothing to do with that push. Palin, who was on the 2008 Republican ticket, earlier said on State of the Union she will do whatever I can to support Ryans primary challenger in Wisconsins first district. Ryans snub of Trump was not a wise decision of his, Palin said. His political career is over, but for a miracle, because he has so disrespected the will of the people, said Palin, who was governor of Alaska from 2006 to 2009. She suggested that Ryan would be Cantor-ed, referencing ex-Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantors June 2014 Virginia primary loss to an upstart challenger and his ousting from GOP leadership. Both Palin and Trump were speaking on CNN. Ryan is facing businessman Paul Nehlen in the Aug. 9 Republican congressional primary. Palin said she has not yet spoken to Nehlen, but Nehlen had obviously heard the news Sunday morning, retweeting two links to the Palin interview from his personal account. Ryan's spokesperson declined to comment on the Palin remarks when contact by FoxNews.com. Ryan, who was a vice presidential candidate in 2012, was first elected to Congress in 1998 and was chosen as speaker of the house in 2015. Though he has been somewhat critical of several Trump statements in the past, Ryan still stunned many in the political world on Thursday when he declined to throw his weight behind his partys likely November standard bearer. Im just not ready to do that at this point, Ryan said on CNN. Im not there right now. Palin told host Jake Tapper she believes Ryans own presidential ambitions are keeping him from supporting Trump. You know, I think why Paul Ryan is doing this, Jake, it kind of screws his chances for the 2020 presidential bid that hes gunning for, she said. If the GOP were to win now, that wouldnt bode well for his chances in 2020 and thats what hes shooting for. So a lot of people with their Never Trump or Now Right Now Trump mantra going on, they have different reasons. I think that one is Paul Ryans reason. The sister of former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day OConnor was killed in a car accident Saturday in Arizona. Pima County sheriffs spokesman Ryan Inglett said Ann Day, 77, suffered fatal injuries after her vehicle was struck by two other cars near Tucson. Day was a former Arizona Republican state senator and Pima County supervisor. Day was driving eastbound on Ina Road around 7:40 a.m. when an oncoming car crossed the median. Days vehicle was struck head-on, Inglett said. A truck traveling behind Day then rear-ended her. She was alone in the vehicle. Paramedics transported Day to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The other two drivers, both male, were hospitalized with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. Inglett said the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner will determine the official cause of death. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said the 23-year-old driver of the car that hit Day head-on is suspected of impaired driving. Nanos said he was seen driving erratically at excessive speeds. Meanwhile, condolences began to pour in from Arizona political figures. "With Ann's tragic death, our state has lost a tireless advocate who dedicated her life to public service as a teacher, state senator and Pima County supervisor," U.S. Sen. John McCain said in a statement. "Cindy and my prayers are with Ann's family and loved ones, as well as the entire Arizona community, during this difficult time." Day was the younger sister of O'Connor. She was often described herself as a "cowgirl from the Lazy B," referring to the southeastern Arizona ranch her grandfather established. She served in the Arizona Senate for a decade and as a Pima County supervisor for 12 years, the Arizona Daily Star reported. Day was known for being moderate politically and for advocating for cancer patients' rights to clinical trials and reforms in the HMO industry. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Click for more from The Arizona Daily Star. Donald Trump this weekend put his well-honed attack-counter attack game into full general-election mode -- mocking progressive stalwart and Senate Democrat Elizabeth Warren, in a likely preview of the next six months. On Saturday, Trump turned to his go-to Twitter account to attack Warren, of Massachusetts, whom some Democrats wanted to run for president and now as Hillary Clintons running mate, if the front-running Clinton wins the partys presidential nomination. Goofy Elizabeth Warren is weak and ineffective, Trump, now the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, tweeted Saturday. Warren nearly lost her Senate bid in 2012, amid criticism that she claimed to have Native American roots to further her academic career and become an Ivy League professor. The fury mostly died as she emerged in the Senate as strong voice against Wall Street and economic inequality. However, Trump appears determined to revisit the controversy -- in an apparent effort to quickly dispose of Warren as either a worthy Democratic presidential surrogate or potential vice presidential candidate, as he did with his primary rivals. Does nothing. All talk, no action -- maybe her Native American name? Trump also tweeted. Goofy Elizabeth Warren and her phony Native American heritage are on a Twitter rant. She is too easy! I'm driving her nuts. In rallies on Friday in Nebraska and Oregon, Trump called Warren a "goofus" and a "basket case," who as a senator has had little impact on Washington, much less the country. Warren had insulted Trump earlier on Twitter, calling him "a bully who has a single play in his playbook." She started her attack after Trumps primary win Tuesday in Indiana that knocked out remaining GOP rivals Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. In a series of late-night tweets, Warren accused Trump of racism, sexism, xenophobia, narcissism and a host of other faults. The battle lines appeared to have been drawn a couple of weeks earlier. When Trump was asked about another Warren tweet storm in which she called him a loser, the billionaire businessman said in response "Who's that, the Indian? You mean the Indian? The response appeared quintessential Trump, considering he thrives off detecting weakness and pouncing and Warren being a target-rich environment. From 1986 to 1995, she listed herself as a minority in the Association of American Law Schools directory. Harvard Law School cited her alleged Indian heritage in dealing with criticism that it lacked a diverse faculty. Her recipe in the "Pow Wow Chow" cookbook became the subject of derision, after charges it was plagiarized from a New York Times cookbook. "I think she's a fraud," said longtime nemesis and Boston conservative talk radio host Howie Carr. "I think her entire success in academia and in politics is based on a lie that she's a Native American." Carr suspects Warren was stuck professionally as an instructor at the University of Texas Law School before checking the box as Native American, then becoming a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, then at Harvard Universitys law school. Warren's office did not respond earlier this week to requests for an interview. One of the ironies of this fight is that the two are vying, at least in part, for the same voters -- blue-collar workers and swing-state independents who may well decide the election. Trump is trying to pull them right with promises of more coal and less regulation, while Warren, with her strong progressive bona fides, is pulling left with a call for more government safety nets and regulation. Fox News Channels Doug McKelway and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Its Catch Me If You Can all over again. A young man posing as a Cathay Pacific pilot was detained in Malaysia after attempting to order an alcoholic beverage during a flight from Hong Kong. On March 31, the man, whose name has not been released, dressed in a pilots uniform and was able to board a Dragonair flight (a subsidiary of Cathay Pacific) from Hong Kong to Penang using an identification document that reportedly had official Cathay Pacific markings, reports The Standard. He allegedly told crew members he had been traveling on duty for the airline, after completing a long-haul flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong. The young man, who is believed to be between the ages of 18 to 20, flew flight KA691 to Penang but during the trip, airline crew became suspicious when he started taking a lot of photos during meal service. When he ordered a Bloody Mary, the fake pilot was given a non-alcoholic version of the drink. About 30 minutes before the flight landed, crew members asked the pretend pilot for verification. He told them his documents were secured in his checked luggage. Once the plane landed, staff again asked for identification and after he was unable to procure the proper documents, Dragonair staff alerted airport security who escorted the man off the passenger boarding bridge. The man was not permitted to enter Malaysia and was immediately sent back to Hong Kong. Hong Kong airport police have since received a report about the incident but no arrest has been made. A Dragonair spokesman told The Standard that it is currently investigating the incident: "We have stringent security measures in place. Non-operating cockpit crew and unauthorized persons are strictly prohibited from access to the cockpit." Some cabin crew members reportedly told authorities that they believe the young man has attempted this stunt before. The time has come -- a woman will finally be on the face of U.S. currency. Harriet Tubman, a former slave and abolitionist, will be bumping President Andrew Jackson from the $20 bill. And we'll be seeing some other notable women on the backs of $5 and $10 notes, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, both leaders in the women's suffrage movement. To celebrate this great occasion in women's history, let's take a look at ten incredibly inspirational quotes from female entrepreneurs who have carried the torch of leadership. Related: Harriet Tubman's Most Inspirational Quotes Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx Gillian Zoe Segal | Wikimedia Commons Listen to one of Americas richest self-made woman, Sara Blakely, who at the age of 44, sits on a fortune of approximately $1 billion thanks to the success of her popular undergarments. Her Spanx line has expanded to jeans and yoga wear, and -- to date -- her company remains privately owned. Related: Spanx Aims to Get More Closet Real Estate with New Denim Line Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook Drew Altizer | Flickr Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg continues to inspire with her frank words of courage following her husband, David Goldbergs, death. In a tribute post to her husband on Facebook last month, Sandberg wrote about her struggle with acceptance and related a situation where she had to step in for a father-child activity. I want Dave, she wrote. I want option A. However, she wrote of her resolve to honor his memory and kick the sh** out of option B. Related: Read Sheryl Sandberg's Poignant Facebook Post on Losing Her Husband Lori Greiner, inventor, QVC host and Shark Tank investor lorigreiner.com The Queen of QVC, Lori Greiner, who joined the ABC show Shark Tank in 2012 alongside Barbara Corcoran. Greiner has hosted a QVC show called The Clever & Unique Creations Show since 1998 and hawks her popular products, such as jewelry organizers, on the channel. She also runs a product development and marketing company in Chicago. Related: 10 Quotes From Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran and the Rest of the Shark Tank Investors Mellody Hobson, of Ariel Investments Joi Ito | Flickr As a standout African-American female leader in the finance sector, Mellody Hobson, president of Ariel Investments and chairwoman on several boards, including Disney Animation, can speak from experience about being accustomed to discomfort. Hobson also is a vocal advocate for diversity, saying, Invite people into your life that dont look or think like you. Related: 3 Things Employers Need to Understand About Millennials Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics marykay.com Mary Kay Ash founded Mary Kay Cosmetics in 1963. Her entrepreneurial talents emerged long before, when she joined the direct sales force of Stanley Home products in the 1930s as a side gig, which became her full-time job in 1939 -- after her husband ran off and left her to support three children. Success in spite of tragedies, including her second husbands death shortly before her first cosmetics store was poised to open, set a high bar of grit and fortitude. Related: Mary Kay Ash Barbara Corcoran, real estate magnate and Shark Tank investor LinkedIn Pulse | Flickr Barbara Corcoran, who got straight Ds in high school and college, founded one of New York Citys premiere real-estate firms, The Corcoran Group, in 1973 for $1,000 in seed money. She turned it into an empire and sold it for $60 million. In 2009, she joined the cast of ABCs Shark Tank, and later co-founded Barbara Corcoran Venture Partners, an angel investment company. Related: Shark Tank's Barbara Corcoran: Real Winners Say 'Hit Me Again' Eileen Fisher, fashion designer Matt Dunham | Flickr Eileen Fisher founded her line of eco-friendly, organic womens loungewear in 1984 and currently employs more than 1,100 employees with over 60 stores across the U.S. Shes described her business as an obsession -- one of her sons first phrases was crinkle rayon. While her obsession is flourishing, Fisher said her divorce and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, gave her perspective to make sure her most important relationships remain at the forefront -- including taking care of herself. Related: 50 Motivational Quotes From Disruptive, Trailblazing, Inspiring Women Leaders Melinda Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Kjetil Ree | Wikimedia Commons Melinda Gates -- also known as the wife of the richest man in the world, Bill Gates -- is formidable in her own right. Before marrying Gates, she was a general manager of information products at Microsoft. Since quitting her job there in 1996, shes been both a powerful figurehead and hands on in the Gates Foundation mission to fund projects that will impact global health. Related: This Is Bill and Melinda Gates' Prediction for the Future of Online Education Andrea Jung, former CEO of AVON and president of Grameen America Caseyculture | Wikimedia Commons The former CEO of AVON who resigned from her post in 2012 following the companys poor financial performance and investor furor, Andrea Jung now runs Grameen America, a microfinance organization, which was created by Nobel Peace Prize-winning microlender Muhammad Yunus -- the nonprofit lends microloans to Americas poor. And yes, some of those micro-borrowers are probably Avon sales people. Related: 10 Inspirational Presidential Quotes Arianna Huffington, editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post David Shankbone | Wikimedia Commons Arianna Huffington, who recently signed on to remain editor-in-chief of AOL/Huffington Post until 2019, shared her #fails with graduates at Sarah Lawrence College in 2011: her failed epic romance with the late-London Times columnist Bernard Levin and her original plans for The Huffington Post to be a highbrow literary site that nobody was going to read, but everyone was going to pretend to have read it. Turns out, she did all right. Related: Arianna Huffington's Recipe for Success: Unplug, Renew and Recharge This piece was originally published June 24, 2015. The Jersey Shores most celebrated guest made a spring return on Friday. And, no, its not Snooki. Mary Lee, a 3,500-pound great white shark was spotted about 40 miles off the Atlantic City coast, the first time the shark has been seen in the area in six months, NJ.com reported. Mary Lees first New Jersey trip came in May 2015, and she returned several times during the fall and winter, the Press of Atlantic City reported. The 16-foot sharks movements are tracked by a device placed on her fin by research group OCEARCH in September 2012 in the waters around Cape Cod. Each time Mary Lee surfaces above water, the electronic device emits a signal that indicates her location. Shes travelled more than 34,000 miles typically near the coastline between Florida and Maine since the tracker was placed, NJ.com reported. Mary Lee transformed into a social media star after a Wilmington, NC reporter began operating a Twitter account, @MaryLeeTheShark, devoted to the enormous fish. That account now has nearly 93,000 followers. The shark got her name from OCEARCH expedition leader Chris Fischers mom, the groups website said. I was waiting and waiting for a special shark to name after her and this is truly the most historic and legendary fish I have ever been a part of, and it set the tone for Cape Cod, Chris said. An official for the Kansas City International Airport said late Saturday authorities cleared the threat at Terminal B and operations returned to normal. Earlier, airport spokesman Joe McBride said that police responded to a report of a suspicious object and that an access road to the terminal was closed. Kansas City, Missouri police dispatched their bomb and arson unit to the airport at around 9 p.m. No major delays were reported in response to the threat. The suspicious object wasnt identified. Click for more from 41 Action News. A Florida man was behind bars after police say he shot and killed his brother in a beef over a cheeseburger. Benjamin Angus Middendorf, 25, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of his older brother Thursday. Nicholas Middendorf, 28, was killed after being shot once in the chest, Fox 35 Orlando reported. We were in a fight and I grabbed a gun and I shot him. Oh my God! Benjamin Middendorf says in a 911 call released by the St. Cloud Police Department. My son shot my son, his mother says to the dispatcher during the 911 call. Where is your son who shot your other son? the dispatcher asks the woman. She replies, Right here holding my son, and then is overheard saying, I hope you go to jail. Police responded to the 911 call around 10:30 p.m. Thursday, Fox 35 reported. I can tell you that there was some sort of argument -- sadly over a cheeseburger, whether he wanted one or not," police spokesperson Sgt. Denise Roberts told the station. He admits that he does own a 9-mm. gun and he obviously puts himself on scene," Roberts said. "He picked up the phone. They called 911, cooperated fully. But as far as a full confession, no. At this point he said he didn't recall." An arrest affidavit says Benjamin Middendorf, his brother and their mother had been drinking with friends, celebrating Cinco de Mayo, MyNews13 in Orlando reported. Benjamin Middendorf told detectives he was not drinking, the station reported. He was denied bail during a court appearance Saturday. Click here to read more from Fox 35 Orlando. Three students from Dallas Baptist University were killed in a car accident early Saturday after the driver of their vehicle swerved off the road and struck a utility pole on a Texas highway. Police said a 2009 Chevy Silverado was heading south on the Mountain Creek Parkway at about 3 a.m. when the driver of the struck hit the pole. Authorities said the truck hit a piece of equipment that was meant to be installed by Mountain Creek Lake and then flew into the pole. Police said the driver and both passengers died at the scene of the accident, the Dallas Morning News reported. Dallas Baptist University identified the students as Will Smith, of Bullard, Justin Schubert, of Cleburne, and Djordje Sarenac, of Belgrade, Serbia. The school said in a statement that the administration was reaching out to the families and friends of the students. Our hearts and prayers are with the families of these students as our University mourns this heartbreaking loss, the statement said. DBU will be holding a memorial service Sunday evening at 9:00 p.m. in the Pilgrim Chapel. We have grief counselors available for the campus community. The Schubert family told WFAA-TV that their son was a sophomore at Dallas Baptist and was studying communications. "He had lots of aspirations of being an actor," said his father Russ Schubert. "He was quite a character. Very funny. He had such a great personality about him. He was just a really fine young man." According to WFAA-TV, its the second loss the Schubert has had to suffer. Another son died when he was three years old after battling a brain tumor. Click for more from the Dallas Morning News. Police are investigating the "unexplained" death of a British soldier after he was found injured and unconscious in Wales, Sky News reports. The unidentified man was discovered on a busy street in the town of Brecon. He was rushed to a local hospital, where he later died. The soldier was not in uniform when he was found, the media outlet reports. The Ministry of Defense says there are no indications the soldiers death is related to terrorism. Click for more from Sky News. Huddle House Heading To Aggieland New franchise agreement will deliver first restaurant known for serving Any Meal, Any Time to home of Texas A&M University April 21, 2016 // Franchising.com // ATLANTA College Station, Texas, is known as the home of the Texas A&M Aggies and soon it will be home to a new Huddle House restaurant thanks to the signing of a new franchisee agreement by Southeast Texas businessman Robert Campbell. A veteran of the oil and gas industry who lives in Groves, Texas, Campbell was looking for a business he could call his own when he was introduced to Huddle House at a Houston franchise show. After visiting a restaurant, he was hooked. I knew I had found the business I wanted to open, said Campbell. He reached out to a close friend and Ph.D. graduate from Texas A&M who recommended he consider opening the restaurant in College Station, which does not have a Huddle House. Even though he has no prior restaurant ownership experience, Campbell said that the Huddle House system will make for an easy transition. The expertise they offer in areas ranging from real estate to marketing as well as their training programs is everything I will need to get me off to a strong start, he said. Huddle House now has well over 400 restaurants open or under development in 21 states, including 26 locations in Texas. The new restaurant will be the first location for College Station and also will be Campbells first restaurant. A population that has topped 100,000 and A&Ms student population of almost 60,000 makes College Station an ideal location for Huddle House, says Christina Chambers, Vice President of Franchise Development. College Station is one of those unique communities that has a large and growing population but still has a strong sense of community, Chambers said. We believe Huddle House will quickly become a special destination for students and faculty, local residents of the town, as well as the thousands of visitors that travel to College Station each year. About Huddle House Typically open 24-hours, Huddle House serves breakfast, lunch and dinner all day. The menu offers a mix of Southern inspired comfort food, including signature Big House breakfasts, crispy hash browns, creamy grits, golden waffles and fluffy omelets, all made to order. Other favorites include Big Bold Burgers, Big House sandwich platters, country fried steak with green beans and marinated grilled chicken with sweet potato fries. The core values on which Huddle House was founded serving freshly prepared, quality home-style food in a warm friendly environment that brings the community together are as true today as they were more than 50 years ago. More information about Huddle House and its franchise opportunities is available at huddlehousefranchising.com or by calling 1-800-640-7125. SOURCE Huddle House Media Contact: Sara Zangani BizCom Associates (214) 306-7420 sara@bizcompr.com ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- Montgomery County police revealed more details Saturday night about a suspect who allegedly went on a shooting spree in suburban Washington, D.C. The suspect, Eulalio Tordil, 62, was taken into custody Friday after two people were killed in separate shootings at a mall and grocery store in Bethesda and Aspen Hill respectively. Montgomery County Assistant Police Chief Russ Hamill said at a news conference Saturday night that carjackings were believed to be the suspect's motive for the shootings on Friday. "After speaking with the defendant, our detectives believe the motivation behind the events in Montgomery County were most likely carjackings, attempted carjackings," Hamill said. Hamill also said police found a 40-caliber Glock handgun in the suspect's car and it was "confirmed as the same firearm used in the shootings at Montgomery Mall and at Aspen Hill." Police said Tordil is also accused of shooting his estranged wife, Gladys, 44, in the parking lot of High Point High School in Beltsville in Prince George's County on Thursday. Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Murphy Business & Financial Corporation LLC Opens New Orleans Office Nations Premier Business Brokerage to Meet Demand in Louisianas Business Community April 21, 2016 // Franchising.com // NEW ORLEANS Murphy Business & Financial Corporation LLC, North Americas leading, full-service business brokerage firm with more than 175 offices in the United States and Canada, recently announced the opening of a new office servicing New Orleans, Lafayette, Baton Rouge, Metairie and the Northshore. A full range of services and support are now available to business owners throughout Louisiana. Floyd and Ida James have opened the Murphy Business & Financial Corporation LLC office to provide one of the states most comprehensive business brokerage services. The new Murphy Business New Orleans office will support entrepreneurs throughout the greater Louisiana region with the sale of their businesses, purchases, valuations and mergers and acquisitions. We are thrilled to be able to provide Louisiana business owners and interested buyers a trusted partner here in New Orleans during the deal-making process, said Floyd. There is high demand for business brokerage services in the area and we are here to fill that demand. Both Floyd and Ida have more than 25 years of executive management and business ownership experience within the service/logistics, foodservice, manufacturing, and sales/marketing sectors. The two have owned seven businesses together that were eventually acquired by startup creation, purchase of an existing, or through a Merger and Acquisition. For this reason, Floyd and Ida look forward to helping their clients throughout the selling and buying process as well. As they look at todays marketplace, Floyd and Ida see an increase in demand for business brokerage services. There is a growing pool of qualified buyers emerging as unemployment continues at its current rate and as instability within corporate environments remains persistent. They have seen an increase nationally, as well as locally, over the last 12 months of businesses being sold and at higher prices. The industry expects the upward trend to continue in 2016. To learn more about the Murphy Business & Financial Corporation LLC and its unique collection of business brokerage services, contact Floyd and Ida James at f.james@murphybusiness.com or i.james@murphybusiness.com. About Murphy Business & Financial Corporation LLC Clearwater, Florida-based Murphy Business & Financial Corporation LLC is a full-service business brokerage firm facilitating business sales, purchases, consulting, valuations, mergers and acquisitions. Closing deals at a higher ratio than the business brokerage industry average, several accolades have been bestowed upon the company including appearing as a Top 50 Franchise according to Franchise Business Review. SOURCE Murphy Business & Financial Corporation LLC Contact: Niveen Saleh All Points Public Relations (847) 897-7489 nsaleh@allpointspr.com ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Thanks to supermodels like Cara Delevingne, thick, bold eyebrows have been one of beautys biggest breakout trends in recent years, and it looks like theyre not going away anytime soon. At New York Fashion Week in February, Proenza Schouler, Altuzarra, Prabal Gurung and Derek Lam were a few of the designers whose shows featured models with full, even overgrown brows. Brands are capitalizing on this infatuation by churning out new brow grooming pencils, mousses, gels, serums and shaping kits that have transformed brow makeup into a $100 million-plus business. But getting look-at-me brows isnt easy to pull off. Heres a breakdown of DIY tips from makeup pros: DEFINITION DOS, DONTS The biggest mistake gals make is taking too much from the arch and then, in an effort to make the arch bigger, go too far in toward the front of the brow, says celebrity makeup artist Brett Freedman. The Monroeville, Pa., native went from giving his Gateway High School classmates Madonna makeovers in the 1980s to being an in-demand makeup artist in Los Angeles. Hes groomed brows of such stars as Brooke Shields, Taylor Swift and Britney Spears and launched the Brett Brow Collection of tweezers, eyebrow pencils and gels. Start with the very obvious grabs: in between the eyes, the low hairs on the underside of the brow and the fluttery sprigs that go from end up to temple. The next stage is the shaping. This is where youll take hairs out of the brow bone and arch area. Want to avoid a brow thats too solid or heavy? Makeup artist Sarah Lucero keeps brows feathery and clean with Stila Cosmetics. I brush upward with either the brush, pencil or the pen, she says. Its more just boosting behind the brows and finishing with a clear brow gel to set the look. When filling in the brows, the inner corner should be natural and continue to get more defined in the middle of the brow to the tail of the brow, says former Steelers tight end Chris Kolodziejski. After his NFL career, he founded Chella Brow Bars and Chella Skin Care, a product line that caters to brows, lashes and eye enhancement. If you have minimal hair or no defined shape, stencils are a great tool if you are unable to freehand the perfect brow. WHATS BROWS ON FLEEK? When trends are born, sometimes so are phrases to describe them. On fleek has become synonymous with sleek, full eyebrows. But how, and why? The phrase, which loosely translates as on point, appeared on UrbanDictionary.com more than a decade ago, but it didnt go viral until a user named Peaches Monroee used it on the social media platform Vine in 2014. NORFOLKIn March 2015, Roanoke FireEMS firefighter Joe Austin attended the funeral of co-worker Michael Todd Harris with a secret in tow. Harris, who had been battling throat cancer, was the fourth firefighter in the department to die after being diagnosed with cancer since 2009. His funeral came barely a month after Austins doctor told him he had prostate cancer. I didnt tell anybody at first, but inside Im freaking out because Im at my friends funeral for cancer, and I know Ive got cancer that Im going to have to get taken care of, he said. In recent years, numerous studies have suggested an increased rate of cancer among firefighters. But in 2010, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health began a broader study examining cancer diagnoses and deaths among 29,993 firefighters who worked in Chicago, San Francisco and Philadelphia between 1950 and 2009. The findings suggested that firefighters are at a higher risk for cancers that affect respiratory, digestive and urinary functions than the general population. It also found that firefighters were twice as likely to suffer from mesothelioma, most likely from exposure to asbestos. Twenty years ago, you might not hear of a lot people getting cancer, Austin said. But one year it was one friend of mine, another year it was another friend of mine. Then it was me. The studies, and the losses suffered at stations nationwide, have prompted policies that change many aspects of how departments fight fires, including how employees use an iconic part of their professiontheir turnout gear. While the layered suits keep firefighters safe from extreme heat, they dont offer protection from the harmful toxins released when building materials and household objects burn. Those carcinogens linger, both at the scene of a fire and on a firefighters gear, long after the blaze has been extinguished, Roanoke FireEMS Battalion Chief Matt Dewhirst said. Think of whats in your home. Its not wood and cotton, its plastic, Dewhirst said. Plastic has petroleum, which has carcinogens. Over the last year, Roanoke FireEMS has started requiring firefighters to wash exposed turnout gear after every 24-hour shift. The suits are washed in industrial-sized machines, called extractors. The city already had one extractor but recently bought and installed two more for $12,000 each. Each machine can wash three suits at a time, though the outer and inner layers have to be cleaned separately. Eventually, Dewhirst said, the department hopes to purchase an extra set of turnout gear for each of its 250 firefighters so they can change immediately after an exposure. Since each set of gear costs about $2,500, the department may need to secure additional funding before that purchase can be made. Currently, if a firefighter works a fire today they would have to wear the contaminated gear until the following morning when they are relieved, Dewhirst said. After theyre washed, the suits are hung on a specialized dryer. Though the dryers can be purchased for around $9,000, employees built their own for about $1,000 apiece. Each can handle six turnout suits at a time. It takes about three hours for a suit to dry completely. The same machines and policies have been adopted at Salem Fire & EMS and at Roanoke County Fire and Rescue. Salem Chief John Prillaman said the city bought an extractor and dryer for a combined $15,500 in 2014. Roanoke County Deputy Chief Travis Griffith said the county has extractors at two of its stations. The ones at the Fort Lewis station were purchased more than 10 years ago; two more were purchased for the North County station around 2009 or 2010 at a cost of $15,000 and $16,000, he said. Though washing gear between shifts is a new routine for city employees, Dewhirst said it also signifies a cultural shift. When he started at the department in 1998, he said he might go half a year without cleaning his suit. For years, fire department history and culture saw it as sort of a badge of honor, he said. The dirtier that they were when they got back, the harder they worked, the better firefighter they were. Now, with the knowledge that exposure to soot-filled suits can lead to long-term illness, many departments are trying to shift that perception. In many cases, that hasnt been difficult. When Salem bought its equipment, Prillaman said it was largely in response to requests from employees. I think the peer pressure is to have the clean gear and theyre laughing at the guy with the dirty gear, he said. Ken Brown, second vice president with the Virginia State Firefighters Association, agreed that changing how employees envision a competent firefighter is a challenge. He also said many departments, especially volunteer stations, may have to re-examine practices that have been adopted for convenience. Theres a lot of volunteers that respond from their homes in their private vehicles and they keep their gear in their vehicle, Brown said. A lot of them just have it in the back of their truck, and so every day theyre in their truck, theyre exposed as well. Brown said no data exist showing how many departments in Virginia have adopted measures to reduce cancer risks. Volunteer stations and departments in more rural areas may especially struggle to secure the money to buy extractors and other equipment. Departments that cant secure funding from their local government may be able to apply for a federal grant, such as those available through the Federal Emergency Management Agencys Assistance to Firefighters Grant program, Brown said. Regional departments have also adopted other measures to counter cancer risks. All stations in Roanoke and Salem have been outfitted with diesel exhaust extractors that pull harmful gases from the trucks out of the bay. The extractors are necessary because many stations were built with sleeping quarters above the garage, Dewhirst said. Roanoke County Fire and Rescue has requested about $525,000 in the countys 10-year capital improvement plan to install similar equipment in all of its stations, Griffith said. Roanoke Valley firefighters are also trained now to ventilate structures more thoroughly, and to wear breathing apparatus until harmful chemicalsespecially hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxidehave dissipated, Prillaman said. Since that may take hours, even fire investigators might wear breathing apparatus while working a scene well after a fire has been extinguished. In the past, firefighters often thought nothing of taking off their hoods and breathing gear prematurely at a scene. Wed be at a structure fire and three days later Id blow my nose and it would be black, Prillaman said. Recognizing the increased cancer risks in firefighting has also become a focus at the regional academy, which trains all firefighters in Salem, Roanoke and Roanoke County. Trainees can no longer wear their gear inside the training center, Griffith said. They have a dirty entrance where they can rinse their gear off and store it, he said. No gear is allowed into any other areas of the building. This helps to prevent cross contamination into the areas that are frequented regularly by people and groups using the training center. And Roanoke firefighters are no longer allowed to wear their turnout gear in living areas or in areas where food is eaten. Roanoke Countys department is discussing whether it should adopt a similar policy, Griffith said. Roanoke FireEMS created a 10-minute video that includes interviews with local firefighters who have been diagnosed with cancer, as well as family members of those who died from cancer. The video has been requested by agencies in other states, Dewhirst said. Its become an effective way to impress on employees the increased risks they may face, he said. We can put a face to every cancer, whether its the brain cancer that Chris Brown had or the lymphoma [Billy] Obenchain had or the throat cancer Todd Harris had, Dewhirst said. Heads up, intrepid world travelers: Hostelling International USA is offering scholarships to help young nomads hit the road. Applications are being accepted for HI USAs Explore the World Travel Scholarship, which awards dozens of recipients $2,000 each to help pay for international trips with an educational or service component. One of last years recipients, Chicago-based Blair Brettschneider, used the scholarship to travel to Rwanda. She saw the trip as an opportunity to strengthen her work at GirlForward, the nonprofit she founded that works with resettled refugees in Chicago and Austin, Texas. I work with adolescent girls and help connect them with community support, education programs and mentorship, said Brettschneider. This [trip] was a chance to learn more about where some of them come from. For three weeks, she explored the African nations history and culture. She also connected with Girl Effect Rwanda, another nonprofit with a mission similar to hers. I started GirlForward five years ago, but my time with Girl Effect reinvigorated my sense of excitement and purpose for working, she said. The trip inspired Brettschneider to put into practice some of the lessons she learned about staffing a nonprofit and branding. I definitely benefited from the personal development, she said. Ultimately, this is why the scholarship was created: to expand the definition of responsible travel, offering recipients a chance to pay it forward. To apply, you must be 18 to 30 years old and a permanent, legal U.S. resident living or studying in one of HI USAs 13 metropolitan areas. Applications will be accepted through May 15, and finalists will be interviewed to determine this years 81 recipients. Visit hiusa.org. Free Freightnet Membership List your company in the Freightnet directory. It's Free, it's Easy and your company can be displayed in front of potential freight buyers within 24 hours. A host of tractors, combines and cultivators are making their UK debut at this years Cereals event, including the first trailed Rogator sprayer. To help you plan your visit in June, we have pulled together some of the key launches. Tractors and combines Starting with Massey Ferguson, it will be debuting its tracked combine, the MF Delta 9380, equipped with the new 30ft Powerflow cutting table along with Superflow auger. Massey claims the bigger table and auger provide a 15% increase in output alongside reduced soil compaction. Visitors will also be able to see Case IHs new Optum CVX range which targets the growing UK market for lighter weight high-horsepower tractors, which can be ballasted to suit requirements. Available in 270 and 300hp versions, both are equipped with continuously variable transmission (CVT) for maximum fuel efficiency. New Holland will be providing farmers with the opportunity to see its new T7.315 Heavy Duty tractor providing high-horsepower on a compact chassis giving significant versatility for performing a wide range of field and haulage jobs. Sprayers John Deere will be providing an early preview of its new R4050i self-propelled sprayer. The model will be available in limited numbers from early 2017 and the 5,000-litre capacity sprayer complete with ultra-light but extremely strong carbon fibre boom. Able to spray at widths of 18m or 36m, the five times stronger and lighter than steel boom is able to flex reducing stress on both the machine while improving ride performance, says the firm. Meanwhile Berthoud, Vicon and Challenger will be demonstrating the Raptor, iXdrive and RoGator 600D, respectively. Berhouds Raptor self-propelled unit has undergone a series of significant upgrades delivering greater operator convenience and even better performance. Vicon will be demonstrating its new iXdrive self-propelled sprayer, first seen earlier this year. Upgrades to the cab and connectivity of AGCOs Challenger RoGator 600D self-propelled machine allows linkage with the Yara N-sensor, allowing data exchange between the vehicle and the office. The companys first trailed sprayer which is set for production later this year will also be on display. Vicon is launching its iXter A, available in 800, 1,000 and 1,200-litre capacities offering a choice of booms while Amazone will be featuring its UF mounted spray range which now includes the Super-S2 boom in a 30m version. Drills Turning to drills, Ryetecs recently launched Ma-Ag SSP drill which can operate as a no-till, min-till or conventional drill will be on view. It is designed to operate in high-trash conditions with minimal soil disturbance. The drill is taking part in UK trials as part of a cultural control of weeds programme with a particular emphasis on blackgrass control. These results will be available at Cereals, says the company. Direct drill specialist Dale Drills is unveiling a following harrow to help with crop emergence, a link arm drawbar to improve manoeuvrability and a deeper tine setting to assist drainage. Also entering the direct drilling line up is Horschs Avatar SD which utilises discs rather than tines. Great Plains is exhibiting an extended Saxon and Centurion drill range. Available for this autumns drilling Vaderstad is showcasing its SeedEye seed counter technology. Fast and exact determination of seed volume has been on the farmers wish list for decades, says Crister Stark, chairman of Vaderstad. For more Cereals 2016 previews see our Cereals event page Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia was among the right people enshrined on the memorial wall on Saturday, Oct. 21. Mother's Day 'microapp' from hike messenger News oi -GizBot Bureau India's first homegrown messaging app hike messenger will launch a "microapp" for users on the eve of Mother's Day. Mother's Day falls on May 8 this year. A"This Mother's Day, hike wishes all the mothers and enables hikers to show their love for their moms," hike said in a statement on Saturday. The company will share the "microapp" with its 100 million users. With this, hikers can add an image, edit quotes or simply add a message as a token of love to their mothers. Gift Idea for Mother's Day: Top 10 Budget smartphones priced under Rs 10,000 In addition, they can also post customised e-cards and stickers on their timeline or share amongst friends, not only on hike but also on other platforms. The special feature will be live for two days, the company said. Source IANS Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Top 20 Chinese Android Smartphones To Buy in 2016 Features oi -Harish Kumar Chinese smartphones have disrupted the smartphone market in India. The market is flooded with several specs-heavy smartphones that are priced compellingly to match your budget. In fact most of the most popular smartphones in the budget and mid range segment come from Chinese smartphone brands including Xiaomi, Gionee, Huawei and more. Buying Guide: Top 20 Best Smartphones To Buy in India This May 2016 Today we bring to a list of top Chinese smartphones to buy in India in this month. These smartphones boast high end smartphone like premium specifications, but don't cost in the same range. These phones make for good purchase in your budget. The best part is that these phones have some or the other key feature that cater to the consumer's interest. For instance, some phones have very interesting camera configuration, where as some have bigger and higher resolution display. However, all of these have powerful specifications for their price segment. Top 40 Smartphones that got Launched in April 2016 in India If you are looking for a Chinese smartphone, take a look at our list of the top 10 Chinese smartphones. You might find the right phone for you here: Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Click Here To Buy Key Features 5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Full HD IPS display, 178-degree viewing angle MIUI 7 based on Android Lollipop Octa-Core MediaTek Helio X10 (MT6795) processor with PowerVR G6200 GPU 2GB RAM with 16GB storage 3GB RAM with 32GB storage Dual SIM 13MP rear camera 5MP front-facing camera 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac/b/g/n ( 2.4 / 5GHz), Bluetooth 4.0, GPS + GLONASS 4000mAh battery with fast charging OnePlus X Click Here To Buy Key Features 5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Full HD AMOLED display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection Android 5.1.1 (Lollipop) based Oxygen OS 2.1 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with Adreno 330 GPU 3GB RAM 16GB internal storage expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD Hybrid Dual (nano + nano) SIM (second slot can also be used as microSD slot) 13MP rear camera with LED Flash 8MP front-facing camera 4G LTE 2525mAh built-in battery Lenovo K4 Note Click Here To Buy Key Features 5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) IPS 178 degree wide-view display, with 450 Nits Brightness, 1000:1 contrast, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection Android 5.1 (Lollipop) with Vibe UI 1.3 GHz Octa-core MediaTek MT6753 processor with up to 450MHz Mali T720-MP3 GPU 3GB DDR3 RAM 16GB internal storage expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD ual (micro) SIM 13MP rear camera with dual-tone LED flash, PDAF, f/2.2 aperture, ISOCELL sensor 5MP front-facing camera Dual front-facing speakers, Dolby ATMOS, 3 microphones, Wolfson WM8281 audio codec 4G LTE / 3G HSPA+, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, NFC, USB OTG 3300mAh (Rated) built-in battery / 3400mAh (Typical) Huawei Honor 7 Click Here To Buy Key Features 5.2-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) multi-touch In-cell touch display Android 5.0 (Lollipop) with Emotion UI 3.1 Octa-Core Huawei Kirin 935 processor (4xA53 2.2GHz + 4xA53 1.5GHz) with Mali-T628 MP4 GPU 3GB RAM 16GB / 64GB internal memory expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD Dual SIM (optional) 20MP camera with Sony IMX230 sensor, f/2.0 aperture, 6P lenses and dual-tone LED flash 8MP front-facing camera, f/2.0 aperture, BSI Sensor, LED flash 4G LTE / 3G HSPA+, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz/5GHz), Bluetooth 4.1 LE, GPS 3100 mAh battery LeTV (LeEco) Le 1s Click Here To Buy Key Features 5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) in-cell display with 500nits brightness 2.2GHz Octa-Core Mediatek Helio X10 (MT6795T) processor with PowerVR G6200 GPU 3GB LPDDR3 RAM, 32GB eMMC5.0 internal memory Android Lollipop based EUI 5.5 Dual SIM (nano + micro) 13MP rear camera with LED flash, f/2.0 aperture, ISOCELL sensor, PDAF, 4K video at 30 fps, 720p at 120 fps 5MP front-facing camera, Samsung S5K5E2 sensor, 85-degree wide-angle lens Dolby audio, Dirac HD audio technology Infrared sensor 4G LTE / 3G HSPA+, WiFi 802.11 ac/a/b/g/n (2.4GHz / 5GHz), Bluetooth 4.0 with APT-X, GPS, USB 2.0 Type C, MHL 2.0 3000mAh battery Oppo F1 Click Here To Buy Key Features 5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD IPS display with 2.5D Gorilla Glass 4 protection Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 616 ( 4 x 1.2 GHz Cortex A53 + 4 x 1.5 GHz Cortex A53) 64-bit processor with Adreno 405 GPU 3GB RAM 16GB internal storage expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD Android 5.1 (Lollipop) with Color OS 2.1 Hybrid Dual SIM (micro + nano / microSD) 13MP rear camera with LED Flash, f/2.2 aperture, PDAF, 1080p video recording 8MP front-facing camera, f/2.0 aperture 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS 2500mAh battery Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus Click Here To Buy Key Features 5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Full HD IPS display, 450 nits brightness Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 616, 64-bit processor with Adreno 405 GPU 2GB RAM 16GB internal storage expandable memory up to 32GB with microSD Android 5.1 (Lollipop) Dual SIM (micro + micro) 13MP rear camera with LED Flash, 1080p video recording 5MP front-facing camera 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS 2750mAh battery Lenovo Vibe P1 Click Here To Buy Key Features 5.5-inch (1080 x 1920 pixels) Full HD IPS display with Gorilla Glass 3 protection 1.5 GHz Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 (MSM8939) processor with Adreno 405 GPU 2GB RAM 32GB internal memory expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD Android 5.1 (Lollipop) OS with Vibe UI Dual nano SIM 13MP rear camera with dual-tone LED Flash, PDAF 5MP front-facing camera Fingerprint scanner 4G LTE / 3G, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.1 LE, GPS 5000mAh battery Xiaomi Mi 5 Click Here To Buy Key Features 5.15-inch (19201080 pixels) Full HD display with curved glass, 95% of the NTSC color gamut, 600 nits brightness Snapdragon 820 64-bit Quad-Core processor with Adreno 530 GPU 3GB LPDDR4 RAM / 32GB / 64GB (UFS 2.0) internal storage 4GB LPDDR4 RAM / 128GB (UFS 2.0) internal storage Android 6.0 Marshmallow with MIUI 7 Dual SIM (nano + nano) 16-megapixel rear camera with dual-tone LED flash, Sony IMX298 sensor, f/2.0 aperture, PDAF, 4-axis OIS, 4K video recording 4MP front-facing camera wiht 2um pixel size, f/2.0 aperture, 80-degree wide-angle lens Fingerprint scanner, Infrared sensor 4G LTE with VoLTE WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac dual-band (MIMO) Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, NFC, USB Type-C 3,000mAh (typical) / 2910mAh (minimum) built-in battery Gionee Marathon M5 Lite Click Here To Buy Key Features 5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD IPS display with Asahi Dragon trail Glass protection Android 5.1 (Lollipop) with Amigo UI 3.1 1.3 GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6735 64-bit processor with Mali-T720 GPU 3GB RAM 32GB internal memory expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD 8MP rear camera with LED Flash, 1080p video recording 5MP front-facing camera Dual SIM 4G LTE / 3G HSPA+, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, USB OTG 4000mAh battery OnePlus 2 Click Here To Buy Key Features 5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Full HD IPS In-Cell display, 1500:1 contrast ratio, Corning Gorilla Glass protection Android 5.1 (Lollipop) based Oxygen OS Octa-Core Snapdragon 810 64-bit processor with Adreno 430 GPU 3GB LPPDR4 RAM with 16GB internal storage 4GB DDR4 RAM with 64GB internal memory Dual (nano) SIM 13MP rear camera with dual LED Flash 5MP front-facing camera Fingerprint scanner 4G LTE, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4/5 GHz), WiFi Direct Bluetooth 4.1 and GPS, USB Type-C 3300mAh battery Gionee Elife S6 Click Here To Buy Key Features 5.5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) Super AMOLED Display with Gorilla Glass 3 protection Android 5.1 (Lollipop) with Amigo 3.1 UI 1.3GHz Octa-Core Mediatek MT6753 Processor with Mali T-720 GPU 3GB RAM 32GB Internal memory expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD Hybrid Dual SIM Slot (micro SIM + nano SIM / microSD) 13MP Camera with LED Flash 5MP front Facing Camera 4G LTE / 3G HSPA+, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, USB Type-C 3150mAh built-in battery Lenovo A7000 Turbo Click Here To Buy Key Features 5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) display with 178-degree wide viewing angle Android 5.0 (Lollipop) with Vibe UI 1.7 GHz Octa-core MediaTek MT6752 processor with Mali-T760 MP2 GPU 2GB RAM 16GB internal storage expandable memory up to 32GB with microSD Dual SIM (4G + 4G) 13MP rear camera with dual-tone LED flash, Omnivision OV13850 sensor, f/2.0 aperture 5MP front-facing camera with Omnivision OV5670 sensor, f/2.2 aperture Dolby ATMOS 4G LTE / 3G HSPA+ WiFi 802.11 b/g/n Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, USB OTG 2900mAh battery (Rated) / 3000mAh (Typical) Oppo F1 Plus Click Here To Buy Key Features 5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Full HD IPS display with 2.5D Gorilla Glass 4 protection Android 5.1 (Lollipop) with Color OS 2.1 Octa-Core 64-bit processor 4GB RAM 32GB internal storage expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD Hybrid Dual SIM (micro + nano / microSD) 13MP rear camera with LED Flash, f/2.2 aperture, PDAF 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS Li - Ion 2850mAh battery with VOOC Flash Charge Huawei Honor 5X Click Here To Buy Key Features 5.5-inch (1080 x 1920 pixels) Full HD IPS display Android 5.1 (Lollipop) with EMUI 3.1 Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 616 (MSM8939) (41.5GHz + 41.2GHz) processor with Adreno 405 GPU 2GB RAM 16GB internal memory expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD Dual SIM (micro + nano) 13MP rear camera with LED Flash 5MP front-facing camera Fingerprint sensor, Box speakers with Smart PA audio chip 4G LTE / 3G, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS 3000mAh battery LeTV Le Max Click Here To Buy Key Features 6.33-inch (2560 x 1440 pixels) Quad HD display Android 5.0 (Lollipop) based EUI Octa-Core Snapdragon 810 64-bit processor ( 4x 1.5GHz ARM A53 + 4 x 2.0 GHz ARM A57 ) with Adreno 430 GPU 4GB DDR4 RAM 64GB / 128GB internal memory Dual SIM 21MP rear camera with dual-tone LED flash, Sony IMX230 Sensor, OIS, f/2.0 aperture, dual ISP support 4MP front-facing camera with OmniVision OV4688 sensor, 81.6-degree wide-angle lens MHL 3.0, USB Type C, 3.5mm audio jack, Wireless HDMI, LeHiFi and audio chip built by AKG Fingerprint reader 4G (FDD-LTE: B1/3/7; TDD-LTE: 38/39/40/41), WiFi 802.11ac/a/b/g/n (2.4/5 GHz),Bluetooth 4.1 with APT-X, GPS, NFC 3400mAh battery Oppo Neo 7 Click Here To Buy Key Features 5-inch (960 x 540 pixels) qHD IPS display Android 5.1 (Lollipop) with Color OS 2.1 1.2 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 (MSM8916) processor with Adreno 306 GPU 1GB RAM 16GB internal memory expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD Dual SIM (Micro + Nano) 8MP rear camera with LED Flash, f/2.0 aperture 5MP front-facing camera, f/2.4 aperture 4G LTE / 3G, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS 2420mAh battery Xiaomi Mi 4i Click Here To Buy Key Features 5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) IPS fully laminated 441 PPI display with Corning Gorilla glass protection Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 ( 4 x 1.1 GHz Cortex A53 + 4 x 1.7 GHz Cortex A53) 64-bit processor with Adreno 405 GPU 2GB RAM 16GB internal memory MIUI 6 on top of Android 5.0 (Lollipop) Dual SIM (micro SIM) 13MP rear camera 5-element lens, f/2.0 aperture and two-tone LED flash 5MP front-facing camera with f/1.8 aperture and 80-degree wide-angle lens 4G LTE / 3G, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5GHz), Bluetooth 4.1 and GPS 3120mAh battery Lenovo Vibe Shot Click Here To Buy Key Features 5.0 inches IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 Android OS, v5.0.x (Lollipop) OS 16 MP, 3456 x 4608 pixels, optical image stabilization, autofocus, triple-LED flash 8 MP of Front Camera 32 GB Internal memory 3 of GB RAM Non-removable Li-Po 2900 mAh battery ZTE Blade S6 Plus Click Here To Buy Key Features 5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) IPS display based on in-cell technology Android 5.0 (Lollipop) with MiFavor 3.0 UI Octa-Core 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 (MSM8939) (ARM Cortex A53 - 41.5GHz + 41.0GHz) processor with Adreno 405 GPU 2GB RAM 16GB internal memory expandable memory with microSD Dual Nano SIM 13MP rear camera with LED Flash, Sony IMX214 sensor 5MP front-facing camera, wide-angle lens 4G LTE, 3G HSPA+, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS 2400mAh battery Best Mobiles in India Top 5 Hidden Xiaomi Mi 5 Tips and Trick You Should Know! Features oi -Vigneshwar Chinese handset maker Xiaomi understands the pulse of Indian audience from the very beginning, when they made their debut with Mi 3 smartphone. On July 22, 2014, Xiaomi decided to sell its Mi 3 model on e-commerce website Flipkart and Booom! Mission successful. Till now, Xiaomi had a good run in the subcontinent, but not without some challenges of course. Reason behind Xiaomi's pricing strategy! For the uninitiated, this handset company in many ways different from other when they started selling their mobile phones. To make it clear, Xiaomi doesn't have any presence in traditional retail markets and communicates with customers through social media, forums and others spending a minimal amount on marketing. This allows the company to price its smartphones lower, even though it offers power packed specifications. Xiaomi's success on Mi 5! Few days back, Lei Jun's company has launched its latest flagship smartphone, dubbed as Mi 5 in the Indian market at a price of Rs. 24,999. As expected, this device received positive comments from both the masses and critics for premium build quality, power packed specs and of course the pricing range. In fact, the Xiaomi Mi 5 was announced at MWC this year held in Barcelona, Spain. Amid the likes of Samsung Galaxy S7, LG G5 and iPhone 6s, Xiaomi seems to have hit the right chord by introducing top of the line specifications and features in its Mi5 smartphone. Mi 5 specs once again! Talking about the specifications once again, the Mi 5 comes with 5.15-inch display, Snapdragon 820 processor, 3GB LPDDR4 RAM, 32GB ROM, 16MP/4MP camera, and powered by a 3000mAh battery. In case if you are a proud user of Xiaomi Mi 5, you must know certain things in order to make best use of the device. In an attempt to sort things out, GizBot has come up with the top 5 tips and tricks that you can try it on your Mi 5. Now lock apps with a fingerprint sensor The Xiaomi Mi5 comes with a fingerprint sensor integrated into the home button and it also helps the user to lock and unlock apps using the fingerprint. All you have to do is to turn on the apps that you want to lock by reaching. Here's how you do it: Settings -> Additional settings -> Privacy -> Privacy protection -> App lock Change your recent app interface If you are using Xiaomi Mi devices previously, you must have noticed that the minimized apps are shown as small cards. However, the company offers you an option to change the look of it. Yes! You can choose between the card view and icon view. All you need to do is to pinch and zoom on the apps. Don't stress your eyes! Use read mode! There are some smartphones comes with the inbuilt read mode option. The so-called read mode basically tweaks the display temperature and saturation, which reduced the strain on your eyes while reading. To enable Read mode, go to Display -> Settings and enable the reading mode or just open the quick settings notification panel and simply tap it. Use the home button as capacitive button If you are on the list who do not like clicking the hard physical button, then this is for you! You can transform your physical home button to a capacitive one, by simply going to: Settings -> Additional settings -> Buttons and enable 'Tap Home button to go back to Home Screen' option. Enable permission manager Despite running Marshmallow, you will not be able to take advantage of the app permission manager on the Mi 5. This is due to the handset running MIUI 7, which looks and behaves exactly the same as it did on KitKat. There is a way to enable the permissions manager on the Mi 5. Simply head over to Security -> Settings (top-right cog button) -> Permissions and enable the 'Permission manager' option. Xiaomi Mi 5 Tips and Tricks Video: Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications BEDFORD The first question asked of Secretary of Transportation Aubrey Layne on his visit to Bedford on Thursday was about a potential train stop in town. Many of the questions or comments from Bedford-area residents, officials and business people followed along the same line. Im going to be careful. I dont want to be over-positive, and I dont want to be negative, Layne said. What youre doing is the right thing you should be doing, advocating, how youre going about it. Layne, who held the short forum at the Bedford Welcome Center before heading to Smith Mountain Lake for a gathering with Gov. Terry McAuliffe, cabinet members and others, couldnt point his thumb up or down because the stop would have to be approved by Amtrak and the Federal Railway Administration. The number of routes and stops on Virginias rails also is influenced by whatever deals are struck with railways, including Norfolk Southern, which owns the tracks through Bedford. The grassroots Bedford/Franklin Regional Rail Initiative paid for a ridership study and also developed a proposal for a station on town property downtown. The group also has rounded up community, economic and political support in the region. The Virginia Department of Rail and Transportation is expected to conduct a feasibility study by December that includes the Bedford stop. Several people thanked the secretarys office for help in compiling information for the locally funded study, and also offered any necessary assistance for the states study. We are standing here ready to review and comment on whatever drafts they have not only because the process is helpful but the content would be beneficial as well, Bedford County resident Steve Stevick said. While Bedford-area residents, including supporters in neighboring Franklin County, hope to have the stop when the line to Roanoke starts running in 2017, Layne said after the meeting seven to 10 years would be more feasible. There will be a whole lot more knowns then, Layne said. MOUNT HERMON History and tradition welcome visitors to Mount Hermon Barbershop as soon as they pull up to the store. An almost 100-year-old barbers pole greets visitors as they walk in, with another antique, standstill poll inside. New owner David Bray a third-generation Danville barber said he hopes the shop in Mount Hermon Center on Franklin Turnpike will continue to service the community as a place for haircuts and straight-razor shaves. Previous owner Don Meeks operated the shop with Bray during the last several years as Gentlemans Barbershop. When Meeks moved to Maryland this month to preach and continue cutting hair, Bray said he realized the future of the shop was in jeopardy. I had to step up if I wanted to cut hair for myself, Bray said. Bray said he had been approached by many members of the community concerned about the shops future during the past few days. He said he was only able to get the keys to the store on Saturday, and then open up on Tuesday. It took me a while to get out of Food Lion last night, Bray said with a laugh. The shops sense of history also extends to the three barber chairs inside. Two are from 1942 and one from 1949 and all have been refurbished, Bray said. He even keeps an additional circa-1949 chair at home for watching television. Danville City Attorney Clark Whitfield said he discovered the shop about three years ago and has been a regular customer since. When I found them, I was thrilled, he said. Whitfield said he enjoyed the shops atmosphere, extra touches and expert staff. He said it reminded him of going to barbershops in his youth, and added his own son had recently started enjoying haircuts there. The entire atmosphere is something I enjoy, he said. Bray said his shop is there for anyone in Danville and Pittsylvania County still looking for a shave and a haircut. Were just an old-school barbershop, he said. Rick Loomis/Los Angeles Times/TNS Lizeth Gallegos, 14 (right), an undocumented resident from Canoga Park, Calif., will soon start receiving Medi-Cal insurance. She was spending time at home with her mother, Carolina Moran, 42 (left), nephew Adrian Padron, 9 months, and sister Istel Gallegos. SHARE Rick Loomis/Los Angeles Times/TNS Lizeth Gallegos, 14, with her mother Carolina Moran, 42, in their Canoga Park, Calif., apartment on April 15, 2016. Lizeth, an undocumented resident, will soon start receiving Medi-Cal insurance. (Rick Loomis/Los Angeles Times/TNS) But health care for adults wont be easy By Soumya Karlamangla, Los Angeles Times (TNS) LOS ANGELES Ever since the Affordable Care Act took effect two years ago, many California legislators have been fighting to get health insurance for those it left out the quarter of all immigrants in the country undocumented who live within the state's borders. This month, California will make a sizable dent in that effort when immigrants younger than 19 who are here without papers begin receiving free health coverage through Medi-Cal, the state's low-income health program. State officials estimate that 170,000 residents will be eligible. But insuring children is an easy battle to win, experts say, because of kids' emotional appeal and their low medical expenses. California isn't blazing the way here. Massachusetts, Illinois, New York, Washington and Washington, D.C., already have extended coverage to children in the country illegally. The remaining frontier covering adults will be a much tougher sell and a more significant test of California's larger push to provide additional services to those here undocumented. "The next steps are harder, the air gets thinner, the angles get tougher to ascend," said Anthony Wright, executive director of Sacramento-based advocacy group Health Access. The children's coverage came at a high cost, in a last-minute budget deal. To make it happen, Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown pledged $20 million in state funds to provide coverage from May through the end of the fiscal year, and $143 million in the upcoming fiscal year, said Medi-Cal spokesman Tony Cava. The state had to foot the entire bill. Even though Medi-Cal traditionally is funded with a mix of state and federal money, the Affordable Care Act prohibits the use of federal money to pay for covering immigrants in the country illegally. Some young people here undocumented are already eligible to receive health care through county programs, such as My Health LA in Los Angeles County. Approximately 115,000 youths also get coverage for emergencies through Medi-Cal, according to state officials. They will be rolled into the newly expanded program on May 16, but will be covered retroactively from May 1 onward, Cava said. As many as 27,500 children who have not yet been signed up for Medi-Cal are expected to enroll in the first year, Cava said. For minors to qualify, a family must earn less than 266 percent of the federal poverty level or less than $53,626 for a family of three or $75,650 for a family of five. Maria Graciela, who lives in South El Monte, plans to get her 14-year-old daughter Ingrid's eyes examined as soon as her Medi-Cal coverage kicks in. "I just feel so fortunate," said Graciela, who cleans houses and hasn't been able to afford to take her daughter to the ophthalmologist or the dentist in years. Sonya Schwartz, a research fellow at Georgetown University Health Policy Institute's Center for Children and Families, said offering health insurance to kids is a smart investment, because research shows that children with access to Medicaid had fewer emergency room visits and lower blood pressure as adults. And they also were more likely to graduate from college than those who did not have health coverage. "It's kind of penny-wise and pound-foolish not to cover these kids," Schwartz said. She's a wife, nurse, chauffeur and chief cook and bottle washer. She may always be working away from home. She may be the sole support of her family. One thing is for sure: She's Mother Anna Jarvis founded Mother's Day as we know it today in honor of her late mother in 1908. Mother's Day has undergone changes since. For newspaper reporters Mother's Day is a chance to find what's so special about mothers over the years. In 1981 Standard-Times reporter Bobbi Olson attended a Mother's Day tea in Colonial Nursing Home on Armstrong Street. A special carnation was presented to the mother with the most children. Maggie Pope, at 85, had 11 children and was presented with flowers at the nursing home celebration. Mrs. Pope also had 36 grandchildren and "about 40 great-grandchildren," said her daughter Zee Lowrance. In the nursing home lobby, where tea and cookies were served, Lila Bullock said the smells of the fragrant flowers made her feel "special." "It's been a long time since anyone gave me a carnation,"she said. In 1979 several San Angelo students shared their thoughts on celebrating Mother's Day and on giving gifts. According to the third- and fourth-grade students, Mother's Day is special because the mothers are special. Why is she special? "She cooks dinner," one student said. "Because she's nice," said another. Possible gifts to the mothers of the young gift givers ranged from flowers and perfume to jewelry and candy. Some students decided to do special chores for their mothers instead of buying gifts. Leslie Kippes, a fourth-grade student from Glenmore Elementary, said that the nicest things she could do for her mother was to "let her sleep late." And one of the students simply said, "She loves me." Rick Smith is a local news and community affairs columnist. Contact him at 325-659-8248 or rick.smith@gosanangelo.com. SHARE By Staff Report Staff Sgt. Pannell was born and raised in Anderson, S.C., and graduated from T.L. Hanna High School in 1999. Staff Sgt. Pannell joined the Army in January 2000 and went to basic training and AIT at Fort Leonardwood, Mo., where he trained as a combat engineer. His first duty station was South Korea, where he served for two years. Upon returning to the United States, Staff Sgt. Pannell was stationed at Fort Carson, Colo., where he was assigned to 1/8 Infantry, IN BN, 3 BCT, 4th ID. Staff Sgt. Pannell was deployed to Iraq and was stationed twice in Balad. His third deployment to Iraq was to Mosul. Staff Sgt. Pannell married Bethany Dunn in January 2005. A beautiful daughter, MaKynna Jean, was born during his second deployment in March 2006. He deployed for a third tour in December 2007. Staff Sgt. Pannell deployed to Iraq for the third time and was injured in September 2008. He was the truck commander of an RG-31, while conducting a route clearance in Mosul, Iraq, three Iraqi teenagers threw RGK-3 grenades at the vehicle. The grenades have the ability to penetrate the armor of certain military vehicles. Staff Sgt. Pannell and four other soldiers were severely injured. Staff Sgt. Pannells injuries required him to be MEDEVACd to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he spent nine months. His injuries include left femur fracture, trans-section of the sciatic nerve (missing 10 cm and is unable to be repaired), lack of feeling or movement in his leg from the knee down, severe HO (crazy bone growth), severe PTSD and is undergoing further testing for TBI. He still has several fragments of shrapnel in his right and left legs. Staff Sgt. Pannell also suffered severe bone infection in his left leg, resulting in a left leg amputation. He was hospitalized from September 2008 until December 2008. After his discharge from Walter Reed he was attending occupational therapy and physical therapy. He was then hospitalized again for two more months, from February 2009 to April 2009. While he was hospitalized, he underwent 59 surgeries. Staff Sgt. Pannell has received five ARCOMs and three AAMs. He was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star for heroism in combat. Staff Sgt. Pannell has been an avid hunter since he was 14. He continues to undergo medical treatment and physical therapy. His activities are limited. Hunting has always been an important part of Staff Sgt. Pannells life, and he looks forward to hunting in the future. Signs for police chief candidates spotted the grass near a voting center Saturday. SHARE Adam Sauceda/Standard-Times Voters head to the polls Saturday. This election drew 10,285 voters, or 19.17 percent of registered voters in Tom Green County. By Ngan Ho of the San Angelo Standard-Times After three terms as police chief, Tim Vasquez has met his first serious challenge. Vasquez faces another two months of campaigning after Saturday night's election put him 210 votes behind opponent Frank Carter, a lieutenant in his department and veteran of the San Angelo police force. Neither succeeded in taking a majority in the four-candidate field, so they are headed for a runoff election July 2. Carter received 3,072 votes 33.64 percent and Vasquez received 2,862, or 31.34 percent. "I'm very excited yet humbled by all the votes and my supporters that have supported me and made it to the polls." Carter said. "The Lord has been by my side this entire time." "It was very close but I'm very appreciative of all the voter's that I've had and all the votes that we did acquire," Vasquez said. "I'm excited about a runoff. I think it gives our voters a great opportunity to see the contrast between my opponent and also to talk about the facts." Carter said he doesn't intend to alter his campaign style. "We won't change our strategy, we will continue to go out there and make face-to-face contact and deliver our message and continue to make the basic approach," he said. "We will take some time off. We will regather our thoughts and we will put our strategy together and have a positive attitude and be progressive." Carter, among the last of the three police chief candidates to announce he would run for the position trumped two other high-profile candidates for a place to challenge Vasquez. Mike "Burrito" Hernandez finished third place with 25.17 percent or 2,298 votes. "I'm feeling good. We fought a good fight, and I'm proud of what we did," Hernandez said. "We have nothing to hold our head down for. "I'm going to ask those who supported me to support Lt. Carter," Hernandez said. I'm very thankful that one of the two of us came out on top and hopefully that speaks volume." Jeff Davis, the retired San Angelo narcotics detective who self-funded his campaign, investing about $70,000, polled 9.85 percent of the votes with 899 votes. Davis could not be contacted by phone. It was his third attempt to unseat Vasquez. Vasquez was first elected as chief in 2004. He received 52 percent of the vote in 2008, and won by a landslide in 2012 with 70.95. With 10,285 of the city's 53,655 registered voters casting ballots, turnout for the 2016 election was 19.17 percent. Here's a video of SAPD Chief Vasquez after the results of the @CityofSanAngelo election results in @gosanangelo pic.twitter.com/jSiDNQcY0v Rashda SAST (@Rashda_SAST) May 8, 2016 SHARE Police attitudes being addressed By Cindy Chang And Alene Tchekmedyian, Los Angeles Times (TNS) LOS ANGELES In Santa Clara County, jail guards sent text messages using racial slurs to describe African-Americans, Jews and Vietnamese-Americans. In San Francisco, as many as 19 police officers have been implicated in a texting scandal involving racial and homophobic insults. And a top Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department official recently resigned amid an outcry over emails he forwarded that mocked Muslims, blacks, women and others. Recent controversies over emails and texts show how the intense scrutiny currently faced by police officers has extended beyond their actions on patrol and into communications that some thought were private. The shift has come as police departments nationwide are trying to address the attitudes of officers before problems on the streets arise. Among other things, agencies have adopted training that examines implicit biases and have pushed to hire more minority recruits. And after a generation of community policing and outreach to minority communities, such comments even in emails and text messages are indefensible to many police officers. "I've seen a serious change in the last 10 years of my career," said Alan Chu, a sheriff's sergeant at the Crescenta Valley Station who moved to the U.S. from Hong Kong when he was a child. "I think it's a different generation, to be honest, as we hire more people and the sensitivities increase and some of the older guys have retired." The recent focus on how police deal with minority residents is also playing a role. The shooting of a black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri., by a white police officer in 2014 helped spark a debate over police use of force, particularly against African-American men. A U.S. Justice Department investigation unearthed numerous racist emails by two of the city's police supervisors and a court clerk. One email depicted President Barack Obama as a chimpanzee. Others compared minority welfare recipients to dogs and contained insensitive comments about Muslims. Such communications show deep-seated prejudices that are unacceptable in law enforcement, said Kathy Spillar, who oversees the National Center for Women and Policing. "The jokes reveal an underlying attitude that can never be tolerated," Spillar said. "If you're saying this stuff, guess what? You're biased." Many police officials insist that the problem of racist jokes and other exchanges is far from unique to law enforcement, reflecting broader societal issues. Still, the revelations have put officers on notice that their personal conversations could become public, embarrass their employers and cost them their jobs. "I think we will continue to see things like this, not happening more often, but becoming more visible," said Seth Stoughton, a former police officer who is now a professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law. "What would surprise me is if an agency just accepted it and didn't do anything about it." Stoughton said that some officers adopt a dangerous form of humor that employs racial stereotypes as a way of coping with the violence they encounter on the job, much as some soldiers sometimes feel the need to dehumanize the enemy. In the 1980s and early 1990s, LAPD officers were caught sending racist and sexist messages not via email but through their patrol car computers. On the same day as the 1991 beating of Rodney King, one of the LAPD officers involved sent a message to a colleague describing a domestic violence call at a black family's home as "right out of Gorillas in the Mist." In those days, some law enforcement officers said, such sentiments were more prevalent, and those who espoused them were less likely to be disciplined. In Glendale, greater diversity among police officers has meant that making fun of minorities would be making fun of their own. "We have Armenian officers, Korean officers, black officers, females, and so to say that these types of jokes happen, it's in the culture, I would disagree," said Sgt. Robert William. A very different brand of cop humor making light of death is acceptable as long as it stays between officers, some said, and can be a needed release to move past the tragedies they witness. "What goes on in a radio car stays there," said Bob Olmsted, a retired sheriff's commander who started with the department in 1978 and remembers joking about a person whose head had been blown off. "What's said over the public domain, in emails that can be easily forwarded, that's a big difference." Last week, San Francisco's public defender, Jeff Adachi, sharply criticized three city police officers for text messages they exchanged referring to minorities as "barbarians" and "cockroaches" and using racial slurs. The messages were the latest in a growing list of racist emails and texts traded among the city's officers, resulting in the dismissal of 13 pending criminal cases. "That's the kind of mentality that tells you it's OK to shoot, OK to kill, OK to arrest" people of color, Adachi told reporters. In the Santa Clara County jails, guards exchanged text messages applauding violence against blacks, using racial slurs and sharing images of a Nazi swastika and a lynching, the Mercury News in San Jose reported. The emails that led Tom Angel to step down as the Los Angeles County's sheriff's chief of staff were sent in 2012 and 2013, when he was the No. 2 police official in Burbank. "I took my Biology exam last Friday," said one of the emails, which the Los Angeles Times obtained from the city of Burbank under the state's public records law. "I was asked to name two things commonly found in cells. Apparently 'Blacks' and 'Mexicans' were NOT the correct answers." Another email ridiculed concerns about the racial profiling of Muslims as terrorism suspects. A third included the subject line "How dumb is dumb?" and listed 20 reasons "Muslim Terrorists are so quick to commit suicide," including "Towels for hats," "Constant wailing from some idiot in a tower" and "You can't wash off the smell of donkey." Four of the emails contained strings of jokes that Angel received and then forwarded. A fifth email was a short dialogue between Angel and another Burbank police official in which Angel asked what he called a trivia question: "How many virgins do Muslims get in heaven?" After initially saying he had no immediate plans to discipline Angel, Sheriff Jim McDonnell announced over the weekend that he had accepted his chief of staff's resignation. Contributed photo ASU international alumnus Deok Hwan Choi from Ulsan, South Korea, recently landed a job as a user experience designer at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Wash. SHARE Students road leads from S. Korea to ASU to Microsoft By Tom Nurre Jr. In 2012, Angelo State University alumnus Deok Hwan Choi made the momentous decision to leave his hometown of Ulsan, South Korea, and head to West Texas to finish his college education at ASU. Little did he know that the choice he made as a sophomore at the University of Ulsan would lead to such a successful outcome in the U.S. Choi recently landed a job as a user experience (UX) designer at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington, with an impressive six-figure starting salary. "Firstly, I would like to say thank you for all the help from ASU's Center for International Studies," Choi said. "They always helped to advise me how I could get internships and jobs as an international student. Also, the Career Development Center helped me to have a great resume and cover letter by giving me one-on-one advising." "ASU also gave me so many opportunities to have work experiences, not only on campus but also off campus," he added. "ASU has so many great places and people to work with, and they are always very happy to help however they can. It was very easy to just raise my hand and ask any questions." As part of a 2+2 student exchange agreement between ASU and the University of Ulsan, Choi completed his first two years of college in Ulsan and then finished up at ASU in 2014, earning bachelor's degrees from both universities. His ASU degree is a Bachelor of Business Administration in marketing. According to the Microsoft job description, as a UX designer Choi will "craft clear, concise user-interface text for products; collaborate with designers, researchers, prototypers, product managers and engineers to define user stories, scenarios, requirements and work flows and then craft user-interface content; develop concepts for early-stage products; and develop creative briefs and solution strategies, user research and testing, product and feature name development, and information architecture, terminology and taxonomy." "Deok Hwan is a great example of the quality of our South Korean students," said Meghan Pace, director of ASU's Center for International Studies. "His hard work at both the University of Ulsan and Angelo State is paying off, and we all wish him continued success as he starts his career at Microsoft." "As the numbers of students coming to ASU from South Korea and other Far East countries continue to increase over the coming years," she added, "we are looking forward to more of this type of success story. Deok Hwan will definitely be an inspiration for future international students." An in-depth personal interview with Choi and a photo gallery are available on the ASU website at www.angelo.edu/choi. ASU currently has 185 South Korean students on campus, as well as 65 other international students from 28 countries. Most of them, 215, are undergraduate students, plus eight graduate students and 27 students in ASU's English Language Learner's Institute. After South Korea, the next-largest contingents are 11 students from Vietnam, seven from France and six from the United Kingdom. In April, ASU President Brian J. May led an ASU delegation to the Far East to set up recruiting agreements with universities in China, Nepal, South Korea and Vietnam that will begin bringing increasing numbers of students from those countries to study at ASU. The delegation also included Dr. Don Topliff, provost and vice president for academic affairs; Dr. Clifton Jones, dean of the College of Business; and Dr. Won-Jae Lee, criminal justice professor and executive director of Asian relations. More details on ASU's international and study abroad programs and Center for International Studies are available online at www.angelo.edu/dept/cis/. Tom Nurre Jr. is a news and information specialist in the ASU Office of Communications and Marketing. SHARE A dog could be your hearts best friend According to the American Heart Association, there have been reported associations between pet ownership and cardiovascular health in the last decade. Owning pets specifically dogs may help reduce the risk of heart disease in pet owners in a number of ways. In addition to companionship, dogs can encourage laughter, physical activity and other benefits effective in decreasing stress levels. Dr. Sarah Griffin, lecturer at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, explained why owning dogs may be related to decreased stress levels. "The American Heart Association has said that owning pets can have a positive effect on how people react to stress," she said. "Chronic stress has not been shown to directly increase risk factors associated with heart disease, but it can lead to unhealthy lifestyle choices that are associated with high blood pressure and increased risk for heart disease." High blood pressure, another common contributor to heart disease, has also been analyzed in relation to dog ownership. "Reduction in blood pressure reduces risk for coronary heart disease," Griffin explained. "A group of Oregon State University graduate students recently found dog owners have significantly lower levels of systolic blood pressure than people who don't own dogs." In addition, dog owners are more likely to achieve the recommended level of physical activity per day through walking their dog and taking their dog to parks. "The American Heart Association says owning a dog is likely associated with lower heart disease risk, partially because dog owners are 54 percent more likely to get the recommended level of physical activity each day," Griffin said. "Many people who own dogs take them on walks, go to the park, or go to dog parks. These activities provide exercise for both the owner and dog." However, some people question if healthier people tend to own dogs, or if dogs really do have a positive impact on cardiovascular health. For example, there are many dog owners that do not participate in daily exercise with their dog. Furthermore, it is important to keep in mind that no study proves that owning a pet, particularly a dog, reduces the risk of heart disease. Having a dog may help with factors associated with a healthy heart, but a direct link between cardiovascular health and dog ownership has not been found. It is still unclear whether owning a dog directly reduces the risk for heart disease, but recent studies suggest that dogs may be beneficial to heart health. Despite positive new research, Griffin does not encourage people to get a dog solely for a reduced heart disease risk. "Getting a dog is not the answer to better heart health, but actively caring for a dog does promote a healthier lifestyle," she said. Pet Talk is a service of the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University. SHARE Cease-fire endangered by renewed surge in fighting By Weedah Hamzah, dpa (TNS) BEIRUT Syrian rebels Saturday shelled government-held districts Saturday in the northern city of Aleppo, casting doubts on the future of a temporary local cease-fire announced by Russia, the government's ally. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors violence across the country, confirmed that Islamist rebels, who largely control the eastern half of the divided city, had shelled western Aleppo. Shortly before midnight Friday, Russia's Defense Ministry announced that a temporary truce in Aleppo had been extended for three more days, starting at 1 p.m. Saturday local time. "This is a clear violation of the truce," said Rami Abdel-Rahman, head of the observatory. A surge in fighting and civilian deaths has prompted international diplomatic efforts to shore up an earlier U.S.-Russia-brokered cease-fire that took effect in most parts of Syria in February. That truce excluded the Islamic State extremist militia and the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front. The Nusra Front has spearheaded recent rebel advances south of the city, including the capture on Friday of the town of Khan Touman that, according to the observatory, formed a major defensive line for government forces in the area. Saturday, President Bashir Assad accused Western and regional powers, which he did not identify, of supporting "terrorism" in his country. "Several Western and regional countries, which have stoked terrorism in Syria in the past years, continue to support terrorists secretly and in public," Assad said. SHARE In the last four presidential elections, the Republican nominee has never received less than 90 percent of the Republican vote. The Republican candidate, however, won the popular vote only one of those times, in 2004, and when he did, he carried 93 percent of Republican voters. Donald Trump has defied the odds before, but they are against his achieving this degree of party unity. Trump has won more primary votes than any previous nominee, and he is going to add to that number in the weeks to come. But he also will be a nominee with a record number of primary votes cast for his opponents. To say the race has been divisive is an understatement: The day he clinched the nomination, he suggested, insanely, that Ted Cruz's father was somehow involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Cruz responded by mentioning that Trump once bragged about his close calls with venereal disease. A lot of Republican officeholders past, present and would-be-in-the-future will rapidly endorse Trump, regardless of what they previously said about his psychological stability, honesty and all-around fitness for office. Trump's numbers in polls against Hillary Clinton may improve as many Republican voters accept him as their nominee. (Then again, they may not, depending on whether Democrats quickly start running ads attacking him.) Some Republican officeholders and voters will still consider Trump unfit for office and not a true conservative but his supporters, old and new, will try to shame them into supporting the presumptive nominee. Newt Gingrich, who has for months been backing Trump without explicitly endorsing him, told Sean Hannity on Tuesday night that if you're not for him you're "functionally for Hillary Clinton" and therefore for a "radical Supreme Court." Gingrich and other Trump supporters will have to overcome five problems in making this case. First, Trump himself has said quite recently that he does not need Republican unity to win the election. So Gingrich is asking Republican voters who have serious misgivings about Trump to support him even though he himself is hardly asking them to do so. Second, his most vocal supporters have spent the primaries trashing the Republican Party and declaring anti-Trump conservatives irrelevant. It's a little late to flip the script now. Third, the message vote Trump, you idiot crybabies may just fall flat because a lot of voters dislike being addressed this way. Fourth, conservatives don't have much reason to trust Trump on the Supreme Court. He has given no indication of caring about judicial conservatism. If he put up nonconservative nominees, he would win praise for his bipartisanship and could make one of those deals with the Democrats he is always promising. What would hold him back? His word? Fifth, and I think most important, Trump may spend much of the campaign too far behind Clinton for all this shaming to have any force. If the candidates are neck and neck, then maybe Republicans on the fence could be swayed by the argument that they have to vote for Trump or see Clinton in power. If Trump is behind by eight points, on the other hand, then a lot of Republican voters won't see themselves as having to make the agonizing choice to back Trump to stop Clinton. If Clinton has a consistently large lead, Trump won't get the 90-plus percent of the Republican vote that his predecessor nominees got. A significant fraction of Republican voters will feel free not to vote for Trump because they will assume, accurately, that Clinton will be president whatever they do. And the root cause of that assumption will be that Trump is such a weak general-election candidate. In that case, the functional allies of Clinton, the enablers of her judicial nominees, will turn out to have been those, like Gingrich and Hannity, who helped that weak candidate win the Republican nomination. Ramesh Ponnuru is a Bloomberg View columnist. Contact him at rponnuru@bloomberg.net. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BRIDGEPORT Burned-out factories. Blighted neighborhoods. That was Rashawn Powells first impression of his new home when the University of Bridgeport freshman arrived at the South End school from New Yorks Long Island. It started being very alarming to me, Powell, 18, said last week. You dont really want to see these things as youre coming to a university. Then, Powell entered the well-maintained, 54-acre campus, which abuts the citys beautiful and historic Seaside Park and looks out on sparkling Long Island Sound. Suddenly, on this particular sunny day, Powell knew he had made the right choice when he enrolled at UB. Its getting past that initial aesthetic thats really holding the university back, Powell said. George Estrada, UBs vice president for facilities, said Powells experience is a common one for visitors. You hear that all day long, every day, Estrada said. The minute they hit campus they say, Oh my God, this is gorgeous. Its ignominious bankruptcy well behind it, UB has become an educational institution on the rise. Estrada said the student population of more than 5,400 is the largest since the mid-1980s. A master plan As a result, UB is working on a master plan for expansion, focusing in particular on the schools of engineering and nursing, and on recreational facilities. The plan, being drafted by New York City-based Sasaki Associates, looks ahead five, 10 and 15 years. The goal is for UBs expansion to complement ongoing municipal and public/private redevelopment efforts in the South End, including the replacement of the aging Marina Village housing project and old manufacturing sites. But in the shorter term, the university and city are hoping to partner on what Estrada calls curb appeal. That means making visual improvements to the three main arteries through campus Park and Iranistan avenues and Broad Street to make them more attractive, safer and provide a better link to Bridgeports growing downtown on the north side of the Metro-North tracks. When we have an open house like (last) weekend that attracts 1,000 potential students and families, we want neighborhoods looking clean and safe, Estrada said. If theyre not, there are a lot of universities you can look at as an option. And developers focused on building more housing and luring businesses downtown have often lamented the barrier of run-down neighborhoods that keep many of the 1,200 students living on UBs campus and the money in their pockets at bay. I honestly dont feel that comfortable to walk too far off campus, Powell said. City could contribute $10 million The curb-appeal initiative is loosely identified as the Gateway to the South End in Mayor Joe Ganims most recent budget proposal. The plans are still in the early stages, but would see the city borrow $2 million in the coming year, and possibly as much as $10 million over the next five years, for still unspecified work. It is a way for Ganim to put his money where his mouth is. When he ran for re-election last year having served as mayor from 1991 to 2003, Ganim, a UB alumnus, pledged to forge a closer personal relationship with the school than then-incumbent Mayor Bill Finch. Ganim one night last week delivered a speech on campus about working more closely with UB for the benefit of the university and the city. And Ganim touted the gateway project as a main attraction. As he spoke on one of the towering librarys top floors, Ganim acknowledged the panoramic views of the city and the sea out the windows. He also acknowledged the need to leave potential students and other visitors to the university and Seaside Park with a good impression. When they come in, if they get to see this view, (they say), Where do I sign? Who wouldnt? Ganim said. Over the winter, Ganim and then-Economic Development Director David Kooris traveled to New York City for a briefing and dinner with Sasaki representatives, UB trustees, university president Neil Salonen and Estrada. The university is bordered on the sides by Broad Street and Iranistan Avenue, with Park Avenue running through the middle of campus to the granite Perry Memorial arch marking Seasides main entrance. A renewal project is born One of the things we talked about in that strategic meeting was, I call it The Gateway to the university, Ganim said. In some ways, its looked at as the gateway to the South End. Estrada, who formerly ran the citys public facilities department, said Park Avenue is the oldest streetscape in the city. And while the university and city have invested in some new sidewalks over the years, Estrada said it is time to focus on more work new plantings, esplanades, traffic islands before it gets to where you have half-flowering trees and the islands begin to crumble. But Iranistan Avenue and Broad Street are also key, not just Park Avenue, Estrada said. Surveys conducted by Sasaki found that Broad Street is the most heavily used route to UB. We didnt even know that, Estrada said. As for Iranistan Avenue, the street has had little capital investment south of the railroad tracks, Estrada said. Powell, the UB freshman from Long Island, was in the audience when Ganim spoke at the library and introduced himself to the mayor afterward. I honestly feel like he has a plan, Powell said. Its the execution that everyones waiting for. Talking about it is one thing. Putting it into place is another. Ganim had previously assured his audience, Were on it. Is it happening fast enough? Never for me, the mayor said. But were getting there. brian.lockhart@scni.com It may seem to be a topic people are reluctant to discuss, but when an initial panel discussion on end-of-life matters kicked off in the New Canaan Library recently, more than 100 people showed up. As Greenwich attorney Michelle Beltrano recalled, they werent merely sitting in the audience; they were captivated. The topic, ever more prevalent as baby boomers age, is one that many people seek to discuss, she said. I think people want to, but they dont necessarily know how to, said Beltrano, who was involved in the discussion and who specializes in elder law and health. So organizers are looking forward to the next panel talk at 5 p.m. Wednesday also in the New Canaan library, 151 Main St. Titled Cant Get Out of Dying? Why Not Plan for it! the discussion will focus on practical resources for end-of-life planning. Presentations will be made by members of the New Canaan-based Alliance of Business Professionals, a group of experts in various fields who often present programs of general interest to area residents. Alliance members live and work in communities from Greenwich and Darien to Fairfield. The event is co-sponsored by the alliance and Staying Put, a nonprofit that provides support to seniors who choose to remain in their homes. Beltrano may be particularly suited to discuss the topic. The head of Beltrano Law in Greenwich, she previously worked for 20 years as a nurse and still holds her license in that profession. She will dicuss six key documents in her topic, Elder law and legal documents, ensuring your family understands your final wishes and their roles in making them happen. The documents include ones assigning power of attorney and naming a health care representative and executor. Beltrano will talk about the importance of choosing the right person for each role. It may not be your son or daughter, she said. It may be some good friend or some other trusted adviser. Every persons situation is unique. The discussion will be moderated by Bill Bergner, of Fairfield, owner of State Farm Insurance in New Canaan and a founding member of the alliance. Other panelists and their topics will be: Don Moyle of Insurance Navigation: Health insurance solutions for businesses and individuals; Karen Goersch of Ameriprise: Financial planning and long term medical needs, and Carol Hollyday of William Pitt Sothebys International Realty: Downsizing options: living safely at home, moving to a condo or considering a senior community. Organizers request that people who want to attend make reservations. Contact director@stayingputnc.org or call 203-966-7762. GREENWICH Like a lot of disgruntled consumers, Michael Demers has taken to the internet to vent his aggravations against a company he feels did him wrong. He created a series of disparaging parodies on the internet leveled at the insurance company he says damaged his mothers home by mismanaging an oil-spill clean-up. The insurance company was not amused by seeing its name denigrated in mocking terms or its employees depicted in computer-generated clown costumes as well as what it says is inaccurate information and filed a defamation law suit against Demers earlier this year. Now a New Hampshire court will determine whether Demers who has also aimed his jibes at W.R. Berkley, the Greenwich parent company of the New Hampshire insurance company he targeted, Acadia should knock it off and remove the offending material. No monetary damages are sought. Suits like this are becoming increasingly common, experts say, as the internet provides new channels of communications along with a strong propensity for people with vengeful dispositions to take to social media. To Demers, it appears to be a case of legitimate criticism being shut down by a big corporation. Im the little guy here, and in the United States of America, you have freedom of speech, freedom of parody, Demers said in a phone interview from New Hampshire. And my opinions and satire are based on documents and facts. Demers said a poor job was done to clean up an oil spill at his mothers home, substantially reducing its value. Hes been pushing a boycott of Acadia and calling for a new structure to be built at his mothers house. The defamation lawsuit against him contends hes willfully misrepresenting the chain of events that followed from an oil spill that took place in 2007 in Salem, N.H., at the home of Suzanne Demers. A lawsuit against Acadia by Demers in 2011 that claimed the clean-up was insufficient was dismissed by a jury, the lawsuit notes. The defamation suit against him points out that the clean-up received state environmental approvals, and it highlights other issues in Demers claims that it says are incorrect. The lawsuit by the insurance company and its staff members against Demers say his statements are false and injurious to their professional reputations. It says the statements he posted on the Web were made intentionally, willfully, maliciously, and/or with reckless disregard for the truth. A lawyer who practices in the field of Internet communications and free-speech issues says the nature of the digital world is producing cases like this. I see cases like this every day, said Marc Randazza. Its a good time to be a First Amendment lawyer. Randazza, who has an office in Hartford, was not familiar with the specifics of the Demers case, but said it had all the hallmarks of the kind of cases that are going before judges in courtrooms across America. Randazza typically takes on the defendants of defamation cases, which are sometimes called SLAPP suits, or Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. He said they can have a tendency to chill free speech. When a corporation deals with consumer criticism with a lawsuit, its suppressing consumer reviews, he said. And even if a defendant wins in court, there is a cost associated with it. Whether its your internet wise guy, or a journalist....you can get buried in court, Randazza said, A lawsuit is not a fun process, even if you resoundingly win. On the other hand, companies can be targeted by malicious or irrational critics who unfairly hide behind First Amendment claims, he said. You have people who are unhinged, and with a minor degree of web skills, and a YouTube account, unglued critics, with no legitimate ax to grind, can pound a company with no legitimate excuse, Randazza continued. A spokesman for W.R. Berkley, Karen Horvath, had no comment on the suit against Demers, citing company policy against discussing litigation. The attorney for Acadia, Lawrence Edelman, said the lawsuit spoke for itself and had nothing to add. Demers, who works in the field of commercial demolition, is defending himself against the lawsuit, working on his legal studies by himself. Robert.Marchant@scni.com Haiti - FLASH : Serious traffic accident in Coupe a Limbe Friday night in Coupe a Limbe (North) a serious accident involving two semi trucks, made 10 dead and many wounded (provisional balance sheet)... According to the Directorate of Civil Protection (DPC), while trying to avoid a truck broke down in the middle of the road, a second overloaded truck carrying mostly "madan-sara" with their goods, overturned on the side. According to a first assessment of the National Ambulance Centre (CAN) 10 people died on the spot, adding that the toll could rise as many injured are in critical condition. Relief operations because heavy rains have rendered rescue and transport of injured difficult. The injured were rushed to the hospitals of Quartier Morin and Milot. The Justinian Hospital in Cap Haitien could not be used because of the strike by resident doctors that lasts for weeks https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-17361-haiti-health-irresponsible-strike-in-hospitals.html Such accidents are unfortunately too common in Haiti where the transport system is precarious, as well as the condition of vehicles and roads, forcing thousands of people daily use of freight trucks, often overloaded to move in non-existent security. HL/ HaitiLibre Published on 2016/05/08 | Source Amore Pacific opens a flagship store for the Sulwhasoo brand in Seoul's upscale Gangnam area in April. /Courtesy of Amore Pacific Advertisement Amore Pacific posted record earnings again as sales of its beauty products keep surging in China. Korea's biggest cosmetic maker on Monday said first-quarter revenues soared 22 percent compared to the same period last year to W1.76 trillion, while operating profit soared 31 percent to W419 billion (US$1=W1,141). Sales in Asia grew 50 percent to play a key role in the stellar earnings performance. The operating margin reached 23.8 percent, which is even higher than Apple's celebrated 23 percent and Google's 21 percent last year. Amore Pacific's full-year operating margin is forecast at 18 to 20 percent given the cosmetics industry's tendency to post higher operating profits in the first quarter due to lower marketing costs. But that is still an enviable edge for a manufacturer. A company spokesman said brand awareness in China is rising, which helps it cut marketing and advertising costs and improve profitability. Amore Pacific sells products to Chinese customers through three channels -- Korean duty free shops, local production and sales in China and exports from Korea. Sales through these three channels surpassed W1 trillion in 2015 and are expected to reach W2 trillion this year. The firm's oversesas strategy is to focus on marketing five of its 30 brands -- Sulwhasoo, Laneige, Mamonde, Innisfree and Etude. "A wide range of brands enables us to target a wide customer base from middle-class and wealthy customers to young and middle-aged ones, which leads to stable growth", the spokesman said. Sulwhasoo is as pricy as foreign luxury brands, accounts for around 20 percent of total revenues and contributes significantly to the high profit margin. It became the first sole Korean brand to surpass W1 trillion in sales last year. Sulwhasoo and Hera, another premium brand, accounted for 70 percent of duty free sales in the first three months of this year, up from 60 percent in the previous quarter. Amore Pacific does not use a "Face" to advertise Sulwhasoo, which uses traditional herbal ingredients, while rival brands rely on Korean stars. "The company wanted to develop Sulwhasoo into a leading brand by pitching the quality of the product, rather than relying on the popularity of the advertising models", the spokesman said. "Due to the slowing Chinese economy, most luxury label sales have decreased, but sales of high-end cosmetics, which are more affordable, continue to rise", said Lee Dal-mi, an analyst at Hyundai Securities. "China's middle class keeps growing, so Amore Pacific's growth will continue as well". Published on 2016/05/07 Catch some stunning pics of Jamie Oliver's trip to Korea, Korea-Iran relations get strengthen through poetry, Gwangmyeong Cave features ancient French artwork and strengthens culture ties, and can Asian fashion really challenge established western brands? Advertisement "Jamie Oliver is on a Super Food journey across Korea" Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver recently visited South Korea as part of his new series, "Jamie's Super Food", and in this post you'll find a few awesome photographs documenting his trip. ...READ ON INDIA TODAY "Cool Asian fashion brands challenge Western labels" Asian fashion brands are stepping up their game to challenge some of most recognisable western brands around, and locals are loving it! Countries like South Korea, China and Japan have all seen a surge in the demand for their own artistic creations, and perhaps it won't be long before Asian brands and designers become household names around the world. But before that happens, it's up to Asian consumers to take pride in their own creations... ...READ ON REUTERS "Poets from Korea, Iran to meet in Tehran" The relationship between Iran and South Korea has been in the news lately, and as part of their continued efforts to share their culture with each other, award-winning poets from each recently took part in a cultural exchange event that saw top poets voice their works and share ideas: "The poets will recite each other's works and discuss the poetry and literature of their countries". What a fantastic effort to truly forge new relationships between these two countries: with poetry! ...READ ON THE KOREA HERALD "French Lascaux cave paintings add sparkle to hidden gem Gwangmyeong Cave" South Korea and France have a great relationship when it comes to cultural exchange and business, and recently the countries came together once again to showcase some ancient French artwork in the Gwangmyeong Cave south of Seoul: "Stepping inside the rectangular containers, visitors immediately feel as if they are in a dense forest. Some 130 beam projectors shoot photographic images taken in the Lascaux area, creating camouflage patterns on the walls and the ceiling. The life-size reproduction of the Paleolithic drawings, displayed in the dimly lit hall, is so sophisticated that visitors become completely lost in time and space". ...READ ON THE KOREA HERALD Published on 2016/05/07 The Korea Herald has its roundup of travel news from around the world with great specials for travelers, see the celebrities that are enjoying the Land of the Morning Calm, discover great deals and events at some of Korea's top hotels, and how 'smart' is the city of Songdo, exactly? Advertisement "[Travel Bits] Round up of travel news from around the world" The Korea Herald has a great travel digest of its own that includes travel news and specials worth taking note of. In this post, you'll find suggestions of where to go on Jejudo Island to enjoy a meal in spring, news of Jin Air promotions, information about the Traditional Chasabal Festival and Buddha's birthday lantern festival that's coming up, as well as news of a two-for-one promotion from Hawaiian Airlines. Go get some! ...READ ON THE KOREA HERALD "8 Local Celebs Who Make Us Want to Travel to South Korea" It seems that more and more celebrities from around the world are appearing in South Korea's capital city, and their choice to visit Korea has no doubt impacted travellers by giving them one extra, star-studded reason to finally plan their own trip to The Land of the Morning Calm. ...READ ON STYLE BIBLE "Songdo: South Korea's Smartest City?" One of the most impressive aspects of Korea is seeing and experiencing what a technologically advanced country looks and feels like from the inside. Seriously, the technology driving South Korea is awesome, and the country has some of the 'smartest' cities in the world. These cities of the future represent high-tech utopias becoming, and one such destination that should be on your travel itinerary is the city of Songdo: "After a more thorough exploration we've come to see it as a sort of Sim City-esque community, with its strategic, pre-designed and perfectly placed residential and commercial buildings, centralized recreation centres, international schools, numerous parks and some fancy touches". ...READ ON ONE MODERN COUPLE "[Around the hotels] Round up of hotel events and news" Looking for a great hotel deal for your next trip, or perhaps a venue for a special dinner? Take a look at this post from The Korea Herald that includes information about specials from W Seoul-Walkerhill, Sheraton Grand Incheon, Lotte City Hotel and the Grand Hilton Seoul. Yes, please! ...READ ON THE KOREA HERALD Login or sign up to follow actresses, movies & dramas and get specific updates and news Login Sign Up New Ad-free Subscriber Login Email Password Password Username Your E-mail will only be used to retrieve a lost password. Stay logged in Help Published on 2016/05/08 | Source Samsung Electronics has reclaimed the No. 1 spot in the U.S. smartphone market thanks to strong sales of its latest Galaxy S7 flagship smartphone. Advertisement Samsung accounted for 28.8 percent of the U.S. market in terms of sales in March to take over the top spot for the first time in 11 months since it led the market in April last year, according to Hong Kong-based research firm Counterpoint on Monday. Apple ranked second with a 23 percent market share, followed by LG Electronics. Samsung sold more than 10 million Galaxy S7s worldwide in just three weeks after its release on March 11. Industry insiders say the electronics giant will continue to enjoy brisk sales for some time. Its biggest rival Apple is selling its first budget smartphone, the iPhone SE, from March 31 to offset slow sales of the iPhone 6S, but it is reportedly not attracting much attention. Published on 2016/05/08 | Source The average annual tuition fees at Korean universities stand at W6.68 million a year (US$1=W1,142). Advertisement Most universities have either cut or frozen tuition fees this year at the urging of the government, but the average still rose 0.2 percent from last year. The Education Ministry blames an increase in the number of science and engineering students, who pay more than in other departments. The ministry on Friday posted the fees of the country's 180 accredited universities on the Internet, and only two raised their fees. Yonsei University is the most expensive at W8.74 million, followed by Eulji University (W8.5 million), Ewha Womans University (W8.47 million), Chugye University for the Arts and Korea Aerospace University (W8.47 million). Hanyang (W8.4 million), and Sungkyunkwan (W8.35 million) are also expensive. Seoul National University (W5.96 million) is the costliest public university. The average per-capita tuition at public universities is W4.12 million and at private universities W7.36 million. Harlow is a former New Town in Essex with a population of 86,000. Located in the upper Stort Valley, it was built in the decades after the Second World War to ease overcrowding and London and provide homes for people bombed out during the Blitz. It includes Britain's first pedestrian precinct and first modern residential tower block, The Lawn. Old Harlow, the historic part of the town, was mentioned in the Domesday Book. David and Victoria Beckham's former home, Rowneybury House, nicknamed 'Beckingham Palace', is nearby. 15:16, 24 OCT 2022 Halloween is coming! Here's when to trick or treat in your town What you need to know about Powerball and the $610 million jackpot In Kerala, the BJP is giving the jitters to the two major forces Congress and the Left. But in Tamil Nadu, its rank and file rue the central leaderships failure to forge alliances when it had the chance. After the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP grouping, with close to 20% vote share, seemed like a serious contender. But assembly elections are a different ball game and the BJP was unable to hold onto its allies, who once contributed to growing the Modi wave. The BJP began with great promise. In April, BJP president Amit Shah asked people to throw out the AIADMK, which it called the most corrupt government, and give the NDA a chance. But all the advantage of the Lok Sabha polls has been blown away by the BJP leadership. Anyway the party is not much of a force here, said Prof Ramu Manivannan of the Madras University. But what has irked the voters of Tamil Nadu is that the BJP is talking exactly like Congress once did: We are at the centre and we can do this for Tamil Nadu. The central government has failed Tamil Nadu on Jallikattu, Tamil fishermen and even on the Cauvery waters, the issues that concern the people, said a private sector employee, S Anand, in South Coimbatore. Now, Dravidian parties have snubbed the BJP in alliance formation and the caste mobilisation approach did not work, said Prof Manivannan. A Coimbatore-based political analyst said the strategy of maintaining distance from the two Dravidian parties was sound. But after Jayalalithaas conviction and subsequent release on bail, finance minister Arun Jaitley meeting with her sent confusing signals. Their compulsion in Rajya Sabha could be the reason, but for its perceived closeness to Jayalalithaa put paid to its efforts to grow in the state, said the analyst. At best, the BJP may win one or two seats in the state, opine psephologists. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a blistering attack on Congress and Sonia Gandhi on Sunday over the AgustaWestland scandal, demanding that the names of those who took kickbacks in the chopper deal be made public and the culprits punished. He also said the Congress presidents name has been dragged into the controversial deal by an Italian court and not by him or anyone in the government. On the campaign trail in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, states where BJP is politically on the margins, Modi repeatedly raked up the VVIP helicopter scam -- an issue which led to frequent face offs between Congress and BJP -- to mount an assault against the main opposition party and its leader. Madam Soniaji, Aap ki Yae himmat (how dare you). You and Congress leaders are making statements that false allegations are being made against you. Did Modi or Modi government in the last two years even once take the name of Congress in the helicopter deal? he asked, addressing an election rally in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday night. We have never mentioned any name even once. Investigation agencies were doing their job. Nobody in India gave the name. The name has come from Italy, he said. As the crowd cheered, Modi asked people Do you have anyone known to you in Italy? Do you have relatives in Italy? Have you gone to Italy? Does anyone know you in Italy? Everyone knows who has relatives in Italy, he said, adding the Italian high court had released the names. The bribe givers are behind bars, when will the bribe takers be punished is the question being asked by the nation now, he said. Mocking the Congress agitation at Jantar Mantar, he said the partys Save Democracy protest began following the heat over the chopper scam. Modi targeted Congress over the AgustaWestland scandal and a string of scams under the UPA rule. There was corruption in coal (block allocation), in 2G and 3G. In 2G and 3G scams, big people are present here in Tamil Nadu who indulged in so much corruption. The entire country knows about it, he told an election rally in Kanyakumari. Modi was apparently referring to DMK leaders Kanimozhi, daughter of the party supremo M Karunanidhi, A Raja and Dayanidhi Maran who have been accused in the 2G scam. Nowadays you see on television channels and newspapers... they took money even for purchase of helicopters as well. We are not saying this, a court in Italy is saying this, Modi said. In Tamil Nadu, Modi had chosen not to name the Congress party, its leaders or those of AIADMK and DMK. The Congress and CPI(M) pursue a politics of compromise and contract, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told voters in Kerala on Sunday, referring to the two rival parties friendship in West Bengal and rivalry in the southern state. This politics of convenience was an insult to the educated people of Kerala, he said in Kasargod where he addressed a rally as part of his second leg of electioneering for the states May 16 assembly election. A new model of politics has come up in Kerala. It is an adjustment politics, politics of compromise, politics of corruption and politics of contract to save each other, he said, referring to two parties that have been ruling the state for the past 60 years. How can you have dosti (friendship) at one place and indulge in kusti (wrestling) in another? Historical rivals Congress and CPI(M) have joined hands to take on the ruling Trinamool Congress this assembly polls in West Bengal. But the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), which is in power in Kerala, is fighting a bitter battle with the Left Democratic Front. Modi addressed three rallies in the state where the BJP is trying to win at least one seat. The BJP is contesting 97 seats while its partner, the fledgling BDJS, has put up candidates in 37. For five years you rule the state and we will rule the next five. This is how the two fronts have been returning to power in the state. But educated people cant trust these people anymore who speak two languages in two places at the same time, he said. His reference to educated people is significant because Kerala has one of the highest literacy rates in the country. At a rally in Kuttanad in central Kerala, Modi said the Congress is a symbol of corruption while the Left parties trademark is violence. He introduced party candidate Sadanandan Master, who lost both legs in an alleged Left-incited attack 30 years ago. The Prime Minister raked up AgustaWestland helicopter scandal to make his point about corruption in the Congress. An Italian court came out with the names Those who offered bribes are in jail. Now we have to ensure that those who received bribes should follow suit, he said, in a veiled attack on Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Do you have any relatives in Italy? I dont have any relative in Italy, he said, referring to Gandhis Italian roots. She had accused the Modi government of a campaign to discredit her party leaders through the scrapped helicopter deal. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Pakistani actor Fawad Khan, who continues to set many hearts racing with his suave looks and effortless performances, says he really enjoys watching Ranbir Kapoors films. I am a big fan of his work. I have enjoyed most of his performances, says the 34-year-old, who will be seen in a cameo role in film-maker Karan Johars next directorial venture, which also stars Ranbir, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Anushka Sharma. I shot with Ranbir for the first time for this film, but that was hardly for three or four days in Austria. Before that, I had briefly met him in London, UK, when he was shooting for the same film, says Fawad, adding, He is a chilled out and relaxed guy. But our interactions have been limited in number. I am looking forward to a shooting schedule that allows us to spend more time together. Read: Kapoor & Sons review | This is family drama at its best The actor is also full of praise for Aishwarya. Recalling the day they met for the first time at a film screening, Fawad says, Aishwarya is so pretty I had seen her without my glasses, and even then she was looking fabulous. But since I was not wearing my glasses [at the screening that day], I had to first check with my manager if it was actually her (laughs), he says. Read: Ranbir Kapoor hangs out with Sanjay Dutts kids Read: No bitter competition at play in Bollywood, says Fawad Khan Incidentally, Fawad worked closely with Ranbirs father, Rishi Kapoor, in their last release, Kapoor & Sons. He says he found the senior actors crankiness extremely entertaining. His jokes were so much fun. He is so young at heart. He also took good care of me, says Fawad. For actor Gulshan Grover making a career in Bollywood was not a walk in the park but he was determined to make a career for himself when he left Delhi for Mumbai in 1974. I left Delhi University and the city to be a star and I am not letting that be compromised in any sense. I did not leave my parents here crying and emotional to just earn basic bread and butter. I went there to be a star. If I needed to earn just my rozi roti, I would have stayed back in Delhi and got a great job in the field of commerce, says Grover, who is an alumnus of Sri Ram College of Commerce. I will not allow anything to dilute what I had set out to be. I am not going to work in a TV series or web series just to get some money. I too had to learn everything on the job and go through my share of struggles but now I will not let anything change what I have achieved, adds the actor, who has been part of hit films such as Sadma (1983), Ram Lakhan (1989), Dilwale (1994) and Hera Pheri (2000). He made his first onscreen appearance in the iconic television show Hum Paanch. Read: Wait, what? Gulshan Grover is playing a good guy now. Guess the villain The 60-year-old actor, who won a National Award for best supporting role in the film I Am Kalam (2011), does not feel the need to slow down even after four successful years in the Bollywood industry. Watch: Best known for his negative roles, Gulshan also tried his hands at comedy I am one of those who enjoy at work. I dont know what relaxation is. I would be very unhappy leaving my work. So, what problem do I need to have in working? I hate people who choose a profession and then crib about it, says the actor who will soon be seen in a web film. Follow @htshowbiz for more. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Satyanand Nirupam is keenly reading new posts on his Faceboook timeline at his first-floor office in Daryaganj. The posts he is reading are random jottings candid everyday moments captured by youngsters in simple, conversational Hindi. For Nirupam, editorial director with Rajkamal Prakashan, one of the countrys oldest and biggest publishing houses, Facebook is where he scouts for new writers and writings these days. I believe it is an effective platform to find new literary voices in Hindi, says Nirupam as he takes a few notes from his timeline. A lot of aspiring writers are publishing themselves on Facebook, and as a commissioning editor, I get to read a lot of raw, unfiltered writings that give me a fairly good idea about the writers talent. Like Nirupam, many publishers and editors are looking for fresh writing talent on Facebook and finding it too. Groups like Falak bring together aspiring writers on Facebook. Last year Nirupam launched LaPreK an acronym for Laghu Prem Katha (short love story), a new series of books based on Facebook posts brief, abstract stories set in Delhi. Ishq Mein Shahar Hona by television journalist Ravish Kumar was the first book in the series. I was following him on Facebook and found that his random jottings invoking nostalgia and love had the potential to be converted into a book. I suggested it to him and he agreed, says Nirupam. The book has sold over 15,000 copies in a year quite a big number for Hindi publishing industry. The second book in the series, Ishq Mein Maati Sona, was by Girindra Nath Jha launched in October last year. In January this year, Rajkamal brought out Ishq Koi News Nahin, the third book in the LaPreK series. Not just Rajkamal, many other publishers such as Hind Yugm, a new-age Hindi publisher, has discovered 90% of its young writers on Facebook. One of its recent books, Bakar Puran, is an edited collection of posts on Bakar Adda, a popular Facebook satire page on everyday life of youngsters in the Capital. The page created by Delhi-based Ajeet Bharti, 27, in 2012 has over 21,000 likes and the book too has turned out to be a bestseller. A screenshot of the Facebook page Bakar Adda. Read: The flavour of small town in our novels The popularity of the page convinced me that its posts will work well as a book, says Bharatwasi, founder, Hind Yugm. Earlier people would write their thoughts and observations in a diary, now they do so on Facebook. The quality and variety of content we are discovering on Facebook is very interesting, says Bharatwasi. Ajeet Bharti, who set up the Bakar Adda page with his friend, says he would not have been able to publish his first book if there was no Facebook. Smartphones with Hindi keyboards, he says, have helped Hindi writing. Now, one can write a small poem and instantly get reactions and invite discussions on blogs and Facebook. This has encouraged youngsters to take a leap and consider writing seriously, he says. Shailesh Bharatwasi, founder, Hind Yugm, says he found 90% of his writers on Facebook. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo) Bharti says that because of Facebook a new style of writing in Hindi has emerged. The elitism of the language with words that were hard to comprehend has given way to simpler words. Many writers, who started out on Facebook, have become published authors. This was made possible due to technology. Earlier this would be discarded as trivial or demeaning to Hindis dignity, says Bharti. A language flourishes when it is flexible. Facebook brought a certain flexibility in Hindi where words that belonged to Persian, English, Awadhi, and Bhojpuri are being used with ease, he says. There any many writers such as Bharti who are reinventing the Hindi language and writing stories that are attracting a whole new generation of Hindi readers. Atul Kumar Rai, 23, a student of music, is all set to release his book based on his Facebook posts that comprise his reflections on various socio-political issues. His Facebook profile has over 7,000 followers and he adds about 2,000 followers every month. I have always been interested in literature but I never thought my Facebook profile would be so popular and I would be considered a writer, says Rai who started writing in Hindi on his smartphone in 2014. Many of his posts have thousands of likes and shares something that attracted Hind Yugm to convert his Facebook posts into a book. Technology can really promote the cause of art and literature in a big way, says Rai. Read: Latest updates on books, authors and more Vineet Kumar, the author of Ishq Koi News Nahin, again a collection of Facebook posts converted into a book, too says that his writings are literature on the go. I typed everything on my smartphone while travelling in Metro or auto and immediately posted it on my Facebook page. Frankly, nothing was deeply thought out. It may not be serious literature but youngsters can relate to it, says Kumar, who teaches journalism at a Delhi University college. Interestingly, most of these gender-bending Facebook posts converted into books are set in Delhi. Delhi is the real protagonist in my nano stories, the real object of my love. Most stories in the book are about a small town boys tryst with Delhi. Maybe it is because Delhi is a city of migrants that attracts thousands of youngsters from UP and Bihar. It is a city that makes you mature and practical, says Kumar. The young writer says social media ensures young Hindi writers no longer need approval of established writers caught in a time warp. Earlier, you needed NOC from top names in Hindi literature to be taken seriously as a writer in the feudalistic literary establishment but now the number of likes on your Facebook page are enough to attract publishers. They are willing to take risk with young writers because they come with a readership on their pages, says Kumar. For Nirupam, what the LaPreK series has done is attract readers who had drifted away from Hindi. They felt nothing new is being presented in the language. Now they are getting books they can connect with, says Nirupam. Follow @htlifeandstyle for more. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON State-owned BSNL is in advanced talks with Reliance Jio and Vodafone for signing a 2G roaming agreement this month. We are in advanced stages for signing 2G intra-circle roaming agreement with Reliance Jio and Vodafone. I believe agreement with them should be signed this month, BSNL chairman and managing director Anupam Shrivastava said.. Under the agreement, customers of Reliance Jio and Vodafone will get access to BSNL network where there is a coverage gap. The state-run firm has deep presence in rural areas as other companies have invested very conservatively due to low return on investments. Once the agreement is finalised, BSNL customers will also have access to the networks of Reliance Jio and Vodafone. In terms of mobile base stations, BSNL stands second in the country. It has around 1.14 lakh and is in process of installing another 21,000 mobile towers. Soon, we will start signing 3G intra-circle roaming agreement with other players. We are working on rates for 3G roaming agreement. Being a government firm, we need to have uniform rate for all companies, Shrivastava said. With the telecom ministry objecting to the 3G-ICR among the telecom operators mainly Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular, these players acquired customers using each others network in telecom circles where they did not have 3G spectrum. The telecom tribunal TDSAT upheld the agreement signed by the private telecom operators. Shrivastava said under 3G-ICR agreement, BSNL will follow law of the land. The public sector firm also held discussion with telecom major Bharti Airtel for spectrum sharing in two circles - Rajasthan and Maharashtra. We had discussion with Airtel for spectrum sharing in three circles - 1800, 900 and 2100 Mhz band. If talks are finalised, then we will liberalise spectrum in these circles, Shrivastava added. With liberalised spectrum, BSNL will be able to provide 4G service to its customers through the airwaves which it is currently using for 2G services. When contacted, Airtel spokesperson said, We have only held preliminary discussions with BSNL in the past and there is nothing ongoing or at an advanced stage. Being a PSU, BSNL will always run a transparent process for spectrum sharing and the same will be open to all operators. As and when that were to happen, Airtel will examine and explore possibilities of cooperation. The spectrum sharing allows companies to share burden of government levies. It also helps increase wireless bandwidth capacity for providing good quality mobile services. Mobile wallet company Paytm has signed up more than 1,000 brands like Samsung, Dell, HTC, HP, Whirlpool, Woodland, Lakme, Casio, Samsonite and Puma, to open up exclusive stores on its platform. The brands will manage these stores themselves. For example, Samsung will choose a handful of authorised sellers to host their inventory on the brand store. It will also be able to customise the brand page, put up promotions and showcase products, just as it would do in its showroom or on its website. The Paytm store can be integrated with the brands own website as well. We will provide everything the brand needs, from catalogues, payment tools and logistics support, said Amit Bagaria, V-P at Paytm. Brands can also connect offline sellers to brand stores. Paytm has two categories structured (branded products) and unstructured (non-branded products). For the unstructured it will continue to have a long tail of retailers. But, in the next six months we will move 90% of all structured products to brand stores This will help in regulating unathourised discounts and curb frauds, said Bagaria. Brand stores are not a new concept. Snapdeal started it in 2012. Flipkart and Amazon also have it, but not on the scale that Paytm is envisaging. For them its about giving brands a little more visibility, but for us its out core strategy, said Bagaria, a former Flipkart executive. TMall, owned by Alibaba, has done this in China. Brands like P&G, Adidas, UNIQLO, GAP, Nine West, Ray-Ban, Dell, Samsung, Logitech, Lipton, etc have exclusive stores on TMall. Paytm would be the Indian version of Alibaba. Alibaba and its affiliate Ant Financial have a substantial stake in Paytms parent company One97 Communications. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Suspecting major lapses in the financial dealings of various listed companies of Vijay Mallya-led UB Group, markets regulator Sebi has expanded its probe to include possible siphoning off of funds by the promoters. The matter is also being flagged to other agencies and government departments, including the corporate affairs ministry and its probe agency for white-collar crimes, SFIO (Serious Fraud Investigation Office), a senior official said. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is looking into violation of securities market regulations including strict disclosure requirements about the insider dealings with promoters and related parties. Besides, Sebi is also probing possible fraudulent and unfair trades against the interest of minority shareholders. A forensic audit has found possible irregularities and mismanagement in advances and investments made by Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers, where Mallyas UB Group remains a promoter entity despite Zuari Group having acquired a controlling stake, to his other group companies. As a result, financial dealings of various other group companies with their respective promoters are also being probed, the official said. The Board of Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers Ltd (MCFL), which Zuari Fertiliser and Chemicals took over last year after wresting control from Mallya, had appointed Ernst and Young LLP to do a forensic investigation into the Rs 200 crore investment MCFL had made in Bangalore Beverages Ltd. The audit was also asked to look into various advances made by MCFL to Mallyas flagship United Breweries (Holdings) Ltd (UBHL), of which a sum of Rs 16.68 crore was outstanding as of March 31, 2016. Bangalore Beverages is a step-down subsidiary of UBHL and is facing liquidity crunch. The audit found these transactions may have involved irregularities and elements of mismanagement in the company. On its part, MCFL is also taking necessary legal advice in connection with the findings of Ernst and Young. MCFL has made provision of Rs 200 crore for potential diminution in the value of investments in Bangalore Beverages Ltd. It has also provided for `16.68 crore advances receivable from UBHL in its books of account for 2015-16. Earlier, alleged financial irregularities had come to fore at United Spirits Ltd (USL) relating to loans advanced to UB Group firms including for long-defunct Kingfisher Airlines. However, Mallya later inked a Rs 500-crore sweetheart deal with Diageo, to which he had sold controlling stake in USL in a multi-billion dollar deal. Read: Vijay Mallya walks into the sunset with $75-mn retirement fund Mallya, who has been known for his flamboyance and used to be referred to as King of Good Times before his empire ran into troubles beginning with collapse of Kingfisher, managed a good deal absolving of any personal liability after a year-long boardroom battle at USL. Besides, various UB Group firms are already facing probes by Sebi relating to listing rule violations, while Corporate Affairs Ministry is also looking into alleged violations of certain provisions of the Companies Act. The role of previous auditors is also under the scanner. Mallya, currently in UK, had to resign from Rajya Sabha amid tightening of the noose by various enforcement agencies and lenders who are trying to recover over Rs 9,000 crore dues from Kingfisher and its guarantors. His passport has been revoked and non-bailable warrant has been issued against him. Read:Cheque bounce case:Court to pass order against Mallya on May 9 M Karunanidhi, the 91-year-old man in dark glasses, is once again leading his party into polls, and he is using the only ruse that politicians in Tamil Nadu believe works. Pledging a range of alms to the voters, who are now addicted to receiving them. But the days of just free rice and cheap milk, it appears, are over. He has promised the poor free or subsidised smart phones, tablets and laptops; high-speed Internet connection; also 10 GB free download every month, waiver of education loans, and homes. He is good at this sort of thing. In 2006, a bunch of IIT graduates decided to enter Tamil Nadu politics and they posted on their website this unforgettable introduction to their ideology Reality is a continuum. Knowledge system, in shortest, is fragmentation imposed upon the continuum of reality. What Karunanidhi did was offer the poor free colour television. He won, of course. Read | Jaya unwell, Karunanidhi too old, Vijayakanth incoherent: Ramadoss The only person he is afraid of is his bitter rival, the incumbent chief minister, J Jayalalithaa, who once had him arrested in the middle of the night, from his bed. As he was led by the police he thought they were going to kill him. He even said, Aiyoh, which is more commonly uttered by North Indians when they think they are imitating South Indians. This month she told the masses, Amma knows what her children need. And she has promised, among other things, eight grams of gold for every bride, presumably every poor bride thats most of them anyway. Now, by Jayalalithaas standards, eight grams of gold is called false tooth. But still, for most Tamil brides eight grams of gold means free mangalsutra. She has also offered free laptops with Internet connections for school students, free electricity and subsidised mopeds for women. There was a time when Tamil politicians used to offer bad saris and the women would fall at their feet. When there was drought Jayalalithaa offered plastic pots. They thanked her for those too. She had to just sing the praise of the poor and the women would proclaim their love for her. Once, she went on a death fast, and hundreds of malnourished women stood around her and wept, and with desperate gestures begged her to eat. But the nation has changed. The antics and the alms are not what they used to be. In fact, today the middle class would not mind standing in line to get some of those alms meant for the poor. Read | Tamil Nadu parties are buying up elections These offers are merely the official list. There is a lot of illicit cash and gold coins going for the voters. And liquor, too, though both Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa have promised to declare prohibition in the state if elected to power. The Election Commission has seized over Rs 80 crore in cash in the state over the past few days as unaccounted money presumably meant to bribe voters. The great actor Kamal Haasan said a few days ago that if you accept bribes, You will only get a thief as your leader. He is afflicted with so much commonsense he would never be the legend Rajinikanth is. The logic of Tamilians has always been that they would get a thief anyway, so why not share a fraction of the booty. Over the past quarter of a century, Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi have taken turns to rule poorly. Once, their most effective policy decisions were that when Karunanidhi would assume power he would change all bus routes designations from J to K, and when Jayalalithaa would come to power she would change K back to J. Both are widely perceived as corrupt. Jayalalithaa is more entertaining of the two, though. She arranges men in geometric formations and makes them bow to her. Women love her, including my righteous mother. Read | Jayalalithaa is online CM, people are offline: BJPs Tamil Nadu chief As is the case in the rest of the nation, except in Aaps Delhi, all major political parties need to lure voters in crooked ways to win elections. The elite are disgusted not only by the unofficial cash bribes but also the profligate governments that are increasingly giving away expensive alms. But this would be a hollow moral outrage. The wages are so low in the nation, opportunities so meagre and the private sector so exploitative, for the poor crooked and bad politics has often turned out to be humanitarian acts. As the Reserve Bank of India governor recently explained, the Indian voter backs corrupt politicians because the rogue gets things done for him, at least in the short term. There is another reason why the elite should stop short of moral outrage. They are greater beneficiaries of subsidies for the poor than the poor themselves. Electricity is priced low in India because most Indians cannot afford higher prices. As a result the rich, who have the capacity to consume more power through a range of appliances, benefit more from the prices. Most utilities are cheap for the rich because those prices are meant for the poor. Railway subsidies, too, benefit the upper classes more than the poor as they travel more frequently and on longer journeys than the poor. The poorest 80% of Indian households account for less than 30% of the railways income from passenger fares. And, the wealthiest half of Indians consume 75% of the subsidised liquefied petroleum gas. As we know, it is cheap to be rich in India. Manu Joseph is a journalist and the author of the novel, The Illicit Happiness of Other People. He tweets via @manujosephsan The views expressed are personal SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Kartar Singh Tanwars car was attacked by four unknown miscreants in South Delhi on Sunday. Tanwar, however, did not suffer any injuries but his aide was injured in the incident. AAP leader Dilip K Pandey said that the Chhatarpur MLA was on an election campaign when the incident took place. During by elec. campaign, Car of Chhatarpur MLA KartarSingh Tanwar attacked while he was inside. One person injured badly. Old threat-trics? Looks like someone not ready to accept d defeat easily, resorting to violence. Attackers are yet to b identified in cctv, he tweeted earlier. Tanwar was campaigning for the party for the by-polls in 13 MCD wards scheduled to be held next month in the national capital. In a relief to students, Delhi University is likely to bring out both online and offline applications for undergraduate courses in the upcoming academic session, which is likely to start from May 28. Online registration for around 54,000 undergraduate seats will start from May 28 but the offline applications will only be available towards the end of the admission schedule for five days starting June 12. The registration process will end on June 16. The move comes after many students organisation protested against the universitys decision to allow only online admissions in the 2016-17 academic session. Students will be able to fill both online and offline forms. While online forms will be available since May 28 and will continue till the last day, the offline forms will be only available for the last five days, said Nachiketa Singh, member of the admission committee. A 24-member admission committee, including academic, executive council members, principals and university representatives, has recommended a set of rules for admissions. The recommendations have been sent to the vice-chancellor prof Yogesh Tyagi for final approval. AK Bhagi, another admission committee member, said, the offline forms will be available at four or five colleges where students can get a hard copy of the form. There will be four colleges in which offline forms will be made available for the last five days. Students can take the offline forms and submit it after filling at these centers. We are yet to finalise the colleges where forms will be available, he said. Earlier, the university was planning to start the admission process from May 24 but the date has now been pushed for dour days. We received many representations from students requesting for continuation of offline forms. There are some students who may not have access to computer and internet so we will continue with the offline forms, said officials. Delhi University started the admission process for postgraduate courses from April 28. This year, for the first time, the university will conduct entrance tests for postgraduate courses at six centers, including Delhi, Varanasi and Jammu. The admission process for postgraduate courses is fully online. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON On the occasion of Mothers Day, JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar, out on bail in a sedition case, wrote an open letter to HRD minister Smriti Irani asking how can a mother punish her children based on doctored videos and biased reports. In the letter, the 29-year-old researcher referred to Irani as anti-rational mother of anti-nationals and extended her Mothers Day wishes on behalf of students. Kanhaiya, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya were arrested for their alleged involvement in an event to commemorate Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. Anti-national slogans were allegedly raised at the event on February 9. Kanhaiya, who has been attacking Irani for her reference to all students as her children, said in the letter: We are trying hard to study in the warmth of your motherly love. Under your reign, we are learning how to study despite police canes and hunger. He said that a friend asked him, Under Modis regime where besides our own mother, we also have mother cow, mother India, mother Ganges and mother Smriti how could Rohith Vemula die? I am asking you this because I have no answer. Human Resource Development minister Smriti Irani. (Hindustan Times) Kanhaiya said his same anti-national friend also said that mother Smritis ministry sent several letters to punish Rohith and was also responsible for withholding his fellowship for seven months. In a great country like India, can a mother force her child to suicide? Can a mother accept punishments on her children based on doctored videos and a biased probe? Your children, starving for 11 days, are asking you this question. Please reply, if you find the time. The friend also called you an anti-rational mother of anti-nationals. I hope you will prove this allegation false in your factual reply, he said. Meanwhile, the indefinite hunger strike by JNU students in protest against the punishments awarded to 17 students for the February 9 event by the university entered its eleventh day on Sunday. Kanhaiya had withdrawn from the fast last week after his health deteriorated and he had to undergo treatment for dehydration and ketosis at AIIMS. ABVP called off their stir on Wednesday claiming they have got an assurance from the administration that their demands will be considered. Fourteen students from the Left groups are still on strike. The Delhi Police have arrested an Ola cab driver for allegedly molesting a 23-year-old Belgian woman on Saturday evening. The #OLACab in which a woman from Belgium was molested by the driver.He is now in police custody @htTweets @htdelhi pic.twitter.com/fKGgEyb6r9 Karn Singh (@KarnHT) 8 May 2016 A case regarding the incident was registered at the CR Park police station in South Delhi after the woman approached police and filed a complaint against the driver a few hours after the incident. We have detained the driver, Raj Singh, a resident of Alwar in Rajastan after the complaint, deputy commissioner of Police, Mandeep Singh Randhawa told IANS. According to the police, the woman was on her way to CR Park from Gurgaon when the driver took a wrong route. The woman was monitoring her way on her phones GPS. She asked the driver to take the right route but the driver said he was taking a short cut, a senior police officer said. The woman then reportedly called her friend and asked him to speak to the driver. The driver told the womans friend that he would drop her safely. The woman alleged that five minutes later the driver asked her to come and sit in the front seat as his GPS was not working. He had switched off the GPS. When the woman sat in the front, the driver snatched her phone, pinned her down and kissed her. She alleged that the driver deleted the call records. She then raised an alarm, the officer said. Following this, the driver allegedly threatened her of dire consequences. He told her he would kill her if she complained to the police. The driver then left her in Govindpuri. The woman immediately called her friend and narrated the episode to him. The woman reached her friends home and then informed the police. Our team went to the house and recorded her statement. A statement will also be recorded before the magistrate and a case will be registered, a police officer said. A spokesperson for Ola said, The said driver has been terminated from the platform with immediate effect. We will share all the required information with the authorities to help resolve this for the customer. We have zero tolerance to such behaviour. (With inputs from IANS) A power crisis in Delhi has been averted as state-owned power generation company, NTPC Limited, has decided not to stop power supply to the two BSES discoms in the city from Monday. The NTPC on Wednesday threatened to suspend electricity supply to the two BSES discoms -- BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd (BRPL) and BSES Yamuna Power Ltd -- in Delhi if they failed to pay `1,300 crore dues by May 10. The discoms would have faced a 2,027 MW reduction in power from May 9. This when compared to the peak demand of 4,600 MW means over 40% less electricity. Delhi power minister Satyendra Jain was supposed to meet NTPC chairman on Saturday to resolve the issue. However, a meeting called by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission late on Friday averted the crisis. The DERC asked the NTPC and BSES to come up with a joint proposal within 10 days on how to clear the dues. The hearing of both cases will now be taken up by the regulator on May 16. There is no threat to power supply in the city, said a senior Delhi government power department official. On Thursday, the discoms wrote to the power generator asking it to withdraw the notices. The letter, written by BSES director Gopal K Saxena, stated that 100% regulation of power is unjustified and unwarranted and, will cause extreme hardship to the residents of Delhi besides disturbing the law and order. On Friday, the State Load Despatch Centre under Delhi Transco Limited had also written a letter, a copy of which is with HT, to the NTPC, asking it to withdraw the notice to the discoms. The NTPC meets nearly 65% power requirement of the BRPL. If the NTPC regulates the power, the balance 35% will still be scheduled for Delhi from central and state generators. The load will remain constant, but supply will be limited, which will lead to imbalance in the grid It will also affect the power supply of TPDDL, NDMC and MES, the letter states. Though the Delhi Police have tried to stay ahead in the race against criminals, technology seems to have turned the tables. Like the police has its own CCTV network to monitor law and order across the national capital, a recent discovery of even the criminals using the monitoring technology to keep an eye on the cops around their hideouts has left the Delhi Police baffled. The trend of role reversal came to light in a posh south Delhi locality where a gambling racket was operating full time but every time the police paid a surprise visit, the suspects came out clean. Police later received input about CCTV cameras installed around the gamblers hideout in Vasant Gaon area and planned a secret operation, a senior official said. But things only got worse as a woman, who allegedly sheltered the gang, confronted the police team and accused them of harassing her, that too by entering the premises of her house, and to support her claims, she had CCTV grabs. The terrified beat officials went back to the police station and reported the matter, compelling the station in-charge to take up the issue with senior officials. It has been observed that criminals indulged in sale of illicit liquor, running gambling rackets and selling drugs, have installed CCTV cameras in their houses to keep check on the movements of beat constables of the area. If any beat constable dares to enter the premises forcibly, they would use these CCTV cameras as evidence, alleging them of having gone there to demand money or harassment caused to women living inside the premises, DCP (South) Ishwar Singh said. In late April, the special task force of South district was assigned the job of tracking such gangs and bringing them to book. In around 10 days, the special team busted three such cases, including another gambling racket, an illicit liquor supplier and a marijuana peddling ring. The marijuana ring, busted in Sangam Vihar area, was allegedly headed by a 50-year-old woman who had installed CCTV cameras in and around her shanty from where the dealings took place. She wrapped up within seconds every time her informers, who were tasked with monitoring the footage, informed her of police presence, a senior official said. The CCTV cameras in all three cases were very strategically positioned and well-covered with sacks, rugs and gunny bags, the lenses left exposed for unhindered surveillance. After south, investigators in other police districts are also now developing intelligence on the same trend in areas under their jurisdiction, he added. External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj sought on Sunday a report from Delhi lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung on the alleged molestation of a 23-year-old Belgian woman by an Ola cab driver in Delhi. The woman was allegedly molested in southeast Delhis Chittaranjan Park area on Saturday night, an incident that led to the Opposition questioning AAP governments steps to ensure womens safety in the national capital. The accused, Raj Singh of Rajasthans Alwar district, was arrested on Sunday and sent to 14-day judicial custody. Ola has terminated the driver from its platform. Swaraj, who is being treated for pneumonia in a hospital, tweeted that the central government was committed to the safety of all foreign nationals in the country. In Delhi, the police department functions under the Centre. I have asked Lt Governor Delhi for a report on the molestation of a Belgian girl by a Cab driver. /1 Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) May 8, 2016 The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress targeted chief minister Arvind Kejriwal over the incident, citing a spike in crime against women under the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit asked: Be it molestation or rape, Delhi has seen an increase in such crimes and they have risen all the more under the Kejriwal dispensation. I want him (Kejriwal) and his ministers to focus on womens security. Where else will women feel safe if not the national capital? Leader of Opposition in the Delhi assembly, Vijender Gupta, demanded a thorough investigation into the incident. The AAP government has gone back on its promise to ramp up womens safety, he alleged, referring to Kejriwals 2015 election promise. The woman, who identified herself as a translator, told police that she had booked the cab from Gurgaon on the outskirts of the city and during the journey the cab driver allegedly molested her. The driver deliberately took the wrong route after Hauz Khas and when the woman told him that she will ask her friend, he took her phone and deleted all the records related to Ola, a senior police official said. The fatal gangrape of a student in Delhi in 2012 led to nationwide protests and tougher anti-rape laws but incidents of sexual abuse have not dwindled in India, experts say. Last year, a former Uber driver was held guilty of raping a 25-year-old financial analyst in 2014, a case that had led to a temporary ban on the online taxi-hailing service in the Capital. Diesel taxi drivers, affected by the recent ban imposed by the Supreme Court, on Sunday staged a protest outside Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals residence.The protesters, under the banner of Delhi Taxi Transport Association, later held a rally at Jantar Mantar, which was addressed by Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta. Gupta said he will lead a delegation of drivers holding All India Tourist Permits (AITP) to Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday and apprise him of the issues arising out of the ban. We will urge him to protect the livelihoods of thousands of drivers by enforcing the ban in phases while putting an end to new registrations. Delhi government has failed to effectively apprise the SC of the matter, Gupta said. Sanjay Samrat of Delhi Taxi Transport Association said their demands include the permission to existing AITP holders to ply their vehicles as long as the validity of the permits last. We also want the government to keep us in the loop before formulating any new policy that affects our lives. It seems only diesel taxis pollute and not lakhs of private cars running on the same diesel, Samrat said. On April 30, the Supreme Court had refused to give more time to cab operators to convert their vehicles to CNG and put a ban on diesel cabs in the city from May 1, a decision that affected over 27,000 taxis. India and the US profess to be natural and strategic partners but do not agree on everything. Religious freedom in India is a touchy issue that briefly disrupts pleasant bilateral atmospherics from time to time. We saw one round of exchange last week about the annual report of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) which has, in sharp language, said that religious tolerance deteriorated in India in 2015 and that religious freedom is on a negative trajectory. The ministry of external affairs, in suitable diplomatese, said the report failed to show a proper understanding of India. It coolly stated that a foreign entity has no locus standi to comment on Indias citizen rights therefore pronounced India was taking no cognizance of the report. Read | US panel wants Pakistan added to list of religious freedom violators On past form, both sides will quickly move on to more tangible discussions than let concerns such as democratic rights and values detain them. The MEA may get plaudits for its contemptuous dismissal but the NDA government cannot afford to dismiss the issues raised by the report, which have in any case been raised by several Indian civil liberties groups and activists. The situation on intolerance and religious freedom is as dire as the report portrays. Muslims face harassment and are targets of violence and hate campaigns often by politicians and powerful right-wing organisations. As the report says, Muslims often are accused of being terrorists; spying for Pakistan; forcibly kidnapping, converting, and marrying Hindu women; and disrespecting Hinduism by slaughtering cows. Christians are harassed by the use of anti-conversion laws in some states. Vigilante violence is on the upswing; and the lack of judicial capacity and weak policing means that victims have little or no recourse to justice. Read | From IS to RSS: Drawing parallels between Islamism and Hindutva The report raises several other issues worth noting. Logic suggests that the source of a claim or its political motivation should have no bearing on its evidentiary value. Whether or not Americans raise it, India should place a price of the quality of its democracy, a crucial factor for social cohesion and peace. This kind of attention on civil tensions in India is troubling and only bound to increase if policymakers continue to treat it as a non-issue. National Cadet Corps, National Service Scheme and Scouts and Guides volunteers will double up as traffic police to ensure implementation of no-helmet-no-entry drive in colleges and schools of Madhya Pradesh. To check the rising cases of deaths of students in accidents, minister of state for higher education Deepak Joshi asked the department of higher education and school education to begin a helmet checking drive. Madhya Pradesh is the fourth unsafe state in India in terms of road accidents. National Crime Record Bureau data of 2014 says that 39,698 cases of road accidents were registered in the state. Of them, 9292 people died. After the death of a Class 11 student, Gladwin Jacob, in a road accident in December, the school administrations had tightened up security at the gate but there has been no check on students coming to institutes with vehicles. With report of accidents, the checking of helmets intensified. But as checking stopped, youngsters also stopped wearing helmets. We are going to deploy student-volunteers to make the use of helmets compulsory before taking vehicles in their hands, said the minister. Higher education commissioner Umakant Umrao said the volunteers would be deployed at main gates of colleges to put check on students wearing helmets. They will also check whether the driver has a licence or not. BHEL college principal Shobhna Vajpayee Maroo said: Charity begins at home. This is a very good initiative of the state government. If students will put a check on it, it will really be beneficial for them. The Madhya Pradesh governments directive comes on the same line as its no-helmet-no-petrol order. The rule was first enforced in Indore in 2015 but the administration had to back out after the high court stayed the order. Indores brief tryst with helmet rule had its effect as the number of road accident deaths due to head injury had come down to 100 in 2015 from 122 in 2014. Three NSCN (IM) cadres were caught in a joint operation by army and police at Kanubari in Longding district of Arunachal Pradesh. Acting on a tip-off, a column of 4th Sikh Regiment and police launched a search operation in the area and caught the ultras on Friday, an official release said on Sunday. Three pistols, one hand grenade, 42 cartridges, 30 gm of opium and extortion letters addressed to two candidates for the May 16 Kanubari assembly by-elections were recovered from the NSCN (IM) cadres, it said. The Congress and the Left parties in West Bengal have taken their alliance from the electoral turf to student politics, presenting a united front against right-wing groups at Jadavpur University. Chaos prevailed on the university campus on Friday evening after BJP-affiliated filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri tried to screen his movie Buddha in a Traffic Jam here, much to the chagrin of students. However, the Jadavpur Alumni Association which controls the hall where the screening was supposed to happen revoked permission for the same on the grounds that it would violate the model code of conduct. Following this, Agnihotri decided to use the university playground for the purpose. Students of the university, who were protesting against the event, alleged that a group of middle-aged BJP supporters with ABVP flags began heckling them soon after the screening was completed. BJP leader and actor Roopa Ganguly was also spotted outside the campus. The university then lodged a complaint with the police while the BJP submitted a deputation to governor Keshari Nath Tripathi, who is the chancellor of the university. Soon afterwards, the Congress approached the governor too. What was Roopa Ganguly doing outside the Jadavpur campus? She is neither a student nor an alumni member of the university. The BJP is playing unnecessary politics on the Jadavpur campus to establish itself here, said Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the state Congress president. Read: Its red vs saffron as Jadavpur University goes the JNU way Jadavpur University professor and Congress spokesperson Om Prakash Mishra raised a similar concern. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad wants to replicate its politics of polarisation here, in the name of so-called nationalism. They have already tried to impose the same strategy on other educational institutions, said Mishra. Members of the Students Federation of India and the Faculty of Engineering and Technology Students Union, two major students unions of the university, organised a protest rally from the campus to the citys Golpark area on Saturday. Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders said this was a strategy of the BJP to capture the students body of the university, where they currently have no stake. Its a conspiracy (of the BJP and RSS) to destroy progressive and free thought on the campus. Jadavpur University should stand together to fight all such political conspiracies, said Nandini Mukherjee, a party leader and professor of the varsitys computer science department. Mohammed Salim, a politburo member, claimed that as the ABVP enjoys zero presence in educational institutions of the state, they are resorting to extremism to gain a foothold here. The Congress and Left parties, which fought the Bengal assembly polls under a grand alliance, hope to prevail over the ruling Trinamool Congress when the results are announced on May 19. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The son of a ruling Janata Dal (United) lawmaker allegedly shot dead a 20-year-old student in a case of road rage in Bihars Gaya town on Saturday night, triggering a wave of protests against the Nitish Kumar government. Police said member of the legislative council (MLC) Manorama Devis son, Rocky, sprayed bullets on a car --- in which Aditya Kumar Sachdeva was travelling with four friends --- after an altercation over overtaking. A bullet pierced through the rear windshield and fatally hit Adityas head. He was in the back seat. Devis husband, Bindeshwari Prasad Yadav aka Bindi, and guard Rajesh Kumar were arrested on Sunday. A carbine and 70 rounds of ammunition were found in Devis home, Magadh Range DIG Saurabh Kumar said. The couples son is on the run. Bindi, a construction businessman, was taken into custody for allegedly helping Rocky escape. The father was jailed in the past for keeping 6,000 rounds of ammunition for a banned weapon in 2011. He pleaded innocence, saying his son was assaulted by the youngsters, who were drunk. After all, everybody has the right to self-defence, he said. But he acknowledged that his son has a licenced weapon and it might have gone off during the scuffle. The car in which the JD(U) leaders son was travelling. (Credit: Justice for Aditya Sachdeva/ Facebook page) Police said Rocky decided the quarrel by arms after Aditya, a prominent Gaya traders son, and his friends allegedly ignored signals to let his Range Rover overtake their Maruti Swift on a narrow road. Aditya and his friends were returning home from a birthday party in Bodh Gaya. An infuriated Rocky squeezed past the Swift and stopped a little ahead. He was holding a revolver and hurling abuses. Fearing for their lives, Adityas friend who was behind the wheels sped past Rockys car but came under a volley of fire from behind, an officer said, quoting eyewitnesses. The friends took Aditya to Gayas Anugrah Narayan Medical College and Hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival. Legislator Devi denied her sons role in the murder. But the recovery of the Delhi-registered Range Rover from her home put her in a spot. Family sources said Rocky had brought the car from Delhi, where he is preparing for the civil services after graduation. He stays mostly in Delhi and arrived in Gaya a few days ago for a short holiday. Being the son of Bindi Yadav and Manorama Devi, he is pampered. Carrying a pistol and moving in a Range Rover is enough to change a youths mindset, said a neighbour, who didnt wish to be named. A file photo of Rocky Yadav. Read | Bihar road rage: Parties condemn Gaya youths killing, demand probe The incident took political overtones as angry Gaya residents put up road blockades on Sunday. The opposition BJP said Bihars crime rate has shot up significantly under the Kumar-led coalition government. The hotheaded son of a politician got angry and shot dead a youngster. Bindi Yadav is a known criminal, said Sushil Kumar Modi, the partys state unit president. Opposition leaders made a beeline for Adityas home while their supporters shouted slogans against chief minister Kumar. Gaya MLA and the leader of the Opposition, Prem Kumar, said the murder proves the return of jungle raj in the state. Bihar is burning, an atmosphere of fear pervades the state, he said. Jungle raj is an expression used to describe the pre-2005 Bihar when the state was besieged by rising corruption, kidnappings and crime. Deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, son of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, promised strict action against the culprits irrespective of stature. Lalu condemned the incident and said: This was a heinous act, police should act strongly to catch the assailants. The JD(U)s Rajya Sabha member, KC Tyagi, assured that the guilty will be punished. In the past too, leaders of JD(U), RJD and other parties have been arrested (under Kumars rule). The law is equal for everybody and it will take its course. Forensic experts collected samples from the crime spot and Rockys home while police launched a hunt to catch him. Senior superintendent of police Garima Mallik said: Nobody will be spared. (with agency inputs) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday condemned the killing of Aditya Sachdeva, a traders son, in Gaya late on Saturday evening and vowed to punish those found guilty after proper investigation. We condemn the youths killing. We will ensure proper investigation and take action against anyone found guilty, said Tejashwi. The victim was allegedly shot dead by Rocky Yadav, son of JD(U) MLC Manorama Devi and Bindi Yadav, for overtaking his car in Gaya. Tejashwi said he had spoken to the Gaya SP, who told him two people had been arrested in this connection while search was on to locate Rocky. Attacking LJP leader Chirag Paswan for his comment that the incident signalled the return of jungle raj in Bihar, he said, We have stopped taking note of such name calling by the Opposition. If there was jungle raj here, criminals would be roaming the streets without punishment, he said. He added, Actually, it is the BJP that never acts against its leaders. RJD chief Lalu Prasad condemned the incident and said such acts of arrogance would not be tolerated at any cost. NDA calls for Gaya Bandh The BJP also took on the government on Sunday, demanding the resignation of chief minister Nitish Kumar for his failure to check the rising criminal incidents in Bihar. The NDA has also given a call for Gaya bandh on Monday to protest against the killing. If the CM cant control the crime committed by the legislators and relatives of MLAs and MLCs of the ruling Grand Alliance (GA), then how can he think of improving the deteriorating law and order situation in the state? asked state BJP president Mangal Pandey. Now nobody can deny the fact that trigger-happy people associated with ruling party legislators have a field day in Bihar and the innocent people are at the receiving end, said Pandey. Senior party leader Sushil Kumar Modi said the incident had thoroughly exposed Kumars claim that there was rule of law in the state. Anguished over being denied access to water by members belonging to upper caste, a Dalit labourer from a village in Washim district of Maharashtras drought-hit Vidarbha toiled for hours to dig his own well. The wife of Bapurao Tajne, a resident of Kolambeshwar village in Malegaon taluka, was not allowed to fetch water from a well by villagers. To tackle caste discrimation, Tajne took it upon himself to dig a well in his village and is quenching the thirst of the entire Dalit population of the area now. He finished the digging in a mere 40 days and was pleasantly surprised to find water. Beaming with confidence, a content Tajne told PTI over phone that he felt fortunate to have discovered ground water after his hard work. I was ridiculed by my family among others but I was determined, Tajne said. The news of the incident soon reached the authorities, following which Washim district administration officiated tehsildar Kranti Dombe to visit the village. Hailing Tajnes act, the district administration felicitated him for being a face of determination and strong will power, the tehsildar said. When asked if any government aid would be provided to Tajne, Dombe said there was no such proposal as of now. However, she said the government has taken note of the Dalit mans extraordinary achievement. On whether action has been initiated against the villagers who did not let the labourers wife draw water, in view of the incident attracting punitive provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Dombe said the well in question was not identified yet nor were the villagers who stopped the woman. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a chargesheet in an Ahmedabad court against ten members of the Dawood Ibrahim-led D Company who allegedly tried to spark communal tension by targeting churches and right-wing organisations, including the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). An NIA probe has found that the murder of two BJP leaders in Gujarats Bharuch in 2015 was part of a larger conspiracy to kill men associated with saffron outfits in the state. Read more: Brother of Dawood aide held for murder of two BJP leaders Shirish Bangali, a former BJP president in Bharuch, and Pragnesh Mistry, the partys youth wing general secretary in the city, were shot dead by two men on a motorcycle on November 2. Seven of the ten accused have been arrested in connection with the murders, which were committed allegedly to avenge the capital punishment to Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon, who was hanged in July. Yakubs brother, Tiger Memon, mob boss Dawood and his brother, Anees Ibrahim, are considered to be the key conspirators behind the 1993 blasts that killed more than 250 people. According to the chargesheet filed on Saturday, key accused Zahidmiya, who allegedly resides in South Africa, and Pakistan-based Javid Patel, alias Javed Chikna, an alleged key member of the Dawood gang, also planned to attack churches in Gujarat. The Gujarat-based accused were lured with money, religion and even jobs outside India if they executed the plans of Javed Chikna and Zahidmiya, said an NIA official on condition of anonymity. The chargesheet said Chikna not only sent money from Dubai to Gujarat through the hawala route --- an illicit channel used for transferring money by circumventing legitimate banking channels ---but also arranged for the weapons to gun down Bangali and Mistry. The NIA has asked Interpol to trace Chikna and hand him over to India. Haji Patel, MD Yunus Shaikh, Abdul Samad, Abid Patel, MD Altaf, Mohsin Khan and Nisar Ahmed are in custody for the alleged double murder. After the attack, Chikna allegedly sent Rs 5 lakh to the accused. A case has been registered against Chiknas brother Abid Patel. Expelled Samajwadi Party MLA Rampal Yadav claimed on Sunday that he was threatened by people in the state government as his security has been withdrawn. My official security as an MLA has been withdrawn. There are some people in the government who are conspiring against me and I have received life threats from them, Yadav told reporters. The MLAs illegal complex and hotel was recently demolished in Lucknow and Sitapur district. He alleged the demolition was not justified and this was only done to personally damage him. Praising SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, he said that in Mulayams regime, decisions were taken on merit of any issue. He alleged there is nepotism prevailing in the party and chief minister Akhilesh Yadav is playing the role of a Mahabharat character, Duryodhan. Seeking to know his fault from the party, he claimed that after getting an assurance from the party, he fielded his son for the district panchayat chairmans post, who also won but it was not taken well by the party. After spending 25 years in the party, I have been left nowhere. Now my family will celebrate Diwali on the ouster of SP government, Yadav, MLA from Biswan constituency of Sitapur district said. Meanwhile, the party condemned the statement termed it as an act of frustration. Those who are involved in illegal activities will be booked. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav never acts to settle vendetta misusing government but those misusing government machinery for self-gains will not be tolerated, Samajwadi Party spokesperson Rajendra Chowdhury said. He said those maligning the image of the chief minister and the state government will be dealt strictly. Batting strongly for friendly relations between India and Pakistan, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah said on Sunday that sustained and meaningful dialogue between the two countries was imperative for lasting peace in the region. He said it was especially important for better living conditions of border dwellers in both the countries, recalling damage caused to life and property in villages along the LoC and IB due to shelling across the border over a year ago. Border people will be immediate beneficiaries of normalisation of relations between the two neighbours. A sustained and meaningful dialogue between India and Pakistan is imperative for lasting peace in the region, Abdullah said while addressing party workers at the border town of Sunderbani in Rajouri district on Sunday. He said people living in border areas have been braving brunt of hostilities, and pitched for working towards bringing cheer in their lives by fostering good relations. He hoped Pakistan would respond positively and help in creating congenial atmosphere for taking forward the peace process. He said the two countries have no option but to talk in the larger interest of peace and freeing the people from shackles of hatred and mistrust. Peace and friendly relations between India and Pakistan will enhance the quality of life of millions, who have paid dearly due to decades-long suspicion and hostilities, he said. The National Conference President said peace and normalcy in the region will remain a distant dream as long as the two neighbours wont sort out issues in friendly atmosphere. An Italian economist says his flight was delayed for over two hours after a fellow woman passenger saw him working on an equation she thought was some special secret terrorist code and alerted the cabin crew. Guido Menzio, 40, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania, was taken off and questioned by agents in Philadelphia, after the woman next to him said she felt ill. The Ivy League economist was flying from Philadelphia to Syracuse on Thursday to give a talk at Queens University in Ontario, Canada. American Airlines confirmed on Saturday that a 30-something woman expressed suspicions about Menzio. She said she was too ill to take the Air Wisconsin-operated flight 3950. Before the flight took off, the woman sitting next to him passed a note to a member of the cabin crew. She initially told them she was feeling unwell but then voiced her suspicions about Menzios scribblings. The plane, ready to take off, then returned to the gate and the woman passenger left. Menzio was then asked to disembark the plane and met by some FBI looking man-in-black. He was solving a differential equation, but said he was told the woman thought he might be a terrorist because of what he was writing. American spokesman Casey Norton said the crew followed protocol to take care of an ill passenger and then to investigate her allegations. They determined them to be non- credible, he said. Menzio showed the security agents what he had been writing and the flight eventually took off - more than two hours late. He wrote on Facebook that the experience was unbelievable and made him laugh. Its a bit funny. Its a bit worrisome. The lady just looked at me, looked at my writing of mysterious formulae, and concluded I was up to no good, he wrote. He told the Washington Post that he was treated respectfully throughout the process but remains perturbed by a system that relies on the input of people who may be completely clueless. The woman was re-booked on a later flight. A local court in Surat has sentenced a man to three years imprisonment for possessing beef. The court of Gandevi Judicial Magistrate (First Class) C Y Vyas on Friday sentenced Rafik Illyasbhai Khalifa (35) to three years in jail and also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000, while convicting him under relevant sections of Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act-2011. Notably, keeping, buying, selling or transporting beef or beef products is banned in Gujarat. While delivering the judgement, the judge observed that, Cow is associated with the religious sentiment of a community. So such a crime threatens the peace of society. If the accused is given jail term, it will serve as an example for others to refrain from committing such a crime. He also stated that the argument of the defence that the court should be lenient because the accused was from a poor financial background, was not justified. It is not justified to reduce the sentence just on the ground that the accused is from a poor background and his family is dependent on him, the judge observed. Rafik, a resident of Devda village in Gandevi taluka of Surat district, was arrested on October 8, 2014, after two members of a cow protection group caught him transporting two bags containing 20 kgs beef, on his motorcycle. The beef was estimated to be worth around Rs 4,000. The Gandevi police, which filed the FIR, later sent the samples of the contents in the bag to a Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), which confirmed it as beef. The police booked the accused under sections sections 6(B)(1)(2)(3) and 8(4) of the Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act-2011, and sections 429 (causing mischief by killing animals) and 114 (abettor present when offence committed) of the IPC. However, the court held him guilty only under sections of the Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act-2011. Meanwhile, another accused, Hanif Yusufbhai Mamniyat, a butcher arrested in connection with the same case, was acquitted by the court due to lack of evidence. Hardik Patel-led Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), a prominent organisation demanding OBC quota for the Patel community, cancelled on Sunday a mass gathering of the community at Kansa in Mehsana district as no one turned up. Its leaders alleged that the large police deployment at the venue of the event, termed by PAAS as Maha-panchayat, was the reason, though the police denied it. It is a baseless allegation that police prevented anyone from attending the programme....Our deployment was a routine affair. It was not meant to threaten anyone, said Mehsana district superintendent of police Chaitanya Mandlik. On Friday, PAAS had announced that the next round of its agitation would start from Kansa, near Visnagar town. Local PAAS leader Ravi Patel alleged that Gujarat government put pressure on the organisers to cancel it. Patel leaders from across the Visnangar tehsil were supposed to remain present. However we were forced to cancel the event today, as a large number of police were deployed. It was a pressure tactic by the government, he said. Meanwhile, a letter by the jailed quota leader Hardik Patel which was circulated on Sunday said the community should not bow down before the BJP. Hardik is in jail in a sedition case. The letter, addressed to his father Bharatbhai Patel, said the people of Gujarat were suffering under the BJP rule which was worse than the British rule. Mohammad Zahid would have continued eking out a living earning a paltry Rs.1500 a month. He would have continued to remain a statistic, a faceless teacher at a madrasa in Yavatmal districts Fulsawangi village, 450 km away from Malegaon, a mid-sized town in Maharashtra. No one would have known that Zahid had to subsist on just Rs.950 a month after paying for a room and water. Yet, a few days after a bomb ripped through the Hamidia mosque, near Malegaons Bade Kabristan on September 8, 2006, Zahid was transformed from a poor teacher to a terrorist. It did not matter that he was 450 km away. Maharashtras Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) accused him of assembling a bomb, concealing it in a bicycle and parking it next to the mosque. Suddenly, Zahid became one of the bombers responsible for killing 37 and injuring over 100, mostly from their own community. Meet Malegaons innocent terrorists and hear their stories to know how they were framed and punished for a crime they never committed. Nine Malegaon residents all Muslims were arrested by the ATS for triggering the blasts and conspiring to disturb the harmony in the 86 per cent Muslim-dominated power loom town. According to the ATS charge sheet, In order to exploit the communal sensitiveness of Malegaon, zealot leaders and members of the banned organisation SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India), with their extremist ideology, always tried to manipulate the situation by playing with the religious sentiments of the locals and incited them to avenge the alleged brutality committed on them. Contrary to the expectations of the conspirators major incidents resulting in communal riots were prevented by timely police action and public support. Baffled by these developments, the offenders again conspired on September 12 2006 to plant a fake bomb laced with RDX in the mixed locality of Hindus and Muslims. (Athar Rather/ HT Photo) The timely police action involved an elaborate cover-up that destroyed nine men and their families. The accused had neither planted the bombs on September 8 or 12. All nine (one died in a road accident last year after getting bail) were charged under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), acquitted by a special court last week but they are all asking the same pertinent questions: what action will be taken against the ATS officers? Who will compensate for the last ten years of pain and torture? Tortured to Confess Raees Ahmed who runs an imitation jewellery shop in Malegaon was 33 in 2006. His wife was in the ninth month of her pregnancy when the ATS came knocking on his door. It is best to narrate his ordeal in his words: I was bed-ridden for a week before the blast. On the day of the blast, I was in bed after offering namaz when the electrician who worked at the shop called to tell me there had been a blast. We were fasting as it was the month of roza. After a few weeks a policeman came to my house and said sahab is calling you. I went to the police station and was asked if I was a member of SIMI and I said no but in the dead of night, I was taken to the ATS office in Mumbai where they only talked with their boots. The ATS men would drink for long hours and then start beating me. They wanted me to confess to my role in the blast. I did not know the meaning of the words confession and MCOCA. I swore by my children that I had no role but they said I had received 18 to 20 kilos of RDX. One morning they tied a tight bandage around my eyes and opened it only in the evening and then took my photographs. They showed me the picture. I couldnt recognise myself. What I saw was a man who looked like a terrorist. The bandage had had that effect. In every prayer I only asked Allah for one thing: that the real perpetrators are arrested. My daughter Ayesha was born 18 days after I was taken into custody and we never saw each other for five-and-a-half years. My wifes brother gave her Rs.5000 a month to look after our six children. (Athar Rather/ HT Photo) Like Raees, the other five HT met narrated hair-raising stories of third degree torture. Abrar Ahmed, now 38, ran a poultry farm ten years ago. He went to the hospital where the injured were being taken and donated blood. But soon, he too was picked up by the ATS. My nails were pulled out and two lit cigarettes were stuffed into my nostrils. One night, I was forced to drink a lot of water and when I said I wanted to use the toilet, they brought a bucket and asked me to aim into it. As soon as I started urinating, a current passed through my body and I passed out. When I woke up, I was in a hospital bed. Another accused, Noorul Huda, 24, who was settling into married life after having tied the knot in May 2006, was charged with planting bombs at the Kabristan gate. I sported a skull cap and had a beard and was constantly asked by the ATS, why are you such a kattad Muslim? Why dont you watch movies? I was beaten regularly and given electric shocks. Before each beating, they would ask me to take off all my clothes and each time I kept pleading my innocence and they kept saying you are not capable of triggering a blast but we want to fill our jails with kattad people like you. I was in their custody on Eid and they didnt let me offer my prayers. They said if I didnt confess they would bring the women of my family and subject them to the same treatment. I am free today but I have lost my identity. When I walk on the streets of Malegaon, people dont say, thats Noorul Huda. They say, thats Noorul Huda, who was arrested for the blasts. Watch | Beaten up, tortured, forced to confess: Six of the acquitted men narrate their ten-year-long ordeal. Click on the playlist to watch all their interviews NIA to the Rescue The case took a turn in 2011 when the investigation was handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). After repeated accusations against the ATS, the case had been earlier handed over to the CBI which corroborated the Maharashtra Squads probe. The NIA had the confession of Swami Aseemanand, an accused in the Mecca Masjid blasts of 2007, who pointed to the role of right-wing organisations in the Malegaon case. The ATS charge sheet collapsed soon after. The NIA examined several witnesses who testified to what Zahid had been saying all along: he was 450 km away from the Hamidia masjid on the day of the blast. The NIA charge sheet makes it crystal clear that the ATS had made scapegoats out of the nine Malegaon men. The agencys charge sheet, submitted before the MCOCA court said, Before the further investigation of this case was handed over to the NIA, Swami Aseemanand had made a confession in the Mecca Masjid blast case that Sunil Joshi [an RSS functionary, who was killed mysteriously in 2007] had told him that the blasts at Malegaon were the handiwork of his boys. He had stated that a meeting was held in June 2006 at the house of Bharat Rateshwar at Valsad, where Aseemanand had suggested that Malegaon which has 86% Muslim population may be chosen first for bomb blast. Aseemanand further stated that Joshi had told him that during Diwali in 2006, his men have exploded bombs in Malegaon All the accused who had earlier recorded their confessions under MCOCA stated that their confessions were recorded under duress and pressure. They denied to accept the contents of their confessions. They had repeatedly testified to their innocence but the ATS did not listen. The accused got bail in 2011, only after the NIA took over the case. KP Raghuvanshi, the then Maharashtra ATS chief, refused to respond to questions on how his officers had extracted confessions through repeated torture. I have not read the judgement. Till the time I read the order copy of their discharge, I will not speak on it, is all he said. (Athar Rather/ HT Photo) The Acquittal The judge, VV Patil, finally removed the terror label last week on April 25. His orders states, There was Ganesh immersion just prior to September 8, 2006 which is used to celebrate in entire Maharashtra state. Had the accused 1-9 any object that there should be riots at Malegaon, then they ought to have planted the bombs at the time of Ganesh immersion day which would have caused death of most of the Hindu people. It seems to me highly impossible that the accused 1-9 who are from Muslim community would have decided to kill their own people to create disharmony in two communities that too on a holy day Shab-e-Barat. The bombs had exploded during the month of Ramzan. Shab-e-Barat, considered auspicious among Muslims, is a time when they assemble to pay respects to their departed relatives. Today, as Zahid and the others try and pick up the pieces, some questions remain. For Dr Farogh Makhdoomi, the sense of injustice is acute. I will not seek compensation from this government, he asserts. He wants action against the ATS officials. So does Dr Salman Farsi, who now spends time in researching how innocent terrorists like him in other countries fought and got compensation. The fight for dignity is still on. September 8, 2006: Serial bomb blasts near Hamidia Mosque in Malegaon kill 37 and injure over 100 after the Friday prayers on the day of Shab-e-Barat Serial bomb blasts near Hamidia Mosque in Malegaon kill 37 and injure over 100 after the Friday prayers on the day of Shab-e-Barat December 16, 2006: Maharashtra ATS arrests and charges nine Muslims under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) Maharashtra ATS arrests and charges nine Muslims under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) January 13, 2011: CBI reinvestigates the blast case in the wake of Swami Aseemanands statement alleging Hindu groups were behind the blasts CBI reinvestigates the blast case in the wake of Swami Aseemanands statement alleging Hindu groups were behind the blasts January 17, 2011: Nine accused apply for bail. Special MCOCA court rejects it in March. National Investigation Agency (NIA) takes over the investigation in April Nine accused apply for bail. Special MCOCA court rejects it in March. National Investigation Agency (NIA) takes over the investigation in April May 22, 2013: NIA files chargesheet against four accused, all Hindus, paving the way for the acquittal of nine Muslims arrested by the ATS NIA files chargesheet against four accused, all Hindus, paving the way for the acquittal of nine Muslims arrested by the ATS April 12, 2016: NIA does a u-turn saying that the nine cannot be discharged. It had earlier asserted that there was no evidence linking them to the blasts NIA does a u-turn saying that the nine cannot be discharged. It had earlier asserted that there was no evidence linking them to the blasts April 25, 2016: Almost ten years after their arrest, all nine accused discharged of all terror charges. One of them had died in an accident a year ago Five decades after the Chinese troops laid siege to it, the 336-year-old Tawang Monastery is facing a new aggressor high-stakes hydropower politics. Tawang town, 525-km northwest of Arunachal Pradeshs capital Itanagar, has had more armed forces personnel than local residents since the 1962 attack by China. But soldiers never patrolled or put up checkpoints along the road to the monastery until now, replacing the trigger-happy police in policing the town after the May 2 killing of two anti-dam activists, including a minor Buddhist monk. The monastery is the guiding light for Tawang districts 50,000 people, mostly Monpas. Because of its historic link with Lhasa in adjoining Tibet, it has also been central to Beijings claim on Arunachal Pradesh. The monastery is now at the centre of a controversy that seems to have pitted its abbot, Guru Tulku Rinpoche, against a senior monk, Lama Lobsang Gyatso. At play is a dam lobby that allegedly enjoys the backing of Tawangs most powerful political family, that of former chief minister Dorjee Khandu. Gyatso, whose arrest on April 28 led to protests and the bloodbath four days later, heads the anti-dam Save Mon Region Federation (SMRF), which suspects the dam lobby is using Rinpoche to influence villagers in project areas. The SMRF dragged Rinpoche into the picture because chief minister Kalikho Pul had, after taking charge in February, advised him to tell the monks to focus on religious activities, not on dam politics, Tsering Tashi, MLA and Khandus younger son, told Hindustan Times. Read | Indias annexation of Tawang in 1951 still shrouded in mystery Lama Lobsang Gyatso (right), head of the anti-dam Save Mon Region Federation, with monks at Tawang monastery. (Rahul Karmakar/HT Photo) Once a Congress leader, Tashi is the BJP-aligned Peoples Party of Arunachals representative from Tawang assembly constituency, one of three in the Tawang district. Brother Pema Khandu and cousin Jambey Tashi represent the other two. Puls advice was understandable. The SMRF defied Rinpoche to mobilise most of the Tawang Monastery monks for an anti-mega dams rally in April 2012. The protests spread to villages to officials alleged brainwash poor people against dams. What angered the dam developer-politician-bureaucrat-police nexus was our petition that made the National Green Tribunal suspend the 780MW Nyamjang Chhu hydro project last month, Gyatso said. SMRF argues that Nyamjang Chhu, awarded to the Noida-based Bhilwara group, is proposed on the wintering site of the endangered black-necked crane, sacred to Buddhists because it helped the Tawang-born sixth Dalai Lama identify his successor in Tibet. But Zilla Parishad chairperson (ZPC) Jambey Tsering said dams did not take Gyatso to the lock-up. An audio clip circulated via WhatsApp did. He said the abbot was Bhutanese and had no business in lecturing on development. This hurt the peoples sentiments because the nationality of a spiritual leader, like the 14th Dalai Lama, does not matter to Buddhists. I filed an FIR against him, the ZPC said. Used to peace, Tawang did not expect the outcome the shooting by police at unarmed people seeking Gyatsos release. Besides killing two and injuring eight others, the gunfire left holes on the walls of two schools adjoining the Tawang police station. We did not order the firing, a district administration officer said. The overzealous police, working on behalf of the dam lobby, went on a shooting spree, SMRF said. But the dam effect made many monks question Rinpoches nine-year tenure as abbot because as a rule Dharamshala appoints abbots by rotation every three years. These nine years have coincided with the hydropower push for 133 hydropower projects in Arunachal Pradesh. Gyatso denied having abused Rinpoche, insisting the clip merely suggested that the abbot, a non-local, should not discourage the monks from taking up the cause of the common man. Also read | Train to Tawang brings China border 50km closer to India SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Mohammed Muzahir, who works as an Imam at Aksha Masjid mosque in Loni town of Ghaziabad, was let off by the Delhi Police on Saturday. He was detained on suspicion of having links with the banned outfit, Jaish-e-Mohammed. We were dubbed terrorists with AK-47s, bombs and links to terror outfits. This is not true. I always want to spread the message of aman and shanti (peace). This detention will dent my reputation. I dont know if the society accept me, he said. An Imam in Loni for the past four years, Muzahir earns Rs 8,000. I also teach 90 boys and girls at the mosque. People dont know that Muslims prefer to send nearly 80% of their children to school. Only the rest go to madrasas. My father has been an Imam at Saharanpur. He had to rush here when he heard that we (Mujahid and Mohammed Tahir, brothers) were picked up, he said. Read more: No evidence, four of 10 suspected JeM operatives freed He is hopeful that his brother Tahir, who has three children, will be freed soon. We were not allowed to sit, sleep or move as per our wish. The police kept us in groups of 3-4. We werent allowed to speak and made to sit in groups in different corners. But we werent tortured and got good food. Once the police cleared their doubts, they let me off, he said. He says it would be difficult for him to gain social acceptance after the incident. Three of the four men, who were detained and let off on Saturday, hail from Delhis Chand Bagh colony, while Muzahir is from Ghaziabad. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The 1.2-million strong Indian Army wants to be leaner and is looking to cut flab in non-combat areas. Army chief General Dalbir Singh has ordered a study to determine how the force, battling a fund squeeze, can be rightsized, said a top army officer familiar with the plan. The chief has asked one of his senior-most generals to come up with recommendations by August-end to initiate targeted reductions to improve the forces tooth-to-tail ratio the number of personnel (tail) required to support a combat soldier (tooth). Spending cuts have squeezed the budget. Strengthening the tooth-to-tail ratio will improve combat efficiency and result in savings. The roadmap to reform should be ready in three months, the officer said. Determining the ratio, however, could be complex. The figure could vary with the model used for calculation, lieutenant general Philip Campose, who retired as vice-chief, said. But at a very basic level, if we talk about an army division it has a fighting complement of around 14,000 soldiers. They are supported by around 3,000 soldiers in a logistics role. The size of this tail can be reduced to improve the ratio, Campose said. The army has a sanctioned strength of 49,631 officers but is short of 9,106 officers. Reorienting roles of officers could help improve the ratio, he said. General Singhs orders come barely five months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that modernisation and expansion of forces at the same time is a difficult and unnecessary goal. The PMs message was clear: More money should be spent on sharpening combat potential through technology rather than support elements. The army cut more than 14,000 jobs between 2005 and 2013 -- a minuscule number considering the size of the worlds second biggest force. Rightsizing will help control ballooning expenditure. The study will review the armys logistics philosophy and concepts to help arrive at the most advantageous model of sustenance, said another senior officer who did not wish to be named. It will examine the impact of the ongoing modernisation drive, the spread of automation and improved communications, he said. It will also focus on inventory management and identify areas where civilian workforce can be cut down. It will look at all arms and services and logistics organisations. Some other wings where workforce could be trimmed include the Military Engineer Services, Directorate General of Quality Assurance, Directorate General of Defence Estates and the Ordnance Factory Board, a source said. Cutting costs could help plug fund shortage to some extent. In a report tabled in Parliament on May 3, defence secretary G Mohan Kumar admitted that Indias military spending for 2016-17 was not in keeping with the requirements of the armed forces. In February, India announced it would spend Rs 2.58 lakh crore on defence, a marginal hike of 9.7% over last years revised estimates. The confrontation between the students of Jadavpur University and the members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) draws a stark semblance to the conflict between the Leftist and saffron camps at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in the Capital. That the ABVP is struggling to secure a foothold in the predominantly red zone of JU campus became clear when Subir Haldar, the outfits Bengal unit secretary said on Saturday, Leftists are all anti-nationals. We will fight tooth and nail to gain a foothold in the JU campus and weed out the Leftists. Read | Jadavpur University students, ABVP on collision course day after clashes Interestingly, the constantly-fighting Left wing outfits on JU campus from SFI to ultra Left have come together to fight the saffron offensive. The slogans and counter slogans on Friday and Saturday evening proved it. The Left wing students, belonging to various brands of outfits such as the CPI(M)s SFI, CPI(ML)s AISA, SUCIs DSF and the Maoist-leaning USDF and Radical, raised slogans like Manuvaad se azadi, Brahmanyavaad se azadi and Sangh se lenge azadi, hum chhinke lenge azadi. The saffron camp shouted, Deshdrohi Naxalion ko Jadavpur se dho dalo and Dudh mango to kheer denge, Kashmir mango to cheer denge. Students of Jadavpur University take part in a rally to protest against alleged ABVP activists attack on them in Kolkata on Saturday evening. (PTI) Trouble started on the JU campus in February when BJP state president and senior RSS pracharak Dilip Ghosh vowed to drive all anti-national elements, including teachers, out of the campus. Read | Jadavpur University students to protest against planned fascist attack on campus It came following ABVP members failed attempt to enter the campus with a procession, on the pretext of protesting the raising of slogans demanding azadi for Kashmir and Manipur. The teachers joined the students in a human chain to prevent ABVP members from entering the campus. Ghoshs remarks on Saturday made the battle of ideologies clearer. Jadavpur University is a hub of anti-nationals. The screening of a film, cleared by the Censor Board, was stopped illegally. The trend of CPI(M) and Left-backed student unions of JU has been to stop anything that is against their ideology, which is totally against the countrys democratic set up, Ghosh said on Saturday. RECENT CASES OF TURMOIL IN CAMPUSES March 2016 | NIT Srinagar: Cricket to clashes Kashmiri and outstation students clashed over Indias defeat in the World T20 semifinal on March 31, when some students native to the region started celebrating. In the following days, outstation students refused to attend classes till the institute was shifted out of the Valley a demand eventually rejected. February 2016 | JNU sedition row An event over the manner in which Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was hanged in 2013 snowballed into a Left vs Right fight on campus. Student leader Kanhaiya Kumar and several others were arrested for sedition, prompting allegations of police persecution and state overreach. January 2016 | Hyderabad University: Rohith Vemula suicide In January, the Dalit student activist was found dead in an apparent suicide, following which protests began. Violence flared afresh in late March when the V-C, who had gone on leave, returned and students started a protest that was met with police aggression. August 2015 | FTII: Protests against new chairman The appointment of Gajendra Chauhan was vehemently opposed by students of the Pune film institute, who questioned the actors lack of cinematic credentials and his proximity to the BJP. In August 2015, police arrested striking students. Fridays incident on the campus was a culmination of ABVPs constant effort to penetrate the JU campus, felt majority of the professors who spoke to HT on Saturday. JU stands united to protect its culture and heritage, Nandini Mukherjee, a senior member of Jadavpur University Teachers Association (JUTA), said. On Saturday, the protest rally by students had the support of a large number of teachers. Students of Jadavpur University take part in a rally to protest against alleged ABVP activists attack on them in Kolkata on Saturday evening,while city traffic came to a stand still. (PTI) JU chancellor and Bengal governor Keshari Nath Tripathi expressed concern over the state of affairs on the campus and sought a report from the vice-chancellor. Jadavpur University, once known as centre for excellence, is fast turning into centre for disturbances. The authorities should take stern action against it, Tripathi told PTI. Vice-chancellor Suranjan Das stood by the students who allegedly heckled ABVP supporters. We have lodged an FIR against outsiders who were caught by our students and then handed over by us to the police. It is the police which have to act now, Das said. Read | Four ABVP, BJP workers booked for molesting Jadavpur university students SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The JNU Teachers Association (JNUTA) has decided to go on a relay hunger strike from Saturday. The teachers joined the students already on a relay hunger strike after the JNU administration released a letter asking teachers and students to not invite outsiders on the campus. The university alumni were also invited to be a part of it but not many turned up. JNUTA met the vice chancellor on Friday and was hopeful of getting over this impasse. However, to our utter shock and immense pain JNU administration chose to threaten JNUTA on the basis of hearsay. JNUTA so far has not invited any individual or institution to join the hunger strike. However, it would like to reassert its privilege to call any institution or individual that it finds fit to speak or perform in JNU as it is well within its democratic rights, JNUTA said in a statement. The tussle between students, teachers and the administration at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) entered its tenth day on Saturday. Fourteen students are still on strike but JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar ended his fast on Friday after his health deteriorated. The students are on a hunger strike since April 29 to protest the punishments given to some students in the wake of February 9 event. Anti-national slogans were allegedly raised at the event. As recommended by the high-level inquiry committee (HLEC), the university punished 17 students with penalties ranging from rustication to fines and leaving the hostel. The students have refused to accept the punishment. Students said they will not call off the strike till the punishments are revoked. The authorities are adamant. They are not bothered about the health of any student. But we are more rigid, we will continue to fast until our demands are met, said Pankhuri, one of the students on strike. The principal of a 130-year-old Islamic seminary, Maulana Shaheen Jamali Chaturvedi, surprises people with the Hindu surname. Thats his badge of honour, a means to promote harmony in communally-sensitive Uttar Pradesh. The principal and Sheikh-ul-Hadees of Madarsa Imdadul Islam, located in the Hindu-dominated Sadar locality of Meerut, teaches over 150 students, most of them from poor families. The 68-year-old Maulana, who was born in Bihars Champaran district, went to study at Darul Uloom of Deoband after his primary education. He got the Alim and Mufti degrees but did not stop his education. Thereafter, I completed my PhD in the Quran Sharif. Then I took admission at Aligarh Muslim University for MA in Sanskrit, he recalled. At AMU, I got passionate about Sanskrit and studied the Vedas, Geeta and many other religious and spiritual books of the Hindus under the guidance of Pandit Basiruddin, he said. He described how former PM Jawaharlal Nehru conferred his teacher Basiruddin with the Pandit title for his knowledge of Sanskrit and ancient Hindu texts. The young Maulana accompanied his teacher to religious conferences and it was at one such function in Karnataka that scholars, impressed by his command over Sanskrit and the Vedas, called him Chaturvedi a person who has knowledge of all the four Vedas. The CBIs probe into the VVIP AgustaWestland (AW) deal has brought under its scanner one of the three pacts that the choppers UK-based maker allegedly concluded with a middleman in violation of the tenders no-broker condition. The firm, AW Limited, clinched the Indian contract to sell 12 VVIP AW-101 choppers in February 2010 for Rs 3,727 crore, after having agreed to not deploy any middleman as per the pre-contract integrity pact. AW Limited concluded three contracts with its European middleman, Guido Haschke, from 2005-07, with one of them being allegedly linked to the 2010 deal, according to a CBI source. The first two contracts between AW Limited and Haschkes Tunisia-based Gordian Services, Sarl, involved paying him for services rendered towards scouting opportunities for the sale of civilian choppers in India, the source said. The third contract, however, was linked to Haschke helping the firm bag the military VVIP choppers contract by June 30, 2008, the source further said. After the conclusion of flight evaluation trials conducted abroad in January-February 2008 on AW Limiteds AW-101 chopper and an American chopper, the air force in April 2008 had recommended the formers suitability. The contents of the alleged third contract will strengthen CBIs bribery charges against the UKbased firm and its European and Indian middlemen, according to the source. CBI sought copies of the pacts from Italy via judicial and diplomatic channels along with other case documents. India cancelled the 2010 AW contract in 2014. The CBI is probing allegations that Finmeccanica and AW spent `360 crore to bribe influential people in India to manipulate specifications related to the choppers optimum flying capability to bag the contract. Haschke allegedly admitted to Italys Milan Appeals Court the equivalent of an Indian high court that his firms third pact with AW Limited was connected to the firm bagging the 2010 contract. Asked about the third contract, Haschke told the court, The fact that this could be a fee for advice for that specific job and that this advice was not accepted by the tender documents, this is correct. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal continued to take potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he cannot act against the Gandhi family as they know his secrets. Earlier, he had alleged nexus between Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Modi over the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal in which kickbacks were allegedly paid when United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was in office. He had also dared the Prime Minister to arrest the Congress president. Sources- Gandhi family has some secrets of Modi ji. That's why Modi ji will never be able to act against any member of Gandhi family Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) May 8, 2016 Kejriwals Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had on Saturday organised a demonstration here demanding the arrest of Sonia Gandhi who has been under fire after her name appeared in an Italian courts judgement about AgustaWestland deal last month. Questioning the progress of the investigation into the chopper deal, the AAP leader alleged that there had not been an inch of movement. Modi had said that the corrupt will be sent to jail. It has been two years and not a single person has been sent to jail, he said. AgustaWestland, a subsidiary of Italian defence giant Finmeccanica, allegedly paid more than Rs 375 crore as bribe in a deal to supply the helicopters to the IAF. The issue rocked Parliament after a Milan court convicted two Italian officials for bribing Indian officials and politicians to secure the Rs 3,727-crore contract in 2010. The deal was scrapped in 2014. The Italian court order also has names of Sonia Gandhi, Ahmed Patel, certain officers and Congressmen, but Modi is not able to gather enough courage to arrest Sonia Gandhi, to ask her even two questions, to interrogate her...I want to ask Modiji why are you scared of her? Kejriwal said. Although the Italian court did not indict any Indian politician, the BJP has sought to corner the Congress over references in the court documents to middlemen talking about Signora Gandhi - believed to be Congress president Sonia Gandhi - being the driving force behind the deal. Defence minister Manohar Parrikar has said the wrongdoers in the case will be punished but former Union minister AK Antony, under whose watch the deal was scrapped, pointed out that it was the then UPA government that blacklisted the firm, a claim disputed by the NDA. With inputs from Agencies Chief Justice of India TS Thakur said on Sunday that access to justice was a fundamental right and governments cannot afford to deny it to the people. The CJI again raised the issue of shortage of judges in Indian courts while addressing a gathering of legal luminaries here on the occasion of centennial celebrations of the circuit bench of the high court. Thakur had brought up the issue in an emotional outburst in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a conference in New Delhi recently. While we (judiciary) remain keen to ensure that judges appointments are made quickly, the machinery involved with the appointment of judges continue to grind very slowly, Justice Thakur said, adding around 170 proposals for appointment of HC judges were now pending with the government. Noting that the matter was brought to the notice of the Prime Minister with a plea to make the appointments quickly, he said that people cannot be denied justice. Access to justice is a fundamental right and the government cannot afford to deny the people their fundamental right, he said. Shortage of judges is one of the formidable challenges the judiciary is facing in the country now, the CJI said adding, out of some 900 sanctioned posts of judges in different high courts of the country, there are over 450 vacancies which need to be filled up immediately. Dwelling on the poor judge-population ratio, Justice Thakur said while the Law Commission of India in 1987 had suggested having 44,000 judges to effectively tackle the then number of pending cases, the country today has only 18,000 judges. Thirty years down the line, we continue to work with depleted strength. If you go by the number of people that have been added to the population, we may now require more than 70,000 judges to clear the pending cases, he said. For six years, the fallen tree had just lain on the Kashmir University campus waiting to be sold off or burnt. Today, after assuming the identity of a new canvas for an old conflict, it has become a talking point. On the universitys picturesque Naseem Bagh campus, which is dotted with 600-odd chinars, a fallen tree provides guitars with a platform to transform into Kalashnikovs and barbed wire to envelop Srinagars much-loved Dal Lake in a near-terrifying display of artistic talent. Sketches after sketch go to show how a land of beauty and peace was ravaged by hatred and conflict over the years to become whats now known best as a terror-torn state. Not surprisingly, this open installation created by a group of 10 students from the varsitys music and fine arts department with little other than flour and water is being perceived as radical in an institution where students unions have been banned since 2009. However, the students behind the artwork which took ten days in the making say its meaning is open to interpretation. All art is political. If you know about our geo-politics, you can interpret the installation based on that. Then you will know the significance of the barbed wires. But if you are from some other place, you might interpret it another way, says Saqib Butt, a final-year student and one of the brains behind the initiative. (Waseem Andrabi/HT Photo) Qazi Tabiah, a first-year student, says the installation sprang from a love for art. Basically, the idea was doodling on the chinar tree. The part I worked on has objects that relate closely to Kashmiri culture, such as chinar leaves, utensils used in Wazwan meals and shikaras, she adds. While the artwork happens to be a tribute to the fallen chinar on the one hand, its a site-specific activity that provides students with a chance to break free of their departments academic curriculum on the other. Working on it between classes, they discuss themes that can be cast onto the installation before actually going ahead with the task. Butt says that if the tree is not disposed of by the authorities, the artists may redo the entire installation after six months putting new ideas on chinar bark. While observers say that such site-specific installations are common in art colleges across the world, the Kashmir confict gives this particular project a radical character. The installation has given these students an idea of the so-called contemporariness of things, which is perhaps very normal in other colleges. But things like this are seen as radical in Kashmir, given the context of state surveillance and suppression, says Showkat Katjoo, a faculty member associated with the project. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot accused the BJP government in Rajasthan of trying to wipe out the creator of modern India from history after reports that the countrys first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was removed from a school textbook. It was reported that two new chapters, called National Movement, in the Class 8 social science textbook of schools affiliated to the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education excluded portions on Congress stalwarts such as Nehru, Sarojini Naidu and Madan Mohan Malviya. Those governments who try to remove creators of modern India from history textbooks will themselves get removed. The man who founded worlds biggest democracy and who went to jail for 10 years fighting for Indias independence is now being removed from history, Gehlot said. A report in a prominent newspaper mentioned that in the previous edition of textbook, the chapters on national movement included Nehru and other leaders prominently. The new edition features Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Veer Savarkar, Bhagat Singh, Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and revolutionary Hemu Kalani. But Nehru is nowhere there. The opposition Congress said the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ruling BJPs ideological mentor, was behind the move in Rajasthan to push its agenda to saffronise education. The RSS failed to register a place for itself in the glorious past of Indias resistance against the colonisers and they went to the extent of protesting against the Quit India movement, Gehlot said. History resembles a mirror, the ones who fail to see their faces in the mirror are the ones who try to distort history. He said the right-wing Hindu organisation had isolated itself from the freedom struggle and yet it claims to be staunch nationalists. Congress lawmaker Rameshwar Dudi, who is also the leader of the opposition in the Rajasthan assembly, criticised chief minister Vasundhara Rajes government of pursuing a divisive and detrimental agenda. The BJP government in Rajasthan is touching a new low by omitting references to the freedom fighter and first Prime Minister of India, he said. Social groups and educationists too were unhappy with the Rajasthan school boards decision to leave out prominent historical figures from the textbook. Whatever be the ideology of a political party, one cannot distort facts. Nehru was the first PM and no matter how hard one tries, this fact cannot be removed. A government that believes in distorting historical facts cannot function for long, said Nisha Sidhu of Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti, an NGO. The BJP has been accused of doing the RSSs bidding to rewrite history and push its own leaders into school textbooks since it came to power at the Centre in 2014. The BJP is constantly trying to distort facts and appropriate history according to their ideology, which is Hindutva. They are willing to teach Golwalkar and Godse in schools and remove Nehru and Naidu. This is highly condemnable, said Annie Raja, the general secretary of the National Federation of Indian Women. Those who trim or shave their beard and hair, smoke or drink alcohol cannot vote in the elections to Sikh religious bodies, with President Pranab Mukherjee giving assent to a bill passed recently by Parliament. The Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Act, 2016, which changed the provisions of a 91-year-old law that regulated administration of gurdwaras in Chandigarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, got the Presidential nod on Thursday, according to an official notification. As per the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925, every Sikh who is above 21 years of age and is registered as a voter, will be entitled to vote in the elections to Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) constituted to look after the overall administration and management of the religious shrines of the community. The new law makes it clear that no person shall be registered as an elector who trims or shaves his beard or keshas, smokes and takes alcoholic drinks. The Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was introduced in Rajya Sabha by Home Minister Rajnath Singh on March 15, this year and passed the next day. The Lok Sabha passed it on April 25. The development assumes significance as the law, which fulfils the long-pending demand of the Sikh community to bar Sehajdhari Sikhs from voting, comes ahead of assembly elections due in Punjab next year. HT Explainer: Whats behind excluding Sehajdharis from Sikh body polls? Replying to a debate on the Bill in Parliament, the home minister had said the demand for not giving voting rights to Sehajdhari Sikhs--those who shave their beard or hair--was made by SGPC members and office bearers. The Sehajdhari Sikhs have no religious sanction as far as the fundamental tenets of the religion are concerned. This nomenclature was added to the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925 under certain circumstances prevailing then. The Bill has proposes to remove the exception given to Sehajdhari in 1944 to vote in elections to select members of the Board and the Committees constituted under the Act. The law will be applicable retrospectively. It shall be deemed to have come into force from October 8, 2003, the notification reads. Deposed Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat, who was summoned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with a sting operation which shows him negotiating a price to lure back the legislators, will not be appearing before the investigative agency, said former state parliamentary affairs minister Indira Hridayesh. Harish Rawat wont be appearing before CBI in Delhi, tomorrow (Monday), said Indira Hridayesh, former parliamentary affairs minister. The Congress party wrote to Uttarakhand speaker, requesting that Harish Rawat who is scheduled to be in Delhi to be questioned by the CBI should stay in Dehradun till the floor test. According to sources, the CBI has been able to establish the genuineness of the sting operation after it spoke to an MLA, who stated that when the Finance Bill was discussed in the assembly, Rawat had called him to the office and offered him Rs.2.3 crore and an important post in the government, if he supports him. Rawat recently admitted to having met the journalist, but denied any wrongdoing. The investigating agency had registered a preliminary enquiry in the matter last week. The Union home ministry had sent a CD of the video to a forensics laboratory in Chandigarh to have it authenticated. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered an inquiry into Saturdays incident of Jet Airways aircraft skidding off the runway and getting stuck in loose soil while landing at Indore airport. All 70 passengers including four crew members escaped unhurt in the mishap that occurred at around 7.50 pm, but the aircraft was damaged and the runway was closed for over three hours. Two Indore-bound flights were halted at Mumbai airport while departure of three flights from Indore was delayed. The DGCA has ordered an inquiry into the incident. The runway was cleared late Saturday night and normal operations resumed, Indore airport director Manoj Chansoria told HT. The aircraft was pulled out of the muddy soil with the help of two tractors and normal operations resumed at around 11.15 pm. Jet Airways Delhi-Indore flight 9W-2793 with 66 passengers and four crew members on board skidded off the runway while landing at Indore airport on Saturday evening. Jharkhand governor Draupadi Murmu and Sadhvi Ritambhara were on board. According to reports, the 72-seater ATR aircraft of Jet Airways, which landed at Indore airport at around 7.50 pm, swayed in both directions, skidded off the runway and got embedded in loose soil adjacent to the runway on the left side. The pilots of Jet ATR aircraft were too shocked to give a statement. The runway was wet after rains lashed the city in the evening and this could be one of the reasons for the mishap, although the reason will come out only after an inquiry, an airport official said requesting anonymity. All the crew members were sent to MY Hospital for medical check-up but the doctors refused to conduct a check up as they were not accompanied by police personnel. A passenger Pankaj Agarwal, who was on board, said, the landing was delayed and plane was facing turbulence in the air as the weather was bad and it was drizzling. Then, the plane landed with a thud, swayed in both directions before skidding off the runway and coming to an abrupt halt. We were asked to deplane without our luggage and emergency team of the airport soon arrived at the spot. The runway was closed after the mishap and some flights were diverted to Bhopal while the return Indore-Delhi flight 9W-2794 of Jet Airways was cancelled. The Indian Premier League (IPL) is no stranger to venue changes. Over its nine seasons, three editions have seen last minute adjustments and relocation. This year though, two teams in particular Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiants - will have to face the inconvenience. Champions Mumbai play their first home game away on Sunday when they face Sunrisers Hyderabad in Visakhapatnam. With the tournament at its business end and jostling on for knockout berths, it is a phase when MI need home advantage, something that played a vital role in last years title triumph. For Mumbai, victories at home have always come at the right time. This year, though, they have been forced to change their home base for the rest of the competition owing to the drought in Maharashtra. Members of the team management and captain Rohit Sharma spoke at length to the ground staff about the pitch. A win over Sunrisers on Sunday could see Mumbai move past them into fourth place in the table. Although it is their away game, it is Sunrisers who will make the shorter trip from their base in Hyderabad. And till Saturday, around 17,000 tickets had been sold online. That number is bound to swell as fans would love to watch David Warner and Rohit Sharma, both of whom are in excellent form. Although Mumbai are a settled side, Sunrisers are flying high after a series of victories. MI seemed to suffer due to their over-dependence on Rohit, but Parthiv Patel, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya and Ambati Rayudu have provided backup. In bowling, Mitch McClenaghan and Tim Southee have come good in the absence of the injured Sri Lankan slinger, Lasith Malinga. As players we have played a lot of matches here, but as a team it will be our first game. We will have to look [at] the wicket tomorrow and assess the conditions and play accordingly, pacer Jasprit Bumrah said. It is a challenge. We have practiced on the ground and have got a feel of it. As professionals, we have to adapt and try and do well in Vizag. In a major setback for Raymond Group chairman emeritus Dr Vijaypat Singhania, the Bombay high court has ruled that the family is bound to honour a previous arbitration agreement, and directed Vijaypat to vacate his Juhu Bungalow within 14 weeks. The various branches of the dispersed Singhania clan in Mumbai, Kanpur and Kolkata have been fighting for ownership of the Juhu property, worth over Rs 90 crore, for over two decades. Justice Sriram also ruled that if Vijaypat fails to vacate the bungalow within the stipulated time, an officer of the court should take actual physical possession of the Juhu property and hand over the same to the Calcutta group. The court, however, stayed its own order for eight weeks to allow the Mumbai group to appeal in the Supreme Court. The high court came down heavily on Vijaypat and other members of the Singhania family for their dishonesty and self-centeredness in dragging the litigation for over 30 years despite entering into a family settlement in 1987. It directed the Mumbai and Kanpur branches of the family to pay a fine of Rs 10 lakh each to the Kolkata group and another Rs 10 lakh to the Maharashtra Legal Services Authority for wasting the judiciarys time. The orders came while the court was presiding over a plea filed by the Kolkata group, led by the family of Vijaypats late brother Hari Shankar Singhania. The group had sought the execution of a 2006 order of a Supreme Court-appointed arbitrator, according to which the Juhu bungalow, occupied by the Vijaypat and his wife, was to be handed to them. In return, they were to pay Rs 24 crore to the Mumbai group and Rs 22 crore to the Kanpur group. The Singhanias had also drawn up a family agreement in 1987, under which the properties of the family firm JK Bankers were to be divided equally among the three branches of the family. Under this arrangement too, the Juhu bungalow was to be handed over to the Kolkata group. However, while Kolkata group consented to keep its end of the agreement, Vijaypat has refused to vacate the bungalow. He also challenged the arbitration agreement in the Bombay high court, but his petition was dismissed in 2009. Consequently, Hari Shankars family moved the high court, seeking an execution of the agreement. Vijaypats estranged son Madhupati Singhania also moved the high court, asking that either Vijaypat be ordered to vacate the bungalow or the property be attached by the court. Madhupati feared that the family would appropriate his share of the money paid by the Kolkata group in exchange for the bungalow. Vijaypats lawyers had argued in that the agreement was a joint decree and must be executed as a whole. However, since the Kanpur group failed to hand over its properties to the Bombay group, the Bombay group must not be required to keep its obligations. Justice Shriram however, rejected this argument and held that the agreement in favour of each of the three groups was distinct and severable, and thus could be executable distinctly and separately. The Calcutta Group has repeatedly tried to perform its obligations by offering to bring in the money against receiving possession of the Juhu property. It is quite obvious that the Kanpur Group does not want to part with the property and the Bombay group is finding a very convenient alibi in the Kanpur group. Both are enjoying the assets in question. They are merely trying to drag proceedings endlessly and for another period of uninterrupted enjoyment of the assets, Justice Shriram said. In yet another gun killing, one trader, who had a criminal record, was shot dead by two motorcycle borne miscreants here on Sunday morning. The killing took place at about 10:30 am when Devinder Kumar Deva (45) was on drivers seat in his pickup van near Mahatma Gandhi memorial public school when two persons came on a motorcycle and reportedly pumped five bullets in Devas body. He was taken to Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital where doctors declared him dead. The police said Deva used to supply RO treated water campers and was out on duty when unidentified miscreants opened fire at him. DSP (detective), Faridkot Sukhdev Singh Brar said that five bullet injuries were on Devas body, though police recovered only three bullet casings from the spot. A case for murder has been registered against unknown persons in this connection. A close circuit television camera has captured the images of motorcycle borne persons who allegedly attacked Deva. Moreover, two groups of inmates also clashed in Faridkot modern jail after the killing of Deva. Though, jail officials denied any link of clash with Devas murder. Superintendent Faridkot modern jail BS Bhullar said that two groups entered into a sort of clash but situation was controlled immediately. He said that one inmate suffered injury due to stone pelting and was provided treatment. Also, an extensive search operation was conducted in the jail by the district police on Sunday and one mobile phone along with a charger was recovered. SSP, Faridkot, Sukhmandar Singh said that the killing was not related to any gang war and seemed to be result of personal enmity and police have got certain leads and were working on these. He said that Deva was not involved in any kind of criminal activity for quite some time and as per his knowledge no case was pending against him. Last month gangster-turned-politician Jaswinder Singh rocky was shot dead in Parwanoo in Himachal Pradesh on April 30. Then, within five days, a 25 years old gangster Rahul was shot dead in gang war in Amritsar Wednesday last week Read: Gangster-politician Jaswinder Rocky shot dead near Parwanoo SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON When terrorism was at its peak in Punjab in the 80s, the Hindus used to roll out red carpet to accord rousing reception to Shiv Sena leaders. Their presence at family functions was considered a privilege. Decades later, watchful Hindus, weary of the current crop of Shiv Sainiks, avoid mingling with them and consider majority of these self-styled Sena activists as police stooges and government -backed thugs. Thats the crisis of credibility the mushrooming Shiv Sainiks part of about 20 active breakaway factions are grappling with in Punjab. For many such leaders, the Sena label is a status symbol and a perfect ruse to get the much sought after security cover- two gun-wielding cops in this case. And after gaining the state-sponsored social respectability (read gunmen), a sizeable section of Shiv Sainiks run their shops by meddling into property disputes and hammering out compromises among litigants. But crossing swords with Sikh radicals, mostly on social media, and making provocative statements are their favourite tools to raise their stature in the eyes of their handlersPunjab Police. Thats yet another reason behind the spurt in attacks on these Shiv Sainiks. The tactical support by the intelligence wing with a subtle political brief to not let these outfits unite has resulted in a surge in the number of Sena factions in Punjab in the past decade. Shiv Sena (Bal Thackeray) Punjab chief Yograj Sharma with his security guards in Pathankot. (Keshav Singh/HT Photo) Barring three to four major factions Patiala-based Shiv Sena (Hindustan) headed by Pawan Kumar Gupta, Shiv Sena (Punjab) of Sanjiv Ghanauli (his father Dr Kuldeep Kumar was shot dead by militants in 1992); and Shiv Sena (Bal Thackeray) of Pathankot-based mild-mannered Yograj Sharma and Hindu Shiv Sena the remaining outfits are being operating by sainiks of doubtful credentials. The SAD-BJP government has in the past nine years systematically engineered splits in our main factions by alluring pliable petty elements to form separate outfits. The intelligence wing has been adopting a dirty carrot-and-stick policy to keep us divided. We believe there are over 20 Shiv Senas in Punjab. Police encourage rootless and toothless activists by giving them security and other benefits to form separate factions. In turn, these elements work as police informers. The objective of the government is to keep us divided so that we dont emerge as a pressure group, say Yograj Sharma, Pawan Kumar Gupta and Sanjiv Ghanauli in one voice, even as they differ with each other on policy matters. We never provide security without reason. The reasons can be debated. We have a history of terrorism. They (Sena activists) take certain positions and come out with statements that lead to conflict, director general of police (DGP) Suresh Arora told Hindustan Times. Black sheep enjoying police protection Gupta, Ghanauli, Sharma and Sandeep Thapar, a Ludhiana-based taksali Hindu Shiv Sena leader, and Rajiv Tandon, chairman of Shiv Sena Punjab, who are perceived to be of clean image and standing in public, admit to having black sheep, police stooges and shady characters enjoying police protection even in the rank and file of their respective parties. Shiv Sena (Punjab) chairman Rajiv Tandon moves around in a police vehicle. (Keshav Singh/HT Photo) That police invests heavily on shady sainiks becomes clear from the probe into the February 16 murderous attack on Jalandhar-based Shiv Sena (Uttar Bharat) district in-charge Deepak Kamboj, 35. Kamboj has been booked for having orchestrated the attack on himself to gain publicity and more security personnel. The case of Kamboj, who along with his father had 14 cops as security guards, is a grim reminder of the fact that the police are obliging the breakaway Sena factions by giving them security which is actually being misused. It is learnt that over 400 cops have been deployed with Shiv Sena leaders of different outfits. More than dozen leaders have escort vehicles too. Two leaders, who are on militants radar, have been provided bullet-proof vehicles. The security details of Shiv Sainiks cant be disclosed, ADGP (security) BK Bawa said. Police officers admit that there are cases of sainiks sub-letting the security personnel provided by the government and charging Rs 1,000 per cop per day. The February 4 attack on Shiv Sena (Punjab) activist Amit Arora by two unidentified motorcycle-borne assailants is also being closely investigated. We have reasons to doubt the credibility of attack on Amit Arora, even though he is an activist of my party. He has given me three contradictory versions about the attack. We suspect his attack theory, says Rajiv Tandon, chairman of Shiv Sena Punjab. However, the killing of Shiv Senas labour wing chief Durga Prasad Gupta, by two assailants at Lalhedi Chowk in Khanna on April 23 has raised hackles of the investigators who feel its an act aimed at creating communal tension. Rise of Shiv Sena in Punjab Before and during terrorism in Punjab, there were two Hindu hardliner outfitsHindu Shiv Sena (headed by Ludhiana- based Jagdish Tangri) and Hindu Suraksha Samiti headed by Pawan Sharma of Patiala. Both Tangri and Sharma were vocal in their criticism of Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale, who raised the demand of Khalistan. Later, Tangri merged his Hindu Shiv Sena into Shiv Sena (Bal Thackeray) when the latter was rising as Hindu leader. But one faction of Hindu Shiv Sena, led by Ramakant Jalota (Phagwara), was unhappy with this merger and floated his own faction. Jalota was one of the 40-odd Sena activists who were shot dead by terrorists between Jalandhar and Phagwara along the GT road. Meanwhile, Hindu Suraksha Samiti of Pawan Sharma became inactive. Soon, Tangri and Bal Thackeray parted ways. This was the beginning of Sena splits. The ageing Tangri then floated Shiv Sena Rashtravadi which could not take off. In between, a Patiala-based youth Pawan Kumar Gupta, inspired by Tangri and Pawan Sharma, began emerging as a promising Hindu leader. Since my childhood, leadership qualities of Jagdish Tangri inspired me, while Pawan Sharmas soldier-like stamina and grit were source of encouragement. I was attracted towards their personalities and their parties, says Gupta, who remained the flag-bearer of Shiv Sena (Bal Thackeray) in Punjab as president for many years and consciously copied Thackerays style. According to Yograj Sharma, Gupta was removed as state president over non-performance. The Maratha-centric policies of Balasaheb were hurting us. Then all north Indian Shiv Sena units decided to float Shiv Sena (Hindustan) in March 2003, says Gupta. The core agenda of Shiv Sena (Hindustan) is to ensure compensation and rehabilitation of militancy affected Hindus of Punjab on the lines of 1984 anti-Sikh riots victims. Politics behind splits Guptas outfit shot into limelight in September 2005 when it announced Dharam Yudh Morcha following which then Capt Amarinder Singhs government prepared Rs 781 crore package (for compensation to Hindu victims of militancy) and sent it to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for approval. We fielded 90 candidates in 2007 assembly elections. The Akali Dal promised to fulfil our 11-point charter of demands if we withdraw our candidates in partys favour. After elections, Akalis gave us a royal ignore and also started engineering splits in our party, says Gupta. The Parkash Singh Badal government put in place this divide-and -derail policy after we opposed the move to install photo of Bhindrawale at a museum at the Golden Temple in 2008. We were arrested after we gave a call for Punjab bandh. After this face off, the governments sole objective has been to divide Shiv Sena, say Gupta, Ghanauli and Sharma. The Badal government doesnt want Sena splinter groups to unite. They fear that the united Sena will become a pressure group and can take on the Sikh radicals. The intelligence wing promotes defections and reward defectors with security and other doles. Its a big fraud, says Gupta. Endorsing his views, Ghanauli says: Over 20 outfits is the result of this divisive policy of the Badal government. Majority of Shiv Sena activists are police moles. Otherwise, why will any government give security to a person who is even unknown in his neighbourhood? SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Punjab police conducted a state-wide major search operation in various jails in the state on Sunday and recovered a large number of mobile phones, SIM cards, drugs and cash. The search was conducted in jails in Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Fazilka, Moga, Faridkot, Mansa, Muktsar and in the maximum security jail at Nabha, besides the jails of Patiala, Sangrur and Rupnagar. The task force at Amritsar, led by commissioner of police Amar Singh Chahal, recovered 21 mobile phones (including four smartphones), eight SIM cards, five batteries, two chargers, 11 leads, three headphones, and two memory cards, besides Rs 14,340 cash, 11 silver foils and 29 intoxicant tablets, the statement said. The search was a part of the ongoing drive to ensure that the jails in Punjab are free of objectionable/prohibited material and do not become house for drugs and organised crime, Punjab police said in a statement. The Hoshiarpur team that was led by SSP Kuldeep Singh recovered one mobile phone along with a charger while the Gurdaspur team led by SSP Jagdeep Singh Hundal recovered 430 gram of narcotic powder, six mobile phones and one SIM card. In Patiala Zone, a police team led by SSP Fatehgarh Sahib Harcharan Singh Bhullar searched the Patiala Central jail and recovered two mobile phones, two SIM cards and one gram opium. Similarly, 15 mobile phones were recovered from the modern jail at Nabha, four mobiles, three Bluetooth and Rs 1800 cash was recovered from Sangrur jail, four SIM cards from Barnala sub-jail and a SIM card was found in Rupnagar jail. SSP Patiala Gurmeet Singh Chauhan-led police team searched high-security Nabha jail but nothing suspicious was recovered. The statement said an acute shortage of jail staff, doctors, pharmacists, poor infrastructure of drug de-addiction centres came into notice during the search operation. It added more CCTV cameras need to be installed at crucial points and regular checking through sniffer dogs is also required in these jails. . Paramjit Kaur, 50, was left shocked when she discovered that both her children were born visually impaired. Accepting her fate and determined to not let her childrens impairment come in their way, she took it upon herself to nurture them so that they could carve a niche in the society. While Paramjits daughter Navneet Kaur, 29, works as a music teacher in Kendriya Vidyalya (KV), Jalandhar, her 28-year-old son Narinder Singh, teaches music at Kundan Vidya Mandir School, Civil Lines. Narinder is also a music mentor at the Indian Idol Academy, Ludhiana and teaches music to overseas students through Skype. Narinder Singhs claim to fame is Anjana Padmanabhan, winner of Indian Idol Junior season -1, who is getting her vocal training from him through Skype, since past five months. Paramjit Kaur, resident of Rishi Nagar, is a housewife. To find out both her children were born blind was shocking. Both were blind from the birth and doctors said there is no hope of rectifying it. I prepared myself for the challenge and got my children admitted in Vocational Rehabilitation Training Centre (VRTC) for Blind, said Paramjit Kaur. Paramjits husband, Jaspal Singh is an auto rickshaw driver. The financial condition was not so good, but she never gave up. Narinder Singh said he cannot see, but he can very well imagine what his mother went through. She always inspired them and helped them in settling down in life. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A B-Tech graduate mastermind was among two people arrested on Sunday in the case related to the kidnapping of Sanvi Gupta (7), daughter of a local businessman. Getaway cars a Hyundai Verna and a Maruti Zen besides two motorcycles and a pistol, were seized from accused Deepak Kumar Deepa of Mohindra Colony and Ajay Verma of Raj Colony, say police. Engineering-degree-holder Deepak is known to Sanvis family as a plumbing contractor who buys material from its shop. The alleged accomplice is a former jeweller who turned to selling clothes. Ropar range deputy inspector general (DIG) Gursharan Singh Sandhu and senior superintendent of police (SSP) Gurmeet Singh Chauhan again claimed before the media that Sanvis family had paid no ransom for her release, even though it had gone to handover Rs 2 lakh cash and 2-kilogram gold. Deepak failed to execute his plan but managed to dodge police by dividing his team into two to set the cops after the callers. He knew the girls family had good money, said the DIG Kidnapping has Patiala shocked, business community terrified After grabbing the girl off a rickshaw, the kidnappers parked their Verna borrowed from a relative on the pretext of attending a function in a shop-cum-garage on the Sular road. Locking the girl inside the car with the air-conditioner running, they shut the garage and slipped away on two motorcycles one group to the industrial area, while the other to make ransom calls. They were switching locations frequently. Once we knew there were two teams and not which one had the girl, we were in a dilemma to act, said the SSP. Someone from Sanvis family went to the factory area to drop the moneybag and gold but the gang didnt come to collect it. It rang up the family and threatened payback for involving police, who had by now sealed every exit, said the SSP, adding: We had them under pressure, so they returned to the garage, put the girl in a Zen car and dropped her at a secluded place. We have the security-camera footage of area for evidence. Police say the accused were planning to leave the city. The mobile phone from which they made the ransom calls is one they had snatched from a migrant worker outside Rajindra Medical College. Accused Deepak holds a B-Tech degree from RIMT College, Patiala. Police said he had started working on this plan a month ago. He involved Verma, who advised him to ask for gold, as that would be easy to carry and sell. Otherwise, Deepak was to seek `50 lakh, said SSP Gurmeet Singh Chauhan. The DIG lauded the SSP and his team that cracked the case and said he would recommend DGPs commendation for all its members. Patiala kidnap: Father paid Rs 50 lakh to free girl, police just watched SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Supporters of Thakur Dalip Singh, head of Namdhari sect at Sirsa, on Saturday met commissioner of police Jatinder Singh Aulukh here and submitted a memorandum expressing fear of threat to their lives from the supporters of the Namdhari sect at Bhaini Sahib headed by Satguru Uday Singh. Members of International Namdhari Sangat here told the CP that they had got information that the supporters of the warring sect at Bhaini Sahib are planning an attack on them. They urged the commissioner to take steps as an attack was likely being planned against them. They said the murder case of Chand Kaur, wife of ex-sect head Satguru Jagjeet Singh, be cracked soon. Celebrations in a family turned sour as two men who were busy preparing for a marriage function were killed as their car collided with a train at an unmanned railway crossing near Chak Kotla village here on Saturday. Lovepreet Singh and uncle Harjaat Singh, residents of Dadbindi village, were on their way to Lohian Khas to do shopping when the accident took place. Lovepreets cousins marriage is fixed for Sunday and they were in the village to prepare for the function. The Indica car collided with the Jammu Tawi-Ahmedabad express train around 12.30 pm. An eyewitness said the impact was so strong that the train dragged the car for nearly 200 yards before it was thrown on one side of the track. People rushed the two to the civil hospital, where doctors declared them brought dead. Lovepreet was an only son whereas Harjaat was a government employee. Following the information, Kapurthala GRP rushed to the spot. Investigating officer Jaspreet Singh said the accident occurred as the car driver failed to notice the oncoming train. It was 13 years ago that Rashpal Kaur realised that her son, who was five then, is slow in his reflexes and is a child with special needs. She was shocked at first and also sank into depression, but slowly she become more concerned of her sons future. Soon she realised that she would had to become a pillar of strength for her son and wailing at destiny would provide no solution. Today, her son 18-year-old Parvesh Singh is self-dependent and employed at the Suvidha Centre canteen of Ludhiana administration, where four others like him and of his age, work along with him. Parvesh is pursuing his studies through correspondence from BCM School in the city and hopes to run his fathers shop in the future. His new vocation at the canteen is providing him with a first-hand experience of dealing with public. When he was born, he did not cry as the supply of oxygen to his brain was disrupted. We sensed something was wrong. He was a normal child initially, but was slow in everything he did. He could not speak smoothly and had a delayed response for things. When he turned five, we were sure there was something wrong. The doctors then told us that he was a child with special needs, she said, wiping off her tears. Faced ridicule in school After overcoming initial trauma, Rashpal took upon the daunting task to give him the very best. We first got him admitted in a normal school. But there was public ridicule everywhere. As he grew bigger, he began to realise that there was something wrong with him. He began to fear visiting public places and crowded areas due to the fear of being questioned. He could sense that everyone who is known to me or even unknown passers-by would come and inquire about him from me, she said. When Parvesh turned 10, Rashpal got him removed from a normal school and he started going to Ashirwad a school for children with special needs. He was happy there, but I always feared how he would equip himself in the future? We as parents would get old and die, his three younger brothers, who are normal would get busy with their lives. My husband used to get worried thinking what would happen of him, she said. Parvesh then told me that he did not want to go to school and then was when I realised that public ridicule was affecting him psychologically, said Rashpal. Stepping into outer world Taking care of him requires a lot of energy. He can understand everything said to him, but cannot speak fluently. I have never left him alone and have accompanied him everywhere. I even go to the canteen with him every day. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Actor Ruslaan Mumtaz is looking for every excuse to stay at home. And he is exercising every trick up his sleeve to not step out, except for work from inviting friends over to his house to shopping online. Why, did you ask? The Dangerous Ishq actor spent a whole year doing up his home. My house took almost a year to do it up but every corner has been touched upon by me and mom. Since its our house and we wanted our tastes to reflect in every corner of our favourite place. Now that we are almost done doing it up, it has turned out to be lovely. Its my favourite place, my favourite joint whenever am not doing anything, he shares. The actor, who is busy shooting a daily soap these days, often goes straight to his newly-done home. Yes, whenever I get the time or whenever I am done with the shoot, I rush back home. I love spending time at home. At least, so far, I havent got enough of it (laughs). SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON As the setting sun flooded a meeting of Utah County Republicans, Melanie Sorensen described her concerns about her partys presumptive presidential nominee. First, she spoke about Donald Trumps suggestion that he may violate party orthodoxy and back a minimum wage increase. Then, she addressed his tendency to take different sides of the same issue. Then, the image he projects to the world. Im certainly a Never Hillary person but I may also be a Never Trump person, said Sorensen, 42, a homemaker who spends countless hours volunteering for the GOP. Its a nightmare. Im living in a nightmare. Voters in this slice of deeply conservative Utah are experiencing an acute version of the political panic attack thats gripped much of the GOP since Trumps remaining rivals dropped out last week. Utah County, 30 miles south of Salt Lake City, was never going to support Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. Its home to Brigham Young University, and 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney won 88% of its voters against President Barack Obama. But its also the conservative heart of Utah, whose voters were among the most resistant to Trump in the nominating contest. The billionaire won only 14% of the votes at the Republican caucuses in March. Trumps boastful, populist approach offends many in a deeply religious state that values humility, personal ethics and traditional conservative values. Whats more important to us is the life led, the character of the candidate for office, said Robert Craig, 55, a businessman and another member of the Utah County partys executive committee. The way Utahs Republicans grapple with Trumps nomination may say a lot about his viability in November. No presidential nominee in recent decades has won the White House without overwhelming support from voters of his own party typically 90% of them or more but the GOP is badly splintered over Trump. US House speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis, set off a firestorm last week when he said Trump had not yet earned his endorsement. The last two GOP presidents George W Bush and George HW Bush said they wouldnt attend the partys July convention where Trump awaits the nomination. Some Utah Republicans are grudgingly lining up behind Trump. US Republican Chris Stewart, who called Trump our Mussolini in March, now calls for party unity. While Mr Trump wasnt my first choice, we must move forward and unite to defeat Hillary Clinton, he said. KC Bezant contemplated what to do as he hurried back from his lunch break to the furniture store in the University Mall where he works. Not a big fan, he said of Trump. Bezant voted for Texas senator Ted Cruz in the caucuses. Another salesman, David Bauer, 69, met Bezant as he walked in. Are you going to vote for Trump? Bezant asked Bauer, who had also supported Cruz in the caucuses. Yeah, Bauer answered. I dont like Hillary. Ill vote for him. Not voting is just putting another vote in Hillarys back pocket. Yeah, Bezant said. Ill do it. Not everyone in the store was as sanguine. Tammy Pawlowski, 58, was horrified when Trump said this year that he never had asked God for forgiveness. Shes Mormon and repentance is a big thing for us, Pawlowski said. We have to be accountable to somebody we need to be accountable to God for what we do and to people. If youre not going to be accountable to anyone, then you dont care about anyone but yourself. Pawlowski said she might actually end up voting for Clinton: I would actually pick her over Trump. In more than two dozen interviews of Republicans in Orem, Pawlowski was the only one who said she might vote for Clinton. But some were seeking third-party escape hatches from what they considered to be an impossible choice. I keep hoping for a do-over, said Amy Gertsch, 40, a professional pet blogger who preferred senator Rand Paul, an early drop out. At the county GOP meeting, between the Pledge of Allegiance and a discussion of local races, executive committee members were trying to find a reason to support their partys nominee. What could help Donald Trump move more people in the Republican Party to his side is to pick a vice-president, and have more people around him, who are conservative, said Joe Phelon, 44. Heads nodded approvingly and an excited murmur rippled through the room when someone mentioned a rumour that Trump would select US Republican Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, chairman of the House committee investigating the 2012 attack against Americans in Benghazi, Libya, as his attorney general. Were waiting to see what Mr. Trump would do, said Ben Summerhalder, 63. If we were voting today, Id have to hold my nose hes boorish, hes not a conservative. Some are more open to Trump. The billionaire was software developer Lowell Nelsons third choice out of the 17 Republicans who competed for the nomination, and Nelson backed Cruz in the caucuses. But now Trump will get his vote. He has stood firm against the trade deals and on immigration, Nelson said. Anything to get the establishment, the neoconservatives, angry, Im OK with that. But even in this group of loyal, hard-core Republicans, some thought they wouldnt vote for the nominee. A no vote, said Anna Standage, 49, is still a vote. Archaeologists clashed at a conference in Egypt on Sunday, over a theory that secret burial chambers could be hidden behind the walls of King Tutankhamuns tomb. Speaking at the conference, former antiquities minister and famed Egyptologist Zahi Hawass rejected the theory that undiscovered chambers lie behind the tomb and likely contain the tomb of Queen Nefertiti, one of pharaonic Egypts most famous figures. The theory has prompted new exploration and it has been extensively scanned by radar. In all my career ... I have never come across any discovery in Egypt due to radar scans, Hawass said, suggesting the technology would be better used to examine existing tombs that are known to contain sealed-off chambers. British Egyptologist Nicolas Reeves meanwhile defended the theory he put forward last year. Preliminary results of successive scans suggest the tomb contains two open spaces, with signs of metal and organic matter lying behind its western and northern walls. I was looking for the evidence that would tell me that my initial reading was wrong, he said. But I didnt find any evidence to suggest that. I just found more and more indicators that there is something extra going on in Tutankhamuns tomb. The conference aims to bring broader scientific rigor to what so far have only been tantalizing clues in recent explorations of the tomb. Antiquities Minister Khaled el-Anani, who attended the conference, said that scans of the tomb would continue in line with the groups recommendations, but that no physical exploration would be allowed unless he was 100 % sure there is a cavity behind the wall. Google dedicated on Sunday its doodle to mark the International Mothers Day. The doodle puts on show two pairs of footwear, one of a mother and the other of a child, representing the relationship between the two. Sophie Diao, creator of the doodle, also remembers her intense bond with her mother with a beautiful message. Her message reads: As we get older, we forget how heavily we once relied on our mothers and mother-figures. Todays doodle for Mothers Day harkens back to a time in my youth when following mom around was all I knew. Thanks, mom, for all the sacrifices, laughs, and love. Gunmen shot dead eight plainclothed Egyptian policemen in the Helwan district south of Cairo, the interior ministry said on Sunday. The policemen were travelling in a minivan when the assailants in a pickup truck blocked their path and sprayed the vehicle with automatic rifle fire, the ministry said. Jihadists, including Islamic State group militants, have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers in attacks, mostly in the Sinai Peninsula and also in and around Cairo. Egyptian criminal gangs have also killed policemen in shootouts, but the attack bore the hallmarks of jihadists who have waged an insurgency since the military overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. The interior ministry said the dead included a lieutenant and seven lower ranking policemen who were patrolling the area just south of the capital when they were ambushed late at night. Militants had struck before in Helwan, killing a policeman standing guard outside a museum in June 2015. The jihadists, who are based in the sparsely populated Sinai Peninsula bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, have repeatedly tried to make inroads in the capital, where police have had more success in quelling them than in Sinai. They have claimed several attacks in Cairo, including an attempted assassination of the interior minister in late 2013 and the bombing of the Italian consulate in July 2015. More recently militants have conducted hit and run attacks on policemen in Cairo and small scale bombings. They often claim their attacks are in retaliation for a bloody police crackdown on Islamist supporters of Morsi, which has killed hundreds of protesters and imprisoned thousands. They have also targeted foreigners. In October, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for bombing a Russian airliner carrying holidaymakers from a south Sinai resort, killing all 224 people on board. The group said it smuggled explosives concealed in a soda can on to the plane in airport at Sharm El-Sheikh, a popular Red Sea resort in south Sinai. That attack prompted Russia to suspend all flights to Egypt, and has lost the country hundreds of millions of dollars in tourism revenues. The bombing came two months after they abducted a Croatian oil worker near Cairo and beheaded him. Police later tracked down the top Islamic State group operative in Cairo, who was linked to the Croats murder, and killed him in a shoot out. But efforts to quell the insurgency in Sinai have floundered despite a massive army campaign. In March, Islamic State gunmen killed 15 policemen in an attack on a checkpoint near the El-Arish, the provincial capital of North Sinai. Since pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group, which controls parts of Syria and Iraq, in November 2014, the Sinai branchs attacks have grown more sophisticated. The military says it has killed more than 1,000 militants, occasionally publishing pictures of their bodies. The claims are difficult to verify, with reporters having little access to the north of the peninsula. A group of Indonesian cyber warriors sit glued to screens, as they send out messages promoting a moderate form of Islam in the worlds most populous Muslim-majority country. Armed with laptops and smartphones, some 500 members of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) -- one of the worlds biggest Muslim organisations -- are seeking to counter the Islamic States extremist messages. Well never let Islam be hijacked by fools who embrace hate in their heart, tweeted Syafi Ali, a prominent member of the NUs online army, a typical message to his tens of thousands of followers. They are trying to hit back at ISs sophisticated Internet operations, which have been credited with attracting huge numbers from around the world to their cause. Internet propaganda is believed to have played a key role in drawing some 500 Indonesians to the Middle East to join IS, particularly among those living in cities where it is easier to get online. The dangers of the growing IS influence in Indonesia were starkly illustrated in January when militants linked to the jihadists launched a gun and suicide bombing attack in Jakarta, leaving four assailants and four civilians dead. It was the first major attack in Indonesia for seven years, following a string of Islamic militant bombings in the early 2000s that killed hundreds. In this picture taken on April 27, 2016 Aswaja TV crews prepare to cover an Islamic event at Koran knowledge institute in Jakarta. (AFP) Wrestling with propaganda As well as firing off tweets, the NU members have sought to dominate cyberspace by establishing websites promoting the groups moderate views, an Android app and web-based TV channels, whose broadcasts include sermons by moderate preachers. The initiative has been building momentum for a while but started to pick up pace a few months ago. A handful of cyber warriors operate from a small office in Jakarta, while the rest work remotely, and the group mostly communicate with one another over the web. But it will be an uphill battle and the NU, which has been promoting moderate Islam for decades, conceded they have previously struggled to take on ISs hate-filled messages. NU has for a while wrestled with this radical propaganda, said Yahya Cholil Staquf, secretary general of the NU, which claims at least 40 million followers. Every time we defeated them, it didnt take long for them to regain their strength. The online drive comes as the NU is set to take its campaign to promote their tolerant form of Islam onto the international stage this week, with a two-day meeting from Monday of moderate religious leaders from around the world. They aim to showcase their particular brand of the Muslim faith, known as Islam Nusantara, to counter the IS jihadists radical interpretation of Islam. Meaning Islam of the Archipelago -- Indonesia is the worlds biggest archipelago, comprising over 17,000 islands -- it is accepting of diversity and stresses non-violence. It grew up organically in Indonesia, as the religion entered the country gradually and had to mix with existing traditional beliefs such as praying at tombs, making it a naturally tolerant form of Islam. Nowadays, most of the approximately 225 million Muslims in Indonesia practise a moderate form of Islam. The NU wants to persuade Muslims from around the world to look for inspiration to Indonesia, where religious minorities and a multitude of ethnic groups mostly coexist harmoniously, rather than to harsher forms of Islam from the Middle East. Fight the rising tide The group nevertheless has a long way to go to fight the rising tide of IS propaganda. Despite their good intentions, the NU cyber warriors appear amateur next to ISs well-funded set-up. The jihadists, who control huge swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, have a sophisticated online operation, using social media, apps and slickly produced videos. They send about 200,000 tweets a day into the United States alone, according to US officials. It even has its own news agency, Amaq, which is often the first to report that IS is claiming responsibility for attacks. In Indonesia, there are two main ways that IS propaganda spreads -- by supporters posting on websites and apps such as Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter and Line, and through returnees from the Middle East preaching the groups radical ideology. Most of the NUs online army are volunteers, often reaching into their own pockets to cover costs. ISIS has oil, while the only oil we have is for hair, Ali said, explaining the projects start was delayed for more than a year due to funding problems. Oil smuggling has been a key revenue source for IS. Robi Sugara, a terrorism expert from NGO the Indonesian Muslim Crisis Center, welcomed the NUs online approach. Its a good strategy to make Google searches fill up with moderate Islamic content, he told AFP. The battleground for Islamic ideology has moved to the Internet, and by producing as many moderate websites as they can, they can keep more minds healthy. After insulating his election campaign from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Sadiq Khan, the new mayor of London, has offered lessons to his party leader on how to go about winning power back from the Conservatives in the 2020 general elections. Khan was one of Corbyns backers when Corbyn was elected party leader last September, but has been critical of his handling of the anti-Semitism row that hit the party on the eve of last weeks election. Corbyn has been conspicuously absent during Khans campaign events. Khan offered his advice to Corbyn in a signed article in The Observer: Labour has to be a big tent that appeals to everyone not just its activists. Campaigns that deliberately turn their back on particular groups are doomed to fail. Just like in London, so-called natural Labour voters alone will never be enough to win a general election. We must be able to persuade people who previously voted Conservative that Labour can be trusted with the economy and security, as well as improving public services and creating a fairer society. Labour has been unable to live down the reputation that it wrecked Britains economy towards the end of its 13-year rule that ended in 2010. It is also now seen more to be driven by pro-Corbyn supporters and recently-joined activists, to the detriment of others. Khan continued: Squabbles over internal structures might be important for some in the party, but it is clear they mean little or nothing to the huge majority of voters. As tempting as it might be, we must always resist focusing in on ourselves and ignoring what people really want. Over the next four years, I will work tirelessly to bring communities together and deliver my Labour manifesto for all Londoners. Over the same period, its crucial for the whole country that the Labour party becomes a credible government-in-waiting. Corbyn was not present at Khans swearing-in ceremony on Saturday, and was in Bristol when Khan was declared elected on Friday night. The official reason was that Corbyn was in Bristol to hail the victory of Marvin Rees, who was elected mayor of the town. Rees election is as significant as Khans and both share a similar back story. Rees is of Afro-Caribbean background in a town with a long history of slavery, while Khan is a son of a Pakistan-origin bus driver in London. Simon Woolley, director of campaign group Operation Black Vote, said: The symbolism of Marvin winning cannot be overstated. Bristol made its vast wealth in slavery. Slave owners such as Edward Colston have statues and institutions throughout the city. Bristol has for some time struggled with acknowledging its dark past, much less effectively dealing with it. But with Marvin - a descendent of those enslaved - perhaps Bristol takes a truly redemptive step to modernisation. And in doing so Rees becomes not only the first directly elected city mayor of Caribbean/African decent in the UK, but also Europe. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Londons newly elected Muslim Mayor, Sadiq Khan, paid respects on Sunday to the millions of Jews slain in the Holocaust, as his first official act in office. Khan made Sundays appearance at a north London ceremony after a racially charged election campaign during which Conservative Party opponents sought to portray him as an apologist for Islamic extremism and to highlight cases of alleged anti-Semitism within the ranks of Khans Labour Party. The annual Yom HaShoah event inside a rugby stadium brought together thousands from Londons Jewish community, including more than 150 Holocaust survivors and a combined choir from five Jewish elementary schools. Khan attended alongside Lord Levy, one of Labours most senior Jewish supporters and the partys former lead fundraiser. Khan said he was honored to meet and hear from Jewish survivors and refugees who went through the unimaginable horrors of the Holocaust. Londons previous Labour mayor, Ken Livingstone, was suspended last month from the party after he claimed that Adolf Hitler had supported the Zionist aim of establishing Israel. Livingstone, who served as mayor from 2000 to 2008, has defended his comments and has vowed to fight potential expulsion from Britains main opposition party. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has established an independent inquiry into the extent of anti-Semitic views within party ranks. The left-wing party traditionally has sympathized with Palestinian demands for nationhood and adopted a critical line on Israel. Labour is an anti-racist party to its core and has a long and proud history of standing against racism, including anti-Semitism, Corbyn said when establishing the fact-finding probe April 29. It is supposed to recommend party reforms including sanctions against members who adopt bigoted positions. Mexican drug boss Joaquin El Chapo Guzman was moved on Saturday from a jail in central Mexico to a prison in Ciudad Juarez on the US border, a development that appears to bring him closer to extradition to the United States. Guzman, head of the Sinaloa drug cartel, was one of the worlds most wanted drug kingpins until his capture in January, six months after he broke out of a high-security penitentiary in central Mexico through a mile-long tunnel. Chapo, or Shorty, faces charges ranging from money laundering to drug trafficking, kidnapping and murder in cities that include Chicago, Miami and both Brooklyn and Manhattan, New York. His lawyer, Juan Pablo Badillo, said Guzman was moved early on Saturday, but he was not sure why. He said he feared for Guzmans life if he were extradited to the United States. President Obama is considered a just man, someone who respects human rights, but what if (likely Republican US presidential nominee) Mister Donald Trump comes to power? Badillo said. Guzmans lawyers will meet to plot a course of action, Badillo added. At this moment, he cant be extradited, Badillo said, noting that the legal process is not yet finished. Eduardo Sanchez, a spokesman for Mexicos presidency, said Guzmans transfer to the state of Chihuahua was due to upgrades at his previous location, the Altiplano jail in central Mexico, and not part of an effort to deport him to the United States. However, a senior Mexican security official said Guzman should be extradited before July and would probably be housed initially in the US prison in Marion, Illinois, pending trial. I think theyll do it in the first half of this year, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. A Chihuahua state official, who also asked to remain anonymous, said the presence of a US consulate in Ciudad Juarez meant Guzmans handover could be processed faster than through the US embassy. He said he believed Guzman would be moved to the United States in a matter of weeks. Just across the border from Ciudad Juarez is the US Fort Bliss military base, where Guzman could be taken. Earlier this year, Reuters reported that US attorneys offices with cases against Guzman were planning to attempt to try him first after extradition. Bangladesh asked Pakistan on Sunday to refrain from interfering in its internal affairs, two days after it expressed deep concern over the death penalty given to fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami chief for war crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation War. We are disappointed with Pakistans reaction. We never welcome anyone interfering in our internal issues, junior foreign minister Shahriar Alam said. Despite repeated reminders, they are still doing it. They keep saying they are saddened by the verdict. But those being tried are Bangladeshi citizens after all, Alam said. The reaction came after Pakistans foreign ministry on May 6 expressed deep concern over the dismissal of Jamaat chief, Motiur Rahman Nizamis final review petition against his death sentence by the Supreme Court. Nizami, 72, has been convicted of murder, rape and orchestrating the killing of intellectuals during the 1971 Independence War. He was given capital punishment in October 2014 after being convicted of superior responsibility as the chief of the infamous al Badr militia forces in 1971. I find this a serious issue, as these war criminals are trying to assure their future generation with the notion that Pakistan as a state will be by their sides. Otherwise, why would Pakistan be so saddened by Nizamis death penalty, Alam asked. He asked Pakistan to stop misinterpreting the 1974 tripartite agreement signed by Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. A leading human rights campaigner and blogger who was instrumental in filing cases against Lal Masjid cleric Mullah Abdul Aziz and other right wing radicals in Pakistan was shot dead in Karachi on Saturday night, once again putting a question mark on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs campaign against religious extremism in the country. Khurram Zaki, 40, who edited the blog Let Us Build Pakistan (LUBP) which claimed to spread liberal religious views and condemned extremism in all forms was shot dead while his companion was seriously injured as they sat outside a Karachi eatery for dinner. Four suspects riding on two motorcycles opened fire on Zaki while he was eating dinner. The activist was killed, and two others journalist Rao Khalid and bystander Aslam were critically wounded in the attack. According to his Twitter profile, Zaki was the former head of current affairs for TV Channel News One, where he looked after Infotainment and religious programming. Zakis website Lubpak.com is currently blocked in Pakistan by most internet service providers. The site also links to @CriticalPPP on Twitter, which appears to be the official account for LUBP. A spokesperson of Majlis Wahdat Muslimeen (MWM) said that Khurram Zaki was not only a prominent civil society activist but also a religious scholar who attended programmes on various TV channels. Zaki was last in the media limelight alongside activist Jibran Nasir in a campaign against Lal Masjid cleric Mullah Abdul Aziz for inciting hatred against Shia Muslims. The campaigners had managed to get a case registered against Aziz. The complaint said that request was made to lodge and register an FIR against Molvi Aziz under ATA (Anti-Terrorism Act), including sections 6 and 8 and PPA (Protection of Pakistan Act) (Scheduled Offence II) and other appropriate sections of CrPC and other relevant laws and arrest him accordingly. In January 2015, capital police registered a case against a video of Jamia Hafsa students, and was given a green light from the prosecution department, a police official said on condition of anonymity. In his complaint for registration of the case, Zaki had stated that Maulana Aziz and Jamia Hafsa-Lal Masjid released the video message, in which the cleric attempted to incite sectarian hatred and violence against Shia Muslims. The MWM spokesperson said they believed that banned sectarian outfits were involved in this gruesome murder. Rights activist Sabeen Mahmud, who was also gunned down in Karachi, had taken part in the protest against Lal Masjid as well. Pakistan interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has in many instances defended the actions of the controversial mullah, who in one public statement had pledged allegiance to Islamic State in Pakistan. Last week, the Sharif government banned an award-winning documentary on Aziz and his activities, saying that its screening was against the national interest. The killing of Zaki comes at a time when the Sharif government is readying itself for another confrontation with the army high command. While the Sharif government has shielded Aziz, the army wants to start an operation to target extremists in Punjab province. Aziz also accused Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and its officials of supporting and promoting a sectarian agenda by trying to concoct false and fabricated evidence against him. He specifically accused an unnamed serving brigadier in the agency, who he claimed belongs to the Shia sect. Around two years ago, 37 men launched a hunger strike at the El Paso detention centre in Texas. The people were protesting their detention by US immigration authorities for crossing into the US from Mexico without travel-related paperwork. What was surprising was that these people were not the usual suspects Mexicans but youth from India, specifically Punjab, who made a perilous journey spanning several continents to reach America. The detainees had relatives in the country and were even willing to wear ankle bracelets, an electronic device used by US authorities to monitor illegal immigrants. The detained youth came to be known as the El Paso 37 but the number is just a fraction of the total that comprises the phenomenon of young Indians, mostly Sikh males, trying to enter the US in this manner. Irving, Texas-based immigration attorney John Lawit has represented such cases for decades (including 30 of the El Paso 37), but he said that in recent years, There is an unprecedented flood. Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies for the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, pointed out that based on her discussions with officials, it was believed there was a 50 per cent interdiction rate which meant the actual number of those crossing over illegally could be double those reported. Vaughan said, Interestingly, the peak year for apprehending Indians was in FY2011, but it seems to be rising again. Certainly recent years are well above historical levels. The immigrants families pay up to $30,000 for this passage, according to Lawit, which is organised by human-smuggling networks with agents operating in rural Punjab. They go from village to village recruiting people, he said. Vast numbers walk or swim into America and seek political asylum citing alleged political persecution in India. Interestingly, there have been instances of detainees being associated with the Shiromani Akali Dal Amritsar, the party of separatist leader Simranjit Singh Mann. In fact, all 30 of Lawits El Paso 37 clients were active members of that party. Among the lawyers now representing those facing removal proceedings is Gurpatwant Pannun, founder and legal advisor to the activist non-profit Sikhs for Justice which has filed cases in US and Canadian courts against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi, and recently, Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh. Pannuns law firm, which operates in New York and Toronto, now has a California outpost that handles such immigrants cases. He said he has between 25 and 30 active clients. There are tragedies involved, young men have gone missing for years, some have drowned while on boats, one committed suicide. These issues are raised consistently by groups like USA-North American Punjabi Association or NAPA. In Milpitas, California-based executive director Satnam Singh Chahal said: They sell off two or four acres and run off here for opportunities but they dont know how much hardship they will face. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON People in Pakistans Sindh province on Saturday demanded an inquiry into the alleged rape and murder of an eleven-year old boy in Hyderabad city. Son of a Hindu doctor, Chetan Kumar was found dead in a swimming pool inside Hyderabad Club on April 13. Family members claim the boy was deliberately thrown into the pool to cover up sexual abuse and murder, Dawn reported. Protesters gathered on the call of the Hindu Welfare Panchayat Pakistan demanded that the Sindh government order a probe into the alleged murder of the boy. Speaking at the press, the members of the group contended that the young boy did not drown but was raped and then thrown into the pool. Hindu Panchayat activist Karmani alleged that boy was killed after being raped. Chetan, the father of the victim, deplored that the boy went missing for more than an hour despite the tight security inside the club and said that his sons body was later found bearing torture marks on his face floating in the four-foot-deep swimming pool in the club. Chetan claimed that despite repeated requests, the clubs administration was not providing him access to the CCTV footage of April 13 and was not helping solve the case. Pakistans powerful ISI had brought in Haqqani networks chief Sirajuddin Haqqani as the deputy leader of the Taliban last year to protect him from the Americans, a media report said on Sunday. The New York Times, quoting Afghan and American officials, said in a report that the closer integration of the feared Haqqani militant network into the leadership of the Taliban is changing the flow of the Afghan insurgency this year, with the Haqqanis senior leader increasingly calling the shots in the Talibans offensive. It quoted Afghanistans former intelligence chief Rahmatullah Nabil as saying that the ISI brought Sirajuddin as the deputy to the Taliban to give him protection, so if the peace talks get serious, the Americans wouldnt be able to say, We will make peace with the leader but not with the deputy. Nabil, who now runs a charity for wounded Afghan soldiers, said the merger had been helped by the fact that the Haqqanis were struggling financially, after their chief fund-raiser was gunned down near Islamabad in 2013, and that the Taliban needed Haqqanis expertise in waging complex attacks. Brigadier General Charles Cleveland, the chief spokesperson for United States and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said that Sirajuddin increasingly runs the day-to-day military operations for the Taliban, and, we believe, is likely involved in appointing shadow governors. The Haqqani network s closer integration with the Taliban command also creates awkwardness for the Obama administration, and is raising tension between Pakistan and Afghanistan, it said. The report cited some senior Afghan officials as saying that the Pakistani military was central to bringing the Haqqanis more closely into the Taliban during the insurgencys leadership councils last summer, which were held in Quetta. The report said that the Haqqanis have refined a signature brand of urban terrorist attacks and cultivated a sophisticated international fund-raising network, factoring prominently in the United States militarys push to keep troops in Afghanistan. It added that the groups growing role in leading the entire insurgency in the war-torn country has raised concerns about an even deadlier year of fighting ahead, as hopes of peace talks have collapsed. The shift is also raising tensions with the Pakistani military, which American and Afghan officials accuse of sheltering the Haqqanis as a proxy group, it said. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un told a rare ruling party congress on Saturday that North Korea was a responsible nuclear weapons state, with a no first-use policy and a commitment to non-proliferation. Speaking to thousands of delegates gathered for the first Workers Party congress in more than 35 years, Kim also announced a new five-year plan to boost the impoverished countrys moribund economy and revitalise peoples lifestyles. His remarks, published by state media on Sunday, came amid growing concerns that the North might be on the verge of conducting a fifth nuclear test. Kim had opened the congress with a defiant defence of the Norths nuclear weapons programme, praising the magnificent... and thrilling test of what Pyongyang claimed was a powerful hydrogen bomb on January 6. But his report to the conclave on Saturday stressed that North Korea was also a responsible nuclear weapons state with an arsenal built for deterrence. Our republic will not use a nuclear weapon unless its sovereignty is encroached upon by any aggressive hostile forces with nukes, he said, according to an English translation of his speech by the Norths official KCNA news agency. That formula would appear to allow for the use of nuclear weapons against a conventional attack by a nuclear power, but the Korean-language version made it clear that the scenario involved an actual nuclear attack. People walk by a TV screen showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during the 7th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea on Friday, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea on Saturday. (AP) Non-proliferation pledge Kim also vowed that Pyongyang would faithfully fulfil its non-proliferation obligations and push for global denuclearisation. North Korea withdrew from the global Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 2003 -- the first signatory country to ever do so. Pyongyangs nuclear weapons doctrine has always been a complex mix of self-defence, deterrence and threat. At the time of its first nuclear test in 2006, North Korea stressed that it would never use nuclear weapons first. And when it codified its nuclear programme in North Korea law in April 2013, it stated that nuclear weapons could only be used to repel invasion or attack by another nuclear power. But in recent years, and especially in the wake of tough UN sanctions imposed over its fourth test in January, it has issued repeated warnings of pre-emptive nuclear strikes against South Korea and the United States. The survival of the ruling Kim family is intimately linked to nuclear arms because they help legitimise Kim Jong-Uns hereditary rule and keep his foreign foes at bay, said Alexandre Mansourov, an expert on North Korean security issues. The party congress is widely seen as Kims formal coronation as supreme leader, more than four years after he took power following the death of his father, late ruler Kim Jong-Il, in late 2011. North Korean commuters ride in a new subway carriage in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Saturday (AP) Economic plan On the economic front, Kim unveiled a five-year economic plan to improve efficiency and output across key sectors, with a particular emphasis on energy. But his report offered little in the way of specific policy initiatives or numerical targets. The goal ... is to revitalise peoples overall livelihoods and .... lay the foundation for a sustainable improvement of the nations economy, Kim said. Kims rule has been associated with his byungjin policy of pursuing nuclear weapons in tandem with economic development. Some analysts had suggested Kim might use the congress to signal a tilt towards the economic side of the equation. A North Korean man crosses the road in Pyongyang's newest residential development, Mirae Scientists Street in Pyongyang, North Korea on Saturday. (AP) In his address, Kim also said North Korea would seek to improve and normalise relations with previously hostile countries. There has been speculation that, in the wake of the party congress, Pyongyang might renew its push for talks with Washington. US and North Korean officials have held a number of informal discussions in neutral venues in recent years, but Washington and Seoul insist Pyongyang must make tangible steps towards denuclearisation before any substantive dialogue can begin. Kim has made it clear that the future of the Norths nuclear weapons programme is non-negotiable. Concern that the North might be readying a fifth nuclear test was fuelled Saturday by recent satellite imagery of activity at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in the northeast of the country. Syrian rebels on Sunday fired rockets into a regime-held district of Aleppo, killing three civilians and wounding 15, a monitoring group said. They were the first casualties since a ceasefire took hold on Thursday in the battleground northern city where regime forces control western districts and the rebels are entrenched in the east. The ceasefire is due to expire at 2101 GMT on Monday. It comes as world powers push for a wider cessation of hostilities between rebels and regime forces and a resumption of UN-brokered peace talks. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a woman and a child were among the three civilians killed when the rebels rained rockets down on several districts of western Aleppo city. Fighting in Aleppo flared up late last month and more than 300 people have been killed in the violence. Syrias five-year war has killed more than 270,000 people and displaced millions. Afghanistan on Sunday hanged six Taliban-linked inmates, the government said, in the first set of executions carried out as part of President Ashraf Ghanis new hardline policy against the insurgents. Ghani carried out his threat to execute militants after an insurgent attack last month left 64 people dead in Kabul, in seemingly the deadliest attack on the Afghan capital since 2001. The executions, the first endorsed by Ghani since he came to power in 2014, have dashed the last traces of hope of reviving Taliban peace talks that broke down last summer. In accordance with the Afghan constitution... Ghani approved the execution of six terrorists who perpetrated grave crimes against civilians and public security, the presidential palace said in a statement. This order has been carried out today after... considering the human rights obligations of Afghanistan... and in accordance with Afghan laws. Five Taliban inmates and one from the Taliban-allied Haqqani network were executed in Kabuls Pule Charkhi prison, Afghanistans spy agency said, releasing their photographs. Most of them were convicted of militant strikes across Afghanistan, including one charged with facilitating the 2011 assassination of former president Burhanuddin Rabbani. In its response, the Taliban vowed revenge attacks against government offices responsible for carrying out the executions. The Taliban, which announced the start of their annual spring offensive on April 12, have already stepped up their campaign against the Western-backed Kabul government. Cycle of violence In an unusually vitriolic speech last month, Ghani pledged a tough military response against the Taliban and vowed to enforce legal punishments, including executions of convicted militants. His remarks were in response to a brazen Taliban assault on April 19 on a security services office in the heart of Kabul, seen as the opening salvo in this years spring offensive. The carnage left 64 civilians and military personnel dead and cast a pall over international efforts to jumpstart Pakistan-brokered peace talks, which stalled last summer after the Taliban belatedly confirmed the death of longtime leader Mullah Omar. Rights groups had pleaded with Ghani to not press ahead with the executions. By hastily seeking retribution for the horrific bombings that killed 64 people in Kabul... the government plans to execute those convicted of terror offences will neither bring the victims the justice they deserve, nor Afghanistan the security it needs, Amnesty International said in a statement last week. There is no evidence that the death penalty serves as a deterrent, and there are fears that it will only serve to perpetuate a cycle of violence without tackling any of the root causes. Ghani has also threatened diplomatic reprisals against Pakistan if it refuses to take action against insurgent havens on its soil. Ghanis remarks reflected his frustration after he expended substantial political capital since coming to power in 2014 in courting Pakistan in the hope of pressuring the militants to the negotiating table. The Pakistani government recently admitted, after years of official denial, that the Taliban leadership enjoys safe haven inside the country. Three Spanish journalists taken hostage in Syria by an al Qaeda-linked group returned on Sunday to Madrid where they were welcomed by overjoyed family members after nearly a year in captivity. Antonio Pampliega, Jose Manuel Lopez and Angel Sastre were flown on a Spanish defence ministry jet from Turkey to Torrejon air base near Madrid where they were greeted by deputy prime minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria. The three men smiled as they descended from the plane as officials held up umbrellas to shield them from driving rain, according to a video released by the government. Pampliega kissed his sister Alejandra on the forehead and gave her a hug after she ran to greet him. Crying from joy falls short, she said on Twitter on Saturday when the news broke that the three experienced conflict zone reporters had been released and were in good health. Pampliegas mother Maria del Mar Rodriguez Vega said she planned to cook her sons favourite dish to celebrate his return -- spinach with bechamel sauce. It was wonderful when I spoke to him by telephone, she said in a statement released by the Spanish branch of media rights group Reporters Without Borders, known by its French acronym RSF. He had the same voice as always, from when he was a child, he repeatedly asked me to forgive me for what he made me go through. Collaboration of allies and friends The three journalists were kidnapped by armed men on July 13 while they travelling together in a small van in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo where they had been reporting on fighting for various Spanish media. They were held by al Qaedas Syrian affiliate, the al Nusra Front, government sources told AFP. The trio appear to have been treated better than three other Spanish journalists who were released in March 2014 after being held for six months in Syria by the Islamic State group, al Nusras rival which has executed many of its hostages, the sources added. The release was possible thanks to the collaboration of allies and friends especially in the final phase from Turkey and Qatar, the government said Saturday, without giving further details. After they disappeared, Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said officials were working with members of the National Intelligence Centre who were in Syria to try and secure their release. The government informed the families regularly, and with rigour and professionalism, of what was happening so this experience could be the least unpleasant as possible, David Rubio, a spokesperson for Jose Manuel Lopezs family, told public radio. We are anxious to know how he has reacted to all of this physically and psychologically, he added. Experienced journalists Lopez, born in 1971, is a prize-winning photographer who contributed images to AFP from several war zones, including from the Syrian conflict up until 2013 and Iraq in 2014. Pampliega, a freelance war correspondent born in 1982, contributed to AFPs text coverage of the civil war in Syria for a period up to 2013. A passionate reporter who tended to focus on human interest stories, he also contributed to AFPs coverage in Iraq. Sastre, 35, has worked in trouble spots around the world, including Syria, for Spanish television, radio and press. RSF in 2015 ranked Syria as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists along with Iraq. It says 139 journalists died in Syria, where various armed factions have been battling President Bashar al-Assads regime and each other since 2011. In August 2014, Islamic State murdered US journalist James Foley, who was taken hostage in northern Syria in 2012. The following month, the group killed fellow US journalist Steven Sotloff. In 2015, militants from the group beheaded Japanese war correspondent Kenji Goto. Last month a video emerged of another Japanese journalist, Jumpei Yasuda, apparently asking for Tokyos help in securing his release. As the focus shifts to the June 23 referendum on Britains membership in the European Union, former heads of intelligence agencies MI5 and MI6 warned on Sunday that country will be less safe outside the grouping, a claim quickly disputed by Brexit supporters. In a joint article in The Sunday Times, former spy chiefs John Sawers of MI6 and Jonathan Evans of MI5 wrote that leaving the EU could undermine our ability to protect ourselves from terrorists, and lead to instability on the continent, compounding the current economic difficulties, the migration crisis and a resurgent Russia. According to them, a vote to leave the EU could damage intelligence sharing because the EU would restrict surveillance powers if the UK were not in the union. But Justice Secretary Michael Gove, who is among six ministers in the Cameron government in the Brexit camp, said Sawers was flat wrong., and recalled on Sunday television that other former intelligence chiefs did not think that Brexit would harm Britain. Sawers told BBC: The reason we would be less safe (in a Brexit vote) is that we would be unable to take part in the decisions that frame the sharing of data, which is a crucial part of counter-terrorism and counter-cyber work that we do these days, and we would lose the abilities of things like the European Arrest Warrant. He rejected claims that the European Court of Justice (ECJ) was getting in the way of security, adding: I think judges tend to err on the side of human rights rather than erring on the side of security. Thats beginning to change as judges understand the scale of the security threat that Europe faces. But Gove said the ECJ had interfered in the UKs capacity to share data and intelligence with the US and stopped it deporting people whose presence here is not conducive to the public good. US presidential candidate Donald Trumps offering that Britain should remain in the EU was largely ignored amid last weeks local election results, but there were signs that he was being taken increasingly seriously here, after being called stupid and divisive earlier. Prime Minister David Cameron now believes that Trump deserves respect for having gone through the testing process of seeking the Republican nomination for the presidential poll. Trump is the latest US leader to advise Britons on how to vote in the EU referendum. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Turkish forces launched a salvo of artillery strikes on northern Syria that killed 55 members of the Islamic State militant group, Turkish news agencies reported on Sunday. Artillery units stationed near the border struck IS group targets near Aleppo on Saturday evening, destroying three missile launchers and three vehicles according to the state-run Anatolia news agency and the Dogan news service. The reports could not immediately be independently verified. Since the start of the year, the Turkish border town of Kilis has come under frequent attack from rockets fired across the border from Syria that have killed at least 21 people, prompting the army to respond with howitzer fire. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said this week that Turkey is ready to send troops into Syria if necessary. Turkey has previously discussed a land invasion but ruled out intervening alone. Turkey, which has been hit by attacks blamed on jihadists including two deadly suicide bombings in Istanbul that targeted foreign tourists, began to carry out air strikes against the IS group in Syria last summer. Ankara also allows US jets to use its air base in southern Turkey for air strikes on the extremist group in Syria. A 25-year-old US man shot dead his elder brother during an argument over a cheeseburger. Benjamin Middendorf, from St Cloud, Florida, is facing murder charges after shooting and killing his brother during an argument over a cheeseburger, police said. Benjamin called 911 on Thursday night and told police he had just shot his brother, Nicholas, at their home, an arrest report said. Nicholas Middendorf, 28, was later declared dead at the home from a single gunshot wound to the chest, the Orlando Sentinel reported. In the 911 call, Benjamin is heard screaming and shouting at a dispatcher that he was trying to hold the pressure on his brothers chest. He is also heard telling the dispatcher they were in a fight and I grabbed a gun and I shot him. Oh, my God. Their mother, who was home during the incident, told police she and Nicholas had just returned from a bar when the brothers started arguing, the arrest report said. She could not remember where she was inside the house, but said she heard Benjamin say he was going to shoot Nicholas. She then heard a single shot and found Nicholas on the floor in the living room. She is also heard on the 911 call screaming incoherently at the dispatcher to get police and an ambulance. My son just shot my son. How dare you, Benjamin! she is heard saying. Police talked with Benjamin, who said he does not drink alcohol and was home when his mother and brother came back from the bar. Nicholas started bullying him, Benjamin told police, and they argued over a cheeseburger. He said he could not remember much after that, according to the report. Police said Benjamin owns a 9 mm pistol and had blood on his clothes and body. Benjamin is facing a charge of first-degree murder and is being held in the Osceola County Jail. A unique, Wikipedia-style project to crowd-source and bring together the complete works of Rabindranath Tagore and make it available for free online was launched at the Nehru Centre here on Friday. Bengaluru-based IT professional Subhanjan Sarkar said anyone with knowledge of Bengali could choose a portion of his works and submit recordings to the open audio library, including his 2,200 songs, at www.thetagoreproject.org. The Tagore Project is based in the Wikipedia model; nothing like this exists anywhere for any artiste. We are not collecting any donations but partnering with the Akshay Patra Foundation, Sarkar told the audience. He said most people know around 200 songs of Tagore, but nearly 1,500 more were largely unknown. The project will help introduce and preserve his works in one place, and make them available to anywhere, anytime, for free. The event saw the launch of the project online as well as a mobile app. Sarkar said chapters will be established in India and various countries to interact with scholars and others who possess archives of knowledge of Tagores work, and put their audios online. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON One day in March 1925five years into the absurd experiment called Prohibitiona dapper man named George Cassiday strolled into the office building of the U.S. House of Representatives, carrying a briefcase and wearing a spiffy light green hat. The cop at the door recognized Cassiday, which wasnt surprising. Nearly everybody on Capitol Hill knew Cassiday. He was Congress favorite bootlegger, working out of the House Office Building, delivering booze to dozens of congressmen, who found a strong drink soothing after long days spent listening to tedious political blather. On this day, however, the cop stopped Cassiday, inspected his briefcase, found liquor and arrested him. When reporters heard that a bootlegger was busted in Congress, they called the House sergeant-at-arms, who described the miscreant as a man in a green hat. The next morning, Cassiday became famous across America as The Man in the Green Hat, a living symbol of congressional hypocrisy and the follies of Prohibition. Cassiday pleaded guilty and served 60 days in jail. When he got out, he learned that hed been barred from the House Office Building. Obviously, he needed another place to work. So he moved to the Senate Office Building. He sold booze there for five years, until 1930, when he was arrested delivering gin to the Senate. This time Prohibition agents confiscated Cassidays little black book, containing the names of his illustrious customers. In October 1930two weeks before the congressional electionthe Washington Post announced that it would publish a six-part series written by Cassiday, revealing the juicy details of his adventures as Congress official bootlegger. It will be, the Post promised, an astonishing story. And it was. For nearly ten years, I have been supplying liquor at the order of United States senators and representatives at their offices, Cassiday began. On Capitol Hill I am known as The Man in the Green Hat. Born in West Virginia in 1894, son of a steelworker, Cassiday quit school after the third grade to work in a glass factory. When World War I began in 1914, he joined the army of the United Kingdom, his mothers birthplace. When the United States entered the war in 1917, he transferred to the U.S. Army. Fighting in France, he received rations of cognac and learned how to drink. Sailing home on a troop ship in 1919, the soldiers held a vote on the hottest issue of the dayProhibition. As Cassiday later recalled, only 98 of the 2,200 soldiers voted to ban booze. Back home, Cassiday married and settled in Washington, D.C. He was searching for work in 1920the first year of Prohibitionwhen a friend suggested that he sell bootleg whiskey to thirsty congressmen. I thought he was joking, Cassiday wrote. But the friend introduced him to two Southern congressmen eager to buy moonshine. Both had voted for Prohibition, but that didnt affect their thirst, and they had equally thirsty colleagues. I soon got over any feeling that these men in Congress, just because they were supposed to be big statesmen, were any different from other people, he wrote. When it comes to eating, drinking and having a good time in general, they are as human as other folks. At first Cassidays customers were Southerners who enjoyed moonshine, but soon he acquired Northern customers who demanded genuine bourbon, real rye and imported scotch. Cassiday found a supplier in Manhattan and hed travel by train to New York, load 40 quarts into two large suitcases, then return to Washington. One day he set a heavy suitcase down a bit too hard on the floor of Penn Station, breaking several bottles. As he hustled toward the train, whiskey dripped from the suitcase, emitting its unmistakable aroma. Say, buddy, a grinning bystander yelled, your clothes are leaking. Cassiday boarded the train, ducked into a restroom and cleaned the suitcase. Most of the bottles were intact, he wrote, and were delivered in good order to customers on Capitol Hill. His business boomed. Congress had voted overwhelmingly for Prohibition, but Cassiday estimated that four out of five congressmen and senators imbibed. He was selling to scores if not hundreds of polsand he wasnt the only bootlegger serving them. But he had one vexing problem: Every day, Cassiday had to carry briefcases of illegal liquor past the Capitol police. Fortunately, one customera Midwestern congressman he declined to namesuggested a solution. George, the congressman said, did it ever occur to you it would be easier to bring supplies into the building in larger lots and deliver it from a base of operations on the inside? With his powerful friends help, Cassiday obtained an office in the House Office Building. It became his warehouse and also served another purpose: When customers demands exceeded supply, Cassiday simply created more booze in his hideaway. Using one gallon of pure rye whiskey as a base, adding one gallon of pure grain alcohol and one gallon of hot water from the spigot, and adding a little bouquet coloring, he wrote, I found it was possible to turn out 12 quarts of 86 to 96 proof that was entirely satisfactory. That dreadful concoction fooled Cassidays customers. Few of them, he noted, could really tell good liquor from bad. Congressmen enjoyed Cassidays company and invited him into their drinking club, the Bar Flies Association, which convened in congressional offices for after-hours cocktails. We would have a few rounds of drinks, sing a few songs and have a general good time, Cassiday wrote. Congressmen also invited him to play cards in the poker room in the House basement, where pols sat around a mahogany table topped with green felt and played low-stakes stud while waiting for a roll call. Cassiday loved working in the House. He supported his wife and two children and had fun doing it. From 1920 to 1925 were the good old days for me, and I like to look back on them, he wrote. The House Office Building got so it seemed like home to me. But in March 1925, he was busted smuggling booze into the House Office Building while wearing his soon-to-be-infamous green hat. That forced me to drop a well-established business among members of the House, and start all over again in the Senate Office Building. The Senate was less fun. Like many folks rising from the House to the Senate, Cassiday found the upper chamber stodgy: You find a more general spirit of good fellowship and conviviality in the House. Senators were more cautious about buying booze from the Man in the Green Hat, so they usually dispatched their secretaries to consummate the transaction. One senatorCassiday declined to reveal his name or any othersstored his whiskey in his office bookcase, hidden behind volumes of the Congressional Record. He never mentioned liquor to me, but occasionally he would say he could use some new reading matter, Cassiday wrote. This customer always referred to me as his librarian. In the Senate, like the House, Cassidays customers came from both parties and both sides of the Prohibition debate. I served more Republicans than Democrats and more drys than wets, but that was only because the Republicans and the drys have been the overwhelming majority in both branches of Congress. Cassidays dry customers explained why they voted to ban booze despite drinking it. George, I know my district is overwhelmingly dry, one congressman said. The people there believe in Prohibition. They can have my vote for all the Prohibition legislation they want, as long as they want it. If the day comes when I get ready to retire from Congress it will be time enough for me to vote the way I drink. Basking in his customers hypocrisy, Cassiday enjoyed watching congressional debates on Prohibition. I have sat in the gallery and heard one of my customers deliver a rattling good Prohibition speech. On other occasions, I have heard members of the House and Senate making strong arguments that Prohibition was being well enforced, when I knew good stuff was being regularly delivered to their offices. By the fall of 1929, Cassiday had been delivering good stuff to Senators for four years. But Vice President Charles Curtis, a passionate Prohibitionist, learned of his activities and called James Doran, head of the Prohibition Bureau. The two hatched a plan to station a spy in the Senate to catch Cassiday. The spy was stupendously inept, but not too inept to catch a bootlegger operating as openly as Cassiday. His name was Roger Butts, a 20-year-old accounting student with no experience in law enforcement when the Prohibition Bureau sent him to spy on the Senate in December 1929. I went to work as an employee in the Senate stationery room, where Vice President Curtis had arranged in advance to place me, Butts wrote in a five-part series of articles for the Washington Post in 1930, a few weeks after Cassidays six-part series ran. The stationery room was where senators requisitioned office supplies. It was also where Cassiday made phone calls to his customers. My instructions from the Bureau were to watch him closely and try to trap him into a sale at the Senate Office Building. Butts worked quietly for a couple of weeks, then started sleuthing. Do you know this fellow the newspapers call The Man in the Green Hat? he asked a fellow clerk. I certainly do, the clerk replied. He is up here every day doing business. Butts told the clerk he wanted to make a little whoopee on New Years Eve and asked to meet Cassiday. Two days later, the clerk introduced Butts to the bootlegger, who agreed to sell him a bottle of gin for $3. But Cassiday seemed suspicious and he delivered the gin to the other clerk, not to Butts. So the rookie spys first attempt to catch Cassiday failed. Butts tried again a few weeks later. He called Cassiday and summoned him to the stationery room. When Cassiday arrived, Butts introduced him to an undercover Prohibition agent who wanted to buy a bottle of gin. Cassiday asked the question he always asked new customers: Who do you work for? The agent said he was a temporary employee in the House Office Building. Cassiday asked simple questions about the House that the agent couldnt answer. Cassiday knew the House Office Building better than the agent did, Butts wrote. He seemed mighty uneasy. Cassiday took the agents $3 and said hed leave the gin in a nearby storeroom. But when the agent went to get it, he found that Cassiday had left the $3 instead. We knew then, Butts wrote, that Cassiday had got wise. So Butts second attempt failed. Worse, his co-workers guessed that he was a cop, and Cassiday stopped coming to the stationery room. Butts decided that he needed to convince Cassiday that he was a hard-drinking party animal, not a Prohibition agent. He devised a clever plan: He would come to work drunk. Surely, that would impress Cassiday. Butts bought a bottle of gin from another bootlegger, stepped into a stairway in the Senate Office Building and took a few swigs. Reeking of gin, he sauntered unsteadily into the stationery room. I sat at my desk and started singing and making all kinds of noises to give the impression that I was feeling good. At first his colleagues were amused, but when Butts singing got louder, a co-worker escorted him home to sober up. Just as Butts hoped, word of his drunkenness reached Cassiday, but the bootlegger did not conclude that he wanted to sell booze to a 20-year-old knucklehead who came to work soused. He was too shrewd to be taken in, Butts wrote. He continued to stay away from me. His nutty scheme foiled, Butts finally did what he should have done first: He got a Senate staffer to call Cassiday and ask him to deliver six bottles of gin to a car parked outside the office building. When Cassiday arrived, on February 18, 1930, two Prohibition agents arrested him and confiscated his little black book. Convicted of distributing liquor, Cassiday was sentenced to 18 months in prison. While waiting for his appeal to be heard, he wrote about his adventures for the Post. Cassidays revelations did not reflect well on Republicans, who controlled Congress, or on dry politicians, who seemed like hypocrites. Hoping to curtail the political damage, Vice President Curtis, a very dry Republican, announced that he was the man who had devised the plan to catch Cassiday. Across the country, newspapers mocked Curtis and Congress. The fantastic no longer seems to be fantastic, noted the Chicago Tribune. Actually it does not seem strange that the legislative branch of government should require special effort from the executive to modify its violation of the laws it makes. Some senators denounced Curtis for spying on them. Others demanded release of the names in the black book. I hope to have this list made public, said Senator Thaddeus Caraway of Arkansas. As everyone knows, I am one member of the Senate who never took a drink of whiskey in my life. Caraway didnt get his wish. Neither the black book nor its contents have ever been revealed and are believed to have been destroyed. Now famous as the dry spy, Butts decided that he, too, should tell his story in the Post: The public is entitled to know the facts of what I saw and did there. Amid this amusing brouhaha, Cassidays appeal was denied, and he began serving his 18-month prison sentence. Sort of. He never spent a night in jail, says Frederick Cassiday, son of the Man in The Green Hat. Hed get up in the morning and put on his suit and drive to the jail and hed leave before dark and go home. This part-time incarceration was highly unusual, but so were the bootleggers connections. He had high contacts who would make a phone call to the warden, his son says. Fred Cassiday cant remember his fathers bootlegging days. Born in 1948, hes a child of his fathers second marriage, to a woman 24 years younger. When Fred was a boy, his dad worked in a shoe factory. By the time he was in high school, his father was retired. When I was a teenager, he was this old guy who sat around in his T-shirt and boxer shorts and drank beer, Fred recalled in a recent interview. The old man told stories about selling booze to senators but he also told stories about wrestling bears in West Virginia. I looked at him back then as an old bullshitter who was good at spinning yarns, and I didnt pay much attention. The Man in the Green Hat died in 1967, but his legend is periodically revived, usually by people selling booze. In the 1970s a bar opened on Capitol Hill called The Man in the Green Hat. And in 2012 a Washington distillery began selling gourmet hooch called Green Hat Gin. My father would have loved it, says Fred Cassiday. Retired after a career in the Air Force Reserves, Fred Cassiday, 66, now spends his time crusading against a different kind of prohibition. Active in the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, he recently testified in the Virginia legislature against the prohibition of pot. Im kind of following in my dads footsteps, he said. I think hed be proud of me. n Peter Carlson writes American Historys Encounter column. He is a former reporter for the Washington Post. Dickey Chapelle was an intrepid, precocious, determinedand bravereporter and photographer who covered wars, revolutions, and other perilous events all her adult life, starting with World War II in the Pacific. She arrived there in late 1945 at age 26 and was aboard a hospital ship, the USS Samaritan, when it was attacked by Japanese bombers on its way to Iwo Jima. Hers was essentially on-the-job training, as she toted a bulky Speed Graphic and talked her way to the front line on Iwo Jima while the bullets were still flying. Early on, photographing wounded and dying marines, she showed a sense for the most affecting human moment amid the tragedy and terror of combat. Chapelle was killed by a mine near Chu Lai in Vietnam in 1965, while covering a marine patrol. Her earliest experiences under fire are recounted in this excerpt from her memoir, Whats a Woman Doing Here? THIS IS A HOSPITAL? I asked, horrified. In the sight of God and the authorities, it is, said the doctor, making me ashamed of my question. He dipped his razor into his helmet. We havent been so badly hit as to force us to stop operating for a whole day and night now, the first time thats happened. Oh, last night we had to work for a time by starshells, but we were able to keep on. Wordlessly, I took the camera and went into the nearest tent. It was an operating room by act of human will only. Two stretchers resting across upended crates marked whole human blood keep iced were the operating tables. Half a dozen other stretchers lined the dug-out walls. I sat on my heels in the sand and watched the doctors and corpsmen work. Bearded, red-eyed, in ragged dungarees spattered with blood, they were doing just what Id seen the doctors in white gowns do on the Samaritan. But there wasnt a piece of furniture or medical equipment here except a canvas roll of gleaming instruments from which the surgeon occasionally took a fresh one. I could feel the eyes of the man on the nearest stretcher watching me while I made my pictures. Finally he spoke, his voice low and gentle. You dont have a gun, he said wonderingly, as if it were the most curious thing in the world. Correspondents dont carry guns, Marine, I answered, leaning over so he wouldnt have to strain to hear me. Now I could see why he was here. His leg was turned as an unbroken leg cannot lie, and bloody beside. I started to take his picture, wondering if he were 18 or 35. His nose and jaw were heavy, and his whole face encrusted with dirt and sand. He volunteered serenely, Doctor said hed try to save my leg and tell me right away if he could. I wont have to wait to find out, I mean. Im lucky. This cracked me up. I looked away but the marine wasnt letting me off that easy. He was fumbling at his belt, and then he was holding out something in his hands and saying, Here. You take it. Where Im going, I wont need one. And if you ever do, youll need it bad. He was holding out his trench knife. I tried to say thank you. Then I squatted down next to him while I fastened the leather sheath on my belt. He was satisfied only after I had placed it so the laminated leather handle of the Kabar rose almost under the fingers of my right hand. Then he said, I feel better about you now. I knew it was time for me to go away until I reclaimed control of myself. I stumbled out of the tent and blindly began to cross the road. I TURNED SHAKILY AND FOUND MYSELF LOOKING INTO the faces of two bearded officers. They were a chunky marine captain and a lanky marine lieutenant. The lieutenant said, How the hell did you get here? We sure didnt expect to see a br I mean, a woman. I summoned what dignity I could and told them I was a civilian correspondent who had come to Iwo to photograph the marines. Where do you want to go? Far forward as youll let me. Well, come on, said the lieutenant, pointing to a weapons carrier parked ahead on the tank track. But Ill tell you right now, girl, dont try to talk me any farther out than the front. Farther forward than the front? Where was that? I had 40 minutes ride to think about it. Finally the lieutenant pulled the truck to one side and cut the motor. End of the line, he breathed. This is it right now. What was he almost whispering for? Anyway, I was never more disappointed in my life. I knew no editor on earth would accept a picture of a truck and a man on a track in the sand as showing a front line. And that was all I could see. All I could hear were scattered rifle shots. Distantly. Or at least muffled. But, wait a minute. If I climbed up on top of one of the sand ridges, Id overlook half the island. I began climbing. As if he was sure I knew what I was about, [the marine] was leaning back against a fender of the weapons carrier. He lighted a cigarette without taking his eyes off the road ahead. At last, gasping for breath, I reached the top of the ridge. Now I understood why I hadnt seen anything below and heard so little. The whole area was honeycombed with sand ridges, their overall pattern like a waffle. From the bottom of one square, of course you couldnt see what was happening in the next. And each ridge would act as a baffle to absorb sound. I realized Id forgotten to ask the lieutenant the most important question of all. In which direction lay the front lines? I thought about going back to find out, but that would mean Id have to climb up again. No, I knew an easier solution. Id take four sets of pictures, each in a different direction. One set and probably two was bound to show the front properly. I stood up, planted my feet firmly and raised the camera. He flung away his cigarette with one furious motion. He fixed me with a steely glare. That was the goddamndest thing I ever saw anybody do in my life! The sea of square pits in the sand stretched to the far shore of the island. Three tanks far enough away to look toy-size moved gingerly through the center of the picture. One bounced as I watched. A detonation rolled over the ridgetops a few seconds later. It had fired. I listened hard but nothing else happened. Where were all the people? I shifted the camera at right angles from where it had been pointing and saw three marines. Digging. As I watched, they disappeared into the earth. So there could be people in every pit, I reasoned, and not one would show. BY THE TIME I FINISHED THE LAST SET OF PICTURES, I could hardly steady my hands on the camera. I knew what it meant when people said they felt their skin crawl. I was heart-in-throat glad to leave the ridge. The lieutenant only flicked his eyes up at me while I skidded on my heels down the sand incline. Not till Id jumped across the ditch and was standing beside the vehicle did he change his relaxed stance. But then he flung away his cigarette with one furious motion. He fixed me with a steely glare. Under his beard rose a brick-red flush. That was the goddamndest thing I ever saw anybody do in my life! Do you realize all the artillery and half the snipers on both sides of this fucking war had 10 full minutes to make up their minds about you? I knew my mouth had dropped open but I couldnt seem to close it. Didnt anyone anywhere ever pound into your little head that you do not stand up stand up good Christ in heaven! on a skyline, let alone stand up for 10 minutes? And do you realize that if youd gone and gotten yourself shot Id have had to spend the rest of the war and 10 years after that filling out fucking papers? Obviously, the lieutenant was waiting for me to say something. But what? He gestured me back into the weapons carrier and horsed it around in a U-turn. As we began to move some words did occur to me. Uh, Im sorry, Lieutenant. After Id said it, I knew it didnt sound right. Are you trying to tell me that you honestly dont know any better? I mean, youre out here, and you dont know what you should have done? I considered that for a minute and said, You mean, I should have made the pictures lying down? When did you first think of that? Right now. Well, that is correct, he said. Do you think you could remember it? Oh, I wont forget, I said fervently. It was too lonesome up there! This finished it. The lieutenant was chuckling so hard he could hardly drive. From Whats a Woman Doing Here? by Dickey Meyer Chapelle. Published by William Morrow and Company, New York, 1962. Excerpted by permission of the Meyer family. Read MHQs review of John Garofolos new biography of Chapelle, Dickey Chapelle Under Fire Photographs by the First American Female War Correspondent Killed in Action, published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press. REED GIVEN TOO MUCH CREDIT I submit that readers of your article, Did the Mosquito Do It? [January/February 1997 issue] should also turn to The Myth of Walter Reed, a section in Lawrence Altmans 1987 book Who Goes First? to decide for themselves whether Jesse Lazear should not have been the central figure in your Yellow Fever Mystery Solved. Also, a biography of Lazear by J. A. del Regato, M.D., in the Fall 1971 issue of Columbia Medical Schools alumni magazine adds facts not present in your article. Walter Reed, upon his return to Washington from a Pennsylvania vacation, learns of Lazears death on September 25, 1900. His letter of the same day to the chief surgeon in Cuba shows that he worries about getting yellow fever once back in Cubanot from a mosquito bite but from infected clothing and bedding! Back in Cuba on October 4, after a two-month absence, Reed is given yellow-fever victim Lazears pocket notebook containing the key to successful experimental production of yellow fever via mosquito bites. Utilizing the notebook entriesalmost exclusively, stresses del RegatoReed composes a scientific paper stating that the mosquito serves as the intermediate host for the parasite of yellow fever, and presents it to an American Public Health Association meeting on October 23, 1900. Your article then reports at length on Reeds confirming tests and hails him as a hero whose work was just beginning to be fully appreciated. Some medical historians point out that as chairman of the yellow-fever board, or in modern parlance, as its principal investigator, Reed would get credit for his teams discoveries. No principal investigator of today, however, would risk invalidating this privilege by secreting scientific records, which del Regato hints Reed did: [Lazears] valuable pocket notebook . . . has been lost or perhaps deliberately destroyed: presumably in Reeds possession at the time of his death, there is at present no clue as to what became of it. Arsene Eglis New York City THE AUTHOR RESPONDS Should readers turn to Altmans book or Dr. del Regatos fine 1971 article about Dr. Jesse Lazear, they would find that Walter Reed remains the central figure in this extraordinary story. Dr. Lazear tragically died of yellow fever early in the investigation; at a time when only one indisputable case of the disease had been experimentally transmitted from a mosquito to a man. The mosquito theory was still just a theory and transmission by infected clothes and other objects was still considered possible. Hence, Reed, not yet a true believer in the mosquito theory, wrote to the chief surgeon in Cuba, Major Keen, concerning his return to Havana, I shall expect to take up my own quarters . . . provided you think that there is no probability of that being the infected area [where Drs. Carrol and Lazear got their infections]. Despite his doubts, Major Reed continued to pursue the mosquito theory. He was and remains the central character in any story about the solving of the yellow-fever mystery because as chairman of the board, he put his good name and reputation on the line. Especially so when he approved the use of human subjects in the experiments. As with all successful scientists, he did not work in a vacuum. He built on the theories and proofs of others, like Drs. Carlos Juan Finlay, Henry J. Carter, and Lazear, to develop his own theories and to design experiments to prove them. The greatest work of the yellow-fever board came after Lazears death, in experiments designed and executed by Dr. Reed and the others. The results of these experiments are still undisputedone species of mosquito transmits yellow fever, not infected clothes and objects. Lazears work and his notebook, the disposition of which is unknown, were invaluable to Walter Reed. As chair of the commission, he used the notebook to prepare the paper he presented to the American Public Health Association meeting in October 1900. In retrospect, we know the theory he presented about mosquito transmission was right. At the time, he was ridiculed. The Washington Post called the theory, . . . the silliest beyond compare. It seems a fact and fault of history that as time passes, we tend to remember or focus on one or two key figures in an event, while those of the supporting cast become less well known. I tried to show the work of the board as a collaborative effort and to give credit to the many supporting players. But clearly, the investigations to prove that the mosquito did it had a clear, strong leader, and he was Walter Reed. James V. Writer Rockville, Maryland FEELING [SIC.] Abraham Lincoln and Noah Webster were not what you might call unintelligent or uneducated men. Yet you felt compelled to [sic.] them both in your January/February 1997 issue for their spelling of musquetoes. Fie on thee! Surely readers of a history magazine can accept historical spellings. It [sic.]ens me to think what you would do to some healthy Geoffrey Chaucer or William Shakespeare. Donald R. DeWitt Flagstaff, Arizona TELL IT LIKE IT WAS Regardless of the subject matter that you may choose to print, please keep one thought in mindtell it the way it really happened. As a Black man, I found the story on Jackie Robinson to be interesting, inspiring, and educational for all Americans. Irvin Scott Athens, Pennsylvania THE BEAST OF BATAAN With the article, Beast of Bataan [March/April 1996 issue], the trial of Japanese General Homma Masaharu is public knowledge. However, there is more to the Homma story. After his trial Homma was confined in Bilibid prison, some 40 miles south of Manila. At 0030 hours on April 2, 1946, he was secretly taken to the Philippine Detention & Rehabilitation Center at Los Ba?os to be executed. As the adjutant of the center, Iwas asked to read the Military Commission General Order to Homma and advise him of the hour of execution. At 0100 hours, I entered the holding cell. Homma was sitting on a small cot and remained there as I commenced reading. The order followed the format of a General Court Martial Ordercharges, specifications, findings, sentence, and the action of there viewing authority, in this instance General Douglas MacArthur. This order was unique in that the reviewer did not confine himself to the usual: The sentence is approved and will be duly executed. This review was two legal-sized, single-spaced pages long. The first half of the review was a detailed listing of atrocities committed by Hommas forces. Through this part, Homma sat impassively. Then followed an exhaustive account of his record as commander. At this point Homma rose to attention,obviously angered. The review of his command experience ended by concluding that Homma had not been a competent commander at any level. This was followed by the formal approval of the sentence. Then, as directed, I told Homma that the execution would occur at 0200 hoursabout thirty minutes later. Still at attention,and looking at me straight in the eye, the general spoke these words: Captain, I am being shot tonight because we lost the war. After the execution I filled in the time of death on the proper form and gave it and the only copy of the Military Commission Order to the officer courier to take back to Army headquarters in Manila. Now wide awake (0300 hours), I went to my office and thought about what had happened. To this young American captain two points seemed crystal clear. First, the execution of Homma established a precedent regarding a commanders criminal responsibility for the behavior of his soldiersa precedent that the military profession would one day regret. Second, that Douglas MacArthur had revenged the 1942 defeat of his forcesin the Philippines by Japanese forces under the command of Homma. Added. At the time, I was under oral orders from MacArthurs headquarters to return the single copy of the Military Commission Order without making any copies, not to speak publicly of the matter, and not to publish anything about it. With the passage of fifty years and the printing of the Cook article, I am confident that those orders are no longer binding. Ivan J. Birrer, Col. U. S. Army (Ret.) Leavenworth, Kansas HOMMAS EXCUSE IS NO EXCUSE The article on General Homma Masaharus trial misses a couple of key points; first, the most fixed dictate in the American Army is that the . . . Commander is responsible for EVERYTHING his (or her!) soldiers do or fail to do. I didnt know is not an acceptable excuse because it is the commanders duty to know. Secondly, Homma told off a Japanese four-star general who condoned the rape of Nanking (denied to have happened by many in Japan to this day). Since he was aware that his Army had been responsible for such savagery in the recent past, Homma should have taken it upon himself to conduct in-depth personal visits to areas under his command, especially in view of the large number of prisoners his forces had captured. Michael F. Scotto, Lt. Col. USAR Smithtown, New York MORE THAN ONE NIPPER In the March/April 1996 issue of American History I was most interested in Trademark Returns Home in your History Today department. I agree that Baltimore City Life Museums can be justly proud of the return of their Nipper. However,we in Albany, New York, take equal pride in our RCA Nipper. Enclosed is a post card of our big dog (above). On North Broadway in Albany a building that was erected in 1912 was first the location of American Gas Meter Company. In1958 the building was purchased by RTA, distributors of RCA electrical appliances. It was at that time a twenty-five-foot,four-ton Nipper was raised by means of cranes to the roof of the building, where he remains to this day. You will note the beanie Nipper is wearing, which has an aircraft beacon on top that is lit at night to prevent any airplanes from crashing into our wonderful big dog. Virginia B. Bowers Albany, New York Thoughts on History For more than twenty years, my late husband and I lived in Canada. Although we maintained our American citizenship, we lacked the residential requirements necessary to cast an absentee ballot in U.S. presidential elections. Accustomed as we were to this countrys republican form of government, Canadas parliamentary system took some getting used to. Not being citizens, we could not vote there either, of coursea state of affairs that taught us something about taxation without representation. Many Canadians follow American elections quite closely. Those who do are well informed about the candidates and issues,but are often baffled by certain facets of our election process, particularly the role of the electoral college. As an American, I was asked repeatedly over the years to explain how that body worked and the rationale behind it. One November, I was even invited to a party on election night to serve as the official color commentator on the electoral vote. There I sat, never having cast a presidential vote myself, pontificating on the whole process. Finally being able to vote was, therefore, one of my biggest thrills on returning to this country. Our system may be a bit confusing to outsidersand many insiders as wellbut it has gotten the job done admirably, with a little fine tuning, for more than two centuries now. On November 5, Americans will, for the fifty-second time in U.S. history, go to the polls to elect a president. In some ways,the first two electionsin 1788 and 1792served as warm-ups to see how the system outlined in our new constitution would work. Unopposed for the office, George Washington was selected unanimously by electors from the various states. By 1796,however, things had changed. Not only did no candidate elicit the kind of support Washington did from his fellow citizens,partisanship had also reared its divisive head. This years election, therefore, marks the bicentennial of Americas first two-party presidential contest. Beginning on page 24, John Ferling enlightens us on the details of that election and on the performance of the electoral college in its first real test. Also in this issue, Jerry O. Potter recounts the terrible disaster that befell hundreds of Union soldiers who were being shipped home on the steamer Sultana at the end of the Civil War, having already endured the hardship of being held in the Souths Andersonville and Cahaba prison camps. Peter Harrington shares with us little-known images of World War I that artists created for The Ladies Home Journal.Published in a monthly series during 1918-19, these paintings gave Americans who were trying to comprehend a new kind of warfare a better appreciation for the sacrifices made by our troops over there. When the remains of many American World War I casualties could not be identified, one of their number was selected for burial in an Arlington National Cemetery memorial now known as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. Roger Bruns traces the history of this memorial, which has since, sadly but fittingly, been expanded to include the unidentified dead of the conflicts that followed the war to end all wars. The turbulent, post-war 1920s was captured as nowhere else in the writings of F. Scott Fitzgerald, born one hundred years ago in St. Paul, Minnesota. Edward Oxford examines the life of this giant of American literature whose writings created many of the images associated with the Jazz Age. And, in our final article, James Kushlan describes the colorful meeting this past summer of two symbols of Americas sailing navythe USS Constitution and the US Brig Niagarain Boston Harbor, part of a prelude to a two-hundredth birthday celebration for Old Ironsides scheduled for 1997. Margaret Fortier is the editor of Womens History and American History magazines and a historian with extensive experience in research and writing for historic sites and museums. DISAPPOINTED I am very disappointed that American History chose to print Declassified by Roger S. Peterson, regarding the investigation of the JFK assassination [July/August 1996 issue]. Mr. Peterson claims that new information has come to light from recently released documents but actually presents a rehash of tired and discredited conspiracy theories and suggestions with no credible evidence whatsoever. In more than thirty years of trying, no one has come up with any credible evidence of a conspiracy or anything to refute the ironclad evidence that Lee Harvey Oswald did it and acted alone. But the conspiracy mongers, helped greatly by Oliver Stones movie JFK, have perpetrated a big lie and convinced a huge majority of the public that there must be something to it. To me the JFK assassination is the litmus test of intellectual honesty for historians, journalists, investigators, and all serious-minded people. If you buy into the suggestions of Mr. Peterson and the conspiracy theorists he quotes or the idea that the assassination hasnt been solved, you fail the test. Donald R. Beveridge Evanston, Illinois CONSPIRACY PROVEN BY DOCUMENTS American History is to be congratulated for publishing Roger Petersons excellent article on new evidence in the JFK assassination. I have spent many hours poring over newly released documents at the National Archives, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that the evidence for a conspiracy and a government orchestrated cover-up has been established beyond a reasonable doubt. Myself and several colleagues have found documented proof of FBI tampering with evidence. Sadly, the vast majority of Americans will never gain access to this information because the mainstream media has simply decided to ignore it. Mr. Peterson correctly pointed out one of the reasons for thisthe too-cozy relationship that sometime sexists between editors, journalists, and the intelligence agencies. It is amazing that no major newspaper, magazine, or television network has devoted any resources to pursuing these new leads. Instead the media prefer to fawn all over dishonest writers who claim prematurely that the case is closed. Steven G. Jones Landisville, Pennsylvania GI BILL STUDENTS SERIOUS The interesting article by Michael Haydock in your September/October issue stressed the enormous numbers of returning veterans availing themselves of the GI Bill. But there were other implications as well, some of which changed the nature of college life forever. Most returning GIs were quite serious about their education. We can imagine the reaction of a battle-hardened veteran, who had frozen in a foxhole in Belgium or slogged through the jungles of the South Pacific, when a 4F upperclassman told him thathe had to wear a freshman beanie, or that he was forbidden to sit on a certain bench on campus. Here at the University of California, there were several fistfights over issues such as these, all of them reportedly resolved in favor of the veterans. The pre-war trappings of many trivial college traditions were to cease immediately, never to reappear. Dr. John I. Thornton Berkeley, California PAIR-O- CHUTES AT RIVERVIEW There was no Riverside Park in Chicago, as mentioned in Brooklyns Eiffel Tower [July/August 1996 issue]. Your author was referring to the citys Riverview Park on Western Avenue. I grew up within walking distance of Riverview, and as children and young adults, we all visited the park and enjoyed its many attractions. I recall standing on the ground looking up at thePair-O-Chutes ride, as the people drifted downward to earth. I wasnt brave enough myself to try it and was much too young. It was the tallest ride in the park. Riverview Park was torn down many years ago, but those of us who remember her enjoyed a bit of nostalgia in reading your article. Betty Lans Kahn Exton, Pennsylvania PHOTO MISIDENTIFIED In the excellent article The West Revisited in the September/October 1996 issue, the author made the point that many newly freed slaves sought opportunity in the westward expansion. The photograph on page 34, captioned would-be emigrants . . .waiting for a steamer, may be a tad misleading, however. The photograph of a group of African Americans on a piece of ground surrounded by water is in fact a photo of refugees from the 1897 Mississippi River flood. They are waiting for a relief boat, not a steamer to take them west. The meager pile of belongings would seem to support an emergency situation. The photograph was taken by J. C. Coovert, who lived and worked in Greenville, Mississippi, in the 1890s. His collected works are held in the library of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. There is of course more than sufficient historical room to suggest that the group would have much preferred to head west rather than rejoin their difficult life in the Mississippi Delta at the turn of the century. William Jeanes Troy, Michigan 1996, World History Group, a division of World History Group. All Divided No More The creation of a battlefield park at Antietam was contentious and uncertain, much like the battle itself ON SEPTEMBER 17, 1867, a large cadre of dignitaries and interested parties descended on Sharpsburg, Md., a province of rolling hills just east of a bend in the Potomac River. Having lost its bid to become the county seat of Washington County a century beforea distinction that went to Hagerstown to the northSharpsburg had retained its sleepy quality well into the 19th century. Therefore, a crowd of such stature was certainly unusualbut not unprecedented. It was exactly five years before, after all, that the town had ballooned from its normal population of 1,300 to about 100,000, during and after the maelstrom of Antietam. This day, by contrast, was meant to be more serene; a crowd of nearly 15,000 had assembled to dedicate the new Antietam National Cemetery, to pay final respects to the Union soldiers whose bodies had once littered the fields and who had now been re-interred in the cemetery (nearly 5,000 in all, representing 19 states). Located atop a hill east of Sharpsburg, the cemetery encompassed 9 acres, with the burial plots set in a handsome semi-elliptical pattern. Men and women in hats and bonnets had arrived from near and far, some carrying umbrellas in preparation for the storm gathering overhead, which seemed to reflect an unspoken tension in the air. Along with several state governors and other dignitaries, one of the days speakers was President Andrew Johnson. The North Carolinaborn Johnson was supportive of Reconstruction and was conciliatory toward the South, something the pro-Union crowd didnt appreciate, especially with the memory of the high casualty count at Antietam so close at hand. When Johnson rose to speak, he was met with tepid applause and more than a few hecklers, and he and his entourage fled shortly afterward. The New York Tribune called the ceremony a stupidly farcical affair. It was an inauspicious beginning for what would eventually become Antietam National Battlefield. As a border state, Marylands loyalties were divided during the war and just as divided when it came to memorializing its most famous battle. Even as the Unionists were hustling the president off the stage at Sharpsburg, for example, still others were working to include a section in the cemetery for the Confederate deada controversial effort that brought deep sectional feelings to the fore once again. It would be the work of several more decades to establish both the physical boundaries of the park and, just as important, the message the park was sending to the residents of Maryland and the nation beyond. The first phase of memorializing the Battle of Antietam began almost as soon as Robert E. Lees Army of Northern Virginia retreated across the Potomac. For months and even years afterward, the field was littered with the detritus of war: bullets, cannon balls, soldiers accoutrements and, gruesomely, skeletal remains. As park historian Ted Alexander writes in his book The Battle of Antietam: The Bloodiest Day, a Union soldier passing through Sharpsburg two years after the battle remarked that, at every stop, the eye rests upon something to remind the traveler of that awful day of carnage. At Antietam as elsewhere, relic hunters began collecting these items and passing them around parlors as objects of conversationa nascent effort, one might say, to interpret what had occurred there. (Even a notorious boulder on the battlefield, known as Lees Rock, was subject to appropriationsee p. 37.) It wasnt long before the nations first Civil War souvenir shops were open for business. O.T. Reilly, only 5 years old at the time of the battle, would amass such a collection of artifacts that he opened a novelty store in Sharpsburg years later, selling candy on the main floor and relics in the basement, according to historian Stephen Recker. Although Sharpsburg has never had the bustling tourism that, say, Gettysburg has enjoyed (for good or ill), attracting visitors has long been part of the battlefields history. Preserving and interpreting the landscape was a decidedly more complicated business. At Antietam, the primary concern in the immediate aftermath of the war was burying the dead. But even that was fraught with controversy from the beginning, as conciliatory legislators (including Maryland Governor Thomas Swann) sought to reserve a section of the new cemetery for Confederate soldiers. In Washington, D.C., according to park superintendent Susan Trail (whose doctoral dissertation, Remembering Antietam: Commemoration and Preservation of a Civil War Battlefield, is an authoritative source on the development of the park), the Chronicle ran an editorial calling the plan to include Confederates akin to interring, side by side with loyal men who perished to save the Government, the traitors who sought to destroy it. Union factions ultimately prevailed, and the Confederate dead of the Antietam Campaign were buried instead in Hagerstown and Frederick in Maryland, and in Shepherdstown, W.Va. The New York Tribune called the cemetery dedication ceremony a stupidly farcical affair In the end, locating the Confederate cemeteries away from the battlefield represented a step toward the battlefield becoming a Union landscape, writes Trail, one upon which Confederate soldiers had little place. At least Maryland officials were willing to acknowledge the Confederate losses enough to allow burials within their state, Trail adds. She points out that the Confederates who perished at Gettysburg were transported out of Pennsylvania altogether, primarily to Richmond. In July 1879, the cemetery was transferred from the private Antietam National Cemetery Association to the U.S. War Department, thus beginning the long period of federal government oversight at Antietam. It would coincide with a growing impetus to turn the battlefield into a commemorative landscape through the erection of monuments. The largest of these is the Private Soldier monument that stands at the center of the cemeterydepicting a 21-foot-high soldier at parade rest. Including its pedestal, the monument stands 44 feet tall. With his U.S. belt buckle displayed so prominently, Trail says, the monument struck another blow for the Union and against a spirit of reconciliation with the South. But a generation is a long timelong enough for healing, and long enough to forget. By the 1890s, writes historian Timothy B. Smith, the old wounds of the Civil War began to fade into memory as the North and the South developed new issues other than the racial questions that had so divided them. By that point, nearly half the members of Congress were Civil War veterans, according to Smith, and veterans filled the ranks of state legislatures as well. These men wielded enormous power and influence and, as they began to comb gray hair, they were rightly concerned with the legacies they would leave behind. They turned their attention to preserving what they saw as the five most prominent and symbolic battlefields of the late warChickamauga and Chattanooga, Antietam, Shiloh, Gettysburg and Vicksburg. But even in this golden age of battlefield preservation, things did not come easy at Antietam. In light of all the changes and threats the 20th century wrought upon other battlegrounds, Antietam remains incredibly well-preserved, hauntingly like it was in 1862. This is especially remarkable given that the legislation establishing the battlefield park covered only the rights of ways for the park roads, not the large farms between them. Although Congress offered widespread support for creating a national battlefield park at Antietam, after setting aside large tracts of land at Chickamauga, Ga., the legislators realized they could save money at Antietam by focusing solely on acquiring the roadways and thin strips of land on either sidewhat Ted Alexander calls a minimalist approach to preservation. They also established the Antietam Battlefield Board, whose first two agents were Col. John C. Stearns of the 9th Vermont Infantry and former Confederate Maj. Gen. Henry Heth. They were tasked with mapping out troop movements and staking out what would become the park boundary. The work was slow and difficult; eventually Stearns resigned, and Major George B. Davis became president of the board (he was later succeeded by George W. Davis, who was not related). Stearns departure had opened the door for Ezra A. Carman, who had himself fought at Antietam and had steadfastly gathered information on the battle ever since. He was soon named the boards historical expert and worked tirelessly with both of his Davis colleagues to lay out the park road scheme, draft the text for the iron interpretive tablets that would line those roads and negotiate with landowners who were willing to sell. Slowly, the battlefield came together. In 1900, Congress appropriated funding to name the battlefields first superintendentCharles W. Adams. Although the battlefield plan had solidified, relations between the park and the townspeople were sometimes rancorous. This was never more true than in the spring of 1912, when Superintendent Adams had taken a stand that farm machines and cattle were forbidden to travel on park roads. One Sharpsburg resident, Charles Benner, took such offense to this and other perceived slights by the superintendent that he approached him on the morning of June 6, 1912, and shot him several timesleaving his lifeless body, somewhat ironically, lying on a park road. Benner, whom one newspaper called maddened with drink, then went home and turned the gun on himself. Incidentally, Adams had been superintendent when the 90th Pennsylvania Association placed one of the battlefields most distinctive markers on Cornfield Avenuea stack of three rifles from which hung a kettle with an inscription that read, in part, Let us have peace. (The monument fell into disrepair around 1930 and was replaced with a replica in 2004.) Despite the challenges, the turn of the 20th century saw a growing appreciation forand acceptance ofconciliatory efforts toward the former Confederacy. In 1900, the most significant manifestation of this change of heart came in the form of the Maryland Monument, the classical domed structure just north of the parks visitor center and the iconic Dunker Church. It remains the only monument on the battlefield that honors soldiers from both sides. When it was dedicated on Memorial Day, approximately 20,000 people attended, including several generals and then-President William McKinley, himself an Antietam veteran who would soon have a monument to his service dedicated there. I am glad to meet on this field the followers of Lee, Jackson, Longstreet, and Johnson, McKinley said, with the followers of McClellan, Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan.This meeting after these many years has but one sentiment, love for Nation and flag. With the healing passage of time, McKinleys reception was no doubt far different than the one lobbed at President Johnson 33 years earlier. By the time the War Department turned control of the battlefield over to the developing National Park Service in 1933, it was simply a case of luck and geography that the battlefield had remained wholly unspoiled. The acreage owned by the government was shockingly smallonly about 65 acres. It was only with the celebration of the Civil War centennial in the 1960s and the Park Services new Mission 66 program for park improvementswhich saw construction of modern visitor centers such as the one at Antietam and the recently demolished Cyclorama building at Gettysburgthat Congress appropriated more funding for land acquisition at Antietam, bringing its acreage up to about 600. That number held until the 1980s, with a series of battlefield expansions bringing the current acreage up to about 3,200. The park now faces the challenge of adapting its signage, trail markers and other interpretive materials to encompass all the property that has been added to the park since those early park roads and signs were laid out by Ezra Carman and his colleagues more than a century ago, when acreage was minimal. Park staff are now engaged in creating a new long-range plan for literature and signage, which will not only reflect the additional acreage but broader cultural and societal themes as well. Also under consideration are different ways of bringing this information to the modern visitor, who might want to get information through a mobile app instead of an iron tablet. Critical preservation work continues as well. This winter, for example, a small but significant section of Burnside Bridge collapsed. Although the bridge was stabilized and repaired, Trail says the failure is an indication of potentially greater structural issues that must be addressed. My emphasis here is to get all our historic structures and buildings to a good condition, Trail says. You always want to leave something better than you found it. In the not too distant future, it will be time for another ceremony at Antietam. In 2017, the park will celebrate the sesquicentennial of the national cemetery. With the wounds of war still fresh, it was nearly impossible for many to consider honoring the enemy when the cemetery was created. A century and a half later, however, with its pristine fields still undisturbed by suburban sprawl, and its solemn markers to Union and Confederate dead, its impossible to think of Antietam as anything but a place of peace. Former Maryland resident Kim OConnell writes regularly about history and preservation for national and regional publications. This article was originally published in the September 2014 issue of Americas Civil War magazine. Whispering Webley Ive always enjoyed George Laymans research and writing regarding Old West weaponry. His August 2015 Guns of the West article about the Bulldog revolver (originally made in the mid-1870s by Philip Webley in England) was an interesting study. In May 1880 Union Pacific detective James L. Whispering Smith was in Sidney, Neb., investigating the theft of nearly 500 pounds of gold from the cargo depot. He egged suspected gang member Patrick H. Walters into going for his gun and then shot him with what the local press described as a Webley, undoubtedly meaning one of the several models of Webleys on the American market. Smith always bragged that when in a shootout he aimed for his opponents middle vest button. The detective pulled his shot a mite and hit Walters in the lower right abdomen. The wound was pronounced fatal, but Pat proved to be of stern New York Irish stock and survived only to be run out of town by vigilantes the following year. In 1883 Walters had an altercation in Bozeman with Montana rancher Hugo Hoppy who shot the outlaw in the very same spot with a Bull Dog. This time it took, and Walters was no more. Bob Rybolt Hanover, Kan. Editors note: James L. Smith was one of the railroad detectives who inspired the title character in Frank H. Spearmans 1906 best seller Whispering Smith, and that novel in turn spun off at least a half-dozen films featuring a character with that nickname. Four silent films hit the screens before 20th Century Fox cast George OBrien in 1935s Whispering Smith Speaks. The best known of the bunch is Paramounts 1948 Whispering Smith, starring Alan Ladd as Luke Whispering Smith. In 1961 the colorfully nicknamed Old West detective appeared in the short-lived NBC series Whispering Smith, starring Audie Murphy. But all that was fiction. For a close look at the real detective, see Allen P. Bristows 2007 biography Whispering Smith: His Life and Misadventures. Croquet Tintype As you noted in the February 2016 Letters, the National Geographic Channel special last October partially verified the croquet tintype that purportedly was taken in front of a New Mexico Territory schoolhouse and includes, among others, Billy the Kid, Tom OFolliard, Sallie Chisum, and Charlie and Manuela Bowdre. Provenance is a difficult path, and one question is how did the tintype [see the full image on P. 16 of the April 2015 issue] get into a storage unit sale in Fresno, Calif., after which a lucky gentleman, Randy Guijarro, plucked it out of a box? A number of Lincoln County War participants and associates, or their descendants, found their way to California, but which family passed down the croquet tintype? I have been doing research on the Bowdre family, and I realized that the tintype was not taken to document the Kid playing croquet with his pals. The primary figures are on horseback slightly off to the rightCharles Bowdre (one of Billys closest friends) and Manuela Herrera Bowdre. Whether this was a wedding party or another special occasion, it was important enough to document in a tintype. Born to Albert Rees and Lucy Meriwether Bowdre in Neshoba, Miss., Charlie would soon have a younger brother, Thomas Benjamin T.B. Bowdre. T.B.s daughter Esther Bowdre Newbern and her husband, Wyatt, ran a store in Russellville, Ark., for many years. Their adopted son Thomas worked for the railroad in California, and Thomas oldest son, Thomas Wyatt Newbern, was a Navy man who stayed in California for most of his life. In the late 1980s the divorced Newbern moved to Fresno and remarried; he died in 1994. At no time during my research on the Bowdre family did I hear about the tintype. But when I did see the image later, I realized I had informationa historical roadmapthat could help with the provenance. It is logical that T.B., as Charlies favorite brother, received the photo of Charlies marriage [there is no agreement on when the marriage occurred], and that the tintype was passed down to his descendantsincluding Thomas Wyatt Newbern who lived in Fresno. It is also logical that Billy the Kid would attend his close friends wedding. Sallie Chisum would have reason to be there as well; her family once employed Billy and Charlie. The croquet tintype has the hallmarks of a legitimate find. David Turk Arlington, Va. Not only has the supposed tintype [Billy Tintype? P. 8, February 2015 issue] of Billy the Kid not been authenticated, but also during the National Geographic Channel program the proponents own facial recognition expert, Kent Gibson, said if he were asked in court if there was a facial match between the authenticated Billy tintype and the croquet tintype image, he would deny it. Deny is the word he used. Moreover, there is a serious chronological problem. Croquet tintype proponent Jeff Aiello, an executive producer of the Geographic program, argues the image was taken in 1878 in front of the Felix School on the John Tunstall ranch in the Felix River Valley in Chaves County, New Mexico Territory. There is no record of any school there while Billy the Kid was alive. Detailed 1884 survey maps of the area show no school. Roswell newspaper articles indicate the Felix School was built between July 1898 and December 1900, some 20 years after Billys July 1881 death. Finally, Ernestine Chesser Williams published a 1925 photo of the Felix School in her book Chaves County Schools, 18811968, and it looks nothing like the building in the croquet tintype. Williams also said the first public school in the county, near Roswell, was not opened until October 1881. Billy had been dead three months. The calendar is the researchers best friend. All we can say for certain is the croquet tintype depicts unidentified people at an unknown location in the United States. Daniel Buck Washington, D.C. Tombstone Photo I am intrigued by the photo of Tombstone [above] on PP. 60 and 61 of your October 2015 issue [Justice in Tombstone, by Bob Palmquist]. The large collection of huge freight wagons center right on P. 60 is most interesting. Is this part of a freighting company servicing the area silver mines or possibly freight coming into Tombstone from Tucson? I noticed on P. 61 what looks to be stables for many horses and pens with large oxen. However, across the street is another structure of interestmaybe a wheelwrights shop? There is a considerable stack of firewood out back and an oversized smokestack coming out of the roof. If this is so, then maybe the wagons, once fitted with wheels, are then parked across the street in the large lot. Ive tried to locate other photos of Tombstone by C.S. Fly and have found nothing other than this very clear photo you selected for your Justice in Tombstone story. Im always intrigued when I see large freight wagons. Do you have any other information about this photo? Interesting note: The wagon that has just turned the corner on P. 61 is only being pulled by two horses. It must not be as heavy as it looks. Anyway, Im enjoying your new look and, as always, your wonderful stories. Keep them coming. Allen Williams Layton, Utah Editor responds: We are intrigued by how closely you examined this circa 1883 photo. Unfortunately, we dont have the answers you seek. The cabinet card photo sold for $3,586 at a Heritage Auctions event in January 2009. The description reads: Has a cream-colored mount with title in negative, reading 98 tombsone, arizona with no back mark. Fantastic view includes the newly constructed Cochise County Courthouse, built in 1882. Send letters to Wild West, 1919 Gallows Road, Ste 400, Vienna, VA 22182 or by email. Please include your name and town/state of residence. I based it on an actual photograph of Deadwood in 1877, in the Chinese district The frontier settlement of Deadwood and its inhabitants have inspired many artists (not to mention novelists, historians, filmmakers and tourists) over the years. But you wont find Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane or assorted gamblers and neer-do-wells in Mick B. Harrisons painting of the legendary South Dakota mining town. Instead, Deadwood Freight, a 24-by-40-inch oil on canvas, presents an unromantic view of the town in its 1870s heyday, centered on rain-soaked oxen and freighters that look as worn-out as the quagmire of a street. They would have to be exhausted after freighting fortune-seekers and supplies some 200 miles from Fort Pierre. I based it on an actual photograph of Deadwood in 1877, in the Chinese district, Harrison says from his Belle Fourche, S.D., studio. I got permission from the Adams Museum [in Deadwood] to use the photograph for background, and I changed everything thats going on in the street. I took out what was in the picture and painted in the bull trains and everything, but the scene is actually how the buildings were. The painting is the final of a two-part series that commemorates the Fort PierreDeadwood Trail. Used from 1874 to 1908, the trail stretched along an old buffalo path from Fort Pierre, the nearest port on the Missouri, to Deadwood and was considered one of the shortest and easiest routes to the Black Hills. The Verendrye Museum in Fort Pierre commissioned Harrison to capture the Fort Pierre end of the trail on canvas. After finishing that one, titled Freight at First Light, he decided to depict the Deadwood end. History has always appealed to the locally raised artist. I grew up in South Dakota in an area that has tons of history, says Harrison, 63. Sitting Bull is buried where I came from, and I grew up with stories of the big cattle outfits from that country. I just got interested in it at a young age. And in Belle Fourche, theres just tons of history here. Its kind of natural for me. We just dont run out of it here. Its all over. I dont hurt for things to do. Yet Harrison took a roundabout path to get back to his roots. I did a bit of everything, he says. I tried college for about three months, and that didnt work out too good, and then I wound up in the Army in Vietnam. Then I headed out to the West Coast, wandered around for a while, found a wife and eventually came back here. He worked and painted in Cody, Wyo., and Cottonwood, Ariz., and served as a staff artist for Rockwell International in Iowa before returning to South Dakota to paint full time. For 35 years he has enjoyed success as an artist, providing cover art and illustrations for such publications as Todays Horse, Deadwood Magazine, Western Horseman, True West, Frontier Times, Old West and South Dakota, as well as designing the poster for Deadwoods Days of 76 Rodeo. Harrison takes from a little as three days to as long as 10 years to complete each painting. First an idea has to come, he says, and a lot of time Ill mull that around in my mind for a while, figure out what I want to do and what I want to go after. Then Ill do some research on the subject. Before I start any oil painting, I always do these colored pencil sketches to lay out how I want them, get some color issues worked out, then Ill usually just paint directly onto the canvas, do a sketch on canvas from my colored pencil sketch.I try to stick to that drawing pretty close, because you can get yourself into a lot of trouble if you wander out too far, but I always leave room for adjustments. Harrison is a founding member of Artists of the Black Hills, which promotes area artists and galleries so that when [tourists] come here to see Mount Rushmore, they can go see some art, too. The Old West Trail Foundation has awarded Harrison its William F. Cody Award for Art, and the Wyoming Art League has honored him with its Nick Eggenhofer Award for Western Art. Both the South Dakota Hall of Fame and the Center for Western Studies in Sioux Falls have named him artist of the year. Visit Harrisons studio online at www.mickharrisonpaintings.com. The swift advance of German armies through Belgium and northern France in the opening weeks of the First World War brought with it rumors of alleged atrocities committed by German troops on the civilian populations in those areas. In 1915 the British government released the Bryce Report, a damning account of alleged German outrages. While the report described a variety of incidents, few if any witnesses to them were named, and questions arose as to the authenticity of many of the events. Despite that, the Bryce Report inflamed passions in Britain and France and provided a further rallying cry to defeat the hated Hun. Though most artists and illustrators shied away from the subject of the German atrocities, feeling them too gruesome to depict, one French artist, Pierre-Georges Jeanniot, created a series of 10 etchings in 1915 that showed ravaged women hanging from trees, rape scenes, massacres, maiming, executions, and other violations. French authorities banned the series as too shocking and panic inducing to be shown. Related: Lithographs from George Bellowss War Series While the invasion of Belgium and France had been duly noted in the American press in late 1914, most Americans viewed the conflict in general as a European problem. It would be three more years before the United States entered the war, and even then many of its citizens opposed it, including artist George Bellows, a proponent of New Yorks Ashcan school who had become famous for his gritty paintings of boxers in the ring, New York tenements, and other urban landscapes. Bellows soon changed his views on the war, however, and volunteered for the tank corps in 1917. Though he never saw active duty in Europe, he did devote over eight months in 1918 to his War Series20 lithographs, more than 30 related drawings, and five oil paintings depicting the alleged 1914 German atrocities in Belgium. THE LITHOGRAPHS FALL INTO three distinct groups, the first showing the fighting and treatment of casualties, the second the capture and treatment of prisoners, and the third brutalities against civilians. One of the most compelling works in the second group is The Murder of Edith Cavell. In it the heroic British nurse, dressed in white against an ominous dark background, descends the staircase from her prison cell on her way to execution in Brussels in 1915 for helping Allied soldiers escape to neutral Netherlands. When a contemporary of Bellows criticized him for creating a scene he had not witnessed, Bellows responded that Leonardo da Vinci did not have a ticket to the Last Supper. Another lithograph in the series, Gott Strafe England (May God Punish England), portrays what seems to be the crucifixion of three Allied soldiers. Though the subject was based on questionable sources, many chose to believe the Germans were capable of such violence. Among the images focused on alleged inhumane treatment of innocent civilians, The Barricade, one of the five paintings, depicts soldiers with fixed bayonets cowering behind figures stripped naked, while another of the paintings, The Germans Arrive, shows a soldier strangling a young man who has had both hands cut off, as other soldiers watch; in the background women are being attacked near a burning cottage. The Bacchanale contains a graphic representation of two soldiers holding their rifles aloft, the limp bodies of infants impaled on their bayonets. (Rumors of Germans bayoneting babies were rife in the opening months of the fighting and were used to great effect in Allied propaganda.) Other works from the series include Belgian Farmyard, in which a dead woman lies on the ground as a soldier replaces his tunic, having just raped her, and The Cigarette, portraying a dead woman with her left hand nailed to a door and her left breast cut off. MOST OF THE BRUTALITIES were rumored but not thoroughly substantiated. Not so Bellowss Village Massacre. It is based on the actual events of August 23, 1914, when hundreds of inhabitants were executed in the town of Dinant, a strategic crossing point on the River Meuse. Under constant fire from French troops across the river from Dinant, the Germans nonetheless believed that civilians in the town were partly responsible for the attacks and by days end, they had killed 612 inhabitants, many by firing squad. In Bellowss painting (also done as a lithograph), men, women, children, and nuns stand weeping and cursing above massacred bodies; the rifles of the German soldiers are barely visible off to the left, and an officers sword has just dropped in the command to fire. Bellowss composition was clearly derived from plate 26 of Goyas Disasters of War, which shows a similar line of weapons held by unseen perpetrators firing on civilians. It is not clear why Bellows chose to do the series on the atrocities in Belgium four years after the fact. Even his dealer in New York was surprised at the brutality portrayed, but Bellows said only, I had to draw them. In a preface to an exhibition of some of the lithographs in November 1918, Bellows wrote, In presenting these pictures of the tragedies of war, I wish to disclaim any intention of attacking a race or a people. Guilt is personal, not racial. Against that guilty clique and all its tools, who let loose upon innocence every diabolical device and insane instinct, my hatred goes forth, together with my profound reverence for the victims. Peter Harrington, a frequent contributor to MHQ, is curator of the Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection at Brown University. He writes and teaches on military art and artists. Q I was part of the U.S. invasion of the Dominican Republic in 1965 by the 82nd Airborne Division and the 5th Marines. I know there were more than 40,000 American troops there, including several thousand from the Organization of American States, and we had more than 120 people killed. But when I mention the operation, most people have never heard of it. One teacher of American history at our local college flatly stated the whole thing was a fabrication; that we invaded the Dominican Republic in 1918 or so, but not since then. Can you recommend some sources? M. C. Bud Himes CWO, U.S. Army (ret) A Two good sources that tell the story in detail are Rag-Tags, Scum, Riff-Raff and Commies, by Eric Thomas Chester, and Military Crisis Management, by Herbert G. Schoonmaker. I too remember the events of 1965 in Santo Domingo, though Vietnam seems to have eclipsed them in most Americans minds. On December 20, 1962, Juan Bosch became the first elected president of the Dominican Republicafter some 25 years of dictatorshipand tried to establish a democratic, secular constitution. Conservative landowners, the military, and the clergy found it unacceptable, however, and on September 25, 1963, a military coup overthrew Bosch and replaced him with a junta led by Donald Reid Cabral. On April 24, 1965, the Constitutionalists, militarily led by Francisco Caamano Deno, revolted in Santo Domingo and overthrew the junta, only to be opposed by the Dominican military under General Elias Wessen y Wessin. On April 28 Lyndon B. Johnsons administration, believing the juntas claims that the Constitutionalists were Communist- influenced and would turn the Dominican Republic into another Cuba, committed what came to total 42,000 American troops, supplemented by an Inter-American Peace Force (2,200 troops drawn from Brazil, Honduras, Paraguay, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and El Salvador) representing the Organization of American States; they were to restore stability and protect American lives. Fighting continued until September 3, when a provisional presidency was established under Hector Garcia-Godoy. The American occupation officially lasted until July 6, 1966, although some troops remained for months thereafter. Elections in 1966 placed Joaquin Balaguer Ricardo in powerfor the next 12 years. Official American casualties came to 44 dead (27 killed in action) and 172 wounded, along with six Brazilians and five Paraguayans wounded. More than 2,000 Dominicans were killed, 1,000 of them civilians. From the American standpoint, the Dominican intervention was a success, especially compared with the ultimate outcome of the Indochina wars, but another perspective on it was expressed in Tom Lehrers satiric song of that year, Send the Marines: Theyve got to be protected, all their rights respected, til someone we like can be elected. Jon Guttman, HistoryNets research director, is the author of many military histories. Something about military history youve always wanted to know? Send your question to MHQeditor@historynet.com, and well have an expert answer it. Peninsula. Lambis Englezos is a man on a sacred mission. The Greek-born 62-year-old retiree from Melbourne, Australia, has spent more than a decade in search of the burial sites of Australian troops listed as missing from that nations wars. His research and persistence led to the discovery of an unrecorded World War I mass grave in Fromelles, France, containing the remains of 250 Diggers, as Australian and New Zealand troops are known. The remains were exhumed in 2009, then reinterred once identified. For the past four years Englezos has been advocating a similar recovery effort for the remains of 250 Australians killed in the May 1915 Second Battle of Krithiaan ultimately futile Allied assault against Ottoman Turkish positions on the Gallipoli. What led you to search for the missing at Fromelles? There were more than 5,500 Australian casualties and some 1,335 missing from the July 19, 1916, Battle of Fromelles. I visited the battlefield in 2002, and when I returned to Australia, I was determined to help locate those whose bodies had not been recovered. I researched the Red Cross Wounded and Missing files and cross-checked the names with a roll of honor that historian Robin Corfield included in his 2000 book Dont Forget Me, Cobber. A soldier profiled in the book pointed to a place called Pheasant Wood as a possible burial spot, and by looking closely at some archival aerial photos of that area, I found what I believed to be anomalies. I and other members of the World War I commemorative group Friends of the 15th Brigade presented our evidence to the Australian government in 2005, and in May 2008 the information led to the discovery of 250 sets of remains. So far 144 have been identified, and the bodies have been reburied in a special cemetery on donated land.. Why search for the remains of Australias missing soldiers? First, our nation sent them to war, and I believe our nation, therefore, has a moral obligation to find and recover the bodies of those who died. We cannot allow our war dead to be seen as a financial or logistical inconvenience. Second, if a nation just leaves its war dead on the battlefield in anonymous dirt, it sends a very strong message to people currently serving in the military that their nation doesnt care what happens to them. Thats very bad for morale. Third, commemoration and remembrance isnt just about the dead, its also about the families that might never know what became of their loved one. My son served in Afghanistan, and I certainly wouldnt want to spend the rest of my life wondering what happened to him had he been listed as missing. Many have sneered at the term closure, saying it should be sufficient to have the missing persons name carved into a stone monument or painted onto a church honor roll. I would suggest that whenever we can, we should acknowledge the persons service and sacrifice by doing everything possible to locate and recover their remains. Cant the Commonwealth War Graves Commission do it? It does a fine job of maintaining our cemeteries, but its role is reactive. If a body is discovered during construction work, it is recovered and reburied in a Commonwealth Cemetery. Our work and advocacy is research-based and activewe go looking for the missing. What is your opinion of the Gallipoli Campaign? It was a disaster. Poor leadership and poorer planning and execution on Britains partcombined with a huge underestimation of the Turkish defendersguaranteed failure. More than 8,000 Australians died in combat or of wounds or disease in nine months. Didnt it instill in Australia a national consciousness? When war broke out in 1914 men enlisted for a variety of reasons, among them the desire to defend and serve the mother country and the empire. Their wartime contribution and warranted fighting reputationendorsed by the Americans who fought alongside them at Hamel on July 4, 1918certainly helped mold Australias national consciousness, but at a staggering cost. How did you learn about the Second Battle of Krithia? I read the two volumes of Charles Beans Official History of Australia in the War of 19141918 that cover Gallipoli, as well as other books on the campaign. It occurred to me thatas was the case at Fromellesthere were likely unrecorded burial sites that would contain the remains of missing Australians. Which units were involved? The 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th battalions of the 2nd Infantry Brigade, Victoria. They were brought down from Anzac Cove to Cape Helles on the southern tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula to act as part of the reserve along with the New Zealand Infantry Brigade [see Hallowed Ground, P. 76]. The Australians entered the reserve line and began to settle in, but then a general advance was ordered, and they were given just 30 minutes notice to attack. The incompetent British commander, Major General Sir Aylmer Hunter-Weston, even asked if the Diggers had brought a band to lead the attack! The Australians advanced across 600 yards of open ground toward defenses they couldnt see while being subjected to frontal and enfilade machine gun and artillery fire. The line withered, and the attack failed. The Australians suffered casualties of 50 percent. After the battle, under cover of darkness, the dead were recovered and buried by our troops in hastily dug mass graves whose positions went unrecorded. What made you believe there are forgotten mass graves? Four years ago I suggested to a Turkish-Australian friendauthor, guide and historian John Basarin, who volunteers at Melbournes World War I memorial, the Shrine of Remembrance [shrine.org.au]that there could be a burial site behind our lines. We spent years researching official documents, diaries and memoirs of participants. Several of the documents spoke of hurriedly dug graves, one containing 57 bodies and the other 86, for a total of 143. We determined the likely position of the mass graveor graveswas in or near a dip in the ground that would have provided cover for the burial parties. John visited the area and found that dip in the ground. Are you certain you found the right spot? It matches the documentationthe eyewitness accounts are confirmed by the geography. However, the only way to positively confirm it is to conduct an officially sanctioned investigation using modern technology. Did you give the Australian government your data? We did. Three years ago we forwarded our information but didnt get a reply or an evaluation. Then in December 2014 the government finally responded, saying they would only investigate the site if they were certain to find remains. But how can we be certain if we dont investigate? What is your ultimate goal for this search? Burial in place? Repatriation? Australia does not repatriate recovered World War I remains. We would like to see them reinterred in place with the respect and honor they deserve. What do you personally get out of this effort? Any work that I have done in the field of commemoration and remembrance I dedicate to the memory of the World War I veterans I have met over the course of my life. They were wonderful gentlemen who carried their physical and emotional scars with quiet dignity. I consider myself very fortunate to have shared their company and their companionship. MH Given his career as an Apache wars packer/scout and later as a hired gun in Wyominga stint that led to his 1903 execution in CheyenneTom Horn has long attracted Western historians, including Doyce Nunis, Dean Krakel, Mark Dugan, Jay Monaghan and Chip Carlson. The latest is Larry D. Ball, professor emeritus of history at Arkansas State University, whose biography Tom Horn in Life and Legend (University of Oklahoma Press, 2014; reviewed in the December 2014 Wild West) earned 2015 Spur Award finalist honors from Western Writers of America. What made you want to tackle Tom Horn? After completing a book concerning the robbery of U.S. Army Paymaster Major Joseph Wham in 1999, I found myself without an immediate project. During my research on U.S. marshals I had occasionally encountered new material about Tom Horn. One item that intrigued me was a letter Horn wrote to the U.S. marshal of Arizona in 1896 in which he boasted of his manhunting skills and indicated that he was not averse to killing if necessary. When the University of Oklahoma Press asked me to write a short volume about him, it quickly became apparent a longer work would be necessary. Had I known the difficulties that lay ahead, I might not have tackled the story of Tom Horn. How hard is it to discern myth from fact regarding Horn? It is very difficult, in part because writers have relied so heavily on his autobiographyLife of Tom Horn, Government Scout and Interpreter (1904)which covers his life up to the time he arrived in Wyoming. While this book ends abruptly in 1892, he became such a notorious figure in Wyoming that many legends arose about his years as a stock detective and hired assassin. His autobiography isnt useful? Much of Life of Tom Horn is fiction and should be used with great care. He portrays himself as a scout from the beginning and has himself hobnobbing with the generals. Since he was such a minor figure in the early 1880s, factual material about his participation in the Apache wars is very difficult to locate. At the same time Horn was literate, and one of his lesser-known talents was that of a romancer and storyteller. While his book is a rousing and entertaining tale, he is boastful and self-serving. While he was actually present in many engagements with the Apaches, only toward the end of the pursuit of Geronimo, in 188586, did he become a civilian chief of scouts. Youre known as a diligent researcher. How do you approach the process? I do enjoy research, although locating original sources for this book was more difficult than any of my previous works. While Horn has been a popular subject for writers, I soon realized I would have to dig much deeper to document his activities. There were also gaps in our knowledge of his movements, especially as he shuttled between Arizona and Wyoming. I think one advantage I have had in my research experiences was my training in graduate school at the University of Colorado Boulder. Two of my professors, Robert Athearn and Clifford Westermeier, were widely respected in the field of frontier history. In those days we were heavily grounded in the sources, with emphasis upon finding primary sourcesoriginal documents and eyewitness accounts. It was not good enough to merely quote or cite articles and books already written, although these works were to be respected. I was also fortunate that my professors encouraged me to search for sources in the National Archives and Library of Congress. Such visits introduced me to a whole new world of source material. In researching for the Tom Horn biography, I had to make almost annual trips to D.C. While at Boulder I also had access to large collections of 19th century newspapers, which provided very helpful evidence about the setting or context for my research subjects. What were you able to learn about Horns early years? One my biggest disappointments in researching this book was my failure to find more new and original sources for Horns early life. While he blamed his fathers harsh treatment for driving him away from home in his teenage years, Tom led an ordinary childhood in many ways. After leaving home, he demonstrated the inability to stick with a job. He became a sort of roving frontier roustabout. Early on he also exhibited an ego, as well as a tendency toward a loner. If tradition is to be believed, he also began to get into trouble with the law while cowpunching on Texas trail herds and hired out his gun in the Colorado mining camps. Why did contemporaries seek to discredit Horns activities during the Apache wars? The primary reason for this controversy rests with the popularity of Horns autobiography, which began to receive much attention in the 1920s and 30s. When magazines with a nationwide circulation, such as Colliers, began to publish unreliable stories about Horn, old Arizona pioneers and Army officers were outraged. Charles B. Gatewood Jr., the son of the officer primarily responsible for persuading Geronimo to surrender, took the lead in coordinating a writing campaign to discredit Tom Horn. What exactly did Horn do during the Apache wars? One of my surprises in researching Horns Arizona years was that he was present at several major fights with the Apaches. And after serving a sort of probationary period as a packer, he did become a civilian chief of scouts when his mentor, Al Sieber, was unable to perform this duty. One of the most revealing sources for Horns time in Arizona are Army quartermaster records, which show he was employed as a civilian teamster, packer and scout in the 1880s. Perhaps the high point of Horns career occurred during an accidental collision with Mexican militiamen in 1885. Horn, who was wounded, was recognized for his bravery in this incident. Army officers who personally knew him and worked with him considered him a reliable scout. General Nelson Miles was especially appreciative and later called on his services as a packer in the war with Spain in 1898. Horn did not have to lie or exaggerate in his autobiography; he served capably. What about his role in the Pleasant Valley War? Clarifying Tom Horns role in this bloody vendetta and rustler war was another of my disappointments. His place remains very shadowy. Horns memory for dates in his autobiography is often highly questionable. When he says he was invited to Pleasant Valley in April 1887, he is a year too early. He actually arrived in the following year. Whether he went there as a deputy sheriff or perhaps a stock detective is also unclear. While Horn and friends insisted he was nonpartisan in the feud, this was not true. He was a good friend of Ed Tewksbury. Apparently, Horn also aligned with the vigilante organization in Pleasant Valley and was present at the lynching of three alleged rustlers. When Glen Reynolds, one of the vigilante leaders, was elected Gila County sheriff in November 1888, he deputized Horn. Nonetheless, rumors persisted among residents of Pleasant Valley that Horn played a more critical role in the rustler war. How did Horns years in Arizona change his character? Tom Horn was a resident of Arizona for nearly a decade. During these years he was exposed to (and participated in) a great deal of violence. The U.S. government was very embarrassed at the persistence of the Apache problem and authorized the Army to take brutal measures to suppress the disturbance. This campaign was a no-holds-barred campaign against men, women and children. Horn was there and was no doubt aware of the Armys use of summary executions against troublesome Apaches. He is very frank in his autobiography about some grisly episodes. His experiences in the Pleasant Valley War were equally brutal. My conclusion is that writers have been mistaken when they divide Horns life into good years in Arizona and bad years in Wyoming. There was only one, not two, Tom Horns. Did he redeem himself as a Pinkerton detective? Horns years as an operative for Pinkertons National Detective Agency (circa 189093) in the Denver branch office were both a success and a failure. Denver newspapers praised his achievements in hunting train robbers, but during one assignment he was arrested in Reno, Nev., for the robbery of a casino. Yet the agency stood by him and employed the lawyers necessary to get him off. Even after leaving the agency, Horn maintained contact with other operatives. It seems to me Horn enjoyed the protection that institutions such as the Pinkertons, big cattle companies and the U.S. government afforded him while in their employ. He liked to play the big shot that such associations gave him and often boasted about his exploits. Could he have settled down as a respectable rancher? Horn attempted to go into ranching a couple of times in Arizona, but he failed. He blamed his first failure on cattle thieves and developed a morbid hatred for all thieves, regardless of race or ethnicity. This obsessive attitude probably played a part in his willingness to hire out his gun to Wyoming livestock barons who were waging war on cattle thieves. While Horn was an expert horseman and horse breaker (as well as pioneer rodeo star), and very reliable with mules in the Army pack trains, he lacked the patience and stick-to-itiveness to become a rancher. When he invested in mining property in Arizona, he also demonstrated this same shortcoming and even admitted his failure in writing. What events in Wyoming led to his stint as a stock detective and his downfall? Tom Horn arrived in Wyoming during a very disturbed time, as the big cattle companies were employing violent measures to run homesteaders and small ranchers out of the country. The cattle barons believed all little people were thieves. Ironically, the Pinkerton agency was responsible for assigning him to Wyoming in May 1892. He did not go there at the invitation of a particular cattle company. However, Horn quit Pinkerton sometime later and returned to Wyoming on the invitation of the livestock interests. It was an unfortunate decision for Horn, who apparently suffered from a blind spot when he overestimated the power and political influence of the cattle companies. Throughout the 1890s the livestock interests shrank in size and influence. That Horn began as a stock detective in the employ of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association and, later, as an employee of individual cattle barons is clear. However, he also demonstrated a willingness to assassinate suspected rustlers for money. While legend has credited him with numerous killings, there is no evidence for this. Even on the frontier, wanton slaying was not condoned. There is some evidence he assassinated at least four men for money. What did you learn about the Nickell family? In many ways the family of Kelsey (Kels) Nickell was a typical frontier family. Nickell was a former soldier who went about homesteading in the proper, legal way, on public land in the Iron Mountain community, about 30 miles northwest of Cheyenne. While he prospered, he was quick to take offense and proved very quarrelsome. In 1890 he seriously cut John C. Coble, the local cattle baron, with a knife. (Coble would later be Horns employer.) Nickell also carried on a long-term quarrel with a near neighbor, Jim Miller. However, Nickell was not alone in being protective of his property, as all of the inhabitants of this community were a protective and testy lot. It is interesting that the big cattlemen in his vicinity did not accuse Kels Nickell of cattle theft, although he built up a herd of 1,000 cattle. Did Horn kill Kels Nickells son Willie? Horn was convicted of the murder of 14-year-old Willie Nickell, son of Kels, who was mysteriously assassinated in July 1901. To this day much controversy exists as to whether Horn was guilty. One of the problems has been motive. Horn partisans declare he had no motive and that the guilty party was Jim Miller or one of his teenage sons. Nonetheless, the prosecution had a powerful case resting on a confession Horn made (unwittingly) to Deputy U.S. Marshal Joseph Lefors. The presiding judge admitted the confession as evidence; today it would be considered entrapment and thrown out. My impression is Horn was probably guilty of the murder of Willie Nickell. While I did not find a smoking gun, there is enough circumstantial evidence (beyond Horns own confession) to tilt the probability of his guilt in his direction. Did Horn talk too much for his own good? He did talk too much. However, he had apparently always been a talker. The Apache Indians nicknamed him Talking Boy because of this habit. Horn was a great storyteller in the frontier tradition. He was always ready to regale anyone who would listen to his exploits in the Apache wars or as a detective. As a born romancer Horn simply could not tell the truth. What was his downfall at the Nickells murder trial? When he insisted on testifying on his own behalf, Horn probably sealed his fate. While attorneys knew better than to place him on the witness stand, he insisted, erroneously believing he could demonstrate his innocence. The prosecutor maneuvered Horn into the appearance of someone who believed he was above the law. As many spectators later remarked, Horn literally talked himself into a noose. Before he testified, there was the feeling that the trial would result in a hung jury. Horn also made a mistake when he believed the big cattle companies would contribute to his defense. John C. Coble was the only cattle baron to come to aid in a substantial way. How should we remember Tom Horn? I do not view him as a tragic victim. Although he possessed some talents, he was not a likeable person. One of his attorneys later remarked, in so many words, Horn was a dangerous person, and society should not be subjected to someone like him. Horn partisans hold he was the victim of a conspiracythe purpose being to convict him for prior assassinations. However, Horn had become a loose cannon. Since returning from Cuba in 1898 (where he served as the chief packer for General William Shafters expedition), he had sometimes acted erraticallyapparently the results of a severe bout with yellow fever. He drank more heavily; friends believed he might be mentally imbalanced. He boasted of killing two suspected train robbers in 1899, but they turned out to be minor horse thieves. Yet he showed no remorse. My personal feeling is that Horn cannot be treated as a tragic character (a victim of the whims of arbitrary gods). Instead, Horn willfully went about the business of killing men for money and thus governed his own conduct. Whats next for you? The Horn project was not an easy one and took a lot out of me. I am not sure I can complete another book-length endeavor, although I have been doing some preliminary research concerning the United States marshals of Montana and Wyoming in the late 19th century. My primary interest remains law enforcement on the frontier. If I should undertake this project, it would be a sort of counterpart to my earlier work on the marshals of New Mexico and Arizona territories. Anything else you want to add? My book is not the last word on the subject; Horn will continue to attract writers, and the debate concerning this controversial character will continue. Yet I am happy to leave the matter of the guilt or innocence of Tom Horn in the Willie Nickell case to other interested parties. WW BOOKS BY BALL: The United States Marshals of New Mexico & Arizona Territories, 18461912 (1978), Desert Lawmen: The High Sheriffs of New Mexico and Arizona, 18461912 (1992), Elfego Baca in Life and Legend (1992) and Ambush at Bloody Run: The Wham Paymaster Robbery of 1889a Story of Politics, Religion, Race and Banditry in Arizona Territory (2000). Originally published in the October 2015 issue of Wild West. The third day of the Battle of Gettysburg was hot and humid. The battlefield, littered with thousands of dead and dying, bore grim testimony to the fierce fighting of the previous two days. The smell of decomposing corpses and gunpowder lingered in the air as the heaviest artillery bombardment of the Civil War ended. Then, in three lines of battle, 10,500 Confederates marched across the battlefield and surged up the gentle slope of Cemetery Ridge toward the waiting Federal troops. On the left of the Federal line on the ridge, Brig. Gen. George Jerrison Stannard and three weary regiments of his inexperienced 2nd Vermont Brigade anxiously awaited the Confederate assault. The Rebels struck farther up the line, directly to the right of the Vermonters. Stannard, seeing this, wheeled two of his regiments around the Confederates exposed flank. From their forward position, the nearly 1,500 men of the 13th and 16th Vermont regiments poured devastating point-blank fire into the enemy ranks. Inflicting terrible casualties and ravaging the Confederate flank, the Vermonters helped turn the tide of the battle and of the war itself. Stannards performance that day was the high point of his distinguished career. Stannard was born October 20, 1820, in the town of Georgia, Vermont. Educated in local schools, he worked on the family farm and taught school during winters. He later worked as a clerk and as manager of a local foundry before becoming joint proprietor in 1860. On September 26, 1850, Stannard married Emily Clark. They had four children. Besides raising his family and working at the foundry, Stannard was a member of the state militia. He joined when he was only 16 and served as an orderly sergeant in 1837 when the Vermont militia was called out during the Canadian Insurrection. In 1857, Stannard was elected first lieutenant of a company he helped organize. A tall, bearded, slightly balding man, Stannard was a commanding character. He possessed a strong ability to lead, and was appointed colonel of the newly formed 4th Vermont Militia in 1858. Stannard, the first Vermonter to volunteer for service in the Civil War, was appointed lieutenant colonel of the 2nd Vermont Infantry in May 1861. His regiment was sent to Washington, D.C., in June and was assigned to Colonel Oliver Otis Howards brigade. At the Battle of First Manassas, the brigade was held back until the closing stages of the contest, when it covered the retreat of the Federal Army. Soon after Manassas, Stannard was offered command of the 3rd Vermont Infantry. He humbly declined the position, opting instead to remain with his regiment. On October 10, 1861, the 2nd Vermont was brigaded with its sister regiments, the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Vermont Infantry regiments, forming the famous Vermont Brigade. Stannard and the Vermonters saw action in the Peninsula campaign in the spring of 1862. During that time, Stannard developed a reputation for courage and success. He was active in leading his regiment, as well as accompanying elements of other commands on scouting and skir- mishing forays. On May 21, 1862, Stannard was appointed colonel of the 9th Vermont Infantry and returned to Vermont to supervise recruitment of the unit. On July 15, the regiment began its trek south. The Vermonters arrived in Virginia a week later and were assigned to Fort Siegel, near Winchester. After the Federal defeat at the Battle of Second Manassas, the fort was threatened by a superior Confederate force and abandoned. Stannard took his men to Harpers Ferry, where they, along with 11,000 other Federal troops, were cut off when the Confederate army crossed the Potomac on September 5. Stannard repeatedly urged the post commander, Colonel Dixon Miles, to move the garrison to a more defensible position or else attempt a breakout, but his requests were to no avail. On September 15, after two days of shelling, Miles ingloriously surrendered to Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson. Upon receiving word of Miles capitulation, Stannard attempted a breakout of his own with the 9th Vermont. He surrendered only when he was cut off as he tried to cross into Maryland. The 9th Vermont was among the last Federal troops to surrender. The captured garrison was paroled immediately by Jackson, who was in a rush to link up with the Confederate main body. However, Stannard wished to slow down the Rebels and refused to sign his parole or that of his regiment. He made his Vermonters individually sign their paroles, thus delaying the Confederates for hours. Stannard and his men were sent to parole camp in Chicago, and were not formally exchanged until January 10, 1863. They were then assigned to guard Confederate prisoners at Camp Douglas, Ill. On March 11, 1863, Stannard was appointed to the rank of brigadier general and given command of the 2nd Vermont Brigade, which consisted of the 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th Vermont regimentsall nine-month volunteers. Mustered into service in the fall of 1862, the brigade had seen no action except for a minor skirmish in December. Stannard assumed command on April 20 and was warmly received by the men and officers of the brigade, all of whom were aware of his outstanding reputation. They had been very dissatisfied with their last commander, Brig. Gen. Edwin H. Stoughton, who had been captured in a daring midnight raid on his headquarters by John S. Mosby and his Confederate raiders. During the spring of 1863, Stannards Vermonters protected the supply lines below Washington as well as the Orange & Alexandria Railroad from Bull Run to the Rappahannock River, maintaining 20 miles of picket lines and 30 miles of railroads. On June 20, 1863, Stannard was ordered to take his brigade and join the northward-marching Army of the Potomac. Three days later, with less than a month remaining in their term of service, the Vermonters were assigned to the 3rd Division of I Corps. Stannards footsore men covered 120 miles in just six days, and gained a days march on the rest of the corps. When the Battle of Gettysburg began on July 1, Stannard was ordered to rush his brigade to reinforce the embattled I Corps, leaving behind the 12th and 15th Vermont to guard supply trains. The three remaining regiments of Stannards brigade arrived at Gettysburg in the evening, too late to see any action that day. The brigade was posted on Cemetery Ridge, with the 16th Vermont deployed as pickets and Stannard appointed as general field officer of the Federal left wing for the night. The next morning Stannard was placed in command of the infantry support for the Union artillery batteries on the left of Cemetery Ridge. During an ensuing artillery duel, a shell burst knocked him down, but he was uninjured. Stannard and his 2,200 men did little until late in the day, when III Corps was driven from the peach orchard by repeated Confederate assaults. The Vermonters were called upon to fill a major gap in the Union line and, with a determined charge, helped re-establish the line. The 13th Vermont then handily drove back a regiment of Confederates, saved the guns of the 5th U.S. Artillery and captured 80 Rebels. As night came, Stannard consolidated his brigades position on Cemetery Ridge and again placed the 16th Vermont on the picket line. The Vermonters, who had performed gallantly in their first major engagement, spent the night on the battlefield. At 4 a.m. on July 3, the picket line of the 16th Vermont was probed by Confederate infantry, and heavy skirmishing continued throughout the morning. Later, a brief exchange of artillery fire inflicted a few casualties among the Vermonters, and enemy snipers took an interest in Stannard. Bullets pierced his coat and took off a piece of his hat. At about 11 a.m., almost all firing stopped. The Confederate attack on the Federal right had failed, and for two hours an uneasy lull settled over the field. Then, at 1:07 p.m., two enemy guns fired, signaling the opening of the greatest artillery bombardment of the war. For the next hour and 45 minutes, the Vermonters clung to the ground behind their crude breastworks as Stannard paced up and down their lines. Shot and shell whizzed over their ranks, but most of the rounds harmlessly overshot the Vermonters. The artillery then stopped, and on a front almost a mile wide, 10,500 Confederate infantrymen advanced toward the center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge. In three lines of battle, with parade-ground order, the ensuing attack known as Picketts Charge was an awesome sight. The skirmishers of the 16th Vermont fired a few shots, then hastily fell back and re-formed behind the 13th Vermont. As the Confederates advanced farther toward the Federal lines, their right wing appeared to be aimed at the 14th Vermont. But as the Vermonters rose to fire, the Confederates changed direction and moved across the regiments front to close a gap that had appeared in their line. The 14th Vermont opened fire at about 300 yards. The 13th Vermont soon added its rifles to the fire. The Confederates advanced to within 20 yards of II Corps on Cemetery Ridge. After exchanging a few volleys, they charged with a Rebel yell. Striking the Union center hard, they charged and drove a Pennsylvania regiment from the soon-to-be-famous Angle. The Rebels were now concentrated to the right of the Vermonters position. Stannard saw the tremendous opportunity presented by the situation. Despite the risk of exposing his brigades left flank, he launched a flanking attack on the Confederates. Ordering the 13th Vermont to march right, closer to the point of the enemy attack, he directed the men to change front forward on first company. Swinging out at an oblique angle to the Union line, the regiment opened fire at half pistol range on the exposed flank of the Confederates. As the 13th Vermont moved into position, Stannard ordered the 16th Vermont to join the 13th. After the 16th Vermont was in line next to the 13th, the two regiments advanced toward the Confederates while continuing to pour deadly fire into the now-shattered butternut ranks. The enfilading cross-fire ravaged the densely packed Rebels, driving them back and crowding them toward their center. As the Vermonters began their flanking movement, Maj. Gen. Winfield Hancock rode up to Stannard. He, too, saw the opportunity for a flank assault, but Stannards men already were in motion when he arrived. Moments later, Hancock was shot in the groin and caught by two of Stannards staff as he fell from his horse. Stannard used his handkerchief and revolver to make a tourniquet for the stricken general. Meanwhile, the fighting in front of the Vermonters ended. They had devastated the Confederate right, inflicting heavy casualties and taking hundreds of prisoners as well as the colors of the 8th Virginia Infantry. Two additional Confederate brigades, sent to support Maj. Gen. George Picketts assault, now belatedly advanced directly toward the 14th Vermont. Again the Vermonters promptly opened fire as the Rebels came into range. Stannard, waving his sword and hat, promptly sent the 16th Vermont and four companies of the 14th charging into the Rebels, capturing many additional prisoners as well as the colors of the 2nd Florida Infantry. The Vermonters fell back to their original positions as Confederate artillery resumed fire, covering the retreat of the defeated infantry. During the final artillery barrage, a piece of shrapnel struck Stannard in the right thigh and passed down three inches into the muscle. Though the wound was extremely painful, Stannard refused to leave the field until his wounded men had been cared for and his brigade relieved. The 2nd Vermont Brigade performed as well as veteran troops at Gettysburg, but not without loss. Of its nearly 2,400 men engaged, 342 were killed, wounded or missing. Stannards superiors realized the significance of his actions. Major General George Meade said, There was no individual body of men who rendered a greater service at a critical moment then the comparatively raw troops commanded by General Stannard. Major General Abner Doubleday said: It is to General Stannardthat the country is mainly indebted for the repulse of the enemys charge and the final victory of July 3. [His] brilliant flank movement greatly contributed to if it did not completely insure our final success. The 2nd Vermont Brigade mustered out of service after Gettysburg. Stannard convalesced for a short while, and in September he was placed in charge of the defenses of New York Harbor. In May 1864, he was given command of a brigade in XVIII Corps and was wounded at Cold Harbor. Two weeks later, he led the remnants of his brigade in the initial attack on Petersburg. On June 20, 1864, Stannard was given command of the 1st Division of XVII Corps. His 3,000 men participated in the early stages of the siege of Petersburg, where he was accidentally shot in the hand by one of his own officers. On September 29, Stannard led his division in a early morning assault on Fort Harrison, a formidable redan in Richmonds outer defenses. Advancing over 1,400 yards of open terrain under murderous artillery fire, his men sustained heavy casualties but quickly captured the fort. Fighting for the surrounding positions continued until nightfall. General Robert E. Lee personally supervised the preparation of the 10 brigades that counterattacked the next day. As the first wave was repelled, a wounded and captured Alabama colonel saw Stannard standing on a parapet. The Rebel officer yelled to him, Well, you had better get out of this, General, for General Lee is over there, and he says he will retake these works if it takes half his army. Stannard replied that he would be happy to see Lee whenever he chose to call, and continued to pace the parapet waving his hat and sword. As the next wave was repelled, a Minie bullet struck Stannards right arm, shattering the bone and spinning him halfway around. As a result of his wound, Stannards right arm had to be amputated at the shoulder. A third wave of Confederates also was repulsed, and the fort remained in the possession of the beleaguered Federals. The two days of fighting cost the Confederates about 2,500 men, the Federals 2,272. Stannard returned to Vermont to recover, and received a heros welcome. For his bravery at Fort Harrison, he was breveted major general on October 28. In December, he was appointed commander of the northern frontier of Vermont, and remained as such until the end of the war. He later served in the Freedmens Bureau and resigned from the military on June 28, 1866. In 1868, Stannard was appointed collector of customs for Vermont. Later he served as a doorkeeper of the U.S. House of Representatives. He died of pneumonia in Washington on June 1, 1886, and was buried in Burlington, Vt., after a tremendous state funeral. Stannard remains one of Vermonts most distinguished soldiers of any war. The town of Stannard and Stannard Mountain are named after him. A courageous and selfless soldier who inspired his men with his coolness and presence, his actions at Gettysburg and Fort Harrison were critical to those two Federal successes and remain among the most significant contributions to the Union war effort by the brave soldiers of Vermont. Nevertheless, the Georgians eventually were forced to yield after heavy losses. The Federals poured through the breach, but once again, a Gordon counterattack, aided by Doles remnant, restored the Confederate line. Losses in the 44th Georgia, which had borne the initial shock of the breakthrough, were horrendous26 killed, 28 wounded and 182 captured. Company I lost 38 men out of 63. The regiment, now reduced to a few squads, participated in the rest of the Spotsylvania campaign, but never regained true fighting strength. It stayed with the brigade until the end, suffering a steady hemorrhage of casualties throughout Earlys Shenandoah Valley campaign in the autumn of 1864. It was present at Fort Steadman on March 25, 1865, and in the final assault at Appomattox Court House, where a flag of truce halted further hostilities on April 9, 1865. Two days later, when the remnants of the Army of Northern Virginia stacked arms, 62 survivors of the 44th Georgia were present for duty, out of the original 1,115 who had left home in 1862. As Captain John Harris remembered years later, The impartial historian, when he collects up the facts and figures, will show that the 44th Georgia Regiment suffered a greater casualty in killed and wounded, in proportion to the number carried into action, than any other regiment on the Southern side. After struggling over the fence along the road, the men of the 35th Massachusetts wheezed and crawled part way up the hill toward the crest. Climbing over a split-rail fence on the hilltop east of Ottos Farm, the regiment continued to advance to the right, in full view of Sharpsburg. A shellburst from a Confederate battery in the field beyond plowed into the regiment, killing two. The regiment halted momentarily, then started to withdraw. At the same time, a Rebel battery on the heights along Boonsboro Pike also fired. Hudson, once again on an errand for Ferrero, sauntered across the bridge with an order for Hartranft when a shell exploded and sent fragments whizzing along the steep hill in front of him. Two more shells burst nearby. The barrage caught Bell about 50 yards from the bridge. He had just slapped Private Hugh Brown on the shoulder as he passed, exclaiming, We did it this time, my boy! Barely two steps away, a ball from the second case shot glanced off his left temple. The impact whirled Bell around in a circle and slammed him on his side. Men rushed to his aid as he rolled down the creek bank into the regiments stacked muskets. Concerned, they asked if he was badly hurt. Bell, the left side of his face quickly reddening with blood, put his hand to his temple and calmly replied, I dont think it is dangerous. He paused. Boys, never say die, he added. Hudson found the left wing of the 51st Pennsylvania sprawled along the creek bottom. He asked, Where is your lieutenant colonel? There he is, sir, wounded. Hudsons gaze fell on a stretcher being borne toward the bridge. The officer being carried stared fixedly in Hudsons direction as he was carried south. His dimming glance hurt Hudson badly. An ugly blue bruise was on Bells left temple. Bell, a newly made friend, was dying. Hudson abruptly turned to meet Hartranft, who was coming down the road. Hudson asked why he had not advanced to support the 35th Massachusetts. Ive no ammunition, Hartranft snapped. The two frustrated officers stood there in the road, at a loss for words. They both had to answer to the moody Ferrero. Eventually, Hudson ventured, Shall I tell the colonel so? If you please, said Hartranft. Hudson jogged toward the bridge. He saw three men from his old company struggling with a very heavy man on a blanket. A quick glance at the hat and the way the men tried to tenderly treat the officer told him that the fellow was Lieutenant James Baldwin. You must excuse me, Hudson called out. Ive got something to do across the bridge. With that, he hurried to deliver his latest message to Ferrero. Lieutenant Colonel Joshua K. Sigfried of the 48th Pennsylvania, upon crossing the bridge, immediately detached Captain Wren and his B Company as skirmishers, with orders to cover the quarry and the ridge to the right. The plucky captain and a couple of his people detoured slightly to check on the Confederate that Wren had shot. They found a dead man lying beside the same tree. Captain, one of the men chimed in, that is your man. Wrens men fanned out and began to scramble up the hill. As the ground widened, the captain sent back for more skirmishers. Brigadier General Sturgis personally sent more men to assist. The skirmishers scrounged the far hillside for souvenirs as they proceeded. They discovered the remains of the 2nd Georgia in a slight entrenchment near the top of the hill. Over 40 Rebels had fallen as a unit in near-perfect formation. Lieutenant Colonel Holmes lay five paces behind his color guard, riddled with bullets. Union soldiers set upon the colonels beautiful dress uniform; one stole Holmes expensive gold watch, others cut the gilt buttons off his tunic. Captain Joseph A. Gilmour claimed a shoulder knot. Two men pulled the polished boots off his feet, then callously flipped a coin to see who would have the matched pair. Corporal Dye Davis of Company B happened upon a dead Confederate whose haversack bulged with johnny cakes. Dye coldly jerked the haversack free from the dead man and poured its contents into his own sack. He started to munch a chunk of the captured cornbread as the company moved out. A friend reprimanded him, commenting that he could not eat anything that came from a corpse. Damn em, man, Dye retorted through a mouthful of bread. The Johnny is dead, but the johnny cakes is no dead. He kept eating away. The Federal regiments down by the creek, on the other hand, acted like vanquished troops. The stubborn Georgians, besides holding the entire corps at bay, inflicting severe casualties and causing the frustrated Yankees to needlessly expend an inordinate amount of ammunition upon inferior numbers, had scored an emotional victory. General Burnside had won his bridgeever after to bear his namebut the crossing had been so delayed as to render his victory meaningless. This article was written by Anthony Buono and originally appeared in Americas Civil War magazine. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Americas Civil War magazine today! Account of the Battle Of Perryville, a western theater Civil War Battle during the American Civil War Battle Of Perryville Summary Location Perryville, Boyle County, Kentucky Dates October 8, 1862 Generals Union: Don Carlos Buell Confederate: Braxton Bragg Soldiers Engaged Union Army: 22,000 Confederate Army: 16,000 Outcome Inconclusive Casualties Union: 4,200 Confederate: 3,400 Ripping volleys of rifle fire and the shattering boom of cannons rolled over the hillsides as members of the 21st Wisconsin Infantry Regiment filed into a cornfield between two Federal positions. The troops, nervously clutching their Austrian muskets, had been in the service for less than a month. Many of them had never before fired their rifles, and the unit was so green that they carried no regimental banner. Amid the stalks was 18-year-old Christian Weinman, of Company I. Weinman and his comrades had taken part in only a handful of drills, but momentarily these soldiers would experience a horrific baptism of fire at Perryville in Kentuckys largest Civil War battle. Suddenly Confederate battle flags unfurled above the corn and enemy bullets ripped into the field, cutting stalks and dropping soldiers. Outflanked, the regiment stampeded to the rear. One of those left lying in the dust was young Christian Weinman. More than a month later, Weinmans sweetheart received a crushing letter from Thomas Allen, a soldier in the 21st. It is with great sorrow I write to inform you of the death of Christian Wineman [sic], Allen wrote. He died at hospital No. 1 Springfield Washington County Kentucky on the 9 of Nov. he was shot through the side at the battle of perry vale and we all thought that he was getting better but he began to be worse and he was out of his mindmembers of the church got him a good coffin and he was buried in the church yard and then got him a good cross made and letteredso that will be one consolation to know that he is buried as he ought to be. The 21st Wisconsin lost a third of its command at Perryville. Charles Carr of Company D wrote of the battle, No pen nor no tongue can begin to tell the misery that I have seen. The 21st Wisconsin was organized in July and August 1862 and mustered into service in Oshkosh on September 5. The soldiers likely knew that they would not have to wait long for action. That summer, Confederate General Braxton Bragg and Maj. Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith invaded Kentucky to draw Union Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buells Army of the Ohio away from Chattanooga, an important railroad hub. Furthermore, the Confederates hoped thousands of Kentuckians would rally to the Southern banner.Smith struck first, entering the commonwealth through the Cumberland Gap. Smiths Army of Kentucky then rapidly moved northward, decimating an inexperienced Federal force at Richmond and then capturing Lexington and the capital city of Frankfort. Braxton Bragg marched his Army of the Mississippi into Kentucky near Glasgow, then besieged a Union garrison at Munfordville, which gave Buell the opportunity to slip out of Nashville and race to Louisville. Thousands of Confederates were swarming throughout central Kentucky, and the Wisconsin troops knew that a fight was imminent. Commanded by Colonel Benjamin Sweet, the regiment went to Covington, where they occupied trenches protecting Cincinnati. The 21st arrived in Louisville by September 15, 1862, and helped fortify the town against the Southern armies slowly creeping toward it. On September 25, Buells legions marched into the city. The haggard and dirty veterans of Buells army shocked many of the new recruits. Mead Holmes of the 21st Wisconsin called Buells exhausted troops such jaded men! Buell quickly reorganized the Army of the Ohio and placed the 21st Wisconsin in Colonel John C. Starkweathers 28th Brigade of Brig. Gen. Lovell H. Rousseaus division of Maj. Gen. Alexander McCooks 1st Corps. The brigade included three other infantry regiments, the 24th Illinois, 79th Pennsylvania and 1st Wisconsin. Two artillery batteries the 4th Indiana Light Artillery, commanded by Captain Asahel Bush, and Battery A of the Kentucky Light Artillery, led by Captain David Stone were also attached to Starkweathers command. The brigade numbered approximately 2,500 men. Buell prepared to drive the Confederates from Kentucky. Knowing that Smiths command was near Frankfort, Buell sent more than 18,000 Union troops toward the capital as a diversion. The majority of his command, numbering nearly 58,000 men, barreled toward Bardstown and Braggs forces. The 21st Wisconsin joined the advance on Bardstown. The troops suffered from a severe drought that plagued central Kentucky. As most streams, creeks and wells were completely dry, the soldiers drank from stagnant, fetid ponds. Mead Holmes recalled that men shared the water with wallowing hogs. He remarked that many times when he finished drinking, A deep sediment remains in the bottom of the cup. As the campaign continued, soldiers suffered from dysentery, typhoid and other ailments. To take advantage of an adequate water supply and extensive road network, Braggs Confederates withdrew to Perryville when Buells soldiers converged upon Bardstown. The Union army doggedly continued the march to Perryville in the heat and dust of that drought-stricken October. Rousseaus division left Mackville, 10 miles north of Perryville, early on the morning of October 8. Colonel Sweet was ill and rode in an ambulance, so Major Frederick Shumacher assumed command of the regiment. As they neared Perryville, the faint rumble of cannon fire crackled in the distance, which the inexperienced troops thought was distant thunder. A spattering of musketry could also be heard as they moved down the Mackville Road. The regiment was marching into battle.Starkweathers brigade arrived on the battlefield at 1:30 p.m. Major General McCooks rookie 1st Corps was strung out in battle lines two miles north of Perryville. Earlier, these troops had seen immense clouds of dust rising from the town, and Union officers mistakenly believed that the Confederates were retreating. Therefore, McCooks corps was surprised when Braggs 18,000 Southerners attacked. As Starkweathers regiments filed into position, the lead Confederate brigade, commanded by Brig. Gen. Daniel S. Donelson, moved against the northern end of McCooks line. With Union artillery pounding Donelsons advance, Starkweather formed his troops to face the enemys right flank. He placed most of his command on a narrow ridge 300 yards behind the Union left flank, where a brigade of green troops commanded by Brig. Gen. William R. Terrill anchored the northern end of McCooks line. Immediately at the base of the ridge was the Benton Road, which curled around the southern end of the hill. On the crest of the steep ridge (today known as Starkweathers Hill), Colonel Starkweather placed his two artillery batteries. Bushs guns held the left, while Stones Kentucky battery anchored the right. The 12 guns were crammed on the narrow hill with their wheels nearly touching. The 21st was the last of Starkweathers brigade to arrive on the field. Reaching Starkweathers position, the men were told to enter a cornfield located in a ravine on the east side of the Benton Road. While Starkweather gave the order,it appeared that his division commander, Rousseau, had made the decision to place the Wisconsin troops in the cornfield, between two groups of Union soldiers. Terrills brigade, on a hill to the front, fired at the advancing Confederates. Behind the Wisconsin troops, Starkweathers other regiments held the ridge. Members of the regiment later condemned their commanders for ordering them into this ravine between the two hills. It was a deadly decision. Since several hundred of the inexperienced troops had dropped out during the long, hot march, and also due to the fact that Companies B and C were in the rear guarding the ammunition train, the exhausted regiment numbered 400-500 men. Intense gunfire on the ridge 300 yards east of the ravine portended the defeat of Terrills brigade. While Terrills infantrymen and the eight guns commanded by Lieutenant Charles Parsons fired upon Donelsons Confederates, another Southern brigade, led by Brig. Gen. George E. Maney, consisting of the 1st, 6th, 9th and 27th Tennessee Infantry regiments along with the 41st Georgia Infantry about 1,500 men in all marched toward Terrills position. Parsons wheeled his eight guns toward Maneys troops, and the ground shook as they blasted the Southerners. Lieutenant Colonel William Frierson of the 27th Tennessee wrote: Such a storm of shell, grape, canister, and Mini balls was turned loose upon us as no troops scarcely ever before encountered. Large boughs were torn from the trees, the trees themselves shattered as if by lightning, and the ground plowed in deep furrows. Terrill, absorbed with the action of the guns, unwittingly ordered the raw 123rd Illinois Infantry Regiment to charge the fence. Maneys 1,500 Confederates decimated the 770 troops, leaped the fence and rushed the hill, where they drove off the equally inexperienced 105th Ohio Infantry. Terrills brigade, shattered and demoralized, raced toward the west with Maneys brigade hot on their heels. The members of the 21st Wisconsin were ordered to lie down in the cornfield, where, because of the high corn and thick weeds, they could not see what was happening to Terrills brigade. Suddenly, the shattered remnants of that command burst through the corn. Bloodied and broken, the panicked troops raced for the rear, nearly trampling the Wisconsans. General Terrill, dejected from the loss of Parsons battery, burst into the corn shouting, The Rebels are advancing in terrible force! Maneys men, meanwhile, continued to push into the corn, but many men in the 21st could not fire for fear of striking Terrills soldiers. Portions of Brig. Gen. A.P. Stewarts Confederate brigade linked with Maneys left flank, and the Confederate attack moved in one long line toward the west. On the ridge behind the cornfield Starkweathers troops fired into the ravine, desperately attempting to halt the Southern advance. Members of the 21st began to fall, caught in a horrible cross-fire between Union and Confederate bullets. Sergeant Edward Ferguson of the 1st Wisconsin admitted that his fellow soldiers caused friendly fire casualties. He noted that many of [the 21st Wisconsin] I fear lost their lives in the shower of grape and canister now being poured out by the batteries on the rapidly advancing enemy. John H. Otto of the 21st knew that his fellow soldiers were dealing death to his regiment. Right now began our disaster, he wrote. The 1st Wis.now opened fire towards our front, killing and wounding a great number of our own men. I saw some of our men fall forward and backward. Now was the moment to fix bayonet and charge. But no order of any kind was given. Some troops of the disorganized 21st Wisconsin had hardly formed when the Rebels struck the cornfield. As butternut uniforms entered the dry field, breaking the stalks and kicking up dust, members of the 21st fired a volley that momentarily staggered the enemy advance. Some soldiers noted that the Confederates were only 20 feet away when they fired. A brutal response soon came from more than a thousand Rebel muskets. Bullets came zipping and whizzing through and over the corn in [a] lively manner, [and for] the first time the men became acquainted with that peculiar hissing `zipp a bullet only can make, Otto wrote. Most of the Wisconsin officers were either killed or wounded. The raw regiment received no orders, and the men did not know if they should return fire or withdraw. Major Shumacher was shot several times and killed. Some noncommissioned officers finally ordered the men to continue firing, and the 21st let loose one more disorganized volley before the long Rebel line outflanked the few hundred soldiers still standing. At that point the regiment crumbled and broke in confusion. The retreat was difficult. In addition to running out of the ravine, the regiment had to climb a high fence, maneuver out of the deep roadbed of the Benton Road (which many called a ravine) and then sprint up the steep slope to the safety of Starkweathers guns. The entire retreat presented dangers, but the run up the slope was the most deadly. Otto recalled that while the troops climbed up the fence and ran up the hill, the men fell like leaves from a tree in the fall, and that as he scampered up the fence, Rebel bullets sliced the straps of his haversack and his canteen. The panicked regiment raced past Starkweathers guns. Several cried out, The Secesh are coming, run for your lives! As the 21st fled past Starkweathers hill, the brigade commander ordered the 1st Wisconsin forward to defend the artillery. The 79th Pennsylvania, which had already engaged Stewarts Confederates, was immediately south of Starkweathers primary position on the ridge. Forming with the 1st Wisconsin on the hill were Companies B and C of the 21st, up from guarding the ammunition trains. Arriving late on the battlefield, they found unbridled chaos. Evan Davis later wrote: already tired out without any water in our canteens we hasten on and came in sight of the battlefield. stampeded horses without riders tore through our ranks. comrades maimed and bleeding met us hastening from the battlefield to the rear. shells and musketry belching for the destruction and hell in front of us. it required considerable courage to move forward. The two companies, despite their fear, lined the ridge and awaited Maneys attack. While most of the 21st Wisconsin fled, the regiment continued the fight on Starkweathers hill, manning cannons whose artillerymen either had been killed or had run away. Otto, a soldier named Lorenz Lowenhagen and other members of the 21st loaded four of the guns with double canister. They would not have to wait long for the attack. The 1st Tennessee, a fresh regiment brought up from reserve, charged Starkweathers left, while the remnants of Maneys exhausted command, which had been fighting for more than two hours, attacked the Federal front. As they climbed the steep hill, the Union fire staggered the Confederate advance. According to Colonel Hume Feild of the 1st Tennessee, Starkweathers artillery and its support was making terrible havoc with the right wing of the brigade. Private Sam Watkins of the 1st Tennessee recalled: Such obstinate fighting I never had seen before or since. The guns were discharged so rapidly that it seemed the earth itself was in a volcanic uproar. The iron storm passed through our ranks, mangling and tearing men to pieces.Our men were dead and dying right in the very midst of this grand havoc of battle. Watkins added that eight Tennessee color-bearers were killed by one cannon blast. The Tennesseans withdrew to the base of the hill and prepared for another charge. As the Rebels withdrew, Starkweather noticed that infantrymen were manning his cannons. Who runs this concern? he asked Otto. Colonel, Otto replied, we are running this business on shares, but here [Lowenhagen] serves as a captain without a commission. Starkweather answered, Give them hell. Lowenhagen, who was promoted to sergeant two days later, was later killed at Chickamauga and buried in an unmarked grave. The Tennesseans again inched their way to the top of the hill, where a hand-to-hand fight erupted among the wheels of the guns. One Union artilleryman noted that the ground became literally slippery with blood as the contending armies grappled around the pieces. Captain George Bentley of Company B, 21st Wisconsin, ran a Confederate through with his sword, picked up that Southerners gun and shot another. He was then shot dead. Confederate Marcus Toney of the 1st Tennessee recalled: We had ten men killed in attempting to carry the colors. We lost some two hundred and fifty men in a short time. Our boys got so close to the battery that the smoke covered them. At least one of those color-bearers was shot and killed by Edward Kirkland, Company B, 21st Wisconsin. He killed one flag-bearer, but was immediately shot in the face and shoulder. Dozens were falling on both sides. Among the dead was Lt. Col. John Patterson of the 1st Tennessee, killed by a canister round to the head. The 1st Tennessee routed the Union soldiers and took possession of Starkweathers artillery. In the chaos, however, an order to retreat was mistakenly given to the Tennesseans, and they fell back to the base of the hill. During the attack, the Confederates placed Captain William Carnes artillery battery at the northern end of the battlefield, and from there they shelled Starkweathers position. Perhaps it was one of Carnes shells that tore apart General Terrills chest, killing him. Terrill, muttering, My poor wife, my poor wife, was carried off the field. He died the next morning.Starkweather assessed the situation. The Confederates had shoved back Terrills brigade and had captured Terrills guns. The bluecoats of the 21st Wisconsin, facing nearly five times their own number, had been driven out of the cornfield after losing a third of their force. Maneys Rebels had made two desperate charges against Starkweathers line, and hand-to-hand combat had once forced the Union troops from the ridge. Thirty-five of Bushs artillery horses were dead, Stone had lost a similar number of animals, and scores of Union troops lay dead and dying around the guns and on the steep slope. Starkweather decided to fall back. While his infantry held the ground, the colonel reported that the troops rolled back six of the 12 cannons by hand to a new and safer position. The brigade re-formed on another ridge approximately 100 yards west of their original location. A mix of Starkweathers and Terrills men filed around the guns, and the 1st Wisconsin regrouped behind a stone wall located on the northern end of the ridge. There, they awaited Maneys inevitable assault. During the fight, Colonel Sweet of the 21st had ignored his illness and left his ambulance, only to be shot in the neck and taken from the field. As his regiment re-formed, the colonel again left his ambulance and was struck once more, this time in the arm by a stray bullet. Sweet was then moved farther to the rear. Since all of the 21sts officers had been killed or wounded, Starkweather sent a Captain Goodrich of the 1st Wisconsin to command the regiment and lead it to the new position. Maneys men continued the attack, and the battle raged with renewed intensity. Starkweathers line, however, held firm. At one point, John S. Durham, Company F, 1st Wisconsin, grabbed his regiments tattered banner, ran between the two lines and planted the flag. He remained there until his commanders ordered him back. Durham received the Medal of Honor for that act of bravery. In the fray, Captain Morris Rice, of the 1st Wisconsin, captured the regimental colors of the 1st Tennessee. After the war, veterans of the 1st Tennessee disputed the claim that it was their banner, but the Wisconsin troops were convinced of it. The Confederate attack finally ground to a halt after nearly five hours of fighting. On Maneys left, Stewarts regiments ran out of ammunition and fell back, opening Maneys left flank to attack, and Union troops moved forward to enfilade the Confederates line. That fire, coupled with the counterattack by the 1st Wisconsin, forced Maneys brigade back. The battle ended at sunset, and Starkweather withdrew his battered command to the west. It is awful to think of the misery that there is in the Army after a battle, wrote Charles Carr of the 21st Wisconsin. Braggs 18,000 Confederates, who repeatedly attacked the Union lines, lost 532 killed, 2,641 wounded and 228 missing. Buells command also suffered. At least 894 Union soldiers were killed, 2,911 wounded and 471 missing. Most of these casualties were from McCooks 1st Corps, which bore the brunt of the Confederate attack. The desperate stand mounted by Starkweathers brigade against the 1st Tennessee had saved the Union left flank, but My losses in officers and men [were] terrible indeed, Starkweather reported. Of his 2,500 soldiers, 169 were killed, 476 wounded and 103 missing. The 21st Wisconsin lost 42 killed, 101 wounded and 36 missing one-third of its force.That night, the regiment passed one of the many structures that had been hastily converted into field hospitals. Michael Fitch described the grisly scene: The yard was literally covered with the wounded, dead and dying. The dead silence [of the night] was broken by the most painful groans of the wounded. A halt happened to leave the twenty-first in this yard for a few moments, where the men could look and learn the dire results of war and exposure. After their harrowing experience, the survivors well knew the dangers of armed conflict. On October 9, members of the 21st Wisconsin buried their dead. The rocky ground was hard and dry from the drought, so the graves were dug only 18 inches deep. Thomas Allen of the 21st remarked that the dead soldiers are only put about two feet deep and the hogs are puling them out and chewin them up so that the battle field looks worse than it did after the fight. Mead Holmes concurred, saying: It seems hard to throw men all in together and heap earth upon them, but it is far better than to have them lie moldering in the sun.It is a fearful sight [to see the dead Confederates]; and to think of all these soldiers having friends who would give any thing for their bloated, decaying bodies, now torn by swine and crows, oh, it is sad! The gruesome scenes shocked another member of the regiment, who recalled: Unless something is done the country is uninhabitable. It is surprising how quickly the dead become black, many lie with open eyes. One had died leaning against a tree [and] as we passed stared at us with that wild ghastly look that you could scarcely summon courage to meet. The Confederates had won a tactical victory at Perryville, but the Rebel commanders realized that they were outnumbered. Nearly 40,000 other Federal troops were relatively unengaged during the fighting. The Confederates knew that if their exhausted troops faced these fresh Union soldiers, the result would be a wholesale slaughter. On the night of the battle, General Bragg withdrew 10 miles to Harrodsburg. Since Corinth had fallen and more Union troops were threatening Chattanooga, the Confederates retreated toward Tennessee. The Kentucky campaign was over. Soldiers of the 21st forever remembered the Battle of Perryville as one of the hottest contests of the war. Members of the regiment bitterly recalled their placement in the cornfield. Fitch believed that the position [the regiment] was placed in by the commander of the division [Rousseau], and left in by the indifference of the brigade commander [Starkweather] was the refinement of cruelty. It was between the fire of the enemy and that of our own troops in its immediate rear. Charles Carr wrote: I never want to witness another such a scene. It was perfectly horrid to see men in the prime of life cut down while defending their Country, and then not to see any good results from it, but such is the case. The men were no longer green to the horrors of warfare. Perryville had violently opened their eyes. This article was written by Stuart W. Sanders and originally appeared in the September 2002 issue of Americas Civil War. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Americas Civil War magazine today! IN SPRING 1945, AT AGE 17, I volunteered for the U.S. Navy. Nazi Germany had surrendered, but World War II was still raging in the Pacific as the Americans closed in on Japans home islands. Kamikaze planes were diving into ships, killing sailors by the dozens. Most of my thoughts and feelings were with those embattled men 5,000 miles away. When I enlisted, I had no idea I was about to participate in a historic experience that in some ways would prove more momentous than the final struggle against the Axis powers. Orders from the navy directed me to report to New Yorks Pennsylvania Station, where I boarded a train with other new recruits that took us upstate to boot camp at the Sampson Naval Training Station. Soon after we arrived, we were divided into companies and marched to our barracks, as Seneca Lake gleamed in the distance. A chief boatswains mate led me and some 150 other would-be swabbies to our barracks and checked off our names as we hefted seabags and settled into the spartan interiorwhere everyone got a shock. We were an integrated companya third black, two-thirds white. Without announcing it, the navy was launching a program to upend the prevailing race-relations formula in the United Statesseparate but (supposedly) equal. As I sat down on my lower bunk, I saw that I had black sailors sleeping on my right and left and in the bunk above me. We all gazed at each other, trying to figure out what to say or do next. I asked myself what my politician father would doand held out my hand. Im Tom Fleming from Jersey City. Where are you guys from? We shook hands and introduced ourselves. Around me other recruits were doing the same thing. So began our historic experiment. As a Catholic, I had been taught to believe in racial equality, even though the Catholic schools in which I was educated had very few blacks. Our teachers said that this was because of our differing religious heritages: Almost all blacks were Protestants and went to public schools. In Jersey City, blacks lived in a broad swath of housing in the center of the city. They worked in factories alongside whites. Blacks voted in all the elections. My father had 5,000 black voters in his ward. He did favors for them without the slightest hesitation. That was how the Democratic Party worked. But relations between black and white teenagers were not friendly. One of my more vivid memories was the night the sound of thudding feet in the street outside my home drew me to a window. I saw about 20 black teens running as fast as possible down the center of the street. After them came at least 40 white teens, members of a gang called the Rangers. I had no illusions about race relations. But I knew our country would be better if we could improve them. Yet there in boot camp on Seneca Lake, no one preached a sermon to us about the importance of our integrated group. In retrospect, I see that this omission was clever rather than careless: It was more effective to imply there was nothing strange or unusual about integrating the navy. But we understood how significant it was. That may explain why we all tried to get along with each other. Over the next eight weeks, I did not hearor hear abouta single hostile or acrimonious exchange. I became particularly friendly with Jefferson Jackson, who, like the other two black men in bunks near mine, was from Detroit. Tall and thin, Jeff was a little older than the rest of us. He told me that his father, an undertaker, had kept him out of the draft for two years by pleading that his help was needed in the funeral home. But Jeff disliked people calling him a draft dodger, and he eventually persuaded his father to let him volunteer for the navy. Jeff was fascinated when I told him about the prejudice my Irish grandfather had encountered when he came to America in the 1880snot many people wanted to give jobs to Irish immigrants at that time. Jeff described a similar problem his grandfather had encountered in Atlanta, Georgia, after the Civil War freed him and his family from slavery. Then, when the family moved north to escape Southern prejudice, they found that even in the North, a lot of jobs were closed to blacks or were segregated by position, with blacks mostly in the lower paid ranks. He added somewhat wryly that there was still a lot of prejudice aroundmore subtle and sometimes invisible but still there, barring blacks from good jobs and promotions. Meanwhile, boot camp went on. Among our tougher assignments was learning how to put out a fire on the lower decks of a warship. Replicas of ship compartments in our training area were flooded with knee-high water, then oil was spread on the water and set afire. I still remember the day we had to wade into one of those infernos with a huge hose. Jeff Jackson was at the nozzle, I was behind him, and four other sailors were behind me, two white, two black. The men in charge made it as realistic as possible. When we had extinguished the blaze deep in the compartment, they set another fire between us and the entering hatch. That second blaze was frequently a cause of panic among trainees. But we met the challenge so well, wheeling quickly and covering the flames with a layer of smothering foam, that our trainers shouted their congratulations. All of our training assignments went well. We were a team. Off duty after dinner, we played softball on an improvised field near the barracks. One burly black sailor, whom everyone called Babe, was a slugger of the first order. He repeatedly belted the ball out of sight. We all wanted him on our team. Soon our boot camp days were over. After a brief visit home, I joined about a hundred other sailors on a train headed to Portland, Oregon, where I became a fire-control man aboard the light cruiser USS Topeka. I noticed that none of our black barracks mates accompanied us. But there were hundreds of ships in the wartime navy, and I assumed they had gone elsewhere. Then I realized there were no black sailors at all aboard the Topeka, except for the 40 or so stewards who served as waiters in the officers mess. When I asked one of the officers in command of the fire control division about this, he told me that most black men in the navy were assigned to work at shore bases. No one in Washington, D.C., it seemed, thought whites and blacks could get along in the close quarters of a ship. THE TOPEKA STEAMED TO LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA, where it joined the Seventh Fleet. By that time the atomic bomb had ended the war with Japan, and the Seventh Fleet had orders to become part of the American occupying force. About a week before we sailed, news raced through the Topeka about an extraordinary sight in the harbor. Theres a landing craft heading for the USS Alabama with 50 black sailors in it, one excited petty officer told me. We watched as the stubby boat pulled alongside the huge battleship, and the black seamen ascended a ladder to the deck. For the next hour, the Topeka vibrated with speculation about the possibility that the navy was going to integrate ships at sea as well as bases on land. Then, new scuttlebutt rang through the ship that the black sailors were going back to land. Once more, we rushed to the Topekas main deck, where we saw the same landing craft plowing steadily away from the Alabama and back toward the Long Beach docks. It was full of the black sailors. The tilt of their white hats seemed downward, as if a blow had bent their heads. The admiral in command of the USS Alabama, it turned out, was from Alabama, and when he saw the black sailors coming up the ladder, he had roared that no black seamen were coming aboard his battleship unless they were mess stewards. I wondered if my friend Jeff Jackson had been among those black men. I felt ashamed for my country. There would be no black seamen for a long time to come. Even after President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9981 in 1948, integrating all branches of the U.S. military, every ship of the line remained white. But the navy had heard Trumans order loud and clear, and it accelerated the integration process in certain training programs, particularly the one for aviation machinists. Still, a 1949 congressional committee report revealed that the admirals had work to do. Of the meager 17,000 blacks in the navy, only 19 were officers and two of those were nurses, while a total of 10,000 were in racially segregated assignments. The Marine Corps had an even more dismal recorda total of 2,190 enlisted black men and no black officers. Instead of issuing denunciations, various congressmen chose to praise the progress made and to express confidence that integration would gradually become a reality. Eventually, that happened, with the navy leading the way. It steadily increased the number of black sailors aboard its ships, and black officers were added through a special NROTC program. The other services were slower and more reluctant to follow suit. General Omar Bradley, army chief of staff in 19481949, declared that soldiers could not be expected to integrate as long as segregation was the rule in civilian society. But the need for manpower in the Korean War overcame such objections and changed a lot of generals minds, especially when they saw that integrated companies fought as well or better than the rest of the men in the front lines. The Supreme Courts 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision integrating the nations schools and the 1964 Civil Rights Act banning segregation in other parts of American society also became motivating forces for all the military services. In 2008 Americas soldiers, sailors, and airmen celebrated the 60th anniversary of President Trumans Executive Order 9981 by proudly declaring themselves the best-integrated organization in the nation. Seventeen percent of the active duty force was black (two years later, in the 2010 census, blacks accounted for 13.6 of the total U.S. population). While just under 6 percent of the admirals and generals were black in 2008, talented young black officers were emerging from the service academies in a steady stream, and black women were being accepted in the ranks as readily as men. I have been a pleased observer of this rarely discussed story of race in the military. When I wrote Time and Tide, a novel about the navy in the World War II Pacific, one of my characters was a black water tender first class named Amos Cartwright. Thanks to his mechanical abilities, he had managed to talk his way out of being a mess steward, and he reigned as the virtual ruler of the engine room aboard the fictional USS Jefferson City. In one of the sea battles off Guadalcanal, Cartwright dies heroically, saving everyone else in the engine room from agonizing death after a steam valve ruptures. Amos was my tribute to those days in 1945, when I discussed race and ethnic prejudice with my friend Jeff Jackson in our barracks at Sampson Naval Training Station. Today there are thousands of Amos Cartwrights in our fleet, all proud sharers of the navy word for brother: shipmate. Thomas Flemings latest book is The Great Divide: The Conflict between Washington and Jefferson that Defined a Nation. IN 1908 A BRITISH ENGINEER effectively reengineered geopoliticsand daily lifefor the foreseeable future. Early on the morning of May 26, George Reynolds and his crew struck oil in western Persia. In the decade following, the region took on more meaning to the Western world than simply a patchwork of empty deserts, Ottoman territories, and tribal fiefdoms. Yet in the early 20th century, that was what it was. One person who understood that reality was a middle-aged, Oxford-educated Englishwoman (a rarity in that time) named Gertrude Bell. In the years just prior to Reynoldss strike, Bell had become well acquainted with Tehran, Constantinople, Damascus, and the desert world of what was then called the Near East. Assembling her own small caravans, she had crisscrossed Syria and gained fame as an explorer with the 1907 publication of her travels, The Desert and the Sown. The vastness of the desert and unbridled exoticism of the Near East suited her better than the carefully contrived British society of the time, and like George Reynolds, she would leave a lasting markfor better or worseon the region. Bell initially came to the Near East in 1892, visiting family friends in Tehran. Her pedigree stood her in good stead in her early travels. The Bells, Newcastle iron manufacturers and industrialists (her grandfather had brought aluminum manufacturing to Britain), were among the empires wealthiest moguls, and Gertrude moved freely among the diplomats tending British interests across the Near East, Europe, and India. While diplomats generally had little interest in tribal affairs, Bell found those affairs and intrigues a source of endless fascination. She drank coffee in Bedouin tents, befriended the fiercely territorial and secretive Druze, swallowed lambs eyeballs at Arab feasts, and having ventured into Arabias brutal Najd Desert at the age of 46, spent weeks in Hail as a semicaptive guest of the ruling Rashid family. It was 1914, and her time in captivity was well deployed. She came away convinced that family strife would dismantle the Rashids power and leave their enemy, Ibn Saud, victor in Arabia. Unbidden, she reported her findings to a British official in Constantinople, who wired the foreign secretary to say that Miss Bells journey, which is in all respects a most remarkable exploit, has naturally excited the greatest interest here. As war threatened, she was asked for her impression of political conditions in Syria, Iraq, and Arabia. Syriais exceedingly pro-English, she reported, while Iraq would not willingly see Turkey at war with us and would take no part in it.Kuweit depends for his life on our help and he knows it.I think we could make it pretty hot for the Turks in the Gulf. Despite her growing reputation, when war came, Bell did what other British women didvolunteered in the Red Cross. Then in late 1915 archaeologist David Hogarth wrote from Cairo to say her expertise on Arab tribes was needed there. Hogarth was working at a newly formed information-gathering agency that would shortly become the Arab Bureau. Elated, Bell set sail. In Cairo she became reacquainted with the little fellowT. E. Lawrencea young archaeologist she had met several years earlier on a visit to Hogarths excavations at Carchemish, in northern Syria. Both Bell and Lawrence understood that the Arab tribes were key to the region and should be courted and cajoled by the British. Bell served in Cairo only briefly before she was asked to move to Iraq. The intention was that having thoroughly masteredthe intricacies of Arab politics in the Hejaz she should now work on tribal questions from the Iraq side, her friend and mentor Sir Percy Cox wrote. Bell would do that, and more, for 10 years to come, among other things writing dispatches for the inter-intelligence Arab Bulletin that have become legendary. BELL WAS ARROGANT, HEADSTRONG, CHAIN-SMOKING, opinionated, and generally indispensable. She moved easily in the company of men and enjoyed hosting her own social events, including the pleasant Sunday afternoons of Miss Gertrude Bell, where Frank Balfour, Sir Edgar Bonham Carter, and other British officials mingled with Arab intelligentsia. Fluent in Arabic herself and sympathetic to the cultures of Mesopotamia, Bell became known to the people of Iraq as khatun, queen. As long as I am here I can get all the new stuff [intelligence], but much of it walks in on two feet, in the shape of a sheikh down from Nasariyah or elsewhere, and when I am gone there will be no one to collect it, she wrote early in her Iraqi tenure, when the Arab Bureau lobbied to bring her back in Cairo. From Iraq, she still advised on the tribal situation, and Lawrence, relying on her reports, made signal use [of them] in the Arab campaigns of 1917 and 1918, David Hogarth reported. In 1919 Bell left Iraq briefly for Paris and the peace conference called by the Allies to address the postwar world and divvy up among them the lands of the vanquished Central Powers. Along with Faisal, Lawrences compatriot in the Arab Revolt, Lawrence himself, and others, Bell watched and offered up opinions on European mandates and the best way to move forward on the Arab Question. Our Eastern affairs are complex beyond words, Bell wrote to her father from the conference, and until I came there was no one to get the Mesopotamian side of the question at first hand. Bells British colleague (and later nemesis) in Iraq, A. T. Wilson, more or less agreed: [No] one except Miss Bell had any first-hand knowledge of Iraq or Nejd, or indeed of Persia. The very existence of a Shia majority in Iraq was denied, and Miss Bell and I found it impossible to convince either the Military or the Foreign Office Delegations that Kurds in the Mosul vilayet were numerous and likely to be troublesome, that Ibn Saud was a power seriously to be reckoned with. Even before the conference, Bell had been asked to draw the borders for a potential state of Iraq, and she had included within it the provinces of Mosul, Baghdad, and Basra. Her boundaries defined a nation that had not existed, and the mere concept of a unified Iraq did nothing to ensure its cohesion. The majority Shia were rural, seminomadic tribal peoples, while the Sunni, favored by the British and the Ottomans, were often wealthy and urbane. Tensions between the two sects only grew in the newly proclaimed Iraq, and Bell attempted, sometimes covertly but always cautiously, to mediate between the two and at the same time quell the Arab nationalist fervor for independence. Whatever our future policy is to be we cannot now leave the country in the state of chaos which we have created, no one can master it if we cant, she wrote her father in August 1920. But Britain was paying an enormous cost to administer Iraq, impelling Churchill to call a conference in Cairo the following year to discuss the future of Iraq, Transjordan, and Palestine. At the conference Bell and Lawrence successfully lobbied Churchill to support Faisal as Iraqs first king; he had recently lost his Syrian homeland and its kingship when he attempted an uprising against the French mandate. Bell was convinced Faisal could lead Iraq, but he proved a disastrous choice. An outsider, he had no following in Mesopotamia and no taste for the enormous task of uniting and controlling it. As Iraq foundered on a sea of uncertainty, Bell became less and less the great khatun. Her increasing despair was exacerbated by her fathers situation. The vast family fortune had melted away in the face of bad decisions, labor strikes, and a generally changing world. Increasingly, Bell turned to archaeology and the establishment of a museum in Baghdad to house the new nations antiquities, but depression dogged her. She was two days away from her 58th birthday, when in the heat of a Baghdad summer, she took an overdose of sleeping pills that ended her life. On her 1892 trip to Persia, 24-year-old Bell had written her cousin, Are we the same people I wonder when all our surroundings, associations, acquaintances are changed? If she had never been disabused of British superiority or its imperial mandate, Bell nonetheless had surely been changed byand had profoundly changedIraq. She slaughtered a Roman army. She torched Londinium, leaving a charred layer almost half a meter thick that can still be traced under modern London. According to the Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus, her army killed as many as 70,000 civilians in Londinium, Verulamium and Camulodunum, rushing to cut throats, hang, burn, and crucify. Who was she? Why was she so angry? Most of Boudicas life is shrouded in mystery. She was born around AD 25 to a royal family in Celtic Britain, and as a young woman she married Prasutagus, who later became king (a term adopted by the Celts, but as practiced by them, more of an elected chief) of the Iceni tribe. They had two daughters, probably born during the few years immediately after the Roman conquest in ad 43. She may have been Iceni herself, a cousin of Prasutagus, and she may have had druidic training. Even the color of her hair is mysterious. Another Roman historian, Cassius Dio who wrote long after she died described it with a word translators have rendered as fair, tawny, and even flaming red, though Dio probably intended his audience to picture it as golden-blonde with perhaps a reddish tinge. Her name meant victory. Boudicas people once welcomed the Romans. Nearly 100 years earlier, when Gaius Julius Caesar made the first Roman foray into Britannia in 55 and 54 BC, the Iceni were among six tribes that offered him their allegiance. But this greatest of all Roman generals was unable to cope with either the power of the coastal tides or the guerrilla tactics of the other Britons who fought him. After negotiating a pro forma surrender and payment of tribute, Caesar departed. For the next 97 years, no Roman military force set foot on British soil. The Iceni watched as their southern neighbors, the Catuvellauni, grew rich from exporting grain, cattle and hides, iron and precious metals, slaves and hunting dogs to Rome. From Rome, they imported luxury goods such as wine and olive oil, fine Italian pottery, and silver and bronze drinking cups, and they minted huge numbers of gold coins at their capital, Camulodunum. A century of Roman emperors came and went. Then, in 41 Claudius (Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus) rose to the imperial purple. There were many practical reasons why he might have thought it useful to add Britannia to the empire, one being that the island was an important source of grain and other supplies needed in quantity by the Roman army. Stories abounded about the mineral wealth there. Outbreaks of unrest in Gaul were stirred up so the Romans believed by druid agitators from Britannia. The most compelling reason for Claudius, however, was political. Born with a limp and a stutter, he had once been regarded as a fool and kept out of public view although those handicaps were largely responsible for his survival amid the intrigue and murder that befell many members of his noble family. Now the emperor desperately needed a prestige boost of the sort that, in Rome, could be provided only by an important military victory. So when the chief of a minor British tribe turned up in Rome, complaining that he had been deposed and asking the emperor to restore his rule, Claudius must have thought it the perfect excuse to launch an invasion. Boudica would have been about 18 years old in 43, the year Claudius invaded, old enough to be aware of the events that would transform her life. She may already have been married to Prasutagus, but the king of the Iceni was still Antedios, probably an older relative of Prasutagus. Antedios seems to have taken a neutral position toward Rome. Other tribes openly supported the conquest, but most, including the Icenis neighbor to the south, did not. Caradoc, king of the Catuvellauni (called Caractacus by the Romans), and his brother Togodumnus led an alliance of tribes to repel the invaders. When the Roman troops landed at the far southeastern tip of Britannia, Caractacus and his allies harried them as they marched inland. Then the Britons retreated to gather into a single force on the other side of the River Medway. There, the Romans won a major battle in which Caractacus brother was either killed or mortally wounded. At that point, Emperor Claudius himself came to Britannia to seal the conquest with a victory at Camulodunum now known as Colchester where he accepted the formal submission of 11 British rulers, including Antedios of the Iceni. Boudica and the Iceni may well have expected the Romans to sail away as they had in the past. They soon learned otherwise. Claudius built a Legionary fortress at Camulodunum, stationed troops there and established other fortresses throughout eastern Britannia. He appointed the invasion forces commander, Aulus Plautius, as Britannias first Roman governor. Caractacus retreated westward, recruited fresh troops and continued to fight a guerrilla war against the Romans. The ham-fisted Ostorius Scapula replaced Plautius in 47. Caractacus timed a series of raids to coincide with the change of governors, so Ostorius arrived to news of fighting. Was it this unpleasant reception that made Ostorius so mistrustful of all the Britons, even those who had surrendered? Or was he short-tempered because he already suffered from the illness from which he would die five years later? For whatever reason Ostorius decided to disarm those subject tribes that he felt he could not fully trust, including the Iceni. Established Roman law forbade subject populations to keep weapons other than those used for hunting game, but that was contrary to Celtic law and custom. The Iceni rebelled, and Ostorius defeated them. Antedios may have been killed in the rebellion. If not, it seems likely that Ostorius removed him immediately afterward and installed Prasutagus as client-king in his place. Boudica was now queen of the Iceni. Two years later, in 49, Ostorius confiscated land in and around Camulodunum to set up a colonia. This was a town for retired Legionaries, in which each veteran was granted a homestead. The town gave the veterans a secure retirement and concentrated an experienced reserve force in the new province, on which Rome could call in case of emergency. In theory, it was supposed to provide a model of Roman civilization to which the natives might aspire. Unfortunately, the colonia at Camulodunum caused more problems than it solved. As it grew over the next decade, more and more Britons were driven off their land, some enslaved by the veterans, others executed and their heads exhibited on stakes. The Iceni had once avoided trade with Rome, while the Catuvellauni grew rich from it. Now, the Iceni submitted, while the former king of the Catuvellauni fought Rome, and his people suffered the consequences. Ostorius finally defeated Caractacus in 51 and captured him in 52. That same year, Ostorius died. Rome replaced him with Didius Gallus, who provoked no internal rebellions, though the unconquered western tribes continued to fight. Emperor Claudius was poisoned in 54, and Nero (Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus) succeeded him. Perhaps to deflect the suspicion that he had been involved in his uncles murder, Nero elevated Claudius to the status of a god and ordered a temple to him built at Camulodunum. Now the British chieftains would be obliged not only to worship once a year at the altar of the man who had invaded and occupied their lands, but also to finance the building of the extravagant and costly temple. Rome further pressed British patience by calling for the repayment of money given or loaned to the tribes. It is possible that Antedios had received some of the money Claudius had handed out, and his successor, Prasutagus, was now expected to repay it. Prasutagus had probably also received an unwanted loan from Lucius Seneca, Roman philosopher and Neros tutor, who had pressed on the tribal leaders a total of 40 million sesterces, evidently an investment he hoped would bring a healthy return in interest. Now, the procurator Romes financial officer, responsible for taxation and other monetary matters in Britannia insisted the money from Claudius must be repaid. And Seneca, according to Dio, resorted to severe measures in exacting repayment of his loans. His agents, backed by force, may have showed up at the royal residence and demanded the money. Boudica would not have forgotten such an insult. Caius Suetonius Paullinus, a man in the aggressive mold of Ostorius, became governor of Britain in 58. He began his term with a military campaign in Wales. By the spring of 61, he had reached its northwestern limit, the druid stronghold on the Isle of Mona. Tacitus described the forces Suetonius faced: The enemy lined the shore in a dense armed mass. Among them were black-robed women with disheveled hair like Furies, brandishing torches. Close by stood Druids, raising their hands to heaven and screaming dreadful curses. For a moment, the Romans stood paralyzed by fright. Then, urged by Suetonius and each other not to fear a horde of fanatical women, they attacked and enveloped the opposing forces in the flames of their own torches. When the battle ended in a Roman victory, Suetonius garrisoned the island and cut down its sacred groves the fearsome site of human sacrifices, according to Tacitus, who claimed it was a Celtic religious practice to drench their altars in the blood of prisoners and consult their gods by means of human entrails. In view of the routine, organized murder of the Roman gladiatorial games, one might wonder whether a Roman was in a position to criticize. Though the Celts did practice human sacrifice, most of their sacrifices consisted of symbolic deposits of such valuable objects as jewelry and weapons into sacred wells and lakes. For Boudica and her people, news of the destruction of the druidic center on Mona, the razing of the sacred groves and the slaughter of druids must have been deeply painful. But Boudica suffered a more personal loss during this time. Prasutagus of the Iceni died sometime during the attack on Mona or its aftermath. He left behind a will whose provisions had no legal precedent under either Celtic or Roman law. It named the Roman emperor as co-heir with the two daughters of Prasutagus and Boudica, now in their teens. According to Celtic tradition, chiefs served by the consent of their people, and so could not designate their successors through their wills. And under Roman law, a client-kings death ended the client relationship, effectively making his property and estates the property of the emperor until and unless the emperor put a new client-king into office. Prasutagus will may have been a desperate attempt to retain a degree of independence for his people and respect for his family. If it was, it did not succeed. After Prasutagus died, the Roman procurator, Decianus Catus, arrived at the Iceni court with his staff and a military guard. He proceeded to take inventory of the estate. He regarded this as Roman property and probably planned to allocate a generous share for himself, following the habit of most Roman procurators. When Boudica objected, he had her flogged. Her daughters were raped. At that point, Boudica decided the Romans had ruled in Britannia long enough. The building fury of other tribes, such as the Trinovantes to the south, made them eager recruits to her cause. Despite the Roman ban, they had secretly stockpiled weapons, and they now armed themselves and planned their assault. Dio wrote that before she attacked, Boudica engaged in a type of divination by releasing a hare from the fold of her tunic. When it ran on the side the Britons believed auspicious, they cheered. Boudica raised her hand to heaven and said, `I thank you Andraste. This religious demonstration is the reason some historians think she may have had druidic training. Boudica mounted a tribunal made in the Roman fashion out of earth, according to Dio, who described her as very tall and grim in appearance, with a piercing gaze and a harsh voice. She had a mass of very fair hair which she grew down to her hips, and wore a great gold torque and a multi-colored tunic folded round her, over which was a thick cloak fastened with a brooch. Boudicas tunic, cloak and brooch were typical Celtic dress for the time. The torque, the characteristic ornament of the Celtic warrior chieftain, was a metal band, usually of twisted strands of gold that fit closely about the neck, finished in decorative knobs worn at the front of the throat. Such torques may have symbolized a warriors readiness to sacrifice his life for the good of his tribe. If so, it is significant that Boudica wore one they were not normally worn by women. Tacitus, whose father-in-law served as a military tribune in Britain during that time, recounted the rebellion in detail. Boudica moved first against Camulodunum. Before she attacked, rebels inside the colonia conspired to unnerve the superstitious Romans. [F]or no visible reason, Tacitus wrote, the statue of Victory at Camulodunum fell down with its back turned as though it were fleeing the enemy. Delirious women chanted of destruction at hand. They cried that in the local senate-house outlandish yells had been heard; the theater had echoed with shrieks; at the mouth of the Thames a phantom settlement had been seen in ruins. A blood-red color in the sea, too, and shapes like human corpses left by the ebb tide, were interpreted hopefully by the Britons and with terror by the settlers. Camulodunum pleaded for military assistance from Catus Decianus in Londinium, but he sent only 200 inadequately armed men to reinforce the towns small garrison. In their overconfidence, the Romans had built no wall around Camulodunum. In fact, they had leveled the turf banks around the Legionary fortress and built on the leveled areas. Misled by the rebel saboteurs, they did not bother to erect ramparts, dig trenches or even evacuate the women and elderly. Boudicas army overran the town, and the Roman garrison retreated to the unfinished temple, which had been one of the prime causes of the rebellion. After two days of fighting, it fell. Recent archaeological work shows how thorough the Britons were in their destruction. The buildings in Camulodunum had been made from a framework of timber posts encased in clay and would not have caught fire easily. But they were burned and smashed from one end of town to the other. So hot were the flames, some of the clay walls were fired as though in a pottery kiln and are preserved in that form to the present day. The only Legionary force immediately available to put down the rebellion was a detachment of Legio IX Hispania, under the command of Quintus Petilius Cerialis Caesius Rufus, consisting of some 2,000 Legionaries and 500 auxiliary cavalry. Cerialis did not wait to gather a larger force, but set out immediately for Camulodunum. He never got there. Boudica ambushed and slaughtered his infantry. Cerialis escaped with his cavalry and took shelter in his camp at Lindum. Suetonius, mopping up the operation on Mona, now learned of the revolt and set sail down the River Dee ahead of his army. He reached Londinium before Boudica, but what he found gave no cause for optimism. Like Camulodunum, Londinium was unwalled. About 15 years old, it had been built on undeveloped ground near the Thames River, by means of which supplies and personnel could be shipped to and from Rome. It was a sprawling town, with few large buildings that might be pressed into service as defensive positions a smattering of government offices, warehouses and the homes of wealthy merchants. Catus Decianus had already fled to Gaul. Suetonius decided to sacrifice Londinium to save the province and ordered the town evacuated. Many of the women and elderly stayed, along with others who were attached to the place. Boudica killed everone she found when she reached Londinium. Dio described the savagery of her army: They hung up naked the noblest and most distinguished women and then cut off their breasts and sewed them to their mouths, in order to make the victims appear to be eating them; afterwards they impaled the women on sharp skewers run lengthwise through the entire body. Verulamium, the old capital of the Catuvellauni tribe lying northwest of Londinium (outside of present-day St. Albans), met a similar fate. Rome had granted it the status of municipium, giving the townsfolk a degree of self-government and making its magistrates eligible for Roman citizenship. Boudica evidently punished the town for its close and willing association with Rome. By then Suetonius had an army with him amounting to nearly 10,000 men, comprising Legio XIV and parts of Legio XX, which he had used for the attack on Mona, as well as some auxiliaries gathered from the nearest stations. He also sent an urgent summons to Legio II Augusta at Isca Dumnoniorum, present-day Exeter, but its commander, Poenius Posthumus, never responded. Evidently he was unwilling to march through the hostile territory of the Dumnonii, who had thrown their lot in with Boudica, and thereby risk sharing the fate of Cerialis men. At the head of his hastily summoned force, Suetonius marched to confront Boudica. Precisely where they met is not known, but the most plausible guesses based on Tacitus description of the favorable terrain where Suetonius positioned his force include Mancetter in Warwickshire or along Old Roman Watling Street (now A5) near Towcaster. According to Tacitus: [Suetonius] chose a position in a defile with a wood behind him. There could be no enemy, he knew, except at his front, where there was open country without cover for ambushes. Suetonius drew up his regular troops in close order, with the light-armed auxiliaries at their flanks, and the cavalry massed on the wings. Dio wrote that Boudicas troops numbered about 230,000 men. If we can believe this, Boudicas army would have been more than 20 times the size of Suetonius. Whatever the actual numbers were, it is clear that her forces greatly outnumbered his. But the Britons arms and training could not compare to the highly evolved arms and fighting techniques of the Roman Legions. The forces of the Britons, wrote Tacitus, pranced about far and wide in bands of infantry and cavalry, their numbers without precedent and so confident that they brought their wives with them and set them in carts drawn up around the far edge of the battlefield to witness their victory. Boudica rode in a chariot with her daughters before her, and as she approached each tribe, she declared that the Britons were accustomed to engage in warfare under the leadership of women. The picture of Boudica riding about the battlefield to encourage her warriors rings true, but it is unlikely that any Roman understood what she said. She would have spoken in the Celtic tongue and had no need to inform her troops of their own customs. Tacitus puts those words in her mouth as a device to educate his Roman readers about a practice that must have struck them as exotic and strange. The speech Tacitus reports Suetonius gave may be a closer reflection of what he said, appealing to his Legions to disregard the clamor and empty threats of the natives. He told them: There were more women visible in their ranks than fighting men, and they, unwarlike and poorly armed, routed on so many occasions, would immediately give way when they recognized the steel and courage of those who had always conquered them. Even when many Legions were involved, it was a few men who actually decided battles. It would redound to their honor that their small numbers won the glory of a whole army. Legions and auxiliaries waited in the shelter of the narrow valley until Boudicas troops came within range. Then they hurled their javelins at the Britons and ran forward in wedge formation, supported by the cavalry with their lances. The Roman infantrymen protected themselves with their capacious shields and used their short swords to strike at close range, driving the points into the Britons bellies, then stepping across the dead to reach the next rank. The Britons, who fought with long swords designed for slashing rather than stabbing, needed room to swing their blades and could not fight effectively at such close range. Furthermore, the light chariots that gave them an advantage when fighting on a wide plain were similarly ineffective, with the Romans emerging from a narrow, protected valley that prevented the chariots from reaching their flanks. The result was an overwhelming Roman victory. Those Britons who survived ran, but the circle of the womens wagons blocked their way, causing confusion and delay. The Romans did not refrain from slaughtering even the womenfolk, while the baggage animals too, transfixed with weapons, added to the piles of bodies, Tacitus reported, citing figures of 80,000 British casualties and 400 Roman dead and a slightly larger number wounded. According to Tacitus, there were at least two notable casualties in the immediate wake of the battle. Upon learning of the victory, Poenius Posthumus felt so dishonored by the failure of his Legio II to have fought its way out to join Suetonius in full force that he committed suicide by falling upon his own sword. Boudica, Tacitus noted, ended her life with poison. The rebellion was effectively over, but its initial success had shocked Rome. The overall Roman casualties are suggested by the number of troops Nero sent from Germany as reinforcements, according to Tacitus a total of 7,000, consisting of two thousand regular troops, which brought the ninth division to full strength, also eight auxiliary infantry battalions and a thousand cavalry. The civilian dead in Camulodunum, Londinium and Verulamium some 70,000 if Tacitus figure is accurate would have multiplied the toll. British unrest seems to have continued even after the decisive battle. Dio wrote that the Britons were regrouping and preparing to fight again at the time Boudica died. When the Roman reinforcements arrived, Suetonius stationed them in new winter quarters. Tacitus wrote that, rather than turning to diplomacy, Suetonius ravaged with fire and sword those he believed to be still hostile or wavering. His punitive policy, calculated to crush the Britons rather than to reconcile them with Roman rule, was consistent with the policies that had caused the rebellion. On top of that, a famine broke out. According to Tacitus, the Britons had expected to raid the Roman grain stores, and so had mustered all available men into the army and neglected to plant a crop. It is hard to believe an agricultural society, which both depended on grain for its own sustenance and produced it as a major export, would neglect to sow an entire years crop. But if they had planted, much of the crop was likely destroyed in Suetonius campaign of revenge. To replace Catus Decianus, Rome sent a new procurator, Julius Classicianus. Tacitus heartily disapproved of Classicianus, sniping that he had a grudge against Suetonius and allowed his personal animosity to stand in the way of the national interest. Classicianus was a Celt from the Roman province of Gaul, and he seems to have done much to calm the angry Britons. He told them it would be well to await a new governor who would deal gently with those who surrendered. Then he reported to Rome that they should expect no end to hostilities unless a replacement were found for Suetonius. Nero dispatched one of his administrators, a freed slave named Polyclitus, to investigate the situation. Evidently, Polyclitus supported Classicianus report. Soon afterward, when Suetonius lost some ships and their crews to a British raid, he was recalled. The new governor, Petronius Turpilianus, ended the punitive expeditions, following instead a policy of not provoking the enemy nor being provoked by them. Tacitus sneered at his slothful inactivity, but he brought peace to Britain. Of Boudica, Dio wrote, The Britons mourned her deeply and gave her a costly burial. The Roman conquest had brought to the Iceni misfortune that ripened into disaster after their rebellion failed. But as time passed, Britannia became an orderly and respected part of the Roman empire. It remained so for another three centuries. Boudicas people finally won what it seems they had wanted all along: respect, peace and a government that treated them with justice and honor. This article was written by Margaret Donsbach and originally published in the April 2004 issue of Military History. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Military History magazine today! The airplane wont amount to a damn thing until they get a machine that will action like a hummingbird: go straight up, go forward, go backward, come straight down and alight like a hummingbird. It isnt easy; [but] somebody is going to do it, said Thomas Edison, the great American inventor. But it would be many years before somebody fulfilled his prophecy. Meanwhile, conventional fixed-wing aircraft have proven themselves admirably, lifting tons of personnel and equipment from gravitys embrace, flying around the globe nonstop or traveling faster than the speed of sound. Helicopters, on the other had, can do three things conventional airplanes cannot: take off vertically, land vertically and hover. However, the same machine cannot match the high forward speed or maximum altitudes capable of an airplane. Therefore, there has historically been a major gap between fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters in both the civilian and military aeronautical world. The need for an aircraft that could not only take off vertically from any point large enough to allow adequate space for the machine itself, but also achieve speeds fast enough to make it viable in the fixed-wing world became apparent to military planners shortly after World War II with the advent of the jet engine. The turbojet engine pushed known aeronautical knowledge to the limits. For the first time since the Wright brothers lifted off in the Wright Flyer at Kill Devil Hill, airplanes had reached the point where they required great lengths of hard smooth-surfaced runway to both take off and land. And for naval aviation, stream-driven catapults were required in addition to the carriers forward speed to provide sufficient speed to launch aircraft. The gap between helicopters and airplanes widened significantly. To fill this gap, engineers attacked the problem of combining the advantages of the helicopter with those of the airplane: vertical takeoff and landing capabilities plus speed. For this, a completely new aircraft was required a machine that utilized wings instead of rotor blades, and was powered by both vertical and aft thrust. With these requirements in mind, Rolls Royce in 1953 created a machine it referred to as the Thrust Measurement Rig to test the principles of vertical flight utilizing the thrust provided by turbojet engines. It was an odd contraption fitted with two Rolls Royce turbojets mounted horizontally, with their jets vectored vertically downward to provide the thrust required to lift the device. Resembling a box construction of welded steel tubing, the machine, although it had no wings and could not achieve the speeds of an airplane, did provide a great deal of information concerning the capabilities of the turbine engine. The experiment of vectored jet thrust was successful and the machine, nicknamed the Flying Bedstead, completed more than 500 hovering flights to prove the viability of flying by thrust alone. Then, in 1957, the French SNECMA design team successfully flew an Attouste jet-engine-powered oddity that resembled a futuristic rocket ship. With the vertically mounted engine being the main section of fuselage, supported by four fin-shaped supports of tubing, this unusual machine strangely resembling a 1950s rocket to Mars rose vertically and hovered to dangerous heights successfully on several occasions. In America, the Doke VZ 40A, a more conventional design that resembled an airplane with a shrouded propeller mounted at each wing tip, hovered effortlessly and managed forward flight with a semblance of controllability. Yet, because of lack of financing, it faded into obscurity as another noble effort that died in development. Meanwhile, the Chrysler Corporation, with its great number of government contacts and massive capability to finance experimentation, developed the Flying Jeep. This futuristic machine consisted of two shrouded fans connected by a short airframe upon which the pilot/driver was accommodated. The thrust of the fans could be directed through a system of controllable vanes. It hovered and moved about remarkably well, but the U.S. Army, although impressed, failed to adopt the vehicle into its inventory. Other machines followed. The German Dornier Do-31, another airplane look-alike that utilized both lift engines and vector-thrust, and the Ryan tail-sitting X-13 Vertijet taught engineers valuable lessons. During the same period, Bell Aircraft conducted test of its own with its Model 65. This innovative machine resembled a high-wing airplane with a turbine engine mounted on each side of the fuselage. To provide vertical thrust, both engines were swiveled downward. Then, in 1956, Bell constructed the X-14. This design resembled a conventional airplane but mounted two Armstrong Siddeley Viper engines side by side in the nose. It also differed in that the engines were fixed in place and the thrust was vectored downward by way of a cascade vane system under the aircrafts center of gravity. The X-14 was so successful that it flew in text programs from 1957 until 1981, when it was finally retired from service at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which had taken it over from Bell. As these developments were taking place in the United States, the British were also busily pursuing experiments in vectored thrust on their side of the Atlantic. The Short Brothers and the Harland Company, teaming up with Rolls Royce, constructed the SC-1, a stubby bumblebee-shaped airplane powered by five Rolls Royce RB 108 turbine engines. Four were mounted vertically in a compartment at the fuselage center to provide lift, with the fifth in the tail to provide thrust. To control the aircrafts pitch and roll in hover configuration when there was inadequate airflow over the normal aerodynamic control surfaces, the lift engines could be partially swiveled while high pressure air was directed to reaction control valves that controlled the air ejector nozzles at the nose, tail and wing tips. In 1960 the SC-1 dramatically demonstrated the ability to hover, shift to forward flight and return to hover all under the power of vectored thrust. The concept of extremity-placed ejector nozzles, or puffers, to control roll and pitch would become the standard for future British V/STOL (Vertical and Short Takeoff and Landing) developments. The French Dassault engineers, following the idea of separate engines for lift and forward flight, constructed a single-test machine known as the Balzac. Resembling a delta-wing fighter, the airplane seemed to hold promise for the French when, in 1965, it did manage to hover and attain forward flight. However, the Balzac design was involved in two crashes and no more were built. The Soviet Yakovlev design bureau watched the American and West European developers carefully. Noting the successful efforts that combined both lift and forward-thrust engines, the Soviet engineers retained this line of thinking in their development of the Yak-38 Forger. This machine, powered by no less than three engines two to provide hover thrust and one for forward flight proved successful and entered operational service with the Soviet Navy. First seen by the West in 1976 on the flight deck of the Kiev when she entered the Mediterranean, the Yak-38 holds the distinction of being one of only two V/STOL fighter aircraft to enter military operational service following three decades of intense development. The other is the British Aerospace Harrier. Breaking away from the idea of separate engines to operate in two environments hover and forward flight the technical director of Bristol Engine Company, Sir Stanley Hooker, took a new tack. He reasoned that if a single engine was powerful enough, and if the thrust provided by that engine could be directed or ducted where needed, then one power plant would not only be sufficient but also much easier to design an aircraft around. His design, a large turbofan engine that could duct cool fan air to two swiveling nozzles at the front of an aircraft and hot exhaust air to like nozzles at the rear, became the Bristol Siddeley Pegasus. The accompanying airframe, designed by Hawker Siddeley, consisted of a negative dihedral, swept wing mounted high on the fuselage to keep clear of the side-mounted nozzles, two oversized fan inlets, and a ductwork of tubes that distributed high-pressure air to the puffers at the wing tips, nose and tail. Because the central section of fuselage contained the engine and thrust nozzles, two main landing gear were placed in a fore-and-aft tandem configuration along the fuselage center-line in front of, and behind, the engine. The wings were supported by two small wing-tip-mounted outrigger wheels. This combination of power plant and airframe was designated the XP-831. On October 21, 1960, Hawkers chief test pilot, Bill Bedford, climbed into the cockpit of the prototype and started the engine. With cameras grinding away, the odd-looking aircraft loosely tethered to the ground by cables rose slightly, bounced slightly a few times and then hovered momentarily with its nose moving right and left as Bedford tested the controls. No one had ever flown such a machine before and the control inputs would be different than any other aircraft. Bedford had to learn in the cockpit. A few seconds later, the machine bounced to the ground, its first flight completed. With an even more powerful engine, the second prototype designated XP-836 entered the test program and managed to switch from hover to forward flight and back to hover. The airplane now had proven the viability of the single engine with vectored thrust, and it was time to explore the flight envelope. In 1962, the aircraft was christened Kestrel after the European falcon that can hover as it hunts. Testing continued and each flight proved that this was a machine that could indeed fill the gap between helicopters and jet fighters. But the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Royal Navy were less than enthusiastic. They were more interested in supersonic aircraft and were not as impressed by the Kestrel as were other North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces that early on could see the advantages of V/STOL. With funding provided by a NATO group called the Neutral Weapons Development Program primarily funded by U.S. dollars a tripartite evaluation squadron consisting of officers from the United States, West Germany and the United Kingdom was formed to test the operational feasibility of the new aircraft. Nine Kestrels and 10 pilots were assigned to the squadron based at RAF West Rainham in Norfolk, England. The first official day of operations was April 1, 1965. The program got off to a bad start when on that day a U.S. Army pilot crashed the newest of the Kestrels, a plane only one month off the assembly line. But over the next nine months more than 900 sorties were flown, and the program was considered a resounding success. Despite the early accomplishments of the Kestrel, the RAF and the Royal Navy still showed little enthusiasm for it and persisted in their efforts to acquire a supersonic aircraft. Hawker began working on the P-1154, a supersonic derivation of Kestrel to be known as the Harrier (after a large hovering falcon). Built in October 1964, the Harrier, along with two other aircraft projects, fell victim to budget cutting by the government and was cancelled. Emerging from this cancellation was a new aircraft that used knowledge gained from the Kestrel tests and the P-1154 design. Retaining the name Harrier, this design emerged from the drawing board with a more powerful engine of 19,000 pounds thrust, larger intakes and improved wing and tail. It also contained a unique inertial navigation system that could put a pilot precisely cover a target at both high altitude and treetop level. This new Harrier became the GR-1, for Ground attack and Reconnaissance. When the first Harriers became operational with the Royal Navy, it quickly became apparent that the Harrier required much less flight deck than that found on the full-size aircraft carriers that currently launched the Sea Vixen, the Buccaneer and the F-4 Phantom. Those heavy turbojet aircraft depended upon steam catapults to achieve sufficient speed to become airborne, and upon arresting cables to stop them in a short distance on landing. The Harrier needed neither. The GR-1 could simply make an approach, slow to a hover, and then gently land on any spot large enough to contain it. That did impress the Royal Navy. And the timing of Harriers arrival for duty with the fleet was fortuitous. Britain was facing great economic problems at home and expenditures for both new items of military hardware and for expenses in maintenance and operations of equipment already in inventory were being cut drastically. The large aircraft carriers, being the most expensive ships to operate and maintain, were among the first to go. With them went the Royal Navys heavy fixed-wing aircraft. The Harrier quickly became the mainstay fighter and attack aircraft of the fleet; it drew international attention with its capabilities. Even the U.S. Marines and Spanish navy adopted the Harrier (the Spanish renaming theirs Matador). In 1975, the Royal Navy ordered a new version of Harrier that would be better meet the needs of the fleet. This new aircraft, the FRS-1 (for Fighter, Reconnaissance and Strike), was constructed with materials and coatings that resisted corrosion. Dubbed Sea Harrier, it contained no magnesium parts, had a raised cockpit for better all-around visibility, and incorporated more panel space for avionics. Unlike the previous GR-1s, which still served with the RAF in their ground attack and fighter role, the Sea Harrier was to fill the role of air defense interceptor to protect the fleet. But the same budget cutbacks that benefited Harriers acceptance by the navy interfered with its deployment. As desperately as the navy fought to keep its aircraft carriers, the liberal factions of Parliament fought to ax them. Although a Harrier does not require the massive deck space of a conventional aircraft carrier, it does require, when weighted down the fuel and ordnance, a sufficient area to perform a running takeoff because it consumes too much fuel in the act of vertical takeoff to perform a normal mission. By 1971, the navy had lost the battle and the carriers. Only the old HMS Hermes, now predestinated as a Landing Platform-Helicopter, remained. In the opinion of the Admiralty, this one ship would not suffice. Plans for minicarriers, Harrier carriers, and though-deck cruisers, came and went over the next two years, but only one, the HMS Invincible (a minicarrier), was constructed. And because of its size, only a handful of Harriers could operate from its deck. Things were looking very bleak for British naval aviation when a bit of salvation came in the form of a paper, written by Lieutenant Commander Doug Taylor, that came to the attention of the Admiralty. In it, Taylor described the advantages of launching Harriers with the aid of an inclined ramp or ski jump. With this system, it would be possible to carry more aircraft aboard ship because less flight deck would be needed for launching purposes. The idea was tested at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Bedford by building such a ramp on a runway and successful launching a Sea Harrier. It was found during these tests that a Harrier carrying a 10,000-pound load could take off at half the speed and use less than one-third the distance needed when operating from a flat deck. Both the Hermes and Invincible were fitted with ski jump The Royal Air Force, having a different mission, remained satisfied with the GR-1, the follow-up GR-1A and eventually the GR-3, each versions performance improved by a larger engine than its predecessor. Its ability to operate off short stretches of roadway and open fields gives Harrier the unique capability of being stationed near the FEBA (the Forward Edge of the Battle Area). This allows for a rapid response in answer to calls for air support and makes the Harrier a critical element in an air-land battle. Easily camouflaged and hidden or dispersed in wooded tree lines, Harriers can deploy where no other turbine-engine fighter or ground-attack jet can operate. The Harrier has two natural enemies, however: debris and birds. Debris rocks, sticks and small objects stirred up by the downward jet blast creates FOD, or Foreign Object Damage, on any aircraft with the power to stir it up. The Harrier, with its overly large intakes and vectored thrust nozzles, falls easy victim to debris ingested into the engine if care is not taken when taking off or landing. Further, for an aircraft that often is required to fly just above treetop level, encountering a bird can be as fatal as receiving a cannon hit. During the South Atlantic (Falkland Islands) campaign in 1982, a GR-3 of Number 1 Squadron (RAF) received a bird strike below the windscreen just in front of the instrument panel. The bird penetrated the skin and entered the electronics by where it destroyed the inertial navigation system and other electronic devices. The pilots managed to return to base, and the aircraft was field repaired by simply deactivating the systems and taping a section of aluminum sheet over the hole. The Falklands campaign demonstrated the difference in the mission requirements between the RAF GR-3 and the Sea Harrier. While the GR-3s performed in a ground-attack role in support of the landing force, the FRS-1s defended the fleet against Argentine air attack. In this, they were greatly outmatched in both speed and firepower. The Argentine forces flew the French 748-mph Super Etendard, and 863-mph Mirage III, plus 646-mph American A-4 Skyhawk. With the exception of the A-4, the Argentine pilots held the speed advantage over the slower 720-mph Harriers. In air-to-air combat, the Harrier pilots only had one trick up their sleeves a maneuver that could only be performed with vectored thrust. Borrowing a technique developed by the U.S. Marines in the Av-8B (the American version of the Harrier), the British Harrier pilots relied on a maneuver known as viffing, or vectoring in forward flight. Because of its high wing-loading, the Harrier is not as agile at high speed as are conventional fighters. But it does have one distinct advantage its controllable-thrust nozzles. When enemy aircraft approaches from the rear in a dog-fight, the Harrier pilot at the most appropriate moment slams his thrust lever to the forward (vertical thrust) position and turns tightly away. The Harrier, with the nozzles now pointed down and away from the aircraft, almost stops in midair. It then falls away as the pursuer blasts by, and then pulls up and becomes the hunter. A more decisive factor favoring the Harriers in air-to-air combat over the Falkands was the damage done to Stanley Airport by an Avro Vulcan bomber on May 1, 1982. It prevented the Argentine jets from operating from the islands. Flying at maximum range from the Argentine mainland, they did not have enough fuel to engage in dogfights with the Harriers for any appreciable length of time. In the ground-attack role, the GR-3s of Number One Squadron, the only RAF Harrier squadron to participate in the war, demonstrated outstanding capabilities. Carrying armament that ranged from 30mm pod-mounted Aden cannons and Matra 68mm rockets to iron bombs, Number One Squadron flew sortie after sortie against ground defenses. The best tribute to the Harriers capability lies in the fact that during the entire Falklands campaign only nine Harriers were lost, five shot down by ground fire and four due to accidents. None were shot down in air-to-air combat. Argentina, on the other hand, lost 31 aircraft to the Harrier in air combat with a further 30 destroyed on the ground by GR-3s. Prior to May 1, many Argentines had dismissed the Harrier as a toy airplane. But their opinion changed after a number of encounters throughout the day. After several indecisive combats, first blood was drawn when Flt. Lt. Peter C. Barton of 801 Squadron from HMS Invincible sent a Sidewinder into a Mirage of Grupo 8 whose pilot, Primer Teniente Carlos Perona, managed to eject and despite his being injured in both ankles, struggled safely ashore north of Pebble Island. From that day on, the Argentines referred to dark gray Sea Harriers as La Muerta Negra (black death) and concentrated their efforts solely on avoiding or speeding through the deadly screen of Harriers in their effort to take out the British ships. The Sea Harriers played a significant role in their ultimate failure. The Harriers had finally proven themselves. But for all their remarkable attributes, the machines that fought in the South Atlantic had been almost obsolete in design when the war broke out. Vast improvements in aerospace materials and design techniques had taken place since the first GR-1 took to the skies. Composite materials and airframe bonding methods were replacing milled aluminum and rivets. In America, the McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Company had flown a new prototype Harrier, designated YAV-8B in 1978, that was vastly superior to the venerable British Aerospace design. But political and economic factors have a direct bearing on military expenditures for replacement items and Great Britain was in an economic decline. As late as 1988, the RAF and Royal Navy still flew the same aircraft that fought in the Falklands. Metal fatigue was setting in and replacement parts were running out. But late in the same year, a new machine began making a limited appearance in the RAF and Royal Navy hangars. The British Aerospace-assembled AV-8B Harrier II, now designated GR-5 by the British, began to arrive to replace aircraft assigned to bases in Germany. In all 60 aircraft were ordered, with options for more. The Harrier II incorporated many improvements over its predecessors. It has a completely new supercritical-section wing with the main box spar produced entirely of carbon fiber composite, a Pegasus engine with improved front nozzles, a raised cockpit to improve the pilots view, outrigger landing gears that have been moved further inboard to facilitate operations from narrow roads, and a totally new avionics package that includes both electronics countermeasures equipments and the Hughes Angle/Rate bombing system. The four wing pylons of the GR-3 have been replaced by eight for the RAF and six for the U.S. Marines. In all, the Harrier II is designed as a versatile aircraft that will continue to fill the gap for many years to come. In all the variants since the GR-1, the Harrier has proven itself a tribute to mans ingenuity. Maybe it should have been named Hummingbird. This article was originally appeared in the November 1990 issue of Aviation History Magazine. Want to build your own Harrier? Click here for our exclusive modeling feature! For more great articles, and be sure to pick up your own copy of Aviation History. The B-17E was the first of the combat-ready versions of Boeings four-engine heavy bomber. But even though it was bristling with defensive firepower, the Flying Fortress was already vulnerable to enemy fighters when the U.S. entered the war. In Aviation Historys May 2016 issue, author Steve Birdsall chronicles the service records of eight of those early bombers, the B-17Es that flew into combat unarmed and out of gas on the morning of December 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor. Their baptism of fire is an exciting tale, but Birdsall focuses on the rest of the story. In the frantic days after the Japanese attack, a unique camouflage pattern was applied to the bombers that has come to be called the Hawaiian Air Depot scheme. Our build will be one of those Forts, serial no. 41-2434. Revell released a B-17F in 1/48th scale in 1974. Nicely detailed for its time, it was popular in its markings as the famous Memphis Belle. Monograms 1/48th B-17G was one of a series of larger bombers the company produced that were state of the art for engineering and detail in the late 1970s. Well combine the detail of the Monogram kit and the basic earlier shape of the Revell, add some aftermarket parts, do a bit of scratch building and backdate the bomber to depict 41-2434 as it appeared in late 1942. Two of the most noticeable differences between the B-17E and later versions are the smaller windows along the forward section of the fuselage and the greenhouse-style bracing of the nose, which creates a slightly blunter profile. A tenacious online search turned up a vacuformed nose. The smaller windows take a little work, involving filling the larger space and measuring the area to be drilled out. While the filler dries and between sanding sessions, I started detailing the cockpit, using an etched-metal detail set. Our B-17 was one of a number of aircraft equipped with a Sperry remote-controlled ventral turret instead of the more familiar ball turret. A turret from another kit in my stash (an Academy B-25B) matched the size and shape we need. I added a little scratch-built detail to the waist positions and also installed nicer-looking Monogram .50-caliber machine guns. With the cockpit looking good, its time to assemble the fuselage and wings. Both these kits are more than 30 years old, and accurate fit was never their strong suit, so your filling and sanding skills will definitely be put to the test. After youre done with the fuselage and wings, check the fit, get it all together, and fill and sand a bit more. While the filler dries you can paint and detail the enginesthen sand and fill some more. Once the engines are in place and cowlings are on, its time to reproduce the color scheme that makes this B-17 special. Patience is key as you mask off the areas for painting. I usually start with lighter colors and progress to darker ones. Success depends on taking your time while masking, remasking and getting those colors just right. While theres much debate about exactly which colors were used at the Hickam Air Depot, the standard neutral gray underside remains the same, along with the huge U.S. ARMY marking well add later. Historians have tried to assign FS numbers, the Federal Standard numbers given to the colors used on military aircraft, to the other hues well use. Author Birdsall and illustrator Jack Fellows have come as close as anyone to nailing down just what paint was used in the frantic weeks after the attack. All these colors would have been painted over the stock olive drab, OD-41. I started with the lightest hue, a medium color between tan and gray (approximately FS 36424), followed by an almost bleached version of olive (FS 30277), a reddish-brown color that seems to be close to FS 31090 and a curious blue-gray color around the waist section of the fuselage (FS 15189). All of this was meant to break up the shape of the aircraft on the ground, hopefully keeping Japanese fighters guessing during a strafing run. Ive tried to depict this bomber as it might have looked after the garish red and white stripes on the tail and red center of the national insignia were painted out, all the while keeping in mind that the bombers appearance changed as it sat in the weather at airfields in Australia and New Guinea. TLAR (That Looks About Right) is as good a guide as any at times like this. After cutting mask upon mask using what seemed like an entire Sunday editions worth of newspaper, I began masking, spraying, masking again and, most important, waiting for the different colors to dry. With the painting complete, I ran very fine grit sandpaper over the whole airplane to help even out the finish and distress it just a bit. An overall gloss coat prepares the surface for decals. While 434 never had a nickname or any nose art, it did have the national insignia in all six positions (the sides of the fuselage as well as the tops and bottoms of both wings), and that huge U.S. ARMY marking across the bottom of the wing. Theres also the all-important tail number, 12434 (the first 4, indicating the year the aircraft was part of the budget for that fiscal year1941is left off). There were additional markings, notes that let the crew know where fire extinguishers are located, or where a life raft would be stored. These areas would have been painted around, leaving a small patch of the original airplanes color. Next its time to break out the pastels, and your various shades of engine oil, grime, and been out in the sun too long (not sure what FS color number that last one is). It may be the hardest part of a project like this to know where and when to stop weathering. Ill leave it to you and your own set of TLAR goggles to decide. Now its time for the little things: Peel away the masking on the nose, gun turrets and windows. Carefully add the waist guns and the radiomans .50-cal. Then install the upper turret, that Sperry ventral turret, an antenna or twoand maybe add a bit more weathering. Your Fort is finally ready for a dusty Port Moresby airstrip. The 1/48th-scale Airfix Sea Harrier FRS.1 (SHAR) has been around for quite a while. Although there have been some stellar new releasesand I would love to see a retooled kit!for now Ive concentrated on adding a little after-market detail to Airfixs kit. Scratch-building skills also come in handy in this project. I replaced the stock seat with a resin version, and the rest of the cockpit was enhanced with an etched-metal detail set. The other bumps, tubing, wiring, etc. came from my parts box. Note that the gun pods need some additional detail: I added a new gun muzzle and drilled out the four vents just aft of the muzzle. I also opened up the auxiliary power unit exhaust vent, on top of the fuselage, and added a set of aftermarket intakes to accurately depict what a powered-down engine would look like. An AIM-9 Sidewinder came from the parts box. Taking a break from all that fine detail work in the cockpit, I spent some time finishing off some of the smaller assemblies, so they would ready for the final assembly. These included the landing gear, the extra fuel tanks, the pylons and the AIM-9. Once the cockpit is complete, the wings and fuselage come together. Then its time for filling and sa n dingplenty of it. But thats what you expect with a kit thats some 30 years old. The Hawker Harriers introduction was an aviation milestone, but it was combat during the Falklands War in May 1982 that gave the fighter its street cred. At the heart of the Harriers unique capabilities is its Pegasus engine. Four nozzles rotate to direct the exhaust, putting the vertical in VTOL. Cooler air leaves the forward two nozzles, while hotter exhaust comes from the rear two. The rear pair should be painted a smoked metallic color, and the forward nozzles should be a color similar to the jets camouflage tone. During the Falklands War, the first group of Sea Harriers to head from Britain to the South Atlantic lost their more visible dark sea gray and white along with their colorful squadron markings in favor of overall dark gray. The new paint scheme was applied during their voyage south. With wings attached to the model, the cockpit masked off and filling and sanding complete, its time for paint. I chose an overall dark gray that fits my reference material. Once I applied a coat of a gloss varnish, it was time to start on the kits excellent decals. Though theyre thin, they respond well to a little decal softener, snuggling into all those nooks and crannies. The kit comes with a choice of markings: an aircraft from the Indian Naval Air Force or XZ457 (Black 14), a Royal Naval Air Force Sea Harrier that flew from the carrier HMS Hermes during the Falklands conflict and was credited with two Argentine IAI Daggers and an A-4 Skyhawk. Interestingly, both Black 14 and the Indian jet spent time aboard Hermes, as the carrier was sold to India in 1987. I took care of the trickier decals under the wings and some other hard-to- reach places before adding underwing stores and the landing gear. Much of the stenciling on this jet was painted over as Hermes headed into combat. Note that special care is required when positioning the landing gear to get the jet to stand evenly on all four points. Take your time with this process. Finally, superglue the remaining antennas in place, then add a little weathering, and your Harrier is complete. With patience and a little finesse, this classic Airfix kit will make a nice addition to your collection. For additional reference information, visit the Harrier Special Interest Group (harriersig.org.uk), an extensive online resource thats one-stop shopping for all things Harrier. Its always your choice how far you want to go with your build, but this site offers all the details you need to make your Harrier look great. Want to learn more about the Harrier? Read British Aerospace Harrier from the November 1990 issue of Aviation History Magazine. Subscribe today! In the final week of the war in Virginia, small villages, crossroads and railroad depots previously untouched by the fighting took on enormous importance as Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant sought to bring General Robert E. Lee to bay and the Confederate chieftain struggled to escape a Federal encirclement. Among the most important of these newly crucial junctures were the spans at High Bridge crossing over the Appomattox River. These routes would either buy Lee desperately needed time if he possessed them or push the staggering Army of Northern Virginia closer to capitulation if he didnt. After Grant finally broke Lees overstretched lines on April 2, 1865, his opponent had no choice but to abandon his positions along the Petersburg and Richmond fronts. While his overall aim was to march south and join General Joseph Johnstons forces in North Carolina, the Confederate commanders immediate need was to secure the time and space necessary to concentrate and resupply the fragmented Army of Northern Virginia. Lees skill in evacuating his forces bought him a days lead over Grants swarming soldiers, and he paused at Amelia Court House, west of the former Confederate capital, to allow Lt. Gen. James Longstreets men from north of the James River and Lt. Gen. Richard Ewells Richmond garrison to join up with the troops escaping from Petersburg. Unfortunately for the Rebels, the rations which were expected at Amelia failed to arrive, and Lees men were forced to scour the countryside for food. Worse, the time spent attempting to revictual his army erased Lees one-day lead and allowed Grant to close up with both the Army of the Potomac and the Army of the James. When Lee pushed westward toward Danville on April 5, hoping to secure rations from Lynchburg via the Danville & Richmond Railroad, he found Federal cavalry in front of him. Unsure if Union infantrymen were there as well, he altered his plan and headed toward Farmville on the South Side Railroad. Once again Lee was faced with the critical problem of outracing Grants armies who were constantly harassing his retreating columns. More dangerously, Grant and his lieutenants were striving to get west in front of Lee and bring the Virginia campaign to a victorious close. Events would shortly force the Southern chieftain to search for another means of putting some space between his hungry, dwindling forces and Grants legions. Only one route seemed to offer any prospect of success crossing to the northern side of the Appomattox River by means of the spans at High Bridge and Farmville. With the river between his men and the Yankees, Lee might yet have time to rest, feed and reorganize his army before facing the ultimate challenge of wheeling southward to North Carolina. Lees decision to cross to the opposite side of the Appomattox was necessitated by the disasters which befell the Army of Northern Virginia on April 6. On that day, south of the Appomattox near Little Sailors Creek, Federal forces exploited two gaps in Lees columns and succeeded in attacking Ewells and Lt. Gen. Richard Andersons commands which constituted the center, and weakest, part of the retreating column from both the southwest and east. After tough initial resistance, Northern numbers overwhelmed the Confederates, and Union troops bagged large numbers of prisoners, including Generals Ewell, Custis Lee, Montgomery Corse and Joseph Kershaw. What was left of the Rebel units fled westward where the van of Lees army, Longstreets First Corps, had paused. The crossings at High Bridge, including the railroad bridge and the wagon bridge below it and to the right, spanned the Appomattox River. The Confederates inability to destroy both the crossings on April 7, 1865, after the Battle of Sailors Creek guaranteed that they would not be able to fend off Grants armies. Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon, who commanded Lees rear guard, was leading his men along the Jamestown Road north of the Little Sailors Creek battlefield. Earlier in the day, Ewell and Anderson became concerned that the army wagon train, carrying supplies and ammunition, was slowing their march. To allow the infantry to move more rapidly, the heavy vehicles were directed to take an alternate route north of the armys path. As the wagons rolled northward across his front, Gordon was forced to halt his troops and let them by. No one thought to inform Gordon which route the army itself was taking, and he mistakenly turned away from Ewell and Anderson and followed the wagons along the Jamestown Road. Unbeknownst to Ewell, the armys rear guard was no longer behind his men, which set the stage for the Confederate debacle at Sailors Creek. Burdened by the cumbersome wagons, with his troops suffering from a lack of food and rest, Gordon found himself hard pressed by Union Maj. Gen. Andrew Humphreys II Corps. At about 5 p.m., as the Rebels were wrestling the wagons across the boggy ground bordering the northern reaches of Sailors Creek, Federal generals Nelson Miles and Philip Regis DeTrobriand, commanding the II Corps 1st and 3rd Divisions, respectively, attacked Gordons men. The Southerners fell back to high ground behind the creek, though Miles and DeTrobriand captured about 1,700 men and 13 stands of colors, three cannons and more than 300 wagons and ambulances. The action at Locketts Farm, as the fight between Gordon and Humphreys became known, was halted by darkness. Gordon then withdrew westward, drawing closer to the Appomattox spans known as High Bridge. The importance of the Appomattox crossings became increasingly apparent to both Confederate and Union leadership as the events of April 6 unfolded. In the morning, before the Confederates were overrun at Little Sailors Creek, both Grant and Maj. Gen. George G. Meade reached the conclusion that Lee was headed toward either Farmville or Lynchburg. To prevent Rebels using the northern (actually western at that point due to a turn in the river) bank of the Appomattox as a shield, Grant ordered Maj. Gen. Edward Ord, commander of the Army of the James, to destroy the river crossings at High Bridge. The trestle, built by the South Side Railroad in 1854, was an engineering marvel of the age. The span extended 2,400 feet and rose 125 feet. Twenty-one brick piers supported the tracks. A smaller wagon bridge ran parallel to the towering railroad trestle, and both bridges offered an escape route across the 75-foot-wide Appomattox River. Theodore Lyman, Meades volunteer aide, was suitably impressed when he later came upon the structure. Nothing can surprise one more, he wrote, than a sudden view of this viaduct, in a country like Virginia, where public works are almost unknown.The river itself is very narrow, perhaps 75 feet, but it runs in a fertile valley, a mile in width, part of which is subject to overflow. Around 4 a.m., Ord dispatched a raiding column, consisting of the 54th Pennsylvania and 123rd Ohio, plus three companies of the 4th Massachusetts Cavalry, with orders to burn the bridges. Ord considered the mission important enough to place his chief of staff, Brevet Brig. Gen. Theodore Read, in command of the strike force. Shortly after Reads men moved out, however, Lee and Longstreet received reports of Federal cavalry heading toward the spans. Lee was already beginning to think that a shift to the opposite side of the Appomattox might become necessary, and both men recognized how critical possession of the crossings would be. Longstreet quickly dispatched the cavalry units of Brig. Gen. Thomas Rosser and Colonel Thomas Munford to intercept the Yankees. The Union cavalry had to be destroyed, Old Pete emphasized to Rosser, exhorting him to finish the job even if it took the last man of his command. Unaware of the Southern horsemen closing fast behind them, the Yankees reached the spans. Read remained with his infantry at a nearby farm while the cavalry, under Colonel Francis Washburn, drove off troops from the 3rd Virginia Reserves who were stationed in two redoubts below the river crossings. Shortly after, Rosser and Munford caught up with the Yankee raiders. They quickly ordered their men to dismount, and the Rebels slammed into Reads soldiers on their front and right flank. The sound of the fighting reached Washburn, who turned his companies about and hurried back to help Read. The furious collision between the dismounted Southern cavalry and their mounted Yankee counterparts resulted in a savage hand-to-hand fight during which Washburn was shot in the mouth and then slashed across the head with a saber. Confederate Brig. Gen. James Dearing, who had led the assault on Reads right, was mortally wounded while firing at Read, who also fell dead, possibly from Dearings bullet. Dearing became the last Confederate general killed in the war. Washburns charge had been brave but futile, and his men were virtually annihilated. The Federal infantry fell back to the bridges, but surrendered after the Rebels attacked again. Rosser and Munford tallied up their spoils, which included 780 prisoners, six flags, an ambulance and even a brass band. When the Southern cavalrymen trotted back into their camp later in the day, Rosser was riding a fine black horse and carrying a new saber. It was a gallant fight, he announced to Longstreet. This is Reads horse and this is his saber. Both beauties arent they? More important than the prisoners and trophies was the fact that High Bridge remained in Southern hands, and Lee kept hold of an escape route from the fast deteriorating situation south of the river. That night, seeing no other way to shake off the Northern pursuit and rest and feed his men, Lee ordered his dwindling army over to the north side of the Appomattox. The decision was reached at a council of war attended by the most senior surviving generals of the Army of Northern Virginia Longstreet, Gordon, Anderson and Maj. Gen. William Little Billy Mahone. Mahone, a railroad man before and after the war, was familiar with the South Side line and recommended that the army cross to the bank of the river by means of the spans at Farmville and High Bridge. Lee agreed and orders were issued to transfer the army to the presumed safety of the north bank. Longstreet, Maj. Gen. Harry Heth and Maj. Gen. Cadmus Wilcox, whose men were farthest west, would continue to Farmville where they hoped to receive rations sent from Danville via the South Side Railroad. Once the food was distributed, the troops would cross the Farmville bridges and then burn them. Gordon, Mahone and what was left of Andersons Division were to cross at High Bridge, destroy the spans and reunite with Longstreets troops who would be waiting on the north bank of the river opposite Farmville. If all went as planned, the withdrawal would be completed before dawn, and the army would link up in the morning, while the Yankees stood frustrated on the south bank staring at the smoldering and ruined bridges and waiting for their pontoons. While it was the longest of long shots and allowed no room for error, Lee might yet make it to Lynchburg or even Roanoke. From there, he could wheel south toward Johnston and North Carolina. This gambit, however, handed Grant an enormous opportunity. The Federal forces south of the Appomattox River now had a shorter distance to cover in order to reach Appomattox Station, the nearest point where Lee could receive supplies from Lynchburg and possibly steal a march south. If one wing of the Federal army could block Lee at Appomattox, and another pin him down north of the river, the Confederates would be doomed. The river crossing went largely as planned at Farmville, where Longstreets men finally received some rations. Distribution was cut short by the approach of Union troops and the trains bearing the badly needed food were ordered away. Longstreet then directed his men over the river and set the bridges ablaze, successfully preventing the Union VI Corps from following him. At High Bridge, however, the Confederate plan began to unravel. The crossing was delayed when Anderson, acting on earlier orders to collect stragglers, posted guards at the High Bridge spans, who refused to let Mahones men cross. Mahone, who was in almost constant motion throughout the night, rode back and straightened things out, but valuable time was lost. Finally, the tattered gray columns began trudging the walkways over the Appomattox valley. A former governor of Virginia, Henry Wise, led his brigade across the wagon bridge while the remainder of the units followed him or used the walkway on the trestle. Gordon took on the almost hopeless task of organizing the retiring troops by brigades. Though the Confederates still spoke in terms of brigades, the word had lost much of its meaning as many of them were smaller than a poorly outfitted regiment should have been. Not only were the units a shadow of their former selves, but most of the soldiers had been worn to a frazzle by the continuous marching, fighting and lack of food. Some of the men making their way across the wagon span were so exhausted that they fell asleep while walking only to be awakened when they hit the ground. In the early morning hours of April 7, while their commands staggered across the Appomattox River, Mahone, Anderson and Gordon began to discuss the long-dreaded topic of surrender. After a brief conference the generals concurred that capitulation seemed increasingly likely, if not inevitable. Since Anderson had served under Longstreet, and temporarily led his corps, Mahone and Gordon convinced him to go to Old Pete and convey their opinion that resistance was no longer possible. As the meeting ended, Mahone reminded Gordon that an order was needed for Colonel Thomas M. Talcott of the engineers to destroy the High Bridge crossings. Gordon sent no order and probably expected Mahone, who commanded the rear guard, to take care of it. Back at the bridges, the engineers preparing to ignite the spans anxiously awaited their orders. But as the dark hours slipped away and no word arrived, they sent out parties searching for Mahone. They finally met up with him as he was returning to High Bridge from a night of conferences and scouting. With the first streaks of dawn beginning to color the sky, the wiry general quickly ordered the torching of one span of the railway bridge and the complete destruction of the wagon bridge. The burning detail, under the immediate command of Captain William R. Johnson, soon set the railroad span blazing, but the hardwood on the wagon bridge was tougher and took flame reluctantly. In any event, the engineers were too late. The disorganization and probably mental fatigue of the Confederate command had fatally delayed the destruction of the bridges. As the Confederates belatedly began to destroy the crossings, the Union 2nd Division of the II Corps rushed to the scene. Though the man who led the 2nd Division onto the field had been in command less than a day, he was well-known in the Army of the Potomac and probably among many in the Army of Northern Virginia as well. Sometimes called the Boy General due to his lithe frame and beardless face, 29-year-old Maj. Gen. Francis Channing Barlow had carved out a reputation as one of the most pugnacious generals in the Army, rising from private to major general and seeing action in almost all the major battles in Virginia. But even his driven personality was sapped by the incessant fighting of the Overland-Petersburg campaign, and physical and mental exhaustion forced him to take convalescent leave the previous August. But with the last campaign of the war clearly at hand, a rested Barlow reported for duty on April 1 and five days later he took command of the 2nd Division. When Barlow arrived at Amelia Springs to assume command of his new unit he became its third commander in 24 hours. On the morning of April 6, Humphreys set out to inspect the 2nd Divisions preparations to move forward against Lees fleeing troops. Instead of finding the regiments ready to march, the division lay in its camps with no orders given to prepare to advance. Infuriated, Humphreys rode to the headquarters of division commander Brig. Gen. William Hays, where he found everyone asleep. Humphreys immediately relieved Hays of command and sent him off to the artillery reserve. He then installed Maj. Gen. Thomas Smyth as the new division commander. Smyth was a seasoned officer who had commanded the Irish Brigade under Barlow at the Wilderness, but had transferred back to the 2nd Division before Spotsylvania. When Barlow caught up with the army later in the day and took command of the division, Smyth resumed command of the 3rd Brigade. Barlows energy was immediately felt, and the division was quickly on the march against the retreating Rebels. The 2nd Division was on Miles right flank during the fighting at Locketts Farm, but remained unengaged in the fight. Around 5:30 on the morning of the 7th, the II Corps left its lines around Locketts Farm and renewed its pursuit of Gordons forces. Barlows division was on the corps right, or northernmost, flank closest to High Bridge, and he was determined to not let the Rebels escape. The 2nd Division reached High Bridge at 7 a.m., just as the last Confederates to cross the river blew up one of the two redoubts covering the spans. The tall railroad trestle was already blazing, and Barlow ordered Colonel Thomas L. Livermore of the II Corps staff and his engineers to save it. Engaging in a high wire act 125 feet above the river, Livermores pioneers managed to save part of the bridge, but three sections were already gone and a fourth soon gave way, making it unusable as a crossing. Seizing the smaller wagon bridge, which was burning but still intact, was essential if Lee was to be captured. If the II Corps failed to get across the river, Lee would have gained the breathing space he desperately needed to continue his resistance. Eight months rest and recuperation had not dulled Barlows military skills. While Livermore and his detachment struggled to salvage the burning railroad bridge, Barlow ordered his 1st Brigade, led by Colonel I.W. Starbird of the 19th Maine, to seize the wagon bridge and hold it. The Down East troops raced across the span and secured a bridgehead on the north side of the river, though Starbird himself fell seriously wounded in the assault. While Starbirds skirmishers laid down a covering fire, the remainder of the 19th Maine fought the fire with blankets and canteens. Colonel William A. Olmstead then brought the rest of the brigade across for support, and sent two regiments along the railroad as skirmishers and flankers. Clearly realizing the stakes, Mahone threw a counterattack against the isolated Yankees on the west bank, and the Rebels began to gain ground, pressing the Federals back toward the crucial structure. As the struggle around the bridgehead grew desperate, Miles division reached the field, and Union artillery was soon hurling shells into the charging Southerners. Barlows 3rd Brigade, under Smyth, then surged across the bridge and broke the Confederate counterattack. With Miles men now reinforcing Barlow, Mahone called off his assault and resumed his retreat toward Longstreets lines. Counting up his spoils, Barlow found he had captured 18 abandoned guns and several hundred Enfield rifles. Significantly more important, the capture of the bridge meant Lee would have no respite from the relentless Union pressure. Once his entire corps was across the river, Humphreys sent Barlow after Gordons column, which was moving southwest along the railroad track toward Farmville. The II Corps other two divisions followed a slightly northwest course in pursuit of Mahone. Barlow caught up with the Confederates at the intersection of the High Bridge and Farmville roads, where they had paused to entrench. The Rebels were preparing to evacuate the position when Barlow struck their lines, cutting off a wagon train of 135 vehicles, which he promptly set ablaze. But Lees men, dazed by fatigue and hunger, were still capable of a fight. At the beginning of the attack, Smyth, who led his skirmish line to within 50 yards of Gordons rear guard, was shot in the face by a sharpshooter. The bullet entered above the mouth, fractured several cervical vertebrae, and forced a piece of bone against his spine. He was carried off the field totally paralyzed. Smyth succumbed to his wound two days later, unaware of Lees imminent surrender, and earned the unfortunate distinction of being the last Federal general killed in the war. In the confusion following Smyths wounding, an advance line of 103 men from the 7th Michigan and 59th New York were captured by North Carolina troops. But Barlow quickly redressed his lines and was again pushing after the retreating Southerners. He followed the Confederates as far as the north bank of the Appomattox facing Farmville when orders from Humphreys forced him to abandon his pursuit. In his absence, the main body of the II Corps had run into stiffening resistance at Cumberland Church, and the 2nd Division was called back for support. Though they had no way of knowing it at the time, the fighting at High Bridge, the Farmville Road and Cumberland Church was the last the II Corps would see in the war. On the following day, Humphreys advanced without making serious contact with the retreating Confederates. As the Federals drove inexorably westward, rumors of a truce began to spread. Major General Philip Sheridan and Ord had beaten Lee to Appomattox Station. Blocked to the south and southwest, hemmed in from the east, with nothing in the way of supplies or hope to the north, Lee surrendered on April 9. Whatever dim hope Lee retained for shaking off his pursuers and finding a place to move south died at High Bridge. Instead of buying time and space, the Confederates were constantly pressed and harried, unable to move effectively due to the necessity of fighting off attacks. High Bridge tied one string on the box Grant was preparing for Lee. The arrival of Union forces at Appomattox Station later tied the other. Unable to move forward or back, his men falling in battle, dropping by the wayside from exhaustion or surrendering, Lee submitted to the inevitable. While it seems impossible Lee could have prolonged the campaign much longer, Humphreys believed the fighting at High Bridge shortened the war in Virginia by at least a few days. Had Barlow not seized the bridges, he wrote, Lee could have reached New Store that night, Appomattox Station on the afternoon of the 8th, obtained rations there and moved towards Lynchburg. A march the next day, the 9th, would have brought him to Lynchburg. The Federal success at High Bridge made that impossible, and the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia inevitable. This article was written by Richard F. Welch and originally published in the March/April 2007 issue of Civil War Times Magazine. For more great articles, be sure to subscribe to Civil War Times magazine today! General Carl Andrew Spaatz is not well known by Americans today, yet he served as the senior air commander in the European theater after the United States entered World War II and masterminded the air strategy that helped defeat the Third Reich. A man of few words but strong convictions about the use of air power, he was also one of Americas most experienced military aviators. Born in Boyertown, Pa., in June 1891, Spaatz graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1914 and was commissioned in the infantry. He served in Hawaii for a year as the white officer in charge of an infantry regiment of black soldiers. He then transferred to the Army Air Service in 1915 a transfer that marked the beginning of a career that reached a high point during WWII and culminated in his appointment in 1948 as the first commander of the newly independent U.S. Air Force. Those interim years were filled with a wide variety of assignments that served as the ideal proving ground for the man who would eventually head the largest combat air force ever assembled and thus prove the indispensable influence of air power in modern warfare. His last name was originally spelled Spatz, and most pronounced it spats. That apparently bothered his wife and three daughters, who asked him to change the spelling to Spaatz (pronounced spots) by court order. He did so in 1938. While growing up he had acquired the nickname of Boz, but that changed to Toohey during his West Point days because of his striking resemblance to a redheaded upperclassman named F.J. Toohey. That nickname stayed with him for the rest of his life, though the spelling was later shortened to Tooey by everyone who knew him. Spaatzs flying days began at the Army Air Service flying school at North Island, San Diego, Calif., in November 1915. He reportedly soloed after only 50 minutes of instruction. His first assignment after graduation the following May was at Columbus, N.M., with the 1st Aero Squadron, which helped General John J. Pershing try to chase down Francisco Pancho Villa in Mexico in 1916. The pursuit was an exercise in futility, as the squadrons underpowered Curtiss JN-3 Jennies deteriorated during the mission, doing little except underline the sad state of American military aviation. But the time in Mexico was a valuable learning experience for Spaatz and the Air Service, as the United States entered the war against Germany in 1917. It served as a wake-up call for America that its ragtag air force was not ready for a war in the air anywhere. Spaatz was sent to France as a major in September 1917 and put in charge of training pursuit pilots for combat at the Air Services largest in-theater advanced flying school, at Issoudun. He found a high rate of accidents there; living conditions were horrendous, morale low and discipline lacking. He became base commander and established different phases of flight training at 10 auxiliary fields in spite of the winter mud and construction difficulties. Spaatz built up a vigorous flying program with 32 different types of aircraft, including 17 different models of the French Nieuport pursuit plane. He improved conditions to the point where he was able to put on an impressive 100-plane airshow for General Pershing and Secretary of War Newton D. Baker in the summer of 1918. Spaatzs ability to overcome great obstacles caught the attention of his superiors, even though he always maintained an unpretentious low profile. His record showed that he was a doer and a problem-solver who got results without fanfare. As a result, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Spaatz wanted practical combat experience before the war ended, and he managed to attach himself to the 13th Aero Squadron, flying French Spads at the front for two weeks. He went on several patrols and was officially credited with shooting down two German Fokkers in September 1918. After the second kill, he stayed too long in the battle area and, out of gas, had to crash-land his Spad in no mans land. The plane was wrecked, but Spaatz, unhurt, was helped to safety by French civilians. The Air Service organized the Transcontinental Reliability Endurance Flight in October 1919, and Spaatz won it flying west to east in a Curtiss SE-5. He spent the next two years rotating to peacetime assignments at San Diego, Fort Worth and San Francisco. In 1921 he was made commander of the 1st Pursuit Group at Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas, the only pursuit unit in the Air Service at the time, followed by duty with subsequent units at Ellington Field, Texas, and Selfridge Field, Mich. Along the way, he learned how imperative it was for air leaders to be able to solve technical and personnel problems as well as develop tactical improvements. He graduated from the Air Service Tactical School at Langley Field, Va., where the role of pursuit aviation was emphasized. The concept of an independent air force was a subject of much discussion among airmen after the end of World War I, along with the theory of strategic air warfare, whereby air units would attack an enemys vital military resources far behind the front lines. This was in conflict with the Navys concept of its responsibility for aerial defense of the nations coasts against invaders. The Army view was that aircraft were meant to back up its troops and not go far ahead of the battlefield to bomb rear area enemy targets such as armament factories, rail centers and airfields. To both services, an independent air force was totally out of the question. The Air Service experience in Europe had proved otherwise to Brig. Gen. William Billy Mitchell and others who believed that an air force should be separate from and co-equal to the Army and Navy. Spaatz agreed with Mitchells theories, helped him prepare his defense when he was accused of publicly criticizing superiors who had hindered the development of Americas air power, and also testified forthrightly on Mitchells behalf at his 1925 court-martial. He was tagged from then on as a courageous advocate of air power, along with future generals Henry H. Hap Arnold, Ira Eaker, Jimmy Doolittle and others. By this time the lean-jawed, red-haired Spaatz had also established himself among his contemporaries as a man who was gruff in manner, direct, unassuming yet ever mindful of the well-being of the men who served under him. Ira Eaker described his friend as a miser with words who was fond of saying, I never learned anything while talking. He had a knack for summarizing a viewpoint with sardonic, rhetorical questions that were quote-worthy and sometimes irreverent. At a battleship christening, he asked, How are we going to get it up in the air and drop it on Tokyo? When he first heard about the plan to put men on the moon, he quipped, Whos the enemy on the moon? When he toured St. Peters cathedral after Rome was captured by the Allies in World War II, he commented that it would make a fine dirigible hangar. In the 1920s, pursuit (later called fighter) aircraft were considered by many airmen to be the principal weapon of air warfare. Others believed that bombers could not be intercepted by short-range fighters, as was demonstrated by an air exercise at Wright Field, Ohio, in 1931. However, during maneuvers at Fort Knox, Ky., in 1933, Captain Claire Chennault who later exercised his theories in China with the so-called Flying Tigers showed that bombers could be attacked by fighters day and night at all altitudes. Spaatz believed that bombers were the essential nucleus of an air force for eventual victory, while fighter aircraft could give front-line aid to ground troops. During the interwar period, Spaatz made many trips to McCook Field, in Dayton, Ohio, serving as a member of technical boards and committees. The experience served to broaden his view of the problems of building a viable, balanced air force. He found that the Navy as well as the ground-oriented Army branches would be persistent antagonists in the struggle for military appropriations for an independent air arm. The Army Air Service (renamed the Army Air Corps in 1926) engaged in a running public relations battle with the Navy by setting aviation speed, altitude and endurance records that always garnered favorable publicity. One of these was the endurance mark set in 1923 by Captain Lowell H. Smith and Lieutenant John P. Richter, who kept their de Havilland DH-4B aloft for more than 37 hours with aerial refueling. Not much more attention was paid to aerial refueling as a method of extending the range of aircraft until 1929, when Spaatz commanded a flight in the Fokker C-2A Question Mark with four other crew members. By aerial refueling they managed to keep the plane in the air for 150 hours and 40 minutes. During one part of the flight, Spaatz was splashed with fuel. His crew mates stripped him down and lathered him with zinc oxide to prevent burns, after which he told them that if he had to bail out, they were to continue the mission. In the end, he stayed aboard wearing only skin cream, goggles, a parachute and a grin, according to one historian. Question Marks mission was considered a great achievement at the time. It demonstrated that bombers could take off with lighter loads of gas and heavier bombloads but could increase their range considerably by refueling in the air. However, nothing was done for many years to apply that capability to Air Corps operations. It was a given in the 1920s that bombers were always slower than pursuit planes and had to be protected by them en route to and from target areas. But by the 1930s, the speeds of bombers and fighters were comparable, and it appeared that the bombers would soon exceed the ability of short-range fighters to escort them. If that developed, it was reasoned that bombers must be equipped to protect themselves. Spaatz testified before the Baker Board in 1934 that a choice for future bomber development had to be made: Design a long-range plane for bomber escort duty or provide more armament for bombers to protect themselves. The latter choice was adopted, and twin-engine bombers were developed with protective firepower, followed by a demand for four-engine bombers. The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated B-24 Liberator were to provide the answer. The primary use of such heavy bombers would be to destroy the economic fabric of an enemy nation by precision bombing of specific vital war industries. While the Air Corps battled for appropriations, Spaatz developed a deeper friendship with contemporaries like Arnold, Eaker, Doolittle, Hoyt S. Vandenburg and others who shared his developing views about the employment of aircraft in warfare. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1935 and attended the Army Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where he encountered the doctrine that aircraft units were to be employed under Army control only as an auxiliary to the infantry, cavalry and artillery. Never fond of spending time in a classroom and not pleased with a curriculum that ignored the potential of air power, he graduated close to the bottom of the class, with the recommendation from the Army instructional staff that he not be considered for future staff assignments. Air Corps personnel officers ignored that recommendation. His next assignment was to Langley Field, Va., for a 2 1/2-year tour with the 2nd Wing of the General Headquarters Air Force, organized as a separate combat arm within the Air Corps. This was the premier unit of bombers, pursuit and reconnaissance aircraft that was developing training, logistical and technical improvements as the basis for future operations. At that juncture the first Flying Fortresses were being delivered, and Spaatz was aboard the first one to land at Langley Field in 1937. In November 1938 his friend Hap Arnold, now a major general and chief of the Army Air Corps, transferred Spaatz to Washington as chief of plans to prepare for the expansion of the military forces for a war in Europe that started when Adolf Hitlers forces invaded Poland in September 1939. Promoted to colonel, Spaatz went to England in mid-1940 as an observer during the Battle of Britain. His enthusiasm for the development of strategic bombardment grew with emphasis on precision high-altitude daylight bombing as the principal means to conquer the Nazi juggernaut that was overwhelming France. That concept had to be tested and proved. The Army Air Corps was renamed the Army Air Forces in June 1941, and Arnold appointed Spaatz, promoted to brigadier general, as the first chief of the Air Staff. It was a vital assignment in which he oversaw the construction of airfields, the training of aircrews and the innumerable logistical details that had to be accomplished to build an expanded air arm. After Pearl Harbor thrust the United States directly into the war on a global scale, the Eighth Air Force was established on January 28, 1942, and a small group of officers moved to England to study the methods of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and plan for future operations from English bases. Spaatz was promoted to major general and assigned to head the Eighth with Brig. Gen. Ira Eaker as his deputy. When he arrived in England, Spaatz let it be known that the Eighth Air Force would be committed to daylight bombing efforts, despite the RAF and the Luftwaffe having converted their bombing operations to night missions because of the unbearably heavy losses to fighters and anti-aircraft fire in daytime. There was much official and unofficial criticism, but Spaatz and Eaker would not be dissuaded. The decision was made: The Eighth would precision-bomb by day, and the RAF would area-bomb by night. The initial target priorities were: German submarine construction yards and pens Germanys aircraft industry and the Luftwaffe Transportation Oil plants Other targets in the enemys war industries This general order was followed until the end of the war but was altered when circumstances required. Two heavy bomb groups had arrived in England by August 1, 1942. They successfully flew their first mission on August 17, taking no casualties. It was followed with three more attacks. Although there was much enthusiasm over the results, the jubilation was short-lived; at that juncture the 12th Bomber Command was being formed in North Africa, and the Eighth was being depleted to supply it with planes and crews. Priority had been given to supporting the Allied armies in their efforts to drive the Axis forces out of North Africa. The Anglo-American forces invaded North Africa on November 8, 1942, with General Dwight D. Eisenhower in command. Spaatz was promoted to three-star rank and assumed command of all American air forces in the European theater; Eaker became commander of the Eighth. Spaatz faced many difficulties in his new assignment, not only with the enemy but also with the coordination of RAF and American Air Forces operations. The solution was to integrate the American and British air operations as quickly as possible. Of course, the French air force also had to be included after their surrender. The Northwest African Air Force and the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces were created to solve the question of operational control of the air effort during the African and Mediterranean campaigns. They contributed much to the surrender of Axis forces in North Africa and the invasion of Italy. Meanwhile, Spaatz was thinking in terms of having two major strategic air forces established to attack the war-making German infrastructure from two general directions: the Eighth from England and the Fifteenth from Italy. The Eighth would concentrate on transportation, supply and manufacturing targets in France and Germany; the Fifteenth could attack the vital oil fields in Romania. Spaatzs proposal was approved by the Combined Chiefs of Staff. Spaatz was transferred to England after the German surrender in North Africa to command the U.S. Strategic Air Forces. Eaker was transferred to the Mediterranean, and Doolittle, who had commanded the Twelfth Air Force there and then briefly the Fifteenth, was assigned as commander of the Eighth. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill had decided that the invasion of German-held Europe would be made across the English Channel to the French coast. If the strategic air power concept was to be proved in that offensive, it would be by attacking and destroying targets deep inside Germany, thus depriving the enemy of the supplies needed to confront the invading Allied forces. The bombers and their escorting fighters would have to penetrate fierce anti-aircraft fire and a strong shield of Luftwaffe fighters to reach German supporting facilities. The key to a successful policy of daylight precision bombing was the introduction of long-range fighters that could escort B-17s and B-24s to those targets in Germany and back. When the Americans arrived in England, the range of their Bell P-39 Airacobras and Curtiss P-40s was only 150 miles. Later, the early models of the Lockheed P-38 Lightnings and Republic P-47s could only escort 350 and 250 miles, respectively. Drop tanks later added more range, but not enough. It was the North American P-51 Mustangs, with an 850-mile range from their English bases, that made a significant difference. They could escort the bombers all the way to Berlin. Field Marshal Hermann Gring reportedly admitted later that when he first saw Mustangs over Berlin, he knew Germany had lost the war. Soon after Doolittle arrived to take over the Eighth Air Force, he sought Spaatzs approval to change the procedures followed by the escorting fighters. Their original assignment was to protect the bombers on the way to and from their targets and not leave them, but Doolittle envisioned a more aggressive role. Doolittle stated his rationale for the change in his memoirs: Fighter pilots are usually pugnacious individuals by nature and are trained to be aggressive in the air. Their machines are designed for offensive action. I thought our fighter forces should intercept the enemy fighters before they reached the bombers. Spaatz approved of the change in the fighters mission, and Doolittle then told Maj. Gen. William E. Kepner, commander of the 8th Fighter Command, to flush the enemy out in the air and beat them up on the ground on the way home. The first priority of the fighters is to take the offensive. Doolittle said it was the most important and far-reaching decision he made, and Spaatz endorsed, during the war. The fighters altered mission was controversial because the bomber crews thought they were being abandoned, but it proved to be a turning point as the subsequent air battles began to decimate the Luftwaffe trained pilot force. Gring said it was demoralizing when the umbrella fighters, after escorting the bombers, would swoop down and hit everything, including the jet planes in process of landing. Meanwhile, Spaatz launched ever larger bomber forces against Germany. Most noteworthy was the period of February 20-25, 1944, known as the Big Week, in which the enemy aircraft industry was the major target for the Eighth Air Force. More than 3,800 bombers were engaged, and more than 800 U.S. fighters, plus fighters from 16 RAF squadrons, headed for 12 major assembly and component manufacturing plants. The Allied losses that week totaled 226 bombers and 28 fighters versus more than 600 German fighters. The results were a conspicuous success, according to Spaatz in a report to Washington. The intensive campaign crippled the Luftwaffe and drained strength from the Eastern Front, helping the advancing Red Army. Meanwhile, continuing blows against the oil industry targets by the Fifteenth Air Force proved the wisdom of attacking that target category. Plans for the invasion could now proceed, with Allied forces expecting to gain air supremacy over the French beaches. But there was much more strategic work to be done after the invasion began. General Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied forces, believed destruction of the German rail system should be given priority, to hamper transportation of supplies and ground troops to the battle areas in France. Spaatz, however, thought the synthetic oil industry should be given priority, because he believed its destruction would bring the German war machine to a halt much sooner. The British, on the other hand, wanted Spaatz to divert his forces to bomb the German launch sites from which V-1 missiles were being fired at England. The result was a compromise. Two attacks were made on synthetic oil refineries before the invasion, then V-1 and V-2 missile sites were bombed after D-Day, followed by an attack on the large rail yards at Hamm, a vital German marshaling center. Secret German messages intercepted by the Allies showed that the greatest impact was caused by the strikes against the oil targets. The Luftwaffe found it could not fly at will, and the armys panzers were being stalled in their tracks. Thus, the oil industry stood as a primary target for the rest of the war. By the fall of 1944, the combined British and American air power strength totaled 14,700 aircraft, including 4,700 fighters, 6,000 medium and heavy bombers, and 4,000 planes of other types, such as troop carriers and utility-type aircraft. Despite the introduction of German Messerschmitt Me-262 jet-powered and Me-163 rocket-powered interceptors that startled the Allies, the growing Allied air forces against them were overwhelming. By April 1945, there were few strategic targets left. Allied aircraft roamed all over Germany at will and turned to helping the ground forces clear the roads to Berlin. Spaatz knew that his insistence on following the principle of strategic air warfare, as he saw it, had paid off. However, it could not have won this war alone, he said, without the surface forces. It was won by the coordination of land, sea and air forces. Air power, however, was the spark of success in Europe. Spaatz was present when the Germans surrendered at Reims on May 7, 1945, and two days later when they surrendered to the Russians in Berlin. But the war was not over for Tooey Spaatz. He and his staff had been developing plans to redeploy American air forces in Europe to the Pacific. Transfer of aircraft and personnel of the Eighth Air Force began on May 20, 1945. Spaatz returned home briefly to take part in victory celebrations in Philadelphia and Reading, Pa. He then returned to England, expecting to manage the demobilization effort there, but General Arnold was not satisfied with the way things were going in the Pacific and ordered Spaatz to return to Washington. Meanwhile, the atomic bomb had been successfully tested and plans were being made to use it against Japan. Spaatz was briefed on the weapon and was assigned to help work out details on how it would be used if the Japanese did not surrender. But there was a question of command in the Pacific. American forces were commanded by General Douglas MacArthur in the South Pacific and Admiral Chester Nimitz in the Central Pacific. The challenge facing the Americans in the Far East was far different from the air and ground war in Europe. There was much more Navy involvement there, and a different set of personalities were in charge. The question was: Who would control the air power effort against the Japanese homeland? One of the main concepts that General Arnold had adopted for the employment of strategic and tactical air power was that it should be centrally controlled and not fragmented among ground and sea commanders. To avoid the question of who should exercise control of the Boeing B-29 Superfortresses assigned to the Twentieth Air Force MacArthur or Nimitz Arnold persuaded the Joint Chiefs of Staff that he should control their operations from Washington. Spaatz was the man he chose to manage the operations of the U.S. Army Strategic Air Forces in the Far East and report directly to him. His mission was to conduct land-based strategic air operations against Japan, meant to progressively destroy and dislocate the countrys military, industrial and economic system to a point where her capacity for armed resistance was fatally weakened. The B-29s had been operating first from India and China beginning in 1943, but without good results. They were then sent to Guam, Tinian and Saipan in the Marianas as those areas became available. The hope was that their use would compel the Japanese to surrender without an invasion by ground and sea forces. If not, Spaatz was authorized to use the first atomic bomb against Japan, which was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. He had insisted on having a letter from President Harry Truman specifically authorizing his use of the atomic bomb and that MacArthur and Nimitz must be advised. When there was no word of surrender after the attack on Hiroshima, Spaatz directed that warning leaflets be dropped, followed by several non-atomic attacks. When there was still no indication of capitulation, he ordered the second bomb dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, effectively ending the war. The surrender was signed aboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2 as 1,500 Navy planes and nearly 500 B-29s roared overhead. Spaatz, who was there, was thus privileged to be the only American general officer to have been on hand at the three major Axis surrender ceremonies. In retrospect, he commented: It is interesting to note that Japan was reduced by air power, operating from bases captured by coordination of land, sea and air forces, and that she surrendered without the expected invasion becoming necessary. General Arnold retired in February 1946, and Spaatz was appointed commanding general of the Army Air Forces. He immediately engaged in a new battle against the Army and Navy to establish the Air Force as a separate service, coequal with the Army and Navy under a secretary of defense. It could only be done by convincing Congress that it was vital to national defense and had been thoroughly proved in war. Spaatz, meanwhile, restructured the Army Air Forces by creating commands based on major functions, such as the Air Defense Command, Strategic Air Command and Tactical Air Command, along with supporting commands. The Navy and the Marine Corps fought for the status quo, fearing that the Air Force would take over their aviation requirements. The Army wanted its own air arm, to assure that its airlift and close air support needs would be under its control. General Eisenhower, then chief of staff of the Army, and President Truman favored the unification idea, but the congressional debate went on for months, and several bills were introduced before a compromise was worked out. President Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947 and Executive Order No. 9877, defining the functions and responsibilities of the three armed forces, on July 26, 1947. The official birth date of the U.S. Air Force was September 17, 1947, the day that former Missouri senator W. Stuart Symington was sworn in as the first secretary of the Air Force. Spaatz was appointed the first Air Force chief of staff. The battle for equal status begun by Billy Mitchell after WWI had finally been won. Spaatz immediately began to make the organization work. He had successfully used the deputy system in Europe, whereby deputy chiefs of staff were responsible for operations, material, personel and administration. In March 1948 he hammered out with his Army and Navy counterparts an agreement as to how the roles and missions of each service would be carried out. Two months later, at age 57 and with 34 years of continuous service, not counting his West Point cadet time, he requested retirement. Carl Spaatz spent the next 13 years working as a military affairs editor for Newsweek. He died on July 14, 1974, at age 83. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Tooey Spaatz maintained his low-profile image to the end and never wrote his memoirs, since he thought that would be too self-serving. He is buried at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., a symbolic gesture that recognizes Spaatzs long commitment to the creation of the Air Force as a separate military service and his dedication to making it come about. This article was written by C.V. Glines and originally published in the March 2002 issue of Aviation History. For more great articles subscribe to Aviation History magazine today! Religious souls visualize hell as a blazing inferno with burning embers and intense heat. The soldiers fighting in the Carpathian Mountains that first winter of the war know otherwise. Colonel Georg Veith, Austro-Hungarian Third Army DURING THE DEVASTATING OPENING MONTHS of World War I through the fall of 1914, the Habsburgs suffered numerous defeats against numerically superior Russian forces pushing into Galicia and the Carpathian foothills in the northeast corner of Austria-Hungary. In early November 1914, for the second time in as many months, the Russians had besieged the venerable Fortress Przemysl, an enormous but obsolete 1854 stronghold on the San River that blocked the northern entrance to the Carpathians. The Russians bottled up the Austro-Hungarian garrison and utilized the region around it as a staging ground to control the vital routes into the heart of Habsburg territory. Their ultimate goal: to drive the Austro-Hungarians out of the war. With some 130,000 troops under siege at Przemysl and fearing a threatened invasion of Hungary, the Dual Monarchy simply had to take immediate steps to force the Russians from the Carpathian Mountains. In the winter of 1915, they launched three separate and equally ill-conceived offensives: an initial effort on January 23; a second uncoordinated assault on the Russians on February 27; and a third and final effort to liberate Fortress Przemysl in late March. The geographical reality of the Carpathians would play a key role in the military catastrophe to come. The mountains along the contested front formed an arcing barrier roughly 60 to 75 miles wide with a median elevation of some 3,600 feet. In 19141915, only a handful of poorly constructed roads and a few railroad lines traversed the main passes in that area. Cold and damp, the mountains are often rainy in September and usually witness snowfall by November. They can remain covered in deep snow until spring, though sudden rises in temperature may also result in widespread flooding in the valleys. Mountain warfare presents multiple difficulties for any major military action: Troops need to be specially trained, equipped, and accustomed to higher altitudes and challenging terrain and weather. The ability to maneuver and maintain a regular supply system in mountain conditions is problematic. Artillery logistics are especially challenging. Because it is difficult to transport and emplace artillery on uneven, elevated ground, many batteries are confined to lower terrain, an obvious disadvantage for attacking infantry. The Habsburg command had made no contingency plans for a mountain campaign lasting into the winter monthsone of its many failuresbecause they accepted the short war illusion. It would prove to be a disastrous mistake. Much of the blame for the calamitous winter campaign can be laid at the feet of the chief of the Austro-Hungarian General Staff, General Franz Conrad von Hotzendorf. Aside from needing to meet the obvious threat of invasion, Conrad also believed he had to win a major victory over the Russians to demonstrate the strength of the Central Powers. If the alliance among the Germans, Austro-Hungarians, Turks, and Bulgarians were perceived as weak, then such neutral European countries as Italy and Romania might enter the war on the side of the Triple Entente. Earlier, the Habsburg Supreme Command suffered a major embarrassment: the failure of Balkan offensives launched against Serbia in 1914. The most humiliating of these came in late November and early December at the Battle of Kolubara, when Habsburg forces captured the Serbian capital of Belgradeonly to lose it two weeks later. That reversal all but destroyed any remaining military prestige the Dual Monarchy possessed on the Balkan Peninsula. Conrad saw in the Carpathian Mountains an opportunity to regain prestige with a swift military victory over the Russians and, like others in the Habsburg hierarchy, he feared the loss of Fortress Przemysl would lead to defeat of the army and of the Dual Monarchy itself. So his main objective was to liberate the besieged stronghold. His grandiose plan, hatched in December, called for an offensive to be launched along a broad 100-mile forested front in the northern Carpathians by the Habsburg Third Army, even though it had not recovered from its costly October-to-December defeats. The newly created South Army, composed of three divisions from the German army and the restthe majorityof Habsburg units, would simultaneously attack the Russians extreme left flank. Conrad believed his troops capabilities and the element of surprise were critical assets in his plan but that a bit of luck would be needed for the offensive to succeed. On January 23, 1915, the first offensive began. Third Army consisted of 15 infantry and four and a half cavalry divisions supported by the neighboring South Armys three infantry and two cavalry divisions. The combined offensive force of 175,000 men quickly proved inadequate to achieve the difficult mission assigned it, which was to secure the communication and rail centers in and around the towns of Medzilaborce, Lisko, Sanok, and Sambir. The Habsburg forces did win some early minor victories, advancing into a 24-mile gap in the Russian lines. But that progress came against numerically inferior enemy units. By January 26, Third Armys front extended 60 miles between the vital Dukla and Uzhok Passes. Despite that, the battle was already turning as the Russians began to launch massive counterattacks. A sudden, severe shift in the weather further undermined the Habsburg situation. The combination of weather-related and battle casualties rapidly depleted Habsburg frontline troop strength, reducing many divisions to only regiment or brigade size. By early February, the first Carpathian Mountain offensive had all but collapsed. The Russian forces continued to hold key passes in the region, including the strategic Dukla Pass. Following their successful counterattacks, Russian troops poured through the pass to threaten important railroad junctions. They soon outnumbered and stalled the Austro-Hungarian forces some 50 miles from Fortress Przemysl, eliminating any chance of breaking the siege. By mid-February the Russians had effectively regained the initiative. COMBAT EXHAUSTION UNDER WINTER MOUNTAIN CONDITIONS is incomprehensible to anyone who has not suffered through such an experience. Habsburg troops routinely lacked basic necessities. Food supplies often did not reach the front at all, and when they did, they were usually frozen solid. Heavy rainfall, blinding snowstorms, and icy river crossings left the soldiers uniforms frozen to their bodies. The men lacked proper winter attire, and most suffered lung ailments and frostbitemany froze to death. What meager equipment the troops did receive proved unsuitable: Boots with cardboard soles, for example, quickly became unusable. The Habsburg Supreme Command displayed a profound ignorance of these obvious conditions throughout the waran utter failure to recognize the realities of mountain warfare in winter. Many troops were deployed on open terrain with no cover and in subzero temperatures for extended periods, leaving many vulnerable to frostbite. Soldiers struggled to stay awake to avoid freezing. In snow that was often three to six feet deep, movement was especially difficult and exhausting. The troops had to dig out in order to go on patrol, launch an assault, clear defensive positions and the limited roads and trails essential for the movement of supplies. The shoveling required hours, sometimes days, and the burden of these tasks contributed to the physical and moral decline of Habsburg forces. Utterly exhausted, many of the troops became apathetic or committed suicide by shooting themselves or exposing themselves to enemy fire. Tens of thousands of horses, toocritical to the Habsburg supply chainsuccumbed to overexertion and starvation. Conditions were especially terrifying at night, with shrieking wind, impenetrable darkness, mysterious mountain sounds, and ice that could cake eyelids shut. Nighttime temperatures dropped to as low as -25F, ensuring that many men left exposed to the elements would not survive until morning. Troops were frequently forced to march in the darkness for hours on end. They would sometimes see shadows swiftly traversing their positions into no mans land and shortly thereafter hear screaming as wolves made a meal of wounded men. The situation faced by frontline soldiers was exacerbated by the lack of reserves and reinforcements. The Dual Monarchy was the only major power that did not have a reserve army; it failed even to propose the creation of one until much too late. Hundreds of thousands of Habsburg soldiers were forced to occupy their positions until killed, wounded, captured, or listed as missing in actionmeaning they had probably frozen to death. No relief was possible. Total losses during the offensive exceeded 75 percent, most of them resulting from severe frostbite, exposure, or illness Another fatal flaw of the first Carpathian Mountain offensive was the uncoordinated Austro-Hungarian attack efforts. Individual units would attack single enemy positions without communicating with their neighboring units. Even commanding officers ignored direct orders to launch a coordinated attack until it was too late to do any good. As the casualties mounted, Habsburg troops were too few to establish safe defensive positions along the rapidly extending front. The Russians, on the other hand, regularly rehabilitated their frontline regiments, utilizing their shorter and more conveniently located road and railroad connections in the lower mountains. This advantage ended once they advanced farther into the mountains, but it did allow the Russians to launch powerful attacks against the ridgelines on the far side of the Carpathian Mountain range as late as April 1915. Not only were Russian soldiers more accustomed to the climate and terrain, they were tactically superior and better led. They consistently waited for a pause in Habsburg offensive operations to unleash their own swift and powerful counterattacks. Night assaults were a favorite tactic of Russian commanders, who were also masters at retrograde movement, retreating from a position at the very last moment and reestablishing themselves, forcing the attacking Habsburg troops to remain in battle formation in the freezing weather. While the Habsburg troops struggled to advance over the rugged mountain terrain, the Russians more often occupied elevated positions. These advantages, along with superior artillery, enabled the Russians to transfer reinforcements quickly and deploy them against the rapidly declining Austro-Hungarian forces. HABSBURG THIRD ARMY SUFFERED IMMENSE LOSSES during the first Carpathian offensive. Two weeks after it began, official sources listed 88,900 men as casualties. Their total losses during the offensive exceeded 75 percent, most of them resulting from severe frostbite, exposure, or illness. The Third Army commander, Svetozar Boroevic, rightfully claimed that his army had not been prepared for the demands of a mountain winter campaign. General Conrad had little patience for such rationales of defeat. Dissatisfied with the Third Army performance, he transferred the more pliable General Eduard von Bohm-Ermolli from the German front to the Carpathian Mountain theater. A newly formed Second Army, initially consisting of 60,000 to 70,000 exhausted Third Army right-flank units, was to deploy between Third and South Army positions. A further six and a half infantry divisions would be transferred to the front to support the new Second Army offensive. In the meantime and in preparation for the second offensive, Conrad had ordered the Habsburg VIII Corps to be transferred from the Balkan front to support the Third Armys effort to push the Russians out of the critical Dukla and Uzhok Passes. Again, the rail and communication centers of Lisko, Sanok, and Sambir were the primary objectives of the offensive. As the planned day of attack, February 25, approached, the combination of falling temperatures and the incessant movement of troops and supplies all but destroyed the few roadways leading toward the front. Draft animals and obsolete heavy wagons became bogged down in the mud. The shortage of military labor and sapper crews made it nearly impossible to keep the roads open. Moreover, disease was spreading through the ranks as hygiene deteriorated along with physical condition; again, frostbite and sickness claimed entire regiments, diminishing the already inferior Habsburg troop numbers. Nevertheless, the second Carpathian Mountain offensive, though slightly delayed, went forward in late February. Second Armys main offensive was launched along both sides of the strategic roads leading toward Fortress Przemysl. The frontal assault aimed at some of the same fortified positions previously targeted by Third Army. This time, however, the offensive occurred along a much smaller, 12-mile front. A frontal attack was deemed essential in response to mounting pressure, both military and political, to liberate Fortress Przemysl and its large trapped garrisonnow running desperately short of supplies, including food. Although reinforcements were in transit to the front as the offensive got under way, the armys middle and left flank positions quickly buckled under relentless Russian counterattacks. The continued pressure from the enemy forced arriving Habsburg reinforcements to be inserted piecemeal into the battle to fill the widening gaps in the front lines. The poorly trained replacement troops, already outnumbered, found themselves hurled into battle as cannon fodder. On March 1 Colonel Veith of the Third Army wrote: Fog and heavy snow falls, we have lost all sense of direction; entire regiments are getting lost, resulting in catastrophic losses. Habsburg archduke Joseph August, commander of VII Corps, reported that over two days his Hungarian Honved Division suffered terrible losses; its effective force numbers less than 2,000and tomorrow, despite the casualties, we have to attack again. My corps losses since 1 March: 12 officers, 1,121 men killed, 46 officers and 2,121 men wounded, 2 officers and 685 men missing. This is really terrible. With the Second Army bled white, the second Carpathian offensive failed completely, leaving the Austro-Hungarian army 60 miles short of the besieged fortress. STILL, CONRAD REFUSED TO GIVE UP. The Second Armys V Corps, positioned closest to the fortress and somewhat reinforced, received orders for an impossible mission: to liberate Przemysl between March 20 and 23. Meanwhile, the Habsburg forces remaining in the Carpathians had to defend against ongoing enemy onslaughts. On March 20 the Russians unleashed a series of mass assaults in rapid succession in an effort to hurl the Habsburg Second and Third Armies back over the mountain ridges. The starving soldiers, who had been living off horse meat and bread fillers for months, attempted a farcical but extremely bloody breakout The day before that, on March 19, the starving soldiers at Przemysl, who had been living off horse meat and bread fillers for months, had attempted a farcical but extremely bloody breakout. The futile gesture, allegedly undertaken to protect the honor of the Austro-Hungarian army, was ordered via coded telegram by General Conrad. It ended disastrously, and the garrison troops inside the besieged fortress at last surrendered. Later it became known that the Russians had broken the Austro-Hungarian code and thus knew of the planned fortress breakout attempt. Incredibly, neither the Second Army Command nor V Corps was informed of the fortress surrender, so a few days later, V Corps launched its completely pointless offensive. Having no chance of success, this third effort failedwith yet more enormous Habsburg casualties. Fortress Przemysl had come to symbolize Austro-Hungarian military prestige. Fearful of losing it to the enemy, General Conrad had allowed the fortress to distort his Eastern Front strategy to the point that the Habsburg army was almost annihilated by the end of the Carpathian Winter War campaign. Hundreds of thousands of men lost their lives, with scant gains to show for their sacrifice. Conrads flawed planning also resulted in the German military exerting greater control over the Habsburg command structure. Yet the Russian strategy of driving through the Carpathian Mountains to deliver a deathblow to Austria-Hungary proved equally flawed. The campaign forced the Russians to deploy increasing numbers of troops into the inhospitable mountain terrain, drawing them ever deeper into a region that limited their mobility and dangerously overextended their already meager supply lines. When the Germans launched their successful Gorlice-Tarnow offensive in eastern Poland in May, the Russians were ill prepared, and that offensive gave the Central Powers their greatest victory of the entire war. It helped stabilize the Eastern Front while rescuing the Austro-Hungarian forces from annihilation. Although the disastrous Carpathian Winter War has received scant attention over the past century, it was critically important to the First World Wars Eastern Front and foreshadowed the more famous bloodbath battles of 1916 at Verdun and the Somme. It stands as a lasting reminder of how unimaginably brutal conditions can transform a mountainous battlefield into a frozen hell. Graydon A. Tunstall frequently writes about the Eastern Front in the Great War. His books include Blood on the Snow: The Carpathian Winter War of 1915 and The Austro-Hungarian Army in World War I. Send us your comments! MHQeditor@HistoryNet.com Carthaginians first encountered war elephants in Sicily while battling Greek general Pyrrhus of Epirus in 278276 BC. Daunted and impressed by the pugnacious pachyderms, they soon began importing North African forest elephants for their army, using Indian mahouts hired through Egypt, as well as riders from Syria, Numidia and other states. Tactical acumen in their use, on the other hand, took years and heavy casualties to perfect. In 255 BC the Spartan mercenary general Xanthippus opened the Battle of Bagradas with a charge of some 100 elephants in the Carthaginian stomp of Consul Marcus Atilius Regulus Roman army. From then on both the Carthaginians and Romans overestimated the animals martial abilities. Four years later at Panormus (present-day Palermo), Sicily, Roman Consul Lucius Caecilus Metellus directed his entrenched light troops to harass the Carthaginian elephants with a rain of arrows and javelins, which caused the beasts to panic and turn on the Carthaginian troops, resulting in a rout that restored Roman confidence about facing elephants. While Carthage ultimately raised a force of 300 war elephants, Hannibal took just 37 of them on his legendary 218 BC traverse of the Alps. Though most survived the arduous trek, they only figured significantly at the Battle of the Trebbia in December, when they panicked the Roman horses and auxiliaries. Many died in battle, and a subsequent cold snap killed all the rest but one. When he returned to Carthage in 202 BC to face Consul Publius Cornelius Scipio at Zama, Hannibal gathered 80 elephants, though neither they nor their mahouts were experienced. Scipio sought to eliminate them as a factor by leaving lanes between his maniples, through which the beasts, lured by skirmishers, might charge without breaking up the Roman line. Scipio succeeded in his ploy and won the battle. MH This article by Capt. Carl Otis Schuster, U.S. Navy (ret.) originally appeared in the June 2008 issue of Vietnam magazine. A National Security Agency report released in 2007 reveals unequivocally that the alleged Aug. 4, 1964, attack by North Vietnam on U.S. destroyers never actually happened. In the first few days of August 1964, a series of events off the coast of North Vietnam and decisions made in Washington, D.C., set the United States on a course that would largely define the next decade and weigh heavily on American foreign policy to this day. What did and didnt happen in the Gulf of Tonkin on August 2 and 4 has long been in dispute, but the decisions that the Johnson Administration and Congress made based on an interpretation of those events were undeniably monumental. While many facts and details have emerged in the past 44 years to persuade most observers that some of the reported events in the Gulf never actually happened, key portions of the critical intelligence information remained classified until recently. In late 2007, that information was finally made public when an official National Security Agency (NSA) history of signals intelligence (SIGINT) in Vietnam, written in 2002, was released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. With that report, after nearly four decades, the NSA officially reversed its verdict on the events of August 4, 1964, that had led that night to President Lyndon Johnsons televised message to the nation: The initial attack on the destroyer Maddox, on August 2, was repeated today by a number of hostile vessels attacking two U.S. destroyers with torpedoes. Air action is now in execution against gunboats and certain supporting facilities in North Vietnam which have been used in these hostile operations. The next day, the president addressed Congress, seeking the power to to take all necessary measures in support of freedom and in defense of peace in Southeast Asia. A joint resolution of Congress dated August 7, 1964, gave the president authority to increase U.S. involvement in the war between North and South Vietnam and served as the legal basis for escalations in the Johnson and Nixon administrations that likely dwarfed what most Americans could have imagined in August 1964. Speculation about administration motives surrounding the Tonkin Gulf incident itself and the subsequent withholding of key information will probably never cease, but the factual intelligence record that drove those decisions is now clear. The string of intelligence mistakes, mistranslations, misinterpretations and faulty decision making that occurred in the Tonkin Gulf in 1964 reveals how easily analysts and officials can jump to the wrong conclusions and lead a nation into war. The basic story line of the Gulf of Tonkin incident is as follows: At approximately 1430 hours Vietnam time on August 2, 1964, USS Maddox (DD-731) detected three North Vietnamese torpedo boats approaching at high speed. Along with other American warships, Maddox was steaming in international waters some 28 nautical miles off North Vietnams coast, gathering information on that countrys coastal radars. As the torpedo boats continued their high-speed approach, Maddox was ordered to fire warning shots if they closed inside 10,000 yards. When the boats reached that point, Maddox fired three warning shots, but the torpedo boats continued inbound at high speed. In the subsequent exchange of fire, neither American nor North Vietnamese ships inflicted significant damage. However, planes from the aircraft carrier Ticonderoga (CVA-14) crippled one of the boats and damaged the other two. Two days later, August 4, Maddox returned to the area, supported by the destroyer Turner Joy (DD-951). This time the U.S. ships detected electronic signals and acoustic indications of a likely second North Vietnamese naval attack, and they requested U.S. air support. The 522-page NSA official history Spartans in Darkness: American SIGINT and the Indochina War, 1945-1975, triggered a new round of media reporting and renewed debate about what really happened in the Gulf of Tonkin. The report covers all aspects of the efforts of the various American SIGINT agencies from the early postWorld War II years through the evacuation of Saigon. It reveals what commanders actually knew, what SIGINT analysts believed and the challenges the SIGINT community and its personnel faced in trying to understand and anticipate the aggressive actions of an imaginative, deeply committed and elusive enemy. The report also identifies what SIGINT couldand could nottell commanders about their enemies and their unreliable friends in the war. The reports conclusions about the Gulf of Tonkin Incident are particularly relevant as they offer useful insights into the problems that SIGINT faces today in combating unconventional opponents and the potential consequences of relying too heavily on a single source of intelligence. Media reporting on the NSA reports assessments sparked a brief rehash of the old arguments about the Gulf of Tonkin. The most popular of these is that the incident was either a fabrication or deliberate American provocation. Such arguments are rooted in the information and documents released by Daniel Ellsberg and others, and were reinforced over the decades by anniversary interviews with some of the participants, including ships crewmen and officers. Most uncertainty has long centered on the alleged second attack of August 4. Unfortunately, much of the media reporting combined or confused the events of August 2 and 4 into a single incident. Senate investigations in 1968 and 1975 did little to clarify the events or the evidence, lending further credence to the various conspiracy theories. Although North Vietnamese General Vo Nguyen Giap admitted in a 1984 discussion with Robert S. McNamara that the first attack was deliberate, he denied that a second attack had ever taken place. McNamara insisted that the evidence clearly indicated there was an attack on August 4, and he continued to maintain so in his book In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons From Vietnam. In 1996 Edward Moises book Tonkin Gulf and the Escalation of the Vietnam War presented the first publicly released concrete evidence that the SIGINT reporting confirmed the August 2 attack, but not the alleged second attack of August 4. Moises book, however, was based on only the few SIGINT reports he was able to obtain through the Freedom of Information Act. The NSA report is revealing. By including the orders and operational guidance provided to the units involved, the study develops the previously missing context of the intelligence and afteraction reports from the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. The study debunks two strongly held but opposing beliefs about what happened on both dayson the one hand that neither of the reported attacks ever took place at all, and on the other that there was in fact a second deliberate North Vietnamese attack on August 4. Although the total intelligence picture of North Vietnams actions and communications indicates that the North Vietnamese did in fact order the first attack, it remains unclear whether Maddox was the originally intended target. The NSA report exposes translation and analytical errors made by the American SIGINT analystserrors that convinced the naval task force and national authorities that the North had ordered a second attack on August 4, and thus led Maddoxs crew to interpret its radar contacts and other information as confirmation that the ship was again under attack. Subsequent SIGINT reporting and faulty analysis that day further reinforced earlier false impressions. The after-action reports from the participants in the Gulf arrived in Washington several hours after the report of the second incident. By then, early news accounts had already solidified some opinions, and the Johnson Administration had decided to launch retaliatory strikes. The errors made in the initial analysis were due to a combination of inexperience, limited knowledge of North Vietnams operations and an operational imperative to ensure that the U.S. Navy ships would not be caught by surprise. Background intelligence on North Vietnam, its radar networks and command-and-control systems was limited. By late 1958 it was obvious that a major Communist buildup was underway in South Vietnam, but the American SIGINT community was ill-placed and ill-equipped to deal with it. The U.S. in-theater SIGINT assets were limited, as was the number of Vietnamese linguists. The United States Military had three SIGINT stations in the Philippines, one for each of the services, but their combined coverage was less than half of all potential North Vietnamese communications. As Communist communications activity was rising rapidly, American senior leaders were increasing support to the South Vietnamese government. The intelligence community, including its SIGINT component, responded with a regional buildup to support the increase in U.S. operational forces. One element of American assistance to South Vietnam included covert support for South Vietnamese commando raids against North Vietnams coastal transportation facilities and networks. Conducted under the nationally approved Operations Plan, OPLAN-34A, the program required the intelligence community to provide detailed intelligence about the commando targets, the Norths coastal defenses and related surveillance systems. Given the maritime nature of the commando raids, which were launched from Da Nang, the bulk of the intelligence collecting fell to the Navy. At the time, the Navy relied heavily on Naval Support Group Activity (NSGA), San Miguel, Philippines, for SIGINT support, augmented by seaborne SIGINT elements called Direct Support Units (DSUs). The Navys seaborne SIGINT effort in support of OPLAN-34, called Desoto Missions, played a key role in the events that ultimately led to the Gulf of Tonkin incident. In 1964 the Navy was attempting to determine the extent of North Vietnams maritime infiltration into the South and to identify the Norths coastal defenses so that Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) could better support South Vietnams commando operations against the North. The secondary mission of the Gulf of Tonkin patrols was to assert American freedom of navigation in international waters. The U.S. ships were supposed to remain well outside North Vietnams claimed five nautical mile territorial limit. The maximum closure distance was originally established at 20 nautical miles, but the commander of the U.S. Seventh Fleet reduced it to 12 nautical miles. The commander also added the requirement of collecting photographic intelligence of ships and aircraft encountered, as well as weather and hydrographic information. The first Desoto Mission was conducted by USS Craig (DD-885) in March 1964. The North Vietnamese did not react, probably because no South Vietnamese commando operations were underway at that time. In fact, an earlier Desoto patrol planned for February had been canceled because of concerns over potential interference with South Vietnamese commando missions scheduled for the same time. For some reason, however, the second Desoto Mission, to be conducted by Maddox, was not canceled, even though it was scheduled to start at the same time that a late July commando mission was being launched. Consequently, while Maddox was in the patrol area, a South Vietnamese commando raid was underway southwest of its position. Operations Security (OPSEC) concerns and related communications restrictions prevented Maddox and its operational commanders up to the Seventh Fleet from knowing of the commando raid. More important, they did not know the North Vietnamese had begun to react more aggressively to the commando raids. Thus, the South Vietnamese raid on Hon Me Island, a major North Vietnamese infiltration staging point, became the tripwire that set off the August 2 confrontation in the Gulf of Tonkin. Midday on August 1, NSGA San Miguel, the U.S. Marine Corps SIGINT detachment co-located with the U.S. Army at Phu Bai, and Maddoxs own DSU all detected the communications directing the North Vietnamese torpedo boats to depart from Haiphong on August 2. Both the Phu Bai station and Maddoxs DSU knew the boats had orders to attack an enemy ship. Not knowing about the South Vietnamese commando raid, all assumed that Maddox was the target. Based on the intercepts, Captain John J. Herrick, the on-scene mission commander aboard nearby Turner Joy, decided to terminate Maddoxs Desoto patrol late on August 1, because he believed he had indications the ship was about to be attacked. Herricks concerns grew as the SIGINT intercepts indicated that the North Vietnamese were concentrating torpedo boats off Hon Me Island, 25 nautical miles to his southwest. NSA analysts from shore-based stations shared Herricks belief and transmitted an immediate warning to all major Pacific Theater commandsexcept to Herrick and Maddox. Shortly thereafter, the Phu Bai station intercepted the signal indicating the North Vietnamese intended to conduct a torpedo attack against the enemy. Phu Bai issued a Critic Reportshort for critical message, meaning one that had priority over all other traffic in the communications system to ensure immediate deliveryto all commands, including Maddox. The subsequent North Vietnamese reporting on the enemy matched the location, course and speed of Maddox. The SIGINT intercepts also detected that the North Vietnamese coastal radar stations were tracking Maddox and reporting its movements to the outbound torpedo boats. Then North Vietnams naval authorities either became confused or were seized by indecision. They issued a recall order from Haiphong to the port commander and communications relay boat two hours after the torpedo boat squadron command issued its attack order. Both orders were repeated, but only the latter was relayed to the torpedo boats before the attack was launched. Haiphong again repeated the recall order after the attack. It still is not clear whether the order was intended to halt the attack or to delay it until after nightfall, when there was a much greater chance for success. In any event, the attack took place in broad daylight under conditions of clear visibility. Maddox detected the torpedo boats on radar at a range of almost 20,000 yards and turned away at its top speed of 32 knots. The boats followed at their maximum speed of 44 knots, continuing the chase for more than 20 minutes. The captain of Maddox, Commander Herbert L. Ogier Jr., ordered his ship to battle stations shortly after 1500 hours. Efforts to communicate with the torpedo boats failed, probably because of language and communications equipment incompatibility. At 1505, when the torpedo boats had closed within 10,000 yards, in accordance with Captain Herricks orders and as allowed under international law at that time, Maddox fired three warning shots. The ships gunners used the standard 5 mil offset to avoid hitting the boats. Nonetheless, the North Vietnamese boats continued to close in at the rate of 400 yards per minute. Ogier then opened fire at 1508 hours, when the boats were only six minutes from torpedo range. He also requested air support. The three torpedo boats continued through the American barrage and launched their torpedoes at 1516. All missed, probably because the North Vietnamese had fired too soon. One 12.7mm machine bullet hit Maddox before the boats broke off and started to withdraw. Aircraft from Ticonderoga arrived on-scene at 1528 hours and fired on the boats. Both sides claimed successes in the exchange that they did not actually achieve. The Americans claimed they sank two torpedo boats and damaged a third, while the torpedo boats claimed to have shot down two American aircraft. In truth, two of the torpedo boats were damaged, of which one could not make it back to port, while a single American aircraft sustained some wing damage. Each sides initial after-action review was positive. U.S. SIGINT support had provided ample warning of North Vietnams intentions and actions, enabling the American ship to defend itself successfully. The North Vietnamese believed that, although they had lost one boat, they had deterred an attack on their coast. The Johnson Administration initially limited its response to a terse diplomatic note to Hanoi, the first-ever U.S. diplomatic note to that government. Simultaneously, U.S. SIGINT was placed on increased alert to monitor indications of future North Vietnamese threats to the Desoto Missions, and additional air and naval forces were deployed to the Western Pacific. With a presidential election just three months away and Johnson positioning himself as the peace candidate, the administration spoke of American resolve not to react to provocation and to avoid escalation. Both sides, however, spent August 3 reviewing their contingency plans and analyzing lessons learned from the incident. The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) decided to resume Maddoxs Desoto patrol, but at a greater distance from the coast, accompanied by Turner Joy and supported by aircraft from Ticonderoga. North Vietnams immediate concern was to determine the exact position and status of its torpedo boats and other forces. The North also protested the South Vietnamese commando raid on Hon Me Island and claimed that the Desoto Mission ships had been involved in that raid. Although Washington officials did not believe Hanoi would attack the Desoto ships again, tensions ran high on both sides, and this affected their respective analyses of the events to come. The series of mistakes that led to the August 4 misreporting began on August 3 when the Phu Bai station interpreted Haiphongs efforts to determine the status of its forces as an order to assemble for further offensive operations. That initial error shaped all the subsequent assessments about North Vietnamese intentions, as U.S. SIGINT monitored and reported the Norths tracking of the two American destroyers. The North Vietnamese coastal radars also tracked and reported the positions of U.S. aircraft operating east of the ships, probably the combat air patrol the Seventh Fleet had ordered in support. A North Vietnamese patrol boat also trailed the American ships, reporting on their movements to Haiphong. American SIGINT analysts assessed the North Vietnamese reporting as probable preparations for further military operations against the Desoto patrol. Meanwhile, by late August 3, the North Vietnamese had learned the condition of their torpedo boats and ordered a salvage tug to recover the damaged craft. The tug departed Haiphong at approximately 0100 hours on August 4, while the undamaged torpedo boat, T-146, was ordered to stay with the crippled boats and maintain an alert for enemy forces. At about 0600, the two U.S. destroyers resumed the Desoto patrol. Neither ships crew knew about the North Vietnamese salvage operation. The departure of the North Vietnamese salvage tug en route to the damaged craft was reported to the American ships as a submarine chaser, not a serious threat but certainly more so than an unarmed seagoing tug. Captain Herrick had been ordered to be clear of the patrol area by nightfall, so he turned due east at approximately 1600. Two hours later the Phu Bai SIGINT station transmitted a critic report warning of possible [North Vietnamese] naval operations planned against the Desoto patrol. Twenty-five minutes later, Phu Bai sent a second critic report that said, imminent plans of [North Vietnamese] naval action possibly against Desoto Mission. By then, the two American ships were approximately 80 nautical miles from the nearest North Vietnamese coastline and steaming southeast at 20 knots. The first critic report from Phu Bai reached Washington at about 0740 hours, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). Defense Secretary McNamara called the president about the second Phu Bai critic report at approximately 0940 that morning. Both men believed an attack on the American ships was imminent. The stage was set. At 2000 hours local time, Maddox reported it had two surface and three aerial contacts on radar. The contacts were to the northeast of the ship, putting them about 100 nautical miles from North Vietnam but very close to Chinas Hainan Island. Ticonderoga ordered four A-1H Skyraiders into the air to support the ships. They arrived on station overhead by 2100 hours. The original radar contacts dropped off the scope at 2134, but the crews of Maddox and Turner Joy believed they detected two high-speed contacts closing on their position at 44 knots. When the contacts appeared to turn away at 6,000 yards, Maddoxs crew interpreted the move as a maneuver to mark a torpedo launch. The ships sonar operator reported a noise spikenot a torpedowhich the Combat Information Center (CIC) team mistook for report of an incoming torpedo. Both U.S. ships opened fire on the radar contacts, but reported problems maintaining a lock on the tracking and fire control solution. The first reports of the encounter from the destroyers reached the White House at 1000 EDT. Two hours later, Captain Herrick reported the sinking of two enemy patrol boats. With this information, back in Washington President Johnson and his advisers considered their options. By 1400 hours EDT, the president had approved retaliatory strikes against North Vietnamese naval bases for the next morning, August 5, at 0600 local time, which was 1900 EDT on August 4 in Washington. In the meantime, aboard Turner Joy, Captain Herrick ordered an immediate review of the nights actions. His assessment of the evidence now raised doubts in his mind about what really had happened. He reported those doubts in his after action report transmitted shortly after midnight his time on August 5, which was 1300 hours August 4 in Washington. Herrick requested aerial reconnaissance for the next morning to search for the wreckage of the torpedo boats he thought he had sunk. Both of these messages reached Washington shortly after 1400 hours EDT. Neither Herricks doubts nor his reconnaissance request was well received, however. The Pentagon had already released details of the attack, and administration officials had already promised strong action. Then, everyones doubts were swept away when a SIGINT intercept from one of the North Vietnamese torpedo boats reported the claim that it had shot down two American planes in the battle area. McNamara and the JCS believed that this intercept decisively provided the smoking gun of the second attack, and so the president reported to the American people and Congress. A subsequent review of the SIGINT reports revealed that this later interceptMcNamaras smoking gunwas in fact a follow-on, more in-depth report of the August 2 action. Moreover, the subsequent review of the evidence exposed the translation and analysis errors that resulted in the reporting of the salvage operation as preparations for a second attack. In fact, the North Vietnamese were trying to avoid contact with U.S. forces on August 4, and they saw the departure of the Desoto patrol ships as a sign that they could proceed to recover their torpedo boats and tow them back to base. They never intended to attack U.S. forces, and were not even within 100 nautical miles of the U.S. destroyers position at the time of the purported second engagement. NSA officials handed the key August SIGINT reports over to the JCS investigating team that examined the incident in September 1964. Those same reports were shown to the select congressional and senate committees that also investigated the incident. The entirety of the original intercepts, however, were not examined and reanalyzed until after the war. The 122 additional relevant SIGINT products confirmed that the Phu Bai station had misinterpreted or mistranslated many of the early August 3 SIGINT intercepts. With that false foundation in their minds, the on-scene naval analysts saw the evidence around them as confirmation of the attack they had been warned about. Those early mistakes led U.S. destroyers to open fire on spurious radar contacts, misinterpret their own propeller noises as incoming torpedoes, and ultimately report an attack that never occurred. Despite the on-scene commanders efforts to correct their errors in the initial after-action reports, administration officials focused instead on the first SIGINT reports to the exclusion of all other evidence. Based on this, they launched the political process that led to the wars escalation. The Gulf of Tonkin Incident and many more recent experiences only reinforce the need for intelligence analysts and decision makers to avoid relying exclusively on any single intelligence sourceeven SIGINTparticularly if other intelligence sources are available and the resulting decisions might cost lives. Signals Intelligence is a valuable source but it is not perfect. It can be deceived and it is all too often incomplete. Like all intelligence, it must be analyzed and reported in context. People are human and make mistakes, particularly in the pressure of a crisis or physical threat to those they support. Perhaps that is the most enduring lesson from Americas use of SIGINT in the Vietnam War in general and the Gulf of Tonkin Incident in particular. Carl Schuster is a retired U.S. Navy intelligence officer with 10 years of experience as a surface line officer. His first ship was USS Glennon (DD-840), a FRAM I destroyer, the same class as Maddox. For additional reading, see the recently declassified NSA study by Robert J. Hanyok, Spartans in the Darkness: American SIGINT and the Indochina War, 1945-1975; and Tonkin Gulf and The Escalation of the Vietnam War, by Edward Moise. To subscribe to Vietnam Magazine, click here! Let me know what you needwatch your fire disciplineyou dont want to run out of ammo, said Custer, a master at coordinating air and artillery The 1970 battle in the Renegade Woods, like most fierce fights in the Vietnam War, came up with the suddenness of a violent tropical storm. The densely wooded area in Tay Ninh Province nestled under a broad curve in the Vam Co Dong River was covered by thick, double-canopy jungle heavily undergrown with vines. Open areas were few within the Renegades, and they were thatched with elephant grass and bordered by hedgerows. Close to the Cambodian border, this area that had long harbored bandits and outlaws served as ideal staging areas for North Vietnamese Army (NVA) units that crossed the border. This was Indian Country for sure, where only the technological superiority and mobility of combined forces could overcome the advantages of the NVA/Viet Cong (VC) forces, which could typically evade and escape to Cambodian sanctuaries before suffering too much damage. At 7 a.m., April 2, 1970, a helicopter light scout team from the 25th Aviation Battalion flew a visual reconnaissance of the area. While the intended landing zone showed no sign of enemy activity, two other potential LZs nearby bore unmistakable signs, including footprints. Ranger teams 38 and 39, Company F, 75th Infantry, were put on the ground to investigate, and within minutes a light machine gun opened up on them at short range, destroying 1st Lt. Philip Nortons radio and wounding Sergeant Fred Stuckey. Stuckey and Spc. 4 Donald Purdy managed to kill the machine gun crew with hand grenades, but from all directions the Rangers began taking fire, including rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). Obviously they were facing a much larger enemy force than they could handle, so Lieutenant Norton ordered them to move where the team could be extracted or reinforced by air. Using fire and maneuver, the two elements of the Ranger team moved toward the location Norton designated. Nortons element reached the site, finding momentary security in a bomb crater, but the second element, under the assistant team leader, Sgt. 1st Class Alvin Floyd, did not. Floyd and Sergeant Michael Thomas were killed by small-arms and RPG fire, while Spc. 4 Donald Tinney fell wounded in the open. Norton was able to drag Tinney to the relative safety of the crater. As the chaos on the ground unfolded, Warrant Officer James Tonelli brought his UH-1 into a low-level approach under heavy fire, dropping down 15 feet from the crater. After the Rangers raced to the chopper and piled in, Tonelli managed to get the overloaded helicopter airborne in spite of taking multiple hits from ground fire, even as 1st Lt. David Parsons in an OV-10 Bronco fired his miniguns in strafing passes following the extraction. While 11 Rangers had been rescued, two dead men were left in the clearing. I was the operations officer of the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry, the Wolfhounds, and at 0900 we were ordered into the fray. Two of the 2nd Battalions companies were already operating in the area. The night before, Company C had served as a blocking force for an Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) unit engaged with the enemy four kilometers southwest of the Renegade Woods, and Company B had conducted ambush patrols nine kilometers south. Now Company C, under Captain Jerry D. Bateman, and Company B, commanded by Captain Charles Criswell, hastily moved to helicopter pickup points. Company C was first to get into the fight, but with only three helicopters available, it was 1100 hours before it was on the ground and moving toward the NVA/VC force. By 1140 all the platoons were exchanging fire with the enemy. I listened to the radio transmissions between the battalion commander and the company commander from the battalion tactical operations center at Fire Support Base (FSB) Jackson, which was built to block a major infiltration route known as the An Ninh Corridor. The route made use of canals and swampy lowlands on the Vam Co Dong River to the east, known by its shape on the map as the Angels Wing. Things were already beginning to go wrong. Two of the platoons had been advancing to contact in parallel columns, with the 1st Platoon under 1st Lt. Ronnie Clark, followed by the 3rd Platoon, led by 2nd Lt. Ronald Kolb. The 2nd Platoon, commanded by 2nd Lt. Monte Hack, moved parallel on the right flank of the other two platoons, separated from them by a dense hedgerow. Immediately after becoming engaged, the lead platoon was pinned down by a machine gun firing from its right front. The point man was wounded, followed by Lieutenant Clark, who was shot in the stomach by a burst of enemy fire. As the 1st Platoon returned fire, Kolb tried to maneuver his 3rd Platoon around to the right, but his point man was killed almost immediately. Kolb pulled his men back and maneuvered them to come up on the left side of 1st Platoon, but he was killed in a burst of fire from an unseen enemy. First Platoons Staff Sgt. Melvyn Hamana Kalili was then killed as he moved forward in an attempt to assist the wounded point man. As the leaders fell, the platoons went to ground and the attack stalled. As his junior leaders were falling one by one, Captain Bateman, the slight but scrappy Company C commander, tried to keep his faltering unit in the fight, but moving from platoon to platoon, he became a choice target. When he was wounded by rifle fire, Company C was out of action, except for 2nd Platoon. Second Platoon had been spared the withering fire to which the other two platoons had been subjected, but after moving rapidly in the intense heat and humidity of the jungle on the other side of the hedgerow, platoon leader Lieutenant Hack and others were becoming heat casualties. Talking with Hack on the radio, I could tell his judgment was impaired. Second Platoon went to ground, and Company C was no longer a fighting force. As I listened to the desperate situation unfold, I hurriedly cleaned my CAR-15, checked my loaded magazines and readied my web gear for an extended stay in the field. My battalion commander, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer III, the grandnephew of Yellow Hair himself, was rushing back to the battalion in a command and control (C&C) helicopter to pick me up. Custer was a mercurial leader. Bald, blocky and bad-mouthed was how another battalion commander in the brigade described him, referring to his combativeness in discussing tactical matters with superiors and subordinates alike. During one heated discussion Custer had with another battalion commander, I had to personally intervene. Certain that Custer was about to swing at the other lieutenant colonel, I had grabbed a handful of the back of his fatigue jacket. He turned instantly, smiled broadly at me and stalked out of the room. Id been under Custers command for about three months and had seen how his fearless nature and curiosity kept him just a step away from disaster most of the time. Tough, but also kindhearted, he never passed up an opportunity to perform humanitarian acts. He once ordered his pilot to land his unarmed observation helicopter in a village of questionable loyalty to take a sick child and its mother to a hospital. Colonel, you have got to stop doing this stuff, I told him afterward. Youre going to get yourselfand the pilotkilled in one of these insecure villages. He smiled contritely, then turned on me: You cant talk to me like that, he said, still smiling. I am your commander. As we flew from FSB Jackson toward the Renegade Woods fight, Custer calmly impressed on me the need to take charge of the situation on the ground. You wont have a lot of time to get things under control before dark, said Custer. There is no way of knowing what kind of shape Charlie Company is in until you get there. Youve got the ball. Let me know what you need, and I will make sure you get it. Watch your fire discipline. You dont want to run out of ammunition. We had agreed that it would simplify command problems if I went in with a single radio on the battalion command net, allowing me to move around on the battlefield without additional radio antennas to draw fire. I would request artillery and air support from him, and he would handle it from the C&C helicopter. Covered by 118th Helicopter Company gunships, seven UH-1 slicks carrying 1st Platoon of Company B, two squads of 2nd Platoon and Criswells command group landed at 1423 at an LZ tucked inside a horseshoe curve of the Vam Co Dong River on the Renegade Woods northern edge. Our C&C Huey flared and landed behind the last slick. Custer shook my hand and I jumped out with my radio operator, Spc. 4 Danny Klossner. Fortunately, the LZ was cold. I had a hurried conference with Criswell, who had been in the field for several days. I told him we had to get control of the situation on the ground quickly, without waiting for the rest of his company. I had no idea how much time or combat power it would take to clean out the enemy, but we had to be ready; our slender force and whatever remained of Company C had to organize for defense before dark. We werent worried about support. Custer, a master at coordinating air and artillery, had practically unlimited artillery on call and an incredible amount of air support on station, since it was a quiet day for action elsewhere in the division. With Custer in the helicopter above, we knew we would make the most of it. I had to do two more things before we went into action: Give Custer my plan for movement to make contact with the enemy, and issue an order for smoke to mark our movement through the jungle. My greatest concern as we moved under the canopy was being hit by our own air and artillery support. But, in the helicopter above, Custer was already orchestrating this with artillery liaison officer Captain C. Merton Agena, and within seconds after the smoke had drifted up through the canopy, artillery rounds were slamming into known enemy positions ahead of us. Radio reports from the mostly leaderless Company C hunkered down in the jungle indicated our artillery was hitting enemy positions, and that enemy fire had fallen off, except from one spot on their right front. I ordered Company C to stay in place and keep up its fire on the enemy until the men of Company B passed through their position. The volume of small-arms fire from their direction was not encouraging. It seemed to be largely enemy fire, and the few tracers we observed were green. At 1445, the leading element of 1st Platoon, Company B, started to receive small-arms and light machine gun fire, but it was light and ragged, so I ordered an immediate assault. Criswell brought his short-handed 2nd Platoon up on line with the full-strength 1st Platoon and started the assault. Increased enemy fire slowed the lead platoon, and the attack was halted briefly to prevent the lagging platoon from firing into it. At this point, a small group of enemy soldiers emerged from a hedgerow, either bent on escape or making an attempt at a flanking attack. First Platoon shot down two, and a gunship killed two others as they changed direction and tried to run away. One man from 1st Platoon was wounded in the brief encounter. By this time, 2nd Platoon was able to resume the assault. While the enemy was no longer defending positions in an organized way, snipers were left on stay-behind missions or were unable to withdraw with their unit. They killed 2nd Lt. Orville Kitchen, the artillery forward observer with Company B, and Spc. 4 John Lyons, a radiotelephone operator. We were directing artillery and airstrikes on the positions, which quickly became untenable for the NVA. Except for the sniper activity, by about 1500, all reports indicated that the enemy had withdrawn from contact, abandoning prepared positions and slipping away in characteristic fashion to safer spots. At this point, Criswell turned his attention to the bypassed hot spot, where the body of the dead point man still lay. Sergeant Stephen Adams, a 1st Platoon squad leader, and Spc. 4 Richard Nast, a medic, volunteered to retrieve the soldiers body, but the effort was abandoned when the light machine gun opened up again. Specialist 4 Orlando Noriega, a 1st Platoon machine gunner, took the gun under fire and silenced it. By 1800, light under the gloomy canopy was beginning to fail, and I knew it was time to begin moving into a night defensive position (NDP). Throughout the fighting that afternoon, Custer had kept me abreast of plans to seal off the enemy force within the Renegade Woods, where it could be surrounded and destroyed. Our forces would be enlarged the next day by the addition of two mechanized infantry companies from 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry, the Triple Deuce. As the day ended, enemy contacts dwindled to an occasional sniper round. I knew there was plenty of fighting yet to be done, but it would have to wait until tomorrow since our ammunition was running low and there was much to do in the last hours of daylight. The location of the NDP was ideal: It was near the LZ, in the crook formed by the river and supported by artillery fire from Fire Support Bases Hull and Hampton. At 1820, 1st Sgt. Domingo Rodriguez-Colon arrived at the LZ with the remainder of Company B, a full platoon and the missing squad from the short-handed 2nd Platoon. He was ordered to begin organizing the NDP, clearing fields of fire as necessary. Twenty minutes later, I ordered Company B to break contact and withdraw to the NDP. The first order of business was to round up and reorganize Company C. Criswell soon had his company at full field strength, except for the days casualties. First Lieutenant Cyril Weisner, executive officer of Company C, then arrived with 1st Sgt. Gengoro Higa to take command of his company, which had lost all of its officers to death or wounds during the days fighting. The company still lacked enough leaders to be fully effective, but I decided that trying to introduce replacement officers in the middle of a battle could result in confusion and hesitancy. The final airstrike of the day was put in by OV-10 Bronco pilot Captain John MacLeod. When the fighters drew ground fire, he rolled in and blasted the sources of the fire with his own rockets and machine guns. The enemy fire ceased. After I had issued orders to complete our night defenses, I caught up on events in several radio conversations with Colonel Custer. I already knew that we would begin operations in the morning with significant reinforcements. Company A of our battalion had been airlifted to some 1,000 meters south of us, where it was preparing an NDP. Two mechanized infantry companies from 2-22 Infantry would come under our operational control on the following day. Together, the five companies of this task force were to seal off the Renegade Woods and destroy the enemy. The night was interrupted only by the mutter of distant artillery and a dazzling electric show put on by an Air Force AC-119, which rained a stream of fire on a nearby enemy position. I had a fitful sleep because of pain from RPG fragments in my left arm. Klossner, my radio man, sustained cracked ribs in the same blast. I forced him to get on a dustoff to Cu Chi. Although we didnt know it at the time, we were up against two battalions of the 271st Regiment, 9th VC/NVA Division, and they had been badly bloodied by the number and variety of air and artillery resources expended on the first day. A battle, like a poker game, attracts many players when it is the only one in town, and the absence of other significant action in the division area at the time attracted bombs and artillery shells on a lavish scale. This produced casualties far beyond what the Communists would have suffered had they had more time to disengage and flee to their Cambodian sanctuaries, as was their usual habit. Colonel Custer had some of the same propensity for taking risks as his namesake, but his luck and timing were better. All that I learned of his activities during the days fighting, except for his calm orders and questions on the radio, was drawn from the sometimes laconic, and sometimes excited comments of the pilots who observed him in the air. Yellow Hair rode again. What he did for his men on the ground was to put the lethality of air power where we needed it, when we needed it. He let us fight the battle on the ground. No combat infantryman can ask for more. April 3 began with a reconnaissance of the first days fighting ground. It included recovering the two Rangers and the three Wolfhounds whose bodies had remained on the battlefield overnight, since retrieving them in failing light in the presence of enemy snipers would have been just too much of a risk. My thin command group, including a grinning but hurting Danny Klossner, who had hopped on a resupply bird from Cu Chi to rejoin us, moved out between Criswells Company B and the battered Company C, led by its lone officer, Lieutenant Weisner. We moved west to link up with Company A and the mechanized Company B, 2-22 Infantry, advancing from the south. One more recovery task remained. The day before, one of two UH-1C gunships from the 118th Helicopter Company had been shot down by ground fire. The pilot was able to make a forced landing in a clearing about 800 meters west of the battles initial contact site. The crew was rescued by their squadron companions in the other gunship. The rocket pod on one side of the aircraft was on fire and cooked off after the crew left, but the rest of the weapons and ordnance on it were intact. When our two Wolfhound companies reached the downed aircraft, we removed the weaponry so it could be lifted out by a CH-54. As the morning wore on, aviation contacts with the enemy occurred more frequently, but infantry contacts fell off. At 0745, a light scout team assigned to Delta Troop, 3-4 Cavalry, received ineffective fire from three enemy soldiers; the scouts returned fire, killing all three. Similar firefights continued all day, but the enemy presence had clearly been reduced to those who were trying to escape. For the next two days, the remnants of enemy forces were destroyed through good use of the speed of the mechanized units in hammer-and-anvil movements. On April 5, Company A of 2-27 Infantry was ordered to a 24-hour maintenance stand down at Cu Chi while the two mechanized infantry companies and the two rifle companies continued their clearing missions, closely supported by the available air support. There was no longer a need for centralized control on the ground and it was time for me to go back to the battalion. The final score card of the action in the Renegade Woods is a gruesome reminder of the cost of war. A total of 101 enemy bodies were counted on the battlefield. There was one enemy prisoner of war, and two who switched sides in the conflict. Our own casualties were 12 killed, including one who later died of wounds received in the battle. Eight of them were Wolfhounds from our battalion, two were Rangers from Company F of the 75th Infantry, and one was the artillery forward observer from Battery B, 2-77 Artillery, in the field with Company B, 2-27 Infantry. Sixteen other men were wounded and hospitalized. While imperfect for sure, our success in the Renegade Woods came close to a textbook example of combined arms in action. Four artillery batteries, firing 105mm guns and 155mm and 8-inch howitzers, had expended 741 rounds, mostly high explosives. Army aviation units that included Companies A and B of the 25th Aviation Battalion, the 116th, 118th and 187th Assault Helicopter companies, and Troop D, 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry, flew hundreds of missions. Massive support was furnished by the Air Force. The steel-nerved pilots of the 25th Infantry Division Tactical Air Control Party flew 36 missions in their OV-10s to direct and mark the locations on the ground for 18 airstrikes from A-37 and F-100 aircraft from three tactical fighter wings. The airstrikes dropped a total of 92 500-pound high-explosive bombs of various types, along with 48 500-pound napalm bombs and eight 750-pound napalm bombs. The Air Force also flew three missions by AC-119 Shadow aircraft. While there was an element of luck in the unusual wealth of available assets to support our Renegade Woods battle, I remember Custer telling me once that we make our own luck. At its essence, however, Custer was simply following what was taught at the Infantry School in those days: Careful planning followed by violent execution of the plans. After serving with the Wolfhounds, Howard Landon Dutch McAllister was commandant at Carolina Military Academy, public affairs officer at the National War College and chief of the Army News Service before his retirement in 1979. Who was John Frum? To Melanesians on the South Pacific island of Tanna tradition holds that John Frum prophesied Americans would arrive on the island and shower them with all good things. Though its unclear whether John Frum was a real person, in the midst of the Pacific War in 1942 American soldiers did arrive as predicted. And indeed they brought with them wondrous cargo never before seen by the Tannese, reinforcing their beliefs and propelling the prophecy into a religion. While filming the documentary Waiting for John, director Jessica Sherry immersed herself in Tannas culture and traditions to shed light on the cargo cult. Military History recently spoke with Sherry about the John Frum movement, its lasting legacy on Tanna and the unwitting role the U.S. military played in reinforcing its beliefs. John Frum had promised that Americans would bring good things to the people of Tanna and would be their brothers in the fight for freedom What inspired you to film Waiting for John? I thought the general idea of cargo cults was surreal, and the specifics were even more fascinating. The movement is an interesting microcosm, an example of how and why religion works, and I thought that by telling the story of this relatively recent and extreme belief system, the film could reveal some of the universal tenets of all religions. What are the origins of the Frum legend? Oral history on Tanna Island says John Frum predicted the arrival of the Americans as early as 1940, before Pearl Harbor and the outbreak of war in the Pacific, with some stories even dating to 1938. The first written account of the movement was in 1941, when British government agent James Nicol wrote about strange kava ceremonies and many pigs being killed in the name of John Frum. Its difficult to know for sure if America was mentioned in the first prophecies in the 1940s, or if Johns predictions and identity evolved with the religion. What happened when Americans arrived in 1942? John Frum had promised that Americans would bring good things to the people of Tanna and would be their brothers in the fight for freedom. The American military brought a miraculous amount of cargo to many remote islands in the South Pacificrefrigerators, canned food, planes, trucksall technologically advanced goods the islanders had never seen, especially in such vast quantities. The arrival of the Americans fulfilled Johns prophecy and changed the balance of power in the region, undermining European authority and empowering the native peoples. How did the war affect the Tannese? In 1942 military bases were built on the neighboring islands, so many of the young men on Tanna waited on the beach to enlist and support the Americans. The Americans paid well, and the men saw an opportunity, but Im sure some of the islanders just wanted to find out if the rumors of miraculous cargo were true. Many accounts say the Americans treated the islanders with respect, especially compared to how they were treated by Europeans. The islanders worked side by side with the soldiers, many of whom were blackthe people of Tanna were amazed and proud to see black Americans working with white Americans. Because of all this there was a pro-American sentiment on many of the islands, especially Tanna. How did Tannas cargo cult differ from others in the Pacific? Many cargo cults popped up around the South Pacific, especially in Fiji, Papua New Guinea and in the New Hebrides (present-day Vanuatu). Tanna was at a particular breaking point in the 1940s, when the native people were looking for a way to resist colonial repression, band together to seek freedom and protect their traditional culture. The John Frum movement had strong leaders and resisted the colonial powers. This tumultuous situation gave people a reason to believe, beyond just spiritual curiosity or worldly desires. Many religions that have staying power were created in the face of oppression and the need for uprising. Why does the John Frum movement endure? The ancestors of todays village leaders went to prison during the colonial period because of their beliefs. The current elders remember their heritage, and the religion remains the most important thing to them. The John Frum movement represents the way in which the indigenous people reclaimed their identity and power, which has led to the survival of the community and its traditional beliefs. Though it may seem a contradiction to believe in a brotherhood with America and preserve traditional customs, there is a partnership there in the minds of John Frum believers. How has the movement changed since the war? The village of Lamakara is still a very traditional place, but today most people know how trucks or airplanes are made. Many people have cell phones and know that the Internet exists; their understanding of the world has evolved. They hope for help from America, and they still believe in the brotherhood between America and Tanna. Its also much smaller now and is in danger of fading away. People now understand where the cargo came from and have more outside influences and other options. Younger generations often pull away from tradition, and thats true for the John Frum movement, too. How many followers remain? Its hard to say. There are about 250 people who live in the John Frum village of Lamakara and actively practice the religion. Others live in nearby villages and visit Lamakara every Friday night to show their devotion. I cant give an exact number of remaining believers, but I know its much less than it was in the 1990s, when there were more than 5,000 active members. Describe a typical John Frum ceremony. Every Friday evening people gather for a celebration. Believers walk from surrounding villages to visit Lamakara, and at sundown they gather around the town square, singing songs about the movements beliefs, its history and its leaders. Women dance in hula skirts in an outer circle, and men dance in the inner circle to the sounds of guitars. This celebration goes on until sunrise and truly is a spiritual experience. Every February 15 members celebrate John Frum Day, the day on which the original leaders first raised the American flag. A ceremonial marchto show their respect for America and their brotherhoodis performed by the young men of the village, and they paint USA in red on their chests and march in military formations their grandfathers saw during World War II. The men carry bamboo sticks painted with red tips to represent the U.S. soldiers rifles. The people believe such demonstrations may convince America to return with their cargo or at least their support for the movement. Their current leader, Chief Isaak, would very much like to visit the White House, but hes still waiting for an invitation. Was John Frum a vision, an idol or an actual person? Believers maintain he is a spiritual being. The men on Tanna drink a lot of kava, and visions are common. Maybe someone came up with the idea that people needed to rise up against the colonialist rulers, and good things would happen if they did. John Frum was the figure that represented this message, and it took hold. As time went on, the figure of John Frum evolved with the cultures needs. When U.S. forces arrived during the war with all their cargo and equipment, it seemed miraculous. The islanders hadnt heard of refrigerators or canned food before, so they believed the spirits must be involved. I think John Frum became American right around then. MH The senator began his interrogation with an innocuous question: Where is your present residence? Lexington, Virginia, the witness replied. How long have you resided at Lexington? Since the first of October lastnearly five months, said the witness, whose name was Robert E. Lee. Lee had surrendered his Confederate army at Appomattox 10 months earlier, in April 1865. In the fall he became president of Lexingtons Washington College. Now, on February 17, 1866, he was in Washington, D.C., testifying before Congress Joint Committee on Reconstruction. He was not happy to be there. Even in the best circumstances, Robert E. Lee didnt enjoy public speaking, and these were hardly the best circumstances. The Confederacys most famous general had been summoned to the Union capital to be grilled by a committee dominated by Radical Republicans determined to publicize evidence of atrocities committed by former Confederates against freed slaves and pro-Union Southerners. Are you acquainted with the state of feeling among what we call secessionists in Virginia at present toward the government of the United States? asked Senator Jacob Howard of Michigan. I do not know that I am, Lee replied. I have been living very retired and have had but little communications with politicians. I know nothing more than from my observation, and from such facts as have come to my knowledge. From your observation, Howard said, what is your opinion as to the feeling of loyalty towards the government of the United States among the secession portion of the people of that state? So far as has come to my knowledge, Lee replied, I do not know of a single person who either feels or contemplates any resistance to the government of the United States or indeed any opposition to it. How do they feel, Howard asked, in regard to that portion of the people of the United States who have been forward and zealous in the prosecution of the war against the rebellion? Well, I do not know, Lee said. I have heard nobody express any opinion in regard to it. . . . I have heard no expression of sentiment toward any particular portion of the country. Really? Was it possible that the general had never heard anybody in Virginia express any opinion about Yankees in the first 10 months after the Civil War? Perhaps Lees famously patrician bearing and gentlemanly manners discouraged his acquaintances from making rude comments about their former enemies. Or perhaps the general was being less than candid in his testimony. He certainly affected an air of ignorance that seems dubious, answering question after question with such phrases as I never heard anyone speak on that subject and I cannot speak with any certainty on that point and I have no means of forming an opinion and I scarcely ever read a paper. When Lee repeatedly denied that former Confederates disliked Yankees, a skeptical senator asked: Do you mean to be understood as saying that there is not a condition of discontent against the government of the United States among the secessionists generally? I know of none, Lee replied, apparently with a straight face. As one of Lees biographers, Roy Blount Jr., put it: Called before the congressional Reconstruction committee, Lee managed coolly to avoid giving Republicans anything regarded, at the time, as red meat. But Lees awkward encounter with the committee was not simply a series of artful evasions. The general did reveal his views on several important issues, including racial equality and the meaning of treason. General, you are very competent to judge the capacity of black men for acquiring knowledge, said Senator Howard. I want your opinion on that capacity, as compared with the capacity of white men. I do not know that I am particularly qualified to speak on that subject, Lee replied. But I do not think he is as capable of acquiring knowledge as the white man is. Black people are an amiable, social race, Lee told the committee. They will work briefly to earn their sustenance, but they arent inclined to prolonged hard work: They like their ease and comfort. Congress was debating a constitutional amendment granting black men the right to vote, and Representative Henry Blow of Missouri asked Lee his opinion of the idea. My own opinion is that, at this time, they cannot vote intelligently, Lee said, and that giving them the right of suffrage would open the door to a great deal of demagogism. Do you not think, Blow asked, that Virginia would be better off if the colored population were to go to Alabama, Louisiana or some other Southern state? I think it would be better for Virginia if she could get rid of them, Lee replied. That is no new opinion with me. I have always thought so, and always been in favor of emancipationgradual emancipation. Lees views seem shockingly bigoted today, but in 1866, they were, as Blount wrote in his biography, pretty much the genteel opinions of the time, North and South. More interesting than Lees racial views were his opinions on an issue that could have led to his executiontreason. The Constitution states, Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. Many Northerners felt that Leewho had resigned from the U.S. Army to lead an army fighting against the United Statesshould be hanged for treason. Nobody on the committee had the guts to ask Lee if he had committed treason, but Senator Howard backed into the topic, bringing up Jefferson Davis, the former Confederate president, who was then in prison awaiting trial. Would any Virginia jury, Howard asked, convict Davis of treason? I think it is very probable that they would not consider that he had committed treason, Lee replied. In what light would they view it? Howard asked. What would be their excuse or justification? So far as I know, Lee said, they look upon the action of the State, in withdrawing itself from the government of the United States, as carrying the individuals of the State along with it; that the State was responsible for the act, not the individual. State, if you please, Howard said, and if you are disinclined to answer the question, you need not do sowhat your own personal views on that question were. That was my view, Lee replied, that the act of Virginia in withdrawing herself from the United States, carried me along as a citizen of Virginia, and that her law and her acts were binding on me. And that you felt to be your justification in taking the course you did? Howard asked. Yes, sir, said Lee. In the end, of course, neither Lee nor Davis nor any other Confederate was ever tried for treason. And Lees hour on the committees witness stand turned out to be the only time he was ever asked to explain his actions under oath. He came away unscathed, but he was no doubt delighted to return home to Lexington, whereif his testimony can be believednobody ever raised any disturbing questions about the Civil War. While his role in Forrest Gump endeared Gary Sinise to Vietnam veterans, his compassion for them was stirred long before, on a stage in Chicago Gary Sinise remembers registering with the Selective Service in 1973 and how his parents were worried he might get drafted. But by then, the Vietnam War was winding down and an 18-year-old had nothing to worry about. More focused on his rock band and acting, he didnt really know much about the war at the time. I was just a kid, he said, not paying too much attention to what was going on. I did know that things were bad and that there were protests everywhere. When Sinise took up acting in high school, he never looked back. After graduating, he and some friends boldly started their own theater company in Chicago in 1974. With Steppenwolf Theater Company, Sinise honed his acting talent and built a reputation as a director, found his wife Moiraone of the companys original actorsand gained an awareness of the Vietnam War and those who fought it. Before long, his passion for the stage and belief in its power to connect and inform meshed with a newfound passion: to learn, and tell, the stories of Vietnams vets to a public that too often didnt want to know. While the actors Academy Awardnominated performance as Lieutenant Dan Taylor in the 1994 hit movie Forrest Gump is widely recognized as forging the actors link with Vietnam veterans, his understanding and advocacy for them began long before then. My wife had two brothers who did tours in Vietnam; one of them, Boyd McCanna Mac Harris, served two, Sinise said. I was very curious about Vietnam so I spent a lot of time talking with them about their experiences. Then in 1980, I read about a play that some Vietnam veterans were doing in Los Angeles. It was still a time when many vets hid the fact that they had been in Vietnam. Spurred by his brothers-in-laws stories and a sense of shame he felt for the treatment the country had given them and other vets, Sinise went to L.A. to see Tracers, created by John Di Fusco. The play had an all-Vietnam-vet cast, and of those, only two were professional actors; the rest were recruited via a newspaper advertisement. I was completely devastated by their performance; it was so powerful, I knew right away that I wanted to do it in Chicago, Sinise said of Tracers. I wanted people to see it so they could have a better understanding of what Vietnam vets had gone through in combat and when they came home. But in 1980, Gary Sinise was just a kid from Chicago, and the veterans who put the play together werent too impressed. I begged them to let me do it, he said, but they were committed to the idea that it should only be performed by veterans. Sinise was persistent: Every few months Id call and make my pitch. Then, it closed in L.A. and nothing was happening with it. Eventually, Sinise prevailed in the fall of 1983 and secured the rights to stage the play in Chicago. At about the same time, Sinises brother-in-law Lt. Col. Mac Harris was stricken with cancer and died in October. Macs passing became another motivator for me to tell the story of Vietnam vets and do it as accurately and honestly as I could, Sinise said. Two members in Steppenwolf were Vietnam vets, Sinise recalled. The rest of the guys were just actors and none as passionate as I was about telling Vietnam veterans stories. To transfer the Tracers intensity to his nonvet performers would require some special preparation. We would usually rehearse for three weeks before a production. But for Tracers, I asked my actors to give me an extra five weeks of just workshop rehearsalfor free! Sinise had his cast study the Vietnam War, and he took the actors to the Great Lakes Naval Station VA hospital a number of times, where they listened to Vietnam vets, some suffering from PTSD, tell their stories. I wanted to do things with the cast that would get them in the mood and focused on why we were telling the story before we actually started rehearsing, said Sinise. But the real stroke of genius came when Sinise secured the use of an isolated Michigan summer camp, where he exposed his cast to intense boot-camp-like activitiesin the dead of winter between Christmas and New Years. One of his Vietnam-vet actors, Dennis Farina, took the role of drill sergeant, whereupon he beat the crap out of the guys, Sinise recalled. On their last night there, We had a big end-of-boot-camp blowout, a crazy night, said Sinise. The next day, we read the play for the very first time, then headed back to Chicago to start rehearsals. You know, by the time the play opened, the cast was as committed and dedicated to telling the Vietnam vets stories as I was. For the dress rehearsal of Tracers, Sinise invited only veterans, and subsequently, every Tuesday night of the performance was Veterans Night. That was the start of two traditions that have lasted for 25 years at the Steppenwolf. Every Tuesday night during Tracers we would have 100 or more vets. Many just kept coming back every week, he said. For a lot of them, their story was being told in a way they hadnt ever been able to talk about. It was cathartic and therapeutic for them. Through Tracers, Sinise became involved in a number of Vietnam veteran groups in the Chicago area and helped raise funds to build a Vietnam veterans memorial in Lansing, Ill. The appreciative group honored Sinises efforts by adding his brother-in-laws name, Mac Harris, on the memorial. By this time, Sinise had garnered wide acclaim for his directing and acting with John Malkovich in True West, which he had taken from Chicago to New York in 1982. In 1983 he took another production to New York, Balm In Gilead. With the success of Tracers, Sinise desperately wanted to take the play to New York. But his deal was exclusive to Chicago and Tracers creators ended up making their own deal, opening the play at New Yorks Public Theater in January 1985. Though he was disappointed, Sinise is indebted to the play: It was a highlight in my career and really galvanized my support for Vietnam vetsand shame as an American for what had happened to them. But the intersection of Sinises acting career and Vietnam was hardly over. While in New York with his production of Balm In Gilead, Sinise heard that Oliver Stone was holding auditions for a movie called Platoon. I auditioned to play one of the guys in the platoon, he said. I was dying to be in that because I wanted to continue telling stories about Vietnam vets. It looked like I might have a shot at getting the part, but then the project was put on hold for about a year. By the time Platoon was ready to cast, Sinise was involved in another project. Nine years later, author Winston Grooms novel Forrest Gump was about to be made into a feature film, and Gary Sinise was about to play a role that would become his signature: I very much wanted to do it and felt very prepared and ready to play that character because of all the Vietnam work that Id done in the theater and because of so many Vietnam vets Id gotten to know. And missing Platoon may have been the best thing to happen to Sinise: You know, if Id gotten the role in Platoon, I may not have even been considered for Forrest Gump. Things have a way of working out. Sinise credits his preparations for Tracers in 1983 for his command of the Lieutenant Dan role in Forrest Gump: I played a veteran whod been severely injured and who was dealing with all kinds of anger, and I could call on those conversations Id had with some very angry Vietnam vets at Great Lakes, who talked about some really harrowing things they did, how they were treated when they came home, and horrible things they were struggling with. All Lieutenant Dan wanted to do was to rise in the ranks and have a military career, explained Sinise. His destiny was to either become a great military leader or die on the battlefield; he never thought he would be wounded, lose his legs. So he goes through his anger, despair, isolation, all the stuff that so many veterans then and now understand. But in the end, he finds peace, and in the last image you have of him, he is clean cut, standing up on legs, hes rich and successful. Sinise said Lieutenant Dan served as an example of how many vets could, and did, overcomea story that had not really been told before. Sinise soon heard from the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), a group he said hed known little about: They wanted to give me something at their convention, so I said sure. When I walked out on that stage and saw all these disabled vets clappingthose who could were standing, some on one leg, guys in wheelchairs with only one armI was so moved. They just wanted to thank me for playing a disabled vet in what they considered a positive way. Sinise has been involved with DAV ever since. Sinise never imagined the longevity Lieutenant Dan would have, and how intensely Vietnam veterans would identify with the character. While he continued to support veteran causes as his career soared (Apollo 13, Truman, CSI: Miami/New York), 9/11 and the war on terror drove him to do even more. He quickly signed up to visit the troops and the wounded for the USO. A pretty good bass guitarist, as he puts it, Sinise had for years jammed regularly with a group of friends, including Vietnam vet, composer and professor Kimo Williams. Working with the USO, shaking hands and signing autographs, Sinise saw an opportunity to turn his hobby into an effective way to entertain the troops. In 2004 The Lt. Dan Band was born, becoming a regular on military bases around the world and performing on nearly 50 USO tours since. Beyond the band, as the wars continued, Sinise became increasingly involved in endeavors to support the troops, veterans and their families, as well as charitable organizations such as Operation Iraqi Children, 9/11 memorials at the Pentagon, the Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance, American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial and others. Since 2006 Sinise has been one of the hosts of the Memorial Day Concert in Washington. In 2008 Sinise became only the second actor among the 110 people who have been awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal. As if that werent enough, last year Sinise launched the Gary Sinise Foundation, with the mission to honor the nations defenders, veterans, first responders, their families and those in need. An example of the foundations work is its partnership with Building Homes for Heroes, which builds specially designed homes for severely wounded service members and their families. Sinise sees a big role for Vietnam veterans to play today, in supporting the troops and helping the newest generations of veterans readjust and reintegrate into society: Ive met a lot of Vietnam vets who are giving back now because they want to make sure our active-duty folks in Iraq and Afghanistan dont go through the same crap they went through. Many Vietnam vets have found a way to turn things around by taking care of our young folks now. Much like when he was a young actor in Chicago, awakened to the meaning of sacrifice by Vietnam veterans, Gary Sinise is infused with an intense desire to ensure that those who serve today are properly honored for what they do and those who fall are properly cared for forever. I have an ability to do something to help them, he said. Ive seen it make a difference so many times when somebody like me gets involved and shows support. Ive been blessed with a good career and a level of fame that can be used for something positive. I like doing what I do; its a way to give back. For more information on the Gary Sinise Foundation, go to www.garysinisefoundation.org THE STORY IS TOLD in various versions but they all go something like this: Henry Ford is on a camping trip with his famous friendsThomas Edison, the great inventor; Harvey Firestone, the rubber baron; and John Burroughs, the bestselling nature writerand they encounter a Model T Ford driven by a backwoods hick. Ford tells the hick that he created the Model T, and he introduces his friends: This is Thomas Edison. He invented the light bulb. This is Harvey Firestone. He made the tires on your car. And thisand then the hick, looking skeptical, points at Burroughs, whose long white beard hung to his chest, and says, I suppose youre going to tell me this guy is Santa Claus. Its a good storyprobably too good to be entirely trueand the reporters and biographers who repeat it never quite agree on where or when it supposedly occurred. But its based on an intriguing fact: Nearly every year between 1914 and 1924, Ford and his famous friends did go camping together. They jokingly dubbed themselves the Four Vagabonds, and their journeys were a uniquely American combination of back-to-nature vacation, intellectual colloquium and shameless publicity stunt. Over the years, the Vagabonds voyaged through the Everglades, the Appalachians and the Adirondacksand each man took on a distinct duty. Edison was the navigator, riding in the lead car with a map on his lap, guiding the caravan and usually choosing the most rutted, bone-rattling dirt roads he could find. Firestone was the commissary officer, supplying the food and the chefs who cooked it. Burroughs led nature walks, identifying plants and birds. Ford was, appropriately, the mechanic, fixing the cars that broke down, which happened frequently. He also organized contests to determine the best tree-climber, the best wood-chopper, the best stream-jumperand he usually won. Mr. Ford, when he is out of doors, is just like a boy, Firestone wrote. He wants to have running races, climb trees, or do anything which a boy might do. Ford also loved practical jokes. On one trip, he convinced the cooks to slice wooden tent stakes into thin strips and boil them in the soup, just so he could watch Firestone, who was proud of the gourmet food he provided, chomping into them. Henry Ford, the dynamo behind the Four Vagabonds, was a prodigy of energy. By the time he began organizing the camping trips in 1914, Ford, then 51, had designed the most popular car in Americathe Model Tcreated the modern assembly line and become a folk hero by paying his workers the generous sum of $5 for an eight-hour day. He was also an avid collector of everything from antique farm tools to famous friends. His most famous friend was Edison, the genius behind the light bulb, the phonograph and the movie camera. As a young man, Ford worked for Edisons company and Edison encouraged his experiments on a gasoline-powered automobile. When those experiments paid off, Ford rewarded his mentor by loaning him money to rescue his ailing businesses. Edison is easily the worlds greatest scientist, Ford wrote. I am not sure that he is not also the worlds worst businessman. He knows almost nothing of business. John Burroughs was also a mentor to Ford. Nicknamed the Grand Old Man of Nature, Burroughs was a famous conservationist who camped with Teddy Roosevelt, and a best-selling author who hobnobbed with Walt Whitman and Oscar Wilde. Ford, an avid bird watcher, was a fan of Burroughs writing. When Burroughs grumbled in print that the noisy, smelly automobile was ruining Americans appreciation of nature, Ford promptly sent a free Model T to the naturalist, with a note suggesting that it might help him reach scenic places easier. Burroughs enjoyed the car, and the two men became friends. In 1913, they traveled to Walden Pond, where Burroughs, then 76, taught Ford about birds and the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson. No man could help being the better for knowing John Burroughs, Ford wrote. He loved the woods and he made dusty-minded city people love them, toohe helped them see what he saw. Burroughs was equally laudatory about Ford: He looks like a poet and conducts his life like a philosopher. No poet ever expressed himself through his work more completely than Mr. Ford has expressed himself through his car. In 1914, Ford invited Burroughs to join him on a trip to visit Edison at the inventors winter home in Florida. From there, the three menaccompanied by Edisons wife and Fords wife and sonwent camping in the Everglades. Burroughs loved the exotic flora and faunahe said the Everglades reminded him of Hawaii and Jamaicaand the three men vowed to camp together again. In October 1915, Edison was honored at San Franciscos Pacific International Exposition. Ford attended, accompanied by Firestone, the Akron rubber manufacturer who supplied him with tires. After the festivities, the three men traveled around California, stopping to visit Luther Burbank, Americas most famous horticulturalist. Shortly after that trip, Ford embarked on another journeya quixotic attempt to end World War I. The war had been raging since August 1914, although the United States was still neutral. Ford thought the carnage was foolishwhich was undeniably trueand he decided to sail to Europe to negotiate a peace treaty. He chartered a steamship and invited prominent Americans, including Edison and Burroughs, to accompany him. Nearly all of them declined, including Edison and Burroughs. So Ford filled his peace ship with an eclectic collection of pacifists, suffragists, clerics and college studentsor as one newspaper called them every crackpot and nut in the country. On December 4, 1915, as a band played I Didnt Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier, the ship set sail. Two weeks later, when it reached Norway, the pacifists were fighting over ideological differences and Ford was locked in his stateroom, claiming he had a cold. He spent a week in Europe but failed to end the war, so he sailed back home, where newspapers mocked him unmercifully. When an underling informed Ford that his peace crusade had cost him $465,000, the auto baron tried to look on the bright side. Well, he said, we got a million dollars worth of advertising out of it. Perhaps the peace ship fiasco temporarily cured Ford of his wanderlust: He did not accompany his fellow Vagabonds in the summer of 1916, when they went camping in the Adirondacks in New York and the Green Mountains of Vermont. In Fords absence, Edison led the expedition and set the tone, which was exceedingly casual. The inventor, then 69, would study his map and select a route but change it repeatedly along the way, usually detouring onto ever rockier roads, claiming that he enjoyed the shaking out of being bounced around. We never know where we are going, Firestone joked, and I suspect that he doesnt either. Edison loved escaping the bonds of what he called fictitious civilization, and he enjoyed sleeping on the ground in his clothes. He is a good camper-out, and turns vagabond easily, Burroughs wrote. He can rough it week in and week out and be happy. Embracing his inner hobo, Edison announced that they should all stop shaving during the trip. Firestone, a more fastidious fellow, found Edisons edict difficult to obey. After a few days, he snuck off to a hotel, seeking a bed, a bath and a shave. Youre a tenderfoot, Edison grumbled when Firestone returned. Soon youll be dressing up like a dude. In 1917, the year the United States entered World War I, the Vagabonds canceled their vacation. But they resumed the outings in 1918, meandering through the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina. They traveled with a cook and several assistants, including a photographer from Fords public relations department, who provided newspapers with carefully posed candid shots. The Vagabonds tooled down country roads, followed by three trucks stuffed with food, camping equipment and the batteries Edison used to power lights in each tent. It often seemed to me, Burroughs joked, that we were a luxuriously equipped expedition going forth to seek discomfort. After a days bone-rattling drive, Edison would pick a place to stop and then somebodyusually Fordwould ask a farmer for permission to camp on his land. Theyd stay two or three nights at a spot. During the day, theyd hike through the woods, with Burroughs identifying flowers and birds, while Edison sliced into plants, searching for sap that might become an ingredient in synthetic rubber Firestone could use in his tires. When they came upon a stream, Ford and Edison liked to calculate how much hydroelectric power it could generate. In the afternoon, the Vagabonds moseyed back to their campsite to eat an elaborate dinner prepared by Firestones cooks. Then theyd build a big fire and sit up late, talking about the war, politics, business and science. Around the campfire, we drew Edison out on chemical problems, and heard formula after formula come from his lips as if he were reading them from a book, Burroughs wrote. It was easy to draw out Mr. Ford on mechanical problems. There is always pleasure and profit in hearing a master discuss his own art. One night, the talk turned to books, and Edison announced that the worlds greatest works of literature were Evangeline and Les Miserables. When Firestone disagreed, touting Shakespeare, Edison suggested that the Bards plays would be better if somebody translated them into common, everyday speech. Perhaps he was joking. Edison had a wicked wit that cracked up his pals. His humor is delicious, Burroughs wrote. Ford liked to tell jokes, too, but he quickly realized that his delivery wasnt nearly as good as Edisons. Later, back in his office, Ford instructed his secretary to type up his favorite jokes, so he could give them to Edison to deliver on future trips. The Vagabonds returned to the Adirondacks in 1919, this time in a caravan of 50 cars and trucks, which included the usual retinue of cooks and helpers, plus a posse of reporters, photographers and newsreel cameramen. The Vagabond vacations had become media sensations, which Firestone and Ford were eager to exploit. Firestone decorated his trucks with signs reading Buy Firestone Tires! and Ford dealerships along their route announced special sales. One night, the Vagabonds invited a New York Times reporter to hang around the campfire and record their palaver. I see where theres a big rumpus over the cost of living, Ford said, perusing a two-day-old newspaper. Its a great problem, said Burroughs. We used to buy things in bulk. They were cheap then. Nowadays, everything comes wrapped up in fancy packages. Firestone suggested the problem was too many middlemen between the producer and the consumer. Ford said that food cost too much because farmers were still using horses instead of tractors. Eliminate the horse, the cow and the pig, Ford demanded. What are you going to do for meat? asked Edison. You dont need it, said Ford. The world would be better off without meat. Its 70 per cent ashes anyway. Milk can be manufactured chemically. You cant eliminate horses and cows and pigs, Burroughs protested. Ford said he could, and promised that he would, replacing them all with machines within a few years. I will cut down the work on a farm to 20 days a year, he boasted. Twenty days a year is all a farmer needs to work. But the Times reporter wasnt around when Ford, a notorious anti-Semite, started ranting about Jews. Mr. Ford attributes all evil to the Jews, Burroughs wrote in his diary. The Jews caused the war, the Jews caused the outbreak of thieving and robbery all over the country, the Jews caused the inefficiency of the Navy of which Edison talked last night. When Ford cited Jay Gould, the shady financier, as an example of evil Jews who controlled Wall Street, Burroughs said hed been a childhood friend of Gould, who happened to be a Presbyterian. Touche! Though his mind was sharp, at 82, Burroughs was growing frail. The following summer, he was too feeble to travel, so the other Vagabonds and their wives visited his Catskills farm, and stayed in hotels instead of camping. Burroughs died in March 1921, and that summer his friends went vagabonding without him. They camped in the hills of Western Maryland, where they were joined by a new VagabondPresident Warren G. Harding, who arrived at their campsite trailed by a gaggle of White House aides, Secret Servicemen and photographers. Harding chewed tobacco, chopped firewood, rode a horse and hiked along Licking Creek, reminiscing about the swimming holes of his boyhood. When he noticed Edison napping beneath a tree, the president placed a newspaper over the great mans head. We cant let the gnats eat him up now, can we? That night, Harding sat around the campfire until 2 a.m. and slept in a tent. The next morning, he attended an outdoor memorial service for Burroughs, and then returned to Washington. The other Vagabonds kept traveling, camping out for two weeks. I like to get out in the woods and live close to nature, Edison told reporters. Every man does. Its in his blood. It is his feeble protest against civilization. The trip in 1921 was the last Vagabond jaunt that involved living close to nature. In subsequent years, luxury replaced camping. In 1923, the friends sailed the Great Lakes in Fords yacht. In 1924, they checked into the Wayside Inn, an 18th-century hotel in Sudbury, Mass., that Ford had recently purchased. From there, they drove to Plymouth, Vt., to visit Calvin Coolidge, who had become president when Harding died. Coolidge, known as Silent Cal, was running for reelection. Will Coolidge be elected? the inevitable mob of reporters hollered to Edison. Sure, Edison replied, if he doesnt talk too much. Coolidge cracked up. That was the Vagabonds last trip. The old friends were getting older and their camping trips had lost pizzazz. Some historians suggest that the trips helped create a new American lifestylestrapping the kids into the family car for a camping vacation. Others enjoy pointing out a delicious irony: Ford and Edison used the trips to flee from the pressures of a modern civilization that their inventions had helped to create. For the rest of his life, Ford enjoyed telling a story about the camping trips: Driving his Ford through the countryside, he encountered a farmer trying to fix his broken-down car, which wasnt a Ford. Without identifying himself, Ford pulled out tools and spare parts and repaired the farmers vehicle. Whats the charge? the farmer asked. Nothing, Ford replied. The farmer insisted on paying, and offered $1.50. Ford refused. I have all the money I want, he said. The farmer looked him over skeptically. Hell, he said, you cant have that much if you drive a Ford. Its a good story. It might even be true. Peter Carlson is the author of Junius and Alberts Adventures in the Confederacy: A Civil War Odyssey. This article originally appeared in the August 2013 issue of American History magazine. PERSONALITY Father John B. Tabb, an unreconstructed Rebel to the end, had served the Confederacy aboard blockade runners. By Charles A. Earp The Tabbs of Amelia County were one of the oldest and wealthiest families in Vir-ginia, owning vast acreage and many slaves. When the Civil War came, 16-year-old Johnny Tabb wanted to join his brothers in the Confederate Army, but he was a frail lad with a serious eye problem, and this was not possible. However, his chance to serve the Confederacy would come. In 1862, Major B.F. Ficklin of the Confederate War Department, visiting the Tabb family estate, The Forest, revealed that he had been commissioned by the Southern government to go to England, buy a ship, and convert it into a blockade runner for the Confederacy. He invited young Tabb to accompany him, an invitation the boy eagerly accepted. Tabb left the next day for Wilmington, N.C., where he joined the Confederate Navy as clerk to Captain John Wilkinson, who had been selected to command the new blockade runner. In September 1862, Wilkinson, Ficklin, Tabb and two government officials boarded the Southern steamer Kate in Wilmington with funds converted into pounds sterling for the purchase. The trip would be long, arduous and dangerous. Kate proceeded down the Cape Fear River and laid to under the guns of Fort Fisher, in sight of the Federal blockading fleet, waiting for nightfall. Under cover of darkness she ran the blockade and headed for San Salvador in the Bahamas. In transit, one of the passengers died of yellow fever; Major Ficklin also contracted the disease, but survived. At San Salvador, Ficklin hired a schooner to take the party to Cuba. With contrary winds, the going was slow; they ran out of ice and provisions. On the latter part of their week-long voyage, a 14-foot shark, which had been following them from San Salvador, was their only food. The schooner finally arrived at Cardenas, Cuba, where Tabb set foot on foreign soil for the first time. He was fascinated by the enormous crabs that frequented the streets and houses. The party went by train to Havana, where they took a Spanish steamer bound for the Virgin Islands, stopping at numerous ports along the way. In St. Thomas, they transferred to an English mail steamer and proceeded to Southampton without further incident. The trip had taken almost two months. The party then proceeded to Glasgow, Scotland, to negotiate the purchase of a passenger steamer, Giraffe, which ran between Glasgow and Belfast, and to oversee her conversion into a blockade runner. She was 260 feet long and weighed 900 tons, with a draft of 10 feet and a top speed of 13 knots, and carried no armament. She was one of the fastest of the blockade runners, about as fast as the famous Confederate raider Alabama. During the period of negotiations and renovation, Tabbs duties were nominal, and he enjoyed the sights of England, as well as a side trip to Paris. Giraffe sailed under the British flag with a British captain, although Captain Wilkinson was actually in charge. The first cargo consisted of medical supplies and fine paper for printing money consigned to the Confederate Treasury Department, along with 26 Scottish lithographers who had contracted to work for the treasury. The crossing, via the Portuguese Madeira Islands and Puerto Rico to Nassau, was routine. In Nassau they picked up pilots and set sail on the final leg of their journey, the running of the Federal blockade of Wilmington. On December 26, 1862, Giraffe approached the North Carolina coast. As she neared the blockading fleet, the fire room hatch was covered, all lights were extinguished, and even the compass was hooded except for a small hole for the helmsman to see through. Anyone showing an open light was subject to instant death. Heading for the mouth of the Cape Fear River, the ship came to a sudden haltGiraffe was stuck on a sandbar. If capture appeared imminent, the ship was to be destroyed rather than surrendered. Tabb was ordered to bring explosives on deck for that purpose. A boat was launched to set out an anchor. The sailors rowed with muffled oars, so close to a blockader that the crews voices could be heard. With the anchor dropped, the ships winch was tightened, and Giraffe was pulled off the bar. The anchor was then cut loose, and the ship entered the port of Wilmington at midnight on December 29. The next morning, Tabb counted 17 blockaders in line offshore. He later memorialized the incident in a poem called The Anchor. Giraffe, one of only three or four blockade runners owned by the Confederate government, was renamed R.E. Lee. All other blockade runners were privately owned and were so profitable that often one successful trip would more than pay for the loss of a ship. A blockade-runner, Tabb once wrote, was almost as invisible at night as Harlequin in the pantomime. Nothing showed above the deck but two short masts, and the smokestack; and the lead-colored hull could scarcely be seen at the distance of one hundred yards. Even on a clear day they were not easily discovered. Sailors on the privately owned ships were paid $100 a month in gold and a $50 bonus at the end of a good trip, which usually took about seven days. The crews of the government-owned blockade runners were paid the same. Captains and pilots earned as much as $5,000 a year. Navy captains, subordinate officers and pilots received only the pay of their rank in gold. R.E. Lee became one of the most famous of all the blockade runners. She ran the blockade 21 times, with 6,000 to 7,000 cotton bales worth $2 million in gold, and she brought back cargos of equal value. Tabb served aboard until almost the end of her Confederate service. The voyages were between Bermuda or Nassau and such Carolina coastal cities as Wilmington, Beaufort and Charleston. Tabb said that on each trip they had to pass through 20 to 30 Federal warships, and that the task was not made easier when the cargo was ammunition. During one trip, bad weather forced R.E. Lee to stray off course, and she met a Federal blockader too suddenly for evasive action. The quick-witted Captain Wilkinson ordered the ship quickly rigged to impersonate a Federal transport (many captured blockade runners were converted to that use). He ran up the United States flag, saluted the blockader, who returned the salute, and proceeded on his way. On another occasion, more aggressive action was necessary. Outbound for Nassau, R.E. Lee was chased by USS Iroquois, a sailing vessel. She had government gold in her cargo and was using inferior coal, which was costing her speed. Cotton bales were quickly soaked in turpentine and used as fuel, and the boilers were fired so high that the deck was almost scorching hot. R.E. Lee stayed ahead of her pursuer and, at dusk, put up a smoke screen, made a sharp 90-degree turn and escaped. In September 1863, Wilkinson was put in charge of an expedition to free Confederate prisoners of war at Johnsons Island, near Sandusky, Ohio. A party of handpicked men was formed, with Lieutenant Robert Minor as second-in-command. The inclusion in the party of young Johnny Tabb was evidence of the high esteem in which his commander held him. The expedition was a true cloak-and-dagger affair. The party, including a replacement captain for R.E. Lee, sailed for Halifax, Nova Scotia, on October 10, 1863, with a cargo of cotton. She was attacked and struck by enemy fire while running the blockade, but got through with only minor damage. The proceeds from the sale of the cotton were to be used to buy blankets and shoes for the army and for the needs of the released prisoners. The men arrived in Halifax on October 16, and because such a large party of Confederates would attract attention, they split into small groups. Wilkinson had been given letters to certain individuals in Canada who were ready to help, and an advance man was sent to Montreal, via Portland, Maine, to advise them of the partys coming. The party got as far as Toronto, but the plot was discovered and the Canadian governor general issued a proclamation threatening to imprison anyone violating his countrys neutrality laws. He also notified United States authorities, and the prison garrison was reinforced and placed on full alert. The expedition was therefore called off, and the entire party returned to Halifax, making part of the trip by sleigh, and booked passage on Alpha, the first steamer available bound for Bermuda, in December 1863. R.E. Lee, under her replacement captain, sailed from Halifax after landing the expedition party. She was captured off the North Carolina coast on her way to Texas with army payrolls. Renamed Fort Donelson, she was assigned to Union blockade duty and subsequently participated in the capture of Fort Fisher and the closing of Wilmington, the last port open to the Confederacyan ironic ending to the career of a famous blockade runner. After the arrival of the expedition party in Bermuda, Wilkinson took command of a privately owned blockade runner, Whisper, which had come over from England in the early part of 1864. Tabb accompanied him back to the Confederacy, where they parted ways. In May 1864, Tabb ran the blockade for the 20th time from Wilmington to Bermuda. It was a particularly difficult crossing, in rough weather, on a poor steamer burning bad coal. Tabb remembered that it was a Sunday when they landed because the bell of the English church was ringing, and he got ashore just in time to attend the evening service. Tabb had come bearing government dispatches, and was under orders to return on Siren, a small British steamer used by the governor of Bermuda as a yacht, which had been purchased by the Confederate government. Siren, which was commanded by a British captain, was in poor condition, and the captain had trouble getting a crew. She was very noisy, roaring like a buzz saw, Tabb said, and someone remarked that the blockading fleet would hear her coming before they saw her. On the third day at sea there was a report, which proved false, that she had sprung a leak and was going to sink. But something had definitely gone wrong with the engine, and the ship was almost dead in the water. On the morning of June 5, 1864, off Beaufort, N.C., Siren was approached by the Federal steamer Keystone State, which fired two shots over her bow. The British flag was lowered, and Siren was towed into port by Keystone State as a prize of war. Tabb, the British captain and others were sent to Point Lookout, the infamous Federal prison camp located on a low, sandy peninsula in southern Maryland where the Potomac River meets the Chesapeake Bay. The prison was about 20 acres in size, surrounded by a palisade and heavily guarded. The prisoners were housed in tents, although there was an extensive hospital for the illof whom there were many. There, Tabb spent the most miserable seven months of his life. He corresponded with the British representative in Washington and secured his cooperation in getting the captain and his associates released from Point Lookout. They were prepared to declare him English also, to secure his release, but Tabb would have none of this. When the Englishmen reached New York, they sent, by prearrangement, a box of supplies to Tabb, which included a $5 gold piece concealed in a sausage. Being sick in the hospital at the time, Tabb somehow forgot the money and gave the supplies away. The honest recipient of the sausage later returned the $5 gold piece to him. The only bright spot in Tabbs imprisonment was his meeting with Sidney Lanier, a young Confederate signal officer who also had been captured aboard a blockade runner. Lanier, who would become one of the Souths best-known postwar literary figures, was an accomplished flutist. While in the hospital, Tabb heard the sound of a flute, which Lanier had smuggled into prison concealed up his sleeve, and vowed that he must find the player when he was able. The two kindred spirits became inseparable until their release from prison. They were together as much as possible, frequently being joined by a Polish physician with a fine voice who loved to sing operatic arias. Often, when singing a love song, the good doctor would work himself up to an emotional peak, much to the amusement of the young Americans. In February 1865, Tabb was finally exchanged and went home to The Forest in Amelia County, where he remained until April, recuperating from his prison ordeal. He then joined his brothers regiment, the 59th Virginia Infantry stationed near Richmond, at about the time that the capital city was evacuated. The 59th, commanded by his older brother, Colonel William Barksdale Tabb, was part of Brig. Gen. Henry A. Wises brigade. As the Army of Northern Virginia withdrew southwestward, closely pursued by Federal forces, it passed through Tabbs home county. A portion of the army was surrounded at the Battle of Saylers Creek on April 6, 1865. Most of the encircled Confederates were obliged to surrender, but Wises brigade fought its way out of the trap and became part of Maj. Gen. John B. Gordons command on the march to High Bridge, Farmville, and Appomattox Court House. There, on April 9, 1865, just past his 20th birthday, Private John B. Tabb was paroled along with his brothers and the remaining members of the 59th Virginia Infantry. After the war, Major Ficklin offered to send Tabb to Baltimore to study music. The Tabb family had been impoverished by the war, and the majors offer was readily accepted. A year later, however, Ficklin had financial reverses of his own and could no longer sponsor Tabbs musical education. Tabb then taught school for a time and, although from an Episcopalian family, converted to Roman Catholicism while in Baltimore. He entered Saint Marys Seminary there and was ordained a priest in 1874 at the age of 29. He became a teacher at Saint Charles College and Seminary in Ellicott City, Md., where he remained for the rest of his life. While at Saint Charles, Tabb renewed his friendship with Sidney Lanier, then a resident of Baltimore, principal flutist of the Peabody Symphony Orchestra and member of the faculty of Johns Hopkins University. The former prison mates maintained a lively correspondence until Laniers death. In the postwar years, Father Tabb gained a widespread reputation in American literary circles. Several volumes of his poems were published, and many appeared in well-known periodicals of the day such as Harpers, The Atlantic and Lippincotts, and also received critical acclaim in the British press. Ever the unreconstructed Rebel, Father Tabb would never cross the Mason-Dixon Line, and always refused invitations to speak in the North. Father Tabb was remembered by his students for his accomplished piano playing, his incisive cartoons and his ready wit. The archives of the Suplician order contain many clever cartoons of Tabbs fellow priests, often accompanied by topical and pun-filled verses that reveal his keen insight into human nature. Father Tabbs eyesight continued to deteriorate from the malady that had plagued him since childhood. He had to be relieved of his teaching duties at Saint Charles, and eventually became completely blind. His general health also began to fail with increasing rapidity. The opening lines of a poem published in his first book of verse begin, To die in sleepto drift from dream to dream. At 11 p.m. on November 19, 1909, Father Tabbs wish was granted. Contracted by the British army in 1967 to develop a tracked reconnaissance combat vehicle, Alvis Ltd. (since absorbed by BAE Systems) delivered the first FV101 Scorpion prototype in January 1969. After rigorous testing in a range of climates, conditions and terrain, the army accepted the vehicle in May 1970 and fielded it in January 1972. Originally powered by a Jaguar J60 4.2-liter gasoline engine (replaced by diesel engines in 1980), the Scorpion holds the Guinness world record for fastest production tank, with a max speed of 51 mph. Transported to combat zones by seagoing ship or in pairs by a C-130 Hercules, the Scorpion is capable of making an amphibious landing or water crossing using a flotation screen. The Scorpion is armed with a 76mm cannon, but variants built atop its versatile chassis include the FV102 Striker antitank guided missile launcher, FV103 Spartan armored personnel carrier, FV104 Samaritan armored ambulance, FV105 Sultan command vehicle, FV106 Samson armored recovery vehicle and FV107 Scimitar recon vehicle with a 30mm L21A1 RARDEN cannon. During the 1982 Falklands War four Scorpions, four Scimitars and a Samson of B Squadron, Blues and Royals, saw action on East Falkland Island, supporting 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, on Wireless Ridge and the Scots Guards on Mount Tumbledown. Iran used Scorpion variants during its war with Iraq in the 1980s, and Britain used them again during the Gulf War in 1991 and in Bosnia-Herzegovina the following year. The United Kingdom retired its Scorpions in 1994, but it still uses Scimitars. A total of 3,362 Scorpions have served, or are still serving, in 21 countries. Specifications Crew: Three Battle weight: 7.8 tons Length: 14 feet 4.75 inches Height: 6 feet 10.5 inches Ground clearance: 14 inches Engine: Jaguar J60 4.2-liter gasoline, dual overhead camshaft military version, six-cylinder Power/weight ratio: 24.96 bhp/ton Full capacity: 88 gallons Ground pressure: 5 psi Maximum speed: 51 mph Acceleration: 030 mph in 16 seconds Braking distance: 50 feet from 30 mph Fuel consumption: 5 mpg at 30 mph Range: More than 370 miles Obstacle clearance: 20 inches Trench crossing: 6.75 feet Fording: 3 feet 6 inches (without flotation screen) Water speed: 4 mph (tracks), 6 mph (propellers) Gearbox: TN 15Z Crossdrive, semiautomatic seven-speed Main armament: 76mm L23 gun Elevation: 35 to -10 degrees Range: 3.1 miles (indirect fire), 1.35 miles (direct fire) Ammunition: 40 rounds (HE, HESH, HE&SH/practice, smoke canister and illuminating) Secondary armament: Coaxial 7.62mm general-purpose machine gun (3,000 rounds) Smoke dischargers: Two triple-barreled; also carries 18 smoke grenades Radio sets: Types C42/B47, C13/B47, C13/42 or Clansman Some Union troops loved the gun, others did not. We tested it out to see for ourselves! In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. ALL AROUND HIM, his soldiers were ragged and hungry. Desperate attempts in the last week to feed, clothe and arm them had been thwarted at every turn. Half his troops had been captured, killed or woundedor had just left. Enemy armies surrounded him now; decision time had come. Robert E. Lee huddled with his commanders by a low bivouac in the south central Virginia countryside, the rooftops of the village of Appomattox Court House just visible above the tree line. There was no tent there, no table, no chairs, and no camp-stools, Maj. Gen. John Brown Gordon recalled. On blankets spread upon the ground or on saddles at the roots of the trees we sat around the great commander.No tongue or pen will ever be able to describe the unutterable anguish of Lees commanders as they looked into the clouded face of their beloved leader and sought to draw from it some ray of hope. In the week since the fall of Petersburg and Richmond on April 3, Lee had been frantic to resupply his famished troops. Ultimately he hoped to combine the Army of Northern Virginia with Gen. Joseph Johnstons Army of Tennessee, now being tormented by William T. Shermans Union forces in North Carolina. Lee went first to Amelia Court House, a stop on the Richmond & Danville Railroad, where he expected supplies from Richmond. But when food rations didnt appear, he headed for Jetersville to collect 200,000 rations sent from Danville. Federal troops got there first, however, so Lee opted for Farmville on the South Side Railroad. Intermittent fighting, fatigue and hunger, and the collapse of starving animals depleted his fighting force, which had numbered nearly 60,000 as they left Richmond and Petersburg. The Battle of Sailors Creek on April 6 took a particular toll, costing more than 8,000 troops in three engagements. Most were now prisoners of the Federals. Among them were a half-dozen general officers, including Richard Ewell and Lees oldest son, Custis. My God! the elder Lee exclaimed as he saw survivors straggling from the fight, has the army been dissolved? That was two days ago. Tonight, he didnt know what had become of Custisor his youngest son, Rob, who had been captured as well. And yesterday, General Grant had invited Lee to surrender and avoid further effusion of blood. Though he was unwilling to concede to Grants opinion of the hopelessness of his cause, he wanted to keep his limited options open. He asked Grant for termsnot for surrender, but for peaceyet continued his retreat toward Danville. Supplies from Lynchburg were headed for Appomattox Station; once his men had some food, there might still be a chance to reach Johnston. Reserve artillery commanded by Brig. Gen. Reuben Lindsay Walker, halted near Appomattox Station to draw rations, was moving to Lynchburg; Walkers 100 guns were an impediment to a fleeing army. But the Federals heard about Lees supply trains, and Maj. Gen. George Custer descended with his cavalry on Appomattox Stationwhere he found four trains and Walkers artillery. Surprised and disorganized, the Confederates were stubborn nonetheless. By nightfall, however, the Federals had captured 1,000 more of Lees dwindling forces, three of the supply trains, 25 guns, scores of wagons and up to 300,000 (accounts vary) of the Rebels precious food rations. Most of Walkers artillery escaped to the north and west, but were scattered and therefore useless. To Lees further consternation, Federal cavalry rushed onto the LynchburgRichmond Stage Road and charged into nearby Appomattox Court House, cutting off Lees escape route. Everywhere he looked, there were Federals. Today he had asked Grant for a conversation. I cannotmeet you with a view to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia, but as far as your proposal may affect the C.S. forces under my command, and tend to the restoration of peace, I should be pleased to meet you at 10 a.m., to-morrow; on the old stage road to Richmond, between the picket-lines of the two armies. He still hoped he could persuade Grant to discuss peace rather than surrender, but so far had no replyor much encouragement Grant would see things his way. Now, from his makeshift headquarters just northeast of the village, Lee knew he had only two choices: attack the Federals at dawn and try to break out, or surrender. He and his commandersincluding Gordon, James Longstreet and Lees nephew Fitzhughrested by the fire and considered each. Maybe only Union cavalry stood between his army and escape. If he could break out, could the Confederate armies keep fighting until war-weary Northerners let the Southern states go? If he surrendered, what would the fate of Southern people be? If all that was said and felt at that meeting could be given it would make a volume of measureless pathos, Gordon wrote. In no hour of the great war did General Lees masterful characteristics appear to me so conspicuous as they did in that last council. We knew by our own aching hearts that his was breaking. Yet he commanded himself, and stood calmly facing and discussing the long-dreaded inevitable. After discussing both distasteful options, they decided to attack at daybreak. If it didnt work, then Many visitors dont realize there was fighting at Appomattox, says Patrick Schroeder, historian for Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. On a sunny autumn afternoon, Schroeder and other members of the parks staff are deep in preparations for the thousands of visitors anticipated during the sesquicentennial this spring. Five days of events are planned, including talks, tours, living history demonstrations and other activities. But Schroeder takes time out to tell a visitor about the nine days of events that brought the armies here. This campaign really is amazing because these troops are marching and fighting on a daily basis. Its unlike any other campaign, really, he observes. This campaign doesnt have a Gettysburg, it doesnt have an Antietam, but there are smaller battles every day: Sutherland Station. Namozine Church. Amelia Court House. Sailors Creek. High Bridge. Cumberland Church. Here at Appomattox Station and then at Appomattox Court House. And in the course of the week Lees army, which started out with about 60,000 men, has 30,000 men when it reaches Appomattox. Lee has lost half of his army in that weeklong marchand that is unparalleled in Civil War history. Thats roughly 10,000 killed or wounded, 10,000 capturedmainly at Sailors Creekand 10,000 deserters. The Union army had been busy too, marching up to 3035 miles per day10 miles more than Stonewall Jacksons famed marchersto cut Lees army off before it could escape. By nightfall on April 8, Federal cavalry dug in less than a mile from the courthouse. Two cannon lobbed shells into the Confederate camp. Gordons troops were just west of the village, preparing for the mornings do-or-die advance. Early the next morning, Gordons troops moved forward in wheel formation and scored initial successcapturing the two guns that had plagued the Rebels the night before, as well as some Yankee artillerymen. They hadnt counted on the appearance of infantry from the Union Army of the James, however, and as Gordons forces were outmanned, the tide began to turn. As more and more Federal troops concentrated at Appomattox, Gordon sent a desperate message to his commander. Tell General Lee that my command has been fought to a frazzle, he said, and unless Longstreet can unite in the movement, or prevent these forces from coming upon my rear, I can not long go forward. Longstreet, however, was assailed by other portions of the Federal army, Gordon recalled. He was so hardly pressed that he could not join, as contemplated, in the effort to break the cordon of men and metal around us. Lee, according to his aide-de-camp Charles Venable, knew he was finished. There is nothing left me but to go and see General Grant, he conceded, and I had rather die a thousand deaths. In the meantime, he had finally heard from Grant: I have no authority to treat on the subject of peace; the meeting proposed for 10 a.m. to-day could lead to no good. I will state, however, general, that I am equally anxious for peace with yourself, and the whole North entertains the same feeling. The terms upon which peace can be had are well understood. By the South laying down their arms they will hasten that most desirable event, save thousands of human lives, and hundreds of millions of property not yet destroyed. Seriously hoping that all our difficulties may be settled without the loss of another life, I subscribe myself, &c., U.S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General. He sent for Longstreet, who found his commander dressed in a suit of new uniform, sword and sash, a handsomely embroidered belt, boots, and a pair of gold spurs. He stood near the embers of some burned rails, received me with graceful salutation, and spoke at once of affairs in front and the loss of his subsistence storesand, closing with the expression that it was not possible for him to get along, requested my view, Longstreet recalled. I asked if the bloody sacrifice of his army could in any way help the cause in other quarters. He thought not. Then, I said, your situation speaks for itself. Lee resigned himself to the task at hand. Lieut. Gen. U.S. GRANT: I received your note of this morning on the picket-line, whither I had come to meet you and ascertain definitely what terms were embraced in your proposal of yesterday with reference to the surrender of this army. I now ask an interview in accordance with the offer contained in your letter of yesterday for that purpose. R.E. LEE, General. Grant, who had been nursing a headache since the day before, was riding a 22-mile circuit around the armies that morning. I proceeded at an early hour in the morning, still suffering with the headache, to get to the head of the column. I was not more than two or three miles from Appomattox Court House at the time, but to go direct I would have to pass through Lees army, or a portion of it. I had therefore to move south in order to get upon a road coming up from another direction. When the officer reached me I was still suffering with the sick headache, but the instant I saw the contents of the note I was cured. I wrote the following note in reply and hastened on: Your note of this date is but this moment (11.50 A.M.) received, in consequence of my having passed from the Richmond and Lynchburg road to the Farmville and Lynchburg road. I am at this writing about four miles west of Walkers Church and will push forward to the front for the purpose of meeting you. After delivering Grants message, Union Lt. Col. Orville E. Babcock escorted Lee and his aide, Lt. Col. Charles Marshall, into the village of Appomattox Court House. Marshall, sent ahead to find a suitable place for the meeting, soon happened on Wilmer McLeana sugar speculator who had left his home in Manassas after the two battles there and was living in the village. McLean first showed him to an empty building, but when Marshall passed on that venue, McLean offered his home. Lee arrived at the McLean House at about 1 p.m. to surrender the depleted remainder of his armyan army once proud and defiant, and not without reason. They had scared George McClellan off the Virginia Peninsula, humiliated Ambrose Burnside at Fredericksburg and flustered Joe Hooker at Chancellorsville. Nobody could say they hadnt taken their best shot. But now, so many were gone. Stonewall. Jeb. And just last week, A.P. Hill. Lee stepped into Wilmer McLeans parlor and waited. Although many original Appomattox Court House structures remain, some have been lost and somethe courthouse and the McLean House itselfhave been restored. The courthouse burned in 1892, destroying records and prompting residents to build a new structure at Appomattox Station, now known simply as Appomattox. But during the Civil War centennial, the former courthouse was rebuilt and now serves as the visitor center for the national park. The McLean House, vacated by the McLeans in 1867, was sold in 1891 to a Niagara Falls, N.Y., development firm to be dismantled and moved to Washington for permanent display. But a financial panicand the companys resulting bankruptcyquashed those plans, and the building materials remained on the property until the park service rebuilt the house in the late 1940s. When it was dedicated in 1950, Ulysses Grant III and Robert E. Lee IV attended. Grant and Lee found a village boasting activity that can only be imagined now. The Clover Hill Tavern had a dining wing that has since disappeared. There were two general stores, only one of which remains, and some offices (two are left), and the northeast side of the Richmond-Lynchburg Stage Road was lined with the shops of the Rosser family enterprises. Lee comes up here, he gets here about 1 oclockGrant arrives about a half-hour later, Schroeder explains. People like to make a big deal about Grant was all mud-splattered and stuff like that. Well, the thing is, youve got to understand the situation. Lee had put on a new uniform and rode a little over a mile from his headquarters. Grant rode 22 miles over Virginia roads in April, after its been raining a lot. Not only was Grant mud-splattered, his whole staff was mud-splattered. Grant was never a fancy dresser to begin with, but that was the situation at hand. He told Lee that he didnt have time to go to his baggage wagonbut Lee said that he was glad he came when he did. Because [Lee] had to sit there and think over things by himself. Many people write about what he was thinkingbut we dont know what Lee was thinking about. There was, of course, much to contemplate. Lee had met Grant before, during the Mexican War. But in this war, Grant had established a fearsome reputation as Unconditional Surrender Grant. Or, among those repulsed by the body count in his wake, Grant the Butcher. And he was the only Union general who pursued Lee with such tenacity. Lee could be forgiven for whatever anxiety he felt. Grant arrived at around 1:30 p.m. We greeted each other, and after shaking hands took our seats, Grant recalled. What General Lees feelings were I do not know. As he was a man of much dignity, with an impassible face, it was impossible to say whether he felt inwardly glad that the end had finally come, or felt sad over the result, and was too manly to show it. Whatever his feelings, they were entirely concealed from my observation; but my own feelings, which had been quite jubilant on the receipt of his letter, were sad and depressed. I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought. We soon fell into a conversation about old army times. He remarked that he remembered me very well in the old army; and I told him that as a matter of course I remembered him perfectly, but from the difference in our rank and years (there being about sixteen years difference in our ages), I had thought it very likely that I had not attracted his attention sufficiently to be remembered by him after such a long interval. Our conversation grew so pleasant that I almost forgot the object of our meeting. After the conversation had run on in this style for some time, General Lee called my attention to the object of our meeting. Lee asked Grant to put his terms in writing; Grant asked for writing materials, then composed a concise proviso. GEN: In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the 8th inst., I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of N. Va. on the following terms, to wit: Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate. One copy to be given to an officer designated by me, the other to be retained by such officer or officers as you may designate. The officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged, and each company or regimental commander sign a like parole for the men of their commands. The arms, artillery and public property to be parked and stacked, and turned over to the officer appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the side-arms of the officers, nor their private horses or baggage. This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to their homes, not to be disturbed by United States authority so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force where they may reside. Very respectfully, U.S. GRANT, Lt. Gen. When I put my pen to the paper I did not know the first word that I should make use of in writing the terms, Grant wrote in his memoirs. I only knew what was in my mind, and I wished to express it clearly, so that there could be no mistaking it. As I wrote on, the thought occurred to me that the officers had their own private horses and effects, which were important to them, but of no value to us; also that it would be an unnecessary humiliation to call upon them to deliver their side arms.When he read over that part of the terms about side arms, horses and private property of the officers, he remarked, with some feeling, I thought, that this would have a happy effect upon his army. After some brief clarifications, it was Lees turn to compose a response. GENERAL:I received your letter of this date containing the terms of the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia as proposed by you. As they are substantially the same as those expressed in your letter of the 8th inst., they are accepted. I will proceed to designate the proper officers to carry the stipulations into effect. E. LEE, General. Lee had one more bit of business to transact: His men were hungry. Phil Sheridans cavalry, after all, had captured his rations. Grant told him to send his quartermaster to get all the provisions needed. After that a general conversation took place of a most agreeable character, Marshall recalled. I cannot describe it. I cannot give you any idea of the kindness, and generosity, and magnanimity of those men. When I think of it, it brings tears into my eyes. After having this general conversation we took leave of General Grant, and went off to appoint commissioners to attend to the details of the surrender. As General Lee rode back to his army the officers and soldiers of his troops about the front lines assembled in promiscuous crowds of all arms and grades in anxious wait for their loved commander, Longstreet wrote in his memoirs. From force of habit a burst of salutations greeted him, but quieted as suddenly as they arose. The road was packed by standing troops as he approached, the men with hats off, heads and hearts bowed down. As he passed they raised their heads and looked upon him with swimming eyes. Those who could find voice said good-by, those who could not speak, and were near, passed their hands gently over the sides of Traveller. He rode with his hat off, and had sufficient control to fix his eyes on a line between the ears of Traveller and look neither to right nor left until he reached a large white-oak tree, where he dismounted to make his last Headquarters, and finally talked a little. After tending to some clerical details, Grant sent a telegram to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton: General Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia this afternoon on terms proposed by myself. The accompanying additional correspondence will show the conditions fully. U. S. GRANT, Lieut.-General. Grant and Lee met again the following day. Grant attempted to persuade Lee to surrender all Confederate armies. But Lee said that he could not do that without consulting the President first, Grant remembered. I knew there was no use to urge him to do anything against his ideas of what was right. Neither commander participated in the formal surrender, leaving their subordinates to carry out the details. Grant sped to Washington, with his assistant adjutant Captain Robert Todd Lincolnthe presidents eldest sonclose behind, with a view to putting a stop to the purchase of supplies, and what I now deemed other useless outlay of money. He would also meet with the president, and get an invitation to the theater. Chilly relations between Julia Grant and the First Lady would prompt the Grants to decline. Lee remained in the vicinity of Appomattox for a few more days. Eventually he broke camp and climbed onto Traveller for the long ride back to Richmond. Tamela Baker is a former editor of Americas Civil War. This article originally appeared in the March 2015 issue of Americas Civil War Letters Reveal the Inner Man: What we can learn from Joshua Chamberlains letters to his wife Since Ken Burns reintroduced Joshua Chamberlain to a wide audience in his 1990 PBS series, the hero of Little Round Top has been among the most studied and admired figures of that great conflict. As a young boy Chamberlain suffered from a stuttering problem, yet he became fluent in seven languages and taught college-level speech and rhetoric courses. Trained as a minister, he is best known as a warrior, a contradiction that Michael Shaara referenced in the title of his epic novel The Killer Angels. Those contradictions make him all the more fascinating, and an exemplar of the American citizen-soldier. The following previously unpublished letters from the forthcoming May 2012 book Joshua Chamberlain: A Life in Letters, provide more insight into the mind and life of the Union hero. Exploring Chamberlains correspondence reveals a man who was plagued by the same human foibles that confound the rest of ussomeone who overcame his personal demons in heroic fashion but was unable to dispatch them from his consciousness. These layers are often peeled back in the letters, speeches and essays that Chamberlain wrote during his lifetime. More than 1,000 of these letters written to and from Chamberlain remain accessible in historical collections across the country, each of them adding at least some small nuance to the overall picture of his life. Two hundred and seventy of these remained in the possession of distant Chamberlain relatives until the mid-1990s, when the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, Pa., purchased and added them to its extensive collection. For the Sesquicentennial, the museum decided to release the letters in printed form, allowing the general public to read them for the first time. Excerpted here are five letters. They begin with part of a missive to his wife Fannie, describing the desolation brought about by war and the melancholy thoughts it conjured up for him. But the next letter describes the sights and sounds of life in a comfortable camp. He has already gained sufficient confidence to boast that, despite the nearness of the enemy, he is no longer nervous. The remaining letters reveal some of Chamberlains motivations for going to war, and also his efforts to transfer out of the 20th Maine Infantry just six weeks before the Battle of Gettysburg. Also included is his unofficial report on the 20th Maines role in the fighting there to Brig. Gen. James Barnes, the commander of his division, written just three days after the fighting ended at Gettysburg. The report is from the Maine State Archives. A portion of what Civil War enthusiasts will likely find the most valuable letter in the collection is also reprinted here: a detailed description of his experiences in front of the stone wall on Maryes Heights at the Battle of Fredericksburg, which was Chamberlains first direct exposure to combat, written from notes that he took while combat was still raging around him. Why he chose to join the Army and fight: Warrenton/62 Thursday noon. Our eating arrangements in moving about in this way are rather droll. The officers do not draw rations, we have to shift for ourselves.Monday I had (begged!) a tip of salt tongue 3 inches long, and 2 pieces of hard-bread. Next day 3 cakes bought of a rebel I believe and eaten with grave apprehensions; as five or six Massachusetts men have been poisonedof pounded glass in cake. Yesterday a few cakes and some cheese bought of a sutler for breakfast and nothing more till 9 P.M. when the col. got hold of some peaches and he and I ate half a peck for supper.I sleep on the ground a blanket under me and the shawl over. After we get a little more established I shall ride over the country a little, visit the picket line in front and more especially the Maine boys in this vicinity. I wish I could send you something, but this country is perfectly desolate. Nothing seems to flourish here but graves. A few rods a cross the rifle pits in front of us is a little family burying ground under a group of locust trees. Some mother with her six children sleep there in Jesus as the inscription says. Sad enough! but sadder far, to think that in the attack that very spot will afford an evident shelter to the enemy from which to annoy us, and will no doubt be the theater of angry strife. Cannon shot will crush the head stones, and tear the mounds. But the dead are happy there, compared with those who live to see these cruel days. That mother and her little ones are no traitors and the storms of shot and shell that will rage around their resting place will not vex their ears. I declare it almost weakened me to think what this nation is now doing, wholly devoted to mutual destruction! But there is no other way and there are things worth more than life and peace. Nationalitythe Law of Liberty, public and private honor are worth far more, and if the Rebels think they are fighting for all that men hold dear, as I suppose some of them really think they are, we are fighting for more, we fight for all the guaranties of what men should love, for the protection and permanence + peace of what is most dear and sacred to every true heart. That is what I am fighting for at any rate, and I could not live or die in a better cause.You can tell Mr. Tenney and others where we are situation and what our prospects are. Say we are well and cheerful. Write to me often. Lawrence Camp Life and a visit from the barber: Bivouac near Hartwood, VA Nov. 22 1862 My dearest Fannie, We have been sitting all of usthe Col., Major, Adjutant, Doctor and I around our tent fire which we have tonight in the middle of our big tent, telling ghost stories and other marvelous tales and have enjoyed ourselves very much. Innumerable bugles are sounding the extinguish light, and the thought of how much you would enjoy the evening and still more the sight of this city of camp fires and the sound of the bugles, prompt me to write one word to you before I roll myself up in my blanket and go to my sound sleep. Not in the least am I disturbed now by the message which just came from the General Be vigilant tonight. You know we are in the midst of the enemys country now and have plenty of spies around us; and tonight it happens that we are rather a small body to be left alone so far from aid. But we can be just as vigilant without being nervous. N.B. I dont get nervous now. 12 or 15 hours daily in the saddle is going to rejuvenate me. How you would enjoy this campcomfortable for once and these bugles again one answering another from all the hill tops around. I wish you could be here. But what should I do with you in the morning my little girl? On the march muddy, cold, and often rainy, you would not be comfortable. My clothes have not been dry for three or four days.Mr. [Adjut. John Marshall] Brown took the opportunity today of cutting my beard to suit his notion of my face. He has left me with a ferocious mustache and my bit of an imperial only. The ends of the mustache he has waxed and twisted and they reach positively the angle of my jaw (you have no angle on yours) and would almost meet under my chin. Mr. B. thinks he has me now to suit him especially for a profile. You would not know me. We are now in Griffins Division, Hookers Grand Division. The old corps of Porter is commanded by Butterfield, the brigade by the senior Colonel. You may address simply 20th Regt Maine Vols Washington D.C. We are on for Richmond once more and finally we shall take it this time you may be sure. But we have got to fight all our way from Fredericksburg, I suppose. The Battle of Fredericksburg Camp opposite Fredericksburg December 17th, 1862 I know how much you must desire to hear what I have witnessed & experienced during this eventful week. Let me begin by a few extracts from my note book. We halted under the partial cover of a slightly rising ground, but precisely in range of the hottest fire, to form our line. The dead & wounded lay thick even here, & fragments of limbs were trampled underfoot. Some of our own men fell here. Suddenly two new batteries openedit seemed as if the ground were bursting underfoot & the very sky were crashing down upon usthe bullets hissed like a seething sea. In the midst of the hellish din we heard the bugle call the 3rd Brigade. I was standing with the Col. in front of the colors. He glanced up at the Batteries. God help us now, said he. Colonel, take care of the right wing! Forward the Twentieth! & forward it did go, in line of battle smooth as a sunset parade, in face of that terrific cross-fire of cannon & rifle, & underneath the tempest of shellits gallant commander in the van. For some reason the two Regts. on the right of our Brigade did not advance with us, & our right wing consequently took the flank fire, as well the torrent it breasted in front. On we charged over fences & through hedgesover bodies of dead men & living onespassed four lines that were lying on the ground to get out of fireon, to that deadly edge where we had seen such desperate valor mown down in heaps. We moved in front of the line already engaged, & thus covered, it was enabled to retire. Then on the crest of the hill we exchanged swift & deadly volleys with the Rebel infantry before us. Darkness had now come on, & the firing slackened, but did not cease. We felt that we must hold that position, though it was a desperate thing to think of. For the Rebels knowing the ground might flank us in the darkness, & to be found under their very guns at daylight would be offering ourselves to destruction. To retire however was to expose the whole army to defeat. So we lay on the trampled & bloody field. Wet & cold it was too, & we had no blanketsthe officers, I mean. Little sleep we had then & there, I assure you. Our eyes & ears were open. We could hear the voices of the Rebels in their lines, so near were they, & could see many of their movements. [This excerpt is about one-sixth of the entire letter.] A plan to transfer out of the 20th Maine: Monday noon, What would you think, Fanny, of my obtaining the colonelcy of one of the new Regiments to be raised in Maine under the recent Lawthe conscript or drafted Regts. Would you leave the old 20th? I declare it makes my heart heavy to think of it. But the Col. says if he does not get his appointment, I ought to go in for another Regt. The colonels are to be apptd. by the President Col. Ames thinks weve been Lieut. Col. long enough. We have been through two memorable campaigns and very likely shall be into another one before any change can be made. I can imagine there would be the least difficulty in obtaining the place if desired. The only thing is I have an affection for this 20th. That color somehow has wound my heart up in itespecially since certain fingers that I know of, and was bold enough to kiss, by stealth, some twelve years ago, have consecrated it anew for me. Ill see it through one more battle, anyway. Just tell me what you think of my plan or proposal rather. I have not argued the affirmative side. But there are some wonderful advantages in the new Regt. Think of it for me. You will know a womans witagainst mans cogitations. Chamberlains account of the fighting at Gettysburg: [July 6, 1863] General Barnes Comd 1st Div. 5th Corps General, This Regt. was on the extreme left of our line of battle, & its original front was very nearly that of the rest of the Brigade. At the general assault of the enemy on our lines, my Regt. from the first received its full share. While we were warmly engaged with this line, as I stood on a high rock by my colors I perceived a heavy body of the enemy moving by the right flank in the direction of our left & rear. They were close upon me, & I had but a moment in which to act. The head of their column was already coming to a front, in direction only a little oblique to that of the rest of our Brigade. Keeping this movement of the enemy from the knowledge of my men, I immediately had my right wing take intervals by the left flank at 3 to 5 paces according to the shelter afforded by the rocks & trees, thus covering the whole front then engaged; & moved my left wing to the left & rear making nearly a right angle at the color. This movement was so admirably executed by my men, that our fire was not materially slackened in front, while the left wing was taking its new position. Not more than two minutes elapsed before the enemy came up in column of Regiments with an impetuosity which betrayed their anticipation of an easy triumph. Their astonishment was great as they emerged from their cover, & found instead of an unprotected rear, a solid front. They advanced however within ten paces of my lineadvancing & firing rapidly. Our volleys were so steady & telling that the enemy were checked here, & broken. Their second line then advanced, with the same ardor & the same fate, & so too a third & fourth. This struggle of an hour & a half, was desperate in the extreme: four times did we lose & win that space of ten yards between the contending lines, which was strewn with dying & dead. I repeatedly sent to the rear reports of my condition, that my ammunition was exhausted, & that I could hold the position but a few minutes longer. In the mean time I seized the opportunity of a momentary repulse of the enemy, to gather the contents of every cartridge box of the dead & dying, friend & foe, & with these we met the enemy on their last & most desperate assault. In the midst of this, our ammunition utterly failed, our fire, as it was too terribly evident, had slackened, half my left wing lay on the ground, & although I had brought two companies from the right to strengthen it, the left wing was reduced to a mere skirmish line. Officers came to me, shouting that we were annihilated, & men were beginning to face to the rear. I saw that the defensive could be maintained not an instant longer, & with a few gallant officers rallied a line, ordered bayonets fixed, & forward on the run. My men went down upon the enemy with a wild shout, the two wings were brought into one line again. I directed the whole Regiment to take intervals at 5 paces by the left flank, & change direction to the right, all this without checking our speed, thus keeping my right connected with the 83rd Penna, while the left swept around to the distance of half a mile. In this charge the bayonet only was used on our part, & the rebels seemed so petrified with astonishment that their front line scarcely offered to run or to firethey threw down their arms & begged not to be killed, & we captured them by whole companies. We took in this charge 368 prisoners, among them a Colonel, Lieut. Col. & a dozen other officers who were known. I had no time to inquire the rank of the prisoners, but sent them at once to the rear. The prisoners were amazed & chagrinned [sic] to see the smallness of our numbers, for there were only one hundred & ninety eight men who made this charge, & the prisoners admitted that they had a full Brigade. I reported at once to Col. Rice, who immediately came up, & who with the greatest promptitude brought up a Brigade as a support, & a supply of ammunition. We then threw up a small breastwork of rocks, & began to gather up the wounded of both parties. 21 of my men lay dead on the field, & more than 100 wounded. 50 of the enemy dead were counted in our front, their wounded we could not count. What is most surprising is that often as our line was forced back & even pierced by the enemy, not one of my men was taken prisoner, & not one was missing. It was now nearly dark, & Col. Rice ordered me to take the high & difficult hill on the left of our general line of battle, (but more nearly in front of my own line) where the enemy appeared to have taken refuge. My men were exhausted with toil & thirst, & had fallen asleep, many of them, the moment the fighting was over, but thelittle handful of men went up the hill with fixed bayonets, the enemy retiring before us, & giving only an occasional volley. Not wishing to disclose my numbers, & in order to avoid if possible bringing on an engagement in which we should certainly have been overpowered, I went on silently with only the bayonet. We carried the hill, taking twenty five prisoners, including some of the staff of Gen. Laws commdg the Brigade. From these I learned that Hoods Division was massed in a ravine two or three hundred yards in front of me, & that he had sent them out to ascertain our numbers, preparatory to taking possession of the hill with his Division. Fortunately I was able to secure all this partyso that Gen. Hood never received the reports of his scouts. My men stood in line that night, & received the volleys of the enemy without replying.In this movement I lost one officer mortally wounded, & one man taken prisoner in the darkness. The prisoners in all amounted to 393 who were known; 300 stand of arms were taken from the enemy. We went into the fight with 380 officers & men, cooks & pioneers & even musicians fighting in the ranks, my total loss was 136 as more fully appears in the tabular report already sent you. We were engaged with Laws Brigade, of Hoods Division, Longstreets Corps,the 15th & 47th Alabama 4th & 5th Texas: our prisoners were from all these Regts. This article was originally published in the June 2012 issue of Civil War Times. Roger Williams was really Americas first individualist, the first contradictor of authority, the first rebel, explains John M. Barry, author of Roger Williams and The Creation of the American Soul: Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty. Its the story of a man who was the first to link religious freedom to individual liberty, and who created in America the first government and society on earth informed by those beliefs. This left a deep imprint on America, somehow without him being a household name. This is a story of power, set against Puritan America and the English Civil War. Williams interactions with King James, Francis Bacon, Oliver Cromwell, and his mentor Edward Coke set his course, but his fundamental ideas came to fruition in America, as Williams, though a Puritan, collided with John Winthrops vision of his City upon a Hill. He was the founder of Rhode Island who called for a wall of separation between church and state. John M. Barry is a prize-winning and New York Times best-selling author whose books have won several dozen awards. In 2005 the National Academies of Science named The Great Influenza: The story of the deadliest pandemic in history, a study of the 1918 pandemic, the years outstanding book on science or medicine. In 1998 Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America, won the Francis Parkman Prize of the Society of American Historians for the years best book of American history. His latest book on Roger Williams has been named a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Father Neptunes War: Gideon Welles diary offers frank, real-time insights from the center of power. Gideon Welles was 59 when he became Abraham Lincolns Secretary of the Navy in March 1861. With a long white beard, and wearing a full wig that covered his bald pate, Welles stood out as a memorable figure who soon won Lincolns admiration and the affectionate nickname Father Neptune. During the war, Welles oversaw the Navys growth from fewer than 9,000 sailors and officers and 50 vessels on active duty to more than 50,000 men and 650 ships. He took an active role in strategic planning including naval and combined operations along the 3,500-mile-long Confederate coast, on rivers from the Mississippi to the James, and on the oceans. Lincoln paid tribute to the Navys role in fashioning victory when he wrote: Nor must Uncle Sams Web-feet be forgotten. At all the watery margins they have been present. Not only on the deep sea, the broad bay, and the rapid river, but also up the narrow muddy bayou, and wherever the ground was a little damp, they have been, and made their track. Welles put his imprint on virtually every aspect of the naval operations Lincoln applauded and must be reckoned among the best secretaries of the Navy in U.S. history. He also ranks among the most important American diarists. Welles began making entries in August 1862 and continued through the early summer of 1869. During the war, he observed events from the center of power, where he participated in Cabinet meetings, interacted with influential people and developed a strong relationship with the president. His comments about Cabinet members, military commanders and other topics carry special weight because he usually recorded them almost immediately rather than waiting and trying to recall what had happened. Welles diary is essential to a full understanding of Lincolns administration and the Union war effort, more revealing than Salmon P. Chases journals or Edward Bates diary. Two unsatisfactory three-volume editions of Welles entire diary appeared in 1911 and 1960. The first is profoundly flawed because of how sloppily (and silently) the editors assembled the text from wartime entries and later revisions and additions (it is not clear who did the editing); the second, prepared by Howard K. Beale, superimposes editorial symbols and proofreader marks on the text of the 1911 edition and is confusing and hard to use. I have consulted Beales version extensively and been frustrated every time. Happily, a new edition of Welles wartime diary appeared in 2014. Edited by William E. Gienapp and Erica L. Gienapp under the title The Civil War Diary of Gideon Welles: Lincolns Secretary of the Navy, it marks a milestone in the published primary literature. Meticulously faithful to the original document, it renders sections in both earlier editions entirely irrelevant (except perhaps to specialists charting changes between the original manu- script and the 1911 and 1960 sets). How good is Welles as a witness? Ill close with several examples. On September 22, 1862, Lincoln raised the topic of his preliminary proclamation of emancipation with the Cabinet. It is momentous both in its immediate and remote results, Welles commented, and an exercise of extraordinary power which cannot be justified on mere humanitarian principles, and would never have been attempted but to preserve the national existence.For myself the subject has from its magnitude and its consequence oppressed me, aside from the ethical features of the question.There is in the free states a very general impression that this measure will insure a speedy peace. I cannot say that I so view it. On July 14, 1863, Welles and Lincoln discussed George G. Meades failure to strike the Army of Northern Virginia before it retreated across the Potomac after Gettysburg. Leaving a Cabinet meeting, Welles recalled: We walked together across the lawn and stopped and conversed a few minutes at the gate. He said with a voice and countenance which I shall never forget, that he had dreaded yet expected thisthat there has seemed to him for a full week, a determination that Lee should escape with his force and plunder, and that, my God, is the last of this Army of the Potomac. There is bad faith somewhere.What does it mean, Mr. WellesGreat God what does it mean? In the summer of 1864, Welles wrestled with how harshly the war should be prosecuted. I have often thought that greater severity might well be exercised, he observed, and yet it would tend to barbarism. No traitor has been hungI doubt if there will be, but an example should be made of some of the leaders.Were a few of the leaders to be stripped of their possessions, and their property confiscatedtheir families impoverished, the result would be salutary.But I apprehend there will be very gentle measures in closing up the rebellion. The authors of the enormous evils that have been inflicted will go unpunishedor will be but slightly punished. On April 10, 1865, Welles celebrated the news from Appomattox: This surrender of the great rebel Captain and the most formidable and reliable army of the Secessionists virtually terminates the rebellion. He added, Called on the President, who returned last evening, looking well and feeling well. On April 14, Lincoln told the Cabinet that reconstructing the Union was the great question now before us, and we must soon begin to act. Was glad Congress was not in session. Welles next saw Lincoln slipping toward death at the Petersen House. Gary Gallagher is the John L. Nau III Professor in the History of the American Civil War, University of Virginia; and author of Becoming Confederates: Paths to a New National Loyalty. This article was originally published in the August 2015 Civil War Times. On March 17, 1967, after 642 missions, I closed out my combat flight log. With only 10 short days remaining on a 13-month tour12 and 20, as it was known throughout the ranksit was understood that a soldier wasnt as likely to make his best decisions, so they cut him some slack and sent him to the rear where he wouldnt hurt anybody. Relegated to the role of wizened warrior, I wasnt expected to do any more heavy lifting, and at last, I could start thinking seriously about going home. You may remember the VMO-2 ball cap that Tom Selleck wore in Magnum PI. VMO-2 was my Marine Observation Squadron at Marble Mountain, four miles east of Da Nang, where I piloted my first combat mission on March 1, 1966. Our small band of rookie Huey drivers, operating so close to North Vietnam, found itself on the bleeding edge of a war unlike any other in history. This was a helicopter war where we shuttled grunts directly into live action practically on an hourly basis. I knew I would never experience another bond like the one I shared with these men Most of the young pilots in my squadron were completely naive about death and combat when they were sent to Vietnam, and they certainly had no desire to kill anyone, which made the sheer volume of medevacs we witnessed even more heartbreaking. Some of us, especially medevac pilots, who were exposed to live combat nearly every day, almost expected not to make it out alive. It seemed arrogant to think that you would return home to lead a normal life when so many good people, some of them your friends, did not. Sleepless nights dogged by thoughts of bullets ripping through various parts of my body had kept me entertained for over a year. But I had somehow managed to dodge those bullets in the real world and could return home. My orders home were slow to come in, so I spent a couple of weeks in a lonely twilight zone. The young lieutenants who were in my hooch when I moved in had one by one rotated home. Charlie Plunkett, Steve Waltrip and Poop Ashbaugh, who had entertained me with their antics for months, became quiet and reclusive during their end days. Together, we had experienced a coming of age in that little hooch on the South China Sea. One night when our poker game was interrupted by a mortar attack, we sat in a dark bunker, trying to guess where the mortars were landing. When Waltrip courageously suggested that we put on flight suits and run down to the flight line to evacuate the Hueys, it only took a few seconds to conclude we werent doing that, not in a million years. We had all acquired leather holsters and were wearing nothing but our dyed-green underwear with our pistols on our hips like half-naked cowboys, wondering if it might come down to hand-to-hand combat. I knew I would never experience another bond like the one I shared with these men, the same way I knew I would never see them again when all this was over. Each of my hoochmates entered into his own private transition for going home, though they prepared themselves in a similar fashionwriting home, reflecting and talking quietly with each other. There was no fanfare for their departure, nor did they want any. They just sort of dissolved. One day their duffel bags sat on the floor, the next day they were gone. New officers took their places and rearranged their spaces to suit themselves. One of them, a senior captain named Jack Owens, asked to be put into a hooch with a seasoned pilot, and they put him in Waltrips old spot, next to me. He snored so loudly that we accused him of blistering the plywood on the ceiling. There was an unwritten rule that experience trumped rank, and one night Owens sat at the end of my cot and told me that I was one of the most respected pilots in the squadron. After that, I told him everything I knew about flying into hot zones and how to protect himself with common sense. Each pilot had to develop his own version of survival. Mine was to fly as often as possible and to not waste a bit of time, effort, energy, fuel, words, ammo or emotion. Owens was an all-American guy and a good pilot. He reminded me of one of my best childhood friends who was killed by a drunk driver when he was 14the first time Id experienced the death of a close friend. I had felt overwhelming sorrow for my friend and for his grieving dad, who could barely stand at the funeral, but also for the poor fellow who hit him. Thats when I decided that no matter how complicated life is, death should be the easiest part. A couple of years after that, when I lost another teenage friend in a train accident, I felt I was being sent a message that I should prepare myself with a special set of survival skills. One night, Owens asked me if I had a relationship with Jesus Christ and if I had ever accepted him as my personal savior. I told him that I had screamed his name a few times on some of my missions. He chuckled uncomfortably, but I could tell he had a lot on his mind. I told him I was a Christian, if thats what he meant. I think he just wanted to know where my calmness came from. Seeing these new guys like Jack Owens come into the squadron just as I was preparing to leave robbed me of some of the excitement of going home. They were experienced pilots, but green to combat, and there was too much for them to process without practical advice and mentoring. In my early days in Vietnam, I flew copilot with some people who would spend 10 or 15 minutes circling the landing zone like a buzzard. Then they would make a conventional, into-the-wind approach, as though they were on a training hop. We learned to refine this sitting duck approach, and as I told Owens, I dont think it matters which way you approach, as long as you turn into the wind and have everything under control at the last second. The point is, dont telegraph your plan. Its like the old joke about never calling your wife from a bar. Youll be yelled at on the phone and ambushed again when you come home. Sneak in with your shoes off. I also shared with Owens how important it was on a medevac mission to never look back, and told him about a wounded Marine, in shock, who jumped off his stretcher with no legs. The bones in his stumps stuck in the dirt as he hung helplessly by his elbows while his two terrified stretcher-bearers scrambled to help him back on the stretcher. The last thing I saw out of the corner of my eye, and the image I will never forget, was the red cloud of dirt and dust that our Huey stirred up around them as we lifted off the hospital pad. Jesus Christ! When my orders to go home finally arrived, I visited the VMO-2 squadron line shack, where the crew chiefs and corpsmen hung out, and made my goodbyes, thanking everyone and shaking hands. Then they cranked up the medevac slick for our short ride to Da Nang. A few of us who had come over to Vietnam together sat in the back of the Huey on a stretcher that was stained brown with dried blood. In Da Nang, we could see the long white Pan Am 707 waiting to take us home, but none of this seemed to be sinking in. It felt as if my mind were on a dimmer switch set to its lowest setting. Major Bob Plamondon and Captain Harold Gus Plum, on the other hand, were practically giddy with anticipation, taking snapshots with a new Polaroid camera and peeling off the developed pictures instantly. Amazing! Dr. Curtis Richard Doc Baker, our flight surgeon, had given me a couple of pills so I could sleep on the plane. A stop in Okinawa would add an extra day to our 10,000-mile journey. Once we were inside the aircraft and the stewardess closed the door, it finally hit me that I would not be coming back to Marble Mountain. Images of my hooch entertained me for a few minutes: the patio deck made of wooden pallets where we shared so many stories and warm beers; our poor little fake Christmas tree still sitting there in March flocked in red dirt and sand; and the squadrons adopted pet monkey, Justin Case, whose lack of house training epitomized the chaos that surrounded us. When the pilot taxied for takeoff, my thoughts began cascading irrationally; rather than feeling relieved to be going home, apprehension and guilt began to chew my insides. My mind played tricks on me. Was this part of a cruel joke, and everybody on the plane was going to die in a spectacular crash? Time stood so still that I tapped on my watch to wake up the sweep hand. I leaned forward in my seat, unwilling to become too attached to it. As on my medevac missions, I needed to focus in front of me and not look back. An Army officer sitting next to me was reading Senator William Fulbrights new book, The Arrogance of Power, in which Fulbright strongly criticized the war. His book attacked the justification of it, as well as Congress failure to set limits on it. I read along with him for a while as he turned the pages. Fulbright blamed our involvement on Cold War geopolitics, claiming that the United States is cursed with a Puritan spirit that leads us to look at the world through a distorted prism of angry moralism. According to the senator, we have a glorified image of our nation, believing that its our duty to do Gods work. It made me wonder if the people who create wars actually know why we fight them. The nagging premonition of tragedy would not leave me alone. I could feel Doc Bakers two sleeping pills lying loose in my left front pocket, but Id waited too long to take them. I felt like a feral cat that had been forced into a strange domestic environment, hovering on the edge of anxiety. When we finally landed in Okinawa, I spent the rest of the day standing in line, being processed. After dinner that night, Major Plamondon brought me some very bad news. Just hours after saying farewell that morning at Marble Mountain, my former hoochmate, Jack Owens, was killed on a routine recon mission out of Dong Ha. His plane was riddled with heavy-caliber and small-arms fire, and he was killed instantly. Doc Baker also perished in the crash, along with a 22-year-old door gunner, Corporal Paul Albano, and a 19-year-old crew chief, George Stevenson, both of whom I visited in the line shack before leaving. This horrific incident had coincided with my irrational anxiety attack on the plane. Doc Baker died before I could swallow his sleeping pills. I felt an urgent need to keep pressing on toward home. By the time we boarded our flight to San Francisco the next morning, I began to feel as if my entire tour had been nothing more than a dream, similar to a long novel, and it would be up to me to write the ending. As soon as the stewardess handed me a Coke, I swallowed one of Doc Bakers pills. As I struggled to relax, those images of bullets ripping through various parts of my body paid me another short visit. Its simply not possible to process the weight of everything that a war can throw at you. When the second pill didnt calm me down, I began to suspect that Doc had actually given me amphetamines as a practical joke, but by the time we landed in San Francisco, I was so subdued that I barely remember the walk to the terminal. I said goodbye to Gus Plum and promised to stay in toucha promise I couldnt keep. Plum would be dead two weeks later when the helicopter he was riding on crashed into a mountain during an orientation flight at El Toro Marine Base, killing everyone on board. I still had another long flight to Tennessee ahead of me. In the terminal, the shapely legs of women clicking their high heels as they walked past perked up my spirits. A man came over to shake my hand and thank me for my service, something I wasnt expecting from reading the newspapers. I ordered a beer and watched the frost melt on the bottle; the bartender wouldnt take my money. Somewhere between the Golden Gate Bridge and the St. Louis Arch, my brain fog lifted. I stared out the window like a child on his first airplane ride. The closer we came to my home state of Tennessee, the more I began to realize I just might be out of the woods. It dawned on me that people wouldnt be shooting at me anymore, and whatever challenges might be thrown my way, instant death wasnt a likely outcome of a wrong decision. I promised myself that I would never worry about anything else because the worst was surely behind me. I pondered how my experiences had changed me, knowing that I wasnt the same person who left 13 months ago. That guy was never coming home. Id picked up a few idiosyncrasies Id have to work through. I could no longer tolerate whining and selfish behavior. And I seemed to have developed a hyper-awareness of everything around me. In my peripheral vision, I could see the stewardess with her cherry-red fingernail polish. Sir, I need you to put your seat forward, she said, every word carefully crafted from her corporate training. Her beverage smile was gone now as she collected empty cups and checked passengers for loose seat belts. Through the open cockpit door, I could see the pilots going through prelanding procedures and talking to the air traffic controller. Books and magazines were being stowed. Several reading lights remained on. A sergeant coming back from the lavatory pulled on the back of my seat as he went by. He had a window seat in row 16. The men at the windows were staring intently down to earth. Those on the aisle looked straight ahead, watching the pilots. The seat belt light came on, accompanied by three soft tones. I dug out my ballpoint pen to see if I could remember the oath Id recited as a 12-year-old Tenderfoot Scout. On my honor, I will do my bestto do my duty to God and my country. I had no idea what would be waiting for me in the world that I left behind so many lives ago, but those simple words seemed to be as good a place as any to start my life over again. I knew that this landing would not mean the end of Vietnam for me. This war would never end. But my seat belt and tray table were once more in the full upright and locked position, and I was ready for landing. A captain in Marine Observation Squadron 2 in 1966-67, Bud Willis is the author of Marble Mountain: A Vietnam Memoir. Helen Henderson Chain settled in Colorado Territory in 1871 and was its first resident female artist. But the pioneering painter eschewed such typically feminine subjects as still lifes, instead venturing outdoors to render rugged landscapes. Born in Indianapolis in 1849 to farmer George and wife Mary Henderson, Helen majored in English and studied art at Illinois Female College (present-day MacMurray College) in Jacksonville, Ill. She graduated in 1869 and soon met future husband James Albert Chain. After marrying in Indianapolis on March 23, 1871, the couple moved to Denver, where James and business partners started a bookstore that also published volumes on local history and sold art supplies. Using a back room as her studio, Helen worked on her painting technique. But the outdoors beckoned. The Rockies particularly inspired her. The Chains spent a great deal of time outdoors, both to take soak in the spectacular views and to ward off James unspecified health issues, which had forced him west for the drier climate. The husband and wife team ultimately bought a small hotel in the tiny mountain town of Buena Vista, Colo., which they used as a base for summer expeditions and as a summer camp for their bookstore. As the couple roamed the region, Helen proved an adept mountaineer. Clad in petticoats, long skirts and corset, she summited many of states most famous peaks Chain became the first woman to scale and paint 14,011-foot Mount of the Holy Cross and among the first to paint 14,115-foot Pikes Peak. In her oil on ivory Pikes Peak (below) a worn wagon path in the foreground climbs into the foothills while an iridescent morning mist wreathes the distant summit. In 1873, while on a sketching trip through Colorado, landscape artists Hamilton Hamilton and John Harrison Mills, both of Buffalo, N.Y., met the Chains and took note of Helens developing style. Chain also explored Yosemite, Yellowstone and Arizona Territory, where she became one of the first women to paint the Grand Canyon. By 1877 she was studying under Denver landscape painter W.F. Porter, who organized Chains first art exhibition. When Porter died suddenly, she took over his classes and taught from the bookstore. One of her first students was 19-year-old bookstore clerk Charles Partridge Adams, who went on to become one of Colorados most famous landscape artists. The Chains befriended renowned Western artist Thomas Moran and through him met photographer William Henry Jackson, with whom they made repeated trips to New Mexico Territory and south into Mexico. Jackson and Helen Chain often worked from the same vantage points to capture the beauty of the Southwest, his photographs often informing the settings for her paintings. For example, a noted Jackson image of a historic New Mexico mission church in the early 1880s was the subject of Chains exquisite oil San Juan Pueblo (Ohkay-Owingeh). The Chains spent the rest of their lives exploring and capturing what they saw in words and paint. In March 1892 the couple embarked on a two-year world tour. That October 10, as they crossed the South China Sea between Shanghai and Hong Kong on the steamship Bokhara, a typhoon sank the vessel, drowning the Chains and 123 other passengers. More than a century later, in 2014, Helen Chain was the focus of two well-received Denver retrospectivesHelen Henderson Chain: Art and Adventure in Early Colorado, at the central librarys Western History Art Gallery, and a 20-work exhibit at the Kirkland Museum. Her legacy lives on with the land. WW Ten brutal days of miserable fighting on a jungle-shrouded mountain in the spring of 1969 left scores of American dead and hundreds wounded and fueled a raging outcry from the American body politic that irretrievably altered the course of U.S. military policy in Vietnam. Even though the valiant effort of U.S. troops was, in the end, successful in taking the hill and inflicting heavy enemy losses, the terrible price of the drawn-out fight and its seeming senselessness among both troops on the ground and the general public made this one battle an enduring symbol of the overall futility of Americas war in Vietnam. In their flak jackets, and heavily laden with grenades and extra ammunition, Honeycutts men moved up Hill 937 for yet another attempt. WHY Were we Fighting on Hamburger HILL? The battle was the result of a renewed effort in early 1969 to neutralize the North Vietnamese forces in the A Shau, a 45-kilometer-long valley in southwestern Thua Thien Province along the border with Laos. The A Shau sheltered enemy Base Area 611 and had long provided a major infiltration corridor for Communist forces from the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos to the coastal cities of northern I Corps Tactical Zone. A weary Lt. Frank Boccia, platoon leader in Company B, 101st Airborne Division, 3rd Battalion, 187th Regiment, May 16, 1969, the sixth day of intense fighting to take Hamburger Hill. (Courtesy Samuel Zaffiri) The valleys formidable terrain was dominated at its northern end by what local Montagnard tribesmen called the mountain of the crouching beast, Dong Ap Bia. On military maps it was simply Hill 937, so labeled for its height in meters. Several large ridges and fingers ran out from its summit, one of the largest extending southeast to a height of 900 meters and another reaching south to a 916-meter peak. The steep slopes of Dong Ap Bia were cloaked by a heavy undergrowth of sawtooth elephant grass, thick stands of bamboo, and double-and-triple canopy jungle. It was an area long occupied by the NVA and it was fortified with bunkers, spider holes, deep tunnels and trenches. The battle of Ap Bia Mountain evolved as part of Operation Apache Snow, a follow-on to Operation Dewey Canyon, launched in the same area in January 1969 by the 9th Marines, 3rd Marine Division. During this operation, the Marines discovered that the North Vietnamese Army had constructed major roads in the area, and intelligence revealed that some 1,000 trucks were moving supplies into area base camps. During Dewey Canyon, the Marines captured 16 122mm guns, 73 anti-aircraft guns and more that 525 tons of materiel, including nearly 1,000 AK-47s and more than a million rounds of small-arms and machine-gun ammunition. In March, MACV intelligence revealed that NVA forces were again building up their logistical systems in the A Shau. This new enemy presence posed a significant threat to Hue, Quang Tri and the other major I Corps cities and towns. Accordingly, Lt. Gen. Richard G. Stillwell, commander of XXIV Corps, ordered a campaign to eliminate the North Vietnamese in the area. Operation Apache Snow was phase two of a three-phase operation to clean out the valley. It was preceded by Operation Massachusetts Striker and would be followed by Operation Montgomery Rendezvous, each targeted against a different area of the A Shau. The American response Apache Snow called for the insertion of 10 battalions of American and South Vietnamese troops into the valley to disrupt the Communist buildup and destroy enemy forces. The allied troops for this operation included the 9th Marine Regiment, two battalions from the 1st ARVN Division, 3/5th Cavalry, and the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division, which would make the initial combat assault. The Marines, 3/5th Cav and two other ARVN battalions would play supporting roles in the operation with 3/5th Cav clearing Highway 547, so it could be completed through the eastern mountains and pushed into the heart of the valley, while the 9th Marines operations would blunt any attempt to reinforce the northern end of the valley. In the main attack plan for Apache Snow, the commanding general of the 101st Division, Maj. Gen. Melvin Zais, ordered Colonel Joseph B. Conmy Jr. and his 3rd Brigade into the A Shau to seek out and destroy the 29th NVA Regiment, known as the Pride of Ho Chi Minh, which was known to be operating in the area. Conmys brigade consisted of the 2nd Battalion, 501st Airborne (2-501); 1st Battalion, 506th Airborne (1-506); and the 3rd Battalion, 187th Airborne (3-187). For this operation, 3rd Brigade was to also have operational control of two ARVN battalions. The operation was conceived as a reconnaissance in force; Conmys intent was to find the enemy and pile on. When one of his units made significant contact with the NVA, Conmy would reinforce it with one of the other units and maneuver his remaining forces to cut off the enemys retreat and destroy them. The 2-501 and 1-506 were to look for the enemy in their assigned operating areas and block enemy escape routes into Laos. The 3-187 drew the most difficult mission, which was to air assault into a landing zone 2,000 meters northwest of Hill 937 and move cross country to clear and occupy the mountain. Conmy had little good intelligence on actual enemy strength or where they were specifically located in the A Shau. The U.S. forces had learned some from captured documents and equipment and the occasional prisoner, but the enemy was heavily camouflaged and conducted most major movements at night under radio silence and thus had not been detected. Still, Conmy knew that the North Vietnamese were in the area in force and spoiling for a fight; he was eager to oblige them. GET HISTORYS GREATEST TALESRIGHT IN YOUR INBOX Subscribe to our HistoryNet Now! newsletter for the best of the past, delivered every Wednesday. Close Thank you for subscribing! May 10: the battle of hamburger hill begins The operation began on May 10 with a 74-minute prep of 30 potential landing zones in the A Shau by artillery, Cobra attack helicopters and close air support. At 0710 hours, after the prep fires were concluded, 64 Huey helicopters inserted the lead elements of the 1-506 and 3-187 into their assigned landing zones at the northern end of the valley. There was only light contact throughout the first day. Alpha and Charlie companies of 3-187 had moved only a few hundred meters from their landing zones, however, when they discovered enemy huts and bunkers all along their lines of advance. Lieutenant Colonel Weldon F. Honeycutt, commander of the 3-187 Rakkasans, still was not sure what his battalion was facing, but it was clear that it had landed in an active NVA base area and that the enemy was in the area in significant numbers. Honeycutt, whose Bravo Company was being held in 3rd Brigade reserve at Firebase Blaze, called Colonel Conmy and requested release of his company. Conmy agreed and Honeycutt had it inserted into a landing zone east of Dong Ap Bia. Bravo arrived at about 1600 and moved out toward the mountain. The lead element of the company had a short but sharp fight at sunset, but Honeycutt ordered its commander to form a night defensive position and continue the attack in the morning. The Rakkasans resumed their attack the next day, with Bravo and Alpha companies moving out toward the mountains summit by two different routes while Charlie Company conducted movement to the east toward the northern edge of Dong Ap Bia. Late in the day, Bravo Company came under intense machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) fire from NVA troops dug into heavily fortified bunker positions on the hill. Cobra gunships and aerial rocket artillery were called in. As they attacked, they mistook the 3-187 command post for enemy and opened fire, killing two Americans and wounding 35, including the battalion commander. This was the first of five friendly fire incidents during the battle, caused by the thick jungle that rendered target identification very difficult. With the battalion CP in disarray, command and control in 3-187 broke down. Bravo Company, unable to move forward, withdrew into defensive positions for the night about 1,000 meters from the summit. UNderestimating the enemy Over the next two days, Honeycutt, believing that the enemy occupied the mountain top with a reinforced platoon and maybe even a company, attempted to push his battalion into positions where he could launch a coordinated attack on Dong Ap Bia with three companies, each going up the mountain from a different direction. However, it would be difficult going for the American troops as they trudged through heavy jungle and rugged terrain. The enemy continued harassing them every step of the way, and in some cases pitched battles broke out. Delta Company, which had been securing the battalion CP, took more than five hours to advance 500 meters in the face of heavy enemy fire. The thick foliage and close proximity of friendly troops inhibited the use of indirect fire, further slowing any progress. It was becoming clear that the Americans had grossly underestimated the enemys strength on the hill; it was much more than company strength, and was getting stronger every day as additional reinforcements arrived from Laos. By May 13, the brigade commander realized that the hill was occupied by more NVA than the 3-187 could handle alone. Accordingly, he ordered the 1-506 north from its area of operations to assist Honeycutt by attacking cross-country to strike the NVA facing the 3-187 from the rear. Conmy expected that the 1-506, the Currahees, starting from their location some 4,000 meters south of Hill 937, would be in position to provide some relief to the 3-187 no later than the morning of May 15, but it would take 5 daysuntil May 19for the Currahees to reach a position where they could support the Rakkasans. forging ahead Not wanting to give the enemy a chance to reinforce and strengthen his position on the mountain, Honeycutt decided he could not wait for his sister battalion to arrive. On May 14, he launched a coordinated attack on Dong Ap Bia with three companies. He ordered Bravo to continue to attack up the main ridge while Charlie launched another attack up a small finger 150 meters south of Bravo. He ordered Delta to slide back down the ravine where it was located and attempt to launch a flanking attack up the north side of the mountain. As the attack commenced, Bravo Company ran into heavy enemy fire from automatic weapons and Claymore mines. Charlie Company initially made rapid progress toward its objective, but the North Vietnamese counterattacked and in the ensuing fight, the unit lost its first sergeant, two of its three platoon leaders, the company executive officer, two platoon sergeants, six squad leaders and 40 enlisted men. Meanwhile, Delta Company struggled to get into its assigned attack position, severely hampered by the difficult terrain and under constant enemy machine gun and RPG fire. It took until late afternoon for its troopers just to get off the ridgeline where they had spent the previous evening. A dozen Rakkasans were killed and more than 80 were wounded in the days fighting. One of those killed and three of the wounded were victims of friendly fire, hit by helicopter gunships that mistook them for enemy soldiers. in for a prolonged fight By this time, both Honeycutt and Conmy realized that the North Vietnamese, who usually fought hard for a while before quitting the battlefield, were going to stand and fight on Dong Ap Bia. Honeycutts troopers had suffered heavy casualties, but had gained little ground in the bitter fighting. Knowing that his troops were heavily outnumbered, Honeycutt pleaded with Conmy to tell the 1-506 to get their asses in gear! As dusk arrived on May 14, the survivors of the days fight assumed night defensive positions. After sundown, the Rakkasans could see enemy cooking fires, ominously dotting the mountainside above themone trooper counting more than 100 of them running in three irregular rows all the way around the mountain. The enemy was still there and didnt care if the paratroopers knew it; they would be waiting on the Rakkasans when they tried to take the hill again. The next day, Honeycutt ordered his battalion to renew the attack. Alpha and Bravo companies once again headed up the hill. This time they made it to within 150 meters of the summit, but yet again, a helicopter gunship mistaking friendly troops for the enemy salvoed an entire rack of rockets into Bravo, pummeling the company command post, killing one American soldier and wounding the company commander. By this time in the battle, the two companies had lost a total of 36 men, taking both down to half-strength. Badly battered and growing demoralized, the companies withdrew back down the hill to take up night defensive positionsand prepare for the next days attack. Some of the soldiers began to question their orders, convinced that the whole mission was senseless. keeping the fight going Nevertheless, the battle continued. On May 16, the plan called for the 3-187 to continue its attack as before up the two ridges, but to hold short of the summit to exert pressure on the enemy defenses while the 1-506 assaulted from the west and south to sweep across the top of Hill 900 toward Hill 937. As the day unfolded, however, the 1-506 was stopped short after seizing Hill 916, still some 2,000 meters from the summit of Ap Bia itself. With the Currahees halted, Colonel Conmy ordered Honeycutt to postpone his attack to wait for the 1-506. By this time, the news media had caught wind of the vicious battle raging in the A Shau. The Associated Press sent a reporter, Jay Sharbutt, to investigate the situation. After visiting the 3-187 command post and interviewing a number of soldiers in the area, he met with Zais. The general tried to explain to him why the battle was being joined on Dong Ap Bia, but the journalist was not satisfied with his explanation. In a subsequent newspaper account, Sharbutt described the bloody battle to the American public, writing, The paratroopers came down the mountain, their green shirts darkened with sweat, their weapons gone, their bandages stained brown and redwith mud and blood. He reported that one of the paratroopers said, That damn Blackjack (Honeycutt) wont stop until he kills every one of us. Sharbutts gripping description of the meatgrinder battle horrified readers and set off a firestorm of protest that spread all the way to the floor of Congress. On May 17, with the 1-506 having made little progress, the two-battalion attack up the hill was again postponed. While they waited for the arrival of the 1-506, Honeycutt directed his troops to prepare for the next assault up the mountain. They began stockpiling supplies, passing out new protective gas masks and bringing up concussion grenades for use against the dug-in NVA troops in the bunkers and trench lines. Friendly fire On the 18th, with the 1-506 still some 500 meters from Hill 900 and nearly twice that distance from Hill 937, the brigade commander, not wanting to postpone the attack again, ordered a coordinated two-battalion assault with the 3-187 attacking from the north and 1-506 attacking from the south. In preparation for the new attack, Conmy threw every resource he had against the mountain. Starting at 0800, he hit the area with every available fighter-bomber, followed by a 60-minute artillery prep. He hoped that this pounding would allow the Currahees to initiate a breakout and get their attack on the mountain underway to alleviate some of the pressure on the 3-187. In their flak jackets and heavily laden with grenades and extra rifle ammunition, Honeycutts men moved up for yet another attempt. The fighting was intense and progress was slow as gunships, artillery and mortar fire continued to pound enemy positions on the summit while the paratroopers clawed their way up the hill against heavy enemy fire. In the middle of this swirling melee, there was yet another deadly and demoralizing incident of friendly fire. Cobra gunships mistakenly shot up a platoon from Bravo Company, killing one soldier and wounding four others. A livid Honeycutt ordered the attack helicopters out of the area. Despite the fratricide, the attack ground on. Delta Company almost made it to the top of the hill as the battle degenerated into a close-quarters fight, with friendly and enemy troops separated by only a few meters. By this time in the battle, every officer in the company was killed or wounded and the unit had suffered more than 50 percent casualties. Honeycutt ordered Charlie Company to the aid of Delta, but a sudden blinding rainstorm halted the attack and the Rakkasans again reluctantly withdrew back down the mountain. Meanwhile, on the south side of the ridge at Hill 900, a large enemy force in bunkers had the 1-506 pinned down. Trying yet again General Zais arrived on the scene around this time and considered calling off the attack because of the heavy casualties and intense media attention but, backed by General Stilwell and General Creighton Abrams, MACV commander, he decided to continue the attack. He committed three additional battalions (2-501, 2-506 and 2-3 ARVN) to the battle and ordered the relief of the badly battered 3-187, which by now had suffered heavily in the repeated assaults up Dong Ap Bia. A and B companies had lost 50 percent of their original strength; C and D companies had each suffered 80 percent losses. Of the four original company commanders in the battalion, one was dead and one was wounded, and eight of 12 platoon leaders were casualties along with several NCOs. Despite these losses, Colonel Honeycutt adamantly protested the relief of his battalion, demanding that his men, who had already paid such a high price, be allowed to continue the mission to take the hill, saying all he needed was one additional company. The division commander relented and left the 3-187 in the fight, giving Honeycutt a company from the 2-506 for the new attack. The brigade plan for the next attack called for the insertion of two additional battalions to the northeast and southeast of Dong Ap Bia. While the 3-187 held the enemy in place on the western face of the mountain, the 1-506 and the other two battalions, 2-501 and 2/3 ARVN, would overrun the summit. Honeycutt again balked, saying his battalion was not going to sit on the side of the mountain to get our asses shot off waiting on the other units. He promised that the Rakkasans would take the mountain this time. At 1000 hours on May 20, after 10 artillery batteries fired more than 20,000 rounds and 272 tactical airstrikes dumped more than 1 million pounds of bombs, and 152,000 pounds of napalm virtually denuded the top of the mountain, the 3-187 once again started up the mountain, supported by the 1-506, which renewed its attack on the southern side. Taking the Hill: Was it Worth It? At 1145 hours, exactly nine days and five hours after Bravo first made contact on the mountain, the Rakkasans, reinforced with the additional company from the 2-506, took the summitonly to find that most of the enemy had already fled. The paratroopers began to clean out the remaining North Vietnamese from the bunkers and trenches, and intense fighting followed with about two enemy platoons that had apparently been ordered to hold until the end. Finally, by 1700, the hill was secured. Soon after, a trooper cut out the cardboard bottom of a C-ration box, printed hamburger hill on it, and tacked it to a charred tree trunk near the western edge of Hill 937. Later, another soldier passing by scrawled underneath the question, Was it worth it? This was a very good question. The seizure of Dong Ap Bia had been a costly affair. The 3-187 suffered 39 killed and 290 wounded; the total casualties for the mountain were 70 killed and 372 wounded. More than 600 enemy bodies were found on the hill when the battle was over. It will never be known just how many NVA were killed and wounded and were carried into Laos or were buried in collapsed bunkers and tunnels on the mountain, but a Special Forces patrol on the Laotian side of the border reported that some 1,100 enemy dead and wounded had been removed from the hill during the battle. What is without doubt, however, is that the 7th and 8th battalions of the 29th NVA Regiment had been virtually wiped out. victory and outrage The fact that the American troops had prevailed made little impact on the outrage simmering at home in the wake of reporter Sharbutts newspaper accounts of the battle. In the Senate on May 20, Edward Kennedy of New York angrily denounced the attack on Ap Bia, charging that it was both senseless and irresponsible to continue to send our young men to their deaths to capture hills and positions that have no relation to this conflict. He proclaimed it madnesssymptomatic of a mentality and a policy that requires immediate attention. American boys are too valuable to be sacrificed to a false sense of military pride. The Army responded. In a press conference, General Zais claimed the only significance of Hill 937 was the fact that there were enemy on Hill 937, and that is why we fought him there. Insisting that the battle had been a tremendous, gallant victory, he elaborated that he had received no change in mission and that the battle for Ap Bia was in keeping with the guidance to exert maximum pressure on the enemy. The intensity of the controversy heightened on June 5 when orders were given to abandon Dong Ap Bia. Just two weeks later, military intelligence reported that more than 1,000 North Vietnamese Army troops had moved back into the area and reoccupied Dong Ap Bia as soon as the U.S. and ARVN forces withdrew. Further incensed, Sen. Kennedy asked from the Senate floor, How can we justify sending our boys against a hill a dozen times, finally taking it, and then withdrawing a week later? Media reaction was likewise sharp. An article in The New York Times declared the public is certainly entitled to raise questions about the current aggressive posture of the United States military in South Vietnam. The June 27, 1969, issue of Life magazine ran the photos of 241 servicemen killed in Vietnam the previous week, including five who had died in the assault on Hill 937. Many readers no doubt thought that all those pictured had died at Hamburger Hill. unpopular war The battle for Dong Ap Bia came at a time when support for the war was on a steeply downward path. A February 1969 poll revealed that only 39 percent of the American people still supported the war, while 52 percent believed sending troops to fight in Vietnam had been a mistake. While a tactical success in keeping the North Vietnamese off balance in I Corps, the battle for Hamburger Hill resulted in a public outcry against the seemingly meaningless nature of the struggle, which resulted in such a bloody expenditure of lives only to have U.S. forces abandon the battlefield shortly after the fighting was over. For much of the American public, Hamburger Hill crystallized the frustration of winning costly battles without ever consummating a strategic victory. The battle had been won but at a very high pricethen only to be abandoned for the Communists to reoccupy. Giving up such hard-won territory seemed to typify the purposelessness of the war. To many Americans, it served as proof of the Nixon administrations failure to make any substantive changes to the American approach in Vietnam. The controversial battle ultimately led to a reappraisal of U.S. strategy in the Vietnam War. Nixon administration officials admitted to Hedrick Smith of The New York Times that such costly victories would further undermine public support for the war and thus shorten the administrations time for successful negotiations that were ongoing in Paris. The public outcry against the seemingly senseless bloodshed at Hamburger Hill appears to have had an impact on deliberations in the Nixon administration about the way ahead in the war. If the president was going to have time to achieve peace with honor as he had promised in his election campaign, he had to make sure there were no more Hamburger Hills. He gave explicit orders to General Abrams that he was to conduct the war with a minimum of American casualties. Shortly thereafter, Nixon announced that he intended to Vietnamize the war and, concurrent with that effort, the United States would begin withdrawing troops from Vietnam. He subsequently announced that the first contingent of 25,000 U.S. troops would depart for home by the end of August. On August 15, General Abrams received a new mission statement for MACV instructing him to focus his efforts on assisting the South Vietnamese armed forces to take over an increasing share of combat operations. Moreover, MACV was to assist the Republic of Vietnam in assuming full responsibility for the planning and execution of national security and development programs at the earliest feasible date. Perhaps Colonel Harry Summers best summed up the impact of the Battle of Hambuger Hill on its 30th anniversary: The expenditure of effort at Hamburger Hill exceeded the value the American people attached to the war in Vietnam. The public had turned against the war a year and a half earlier, and it was their intense reaction to the cost of the battle in American lives, inflamed by sensationalist media reporting, that forced the Nixon administration to order the end of major tactical ground operations. Hamburger Hill proved to be the last campaign in General William Westmorelands discredited attrition strategy and it was also the last battle in which the outcome was determined by enemy body count. Before Hamburger Hill, the U.S. forces were still seeking victory on the battlefield; after Hamburger Hill, they were only seeking a way out. Retired Army officer James H. Willbanks is the director of the Department of Military History, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kan. A Vietnam veteran, he is also the author of several books including The Tet Offensive: A Concise History, Abandoning Vietnam, and the forthcoming work to be published by Facts on File,Vietnam War Almanac. For more on Hamburger Hill, see Colonel Harry G. Summers (U.S. Army, ret.) article Battle for Hamburger Hill During Vietnam War originally published in the June 1999 issue of Vietnam magazine. Samuel Zaffiris book Hamburger Hill was a Featured Selection of the Military Book Club when it was published. Click here to learn how he came to write it. Click here to see a TIMELINE of the Hamburger Hill battle, from the June 2009 Vietnam magazine. April 2015 marks the formal end of the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War with the commemoration of Confederate General Robert E. Lees surrender to Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Va. As the memorials, ceremonies, celebrations and activities draw to a close this year, it leaves many to wonder if the Civil War will continue to hold the interest of historians beyond 2015. Military History recently spoke with Pulitzer Prize winner and Civil War historian James M. McPherson about the course of the Civil War, its importance and why it still matters, the subject of his forthcoming book, The War That Forged a Nation (March 2015). How did you become interested in the Civil War? Growing up in Minnesota, I didnt have any particular interest in the Civil War. It wasnt until my freshman year at Gustavus Adolphus College that I became fascinated by the process of historical inquiry, the ways we come to know the past and how the past shapes the present. My school didnt have a Civil War course. But it did have American political and social history courses, and I majored in history with a focus on the United States. The Supreme Courts 1954 Brown decision, the Montgomery bus boycott and the crisis over desegregation of Little Rock Central High School all coincided with my college years. I wanted to know more about the South and about the history of race relations, so I continued on to graduate school at Johns Hopkins. While I was in Baltimore, the civil rights movement exploded, and I was starkly aware of the parallels between the 1860s and the 1960s. Wanting to understand the relationship between the past and present, I decided to do my Ph.D. dissertation on the civil rights activists of the 1860sthe abolitionists and how they worked for the same goals of equal rights and education as the civil rights activists of the 1960s. This dissertation became my first book, and from this initial foray into the Civil War era and Reconstruction, I expanded my interests into the political and eventually into the military context in which these events took place. What was the wars basic cause? The cause of the Civil War must be divided into three parts: First, the issue of slavery and its expansionwhich built up over decades and accelerated in the period between 1846 and 1860came to a head in the presidential election of 1860, causing the deep South states to secede when Abraham Lincolns election convinced them they had lost control of the national government and, therefore, of slaverys fate within the Union. Second, Lincolns determination not to compromise on the issue of slaverys expansion. Third, Lincolns dedication to resupply rather than abandon Fort Sumter, and the decision of Jefferson Davis administration to fire on federal troops at the South Carolina fort. The final catalyst, as opposed to the long-term cause, was the crisis over Fort Sumter. Given the uncompromising stands of Lincoln and Northern Republicans favoring restriction of slaverys expansion and opposing secession, and of Southern political leaders favoring slaverys right to expand and the right of states to secede, some kind of showdown in 186061 was unavoidable Was the Civil War a total war? It depends on how one defines total war. Mark Neelys influential 1991 article argued that true total war, as measured by World War II, made no distinction between combatants and noncombatants. Because Civil War armies did not deliberately target civilian lives, as did both Axis and Allied armies and air forces in World War II, the Civil War could not be called a total war. Shermans bummers [foragers] destroyed a great deal of Southern property but relatively few Southern lives. But if one defines total war as the total mobilization of the adversarial polities and societies to achieve victory, amounting to unconditional surrender by one side or the other, then the Civil War does fit the definition. When did Lincoln fully commit to emancipating the slaves? The Army of Northern Virginias successful counteroffensive in the Seven Days Battles [June 25July 1, 1862] convinced Lincoln that his strategy of limited war to defeat the Confederate armies and bring the South back into the Union without damaging the infrastructure of Southern societyincluding slaverycould not succeed. In July 1862 Lincoln said, We must free the slaves or be ourselves subdued. Only by destroying the Souths ability to sustain war could the North win. Slavery was key to the Southern infrastructure, so he decided to move against slavery. Why did Lincoln and Grant allow such lenient surrender terms? By 1865 both men were convinced that the war could be won only by destroying the Confederacys will and ability to continue fighting, but they also believed that reunion could best be achieved by lenient terms once the Confederates had surrendered. They believed that once the two sides were no longer enemies, they should be friends, if the nation was to be truly reunited. Generous surrender terms for the Confederate armies would be an important first step in that process. Could the war have been avoided? Given the uncompromising stands of Lincoln and Northern Republicans favoring restricting slaverys expansion and opposing secession, and of Southern political leaders favoring slaverys right to expand and the right of states to secede, some kind of showdown in 186061 was unavoidable. Only if one side or the other had been willing to give up its principles could the war have been avoided. And neither side was willing. Did Reconstruction actually reunify the country? Reconstruction succeeded in bringing the South back into the Union. And for a time it did so on the terms of equal civil and political rights for the freed slaves. But violent resistance by many Southern whites and a diminishing willingness by Northern voters and political leaders to use force to maintain those rights meant that reunification, by the 1870s, came at the cost of genuine acceptance of the principles embodied in the 14th and 15th Amendments. What is the most significant result of the war with ongoing reverberations in our society? The power of the federal government to enforce the rights granted by the 14th and 15th Amendments, which has been exercised since the 1960s, is the most significant reverberation. Without the accomplishments of the war, we surely would not have a black president today. The war ended 150 years ago. Why save the battlefields? There is no better way to understand events that happened in the past and to appreciate their importance than to go to the places where they happened. We can put ourselves into the environment of the past, whether its at the Confederate White House, Fords Theatre or Civil War battlefields. By walking the terrain we can better understand the tactics and appreciate the sacrifices of those who fought there. If we lose these places, we lose a vital part of the pastand, therefore, a part of our present. Do you think interest in the Civil War will continue after sesquicentennial anniversaries end in 2015? No doubt there will be some decline of interest once the sesquicentennial anniversaries are over, but there was a great deal of interest before those anniversariesthe success of the Ken Burns series in 1990 and the existence of hundreds of roundtablesand I think a high level of interest will continue. In one sentence, why does the Civil War still matter? The Civil War shaped the world we live in today, and we cannot fully appreciate and understand our world without knowing how the war shaped it. Displacement: 17,530 metric tons Length: 530 feet Beam: 78.5 feet Draft: 30 feet Installed power: 31 Yarrow boilers Propulsion: Four-shaft Parsons direct-drive steam turbines Speed: 25.5 knots Range: 2,270 nautical miles (23 knots), 3,090 nautical miles (10 knots) Complement: 784 (up to 1,000 in wartime) Armament: Eight BL 12-inch guns, 16 QF 4-inch guns, seven Maxim guns, five 18-inch torpedo tubes Armor: Belt (46 inches), bulkhead (67 inches), barbettes (27 inches), turrets (7 inches), conning tower (610 inches), decks (1.752.5 inches) Approved by the British Board of Admiralty on March 16, 1905, and commissioned on March 20, 1909, HMS Invincible represented the culmination of almost a half-century of technical advances that had compelled the Royal Navy, under Admiral Sir John Jacky Fisher, to undergo a radical redesign. Originally dubbed armored cruisers but reclassified battlecruisers in 1911, Invincible and its class sisters Inflexible and Indomitable were designed to deploy swiftly to wherever the Admiraltywith its new network of intelligence gathering and communicationsordered them, either to run down and outmaneuver enemy ships or outrun any that outgunned them. The vessels had mixed fortunes in World War I. Inflexible and Indomitable failed to prevent the German battlecruiser Goeben and light cruiser Breslau from reaching Turkey in August 1914. During the Battle of Heligoland Bight on August 28 Invincible fired 18 shells at the German light cruiser Colnand missed. The battlecruiser concept saw its greatest success on December 8 when Invincible and Inflexible intercepted the German East Asia Squadron off the Falkland Islands and sank the armored cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. Indomitable helped sink the German armored cruiser Blucher off Dogger Bank on Jan. 24, 1915, but Inflexible was badly damaged by a Turkish mine in the Dardanelles on March 18, 1915. Invincible itself proved just the opposite at Jutland on May 31, 1916, when the German battlecruisers Lutzow and Derfflinger blew it in two and sank it in 90 seconds, killing Rear Adm. Horace Hood and 1,025 crewmen and leaving only six survivors. Although the sinking of Invincible and two similar battlecruisers raised doubts regarding the validity of the entire concept, more recent research suggests poor ammunition handling, rather than an unsound design, lay behind those disasters. Already obsolescent by wars end, Inflexible and Indomitable were sold for scrap in 1921. MH The surprise Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor of December 7, 1941, was only the beginning of bad news from the Pacific. In the ensuing weeks, Wake Island, Singapore, Hong Kong and most of the Philippines were overrun by the Japanese army. Within an incredibly short time, the Japanese had invaded and conquered huge land areas on a front that extended from Burma to Polynesia. By April 1, 1942, Bataan had fallen, and 3,500 Americans and Filipinos were making a brave last stand on the tiny island of Corregidor. There seemed to be no end to the Japanese aggression. Never before had Americas future looked so grim. Soon after the death toll at Pearl Harbor had been totaled, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Americas top military leaders, Army Generals George C. Marshall and Henry H. Hap Arnold and Admiral Ernest J. King, to figure out a way to strike back at Japans homeland as quickly as possible. Although there was nothing they wanted to do more, it seemed an impossible request to carry out. In response to the presidents persistent urging, Captain Francis S. Low, a submariner on Admiral Kings staff, approached Admiral King and asked cautiously if it might be possible for Army medium bombers to take off from a Navy carrier. If so, could they be launched against Japan? The question was passed to Captain Donald B. Wu Duncan, Kings air operations officer. After studying the capabilities of several AAF (Army Air Force) medium bombers, Duncan concluded that the North American B-25 might be capable of taking off from a carrier deck. He recommended takeoff tests be conducted before any definite plans were made. When this basic idea was passed to General Arnold, he called in Lt. Col. James H. Jimmy Doolittle, noted racing and stunt pilot who had returned to active duty in 1940 and was now assigned to Arnolds Washington staff. He asked Doolittle to recommend an AAF bomber that could take off in 500 feet from a space not over 75 feet wide with a 2,000-pound bombload and fly 2,000 miles. Arnold did not say why he wanted the information. Doolittle checked the manufacturers data on the AAFs medium bombers the Douglas B-18 and B-23, North Americans B-25 and the Martin B-26. He concluded that the B-25, if modified with extra fuel tanks, could fulfill the requirements. The B-18 could not carry enough fuel and bombs, the wingspan of the B-23 was too great and the B-26 needed too much takeoff distance. Arnold then told Doolittle why he had asked for the information, cautioning him that because such an unprecedented mission was possible, it must be kept top-secret by all concerned. Doolittle promptly volunteered to lead the effort, and Arnold promised him his complete, personal backing for whatever support he felt necessary. The concept could be expressed succinctly: A Navy task force would take 15 B-25s to a point about 450 miles off Japan where they would be launched from a carrier to attack military targets at low altitude in five major Japanese cities, including Tokyo, the capital. The planes would then fly to bases in China where the planes and the crews would be absorbed into the Tenth Air Force, then being organized to fight in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater. On February 2, 1942, two B-25s were hoisted aboard the USS Hornet, the Navys newest carrier, at Norfolk, Va. A few miles off the Virginia coast, the lightly loaded bombers were fired up and took off without difficulty. The Hornet was then ordered to proceed to the West Coast for its first war assignment. Jimmy Doolittle, a very energetic man, decided that the B-25 crews would consist of five men: pilot, copilot, navigator, bombardier and engineer-gunner. Twenty-four B-25s and crews would be assigned to the mission from the three squadrons of the 17th Bomb Group and its associated 89th Reconnaissance Squadron, located at Pendleton, Ore. To preserve secrecy, Doolittle personally began making all the arrangements for the training and special equipment without revealing why he wanted things done. The four squadrons were ordered to Columbia, S.C. En route, the designated planes were modified with extra fuel tanks and associated plumbing at Minneapolis, Minn. New incendiary bombs and shackles were ordered, along with electrically operated motion-picture cameras that would be activated when the bombs were released. Intelligence information maps and target folders for the five major Japanese cities were prepared. When the four squadrons arrived at Columbia, the word was passed that volunteers were needed for a dangerous mission. Almost every man in the four squadrons volunteered; the squadron commanders chose 24 crews, plus extra armament specialists and mechanics to ready the aircraft. The selected men and the planes were sent to Eglin Field, Fla., beginning on the last week of February. Doolittle arrived at Eglin on March 3 and assembled the entire group of 140 men. My names Doolittle, he said. Ive been put in charge of the project you men have volunteered for. Its a tough one, and it will be the most dangerous thing any of you have ever done. Anyone can drop out and nothing will ever be said about it. In early March Doolittle B-25 Mitchell light bombers and their crews at Eglin Field in Florida for intensive training for a mission they knew nothing about. (National Archives) Doolittle paused and the room was quiet. Several hands went up, and a lieutenant asked if he could give them any more information. Sorry, I cant right now. Im sure you will start getting some ideas about it when we get down to work. Now that brings up the most important point I want to make, and youre going to hear this over and over again. This entire mission must be kept top-secret. I not only dont want you to tell your wives or buddies about it, I dont even want you to discuss it among yourselves. From the first day of training, it was understood that all the volunteer crews would take the training; however, only 15 planes would eventually go on the mission. This was done to assure that there would be plenty of spare crews on hand to replace anyone who became ill or decided to drop out. As the takeoff training of the pilots progressed, it proved to be a harrowing experience for most of them. Army Air Force pilots were not taught during their training to take off in extremely short distances at bare minimum airspeed. Taking off in a medium bomber with the tail skid occasionally striking the ground was unnatural and scary to them. But under U.S. Navy Lieutenant Henry L. Millers patient instruction, they all soon learned. In addition to takeoff practice, it was hoped that each crew would receive 50 hours of flying time to be divided into day and night navigation, gunnery, bombing and formation flying. But maintenance problems kept the planes on the ground most of the time. Each B-25B model at that time was equipped with one upper and one lower turret, each with twin .50- caliber machine guns. But the upper and lower turret mechanisms malfunctioned continually; the lower turret was especially difficult to operate. Doolittle ordered the lower turrets removed and additional gas tanks installed in their place. There was a single, .30-caliber movable machine gun in the nose, which was placed in a gunport by the bombardier when needed. There were no guns in the tail, so Captain C. Ross Greening, the armament officer, suggested that two broomsticks be painted black and installed there to deceive enemy fighters. Since the bombing was to be at 1,500 feet or less, Greening also designed a simple bombsight he called the Mark Twain to replace the top-secret Norden bombsight. It was made from two pieces of aluminum that cost about 20 cents. Lt. (Dr.) Thomas R. Doc White (center) volunteered and became rated as a gunner in order to secure his place on one of the 16 B-25s along with (L to R) Howard A. Sessler (Navigator-Bombardier) Lt. Donald G. Smith (Pilot), Lt Griffith P. Williams (Co-Pilot) and Sgt.Edward J. Saylor (Engineer). National Archives) One of the volunteer gunners had, other duties. When 1st Lt. T. Robert Doc White, a physician attached to the 89th Reconnaissance Squadron, heard of the call for volunteers, he asked to be included. He was told there was no room for a passenger; the only way he could go would be as a gunner. He said that was all right with him. He took gunnery training, qualified with the second highest score with the twin .50s on the ground targets, and was assigned to a crew. His presence on the mission proved to be fortuitous, as shall be seen later. Doolittle wanted to fly the mission as a pilot. But I wanted to go only on the basis that I could do as well as or better than the other pilots who took the training, he said. I took Hank Millers course and was graded along with the others. I made it, but if I hadnt I intended to go along as a copilot and let one of the younger, more proficient pilots occupy the left seat. On one of his training flights, Doolittle flew with Lieutenant Richard E. Cole, copilot; Lieutenant Henry A. Potter, navigator; Sergeant Fred A. Braemer, bombardier; and Sergeant Paul J. Leonard, engineer-gunner. The original pilot had become ill and did not return to flying duty. These men became Doolittles crew. Meanwhile, Captain Wu Duncan had arrived in Honolulu and conferred with Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet, and conveyed the plan for a Navy task force to transport the army bombers to the launch point. Nimitz liked the idea and gave the task of carrying it out to Admiral William F. Bull Halsey, who was anxious to tangle with the enemy any way he could. Duncan worked with the CINCPAC (commander in chief, Pacific) planning staff on the details for a 16-ship task force. It was decided that seven ships would accompany the Hornet from the Alameda Naval Air Station near San Francisco and rendezvous with an eightship force that included Halseys flagship, the carrier Enterprise. The joinder would take place near the 180th meridian. By the middle of March, the Hornet, now destined to be the ship that would deliver the B-25s to the takeoff point, passed through the Panama Canal and proceeded to Alameda. At the end of the third week in March, Captain Duncan wired Washington from Honolulu: Tell Jimmy to get on his horse. This coded message was all Doolittle needed to get his men and planes moving to the West Coast. Since two of the B-25s had been damaged in training, the 22 remaining planes were flown to McClellan Field, Sacramento, Calif., for final inspections before proceeding to Alameda. All of these crews would go aboard the carrier. Captain Duncan flew to San Diego to confer with Captain Marc A. Mitscher, skipper of the Hornet. Mitscher had not been told about the mission until then and was delighted to have a part in it. Since he had watched the first two B-25s take off successfully several weeks previously, he was confident it could be done. Duncan then went to San Francisco to await the arrival of Doolittle from Florida, Halsey from Hawaii and the Hornet from San Diego. The three men, joined by Captain Miles Browning, Halseys chief of staff, met informally in downtown San Francisco to discuss the details and determine if anything had been left undone. The plan was for the Hornet, in company with the cruisers Nashville and Vincennes, the oiler Cimarron, and the destroyers Gwin, Meredith, Monssen and Graysonto be known as Task Force 16.2to leave San Francisco April 2. Halsey, on the Enterprise and in charge of Task Force 16.1, would leave Hawaii on April 7, accompanied by the cruisers Northampton and Salt Lake City, the oiler Sabine,, and destroyers Balch, Benham, Ellet and Fanning. The rendezvous of the two forces would become Task Force 16 and would take place on Sunday, April 12, at approximately 38 degrees 0 minutes north latitude and 180 degrees 0 minutes west longitude. The force would then proceed westward and refuel about 800 miles off the coast of Japan. The oilers would then detach themselves while the rest of the task force dashed to the launch point. Halsey later reported in his memoirs that, Our talk boiled down to this: we would carry Jimmy within 400 miles of Tokyo, if we could sneak in that close; but if we were discovered sooner, we would have to launch him anyway, provided he was in reach of either Tokyo or Midway. What Halsey did not discuss was the tremendous risk the Navy was taking. If marauding Japanese submarines discovered the task force steaming westward, it would be an excellent opportunity to cripple what was left of the Navys strength in the Pacific. Doolittle knew full well that if Halseys ships were under heavy attack, the B-25s stored topside would be pushed over the side to make flight deck available so the Hornets fighters could be brought up on deck to help protect the task force. When the B-25s landed at Alameda on April 1, Doolittle and Captain Ski York greeted each crew. Anything wrong with your plane? they asked. If a pilot admitted some malfunction, he was directed to a nearby parking ramp instead of the wharf. Originally, only 15 planes were to be loaded, but Doolittle asked for one more to be hoisted aboard. When the carrier was at sea, it would take off and return to the mainland to show the other B-25 crews that takeoffs were not only possible but could be made easily. Although the bomber crews had been told that B-25s had made carrier takeoffs previously, none had ever seen it done nor had they done it themselves. Lieutenant Miller, the Navy pilot who had instructed them in carrier takeoffs, would be aboard that B-25. The next morning, Task Force 16.2 prepared to depart from San Francisco Bay. Just before the Hornet was to depart, Doolittle was ordered ashore to receive an urgent phone call from Washington. He recalled: I thought it was going to be either General Hap Arnold or General George Marshall telling me I couldnt go. My heart sank because I wanted to go on that mission more than anything. It was General Marshall. Doolittle? he said. I just called to wish you the best of luck. Our thoughts and our prayers will be with you. Goodbye, good luck, and come home safely. All I could think of to say was, Thank you, Sir, thank you. I returned to the Hornet feeling much better. Shortly before noon, the Hornet passed under the Golden Gate Bridge. That afternoon, Mitscher decided to tell his men where they were going. He signaled to the other ships, This force is bound for Tokyo. As he recalled later, when he made the announcement on the Hornet, Cheers from every section of the ship greeted the announcement, and morale reached a new high, there to remain until after the attack was launched and the ship was well clear of combat areas. The Navy blimp L-8 delivers last minute parts for the missions B-25s shortly after the ship left San Francisco to begin the operation, on April 4, 1942. (Naval History and Heritage Command) The next day, April 3, Doolittle changed his mind about sending the 16th plane back to the mainland. A Navy blimp, the L-8, arrived overhead with spare parts for the B-25s. Air-patrol coverage was provided as far as possible by a Consolidated PBY Catalina. Doolittle assembled his crews and introduced Commander Apollo Soucek and Lt. Cmdr. Stephen Jurika. Soucek was the ships air officer, and he described the basics of carrier operations. Jurika, the Hornets intelligence officer, briefed them on the target cities and surrounding areas. Jurika had been an assistant naval attache in Japan in 1939 and had obtained much valuable information about Japanese industry and military installations. He spoke to the crews almost every day, telling them of Japanese customs, political ideologies and history. Doolittle allowed the pilots to choose their targets in the assigned cities. Lieutenant Frank Akers, the carriers navigator, gave the pilots a refresher course on navigation. Doc White, the physician gunner on Lieutenant Don Smiths crew, gave talks on sanitation and first aid. Doolittle made it a practice to meet with the crews two or three times a day. He continually warned them not to bomb the Imperial Palace and to avoid hospitals, schools and other non-military targets. He said that most planes would carry three 500-pound demolition bombs and one 500-pound incendiary. He planned to take off in the late afternoon with four incendiaries and drop them on Tokyo in darkness. The resulting fires would light up the sky and serve as a beacon for those following and guide them toward their respective targets in Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe, Nagoya and Osaka. All aircraft would then proceed to China and be guided by homing beacons to landing fields where they would refuel before proceeding to Chungking, the ultimate destination. Mitscher and Halsey joined forces as planned. Meanwhile, arrangements in China were not going well. Japanese ground forces were moving in strength toward the airfields where the B-25s were to refuel. Although the Americans and Chinese in Chungking were told that they could expect some aircraft to arrive and to prepare for them by placing fuel and setting up homing beacons, they were not told that the planes would be arriving from the east after bombing Japan. Misunderstandings developed, and were compounded when Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek asked that the arrival of the planes be delayed so he could move his ground forces into position to prevent occupation of the Chuchow area where one of the refueling airfields was located. As the task force continued westward, the Japanese knew from intercepted radio messages as early as April 10 that an enemy carrier force was steaming toward them. However, it was estimated that it would have to approach within 300 miles of their coast in order to launch any carrier planes. If that was where the task force was headed, there would be plenty of time to intercept it. Unknown to the Americans, a line of radio-equipped picket ships was positioned about 650 miles off Japan, and they could signal the approach of any large force and warn the land-based air defense forces to prepare for an attack. Meanwhile, a Japanese navy air flotilla was alerted to back up homeland air defenses. Patrol bombers would be dispatched when the enemy force was estimated to be about 600 miles out. However, when the American task force observed radio silence for the last 1,000 miles, the Japanese cautiously decided that it might be headed elsewhere. The first B-25 to launch from the carrier Hornet piloted by Lt. Col. James Doolittle. Observing from the bridge is the carriers Skipper Capt. Marc A. Mitscher. (National Archives) In the early morning hours of April 18, the Enterprises radar spotted two small ships. The force changed course briefly to avoid them. The weather turned sour; light rain was falling and green water was plunging down the Hornets deck. A dawn patrol was sent up from the Enterprise to scout the area. One of the pilots sighted an enemy surface ship and dropped a message to the Big Es deck, noting the ships position and adding, Believed seen by enemy. Admiral Halsey promptly flashed a message to Captain Mitscher: Launch planes to Col. Doolittle and gallant command, good luck and God bless you. The B-25s were quickly loaded and one by one moved into takeoff position. Doolittle was first off at 0820; the 16th B-25 was off an hour later. Just as the pilot of the last plane had started his engines, a deckhand slipped on the wet deck and fell into the B-25s whirling left propeller, which severed his arm. One by one, the B-25s droned on toward Japan. None flew in close formation with another, and only a few actually saw any other B-25s as they droned along toward their respective target cities. Shortly after noon, Tokyo time, Doolittle called for bomb doors open, and Sergeant Fred Braemer sighted down the 20- cent bombsight and triggered off four incendiaries into the capital citys factory area. Fourteen other crews found their respective targets; however, one B-25, with its top turret inoperative and under attack by fighters, dropped its bombs in Tokyo Bay. Several others were also attacked, but none suffered any noticeable damage. Although most crew members had cameras with them only one returned with photographs taken in the air over Japan. This is the Yokosuka Naval Base taken by No.13s Navigator, Lt. Clayton J. Campbell. The camera belonged to Lt. Knobloch. All of the planes except one turned southward off the east coast of Japan and then westward toward China. Captain York had a difficult decision to make. Both of his B-25s engines had burned excessive amounts of fuel on the way to Japan, and he knew he and his crew would have to ditch in the shark infested China Sea if they followed the planned route to China. He elected to proceed against orders to Soviet territory and landed near Vladivostok. He had hoped he could persuade the Soviets to refuel the plane and allow them to continue to China, but the aircraft and crew were promptly interned because the Soviet Union wanted to retain its neutral status with Japan. The crew finally escaped into Iran 14 months later. As the other aircraft turned toward China, they experienced head winds, and it appeared that few, if any, would reach the coast before running out of fuel. Although the head winds then fortuitously turned into tail winds, the weather worsened in the late afternoon as they were approaching the coastline. Doolittle and eleven other pilots elected to climb into the clouds and proceed inland on instruments. When their fuel reached the zero mark, the crews bailed out. One crew member was killed attempting to depart the airplane. All others made it with only bruises, slight cuts or sprained ankles and slowly made their way to Chuchow and Chungking with the help of Chinese peasants. More than a quarter-million Chinese subsequently paid with their lives when ruthless Japanese soldiers murdered anyone suspected of helping the Americans and even people whose villages the Americans had passed through. The crew of the number 13 airplane, (left to right) Lt. Clayton J. Campbell, Sgt. Adam R. Williams, Lt. Edgar E. McElroy and Sgt. Robert C. Bourgeois were found by Chinese soldiers and civillians. (National Archives) Four pilots elected to crash-land or ditch their aircraft. Two crewmen drowned swimming to shore. Four members of one crew were seriously injured; they were assisted by the rear gunner, Corporal David Thatcher, and friendly Chinese to a hospital run by missionaries and were joined there by Lieutenant White and his crew. It was there that White amputated the leg of the pilot Lieutenant Ted W. Lawson and gave two pints of his own blood to save Lawsons life. Lawson later wrote about his experiences in Thirty Seconds over Tokyo. Thatcher and White later received the Silver Star for their gallantry. Sixty-four of Doolittles Raiders eventually arrived in Chungking; some were retained in the theater to serve in the Tenth Air Force; others were returned to the States and assigned to new units. Three pilots and one navigator later became prisoners of the Germans. Eight crewmen were captured by the Japanese, tortured, given a mock courtmartial and sentenced to die. Three of them were executed by firing squad; one died of malnutrition. The remaining fourGeorge Barr, Jacob DeShazer, Robert L. Hite and Chase J. Nielsen survived 40 months of captivity, most of it in solitary confinement, and returned to the States after the war. The question has been asked: Can this raid be considered successful if all aircraft were lost and relatively little damage was done to the targets? The answer is a strong affirmative. The mission provided the first good news of the war and was a tremendous morale boost for America and her allies. Japanese morale, on the other hand, was shattered because their leaders had promised that their homeland could never be attacked. The original purpose of the raid, as stated by Doolittle before he departed, was to prove that Japan was vulnerable and that a surprise air raid would create confusion, impede production and cause air defense forces to be withdrawn from the war zones to defend the home islands against further attacks. All of that occurred. Besides being the first offensive air action against the Japanese home islands, the Doolittle-led raid accomplished some other historic firsts. It was the first combat mission in which the U.S. Army Air Forces and the U.S. Navy teamed up in a full-scale operation against the enemy. Jimmy Doolittle and his raiders were the first to fly landbased bombers from a carrier deck on a combat mission and first to use new cruise-control techniques in attacking a distant target. The incendiary bombs they carried were forerunners of those used later in the war. The special camera equipment specified by Doolittle to record the bomb hits was later adopted by the AAF. The after-action crew recommendations concerning armament, tactics and survival equipment were used as a basis for other improvements. Jimmy Doolittles famous air raid against Japan marked the beginning of the turnaround toward victory for America and her allies in World War II. This article was written by C.V. Glines and originally published in the March 1992 issue of Aviation History. For more great articles subscribe to Aviation History magazine today! Want to add one of Doolittles raiders to your collection? Check out our exclusive modeling feature and build your own B-25B! Roaming the Midwest as an itinerant sign and portrait painter in the 1830s, John Mix Stanley (181472) seemed destined to become just another forgotten artist. Within a decade, however, he found a more noble calling: to leave Americans a gallery of Indian picturesto remind them of the former existence of a race which has made perhaps a more gallant and prolonged defense of their independence than any recorded in the widespread annals of warfare between savage and civilized men. Stanley first traveled to Fort Snelling (in present-day Minnesota) in 1839 and Fort Gibson (in present-day Oklahoma) in 1842 to capture Indian subjects and landscapes. Stanleys portrayals of Native Americans set him apart from other artists of his era, says Laura Fry, Haub curator of Western American art at Washingtons Tacoma Art Museum, which hosts the exhibit Painted Journeys: The Art of John Mix Stanley through May 1. Rather than representing native peoples as an exotic other, Stanley depicts Native Americans in familiar roles, showing a shared humanity with his Euro-American audience. By showing native individuals leading diplomatic meetings, engaged in the democratic process and participating in everyday family activities, Stanley encouraged empathy and understanding between cultures. In 1846 Stanley joined Brig. Gen. Stephen Watts Kearnys expedition from New Mexico to California, rendering Southwest landscapes and portraits of Apache and Maricopa leaders. Two years later he visited Hawaii, where he painted portraits of King Kamehameha and family. He later served as the artist for Washington Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens 185354 Pacific railroad survey, recording the landscape from the Great Lakes to Puget Sound. Yet Stanleys legacy pales in comparison to that of such well-known 19th-century artists as George Catlin, Karl Bodmer and Albert Bierstadt. Tragic fires bear much of the blame. In 1865 a fire at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., destroyed more than 200 of Stanleys canvasses, while another blaze at P.T. Barnums New York museum claimed more of his collection. For the remainder of his life Stanley tried to repaint the lost works while organizing the exhibition and sale of his art. In 1872, the year of his death from heart failure, a fire at his own studio consumed much of what remained. Stanleys crowning achievement was destroyed in that [Smithsonian] firehundreds of his artworks created over a dozen years of grueling travel in the American West and beyond, Fry says. If the fire had not taken place, he would be far better known today, perhaps ranking alongside the fame of Catlin and Bodmer. A primary objective of the exhibit, which includes two pieces from the Tacoma Art Museums Haub Family Collection, is to reintroduce Stanleys work to the public. Organized and premiered in 2015 by the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyo., the exhibit traveled to the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Okla., before arriving in Tacoma. Because Stanley is not a well-known artist, the reaction from visitors has been fascinating, Fry says. These paintings are enticing, and the colors and details really draw in viewers for a closer look. As a result of this exhibition and catalog I think Stanley will finally develop the reputation his work deserves. The exhibit is the first major retrospective of Stanleys artwork, and Fry is eager to share with museumgoers the unique aspects of his style. I was immediately struck by the sheer beauty of Stanleys paintings, she says. The deep jewel colors in the landscapes, the sparkling light, the expressive portraitsthese artworks are captivating. Does any piece stand out for Fry? My favorite might be Mountain Landscape With Indians, from the Detroit Institute of Art collection. Its a stunning scene with a steep, snow-covered mountain peak reflecting over a still body of water, closely resembling views of Mount Hood over the Columbia River Gorge. But the painting also speaks to Stanleys resilience. After losing most of his lifes work at the Smithsonian and the Barnum museum, Stanley didnt give up. Inspired by his memories of traveling in the American West decades earlier, he created this idealized scene that celebrates his favorite elements of the Western landscape. Though Stanley also drew inspiration from Catlin, their approaches were quite different. Catlin sought to create an anthropologic record of American Indians for posterity, Fry says. Stanleys saw indigenous cultures as inspiration for art. You can see the difference by comparing their paintings, as Stanleys overall compositions and color choices reflect a deliberate artistic intent far more than many of Catlins works. That said, Stanley did provide an important visual record of the period during his Mexican War travels with Kearny and Stevens search for a northern transcontinental railroad route. Stanley made numerous sketches of the Southwest landscape and of prominent Apache and Maricopa leaders, Fry says of his time with Kearny. He found the Southwestern desert to be a beautiful Eden, as shown in his composite landscape Chain of Spires Along the Gila River, from the collection of the Phoenix Art Museum. His stint with Stevens was more businesslike in nature. As the official artist on the Stevens expedition, Stanley sketched the landscape from the Great Lakes to Puget Sound, and later worked his sketches into lithograph illustrations for the published report on a northern railway route, Fry explains. Stevens report became the basis for the Northern Pacific Railwaywhich terminated in Tacoma and greatly contributed to our citys early development. Not bad for a onetime itinerant sign painter. WW The House that Booth Built: Marylands Tudor Hall, home of the theatrical Booth family, helped to shape a future assassin After the tragic events of April 1865, the New York Tribune printed a rumor that the local residents around Bel Air, Md., could easily believe: Abraham Lincoln was probably not the first man John Wilkes Booth ever killed. During the war, a small band of Unionists had camped not far from the Booth family home in Bel Aira small town in Harford County, east of Baltimorewhich the family had named Tudor Hall. As a border state, Maryland was torn between Union and Confederate partisans, often within a single family, and the Booths were no exception. This was a family of renowned actors, a household where giving free vent to the emotions was encouraged. On at least two occasions, the Tribune reported, the impetuous John, a longtime Southern sympathizer, had rushed into Tudor Hall, grabbed his rifle, and run off to join the local Confederates skirmishing against the bluecoats in the nearby woods. Whether or not John actually killed anyone there is an open question. But history has recorded that, after Lincoln was assassinated, the neighbors had nothing good to say about him. [N]one of the neighbors ever liked the family, who were the devils own play-acting people, and would do anything bad, the Tribune quoted one man saying. Rumor had it that the young Booth of Bel Air liked to get his kicks by shooting local dogs or farm animals. Once a killer, always a killer, according to the locals. And yet the story of Tudor Hall paints a more complicated picture of John Wilkes Booth and his tempestuous family. It was, in some ways, a happy home, given to flights of fancy, grand gestures and elaborate play-acting. It was a place where John pretended to be Romeo (or perhaps Juliet) from the balcony off his bedroom, where he is assumed to have carved the initials J.W.B. found on a nearby beech tree, and where he was known to be loved, according to subsequent owner Ella Mahoney, who wrote memoirs of Tudor Hall and the Booth family. But Tudor Hall was also a house of dark corners, where the mercurial John had deliberately chosen an eastern-facing bedroom because he didnt like to watch the sun set. There, the family mourned the loss of its gifted patriarch, Junius B. Booth Sr., who had chosen the houses design and overseen its construction but died before he could live there. As a master tragedian, the elder Booth knew something about messy affairs of the heart. In his professional life, Junius had played such tortured leading men as Hamlet, Caesar and Richard III, but his personal life was nearly as dramatic. In 1821 the London-born Booth had abandoned his wife Adelaide and young son in England (a daughter had died in infancy) to accompany his lover, Mary Anne Holmes, to America, where they set up housekeeping in downtown Baltimore. The couple would eventually have eight children together, four of whom would die in childhood. Their life was comfortable, supported by Booths soaring acting career, which sent him to the tread the boards in Boston, New York and other major cities. He soon longed for a bit of privacy and fresh air, and purchased a log cabin in Bel Air in 1823 to serve as a summer retreat for the family. It was there, on May 10, 1838, that John Wilkes Booth was born. By all accounts, Junius threw himself into farming, planting a vineyard and orchard, harvesting crops and corralling horses and cows. He sent away for farming journals and studied them closely. Despite his fervor, Junius took a humane approach to his animals. He insisted that no livestock be slaughtered on his property, purchasing meat at neighboring farms. Several of his children, including John, were raised as vegetarians. Junius, who was accustomed to velvet and brocade in his costumes, farmed his land barefoot and was known to neighbors simply as Farmer Booth. In the mid-1840s, when Junius sought to upgrade their homestead, he turned to an architectural pattern book published by William H. Ranlett in 1847. Ranlett was a well-known architect whose most famous work is the Hermitage, now a national historic landmark in New Jersey. Booth chose Ranletts design for a 1-story Gothic Revival cottage with a front-facing gable and Palladian symmetry. The brick house was painted green to reflect its bucolic surroundings, and the interior living rooms and parlors were cozy, with a fireplace in the middle of the main room. A free-standing kitchen was only feet away. For the construction, Booth chose James J. Gifford, a respected carpenter in the region. (Ironically, Gifford would later be employed by John T. Ford to build his theater in Washington, D.C.) It is perhaps not surprising that a renowned actor could pull off leading a double life. For years, Junius sent money home to support his family in England, and it is thought that Adelaide was none the wiser about his home life in America (though one never knows). But by the late 1840s, the truth was out. Adelaide and Junius were divorced in 1851. That same year, some 30 years after their affair began, Junius and Mary Ann were married. Their official union, like those in the Shakespearian tragedies he knew so well, was short-lived. The following year, Junius contracted consumption of the bowels after a six-night stand in New Orleans and expired on a riverboat en route to Ohio. His last words, according to his daughter Asia, were pray, pray, pray. After his passing, one admirer wrote a tribute to Junius in a literary journal, saying, There are no more actors. For the grieving actor sons, including John and older brother Edwin, also a leading light of the American stage, the death of their father was no doubt the hardest act to follow. Now without its head, the family moved into their new home, Tudor Hall. Edwin stayed only briefly, but John resided there with his mother, sisters Asia and Rosalie, and younger brother Joseph. According to Asia, there was little for the young Booths to do, perhaps a blessing and curse for youngsters with active imaginations. Occasionally Asia and John attended a church event or dance, but mostly they read aloud to each other or recited lines from plays or whiled away the hours climbing the great cherry tree near the house. Once, when some of Asias friends visited, John whipped up a simple supper of pancakes. He sometimes fell into melancholy, reminding family and friends that a fortune-teller had predicted he would meet a bad end and die young. As the nation moved toward war, his support of the South became more trenchant, leading to arguments with his Unionist brother Edwin. (Years later, when Edwin received a trunk of Johns, filled with costumes and love letters, he burned them.) By the outbreak of the Civil War, the Booths had rented Tudor Hall to the King family from Washington, D.C. Although they kept some belongings at Tudor Hall, they rarely returned, except for John, who had a strong affection for his boyhood home and friends, according to Ella Mahoney. He mostly toured the country as an actor whose reputation was growing (his early outings, when he was still a teenager, earned scathing reviews, but he had grown accomplished in his craft). He was well-known to Fords Theatre audiences, and once pointed directly to President Lincoln in his box during a scene. In his last appearance there in March 1865, he played Duke Pescara in The Apostatethe lead role, and a villain. A month later, John turned his villain act into reality. By April 15, 1865, Lincoln was dead, John Wilkes Booth was on the run in southern Maryland, and soldiers surrounded Tudor Hall. Mrs. King stepped out onto the balconyperhaps the same one young John had once play-acted onwhere the troops called up to her, demanding to be let in. For 10 days they came and went, searching the house and grounds in vain. They didnt know that the assassin was never to return to his beloved home. The last act of the most dramatic role of his career was playing out, ensuring that his fame would forever eclipse that of his older brother or father. On April 26, 1865, after he was shot at the Garrett Farm in Virginia, John Wilkes Booth died near dawn, the time of day he had loved best. Kim OConnell, based in Arlington, Va., has a masters degree in historic preservation. She wishes to thank Tom Fink, president of the Junius B. Booth Society, for his research and assistance with this story. This article was originally published in the June 2015 issue of Civil War Times. Hannah Dustons ordeal mercifully ended when she dragged herself into Haverhill, Massachusetts, in the late spring of 1697. In March an Indian war party had swooped down on the New England frontier and abducted the young woman and her newborn daughter. A six-day-old infant stood little chance of surviving a journey to Canada over the frozen New England landscape, so on the outskirts of Haverhill, Hannah was forced to bear witness as an Abenaki warrior dashed out her babys brains against a tree. Six weeks into her captivity, Hannah ferociously attacked her captors while they slept. In a thunderclap of gory retribution, armed with a tomahawk, she hacked at and bludgeoned to death an Indian man, two women, and six children. A fellow captive killed another warrior. Hannah scalped all 10 Indians, as much to avenge the murder of her child as to collect the lucrative bounty that colonial officials had offered for scalps. Puritan ministers and lay people alike thanked God for Hannahs deliverance and for the vengeance she had wrought on the savages who had preyed on New Englanders throughout the terrible war that had just subsided. While William III of England waged the War of the League of Augsburg (16891698) in Europe to roll back Louis XIVs expansion into the Low Countries, his subjects on the North American frontier fought for their very survival against the French and their Indian allies in what became known as King Williams War. New Englanders proved unable to strike effectively at New France, which emerged from the conflict almost unscathed and completely victorious. The fighting continued intermittently for seven years from 1690 to 1697 though Cotton Mather, the Puritan grandee who believed the war marked a manifestation of Gods displeasure with New England, titled his 1699 history of it Decennium luctuosum (The Mournful Decade). New Englanders decided their only recourse was to destroy New France, or as Reverend Cotton Mather later termed it, the rookery of evil. the beaver wars: ensnared in the conflict New England was pulled into the war by an ongoing conflict on the North American frontier between the French and the Iroquois League. The two had ensnared themselves in another chapter of the long-running Beaver Wars. This phase began in 1687 when French forces raided deep into Iroquoia, territory that comprised much of what is now upstate New York; in July 1689 the Iroquois League responded, and its warriors massacred the French settlers and some Indians at Lachine, west of Montreal, spitting and roasting some of their victims. New Frances wily governor general, Louis de Buade de Frontenac, feared that if the English colonies leveraged the military might of the Iroquois League, they might well conquer New France. He concluded that only offensive actions could keep Canadas enemies at bay. By this late point in the generations-long Beaver Wars, the Iroquois League itself teetered on the brink of a civil war among pro-French, pro-English, and neutralist factions. The centerpiece of Frontenacs strategy thus became breaking the Covenant Chain, the series of agreements between the English and the Iroquois League that had kept the peace with the Iroquois and the majority of other Indians in the northeast (the Abenakis, Maliseets, and Mikmaq). The French struck first at Schenectady, New York, in early February 1690. Frontenac unleashed 110 of his colonys rugged milice (militia) in the height of winter, when the English least expected an attack. Many of the milice were the legendary coureurs des bois, literally woods runners, whose time on remote frontiers had inured them to physical hardship; 96 pro-French Iroquois agreed to accompany the milice. The Frenchmen wanted to destroy Albany, the main English entrepot for the fur trade in the west, but the Indians preferred Schenectady, 15 miles farther northwest, as the place to balance the ledger for the horrors perpetrated on their Iroquois cousins at Lachine. On the night of February 9, 1690, the raiders found the settlers asleep and just two snowmen guarding Schenectadys gates. Upon the signal of an Indian war cry, the raiders attacked, slitting the throats and crushing the skulls of 60 men, women, and children and taking 27 male prisoners. Pro-English Mohawks pursued the raiders almost as far as the outskirts of Montreal before they realized that discretion was the better part of valor and retreated to New York. King williams war: causes and carnage Frontenac next focused his attention on the New England frontier. In March he turned loose New Frances professional soldiers, the troupes de la marine, and the Mikmaq of Acadia. The marines were under the direction of Joseph-Francois Hertel de la Fresnier. Thanks to their service against and alongside Indians, they had begun to master the art of petite guerre, what today we would recognize as guerrilla warfare. On March 27, 1690, Hertels war party struck Salmon Falls, New Hampshire, where it massacred 34 settlers, took 54 others toward Canada, and burned the village. The militia, pursuing the raiders blindly, walked into Hertels ambush on March 28. They extracted themselves from near-disaster but left the Salmon Falls captives to the mercy of the Mikmaq. On the way to Montreal, the Indians tortured to death most of their prisoners. The marines may not have participated in the horrific tortures, but they didnt try to stop them either. New Englanders decided their only recourse was to destroy New France, or as Reverend Mather later termed it, the rookery of evil. In April Massachusetts governor Sir William Phips, a wealthy shipbuilder and treasure hunter who possessed little military experience, led 700 militia and seven ships from Boston against Port Royal, the small outpost on the Bay of Fundy that served as the capital of the colony of Acadia. On May 11, he took Port Royal after an almost bloodless siege. Although Phips promised that the Acadians would be given hors de combat and thus unharmed, his men sacked the town and took the French garrison to New England as prisoners of war. Bostonians welcomed Phips as a conquering hero, and Massachusetts opened the colonys coffers for a late-summer amphibious expedition up the Saint Lawrence River to Quebec. Connecticuts governor, Fitz-John Winthrop, received authorization from his colony to lead 750 militia through the Lake GeorgeLake ChamplainRichelieu River corridor against Montreal. The Iroquois promised 1,800 warriors would join him. But while the English planned and prepared, the French acted. On May 16, 1690, a combined force of 500marines under Hertel and Abenakis led by Jean-Vincent dAbbadie de Saint-Castin, a French army officer whom the Indians had adopted as one of their war chiefsreached Falmouth (todays Portland) on Casco Bay. Their target was Fort Loyal, the easternmost New England outpost in Maine. The English militia assumed they were dealing with a small raiding party, so 30 of them most of the garrison sallied forth from the protection of the fort. The marines and Indians easily dispatched and scalped all but four of them. The forts commander, Captain Sylvanus Davis, asked Hertel for terms. Hertel assured him that he would allow all the English to travel unmolested to Portsmouth. Whether he intended to keep his word remains a mystery, but Saint-Castin and the Abenakis killed and scalped the English wounded and took several captives, including Davis. The French and Indians so-called treachery enraged New Englanders. Few wanted to admit that at about the same time, Phipss Boston men were laying waste to Port Royal. Disappointment, disaster and smallpox By August 1690, the English had convinced themselves that the tide was about to turn. High hopes went with Winthrops small army as it marched to Lake Champlain. Once there, however, the English discovered that the merchants of Albany had failed to deliver the boats and supplies promised, and just as damningly, only 120 Iroquois warriors, rather than the 1,800 expected, had appeared. With smallpox racking his army and his troops deserting in droves, Winthrop decided to return to Albany. Captain John Schuyler convinced some of the Iroquois to join him and some militia on a raid to Montreal. They reached Prairie-de-la-Madeleine (todays La Prairie), across the Saint Lawrence River from Montreal, on August 23. Once there, the Iroquois refused to attack the blockhouse that protected the village, so after taking some prisoners two of whom they killed and slaughtering La Prairies cattle herd, Schuylers band returned to New York. The sum total of the English response to Frontenacs campaign amounted to killing 120 head of cattle. GET HISTORYS GREATEST TALESRIGHT IN YOUR INBOX Subscribe to our HistoryNet Now! newsletter for the best of the past, delivered every Wednesday. Close Thank you for subscribing! If Winthrops campaign was a disappointment, Phipss proved a disaster. The English did not arrive at Quebec until October, as winter barreled down on Canada. Phips duly demanded that Frontenac surrender; the governor general retorted that his answer would come from the mouths of my cannons and muskets. Phips lackadaisically landed 1,200 militiamen and a large part of his artillery train downriver of the citadel, and his four warships bombarded Quebec. After several days during which the English expended their ammunition to no effect, Phips gathered his troops and sailed for Boston, leaving behind several cannons for the French to claim as trophies. Storms slammed the fleet and sank several vessels, and smallpox broke out among the troops on the cramped and filthy transports. Over 1,000 men, nearly half of Phipss army, perished before the armada entered Boston harbor. oh, canada! The campaign of 1690 had shown Frontenac that the English were powerless to stop his Indian raiders, so in 1691 he doubled down on using them as Canadas first line of defense. The bounties he placed on scalps provided all the motivation that innumerable war parties needed to swarm over the frontier, capturing, killing, and scalping as they went. The war at that point hardly deserved the term; it had devolved into a string of gruesome murders that terrorized New England. The English tried to stanch the Indian onslaught with another campaign against Montreal in the summer of 1691. In June Peter Schuyler, Johns brother, took his turn, leading 120 militiamen with 145 Indian allies against Canada. The question no one on the English side seemed prepared to ask was whether the Iroquois were serving as the English proxies or the English had become the New York Indians auxiliaries in their war with the French. Schuylers small army left its canoes and boats at Fort Chambly on the Richelieu River and marched west overland to La Prairie. There, French marines vigorously counterattacked, forcing Schuyler to run for Albany only to fall into a French ambush south of Fort Chambly. He narrowly avoided disaster: He had lost a quarter of his troops but speciously claimed that he had killed 200 French and Indians. The raid did nothing to relieve the pressure on the New England frontier. More suffering was in store for those living on the frontier in early 1692. On January 24, 300 Abenakis under chief Madockawando and Father Louis-Pierre Thury attacked York, Maine. In what became known as the Candlemas Massacre, the Indians repeated the now familiar pattern of frontier war: They burned the village, killed 100 English settlers, and took 80 captives. Frontenac brilliantly mixed diplomacy and violence to outmaneuver the English at every turn new york state of mind Frontenac then switched his operational focus to the Iroquois villages in New York. In both 1692 and 1693 the French and their Indian allies raided Iroquoia, destroyed Mohawk castles (villages), and carried hundreds of captives off to Canada. Following the January 1693 attack, Peter Schuyler and the Albany militia joined the Mohawks when they pursued the raiders. For the first time in the war, colonial militia performed relatively well, but the French and their Iroquois allies escaped with only a few casualties and most of their prisoners. The French successes of 1693 convinced many within the Iroquois League that the only means for its survival was a peace treaty with the French. The Covenant Chain was being torn asunder, and it was the Iroquois link that had snapped first. Representatives from the English colonies rushed to Albany in the spring of 1694, offering the wavering Iroquois arms and ammunition to sign a new treaty of friendship with them, but it soon became apparent that their efforts were too little too late. Frontenac brilliantly mixed diplomacy and violence to outmaneuver the English at every turn. He gave the Iroquois League time and breathing room to consider its predicament, while disrupting the Abenaki-English peace talks that had started in late 1693. Father Thury, with Frontenacs backing, cajoled the Abenakis into continuing the fight. On July 18, 1694, he and two other Frenchmen joined 230 Abenakis and Maliseets in a bloody raid on the village of Oyster River (todays Durham), New Hampshire. In the orgy of destruction that followed, the Indians killed 104 villagers, burned the villages buildings and fields, and slaughtered the livestock. Nine days later the same war party fell on Groton, Massachusetts. Twenty-year-old Lydia Longley was among the captives the Indians took. Choosing a path far different than the one Hannah Duston would pick, she did the unthinkable for an English Protestant: She accepted baptism as a Roman Catholic and entered the Congregation de Notre-Dame to become a nun. For the remaining 60 years of her life, she lived near Montreal as Sister Saint-Madeline, English Americas first Catholic nun. The war entered a lull year in 1695, then in 1696 Frontenac made his final push for both the spoils of war and victory. In August Saint-Castin and the Abenakis joined Pierre Le Moyne dIberville (whom Frontenac had earlier sent to eject the English from their fur-trading stations near Hudsons Bay) in a siege of Fort William Henry at Pemaquid, on the central Maine coast. A month later in the most successful English operation of the war, New Englands venerable Indian fighter, Benjamin Church, raided Acadia and occupied it for a week in September. The French campaign in the Maritimes produced more lasting results. In four months of campaigning up and down the Maine coastline and as far as Newfoundland, Iberville sacked 36 settlements, killed 200 Englishmen, took 700 seamen and fishermen into captivity in Canada, and gave the deathblow to New Englands faltering economy. Frontenac, meanwhile, focused on the Iroquois League, specifically the Oneida and Onondaga nations. Close to 2,200 milice, marines, and pro-French Iroquois ascended the Saint Lawrence River to attack the league at its heart, but they found few inhabited castles. The New York Iroquois had fled before their Canadian kin and the French. The message was clear: The collective league had no desire to continue the war. The war, however, approached its denouement. March 1697 saw the raid on Haverhill that led to Hannah Dustons drama in the wilds of New Hampshire before word reached North America in the summer that English and French plenipotentiaries had begun peace talks in Holland. The September 1697 Treaty of Ryswick ended the Anglo-French conflict in Europe and North America. a short peace With war officially over, the belligerents tried to make sense of their participation in it. Frontenac received the title the Savior of New France, though his Indian allies deserved it as much as he did. In the Great Peace of 1701 at Montreal, the Iroquois League, battered both by the French and by factionalism, declared its neutrality in any future Anglo-French wars. The Covenant Chain lay in pieces, and henceforth the English colonies would have only themselves to depend on, but the fighting had shown the militia to be wholly ineffective and near moribund. New Englanders hatred of Indians and the French had grown exponentially, which made the putative peace treaties they signed with the Indians all the more distasteful. Some New Englanders demanded revenge; others predicted that another war with the French and the Indians would lead to more mournful years and Queen Annes War, which began a mere five years after King Williams War and lasted nine long years, proved the latter prescient. John Grenier has written numerous histories on colonial American wars, including The First Way of War and The Far Reaches of Empire. This article was published in the Winter 2016 issue of MHQ. Send us your comments! MHQeditor@agriffith Soldiers shield themselves as best they can from dirt and debris stirred up by a Huey squeezing into the tight, one-ship landing zone around noon. The pilot touches down and two officers jump from the helicopter and land in a large mud puddle. One GI chuckles, pokes his buddy and laughs quietly at the officers in fresh jungle fatigues, stamping the mud off their polished boots. A dirty, unshaven captain greets them wearing torn jungle fatigues and mud-covered boots, toting an M-16. The trio moves to the edge of the landing zone where towering elephant grass offers a bit of protection from the early afternoon sun. The major unfolds a map and the three begin discussing a mission. Within minutes there is strong disagreement over the plan. Lieutenant Colonel Rutland Beard, commander of the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry (Airborne), 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) and his operations officer, Major William Roll, are insisting that Captain Don Warren, Charlie Company commander, leave his 20-man mortar platoon alone on Landing Zone Hereford to provide fire support to Warrens company as it moves down the steep precipice toward the valley below. Warren is equally insistent on keeping at least one rifle squad behind to provide security: Sir, my mortar platoon is down to half-strength because of malaria and has only M-16s and a couple of M-79s. If I leave behind a rifle squad, they will have at least one machine gun for security. Beard tells Warren that the mortar platoon will be on the hill for less than an hour before it will be lifted out and taken to another LZ. Warrens eyes lock on Beards, Anything could happen in an hour, sir. Irritated at Warrens near insubordination, Beard warns: Captain, if you dont do as I order, you will be in more trouble than you can imagine. Is that understood? Warren hesitates a moment before answering tersely: Yes sir, colonel. Will that be all, sir? Beard indicates yes, and Warren spins on his heels and walks over to his rifle platoon leaders to pass on the orders. Beard takes a sideward glance at Roll, shakes his head and turns toward his helicopter. Concerned For His Mens Safety Warren has every reason for concern about the safety of his understrength mortar platoon. Herefords topography makes it nearly impossible for even a fully armed rifle company to defend it from a determined enemy. It is a small saddle 165 yards long by 45 yards wide that is partially encircled by tall elephant grass. Beyond the elephant grass, it is completely surrounded by a rugged, unforgiving landscape, the most hostile being the steep, razorback ridgeline reaching northeast toward a towering mountain nearly 1,000 feet high. At the base of the ridge, Herefords northern boundary begins sloping gently downhill to the landing zones southern edge. At the southeast rim of the perimeter is a sheer drop over a rocky precipice. The northwest limit of the perimeter is a steep, rock-faced, vine-covered drop-off into the valley. Completing Herefords narrow boundaries is a large, craggy, brush-covered hill on its western margin. With all its tactical shortcomings, however, Hereford is the only suitable landing zone within miles of a large enemy buildup in the untamed wilderness of central Binh Dinh Province. Hereford was also the center of fierce fighting that began seven days earlier on May 15, 1966. When word of that battle filtered down to the 1st Cavalry leaders, they decided the next day to conduct a major operation in the area. The 1st Brigade, under the command of Colonel John Hennessey, was ordered to deploy its three battalions to find, fix and destroy the enemy force. The operation was named Crazy Horse. In the days since then, above Hereford on the ridge, the Americans had been waging fierce and costly combat against the 9th NVA Regiment and the 97th VC Regiment. Sitting on the edge of his foxhole on LZ Hereford, Staff Sgt. Robert Kirby watches as Captain Warren leads three platoons from his rifle company off the mountain and down a steep slope in search of the enemy. When the last man disappears over the rim, Kirby checks his watch. It is 1:40 p.m. In less than 45 minutes, his mortar platoon is to be airlifted off Hereford to LZ Savoy, where it will continue providing fire support for Charlie Company. Tasked to occupy a company-size defensive perimeter with only 19 men, Kirby figured the best way to do this was to form a U-shaped defense and place two men into every third foxhole. This, however, left the top of the horseshoe open. Spread Too Thin Knowing his men are spread too thin, Kirby, a 29-year-old native of South Los Angeles, scans the perimeter from his foxhole at the bend of the horseshoe, beginning with the gun crew directly behind him. Inside the pit is gunner Sergeant Charles Gaines and Spc. 4 Austin Drummond, a former Golden Gloves champion with fast handsperfect for dropping rounds into the mortar tube. Sergeant Isaac Johnson sits on the ground nearby with a plot board on his lap. The gun crew is ready to place supporting fire when and where company commander Warren calls for it. Most of the mortar platoon men have been together since Ft. Benning, Ga., but a few are replacements who have never been in battle, so Kirby has no idea how they will react under fire. One of the new men is Spc. 4 David Crocker, a 21-year-old medic who sits a few feet from Kirby reading a paperback, his medical bag ready at his side. In the foxhole next to Kirbys is his longtime radio telephone operator (RTO), Spc. 4 John Spranza, who is the platoons link to the outside world and is never more than an arms length away from Kirby. Communications are unreliable because of the high mountains and deep valleys. Hows the commo? asks Kirby. So far so good, answers Spranza, but who know for how long. Kirby focuses on the western section of the perimeter. Holding down the most forward position at the top of the open horseshoe are two men who have fought bravely in previous firefights, privates Lonnie Sleepy Williams, whose deep sleep often resulted in heavy snoring, and Clarence Gomer Brame, a good-natured hillbilly who looked and acted like TVs Gomer Pyle. Two empty fighting positions below them are combat vets Robert Radar Roeder and Pfc Harold Mack Jr. In a fierce firefight a few months before, Kirby had been wounded and pinned down when the 18-year-old Roeder, ignoring heavy fire, ran out and pulled him to safety. Mack and Roeder have been close friends ever since airborne school. In the last defensive position on the western side, Kirby assigned a competent and respected leader, Sergeant Louis Buckley, with Pfc Henry Benton, who joined the platoon only two weeks ago. Kirby knows little about Benton and the two new privates covering the southern sector a few yards away from Kirbys position, Joel Tamayo and James Francis Brooks Jr., both of whom joined the platoon just a few weeks earlier. Write A Story About Death Kirby decides to walk the eastern side of the perimeter, but before he goes, he tells Buckley to collect and stack water cans, food containers and other equipment in preparation for the helicopter pickup. Roger that, Sarge! says Buckley as he springs into action. As Kirby walks away, he hears Spranza take the first call for reconnaissance fire in advance of the companys movement in the valley below. Sitting in the nearest position to Kirbys on the eastern sector is Spc. 4 A.V. Spikes, who is complaining about something to Pfc Wade Taste. Spikes, stop bitching and keep your eyes open, warns Kirby as he approaches. Spikes, 26, a seven-year veteran whose disregard for authority is well known, looks at Kirby but says nothing. Kirby orders 18-year-old Taste to help Buckley, who is already picking up scattered cans and containers. Kirby moves to the next position where Look magazine correspondent Sam Castan is interviewing Spc. 4 Daniel Post and Pfc Robert Benjamin. Castan came out to the field the day before to write a story about death. He had chosen to stay on at Hereford with the mortar platoon rather than travel with the company. Post, known as the platoons practical joker, feeds Castan mischievous responses while Benjamin only responds in yes or no answers. Kirby queries the two troopers on what they will do if attacked. They tell him they plan on throwing hand grenades down the rocky precipice below their position and fire interlocking fires with the positions on their right and left. Satisfied, Kirby heads for the most forward position at the top of the eastern sector, manned by Paul Harrison and Charles Stuckey, both battle-tested specialists. Harrison and Stuckey have established interlocking fires across the open end of the U-shaped perimeter with Williams and Brame on the western side. On the way back to his position, Kirby nods to Sgt. 1st Class Edward Shepherd sitting on the rim of a foxhole not far from the mortar pit. Shepherd, 38, is the only soldier there who is not in the mortar platoon. He stayed behind to catch a helicopter to An Khe, where he is to appear before a promotion board. Kirby sits on the edge of his foxhole and watches Spranza talking on the radio with Captain Warren, who is calling in a correction on where to place another mortar round. Spranza yells back the correction to the gun crew, and it then fires a few more rounds. Shortly after 2 p.m., Warren radios Spranza that the helicopters are on the way, and the word spreads from hole to hole. What Warren does not know is that the helicopters are actually delayed and are still sitting on the ground at LZ Savoy in the valley. The Enemy In The Grass Around 2:15, five minutes before the anticipated arrival of the helicopters, Stuckey spots three well-camouflaged North Vietnamese Army (NVA) soldiers watching him from the elephant grass. He opens fire with his M-16, and Harrison joins in. The three enemy drop, either dead or wounded. Then, in the next instant, a massive volume of automatic and small-arms fire is unleashed from the high ground to the north and a ravine to the east. Shepherd, sitting on the rim of his foxhole, is killed in the first volley. Within seconds, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and mortar rounds explode near each occupied position. The men burrow deep into their foxholes under the terrifying cacophony of shrapnel slicing the air and bullets cracking overhead. The platoon is surrounded, outmanned and outgunned. Kirby yells to Spranza to radio Warren and tell him they are under attack and need immediate air and artillery support. A stunned Warren acknowledges, immediately calls battalion for fire support and orders his company to turn around and head back up the hill. In the open, stacking equipment, Taste falls to the ground with two bullets in the throat. Buckley, his shoulder covered in blood, dashes across the open perimeter, screaming: Get off the hill! Get off the hill! and disappears into the elephant grass. Harrison yells for Stuckey to go to the mortar pit while he stays behind to hold off the enemy. Stuckey takes a few more shots at the enemy, turns and zigzags for the mortar pit when an RPG round explodes in front of him, throwing him to the ground. After the shrapnel and dirt stop falling, he raises his head and looks to where Post and Benjamin had been trying to make an escape. Both are dead. He sprints toward a large rock just outside the perimeter. As he turns around the corner of it, he encounters an enemy soldier about to throw a grenade into the LZ. Spotting Stuckey, the NVA tosses the grenade directly at him instead. The grenade sails over Stuckeys head, hits the rock behind him and explodes, wounding him. Managing to stay on his feet, Stuckey fires three rounds into the NVAs chest, killing him instantly. Stuckey then moves around the rock face, finds a narrow crevice and squeezes into it, hidden from the enemy. Paul Harrison, slapping magazine after magazine into his rifle, fires at every charging enemy soldier he can see. When he runs out of ammunition, he jumps up from his foxhole and charges the NVA using his M-16 as a club, cracking a few heads before the blood-covered rifle slips from his hands. He then wades into the enemy with his fists until he falls dead from dozens of bullets. As North Vietnamese troops burst through the elephant grass, Spranza opens up with his M-16 on full automatic, tearing three of them apart. He manages to fire off a few more shots before RPG rounds, visible in their slow trajectory, plunge toward the mortar pit. One round slams in front of Spranzas foxhole, showering his back with shrapnel. Another explodes to his left, killing Doc Crocker instantly. The third round sends shrapnel into Kirbys arms, head and chest. The last round hits the rear lip of the mortar pit, tearing off Drummonds right arm and mangling his left leg. He dies in a pool of blood. Gaines is killed with a bullet through his head. Escape And Evade Johnson, the only gun crew member still alive, takes shrapnel in the face but continues firing on the advancing enemy. As attackers fall, others jump over them, running toward Johnson, who keeps firing until he is out of ammunition. He makes a running dive at the rocky embankment on Herefords southern edge and rolls down the slope, careening off rocks and over tree roots until finally coming to stop. He spots a V-shaped depression hidden by thick vegetation with a stream running through it. He pulls himself into the stream and gathers brush and vines to hide his body, gripped with fear and exhaustion. On the western perimeter, Williams and Brame frantically fire their M-16s on full automatic at the waves of NVA, as do Roeder and Mack. A few NVA fall dead but most brave the wall of fire, overrunning the forward position and killing Williams and Brame before turning toward Roeder and Mack. Mack pops up to get a better shot when he takes a bullet in the head, crumbling back into the foxhole dead. Roeder fires his M-79 until he runs out of ammunition, then picks up Macks M-16 and continues firing until it too is empty. He throws two grenades at the charging enemy, forcing them to fall back, then jumps out of his fighting position and heads for Bentons foxhole. When he tumbles in, he finds Benton dead. He crawls out and with bullets trailing his every step, races over to the foxhole of Brooks and Tamayo, but they are dead as well. The western defense has crumbled. Figuring everyone else is dead, Roeder does what he was trained to do: escape and evade. He tears down the side of the hill into the elephant grass, followed by several of the enemy. With bullets zipping over his head, he runs deeper into the elephant grass as fast as he can until he is overcome by exhaustion and drops to the ground. When his gasping for air subsides, he realizes the enemy is no longer following him. He stays hidden, silently praying that he will be spared. Still in his hole, Spranza sees a figure running right toward his position. He fires off a quick burst, somehow missing his target. Dont shoot for Gods sake! Its me! Sam Castan screams as he drops into the foxhole. The reporter looks over at Kirby and yells, We need to get the hell out of here! Kirby shouts back: Where? Were surrounded! Get Six on the horn, Kirby tells Spranza. Tell him to hurry or were all dead. Spranza screams into the handset, Please hurry, were being overrun! But Warren doesnt get the transmission, as communications between Hereford and the company no longer exist. Spranza turns to the artillery frequency and repeats the message. The artillery RTO passes the call on to Warren, who now pushes his company even more, ordering his men to double-time up the hill, a murderous pace in the mud and tangled vines. By this time, the battalion executive officer, Major Otto Cantrell, is circling above Hereford in his OH-13 observation helicopter, and Colonel Beard is watching the battle from his command and control Huey. The swarm of enemy they see below is so intermingled with the mortar platoon, neither officer can distinguish whos who. Rather than kill the defenders by mistake, Beard holds off on the artillery requested by Kirby. Weve Got To Make A Break For It Staff Sgt. Robert Kirby, a 29-year-old native of South Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Kirby sees four enemy crawling toward his position less than 15 feet away and tosses three hand grenades as fast as he can, stopping their advance. Kirby now realizes Castan is righttheir only chance for survival is to get off the LZ. He cups his hands to bark the order when the badly wounded Taste suddenly drops into his foxhole. Kirby quickly ties a dressing on Tastes bleeding throat wounds and yells over the enemy fire: Weve got to make a break for it. Call arty in on the hill. Spranza reaches the artillery net, shouting into the handset: Were getting out of here. The place is covered with enemy. Just about everybody is dead. Hes told the artillery is on hold. With bullets kicking up dirt all around them, Kirby and Taste low-crawl over to Spranza and Castan. Well go over the rim in the direction the company will be coming back, hollers Kirby. Lets go! As Spranza struggles with his radio while he climbs out of his foxhole, Kirby screams: Forget the radio! Blow it! Spranza pulls the pin of a hand grenade and throws it into the hole with the radio. The three soldiers and Castan move quickly away from the blast and a few steps later come across a wounded A.V. Spikes, clutching his M-79. Kirby and Spranza have their M-16s but very little ammunition. Castan, who is also wounded, has a .357 Magnum that Kirby gave him. Taste is unarmed. The five wounded men now move toward the slope descending into a deep ravine to the east. Kirby, Taste, Spikes and Castan run, crawl and roll into the elephant grass while Spranza acts as the rear guard, before rolling down the hill to join them. As they reach a small ravine, they hear the enemy coming down from the LZ in hot pursuit. They lie down. Figuring the Americans are hiding, the NVA begin beating the grass. The first North Vietnamese to spot the Americans is shot in the face by Spranza. Kirby kills another standing nearby. Spikes fires his M-79 into the group, killing five. Two others crawl away wounded. Seconds later, another group of North Vietnamese spray the ground around the Americans. Spranza takes three bullets in his right leg, one smashing into his kneecap, severing the tendon. Another bullet rips through his left leg. Im hit! Spranza screams as he falls in a heap on the jungle floor. Kirby sprays the advancing enemy with the last of his ammunition, causing them to retreat. When he bends down to check on Spranza, a bullet smashes into his right arm. He is now losing blood from many wounds. Kirby eyes an NVA peeking over the grass and pulls out a rusty French flare gun hed found on an old battlefield and fires, hitting him between the eyes. The soldier falls backward, screaming in agony as his flesh burns away. In the meantime, Taste silently bleeds to death from his throat wounds. Hearing something behind him, Spranza spins around just as a bullet enters the back of his skull, travels through his jaw and exits out of his nose, tearing away cartilage, teeth, tissue and skin. Eyes filled with blood, Spranza goes down, badly wounded but somehow still alive. Possibly to regroup, the enemy stops firing. Kirby tells everyone to head farther down the ravine. Quietly the four survivors crawl, then walk down the slope. With help from Kirby and Spikes, Spranza manages to keep up. Feeling somewhat safe with the NVA about 100 yards behind, they move a little faster. Suddenly, spotting a small group of enemy coming up a trail to their flank, Spranza signals to get down. Castan does not see Spranzas warning and keeps going, running straight into a group of North Vietnamese coming from another direction. One of the NVA shoots Castan in the head, killing him. The enemy now opens fire into the grasses from two sides. Spikes takes several bullets in his chest. Kirby checks his pulse, but he cannot find one. The Last Survivors The North Vietnamese troops slowly wade through the grass toward Kirby and Spranza. Kirby is out of ammo. Spranzas rifle has jammed, but he has two grenades left and he gives them to Kirby, who tosses them into the advancing enemy. Just then, friendly artillery rounds begin pounding LZ Hereford. The deafening explosions stop the enemys advance. Kirby and Spranza take advantage of the situation and begin to move slowly back up the hill, but it is too much for Spranza. Go without me, he gasps, I cant move any further. Im dying. Im not leaving you alone, says Kirby. Go now! Spranza yells, Save yourself. Ive made peace with my Lord. Just go! Kirby, believing Spranza will die for sure, reluctantly accedes to his RTOs demand and crawls away, back toward Hereford. Spranza, although growing weaker from loss of blood, finds the will to take off a scabbard knife strapped to his leg by a leather thong. He places the knife on the ground next to him and uses the rawhide as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding in his right leg. He then somehow manages to open his first-aid kit, finds a gauze bandage and begins wrapping it around his head and eye. Before he can finish, however, he hears the rustling of men coming toward him through the grass. He takes his knife into his hand and rolls over facedown into the dirt. Playing dead, Spranza doesnt move a muscle as three or four NVA slowly approach. He smells their bodies and stale breath as they search him for anything of value. One man turns him over and roughly strips off his signet ring. Others take his wallet, cigarettes and dog tags. Unable to stay motionless another second, he is about to jump up with his knife when he hears a helicopter rapidly descending. It sprays the ground with bullets, some so close they spatter dirt in his face. Screaming frantically, the NVA run for cover. Still afraid to move, Spranza continues to play dead and seconds later he hears someone carefully moving toward him. He grips his knife a little tighter and when he feels a hand grab his shoulder, he musters all the strength he has left and tries stabbing the man. But the large, shadowy figure, backlit by the sunlight drifting through the trees, quickly grabs Spranzas knife hand, screaming: Hey! Its me, Carlos! Carlos Cruz! Charlie Company had made it back up the hill. The last of his energy drained, Spranza lays down his head and slips into unconsciousness. Kirby is halfway up the slope when the friendly artillery ceases falling. Uncertain what it means, he keeps crawling. His many wounds are taking their toll, but he keeps going until he reaches the top of the hill, where he sees Charlie Company troops everywhere. Unable to control his wounded body and his frayed emotions, he slides to the ground. A medic gives him a shot of morphine and stops his bleeding. When the wounded Stuckey comes crawling into the LZ, another medic rushes over, lays him down and treats his wounds. Spranza is carried up the hill in a stretcher made from ponchos, and shortly, he, Kirby and Stuckey are placed in a medevac helicopter and flown to Ah Khe. Passing the medevacs flying out, helicopters begin delivering reinforcements who pile out onto Hereford. A look of horror passes over their faces at the sight of so much death and destruction. One soldier throws up. Hearing the helicopters coming and going, Johnson, who got off the hill and evaded the enemy, slowly approaches the LZ only to face the muzzle of an M-16 held by Pfc Morgan. He drops to the ground out of relief when he is recognized by Morgan. The last mortar platoon survivor to get back to the LZ is a dazed Roeder. A company platoon leader asks Roeder to identify the bodies, all of which have been stripped of personal effects and shot in the head. He is able to name a few before the weight of the massacre takes its toll. He cannot look at another dead friend. As he sits down, the afternoon monsoon rains begin pouring down out of the dark sky. Roeder shivers as the rain pelts his sobbing body. So much death in such a small place. Michael Christy served in the 5th Special Forces Group in Vietnam in 1967-68. In 1970 he commanded C Company, 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), and served as 3rd Brigade assistant operations officer. Postnote: Click on this link to read the authors reply to a query from a reader who wanted to find out what happened to Lt. Col. Beard (was he ever charged with negligence?) and other survivors of the battle. World War II left Europe in ruins. Over 36 million Europeans had been killed and millions more made refugees; cities, towns, infrastructures, and economies had been left in tatters. And at wars end, looming over this shattered Europe was the specter of the massive Red Army. From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent, Winston Churchill warned in 1946. In the very center of it all stood Communist East Germany. After the war the United States had largely demobilized its armed forces, but the Soviet Union had not, leaving Western Europe extremely vulnerable to Soviet attack. While the Marshall Plan funneled significant American money and resources to the region, European political leaders believed that only when they had the security to resist Soviet intimidation and aggression would they be able to revive their economies. That kind of security could only come with the participation of the United States in a security alliance. Talks in that direction began in earnest in 1948, and on April 4, 1949, after much negotiating, the 14-article North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., by representatives of 12 countriesthe United States, Britain, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, France, Norway, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Portugal. According to the treatys preamble, NATOs member countries were determined to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilisation of their peoples by uniting their efforts for collective defence and for the preservation of peace and security. In July 1949 the U.S. Senate ratified the treaty by a vote of 82 to 13, but it had not been easy to get to that point, owing to Article 5. Arguably the most important part of the treaty, it stipulated that an armed attack against one or more of [the organizations members] in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all. In practical terms, this meant the United States would respond with military force in the event of Soviet aggression. This defense provision was of paramount importance to the Europeans, but it was difficult to reconcile with the U.S. Constitution, which holds that only Congress has the power to declare war. The impasse was broken by American diplomat George Kennan, who modified the clause to read that each member nation could answer an attack with such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, thereby freeing members from a de rigueur military obligation. WHILE THE NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY made allies out of the signatory nations, it did not create a command structure that could direct their militaries. The need for better organization was thrown into stark relief by the Soviet Unions successful testing of an atomic bomb in 1949 and the beginning of the Korean War the following year. In 1950 NATO forces were placed under a single headquarters command outside Paris, and General Dwight D. Eisenhower was named Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. Since that time, the post has always been filled by an American general or admiral. NATO has never maintained a standing army of its own or paid soldiers directly; that is left to the individual member states whose soldiers serve in their own national armed forces. Nor does NATO buy weaponrywith the exception of a squadron of AWACS surveillance aircraft purchased in the 1980s and deployed ever since. During the Cold War the land forces at NATOs disposal came under the direction of Allied headquarters, which was further divided into regional commands for northern, central, and southern Europe. Maritime defense was entrusted to the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic, headquartered at Norfolk, Virginia. NATOs naval mission in the Atlantic was to keep open the vital ocean supply lines to Europe in the face of an anticipated onslaught of Soviet subs, surface ships, and warplanes. Though the treaty has not been altered in its six decades, the strategic stance of NATO has evolved with the times. In the 1950s the doctrine of massive retaliationin which the United States would respond with large-scale use of nuclear weapons in response to even a conventional Soviet attackdominated. In the 1960s the United States and NATO moved to the doctrine of Flexible Response, in which the alliance could choose from a wider range of responses to aggression, including nonmilitary ones. From 1969 to 1993, the American military participated in a series of annual NATO exercises known as Reforger, designed to ensure that additional forces could be deployed quickly to West Germany in the event of a full-scale Soviet attack. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union and its own communist-bloc Warsaw Pact alliance in the late 1980s and early 90s, the original reason for NATOs existence disappeared, even as new challenges arose. The crumbling of communist regimes in Eastern Europe allowed suppressed ethnic hatreds to resurface, especially in the former Yugoslavia, where NATO intervened against Serbia to prevent ethnic cleansing in the breakaway region of Kosovo. The critical Article 5 of the treaty has been triggered only once: In the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., NATO dispatched AWACS aircraft to patrol the east coast of the United States. Today 28 nations, including some from the former Warsaw Pact, are members of NATO, and the organizations focus has shifted far from its 1950s, nation-state, total-war approach. Violent extremism and the instability engendered by failed or rapidly changing statessuch as Libyahas led NATO to reach beyond its member nations to undertake joint operations with provisional partners like the Arab League. But in every case its decisions are the expression of the collective will of all 28 member countries since all decisions are taken by consensus. In the past decade NATO has faced its own internal battles. The 2008 recession hit European nations especially hard, making them ever more reluctant to devote scarce public funds to defense. NATO seemed destined to fade into strategic irrelevance. Yet its very existence has aggravated a newly assertive Russia under Vladimir Putin. Ukraines desire for closer links with Europe and the overthrow of the pro-Russian regime in Kiev in early 2014 caused Putin to move militarily against Ukraine, seizing Crimea and supporting pro-separatist rebels. Putins aggression has revived the fears that led to NATOs founding. This is the first time since the end of World War II that one European country has tried to grab anothers territory by force, declared NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen in September 2014. Europe must not turn away from the rule of law to the rule of the strongest. Attorney Marc G. DeSantis is a frequent contributor to MHQs War List and Laws of War. THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN didnt end with the Battle of Gettysburg. In fact, as the Confederates withdrew, the great conflagration rekindled a dozen times over, in a series of microdramas that culminated in an anticlimactic showdown on the northern shore of the Potomac River as the South escaped what some on both sides had anticipated as a certain Armageddon. The 10-day chase left everyone, from the president of the United States to the lowliest private, asking the same question: Had the Army of the Potomacs commander, Maj. Gen. George Meade, pursued the battered Army of Northern Virginia with more gusto, could he have ended the war then and there? Along with the central players, the Southern armys retreat from Gettysburg produced an inordinate number of B-roll heroes and goats. It made winners of losers and losers of winners, burnishing some reputations and tarnishing others. The retreat will be remembered for its fiery cavalry battles, for ax-wielding civilians who chased the Rebels from their midst and for a pitched battle that broke out on the streets of a western Maryland city. But mostly, soldiers remembered the retreat from Gettysburg for the rain. The tempests, which began the day after the battle, defined much of the coming actionand inaction. They added a layer of misery to a hellish scene few would have thought could have gotten any worse. There was so many wounded that it was impossible to attend to all of them, Sgt. Calvin Haynes of the 125th New York Infantry wrote his wife. Some of them laying 48 hours in a drenching rain. For days, the intermittent rains came down in sheets, turning roads to mush, saturating and souring woolen clothes and blankets and raising the level of the Potomac River, an obstacle the Rebels would need to negotiate if they were to return safely to their home turf. On the final day of the battle, as the last survivors of Picketts desperate charge were dragging themselves back to the Confederate lines, Gen. Robert E. Lee quickly understood that his next moves would be of self-preservation for the Southern cause. Lees reeling army braced for a counterattack that never came, much to the relief and bewilderment of the Confederates. I have always believed that the enemy lost the greatest opportunity they ever had of routing Lees army, wrote Col. Edward Porter Alexander, Lt. Gen. James Longstreets artillery commander. But Meades troops werent that much better off. Three days of frantic combat had knocked the starch out of both sides. Many Union soldiers hadnt been fed since July 1 as Independence Day dawned. If Meade were to give Lee a run for his money, the generals troops would need food and his guns would need ammunition. But his supplies were 25 miles away in Westminster, Md., and the Confederates had previously destroyed the railroad bridges that led into Gettysburg. Lees transportation issues were even more complex. His destination was the Potomac River town of Williamsport, Md., and a nearby pontoon bridge three miles downstream in Falling Waters. But these objectives were more than 40 miles from the battlefield, and on the other side of a rough climb over South Mountaina 2,000-foot ridge that, as mountains go, is not high by todays standards, but in the 19th century might as well have been the Rockies. It would have been a difficult trip for a single carriage. Lee, however, was in charge of a movable city. He not only had to get his active soldiers, slaves and weaponry out of Pennsylvania, but also had to transport about 8,000 wounded men, thousands of prisoners, a sea of livestock and miles worth of supply wagons heavy with booty stripped from Pennsylvania farms. And for all he knew, the entire force of the Army of the Potomac would be close on his tail as his men, animals and machines negotiated the tricky mountain passes of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Lee decided to send his wounded due west over South Mountain at Cashtown and down into the Cumberland Valley, where they would turn south toward Williamsport. His army, meanwhile, would move diagonally to the southwest, a somewhat shorter route that allowed him to screen his wagons, but involved an even tougher ascent of South Mountain at Monterey Pass. There was so many wounded it was impossible to attend to all of them For the job of leading the wagon train of the wounded, Lee turned to Brig. Gen. John D. Imboden, an independent cavalry officer who was somewhat suspect in the eyes of regular officers. Imboden was a career lawyer and politician with no military experience, who began his service with an artillery detachment and later raised a band of partisan rangers that had proved adept at raiding farms and railroads despite, according to Confederate brass, a lack of proper military training and discipline. Imbodens privateers had been assigned to guard duty during the battle, but their credentials up to that point did include several daring and successful raids on the B&O Railroad and pro-Union farmers. Unfortunately for Imboden, sneaking around cutting telegraph wires and rustling cattle did not train an outfit for battle. But Imboden and his 2,000 horsemen were fresh and rested, which at that point was qualification enough. By the afternoon of July 4, just as the skies were opening up, Imboden was completing the assembly of a ghoulish wagon train of broken men and spent animals that measured 17 miles front to back. Men suffering from hideous wounds were stretched out on the floorboards of thousands of Conestoga wagonsmobile torture chambers with no springs to absorb the jolts of rocky roads. After the last wagon got under way, Imboden began a four-hour ride to the front, a grim trip that left the general clearly rattled. Making themselves heard above the storm, delirious men called out for their wives and mothers; those still in possession of their senses screamed in agony and begged for someone to put a bullet through their heads. Imbodens orders were to ride nonstop to Williamsport and cross the Potomac, pausing only long enough to refresh the horses before heading south to Winchester, Va. There was no time to stop for repairs; wagons that broke down or got stuck in the mud were abandoned, their grisly cargo hastily loaded into the next closest ride or left by the side of the road with the dim hope that they might be found and saved. There was good reason for the urgency; the plodding procession was an easy target for Union attacks, be they military or civilian. Even with the bulk of Meades army awaiting orders back at Gettysburg, Union cavalry made a sport of harassing Imbodens train. Brash young horsemen, including the young, dashing Ulric Dahlgren and Abram Jones, ambushed the wagons and sent horses and mules stampeding across the Pennsylvania farmlands. The lightly defended train was also jeered by Pennsylvania residents, who delivered one last boot to the bottom of the bedraggled Southerners when men from the village of Greencastle, armed only with axes, managed to disable a few wagons with some well-placed hacks to the spokes. Despite the disruptions, Imboden successfully arrived in Williamsport only to find the Potomac River flooded and impassible. Even more disastrous, a daring Union cavalry raid had destroyed the Confederate pontoon bridge. Trapped by the fast-moving current, and with access only to one small, inadequate ferry, Imboden realized his raiders, largely unschooled in the arts of conventional warfare, might be called on to fight. Williamsport was an important transportation hub that had once been considered as a site for the nations capital. But nothing could have prepared it for the arrival of this macabre influx of man and beast. The smell of rotting human flesh, manure and the offal of butchered animals was attractive only to vermin, turkey buzzards and thick clouds of green flies. By now, the rest of Lees army was also on the move. On the evening of July 4, protected by random gunfire, a 14-mile supply train had moved through Fairfield to the base of South Mountain, to be followed the next day by the army in full. Meade, however, had no solid intelligence on Lees plans, which made him reluctant to commit to an aggressive course of action. But an aggressive course of action was exactly what the Lincoln administration had in mind. Washington had been ecstatic over the Union victory, and many Northerners, ignorant of the poor condition of Meades army, believed the surrender of the Confederacy was imminent. Alfred Hamilton, assistant surgeon for the 148th Pennsylvania Infantry pointed out, however, that The strife of the 2nd and 3d of July left them without physical ability to pursue Lee; hence the clamor of those who scented the battle afar off had no grounds for faulting Meade for permitting the escape of the enemy southward. Meades generals also recommended a cautious approach, and two days passed as the Army of the Potomac was given a chance to catch its breath. That left it to Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasontons cavalry to harass and annoy the Southerners in hopes of slowing Lees progress. These annoyances ran the gamut from minor vandalism to potentially game-changing battles, as happened on the summit of South Mountain in the pre-dawn hours of July 5. Men and horses were jammed elbow to elbow and haunch to haunch In 1863, the main road that wound its way through Monterey Pass greatly resembled what we might think of today as a Jeep trail. It passed a plush resort known as Monterey Springs, and for much of the way it was four times steeper than the steepest grade allowed on a modern highway, and barely the width of a wagon. Just west of the grand hotel a second road joined the turnpike from the northeast. It was on this road that the lumbering supply train under the command of Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell slogged its way over South Mountain. Union Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick was a hellbent-for-leather commander, who on the last day at Gettysburg had ordered Brig. Gen. Elon J. Farnsworth to lead a cavalry charge toward Devils Den. When Farnsworth protested that such a charge would be suicide, Kilpatrick ridiculed his subordinate and questioned his courage. Thus inspired, Farnsworth rode into the fray and immediately took five bullets to the chest. At times, however, Kilpatricks brashness had an upside, and in a blinding rain and knee-deep mudon a night that was so dark that soldiers said they couldnt see their hands in front of their facesKilpatrick hastened his troopers to the crest, hoping to catch the wagon train at the intersection before it slipped through the pass. A scant but strategically placed defensive force near the top kept Kilpatrick at bay for hours, but when he finally broke through he was gratified to hear the wheels of passing wagons. Kilpatrick gave the order to charge, as his men strained their eyes in the blackness to try to figure out what it was they were supposed to be charging. Still, to a cavalryman, there is no sweeter wordin his excitement, Brig. Gen. George Armstrong Custer toppled from his mount and was nearly capturedand Kilpatricks men quickly isolated and captured 250 wagons and 1,300 men. At that moment, Kilpatricks cavalry had driven a wedge between Lees supplies and his army, a point not lost on Maj. Gen. Abner Doubleday, a Union commander who had fought with distinction to that point in the war but had been passed over for a promotion by Meade. Fleeing armies, Doubleday intoned, are treated either to a wall of steel or a golden bridge, and Meade was handing Lee the bridge. On the morning of July 5, Meade sent Maj. Gen. John Sedgwicks VI Corps to shadow, but not engage, Lees army. With an obvious bone to pick, Doubleday wrote later that In my opinion, Sedgwick should have made an energetic attack, and Meade should have supported it with his whole armyif Lee, instead of turning on Kilpatrick, had been forced to form a line against Meade, the cavalry, which was between him and his convoys of ammunition, might have captured [Lees ordnance] and ended the war. But the retreat remained in the hands of the cavalry, and on July 6 the brawling principals arrived in Hagerstown, Md., a commercial crossroads seven miles northeast of Williamsport. In what is dubbed as the largest urban mounted cavalry action of the war, city residents watched dumbfounded as a free-for-all erupted in the heart of their town. Men and horses were jammed elbow to elbow and haunch to haunch in the city streets for the better part of the day, as they frantically hacked at each other with their sabers or dismounted and engaged in Wild West-like gun battles on the front stoops and backyards of the citizenry. With the arrival of Confederate infantry, Union cavalry was forced to retire from Hagerstown, a retreat that would be particularly damaging to the Federals hopes. Had the river not unexpectedly risen, all would have been well with us Back at South Mountain, as Lee marched through Monterey Pass, Meadewho was under orders to keep his army between Lee and the nations capitalset his sights on Middletown, Md., 40 miles to the south. For the time being, the two armies were running roughly parallel to each other, the Confederates on the west side of South Mountain, the Union on the east. The race was on. If Lee could get to the Potomac and either cross or have ample opportunity to choose some good ground and dig in, he would live to fight another day. But if Meade could move fast enough, he might trap a beaten and disorganized army against the banks of a flooded river that, wrote Union Col. Frank A. Haskell, was boiling and swift and deep, a magnificent place to have drowned all the Rebel crew. Meades soldiers covered 30 miles or more a day, even in the rain and mud. On July 5th the Second Corps took up the chase after Lees retreating army, through Frederick City without time to call on Barbara Fritchie, quipped Alexander G. White of the 140th Pennsylvania Infantry. It was starting to look as if there might be a fight after all. Meanwhile in Williamsport, the raging Potomac had Confederate officers in a near panic. As the Yankees closed in, it would be up to a handful of horsemen under Imboden and Brig. Gen. William Grumble Jones to hold off the bulk of the Union cavalry. On the same day Kilpatrick was riding into Hagerstown, Brig. Gen. John Bufords 1st Cavalry Division made a play for Williamsport, hoping to stampede the Confederate wagons into the muddy Potomac. A desperate, outmanned Imboden put weapons in the hands of teamsters, clerks and wounded men with working trigger fingers, and hoped for the best. Buford, soon to be joined by Kilpatrick as he was retreating from Hagerstown, threw everything he had at Imbodens patchwork force, only to be repulsed time and time again. As the afternoon waned, Imboden was reinforced by Brig. Gen. Fitzhugh Lees cavalry, which rendered Kilpatrick virtually ineffectual. Energized, the Southern forces began to push the Federals back toward Boonsboro, stopping only as darkness closed in. Three thousand men, many of whom might have been thought of as unfit for battle, had held off two full divisions of fine Union cavalry. Kilpatricks inability to hold Hagerstown meant the streets were free and clear when Lees main army rode into town on the morning of July 7. In the book One Continuous Fight, historians Eric J. Wittenberg, J. David Petruzzi and Michael F. Nugent argue that U.S. Cavalry commander Pleasonton erred by attacking piecemeal, instead of consolidating his forces at Hagerstown. If Pleasonton pulled together all three of his divisions between Cavetown and Hagerstown, he could block the Army of Northern Virginias route to the Williamsport river crossings, they write. By not massing his forces, Pleasonton let a golden opportunity slip through his fingers. The Army of the Potomac would never again enjoy the upper hand while Lees army remained north of the Potomac. Instead, Lee passed through Hagerstown unmolested and at his leisure carefully selected the ground for a defensive stand. When Lee got to pick the ground, he seldom lost. Indeed, there would have been little drama left in the retreat at this point, had it not been for the pattern of daily thunderstorms that kept the Potomac at flood stage. As he impatiently waited for the water to recede, Lee wrote on July 12, Had the river not unexpectedly risen, all would have been well with us; but God, in His all-wise providence, willed otherwise. Five days after the Battle of Gettysburg, as largely inconclusive cavalry battles continued outside the small villages east of Hagerstown, Meades infantry finally began to ascend South Mountain to within a few miles of Lees position. His men had been marched hard down the Middletown Valley, and as a reward they now had to claw their way up and through the same gaps the Confederates had so fiercely defended only 10 months before, in the prelude to the Battle of Antietam. Lee had used the time to find and fortify a splendid line of defense, which ranged from the outskirts of Hagerstown to the Potomac River, just west of Downsville. On July 12, as the armies settled into position, Meade called together his commanders and asked for their assessment of the situation. Missing from the council were several members of Meades first string. Maj. Gen. John Reynolds had been killed at Gettysburg and Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock seriously injured. The aggressive, if occasionally misguided, Maj. Gen. Dan Sickles was recuperating in Washington, absent his right leg. Those officers who remained were hesitant to commit to anything beyond tepid tests of Lees strength until July 14, the day they would finally attack. Though Lees position was strong, it wasnt a lock. His men were fast running out of food, and supplies of ordnance were only haltingly replenished by the lone ferry at Williamsport. His engineers feverishly worked to fashion a new pontoon bridge at Falling Waters, and on the night of July 13, all was ready. The rains picked up again that night, but by now the Potomac had receded just enough to be forded. Pounding rain and thunder helped drown the sound of Lees men and wagons as they splashed into fords and over the bridgethe Army of Northern Virginia had once again eluded the Federals grasp. The Union cavalry got in one last lick against the last wisps of the Confederate retreat, capturing 500 men and mortally wounding one of the Souths scholarly stars, Brig. Gen. James Johnston Pettigrew, commanding Henry Heths Division, at the Battle of Falling Waters. If not one of the great generals, the South lost one of its great intellects, historian George Franks III wrote. For the North, it was a small and bitter victory. Although it was hardly the endgame the North desired, it cannot be overlooked that Meade held a seriously inferior position and was in command of a fatigued army. He easily could have lost his bird in the handthe gains he had won at Gettysburgwith a reckless charge in pursuit of a second victory, and immortality, at Williamsport. Many of his contemporaries didnt see it that way. On learning of Lees escape, Lincoln disparaged Meade in a letter to the commander that, after sleeping on it, the president decided not to send. Lincoln recognized that at this particular moment, Meade was the best he had. As the Gettysburg Campaign petered out in the war-ravaged valleys of northern Virginia, Lincoln chose, publicly at least, to congratulate the general on his success at Gettysburg and not focus on subsequent failures. Still, this one stung. While a number of historians today believe Meade did about the best he could given his multiple limitations, it seemed to Lincoln and the nation that the Norths one great chance to end the war that summer had become mired and lost in the Maryland mud. Tim Rowland is a regular contributor to Americas Civil War and the author of Strange and Obscure Stories of the Civil War (Skyhorse Publishing, 2011). This article was originally published in the July 2014 issue of Americas Civil War magazine. Longstreet: Culprit or Scapegoat? Did Lee order Longstreet to attack at dawn on July 2 at Gettysburg? Did Longstreet drag his feet because he disapproved? Was Longstreets idea for a defensive battle in Pennsylvania based on good military judgment? Was he justified in arguing for it with Lee? Was a flanking movement to the right feasible? What is Longstreets proper rating among Confederate generals? One of the byproducts of the Civil War Centennial has been the re-establishment of Longstreet. New students, unfettered by old prejudices, have been scanning the records, trudging the battlefields and formulating fresh judgments on old controversies, and Lees War Horse has not been overlooked. Much recent opinion has absolved Longstreet from blame at Gettysburg. Now that Longstreet is again being recognized as one of the more heroic Confed-erates ran a comment of a leading Southern newspaper. Old Peter Longstreet was a giant of a man, said the editor of a prominent magazine of history a short time ago. Yet at Gettysburg the story seems ever to linger that had he obeyed Lees orders and attacked at dawn on July 2, 1863, the Confederate commander would have swept Meades army from Cemetery Ridge and marched victoriously into Baltimore or Washington. Immediately after the war William Swinton, correspondent for The New York Times during the conflict, began his Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, drawing information from all quarters. Numerous Southern officers contributed their views, among them Longstreet, who talked with Swinton in Washington. The book was published in 1866 and attracted wide attention. Swinton wrote that Lee had promised before leaving Virginia for Pennsylvania that he would not assume a tactical offensive, but, after the success of the first day at Gettysburg, lost that equipoise in which his faculties commonly moved and gave battle. The author called this a grave error because he (Lee) could readily have interposed hisarmy between Meade and Washington. Longstreet already had one flank securely posted on the Emmitsburg Road and by moving toward Frederick could have maneuvered Meade out of his positiona plan which Longstreet begged to be allowed to execute. From Swintons footnote it was clear his information about Gettysburg came from Longstreet. There was nothing surreptitious about it. Apparently everything was conversational, and Longstreet wrote nothing. His comment involved no personal attack on Lee. It occasioned no break of relationships. The text as presented was the authors and not the generals. Swinton exercised the historians privilege of analyzing the campaigns. Some of his phrases were certainly not as Lees friends would have put them. The main feature of his criticism was that Lee had forgotten a promise he made that he would fight a defensive battle in Pennsylvania, then had neglected the opportunity presented to him to dislodge the Federal army by maneuver, instead of by launching a frontal assault against it on Cemetery Ridge. Swintons thinking was by no means radical, for it was followed by others, among them James D. McCabe Jr., who four years later published his Life and Campaigns of General Robert E. Lee. Lee died in October 1870, his relations with Longstreet still unmarred by any ill feeling. On Lees birthday, January 19, 1872, Early delivered an address at Washington and Lee University Lexington, Va., which was the initial salvo in the long Early-Longstreet feud. Early did not at this time directly charge Longstreet with any wanton dereliction. Speaking of the conference Lee held on the afternoon of July 1, 1863, with Ewell, Early and Rodes at Gettysburg, Early said Lee left them for the purpose of ordering up Longstreets corps in time to begin the attack at dawn the next morning. Then he said Longstreet was not in readiness to make the attack until 4 oclock in the afternoon of the next day. He declared that had the attack been made at daylight, as contemplated, it must have resulted in a brilliant victory. His claim was that only a small part of Meades army was in position, and the Round Tops could have been taken in the morning without a struggle. Early later said he made his Washington and Lee address because he had read Swintons book and discovered the criticisms of Lees conduct of the Gettysburg campaign. One to which he objected was that Lee had gotten a taste of blood on the first day and lost that equipoise in which his faculties commonly moved. Another was that Longstreet, having one flank on the Emmitsburg Road, could have maneuvered Meade out of his Gettysburg position by marching toward Frederick. Still another was Swintons report that Longstreet had urged Lee against the attack on the 2nd until Picketts division could be ordered up, saying that even if Meades forces were not all up, neither were Lees. Earlys address was followed a year later by a speech by Rev. William N. Pendleton, who had been Lees chief of artillery in the Gettysburg CampaignParson Pendleton, as Longstreet referred to him. Though delivered January 19, 1873, the address was not published until it appeared in the Southern Magazine of December 1874. It quoted Lee as saying on the evening of July 1, 1863, that he had ordered Longstreet to attack at sunrise the next morning. Longstreet at first paid no heed to either Early or Pendleton, but in the next two years much opinion was aligned against him as the culprit of Gettysburg. Perhaps an immediate answer in which he could have made countercharges against Early and Pendleton, neither of whom was free of Gettysburg guilt, would have served him better. Pendleton repeated his lecture through the South, but Longstreet held that it was better for him to be blamed than to put it on our chief. Up to this point he had said nothing publicly about Gettysburg except what he told Swinton. Finally, in November 1877, after much urging on one hand and goading on the other, Longstreet wrote for the Philadelphia Times, which had become a medium for Civil War articles, a full account of the Gettysburg campaign. Longstreets article seems to this writer a model of deference and forthrightness. In it he demolished Early and Pendleton as far as their claim about a sunrise attack order was concerned. Most of Longstreets writing was clear and vigorousit should have been, because he was assisted by two of the countrys best scribes, Henry W. Grady and, a little later, Joel Chandler Harris. This, along with Longstreets own well-known integrity, probably accounts for the fact that his arguments were kept on a high level, and did not descend to the personal abuse to which he was at times subjected. Longstreet made public in his article a portion of a letter he had written to his uncle, Augustus B. Longstreet, dated July 24, 1863, 20 days after the battle, in which he said his own idea about the campaign was to throw ourselves between the enemy and Washington, select a strong position, and force the enemy to attack us. He said his duty was to express his views to the commanding general, but if they were not adopted, to carry out faithfully the commanding generals plan. He explained the reason for writing his letter by saying a sly undercurrent of misrepresentation had arisen about his course. Clearly it was no more than a whispering campaign which never broke into the open in 1863. The loss of the battle at that stage was being attributed to others, principally Jeb Stuart because of the missing cavalry. Colonel Marshall, Lees chief of staff, was telling Lee that Stuart should be shot. The Richmond Enquirer was blaming A.P. Hills corps. Colonel Abner Perrin of Penders division, whose South Carolina brigade had carried the Seminary in a brilliant advance, thought the loss was due to the slowness of Anderson on the first day, for not following Pender and clearing Cemetery Ridge, though he was uncertain whether the fault was Hills or Andersons. The Enquirer correspondent complained that Anderson had halted needlessly for three hours at Cashtown and declared this sacrifice of time was what lost the mountain range of Cemetery Ridge. Fatal blunder! inveighed the scribe, who declared all of Andersons brigadier generals were anxious to advance but Anderson restrained them. The most vivid contemporary Richmond newspaper account of the action of July 2 put the blame for the failure not on Longstreet but on A.P. Hill, and for the reason that the attack which was supposed to move from brigade to brigade down the line petered out after three of Hills brigadesWilcox, Lang and Wright had assailed the Federal center on Cemetery Ridge. The Federal center, weakened by the troops Meade had sent to reinforce his left in the Wheat Field and along Plum Run, was soft and might yield to a heavy assault. But the bulk of Hills corps merely stood by, as the Enquirer correspondent observed it. From 15,000 to 20,000 men were idle. The brigades of Posey and Mahone and the divisions of Pender and Pettigrew (Heth) remained unemployed. The version of the Richmond correspondent was that Hill threw away a victory that had already been achieved by Longstreet. So while the first blame for the defeat was diffused and settled mainly on Stuart, it appeared to hit Longstreets corps less than either Hills or Ewells. Where the small undercurrent of complaint against Longstreet just after the battle came from cannot now be determined. Pickett struck out so intemperately against someone in the draft of his report that Lee refused to receive it and asked him to rewrite it, which he never did. This writer heard second or third hand some years ago of persons who claimed a copy of the first Pickett draft is still in existence, or that the substance of it is in an extant letter to LaSalle Corbell, Picketts fiancee and later his wife. Certainly the heated complaint could not have been against Longstreet, with whom Pickett continued to enjoy the most cordial relations. It is a conjecture that it was directed at the two brigades of Andersons division, Wilcox and Lang, which wandered in the smoke and left Picketts right flank exposed, or at Pendleton, because of the withdrawal of the artillery that was to accompany Pickett on his advance. Mrs. Pickett said Pickett jotted down the report with pencil on the backs of old letters and wrapping paper but it was suppressed at the request of the commander-in-chief, though she claimed Lee admitted the truth of it. She did not state, but strongly implied, that she had this report as late as 1899. She said Lees wishes about it had been respected all through the years that have passed. She added, the most alluring temptations have not brought the report from the oblivion to which it was consigned in the far-away past. These remarks suggest she could have published it had she desired. In his Philadelphia Times article Longstreet denied the existence of the sunrise attack order and produced much supporting testimony. He had written to members of Lees staff. In reply to his inquiry, Colonel Walter H. Taylor said he had never before heard of the sunrise attack you were to have made, as charged by General Pendleton. Colonel Charles Marshall, Lees chief of staff, said he had no personal recollection of the order and it certainly was not conveyed by me. Colonel Armistead L. Long, Lees military secretary, said he did not hear of an order to attack at sunrise or at any other designated hour. Colonel Charles S. Venable, Lees staff engineer officer, provided what was perhaps the clinching evidence, saying he did not know of any order to attack at sunrise, that he had been sent by Lee at about sunrise to ask Ewell what he thought about an attack on the left, or a move around to attack on the right, and that his mission was inconsistent with an attack at sunrise by any portion of the army. Douglas Southall Freeman fell into the trap of Longstreets own error to support his contention that Longstreet was supposed to attack on the morning of the 2nd. He places Longstreet with Lee on the evening of July 1 when the attack plans were being discussed. Longstreet in one of his articles said he left General Lee quite late on the night of the 1st. This is an obvious error. Longstreet, like most writers, was capable of mistakes. In other accounts he said he left Lee between 5 and 7 oclock. This writer has made a close investigation of Longstreets actions on the night of July 1. Statements of others who were with him, or saw him, as well as his own, leave it out of the question that he could have been with Lee after leaving Seminary Ridge sometime around dusk and his return to camp with McLaws division four miles in the rear on Marsh Creek. He was up at 3 a.m. on July 2 and was on the battlefield again at daybreak, riding with British correspondent Fitzgerald Ross, with whom he breakfasted. The matter of Longstreets movements is important because of Pendletons claim, and the Pendleton statement is what the case against Longstreet simmers down to. Freeman conceded that much. Jefferson Davis used Pendletons testimony in blaming Longstreet. But Longstreet was not with Lee to receive the order, and clearly Lee did not issue it. Longstreet said nothing about it to McLaws or Hood that night, who would have to put their troops into position for the attack if it had been ordered. Leaving aside the question of whether it was practicable to get men who had been marching most of the night and were still four miles or more from the battlefield into position to attack at daybreak, it is clear from Lees actions on the morning of July 2, from his reconnaissance on the left, from his dispatch of patrols to determine the Federal position, from statements of his staff, from Longstreets testimony and other factors that he had not decided on the night of the 1st, or even on the morning of the 2nd, where he would deliver his attack or the troops he would first employ to deliver it. By the time Freeman wrote Lees Lieutenants he tended to concede that Longstreet had received no attack orders on the night of the 1st but that Lee had decided probably after Longstreets departure to attack with Longstreets corps on the right. Even this is not borne out by Lees continued reconnaissance on his left on the morning of the 2nd and by Venables mission to Ewell. The decision for Longstreet to attack appears to have come around 11 a.m. on the 2nd, the hour given by both Longstreet and Taylor. Even after that, Lee consented for Longstreet to wait for Laws brigade, which arrived shortly before noon. Alexanders artillery marched through the night and arrived before 9 a.m. With what was Longstreet supposed to make his sunrise attack? The troops were coming up all morning. How far Early went in overstating his case in his rejoinder to Longstreets reply can be seen from his attack on Venables testimony that Lee had formed no opinion about how to attack until he (Venable) returned about 9 a.m., or, indeed, until 11 a.m., when Longstreet said he got the order. If that was the case, stormed Early, then he (Lee) exhibited a remarkable degree of indecision and vacillation, and the responsibility for the procrastination and delay that occurred must rest on him, and on him alone. Early even sought to align Longstreet against Lee in the minds of the old soldiers. He skillfully begged the issue to accomplish this: There is one thing very certain, and that is that either General Lee or General Longstreet was responsible for the remarkable delay that took place in making the attack. I choose to believe that it was not General Lee, for, if anyone knew the value of promptness and celerity in military movements, he did. It is equally certain that the delay which occurred in making the attack lost us the victory. There were other factors causing the delay, but Early brushed these aside. And there were other reasons why the battle was lost, one of which was standing in Jubal Earlys shoes. Another question is whether or not Longstreet delayed unduly after receiving the attack order, as Early implied in his address. As has been seen, the only time to be accounted for in dealing with this question is that between the arrival of Law at noon and the beginning of Hoods attack on the Round Top-Devils Den line at 3:30 p.m. In this period Longstreet was making his flank march, on which it has been calculated his average unit covered eight miles. Lee was with Longstreet part of the time on this march. How much cannot be determined, but for a time at the beginning and at the end, just before Hoods assault was launched. Longstreets time is well accounted for, and anyone who traverses the ground covered will quickly understand that the charge by Early that Longstreet was dragging his feet is ludicrous. In the case of Jacksons flank march at Chancellorsville the orders clearly were delivered on the preceding evening, during the conference between Jackson and Lee. But Jackson did not get into position and strike until near darkness the following day, and nobody ever has complained about a delay. Both he and Longstreet made long marchesJacksons the farthestand both delivered their assaults in reasonable time. Both were successful in driving the enemy in their front. Jackson received nothing but applause; Longstreet, unmerited blame. There is another question. How much of the failureif failure were involvedshould be chargeable against the corps commander for not executing a plan when the commanding general is by his side during a considerable part of the period in question? Lee was back and forth along the lines in the morning and early afternoon of July 2, but he appears to have spent a considerable part of his time with Longstreet, without anyone ever seeing that he was doing any prodding. Alexander did not feel Lee was in any particular hurry. John Cheves Haskell saw no impatience. William Youngblood, a First Corps scout who noticed Lee and Longstreet together on the afternoon of July 2, saw Lee shake hands with both subordinates and say God bless you just before Hood launched his attack, about 3:30. There was no evidence Lee thought he had been let down by Longstreet. After the retreat Lee was standing on the Virginia bank looking back across the Potomac when a officerapparently Major John W. Fairfax of the First Corps staffrode up and told Lee that Longstreet was being blamed for the failure at Gettysburg. Youngblood caught Lees words: General Longstreet is in no wise to blame. It all rests upon me. My shoulders are broad and I can bear the blame. The quotation is no doubt accurate because it tallies with what Lee had told half a dozen others after the battle, but the significance is that it was the first hint of blame against Longstreet for the loss of the battle, and the only one this writer has noted until years after the war. Another question was whether the flanking movement Longstreet proposed to the right, to dislodge Meade by maneuver, was feasible. Freeman rejects the idea of the flanking movement, which would have required a transfer of the army trains from the Cashtown Road to either the Fairfield Road or a road farther south or east. Freeman states Lees decision against it has been supported by most military criticism, but the list of critics he cites is far from impressive. Freeman cited Meades testimony as dissenting from that of his other witnesses. Meade called Longstreets advice to Lee to move to the right against the Federal communications sound military sense; it was the step I feared Lee would take. Meade said it was to meet this threat that he had his chief of staff Butterfield prepare the precautionary withdrawal orders on the morning of July 2. This writer has talked with many military men about a flank movement in lieu of a frontal assault on Cemetery Ridge and has found opinion at least sharply divided and apparently weighted in favor of the flanking movement. On the other side, there were many cogent reasons why Lee would want to follow up his successes of July 1. It is readily understandable why he fought as he did. The point being made here is not that Lees judgment lacked merit. It is merely that Longstreet should not have been blown out of the water for holding a contrary view. As it developed, the frontal assaults of July 2 and 3 proved so costly that they defeated the whole purpose of the invasion and were decisive factors toward losing the war. Nearly everyone has agreed that an important element in Federal victory at Gettysburgperhaps the main factorwas the Cemetery Ridge-Little Round Top-Culps Hill line. The flanking movement would have given Lee a chance to avoid it. He might have lost elsewhere. But the odds for victory would seem to have been better, especially if, as Longstreet proposed, he could have taken a strong position threatening Washington.. The movement of the trains was not an insurmountable problem. As has often been pointed out, it could have been accomplished much more readily by Lee before than after he was defeated at Gettysburg. He could still have employed both the Chambersburg and Fairfield Roads because his march toward Frederick and Meades left flank would have pulled Meades main army away from Lees communications. Longstreet was correct in stating that Lee left Virginia with the purpose of offensive strategy but defensive tactics. The issue of whether he actually promised it, as Longstreet asserted, is of minor significance. Undoubtedly Longstreet was in error on this point, for Lee disclaimed any such promise. Longstreet may have placed a false interpretation on some remark. Still, Lee himself in his formal Gettysburg report stated that It had not been intended to fight a general battle at such a distance from our base unless attacked by the enemy. So whether or not he made a promise to Longstreet, he was thinking in terms of a campaign of maneuver and a defensive battle. He departed from this plan, fought an offensive battle, and lost the battle and the campaign. What Longstreet was contending was that if he had adhered to his original plan he might have won. Longstreet thought the Confederates could have been sure of a victory because they had never failed when they fought on the defensive. Much was made of the statement that Lee had lost his equipoise, a term that appeared to describe his agitation and restlessness. Longstreet repeated it from Swinton, or else gave it to Swinton. The most ready explanation yet offered for Lees unusual conduct on the 2nd was that he was suffering from a severe intestinal disorder, as described by Lt. Col. W.W. Blackford, who visited his tent. Longstreet probably was unaware of this. Still, there is no doubt that Lee was aroused by combat. Joseph B. Polley called him a game cock, and Harry Heth thought he was more aggressive even than Jackson. Perhaps the unexplained aspect of the controversy is why Early and Pendleton entered into it so vigorously. It may have been that these two former generals were assuming the offensive as the best defense. Neither was without blame for the loss of Gettysburg. Early, even more than Ewell, is chargeable for the neglect of the first day which stopped the Confederate advance in the town of Gettysburg, when the heights ahead might have been taken from a disorganized and retreating enemy if the victory north and west of the town had been followed with promptness. When Early came up in front of the heights with his victorious division, Culps Hill was unoccupied. Without Culps Hill Meade could not have fought a battle on his Cemetery Ridge line. Ewell, the Second Corps commander, was back on Oak Hill. Instead of garrisoning the high ground, Early rode off to look for Ewell or Rodes and allowed these great moments to slip through his fingers. What authority did Early employ to support his contention that an attack at dawn would have been disastrous to the Federals? Statesman Edward Everett, who had said so in an oration! Nothing but a miracle could have saved us from a great disaster, said Everett. Indeed, Longstreets delay on July 2 seemed fortuitous. Meade had effected a concentration during the night of the 1st, and Early was in error in saying the Federal lines were not manned. Little Round Top was garrisoned, which it was not when Longstreet attacked in the afternoon. Just before he struck, the commander of the Federal III Corps, Sickles, had disarranged the line by advancing to the Peach Orchard on the Emmitsburg Road, where the salient he created gave Longstreet a good target. Longstreet drove the troops in his front. There was ample time to win a victory had he received the prompt co-operation of Hill and Ewell. The significance of his delay has been overstressed. An earlier attack on a more compact Federal line might not have proved so successful. It is peculiar that so much credence was given to Pendleton, who does not appear to have been actively present during much of the battle. Though he was supposed to be chief of artillery, no information was given Lee on the ammunition supply available for the bombardment that preceded the assault by Pickett, Pettigrew and Trimble on the third day. As it developed, there was not a sufficient amount in the caissons to prepare the way for the infantry. Lee did not know this. Pendleton was charged also with taking away, unbeknown to Pickett or Longstreets artilleryman, Alexander, Richardsons battery of seven 12-pounders that was to accompany Pickett and give him artillery support on the advance. Some have held the absence of these guns a critical factor in Picketts repulse. And so the controversy has gone, without much objectivity and not a whole lot of sense. Gettysburg was lost, and there must have been a reason in a battle so closely fought. Many have been advanced. Longstreet, like other generals, offered his with refreshing frankness and without damage to General Lees military stature. Despite the character bombardment which he has suffered for the better part of a century, Longstreet has emerged as one of the foremost tacticians of the Civil War. Some students would put him at the top of the list. Had he not fallen severely wounded at a critical moment for Lee, the Wilderness story might have been different. A recent penetrating remark was made by George R. Stewart in his book Picketts Charge when he said the South could never forgive Longstreet for being right. It was not all the South, of course, because Longstreets own veterans honored him and passed on their affection to their sons and grandsons. Today it may be said that except for a school of bitter-enderssometimes those who will not read the record carefully or who base their findings more on personalities and emotionsLongstreet has been re-established. Taken from Civil War Times Issue 1, Vol. 1, 1962. Republished in February 2012 Civil War Times. Dedicated Massachusetts abolitionist Silas Soule ironically gave his life for the red man, not the black. By Bruce M. Lawlor Fate consigns most people to lives of quiet anonymity, choosing only a favored few to shape an eras epochal events. In the case of Silas S. Soule, a young Massachusetts abolitionist, fate was unusually fickle. It placed him at center stage for several historic moments, then, as if tired of his presence, killed him before he was 30 and left his name among the soon-to-be-forgotten. Soule was born in 1839. His father, Amassa Soule, was a fanatical abolitionist and religious zealot. That combination set the Soule household apart from its neighbors, and Silas spent a great deal of his youth defending himself against charges of being a damned Bobolishionist. In 1854, New England abolitionists formed the Emigrant Aid Society to help settle the Kansas Territory andnot incidentallybring it into the Union as a Free State. Silas father answered the societys call for pioneers, and by the end of the year the Soule family had taken up residence near Lawrence, Kan. Upon the familys arrival, Amassa Soule immediately established his household as a way station on the underground railroad. Silas, at 15, began escorting runaway slaves from Missouri through Lawrence, and north to freedom. By the time Silas was 18, Missouri slavers on one side and New England abolitionists on the other had armed themselves and were openly fighting for the territorys future. The bitter struggle became known as Bleeding Kansas. Young Soule quickly learned to handle a Kansas Biblethe deadly Sharps carbine that abolitionists had sent west in crates marked Bibles. He also mastered hit-and-run tactics and became notorious as one of Kansas most-feared Jayhawkers. In 1859, Soule played a major role in one of the border wars most celebrated incidents. That January, 20 Missouri bushwhackers, seeking to recover runaway slaves, crossed the border into Kansas. They came upon and captured Dr. John Doy, a Lawrence physician and abolitionist, while he was escorting 12 escaped slaves to Oskaloosa. The slavers took their captives back to Weston, Mo., where they sold the blacks back into slavery and tried Doy, under Missouri law, for helping the slaves escape. Although Doy had not been in Missouri and hence could not have broken its law by helping the slaves, a Missouri jury quickly convicted him, and the judge sentenced him to five years at hard labor. Doy appealed his conviction, but while his lawyers argued the case, he sat in a St. Joseph jail cell. Suspicious of Missouris courts, a group of Lawrence men, including young Silas Soule, set out to free the abolitionist physician. When they reached St. Joseph, their leader, Major James B. Abbott, dispatched Soule to reconnoiter the jailhouse. The affable Soule charmed his way into the jail by convincing its keeper that he was carrying a message from Doys wife. Once inside, Soule took careful note of the jails layout and of the room where Doy was being held. The jailer, he learned, lived alone and had only one sentry outside to sound the alarm in case of trouble. Soule met with Doy, and while the jailers attention was elsewhere, he slipped a note into the doctors cell. It said simply, To-night, at twelve oclock. When Soule reported back, the raiders realized their chances of successfully taking the jail by force were slim and changed their plans. At the appointed hour, they approached the building by pretending to have captured a horse thief. They asked the jailer, named Brown, to lock up the man until morning. After some argument, Brown admitted them. Once inside, they quickly disarmed the hapless jailer and freed Doy. With Doy in tow, the raiders left the jail and headed for the Missouri River, which they intended to cross in boats previously cached for the purpose. At the rivers edge, they discovered one of the boats was leaking. Two policemen walking their beat came along and, not recognizing Doy, obligingly held a lantern while one of the jailbreakers bailed the boat with his hat. When the boat was safe to board, they pushed off, crossed the Missouri and made good their escape. Within six months of returning Doy to his grateful family in Lawrence, Soule was involved in another, even more daring rescue attempt. John Brown, the fanatical abolitionist, had frequently visited the Soule household in Lawrence during the border wars, bringing runaway slaves for the underground railroad. When Brown failed in his crazed attempt to capture the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Va., on October 18, 1859, Colonel Robert E. Lee captured and delivered him to Charlestown, to be tried by state court. Virginia authorities quickly convicted Brown and, on November 2, Judge Richard Parker sentenced him to hang. The judge ordered that the execution take place one month later, on December 2. Almost immediately after Browns capture, some of his New England financial backers began planning his rescue. Richard Hinton, an abolitionist newspaper reporter, knew of Soules acquaintance with Brown and his role in the Doy rescue. Hinton traveled to Lawrence, met with Soule and recruited him into the plot. Returning east, the two abolitionists set out to recruit 75 to 100 men, who would take the jail by force. They ran into trouble, however, securing funds. There was also opposition from within the group by those who felt that a direct assault on the jail would surely fail. In response to the problems, the conspirators scaled back their rescue plans and began searching for ways to free Brown through guile and deception. In November, they began converging on Charlestown. The raiders traveled separately to avoid arousing suspicion. Some passed themselves off as stockmen, others as laborers or land seekers. After going through Harrisburg, Pa., they gathered in Hagerstown, Md., where they made their final preparations. James Montgomery, commander of the raid, dispatched H.C. Seaman to scout the hills around Martinsburg, Va., where they planned to take Brown after the break-out. Mindful of Soules success in the Doy rescue, Montgomery ordered Soule to Charlestown to collect intelligence about Browns confinement and the situation within the community. Soule arrived in Charlestown sometime in mid-November. As he had done in St. Joseph, he managed to get inside the jail where Brown was being held. Exactly how he did this is unknown, although it is believed that local police arrested him for public drunkenness. Once inside, he turned his boyish charm on the jailer, John Avis, and wheedled a meeting with Brown. His old friend had greatly changed from his Kansas days. Browns hair had turned white, and he wore a long beard. The fire had not left his eyes, however, and he still dreamed of freeing the slaves and bringing the Lords revenge upon their owners. He had devised a new strategy for destroying the peculiar institution, but it did not include his being rescued. He understood the power of martyrdom and was prepared to die if it would bring an end to slavery. He adamantly refused to be saved. Soule had failed in his mission. Soule drifted back to Kansas, and then to Colorado. In December 1861, he joined Company K, 1st Regiment, Colorado Infantry. On November 29, 1864, he found himself in command of a cavalry company, on a bluff overlooking a peaceful Cheyenne village at Sand Creek, Colo. The 3rd Colorado Volunteers, under the command of Colonel John M. Chivingtona preacher turned bloodthirsty soldierhad been ordered by the politically ambitious territorial governor to conduct a punitive expedition against the Cheyenne. Chivington located the Indian camp at Sand Creek and, notwithstanding its peaceful inhabitants, decided to attack it. Soule argued against the plan, calling it outright murder. In the end, Soules arguments failed and one of the worst massacres in American history followed. Ordered to accompany Chivington, Soule remained steadfast in his opposition to the assault. When the colonel gave the order to charge, Soule checked his men, forbidding them tofire upon the village. Other commanders obeyed Chivington, and their soldiers killed and mutilated more than 200 Cheyenne, mostly women and children. Later, when Chivington publicly branded him a coward, Soules men came to his defense, praising his courage in the face of Chivingtons infamous order. The Sand Creek atrocities shocked the nation, even in the midst of the Civil War. The army convened a committee of inquiry in Denver to investigate Chivingtons actions. Westerners loyal to the fighting parson threatened anyone they thought might testify against him, and the hearings were held in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. Nevertheless, Soule testified forcefully against Chivington. His comments were crucial to the committees findings. When the hearings ended, the committee branded Chivingtons raid at Sand Creek a cowardly and coldblooded slaughter, sufficient to cover its perpetrators with indelible infamy, and the face of every American with shame and indignation. Soule was not alive to hear the committees vindication of his actions. Following his testimony, there was a disturbance near his home in Denver, where he was serving as the citys provost marshal. When Soule investigated, he was shot down by Charles W. Squiers of the 2nd Colorado Cavalry, who may have been hired to kill him by forces loyal to Chivington. Squiers eventually fled to California and was never tried for the crime. Soules description of the events at Sand Creek produced a wave of indignation in the East. By the end of 1865, widespread revulsion at the Armys tactics produced a peace offensive on behalf of the Indians. Congress derailed the Armys plans to campaign against the Indians with thousands of troops no longer needed to save the Union. The subsequent Indian wars were brutal enough by anyones standards, but the Army did not fight a war of extermination. Silas Soules testimony had helped save lives. Although todays travelers and commuters may pass them on a regular basis, few among the post-World War II generation are aware of the remarkable display of friendship between the United States and her oldest ally, France, that is represented by the strange-looking little boxcarscalled Merci Trainsthat can be seen in such diverse places as the Montana state capitol grounds in Helena; outside the American Legion Post in Helms, Arkansas; and at Pennsylvanias Fort Indiantown Gap. In 1947, the people of France and Italy were still struggling to recover from the devastation of World War II. In an effort to help, American newspaper columnist Drew Pearson spearheaded a fundraising campaign to provide them with food, clothing, and other necessities. Americans contributed generously to the purely grassroots effort, filling an American Friendship Train with $40 million in relief supplies. Touched by this response to their need, the French answered with a program of their own. The idea originated with Andre Picard, a veteran and railroad employee, who suggested that a boxcar be filled with gifts from every part of France and sent to the United States as a gesture of gratitude. The boxcar he had in mind was a Forty and Eight, so-called because it could carry forty men or eight horses. The stubby20.5 feet long, 8.5 feet wideold wooden cars had been used to transport U.S. troops from place to place within France during both world wars. Although memories of those rides were not always pleasant, the cars nonetheless gave their name to a fraternity formed within the American LegionLa Societe des Quarante Hommes et Huit Chevauxin 1920. Picards idea led to the creation of a committee to solicit enough gifts to fill one boxcar. But response exceeded all expectations, and it soon became obvious that a single boxcar could not hold all the items. The French War Veterans Association assumed control of the project and decided to try to fill 49 boxcars, one for every state then in the Union and one for the District of Columbia and Hawaii. In all, 52,000 gifts, weighing 250 tons and ranging from a Louis XV carriage to childrens drawings to tree seedlings were collected during 1948 and crammed into the railroad cars, which were then loaded aboard the freighter Megellan at Le Havre for their transatlantic journey. The ship, with Merci, America adorning its sides, received a royal welcome in New York harbor on February 3, 1949.Congress had passed a resolution allowing the gifts to enter the country duty-free, and longshoremen volunteered their services to bring the cars ashore. Of too narrow a gauge for American rails, the cars were loaded onto flatcars for delivery, at no charge, by the nations railroads to state capitals across the country. On reaching their destinations, the cars were greeted by dignitaries at special ceremonies. Their contents, after being displayed for a time, were distributed in a variety of ways. Many were sold at auction, with the proceeds going to charity, while some especially significant items went to public institutions. Unfortunately, few of the gifts lovingly placed in the cars by the citizens of France can be traced today. But, those cars that have survived vandalism and the ravages of time testify to a great expression of friendship and caring between two nations and their peoples who fought side by side for a common goal half a century ago Originally featured as Time Capsule: Objects in History Oct. 95 American History magazine feature. For more stories, subscribe here. Chatham Roberdeau Wheat would one day lead a famous Louisiana battalion called Wheats Tigers into battle for the Confederacy. He would fight and die in the Battle of Gaines Mill, Virginia, in 1862. But that was still some 15 years in the future; right now, the young law students attention was directed toward adventure in another conflict, the Mexican War of the 1840s. There, whether he lived or died, he would be a winner, a hero. In his own florid fashion, he wrote: I would ask for no greater glory while our spirits should wing their flight to a brighter & a better world where we should enlist under the captaincy of Great Michael and mingle with the hosts of Heaven andwith Washington & the heroes that have gone before, hang out our banners from the battlements of Heaven & let the shout of our exulting voices ring from arch to arch of heavens bright canopy. In the best case, of course, Wheat and his comrades would live, be victorious, enter the city of Mexico, and stand in the halls of the Montezumas covered with glory & with bright stars upon our breasts. In either case, he concluded, we are victorious, victorious even in death how sublime! How pleasing the thought! George Brinton McClellan, who would command the Union armies early in the Civil War, was a fire-new graduate of West Point when the Mexican War began. He couldnt wait to get to the front and fight the crowd musquitoes & Mexicans &c. Hip! Hip! Hurrah! he wrote home. War at last sure enough! Aint it glorious! For young army officers of the time, the Mexican War was not only the road to glory, it was the road to promotion. Advancement in the peacetime army was maddeningly slow. An officer could stagnate in the same low grade year after year until those above him were promoted, resigned, or died, making room for his own advancement. When war came, everything speeded up. Armies expanded and fought, the unfortunate were killed, and the fortunate were promoted. Most young subalterns welcomed the war for that reason. What they didnt know was that the war would be their rite of passage, their crucible, their proving ground. They would learn how to endure hardship, how to inspire the loyalty of troops, how to fight and win battles. In that reasonably tidy little foreign war of 1846-1848, they would be tempered for command in an incomprehensibly larger and messier domestic war to come: the American Civil War. Compared to the Civil War, the Mexican War was small. Of the 17,000 or so Americans who became casualties during the conflict, only about 1,700 were killed in battle. The Union Army suffered a larger number of casualties in just three days of fighting at the Battle of Gettysburg in the Civil War. Despite this difference in scale, the Mexican War was by no means insignificant. It would add half a million square miles of territory to the United States, territory that would become the modern states of Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and part of Colorado. Indeed, it was the desire for westward expansion that sparked the war. When the United States admitted the Republic of Texas as a state in December 1846, the Mexican government still considered Texas a rebellious Mexican province. Tension between the two countries prompted U.S. President James K. Polk to dispatch Brigadier General Zachary Taylor to Texas with a force of 3,000 men to defend the Rio Grande. Anti-American Mexicans viewed this as an act of war. Many Americans felt the same, seeing the move as a case of blatant aggression against a weaker nation, designed to satisfy the United States lust for territory. Congressman Abraham Lincoln of Illinois was one of the most vocal critics of the war. Army Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant, who would eventually command all Union armies in the Civil War, called the conflict in Mexico one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation. Despite his reservations, Grant accompanied Taylor on his march across Texas in March 1846. On arriving at the Rio Grande, Taylors troops built an earthen fort in a provocative position across the river from the Mexican city of Matamoros. The Mexican War could be said to have begun when Mexican artillery finally opened fire on the fort in May. When Grant heard the bombardment from his camp miles away, he later wrote, I felt sorry that I had enlisted. Others, like McClellan, were not yet in Mexico and were just as sorry to be missing the action. The Battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, both American victories against larger Mexican forces, came within a week of the first bombardment. Taylor entered Matamoros on May 18 and in July pushed west on a campaign toward the city of Monterey. There, again, the Americans would be outnumbered by their Mexican foes. Monterey was extraordinarily well fortified and surrounded by rugged terrain. The battle for the city would last three days and cost hundreds of American casualties. On the third day of the battle, the Americans had taken control of Montereys outskirts and began pressing in from all sides toward the grand plaza at its center, held by Mexican troops. An American head poked into one of the streets radiating out from the plaza would instantly summon a hail of artillery and musket fire, and snipers seemed to lurk on every roof. Lieutenant Grant, although officially acting as a regimental quartermaster, had managed to find his way to the firing line. When the unit he accompanied began to run out of ammunition, he volunteered to ride to Taylors headquarters to plead for more. One of the finest horseman ever to pass through West Point, Grant found a creative solution to the hazard of moving through Montereys open streets. He swung to the side of his horse farthest from the enemy, leaving only one foot holding to the cantle of the saddle and one arm over the neck of the horse Indian style. Shielded from stray bullets by his mounts body, Grant sped through the streets at such a furious clip that few of the citys defenders got off clean shots at him; both man and horse arrived at headquarters unharmed. Thanks to that and similar instances of audacity, creative tactics, and good luck, the Americans were able to overcome Monterey. It was a resounding triumph for Taylor; news of the victory spread quickly north to the United States. To some eager young officers who had yet to reach the front, missing that battle seemed the ultimate tragedy of their military lives. McClellan was among those who arrived too late for the fight. It was a piece of bad luck, he moaned, which I shall regret as long as I live. McClellan would soon see his share of action. Taylors victories were producing no overtures of surrender from the Mexican government. Convinced that nothing less than a campaign against the national capital, Mexico City, would bring the wars end, President Polk sent Major General Winfield Scott, the armys senior commander, to organize a coastal invasion of central Mexico. For that operation, Scott requisitioned the cream of Taylors force: most of his U.S. Army regulars and his cadre of West Point-trained officers. Taylor reluctantly acceded to Scotts order and remained at Monterey with a force consisting primarily of volunteers. Taylors volunteers would be tested in one last fight: the Battle of Buena Vista. There, Taylor was nearly routed by a larger Mexican army led by General Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna. The swift and resolute action of troops from Indiana and Mississippi saved the day. The commander of the Mississippi volunteers was Jefferson Davis, future president of the Confederacy. Buena Vista was the end of the campaign in northern Mexico, but far from the end of the war. Taylor stayed in Monterey and later returned home, but Scott spent the winter preparing a sea-borne invasion of Mexicos greatest port, Vera Cruz. McClellan, meanwhile, was having the time of his young life. Around the campfires at night, he wrote his mother, you never saw such a merry set as we are no care, no trouble we criticize the Generals laugh & swear at the mustangs & volunteers. Waking before dawn was common: When on a march, we get up at 2 or 3, when we halt, we snooze it, till 8 or 9 when we have cigars we smoke them, when we have none, we go without when we have brandy, we drink it, when we have not, we make it up by laughing at our predicament that is the way we live. The novelty of campaign life did little to ease the desire for battle, especially for one of McClellans West Point classmates, a young artillery lieutenant named Thomas Jonathan Jackson. Jackson would become one of Americas most famous generals, earning the nickname Stonewall during his service to the Confederacy. But in 1847 he had yet to hear a shot fired in anger. Walking on a beach in February with another future Confederate general, Lieutenant Daniel Harvey Hill, he said: I really envy you men who have been in action. We who have just arrived look upon you as veterans. Then he added wistfully, I should like to be in one battle. Jackson would not have long to wait. Early in March, Scott landed his army of around 10,000 men on the beaches near Vera Cruz, along with a host of cannon. The walled city was nearly impervious to infantry attack, so Scott decided to shell it into submission. Jackson manned one of the batteries that began bombarding the city later that month. A cannonball came within five steps of sweeping him into oblivion, but he paid it no mind; he was doing what he most wanted commanding guns in battle and attracting glittering acclaim for his coolness and judgment. One of his West Point classmates, Lieutenant William Montgomery Gardner, a future Confederate brigadier, saw him under fire for the first time and said Old Jack was as calm in the midst of a hurricane of bullets as though he were on dress parade at West Point. The success of the bombardment of Vera Cruz would depend not only on the skill of the artillerists, but also on the efforts of the engineers who oversaw the landing and placement of the guns. One of them was a 40-year-old captain named Robert E. Lee. Lees only previous field service had been a brief stint with Taylor, but from the moment he joined Scotts staff in January 1847, he began to shoulder ever greater responsibility. His role in positioning guns for the siege of Vera Cruz could be seen as his first step up the ladder toward military fame and immortality. The bombardment brought the citys surrender in less than a week. Scott consolidated his force at Vera Cruz and then began a march inland up the National Road toward Mexico City. This movement met its first resistance in mid-April near the town of Cerro Gordo. There, Santa Anna had entrenched his troops in strong positions along the only passable road through the mountains for miles. Scott saw that any frontal assault on Santa Annas positions would be suicidal. He asked his engineers to find a route to the flank or rear of the Mexican position. A young lieutenant with the lyrical name of Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard thought he had spied such a route: he suspected the dense jungle and ravine-scarred landscape on the Mexicans left could be penetrated. Like McClellan and Lee, Beauregard was an engineer, an officer who specialized in reconnaissance and in moving men and equipment through hostile terrain. And like Lee, he would later become one of the Confederacys top generals. Beauregards speculation prompted Scott to send Lee, fast becoming the generals trusted right hand, to investigate. Gifted with a singular sense of direction and an unparalleled feeling for topography, Lee determined that Scotts army could indeed cut a path where Beauregard suspected and surprise Santa Annas forces. Scott did exactly that. While part of his force feinted against the Mexican front to draw Santa Annas attention, the bulk of the American army crept through the dense underbrush and passed through deep ravines to reach the Mexican rear. There, in a classic surprise attack, they swept Mexican troops from poorly defended positions. Santa Annas army broke and retreated toward Mexico City. Scott settled into camp at the cities of Jalapa and Puebla to await reinforcements and, perhaps, peace overtures from the Mexican government. But he quickly ran into problems supplying his army from its base at Vera Cruz. The route between his inland bases and the coast was long and filled with Mexican guerrillas, and he could not spare enough troops to make sure his supply trains arrived safely. In the face of this quandary, Scott made a bold decision: he abandoned the lengthy supply line and consolidated his force at Puebla. His army would survive on whatever it could wrest from the Mexican countryside and its inhabitants. To everyones surprise, it worked. Mexico City made no request for peace negotiations, but Scott was able to maintain his army as an effective fighting force through the summer. And when reinforcements arrived, swelling his army to about 13,000 men, he decided to push farther inland. South of Mexico City, the Americans again encountered defenders in overwhelmingly strong positions. Again Scott turned to his engineers, particularly Lee, to find an option other than a pointless frontal attack. Again Lee served him well. The rugged terrain in the area included the Pedregal, as pure an impassable piece of desolation as any army would ever see, a barren no-mans-land that looked as if a tumbling sea of molten lava had instantly congealed. It was fissured, pocked with caves, bristling with jagged outcroppings, and devoid of life. Santa Anna felt secure enough to leave the area only lightly guarded; there seemed no way to push a goat, let alone an army, through such a dead desert. But Lee found a way and led a team of workmen on an expedition to cut a path for Scotts army. The resulting Battle of Contreras, on August 20, was another American victory, and the Mexican army retreated north to nearby Churubusco. There, another battle came on the same day as Contreras. Again, Santa Annas troops held strong defensive positions. This time, though, there was no alternative to a frontal assault. Scott attacked from several directions at once. He did not pause to reconnoiter, instead relying on the momentum of his troops, who were pursuing fleeing Mexicans from Contreras. The Battle of Churubusco lasted all afternoon and cost Scott more than 1,000 casualties, but again he triumphed, thanks to the bravery and skill of his soldiers. A number of young men distinguished themselves on the field at Churubusco, including Philip Kearny, a captain of dragoons who suffered wounds that cost him his left arm. He owed his survival to a lieutenant who bravely ensured his safe return to American lines. Kearny would later become a major general in the Union army during the Civil War. His rescuer, Richard Ewell, would achieve the rank of lieutenant general and lose a leg fighting for the Confederacy. Scott had at last forced Santa Anna into Mexico City itself. Now, the citys defenses were all that stood between the Americans and victory. Early in September, Scott made his move. The linchpin of the citys defenses was Chapultepec, a towering hill surmounted by a fortified castle bearing the same name. After a costly preliminary fight at Molino Del Rey on September 8, Scott launched an attack on Chapultepec on the 13th. If he could carry the castle, he would control the ground in front of the final Mexican defenses at the citys gates. One of the battalions attacking Chapultepec was led by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph E. Johnston. Beauregard, who witnessed the assault, later wrote that the gallant Colonel Johnston urged his men on against as terrible a fire as I had yet seen! The battalion was Johnstons first independent command; he would be brevetted to full colonel for his part in the battle and would eventually join Beauregard as one of the highest-ranking generals in the Confederacy. Chapultepec would not fall without a fight. Lieutenant Jackson could attest to the passion of the castles defenders; he was on the armys left when the assault began and soon found himself in a mess of trouble. In plain view of most of the army, Jackson was stuck in a ditch with his guns, under heavy cannon fire. Nearly all the horses in his battery had been killed or wounded, and his men had scattered for cover. His infantry support, except for a small escort that continued to try to hold its ground, had also disappeared. Not only could Jackson himself not disappear under the circumstances, he didnt want to. He intended to return fire, if he could just get his guns over the ditch and aimed at the enemy. But he was working alone. He had lifted one gun over, but needed help to take it any farther. He strode up and down the shot-torn road, prodding and exhorting his cowering command. There is no danger! he lied, as a cannonball caromed between his legs. See! I am not hit! His men stared back at him with justified skepticism. The rest of the army could hardly bear to watch. His commander sent an order to retire, but Jackson replied that it would be more dangerous now to withdraw than to stay. If the general would give him 50 veterans, he would attempt to capture the Mexican breastwork instead. Help finally did come, and Jackson got his gun into position and engaged the Mexican battery in a virtual muzzle-to-muzzle shootout. In time, thanks mainly to Jacksons sheer will, the enemy gun was overpowered and the breastwork stormed. Jackson was not the only one to distinguish himself that day. Among the first men in the ditch guarding the castle was Lieutenant Lewis A. Armistead. A step behind him, bearing the colors, was Lieutenant James Longstreet. And beside him was the man who had finished dead last in Jackson and McClellans West Point class, Lieutenant George E. Pickett. A musket ball struck Longstreet, but as he fell Pickett caught the colors and carried them heroically over the wall and into the castle. Last at West Point, Pickett was first at Chapultepec. Little did these three young men suspect that 16 years later, on a hot July 3, 1863, at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, their destinies would again intertwine. On that day Longstreet would command the Confederate corps that would make the most famous charge in American history. Directly under him, in command of the main division making the charge and for whom the charge would be named would be George Pickett. One of Picketts brigadiers, destined to die there, would be Lewis Armistead. Unlike Picketts Charge at Gettysburg, the charge at Chapultepec was a success. The Americans overran the castle in just over an hour, but Mexico City was not yet theirs. They had only made it possible to attack the last line of defense at the citys gates. As Jackson raced down the causeway toward the city with his artillery caisson, dying to administer the coup de grce, he was accompanied by Lieutenants D.H. Hill and Barnard Bee. All were urging Captain John Magruder, a hothead himself, to let them continue the assault. All four of these officers would one day be Confederate generals. Two others in that category, Beauregard and Lieutenant Cadmus Marcellus Wilcox, were at that moment in deep trouble at the Belen Gate, at the southwest corner of the city. Both were finding it an emphatically hot place so hot that nearly everyone there was wounded, including Beauregard. Wilcox, however, led a charmed life. A Mexican musket ball hammered into the side of the Colt revolver hanging on his left hip, spinning him around and dazing him. But he was unhurt, and when he picked up the musket ball that had struck his revolver, he found it flattened to the thickness of a silver dollar by the force of the impact. Clearly stamped on one side of this lead wafer was the name of the pistols maker and the place where it was made. The same luck would follow Wilcox through the Civil War. At the Battle of White Oak Swamp, Virginia, in 1862, he would take half a dozen bullet holes through his clothing but emerge untouched. Indeed, he would pass through his four years of service to the Confederacy without a single serious injury. North of the Belen Gate into Mexico City was the San Cosme Gate, where resistance to the invaders was equally spirited. Ulysses S. Grant, still nominally a regimental quartermaster, had again made his way to the front lines. As his comrades dodged Mexican bullets, Grant spied a church belfry that seemed to command the area behind the gate. He commandeered a mountain howitzer, ordered it hauled up into the belfry, and from there, less than 300 yards from the gate, dropped fire on a startled and confounded enemy with striking effect. The Americans controlled both gates before evening and prepared for a final push through the city on the following day. But Santa Anna evacuated overnight, and the next day city authorities surrendered. The war was all but over. The Mexican War gave Americas young crop of army officers a taste of glory and opportunity for advancement, but it also gave them a look at what war was really like. They didnt always like what they saw. After Mexico City fell, Jackson wrote his sister in Virginia that he had seen sights that would melt the heart of the most inhuman of beings: my friends dying around me and my brave soldiers breathing their last on the bloody fields of battle, deprived of every human comfort, and even now I can hardly open my eyes after entering a hospital, the atmosphere of which is generally so vitiated as to make the healthy sick. Jackson was finding that while battle elated him, war did not. Even as hawkish an officer as George McClellan lost some of his enthusiasm during the war. At Contreras he had two horses killed under him and was knocked flat when canister fire struck the hilt of his sword. By the wars end, when he was in Mexico City and still alive, he would say: Here we are the deed is done I am glad no one can say poor Mac over me. When the deed was done and the participants looked back on the war, they all agreed it was an unparalleled military experience. Grant, who would one day have a few successes of his own on other fields, praised Scott and summed up the accomplishment this way: He invaded a populous country, penetrating two hundred and sixty miles into the interior, with a force at no time equal to one-half of that opposed to him; he was without a base; the enemy was always intrenched, always on the defensive; yet he won every battle, he captured the capital, and conquered the government. Although from the beginning of the war to the end of it some 100,000 men, regulars and volunteers, entered the American army, at no time did more than 14,000 fight in any one battle. Scott entered the valley of Mexico with only 9,000 troops and was not reinforced until after Mexico City had fallen. In every battle fought, the Mexicans were superior often overwhelmingly so in numbers of troops and small arms and in numbers and weight of artillery. They had a superior cavalry and fought gallantly. Yet, the Americans consistently defeated them. Why? What the American army had that the Mexicans didnt was overwhelming superiority in military skill. The Mexicans were outgeneraled and outmaneuvered at the top. But even more important, they were outmanned in the middle by the solid core of young officers, West Pointers mostly, who formed the backbone of the armys officer corps. The group of officers who earned the most voluminous praise were West Point engineers. Lieutenants McClellan and Beauregard and Captain Lee were among the bright engineering talent that shone like burnished steel throughout the war. Their ability literally shaped victories for General Winfield Scott along the National Road from Vera Cruz to Mexico City in the spring and summer of 1847. All would go on to command huge armies in the coming Civil War. Even in that group of luminaries, though, one officer shone more brightly than most: Robert E. Lee. There was not a general in the American army in Mexico who didnt, between Vera Cruz and Mexico City, praise the work of this brilliant engineer at least once. Scott called Lees two trips across the Pedregal near Contreras on the night of August 19 the greatest feat of physical and moral courage performed by any individual, in my knowledge, pending the campaign. Lieutenant Ewell, who would one day command a corps in Lees Army of Northern Virginia, wrote in his account of that battle: I really think one of the most talented men connected with this army is Capt. Lee, of the Engs. By his daring reconnaissances pushed up to the cannons mouth, he has enabled Genl. Scott to fight his battles almost without leaving his tent. A decade after the war, Scott was still aglow over Lee, describing him in an official letter as the very best soldier that I ever saw in the field. When the Civil War was just beginning in April 1861, Scott was the aged, overweight, and immobile general-in-chief of the U.S. Army. He still thought enough of Lees abilities that he suggested the colonel for command of the entire Federal force then being assembled to put down the rebellion. Lee refused he could not take up arms against his people in seceding Virginia but the offer was a signal honor. Lee may have been the star of Scotts campaign, but he was by no means alone in earning the commanding generals praise. Scott gave credit generally to his young West Point-trained officers. At Contreras, he exclaimed to Beauregard, If West Point had only produced the Corps of Engineers, the Country ought to be proud of that institution. Later, at a dinner in Mexico City, he said that but for the science of the military academy this army, multiplied by four, could not have entered the capital of Mexico. After the war Scott said flatly: I give it as my fixed opinion that but for our graduated cadets the war between the United States and Mexico might, and probably would, have lasted some four or five years, with, in its first half, more defeats than victories falling to our share; whereas in less than two campaigns we conquered a great country and a peace without the loss of a single battle or skirmish. The same officer corps that earned such overwhelming praise in the Mexican War would rise to the highest commands of the Civil War. Of course, not every great Civil War general learned to lead armies from the experience in Mexico. Nathan Bedford Forrest, the unschooled military genius who rose from private to lieutenant general of cavalry in the Confederacy, was never in Mexico. William T. Sherman spent the Mexican War on garrison duty in California, a thousand miles from the heart of the action. Philip Sheridan was part of an entire generation of great Civil War commanders who were too young for the Mexican War. But for many of the generals who rose to highest command in the Union and Confederate armies, the Mexican War was their war college, their main preparation for command in the Civil War. Lee, Grant, Jackson, McClellan, Beauregard, Longstreet, Albert Sidney Johnston, Joseph E. Johnston, George Gordon Meade, Edmund Kirby Smith, George H. Thomas, Braxton Bragg, Joseph Hooker, and dozens of others all learned to make war in Mexico. Not all of them would apply what they learned equally well, and some would forget the lessons altogether in the heat of combat, but Mexico would influence the way they fought nearly every battle in the Civil War. So it is a fair question: what exactly did the Mexican War teach them that they then fell back on in the 1860s, when suddenly they found themselves fighting one another? To begin with, they had good teachers in Generals Taylor and Scott. The two men were cut from entirely different cloth, but both offered important role models for their young subordinates. Taylor was the soldiers general. He often came up short on tactics and he lacked skill in the logistics of war, but when his men called him Old Rough and Ready, they meant it as a compliment. He was somebody to have confidence in. He shared every hardship in the field with his troops and demonstrated an astonishing personal courage. A reporter with Taylors army wrote in the Cincinnati Chronicle in early 1847, Gen. Taylor has gained more influence over his army than any other general, save Napoleon, that ever lived. There is not a man of them, I suppose, who ever thinks of any thing else than success, when Taylor leads them in battle. A certain conviction rests upon the mind of the soldier that old Rough and Ready cannot be whipped, and it nerves his arms and strengthens his heart to do and dare more than he could with any less feeling of confidence. It was the same sort of confidence Civil War soldiers were to feel in Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and U. S. Grant. Probably no commander in the Civil War patterned himself on Taylor as closely as Grant did. In describing Taylor in his memoirs, Grant might have been describing himself. No soldier could face either danger or responsibility more calmly than he, Grant wrote. These are qualities more rarely found than genius or physical courage. General Taylor never made any great show or parade, either of uniform or retinue. In dress he was possibly too plain, rarely wearing anything in the field to indicate his rank, or even that he was an officer; but he was known to every soldier in his army and was respected by all. That was Grants style as well. It might have been his style had he never seen Taylor, but from Taylor he learned it was a style that invoked trust, respect, and confidence in troops and officers. Taylor also offered some practical, useful lessons of war. Lee, in his short service with Taylor, learned at least one such lesson that would influence his Civil War service. Lee was at Taylors quarters one day when an excited young officer rode up and announced he had seen 20,000 Mexican troops moving up with 250 guns. Taylor, familiar with the resources available to his opponent, was naturally skeptical. Captain, he asked, do you say that you saw that force? Yes, General, the captain said. Captain, Taylor said, if you say you saw it, of course I must believe you; but I would not have believed it if I had seen it myself. Sixteen years later, on the field at Chancellorsville, Virginia, Lee was to greet wild reports of the Federal strength and movements by recounting Taylors skepticism. The incident had left a deep impression. But it was Scott, the thinking mans general, who emerges as the true mentor of the great Civil War commanders. Scott was perhaps the finest military mind of his century, and one of the best of any century. In personality he was the polar opposite of Taylor: conceited in his way, devoted to pomp and circumstance, quick to take offense, jealous of his prerogatives, often undiplomatic. He came to be known as Old Fuss and Feathers. But he, too, was courageous in the face of enemy fire, and he added to that trait a precise and original military intellect. Lee was 20 months in Mexico, most of it with Scott. In those months, he learned lessons he would apply with striking effect in the Civil War a decade and a half later. One of his biographers, Douglas Southall Freeman, listed several military traits Lee learned under the brilliant Scott. Others learned the same lessons, but few would apply them with such success. The first of these traits was audacity. Everything in Mexico called for audacity. The disproportionate size of the two armies, the professionalism of the American officers as opposed to the Mexican, the highly trained nature of Scotts army, all favored audacity, and Scotts campaign reflected it at every turn. Lee later carried that quality into battle after battle in the Civil War, and Jackson displayed it in abundance in his classic Shenandoah Valley campaign and at Second Manassas and Chancellorsville under Lee. On the Union side, Grant never lacked it. Another lesson Scott taught was the need to delegate responsibility. He believed a commanding generals job was to plan an operation, acquaint his commanders with the plan, see that his troops were brought to the seat of action at the right time and the right place and then leave the fighting of the battle in detail to his subordinates. A number of Civil War commanders borrowed that style from Scott, but Lee emulated him most closely. Scott also knew the importance of a trained staff. He leaned heavily on his talented West Pointers; he knew winning was impossible without them. In the Civil War, Lee, Grant, and Jackson all put a high priority on building and maintaining smart, efficient, well-trained staffs. Reconnaissance was a Scott byword. He relied on it at every turn along the National Road to Mexico City, and Lee had been his reconnaissance star. It was this all-important reconnaissance that made possible Scotts victories at Cerro Gordo and Contreras, and the importance of reconnaissance became firmly embedded in the minds of Scotts most successful pupils. Cerro Gordo, one of the great flanking movements in all of military history, was in itself a critical lesson of the Mexican War. The flank attack was a staple of Napoleonic tactics; every West Point cadet would have been familiar with it in theory, but Cerro Gordo vividly demonstrated the impact of an attack where an attack was least expected. It would become the tactic virtually every Civil War general yearned most to emulate and recreate in his own campaigns. Lee fashioned Cerro Gordos with stunning success at Second Manassas and Chancellorsville. In both cases his instrument was Stonewall Jackson, a man who also thought in terms of Cerro Gordos and whom an admiring Union officer would one day call the supremest flanker and rearer the world had ever seen. Grant, too, knew the value of the flanking movement. He repeatedly tried to get around Lees right flank in the battles from the Wilderness to Petersburg in 1864, failing only because Lee always anticipated him. Even George McClellan looked for Cerro Gordos, beginning at Rich Mountain in western Virginia in early 1861. He won that little battle with a flanking strategy, but unlike his peers, McClellan possessed little of the audacity that successful flanking movements require. He was never able to successfully repeat the maneuver. One lesson Scott taught ran counter to accepted military practice. During the march toward Mexico City, he boldly abandoned his lines of supply and communication. Many who werent on the scene predicted disaster, but his army lived successfully off the countryside and was able to win battles even while it was isolated. Lee emulated this strategy later in both of his invasions of the North into Maryland in 1862 and Pennsylvania in 1863. Grant also boldly abandoned his lines of supply and communication, Scott-style, at Vicksburg in 1863. And Sherman, Grants protg, took the tactic to its zenith in his march through Georgia and the Carolinas in late 1864 and early 1865. Scott also taught a healthy respect for fortification. Under Scotts command, Lee placed the batteries at Vera Cruz and at Chapultepec. He had also seen well-laid-out Mexican fortifications at Cerro Gordo and Contreras that had failed to work only because the Mexican generals didnt know how to use them properly. Scott did know how to use them, and so did Lee. Not everyone who marched with Scott learned the same lessons, or learned them so well. McClellan, perhaps more than any of his peers, loved the siege. He, like Lee, Jackson, Grant, and so many others, had seen a classic siege at Vera Cruz. He saw yet another as an observer of the Crimean War in the 1850s. He was sold on them. Lacking the audacity of his contemporaries, who used it only as a last resort, siege was one of the first tactical tools McClellan thought of. It was, for instance, a Vera Cruz and not a Cerro Gordo that he thought of when he laid siege to Yorktown on the Virginia Peninsula in 1862. Given the choice, Lee, Grant, and certainly Jackson, would have tried a number of other approaches before resorting to a siege. But of all the things the commanders in the Civil War learned in Mexico under the brilliant Scott and the dogged and confident Taylor, the most valuable may have been what they learned about one another. Grant later put it this way: The Mexican War made the officers of the old regular armies more or less acquainted, and when we knew the name of the general opposing we knew enough about him to make our plans accordingly. What determined my attack on Donelson [Fort Donelson, Tennessee] was as much the knowledge I had gained of its commanders in Mexico as anything else. But as the war progressed, and each side kept improving its army, these experiments were not possible. Then it became a hard, earnest war, and neither side could depend upon any chance with the other. Neither side dared to make a mistake. One of the men Lee came to know best in Mexico was McClellan, who had served with him as an engineer. They had labored side-by-side in reconnoitering, constructing batteries, building roads, and serving artillery. Lee was acquainted with McClellans strengths and weaknesses. When they met as opposing generals on the Virginia Peninsula and later at Antietam, Maryland, in the Civil War, Lee knew his man well and was able to base his strategy and tactics on that knowledge. McClellan had had as much opportunity in Mexico to observe and learn about Lee, but if he learned anything, he used it far less effectively. Had he been able to exploit his friend Lee as well as Lee exploited him in those important early campaigns of the Civil War, that conflict might have turned out far differently than it did. Whether or not the generals of the Civil War absorbed their lessons well in Mexico, there is no denying that the lessons had been offered. Those who did absorb them and then used them, generally went on to greatness. Many of them stand today in the pantheon of great American generals, in large part because of what they learned in that little foreign war that took them so triumphantly together to the halls of the Montezumas. When Boeing began churning out more than 12,000 of the heavy bombers, the army looked for sparsely populated places to train. Northern Montana fit the bill nicely. THE ENGLAND FROM which America revolted in 1775 was a cats cradle of dynasties, royal and aristocratic. The king, George III, was a scion of the House of Hanover. His prime minister, Lord North, was an earl. William and Richard Howe, the general and the admiral the king sent to defeat his rebellious subjects, were his cousins (their grandmother had been a mistress of George I). The House of Lords was composed of men who held hereditary titles, while the House of Commons, Parliaments elected branch, was also stuffed with aristocrats. The most famous exception in English political life was the pro-American Member of Parliament William Pitt, known as the Great Commoneruntil he accepted the title of Lord Chatham. The United States determined to free itself from all this. The first self-evident truth of the Declaration of Independence is that all men are created equal: There would be no social ranks here. Both the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution forbade titles of nobilitya prohibition that Alexander Hamilton, son of a shopkeeper, hailed in the Federalist as the cornerstone of republican government. So long as titles were excluded from American life, Hamilton argued, there can never be serious danger that the government will be any other than that of the people. Who would subvert popular rule if everyone were on the same footing? Benjamin Franklin, son of a candle maker, gave the egalitarian principle a folksy spin, writing that titles actually harmed those who held them, making them proud, disdainful of the useful arts, and thence falling intoservility and wretchedness. Pity the poor noblementhey could never be as industrious and productive as artisans or tradesmen. The new country did not propose to be an anarchic mass, however. The Continental Army was commanded by ranks of officers, and state and federal governments were composed of legislators, judges, executives and their subordinates, from cabinet secretaries to clerks. But all these officeholders were elected or were appointed by other officeholders who had been elected. Who would hold office in such a system? In 1813 an elderly Thomas Jefferson (son of a wealthy planter, but a man of impeccable liberal sentiments) addressed this question in a letter to his old friend John Adams (son of a farmer). In all societies, Jefferson admitted, there was an artificial aristocracy, founded on wealth and birth. Its members rose to the top because they bought their way there or because they were born there. Jefferson believed that such artificial aristocrats looked out only for themselves; he called them a mischievous ingredient in government. But there was also a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talents. Natural aristocrats rose to prominence because of their superior morality and ability; they would conduct the public business with selflessness and skill. Their existence was virtually guaranteed by the nature of things. It would have been inconsistent in creation, Jefferson explained, to have formed men for the social state, and not to have provided virtue and wisdom enough to manage the concerns of society. What about ordinary people? They were the majority in any society, and Jefferson believed that, if given a choice, they would prefer to be governed by natural aristocrats. Leave to the citizens the free election and separation of the aristoi from the pseudo-aristoi, of the wheat from the chaff. In general they will elect the real good and wise. In some instances, he conceded, wealth may corrupt and birth blind themthe people might occasionally pick an artificial aristocrat or twobut not in sufficient degree to endanger the society. It was an optimistic vision of democracy as a meritocracy. Jefferson wrote with his habitual confidence and with the complacency of a proven winner. Americas citizens, it is true, had narrowly failed to make him president in 1796. But then they had elected him in 1800 and triumphantly re-elected him four years later. Everything was for the best in this most American of all worlds. But there were dynastic undercurrents even in the republican utopia. The United States granted no titles, but Americans were tickled by the presence in their Revolutionary ranks of European noblemen like Baron von Steuben and the Marquis de Lafayette. One all-American officer in the Continental Army bore a foreign title, or said he did. William Alexander (born in New York City, settled in New Jersey) claimed a defunct Scottish earldom, and was addressed by his comrades throughout the war as Lord Stirling. Jefferson himself was pleased when, in 1803, Betsy Patterson, the lovely daughter of an Irish immigrant who had made his fortune in Baltimore, married Napoleons youngest brother, Jerome Bonaparte. Napoleon was not pleasedhe wanted European nobility for in-laws, not Yankee commonersand annulled the match. There were rumors throughout the founding period that this pleasure in foreign titles was actually something more sinister. The Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott claimed that the United States had approached Charles Edward Stuart, the Jacobite pretender to the English throne, to offer him a crown. Critics of the Constitutional Convention feared that that conclavewhich deliberated in secretmight make a similar offer to some other Old World royal. The Convention did no such thing, but Hamilton, who participated as a delegate from New York, did give a long speech in which he called for a national executive elected for good behaviorfor life, if he behaved well. His suggestion, he admitted, went beyond the ideas of most members. The man around whom these tensions swirled was George Washington. Washington was, in effect, Americas chief executive twicecommander in chief for almost the entire Revolution (1775-83), then first president for two terms (1789-97): more than 16 years at the top. He looked the part; Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, gushed that any European monarch would look like a valet de chambre by his side. Washington had the same first name as George III, and their long-nosed faces were similar enough that numismatists have trouble saying whether Revolutionary-era tokens with the inscription GEORGIUS TRIUMPHO were meant to hail the king or the rebel. Some Americans had trouble making the distinction between an elected leader and a royal one. In May 1782, after Washingtons great victory at Yorktown but before the treaty of peace had been signed, one of his officers, Col. Lewis Nicola, wrote the commander in chief a provocative letter claiming, This war must have shown to all, but especially to military men in particular, the weakness of republics. Washington knew the weaknesses well: indecision, backbiting, poor planning. Nicola asked, Shouldnt Washington become a king? After he became president instead in April 1789, the Senate wanted him to have an almost royal honorific: His Highness the President of the United States of America and Protector of the Rights of the Same. Washington rejected both the substance and the forms of monarchy. He had not endured the cold of Morristown and the heat of Monmouth simply to switch one crown for another. He sent Colonel Nicola a reply that was as blunt as a bat: If you have any regard for your country, concern for yourself or posterity, or respect for mebanish these thoughts from your mind. He let a loyal friend in the First Congress, Rep. James Madison, trim the Senates booming verbiage to The President of the United States. Anything more, Madison argued, would disgrace the manly shoulders of our chief. Washington had a personal reason, beyond his own convictions, for knowing that he could never be king: He was childless. His wife, the former Martha Custis, had had four children by her first marriage (all dead by 1781); even though she married George in her late 20s, she had had no more. In a draft of his first inaugural address, Washington cited his infertility as a guarantee of his republicanism. I have no child for whom I could wish to make a provisionno family to build in greatness upon my countrys ruins. Madison, who ghosted the address that Washington ultimately gave, cut that statement out. But Washingtons point was important. All of the founding presidents were anti-monarchists, and none of them would have tolerated a son winning office by any means other than election. For three of them, as for Washington, the issue never arose. Jefferson, Madison, and James Monroe, the third, fourth and fifth presidents, were childless or had daughters. American politics might have been congested indeed if there had been a second generation, a junior varsity squad, of Washingtons, Jeffersons, Madisons and Monroes. Politics did in fact get congested at the state level, where family dynasties proliferated. The last colonial governor of Connecticut, Jonathan Trumbull, was also the first post-independence governor. A patriot and an important ally of Washington, he served from 1769 to 1784. One son, Jonathan Trumbull Jr., served as governor from 1798 to 1809. Another son, John Trumbull, was the premier artist of the Revolution; his painting The Signing of the Declaration of Independence is copied on the back of the two-dollar bill. Jefferson, in his correspondence with Adams, mentioned Connecticuts traditionary reverence for favorite families, which he attributed to the states reactionary politics. (He considered Connecticut reactionary because it never voted for him in any of his presidential races.) In Virginia, he added piously, we have nothing of this. Nonsense. Virginia swarmed with powerful families. The Lees produced two signers of the Declaration (Richard Henry and Francis Lightfoot), two diplomats (Arthur and William) and a cavalry officer (Henry, better known as Light-Horse Harry). Henrys son Robert would win fame in a later war. Some dynastic families were so large that they fought among themselves. Americas first two-party system split the Pinckneys of South Carolina. Brothers Thomas and Charles Cotesworth (a signer of the Constitution) were both staunch Federalists. But they had a cousin, another signer of the Constitution, Charlesnicknamed Blackguard Charliewho in the election of 1800 worked successfully to put South Carolina in the Republican column. The Randolphs of Virginia were related to both Thomas Jefferson and John Marshall: Jeffersons mother and Marshalls grandmother were Randolphs. As chief justice, Marshall twice administered the presidential oath of office to his cousin. But the two men loathed each other: Jefferson thought the chief justice was a sophistical Federalist, Marshall thought the president was a Republican demagogue. John Adams was not surprised by the ongoing power and political success of prominent families. In his letters to Jefferson, he admitted New Englands fondness for aristocratical families. He recalled a conversation, decades earlier, with an old judge who had asked him to read the election returns from neighboring Rhode Island. I read the list of Wantons, Watsons, Greens, Whipples, Malbones, etc. The judge said, I expected as much.Elections will generally go in favor of the most ancient families. Adams thought it wasnt just a New England trait. There are five pillars of aristocracy, he lectured Jefferson: beauty, wealth, birth, genius and virtues. Any one of these qualities gave a man, or a woman, influence, and thus power, even in a democracy. Then power, once acquired, would accrue to the aristocrats relatives. Call this principle, prejudice, folly, ignorance, baseness, slavery, stupidity, adulation, superstition or what you will, Adams concluded. But the factI cannot deny or dispute or question. Jefferson believed that democracy advantaged the good. Adams thought it was equally likely to boost the good looking, the rich and the well-born. His more cynical view may have been encouraged by his own experience at the polls. He had run for president twice: the first time (1796) successfully, the second (1800) going down to defeatagainst Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson had lost, then won. Adams had won, then lost. No wonder Jeffersons opinion of democracy was sunnier. But Adams had a consolation. He had none of the advantages of beauty, wealth, or birth, but genius and virtues had taken him far. And he, alone of the founder presidents, had sons. Genius, virtues and his own success would help his eldest son, John Quincy Adams, become a diplomat, senator, secretary of state and finally sixth president of the United States. Richard Brookhiser is a historian and biographer, senior editor for National Review, columnist for American History and author of Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington; James Madison, Gentleman Revolutionary and What Would the Founders Do? Originally published in the April 2016 issue of American History magazine. Subscribe here. Morris deserves a lions share of credit for creating a strong and independent executive branch In 1774, Gouverneur Morris, a haughty 22-year-old scion of a rich and politically prominent family whose grandiose estate comprised most of New Yorks Bronx, attended a raucous pre-revolutionary rally not far from Wall Street. The mob begin to think and to reason, wrote Morris in a letter to a friend. Poor reptiles: it is with them a vernal morning, they are struggling to cast off their winters slough, they bask in the sunshine, and ere noon they will bite, depend on it. The gentry begin to fear this. So did Morris, who predicted, if the disputes with Britain continue, we shall be under the worst of all dominionsa riotous mob. In 1787, Morris attended a more genteel political gathering: the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. There, surrounded by men of property, he felt more at home. Having moved to Philadelphia a decade earlier, Morris was a member of the Pennsylvania delegation. Two physical deformitiesshriveled flesh on his right arm, from a pot of boiling water he spilled while he was a teen, and a wooden peg below his left knee, the result of a carriage accident in 1780marked him from his peers, as did his flamboyant manner. Despite a three-week absence, Morris rose to speak more times and offered more motions than anyone else at the convention. Mr. Gouverneur Morris is one of those geniuses in whom every species of talents combine to render him conspicuous and flourishing in public debate, marveled William Pierce of Georgia. He winds through all the mazes of rhetoric and throws around him such a glare that he charms, captivates, and leads away the senses of all. Morris pushed a radically nationalist agenda, and is often called the penman of the Constitution for his part in crafting the final version of that document. Yet the critical role he played in stage-managing both the floor debates and backroom deal making at the convention has gone largely untold. Morris deserves a lions share of credit for the creation of a strong and independent executive branch. Indeed, it is due to Morris persistence that the United States did not end up with a parliamentary system in which the nations chief executive would be chosen by, and beholden to, the legislature. Just two weeks before the convention adjourned it seemed a fait accompli that the president would be appointed by Congress, serve for seven years and be ineligible for reelection. Thats when Morris launched his final, and ultimately successful, campaign for an independent executive. If he hadnt, the office of the president would be very different today. Congress would likely have chosen presidents from its own ranks. Meet the sitting president of the United States, Nancy Pelosi, in office for seven years following her election in 2006, but soon to depart in 2013. Morris was among a distinct minority at the Constitutional Convention who believed from the outset that the country needed a strong executive, independent of Congress. Most delegates worried that such a leader could become a royal tyrant in the mold of Britains King George III. Soon after the proceedings began in late May, Benjamin Franklin warned his colleagues that a powerful national executive would not always be of the caliber of their beloved hero, George Washington, whom they had chosen to preside over the convention. The Executive will be always increasing here, as elsewhere, till it ends in a Monarchy, Franklin predicted. To prevent this, he suggested the executive branch be led by more than one man. Despite support from several other delegates, the idea of a plural executive did not prevail. Instead, after less than three days debate, delegates settled on broad outlines for the office: A single chief executive would be appointed by Congress and could be removed at any time for mal-practice or neglect of duty, vague terms that would leave the chosen individual ever at Congress mercy. The chief executive would serve for seven years and could not be reelected. He had no separate powers but could only carry into execution the national laws and make appointments allowed by Congress. That plan remained in place until mid-July, when Morris began to chip at it. Congressional selection of the executive would be the work of intrigue, of cabal, and of faction, he argued. As an alternative, he moved that the chief executive be chosen directly by citizens of the United States, a radical idea that had been advanced and rejected at the beginning of the convention by his fellow Pennsylvania delegate James Wilson. Coming from the man who had expressed his palpable disdain for the common folk at the Manhattan rally on the eve of the Revolution, popular election was a startling proposal, but Morris believed even that was preferable to an executive under the sway of Congress. Not surprisingly, the motion was overwhelmingly rejected by his fellow framers, some of whom felt the nation already suffered from an excess of democracy. But Morris did not give up. Two days later, in an impassioned speech, he argued that the executive must be guardian of the people, even of the lower classes, against Legislative tyranny, against the great and wealthy who in the course of things will necessarily compose the legislative body. Morris thought that the best way to preserve checks and balances in the new government was to create two extremes in the legislature that would curb each others excesses: a democratic branch to represent the masses, offset by a consciously aristocratic counterpoint serving the very top rung of society. While he had once seemed to fear the lower orders, now he expressed an equal concern that the rich will strive to establish their dominion and enslave the rest. The popular branch alone could not check this drive for power, he argued. The rich will take advantage of their passions and make these the instruments for oppressing them. Thats why delegates needed to create a truly independent executive, Morris added, who could function as the great protector of the mass of the people. Morris had several interrelated suggestions. Congress should neither select the chief executive nor impeach himthe people should. The executive should also be permitted to repeat in office if he was doing a good job. If the term of office was shortened from seven to two years, he argued, the people could remove him simply by not reelecting him. The people are the King, he proclaimed. Morris failed to convince his fellow delegates that the chief executive should be chosen by popular election, but he did convince them that four issues were inextricably linkedwho selected the executive, how long he served, whether he was eligible for more than one term and who would remove him from office. When Morris moved at the end of his presentation that the whole constitution of the executive might undergo reconsideration, the state delegations unanimously consented. Shortly after, the framers agreed that the executive would be selected not by Congress, but by a group of electors chosen by state legislatures. They also decided the executive could serve more than once and each term would be shortenednot to two years, as Morris proposed, but from seven years to six. However, Morris partial victory proved illusory. Only four days later delegates retreated to their original plan, including congressional selection of the executive for a single seven-year term. Morris continued his campaign for an independent executive through August, to little avail. But he had one last hope. As floor debates drew to a close on August 31, the convention appointed a Committee of Eleven, one delegate from each state, to suggest solutions to unresolved issues. One week earlier, delegates had settled the selection of the executive: Congress would choose him by a joint ballot (rather than the House and Senate voting separately), the winner would need an absolute majority, and the president of the Senate would break a tie vote. But also on that day Morris had confused the matter with an abstract vote on special electors that failed narrowly, and now the convention hastily approved his motion to send the issue into committee. It just so happened that Pennsylvanias representative on the Committee of Eleven was Gouverneur Morris. There are no official minutes of those backroom proceedings, but Morris fingerprints are all over the results. Most significantly, Congress would not select the chief executive. The committee recommended that special electors chosen by the states would cast their votes for two men, at least one of whom would be from a state not an electors own. The top vote-getter would have the title of president; the second, vice-presidentas Morris had suggested weeks earlier. The committee also recommended that the president could be elected to more than one term, another of Morris top priorities. Each term would last four years. In addition, contrary to a consensus reached during the convention, the committee adopted Morris proposal that the president, not the Senate, be empowered to negotiate treaties and appoint ambassadors and Supreme Court judges. Although the Senate still needed to ratify treaties and confirm appointments, the president would now take the lead. On September 4, when the committee reported its recommendations, some delegates were taken aback. Why had they debated these issues for three months if a committee could suddenly undo their work? Edmund Randolph of Virginia and Charles Pinckney of South Carolina demanded a particular explanation & discussion of the reasons for changing the mode of electing the Executive. Gouverneur Morris answered immediately with the reasons of the Committee and his own. His explanations covered familiar groundthe indispensible necessity of making the Executive independent of the Legislature, the danger of intrigue & faction if the appointmt. should be made by the Legislature, and so on. But this time he spoke from a position of strength. He was no longer an outsider trying to overturn prior positions of the convention; the burden of proof had shifted. If delegates didnt like the committees decisions, it was up to them to say why. After a summer of contentious debates in a hot, steamy room, delegates were worn out. Overwhelmed, they devoted four days to debating the committees momentous reversals, never tackling their full implications. In the end they altered only one provision: If electors failed to produce a clear majority, the House, not the Senate, would choose the president, voting by state delegations. The American presidency, which took shape thanks to Morris stubborn and largely unheralded refusal to accept defeat, has evolved into the most powerful political office in the world, and we now accept the notion of popular election as the norm. Morris traveled far from his prewar disdain for the people, not because he felt any great love toward them, but because he felt it was the only way to insure that the newfound American republic would have a strong and independent chief executive. Four years later, while in France during its revolution, Morris drafted a constitution for that struggling nation that he hoped would save the monarchy. France ignored his recommendation to keep its king, but as that nation succumbed to mob rule, Morris scrambled to provide refuge for terrified French aristocrats. Ray Raphael is the author of the newly released book, Mr. President: How and Why the Founders Created a Chief Executive. Weve got to blow that bridge at Dong Ha, Ripley radioed to Turley. Weve got to buy some time. Je-sus Ma-ry get me there. Jesus-Mary-get-me-there. JesusMarygetmethere! Marine Captain John Walter Ripley repeated this rhythmic chant over and over as his fingers gripped the flanges of the I beam under the bridge and he swung himself, hand-over-hand, toward the boxes of explosives carefully nestled in the steel girders. For three grueling hours, Ripley had clung to the underside of the bridge, dragging some 500 pounds of explosives along the steel beams, meticulously preparing the structure for destruction, all the while under often-intense enemy fire. Fighting complete exhaustion, he was now willing himself through the last steps of the long operation, attaching the blasting caps and fuse cord to the explosives and then getting safely back to the riverbank in one piece. With the leading edge of a massive mechanized offensive by the North Vietnamese Army (NVA)some 200 tanks and 20,000 troops preparing to rumble across the bridgethe very future of South Vietnam hung in the balance. Earlier that day, as the sun rose in the sky and the overwhelming enemy juggernaut prepared to roll over the meager forces arrayed against it, Ripley was sure that he would not live to see that days sunset. In his own mind he was a dead man walking, on his way to certain death. As American involvement in Vietnam was winding down in March 1972, the North Vietnamese decided that the time was right to launch a final offensive, one that would end not only in a military victory but would also deliver a crushing psychological blow to the South Vietnamese and their U.S. allies. The goal of the so-called Eastertide Offensive was to capture Saigon, and the North Vietnamese planned to reach this prize by making three separate but coordinated drives southward: through the Central Highlands, down the Ho Chi Minh Trail and down the coastline on Highway 1. It was this last invasion force, which had as its objective the ancient city of Huea necessary first step to the eventual capture of Saigonthat Ripley encountered at the bridge near the village of Dong Ha. Days earlier, the North Vietnamese Army began putting pressure on South Vietnamese firebases near the demilitarized zone (DMZ). Although the assumption was that the NVA would engage these bases and then back off, South Vietnamese marines nevertheless began moving north to counter the enemy threat. As the lone American adviser to the 3rd Vietnamese Marine Corps infantry battalion, Ripley was with the unit as it moved north to the village of Dong Ha, less than seven miles south of the demilitarized zone. Reaching Dong Ha on April 1, Ripley and the South Vietnamese marines were met with a brutal NVA artillery barrage that lasted all night. Enemy Tanks Stretch From the Dong Ha Bridge Back to the DMZ At daylight the next dayEaster morningthe shelling slowed and Ripley left his bunker to do a reconnaissance and check nearby craters to try to find where the enemy was shooting from. The previous days actions and heavy artillery onslaught had allowed him and his South Vietnamese marines little sleep or food. With craters everywhere, the area resembled the moon, yet it was familiar terrain to Ripley. He had lived, worked and fought around Dong Ha for 12 months in 1967 as a company commander with a U.S. Marine unit. Moreover, Ripley was very familiar with the bridge spanning the Cua Viet River. He had been there when Navy Seabees built it, so he knew how the bridge was constructed, and he understood its tremendous strategic importance as the only bridge that could carry heavy tanks, self-propelled artillery and other similar military vehicles up and down Highway 1South Vietnams only major north-south route. When Ripley returned to his bunker after checking out the situation, he received a call from Lt. Col. Gerald H. Turley, assistant U.S. senior adviser to the Vietnamese marine corps. Turley informed him that a number of enemy tanks were heading south along Highway 1. Initial reports of 20 tanks soon grew to 200. Ripley and the Vietnamese marine battalion commander, Major Le Ba Binh, had solved many tactical problems during their time together, but the threat at the bridge was differentBinhs marines had little capability to stop Soviet-built T-54 tanks. Ripley asked Turley about getting Air Force ordnance to take out the NVA armor, but was told that the ceiling was too low to call in airstrikes and that, even if aircraft were available, there were other threats. As Turley put it, as big as the threat facing Ripley was, It aint the only war in townevery fire base up here is taking crap and some have already gone under.Youre all we haveyouve got to hold that goddamn bridge and youve got to do it alone. Theres nothing here to back you up withdo you read me? Ripley replied to Turley that he understood. But when he learned minutes later that a spotter plane had observed enemy tanks stretching all the way from the Dong Ha Bridge back to the DMZ, he realized that the only way to stop them was to destroy the bridge. He knew that if those 200 tanks and 20,000 North Vietnamese troops crossed the bridge, the enemy could be in Hue by nightfall, and it might well be the beginning of the end for South Vietnam. Pressing for Permission Weve got to blow that bridge at Dong Ha, Ripley radioed to Turley. Got to buy some time. Turley told him that he could not get permission to destroy the structure, explaining that higher headquarters wanted to save the bridgefor a counterattack. What are they smoking back there? an incensed Ripley shouted into the radio. If we try to stop 200 tanks and God knows how many troops with two rifle companies, theres not going to be any goddamned counterattack! While Turley agreed that blowing up the bridge was the right thing to do, he didnt have the authority to give Ripley the go ahead. But, as Ripley later recalled, Lt. Col. Turley took matters into his own hands. He had accepted an enormous responsibility and assumed the authority. Turley shouted to Ripley over the radio, Do it, and worry about the consequences later! But before Ripley could take action, the NVA launched another intense barrage of hundreds of rounds of artillery to smash any resistance to their advance at Dong Ha. Ripley, more determined than ever to get to the bridge, realized that there was a South Vietnamese tank battalion nearby and that he could use one of its M-48A3 tanks to get up to the bridge. The South Vietnamese tankers were not enthusiastic when Ripley asked for one of their tanks, but he managed to persuade them with help from Army Major James E. Smock, the Vietnamese armor units adviser. More important, when Ripley and the tank moved out for the bridge, Smock went with him to provide critical aid. Retired Marine Colonel John G. Miller, author of the book Bridge at Dong Ha, explains that when Ripley and Smock reached the bridge, the two Americans discovered that South Vietnamese Army engineers had brought TNT [trinitrotoluene] to the bridgebut these engineers had not placed the explosives under the bridge, much less attempted to rig it for destruction, since they were terrified of being so far forward. Ripleys Plan to Blow the Bridge Ripleys plan was to move the TNT up into the steel I beams supporting the bridge and push the explosives about 100 feet out from the south side. The TNT would be used in concert with satchels of C4 plastic explosive. The C4 would cut the girders, and the exploding TNT would lift a section of the 500-foot bridge up and then twist it off its supports, sending it crashing to the water below. Ripley knew more than most Marines about explosives because after his first tour in Vietnam, he had a two-year stint with the Royal Marines in Great Britain, where he received practical instruction in demolitions. He had learned during Ranger training that a so-called crooked earmuff charge could be used to cut a steel girder. The technique required explosives be put on both sides of the steel beamlike a pair of earmuffs, but at an angle. If the explosives were placed directly opposite each other, when the two went off, they would cancel each other out. But if they were put on like crooked earmuffsone forward and one backthe force of the two charges would push right past each other and shear the steel beam, taking out one entire section of the span and making the bridge useless to enemy tanks or troops trying to cross the river at Dong Ha. To get to the bridge, Ripley planned to climb over a chain-link fence topped with concertina wire. The Seabees who built the bridge had put up this fence precisely to prevent an enemy saboteur from getting under the bridge and doing precisely what Ripley intended. With Smock depressing the wire, Ripley reached up to the downstream I beam girder, grabbed the beams flanges and began climbing through the wire. After seeing the numerous cuts Ripley was getting across his arms and legs, Smock told him, only half-joking, Just dont bleed to death before you make it through, Rip! Clearing the wire, Ripley tightened his grip on the I beam and let his legs drop free. With his body dangling 50 feet above the river and enemy bullets snapping around him, he hand-walked about 100 feet along the downstream girder carrying two 15-pound C4 satchel charges, his weapon and water slung over his back. His arms ached and he feared losing his grip and falling, but Ripley mustered the strength to swing his torso up into the first of the five channels created by the adjacent girders. He took off the two satchels and then wedged a satchel charge on each side of the first girderset slightly off like crooked earmuffs. Ripley then inched his way back down the first channel to the south bank of the river to get more explosives. Smock had already lifted up the first two 75-pound boxes of TNT and satchel charges and pushed them through the wire into the channel. Dead-tired but fixated on the task ahead of him, Ripley grabbed the bottom box and began dragging the explosives after him, inch by inch, along the beam to the satchel charges he had already set up. He carefully tucked the boxes of TNT into them. He then dropped down below the channel long enough to grab the flange on the adjacent I beam and swing up into the second channel. Guessing the Length of Fuse Cord As soon as his body was exposed, however, the North Vietnamese started firing at him again. Their rifle shots missed, but the ricocheting bullets seemed to go on forever. In the next 90 minutes, Ripley crawled back to the south bank and hauled boxes of TNT into place in each of the five I beam channels. The South Vietnamese marines provided some covering fire from the south bank of the river, but the North Vietnamese maintained a constant stream of fire at Ripley from the north bank. Ripley could see the column of North Vietnamese ganged up on the north bank, ready to roll, and he kept thinking: Why arent they trying to get across the bridge? Why arent they directing some of their attention to me? What are they doing over there? The South Vietnamese marines and Smocks tankers on the south side of the bridge, defending Ripley, would not have been sufficient to deter the North Vietnamese from crossing. Regardless of why, Ripley was thankful for every spare second he could get. When he went to wire the explosives, he could not find any electric caps, so he decided to use time fusesa little more problematic. He would have to guess the length of the fuse cord he needed so that he and Smock would have time to escape the blast. Ripley knew that the cord was supposed to burn about a foot a minute, but he had to estimate how much to usewhich he did by using his arm as a three-foot measuring stick. Ripley discovered that he also didnt have a crimpera plier-type tool used to fasten a blasting cap to the fuse. I had to take the blasting cap and open the one end, he said later. Then I had to take it and stick it backwards in my mouth with the opening out and put it way back in and bite the end of this thing. It was gagging me, it was so far back in my mouth. If Ripley bit too low on the blasting cap, he would not get a good crimp. If he bit too high, he might set the blasting cap offand literally lose his head. With the blasting caps in his breast pockets and the fuse cord coiled over both shoulders, Ripley crawled through the razor wire yet again, grabbed the I beams flanges and hand walked out to the explosivespraying to God as the sounds of hundreds of ricocheting bullets rang out that he could get there and return in one piece. Ripleys rhythmic chant, Jes-sus Ma-ry get me there kept his momentum going as he hand-walked down the steel beam. Just after reaching the upstream box of TNT and pulling himself up into the I beams channel, a T-54 tank round hit less than two feet from where his left hand had grasped the lower flange. Holy Mother of God, theyve got me this time! he thought. The round failed to explode on contact, however, because the tanks angle of fire was too sharp. But, glancing off the steel beam, it struck the south bank of the river and detonated. Ripley nearly lost his grip. Regaining his composure, Ripley located the C4 and dug a hole in it with his K-Bar knife. He inserted a blasting cap into the plastic explosives, which remained attached to one of the coils of primer cord, struck a match and lit the fuse cord. It began to burn like a Fourth of July sparkler. Ripley repeated the process, working as fast as he could. He reached the downstream I beam, dug a hole with his K-Bar in the satchel charge, inserted the blasting cap and lit the second cord. He calculated for, and hoped for, about 30 minutes of burn time. Going Back Up Under the BridgeAgain When Ripley finally rejoined Smock on the south shore of the river, to his dismay he discovered a box of electric caps that he hadnt seen earlier. Ripley knew that he had to go back up under the bridge one more time and set the electric caps as a back up to the now-burning fuse cord. Finding some old communication wire, Ripley attached it to the wire leads of five electric caps, and thenin the face of withering NVA small-arms fire directed at himclimbed once again through the razor wire and hand-walked out the upstream I beam. Once he got to the nearest box of demolitions, Ripley pulled himself up into the channel and inserted the first cap into the satchel of C4. He did the same with the remaining four caps, spliced their lead wires and then returnedhand over handto the south bank of the river. Ripley and Smock had realized earlier that, even if they succeeded in destroying the Seabee-built bridge, an old French-built bridge located nearby could possibly be used by the enemy as an alternate means to cross the river. So, while Ripley set the electrical caps in the Route 1 bridge, Smock put a few boxes of TNT under the old bridge in the hope that it would be destroyed by sympathetic detonation when the main Dong Ha bridge blew up. Their rigging missions finally complete, Ripley and Smock sprinted back to friendly linesto the cheers of the South Vietnamese. Ripley spotted a destroyed jeep and realized that its battery would give him the electrical source needed to detonate the electric caps. When he touched the wire to the battery terminals, however, nothing happened. At that moment, Ripley saw a young Vietnamese girl who had been separated from her mother as they ran for cover along the road. When an enemy mortar round hit right behind the girl, Ripley realized she would never make it to safety on her own. Sprinting to the girl, he scooped her up in his arms and ran with her toward her mother. When he neared the woman, he and the girl were blown off their feet by a massive explosion. The time fuses had worked! As the young girl scrambled to her feet and ran away, a stunned Ripley looked back toward the bridge to see a 100-foot gap between the rivers south bank and the rest of the bridge. The wooden timbers of the rest of the bridge were also ablaze, and would continue to burn for five days. Even the adjacent old French bridge had been blown in half. The Bridge Is Down The bridge is down! Ripley radioed to Colonel Turley. I say again, the bridge is down. Shes in the river. They wont cross at Dong Ha! Ripleys daring had literally saved the dayand countless South Vietnamese lives at Dong Ha. After the bridge was blown, the North Vietnamese on the north bank stopped firing their weapons, turned off their tank engines and opened the hatches. Many of them could not escape death, as Ripley now called in naval gunfire from American destroyers on the gun line offshore. The Navy walked its gunfire, with Ripley adjusting, along the north bank of the river, destroying many of the NVA tanks. Ripley never understood why the North Vietnamese had not crossed the bridge during the three-hour period that he and Smock labored to rig it with explosives. That was one of the most inexplicable parts of the whole affair, he said. While the enemy invasion down Highway 1 had been haltedthe North Vietnamese never did cross the Cua Viet River at Dong Hathings were not going as well for the South Vietnamese to the south and west. Eventually the NVA fought its way across upstream bridges to the west, where it then battled South Vietnamese defenders at My Chanh River, 15 miles south of Cua Viet. But the course of the invasion had been changed dramatically by the destruction of the bridge at Dong Ha, a critical factor in the eventual failure of the entire 1972 North Vietnamese offensive to end the war. It would take another three years before the NVA would be able to mount another offensive on this scale. Ripleys heroic action on Easter Sunday 1972 is perhaps the best example of how an individual can change the outcome of a battle, if not a war. Captain John Ripley was just one man at one bridge on one day near the end of a long war, but what he did will be heralded by warriors for generations to come. A Mighty Marine Legend: John Ripley Born on June 29, 1939, John Walter Ripley, known as Rip to his friends, grew up in Radford, Va. He enlisted in the Marine Corps after high school in 1957, completed the Naval Academy preparatory school and then entered the U.S. Naval Academy. He graduated in 1962 and was commissioned a Marine second lieutenant. After finishing The Basic School, Ripley was assigned to the aircraft carrier Independence for a year, then joined the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines, where he served as a rifle and weapons platoon commander. He also completed basic parachutist, scuba, Ranger and Jumpmaster training. Ripley first went to Vietnam in October 1966 as a captain and commander of Company L, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. While with Lima 3/3 near the demilitarized zone, he was wounded in action and was decorated with the Purple Heart. He also received the Silver Star for his gallantry during an attack against a North Vietnamese Army regimental command post. In October 1969, Ripley was chosen to be an exchange officer to the British Royal Marines. He was one of the last U.S. Marines to go through training with Royal Marine recruits and later was deployed with them to Singapore and northern Malaya. He spent several months on campaign in the jungle with the famous Gurkha Rifles and received additional training in demolitions. At the end of his two years with the Royal Marines, Ripley had developed a set of fighting skills possessed by very few U.S. Marines. He returned to Vietnam as the lone adviser to the 3rd South Vietnamese marine battalion in June 1971, and he was with them during the NVA-Easter Offensive in 1972. After leaving Southeast Asia later that year, Ripley served in a variety of assignments. He commanded 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, from 1979 to 1981 and graduated from the Naval War College in 1982. He then served on the joint staff before becoming Senior Marine and Director, Division of English and History, at the U.S. Naval Academy. In 1988 Ripley took command of the 2nd Marine Regiment at Camp Lejeune. After completing this tour, he commanded the Navy-Marine Corps ROTC at Virginia Military Institute. Retiring as a colonel in 1992, Ripley was tapped to be president of Southern Virginia College and later served as president of the Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia. Ripley returned to the Corps in 1999 as the civilian director of the Marine Corps History and Museums Division. In 2002 he became the first Marine officer to receive the Distinguished Graduate Award from the Naval Academy. Ripley left his history and museums position in 2005. He died on October 28, 2008, at his home in Annapolis. Fred L. Borch served for 25 years as an active-duty Army lawyer. A professionally trained historian, he is the regimental historian and archivist for the Army Judge Advocate Generals Corps. His latest book, Sea Service Medals, was published earlier this year by the Naval Institute Press. John Brown Gordon lay face down in the dust and smoke swirling along a sunken farm road in Maryland. It was midafternoon on September 17, 1862. Only moments before, the tall, slender colonel had used his booming voice to rally his 6th Alabama Infantry in their defense of the Sunken Road at the Battle of Sharpsburg, despite being slowed by two gunshot wounds to his right leg and one each in his left arm and left shoulder. As his men held the road that would later be re-christened Bloody Lane, a Yankee bullet had slammed into Gordons face, knocking him senseless and pitching him face-down into his hat. To this point the 32-year-old rising star of the Confederacy had been an inspiring leader with a seemingly charmed life. He had entered the war as captain of a group of mountain men from northwest Georgia, southwest Tennessee and northeast Alabama. The group, known as the Raccoon Roughs because of their coonskin caps, had marched from Georgia to Montgomery, Ala., to join the 6th Alabama. Although Gordon lacked any formal military training, his natural command presence and quick-thinking coolness under fire at the First Battle of Manassas had quickly earned him respect and the eventual promotion to colonel in April 1862. Even though he was only a colonel, Gordon assumed command of his brigade off-and-on during the fighting on the Virginia Peninsula. He had learned how to lead men into battle at Seven Pines, riding ramrod straight ahead of his men, bullets piercing his clothes but not his body; at Malvern Hill, where a bursting artillery shell blinded him temporarily; and at South Mountain, where his regiment alone remained intact during a fighting retreat from overwhelming Union forces. At Sharpsburg, two brigades under Brig. Gens. Robert E. Rodes and G.B. Anderson held the center of the Rebel line along the Sunken Road. Gordons 6th Alabama Regiment, part of Rodes Brigade, held the ground closest to the Yankees, who were advancing southwest toward the road. Gordon ordered his men to wait until the Yankees were within 30 paces. Then he hollered, Fire! My rifles flamed and roared in the Federals faces like a blinding blaze of lightning accompanied by the quick and deadly thunderbolt, Gordon wrote in his memoir. The effect was appalling. Three more times the Yankees charged and three more times a Confederate volley stopped them. Now the Union soldiers lay down and opened fire. But Gordons men, who had seen so many fall at their commanders side, felt secure with their leader and his seeming invulnerability. My extraordinary escapes from wounds in all the previous battles had made a deep impression upon my comrades as well as upon my own mind, Gordon wrote. If I had allowed these expressions of my men to have any effect upon my mind, the impression was quickly dissipated when the Sharpsburg storm came and the whizzing Minies, one after another, began to pierce my body. A ball struck Gordon in the leg, passing through his right calf. A second ball hit him in the same leg. An hour later another ball tore through his left arm, tearing tendons and muscles. A fourth struck his shoulder. Weak from loss of blood, Gordon struggled to lead his men. Seeing the right of his line in jeopardy from enfilading fire, he started to walk there but was struck by a fifth ball that slammed through his left cheek and shattered his jaw. Gordon fell face down into his hat. He noted later that he might have drowned in his own blood had not a thoughtful Yankee earlier given the hat a bullet hole that allowed the blood to drain out. Gordon told a friend later that as he lay on the battlefield, he imagined that half of his head had been shot away and that he was dead, but then he figured a dead man couldnt move his limbs. Gordon biographer Ralph Lowell Eckert said that the colonel crawled about 100 yards to the rear, where the Confederates were forming a new line, and passed out again. Gordon was carried on a litter to a barn where 6th Alabama Assistant Surgeon Thaddeus J. Weatherly dressed his wounds. When Gordon revived late that night he found himself lying on a pile of straw. My faithful surgeon, Dr. Weatherly, who was my devoted friend, was at my side, with his fingers on my pulse, Gordon recalled. As I revived, his face was so expressive of distress that I asked him: What do you think of my case, Weatherly? He made a manly effort to say that he was hopeful. I knew better and said: You are not honest with me. You think I am going to die; but I am going to get well. Long afterward, when the danger was past, he admitted that this assurance was his first and only basis of hope. Gordons spirited young wife Fanny, who followed her husband throughout his military campaigns, came to the barn as soon as she learned her husband had been wounded. When she reached him, she suppressed a scream as Gordon struggled to joke with her, saying he had been to an Irish wedding. Fanny nursed her husband for seven months. She dressed his wounds, fed him brandy and beef tea because his jaw was wired shut, and provided long hours of bedside care and devotion. When Gordon contracted erysipelas, a serious bacterial infection, in his left arm, she kept the wounds painted with iodine. With Fannys care and his own strong will, Gordon miraculously recovered. Gordon returned to duty in March 1863 and was given command of a brigade of six Georgia regiments in Lt. Gen. Jubal Earlys Division. After leading a successful assault on Maryes Heights in Fredericksburg during the Battle of Chancellorsville in May, Gordon was promoted to brigadier general. As General Robert E. Lee restructured his army, Earlys Division was absorbed into Lt. Gen. Richard Ewells Second Corps and marched into the Shenandoah Valley as part of Lees second attempt to invade the North. At Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, Gordons brigade of 1,200 Georgians rolled up the Federal right flank north of the town and was driving the Yankees until ordered to halt by Early and Ewell, which Gordon later contended was a mistake that cost the Rebels the battle. It would be 10 months before Gordon fought again, this time at the Battle of the Wilderness near the grounds of the Chancellorsville battlefield. As Ewells corps was being pushed west along the Orange Turnpike, Ewell rode up to Gordon and told him, General Gordon, the fate of the day depends on you, sir. Gordon wrote in his memoir that he replied, These men will save it, sir, although he wondered to himself how they would accomplish the feat. Gordons men charged into the Union line, only to find themselves part of that line. Thinking quickly, Gordon ordered half his command to face right and the other half to face left and attack. The unprecedented move worked, the Federal advance was shattered, and Ewells men recaptured their lost ground. The next morning Gordon discovered that the Federal right flank was completely unprotected, but Early and Ewell were skeptical, mistakenly fearing that Yankee reinforcements had to be nearby. When Gordon finally received permission to attack late that afternoon, the assault succeeded until halted by darkness. The Yankees pulled away and began a march to Spotsylvania Court House, where Gordonnow in command of Earlys former division while Early led the Third Corpsagain proved to be a superb leader. Inside the Mule Shoe salient, he skillfully moved his brigades to counter attacks by Colonel Emory Upton on May 10 and Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock on May 12. As Gordon rode to find the exact location of the Federals, a Minie ball whizzed through his coat, grazing his back. When an aide asked Gordon whether he had been hit, Gordon scolded the young officer for slouching in his own saddle: Sit up or youll be killed! As Gordon returned to his men, he found General Robert E. Lee riding his horse Traveller to the center of the line, preparing to join the charge. Gordon shouted, General Lee, this is no place for you. These men behind you are Georgians and Virginians. They have never failed you and will not fail you here. Will you boys? Gordons men yelled, No, no, well not fail him. Gordon took Travellers bridle and handed it to two soldiers to escort Lee to the rear. Gordons charge into what he later called a fire from hell itself pushed the Yankees out of the eastern side of the salient. Fighting raged into the next day, but the Confederates held on and established a new line. Gordon was promoted to major general. Two months later Gordon again displayed his brilliance as a leader, in the little-known but crucial Battle of Monocacy, which took place four miles south of Frederick, Md., on a blistering hot July 9, 1864. Gordons Brigade was part of Earlys corps, sent by Lee to rid the Shenandoah Valley of Union troops, and then cross into Maryland and threaten Washington, D.C. Early was about to do the latter when Union Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace forced him into battle at the Monocacy River, just 40 miles from the nations capital. Earlys forces outnumbered Wallaces troops about 14,000 to 6,400, but Early did not want to fight and kept many of his troops in reserve. But when the going got tough, Gordon led his division to a decisive but bloody victory. Following an ill-advised and disastrous dismounted cavalry charge by John McCausland, Gordon led three brigades of Georgia, Louisiana and Virginia infantry regiments into the teeth of two brigades of Brig. Gen. James Ricketts division of battle-hardened VI Corps troops. The fighting, Gordon later said, was desperate and at close quarters. To and fro the battle swayed across [a] little stream, the dead and wounded of both sides mingling their blood in its waters. When the fighting concluded, he said, a crimsoned current ran toward the river. Nearly one half of my men and large numbers of the Federals fell there. The battle ended when Gordon, aided by massed artillery, flanked the remnants of Ricketts line on the Georgetown Pike. As Confederate Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge observed, Gordon, if you had never made a fight before, this ought to immortalize you! A month later, on August 25, 1864, Gordon received another serious wound, this time in a skirmish near Shepherdstown, W.Va. He suffered a head wound that bled extensively, though accounts differ on how the wound occurred. Earlys topographer, Jedediah Hotchkiss, wrote in his journal that Gordons wound was from a saber cut. Three weeks later, as Union Maj. Gen. Phil Sheridan moved on Winchester, division commanders Gordon and Maj. Gen. Robert E. Rodes found themselves with 6,000 men facing Sheridans 30,000. As they conferred on what to do, Rodes was mortally wounded when a shell fragment struck him in the back of the head. Gordon took command of both divisions and ordered a charge that halted the Federal cavalrymen and pushed them back. Gordons men thought they had won the battle, but Sheridan re-formed his men and routed the Confederates, even as Fanny Gordon, caught up in the retreat, pled for them to make a stand. On October 19 Gordon, commanding the Second Corps in Earlys army, struck Sheridans men, routing two-thirds of them at the Battle of Cedar Creek southwest of Middletown, Va. Gordons plan for a final assault to sweep the Union VI Corps from the field was overruled by Early, who said the Yankees were beaten. But Sheridan re-formed the men and pushed the Confederates from the fielda victory that spelled the end for Confederate campaigning in the Shenandoah Valley. In December 1864, Gordon was ordered to rejoin the Army of Northern Virginia as commander of the bulk of the Second Corps while Early remained in the valley. Lees army faced a siege at Petersburg, Va., by Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and the Army of the Potomacand after study and consultation, Lee ordered Gordon to find a spot to attack. Gordon chose Fort Stedman on the Union lines east of Petersburg. Gordons attack early on March 25, 1865, started well but within three hours Union reinforcements had contained Gordons breakthrough, which the exhausted Confederates lacked reserves to support. By 8 a.m. Gordon began to withdraw his men as a vicious Federal barrage of fire swept the no-mans land between the lines. Some 3,500 Confederates were captured, killed or wounded, including Gordon, who suffered a flesh wound in the leg. That all but marked the end for the Army of Northern?Virginia. Six days later, Union forces turned Lees right flank at Five Forks and forced the Rebels out of their Petersburg defenses and into a retreat that ended with them bottled up west of the Appomattox River. Lee had no choice but to surrender to Grant, on April 9. Gordon had the bittersweet honor of leading the Confederate troops in the surrender ceremonies at Appomattox Court House. As the defeated Rebels filed past their Federal counterparts, with Gordon riding at the head of the Second Corps, Union Brig. Gen. Joshua Chamberlain ordered his assembled soldiers to snap their muskets from order arms to carry arms in a show of respect. Gordon instantly wheeled his horse and touched it with a spur so that the horses head bowed, and Gordon touched his swordpoint to his toe in salute. He ordered his men to also shift to carry arms to return the gesture. The men who served with him, enlisted and officers, also sang Gordons praises. Gordon always had something pleasant to say to his men, and I will bear my testimony that he was the most gallant man I ever saw on a battlefield, wrote John W. Worsham, a foot soldier with the 21st Virginia Infantry Regiment, who also had served under Lt. Gen. Thomas Stonewall Jackson. He wrote that Gordon had a way of putting things to the men that was irresistible, and he showed the men, at all times, that he shrank from nothing in battle on account of himself. Gordon went back into private business in Georgia after the war. In 1868 he ran unsuccessfully as the Democratic candidate for governor. Despite that defeat, Gordon soon launched a successful political career. He was elected in 1873 as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate, where he became a voice for reconciliation between the North and South. At the same time, he worked assiduously to remove Federal troops from the South and, wanting to maintain prominence for Southern whites, he became active in the budding Ku Klux Klan. Gordon was re-elected to the Senate in 1879 and served until May 1880, when he resigned to go into private business once again. Gordon was elected governor of Georgia in 1886, served two terms, and returned to the U.S. Senate in 1891. He became the first president of the United Confederate Veterans in 1889. John Brown Gordon died in Miami at age 71 on January 9, 1904, three months after his memoir, Reminiscences of the Civil War, was published. The general even received a tribute from President Theodore Roosevelt, who summed up what many felt by saying, A more gallant, generous, and fearless gentleman and soldier has not been seen by our country. IT WAS NOT until Henry Wadsworth Longfellows wife died in a fire that he stopped shaving and grew a beard. He was 54 when the tragedy happened in 1861. Until then his clean-lined New Englanders face had been smooth-shaven, his eyes bright and beaming. The bearded Longfellow, captured in photographs a few years later, seems a different man. His head is surrounded by a mass of snowy, storm-tossed hair, his eyes are narrowed and staring into the distance with what seems like ominous insight. Longfellow himself was seriously burned as he tried to save his wife, and though facial hair was surging into fashion in those years it has long been thought that he grew his beard to cover the scars on his face. The deeper wounds were likewise never displayed, but of course they were there, emerging in lines like these from a posthumously published sonnet called The Cross of Snow: Here in this room she died; and soul more white / Never through martyrdom of fire was led / To its repose. Here in this room she died: The words take on eerie power as you stand in the library of Longfellows house, where Fanny Longfellow caught fire that dreadful July day, or in the bedroom where she died the next morning. The house is on Brattle Street in Cambridge, Mass., where it overlooks Longfellow Park andin earlier years, before the city began to crowd inonce had a sweeping view of the nearby Charles River through its upper windows. From the outside, its a straightforward Georgian mansion, an enticing symmetrical box of pale yellow, with white pilasters and dual chimneys peeking through a rooftop balustrade. It was once one of the most famous houses in the country, the home for 45 years of 19th-century Americas most celebrated author. It was in this house that Longfellow wrote Evangeline and The Song of Hiawatha. Beloved poems like The Childrens Hour were set within its rooms. It was here that he entertained a dazzling registry of esteemed friends and foreign visitors, raised five children and lost one, and translated Dante into English. The house is still much visited today, though with each passing generation Longfellows poetry has become more and more a musty national memory. The National Park Service, which maintains the house, refers to it as Longfellow HouseWashingtons Headquarters National Historic Site. That is because the house, built in 1759, was where George Washington lived in 1775 and 1776, when he was forging the Continental Army and pressing the Siege of Boston. Longfellow was well aware of the houses hallowed provenance when, as a young poet and Harvard professor who had already been widowed once, he rented rooms here in 1837. The house at that time was owned by Elizabeth Craigie, whose late husband, Andrew, had bought the property in 1791. Craigie added side porches and a rear extension to the house and updated its Georgian architecture with various Federalist flourishes. The eccentric, beturbaned Mrs. Craigie turned Longfellow away at first when he inquired about a room, thinking he was just another unreliable student. But she changed her mind when he called her attention to a book on her side table titled Outre-Mer, a recent best-selling prose account of a young mans sojourns in Europe, and identified himself as its author. I live in a great house which looks like an Italian villa, Longfellow crowed to a friend after he moved in. Have two large rooms opening into each other. They were once Gen. Washingtons chambers. Anyone would have been delighted to live in Washingtons rooms, but for Longfellow the pride was acute. He had grown up in a home in Portland, Maine, in which an engraving of Washington hung over the mantelpiece, and through his grandfather Peleg Wadswortha hero of the Revolutionary Warthe family had acquired a lock of the gen-erals hair snipped by Martha Washington herself and protected in a gold locket. When Longfellow moved into the Craigie house, he could have had no idea that he would one day own it outright, that he would live and write there until he grew old and died, and would be laid out in the same room where his wife met her gruesome accident. By that time the Craigie house that had once been Washingtons headquarters would be enshrined as the Longfellow House, so well-known and admired for its chaste architectural grandeur that replicas would be built around the country and a mail-order version offered in the 1918 Sears Roebuck catalogue. I ARRIVED at the Longfellow House on a bright summer morning and joined a tour that was just beginning at the back of the building. We were ushered through the laundry and kitchen and latter-day entrance hallway added by the Craigies until we stood in the dining room, in the heart of the original structure. Like the other rooms of the house, it is stolid and ornate at the same time, anchored by sideboards and bookcases of black walnut, its gilded walls hung with portraits of Longfellows extensive family, European landscape paintings and a flaming sunset study titled Hiawathas Departure that was presented to Longfellow by the artist himself, Albert Bierstadt. Charles Dickens, among many other notables, dined here with Longfellow. Standing beneath a portrait of Longfellows three daughters, our guide thoughtfully recited lines from The Childrens Hour: From my study I see in the lamplight, / Descending the broad hall stair, / Grave Alice, and laughing Allegra, / And Edith with golden hair. A few moments later we were standing in that same study, where Longfellow had watched his children coming down the stairs, and vowed to them in verse And there I will keep you forever, / Yes, forever and a day. Forever has come and gone, and with it most of Longfellows once titanic reputation. His poetry turned out to be too comfortable, too confirming, too crafted to withstand the 20th-century blast of modernist thought and the withdrawal of poetry from the open air of the marketplace and into the academic laboratories, where poems like his that lodged in the brain by virtue of their metrical regularity and transparent meaningListen my children and you shall hear / Of the midnight ride of Paul Revereoffered so little to dissect. Longfellow had a personality that trended toward depression, but overall he did a good job of keeping the darkness at bay throughout some harrowing experiences. He was an industrious family man, faithful, warm-hearted, extremely well-off, with none of the fiery self-destructiveness or hermitic tendencies that would come to be regarded as indicators of an uncompromising poetic temperament. None of that helped to extend his reputation into a dramatically changing world. He came to be seen, notes his recent biographer Charles C. Calhoun, as a symbol of everything that a writer should not be. Longfellows study, where Washington had met with his generals and with Benjamin Franklin, and where he came to the conclusion that America must declare its independence from Great Britain, is an intimate room off the entry hall. One can imagine it overflowing with books and manuscripts during the poets productive life, but now it is tidy and feels rather ghostly, with Longfellows stand-up writing desk next to the window and a powerful-looking wooden armchair by the fireplace. The armchair was a 72nd birthday gift to the poet from the schoolchildren of Cambridge, carved from the same sort of spreading chestnut tree that he had made indelible in his poem The Village Blacksmith. Also in the study are a bust of Dante and a statuette of Goethe, reminders that Longfellows mind ranged far from the cozy New World subject matter for which he is so loftily dismissed today. Longfellow spoke eight languages, wrote or translated as a young professor his own French and Spanish textbooks, later formed the famous Dante Club in which, canto by canto, he tried out his translation of The Divine Comedy in front of great minds like William Dean Howells, James Russell Lowell and Charles Eliot Norton. He was the most cosmopolitan American writer of his age, enriching his countrys cultural life with European thought and poetic forms. Longfellow House conveys so strongly a sense of hearth and home that its easy to forget what a driven traveler its owner wasWant action, he once complained in a letter to a friend, want to travelam too excitedtoo tumultuous inwardly. It was no armchair poet who sat in that spreading chestnut armchair. He first went to Europe in 1826 at the age of 19, having convinced his indulgent lawyer father that in order to pursue a career as a professor of modern languages he needed the opportunity to master those languages in the countries where they were spoken. He was gone three years, visiting France, Spain, Italy and Germany, enthralled by everything he encountered. He came home to Maine, taught French and Spanish at Bowdoin College, published essays and translations, married the daughter of a Portland judge, was offered a professorship at Harvard and wrote Outre-Mer, the book that brought him to the notice of his future landlady. Before Longfellow moved to Cambridge and took up his prestigious position at Harvard, he set off on another grand tour of Europe, this time taking his new wife. But the pregnant Mary Storer Potter Longfellow suffered a miscarriage in Amsterdam. She recovered enough to go on to Rotterdam, but once there she began to steadily weaken and grow feverish. In her last moments she told her young husband she would always remember his kindness to her. Shattered and guilt-stricken, Longfellow sent his wifes body home to her parents in a lead coffin and robotically continued his pilgrimage. Seven months later, in the Swiss Alps, he met Fanny Appleton, the daughter of a Massachusetts industrialist of lordly wealth. Fanny was 19 and had recently lost her mother and brother to tuberculosis. She had embarked on the Grand Tour with her father and her cousin William, but by the time she met Longfellow, William was dying of the same disease. They were both vulnerable in their grief, though Longfellow seems to have fallen harder for Fanny than she did for him. Back in Boston, in her Beacon Hill mansion, she decided to keep him at a careful distance. For seven years he remained desperately in love with her, while she seems to have regarded him as nothing much more than a fond social acquaintance. Her indifference drove him into gloomy reflection, but also into a remarkable creative stretch in which he produced, among other works, poems such as The Wreck of the Hesperus, The Village Blacksmith and the universally beloved-when-not-reviled anthem to the power of positive thinking A Psalm of Life: Life is real! Life is earnest! / And the grave is not its goal. A less stirring but more striking poem from this period is a sonnet called Mezzo Cammin that begins: Half of my life is gone, and I have let / The years slip from me and have not fulfilled / The aspiration of my youth to build / Some tower of song with lofty parapet. Less than a year after he wrote this beautiful, despairing poem, he received a letter from Fanny Appleton in which she hinted at a better dawn. She had changed her mind, he discovered, and would marry him after all. Her fathers wedding gift to the couple: the Craigie house, where Longfellow had lived as a boarder all the long years he had been pining for Fanny. Washingtons headquarters now became Longfellows headquarters, the seat of his ever-expanding fame and of his growing family. Six children were born to Henry and Fanny there. One of them, Frances, died at the age of a year and a half (There is no flock, however watched and tended, / But one dead lamb is there!) but overall it seems to have been a thriving, happy household, presided over by the quiet poet patriarch at his stand-up desk. Those who lived there, Oliver Wendell Holmes ominously noted of his friends house in the 1850s, had their happiness so perfect that no change, of all changes which must come to them, could fail to be for the worse. FROM THE STUDY, our tour entered the library. Its a long, open, spacious room with an oak library table in the center, a Japanese screen at one end and bookcases filled with French, German and Italian poets, the various languages bound in different colors of vellum and leather. Fanny Longfellows desk sits by the window overlooking the piazza. It was here that it happened. By one account, she was holding wax up to a candle in order to seal away a lock of one of her childrens hair. By another, her youngest daughter was playing with matches at her feet. In any case, flames rapidly traveled up Fannys muslin hoop-dress and she ran into the study, where Longfellow was napping, and cried Henry! He woke up and managed to put the fire out, burning himself in the process. He carried her up to their second floor bedroom, known today as the Gold Ring room because of a large curtain ring that hangs from the ceiling over the sleigh bed. She died here the next day. He was too badly burned and too sedated to go to her funeral. He could never bring himself to speak to his children about their mothers death. How I am alive after what my eyes have seen, he wrote, I know not. Longfellow himself would die in this same room, but not for another 20 yearsnot until he had finished translating Dante and prolifically published more poems, though his most enduring work was behind him. He was not by nature a public man, but people from all over the world flocked to Craigie house to shake his hand, and with admirable patience he answered the letters of tens of thousands of correspondents who asked for his autograph or his opinion of their amateur poetry. How will men speak of me when I am gone, Longfellow wrote in a verse play about Michelangelo, composed when he was in his late 60s. When all this colorless, sad life is ended, / And I am as dust? It was a question that lingered when the tour ended and I left through the gift shop at the back of the house. For most of my reading life, I realized with a touch of regret, I had blindly conformed to the conventional sophisticated wisdom that Longfellow was not nearly as important or interesting a poet as his contemporaries Emily Dickinson or Walt Whitman, or his distant relation Ezra Pound. Who, except wretched schoolchildren, now reads Longfellow? wrote the literary critic Ludwig Lewisohn in 1932. He never touches poetry. But anyone who approaches Longfellows work with an open mind has to ask: Who reads Lewisohn? If Longfellow really needs defending, I thought, you could start with what is the greatest, strongest, most mysterious, most resonant first line in American literature: This is the forest primeval. You dont have to read the rest of Evangeline, or even like it very much, but in those few opening words there is something glorious and permanent. And all those overly familiar lines scattered through his work that can seem now like laughable clichesSail on, O Ship of State! I shot an arrow into the air, footprints on the sands of time, let us, then, be up and doing, the patter of little feet, ships that pass in the nightare not cliches at all, but phrases that were so clear and original when first read they simply slipped into our common vocabulary. It was work well done, a life well lived, in a house well built. When I left the Longfellow House and walked out onto Brattle Street carrying a brand-new copy of the Selected Poems, I left with the poets trochees and hexameters in my head. They sounded like something close to the American heartbeat. Stephen Harrigan is the author of the novels Remember Ben Clayton and The Gates of the Alamo. This article originally appeared in the June 2013 issue of American History magazine. Ray Manzo would not leave his comrades behind. A combat engineer in Company B, 7th Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, Manzos 2nd Platoon was on a mine sweep near Hoi An on November 6, 1968, when it came upon a group of South Vietnamese soldiers firing into a treeline. The first lieutenant told his platoon to hold up. Instead of me stopping, I followed the lieutenant another 20 yards, Manzo said. The shooting had ceased and the lieutenant praised the South Vietnamese, who were yelling: Beaucoup VC! Beaucoup VC! Then the lieutenant said, OK, Manzo, move em out. As I raised my arm, I turned toward the platoon and watched as one of our men was blown in half, Manzo recalled. In an instant, seven command-detonated mines were tearing his platoon to shreds. Viet Cong ambushers raked the Marines as they dived for cover. Manzo spotted a wounded Marine and called a corpsman to get to him. When the corpsman balked because of the intense enemy fire, Manzo decided to go instead. The guy was across the road, and I thought: OK, God, its just you and me. I say youre gonna help me cross this road, get him and come back, or Im gonna stay there forever. I got beside the guy and said: Koonsman, you have to crawl on my back. I cant raise up, Ill be a dead man. He tried rolling over, but fell back, screaming in pain. Bullets were smacking the road next to my body. I yelled, Koonsman, get on my back or Im gonna drag you across every rock I can find! He finally climbed on, and I got him to safety. Manzo then saw another wounded Marine in the line of fire. He just sat there, shrugging his shoulders as we called him, Manzo said. So I ran and grabbed him, and carried him back. He had serious leg wounds and couldnt move. Manzo then went for a third Marine, but found he was dead and had to leave him until the fighting stopped. For his bravery that day, Manzo was awarded a Bronze Star Medal. Three weeks later, he saved the lives of two Korean Marines and was instrumental in quelling enemy positions during a five-hour house-to-house firefight. They wanted to put me up for a Silver Star and a Bronze Star for the others, recalled Manzo. The others refused the Bronze Star. I said if they dont get it, I dont get it. Besides, we were just doing what we were trained to do. Ingrained in Manzo was the belief that you never leave a comrade behind. Hed risked his life living to that standard in Vietnam, and would later be driven by it back home. After Vietnam, Manzo didnt look back. I just wanted to put it all behind me, he said. When people would cry and tell me about the guys getting killed, I didnt want to know about it. My life just moved on, until the spring of 1987, when I went to Washington to see the Wall. Thats when I learned we knowingly left guys behind after the war. I had never heard anything about it before. Manzo would never be the same. He experienced an all-consuming drive to right an unfathomable wrong: that the nation had reneged on its sacred vow to its warriors to leave no man behind. It was eating at me like a cancer, he said. I kept asking, what can be done to make this country aware that guys were left behind and could still be in Southeast Asia. In September 1987, Manzo heard about a Vietnam Veterans Motorcycle Club POW vigil in Asbury Park, N.J. He checked it out, holding a makeshift flag pole flying an American flag, the POW/MIA flag and Marine Corps flag. Standing there observing the group, vigilant and proud, it struck him: These are the kind of guys who can get the POW issue the national attention it needs. What crystallized in Manzos mind was the notion that a massive demonstration by thousands of bikers could stir the country to action. He went home and started writing hundreds of letters to military and veterans organizations, congressmen, senators, and newspapers and magazines, including a handful of biker magazines. I am asking for your assistance in organizing a Nationwide Run all across America for as many bikers as possible to ride to Washington, D.C., for Memorial Day 1988 and bring about an end to the POW/MIA problem, the letter said. We have to make one more huge effort to get our POW/MIAs home. Please help. Weeks passed and Manzo felt dejected by the lack of response, until an issue of Outlaw Biker showed up, and there was his letter. Then Easy Riders magazine ran his letter. Suddenly, Manzo said, the wheels were in motion. Before long, Manzo got a call from Larry Darkow of Minneapolis. We talked a while and Larry said, Do you mind if I draw up a flier for this rally? Manzo said. The flier was very rudimentary, but I made copies of it and began sending them out. Soon, Manzo got a call from Bob Schmitt, who was with a POW support group in Maryland, offering to help. Then a woman from Virginia called and told him about John Holland from The American Foundation for Accountability of POW/MIAs. She said, if theres anybody who can help out with getting permits in Washington, its John Holland. John sent me a letter saying hed long wanted to do a bike rally in Washington, recalled Manzo. So he began working with Holland and his colleague Walt Sides to devise a plan for Rolling Thunder. I told John to work up a parade route through D.C., said Manzo. We got together in March 1988, but the route he sketchedentering the city through a tunneldidnt work for me. Manzo believed the maximum impact would be for the bikers to cross the Arlington Cemetery Memorial Bridge to the Lincoln Memorial, follow a route past the White House and Capitol and then ride back to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. And, Manzo said, he wanted to assemble in the Pentagon parking lot. Holland told him that officials would never allow the bikers to cross the Memorial Bridge or use the Pentagon parking lot. Manzo persisted. Before we left for the first Rolling Thunder, he said, I got a call from a sergeant at the Pentagon and I explained what we wanted to do. About an hour before we were to leave, he calls back and says: The parking lot is yours. Just do us proud. On the morning of the rally, Manzo spoke with the lieutenant in charge of the D.C. Police Motorcycle Division, which was to escort the parade. I just explained to him why it was so important that we enter the city across the Memorial Bridge. He said to me, You seem really sincere about this. Then he gets on his radio and says: Theres been a change in the parade route. Were coming across the bridge. Crossing that bridge in 1988 were an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 bikers whod been inspired by Manzos call. It was like a natural high, recalled Manzo. Heres all these people who dont know me from Adam, who thought the ride was a worthy thing to do. Manzo anticipated that Rolling Thunder would be a one-shot deal. Its mission was to spur immediate action to force the U.S. government to resolve claims that American POWs were still alive in Southeast Asia. Nonetheless, with enthusiasm running high for the Run, Manzo agreed to lead the effort for Rolling Thunder II the following year. In 1989 there was a dramatic rise in interest and riders, with more than 30,000 participants. Manzos idea had taken hold. Washington was hearing us, and people were taking the issue seriously, he said. The next three years saw the estimated number of bikers at Rolling Thunder approach 75,000. As Rolling Thunder V came around in 1992, however, Manzo began to think time was running out for the POWs. For me, Rolling Thunder was about getting something done immediately for the living POWs, Manzo said. It wasnt something for me to do forever. In 1992 Manzo relinquished his leadership role in Rolling Thunder and passed the torch to others who had helped bring his dream to reality, including Holland and Sides, whom he credited for its ongoing success. Manzo has attended three Rolling Thunder runs since 1992, and plans to be there this year. Although he never imagined Rolling Thunder would still have resonance 25 years later, he believes it remains an important reminder to the nation that never again can it leave behind its noble warriors who have answered its call. And, Ray Manzo pledged, Everybody who ever serves can count on the fact that if they are ever left behind, there are guys like me who will never let them be forgotten. F May 10, 1940, was a day Ill never forget, recalled Tiny Mulder. When I awoke, I wondered what that noise was up in the air. The radio confirmed that the Germans were invading. There was no declaration of war. They just came. Just like that. We were a small country then, of eight million, overrun by a large army. Overrun, but not defeated. Like many Dutch citizens, Mulder, 19 years old and living in Drachten, decided to work in the underground. Organized resistance, however, came slowly. The Germans treated the Dutch very well at first, to gain our trust, she remembered, then we began to see what was coming. She worked in a local government office, regulating the distribution of clothing, food and oil. We never had a military government in the Netherlands. Dutch collaborators were appointed to higher offices in The Hague by Reichscommissar Artur von Seyss-Inquart, an Austrian Nazi who had been appointed by Adolf Hitler to govern Holland. My boss, Pieter Wybenga, never had any Nazi sympathizers working for him. Wybenga was one of the earliest members of the underground, and he recruited Mulder. Her first job was to work as a courier, traveling by train to Rotterdam or Amsterdam to deliver maps with information for the Allies. During her missions Mulder wore a green hat to identify herself. You never gave your name to anyone. What you dont know, you cant reveal, she said. In 1943, Mulder gained additional duties with the Resistance, taking on the job of rescuing Allied airmen shot down in the northern Netherlands. The planes, on their way to bombing missions over Hamburg, Cologne and Berlin, were downed either by German fighters or anti-aircraft fire. Mulder was particularly happy to be helping the airmen. Not only were they destroying German war industries, but they also lifted the morale of the Dutch. The British and Canadians flew at night and Americans during the day, she said. When we saw these airplanes in the beautiful formations, B-17s, B-24s with vapor trails, we felt that we were not alone, that someone was helping us. Hurrying downed airmen to safety was a big job for a young girl. Mulder thinks she was chosen for the difficult assignment because of her command of English, but surely her candor, caution, quick wit and courage must have played a role. It was dangerous work, she admitted. Two of her girlfriends had been captured doing the same job and were moved from one prison camp to another until they were finally liberated by the Russians at the end of the war. When a plane was shot down, as many as 10 airmen could be captured by the German police or army. If they came down in a field, there was a better chance for rescue. Some farmers or villagers would hide them inside their homes and give them civilian clothes, but not everyone would take such a chance. Mulder understood their hesitation. Here is the farmer living in an occupied country, and a couple Americans show up at your door, she said. What is he to do? In every village there was someone who was part of the underground, sometimes the minister or schoolteacher. In the best of scenarios, the farmers would contact the Resistance. He would say: Come over here, we have something. Do you know what to do? Or someone might send a message: We have four young rabbits. Would you like to have some? Then the chain got working. In the end they came to me, as I was in charge of helping them on their way out of enemy territory. There was danger at every step of the way. During the initial contact with the fliers, Mulder was at her most cautious. I had to find out if they were real Americans or fake Americans, she recalled. The Germans had enough American uniforms by that time, and they had Germans who had been educated in Albuquerque before the war to create impostors. When we saw them coming out of an American plane, that was all right, but if they just turned up early one morning, then I became suspicious. So we asked the farmer, Did they come from the sky, yes or no? We had some questions, which the soldiers had to be able to answer properly. Then we could be sure they were not Germans. Once their nationality had been determined, the next step was to find clothing for the men and a place to stay. Her own parents took in some of the airmen. Ed Pollock, a Boeing B-17 pilot, later remembered the Mulder family very well. Our plane, hit by German flak near the German border on December 11, 1943, was on fire, and two of my men were killed, he recalled. Of the remaining eight, five were wounded. Tiny came along and took me to her house, where I stayed for three months. I played chess with Mr. Mulder every night. They were wonderful people, and they risked their lives for us. After placing the airmen in a safe house, the next thing to do was to advise the national resistance organization of the new arrivals and send a message to London over the wireless, giving their name, rank and serial number. When it was time for the soldiers to make their escape, Mulder and her fellow workers provided them with false Dutch identity cards, kept under lock and key in the town hall. Members of the underground had various ways of getting the papers from helpful officials. A photographer who could be trusted took the airmens photos for the cards. The whole process had to be repeated for Belgium and France, the countries through which the men would pass on their route to Spain and on to London by plane. Many did not make it, Mulder admitted. The chain of guides between the Netherlands and Spain broke all the time. The weak link was in Antwerp, where a Canadian of German origin offered to help the Nazis by infiltrating the underground. He didnt disturb the underground movement, but picked off the Allied soldiers and sent them to prison, Mulder recalled. He was executed in Belgium after the war as a traitor, but that was too late. Communication with London did not always work well, either. The London office was sloppy about letting us know if the men made it, Mulder said, but they always sent us messages, urging us to return the men. They said they could build airplanes faster than they could replace crews. Tiny shrugged. This was war. They didnt count lives. Frank McGlinchey, the bombardier of a plane shot down on October 8, 1943, explained what happened after he bailed out: I fell about a 1,000 feet before yanking the handle. The parachute opened immediately, and I had one of the softest landings on record. The area where McGlinchey came down was near the village of Beetsterzwaag. A group of Dutch farmers, who spoke no English, found him. They understood immediately what had happened and took away McGlicheys parachute and hid it. The farmers pointed out a route for the young bombardier to follow, and he soon came upon his navigator, Carl Spicer, walking in a field. The two men walked throughout the night and found a barn, where they hid when daylight came. Just as we had hoped, an old farmer came out to begin his days work, McGlinchey said. We told him our story through sign language. He understood and took us into his house, fed us and took us upstairs to sleep. The men were passed from home to home and then hidden in a loft in the Dutch Reformed Church in Wolvega, where Mulder came to get them. The janitor of the church took me upstairs where the two men greeted me with friendly smiles, said Mulder. They had no doubt about my good intentions, maybe because they had met only people who were kind and willing to help. She told them that their pilot, Bill McDonald, had come down near Lippenhuizen, and had been taken in by the local postmaster. Mulder took the soldiers back with her to Drachten, using a taxi with a driver friendly to the underground. Spicer stayed with a farm family, the Van Veldens, and Mulder took McGlinchey to her own home. She then bicycled to Lippenhuizen and brought McDonald on a borrowed bicycle to a safe house in Drachten. I remember that he could not ride a bicycle well, and the wheels went every which way, she said. I had to grasp hold of his handlebar. Spicer said later: I owe Tiny Mulder a lot. I was staying at another farm, but in the evenings, she would take me to her house and we would pop corn or have apples. I remember that her father would catch fish in the canal every Friday for a Catholic flier. When the arrangements were in place, the men set out for Spain. I took McGlinchey and McDonald by train to Ermelo, Mulder said, and delivered them to a safe house called Red Riding Hood. That is the last I ever saw of them. I learned after the war that they had gone as far as the Pyrenees and ran into a German border patrol. They were sent all the way back north to a German POW camp. The young agent also accompanied Spicer and a Canadian flier, Fred Boulter, to Ermelo. After the war, I heard that Carl arrived in London on Christmas Eve 1943, Mulder said. He and Fred had parted company, and Fred was arrested in Paris and sent to a German POW camp. For another downed airman, Merlin Verburg, the crash landing turned into an unplanned homecoming. Verburgs grandmother was from the northern Dutch province of Friesland, and he recognized the language when he met up with the farmer who rescued him. Mulder had a sparkle in her eye as she recounted Verburgs adventure: A policeman told us there was an American shot down, but there were already Germans looking for the downed plane, and there were more airmen on the loose. When I arrived, the farmer had given Merlin some clothing, and there just happened to be a visitor there who gave him his bicycle. Mulder decided that it was a time for ingenuity and improvisation: I said, Well, Merlin, we are very much in love! So we went off on the bicycles arm in arm! No airman who had come down two hours ago would have a girlfriend already! We rode right past the Germans. The most dangerous rescue came with a crew of 10 whose plane was hit and collapsed against a windmill. Everyone was involved in this case, said Mulder. The co-pilot was killed, and the rest of the crew roamed the fields during the night. In the early morning, local farmers hid them. The Germans knew about the crash because the pilot had lost a leg and needed professional care. Someone contacted police officials, and the pilot was taken to a German hospital, where he was well cared for. At a farm across the road was a farmer with four sons, who put all of those men in rowboats and rowed them across the river to safety, Mulder remembered. From there, she and her helpers rowed the men across a lake to a houseboat where they could hide. The underground knew the farmers would be questioned and tried to prepare them. They told them what the Germans would ask and how they must reply. We told them to say that they know nothing about it, and that a car came here with Germans in it and took them away, Mulder recalled. We told them to say nothing else, only repeat what we told them. The lessons worked. Germans searching for the airmen could not get at the truth and released the farmers. Nevertheless, the situation was tenuous after the 10 Americans had been helped. Villagers expected the Germans to retaliate by conducting a razzia, a house-to-house search to find Jews, to take people to work in Germany or to ferret out those who worked in the underground. Mulder was running out of hiding places in the village and asked the monks at the local monastery to take some Americans. There was no time for diplomacy. When the monks hedged a bit, Mulder told them it was only for one night. The monks then found room to hide some soldiers. It was almost a week before safe houses were found. Along with rescuing the airmen, hiding Jews remained a high priority. People in other areas would send word, asking if there was room for a girl of 7 or a couple in their 60s, said Mulder. When we asked people to take someone in, they would ask, What if we are found out? I told them, Well then, you go to a concentration camp, and the Germans take everything you have. Sometimes they would say no, and that was absolutely all right. People who are afraid do the most dangerous things when they panic! Looking back on the war, Mulder wishes they had saved more Dutch Jews. No country lost more Jews than the Netherlands, according to their population, she recalled. There were about 126,000 Jews and more than 100,000 did not return. Her parents took one 7-year-old as a member of their own family. She stayed two years with us until the war was over, Mulder recalled. She looked very much like me and like my mother. She could even go to school. My parents took their documents to city hall, and someone I knew entered her as a daughter of my parents. She is still my sister. The Jewish girls parents, who were also in hiding, were frantic because they feared their dark-haired daughter would stand out among the blond and blue-eyed Frieslanders. Mulder, who is dark-haired herself, knew what to do. I went to visit them. I told them, Im Tiny, and your daughter is living with me. Thats all I said. I didnt tell them where I lived. Mulder next served as a translator for Allied forces when they arrived in 1945. After V-E Day she went to work as a journalist for a Frisian newspaper. She also began traveling to England, Canada and the United States, where she renewed her friendship with many of the 70 American, Canadian and British soldiers she had helped rescue. In recognition for her service, Mulder received the Medal of Freedom with the Silver Palm from the United States. Despite her courageous work with the wartime Resistance, she apparently approached that ceremony with some trepidation. That was more nerve-wracking than helping the fliers during the war, said Mulder. A short time later, the British government awarded her the Kings Medal for Courage in the Cause of Freedom. This article was written by Bette McDevitt and originally appeared in the November 2003 issue of World War II magazine. For more great articles subscribe to World War II magazine today! President Abraham Lincoln called his cabinet to the Executive Mansion on March 9, 1864, to witness something that had occurred only once before in the history of the republic. As soon as everyone had arrived, Lincoln presented Ulysses S. Grant with his commission as a lieutenant general. Only George Washington had risen to that rank in the U.S. Army before him. Grant was characteristically humble. I accept the commission with gratitude for the high honor conferred, he told Lincoln. With the aid of the noble armiesit will be my earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expectations. I feel the full weight of the responsibilities now devolving upon me, and I know that if they are met it will be due to those armies, and above all, to the favor of that Providence which leads both nations and men. Grants recognition of the need for divine help showed he appreciated the difficulty of the task before him, because in addition to receiving the second lieutenant generalcy in U.S. history, he would also become the fifth general in chief in the history of the army. And throughout its 43-year existence, this difficult job had stressed and exasperated its occupants like few other jobs could. There was a good reason why so few Americans had ever received the awesome power Grant now enjoyed. It was the same reason that had made Americans rejoice back in December 1783, when Washington tendered his resignation as commander in chief of the Continental army. The move had brought great relief to a generation that understood America was embarking on an experiment the creation of a republic that did not have a great track record in world history. For guidance, the nation looked primarily to the greatest republic of the past Rome knowing that it had fallen after a disgruntled army found an emperor to lead it. The fear of a dictator remained powerful in America after the Revolution, and the people were unwilling to grant too much prestige to a military man. In European armies, general officers were commissioned at one of four grades: brigadier general, major general, lieutenant general, or general. The U.S. Congress, however, refused to authorize a rank higher than major general until 1798. That year, fears that France might invade the United States induced Congress to create a lieutenant generalcy, which President John Adams appointed Washington to fill. It quickly became evident that France had no intention of attacking on American soil, and when Washington died in December 1799, the rank died with him. In the aftermath of the War of 1812, in which poorly coordinated and incompetently led American armies suffered humiliating battlefield defeats at the hands of the British, Secretary of War John C. Calhoun pushed through Congress a series of measures to reform the army. In 1821, to ensure better command efficiency, he decided that the single major general authorized by the reform package would be stationed in Washington and be designated general in chief or commanding general of the army. Unfortunately, neither Calhoun nor Congress clearly outlined the general in chiefs powers and responsibilities. If the general in chief truly commanded the army and could act as he saw fit, he would infringe on the presidents role as commander in chief as written in the Constitution. If he did not, then the civilian leadership in Washington was free to ignore him, making his position in effect merely an honorary one. Because the legislation did not formally define the job, the duties, responsibilities, and authority of the general in chief depended on the character of the individual who held the office and on his informal relationships with the army and the nations political leaders. The test subject for the newly created position was Jacob Brown, who was suited to the role of general in chief for several reasons. As the nations finest combat leader during the War of 1812, he was respected inside the army. He accepted the independence of the general staff that managed the armys administrative, technical, and logistical functions and was accountable by law only to the secretary of war. He modestly defined his position as that of advisor to the civilian leadership. And he enjoyed an excellent relationship with Calhoun and Presidents James Monroe and John Quincy Adams. With all this working to his advantage, during his seven years in office Brown was able to allay the anxieties of those who opposed centralization of authority whether real or symbolic in a single military man. In so doing, he established a firm foundation for the office of general in chief. Brown was unable, however, to do anything about a feud over seniority that developed between the armys highest-ranking brigadier generals: Winfield Scott and Edmund P. Gaines. By the time of Browns death in February 1828, the rivalry had become so bitter that a disgusted Adams promoted Colonel Alexander Macomb over both Scott and Gaines to major general and appointed him general in chief. After Macombs death in June 1841, President John Tyler appointed Scott to the position. The office of general in chief received its first major test during the Mexican War. President James K. Polk had no intention of watching Scott win any laurels in the war. Polk was a partisan Democrat, and Scott had pursued the Whig presidential nomination in 1840 and 1844. Besides, Polk just plain despised him. So he decided to keep control of the war firmly in his own hands. He went to Congress and undertook a secret campaign to resurrect the rank of lieutenant general, intending to appoint Senator Thomas Hart Benton to the post. Bentons only experience with the military consisted of service as a colonel in the War of 1812 and as chairman of the Senate military affairs committee, but he was a staunch Polk ally and stalwart Democratic partisan. Polk failed to win congressional support for his plan, however, and Scott soon put an end to any talk of his replacement by conducting a brilliant campaign against Mexico City that inspired the Duke of Wellington to proclaim him the greatest living soldier. In recognition of Scotts accomplishments, Congress passed a bill in February 1855 reviving the rank of lieutenant general, although in deference to Washington, the rank was awarded to Scott by brevet only. In command of the Union army at the outset of the Civil War, Scott devised a plan to coil forces around the Confederacy and strangle it. Known as the Anaconda Plan, it eventually became part of the strategy that would win the war. Nonetheless, it quickly became evident in 1861 that Scott lacked the physical vigor and political skill necessary to command the army in this situation. By the fall, he had been reduced to a mere figurehead all but ignored by energetic subordinate commanders and savvy politicians. The situation changed in November 1861 with the appointment of George B. McClellan to replace Scott (though McClellans rank remained major general). At no time in its history would the office of general in chief have more power than it did during McClellans first weeks in the position. With Secretary of War Simon Camerons acquiescence and Lincolns encouragement, McClellan immediately asserted control over strategic and operational planning. He was no mere advisor to the president. Possessing the full support of his civilian superiors and the respect of his uniformed subordinates, he truly commanded the army. Initially, McClellan was confident he would eventually win a third star the lieutenant generals star but his power soon sharply declined. When he fell ill with typhoid fever in December 1861, Lincoln began to fear what might happen if McClellan were gone. So in January 1862 Lincoln reasserted his authority over the military and put Edwin M. Stanton in place of Cameron at the head of the war department. Stanton entered office suspicious of professional soldiers and, aided by public impatience with the lack of progress in the war, encouraged Lincolns desire to take back authority over the military. When McClellan recovered from his illness, he found his civilian superiors interfering in areas that had been his exclusive responsibility, such as operational planning and personnel assignments. Finally, on March 11, 1862, Lincoln removed McClellan from his post. For the next few months Lincoln and Stanton attempted to direct the Union war effort without the aid of a general in chief only to find themselves in way over their heads. So, on July 11, 1862, Lincoln decided to resurrect the office of general in chief and appoint Major General Henry W. Halleck to the post. Halleck had a record of success in the West, which Lincoln hoped would make the army respect him, and Lincoln correctly suspected that Halleck would second his desire to evacuate the Virginia Peninsula, where McClellans Army of the Potomac had stalled after a feeble campaign to threaten Richmond. Halleck was everything Lincoln had hoped for. The fact that Major Generals Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman admired Halleck ensured that he would not have problems in his dealings in the western theater. Lincoln was even more pleased with Hallecks ability to speak with authority to officers in the eastern theater, his willingness to issue orders for the withdrawal from the Peninsula, and his ability to make those orders stick despite McClellans bitter protests. During the Second Bull Run Campaign late in the summer of 1862, however, Halleck lost whatever chance he had to be a truly powerful general in chief when he let McClellan bully him. By the end of the year, Hallecks role was reduced to simply a military adviser of the Secretary of War and the President. Lincoln found the situation completely satisfactory. By 1863 he had shed the insecurity over his grasp of military affairs that had led him to defer so much to McClellan. Lincoln was determined to be commander in chief in fact as well as in title. What he wanted from his general in chief was advice and translation of presidential wishes into military orders. This was exactly what Halleck gave him. Although the Union war effort made considerable progress in 1863, few gave Halleck much credit. Moreover, Halleck accepted that part of his job was to be a lightning rod for the president; when things went wrong, he frequently got blamed. The Army of the Potomac commanders despised him. Relations between Major General Joseph Hooker and Halleck were so bad that Lincoln often dealt directly with Hooker. Major General George Meade became so exasperated with Halleck that he demanded in vain to be removed from command. Even in the West, where Halleck retained great authority with Grant and Sherman, his role was not appreciated. By 1864 all these troubles boiled down to an overwhelming sense throughout the North that the army needed a new general in chief. Meanwhile, the idea of resurrecting the rank of lieutenant general was introduced to Congress on December 7, 1863, by Representative Elihu B. Washburne, who represented Grants home district in Illinois. Although Washburne was a Republican and a stalwart Lincoln supporter, Lincoln did not welcome the initiative. Lincoln was fully satisfied with Halleck and recognized that a new man, especially one holding a rank held only by the Father of His Country, was unlikely to conceive of his role the way Halleck did. More important, Lincoln was reluctant to see further honors bestowed on a man whom some in the North were touting as a presidential candidate for 1864. Congressmen, too, had fears about resurrecting the rank. Worried that Lincoln might give the third star to Halleck, the House passed an amendment to Washburnes bill specifically designating Grant for the post (though the Senate prevented its attachment to the bills final version). As Congress debated the bill, Lincoln kept silent. Grant, however, shrewdly took opportunities to make comments such as, Nobody could induce me to think of being a presidential candidate, particularly so long as there is a possibility of having Mr. Lincoln reelected. By the end of February 1864, Lincoln had the assurances he wanted and decided to support the bill fully. After it passed with comfortable majorities in both the House and the Senate, Lincoln signed it into law on February 29 and submitted Grants name to Congress as his choice to fill the post. The law reviving the lieutenant generalcy did not answer the enduring questions of exactly what authority the general in chief had over the army and what his relationship was with the civilian officials responsible for running the war. So, as was the case with all his predecessors, Grants power as general in chief would largely depend on the personal relationships he could forge with his subordinates and superiors. Within the army, Grants personality, rank, and record of success immediately enabled him to exercise much greater power than Halleck had. He possessed the full trust of his two principal field commanders Sherman and Meade who not only respected his rank and office, but also had full confidence in his character and military judgment. There would be none of the grudging acceptance of orders or attempts to circumvent the general in chiefs authority that had plagued Halleck. Grant understood, on the other hand, that he would not have the unquestioned authority McClellan had briefly enjoyed. His plans would win approval only when they matched Lincolns own thinking, a fact that had been impressed upon Grant before his promotion. In January 1864, he had suggested putting 60,000 men from the Army of the Potomac on boats and sending them to North Carolina to conduct a massive raid on Confederate communications. But Halleck had rejected the proposal and impressed upon Grant that no plan that involved taking significant forces away from the line between Washington and Richmond had any chance of winning approval. Recognizing that Hallecks views were Lincolns, Grant did not bring up the North Carolina scheme again. Instead, he complied with Lincolns wish that the Army of the Potomac make General Robert E. Lees Army of Northern Virginia its target. Grant, however, was shrewd enough to see Major General Benjamin Butlers political need for an important command as a way to win approval for a campaign against Richmond using the James River; Lincoln and Halleck had long resisted such action, but Lincoln was up for reelection this year, and a jilted Butler could use his strong political connections to hurt Lincolns campaign. So, Grants plan for simultaneous advances by all the Union armies received Lincolns full approval. Grant did not enjoy complete liberty in managing the war, but neither was he stuck in the role of mere advisor to the president. He understood that his promotion brought with it the expectation that he would exercise his office in the field (Northerners would have been outraged if he had sat at a desk in the capital) and solve the previously unsolvable problem of Robert E. Lee. Out in the field, Grant realized, he would be more or less free to command as he saw fit. At the same time, he made a point of gratifying Lincoln by keeping Halleck in the advisory role he had been playing since 1862. The move was a fine example of the skillful maneuvering that enabled Grant to establish a good relationship with Lincoln. Other examples of Grants political savvy included his accepting Lincolns insistence that politically influential men such as Butler and Major Generals Franz Sigel and Nathaniel Banks receive important commands, listening respectfully to Lincolns suggestions, and making Lincoln feel welcome whenever he visited headquarters even finding a place for Lincolns son Robert on his staff. Besides maintaining a good relationship with Lincoln, Grant also worked well with Stanton. In contrast with the way Stanton had treated McClellan two years earlier, he did all he could to strengthen Grants hand. The lieutenant general bill, for example, did not change the fact that the staff officers who tended to the armys administrative, financial, logistical, and technical needs reported directly to the war department rather than to the general in chief. After Grant took office, however, Stanton made a point of telling the members of the general staff that they were expected to follow Grants wishes. Thanks in large part to his superior ability to coddle his superiors and get the most out of his underlings, when Grant took the field in May 1864, he had the full support of everyone necessary to help him overcome the obstacles that Lee and the rest of the Confederacy placed in his path. With the elevation of Grant to general in chief and lieutenant general, the Union had finally found the man who could win the Civil War. This article written by Ethan Rafuse and originally appeared in the April 2004 issue of Civil War Times magazine. For more great articles be sure to pick up your copy of Civil War Times. Gwen Ifill talks with biographer Jeanne Theoharis, whose book The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks offers a complex portrait of the woman best known for refusing to give up her seat on an Alabama bus in 1955. Parks had been thrown off the bus a decade earlier by the same bus driver for refusing to pay in the front and go around to the back to board. She had avoided that drivers bus for twelve years because she knew well the risks of angering drivers, all of whom were white and carried guns. Her own mother had been threatened with physical violence by a bus driver, in front of Parks who was a child at the time. Parks neighbor had been killed for his bus stand. Parks and her husband lost their jobs after her stand and didnt find full employment for nearly ten years. Even as she made fundraising appearances across the country, Parks and her family were at times nearly destitute. She developed painful stomach ulcers and a heart condition, and suffered from chronic insomnia. Her husband Raymond, unnerved by the relentless harassment and death threats, began drinking heavily and suffered two nervous breakdowns. The black press, culminating in JET magazines July 1960 story on the bus boycotts forgotten woman, exposed the depth of Parks financial need, leading civil rights groups to finally provide some assistance. Parks spent more than half of her life in the North. The Parks family had to leave Montgomery eight months after the boycott ended. She lived for most of that time in Detroit in the heart of the ghetto, just a mile from the epicenter of the 1967 Detroit riot. In 1965 Parks got her first paid political position, after over two decades of political work. After volunteering for Congressman John Conyerss long shot political campaign, Parks helped secure his primary victory by convincing Martin Luther King, Jr. to come to Detroit on Conyerss behalf. He later hired her to work with constituents as an administrative assistant in his Detroit office. For the first time since her bus stand, Parks finally had a salary, access to health insurance, and a pensionand the restoration of dignity that a formal paid position allowed. Parks was a lifelong activist and a hero to many, including Nelson Mandela. After his release from prison, he told her, You sustained me while I was in prison all those years. Annie Oakley I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Annie Oakley [Annie Oakley vs. Hearsts Worst, by Ron Soodalter] in the February 2015 issue. The colorized photo of her on the cover really brings out her beauty and elegance. Her eyes look like they are staring right at me. Wow! Being an avid shooter myself, I certainly can appreciate her skill, too. Of course, there is no way I could ever approach her talent. One thing I did not know about Annie was the awful abuse she took at the hands of her he-wolf and she-wolf foster parents. All I can say is her guardian angels were working overtime to keep her alive, because God had other plans for her. Annie did everything right concerning her popularity and reputation. I am glad she was so successful in fighting back against Hearst. Attagirl, Annie! When I get to Heaven, I hope I get to meet her. John Gercken Bellflower, Ill. I have looked forward to receiving Wild West since reading it in Big Piney, Wyo., some 20 years ago. I have never tired of reading any of the articles, especially when the story refers to a previous article I have already read. I still believe I did meet Annie Oakley, and I will never forget that my dad held me up so she could kiss my 7-year-old cheek Annie Oakley I really enjoyed reading and rereading the February 2015 feature Annie Oakley vs. Hearsts Worst. I have read several books and articles about Miss Annie, but they were not nearly as informative, interesting and entertaining as Soodalters. My revered recollection of Annie Oakley dates back to the TV series (195457), starring a 31-year-old Gail Davis. She was in Kansas City for the 1956 American Royal horse show and made a TV-sponsored appearance at the Wonder Bread & Hostess Cakes bakery in the Armourdale district of Kansas City, Kan., just two blocks from our house! I was in cowboy heaven, outfitted with my cowboy hat and cap pistols, and I stayed there all day long, or at least as long as she was there, as I remember. My father (19152004) thought I was being silly for thinking that Gail Davis (192597) was the real Annie Oakley, but I never, ever brought it to his attention that Matt Dillon was not the real marshal of Dodge City. And to this day I still believe I did meet Annie Oakley, and I will never forget that my dad held me up so she could kiss my 7-year-old cheek. Thanks for keeping the Wild West alive. Bob A. Tucker Merriam, Kan. Indian Trade I look forward to reading each issue of your magazine. I thought I might share with you a family story passed down to me. My grandmother Elsa Watgen (born May 12, 1885) traveled at 2 months of age to Gothenburg, Neb., with her parents, Henry and Fredericke Watgen. They lived in a sod house initially and for 10 years moved around quite a bit in the areafrom Gothenburg to Froid to Sidney and finally to Brady Island, where Henry could find work. Sometime in the early winter months of 1895 an Indian showed up at the house and looked around. Fredericke and the children hid for fear the Indian would hurt them. The Indian spotted a bolt of red material and took it. Sometime during that winter the temperature dipped to 47 below zero, and the family ran out of meat. One morning Henry opened the door to go hunting and found a freshly killed deer on the doorstep. The next month the same thing happened. Henry believed the thoughtful person was the Indian who had taken the red material, but he never really knew for sure. JoAnn Munden Warsaw, Mo. Bear With Him Thank you so much for such a great magazine! I just got your April 2015 issue and really liked the Go West! department photo of Devils Tower and info on P. 80. The first thing that caught my eye was the amazing artwork of that huge bear trying to get at the people at the top of the tower. Is it me, or does the bear have a very long tail? I wish the art was bigger so I could see it better. Can you tell me more about the folklore? Please start doing a page with such Native American folklore and artwork, as I would really like to know more of these stories. Hope to see more! Patrick Powell Collins, Ga. Editor responds: To learn more about the folklore of Devils Tower, visit the national park website. We were able to send Patrick Powell a poster of the bear legend artwork. He replied: I plan to have it framed. Wow, what a bear! I had my dad hold the poster at the bottom as I slowly unrolled it for him to see. So thats how the tower got like that! he said. King Kong wouldnt stand a chance! As someone who likes to draw and enjoys artwork, I find Wild West a great source for getting ideas. I hope you like the cartoon art Im sending you. We do, Patrick, and we plan to have it framed! Early Bird I enjoyed Joe Johnstons December 2014 article (With Cornmeal and Creativity) on Plains homesteaders and cooking, especially as I had ancestors arriving in Nebraska and Kansas at the time. However, I question whether they had pheasants to eat, because the Chinese pheasant wasnt introduced to the continent until 1881. It found a good home, true, and spread all over, but it was one bird not available in the mid-1800s. John Watters Virginia Beach, Va. Joe Johnston responds: Thank you for pointing out that pheasants arrived in the West about 1881. Before then available game birds were even smaller. Although most of the dates in the article are mid-1800s, there is one recipe from 1894, and it is really about the general 19th-century Western experience. Baby Peggy Peggy-Jean Montgomery (Baby Peggy in the West, Roundup, P. 11, February 2015 issue) was the Shirley Temple of her time, cute as a button. On TCM I saw her in Captain Januaryjust wonderful. Her TCM documentary Baby Peggy: The Elephant in the Room showed her sweetness to the world. Thank you for the article. James Maloney Franklin, Pa. Send letters to Wild West, 19300 Promenade Dr., Leesburg, VA 20176 or by e-mail. WOMAN OF IRON IN 1825 REBECCA LUKENS TOOK OVER HER LATE HUSBANDS IRON MILL. THE COMPANY STILL THRIVES A TESTAMENT TO THE MANAGEMENT ABILITIES OF THIS PIONEERING WOMAN CEO. BY JOSEPH GUSTAITIS In 1810, when she was sixteen, Rebecca Pennock was a dreamy, romantic girl, fond of appreciating natures picturesque beauty from the back of a horse and bounding over hill and dale as wild, happy, and joyous as youth could make me. By 1840, however, Rebecca Pennock Lukens had become a businesswoman renowned for her shrewdnessan entrepreneur on the cusp of the Industrial Revolution in the United States and the owner of a thriving steel mill on the banks of Pennsylvanias Brandywine River. Rebecca was born on January 6, 1794 to Martha and Isaac Pennock, whose family had been in Pennsylvania since the days of William Penn. Although Isaac had been deeded three hundred acres of farmland by his father in 1792, he saw opportunity in the iron business and wanted nothing to do with farming. Recognizing that the new United States, free from restrictions that had been imposed during the colonial era, would no longer have to buy industrial wares from Great Britain, he proceeded to establish an iron works known as the Federal Slitting Mill on Bucks Run some four miles from Coatesville.* Another area resident, Jesse Kersey, was inspired by the opening of the Lancaster Turnpike to develop a community on land owned by his father-in-law, Moses Coates that would attract residents and industry. He formed a partnership with Isaac Pennock in 1810 and together they purchased 110 acres of Coatess land. Pennock converted a saw mill on the property into an iron works, calling it the Brandywine Iron Works and Nail Factory after the pleasant river that ran alongside it and provided the water power that kept the machinery humming. By 1817 Isaac had become the sole proprietor of the business. As a child, Rebecca enjoyed considerable freedom, finding special pleasure in the company of three nearby older cousins, a boy and two girls. With them she roved the countryside, and from them she acquired her first taste of the joys of learning. At twelve she was sent to boarding school and then a year later to another institution, where, she later recalled, life began to open new charms to me. When she returned home at sixteen, Rebecca, as the oldest child, was called upon to help raise her six younger siblings, especially the baby. She took a liking to the infant, but missed her studies and garnered solace in solitary reading. Soon permitted to return to a school in Wilmington, Delaware, she demonstrated a characteristic mix of practicality and romance by excelling in chemistry and French. When Rebecca met Dr. Charles Lloyd Lukens, he had a medical practice in Abington, Pennsylvania. At their first meeting, Rebecca wrote, he bowed with a peculiar grace, and for a moment my eyes rested on his interesting face and his tall and commanding figure. She was smitten and never ceased to regard Dr. Lukens with anything but deep love. They were married in 1813. Dr. Lukens gave up his medical practice and joined his new father-in-laws iron business. By around 1817the same time that Isaac became the sole owner of the workshe leased the operation to Lukens, explaining to Rebecca that she would inherit the business when he died.** The former physician set about transforming himself into an iron-maker. The United States was then entering an expansive, optimistic period. Although the country was already feeling the frictions that would later lead to civil war, its mood was progressive and forthright, as states west of the Alleghenies were ushered into the Union. Mills and factories sprouted as the young republic began developing its industrial muscle. An enterprising man could go far, and Lukens was well positioned. This was the beginning of the Age of Steam. And, steam power requires boilers, which, in turn, require iron plate. In 1818, Lukenss mill became the first in the United States to roll iron boiler plate. Orders came in from steamboat manufacturers, and the Brandywine Iron Works became one of the worlds most renowned makers of rolled iron and steel. In late March 1825, Lukens received his most prestigious commission. John Elgar of York, Pennsylvania needed iron of the best quality and sound in order to build an iron-hulled steamboat to ply the Susquehanna River. Lukens iron fit the bill. The Codorus, the first steamer to operate on the river, was launched in November, but Lukens was not there to see it. That summer, he died at age thirty-nine, leaving Rebecca with two children and one more on the way. Lukenss love for his wife, it seems, also included a keen appreciation of her talents. For it was his ideaand his dying requestthat she carry on the business. For Rebecca, it was not only a time of grief, but a time of peril. The iron works was in debt and in need of repair. As well, her family was not happy about her running the firm. As she later put it, necessity is a stern taskmistress; my every want gave me courage. Lukenss brother Solomon took over the supervision of the businesss day-to-day affairs, but Rebecca was the sole manager and owner. So far, most of Brandywine Iron Works business was in the making of iron plate for ships, but only a year after Rebecca took over the firm, the first railway steam locomotive in the United States was run on a small track in Hoboken, New Jersey. Rebecca had the foresight to see in the new railwayssuch as the Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad begun in the 1830sopportunity for her business, and Brandywine started manufacturing iron for locomotives. During the Panic of 1837in reality a full-blown depression that plagued the country for six yearsRebecca refused to lay workers off, but instead set them to repairing the mill or working on her farm. When there was no cash, she paid them in produce. The difficulties of the times throw a gloom on everything, she wrote. All is paralyzedbusiness at a stand. Rebecca survived, and by the mid-1840s she was able to think about stepping down. She had paid off all debts, solved the legal problems caused by her fathers ambiguous will, and turned the business into the top boiler-plate company in the United States. Moreover, two of her daughters had married husbands who were well able to shoulder the firms burdens. As she contemplated her achievements, she said, I had built a very superior mill, though a plain one, and our character for making boiler iron stood first in the market, hence we had as much business as we could do. . . . There was difficulty and danger on every side. Now I look back and wonder at my daring. On December 10, 1854, five years after she retired from managing the firm, Rebecca died. The company that she builtLukens Steelstill thrives on the banks of the Brandywine River and is renowned for steel plate. Rebecca herself has not been forgotten. January 6, 1994the bicentennial of her birthwas proclaimed Rebecca Lukens Day by the Pennsylvania State Senate. Three months later, she was inducted into the National Business Hall of Fame at a banquet in New York City. *A slitting mill was so named because it produced iron sheets that were then slit into strips to make such items as barrel hoops and wheel rims.*Isaac Pennock died in 1824. **Issac Pennock died in 1824. New York writer Joseph Gustaitis is a frequent contributor to American History magazine. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. ATLANTA InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), one of the world's leading hotel companies, today announces the development of a new InterContinental Hotels & Resorts property in San Diego by Lankford-Phelps-Portman (LPP), a development partnership. Set to open in 2018, the 400-room hotel will be part of a multi-phase mixed-use development, known as BRIC, on the former site of Lane Field in the North Embarcadero area of downtown San Diego. Joel Eisemann, Chief Development Officer, The Americas, IHG said: "We are extremely pleased to be growing the InterContinental Hotels & Resorts portfolio on the West Coast with the addition of this outstanding hotel in San Diego. We also look forward to continuing to work with Portman, which has an impressive track record of developing and owning great hotels." The InterContinental San Diego hotel will be owned by LPP and managed by IHG. Portman, the managing partner of LPP, also owns the recently-opened Hotel Indigo Atlanta Downtown hotel and a second Hotel Indigo hotel, set to open in early 2017 in the Lower Downtown (LoDo) area of Denver near the historic Union Station. At 18 stories tall, the new property will feature a signature InterContinental Club Lounge, restaurant and lounge, fitness center and spa. The hotel will offer 21 suites and 23,000 square feet of meeting space. There will be a significant amount of outdoor space for guests to take advantage of the beautiful San Diego weather, including a rooftop bar and outdoor pool overlooking the bay. Located just a quarter mile from the historic Gaslamp Quarter, the property will provide guests access to the most beautiful and exciting offerings of the expanding downtown San Diego districts, including the world-renowned San Diego Zoo, Balboa Park and breathtaking beaches. Ambrish Baisiwala, CEO, Portman Holdings, said: "The BRIC development will be a significant addition to San Diego's North Embarcadero area and we're so glad, along with our partners Lankford and Phelps, to be working with IHG to bring an InterContinental to the second phase of this project. This will be the first new full-service hotelwith meeting space and other amenitieson the waterfront for some time, and InterContinental is the ideal brand for this development." This year marks the 70th anniversary of the InterContinental Hotels & Resorts brand, which is now twice the size of any competing luxury hotel brand globally. In January 2016, the landmark InterContinental London - The O2 hotel opened, and the InterContinental New York Barclay hotel recently reopened following an extensive renovation. There are two InterContinental properties currently under development in the U.S., in downtown Los Angeles and on the southwest waterfront in Washington, D.C. With more than 180 hotels open worldwide and more than 50 in the global development pipeline, IHG continues to expand the brand's portfolio in the most sought-after destinations around the world. About IHG IHG Hotels & Resorts [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global hospitality company, with a purpose to provide True Hospitality for Good. With a family of 17 hotel brands and IHG Rewards, one of the world's largest hotel loyalty programmes, IHG has over 6,000 open hotels in more than 100 countries, and a further 1,800 in the development pipeline. InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Group's holding company and is incorporated and registered in England and Wales. Approximately 350,000 people work across IHG's hotels and corporate offices globally. Visit us online for more about our hotels and reservations and IHG Rewards. For our latest news, visit our Newsroom and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Neil Hirsch IHG +1 770 604 5775 IHG It looks like you've reached a page that doesnt exist (anymore). Please use the navigation or search above to find content on Hospitality Net. Go back to home The drab little courtroom off the square in Wharton, with its blond wood, stoic flags and idle metal detector at the door, seemed like an alternativema universe. Two Houston foster mothers who entered Thursday with anticipation and profound concern for the little boys recently removed from their home were jolted back by a process puttering along at half speed. The horrifying realities facing the boys seemed shrouded in jargon and legal formalities. A CPS supervisor in a shiny suit, and the county attorney paid to represent the agency, moved with an utter lack of urgency. The judge, Eric Andell, at least seemed to grasp the seriousness of the case and noted he'd read about it in this column last week. The foster mothers, Angela Sugarek and Carol Jeffery, who were by all accounts loving parents to 3-year-old "Dion" and 4-year-old "Darius," saw their plans of adoption dashed when CPS relocated the boys last month, apparently because the foster mothers had reported alleged abuse by a teen half-sibling living elsewhere in foster care. Sugarek and Jeffery had long suspected 15-year-old "Bobby" had molested the 3-year-old in the past because of the little one's strange behavior before and after required visits. They say CPS dismissed their concerns because they hadn't witnessed abuse with their own eyes. But the women say their suspicions were confirmed when the 3-year-old came back from a CPS-supervised adoption fair he'd attended with his brothers with an anal abrasion. Soon after the foster mothers reported it, CPS relocated the boys. Michael Ciaglo/Staff At the status hearing last week, the foster mothers hoped the judge would consider their motion. They asked to be heard in the matter, and they made a formal request to adopt the boys. But a ruling was delayed because their attorney had filed the motion only the night before. "It seems to me the quicker we get this case to trial, the better off we are," the judge told the attorneys and court-appointed advocates. "Time is not our friend." In fact, time may be the enemy for two troubled little boys with a history of abuse. After several foster homes each, they had finally found stable, nurturing parents in Sugarek and Jeffery, and, after six months in the couple's North Lindale home, they seemed to be making great progress on everything from delayed speech to trust. Then, they were torn away. With each passing day, the bonds fade, the progress erodes. Trial not due for months Julie Ketterman, the couple's attorney, pleaded for swift action to return the boys. The CPS supervisor, Ramiro Hernandez, and others at the hearing apparently didn't share her concern. Sugarek and Jeffery were referred to as the "former" foster parents. Hernandez indicated that, despite the sexual assault allegation, the agency's goal is still to keep the three boys together and find an adoptive home that will take all of them. Amy Rod, an attorney appointed to represent the unique best interests of each of the three boys, made no mention of her obvious conflict. The Wharton County Attorney, G.A. "Trey" Maffett, representing CPS, said it would be a while before he could get around to reading the foster mothers' petition to intervene, adding he'll be out this week. He accused Ketterman of trying to "browbeat" the judge into a "media hearing," an apparent reference to my presence in the courtroom. Seconds later, the judge, who had tried to conduct a transparent hearing in the open courtroom, ordered the parties: "Into my chambers, now!" When they emerged, the judge described the attorneys on both sides as "recalcitrant" and "hunkered down." Ketterman told me later the judge indicated the foster mothers had standing in the case, but a tentative jury trial on that issue and their move to adopt the boys was set for August. The foster mothers were crestfallen that a decision could be months away, but what happened next left them both confused and hopeful. After the hearing, CPS program director Leshia Fisher approached the foster mothers for an interview. I didn't observe the conversation, and a CPS spokesman wouldn't discuss it, but Ketterman filled me in afterward: Apparently, CPS had completed an investigation of the alleged abuse, and found nothing, but didn't even bother to interview Sugarek and Jeffery. Fisher was concerned about the way the investigation was conducted, Ketterman said, and had started a fresh review. "She's looking into everything," Ketterman said. Shockingly, though, Ketterman said Fisher seemed unaware that the boys hadn't been returned to Sugarek and Jeffery. Fisher thought the children were removed only for a couple of days, during the investigation, and then returned, Ketterman said. "She asked me, 'They weren't brought back?' And I said, 'No!' " Ketterman said. She said Fisher also told her the agency immediately ceased the boys' visitation with the 15-year-old and has not resumed it. 'Covering up' mistakes? Ketterman said she believes the younger boys' due process rights have been violated, but she's holding off filing for sanctions against CPS and other parties until Fisher's probe is complete. She didn't hide her frustration. "CPS at this point appears to be covering up either their inability to protect these kids or their unwillingness," Ketterman said. "These very same CPS caseworkers are going to take kids away from moms, dads and grandmas for failure to protect. And they're doing the same thing." For their part, Sugarek and Jeffery came away thinking the boys they grew to love simply aren't a priority to the agency charged with protecting them. "We're still worried about their well-being. I mean, simple, silly things," said Sugarek, a middle school principal in the Heights. "Is (Dion) going to speech? We worked so hard to get his speech where it was. Is it now going backward? How's his asthma?" Hope for happy ending Jeffery, an elementary science teacher, was thinking about the long term: "If this is truly the time where kids' brains are in a make-or-break situation, will they be able to recover and bounce back?" The mistakes, delays and dangerous decisions in this case are maddening, and they further erode any confidence we might have in the broken Texas foster care system. But it doesn't have to end this way. Ketterman says that's what she told Fisher. "I said, 'Here's a story: CPS was accountable,' " she said. " 'Yeah, they made some mistakes, but the boys are home and they're doing the right thing.' That could be the story." It's the ending I pray I get to write. It's the ending these two sweet, vulnerable little boys deserve. And soon. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Long a religious stronghold for Houston Hispanics, St. Stephen Catholic Church will close its doors permanently Sunday as archdiocesan leaders push forward with controversial plans to merge the congregation with the nearby but much smaller St. Joseph church. As Cardinal Daniel DiNardo officiates at a "merger Mass" at the newly renamed St. Joseph-St. Stephen Catholic Church, angry St. Stephen parishioners, dressed in white and brandishing satin religious banners, were expected to gather at the closed church to denounce the combination. The rally is the latest in a series of actions that included a tense face-off between DiNardo and protest leaders at the Houston chancery and an appeal to the Vatican to reverse the cardinal's decision. "St. Stephen represents our story as well. It's not just about brick walls," said Carmen Gallegos, a spokeswoman for the disgruntled worshippers. "A lot of people who attend the church are low-income. A lot of house-keepers, they ride the bus to get here. We serve a lot of immigrants. Church officials don't see the soul of what they do here. To them, it's just real estate." The dispute began in August 2014 when DiNardo apprised St. Stephen parishioners that "planned real estate development in the area will require St. Stephen to relocate from its current site." St. Stephen, founded in 1941 near downtown at 1912 Center, is just blocks from burgeoning redevelopment along Washington Avenue. To accommodate St. Stephen parishioners, a congregation of about 900 households, three Spanish-language Masses will be added to the St. Joseph schedule. St. Joseph, located at 1505 Kane in the Sixth Ward, previously conducted only one Mass in Spanish. Founded in 1879, it has a congregation of about 300 households. In his first letter, DiNardo characterized the possible merger as a "marriage of husband and wife." "Each party brings their respective families, history and traditions to the marriage," he wrote. But the St. Stephen-St. Joseph marriage seemingly wasn't made in heaven. After an exchange of correspondence - and the cardinal's February 2016 decree mandating the merger - Gallegos and her inner circle of about 12 protesters turned to Rome. An appeal of DiNardo's decision, filed by canon attorney Sister Kate Kuenstler, a member of a social justice-focused order, Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ, currently is under review by the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy. "The cardinal is proceeding as if he had the full backing of the Vatican, and at this point that is not the case," Kuenstler said. "If a contrary decision comes back, he would be responsible for putting everything back in place." Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston spokesman Jonah Dykus confirmed on Friday that St. Stephen's children's programs have been moved to the St. Joseph site. The wrangle between the archdiocese and St. Stephen advocates arguably reached a crescendo earlier this year when Gallegos and her brother, Jose Gallegos, met with the cardinal at his downtown office. In the heated exchange that was recorded, DiNardo told the pair that St. Stephen would be "strangled" by development in its current location, and asserted that the decision was his to make. When Gallegos argued that many longtime worshippers had been traumatized by the merger decision, DiNardo responded that loss of St. Stephen might be painful but "you've decided you don't like the decision. You have to learn to accept." Saying that he had to "think about the ultimate good of this parish," DiNardo told the pair "You don't want the love and support we want to give you. You want your way. You are opposed to change." He then told them they likely would continue to "work very nastily against the decision." In its Vatican appeal, Gallegos' group argued that their church had ample space for expansion, more than 94,000 square feet, and was in good financial condition thanks to the generosity of members. "The cardinal," the appeal charged, "has abandoned the pastoral care of St. Stephen parish. Rather, he has functioned as the CEO of a corporation that wishes to cash out" by selling church property. Kuenstler said DiNardo has not yet issued a decree to deconsecrate St. Stephen, a move that must be taken before the church property can be sold. If he issues such a decree, she said, an appeal will be lodged with the Vatican. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Raymond Jacik clung for his life on the twisted remains of a gas platform that poked above the surface of Galveston Bay as waves pounded him against jagged pipes. For two days, Jacik held on to the platform deformed long ago by Hurricane Ike. His fishing buddy, Michael Watkins, was on another small platform hundreds of yards away. Both were cold and miserable. "Please don't let it rain," Jacik prayed as he watched a storm gathering on the horizon. Moments later, temperatures dropped and huge waves began threatening to tear him away from his perch. The friends had met two days earlier at Watkins' house in San Leon. Watkins had the trailer carrying his 20-foot Larson outboard already hooked to the back of his Suburban when Jacik, who lived about a mile away near Dickinson Bay, arrived about 8 a.m. April 25. Jacik followed in his pickup, and they drove a few blocks to Bayshore Park on Galveston Bay. The two friends, both clad in shorts and T-shirts, put the Larson in the water, started the 200-horsepower Suzuki outboard and headed into the bay for what appeared to be a good day for fishing. For Watkins, 51, a retired construction worker, and Jacik, 49, a truck driver forced to retire after a severe injury, this fishing trip seemed no different than hundreds of others they had made into the bay, which was tranquil on this clear, slightly breezy day. They set out for a small gas platform about 4 miles offshore that they had fished near many times before. Watkins knew how dangerous the bay could turn. He forbade alcohol on his boat because a clear head was needed while on the bay. He kept his spark plugs clean and the Suzuki in top condition because a small boat with a dead motor could be sucked into the wake of one of the giant tankers that plied the Houston Ship Channel. They both donned life jackets. By 8:30 a.m., they were anchored about 30 yards from the platform. Oil and gas platforms are favorite spots for fishermen because sea life tends to cluster around them. They could see the San Leon shoreline as they cast toward the small platform, about 4 feet wide with a pipe studded with valves rising several feet above it. They shed their life vests as they began fishing, as they had always done, a move they would come to regret. They caught a stingray, a gafftop and a few hardheads during the first 20 minutes, then the anchor began to slide along the bottom. They tried to haul it up, and the line broke. Watkins eased the boat next to the platform, and they tied a line to it and allowed the boat to drift away so they could continue fishing. 'No time to react' They started to drift out when a swell seemed to come out of nowhere and dump water in the boat. Another followed within seconds, filling the stern with water. Then a wave struck the side and the boat went over, dumping Watkins and Jacik in the water. Watkins was a poor swimmer, but an Igloo cooler smacked him in the face as he floundered and he grabbed its handles. The cooler kept him afloat and saved him from drowning. "It was so fast, there was no time to react," Jacik recalled. Watkins still finds it hard to grasp. "Who would have thought something like that could happen?" he said. Watkins and Jacik made it to the platform, which barely had room for both of them on the flat metal lattice. The bay was suddenly turbulent, and the wind had risen. They could see ships passing, and they waved their shirts at them. They saw dozens of vessels, but no one seemed to notice. All day, they stood watching helplessly as boats passed, water surging up through the lattice and swells breaking over the platform. They were wet and chilled by wind. They could see a large platform about a mile away that had two buildings on it. If they could make it to the big platform, perhaps they could find a radio, flares or at least a place to get out of the wind. The current seemed to be running toward the big platform. They could both hang on to the cooler and float there. Watkins was reluctant because it was risky. If they missed the platform, they could be swept into the bay with nothing but the ice chest to keep them afloat. They considered it until late in the day and finally agreed to try it. They leaped together into the swells, each grasping a handle on the cooler. Watkins panicked. The water seemed to push against his chest, and he felt he couldn't breathe. He let go of the ice chest and flailed back to the platform. Watkins pulled himself back on top and watched Jacik and the ice chest drift out of sight. Families in turmoil By 8 p.m., Sherry Watkins knew something was wrong. Her husband should have returned from fishing an hour earlier. "I didn't sleep at all that night," she recalled. Early the next morning she phoned a family friend, who advised her to call the Galveston County Sheriff's Office. Sheriff's Cpl. Chris Bryant arrived and stayed with her Tuesday until the U.S. Coast Guard took over search operations. Sherry Watkins always believed her husband would be found. "I never allowed myself to give up," she said. Deputies were uncertain who was with Watkins until they found the Suburban and the pickup at the boat launch. From the pickup license plate number, deputies determined that Jacik was with Watkins, and they were able to get his phone number. Jacik lived alone with his 14-year-old daughter, Mahlea, who was worried when her father failed to return Monday evening. "I just had the worst thoughts in my head," she said. "You just don't know. It's so scary." Tuesday morning, a neighbor sent a text message saying a search was underway for her father. A sheriff's deputy called about 9 a.m., telling her "that the possibility of finding him was not good and he was probably dead and I should prepare myself," Mahlea recalled. While the call plunged her into a deep sadness, a call from another deputy brightened her mood. He assured her that her father was tough and probably still alive. 'Waiting for a shark' Jacik tried to steer the cooler toward the big platform, but the current pushed him in the wrong direction. He tried to get to a smaller platform but was swept past it. Jacik feared he would be swept up in the bay. He saw a tangle of pipes poking above the water, his last chance. As he kicked toward the remains of the gas platform, he felt a sudden pain in his chest. He couldn't breathe. Later, he would learn that he had suffered a heart attack. Despite the pain, he lunged for the platform and grabbed a pipe. He held on until the pain subsided. The ice chest floated away. The pipes were rusted and jagged and the swells kept pushing him against them, cutting his back and his legs. "I kept waiting for a shark to tear my leg off, there was so much blood in the water," he said. He stayed there all night, mostly thinking about his daughter. He wondered if he would ever see her again but remained determined. "I would have held onto that pipe for a month if I had to," Jacik said. "I remember saying to myself and God, 'We've made it this far; I've got to make it.' " Watkins, while cold and uncomfortable, felt secure on the platform and never doubted that he would be rescued. "I was getting disgusted that I wasn't found," he said. Despite their resolve, fear was ever present. "Yeah, I was scared," Jacik said. "You would be an idiot if you weren't scared." Watkins put an arm through a T-shirt sleeve and waved it at passing ships all day Tuesday. Jacik, out of sight on the other platform, took his T-shirt off and waved it fruitlessly. A Coast Guard helicopter found their boat floating bottom up Tuesday afternoon about 4.5 miles from where it overturned. Helicopters began flying search legs of 9 miles, each leg 400 yards apart, using the spot where the boat was found as a reference. As darkness fell, Jacik could see the lights of searching vessels on the horizon. Then the storm struck. Jacik found a rope hanging from the jumble of pipes and tied himself to a pipe just below the water. As the storm grew in intensity and the waves battered him, he turned to face the platform and curled his head toward his chest, shivering with cold. Watkins wrapped himself around the standpipe, grasping valves. The storm subsided by the next morning with Watkins and Jacik still clinging to life. 'Thank God you're here' An MH-65D Dolphin with a four-member crew was running low on fuel as it made its last 9-mile pass before heading back to base at Ellington Field. By this time, all they expected to find were bodies. The overturned boat suggested the worst. Lt. Joshua Scritchfield, co-pilot, was scanning from the left seat about 10:30 a.m. and saw something flapping on an oil platform. "It didn't look right to me," he said. Jacik watched the helicopter fly by and waved his soggy T-shirt furiously. He felt despair as it seemed to head away, but then it returned. Lt. Zach Gross veered the helicopter to the left, and they came into a hover over Watkins. Gross kept his eye on the fuel gauge. "There wasn't enough time to mess around," Gross said. "We had to be really efficient." Flight mechanic Nikki Moore secured rescue swimmer Jesse Weaver to a winch cable and lowered him to the water. Jumping was too risky because of the possibility of pipes or metal objects in the water. Weaver unhooked and turned to Watkins. "My name is Jesse, and I'm going to be your rescue swimmer today," Weaver said. He told Watkins to jump, then swam him away from the platform. Moore lowered a basket, and Watkins was lifted to helicopter. The helicopter moved to Jacik's platform, where he had climbed onto the pipes. "Thank God you're here, man. What do you want me to do?" Jacik said to Weaver. In a few minutes, he was aboard the helicopter for the 10-minute flight to the Coast Guard base where ambulances were waiting. One took Watkins to Bay Area Regional Hospital; another took Jacik to Clear Lake Regional Hospital. Finally reunited Sherry Watkins got a call from the Coast Guard: "I have some really good news for you. We found them and they are OK." She rushed to the hospital and found her husband. "I walked in the room where he was and I just grabbed him," she said. The call to Jacik's family went to Mahlea's grandparents, who phoned her with the news. The family hurried to the hospital. "He wasn't supposed to get up, but he sat up and I hugged him," Mahlea said. On Thursday, Jacik and Watkins were invited to the Igloo Products Corp. plant in Katy where coolers like the one that saved their lives are manufactured. Each was given a cooler to replace the one they lost. On Friday, they visited the Coast Guard base at Ellington Field to be reunited with the air crew who rescued them and the planners who coordinated the search. The fishermen hugged each of the Coast Guard men and women involved and invited them to a celebratory barbecue at the American Legion Post 291 in San Leon. When the Houston ISD board earlier this year voted to bestow new monikers on seven schools named after people with Confederate ties, outrage among alumni as well as some current parents and students was as predictable as it was swift. Tradition should trump history, they declared. What's done is done, they argued: Starting down that path could lead to a constant flow of such changes for a variety of long-ago sins. One school, however, was gung-ho for the change, having already presented its request to the board in 2015 to rename Richard Dowling Middle School in honor of late educator Carrie McAfee, who became the first female principal of a traditional Texas high school when she took the helm of Madison High in 1974. When the proposed new names were announced Friday, it was their turn for outrage. McAfee had been replaced by Audrey Lawson, the recently deceased wife of local pastor Bill Lawson. Those who had advocated for McAfee cried foul. Their indignation was not directed at Lawson, a cofounder of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church who was widely known for her work in education and long history of civic involvement. Lawson, who died in December, is a deserving candidate - for another school, they said. "We wanted the name Carrie McAfee," said Linda Scurlock, a member of the South Houston Concerned Citizens Coalition, which had lobbied for the change unsuccessfully before finally getting a warmer reception last August. "She was the first black high school principal in Texas and very much admired." 'Had to be a process' HISD Trustee Wanda Adams said the previous tentative approval of renaming the school for McAfee went out the door when the other schools were brought into the mix. There was no intent to show disrespect for McAfee, she said. "With all these other names in play, we had to come up with a policy," Adams said. "We felt, don't let it be the board's decision' let it be the community's decision. That 'X'ed out everything, including previous recommendations from the board. There had to be a process." That process involved setting up a committee to review potential names that would include alumni, community leaders, students and school officials. Recommendations from the public were received, though many were immediately nixed because the honoree had to be deceased. Just as unhappy are parents from Sydney Lanier Middle School. They insist the HISD board did not follow established procedure in hastily placing the name change matter on an agenda before a February meeting. They claim no research was done concerning the individual history of the existing namesakes, nor was a proper evaluation of the cost of the change undertaken. "At the end of the day, this is not just about renaming - this is about taking away a neighborhood's rights to their school," said Adrienne Murry, a member of an ad hoc group of parents, alumni and former teachers opposed to the change. "The board voted to take away rights that should belong to the people and vest it with themselves. Railroaded a process, didn't do their research, and violated their own laws and regulations." The proposed name for Lanier is Lanier - as in Bob Lanier, the late mayor of Houston. Although the clever renaming lessens the cost slightly for that school and keeps the Lanier "brand" mostly intact, Murry said the "half-a-loaf" solution, while clever, was not the result of a properly implemented process. "They wanted to make sure we got an unfair hearing to do it this way," Murry said. "If they move forward, there will be consequences. I'm not sure who will do what, but somebody may sue them." Should that happen, a group from Reagan High School - to be renamed Heights High School - is likely to join in. It has had an active "save the name" Facebook page, and like its Lanier counterpart has insisted the entire board-approved process was illegal from the start. And more to the point, its leaders are actively soliciting donations to a legal fund. 'Marlin Mama' At Dowling Middle School, McAfee supporters said they feel steamrolled. An HISD employee for more than 50 years, McAfee was lauded as a trailblazer when she died in 2006. She had served as principal of Madison High School for 15 years, starting in 1974, and was affectionately referred to as "Marlin Mama." "She really kind of set the standard for female administrators," former HISD trustee Larry Marshall said at the time. "When she became the principal of Madison High School, females were not thought of as secondary principals at the time. She broke the barrier." But Audrey Lawson was more widely known, even if she had no connection to the neighborhood around Dowling. It did not hurt that the Lawson family sent out an email encouraging people to support having the school named after her, though Adams said the committee had already picked her when that email went out. "It seemed to me that the committee was rigged with representatives from the school from the start," Scurlock said. "They were stacking the deck. We already had a list the first time we met, and Audrey Lawson's name was first. It was a done deal." Adams said the choice of which name to put above the schoolhouse door is out of her hands, even if she does cast one of the nine board votes. "With all these other schools involved, it became so political, and that changed everything," she said. The sudden replacement of Saudi Arabia's oil minister Saturday set off fresh speculation over whether the kingdom might shift tactics amid one of the largest oil busts in history. Longtime minister Ali Al-Naimi refused to maintain Saudi Arabia's traditional role as a swing producer and lower crude production, even as oil prices have remained at historic lows since late 2014. This position had been widely viewed as an attempt to put shale producers in Texas and other oil rich states out of business. The new minister Khaled Al-Falih, the chairman of state-owned Saudi Aramco and a Texas A&M graduate, offered no signs Saturday he would shift course. But the unexpected nature of the move raised question about what Saudi Arabia's next play might be. "There was a group of us talking about it at Starbucks this morning, and we were all scratching our heads," said Larry Oldham, an oil financier in Midland. "You just don't know what these young guys are going to do." The replacement of the 80-year-old Al-Naimi was just one in a series of sweeping royal decrees on Saturday, as King Salman replaced a number of top ministers and restructured government bodies in the first moves of an ambitious plan to chart a new direction for the kingdom and decrease its reliance on oil revenues. The decrees were among the first concrete steps in the plan, which was announced late last month to great domestic fanfare by the king's son Mohammed bin Salman, who is about 30 years old and oversees economic policy and runs the Defense Ministry. The prolonged slump in oil prices has forced Houston-based companies to layoff tens of thousands of people, it has rattled real estate markets, and has brought the city's growth to a near standstill. But few market observers said they expect significant swings in oil prices from the news when U.S. markets open following the weekend. Difficult times In the short term, Saudi oil exports are unlikely to change, said Praveen Kumar, executive director of the University of Houston Global Energy Management Institute. But he said the fact Al-Naimi's strategy to push out U.S. shale production has largely failed so far weakened his position within the kingdom. "He totally underestimated the resilience of the shale producers and their ability to achieve cost efficiency. They thought it would take six months and that timing was completely off," Kumar said. "Al-Naimi's been there for decades. Getting him out allows the new power centers in Saudi Arabia to devise the long-term strategy for production and its role in OPEC." The shift in leadership comes at a difficult time for the kingdom. The regional order over which Saudi Arabia has long prevailed is in tatters, with wars raging in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, and with its regional nemesis, Iran, extending its influence. Also, low oil prices have shaken the Saudi economy, causing the government to run huge budget deficits and leaving government contractors falling behind in paying salaries. Al-Naimi's oversight of oil policy for the kingdom, the world's largest oil exporter, had made him a towering figure in world oil policy, whose mere utterances were closely scrutinized by traders seeking to understand the country's thinking. Jim Krane, a fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, joked even a misplaced comma by Al-Naimi could send the world's oil markets rising or falling. "His word was the closest thing to gold," he said. "Whether or not (Al-Falih) is going to cut the same figure as Al-Naimi, entrusted with so much power and decision making, we'll have to wait and see. He's a technocrat in the vein of previous Saudi energy ministers and is considered a safe pair of hands inside and outside the kingdom." Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp offered kudos: "Our heartiest congratulations to Khalid," he said. "All part of the Aggie plan to take over the world! Seriously, the education he got here and his success makes all of us very proud that Khalid is a member of the Aggie network and family." 'We're optimistic' After graduating from Texas A&M with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1982, Al-Falih went on to spend his entire career at Aramco before being appointed CEO in 2009. While pundits downplayed the impact of Saudi's move Saturday, in the heart of West Texas' oil fields producers were of the mind any change was good news. Oil prices have rebounded since the beginning of the year and are now trading around $45 a barrel. But some companies in Midland are carrying so much debt even a rise to $60 a barrel was unlikely to be enough to save them, Oldham said. "All Saudi Arabia has to do is change production 1 (million)-to-2 million barrels a day and oil will pop significantly," he said. "We're optimistic this could cause a price rise." The New York Times and Associated Press contributed to this report. PHILADELPHIA - Doctors and nurses hope to lower the city's high infant mortality rate by distributing baby boxes that encourage safe sleeping habits for newborns and their caregivers. Temple University Hospital last week began giving out the cardboard boxes that are lined with a mattress and function like a bassinet. They're meant to discourage parents from sleeping with their babies, which could lead to accidental suffocation. The program is the largest effort of its kind by an academic health system in the U.S., hospital officials said, though that could not immediately be confirmed. It's based on a successful baby box initiative in Finland that began in the 1930s and lowered that country's infant mortality rate. Brianna Devero received the first box after her son, Steven Tonzelli Jr., was born. The boy arrived two weeks early - before her house was ready for him. "He loved it because it was like sleeping in the bassinet from the hospital," Devero said Friday. "And it was really good because it was something that I could use just right then and there, and didn't have to worry about assembling anything." Philadelphia, which has one of the nation's highest poverty rates, has an infant mortality rate nearly double the U.S. average - 11.2 deaths per 1,000 births compared with six per 1,000 nationwide, according to the city Health Department. The rate is even higher in some low-income neighborhoods that Temple serves. Poor families sometimes don't have the resources or education to properly care for newborns. Temple's box initiative aims to reduce risky behavior associated with infant deaths, such as sharing beds or using unsafe bedding. The hospital plans to give out 3,000 boxes for free over the next year - one for each woman who gives birth there, regardless of need. NEW YORK - Hundreds of people carrying photos of loved ones killed by gun violence marched across the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday to rally for stricter gun laws and chanted demands for action. The fourth annual march, held on the eve of Mother's Day, was organized by the group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. "We are going to stand up and fight until our last breath because if we lose our children we have nothing left to lose," said the group's founder, Shannon Watts. 'Destroyed my family' Natasha Christopher knows that pain all too well. Her son, Akeal, was shot in Brooklyn's Bushwick neighborhood in June 2012 and died days later, on his 15th birthday. "Gun violence destroyed my family," Christopher said. "Nothing will ever be the same. But I'm here today to say that I have turned my pain and anger into action." The marchers, who went from Cadman Plaza in Brooklyn to City Hall in lower Manhattan, said they want stricter background checks for gun purchases and a ban on assault rifles. "They keep saying we have good, strong gun laws, but for me, I don't believe these laws are really that strong," Christopher said. Marchers, as they crossed the bridge, shouted, "What do we want? Gun sense!" Oscar-winning actress Julianne Moore was among the crowd that rallied before the march. She said she was spurred to get involved to advocate for stronger gun laws after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., where a gunman killed 20 children and six adults in December 2012. 'A safety movement' "We're really pushing for more gun safety regulations," she said. "It is not an anti-gun movement. It is not a partisan movement. It is a safety movement." The National Rifle Association, the nation's largest gun rights lobbying group, opposes expanding background checks. The NRA says many people sent to prison because of gun crimes get their guns through theft or the black market and no amount of background checks can stop those criminals. Under the current system, cashiers at stores selling guns call in to check with the FBI or other designated agencies to ensure customers don't have criminal backgrounds. Some lawmakers want to expand such checks to sales at gun shows and purchases made through the Internet. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate CAIRO - An Egyptian court on Saturday recommended the death sentence against six people, including two Al-Jazeera employees, for allegedly passing documents related to national security to Qatar and the Doha-based TV network during the rule of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi. A verdict on Morsi, ousted by the military in July 2013 after one year in office, and four other defendants in the case, will be announced June 18, according to judge Mohammed Shirin Fahmy. Morsi's co-defendants include two top aides. 'False news' The two Al-Jazeera employees - identified by the judge as news producer Alaa Omar Mohammed and news editor Ibrahim Mohammed Hilal - were sentenced in absentia along with Asmaa al-Khateib, who worked for Rasd, a media network widely suspected of links to Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood was banned and declared a terrorist group after Morsi's ouster. Mohammed and Hilal, who are not in Egypt, would be retried in the event of their surrender to Egyptian authorities. "Al Jazeera media network rejects the absurd allegations that they (Mohammed and Hilal) were in collaboration with the elected government of Mohammed Morsi," a spokesman for Al-Jazeera said in an email. Egypt's relations with Qatar have been fraught with tension since the ouster of Morsi, who enjoyed the support of the tiny but wealthy Gulf state. Cairo also accuses Al-Jazeera's news coverage of Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East of bias in favor of militant Islamic groups. Last year, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi pardoned two imprisoned journalists from the Al-Jazeera English news network. Mohamed Fahmy, an Egyptian-born Canadian, and Egyptian Baher Mohamed were arrested in December 2013. They were sentenced to three years in prison for airing what a court described as "false news" and coverage biased in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood. Action condemned The prosecution of the two, along with Australian Peter Greste - deported in February last year - drew strong international condemnations. Their trial was entangled from the start with the wider political enmity between Egypt and Qatar following Morsi's ouster. The three other defendants for whom death sentences were recommended are documentary producer Ahmed Afify, EgyptAir cabin crew member Mohammed Keilany and academic Ahmed Ismail. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Maggie Wright, 70, had high hopes for 2016. She had envisioned an epic battle to the end between delegates on the floor of the Republican Party's national convention, where she would help lead the fight for Sen. Ted Cruz, who she has supported since his 2012 underdog bid for U.S. Senate. On Tuesday her hopes were crushed. Beginning on March 1, the retired homemaker and tea party leader from Burleson, Texas, had prepared an entire campaign to win a delegate slot. She invested $600 for promotional materials, printed 400 mailers, refined her resume and practiced her stump speech. Wright was ready to take the fight to Cleveland. Until Cruz, after a crippling loss in Indiana, withdrew his candidacy and ceded the nomination to Donald Trump. "Our nation chose evil over good," she said, choking back emotion. "If God does not rain down on America, he needs to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah." RELATED: Analysis: Cruz's sudden exit from GOP race catches supporters off guard Months of anticipation suddenly were moot. Journalists and pundits had spent most of 2016 chattering about the prospect of a historic contested convention in Cleveland in July, where delegates from the 50 states would caucus contentiously until a winner emerged. As that scenario became Cruz's last shot at the nomination, his campaign diligently encouraged activist supporters to run for delegate slots, and in state after state it found resounding success. Now all those delegates have lost their purpose. Wright still plans to go to the Texas GOP convention and seek her spot in Cleveland. "I don't know if they'll vote for me because my flyers all say I'm running to vote for Ted until the last ballot is cast," she said. Still, Texas convention will be overrun with Cruz fans. And, according to JoAnn Fleming, former tea party chair for the Cruz campaign, there remains work to be done by the activists who planned on fighting for Cruz at convention. "Cruz delegates have been in the trenches and should help write the rules for the Republican convention and should help shape the Republican platform," Fleming said. RELATED: Supporters expect Cruz to remain on the national stage Wright is weighing whether to mail out or scrap the papers she had printed. On Wednesday she still was reeling from the shock of learning via Facebook that Cruz whom she calls the favorite political leader of her life had left the presidential race. What will she do with her SUV wrapped in an image of Cruz's face and campaign logo? Unable to find an answer, she held out hope that this is not the end, and Trump will not lead the Republican Party in the presidential election. That's why she still aims to try her best to win a spot as delegate in Cleveland. "We never know what will take place at convention," she said. "Something might happen. You never know." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON - For Ted Cruz, it all came to a head outside The Mill restaurant in Marion, Ind., site of a final campaign stop on the eve of the Hoosier State primary that would end his bid for the White House. As the junior senator from Texas headed for a waiting car, he spotted a half-dozen protesters across the street. Some were holding up signs for front-runner Donald Trump. With news cameras in tow, Cruz, a Harvard-trained lawyer, walked over to talk. "What do you like about Donald Trump?" he asked. "Everything," said a man in sunglasses. Further efforts to engage were met with insults and jeers. "Indiana don't want you," said the man in the shades. "Vote Trump!" he yelled as Cruz turned to leave. "Everybody, vote Trump!" For Cruz backers, that moment on national television encapsulates everything their candidate was up against in a Republican primary that would become shaded by all things Trump. "It was emblematic," said former national spokesman Rick Tyler, who had worked closely with the campaign since its rollout 13 months ago at Liberty University, the Virginia evangelical college founded by the late televangelist Jerry Falwell. "This was Ted Cruz trying to reason with a voter, like he would normally do. But this guy was not reasonable," Tyler said. "He didn't want to hear anything Cruz had to say." Some Trump fans, Cruz found out, would not respond to political messages in the same way as supporters for more conventional politicians. There was something in the air. 'Bold colors' When Cruz launched his campaign for president, in just his second year in the Senate, he asked his supporters to imagine a conservative tableau painted in "bold colors, not pale pastels." As the first major candidate to announce, Cruz sensed voters' appetite for a political outsider. He devised a strategy to go hard right, tea party, libertarian and, most of all, evangelical. "Today, roughly half of born-again Christians aren't voting. They're staying home," Cruz told the students at Liberty. "Imagine, instead, millions of people of faith all across America coming out to the polls and voting our values." Nurtured from the same soil as Texas' grass-roots tea party base, Cruz would truck down the outside lane to Washington. He would be at the head of a convoy of values voters, and he would crush an insider "cartel" of corrupt politicians and lobbyists. Then, on June 16, to Neil Young's tune "Rockin' in the Free World," Donald Trump and his wife Melania rode down an escalator in New York's Trump Tower, where the flamboyant real estate mogul announced his candidacy. "This is beyond anybody's expectations," Trump said. Month after month, poll after poll, those words proved to be prescient. The endgame Cruz envisioned - a showdown with an establishment conservative out of touch with the GOP's angry base - would never materialize. Instead, he got a big-haired rival with a turbocharged street-talk sensibility that ultimately trumped Cruz's prim career as a government lawyer and senator, albeit as a movement conservative. Cruz also faced a reality TV star with almost universal name recognition - the gold standard of politics. "What we ended up with was a celebrity, and celebrities have fans," Tyler said. "They don't have supporters. And fans don't behave the way political supporters do." 'Prone to error' Cruz had to recalibrate, and he did. Others in the growing GOP field - notably Jeb Bush, Rick Perry and Marco Rubio - impaled themselves in a variety of attacks on the new alpha male of the Republican primaries. Cruz, instead, made a trip to the Trump Tower in July to strike a deal with the author of "The Art of the Deal." He not only wouldn't go after Trump, he would defend Trump's controversial statements on immigration. The conventional wisdom was that Trump would fall under the weight of his own outsized ego and outspoken pronouncements on women, minorities, even war veterans like Sen. John McCain, a former Vietnam POW. "He is prone to error," said Katie Packer, the head of Our Principles PAC, an anti-Trump group that still had hopes of blocking Trump right up until his last rival, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, quit the race on Wednesday, a day after Cruz. As the primaries neared and Cruz's poll numbers went up, he made no secret of his desire to sweep up Trump's diehard fans. He saw no need to offend them needlessly. "You wouldn't get Taylor Swift fans to get off Taylor Swift by criticizing her," Tyler said of the country and pop music star. The budding "bromance," however, fizzled in December when Cruz was caught on tape at a private New York fundraiser questioning Trump's preparedness to be president. He also confessed what everyone knew to be his strategy to overtake Trump and then co-front-runner Ben Carson: "Smother them with love." Trump readied to counterattack. "He will fall like all others," he tweeted. Cruz played down the incident, and his patience seemed to pay off in February when he won the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses. It was largely on the strength of a matchless ground operation fueled by the state's strong network of evangelicals, home-schoolers and social conservatives. Some also would credit Trump's decision to boycott the GOP debate in Des Moines over a snit with Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly. 'Lyin' Ted' For one cold, stark moment, Trump looked vulnerable, and Cruz's plan seemed to be working. Then, nine days later in New Hampshire, Trump bounced back. The news got worse for Cruz later in February when Trump dominated the field in South Carolina. That upended Cruz's hopes for the much-hyped "SEC Primary" - the early-voting states of college sports' Southeastern Conference. Texas, as expected, was good to Cruz, providing a needed boost in the delegate race. Elsewhere, Cruz's Southern "firewall" was crumbling, and, worse, he was losing the critical evangelical demographic to Trump. To some outside the campaign, it looked like the Cruz strategy might have been too rigid. "They have this idea that everybody is in a 'lane,' " said Steve Munisteri, a former Texas GOP chairman who worked on the Rand Paul campaign. "They have a libertarian lane, conservative late, etc. The problem is that voters are much more complex. They're not nearly as ideological. People look at personality, leadership, appearance." With a succession of Trump victories in February and March, the GOP race started to take on the feel of a contest for second-place, with Cruz and Rubio vying for the slot. Their growing rivalry focused mostly on their differences over immigration reform. For some Cruz partisans, it became heated to the point of distraction. Distraught at Trump's runaway success, some Cruz backers started to question his strategy, including his reluctance to focus more directly on Trump. Chief among them was Iowa radio host Steve Deace, a Cruz surrogate, who argued on the air that it was time to heed the message sent by voters in South Carolina: "That message is that they want him to go back to being that alpha male conservative leader that people fell in love with." Trump helped end what was left of the unspoken truce in a series of jabs at Cruz. He got some traction resurrecting questions about Cruz's Canadian birth. He also jumped on allegations that the Texan's campaign had falsely told Iowa caucus-goers that Carson was leaving the race. Thus was born Trump's oft-repeated moniker for Cruz: "Lyin' Ted." Cruz denied the accusation, but his campaign was buffeted by a troubling news narrative of missteps and internal turmoil, capped by Cruz's decision to fire Tyler after he posted a video falsely purporting to show Rubio denigrating the Bible. 'Turning point' Cruz got back on track in Wisconsin, this time with a huge assist from Trump. Cruz's victory, which he called a "turning point," came as Trump was on the defensive about retweeting an unflattering picture of Cruz's wife, Heidi. It was an act that seemed to underscore a broader national narrative of Trump's alleged coarseness and disrespect toward women. Cruz also accused the Manhattan mogul of being behind an out-of-the-blue National Enquirer story accusing Cruz of multiple affairs. The Wisconsin victory buoyed Cruz just as he was capturing a bounty of delegates in local conventions in states such as Colorado and Wyoming that did not hold presidential preference elections. To Trump, the behind-the-scenes delegate losses to Cruz were a clear threat to his prospects of reaching the 1,237-delegate majority needed to lock down the GOP nomination. He complained bitterly about a "rigged" system driven by party insiders. From Cruz's perspective, it represented his central advantage over Trump. "I don't think it's debatable that Ted Cruz had the best ground campaign," said JoAnn Fleming, the Texas Tea Party chairwoman for Cruz. "It was patterned after our 2012 Senate campaign." Ground organization, combined with a methodical, data-driven outreach operation, advanced a fundraising apparatus that raked in 1.5 million contributions averaging $60 each. While Cruz had been considered a long shot in the early days of the campaign, he became one of the best-financed candidates in a crowded GOP field. "His ability to fundraise, frankly, surprised the GOP establishment and others who were writing his obituary from the very beginning," Fleming said. Cruz's ground game, however, was no match for Trump media hype and his advantage in free or "earned" coverage, which has been estimated to exceed $2 billion. "He was able to stay on TV all the time," Fleming said. "It became the Trump show, particularly on Fox. It was hard to compete with that." It also was hard to compete with Trump in his native New York and much of the rest of the East Coast, where Cruz suffered a string of devastating defeats. Having campaigned against "New York values" in Iowa, Cruz had to live down the attack line in places like the Bronx and in Brooklyn, where he tried in vain to salvage a few Republican delegates. Untimely pivot Mathematically eliminated from reaching the 1,237 threshold, Cruz was forced into a rear-guard action to stop Trump from getting the needed delegates, as well. A once-hazy strategy now was taking form: Force a contested convention in Cleveland, where Cruz organizers could poach Trump delegates who would not be committed to the billionaire after the first round of balloting. For a growing #NeverTrump movement of conservative Republicans, this was the only hope. For Cruz, it may have been the kiss of death. Cruz - the unpopular Senate rebel who wrought a government shutdown - now was cast as the "establishment" candidate fending off a hostile takeover of the party by the maverick billionaire. "In retrospect, Cruz's pivot to being the face of the establishment was a mistake," said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. "Cruz ceded the outsider mantle to Trump at the very same time the Republican base's desire for an outsider grew." As Trump closed in on the delegate threshold, it became clear that the race would come down to Indiana, back in Cruz's Midwestern comfort zone. Going all out for a final stand, Cruz cut a deal with Kasich to bow out of the Hoosier State, then called in ex-rival Carly Fiorina as his running mate. Both moves proved controversial. Neither seemed to help. The last day of the long journey would not end with a whimper. Trump struck first with a television interview giving credence to another National Enquirer story, this one suggesting a link between Cruz's father, Cuban emigre Rafael Cruz, and the John F. Kennedy assassination. Hours before the polls closed on Tuesday, the 45-year-old senator stood before a gaggle of reporters and unleashed one final, blistering attack: "I'm gonna tell you what I really think of Donald Trump," he said. He went on to call the presumptive GOP nominee a "pathological liar," a "serial philanderer," and a "narcissist." In his concession speech later that night, Cruz made no mention of either Trump or the Republican Party. Instead, he spoke of a movement, which now sees him as its leader. "Our movement," Cruz said, "will continue." Reporters from the Houston Chronicle and researchers from the Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center at Texas A&M created a first-of-its-kind study showing the potential harm to the public posed by hazardous materials at local businesses. The Chronicle, in 2015, obtained the chemical inventories, called Tier Twos, for about 2,500 businesses. Companies are required by federal law to submit their Tier Twos annually to the state, first-responders and Local Emergency Planning Committees. A&M researchers started by looking at the materials themselves. Chemicals can be harmful in three key ways: flammability, reactivity and toxicity. Flammability represents the harm posed by fires or explosions. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) rates a large number of chemicals based on their flammability. These ratings were used when possible. If an NFPA rating was not available, the flammability rating from the chemical's Material Safety Data Sheet was used instead. Reactivity represents the instability of a substance in certain conditions. The NFPA also rates chemicals on their reactivity. These ratings were used when possible, and if not, drawn from the chemical's Material Safety Data Sheet. Toxicity represents the harm posed to human health or the environment. The NFPA rates chemicals on toxicity, but does not distinguish between types of exposure. Since inhalation hazards are the most dominant threat, the NFPA ratings were modified by A&M according to the chemical's lethal Protective Action Criteria number, created by the U.S. Department of Energy. These values are based on a chemical's maximum airborne concentrations before life-threatening effects occur. The potential for harm from toxicity, reactivity and flammability were weighted equally. So a chemical with a score of 4 in any single category was rated more dangerous than a chemical with 3s in each category. Since each facility can have multiple chemicals, the final rating was based on the chemical with the highest potential for harm. The amount of chemical stored at a facility also factors into the harm a business could pose to the public. A highly toxic chemical would be potentially less harmful to the public if only small amounts were at the facility. Researchers created a penalty multiplier based on the quantity of the chemical. The number of people living near a facility increases or decreases the harm a business could pose to the public. Researchers created a penalty multiplier based on the population within atwo 2-mile radius of a facility. This information was pulled from the EPA and U.S. Geological Survey's LandView database. Overall scores ranged from 2, with the lowest potential for harm, up to 14. The ratings were divided into three groups low (two to six on the scale), medium (six to 10) and high (10 to 14). A&M researchers consider a facility's accident history relevant to its potential for harm but that was not included because comprehensive accident histories don't exist. But A&M researchers endorsed the use of regulatory histories. So the Chronicle acquired the OSHA inspection history for every facility with a rating of nine9 or higher. Many facilities had not been inspected within the last five years. A&M recommended that facilities with OSHA process safety violations receive a one-point penalty. Six facilities Syntech, Wyman-Gordon, Goodyear, Lubrizol Deer Park, Bayer Material Science and the Arkema plant on Haden Road moved from the mid-tier to the highest category due to their inspection histories. Each facility scoring a 10 or higher was sent a letter detailing the analysis, an explanation of its score and an offer to respond to the evaluation. Four companies sent the Chronicle updated information on chemicals in their inventories. A&M recalculated scores, and those companies moved down to the mid-tier. The Chronicle received AkzoNobel Surface Chemistry's Tier Two in 2016. A&M evaluated its inventory using the study methodology, and the plant landed on the high potential for harm list. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A singular goal Regarding "On a tightrope in Trump's GOP" (Page A1, Thursday), if you believe Ted Cruz is going to endorse Donald Trump or change his spots and work collegially with his fellow senators to pass legislation benefiting the Texas Gulf Coast, I have some Brays Bayou waterfront property I would like to sell you. His burning ambition is to be president, not to pay his dues with public service to qualify for the nation's highest office. H. Clay Moore, Houston Personal pride This is a pivotal moment for Ted Cruz. I don't support Cruz politically, and if he can't pull himself to refuse to support someone who insulted him, his wife and his father, I would have no respect for him personally. Ron Curtis, Houston Prophet Ted Cruz's lament, "Trump's winning the nomination loses the country" could as easily apply to the real loss Americans endured in the 2013 frivolous gambling of our American credit reputation on the world stage and the government shutdown by obstructive congressional leaders. Those of us not in big or small government are not codependent on any party, president or demagogue to live our own courageous and triumphant lives. Political prophets of gloom and doom are not the ones some of us look to as exemplars of loving our neighbors as ourselves, doing justice and loving mercy. Yolanda Ramirez Moore, Houston Bush support I moved to North Carolina from Texas but have retained my love and respect for the Lone Star State, fully believing I will return someday. I always felt that Texans could be counted on to do the right thing. I was surprised that neither of the former Bush presidents will support the presumptive Republican nominee. The primaries are over. The objective is to get the White House back. The Republican establishment needs to get behind Trump and help him to do the best job he can, or do they want eight years of Hillary Clinton? Sherwood Robertson,Pinehurst, N.C. Small acts Donald Trump has clinched the title as the smallest person ever to be nominated for the presidency. Just hours before he won the Republican presidential primary in Indiana he accused Ted Cruz's father of being involved in Lee Harvey Oswald's assassination of President Kennedy. Trump cited unsubstantiated allegations in a National Enquirer article last month tying the Texas senator's father to Oswald. Talk about irresponsibility. Add this to his spending time on the Obama "birther" farce, plus his personal insults of every opponent, and he proves himself to be the smallest person ever to be nominated. Bart Busker, Houston Obstructionists Regarding "U.S. must rebuild the political center" (Page A19, Wednesday), those "obstructionists" who write "the rules" and expect the rest of us to follow mindlessly are authors of their own demise and are easily subverted. They are victims of their own stagnation. Diane Day Ubias, Houston Cruz proud Regarding "Back to work" (Page A16, Thursday), as a 60-year-old Texan, I have voted in every election since I was 18 years old. I have never been more proud of any vote I ever cast than my vote for Ted Cruz. The editorial, highly critical of Cruz, did not change my opinion of him one bit. As to the editorial suggesting Cruz emulate Kay Bailey Hutchison, President George W. Bush and his dad, they are the very reason we are stuck with Donald Trump today. Larry Tidwell, Baytown Texans pursue higher education with the hope for a future of unlimited opportunity. Education is the pathway to success, and our economy is dependent upon a well-educated workforce. That is why Texans who work tirelessly to pay their college tuition, or to provide for their children to attend college, must be assured they are getting a quality education at a cost they can afford. They need to know that the degree that is earned has real value in the marketplace and the promise of gainful employment. Last month I wrote to all 38 of our public universities and asked for tuition data for each school since 2002. Before the 2003 legislative session, when deregulation was passed, the Legislature set tuition. Here are the facts: Since 2002, tuition and fees have skyrocketed 147 percent while household income grew by only 32 percent. Where did the money go? Administration spending grew 149 percent and management spending grew 72 percent, while spending in classrooms only grew by 65 percent. Salaries are also at an all-time high; just since 2012, salaries for top administrators have nearly doubled. Some employees were given $100,000 to $400,000 bonuses on top of million-dollar paychecks. Have we seen great results to match these increases in spending? No.Today in Texas, only 1 in 4 students graduate within a traditional four-year cycle, and fewer than half earn a degree within six years. As a result, more and more students are leaving college without earning the degree they sought, yet they remain saddled with burdensome college debt. Those who do graduate often find the value of their degree is questionable when job prospects remain out of reach for many. Some try to blame these problems on the Legislature for allegedly cutting higher education spending, but in fact the Legislature is actually spending more on higher education. However, our share of total funding is down because we can't keep up with the profligate spending of university leaders. During the 84th legislative session, state leaders demonstrated our commitment to higher education by increasing funding by nearly $300 million (approximately 9 percent) and authorizing over $3 billion for campus buildings. Yet within months of this increase, most public universities once again approved tuition increases. To move forward in providing affordable, excellent higher education to Texas students, universities must scrutinize every dollar spent, as we do in the Legislature. Many universities are making strides in targeting inefficiencies and incorporating innovative, cost-efficient programs. These include developing low-cost degree options and more flexible course options for students. Such efforts are making a difference - but we need to see a much more comprehensive approach to reducing costs and increasing student success, and it must start today. Our goal must be to prevent tuition and fees from continuing to far outpace what Texans earn and live on now. That is why I am calling on the leadership of our higher education institutions to partner with the Legislature to develop state- and institutional-based solutions. There simply is no more time to engage in the blame game as parents and their students struggle to afford higher education with the hope for a future of unlimited opportunity. Patrick is the lieutenant governor of Texas. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate "This is a test of the emergency broadcast system. This is only a test." This annoying message may interrupt you while watching TV or listening to the radio. But what if it interrupted dinner with your family? Or your sleep? For some in Houston, it does. Emergency notifications aren't just for PBS. If you live near one of Houston's hundreds of petrochemical facilities, you face the very real threat of an explosion or hazardous chemical release. With these potential public health disasters looming, safeguards are required. Sirens and loudspeakers are prepared to warn residents and provide instructions in case of emergency. Tests of those systems are routine, even expected. Such is life in Houston's fenceline communities. But what happens when disaster actually strikes? Do emergency notification systems work? Lately in Houston, they have not. Several incidents this year have shown weaknesses in our emergency alert systems. Our communities deserve better. On April 7 and 8, fires occurred at ExxonMobil's Baytown refinery and LyondellBasell's southeast Houston refinery, respectively. No injuries were reported in either. Citizens took to social media immediately to share their experiences of these disasters. In today's media environment, citizens often share what they've seen before first responders or news media even arrive on scene. At Air Alliance Houston, we usually hear about these disasters within minutes. Our contacts on the ground tell us what they have seen, heard or felt. We know that social media is often the best source of real time updates in the minutes after an incident. During several recent incidents, fenceline residents told us that they never heard sirens, alarms or emergency announcements of any kind. As one frustrated Pasadena resident put it, "They don't want us to know anything. They just want to give the appearance that they do." Can you blame him? Living in Pasadena, he endures routine tests of emergency broadcast systems. They interfere with his daily life. When those systems fail him during an actual emergency, he has a right to be upset. If you don't live within earshot of an emergency notification system, there are other resources intended to keep you informed. The East Harris County Manufacturers Association maintains the Community Awareness Emergency Response (CAER) Line, a phone number and website that is supposed to inform Houstonians in the minutes after a disaster. Even though we get our updates on Twitter, we often call the CAER line to check for messages. The ExxonMobil fire started at approximately 4:40 p.m. on April 7. No message was posted to the CAER line until 5:29 pm. The very next day, a fire at the LyondellBasell Houston refinery began shortly before 9 a.m. It was after 10 a.m. when a message was finally posted to the CAER line. These might seem like quick turnarounds, but every minute counts in a disaster. Residents are wondering whether they should stay put, take shelter or run for their lives. Every minute they don't know is a minute of fearful uncertainty. After a 10:15 a.m. explosion and fire at Pasadena Refining on Saturday, March 5, no message was posted to the CAER Line at all that day. One nearby resident told us that while she did hear an alarm, she could not make out the garbled loudspeaker message that followed. These weren't just "off days" for the petrochemical industry's capacity to share information. After a hazardous chemical release occurred at the Air Products plant in Pasadena in 2010, management issued profuse apologies for failing to issue a shelter-in-place order for more than 40 minutes. Houston's fenceline communities are in harm's way daily, and they need information to protect themselves. Fenceline community residents already have higher rates of asthma, cancer and other illnesses caused by exposure to pollution. These disproportionately poor and minority citizens also have higher uninsured rates and lower overall self-reported health. Must they also endure the fear and uncertainty of silence during potentially life-threatening emergencies? There is a better way. In today's media environment, there are myriad options for disseminating information in real time. Social media is updated continuously. We get real-time emergency notifications from the National Weather Service and push notifications about missing persons. Are we really still relying on loudspeakers and call-in answering machine messages to notify the public about petrochemical emergencies? No one system will work. Not everyone owns a cell phone or follows social media. But we have the technology to improve our emergency notification systems, and oil companies have the resources to do it. It's time to prioritize the safety and the lives of Houston's vulnerable communities. Because next time, it might not be only a test. Butler is the Community Outreach Director for Air Alliance Houston. Four persons were injured including two students aboard a Cabool school bus Friday in a crash north of Cabool. Tpr. Stacy Crewse said a westbound 1999 Dodge Durango operated by Carrie A. Evans, 35, of Cabool, was unable to stop on a gravel road, Crosslands Road and slid into the front of the 2007 school bus driven by LaDonna K. Lezak, 53, of Elk Creek. Two students on the bus ages 6 and 10 were taken by ambulance with minor injuries to Texas County Memorial Hospital after the wreck four miles north of Cabool, Crewse said. Evans and a passenger, Devin M. Evans, 17, also were taken to the hospital with minor injuries. Neither was wearing a seat belt, Crewse said. Both vehicles had moderate damage. Assisting at the scene was Sgt. George Falterman. Canadian mothers got an extra well wish this Mother's Day, courtesy of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Advertisement Trudeau shared a photo of he and his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau playing with one of their three children, two-year-old Hadrien, along with the caption: "Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers across Canada!" A few of the prime minister's global fans were a bit miffed that he didn't extend the message to moms across the world, but most were understanding of the special attention. He does lead Canada, after all. Gregoire Trudeau is mom to Hadrien, seven-year-old Ella-Grace and eight-year-old Xavier. She is committed to balancing her family life and her charity work, empowering young girls. Advertisement Gregoire Trudeau holds Hadrien as they meet U.S. school children on Justin Trudeau's official Washington visit. Advertisement Also on HuffPost Ever since wildfires began their tear across Fort McMurray, Canadians across the country have stepped up to help, including kids. And when life gives you lemons, a lemonade stand is the way to go. Young Canadians in British Columbia, Alberta, Prince Edward Island and Ontario have set up shop, selling lemonade to raise money for Fort McMurray evacuees. A Grade 2 class in Ontario even coined the hashtag #kidshelpymm to track some of the efforts. Advertisement Some of the young, entrepreneurial philanthropists include three girls from Drumheller, Alta., a town about 600 kilometres south of Fort Mac, spent their weekend selling lemonade and iced tea to raise money for pet supplies through the Fort Mac SPCA. On Saturday, students from Edmonton also set up a stand and pulled in $2,000 for the Red Cross. Canadians have donated more than $30 million to the Red Cross, and the federal government has pledged to match money raised by the organization. The young Albertans plan to add their donations to the pool, and so do many other kids across the country. Advertisement Alexander Tuck, a five-year-old from Whitby, Ont., sold lemonade with his mother Danielle at a local shopping centre Saturday, and watched as passerby pushed $10, $20 and $100 bills in his donations box, CTV reported. By the end of the day, Alexander had raised more than $2,500. 5 y/o Alexander Tuck has opened a lemonade stand in Whitby to help raise money for Fort McMurray pic.twitter.com/kSpDn7Hi0E Erica Vella (@ericavella) May 7, 2016 Further west in Etobicoke, twins, Connor and Jonathan Muia and their cousin Dawson Schigol racked up more than $400 for the Red Cross, and their parents promised to match their earnings, according to the CBC. A P.E.I. reporter tweeted another photo of some generous young Canadians who raised $500 to support relief efforts. As soon as these kids heard about the fires in Fort Mac, they wanted help. Their lemonade stand made more than $500. pic.twitter.com/ognMSrdMaZ Stephanie Kelly (@StephanieKelly4) May 8, 2016 Advertisement This little guy raised $127.85 for fire victims with his lemonade stand #YMMFIRE Our future is bright pic.twitter.com/Fj7J1dF1Tv RegJoeYYC (@RegularJoeYYC) May 6, 2016 In Maple Ridge, B.C., neighbourhood friends from ages 15 months to 10 years old, and their parents, shifted their already planned neighbourhood lemonade stand to a Fort Mac fundraiser. They'll be sending their profits off to either the Red Cross or Intact Insurance. Elsewhere in North Vancouver, another group of siblings spent their Saturday squeezing lemons, but with a specific family in mind. Tiffany Haziza told Global News, she and her kids were moved to action after seeing videos of the devastation, but they were extra motivated after learning a family friend had lost their house in the fires. Haziza's kids will be putting their earnings towards helping their friend relocate back to B.C. Beyonce would be proud. Also on HuffPost Fort McMurray Fire Aftermath (May 2016) See Gallery Wildfires grew into an inferno that forced the evacuation of more than 80,000 people from the Fort McMurray area this week. (Photo: Canadian Press) It struck me during a CBC radio call-in show this terrible week that a mom of two young children said that at least they escaped Fort McMurray through the fire while their children were asleep. They will not remember, she said in tears. A gift indeed. Advertisement Even a thousand of kilometres away, it's as if the flames are licking at my front door. I grieve for the loss of home and community to say nothing of the fact, which we have yet to acknowledge, that Fort Mac has been the engine of Canada's economy. I know many want to have the conversation about climate change and fossil fuels. But now is not the time. There is hardly a town you could live in that doesn't have a paycheque coming from Fort Mac. And while we watch them burn down on live TV, we know that their loss is our loss. Their town is our town. Their fire is our fire even if we don't feel the heat and the flames. Advertisement The foundation of a home smolders in a residential neighborhood destroyed by a wildfire on May 6, 2016 in Fort McMurray. (Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images) When the evacuation started, I started texting my mom friends. My mom friends whose husbands were in camp. Are they OK? Have you heard? Will they be home soon? How are the kids? What a freaking nightmare. Years from now, the children of Fort Mac will be adults. The trauma will in many ways shape their lives, their decisions, and their indecisions just as our traumas have shaped our lives. The October crisis, Polytechnique, Sandy Hook, Slave Lake, Lac Megantic. The list is far too long. Some consequences told. Most, not yet. People forced from Fort McMurray embrace at an evacuation centre. (Photo: Canadian Press) Every tragedy raises a previous one. We all struggle with the feelings that come with watching other families suffer. And while my empathy is intact, I hope, it's like our experience of tragedies are called to the forefront yet again. Advertisement I've spent days on the verge of tears. And I struggle to rationalize where it comes from. Is it for the victims or is it from memory. Am I personalizing the struggle of others out of recognition of previous experience or am I genuinely empathetic. The mind boggles. The heart breaks. Thank goodness for the practicality of the Red Cross. Please donate. You will feel better. And it will do good. We are all vulnerable though none more than the direct victims. But there are moments that break us, change us irreversibly and forever. I would trade everything I had. Bank balance, cozy home, sense of safety, to offer even a bit of respite to those who years from now will do the same for strangers in memory of the tragedy they suffer through this terrible time. You are loved and you matter. It's not going to be OK. But it will get better. It. Will. Get. Better. Also on HuffPost: Fort McMurray Fire Aftermath (May 2016) See Gallery It's been widely reported that 73% of those aged 18-29 wish to remain in the EU, whilst 63% of those aged over 60 wish to leave - if you break this down even more, there are strong results to suggest that the further you progress through education the more likely you are to vote to remain in the European Union. So, there is an incredibly strong chance that the person reading this blog now wishes to remain part of the EU. First and foremost, why does the EU matter so much to me? As a child, it was European law that granted parental leave and has ensured that mothers would not be unfairly discriminated against when returning to the workplace. As a boy who grew up in Cornwall, it was the European Union that provided the vastly underfunded council with more than 600 million of funding for badly needed development programmes. When travelling, being part of the EU means that I am granted the freedom to inter-rail round Europe and that, should something go wrong, I am entitled to free or reduced cost healthcare thanks to the EHIC card. As a student, it has given many of my friends across the country the opportunity to take a year to live and study abroad through the Erasmus programme. As a resident of Birmingham, it has meant that my City has been able to invest in the ICC, the NEC, the town hall and numerous jobs for young people, through a 33 million social grant aimed at helping 16,000 young Birmingham citizens into employment. Finally, as a member of a large research-led teaching university, it has contributed approximately 260 million funding into research on health, food, energy, climate change and more, ensuring continued high quality education across our universities. Advertisement This referendum is personal - not just to me, but to everyone. I guarantee that, no matter who you are or where you have come from, you have in one way or another benefited from being part of the largest free trade area in the world! But I need not continue on the countless benefits of being a member of the EU, because given the strong probability that you are going to be voting to Remain in the EU, I'm going to use this blog to help bust a few common misconceptions, so you can get straight on the phone to your parents or grandparents and talk them round to protecting your future! "EU Migrants are a drain on the economy!" Immigration has become the crux of the EU Referendum debate, with many arguing it is the freedom of movement that has meant that immigration into the UK has spiralled out of control. Or is this simply what the media would have us all believe? On the contrary, it appears that EU migrants contribute more in taxes than they claim in benefits and are actually a source of economic growth, valued at almost 2bn a year! Additionally whilst more and more European citizens may be working in the UK, this is not at the expense of "British jobs". Research shows that, whilst 850,000 European citizens have been granted to work in the UK since David Cameron become PM, 1 million Britons have also found employment in the exact same time period. We aren't just talking about your "Polish plumbers" - Britain is managing to attract the highest number of university educated migrants of any country in the EU. These are the people propping up our NHS, running local businesses and contributing to our economy! "Most of our laws come from Brussels" Weirdly, I had this very debate with a flight attendant on a flight back from New York who, to my surprise, was ready to leave the EU because "we no longer had control". However, no one can seem to agree whether its 15% or 55% of our laws that actually are linked to the European Union. The only thing we can agree on is that everything's pretty unclear! Advertisement What is clear, though, is that David Cameron negotiated a new deal with the EU back in 2015. Afterwards, he declared that Britain would not be part of an "ever closer union", signalling a distancing from Brussels. This, coupled with a win for national parliaments giving them a 'red card' veto to block EU law, should start to ease concerns that we are losing our own sovereignty. However, we should also be pointing out that it's EU law that has granted us the Human Rights Act, that's enshrined equal pay for men and women and that's taken on multinational corporations by tackling unfair competition - something that the UK simply would not have been able to do alone. Yes, some of our laws come from the European Union - but these laws are also debated, amended and passed by MEPs, who we've elected right here in the UK! "Norway & Switzerland get on just fine without being a member of the European Union" Norway may not be part of the European Union, but nonetheless they still pay the same contribution to the EU and yet have none of the political say so that we do! Almost 75% of European legislation has been incorporated by Norway and their access to the European single market comes with EU product standards, financial and employment regulations and substantial contributions to the EU budget. For those who then argue that perhaps we don't need access to the European single market, tell them that 49% of our trade is within the EU and that millions of jobs rely upon it. Switzerland has opted for an array of bilateral agreements with the EU on most aspects of integration. These agreements are often static and can't keep up with changing markets - furthermore they don't cover services which are an important part of the UK economy. The strength of being in the EU has also recently been bolstered by comment from Barack Obama, who's promised that a UK outside of the EU would go to the back of the queue when forming major trade deals. So what now? Get registered! I am still astounded by the painfully low registration figures among 18-25 year olds in the UK. The media so often portray us as the generation who are ambivalent, who don't care and who are politically useless - but we could actually swing this election! If it's true that 73% of us want to remain in the EU, then we ultimately have the ability to win this summer's referendum for our future. This vote will affect us for decades to come: it threatens our economy, it threatens our jobs and it threatens our education. So please, please, take the time to register at www.gov.uk/register-to-vote. It literally takes two minutes! Advertisement If you didn't already know it, today is Sir David Attenborough's 90th birthday. Rightly, there will be thousands, possibly millions of people sending him best wishes for the day. On the phone to his daughter Susan on Thursday she told me she could see the postman staggering up the path with three huge crates of post and I suspect it's been the same all week. I had delivered my own card some days earlier, together with a DVD of a TV programme called Attenborough at 90 the end result of a project that had begun a year ago. Last summer I had been given the job to add to the Attenborough Birthday celebrations by producing a special programme to celebrate both the happy day and his life's work for the BBC. Clearly, a lovely thing to do, and right from the start I was not in the slightest concerned about filling an hour with wonderful stories, clips and anecdotes courtesy arguably the worlds foremost storyteller. However, there was one slight problem - persuading David to agree to actually take part. Advertisement His first reaction ranged from: "Oh no its too much fuss" to "Will anybody really be interested?" I should say that this is not false modesty, in fact is rather typical of David, he's always been more interested in the content of his programmes than in his personal involvement and genuinely feels the audience should be too. Undaunted, I persisted, and after repeated attempts over a number of months, and with the promise that Kirsty Young would interview him and that there would be no choir of tiny tots singing happy birthday, he finally agreed. As part of the negotiations we also agreed that, whilst of course it would revel in his past adventures, the programme should be forward looking as much as possible, connecting his past work with the latest breakthroughs in filming technology, the discovery of new and amazing animal behavior and with new approaches to conservation. With that understood plotting the programme could begin and, while I was right about there being no shortage of stories to tell, it was soon clear that there was almost too much to choose from, after all this needed to reflect more than 60 years of work. An early coup was filming an interview with Charles Lagus, David's companion and cameraman on the Zoo Quest series. Charles, a youngster at only 88, vividly recalls the wonderful innocence and freedom of those first days of Natural History filming back in the 50s, and the emergence of the Attenborough presentation style. Advertisement Perhaps David's most powerful signature is his 'pieces to camera', the moments in his films when he is interacting with an animal or some other aspect of nature. As one of the lucky people who have had the enormous fun directing some of these 'pieces' around the world, I relished the chance to pick some favourites for the programme. As well as the classic frolicking with the mountain gorillas (from Life on Earth) there are meetings with giant dinosaurs, with bioluminescent earthworms, blue whales and even a baby rhino. Alongside these magical moments it was impossible not to touch on some of the more hair-raising moments in David's career. There is a kind of unofficial club of directors that have taken their enthusiasm to get David just that little bit closer to a big wild animal or into some other white-knuckle situation, to a point that most people would blanche. There is Alastair Fothergill's notorious 'bubble helmet' (mentioned with a shudder by David in our programme) the various high-wire stunts devised by the late Adrian Warren, and even my own contribution; getting David to crawl under a giant termite mound full of nasty, biting, stinging soldier termites. In our defense I should mention there was no shortage of encouragement from the man himself - David's is only too eager to do our bidding if it helps reveal something extraordinary about the natural world. (I've only ever heard him demur once and that was to a crazy idea involving male chimpanzees the details of which are best left unsaid). Somehow over all the years of these adventures everyone has come back in one piece - just as well, as Alastair has said no-one wants 'responsible for bumping off David Attenborough' on their CV! As part of the birthday celebrations we managed another first (and a little surprise for David) by linking up with the Oscar winning Aardman Animations to create a trio of short films, (in the style of Creature Comforts), that gives the animals perspective on some of David's most memorable animal meetings. They're called 'The day I met Attenborough' and the animal stars are that famous gorilla family, two star-struck penguins and an enthusiastic Attenborough impersonator, in the shape of an Australian lyre bird. Advertisement One of the hallmarks of David's programmes has been his unbounded enthusiasm and energy and its clear from his birthday programme that, even at 90, this does not seem show any sign of fading. He talks with relish about how last year he dived beneath the waves in a mini-submarine to explore the Great Barrier Reef and how he joined an excavation in the remote deserts of Patagonia on the trail of the worlds largest dinosaur (his joy at being hands-on with such an extraordinary fossilized creature was palpable). And his adventures are still going on - a few weeks ago I flew with him in a hot air balloon at 11,000 feet over the Alps to film the opening of our new series Planet Earth II. When asked why he keeps so busy David says he simply loves making programmes - telling new exciting stories and working with pals. I think I can safely say that the feeling is mutual - people often say to those of us that make wildlife films that it must be a great job - yes it is, but nothing compared to making wildlife films with David Attenborough - that's the truly great job. Long may it continue - Happy Birthday David! Barack Obama argues for Britain to remain in the EU, and finds his views controversially dismissed by Boris Johnson, now-former Mayor of London, because he (Obama) is 'part-Kenyan'. But, hang on. Why shouldn't Kenyans have a view on Brexit? And Tanzanians and Ghanaians? Boris Johnson thinks it is because they might be prejudiced by colonial memories. In fact, Africans, and others in developing countries all around the world, have a current, legitimate and urgent interest in the future of the European Union. The EU, remember, is the most important trading partner of developing countries, the largest provider of aid, a key partner in managing conflict, an essential ally in tackling climate change, and a defender of core values like democracy, gender equality and human rights. Would Africa and the whole developing world be better off if the UK were to leave the EU? Hardly likely. The UK is a progressive voice in Brussels. It is the only country to have passed legislation fixing the size of the aid budget to meet the UN target of 0.7% of GNI. It has consistently argued for reform of the trade-distorting subsidies associated with the Common Agricultural Policy. It played a key role in the negotiation of the new Sustainable Development Goals, arguing specifically for democracy and rights to be prominent. And it has been consistently ambitious within the EU on climate change. Advertisement The UK is not the only progressive voice. Nor is its record without stain. In fact, the UK ranks only sixth on the Centre for Global Development's Commitment to Development Index, behind some other EU Member States, like Denmark, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands. Parliamentary enquiries in the UK House of Commons have pointed to the need for better UK performance on arms sales, corruption, tax policy and refugees. Nevertheless, the UK builds in Europe on a long-standing commitment to development, reflected in its universities, research centres and rich ecology of NGOs; and cemented in 1997 by the creation of a full Government Department for International Development, with cabinet status. There is much at stake in Europe just now. The external environment is characterised by economic slowdown, the pressure of conflict, the refugee crisis, and the need to move rapidly to act on the Sustainable Development Goals, especially those related to climate. Urgent action is also needed to tackle the tax and transparency issues revealed by the Panama Papers. The threat of global disease epidemics is ever-present, with Ebola having been supplanted by the zika virus as the most urgent current threat. In all these arenas, the priority is coordinated action among groups of nations: another reason to put the global role of the EU high on the agenda. The High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security, Federica Mogherini, is about to publish a new global strategy. There are pressures for this to be strongly focused on physical security and on hard power. Developing nations welcome the presence of 17 EU police and military missions, underpinning peace and security in some or the world's most difficult hotspots. However, they also want to see the EU deploying aid, trade and other instruments of soft power to help deliver poverty reduction and sustainability. Advertisement The EU, for example, has been a champion of education, food security and gender equality. In 2016, it will probably launch a review of development policy, shaping the priorities of the Brussels institutions, but also the national policies of 28 Member States. There will also be a review of the EU budget, and of the partnership agreement with the 79 countries of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group. The latter, it turns out, was instrumental in helping to broker a deal at the climate talks in Paris in December. The EU and the ACP, working together over many months, often behind the scenes, created a new High Ambition Coalition, which cut across the traditional dividing line of the G7 and the G77. If the UK leaves the EU, it will not be involved in building a new global approach and new global alliances. Justine Greening, the International Development minister, has made this point strongly: the UK benefits from having a seat at the table in the EU, and so does the wider world. But what will she and other Cabinet ministers be arguing for? The UK has been explicit about its approach to development, in a new policy launched last November. The UK will focus on tackling the great global challenges. It will focus on fragile states, on strengthening resilience and response to crises, on sustainability and on securing growth. Importantly, the UK pledges to 'leave no-one behind', focusing on the welfare of the poorest and on the rights of women as well as men, and those held back by discrimination. What this means is that the debate in the UK is not just about Remain or Leave. It is about Remain and Reform. Is there a developing country citizen, even a part-Kenyan, who would like the British Voice in the EU to be silenced? Cameron Spencer via Getty Images Protesters are taking to Newcastle harbour in a bid to stop coal ships. A national day of action against fossil fuel is underway, with hundreds of protesters at Newcastle calling on the federal government to make the switch to renewable energy. The organiser of the Break Free event, 350.org, said protesters would kayak into the port of Newcastle in an attempt to stop coal ships from moving through the area. Advertisement A flotilla of kayaks is due to occupy the water from 11am. Green's Leader Richard Di Natale is expected to make an address at Horseshoe Beach around midday. The group said one protester had been arrested after occupying the anchor chain of the coal ship Tangerine Island. NSW police said 4 people had been arrested so far and that an inflatable boat had been seized. How many police does it take to remove one climber? #breakfree2016@350Australiapic.twitter.com/cQhiFzkNPi sarah yates (@sarahsalmonxfac) May 7, 2016 Advertisement Protester Laura Hogan said she was taking part in the protest to stop the export of coal. The need to act is urgent," she said. "Today we come together as diverse communities of people to demonstrate real leadership and real action. My actions today are driven by my determination to see an immediate shift to a renewable energy future. Australian environmentalists are taking part in the protest as a show of global solidarity against fossil fuels. Civil disobedience is also planned in the United States, UK, Canada, the Philippines and many other nations. Getting ready for Australia #breakfree2016 beautiful start to the day! pic.twitter.com/QBIwuTVUuM Michelle Wong (@taisuntaihoi) May 7, 2016 Blockade of Newcastle Harbour, home of the Hunter Estuary Ramsar Site and biggest coal port #breakfree2016pic.twitter.com/AOjwzWjYyJ WWN (@worldwetnet) May 7, 2016 Advertisement Michael Dodge via Getty Images Mothers and families are taking place in an annual fun run on Sunday. Thousands of Aussie mums have have swapped sleep ins for the Mothers' Day Classic fun run in a bid to raise funds for breast cancer research. The annual event kicked off across the nation on Sunday morning, with families, friends, community and corporate teams taking part to celebrate Mothers' Day and honour those affected by breast cancer. Advertisement Great to see so many people taking part in the Mother's Day Classic on our stunning waterfront #MDC2016#greatcausepic.twitter.com/71gb5Idhv6 CityofGreaterGeelong (@GreaterGeelong) May 7, 2016 In addition to Sydney, Australians are taking part around the nation at almost 100 locations nationwide, including every capital city and many regional areas. Mothers Day Classic chief executive Sharon Morris said each year the run brought Australians closer to finding a cure to breast cancer. Mothers Day Classic rocking it on the Gold Coast this morn! 4000 here @MDC_walk_run@9NewsBrisbane@9NewsGoldCoastpic.twitter.com/w1WeiT3vX8 Carrie Greenbank (@CGreenbank9) May 7, 2016 Advertisement Families and friends who participate each year are really making a difference to those impacted by breast cancer, Morris said. It is a fun, exhilarating and often moving day and people of all ages take part no matter how fit they are -- whether they are seriously running or walking around in colourful and often zany costumes. Well done all participants and organisers of the Mothers Day classic at Mindil this morning. #TopEndpic.twitter.com/pXKIHbe57X Luke Gosling (@lukejgosling) May 7, 2016 Mothers Day Classic - 5km run for breast cancer research all done! #MothersDay#Brisbanepic.twitter.com/Ujcv8XpMp1 Taj Pabari (@tajpmahal) May 7, 2016 Morris said research into the disease had raised the five year survival rate to 90 per cent, but there were still many questions that needed answers. Advertisement Stringer . / Reuters Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has called the election for July 2. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has confirmed a double dissolution election for July 2 after visiting Governor-General Peter Cosgrove at Government House on Sunday. "The Governor-General has accepted my advice to dissolve both houses of Parliament effective tomorrow morning, and call an election for both houses, a double dissolution, on 2 July," Turnbull said. Advertisement "At this election, Australians will have a very clear choice -- to keep the course, maintain the commitment to our national economic plan for growth and jobs, or go back to Labor. "These are times for confidence, for optimism, for a clear plan, and we will be seeking a mandate from the Australian people on the 2 July." Turnbull said the coalition's plan for the nation was fair, saying "every lever" of its administration was aimed at boosting jobs and growth. He said he had not discussed how many debates there would be with opposition leader Bill Shorten before polling day. Advertisement The PM's progress from Sydney to the national capital was closely followed by media throughout the day in the lead up to the much-anticipated announcement. #BREAKING: Malcolm Turnbull has landed in Canberra where he will visit the governor-general to clear the way for a July 2 election. Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) May 8, 2016 .@TurnbullMalcolm arrives in Canberra, likely to call an election as Australians enjoy Mother's Day lunch. #auspol#TenNews TEN Eyewitness News (@channeltennews) May 8, 2016 The call makes the election campaign the longest since the 1960s. While speaking in Launceston shortly after Turnbull's announcement, Shorten said that both he and Labor were ready for an election fight. "I will fight this election on issues vital to millions of Australians," he said. "This election is much more than a choice between parties and personalities. "It is very important that Australians understand that my opponent's views and those of his party are a real risk to the living standards of all Australians." Advertisement The announcement comes on the eve of the 10 year anniversary marking the rescue of Brant Webb and Todd Russel from the Beaconsfield mine collapse, which Shorten described as a story of "defiant Aussie spirit". "People working together, looking after their mates and winning through," he said. "It reminds me, even today, that Australia succeeds when we work together with common endeavour and shared reward. It is an Australia where everyone gets a fair go." Greens leader Richard Di Natale also spoke to the media in Newcastle on Sunday, affirming his commitment to transition [Australia] to a 21st century clean economy while kicking off his election campaign. Lets get this country moving in a direction that is more sustainable, more prosperous and more caring, he said. No more new coal, because more coal means more dangerous global warming, it means losing the Great Barrier Reef, it means holding this country back from making the clean energy transition it so desperately needs. Advertisement The government has used a stalemate in the senate over industrial relations to dissolve parliament and enable the Prime Minister to call the election. All 150 House of Representatives seats and 76 Senate seats will be up for election on July 2. Sunday's announcement comes after the coalition, which regained power in 2013, lost its lead against Labor in recent polling, with the two sides now neck-and-neck. According to a recent Seven-ReachTel poll, Labor and the Coalition are running even at 50-50. Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce also addressed reporters in Canberra after Turnbull's announcement. "We have proven ourselves but we are merely at the start," he said. I know, I know. You think this is going to be one of those posts... A NAP. A TIME OUT. WINE. LACK OF WHINE. Whatever. Guess again, hot cheeks. Don't get me wrong. I love a great pair of non-Velcro shoes and getting out of the car showered, fully clothed, and childless as much as the next parent, but I think we're throwing the pacifier out with gripe water. As a breastfeeding mom, my boss is six months old. Oh, I PRETEND to be in charge, with my nap schedule and my carefully introduced solids, but who am I kidding? Around the clock interruptions to my sleep, my social life, and my own health have me ready to file a grievance. My second born defies the sleep books. I think back to my smug superiority as my firstborn napped away at regular intervals (like night-time) and I somehow felt responsible for this trick of fate. Proud. Baby sleeping again? Yay me! Oh how the change table has turned. The only time bebe #2 has come close to the general sleep guidelines in the last 6 months has been due to a very high fever. I knew she was feeling better when she immediately put the extra rest to use by partying for the next four nights. She's perfectly happy. She's developing normally. She's just bionic. I unfortunately, am not, which brings me to what this mama really wants for Mother's Day (unless you're offering to send my infant to the baby version of Cesar Milan, in which case, let me pack her small bag). Advertisement What we really want is to be noticed. Is to be told that we are doing a good job. Is zero advice and a huge hug. So, spouses, significant others, children? Grab some construction paper and a pen. Fold that paper in half. Scrawl "World's Best Mom" on the front and on the inside, write the following: Dear Gorgeous, Have I mentioned how beautiful you look lately? I know our baby _________________ (insert your wicked baby's unforgivable sins... Here are a few suggestions: doesn't sleep, screams constantly, projectile vomits on all you love, hates being held, hates being put down, hates Target, spills your coffee) and it's not your fault. He/she is a jerk sometimes, but you? You are fantastic. You're doing it right. You're the best mom. I love you more every day and I think you look incredibly sexy in your __________________ (insert that outfit she's always wearing... Here are a few suggestions: printed onesie, high school sweatpants, oversized men's sweater, last year's discount pajamas). I see you and I appreciate you. Love you to the moon and back. Now about that nap... A version of this article was first posted on Pregnant Chicken. By Elaine Noonan, Vice President of Finance, Merkle Empowering women and minorities to thrive and have a voice in todays business environment is a top-of-mind objective for many organizations today. As a female marketing executive, I tend to take notice when I see organizations that support the needs and aspirations of the working woman. And Im finding more and more that marketing agency organizations are making the effort. Theyre employing specific practices and programs that enable women across all levels of the organization to not only express their career ambitions, but gain opportunities to network, develop thought leadership content, manage their careers, and benefit from formal mentoring relationships. A primary element is implementing programs which tackle key issues and provide forums for women to contribute, to mentor and be mentored, and to generally have a voice. Critical to the success of this outreach should be gathering a group of like-minded individuals with the goal of positively impacting the corporate culture and connecting women at all levels and stages of their careers. With this in mind, mentorship committees can be formed to match women with mentors/mentees in different areas of the organization, to build networks, refine skills, and share career experiences. The following illustrates one successful example of this type of programs positive outcomes. The persistent question among working women: Do I have to choose between advancing my career and expanding my family, or can I do both? No matter the industry, it is very common for a woman in a management-level position to struggle with finding work-life balance. This is one of the issues that a formal program should address. It may not seem intuitive, but a well-designed mentoring program can help a woman in this situation navigate the challenge. Take the example of a young, high-performing manager who, through such a structured program, was matched to a VP who had decided early in her own career to remain in the workforce while raising her children. In the initial meetings, the manager expressed concern that, while she wanted to have another child, she was also very engaged in her current role at a top marketing agency and was highly motivated to be promoted to senior manager. Together, they created a plan, outlining how the manager could continue on the promotion track without a pronounced interruption, if she were to expand her family. The career advice from her mentor was two-fold. First, she was to build a fan club across the organization and develop a succession plan. The fan club concept was designed to demonstrate her rock star contributions and create a need for her talents; to show that she was integral to the success of the business, both within and outside her immediate team. The second part was to have a plan to transition current responsibilities to a future replacement. This may seem counterintuitive, but it was important for her to feel confident in sharing knowledge with others who would provide coverage in her absence, whether due to family leave or a promotion. This step essentially made family leave irrelevant, as any disruption to business would be avoided. The manager now had a plan of attack and immediately began to execute. Fast forward twelve months, her promotion to senior manager was supported by management and she was notified while on maternity leave! Advertisement A best practice to extend such mentorship programs is promoting Mentoring Circles, composed of one mentor and several mentees who work as a group. Each circle is based on some common mentoring interests such as training, leadership, or support. The expected benefits include broader access, exposure to multiple viewpoints, and less reliance on individual chemistry, as the group dynamic will drive the synergies. Beyond Mentorship Another key element with huge impact for both the woman and the company is to encourage women at all levels to contribute thought leadership content that expresses their passions and beliefs, such as blogs and feature articles. Recently, a junior analyst from China, who was working for a US marketing agency organization, shared her thoughts: It is critical to empower women to voice their perspectives and not be afraid to contribute. Through these channels, women across all levels of the organization are fueling a culture of diversity, appealing more broadly to employees by sharing impactful ideas, which drive viewership and engagement across the organization. Advertisement She recently added in a blog, The feeling of connection peaked when my colleagues and I had dinner together after a long day at a conference. We are from three different countries originally (Tunisia, India, and China), working at three different offices in the US, and were gathering on the European continent. What I cherish most is that people I meet from work share their real stories and give me genuine advice related to my career. Its those moments that make me grateful. I not only have "a good job" it enriches my life by connecting me with so many interesting and genuine people. These types of contributions can be encouraged across the organization, whether through the formal mentoring programs or simply from the top down through company management. It is critical for a companys top leaders from the CEO level down to continually promote a culture of diversity and recognize the importance of providing a workplace where gender parity is a core tenet. With this focus being top of mind from the c-level, other formal programs can be implemented to better support women, men, families, even military personnel, such as changes to HR time-off polices. The criminal consequence of possessing a gravity knife is bizarre considering their wide availability. According to an analysis by the Village Voice, there were 60,000 gravity knife arrests from 2003 to 2013 in New York. While a federal lawsuit is pending on the application of the law, in People v. Parrilla, New York's highest court ruled that the prosecution does not have to prove that a defendant knows that he or she possess a gravity knife. That means that the knowledge element of the possession of a gravity knife is strict liability. Obviously, the prosecution does need to prove that a person knowingly possessed a knife. At this point you may ask, what is a gravity knife? Under New York State law a gravity knife is defined as: "any knife which has a blade which is released from the handle or sheath thereof by the force of gravity or the application of centrifugal force which, when released, is locked in place by means of a button, spring, lever or other device." In layperson's terms, it is a knife that is opened by flicking one's wrist and the blade locks into place. Advertisement In the case of People v. Parrilla, in 2011 the defendant was stopped for a traffic infraction, patted down and a gravity knife was found in his pocket. (Of course searches are not authorized for mere traffic infractions, which is an issue that must have been litigated prior to trial.) Mr. Parrilla was arrested and charged with felony weapons possession for the gravity knife. At trial, Mr. Parrilla testified tested that he bought the knife at a chain retain store in New York City (stores have since ended such sales). Here the important part: he testified that he worked as a tradesman, used the knife on the day of arrest to cut tile and always opened the knife with two hands and never by flicking his wrist. In other words, Mr. Parilla had no idea that the knife he used for work and when stopped by police was illegal. After the close of testimony the judge instructed the jury that, "A person does not have to know that the knife is specifically a gravity knife or that it fits the legal description of a gravity knife in order to knowingly possess it. The People are only required to prove that the defendant, with respect to the knowledge element, knowingly possessed a knife." After the jury deliberated, Mr. Parrilla was convicted of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree and was sentenced to 2 to 5 years in prison. Yes, Mr. Parrilla spent a few years in prison for possessing a knife that he used for work and did not know was outlawed in New York. While New York's highest court ruled that knowledge that a knife is a gravity knife is not required to secure a conviction, reforms considering gravity knives are long overdue. For example, New York City outlaws the possession of knives with a blade of four inches or more, though it is punished as a violation and not a crime. Interestingly, New York City's four-inch-blade ban comes with several caveats that appear to be absolute defenses to the law. The ban does not apply when a knife "is being used for or transported immediately to or from a place where it is used for hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, picnicking or any employment, trade or occupation customarily requiring the use of such knife." Advertisement Last week marked the anniversary of one of the most gallant displays of the belief in American democracy. In 1963, the nation was horrified seeing law-enforcement officers with high-pressured water hoses and dogs on the streets of Birmingham attack young people. This became known as the Children's Crusade. The abuse inflicted was obvious. And it may have been that these children saved not only the Birmingham campaign, but also the prospects of the civil rights movement of the 1960s going forward. Coming off what many viewed as a failure in Albany, Ga., in 1962, there was a belief that Martin Luther King Jr. was no longer effective as the leader of the movement. Moreover, taking on Birmingham, given its commitment to segregation, and a governor (George Wallace) who stated in his inaugural address earlier that year "I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever," seemed like a Herculean effort. Advertisement For most of the Birmingham campaign, the effort was going much like Albany. There were demonstrations, followed by arrests, but nothing noteworthy to draw the nation's attention. King himself was incarcerated, which produced his epic "Letter from Birmingham Jail," but that also did nothing to move the needle in swaying public opinion. It was an aide to King, James Bevel, who introduced the idea of getting the children involved. Initially reluctant, King finally acquiesced. After convincing parents to let their children participate, the movement's good fortunes benefited by three allies, perhaps unforeseen in the beginning. The first fortune was timing. Birmingham was in the midst of a mayoral election. The Kennedy administration asked King not to begin the campaign until after the results of election, to which King agreed. Advertisement Albert Boutwell defeated Eugene "Bull" Connor in the race for mayor. Though Boutwell was more moderate in his views toward segregation, he was a seen by the movement as only offering a kinder gentler version of what they sought to eliminate, which, based on the Albany experience, was still unacceptable. At the time of the election, Connor was commissioner of public safety, an elected position. But the city of Birmingham changed its charter in 1962 so that commissioners served at the pleasure of the mayor. After losing to Boutwell, Connor filed an injunction arguing that he was an elected official and should be allowed to fulfill his term in office. This produced the second piece of good fortune for the movement --a desperate Bull Connor. Out to prove his value to the white residents of Birmingham, Connor un-leashed the dogs and hoses on the young protesters, which provided the third piece of good fortune -- television. It is hard to imagine today, but at the time of the Birmingham campaign the nightly news lasted only 15 minutes. But television was in Birmingham to capture the transformative moment. Advertisement Days before the police dogs and water hoses, a Gallup poll found that only four percent of the nation thought civil rights was a national issue. But once television captured Connor's brutality, overnight, 52 percent felt civil rights was a national issue. Among those were President Kennedy, who prior to the Birmingham campaign offered tepid support for the cause of civil rights. By the president's own admission, watching the events in Birmingham sickened him. Roughly one month later Kennedy would speak to the nation, elevating civil rights to a "moral issue." May 2, 1963 should be remembered as the day a group of children stood proxy for a nation badly in need of a social-justice baptism. It was also after Birmingham that the subsequent civil rights movements became more integrated. Their efforts changed the civil rights narrative, paving the way for not only desegregation in Birmingham, but also the successful March on Washington, and the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Through their heroic lens we can also see the campaign in Selma, the Free Speech Movement, and the Vietnam protests. They were a data point, unique to the 60s, that I discuss in my forthcoming book, where there was a major grassroots movement every year between 1960-1968. Advertisement Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney meets with attendees at a Republican presidential candidate, Ohio Gov. John Kasich campaign stop on Monday, March 14, 2016, at Westerville Central High School in Westerville, Ohio. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) The story is circulating this weekend that high-level operatives in the Republican Party are preparing a third-party candidacy to challenge Donald Trump and the winner of the Democratic nomination in the general elections this fall. Such a candidacy would be a mistake for two major reasons: First, the political figures leading this effort are simply wrong for America. And, second, given the Republican Party's evident fragility, a third-party candidacy at this particular moment will quite possibly leave it irretrievably broken. Before I go further, however, I want to stipulate to certain facts: Donald Trump is manifestly unfit to serve as President of the United States. His racist pandering, his xenophobic calls for the deportation of undocumented aliens, and his proposals to exclude all members of a great world religion from entry into the United States are among the worst positions taken by a major presidential contender, ever. Advertisement The two men most often mentioned in connection with a nascent third-party candidacy are Mitt Romney and Bill Kristol. They are not the answers the United States is looking for. Their public careers suggest that they should not be elevated to positions of authority and influence. Let's take Mitt Romney first. Read the following words and dwell on them. This is Mitt Romney's denunciation of the "47 percent" of vulnerable Americans who require some form of federal assistance to lead a decent life: "There are 47 percent . . . who are dependent on the government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it." Who are the "47 percent" Mitt Romney so callously dismissed? They are Social Security recipients who worked hard all their lives and now subsist on a fixed income and depend on Medicare for their health care. They are the working poor who labor and sweat long hours and require government subsidized health insurance. They are the parents of special-needs children. They are the disabled, many of them veterans, who cannot work. Do you detect a sneer in Romney's voice? Contempt perhaps? I certainly do. In November, 2015, Donald Trump horrifically mocked New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski for his disability. Trump has rightfully been taken to task for his inappropriate conduct. Advertisement But how is Romney's condescension to the less fortunate any different from Trump's cruel pantomime? It is cooler perhaps, more abstract and cerebral. The targets of the attack go unnamed. Romney doesn't seem to know anyone in the 47 percent, but he stereotypes them as, what exactly? Lazy? Indifferent? Tell me again, who is worse? There is no one who better bears the title "Mr. One Percent" more fittingly than Mitt Romney. We live in an America that, since the New Deal, has made a commitment to provide for the vulnerable. The New Deal was a promise binding government and citizens that the State would serve as final guarantor of the common good. It is about time that men like Mitt Romney make peace with that social contract. Nor is this all. Mitt Romney introduced a term into the American political lexicon that should rightly haunt him for the rest of his public life -- "self-deportation." In January, 2012, he explained that this was his solution to undocumented immigrants in the United States. He promised that he would introduce a tracking system that would prevent the undocumented from working in the United States and so force them "to self-deport to a place where they can get work." Mitt Romney will always be remembered for two things: his condescending attack on the 47 percent and his popularization of the term "self-deportation." What about Bill Kristol? In 2002 and 2003, there was probably no more enthusiastic cheerleader for George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq than Kristol. On September 18, 2002, he predicted that Bush's impending invasion "could have terrifically good effects throughout the Middle East." On November 21, 2002, he wrote that the prospective invasion "would start a chain reaction in the Arab world that would be very healthy." Advertisement Kristol, as events proved, was horrifically, tragically wrong in his predictions. Over 4,000 Americans died in the invasion and occupation, and many thousands more were wounded. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died. Has Kristol ever apologized? Does he feel any remorse? I can find no record of it. And while it is not on the same level as the Iraq fiasco, we must also remember Bill Kristol as the individual responsible for introducing Sarah Palin to the American public. She was an obscure Alaska governor, not quite half-way through her first term when Kristol recommended to John McCain that he select her as his running mate. The rest, as they say, is history. These are the two men who are said to be most deeply involved in planning for a possible third-party candidacy. They should not do it. Romney is an unsuitable candidate radically out of step with America, and Bill Kristol is a deeply flawed strategist. Just as importantly, however, a third-party candidacy at this moment in time might deal an irreparable blow to the Republican Party. One would have to look to nineteenth-century examples to find a political party as fragile as today's Republican Party. One can identify three or four distinct sub-groupings within the Party that really have little in common with each other. There is the business roundtable wing, which was most closely associated with Jeb Bush in the just-concluded GOP primary. Mitt Romney is closely associated with this wing of the Party. They have money, they occupy positions of power and prestige, but they command little in the way of voter affection or allegiance. Then there are the ethno-nationalists, who are most closely associated with Donald Trump. They are hostile to immigration and suspicious of foreign interventions. They are, many of them, the heirs and descendants of the Reagan Democrats of the 1980's, men and women who transitioned from the Democratic to the Republican Parties for cultural and racial reasons. In this election cycle, at least, they have the most energy, even if that energy is funneled into support for the odious Donald Trump. Advertisement Third, there are the true-believing religious conservatives. These are men and women who entered politics as an outgrowth of their high religious principles. These were the voters who remained with Ted Cruz to the bitter end and see compromise on moral issues as something akin to surrender or betrayal. Finally, one might (or might not) see as a separate group the military interventionists. This grouping consists of Senators like John McCain and Lindsey Graham, and the many defense contractors who depend on an active military. If the primary vote for Lindsey Graham means anything, it suggests that this group has little support outside the Beltway. A third-party candidacy at this point could explode this brittle amalgamation into its various component parts. It is anyone's guess whether it can ever be put back together. The better course to follow is that taken by Nelson Rockefeller in 1964. Barry Goldwater, the Republican nominee that year, had voted against the 1964 Civil Rights Act and openly courted southern segregationists like Strom Thurmond. Like Donald Trump today, Goldwater made himself unacceptable to large segments of the voting public. Rockefeller refused to endorse Goldwater and abstained. That is the course of action I would recommend today. Do nothing to show your support. Repeatedly and publicly explain why Donald Trump is unacceptable. Quietly vote for the Democratic nominee or just abstain from voting. And stand ready to pick up the pieces after November. Worm or beetle-drought or tempest-on a Farmer's land may fall, Each is loaded full o' ruin, But a mortgage beats 'em all. Will Carleton, A Tramp's Story Houses are the gifts that keep on giving to rich and poor alike. Just ask Dan Sparks-or the poor. The gift for Mr. Sparks is the opportunity to increase his wealth and the gift for the poor is shelter. Years ago that was accomplished by selling a house to the less fortunate using the subprime mortgage, and today it is accomplished by selling the same house to the same people using the contract for deed. Until a recent New York Times story and editorial once again brought him to our attention, Mr. Sparks was remembered, if at all, for his last years at Goldman Sachs during 2007 and 2008. Mr. Sparks is not remembered for the Goldman Sachs activities that were brought to mind in April 2016, when Goldman Sachs agreed to pay $5.1 billion as a civil settlement because of its participation in the subprime mortgage market. During that period Goldman Sachs was bundling and selling securities that had been created by companies that specialized in converting subprime loans into bonds and selling them to unsuspecting investors. When the loans went bad, Goldman Sachs was left holding the money it had received from the sale of the bonds, purchasers of the bonds were left holding the bag, and former homeowners went from owning homes to becoming renters or homeless. Mr. Sparks, however, was remembered for something else. Advertisement During his last 1 years at Goldman Sachs, Mr. Sparks was involved in creating something called a "synthetic collateralized debt obligation." Unlike the securities Goldman Sachs sold to unsuspecting investors, the debt obligations Mr. Sparks helped create did not include actual bonds but, instead, instruments whose value was based on the the performance of sets of junk bonds. Those instruments were sold to unsuspecting investors by Goldman Sachs knowing they were worthless. (For those who would like more detail than is provided by the foregoing, that practice is described in some detail in a report on Mr. Sparks' testimony before Congress) What both activities had in common, however, was that both were part and parcel of the financial collapse that took place in 2007-2008. As a result, in hundreds of thousands of cases, buyers defaulted on their mortgages and lost their homes. And that brings us to the present. Many companies have been formed that are buying up houses that were foreclosed on during the housing crisis. Those houses are being sold to investors in bulk at distressed prices, and the investors, in turn, sell them to people too poor to qualify for mortgages. One of the companies that has been formed to buy and then resell these houses is Shelter Growth Capital Partners, a company founded by Mr. Sparks and two of his former colleagues at Goldman Sachs. That firm was founded in 2014. The word "shelter" in its name, describes the product it is buying and selling. The word "growth" refers to the increased wealth Mr. Sparks and his colleagues hope to enjoy from their new business. Shelter Growth has bought more than 200 distressed homes and resold them to low income buyers. Since subprime mortgages have fallen out of favor, the homes are sold by Shelter Growth using contracts for deed. Unlike a mortgage, the contract for deed is a better vehicle for getting rich quick than was the mortgage. A contract for deed does not offer the protection for the buyer that a mortgage provides. Whereas a mortgage requires certain legal proceedings to be followed before an owner can be forced out of the house, and there is some supervision by a court in most cases, contracts for deeds offer no such protections and the seller can not only charge a high rate of interest, but is not encumbered by the need to go to court in order to retake possession of the house and force the buyer out. That, from the seller's perspective, is a big advantage. It is less of an advantage for the buyer. And here is a curious coincidence. The house Mr. Sparks is now selling pursuant to a contract for deed, is almost certainly one of the millions of houses that were foreclosed on during the heyday of foreclosures that took place because of the subprime crisis that was caused by Mr. Sparks and his fellow bankers. Indeed, it might even be one of the houses whose mortgage was part of a worthless bundle of mortgages sold by Goldman Sachs to unsuspecting investors. And now that house is once again being used to enhance the wealth of Mr. Sparks and his colleagues and to provide shelter to the less fortunate. Here is another part of the same coincidence. Advertisement I was at our local market yesterday, having a friendly conversation with the young lady waiting on me at the seafood counter. I was selecting my preference for Mother's Day Dinner, and during our time together she told me she had five children. She was hoping her children weren't going to 'surprise' her by taking her out to a Mother's Day Brunch Buffet. The long lines...the crowds...the so-so food...all elements which detracted from her preferred quiet Sunday morning at home before reporting for work at 11:30 a.m. I completely understood, which was why I was shopping and choosing my own Mother's Day menu. Mother's Day has certainly outgrown the intention of the original Founder, Anna Jarvis . Ms. Jarvis lobbied government to create Mother's Day in memory of her own mother who cared for the wounded on both sides of the Civil War. President Wilson signed the bill into law creating Mother's Day in 1914. As the years went on, Ms. Jarvis, who by all accounts was a little 'eccentric', began to resent the commercialism of the Day and lobbied to get the holiday rescinded. Obviously, she was unsuccessful. Ms. Jarvis died in 1948, having spent her last years in a Sanitarium. Her funeral was partly paid for by a group of florists. I suspect Ms. Jarvis would be appalled to see the twenty-first century commercialism of Mother's Day. The capacity for electronic communication now makes Mother's Day an unavoidable celebration - ignore it at your peril. It is no wonder I woke up this morning thinking of all the MOM roles which fit the holiday. MOTHER This category also includes Grandmothers. This is the matriarch we identify, understand and acknowledge in our culture. Mothers who are present in our lives bring us joy and pain; mothers who are no longer present, can cause the tears to flow when we think of them. It is a mixed bag to be a mother as mothers generally get the credit or the blame for child rearing. Just ask Sigmund Freud. Advertisement STEPMOTHER Stepmoms have the most challenges, by far. From the time we learn about the wicked Stepmother in Cinderella (also known as the Cinder Girl in Folk and Fairy Tale history), the Stepmother is a person children desire to avoid at all costs. Once a parent becomes a Stepmother, she spends her time proving herself as part of the new family and gaining acceptance by the children. It is a challenging job. Since over sixty percent of second marriages end in divorce, it is apparent the Stepmother role does not always end well. SURROGATE MOTHER These are the near kin, the neighbors, the grandparents, the teachers, the community leaders and the dads who have to take on the mom duties when a mother is absent or uninterested. The mother surrogate might be childless and find gratification in filling the role where needed. These unsung heroes receive little credit. If you have one of these in your life, express your gratitude and appreciation when you can. ESTRANGED MOM This is a relatively new, yet rising phenomenon in American culture. The term generally applies to a Boomer grandparent who is estranged from an adult child. Bay Area Psychologist Dr. Joshua Coleman is a noted authority on the topic, and he suggests family estrangement disproportionately affects middle- to higher-economic classes. Family estrangement in this century is a complex experience reflecting the complexity of modern society. FOSTER OR ADOPTIVE MOMS Hats off to those of you who CHOOSE children who need a parent. Regardless of your family configuration, there is always room for one more. Advertisement When I taught parenting classes, I would remind parents the biological plumbing necessary to produce children did not come with an instruction manual. Parenting is hard work and most of us parent the way we were parented. Whatever the method, most parents do the best they can given their circumstances and background. I daresay the parenting successes outnumber the failures. So on this special day, cheers to all the MOM's, regardless of your role or category. Be good to yourself. You deserve it. Last year, soon after my step-son had just been diagnosed with Stage Four non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, I went with him for one of his treatments at the hospital near Tel Aviv. Nadav has lived me with me on and off since he was eight years old; he's thirty-one now. As we were waiting for his medicine, my unofficially adopted daughter from Ethiopia, came into the room. The nurse, preparing Nadav's medications, looked up. She'd already witnessed a parade of visitors: Nadav's mother, father, friends, along with five siblings from our blended family. "And who's this?" the nurse asked. "She's my sister," Nadav announced, before going back to dozing on his thin hospital pillow. "But it's a long story." Advertisement Growing up with only one sister next to the McCarthy clan of eight on Long Island, I'd always dreamed of having a large family. Although I counted myself among the first generation of young feminists (I took one of the first women's studies courses at Cornell, when our only textbook was a battered paperback copy of Sisterhood is Powerful) I still wanted to get married, have children. Some of my friends preferred to concentrate on their careers and gasped in wide-eyed astonishment as I popped out four kids in six years. Naively, over-optimistically, unrealistically, I assumed I could do it all: juggle my writing career and kids while still making my own granola and baking bread. After my first marriage crumbled, I married Jonny who had two of his own kids, upping my maternal responsibilities to six children, all under the age of eleven. Then, a friend told us about a young Ethiopian woman working in his office. He said that Degetu came in to work wearing the same shirt and pants day after day after day. He asked Jonny and me if we could help her. We agreed; but we didn't want to only help her financially: we wanted to be part of her life and to have her be part of ours. After all, once you're dealing with six, what's one more kid? I've always tried to practice what I preached at my bat mitzvah, which was the idea of tikkun olam, repairing the world. There's a Jewish saying, If you save one life, you save the world, and I believed that to be true. Degetu was born in a birthing hut somewhere in Gondar Province, Ethiopia. She isn't exactly sure of her birthday; her passport still reads 00/00/0000, but her mother remembers it was during Ethiopian President Mengistu Mariam's Red Terror Campaign in the early 1980s. In the middle of one dark night, she, her parents, and her eight brothers and sisters were airlifted to Israel along with about six thousand other Jews during Operation Moses. Her father was the religious chief of their village and her mother had a royal, regal posture and tattoos decorating her jawline, but once they got to Israel, they were faced with modernity, baffling and fast-paced and alarming. They took it as an honor that Jonny and I, complete strangers, would be willing to take in Degetu and help her. When she was growing up in Ethiopia, she knew when to leave for school by the way the shadows fell off the trees. She didn't make it past third grade because she was sent to live with an aunt in another village, carrying water from a distant stream and tending her aunt's herd of goats, a barefoot shepherd. Then she got to Israel, where she had to make up a decade of' worth of education at lightning speed. Advertisement She has stayed with us often, including one summer when she did an intensive English course, all the while asking me questions. How do garage doors automatically open? How can you freeze food for weeks? How can a man say he loves you and wants to marry you, but then dumps you, and continues on his merry way without community reprisal? Ah, welcome to the western world. In 2000, soon after Nadav met Degetu, he flew with her from Israel to New York to meet the rest of the family. Degetu said she felt like she'd won a lottery, and kept pinching herself to make sure it wasn't a dream. Since it was her first commercial flight, Nadav showed her how to buckle in her seat belt and watch a movie and bought her first bottle of perfume at the Duty Free Shop. Since then, she has learned computer programming, got a job working in computer security at a bank, married, and had two children of her own. And now Degetu was looking at Nadav lying in the hospital bed, his head shaved, his face gaunt, his dark brown eyes closed to the world. She and I spoke in whispers while Nadav underwent his treatment. I thought about how, when Nadav was little, he was never quiet, never still. With ADHD, a total hearing loss in one ear and partial hearing loss in the other, he was hyper-alert, hyper-sensitive, and just plain hyper. I never had to over-think how to be a mother to my own kids, but I was challenged as a step-mom with him. How could I set limits and still show love? How could I call out my biological kids on their misbehavior while letting him slide? How many times could I hear my kids proclaim, "Why don't you punish him, too? He's been with you long enough to be punished!" Last week, the Ruben H. Fleet Center located in Balboa Park in San Diego hosted over 60 community leaders from industry and the education field to talk about STEM, (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), and how important STEM was to America's future. President Obama, the U.S. Secretary of Education and others have been spreading the word. Last year, Obama said: "[Science]"[Science] is more than a school subject, or the periodic table, or the properties of waves. It is an approach to the world, a critical way to understand and explore and engage with the world, and then have the capacity to change that world..." But the meeting in San Diego was not simply another awareness campaign extolling the virtues of STEM. Most of those in the room already knew what STEM was and were adopting ways to incorporate STEM into their area of endeavor. Rather, it was a meeting to introduce like minds to one another and look for ways to work together. This was a meeting called by "STEM Ecosystems", a relatively new national effort, as Julie Stolzer, Director of Marketing for TIES (Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM) said "to keep science alive." But she wasn't hung up about the name. Call it STEM, call it STEAM, call it Art Based Learning of STEM, as the National Science Foundation did in funding an experiment named as such. In fact, according to Ms. Stolzer, STEM could as easily stand for Strategies That Engage Minds. STEM Ecosystems, founded by several corporations and private foundations see the need for community-wide collaboration "among schools, out-of-school time programs, STEM expert institutions (such as museums, science centers, institutions of higher education and STEM professional associations), the private sector, community-based organizations, youth and families." Advertisement To date the organization has identified and working with 27 communities to develop their own local organization that strengthens the STEM work. While the ecosystems are still being put in place these methods of coordination and collaboration are showing promise, STEM is not just a word or an idea but an effort to change teaching and learning. To put it simply, this has to work. The tech revolution is occurring at a pace and speed unparalleled in history and schools and whole communities -- including government agencies with responsibility for workforce preparedness, chambers of commerce, economic development agencies and other non profits concerned with our national economic readiness-- must find ways to not only insure STEM preparedness 24/7 but offer programs that are project based so our young people are "career and college ready." According to the National Science Foundation: "In the 21st century, scientific and technological innovations have become increasingly important as we face the benefits and challenges of both globalization and a knowledge-based economy. To succeed in this new information-based and highly technological society, students need to develop their capabilities in STEM to levels much beyond what was considered acceptable in the past." There are so many silos standing like a picket fence to our progress in the new economy. We have yet to find the language to help more businesses, educators, parents and policymakers understand that STEM learning and STEM careers are critical to America's future. STEM Ecosystems hopes to break the mold of a system of education we have grown accustomed to that simply will not work in today's technology-driven global economy. They have found the formula for communities to keep pace with change. Saying goodbye to a dying relative or friend -- what to talk about, when, and how -- doesn't come naturally to most adults. The irony: All these conversations ask of us, ultimately, is what people appreciate hearing at any time of life: words of candor, reassurance and love. Below, those who've been through the experience of saying goodbye share what felt right to them -- and what they wish they'd done differently. Advertisement Lesson 1: Don't wait until the last minute It's hard to say goodbye, but putting off meaningful conversations is perhaps the number one source of regret. Time and again, families ask Massachusetts hospice nurse Maggie Callanan to tell them exactly when the final hour is approaching, so they can time their goodbyes. This is dangerous, she says, because it's nearly impossible to predict the final breath. "Dying people have the uncanny ability to choose the moment of death, and it's not uncommon for them to spare those they love the most or feel protective of by waiting until those people leave the room," says the author of Final Journeys: A Practical Guide for Bringing Care and Comfort at the End of Life, who has witnessed more than 2,000 deaths. "I felt cheated because I was so determined to be there with her -- and she died when I ran out to use the restroom," says a North Carolina man of his mother's death. "I wish I'd spent less time focused on making sure she wouldn't die alone, and more time on telling her what she meant to me." Dying people want to hear four very specific messages from their loved ones, says palliative care physician Ira Byock, author of The Four Things That Matter Most. These are: "Please forgive me," "I forgive you," "Thank you" and "I love you." Advertisement "Ask yourself: Is there anything critically important that would be left unsaid in our relationship if either of us died today?" says Byock, who's also director of Palliative Medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire. "It's not as if anything you say is wasted if the person continues to live a while." Lesson 2: It's OK, even comforting, to let on that you know the end is nearing Realize that the dying person usually knows what's happening, Callanan says. "When those in the room don't talk about it, it's like a pink hippo in a tutu that everybody's walking around ignoring. The dying person starts to wonder if nobody else gets it. That only adds stress -- they have to think about others' needs instead of dealing with their own." It helps to reassure the dying person that you understand and are ready; in a way, you're granting them permission to set aside the troubles of this world. That doesn't mean you must use direct language about death. The dying often use symbolic language that indicates preparation for an imminent journey or change, Callanan says. Especially common is talk about travel, preparing for a trip, or seeing a particular place, "as if they have a foot in two worlds." One 49-year-old North Carolina woman's mom, in the hours before she died, was worried about getting on the right plane and kept saying, "Let's go!" Had the woman and her siblings known to expect this sort of thing, she'd probably have been less likely to think her mother was losing consciousness and more inclined to meet her words with encouragement for "safe passage." "Nearing death awareness" (as the phenomenon of saying and seeing unusual things on one's deathbed is known) is seldom caused by medications or dementia, research shows. Lesson 3: Follow the dying person's lead If the person talks about impending death either directly or indirectly, go along. Don't correct the person, Callanan advises. "It's like trying to argue with a woman deep in full-blown labor," she says. A helpful response: "Tell me more." Advertisement Expressing anxiety about finishing certain tasks is akin to that "Did-I-turn-off-the-stove?" worry people feel before going on a trip, she says. Follow the metaphor with reassurance: "You've done a good job; you're all set." Sometimes the person may ask, "Am I dying?" as a way of gauging your feelings. Instead of attempting to give a yes or no answer, reflect the question back: "I don't know. How are you feeling?" Others refuse to directly discuss death. Jo Reichel's dad was one, despite being recommended for hospice multiple times as his heart failed. "Then he told my mom he had to die by August 18 because the girls (his daughters, who are both teachers) had to return to work," says the Royal Oak, Michigan, mom of three. "On August 11, at 1 a.m., he summoned his children and grandchildren and spent the next two hours speaking privately to each of us. He died at 6:30 a.m. He knew, and I'm so glad we followed his lead," she says. Lesson 4: Truth is good -- but so is the little white lie "I wish I'd been less direct," says Elle, a t30-something consultant. When her mother, dying of lung cancer in Pennsylvania, asked her if she and her brother had reconciled after a long feud, she replied, "No, not really. Things are still rocky." Advertisement "In retrospect, I wish I'd said something like 'We're working on it,'" she says. "I think she was sewing up loose ends and wanted to know her children would go back to liking each other." Reassurance that their loved ones will fare well in their absence helps people feel they can go peacefully, hospice workers say. It's common to seek reconciliation with or between other people, with God or the universe, or within themselves. They often ask directly about particular relationships or express a desire to see someone they've been in conflict with. One Florida woman who was advised by a hospice worker to let her dying husband know she was OK with him leaving her snapped, "But I can't. I don't feel OK about it." The worker offered some alternatives that felt supportive but easier to say: "You look tired, sweetheart, please don't worry about me." "You've been such a fighter. If you need to rest, it's OK." "I understand what's happening and it makes me so sad, but I'll be all right." Or you could mention the person's accomplishments or legacy: "I'm so proud to be your sister when I think of all the things you've done" or "We don't like what's happening to you, but you've shown us how to stick together and be OK." Help your loved one see that he or she made a difference in the world or within a particular family, which satisfies the human need to know our lives had meaning and purpose. This article was originally published on Caring.com. Read the original article here. What lessons have you learned about saying goodbye to a dying loved one? Share your insights in the comments. Advertisement Earlier on Huff/Post50: Donald Trump has made his bed, and now he lies in it. Notice I didn't write "lay." He lies in it, as in not telling the truth about racism and anti-semitism among his supporters. Trump began his campaign by trolling the depths of the birthers, KKK hoods, neo-Nazis, free-agent racists and unaffiliated anti-semites to build his off-base base. But Trump now denies their existence in the most implausibly denialistic of ways. I don't know anything about David Duke. - Donald Trump David Duke, of course, is an American white nationalist, anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist, politician, and former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. He's as Amerikkkan as apple pie. Advertisement Now, as reported by Media Matters for America's Eric Hananoki, "CNN's Wolf Blitzer interviewed Trump on May 4 and asked if he would denounce the anti-Semitic death threats" against GQ writer Julia Ioffe who wrote a profile of Trump's third wife, Melania. Trump refused to condemn the threats, saying he was unaware of them and adding, 'I don't have a message to the fans.' This episode began innocently enough. Julia Ioffe, an award-winning writer on assignment for GQ, interviewed Melania Trump. (Editor's note: Julia Ioffe has written articles for Huffington Post,) Meet Melania Trump: The shy Slovenian ex-model who could be your next First Lady https://t.co/C7Z4ZpJwNg by @juliaioffe GQ Magazine (@GQMagazine) April 27, 2016 Advertisement The piece was a surprisingly in-depth profile as the writer located a half-brother whose existence had not been previously reported. Great profile of Melania Trump in @GQMagazine today, by @juliaioffe, who found Melania's half-brother https://t.co/Pa2vz1cZ7T Mallory Shelbourne (@MalShelbourne) April 27, 2016 But Melania tweeted her disapproval of the article. "The article published in GQ today is yet another example of the dishonest media and their disingenuous reporting. https://t.co/CnRB2TmDPw MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) April 27, 2016 In a later tweet, since deleted, Melania accuses the award-winning Ioffe of writing the article "looking to make a name for herself." The idea was dismissed by one Ali Gharib, apparently a follower of Ioffe. Love the idea that @juliaioffe, one of America's best journalists, is just "looking to make a name for herself" pic.twitter.com/EM3zMLfk7x Ali Gharib (@Ali_Gharib) April 29, 2016 Advertisement But Melania's "protectors" went on the attack against GQ. Melania's "protectors" also went after the writer, Julia Ioffe, herself. Melania's "protectors" went after Ioffe in a particularly ugly way; via anti-semitic slurs. If this fact wasn't dispiriting enough, one must consider the reason for Ioffe's 1990 journey to America from Russia. For those among you who appreciate irony: my family arrived in the US (legally) 26 years ago today. We were fleeing anti-Semitism. Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) April 28, 2016 And then the anti-semites started posting their disgusting images, as reported by Ioffe, with her wry commentary. Advertisement Good morning, from your neighborhood Trump trolls! pic.twitter.com/tuHa9Wpbn7 Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) April 28, 2016 At least they're fluent in 80s pop culture? pic.twitter.com/4pTTfa7jhE Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) April 28, 2016 Aaaaand there it is. pic.twitter.com/FY6gtQhgva Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) April 28, 2016 Now I'm getting phone calls from a blocked number that play Hitler's speeches when I pick up. Sad! Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) April 28, 2016 There is one troubling image so vile we are not comfortable sharing it here. It can still be viewed on Julia Ioffe's twitter page. The following image, of Ioffe in nazi-camp garb, was supposed to be a depiction of Ioffe's fate in Concentration Camp Trump. Advertisement .@GideonResnick @OKnox Oh, I thought this one reminding me to swallow my diamonds was from you! pic.twitter.com/Ri6tZsyHXx Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) April 28, 2016 Finishing the day strong with a call from Aftermath Services, inquiring about that homicide clean up I ordered. #TrumpTrain Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) April 29, 2016 In all fairness, whoever posted these anti-semitic tweets might have nothing to do with Donald or Melania Trump, the KKK, Nazi Party or the Tea Party. They might have been coincidental yet random drive-bys on the information superhighway. Or not. In the never-ending cycle of anti-semitic attacks on jewish members of the press, Trump's supporters have moved on from Julia Ioffe to attack a journalist who came to her defense: the Jewish Wolf Blitzer of CNN. MSNBC's Christopher Hayes itweets the message delivered to Blitzer. Begins with: "Asked by the disgusting & evil Jewish parasite Wolf Blitzer to denounce the Stormer Troll Army, The Glorious Leader declined." Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) May 6, 2016 Advertisement And ends with: "Tell the dirty Jew Wolf Blitzer ( ) what you think of his diabolical agenda against us and Our Leader" Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) May 6, 2016 Donald Trump must be a good man. I refuse to believe a person one election away from potentially being the leader of the free world would not be a good man. Well, good man Trump, it's time to step up and denounce racism and anti-semitism, even if the vile work is done by those who support you, and even if done in defense of your wife. And even if it causes you to lose the Hatriot vote. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. - Edmund Burke There is a saying that if you go to bed with dogs, you wake up with fleas. Some of the people Donald Trump is in bed with are racist, anti-semitic dogs. He's got fleas. He's either got to use repellent and distance himself from them, or be repellent to good people. WASHINGTON: Goodyear Satire Company-- The Republican Party is ready to form a select committee to draft articles of impeachment against future President Hillary Clinton. In a sure sign of expected defeat in the 2016 elections, the GOP is adopting a new plan to blunt the effectiveness of a Hillary Clinton presidency, even before she becomes her party's nominee. "We know she's guilty," said House majority Leader Paul Ryan, "We just don't know what high crimes and misdemeanors she's going to have committed yet." Advertisement As for the unusual timing, a giddy Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus explained, "We almost ran out of time to impeach Bill Clinton. By starting the process even before Hillary is elected, we hope to keep the process going for the full four years of her failed term." Some Republicans have been planning this for months. In October, 2015, Representative Mo Brooks of Alabama suggested impeaching Cllinton if she's elected, based on the email controversy. Clinton's husband, President Bill Clinton, was famously impeached by the Republican House of Representatives in 1998 but acquitted at a trial in the Senate in 1999. The impeachment, trial and its aftermath destroyed Bill Clinton's second term in office and left lasting scars on the electorate. Senate in session "We call that the Bill Clinton impeachment the good old days," said Priebus. "Bill Clinton's impeachment led to the 8-year Bush presidency and the War in Iraq. How is that a bad thing?" Advertisement Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld outside Abu Ghirab prison in Iraq "Our little charade will go all the way until someone's inaugurated in January 2017," said Ryan. "We'll even impeach Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump. We don't need a reason: socialism, Benghazi, emails, Trump steaks, who the hell cares? We've got talk radio and Fox News, and our voters just eat this stuff up." According to Charman Priebus, the Republican Party doesn't want any President to accomplish anything that's not officially GOP branded. "If this country is going to be screwed up, the GOP wants to be the party that screws it up. And we're proud of our record." GWB: President George Bush views devastation from Hurricane Katrina as he heads back to Washington DC Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2005, aboard Air Force One. White House photo by Paul Morse Photo Credits: Senate in session for Clinton impeachment. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASenate_in_session.jpg C-SPAN [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld outside Abu Ghirab prison. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ADefense.gov_News_Photo_040513-F-6655M-203.jpg By English: Tech. Sgt. Jerry Morrison Jr., U.S. Air Force [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons Advertisement Today my heart aches. Not for me...not for my family. For someone else's family. Someone who doesn't have the luxury like I do, of having her little girl under the same roof. Not in her arms nor at arm's length, arguing over what she wants for breakfast or which channel she doesn't want to watch on the TV...she's not even 'just around the corner' at a play date or at school for the day. I say luxury, but for the majority of us born in the western world, luxury is not a word we would normally associate with having a child, our own child, living with us in our own home. Caring for them as only a parent knows how, making sure there's enough oil to keep the wheels spinning on the family home, day in, day out. It's largely something we take for granted and all too often catch ourselves complaining about, fervently. Advertisement For some people, like my friend who's also a Domestic Helper, Lara*, it's simply not an option to have her little girl living with her, permanently. You see, Lara hails from the Philippines and in her quest to guarantee that her four year old has a future where she can be educated, clothed and fed with adequate healthcare, she chooses to make a separate life in Hong Kong, without her daughter, indefinitely. As a Domestic Helper, Lara knows that being a cleaner, cook and nanny for someone else's family means earning far more than she could ever possibly earn back home using her degree in Business Management. The Philippines is an impoverished country with a population stretching towards the 100-million mark -- one third live below the poverty line. Advertisement It's a country that tends to fly under the radar -- that is until tragedy strikes... and it does, often. Situated smack bang on the Ring of Fire, the archipelago of 7000 islands is frequently caught in the firing line of typhoons and earthquakes. Only then does it become newsworthy. Headlines of destruction and despair alert the world to the plight of this nation -- a nation that seems stuck in a time warp, unable to move forward from the grip of corruption that has plagued it for decades. But this is also a resilient country with equally resilient people, renowned for picking themselves up again and again... and that alone gives you faith in the Philippines' future. It's this resoluteness that has seen the nation's women become the backbone of the economy. Since the early seventies the female proportion of the population has had its path mapped out -- mostly off shore. It was 1974 when the then President of the Philippines implemented the first labour exporting policy in the form of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW's). Advertisement A way to combat rising unemployment, OFW's brought an added bonus in financing the government's coffers with overseas workers' remittances (which today are worth a staggering US$20 billion). The OFW trend coincided with the economic rise of nearby countries like Hong Kong and Singapore. A labour shortage in Hong Kong meant the female labour force was mobilized and families with two incomes sought help to manage their household, in turn creating considerable demand for domestic helpers. Today, not much has changed. There's still a labour shortage and Hong Kong has become a 'Maid Economy' relying heavily on the mass exodus of women from the Philippines and Indonesia to fill these positions, freeing up professionals to work long hours and pump up the country's gross domestic product. Still it's not enough to plug the acute shortage -- last year the first group of maids from Bangladesh arrived in the city. Agencies hoping the country will provide a rich source of women willing to work in a foreign country for US$505 a month. To apply for a Domestic Helper position in Hong Kong, these women pay three times that monthly salary and spend three months in training, learning, among other things, to speak basic Cantonese and cook Chinese food. Ten million Filipinos are currently working overseas with nearly a million leaving each year to work with employment programs. Advertisement Most of them are women, propping up the economy, by sending 80-90 per cent of their salary home each month to care for less able family members and children - in the hope of providing them with a better life ahead, a chance to break out of the mould. Many of them are skilled workers like Lara, taking on unskilled work -- meaning countries like the Philippines are becoming victim to what's touted as 'brain drain.' But trained workers are not all they're losing. Children in the Philippines are being called the 'motherless generation.' A UNICEF-commissioned study estimates that roughly one in four children in the Philippines have at least one parent working abroad. More and more, that means a mother living halfway around the world for 10 or 15 years at a time. The government (rightly so) applauds OFWs as heroes for the sacrifices they make for their families. But while children whose mothers are nurses in Canada or housekeepers in Hong Kong often go to good schools and have the latest gadgets, there's a growing sentiment that trading global dollars for a generation 'raised on Skype' is a raw deal. The Philippines has a young population with over 35 per cent of the nation 14 years old or younger and that's on track to double between 2000 and 2030, sending tens of millions more into a limited workforce. Advertisement While the Philippines economy is growing and confidence is at an all time high, these kids see few opportunities at home. The notion that being able to feed your family means leaving the Philippines is a message they are quick to accept. So, after weeks of having her little girl by her side in Hong Kong, yesterday Lara said goodbye to four your old *Chloe. Whenever we've seen Lara in these past weeks, Chloe comes too, tagging behind her mummy, happily slotting into her daily routine. She and my two year old have become inseparable...great mates -- playing, jumping, skipping, eating, sharing (or not) talking in their own code together, language no barrier to a great friendship. Now she's left our shores, how do I explain to a two year old "why she can't stay with her mummy?" -- that Chloe has had to go back to her own home in another country and she won't see her for many months? What do I say to Lara when I see her, alone, without Chloe running in behind her, squealing excitedly for my girl. Advertisement I know she'll laugh it off because that's just how it is... and she'll give my little one an extra big squeeze... but the sadness in her eyes will be there. It's back to Skype after much love, laughter, joy and I'm sure a good dose of motherhood angst and despair thrown in for good measure -- just like any normal mother and daughter relationship, except it's not. Today I'm hugging my girl just that little bit tighter, feeling lucky, because really as a wise friend pointed out to me - that's all it boils down to, LUCK, luck of the draw as to when and where we are born in this great wide world of ours. Like every good parent, you do your very best with what you are given. But that doesn't always make it fair. *Names have been changed It all began one afternoon. I had just gotten on a plane leaving Belize, when a woman sat down next to me... with a one year old baby. At first, I was worried the child would be an issue, but it turned out that the kid, Ajax, was a dream -- the woman was a nightmare. She began asking me about my major, my school, my future, my trip to Belize. I tend to maintain a healthy distance from my flying partners, but I responded politely; I told her I was a cognitive science major at UCLA with no plans for the future, visiting Belize for the first time. I returned her question in kind: "Is this your first time to Belize?" No, she had a home with her husband there; they visited often. She told me she had, in fact, given birth to both Ajax and Lisa, her daughter, in Belize. When I asked her why, she answered that she wanted them to have dual citizenship, just in case "anything went south" in America. This seemed strange, but potentially logical to me. When I asked her why they had chosen Belize, she said that they almost chosen Bolivia, but Belize was closer. Additionally, Belizean officials were incredibly corrupt and easy to buy off; they would do almost anything for $1,000. In fact, her husband and his friends were sure the government could be overthrown with "200 people or less". At this point, I was having trouble understanding what we were talking about. She was speaking so casually, playing with her son all the while. They were quite the pair; she was a strong blonde woman, clearly very capable, a nurse from Texas. He sat in her arms, his brown eyes surveying his new space, limbs reaching every which way, insatiably curious, but kept at bay by his patient mother. Advertisement She began to tell me all these details about her husband, a navy seal who had been part of whole host of military enterprises. He'd served in Afghanistan and Iraq. He'd worked for Black Water when "all that went down". He was going to be deployed again in a few weeks. I asked her what he did for the military. She said he'd been a medic for a bit, but "liked being a sniper better". He mostly worked for corporate entities, like Black Water, which the US government hired to do "what needed to be done" in various countries without actually sending troops. Her husband knew all kinds of stuff about the FBI and CIA too. He knew the government was watching them, through flat screen TVs, computers, phones, nanny cams... she had gotten rid of hers long ago. The government was "not on our side", she said. I should watch out, she said. I should stay in Cognitive Science, she said, because AIs were going to be huge in the coming years. In fact, one of her husband's friends had recently been fired by the FBI for making drones that were "too smart - they were afraid the drones would turn on them". I asked what the drones were for, a stupid question at this point. "Well," she said with tilt of her head, "for killing people". I asked if his friend was sad to loose his job. "No", she laughed, "not at all". I sat there, staring at her bright-eyed child, that she planned to have at least three more of, and realized that I was potentially looking at the next leader of a military coup, the next dictator of Belize, a future harbinger of death. They began blowing kisses to each other. Ajax giggled and squealed -- a pure sweet sound. I stuck in my headphones and closed my eyes. I reviewed the facts. This family had property in Belize. Their children were citizens of Belize. They had set-up bank accounts for Ajax and Lisa in Belize. Their back-up plan was to overthrow the Belizean government. Not only that, her husband's other sniper friends had done the same. As I got off the plane, I turned to see the woman, her massive husband, Ajax, and Lisa walking off through the airport together. I couldn't seem to shut my eyes. Advertisement *** "Kate The Hat Lady" from the Trader Joe's on Lincoln Avenue in Chicago gets told that her decade long tradition of wearing wacky, fun and often bust out laughing hats has to stop. Does the traffic in the store seem to instantly dip? Or is that just me? From long ago, I remember the proper leather chairs around the polished teak table in a London conference room tucked quietly inside and away from the crowds of the flagship store of one of Britain's oldest retailers. Armed with power point slides, charts and complex data, trends, models and words like "synergy," I was the junior member of the name consulting team ready to explain to the client executive team just why sales were in a free fall and how we could help them, with our data and "action planning" and training packages, turn the bad trends into good trends. I powered up the slides, the room went dark, the senior consultant cleared his throat, paused for a moment and then did one of the most impressive things I'd ever seen in a business meeting. He stood up and said, "I've got reams of data on the problem here. Perhaps more than you even want to know. And we can of course go through it all in detail. But I can sum it all up for you in one line. And here it is: Advertisement Your stores just aren't fun anymore. The line came back today as I stood in the normally fastest moving checkout line in the store, now slowed because everyone was asking Kate, "What happened?" Always the professional, Kate gave no details, only saying, "I was told to stop wearing the hats." So of course what happened in the small crowd that gathered was what always happens when there was no information. People fill in the blanks themselves. "So I guess the hippy dippy pirate outfits are gonna go next, huh?" a customer muttered. "Can we write someone a complaint letter?" someone asked. I watched the faces of crew members walking by and they showed their disappointment without words. Kate "The Hat Lady" had stop a decade long tradition and stop wearing the hats. Retail demands consistency. Uniforms are a necessary part of the industry. But as we consultants told the British executive team in that presentation all those years ago, the retail stars are the ones that manage to blend consistency with individuality. With a personal experience. Even if it just lasts a second. Make it personal. Like Kate does, Which is a whole lot harder than it sounds. Especially when the job is to do it every day. Day in and day out. Advertisement If you can be actually funny when you do it? Then you are golden. And Trader Joe's, to give one example, actually has a product called "This Apple Walks Into A Bar." I laugh to myself every time I buy it. And I buy it every time I shop. So they do know funny. Somewhere. Retail is a business of razor thin margins. So the Trader Joe's buyers have to be extremely good at what they do. That can be frustrating as a wonderful new product comes into the store and then, without warning, disappears. But the reason for that disappointment is clear and understandable. I once fell in love with a certain kind of olives that one day disappeared. Reason being? Trader Joe's had bought the entire crop and had to wait a growing season for the next crop. So I waited. I understood. Kate's hat ban? That I don't understand. That's not a business decision. Someone made a personal decision. I am all but certain she pays for the hats herself. Put any price you want on customer and crew goodwill--as every good retailer does--and you find that quieting the Hat Lady costs the store. Takes a bite out of that tiny margin. Kate's hat ban was a personal decision. Made by someone who wasn't in that long ago boardroom when we told the executive team that their stores just weren't fun. Is it a big deal? Telling the Hat Lady that consistency and individuality could no longer be mixed? You decide. Advertisement But as you make your decision, remember that every time you kill off even the tiniest piece of fun in a retail operation, you also kill off the potential for sales. And if you have any connection at all with the retailer--customer, manager, crew, executive--is killing sales something you ever want to do? Unfortunately, Tamils residing in war-torn Sri Lanka's north and east are facing a period of heightened repression. A recent spate of arrests in these Tamil-dominated locations is very troubling. What does this actually mean and what might one look for in the weeks ahead? "Actually abductions and arrests have been reported to be ongoing for a while," says Mario Arulthas, co-editor of Tamil Guardian, a London-based news outlet. "Civilians and even a journalist returning from abroad have been arrested [in Sri Lanka] this year." It appears that these arrests are being made on (extremely questionable) national security grounds. Some of those arrested are former members of the Tamil Tigers, the group that spent nearly three decades fighting Sri Lankan government forces for a separate Tamil state in the northern and eastern parts of the country. Advertisement With end of war commemorative events right around the corner (the country's brutal civil war ended on May 18, 2009), there are well-founded concerns that government repression will continue in the coming weeks. "It seems likely that the current crackdown is intended to reimpose a climate of fear in the North-East, especially in the run-up to May 18," says Arulthas. In spite of all the promises and proclamations, Colombo's official plans for transitional justice are still in their embryonic stages. Besides, a reality check seems to be in order, especially when it comes to ongoing human rights violations across the Northern and Eastern provinces, which remain heavily militarized. Maithripala Sirisena was sworn in as president in January 2015. How confident could the Tamil community feel about transitional justice when fundamental freedoms are consistently violated? By failing to make smaller gestures that matter (such as releasing or bringing to trial all Tamil political prisoners), is it realistic to believe that Colombo is serious about more significant changes? Whether the administration of Barack Obama and others decide to discard their panglossian approach remains to be seen, but members of the international community have been forewarned. "The [Sri Lankan] government's repeated assertions of its sincerity with regards to widespread reforms will be put to another test over the next weeks," notes Arulthas. Advertisement By Michelle DeFreese At the UN Security Council meeting in May 2013, the President of Togo, Faure Essozimna Gnassinge, warned of an arc of terrorism spreading across the continent from Mauritania to Nigeria extending into the Horn of Africa. Since 2013, the so-called arc has continued to spread, engulfing Burkina Faso and other states formerly on the periphery of this band of insurgent activity in its wake. A series of attacks on both sides of the African continent have effectively redrawn the boundaries of the struggle taking place between global extremism and counter-terrorism efforts led by regional and international forces. The attack on a luxury hotel in Burkina Faso on January 15, 2016 was an unexpected extension of extremism sweeping the region. Despite attacks taking place at a hotel in Mali in November 2015 and on Grand-Bassam beach in Cote d'Ivoire in March 2016, Burkina Faso was described as being largely "off the radar of Islamist extremist groups." In light of recent events, the country has now had to contemplate addressing new threats as security experts reassess the risk of extremist activity in the country. The attack, widely reported as "unprecedented" within the country, was described as an "incremental step in the deterioration of the security situation in the greater Sahel region" by The Washington Post. This recent spate of attacks in West Africa has been attributed to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), signaling what reports are now referring to as a "revival" of al Qaeda in Africa. Advertisement In the east, multiple actors have claimed responsibility for attacks that have only increased in intensity. East Africa has traditionally faced security threats from al Shabaab, an al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist organization. More recently, a new jihadist group, Jahba East Africa, announced itself as a new actor in the region, pledging allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. In addition, Uamsho is an increasingly threatening Islamist separatist group active in Zanzibar. This confluence of actors has become an additional source of growing unease for the region's security forces. As reported by The New York Times, existing schisms between the actors have increased the likelihood of fighting between groups, further complicating the security situation. These various groups have raised significant security concerns, especially in countries that have historically been buffered from extremist attacks. The southern limits of al Shabaab's activity was previously concentrated in Kenya, with isolated incidents in Tanzania. More recently, however, increased terrorist activities have taken place throughout Tanzania, attributed to al Qaeda and its offshoots. Largely unreported in international media, several incidents have been documented with increasing frequency in 2016 in multiple regions. According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), 17 conflict events occurred in January 2015 alone, including pre-emptive raids on suspected militants, attacks on police stations, and locations frequented by tourists in Morogoro, Shinyanga, and Arusha. Notably, one attack occurred in Songea, an area near the border crossing with Mozambique and adjacent to neighboring Malawi. These new events located well within the interior of the country and close to its southern border mark a new expansion to the area threatened by terrorist attacks in the region. The jihadist narrative has increasingly attracted disaffected youths from East African coast communities. Ambassador David Shinn, former U.S. Department of State Director of East African Affairs and previously U.S. ambassador to Burkina Faso and Ethiopia, stated the following: "While the foreign fighter component of al-Shabaab in Somalia is relatively small, the largest number of foreign fighters in recent years has come from the Swahili coast in Kenya and Tanzania." The recent incidents within the country's interior and the pull of Kenyan and Tanzanian fighters to jihadist networks outside of al Shabaab's traditional sphere of influence are both worrying trends. Advertisement The continued spread of the arc of terrorism has amplified the need to incorporate approaches that address the spread of extremist activities to so-called periphery states. As violent non-state actors engage in increasingly effective propaganda and continue to expand their areas of influence and operation, periphery states must be included in counter-terrorism measures and regional security strategies. Nation states on the boundaries of extremist activities will need more robust strategies to prevent such actors from taking root in areas traditionally outside of their areas of operations. AP Bespectacled Mahatma Gandhi, who eventually led India to its independence, laughs with the man who was to be the nation's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, at the All-India Congress committee meeting in Bombay, India, on July 6, 1946. Nehru took office as president of the Congress during the session. Gandhi's philosophy of non-violent resistance, including civil disobedience and fasts, drove India to independence in 1947 after nearly 200 years of British rule. The father of modern India, the Mahatma, which means great soul, was assassinated in 1948 for his tolerance of other religions. (AP Photo/Max Desfor) Update: On Sunday, Rajasthan Education Minister Vasudev Devnani pointed that Jawaharlal Nehru's name appears on page 91 and page 177 of the Class VIII Social Studies textbook. The Indian Express has pointed out that these references are not about Nehru's role in the freedom struggle or him being India's first Prime Minister. NEW DELHI -- Students of Class VIII in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Rajasthan will no longer learn that Jawaharlal Nehru was India's first Prime Minister, and they won't be taught that Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist, assassinated Mahatma Gandhi. Advertisement The Indian Express reported today that neither Nehru nor Godse find mention in the Social Studies textbook for Class VIII in Rajasthan after some "curriculum re-structuring" by the State Institute of Education Research and Training based in Udaipur. Bolstered by the BJP ascent to the Centre in May, 2014, the state government in Rajasthan, which came to power in December 2013, has been altering the school syllabus to bring it in line with the party's Hindutva ideology, and to undo what they believe has been Congress Party's monopoly over India's modern history in which members of the Nehru-Gandhi family are excessively glorified. The Indian Express reported that the Social Studies textbook mentions Mahatma Gandhi, Lala Lajpat Rai, leader of the Indian National Congress and the Hindu Mahasabha, Subhas Chandra Bose, who resigned from the Congress Party and led a liberation army against the British, Veer Savarkar, a Hindu nationalist leader, who coined the term Hindutva, revolutionary heroes Bhagat Singh and Hemu Kalani, and Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who Nehru described as the "Father of the Indian Revolution." But other Indian National Congress leaders, including Sarojini Naidu and Madan Mohan Malaviya, are not mentioned in the history section of the textbook, written by senior teachers and principals from government schools. Advertisement Changes to the school syllabus in Rajasthan also reflect what BJP leaders describe as the need for young Indians to take pride in their own culture and heritage. Removing world leaders as well as foreign poets and thinkers from textbooks is part of State Education Minister Vasudev Devnani's agenda of "local to global". Earlier this year, the BJP government removed the works of Western poets including John Keats, Thomas Hardy, S. Eliot, Edward Lear and William Blake from the Class VIII curriculum, and replaced them with lesser known writers with a more regional flavour. The new poems include My First Visit To The Bank, The Brave Lady of Rajasthan, Chittor, Sangita The Brave Girl and The Glory of Rajasthan. Last year, the Rajasthan government was planning to remove iconic world leader Nelson Mandela from textbooks because it does not want students to read "meaningless" chapters on historic world figures. In the Hindi textbook of Class VIII, chapters with Urdu words have also been removed. Meanwhile, Akbar has lost his title "great," which has been transferred to Maharana Pratap, the Hindu ruler of Mewar, who fought long and hard against the occupation of his kingdom by the Mughal ruler. Denying knowledge of the omission on Nehru, Devnani said that it was the decision of an "autonomous body." The government and I have nothing to do with it. I am yet to see the new textbooks. The syllabus is created by an autonomous body and the government does not interfere in it at all," he told The Indian Express. Advertisement This is taking saffronisation to the next level," Sachin Pilot, the Congress Party's president in Rajasthan, told the newspaper. In an interview with The Indian Express, last year, Devnani said that he doesn't see the point of students till the eighth grade learning about the world. "They should first know about Rajasthan, then about India and in higher classes they can learn about the world, he said. Devnani wants to instill a feeling of patriotism in students so that "no one like Kanhaiya Kumar is born." Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Also on HuffPost India: INDRANIL MUKHERJEE via Getty Images In this photograph taken on June 15, 2015, an Indian woman hails a cab at a busniess district in Mumbai. India published new guidelines for web-based ride-hailing firms including US-based Uber and its local rival Ola on December 16, 2015, after months of legal battles and bans over rising concerns for the safety of women passengers. There has been extensive soul-searching in India about the frightening levels of violence against women since an infamous gang-rape on a bus in Delhi in December 2012 in which the victim later died of her injuries. Women's safety in India has not improved since the fatal gang-rape of a student in New Delhi, that sparked international outrage. AFP PHOTO/ Indranil MUKHERJEE / AFP / INDRANIL MUKHERJEE (Photo credit should read INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP/Getty Images) NEW DELHI -- A 23-year-old Belgian woman was allegedly molested by a cab driver in the national capital on Saturday night. In her complaint to the police, the woman said she had booked an Ola cab from Gurgaon where during the journey the cab driver allegedly kissed her. After stepping out of the cab near South East Delhi's CR Park area, she informed the police about the incident at around 10 PM, police said. The cab driver left the spot after dropping the woman near CR Park. Booking details are being checked to identify the driver and an FIR is likely to be registered in a few hours, police said. It is yet to be ascertained whether the woman is a tourist or has been staying in the country for some time. UPDATE: DCP (South-east) MS Randhawa told ANI that the Ola cab driver has been apprehended. The cab service provider also issued a statement, saying they have fired the driver with 'immediate effect'. The statement further said that the service would share all required information with the authorities to help resolve this for the customer, adding that they have 'zero tolerance' to such behaviour from drivers on the platform. Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Also On HuffPost: DIBYANGSHU SARKAR via Getty Images TO GO WITH: Indian-labour-mining-children-rights, FEATURE by Abhaya Srivastava In this photograph taken on August 3, 2015, Indian tribal children who used to work in the mica mining industry and now go to school sit with relatives near their home at Koderma District in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand. The mica adds glitter to powders, mascara and lipsticks of top global brands although a complex supply chain makes pinning down the exact origin almost impossible, say activists. The families of the children who collect the mica often sell it to small traders who in turn sell it to big suppliers. AFP PHOTO/Dibyangshu SARKAR (Photo credit should read DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP/Getty Images) CHENNAI -- Placing their hands on the shoulders of the person in front, dozens of teenage girls excitedly form a human train and chug around the sparsely furnished community hall in India's southern city of Chennai. Aged between 12 and 17, the girls who are drawn from urban slums across the country chatter, laugh and sing songs as the gathering gets underway. Advertisement But within minutes a more somber tone prevails as they settle cross-legged on the floor and begin to narrate the daily threats they face living in India's slums. "To enter my home, I have to negotiate drunk men, lewd language, garbage and filth," said 17-year-old Sayali Mandve, the daughter of a domestic worker, from the Jogeshwari slum area in Mumbai, India's financial capital. "To enter my home, I have to negotiate drunk men, lewd language, garbage and filth." "My mother leaves very early for work and comes back only in the evening. I have to negotiate school and everything else alone and it is difficult in my neighbourhood." Mandve is one of almost 50 girls daughters of domestic workers or former child maids themselves who gathered in Chennai this week as part of a nationwide campaign to help curb the abuse of children from low income urban homes. Advertisement Such children often live in densely packed slum areas, say activists, where they are at risk of physical and sexual violence, or exposure to alcohol, drugs and other crimes. The meagre income of their families, who are already teetering on the brink, often means a major expense such as medical fees for illness or a sudden debt can compel parents to make their children quit school and take up a job. VULNERABLE TO CHILD LABOUR Led by the National Domestic Workers Movement, the campaign aims to help children of informal sector workers such as maids, nannies and drivers recognise threats and equip them to better protect themselves. "The initiative is part of a child rights movement taking shape across the country," said Andrew Sesuraj of the Tamil Nadu Child Rights Observatory, a Chennai-based charity. Advertisement "More than 5,000 children in slums have already been organised into a community and more are joining everyday." Census data shows there were 4.35 million labourers aged between five and 14 in 2011 against 12.66 million a decade earlier although activists say the figures are under-reported. Most work in farming, toiling in cotton, sugarcane and rice paddy fields, or in the manufacturing sector, making products such as matchsticks, embroidering clothes or weaving carpets. Many children also work in the services sector in restaurants and hotels or middle-class homes where they cook, clean and even take care of other children. "Children of domestic workers often drop out of school and end up doing odd jobs themselves," said Christin Mary, coordinator of the National Domestic Workers Movement, which has over three million members. Advertisement "We are seeing a large number of boys working as domestic help now. They are walking the dogs, cleaning the cars and are out of schools just like the girls." Organisers say the campaign provides a platform for children to confront sensitive issues ranging from child labor to sexual abuse and will empower them with information on the laws dedicated for their care and protection. Mandve said she joined the campaign because she wanted to know her rights so she could protect herself and other children from abuse. "Where I live, we need a space to be children. We don't get that easily and being part of this campaign makes me realize how important it is," she said. Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Also On HuffPost: ASSOCIATED PRESS Indian women walk home after collecting drinking water from a well at Mengal Pada in Thane district in Maharashtra state, India, Wednesday, May 4, 2016. Much of India is reeling under a weekslong heat wave and severe drought conditions that have decimated crops, killed livestock and left at least 330 million Indians without enough water for their daily needs. (AP Photo/ Rajanish Kakade ) Bapurao Tajne, a labourer from Kalambeshwar village in Maharashtra, worked six extra hours every day to dig a well with his bare hands in the drought-hit area. He took on the humongous task after his wife was not allowed to draw water from a bigger well by its owner because they are Dalits. Bapurao told The Times of India, "I don't want to name the owner of the well, because I don't want bad blood in the village. However, I feel that he insulted us because we are poor and Dalits. I came home that day in March and almost cried. I resolved never to beg for water from anybody. I went to Malegaon (the closest town) and bought tools and within an hour I started digging." Advertisement Bapurao said he just prayed to god, and went by his instinct to select a spot to dig a well. But Bapurao couldn't afford to let go of his livelihood and dig the well all day. That is why he worked for four hours before leaving for work and two hours after coming home. He often ended up working for over 14 hours a day. Bapurao was mocked by his neighbours, villagers and sometimes even his own family members for his seemingly crazy endeavour, but when the 15-feet deep and six feet wide hole in the ground hit water, all smirks turned into gasps of awe. Now, Bapurao's wife Sangita regrets not trusting her husband and helping him. "I did not help him until he struck water. Now the whole family, except the two kids, helps him as he deepens and widens the well. It is already 15 feet deep and but he wants to dig five feet further," she told TOI. Now, Bapurao's neighbours are also grateful that they don't have to travel to another part of the village to get water. "Thanks to Tajne we get water round the clock. Earlier, we had to travel a kilometre to another part of the village and get insulted sometimes," Jaishree, a neighbour, told the newspaper. Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Also On HuffPost: Jonathan Leibson via Getty Images AUSTIN, TX - MARCH 12: Actress Ellen Page attends The Samsung Studio at SXSW 2016 on March 12, 2016 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images for Samsung) Ellen Page, known for appearing in major Hollywood films like Juno, Inception, To Rome With Love and X-Men: Days Of Future Past, is in India shooting something that most local filmmakers refrain from. Page is filming a show called Gaycation which explores the diverse cultures of sexual minorities around the world. She anchors the show with her close friend, Ian Daniel. The focus of the show is to explore what life is like for the LGBT community in different countries and the duo has so far covered the United States, Japan, Jamaica, and Brazil. Advertisement In February 2014, Page came out as gay, saying, "I am tired of lying by omission," and ever since then, she's been championing the cause. In an interview for the Viceland-commissioned show, Page's co-host Daniel had said that "the focus is ... [giving] the platform for these stories that you don't really see represented in mainstream media." Here's a trailer of the show: The actress is here for a few more weeks and is likely to cover Mumbai and Delhi, while a trip to Varanasi is also planned, a person familiar with the details told HuffPost India. "The idea is to get an in-depth insight into the gay culture of India, understand the struggles and the resistance the community faces, the stigmatization as well as the country's homophobia," a source close to the development said. Advertisement Page's show is particularly important in the Indian context as a local filmmaker's attempts in doing the same would be thwarted by a conservative censor board. Recently, Hansal Mehta's Aligarh (2015) courted controversy for its depiction of a gay lead character and homosexual relationships. Ironically, the film was banned in Aligarh while the censor board didn't allow its trailer to be run on television by giving it an 'A' rating. Incidentally, Apurva Asrani, who wrote the script for Aligarh, is one of the guests who'll feature in Gaycation. "Page came over to my place recently and met the family. She's an extremely humble, unassuming person who I had a great time interacting, especially about Aligarh which she absolutely loved. I am also one of the guests on the show that she's shooting." Gaycation has taken Page and Daniel to several countries. Like Japan where they saw a young man come out to his mother on camera and Brazil, where they encountered a man who admits to killing gay people. In Jamaica, they engaged in an intense discussion with the rapper Beenie Man over the use of homophobic lyrics in dancehall music, a report on Advocate.com stated. Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Also See On HuffPost: ANI/Twitter GAYA, Bihar -- In yet another shocking case of road rage, JD(U) MLC Manorama Devi's son Rocky Kumar Yadav shot dead a teenager late Saturday night. Reportedly, Rocky lost his cool after the victim's car overtook him. Following the incident, Rocky's father and Manorama's husband Bindeshwari Prasad Yadav alias Bindi Yadav and her security guard Rajesh Kumar were today arrested in connection with the incident. Advertisement JDU MLC Manorama Devi's husband Bindi Yadav, who was being questioned since morning, arrested by Police in connection with killing of youth ANI (@ANI_news) May 8, 2016 Bodyguard of JDU MLC Manorama Devi, whose son shot dead a youth in Bihar's Gaya last night, has been arrested by Police. ANI (@ANI_news) May 8, 2016 The police added that 70 rounds of ammunition and a carbine was found in her residence in connection with the murder. Aditya Sachdeva, the victim, was reportedly returning home after celebrating his birthday, when he overtook Rocky's car. Advertisement "There was no enmity or friendship with the youth who died. Both of the sides were returning from Bodh Gaya. All five of them (the victim and his friends) were under the influence of alcohol," Bindi said. "Madam's (Manorama Devi's) bodyguard was with my son. They overtook the car and stopped him. My son was driving the car. Four, five of them pulled him out the car and started beating him," Bindi told ANI. "The bodyguard came out of the car. During the scuffle, my son (Rocky) took out his licensed pistol in defence. It (the killing) happened by mistake," he added. PTI reported that the JD(U) MLC, however, has denied her son's role in the murder of Sachdeva and said Rocky Kumar Yadav was innocent. Advertisement MLC Manorama Devi's husband Bindeshwari Prasad Yadav had in past been arrested, and a banned weapon was found on his person in 2011. He had also been jailed in a sedition case. During scuffle,my son took out his licensed pistol in defence, by mistake it happened(killing of youth): Bindi Yadav pic.twitter.com/76xAOwx1Zq ANI (@ANI_news) May 8, 2016 A police official confirmed the death saying Aditya Sachdeva was returning home and he was shot dead. Aditya's friend Aayush, who was with him when this incident happened, said they tried overtaking their car, but the other side started firing shots in the air. "One of them was wearing a commando dress. They assaulted my friends and fired shots because of which my friend died," he added. Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Also On HuffPost: They were the worst nights of bombing at the hands of the Nazi Luftwaffe. Between 1939 and 1945, Hull suffered 82 air raids, and by the end of the war it was estimated that 1,200 people had been killed. At the time, however, reporting restrictions meant that a bare minimum of news reached the public and Hull was often referred to as just "a North East Coast Town." It wasn't until 1947, when the Hull Daily Mail ran a series of articles on the affect of the Blitz on the city, that people outside Hull were made aware of the true extent of this dark period in the city's history. Even today, however, the role of the city is often downplayed nationally and was left out of a BBC documentary last year. During May 7, 8 and 9, 1941, was the peak of the Hull Blitz. As we remember the events of 1941, here are some of the most infamous incidents the happened throughout the Second World War years, with the last of the killing coming just weeks before VE Day in 1945. 1) Shell Mex On the night of March 31, 1941, a landmine was dropped on the Shell Mex building, Ferensway, killing civilians huddled in an air raid shelter. The victims included a mother, 38-year-old Susan Wood and her three children Joyce, 14, Geoffrey, 11, and Mavis, 7. They died along with a police officer, PC Garton, who had been helping people into the shelter, a 44-year-old firewatcher called Bramwell Butler, and a Mr and Mrs Jennison, of nearby Pearson Street. However, it was perhaps a mark of the times that the majority of space in the press was given over to another victim, a local dignitary called Dr David Diamond, the deputy medical officer for Hull. Despite the damage, the Shell Mex building was saved, and still stands today (behind the more modern job centre at the junction with Spring Bank) with little to remind people of the tragedy that once struck there. 2) Ellis Terrace Just a few weeks later, on April 16 1941, another parachute mine fell on another air raid shelter. About 60 people were killed and 200 injured in the raid on Ellis Terrace, off Holderness Road, opposite East Hull Baths. Among the dead were the Adamson family, the Bowden family, the Boylan family, the Danby family, the Walker family, the Middleton family, the Richardson family, and the Shaw family. A 16-year-old girl, Dorothy Spalding, who was visiting from Kingston Street, was also killed in the blast. Official reports did not shy away from the horror, stating how days after the bombing, human remains were still being found behind the Baths, and on the roof of the swimming pool, and around Ellis Terrace. A later note stated that 22 sets of remains had been discovered. Ben Adamson, 10 at the time, survived the bombing because he had been evacuated to Lincolnshire. On the 70th anniversary of the tragedy, he told the Mail about the moment he heard his parents and brother had been killed. He said: "I just couldn't believe what had happened. It was a terrible blow, thinking that there was no one left to go back to." Ellis Terrace no longer stands. 3) The City Square Incident What was referred to as the "City Square Incident" is probably the most infamous of raids as it left us with the iconic image of the bomb-damaged Prudential Tower, home to another communal shelter. It was here on the night of May 8/9 that the square took a direct hit, causing widespread devastation and great loss of life. Among the dead were Frederick, Catherine, Barbara and Frederick Henry Wallis, of the Punch Hotel, who had headed over to the communal shelter. While no official mention was made, obituaries by family, friends and customers, appeared with the solemn notice "killed by enemy action." The raid also left us with the myth that the bodies were left buried in the basement. However, a recent discovery at the Hull History Centre proves this to be incorrect and in fact the poor souls were removed at night under the cover of darkness. 4) Mulgrave Street On July 18 1941, Mulgrave Street, off Cleveland Street, took a direct hit, destroying a communal air raid shelter and wiping out entire families. Among the victims were Bernard and Doris Catterick, both in their 20s, who had married in Sutton only a month earlier. Families who lost members in this unimaginable tragedy included the Adamsons, Bakers, Brocks, Chapmans, Goodbarnes, Harrisons, McDonalds, Overtons, Scargills, Tomlinsons, and Warreners. The cleanup operation also found a number of bodies that could not be identified, including a six-month-old boy. 5) Savoy Cinema raid The last raid on Hull happened on March 17 1945. At this late stage in the war, with Nazi Germany close to defeat, most people assumed the raids were over. So when the air raid sirens sounded at 9.35pm, there was widespread confusion and panic. Residents ran for cover as bombs began to drop over east Hull, with Nornabell Street, Barnsley Street, Victor Street, Balfour Street, Sherburn Street, Morrill Street and Holderness Road taking the brunt of the raid. Among the dead were Walter Coggle, Stanley Duncan, William Greenacre, Lillian Martin, George Martin, James Ollerenshaw, John McCloud, John Reed, Ada Steels and brothers Ernest, 13, Brian Wells, 8 (both pictured above), and Pamela Winter, aged just 2. Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will auto-play soon 8 Cancel Play now Holderness Road, outside the Savoy Cinema, was described by eyewitnesses as "a river of blood". The dead were laid out at the top of Severn Street and hospitals were put on alert across Hull. Two days later the Mail reported that 12 had been killed and a further 22 injured. A memorial now stands outside the Boyes store. DA plans new diversion program for first-time felony drug possession Change in law that allows Community Correction officers to oversee cases of those placed on diversion makes program possible. California Man Sentenced to Over 16 Years in Prison for Producing Child Pornography San Francisco, California - A California man was sentenced Thursday to 16 years and three months in prison for producing child pornography, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Departments Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert of the Eastern District of California, Special Agent in Charge Ryan Spradlin of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) San Francisco Field Division and Chief of Police Robert D. Landon of the Yuba City, California, Police Department. Nathan Penner, 26, of Yuba City, California, pleaded guilty on Nov. 5, 2015, to one count of production of child pornography. U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley of the Eastern District of California sentenced Penner today and also ordered him to serve a lifetime term of supervised release. In connection with his plea, Penner admitted to producing sexually explicit images and videos of a five-year old minor in September and October of 2012. Evidence revealed that Penner shared hundreds of files of child pornography located on his computer and distributed such material using an online chat messaging service. This case was investigated by HSI and the Yuba City Police Department. Trial Attorney Reginald E. Jones of the Criminal Divisions Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Josh F. Sigal of the Eastern District of California prosecuted the case. CEOS High Technology Investigative Unit assisted with computer forensic analysis for the case. This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov. Elk Grove Man Sentenced to Two and a Half Years in Prison for National Guard Recruiting Fraud Sacramento, California - Richard C. Sihner, 54, of Elk Grove, was sentenced Tuesday to two years and six months in prison for a scheme to fraudulently obtain bonuses in a recruitment program for the California National Guard, Acting United States Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced. On January 22, 2016, after a seven-day trial, a jury found Sihner guilty of 18 counts of wire fraud relating to his scheme to receive unearned recruiting bonuses relating to California National Guard enlistees. The jury also convicted Sihner of one count of making false statements to a federal agent. In sentencing Sihner, United States District Judge John A. Mendez rejected the suggestion that any blame for the crime rested with others involved in the process. You, and you alone, are responsible, said Judge Mendez. Integrity is a California National Guard core value, and we're committed to holding our soldiers and airmen accountable if they elect to commit fraud, said Maj. Gen. David S. Baldwin, Adjutant General for the California National Guard. These cooperative efforts by the U.S. Attorney's Office continue to help us ensure we remain not only a capable force, but also an ethical force worthy of the people's trust. Sihner is a retired member of the California National Guard and participated in the Guard Recruiter Assistant Program (G-RAP). The United States Army contracted with Document and Packaging Broker Inc. (DOCUPAK) to administer G-RAP. Under G-RAP, members of the California National Guard served as recruiting assistants (RA). If an RA referred a potential Guard member to a recruiting office and that person ultimately enlisted, the RA was eligible to receive monetary compensation disbursed by DOCUPAK. RAs would typically receive a $1,000 payment when a nominee enlisted and a second $1,000 payment when the nominee left for boot camp. Ultimately, the G-RAP program was discontinued following the discovery of widespread fraud. Recruits who walked into recruiting offices entirely on their own initiative and were not referred by an RA, were claimed by corrupt RAs in DOCUPAKs system, often with the assistance of corrupt recruiters. According to evidence produced at trial, from December 27, 2007 to April 16, 2010, Sihner was an RA in the G-RAP program. A recruiter gave him information about new recruits so that Sihner could falsely claim to have referred them. Sihner made false claims and wrote elaborate falsehoods in the notes section of the DOCUPAK online portal indicating that he had referred the recruits. In fact, the recruits had made contact with the Guard to discuss potential enlistment for reasons entirely unrelated to Sihner. Sihner was paid $95,000 in compensation for purportedly referring 51 soldiers to enlist. Of the 39 recruits federal agents contacted prior to indictment, none had been referred to the Guard by Sihner. When confronted, Sihner lied to federal law enforcement agents investigating the fraud by repeatedly claiming that he had personally referred all of the new soldiers and that he had taken them to the recruiting office to introduce them. This case was the product of an ongoing investigation by the Army Criminal Investigative Command Major Procurement Fraud Unit, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Matthew G. Morris and Katherine T. Lydon prosecuted the case. Other National Guard members and recruiters have been charged in similar recruitingfraud schemes in the Eastern District of California. The following defendants have pleaded guilty and await sentencing. Johns Hopkins Launches New Online Masters Degree in Financial Mathematics Baltimore, Maryland - Johns Hopkins Engineering for Professionals, the division of Johns Hopkins Universitys Whiting School of Engineering that administers online and part-time graduate programs, has launched a new financial mathematics masters degree program that can be completed online. Todays world economy and global financial markets are increasingly sophisticated and extremely competitive, said David Audley, chair of the new Financial Mathematics program. An advanced education has become a key enabler in reaching higher-level positions in portfolio management, risk management, and trading. Graduates of the new program will complete 10 online courses that develop advanced quantitative and managerial skills in finance, and examine the engineering-driven principles that power our international financial systems. Working with Johns Hopkins instructors who are also practicing engineers in the financial industry, students will have the opportunity to study real-world examples in subjects like financial derivatives, risk management, data analysis, Monte Carlo methods, and quantitative portfolio theory. The global economy is not bound to any one location, and neither are we, said Associate Dean Dexter G. Smith of the Whiting School. Johns Hopkins University is proud to expand its financial mathematics program to students around the world. To be considered for the online financial mathematics masters degree program, applicants must have earned a previous degree in mathematics or engineering, and have at least two years of relevant work experience. Johns Hopkins Engineering is accepting student applications for the summer 2016 term, which begins May 23, 2016. Interested students can attend a free online information session on Thursday, May 12, from 7 to 8 p.m. EDT. About Johns Hopkins Engineering for Professionals: Johns Hopkins Engineering for Professionals gives working adults a convenient way to advance their education and competitiveness in 20 traditional and newly emerging fields. Building on the world-class reputation and dynamic resources of Johns Hopkins University, Johns Hopkins Engineering for Professionals offers online and on-site classes at times that complement the busy schedules of todays practicing engineers and scientists. Need stress relief? Try the 4 A's Rochester, Minnesota - When we feel the effects of stress weighing us down, it's like lugging a backpack that's becoming heavier by the minute. Too much stress can make our journey through life difficult. Happy events, such as a wedding, as well as unhappy events, such as overwork, can cause stress. When your stress level exceeds your ability to cope, you need to restore the balance by reducing the stressors or increasing your ability to cope or both. Try using one of the four A's: avoid, alter, accept or adapt. Avoid Believe it or not, you can simply avoid a lot of stress. Plan ahead, rearrange your surroundings and reap the benefits of a lighter load. Take control of your surroundings. Is the traffic insane? Leave early for work or take the longer, less traveled route. Hate waiting in line at the corporate cafeteria? Pack your lunch and eat at your desk or in a break room. Avoid people who bother you. If you have a co-worker who causes your jaw to tense, put physical distance between the two of you. Sit far away at meetings or walk around his or her cubicle, even if it requires some extra steps. Learn to say no. You have a lot of responsibilities and demands on your time. At a certain point, you cross the line between being charitable and being foolish. Turn down the neighborhood sports league. Pass on coaching T-ball. Those around you will appreciate more time with a relaxed you. And you'll have time to enjoy them, too. Ditch part of your list. Label your to-do list with A's, B's and C's, according to importance. On hectic days, scratch the C's from your list. However, some problems can't be avoided. For those situations, try another technique. Alter One of the most helpful things you can do during times of stress is to take inventory, then attempt to change your situation for the better. Respectfully ask others to change their behavior. And be willing to do the same. Small problems often create larger ones if they aren't resolved. If you're tired of being the target of a friend's jokes at parties, ask him or her to leave you out of the comedy routine. In return, be willing to enjoy his or her other jokes and thank him or her for humoring you. Communicate your feelings openly. Remember to use "I" statements, as in, "I feel frustrated by shorter deadlines and a heavier workload. Is there something we can do to balance things out?" Manage your time better. Lump together similar tasks group your phone calls, car errands and computer-related tasks. The reward of increased efficiency will be extra time. State limits in advance. Instead of stewing over a colleague's nonstop chatter, politely start the conversation with, "I've got only five minutes to cover this." Accept Sometimes we may have no choice but to accept things the way they are. For those times try to: Talk with someone. You may not be able to change a frustrating situation, but that doesn't mean your feelings aren't legitimate. Phone or schedule a coffee break with an understanding friend. You may feel better after talking it out. Forgive. It takes energy to be angry. Forgiving may take practice, but by doing so you will free yourself from burning more negative energy. Why stew in your anger when you could shrug and move on? Practice positive self-talk. It's easy to lose objectivity when you're stressed. One negative thought can lead to another, and soon you've created a mental avalanche. Be positive. Instead of thinking, "I am horrible with money, and I will never be able to control my finances," try this: "I made a mistake with my money, but I'm resilient. I'll get through it." Learn from your mistakes. There is value in recognizing a "teachable moment." You can't change the fact that procrastination hurt your performance, but you can make sure you set aside more time in the future. Adapt Thinking you can't cope is one of the greatest stressors. That's why adapting which often involves changing your standards or expectations can be most helpful in dealing with stress. Adjust your standards. Do you need to vacuum and dust twice a week? Would macaroni and cheese be an unthinkable substitute for homemade lasagna? Redefine success and stop striving for perfection, and you may operate with a little less guilt and frustration. Practice thought-stopping. Stop gloomy thoughts immediately. Refuse to replay a stressful situation as negative, and it may cease to be negative. Reframe the issue. Try looking at your situation from a new viewpoint. Instead of feeling frustrated that you're home with a sick child, look at it as an opportunity to bond, relax and finish a load of laundry. Adopt a mantra. Create a saying such as, "I can handle this," and mentally repeat it in tough situations. Create an assets column. Imagine all of the things that bring you joy in life, such as vacation, children and pets. Then call on that list when you're stressed. It will put things into perspective and serve as a reminder of life's joys. Look at the big picture. Ask yourself, "Will this matter in a year or in five years?" The answer is often no. Realizing this makes a stressful situation seem less overwhelming. Choosing the right technique Stressors - good and bad - are a part of every life. Practice applying these techniques to balance your stress equation. With practice, that once-hefty backpack will become your private bag of tricks. Soon, you'll be able to pull out just the tool that will keep you hiking through life at a steady clip. NIH statement on World Asthma Day 2016 Washington, DC - On World Asthma Day 2016, the National Institutes of Health reaffirms its commitment to support research to improve the lives of all people with asthma. NIH-funded research has advanced our understanding of asthma as a disease as well as the impact asthma has on the lives of those affected. We have made great strides in learning how to treat and prevent asthma, and we are committed to ensuring that scientific discoveries move quickly into clinical practice to provide the best possible care for all people with asthma. Asthma is a chronic disease that intermittently inflames and narrows the airways. People with asthma may experience wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness and coughing when the airways narrow. Roughly 300 million people worldwide live with this condition, including approximately 24 million in the United States. In the United States, asthma is a major contributing factor to missed time from school and work, and is also a major cause of hospitalization and emergency department visits. Three NIH institutes lead studies of asthma: the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI); the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS); and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Together, these institutes support research to understand the causes of asthma and develop ways to better manage this condition as well as on the increasingly important area of implementation, which translates scientific discoveries into clinical practice. NHLBI-supported research on the development and testing of new asthma treatments and management strategies has shaped current practice recommendations, but these interventions are implemented inconsistently in children who are at high risk for poor asthma outcomes. To address the need to use proven interventions to help all children who are at high risk for poor asthma outcomes, NHLBI will soon launch the second part of the Asthma Empowerment Collaborations to Reduce Childhood Asthma Disparities program. The first part of the program is ongoing, with nine teams of investigators reaching out within their communities to understand the needs of everyone involved in the care of children with asthma. Later this year, applications will be accepted for the second part of the program to test interventions designed to meet the needs of their community. The program will require investigators to create systems to better coordinate care among health care providers, families, and the communities in which they live, extending from the childs home to the community. Investigators will be tasked with finding ways to widely distribute the most successful models of care and identifying partners to sustain the interventions locally. NIEHS scientists are studying the complex relationship between the environment, the immune system, and asthma. Specifically, the scientists want to identify triggers of asthma attacks, what conditions may cause asthma, and the biological mechanisms involved. This strategy will inform future treatment and prevention efforts and has already produced some exciting results. In 2015, NIEHS researchers showed that easy-to-use allergen test kits and educational materials helped parents reduce asthma-triggering allergens in their homes. Other NIEHS projects are currently working with families to improve air quality at home through strategies such as air filters and greener cleaning products. Efforts to reduce outdoor air pollution during recent decades also are making a difference in homes and cities across the country. NIEHS-supported researchers at the University of Southern California recently showed that long-term improvements in regional air quality resulted in healthier lung growth and fewer symptoms of bronchitis-like symptoms in children. NIAIDs asthma research focuses on better understanding the role of the immune system in the disease and identifying new treatment and prevention strategies. The NIAID-sponsored Inner-City Asthma Consortium (ICAC) designs and implements immune-based asthma therapies and conducts studies to define and treat the disease in inner-city children. Past ICAC studies have shown that programs aimed at decreasing exposures to household allergens and at implementing guidelines-based asthma therapy decrease childrens asthma symptoms and health care visits. Recently, ICAC investigators found that adding a short course of the drug omalizumab to ongoing guidelines-based care decreases seasonal asthma attacks and colds. In addition, NIAID-supported investigators in Boston are assessing whether a school-based program aimed at reducing childrens exposure to mouse allergen, mold, and air pollutants will decrease the burden of asthma among urban schoolchildren. Scientists hope these on-going and future NIH-supported research efforts will lead to new implementation approaches to treat and prevent asthma for future generations. Learn more about how NHLBI, NIEHS and NIAID are turning discovery into health at https://www.nih.gov. HSI seizes nearly 60 tons of honey illegally imported from China Chicago, Illinois - Special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) have seized nearly 60 tons of illegally imported Chinese honey valued at more than $200,000 destined for U.S. consumers. The three shipping container loads (195 barrels) of bulk honey smuggled into the United States were falsely declared as originating from Vietnam to evade anti-dumping duties applicable to Chinese-origin honey. HSI Chicago was notified in March of the suspect honey by a domestic honey packer located in the Midwest after laboratory reports provided to the honey packer appeared fraudulently altered. HSI sent honey samples to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) laboratory in Savannah, Georgia, for analysis. CBP determined that the honey had a greater than 99 percent probability match with Chinese-origin honey. HSI seized the illicit honey April 28. The domestic honey packer who proactively notified HSI of the suspect honey and the private laboratory whose reports were fraudulently altered are fully cooperating, and are not targets in this investigation. The investigation continues to determine where in the supply chain the private laboratory reports were altered for the honey. HSI has stepped up its efforts regarding commercial fraud investigations that focus on U.S. economic, and health and safety interests. These anti-dumping criminal schemes create a divergent market that negatively affects legitimate businesses. "Ensuring a safe food supply is a crucial component of border security," said James M. Gibbons, acting special agent in charge of HSI Chicago. "HSI and our law enforcement partners are committed to protecting the domestic honey market and U.S. consumers by aggressively investigating deceptive and illicit import schemes." With the recent enactment of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (TFTEA), Congress recognized that industries and companies that circumvent U.S. law and regulation remain a risk to this nations economic security. Among its provisions, TFTEA requires ICE and CBP to collaborate to enhance trade enforcement, with specific emphasis on honey illegally imported into the United States in violation of U.S. customs and trade laws. In December 2001, the U.S. Commerce Department imposed anti-dumping duties after determining that Chinese-origin honey was being sold in the United States at less than fair-market value. The duties first imposed were as high as 221 percent of the declared value. Later these duties were assessed against the entered net weight, currently at $2.63 per net kilogram, in addition to a "honey assessment fee" of 1.5 per pound on all honey. In 2008, federal authorities in Chicago began investigating allegations of organizations circumventing anti-dumping duties through illegal imports, including transshipment and mislabeling, on the supply side of the honey industry. The second phase of the investigation involved the illegal buying, processing and trading of honey that illegally entered the U.S. on the demand side of the industry. In these multi-year investigations, HSI Chicago and the Department of Justice together convicted nine individuals (not including 10 remaining foreign fugitives) in a series of global schemes which evaded nearly $260 million in anti-dumping duties on honey from China and which also involved honey containing antibiotics prohibited in food. ICE deports former Kosovo Liberation Army soldier accused of persecuting ethnic Serbs during the Kosovo conflict New York - A Kosovo national accused of participating in the Kosovo Liberation Army's (KLA) persecution of suspected Serbian collaborators was removed Monday from the United States by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). In interviews with immigration officials, Halil Dacaj made incriminating statements revealing that he interrogated, beat, and delivered prisoners to KLA command for further punishment. On Aug. 11, 2015, ERO officers arrested Dacaj pursuant to Operation No Safe Haven. In Nov. 21, 1999, he was admitted into the United States as a temporary visitor for pleasure. However, he entered by presenting a fraudulent passport and visa. On Dec. 9, 2003, an immigration judge ordered Dacaj removed from the United States to Kosovo. Dacaj's removal was carried out by ICE as a high profile removal a special designation given to foreign fugitives, national security threats, human rights violators, and other special interest removals. Human rights violators who flee from the atrocities committed in their home countries will not find refuge here, said ERO New York Field Office Director Christopher Shanahan. ICE uses its unique immigration enforcement authorities to track down those who assisted in persecution and remove those perpetrators from the United States. Dacaj departed on Sunday from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York under escort by deportation officers from ERO New York. Upon his arrival in Kosovo, ICE turned Dacaj over to authorities in Pristina International Airport. ICE's Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center investigates human rights violators who try to evade justice by seeking shelter in the United States, including those who are known or suspected to have participated in persecution, war crimes, genocide, torture, extrajudicial killings, and the use or recruitment of child soldiers. These individuals may use fraudulent identities to enter the country and attempt to blend into U.S. communities. Since fiscal year 2004, ICE has arrested more than 360 individuals for human rights-related violations under various criminal and/or immigration statutes. During that same period, ICE obtained deportation orders and physically removed more than 780 known or suspected human rights violators from the United States. Currently, ICE has more than 125 active investigations into suspected human rights violators and is pursuing more than 1,750 leads and removal cases involving suspected human rights violators from 97 different countries. Over the last four years, ICE's Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center has issued more than 70,100 lookouts for individuals from 111 countries and stopped 193 human rights violators or war crime suspects from entering the United States. Members of the public who have information about foreign nationals suspected of engaging in human rights abuses or war crimes are urged to contact ICE by calling the toll-free ICE tip line at 1-866-347-2423 or internationally at 001-1802-872-6199. They can also email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or complete ICE's online tip form. Liberty Reserve Founder Sentenced to 20 Years For Laundering Hundreds of Millions of Dollars New York - Arthur Budovsky, 42, was sentenced Friday in the Southern District of New York to 20 years imprisonment for running a massive money laundering enterprise through his company Liberty Reserve S.A. (Liberty Reserve), a virtual currency once used by cybercriminals around the world to launder the proceeds of their illegal activity. Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell for the Justice Departments Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara for the Southern District of New York made the announcement. In January, Budovsky pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to commit money laundering. In imposing sentence, the court noted that Budovsky ran an extraordinarily successful and large-scale international money laundering operation. U.S. District Judge Denise L. Cote also ordered Budovsky to pay a $500,000 fine. The significant sentence handed down today shows that money laundering through the use of virtual currencies is still money laundering, and that online crime is still crime, said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. Together with our American and international law enforcement partners, we will protect the public even when criminals use modern technology to break the law. Liberty Reserve founder Arthur Budovsky ran a digital currency empire built expressly to facilitate money laundering on a massive scale for criminals around the globe, said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Bharara. Despite all his efforts to evade prosecution, including taking his operations offshore and renouncing his citizenship, Budovsky has now been held to account for his brazen violations of U.S. criminal laws. According to the indictment, Liberty Reserve billed itself as the Internets largest payment processor and money transfer system and allowed people all over the world to send and receive payments using virtual currency. At all relevant times, Budovsky directed and supervised Liberty Reserves operations, finances, and business strategy and was aware that digital currencies were used by other online criminals, such as credit card traffickers and identity thieves. Liberty Reserve grew into a financial hub for cybercriminals around the world, trafficking the criminal proceeds of Ponzi schemes, credit card trafficking, stolen identity information and computer hacking. By May 2013, when the government shut it down, Liberty Reserve had more than 5.5 million user accounts worldwide and had processed more than 78 million financial transactions with a combined value of more than $8 billion. United States users accounted for the largest segment of Liberty Reserves total transactional volume between $1 billion and $1.8 billion and the largest number of user accounts over 600,000. Four co-defendants, Vladimir Kats, Azzeddine El Amine, Mark Marmilev and Maxim Chukharev, have already pleaded guilty. Marmilev and Chukharev were sentenced to five years and three years in prison, respectively. Judge Cote is expected to sentence Kats and El Amine May 13. Charges remain pending against Liberty Reserve and two individual defendants who are fugitives. The U.S. Secret Service, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements Homeland Security Investigations investigated this case as part of the Global Illicit Financial Team. The U.S. Secret Services New York Electronic Crimes Task Force assisted with the investigation. The Judicial Investigation Organization in Costa Rica, Interpol, the National High Tech Crime Unit in the Netherlands, the Spanish National Polices Financial and Economic Crime Unit, the Cyber Crime Unit at the Swedish National Bureau of Investigation and the Swiss Federal Prosecutors Office also provided assistance. Trial Attorney Kevin Mosley of the Criminal Divisions Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christian Everdell, Christine Magdo and Andrew Goldstein of the Southern District of New York are prosecuting the case. The Criminal Divisions Office of International Affairs and Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section provided substantial assistance. USDA Announces Conservation Reserve Program Results Washington, DC - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the enrollment of more than 800,000 acres in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Through CRP, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) helps farmers offset the costs of restoring, enhancing and protecting certain grasses, shrubs and trees that improve water quality, prevent soil erosion and strengthen wildlife habitat. Farmers' and ranchers' participation in CRP continues to provide numerous benefits to our nation, including helping reduce emissions of harmful greenhouse gases and providing resiliency to future weather changes. "The Conservation Reserve Program provides nearly $2 billion annually to land owners dollars that make their way into local economies, supporting small businesses and creating jobs. When these direct benefits are taken together with the resulting economic activity, the benefits related to CRP are estimated at $3.1 billion annually," said Vilsack. "Over the past 30 years, CRP has created major environmental improvements throughout the countryside. The program has removed carbon dioxide from the atmosphere equal to removing nine million cars from the road annually, and prevented 600 million dump trucks of soil from erosion. With today's announcement, USDA is continuing these achievements by maximizing conservation benefits within the limitations provided by law." This was one of the most selective sign-up periods in CRP's 30-year history, with a record high Environmental Benefits Index cut-off and the lowest-percentage of applications accepted. The high bar means that the per-acre conservation benefits are being maximized and that acres enrolled address multiple conservation priorities simultaneously. A nationwide acreage limit was established for this program in the 2014 Farm Bill, capping the total number of acres that may be enrolled at 24 million for fiscal years 2017 and 2018. At the same time, USDA has experienced a record demand from farmers and ranchers interested in participating in the voluntary program. As of March 2016, 23.8 million acres were enrolled in CRP, with 1.7 million acres set to expire this fall. Over three million acres have been offered for enrollment this year across the three main categories within CRP, with USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) receiving over 26,000 offers to enroll more than 1.8 million acres during the general enrollment period, and over 4,600 offers to enroll more than one million acres in the new CRP Grasslands program. Coming off a record-setting 2015 continuous enrollment of over 860,000 acres, more than 364,000 acres already have been accepted for 2016 in the CRP continuous enrollment, triple the pace of last year. FSA will accept 411,000 acres in general enrollment, the most competitive selection in the history of the program, with the acreage providing record high conservation benefits. USDA selected offers by weighing environmental factors plus cost, including wildlife enhancement, water quality, soil erosion, enduring benefits, and air quality. The results of the first-ever enrollment period for CRP Grasslands, FSA will also accept 101,000 acres in the program, providing participants with financial assistance for establishing approved grasses, trees and shrubs on pasture and rangeland that can continue to be grazed. More than 70 percent of these acres are diverse native grasslands under threat of conversion, and more than 97 percent of the acres have a new, veteran or underserved farmer or rancher as a primary producer. FSA continues to accept CRP Grasslands offers and will conduct another ranking period later this year. Acres are ranked according to current and future use, new and underserved producer involvement, maximum grassland preservation, vegetative cover, pollinator habitat and various other environmental factors. Participants in CRP establish long-term, resource-conserving plant species, such as approved grasses or trees (known as "covers") to control soil erosion, improve water quality and develop wildlife habitat on marginally productive agricultural lands. In return, FSA provides participants with rental payments and cost-share assistance. Contract duration is between 10 and 15 years. CRP is currently protecting more than 100,000 acres of bottomland hardwood trees, nearly 300,000 acres of flood-plain wetlands, and 300,000 acres each for duck nesting habitat and nearly 250,000 acres of upland bird habitat. In addition, CRP is creating economic benefits that include at least $545 million per year in recreation benefits and water quality benefits from reduced sedimentation of $587 million per year. Throughout the Obama Administration, USDA has generated thousands of critical partnerships to conserve and protect our natural resources on working landscapes, while enrolling a record number of acres in conservation programs. Seventy-percent of the nation's land is owned and tended to privately, and America's farmers, ranchers and landowners have willingly stepped up to address the growing impacts of a changing climate. With USDA's support, they work to implement voluntary practices that improve air and water quality, prevent soil erosion and create and protect wildlife habitat. Since 2009, USDA has invested more than $29 billion to help producers make conservation improvements, working with as many as 500,000 farmers, ranchers and landowners to protect land and water on over 400 million acres nationwide. To learn more about FSA's conservation programs, visit www.fsa.usda.gov/conservation or contact a local FSA county office. Notice Asking Women Advocates Not to 'Arrange' Hair in Open Court in Pune Sparks Outrage Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Following last years electro-swing mess, this years Eurovision entry for the UK looks set to dazzle viewers - even if their song is less than impressive. Bookies have slashed the odds on Joe and Jakes Youre Not Alone winning Eurovision from 50/1 to 25/1 following their first rehearsal in the Swedish capital Stockholm. Follow the rest of our Eurovision 2016 coverage here The pair are on track to be one of the UKs best entrants in quite some time and are almost guaranteed to defeat last years Electro Velvet who only picked up five points in Vienna. Compared to the gimmicky, awkwardly choreographed production we saw from Electro Velvet last year, Joe and Jake are delivering a simple, confident stage show, John Paul Lucas of ESC Insight told Metro.co.uk. As a whole package, its not distinctive enough to challenge for the top five, but the reaction in the press centre was very positive. He added that the two seem confident on stage, but the chemistry isnt quite there yet. With a little more practice, could the UK be in for a good year in the competition? Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Show all 43 1 /43 Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Cyprus: Minus One Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Albania: Eneda Tarifa Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Poland: Micha Szpak Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Lithuania: Donny Montell photo by Gediminas Zilinskas / www.zilinskas.net Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants San Marino: Serhat Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Romania: Ovidiu Anton Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Switzerland: Rykka Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Greece: Argo Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants The Netherlands: Douwe Bob Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Belgium: Laura Tesoro Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Austria: ZOE Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Germany: Jamie-Lee Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Denmark: Lighthouse X Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants United Kingdom: Joe and Jake Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Spain: Barei Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Iceland: Greta Salome Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Ireland: Nicky Byrne Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants France: Amir Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Italy: Francesca Michielin Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Australia: Dami Im Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Montenegro: Highway Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Serbia: ZAA Sanja Vucic Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Georgia: Nika Kocharov and Young Georgian Lolitaz Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Armenia: Iveta Mukuchyan Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Czech Republic: Gabriela Guncikova Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Moldova: Lidia Isac Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Bulgaria: Poli Genova Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Belarus: IVAN Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Ukraine: Jamala Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Azerbaijan: Samra Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Russia: Sergey Lazarev Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Malta: Ira Losco Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Latvia: Justs Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Hungary: Freddie Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Macedonia: Kaliopi Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Estonia: Juri Pootsmann Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Croatia: Nina Kraljic Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Bosnia & Herzegovina: Dalal & Deen feat. Ana Rucner and Jala Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Slovenia: ManuElla Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Finland: Sandhja Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Norway: Agnete Meet the Eurovision 2016 contestants Israel: Hovi Star Joe and Jake will perform their track during Thursday nights semi-final. Meanwhile, check out our review of all this years contestants here. Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The first part of the BBCs adaptation of William Shakespeares Henry VI and Richard III, titled The Hollow Crown: The Wars Of The Roses, has been met with critical acclaim, praise being heaped onto the all-star cast, including the likes of Tom Sturridge, Michael Gambon and Sophie Okonedo. One headline claims the show outdoes Game of Thrones, a show notorious for its graphic imagery. It should be no surprise that Benedict Cumberbatch - who will play Richard III in the second and third episodes of the show - has called filming the shows battle scenes brutal. "We were carrying around weapons of steel and aluminium, which were props but could still do a great deal of damage," he told The Mirror. "We were fighting in fields and in rivers with water literally up to our chests. It was brutal. The broadsword as a weapon could crack your skull open with just a glancing blow. "It really is such a barbarous way to go about winning power. I'm in awe of it. The training was tough - all of us would come away from training looking shell-shocked and pale. Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Show all 37 1 /37 Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Anthony and Cleopatra Colin Blakely as Anthony BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Henry VIII Timothy West as Wolsey Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV The Two Gentlemen of Verona Tessa Peake Jones as Julia disguised as Sebastian Tyler Butterworth as Proteus BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Romeo and Juliet Patrick Ryecart as Romeo Rebecca Saire as Juliet BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Othello Anthony Hopkins as Othello Bob Hoskins as Iago BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Titus Andronicus Hugh Quarshie as Aaron BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV The Comedy of Errors Roger Daltrey as Dromio BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Twelfth Night Felicity Kendall as Viola BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Measure for Measure Adrienne Corri as Mistress Overdone BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV As You Like It Brian Stirner as Orlando, Helen Mirren as Rosalind BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Henry VI Part Three Brian Protheroe as King Edward BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Henry IV Part One Jack Galloway as Poins Anthony Quayle as Falstaff BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Cymbeline Claire Bloom as Queen BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV King Lear Brenda Blethyn as Cordelia BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Hamlet Derek Jacobi BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Timon of Athens Jonathan Pryce as Timon BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Julius Caesar Charles Gray as Caesar Keith Michell as Marc Antony BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Henry VI Part Two Anthony Quayle as Falstaff and Robert Eddistone as Justice Robert Shallow BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV All's Well That Ends Well Donald Sinden as the King of France BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Richard II Ian McKellen as Richard II with Timothy West as Bollingbroke BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Love's Labour's Lost Maureen Lipman as the Princess of France Jenny Agutter as Rosaline BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV MacBeth Nicol Williamson as Macbeth Jane Lapotaire as Lady Macbeth BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Henry IV Part Two David Gwillim as Henry Prince of Wales BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV King John Leonard Rossiter as King John BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Henry V Robert Harris as Duke of Burgundy BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Much Ado About Nothing Robert Lindsay as Benedick Cherie Lunghi as Beatrice BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Midsummer Nights Dream Phil Daniels as Puck, Peter McEnery as Oberon and Helen Mirren as Titania. BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Troilus and Cressida Anton Lesser as Troilus BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV The Tragedy of Richard The Third Zoe Wannamaker as Lady Anne BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV The Tempest Andrew Sachs as Trinculo, Nigel Hawthorne as Stephano BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Merchant of Venice Gemma Jones as Portia and John Nettles as Bassanio. BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Taming of the Shrew John Cleese BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Richard III Ron Cook as Richard III BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV A Winters Tale Jeremy Kemp as Leontes BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Henry VI Part One Peter Benson as Henry VI BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV Pericles Amanda Redman as Marina BBC Shakespeare plays adapted by the BBC for TV The Merry Wives of Windsor Prunella Scales as Mistress Page BBC Speaking about the Sherlock actor, Dame Judi Dench - who will play the Duchess of York in the third episode - described him as a terrific actor. He'd just come back from the Toronto Film Festival the night before, after doing all those crazy junket interviews, walked in and then read the whole of the Henry VI plays followed by Richard III. He has that ability not to take himself too seriously, as well as being a terrific actor. The Hollow Crown: The War Of The Roses will return on 14 May on BBC Two. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Prospective first ladies are inherently interesting. But Melania Trump seems particularly intriguing to the media, perhaps because, as the New Yorker recently put it, she is "the exception to her husband's nativist politics." Melania, a Slovenian immigrant, is unlike Donald in another way, too: While the presumptive Republican presidential nominee seems capable of discussing his own tremendousness until the end of time, his wife is slightly mysterious. The press loves a mystery and is out to solve it. The result: A recent deluge of stories about the former model. Here are some of the most interesting things we've learned so far: U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump reacts to an answer his wife Melania gives during an interview on NBC's "Today" show in New York She has a long-lost half-brother in Slovenia (GQ, April 27) Reporter Julia Ioffe turned up Denis Cigelnjak -- son of Melania's father, Viktor Knavs -- from a relationship that ended before Knavs married Melania's mother. At the time of the birth, Knavs denied Denis was his child; a paternity test proved otherwise, and Knavs ultimately paid child support but "has never acknowledged his son," according to GQ. [Denis] didnt seek attention and says he wants nothing from his father or the Trumps. He wouldnt mind meeting his half sisters, Ines and Melania, who, hes fairly certain, dont even know he exists. (When I asked Melania about this over the phone, she denied that it was true. Later, after Id sent her documents from the Slovenian court, she wrote to me claiming she hadnt understood what Id asked, explaining, Ive known about this for years. She added: My father is a private individual. Please respect his privacy.) She initially rejected Donald Trump's advances (New Yorker, May 9) Lauren Collins reported that the former Melania Knauss first caught Trump's eye 18 years ago. But it was a wandering eye the real estate mogul was with another woman at the time so she turned him down. She met Trump in 1998 at the Kit Kat Club in New York, at a party thrown by Paolo Zampolli, the owner of a modelling agency. Their courtship story is as chaste as its backdrop is louche: Donald saw Melania, Donald asked Melania for her number, but Donald had arrived with another woman the Norwegian cosmetics heiress Celina Midelfart so Melania refused. For more on Midelfart (yes, that's her real name), check out New York magazine. She now envisions herself as a bolder first lady than she did at first (Express, May 4) 10 of the scariest things Donald Trump has ever said Donald Trump toyed with the idea of running for president before this campaign, which means this isn't the first time Melania has been asked what kind of first lady she would be. Writing in the British tabloid Express, Alice Foster pointed out that Melania's answer has changed. Back in 1999, a New York Times journalist asked Melania what kind of first lady she would be if Trump entered the White House. ... She replied: "I would be very traditional. Like Betty Ford or Jackie Kennedy. I would support him." Earlier this year, Melania told CNN that she would work to help women and children if Trump becomes president of America. We are in the 21st century. I will be me. I will be different than any other first ladies, she said. She likes her character on 'Saturday Night Live' (Harper's Bazaar, Jan. 6) Taran Killam and Cecily Strong as Donald and Melania on Saturday Night Live The NBC sketch comedy show loves to poke fun at Donald Trump, and it occasionally draws Melania into the satire, too. Last fall, "SNL" described her as looking more like "another bangable daughter" than a wife (she is 24 years younger than The Donald). But Melania told reporter Alex Kuczynski that she gets a kick out of her character. As we walk around her opulent apartment, which was recently parodied on "Saturday Night Live" as having "the same interior decorator as Saddam Hussein," Melania smiles when I bring up Cecily Strong's portrayal of her on the show. "It's kind of an honor, actually, to have someone play you like that in a fun way," she says. "We laugh a lot about that. It's funny to see how people see you." She basically stopped tweeting during the campaign (New York Times, Sept. 30) Since Donald Trump launched his campaign last June, his wife has taken a dramatically different approach to Twitter, as Guy Trebay wrote in the fall. For a time, her 51,600 Twitter followers were allowed a rare window into her honeyed but seemingly isolated life in the form of regular Twitter posts featuring selfies of her beauty rituals, private jet rides and bikini body. That window snapped shut in July, just after Mr. Trump declared his candidacy and following incendiary comments of his depicting Mexican immigrants as murderers and rapists. The last Twitter post (at least for now) from @MelaniaTrump was an image of the American flag date-stamped July 4. Those of you who read the profile might recall that it originally contained what the Erik Wemple Blog described as a "'Perfect beach day' crotch selfie" by Melania, which the Times later removed. Welcome to the 2016 campaign. Melania has tweeted again since then, most recently to criticize the GQ profile that revealed the existence of her half-brother. Her followers have nearly doubled, to 111,000. But the sum total of her tweeting since the start of the campaign is nine messages. She tells Donald when he's wrong. But he doesn't always listen. (MSNBC, Feb. 24) Donald Trump doesn't seem to take advice very often; he has certainly run his campaign his own way. But Melania told Mika Brzezinski that her husband's stubbornness doesn't stop her from giving him a piece of her mind. We still don't know nearly as much about Melania Trump as we do about her loquacious husband and we don't need to; she's not the one running for president but through a combination of interviews and journalistic probing, we're gaining some understanding of who she is and how she influences the Republican standard-bearer. A running theme seems to be that she does her own thing, whether that means disagreeing with Donald or ditching Twitter in the age of social media. She's also confident enough to laugh when "SNL" makes fun of her and assertive enough to open fire on GQ (even if her complaints are pretty much baseless, in my estimation.) Something else seems clear: Melania Trump remains guarded enough to leave the media wanting more. It's an effective strategy and couldn't be more different from her husband's. Copyright: Washington Post For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Prince Harry has said is also trying to negotiate a private life where "if I talk to a girl, that person is then suddenly my wife, and people go knocking on her door". He said that while aware of his privileged position, the intrusion into his private life is "incessant". "Everyone has a right to privacy," he told the Andrew Marr programme. "Sadly, that line between public and private life is almost non-existent any more." He has also said he wanted a job after leaving the Army but could not find one with which he could combine his royal duties. Addressing accusations of being workshy that have dogged him and his brother, the Duke of Cambridge, this year, Harry said that he did not get satisfaction from doing nothing. In pictures: Prince Harry leaves Army helicopter job to lead drive to bring Warrior Games to London Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Prince Harry leaves Army helicopter job to lead drive to bring Warrior Games to London In pictures: Prince Harry leaves Army helicopter job to lead drive to bring Warrior Games to London Camp Bastion in Afghanistan Prince Harry makes early morning checks as he sits on an Apache helicopter at the British controlled flight-line at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan In pictures: Prince Harry leaves Army helicopter job to lead drive to bring Warrior Games to London Camp Bastion in Afghanistan Prince Harry has served as an Apache Helicopter Pilot/Gunner with 662 Sqd Army Air Corps, from September 2012 for four months until January 2013 In pictures: Prince Harry leaves Army helicopter job to lead drive to bring Warrior Games to London Camp Bastion in Afghanistan Prince Harry speaks with fellow air-crew members at the dining facility at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan's Helmand province In pictures: Prince Harry leaves Army helicopter job to lead drive to bring Warrior Games to London Camp Bastion in Afghanistan Britain's Prince Harry gives the thumbs up upon his arrival at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan In pictures: Prince Harry leaves Army helicopter job to lead drive to bring Warrior Games to London Warrior Games Team in USA Prince Harry plays volleyball with injured soldiers, members of the British Warrior Games Team in a gymnasium before the opening of the 2013 Warrior Games, at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, during the third day of his visit to the United States, Colorado In pictures: Prince Harry leaves Army helicopter job to lead drive to bring Warrior Games to London Warrior Games Team in USA Prince Harry watches a seated volleyball exhibition match during the Warrior Games during the third day of his visit to the United States, Colorado In pictures: Prince Harry leaves Army helicopter job to lead drive to bring Warrior Games to London Opening Ceremony of the Warrior Games Prince Harry attends the Opening Ceremony of the Warrior Games during the third day of his visit to the United States, Colorado In pictures: Prince Harry leaves Army helicopter job to lead drive to bring Warrior Games to London Walking With The Wounded South Pole Allied Challenge Prince Harry attends the Walking With The Wounded South Pole Allied Challenge Departure Event at Trafalgar Square in London In pictures: Prince Harry leaves Army helicopter job to lead drive to bring Warrior Games to London Walking With The Wounded charity trek in Antarctica Prince Harry and Ivan Castro touch the pole as they and their fellow adventurers reach the South Pole as part of their Walking With The Wounded charity trek in Antarctica In pictures: Prince Harry leaves Army helicopter job to lead drive to bring Warrior Games to London Walking With The Wounded charity trek in Norway Prince Harry joins the Walking with the Wounded team on the island of Spitsbergen, for training before they start their charity trek to the North Pole in Spitsbergen, Norway "I don't get any satisfaction from sitting at home on my arse," he told The Sunday Times. "I know it doesn't look great, riding round playing polo. But it is the best form of raising that much money for so many charities. "There's a lot of people out there who view us [Harry and William], the younger generation of the monarchy, and say; 'Well, you've had a job, so why wouldn't you have another job. But after leaving the military, he found most jobs he looked at "were not going to work" combined with royal duties and some jobs were "not even on the table". He added: "I'm in this privileged position and I will use it for as long as I can, or until I become boring, or until George ends up becoming more interesting." Until then, he is following in his mother's footsteps doing charity work focused on helping people affected by HIV. Sir Elton John - whose foundation funds Aids research and awareness campaigns - had encouraged him, he said. The former Army officer has been outspoken in his support of veterans, saying he thought the Government "could do more" to help veterans, and wants to continue to champion sport despite his body being "ruined" after 10 years of service. Aware of the "gaping void" left by his mother, Harry said he wanted to bring an element of fun to everything he did as a way of filling her boots. He said he thought she would be proud of him adding: "That probably is subconsciously very much part of my mother - trying to fill that void." For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Scientists in Sweden have begun a unique trial treating paedophiles with drugs to reduce the risk of them abusing children. The Karolinska Institute in Stockholm is using a testosterone-suppressing drug as a preventative measure on patients seeking help for paedophile fantasies. One of those taking part in the trial is Anders, who sought help after having unwanted sexual thoughts about children which he knew were not normal. No one would choose this, its obvious, he said after agreeing to be interviewed under a pseudonym. But he hoped the groundbreaking trial would bring an end to his improper urges. "I realised almost two years ago that I needed to take care of this in some way. But there's such a stigma, you're afraid of being reported," he said. Patients at the Karolinska Institute who have had paedophilic fantasies but have not acted on them are being given a drug normally used to treat advanced prostate cancer to see if it reduces the risk of them sexually abusing a child. Psychiatrist and lead researcher Christoffer Rahm told news agency AFP: "The goal is to establish a preventive treatment programme for men with paedophiliac disorder that is both effective and tolerable so that we can prevent child sexual abuse from happening in the first place. Chemical castration is already used around the world on paedophiles convicted of actual sex offences but this is the first time a chemical preventative step has been taken. Dr Rahm said: What we introduce with this study is a way of shifting perspective from being reactive to proactive. He added that clinical studies on paedophiles were rare because of ethical issues and difficulties collecting data. Special co-operation with legal and child welfare experts is required when conducting research where patients risk harming a third party. A study by the Karolinska Institute last year revealed a strong genetic component in sex offending with men up to five more times more likely to commit a sex crime than the average male if they have a brother or father who has also been convicted of a serious sexual assault. In this trial of 60 patients, 30 receive an injection of the drug Degarelix and the other 30 are given a placebo. Those given Degarelix will have non-detectable levels of testosterone after three days, an effect which lasts for about three months. According to Dr Rahm testosterone is involved in several of the most important risk factors for committing child sex abuse including high sexual arousal, diminished self-control and low empathy. Patients in the trial will undergo brain scans while looking at computer-generated images of partially-clothed people of all ages to see how their brains react. "We're trying to establish objective markers to determine the risk of the patient actually committing child sexual abuse," brain scan expert Benny Liberg said. Using the drugs together with the brain scans and patient counselling, Doctors Rahm and Liberg hope they have devised a formula enabling scientists to accurately assess the risk of a patient sexually abusing a child. But they warned the drug alone will not be a miracle cure. Trial volunteers have been recruited from Karolinska University Hospitals treatment programme for unwanted sexual behaviour and from a national helpline and will be studied for the next two to three years. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Police are investigating the unexplained death of a soldier in the Welsh town of Brecon. The male soldier died in hospital after being found unconscious and injured in Lion Street, Brecon, at about 1am on Sunday morning. Members of the public reported seeing forensic tents being set up in the town centre and a heavy police presence in Brecon throughout Sunday morning. The Armys 160th Infantry Brigade has its headquarters at Brecon, and soldiers from nearly every British infantry unit can expect to visit the area at some stage for training on the Brecon Beacons. Members of the SAS also regularly use the Brecon Beacons for training and selection three reservists died on an SAS selection march on the Beacons on an unusually hot day in July 2013. The Ministry of Defence confirmed that the man found dead in Brecon town centre was a soldier, in a brief statement which read: We are aware of an incident involving the death of a soldier in Brecon. Dyfed-Powys Police are investigating and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time. A statement from Dyfed-Powys Police said: Police are investigating the death of a man in Brecon. Officers received a report of an unconscious and injured male discovered on Lion Street at around 1am this morning (Sunday, May the 8th). He was conveyed to hospital by ambulance but sadly has since passed away. The death is being treated as unexplained at this time and a police investigation is on-going. The scene has been preserved as part of the investigation. Police in Brecon are appealing for anyone who was in the vicinity of Lion Street, Bethel Square, Tredegar Street and High Street between 12.30am and 01.30am or has any information that could assist with the inquiry. Kirsty Williams, the Liberal Democrat Brecon and Radnorshire AM, has described the incident as shocking and said she would be keeping in touch with the local police. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A Pakistani activist has been murdered by gunmen hours after hailing Londoners for electing Sadiq Khan as the new mayor of the city. Khurram Zaki, a former journalist and activist, was shot and killed by gunmen riding motorcycles in the southern port city of Karachi, according to Pakistani police officer Muqaddas Haider. The 40-year-old edited the blog Let Us Build Pakistan (LUBP) which claimed to spread liberal religious views and condemned extremism in all forms. Mr Haider told Associated Press four gunmen on two motorcycles attacked activist Mr Zaki late Saturday at a roadside restaurant, where he was dining with a friend. The friend was wounded, as was a bystander. Police said Sunday it is not immediately clear who was behind the attack. He was best known for helping lead a campaign against Abdul Aziz, the cleric of the Red Mosque in Islamabad, a bastion of Islamic extremists. Mr Zaki and other campaigners filed a court case charging the cleric with incitement against the country's Shiite minority. Hours before his death he hailed Mr Khans election as London mayor, highlighting that Londoners had risen above discrimination and bigotry and are now setting an example for the world. "Sadiq Khan is not a Pakistani. He is a Britisher. Credit for his rise and success goes to his own hard work and the equal opportunity quality of the British system. Pakistan and Islam have played no role in his meteoric rise. And he has proved for all British Muslims and Brits of other ethnicities that anyone who blames that system as biased and discriminatory that they are lazy and liars, the activist posted on his Facebook page on Saturday. Sadiq Khan elected as Mayor of London He added: I am celebrating the greatness of Western Secular Democracy. In this day and age of Takfiri Deobandi/Wahabi terrorism and Islamophobia, London has risen above discrimination and bigotry and emerged as great centre of human civilisation setting a great example for the world. Can we ever elect an Ahmadi or Hindu or Christian PM? Forget that, we have deprived all legal powers and discretions of a democratically elected Mayor of the third largest city in the world (Karachi) on the basis of ethnicity. And it's so stupid and shameful of us Pakistanis that we run down humiliate our own successes like Malala and Sharmeen. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Hundreds of British buses will carry adverts praising Allah as part of a campaign launched by the countrys biggest Muslim charity to help victims of Syrias civil war. Islamic Relief hopes the posters, which bear the words Subhan Allah, meaning Glory be to God in Arabic, will portray Islam and international aid in a positive light. Recommended Read more Islamic face veil to be banned in Latvia Buses will carry the advertisements in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leicester and Bradford. These cities have large Muslim populations and the charity hopes it will encourage people to donate generously ahead of the start of Ramadan on 7 June. According to Islamic law, Muslims are supposed to donate 2.5 per cent of their income to the poor and needy. Known as Zakat, the pratice is regarded as one of the five pillars of Islam. Many people choose Ramadan to donate their Zakat, as the month of fasting is regarded as a month of blessings. Muslims believe the rewards for all good deeds are greater during Ramadan than during the rest of the year, according to Muslim Aid. A Syrian child refugee in Jordan. Islamic Relief wants to raise money to help the victims of the war (Getty Images) The charity hopes the campaign will help young Muslims channel anger about the war in Syria and discrimination at home into humanitarian work, thereby preventing them from becoming involved with extremist groups. Imran Madden, the UK director of Islamic Relief, said: In a sense this could be called a climate change campaign because we want to change the negative climate around international aid and around the Muslim community in this country. "International aid has helped halve the number of people living in extreme poverty in the past 15 years, and British Muslims are an incredibly generous community who give over 100 million to international aid charities in Ramadan. Recommended Read more This is the actual reality of being a Muslim MP The new campaign will appear on buses from 23 May on 640 buses around the country. The adverts will have a special resonance in London as the city elected its first Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan, on Thursday - despite a Conservative campaign which repeatedly accused him of having connections to extremists. An estimated three million Muslims are believed to live in London - around 50 per cent of British Muslim population. Woman records furious Islamophobic rant in a London shop Transport for London (TfL), which regulates the advertisements appearing on the citys buses, has a clause banning campaigns linked to a political party or campaign but does not prevent religious advertising. It can ban ads if it believes the campaign is likely to cause widespread or serious offence. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA UK news in pictures 7 September 2022 Police officers stand guard after Animal Rebellion activists threw paint on the walls and road outside the Houses of Parliament in protest, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 6 September 2022 Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Liz Truss during an audience at Balmoral, Scotland, where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2022 Visitors at the PoliNations garden in Victoria Square, Birmingham, which is made up of five 40ft high tree installations and over 6,000 plants. The PoliNations programme aims to explore how migration and cross-pollination have shaped the UKs gardens and culture PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2022 Undergraduates at the University of St Andrews take part in the traditional Pier Walk along the harbour walls of St Andrews before the start of the new academic year PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2022 The Massed Pipes and Drums parade during the Braemar Highland Gathering at the Princess Royal and Duke of Fife Memorial Park PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2022 Number 12 Company Irish Guards at Wellington Barracks, central London, before commencing their first Guard Mount at Buckingham Palace PA In 2012, a Christian charity had its adverts cancelled by then Mayor Boris Johnson after it was accused of claiming to cure gay people. In 2009, the British Humanist Association drew complaints after it ran a campaign saying Theres probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life. In response, Christian groups ran a counter-campaign saying there definitely is a God a month later. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Pulling out of the EU would usher in an era of British isolationism that would be a betrayal of our history and against our fundamental future national interest, David Cameron has warned. In what was billed as his most emotive speech so far making the case for Britain remaining in Europe, the Prime Minister evoked the image of rows of white headstones in lovingly-tended Commonwealth war cemeteries as evidence of the price this country has paid to ensure peace and order in the continent. And he warned that throughout British history, whenever we turn our back on Europe, sooner or later we come to regret it. Either we influence Europe, or it influences us, he said. And if things go wrong in Europe, lets not pretend we can be immune from the consequences. Senior Government strategists said the speech was a deliberate attempt by Mr Cameron to move the remain campaign up a gear and move the focus away from the economy and on to other areas which they believe will swing support behind a stay vote. However, Boris Johnson was due to take on the Prime Minister's argument in a speech of his own, before embarking on a nationwide bus tour to make the case for leaving. What to believe about the EU referendum Addressing the supporters of Brexit, Mr Cameron said that throughout history British affairs have been intertwined with the affairs of Europe for good or ill. And he argued that a move to leave the EU now would make the continent and the world an inherently less stable place. Can we be so sure that peace and stability on our continent are assured beyond any shadow of doubt? he asked. I would never be so rash as to make that assumption. Its barely been 20 years since war in the Balkans and genocide in Srebrenica. In the last few years, we have seen tanks rolling into Georgia and Ukraine. The European Union has helped reconcile countries which were at each others throats for decades. Britain has a fundamental national interest in maintaining common purpose in Europe to avoid future conflict between European countries. Meanwhile, the Leave campaign was embroiled in a row with a number of prominent businessmen after Michael Gove claimed that Britain would be able to leave the single market and still be able to access European trade on the same terms as present. What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Show all 5 1 /5 What's the European Parliament ever done for us? What's the European Parliament ever done for us? A cap on the amount of hours an employer can make you work The Working Time directive provides legal standards to ensure the health and safety of employees in Europe. Among the many rules are a working week of a maximum 48 hours, including overtime, a daily rest period of 11 hours in every 24, a break if a person works for six hours or more, and one day off in every seven. It also includes provisions for paid annual leave of at least four weeks every year Getty Images What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Helping the people of Britain to avoid smoking In 2014 MEPs passed the Tobacco Products Directive strengthening existing rules on the manufacture, production and presentation of tobacco products. This includes things like reduced branding, restrictions on products containing flavoured tobacco, health warnings on cigarette packets and provisions for e-cigarettes to ensure they are safe What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Helping you to make the right choices with your food Thanks to the European Parliament, UK consumers have access to more information than ever about their food and drink. This includes amount of fat, and how much of it is saturated, carbohydrates, sugars, protein and so on. It also includes portion sizes and guideline daily amount information so people can make informed choices about their diet. All facts must be clear and easy to understand What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Two year guarantees and 14-day returns policy for all products Consumers across the EU have access to a number of rights, from things which are potentially very useful, to things which used to be annoying. For example, shoppers in the UK receive a two-year guarantee on all products, and a 14-day period to change their minds and return a purchase, these things are useful www.PeopleImages.com-licence restrictions apply What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Keeping your air nice and fresh (and safe) Believe it or not, although the situation is improving, some areas of the UK have appalling air quality. A report by the Royal College of Physicians released on 23 February says 40,000 deaths are caused by outdoor air pollution in the UK every year. Air pollution is linked to a number of illnesses and conditions, from Asthma to diabetes and dementia. The report estimates the costs to British business and the health service add up to 20 billion every year Mr Gove told the BBC the UK could enjoy a relationship with the EU that had all the advantages but none of the pay-outs by forging a new trade deal. The Justice Secretary added the UK should leave the single market but would be able to agree to tariff-free trading with the remaining EU members. But Jeurgen Maier, Chief Executive of Siemens UK, which employs 13,000 British workers and has an annual turnover of 5 billion, dismissed Mr Gove's plan as unbelievable. He said: This lacks any understanding of what the single market is all about and the benefits it generates. Unbelievable. He was backed by Sir Michael Rake, chairman of BT, who said the single market was critical to the economic security of the country, investment and jobs. This kind of statement moves the Leave campaign from the naive to the irresponsible, he said. It proves that they have lost the economic argument and simply don't care about the very serious risks to jobs, investment and Britain's economy that leaving Europe would pose. Mr Gove was also attacked by Chancellor George Osborne. We've just had the Leave campaign admit this morning that Britain would leave the single market, that's the largest free trade area in the world, the Chancellor said. That would be catastrophic for people's jobs and their incomes and their livelihoods. Some people might think wrecking the economy is a price worth paying, I absolutely reject that. Highlighting Treasury claims that families would be 4,300 worse off if the UK pulls out of the union, Mr Osborne told ITV's Peston On Sunday: If we leave the single market actually our analysis says we'll be worse off than that. And there's a short-term hit - I think it's very important for people to think about that and we are going to be producing some more research on that in the coming weeks. It's already clear from the Treasury analysis that for example, there would a significant shock to the housing market, that would hit the value of people's homes, that would hit the cost of mortgages. But Mr Gove earlier told the Marr programme that a vote to remain in the EU would leave the UK at risk of losing even more control over its financial affairs while a vote to leave would allow the country to dictate the terms in Britain's economic interests. Michael Gove delivers a speech on the EU in London, Britain, 19 April 2016 (EPA) We should be outside the single market, we should have access to the single market but we should not be governed by the rules that the European Court of Justice imposes on us which cost business and restrict freedom, he said. At the moment there are no tariffs between the UK and other countries in the European Union. Why should we seek to impose those tariffs when we are outside? Mr Gove said both sides could accept there was no need to create tariffs where none existed. "German car manufacturers are not going to want to have tariffs erected when they sell many more cars to us than we sell to them, he said. "I cannot imagine a situation where, if any individual nation within the EU wanted to erect tariffs that others would let them." Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The former heads of MI5 and MI6 have issued a stark warning that leaving the European Union could undermine our ability to protect ourselves from terrorists. In a direct challenge to Leave campaigners who have argued that Britains membership of the EU leaves the country more vulnerable to terrorist attack, Baron Evans of Weardale, the former director-general of MI5, and Sir John Sawers, the former head of MI6, said the opposite was true. They argued that a vote to leave could damage intelligence sharing because the EU would restrict surveillance powers if the UK were not in the union. Intelligence work today relies on the lawful and accountable use of large data-sets to reveal the associations and activities of terrorists and cyber-attackers, they write in an article for the Sunday Times. The terms on which we exchange data with other European countries are set by agreement within the EU. As an EU member, we shape the debate, we push for what we think is the right balance between security and privacy and we benefit from the data that flows as a result. They conclude: An agreement reached without us would probably be too restrictive for our needs . . . this could undermine our ability to protect ourselves. Sir John later told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show: "It's not just about the day-to-day co-operation, it's about the wider stability of our continent. We are only secure because the wider Europe is secure. "Pulling out will make it more dangerous. There is a real risk of the pressures on the European Union - migration pressure, economic pressures, pressures from Russia - pulling the European Union apart. "We are seeing politics in Europe going to the extreme left, to the extreme right. We need to make sure that the centre is solid and the European Union plays its role underpinning democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Europe." What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Show all 5 1 /5 What's the European Parliament ever done for us? What's the European Parliament ever done for us? A cap on the amount of hours an employer can make you work The Working Time directive provides legal standards to ensure the health and safety of employees in Europe. Among the many rules are a working week of a maximum 48 hours, including overtime, a daily rest period of 11 hours in every 24, a break if a person works for six hours or more, and one day off in every seven. It also includes provisions for paid annual leave of at least four weeks every year Getty Images What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Helping the people of Britain to avoid smoking In 2014 MEPs passed the Tobacco Products Directive strengthening existing rules on the manufacture, production and presentation of tobacco products. This includes things like reduced branding, restrictions on products containing flavoured tobacco, health warnings on cigarette packets and provisions for e-cigarettes to ensure they are safe What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Helping you to make the right choices with your food Thanks to the European Parliament, UK consumers have access to more information than ever about their food and drink. This includes amount of fat, and how much of it is saturated, carbohydrates, sugars, protein and so on. It also includes portion sizes and guideline daily amount information so people can make informed choices about their diet. All facts must be clear and easy to understand What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Two year guarantees and 14-day returns policy for all products Consumers across the EU have access to a number of rights, from things which are potentially very useful, to things which used to be annoying. For example, shoppers in the UK receive a two-year guarantee on all products, and a 14-day period to change their minds and return a purchase, these things are useful www.PeopleImages.com-licence restrictions apply What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Keeping your air nice and fresh (and safe) Believe it or not, although the situation is improving, some areas of the UK have appalling air quality. A report by the Royal College of Physicians released on 23 February says 40,000 deaths are caused by outdoor air pollution in the UK every year. Air pollution is linked to a number of illnesses and conditions, from Asthma to diabetes and dementia. The report estimates the costs to British business and the health service add up to 20 billion every year While the two men insisted that there intervention was not at the behest of Downing Street David Cameron will seize on their remarks as supporting one of the three central planks of the remain campaign tomorrow. The prime minister will launch a new phase of the European Union referendum campaign stressing the importance of the UK's ties with Brussels in protecting national security. "I want to show that if you love this country, if you want to keep it strong in the world, and keep our people safe, our membership of the EU is one of the tools - one of the tools - that helps us do these things, like our membership of other international bodies like Nato or the UN Security Council," he will say. "And I have just one yardstick: how best do we advance our national interest? David Cameron helps to campaign for a 'Remain' vote in the forthcoming EU referendum at a phone centre in London along with fellow pro EU campaigners, Lord Ashdown, Lord Kinnock and Tessa Jowell (PA) "Keeping our people safe at home and abroad, and moulding the world in the way that we want - more peaceful, more stable, more free, with the arteries of commerce and trade flowing freely. "That is our national interest in a nutshell - and the question that has confronted every British prime minister since the office was created is: how best to advance Britain's interests in the circumstances of the day? "If my experience as Prime Minister had taught me that our membership of the EU was holding Britain back or undermining our global influence, I would not hesitate to recommend we should leave. "But my experience is the opposite." What to believe about the EU referendum But the Justice Secretary Michael Gove insisted the country would be safer outside the EU. He dismissed the warnings from Sir John, highlighting that other experts including former MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove and ex-Interpol boss Ron Noble had issued warnings about the EU's "open borders" policy. Mr Gove said: "I have enormous respect for Sir John and his tradition of public service, but he is flat wrong." He added: "I'm the Justice Secretary, I know that the European criminal records information system (Ecris) doesn't allow us to know whether or not criminals come into this country. Michael Gove speaks at a Leave Campaign event (Reuters) "We only find out whether or not people have criminal records after they have already committed an offence in this country. It is a gossamer-thin protection." The UK's most valuable intelligence-sharing deal was with the Five Eyes group of the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. "Within the EU, intelligence sharing doesn't work effectively," he said. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Michael Gove have been accused by one of Britains top business leaders of lacking any understanding of the European single market after he claimed the UK could have free access to EU markets without abiding by its rules. Mr Gove told the BBC the UK could enjoy a relationship with the EU that had "all the advantages" but "none of the payouts" by forging a new trading deal. The Justice Secretary added the UK should leave the single market but would be able to agree to tariff-free trading with the remaining EU members. But Jeurgen Maier, Chief Executive of Siemens UK, that employs 13,000 British workers and has an annual turnover of 5 billion, dismissed Mr Gove plan as unbelievable. This lacks any understanding of what the single market is all about and the benefits it generates, he said. Unbelievable. He was backed by Sir Michael Rake, Chairman of BT, who said the single market was critical to the economic security of the country, investment and jobs. "This kind of statement moves the Leave campaign from the naive to the irresponsible, he said. It proves that they have lost the economic argument and simply don't care about the very serious risks to jobs, investment and Britain's economy that leaving Europe would pose." What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Show all 5 1 /5 What's the European Parliament ever done for us? What's the European Parliament ever done for us? A cap on the amount of hours an employer can make you work The Working Time directive provides legal standards to ensure the health and safety of employees in Europe. Among the many rules are a working week of a maximum 48 hours, including overtime, a daily rest period of 11 hours in every 24, a break if a person works for six hours or more, and one day off in every seven. It also includes provisions for paid annual leave of at least four weeks every year Getty Images What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Helping the people of Britain to avoid smoking In 2014 MEPs passed the Tobacco Products Directive strengthening existing rules on the manufacture, production and presentation of tobacco products. This includes things like reduced branding, restrictions on products containing flavoured tobacco, health warnings on cigarette packets and provisions for e-cigarettes to ensure they are safe What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Helping you to make the right choices with your food Thanks to the European Parliament, UK consumers have access to more information than ever about their food and drink. This includes amount of fat, and how much of it is saturated, carbohydrates, sugars, protein and so on. It also includes portion sizes and guideline daily amount information so people can make informed choices about their diet. All facts must be clear and easy to understand What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Two year guarantees and 14-day returns policy for all products Consumers across the EU have access to a number of rights, from things which are potentially very useful, to things which used to be annoying. For example, shoppers in the UK receive a two-year guarantee on all products, and a 14-day period to change their minds and return a purchase, these things are useful www.PeopleImages.com-licence restrictions apply What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Keeping your air nice and fresh (and safe) Believe it or not, although the situation is improving, some areas of the UK have appalling air quality. A report by the Royal College of Physicians released on 23 February says 40,000 deaths are caused by outdoor air pollution in the UK every year. Air pollution is linked to a number of illnesses and conditions, from Asthma to diabetes and dementia. The report estimates the costs to British business and the health service add up to 20 billion every year Mr Gove was also attacked by the Chancellor George Osborne. "We've just had the Leave campaign admit this morning that Britain would leave the single market, that's the largest free trade area in the world," the Chancellor said. "That would be catastrophic for people's jobs and their incomes and their livelihoods. "Some people might think wrecking the economy is a price worth paying, I absolutely reject that." Highlighting Treasury claims that families will be 4,300 worse off if the UK pulls out of the union, Mr Osborne told ITV's Peston On Sunday: "If we leave the single market actually our analysis says we'll be worse off than that. "And there's a short term hit - I think it's very important for people to think about that and we are going to be producing some more research on that in the coming weeks. "It's already clear from the Treasury analysis that for example, there would a significant shock to the housing market, that would hit the value of people's homes, that would hit the cost of mortgages. But Mr Gove earlier told the Marr programme that a vote to Remain would leave the UK at risk of losing even more control over its financial affairs while a vote Leave would allow Britain to dictate the terms in Britain's economic interests". "We should be outside the single market, we should have access to the single market but we should not be governed by the rules that the European Court of Justice imposes on us which cost business and restrict freedom," he said. "At the moment there are no tariffs between the UK and other countries in the European Union. Why should we seek to impose those tariffs when we are outside?" Mr Gove said both sides could accept there was no need to erect tariffs where none existed. "German car manufacturers are not going to want to have tariffs erected when they sell many more cars to us than we sell to them," he said. "I cannot imagine a situation where, if any individual nation within the EU wanted to erect tariffs that others would let them." Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} David Cameron will not take part in a head to head debate over Britains future in Europe with either Boris Johnson or Michael Gove because it would turn the EU referendum into a Tory soap opera, George Osborne has claimed. In an interview on ITV the Chancellor all but ruled out Mr Cameron taking part in any of the live TV debates on Britains membership of the EU being held in the run up to next months referendum. Mr Osborne claimed the decision was because Mr Cameron was only one part of a rainbow coalition of political parties, businesses, and trade unions. But privately the remain camp doesnt want to take the risk of turning the referendum into a personal poll on Mr Camerons popularity which might put off many Labour voters from backing a vote to stay. Asked by ITV News political editor Robert Peston why there would not be a head to head debate Mr Osborne said: I know everyone wants to turn it into a Tory soap opera but it is more important than that. You are going to be hearing a lot from the Prime Minister over the next few weeks. (But) there is a difference between the two campaigns. On the Leave side you have some Conservatives and Ukip. On the Remain side you have the Conservative leadership, the Labour Party, the trade union movement, the Greens a rainbow coalition across the political spectrum. You are going to hear from a lot of different voices. It is true that when it comes to the Leave campaign there are a few voices youll hear again and again. Over 40 per cent of Tory voters would like to see Boris Johnson takeover from David Cameron (Getty Images) Mr Osborne also defended the defeated Tory candidate for London Mayor against accusations of running a racist campaign. Zac Goldsmith has come in for criticism from several senior Tory figures, including former party chairman Sayeeda Warsi, who said he had used "dog whistle" tactics aimed at voters' prejudices in his attempts to win. Even Mr Goldsmith's own sister, Jemima Khan, hit out at her brother's campaign tactics in the aftermath of his landslide defeat. But appearing on Peston On Sunday, Mr Osborne said it was simply a case of rough and tumble. "Politics is a robust thing in a democracy and in elections there's a lot of rough and tumble, he said. Nastiest moments in the London mayoral election "You are asked who are you, who do you associate with, what are your ideas. But if you can answer those questions, and clearly Sadiq Khan did answer those questions to the satisfaction of London voters, you get yourself elected. "But that is the process we go through to make sure people are up to the jobs they are elected to." The Chancellor said he did not accept suggestions that the Conservative campaign was "racist". "All the questions we were asking are the questions we're asking of Jeremy Corbyn: who do you associate with, where do you come from, what are your thoughts and ideas?," he said. "And these are perfectly legitimate questions to ask. What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Show all 5 1 /5 What's the European Parliament ever done for us? What's the European Parliament ever done for us? A cap on the amount of hours an employer can make you work The Working Time directive provides legal standards to ensure the health and safety of employees in Europe. Among the many rules are a working week of a maximum 48 hours, including overtime, a daily rest period of 11 hours in every 24, a break if a person works for six hours or more, and one day off in every seven. It also includes provisions for paid annual leave of at least four weeks every year Getty Images What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Helping the people of Britain to avoid smoking In 2014 MEPs passed the Tobacco Products Directive strengthening existing rules on the manufacture, production and presentation of tobacco products. This includes things like reduced branding, restrictions on products containing flavoured tobacco, health warnings on cigarette packets and provisions for e-cigarettes to ensure they are safe What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Helping you to make the right choices with your food Thanks to the European Parliament, UK consumers have access to more information than ever about their food and drink. This includes amount of fat, and how much of it is saturated, carbohydrates, sugars, protein and so on. It also includes portion sizes and guideline daily amount information so people can make informed choices about their diet. All facts must be clear and easy to understand What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Two year guarantees and 14-day returns policy for all products Consumers across the EU have access to a number of rights, from things which are potentially very useful, to things which used to be annoying. For example, shoppers in the UK receive a two-year guarantee on all products, and a 14-day period to change their minds and return a purchase, these things are useful www.PeopleImages.com-licence restrictions apply What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Keeping your air nice and fresh (and safe) Believe it or not, although the situation is improving, some areas of the UK have appalling air quality. A report by the Royal College of Physicians released on 23 February says 40,000 deaths are caused by outdoor air pollution in the UK every year. Air pollution is linked to a number of illnesses and conditions, from Asthma to diabetes and dementia. The report estimates the costs to British business and the health service add up to 20 billion every year "I went campaigning with Zac. When I was with him he was arguing for more infrastructure in London, we were talking to young tech entrepreneurs. There was a positive campaign there, but obviously it didn't work in the end. "When you lose a campaign, in the days afterwards every single thing you did was wrong. It's just assumed you got 100% of the things wrong. Indeed, when you win, you're regarded as complete political geniuses and everything you did was right. Of course, the truth is somewhere in between." Mr Osborne also insisted that Mr Goldsmith still had a future in the Tory party. He said: "He's a brilliant MP for Richmond, he's got incredibly important ideas about the environment, he's independent-minded. "My advice to him is don't read any of these articles, switch off the TV programmes. Everyone will take a chunk out of you. If I was him I'd relax about that because that is part of the democratic process." Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Thousands of individuals and offshore companies found in the Panama Papers are about to be made public via a search database. The information will be released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) combining documents uncovered in a 2013 ICIJ investigation into offshore accounts by UK residents and the much larger Panama Papers leak. The papers had been hacked from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca and published in April by journalists across the world. ICIJ's data analyst, Rigoberto Carvajal, built a version of this searchable database for internal use by journalists in September. Marina Walker Guevara, ICIJ's deputy director told CNN: "You'll see companies and their official owners. This is information that's never been available "We think that information about who owns the company should be public and transparent." The database, however, will not disclose the actual documents showing an individual's wealth or contract details. Marina Guevara added: "This is not disclosing private information en masse. "The bulk of the documents will remain confidential for journalists to explore. "We think that the leak was given to ICIJ because we can apply the rigor of journalism." Mossack Fonseca has denied any wrongdoing and has stated some individuals identified in the papers were not even clients. Peope will be able to search indivuduals and offshore companies involved in the leaked papers from 7pm (BST) on 9 July on the ICIJ website. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Sadiq Khan has used his first major interview as Labours new Mayor of London to attack his leader Jeremy Corbyn. In highly pointed remarks Mr Khan, who on Friday became the countrys most powerful directly elected leader, said Labour under Mr Corbyn was simply not doing enough to address the concerns of ordinary voters. And he warned that unless Mr Corbyn changed tack and reached out to the whole electorate not just natural Labour supporters then partys central mission to improve the lives of ordinary working people would be put in jeopardy. In Labour our mission is to improve the lives of people, he told The Andrew Marr Show. We only do that by winning elections. We only do that by speaking to people who have not voted Labour. There is no point just speaking to Labour voters our core vote we need to speak to everyone. Pointedly Mr Khan has yet to meet Mr Corbyn since he was elected Mayor late on Friday night. Some around the Labour leader are concerned that Mr Khan intends to use his new office, and the national platform it gives him, to set up a rival power base to Mr Corbyn. Asked how whether he owed some of his election victory to Mr Corbyn, Mr Khan replied: "Success has many parents and I think what's important is the victory on Thursday was a victory for London. My point is very simple, we've got to stop talking about ourselves and start talking to citizens about the issues that matter to them." Sadiq Khan's 5 most significant policies Show all 5 1 /5 Sadiq Khan's 5 most significant policies Sadiq Khan's 5 most significant policies Tackle the housing crisis Khans key policy is an ambitious target to make 50 per cent of all new homes being genuinely affordable, and improving conditions for people renting Getty Images Sadiq Khan's 5 most significant policies Freeze transport fares Khan says he will freeze London transport fares for four years and introduce a one-hour bus Hopper ticket, paid for by making TfL more efficient and exploring new revenue-raising opportunities. He claims Londoners wont pay a penny more for their travel in 2020 than they do today Getty Images Sadiq Khan's 5 most significant policies Make London safer Resore neighbourhood policing, tackle gangs and knife crime, and a new plan to tackle the spread of extremism, and a review of the resourcing of our fire service Getty Images Sadiq Khan's 5 most significant policies Restore London's air quality Pedestrianise Oxford Street and prioritise measures to improve Londons air quality Getty Images Sadiq Khan's 5 most significant policies Make cycling and walking safer More segregated cycle routes with a promise to spend money improving dangerous junctions Getty Images His comments in the last 48 hours will have done little to allay those fears. In an article for the Observer Mr Khan, who ran under the slogan "a Mayor for all Londoners" added that the party needed a broader reach. Squabbles over internal structures might be important for some in the party, but it is clear they mean little or nothing to the huge majority of voters, he wrote. As tempting as it might be, we must always resist focusing in on ourselves and ignoring what people really want. "It should never be about 'picking sides', a 'them or us' attitude, or a having a political strategy to target just enough of the population to get over the line. Our aim should be to unite people from all backgrounds as a broad and welcoming tent not to divide and rule. Mr Khan was backed by the former Labour Cabinet Minister Lord Blunkett who said party members were kidding themselves if they felt the performance in last weeks elections were adequate. Sadiq Khan during his swearing-in ceremony at Southwark Cathedral in central London on May 7, 2016. (AFP/Getty Images) The whole Labour project under Jeremy Corbyn and his allies is flawed, he wrote in The Sun on Sunday. They seem to think we wont have to win back the support of those who voted Conservative last time to gain power in 2020. But the deputy Labour leader Tom Watson dismissed the prospect of Mr Corbyn facing a challenge and pleaded for "patience" after a "mixed bag" of election results. Writing in the Sunday Mirror he said a leadership challenge was "about as likely as a snowstorm in the Sahara". But he acknowledged: "The truth is Labour still has a mountain to climb if we are to return to government in 2020." He said: "If there is one quality Labour Party members will need as we seek to return to Downing Street it is patience. "Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of our party eight months ago with an overwhelming mandate to take the party in a new direction. "But that won't happen overnight. Our share of the vote was higher than it was a year ago, when we suffered a painful election defeat. "Of course it isn't enough. We need to do far more. We need to do better. "I have been a member of the Labour Party for well over 30 years and I know that members are fair-minded people. "That's why a leadership challenge is about as likely as a snowstorm in the Sahara." Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Despite the huge attention paid to the performance of Jeremy Corbyns party, the Conservatives actually suffered a net loss of more than twice as many council seats as Labour, the final local election results have revealed. With all but one of 124 contested councils having finally declared their results, it can be revealed that the Tories are down 47 seats compared to 18 for Labour. This conflicts with pre-election analysis that had predicted Labour might lose as many as 150 council seats. The Conservatives have also lost overall control of Elmbridge Borough Council in Surrey, where votes were not counted until Saturday. This was partly due to boundary changes which reduced the number of council seats from 60 to 48. After the boundary changes and Thursdays election, the Conservatives ended up with 11 fewer seats in Elmbridge, with their total of 22 councillors being insufficient for them to have an outright majority over seven Liberal Democrats and 19 residents association members who were elected councillors. Recommended Read more Sadiq Khan uses first major interview as London Mayor to attack Corbyn Nationally, with results from 123 out of 124 contested councils now in, the Conservatives have 828 seats, down 47 from before Thursdays local government elections. Labour, by contrast have 1,289 seats and are down only 18. Mr Corbyns critics can point to the fact that the net loss of Labour council seats still bucks the trend of Opposition parties nearly always making gains in local government elections. And on Thursday Labour also lost 13 Scottish Parliament seats, with the party being relegated to third place behind the Conservatives in Scotland. In pictures: Local elections 2016 Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Local elections 2016 In pictures: Local elections 2016 Mayor of London Boris Johnson and wife Marina leave after casting their votes at a polling station in Islington, north London PA In pictures: Local elections 2016 Northern Ireland First Minister, Arlene Foster (C), Rhonna McMahon (R) and Paul Robinson leave after casting their vote for the Assembly Election, at Brookeborough Primary School in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland Reuters In pictures: Local elections 2016 Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives to cast his vote at a polling station in Islington, north London PA In pictures: Local elections 2016 David Cameron and Samantha Cameron cast their votes in the London Mayoral Election in London Getty Images In pictures: Local elections 2016 Labour Party Mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan and his wife Saadiya pose outside The Richardson Hall St Alban's Church Centre in Streatham after casting their votes in London's Mayoral and Assembly elections Getty Images In pictures: Local elections 2016 Britain's Conservative party candidate for Mayor of London Zac Goldsmith and his wife Alice leave after voting at a polling station in the Barnes suburb of south west London AP In pictures: Local elections 2016 George Osborne casts his vote in the London Mayoral Election in London Getty Images In pictures: Local elections 2016 SNP supporter Trish Traynor outside a polling station at St Ninian & Triduana RC Church in Glasgow as the polls open in the Scottish Parliament election PA In pictures: Local elections 2016 Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale (right) with partner Louise Riddell outside a polling station in Edinburgh after casting her vote in the Scottish Parliament election PA In pictures: Local elections 2016 SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon with her husband Peter Murrell after casting her vote at Broomhouse Community Hall polling station in Glasgow as Scotland goes to the polls in the Scottish Parliament election PA But Mr Corbyn - who has already insisted We hung on and grew support in a lot of places might be entitled to counter that Labour had started from the high water mark of the 2012 local elections when the party did better than its poll rating and gained seats. Labour also won the Bristol and London mayoral elections while maintaining its councillor count in some southern English areas including Harlow, Crawley and Southampton. With a formal challenge to his leadership yet to emerge, Mr Corbyn has been backed by his deputy Tom Watson who wrote in the Sunday Mirror that Labour won a higher share of the vote than at the 2015 General Election. 2016 Election results round-up A leadership challenge was, Mr Watson claimed, "About as likely as a snowstorm in the Sahara". Mr Watson did, however, acknowledge: "The truth is Labour still has a mountain to climb if we are to return to Government in 2020. "Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of our party eight months ago with an overwhelming mandate to take the party in a new direction. "But that won't happen overnight. Our share of the vote was higher than it was a year ago, [but]of course it isn't enough. We need to do far more. We need to do better. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Kenya plans to close all of its refugee camps in a move that would displace more than 600,000 people. The country's government said it was shutting down the camps due to very heavy economic, security and environmental issues. Those due to close include Dadaab, the largest refugee camp in the world, home to more than 300,000 people on the Kenya-Somalia border. Karanja Kibicho, Kenyas secretary for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, cited the influence of terror group Al-Shabaab as among the risks of keeping the camps open. Mr Kibicho said in a statement: "Kenya, having taken into consideration its national security interests, has decided that hosting of refugees has come to an end. "The Government of Kenya acknowledges that the decision will have adverse effects on the lives of refugees and therefore the international community must collectively take responsibility on humanitarian needs that will arise out of this action." It is not yet clear when the closures will begin, but the Kenyan government has already disbanded the Department of Refugee Affairs, which worked with humanitarian organisations for the welfare of the refugees. The closures mean Somali asylum seekers would be forced to return to the situation they fled. Young Somali boys attending school lessons in the Dadaab refugee camp (Getty) Mwenda Njoka, interior ministry spokesman, added: "The message is clear; we are closing the camps and we will not accept more refugees in the country." Human rights groups lambasted the decision, expressing concern at the hundreds of thousands of refugees it could put in danger. Somali refugees living in fear in Kenyas Dadaab camp Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International's regional director in East Africa, told The Independent: This reckless decision by the Kenyan government is an abdication of its duty to protect the vulnerable and will put thousands of lives at risk. "It could lead to the involuntary return of thousands of refugees to Somalia and other countries of origin, where their lives may still be in danger. This would be in violation of Kenyas obligations under international law. In pictures: Global refugee crisis Show all 45 1 /45 In pictures: Global refugee crisis In pictures: Global refugee crisis Yemeni refugees Yemeni refugees carry water to their tent at the Mazraq internally displaced people's camp in the northwestern province of Hajja In pictures: Global refugee crisis Yemeni refugees A displaced man from Yemen's Saada province amid UNHCR tents at a camp set up by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Mazraq in Yemen's Hajja region, 360 kms northwest of Sanaa In pictures: Global refugee crisis Yemeni refugees Yemeni refugees queue to get food aid at the Marzaq internally displaced people's camp in Harad in the northwestern province of Hajjah In pictures: Global refugee crisis Yemeni refugees Displaced Yemenis from al-Jaachan Al-Ansin, a village in the province of Ibb, some 200km South-East of Sanaa, stand next to their tents in a makeshift refugee camp in Sanaa In pictures: Global refugee crisis Yemeni refugees Yemeni refugees walk to a refugee camp in the southern Saudi province of Jizan after crossing the border from Yemen into Saudi Arabia In pictures: Global refugee crisis Syrian refugees Syrian refugees arrive in Turkey at the Cilvegozu crossing gate of Reyhanli, in Hatay. The number of people driven from their homes by conflict and crisis has topped 50 million for the first time since World War II, with Syrians hardest hit, the UN refugee agency (UNCHR) said, in an annual report released on World Refugee Day In pictures: Global refugee crisis Syrian refugees Syrian refugees walking among tents at Karkamis' refugee camp near the town of Gaziantep, south of Turkey In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees South Sudanese refugees waiting for food in the Kule refugee camp near the Pagak Border Entry point in the Gambella Region, Ethiopia In pictures: Global refugee crisis African refugees African refugees live homelessly at a temporary shelter beside a road on World Refugee Day in Sana'a, Yemen. The number of African refugees who have come to Yemen during the past few years has reached 750,000, most of them are Somalis In pictures: Global refugee crisis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi refugee girl from Mosul stands outside her family's tent at Khazir refugee camp outside Irbil, 217 miles (350 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq. The militants' capture of Iraq's cities of Mosul and Tikrit makes their dream of a new Islamic state look more realistic. It already controlled a swath of eastern Syria along the Euphrates River, with a spottier presence extending further west nearly to Aleppo, Syria's largest city. In Raqqa, the biggest city it holds in Syria, it imposes taxes, rebuilds bridges and enforces the law - its strict version of Shariah In pictures: Global refugee crisis Iraqi refugees Refugees queue to register at a temporary camp in northern Iraq Getty Images In pictures: Global refugee crisis Syrian refugees A young Syrian refugee stands near jerry cans used to collect water at Al-Zaatri refugee camp in the Jordanian city of Mafraq, near the border with Syria. The United Nations hopes that political talks between the warring sides in Syria will clinch local ceasefires to allow vital food and medicines to reach millions of civilians In pictures: Global refugee crisis Syrian refugees A child refugee from the northern province of Raqqa in Syria, reacts from the cold weather in a Syrian refugee camp beside the Lebanese border town of Arsal, in eastern Bekaa Valley Reuters In pictures: Global refugee crisis Syrian refugees Boys help their father remove snow in front of their tent in the Azaz refugee camp In pictures: Global refugee crisis Syrian refugees A Syrian refugee family from Aleppo crosses the Bosphorus from Uskudar to the European side of Istanbul In pictures: Global refugee crisis Syrian refugees A child refugee stands next to a home constructed using a billboard in the settlement of Qab Elias in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon PA In pictures: Global refugee crisis Syrian refugees Refugee baby Rim in the settlement of Qab Elias in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon PA In pictures: Global refugee crisis African refugees Refugees arriving at a camp near Bossangoa, 190 miles north of Bangui, the capital. Forty-one thousand people fled their homes following mass executions in the area Juan Carlos Tomasi/Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders In pictures: Global refugee crisis Syrian refugees Representatives of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a deeply divided opposition, world powers and regional bodies started a long-delayed peace conference aimed at bringing an end to a nearly three-year civil war In pictures: Global refugee crisis Iraqi refugees A women and a girl wash at a tap at a temporary displacement camp set up next to a Kurdish checkpoint in Kalak. Thousands of people have fled Iraq's second city of Mosul after it was overrun by Isis (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) militants. Many have been temporarily housed at various IDP (internally displaced persons) camps around the region including the area close to Erbil, as they hope to enter the safety of the nearby Kurdish region In pictures: Global refugee crisis Iraqi refugees Families arrive at a Kurdish checkpoint next to a temporary displacement camp in Kalak In pictures: Global refugee crisis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi refugee girl from Mosul stands outside her family's tent at Khazir refugee camp outside Irbil, 217 miles (350 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq. Days after Iraq's second-largest city fell to Isis fighters, some Iraqis are already returning to Mosul, lured back by insurgents offering cheap gas and food, restoring power and water and removing traffic barricades In pictures: Global refugee crisis Iraqi refugees A girl, who fled from the violence in Mosul, carries a case of water at a camp on the outskirts of Arbil in Iraq's Kurdistan region In pictures: Global refugee crisis Iraqi refugees A displaced Iraqi woman washes her family's laundry as the children shower outside their tent at a temporary camp set up to shelter civilians fleeing violence in Iraq's northern Nineveh province in Aski kalak, 40 kms west of the Kurdish autonomous region's capital Arbil In pictures: Global refugee crisis Iraqi refugees Iraqi refugees from Mosul arrive at Khazir refugee camp outside Irbil, 217 miles (350 kilometers) north of Baghdad AP In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees The international Red Cross said that the road from Bor to the nearby Awerial area 'is lined with thousands of people' waiting for boats so they could cross the Nile River and that the gathering of displaced 'is the largest single identified concentration of displaced people in the country so far' In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees People unload the few belongings at Minkammen, that they were able to bring with them to the camps In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees Thousands of exhausted civilians are crowding into the fishing village of Minkammen, a once-tiny riverbank settlement of a few thatch huts 25 kilometres (20 miles) southwest of Bor In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees Many people had spent days hiding out in the bush outside Bor as gunmen battled for control of the town, which has exchanged hands three times in the conflict, and remains in rebel control In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees A young boy pulls his suitcase of belongings as he walks to find a place to rest after getting off a river barge from Bor In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees A displaced family camp under a tree providing partial shade from the midday sun In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees A boy carries a fish, caught from the nearby Nile river, in a cardboard box on his head back to his relatives to eat In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees A mother and her baby, one of the few to have a mosquito net, wake up in the morning after sleeping in the open In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees Surrounded by barbed wire, people wait inside a camp for internally displaced families located inside a United Nations base in Juba In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees Ajay Galuak Akoy (10) carries water in Bor In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees Hungry women eat leaves from the lalob tree in a camp for internally displaced people in Manangui. The tree (Balanites aegyptiaca) is a common "hunger food" in the region In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees Four-month old Haida Majzub was born in the Ajuong Thok refugee camp inside South Sudan. The camp, in northern Unity State, hosts thousands of refugees from the Nuba Mountains, located across the nearby border with Sudan In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees A girl fills a container with muddy water in the Ajuong Thok Refugee Camp In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees A girl carries water from a communal water point inside a camp for internally displaced families located inside a United Nations base in Juba In pictures: Global refugee crisis Sudanese refugees The clashes in South Sudan began when uniformed personnel opened fire at a meeting of the governing party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement In pictures: Global refugee crisis Myanmar refugees 45 year old Dilbhar looks towards the camera as she stands in the Shamalapur Rohingya refugee settlement in Chittagong district. She escaped to Bangladesh from the Bodchara village in the Mondu district of Myanmar In pictures: Global refugee crisis Myanmar refugees 32 year old Mahada Khatum, 5 year old Hasan Sharif, and 9 year old Umma Kulsum sit outside their home in the Shamalapur Rohingya refugee settlement in Chittagong district. The family escaped violence and discrimination from the Zomgara Baharchara village in the Meherulla district of Myanmar In pictures: Global refugee crisis Myanmar refugees Hamid and his daughter Rajama sit inside their home in the Shamalapur Rohingya refugee settlement in Chittagong district. They fled to Bangladesh from the Dhuachopara village in the Rachidhong district of Myanmar In pictures: Global refugee crisis Afghan refugees Afghan children wait for relief supplies from the Muslim Hands United For The Needy during an aid distribution at a refugee camp on the outskirts of Kabul In pictures: Global refugee crisis Afghan refugees Afghan people carry relief supplies received from the Muslim Hands United For The Needy during an aid distribution at a refugee camp on the outskirts of Kabul Liesbeth Aelbrecht, Medecins sans Frontieres head of mission in Kenya, said the move was another example of the blatant neglect of millions of refugees around the world. Ms Aelbrecht said: "MSF is urging the government to reconsider this call, and alongside the international organisations already present in the camp to continue to provide humanitarian assistance and ensure acceptable living conditions for the hundreds of thousands of people who desperately need it." Somalian refugees queue for tents at Kenya's Dadaab refugee camp (Getty) Human Rights Watch told The Independent there was no credible evidence linking Somali refugees to any terrorist attacks in Kenya. Last year, food rations in the camp were cut due to a lack of funds. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Residents of southern California have been warned by a top seismologist that the San Andreas fault is locked, loaded and ready to go and a major earthquake in the region is overdue. The dire warning has come just a few months after the Mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, pushed legislation through the City Council demanding that the most vulnerable buildings in the city be retrofitted as soon as possible so they will be able to withstand violent shaking. It was delivered by Thomas Jordan, director of the Southern California Earthquake Centre, speaking at an earthquake conference in Long Beach. The San Andreas fault is locked, loaded and ready to roll. The springs of that fault have been wound pretty tightly and the situation is there where we could have major earthquakes in California, he told an audience of fellow seismologists. The Earthquake Centre has meanwhile released as sobering graphic that simulates how far the shaking would travel if, as he suggests, it is of 8.0 magnitude. While predicting earthquakes remains an uncertain science, there has been concern among experts for some time that the San Andreas fault may be close to a new, major ruction if only by virtue of the length of time since it happened last, when the southern portion of the fault was struck by a 7.9 shaker all the way back in 1857. Since then the tectonic plates that meet at the fault have been continuously on the move at a rate of about 2 inches per year. That means that over 159 years there has been a shift of 26 feet as the Pacific plate moves in a northwesterly direction against the American continental plate. Every additional inch creates additional pressures on the rocks beneath the earths surface. The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Show all 10 1 /10 The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Chile 1960 (Magnitude: 9.5) 2010 AFP The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Great Alaska Earthquake 1964 (Magnitude: 9.2) The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Off the West Coast of Northern Sumatra 2004 (Magnitude: 9.1) The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Near the East Coast of Honshu, Japan 2011 (Magnitude: 9.0) 2011 IFRC The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Kamchatka 1952 (Magnitude: 9.0) The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Offshore Maule, Chile 2010 (Magnitude: 8.8) 2010 Getty Images The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Off the Coast of Ecuador 1906 (Magnitude: 8.8) The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Rat Islands, Alaska 1965 (Magnitude: 8.7) The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Northern Sumatra, Indonesia 2005 (Magnitude: 8.6) 2005 Getty Images The biggest earthquakes in the world since 1900 Assam - Tibet 1950 (Magnitude: 8.6) An 8.0 magnitude event in southern Carolina could prove far more destructive than the 1994 Northridge earthquake that hit a different fault northwest of Los Angeles killing 60 people. The US Geological Survey warned in 2008 that even a 7.8 magnitude earthquake on the southern San Andreas Fault would cause more than 1,800 deaths, 50,000 injuries, $200 billion in damage and severe disruptions to the areas infrastructure, including its sewage systems. On Mayor Garcettis urging, Los Angeles last October required as many as 15,000 buildings be reinforced, including concrete buildings considered brittle and apartment blocks built mostly from timber. It was an unpopular move with some owners because of the high cost. Cliffs collapse during New Zealand quake Mr Jordan paid tribute to the city for taking the danger seriously. It's remarkable that this happened, he said. We know politically how difficult it is to make these kinds of changes. Trouble of a different kind appears to be brewing further north in the Pacific Northwest with reports of a swarm of as many as 130 small earthquakes in recent weeks beneath Mount St. Helens, still an active volcano, signaling increasing dangers of an eruption. Confirming the activity, the US Geological Survey nonetheless played down the need for immediate alarm. At this point, there is absolutely no sign that it will erupt anytime soon, but the data we collect tells us that the volcano is still very much alive, if said. Conceding a sudden upsurge in small tremors in the area since 14 March and now reaching as many as 40 a week, the Survey sought to reassure local communities, who still have memories of the 1980 eruption of the volcano that blew a 1,000 feet off the top of the mountain, ignited forest fires and killed 57 people. The earthquakes are volcano-tectonic in nature, indicative of a slip on a small fault. Such events are commonly seen in active hydrothermal and magmatic systems, it said. Most of the earthquakes now being detected are of 0.3 magnitude or less, with the largest at 1.3 magnitude. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Uber and Lyft say they will suspend operations in Austin, Texas, after voters rejected a ballot measure that would ease background checks for the ridesharing companies drivers. Proposition 1 failed by a 56 to 44 per cent margin, the Austin Chronicle reported. The measure would have repealed a referendum passed by city legislators in December 2015 that required fingerprint-based background checks for all drivers - similar to those required for taxi and limo drivers in the city. Recommended Read more Uber accused of illegally influencing move to reduce background checks Backed by the PAC Ridesharing Works for Austin, Uber and Lyft reportedly injected an unprecedented $9m (6.2m) into a wide scale campaign to encourage voters to say yes to Prop 1 - and they threatened to leave the city should the measure fail. Lyft has announced that operations are "pausing" beginning 5 am on Monday, 9 May. Disappointment does not begin to describe how we feel about shutting down operations in Austin, said Uber general manager Chris Nakutis in a statement to the Chronicle. We hope the City Council will reconsider their ordinance so we can work together to make the streets of Austin a safer place for everyone. Lyft told Buzzfeed News that while the company wants to stay in Austin, the rules passed by the City Council dont allow true ridesharing to operate. They added that they are [taking] a stand for a long-term path forward that lets ridesharing continue to grow across the country. Former Austin mayor Lee Leffingwell, who campaigned in support of Prop 1, expressed stronger disappointment in Saturdays results. Unfortunately thousands of people who drive with ridesharing companies to earn much needed income will now have to find another way to make ends meet, he wrote. Thousands more of our citizens and visitors from around the world will soon have one less option to get around town safely. Mr Leffingwell added that the ballot language was intentionally confusing. Current Austin mayor Steve Adler celebrated the voters decision, and said Uber and Lyft are still welcome in the Texas capital. The people have spoken clearly tonight. Uber and Lyft are welcome to stay, and I invite them to the table regardless, he wrote. Austin is an innovative, creative city. Right now, we're going to need to be at our most innovative now. Laura Morrison, a former City Council member and spokesperson for the anti-Prop 1 PAC Our City, Our Safety, Our Choice, told the Texas Tribune that Ridesharing Works for Austins campaign tactics did not resonate with Austin voters, nor did they encourage policymakers more open to negotiations. I think that an attitude of 'my way or the highway' is just not really effective and does not appeal to the people of Austin, she said. I don't know that there's much appetite on the council - now that Uber and Lyft made it a win, lose proposition - to start negotiating. Efforts by the ridesharing companies have sparked some controversy in Austin. Uber is at the center of a class-action lawsuit filed in a federal court over an alleged robo-texting campaign urging Austinites to vote for Prop 1. Under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, it is illegal for individuals or companies to call or send text messages using an artificial or prerecorded voice to mobile phones without the express consent of the recipient. According to the lawsuit, filed 4 May, Uber allegedly sent thousands of unwanted [robo-texts] to the cellphones of thousands as part of their political campaign. Uber is currently operating solo in Houston, where the company has reportedly has threatened to leave over fingerprint requirements. Lyft left the city after the law took effect in November 2014. Both Uber and Lyft still operate in Atlanta and New York City despite regulations requiring fingerprints. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump has reversed his stance on two key economic principles - saying he now supports a higher national minimum wage and would raise taxes on the rich rather than lowering them. Providing fresh evidence he is making up his policy priorities as he goes along, the Republican presidential candidate contradicted previous statements during an interview with NBC. I dont know how you live on $7.25 an hour, he said, adding that he would support an increase of some magnitude in minimum wage levels, even if hed rather leave the decision to individual states. Mr Trumps policy meanderings will further discomfit those in his party who are still struggling to decide what to do now that the last two remaining rivals in the race for the nomination, Senator Ted Cruz and Governor John Kasich, have raised the white flag and dropped out. Senator John McCain, the nominee in 2008, surprised many by apparently surrendering to the prospect of a Trump run for the White House, saying he could be a capable leader. Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Show all 14 1 /14 Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Isis: "Some of the candidates, they went in and didnt know the air conditioner didnt work and sweated like dogs, and they didnt know the room was too big because they didnt have anybody there. How are they going to beat ISIS?" Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On immigration: "I will build a great wall and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me and Ill build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Free Trade: "Free trade is terrible. Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people. But we have stupid people." PAUL J. RICHARDS | AFP | Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Mexicans: "When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists." Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On China: "I just sold an apartment for $15 million to somebody from China. Am I supposed to dislike them?... I love China. The biggest bank in the world is from China. You know where their United States headquarters is located? In this building, in Trump Tower." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On work: "If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable." AP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On success: "What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate." Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On life: "Everything in life is luck." AFP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On ambition: "You have to think anyway, so why not think big?" Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On his opponents: "Bush is totally in favour of Common Core. I don't see how he can possibly get the nomination. He's weak on immigration. He's in favour of Common Core. How the hell can you vote for this guy? You just can't do it." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Obamacare: "You have to be hit by a tractor, literally, a tractor, to use it, because the deductibles are so high. It's virtually useless. And remember the $5 billion web site?... I have so many web sites, I have them all over the place. I hire people, they do a web site. It costs me $3." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Barack Obama: "Obama is going to be out playing golf. He might be on one of my courses. I would invite him. I have the best courses in the world. I have one right next to the White House." PA Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On himself: "Love him or hate him, Trump is a man who is certain about what he wants and sets out to get it, no holds barred. Women find his power almost as much of a turn-on as his money." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On America: "The American Dream is dead. But if I get elected president I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before and we will make America great again." GETTY In a debate late last year Mr Trump said he considered the existing minimum wage too high. But on Sunday he explained he had reconsidered those words after traveling the country since then. Ive seen whats going on, he contended, although it is hard to find an example of when he has varied his routine of appearing at giant rallies actually to speak with voters face to face. He similarly rowed back on his own tax plan, issued earlier this year, which envisioned further cuts for the wealthiest Americans, in line with the trickle-down orthodoxy of many Republicans. He suggested that that the plan, which many economists had criticised as a recipe for a new explosion in the budget deficit, was merely a floor for negotiating with Congress. 10 of the scariest things Donald Trump has ever said When it comes time to negotiate, I feel less concerned with the rich than I do with the middle class, Mr Trump averred. He said he wanted a simplified tax system, with fewer income-level brackets determining rates, as well as lower taxes for corporations. For the wealthy I think frankly it is going to go up and, you know what, it really should go up, he said. If by his waverings Mr Trump is making it harder for his sceptics to pin him down that will be fine by him. Especially exasperated is the deep-conservative wing of the party which has long contended he is not really one of them on issues ranging from foreign policy, abortion and gay rights; his new pronouncements on tax and wages will only reinforce their suspicions. An effort was launched last week by William Kristol, the commentator and editor of the conservative Weekly Standard, to find someone to make an independent bid to derail Mr Trump, which has included private talks with the 2012 nominee, Mitt Romney. But with a Monday deadline to be on the ballot in Texas, a vital state, time is fast running out on the project. Senator McCain admitted in an interview with CNN that his affection for the New York billionaire may be limited. Last year Mr Trump famously questioned the heroism of Mr McCain who was captured and tortured in Vietnam, suggesting he preferred soldiers who dont get captured. The remarks joined the not slim canon of Trumpisms considered beyond the pale by many. I have never seen a personalisation of a campaign like this one, where people's integrity and character are questioned, he said. It bothers me a lot. You can violently almost disagree with someone on an issue, but to attack their character and integrity - those wounds take a long time to heal. However, the Senator, who faces a tough Senate re-election battle in his home state of Arizona this year, said he felt obliged to take notice of the support Mr Trump won through this springs primaries. You have to listen to the people that have chosen the nominee of our Republican Party, Mr McCain opined. I think it would be foolish to ignore them. As Mr Trump prepares for peace talks in Washington on Thursday with House speaker Paul Ryan, who has said he is as yet unable to endorse him, one of his more high-profile backers on the trail, former vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, said the spat showed how clueless the current party leadership is about what voters want. Paul Ryan and his ilk, their problem is they have become so disconnected from the people they were elected to represent, Ms Palin, who ran as Mr McCains running mate, said on CNN. Their problem is they feel so threatened at this point that their power, their prestige, their purse will be adversely affected by this change that is coming with Trump. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} At least 73 people are feared dead after two buses and a fuel tanker collided on a major highway in Afghanistan. Dozens more people were wounded in the accident, which set all three vehicles ablaze. Many of the dead, including women and children, were burned beyond recognition. "The death toll has soared to 73, most of them severely burned," Afghan ministry spokesman Ismail Kawoosi told the AFP news agency. Warning that the toll was expected to rise still further, he added: "Many of the wounded have been rushed to hospitals in (southern) Kandahar city and Ghazni." One of the buses was also reported to have overturned. The collision happened in the Muqur district of Ghazni on the main highway linking the capital, Kabul, to the southern city of Kandahar. Mohammadullah Ahmadi, director of the provincial traffic department, said the crash was caused by reckless driving. Road accidents are common in Afghanistan, where roads are often in poor condition and traffic laws are rarely enforced. The latest incident bears striking resemblances to a collision between a bus and a fuel tanker, which occurred in September 2012, also in Ghazni province and also on the Kabul-Kandahar highway. It killed at least 50 people and involved both vehicles being engulfed in flames. After that incident in Ghaznis Abband district police ruled out roadside mines, which are another hazard on Afghan roads, and said both vehicles were travelling at very high speed. A witness to the 2012 accident told the BBC Drivers on this road often kill people. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Kim Jong-un has said his country will not use its nuclear weapons first unless its sovereignty is invaded, in a speech during a critical party congress that struck a conciliatory note in the face of international pressure over its recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch. Kim said he is ready to improve ties with "hostile" nations, and called for more talks with rival South Korea to reduce misunderstanding and distrust between them. He also urged the United States to stay away from inter-Korean issues, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. "Our republic is a responsible nuclear state that, as we made clear before, will not use nuclear weapons first unless aggressive hostile forces use nuclear weapons to invade on our sovereignty," Kim said in a speech carried by the KCNA. The North's Korean Central Television on Sunday showed Kim delivering the speech at Pyongyang's House of Culture, wearing a black dress suit, a grey tie and horn-rimmed glasses that resembled the ones worn by his late grandfather and North Korean leader Kim Il Sung. He said that North Korea "will sincerely fulfill its duties for the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and work to realize the denuclearization of the world." The North is ready to improve and normalize ties with countries hostile to it if they respect its sovereignty and approach it in a friendly manner, Kim said. Everyday life in North Korea - in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Everyday life in North Korea - in pictures Everyday life in North Korea - in pictures 'Ordinary life' in North Korea A man cuts the hair of a young boy at an apartment building in Pyongyang. High rise apartments are a common form of accommodation for people living in the capital city AP Photo/Dita Alangkara Everyday life in North Korea - in pictures 'Ordinary life' in North Korea North Koreans pause to give way for passing vehicles as they cross a road in Pyongyang. AP Photo/Dita Alangkara Everyday life in North Korea - in pictures 'Ordinary life' in North Korea North Koreans wait for public transportation at a bus stop in Pyongyang AP Photo/Dita Alangkara Everyday life in North Korea - in pictures 'Ordinary life' in North Korea A woman and her daughter walk past a North Korean flag hung on a utility pole as part of celebrations of the Liberation Day in Pyongyang AP Photo/Dita Alangkara Everyday life in North Korea - in pictures 'Ordinary life' in North Korea People attending the conference for national reunification as they observe their 70th anniversary of Korea's liberation, marking the end of World War II, in Panmunjom AFP PHOTO / KCNA via KNS REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT Everyday life in North Korea - in pictures 'Ordinary life' in North Korea A man looks at items at a stamp shop in Pyongyang AP Photo/Dita Alangkara Everyday life in North Korea - in pictures 'Ordinary life' in North Korea North Koreans participate in a closing event for its celebration of the 70th anniversary of Korea's independence from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule, at the truce village inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that divides the two Koreas in Panmunjom, North Korea. The country changed it's timezone on the occasion. North Korea introduced 'Pyongyang time' and pushed back its clocks by half an hour on 15 August, the same as before the Japanese occupation when the standard time used by the Korean empire was eight and a half hours ahead of GMT, instead of nine hours, which is Tokyo time EPA/KCNA SOUTH KOREA OUT Everyday life in North Korea - in pictures 'Ordinary life' in North Korea People attending the conference for national reunification as they observe their 70th anniversary of Korea's liberation, marking the end of World War II, in Panmunjom AFP PHOTO / KCNA via KNS Everyday life in North Korea - in pictures 'Ordinary life' in North Korea Youths and students attending an evening gala at the Kim Il-Sung Square in Pyongyang to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Korea's liberation, marking the end of World War II AFP PHOTO / KCNA via KNS REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT Everyday life in North Korea - in pictures 'Ordinary life' in North Korea North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun to mark the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Korea's liberation REUTERS/KCNAATTENTION EDITORS Despite the talks about more diplomatic activity, Kim also made it clear that the North has no plans to discard its "byongjin" policy of simultaneously developing its nuclear weapons and its domestic economy. In a speech published by the North's Rodong Sinmun newspaper, Kim described the twin policy as a strategy the party must permanently hold on to for the "maximized interest of our revolution." Many outside analysts consider the policy unlikely to succeed because of the heavy price North Korea pays for its nuclear program in terms of international sanctions that keep its economy from growing. At the congress, Kim also announced a five-year plan starting this year to develop the North's dismal economy and identified improving the country's power supply and increasing its agricultural and light-manufacturing production as the critical parts of the program. He also said the country must secure more electricity through nuclear power plants, according to the state media. Jeong Joon Hee, the spokesman from the South's Unification Ministry, said that the North currently doesn't have nuclear power plants producing electricity. Analysts have anticipated Kim would use the first Workers' Party congress in decades to propose talks with rivals to exploit what he considers to be increased leverage as a nuclear power. North Korea carried out its fourth nuclear test in January and followed with a satellite launch in February that was seen by outside governments as a banned test for long-range missile technology, earning worldwide condemnation and tougher U.N. sanctions. The North responded to the punitive measures, and also the annual U.S.-South Korean military drills in March and April, by firing a series of missiles and artillery into the sea. It also claimed advancements in developing nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, and combined them with threats of pre-emptive nuclear strikes on Washington and Seoul. Analysts said that the North's belligerent stance might have been intended at rallying North Korean people around Kim ahead of the congress and also promote military accomplishments to the domestic audience to make up for the lack of tangible economic achievements to present at the party meeting. South Korea has taken a hard-line approach to North Korea following its nuclear test and long-range rocket launch, shutting down a jointly-run factory park in a North Korean border town that had been the last remaining symbol of cooperation between the rivals and slapping Pyongyang with its own economic sanctions. AP For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} It seems to be the season for tough-talk politics. As the United States adjusts to the rise of Donald Trump, the Philippines, a former colony and longtime ally, is observing the rise of its own populist phenom, presidential front-runner Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte, a motorcycle-riding, rape-joke-making mayor, is the favorite heading into the Philippines presidential vote Monday, commanding a solid but not certain lead over a pack of challengers with strong links to the countrys political and showbiz elite. The election centers on domestic issues such as crime, corruption, poverty and transportation. At stake are years of solid economic gains under the current president, Benigno Aquino III. But with China pressing its claims in the South China Sea and the U.S. military increasing its presence on Philippine soil, questions of foreign policy are coming to the fore. The vote will have global implications which is why Duterte has people talking. Its easy to see how Duterte has drawn comparisons to Trump. They are both self-professed political outsiders with a penchant for tough talk and shocking turns of phrase. Both have made misogynistic comments. And both are very and somewhat unexpectedly popular. The Trump of the East sobriquet undersells some of Dutertes more surprising positions he has publicly backed death squads; the Donald merely endorses torture and does little to explain his popularity here. For many Filipinos, Duterte is the candidate of change. Politics here has long been a family affair, with oligarchic clans dominating public life and often private business, too. The current president, Aquino, is the son of a former president. His hand-picked successor, Manuel Roxas II, is the grandson of a former president. Among the vice-presidential hopefuls is Ferdinand Marcos Jr., son of the countrys former dictator. Grace Poe, long thought to be Dutertes biggest competitor, is the adopted daughter of one of the countrys most-loved movie stars. Before becoming a senator in 2013, she lived for years in the United States. Duterte, meanwhile, comes from the countrys less-developed south and spent more than two decades running Davao City in Mindanao, where he reportedly patrolled the streets on a Harley-Davidson in a bid to stop crime. When a reporter from Time magazine visited the punisher in 2002, Duterte was drinking brandy with a .38-caliber pistol tucked in his waistband. Supporters see him as different from the rest of the pack. Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Show all 14 1 /14 Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Isis: "Some of the candidates, they went in and didnt know the air conditioner didnt work and sweated like dogs, and they didnt know the room was too big because they didnt have anybody there. How are they going to beat ISIS?" Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On immigration: "I will build a great wall and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me and Ill build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Free Trade: "Free trade is terrible. Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people. But we have stupid people." PAUL J. RICHARDS | AFP | Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Mexicans: "When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists." Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On China: "I just sold an apartment for $15 million to somebody from China. Am I supposed to dislike them?... I love China. The biggest bank in the world is from China. You know where their United States headquarters is located? In this building, in Trump Tower." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On work: "If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable." AP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On success: "What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate." Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On life: "Everything in life is luck." AFP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On ambition: "You have to think anyway, so why not think big?" Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On his opponents: "Bush is totally in favour of Common Core. I don't see how he can possibly get the nomination. He's weak on immigration. He's in favour of Common Core. How the hell can you vote for this guy? You just can't do it." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Obamacare: "You have to be hit by a tractor, literally, a tractor, to use it, because the deductibles are so high. It's virtually useless. And remember the $5 billion web site?... I have so many web sites, I have them all over the place. I hire people, they do a web site. It costs me $3." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Barack Obama: "Obama is going to be out playing golf. He might be on one of my courses. I would invite him. I have the best courses in the world. I have one right next to the White House." PA Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On himself: "Love him or hate him, Trump is a man who is certain about what he wants and sets out to get it, no holds barred. Women find his power almost as much of a turn-on as his money." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On America: "The American Dream is dead. But if I get elected president I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before and we will make America great again." GETTY There is lingering hostility among middle-class and lower-middle-class voters against elite domination of politics and the economy, despite strong growth under Aquino, said Joshua Kurlantzick, a senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations. Critics wonder how Dutertes sharp-tongued showmanship will translate in terms of policy. His tough-on-crime stance is attractive to many voters, but he also seems to support official impunity, threatening to kill all suspected criminals or joking that he wished he had been first to rape an Australian nun who was murdered in a 1989 prison riot. In a June 2015 report, The rise of the Philippines death squad mayor, Phelim Kine, deputy director for Human Rights Watchs Asia division, traced Dutertes history of endorsing the summary killing of suspected criminals. Dutertes boastful brand of violent impunity should be a path to prosecution, not a platform for political office, he wrote. The Philippines next president faces a daunting challenge in terms of balancing relations with two big powers: China and the United States. China claims much of the South China Sea, based on maps with a U-shaped, dashed line that cuts into exclusive maritime economic zones claimed by the Philippines and others. China has been constructing man-made islands and reefs, complete with airstrips and docking facilities, and many worry that Beijing will soon start construction work at a new location, the Scarborough Shoal. Beijings island-building is bringing the Philippines and the United States back together much to Chinas dismay. A new defense pact allows the U.S. military to build facilities at five Philippine military bases, while a growing number of ships are anchoring at the former U.S. base at Subic Bay, not far from where Chinese ships are patrolling. Dutertes challengers have generally expressed some degree of support for the Aquino governments South China Sea stance, saying they will back Manilas move to challenge China at a United Nations-appointed tribunal in the Hague rather than immediately press for bilateral talks. Duterte has not been clear on how he would proceed. He said he might be willing to negotiate directly with China or could be persuaded to put aside disputes if Beijing, say, built some trains in his home region. If that doesnt work, Duterte has another plan: Ride a Jet Ski to the Scarborough Shoal and plant the Philippine flag. Jay L. Batongbacal of the University of the Philippines Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea called Dutertes comments dangerous. The idea that big-ticket infrastructure spending could resolve the dispute is music to the ears of the Chinese government, said Richard Javad Heydarian, an assistant professor at Manilas De La Salle University and author of Asias New Battlefield: The USA, China and the Struggle for the Western Pacific. Dutertes words also resonated with those who have much to lose as Chinas ships press south. Domingo C. Cabacungan Jr., 44, a fisherman in the town of Infante, just east of the Scarborough Shoal, has been chased by Chinese coast guard ships while working in the disputed waters. He said Duterte was the only candidate with the strength to stand up to China. He has a heart of stone, he said. Copyright: Washington Post For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Two Romanian Special Forces personnel in Afghanistan have been killed and a third wounded after two members of a local police unit opened fire on them before being killed themselves, officials have said. A statement from the Romanian defence ministry said the incident took place while the men were training Afghan police in the southern city of Kandahar on Saturday. Insider attackers by Afghan troops on international service members, dubbed green on blue attacks, have occurred several times in past, but recently they have become much less frequent due to improved security measures. A Nato statement said the attackers were killed after carrying out the shooting. An investigation into the incident is underway. One Afghan policeman has reportedly been arrested and is being questioned, according to Samim Khpalwak, a spokesman for the Kandahar provincial governor. The attack came as Nato commander General John Nicholson reviews plans to cut the number of US troops in Afghanistan by almost half in the next year. A statement from the Nato-led coalition in Afghanistan said Saturdays shooting would not threaten its training and advisory mission with Afghan forces. It said: We continue to train, advise and assist the ANDSF, and do not view this incident as representative of the positive relationship between our forces. Romania contributes almost 600 soldiers to the Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan, which consists of around 12,500 troops. US troop numbers are due to be reduced from 9,800 to 5,500 by the start of 2017, however it is thought Gen Nicholson could delay the withdrawal to keep the training mission going. Additional reporting by Reuters For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Tree Spanish journalists who were held captive in Syria for nearly 10 months have returned safely to Madrid after being freed. Angel Sastre, Jose Manuel Lopez and Antionio Pamliega went missing in July 2015 in the Syrian city of Aleppo after travelling to the city to report on the conflict. The three men exited a Spanish Air Force Falcon 900 executive jet with broad smiles on their faces, images from state broadcaster TVE showed. They were greeted under umbrellas by what appeared to be delighted family members and friends. Elsa Gonzalez, president of the Spanish federation of journalists said last year that all three had travelled to Syria before, and were therefore aware of the risks and knew what precautions they needed to take. Antonio Pampliega, Jose Manuel Lopez and Angel Sastre disappeared near the city of Aleppo (AP) She told AFP: "Fortunately it all ended well. It lasted longer than we wanted but it appears that they are all in very good health." It is not yet clear who kidnapped the three, though it is suspected to have been the al-Nusra front, which is linked to Al-Qaeda. A statement from Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said all three men were safe and well, and that acting Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria had spoken to them over the telephone. In pictures: The rise of Isis Show all 74 1 /74 In pictures: The rise of Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters of the Islamic State wave the group's flag from a damaged display of a government fighter jet following the battle for the Tabqa air base, in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from Islamic State group sit on their tank during a parade in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from the Islamic State group pray at the Tabqa air base after capturing it from the Syrian government in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from extremist Islamic State group parade in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping A video uploaded to social networks shows men in underwear being marched barefoot along a desert road before being allegedly executed by Isis Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping Haruna Yukawa after his capture by Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping Khalinda Sharaf Ajour, a Yazidi, says two of her daughters were captured by Isis militants Washington Post In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Spokesperson for Isis Vice News via Youtube In pictures: The rise of Isis A pro-Isis leaflet A pro-Isis leaflet handed out on Oxford Street In London Ghaffar Hussain In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Isis Jihadists burn their passports In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid A man collecting aid administered by Isis in Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid A woman collecting aid administered by Isis in Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid Local civilians queue for aid administered by Isis. Since it declared a caliphate the group has increasingly been delivering services such as healthcare, and distributing aid and free fuel In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces detain men suspected of being militants of the Isis group in Diyala province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Mourners carry the coffin of a Shi'ite volunteer from the brigades of peace, who joined the Iraqi army and was killed during clashes with militants of the Isis group in Samarra, during his funeral in Najaf In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi Shiite Turkmen family fleeing the violence in the Iraqi city of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, arrives at a refugee camp on the outskirts of Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi A photograph made from a video by the jihadist affiliated group Furqan Media via their twitter account allegedly showing Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi delivering a sermon during Friday prayers at a mosque in Mosul. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared an Islamist caliphate in the territory under the group's control in Iraq and Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq Shiite's Al-Qubba Husseiniya mosque explodes in Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq Smoke and debris go up in the air as Shiite's Al-Qubba Husseiniya mosque explodes in Mosul. Images posted online show that Islamic extremists have destroyed at least 10 ancient shrines and Shiite mosques in territory - the city of Mosul and the town of Tal Afar - they have seized in northern Iraq in recent weeks In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq A bulldozer destroys Sunni's Ahmed al-Rifai shrine and tomb in Mahlabiya district outside of Tal Afar In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces celebrate after clashes with followers of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi, in front of his home in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi at his home after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis A vehicle burns in front of a home of a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi woman holds her exhausted son as over 1000 Iraqis who have fled fighting in and around the city of Mosul and Tal Afar wait at a Kurdish checkpoint in the hopes of entering a temporary displacement camp in Khazair In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees Displaced Iraqi women hold pots as they queue to receive food during the first day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, at an encampment for displaced Iraqis who fled from Mosul and other towns, in the Khazer area outside Irbil, north Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria A militant Islamist fighter waving a flag, cheers as he takes part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa. The fighters held the parade to celebrate their declaration of an Islamic "caliphate" after the group captured territory in neighbouring Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters wave flags as they take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province Reuters In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters travel in a vehicle as they take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Fighters from the Isis group during a parade with a missile in Raqqa, Syria. Militants from an al-Qaida splinter group held a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria, displaying U.S.-made Humvees, heavy machine guns, and missiles captured from the Iraqi army for the first time since taking over large parts of the Iraq-Syria border In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters during a parade in Raqqa, Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Fighters from the Isis group during a parade in Raqqa, Syria. Militants from the splinter group held a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria, displaying U.S.-made Humvees, heavy machine guns, and missiles captured from the Iraqi army for the first time since taking over large parts of the Iraq-Syria border In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters hold a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters during a parade in Raqqa, Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria A member loyal to the Isis waves an Isis flag in Raqqa In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi anti-government gunmen from Sunni tribes in the western Anbar province march during a protest in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. The United Nations warned that Iraq is at a "crossroads" and appealed for restraint, as a bloody four-day wave of violence killed 195 people. The violence is the deadliest so far linked to demonstrations that broke out in Sunni areas of the Shiite-majority country more than four months ago, raising fears of a return to all-out sectarian conflict In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces hold up a flag of the Isis group they captured during an operation to regain control of Dallah Abbas north of Baqouba, the capital of Iraq's Diyala province, 35 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq Isis fighters parade in the northern city of Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Volunteers, who have joined the Iraqi army to fight against the predominantly Sunni militants from the radical Isis group, demonstrate their skills during a graduation ceremony after completing their field training in Najaf In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Kurdish Peshmerga troops fire a cannon during clashes with militants of the Isis group in Jalawla, Diyala province In pictures: The rise of Isis Lieutenant General Qassem Atta speaks during a press conference Iraqi Prime Minister's security spokesman, Lieutenant General Qassem Atta speaks during a press conference about the latest military development in Iraq, in the capital Baghdad. Iraqi forces pressed a campaign to retake militant-held Tikrit, clashing with jihadist-led Sunni militants nearby and pounding positions inside the city with air strikes in their biggest counter-offensive so far In pictures: The rise of Isis A police station building destroyed by Isis fighters An exterior view of a police station building destroyed by gunmen in Mosul city, northern Iraq. Iraq's new parliament is expected to convene to start the process of setting up a new government, despite deepening political rifts and an ongoing Islamist-led insurgency. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani issued a decree inviting the new House of Representatives to meet and form a new government In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq Smoke billows from an area controlled by the Isis between the Iraqi towns of Naojul and Tuz Khurmatu, both located north of the capital Baghdad, as Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces take part in an operation to repel the Sunni militants In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An elderly Iraqi woman is helped into a temporary displacement camp for Iraqis caught-up in the fighting in and around the city of Mosul in Khazair In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi Christian woman fleeing the violence in the village of Qaraqush, about 30 kms east of the northern province of Nineveh, cries upon her arrival at a community center in the Kurdish city of Arbil in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi woman, who fled with her family from the northern city of Mosul, prays with a copy of the Quran AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq The body of an Isis militant killed during clashes with Iraqi security forces on the outskirts of the city of Samarra Reuters In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi civilians inspect the damage at a market after an air strike by the Iraqi army in central Mosul EPA In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Members of the Al-Abbas brigades, who volunteered to protect the Shiite Muslim holy sites in Karbala against Sunni militants fighting the Baghdad government, parade in the streets of the city AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Shia tribesmen gather in Baghdad to take up arms against Sunni insurgents marching on the capital. Thousands have volunteered to bolster defences AFP/Getty In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis A van carrying volunteers joining Iraqi security forces against Jihadist militants. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced the Iraqi government would arm and equip civilians who volunteered to fight AFP/Getty In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters of the Isis group parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle down a main road at the northern city of Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq An Islamist fighter, identified as Abu Muthanna al-Yemeni from Britain (R), speaks in this still image taken undated video shot at an unknown location and uploaded to a social media website. Five Islamist fighters identified as Australian and British nationals have called on Muslims to join the wars in Syria and Iraq, in the new video released by the Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Al-Qaida inspired militants stand with captured Iraqi Army Humvee at a checkpoint belonging to Iraqi Army outside Beiji refinery some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad. The fighting at Beiji comes as Iraq has asked the U.S. for airstrikes targeting the militants from the Isis group. While U.S. President Barack Obama has not fully ruled out the possibility of launching airstrikes, such action is not imminent in part because intelligence agencies have been unable to identify clear targets on the ground, officials said In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants attacked Iraq's main oil refinein Baiji as they pressed an offensive that has seen them capture swathes of territory, a manager and a refinery employee said In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants from the Isis group parading with their weapons in the northern city of Baiji in the in Salaheddin province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq A smoke rises after an attack by Isis militants on the country's largest oil refinery in Beiji, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad. Iraqi security forces battled insurgents targeting the country's main oil refinery and said they regained partial control of a city near the Syrian border, trying to blunt an offensive by Sunni militants who diplomats fear may have also seized some 100 foreign workers In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group stand next to captured vehicles left behind by Iraqi security forces at an unknown location in the Salaheddin province. For militant groups, the fight over public perception can be even more important than actual combat, turning military losses into propaganda victories and battlefield successes into powerful tools to build support for the cause In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq An injured fighter (C) from the Isis group after a battle with Iraqi soldiers at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis aiming at advancing Iraqi troops at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis group taking position at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis group inspecting vehicles of the Iraqi army after they were seized at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq One Iraqi captive, a corporal, is reluctant to say the slogan, and has to be shouted at repeatedly before he obeys Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Iraqi captives held by the extremists Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Iraqi captives held by the extremists Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group force captured Iraqi security forces members to the transport In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group transporting dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members to an unknown location in the Salaheddin province ahead of executing them In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq A major offensive spearheaded by Isis but also involving supporters of executed dictator Saddam Hussein has overrun all of one province and chunks of three others In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group executing dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members at an unknown location in the Salaheddin province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis militants taking position at a Iraqi border post on the Syrian-Iraqi border between the Iraqi Nineveh province and the Syrian town of Al-Hasakah In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis rebels show their flag after seizing an army post AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis militants waving an Islamist flag after the seizure of an Iraqi army checkpoint in Salahuddin Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Demonstrators chant slogans as they carry al-Qaida flags in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad. In the week since it captured Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, a Muslim extremist group has tried to win over residents and has stopped short of widely enforcing its strict brand of Islamic law, residents say. Churches remain unharmed and street cleaners are back at work The Spanish government said that the intervention of Turkey, Qatar and other allies and friends had contributed to the freeing of the men, and that a plain was being sent to Turkey to fly them back from Spain. Ms Gonzalez said the news was cause for joy and emotion and that work by reporters like these elevates journalism. It is not known whether a ranson was paid for their release. Previously, three other Spanish journalists were released in March 2014 after being held hostage by Syrian extremists for months. It is widely believed that their government paid a ransom for their release, although it has not been officially confirmed. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} French hospitals are offering money to pregnant who smoke if they give up nicotine in a new study to test the impact of financial incentives. Expectant mothers who commit to giving up will be paid incrementally in 20 vouchers, with the chance to earn up to 300 if they do not start smoking again. The study, carried out by Pariss public hospital system in association with the National Cancer Institute, will test whether offering pregnant women money will help convince them to stay away from tobacco throughout their pregnancy. Women over 18 who have been pregnant less than four months can apply to take part in the study, if they smoke more than five manufactured cigarettes (or three rolled cigarettes) each day. The use of cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, or other tobacco products, is prohibited, and participants must submit to frequent testing to check they are abiding by these rules. Figures from 2015 showed one in five French women did not give up smoking during their pregnancy, and French health minister Marisol Touraine said France was "the European country where pregnant women smoke the most. Smoking during pregnancy can reduce the oxygen supply to the foetus, which increases the risk of stillbirth, premature birth and low birth weight. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) has been thrown into further doubt after a senior German minister claimed the United States was not willing to make "any serious concessions". Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt is the latest senior European politician to criticise the American approach to the negotiations, which Barack Obama had hoped would be completed this year. Mr Schmidt told German newspaper Der Spiegel: "So far at least they have hardly made any serious concessions." He said US negotiators were mistaken if they believed "they can lure us Germans with concessions in the automotive sector." In reference to potential concessions in one industry for agreements in another, he added: "We won't sacrifice our high food safety standards in a barter trade for approval of European car blinkers." French President Francois Hollande has said France would reject the deal in its current form as they opposed "unregulated free trade". What is TTIP? Chancellor Angela Merkel has reiterated the government line, stating she would "do everything to conclude the negotiations" before the end of this year. Despite David Cameron's denials, campaigners claim the TTIP could lead to selling off of the NHS by breaking down protections of public services. What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Show all 5 1 /5 What's the European Parliament ever done for us? What's the European Parliament ever done for us? A cap on the amount of hours an employer can make you work The Working Time directive provides legal standards to ensure the health and safety of employees in Europe. Among the many rules are a working week of a maximum 48 hours, including overtime, a daily rest period of 11 hours in every 24, a break if a person works for six hours or more, and one day off in every seven. It also includes provisions for paid annual leave of at least four weeks every year Getty Images What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Helping the people of Britain to avoid smoking In 2014 MEPs passed the Tobacco Products Directive strengthening existing rules on the manufacture, production and presentation of tobacco products. This includes things like reduced branding, restrictions on products containing flavoured tobacco, health warnings on cigarette packets and provisions for e-cigarettes to ensure they are safe What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Helping you to make the right choices with your food Thanks to the European Parliament, UK consumers have access to more information than ever about their food and drink. This includes amount of fat, and how much of it is saturated, carbohydrates, sugars, protein and so on. It also includes portion sizes and guideline daily amount information so people can make informed choices about their diet. All facts must be clear and easy to understand What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Two year guarantees and 14-day returns policy for all products Consumers across the EU have access to a number of rights, from things which are potentially very useful, to things which used to be annoying. For example, shoppers in the UK receive a two-year guarantee on all products, and a 14-day period to change their minds and return a purchase, these things are useful www.PeopleImages.com-licence restrictions apply What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Keeping your air nice and fresh (and safe) Believe it or not, although the situation is improving, some areas of the UK have appalling air quality. A report by the Royal College of Physicians released on 23 February says 40,000 deaths are caused by outdoor air pollution in the UK every year. Air pollution is linked to a number of illnesses and conditions, from Asthma to diabetes and dementia. The report estimates the costs to British business and the health service add up to 20 billion every year Mr Cameron said: "There are plenty of reasons that people dont want to see trade expanded. "I think they should be honest about it and say they dont like trade deals rather than using the red herring of the NHS to distract from a trade deal that could add tens of billions to our economy and generate jobs." For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Gunmen thought to be Islamist militants have killed eight policemen after shooting them as they travelled through a suburb of the Egyptian capital Cairo. Egyptian state media said the police were inspecting security in the south Cairo neighbourhood of Helwan early on Sunday when four gunmen in a pick-up opened fire on their minibus. Interior Minister Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar ordered an investigation into the latest attack, calling the eight "heroes of the police martyrs who sacrificed their lives to preserve the security of the homeland and the people." No one immediately claimed responsibility for the killings. Insurgents have carried out a wave of attacks, mainly targeting Egyptian security forces, since the military overthrow of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, the leader of Egypts Muslim Brotherhood, in 2013. Mr Morsi came to power as Egypts first democratically elected president in July 2012 after the Arab Spring uprising which overthrew President Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Many Egyptians, however, saw Mr Morsi as more preoccupied with establishing political control than tackling economic and social problems. On the first anniversary of his taking office, millions of Mr Morsis opponents took to the streets to demonstrate against him. Three days later, then military chief - and now president - Abdul Fattah al-Sisi overthrew Morsi. The interim authorities subsequently launched a crackdown on Morsi's supporters, in which more than 1,400 people were killed and thousands detained. Since then, there have been a series of terrorist attacks, mainly concentrated in the Sinai Peninsula, where an Islamic State affiliate is now based. In October 2015 224 people were killed when a jet operated by a Russian airline fell from the sky over the Sinai Peninsula after taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh Airport. Isis has since claimed responsibility for the attack, and many countries security services have since concluded that a bomb must have been smuggled on board the aeroplane at Sharm el-Sheikh. As well as operating in the Sinai Peninsula, militants have also struck the mainland, targeting security forces and planting bombs in Cairo and other cities. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Isis have executed a man by stabbing him in the heart and then shooting him in the head. Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS), an activist group documenting atrocities committed by the terror organisation, said the man was murdered on charges of being a spy. He was blindfolded and dressed in an orange jumpsuit, which has become synonymous with the group's execution videos, before being killed in the group's de facto Syrian capital Raqqa. His body was then hung from a lampost in the middle of a busy road. Timeline: The emergence of Isis Show all 40 1 /40 Timeline: The emergence of Isis Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2000 Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (pictured here) forms an al-Qaeda splinter group in Iraq, al-Qaeda in Iraq. Its brutality from the beginning alienates Iraqis and many al-Qaeda leaders. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2006 Al-Zarqawi is killed in a U.S. strike. Al-Zarqawis successor, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, announces the creation of the Islamic State in Iraq (ISI). Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2009 Still al-Qaeda-linked ISI claims responsibility for suicide bombings that killed 155 in Baghdad, as well as attacks in August and October killing 240, as President Obama announces troop withdrawal from Iraq in March. Getty Images Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2010 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi becomes head of ISI, at lowest ebb of Islamist militancy in Iraq, which sees last U.S. combat brigade depart. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2012 In Syria, protests (pictured here starting in Daree) have morphed into what president Assad labelled a real war with emergence of a coalition of forces opposed to Assads regime. Syria group Jabhat al-Nusra are among rebel groups who refuse to join, denouncing it as a conspiracy. Bombings targeting Shia areas, killing more than 500 people, spark fears of new sectarian conflict. Sunni Muslims stage protests across country against what they see as increasingly marginalisation by Shia-led government. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2013 Al-Baghdadi renames ISI as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or Isis, as the group absorbs Syrian al-Nusra, gaining a foothold in Syria. In response, al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri (Bin Ladens successor) concerned about Isis expansion orders that Isis be dissolved and ISI operations should be confined to Iraq. This order is rejected by al-Baghdadi. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - January Isis fighters capture the Iraqi cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, giving them base to launch slew of attacks further south. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Isis declares itself the Caliphate, calling itself Islamic State (IS). The group captures Mosul, Iraqs second largest city; Tal Afar, just 93 miles from Syrian border; and the central Iraqi city of Tikrit. These advances sent shockwaves around the world. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Around the same time Isis releases a video calling for western Muslims to join the Caliphate and fight, prompting new evaluations of extremists groups social media understanding. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Isis take Baiji oil fields in Iraq - giving them access to huge amounts of possible revenue. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - August James Foley is executed by the group as concerns grow for second American prisoner, fellow reporter Steven Sotloff. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - August Obama authorises U.S. airstrikes in Iraq, helping to stall Isis along with action by Kurdish forces following the deaths of hundreds of Yazidi people on Mount Sinjar. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Isis release video showing Steven Sotloffs murder prompting Western speculation his executioner is same man who killed Mr Foley. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Obama tells us that America will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Isis release a video appearing to show David Haines, who was captured by militants in Syria in 2013, wearing an orange jumpsuit and kneeling in the desert while he reads a pre-prepared script. It later shows what appears to be the aid worker's body. Rex Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Peshmerga fighters scrabble to hold positions in the Diyala province (a gateway to Baghdad) as Isis fighters continue to advance on Iraqi capital. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - October Aid worker Alan Henning is killed. Self-imposed media blackout refuses to show images of him in final moments, instead focuses upon humanitarian care. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - October Isis raise their flag in Kobani, which had been strongly defended by Kurdish troops. The victory goes against hopeful western analysis Isis had overextended itself, while alienating much of the Muslim population through the murder of Henning. Victory causes fresh waves of Kurdish refugees arriving in Turkey. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - November American hostage, who embarced values of Islam, Peter Kassig and 14 Syrian soldiers are shown meeting the same fate as other captives. But intelligence agencies will be poring over the apparently significant discrepancies between this and previous films. Seramedig.org.uk Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis has released a video revealing the murder by burning to death of a Jordanian pilot held by the group since the end of December 2014. Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis militants have released videos which appear to show the beheading of Japanese hostages Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February American aid worker, Kayla Mueller was the last American hostage known to be held by Isis. She died, according to her captors, in an airstrike by the Jordanian air force on the city of Raqqa in Syria, though US authorities disputed this. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis militants have posted a gruesome video online in which they force 21 Egyptian Coptic Christian hostages to kneel on a beach in Libya before beheading them. Egypt vowed to avenge the beheading and launched air strikes on Isis positions. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February The British Isis militant suspected of appearing in videos showing the beheading of Western hostages has been named in reports as Mohammed Emwazi from London. Rex Features Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - March Isis triple suicide attack has killed more than 100 worshippers and hundreds of others were injured after the group members targeted two mosques in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Iraqi forces have claimed victory over Isis in battle for Tikrit and raised the flag in the city. EPA/STR Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Isis has claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan that killed at least 35 people queuing to collect their wages and injured 100 more. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Isis media arm released a 29-minute video purporting to show militants executing Ethiopian Christians captives. The footage bore the extremist groups al-Furqan media logo and showed the destruction of churches and desecration of religious symbols. A masked fighter made a statement threatening Christians who did not convert to Islam or pay a special tax. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Isis has been "incapacitated" by a spinal injuries sustained in a US air strike in Iraq. He is being treated in a hideout by two doctors from Isis stronghold of Mosul who are said to be "strong ideological supporters of the group". Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis has also claimed responsibility for killing 300 of Yazidi captives, including women, children and elderly people in Iraq AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis attack on Prophet Mohamed cartoon contest in Texas was its first action on US soil. Two gunmen were shot and killed after launching the attack at the exhibition. Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi have been named as the attackers at the Curtis Culwell Centre arena in Garland. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isiss deputy leader, Abu Alaa Afri, a former physics teacher who was thought to have taken charge of the deadly terrorist group, has been killed in a US-led coalition airstrike. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May US special forces have killed a senior Isis leader named as Abu Sayyaf in an operation aiming to capture him and his wife in Syria. Getty Images Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Iran-backed militias are sent to Ramadi by the Iraqi government to fight Isis militants who completed their capture of the city. Government soldiers and civilians were reportedly massacred by extremists as they took control and the army fled. Charred bodies were left littering the city streets as troops clung on to trucks speeding away from the city. Ramadi is the latest government stronghold to fall to the so-called Islamic State, despite air strikes by a US-led international coalition aiming to stop its advance in Iraq and Syria. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis rounded up civilians trapped in Palmyra and forced them to watch 20 people being executed in the historic citys ancient amphitheatre. The Unesco World Heritage site was overrun by militants, threatening the future of 2,000 year-old monuments and ruins. Thousands of Palmyras residents fled but many are still living within the city walls, while the UN human rights office in Geneva said it had received reports of Syrian government forces preventing people from leaving until they retreated from the city. Getty Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May A group of Isis-affiliated fighters have captured a key airport in central Libya. The militants took control of the al-Qardabiya airbase in Sirte after a local militia tasked with defending the facility withdrew from their positions. Affiliates of Isis, already control large parts of Sirte, the birthplace of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and a former stronghold of his supporters. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June The US Air Force has destroyed an Isis stronghold after an extremist let slip their location on social media. According the Air Force Times, General Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle, commander of Air Combat Command, said that Airmen at Hulburt Field, Florida, used images shared by jihadists to track the location of their headquarters before destroying it in an airstrike. Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Kurdish forces captured a key military base in a significant victory in Raqqa as well as town of Tell Abyad. YPG fighters, backed by US-led airstrikes and other rebels, consolidated their gains, when they seized the key town on the Syria-Turkey border. They are now just 30 miles to the north of Raqqa and have cut off a major supply route deep inside Isis-held territory. Ahmet Silk/Getty Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Isis has released gruesome footage claiming to show the murder of more than a dozen men by drowning, decapitation and using a rocket-propelled grenade as it seeks to boost morale among its fanatical supporters. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Isis has begun carrying out its threat to destroy structures in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, blowing up at least two monuments at the Unesco-protected site as Syrian government troops made advances on the Islamists positions. AFP Yesterday, the terror group threw a man accused of being homosexual from a high building before a crowd stoned him to death. They have also placed a 19-year-old girl in a cage with skeletons as punishment for violating the group's strict dress code. More than 50 mass graves, containing the bodies of men, women and children murdered by Isis have been uncovered in Iraq. Government forces have been uncovering the sites one by one, as they sweep territory formerly held by the so-called Islamic State, revealing further evidence of war crimes and possible genocide, a United Nations envoy said. Women secretly capture life inside Raqqa Isis recently suffered one of its biggest military defeats in Palmyra, which was seized by regime forces backed by Russian air strikes. Last month, US President Barack Obama said Isis fighters were coming to "realise their cause is lost". Mr Obama said the size of the group's army was at its lowest level for two years and that it had lost 40 per cent of its territory in Iraq and 10 per cent in Syria. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Saudi Arabia is desperately trying to diversify its economy away from oil, and the person pulling the strings is 30-year-old Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. King Salman is technically the ruler, but Prince Mohammed is the favoured son, and he is increasingly calling the shots on some pretty important events. And his power over one of the world's most important economies was made abundantly clear on Saturday when he replaced 20-year veteran oil minister Ali al-Naimi with someone who he directly controls the actions of Khalid al-Falih, chairman of the state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco. It probably doesn't come as a huge surprise to people watching Saudi Arabia closely. After all, he is driving forward Vision 2030 Saudi Arabia's plan to curtail the kingdom's addiction to oil. But there are growing concerns among economists and observers that Prince Mohammed could be out of his depth. Prince Mohammed has built influence since his father came to power in January 2015, and the first time he really made it apparent that his word is law, was last month when he gave the message that there would be no freeze in oil production without Iranian participation. That Doha, Qatar, deal, or lack thereof, was enough to move the world markets. Prince Mohammed was not afraid to undermine other politicians' authorities to get his way especially al-Naimi's. But this is ostracizing the technocrat Saudi diplomats who are crucial to achieving Vision 2030. Without the old guard that has executed Saudi economic policy for decades, Prince Mohammad could struggle to get things done. 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Show all 10 1 /10 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In October 2014, three lawyers, Dr Abdulrahman al-Subaihi, Bander al-Nogaithan and Abdulrahman al-Rumaih , were sentenced to up to eight years in prison for using Twitter to criticize the Ministry of Justice. AFP/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2015, Yemens Sunni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was forced into exile after a Shia-led insurgency. A Saudi Arabia-led coalition has responded with air strikes in order to reinstate Mr Hadi. It has since been accused of committing war crimes in the country. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Women who supported the Women2Drive campaign, launched in 2011 to challenge the ban on women driving vehicles, faced harassment and intimidation by the authorities. The government warned that women drivers would face arrest. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Members of the Kingdoms Shia minority, most of whom live in the oil-rich Eastern Province, continue to face discrimination that limits their access to government services and employment. Activists have received death sentences or long prison terms for their alleged participation in protests in 2011 and 2012. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses All public gatherings are prohibited under an order issued by the Interior Ministry in 2011. Those defy the ban face arrest, prosecution and imprisonment on charges such as inciting people against the authorities. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2014, the Interior Ministry stated that authorities had deported over 370,000 foreign migrants and that 18,000 others were in detention. Thousands of workers were returned to Somalia and other states where they were at risk of human rights abuses, with large numbers also returned to Yemen, in order to open more jobs to Saudi Arabians. Many migrants reported that prior to their deportation they had been packed into overcrowded makeshift detention facilities where they received little food and water and were abused by guards. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses The Saudi Arabian authorities continue to deny access to independent human rights organisations like Amnesty International, and they have been known to take punitive action, including through the courts, against activists and family members of victims who contact Amnesty. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Raif Badawi was sentenced to 1000 lashes and 10 years in prison for using his liberal blog to criticise Saudi Arabias clerics. He has already received 50 lashes, which have reportedly left him in poor health. Carsten Koall/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Dawood al-Marhoon was arrested aged 17 for participating in an anti-government protest. After refusing to spy on his fellow protestors, he was tortured and forced to sign a blank document that would later contain his confession. At Dawoods trial, the prosecution requested death by crucifixion while refusing him a lawyer. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was arrested in 2012 aged either 16 or 17 for participating in protests during the Arab spring. His sentence includes beheading and crucifixion. The international community has spoken out against the punishment and has called on Saudi Arabia to stop. He is the nephew of a prominent government dissident. Getty Paul Sankey, a senior analyst at Wolfe Research, told the Financial Times in April that because of Prince Mohammed's young age Sankey specifically calls him a millennial he is pushing the 'old guard' Saudi traditions aside, notably of behind-closed-doors consensus decision-making. He is offering the opposite, speaking at length to the Western press about policy-in-the-making, Sankey said. Most stunningly, the potential IPO of Aramco, the Saudi state-owned oil company, but also, in more veiled language, the market-share war versus Iran ... [the Prince] appears to be more than ready to use oil as a weapon. This is sidelining technocratic politicians like Ali al-Naimi, who has been the Saudi oil minister for more than two decades. Alexander Novak, Russia's energy minister, this week cut down Naimi by saying he didn't have the authority to negotiate a deal in Doha. The Financial Times, citing an unnamed Saudi-based source, that events at Doha were a clear signal that Naimi was no longer making the big decisions. It was a big signal. The FT report added that analysts had been expecting Al-Naimi to be removed from the ministry but some believed he would have been allowed to step down with dignity given the longevity of his career. The abrupt announcement ahead of the June Opec meeting signals the extent of the division between Mr Naimi and the deputy crown prince. This is a huge deal because Prince Mohammed and the Saudi kingdom need those technocrats to make Vision 2030 come true.The Saudi Aramco Chairman is a technocrat but Prince Mohammed is calling the shots over what is happening with that company, so it is unclear whether Khalid al-Falih will be doing anything more than just doing exactly what Prince Mohammed wants him to do. The country reported in December that its 2015 budget deficit the amount by which expenditures exceeded revenue hit $98 billion (65.7 billion). Oil prices have dropped from highs in the triple digits in June 2014 to about $40. Oil revenues make up 77% of the country's total revenue, and because of the severe drop in oil prices revenue is down by 23% on the previous year. As a result, for the second time in four months the ratings agency S&P has downgraded Saudi Arabia's debt rating, which makes it more expensive for Saudi Arabia to borrow money. The country is reportedly also asking banks for a loan of up to $10 billion (6.8 billion). In an interview with Al Arabiya news on Monday, Prince Mohammed discussed expanding the country's Public Investment Fund to $2 trillion (1.3 trillion), up from $160 billion (110 billion), adding that it would become a hub for Saudi investment abroad, partly by raising money through selling shares in Aramco. But not everyone is convinced. "There was very little that was new in the Saudi government's 'Vision 2030' and there are still several key areas that policymakers have yet to address," Jason Tuvey, an economist for Capital Economics' Middle East division, said in a note to clients. "We don't buy into Mohammed bin Salman's assertion that Saudi Arabia will no longer be dependent on oil by 2020. In short, we were hoping for more." Andy Critchlow at Breakingviews also highlights how Prince Mohammed's grand vision to execute a similar rebalancing of the economy as Dubai undertook in the 1980s is blurry. He said that while cutting state subsidies on electricity and creating a sovereign wealth fund was a good idea, Prince Mohammed needed to target more radical reforms to make Vision 2030 a reality. The country "probably needs to address criticism over its human rights and social equality record to improve the link between openness and investment, he added. Saudi Arabia is already struggling to complete its cornerstone investment in economic diversification. The King Abdullah Economic City was initially announced by King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in 2005. It is a $95 billion (67 billion) supercity that the Saudis hope will draw from both Chinese manufacturing and Western tech innovation. Plans call for the city to eventually have 2 million residents across 70 square miles the equivalent of Washington, D.C. The project is not expected to be completed until 2035 and has had huge hiccups along the way. Fahd Al-Rasheed, group CEO and managing director of KAEC, even told Business Insider at the World Economic Forum in January: It's entirely funded by the private sector and through foreign direct investment. It's completely private. Basically, it's dependent on foreigners and its own private sector, which still depend on oil to give it cash. But Prince Mohammed is getting a lot of analysts a bit worried. He is securing a lot more power by surrounding himself with people that are likely to do what he wants them to do, without maybe an impartial technocrat opinion. So if this war doesn't cool and more radical reforms aren't being undertaken, it looks as if Vision 2030 could be a damp squib. Read more: MySpace was just acquired by 94-year-old magazine Sweden's central bank is fuelling a housing bubble 3 huge 'risk-off' trades are going crazy right now Read the original article on Business Insider UK. 2015. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Turkey has killed 55 Isis insurgents in northern Syria in what military sources claimed was retaliation for weeks of rocket attacks on a Turkish border town. The Turkish shelling was said to have been directed at the regions of Suran and Tal El Hisn north of Aleppo, as well as at Baragidah and Kusakcik. Turkish military sources said in addition to killing Isis fighters, the artillery fire also destroyed three rocket installations and three vehicles. News of the shelling came shortly after Turkeys state-run Anadolu Agency reported that US-led coalition air strikes had killed 44 Isis fighters in the Syrian areas of Harjalah, Delha, Baragitah and Hawar Kilis. Anadolu also reported that F-16 and A-10 warplanes killed four more Isis fighters and destroyed gun installations and barracks in separate airstrikes in the Karakopru region. Palmyra before ISIS The air strikes and artillery bombardments were reported to have been in response to increasingly frequent Isis attacks on opposition forces in northern Syria and also to the Turkish border town of Kilis being hit by regular rocket fire in recent weeks. Kilis is about 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of Aleppo, Syria's embattled, biggest city and the biggest strategic prize in a more than five-year-old civil war. So far, about 20 people have been killed and almost 70 wounded in the rocket fire on Kilis, Anadolu said. Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Q I travel a lot to Europe normally for only a few days at a time and rely on my European Health Insurance Card in case of sudden illness. If we left the EU would we no longer be part of this scheme? Brian Thompson ALeaving Europe could damage your health - I havent heard that assertion so far in the EU referendum debate, but it wouldnt surprise me if the remain camp were to use the line. It might seem a reasonable conclusion that in the event of the UK leaving, European Health Insurance Cards would cease to be valid in the 27 EU countries. However, we had reciprocal health agreements with many countries before we joined Europe (or, in the case of nations such as Bulgaria and Romania, before they joined Europe). The standard formula is that we get health care on the same terms as the locals in their country, and the UK offers NHS care to their citizens in return. These are exactly the sort of mutually beneficial arrangements that I predict would be continued - in the form of a couple of dozen bilateral treaties in the event of a leave vote. Every day, our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles readers questions. Just email yours to: s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} When Etihad Airways launched a new flight route between New York City and Mumbai via Abu Dhabi on May 1, it became the world's most expensive flight with the shortest connecting time. One-way tickets cost around $38,000 (26,212), Mashable reports. The costly journey is operated on Etihad's luxury suite "The Residence". Technically, a pricier one-way journey aboard "The Residence" is possible between New York City and Sydney totalling $52,000 (35,849) but that requires a longer connecting time in Abu Dhabi, a spokesperson for Etihad Airways told Business Insider, adding that fares on the airline's website can vary based on taxes and currency exchange rates. Far from economy class, The Residence is comprised of a bedroom, lounge, and shower room that look like they belong in a 5-star hotel room. The cabin comes with a double bed with designer linen sheets, a spacious shower, leather sofa, a 32-inch flatscreen TV, and two dining tables, at which fliers can choose a gourmet meal (sometimes delivered personally by the chef). Passengers even get their own butler, a Cognac service, and a welcome glass of champagne. On the ground, the ticket price includes chauffeured airport connections, a concierge service, and access to a private airport lounge, which makes the hefty cost slightly more understandable. The extravagant cabin is housed on Etihad's five Airbus A380 aircraft, which service New York City, London, Abu Dhabi, Sydney, and now Mumbai, according to Mashable. Read more: MySpace was just acquired by 94-year-old magazine Sweden's central bank is fuelling a housing bubble 3 huge 'risk-off' trades are going crazy right now Read the original article on Business Insider UK. 2015. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The people of London must be commended for acting with maturity and with a sense of rationality in their decision to trust a Muslim politician as the new Mayor of their vibrant city. They have not allowed anti-Muslim sentiment and media's sensationalism to sway them from electing Sadiq Khan as a Mayor of one of the most civilised cities in the world. They deserve salutation and recognition especially at a time when Donald Trump is trying to close the doors on Muslims and portray them as an elusive enemy everyone should guard against. Londoners have made history in overcoming the hyper-sensationalised fear of the other. They have shown that we ought to overcome this baseless fear and enmity of our neighbours. I wish Mr Khan great success in his new job. Abubakar Kasim Ontario, Canada Zac Goldsmith ran a disgusting racist campaign in his bid to be the Mayor of London. In a desperate bid for office, Goldsmith's campaign linked his main rival Sadiq Khan - and by implication all Muslims - with terrorism. This tactic was last employed in election material circulated by the BNP. And it didn't work. Glorious multicultural London with its 7 million people, 14 major faiths, and where you can hear over 300 languages spoken, rejected Goldsmith's racist poison. Nevertheless the Tories are not apologising for their tactics. Tory MP Michael Fallon dismissed their use of dog whistle racism as just part of the rough and tumble of politics. Tory Chancellor George Osborne has rejected criticism of Goldsmith's campaign. Fallon's comments show where the Tories really stand on racism. They see it as as a political tool to gain opportunistic advantage over their rivals. The use of racism is never just part of the rough and tumble of politics. Racism is a social poison and is never acceptable - especially when it is used by those who seek to run society. I'm delighted Londoners rejected Goldsmith's racist tactics. Congratulations to Sadiq Khan - Mayor of London. Zac Goldsmith can go rot on the compost heap of history. Sasha Simic Stamford Hill, London How many members of the Conservative party will be suspended for their racist attacks on Sadiq Khan? Anthony Phillips Oxford Rest of England deserves the same as London Your analysis of Thursday's elections ('Sadiq Khan and Ruth Davidson were yesterdays big winners', Sat 7th May) doesn't mention the real losers. Those of us in England, who live outside Greater London, were obliged to use the archaic first past the post system to elect our councillors. Everyone in the rest of the UK uses systems more suited to the multi-party environment that has been the reality of British politics for more than half a century; are we non-metropolitan English perhaps considered too dim to cope with such modernity? In Cheltenham, for example, the Labour and Green Parties each got around 7% of the vote and could thus reasonably expect to have 6 councillors between them in our 40 seat town. But neither has any. A similar story was repeated all over England. Our rotten, unfit-for-purpose electoral system hands power to people who represent only a minority of their electorate. No wonder so few people bother to vote. Brian Hughes Cheltenham, Glos. SNP only stands for one thing One might have thought that, after a referendum campaign in 2012-14 and two major election campaigns in 2015 and 2016, Nicola Sturgeon would at last settle down to governing, using the powers she has and making badly needed improvements in the areas of devolved responsibility, especially education. If one had thought that, one would have been naive. Ms Sturgeon has made it clear that, after being returned at the head of a minority government, her top priority is a summer campaign to persuade those who voted No in 2014 that separating from the UK is a great idea. This will no doubt please those who joined the SNP after the referendum whose dearest wish is a second referendum. But, for the rest of us, it merely confirms that the SNP is not a governing party at all. Its skimpy outline of a programme for government is a mere fig leaf. The SNP is nothing more than an agit prop campaigning party. Jill Stephenson Edinburgh Junior doctor talks demand maturity from both sides Its good that talks are being resumed over the Governments dispute with the junior doctors. As a start, it might be helpful if Jeremy Hunt would drop that persistent but unconvincing mantra We are determined to carry out our manifesto commitment. There are glaring flaws in that claim. Firstly, what if that manifesto commitment is shown to be manifestly unjust? Secondly, the claim would be justified if at the last election the Conservative party achieved a healthy majority and an even healthier share of the votes. It achieved neither, and therefore to claim it has a mandate for its increasingly obdurate approach is disingenuous. But it reflects the way in which a PR- driven administration is fixated on image and political point- scoring which spreads to both sides of the divide. Thus a sensible concession - achieved by persuasion or painful extraction - is instantly seized upon as a climb down or U-turn by one side, and a listening Government by the other. This is a sterile way of negotiating. Moreover, it appears to overlook those anxiously awaiting operations or the equally worried patients in the over-crowded A and E departments. If the junior doctors are finally driven to make some uncomfortable concessions they could at least see this as an admirable affirmation of their sacred oath: First do no harm. Donald Zec London Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Since the general election, the ongoing junior doctors' dispute has taken up so much air time and political debate that another key group of NHS workers has been largely ignored. I am, of course, referring to our nurses and midwives. While not required to study for as long as doctors, both nurses and midwives nevertheless have to complete a degree course. While their standard hours are officially 37.5 to 40 hours per week, many work extra nights, weekends and bank holidays just to earn enough to provide for themselves and their families. A Royal College of Nursing report from 2015 found that 35 per cent of nurses have to work 12-hour shifts. Recommended Read more Jeremy Hunt told off for playing with phone during nurse fund debate Nurses and midwives are more likely than doctors to have to go home on public transport after a night shift. Even those who can afford a car are often required to pay for parking in hospitals, at a cost of up to 600 a year, while the Chief Executive has his or her nominated free parking space. When it comes to somewhere to live, nurses in London - even if in training - no longer have nursing accomodation provided, like my mother did when she trained in the 1960s. Nurses and midwives will not be getting more than a 1 per cent annual pay increase, unlike junior doctors, who will be getting a 13 per cent increase in salary if they accept the new contract. Yet they are not talking of strike action. Nurses are soon to have to pay tuition fees even though it could take them 20 years to pay these back - and new nursing and midwifery students will no longer have access to maintenance grants while studying. It's no wonder that there is a shortage of 10,000 nurses in London alone and trusts are paying through the nose for agency workers. In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Doctor in acute medicine, Melissa Haskins, holds up a 'I ain't afraid of no Hunt' sign whilst striking with other junior doctors outside her hospital, St Thomas' Hospital in London Getty Images In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Accident and emergency junior doctor, Jennifer Hulse, holds a homemade placard outside St Thomas' Hospital as she strikes with colleagues in London Getty Images In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Demonstrators and Junior doctors hold placards as they protest outside the Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, in Basingstoke during a strike by junior doctors Getty Images In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Demonstrators and Junior doctors hold placards as they protest outside the Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, in Basingstoke during a strike by junior doctors Getty Images In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike A supporter displays a slogan on her bag during a junior doctors' strike outside St Thomas' Hospital in London Reuters In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike The picket line outside King's College Hospital in London PA In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike The picket line outside King's College Hospital in London, as thousands of junior doctors begun the first all-out strike in the history of the NHS after the Health Secretary said the Government would not be "blackmailed" into dropping its manifesto pledge for a seven-day health service PA In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Junior doctors and supporters take part in a strike outside the Royal United Hospital in Bath Getty Images In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Doctor in acute medicine, Melissa Haskins, holds up a 'I ain't afraid of no Hunt' sign whilst striking with other junior doctors outside her hospital, St Thomas' Hospital in London Getty Images In pictures: Junior doctors first all-out strike Dave Prentis, UNISON general secretary visits a British Medical Association picket line at Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, to show support for striking junior doctors on the second day of the union's annual health conference PA It was a nurse who held my hand in my father's final moments and a midwife who helped my wife to breastfeed our daughter after she had been in hospital for a week and was exhausted. The nurses and midwives are without question the unsung heroes of the NHS. So the next time you see the junior doctors picketing, spare a thought for the nurses and midwives who are getting a much worse deal. I've written in support of them to my local MP - which is something anyone can do if they think our nurses are worth as much as the doctors they support. Property developer Greg Kavanagh is being sued by a former business partner, Mark Murray, who wants High Court declarations that he owns up to 1m worth of Dublin properties. The case, which is said to have taken the New Generation Homes founder by surprise, is one of a number of High Court proceedings issued against the Arklow-based developer. Kavanagh (30) took the property world by storm during the crash when New Generation spent more than 300m mopping up development sites in Dublin. But he has fought a rearguard action in the last year as court summonses - most of which are inactive or discontinued - were issued against Kavanagh and New Generation Homes, which is backed by M&G Investments, an arm of the Prudential insurance group. The Sunday Independent has learned that Murray, a former business partner of Kavanagh, has initiated legal proceedings in recent weeks. It is understood that Murray is seeking a declaration of interest in a number of properties, including the landmark Neptune House in Blackrock. A Georgian villa built in 1767, Neptune House was once occupied by British troops in 1916 after they landed in Dun Laoghaire to take on Irish rebels in the Easter Rising. The house was also previously owned by US philanthropist Chuck Feeney. Developer Bernard McNamara bought the house in 2000 for 8m, but plans to develop the protected site came undone in 2002 when planning permission was refused for five blocks of apartments. Last year, Crosswaithe Developments, a subsidiary of New Generation which counts Kavanagh as a director, amended a 2014 planning application as part of an ambitious bid to build a series of luxury homes and apartments on the 2.4-acre site. The proposed redevelopment included plans for 13 three-storey houses built in the style of the original villa. In March 2015, Crosswaithe created a charge in favour of Murray in respect of a separate property. It is understood there was an agreement in place between the parties in the event of any future disposal of Neptune House and other assets said to be the subject of the High Court proceedings. Murray's legal representatives declined to comment on the litigation. Kavanagh also declined to comment. It's costing 2,600 to save each of just over 300 hen harriers in Ireland today - yet still the endangered raptor continues its rapid population decline. Hen harriers, known as "sky dancers" for their elaborate aerial displays, are regarded as a vital part of our natural heritage. Conservationists also stress they are a valuable barometer species to gauge the health of our countryside. But latest figures show there are only between 108 and 157 breeding pairs left in Ireland - a decline of 8.7pc since 2010. However, their presence is proving a financial boon for a select group of Irish farmers. They are sharing a special 10m environmental package, according to Freedom of Information figures secured by the Sunday Independent. Each year, 377 farmers in nine counties agree to implement a sophisticated conservation plan, including the creation of special hedgerows and 'small mammal' areas, which allow the birds of prey to breed and roam in safety. Special Protected Areas (SPAs) are operating in Clare, Cork, Galway, Kerry, Laois, Limerick, Monaghan, Offaly, and Tipperary. The locations include some of the most idyllic parts of the country, including the Slieve Bloom mountains in Laois and Offaly, and the Slieve Aughty range spread over parts of Galway and Clare. But despite the huge financial investment made to stem the harriers' decline, numbers continue to plummet. In SPAs, numbers are down 26.6pc since 2005. Figures reveal over 826,600 was paid out to farmers last year for taking measures to protect the endangered birds. A farmer in Tipperary received the largest payment of 14,594. Overall, farmers in Co Clare collectively received the largest windfall for their conservation efforts over the past five years - with some 2,704,000 in payments to land owners. The corresponding figure for the Limerick area was 2,325,900. Next in line were land owners in Kerry, who were allocated 1,684,500. In total, over 10.4m has been paid to farmers over the five-year period. Farmers can apply for compensation if land is designated a Special Area of Conservation (SAC), a Natural Heritage Area, or SPAs, to protect plants or wildlife, breeding grounds or globally important sites. Payments are based on the potential productivity of the land and decisions can be appealed to independent arbitration. Experts believe the decline of hen harriers may be linked with non-availability of their preferred habitat, and lack of suitable food. Dr Allan Mee, from the Irish Raptor Study Group (IRSG), said that a scientifically robust action plan was needed to help protect this endangered bird species. "Some of the biggest declines have been within the special protection areas. Wind farms are now in hen harrier breading areas which is seriously effecting the population," he added. A recent survey carried out jointly by the Golden Eagle Trust, the IRSG, and BirdWatch Ireland revealed Ireland's hen-harrier population has declined by 33.5pc since 2000. Burning of moorland hinders the birds, because they breed in open, upland habitats, feeding on small birds and mammals. A fund backed by the Czech finance minister has bought a 51pc stake in an Irish fertility business. The company is ReproMed, which provides assisted reproduction services and has clinics in Dublin and Kilkenny. It was set up by embryologist Declan Keane in 2009. Keane has sold a 51pc stake in ReproMed to FutureLife, a healthcare group owned by investment fund Hartenberg Holding, which is backed by billionaire Czech finance minister Andrej Babis and business partner Jozef Janov. The amount paid for the 51pc stake was not disclosed. Keane retains a 49pc share and will stay on to lead the company while also becoming a director on FutureLife's medical board. FutureLife owns 15 fertility clinics in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the UK. It describes itself as one of the top five providers worldwide, with over 20,000 IVF cycles performed per year. The deal will help ReproMed to expand around Ireland including locations in Cork and Galway as well as give it access to a pan-European network of reproductive resources such as egg donation, Keane said. Demand for IVF services is rising as people increasingly delay having children. Neptune House, a Georgian Villa in Blackrock, Co Dublin, which was previously owned by the American philanthropist Chuck Feeney and was due to be redeveloped Developer Greg Kavanagh has stood down several lawsuits in recent years. His former business partner Fred Daly issued proceedings against him in the High Court in February. A solicitor for Daly declined to comment. However reports indicate Daly was previously involved in a consortium put together by Kavanagh to invest in a number of Wicklow sites. According to the website of the Courts Service, two other lawsuits issued against him personally were recently discontinued. His dispute with the Foxrock-based Kiely family, meanwhile, which centred around projects in Stillorgan and Phibsboro, was also settled earlier this year. Details of the settlement never came to light. The developer has said he and the Kielys, who have interests in the healthcare sector, were back on good terms. An unknown in the property scene until around 2012, the now 31-year-old Kavanagh entered the sector market at speed in the wake of the recession. He started making money, while still in school, as a day trader. By his mid-20s he was spearheading a major gamble on the Irish economic and property recovery while the market was still in the doldrums. His company New Generation Homes spent about 300m snapping up land in Dublin's hinterland as prices were only just beginning to recover, securing finance entirely from private equity rather than loans. Backers have included e-learning tycoon Pat McDonagh, Starwood Capital and the Pacific investment vehicle of British investor Sir John Beckwith. Now New Generation's sole backer is M&G, the investment fund owned by insurance giant Prudential. The company recently moved to sell some of its asset pile, seeking a buyer for a range of Dublin sites with a valuation of around 250m as the capital faces down an acute property shortage. In 2015 only 12,600 new houses were completed, against an estimated need for 21,000. This is placing huge pressure on the private rented sector and increasing demand for social housing. Richard Barrett's Bartra Capital is believed to be bidding. The portfolio is thought to contain sites in locations in Dublin, including Foxrock, Killiney, Howth, Blackrock, Harold's Cross, Rathmichael, Saggart, Cabra, Baldoyle, Coolock, Finglas, Cabinteely and Dundrum. The La Touche Hotel in Greystones, the Europa site in Blackrock and Stanford House on Westminster Road are also thought to be part of the portfolio. But Kavanagh has said his firm is still in the market for new developments. It recently emerged as underbidder on a six-acre site at Spencer Dock in the north Dublin Docklands, behind Johnny Ronan and Colony Capital. The site was owned by Treasury Holdings before the company collapsed. New Ireland and FBD have signed a five-year agreement that will see New Ireland become a "preferred provider" of life and pension products to over 500,000 FBD customers. FBD told the Sunday Independent that the deal, which will be launched in the Autumn, "enables FBD to present a truly customer-focused life and pensions proposition to our customers and meet all of their life, protection, pension and investment needs." New Ireland is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of Ireland, on whose board FBD chief executive Fiona Muldoon now sits. The FBD/New Ireland tie in was put in place before Muldoon's appointment as FBD's chief executive. Muldoon, who says her primary focus is to restore FBD to profit, revealed its existence at FBD's recent AGM in response to a shareholder's question. Muldoon, the former Director of Credit Institutions and Insurance Supervision at the Central Bank was appointed a non-executive director of BoI in June 2015. She was appointed chief executive of FBD in October 2015 having served as its interim chief from July of that year. A Bank of Ireland spokesman said the bank was "satisfied that no conflict of interest arises" in respect of the new product and Muldoon's dual board membership. "Where a potential conflict is identified, there are well-established governance procedures in place to ensure no conflict of interest occurs," the spokesman said. "This was made after the completion of all appropriate internal governance and external regulatory approval processes which would have taken into consideration all relevant matters in assessing and approving such an appointment." It's understood that FBD believes no issue of conflict arises, and that Muldoon does not discuss insurance matters at BoI's board. "We continue to strengthen our customer base in the Irish agricultural and small business sectors and we will pursue a single-brand consumer strategy. We have a path to full-year profitability by 2017," Muldoon told FBD shareholders last week. 'Information became abundant and instantly available via smartphones. Publishers and media organisations were caught napping while Facebook, Google, Apple and others created better online experiences for news consumers' Publishers used to have it easy. They controlled a scarce resource and packaged it up on a daily basis for distribution to the news-hungry masses. And then along came the internet. Information became abundant and instantly available via smartphones. Publishers and media organisations were caught napping while Facebook, Google, Apple and others created better online experiences for news consumers. They did such a good job that many publishers are now reliant on these giant digital distributors to get their journalism in front of a significant online audience. The resulting relationship prompted the satirical website The Onion to write a piece with the headline 'Media organisations make pilgrimage to Facebook headquarters to lay content at foot of Mark Zuckerberg'. But how unbalanced is the relationship? A report from the International News Media Association called 'Evaluating Distributed Content in the News Media Ecosystem' aims to find out. The report's author is Grzegorz Piechota, a former news editor of Gazeta Wyborcza (the biggest quality newspaper in Poland) and a 2016 Nieman fellow at Harvard. "There's a reason Google, Facebook, and Apple line up at publishers' doors and ask for news," Piechota says. "As a content category, the news passes the famous Silicon Valley 'toothbrush test'. It is something people use once or twice a day, as it makes their life better. An average US consumer spends 44 minutes per day on Facebook alone. News apps? All they get is four minutes a day, according to analytics company Flurry." The report provides detailed profiles of the latest products designed to distribute news content - Apple News, Axel Springer's Upday, Facebook's Instant Articles, Google's Accelerated Mobile Pages, Snapchat's Discover Channels and Twitter's Moments. The report also offers publishers some top-level guidance for handling these platforms. "I believe it's high time we expand the debate on social media from our newsrooms or marketing departments to boardrooms," Piechota says. "Today's decisions on business dealings with Facebook or Google shape the company's future business models. You basically can't leave it to this 'young person doing Facebook in our newsroom' - which I've heard in so many different newsrooms worldwide. "Publishers should think about platforms as fishing places where you can find large, engaged audiences and build a relationship with them by providing content. Then offer these users some other services off-platform. No publisher's strategy will be complete without a clear plan to take users out of the platform and bring them to the publisher's turf for monetisation." Piechota's report also provides some practical advice. He suggests that platform relations is a full-time job and not something to be foisted on an already overburdened newsroom or marketing team. He also advises that the publishers whose content enjoys the biggest reach on news distribution platforms have dedicated teams of up to 10 people to produce and repurpose content. And he recommends that publishers ditch views and impressions for a more business-orientated metric: the ratio of lifetime value of a customer to acquisition cost. The lifetime value of a customer would include all contributions to revenue (ad impressions, paid subscriptions, or other paid products and services), while customer acquisition cost would include marketing costs, social content development and social media staff. But Piechota cautions publishers against building businesses solely on the services offered by the distribution giants. Not only are these platforms focused on creating value for their own shareholders, but minor changes to algorithms or tweaks to products can also have a huge knock-on effect for others who operate in their ecosystem. The report suggests that the news industry needs Facebookologists today, just as western political powers needed Sovietologists during the Cold War to decode the announcements of the Moscow politburo. The report opens with a cautionary tale in the form of a quote from Fred Wilson, a venture capitalist, who invested in social gaming company Zynga. "Don't be a Google bitch, don't be a Facebook bitch, and don't be a Twitter bitch. Be your own bitch," said Wilson, whose wisdom is hard-earned. Zynga was Facebook's top business partner until the relationship ended in March 2013. By July of that year, Zynga had reportedly lost nearly half its user base. Web Summit has attracted around 20 times as many attendees for its flagship event compared to the same time last year. The Irish-owned technology conference moved from Dublin to Lisbon, Portugal this year. Chief executive Paddy Cosgrave was critical of the support offered by the Irish government on issues such as traffic control. About 27,000 people from 149 countries have signed up for the 2016 Web Summit so far, compared to 1,317 from 19 countries signed up at the same point for the 2015 event. Attendees will include Albert Wenger (managing partner of Union Square Ventures, an early investor in Twitter and Tumblr) and Cisco executive chairman John Chambers. The event began in 2010 with 400 people. "When we started out Web Summit with 400 attendees five and half years ago, we never for one moment believed we would be where we are today" said Cosgrave. It has now hit an "inflexion point", he said. Head of strategic communications Mike Harvey added that the conference is now considered one of the world's must-attend technology events. Coverage of its controversial move to Lisbon has added momentum, Harvey said. This year's speakers will include many big names from outside technology, he added. "We are still in planning, with six months to go, but it will certainly be much more diverse this year - partly because tech is starting to be incorporated into so many other fields." Mayors from "innovative cities" around the world are also being invited for the event's first city-focused section. Despite the scale of demand with six months to go, Web Summit is still targeting relatively modest overall growth in attendee numbers - 50,000 people, up from 42,000 the year before. "We are being conservative in our estimates but if demand continues at this pace we have the capacity for more" Harvey said. "The new venue is excellent." Ryanair has been trying to identify the anonymous Twitter users who threatened to blow up its aircraft and demanded $50m Photo: PA Ryanair has been given permission by a Los Angeles court to force US communications giants Sprint and Verizon to divulge records as the airline hunts down anonymous Twitter users who threatened to blow up its aircraft and demanded $50m. Ryanair has been pursuing the unknown individuals since earlier this year, and launched a lawsuit against them in Los Angeles as Twitter is based in California. The airline is seeking punitive damages, special damages and costs, but has not put a ceiling on how much it will seek. However, since launching the lawsuit against as many as 100 unknown individuals in February, Ryanair has been unable to ascertain their actual identities. In February, Ryanair won permission to serve a subpoena on Twitter requesting subscriber information. The responses led to another subpoena being served on Google. "IP (internet protocol) addresses belonging to the defendants were produced by Twitter and Google," Ryanair's lawyer added in newly-filed court documents. Some of the IP addresses are hosted by both Verizon and Sprint. The court has now granted permission to Ryanair to serve subpoenas on both telecoms giants in an effort to trace the individuals who made the threats against it. The judge in charge of the case approved the order, saying there was "good cause" to grant Ryanair's application. Some of the IP addresses appear to trace back to Pittsburgh in the United States. A lack of broadband will impact on the success of small businesses in rural areas 'No broadband means no jobs and no village." Last week I was talking to an entrepreneur who has built a tech business in an Irish village, but is now reconsidering his options. Adam Coleman used to be a senior executive in O2. He moved to Lahinch in Clare and set up an online business called HRLocker. He now employs almost 10 people. But the pace of change in his industry means that he now needs better broadband than 3Mbs to survive. Alas, in common with hundreds of thousands of Irish businesses and homes, 3Mbs is all that's available to him in Lahinch. "I have a decision to make which will affect eight jobs," he said. "I love Lahinch. But it's getting very difficult to run a business off three megabits. Sometimes our developers need to drive into Ennis to connect online." Coleman is what regional policymakers crave: a proven entrepreneur with senior experience who is willing to set up a business outside an urban area. But right now, the lack of broadband - as well as slim prospects of getting more in the next one to three years - is making the prospect of attracting such entrepreneurs ever more remote. "Regional broadband is now the number one issue for our regional members," said Mark O'Mahoney, director of policy for Chambers Ireland, Ireland's largest business network. "Industry requirements are very different from those of householders. Things move much faster. And our worry now is that is by the time they get to rolling out broadband rurally, it will be redundant." This is a sense of urgency that has passed policy-makers by in the newly-elected minority Government. The new administration has reaffirmed the same six-year, 2022 completion date for the state-subsidised National Broadband Plan. None of the recently-announced delays are to be reversed. No construction will begin for at least a year from now (and five years from the plan's first announcement in 2012). And for the last 300,000 rural businesses and homes, no work will now commence before 2019. It's not the news that Adam Coleman wanted as he plans HRLocker's future. "It's not just me in this position," said Coleman. "I know there are other companies in similar situations around the country making decisions for the future with this in mind." This is roundly backed up by those who deal with businesses around the country. "For creating jobs in rural areas, high-speed broadband is the only game in town," said Ibec's Torlach Denihan. "It really is the solution. Lack of it is a major inhibitor to job creation." Up until last Friday, several TDs appeared to get this point. Kingmaking rural politicians such as Denis Naughten and Noel Grealish had seemed to suggest that an accelerated timetable for rural broadband rollout would be central to their support for a new government. That precondition disappeared on Friday. Rural TDs - as well as the entire Fianna Fail party - now appear to have come into line with the outgoing government's 2022 timetable. There will be no imminent revision of the State's rural broadband rollout plans, according to the Government's policy guide. Unlike water, turf, banking and other controversial policies which have been subject to revision in line with popular demand, rural broadband stays on a fixed rollout plan. It will happen far off in the future. So as Ireland's economic recovery gathers pace, a clear investment dichotomy is materialising. Dublin may be overcrowded and overpriced but it has broadband coming out of its ears. So all things being equal, it continues to suck any hope that rural towns have of establishing future-leaning start-ups and young companies. And this is going to continue for at least the next five years, according to the timetable of the new minority Government, backed by rural TDs. Ireland isn't the only country grappling with this issue. But we're the only country that appears to accept such a long timetable for delivery. Last November, British prime minister David Cameron announced a universal service obligation re-designation for broadband, putting it alongside water and electricity in the UK. "Access to the internet shouldn't be a luxury, it should be a right," said Cameron. "It is absolutely fundamental to life in 21st Century Britain." Some 95pc of British homes are to be connected by 2018, according to the UK government's timetable. And that includes enormous areas of sparsely populated lands in Scotland. Should Ireland similarly regard broadband as a universal service obligation? At present, Ireland has an archaic law that guarantees a phone line to every home in the country (built and supplied by Eir). This universal service obligation law was drawn up in an era when phone lines were considered critically important to rural connectivity. It was a planning matter of strategic national importance. Oddly, today's policy makers don't acknowledge broadband in the same way. When it comes to government, we usually get what we deserve. Thousands of rural businesses, it seems, deserve 3Mbs. The winner of Masterchef kept secret from the programmes judges her 10-year battle with cancer because she wanted to win the television cookery competition on her own merits. Jane Devonshire said yesterday she did not want the sympathy of the judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace to influence their decisions through the course of the series. Mrs Devonshire, 50, a mother-of-four, from Hampshire, triumphed in the final, screened on BBC One on Friday night, beating her two younger male rivals with three faultless dishes. At the start of the hour-long finale, the programme offered a glimpse into the finalists private lives and disclosed to a tearful television audience of almost six million viewers that Mrs Devonshire had come close to death before being told three years ago she was in remission. Expand Close Jane Devonshire, 50, who has been crowned MasterChef Champion 2016 after seven weeks of gruelling challenges. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Jane Devonshire, 50, who has been crowned MasterChef Champion 2016 after seven weeks of gruelling challenges. Wallace and Torode were kept in the dark throughout the filming. The producers were only informed when the finalists were flown to Mexico City for filming and Mrs Devonshire felt obliged to disclose her medical history for insurance purposes. I wanted to be judged only on the cooking, Mrs Devonshire told The Telegraph on Saturday, Gregg and John didnt know. I didnt want any sympathy for the cancer. It wasnt relevant. Expand Close Picture Shows: (L-R) Gregg Wallace, John Torode - (C) Shine TV - Photographer: Production / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Picture Shows: (L-R) Gregg Wallace, John Torode - (C) Shine TV - Photographer: Production Surviving it has been a huge part of my life but at the same time I didnt want it to be anything that anybody on the show would know about. There are so many people going through this but you are more than that. It is not who you are. Mrs Devonshire was diagnosed with breast cancer a decade ago and underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy. But then four years ago, she was diagnosed with secondary cancer which had spread to the liver. Expand Close Masterchef 2016 finalists Billy, Jane, Jack - (C) Shine TV / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Masterchef 2016 finalists Billy, Jane, Jack - (C) Shine TV That was a really dreadful time; a really dark time for the family, she said. The prognosis was not good but after successful surgery at her local hospital in Basingstoke, Hampshire, Mrs Devonshire has been in remission for three years. It was the springboard for her application to enter Masterchef, which seeks each year to find the countrys best amateur cook. My youngest child Ben had been on at me for ages to enter so last summer we sat down in front of the computer and entered the contest online. I didnt think anything of it until I got a phone call from the programmes makers saying: 'Can we talk to you about your cooking? Video of the Day Mrs Devonshire, in winning the competition, was the first to do so while offering menus that were almost entirely gluten-free. The exception was one slice of toast served up in the final to accompany a dish of winkles and cockles. Her son Ben, 13, is a coeliac and Mrs Devonshires home cooking is gluten-free to accommodate his illness. She would try out her recipes on her family, including husband Mark, before preparing them for the television judges. She is grateful that her children her oldest is 23 had adventurous tastes. The winner is considering what to do next. I am going to go home and enjoy the victory and just see what happens, she said. I am just looking forward to the next bit of my life. I will keep on doing what I love and maybe at the age of 50 I can start again and make cooking my career. Thousands lined O'Connell Street for his father's funeral procession to Glasnevin Cemetery in 1933, but all those years later less than 20 watched in silence as his son's Tricolour-draped coffin, accompanied by a basket of turf, was borne to that same graveside last Wednesday. Patrick Ryan was last but one of the gilded family of Senator Seamus Ryan, a founder of Fianna Fail and his wife Agnes Ryan, matron of the Monument Creamery shops that flourished for generations in Dublin and made her the richest business woman in the city. He was the third child in a family of eight. His sister Kathleen went on to find fame as a Hollywood film star and his elder brother John was an artist, writer and patron of Paddy Kavanagh, but "dark silent Paddy", as he was described by his surviving sister Ide, ended up on Skid Row, Los Angeles, an alcoholic bum living on the streets off the scraps from the tables where once he used to dine. But there was redemption. Patrick was brought back to Ireland and spent his declining years in a nursing home near Portlaoise, where he died on April 29 at the age of 90. So it was that on Wednesday he was buried with his mother and father and one of his sisters beneath the statue of an angel in the Republican plot, within spitting distance of the last resting places of the Fenians John O'Leary and O'Donovan Rossa. Despite the fame and fortune of the Ryan family in Dublin for over half a century, little is known about the second son, except what he tells us in a slim volume of poetry which goes by the title of Ballads & Balance or The Ballad of Gravy Joe's. Born in 1926, Patrick lived through an era of opulence as his mother's fortune mushroomed and the family moved into Burton Hall, a large manor house near Sandyford filled with the paintings of Jack B Yeats, antique furniture, and with all sorts of artists and writers in residence. "I was born to a silver spoon Now I scribble leaden runes Chippendale and Meissen then, Now I bench with Gravy's men" The Ballad of Gravy Joe's - the nick-name for a mission house for down-and-outs in Los Angeles - tells his life story eloquently. Expelled from three schools, the last being Clongowes Wood, he spent two years idling in UCD before joining the RAF, where he spent the last two years of the Second World War "scanning radar screens". Video of the Day Back in Dublin with "horses' cards and stout" he became one of the McDaid's set, mixing with the Behan clan, Tony Cronin, Sean O'Sullivan, Harry Kernoff, Paddy Swift (who married his sister Oonagh), living a life of "sadness masked by drink". After a sojourn in Spain where he "learned the use of brothels", Patrick came back to Dublin and became a director of his mother's firm, the Monument Creamery, got married and had two children - but he was drawn to Jack O'Rourke's pub where he spent his time with Gainor Crist and Flann O'Brien. "Mother died we parted friends Time all lesser grievance mends" He then left for LA to try to become a script writer, but ended up on Skid Row. "Common sense or self interest couldn't keep me in line with fashion, was there some suicidal instinct?" he asks in the introduction to his epitaph. Before his coffin was lowered into the grave there was a reading of one verse from his poem: "Clothe me in a linen sheet Celtic from O'Connell Street Set the parcel down six feet.... Throw some cuts of Irish peat, Nothing lavish or elite." And so, as school tours bustled around Glasnevin Cemetery and the odd passer-by cast a curious eye at the Tricolour-draped coffin, the Ballad of Gravy Joe's came to a conclusion and the sods of hard turf thumped on the coffin lid before the grave of this forgotten son of Dublin was filled in. The union wants refunds of 1bn already promised under the Lansdowne Road deal to be speeded up. Union chiefs have warned the new Government it wants the full 2bn pay cuts suffered by public servants during the economic crisis reversed within six months - potentially a major challenge to the unity of the new minority administration. The Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants (AHCPS), representing 3,000 senior civil servants and managers, said the first big industrial relations issue facing the incoming Cabinet would be how quickly it fast-tracks the restoration of pay reductions. It said it was considering legal action if wage increases were not accelerated, especially as the country was due to exit the "corrective arm" of EU rules for deficit control. But it will not consider industrial action until the new administration responds with an outline of its plan of action on reversing the emergency legislation that led to the cuts. The union wants refunds of 1bn already promised under the Lansdowne Road deal to be speeded up, including pay cuts that hit members earning over 65,000 due next year and the following year, as well as the remainder of the 1bn cuts refunded in this timeframe. A draft plan merely states that pay restoration under the Lansdowne Road agreement will be "gradual". The union said the government initiative to set up a commission on public sector pay was being seen "as a mechanism for preventing strikes across the sector that would have the potential to cripple a minority government reliant on Opposition co-operation". But in a Paper on Pay presented to its members at its annual conference last week, it called for more detail on the "proposed mechanism" that is due to be set up within six months, and warned that "ultimately consultation will be critical to its success". It said it must be "robust, inclusive and independent". The commission is being established to examine wage levels in the State sector, including pay for new entrants. "Reversing FEMPI will be the first big industrial relations challenge facing the Government, followed by how it will measure pay in future," said general secretary of the AHCPS Ciaran Rohan. "We're going to get legal advice on the FEMPI legislation as with projected growth, the Government cannot claim there is an emergency." The union paper questions whether Fine Gael will get a Dail majority to back its stance for the gradual granting of pay rises. This is because Fianna Fail promised to repeal the legislation, which would lead to the immediate restoration of all pay levels. However, when contacted, Mr Rohan said this had been overtaken by events as a draft programme for government showed there had been agreement on a "gradual" restoration of pay. "But what does gradual mean?" he asked. The paper calls for a "clear and accelerated" timetable for the reversal of all the cuts to wages and pensions under the emergency legislation. "The FEMPI legislation was by its nature emergency legislation - and if the emergency is now over, FEMPI should be over," it says. Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan has called for a review of the deportation case of American Jane Fadely, criticising it as "a harsh interpretation" of existing immigration policy. Ms Fadely, who immigrated from the United States and is now living in Co Kerry, is facing a deportation order after the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) deemed her not financially self-sufficient enough to retain her residency. Irish immigration policy dictates that non-EU nationals 'generally' must have a threshold of 50,000 per person, per annum and back-up funds sufficent to purchase property in Ireland. However, discretion can be applied to this policy and Ms Fadely insists that she is a good candidate for legal residency with "more than enough" to cover her expenses. Ms Fadely who is retired and has written a memoir about living in Ireland, wrote about her case in the Irish Independent's Review Magazine on Saturday, asking: "Why doesn't Ireland not only want, but welcome with open arms, folks like me? I've been a respondible, respectiful citizen and a goodwill ambassador for Ireland." Fine Gael TD Charlie Flanagan said: "This is a harrowing case and it seems to me that this woman is suffering under a very harsh interpretation of our law." In terms of uniforms, the report states that transgender students should be permitted to wear a uniform that is consistent with their gender identity. Stock Photo 'Gender-neutral' toilets for junior infant pupils as young as four should be considered to make certain children feel more comfortable in the classroom, primary school teachers have said. And in a historic intervention, the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) has now called for the introduction of unisex uniforms, which would cater for all sexes. This would mean an end to the traditional gymslip, tartan kilt for girls, and v-neck jumpers and grey trousers for boys. Peter Mullan, assistant general secretary of INTO, says people must accept we live in a changing society, and there must be recognition that some children have gender dysphoria. This is a term used by psychologists to describe those who feel one's emotional identity as male or female to be opposite to one's biological sex. His comments come five months after the Department of Education published 'Being LGBT in School', a practical guide for secondary teachers to tackle issues such as uniforms, transphobic language, as well as toilet and changing facilities. The report notes that transgender students should be able to access facilities that "correspond with their gender identity". Being able to access gender-neutral toilets, it says, may be particularly important. Expand Close SUPPORT: Peter Mullan said move would foster inclusivity / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp SUPPORT: Peter Mullan said move would foster inclusivity In terms of uniforms, the report states that transgender students "should be permitted to wear a uniform that is consistent with their gender identity". Now INTO is calling for specific state guidelines for primary teachers. Mr Mullan says the rollout of a national policy on the issue is urgently needed. He said any discussion should include whether gender-neutral toilets be made available for all pupils, from junior infants to sixth class, so that transgender pupils can use facilities which correspond with their gender identity. This may involve the removal of stereotyping circles, triangles and stick-figure signs from bathroom doors. All relevant stakeholders, including teachers, parents, and school management, should be involved in drafting the new guidelines, which must be "age appropriate", he added. Asked if he believed gender-neutral toilets should be introduced for all children, even those as young as four, Mr Mullan said: "It could certainly be considered, and studied, as part a set of guidelines developed for primary schools. "Management, parents and teachers should be involved in that process, as well as other relevant groups. There are going to be challenges for the department. "But if bathroom facilities in schools need to be expanded, extended, or upgraded then the department must be able to provide the funding for that to be done. Schools have to prepare children for accepting difference at various points along a transition. "I think everything should be done from an early age." Speaking to the Sunday Independent, he stressed many primary teachers currently lack even basic knowledge on how to deal with gender identity issues in the classroom. At present, many are forced to "make it up as they go along", he said, adding that it was a "process of trial and error. "Teachers with transgender kids in their class have said the guidelines for second-level schools are absolutely wonderful. "There are some excellent examples of really good practice and really good approaches". A major area of concern for teachers, however, is the amount of time given to helping a transgender child and educating other pupils so that they "accept and accommodate" difference. "Another issue is that there are far more supports for kids by way of guidance counselling at second level. There's absolutely nothing like that at primary level," Mr Mullan said. "The psychological services available to schools are only catching up on this issue now. Teachers want guidelines for primary schools, and the relevant support and advice on how to deal with these issues." And in a landmark move, Mr Mullan added that in order to foster harmony and accommodate difference, traditional male/female attire should now be replaced with a "unisex" uniform. "It just makes sense. It would mean boys and girls won't dress any differently. That is something that all schools need to look at. They should now be looking to introduce a school uniform which caters for all children." Mr Mullan pointed out that at least one primary school in Ireland has already introduced a "unisex uniform" in an attempt to foster inclusivity among boys and girls in the classroom. He also called for teachers to use the appropriate pronoun "he" and "she" for transgender pupils when asked to do so. "I was speaking with a principal teacher who is waiting for the child to tell them which pronoun to use when addressing them," he added. Broden Giambrone, the chief executive of Transgender Equality Network Ireland, said gender-neutral toilets would enable trans-children to use bathrooms consistent with their identity, and promote greater acceptance in the classroom. In a statement, the Department of Education said that schools are encouraged to develop uniform policies in consultation with parents. The former secretary-general at the Department of Finance, John Moran, has strongly criticised the membership of the new Dail for refusing to engage in a "mature debate" on the future of rural Ireland - and warned that the country can no longer afford to subsidise the personal choices that people make, when they elect to live in the countryside. Speaking to the Sunday Independent, Mr Moran expressed his concern that the State's insistence on supporting rural living will see Ireland fall foul of the very same difficulties experienced by our less populated counties as competition between the world's economies intensifies. He said: "The type of issues being faced at the moment by some of the less populated counties along the western seaboard and in the midlands may become the issue for Ireland in the future, particularly if things like corporate tax rates are equalised across Europe. "This could happen by others bringing their rates down as the UK is doing as opposed to us having to bring our rates up." Mr Moran said it was important to understand that "Ireland is tiny in the context of Europe, and even more tiny in the context of the world". The lack of attention given in London to Ireland's role in the Brexit debate was a "wake-up call" he said in terms of "how marginal Irish issues are in Europe and in very large corporate boardrooms across the world". His comments follow on from a speech he delivered recently to the Dublin Chamber of Commerce Dublin 2050 Conference, in which he set out radical proposals for Ireland's development. Under Mr Moran's plan, the State's future investment would be concentrated on the growth of regional cities - as opposed to the preservation of rural living. Calling for the recreation of Ireland as a 'global city', he laid out his plan. "This is not an easy message for rural Ireland, and there will be casualties in terms of life as we have known it. But I believe trying to swim against the tide of global trends will in 50 years' time look just as outdated as the policies pursued by Eamon de Valera with his 'maidens dancing at the crossroads'. While Mr Moran said it was important to consider the potential impact of his proposals on people's lives in rural Ireland, balanced regional development should not involve the approach which had been adopted by governments traditionally, whereby there was "one for everyone in the audience or an IDA factory in every town". Mindful of the concerns of rural dwellers, the former Finance chief insisted his proposals would actually help regions outside of Dublin and Ireland's other existing major cities to counteract what he described as the "subordinated position of non-central regions". He warned that persisting with a strategy in which the State subsidised rural living would lead to an environment that "may not be a viable model for the future". Citing the experience of France, he said: "Even with the amounts of money that is being spent in France on infrastructure, which are far in excess of anything we spend in Ireland, they are pulling back services from less efficient parts of their country and encouraging those areas to develop a different business model." Officials dispatched to inspect puppy farms found dogs kept in overcrowded conditions, with little exercise and not enough access to water, according to reports obtained by the Sunday Independent. One dog breeding facility inspected last year was found to have more bitches than it was licensed to keep, and some dogs were being kept in kennels without water. There was no isolation facility for sick dogs or pest control to protect their food from contamination. No records were kept of the dogs about births, deaths, sale or movement, or the number of litters born to dogs. Another dog breeding facility was found to have had too many dogs kept in kennels of "unsatisfactory" cleanliness, with inadequate ventilation and inadequate records. When it was inspected last June, inspectors found that the 68 dogs were "very overcrowded" and some had no access to the exercise area. The dogs, which included pugs, schnauzers and Maltese, were not all micro-chipped, and many were in need of grooming. A follow-up inspection in August found that while the bitches were in "satisfactory condition" they were kept in kennel space "filled to capacity". Dogs were not getting daily exercise. "No toys or alternative methods to improve the dogs' environment and to alleviate boredom," the report said, even though inspectors flagged this at a previous check. Expand Close CONCERNS: Dr Andrew Kelly of the ISPCA says dog welfare guidelines are too vague / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp CONCERNS: Dr Andrew Kelly of the ISPCA says dog welfare guidelines are too vague In March this year, inspectors visited another breeding establishment unannounced and found the 10 dogs were not micro-chipped and there was "a lot of faeces" in the sheds where they were kept. Inspectors also noted that the sheds were cleaned out every two to three days, which was "unacceptable" as "faeces should be collected on a daily basis". The dog breeder was warned the kennels would be deregistered if conditions were not complied with. Despite the concerns raised by inspectors, no enforcement action was taken against the puppy farms which instead were only subjected to closer monitoring. A report on one premises, also inspected in March this year, noted that the breeder had not still complied with an improvement notice that was first served on it in 2013. The detailed inspection reports were compiled by local authorities over the past two years and released to the Sunday Independent under the Freedom of Information Act, with identifies of the establishments redacted. Some dog breeders were praised for complying with the conditions of their registration in the reports. However, the problems of overcrowding, inadequate record keeping, poor access to exercise, poor pest control and exceeding the quota of dogs they are registered to keep are recurring issues in dog breeding establishments across the country, according to the animal welfare groups. This newspaper requested the inspection reports from local authorities and the Department of Agriculture to find out what they revealed about the state of Ireland's controversial puppy farms. The response was mixed. Monaghan County Council released the most comprehensive records, with detailed correspondence outlining the conditions inspectors found on dog breeders in its catchment area. Local authorities such as Kerry, Laois and Louth, released less detailed inspection reports that found conditions at puppy farms to be largely up to scratch. Most local authorities that we contacted refused to release any records because they contained commercial or personal information. The Department of Agriculture went one further, saying that it was not releasing the inspection reports because their owners could be targeted by animal rights activists. It identified more than 60 inspection records that detail the conditions and standards on puppy farms in Meath, Kilkenny, Donegal, Limerick, Monaghan, Roscommon, Westmeath Cavan, Carlow, Laois, Wexford and Cork. The department said it would not release them because "so-called puppy farms are the subject of significant opposition and campaigning from some welfare groups" and that "some animal welfare groups may consider it legitimate to target any named/identified puppy farms with direct action/protests". The department also cited "commercial" reasons. Ireland has a reputation as being the puppy farm centre of Europe and the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA) claims that 30,000 puppies a year are exported to the UK, many illegally. Puppy farms have been regulated by local authorities since the Dog Breeding Establishment Act was introduced in 2010, but animal welfare groups, including the ISPCA, has consistently raised concerns not only about the standards on puppy farms, but how rigorously they are being inspected. The ISPCA has highlighted "inconsistencies" in the inspection process. The rescue of more than 350 dogs and 11 horses that were kept in appalling conditions on a puppy farm in Myshall in Carlow last year prompted the then Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney, to clamp down on puppy farms. The rescued dogs were mostly female breeds such as Cocker Spaniels, Yorkshire terriers, Bichon Frise crosses, Cavalier King Charles, and Shih Tzus, many with matted coats, chronic skin, eye and teeth problems, and some with untreated injuries. The minister dispatched agriculture officials to conduct joint inspections with local authority vets of all registered puppy farms last summer. Of the 68 registered puppy farms which have been inspected, informed veterinary sources said only a small number failed to meet standards. The ISPCA has said the dog breeding legislation was enforced more stringently in some local authority areas than in others, and that unregistered dog breeders were still operating. Dr Andrew Kelly, chief executive of the ISPCA, said the dog welfare guidelines were too vague and called for "more prescriptive standards" on how dogs should be treated. He added that the ISPCA was working with the Department of Agriculture and local authorities to improve conditions. Marie Metcalfe, co-ordinator of the Community Policing Forum in the North East Inner City, said the procession was being organised to highlight that a community of people is being affected by the fear that has swept the streets. Photo: RollingNews.ie The inner-city community of Dublin that has been hit hard by a wave of gangland killings will hold a white-ribbon peaceful procession this week. Marie Metcalfe, co-ordinator of the Community Policing Forum in the North East Inner City, said the procession was being organised to highlight that a community of people is being affected by the fear that has swept the streets. A meeting to organise the procession, which will include white ribbons and a candlelit walk, will be held by local representatives tomorrow. Justice Minister Francis Fitzgerald has been asked to attend the march but has yet to respond to the request. Speaking to the Sunday Independent, Ms Metcalfe said: "It is being organised for the community itself because every day people are being affected by this feud. "People are feeling isolated and we need to support people and to let them know they are not on their own. We are all in this together. "People are feeling panicked and not even able to go out and socialise any more because it feels like these incidents are happening on a daily basis. "In the beginning, just to go to the shop, you had to walk through drugs on the street and now on top of that we have a fear of stray bullets. It is very frightening, especially for the elderly and the children who are hearing all of this. "It's a terrible way to grow up. I have great memories of my childhood - what memories of their youth will they have when they are older? "We can tackle this. But I have to stress to politicians that we need help." The procession is being organised by local community leaders and will include the participation of the four local churches in the area - the Pro-Cathedral; St Agatha's church on William Street; Church of Our Lady of Lourdes on Sean McDermott Street; and St Laurence O'Toole's Church on Sheriff Street. It will finish at the Sean McDermott memorial, near the Five Lamps, a site once notorious for open drug-dealing. The memorial was designed in conjunction with relatives of those who have died from heroin and depicts a flame of hope behind an open door. Ms Metcalfe, who has been working in the area for 17 years, said: "It reminds me of the Eighties - going back 20 years, instead of going forward, and that's why we need the help of the Government. They helped back then and they should do the same now." Meanwhile, a report which was conducted from 2008-2010 by the Health Research Board and involved interviews with drug dealers and gardai, as well as a street survey of 800 people, has found that the drugs network was not about individuals, no matter how big the criminal. This is because if you remove one dealer, another will quickly take their place. The feud between Ireland's two biggest gangs has claimed six lives since last September. TWO Independent Alliance TDs who have signed up to support the government have confirmed that they havent paid water charges. Finian McGrath - who has been appointed as a Super Junior minister and John Halligan have both said they oppose water charges and havent paid. The position puts them at odd with the majority of government TDs. Mr McGrath made the admission on RTE Radio. I have to put my hands up... No I didnt pay my water charges, when asked about the matter by presenter Brendan OConnor. He said he refused to pay because I was very annoyed over the whole setting up of Irish Water and the handling of it and the incompetence of what happened and the amount of money that went into it. But I also had a problem in relation to water charges. I was always involved in that campaign over many many years so I havent paid. He indicated that he still intends to boycott the charges adding: I believe that we have to fund services like water and health through general taxation. Thats my personal view. The government has committed to establishing a Commission to examine the future of water charges. It is due to report back in nine months. Mr McGrath was asked if he would pay if the Commission recommends that charges remain in place and he said he will go with the democratic wishes of Dail Eireann after the matter is voted on. His Waterford colleague John Halligan confirmed that he hasnt paid the charges either. Im like hundreds of thousands of other people that havent paid it and many politicians, he told Independent.ie. Longford-Westmeaths Kevin Boxer Moran - also a member of the group - said: Ive always paid my water bills. He said he wouldnt encourage people not to pay the bills but that If they dont want top pay their water charges thats their own prerogative. Another Independent Alliance TD - Sean Canney said the issue doesnt apply to him as he pays into a rural group water scheme. Im delighted to be able to pay for it, the Galway East TD added saying he had previously has a rain water collection system at his home. Meanwhile, Senior figures in both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have expressed confidence that the minority government arrangement can last. Under the terms of the agreement, Fianna Fail will abstain in confidence and finance votes. Speaking today, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan said the new government would 'consult like no other'. Speaking on the Week in Politics on RTE One, he said the Dail will play a 'hugely important role'. He said the current government of Fine Gael and Independents will "survive on the basis of a programme of goodwill with Fianna Fail". Speaking on the same programme, Dara Calleary of Fianna Fail said he believes the new confidence arrangement can work. He added that as the agreement does not stretch to cover legislation votes, "the Government will have to listen to the views of the Dail and the Seanad". However Sinn Fein slammed the arrangement, calling it a coalition 'in everything but name'. THREE firemen were injured after an apparent explosion during a farm shed blaze in Cork. The Macroom fire brigade personnel were attending to a blaze at a farm shed outside Tarelton in Cork in the early hours of this morning when the incident occurred. The brigade officials were attempting to douse the fire when the large explosion occurred. They were showered with flying debris and burning material. While their gear protected them from most of the flying debris, three men suffered burns - one of whom sustained serious injuries. It is believed they were closest to the burning shed when the explosion occurred. All were immediately rushed by Macroom Gardai to the specialist burns unit at Cork University Hospital (CUH). While the burns are understood to be serious, none of the injuries involved are life threatening. However, the men are expected to remain in hospital for treatment for several days. The cause of the explosion remains unclear. However, the initial theory is that the fire spread to either a gas cylinder or a fuel tank being stored in the farm shed which then exploded. The fire itself is believed to have been accidental. Macroom fire brigade has been flooded with messages of support and best wishes for the recovery of the injured personnel from fire brigades across Ireland. SPEND: Dublin City Council has a yearly budget of 22,840 to provide bottled water to its offices. Photo by Thinkstock The Government splashed out 4,000 last year on a special consignment of bottled and filtered water for politicians and staff - while homeowners were forced to pay Irish Water bills. As the controversy rages over the embattled utility, it has also emerged the country's largest local authority splurged 1,500 a month on bottled water in 2015. New figures reveal Dublin City Council has an average annual budget of some 22,840 to provide water in bottled form to its offices and work depots. Last year, during the height of the controversy surrounding Irish Water, council chiefs forked out 18,214 on a "large-scale" supply of 20-litre bottles for employees in various grades. This equalled an average monthly spend of 1,517. In the same year, a further 2,170 was spent on the service and maintenance of water coolers. Meanwhile, the provision of water supply for the greater Dublin area, with a population of well over one million, remains an escalating issue for the new Government. Read More The city is serviced by antiquated supply structures built during the Victorian era. A key source of concern are health risks linked to an ageing network and water treatment facilities which are seriously out of date. In total, 91,370 has been spent by Dublin City Council chiefs on supplies of 20-litre bottles over the past four years, figures obtained by the Sunday Independent under the Freedom of Information Act reveal. A further 45,119 was allocated for a special supply of bottled water for firefighters in the capital. In a statement, Dublin City Council said firefighters worked in demanding situations, and often in environments where dehydration could be an ongoing risk. "As the locations of these emergencies, and the facilities are uncertain, it is required that bottled water for rehydration purposes be available. "Bottled water is also provided on emergency ambulances for patients when administering oral medications." It also pointed out that bottled water is not provided in the fire stations. In total, some 136,480 was spent by council chiefs under this heading over a four-year period. Meanwhile, new figures from the Houses of the Oireachtas show 3,988 was spent last year on bottled and filtered water. A breakdown of costs show a further 2,630 was spent on 'services' including 1,562 on a new boiler and associated 'units'. In 2014, expenditure was 3,748 on filtered and bottled water - with 3,474 shelled out in 2013. An Oireachtas spokeswoman said the spending was increased last year due to the purchase of new filter machines, and the "provision on a temporary basis of bottled water in one location". The provision of bottled water service is due to cease by the end of April, she added, as a plumbed water supply is currently being installed. The revelation comes as uncertainty mounts over whether law-abiding homeowner will now be refunded after Fine Gael and Fine Fail agreed to suspend charges for at least nine months. Workers at Irish Water are gearing up to fight any job cuts that might result from the decision. Staff at the utility have been left in the dark about their futures since the government deal was struck. Under the Fine Gael-Fianna Fail agreement, legislation to suspend the charges for nine months will be introduced within six weeks of the new Government's formation. The so-called "confidence and supply arrangement" will also see an external advisory body being established to advise a special Oireachtas committee on "measures needed to improve the transparency and accountability of Irish Water". The group will pay particular attention to the company's "procurement, remuneration and staffing policies" under the terms of the deal. But the union representing around 300 Irish Water employees has committed to opposing any redundancies or pay cuts. Adrian Kane, of Siptu, said it would resist any layoffs or change in employment terms that could arise from the planned "reconfiguration" of the company. Mr Kane said the union's position was that the 60 people directly employed in billing should be redeployed within the utility. He added that the "polluter pays" principle would "have to be maintained" in any arrangement considered by the separate expert commission set up to examine funding models. Mr Kane also said that Siptu had outlined its position on staffing and remuneration levels in talks with both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail before the election. Labour leader Joan Burton has said that refunds should be given to all those who have paid their water charges. "People who've paid their water charges, they're going to have to be refunded or credited in some way," said the former Tanaiste in an interview on RTE Radio. Those who paid water charges would be owed 140m - slightly over half of what should have been paid since the charge was introduced at the beginning of last year. The Dublin West TD was speaking in an interview with Brendan O'Connor, who was standing in for Marian Finucane. Reflecting on Labour's General Election performance, she said "I don't agree with the decision that the electorate made" and that she was "very disappointed" with the outcome for the party. However, Ms Burton defended Labour's choice not to enter government with Fine Gael, because she felt it did not have a mandate to do so. Reflecting on her time as Tanaiste, she said her biggest mistake was not having "talked to people about just how difficult the crisis was". "We made promises before the election that, really, we shouldn't have made," she said. "These were things we wanted but they weren't deliverable in the framework of government and money and resources that we went into." On her achievements, however, Ms Burton defended her support of water charges, mentioning her efforts to bring them down to affordable levels. She said her proudest moment was signing transgender legislation and expressed satisfaction at the reform of the social welfare department that took place under her tenure as Minister for Social Protection. "Leo (Varadkar) does inherit a department that really has been reformed," she said. "He's inheriting a surplus on the first quarter of the first four months of the year, of 200m." Ms Burton also reflected on her treatment as a woman in Irish politics, regretting that, despite Enda Kenny's promises for a 50/50 Cabinet, "we are not near that yet". On her leadership, Ms Burton said there would be a meeting this Tuesday with the parliamentary Labour Party to discuss her role. When asked if there would be support for her to be leader again, she replied: "I don't think that's going to be the conversation. "I think it's going to be about what is the best leadership option for the party and I want to hear their views. "I've been engaged in every moment of being leader of the party and I'll be active in the Labour Party, no matter what. So I'm very happy to do what people want me to do." In the course of our general agency work we encounter a wide range of issues that people are facing which dictates how and when they move. We meet many older people, for whom the family home has grown too large. These empty nesters are keen to trade down to a more manageable home or apartment. Launch any apartment in excess of 100sqm on the market in south Dublin, price it correctly and watch the level of interest it generates. It's the same phenomenon with well-located townhouses. Most of these properties are bought with cash and the buyers are not dependent on the sale to make the move. These purchases tend to be funded with savings or investments put aside for retirement. Once the move has taken place, the family home is brought to the market and sold. This has been the normal practice over the years with people trading down when retirement looms. A large number of clients are keen to sell up and trade down once they find the right property and therein lies the problem ... lack of supply. According to a recent Daft.ie report, the number of homes for sale has hit a nine-year low. So where have the houses gone? Clients we meet are trading down from large family homes and are keen to secure manageable homes close to Dart or Luas lines within walking distances of local amenities in mature areas, close to where they have lived all their lives. Many of the homes they are likely to buy are occupied by those in their late thirties or early forties who bought their homes over the course of the Celtic Tiger years. While these potential sellers have out-grown their homes and would relish the prospect of moving to larger ones, many are out of negative equity but only just, with little or no equity in their homes to help them trade up. The Central Bank guidelines dictate that 20pc LTV is required and this for many is a bridge too far. Many potential sellers in the middle of the market are paying mortgages, raising families and trying to save a deposit - which takes time - to trade up. These are the people who need to be encouraged to move so as to free up stock for both those trading down and those looking to get on the ladder. The Central Bank has indicated that the new lending rules have served their purpose and cooled the market. However, for many, they have impinged on their ability to trade up or down. I hope that when the rules are reviewed that it helps to normalise the market. More ability to move in the mid-section of the market should see movement across all price points. Ivan Tuite is an associate director at Lansdowne Partnership West Queen West is where Toronto is trending, says Thomas Breathnach. Here's where to get stuck in. 10 am: Brunch at The Drake Nothing says West Queen West morning like a lazy brunch. For the best in the 'hood, head for The Drake (above): a boutique hotel wunderkind and all-round Toronto institution. Amid its funky industrial scape, you'll find urban creatives chowing on a menu that ranges from superseed granola to fried chicken, waffles and fresh Niagara cherries. Want a side of sunshine? Hit the Sky Yard roof-patio. How: thedrakehotel.ca; drake breakfast C$15/10.50 2pm: WQW art crawl Expand Close Tour Guys, Toronto / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Tour Guys, Toronto With such creative curb appeal, it's little surprise that West Queen West also houses Toronto's art and design district. Set your artistic compass with a WQW graffiti tour taking in Toronto's edgiest street art. Or, simply mosey around the eclectic range of galleries from Propeller (propellerctr.com) to the Birch Contemporary (birchcontemporary.com) and the recently opened Ellephant (ellephant.org). How: See tourguys.ca (free, but tip what you think the tour is worth). Not an art lover? Join their beer or bacon tours! 5pm: Chill out with Toronto Parklife Expand Close Trinity Bellwoods Park / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Trinity Bellwoods Park May in Toronto means sunshine and maple trees. Trinity Bellwoods park, flanked by West Queen West, is the city's true alternative green-space - you'll feel right at home here with your fedora, rescue pug or ukulele. Head over in the early evening and join the locals for some yoga, bocce or slack-lining (that's tightrope walking for hipsters). Oh - and there's an indoor pool too, if you fancy a cool down. How: trinitybellwoods.ca; farmers' markets on Tuesdays. 8pm: On the edge at Ossington Ave Expand Close The Lakeview restaurant / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Lakeview restaurant Once notorious for shoot-outs in karaoke bars, today, super-gentrified Ossington Ave surely ranks as Canada's coolest block. For nightlife, explore the quirky hide-outs that sandwich its funky concept stores: from Reposado Bar for its freshly-squeezed Margaritas to Sweaty Betty's, WQW's original dive bar. Come closing time, grab a booth at funky 24hr Lakeview Diner for a chaser of disco fries and poutine! How: ossingtonvillage.com; reposadobar.com; facebook.com/sweatybettystoronto; thelakeviewrestaurant.ca. Do it Aer Lingus (aerlingus.com) flies direct to Toronto. Visit seetorontonow.com for more info. Read more: Premium Colm McCarthy Opinion Free money is not the way to head off a crisis Managing the macro economy involves three perspectives. These are the short-term the next six months or a year; the medium-term the next four or five years; and the long-term the issues that demand to be addressed decades in advance. From the perspective of Irish governments in recent times, only the short-term merits attention, with the medium-term left to the civil service and the long-term to sporadic commissions and academic worrywarts. Premium Dan O'Brien Opinion While we catastrophise about Covid, we ignore risk of running out of cash We Irish view the world in an increasingly strange and unhealthy way. We catastrophise about Covid in a way other European countries do not. We focus on how bad the effects of the virus could get, on how many more restrictions might be imposed by Government and how helpless we are in the face of the virus. It was my Joe McHugh moment. On Friday afternoon I had got the call from the Taoiseach's office. I hadn't a clue what ministry he had in mind, but I was apprehensive. We had exchanged robust words in negotiations over the previous 24 hours. This could be his moment of revenge. I dreaded the hospital pass, the Department of Health. Or even another bed of nails. He opened his mouth and I swore he said something about the Department of the Gaeltacht. My heart sank. What a brilliant stroke. I don't have a word of Irish. In a flash I envisaged Gerry Adams and his crew asking me questions in the Dail in Irish. I thought I would have to decline his offer and stay on the back benches. I remembered the last Minister for the Gaeltacht, Joe McHugh, whose promotion to ministerial rank saw him attending Irish classes for a year. The McHugh moment passed. Enda had offered Transport. I gulped with relief. Transport sounded a bit run-of-the mill. Images of big buses spitting exhaust fumes, trains and boats and planes. Then as I bounced back towards Leinster House the first penny dropped: First stop, the Luas strike. Tomorrow morning I presume that the top item on the desk will be the intractable clash of unions and management. The lion's den beckons. As I re-entered Leinster House the second penny dropped. Several people asked me which portfolio I had landed. I told them. Within minutes I was informed that my first action was a gaffe! I had released a secret. No one had told me, but apparently such information ranks alongside the third secret of Fatima for about 45 minutes. It was all over the media in seconds. Then a third penny hit me: that any newly appointed minister with a long career behind him is bound to have a bit of 'form' on most issues. I suddenly recalled that my views on semi-states in permanent convalescence - like CIE - are well-documented, that I wrote a whole chapter in a book about the very strange goings on in Iarnrod Eireann, that I once suggested that all fares should be restricted to 1 and that there should be wholesale culling of the boards of quangos. I am really looking forward to my first meeting with some of the organisations which have received harsh criticism in this column. God knows how the bearded trade unionist Jack O'Connor and I will get on if we ever have to sit across the table over the Luas strike or any other dispute. Everyone says he is a really nice, committed guy, but we have a bit of history Unsurprisingly they were not slow picking up the potential for such friction in the Dail. Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin skillfully skewered me for past hostages to fortune, touching several raw nerves when he referred to the difficulties I might have as a journalist keeping Cabinet confidentiality, and the possible fireworks that could accompany any future dealings with transport unions. Others just had a lash at Independents having crossed the floor into Government. It is a pity that so many other Independents (or small parties) ducked the challenge of the responsibilities of government taken by my colleagues Sean Canney, John Halligan, Finian McGrath and 'Boxer' Moran. All of them will enjoy ministerial office in the near future. They have taken big political risks. We nearly dragged Michael Fitzmaurice over the line with us on Friday but he stood firm on a principle dear to him. There are few people in politics with such backbone and there is a bright future for the man from Roscommon. He will hopefully remain a member of the Independent Alliance and enjoy all the non-party freedoms that accompany it. Being holed up in Government Buildings for most of the last 10 weeks creates an odd camaraderie. The Independent Alliance bonded brilliantly. We had rows, of course. Most of us have volatile tempers, deep and differing views, but are united in a desire for reform. Sometimes the atmosphere was explosive. The real foundation of common sense to sort out all problems came not from the long-standing TDs like John Halligan, Finian McGrath or me, but the newcomers Sean Canney and 'Boxer' Moran. The new duo brought us to our senses at the most heated of moments. The hot house atmosphere was not without humour. On Friday, as the last-minute talks began and the tension rose before the Dail vote at noon, a few of us were locked in the Taoiseach's dining room alone with our advisers. 'Boxer' Moran spotted a bottle of Dubonnet on the sideboard. It was just 10 in the morning. "OK everybody," he said "Let's have a drink". He laid the table with wine glasses for everyone, including at the places waiting to be filled by latecomers. He filled up our glasses with tea and suggested we pretended to anyone coming in that we were having a bit of a party before the vote. Finian McGrath arrived and looked at the rest of the room in horror. 'Boxer' casually asked him if he wanted a drink. He was stunned, suggesting that we had all gone insane, reminding us that the vote was due in less than two hours. He stared at me aghast as I supped the tea. Finian would be aware that I am nearly 30 years off the gargle and the effects might have had an interesting impact. Next, an adviser to one of my colleagues arrived. He saw the rest of us downing the syrupy mixture. We suggested he join us. He looked a bit puzzled. His eyes lit up, he immediately opened the bottle of Dubonnet, filled his glass and downed the alcohol. Before he helped himself to a second glass we had to tell him we were drinking cold tea. There was plenty of opportunity for other mischief. When we reached 'The Park' and posed for the mandatory photographs with the President. I was placed right behind the Taoiseach, and was within an ace of putting my fingers up 'rabbit-ears style' (as my grandchildren do) behind Enda as the cameras clicked. Then I remembered that the images would be circulated around the world. I resisted the temptation in deference to the Taoiseach, the occasion and our wonderful President. Tomorrow morning the hard work begins. I meet the mandarins, many of whom have been lampooned in this column. The difficulties in Transport are formidable. Yet the unique background to the formation of the Government suggests that real reform is possible. Let no one downgrade the commitments made to ridding Irish public life of insiders and cronyism, to a new approach for those in mortgage difficulties and the empathy with rural Ireland. If anyone is in doubt let them look at the changes in judicial appointments. New legislation ensuring that judges are selected on merit and no longer on political patronage are now on the way. The old system will be replaced by a selection body with a lay majority and an independent lay chairperson. Politicians and judges will no longer choose our judges. The selection of directors of State bodies will be unrecognisably reformed. Refreshingly the Dail, not just the Government, will need to agree to these radical changes. Power is passing from the few to the many, thanks to the General Election result. And acceptance of these changes has come from one or two surprising quarters. On Thursday night I asked the Taoiseach if he would abolish the Ecomomic Management Council (EMC), the quartet of four senior ministers who sat in weekly conclave to dictate the Cabinet agenda. Critics regarded it as a politburo that dictated the political programme to a docile Cabinet and a passive Dail. Enda Kenny responded immediately. The EMC was killed on the spot. There was no longer any specific need for the body set up in the middle of the economic crisis. The omens are good, although the transition will be difficult. It was already difficult on Friday to see old friends on the Opposition benches. It was possibly harder to see recent political opponents in adjoining seats. But we will embrace a new Dail where the views of everyone must be considered to pass measures. Past hostilities will need to be forgotten in the interests of the nation. Sir Lenny Henry will be honoured with the Alan Clarke Award Sir Lenny Henry will be presented with a special award at the Bafta Television Awards in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the medium. The British stand-up comedian, actor and writer, who is best known for his work on Comic Relief and as a presenter of TV programmes including The Magicians, The Lenny Henry Show and Three Of A Kind, will be honoured with the Alan Clarke Award. Previous recipients of the prize include TV producer and writer Jeff Pope, TV executive Jane Tranter, documentary film-maker Paul Watson and screenwriter Paul Greengrass. Sir Lenny is one of the founding members of Comic Relief and since he started it alongside Richard Curtis in 1985 it has gone on to raise more than 1 billion through its various campaigns. The Dudley-born star got his first television break on the 1975 ITV talent show New Faces. In the late 1970s he appeared as a contributor on the children's show Tiswas, where he regularly worked with Chris Tarrant and Bob Carolgees. In 2014 he gave the annual Bafta television lecture, discussing the deterioration of black and Asian minority ethnic involvement in the creative industries. It was hailed as a groundbreaking speech that helped reframe and reignite the discussion about diversity in British television. Sir Lenny has previously received two Bafta nominations for The Lenny Henry Show and received a lifetime achievement award at the British Comedy Awards in 2003. The Bafta Television Awards will be hosted by Graham Norton and will be broadcast on BBC One at 8pm. US President Barack Obama has urged everybody to tell their mother "I love you". Obama aired the message ahead of Mother's Day in the US today. "Being the president is only the third most important job in our house," he said. "This week I'm going to take a little extra time to say thank you to Michelle. "I hope you take a moment for the women in your life." He continued: "Say thank you, say I love you, and let's make sure we show that gratitude and appreciation and respect throughout the year". DESPOT: Chairman Mao Zedong officially announces the founding of the Peoples Republic of China in Tiananmen Square, Beijing on October 1, 1949. Seventeen years later, he unleashed the humiliation and deadly violence of his Cultural Revolution on the Chinese people. Photo: AP/Xinhua Thousands of teenage hands rocketed skywards as the Great Helmsman stepped down from the rostrum in Tiananmen Square to greet the shock troops of his revolution. It was the summer of 1966 and Mao's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution - a catastrophic political convulsion that would catapult China into a decade of heartbreak, humiliation and deadly violence - was under way. "When we saw Mao Zedong wave his hand, we all went berserk," recalled Yu Xiangzhen, then a 13-year-old schoolgirl, whose bright red armband marked her out as one of millions of loyal Red Guards. "We shouted and screamed until we had no voices left." Fifty years after the start of the Cultural Revolution in May 1966, Yu, now 64, has been blogging her memories of the period in a bid to prevent history repeating itself. China's communist rulers have remained silent over the anniversary of the devastating political mobilisation, which scholars estimate claimed somewhere between one and two million lives. But since the start of this year, Yu has been trying to use her blog to tear down the wall of official silence surrounding the events of that bloody summer. "If our descendants do not know the truth, they will make the same mistakes again," she wrote in the introduction to her series of online reflections. "I want to use real experiences to prove that the Cultural Revolution was inhumane." Even half-a-century on, Yu, a retired journalist, says she is still trying to fathom the horrors she witnessed that summer and to understand how she was radicalised into becoming one of Mao's "little generals". "We became Red Guards (because) we all shared the belief that we would die to protect Chairman Mao," she said, over a cup of tea in a Beijing cafe. "Even though it might be dangerous, that was absolutely what we had to do." She said that everything she had been taught told her that Chairman Mao was closer to Chinese youth than their parents. "Without Chairman Mao, we would have nothing," she was taught. Yu's attempts to remember the mayhem of 1966 began in January, when she began composing short online dispatches on an ageing desktop computer at her home in China's capital. "When I started to write, I didn't have a plan," she said. "I just wanted to write down what I experienced in those 10 years of Cultural Revolution. I didn't even have a title for my series of articles." The former Red Guard started at the very beginning, focusing her first essay on the closure of Beijing's primary schools in May 1966. "For me, the Cultural Revolution started at that moment. (So) that was the first article I wrote," said Yu, who was a student at Beijing's Chongwen Number 49 middle school at the time. Subsequent posts chronicle Yu's journeys through a world that was at once exhilarating, bewildering, comic and horrifying. She remembers the vicious persecution of her teachers, the lynching of suspected class enemies, the hysterical mass rallies and how Red Guards roamed Beijing, setting upon those with supposedly counter-revolutionary footwear, clothing or hair. "We thought that if you wore skinny trousers you were a monster," said Yu, recalling how scissors were used to lop the tips off pointy shoes, slice open excessively fashionable trousers or shear off locks of hair. In one post, Yu recalled the excitement of boarding public buses with her Red Guard comrades and spending entire days reading extracts of Mao's Little Red Book to commuters. "It was quite fun," she recalled, leaning over the table in laughter. "I still remember the words in the book today. "'Revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture or doing embroidery. It can't be done elegantly and gently.'" "I believed it," Yu went on. "I thought Mao Zedong was great and that his words were great." Other memories were more painful. As the summer of 1966 progressed and a period of so-called 'red terror' began, the thrill of having been let out of class and let loose on the Chinese capital faded and was replaced by an atmosphere of fear. Red Guards marauded across the city, ransacking and looting homes and staging public "struggle sessions" in which victims were savagely beaten, tortured and sometimes killed. At least 1,772 people are known to have been murdered in Beijing alone. Some targets committed suicide to escape the relentless persecution. As violence engulfed the capital, an editorial in the Communist party journal, Red Flag, fanned the rapidly spreading flames. "The Red Guards have ruthlessly castigated, exposed, criticised and repudiated the decadent, reactionary culture of the bourgeoisie... landing them in the position of rats running across the street and being chased by all," it read, according to Michael Schoenhals' seminal book, China's Cultural Revolution. One night Yu recalled being unable to sleep because of the ferocious beating being inflicted on one of her teachers. "Each time we fell asleep, the screams woke us up. "The screaming never stopped." Later, towards the end of August, Yu recalled seeing a severely injured man dragging himself across the road towards her after he had apparently been subjected to a savage Red Guard attack. "There was blood all over his face," she said. "He looked like a ghost." After fellow Red Guards ordered her to pummel a group of prisoners with a belt, Yu said she decided to flee. "God bless me, I didn't beat anyone back then. If I had beaten anyone, how could I have lived with myself all these years?" Yu's reflections on those days of chaos have earned praise from many readers. "People who stand up to tell the truth are so rare these days," one fan wrote on her blog. "So we look forward to more people like Teacher Yu coming out to tell the truth. I really appreciate what Teacher Yu has done." But Yu admitted that her decision to revisit such a traumatic period had also provoked a backlash, with some critics accusing her of attempting to smear China's Communist party by dragging up a painful past. "You don't deserve to be Chinese!" wrote one commenter. She denied that her blog was intended as an attack on the country's rulers. "Some people say I am anti-Communist party. This is wrong. I'm not against the party at all. I want it to be great. I'm not interested in trying to open the old wounds of the Communist Party." Yu also shrugged off the concerns of friends and relatives - including her son - who warned that she might get into trouble. "Some people have said the government will arrest me. But I've never told a single lie. Everything I've said is based on the truth. They can arrest me but I've said nothing that isn't true." She said her blogging was partly therapeutic; a way of coming to terms with the shocking things she had seen. "I feel at peace when I write," she said. But its main goal was to educate those who had not lived through the horrors of the Cultural Revolution and had not been allowed to learn about them at school, where the topic remains largely taboo. Yu said memories of the period were now fading as many of those with first-hand knowledge of its turmoil entered their final years. "Telling the truth is the right thing to do. Only when people find the truth can they find the solution," she said. "This has happened in other countries. Why can't we do it here?" Additional reporting by Christy Yao Observer Pro-government forces in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden were detaining and evicting hundreds of civilians to the north, Yemeni officials said on Sunday. The officials said armed groups have been raiding shops, restaurants and homes, arresting more than 2,000 northerners they say pose a threat to "security". The officials said they suspect the evictions are the work of secessionists who want southern Yemen to break away from the north, with which it was united in 1990. Aden was among the first cities where forces of the internationally recognised government drove out Shiite rebels known as Houthis as part of Yemen's war pitting government forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, against the rebels and their allies. Also on Sunday, the United Arab Emirates said its forces delivered 20 tons of medical aid to civilians in the southern coastal city of Mukalla. The statement carried on the UAE's official Wam news agency said it marks the first air plane carrying aid to reach Mukalla after al Qaida militants were run out of the city late last month, a year after they had captured it. The US military is helping Yemeni, Emirati and other Arab coalition forces that are battling al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, as the group's affiliate in Yemen is known. Militants have opened fire on a minivan filled with plainclothes police in a Cairo suburb, killing eight of them, including an officer, in an attack claimed by a local Islamic State affiliate. The attack was the deadliest in the heavily policed capital since November, when gunmen attacked a security checkpoint, killing four policemen. That attack was also claimed by the local IS affiliate. Egypt's state-run MENA news agency said the policemen were inspecting security in the south Cairo suburb of Helwan early on Sunday when four gunmen in a pick-up opened fire on them. Interior Minister Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar, in charge of police, ordered an investigation into the attack. "These are the heroes whose blood mixes with the nation's soil every day," Mr Abdel-Ghaffar told state television at the end of a brief military funeral for the eight policemen. "We are determined to continue our march against terror and anyone who seeks to undermine the nation's stability," he said, as black-clad female relatives of the policemen wailed in grief. The coffins of the eight, wrapped in the Egyptian flag, were placed on red fire engines that led a procession of several hundred mourners, including other policemen. An IS affiliate claimed responsibility for the attack in an online statement, saying it killed everyone in the vehicle. It identified the officer and said the fighters seized light weapons from the police before they fleeing the scene unharmed. It said the operation was to avenge women jailed in Egypt. The claim could not be independently verified, but the statement's language and the nature of the attack suggest it is authentic. Militants have been targeting security forces in the Sinai Peninsula for years, but their attacks have grown more deadly and frequent since the 2013 military overthrow of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi. An IS affiliate based in the Sinai is now spearheading the insurgency. While most of the unrest has been confined to the northern Sinai, there have been attacks in the mainland as well, mainly small-scale bombings targeting police, the frequency of which had declined in recent months. GRIM: A Syrian refugee woman, who is stuck between the Jordanian and Syrian borders, holds her child as she waits to cross into Jordanian territory, near the town of Ruwaished, at the Hadalat area, east of Amman. Photo: Muhammad Hamed/Reuters Lamya Haji, a 19-year-old from Sinjar in northern Iraq is a shell of a young woman. She has suffered 20 months of unimaginable brutality at the hands of the so-called Islamic State (Isil). Captured and enslaved by the group in August 2014, she managed to escape to Kurdish-held areas over two weeks ago. Some might say she's lucky to be alive. From her capture in 2014 until April this year, she had been raped, beaten, and forced to work in an ammunition warehouse making suicide belts for Isil militants in Mosul, the Iraqi capital of the self-proclaimed Islamic State. In total she was sold four times as a sex slave, and after several attempts to escape which resulted in further violent repercussions, was almost killed when on her final, and successful bid for freedom, an IED exploded on the outskirts of the Isil-occupied town of Hawija, in the Kirkuk district. Two of her fellow escapees died in the explosion, which occurred just 20 minutes from the Kurdish Peshmerga forces post that eventually led her to safety. The impact of that blast blinded Lamya in one eye and left deep, indelible shrapnel scars on her face. She hasn't seen or heard anything from her beloved parents since the day her village was attacked and occupied by Isil - the same day as her capture - they're likely dead or still in the hands of Isil. Rather than being lucky, Lamya's fate has been one almost worse than death. From a relative's home in the town of Baadre near Duhok, just 40km from Isil territory, she painfully recalls the day she and her family, including her parents, three sisters, and two brothers, as well as other relatives, were attacked by Isil militants in their village of Kocho, Sinjar. "They separated everyone - the men and boys on one side, older women in another, and girls as young as eight, as well as teenagers and young women" in a different section. The Sinjar massacre or "genocide" as some in Kurdistan refer to it, shocked the international community; dragging the US military back into action in Iraq. It followed the lightning advances Isil made taking over Mosul months earlier in June of that year. It bore all the savage characteristics of Isil which the world is now all too familiar with. In Lamya's village of Kocho alone, around 400 men were rounded up and shot, and 1,000 women were captured. According to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), altogether around 6,000 Yazidi girls and women from Sinjar were enslaved and moved around Isil territory in Iraq and Syria. The trajectory of Lamya's time under the so-called Islamic State is one of unimaginable depravity. She was first brought to Mosul, where she was viciously raped by an Iraqi Isil member called Abu Mansour. Soon after, she was sold to another Isil member named Abu Rami who took her to Raqqa in Syria where she was then forced to work for his family, and where he too regularly raped her. Whenever she tried to resist, he would beat her with "cables", he also told her "wear make-up" and "remove her scarf for him" she says. Around four months later, she was taken to a market in Mosul, where in typical Isil barbarity she was sold along with three other women to another Isil member called Imad. Under Imad, a man she remembers as being particularly brutal, they were forced to work with explosives, making suicide vests for use in Isil combat missions. "We used a paste made of chemicals, after that we'd attach wires and explosives materials and then another layer of paste; after that we would put pieces of iron inside. We'd attach them on to a military belt with a special key which would then explode." Usually one person would come and take the vests, but she remembers one Arab man coming to collect his own vest, which he was eager to use in a suicide attack. She recalled several nationalities visiting the warehouse, including Japanese, Syrian and French. The violence and humiliation was perpetual: "Imad would rape me and another girl called Leyla at the same time", she says. "We would beg him not to [rape us] but he would beat us with sticks and cables. He told us it was halal [lawful] under Islam because we were 'war prisoners'." In radical Islamic theology the enslavement of women and children of a community, town or city is allowed if said community offers "stiff resistance in a fight that was caused by that particular community", by either their "treachery or unwarranted aggression", according to Aimen Dean, a former al-Qaeda member turned M15 and M16 spy. However, he explains, such a reference is from the 7th century, during the time of Muhammed, and since then a strong consensus has emerged among Islamic scholars which says that slavery has "ended naturally and should never be introduced again", explains Dean, who is also an Islamic scholar. Furthermore, in Isil's case, they are "breaching" even this scant source of evidence, since Yazidis did not "start the conflict nor cause it", nor did they "offer any resistance", says Dean. Isil's campaign was not "defensive" nor "in retaliation" against Yazidis' aggression - all of which were conditions for the initial reference. As captives, Yazidi "sex slaves" are made to take contraceptive pills, but Lamya saw pregnant Yazidi women and at least one baby during her time in the weapons warehouse, a girl born from an Isil fighter. Every day was unbearably cruel. But towards the end of her first year as a captive, an opportunity to escape arose, when a local man whom she didn't know offered to help her and some fellow Yazidi slaves working in the explosives warehouse, promising to unlock their door on a Friday afternoon while militants were either at the Mosque or involved in battle. It was agreed that he'd drive them to the outskirts of Mosul, where they'd flee to the safety of the Kurdish Peshmerga posts. It later transpired one of the girls warned Imad, their captor, of the plan. And when the smuggler's car arrived at the warehouse, it was immediately intercepted by several militants. All of the girls were beaten for their escape attempt, but Lamya was taken to a nearby well for "punishment." "They told me they were going to kill me, the well was covered in blood from where other people had been slaughtered," she remembers. Instead, she was beaten severely and days later sold to an Iraqi surgeon called 'Doctor Islam', with whom she remained for almost a year until her final escape a few weeks ago. "All I want is to meet my parents again," she says. Although she's no longer in Isil-occupied territory, Lamya is still vulnerable. Last Tuesday, a US Navy Seal was killed by Isil, just 28km north east of Mosul. Military forces charged with retaking the highly strategic city of Mosul have been beset by problems since the offensive was launched in early March, and any successes have been limited in comparison to the task at hand. In the meantime, Lamya's application for medical treatment and asylum with the German consulate in Erbil, Iraq, is a priority. Shona Murray is a journalist with Newstalk Greek anarchists hurled fire bombs, chairs and wooden planks at riot police in brief clashes outside parliament while politicians were debating a controversial austerity bill, disrupting a much larger peaceful rally on Sunday. Police responded with stun grenades and bursts of tear gas to disperse the anarchists, who were split into two groups - one of them mixed among a peaceful protest of about 10,000 people holding banners and the other inside Syntagma Square in front of parliament. The bill, introduced as part of requirements debt-ridden Greece country must meet under its third international bailout, is set to dramatically increase social security and pension contributions and raise taxes for most people. Greek workers say the increases will decimate their incomes, already hurt by six years of crippling austerity, and have staged a series of strikes. The larger protest on Sunday was called for by Greece's biggest unions and most of those in attendance were Communist party sympathisers. About 45 minutes before they started throwing projectiles, anarchists approached and beat up a known farmer activist, shouting that he was a member of the far-right Golden Dawn party. Other protesters dragged the farmer away. A few minutes later, another group of anarchists set upon another person, with riot police using stun grenades to stop the beating. The anarchists then regrouped before attacking riot police outside a trio of luxury hotels in Syntagma Square. The police use of tear gas initially cleared the space outside the parliament, but most of the peaceful protesters have returned, determined to stay until politicians vote on a pension and taxation reform bill later on Sunday. There were also clashes in Thessaloniki, when anarchists broke away from a protest march to hurl fire bombs at police guarding the local offices of the ruling Syriza party. Police used tear gas and chased the rioters through the streets in central Thessaloniki. Several professional associations, including engineers, journalists and doctors, have warned politicians that are also members of these associations, that they will face disciplinary action and possible expulsion if they vote for the bill. Greece's prime minister Alexis Tsipras himself is a member of the engineers' association. A mini-bus leads a convoy of vehicles believed to be carrying the three freed Spanish journalists (AP) Freed Spanish journalists Antonio Pampliega, background, Jose Manuel Lopez and Angel Sastre, right, arrive at the Torrejon military airbase in Madrid, Spain (Pool Moncloa via AP) Three Spanish freelance journalists held captive in Syria for nearly 10 months returned home on Sunday, tearfully hugging relatives as they got off a military jet sent to Turkey to bring them back. Antonio Pampliega, Jose Manuel Lopez and Angel Sastre shook hands with Acting Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria on the tarmac of the Torrejon de Ardoz air force base on the outskirts of Madrid. They then smiled and cried as relatives ran to hug them. Images on Spain's state-owned TVE television channel showed their arrival but reporters were kept outside the base and away from the three journalists, only catching sight of a dark blue van carrying them from the base. Spain's prime minister Mariano Rajoy posted a photograph of the journalists descending from the aircraft with a caption saying "Welcome!" on his official Twitter account. "Allied and friendly" countries had assisted in ensuring the journalists' release, his office said in a statement late on Saturday. It highlighted Turkey and Qatar, saying they had helped out "especially in the final phase" of the journalists' liberation. It provided no information on the captors and how they were convinced to give up the journalists. The three journalists went missing on July 12, near the city of Aleppo in northern Syria. At the time, the region was under the control of al-Qaida's branch in Syria known as the Nusra Front. Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said the journalists left Turkey from the southeastern city of Hatay after their release. "This adventure has ended happily," Mr Garcia-Margallo said. TVE said in its afternoon news broadcast that the journalists, after arriving at the base, went to a Madrid cafeteria with friends and relatives, where they received a phone call from King Felipe VI. They told journalists that they did not know where they had been held in Syria. The broadcaster said Mr Lopez explained that the three had been incarcerated together for the first three months, after which Mr Pampliega was taken away and not seen again until just before the flight home. Mr Pampliega's mother, Maria del Mar Rodriguez, told the Reporters Without Borders organisation that it was "marvellous" to speak with her son. "He had the same voice he's always had, since he was a boy, and he continually asked my forgiveness for what he'd put me through," she said. "I'm going to prepare him a plate of spinach in bechamel sauce, his favourite dish." Spain's political leaders, campaigning for a general election on June 26, expressed relief and joy at the captives' release. "I join in with the happiness felt by their families, colleagues and friends," Mr Rajoy said in another tweet. The journalists, who provided reports to various media outlets, went to Syria to report on the war that started in 2011. All three had worked in Syria previously and knew what precautions to take before entering the country, said Elsa Gonzalez, president of Spain's federation of journalists. Three other Spanish journalists were released in March 2014 after being held hostage by Syrian extremists for months. The Spanish government has never given details of how it secured their release. SHARE Nisreen Waller's mother. Elaine Tumblin Hunt's mother. Tony Tilley as a young boy, with his mother. Tony Tilley's mother. By Charmaine Smith-Miles of the Independent Mail For many of us, the connection to mom is unlike any other. It was mom who changed our diapers, rocked us to sleep in the wee hours of the morning, and became the person we turned to with the hard questions in life. In honor of all that our moms do on this Mother's Day, the Independent Mail reached out to readers this week and asked for them to share some of their favorite stories of their mothers. Here are some of those stories: Nisreen Waller's story about her mother: "My mom was always my No. 1 supporter. When I was diagnosed with multiple health issues, she wasn't concerned about the six months that the doctors gave her to live. She was focused on my wellbeing. While on life support, she struggled to shake her head, 'No,' when I asked if she was in any pain." Waller said her mother gasped her last breath after saying a prayer with her family and hearing from Waller that she and the rest of the family would be OK. "She gained her wings March 13, 2012," Waller said. "And her birthday is May 10, usually right at Mother's Day. I miss my mom dearly, but I am grateful that she is resting, in good hands, and she is at peace." Elaine Tumblin Hunt's story about her mother: Hunt's mother, Polly Beatrice Whitt Tumblin, was born in 1918 and was the fourth of eight children. She was 15 years old when she ran away to marry Hunt's father, who was 21 at the time. "Mother, being young, was probably not in the best of health for her age," Hunt wrote. "She lost the first three babies she bore. The three children she buried were boys, so my sister and I grew up without brothers. We missed them, but we knew the location of the three graves at Rehoboth Baptist Church." Hunt said that when her mother was pregnant with her sister she went into labor early due to toxemia. A premature child was born at home, but rushed to a Greenville hospital. Days later, Tumblin was sent home with her little girl, who weighed just 3 pounds, 2 ounces. "Imagine holding this baby home fresh from the hospital when the baby begins to nurse and all the milk suddenly runs out of its nose and it strangles," Hunt said. "As panic sets in, Doctor Dendy arrives. He informs my parents this new baby has a cleft palate and nursing a bottle might be impossible. When all the neighbors hear of the situation, they come to provide advice and support. Many of the older women begin to feed my sister every two hours with a spoon, holding her at a critical angle to prevent the milk from flowing up and out her nose. The assistance provided by caring neighbors helped stabilize my sister and provided mother with assistance when she needed it most." Two years later, Hunt's mother was pregnant and again experienced the same problems of toxemia and convulsions. She survived, yet again, and gave birth to a 9 pound baby girl, Elaine. Hunt's mother went back to work in the mills in the early 1950s, and she retired in 1973 after accruing only 15 years seniority due to layoffs and leaves of absences to care for family members. Her retirement pay from Kendall Mills began at $30 a month. "At age 80, she quietly told me doctors insisted that she have her tubes tied," Hunt said. "It was like a confession of wrongdoing. To her generation and those before her, producing children held religious significance and she thought she had failed in her mission. Polly Beatrice Whitt Tumblin was one tough woman." Tony Tilley's story about his mother: "She was a single mom in a time when that was a rarity. My parents divorced when I was very young. Unfortunately, my dad, who certainly made up for it later in his life, faced a lot of demons in his young adult years," Tilley said. "The fact is, Mama made it on her own with three little ones. I can still see her in the driveway under the hood of her old car changing spark plugs and oil." Tilley said his mother worked to keep that old car running so she could continue working and feeding her three kids. "Our house was sometimes chilly because we had to use our oil furnace sparingly, so when we really needed it we would have it," Tilley said. "We didn't always have a cupboard full of food, but we somehow always had enough." Stacy Thurman's story about her mother: "My brother, sister and I never knew what it felt like to lack. My mom made sure that we participated in any extracurricular activity that piqued our interest and some that simply ruffled our curiosity," Thurman said. "I was a Girl Scout, a pianist, a dancer, a gymnast, and I even took baton lessons. I played clarinet in the school band and cheered with the cheerleaders. I was able to participate in these things because of my mom's sacrifice of time and money." At one point, Thurman said she won a safety poster contest at Owens Corning and her prize was a 10-speed bike. "I was skinny and short for my age," Thurman said. "The bike was big. I remember someone telling my mom I could trade it in for something else since it was 'too big for me.' My mom shot back, 'No, she'll learn to ride it.' She was right. Those encouraging words led me to go outside with my big brother and watch him ride his 10-speed. He wasn't much taller than (me). My mom told me to pay attention to how he balanced it without sitting on the seat. Next thing I knew, I was riding right behind him. It was because of my mom's faith in me that I became a proud first-grader on a big 10-speed. "Whatever I was part of, my mom and dad pushed me to be the best, or at least do my best. Quitting was never an option. For that reason, I have worked only four jobs in my lifetime and have developed many skills and honed several talents." Sarah Jane Bates shares a story of her mother: "I have a learning disability and ADHD," Bates said. "(My mother, Mary Jane Bates) taught me how to be patient and to never give up. When I was younger, I had a hard time reading and she kept working with me and bringing in tutors until I could read better. Now, I am a junior at Anderson University." Follow Charmaine Smith-Miles on Twitter @Charmaine_AIM State Bank of India (SBI), countrys largest commercial bank, today announced the launch of mVisa, a mobile-based payment solution. The service will enable customers to make payments from their smartphones, by simply scanning the unique merchant QR (Quick Response) code, at merchant outlets. SBI), countrys largest commercial bank, today announced the launch of mVisa, a mobile-based payment solution. The service will enable customers to make payments from their smartphones, by simply scanning the unique merchant QR (Quick Response) code, at merchant outlets. mVisa is a card-less solution which facilitates payment by scanning the QR code displayed at the merchant outlet or from the merchants mobile. SBI customers (both Debit Card holders as well as Internet Banking customers, having transaction rights) can now make easy payments to the merchants by simply scanning QR code image, thereby eliminating the need to swipe the physical card at a point-of-sale (PoS) machine. Bank customer can simply download the latest version of SBI Anywhere application, from Google Play Store and need to register for mVisa payments by simply clicking the mVisa icon on the home screen. Similarly, SBI mVisa merchant app is also available in Google Play Store and is used for receiving the payment notification, generation of static and dynamic QR codes, viewing transaction history etc. by the merchants. SBI mVisa merchants can accept payment from any mVisa customers. While in case of static QR code amount is filled by the mVisa customer himself, in case of dynamic QR code amount can be filled by merchants and can be authorized by the customer after scanning of QR code. The mVisa service is a Bank agnostic and an interoperable low cost solution i.e. any Bank mVisa customer can transact on any mVisa merchants and likewise any mVisa merchant can accept payment from mVisa customers of any bank. It provides convenience of quick transaction, along with enhanced security, as customers need not share his/her Card or Mobile with the merchant anytime during the payment process. In first phase, State Bank of Indias mVisa service has been introduced in Bangalore city and Bank has already on-boarded sizable number of merchants in prominent market places at Bangalore. This facility will be gradually expanded to other cities. Speaking on the launch, Mrs. Manju Agarwal, DMD (CS &NB), SBI said, With availability of smart phones increasing by leaps and bounds, Mobile based payments in India haveto rise in a big way. Introduction of mVisa, a convenient scan and pay based option, to our existing customers (including merchant customers) is one more steptowards providing more convenience to our customers. This cost effective digital offering will not only provide our large base of consumers with an easy, convenient and secure payment product but will also facilitate small merchants with any-time payment, thereby changing the way businesses transact and customers pay. Mr. T.R. Ramachandran, Group Country Manager, India and South Asia, Visa, added, We congratulate SBI on the launch of mVisa, an innovative, next generation payment solution that enables secure, digital commerce through a connected device like mobile phone. mVisa is a new transformative way to pay and be paid and we are also working on building newer use cases for mVisa such as payments over the USSD channel, Cash-in, Cash-out etc. to be able to cater to a broader set of consumers and expanding the universe of digital payments across the country. Raghuram Rajan, Governor, RBI has given the speech at Shiv Nadar University, Delhi. has given the speech at Shiv Nadar University, Delhi. Convocation speeches are meant to give you one last set of issues to ponder on before you are let loose on the world. I will actually talk about two issues an economic point deriving from my training as an economist, and a point about private universities deriving from my work at one for over 20 years. I embark on this talk comforted by the knowledge that the bar for convocation speeches is low. If you even remember a word I say a few years from now, I will have surpassed the average convocation speaker most people dont remember who spoke at their convocation, let alone what they said. First, the economic point: In a very interesting recent book, Harvard philosopher Michael Sandel points to the range of things money can buy in modern society. He seems to want to make us angry at the growing dominance of the market.1 Professor Sandel worries not just about the corrupting nature of some exchanges as they are monetized but also questions their effectiveness; For instance, do kids really develop a love of reading if they are bribed to read books? He is also concerned about unequal access to money, which makes trades using money inherently unequal. More generally, Sandel fears that the expansion of anonymous monetary exchange breaks down social cohesion, and argues for reducing moneys role in society. While Sandels concerns are not entirely new, his examples are worth reflecting on. For instance, some companies pay the unemployed to stand in line for free public tickets to Congressional hearings in the United States. They then sell the tickets to lobbyists and corporate lawyers who have a business interest in the hearing but are too busy to stand in line. Clearly, public hearings are an important element of participatory democracy. All citizens should have equal access. So selling access seems a perversion of democratic principles. The fundamental problem, though, is scarcity. We cannot accommodate everyone in the room who might have interest in a particularly important hearing. So we have to sell entry. We can either allow people to use their time to bid for seats the one who stands the longest wins the seat -- or we can auction seats for money. The former seems fairer, because all citizens seemingly start with equal endowments of time -- we all start with 24 hours in a day. But is a single mother with a high pressure job and three young children as equally endowed with spare time as a student on summer vacation? And is society better off if she, the chief legal counsel in a large corporation, spends much of her time standing in line for hearings? Whether it is better to sell entry tickets for time or for money thus depends on what we hope to achieve. If we want to increase societys productive efficiency, peoples willingness to pay with money is a reasonable indicator of how much they will gain if they have access to the hearing. Auctioning seats for money makes sense the lawyer contributes more to society by preparing briefs than standing in line. On the other hand, if it is important that young impressionable citizens see how their democracy works, if it is important that we build social solidarity by making corporate executives stand in line with jobless teenagers, perhaps we should force people to bid with their time by standing in line, and make entry tickets non-transferable. And if we think that both objectives should play some role, perhaps we should turn a blind eye to some operators hiring those with spare time to stay in line in lieu of busy lawyers, so long as they do not corner all the seats. What about the sale of human organs, another example Sandel worries about? Something seems wrong when a lung or a kidney is sold for money. However, we celebrate the kindness of a stranger who donates a kidney to a young child. So, clearly, it is not the transfer of the organ that outrages us -- we do not think the donor is misinformed about the value of their kidney or is being fooled into parting with it. Nor, I think, do we have concerns about the scruples of the person selling the organ after all, they are parting irreversibly with something that is very dear to them for a price that few of us would agree to. I think part of our discomfort has to do with the circumstances in which the transaction takes place. What kind of society do we live in if people have to sell their organs to survive? But while a ban on organ sales may make us feel better, does it really make society better off? Possibly, if it makes society work harder to make sure people are never driven to the circumstances that would make them contemplate a sale. Possibly not, if it allows society to turn its back on the underlying problem, either moving the trade underground, or forcing people in dire circumstances to resort to worse remedies. But I also think part of our unease has to do with what we perceive as an unequal exchange. The seller is giving up part of her body in an irreversible transaction. The buyer is giving up only money perhaps earned on a lucky stock trade or through an overpaid job. If that money was earned by selling a portion of a lung, or by painful savings accumulated after years of backbreaking work, we might consider the exchange more equal. But the central virtue of money is precisely its anonymity. We need know nothing about the rupee we get to be able to use it. But because moneys anonymity obscures its provenance, it may be socially less acceptable as a medium of payment for some objects. Professor Sandel makes us think. But he seems to move too quickly to prescribe banning monetary transactions, when his real concern is perhaps with the unfair distribution of money. What he also seems to ignore are the virtues of anonymity. In a free market, all it takes to buy what you want is money. You do not need a pedigree, a great family history, the right table manners, or the right fashionable clothing or looks. It is because money has no odour, because it is the great equalizer, that so many people across history have been able to acquire resources and invested them to make the world we live in. Indeed, making it easy for Dalits to start businesses may do more for their social status because money empowers than many other forms of affirmative action. Rather than prohibiting the use of money and wealth, let us think about increasing societys tolerance for its use. What can you take away from all this? First, that it helps to question everything, including my interpretation of Sandel, for only with questioning comes clarity. Second, if you believe my interpretation, there is a strong link between societys support for free markets and the fairness with which wealth and opportunity is distributed among the population. Unfortunately, even while inequality between countries is diminishing today, inequality within countries is increasing. Today, even well-run market economies seem to be favouring those who already have plenty. In part, this is because skills and capabilities have become much more important in well-paid jobs, and those born in good circumstances have a much better chance at acquiring these. The winner-take-all nature of many occupations, where a few of the most capable entrepreneurs and the best workers take most of the income (think apps, architecture or acting, for example) accentuates the value of early childhood preparation; and hence the benefit of being born to the right parents in the right community. Income inequality is on the rise, with some having colossal incomes and others worrying about the next meal. What can we all do to restore faith in markets? We have to work to provide effective access to schooling and healthcare for all, a non-discriminating job market with many jobs, equal opportunities for further advancement regardless of gender, race or background. All this will increase the perceived legitimacy of wealth and societys willingness to broaden the areas where it is spent. Thoughtful philanthropy, as reflected in the founding of this school, can further help enhance societys acceptance of great wealth. Finally, as you embark on careers that are likely to be very successful, you should earn by creating perceptible value and, equally, spend to create value. Not only will your work be more enjoyable, but you will strengthen the economic freedoms we sometimes take for granted. Let me turn briefly to my point about private education. Private education across the world is expensive, especially in high-quality research universities, and getting more expensive all the time. That is because the critical resource, good professors, is in short supply. Two solutions are proposed. One is technology. Why not have the best professors beam lectures at thousands of students over the net? The problem is that while such classes seem theoretically attractive, completion rates are abysmal. We do not finish such courses perhaps for the same reason we do not simply take a course syllabus and read the recommended books in the library there are too many distractions in life for us to complete without other forms of compulsion. Online courses still need to figure out, not just how to get student commitment, but also how to provide the learning support that a university community and environment offers. A second solution is to dispense with research and to have teachers who do not do research. After all, such teachers do not need Ph.Ds, and there should be many more available. Yet it does appear that students prefer degrees from research universities in the United States to those from teaching colleges, even for their undergraduate degrees where students do little research. Let me conjecture why. It is not that research professors know more about the basic material that has to be taught their research is often specialized in a narrow area. Neither does research necessarily make you a good teacher understanding the material at a deeper level may sometimes make it more difficult to explain. I do think, however, that good research requires curiosity. Almost all researchers remain curious through their lives, and constantly update their teaching material to reflect developments in the field. I would conjecture, though I have no proof, this is why teaching at research universities is, on average, preferred to teaching at teaching colleges you are taught more up-to-date challenging material in the former. The bottom line is that education at high quality research universities will remain expensive for a while, certainly till we learn to combine technology and people better. Given the need to broaden access to all the deserving, we have to make degrees affordable. One part of the solution is student loans, but we have to be careful that student loans are repaid in full by those who have the means, while they are forgiven in part for those who fall on bad times, or those who take low paying public service jobs. We also should make sure that unscrupulous schools do not prey on uninformed students, leaving them with high debt and useless degrees. A second part of the solution is philanthropy, not just by the founders, but by the successful students from a university. Giving back to the university is a way of subsidizing the costs of future generations acknowledging the subsidies you received from the founders when you got your degree. I hope we develop a strong culture of alumni giving in India. You have been very patient in listening to me. Let me conclude. India is changing, in many ways for the better. You will be able to help shape our country, the world, and your place in it. By all means set yourself ambitious goals. But remember that, as both ancient Indian philosophers and modern day behavioural psychologists say, the achievement of narrow personal goals -- greater wealth, rapid promotion, or increasing renown rarely brings you anything other than brief pleasure. I dont claim to know the secret of happiness, but this seems obvious if you like the journey, if you get pleasure from the work you do, it matters far less when, or indeed whether, you reach your destination. You have far more control over the journey you choose. And often the most enjoyable journeys are those where your goals are broader and where you take others with you, especially others who could not make it without your help. In doing so, you will make this world a better, and more stable, place. What makes a city popular? While there can be many answers to this, there is one thing that is a universal truth. Art and culture are two things that make a city stand out from the rest. Most of the cities across the globe are home to beautiful, ancient and modern works of art. Be it monuments built by the ancestors or sculptures made by the modern people. Art is something that attracts the attention of all. Well, mostly! What we sometimes fail to notice is that most of the unique and amazing sculptures can be found in secret streets and not explored a lot by the tourists and locals. These awe-inspiring sculptures reveal the creative capacity of the human kind. From Singapore to Switzerland, New York to India, heres a list of 24 such masterpieces that will leave you inspired. Check them out below: #1 Jatayu Park, Kerala, India pinterest #2 Pillars Of Asoka, Bihar, India pintrest #3 Doll structure, Vizag, India pinterest #4 Triumph Of Labor, Chennai, India pintrest #5 Mihai Eminescu, Onesti, Romania pintrest #6 The Monument Of An Anonymous Passerby, Wroclaw, Poland pintrest #7 Expansion, New York, USA pintrest #8 Hippo Sculptures, Taipei, Taiwan pintrest #9 Break Through From Your Mold, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA pintrest #10 People Of The River, Singapore pintrest #11 The Shoes On The Danube Bank, Budapest, Hungary pintrest #12 Spider, Tate Modern, London, UK pintrest #13 Salmon Sculpture, Portland, Oregon, USA pintrest #14 Kelpies, Grangemouth, UK pintrest #15 De Vaartkapoen, Brussels, Belgium pintrest #16 Cattle Drive, Dallas, Texas, USA pintrest #17 Les Voyageurs, Marseilles, France pintrest #18 Black Ghost, Klaipeda, Lithuania pintrest #19 Life-Size Statues Portray Scene From The World War, Eceabat, Turkey pintrest #20 The Shark, Oxford, UK pintrest #21 The Knotted Gun, Turtle Bay, New York, USA pintrest #22 Man Hanging Out, Prague, Czech Republic pintrest #23 Rundle Mall Pigs, Adelaide, Australia pintrest #24 Nelson Mandela, South Africa pintrest Water diviner Channappa Mithkari's schedule is packed and he travels 24x7 as water scarcity gets acute in Latur in May. In the last couple of months, Channappa has 'identified' about 600 sites in Latur and nearby villages to dig borewells with his 'unique power' to find location, depth and yield of groundwater. Latur city has about 50,000 borewells and the number is growing. sandrp.wordpress In drought-hit Marathwada, water diviners like Channappa are considered more 'reliable' than government's Groundwater Surveys and Development Agency (GSDA). While some use various tools, there are many who claim to possess divine power. Some others say they can identify underground water because of their specific blood group or because they are breech born. I use copper rods to sense current of water: Diviner newindianexpress Channappa, who has been in this business since 1989, says: "With help of V-shaped copper-rods, I can sense the current of water. This is science, not superstition." However, when asked how many times he has failed in detecting water, Channappa evades the question saying he has further appointments. He identifies about 1,000 sites for digging borewells every year and his fees ranges between Rs 5,000 and 10,000. GSDA, on the other hand, charges Rs 1,000-1,500 for finding water. cloudfront The GSDA prepares a hydrological remote sensing map before conducting a field visit. Also, the well inventory is recorded to understand water table before finalising the location to dig a borewell. "We use electrical resistivity method as additional tool to ensure water availability and then correlate all study to identify the spot," says Khandale. But Satyavan Darphalkar, a retired zilla parishad headmaster in Osmanabad, describes GSDA's methods as 'irrational', saying: "The real science is in traditional knowledge. It is all about how the cosmos works. The direction of grass grown on ground shows the underground flow of water. Even government officers and agencies come to me seeking my advice". Rajabhau Jadhav, a farmer in Latur with 60-acre farmland who has dug 18 borewells, is unsure of water divining but is ready to bet on it. "Only thing I know is that water diviner has helped me get water," says Jadhav. indianexpress Some farmers complain that they are forced to seek water diviners' help because of lack of response from GSDA office where their application is kept pending for months. "It is a fact that GSDA is too busy with government assignments in Latur and hence individual requests are delayed," admits Khandale. Ironically, almost all borewells in Latur district have gone dry, a reason why government has arranged for a special train to provide water. People have dug up 500 feet deep and still not struck water. But this has not stopped water diviners from 'identifying' water spots. Latur based water expert Atul Deulgaonkar says the situation is scary and the government must strictly implement groundwater law. With a vacant expression on his face and bloodshot eyes, Rajendra Sisodiya, the newly appointed sarpanch of Badi village in Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh, sits in front of his house in a blazing May afternoon, wondering how he will discharge his new responsibilities. representational image. Source: outlookindia.com Sisodiya was made sarpanch two months ago after his cousin Jeevan, the elected village head, committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree in front of his house. His mother and brother, too, had killed themselves. In a bizarre combination of financial distress, superstition and clinical depression, Khargone, officially one of the country's 250 most backward districts, has reported 381suicides in the past one year. Of these unnatural deaths, Badi village in the district, with a population of around 2,500, has reported more than 350 suicides in the last two decades. "In the first three months of this year, 80 Badi villagers have killed themselves," said Khargone SP Amit Singh. Every household in the village of Badi (Madhya Pradesh) has had a suicide. "There are 320 families in our village and at least one person from each has killed himself or herself," said Sisodiya. The sarpanch attributes the deaths to a "demonic presence" in the village But psychiatrists this correspondent spoke to pointed at rational causes behind the high rate of suicide. Indore-based psychiatrist Dr Srikanth Reddy said the suicides are related to depression and schizophrenic episodes among villagers, possibly due to excessive use of pesticides, apart from financial stress. "Depression isn't something people here are easily able to relate to or identify. When they are unable to find any reason, they associate it with locally explainable phe nomenon like demonic presence," said Dr Reddy , adding that the issue needs urgent notice of authorities. representational image of a woman from Khargaon district of which Badi is a part. Image: Reuters "Apart from financial distress, there could be other causes for this depression. In a study some years ago in China, where a large number of farmers in a particular area were committing suicide, it was found that insecticides used there contained organophosphate, which is highly toxic and causes depressive mental conditions. Suicides in Badi and in Khargone at large, therefore, need to be probed," Dr Reddy told. Most Khargone villagers grow cash crops like cotton and its failure hits them hard, sending them into financial distress. Similar conditions exist in Vidarbha in Maharashtra, and Khargone is along MP-Maharashtra border. Alarmed by these unnatural deaths, Khargone collector Ashok Verma has decided to form a committee to probe the suicides. "This is a very grave situation and we need to act fast. The villagers lack confidence and motivation and it's very important to counsel them," Verma said. anweshanam.com A few Badi residents give hope. Groups of women counsel their men and their activism has led to a ban on sale of liquor in the village. "But even if liquor is prohibited in Badi, our men go to adjoining villages to get drunk," said Sunita Singh, a Badi resident. Jitendra Kushwaha, a police chowki in-charge, said, "Even when these villagers get hurt, they go to quacks instead of hospitals. Many suicides were psychologically ill.They were not taken to doctors for fear of social stigma." When Bangalore-based Maa Gou Products (MGP) approached BigBasket to distribute its range of cow-urine based products in September, the online retailer agreed to do it on a trial basis. The products were initially put in the 'just in time' category, which meant that BigBasket would not keep inventory, but would source them from the manufacturer when it received an order. As it turns out, the MGP range - which includes a floor cleaner, tooth powder, balm and face pack -- has proved to be a hit, with monthly sales in Bangalore crossing Rs one lakh. "They are fast moving products, so we have now decided to carry an inventory and offer them in all our centres," says BigBasket CEO Hari Menon. midday Started in 2011 with an investment of Rs 1.2 crore, MGP is the brainchild of five experienced businessmen, one of whom is the Kolkata-based Radhe Shyam Goenka, co-founder of Emami, who has been lending the cosmetics company's expertise to the venture. m_m_flickr The packaging for the MGP range is designed by Emami and the formulation for perfumed products like agarbatti is from the company's research and development laboratories. "There are more than 50 units processing cow urine in India, but we've tried to bring a more professional approach to manufacture and marketing," says Goenka. That cow urine is in demand not just in India, but around the world, became evident recently when health authorities in London raised objections to shopkeepers placing cow urine concentrate on shelves next to food items. The supplier, it this case, turned out to be an ISKON temple in Watford, which runs a dairy. ISKON India is also a big processor of cow urine with seven units attached to the gaushalas (cow shelters) it runs across the country. "A litre of our distillate retails for Rs 200, three times the price of milk. For ISKON gaushalas, milk is a by-product," says Damodar Das, ISKON's minister for cow protection. The gaushala cows don't produce much milk - but they do produce lots of urine. With well-to-do believers ready to pay good money for well-packaged, well-distributed products, producers are now getting organized. Anand Rathi, founder-chairman of AnandRathi Financial Services and one of MGP's promoters, explains the costing: "We pay Rs 10 per litre for morning urine and Rs 1.5 per kg of dung (which goes into mosquito coils and agarbatti). The average gaushala cow produces three litres of morning urine and four kg of dung per day, which fetches Rs 36. This is enough to cover its feeding expenses of Rs 35 a day." MGP is now a profit making privately-held company, sourcing from eight gaushalas (with 1600 cows) in Karnataka and Kerala. Baba Ramdev recently made an offer to buy up all of MGP's urine concentrate on an exclusive basis, but the deal fell through. Mahavir Sonika is another promoter of MGP and since his export house, Suneeta Impex, is based in Bangalore, he's effectively MGP's CEO. "We inverted because we believed in the project. We are glad it has now become self-sustaining," he says. It will take months to put out the blaze that is scorching large parts of Alberta's oil sands town, firefighters have said. Video from one of my #firefighters taken am. #ymmfire he fought all night non stop. Said he ate a lot of bad smoke pic.twitter.com/EeauogFjLB Chad Sartison (@firefighters1st) May 4, 2016 In the meantime, there are fears the the wildfire could double its reach, and touch neighboring province of Saskatchewan, and it is estimated to cover more than 200,000 hectares (494,211 acres) by Sunday. Time lapse from my office pic.twitter.com/RWFx0pE7Yp Ryan Jeffries (@RyanJeffriesWFG) May 3, 2016 This area includes burned land and those areas still in flames. The fire started last Sunday and has destroyed about than 2,000 square kilometers of northern Alberta forest. The view from the air is heartbreaking. Thanks to everyone working hard to get this fire under control. #ymmfire pic.twitter.com/uZ3GBLlqAW Rachel Notley (@RachelNotley) May 4, 2016 Fuelled by high temperatures, dry conditions and high winds, and is, in no way...under control,'' Chad Morrison of Alberta Wildfire said. No deaths or injuries Eerie...NASA satellite captures Alberta, Canada, fire from space pic.twitter.com/ckPDMCFGnW Jim Peppard (@JimPeppard1) May 6, 2016 Officials had attempted to evacuate work camps north of Fort McMurray on Saturday, and thousands saw burning and scorched neighborhoods in convoys escaping the blaze. No deaths or injuries have been reported since the fire started last Sunday. Notley said about 12,000 evacuees have been airlifted from oil sands mine air-fields over the past two days, and about 7,000 have left in highway convoys escorted by police. She said the goal was to complete the evacuation from northern work camps by Sunday. The fire could reach the edges of the Suncor oil sands facility, about 25 km north of Fort McMurray. Non-essential staff have been evacuating and efforts to protect the site were underway. Notley, however, said that the facility was highly resilient to forest fires. Oil sands mines are cleared and have no vegetation. The Alberta oil sands have the third-largest reserves of oil in the world behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Its workers largely live in Fort McMurray where some neighborhoods have been destroyed. Over 80,000 people have left Fort McMurray, and fires have torched 1,600 homes and other buildings. Gas has been turned off, the power grid is damaged and water is not drinkable. When do they return? Officials dont know Officials said there is no timeline to return residents to the city, but the Alberta government has begun preliminary planning, though it stresses fighting the fire is still the first priority. Officials are moving everyone south where it is safer. #ymmfire new updated map as of today 4am. Shows progression from previous tweet. A long day ahead!! pic.twitter.com/t3Exu65mTC Chad Sartison (@firefighters1st) May 4, 2016 Morrison of Alberta Wildfires said cooler temperatures were expected Sunday and over the next week. "We feel that it will hold there if we get some cooler conditions over the next two or three days,'' he said. They could get rainfall Sunday but significant rainfall is needed. Braving challenges en route their fossil-finding mission in Antarctica, a team of international scientists recently unearthed a treasure trove of dinosaur remains that date back 70 million years! The archaeologists, after overcoming the many difficulties of their tour, unearthed ancient fossils of dinosaurs, birds, and marine animals that walked the earth so many moons ago. Dooringtalkies/Facebook It wasn't an easy trip to the remotest place on earth. To reach Antarctica, the scientists literally survived a gruelling five-day trip through the Drake Passage, known for the roughness of its eaters. After literally surviving the violent seas, the fossil-hunters set up base with the help of helicopters and inflatable boats. news.com.au The team spent five weeks on the James Ross Island located on the Antarctic Peninsula. They camped on Vega island and hiked over 10 km every day to reach their excavation site. news.com.au The archaeologists unearthed more than a tonne of fossils that lived during the late Cretaceous Period. The stash discovered will take them years to catalogue and research. For the time being, however, the fossils will be taken to Chile and then to Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Lolita is an orca or a killer whale. Like many others of her kind, she is seriously misunderstood. Killer whales belong to the dolphin family and are highly social. They interact with each other actively and even search for food as a group. The hunting tactics in which all members participation is essential are fundamental to their survival. Because of their reputation from being fierce in their hunting as a group, orcas are sometimes called the Ballena asesina ("assassin whale") by the Spanish. They were referred to as "whale killers" by sailors who witnessed their attacks on larger cetaceans (whales), and over time this name was changed to "killer whales". There is no record of a wild killer whale killing a human! SeaWorld of Hurt Lolita is a killer whale who was snatched away from her family 45 years ago, by humans. She has been living in zoos, performing acts to entertain visitors. She is currently at the Miami Seaquariam, and has been there the past 36 years! The tank she calls home is North America's smallest orca tank. The Dodo People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals had started a petition to pressurise the authorities of Miami Seaquariam to release Lolita into a coastal sanctuary for her rehabilitation. "Lolita has been the only orca at the Miami Seaquarium since her tankmate died 30 years ago. She has no opportunity to socialise or interact with other members of her species, which is excruciating for such a social and intelligent animal. When she is not forced to perform, Lolita has no other choice but to float in place or swim in endless circles. Visitors to the Miami Seaquarium see mere shadows of an orca who is denied the opportunity to engage in any natural behaviour,"says the release from PETA. My Dream For Animals "Marine parks such as the Miami Seaquarium teach all the wrong lessons: that it is acceptable to imprison animals, deprive them of freedom of movement and thought, prevent them from exploring and establishing their natural territory, breed and separate them as we please, and allow them to go insane from loneliness," adds the release. Wikimedia You can sign the petition here and help send Lolita back to her free-roaming family in the ocean. The first image is by Wolfgang Kaehler/Getty Images A large protest rally outside the Greek Parliament on Sunday afternoon was mostly broken up after a group of unknown persons threw firebombs, flares and rocks towards nearby riot police, which set off a tit-for-tat between authorities and the mostly masked rioters. The 2016 Appropriation Act signed by President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday will run until May 2017, the Presidency has said. The president on Friday gave assent to the N6.06 trillion 2016 budget passed by the National Assembly. Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly (Senate), Ita Enang, who spoke in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State on Sunday, explained thatThe Act provides that the budget takes effects from the date assented to by the president, and run a full course of 12 months. The former Senate Committee Chairman on Rules and Business continued: So, as the president assented to this budget on the 6th of May, 2016, this budget will last and expire on 6th of May 2017. This is an ingenious introduction by the National Assembly to ensure that there is full implementation of the budget. Mr. Enang also thanked Nigerians for their patience during the budget debacle, even as he commended the Senate and the House of Representatives members whom he said demonstrated bi-partisanship during the controversy that trailed the exclusion of the Lagos-Calabar rail project from the budget. I want to thank the Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, and members of the PDP in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. They were bi-partisan, and they worked like one Nigeria, he said. The presidential aide said apart from the Lagos-Calabar rail project, there was another big project in the budget for residents of Cross River and Akwa Ibom. This, he said, was the proposed construction of a dual carriage-way along Odukpani-Itu-Ikot-Ekpene Highway, which links the two South-South states together. I would want to call it the legacy project, the presidential aide said, adding that N6 billion has been provided for the take-off of the road project in the 2016 budget. The road will ease the suffering of the people, he said. Mr. Enang also told reporters that President Buhari has not introduced any grazing reserve bill to the National Assembly as widely speculated. The bill was rumoured to contain provisions that will mandate creation of grazing reserves for herdsmen in all states of the federation. The former senator also spoke on personal lessons he learnt during the 2016 budget crisis to include speaking less, and working more. Two, explain to your boss, your employer, and the people who are expecting results from you, how difficult it was to attain and bring a result, and not why result was not brought. The experience is that, no matter how hard a thing is, work through it, and when your wit seems to be running out, pray, and work harder. The governing All Progressives Congress (APC) on Friday hailed the signing of Nigerias 2016 Appropriation Bill into law by President Muhammadu Buhari. In a statement issued in Abuja on behalf of the APC, the national chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, also commended the Senate and House of Representatives for its successful consideration and passage of the 2016 National Budget. The APC calls on Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies to ensure effective and speedy implementation of the 2016 Appropriation Act so that the objectives of the unprecedented N6.06 trillion 2016 National Budget of Change will be realised. Commendably, 30 per cent of the 2016 budgetary provision has been committed to capital projects, Mr. Odigie-Oyegun. The governing party also commended Nigerians for their patience and understanding during the consideration, passage and eventual presidential assent to the 2016 Appropriation Act, stating that the 2016 budget caters for many of the promises made to the Nigerian electorate by the party. The APC assures Nigerians that the 2016 budget caters for many of the promises made to the Nigerian electorate by the party in the course of the 2015 presidential campaign. This includes the safety net created to cater for the poorest and most vulnerable Nigerians amongst other pro-people developmental policies. Already, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has announced that the implementation of the 2016 budget will focus on 34 key programmes grouped under four thematic areas security/policy governance, diversification of economy, succour for vulnerable Nigerians, and reflating the economy through investments. The APC hereby calls on all stakeholders and well-meaning Nigerians to support and ensure the success of the laudable programmes contained in the 2016 National budget as they will positively affect every facet of Nigerias socio-economic life, the statement read. The member representing Ikorodu Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Babajimi Benson, has once again urged Nigerians not to lose faith in the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government. The lawmaker, who was reacting to the signing of the 2016 budget by the president, expressed confidence that Nigerians would soon begin to feel the impact of good governance. Benson, who cautioned those complaining about the seeming slow pace of governance, said they should always remember that the country was in deep crises before the emergence of the current administration and time was needed to come up with effective ways of salvaging the situation. The federal lawmaker stated this during a meeting with members of the iCARE Movement in Ikorodu at the weekend. Benson, who said the APC administration in Lagos State is determined to fulfill all its electoral promises, said, President Buhari has learnt from the past mistakes of previous administrations and he is taking his time to avert mistakes. He further said with the signing of the budget by President Buhari last week, Nigerians should expect to see the gradual implementation of programmes already outlined by the ruling party, adding that the current administrations at both federal and state levels are people friendly and as such, the welfare of Nigerians will take the front burner always. I am happy, like most Nigerians, that the budget has finally being signed by the President. It is a good development and we must all know that following the long delay, what we finally got signed into law is a budget that is tailored to put the people first in all things. Henceforth, we should begin to see the fulfillment of electoral promises. Like the federal government, the APC government in Lagos State, led by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, is also determined to fulfill electoral promises made to the good people of the state. APC as a party will not fail the people and I can only urge us all to believe in the change we voted for, he said. Benson thanked the people of Ikorodu for believing in him and promised not to let them down in any way. You all sent me to Abuja. I am in Abuja for you and I will always put your interest first in all I do or say at the national assembly, he added. The whereabouts of N15 billion out of the N23.29 billion ($115m) allegedly offered as bribe by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, officials to compromise the 2015 presidential election, has been traced by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. The EFCC has also identified four directors of four oil firms suspected of substantially bankrolling the N23.29 billion election bribery scandal while some former Ministers in the former administration arrested in connection with the scandal, were battling for bail last night. They are: former Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Dr Nurudeen Muhammad and immediate-past Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Aminu Bashir Wali. The Nation, which cited well-placed sources in the EFCC, reported that the anti-graft agency had traced over N15billion of the bribe cash as follows: the Seven North-West states N5,097,064,000; REC and five others N681m; Cross River PDP chairman N500m; INEC officials in Oyo and Ogun N359m; Fidelity Bank profit of N49.7m from the deal and two politicians from South-East N700m. The source said: EFCC chairman Ibrahim Magu and his crack team have gone far in tracing more than N15billion of the N23.29billion which was shared to party leaders and INEC officials in the six geopolitical zones to influence election results and to stop APC from being declared as the winner of the 2015 presidential election. Some of the beneficiaries have started refunding the cash given to them. We have the list of all beneficiaries from Fidelity Bank. This is one of the reasons why we kept the MD of the bank and Head of Operations in custody. Our priority is to recover the bribe cash. By the time we get reports from all the geopolitical zones, we would have tracked down the bribe sum. Findings confirmed that the poll bribery cash was shared between February and April 2015 in a desperate and untidy manner. Our concern is not about any party but the use of proceeds from stolen oil to bribe INEC officials. It would be recalled that the EFCC identified the immediate-past Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, as the brain behind the $115million (N23.29b) election bribery scam. Mrs. Alison-Madueke, it was, who allegedly instructed some oil barons to part with $88.35 million of the $115 million (N23.29b), while she provided the remaining balance, which was deposited with Fidelity Bank. Besides the former minister, who is undergoing treatment for cancer in the U.K even as she is also under investigation by that countrys government, some of those quizzed so far by the EFCC in connection to the scandal are the Managing Director of Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo; Head of Operations, Martin Izuogbe; Cross River States Chairman of the PDP, Mr. Ntufam John Okon (N500m); Muhammad (N500,000,000); Wali (N 950,000,000); Retired INEC staff, Sani Isa (N 406,206,000); Leno Adesanya ($1.85m); Sen. Chris Anyanwu and Mike Ahamba (N700m) each. Others are Cross River REC, Gesil Khan for collecting N185, 842,000 out of a N681 million bribe deal; Fidelia Omoile (Electoral Officer in Isoko-South Local Government Area of Delta State) N112,480,000; Uluochi Obi Brown (INECs Administrative Secretary in Delta State) N111,500,000; a former Deputy Director of INEC in Cross River state, Edem Okon Effanga N241,127,000 and the Head of Voter Education of INEC in Akwa Ibom, Immaculata Asuquo N214,127,000. Sources said last night that the ex-Ministers (Muhammad and Wali), who were taken into custody on Wednesday, have been battling for bail. We will grant them bail as appropriate after we may have concluded our investigation. Their counsel were mounting pressure on us for bail as at Friday but I cannot tell you the exact status now, the source said. Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has described the continued detention of a former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Warimopei Dudafa, and Fridays siege on the home of a former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, as the height of executive rascality. The governor said the EFCC operatives must understand that the nation is currently running a democratic system in which respect for the rule of law is sacrosanct. In a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Mr. Fayose condemned the siege laid on Mr. Fani-Kayodes home despite an invitation by the EFCC for the former minister to appear on Monday at its headquarters for questioning. The EFCC under President Muhammadu Buhari is acting as if it is above the law and Nigerians and the international community must remind the commission that we are in a democracy where rule of law is sacrosanct, Mr. Fayose said. He recalled that the EFCC was recently upbraided by a judge for the uncivilised manner the agency treats suspects. The EFCC must be reminded of the judgment delivered in March, this year by Justice Yusuf Haliru of the Federal High Court in Nicholas Arinse Vs EFCC & Nigerian Army where the judge held that the EFCC did not behave as if we were in a civilised society and that the anti-graft commission was behaving as if we were in a military dictatorship, where they arrest and release person at will. In the case of the former Special Assistant on Domestic Affairs to ex-President Jonathan, no one is saying those suspected of corrupt practices should not be investigated and tried, but it is wrong for Warimopei Dudafa to have been kept in EFCC custody for over two weeks without trial. Also, it is a demonstration of barbarism for the same EFCC that invited Fani-Kayode to its office on Monday to have invaded his house yesterday, holding the occupants hostage for eight hours when there is no evidence that Fani-Kayode refused to honour EFCC invitation. Why the show of barbarism by the EFCC as if Nigeria is now back to 1984 when Buhari was a military dictator? the governor questioned. While calling on the international community to pay attention to the abuse of rights of citizens and threat to democracy under the Buhari administration, Gov. Fayose noted that it is obvious that democracy in Nigeria is becoming unsafe in the hands of Buharis government. He said Nigerians must begin to ask the EFCC what happened to the several petitions written against APC leaders and financiers of the presidents election, including ex-governors, adding that it was disturbing that the EFCC and Department of State Services, DSS, have become tools of political persecution in the hands of President Buhari. The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Abeokuta in Ogun State, Kayode Odetoyinbo, has cautioned the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, against dragging itself into the murky waters of politics. The Catholic cleric gave the warning on Sunday in Abeokuta during during an interactive session with journalists as part of the SS Peter and Paul Churchs activities to mark the World Communication Day. The CAN is set to elect a new national president in July a development that resulted in allegations that the Presidency was planning to install a stooge as head of the foremost Christian body. The Presidency, however, dismissed the allegation, saying President Muhammadu Buhari does not interfere in the internal affairs of any organisation. CAN is not a political party and should not be turned to a political party, Odetoyinbo warned. Let God choose the right person for the association. The cleric also declined to state whether or not he would seek election to become the president of the umbrella body for Christians in the country. I cant just wake up one day and say I want to be the president, he said. The Bishops conference has final say on that, so for now I am not saying I have interest. While not ruling himself out of contention, Mr. Odetoyinbo also offered some advice to whomever emerges as the CAN president to replace the outgoing president, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor. The leadership should know that all churches belong to him, and not leader of a section of the churches. The CAN should speak with one voice. CAN should reunite all churches, he stated. The clergyman, who advised the next leadership to learn from mistakes of the past, also restated the Catholic Churchs view on alcohol consumption. There is nothing wrong in alcohol consumption, only that it has to be done with moderation, he said. Take note anything you do without moderation becomes a problem. Even when you take food or water without moderation it becomes a problem. The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) on Sunday advised its staff to strictly adhere to safety standards and procedures recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). A statement signed by the General Manager, Corporate Affairs (FAAN) Mr Yakubu Dati, which was obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos quoted the Managing Director of FAAN, Mr Saleh Dunoma, as giving the advice while addressing staff of the department of Aerodrome Rescue and Fire Fighting Services at the Kaduna Airport. Dunoma urged them to put into practice the knowledge they acquired at the recent training conducted by FAAN to enhance service delivery at airports. He also advised the workers to cultivate maintenance culture so as to derive maximum benefits from heavy duty vehicles and equipment. The federal government has denied ruling out full implementation of the 2016 budget, saying it aims and would strive to achieve 100 per cent implementation of the budget, despite the late signing of the fiscal document. The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, had reportedly told State House correspondents on Friday shortly after President Muhammadu Buhari signed the 2016 budget into law in his office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja that the budget may not be fully implemented due to the late start. Refuting the report in a statement yesterday, the media aide to the minister, Mr Akpandem James, said his boss only conceded that the late approval might constrain full implementation. Nevertheless the federal government intends to still try its best to achieve 100 per cent implementation, James said. He also claimed that at no time did Mr. Udoma rule out the possibility of full implementation as reported. The Federal Government has moved a step closer towards achieving its plan of generating 10,000 megawatts of electricity by 2019 following discussions with the Governor of Taraba State, Arc. Darius Ishaku, over the construction of 3,050 megawatts Mambilla Hydropower plant in the state. The Minister of Power, Babatunde Fashola, who made the disclosure yesterday, said the project would be the single largest power plant in the country when completed. He said: Weve opened discussions with the Governor of Taraba State, Governor Darius Ishaku, who incidentally was once a Minister of State for Power. The first thing to do is to acquire the land and deal with compensation issues, which the governor has promised to deal with, Fashola added. When completed, he added, the Mambilla Hydropower plant would be the single largest power plant with over 3,000mw in one place and it potentially takes us close to steady power. According to Fashola, the feasibility study and Environmental Impact Assessment for the project have been conducted, expressing the optimism that we move one day at a time closer to starting Mambilla. The project, which has been valued at $5.732 billion (about N1.140 trillion), is to be handled by two Chinese companies Gezhouba Construction Group Corporation (GCGC) and the Sinohydro Corporation. An official said the project has a completion date of 63 months following which it would be handed over to the federal government. Nigeria is expected to contribute 25 per cent of the projects total cost while the China Export Import Bank will provide the remaining 75 per cent. The national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has waded into the rift between Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State and his predecessor, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso. The national chairman of APC, John Odigie-Oyegun, who briefed journalists after the group rose from a meeting at the weekend in Abuja, said the party had so far made a tremendous progress. Gentlemen of the press, we have been holding a meeting, dealing with the crisis we have in our party in Kano State and this is not the first meeting we are holding in respect of that, Mr. Odigie-Oyegun said. We discussed the issue of the crisis we have in Kano and so far, I can say we have made a tremendous progress. From the conclusion of todays interaction with both the governor and the former governor, they both have agreed to work together in the interest of the people and their party. Theyll put behind whatever differences that might have opened the window for discord and I can assure that for the party in Kano. We have better days now that the two leaders have agreed to embrace peace and that is all we have to tell you now, the chairman said. He said the settlement of the discord between both leaders would trickle down to the people at the state level until peace is achieved all over the state. The meeting was attended by party chieftains in the state including Musa Gwadabe, Sule Hamman, Yusuf Ali and the two major actors in the political crises Ganduje and Kwankwaso. The federal government has expressed interest in partnering with the Akwa Ibom State Government on the operations of Ibom Specialist Hospital, Uyo, to discourage medical tourism abroad. The world class Ibom Specialist Hospital was built by the immediate past administration of Governor Godswill Akpabio to boost health service delivery and make the state the hub of medical tourism in the country. Impressed with the quality of facilities at the hospital, the Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole, who carried an inspection visit to the facility in Uyo, the state capital, said with what he saw on ground, medical tourism abroad could be reversed. Visiting the hospital complex today is an eye opener, there is no such complex like this anywhere in Nigeria, the minister said. Adewole announced that with the proposed partnership, no Nigerian would be allowed to travel overseas for medical treatment on government sponsorship from Jan. 2017. We will partner to make sure that it works and reverses medical tourism. People from Ghana and Togo can come to Nigeria for medical treatment. We will start using this facility. With this facility, no Nigerian will be allowed to go abroad for treatment, he said. The minister also warned medical doctors to desist from running a syndicate of sending people abroad for treatment for pecuniary interests. However, he said that individuals could go abroad on their own expenses if they so wish but not on government sponsorship. The minister also said that the state-owned Diagnostic Centre at Ikot Ekpene would be converted to Lassa Fever Diagnostic Centre. Adewole lauded the state government for constructing the Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) at Ikot Ekpene to help reduce the pressure on the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH). Earlier, the minister and his entourage had paid a courtesy visit on Governor Udom Emmanuel at Government House. Mr. Emmanuel had appealed for assistance from the federal government to make the state a healthcare tourism destination in Nigeria. He noted that the state government had invested much in the health sector and would like the federal government to help boost the patronage of the Ibom Specialist Hospital. The Federal Government has banned the arbitrary launch of drones into the countrys airspace without official permission saying it would apply requisite sanctions on perpetrators. The government said the rise in recent years in the use of unlicenced drones either in the form of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) or Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) posed grave consequences to national security and had to be stopped. In a statement on Sunday by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, all persons or corporate establishments wishing to launch drones into the countrys airspace for whatever reasons were ordered to obtain licences from both the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). Part of the NCAA statement read: The development of the use of Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) nationwide has emerged with somewhat predictable safety concerns and security threats to Nigeria, In recent times, these RPA and UAV are being deployed for commercial and recreational purposes in the country without adequate security clearance. Therefore mo government agency, organisation or an individual will launch an RPA/UAV in the Nigerian airspace for any purpose whatsoever without obtaining requisite approvals/permit from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and Office of National Security Adviser (NSA), the statement added. The NCAA regulates the aviation sector on behalf of the Nigerian government. The NCAA said the proliferation of drones in Nigeria had necessitated some form of safety guidelines or regulations from the NCAA or the office of the NSA. With the preponderance of these operations particularly in a non segregated airspace, there has to be proactive safety guidelines, the NCAA said. The NCAA has therefore put in place Regulations/Advisory Circular to guide the certification and operations of civil RPA in the Nigerian airspace. This is contained in the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig.CARs 2015 Part 8.8.1.33) and Implementing Standards (Nig.CARs 2015 Part IS.8.8.1.33). Operators must ensure strict compliance with the conditions stipulated in their permits and the requirements. Violators shall be sanctioned, the NCAA concluded. Source:TheSun The Metropolitan Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, yesterday tasked the President Muhammadu Buhari administration on the need to device effective means of ending the wanton killings of innocent Nigerians by herdsmen, and kidnapping, among other social vices. The Catholic Bishop noted that there is so much tension in the country that makes preaching of unity and mutual natural love difficult. There are so many people who are fanning the flames of discord and of hatred and it is becoming very difficult to preach unity and mutual natural love and there are those who are already envisaging a clash between Christians and Muslims, Onaiyekan said at the inauguration of Marian Soup Kitchen (MSK), a centre for free humanitarian services in Gwagwalada Area Council of Abuja, alongside the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Saad Abubakar. The Cardinal, who recently narrowly escaped death in an ambush by suspected herdsmen in Delta State added: there are those who are interpreting the clash between Fulanis herdsmen and farmers as the front line of this battle. Some are shaping their cutlasses getting ready for the big battle. Everybody knows what government should do because one of the primary duties of government is to ensure security of life and property of all Nigerians, which means where you have any group of people whether they are Fulanis herdsmen or kidnappers, or armed robbers, government should device ways of effectively checkmating them. There is a terrible wind blowing around our country right now. Thanks-be to God that there are many Nigerians who do not believe that we are doomed to kill one another, that there is hope for us to live together as fellow Nigerians. We have done it for many years. Despite the civil war, we have lived together and the civil war in any case was not a war between Christians and Muslims. How can it be? When the then Head of State, Gen. Yakubu James Gowon, was a Christian. We have proved to the whole world that we can live together. I go all over the world boasting of this, telling them that in Nigeria, that we have not less than 80 million Christians, 80 million Muslims, living side by side, day by day at every level of our lives. From the Executive Council meetings at Aso Villa down to the women in Wuse market we must live together because nobody has anything to gain from conflicts and confusion. What the Sultan and I have been preaching all along is that the things that we have in common are much more important than the things that divide us. Even in doctrine, to believe that there is one God, that is something great. Only a few mad people will tell us that the God of Christians is different from the God of the Muslims. How many God do we have? To believe in this one God, that is something great. When we suffered Ebola in Nigeria, there was no Christian Ebola or Muslim Ebola. We all faced it together. In his remarks, Sultan Abubakar advised government to do more for the less privileged, saying Islam will never teach violence, insurgency and killings. Represented by the Executive Secretary, Abuja National Mosque Management Board, Alh. Ibrahim Jega, the Sultan urged Nigerian youths to shun violence and stick to the teachings of their religion. The founder of MSK, Rev. Father Willy Ojukwu, said, religion should not separate us but unite us, hence, the promotion of inter-religious harmony from grass roots. We should be our brothers/sisters keeper, hence the feeding of the hungry, counseling the downtrodden and giving hope to the hopeless all for free, he said. The police has launched a manhunt for a man Lekan Shonde who fled his Lagos residence after allegedly beating his wife Ronke to death. The incident, which occurred at Tiemo Crescent, off Awori Street in Egbeda in the early hours of Friday, has thrown people of the area into a sorrowful mood. It was gathered that the suspect locked their 6-year-old and 4-year-old children in their apartment with his wifes corpse on the ground before running away. The deceased, it was learnt from neighbors, had been a victim of domestic violence for several years. Late Ronkes lifeless body was discovered by their nanny, who normally resumed work at their residence at about 7a.m. Signs that all was not well came to the fore on that unfortunate Friday morning when the nanny, who was at the Shondes residence, called the woman on phone to announce her presence but strangely, her number was switched off. It was learnt that the couple had an altercation that morning, which resulted to a fight only for their nanny to resume work at about 7am and discovered the womans corpse on the ground. According to a neighbour, the nanny, who could not enter the house because it was locked, peeped through the window and saw the kids crying, trying to wake their mother, whose lifeless body was on the floor. It was learnt that the couple had an altercation that morning, which resulted into a fight but the neighbors never suspected that it was something that could lead to death until the nanny raised the alarm. Neighbors soon surrounded the Shondes home and forced the door open at which point the womans lifeless body was found with patch of blood stains on her head. When contacted, the police commands spokesperson, Dolapo Badmos, a Superintendent (SP), said the case has been transferred to the Homicide Unit of the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID, Panti. Badmos added that the children have been handed over to the deceaseds family members. Yes I confirm the case was reported at about 8am on Friday. One Mrs Tiemo E.B. of 5, Tiemo Street, Ile Epo Alhaji, Egbeda reported at Idimu division that at about 7a.m she heard the screaming of Mrs Shonde Ronkes children who is one of her tenants. The scene was visited by the police operatives and corpse moved to Isolo General Hospital Mortuary for autopsy. However, the husband couldnt be traced since the incident occurred. His phones are switched off but effort is on to get him. The forum of ex-Peoples Democratic Party Ministers have said that the May 21 national convention of the party may turn out to be the final funeral rites for the former ruling party. The ex-ministers warned that unless the national chairman of the party, Ali Modu Sheriff, rescinds his decision to contest for the seat, the coffin of the party would be nailed at the event. The National Executive Committee of the PDP confirmed fears it was working to keep Sheriff in office beyond May 21 when new national officers of the party would emerge at the national convention in Port Harcourt, Rivers State when the national chairmanship position was zoned to the Northeast, where the incumbent hails from. While the South-west clamored for the position, arguing that it was its turn to produce the next national chairman of the party after all the other geo-political zones had at one time or the other occupied the position, the PDP NEC went ahead to zone the position to the Northeast. Sheriff, a former senator and two-term governor of Borno State, is the most formidable candidate for the position from the Northeast. Aside the fact that the Northeast has been given the go-ahead to retain the seat of PDP national chairman, the North has also been handed the presidential ticket for the 2019 general elections. The argument by opponents of the recent zoning formula adopted by the party is that the presidential candidate and national chairman should not emerge from the same region in the spirit of equity and fair play. Restating their opposition to the emergence of Sheriff, the ex-ministers insisted that the former Borno governor must drop his ambition or risk being the last national chairman of a united PDP. Spokesperson for the forum and immediate past Minister of National Planning, Dr. Abubakar Sulaiman, said these while speaking with reporters in Abuja on Saturday. Mr. Sulaiman argued that any attempt by Sheriff to consolidate his position at the convention would spell doom for the party, adding that most stakeholders would dump the PDP and allow it to continue to swim in impunity. The ex-minister said concerned PDP members and stakeholders would not look the other way while Sheriff hijacks the party because of his ambition, stressing that the right thing needed to be done for the party to regain control of power at the center in 2019. Ali Modu Sheriff is there to perform the final funeral rites of the PDP. The May 21 national convention will mark the lying in state of the PDP, which will be forever. We will not stop talking until the right thing is done, he said. Sulaiman pointed out that with what he (Sheriff) is doing now, I think he is on a mission. The national convention must not hold on May 21. If it must hold, it will be the day of celebration of funeral rites of the PDP. The ex-minister recalled that it was the impunity in the party that led to its defeat in the last general elections and urged party members and leaders at all levels to end impunity and reposition the party for future victory at the polls. Sulaiman described as political fault, the zoning of both the chairmanship and 2019 presidential ticket of the PDP to the North, attributing the development to the handiwork of Ali Modu Sheriff and his cohorts. Sixteen suspected Boko Haram insurgents in Balazala and Ahamdaga Makaranta villages in Dure district of Borno State, have surrendered to troops of the Nigerian Army. They include three ameers (leaders) in the sect hierarchy: Hamidu Buba (ameer of tailors), Musa Buba (ameer of mechanics), and Ali Idrissa (ameer of carpenters), according to the Acting Director of Army Public Relations, Colonel Sani Usman. The rest, the army claimed, confessed to be Rijan (fighters), who have participated in various Boko Haram attacks on villages and towns. The repentant terrorists said they surrendered due to the ongoing crackdown operation on insurgency by the military, which they confessed was taking its toll on them. They also stated that the sect had run out of food and members now survive on roots and unripe mangoes. They also said two of their colleagues who went in search of food, were killed at the Frigi crossing point some days earlier by troops. Usman said: the troops of 122 Task Force Battalion injunction with some elements of 26 Task Force Brigade on receipt of information from some escapees, embarked on a clearance patrol to Fadagwe Muni, along Yamtake-Gwoza road. On sighting the troops, the suspected Boko Haram terrorists fled and left behind an abducted 16 year old female cripple. The terrorists also abandoned a large stock of grains stored in underground pit. Other items recovered include a grinding machine, two tricycles and one photo printer. The troops nevertheless pursued the fleeing insurgents and killed some of them. Similarly, troops of 121 Task Force Battalion also conducted clearance operation at Kadera Dam and Anguwar Fulani, while troops of 192 Battalion that conducted similar operation to Guduf, Nagadio, Duma and Kusarha. The Boko Haram terrorists ran to the top of the mountains and they were engaged with heavy mortar fire. The army also announced yesterday that troops of 28 Task Force Brigade successfully cleared enclaves of Boko Haram terrorists along Galtha Baba, Galtha Musa, Bulakurma, Shatimari, Chukruk, Bulangaje, and Disa villages. During the operation, a suspected Boko Haram terrorist was captured alive and three motorcycles, bags of grains, their flags and uniforms were recovered. The troops also rescued 15 persons that were held hostage by the Boko Haram terrorists in the area. What Are the Panama Papers? The Panama Papers refer to the 11.5 million leaked encrypted confidential documents that were the property of Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. The documents were released on April 3, 2016, by the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), dubbing them the Panama Papers. The document exposed the network of more than 214,000 tax havens involving people and entities from 200 different nations. A yearlong team effort by SZ and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) went into deciphering the encrypted files before the revelations were made public. Key Takeaways The Panama Papers were a massive leak of financial files from the database of Mossack Fonseca, the fourth-biggest offshore law firm in the world. The documents were leaked anonymously to the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung (SZ). The files exposed a network of 214,000 tax havens involving wealthy people, public officials, and entities from 200 nations. The anonymous source who leaked the papers did so from Panama, hence the name Panama Papers. Most of the documents showed no illegal actions, but some of the shell corporations set up by Mossack Fonseca had been used for fraud, tax evasion, or avoiding international sanctions. Understanding the Panama Papers The Panama Papers are documents that contain personal financial information about many wealthy individuals and public officials that had previously been kept private. Among those named in the leak were a dozen current or former world leaders, 128 public officials, politicians, hundreds of celebrities, business people, and other wealthy individuals. Offshore business entities are legal, in general, and most of the documents showed no inappropriate or illegal behavior. But some of the shell corporations set up by Mossack Fonseca were revealed by reporters to have been used for illegal purposes, including fraud, tax evasion, and the avoidance of international sanctions. Documents Leaked by Anonymous Source In 2015, Suddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) was contacted by an anonymous source calling themselves "John Doe," who offered to leak the documents. Doe did not demand any financial compensation in return, according to the SZ. The total volume of data comes to about 2.6 terabytes, making it the biggest data leak in history, and it pertains to the period spanning from the 1970s to the spring of 2016. Initially, only select names of politicians, public officials, businessmen, and others involved were revealed. One of the immediate consequences of the revelations was the April 4, 2016, resignation of Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson. On May 9, all of the 214,488 offshore entities named in the Panama Papers became searchable via a database on the website of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The database of offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca reportedly leaked 11.5 million confidential documents. The Source of the Name "Panama Papers" The group of documents was referred to as the "Panama Papers" because the leak originated from Panama. However, the Panamanian government has registered strong objections to the name as it appears to put some blame or negative association on the country. Panama attests that it has had no involvement in the actions of Mossack Fonseca. Nonetheless, the nickname has persisted, although some media outlets that have covered the story have referred to it as the "Mossack Fonseca Papers." Larger than both the Panama and Paradise Papers, the Pandora Papers are a release of more than 12 million leaked documents that reveal the hidden and sometimes unethical or corrupt dealings of the global wealthy and eliteincluding prominent world leaders, politicians, corporate executives, celebrities, and billionaires. What Is the Panama Papers Scandal? The Panama Papers scandal involved a leak of 11.5 million confidential documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) reported the leak, which exposed more than 214,000 tax havens involving high-profile people, government officials, and entities from 200 different nations. Who Leaked the Panama Papers? An anonymous source, coined John Doe, from Panama leaked the documents to German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) for no cosideration. What Happened to Mossack Fonseca? In March 2018, Mossack Fonseca terminated operations but agreed to continue working with authorities in any ongoing investigations into the Panama Papers scandal. Located smack-bang in the middle of Cork city, The English Market is often listed as one of the citys most popular tourist attractions and it was made all the more famous in 2011 with a visit from Queen Elizabeth. However, we decided to feature this gem on the list of Irelands Travel Secrets as we felt it is a little underappreciated, though probably not by Corkonians, of course. The market has survived revolutions, fire, famine, booms and busts and continues to be a social hub in the city, right off St. Patricks Street. As well as that its also a spectacular market. Not only is it filled with specialty foods, from handmade chocolates to spices from around the world, you can also find every fresh staple you could possibly need for your kitchen. The historic building is also a wonderful place to simply while away a few hours. Taking in the colorful delicious wares on sale and sampling some really delicious food. From artisan sandwiches and coffee to fresh oysters and fresh cheese, if you cant find something you want to munch on theres something wrong! Of course if you want to go really native there are a few unique traditional piece of food on sale including drisheen (blood sausage) or a battlebord (dried salted ling a member of the cod family). Delicious! The History The origins of The English Market dates back to King James I, in 1610, but it was in 1788 that trading official began on this site. It was in 1788 that the Cork Corporation decided to provide a covered market in the city center, following the change from outdoor to covered markets which had been happening in English cities over the last decade. In July 1788 the market stalls were offered to rent for the sale of meat and in August the city leaders had an opening for the market, which by then included fish, fowl and vegetable markets. The Markets was not official named The English Market, although for much of its existence it has retained this name to differentiate it from The Irish Market, close by. Located in the city center it thrived by serving the wealthy classes. The less well-off shopped in what was known as The Irish Market, aka St. Peters Market (located on North Main Street and Cornmarket Street). Even during the Great Hunger when food among the poor classes for scarce The English Market continued to sell good quality food, and disease-free potatoes to the wealthy. In fact, the present group of buildings were constructed in the mid-19th century with the ornamental entrance at Princes Street being constructed in 1862 by Sir John Benson. These buildings stayed relatively unchanged for the next hundred years. In the 1920s the English Market experienced a gradual decline due to the changing fortunes of the city. By the the 1960s it was modernized and by 1977 it had been fully refurbished. Sadly, in June 1980 a gas explosion on the Princes Street end of the market caused a major fire and the Market was destroyed. After a complete restoration it opened its door again by the end of 1981. Thenagain in 1986 another fire broke out but the damages were repaired again promptly and the market was back in action. Tips and Directions: The English Market is located on Princes Street, just off Cork citys main street, Patrick Street. It is open to the public from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday and closes on Sundays and Bank Holidays. Tourists are advised to avoid visiting during peak trading hours (between 11am and 4.30pm. Also Friday and Saturday can be quite hectic). For more information visit www.englishmarket.ie. It was nearly 50 years ago this month. May 1968. The Vietnam War was raging. The unlikely location of a looming revolution was a Knights of Columbus hall in Catonsville, Maryland, just west of Baltimore. A group of activists led by two Irish American priests, brothers Philip and Daniel Berrigan -- the latter of whom died last Saturday, at the age of 94 -- walked into the second floor of the K of C hall, which the local military draft board used to maintain records. The Berrigans and others managed to nab hundreds of draft records. The Catonsville Nine, as they came to be known, then carried the draft records down to a parking lot where several reporters had been told something newsworthy was about to go down. The Berrigans then set the draft records aflame. We destroy these draft records not only because they exploit our young men but because they represent misplaced power concentrated in the ruling class of America, a statement read. We confront the Catholic Church, other Christian bodies and the synagogues of America with their silence and cowardice in the face of our countrys crimes. As The New York Times noted in Berrigans obituary, In a year sick with images of destruction, from the Tet offensive in Vietnam to the murder of Dr. King, a scene was recorded that had been contrived to shock people to attention, and did so. When the police came, the trespassers were praying in the parking lot, led by two middle-aged men in clerical collars: the big, craggy Philip, a decorated hero of World War II, and the ascetic Daniel, waiting peacefully to be led into the van. Berrigans death marks the end of an era for Catholic activists. His brother Philip died in 2002, while another activist brother, Jerry, died last August. Still, the Berrigans were not the first and will surely not be the last to lament power concentrated in the ruling class of America. It was just so jarring to see such actions and rhetoric from Catholic priests. None of which meant Daniel and Philip were immune from criticism. They had made enemies of two of the more towering figures of mid-Century American history: J. Edgar Hoover and Francis Cardinal Spellman, New Yorks archbishop, whod earned the nickname American Pope. Spellman and Berrigan had already clashed by 1968. Meanwhile, the burning of the draft records in Catonsville was just the beginning of the saga for Berrigan. Rather than simply go on trial for a variety of charges, Daniel and Philip went underground. From time to time they would surface to make speeches, which reportedly enraged Hoover. Berrigan was finally captured in Rhode Island in August of 1970. Even after hed served several years in prison, he continued to provoke in the name of pacifism and a more just world. The Berrigan brothers were unique symbols of a social justice strain of Catholicism that is too little acknowledged by devout as well as secular observers. What kind of family would produce such a string of principled troublemakers? An Irish one, to begin with. Berrigan wrote at length about his father, Thomas William Berrigan, who himself was a union activist as well as farmer and railroad worker. Daniel was born in Minnesota but the family, which would ultimately contain six sons, moved to Syracuse, New York, when the children were young. And my father. One had best begin here, a fretful topic, and to the present day by no means satisfactory, Berrigan wrote in his autobiography To Dwell in Peace. He compounded in one life the ironies and contradictions said to compose the Irish character. It was a volatile home, with the Berrigan parents often doing battle. I remember, as my eyes opened to the lives of neighbors, my astonishment at seeing that wives and husbands were not natural enemies, Berrigan writes. Thats one explanation, perhaps, for a life of pacifism. Though best known as a rabble-rousing activist, Berrigan was also an acclaimed poet and author and is even believed to be the inspiration for the radical priest in Colum McCanns brilliant novel Let the Great World Spin. Berrigan would have been 95 years old on May 9. Eamonn Ceannt, Con Colbert, Sean Heuston, and Michael Mallin were all executed in Dublin on May 8, 1916. On May 8, 1916, the executions of the 1916 Easter Risings leaders continued. Obviously exhausted by the executions of last week, the British took the weekend off. Rested, they returned to their gruesome work on Monday, executing four more rebel leaders. Read More: On this day in 1916, the executions of the Easter Rising leaders began By this point, the Irish people were in shock. After the surrender they had hated the rebels and what they had done to their city. But now, the tide had turned. The rebels, once pariahs, hadthanks to General Maxwellbecome heroes. The Unionist journalist Warren B Wells, in a letter called An Irish Apologia stated: I am not asking you to regard the executions of the rebel leaders, the sentences of penal servitude, the deportations, announced badly day after day without publication of the evidence which justified the infliction of the capital penalty, from behind the closed doors of Field Court-Martial, from the point of view of their justice, or even of their expediency. I am simply inviting you to endeavor to understand their effect on that Irish public which read of them with something of the feeling of helpless rage with which one would watch a stream of blood seeping from under a closed door. Read More: On This Day: Joseph Mary Plunkett, 1916 Easter Rising leader, is executed The Court-martials of Eamon Ceannt (Prisoner #32), Con Colbert (Prisoner #70), Sean Heuston (Prisoner #46), and Michael Mallin (Prisoner #78) at Richmond Barracks, May 3-4-5, 1916. All three face the same charge: CHARGE: Did an act to wit did take part in an armed rebellion and in the waging of war against His Majesty the King, such act being of such a nature as to be calculated to be prejudicial to the Defence to the Realm and being done with the intention and for the purpose of assisting the enemy PLEA (of all three): Not Guilty (The members of the court and witnesses were duly sworn in) VERDICT: Guilty. Death Eamonn Ceannt Con Colbert Read More: The life and execution of Easter Rising hero Con Colbert Sean Heuston Read More: Today in 1916, the Easter Rising hero Sean Heuston was executed Michael Mallin Read More: Easter Rising leader Michael Mallin executed on this day in 1916 ~~~~~~~~~~ Dermot McEvoy is the author of The 13th Apostle: A Novel of a Dublin Family, Michael Collins, and the Irish Uprising and Irish Miscellany (Skyhorse Publishing). He may be reached at dermotmcevoy50@gmail.com. Follow him at www.dermotmcevoy.com. Follow The 13th Apostle on Facebook here. A new biography of Daniel Binchy reveals that the future Irish ambassador to Berlin recognized the influence of Adolf Hitlers inflammatory oratory long before the Nazi dictator would rise to power. He was one of the first to warn of the incredible power he had as an orator. Binchy, who would go on to become the Irish ambassador to Berlin between 1929 and 1932, was just a young Irish student when he first spotted Hitler speaking inside a Munich beer hall in 1921, the Guardian reports. In a diary entry about a trip to Munichs Burgerbraukeller in November 1921, Binchy writes of a man with a carefully docked toothbrush moustache giving off an impression of insignificance. However, when the virtually unknown Hitler started to speak, Binchy was shocked at the transformation. Here was a born natural orator. He began slowly, almost hesitatingly, stumbling over the construction of his sentences, correcting his dialect pronunciation. Then all at once he seemed to take fire. His voice rose victorious over falterings, his eyes blazed with conviction, his whole body became an instrument of rude eloquence. As his exaltation increased, his voice rose almost to a scream, his gesticulation became a pantomime, and I noticed traces of foam at the corners of his mouth. He spoke so quickly and in such a pronounced dialect that I had great difficulty in following him, but the same phrases kept recurring all through his address like motifs in a symphony: the Marxist traitors, the criminals who caused the revolution, the German army which was stabbed in the back, and most insistent of all the Jews. His purple passages were greeted with roars of applause, and when finally he sank back exhausted into his chair, there was a scene of hysterical enthusiasm which baffles description. As we left the meeting my friend asked me what I thought of this new party leader. With all the arrogance of 21 I replied: A harmless lunatic with the gift of oratory. I can still hear his retort: No lunatic with the gift of oratory is harmless. The biography, The Lives of Daniel Binchy: Irish Scholar, Diplomat, Public Intellectual by Prof Tom Garvin, also reveals Binchys second encounter with Hitler in Berlin in 1930. In his speech I found no change at all. Allowing for the altered place and circumstances, it was substantially the same address which I had heard in the Burgerbraukeller. There were the same denunciations, the same digressions and the same enthusiasm. At the conclusion of his speech the vast throng cheered itself hoarse. The obscure housepainter was now the leader of the second largest party in Germany. The book also includes a 1933 article written by Binchy and published in the influential journal Studies, warning about the danger of Hitler and totalitarianism. Binchy would later hold senior positions at University College Dublin, Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and Harvard. He was the uncle of bestselling Irish novelist Maeve Binchy. * Originally published in 2016. Two fire fighters remain in hospital, after they were injured by an explosion in Co Cork. They suffered facial and hand burns in the incident at a farm in Terelton near Macroom in the early hours of this morning. A finalised Programme for Government could be published as early as tomorrow. Plans for the first 100 days in office could be released before the end of the month. Focus Ireland has set out a range of measures through which the newly formed Government can tackle the spiralling housing and homelessness crisis. The charity claims that nearly 300 families with 600 children became homeless in the first three months of this year alone in Dublin. The newly appointed Minister for Communications, Roscommon-Galway TD Denis Naughten, said that rural Ireland is his top priority. Speaking to Galway Bay FM, Minister Naughten said that climate change will be a huge challenge. "The other side of this brief is going to be in relation to the issue of climate change, and we've seen last winter the impact that that is having on our environment, is having in relation to severe flooding," he said. "So I think there is a huge challenge in relation to it. "It's going to be a very difficult Government, It's going to be a very challenging Government, it's going to have to work very closely with the Dail." The proposal to allow a two-year trial of mobile phone jammers at the Goulburn Correctional Complex follows what the ACMA says was a successful trial of phone jammers at the Lithgow Correctional Centre, also in NSW. But, despite the success of the Lithgow trial and the proposal for phone jammers at Goulburn, the ACMA does say that mobile phones have been used by inmates of correctional centres to threaten victims of crime and witnesses, organise acts of violence, access to drugs and escapes, and to photograph staff and the environment within facilities. For these reasons, corrective services authorities internationally have considered, and sometimes deployed, mobile phone jammers within prisons. However, mobile phone jammers carry the risk of potentially disrupting legitimate mobile phone usage by members of the community beyond the perimeter of a facility. ACMA notes. The ACMA stresses in its consultation paper that mobile phone networks, or public mobile telecommunications services (PMTS) networks, are increasingly critical to the community and to the conduct of business and government administration.Due to the potentially disruptive effect of mobile phone jammers on PMTS networks, many jurisdictions around the world, including Australia, have prohibited their use. In Australia, the operation or supply, or possession for the purpose of operation or supply, of mobile phone jammers, is prohibited by the Radiocommunictions Declaration 2011. The potential impact of mobile phone jammers on calls made to emergency services is a particular concern.The ACMA says that consultation on the proposed Goulburn trial will provide further information about the benefits and risks of the use of jammers in correctional facilities.The consultation paper provides information about how mobile phone jammers operate and the regulation of mobile phone jammers in Australia, as well as information about the Lithgow Correctional Centre trial and proposal for the Goulburn trial. But, despite her confidence in the ability of many technology leaders to move up the corporate ladder- and their aspirations to do that - Katrina Park, Managing Director of Resources Solutions Group (RSG) says the reality is that these ex-CIOs are few and far between. Park says even though technology is at the heart of most businesses, its still rare that the tech chief gets a seat on the board or in the CEO suite. They are often outnumbered by CFOs and COOs, she says, adding that the ambition of CIOs to be at the top of the chain is not new its been around as long as ambition has been a factor in any career plan. So what can you do to overcome the barriers in making the CIO to CEO transition, Park asks. To answer that question, Park cites suggestions that Ron Hooton, CEO of Vision Australia, proffered at a recent RSG CIO Circle event - Professional development is essential when youre growing a career.Hooton, who completed his MBA at Massey University in New Zealand, says an MBA is about getting a different sort of education and that you come out thinking differently and so much more knowledgeable about things.Ron also recommended attending a leadership program and completing the Australian Institute of Corporate Directors program to prepare for the boardroom and suggested finding your way on to a Board if you can, perhaps in an NGO, Park notes.According to Park, Hooton is proof that CIOs can successfully make the transition to CEO.Ron made the transition himself some 10 years ago now. Rons first CEO role was with ProCare Health in New Zealand where he was CEO for 7 years and guided the organisation to become a leader in the primary health care sector. Ron then joined Vision Australia in the position of CEO in 2013.Before taking on the top job as a CEO, Hooton held CIO roles with New Zealand Defence Force, Countrywide Banking Corporation and Western Bay Health, with his IT career including roles that were both operational and technical.Park says Hooton began his IT career in 1973, starting at Databank as a Computer Operator, with later roles taking him on greater technology and business management roles that included computer operations manager for National Provident Fund, computer operations manager then regional manager at Telecom.Hooton was also manager of IT and business strategy at the Western Bay Health in Tauranga, CIO at Countrywide Bank, before becoming the first CIO of the NZ Defence Force.When a CIO does successfully make a move to the top job, the result is widely touted in the IT press, Park observes.Ron referenced two rockstar CEOs who started off as CIOs Ralph Norris of CBA and Rob Fyffe of Air New Zealand. A more recent example of a CIO who has made the transition to CEO is Richard Umbers at Myer. Often those that do make the transition to CEO do so in IT-based firms.Park says breadth of experience across the business is critical in making the transition from a COO role to that of a non-IT role.Ron highly recommends branching out to GM roles across the organisation to build expertise in different areas both inside and outside of IT, and says you must be able to prove you can manage money and large teams of people.Park points to Hootons advice that CIOs today need to be able to translate the technology into business opportunities and business success.She says that technology is now capable of disrupting the status quo of an organisational model.So with that in mind, if the CIO starts to think about innovation, then they are making a shift towards entrepreneurialism and will develop the kind of thinking that puts them in-line with a CEOs mindset.What were seeing more and more is the need for transformational CIOs and these will be the CEOs of the future. When we're engaged to recruit a CIO position, the focus is not on the technology but on the business skills and ability to drive change, Hooton concludes. Anderson has a track record in bringing new cloud software and services to the global market and has been a significant contributor to OpenStack. Aptira, a leading managed services company for OpenStack clouds, has appointed Simon Anderson as Executive Chairman to steer the companys strategic direction as it continues to expand operations from the Asia-Pacific to Europe and the Americas. He is an experienced US-based cloud technology executive with a track record in bringing new cloud software and services to the global IT market. He co-founded Inktank, the company behind the open source Ceph distributed storage system that has become the standard for block storage in OpenStack clouds. Inktank was acquired by Red Hat in April 2014 for $175M. Simon was most recently Chairman and CEO of DreamHost, a US-based cloud hosting company that has built one of the leading OpenStack public clouds with over 400,000 customers worldwide. As a board member of the OpenStack Foundation from 2012 to 2015, Simon played a key role in expanding participation in the OpenStack project from companies worldwide. Aptira has the differentiated OpenStack expertise and broad managed services capability to successfully deliver OpenStack for enterprises worldwide, said Anderson, executive chairman of Aptira. Im excited to lead the board of Aptira and build a global OpenStack managed services capability with the executive team. Aptira has built a global reputation as the leading OpenStack managed services company in the Asia-Pacific region, delivering expert design, implementation and management services for enterprise-grade OpenStack cloud infrastructure. The Aptira team have deep relationships and influence in the OpenStack community worldwide, developed through over five years of contributions, developer training, community events, and governance. Currently two Aptira executives serve on the OpenStack Foundation board, and Aptira employs three of the 12 OpenStack Ambassadors worldwide. With OpenStack cloud deployments accelerating globally, Aptira intends to capitalize on the skills gap and deliver best-in-class OpenStack managed services to enterprises worldwide, from a strong expert foundation built on serving large customers such as Telstra, Cisco, and Optus/Singtel. The appointment of Simon Anderson as Executive Chairman will enable Aptira to attract new talent, secure global strategic and financial partners, and expand operations in the US and Europe. Tristan Goode, Chief Executive Officer, Aptira, said Simons tremendous industry profile and his leadership of our board from the United States will enable Aptira to identify and capitalise on the many industry opportunities we see originating from the North American market. Building upon our success as the leading provider of OpenStack in APAC, we opened our first European office in 2015 and we plan to rapidly grow the team to service the North American marketplace. Get unlimited access to all content and features at ivpressonline.com with our Full Online Access Subscription. Read our E-Edition, the digital replica of the print newspaper online, access content in exclusive sections including Family, Teen, Business, Databases, Farm and more. This option does not include daily home delivery of the Imperial Valley Press newspaper. For home delivery service, please select Premium or Premium Plus. Site Navigation Home Books by Jo - online ordering What's New About Jo Photos Political Buttons Search Links Contact Jo Jo's online articles by topic: -- The Feminist Movement -- Feminist Articles by Joreen -- 4th Int'l Women's Conference (Beijing) -- Women in Society -- On Students and Scholars -- Women, Law and Public Policy -- Women's Political History -- Women at Political Party Conventions -- A Woman for President? -- Columns for Senior Women Web -- Social Movements -- The Civil Rights Movement -- Social Protest in the Sixties -- Political Parties -- Reporting on the Right -- War -- Reviews -- Cranston Campaign Diary (1984) THE TYRANNY of STRUCTURELESSNESS by Jo Freeman aka Joreen The earliest version of this article was given as a talk at a conference called by the Southern Female Rights Union, held in Beulah, Mississippi in May 1970. It was written up for Notes from the Third Year (1971), but the editors did not use it. It was then submitted to several movement publications, but only one asked permission to publish it; others did so without permission. The first official place of publication was in Vol. 2, No. 1 of The Second Wave (1972). This early version in movement publications was authored by Joreen. Different versions were published in the Berkeley Journal of Sociology , Vol. 17, 1972-73, pp. 151-165, and Ms. magazine, July 1973, pp. 76-78, 86-89, authored by Jo Freeman. This piece spread all over the world. Numerous people have edited, reprinted, cut, and translated "Tyranny" for magazines, books and web sites, usually without the permission or knowledge of the author. The version below is a blend of the three cited here. During the years in which the women's liberation movement has been taking shape, a great emphasis has been placed on what are called leaderless, structureless groups as the main -- if not sole -- organizational form of the movement. The source of this idea was a natural reaction against the over-structured society in which most of us found ourselves, and the inevitable control this gave others over our lives, and the continual elitism of the Left and similar groups among those who were supposedly fighting this overstructuredness. The idea of "structurelessness," however, has moved from a healthy counter to those tendencies to becoming a goddess in its own right. The idea is as little examined as the term is much used, but it has become an intrinsic and unquestioned part of women's liberation ideology. For the early development of the movement this did not much matter. It early defined its main goal, and its main method, as consciousness-raising, and the "structureless" rap group was an excellent means to this end. The looseness and informality of it encouraged participation in discussion, and its often supportive atmosphere elicited personal insight. If nothing more concrete than personal insight ever resulted from these groups, that did not much matter, because their purpose did not really extend beyond this. The basic problems didn't appear until individual rap groups exhausted the virtues of consciousness-raising and decided they wanted to do something more specific. At this point they usually foundered because most groups were unwilling to change their structure when they changed their tasks. Women had thoroughly accepted the idea of "structurelessness" without realizing the limitations of its uses. People would try to use the "structureless" group and the informal conference for purposes for which they were unsuitable out of a blind belief that no other means could possibly be anything but oppressive. If the movement is to grow beyond these elementary stages of development, it will have to disabuse itself of some of its prejudices about organization and structure. There is nothing inherently bad about either of these. They can be and often are misused, but to reject them out of hand because they are misused is to deny ourselves the necessary tools to further development. We need to understand why "structurelessness" does not work. FORMAL AND INFORMAL STRUCTURES Contrary to what we would like to believe, there is no such thing as a structureless group. Any group of people of whatever nature that comes together for any length of time for any purpose will inevitably structure itself in some fashion. The structure may be flexible; it may vary over time; it may evenly or unevenly distribute tasks, power and resources over the members of the group. But it will be formed regardless of the abilities, personalities, or intentions of the people involved. The very fact that we are individuals, with different talents, predispositions, and backgrounds makes this inevitable. Only if we refused to relate or interact on any basis whatsoever could we approximate structurelessness -- and that is not the nature of a human group. This means that to strive for a structureless group is as useful, and as deceptive, as to aim at an "objective" news story, "value-free" social science, or a "free" economy. A "laissez faire" group is about as realistic as a "laissez faire" society; the idea becomes a smokescreen for the strong or the lucky to establish unquestioned hegemony over others. This hegemony can be so easily established because the idea of "structurelessness" does not prevent the formation of informal structures, only formal ones. Similarly "laissez faire" philosophy did not prevent the economically powerful from establishing control over wages, prices, and distribution of goods; it only prevented the government from doing so. Thus structurelessness becomes a way of masking power, and within the women's movement is usually most strongly advocated by those who are the most powerful (whether they are conscious of their power or not). As long as the structure of the group is informal, the rules of how decisions are made are known only to a few and awareness of power is limited to those who know the rules. Those who do not know the rules and are not chosen for initiation must remain in confusion, or suffer from paranoid delusions that something is happening of which they are not quite aware. For everyone to have the opportunity to be involved in a given group and to participate in its activities the structure must be explicit, not implicit. The rules of decision-making must be open and available to everyone, and this can happen only if they are formalized. This is not to say that formalization of a structure of a group will destroy the informal structure. It usually doesn't. But it does hinder the informal structure from having predominant control and make available some means of attacking it if the people involved are not at least responsible to the needs of the group at large. "Structurelessness" is organizationally impossible. We cannot decide whether to have a structured or structureless group, only whether or not to have a formally structured one. Therefore the word will not be used any longer except to refer to the idea it represents. Unstructured will refer to those groups which have not been deliberately structured in a particular manner. Structured will refer to those which have. A Structured group always has formal structure, and may also have an informal, or covert, structure. It is this informal structure, particularly in Unstructured groups, which forms the basis for elites. THE NATURE OF ELITISM "Elitist" is probably the most abused word in the women's liberation movement. It is used as frequently, and for the same reasons, as "pinko" was used in the fifties. It is rarely used correctly. Within the movement it commonly refers to individuals, though the personal characteristics and activities of those to whom it is directed may differ widely: An individual, as an individual can never be an elitist, because the only proper application of the term "elite" is to groups. Any individual, regardless of how well-known that person may be, can never be an elite. Correctly, an elite refers to a small group of people who have power over a larger group of which they are part, usually without direct responsibility to that larger group, and often without their knowledge or consent. A person becomes an elitist by being part of, or advocating the rule by, such a small group, whether or not that individual is well known or not known at all. Notoriety is not a definition of an elitist. The most insidious elites are usually run by people not known to the larger public at all. Intelligent elitists are usually smart enough not to allow themselves to become well known; when they become known, they are watched, and the mask over their power is no longer firmly lodged. Elites are not conspiracies. Very seldom does a small group of people get together and deliberately try to take over a larger group for its own ends. Elites are nothing more, and nothing less, than groups of friends who also happen to participate in the same political activities. They would probably maintain their friendship whether or not they were involved in political activities; they would probably be involved in political activities whether or not they maintained their friendships. It is the coincidence of these two phenomena which creates elites in any group and makes them so difficult to break. These friendship groups function as networks of communication outside any regular channels for such communication that may have been set up by a group. If no channels are set up, they function as the only networks of communication. Because people are friends, because they usually share the same values and orientations, because they talk to each other socially and consult with each other when common decisions have to be made, the people involved in these networks have more power in the group than those who don't. And it is a rare group that does not establish some informal networks of communication through the friends that are made in it. Some groups, depending on their size, may have more than one such informal communications network. Networks may even overlap. When only one such network exists, it is the elite of an otherwise Unstructured group, whether the participants in it want to be elitists or not. If it is the only such network in a Structured group it may or may not be an elite depending on its composition and the nature of the formal Structure. If there are two or more such networks of friends, they may compete for power within the group, thus forming factions, or one may deliberately opt out of the competition, leaving the other as the elite. In a Structured group, two or more such friendship networks usually compete with each other for formal power. This is often the healthiest situation, as the other members are in a position to arbitrate between the two competitors for power and thus to make demands on those to whom they give their temporary allegiance. The inevitably elitist and exclusive nature of informal communication networks of friends is neither a new phenomenon characteristic of the women's movement nor a phenomenon new to women. Such informal relationships have excluded women for centuries from participating in integrated groups of which they were a part. In any profession or organization these networks have created the "locker room" mentality and the "old school" ties which have effectively prevented women as a group (as well as some men individually) from having equal access to the sources of power or social reward. Much of the energy of past women's movements has been directed to having the structures of decision-making and the selection processes formalized so that the exclusion of women could be confronted directly. As we well know, these efforts have not prevented the informal male-only networks from discriminating against women, but they have made it more difficult. Because elites are informal does not mean they are invisible. At any small group meeting anyone with a sharp eye and an acute ear can tell who is influencing whom. The members of a friendship group will relate more to each other than to other people. They listen more attentively, and interrupt less; they repeat each other's points and give in amiably; they tend to ignore or grapple with the "outs" whose approval is not necessary for making a decision. But it is necessary for the "outs" to stay on good terms with the "ins." Of course the lines are not as sharp as I have drawn them. They are nuances of interaction, not prewritten scripts. But they are discernible, and they do have their effect. Once one knows with whom it is important to check before a decision is made, and whose approval is the stamp of acceptance, one knows who is running things. Since movement groups have made no concrete decisions about who shall exercise power within them, many different criteria are used around the country. Most criteria are along the lines of traditional female characteristics. For instance, in the early days of the movement, marriage was usually a prerequisite for participation in the informal elite. As women have been traditionally taught, married women relate primarily to each other, and look upon single women as too threatening to have as close friends. In many cities, this criterion was further refined to include only those women married to New Left men. This standard had more than tradition behind it, however, because New Left men often had access to resources needed by the movement -- such as mailing lists, printing presses, contacts, and information -- and women were used to getting what they needed through men rather than independently. As the movement has charged through time, marriage has become a less universal criterion for effective participation, but all informal elites establish standards by which only women who possess certain material or personal characteristics may join. They frequently include: middle-class background (despite all the rhetoric about relating to the working class); being married; not being married but living with someone; being or pretending to be a lesbian; being between the ages of twenty and thirty; being college educated or at least having some college background; being "hip"; not being too "hip"; holding a certain political line or identification as a "radical"; having children or at least liking them; not having children; having certain "feminine" personality characteristics such as being "nice"; dressing right (whether in the traditional style or the antitraditional style); etc. There are also some characteristics which will almost always tag one as a "deviant" who should not be related to. They include: being too old; working full time, particularly if one is actively committed to a "career"; not being "nice"; and being avowedly single (i.e., neither actively heterosexual nor homosexual). Other criteria could be included, but they all have common themes. The characteristics prerequisite for participating in the informal elites of the movement, and thus for exercising power, concern one's background, personality, or allocation of time. They do not include one's competence, dedication to feminism, talents, or potential contribution to the movement. The former are the criteria one usually uses in determining one's friends. The latter are what any movement or organization has to use if it is going to be politically effective. The criteria of participation may differ from group to group, but the means of becoming a member of the informal elite if one meets those criteria art pretty much the same. The only main difference depends on whether one is in a group from the beginning, or joins it after it has begun. If involved from the beginning it is important to have as many of one's personal friends as possible also join. If no one knows anyone else very well, then one must deliberately form friendships with a select number and establish the informal interaction patterns crucial to the creation of an informal structure. Once the informal patterns are formed they act to maintain themselves, and one of the most successful tactics of maintenance is to continuously recruit new people who "fit in." One joins such an elite much the same way one pledges a sorority. If perceived as a potential addition, one is "rushed" by the members of the informal structure and eventually either dropped or initiated. If the sorority is not politically aware enough to actively engage in this process itself it can be started by the outsider pretty much the same way one joins any private club. Find a sponsor, i.e., pick some member of the elite who appears to be well respected within it, and actively cultivate that person's friendship. Eventually, she will most likely bring you into the inner circle. All of these procedures take time. So if one works full time or has a similar major commitment, it is usually impossible to join simply because there are not enough hours left to go to all the meetings and cultivate the personal relationship necessary to have a voice in the decision-making. That is why formal structures of decision making are a boon to the overworked person. Having an established process for decision-making ensures that everyone can participate in it to some extent. Although this dissection of the process of elite formation within small groups has been critical in perspective, it is not made in the belief that these informal structures are inevitably bad -- merely inevitable. All groups create informal structures as a result of interaction patterns among the members of the group. Such informal structures can do very useful things But only Unstructured groups are totally governed by them. When informal elites are combined with a myth of "structurelessness," there can be no attempt to put limits on the use of power. It becomes capricious. This has two potentially negative consequences of which we should be aware. The first is that the informal structure of decision-making will be much like a sorority -- one in which people listen to others because they like them and not because they say significant things. As long as the movement does not do significant things this does not much matter. But if its development is not to be arrested at this preliminary stage, it will have to alter this trend. The second is that informal structures have no obligation to be responsible to the group at large. Their power was not given to them; it cannot be taken away. Their influence is not based on what they do for the group; therefore they cannot be directly influenced by the group. This does not necessarily make informal structures irresponsible. Those who are concerned with maintaining their influence will usually try to be responsible. The group simply cannot compel such responsibility; it is dependent on the interests of the elite. THE "STAR" SYSTEM The idea of "structurelessness" has created the "star" system. We live in a society which expects political groups to make decisions and to select people to articulate those decisions to the public at large. The press and the public do not know how to listen seriously to individual women as women; they want to know how the group feels. Only three techniques have ever been developed for establishing mass group opinion: the vote or referendum, the public opinion survey questionnaire, and the selection of group spokespeople at an appropriate meeting. The women's liberation movement has used none of these to communicate with the public. Neither the movement as a whole nor most of the multitudinous groups within it have established a means of explaining their position on various issues. But the public is conditioned to look for spokespeople. While it has consciously not chosen spokespeople, the movement has thrown up many women who have caught the public eye for varying reasons. These women represent no particular group or established opinion; they know this and usually say so. But because there are no official spokespeople nor any decision-making body that the press can query when it wants to know the movement's position on a subject, these women are perceived as the spokespeople. Thus, whether they want to or not, whether the movement likes it or not, women of public note are put in the role of spokespeople by default. This is one main source of the ire that is often felt toward the women who are labeled "stars." Because they were not selected by the women in the movement to represent the movement's views, they are resented when the press presumes that they speak for the movement. But as long as the movement does not select its own spokeswomen, such women will be placed in that role by the press and the public, regardless of their own desires. This has several negative consequences for both the movement and the women labeled "stars." First, because the movement didn't put them in the role of spokesperson, the movement cannot remove them. The press put them there and only the press can choose not to listen. The press will continue to look to "stars" as spokeswomen as long as it has no official alternatives to go to for authoritative statements from the movement. The movement has no control in the selection of its representatives to the public as long as it believes that it should have no representatives at all. Second, women put in this position often find themselves viciously attacked by their sisters. This achieves nothing for the movement and is painfully destructive to the individuals involved. Such attacks only result in either the woman leaving the movement entirely-often bitterly alienated -- or in her ceasing to feel responsible to her "sisters." She may maintain some loyalty to the movement, vaguely defined, but she is no longer susceptible to pressures from other women in it. One cannot feel responsible to people who have been the source of such pain without being a masochist, and these women are usually too strong to bow to that kind of personal pressure. Thus the backlash to the "star" system in effect encourages the very kind of individualistic nonresponsibility that the movement condemns. By purging a sister as a "star," the movement loses whatever control it may have had over the person who then becomes free to commit all of the individualistic sins of which she has been accused. POLITICAL IMPOTENCE Unstructured groups may be very effective in getting women to talk about their lives; they aren't very good for getting things done. It is when people get tired of "just talking" and want to do something more that the groups flounder, unless they change the nature of their operation. Occasionally, the developed informal structure of the group coincides with an available need that the group can fill in such a way as to give the appearance that an Unstructured group "works." That is, the group has fortuitously developed precisely the kind of structure best suited for engaging in a particular project. While working in this kind of group is a very heady experience, it is also rare and very hard to replicate. There are almost inevitably four conditions found in such a group; 1) It is task oriented. Its function is very narrow and very specific, like putting on a conference or putting out a newspaper. It is the task that basically structures the group. The task determines what needs to be done and when it needs to be done. It provides a guide by which people can judge their actions and make plans for future activity. 2) It is relatively small and homogeneous. Homogeneity is necessary to insure that participants have a "common language" for interaction. People from widely different backgrounds may provide richness to a consciousness-raising group where each can learn from the others' experience, but too great a diversity among members of a task-oriented group means only that they continually misunderstand each other. Such diverse people interpret words and actions differently. They have different expectations about each other's behavior and judge the results according to different criteria. If everyone knows everyone else well enough to understand the nuances, these can be accommodated. Usually, they only lead to confusion and endless hours spent straightening out conflicts no one ever thought would arise. 3) There is a high degree of communication. Information must be passed on to everyone, opinions checked, work divided up, and participation assured in the relevant decisions. This is only possible if the group is small and people practically live together for the most crucial phases of the task. Needless to say, the number of interactions necessary to involve everybody increases geometrically with the number of participants. This inevitably limits group participants to about five, or excludes some from some of the decisions. Successful groups can be as large as 10 or 15, but only when they are in fact composed of several smaller subgroups which perform specific parts of the task, and whose members overlap with each other so that knowledge of what the different subgroups are doing can be passed around easily. 4) There is a low degree of skill specialization. Not everyone has to be able to do everything, but everything must be able to be done by more than one person. Thus no one is indispensable. To a certain extent, people become interchangeable parts. While these conditions can occur serendipitously in small groups, this is not possible in large ones. Consequently, because the larger movement in most cities is as unstructured as individual rap groups, it is not too much more effective than the separate groups at specific tasks. The informal structure is rarely together enough or in touch enough with the people to be able to operate effectively. So the movement generates much motion and few results. Unfortunately, the consequences of all this motion are not as innocuous as the results' and their victim is the movement itself. Some groups have formed themselves into local action projects if they do not involve many people and work on a small scale. But this form restricts movement activity to the local level; it cannot be done on the regional or national. Also, to function well the groups must usually pare themselves down to that informal group of friends who were running things in the first place. This excludes many women from participating. As long as the only way women can participate in the movement is through membership in a small group, the nongregarious are at a distinct disadvantage. As long as friendship groups are the main means of organizational activity, elitism becomes institutionalized. For those groups which cannot find a local project to which to devote themselves, the mere act of staying together becomes the reason for their staying together. When a group has no specific task (and consciousness raising is a task), the people in it turn their energies to controlling others in the group. This is not done so much out of a malicious desire to manipulate others (though sometimes it is) as out of a lack of anything better to do with their talents. Able people with time on their hands and a need to justify their coming together put their efforts into personal control, and spend their time criticizing the personalities of the other members in the group. Infighting and personal power games rule the day. When a group is involved in a task, people learn to get along with others as they are and to subsume personal dislikes for the sake of the larger goal. There are limits placed on the compulsion to remold every person in our image of what they should be. The end of consciousness-raising leaves people with no place to go, and the lack of structure leaves them with no way of getting there. The women the movement either turn in on themselves and their sisters or seek other alternatives of action. There are few that are available. Some women just "do their own thing." This can lead to a great deal of individual creativity, much of which is useful for the movement, but it is not a viable alternative for most women and certainly does not foster a spirit of cooperative group effort. Other women drift out of the movement entirely because they don't want to develop an individual project and they have found no way of discovering, joining, or starting group projects that interest them. Many turn to other political organizations to give them the kind of structured, effective activity that they have not been able to find in the women's movement. Those political organizations which see women's liberation as only one of many issues to which women should devote their time thus find the movement a vast recruiting ground for new members. There is no need for such organizations to "infiltrate" (though this is not precluded). The desire for meaningful political activity generated in women by their becoming part of the women's liberation movement is sufficient to make them eager to join other organizations when the movement itself provides no outlets for their new ideas and energies. Those women who join other political organizations while remaining within the women's liberation movement, or who join women's liberation while remaining in other political organizations, in turn become the framework for new informal structures. These friendship networks are based upon their common nonfeminist politics rather than the characteristics discussed earlier, but operate in much the same way. Because these women share common values, ideas, and political orientations, they too become informal, unplanned, unselected, unresponsible elites -- whether they intend to be so or not. These new informal elites are often perceived as threats by the old informal elites previously developed within different movement groups. This is a correct perception. Such politically oriented networks are rarely willing to be merely "sororities" as many of the old ones were, and want to proselytize their political as well as their feminist ideas. This is only natural, but its implications for women's liberation have never been adequately discussed. The old elites are rarely willing to bring such differences of opinion out into the open because it would involve exposing the nature of the informal structure of the group. Many of these informal elites have been hiding under the banner of "anti-elitism" and "structurelessness." To effectively counter the competition from another informal structure, they would have to become "public," and this possibility is fraught with many dangerous implications. Thus, to maintain its own power, it is easier to rationalize the exclusion of the members of the other informal structure by such means as "red-baiting," "reformist-baiting," "lesbian-baiting," or "straight-baiting." The only other alternative is to formally structure the group in such a way that the original power structure is institutionalized. This is not always possible. If the informal elites have been well structured and have exercised a fair amount of power in the past, such a task is feasible. These groups have a history of being somewhat politically effective in the past, as the tightness of the informal structure has proven an adequate substitute for a formal structure. Becoming Structured does not alter their operation much, though the institutionalization of the power structure does open it to formal challenge. It is those groups which are in greatest need of structure that are often least capable of creating it. Their informal structures have not been too well formed and adherence to the ideology of "structurelessness" makes them reluctant to change tactics. The more Unstructured a group is, the more lacking it is in informal structures, and the more it adheres to an ideology of "structurelessness," the more vulnerable it is to being taken over by a group of political comrades. Since the movement at large is just as Unstructured as most of its constituent groups, it is similarly susceptible to indirect influence. But the phenomenon manifests itself differently. On a local level most groups can operate autonomously; but the only groups that can organize a national activity are nationally organized groups. Thus, it is often the Structured feminist organizations that provide national direction for feminist activities, and this direction is determined by the priorities of those organizations. Such groups as NOW, WEAL, and some leftist women's caucuses are simply the only organizations capable of mounting a national campaign. The multitude of Unstructured women's liberation groups can choose to support or not support the national campaigns, but are incapable of mounting their own. Thus their members become the troops under the leadership of the Structured organizations. The avowedly Unstructured groups have no way of drawing upon the movement's vast resources to support its priorities. It doesn't even have a way of deciding what they are. The more unstructured a movement it, the less control it has over the directions in which it develops and the political actions in which it engages. This does not mean that its ideas do not spread. Given a certain amount of interest by the media and the appropriateness of social conditions, the ideas will still be diffused widely. But diffusion of ideas does not mean they are implemented; it only means they are talked about. Insofar as they can be applied individually they may be acted on; insofar as they require coordinated political power to be implemented, they will not be. As long as the women's liberation movement stays dedicated to a form of organization which stresses small, inactive discussion groups among friends, the worst problems of Unstructuredness will not be felt. But this style of organization has its limits; it is politically inefficacious, exclusive, and discriminatory against those women who are not or cannot be tied into the friendship networks. Those who do not fit into what already exists because of class, race, occupation, education, parental or marital status, personality, etc., will inevitably be discouraged from trying to participate. Those who do fit in will develop vested interests in maintaining things as they are. The informal groups' vested interests will be sustained by the informal structures which exist, and the movement will have no way of determining who shall exercise power within it. If the movement continues deliberately to not select who shall exercise power, it does not thereby abolish power. All it does is abdicate the right to demand that those who do exercise power and influence be responsible for it. If the movement continues to keep power as diffuse as possible because it knows it cannot demand responsibility from those who have it, it does prevent any group or person from totally dominating. But it simultaneously insures that the movement is as ineffective as possible. Some middle ground between domination and ineffectiveness can and must be found. These problems are coming to a head at this time because the nature of the movement is necessarily changing. Consciousness-raising as the main function of the women's liberation movement is becoming obsolete. Due to the intense press publicity of the last two years and the numerous overground books and articles now being circulated, women's liberation has become a household word. Its issues are discussed and informal rap groups are formed by people who have no explicit connection with any movement group. The movement must go on to other tasks. It now needs to establish its priorities, articulate its goals, and pursue its objectives in a coordinated fashion. To do this it must get organized -- locally, regionally, and nationally. PRINCIPLES OF DEMOCRATIC STRUCTURING Once the movement no longer clings tenaciously to the ideology of "structurelessness," it is free to develop those forms of organization best suited to its healthy functioning. This does not mean that we should go to the other extreme and blindly imitate the traditional forms of organization. But neither should we blindly reject them all. Some of the traditional techniques will prove useful, albeit not perfect; some will give us insights into what we should and should not do to obtain certain ends with minimal costs to the individuals in the movement. Mostly, we will have to experiment with different kinds of structuring and develop a variety of techniques to use for different situations. The Lot System is one such idea which has emerged from the movement. It is not applicable to all situations, but is useful in some. Other ideas for structuring are needed. But before we can proceed to experiment intelligently, we must accept the idea that there is nothing inherently bad about structure itself -- only its excess use. Email Links to our top local news stories of the day, Monday through Saturday. By of the Three TV stations around the state have pulled an ad knocking former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold over the over-prescription scandal at the Tomah VA Medical Center, according to lawyers for Feingold's campaign. The ad by the Freedom Partners Action Fund, a group backing U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and funded by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch, focuses on a 2009 memo about problems at the Tomah facility. Feingold and the author of the memo contend Feingold didn't receive it at that time. Johnson unseated Feingold in 2010, and the two are facing off again this fall. Johnson is a Republican, and Feingold a Democrat. Jonathan Berkon and David Lazarus of the Perkins Coie law firm, which represents Feingold's campaign, sent a two-page letter on Wednesday to TV stations around the state challenging the accuracy of the ad. Their letter called the commercial "false, misleading and deceptive." "For the sake of both FCC licensing requirements and the public interest, your station must immediately cease airing this advertisement," Berkon and Lazarus wrote. In response, the lawyers said, three stations -- WMSN-TV in Madison and WLUK-TV and WGBA-TV in Green Bay -- have agreed to stop running the TV spot. Freedom Partners has said it is spending $2 million on the ad buy. The commercial is not running in the Milwaukee market. Officials at Freedom Partners did not respond to an email about the TV spot. The group's phone number is not in service. The commercial features Tomah whistleblower Ryan Honl discussing falsified records and other problems at the clinic. Inspectors in 2014 found doctors at the Tomah medical center were prescribing high amounts of opiate pain pills to patients. The deaths of three people who were treated there are under investigation. In the ad, Honl says Feingold received a copy of a 2009 memo detailing problems at the Tomah hospital -- a claim Feingold denies. "Russ Feingold ignored veterans' concerns, while veterans were dying at the facility," says Honl, who has endorsed Johnson. Here is the ad: F Feingold's campaign responded on Thursday with an ad criticizing Johnson's office for failing to act on Honl's 2014 complaint on the same issue. The ad highlights a radio interview in which Johnson said his office may have taken action had this not occurred during an election cycle, when theres an awful lot of turnover . . . when people are looking at doing job interviews and stuff. Johnson said he first learned of the problems in January 2015, when news reports highlighted those issues and an Inspector General's report on the hospital. Last year, Honl said "all three offices have egg on their face" over the Tomah clinic, referring to Johnson, Feingold and Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin. Here is Feingold's ad: Bullet holes are marked as evidence on the exterior of a home on the 1500 block of W. Meineke Ave., the scene where 9-year-old Zalayia Jenkins was shot Thursday. Credit: Rick Wood By of the Nine-year-old Za'layia Jenkins, shot Thursday night as she watched television in her home while a gunbattle raged outside, was still in critical condition Saturday night at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, a relative said. Asked about the girl's family and friends, Quinlan Bishop said, "They definitely, definitely are deep in prayer. They're covering her in prayer." Bishop said Za'layia is a cousin of his daughter. "She kind of reminds me of my own daughter. She's just a regular 9-year-old girl," he said. Bishop said the two cousins like to comb the hair of their dolls together and play outside. Police have said the girl was shot just before 8:30 p.m. Thursday after two groups, armed with rifles and pistols, exchanged gunfire in the 1500 block of W. Meinecke Ave. Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn said police recovered more than 40 shell casings. Bishop said the family is staying optimistic that Za'layia will recover. "God has the final say-so, always," he said. "That's my take on it." He said Za'layia will be in the thoughts of participants at the May 21 International Stop the Violence Prayer Walk, which runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. starting at King Solomon Missionary Baptist Church, 2375 N. 4th St. SHARE Haijun Tian By of the Federal prosecutors came to court hoping to send a drug dealer away for up to 171/2 years. But at the end of a 21/2- hour hearing Friday, they were able to walk away with only a 30-month prison term for Haijun Tian, a Chinese national whom authorities once called the "highest-level synthetic designer drug trafficker apprehended to date in the United States." He has already served about half the sentence. "He is a vile individual, a parasite on American Society," federal prosecutor Michael Chmelar said during the often-testy hearing. Tian, 33, however, was an indirect beneficiary of a 2013 explosion at his Chinese synthetic marijuana manufacturing plant, and the continual game of cat and mouse between law enforcement and drug manufacturers involving the addictive drug that is often called spice or K-2. Despite its name, the drug has little similarity to conventional marijuana. As the federal government declares various compounds used to make the drug illegal, manufacturers scramble to create new components that they use until those are declared illegal. Because of the explosion, U.S. District Court Judge J.P. Stadtmueller said, he could not be convinced that Tian was responsible for manufacturing the synthetic designer drugs for export to the U.S. after 2013 even though Tian had signed a plea agreement acknowledging he was "responsible for manufacturing" synthetic marijuana in China. Authorities have identified between 200 and 300 new designer drugs from eight different structural classes, the vast majority of which are manufactured in China. The substances inside are powerful drugs that have been linked to violent behavior. Tian was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport in March 2014 as part of a sting operation that ended when he flew to the U.S. to meet a customer who had become a confidential informant for federal law enforcement. His arrest received national attention as the Drug Enforcement Administration painted him as a kingpin in the illicit industry. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in Milwaukee on three felony counts for making spice in China and distributing in various spots in the U.S., including the Milwaukee area. The synthetic marijuana, or cannabinoids, that Tian was accused of making in China and shipping to the U.S. is Ab-Fubinaca, known as ABF, a compound that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration did not declare a Schedule I controlled substance until February 2014. China did not outlaw the substance until October 2015. There is "virtually no evidence of record ... to suggest Mr. Tian was involved in the manufacture (of ABF) after the explosion in his plant," Stadtmueller told prosecutors, adding that prosecutors did not prove he was still involved in the manufacture of ABF after it was outlawed in the U.S. Even though Tian agreed last year to one count of importing ABF to the U.S., whether he oversaw the drug's manufacture and distribution is a key factor in sentencing, as those actions would increase the length of the potential sentence suggested by the federal sentencing guidelines. Chmelar, however, repeatedly argued that the plea agreement signed by Tian, his attorney, Michael F. Hart, and prosecutors states: "Beginning no later than 2011 and continuing until March 2015, Haijun Tian was responsible for manufacturing synthetic cannabinoids at a manufacturing facility located inside the People's Republic of China" and that he sold the substance in China and the U.S. Chmelar said Tian's operation produced about 4,000 pounds of synthetic marijuana a month. The plea agreement also notes that Tian knew that ABF was declared a Schedule I controlled substance in February 2014 because the confidential informant working for law enforcement sent Tian an email at the time telling him the substance was illegal. A couple of weeks later Tian agreed to ship 8 kilograms of ABF to addresses in Oak Creek and Florida in exchange for $8,000, emails used as evidence show. Tian sat quietly during the proceedings as a translator spoke to him in Chinese. Through the interpreter, Tian told Stadtmueller that he apologized for his actions, and now reads the Bible daily. He has been jailed since his arrest last year. "I didn't know the product I sold to the U.S. caused so much harm," he said through the interpreter, adding that he deserved to be punished. "I'm not coming in and saying he should be hailed as a champion," said Hart, who after the hearing praised Stadtmueller for handing down a "thoughtful and reasoned sentence." Chmelar rushed out of the courtroom after the hearing and declined to comment. During the hearing, he argued that Tian operated for years "causing illness and death to his own people, adding later that Tian "knew what he was producing and ... he did not care." Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks at the Invest in America! summit at the Chamber of Commerce in April in Washington, D.C. Credit: TNS By "Job reports point to stronger economy." This was the headline on the front page of a recent Milwaukee Journal Sentinel edition, and it is certainly good news for Wisconsin. Let's take a look at the latest facts from the March jobs report: 13,100 private-sector jobs were created, and the unemployment rate dropped to 4.5% below the national rate of 5%. Wisconsin reached an all-time high for total employment with more than 3 million people working. Wisconsin is ranked fifth best in the country and No. 1 in the Midwest for job growth from February to March. The labor force participation rate was 68.8%, ranking Wisconsin sixth best in the country. Wisconsin had the best 12 months of job growth since 2004. On top of all of that, Wisconsin was one of just 10 states to have a better average unemployment rate in 2015 than we did before the recession in 2007. These facts are good news for working families all across the state. It's no secret that growing jobs, strengthening Wisconsin's economy and highlighting our state's successes have been top priorities for my administration. Through tax relief and government reforms, we worked to get the mighty hand of the government out of the way and unleash the power of the private sector of our economy. More than five years into our administration, we are seeing measurable, positive results. Looking ahead, one of our biggest challenges is finding enough people to fill all the new jobs being created in Wisconsin. With this in mind, we invested millions into our public schools in dual enrollment and youth apprenticeship programs. Lately, we put more into our technical colleges and we continue to fund customized worker training sessions. In addition, we now require all able-bodied adults without kids in the home to work or be enrolled in our job training program before they can get benefits such as food stamps. Some think we kick them off if they can't find a job. That's just wrong. In reality, we provide job training if they can't find work, and we even offer translation services, English as a Second Language classes, and a High School Equivalency Program to tear down additional barriers to success. We even help with rehabilitation treatment if someone has a drug addiction. We can find a job for someone who has basic job skills and is free of drugs. And here's great news since April of last year, this job training and educational program helped almost 12,000 people move from government dependence to true independence, by giving them the assistance they need to get the job they want. Of that total, 6,200 are in Milwaukee County alone, and the success stories are so empowering. One participant in our program from the Milwaukee area offered this testimony: "I submitted an application to St. Luke's Medical Center for full-time employment. St. Luke's Medical Center called me the next day and conducted a phone interview. When I got to the interview, I used the techniques that I was taught in Road Maps to Success to really wow the manager and was offered the job right on the spot. The moral of this story is to never give up on what you want to do! I got the job as a Health Unit Coordinator working in the Emergency Room, right where I wanted to end up." Stories like this one are what this is all about. Because of these reforms, people are now excelling in the workforce in fields including health care and manufacturing at great Wisconsin companies. They are confirming what we've always known people want to work. They want the dignity and independence that comes from having a job that allows them to support themselves and their families. More jobs and higher wages. That's our goal as we work to help move Wisconsin forward. The latest news shows that we are heading in the right direction. The Wisconsin Comeback continues. Scott Walker is the governor of Wisconsin. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (left) listens during a round table discussion at Williamson Health and Wellness Center in Williamson, W.Va., on May 2. Credit: Associated Press SHARE By The first rule in elections is: Go for the votes you can get. By that measure, Hillary Clinton is right to try to put the old Obama coalition on steroids. Donald Trump will expand the Democrats' opportunities among non-white Americans, and produce Clinton landslides among Latinos. They have good reason to fear and despise the man who has demeaned them. But Clinton also has to challenge Trump for at least a share among angry and struggling white working class voters with real economic grievances. Their votes matter if she wants to keep Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania in the Democratic column. Clinton's visit to Appalachia last week reflected this realism, but it was about more than electoral calculation, since she is highly unlikely to carry either West Virginia (most Democrats think she'll lose its primary on Tuesday to Bernie Sanders) or Kentucky this fall. Believe it or not, there are moral obligations in electoral politics. This is why her Appalachian outreach represented one of the admirable moments of her campaign. A progressivism that writes off the white working class is not worthy of being called progressive. Trump, of course, mocked her visit and reveled in the pushback she got from voters who are part of his base. She had to offer an apology for her statement earlier this year that "we're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business." Politically, it was not, to be charitable, a wise thing to say. But consider the context of that line at a March CNN town hall: "I'm the only candidate which has a policy about how to bring economic opportunity using clean renewable energy as the key into coal country. Because we're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business, right, Tim? And we're going to make it clear that we don't want to forget those people. Those people labored in those mines for generations, losing their health, often losing their lives to turn on our lights and power our factories." The media often don't put comments of this sort in context because, as you can see above, it takes a big fat, space-consuming paragraph to make it clear that she was speaking with empathy for coal miners, not consigning them to the economy's dustbin. And her speech last Tuesday in Athens, Ohio, offered unglitzy, realistic policies to try to bring back an Appalachian economy that no longer can rely on coal. "At a time when our energy sector is changing rapidly, we need to invest in coal communities," she said. "We need to figure out how to bring new jobs and industries to them, and we need to stand up to the coal executives trying to shirk their responsibilities to their workers and retirees." Now contrast this with Trump's speech in Charleston, W.Va., on Thursday. "I'm going to put the miners back to work," Trump declared, "and she said I'm going to put the miners and the mines out of business." The first part of that statement is a policy lie, but not the sort of lie politicians typically get called on. The truth is that for a whole series of reasons (as thoughtful reporting over the years by the Louisville Courier-Journal has shown), the region's old coal economy is not coming back to anything like where it was. In her speech, Clinton acknowledged several times that many of the voters she met with during her Appalachian tour would never vote for her. The trip nonetheless made sense as part of a larger obligation of leadership. Making America governable again requires breaking down barriers that get in the way of empathy across the lines of race and class but also of social status and personal values. And making America a more just nation requires honest talk about policies that can actually lift up those still hurting in our economy. The hard political truth is that economic justice and empathy are the true alternatives to Trumpian divisiveness. E.J. Dionne is a columnist for The Washington Post. Email ejdionne@washpost.com. Twitter: @EJDionne Credit: Journal Sentinel files Relax, this is not another Donald Trump column. No, this column is about 30 cents. Last month, Orville Seymer made an open records request of the Kenosha Unified School District. After the usual hemming and hawing, the district emailed two documents to Seymer. And charged him 30 cents for the effort. This left Seymer a little perplexed: "So please tell me how you would like me to deliver the 30 cents to you, in coins through the mail in which the postage alone will cost 45 cents or by a check which will again cost 45 cents just for the postage and that does not include the costs of the bank processing fees which I am sure will exceed 30 cents. Or I could get in my car and drive down to Kenosha and hand deliver the 30 cents to you, but the costs of just the gas alone will likely exceed the 30 cents by about four or five times." He ended up taping three dimes inside an envelope and mailing it in. Thirty cents is nothing, and certainly falls within the guidelines for copying of documents. It comes nowhere near the hundreds of dollars that the Journal Sentinel and others have paid for some records requests. But it does point to the challenges some expensive and some merely annoying that crop up when requesting copies of records. Seymer, who is field operation director for CRG Network, noted in one email to the district that he's had great cooperation from the state Department of Workforce Development in obtaining copies of records. "In one case, he or his staff provided me with well over 1,000 pages of documents electronically that they had to run through a scanner and send to me in 9 separate emails because the file was so large. He did this all at no cost." And then there's Sheila Plotkin, a McFarland resident who has been in a battle royale with some state lawmakers, including Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt, over the release of certain records. Thiesfeldt initially demanded prepayment in the form of $139.96 before he would release the records. Plotkin won the Citizen Openness Award from the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council for her efforts, which are detailed at we-the-irrelevant.org. So what are the rules, and why do they allow for such wildly divergent responses? Obviously, some of it has to do with what's being requested. Governments are allowed to charge for copies and 1,000 physical pages of documents will cost more than two pages. The Department of Justice's "Public Records Law Compliance Guide" has a number of guidelines for costs. Among them: Copy fees are limited to the "actual, necessary and direct cost" of reproduction unless a fee is otherwise specifically established or authorized to be established by law. DOJ's policy is that photocopy fees should be around $0.15 cents per page, and that anything in excess of $0.25 cents may be suspect. Costs of a computer run may be imposed on a requester as a copying fee. An authority may charge a requester for any computer programming expenses required to respond to a request. An authority has discretion to provide requested records for free or at a reduced charge. Generally, the rate for an actual, necessary, and direct charge for staff time should be based on the pay rate of the lowest paid employee capable of performing the task. Note these key words: "May" and "has discretion." In other words, the state allows governments to charge, but doesn't require them to charge. Why charge? Certainly, to cover legitimate costs. Why else charge? Because sometimes, if you put out enough stumbling blocks or even petty annoyances, the requester may just go away or not come back the next time. Fortunately, Wisconsin has enough good citizens such as Seymer and Plotkin who refuse to give up. Ernst-Ulrich Franzen is the Journal Sentinel's associate editorial page editor. Email: efranzen@jrn.com; Twitter: @efranzen1 SHARE By of the Sarah Palin told CNN on Sunday she plans to work to defeat House Speaker Paul Ryan this fall as the Janesville Republican runs to keep his Wisconsin congressional seat. Appearing on CNN's "State of the Union," Palin told Jake Tapper that she felt Ryan's announcement last week that he wasn't ready to support Donald Trump as the party's presumed presidential nominee was disrespectful and predicted Ryan's "political career is over." Palin, the former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate, offered kinder words to Ryan's primary opponent, Paul Nehlen. "This man is a hard-working guy, so in touch with the people," Palin told Tapper. Nehlen's campaign has put out an ad touting his business experience, that ends with him challenging Ryan to arm wrestle, if he's not willing to debate. "Paul Ryan and his ilk, their problem is they have become so disconnected by the people whom they are elected to represent." Ryan has said over and over that he will not seek the 2016 presidential nomination himself, but hasn't been as definitive about a 2020 shot. Palin said she thinks Ryan wants to run in 2020 and that is why he is not backing Trump now. "If the GOP were to win now, that wouldn't bode well for his chances in 2020, and that's what he's shooting for," Palin said. Wisconsin has widest score gap between Black and white students The 2022 NAEP test scores are the first nationwide results since the pandemic. Reddit Email 114 Shares TeleSur | As controversy surrounding the "new anti-Semitism" rages in Europe, important public intellectuals argue that critiquing Israel is not anti-Semitism. Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked commented recently on the controversy of "anti-Semitism" from the United Kingdoms Labour party, which has lead to the suspension of Labour politicians. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn "must clarify that anti-Semitic comments are not within legitimate political debate, and that anti-Semitic views should end a politicians career and disqualify them from any future public office, she said in remarks broadcast from a ceremony in Krakow, Poland. The controversy started when Labour MP Naz Shah posted a map showing Israel superimposed over the United States, saying that the answer to Middle East peace was relocating Israel to the nation where Israelis are "most loved." In response, Shah stepped down, but not before another Labour MP, Ken Livingstone, took to the airwaves to defend her. In a radio interview, Livingstone chose to bring up the cooperation between German Zionists and Nazis in the 1930s. While this is historically documented, Livingstone was not clear on the facts, and he has been suspended from the party. Anti-Semitism has a new definition in the UK and Europe, and some fear that this new definition conflates it with "anti-Zionism," or the criticism of the State of Israels policies. Many call this the "new anti-Semitism." For example, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks justice for Palestinians through academic, cultural and business boycotting of Israeli institutions that aid the occupation, has been outlawed in both France and the UK . Members of academia and civil society have weighed in on the debate. 1. Norman Finklestein, U.S. political scientist, author and activist specializing in Israel-Palestine. Finkelstein speaking at an event in the UK | Source: Wikipedia Finkelsteins website was the source of the map that kicked off the controversy. "Were it not for the current political context, nobody would have noticed Shahs reposting" of the map, he told OpenDemocracy. Regarding the "new anti-Semitism," Finkelstein said "these campaigns occur at regular intervals, correlating with Israels periodic massacres and consequent political isolation Pew found [British] anti-Semitism levels at seven percent. Is that grounds for a national hysteria?" He then cited a 2015 poll which found that "40 percent of UK adults dont like Muslims and nearly 60 percent dont like Roma So where is your order of moral priorities?" 2. Ilan Pappe, prominent Israeli historian Ilan Pappe | Source: ilanpappe.com Pappe is a celebrated historian whose work focuses on the creation of the modern State of Israel, including the expulsion of the native Palestinian populace. "Whatever the Zionists in Britain point to, as an expression of anti-Semitism, which in the main are legitimate criticism of Israel, have been said before in the last 50 years. The pro-Zionist lobby in Britain, under direct guidance from Israel, picks them up because the clear anti-Zionist stance of BDS has reached the upper echelons. They are genuinely terrified by this development. Well done the BDS movement!" 3. Frances Webber, Vice-chair of the Institute for Race Relations (IRR) Council of Management TeleSur: Is Criticizing Israel the New Anti-Semitism? Webber has a long history as a barrister who specialized in immigration, refugee and human rights law until she retired in 2008. She recently wrote a piece for the IRRs website that challenged the definition of "new anti-Semitism" in Europe. "Although it might cause offence to some, it is no more inherently racist to attack Israels policies than it is to demand that Rhodes must fall or to denounce US or British imperialism or these states complicity in torture." 4. Peter Beinart, U.S. journalist and noted liberal Zionist Beinart speak at a University of Washington even in 2014 | Source: Wikipedia Beinart has written extensively in support of Zionism, specifically for The Daily Beast and Israeli daily Haaretz. In a recent column for Haaretz, he wrote that "when in the name of representing one ethnic group a state denies people who arent in that ethnic group the right to vote, or the right to live under the same law, that state throws its moral legitimacy into question. "Thats what Israel is doing in the West Bank. And in so doing, its strengthening the very anti-Zionism it fears. Its making it easier for anti-Zionists to say that a Jewish state cant really be a democracy at all." 5. David Palumbo-Liu, Professor of Comparative Literature, at Stanford University Palumbo-Liu | Source: www.palumbo-liu.com Palumbo-Liu is not only a celebrated academic and author, but also a frequent opinion writer for outlets such as Al Jazeera, Salon, and the Huffington Post. In an article for Salon, Palumbo-Liu wrote that the California Scholars for Academic Freedom, a group of which he is a member, maintains that "criticisms of Zionism are co-extensive with the history of Zionism and have from the start included Jewish voices from a variety of political and religious orientations Many political positions, including those that favor Palestinian rights, statehood, and political self-determination, can be considered anti-Zionist although they comply with internationally accepted norms of human rights and principles of democratic self-governance. Via TeleSur - Reddit Email 0 Shares By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | On Saturday, Iran announced that 13 members of the Revolutionary Guards Corps had been killed and 21 wounded when the al-Qaeda-led Army of Islam fundamentalist Sunni coalition took the village of Khan Touman near Aleppo. Iran will nevertheless continue to back the regime of Bashar al-Assad against rebels. An envoy of Irans clerical leader, Ali Khamenei, was in Damascus on Saturday. Ali Akbar Velayati said he wanted actually to strengthen Iranian ties with Syria. Heres why Iran will fight on till the bitter end, undeterred by the highest one-day casualty count in the war so far: 1. Syria is needed as a bridge between Iran & Lebanon, over which Iran resupplies Lebanons Hizbullah with weaponry and support. Without that ally, Iran would have no foot in the door in the Levant and so lose some of its strategic advantage. 2. If Syria fell into the hands of the hyper-Sunni Salafi Jihadists, Iran would go from dominant regional power to being besieged by militant Sunnis. 3. Syria is a source of religious prestige for Iran, given its shrines to Shiite holy figures. Leaving them for Daesh (ISIL ISISL) to destroy would harm the regimes popularity at home. 4. Syria is a chess piece in the Iranian-Saudi rivalry and Iran would lose the entire contest if it withdrew from that country. Therefore, the Iranian regime will double down on Syria. It cant afford to lose. - Wochit News: Iran suffers worst loss against militants in Syria, Aleppo truce extended Reddit Email 0 Shares By Winston Obertan | ( GlobalVoices.org ) | Turkey's Prime Minister of nearly two years Ahmet Davutoglu has announced his intention to quit his post for the unity of the party amid evidence of a bubbling conflict with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Davutoglu was the second most important figure in the AKP (Justice and Development Party) that has dominated Turkish politics for over a decade and his likely disappearance from the political scene is viewed as robbing the country of a potential check on Erdogan's ambitions. A bespectacled intellectual, Davutoglu never quite had the aura of Erdogan, who came to the fore as Turkey's Prime Minister and AKP's guiding political force in 2003. Wow that was quick Mr #Davutoglu already found himself a new job impressive. #Turkey pic.twitter.com/BEzLlaJmO5 Hamosh (@Hamosh84) May 6, 2016 Writing at Al-Monitor, Mustafa Akyol noted the appearance of a mysterious political blog that had painted Davutoglu as a traitor shortly after Davutoglu was stripped of his powers to appoint regional party officials by the AKP's executive committee. If the blog as many think is a reflection of Erdogan's positions, then some of Davutoglu's principle crimes appear to have been playing the soft cop to Erdogan's hard cop in negotiations over the EU-Turkey refugee deal and favouring a parliamentary system. What awaits Turkish Prime Minister #Davutoglu after his dismissal by President #Erdogan pic.twitter.com/WYKJKvVmef Aykan Erdemir (@aykan_erdemir) May 5, 2016 Davutoglu, for his part, appears to have recognised that he lacks the political capital to go toe-to-toe with one of the most popular and powerful leaders in Turkey's history, despite the fact that as PM he has a broader constitutional mandate than Erdogan. This has led many to fear that Turkey's transition from a troubled democracy to an authoritarian state is close to complete. Let us mourn Turkish democracy, which has been shorn of one of its last checks on #Erdogans power https://t.co/GnQEmjgc8N Arzu Geybulla (@arzugeybulla) May 7, 2016 With Davutoglu's successor likely to be more in favour of a constitutional switch in favour of broader powers for Erdogan and the presidency, the world will wait to see what this means both for the ongoing refugee crisis on the EU's borders and the deepening conflict between Kurdish militants and the Turkish state. Unfortunately, what developments in Turkey over the last two years or so have shown is that prospects that at one point might have seemed absurd, suddenly become conceivable. CHP MP: Thank goodness for the Republic. In Ottoman times, Davutoglu would have lost his head. https://t.co/fK3yMALDtG Ankaral Jan (@06JAnk) May 7, 2016 Via Globalvoices.org - Related video: CCTV: Political uncertainty in Turkey drives Lira down Business / Companies by Staff Reporter Local food outlet Nando's has released an advert dissing the quail bird that has become a sought-after delight in Zimbabwe.In a typical, humor-filled Nando's fashion, the ad blasts the quail as an "overrated sidechick" and on it's Twitter handle, the eatery calls it an "impostor among us."The bird known as "Isigwaca/Chihuta" in local lingo has become a hit in the country, a milieu which has seen a sizable number of farmers breeding the bird for sale.Its eggs are also believed to have nutritional and medical value. The government yesterday encouraged locals to breed the bird after claims that the local Wildlife Management personnel had banned its breeding. LOUP CITY - Two people have been jailed on suspicion of abducting a Loup City woman at gunpoint early Thursday morning and leaving her tied to a tree.A 19-year-old Loup City woman was approached by a vehicle when she left Loup City Lanes bowling alley Wednesday night, according to a press release from the Sherman County Sheriff's Department. The woman knew the two people in the vehicle, allegedly Christopher Mueller, 23, and Lisa Pueteney, 19, both of Grand Island, and entered it willingly. When she got in, a gun was put to her head and her hands were bound. She was driven to a location southeast of Loup City where she was tied to a tree and told she would be killed if she told anyone. She was then left bound to the tree. According to the release, the woman was able to free herself eventually, and walked to Loup City about five hours later. She reported the incident to the Sheriff's department at about 12:15 p.m. Thursday. (CORRECTED 8:55 p.m. 4/24/09)) The woman led officers back to the crime scene and the Nebraska State Patrol was called for assistance. As search and arrest warrants were being prepared, NSP investigators were watching Mueller's home and saw both suspects leave. Officers confronted them and both Mueller and Pueteney were arrested and booked into the Hall County Corrections Facility. Mueller has been charged with kidnapping and use of a weapon to commit a felony. Pueteney is charged with kidnapping, making terroristic threats and use of a weapon to commit a felony. No bond has been set on either suspect. Business / Economy by Staff reporter THE two month time lapse between the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's announcement and expected release of bond notes into the market is likely to create panic withdrawals among the banking public while companies are likely to transfer their money to other markets such as property to hedge against uncertainties, officials have said.RBZ governor Dr John Mangudya on Wednesday announced a raft of measures to curb illicit cash outflows and the introduction of bond notes in denominations of $2, $5, $10 and $20 which are an extension of bond coins already in circulation as part of the measures. He indicated that the notes were likely to be released in two months.Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president Mr Busisa Moyo said as industry they were concerned about the period between the announcement and issuance of the actual bond notes as it could create panic in the banking and transacting public."There is a possibility that this time lapse can create unintended consequences in the end. There are several likely reactions that could be problematic considering our recent economic history and the general lack of confidence in locally engineered instruments," said Mr Moyo.Mr Moyo said some possible situations included companies and individuals moving their US dollars out of the formal system, reverting to "under the pillow" banking which would negatively affect bank deposits as well as corporates moving money into assets using the local RTGS system to hedge cash risk by investing in properties, raw materials and commodities."People will queue daily to utilise the $1 000 maximum withdrawals and not rest until all their US dollar balances are at zero. This again could be a negative consequence which will create further cash shortages," he said.Mr Moyo, however, said the reactions were likely to change, with perception easing as with the coins once reassurances from the governor, business community and the Nostro guarantor are made. He said the main challenge was of confidence and trust in local institutions."Memories tend to be long and vivid, likewise fear can override logic and good interventions," said Mr Moyo.The Bankers Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ) could, however, not shed any light on the issue with chief executive officer Mr Sij Biyam saying there was still confusion in the public domain on the governor's statement on bond notes."Until clarified by him (governor), we will find it difficult to respond to questions as per hereunder," said Mr Biyam.Meanwhile, the local stock market has not reacted to the introduction of bond notes issue with market researchers saying the local bourse on Friday recorded its 12th consecutive day surge in trade."There has been no reaction on the market despite concerns over the announcement by the RBZ governor. It is business as usual as the ongoing trend continues," Lynton Edwards research analyst Mr Kudzanai Sharara said.Economists say the bond notes were a positive step meant to eradicate a number of challenges, including addressing the critical shortage of cash for transactions asserting that their introduction should make life easier and cheaper for the broader generality of Zimbabweans."If, like the bond coins, the notes are pegged directly on a one to one basis against the United States dollar, and are supported by the US$200 million bond facility negotiated by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe with an international bank, this would effectively mean the notes are 'bonded' or 'guaranteed' to be purchased back, in United StatesCurrency by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. The notes will therefore represent a stable value and a very useful medium of exchange," said an economist with a local banking institution. News / Africa by Staff Reporter Zimbabwean women believed to be sex workers have been caught selling Sperms in South Africa. The sperms are being exported to South Africa where they are in demand by sangomas who use them to bring luck, enhance good fortune and boost business. The sperms, which are allegedly selling for R300 for a 250ml bottle, are also collected for sale in Dubai, where they fetch even higher amounts. 568 Shares Share Life as a resident doctor can bring some of the most memorable patients encounters of our career. After all, this is the time in our training when we are the most naive, vulnerable and most importantly impressionable. There is a certain patient scenario, however, which has changed the way I view one the most important experiences a patient can have: labor. Let me explain. I get paged for an epidural. Once I arrive, I am often surprised by the look of defeat and despair on the patients face. I often ask the reason for concern or hesitation. I thought I could do it naturally, but Im ready for the epidural. Once the baby is delivered, many patients usually respond by saying I never thought I would like anesthesia, or not going natural. This prompted me to ask a very simple, yet very important question. Why is it that women feel it is unnatural to receive an epidural for birth? Countless online articles and conversations are centered on this very question: Should I go natural or receive an epidural for delivering my baby? What is a birth with an epidural? Unnatural? Does having an epidural invalidate the process of giving birth simply based on the idea of pain relief? I feel inclined to believe that this shaming would simply not exist if our cultural expectations were adjusted. Pamela Druckerman, in her best-selling book Bringing up Bebe, discusses the cultural differences of birth and parenting she discovered while living in France. Druckerman notes that in France, the use of epidural anesthesia is much higher than in the U.S. Some hospitals have epidural rates as high as 87 percent. She attributes this to the cultural perspectives that French women have about epidurals. French moms often ask me where I plan to deliver, but never how. They dont seem to care. In France, the way you give birth doesnt situate you within a value system or define the type of parent youll be. It is, for the most part, a way of getting your baby safely to your arms. Druckerman discovers that the cultural perspective of birth shapes French womens ideas of epidurals. In France, an epidural is seen as a tool or an adjunct to help women achieve the ultimate goal, which is, of course, a healthy baby. There is no fuss about the method or use of anesthesia. It is a matter of perspective. Birth is about the baby. If you receive an epidural, that is beside the point. And how are the French faring? According to the World Health Organization, France is ranked number one in terms of overall health care. The U.S. is slightly behind in thirty-seventh place. In Spain, maternal satisfaction with epidural anesthesia is very high. Presumably, this is also due to the cultural expectations and psychosocial acceptance of epidural anesthesia. A Spanish study involving 1,067 women showed that over 90 percent of women who received an epidural were satisfied with their decision. So why is that American women feel a sense of dissatisfaction when receiving an epidural? A study from Harvard showed that although women who requested epidural analgesia for pain relief during labor reported significantly lower pain scores than those women who had not received an epidural. However, 88 percent of women who requested an epidural for pain reported being less satisfied with their childbirth experience than those who did not. Another study from Stanford showed that women who expressed fear of labor reported lower maternal satisfaction scores during labor. What is the source of maternal dissatisfaction in American women? Would American women feel more emotionally secure if, for example, a birth with an epidural was considered a natural birth? Establishing epidural anesthesia as a natural form of birth is a job that we, as health care providers have to take. It is dangerous to assume something is unnatural, as it sets the precedent for something that is negative which can harm mothers and babies. Words have power that can transform our psychology and decision making. Women are bearing all the cost of this natural vs. unnatural nonsense. Why are men not held to the same standards when it comes to our manly traits? Think about it; no one shames men for using Viagra for male impotence. Yet sexuality and male reproduction remains a central part of our psychology as men. We are bombarded with ads of suave gray hair mad men driving a Porsche down the coast with his significant other. In other words, the male psyche is even protected and valued in these ads. Dont worry Don Draper, take this blue pill with a sip of gin and tonic. Why are women not protected in such a way? Why are women subject to unnecessarily opinionated and pious people wishing to dictate every aspect of their labor? There is simply no such thing as a natural birth today. Everything, from prenatal vitamins, ultrasound appointments, in vitro fertilization and even delivering a baby in a hospital are things that did not exist a few generations ago. Simply put, yesterdays natural is irrelevant today. The truth is, an epidural is a form of natural birth, and women should not be made to feel ashamed of receiving one. Cesar Padilla is an anesthesiology resident. Image credit: Shutterstock.com News / Local by Stephen Jakes The Resolution made by the 35 Councillors in Harare is that James Mushore, the man who was recruited by suspended Mayor Bernard Manyenyeni to be the Town Clerk should stop reporting for work until the legality of his recruitment is finalised in the courts of law.Harare Resident Trust said the council indicated that Mushore shall not have any benefits from the council."In terms of procedure, the names of Mushore and others shortlisted to be in line to succeed Tendai Mahachi as Harare City Council Town Clerk were supposed to be submitted to the Local Government Board (LGB) alongside;" the trust said."Acting Mayor Christopher Mbanga chaired the Special Meeting. Councillor Stewart Mutizwa moved the motion, and Councillor Beadle Gwasira seconded the motion."The holding of the meeting followed a High Court ruling by Justice Chitapi who the dismissed the application by a residents association in Harare that the City of Harare be interdicted from holding any meeting to deliberate on Mushore's fate.The irony of the court application is that the residents' grouping was represented by Honourable Advocate Nelson Chamisa (Kuadzana East) and MDC-T Secretary General Douglas Mwonzora, which gave the court battle more political than legal.1. The advertisement that the shortlisted candidates responded to.2. The Council resolution announcing the vacancy,3. The scoresheets used by interview panelists to interview the candidates.4. Recommendation letter by the immediate supervisor of the preferred candidate, in this instance Mayor Manyenyeni should have written the letter recommending Mushore as the preferred Town Clerk.5. The full list of the applicants who applied for the job in response to the advertisement.The LGB would then call the shortlisted candidates and interview them again to satisfy themselves that the local authority, Harare City Council in our case, has done a proper job of identifying the best or the most competent candidate for the job. The LGB would select one of the number submitted by the local authority, and may reject the preferred candidate, but in rare cases SHARE Superior Court Commissioner Thurman Lowans, first seated on the bench in 1994, is retiring. LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN Superior Court Commissioner Thurman Lowans, first seated on the bench in 1994, is retiring. He is getting a hug from Stephenie Hooker at his office. LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN By Andrew Binion of the Kitsap Sun PORT ORCHARD Thurman Lowans has a story to tell, but he has trouble getting it out. The Kitsap Superior Court Commissioner, whose last day was Friday after 22 years on the bench, tried on National Adoption Day in November, but stopped and muttered "damn it" when his voice started cracking. He tried again Wednesday in his chambers at Kitsap Juvenile and Family Court Services with the same result. It starts like this: Lowans is getting new tires for his car. A young man working at the tire shop keeps looking at him. Lowans doesn't recognize him, but the young man seems to know him from somewhere. Then it clicks and he walks up to Lowans. "I look at your picture every day," the young man told him. Lowans, 65, oversaw his adoption several years before, and the young man still has the photo taken with his family and Lowans on the day the adoption was finalized. It's about there that Lowans' voice breaks. "I stopped the same place I did before," he says. "Your secret's out," Lowans' successor, Michelle Adams, told him during his retirement party in Superior Court Thursday, which had as many tears as laughs, as courthouse employees and Lowans traded ribbing. "You do have a warm, fuzzy side." Such outright displays of emotion and his habit of ending phone calls to his father with, "I love you" conflict with the reputation of the county's first full-time court commissioner. Lowans struck fear in the hearts of ill-prepared attorneys, even before they appeared before his bench. His large frame added to the imposing reputation. Lowans played defensive tackle in college at Dartmouth, though he is quick to note he was third string. He has no children of his own, but when he talks about the children involved in the cases, to whom he felt personally responsible, he chokes up easily. When he talks about his reverence for his profession, and his duty to young lawyers and the judges he technically worked for but ended up teaching at the state Judicial College, again, his voice starts to crack. "I've always considered this job an honor and a privilege," he said. "We are here to serve the people and do justice for them. Sometimes that is really hard, but I try to do my best." Lowans' father was a Navy pilot. A self-proclaimed Navy brat, Lowans and his family moved around the country repeatedly, including a brief stint in Kitsap during the mid-1960s when the USS Kitty Hawk docked in Bremerton. Lowans attended Marcus Whitman Junior High, but graduated from high school in Texas. He went to law school at Boston University and joined the Navy, served as a Judge Advocate General on Whidbey Island and started practicing as a civilian in Bremerton in the late 1970s. Lowans, who lives outside of Poulsbo, said it was time to step down before a new revision of legal forms are implemented. He and his wife Susan, and their dog Ben, plan to travel. They want to see national parks like Glacier and Yosemite, so they can bring Ben along, but also places like Europe and New Zealand. "I think it's time to go," he said. "I've termed myself the dinosaur of the bench." Superior Court Judge Leila Mills, who took her seat in 2001 and is the next longest serving judicial officer in Superior Court, noted that Lowans gives all of the children being adopted a teddy bear, so she presented him with one, amid a barrage of teasing. He gently accepted it from her, then gave it a firm throttling, sending the crowd of lawyers, judges and courthouse employees into a round of laughter. Then he hugged it. "This work is emotionally draining, yet for 22 years you have remained kind and compassionate," Mills said, noting that she imagines Lowans in the place of Uncle Sam on old time recruitment posters, his finger pointed, saying, "Put the children first!" Mills, and others, noted that appearing against or in front of Lowans when he worked as an attorney and later as a commissioner, could result in some blunt words. But as Silverdale attorney Ron Richmond noted, if Lowans seemed gruff, it was because he cared. "When he barks at you, he's trying to help you," Richmond said. "It's true. If he sits there and just listens, he's given up on you." From outward appearances, a court commissioner is a judge. They wear the robe, people stand when they walk into the room and they are addressed as "your honor." But Lowans, and now Adams, are actually hired by the elected judges to run an array of difficult daily calendars, from mental commitments which Lowans found refreshing for the candor of the patients to divorces to protection orders and others. But the most rewarding, he says, are cases involving children. Lowans has been known to use big words, and to not mince them, but when he talks about permanency for the children who have become his responsibility during dependency cases, his language softens and becomes surprisingly modest. When a parent who has not been parenting well, so much that the state has stepped in, turns themselves around and is putting their child first: "That's really cool," Lowans said. If a child is adopted by a family, and the child is safe and being nurtured: "That's a good thing." By one estimate, over the course of his 22 years on the bench, there have been 16,000 dependency filings that have come before "the Commish." Each filing represents one child living in an unstable or downright dangerous situation. "Most of the time, when a child is born, the love component follows naturally," he said. "But the ability to parent is a hit and miss deal." Former Judge Jay Roof told a story where Lowans was questioned about whether he had children of his own. He looked to the piles of legal documents before him, then up to the person questioning him and said: "I have thousands of children for whom I am responsible." "What a tribute," Roof said. "What a legacy." Photos by MEEGAN M. REID/KITSAP SUN Volunteer Joanne Bircumshaw sorts donated toys into the appropriate bins at the West Sound branch of EBC (Eastside Baby Corner) in Bremerton on Thursday, May 5, 2016. (Photos by MEEGAN M. REID/KITSAP SUN) SHARE Gordon Jensen, of Bremerton, folds a dress as he and fellow volunteers sort and categorize donated clothing at the West Sound branch of EBC (Eastside Baby Corner) in Bremerton on Thursday, May 5, 2016. (MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN) Myra Battin, of Port Orchard, tosses a pair of underwear into the appropriate bin as she and fellow volunteers sort and categorize donated clothing at the West Sound branch of EBC (Eastside Baby Corner) in Bremerton on Thursday, May 5, 2016. (MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN) Volunteer Gina Schulz, of Silverdale, sorts donated diapers by size at the West Sound branch of EBC (Eastside Baby Corner) in Bremerton on Thursday, May 5, 2016. (MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN) By Josh Farley of the Kitsap Sun EAST BREMERTON The "hubbette," as its volunteers are calling it, was humming on Thursday. Volunteers sorted baby clothes, packed diapers into plastic bags and filled shelves full of necessities for the youngest of generations. Up and running in time for Mother's Day is the newest charity to hit the Kitsap Peninsula Eastside Baby Corner, an Issaquah-based organization devoted to connecting donors with the community's neediest mothers and their offspring. For the first time, the 26-year nonprofit has an offspring of its own: a West Sound branch, located within a 2,800 square-foot cinder block warehouse off Highway 303 in East Bremerton (hence the "hubbette" to Issaquah's hub). The West Sound branch was the brainchild of three grant writers Bremerton resident Beverly Kincaid, Bob Maynard, a Bremerton-born Air Force veteran, and Barbara Bandoli, his daughter, both now of Gig Harbor. Kincaid recalls discovering Eastside Baby Corner a few years ago and driving home with one thing on her mind. "The thought that kept running through my mind as I returned from Issaquah was, 'why don't we have this in the West Sound region?'" she wondered. "We have so many people in crisis, so many children in poverty." The three co-founders vowed to start a similar organization here but they wouldn't have to. Eastside Baby Corner's board agreed to expand the organization to Kitsap's shores. Its success comes from a distinctive model in which donations are amassed from the community and then doled out to the social service organizations who know best where they should go. "It's local helping local," said Renee Zimmerman, the organization's executive director. "You may not know who needs what, but your stuff will find its way to a child in need." The organization provided nearly 800,000 diapers in 2014. But much more was donated and distributed, to include car seats, meals, Layettes and packs of clothing. Often, volunteers will sneak in something special a book for a child or even some nail polish for a young mom. "It's those little things that sets Baby Corner apart from other organizations," Bandoli said. The West Sound branch is first focusing on one particular organization the Kitsap Public Health District before adding others. Already, it's making an impact. Jan Wendt, a nurse with the Health District's nurse-family partnership, often works with expecting or new mothers who, on top of battling mental illness or drug issues, also have little to no means to provide for a family. "We could do nothing before this," Wendt said. "We had no resources to speak of." The West Sound branch won't just distribute to local social service providers but will also operate a diaper program for area food banks. Eastside Baby Corner was founded in 1990 by Karen Ridlon, a nurse practitioner who was increasingly frustrated by the number of infants and children going without even the most basic necessities of early life. As she sought donations, her kitchen table, then her home, was overrun. The organization distributed 51,000 orders in 2014 to children and expectant mothers, according to its most recent annual report. Donations have come quickly, from a variety of places. Congregants from Bremerton's United Methodist Church have been donating monthly. Kitsap Transit recently conducted an employee donation drive. Individuals like Joanne Bircumshaw of Port Orchard, who combs Craigslist and searches garage sales, have quickly filled the fledgling branch's location behind Oil Can Henry's. "People want to help," said Myra Battin, a volunteer who runs Bremerton's backpack brigade program. "They just need someone to point them in the right direction." SHARE By Ed Palm This being Mother's Day, I'm feeling properly guilty about the tales I've told on my mother in these pages. Were she still alive, however, I don't think mother would mind my telling one more. My mother Margaret Masarik Palm Whitlock was a lifelong smoker. She was honest about her addiction. Whenever the topic came up, she would declare it to be a "filthy habit" and say, "I wish I'd never started." She did try to warn me against starting. But when I was young, I didn't quite understand what she meant by a "habit." Like her, I would learn the hard way that nicotine is physically addictive. I started smoking when I was 15, and I was hard-core from the start. I smoked unfiltered "Lucky Strike" cigarettes. They were inexpensive back then and even cheaper when I enlisted in the Marine Corps. On base, cigarettes went for 25 cents a pack, $2 for a carton. Even when I was a "slick-sleeve" private, as we used to say, making only $78 a month, I had no trouble supporting my addiction. And it was an addiction. Only three years later, I found myself smoking three packs a day. A severe bout of bronchitis finally helped me to see the light. I was 21 when I decided that I just didn't want to live this way anymore. I quit smoking cold-turkey, and I remain convinced that's the best way. The physical craving was gone in about 24 hours. Stop-smoking drugs and nicotine gum or patches, it seems to me, only prolong the process and put off the inevitable. Steel yourself for one difficult day or two, and you can quit. As for mother, if she ever tried to quit, I wasn't aware of it. She died at 56 of lung cancer the worst kind you can get. It was an ugly, six-month, demeaning process. So a word to the wise: If you smoke, one of the best gifts you can give your mother or wife on this Mother's Day is to quit smoking. And one of the best gifts you, in turn, can give your children is to set a good example by not smoking. And that, by some odd conjunction, brings me to a related topic I've been looking for an excuse to address. I've crossed rhetorical swords recently with a reader who believes that gay couples should not be permitted to adopt children and that judges routinely refuse to approve such adoptions. Up until recently, that was partly true. The norm was to approve the adoption in the name of only one member of a gay union, giving the other member no legal parental rights. But times change. According to the Family Equality Council, 49 of our 50 states now allow joint adoption, meaning that both members of a gay union can be granted full parental rights. The one holdout is Mississippi. Frankly, I'm conservative enough to believe that the ideal is for a child to be raised by two loving parents of the opposite sex. Be that as it may, as a child of divorce, I know that what really counts is to have two "loving parents" who can provide a safe, stable home regardless of their sexual orientation. A case in point would be a lesbian couple Mrs. Palm and I met while I was in graduate school in Philadelphia. We still count them as two of the kindest and most generous people we've met over the years. Cindy and Lynn are still together, and Lynn has since given birth. No child could hope for better parents, gay or straight. While I'm on the topic of motherhood and parenting, I would be remiss in not acknowledging that Mrs. Palm was an excellent mother to our son Daniel. Daniel, in turn, married Heather, who has turned out to be a great mother to our grandchildren. I promised myself that I wouldn't be this way, that I wouldn't bore people with singing the praises of our grandchildren, but I can't resist sharing one anecdote. Daniel and Heather have a longtime family friend named Calvin, an older man who is handy around the house. Calvin has done a lot of home repair and general upkeep work for them. He's around so much that our 3-year-old granddaughter Danica calls him "Grandpa Calvin." A few weeks ago, in flying to Virginia to visit Daniel, Heather, and our two grandchildren, the flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Lynchburg, Virginia, was canceled due to "equipment failure." When Heather told Danica that we wouldn't be arriving on schedule because the plane "broke down," Danica was quick to propose a solution: "Let's call Grandpa Calvin." Already Danica is a take-charge problem solver, and I'm pleased to report that her parents don't smoke. The Herald reports: Auckland mayoral candidate Vic Crone is promising to look at relocating the citys port, saying its current downtown location is obsolete. The port, she says, will be unable to keep up with the growth of Auckland in the next 50 years unless is expands further into the harbour. The community has spoken loudly and clearly, Ms Crone said in a speech to the Committee for Auckland today. As mayor I will commit to leading a robust decision-making process to seek out a new home and transition our port there. A Future Port Study set up after last years public furore over wharf extensions into the harbour by Ports of Auckland is currently underway to look at the economic, social and environmental impacts of the port on the wider city. The study has short-listed the Manukau Harbour, Firth of Thames and Muriwai as possible options for a new port. Ms Crone said ports were a critical piece of infrastructure for any major city, but questioned the economic value of its 77ha footprint and its dividends with the economic return of similar land in the Viaduct Harbour and Wynyard Quarter. The Herald reports: Students accepted into teaching degrees have some of the lowest entrance scores across all bachelor programmes, prompting calls to mandate postgraduate entry to lift teacher status and quality. Education leaders from seven New Zealand universities wrote a joint letter to government last week recommending the move, in a bid to get the best and brightest graduates into classrooms. I think there is merit in this. The current requirements are seen as an easy option by many. Professor Moltzen said the deans group had come up with seven recommendations on how to lift the prestige of the profession. These included requiring a postgraduate qualification before registration, and raising entry requirements to teaching courses. We felt it was important to be proactive. There have been concerns about the status of the profession for as long as I can remember, but I think its probably lower now than when I started, he said. I think we can always improve our performance and improve the quality of teachers going into the profession but I dont think theres a message there the profession is failing. The vast majority of teachers care deeply about their students and work incredibly hard. Lifting the prestige of the profession would be a good thing. Other initiatives such as Teach First can also help attract people to teaching. Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp More Pinterest Print Tumblr News / Local by Robin Muchetu THE death of five family members in a fire last week in Bulawayo's Nketa 6 suburb has raised a lot of stink as one of the children Nicolette (12), sired out of wedlock had her body stuck at United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) mortuary because of disputes between two families over who will collect her body for burial.Sunday News reported that the child was sired by Musafare Chidembo who survived the inferno with Nontokozo Mlilo but grew up in the custody of her maternal grandmother, Enita Mlilo for the past 12 years. However, in February she moved to stay with her father at the Nketa house. The two families were yesterday camped at UBH waiting to collect her body. The grandmother, Mlilo was at pains to express her disappointment in the manner in which the issue was handled."When the child was born I took care of her as she could not stay at her father's place, the Chidembos even refused seven times to assist in acquiring a birth certificate for her and we resorted to making Nontokozo get the birth certificate alone. Just recently in February the father asked for her to stay with them in Nketa and we agreed. It is unfortunate she died while in their custody," said Mlilo.She went on: "What hurts is that I was told the day after the fire that she had died and went to their house to mourn and went back home. The next day I went back to the Chidembos' home and asked to go and see the body of the child so that I see what she looked like after she died considering that I was in custody of her all these years. I also wanted to understand what really happened in the fire accident. The family said they were going to assist me but I spent the whole day with no response from them. The younger brother to Musafare called Tapera then said he was coming to collect us the next day so that we go to the mortuary as they were waiting for elders from their rural home."Mlilo showed Sunday News a funeral policy for Nicollette as she said her granddaughter was just like her own child after raising her and was prepared to bury her. She said the Chidembos never showed up the next day."We ended up having the mother of the child coming from South Africa where she stays and we still have not seen the body of the child. She called the relatives of the child and they said they were going to take her to their home and meet with elders of the Chidembo family. We went there and spent hours there and they said nothing to us. We then asked why they had called us. SHARE By David Nabhan, Special to the News Sentinel The "global warming" panic can now truly be seen to have reached ridiculous heights. Any person with common sense knows that the line has been crossed when the commander-in-chief tells graduating military academy officers that it isn't terrorism but "climate change" that is our most-feared enemy. And for those who imagine that if we simply ignore the brownshirts among the environmentalists and simply let them scream and rant and allow them to pillory the scientific method along with the great minds that disagree with them that this will all blow over when they realize someday that Florida's coastline looks the same as when Ponce de Leon first sighted it centuries ago: Think again, Knoxville. The lunacy will come to your town, too, for they've set their sights on something that may cause the average Tennessean to finally find his or her voice: They want to tax your steak. Indeed, steak is to be put in the same category as cigarettes, alcohol, gambling and other maladies and vices, a proposed "carbon tax" to be levied on it so as to discourage its sale. Of course, these same progressives, so mindful of multiculturalism and courtesy to anything and everything foreign, would never deign to tell the Lebanese to give up their kibbe, would rather cut out their tongues than cast aspersions on Mexico's mole poblano, and couldn't bear to insult the first Spaniard by sneering at paella. Hamburgers, though, the national dish of the United States, our and their country, are certainly fair game. We don't count. Our language, dance, religion and cuisine don't matter. Only their agenda does. For much of the past two decades from 1998 to 2013 the awkward global warming hiatus should have given some pause also to the cult-like demagoguery that pushes this "end of the world" scenario forward. It hasn't though. The activists who wish with all their might that capitalism, the U.S. economy and infrastructure, the modern world's blessings, and every facet of the West's culture should be seen as the embodiment and root of all evil on Earth aren't interested in data, facts, logic or anything else. Instead, the most-strident voices among them are screaming for blood with as much vigor as any inquisitor who ever called for any heretic's head. Every American should be horrified that the Justice Department has admitted only very recently that discussions have been entertained as to whether "climate deniers" should be criminally prosecuted by that citadel of our nation's integrity and fairness. Such an outrage isn't taking place in Torquemada's Spain in the 15th century with an eye to burning alive anyone who dares to posit that the Earth spins, but it is shockingly taking aim at people such as Dr. Nils-Axel Morner, former Chairman, International Commission on Sea Level. He calls the "climate change" hysteria "the greatest fabrication in modern history." The most pre-eminent living scientist on Earth, Freeman Dyson, colleague of Albert Einstein at Princeton, not only doesn't buy the canard, but has posited that the moderate increase in carbon dioxide over the past few decades has contributed to what he calls a "great blooming," pointing out something that every sixth-grader knows: that carbon dioxide, the piston of photosynthesis, is the great engine of life on Earth. A titan such as Dr. Dyson is far from alone: the list is long and impressive. It includes Nobel laureates such as Dr. Ivar Giaever, of superconductor fame, and progressive yet unbrainwashed voices such as the former president of Greenpeace, Dr. Patrick Moore. They'll take your steak away, Knoxville, without so much as blinking an eye -- along with your culture. SHARE By Peggy Burch, Chapter16.org In "The Dogs Buried Over the Bridge: A Memoir in Dog Years," syndicated columnist Rheta Grimsley Johnson revisits some of the territory she covered in her 2010 memoir, "Enchanted Evening Barbie and the Second Coming." This time around, her account of marriage, divorce, loss, recovery, work and making a home are organized around histories of the many dogs she has known. Inevitably this is a sentimental journey; in this book, Johnson, who has won an American Society of Newspaper Editors award for commentary and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, unashamedly abandons the journalist's attitude of cool appraisal. The title of the first chapter sets the tone for her canine encomium: "Why Dogs Rule the Earth, Especially This Corner." Among her dogs' many excellent qualities, she writes, "They communicate quietly, with their eyes, which is what more humans should do." In addition to Johnson's three husbands two of whom will be familiar to readers of "Enchanted Evening Barbie" we meet the pets who played a part in those relationships and lightened the times in between. Johnson is frank about her loves and losses, of both men and dogs, and quick to blame herself for her shortcomings in the care of both species. She recalls again the frantic and romantic year when she and her first husband Jimmy Johnson, creator of the comic strip "Arlo and Janis," got married and started a short-lived weekly newspaper on St. Simons Island, Ga. Now the story of that paper's demise has a happy ending with the arrival of Buster the dog. After Buster disappears too soon, Barney arrives. When the Johnsons part ways, Barney eventually becomes a fixture at the columnist's hundred-acre home in Mississippi hill country. It's here that Johnson's second husband, Don, will build the bridge to which the book's title refers. And the first grave in the pet cemetery across the bridge will be for a blessed yellow Labrador retriever named Mabel, whom Johnson credits with teaching her that dogs needn't live outdoors, even in a state known for its free-roaming "yard dogs." There's a heart-piercing tale of one dog mourning another, and an infuriating story about a man who kills his dog frivolously. There are obscure hill-country characters, the kind Johnson is good at flushing out. But her winsome observations are the real payoff for readers. "We considered our parting a semicolon, not a period," she writes of her separation from Jimmy Johnson. Working in Atlanta when she longed to be in Mississippi was "like trying to sleep when it begins to rain and you can't remember if you left the windows down in your car." Johnson pauses often along the way in praise of "slow-paced, storytelling, music-loving, delightfully slothful" Mississippi and the country home she calls Fishtrap Hollow, but her pets are the organizing principle of this memoir. And after more than three decades spent writing column-length pieces for newspapers, including The Commercial Appeal in Memphis and the Knoxville News Sentinel, Johnson knows how to work in a compact space. While dogs may pack seven years of living into one human calendar year, Johnson's trick is to fold years of passionate attention to her surroundings into engagingly succinct chapters. For more local book coverage, visit http://chapter16.org/, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee. MEMOIR The Dogs Buried Over the Bridge: A Memoir in Dog Years by Rheta Grimsley Johnson (John F. Blair, 188 pages, $26.95) DISCUSSION Who: Rheta Grimsley Johnson Where: Union Ave. Books When: 2 p.m. Sunday, May 15 Former Tennessee Gov. Don Sundquist said presumptive Republican president nominee Donald Trump has also shown a willingness to compromise and negotiate on some issues and he sees that as a positive. (AMY SMOTHERMAN-BURGESS / NEWS SENTINEL) SHARE Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., listens during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 2, 2010. (AP Photo/Harry Hamburg) South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley speaks with reporters outside the Jasper County office building in Ridgeland, S.C., on Monday, May 2, 2016, after a briefing on a $4.5 billion container terminal South Carolina and Georgia are jointly building on the Savannah River. Haley said lawmakers in both states will soon need to begin banking money to help pay for the 1,500-acre project. Planners say the first phase needs to open by 2025. (AP Photo/Bruce Smith) By Tom Humphrey of the Knoxville News Sentinel NASHVILLE Former Gov. Don Sundquist has become an enthusiastic supporter of Donald Trump's presidential campaign while maintaining an interest in Tennessee politics through his old campaign account, still operating 14 years after he left office. "My campaign days are over. But I can still cheer," said Sundquist, 80, in a telephone interview from his Townsend home. He is now cheering for Trump, the former governor and congressman said, because "I like the fact that he's challenging the status quo." Sundquist had initially supported former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a longtime friend, for the presidential nomination. "Too often in Washington, D.C., people have grown to think they should dominate what's done everywhere," he said, citing criticism of Trump by Mitt Romney, the GOP's 2012 presidential nominee, and Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., who briefly sought the party's presidential nomination this year. "I think it's time to shake up that political bureaucracy and all those people who make money off of campaigns," Sundquist said, noting he and his wife, Martha, received repeated solicitations for campaign contributions when Romeny was running "it seemed like two or three a week" and have received none from Trump. Sundquist said Trump's has also shown a willingness to compromise and negotiate on some issues and he sees that as a positive. "Too many people don't understand the differences in having a philosophy and principles and having a willingness to compromise," he said. "Compromise is not violating your principles. Compromise is how you achieve your principles. The Constitution, the Bill of Rights they all came out of compromise." Sundquist still does some political cheering with financial contributions through The Sundquist Committee, established when he first ran for governor in 1994 and continued through his 1998 re-election campaign. A review of the committee's reports indicates no fundraising activity except for drawing interest on the committee's bank account in the past decade. Typically, the Sundquist Committee gives $25,000 per year to Majority Tennessee, a political action committee. State Comptroller Justin Wilson, who served as deputy governor to Sundquist, adds another $5,000 per year, and together they virtually have provided all of the PAC's funding in recent years. The PAC had $33,100 ready for distribution in the 2016 campaigns at last report, filed in April. In 2014, Majority Tennessee distributed about $45,000 in contributions, beneficiaries including 16 Republican candidates for the state Legislature, two candidates for local offices and a $2,500 donation to the Beacon Center of Tennessee, which bills itself as crusading for conservatism and the free enterprise system. "We've been investing in a lot of campaigns over the years," said Sundquist. The Sundquist Committee infrequently donates to candidates, most recently a $1,000 donation in 2015 to the re-election campaign of Sen. Doug Overbey, R-Maryville, who Sundquist called "one of the rising stars in our party." The Sundquist Committee, which had a $1.5 million balance 10 years ago, reported $279,529 cash on hand in its most recent report, filed in January. Besides political donations and paying salaries of two women working part-time for the committee, the former governor's old campaign committee has given on average about $30,000 annually to charities the biggest beneficiaries among many being Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill., where Sundquist graduated with a degree in business administration in 1957; the University of Tennessee; and other educational institutions. The Sundquist Committee is the oldest campaign account still active in the state, according to a Registry of Election Finance official. The account's reports are filed on paper forms, in accord with the law applying at the time it was created, and are not available through the Registry's website. n In the interview, Sundquist said he supports the state Legislature's vote this year to repeal the state's Hall tax on investment income, noting that was part of the tax reform package he proposed as governor in 2001. The proposal, defeated amid much controversy, was widely characterized as a general state income tax plan, but Sundquist says that is not accurate. "I did not propose a state income tax. I proposed a flat tax," Sundquist said, adding that his proposal was similar to that proposed at the federal level by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz as a presidential candidate. It did include a new tax on general income, coupled with repeal of sales taxes on food and clothing as well as the Hall tax and reductions of general sales tax and other state tax revisions. After it was killed, the Legislature voted instead with support of most Republicans to raise the state sales tax and other levies that collectively increased state revenue by about $1 billion annually. Sundquist signed the bill. Blackburn as veep? U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Brentwood, who as a state senator in 2001 was a leading critic of Sundquist's tax reform proposal, was named in The Hill, a Washington political newspaper, as one of the "top 10" prospects for becoming Trump's vice presidential choice. She had been mentioned in such speculation even before Trump became the presumptive nominee last week. In an interview with MSNBC on Friday, Blackburn more or less repeated her comments in response to the speculation back in March she's not ruling it out, but thinks it's very unlikely. Tennessee is considered solidly Republican in presidential races and thus a vice presidential candidate from Tennessee brings no benefit in electoral college math and geographic politics. "I would be a most unusual choice," she said in the MSNBC interview. The Hill article suggested that Blackburn, who is leading a House committee investigating Planned Parenthood, could help Trump with anti-abortion activists who have been skeptical about the presumptive nominee's stance on abortion. "And having a woman on the ticket could be critical for Trump, who will likely face a rival in Hillary Clinton eager to highlight his past disparaging remarks about women," the Hill article says. On Friday, the MSNBC interviewer showed a tape of a TV ad sponsored by Our Principles, a PAC that has been highly critical of Trump, featuring women reciting phrases that the candidate has used in describing women including "bimbo," "dog" and "fat pig." "There are things that I wish Mr. Trump had not said or statements that would not have been made," Blackburn said in response, then quickly adding that he is a far superior candidate to Clinton for women and that will become apparent in the ensuing campaign. "I think for women the greater issues are national security, jobs and economic security and I think they will be very forgiving," she said. Blackburn said she strongly supports Trump as nominee, though she had been neutral during most of the presidential primary campaign. Her son, Chad Blackburn, is a Tennessee Trump delegate to the Republican National Convention. statesmen's dinner South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, also included in The Hill "top 10" list of possible Trump vice presidential choices, is keynote speaker at the Tennessee Republican Statesmen's Dinner, to be held Friday evening in Nashville. Haley, who joined Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam in backing Marco Rubio for the nomination and in being previously somewhat critical of Trump, has declared she will support the GOP nominee. Haley has also declared she is "not interested" in becoming Trump's running mate and Trump, in turn, told CNN a day after the Hill report that she is not being considered. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who has gotten media attention by saying he cannot vote for Trump, was keynote speaker at last year's Statesmen's Dinner. This year's event is at Nashville's Music City Center with tickets going for a $250 per person minimum and other options ranging up to the "Governor's Roundtable" for $10,000 with two "VIP Dinner seats" and seating for up to ten persons at the general dinner table included. East Tennessee Republicans seeking a less expensive option with less driving time can attend instead the Campbell County "Lincoln/Reagan Day" fundraiser in Lafollette, to be held at the same time Friday and with J.C. Watts, a former Oklahoma Republican congressman, as keynote speaker. Tickets to that event are $25 each in advance, $35 at the door, with a table for eight available at $200. The event is organized by state Rep. Dennis Powers, R-Jacksboro, who is also Campbell County Republican chairman. Asked about the date conflict, Powers said in an email that the local party folk wanted Watts as a speaker and "based on his schedule, it was the only day that we would work for him. He had one other date, but it did not give us time to advertise and promote his visit." It seems that Gov. Bill Haslam decided to sign the "conscientious objections to the provision of counseling" bill primarily because he didn't think it did anything. "Although Senate Bill 1556 has received attention for its perceived focus, my job is to look at the actual substance of the legislation," he stated in announcing his decision. "The substance of this bill doesn't address a group, issue or belief system." The "perceived focus," though, caused much debate. Advocates insisted the law was needed to protect counselors who found clients' behaviors unconscionable. David Fowler of the Family Action Council of Tennessee offered this "for instance" on FACT's website: "Somebody comes in and says: 'Would you help me feel good about doing abortions? Would you help me feel good about jihad? Would you help me feel good about being a member of the KKK?" Counselors, he said, couldn't refer those clients elsewhere because state licensing incorporates the American Counseling Association's ethical guidelines, which include: "Counselors refrain from referring prospective and current clients based solely on the counselor's personally held values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors." The ACA insisted that this clause was intended to prevent discrimination, not strip counselors of their ability to refer mismatched clients. The group perceived the focus of the bill to be on permitting bias against gays. There doesn't appear to have been an actual case of this issue ever arising in Tennessee. But perception often trumps reality, especially in the Legislature, and the debate may not be over. Rep. Ryan Williams of Cookeville, the Republican who chairs the House Health subcommittee, believes there's a big loophole in the new law because it applies only to counselors in private practice. "Those people who work for a government or quasi-governmental entity, your licensure is in jeopardy already," he warned. So who are those jeopardized counselors? In 2009, researchers with the National Bureau of Economic Research published a study on college majors and religiosity. Students were asked about the importance of religion in their lives as they chose fields of study then proceeded through college. It turns out that social sciences i.e. psychology and sociology attract the least religious students, and they become less religious as they complete their studies. So if this law were extended to government employees, it might protect some devout, conservative counselors forced to assist abortion docs, jihadis and members of the KKK. More likely, though, it would guard the liberties of mildly religious, agnostic or even atheistic counselors dealing with Pellissippi State students upset by instructors' emphasizing evolution, or with middle-schoolers being teased about praying in the cafeteria, or with University of Tennessee freshmen stressed out about openly gay dorm-mates. Perhaps legislators would prefer to see these less devout counselors send such clients elsewhere. Most, though like their more-devout colleagues would probably just follow the ACA guidelines, and the Golden Rule, and do their best to help. SHARE Donald Trump on Tuesday became the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, winning the Indiana primary and knocking rivals Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Gov. John Kasich of Ohio out of the contest. He promised to unify Republicans even as many senior party members vowed never to support him. Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders beat Hillary Clinton. And while she continues to hold what appears to be an insurmountable lead in delegates, he promised to continue campaigning against her. What does this all mean? What lessons are to be learned? What's next in this seemingly unprecedented presidential election? Joel Mathis and Ben Boychuk, the RedBlueAmerica columnists, consider the issue. JOEL MATHIS Republicans are in disarray. It would be tempting to take pleasure in their distress, except for one thing: Donald Trump now stands a step away from the presidency. That is good for no one, not even Democrats who think (possibly wrongly) the presidential campaign will now be a cakewalk for their nominee. There is no arguing with Trump's die-hard supporters, who possess an unshakable faith that their candidate will change things in need of changing. Perhaps, but bulls "change" things in china shops and Trump appears likely to have similarly destructive affects on American politics and culture. Outside of the die-hards, though, are Republican Party loyalists who find themselves split. Some are going along with Trump rather than allow Hillary Clinton to be elected. Some are refusing to back his campaign. And some, I imagine, are still trying to decide the best way forward. To them I say this: On the day he won the Indiana primary, Trump accused Ted Cruz's father of having involvement in President John F. Kennedy's assassination and did so based on an uncorroborated story from the National Enquirer tabloid. Do you want such a man to have access to the nation's nuclear codes? Trump came to prominence in Republican politics by peddling discredited theories that President Barack Obama was born outside the country and thus is a usurper in the White House. Do you want such a man to have access to the nation's nuclear codes? Trump has spoken admiringly of the Chinese government's massacre of democracy activists at Tiananmen Square, and offered a kind appraisal of Vladimir Putin's strength of leadership. Do you want such a man to have access to the nation's nuclear codes? The examples go on and on. We don't talk about this much except in euphemism, mostly but the president of the United States is empowered to end all life on the planet if he chooses. Temperament matters. Character matters. Any reasonable assessment of Trump will conclude he is deficient on both fronts. He does not deserve your vote. BEN BOYCHUK Here's a prediction: Donald Trump is going to win the general election in November. Ridiculous, you say? You may be right. Then again, the election so far has been ridiculous. All signs point to a resounding Trump defeat, but all of the signs so far have been wrong. If the election was held today, and if the United States was a pure democracy that elected presidents through a national plebiscite instead of a constitutional republic with an Electoral College, Trump would probably lose. After all, the RealClearPolitics national polling average has the erstwhile reality TV star trailing Hillary Clinton by just over 6 points which is a meaningless number this far out, but it fills newspaper columns and helps pundits sound marginally more knowledgeable about the intricacies of presidential politics. Trouble is, all of the predictions so far about Trump have been wrong. Not just wrong, but laughably wrong. And since I made many of those predictions, I'm happy to make this one about Trump's prospects on Nov. 8 with the expectation that my record of failed prognostication will remain unbroken. Do Trump's negatives outweigh his positives? Yes. In "historically unprecedented" ways, the pollsters tell us. People really don't like him. Except for all the people who voted for him. And those people aren't all bigoted idiots. The exit polls tell us a lot about who is voting for Trump and why. Yes, he draws white men without college degrees. But he's also drawing voters from across all incomes and education levels. Those voters are worried about the economy, which has limped along since 2008. They detest the Republican Party and its leaders. They want somebody anybody who can "make real change." But the main reason Trump wins? Clinton is a drag. She looks old and sounds tired. She is the Bob Dole of the Democratic Party the presumptive nominee because it's "her turn." She couldn't even put away a crank socialist. Why does anyone suppose she could saunter past Trump into the White House? I wouldn't vote for Trump for all the bourbon in Kentucky. I prefer my candidates to be conservatives who pay more than just lip service to the Constitution, rather than rabble-rousing populists. But the country clearly wants something else. Well, by God, they're going to get it. Ben Boychuk (bboychuk@city-journal.org) is associate editor of the Manhattan Institute's City Journal. Joel Mathis (joelmmathis@gmail.com) is associate editor for Philadelphia Magazine. News / Local by Fairness Moyana AT least 53 people escaped death by a whisker on Friday when a Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) staff bus they were travelling in veered off the road and overturned near Hwange Power Station in Hwange injuring 41 people.According to Sunday News , the injured, mostly ZPC workers, and some of their family members were rushed to Hwange Colliery and St Patricks hospitals. Police could not immediately comment on the matter. However, according to witnesses, the driver of the bus which was coming from the company's residential area lost control after a support beam underneath broke off. The bus reportedly first hit a pothole before swerving off the road, ploughing into trees and overturned, trapping passengers."The bus was coming from Ingagula carrying dependents mostly women who were going to Number One. Just as it got close to the power station it hit a pothole and the driver lost control resulting in the bus veering off the road where it uprooted trees and fell on its side," said the witness.When Sunday News visited the scene, ZPC fire brigade department was combing through the wreckage of the bus which was still lying on its side.An official at Hwange Colliery Hospital who requested anonymity said most of the passengers suffered injuries that included bruises, twisted necks and broken hands while there was a woman who was in a critical condition and was due to undergo surgery. By Choi Sung-jin President Park Geun-hye has steadfastly refused to increase taxes to meet rising demand for welfare, and vowed to bring the vast underground economy into the open to raise financial resources. In some ways, however, the government and its party have been running counter to President Park's intention, critics say. A case in point is the governing camp's reluctance to toughen crackdowns on tax avoiders using overseas shelters. The issue has also emerged as a global concern, as shown by the recent exposure of numerous paper companies in Panama by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). According to a 2013 report by Newstapa, the Korean chapter of the ICIJ, 34 large Korean businesses have set up about 160 paper companies in seven tax havens designated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Among those who set up such companies were former presidents' sons and owners of companies on the government's industrial restructuring list. Offshore tax avoidance is an anti-social crime that violates tax justice and leads to the outflow of national wealth. According to Oxfam, an international relief organization, 50 of the largest U.S. companies, including those bailed out by public finds during the 2008 financial crisis, are hiding $1.4 trillion in tax shelters. The tax dodging by U.S. businesses inflicts the loss of $111 billion a year on the U.S. economy, and $100 billion on the poorest countries. The National Tax Service, too, uncovered 890 cases of offshore tax evasion and collected 3.95 trillion won as penalty taxes between 2010 and 2014. "In Korea, which heavily relies on foreign trade and overseas investment, the foremost task of tax administration is to grasp tax sources occurring abroad and prevent tax avoidance," said Rep. Park Won-suk of the Justice Party, who sponsored a "special bill" to prevent offshore tax avoidance in October 2013. "There are no rules in the current law that copes with offshore tax evasion in a comprehensive and systematic way." Rep Park's bill failed to pass even the National Assembly's finance committee, however, in the face of opposition from the government and its party. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Korea has the National Tax Basic Law and Punishment of Tax Evaders Act, as well as tax agreements with various foreign countries, so the nation does not need a special law. "The ruling Saenuri Party did not want to put it to public discussion, either," Rep. Park said. Government officials said the bill, if enacted, would put additional burdens on businesses and contract the economy further. Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance Ju Hyeong-hwan said a drastic rise in financial rewards for whistleblowers was expected to increase corporate burdens and breed distrust within organizations. "The special bill could constitute the core of bringing the underground economy into the open, as the Park administration has pledged, but the governing camp had no intention to enact the bill disliked by the business community," Park, who will leave the Assembly in May, told Yonhap News Agency. "I hope some lawmakers in the next parliament will push for its legislation for social and economic justice." Korea buckles down to win $15 billion construction project By Kim Jae-kyoung Korea is stepping up to win the lead role in the multibillion dollar Malaysia-Singapore high-speed rail project by ramping up an aggressive lobbying campaign. The government said that President Park Geun-hye will have direct talks with her counterparts from the two Southeast Asian nations to help Korean players secure the $15 billion project ahead of an international tender to be held early next year. "The project is now one of the top priorities for President Park. She has a deep interest in the project and personally takes care of details," said Choi Jeong-ho, vice minister for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, in a phone interview. "The government keenly feels the necessity for summits. Nothing has yet to be decided but Park will visit Malaysia when the time is ripe," he added. The project is scheduled to start in 2017 and be completed by 2022. Korea's move comes amid leaders of China and Japan giving strong support for their private sectors to win the construction of 350 km link between the city state and Kuala Lumpur (KL) that is expected to cut travel time to 90 minutes. The Singapore-based The Straits Times reported that Chinese Premier Li Keqiang wrote a personal letter to Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak in March reiterating Beijing's commitment to its investments in Malaysia and showing a deep interest in the project. Korea's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Kang Ho-in will visit the two Southeast Asian countries in June to meet his counterparts, including Malaysia's Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) Chairman Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar, and to lobby governments and key agencies there. "Korea is well known worldwide for its advanced railway technology and land development knowhow. We will highlight our strengths to have an edge in the tender process over China and Japan," Choi said. "We have expertise not only in the high-speed railways but also in the development of regions around the train stations. We plan to offer transfers of technology and knowhow as part of our proposal," he added. "We will make all-out efforts to win it." The ministry has run an information center in Malaysia and plans to hold a symposium on Korea's high-speed trains in July there. According to the ministry, ranking officials from Singapore's Land Transport Authority will visit Seoul this week to listen to a presentation on Korea's railway services and visit key railroad development sites. Then officials from Malaysia's SPAD will visit Seoul to attend a seminar on high-speed train and sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for boosting cooperation in the development of both nations' railway sectors. In October, Korea formed a 25-member consortium led by Korea Rail Network Authority (KRNA). It consists of state enterprises, such as Korail and Korea Land & Housing Corporation, as well as private firms, including several builders and two major banks. Experts say that Korea's chance of securing the deal does not look upbeat, citing weak lobbing ability by the Korean government and financial capability. "In this kind of mega project deal, the government's lobbying ability plays a critical role in the tender process," a Singapore-based executive at a Korean builder told The Korea Times, asking not to be named. "Compared to the governments of Japan and China, the Korean government has shown a low-key approach. I have hardly seen and heard of Korea's lobbying activities," he added. "Korea should employ a more aggressive lobbying campaign in cooperation with its private sector." Japan, China betting big An international tender for the project is expected to be called in the first quarter of next year as Singapore and Malaysia are still working on ironing out key details of the project. Speaking to reporters in Malaysia in late April, SPAD Chairman Hamid Albar said that the two countries are likely to ink a bilateral agreement by the middle of this year. He pointed out that safety will be top priority in choosing the winner, adding that track record and experience of each country will also be taken into consideration. Although the project is still in discussion, the bidding race is already in full swing. Japan and China have teamed up with their private sectors for lobbying the Malaysian government and key agencies to get the upper hand. On April 29, Japan held a symposium in Malaysia to make a safety pitch for the high-speed rail contract by showcasing for Japan's shinkansen technology, which it claims has perfect safety records over 51-year history. "We are confident that we would be able to contribute to the Malaysia-Singapore rail project with our experience and technology," Yuji Fukasawa, executive vice-president of East Japan Railway Company (JR East), told Malaysian officials. On the sidelines of the symposium, Japan agreed to cooperate with SPAD to develop the railway sector in Malaysia. China is also moving fast through state-owned China Railway Group, a high-speed railway operator, which plans to invest $2 billion in a property development in Kuala Lumpur. The Straits Times quoted a transport industry executive involved in the project planning as saying, "The project is a game-changer and the visits and engagements (by the Chinese and the Japanese) have become very frequent and all discussions inevitably center on the high-speed rail." Germany and Spain have also expressed their intention to participate in the international bidding. By Kim Jae-kyoung SINGAPORE Park Hotel Group, a Singapore-headquartered hotel chain in Asia, said that it will open business hotels in Korea in June at the latest. "We plan to open two business hotels in major cities in South Korea and will hold a press conference both in Seoul and Singapore soon," a senior group executive said asking not to be named. He did not elaborate further, but said that Korea is a highly competitive market, but has great potential to grow in the business hotel sector. Asked where the hotels will be located, he said, "It is too early to reveal details of our plan, including locations of our hotels." It is likely that they will be open in major cities, such as Seoul and Busan. The move is seen as the group's strategy to capitalize on a growing number of tourists from Southeast Asian nations where the group has major operations on the back of hallyu, or the Korean Wave. Last December, the group opened its sales representative office in Seoul to attract Korean travelers bound for other Asian nations. "Asia continues to be the powerhouse for tourism today, and outbound travel in Korea, one of the region's most developed economies is expected to grow at a steady rate," Allen Law, CEO of the hotel group, said. Park Hotel Group is one of Asia Pacific's fastest growing hospitality groups, with operations in Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, China, Japan and Australia. By Nam Hyun-woo Nearly 60 percent of investments that Korea Development Bank (KDB) has made to help companies' restructuring and other purposes are incurring losses to the state-run bank, data showed Sunday. According to Chaebul.com, a conglomerate research firm, KDB has made investments worth 36.64 trillion won in 145 companies by holding stakes or financing as of the first quarter of this year. Of them, 85 companies, or 58.6 percent, have incurred losses to the lender. The estimated losses reach some 2.96 trillion won, or 8.1 percent of the money lent to the companies. A breakdown of the data shows that the state-run bank is suffering losses in various investments which were made along with the government's economic drive. KDB has suffered the most with investments in companies' stakes. It has poured 3.69 trillion won into five companies, but the estimated losses amount to 1.23 trillion won. One of the cases that caused the bank a significant loss was its acquisition of Daewoo Engineering and Construction (Daewoo E&C). After the country was hit hard by the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the company was separated from the Daewoo Group and went under a corporate workout in 1999. After finishing the workout in 2003, the company was taken over by Kumho Asiana Group in 2006, but the latter put the company up for sale as it suffered from the 2008 global financial crisis. KDB, which was the main creditor of the group, acquired the company by shouldering the 100 percent cost from a private equity fund in 2010. After purchasing Daewoo E&C, KDB's appraised losses reached 860.6 billion won. While the bank is seeking to sell the company, losses will likely snowball because the shares of the company now stand at 6,000 won, less than a half of the 15,000 won when the bank acquired it six years ago. Given that the bank holds some 210 million shares in Daewoo E&C, KDB's losses could rise to 1.5 trillion won. Also in investments into "new growth engine industries," which refer to green and advanced technologies, and the high value services sector, the bank pumped some 1.6 trillion won into 34 companies, but saw 524.5 billion won vanish. The lender's 352.5 billion won investments for job creation has already seen losses of 231.5 billion and another 160 billion won it has injected into nine companies in the cause of supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups by the young has posted 46.8 billion won in appraised losses. In its 27 overseas investments, KDB has spent 1.26 trillion won and posted 272.8 billion won in losses. The only field that KDB has gained from in its investments is in social overhead capital projects, which it poured in 1.58 trillion won and saw an 11.8 billion won profit. News / National by Stephen Jakes Mthwakazi Liberation Front party has attacked the for introducing bond notes which they said would escalate people's suffering and lead to more economic crisis.Party's senior official Proud Mazilkankatha Ncube said Zimbabwean government is clueless."Their idea to introduce bond notes its fatal. I want to point out that all ministers of Zimbabwe are banking their money out of Zimbabwe, so thus why they support the view to introduce this paper money," Ncube said."Long back l said, this country is still a colony. The regime of Ian Smith was far much better than the regime of the last standing dictator, the President of Zimbabwe known as Robert Mugabe. Our leaders are shameless, mind you all xenophobia attacks in South Africa are a result of the government of Zimbabwe."He said for instance, the government leads to migrations which leads to xenophobia attacks."I wonder, our parents fought against Smith, so as to be undermined by these cruel leaders of Zimbabwe. The cruelty of government on economic development will lead to migration, all ministers will not be affected by this economic problem, because they bank out of the country. Shame to Zimbabweans," he said.Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya last week announced the plans to introduce bond notes denominations of $2, $5, $10 and $20 a development which was met with wide criticism from the people. A scene from "Welcome to Xijing Xijing Olympics" (2008), a project of the Xijing Men, which consists of Gim Hong-sok of Korea, Tsuyoshi Ozawa of Japan and Chen Shaoxiong of China / Courtesy of the artists Three Asian artists construct fictitious western capital By Kwon Mee-yoo KANAZAWA, Japan In Asia, there is Beijing, which means northern capital, Nanjing, southern capital, and Tokyo, eastern capital. Then where is the continent's western capital? Three Asian artists from Korea, Japan and China built it at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan. Xijing Men is a collaborative project of three Asian artists Gim Hong-sok, also stylized as Gimhongsok, of Korea, Tsuyoshi Ozawa of Japan and Chen Shaoxiong of China. The project began in 2006, around the time when preparations for the 2008 Beijing Olympics were underway. The three artists contemplated the transformed status of Asia over the past decade and explored identity and the relationships between their respective home countries through the fictitious city-state Xijing. "Welcome to Xijing Xijing Olympics" (2008) After a retrospective of Xijing at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul in Korea in 2015, the artists joined again at the Kanazawa museum to take the city-state to another level. Chen of China was unable to attend the opening due to health problems. Titled "Xijing Is Not Xijing, Therefore Xijing Is Xijing," the Kanazawa exhibit includes the trio's previous works "Xijing Olympics/Xijing Winter Olympics" and "I Love Xijing The Daily Life of Xijing Presidents" and their latest installment "I love Xijing School in the Nation of Xijing." Upon entering the exhibit, guests receive a small flag adorned with the logo of Xijing Men and complete with the map of the exhibit. The exhibit covers seven galleries and even hallways of the museum and the map is handy in exploring the fictitious city-state. Artist Gim Hong-sok posese in front of his works at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan on April 29. / Korea Times photo by Kwon Mee-yoo The museum, designed by SANAA (Sejima and Nishikawa Architects and Associates), is poles apart from the traditional white cube museum with geometric yet minimal design. "This museum has a great building with lots of natural lights. At first, I was confused by its unconventional design, but as soon as I wandered around the museum, installing works, I felt rather organic. It is like a human body," Gim said. "So there is no set routine for watching the exhibit, but viewers can go in and out of the galleries as they want to." The Xijing Men project is juxtaposed with each artist's works, to provide better understandings. Gim has been long interested in the gap between communities and non-Western modernity that spawned a hybrid culture in Korea and other Asian countries through rapid modernization. "It has been almost 10 years since we started 'Xijing Men' and it has become a kind of family business. Our families appear in the work and we watched each other's children growing up as we got older," Gim said. "The same work we did a decade ago can be seen from a different perspective over time." Though Xijing is fictional, the contents of the Xijing Men are realistic. "That is where we find the sense of freedom, liberation. At first, I was awkward to appear in video works, but soon I started to enjoy it as an artist," Gim said. "When we gather for the Xijing project, we produce a lot of drafts and sketches. One throws away a draft and another picks it up. As long as at least one of us wants to have it, it will be a part of the project and can be displayed at the museum. It was the point where the project became more interesting." "Welcome to Xijing Xijing Winter Olympics" (2014) Gim picked "The Daily Life of Xijing Presidents" as the most serious work among the project. "That was the first time when we thought of Xijing as a country. Before then, Xijing was more of a city or a space for us," Gim explained. In the video, the trio deals with various elements of Xijing such as urban planning, finance and economy, national defense, education, construction, agricultural production and historical transformation. "We picked one as the president of the day and made him govern the remaining two, establishing the state," the artist said. The three artists began the Xijing Men project aiming to create five chapters. "We didn't want to start the fifth chapter because it was going to be the last. However, it will evolve and spawn different versions, making this project never-ending," Gim said. The theme "Xijing is NOT Xijing" extends the possibility of the project almost infinitely as it redefines the Xijing Men. "All things are possible here. The title, suggested by Chen, was inspired by 'Art is not art,' one of the classic disputes about art. It could be something about Xijing Men or not. It could include the term Xijing or not. We three could be the artists or the spectators," Gim said. In their latest video "I love Xijing School in the Nation of Xijing," produced in Kanazawa and Toride, Japan and Seoul, Korea, features people who are not Xijing Men as main characters for the first time. Instead, the artists cast art professors of each country and captured their lectures and the reaction of students. "It almost immediately came to my mind that we won't be appearing in the new video. Instead, we invited new people," Gim said. "It gives a totally new context to the project. The exhibit runs through Aug. 28. For more information, visit www.kanazawa21.jp. /Courtesy of Twiiter By Lee Han-soo Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office on Friday indicted a former K-pop band rapper, surnamed Choi, for smuggling 29 grams of marijuana on Friday. Choi, 29, allegedly was caught trying to smuggle the marijuana by mail after buying drugs from an Internet site in Canada, according to Kyunghyang Shimmun. Choi allegedly paid with Bitcoins, a form of online currency, to avoid being caught. Choi tested negative for drug tests. Poster of new MBC drama "The Flower in Prison" / Courtesy of MBC By Park Jin-hai "The Flower in Prison," a new MBC drama from "Jewel in the Palace" director Lee Byung-hoon, is poised to be the next hit epic drama both at home and abroad. Starring actor Go Soo and actress Jin Se-yeon as lead roles, "Flower" is an adventure historic series centering on prison maid Ock-nyeo, who was born and raised in a prison and later helps people of the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910). Premiered on April 30, the first two episodes of the 50-part TV series have clinched nearly 20 percent viewership ratings, taking the top spot in the prime time slot, according to Nielsen Korea. Although the number slipped a little following the long holiday last weekend, the flying start signals "Flower" could be the next "Hur Jun" (1999), a historical drama directed by Lee and penned by Choi Wan-kyu, which enjoyed an all-time high record of over 60 percent viewer ratings. The collaboration of the legendary duo of Lee and Choi in 16 years in the "Flower" itself has invited expectations that it might be a turning point in the boom of stale Korean epic dramas lacking novelty. Director Lee's works include the hallyu blockbuster hit "Jewel in the Palace" (2003) and "Dong Yi" (2010), while Choi also wrote many hit historic dramas including "Jumong" (2006) and "All In" (2003), which was set in contemporary times. "Flower" faithfully follows the success story pattern typically found in Lee's dramas, in which real historical figures in diverse occupations such as doctor, court maid, royal cook and businessman overcome hardships and become the great. Still, the development of story has become speedier and more spectacular, doubling the thrill for the viewers. Screenwriter Choi places Ock-nyeo in various difficult situations and makes her solve the problem by using her wits in the plot similar to adventure game quests and Lee adds up his directorial skills, making the mise-en-scene more like a movie than a drama. The chase scene and the bamboo forest fight scene in the first episode created dynamism and thrill, attracting the viewers. "Choi and I discussed a lot about making this drama full of adventures, like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,'" Lee said, referring to the 1876 novel by Mark Twain, during a press conference for the drama in MBC's Media Center in Seoul, on April 27. The tales of Joseon-era prison and criminal court are featured as the main theme in a drama for the first time in "Flower" and the subject itself is interesting enough to pique the viewers' curiosity. "We tried to bring up various aspects of characters to tell that delight and happiness that can exist even in a secluded space like prison," Lee said. Unlike Lee's previous heroines, which had been based on the actual historical figures, the two lead characters Ock-nyeo and mysterious Yoon Tae-won are fictional ones, preventing the viewers from easily guessing the conclusion of the drama. Some of the characters come from real people in history such as Jeong Nan-jeong, sister-in-law of Queen Munjeong, the wife of King Jungjong; the Korean Rohin Hood Im Kkeok-jeong; and Hwang Jin-i, one of the most famous "gisaeng," or female entertainers of Joseon, adding a sense of reality to the drama. Actor Go Soo challenges the historic drama for the first time in "Flower," but his natural acting style goes well with the drama. Many seasoned supporting actors and actresses, including Jun Kwang-ryul (playing former spy Park Tae-su) and Kim Mi-sook (playing Queen Munjeong), pepper the drama with expertise. The drama airs every Saturday and Sunday at 10 p.m. /Courtesy of Twitter By Lee Han-soo Two planes carrying a total of more than 400 passengers barely missed colliding on a runway at Incheon International Airport on Thursday. Singapore Air flight SQ9016 headed for San Francisco was forced to stop suddenly when a Korean Air KE929 headed for Saint Petersburg suddenly appeared on the runway. The tires of the Singapore plane were severely damaged, delaying departure for 19 hours and was later changed to another plane Singapore Air flight SQ16. Korean flight KE929 left for Saint Petersburg soon after the near catastrophe. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) is investigating and will release its report in two to three weeks. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un delivers a speech at the party congress of the Workers' Party of Korea held in Pyongyang, Saturday. Kim vowed not to use nuclear weapons first unless the country's sovereignty is violated at the key party congress. / AFP-Yonhap Denuclearization remark seen as tactic for talks with US By Jun Ji-hye North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said that his country will not use nuclear weapons first unless the regime's sovereignty is violated, declaring the isolated nation a nuclear weapons state, according to the North's state media Sunday. His remarks at the ongoing seventh Workers' Party Congress came at a time when South Korea is bracing for a possible fifth nuclear test by the regime, following a fourth test in January. Kim also said his regime will strive to achieve global denuclearization. "As a responsible nuclear weapons state, our republic will not use a nuclear weapon unless its sovereignty is encroached upon by any aggressive hostile forces with nuclear weapons," Kim was quoted as saying by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). "It will faithfully fulfill its obligation for non-proliferation and strive for global denuclearization." Regarding inter-Korean relations, the young leader, believed to be 33 years old, said that an urgent task for now was to fundamentally improve relations between the two Koreas to open a new chapter for unification. He made the remarks during the rare party congress. The event kicked off Friday, 36 years after the previous event took place in 1980 under the rule of Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of Kim Jong-un. This is the first time that Kim has spoken of denuclearization since he inherited the leadership of the nation following the sudden death of his father Kim Jong-il in late 2011. Kim also suggested holding the South-North military talks, saying that such talks are necessary to ease tension on the Korean Peninsula. Kim then unveiled a five-year plan to boost economic growth, stressing the need to increase its electricity supply. However, the economic plan lacked details, according to experts. Cho Seong-ho, a murder suspect, is taken by police officers from Ansan Danwon Police Station, Gyeonggi Province, for a court review of an arrest warrant, Saturday. / Yonhap Police disclose murder suspect's face, name By Chung Hyun-chae Public opinion is divided over whether the police were right to publicly identify a 30-year-old murder suspect arrested Thursday. The suspect, Cho Seong-ho, is suspected of killing a man who lived with him before mutilating and abandoning his body. Cho allegedly stabbed his roommate surnamed Choi, 40, to death in late March at their home in Incheon. He then allegedly cut the body in two before abandoning the upper and lower sections 10 days later at different locations on Daebu Island in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province. Right after detaining Cho, Ansan Danwon Police held a meeting to decide whether to disclose the suspect's personal information including his name and age, and decided to make it public. When taking Cho to a local court for a hearing on whether to issue an arrest warrant for him, Saturday, police officers did not allow him to cover his face with a mask or a cap. Police said Cho's identity was made public based on a clause of the law relating to specific violent crimes, which allows the prosecution and police to disclose personal information on a criminal suspect if four requirements are satisfied inhumane manner of killing, sufficient evidence that the suspect committed the crime, a need to guarantee the people's right to know, the criminal not being a minor. The clause was adopted in 2010 following the conviction of Kang Ho-sun, who was sentenced to death for killing 10 women including his wife and mother-in-law. But some point out there is no specific standard about how "cruel" and "inhumane" the case should be for the requirements. Social discussion on Cho's personal information disclosure mainly focuses on whether it goes against fairness compared with other atrocious crimes. "Why did not the police reveal the faces of other brutal criminals?" wrote one Internet user on a portal site. "Even those who killed their children were wearing masks to hide their faces, including a woman who abused her seven-year-old stepson to death," another user wrote. Some people voiced concerns over the damage to innocent people related to the suspects. "The families of the criminals do not need to be blamed," a blogger wrote. Another Internet user also opposed the disclosure, saying, "I stand for the presumption of innocence." Some also pointed out that police are too swayed by public sentiment. Meanwhile, those who agreed with the disclosure stressed the positive aspects. "If the criminal had committed additional crimes previously, the victims will be able to report it to police after seeing his or her face," another blogger said. By Kim Bo-eun The National Assembly is set to host a hearing questioning those involved in the humidifier disinfectant scandal after the prosecution's ongoing investigation. If the hearing is not sufficient in discovering the truth behind the scandal, the Assembly will launch an inspection into the government for its responsibility in the scandal, which has resulted in more than 140 deaths. Discussions on the matter took place at a meeting between the government and Saenuri Party officials in Seoul, Sunday. In addition, they agreed to conduct a total inspection by the end of next year into the possible dangers of various kinds of biocide products currently on the market. Meanwhile, prosecutors are expected to summon two former CEOs of Oxy Reckitt Benckiser, one of the disinfectant makers, as early as this week to question them over their responsibility for sales of its toxic humidifier disinfectant. The two foreign CEOs are John Lee, who served from June 2005 to May 2010, and Gaurav Jain, who headed the company for two years after Lee, when the product became a big hit. In addition to the two, the prosecution plans to question seven to eight former and incumbent foreign Oxy executives, who were involved in decision-making at the time. The executives were allegedly involved in the company's pushing ahead with sales even after having received complaints of side effects from the disinfectant such as difficulty in breathing and chest pains, or attempting to hide evidence after the scandal emerged in 2011. Prosecutors will question them over the Reckitt Benckiser headquarters' role in the scandal; and whether the Korean unit reported to and received instructions from the headquarters in the United Kingdom throughout the period. The prosecution last month summoned Shin Hyun-woo, the former Oxy chief who headed the company before Lee, and found him responsible for developing, producing and selling the product without properly conducting tests about its toxicity. On Saturday, prosecutors arrested a Seoul National University (SNU) College of Veterinary Medicine professor, surnamed Cho, on charges of having received bribes and producing falsified reports on the safety of the Oxy product. Oxy commissioned Cho to conduct a toxicity test of polyhexamethylene (PHMG), a chemical used in the product, providing 250 million won in research funds. The study was meant to refute the 2011 research results by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), which said the product caused lung damage. After Cho's first experiment found 13 out of 15 pregnant mice had stillbirths, Oxy allegedly requested Cho to draw up a report in favor of the company in the second experiment of toxicity regarding inhalation. The following April, Cho produced a report stating "there is no clear causal link between the humidifier disinfectant and lung damage." Oxy also allegedly sent 120 million won separately to Cho's personal account over three occasions before the final report was published as "consultancy fees." Meanwhile, it was belatedly found that another KCDC study showed people exposed to humidifier disinfectants containing PHMG had 116 times more chance of lung damage than those who were not. The study, concluded in 2013, was belatedly put in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, published by the U.S. Public Library of Science, in March. The KCDC said it did not disclose the study results in 2013 because it had already announced similar findings previously. Foreign journalists watch a broadcast of the second day of the seventh congress of the Workers' Party on local television in Pyongyang, North Korea, Saturday. / AP-Yonhap By Jun Ji-hye North Korea invited more than 100 foreign journalists to cover the seventh congress of its ruling Workers' Party, but is barring the media from entering the building in Pyongyang where the event is taking place, according to reports. Reporters were not allowed inside the April 25 House of Culture and instead restricted to watching from a spot 200 meters away, according to the AFP. Instead of covering the event on the spot, foreign journalists were led by North Korean authorities to visit such places as a wire factory, a collective farm, a department store and the birthplace of Kim Il-sung, the founder of the repressive state and grandfather of Kim Jong-un. "North Korea's information committee bused more than 100 foreign journalists to the congress venue for a look, but only from the outside, at the ornate April 25 House of Culture, draped in red party banners and flags," the AP reported Friday, the opening day of the event. "Officials had another surprise as the day wore on for the news-hungry media guests brought in to give the congress a global audience who were then taken not to the meeting, but to a wire factory." The Reuters also reported that foreign journalists are being given almost no access to the event itself. Danish Ambassador Thomas Lehmann, right, attends the "Denmark Kids Fair" with Lego Korea General Manager Bo H. Kristensen, left, at Hyundai Department Store in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, May 3. / Courtesy of the Embassy of Denmark By Rachel Lee Danish Ambassador to Korea Thomas Lehmann launched a fair to celebrate Children's Day on May 5 at the Hyundai department store in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province. The "Denmark Kids Fair" featured some of the country's most popular brands, including Lego, Flexa and Steens. It ended on May 8. "An increasing number of young Korean parents are now looking to the Scandinavian style of parenting that combines play and learning, and they are becoming more and more interested in what products they use for their children," Danish Embassy Commercial Officer Julia Kim said. "This fair is a reflection of such trends and the embassy's efforts to make Danish children's brands more visible and accessible to consumers." The event had various promotions discounts, social media giveaways and lucky draws the embassy said. As the Scandinavian lifestyle emerges as a trend in Korea, more Scandinavian countries are chasing Korean consumers. Last September, the embassies of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden held the Nordic Food and Beverage Promotion. It included a seminar, business-to-business meetings, networking sessions, cooking shows by Nordic chefs and a buffet lunch of Nordic dishes made with ingredients from participating companies. The Swedish Trade and Invest Council organized a lifestyle week at IFC Mall in Seoul in November, presenting several Swedish brands, including BabyBjorn, Electrolux, HRD carpets and Libero. ger Bo H. Kristensen, at the Hyundai department store in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province on May 3. By Rachel Lee Israeli Ambassador to Korea Uri Gutman has opened a photo exhibition dedicated to the Holocaust. The "Holocaust Photo Exhibition" at the Methodist Theological University in Seoul was organized to "remember the Holocaust as well as prevent racism and massacre," the ambassador said at the opening on May 3. The Nazi regime, under Adolf Hitler, persecuted and murdered about 6 million Jews about a third of the world's Jewish population up to the end of the Second World War. Hitler took power in 1933, and from 1941 systematically killed the Jews as part of his "Final Solution." The Nazis believed that Germans were "racially superior" and the Jews a threat. Millions of non-Jewish people also were killed, including homosexuals, Catholics from Poland and the disabled. Gutman said his father's family were among Holocaust victims. "Not only me, but a lot of people still are suffering the pain," he said. "To prevent a similar kind of tragedy from happening, we have made efforts to educate our descendants and establish a museum and law." Israel has set up a Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem, Berlin and Washington, D.C. Korea has one in Busan. In 1995, the United Nations designated Jan. 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, when people around the world pause to remember the millions of people who were murdered. According to the embassy, 80 countries had marked the day and this year 20 more joined it. In February, the Israeli government invited Korean educators to Israel for the "Learning from the past for a better future: Teaching about the Holocaust, anti-Semitism and Israel" seminar. During the seven-day event, participants learnt the history of the Holocaust through lectures from experts from Israeli educational institutions. They covered topics that included Judaism and Anti-Judaism in Medieval Christendom and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the challenges of teaching the Holocaust in Korea. One of the most interesting subjects was the dark history of Korea during the Japanese occupation from 1910-45. "Each year 20 Korean educators attend the seminar, and I hope through those people the historical lesson from the Holocaust is not forgotten," Gutman said. The "Holocaust Photo Exhibition" runs through May 13. News / National by Vusumuzi Dube and Dumisani Sibanda THE one million march in solidary with the ruling Zanu-PF party's First Secretary and President Mugabe being organised by the party's Youth League will be held on 25 May to coincide with the Africa Day celebrations.The announcement was made yesterday at the party's Youth League rally held in Filabusi, Matabeleland South by the party's Deputy Secretary for Youth Kudzanai Chipanga."On 25 May come in your numbers to Harare for the one million man march in support of President Mugabe," he said amid thunderous applause from the audience."As youths we don't want bridges to our President because if there are bridges it takes longer to get to him and by the time the information gets to the President it might be distorted. We want one way that is why as youths we want to meet the President regularly."He said the party will organise food and transport for those wishing to attend the march and each province is expected to provide 100 000 people.He said youths were also one with all Zanu-PF organs hence the march was not to be viewed as a Youth League event. Chipanga said there was a need for youths to remain respectful of other party organs as this was key to the party's development.Earlier during a briefing of party provincial members before the rally Chipanga cleared the air on the status of former Zanu-PF Matabeleland South youth chairperson Washington Nkomo. By Rachel Lee Omani Ambassador to Korea Mohamed AlHarthy painted a colorful picture of his country in a lecture at Dongguk University in Gyeongju on April 29, as part of a series organized by the Korea Arab Society. He presented an overview of Oman, its geography, strategic location and modern renaissance. He also highlighted Oman's role in marine navigation and international trade, the Silk Road and the frankincense (Luban) caravans throughout civilization. The lecture spotlighted the historical and cultural aspects of Oman and its relations with Korea, as well as the country's experience in its approach to understanding, tolerance and coexistence in a multicultural society. On the sidelines, the ambassador met several university officials and faculty to discuss academic and research cooperation, and exchange students. He presented several Omani books to the university library for scholars and researchers. Oman-Korea relations date back more than a thousand years, when Omani merchants met their Korean counterparts on the way to China during the Silla Dynasty (57 BC-935 AD). In modern times, diplomatic relations were established in 1974. Since then, Oman-Korea relations have witnessed remarkable development and the trade volume is expected to double in coming years because of investment opportunities and partnerships. The embassy said Korea is regarded as a major trading partner, and both countries have numerous economic exchanges. Oman has earned top rankings for competitiveness, economic freedom and doing business, while maintaining cost advantages, the embassy said. Ambassadors of Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela to Korea pose at the opening ceremony for the "2016 Latin American Film Festival" at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies on May 2. / Courtesy of the Embassy of Ecuador By Rachel Lee Korea's first Latin American film festival unveiled some of the region's best movies to a Korean audience on May 2-4. The embassies of Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela organized the "2016 Latin American Film Festival" with the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies to increase understanding of the region, including customs, values and idiosyncrasies. The selected films covered topics including "love, family, friendship and society," the Peruvian Ambassador to Korea, Jaime Pomareda, said at the opening ceremony at the university on May 2. "These days, Latin American films have been grabbing attention from audiences around the world, who seek to experience various cultures and new content," he said, expressing a wish for more high-quality Latin American movies to be shown in Korea. Six films, including Ecuador's Que Tan Lejos (2016), Paraguay's 7 Cajas (2012) and Peru's A Los 40 (2014), were screened. "This festival is a different idea of promoting culture because it is a door to show not just culture but also Latin American talent," Ecuadorian Ambassador to Korea Oscar Herrera Gilbert said. Latin American countries have strived to nurture the movie industry over several years. Ecuador, a country with a relatively short cinema history compared with other Latin American nations, set up the National Film Council in 2006, which has since provided public funds to support local cinema and also promote the country's arts, culture and tourism. "Even though the funding provided by the council cannot finance a whole film, it has encouraged competitiveness among Ecuadorian film makers," said a spokesperson at the Ecuadorian Embassy in Seoul. The embassy also said that the National Film Council is working with the Ministry of Culture and Heritage and the Cultural Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to "give Ecuadorian missions abroad the right to use freely any Ecuadorian films for film festivals that they are planning abroad." Twelve movies were translated into 12 languages including English, Chinese and Portuguese and free for diplomatic missions aboard to use without paying copyright fees for about two years from August 2013. The embassy said the ministries are negotiating a new deal with a group of Ecuadorian filmmakers for the same purpose. The Ecuadorian production "Que Tan Lejos" directed by Tania Hermida was presented in the Latin American Film Festival and won the Silver Zenith best first film prize at the 2006 Montreal Film Festival for the best directional debut. "Ecuadorian filmmakers are original and they show several faces of Ecuador and its social problems," said Diaz. She said Korean audiences are expected to see "more than a pretty country with lots of natural resources, and at the same time, good and bad things of the same coin." The embassy said the six countries are planning to launch another event of this kind during the latter half of the year. By Frank Ching After the disappearance last December of Hong Kong bookseller Lee Bo, Britain's foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, asked Beijing for information on his whereabouts, pointing out that the 65-year-old was a British national. China's foreign minister, Wang Yi, responded that Lee was "first and foremost a Chinese." Subsequently, Lee appeared on television and said that he wanted to give up his British citizenship. Similarly, Gui Minhai, Lee's colleague in the bookselling business, a Swedish national who mysteriously disappeared while in Thailand, popped upon Chinese television and asked the Swedish government not to help him certainly an odd thing to say for someone who was clearly in deep trouble with the Chinese government. Those cases illustrate a change made 20 years ago in China's nationality law, a change not widely appreciated in foreign capitals or even in Hong Kong itself. What China did in 1996 was to change the nationality law so that it meant one thing in the mainland and a different thing entirely in Hong Kong. Thus, Article 9 of the nationality law says: "Any Chinese national who has settled abroad and who has been naturalized as a foreign national or has acquired foreign nationality of his own free will shall automatically lose Chinese nationality." However, in Hong Kong, the law means something else: "Where a Hong Kong resident is of Chinese descent and was born in the Chinese territories (including Hong Kong) he is a Chinese national." Recently, China has been putting the pressure on. Holders of foreign passports are reporting that Chinese officials are "advising" them not to use their passports when traveling to the mainland, but to use China-issued travel documents that acknowledge them as Chinese nationals. Even the holder of a foreign diplomatic passport has been refused a visa and told to use a re-entry permit. As a result, some are electing not to travel to China. Much has been said about China's growing nationalism but little attention has been paid to its increasing assertion of something akin to sovereignty over ethnic Chinese who are citizens of other countries. While this is particularly noteworthy in Hong Kong, it is also true in the United States, Australia and other countries. What China wants is for foreign citizens of ethnic Chinese background to be loyal to the "motherland" meaning China regardless of their citizenship and to work to further the interests of China. This was disclosed in the People's Daily a couple of years ago when it encouraged "more and more overseas Chinese to participate in the local political life." It referred to specifically to Congresswoman Judy Chu of California, who was born in the United States of immigrant parents, as someone "participating in politics in foreign countries." The Chinese government wants to make use of foreign politicians who happen to be of Chinese extraction to support its causes, such as in its territorial dispute with Japan. The Chinese consul general in San Francisco, LuoLinquan, at an annual reception last December for American families that had adopted Chinese babies, reminded the young American girls and women that China was the land of their birth and that China would never forget them. "You grow up speaking English," the Chinese diplomat said but then added, "Yet your black eyes, black hair and dark skin all remind you that you are Chinese." He encouraged them to learn Chinese and to develop a "Chinese spirit." Being able to win the sympathy and support of this large group ofAmericans would be a great boost to Chinese influence in the United States. About 100,000 Chinese babies have been adopted by American couples in the last 25 years. In Australia, there have been charges that official Chinese propaganda was being used to influence the opinion and behavior of Australians of Chinese background. "Beijing's clandestine intrusion into our local Chinese press will have an impact on national security if it is not rooted out," The Age reported in 2014. The Chinese Communist Party's propaganda bureau, the newspaper reported, was "buying up radio stations and newspapers across the country and channeling the voice of Beijing into them from editorial offices in China." Of course, this would primarily influence immigrants rather than native-born Australians, but such an influence should not be discounted. China clearly considers this to be important. What all this means is that China is trying very hard to extend its influence abroad by using ethnic Chinese overseas, appealing to their sense of being Chinese, even though they are foreign citizens and had left the country of their birth. South Korea on Sunday downplayed North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's vow to "strive for the denuclearization of the world," stressing that the pledge was no different from Pyongyang's erstwhile stance against its own denuclearization. During the ongoing congress of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, Kim said that his country would "faithfully" fulfill its obligation for non-proliferation and strive for global denuclearization. He also vowed not to use nuclear arms first unless the North's sovereignty is encroached upon. "While (he) calls his country a responsible nuclear-armed state, (he) mentioned the denuclearization of the world. That means that (the North) would not seek denuclearization," a senior government official told Yonhap News Agency over the phone, requesting anonymity. "What the North meant by the denuclearization of the world is that it would abandon its nuclear arms when the entire world gives up nuclear weapons." He added that there was no "positive message" from Kim's statement. Pyongyang has already claimed itself to be a nuclear-weapons state, an argument denied by Seoul and Washington. It has long argued that it is pursuing a credible "nuclear deterrence" due to the U.S.' "hostile" policy towards it. The reclusive state has already called itself a nuclear power in its constitution and adopted a controversial dual-track policy of simultaneously developing nuclear arms and its debilitated economy -- two goals Seoul has said were "incompatible." (Yonhap) North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is using the ruling party's key congress as a venue to reaffirm his dual pursuit of nuclear and economic development and to show his confidence as a leader for what Pyongyang calls a nuclear state, experts said Sunday. The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) kicked off its first party congress in more than three decades on Friday, a high-profile political event widely expected to highlight the leader's monolithic power. On the second day of the congress, the North's leader made it clear that he will "permanently" defend the pursuit of his signature policy of developing nuclear weapons in tandem with boosting the country's moribund economy, commonly known as the "byeongjin" policy. "The byeongjin policy is not a temporary response to changing situations, but a strategic policy line that should be permanently pursued," Kim was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Rodong Sinmun, the country's main newspaper. The party congress is being held amid speculation that Pyongyang could conduct its fifth nuclear test at any time. North Korea conducted its nuke test in January and launched a long-range rocket the following month, prompting the U.N. to impose its strongest ever sanctions on the reclusive country. The party gathering is the first of its kind since October 1980 and also the first under the current leader, who assumed power in late 2011 following the sudden death of his father Kim Jong-il. The North's young leader touted the country's nuclear and rocket tests early this year as "great" successes when he delivered an opening speech at the congress, which is widely seen as the "coronation" for the Kim Jong-un era. The North's leader vowed not to use nuclear weapons first unless the country's sovereignty is threatened by others with nukes, but experts said that his message is nothing more than an expression of its no intent for denuclearization. "As a responsible nuclear weapons state, our republic will not use a nuclear weapon unless its sovereignty is encroached upon by any aggressive hostile forces with nukes," Kim said. "It will faithfully fulfill its obligation for non-proliferation and strive for global denuclearization." Hong Hyun-ik, a senior researcher at the Sejong Institute in Seoul, said such a conditional offer by the North is nothing different from its current stance to stick to nuclear weapons. "It seems that Pyongyang is aiming for a rift in international sanctions by indicating some room for improvement in its relations with China and the U.S.," Hong said. "The North also reiterated its previous stance towards inter-Korean relations by demanding Seoul take action first in order for changes in cross-border ties. Pyongyang will likely shift to a more high-handed attitude towards Seoul." Chang Yong-seok, a researcher at Seoul National University's Institute for Peace and Unification Studies, said there is nothing new in the North Korean leader's latest remarks, except for the five-year economic development plan. "Basically, Kim repeated what the North said in the past -- reversal of the South's attitudes, abolition of barriers (to improved relations) and withdrawal of U.S. troops," said Chang. North Korea insists that it has succeeded in making a nuclear warhead small enough to be fitted on a ballistic missile, a claim which Seoul and Washington do not buy. The six-party denuclearization talks involving the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia have been stalled since late 2008 when the North abruptly walked away from the negotiations. Pyongyang has called for early resumption of the talks without conditions, but Seoul and Washington claim that North Korea should first demonstrate its sincere commitment toward denuclearization. "Pyongyang appears to want to raise tensions on the peninsula in order to pressure the U.S. and South Korea to soften their strategies and open the aperture for engagement," said Ken Gause, a senior analyst on North Korea at CNA Corp. in the U.S., citing the possibility of the North's fifth nuke test. Touching on inter-Korean ties, analysts said that Kim's message did not contain harsh criticism against Seoul, possibly leaving a door slightly open for dialogue, albeit conditional one. The North's leader said that Pyongyang will seek to "improve and normalize" its relations with countries that are willing to turn friendly by ending their hostile policy toward it. He also offered to hold military talks between the two rival Koreas in a bid to ease military tension on the peninsula. Relations between South and North Korea had a short-lived reconciliation last year following their rare deal aimed at reducing military tension on Aug. 25. But their ties have become severely strained since the North's nuclear and missile provocations early this year. "There are few rebukes against South Korea in his message. It could be viewed as a kind of its offer for dialogue," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies. Kim Keun-sik, a professor at Kyungnam University, said that the North's leader showed confidence as the head of what the North claims to be a nuclear-powered state at the congress. "The political gathering is being used as a venue to express his self-confidence that the regime is smoothly sailing by overcoming difficulties," he said. (Yonhap) By Stephen Costello Some of the smartest people work at Washington policy institutions. They have experience, extensive and relevant backgrounds, and detailed proposals that are unavailable elsewhere. They're called think tanks for a reason. It is not really possible to label them collectively. They also have their blind spots. Some have fallen victim to an oppressive "group think" that has infected specific policies over the years. Some have been "captured" by political, power or ideological groups. They may have accepted funding from interested parties, and then directly or indirectly produced biased reports. Some have hired former officials and others who have a consistent history of being terribly wrong on the most important questions of U.S. policy in recent years. Some are very insightful and useful in some areas, while being ideological and misleading in others. Among the issues that continue rightly to produce great arguments and emotion are how to treat Israel, and the Israel-Palestine question. Is the Iranian state evil, and how could the U.S. strike a deal with its leaders? How should we view quality-of-life and the government/industry balance in western and northern Europe? How aggressive should we be in opposing China's actions in the South China Sea? Should we care about democratic backsliding around the world, particularly among our allies? Has Obama now sold out the Cuban people, or opened the door to positive change there? But among the most contentious issues has been: what is the best approach to North Korea? This often comes down in practice to who can be toughest on North Korea. Is it "pro-North" and appeasement to advocate diplomacy and deal-making with the DPRK? In other words, if one advocates effective denuclearization, so that it would lead to economic opening and greater attention to human rights, is that appeasement? And if one advocates increased isolation, insecurity and military intimidation toward the DPRK, which enables an expanded, region-wide nuclear arms and missile buildup, prolongs poverty and does nothing for human rights, is that smart, principled and tough diplomacy? This may sound comical but it is not far from the truth in Washington today, and it is deadly serious. As you can see, these arguments are similar to those in Seoul. Another widely repeated claim is that the North "will never give up" its nuclear weapons: As if that can be known now. Or that the DPRK continually threatens the US with attack, for no reason but its craziness. The defensive rationale for most of its rhetoric is routinely ignored. Still another is that it is unpredictable. Another is that our ally South Korea has not switched its policy, and changed its interests. Or that the health of South Korea's democratic system or the ideology of its leaders are unrelated to its policy position toward North Korea. And finally my favorite, that the North walked away from a decade-long negotiated deal with the U.S. that provided billions of dollars in energy plant construction, unprecedented diplomatic access, and interaction with the international system, just so they could pursue a speculative, nascent, hidden enriched uranium processing operation. Very many scholars say they believe this. That by itself is worrisome. Connected to the last one is the assumption, clear in almost all arguments on the Korea issues, which the U.S. has always acted in good faith and with a consistent policy position. To admit that American policy changed, or changed radically, or changed only because we had an election, would be to allow some reason for North Korean distrust toward the U.S. Instead there is never any reason. They're just crazy. All this reduces much of the output about Korea in Washington to ideological, political or otherwise shallow scholarship. In many ways we could say this just doesn't matter. Except for three elections that may change the calculus of what is regarded as in our interests. First there were the recent elections of National Assembly members in South Korea. Two things stand out: First, the opposition of relatively progressive parties the Minju and People's parties, captured most of the votes, giving the largest share to the democratic opposition for the first time in 16 years. This could shift the tone and content of policy debates away from mostly punitive actions toward North Korea to some form of contact, meetings, and joint economic projects. Such a shift would run counter to current U.S. policy and preferences for the past 15 years, and require multiple consultations. The second point that stands out from the April elections is that the People's Party won seats mainly in Jeolla province, the long-time bastion of progressive leaders, including Kim Dae-jung, but it won them largely by taking away conservative votes. So although the progressive Minju Party of Korea won more seats in the Assembly than the ruling Saenuri party (123 to 122), the addition of the People's Party (38 seats) means that it cut deeply into the conservative lead that had developed since 2007. This could be an indication of a changed calculus for the all-important presidential election at the end of 2017. The second election that may change U.S. and South Korean views of national interests was the US primary election, or series of elections. Likely nominees for the presidency are now Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The election of either would pose challenges to the next Korea president. If it is Clinton, there is no clear indication yet what she learned from Bill Clinton's Korea policies, George Bush's radical reversal of those policies, or Barak Obama's surprising embrace and doubling-down on the Bush assumptions. If it is Trump, there is no indication that any senior party or policy leaders in Korea know how to talk about the reasons for the U.S. investment in Korea and Korea's investment in U.S. forces. As Korean parties and politicians jockey for advantage in the December 2017 race, the prospect of U.S. ambivalence or disinterest should inform their views. Trump's suggestion, echoing recent statements from President Obama, that Korea is something of a "free rider" should cause Koreans to consider whether it is time to finally accept the responsibilities and requirements of the middle power they now are. Stephen Costello is a producer of AsiaEast, a web and broadcast-based policy roundtable focused on security, development and politics in Northeast Asia. He writes from Washington, D.C. He can be reached at scost55@gmail.com. By Michael Bergmann The professor in his early fifties, known as a man of almost noble manners with a slight jovial element, sensed his opportunity for a little mischief on a weekday afternoon when a shy young man nervously entered his office, summoned for some problems with an application for I forgot what. "My dear Mr. Bergmann," he said in his soft-spoken German while taking off his shoes. "Take a seat please", himself leaning back in his chair. "Well, yours might end up in the box for the doubtful cases" - his feet in fashionable socks now comfortably resting on the desktop between us. "You need references from the big names, not those." It is a 20-year-old petty episode, not to be compared with cases in civilized and half-civilized countries of professors and other society chieftains forcing subordinates into slave work and even physical humiliation. And the shame of the tolerated embarrassment for the sake of I forgot what has almost evanesced. But those feet in my face became kind of a visualization of repeated experiences which led me to the conclusion that a person as sensitive as myself can survive in dignity only outside the institutional and corporate world. Though my dream of not having to encounter anyone unequally powerful in my daily life has been achieved, my heart is still aching over indirect confrontations with corporate representatives due to my occasional social and political engagement as well as horror stories of such abuse in the media. I want to speak out in solidarity with those who are forced to choose between their dignity and the butter on their bread. In an interesting debate in The Korea Times, "ugly foreigners", "ugly Koreans", "ugly Germans" etc. have reappeared as catchphrases for misbehavior attributable to different groups. Such expressions certainly aim at provocation rather than education as "ugly students" would be a bad title for a pedagogical campaign. But I'm a teacher, not a professional journalist. As long as the main purpose is, however, raising awareness of the problems of uncivilized behavior also for the image of groups one willingly or unwillingly represents and not a collective stigmatization, one should indeed not be oversensitive, especially when the group or class in question possesses its share of social capital. On the other hand, most ordinary people will not get too far in life with obvious sub-ordinary conduct. If we worry about civilization being more substantially undermined, we should therefore talk about "ugly chiefs". I think we cannot imagine "Hell Joseon" without them. Ugly chiefs can, in theory, simply be recognized as those in leading positions who make the Latin motto their own: Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi. "What is permissible for Jupiter is not permissible for an ox." Whereas the subordinates have to mind their manners, be reasonable, controlled and ready to answer for each word and action, the superiors can replace responsibility with sheer power. Especially tricky is the suggestion not to take offense so easily, not to whine and lament at the harshness of life and Jupiter's jovial humor - whereas his vindictive wrath is aroused by the ox's littlest irregular step. Welcome in hell! But no prejudice! Twenty years ago, I missed my and his chance. Maybe I would have impressed my old professor by equally rubbing the screen on his desk with my socks. The writer is a German citizen who has lived in Korea for 10 years as a teacher. Reach him at bergmann2473@yahoo.de. By Tong Kim As Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, his foreign policy statements including those on U.S. alliances with South Korea and Japan that he made during his campaign are now under close scrutiny. It remains to be seen whether his unconventional statements were simply campaign rhetoric or actually intended for action, if he is elected president of the United States in November. Although Trump's exaggerated statements are generally lacking in specifics of how he would carry them out, he has repeated the same provocative lines so many times and so often that anyone interested in U.S. foreign policy, including U.S. allies and foes alike, has become more serious about what the Republican nominee really means. One thing is clear. Trump wants to pursue new American isolationism, putting American security and economic interests first. In American history, isolationism is a recurring phenomenon. He is skeptical of U.S. benefits from alliances, by which the U.S. is committed to defend its allies. He thinks South Korea and Japan enjoy free rides, while they are wealthy and "money making machines" by selling their products to America. He also thinks the U.S. should disengage from NATO as it was a Cold War organization that is no longer in need. He says America should stop being a world policeman. More of interest to the Korean Peninsula is his stated reference to the termination of the U.S.-Korea alliance. He looks for "rewards" for the U.S. protection of South Korea. He thinks Korea pays only "peanuts" in the sharing of defense costs although Seoul pays $900 million a year, about 52 percent for the non-personnel costs of the operation of the U.S. Forces in Korea. Trump thinks South Korea should defend itself without U.S. help, if it does not reward the U.S. expense for its protection from the "maniacal" North Korea. Trump says similar things of the constitutionally pacifist Japan. By a recent change of the relevant law, Japan is now allowed to participate in a collective security operation to assist the U.S. if in need. To China, Trump is rhetorically harsher, calling it "an enemy" that "rips off" America by unfair trade practices, depriving Americans of jobs, and by manipulating its currency. Trump has said he would impose a 45 percent tariff on imports from the country. He promises to negotiate a deal that would correct the trade imbalances with China, which he claims has caused U.S. national debt to reach $19 trillion and soon to reach $21 trillion if America does not take drastic action. More shocking of all statements Trump has made on the security issue of Northeast Asia is that if South Korea and Japan are not going to "reward" the U.S. defense commitments, these two U.S. allies should arm themselves with nuclear weapons to defend themselves from the nuclear threats of North Korea. There are a lot of problems with this proposition. Japan put aside, if South Korea develops its own nuclear arms, which some in the conservative circle insist should be the right choice for Seoul, it would first justify the North Korean nuclear program and it would lose the grounds for demanding the denuclearization of the North. It also would mean a termination of the U.S. commitment to provide the South with "the extended deterrence under the concept of the nuclear umbrella.'' Withdrawal of the extended deterrence will expose the unprotected South to the North Korean nuclear threat. Trump's idea would also bring an end to the NPT, which has contributed to the control of nuclear proliferation with the ultimate goal of a world free of nuclear weapons. It would be a radical departure from U.S. policy that has maintained the world security order since World War II. As a solution to the North Korean nuclear program, Trump has mentioned China's role, as part of a deal that he would make in an effort to address the trade imbalances with China. In short, he seems to believe that he could use U.S. economic leverage to get China more seriously involved in pressuring the North to denuclearize. Many doubt this idea will work. China already appears more concerned about the advancing North Korean nuclear program, which endangers the stability of the Korean Peninsula and the region. China is also concerned about Trump's China bashing, which has been a Republican practice in recent presidential campaigns. China calls for whoever becomes the next president to be reasonable in dealing with Sino-American affairs. China does not think Trump is reasonable, when he makes campaign statements about it. Most students of Korea-U.S. relations do not believe a total withdrawal of U.S. troops, which the North has always called for, will likely happen. They recall a failed attempt for withdrawal by President Jimmy Carter, who had made a campaign pledge to bring U.S. troops home from Korea. As a minimum, South Korea will be asked to increase its share of the operation costs of the U.S. Forces in Korea. Seoul could accommodate this request, by canceling the controversial deployment of the THAAD system, currently under consultation, and transfer the funds from THAAD to finance increased costs to the burden sharing for the alliance. A bilateral alliance is for the mutual benefit of both countries. The U.S.-Korea alliance has served the security interests of both countries well since the Korean War ended in 1953. A reasonable investment in combined deterrence has paid off. If South Korea has to defend itself without U.S. assistance, it is possible for the South to look to China for security assistance or it could be more interested in securing a stable Korean Peninsula through improved relations with North Korea. What's our take? Tong Kim is a Washington correspondent and columnist for The Korea Times. He is also a fellow at the Institute of Korean-American Studies. He can be contacted at tong.kim8@yahoo.com. There has been anxiety about the safety of overseas Koreans following the discovery on April 30 of the body of a Korean-Chinese Christian pastor in China's border province of Jilin. China's public security officials are still investigating the case, but activists say the pastor, who allegedly founded the Jangbaek Church in Jilin in 1993, was murdered for assisting North Korean defectors in China. According to press reports, Pyongyang sent three agents across the border to kill the pastor, who then returned to the North. The incident drew keen attention as it occurred amid speculation that the reclusive state may attempt to kidnap South Koreans abroad in retaliation for the recent defection of North Korean staff at a restaurant in China. The North insists that the North Koreans 12 female workers and a manager at the restaurant in Ningbo were tricked into defecting by South Korean spies, but Seoul said they came voluntarily. North Korea's abduction attempts may be translated into action, given its track record of kidnapping. In the most high-profile case, Kim Jong-il, the late leader and father of the current leader Kim Jong-un, ordered his underlings to kidnap a South Korean film director and his actress wife in the late 1970s. Unconfirmed reports say North Korean officials have been closely watching South Korean embassies abroad, including taking pictures. The Hankook Ilbo reported last week that Pyongyang was plotting to kidnap South Koreans to trade them for the 13 defectors. "The North set the target of 120 people including expats, soldiers and officials for kidnapping," the newspaper reported, citing sources familiar with North Korean affairs. Against this backdrop, the Seoul government warned of higher risks to its citizens being abducted by the reclusive state. "We have already advised our overseas missions to heighten their vigilance against abductions or terrorism,'' a foreign ministry spokesman said. But overconfidence can be very dangerous. The government says all precautionary measures have been in place for the safety of our nationals abroad. But that's not enough, considering the fact that North Korea has always been unpredictable. The North may be plotting ill-advised provocations targeting South Koreans, aside from its routine nuclear and missile tests. Needless to say, these won't be part of the answer to the North's problems. Last but not least, we feel tempted to remind China that the dead pastor is Chinese by nationality. This time around the Chinese authorities should get to the bottom of the case and hold the North strictly accountable if the allegations of murder are proven to be true. Time to respond to growing calls for self-reform One of the biggest priorities for the incoming National Assembly should be to discuss ways to reduce some of the excessive privileges of lawmakers. The National Assembly's unproductivity has raised questions about whether lawmakers deserve the entitlements that come with their office, ranging from their lavish salaries and bonuses to parliamentary immunity from arrest and prosecution for most offenses during a session. These are only a few of more than 200 privileges and benefits Korean parliamentarians enjoy. If the 20th National Assembly is truly determined to bring sweeping political changes expected by voters, it should start by voluntarily giving up some of its own perks and become solely focused on performing its duties with the utmost accountability and transparency. Above all, lawmakers need to respond to the growing public indignation about their paychecks at a time when many Koreans are struggling with stagnant wages and tax hikes. According to a latest report by the Seoul National University, Korean lawmakers are paid 140 million won ($121,159) annually, which ranks third highest among OECD members after Japan and Italy. In addition, they get a wide range of allowances and holiday bonuses. Lawmaker retirees aged 65 and older also receive pension worth 1.2 million won per month. But Korean lawmakers were ranked at the bottom of an index measuring legislative performance among parliaments of OECD countries. The overwhelming public sentiment is that lawmakers are not worthy of such a big salary, which is more than five times Korea's per capita gross national income (GNI) of $27,340. It is also problematic that members of the 19th National Assembly had a considerable raise compared to the 18th Assembly when the average Korean income has changed little in the last eight years. This goes completely against the global trend of belt-tightening in other countries' parliaments. Previous revision bills proposed by some lawmakers for salary cuts have gone nowhere. It is high time to introduce measures to reduce remuneration for lawmakers who neglect legislative activities by being idle about producing bills and attending sessions. Ahead of the inauguration of the 20th Assembly, the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Minjoo Party of (MPK) are renewing their attention to the issue of reining in their perks. The Saenuri Party announced a package of parliamentary reform measures last week, including a proposal to spend more on policy-making and less on lawmakers' paychecks. Some MPK lawmakers-elect, such as Kim Young-choon of Busan, called for a 30 percent reduction in lawmakers' salaries during a recent interview. It remains to be seen whether parties will actually implement drastic salary cuts and other self-reform measures in the incoming Assembly, which will be run by a three-party system for the first time in 20 years. News / National by Staff reporter Zimbabwean human trafficking victims in Kuwait were paraded naked and auctioned to "sex merchants", it has been revealed, while others were tortured by their slave masters resulting in several commiting suicide.This has seen President Mugabe tasking three Cabinet ministers to repatriate those Zimbabwean women still in the Arab emirate.Over the years, many Zimbabwean women have been lured to Kuwait on the pretext of lucrative jobs, only to be forced into virtual slave labour and sex work.Kuwait has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world and the sixth-largest oil reserves, and its currency the dinar is the highest valued currency across the globe.Such statistics entice, thousands of Africans, especially women, to move to that country.The Sunday Mail has established that several human trafficking cartels are piggybacking their shenanigans on Kafala laws which are generally used to regulate migrant labour in the Gulf Co-operation Council of which Kuwait is a member.The system cedes oversight of foreign workers to private citizens and prohibits contracted employees from quitting their jobs or migrating to other countries.Breach of contract invariably attracts imprisonment.Gulf nations previously depended on cheap migrant labour from Asian countries like India, but this ended following economic growth in that region and cartels now target Africans.Thirty-two Zimbabwean women returned home from Kuwait about a week ago, while 23 were rescued last week in joint operations between Zimbabwean and Kuwaiti authorities.Sixteen of the latest survivors of the ordeal are living at the residence of Zimbabwe's chief diplomat to Kuwait, Ambassador Mark Marongwe.President Mugabe has arranged for their care and repatriation, with the Foreign Affairs, Public Service and Women's Affairs ministries leading the assignment.Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Prisca Mupfumira told The Sunday Mail that President Mugabe was visibly moved when briefed about the matter and has demanded swift action."We are taking action as Government to ensure we repatriate those who remained behind. Initial estimates show that around 200 local women are there, but we believe there are more than that."Treasury has also been directed to immediately release funds to take care of the rescued girls before they are repatriated."Speaking from his Kuwait City base, Ambassador Marongwe said, "At the residence we have 16 girls, but there are also others staying at a shelter that we have set up where we are still processing their papers."We have established that human trafficking syndicates offer fake employment vacancies to our girls and help facilitate visas for them. Once they arrive, their documents are confiscated and they are forced to sign three-year contracts to work as maids."Women's Affairs, Gender and Community Develolment Minister Nyasha Chikwinya said some recruiting agents based in Harare were intimidating the rescued victims not to reveal what they had been through.Minister Chikwinya related the horrors the victims encountered in Kuwait."Some of the girls have been receiving death threats since they returned and are now living in fear. This has in some way stalled police investigation into the matter. But we are doing all we can to ensure the girls have all the necessary protection."We are also confident that those responsible for this heinous crime against humanity will be brought to book. An employer of one of the girls inflicted burns all over her body as a way of waking her up in the morning."Other girls were paraded naked and then auctioned to slave drivers before being sold to men involved in fetish sexual rituals. It was similar to how it was done during the slave trade when bidders would pick the person they wanted from a line of people."One of the girls who came last week has sufferred a nervous breakdown due to the trauma. This problem has become a regional problem. I will propose a meeting with my counterpart ministers from Sadc countries affected by this problem to discuss the way forward."In March 2016, Brenda Avril May, a secretary at the Kuwait Embassy in Harare, was arrested on allegations of facilitating the processing of visas for the victims who are now stuck in the emirate.In 2014, Government enacted the Trafficking in Persons Act (Chapter 10:20) to domesticate the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons. SAP Senior Vice President Maggie Fox By Lee Min-hyung Top-down and rigid are two symbolic words representing corporate culture in Korea. But it cannot be more ironical that the nation has turned into one of the world's leading technological powerhouses even with such a hierarchical social structure. This is not a hype, given global information and communication technology (ICT) giants identify Korea as a test-bed for their new products. They say they can succeed in any markets once satisfying Korean customers. German enterprise software giant SAP is also on par with such views. Korean clients are important not as a part of their revenue source, but due to their high technology standards, which helps the company draw its marketing blueprints for the global market, the Europe's largest software company said. SAP Senior Vice President Maggie Fox, however, stressed Korea can achieve a bigger technological leap-forward, once data-based digital discussion penetrates deeper into the country's overall office culture. "For any organizations, digital transformation initiatives need two aspects top-down and bottom-up, and senior executives should be serious about digital transformation," the SAP executive in charge of the company's global digital marketing said in an interview, Tuesday. At the center of the digital transformation is the data-based discussion between the management and employees, according to her. "Everyone can have a good discussion based on data, as numbers show which is performing and which is not performing. The digital business is all about helping customers sense, respond, learn, adopt and even predict," she said. The company said the digital transformation will help reshape the country's one-sided hierarchical corporate culture, as it puts power to individual employees. Once the management decides to drive the digital transformation, this will help company officials digitally engaged, generating a massive influence on general outputs for a company. Zarina Lam Stanford, head of marketing at SAP Asia Pacific Japan (APJ), who also joined the interview, explained how important social engagement through online channels is. "In one social channel across the Asia Pacific region including Korea and Japan, we have approximately more than 18,000 users who have identified themselves as SAP employees," the SAP Asia Pacific regional head said. "Once we count on a first-degree connection with them, it will reach to 2.2 million people. That's the scale of digital connectedness. This can bring a phenomenally powerful impact for SAP." To achieve a perfect digital transformation, management should never forget the importance of people, not the technology itself, Fox added. "What people often forget about is people, as they focus on technology itself," she said. But such tech-oriented organizations end up losing their employees, which will jeopardize the existence of the organizations, according to her. "Digital transformation is very disruptive and changes are hard for all people. That's why an emotional connection with customers and employees is very important for the management," she said. Marketing strategy for Korea The company said it will focus on building a more localized marketing strategy for Korea, as its online ecosystem is hugely different from its European or American counterparts. "When we see Google, it has minimum boxes (on the homepage), but Korea's top portal operator Naver has many options and a lot of content," said Maggie. "As a global team, we need to understand the flexibility of each market and country." For example, SAP Korea holds a special discussion event with local developers each month, to meet the high-level of the digital platform environment here, the company said. Through the face-to-face event, the company said it aims to increase its footstep as a global platform service provider, sparing no efforts to offer localized businesses for a specific market. News / National by Staff reporter THE cancer of corruption is now deeply imbedded in Zimbabwe and it has had a more telling blow on the economy than the illegal sanctions that were imposed on the country by the West, Paddy Zhanda, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation, Irrigation and Development Responsible for Livestock, has said.Addressing livestock farmers at the Sunday News Agribusiness Indaba at a Bulawayo hotel recently, Zhanda said corrupt Government officials were undermining attempts by the Zanu-PF administration to grow the economy and empower citizens."I hate to admit it, but we cannot hide from the truth, corruption is cancerous in Zimbabwe. In fact I am convinced that it has cost us more than sanctions. I don't like to talk about areas that are not under my jurisdiction, but I will, Dr (Douglas) Mombeshora (the Minister of Lands and Rural Resettlement) had to fire most lands officers because they were corrupt. Most of them were now driving Mercedes Benzs. Where did they get the money to buy those luxury cars? From corrupt activities," said Zhanda.Zhanda told delegates that corruption was so cumulative in Zimbabwe so much that it has stolen the wealth of the nation and impoverished the people."Black people were given opportunities by President Mugabe to run banks. What did they do? They abused people's money and plunged many into poverty. Such people are criminals, they should be in jail, but they are walking in the streets."The Zanu-PF Goromonzi North Member of Parliament also touched on the Government's strategy to combat the effects of drought. He said the Government's response was not co-ordinated and there was no chain of responsibility because ministries were not united. Clover POS systems are a great solution if you want to streamline your internal services and want to replace an old kit like cash registers, payment terminals and other equipment. Clovers point of sale solution allows you to get rid of all that and replace it with a more integrated system with state of the News / National by Dumisani Sibanda THE Joice Mujuru-led Zimbabwe People First is reportedly to have been rocked by internal leadership fights in Bulawayo with Esnathi Bulayani and Tapiwa Moyo reportedly tussling for the control of the province.Sunday News reported that Bulayani who lost in her bid to be Member of Parliament for Bulawayo South on a Professor Welshman Ncube MDC ticket in the 2013 elections was announced by Dr Mujuru at a Press conference to launch the party in February as the co-ordinator for the Bulawayo Province.The announcement came as a surprise as Dr Mujuru had reportedly ordered members in the metropolitan province to sort out problems which had resulted in parallel structures led by Bulayani and Moyo who is a former Zanu-PF Youth Secretary for Finance in Bulawayo. Followers of the party felt the issue should have been resolved before making the announcement. Since the announcement the members have reportedly been having separate meetings either as Mr Moyo's team or Ms Bulayani's group."The situation is tricky because some of the members are saying they will not accept imposition of people to be their leaders when their interests should be put first and have vowed that (Ms) Bulayani will co-ordinate in Harare not Bulawayo as their chosen leader is Moyo while others are saying they follow instructions from the party's leadership and will therefore take orders from Bulayani as she was announced by party leader Mujuru as coordinator for Bulawayo," said a source within the party.However, the Zimbabwe People First interim national chairman of the information and publicity sub-committee, Methuseli Moyo, dismissed the existence of parallel structures in Bulawayo as false. Farooq Bajwa still lives comfortably, up in the hills of San Juan Capistrano in a French chateau-style mansion with views of the Pacific. But his tech company, InfoSpan, and its bustling headquarters in an Irvine office park, are long gone. These days the income from three El Pollo Loco franchises bought two decades ago helps out. The Pakistani immigrant turned entrepreneur earned millions manufacturing computer components in the 1980s and 1990s, but he doesnt blame the dot-com bust for his change of fortune. Advertisement Rather, he traces it back to a plan he had early last decade for a new business: a text-based payment system that could be used throughout the developing world, particularly for migrant workers to send money home. PayPal pioneered Internet payments in 1999, but its focus was on computers. The iPhone and Square didnt exist. In short, he had a window of opportunity just as mobile phones were starting to become a global phenomenon. I realized I might make a big difference in this world not only helping these underprivileged people who dont have bank accounts, I will also be helping bring an economic revolution, said Bajwa, 64. I had very big dreams. Those dreams never materialized. Instead, they devolved into a bitter, high-stakes lawsuit against a prominent Middle East bank, a case scheduled to be heard in July by a jury in Santa Ana federal court. At issue is whether his SpanCash system ever delivered as promised, how much revenue it could have made and whether the bank, Emirates NBD, stole any ideas or technology after its deal to launch the system with InfoSpan collapsed. More than $550 million in damages is being sought from the bank, which disputes that the system ever worked. InfoSpan is represented by the powerhouse law firm of Boies Schiller & Flexner chaired by David Boies, among the countrys most well-known attorneys while the bank hired Latham & Watkins, a large firm with offices worldwide, including in the Emirates. Nothing is more bitter than a failed marriage that is often the context of a trade secrets case. Its a relationship entered into with hope and optimism that goes sour, said Robin Feldman, a Hastings College of the Law professor who specializes in intellectual property law and reviewed court filings by both sides. Bajwas prior business, BAS Micro Inc., served the titans of the computer revolution, including Compaq, Dell and Toshiba. But for his new business, InfoSpan, Bajwa decided to target the unbanked, especially the 60% of adults in developing countries who dont have bank accounts. ------------ FOR THE RECORD: InfoSpan lawsuit: An earlier version of this story said that InfoSpan had a prior business selling computer components. In fact, a company called BAS Micro Inc. sold those components. ------------ The wealthy Persian Gulf region was of particular interest because of its reliance on 25 million foreign guest workers who do construction and other jobs. These workers usually wire home a few hundred dollars at a time to places such as India, Pakistan and Egypt. But transfer fees consumed on average nearly 8% of their payments, called remittances, according to the World Bank. Bajwas goal was to charge half that for online and mobile-to-mobile cash transfers. Nothing is more bitter than a failed marriage that is often the context of a trade secrets case. Its a relationship entered into with hope and optimism that goes sour. Robin Feldman, Hastings College of the Law professor In 2003, InfoSpan began developing SpanCash, featuring a stored value card, a prepaid debit card linked to a mobile phone. The idea was for an employer to load earnings onto the card that employees could use to text money. Our technology was [going to do] much more than what PayPal was doing, Bajwa said. PayPal was not sending money to your relatives or friends, or getting salaries, or paying utility bills. To help him out, Bajwa recruited Larry Scudder, who had built the first cable system in Saudi Arabia and later founded an Internet bill payment company in Texas catering to unbanked Americans. InfoSpan homed in on the United Arab Emirates, whose 8 million foreign residents now send $19 billion to their home countries annually. They were being charged tremendous amounts of money to send money home to their families, [but] everybody was getting a cellphone, Scudder said. Paradoxically, InfoSpans system required banks to make the plan work to facilitate employers loading money onto the cards and to transmit the cash across borders. And with a bank involved, currency exchange was a built-in feature; workers paid in the Emirates dirham could text money to Pakistan in rupees. In 2007, Bajwa and Scudder found a partner that seemed ideal, Emirates Bank, based in Dubai and controlled by the governments sovereign wealth fund. Scudder moved to Dubai and said he signed up a dozen Emirates companies and made deals with banks in Pakistan, the Philippines, India and Indonesia to receive funds. The bank and InfoSpan forecast 1 million Emirates immigrant workers would use their cash-texting service, rather than Western Union or hawala, a traditional Middle Eastern broker-to-broker money transfer system. It was a lot less expensive for them to send a text, Scudder said. Expectations were sky-high. The lawsuit cites a study conducted by McKinsey & Co. that projected annual revenue of $3.5 billion by the deals fifth year, with InfoSpan receiving more than $2.8 billion in fees. A 2007 bank news release touted a unique global service at competitive rates with a stored value card that could be recharged at hundreds of the banks ATMs across the Middle East. It featured a photograph of Bajwa shaking hands with a bank executive. InfoSpan claims that it copied its source code onto servers delivered to the bank in Dubai and trained bank personnel to run the technology. The bank disputes it acquired or used SpanCash source code at any time. InfoSpan began establishing call centers around the world, including in the Emirates, Pakistan, India and Mexico, with operators fluent in Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, Spanish and other languages, according to the company. Bajwa and Scudder say they would go on to employ 1,500 people worldwide. Bajwa contends that the company, with support from outside investors, spent $87 million developing the business and technology. A majority of it was my money, he said. Then the relationship began to unravel. In 2008, InfoSpan alleges in the lawsuit, the bank canceled a SpanCash demonstration at an industry trade show, started touting its own future mobile cash texting service and delayed payment on $2 million in invoices. Then, at a meeting in May 2009, a bank attorney handed Scudder a letter stating the bank was terminating the agreement because the system is nowhere near completion. The bank demanded the return of $1.47 million it had paid InfoSpan at that point or it would file a criminal complaint, according to a copy of the letter. The bank followed through on that threat. On a Sunday morning later that month, Scudder was walking through Dubai International Airport to fly to Karachi to solidify digital-cash transfer arrangements with a major Pakistani bank. When he swiped his passport at an automated station, the doors did not open. Next thing I know there are two very large gentlemen in military uniform standing behind me, Scudder recalled. The officers, he said, showed him the complaint the bank had written and sent to the police alleging that Scudder and Bajwa had committed fraud. I was very, very upset, Scudder said. They handcuffed me, and they frog-marched me through two of the three terminals to a police station in Terminal 1. After a brief interrogation, he was driven to the downtown Dubai police station, handcuffed to a chair for two hours and questioned again. Then he was locked in a cell with 30 other men for 19 hours until he secured his release by surrendering his passport, according to Scudder, whose account is described in the lawsuit. Over the next six months, Bajwa tried to resolve the situation but, according to the lawsuit, was told Scudders passport would be released only if InfoSpan gave up ownership and control of SpanCash to the bank. They wanted him to give up and go away, Scudder said. And they thought if they held me, he would sign over the company and technology to them. Six months later the bank withdrew the fraud accusations and Scudder got his passport back, freeing him to leave the country. But InfoSpans deal was dead. Its like getting pushed off a cliff, said Dan Johnson, an early investor in InfoSpan who became its head of sales. There was no trying to work it out with us, saying, You know, we feel like youre charging too much or Youre taking too big a piece of the pie. With millions already sunk into the project, InfoSpan and its investors didnt have the capital to strike another deal if they even could, he said. When they pulled the plug and threw Larry in jail and made these charges against us, there wasnt a bank out there that was going to do business with us, Johnson said. Nor would credit card companies like VISA and MasterCard, which Bajwa said had been considering InfoSpan to support their future digital-money transfer plans. If you have any problem with the law, nobody wants to come close to you, Bajwa said. In 2011, InfoSpan sued the bank in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California alleging the bank had misappropriated trade secrets for its own profit. No one from the bank, or any representative, would speak on the record about this case. But in court papers replying to the lawsuit, the banks attorneys stated that InfoSpan had never completed a working prototype and that its platform never functioned and was not market-ready. Bank attorneys pointed to a 2014 deposition of former InfoSpan employee Michael Miller. According to a transcript, Miller said he had never witnessed a successful demonstration of the stored value card and was unaware of any remittance ever sent between the Emirates bank and any other bank. As I became more involved in the project, I realized it was less likely to succeed, Miller said. I had deep concerns about the abilities of the platform to actually support the product. InfoSpans lawsuit claims that its technology was tested in the presence of bank personnel and shown to work multiple times in California and the Emirates. Feldman, the Hastings College of the Law professor, said Bajwa does not have to prove the technology was market-ready to win damages. Something does not have to be completed to have value. Did the bank take something of value in a way that was inappropriate? she said. The bank filed a motion for summary judgment, which if granted would have torpedoed InfoSpans lawsuit. It stated that the bank had been independently developing online and mobile products before and after it signed an agreement with InfoSpan. It asserted that the National Bank of Dubai, one banking of two banks that merged to form Emirates NBD in 2007, had started developing its own prepaid salary card as early as 2005, but it did not include the person-to-person remittance capability for the unbanked a distinguishing feature of InfoSpans promised technology. Last May, U.S. District Judge James Selna allowed most of the case to proceed. In his opinion, Selna found that the allegedly striking similarities between SpanCash and MeMobile, a digital-cash product offered by Emirates Bank, and other evidence might lead a jury to reasonably conclude the bank had used InfoSpans trade secrets. But the judge found no evidence that the bank used any trade secrets to develop another product called DirectRemit, which enables account holders today to send mobile-to-mobile digital cash from the Emirates to Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Egypt, according to the banks website. Bajwa is certain that InfoSpan could have been a major player in low-cost mobile banking, a booming industry. Digital cash remittances now exceed $600 billion a year, with 73% of the cash sent to people in developing nations, according to the World Bank. My real high was to do something so I can be remembered that I brought this technology, and I helped people, Bajwa said. Also this was a project where we were going to make billions of dollars. These days, Bajwa says he is working on other technology projects and is thankful he was able to hold onto the house where he and his wife raised two sons. But the demise of InfoSpan and the subsequent legal battle depleted his savings and precipitated battles with depression and high blood pressure. Perhaps the deepest blow, he believes, was to his reputation. I want them to make us whole, Bajwa said, They have taken my lifelong dream away. Phil Hirschkorn is a New York-based journalist. Follow him on Twitter: @PHirschkorn business@latimes.com ALSO Uber conquered taxis. Now its going after everything else Ellen Paos next act targets Silicon Valleys diversity problem Top Tribune Publishing shareholders at odds over sale to Gannett The head of the Department of Homeland Security acknowledges that airport security lines have gotten longer but he said that any real fixes to the problem will require money. Congress has sent mixed signals about whether it will free up the money. That is making travel industry leaders nervous because even the talk of airport gridlock could scare off Americans from traveling this summer. Its alarmingly likely that the mere perception of security hassles at U.S. airports will have an effect on travel which supports employment for one out of every nine Americans as we head into the summer travel season, said Roger Dow, president and chief executive of the U.S. Travel Assn., the trade group for the countrys travel industry. Advertisement See the most-read stories this hour >> Longer wait times, which have already been blamed for delays and missed flights throughout the nation, are the result of several factors, including more travelers, a delay in hiring new airport screeners and more extensive security measures adopted in the last year. Travel industry leaders are wringing their hands over the potential delays because travel is expected to surge this summer, thanks to low fuel costs that are keeping airfares down. According to a survey by the travel site Orbitz, 75% of Americans plan to travel this summer, a 7% increase over last summer. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson issued a statement this week saying the Transportation Security Administration will increase staffing at the busiest airports and will add more explosives-sniffing dogs. He has also encouraged more travelers to sign up for TSA PreCheck, the program that enables pre-screened fliers to use a speedier checkpoint without removing their shoes or taking out their laptops. Johnson also asked Congress to reallocate money from his department to pay for TSA overtime and other expenses that will increase staffing. The Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee approved a shift of $34 million so the TSA can hire and train 768 new screeners and pay overtime to current TSA officers. Providing relief to travelers is long overdue, said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), a member of the committee. The House of Representatives has yet to take action. Rep. John Carter (R-Texas), chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee, said his panel will consider the funding request. But he took shots at the TSA, saying the agency should have been prepared for the increase in traffic at the airports. Im pleased Secretary Johnson is trying to mitigate long lines at airports, and the negative impacts they have on the traveling public, Carter said in a statement. However, common sense and historical trends tell us air travel will increase during the summer months and when the economy improves, and TSA has simply failed to plan responsibly. Follow me on Twitter: @hugomartin hugo.martin@latimes.com ALSO The Southwest Effect works on international flights, too Ellen Paos next act targets Silicon Valleys diversity problem Lawsuit accuses Middle East bank of stealing an Orange County entrepreneurs technology Hello! Im Mark Olsen, and welcome to your weekly field guide to a world of Only Good Movies. The summer movie season is fast upon us all with the release of Captain America: Civil War, and the Cannes Film Festival is right around the corner, which means we will soon see a handful of movies that we could still be talking about a year from now. Well have some more exciting screening/Q&A events coming up soon. Check events.latimes.com for more info. Advertisement Nonstop movies. Movies nonstop. A Bigger Splash From new film director Luca Guadagnino, A Bigger Splash finds Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes, Matthias Schoenaerts and Dakota Johnson vacationing on a glamorous Italian island. As might be expected with a cast like that, the film is very sensual but also deceptive in its subtle explorations of emotional dynamics. I spoke to Swinton, Fiennes, Johnson, Guadagnino and screenwriter David Kajganich for a story on the film. In particular, how Guadagninos special gift for capturing the sensual feel of a place, its light and food and vibe. I call it sensational cinema. Not sensationalist cinema but a cinema of the senses, said Swinton. I keep joking we should give people sunscreen with their popcorn for this movie. Theres a feeling that youre going to this place. In his review for The Times, Justin Chang tied the movies many strands together when he wrote, Does A Bigger Splash end with a cathartic affirmation of its characters happiness, or a cynical indictment of their privilege? Guadagnino isnt telling. But hes made the rare movie that, for all its delight in its own beautiful surface, turns out to be altogether less shallow than it appears. In the New Yorker, Anthony Lane called the film fiercely unrelaxing, and impossible to ignore. You emerge from it restive and itchy, as though a movie screen could give you sunburn, and the story defies resolution. Anna Karina at the Hollywood Roosevelt on April 30. (Mariah Tauger / for the Times ) Band of Outsiders The 1964 film Band of Outsiders is being re-released by Rialto Pictures in a new restoration. The film, directed by Jean-Luc Godard, comes on as a frizzy, fun play on the crime flick and grows in emotional resonance as it goes. I had the unexpected honor of interviewing Anna Karina, the movies star, on the occasion of a recent very rare appearance here in Los Angeles. I am a huge admirer of her work and would have assumed her to be someone I would never have the opportunity. So this was personally very exciting, and she did not disappoint. She explained Godards unusual working methods like so, He would give you the dialogue in the morning just before youre shooting. So you had to learn it. But also there was a lot of movements, you had to drink and talk at the same time, or light a cigarette and walk around. So that may be what people like today, because thats what you do in life. Its not the old fashioned cinema where people come in, close the door, sit down and then begin to talk. With Jean-Luc Godard, we did everything at the same time. My article also features both recent lead actress Oscar winner Brie Larson and fashion designer Laura Mulleavy of the Rodarte label speaking about the enduring appeal and lasting influence of Karinas work. Justin Chang wrote about Band of Outsiders and said, Long before it became fashionable for filmmakers to dismantle the fourth wall, Jean-Luc Godard had devoted himself to the cinema of self-awareness: He was in the business of making movies, the saying goes, that made viewers intently aware they were watching a movie. If Band of Outsiders is frequently heartbreaking, its never depressing. The genius of Godards filmmaking is that we can see both the futility and the necessity of his movie love, as expressed by his characters reckless schemes as well as every movement of his camera. The Family Fang An adaptation of the novel by Kevin Wilson written for the screen by David Lindsay-Abaire and directed by Jason Bateman, The Family Fang concerns a pair of siblings (Bateman and Nicole Kidman) attempting to get past their unusual upbringing as child participants in the art projects of their parents Caleb and Camille (Christopher Walken, Maryann Plunkett). In my review of the film, I wrote, Its heavy stuff, served with a light touch For a project that is a showcase for his talents as both actor and director, Bateman never gets too showy on either front, keeping the emotions of the film at something of a restrained simmer. I had spoken to Bateman about the film back in the fall when I was at the world premiere during the Toronto International Film festival, and he spoke then of the tricky tone, part drama, part comedy, when he said, That was always the order that I saw things, a drama that had some moments of levity and comedy and eccentricity. Writing about the movie in the New York Times, Manohla Dargis said, Mr. Batemans direction of the actors is especially sensitive in this and other tricky scenes, showing a delicacy with emotional textures that isnt always matched by the story The tragedy isnt that Caleb and Camille cant tell the difference between art and life, but that they could make only one seem important. Dragon Inn The filmmaker King Hu is something of a cinephiles delight, someone who elevated the genre of the martial arts film into a dazzling showcase for action filmmaking of the highest level, and he has been an influence of everyone from Ang Lee to Quentin Tarantino. Dragon Inn is getting a re-release in a new restoration, and Robert Abele wrote a review that also serves as a primer for why old-school martial arts film provided such an unexpected platform for formal and thematic sophistication. A director in command of everything from the watchful eyes of his actors, to the beauty of a misty morning light, to the heart-stopping vectors of arrows and swords bursting across a widescreen frame, Hu creates cinema thats the definition of kineticism. Dragon Inn, a wuxia mold-breaker to treasure, is truly soaring pulp, and its return is a treat for moviegoers. Email me if you have questions, comments or suggestions, and follow me on Twitter @IndieFocus. Outlander has never really been about the time travel. For the most part, Claire slipping between times was a catalyst, a construct. It was a storytelling device that allowed for a pulpy love triangle and a slew of top-notch costuming. But insofar as time-travel staples go, Outlander has never really gone in for paradoxes and parallel universes. This reality is in large portion why Untimely Resurrection is such a powerful episode. As the series hinted in La Dame Blanche, the choices Claire and Jamie are forced to make about changing the future are getting more complex, making it far easier to wander from the path of virtuousness. Last week, Claire and Jamie outed a pregnancy to try to inflame the rage of Charles Stuart. This week, Claire is trying to manipulate Alex Randall into spurning Mary Hawkins because she deserves better. Claire and Jamie are reduced to meddlers in the lives of others in pursuit of disparate ends. In one moment, the priority is to change the future and save the Highlanders, in the next, the aim is to preserve the future and the existence of Frank Randall. Advertisement Time travel narratives that center around attempting to fix the future for the better by returning to he past often boil down to a single theme: the hubris of man. When Claire returns to Jamie and the pair set out to save the Scottish clans, they do so with a teaspoonful of knowledge about the whole of human history. For as much as the butterfly effect is in play, the idea that changing one small element could have tremendous consequences later on (see also: Back to the Futures Marty McFly nearly destroying his own existence by showing up in the 1950s), its impossible to tell what that small element might be. Claire and Jamie are doing their best to change the course of human history but, so far, it seems like each action they take brings them one step closer to preserving the future as we know it. The Frasers are, in effect, trying to play God and so far theyre doing a spectacularly poor job of it. Which is what brings them to a point of crisis so devastating the pair may never fully recover from it. After Captain Jack Randall unexpectedly arrives at Versailles, Jamie confronts the man and challenges him to a duel, an activity banned in France at the time. Claire is beside herself when she learns of it, not because she fears for her husbands life, but because she does. Except the husband she fears for is not Jamie in 1740s France, but Frank in 1940s Scotland. Claire makes a rash decision, charging that Captain Randall was the man who attacked her party in the alley in last weeks episode, and her accusation is enough to temporarily imprison him, long enough for Claire to make her pitch to Jamie. What Claire knows, or believes she knows, is that Frank Randall is the direct descendant of Jack Randall and Mary Hawkins. She saw as much in Franks genealogy records back in the first episode of the series. Its why she interferes with Mary and Alexs relationship and its why she begs Jamie to temporarily spare Captain Randalls life. All of it is to try to protect the existence of a man who has done nothing to deserve his life being summarily snuffed out by ghosts from the past. To say that Jamie is enraged by Claires request would be an understatement. Not only is he miffed at her plea to protect the life of someone she once shared her life with, shes doing so at the cost of Jamies own healing process. Still suffering through the aftermath of his torture at the hands of Captain Randall, Jamie is fixated on the idea of ending Randalls life in an attempt to return balance and serenity to his own. Just last week, learning that he would still have the opportunity to kill Captain Randall himself was enough to pull him out of the funk that hed been mired in for months. And now, the woman who was supposed to be at his side no matter what was trying to deny him closure. This is the Fraser familys new reality and the price of playing God. You want to decide who gets to live, who gets to die and things inevitably get messy. The tragedy of it all is, given the flashback/flash-forward that began season two, whatever Claire and Jamie do, theyre successful in protecting Franks life, yet the two of them wont realize it until its far too late. Jamie agrees to Claires terms, when she demands a life for a life, having saved Jamies twice. He snarls at her, asking if thats really what she wants, to spare the life of Jack Randall, and she agrees. Jamie is a man of honor and Jack Randalls life is spared for a year: time enough, theoretically, to preserve the lineage of Frank Randall. But the damage is done and its unclear how Claire and Jamie will move forward from their argument. They save Frank Randall, but is it possible for them to save the Highlanders? Is it possible for them to save themselves? Or is playing God a surefire way for any mortal to self-destruct? More: Outlander recap: Claire and Jamie stop being polite and start getting real Outlander showrunner Ron Moore discusses unflinching rape scene and Season 2 reset How Outlander star Sam Heughan gets ready for all those shirtless scenes Follow me on Twitter @midwestspitfire Vivian Williams had long given up hope that her sisters slaying would be solved when she flipped on her television and saw news about a serial killer nicknamed the Grim Sleeper. As she watched Los Angeles police detectives raid a green house on 81st Street, a sickening feeling overcame her. Williams realized she had been to the home many times, dropping off her sister, Georgia Mae Thomas, to visit a boyfriend, Lonnie. He did it, he did it! she yelled to her husband. I know he did it. Advertisement That man, Lonnie David Franklin Jr., was convicted Thursday in the killings of nine women and a 15-year-old girl. Though Thomas was not included in that group of victims, prosecutors are preparing to present her case and those of four others also believed murdered by Franklin in the trials penalty phase, set to begin Thursday. In doing so, authorities are challenging a central narrative of one of L.A.'s most notorious serial killers, whose first murder took place in 1985 and last known case occurred in 2007. Franklin was dubbed the Grim Sleeper for an apparent gap of more than 14 years between killings, from 1988 to 2002. Authorities believe the Grim Sleeper never really slept, and that Thomas slaying in 2000 helps prove that. I dont think he stopped killing, said LAPD Det. Daryn Dupree, the last remaining detective who worked on the task force that arrested Franklin. In all, investigators believe Franklin is responsible for at least 25 slayings, including 11 that took place during the supposed dormant period that led to his sobriquet. The five victims that prosecutors will present in the penalty phase bring to the forefront strong cases that Franklin was not charged with. The cases were connected to Franklin after he was charged with the other murders, and prosecutors said additional charges would have forced more delays and not increased his possible punishment because he already was facing the death penalty. The victims families supported the decision not to prosecute the cases. The five women shared much in common with the other victims in both life and death. They were all young, black and leading difficult lives in South L.A. They struggled with addiction, and some resorted to prostitution to support their habit. The killings were carried out with Franklins distinctive modus operandi, prosecutors say. The women were shot in the chest and discarded amid the filth in alleyways and dumpsters. Thomas, 43, was shot twice in the chest and dumped in an industrial yard surrounded by garbage near where other victims had been discovered. Dupree said Franklins DNA was found on her body. Ballistics tests, he said, showed she was killed by a .25-caliber handgun that police recovered from Franklins home. Inez Warren, 28, was found in a Gramercy Park alleyway with a gunshot wound to the chest. Sharon Dismuke, 21, was shot twice in the chest and left in an abandoned gas station with a rag stuffed in her mouth. Ayellah Marshall, 18, vanished in 2006. Rolenia Morris, 31, a mother of two, disappeared in 2005. Their bodies have never been found. Investigators found more than 1,000 photos and hundreds of hours of video in Franklins house, showing women, many of them nude and in sexually graphic poses, some seemingly unconscious. Marshalls Hawthorne High School ID card and a photograph of Morris, along with her drivers license, were found inside a garage refrigerator stuffed with a morbid cache of items. Prosecutors called it Franklins trophy case. In the penalty phase beginning this week, the jury will consider whether to sentence Franklin to death or to life in prison without parole. The families of the victims will address the jury about the loss of their mothers, daughters and sisters. Williams said she is still angry and has waited years to stand up to Franklin. During the trial, she said they made eye contact as he walked to the defense table. Thats right. I remember you and I know you remember Georgia, she recalled thinking. You know you did it, and I know you did it. She looks forward to again confronting the man who would smile and wave at her each time she left her sister with him. Id like to remind him all those times that I brought her to you, she said. You waved at me and then you killed her. :: Alicia Alexander, 18, was the seventh victim of the man authorities dubbed the Grim Sleeper serial killer. Her family has attended nearly every court hearing. The chance to face Franklin, other family members say, will allow them to defend these women who deserved a better fate. Tina Saunders and her older sister, Sharon Dismuke, fought as only sisters could. Dismuke was strong-willed but sensitive. A tomboy who was never seen in a dress only her jeans, a T-shirt and white Chuck Taylor All-Star sneakers. Her tough exterior hid her troubles. But despite her frailties, Dismuke was a fierce guardian to her younger sister. When she was 15, Tinas boyfriend left a mark on her leg while horseplaying. Dismuke was not pleased, Saunders recalled. Her older sister stormed over to the boys house. She went over there and straightened him out, Saunders said with a laugh. He came back and apologized. Dismukes addictions consumed her, but they were mostly hidden. Saunders remembers her sister grabbing her by her shirt one evening, imploring her to never do drugs. I was naive, but I can see now that she struggled, Saunders said. But she always tried to protect me. Their last conversation was about how excited they were to soon be aunts. Dismuke did not live long enough to meet her nieces and nephews, Saunders said. I just believed that any day she would come walking back up on that porch, she said. In 2010, Saunders wondered if the Grim Sleeper case had anything to do with her sister. But after nearly 30 years, shed given up hope. A few months later, an LAPD detective called to say that a gun found during a search of Franklins home which was used to kill victim Janecia Peters was also used to kill Dismuke. Decades of indifference from authorities allowed Franklin to kill freely, Saunders said. Now, she refuses to allow her sister to go unspoken for and will tell of a promising life cut short. We dont know what her life would have been she wasnt given a chance, she said. Donte Cannon, 22, remembers his mother, Rolenia Morris, as someone who had little but was willing to give it all to her children. She stretched what little money she had to take him and his sister to Six Flags. On weekends, she would sit in a beach chair as Cannon and his sister splashed around the swimming pool at Jesse Owens park. Im a mamas boy, he said. We were struggling my whole life, but whatever I wanted to do as a kid, she was with it. At times, they bounced from homeless shelter to homeless shelter. She wanted him to go live with his father, to have a more stable life, but he refused to leave her side. Eventually, it became too difficult to care for Cannon, and she sent him to live in Rialto. But his mother called every day to check up on him. To hear her voice each day and know she was doing OK calmed him. Then she stopped calling, Cannon said. Relatives told him she was out of touch because she was getting her life together. But he felt abandoned and worried. He lashed out against the rest of his family. After investigators tied her disappearance to Franklin, Cannon was still haunted: How could such a strong woman be hurt that way? Cannon found that the guilty verdict brought no solace, and a death sentence would do little to comfort him. There wont ever be any closure, he said. There wasnt even a funeral. Cannon now has a 3-year-old son of his own, and he tries to match the devotion his mother showed to him, holding out hope that she might still be alive. I just want to know where my mamas body is, he said. I know shes probably gone, but I just cant accept it. :: The penalty phase is expected to last a month, but investigators believe the mystery surrounding the Grim Sleeper killer will persist. After the troubling discovery of Franklins trove of photographs, detectives spent months trying to identify the women. Of the more than 1,000 photographs, investigators released 180, of women they were unable to identify. They were eventually able to identify all but 35 Over the years, Dupree, the LAPD detective, has fielded hundreds of calls, chasing down leads to see if another woman should be added to Franklins tally. He receives calls nearly every day on the case. He suspects they will continue for years. stephen.ceasar@latimes.com Twitter: @sjceasar ALSO Police chase ends in Ontario with motorist jumping to his death Uber conquered taxis. Now its going after everything else In North Korea and trapped in a real-life version of Waiting for Godot Authorities have arrested a suspect in the fatal stabbing of a retired San Francisco public defender, officials said. Angelo Zamora, 19, was arrested at 11:03 a.m. Friday and was in sheriffs custody at San Francisco General Hospital, a sheriffs department spokeswoman told CBS News. Zamora was booked on one count of murder, according to jail records. Marla Zamora, who was killed at her Potrero Hill home, is the great aunt of the suspect, according to the news outlet. Officers dispatched to Zamoras residence late Friday morning found her body in the backyard, police said. Advertisement Marla Zamora served as a public defender for three decades and was the offices principal trial attorney before she retired in 2007 and went into private practice. Join the conversation on Facebook >> One of her high-profile cases involved the 2012 killings of a San Francisco father and two of his sons, according to the Associated Press. Marla Zamora defended gang member Edwin Ramos, who was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths. Public defender Jeff Adachi, who had worked with Marla Zamora, was shocked at the news of her death. She worked in our office for nearly 30 years before retiring to enter private practice, Adachi told the San Francisco Chronicle. She was a fearless advocate for her clients. brittny.mejia@latimes.com Follow me on Twitter: @brittny_mejia ALSO LAPD believes Grim Sleeper serial killer never actually slept You want a description of hell? OxyContins 12-hour problem Why a historic highway that united Californias two halves may never reopen to cars News / National by Staff reporter Suspended Zimbabwe Revenue Authority commissioner (Zimra) general Gershem Pasi's troubles started when it was allegedly discovered that one of his cars was fraudulently registered after he was involved in an accident in Harare.Pasi was driving a 2015 Toyota Land Cruiser when he was involved in the accident in the Newlands area and police discovered that it was registered as a Toyota Raum, a budget car, sources claimed.The long-serving Zimra boss was suspended by the Willia Bonyongwe-led Zimra board on Friday together with five other senior executive managers - Sithokozile Mrewa (human resources director), Annah Mutombodzi (customs and exercise commissioner), Tjiyapo Velempini (ICT director), Clive Majengwa (internal audit director ) and Charlton Chihuri (loss control director).Bonyongwe said the six had been sent on forced paid leave to allow for investigations into an alleged car importation racket.However, this paper was reliably informed that Pasi's woes are linked to the accident."Pasi was involved in an accident with his Toyota Land Cruiser, registration number ADS 6890 at the Newlands roundabout on April 27."The matter was reported to Highlands police station but handled by the Mabvuku traffic police," a source privy to the developments said."But investigations by Central Intelligence Organisation officers later showed that the car was registered as a Toyota Raum. This raised suspicion leading to further investigations."Zimra board secretary for legal and corporate services Florence Jambwa requested written questions, but had not responded by the time of going to print.Pasi could not be reached for comment yesterday.The source claimed Pasi and the suspended managers bought their cars from a Harare dealer, Timoth Simfukwe and the vehicles were heavily undervalued.A well-placed source within Zimra said Pasi and the other five bought the vehicles on the company's car loan scheme without the board's knowledge and there were no documents to support the purchases.The board was tipped by a whistleblower in February and while they were carrying out further investigations, the matter spilled into the courts.Zimra now wants to carry out a forensic audit.Simfukwe is already appearing before the courts facing charges of undervaluing vehicles in a racket that could have prejudiced the State of millions of dollars.Zimra officials have been accused of forming syndicates of dealers who process counterfeit undervalued import documents to smuggle vehicles and other products into the country.Several former Zimra employees and others allegedly acted as clearing agents to fleece the State of millions of dollars in an importation scandal.In one of the incidents, two Harare men were arrested on allegations of processing import documents to smuggle in six vehicles through Beitbridge Border Post, prejudicing the State of $157 500,24.Simfukwe is on $500 bail.He is alleged to have connived with one Liberty Tinashe Mahembe, a clearing agent at Beitbridge boarder post, to buy undervalued cars for Chihuri, Mutombodzi ,Velempini, Majengwa and Mrewa.The 2015 Land Cruiser models were allegedly bought from Verve Auto Investments in South Africa.The State alleges Chihuri's first car paid duty $32 939,21 less than the actual value. It was a Mothers Day to remember for all involved. When Los Angeles Police Officers Maraea Toomalatai and Brian Armendariz pulled over a speeding car near downtown about 5 a.m. Sunday, they found two frantic occupants. ------------ For the Record 6:16 p.m., May 8: An earlier version of this post misspelled the last name of Los Angeles Police Officer Maraea Toomalatai. ------------ The passenger, Sasha Murphy, was about to give birth. The officers instructed the father, Mohammed Tindley, to follow them, giving the couple a police escort to Dignity Health California Medical Center. When they arrived at the hospital, one officer alerted staff while the other assisted Murphy, who gave birth to a healthy baby boy, police said. Advertisement Messiah Tindley was born inside the vehicle escorted by the officers, the LAPD said. The officers, who each have three years of service, made an everlasting impression in our community, a department statement said. The officers quick thinking, compassion, reasoning and loving character reflected positively in our community, the LAPD said. These two officers understand the importance of our mission, vision and core values and should be commended. Follow me on Twitter: @brittny_mejia brittny.mejia@latimes.com ALSO Wildfire at Fort McMurray quickly overtakes Canadas environmental debate Officer in fatal shooting accidentally fires into babys crib during routine parole visit Woman accused of stealing from online dating matches has long history of fraud, officials say A Las Vegas man suspected of sexually assaulting girls for decades in Huntington Beach and possibly other Orange County cities has been arrested, authorities said Friday. Martin Rodriguez Garcia, 49, was taken into custody Thursday in Las Vegas through a joint effort with the Huntington Beach and Las Vegas Metropolitan police departments. Garcia is suspected of committing numerous sexual assaults on girls from 1990 through 2011; most of the assaults are believed to have occurred in Huntington Beach, police said. Advertisement Authorities have not released the number of alleged victims or their association with Garcia, but said they were most likely between ages 5 and 15 and living in Huntington Beach or other Orange County cities at the time. Authorities are seeking the publics help in identifying possible additional victims. Anyone with information is asked to contact Det. Jeff Goodspeed at (714) 375-5066. Garcia is scheduled to be arraigned Monday on charges that include aggravated sexual assault of a child and lewd or lascivious acts with a minor. bradley.zint@latimes.com Zint writes for Times Community News. ALSO LAPD believes Grim Sleeper serial killer never actually slept You want a description of hell? OxyContins 12-hour problem Why a historic highway that united Californias two halves may never reopen to cars A San Diego police officer who killed a man in a 2015 shooting in the Midway District that is now the subject of a federal civil rights lawsuit accidentally fired his gun into a crib during a probation check in February. Officer Neal Browder was with other officers on Bayview Heights Place about 8:40 a.m. on Feb. 20 when the shooting happened, said San Diego police Lt. Scott Wahl. He said police conducted an investigation, but he declined to give more details. Residents at the apartment, located Friday by San Diego Union-Tribune Watchdog, described the accidental shooting. Advertisement If my son had been in that crib, he wouldnt be here today, said Kimberly Espinoza, 17, who lives in the apartment with her son, Isaac, then 11 months old, her 54-year-old grandmother, and a 30-year-old uncle who was the subject of the routine probation check. And if he was in it, and it had missed my son, he would still be traumatized, she said. Join the conversation on Facebook >> The incident unfolded quickly, the family said. After the uncle was taken outside the apartment, the rest of the family entered the living room so the bedrooms could be searched by Browder and another officer. Browder and the other officer, guns drawn, entered Espinozas bedroom, where the babys crib was located. Suddenly, a shot rang out. According to Espinoza, Browder looked uneasy and nervous and was quickly taken outside while other officers arrived and began investigating. After several hours, police located the discharged round. The bullet hit the right side of the baby crib, ricocheted left and struck the wall behind it, Espinoza said. About a week later, another officer returned to collect follow up statements from Espinoza and her family to accompany evidence from the officers body cameras, she said. The family asked if the department would help pay for counseling after the event, but never heard back. They disposed of the crib. We threw it away, she said. It was a constant reminder of what had happened, and what could have happened. The bedroom wall paint is still chipped and the drywall indented where the bullet hit. Espinoza said she is angry with the officers, who should have been more cautious when entering a home with young children. Browder, a 28-year department veteran, fatally shot Fridoon Rawshan Nehad in an alley in Midway District on April 30, 2015. The officer was sent to the area after a bookstore employee reported a man had a knife and was threatening people about midnight. Browder said he shot Nehad after the 42-year-old man refused to drop what the officer thought was a knife. The officer said he believed Nehad was going to stab him. Nehad had no knife, and instead was carrying a metallic pen. Interested in the stories shaping California? Sign up for the free Essential California newsletter >> In November, the San Diego County District Attorneys Officer ruled the shooting was legally justified because Browder believed he faced an imminent threat from Nehad. Two months after the shooting, relatives of Nehad filed a lawsuit in federal court, alleging the shooting violated Nehads civil rights, was unjustified and the departments investigation of officer-involved shootings were flawed and a whitewash designed to exonerate officers. The Nehad shooting was captured on a the security camera of a neighboring business. Police and prosecutors declined to release the footage for months, until a federal court judge lifted a court order in December and allowed lawyers for the family to release the tape and other materials related to the investigation. The tape shows Nehad walking up an alley and approaching Browders parked car, which did not have its emergency lights on. The man appears to slow, but not stop, just before Browder shoots him. Wahl said Browder was evaluated by a police psychologist during a Critical Incident Stress Debriefing after the fatal shooting, and returned to duty. Lauryn Schroeder, Lyndsay Winkley and Greg Moran write for the San Diego-Union Tribune. ALSO LAPD believes Grim Sleeper serial killer never actually slept You want a description of hell? OxyContins 12-hour problem Why a historic highway that united Californias two halves may never reopen to cars Alhambra police suspect a team of serial burglars struck as many as 10 houses in the last month, disabling at least two homes alarm systems before breaking in. The single-family homes were each targeted in the late afternoon and evening hours in northwestern Alhambra, said police Lt. Jennifer Wiese. There have been 14 residential burglaries since April 1, and of those, detectives believe from three to 10 of them were executed by the same burglars, Wiese said. Closed-circuit security cameras captured video of the suspects in the rear yard of one house. Advertisement See the most-read stories this hour >> Meanwhile, on Saturday morning, the report of a commercial burglary at the Boiling Crab restaurant in the 700 block of Alhambras West Valley Boulevard led to a police pursuit to Long Beach, where one of three suspected burglars was captured. About 2:40 a.m., a passerby observed three people inside the Boiling Crab known for its long lines and Cajun-style crayfish and crab and called police, thinking the situation was suspicious since the business was closed. The suspects were seen fleeing in a white vehicle from an alley, and officers began a chase that went east through San Gabriel and then south to Long Beach. The California Highway Patrol and Long Beach police joined in the chase. Two people bailed out of the vehicle, and the driver was apprehended, Wiese said. The name of the arrested person was not immediately available, and police are searching for the two other suspects. Join the conversation on Facebook >> Wiese said she didnt know if the three suspected burglars of the Boiling Crab are the same three suspects being sought in connection with the residential burglaries. The three residential burglary suspects are described as males in their late teens to early 20s, 5 feet 8 to 5 feet 10 inches tall with thin builds. One of them has a distinct goatee, and they have used a dark-colored sedan, possibly an older Honda Accord. Anyone with knowledge of the residential burglaries is asked to call Det. Jack Ng at (626) 570-5187. ron.lin@latimes.com Twitter: @ronlin ALSO LAPD holding two gun buyback events today Police chase ends in Ontario with motorist jumping to his death Thunderstorms, flash flooding possible Saturday in the Southland A woman accused of capitalizing on her physical attraction to steal the identities of people she met on dating and home rental websites will face a judge Wednesday after she was arrested at a luxury hotel in Santa Barbara, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department. Maria Christina Johnson, 43, is believed to have dated or rented from her victims to gain access to their homes, where shed scavenged through their belongings to obtain enough personal information to open new lines of credit without their knowledge, authorities said. Johnson also known as Maria Hendricks, Gia Hendricks, Maria Christina Gia and Maria Hainka has been arrested and charged multiple times before for various forms of fraud, identity theft and burglary before, according to a statement from the sheriffs department. Advertisement Interested in the stories shaping California? Sign up for the free Essential California newsletter >> After she successfully assumed an identity, investigators say, she moved into high-end hotels and charged thousands of dollars of goods and services to her victims, even attempting to purchase a car at one point, authorities said. By the time she was arrested as a guest of a luxury, beachside coastal resort in Santa Barbara on Thursday, investigators estimated Johnson, who lists her occupation as a dog trainer, had spent more than $250,000 of her victims funds. A special task force with agents and deputies from the Los Angeles Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department has been investigating the case since March. But Johnsons fraudulent lifestyle began sometime in 1997 in Washington and Oregon, authorities said. She was born in Washington and served at least two years in Washington state prison for identity theft, and she came to California sometime before 2008. She was arrested in Torrance and served prison time for 11 felony counts of identity theft, grand theft and credit card fraud. Manhattan Beach police also arrested Johnson in 2011 in Hollywood on suspicion of forgery and burglary. At the time, Johnson was posing as Maria Hendricks to tout a false association with NASCARS Hendrick Motorsports team. She also masqueraded as the wealthy manager of a modeling agency. Authorities say they cant know how many people Johnson has stolen from, given all of the identities and aliases she has used over the years. Johnson, sheriffs officials said, was motivated by an elevated sense of entitlement and aggressively took over her victims lives. See more of our top stories on Facebook >> Shes accused of changing their mailing addresses and stealing her victims phone numbers, so that calls to the victim would ring her own phone. In one case, investigators allege, she scheduled tours of expensive homes with a real estate broker, then stole the brokers identity. Once she stole an identity, she often used it to go after their friends and family as well, authorities said. Johnson is being held at the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriffs inmate locator. Her bail has been set at $2 million. Anyone with information about Johnson or Johnsons victims is being asked to call detective Duane Decker or Ned Russell at 818-576-8884. frank.shyong@latimes.com Twitter: @frankshyong ALSO LAPD believes Grim Sleeper serial killer never actually slept You want a description of hell? OxyContins 12-hour problem Why a historic highway that united Californias two halves may never reopen to cars As Bernie Sanders prepares for the California presidential primary, he has a local ground force that he leans on as one of the sponsors of my campaign: nurses. They typically focus on healthcare policy. But when they weigh in on more purely political pursuits, they have gained a reputation as the mischief-makers of California politics. They have thrown all their might and that of their affiliated super PAC behind the Vermont senators uphill presidential bid, despite Sanders expressed disdain for such outside spending groups. They are not as big or as wealthy as the political action committees or California unions backing Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, but the nurses have proved adept at putting better-funded rivals on the defense. Advertisement Instantly recognizable in their pastel scrubs, they stalked then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger around the nation in 2005 to protest his effort to increase the patient-to-nurse ratios in state hospitals and emergency rooms. In 2010, they introduced the public to Meg Whitmans illegal-immigrant housekeeper. The billionaire abruptly fired her before running for governor as a staunch critic of employers who hire immigrants in the country illegally. TRAIL GUIDE: All the latest news on the 2016 presidential campaign >> Now, the California Nurses Assn. is campaigning for Sanders as the presidential race heads toward the states June 7 primary. Even as Sanders ability to win the nomination has grown increasingly unlikely, he has pledged to continue his campaign through California and is expected in the state this week. The critical question is what kind of effect the nurses will have and what tactics will they use as they try to boost Sanders over Clinton on their home turf. Labor observers say Sanders benefits from being associated with the nurses, the first national group to endorse him in August, and a profession that is viewed warmly by the public. When Bernie comes to California, the fact that the nurses support him legitimizes his candidacy. Heres a union thats powerful and important in California, said Nelson Lichtenstein, a labor historian at UC Santa Barbara. But others are skeptical, notably because of the decades-long long relationship that Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have with Californians. They also question how effective the nurses tactics will be in a Democratic primary. They are successful at being disrupters protesting, crashing town halls, interrupting rallies, said GOP consultant Rob Stutzman, a former top advisor to Schwarzenegger and Whitman. Its hard for me to imagine them going out and antagonizing Hillary Clinton, somehow its going to hurt her in California. Political consultants in California note that unlike the Republicans that the nurses have targeted in the past, Clinton is backed by more powerful unions. The nurses have 90,000 members in California, compared with 700,000 for the Service Employees International Union. They are definitely a factor in California, although there are other unions that are stronger politically, said Roger Salazar, who coordinated labor efforts to boost Gov. Jerry Browns 2010 bid over Whitman and a Clinton supporter. They have become very expert at being visible thorns in peoples sides. Thats a compliment by the way, not an insult. There is perhaps no better example than their efforts against Whitman. They dogged Whitman throughout her 2010 campaign, dressing an actress as Queen Meg, in a red velvet fur-trimmed cape, white gloves and a sash. She followed the billionaire around the state proclaiming, Healthcare for the rich, education for the few, prisons for all. More significantly, the nurses doomed Whitmans already faltering campaign when they connected Nicky Diaz, the immigrant in the U.S. illegally whom the former eBay chief employed as a housekeeper, with celebrity attorney Gloria Allred. The resulting images of a tearful Diaz describing how she cleaned Whitmans Atherton mansion and shuttled her children to school for years before she was dismissed like a piece of garbage reinforced public perception of Whitman as a heartless corporate chieftain. Brown beat Whitman by 13 points. RoseAnn DeMoro, the executive director of the California Nurses Assn. and the National Nurses United, which the California group co-founded in 2009, said Sanders is a natural fit. For all of our signature issues, hes been an advocate his entire life, DeMoro said, pointing to his support for universal single-payer healthcare. This is organic for us. See more of our top stories on Facebook >> She said many were shocked when the union backed Sanders, despite the vast majority of its members are women. Sanders for the nurses is almost the ideal candidate. Its too bad he isnt a woman, DeMoro said with a chuckle. Sanders is a game-changer, she said, whereas Clinton represents the status quo, at best. Two thousand California nurses have traveled the country stumping for Sanders, registering students to vote in Wisconsin, monitoring caucuses in Nevada and trailing the candidate in a crimson Bernie bus, emblazoned with the slogan: The Most Trusted Profession TRUSTS BERNIE. They have started organizing in California, running phone banks, hosting rallies for him around the state and erecting more than two dozen billboards. The bus arrived in Berkeley on Thursday. The National Nurses Uniteds super PAC has spent more than $2.4 million to back Sanders. Despite the support from the nurses political action committee, Sanders often proclaims falsely that he is the sole presidential candidate who doesnt have a super PAC. There is a difference between the nurses super PAC and the one for Clinton: The nurses committee is funded by union dues, whereas the pro-Clinton super PAC accepts donations from individuals who can write seven-figure checks. A Clinton-allied group has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging illegal coordination between Sanders campaign and the nurses super PAC a charge that the Sanders campaign called frivolous. The nurses, for their part, dismiss talk that their tactics will not be effective in the race. They always underestimate us because were women, DeMoro said before turning her sights to the California primary. Were going to have a lot of fun. seema.mehta@latimes.com Twitter: @LATSeema ALSO Skelton: Bernie Sanders idea for free tuition at public colleges deserves an A Be nice to Hillary Clinton online or risk a confrontation with her super PAC If you registered to vote at the DMV, check again Prosecutors are expected to test a novel legal theory this week in the trial of a police officer charged in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray that the officer didnt have the authority to detain him and therefore committed an assault by putting him in handcuffs. The allegation could have widespread implications for policing in Baltimore and Maryland. Hundreds of detainees in the city are released every year after being arrested without being charged. Officer Edward M. Neros defense team argues that police shouldnt be second-guessed and face criminal charges when they carry out their duties in good faith. But prosecutors say officers should face consequences when their actions turn out to be wrong, and the consequences are so catastrophic. Advertisement By taking a chance with this kind of case, legal experts said, Baltimores States Atty. Marilyn J. Mosby must believe she is correctly interpreting the law and has the political will. Is it a gutsy theory? Yes. Do I think most prosecutors would have brought charges on this theory? Probably not, said Paul Butler, a former federal prosecutor who is now a Georgetown University law professor. But these are extraordinary times, and Baltimore is a city where a lot of the usual political dynamics dont apply. Nero, 30, is headed to trial after months of delays and appeals over procedural matters that reached the states highest court. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree assault, two counts of misconduct in office, and reckless endangerment. All of the charges are misdemeanors. Resident-filmed video of Freddie Gray wailing and dragging his legs while being arrested drew outrage, and Grays death from injuries suffered while in police custody drew widespread protests. But prosecutors are not alleging excessive force or brutality by the six police officers charged in the case. The first trial in the Gray case against Officer William Porter, who checked on Gray during his transport and faces charges including involuntary manslaughter ended in a hung jury and mistrial in December. The second trial will turn the focus away from Grays fatal spinal injuries, which the medical examiner found were sustained in the back of a police transport van, to whether officers committed a crime when they pursued and arrested him on April 12, 2015. Its also expected to lead to the first verdict. Nero is likely to request a bench trial, according to legal observers, so that Judge Barry Williams would render the verdict, not a jury. The reckless endangerment charge relates to Grays being loaded into a van without being restrained by a seat belt. Prosecutors said the failure of officers, including Nero, to do so not only knowingly risked injury or death to Mr. Gray, but actually resulted in it. Neros defense attorneys sought to have the charges dismissed, saying the officers had legal justification to pursue Gray as he ran unprovoked through the area around Gilmor Homes, a Baltimore Housing Authority project, and had probable cause to arrest him after finding a knife clipped to his belt. In filing charges, prosecutors said the knife was legal. Neros attorneys, Marc Zayon and Allison Levine, wrote in a recent court filing that they couldnt locate a single case in which an officer had been criminally charged with assault on the basis that an arrest was made without probable cause. Chuck Canterbury, president of the national Fraternal Order of Police union, said Nero and the other officers were under an honest belief that they acted properly at the time of Grays arrest. Its unprecedented to see a prosecutor try to charge under those circumstances, Canterbury said. A prosecutor has months to review something, when a police officer has to make a snap decision.... An error is not a criminal matter; its just a mistake. When officers make arrests, prosecutors review the allegations and routinely throw out cases that they determine lack probable cause or which they think are not worth pursuing. When police arrests peaked a decade ago, prosecutors were declining about one-third of those cases or tens of thousands or arrests. Arrests have plummeted, along with the number of rejected cases. Still, in hundreds of cases each year, prosecutors at central booking in Baltimore refuse to file charges. And charges are not filed against the officers for making the wrong call, Neros attorneys have said in court filings. Common sense dictates that officers would simply not make arrests if they were subject to criminal prosecution if it was later determined that probable cause did not exist, Zayon wrote. Prosecutors in the Gray case said how prosecutors handle other cases is immaterial. The crux of this case is whether Nero violated the duties of his office or acted reasonably toward Mr. Gray, they wrote. The state does not minimize the difficulty inherent in the split-second judgments police officers make every day, nor does the state seek to criminalize every technical violation of the Fourth Amendment; but here, the state has alleged that the defendants conduct was objectively, criminally unreasonable, prosecutors wrote. Marylands law of assault will forgive officers for justified actions, but will hold them to account for unjustified ones. Nero and Officer Garrett E. Miller were conducting a bicycle patrol around Gilmor Homes when they made eye contact with Gray, who ran. An arrest van was called to the scene, but Gray never made it to central booking. The original charges against Nero included false imprisonment, but the charge was removed when the grand jury indictment was returned. Mosby said at the time that additional information had been discovered. Robert Bloom, a professor at Boston College law school, said he believes the arresting officers lacked probable cause to handcuff Gray behind his back and place him on his stomach. Theres no probable cause as they stated the facts, he said. But, he added, the government will need to show that this was a really bad act, in simple terms, for it to necessitate criminal punishment. Eugene ODonnell, a former police officer and prosecutor who teaches at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, said officers often make arrests that turn out to lack probable cause for various reasons including a lack of training or bad information. It would be a dangerous precedent indeed to pursue charges against officers who act in good faith and have a reasonable, but mistaken, belief that someone is committing or has committed an offense, ODonnell said. On the other hand, if the prosecutors can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that this officer knew that the arrest was illegal and manufactured a story supported by false written and oral statements, then a conviction would be viable, he said. Miller and Porter are expected to be called as witnesses by the prosecution. Both have been granted immunity by Judge Williams from their testimony being used at their own trials, and they could be sent to jail if they refuse to comply after the states highest court compelled them to testify. About three weeks before Grays arrest, the states attorneys office had asked police to target the intersection with enhanced drug enforcement efforts. Once officers caught up to Gray, he was restrained and handcuffed, and they found a knife on his belt. A 2000 Supreme Court ruling, Illinois v. Wardlow, has upheld that the combination of unprovoked flight in an area known for high crime provides sufficient suspicion for a stop. Another ruling from decades earlier found that police can stop someone without probable cause if they have reasonable suspicion the person has or is about to commit a crime, or may be armed and dangerous. Much of the early jockeying over the charges centered on Grays knife. In announcing the charges, Mosby said the knife was legal under Maryland law, making his arrest improper. Defense attorneys countered that it was spring-assisted and illegal under city code. They noted that police and prosecutors continue to charge people with possessing spring-assisted knives. Later, prosecutors called the discrepancy over the knife a moot issue because the initial detention, before the discovery of the knife, was illegal. Still, prosecutors have maintained in recent filings that there is a distinction between spring-assisted knives the kind prohibited by city code and switchblades like they contend Gray carried. They listed a Frederick knife shop owner as an expert witness whom they plan to call and have subpoenaed records from the Cop Shop, a supply store near police headquarters that sells knives. The state will present evidence at trial that so-called spring-assisted knives are among the most commonly sold folding knives in Maryland and are not the same thing as switchblades, prosecutors wrote. Neros attorney has noted that Miller made the arrest and wrote the charging document, and that Nero relied on direction from Lt. Brian Rice, another officer charged in the case. Nero cannot be legally responsible for the initial detention or the arrest of Mr. Gray, his attorney contends. Defendant Officer Nero should be tried, and legally must be tried based upon his own actions, not those of any other officer or any other person, Zayon wrote. Prosecutors also say they have experts who have evaluated the circumstances surrounding Grays injuries and death and will explain that Neros conduct created the risk that led to those injuries. But defense attorneys dont want Grays death to even be mentioned in court, saying it would be prejudicial and isnt necessary to prove the conduct created a risk. Baltimore Sun reporter Kevin Rector contributed to this article. jfenton@baltsun.com ALSO As Denver enjoys boom times, the homeless go into hiding North Carolina sues federal government to preserve states LGBT law The nations subways are falling apart, but the next president might actually fix them One of the top reasons voters have flocked to Donald Trumps campaign has been because the tough-talking businessman tells it like it is, polls have shown. But what, exactly, Trump stands for has become a shifting picture of policies and proposals that even he acknowledged Sunday may not produce the promised outcomes. Its not just that the billionaires ideas are vague by traditional political standards: bring back jobs, build a beautiful wall, make America great again. The political newcomer does not appear grounded in an ideology beyond assuring that America is winning. Advertisement On Sunday, Trump, the presumed Republican nominee, offered fresh evidence that he will be no ordinary presidential candidate, dismissing his own tax cut proposal as unlikely to happen. Let me explain how the world works, OK? Trump said on Meet the Press. Trump went on to describe his tax plan, which hews to traditional Republican ideas of lowering individual and corporate rates, as a floor a starting point for eventual negotiations with Congress. I dont think thats going to be the final plan, he said. I put it in. But that doesnt mean thats what were going to get. We have to negotiate. The more likely outcome? Higher tax rates for businesses and the wealthy than he initially proposed, he said. Its called life, he said. Its not my word, of course. The ease with which Trump strays from Republican Party orthodoxy and shifts shape on core campaign tenets is part of what has flummoxed many members of the GOP establishment and fueled resistance to his candidacy. Campaigns often require awkward pivots, of course, as candidates work to broaden their appeal beyond the party faithful to a general election audience. But promises are not typically changed without at least the appearance of hand-wringing and poll-tested explanatory notes. One of the leaders of the GOP resistance, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), will meet with Trump and other GOP leaders this week on Capitol Hill, but their ideological differences are so vast that many insiders doubt there will be a meeting of the minds. I dont see what Donald Trump can do to earn his support, said one Republican operative, granted anonymity to frankly discuss the situation. On trade, entitlement reform and foreign policy, there is a wide gulf. Neither Ryan, the GOPs chief policy architect, nor Trump, appears willing to budge. Lets make something very clear: Donald Trump just won a Republican primary, top Trump advisor Paul Manafort said Sunday on Fox News. So, its his agenda that has just been cemented as what the American people, or at least Republicans and independents who voted for him, want. So far, Trumps changing views he supported abortion rights before he didnt; he opposed hiking the minimum wage before he bemoaned the hardship of living on $7.25 an hour have done little to cool voter passions for his candidacy. Its all part of his outsider status what he portrays as a willingness to talk frankly about the challenges the country faces and the potential solutions. That support could be tested, however, on the next big shift, as Trump allies begin raising millions of dollars to back his candidacy. A pro-Trump super PAC is gearing up to raise the extraordinary sums that will be spent, a projected $1 billion by each side, on the campaign showdown this fall. Great America PAC, which counts a California GOP operative, Eric Beach, as a top strategist, expects to become the main vehicle for millions of dollars from wealthy donors of the sort that have funded presidential elections in the past. Usually, a super PAC is the frosting on the cake. My sense is were going to be part of the cake, veteran GOP strategist Ed Rollins, who joined Great America as an advisor, said during a recent conference call with supporters. Hes going to need help, Rollins said of Trump. Trump tapped another Californian, Steven Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs executive turned film producer whose credits include Entourage, American Sniper and The Lego Movie, as his finance chairman, tasked with reeling in donors. In interviews during the primary season, voters in many states cited Trumps independence from big-dollar donors as a key reason for their support. Many voters believe campaign money has a corrupting influence on politicians. Voters appreciated that Trump is wealthy enough to fund his own campaign, even though private donations have back-filled some of his expenses. But exactly how wealthy Trump is has long been a matter of debate. And if he is able to fund a $1-billion general election campaign, he does not appear willing to dig that deeply into his own pocket. Do I want to sell a couple buildings and self-fund? Trump said on MSNBCs Morning Joe. I dont know that I want to do that necessarily. Trump has downplayed the change of position, saying the fundraising is simply part of his new duties as the party leader who must help Republicans on the ticket this fall. I really wont be asking for myself. Ill be asking money for the party, he said, and really its something that were going to start on right away. The PAC is now holding weekly calls with supporters. ALSO Can Donald Trump redraw the political map? He must to win the White House Thanks a lot, Indiana: Heres what California Republicans could have had California nurses union is all in for Sanders. But can it tilt the outcome on its home turf? lisa.mascaro@latimes.com Follow on Twitter @LisaMascaro I have been a Republican as long as I can remember. Joining the Grand Old Party seemed like a natural choice for someone like me who fled the Soviet Union as a boy and came to Los Angeles with his mother and grandmother in 1976. Refugees from communism, whether from Russia or Cuba, generally oppose socialism and embrace conservative political views. My allegiance to the GOP was cemented during the 1980s, when I was in high school and college and Ronald Reagan was in the White House. For me, Reagan was what John F. Kennedy had been to an earlier generation: an inspirational figure who shaped my worldview. Reagan had his faults, like JFK, but he was optimistic and gentlemanly. He was pro-free trade and pro-immigration. He believed in limited government at home and American leadership abroad. Thats what I believed in too and thats what I thought the Republican Party stood for. Thats why, despite my disagreements with social conservatives, I worked as a foreign policy advisor to John McCain in 2008, Mitt Romney in 2012 and Marco Rubio this year. All of those candidates, different as they were, recognizably represented Reagan Republicanism. Advertisement For the time being, at least, that Republican Party is dead. It was wounded by the tea party absolutists who insisted on political purity and rejected any compromise. Now it has been killed by Donald Trump. Trump is an ignorant demagogue who traffics in racist and misogynistic slurs and crazy conspiracy theories. He champions protectionism and isolationism the policies that brought us the Great Depression and World War II. He wants to undertake a police-state roundup of undocumented immigrants and to bar Muslims from coming to this country. He encourages his followers to assault protesters and threatens to sue or smear critics. He would abandon Japan and South Korea and break up the most successful alliance in history NATO. But he has kind words for tyrants such as Vladimir Putin. The risk of Trump winning, however remote, represents the biggest national security threat that the United States faces today. There has never been a major party nominee in U.S. history as unqualified for the presidency. The risk of Trump winning, however remote, represents the biggest national security threat that the United States faces today. But if Im not for Trump, who am I for? Hillary Clinton is a centrist Democrat who is more hawkish than President Obama and far more principled and knowledgeable about foreign affairs than Trump, who is too unstable and erratic to be entrusted with the nuclear triad he has never heard of. Even in his prepared foreign policy speech couldnt pronounce Tanzania. For all her shortcomings (and there are many), Clinton would be far preferable to Trump. But I am not prepared to join the party that she leads, because so much of it appears to be well to her left. Grass-roots Democrats thrilled this year to Bernie Sanders, a self-professed socialist who is almost as extreme in his own way as Trump is. I dont feel the Bern and I cant make common cause with those who do. Nor do I support Obama and his lead from behind foreign policy, which has created an opening for predators like Russia, Iran and Islamic State dangers that would only grow under a Trump presidency. Perhaps a third party will arise as a vehicle for the 37% of conservatives who said in a recent poll that they have an unfavorable opinion of Trump. I would support it, because a third-party candidate could take away votes from Trump and make clear that he is not an authentic voice of conservatism. But third parties have never succeeded in the long term in our political system. As it stands, I only know one thing for sure: I wont vote for Trump. My hope is that he will lose by a landslide, and the Republican Party will come to its senses, rejecting both his ugly, nativist populism and the extreme, holier-than-thou conservatism represented by Ted Cruz. There is no shortage of Republican leaders today the most prominent is House Speaker Paul D. Ryan who represent Reaganesque conservatism. (Ryan has pointedly refused to endorse Trump.) As far as Im concerned, they are the real Republican Party, in exile. I only hope that they and I can return from the wilderness after November. Max Boot, a contributing writer to Opinion, is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook. ALSO The Republican aristocracy is already bending its knee to King Trump Obama to Republicans: Like it or not, youre stuck with Trump Trump to testify in Trump University fraud lawsuit -- after the election A good friend of mine recently found herself between jobs, with a gap in her health insurance and a recurrence of her kidney stones. What she needed were fluids and pain relief, fast. Im a gastroenterologist, and hoping to minimize the financial impact, I went with her to our local ER and had a conversation with the attending physician. Maybe we could pass on the CT scan and extraneous lab work? The attending was in her room for less than two minutes and never examined her. But the CT scan and blood work were ordered. My friend received intravenous fluids (about $1 worth), pain meds (about $5 worth of dilaudid), and a $10,000 bill from the hospital. To add insult to injury, the bill from the ER attending was for service at the highest billable level. My friend had the good sense and gumption to call the ER groups practice manager to point out that billing at that level was fraudulent. The ER group had the good sense to reduce the bill by half. Advertisement Shortly after that, I received a call from a patient on whom I had performed an upper endoscopy to remove a small gastric polyp. Because removing stomach polyps can be complicated by bleeding, I did the procedure in the hospital rather than an outpatient center. The whole thing took 15 minutes. Anesthesia wasnt required, just routine conscious sedation. So, my patient wanted to know, what had I done that warranted an $18,000 bill from the hospital? I had absolutely no explanation. For $18,000, you can just about buy your own endoscope. Amortized costs for an upper endoscopy at this hospital, including the use of the endoscopy unit, salaries for the whole staff, medication and equipment expenses is probably not more than $200 for 15 minutes. By the way, the doctor doing the procedure in that case, me typically gets about $175 for an upper endoscopy. And then there are the costly procedures you could probably do without. Recently, a surgical group owned by the same hospital hired a surgeon with an interest in esophageal disorders, particularly surgery for acid reflux heartburn. Hes a good guy and capable. So the hospital decided to create a center of excellence for esophageal diseases. A hurdle quickly became apparent. My town isnt flush with esophageal experts. The hospital has excellent generalists who could contribute, but just one specialist surgeon who was retiring (hence the new hire). Still, the Joint Commission, an independent healthcare accreditation outfit, would certify the hospitals new center if certain standards were met and a fee was paid. Thats not exactly the same as excellence. American healthcare is ... often about selling you things you probably dont need at a ridiculous price. A marketing plan was developed to get the word out. But really, far fewer than 1% of frequent heartburn sufferers will benefit from surgery. Most people with heartburn would be best served by getting help modifying their lifestyle. Thats particularly true because the behaviors associated with reflux (overeating, obesity, alcohol consumption and smoking, to name a few) are also risk factors for heart disease, diabetes and a variety of cancers. However, lifestyle modifications are not profitable and surgery is very profitable. The surgeon (and his colleagues who agreed to work with the center) doesnt want to perform surgery thats inappropriate or not indicated. Hes not like that. But hes employed by the hospital. You can see where this is going. The center is up and running. The American healthcare system is capable of many wonderful things, but not all of them are about health or care. It is just as often about selling you things you probably dont need at a ridiculous price, or finding ways to charge you a ridiculous price even for what you do need. The folks driving it arent generally physicians, nurses or other healthcare providers (to use the parlance of the times). They are businesspeople executives that run hospitals, pharmaceutical concerns and insurance companies using healthcare as their instrument to make money. And sadly, the average physician doesnt have a lot of choice about lashing his raft to these organizations if he wants to practice his trade. As a nation, we spend far more than other developed countries for healthcare, and our outcomes are not as good. Those other countries generally have some form of a single-payer system. Here, were told single-payer horror stories: People are dying in Canada and England waiting for care. Ive got news from the front lines of the U.S. system. People are dying here, too, in large numbers, and at the same time theyre going broke paying the bills. Medical expenses, even now that many more people have some form of insurance, are a prime cause of bankruptcy and financial insecurity in the U.S. No healthcare system is perfect, but heres what the rest of the civilized world understands: Healthcare is a right. There is no place for rampant capitalism in treating the sick. This advice is harsh but true: When it comes to your healthcare, buyer beware. Michael Jones is in private practice on the Eastern seaboard. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook. News / National by Staff reporter Former vice-president Joice Mujuru was among an impressive list of leading politicians and businesspeople that spoke at a private reception for broadcaster and United States civil rights doyenne Xernona Clayton in Dubai yesterday.Clayton (85), former vice-president of United States media conglomerate Turner Broadcasting and founder of the Trumpet Awards, which honours the achievements of African Americans, will be a guest speaker at the Sheroes Forum being held at Dubai's Marriott Al Jadaf Hotel, starting today up to Tuesday.Dubai-based African American businesswoman Kimberly Mahmud, owner and managing director of Ndust companies, co-hosted the reception with Erieka Bennett, head of mission for the African Union/Diaspora African Forum, which aims to encourage Africans in the diaspora to help build a better Africa.Clayton's prime-time chat show, broadcast from Atlanta, George, was the first by an African-American in the southern states.She worked in the US civil rights movement with Martin Luther King Jr, and was close friends with his wife Coretta Scott King.She serves on the board of the King Centre for Nonviolent Social Change to help build a better Africa.Other speakers at the event were former Malawian president Joyce Banda, Erieka Bennett, founder and head of mission for the Diaspora African Forum, and an array of businesspeople, politicians and non-governmental organisations representatives.Meanwhile, Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo had claimed on Twitter that Mujuru went to Dubai to receive funding for her Zimbabwe People First Party (ZimPF)."Joice Mujuru, looking bemused here at launch of her @ZimPeopleFirst, left for Dubai last night to meet funders," Moyo tweeted with a picture of Mujuru after she announced the launch of her party in February.ZimPF shot back saying: "So a pvt [private] citizen can only travel outside to meet funders? So when your dear leader [President Robert Mugabe] goes overseas, it's to fundraise? Now we know." North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced the nations first five-year economic plan in decades, saying the country must modernize but giving no indication that he was planning market-style reforms to jumpstart the moribund state-dominated economy. In a speech broadcast on Sunday, Kim gave an overview of his priorities during the second day of the Workers Party Congress, the highest level political gathering in the isolated, one-party state. It is the first such meeting in 36 years, and it is seen as a major milestone for Kim in consolidating his rule and establishing a vision for going forward. Besides emphasizing the economy, Kim vowed that as a responsible nuclear weapons state, our republic will not use a nuclear weapon unless its sovereignty is encroached upon by any aggressive hostile forces with nukes, as [we have] already declared, according to a summary of his remarks in English provided by the official Korean Central News Agency. He added that North Korea would faithfully fulfill its obligation for non-proliferation and strive for the global denuclearization. Advertisement Delivering an hours-long speech in a raspy voice to some 5,000 delegates and alternates at the April 25 House of Culture in the capital, Pyongyang, Kim emphasized the need to solve the problem of providing electric power. The nation has long suffered shortages and even nowadays in Pyongyang the most well-off city in the country many residents have power only for three or four hours in the morning, and three or four hours in the evening. North Korea has significant coal deposits, but Kim said the nation must rely more on renewable sources like hydropower, geothermal and solar. Solar powered streetlights can be seen these days around Pyongyang, and solar panels can be seen hanging from the balconies of apartments throughout the city. Solar panels in front of a monument at a farm on the eastern outskirts of Pyongyang. (Julie Makinen / Los Angeles Times) Kim mentioned the need to develop the metal and railway industries, and cited his ambitions to export raw materials like magnesite and graphite around the world. But he did not explain how the country could do that in the wake of the sanctions imposed in March by the United Nations after the nations recent hydrogen bomb and missile tests. In his remarks, which were believed to have been made Saturday but were broadcast on Korean state-run TV Sunday, Kim gave repeated nods to the longstanding North Korean Juche ideology of self-reliance in all things. But at the same time, he suggested that he wanted his country to engage more in the international economy. Foreign trade, he said should be widely developed, and with credibility. After collapsing in the 1990s, North Koreas economy has experienced a rebound of sorts. South Koreas central bank estimates the nations gross domestic product grew about 1.3% in 2012, 1.1% in 2013 and 1% in 2014. Five-year plans were typical pillars of many socialist countries in the past, and nations including China still draft them. Although a return to five-year plans may be a sign of progress for North Korea, some outside experts said Kims announcement doesnt necessarily portend bold changes. Some experts are predicting bold economic reform, as they have been similarly predicting for decades, but they are likely to be disappointed, said Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow on North Asia at the Heritage Foundation in Washington. The Kim regime has periodically allowed some economic changes, but these were never as extensive in scope or duration as predicted. And the regime usually walked them back either as economic conditions improved or it feared losing control over its minions. But there have been some nascent signs of change. Last year, more than 450 North Koreans attended workshops on business and entrepreneurship run by a seven-year-old organization called Choson Exchange. If things go well on the economic front and the leadership feels secure, we may see a tilt towards economic growth, said Andray Abrahamian, the groups associate director of research and an honorary fellow at Macquarie University in Australia. This would necessarily include better business practices, better rules governing business and greater efficiencies in the market economy. Choson Exchange has run programs both in North Korea and abroad for North Koreans to help them learn about market principles, teaching them everything from the economics of major infrastructure projects to how to make a budget for a small restaurant. But there are many challenges, said Abrahamian, from sanctions to the shortages of electricity and lack of clarity in laws. If Id have to pick one word, though, it would be information. he said. Potential investors find it too hard to conduct research and understand whats going on in [North] Korea and Koreans are too limited in the breadth of information they can access about the rest of the world. Kim also said that North Korea would improve and normalize the relations with those countries that respect its sovereignty and are friendly towards it, though they had been hostile toward it in the past. It was the second time in three days that North Koreans were able to hear their leader speak -- still a relative rarity for citizens here. Kims father, Kim Jong Il, who ruled from 1994 to 2011, was extremely reclusive and almost never spoke in public. Kim Jong Un, in contrast, is a more outgoing and garrulous type, and is seen to be molding himself more on the model of his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, the founding father of North Korea. North Korea has not published economic statistics since the 1960s, making precise calculation of its Gross Domestic Product impossible. But the nation of 24 million is undoubtedly one of the worlds poorest countries. South Koreas central bank estimated North Koreas gross national income at $29 billion in 2014. Thats about 1/100th the size of Californias economy. North Korea has few trading partners; the largest ones are China and South Korea. Last year, they accounted for about 90% of North Koreas trade. But in February, following Kims test of a hydrogen bomb and a rocket launch, government authorities in Seoul decided to close the Kaesong industrial complex. The facility, six miles north of the demilitarized zone that has separated North and South Korea since the 1950s, opened in 2004 and produced socks, watches and other goods. It was intended as a step toward economic cooperation and reconciliation. Over its decade-plus history, the park is estimated to have earned North Korea about $525 million, according to South Korean government authorities. The park was built with South Korean investment but used tens of thousands of North Korean workers. It appears that such funds have not been used to pave the way to peace, as the international community had hoped, but rather to upgrade its nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, the Souths reunification minister, Hong Yong-pyo, said at the time. Stephan Haggard of the Petersen Institute for International Economics estimated in February that Kaesong accounted for about a third of all North Korean trade. What remains to be seen is whether China will pick up the slack now that Kaesong has been shuttered. Between January and November 2015, China-North Korea trade volume totaled $4.9 billion, the South Korean state-run Korea Development Institute think tank estimated. That was down 14.8% from the same period in 2014 and the first double-digit year-over-year drop since 2000. But a Chinese customs official said Chinas exports to North Korea actually rose about 15% in the first three months of 2016 compared with 2015, and Chinese imports rose nearly 11%. Coal has been a key part of cross-border trade. North Korea sent about 20 million tons of coal to China last year, up 27% over 2014, leapfrogging over Russia and Mongolia to become Chinas third-largest supplier behind Australia and Indonesia. However, Chinas Ministry of Commerce said in April that because of the sanctions, it would ban most imports of North Korean coal, iron ore, gold, titanium, vanadium and rare earths, although it said that some imports would be allowed so long as they were not tied to nuclear or missile programs. How it would make that distinction remained unclear, as all coal mining in North Korea is controlled by the state. China also banned sales of jet fuel to North Korea but said civilian aircraft would be allowed to refuel during flights to China. 1 / 12 Journalists tour the factory floor. (Julie Makinen / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 12 A worker guides a copper plate into a machine that melts it and spins it into cable form at the Pyongyang 326 Electric Cable Factory. (Julie Makinen / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 12 Ri Song Il, 50, who said he had worked at the Pyongyang 326 Electric Cable Factory for 25 years. His salary is 300,000 won per month. At the unofficial exchange rate of 8,000 won to the dollar, thats $37.50 a month. A bicycle at a Pyongyang department store costs about twice that much. (Julie Makinen / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 12 A control panel at the Pyongyang 326 Electric Cable Factory. (Julie Makinen / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 12 A control console on the factory floor at the Pyongyang 326 Electric Cable Factory. (Julie Makinen / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 12 Tools at the Pyongyang 326 Electric Cable Factory. (Julie Makinen / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 12 A machine with open gears on the factory floor at the Pyongyang 326 Electric Cable Factory. (Julie Makinen / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 12 The well-manicured soccer field in front of the Pyongyang 326 Electric Cable Factory. Men were playing soccer at 2 in the afternoon, though it was a workday. (Julie Makinen / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 12 A mural, left, that shows North Korean founder Kim Il Sung visiting the Pyongyang 326 Electric Cable Factory. The mural at right shows his son and successor Kim Jong Il visiting the factory. The plant is named the 326 Electric Cable Factory because the two Kims visited the factory together on March 26, 1968. Many places in North Korea are given such names to affiliate them with the regimes cult of personality. (Julie Makinen / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 12 A mosaic outside the Pyongyang 326 Electric Cable Factory showcases North Koreas rocket technology and industrial prowess. Towards the world! It reads. (Julie Makinen / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 12 A bulletin board shows a model worker from the 1980s at the Pyongyang 326 Electric Cable Factory. (Julie Makinen / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 12 A piece of propaganda art outside the Pyongyang 326 Electric Cable Factory. The poster exhorts workers to work hard ahead of the party congress. Depicted on poster are skyscrapers from the new Future Science Street in Pyongyang, a residential district for scientists and professors that was built at the behest of Kim Jong Un. Let us greet the 7th Workers Party Congress with a high sense of political enthusiasm and brilliant labor achievements. (Julie Makinen / Los Angeles Times) China, as North Koreas principal trade partner for many years, is not going to watch the North disintegrate in spite of Beijings discomfort over Pyongyangs nuclear and missile programs, Mel Gurto, a professor emeritus of political science at Portland State University and editor-in-chief of Asian Perspective, said in a recent op-ed. Chinas leaders will do more than previously to enforce sanctions, such as inspection of cargo bound for and incoming from North Korea; but they will do a good deal less than the U.S. wants, especially when it comes to border inspections. Special correspondent Steven Borowiec in Seoul contributed to this report. Follow @JulieMakLAT for news from China ALSO Police chase ends in Ontario with motorist jumping to his death Uber conquered taxis. Now its going after everything else In North Korea and trapped in a real-life version of Waiting for Godot The applause was so loud you could feel its rhythm in your heart. Duterte! Duterte! chanted a crowd of hundreds of thousands packed into Manilas Luneta Park on a warm, breezy Saturday evening. They waved Filipino flags and held their fists in the air. The Philippines presidential front-runner Rodrigo Duterte, 71, appeared onstage, wearing a red polo shirt and blue jeans. Then, to rapturous applause, he called a senator stupid, a competing candidate a son of a bitch, and the military s--t-heads if they attempt to challenge him. Advertisement We want change! said Esmat Bayadsid, a 48 year-old tailor from Cotabato City in the countrys deep south. We want to put an end to all the chaos and disorder. The Philippines will elect a new president on Monday, and Dutertes shocking, profanity-laced campaign has likened him to Donald Trump and rocked the Philippines political establishment. In recent months, he has remarked on the size of his penis, called Pope Francis the son of a whore, and bragged with an ambiguous degree of sincerity about overseeing hundreds of extrajudicial killings during his 22-year tenure as mayor of the southern city Davao. Moreover, analysts say that Dutertes rise could undermine the foundations of Philippine democracy. Beyond the bombast, Duterte has shown little respect for the countrys democratic institutions, leading analysts to brand him a dictator in the making. He has warned that he may implement a revolutionary government if congress blocks his plans. If Duterte wins the presidency I will weep for the Philippines. Because it means going back. Solita Monsod, professor emerita, University of the Philippines School of Economics These bleeding heart liberals, theyre only concerned with saving one son of a bitch at a time, while I protect a whole city, he said at Saturdays rally. The latest polls show Duterte leading with 33% of the vote, beating his closest rivals by more than 10%. (In the Philippines, the candidate with the most votes wins). Police estimated at least 300,000 people attended the rally. Over the past six years, the Philippines annual GDP growth rate has averaged above 6 percent, making the country one of the worlds fastest-growing economies. Yet many Filipinos are disillusioned by endemic problems with drugs, crime and corruption, and angry that recent economic gains have not trickled down to the poor. More than 45% of the Philippines 101 million people live on less than $2 per day. If you show me stats, in black and white, its good, said Miguel Lia, a 35-year old seafarer who traveled three hours to attend the rally. But if you ask the people, the poor ones, they dont really feel it thats the reality here. Most people dont feel what the government has to offer. Many Filipinos believe that only a powerful leading figure will be able to disrupt the status quo. His political will thats the most important thing, Lia continued. Some congressmen and senators, they just pass laws that is their job, and its good, but if you pass them without implementation its nothing, its garbage. A former state prosecutor, Duterte has burnished a reputation for being tough on crime so tough, in fact, that he is known for not letting the countrys legal system constrain him. Human Rights Watch has said that he oversaw or at least condoned death squads, gangs of armed vigilantes who killed more than 1,000 suspected criminals, many of them young and poor. He claims that his city is now one of the countrys safest, a refuge of security in the conflict-ridden southern region of Mindanao. Although Dutertes fiery campaign rhetoric has made Donald Trump look tame, it has only seemed to boost his popularity. At a rally last month, he joked about an Australian missionary who was raped and killed during a prison break in 1989. I was angry because she was raped, thats one thing, he said, But she was so beautiful, the mayor should have been first. What a waste. American and Australian ambassadors rebuked Duterte for the comment; he told them to shut up. Policies dont necessarily determine who wins, and you get people like Duterte running as strongmen candidates, as [former presidents] Marcos or Estrada did, said Lynn T. White III, an emeritus professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University and author of a 2014 book Philippine Politics: Possibilities and Problems in a Localist Democracy. Or as Andrew Jackson did. Fujimori in Peru, he continued. It happens all over the place. Or Thaksin in Thailand. People who get votes for their reputations for violence. That can be very effective in democratic situations weve got a little of that now in the U.S. with Donald Trump. Current President Benigno Aquino III has called for a political coalition to defeat Duterte sort of a homegrown Never Trump campaign and yet his pleas have yet to manifest in any obvious agreement. Neither of the two candidates virtually tied in second place, Grace Poe or Manuel Mar Roxas, has agreed to end their campaigns and endorse the other. Dutertes detractors have found that their criticisms are often met with torrents of abuse, much of it anonymous. Manuel Noli Agcaoili, a 75-year-old disability rights advocate, said that he criticized Duterte on a radio show after the mayor spoke at a campaign rally about urging a former classmate, a stroke victim, to kill himself. An hour after broadcast I got an untraceable call saying something not nice, Agcaolili said. They told me to be careful with what I say. And if I continue I might prematurely leave this world. A member of Gabriela, a Manila-based womens rights group, said that after the group criticized Duterte for his rape comments, it endured an intense cyber-bullying campaign which included a torrent of Facebook spam and attempts to discredit its work. Supporters say that Duterte is misunderstood, and that his tough campaign rhetoric masks a genuine compassion for disadvantaged groups. Joe Calida, Dutertes counsel and friend since the 1970s, said in an interview that the mayor has empathy for the downtrodden, and speaks the language of the masses. After Taiphoon Haiyan struck the Philippines in November, 2013, killing 6,300 people, he went on an aid mission to the worst-hit areas. When he saw the corpses in the streets, actually, he cried, Calida said. People think Duterte is all tough, etc., but he has a soft heart for those who are victims. He said that Duterte will improve the Philippine economy by focusing on the countrys education system, and that his tough anti-crime measures will create a better environment for foreign investors. People look at him as a political savior, so to speak, with decisiveness and political will, he said. Davao, if you go there, that is his exhibit A. He denied that Duterte believes he is above the law. Let me put it this way: when he says I will kill you, what he means is I will use the full force of the law to punish you, OK? he said. If the criminal resists and is armed and dangerous, and he fights it out, then he expects the police to kill him. No mercy. Red Tani, 33, president of Filipino Freethinkers, an activist group, said that he distrusts Duterte because of his human rights record as mayor. I believe that if the reports of groups like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are to be believed, then he deserves to be thrown in jail, not made president, he said. Other critics see in Duterte a hint of the countrys former dictators when Ferdinand Marcos ruled the country from 1965 to 1986, he declared martial law and tortured his opponents. If Duterte wins the presidency I will weep for the Philippines, said Solita Monsod, a professor emerita at the University of the Philippines School of Economics. Because it means going back. We have done so well in the past six years -- and we will go back to martial law, to everyone being above the law. Its that bad, she continued. I am going to weep for the country. De Leon is a special correspondent. Staff writer Julie Makinen contributed to this report. ALSO Ellen Paos next act targets Silicon Valleys diversity problem Uber conquered taxis. Now its going after everything else Immigrants in U.S. illegally are given a shot to return to their professions A wildfire was growing just outside Fort McMurray, but Matt Hepditch went to work in the oil sands the way he always does. Some people had evacuated, though reports the night before suggested the fire would move away from the hard-working city at the center of Canadas oil industry. Then the wind shifted. At 2 oclock, they called us in and said, If you want to go, you can go, Hepditch recalled. Then chunks of ash started falling. Thats when I knew we had to leave. Advertisement Hepditch rushed home to his girlfriend and their 3-year-old daughter and loaded the pickup. That was Tuesday afternoon. It was the third day of May and 90 degrees. Within hours, Fort Mac would explode into fire and its nearly 90,000 residents would flee in a harrowing exodus. People drove across fields, ran out of gas, abandoned their cars, hitched rides with strangers and watched their homes and neighborhoods burn on surveillance cameras linked to their phones even as they sped away. All the while, flames roared beside the road. A gas station erupted. It was hard to breathe. I wish I could kick every person posting Thats what you get for living by the oil sands comments. Tweet from an Edmonton woman It was dangerous and digital and biblical, and no one knows what will become of the city they left behind or how it all will affect the oil industry. The city of Fort McMurray is not safe to return to, and this will be true for a significant period of time, Rachel Notley, Albertas premier, said Friday. Though the cause of the fire has not been determined, the inferno has become symbolic of the tension within Canada over its role in climate change. Some Canadians see the fire as nature lashing back at those who mistreat it in the name of profit. Others see the hard science: a wildfire formed in conditions consistent with climate change striking with academic irony, not vengeance, in a place that helps supply the world with a fossil fuel. The evacuees were really climate refugees, they say. Still others view it as just very bad luck, a setback the oil industry will find a way to overcome. The debate reflects a country wrestling within itself at a difficult moment and it is testing that famous Canadian civility. A provincial politician who called the fire karmic was quickly castigated and later apologized. When Canadian Green Party leader Elizabeth May said the fire was very related to the global climate crisis, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested she was making a political argument. Some environmentalists have been accused of lecturing to or, worse, condemning people who have lost everything. In Fort McMurray, more than 2,000 structures were consumed by the flames. I wish I could kick every person posting Thats what you get for living by the oil sands comments, a young Edmonton woman tweeted Tuesday evening at the peak of the evacuation, when flames were whipping across Highway 63, the only road out of Fort McMurray. Youre terrible people. Janet Keeping, the Green Party leader within Alberta, was among several people who invoked climate change early in the week and did so without clearly expressing support for fire victims. She soon tried to strike a new chord. Caring about people means caring about #climatechange, Keeping wrote Thursday on Twitter. Albertas oil sands are said to hold the third largest reserves in the world, after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. They made Alberta rich even as they have made Canada uneasy. Conservation groups have long despised the intensive extraction process involved in gleaning crude from the sands Alberta would have been the source for the Keystone XL oil pipeline that President Obama rejected last year and many Canadians loathe what they view as an excessively capitalist culture in Fort McMurray. Extraction industries such as logging and mining have long been essential here, and the sands provided high-paying jobs to thousands of workers who came from struggling parts of the country to Alberta. But environmentalism has also been rising in Canada, particularly in urban areas and on the coasts, and Trudeau, elected last fall, is striving to reestablish the country as a progressive international player, including as a leader on climate issues. Trudeau acknowledged that climate change will cause extreme weather events but added, There have always been fires. There have always been floods. Pointing at any one incident and saying: This is because of that is neither helpful, nor entirely accurate. We need to separate a pattern over time from any one event. The overwhelming public response to the fire has been sympathy for its victims, and many Canadians have been strikingly kind and generous. People offer to buy lunch for people they have never met. Free water and coffee have been easy to find. Some hotels have lowered their prices or let people stay for free. A group of recent refugees from Syria has volunteered to help, as has the town of Lac-Megantic in Quebec, which is still recovering from the explosion of an oil train in 2013 that killed more than 40 people and destroyed much of its downtown. When Hepditch and his family arrived here in the tiny town of Wandering River, they were amazed to see volunteers gathered at the fire hall handing out free clothes and serving burgers to anyone who showed up. With him was his older brother, Jeff, who also had fled with his girlfriend and their 4-month-old son. Everything we needed is right here, Jeff Hepditch said. Oil companies opened work camps to evacuees and, when the camps themselves had to be evacuated a few days later, they provided aircraft and other support to help transfer them. Some workers said their employers have called to check on them, promising to pay lost wages and in some cases provide substantial cash assistance in the coming weeks. The companies are being awesome, said Tina Sinclair, who has worked for Shell for 13 years. Were not just numbers. They know us all by name. Sinclair, who moved to the city in 1978 when her father found a job in the sands, said Shell told her it would reimburse her and other employees up to $200 per day through May for any expenses. She said outsiders do not know the real Fort McMurray. She pointed to the plight of Bo Cooper, a local firefighter whose battle with leukemia prompted residents to collect nearly $1 million last year so he could have an experimental treatment. Even though its 100,000 people, its family, Sinclair said. You want everybody to be OK. The fire is expected to grow, potentially doubling in size over the weekend, officials said, though it is moving for now into more remote areas. Substantial rain is the only thing that will stop it, they said, and there is little in the forecast. Meteorologists had worried for months about the warm winter and spring in this part of Canadas boreal forest. El Nino brought plenty of rain to the coast but not inland. What snow there was melted early. An early fire season seemed inevitable. In April, highs near Fort McMurray reached 80 degrees on some days. Then came May, when temperatures soared more than 30 degrees above average highs for this time of year. The fire started May 1. Its a freak accident, Jeff Hepditch said. Theres not much you can do. The brothers, 27 and 25, both work in the oil sands. Their father runs a company that builds scaffolding there. Like many people, they moved from Newfoundland on the Atlantic Coast because jobs here were plentiful. Now they were sitting outside tiny motel cabins in Wandering River and wondering what would happen. The oil industry had already slowed dramatically in recent months, cutting into their pay, though both have kept their jobs. Layoffs left work camps emptier than usual, making room for evacuees. Now production has dropped by as much as a third because of the fire, analysts say. The oil sands themselves are several miles north of town and they have not been threatened by the fire. Jeff Hepditch said the industry would never let them burn. His brother questioned that assessment. It gets so hot up there that youve got to expect something could happen, Matt Hepditch said. All it takes is ashes, right? Nobody thought that this would happen, either. Jeff Hepditchs girlfriend, Stacey Carroll, weighed in: That was my worst nightmare. She talked about the filth that covers Jeff when he comes home from the oil sands. The work takes a toll on the land, he conceded. What it does to the earth up there is disgusting, he said. Its good money, though. william.yardley@latimes.com ALSO Police chase ends in Ontario with motorist jumping to his death Uber conquered taxis. Now its going after everything else In North Korea and trapped in a real-life version of Waiting for Godot Some things, once broken, can never be fixed. That thought has dominated conversations in Baghdads capital in the week since supporters of a powerful Shiite Muslim cleric stormed the heavily fortified Green Zone. Unlike previous demonstrations that have ebbed and flowed over the last year with little political effect, the thousands of protesters who ransacked parliament and accosted fleeing lawmakers shocked the countrys perpetually bickering leaders and left many wondering whether the countrys embattled prime minister will survive in office. As supporters of the cleric, Muqtada Sadr, left the manicured lawns of an area that had been largely off-limits to them for 13 years, Sadr threatened to bring down the government and force new elections if the legislature fails to approve a Cabinet of technocrats one not dictated by ethnic and sectarian quotas. Advertisement More than a week later, the reverberations could still be felt. Over the weekend, Baghdads always snarled traffic was made worse by additional checkpoints and barriers to thwart any further demonstrations near the Green Zone, home to many government buildings and embassies. Prime Minister Haider Abadi replaced the commander in charge of the zones security. Parliamentarians refused to reconvene without guarantees of their protection. And the United States dispatched an additional 25 U.S. Marines to bolster security at the U.S. Embassy compound. Yet the moves mattered little to the thousands who once again took to the streets in the impoverished Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City on Friday to protest against a government they see as ineffective and corrupt. This is a historical turning point. The break-in created a rift in the failed political process, and this is what we want to happen so as to reform it, said Mohsen Kaabi, an elderly man who carried a blue sign that read, We demand the thief of public money be held accountable. Another man standing nearby, Mahmoud Salihi, agreed, saying it had revealed the truth about those in parliament. If they were clean and honest, they would have stayed and talked to us, asked us what we wanted. But they know they are thieves, so they ran away, he said. At the heart of the populist anger is deep frustration with the governments inability to provide the most basic services such as electricity and garbage collection. (Trash heaps are a common sight throughout Baghdads streets.) Iraq is a rich country with oil, but for 13 years they havent solved the issue of power, said Mohammed Mahameed, a taxi driver who spoke wistfully of the round-the-clock electricity in neighboring Jordan where he visited last year. In the summer, every four hours we only get one hour of electricity. How is this possible? Where is the oil going? Security is also a concern, as the country faces the persistent threat of Islamic State. In 2014, Baghdad narrowly avoided being overrun by the extremist group by enlisting the help of militias known as the Popular Mobilization Units. The mere fact that you leave your home, or drop off your kids at school, and worry whether you or they will return home is the biggest proof of the corruption of the government, said Maytham Hillo, a dermatologist and leftist political author who was speaking at a weekly discussion group called For those who dare to be reasonable. The mere fact that you leave your home, or drop off your kids at school, and worry whether you or they will return home is the biggest proof of the corruption of the government. Maytham Hillo, dermatologist and political author Plunging oil prices and a bloated public sector have led to a deficit that the government, which ranks a dismal 161 out of 168 in Transparency Internationals Corruption Perceptions Index, is ill-equipped to handle. Abadi has tried to enact the reforms demanded by Sadr and his followers, but has been repeatedly thwarted by the countrys entrenched ethnic and sectarian-based political factions. The storming of the Green Zone came after Abadis third attempt to get approval for a Cabinet not formed according to quotas established after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. The attempt was postponed for lack of a quorum. The political turmoil has spurred an act of political sleight of hand by Sadr, a stridently anti-U.S. leader whose followers in the Mahdi Army militia were accused of sectarian violence against Sunni Muslims, but who now presents himself as a unifying figure against corruption. At Friday sermons in Sadr City, Sadrist clerics insisted this was an issue for all Iraqis, regardless of sect or ethnicity, while the crowd chanted, No, no to America, no, no to Britain, no, no to Israel, yes, yes to reform. They also chanted slogans against Iranian intervention in the country, a sign of Sadrs complicated relationship with the Islamic Republics leaders, even while the cleric left for Tehran last week for what his office described as a two-month spiritual retreat. Those allied with the cleric insist that Sadrs calls for reform are not part of a power play. Muqtada al Sadr does not know how to be sycophantic, he only serves the Iraqi people, said parliamentarian Hakim Zamili, adding that such accusations were the result of fear on the part of Sadrs enemies. There is no going back, and we will now have the project of reform, to change to a professional independent government that does not belong to the parties. Yet many view Sadrs maneuvers with suspicion. Sadr is part of the government, of the corruption and the quota system, part of the sectarian fighting. Its as if he has transformed the anger on the streets into a political bloc against other political parties, said Hillo, pointing to both Sadrs history of switching sides and his religious following. We cannot just forgive Sadr for what he did.... He is not trustworthy. Bulos is a special correspondent. ALSO Turkish journalist shot at, then sentenced to prison Navy SEAL was killed in two-hour firefight with Islamic State In the Philippines, the Marcos name is back, even as memories of the dictator have faded Donald Trump's rise as the presumptive Republican nominee is already showing signs of paying dividends. It's just not the kind of swing GOP leaders were hoping for. A new Cook Political Reports Electoral College projection map finds 11 key states have moved toward the Democratic column in the hours since Trump cemented his status as the new face of the GOP. Pollsters found both Colorado and Florida have gone from being up in the air to favoring Democrats, while Pennsylvania, Florida and Wisconsin are leaning more democratically than ever. In addition, North Carolina has gone from favoring the GOP to now being undecided and Georgia and Arizona are now leaning less Republican than earlier polled. Indiana has now also gone from solid Republican to likely Republican. More States Could be Among Those Flipping And those in the know warn that could be only the beginning. "With these changes, 190 Electoral Votes are in the Solid Democratic column, 27 are in Likely Democratic, and another 87 are in Lean Democratic - enough for a majority," researchers concluded. "Yet another 44 Electoral Votes are in Toss Up. Although Iowa, New Hampshire and Ohio could shift to Lean Democratic and Nevada could shift to Likely Democratic, we are holding off on changes in these states until we see more evidence." The bottom-line is pollsters are already projecting Democrats will maintain residency in the White House, winning the Electoral College battle by a margin of 304-190. Latinos Take Issue Trump's Talk of Mass Deportation One of the primary reasons behind the dramatic shift seems Trump's growing unpopularity among Latino voters. A recent Washington Post-Univision survey found that four out of every five Latinos now has a negative image of Trump, who has vowed to massively deport millions of immigrants if he is elected and build a wall along the Mexican border to further keep them out. Meanwhile, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton recently reaffirmed her commitment to comprehensive immigration reform, vowing to keep all President Barack Obama's executive actions on the issue firmly in place. "We are a nation of immigrants, and I'm proud of it," she boomed during a recent campaign speech in California. "We are stronger together, and our diversity is one of our strengths," she added. "So if people condemn or scapegoat or criticize or demagogue about immigrants, I wonder: Where are they living?" As commencement speaker, President Obama openly shared with Howard University grads that he's convinced his election hasn't created a "post-racial society" and implored them to help "shape our collective future." While acknowledging that his two-terms as president has marked a time of improved race relations, Obama stressed the need for students of the historically black, Washington D.C. based university to keep pushing change. President Stresses Power of the Ballot box With the 2016 presidential election looming and his still unknown successor looming in the wings, the president advised students to vote "not just some of the time but all of the time." He later added, "When we don't vote we give away our power." The president passionately assured grads that the world is a better place than when he was in their shoes more than three decades ago, but quickly added there is still much work to be done, as evidenced by still unfair employment practices and gaps in justice where many minorities are concerned. "Be confident in your heritage," he added. "Be confident in your blackness. There's no one way to be black. Take it from somebody who's seen both sides of the debate about whether I'm black enough." The president went on to stress the tie that binds all African-Americans is there awareness of "injustice, unfairness and struggle." He later added, "We have cousins, and uncles, and brothers, and sisters, who were just as smart and just as talented as we were but somehow got ground down by structures that were unfair and unjust, and that means we have to not only question the world as it is, and stand up for those African-Americans who haven't been so lucky." President Talks Empathy Obama also stressed that same sense of empathy should extend to "all people" who are struggling in some way. "People try to make this political thing really complicated," he said. "You know what? Just vote. It's math. If you have more votes than the other guy, you get to do what you want." Obama is also scheduled to soon deliver commencement speeches at Rutgers University in New Jersey and at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Read full Howard speech here . News / Regional by Staff reporter LAST Sunday, Glad Tidings Fellowship celebrated its 34th anniversary and officially unveiled its High Glen Assembly Auditorium.Pastor Richmond Chiundiza started the ministry by forming a five-member group called Disciples in Action, with a vision anchored on 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4. The rest of the founding fathers are Prs Durajid Simba, George Kaseke, Andrew Gore and Langton Gatsi.We reproduce here Pr Chiundiza's words in an interview with The Sunday Mail Religious Affairs Editor Fatima Bula in Harare last week.***Our vision has not been fulfilled because new things keep coming.Personally looking at the Church as a whole, I can see that there is a lot we need to sort so the Church can claim its proper place.After we started the movement, there is a time it went down. If we study Church history, we hear of Reformation meaning the Church had gone into descent.After Reformation you see things still happening; influence from Europe, the thinking of the circular world and some of the business systems are now being taken into church. The way church is being done is not the proper way.Jesus said I will build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.First all of Jesus says "I will", which shows his commitment to build the Church. If you study most of these things happening, you find that the Church is no longer a Jesus Christ Church but someone's.Yes, we talk about Jesus but they have become like business entities. So when churches become like business entities, people without even knowing close themselves in and they remain there.When someone eventually sees there is something wrong they come out of that church. Sometimes they start their own and another one starts their own and the church remains divided.When we started church in 1982 I envisioned that we should start planting churches.Prior to that I used to work inter-denominationally but there was a time I felt no the way to build churches is not doing it through para-church organisations.Again that is unbiblical, every Christian belongs to the Church. But again what we have seen is that yes the Church belongs to Christ but they start their own (personal) church.And this started in the early times.When the church started in Jerusalem it was mostly Jews and when it was spreading they thought when we involved those who are not Jews, they must be circumcised and do things the Jewish way.But Paul corrected that.When Paul was converted God gave him a vision that was to include Gentiles in the Church. Although Peter preached to Gentiles in Jerusalem and people came to Christ he almost refused to go to Cornelius.God showed him a vision a sheet of creatures inside and said to him kill and eat. Peter said I have never eaten something unclean. God was trying to say what you think about Gentiles, that they are unclean, is wrong. God had already spoken to Cornelius and he was ready.So when Peter went he gave his life to Jesus but even then it was still difficult for Jews to accept Gentiles. So one day Paul confronted Peter and said to him, "Why are you behaving the way you are behaving you are separating us from the Gentiles? It's not how to do things."That challenge was very important to bring unity between Jewish Christians and Gentiles. The Bible emphasises unity in the Church.Jesus says a new commandment I have given you that you love one another even as I have loved you. Christ doesn't separate Jews and Gentiles. You must love another, have unity.So we have had these problems in Zimbabwe and other countries, South Africa with apartheid system.For Christ to become man He had to lower Himself to save us and we as Christians should not allow our attitude to separate us from each other. Yet this has been happening all over the world where you have racist churches, Christians fighting over doctrines; that's why we have Pentecostal or Holiness churches.If we don't understand each other doctrinally we sit down together, study the Word of God and come to an understanding.But what has happened, churches are divided over structures, doctrine, nationalistic or tribal lines with some leaders wanting their own thinking. We allowed some systems in the world to come in the church.The Apostles preached Jesus. I don't have to say come and hear a man of God, Richard Chiundiza. Did Peter advertise? God advertised Peter!Yet we have man of God advertising themselves as doctor, prophet, all to market themselves. News / Regional by Staff reporter A NUMBER of companies in Bulawayo are on a revival path and it is inaccurate to describe the manufacturing sector in Zimbabwe's second largest city as dead, Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko has said.VP Mphoko also took a swipe at the media for not paying attention to several industries in Bulawayo that are performing well. Speaking on the side-lines of a tour of Pump and Steel Supplies in Bulawayo on Friday, VP Mphoko said despite economic challenges, some industries in Bulawayo have remained resilient."The truth is people are working and producing goods, Bulawayo is under construction and people are using goods manufactured here. This story that Bulawayo is dead, no, let us take it with a pinch of salt," he said.VP Mphoko lauded Pump and Steel Supplies for remaining buoyant in a difficult environment, saying this must be exemplary to other firms."We have young guys here who are working against all odds like Pump and Steel Supplies, we need to assist them where we can because they are keeping Bulawayo alive. What we like about this company is that a number of companies are closing because they can't stand the heat, they are moving to Botswana and South Africa but you have remained resilient and are pushing towards the city's revival. I can assure you with this kind of attitude you will succeed, this is a very patriotic approach to life," said VP Mphoko.Pump and Steel Supplies managing director Mr Eugene Jackson said the performance of his company was proof that "industries in Bulawayo are not dying."He said: "There is a crop of young people that are working hard silently to revive industry despite reports that Bulawayo is dying. The young people are prepared to work and are committed to achieve more and are here to stay. We are hoping that the Government will produce a conducive environment for us to continue working and we are asking for more support financially so that we can further our work and export more of our goods," he said.Mr Jackson said the company was seeking capital injection of $2 million to spread its wings into the region."We want long term financial aid so that we are kept afloat; we have also identified regional markets for our products. Steel and engineering will be the basis of the growth of industry in the city and we feel that is better to fuel a car that is a runner because you can move it. It is good that the Government assists companies that are making an effort to revive the city's industries and are complying with Government directives," he said.Pump and Steel manufactures building materials that include door frames, window frames and conveyor belt rollers.During the tour VP Mphoko also showed his lighter side as he took time to address the workers encouraging them to be committed to their jobs, while also counselling them about the importance of discipline.Management at Pump and Steel handed over five water pumps to the VP to donate to any institution of his choice. forsythia Two 4-foot-tall forsythia bushes were stolen from a produce stand in Lower Saucon Township. (Sue Beyer | lehighvalleylive.com file photo) Some bushes are missing, and Lower Saucon Township police want to know who took them. Two 4-foot-tall forsythia plants, balled and ready for sale, were stolen over the last two weeks from Arnolds Fresh Produce, 1766 Friedensville Road, police said in a news release Saturday. The first was taken during business hours April 29 when the bushes were near the road, police said. The second was moved closer to the building and was noticed to be missing on Friday. Anyone with information is asked to contact township police at 610-759-2200. Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. The National Museum of Industrial History's long-awaited opening -- expected in time for Bethlehem's annual Musikfest celebration in August -- has steep ground to cover. Not only will the institution be recapturing and retelling the story of Bethlehem Steel Corp. and other parts of the Industrial Revolution, it has the task of leap-frogging a 20-year history of inaction and mismanagement that threatened the existence of the museum itself. Remember? The museum, which is being readied for the public in a former Bethlehem Steel building on the city's South Side, has benefited from the generosity of many donors directly involved in the planning process. But without the intervention of a Northampton County grand jury -- and an order from the Pennsylvania attorney general to fire former executive director Stephen Donches, get new leadership and open the museum under a two-year deadline -- it's likely this project would still be a steel pipe dream. The investigating bodies found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing, but they were floored by a nonprofit organization that burned through $17 million in 17 years, with no museum to show for it. Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli called the museum board an "old boys club" that seemed more interested in providing a high-paying job to one of its own than laying the foundation of a heritage center. So it's encouraging that the new museum management has accomplished, in just a year, much of the court-ordered to-do list. On Thursday Executive Director Amy Hollander led a sneak preview of the museum for people attending a historic preservation conference in South Bethlehem. She said the official opening date will be announced soon. This museum is much more than artifacts -- although the physical exhibits will be impressive. They include a 115-ton Corliss steam engine built by Bethlehem Steel for the city of York's municipal water supply, an original plant crane and train cars. The curator's dilemma isn't finding enough components to tell the story, it's weeding through a nearly endless supply and fitting them into a finite space in the 1913 building that housed Steel's electrical shops. The story of Bethlehem Steel and the rise and decline of heavy manufacturing in the U.S. is a history of people as much as capital, invention, construction, supporting war efforts. It's good to hear that the leadership of the museum will be focusing on the people who made the plant run. "We're really trying to showcase the stories of people," Hollander said, adding that the nation's industrial heft will be displayed through the efforts of laborers, innovators and entrepreneurs, connecting the past with the future of industry and innovation. And thanks to the museum's affiliation with the Smithsonian Institution, the grand opening will also showcase pieces from the Smithsonian Institution's 1876 Centennial exhibit. After more than 20 years of planning and delays, this part of Bethlehem Steel's legacy -- outpaced by ArtsQuest's SteelStacks, Lehigh Valley Industrial Parks and others that made post-industrial dreams come true on a massive brownfields site -- is finally coming to fruition. We hope that in reopening this part of our industrial past, the museum lays to rest the dubious chapter of a nonprofit group that lost its way. With the conclusion last month of trial over a 2012 boating death, it's time to revisit other major criminal cases in Warren County and where they stand. Four have concluded in the last year, and several others are working their way through the courts. Many -- but not all -- of those highlighted here involve a death, though others involve egregious allegations. Status information comes from the Warren County Prosecutor's Office. 1. Frank Stillo (Matt Smith | lehighvalleylive.com file photo) Charged with: More than 170 counts related to a prescription drug ring. Outcome: Pleaded guilty to 37 counts. Frank Stillo, 53, was arrested in 2009 and accused of masterminding an OxyContin distribution ring -- the biggest ever in the county, authorities say -- out of his Pohatcong Township home. He pleaded guilty in March 2015 and in July was sentenced to 10 years in state prison. 2. Edward Bullock Charged with: Aggravated manslaughter, vehicular homicide. Outcome: Not guilty. Authorities alleged Donald Jessamine was drunk on June 23, 2012, when he crashed a jet boat on the Delaware River, killing passenger Lane Alden. During the trial, Judge Bruce Jones dismissed the manslaughter charge due to a lack of evidence. The jury in April found Jessamine, 65, not guilty on the remaining charge. 5 and 6. Alexis and Zachary Flowers (lehighvalleylive.com file photos) Charged with: Felony murder, armed robbery, related counts. Status: Awaiting hearings. Alexis and Zachary Flowers previously accepted plea deals in the deadly 2012 robbery for which Andy Torres was tried, but face new charges after refusing to testify. They were indicted in December and pleaded not guilty in January. A hearing is scheduled this month on 22-year-old Zachary Flowers' motion to suppress his statement to police. Alexis Flowers, 26, is awaiting a court decision about the admissibility of a statement made with her prior plea agreement. 7. Daniel Lawrence (Courtesy photo) Charged with: Murder, weapons offenses. Status: Awaiting hearing. Daniel Lawrence, 28, of Washington, is accused of killing 30-year-old Warren Moore, of Jersey City, with a 3-inch folding knife during a confrontation Sept. 2, 2014, outside Lawrence's East Washington Avenue home. Lawrence was indicted in February 2015 but recently switched attorneys and is challenging some evidence. A status hearing is scheduled this month. 8. Ralph Atkinson (Courtesy photo) Charged with: Murder, aggravated sexual assault, related counts. Status: Awaiting insanity plea hearing. Ralph Atkinson, 40, of Knowlton Township, is facing two separate trials -- one for allegedly killing his girlfriend with a knife and hammer on May 14, 2014, in her Washington home; and another for allegedly recording sex acts with a child. He has been indicted in both cases. He recently filed an insanity defense on the homicide charge, the prosecutor said, and a hearing is scheduled May 12. 9. Ezekiel Snyder (Courtesy photo) Charged with: Burglary, robbery. Status: Guilty plea, awaiting sentencing. Ezekiel Snyder, of Red Bank, New Jersey, had previously been sentenced to 15 years in state prison for his role in a brutal 2008 home invasion in Phillipsburg, but the conviction was overturned by a court panel in 2014. The panel said the case's judge erred in instructing the jury by telling them to watch the movie "12 Angry Men." Snyder pleaded guilty late last month to first-degree robbery, the prosecutor said. The state offered an eight-year state prison sentence for the plea. 10 and 11. Steven Segarra and Charity Bucey (Courtesy photos) Charged with: Aggravated manslaughter (Segarra); hindering apprehension, simple assault (Bucey) Status: Awaiting grand jury. Steven Sergarra, 38, is accused of fatally beating a man in January at a White Township home, and Charity Bucey, 37, allegedly helped him get to the Canadian border where they were apprehended. Prosecutors are seeking grand jury indictments for both. No plea agreements have yet been offered. Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Weve seen some small but important signs of recovery this weekend. Sadly, some members of our Liberal Democrat family, particularly in Wales and London, are enduring the same heartbreak we faced together a year ago. I dont want to get into lengthy descriptions of how bloody awful this day was a year ago. If you really want to put yourself through it, you can read the whole tale of woe of the election results as they happened here. It was later in the morning, though, that Nick Clegg made his amazingly powerful resignation statement. We cannot and will not allow decent liberal values to be extinguished overnight. Our party will come back. The text is below: I always expected this election to be exceptionally difficult for the Liberal Democrats given the heavy responsibilities weve had to bear in government in the most challenging of circumstances. Clearly the results have been immeasurably more crushing and unkind than I could ever have feared. For that, of course, I must take responsibility, and therefore I announce that I will be resigning as leader of the Liberal Democrats. A leadership election will now take place according to the partys rules. For the last seven years its been a privilege, a huge privilege, an unlimited honour, to lead a party of the most resilient, courageous, and remarkable people. The Liberal Democrats are a family and I will always be extremely proud of the warmth, good grace, and good humour which our political family has shown through the ups and downs of recent years. I want to thank every member, ever campaigner, every councillor, and every parliamentarian for the commitment you have shown to our country and to our party. It is simply heartbreaking to see so many friends and colleagues who have served their constituents so diligently over so many years abruptly lose their seats because of forces entirely beyond their control. In 2007 after a night of disappointing election results for our party in Edinburgh, Alex Cole Hamilton said this: if his defeat was part-payment for the ending of child detention, then he accepted it with all his heart. Those words revealed a selfless dignity which is very rare in politics but common amongst Liberal Democrats. If our losses today are part payment for every family that is more secure because of a job we helped to create, every person with depression who is treated with a compassion they deserve, every child who does a little better in school, every apprentice with a long and rewarding career to look forward to, every gay couple who know that their love is worth no less than anyone elses and every pensioner with a little more freedom and dignity in retirement then I hope at least our losses can be endured with a little selfless dignity too. We will never know how many lives we changed for the better because we had the courage to step up at a time of crisis. But we have done something that cannot be undone because there can be no doubt that we government with Britain a far stronger, fairer, greener, and more liberal country than it was five years ago. However unforgiving the judgement has been at the ballot box, I believe the history books will judge our party kindly for the service we sought to provide to the nation at a time of great economic difficulty and for the policies and values which we brought to bear in government. Opportunity, fairness, and liberty, which I believe will stand the test of time. To have served my country at a time of crisis is an honour that will stay with me forever. I hope those who are granted the opportunity to serve our country in government now and in the future will recognise the privilege and responsibility that theyve been given. Its the greatest thing theyll ever do. It is of course too early to give a considered account of why we have suffered catastrophic losses we have, and the party will have to reflect on these in the time ahead. One thing seems to me is clear: liberalism, here, as well as across Europe, is not faring well against the politics of fear. Years of remorseless economic and social hardship following the crash in 2008 and the grinding insecurities of globalisation have led for people to reach to new certainties: the politics of identity, of nationalism, of us versus them is now on the rise. It is clear that in constituency after constituency north of the border the beguiling appeal of Scottish Nationalism has swept all before it and south of the border a fear about what that means for the United Kingdom has strengthened English conservatism too. This now brings our country to a very perilous point in our history where grievance and fear combine to drive our different communities apart. I hope that our leaders across the United Kingdom realise the disastrous consequences for our way of life and the integrity of our United Kingdom if they continue to appeal to grievance rather than generosity and fear rather than hope. Its not exaggeration to say that in the absence of strong and statesmanlike leadership Britains place in Europe and the world and the continued existence of our United Kingdom itself is now in grave jeopardy. The cruellest irony of all is that it is exactly at this time that British liberalism, that fine, noble tradition that believes we are stronger together and weaker apart is needed more than ever before. Fear and grievance have won, liberalism has lost. But it is more precious than ever and we must keep fighting for it. That is both the great challenge and the great cause that my successor will have to face. I will always give my unstinting support for all those who continue to keep the flame of British liberalism alive. On the morning of the most crushing blow to the Liberal Democrats since our party was founded it is easy to imagine that there is no road back, but there is because there is no path to a fairer, greener, freer Britain without British liberalism showing the way. This is a very dark hour for our party but we cannot and will not allow decent liberal values to be extinguished overnight. Our party will come back, our party will win again, it will take patience, resilience and grit. That is what has built our party before and will rebuild it again. Thank you. It was mid Saturday afternoon before the identity of the 108 MLAs who will take their seats in the Northern Irish Assembly were known. This is because the 6 members returned for each of the 18 constituencies were elected by STV (Single Transferable Vote) counted by hand not expensive machinery as some warned us about 5 years ago. However, some of the tales of this years election were already known before the end. Firstly all 5 of the parties who made up the Executive at the start of the previous Assembly saw a drop in their first preference vote share. A drop of 2.9% for Sinn Fein, 2.2% for the SDLP, 0.8% for the DUP and 0.7% each for Alliance and UUP (who walked into opposition during the last mandate). West Belfast caused excitement on both their first and final stage. On first preferences it was not Sinn Fein who topped the poll and took the first seat but Gerry Carroll of People Before Profit Alliance (PBPA). At the other end outgoing MLA Alex Atwood almost became the victim of a first unionist win since 2003 trailing the DUPs Frank McCoubrey before the final redistribution pulled him 89 votes ahead. Next door in South Belfast the Greens saw a doubling of their representation with Clare Bailey joining her North Down colleague Stephen Agnew in the big white house. Elsewhere the Foyle constituency which centres on the city of Londonderry the battle of the two nationalist leaders saw Sinn Feins Martin McGuinness top the first preferences a mere 37 votes ahead of the SDLPs Colum Eastwood, but both would have to wait until the seventh stage to be elected McGuinness having seen one of his party running mates eliminated and one elected in the previous rounds. The sixth seat in Foyle finally saw Eamonn McCann elected to Stormont, having first tried in 1969 and double the PBPA representation. Traditional Unionist Voice had party leader Jim Allister staring over the shoulder of all his candidates, including his own, on their election posters. But his boast of becoming more than a one man band proved futile and only he was returned for North Antrim. Of the other UK-wide parties the NI Labour Representative Council fielded 8 candidates without the approval of Labours National Executive but only secured 1,577 first preference votes, the NI Conservatives only managed 2,554. UKIPs only MLA had been elected as an Ulster Unionist before defected, but stood down this time they secured 10,109 all three remain yet to elect an MLA to In the end the DUP remained unchanged with 38 seats and remain the only party that by itself can lodge and win a petition of concern. The UUP on 16 and Alliance on 8 also remain unchanged that is before accounting for the 3 UUP defections to UKIP and NI21. But Sinn Fein are down one to 28 and SDLP down 2 to 12 losing them to People Before Profit and the Greens. However, while the numbers remain largely unchanged each of the four largest parties lost outgoing MLAs amongst the twelve who lost their seats at the ballot box. * Stephen Glenn is the Chair of the Northern Ireland Liberal Democrats and a member of the Alliance Party. He has stood as a Westminster Candidate for the Lib Dems on three occasions. A great Liberal MP, John Bright used to say, I believe in faith, hope and canvassing. And the greatest of these is canvassing. Canvassing makes a difference. Being canvassed by a party or cause increases the chance you will support them and increases the chance you will come out to vote. You can canvass on a street stall or on the phone. You can do it online. Still the most effective way, in my view, is going door to door, seeing people in person. We are going to win this referendum. We are going to win it by a big margin that settles our countrys future. We are going to recruit thousands of new people to the Liberal Democrats in the process. We will only do that if we knock on thousands of doors. I have been canvassing for the referendum. It is a really pleasant experience. Only 8% of the nation are backing the Lib Dems in recent polls but around 50% are backing staying in Europe. When you canvass you have to use a form of words that work for your personality. This is what I like to say and you might find it works for you too: Hello, my name is Antony. I am a volunteer for the local Liberal Democrats. You many know there is a big vote on 23 June on whether Britain stays in Europe. We are campaigning to stay in because its important for peace, prosperity and the future. Do you think you will vote to stay in? It is always good to canvass with a leaflet to give people. You can produce a local leaflet or order ones suitable for the whole nation here. If your local party is using the Connect system (the Liberal Democrat database of voters) the answers can be logged on there. The bank of Questions on Connect now includes: Will you sign our petition for Britain to stay in the EU? Do you think the UK should stay within the European Union, or should it leave? Would you like a poster to show your support for the Remain campaign to stay in Europe? Please let Lib Dem Voice know how you get on canvassing for the referendum. * Antony Hook was #2 on the South East European list in 2014, is the English Party's representative on the Federal Executive and produces this sites EU Referendum Roundup. Opinion / Columnist Part 4.1.1 The fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification of Germany Nomazulu Thata is a political activist, an engineering metallurgist by profession, author of two books, a chemistry teacher and lecturer in her present occupation. Her essays are purely personal and do not reflect any political party affiliation. She can be contacted on Nomazulu.thata(at)web.de There are two sequences that led to the fall of Berlin Wall. One was the developments in the Soviet Union immediately after the rise of Mikhael Gorbachev, and the other was change of policy in Hungary. In 1985 Michael Gorbachev became the Secretary General of the Soviet Union, as well as the new leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic. He was only 54 year old, contrary to other leaders Soviet leaders who came into power when they were old and died early due to old age.He set the Soviet nations and his Warsaw-Pact allies on revolutionary programs he called Perestroika (restructuring) and Glasnost (openness). Reasons for these ground breaking reforms was because in the Soviet Union economy was struggling and the majority of the Soviet people lived in very poor conditions in all aspects of their lives. These difficulties were also felt in the Eastern bloc generally, these countries were also known as the satellites states. There was general dissatisfaction in all these satellite countries that communism was failing; something had to be done to change the course of socialist development. That pivotal role Mr. Gorbachev played in his Perestroika and Glasnost; nobody can take that away from him.Among many other reforms that Gorbachev foresaw was the dismantling of the Soviet Bloc commonly referred to as the Warsaw pact nations or countries behind the iron curtain. This was marked at his ground-breaking speech he made at the United Nations in December 1988, telling the world that there was need for the nations of this world to be free to choose their own destiny without interference of Soviet Union. He went on to reduce the Soviet Military presence and tanks in the frontline countries particularly East Germany. This move led to the dissolution of SU grip on eastern bloc countries of Hungary Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania and East Germany.In 1989 Hungary was slowly beginning to dismantle its fortified fence between its border with western Austria. Mr. Gorbachev must have said that he did not see any evil in removing the iron curtain at all. That statement alone invited the first mass flight of German refuges to West Germany through Hungary and Austria. Despite the fact that there were Soviet soldiers still patrolling along the border, hundreds of East German tourists fled into Austria went to West Germany to seek refuge. That was supposed to be the first crack of the Berlin Wall.At home in East Berlin since the beginning of the eighties, so many events took place in unprecedented form and measure. To recap the time predating the US President Reagan's visit to Berlin; US President Kennedy visited Berlin, 22 months after the erection of the Berlin Wall that was marked by his famous speech: "Ich bin ein Berliner" all free men/women wherever they live, are citizens of Berlin and therefore as a free man, I take pride in the words: "Ich bin ein Berliner." President Kennedy said. Later on in 1987 President Reagan challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall of Berlin as a symbol of coming down of the iron curtain.In November the 9th of 1989 the Berlin Wall fell when the East German government gave permission for the gates to be opened at midnight. Ecstatic crowds immediately began to climb on top of the wall and started destroying it with their bare hands. One should have experienced cold turkey, without being told even reading it in a newspaper, what it was like to see two peoples of one cultural identity, who, within a short space of time had developed yawning different geo-political and economic histories now united after 40 years of separation.After those big speeches and coming together of two Germans without any drop of blood was the rhythm and music in the City of Berlin sense came back quickly. Amid the euphoria of the German reunification, the sobering moments settled early to the government of West German how the processes of uniting the two Germans will be like economically. East Germany broke down to a standstill after the falling of the Berlin Wall. East German had a bankrupt treasury and the 17 million people needed to be catered for, for their social welfare. The finance Minister made 3,8 billion Deutsch Marks immediately available for the welfare of the German refugees within Germany. East Germans were then called refugees in their own country, in Germany.The East Germany economy was in a very bad state, and immediately after the reunification, unemployment soared giving uncertainty to millions of Germans in both East and West. There was very little to fall on to economically in East Germany. As a macro-economic response, the Finance put a surtax called "solidarity tax" or levy of 115 billion Deutsche Marks that was to be used to develop East Germany to the level of West Germany. This allocation was going to assist the "Treuhand workload" a company that was government-owned that was going to look into the privatization of companies in East Germany.With that capital injection into the economy, there were several disadvantages of industrialising East Germany. After the reunification of the two Germany East German had already lost two generations of workers who simply lacked the capacity to be productive in a competitive world. It can also be said that, that is where the problems started in the united Germany. The East German work force did not have managerial skills; there was still in culture-shock that sank in the psyche of the refugee German population. The East Germans felt inferior to their West German counterparts making the transition from socialist to capitalist extremely challenging. Even their mindsets, their inner-selves, to some extent resented capitalism. Only few West Germans who had those managerial skills were willing to go and settle in East German towns and cities.The mass exodus of East Germans to the western part of Germany was terribly enormous. Over 5 million East Germans left their homes to settle in the West. The West German population welcomed their countrymen/women but it was the enormous costs involved in the integration of East Germany into West Germany that was very uncomfortable then.There was a dangerous mix of resentment towards the East German citizens. "They are going to take our jobs, they are going to take our homes, we are no secure with our home loans, are we going to get our unemployment assistance, what about the support payments to cover short-term expenses, do they know how to live with the foreigners like us? All those questions lingered in their minds causing anxiety and existential fear. Even foreigners who have lived in Germany for many years were worried about the Xenophobia developments in Germany.Contrary to what we have read about the homogeneous East Germany, it was really not a homogenous society at all. They were some segments of civilian foreigners from Russia, Romania, Poland and some other nationals from the eastern bloc. Those, together with East Germans competed for those jobs, menial jobs in the labour market, giving rise to sometimes extreme Xenophobia. This hatred against foreigners gave a deadly dynamic, it escalated uncontrollably and it became very ugly with nationalists slogans of "Foreigners out."The East German territory became very hostile to foreigners and was a dangerous place to live in. The findings of a survey conducted by the Leipzig Institute for Youth Research found that an "abyss of hatred towards foreigners" was mostly in East German side of the entire country. The most foreigners who were affected are those who had visible and distinctive strange appearance to Germans; those of African and Vietnamese origin.But again in Berlin the 15 to 20% of the population both East and West Germans were asked about their attitude towards foreigners: the findings were the following: about 46% of those who were interviewed agreed with the demand "foreigners out" about 54% from east part of Germany rejected the presence of Turks in Germany. 60% of those interviewed believed they are just too many foreigners in Germany. Every 4th German is believed to support the slogan "foreigners out," half of those who were interviewed agreed with the motto "Germany for Germans."In the coming essay I will look into how West Germans overcame their fears of the presence of foreigners in Germany and how they learnt to appreciate their migrant labour in boosting their booming economy. The denazification processes that took place immediately after the WW2 assisted the West Germans to embrace that "other" and were going to be long journey in making the Federal Republic of Germany a multi-cultural society. Some literature would like to call it re-civilization of West Germany.I pen off for nowUgogo omncaneChirikadzi In Southport last Thursday we did something no party has ever done before in Southports history- won all the council seats by healthy margins. Not everyone knows where Southport is but its on the northern tip of the Merseyside region on the Lancashire coast. On Thursday I was puzzled when contacted by the press department expressing worry about the defection of one of my councillors. It turned out it was a bloke in Stockport who had defected. Easy mistake to make if you are from London. Southport is part of Sefton MBC which has big wards averaging 12,000. During the Coalition most of Merseyside fell like dominoes to Labour including the Sefton seats outside Southport leaving us (Southport) an isolated fortress. This year it was different with Richard Kemp and Kris Brown spearheading a heroic revival in Liverpool and gains made in Knowsley. The only sadness was that in some other areas of Merseyside where we had taken successive kickings in previous years the will to win and the belief that we could was not there. Hopefully that wont be the case in 2018 or in the counties in 2017. Conclusion number one therefore is that the atmosphere is changing but more self-belief is needed. Conclusion number 2 is that every election is different and we ignore that at our peril. Our Scottish and Welsh colleagues struggling with insurgent nationalism simply werent operating in the same political environment as we were. In London voting by first and second preference worked against the customary Tory, polarising, dog-whistle tactics. Nor did all winners campaign in exactly the same way or losers make the same mistakes. Victory went to those who got the local tactics right. The Southport constituency recognising the diverse character of the communities that make it up ran 7 campaigns around a few central themes- a bit like jazz improvisation. People could do worse than speak to regular Voice posters Councillors Simon Shaw and Tony Dawson about their respective success in two very different wards. My plea to our new Director of Campaigns, the excellent Shaun Roberts is to get this kind of dialogue going- lets learn more from each other in a collegial way, spread good practice, be fleet of foot. Effective political campaigning can be taught but even in this age of mass databases the hard truths of it are learnt and applied in real time in particular circumstances and places. Its a science but its also an art and everyone who cares for their art wants to know more about it. Mark Pack on his website has been exemplary in cultivating this attitude. Humility is not a sign of ignorance. For the party that does not sit down after the victory cheers have died down and ask itself ,Now what went wrong ? wont be cheering for long. * John Pugh was Liberal Democrat MP for Southport until 2017 and was elected as a Councillor for the Dukes ward of Sefton Borough Council on 2 November 2017. Todays excellent Make Votes Matter demo outside parliament was both well attended and fun. A range of bodies, such as Unlock Democracy and the ERS joined with the Make Votes Matter group to urge us into action to make sure that the politicians dont forget we still need PR for Westminster as well as for local government in England and Wales. All the major parties were represented even the Conservatives but neither the Tories nor Labour have signed up as parties. We, of course, have, as well as the Greens, UKIP, SNP and Plaid Cymru. Paul Tyler is our representative at the cross party discussions. Make Votes Matter is led by Owen Winter, an extraordinary young campaigner from Cornwall, who speaks with passion and enthusiasm about electoral reform. The event started with election lottery, where people picked out a card with one party on it, and then had a second, most of which didnt match. I was invited to speak on behalf of the Liberal Democrats, and I started by reminding people that we as liberals have been pushing for PR for over 150 years. It was John Stuart Mill in 1861 who wrote in his essay Considerations on Representative Government: In a representative body actually deliberating, the minority must of course be overruled; and in an equal democracy, the majority of the people, through their representatives, will outvote and prevail over the minority and their representatives. But does it follow that the minority should have no representatives at all? Is it necessary that the minority should not even be heard? Unless they are, there is not equal government there is a part whose fair and equal share of influence in the representation is withheld from them, contrary to all just government, but, above all, contrary to the principle of democracy, which professes equality as its very root and foundation. It is that fundamental understanding of the need for democracy to be just and equal that made Justin Trudeau announce just after the Liberals won power in Canada last November that one of his first acts would be to introduce PR for Canada, even if it would harm the Canadian Liberals chances in the future. Thats because, as in the UK, the first past the post system has produced governments supported by a minority of the voters. The last Harper Canadian Conservative Government got 40% of the vote and the Conservatives in the UK last year were on 37%. In the local elections last Thursday John Leech won a famous victory in Manchester, when he became the only opposition councillor on Manchester Council, breaking some years of 100% Labour council rule. It is the voting system that produces results like this, which in the case of Manchester puts a real stranglehold on local politics for decades, and where large percentages of people feel their votes are worthless. By the way, there may only be one opposition councillor, but John Leech will be an effective opposition holding them to account! Look at the elections for the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh and London Assemblies. Whilst the systems they use arent perfect (and typically, within 24 hours of the elections Lib Dems are discussing the different types: AV; DHondt or the Sainte Lague etc) but they are significantly better than the first past the post which favours larger parties and penalises the smaller parties to that point of not being heard.that Mill describes. George Osborne announced he was going to get rid of the Lib Dems but I think it is broader than that. The Tories are determined to eliminate (I choose the word carefully) any opposition: the Trades Union Bill, where they have tried to make it almost impossible for Labour to receive funding from unions; proposing cuts to Short money for opposition party (both of which they have had to make substantial changes to after opposition), as well as their proposals to reduce the number of MPs to 600, which will disproportionately affect Labour and smaller parties. Be under no illusion: the Tories desire to get rid of their opponents is real. Fairer voting systems also produce more representative parliaments. We also need to make our parliament more diverse. There were representatives today from the 50:50 campaign, and most of the speakers talked about how essential it was to have more women & BAME MPs. You wont be surprised to know I also mentioned the need for more disabled and LGBT+ MPs too. So, please if you support the continuing fight for PR, then visit the Make Votes Matter site and My Actions, sign the petition and write to your MP. This is even more important if your MP is Conservative or Labour. And do also sign the 50:50 petition here. * Baroness Sal Brinton is President of the Liberal Democrats. She is a working Lib Dem peer, and was the candidate for Watford at the 2010 and 2005 General Elections. The annoying thing about election campaigns is that they clash with exam season. In Scotland, Higher English happened on polling day, which is just great if you have or are a stressed out teenager. Just the other day, I was talking to someone who combined university finals with a general election campaign, often balancing his books on the riso as he wrote essays. Being a campaign foot soldier is a hard enough job if you are in the middle of such exams, but what about if youre a candidate. Edinburgh Central candidate Hannah Bettsworth is in the middle of her finals. Despite that, she has been representing us at heaven knows how many hustings as well as helping out our winning campaign in Western. By 5pm on polling day, shed already hit 30,000 steps. The local student news site did an article on her : Spanish and Politics student Hannah has taken an ambitious step standing in the Scottish Parliamentary elections as the Liberal Democrat candidate for the constituency of Edinburgh Central. After joining the party in 2011, Hannah held various positions within the party before becoming a constituency candidate. We spoke to Hannah about what its like to be a student and a potential politician at the same time: its difficult to balance because I had a Spanish exam on the 3rd and I was reading about US foreign policy in the Lib Dem office the other day. But its good fun and we have a real chance of winning here Scottish Lib Dems have great policies about improving student bursaries and fighting for better mental health treatment. Scotland needs change and were the ones wholl make it happen. * Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings BEALTAINE has come of age. It is now 21 years since the first Bealtaine festival designed to celebrate creativity as people age. And to mark the milestone, tens of thousands of people are expected to take part in over 600 events nationwide throughout the month. Here in Limerick, Bealtaine kicks off this Wednesday with a screening of the film Walk in the Woods starring Robert Redford and Nick Nolte in Friars Gate Theatre, Kilmallock. Then on Friday night, at the Belltable in the city, actor Laurence Foster will perform Dickens in Limerick, a recreation of the night in 1858 when Charles Dickens visited Limerick city on a reading tour. In this one-man show, Dickens descriptions of Limerick, of Arthurs Quay, Pery Square, Limerick Jail and the workhouse are interwoven with character sketches and excerpts from his novels. Later in the month, the Limerick Writers Centre will host an evening of music and poetry, with Eleanor Shanley and poet Gerard Dawe joined by other local writers and musicians. This will take place also in the Belltable on May 28. The Ballyhahill Active Retired group is heading to the theatre for a perfromance of The Plough and the Stars at the Lime Tree on May 14, followed by dinner at the Rathkeale House Hotel. In Broadford, there will be an exhibition of craft work and art by members of the active retired group. This takes place in the Day Care centre on May 25. Speaking at the launch of Bealtaine 2016, , Karen Smyth, chief executive of Age & Opportunity said they were delighted that the festival continues to grow from strength to strength. It is with the support of our local partners that Bealtaine 2016 can successfully deliver its mission which is to support our older artists and to provide more opportunities for people of all ages to come together to celebrate the arts and become creative, she said. For more information go to www.bealtaine.com Opinion / Columnist Presently there are emphatic currents of argument all calling for either the transformation, Africanisation or the decolonisation of the university in Africa. Long years of university education in Africa have proven to scholars that there is actually nothing that can be described as an African university.What is there is a Western university in Africa. A university is not just the buildings that are located in African countries on African soil and built by African hands, instead, the university is the content of the research and the quality of the knowledge that is being produced and circulated. From its beginnings in Italy with the University of Bologna in 1088, what is called the university in the world has always centered European knowledges as the only knowledges and European peoples as the standard of humanity.In South Africa presently, Zimbabwean historian Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni and Cameroonian philosopher AchilleMbembe have been the leading theorists on what decolonising the university entails. For some time after 1994, South Africans have been talking about transforming the university. Outside South Africa, Kenyan novelist, Ngugi wa Thiongo has presented vivid arguments for the decolonisation of knowledge and the decolonisation of the African mind alongside the Nigerian literary critic and historian, Chinweizu.Continuing university student demonstrations, the burning of university buildings and disruption of teaching and learning processes in South African universities have forced even reluctant powers that be to seriously think about what exactly a university in Africa should be. In South Africa, the language of transformation has gained much traction because many young black academics in the universities feel suffocated and elbowed out by the presence of old white professors who still perpetuate apartheid intellectual habits.Throughout Africa, the grammar of indigenising or Africanising the University has also found relevance in that African governments and scholars have realised that in form and in content, the University in Africa remains Westernised. Decolonisation of the University, which is the latest rallying call, is founded on the correct observation that the colonial archive of knowledge and the Eurocentric canon are still the hegemonic paradigm of research and knowledge production in the university in Africa. However, good and enriching, a close look shows that the struggles for transformation, Africanisation and decolonisation of the University at a certain level suffer their own limitations and exhaustions. I argue in this column that what the university in Africa needs is liberation and humanisation that will allow knowledges and peoples from diverse backgrounds and histories to have enriching dialogues and empowering co-existence.The trouble with transforming the university In AfricaIn South Africa for instance, there is nothing really wrong about retiring and even removing old apartheid time professors and replacing them with young black mavericks. Transformation is justified in that the present form and content of the university in South Africa and the rest of Africa are tilted against the poor and the black people of Africa. Injecting black faces and black thought into the university can only be revolutionary under the present circumstances.The trouble is when a black young academic, who has not published, who does not respect intellectual labour and thinks his 30% pass at Matric and A-Level, by virtue of being black and previously disadvantaged, entitles him or her to a university professorship. Transformation of the University as exemplified in South Africa has tragically encouraged a dangerous sense of entitlement that has led to an erosion of academic and intellectual standards where other lazy people think that a mere black skin is an academic qualification. For that reason, transformation as so far seen has threatened to take us back to the situation where we run the danger of confirming the white supremacist lie that blacks are lazy and incompetent. Or simply that blacks can't think.The trouble with Africanising the university in AfricaIt is only a sinner against Africanity and Africanness who would oppose such a noble ideal as indigenising or Africanising the university in Africa. Years after decolonisation and the fall of apartheid in Africa, the time is now for the University in Africa to be indigenous and African in form and in content. In the name of this noble cause, again as chiefly exemplified in South Africa, there are many who seek to actually go all the way to villagise the University.Using the excuse of Africanising the University xenophobes, nativists, tribalists and racists wish to ensure that only their relatives, clansmen and clanswomen are found on campus, turning what was supposed to be a university into what Achille Mbembe calls an "ethno-provincial" institution of higher learning. Standards are thrown out of the window as employment and promotions are done along the bloodline and the mother tongue not competence.Africanisation as so far seen threatens to remove the universality out of the University and turn it into a local high school populated by a specific village and clan at the expense of rich and deep other people and knowledges that may emerge from other parts of the country and the world at large.The trouble with decolonising the university in AfricaIn African polities and economies, the tragedy with decolonisation has been that the removal of white colonial governors and their replacement with black faces did not totally dethrone colonialism as neocolonialism remained intact. Decolonising the university may entail the removal of colonial textbooks and curricular, the removal of statues of dead white imperialists and colonisers, but it does not dethrone coloniality. To remove Plato from the syllabus and replace him with Che Anta Diop is good, but it is simply revenge and not liberation. It is to remove and replace and not to create a new reality. For that reason, scholars in the Decoloniality movement such as Ramon Grosfoguel and Boaventura De Sousa Santos have argued that one fundamentalism may not be replaced by another.Further from simple decolonisation, decoloniality demands the coexistence of people and their knowledges, not removals and replacements.The Liberation and Humanisation of the University in AfricaThe trouble with the present condition of the University in Africa is that it is Westernised, imperial and colonial in form and in content. Non-European knowledges and no-European peoples are decentered from the mainstream business of the University. Transformation, Africanisation and decolonisation of the University in Africa are not enough, what is needed is liberation. The liberated University in Africa should be such a space that a multiplicity of knowledges and diverse varieties of human beings can find space. Paulo Freire, the Brazilian educationist and philosopher argued in the Pedagogy of the Oppressed that liberating education is also humanising education. In liberating himself the oppressed also liberates the oppressor and in the process of liberation both the oppressor and the oppressed must die and be born again as fellow citizens of the world.Liberating the University in Africa should make the University such a site of knowledge production where all the different peoples of the world and their different experiences and knowledges should find fruition. At the University, in Africa and elsewhere, peoples of the world and their different civilisations should find a home for research and fruitful dialogue. Chinua Achebe put it better, not only in asking for "a dialogue between North and South" but in saying that "wherever something stands, something else must stand besides it." A liberated University in Africa should not be a place where one type of knowledge by one type of people whether black or white finds monopoly, but it should be a place where an ecology of knowledges and a diversity of people meet together to push the horizons of knowledge and understanding. Decolonial thinkers are even beginning to suggest that it, after all, should not be a University but a Pluriversity in that in it the plurality and multiplicity of knowledges and peoples find expression.Cetshwayo Zindabazezwe Mabhena is a Zimbabwean academic based in South Africa: decoloniality2016@gmail.com Opinion / Columnist Chrispen Dhliwayo is a human right activist fighting for the rights everyone especially of youth and the next generation. You can contact me dhliwayochrispen@gmail.com On 18 April 1980 citizens celebrated the birth of a new life for themselves in a free country for they had lived under colonial rules for a long time. Everyone thought the life they had longed for, dreamed of was finally around the corner. We were now living the Zimbabwean dream, a country were everyone will be allowed basic human rights like freedom of speech, free and fair elections etc.People thought this was the time for development building new roads to reach the rural communities but 37 years down the line nothing has been done to our rural roads. The bridges have deteriorated to such an extent that they are not useable. The elderly now walk distances that were previously unheard of to reach clinics and other basic institutions.Hospitals and clinics have been reduced to mere buildings whereby if you want services at these places you must pay. How can a free country charge for health services? The staff at these places are so rude to the sick people, but not because they are not professionals in what they do,because they are not happy of their working conditions. Sometimes they go to work not knowing if they will get a pay cheque come month-end.When it comes to the schools nothing to improve them have been done to them since this country was born, no improvement whatsoever and yet still parents and pupils are forced to pay fees. One wonders were all the fees end up. The universities live nothing to be admired as all the institutions have had one chancellor since independence. And this chancellor has done nothing to improve them for the past 37 years.Its not just the universities that have frozen for 37 years a lot of other government departments have done the same including the security of our country,which has seen only 1 commander and chief. For all these years we have seen Mugabe ruling this country with an iron fist doing as he pleases and nothing has been done to change this because the people of Zimbabwe only know Mugabe and no-one else. For 37 years he is the one who has been in control of the country as if he is the one who gave birth to it and all of us.In other african countries take for instance Zambia, they have had countless presidents which is why Zambia is a developing country whilst Zimbabwe is a deteriorating country. Imagine some one born in 1980 in Zimbabwe, all this person knows in terms of our politics is Mugabe. And the level corruption that Mugabe and his government has shown to these youngsters for 37 years, I wonder what is it going to take to decorrupt/uncorrupt these minds. All they know is corruption or hustling. They cant go around looking for decent jobs because the government have been destroying the companies for 37 good yrs,instead of encouraging new investors to open more companies.Surely one can understand that on the 18th of April 1980 poverty was born. Nothing good has been done to our country since that day. Instead if you count the bad thing that have happened you can write a book of bad things that our government have done.Now instead of celebrating on the 18 of April we must be moaning all the bad things that have happened to Zimbabwe since then. Fellow citizens let us stand and unite against this corrupt regime which has done nothing to us since 1980. All they do is enrich themselves with our resources. Were is the $15 billion that went missing ask me and i will tell you that some people in government know were it is.Thank you Opinion / Religion I thought it prudent to write this article and clarify our position as a religion that is existing in Zimbabwe. Islam is a religion of peace, tolerance and co-existence among humanity; everybody was born a Muslim meaning a peaceful person but people change as they grow.And in Zimbabwe there is freedom of worship provided people do not infringe the laws of the land for example engaging in criminal activities. We also honour the laws of God. Our national constitution is very clear on freedom of worship meaning every religion is free to practice its religion without any fear or infringement.We as Zimbabwean Muslims do not impose or force people to join Islam. The Holy Quran states that we should not force people into our religion. God (Allah) is the only one the merciful the beneficent and we worship God alone. Therefore we do not force people to come to Islam because we don't have power of giving them blessings (Thuwab).But it must be noted that Muslim in Zimbabwe have a duty to contribute towards the development of the nation by building public infrastructure like schools, hospitals and universities. And even start businesses that can also create employment, like what our Christian counterparts are doing. For example Africa University was built by United Methodist, in Harare there is the Catholic University, Seventh Day Adventist runs Solusi University in Bulawayo and the recently opened ZEGU University in Bindura.They also have schools and hospitals but this doesn't mean that services offered at these institutions are only meant to benefit people of their same faith. Can one then say Christians have compelled or turned people to their religion No! So why can we then conclude that Muslims will turn people into Islam because they have built schools.Our Holy book the Quran clearly states that if you are a minority in a county follow and obey the rules of that country. We know this is not an Islamic state but we are Zimbabweans hence we must meaningfully contribute to its development. I would like to make an appeal to those who still have a stereotype about our Islam to research or ask before making utterance which can mislead people.Remember as Zimbabwean we have traditions for instance as Zezuru or Isindebele to maintain, a religion to worship and above all a country to develop.Sheikh Duwa is the national chairperson of the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs in Zimbabwe Inspiring science Sir David Attenborough in Beijing, holding a fossil of hadrocodium, as featured in the Smithsonian Channel series, Rise of Animals Triumph of the Vertebrates, premiering Wednesday, May 13. (Image credit: Smithsonian Channel) Sir David Attenborough has pretty much seen it all (at least when it comes to the wild and quirky creatures that call this planet home). The beloved naturalist is best known for his work as host of such venerated programs as the BBC's "Planet Earth" nature documentary and "Life" series. Attenborough, who celebrates his 90th birthday on May 8, has become one of the most famous science communicators in the world, and he has inspired countless people along the way. And within the scientific community, nowhere is Attenborough's legacy more apparent than in the number of species that share his namesake. Here are six spectacular species that are named for David Attenborough. Rare Amazonian butterfly Upper (left) and under (right) side of the male holotype of Attenborough's Blackeyed-Satyr (Euptychia attenboroughi). (Image credit: Andrew Neild, Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London) The butterfly Euptychia attenboroughi is a black-eyed satyr that can be found in the parts of Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela that make up the upper Amazon basin. The rare butterfly's wings have a peculiar pattern and shape, distinct among other members of its genus Euptychia. The Amazonian butterfly lives within a 311-mile (500 kilometers) region of tropical forest, and was first described by researchers in December 2015 in the journal Zookeys. The study researchers said they named the critter for Attenborough because they had been influenced and inspired by the famed naturalist's documentaries. "Other animals and plants have previously been dedicated to Sir David, but it makes us happy and proud to be the first to dedicate a butterfly species in his name," study lead author Andrew Neild, a scientific associate at the Natural History Museum, London, in the United Kingdom, said at the time. Goblin spider In 2012, a new species of goblin spider, Prethopalpus attenboroughi, was named after Sir David Attenborough. (Image credit: Western Australian Museum) In 2012, a new species of goblin spider, Prethopalpus attenboroughi, was named after Sir David Attenborough. The tiny spider measures just 0.04 inches (1.02 millimeters) long, and is found only on Horn Island, part of the Torres Strait Islands in Queensland, Australia. "Prethopalpus attenboroughi is named in recognition of Sir Davids significant contribution to natural history and promotion of the world's biodiversity," Alec Coles, Chief Executive Officer of the Western Australian Museum said in a statement to mark the christening in 2012. The goblin spider was first described in a study published in June 2012 in the journal Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. Pygmy locust Pygmy locust (Image credit: Jared Thomas, Illinois Natural History Survey) In 2011, scientists with the Illinois Natural History Survey discovered 160 pounds (73 kilograms) of raw amber stashed away and forgotten in a museum. The amber fragments, which had been collected from the Dominican Republic in 1959, contained several insects and other interesting specimens, including a new pygmy locust species that had been fossilized in the amber after its death. The locust measured less than an inch (20 millimeters) long, and scientists said the tiny bug fed on lichen and algae. Sam Heads, an insect paleontologist at the Illinois Natural History Survey, named the locust Electrotettix attenboroughi, in honor of his childhood hero. The new species was described in a study published in July 2014 in the journal Zookeys. Ghost shrimp Ctenocheloides attenboroughi is a species of ghost shrimp in the family Callianassidae. (Image credit: Arthur Anker/Journal of Natural History) Ctenocheloides attenboroughi is a species of ghost shrimp in the family Callianassidae. This mud-dwelling creature is known from a single specimen that was found in shallow waters off the coast of Madagascar in 2008. Researchers discovered the ghost shrimp within a piece of mud-cemented rubble that had been dug up from a bay in northwestern Madagascar. Scientists first described C. attenboroughi in a paper published in 2010 in the Journal of Natural History. Rust-colored beetle Trigonopterus attenboroughi is a species of flightless weevil. (Image credit: Alexander Riedel/ZooKeys) In 2014, researchers reported 98 new species of weevil from Indonesia, including a flightless variety dubbed Trigonopterus attenboroughi. T. attenboroughi has an oval-shaped body and is typically rust-colored. The species was found in the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan. Researchers first described the species in a study published in December 2014 in the journal Zookeys. Ancient reptile Attenborosaurus conybeari is a marine reptile that lived in Europe during the early Jurassic period. (Image credit: Nobu Tamura/Wikimedia Commons) Attenborosaurus conybeari is a marine reptile that lived in Europe during the early Jurassic period. This aquatic carnivore is an extinct genus of pliosaurid. Researchers named the genus after David Attenborough and the species after William Conybeare, an English paleontologist famous for his work in 1820s on marine reptile fossils. Scientists 3D Map Pyramids Using Cosmic Rays Trending News: 3D Maps Of Egyptian Pyramids Might Reveal Their Ancient Secrets Why Is This Important? Because this could unlock the ancient mysteries of the pyramids. Long Story Short Archaeologists have been able to make 3D maps of an ancient pyramid for the first time using cosmic ray detectors, sort of like an X-ray. The findings could reveal never before seen caverns and help us figure out how the hell these wonders were made in the first place. Long Story The ancient Egyptian pyramids have baffled scientists for centuries, but now a team in Egypt have found a new strategy to reveal more about these incredible structures than they ever could before. Archaeologists used high-tech scanners to create a 3D map of the 4,500-year-old Bent pyramid 25 miles south of Cairo, reports Discovery. With this technology, we'll potentially be able to find hidden caverns we never thought we'd find without the help of Harrison Ford. Even more exciting, we could find answers to how the pyramids were originally made (my guess is aliens). "For the construction of the pyramids, there is no single theory that is 100 per cent proven or checked. They are all theories and hypotheses," said Hany Helal, vice president of the Heritage Innovation Preservation Institute, as quoted by The Daily Mail. "What we are trying to do with the new technology, we would like to either confirm or change or upgrade or modify the hypotheses that we have on how the pyramids were constructed." And how the archaeologists were able to make this breakthrough sounds like something from a Marvel comic. What they did was built special detector to find cosmic rays that bounce around in the pyramid. Cosmic rays, you ask. I thought that was what gave The Fantastic Four their superpowers? That may be true, in fiction-land, but in reality muon particles from cosmic rays fall from the atmosphere and are slowed or stopped by solid objects, like pyramid blocks. By detecting the cosmic rays, the scientists can find all the nooks and crannies within the pyramids where air can pass through. The scientists working on these scans also have plans to use infrared cameras and lasers to map out other ancient pyramids, such as two pyramids in Giza and two in Dahshur. The ancient pharaohs might have been clever, but no way they'd have predicted us coming at their secrets with heat sensors, laser beams and cosmic ray detectors. Modern Humanity 1 - Ancient Civilization 0. Own The Conversation Ask The Big Question Will these maps lead to the discovery of more more ancient mummies? Disrupt Your Feed We could finally get proof that the aliens built the pyramids! Drop This Fact The Bent pyramid is called that because of the bent slope of its two sides, giving it an appearance of being bent. Longford woman Judy Mahon recently commemorated her great grandfather who died in the 1916 Rising. Dubliner Martin O'Leary was shot by the British Army while on his way home from Guinness Brewery where he worked. He was married to Marcella and the couple had eight children. At the time he was endeavouring to check up on his family but when he came to a bridge in the capitals city centre with no pass to cross over, members of the British forces shot him dead. When he was later recovered, his boots were missing and the family now believe that because of the scarcity of them at the time, they were stolen shortly after his death. Meanwhile, Judy remembers the stories that were told over the years about her great grandfather. Her father spoke about it on a regular basis, but despite that, the family have learned even more in in recent times about the man who was shot and killed at Lower Mary Street on Thursday of Easter week, 1916. Martins name has also been included on the remembrance wall at Glasnevin Cemetery. He worked in Guinness and was on his way home to check on the family when he was shot, Judy, who worked as a teacher at Killoe NS for over 30 years, continued. For a long time we thought he was killed delivering a message but when we met recently with an archivist from Guinnesses, we found out that was not the case. The family all came together at the commemoration in Glasnevin Cemetery a few weeks ago and it turned out to be a very memorable occasion. We had a great day, she added. It is wonderful to see his name finally written in remembrance. We also got to meet Martin OLeary Junior, great grandson of Martin Senior and grandson of George who was killed on October 20, 1914. Martin has spent years researching his great grandfather. During his younger life as an engine boilerman for The Great Southern Railway Company, part of Martins job included being transferred to different rail depots around the country. When he was transferred back to Dublin, the family lived at 13 Dorset Row which was part of a row of cottages that has since been demolished, At the time of his death Martin had left the Great Southern Railway Co and was working for Guinness as an engine driver on the narrow gauge railway system in the St James's Gate Brewery. He died as a result of a bullet wound to the thorax and his body was found lying in a shop doorway on Little Mary Street. He was later identified by his daughter Mary. Guinesses - in a gesture of kindness - subsequently offered 25 Pounds to the family upon hearing of Martins demise. Local News, Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: May 08 2016 The Public Information Office reports the details of a water rescue that occurred on Friday, May 06, 2016 at 7:15 p.m. in East Rockaway. East Rockaway, NY - May 6, 2016 - The Public Information Office reports the details of a water rescue that occurred on Friday, May 06, 2016 at 7:15 p.m. in East Rockaway. According to police, 911 received a call for a capsized kayak in Little Swift Creek with a man in the water. A Fourth Precinct officer responded to the area and was advised by a civilian that he had a boat in the Saltair Marina. The officer boarded the boat operated by the owner and they responded to the victims location, approximately one quarter mile away. Upon reaching the victim they were able to the pull the 27 year old kayaker into the boat and began treating him for hypothermia. The victim was transported to the Marine Bureau Base at Bay Park where an Ambulance Medical Technician continued treatment until his vital signs were stabilized. The aided refused any additional medical treatment. 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 An issue currently facing those of us who live in Tennessee is the opportunity to vote on Constitutional Amendment 1 to preserve Tennessees 1947 Right to Work law, which ensures that people cannot be forced to join a union and pay dues against their will. Please Vote Yes on Amendment 1 to add the law to the state constitution. I work for a manufacturing company where the team ... (click for more) Al Qaeda has released a new audio message from Ayman al Zawahiri entitled, Go Forth to the Levant. Zawahiri is known for his long-winded lectures. By his standard, the new audio is mercifully short at just over ten minutes long. It was disseminated via social media yesterday. The al Qaeda emir emphasizes, once again, that his men seek to build an Islamic emirate (or state) in Syria. And he heaps praise on Al Nusrah Front, which is openly loyal to him. Zawahiri begins by saying that the Levant today is the hope of the Muslim ummah [worldwide community of Muslims], because it is the only popular revolution started during the Arab Spring that followed the correct path, which requires both dawa (proselytization) and jihad to establish the rightly guided caliphate. Throughout his talk, Zawahiri contrasts the Islamic emirate that al Qaeda hopes to build in Syria with that of the Kharijites, a name given to a faction in Islams early history that is considered deviant. Today, the word is often used as a synonym for extremists. Indeed, Zawahiri uses Kharijites and neo-Kharijites as a way to refer to al Qaedas rivals in Abu Bakr al Baghdadis Islamic State. Al Qaeda and like-minded jihadists have rejected Baghdadis project, arguing it is not a proper caliphate. The al Qaeda emir says it is the duty of all Muslims today to defend jihad in the Levant against various conspiracies that are supposedly led by America, Britain and Saudi Arabia. Others seek to establish a regime based on Islam, but it is only a counterfeit version of Islam because it approves of secularism and nationalism, Zawahiri warns. Some believe that al Qaeda is only interested in attacking the West and doesnt really seek to acquire territory. This myth is contradicted by many facts. And Zawahiris latest message demonstrates, again, that al Qaedas principal interest in Syria is to wage guerrilla warfare until Bashar al Assads regime is toppled. Only then can al Qaeda and its allies build a jihadist emirate in Assads ashes. Zawahiri says it is our duty today to work for the unity of the mujahideen until the Levant is liberated from the Nusayri (a pejorative term for Alawites) regime and their Shiite partners (meaning Iran and Hezbollah), as well as the Western Crusaders and Russia. The goal is to build a rightly guided Islamic entity. The al Qaeda leader urges the mujahideen to unite in Syria, saying it is a matter of life and death for them. He also cautions them not to be distracted by the discussion of Al Nusrah Fronts relationship with al Qaeda. Referring to reports that Al Nusrah is going to break its bayah (allegiance) to al Qaeda, Zawahiri asks rhetorically if this is would satisfy the criminals. Zawahiri wonders further if such a break would lead to Al Nusrah being forced to submit to humiliating and insulting agreements as part of a surrender to corrupt governments in the region. Zawahiri cautions that this is the path to rotten democracy, which was the downfall of other Islamist groups, such as the Islamic Salvation Front in Algeria and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and led to their members being thrown in jail. Zawahiri says he and others in al Qaeda cherish their relationship with the precious Al Nusrah Front and he asks Allah to increase its steadfastness in the face of its enemies. He then gets to the heart of the matter, repeating what he and others have made clear in the past: Al Qaeda is fighting to install an Islamic emirate based on its version of sharia. Only then will al Qaedas mission be accomplished. We have said over and over [to] the people of the Levant and especially to the brave and blessed mujahideen, if they establish their Muslim government and choose an imam, then what they choose is what we choose, Zawahiri says, according to a translation obtained by The Long War Journal. He argues that al Qaedas men are not students of power who want to rule over others, but instead students of sharia judgment who want to be ruled as Muslims under Islam. Zawahiri calls on the mujahideen to unite in the Levant, so they can establish a rightly guided mujahid Islamic government. Such a state would ultimately lead to the return of the caliphate according to the prophetic methodology. Organizational affiliations will not be an obstacle to achieving this goal, Zawahiri insists, because al Qaeda is a part of the ummah and not its rulers. He takes another dig at the Islamic State, saying al Qaeda does not require a bayah to unknown people or a Caliph of surprises, meaning Baghdadi. We in al Qaeda have not accepted pledges of allegiance except those given gladly, nor have we forced them upon anyone, Zawahiri says, according to the translation obtained by The Long War Journal. He draws a direct contrast to the neo-Kharijites in the Islamic State, who threaten to kill people if they do not pledge their fealty. Zawahiris explanation of al Qaedas goals and relationship with Al Nusrah Front is entirely consistent with what al Qaeda leaders have said in the past. In an interview televised in December, for instance, Al Nusrah Front emir Abu Muhammad al Julani explained that his group would cease to be al Qaeda only when they achieved victory. If the jihadists win and form the radical Islamic government they envision, then there will be no need for al Qaeda. Julani cited Zawahiri in his explanation. [See LWJ report, Al Nusrah Front leader refuses to break with al Qaeda.] If the Levant is liberated, and if the Muslims come together in a well-guided Islamic government, a well-guided Muslim state that enforces the sharia of Allah Almighty, I will be the first soldier of such a government, and I will be under its jurisdiction, Zawahiri said previously, according to Julani. Even Dr. Ayman [al Zawahiri] will be a soldier serving under the command of such a government that enforces all the instructions of Islam, Julani said. And Al Nusrahs jihadists will be the first soldiers working under the command of such a government as well. Some claim that Zawahiris words imply a real break between Al Nusrah and al Qaedas senior leadership. But his latest message, and Julanis previous explanation, do not support that interpretation. The Long War Journal has reported on multiple occasions that some jihadists, including even some al Qaeda leaders, view the al Qaeda brand as a hindrance to overthrowing Assad. Al Nusrahs overt role in al Qaedas network likely limits the amount of support that some regional actors can provide to the insurgents. [See, for example, LWJ reports: Al Nusrah Front chief proposed rebel unity plan and US strikes al Qaedas Khorasan Group in Syria.] Even if Al Nusrah did announce a split from al Qaeda, then it likely would be nothing more than a marketing ploy. Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri have ordered groups loyal to them to hide their affiliation in order to avoid the baggage that comes with being associated with al Qaeda. The group has also adopted multiple brands across the globe to obfuscate the extent of its network from the West and broaden its appeal to Muslims. For example, Al Nusrah currently leads the Jaysh al Fath alliance in Syria. The coalition provides Al Nusrah (al Qaeda) with a way to pool the resources of other groups, including those receiving support from foreign nations. The Long War Journal has reported since 2013 that al Qaeda seeks is to establish an Islamic emirate in Syria. Zawahiris new message is simply the latest confirmation of al Qaedas longstanding goal. Thomas Joscelyn is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Senior Editor for FDD's Long War Journal. Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here. Saturday, Oct. 29 No. 19 Kentucky at No. 3 Tennessee 7 p.m. ESPN UTC at Furman 2 p.m. Arkansas at Auburn 12 p.m. SEC Network Florida vs. No. 1 Georgia (Jacksonville, Florida) 3:30 p.m. CBS Missouri at No. 25 South Carolina 4 p.m. SEC Network Middle Tennessee at UTEP 9 p.m. ESPN+ (click for more) Thanks to two second half goals by Shachar Nissim the Lee men's soccer team wrapped up the regular season in style Sunday afternoon with a 3-1 victory over Alabama Huntsville on Sunday afternoon at the Ray Conn Sports Complex. Nissim's first goal was the epitome of, "the right place at the right time," as a Charger defender was clearing the ball and hit it off the back of Nissim ... (click for more) Mauritius is an island nation in the southwestern Indian Ocean. The country has just 2,040 square kilometers of land on several islands but a huge exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of 2.3 million square kilometers. The major challenge of patrolling this vast area of the Indian Ocean became somewhat more manageable with the delivery of the final five of ten Fast Interceptor Boats designed and built by the Government of India owned Shipyard M/s Goa Shipyard Ltd. The Mauritius National Coast Guard will use the boats to enhance their abilities to provide effective surveillance for fisheries and customs, as well as search and rescue. The aluminum boats are 14.3-meters long with a beam of four meters and a molded depth of .9 meters. A pair of Cummins QSC 8.3 liter engines each of which delivers 500 Metric HP at 2600 RPM provides their power. This model of engine can be rated for 500 to 600 MHP (equal to 493 to 592 BHP or 368 to 441 kW). The engines provide an industry leading power density with their four-valve-per-cylinder configuration and high-pressure common-rail fuel system. The engines in the Mauritius boats drive Rolls Royce water jets through ZF 286 gears. This gives the boats a top speed of 35 knots and a 20-knot cruising speed with an endurance of over 300 km. With a four-person crew, the boats can each carry up to eight passengers or 14 tons of cargo. A media release from the Mauritius government said, The successful delivery of the boats as per the contract between Mauritius and the Indian defence shipyard is a valuable addition to the long list of partnership projects between India and Mauritius in the domain of maritime security and marks another milestone in the Indo-Mauritian cooperation and friendship. It also adds another chapter to the history of Mauritius in its quest for self-sufficiency and preparedness towards ensuring maritime security in its vast maritime zones. Flash An aerial photo taken on Sept. 25, 2015 from a seaplane of Hainan Maritime Safety Administration shows the Yacheng 13-1 drilling rig during a patrol in south China Sea.[Xinhua] A senior Chinese diplomat said on Friday that no arbitration verdict would change history or the fact that China is sovereign over the South China Sea islands and their surrounding waters. Ouyang Yujing, director general of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a news briefing that "by not accepting or participating in the arbitration unilaterally initiated by the Philippines, China is upholding the sanctity of international law, including that of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)". "The crux of China-Philippines disputes on the South China Sea is the Philippines' illegal occupation of islands and reefs of China's Nansha Islands and the two countries' maritime delineation," Ouyang stressed. Ouyang said China and the Philippines have reached a number of bilateral agreements including joint statements and communiques on resolving disputes through negotiation and consultation. "In 2002, China and ASEAN countries including the Philippines, signed the DOC, which clearly stipulated in Article IV that disputes be settled through negotiation and consultation by countries directly concerned," Ouyang added. "These two points constitute the commitment of China and the Philippines to settling these issues," Ouyang said. "The UNCLOS has nothing to do with issues of territorial sovereignty," Ouyang explained. "As for issues on maritime delineation, the UNCLOS allows optional exceptions to the applicability of compulsory dispute settlement proceedings such as compulsory arbitration. China made a declaration in 2006, excluding disputes concerning maritime delimitation from arbitral proceedings." Therefore, Ouyang said what the Philippine submissions are not suitable for compulsory arbitration at all, and there is no basis for the formation of the tribunal. "No matter what verdict the arbitration case will be, it is unlawful and invalid. China will not accept nor recognize it," Ouyang said. "Through negotiation and consultation since the 1960s, China has delineated 20,000 kilometers of its boundary with 12 of its 14 land neighbors, which is 90% of its 22,000 kilometer land boundary," Ouyang stated. The other example given was that China and Vietnam have delineated the waters in the Beibu Gulf through negotiation. SPX Downtrend Probably Underway The week started out at SPX 2065. After a higher open and rally to SPX 2083 on Monday the market sold off for the rest of the week. Aided by two gap down openings the market hit SPX 2039 on Friday. Then it rallied to end the week at SPX 2057. For the week the SPX/DOW lost 0.30%, and the NDX/NAZ lost 0.55%. Economic reports for the week were mixed. On the downtick: ISM manufacturing, the ADP, monthly Payrolls, Q2 GDP est., and weekly jobless claims increased. On the uptick: construction spending, factory orders, ISM services, consumer credit, long term investor sentiment, and the trade deficit narrowed. Next weeks reports will be highlighted by the PPI, Retail sales, and Business/Wholesale inventories. LONG TERM: bear market We continue to label all the activity from late 2015 as the early stages of a new bear market. The five Primary waves expected to complete the Cycle [1] bull market ended in 2015. Primary waves I and II concluded in 2011, and Primary waves III, IV and V concluded in 2015. The first downtrend of the bear market bottomed in mid-February 2016 after a 15% decline. The first uptrend of the bear market appears to have ended at SPX 2111 in mid-April. We have labeled the first downtrend as Major wave A, and the recent uptrend as Major wave B. Major wave C of Primary A should now be underway. Last weekend we presented the daily/weekly charts of the NDX. We believe this index is more indicative of the actual state of the stock market, since it does not have any energy/commodity stocks. Both of which have rebounded strongly with the decline in the USD, and expectations of a manufacturing rebound in China. Thus far the China rebound has yet to materialize, as manufacturing PMI was reported this week lower at 50.1. The NDX made a lower low this week for its confirmed downtrend. Then rebounded on Friday to lose only 0.3% on the week. The NAZ also confirmed a downtrend. MEDIUM TERM: downtrend probable This week we posted a tentative green Major wave B label at SPX 2111. The SPX, and the DOW for that matter, have yet to confirm their downtrends. For the two month uptrend, Mid-February to mid-April, we counted 11 significant waves, which is a corrective pattern. These eleven waves all unfolded within a three Intermediate wave ABC structure. Five overlapping waves for Int. A and five overlapping waves for Int. C. The negative RSI/MACD divergences that appeared on the NDX/NAZ charts before they declined to confirm downtrends also appear on the SPX/DOW charts. As noted above. After the SPX 2111 uptrend high the market has declined for 2+ weeks, has had its biggest decline since the uptrend began, and the RSI hit oversold for the first time since the last correction. Certainly enough negatives to suggest lower prices are yet ahead. Medium term support is at the 2043 and 2019 pivots, with resistance a the 2070 and 2085 pivots. SHORT TERM Since Major wave A declined in five Intermediate waves, even though each of the three declining waves actually looked corrective internally. We expected Major wave C would start off looking impulsive. It has not. This first decline, probably Int. i also looks corrective internally. Odd looking patterns, but not all that unusual for a bear market. During the 100+ point decline of Int. i/Major A we counted seven overlapping internal waves. Thus far, during this decline, we have counted six overlapping waves: 2079-2099-2052-2083-2039-2058? This suggests the market should experience one more decline, probably to the 2019 pivot range, before a substantial Int. ii rally gets underway. Short term support is at the 2043 and 2019 pivots, with resistance at the 2070 and 2085 pivots. Short term momentum rose to overbought on Friday after a positive divergence. Trade whats in front of you! FOREIGN MARKETS Asian markets were mostly lower on the week for a 1.9% loss. European markets were also mostly lower for a 1.9% loss. The Commodity Equity markets were all lower for a 3.4% loss. The DJ World index lost 2.0% on the week. COMMODITIES Bonds continue to uptrend and gained 0.50% on the week. Crude is still uptrending but lost 3.1% on the week. Gold is still uptrending too and lost 0.1% on the week. The USD is trying to uptrend and gained 0.9% on the week. NEXT WEEK Tuesday: Wholesale inventories. Wednesday: the Treasury deficit. Thursday: weekly Jobless claims, and Import/Export prices. Friday: the PPI, Retail sales and Consumer sentiment. Best to your weekend and week! CHARTS: http://stockcharts.com/public/1269446/tenpp https://caldaro.wordpress.com After about 40 years of investing in the markets one learns that the markets are constantly changing, not only in price, but in what drives the markets. In the 1960s, the Nifty Fifty were the leaders of the stock market. In the 1970s, stock selection using Technical Analysis was important, as the market stayed with a trading range for the entire decade. In the 1980s, the market finally broke out of it doldrums, as the DOW broke through 1100 in 1982, and launched the greatest bull market on record. Sharing is an important aspect of a life. Over 100 people have joined our group, from all walks of life, covering twenty three countries across the globe. It's been the most fun I have ever had in the market. Sharing uncommon knowledge, with investors. In hope of aiding them in finding their financial independence. Copyright 2016 Tony Caldaro - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors. Tony Caldaro Archive 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. A Rare Congress and Mixed Signals in North Korea For the first time in more than 35 years, North Korea is preparing to hold a full Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). Originally intended to be a regular occurrence for the WPK, party congresses convened only sporadically until 1980, when Kim Jong Il was named as Kim Il Sung's successor, and juche (loosely translated as self-reliance) was formalized as the government's official guiding philosophy. In the years since, though the WPK has officially remained at the center of the North Korean political system, party congresses have lost their central role in the political cycle. Scheduled to begin May 6, the 2016 congress marks the revival of a more public political style in the country, playing on the formalism of party structure and events. Analysis Since rising to power in North Korea, Kim Jong Un has emulated his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, more than his father, Kim Jong Il not only in his appearance but also in his leadership style. Much more than Kim Jong Il, Kim Il Sung was a public figure, more likely to press the flesh and more inclined to work through the party structure. In part, adopting his grandfather's mien enabled Kim Jong Un to rapidly gain legitimacy and recognition as a leader: Unlike his father, he could not rely on nearly 15 years of public appearances as the chosen successor. At the same time, Kim Jong Un's divergent leadership style also reflects the difficulties of managing North Korea in his father's backroom manner. Without knowledge of all of the various factions, personalities and side arrangements, the young leader found imitating Kim Jong Il's top-down approach to be a daunting task. Early struggles inside his administration, along with the various purges, represented an attempt to restructure the balance of power among North Korea's elite, break some of the backroom systems and reinstate more formal channels of authority. Though much still happens behind closed doors, and though personnel changes still often occur long before they are announced, North Korea has moved back toward a more conventional structure of power and government. The 2016 party congress, then, will not reveal anything significantly new, but rather will confirm the shifts and changes in the bureaucracy's structure and personnel. To a certain extent, this will move North Korea a bit further from one-man rule as Kim Jong Un accepts and even encourages greater responsibility among various departments and ministries. Moreover, Pyongyang has opened the party congress to foreign reporters, using it as an opportunity to showcase Kim Jong Un's government not only to North Korea, but also to the rest of the world. On a Mission for Missiles Meanwhile, a series of missile tests has been underway in the country. In recent weeks, Pyongyang has conducted several tests of both the Musudan road-mobile intermediate-range ballistic missile and a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). Although these systems are critical to a viable nuclear weapons program, international observers consider the tests to have been partial successes at best. In some ways, this is not unexpected. Compared with other countries, North Korea carries out very few tests of its missile systems. And even in the best-funded programs, numerous failures pave the road to success. On the other hand, the tests may have been accelerated to coincide with the party congress, thereby increasing the risk of failure. For Pyongyang, the Musudan failures may be the most significant. These road-mobile systems, capable of reaching U.S. forces in Japan and perhaps even Guam, have already been deployed (with conventional warheads) as an important component of the country's deterrence strategy. North Korea often deploys major weapons systems with minimal testing. However, Musudan's failures suggest that the entire system may be faulty. By comparison, the partial success of the SLBM is less worrisome. After all, the system is still a developing technology, on which Pyongyang appears to be conducting a more robust domestic test cycle than it has on previous missiles. But aside from the party congress, a deeper reason underlies Pyongyang's accelerated missile testing. North Korea is nearing the moment when it can demonstrate each component of a functional nuclear weapons system. These components include missiles (preferably mobile ones that cannot be easily detected and destroyed prior to launch and that are capable of reaching a target), nose cones that can survive re-entry and small enough nuclear weapons to fit atop them. While North Korea does not need to demonstrate all of these features in a single test, it must nevertheless prove each one. Making a Gamble As Pyongyang approaches a viable nuclear weapon and delivery system, the pressure is rising for the United States and other countries to pre-empt it. Consequently, the final moments of North Korea's transition from a working program to a demonstrated system are the most dangerous, providing a last chance to stop the country from becoming a nuclear weapons state. For North Korea, then, these final steps must happen quickly. Because 2016 is a presidential election year in the United States, Pyongyang may feel it has a window to finalize its nuclear arms program while the United States is preoccupied with domestic politics and unlikely to take military action. Furthermore, having just held parliamentary elections and facing a presidential contest in 2017, South Korea, too, is in the midst of political transition. North Korea is making a gamble, one that bets both on its read of U.S. politics and on its own ability to overcome technological hurdles. The country's various concurrent activities throwing a party congress and opening the country to foreign reporters, sentencing another U.S. citizen to hard labor and offering a last-minute deal to end its nuclear program serve to confuse the situation and keep people guessing about just what Pyongyang is or is not up to. Even the failed missile tests leave room for doubt abroad, potentially buying North Korea a little more time. And though success in these final stages is not guaranteed, Pyongyang is striving to achieve technology and capabilities that many other countries attained decades ago. Thus, it would take a political decision, rather than a technological struggle, to delay or end North Korea's nuclear ambitions. " A Rare Congress and Mixed Signals in North Korea is republished with permission of Stratfor." This analysis was just a fraction of what our Members enjoy, Click Here to start your Free Membership Trial Today! "This report is republished with permission of STRATFOR" Copyright 2016 Stratfor. All rights reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only. 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. 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. Medical Mousetraps In 1882, Ralph Waldo Emerson stated; If a man has good corn or wood, or boards, or pigs, to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles or church organs, than anybody else, you will find a broad hard-beaten road to his house, though it be in the woods. In 1889, Emerson was credited with having said; If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mousetrap than his neighbor ... Today the common phrasing is of course a metaphor about the power of innovation -Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door. Better is a relative term. Every business, in every sector, is trying to build a better mousetrap. Unfortunately, just like the over 4,000 patents for mouse traps, most are not better, they are just different in some small way. As far as real mousetraps go there has never been, at least for most of us, a better way of killing mice then the spring loaded snap of the trap caused by a mouse trying to take the bait off a trigger plate. Sure, glue on a piece of cardboard might be an improvement for some who worry about getting their fingers caught (and dont care about a swift humane kill), or maybe a mouse house trap for those who get queasy and dont want to see a dead rodent. But these are not big enough changes to want to make the majority of us change from the existing, perfectly capable technology. Most often those who claim to have invented the better mousetrap, real or metaphorically speaking, havent - there just isnt enough of a technological change to force consumers, businesses or institutions to want to or need to make a change. Call it incremental technology looking for a market. The opposite end of the scale would be a change so great, a technological change so much more efficient, so much more attractive a switch is made without question from 8-tracks to cassettes, to CDs. From black and white TV to color. From bulky poor quality movies on VHS tapes to slim, lightweight high quality optics on DVDs. And of course programmable TVs with high def (and movies on demand) came along and kicked the crap out of the DVD market. These examples are all innovations that built upon an existing technology and truly created better mousetraps that were universally accepted as such. Failing to create a clear competitive advantage, doing almost exactly the same thing as your competition, differentiating yourself by only a small tweak to the existing dominate market share technology is no way to succeed or even survive in business. When you hear about a company touting its better mousetrap ask yourself: Better for who - do people really need or want a better mousetrap? Is this new mousetraps market growing, or shrinking? Minimally invasive therapy Minimally invasive therapy is becoming more and more common in hospitals. These procedures are performed through tiny incisions (instead of one large opening) or our bodys natural orifices. Patients, physicians, providers, and payers have wholeheartedly embraced minimally invasive therapy for many reasons: Minimally invasive therapy obviates the need for major open-surgery procedures. Minimally invasive therapy produces much less of the sequelae (a condition that is the consequence of a previous disease or injury) of open surgery procedures. Minimally invasive therapy leaves minute scars versus open-surgery procedures. Minimally invasive therapy results in shorter hospital stays and reduced outpatient treatments. Minimally invasive therapy results in a much more rapid return to normal activity. Reductions in length of hospitalization and the ability to return to work much sooner are economically attractive. Minimally invasive therapy eliminates the need for general anesthesia. The endoscope is the main or central technological component of minimally invasive therapy. However, the limited ability of todays endoscopy instruments to distinguish cancer from normal tissue is a well-documented problem. Visible light, or what we call white light has been utilized in endoscopes for decades to guide the physician and surgeon so they can see the cancer in the organ of interest and subsequently for biopsy and in the removal of suspicious masses. However, white light has visualization limitations for all cancer types because white light cannot pass through tissue or blood and cannot illuminate tumors beneath the skin surface. If the surgeon does not remove all the cancerous growth and a few cancerous cells remain, or does not remove all cancerous cells at the margins, the tumor can grow back and spread or metastasize to other parts of the body. Another major problem with endoscopes that utilize only white light is that malignant and premalignant tumors that are flat, or very small, may look similar to normal tissues. As a result a physician may not be able to identify some aggressive cancers. In order to be safe, physicians may have to collect random and repeat biopsies as the only possible way to ensure that cancer is not missed in high risk patients. IMEs mousetrap Imagin Medicals (CSE: IME) (OTC PINK: IMEXF) Ultrasensitive i/Blue and i/Red Imaging Systems use white light in conjunction with the Companys unique fluorescent wavelengths to radically improve the physicians ability to visualize (detect) cancer. This technology is estimated to increase sensitivity to an estimated 5 orders of magnitude (100,000 x) more than white light alone. Beginning in 2010, the FDA approved blue laser light to be used with various imaging agents, but only on a one-time per patient basis because of potentially dangerous side effects. This limitation generally restricts physicians use of imaging agents for the O.R. so they can take advantage of this one-time opportunity to operate immediately, if and when cancer is found. With the increased sensitivity of the Companys i/Blue Imaging System, the dosage of the imaging agent can be reduced by 99%, which means that physicians can not only perform procedures in the O.R., but they can also screen the same patient multiple times in the less-expensive office setting. The smaller dose of the imaging agent is absorbed by the bladder in minutes, versus one hour, improving the efficiency of the O.R. and the physicians office. Additionally, physicians using todays standard blue light need to switch back and forth between the white light and blue light images, which is not necessary with the i/Blue Imaging System that blends both lights into one image. The i/Red Imaging System, the Companys next advancement, uses a unique red laser light to illuminate the cancer and requires no imaging agents at all. This breakthrough totally disruptive technology uses only the fluorescence produced by the body and tumor itself. The i/Red Imaging System will dramatically broaden the market to all cancer specialists using any type of scopes. Endoscope market The global endoscopy market is currently valued at $46B. Imagin will be initially focusing on a $500M segment of this market bladder cancer. According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) bladder cancer is the sixth most common cancer in the United States and the third most common cancer in men, with over 72,000 new cases diagnosed annually (380,000 worldwide). It is estimated that approximately 577,400 people are currently living with bladder cancer in the United States, generating over 1,000,000 physician consultations per year, and that approximately 16,000 individuals will die from the disease in 2015. Finding bladder cancer early improves the chances that it can be treated successfully. Bladder cancer facts: Low grade non-muscle bladder cancer has a reoccurrence rate of 40%. High grade non-muscle bladder cancer has a reoccurrence rate of 70%. The average reoccurrence rate for this type of cancer is nearly 50%, which is one of the highest reoccurrence rates of all cancers. Bladder cancer is the most expensive cancer to treat in the US. Bladder cancer represents 4.6% of all new cancer cases in the U.S. In 2016, it is estimated that there will be 76,960 new cases of bladder cancer and an estimated 16,390 people will die of this disease. The demand for endoscopy as a tool in cancer detection has been increasing significantly because of the growing preference for minimally invasive surgeries, which reduce patients pain, speed recovery and reduce the overall costs to the healthcare system. The other factors that are driving the growth of the global endoscopy equipment market include: Favorable reimbursement in select regions Aging population Increasing prevalence of diseases that require endoscopy procedures Conclusion Earlier in the article I said you need to ask yourself a few questions regarding a companys claims to have invented a much improved mousetrap. Q - Better for who - do people really need or want a better mousetrap? A - All of us want, and need, better medical devices, safer more efficient less invasive and less time consuming medical procedures. Q - Is this new mousetraps market growing, or shrinking? A -Once established in the bladder cancer market, and within the urology community, Imagin will aggressively move into other surgical disciplines. Also consider an aging western population. The questions that needed to be asked, concerning IMEs endoscope technology, have been asked and answered positively. There is a need, there is a want, their markets will grow. Imagin is an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a start up business, one having built a truly better mousetrap a technology that is a far superior product then the standard of care currently employed in an almost US$50bil global endoscope market. Imagin Medical needs to be on all our radar screens. Is it on yours? If not, maybe they should be. By Richard (Rick) Mills www.aheadoftheherd.com rick@aheadoftheherd.com If you're interested in learning more about the junior resource and bio-med sectors please come and visit us at www.aheadoftheherd.com Site membership is free. No credit card or personal information is asked for. Richard is host of Aheadoftheherd.com and invests in the junior resource sector. His articles have been published on over 400 websites, including: Wall Street Journal, Market Oracle, USAToday, National Post, Stockhouse, Lewrockwell, Pinnacledigest, Uranium Miner, Beforeitsnews, SeekingAlpha, MontrealGazette, Casey Research, 24hgold, Vancouver Sun, CBSnews, SilverBearCafe, Infomine, Huffington Post, Mineweb, 321Gold, Kitco, Gold-Eagle, The Gold/Energy Reports, Calgary Herald, Resource Investor, Mining.com, Forbes, FNArena, Uraniumseek, Financial Sense, Goldseek, Dallasnews, Vantagewire, Resourceclips and the Association of Mining Analysts. Copyright 2016 Richard (Rick) Mills - All Rights Reserved Legal Notice / Disclaimer: This document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment. Richard Mills has based this document on information obtained from sources he believes to be reliable but which has not been independently verified; Richard Mills makes no guarantee, representation or warranty and accepts no responsibility or liability as to its accuracy or completeness. Expressions of opinion are those of Richard Mills only and are subject to change without notice. Richard Mills assumes no warranty, liability or guarantee for the current relevance, correctness or completeness of any information provided within this Report and will not be held liable for the consequence of reliance upon any opinion or statement contained herein or any omission. Furthermore, I, Richard Mills, assume no liability for any direct or indirect loss or damage or, in particular, for lost profit, which you may incur as a result of the use and existence of the information provided within this Report. Richard (Rick) Mills Archive 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. Two brothers who were convicted in March of robbery and use of a firearm in the commission of robbery were sentenced Thursday in Henry County Circuit Court. Judge David V. Williams sentenced Bradley Lewis Harris, 23, of Bassett, on the robbery charge to 20 years in prison, of which he must serve six years, with the balance suspended on indefinite probation. For use of a firearm in the commission of a felony charge, he was sentenced to a mandatory minimum sentence of three years. Williams sentenced Brandon Lee Harris, 24, of Bassett, on the robbery charge to 20 years in prison, of which he must serve two years and six months, with the balance suspended on indefinite probation. For use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, he was sentenced to the mandatory minimum sentence of three years. Williams also sentenced Brandon Lee Harris on a probation violation. Williams revoked three years nine months of the sentence, of which Harris must serve two years, with the balance suspended on indefinite probation. The Harrises were charged with a robbery at the home of Misty Dawn Baker on Rockland Drive in Bassett on July 26, 2015. Also in Henry County Circuit Court on Wednesday, Allen Michael Hodge, 20, of Martinsville, pleaded no contest to 15 misdemeanor counts of consensual sex with a minor, one felony count of possession of child pornography and five felony counts of possession of child pornography second or subsequent offense. A no contest plea has the same effect as a guilty plea, Henry County Commonwealths Attorney Andrew Nester said in an interview. Assistant Commonwealths Attorney Awbrey Watts said in an interview that Hodge is accused of having consensual sex four times with a 15-year-old girl and 11 times with a 17-year-old girl. The 17-year-old allegedly sent him one pornographic picture and the 15-year-old allegedly sent him multiple pornographic pictures hence the possession of child pornography charges against Hodge, according to Watts. Hodges lawyer, Ward Armstrong, called Dr. Rebecca Loehrer, a clinical psychologist with expertise in sex offender evaluation. She testified that she felt Hodge exhibited no evidence of being a sexual predator or paraphilia (a condition characterized by abnormal sexual desires, typically involving extreme or dangerous activities, according to online information). She said he needs counseling to improve self-esteem and set boundaries. She said he was experiencing some anxiety with depressed mood. Literature suggests that 70 to 80 percent of high school students are sexually active, she said. Watts asked Loehrer why she based her evaluation of Hodge mostly on what he reported about himself, rather than also reviewing police records and police interviews. Loehrer said the evaluation she did was not ordered by the court; she was retained by the defense. On Wednesday, Williams ordered Loehrer to do a psychosexual evaluation of Hodge. Armstrong said, Anything the commonwealth wants the doctor to look at is up to them. Williams scheduled the next court hearing for July 28 at 2 p.m. Loehrer said earlier her purpose in evaluating Hodge was evaluate such things as his psychological functioning and his need for services, and looking for mental or psychological disorders. He had been diagnosed previously in his life as having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, she said. Hodges father, who has a medical condition, testified from a wheelchair that his son does a great job as one of his paid care takers. Also in Circuit Court on Wednesday, Genaro Wayne Frias, 30, of Greenbrier, West Virginia, was sentenced to the following: --Attempted robbery: 10 years in prison, of which he must serve one year, with the balance suspended on indefinite probation; --Use of a firearm in the commission of a felony: the mandatory three-year minimum sentence; --Petit larceny: 12 months in jail, suspended on indefinite probation and restitution; --Entering property to damage: 12 months in jail, suspended on indefinite probation and restitution. He was charged in connection with incidents Oct. 18 and 19. 2015. The Oct. 19 incident happened about 3 p.m. at the Family Dollar Store at 6099 Fairystone Park Highway, Bassett, when a male entered the store wearing a hoodie, produced a firearm and demanded money, according to a previous Bulletin article. The suspect fled the store on foot but did not take anything from the store. ChamberBreakfast.jpg The Springfield Regional Chamber and the Western Mass. Economic Development Council will present a panel discussion on the Massachusetts economy May 11. Speakers include John Traynor, executive vice president and chief investment officer for People's United Bank; Rick Sullivan, president and chief executive officer of the EDC and Dr. Mark Keroack, president and chief executive officer for Baystate Health (PhotosProvided) SPRINGFIELD -- The Springfield Regional Chamber and the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council will host a panel discussion, "Creating a Western Massachusetts Renaissance," from 7:15 to 9 a.m. Wednesday, May 11, at the MassMutual Center, 1277 Main St. The theme will be the state of the Massachusetts economy and how communities across the commonwealth can work together to create a broader and more robust business climate, according to a news release. It will be a panel discussion featuring John Traynor, executive vice president and chief investment officer for People's United Bank; Rick Sullivan, president and CEO of the Economic Development Council, and Dr. Mark Keroack, president and CEO of Baystate Health. David Hobert, regional president of People's United Bank, will serve as moderator, according to the chamber. The chamber expects 100 to 125 guests and there is still room for more, said spokeswoman Nancy Creed. Tickets are $35 and include breakfast and parking. Tickets are available online at www.springfieldregionalchamber.com. The Springfield Regional Chamber has a membership of more than 500 businesses of all sizes, industries and professions. As any politician knows, dig deep enough into any family closet and you're likely to find a skeleton (not that there's anything wrong with digging or skeletons - love them bones.) So I'm not afraid to admit that behind my outward bonhomie and congenial exterior lies an inescapable fact. I am part wolf. Not the part before your eyes of course that is unflinchingly loyal, unfailingly kind and a steadfast friend to all, but the part buried deep in my DNA hearkening back thousands of years to a time when my dinner arrived not by supper dish, but by the call of the wild and the thrill of the hunt. Nowhere was this more evident than during the Springfield Museum's recent exhibit "Wolf to Woof" which promises to sniff out the truth about my origins. Not that I have anything to hide of course. I'm proud of my roots (I've even chewed on some of them) and I take a certain rakish pleasure in recalling a history of hunting in packs and howling at the moon, rather like the way I imagine office bound humans must feel when learning that they are related to sea faring pirates. Who among humans doesn't occasionally look in the mirror and yearn just a bit for some more swash in their buckle, and what canine doesn't secretly long to be a little less lady and a little more tramp. Related links Not that I was allowed into the exhibit of course, but I must say that my master looked at me with a bit more respect upon learning that I am descended from a breed of feisty hunters who over the centuries came to realize that with a modest application of God given charm, could domesticate humans enough to simply give us food instead of us having to go out in the forest and hunt for it. And that from a single species of gray wolf, we have now evolved into 400 recognizable breeds including the Australian dingo (best known for its use as an aborigine bed warmer), the Mexican Xola, the Japanese Aleita, the King Charles spaniel, and my personal favorite, the New Guinean singing dog. The exhibit, I am told is jam packed with canine fun facts that any dog knows but which seems downright fascinating to humans such as that we have 18 muscles around our ears so that we can tilt, raise and rotate our heads at the mere mention of the letters W-A-L-K and that our nose has 25 times the olfactory receptors than even the most smelly (and I don't mean that negatively) human. Our patron saint is Saint Hubert, (656-727) which has little to do with Saint Bernards, who are actually named after a monastery; and the ancient Greeks featured us prominently in the temple of the god Asklepisos where we were often called upon to heal the sick by - get this -- licking them. Our military record is exemplary including a canine parachute corps dropped behind enemy lines in World War II to sniff out booby traps and navigate mine fields; and a collie named Max who holds the record for the most raids, man or dog, behind German lines. There is more of course, but our modesty along with the fact that we can't really talk prevents us from bragging (did I mention, that we were the first in space, Soviet Sputnik 7, 1957. Look it up.) Better to simply remind our masters that the day we gave up the pack to live among humans changed history for all of us, and to never lose sight of the simple truth that "To understand dogs, consider wolves." Wolf to Woof, the Story of Dogs continues at the Springfield Museums through May 15. More information can be found at Springfield Museums.org. Theo Chipkin doesn't do email, but you can reach him through his agent at chipcar@comcast.net HOLYOKE -- The fire chief said to look through the hole in the door and you could see the sky. "It is just a facade. From the front, it looks like a building, but when you go around the side, it's just a wall," Fire Chief John A. Pond said regarding 405-407 Main St. Pond and Deputy Fire Chief Jeffrey Przekopowski recently gave The Republican a tour of the city's 10 worst abandoned buildings. Besides the 116-year-old, mixed-use building at 405-407 Main St., they discussed former apartment complexes that stand as little more than walls and some roofing above an interior tangle of collapsed floors and stairways; alleys behind the blighted structures choked with furniture, a toilet and tires; and a tree growing out of the upper story of one building unoccupied for decades. The list of 10 includes the former National Guard armory at 163 Sargeant St. whose partial collapse Feb. 29 renewed calls for action on the blighted structures. The crumbling of the 109-year-old armory also recalled the December 2014 partial collapse of the Essex House at 400 High St. The former hotel finally was razed in early 2015 but it is back in the news as the city has filed a lawsuit against the demolition contractor alleging breach of contract and negligence. Pond has determined these to be the 10 worst abandoned buildings in the city: 193 Chestnut St. 405-407 Main St. 281-289 Main St. 107 Clemente St. 163 Sargeant St., the former National Guard Armory 37 Appleton St. 278-280 Pine St. 28 Cabot St. 117 Essex St. 160 Middle Water St. Abandoned buildings breed problems like a virus, Pond said. He noted the dangers as their structures deteriorate, their lure as vacant hideaways for the homeless and drug dealers, the frequency of such squatting leading to fires, and the garbage that collects around them. Pond has ordered about 30 buildings, including these 10 worst, branded with a white X on a red background. The mark alerts firefighters to avoid entering to fight a blaze -- unless someone is known to be on the premises -- because the interior is unsafe. "The building has an 'X' on it when there's severe structural deficiencies," Przekopowski said. Citywide, the mayor's Problem Property Group has identified 74 buildings that raise some level of concern, said Rory Casey, Mayor Alex B. Morse's chief of staff. "This includes properties from all over the city, some of which are still occupied," Casey said. Casey is co-chairman of the Problem Property Group with Building Commissioner Damian J. Cote. The group works on properties that are recently vacant, long abandoned, in the tax-title process for the owner's failure to pay taxes, have code violation histories or have potential for receivership. In receivership, the city petitions the court regarding a property that is rundown but salvageable whose owner has refused or been unable to maintain it. The judge appoints a receiver from a certified list that can include local contractors or management companies. The receiver is responsible for rehabilitating the property. In return, the receiver collects any rent paid by tenants and recoups money that has been invested in the form of a lien placed on the property that requires such payment when the property is sold. Przekopowski represents the Fire Department on the Problem Property Group, which also includes representatives from the Board of Health, Office of Community Development, city treasurer, Department of Planning and Economic Development, Redevelopment Authority and the Law and Purchasing departments, Casey said. "The goal of the group is to address problem properties in a proactive way that maximizes the limited resources we have. We have been meeting once a month since December and have created new systems for information sharing that benefit all the departments listed above," Casey said. Pond praised the work of Cote and Casey and the committee in helping the city address the problems of abandoned properties. "It really has been great to collaborate between departments. We're working toward a common goal," Pond said. Cote returned from a conference in Detroit with a good idea, said Pond, noting a plan that involved covering windows of abandoned buildings with acrylic glass instead of plywood, allowing officials to see inside and get a sense of a building's interior condition over time. Options in dealing with such problem properties include demolition, resale for redevelopment and stabilization for potential reuse, Casey said. The public demand to "tear it down" when it comes to abandoned buildings is understandable. But unless a certified inspector determines a building poses an imminent danger -- or tumbling walls such as at the armory produce an emergency -- property laws restrict the actions a municipality can take. Warning letters and hearings across months or longer must play out before the city can gain control to raze or redevelop an eyesore. The city's practice has been to budget enough money to demolish one or two problem buildings a year using both the taxpayer-funded operating budget and federal Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), Casey said. "Because the administration feels we need to do more to address these properties, we are taking a different approach in 'FY17,'" he said, referring to fiscal 2017, which begins July 1. In the fall, Morse proposed establishing a property preservation crew that would focus on assessing problem buildings before they reach the collapsing point and getting them taken down. The City Council, with a strong advocate in Councilor at Large Michael J. Sullivan, has begun approving the program, Casey said. Also, to help in funding demolitions of more buildings, the city is seeking approval to borrow against its annual share of CDBG funds, he said. "We are currently working on designing this program and hope to bring it to the City Council for their approval this summer," Casey said. "The goal of this group is to formalize the process that decides which buildings have to come down," he said. Here are notes about the worst 10 abandoned buildings, according to city officials and records: 193 Chestnut St. Owner: 193-203 Chestnut Street Trust of 123 Mulberry St., Springfield. Built about 1915, had 40 apartments and 144 total rooms. Slated for inclusion in the HAPHousing Library Commons project. Demolition schedule: Selective demolition planned, but most of the building will be preserved. In a recent visit, Przekopowski pointed to the separation evident between bricks as he looked up at the rear of the building from an alley. Years of exposure to rain and other weather can cause such structural weakening. "This is bad. The bricks are just on top of each other with no mortar in between," Przekopowski said. 405-407 Main St. Owner: Julio Class of Holyoke. Mixed-use building built about 1900 with five units and a total of eight rooms. Demolition schedule: No specific date. 281-289 Main St. 281-283 Main St. is owned by Renso M. Urena of the Bronx in New York City. It was built around 1895 to house a store with four units. 285-287 Main St. is owned by Josefina Santa of West Springfield. It was built around 1880 as a mixed-use building with five units and 16 total rooms. 289-291 Main St. is owned by Frankie Cardona and Ramon L. Guzman, both of Holyoke. It was built in 1920 as a mixed-use building with seven units and 24 total rooms, city records said. Demolition schedule: No specific date. Garbage heaped behind this building included a toilet, a couch, an office chair with wheels, three tires and some other chairs. 107 Clemente St. Owner: City of Holyoke. Seized for the former owner's nonpayment of taxes. Built around 1900, had eight units and 36 total rooms. Last occupied about 15 years ago. Demolition schedule: Currently being reviewed by mayor's Problem Property Group. Przekopowski said the city was proactive with this building by removing back porches and installing fencing. "There again, you see the pockets in the bricks," said Pond, who also pointed to an unusual sight extending from an upper story. "Look at the tree growing out of that thing," he said. 163 Sargeant St. Owner: City of Holyoke Seized for the former owner's nonpayment of taxes. The former National Guard Armory was owned by the state until 2004, when it was purchased for $27,500 by a business entity operating as 224-224A Washington Street Inc. Ilya M. Shnayder, founder and CEO of Holyoke-based Atlas Property Management, is listed in state records as the Washington Street company's registered agent and president. The site that became the armory was purchased from the Holyoke Water Power Co. in 1906. the building was completed and dedicated in 1907 as home of "the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia." Demolition schedule: The city recently awarded a contract to demolish the rear section with plans to preserve the front for redevelopment. 37 Appleton St. Owner: City of Holyoke Seized for the former owner's nonpayment of taxes. The former mill, built around 1880, is huge, extending like a ship for 4.3 acres down Canal Street. It housed the Worthington Pump Co. and the American Dream Modular Home manufacturer. The city is transferring ownership to the Holyoke Redevelopment Authority, with a planned sale to American Environmental Inc., an environmental consultant at 18 North Canal St., Holyoke. 278-280 Pine St. Owner: Hampshire Pine Street Trust of Lexington, Thomas E. Sheedy, trustee. Built around 1935 with 21 units and total of 75 rooms. Vacant for about 20 years. Basically four walls and some roof with much of interior of floors and stairways collapsed. Demolition schedule: The city plans to use CDBG money with the goal of a takedown by late summer or early fall. "What you have is basically four walls. Everything has collapsed into the basement," Pond said. 28 Cabot St. Owner: City of Holyoke. Seized for owner's nonpayment of taxes. Multifamily property built around 1900 with six units and 24 total rooms. Demolition schedule: No specific date. Behind the building, Przekopowski pointed to two areas that looked lived in. "You talk about squatters, you can see a squatter (place), right up there behind that wood, and then there, right under there," he said. "Too bad," Pond said. 117 Essex St. Owner: Kais Akremi of East Elmhurst, New York. Built about 1900 with nine units and 33 total rooms. Also set to be part of the HAPHousing Library Commons project. 160 Middle Water St. Owner: City of Holyoke Seized for owner's nonpayment of taxes. Warehouse built around 1880, covers 1.4 acres stretching back to the Connecticut River. Near railroad tracks and first-level canal. Demolition schedule: No specific date. A series of gaps, each big enough for someone to fall in, have opened on the side of this abandoned warehouse where the foundation has become separated from the building, exposing a drop to the foundation floor. "It's in an area where there's nothing around, so it's remote. And we also had reports that kids were playing around it," Pond said. Animal blessing.png The "Blessing of the Animals" is an annual chance for Springfield residents to bring their pets to church, at the Trinity United Methodist congregation. Pictured here: Pastor John with some pups. (Lucas Ropek/The Republican) SPRINGFIELD Despite threats of rain from an overcast sky, Springfield residents and their pets packed onto the Trinity United Methodist Church lawn on Saturday for the ninth annual "Blessing of the Animals" celebrations. The "Blessing" included prayers, scripture reading, and guest speakers, but what the event really represents is an "opportunity to recognize the gift and blessing of all animals in our lives, not just pets," said Pastor John Mueller. Residents certainly seemed to appreciate the chance to bring their pets to church, as dispersed throughout the crowd could be seen a handful of dachsunds, mastiffs, pittpulls and an assortment of other canines. Celebrating animals wasn't the only point of the event, however, Mueller said. The "blessing" is also a great opportunity to recognize the good work local animal organizations are doing for the community like Cloa's Ark. Cloa's Ark Animal Sanctuary, located in Greenfield, is a rescue shelter that houses over 120 farm animals many of which were unwanted by their previous owners, or were facing being put down. At Cloa's, the animals get a lifetime sanctuary, and a place to call home. The sanctuary's two owners Patrick and Claudine Veistroffer were at Saturday's celebrations, and had brought with them a rabbit, chicken, and goat. Surrounded by her animals, Claudine gave a brief talk on the importance of animals in people's lives, calling them "role models of patience, adaptability, and forgiveness." The day ended with a final prayer, and then residents were invited to bring their animals up to be blessed. Wingmasters, a rescue shelter for endangered birds of prey, was scheduled to appear on Saturday but could not due to transportation problems. Instead, Wingmasters will will be at the Trinity United Methodist Church on Sunday, May 8, beginning at 12 p.m. Families and residents will have an opportunity to learn about birds of prey, and get up close with them too. cecilia fitzgerald.jpg Cecilia Fitzgerald (Vermont State Police photo) SPRINGFIELD, Vt. - An Ellington, Connecticut woman was arrested after police spotted her driving more than 100 miles an hour on Interstate 91. Cecilia Fitzgerald, 47, was arrested at about 2:20 a.m., Sunday and charged with excessive speed, Vermont State Police officials said. Fitzgerald was clocked traveling 109 miles an hour in the town of Springfield, police said. She was arrested and brought to the Springfield Police Department for booking. She was released with a citation to appear at the Windsor County Criminal Court, police said. BOSTON -- The Franklin Park Zoo in Boston is offering free admission to all mothers on Mother's Day, and staff there is hoping people will come visit their newest mother. Last week the zoo's ring-tailed lemur named Nebuchadrezzer (Nebbie) gave birth to two ring-tailed lemur twins inside the zoo's tropical forest. The mom and two babies are on exhibit. The zoo staff has not determined the sex of the two babies yet. "The babies appear bright and alert, and are holding on tightly to their mother," Zoo New England President and CEO John Linehan said. "We have an active group of lemurs and it will be great fun for guests to watch these twins grow up and observe the group dynamics." There are 10 ring-tailed lemurs at the zoo including the twins. Ring-tailed lemurs are an endangered species native to Madagascar. Lemurs have been on exhibit at Zoo New England since the 1970s. HOLYOKE A man, bleeding from a gunshot wound to the hand,walked into the Holyoke Hospital emergency room just before 1 a.m. Saturday morning seeking treatment, police said. He is the victim of a shooting somewhere in the area of 300 Chestnut St. just after midnight. Holyoke Police Sgt. Richard Stuart said police first responded to the Chestnut Street area at about 12:10 a.m. for the report of a man bleeding heavily. Stuart said officers found blood in the area, but no victim. Approximately 40 minutes later the victim showed up at the hospital. Police have cordoned off most of the entire block on Chestnut Street as officers search for evidence. Police received no citizen reports of shots fired in the area. The shooting comes one week after another man was shot and wounded in that same general area. On April 30 at about 3:30 a.m., police recieved a report of a shooting, and found the male victim sitting on the stoop in front of 304 Chestnut St., The victim had been shot in the calf, and was in severe pain and bleeding heavily,. He was transported to the Baystate Medical Center. Police found spent shell casings around the corner on Sargeant Street. Both shootings remain under investigation. mt zion.jpg Mt. Zion at the Quabbin Reservoir is off-limits to the public but connected to the mainland by a causeway. Opponents fear rattlesnakes would leave the island and attack members of the public. (Republican File) Four lawmakers have asked the state to put the brakes on a program to protect endangered Timber Rattlesnakes, and a legislative oversight hearing is set for Tuesday morning in Athol. Sen. Anne Gobi, D-Spencer, chairman of the Joint Committee on the Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture, has scheduled the event for 11 a.m. May 10 in Athol Town Hall. She said committee members will query MassWildlife personnel and other stakeholders. The state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife hopes to breed the snakes and introduce them to Mount Zion, a 1,350-acre island in the Quabbin Reservoir that's off-limits to the public. The plan has been controversial, with hundreds of angry residents turning out at packed public meetings. Gobi said she is in favor of protecting endangered species, but has "concerns related to the idea that Quabbin is the only place for the rattlesnakes." Gobi faulted the Baker administration for lack of transparency and said she and other legislators learned about the plan from the media. "They've never made anything clear to us. It is a real problem." "There's just a lot of questions and a lot of concern from people about what's involved in putting venomous snakes in a new habitat," said State Sen. Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow, who chairs the Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development. A letter to Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Matt Beaton was signed by Gobi, Lesser, Rep. Thomas Petrolati, D-Ludlow; and Rep. Todd Smola, R-Warren. An online anti-snake petition has more than 2,000 signers, and so does a competing petition in favor of protecting the reptiles. However, a state biologist says it should not come down to a popularity contest, and that MassWildlife has a legal mandate to protect endangered species. Thomas W. French, who heads up the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program and is spearheading the rattlesnake effort, says that the program is science-based and the snakes will pose no threat to the public. Rattlesnakes already live on Mt. Tom in Easthampton and Holyoke, and in the Blue Hills south of Boston, areas which attract thousands of hikers. Yet opponents fear the newly-protected snakes will swim across the Quabbin or slither along a narrow causeway to attack members of the public. French says the endangered reptile needs one location in Massachusetts where it does not have to contend with humans. While killing a rattlesnake is a criminal offense, human harassment and roadkill are major factors leading to the species' decline. Mount Zion, at 1,350 acres and 3.6 miles in length, "is large enough that the snakes would have little motivation to leave." The island contains undisturbed hardwood forest, chipmunks and mice for the snakes to eat, and deep, rock-bound hibernation sites essential to the snake's survival. Under the plan, juvenile snakes from Massachusetts would be "headstarted" by the Roger Williams Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island, and kept over two winters. Releases are expected in the range of one to ten in any given year. The Quabbin Reservoir, Massachusetts' largest water body, is owned by the Department of Conservation and Recreation's Division of Water Supply Protection and is a primary drinking water supply for Boston. Although the Baker administration may craft the snake plan without legislative approval, the Legislature could potentially withhold funding from MassWildlife if lawmakers are unhappy. French has said the rattlesnake program is funded by a federal grant, and that the division budget comes from hunting and fishing license fees, not taxpayer dollars. fore river downstream.jpg Spectra plans a natural gas compression station on a 16-acre industrial parcel on the Fore River in Weymouth, shown here upstream of the proposed site. (Mary Serreze photo) Weymouth Mayor Robert Hedlund has rejected a $47 million offer from Spectra Energy that would have required the South Shore community to cease its opposition to a natural gas pipeline compressor station planned for a 16-acre industrial site along the Fore River basin. Under the terms of the bargain, Hedlund and the Town Council would have welcomed the facility, part of Spectra's proposed Atlantic Bridge project. In exchange, Spectra would pay the town $16 million upfront and millions more over time. Opposition to the project has been intense in Weymouth, Quincy and Braintree, with opponents urging Hedlund to walk away from the deal. "I will continue our unrelenting fight against this ill-conceived and unwanted project," said Hedlund Friday on his Facebook page. "In the end, there is no offer or argument that can justify the siting of this compressor station in North Weymouth. It's the wrong project in the wrong location." Hedlund noted that federal regulators recently allowed an expedited environmental review of the project, thereby diminishing the town's leverage. Hedlund has not ruled out taking legal action. Hedlund in his statement referred to a "rigged federal process" and predicted that through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, "five President Obama appointees will very likely approve this compressor station in spite of our aggressive fight and compelling reasoning." He said the practice of "allowing big utility companies to site compressor stations and gas pipeline wherever they want is a creation of Washington D.C." and called upon Congress to change the rules under which FERC operates. "I believe the focus of our frustrations must shift. This is not a fight we can win at the local level alone," wrote Hedlund, a former Republican state senator who represented the Plymouth and Norfolk District. The Atlantic Bridge would upgrade facilities and existing lines to expand connections between a receipt point in New Jersey and shipping ports in Canada. The south-flowing Maritimes pipeline would be reversed to carry gas northward from Massachusetts through New Hampshire and Maine over the border. Potential domestic customers include gas distribution companies, manufacturers, a municipal utility, and possible power plants or their agents. The proposed compressor station in North Weymouth would operate at 7,700 horsepower. It would initially serve the 132,705 dekatherm Atlantic Bridge. Spectra would also like to connect its planned Access Northeast pipeline to the compressor station and then seek an increase in horsepower, according to federal filings. Foes say the facility, near a dense residential neighborhood, would be too loud and bright, environmentally unsound, and could vent benzene, explode, or become a target for terrorism. Alice Arena, leader of Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station, said the payments would not be worth the cost of health impacts and diminished property values. She said the payments would be "blood money." "This isn't negotiating. This is blackmail," she said to The Patriot Ledger. "What an insult. I'm disgusted." The Atlantic Bridge project is currently under federal review. Spectra Energy Partners are behind a trio of pipeline plans along coastal New England. Mary Serreze can be reached at mserreze@gmail.com Tyler Hab1.jpg Massachusetts State Police are actively searching for Tyler Hagmaier, 24, who is the primary suspect in the murder of Vibeke Rasmussen -- a 76-year-old professor at Quincy College. PLYMOUTH The Massachusetts State Police are actively searching for a Plymouth man who allegedly murdered his neighbor by stabbing her over 30 times on Thursday, according to The Boston Globe. Tyler Hagmaier, 24, is the primary suspect in the murder of 76-year-old Vibeke Rasmussen. Rasmussen, a professor at Quincy College in Plymouth, reportedly lived across the street from Hagmaier. Neighbors interviewed by authorities alleged that they heard screaming in the area of Rasmussen's apartment on Thursday evening. After she failed to appear at work on Friday, Plymouth Police conducted a well-being check at Rasmussen's 7 Tideview Path residence, where they found her lifeless body. It was apparent Rasmussen had died from many stab wounds. Plymouth Police quickly began a joint investigation with the State Police assigned to the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office, and after conducting a series of interviews, determined the 24-year-old Tyler Hagmaier to be the primary suspect in the homicide. Later Friday, a bulletin was issued for Hagmaier and his vehicle a silver Prius. "This was an incredibly vicious attack," said Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz at a press conference on Saturday. Cruz said he believed Hagmaier to be "highly dangerous" and called the murder "a very heinous" act. Hagmaier's Prius was discovered parked near the French King Bridge in Gill on Friday evening. Witnesses alleged that they had heard a loud splash at approximately 10 p.m. in the general area. On Saturday, search teams scoured the Connecticut River searching for signs of Hagmaier, but no body has yet been found. Searchers plan to continue the manhunt on Sunday. Anyone with any information regarding the whereabouts of Hagmaier should contact detectives with the Plymouth Police Department at (508) 830-4218. Governor Steve Bullock today honored Resonon, Inc. http://www.resonon.com/ as the 2015 Governors Exporter of the Year at the annual Manufacturing and International Trade Day in Missoula. "Montanas export economy is strong and our manufacturing industry is creating jobs twice as fast as the national average," said Governor Bullock. "Companies like Resonon are providing innovative products and services that are in demand around the globe, and I am honored to present this award and others to businesses across Montana that are strengthening our economy and creating good-paying jobs for Montanans." Resonon, Inc. is a high-tech optics company based in Bozeman specializing in hyperspectral imaging systems. Resonon designs, manufactures, sells, and supports complete solutions including hardware and software. Full Story: http://commerce.mt.gov/News/PressReleases/ArtMID/19685/ArticleID/3887/Bullock-Recognizes-Montana-Job-Creators-and-Highlights-Growing-Manufacturing-and-Export-Economies by Holly Pavlika , Columnist, May 6, 2016 A year ago, inMarket reported that 38% of millennial moms, about 3.4 million of the approximately 9 million Millennial moms, are taking advantage of location-based marketing while they are shopping. These Millennial moms are always on the go, with their smartphones in one hand and balancing a baby on a hip. I recently spoke with Andrea McFarling, director of marketing at Adlucent, a digital advertising and intelligence agency that focuses on paid search, including mobile and location-based marketing, for retailers. The use of beacon technology is a great example of how many companies are finding success with location-based contact, said McFarling. Macys uses Shopkick, which sends shoppers who have opted into communications from the retailer push messages such as style tips and coupons when theyre near or in a store. RiteAid also rolled out beacon technology to 1,400 of its stores through inMarket, which gave the company access to its 42 million subscribers as well as their own app users. RiteAid now has valuable data about consumer shopping behaviors that allows them to push messages in real-time to those in stores. advertisement advertisement McFarling also explained that, ultimately, a retailers ability to reach moms doesnt rely solely on location data. Retailers can use social, behavioral, and past purchase data to reach moms on a variety of other channels, from mailing coupons that directs her to a nearby store, to serving her a relevant offer on a social site like Facebook, she added. Here are five ways brands can customize the brand experience for mom by using location-based technology. 1. Personalized messaging. Beacon technology can help store associates deliver personalized messages to moms while they are shopping in stores. For example, instead of saying, Hi, can I help you find something? a store associate could say, Hi Andrea. Can I help you find a new jogging stroller today? 2. Curbside convenience. Often, Millennial moms are faced with running into a store with a carload of kids. Much like curbside product delivery, to help make moms life a bit easier,location-based technology would let a store associate know when mom is pulling up, so she could meet her directly at the car to handle product returns or exchanges. 3. In-store sales assistance. Retailers can also use apps to personalize and improve the shopping experience, helping moms find the products they were looking at online by directing them to the exact location in a nearby store. 4. Easy access to in-store product reviews. While not specifically location-based, retailer apps enable moms to scan items with their smartphones or tablets to view product reviews in real-time. 5. Deliver relevant inventory advertising. As McFarling explained during our conversation, two major home goods retailers Adlucent works with use Local Inventory Ads to capture shoppers searching online for items that can be found in nearby stores. For example, a mom that is browsing the internet for childrens hooded bath towels can see location and inventory information for local stores, so she can pick them up while shes out; or, the ads provide options to buy online if thats more convenient for her. Across Adlucents client, theyve seen a 5% higher average click-through rate (CTR) and a four times greater return on ad spend for Local inventory Ads. What is key when it comes to location based targeting and delivering the right content to her? According to McFarling, There are a few things brands can do to personalize the shopping experience and make it as easy as possible for moms. [First], make the checkout process--whether online or in a store--as seamless as possible. [And] include product reviews when you can. In a recent national survey Adlucent conducted, 52% of consumers said ads that incorporate reviews are more compelling. Many agriscience technician graduates at Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC) came directly from dairy farms. Not many of those graduates go directly from CVTC to starting their own dairy farms. Ben Buck is the exception. Hes about to start his own farm in the Boyd area. Buck, a 2013 Chippewa Falls Senior High School graduate, was one of 639 graduates in 47 programs honored at the CVTC Spring Commencement Friday, May 6, held at UW-Eau Claires Zorn Arena. Buck was one of 13 agriscience technician graduates. The largest program was nursing-associate degree with 83 graduates, followed by criminal justice-law enforcement with 41. On Thursday, May 5, CVTC honored 67 graduates in eight programs at the River Falls campus commencement. Perhaps the most surprising part of Bucks career decision is the fact that he did not grow up on a farm, but in the city of Chippewa Falls though thats not the complete story. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents on their farm, Buck said. The Wayne and Barb Backhouse farm is just a half mile from where Buck will be getting his start with his own farm. And I worked for Matt Numes at Scientific Holsteins for about five or six years, Buck added. I became his right hand man, helping him with chores. He also has summers of work on farms in California and South Dakota on his resume. But unlike most of his fellow graduates, Buck doesnt need a resume to follow his chosen career path. He will be leasing some farm property where he will milk over 60 head, grow crops on his grandparents farm and be his own boss. He does not have aspirations to grow his operation into a large farm. I want to be smaller, he said. I just want to eventually buy my own place and farm. Although he didnt need a degree to get started at farming, Buck sees his CVTC education as invaluable. I always wanted to dairy farm. The next step was to go to school, he said. The commencement speaker was Trevor Wuethrich, president and co-owner of Grassland Dairy in Greenwood, a graduate of CVTCs Marketing program in 1994. He always planned to work for the family business, but found his education at CVTC valuable preparation. Your diploma, albeit a good one, doesnt entitle you to success, Wuethrich said. It gets you an invite to the dance. Its what you do when you get there that will define your success. There will be failures along the way and there will be personal sacrifices that need to be made. But please remember to love what you do and have fun doing it. A little girl changed Nettie Kowalczyks mind. She worked for the Stanley-Boyd School District for 33 years before retiring from the lunch program. After a year in retirement, Stanley-Boyd Superintendent Jim Jones asked Kowalczyk to help as an aide at the Boyd School. No. Im tired of kids and I dont think I want to, she said. Try it, Jones replied. So she did, walking from her and her husband Donald J. Kowalczyks home in Boyd to the school. Soon after starting the aides job, a little girl hugged one of Kowalczyks legs. Theres something about you I really like, the little girl said. So Nettie (Sweda) Kowalczyk, a mother of eight, decided this job was fun. She would work another six years at the Boyd School before retiring again last year. This Mothers Day, the children and grandchildren of the 81-year-old Kowalczyk are thankful for the way she continues to help shape their lives. My mother is a strong, kind-hearted, loving and supportive person who along with my father worked tirelessly to raise eight children and managed to instill important values and a strong work ethic in all of us while providing a happy and loving home life, said son James Kowalczyk, Chippewa County sheriff. She is very supportive and pushed us to take chances, to be honest, hardworking and proud people, daughter Brynn (Kowalczyk) Moen said. Not only is Nettie an outstanding mother to her children, but she is an even better grandmother, wrote two of her grandchildren, Lydia and Rees Kowalczyk. If we ever need someplace to go, she is always there. She bakes us amazing food, or treats us with a pizza ... We love to stay up with her until midnight talking about our lives. Big family She was born in Lublin to parents Matthew and Anna Sweda. Their family would eventually grow into eight boys and seven girls. They grew up on a dairy farm, and in their later lives, would work in fields such as construction, teaching and even serving in the state Assembly. Nettie attended Gilman High School. Three weeks before she was to graduate, the Taylor County superintendent of schools offered her a job in his office. So she graduated on a Friday in 1953 and started her new job the following Monday. It was at Gilman where she met her future husband. We were both in high school and he took me to the sophomore prom," she said. "We were kind of steady off and off, and we got married (in 1954)." This December, they will have been married for 62 years. Donald served in the U.S. Army, and Nettie joined him in Alaska, where they lived about a year. By that time they had started a family that would eventually include eight children: Brynn, James, Duane, Michael, Candace, Craig, Scott and Christopher. Back to Wisconsin Nettie and Donald eventually moved their family to Gilman to help out with a bar. But as the family expanded, it needed more money. So Donald went to school to become a barber, and made a good living doing that. The family would live for a time in Cornell and then moved to Boyd. Life in the village has been beautiful, Nettie Kowalczyk said. This is the best town where you can raise eight children, she said. Boyd is also a place where shes been able to maintain incredibly good health. She has been to the doctor once in the last 47 years, when her last child, Christopher, was born. She loves to be outside, and uses a self-propelled lawn mower to mow half of the couples lawn. Donald uses a riding mower for the other half. And for an indoor activity, she enjoys playing and winning at cards. Hard times Nettie Kowalczyk has also experienced some rough times. One of her grandsons, Chad Kowalczyk, was shot in the stomach on Sept. 8, 2013 while on duty as a deputy for the Taylor County Sheriffs Department. He was in critical condition for a day before recovering. The worst blow came 15 years ago when her daughter Candace died of cancer. She was a wonderful saint, Nettie said of Candace. Four months before her death, Candace wrote to her mother: Thanks for all of your help. It makes my life easier. Glad you stayed the extra (time). I love you dearly. And I neglected to tell you what your support means to me. I am a better person for having know you, mom. It was your shoulder I cried on when my world has fallen apart. Love you to the moon, Candace. The good life On Mothers Day, Nettie Kowalczyk said she is grateful for the love of her family. Im thankful that I had a wonderful mother and a wonderful mother-in-law, she said. Shes also thankful for the love of her husband and children and grandchildren, her good health and how her family helps each other. I hope the whole world would have families like we did, she said. KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian authorities said Sunday that a boat ferrying four people, including a Chinese citizen and two Spanish tourists, was believed to have sunk off the waters of the country's eastern Sabah state. Mohd Zubil Mat Som, a local official of Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), said a fisherman found the vessel after his fishing net was entangled with its engine, according to a report by Bernama, the state news agency. Mohd Zubil said one of the engines had been retrieved, adding that the brother of its owner, who remains unaccounted for, verified it as coming from the missing boat. He said the search and rescue operation would focus on locating the victims. The four people, including one Chinese, two Spanish tourists and a local went missing on May 2 when they travelled on a speedboat in Sabah Kudat area but failed to arrive at the destination. China's Consulate-General in Kota Kinabalu, the state capital, confirmed to Xinhua that the missing Chinese citizen was from China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and was operating a vacation resort in Sabah. The people have spoken, and their words did not fall on deaf ears. The Eagle Point Town Board has passed a resolution to restrict heavy truck road usage on town roads. The destruction of the narrow, outdated roads would have been a major tax burden on town residents, along with breaching the safety factor of these roads shared by school buses, pedestrians, cyclists and ATVs. The taxpayers of Eagle Point campground residents, Cornell Lake Sportsman Club, and Eagle Point ATV Club wish to thank Town Chairman Dennis Fersteneau, the Town Board and attorney Ben Lane for hearing the call of the people and acting in their behalf to successfully carry out the will of the people. Democracy does exist and thrive in Eagle Point, in Chippewa County, in Wisconsin and in America. home Faith Religious Regulation Bill meant to curtail evangelism in Nigeria, say Christian leaders Nasir El-Rufai, governor of Kaduna state in Nigeria, proposed the Religious Regulation Bill last October which, if passed, would ban street evangelism and what the government may consider as offensive preaching among others. El-Rufai pointed out that this is necessary to curb religious extremism and the cycle of death and destruction in the country. However, Christian leaders are alarmed because they believe that the real motive behind the bill is to persecute Christians. The clergy argues the bill is no longer necessary because of Nigeria's existing secular constitution. They also claim that most people in Kaduna do not support the statute. Chairman of the Kaduna State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Roman Catholic bishop of Zaria Diocese Rev. George Dodo told Morning Star News, "The proposed law is in contravention of the Nigerian Constitution and shall inhibit the preaching of the gospel when it becomes operational." He added, "We have reservations over the bill and believe that it will curtail religious freedom of the people, particularly, Christians in Kaduna state." Violation of the proposed law, which would apply to all religions including Islam, would mean up to two years of imprisonment or a fine of 200,000 naira ($1,000) or both. The bill would also require preachers to acquire a one year renewable license in order to preach. The governor clarified in a field interview with journalists on April 3 that an umbrella Christian body and an umbrella Muslim body assigned by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Jama'atu Nasril Islam (Society for the Support of Islam, or JNI) would be responsible for issuing the said preaching permits and that the government would only have an inter-ministerial body that will do occasional monitoring. The use of evangelical tapes and CDS on public grounds would also to be considered illegal and would warrant the fine of 200,000 naira. El-Rufai stated that this particular bill may serve as a model for other Nigerian states as well. DETROIT (AP) U.S. Forest Service officials are awaiting results from groundwater monitoring wells to help determine environmental damage caused by an oil spill in Michigan's Upper Peninsula in 1980, which they say they were unaware of until 2012. The Detroit Free Press reports (http://on.freep.com/24DFk4H) the Forest Service says it doesn't have enough information to evaluate the effects of the spill from Enbridge Co.'s Line 5. Groundwater monitoring wells were installed late last summer and so far contaminants have not been detected. The Forest Service is awaiting results from a March sampling. The Forest Service hasn't yet talked with Enbridge about possible penalties. "Given the time lapse and the fact that the spill occurred under an old permit, we want to make an informed decision to protect the resource. As more information becomes available, we will take further action," Forest Service officials said in a statement. Enbridge said in a filing last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it expects $62 million in fines and penalties for an unrelated spill in Michigan in 2010, when about 20,000 barrels of oil spilled into the Kalamazoo River system. Rep. Candice Miller, a Michigan Republican, has introduced legislation that would require an 18-month study to determine whether the pipeline that runs beneath the Straits of Mackinac poses a significant risk to the Great Lakes. In the Upper Peninsula case, Enbridge say it has cleaned up all but one of the five barrels of oil that leaked from a pipeline in the Hiawatha National Forest in the Upper Peninsula around 1980. Enbridge contractors revisited the spill site in 2011 and found high levels of harmful, petroleum-related chemicals in forest land and the water table beneath it. They removed 825 tons of soil from the site and requested permission from the Forest Service to install groundwater monitoring wells the following year. Enbridge spokesman Ryan Duffy said the spill was discovered in late July 1980 and the company acted quickly, notifying state and federal officials on July 28, 1980. He didn't specify why Enbridge chose to look at the area again in 2011. Coleman Engineering found in 2011 that three soil samples and two of four groundwater samples "exceeded cleanup criteria" for volatile organic compounds under the Michigan Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act, according to Enbridge's environmental analysis presented to the Forest Service. Three groundwater samples also exceeded DEQ cleanup criteria for polynuclear aromatics, or PNAs. Both volatile organic compounds and PNAs are known carcinogens. Coleman returned to the site more than nine months later, in May 2012, to conduct further soil sample tests and attempt to "assess the extent and magnitude" of the oil spill, Enbridge's environmental analysis states. "Seven soil samples exhibited results which exceeded MDEQ Cleanup Criteria," the analysis states. Despite Flipping in Surf 4 Times in a Year, Marines Say New ACV Is the Future of Amphibious Warfare Some Marine veterans familiar with the vehicle and its operations have worried about the reliability of the ACV. COMSTOCK TOWNSHIP, MI -- Kalamazoo Christian High School students celebrated Prom 2016 on Saturday, May 7. The spring formal was held the Niko's Landing in Comstock and the Kalamazoo Gazette was there to photograph the prom-goers. The theme was Welcome to Paris. If you have your own photos you'd like to have included in our photo gallery of the prom, email them to kznews@mlive.com. KALAMAZOO, MI -- Loy Norrix High School students celebrated Prom 2016 on Saturday, May 7. Loy Norrix students gathered with family at Crane Park for photos to begin the evening. The spring formal was held at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts and the Kalamazoo Gazette was there to photograph the prom-goers. If you have your own photos you'd like to have included in our photo gallery of the prom, email them to kznews@mlive.com. Rick_Olson_2016.jpg Former Michigan lawmaker Rick Olson, who was badly injured in a bicycle crash two years ago, is now on a 2,900-mile bicycle ride across the country. Here he poses in front of a sign with a typo near Hope, Arizona, on Day 3 of the trip. (Courtesy photo) Less than two years ago, Rick Olson opened his eyes and found himself in a hospital bed, badly injured and wondering what happened. The former Michigan lawmaker from Washtenaw County had been hit from behind by a car traveling about 55 mph while he was riding his bicycle on a two-lane country road in Saline Township. That was June 9, 2014. Rick Olson trains after a bicycle crash in 2014 that left him in a neck brace and a body brace. The crash left Olson with a fractured neck and lumbar, four broken ribs, a bruised lung, and cuts, bruises, gouges and scratches all over his body. He was fitted with a neck brace and a body brace, and he coughed up blood for two weeks. Less than two years later, Olson, 66, is participating in the Fast America South bicycle tour, a 2,900-mile, 27-day ride across the country, starting in Costa Mesa, California, and ending in Savannah, Georgia. Olson and 14 other cyclists making the journey -- organized by America By Bicycle -- are pedaling more than 100 miles a day. Now on Day 22, they've ridden through California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Mississippi. "The weather has been really good. We've been lucky," Olson said by phone on Friday, pulled over on the side of the road in Mississippi. The miles they conquer on Sunday will put them into Alabama, one state away from Georgia, with the final stop in Savannah this Friday. Olson said he was determined not to play the victim after his crash two years ago and he began walking five miles a day just a few weeks later. He got on his exercise bike as soon as he could, and he was back in the spinning studio within two months. He had previously registered for a 100-mile charity ride and told his friends he still intended to do it. And he did, three months after the crash. Now, he faces the challenge of riding across the entire country with what he describes as an elite group of riders from different states and countries. He has ridden many miles to train, and he's blogging about his journey at FastAmericaSouth.blogspot.com. "This is a hard ride. It's designed for a little more elite rider," Olson acknowledged during a phone interview on Friday. In the end, it's not going to be quite the success he envisioned, he said, but it's still a major accomplishment. The other riders in Olson's group range in age from 30s to 60s. Olson said he's doing about eight or nine hours of riding each day, getting an occasional assist from a support van to keep up. "There were some mountains in New Mexico that made for some challenging riding," he said. "Frankly, some of that I had to skip. Although I worked hard to get ready for this, I found out I wasn't as prepared as I hoped I'd be, and I'm in a group of pretty elite riders and they go way ahead of me." Olson said he still feels some residual pain and muscle tightness in his neck and shoulders, and that's something he has to push through. "As hard as I've worked to get ready for this, I'm still not at the level I was physically before the accident," he said. Olson said he's not looking for attention, but he hopes his story of surviving and thriving after a near-death bicycle crash inspires others. He wants others to know you can get knocked down and get up again, and you can be 66 and still achieve a challenging goal. Olson said the most hazardous part of the trip has been riding through rural areas where there are dogs that aren't on leashes. "So far, I've had two close calls with dogs. They've been the most dangerous things so far," he said, adding he's been chased by dogs coming at his bicycle full speed with their ears pinned back. Olson said one of the riders in his group, a man from Australia, hit a dog one day and fell off his bicycle, badly bruising his hip. "He came up with some interesting Australian curse words," he said. On the third day of the trip, Olson also had a close encounter with some wildlife in the Arizona desert. "In the southwest, you've got to watch where you're going to walk off to relieve yourself, because I almost walked into a rattlesnake," he said, recalling how he stepped over a bush and saw a large snake right in front of him. Olson said he's expanding his comfort zone riding in traffic. He said they're mostly riding on rural country roads, though there were points when they had to ride along the highway shoulder in the southwest. Olson said that proved to be tricky with all of the sharp wires on the ground from steel-belted tires that had come off trucks. He said the group ended up with a lot of flat bicycle tires and he got his first flat on the second day. Olson's blog post after the first day of the trip from Costa Mesa to Palm Springs included this account: "We were drinking like crazy and still getting dehydrated. One guy had heat stroke. I felt I was close to heat exhaustion." They also had to be shuttled to the next motel about 100 miles ahead one day due to a severe thunderstorm and tornado watch. Olson, who represented the 55th District in the Michigan House from 2011 to 2013, moved to Minnesota a little over a year ago after his wife retired. He took a new job in Minnesota as a school business manager. Olson, who fought an uphill battle for increased road funding while he was in the Michigan House, is still frustrated by the situation here, saying politics has gotten in the way of policy and Michigan's current road funding plan is too little too late -- not enough to keep up with how fast roads are deteriorating. He said the roads in Minnesota are far better, and he's seen mostly decent roads during his cross-country bicycle journey. "But there was one stretch a couple of days ago that reminded me of Michigan -- potholes along the whole way," he said. Olson said he has no plans to get involved in politics again at this point. He's planning to work another four years and then enjoy life. Ryan Stanton covers the city beat for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at ryanstanton@mlive.com. ANN ARBOR, MI -- Tecumseh High School students arrived in style for their "The Great Gatsby" themed prom on Saturday night May 7, 2016. The prom was held in the Morris Lawrence Building on the campus of Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor. For all MLive.com's prom coverage, click here. Matt Durr is a reporter for The Ann Arbor News. Email him at mattdurr@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter. The former Chemical Bank building in downtown Bay City. BAY CITY, MI -- Chemical Bank officials are in talks with a developer from the Great Lakes Bay Region who they say has a "fair amount of interest" in breathing new life into the historic Crapo building in downtown Bay City. But something needs to happen soon, said Walter Szostak, president of Bay City Chemical Bank. "They appear to have a fair amount of interest, but we don't have anything definite yet," Szostak said. More than two years ago, bank officials said they were exploring the possibility of demolishing their branch building at the northwest corner of Center and Washington avenues and building a smaller branch with a drive-thru after moving to their new branch to the Uptown Bay City development. The news sparked concern from community and business leaders, and launched an effort to save the 125-year-old building from demolition. Since then, the bank has talked to multiple developers about grandiose plans to remove the 1960s-era metal facade, restore the building to its former glory and redevelop it for more downtown living accommodations. Szostak said even after all of those talks with developers, nothing has transpired. "While I'm more positive about this developer, nothing is for certain, and the bank is getting to a point where something has to happen," he said, declining to name the developer. "We can't go through another winter with this building." The bank is more flexible, however, on the future use of the building. During previous talks with developers, bank officials said they wanted a presence on the ground floor, in addition to a drive-thru option. Szostak said while the bank wants to maintain a downtown presence, it's not a requirement any longer for an interested developer. "We're even open to selling the building outright and having someone take it over," he said. "If they can accommodate our needs, great, but we're going to be as flexible as possible." Bay City developer Paul Rowley, who along with his daughters Kathy Staudacher and Mitzi Dimitroff, have been working to find a developer for the project. In April 2015, they were in talks with a Detroit developer who was "very serious" about taking on the project, but those talks fell through. It is estimated that renovations to the building, which was built in 1891, could cost as much as $10 million. Bay City developer Paul Rowley poses in Wenonah Park. Rowley, who most recently developed the Mill End Lofts building on Water Street in downtown Bay City, has said he has no interest in being the developer for the Crapo building project. "It's a good thing that someone is at least looking at it," Rowley said. "Our main thrust is to keep it up and find someone to do the job. It looks like, maybe, it's coming closer to a reality." Talks of developing the building come at a time when the once-prime corner of Center and Washington in downtown Bay City is starting to fill up again with more businesses and employees. In January 2015, the owners of Outdoor Adventures, a family-owned camping resort company, purchased the Kresge building for $200,000. In November 2015, owners of the business said they planned to hire 30 full-time employees to run a call center. Attorneys Richard Learman and Kristi Kozubal and site planning and design firm Form and Function also operate out of the Kresge building, which was built in the 1940s. Last December, Stuker Training, an auto sales training company, started leasing space in the former PNC Bank building at the southeast corner of the intersection. Bay City businessman Art Dore purchased the building in March 2014 for $100,000, but was unable to land any tenants or buyers until Stuker came to town. Officials from the auto sales training company said they plan to hire as many as 100 people in the next 12 to 18 months at their new downtown office. "The people who fill the taller buildings downtown -- the people who are going to go out for lunch, shop after hours -- are a vital part to downtown," said Candace Bales, executive director of the city's Downtown Development Authority. Staudacher, who with Bay City architect John Meyer, previously pitched developers on one concept of exposing the Crapo building's original facade and constructing 21 apartment units, with retail or office space on the first floor. She remains optimistic for the building. "I hope (Chemical Bank) doesn't give up on this project," she said. BAY CITY, MI -- Bay City Central High School students couldn't have asked for a better night to celebrate their prom. After a rainy morning on Saturday, May 7, the students enjoyed sunny weather in the mid-60s before heading to the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple for a night of dancing. The Bay City Times captured several of the students taking photos in Wenonah Park in downtown Bay City. We want to see your photos, too. Send them to Gavin Mcintyre at gmcintyr@mlive.com, and include your name, the name of the people in the photo, where it was taken, and a small description. Please have permission from the original photographer for us to share the photo. FLINT, MI -- Amariyanna Copeny sprinted forward and into the arms of President Obama's arms, just like her mother said she would during a May 4 visit by the Commander-in-Chief to Flint. When asked what the president mentioned to her during their meeting at Northwestern High, the precocious 8-year-old grinned and uttered "He said do your homework." It was the young girl's letter that drew Obama him to the city to meet with residents and officials to get a feeling on the water crisis that's gripped Flint for more than two years. The letter from Amariyanna to Obama came a few days before she traveled with her mother LuLu Brezzell to Washington, D.C. in March to listen to testimony by Gov. Rick Snyder on the water crisis before Congress. Amariyanna and her mother met with the president for around five minutes prior to Obama's speech at the north side high school, after the Woodland Park Academy student took photos with various dignitaries and special guests over the course of the day. "I wrote to you," noted Amariyanna to the president in a video of the meeting released by the White House, to which the president responded "I know. That's why I decided to come and I'm going to mention you in my speech and all the good work that you've been doing." While he could have met with Amariyanna in the nation's capital, Obama told the crowd of more than 1,300 people at the Carpenter Road school "When something like this happens, a young girl shouldn't have to go to Washington to be heard. I thought her President should come to Flint to meet with her." "A young girl shouldn't have to go to Washington to be heard." @POTUS on 8-year-old Mari: https://t.co/fKPGpHwvCa https://t.co/5MoJ6we0s3 White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) May 5, 2016 During his nearly hour-long remarks, Obama said "Like a lot of you, Mari has been worried about what happened here in Flint. "She's worried about what it means for children like her," he said of the words in Amariyanna's letter about the water crisis. "She's worried about the future of this city and this community." Here's a look at the day Little Miss Flint met the president as captured through her mother's camera lens. GRAND RAPIDS, MI - East Kentwood High School students celebrated prom Saturday, May 7 at DeVos Place, located along the Grand River with views of the beautiful city skyline. The prom theme was "An Enchanted Evening," and students arrived downtown decked out in elegant gowns and classy tuxedos and suits. The Grand Rapids Press was there to celebrate the special night, capturing students as they socialized and partied. Prom season is underway in West Michigan through May, and we will cover as many as possible to highlight one of the best and most memorable high school events. Monica Scott is the Grand Rapids K-12 education writer. Email her at mscott2@mlive.com and follow her on Twitter @MScottGR or Facebook GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Forest Hills Northern's prom was a festive affair Saturday, May 7, at the Grand Rapids Public Museum. Overlooking the Grand River and downtown's cityscape, the museum was the perfect place to celebrate the annual rite of passage. Nearly 500 students attended the "Candyland'' themed prom, showcasing some glamorous red-carpet looks. Students dined on pasta and tacos before spending the night dancing and singing along to their favorite tunes, riding the carousel, taking funny pictures in the photo booth, and socializing with their friends. They erupted with cheers and applause when the prom court was introduced. Nikkolas Shammas and Ellie Awad were named prom king and queen. The Grand Rapids Press was there to celebrate with students, capturing many of the special moments from the night. Prom season is winding down in West Michigan, and we will cover as many of the remaining events as possible to highlight one of the best and most memorable high school events. Monica Scott is the Grand Rapids K-12 education writer. Email her at mscott2@mlive.com and follow her on Twitter @MScottGR or Facebook OSCEOLA COUNTY, MI -- An 81-year-old man was run over and killed by his son, driving a pickup, just minutes before the son died in a nearby crash while fleeing the scene. A neighbor of the 81-year-old described the disturbing scene, saying she believed the younger man may have been mentally unstable. Shannon Carmody, the neighbor, identified the 81-year-old victim as David Alger. Police earlier said the suspect in the homicide investigation was 48-year-old Thomas Alger. The trouble played out Friday evening along a small gravel road, Arbak Lane, just south of Marion. Related: Police identify suspect who died in crash after allegedly killing relative State police said they received a call about a domestic assault and were responding to the scene about 6:45 p.m. Friday when others called 911 to say Thomas Alger used a truck to repeatedly run over the older man. Minutes later, the truck ran a stop sign at M-66 and M-115 and collided with a mini-van carrying a 39-year-old woman and her two teen sons. One of the teens needed to be airlifted to a Grand Rapids hospital because of his injuries. The woman and the other teen were taken to Mercy Hospital Cadillac. Carmody was told the teens are 15 and 18. Carmody did not witness the Arbak Lane homicide, but said another neighbor did and was nearly struck by the pickup. She said the neighbor tried to help David Alger, but Thomas Alger drove the pickup through a line of pine trees and struck a car belonging to the neighbor's son. "(The neighbor) had to run and get out of the way," she said. Carmody said Thomas Alger lived in a cabin across the street from his parent's house and helped take care of the aging couple. But she said he took medication for mental health issues. She questions whether he was off his medication in recent days because both David Alger and his wife, Mary, had been away at a hospital last week. Thomas Alger had been involved in a few unusual incidents in the past, Carmody said. Last summer, he showed up at her door "covered in blood," apparently from purposely cutting himself. She described David and Mary Alger as "very good people" who have other children that live in the area. "I just feel so sorry for Mary," she said. "This is very tragic." E-mail John Tunison: jtunison@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/johntunison HUDSONVILLE, MI - Rockford High School's prom was a festive affair in the beautiful natural setting of the Pinnacle Center. The prom theme was "A Hauntingly Elegant Evening." Students wore fashionable outfits with confidence and style. The Grand Rapids Press was there to celebrate the special night, capturing students as they socialized and partied on the dance floor. Rockford was last week's prom poll winner and its photos will appear in an upcoming print edition of The Press. Prom season is underway in West Michigan through May, and we will cover as many as possible to highlight one of the best and most memorable high school events. Monica Scott is the Grand Rapids K-12 education writer. Email her at mscott2@mlive.com and follow her on Twitter @MScottGR or Facebook SAUGATUCK, MI - Saugatuck High School students looked stunning Saturday, May 7, as they arrived for prom downtown wearing gorgeous dresses and fashionable tuxedos and suits. The "Unmask the Night'' prom was held at the vibrant Saugatuck Center for the Arts. Students strolled through the art center, mingled and danced. The Grand Rapids Press was there to celebrate the special night and capture all of the fun, exciting moments. Prom season is underway in West Michigan through May, and we will cover as many as possible to highlight one of the best and most memorable high school events. Monica Scott is the Grand Rapids K-12 education writer. Email her at mscott2@mlive.com and follow her on Twitter @MScottGR or Facebook GRAND RAPIDS, MI - West Michigan school leaders and businesses are the driving force behind legislation offering greater flexibility in the Michigan Merit Curriculum by allowing students more options to meet graduation requirements, including computer coding class. The bill (HB 5643), sponsored by Rep. Lisa Posthumus Lyons, R-Alto, would replace the current requirement of at least two foreign language credits and one credit in visual arts, performing or applied arts for a high school diploma, with a total of three credits in "21st century skills." Students could meet that by completing any combination of three credits in the following: Computer science or computer coding, or a combination of the two. A Michigan Department of Education -approved formal career and technical education program. A language other than English. Visual, performing, or applied arts. "This is not an attack on world language, rather we're trying to ensure that the high school experience is a launching pad for students into the 21st century job market,"' said Forest Hills Superintendent Dan Behm, who recently gave testimony before the Workforce and Talent Development Committee in favor of the bill, along with a teacher and two high school students. "This bill puts students in the driver's seat to pursue their interests while still ensuring a strong background in core subject areas." Behm said he reached out to Lyons after Forest Hills Northern teacher Elbert Yeh, who oversees the district's STEM Academy, approached him about amending the requirements to allow computer coding to be substituted. Last week, Lyons said this bill has the potential to enhance and increase foreign language opportunities while adding flexibility for all students so that they are able to learn skills that not only enrich their lives, but prepare them for the 21st century workforce. "Michigan's graduation requirements must meet the needs of our students, and every student is different," said Lyons, who gave testimony before the committee April 28. Allie Bush, director of government affairs for the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce, said the tech industry is a growing area of employment demand in Michigan. In the Grand Rapids-Wyoming metropolitan statistical area (which includes Barry, Kent, Montcalm and Ottawa counties), she said tech occupations grew at a rate of 11 percent between 2013 and 2015. "These are great-paying jobs with exciting opportunities for the future," said Bush, who gave testimony in support of the bill on behalf of the Chamber. "This legislation would allow students to develop skills at a younger age that can carry them into the workforce or give them a competitive advantage when entering college.'' The committee heard testimony and received letters from those who vehemently oppose to changing the language requirement, including the Michigan World Language Association. "The learning of a world language strengthens communication skills and introduces different cultures and perspective," said Emily Spinelli, public affairs liaison for MIWLA, who said students studying a world language also develop critical skills. "We implore Michigan legislators to vote 'no' on any legislation, now or in the future, that equates or seeks to equate learning computer code to learning a world language. Godwin Heights Superintendent Bill Fetterhoff said he welcomes any changes that allow districts to personalize curricular delivery to students that better match their strengths and weaknesses and speak to their interests. "In the past, I feel we have been leaning more toward the 'college ready,' and not so divergent on 'career ready.' This this increases the window of opportunity for many of the state's students. Wyoming Superintendent Thomas Reeder agreed. He said you can't have all kids on one track, and there needs to be options for those wanting to enter the workforce that still keeps the rigor high. In a survey conducted by the chamber last year, difficulty finding qualified talent was cited as the number two concern by 61 percent of respondents. The annual survey was completed by nearly 700 members. Coding clubs and classes in Rockford, Forest Hills and other districts have grown in popularity in recent years. Maggie Thelen, director of instructional technology at Rockford schools, said some teachers have summer coding experiences planned because of the high interest. Ron Koehler, assistant superintendent for the Kent ISD, said when students are engaged in their education, they achieve at a higher level. The committee also heard testimony about how students face a credit crunch when it comes to required courses impeding their ability to also take electives. The bill would take effect 90 days after enacted into law. Monica Scott is the Grand Rapids K-12 education writer. Email her at mscott2@mlive.com and follow her on Twitter @MScottGR or Facebook FLINT, MI -- A state drinking water supervisor who downplayed suspicions that Flint water could be tied to an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease more than a year ago was simultaneously advising city officials what they could do to "minimize the potential" for future outbreaks. Stephen Busch, former district supervisor in the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's Community Water Supply Program, detailed steps Flint should take to help limit the opportunity for legionella growth in customers' drinking water in a March 17, 2015, email to city and state officials. MLive-The Flint Journal obtained the email through a Freedom of Information Act request, which sought correspondence between key city of Flint officials, Busch and Mike Prysby, a DEQ district engineer. Busch and Prysby are charged with criminal wrongdoing for their roles in the Flint water crisis, a two-year ordeal marked by bacteria and elevated levels of total trihalomethanes (TTHM) and lead in water. The city's water is also suspected as the possible source an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease that caused 12 deaths in 2014 and 2015 in Genesee County. State health officials now say the spike in Legionnaires' cases and deaths cannot be conclusively tied to Flint's change in water source to the Flint River in April 2014, but also say there is no evidence that proves it is not the cause. Busch told Jim Henry, the county's environmental health supervisor, in a March 13, 2015, email that conclusions about a tie between Flint water and Legionnaires' were premature and said it was "highly unlikely" that legionella would be present in treated water given the Flint water plant's use of ozone and chlorine. The county Health Department was heading an investigation aimed at finding the source of the outbreak. Seven days after the email to Henry, however, Busch also wrote to top city officials, warning that they should take action to provide customers with "water quality that helps limit the potential for legionella occurrence in premise plumbing." City officials who were sent the email included former emergency manager Gerry Ambrose, former city administrator Natasha Henderson, former Department of Public Works director Howard Croft, former utilities director Daughtery Johnson and current Utilities Director Mike Glasgow. Although Ambrose and others already knew of the investigation into the possible water-Legionnaires' tie, the Busch email shows the state giving the city specific advice aimed at potentially controlling the outbreak through water treatment for the first time. Prysby also received the email, the records show but it's not clear if the city ever followed any of the advice given by the state. Prysby and Busch are each facing charges of misconduct in office, conspiracy of tampering with evidence, tampering with evidence, and violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act. Specific details behind those allegations have yet to be detailed by special prosecutors from attorney general Bill Schuette's office. Just this week, Glasgow agreed to a plea deal after having been charged with a felony and misdemeanor for his role in the water crisis. As a part of the agreement, Glasgow has promised to cooperate in other prosecutions tied to Flint water, which is still considered unsafe to drink without a filter because of elevated lead levels. Public health investigators have never determined whether the river was the source of the Legionnaries' outbreak, but Busch's email to the city officials details very specific actions that he said the city should take, including cleaning and flushing of water lines to remove biofilm, tuberculation and sediment throughout the the distribution system. The email further suggests specific pH and chlorine levels for the city to maintain to control legionella, the bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease, and suggests that the city conduct routine monitoring for legionella. Although city, state and federal officials knew of the potential Flint River-Legionnaires' tie, the public was never told of the suspicions and Gov. Rick Snyder has said he was also left in the dark and never told of the issue until January 2016. Kristin Moore, a spokeswoman for Flint Mayor Karen Weaver, did not immediately reply to a request for comment from MLive. Mark Kriger, an attorney for Busch, said he was out of the country and does not "typically comment on pending cases," and Mlive could not immediately reach Frank Reynolds, Prysby's attorney, for comment. Mel Brown, a DEQ spokeswoman, said the department does not comment on former employees who have legal representation. JACKSON -- East Jackson High School held their 2016 prom at the Michigan Theatre in Jackson on Saturday, May 7. The theme for this year was "Phantom of the Opera," said junior class adviser Beth Sanborn. "The girls are very excited," Sanborn said. "The boys are excited that the girls are excited." About 110 kids attended the annual event which featured a photo booth, DJ and refreshments. The junior class did the planning for the seniors. KALAMAZOO, MI - Tiana Carruthers' life has always involved a fair amount of struggle and pain. A less-than-stable family life meant she and her two younger sisters relocated a lot. And she always tried to take care of them. "I really, honestly never got the chance to be a child," said Carruthers, 25. "I was always playing that motherly role for my sisters." Her motherly instincts kicked in when she sensed danger on the afternoon of Feb. 20 and told a group of young children -- including her own 7-year-old daughter -- to run from the playground area of the Richland Township apartment complex where she lives. Seconds later she became the first of eight people shot, allegedly by a Uber taxi service driver, in one of the most bizarre series of crimes in Southwest Michigan history. A man in a car was apparently looking for someone. He was driving kind of wrecklessly through the complex, Carruthers said, and asked if she knew someone named Maisie. "A couple of minutes go by and I see him coming back around," Carruthers said. "At this time, I see him coming and I tell the kids, 'You guys run and you do not come back over here for anything. I don't care what you hear. Not anything.'" Police said Carruthers put herself between the fleeing youngsters and the man. He fired at least 10 times. She was struck by four bullets as she tried to flee the playground area but none of the youngsters was injured. Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller said she acted courageously. "I think her actions were very heroic and in the end she saved lives that day," Fuller said. "I'm very thankful that she acted instinctively." "I really appreciate that, but honestly I don't feel like a hero," Carruthers said. "I was doing something any mom would do, something any parent would do." Carruthers said her family life has not been ideal. But she declined to provide specifics or talk about her mother and father. "I was with my great-grandmother, my grandmother, then my grandfather, and it was just back and forth, back and forth, and finally I stayed with my mother," said Carruthers on Wednesday, still recuperating from the gunshot wounds she suffered. "I pretty much raised my sister," Carruthers said of her youngest sibling, Antasia, now 18. Carruthers was 18, herself, when she got her first apartment. It allowed her to move out of the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission. Antasia, then 13, joined her at that first apartment. They have another sister, Sophia, now 23, who Carruthers also helped care for. Carruthers was born in South Haven but grew up in Pullman and attended Bloomingdale schools. She lived with her mother off and on, between living with relatives. She grew up primarily on her grandparents' farm in Pullman. When she reached junior high school age, she relocated to Kalamazoo to, again, live with her mother. After years with farm kids in rural Michigan and places with pigs and chickens, she said she was excited about going to school with city kids in a more diverse environment that including black kids like herself. But she said it wasn't an easy fit. "They thought I acted white," she said. "At 17, I was in a domestic (live-in) relationship and my mom really wasn't supportive," she said. Tiana ended up pregnant and had a baby girl in November of 2008. She moved out of her mother's place in early 2009 and that's how she found her way to the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission. But she said she also found a lot of help there. Counselors connected her with positive mentors and schooled her on how to get a job. She praises the help she got, and continues to get, from Youth for Christ. "Youth for Christ took me under their wing," she said with a smile. With the help of Catholic Family Services, she got her first apartment and managed to graduate from Loy Norrix High School in 2010. Through Youth Opportunities Unlimited, she got a job painting school buildings in Parchment, something she mentions with a bit of pride. "We painted all the schools," she said. Carruthers was interested in business, perhaps to manage a community center like her grandmother once did in Pullman. But she was still breast-feeding her baby when she got her first job. And after some ups and downs, she was working this past winter as a field associate for Denso Manufacturing Michigan in Battle Creek. She worked on the car radiator line at the automotive supply company. But, she said, "I was having issues with transportation (getting back and forth to Battle Creek) and getting a sitter." Just before the Feb. 20 incident, she was fired after about four months on the job. Her outlook remained positive, however. She said she was looking forward to helping Antasia go to her senior prom, which was Saturday, and seeing her graduate from Loy Norrix this spring. Her sister is headed to Western Michigan University in the fall. But the shooting was a tremendous ordeal, she said, and left her with two broken legs, a broken arm and a damaged liver. It has also left her jumpy around strangers. Staff members at Borgess Medical Center and others have praised her for her upbeat attitude, however. Even while laid up at Borgess, they say she showed a lot of concern for others, asking how they are doing rather than becoming sour or bitter about her situation. Her recuperation involves trying to walk again, and working with one arm. She is walking cautiously with a cane. After celebrating her 25th birthday in the hospital, she said she was simply happy to be alive. The shooting in Richland Township, along with two others in greater Kalamazoo by the same gunman, occurred over a five-hour period and left six people dead and Carruthers and Abigail Kopf, 14, of Battle Creek, struggling to get well. Jason Brian Dalton, 45, of Cooper Township, was arrested on Feb. 21, and faces murder, attempted murder and felony firearms charges in connection with the shootings. The victims were apparently all strangers to him. On the day of the shooting, Carruthers said she was trying to meet the mother of one of the little girls she ultimately told to run. The girl, whose family lived nearby, had come to her house asking to stay and play. "I was on my way, taking her to her mother, getting to meet her mother," Carruthers said. "I'm the type where you can't be over at my house and your mom doesn't know where you are and I don't know who you are." She said the playground was close to the little girl's home. Carruthers' daughter came along as well as two other children she knows. As she undergoes physical therapy and receives counseling to help her work through her fears, Carruthers said she is more focused than ever on her family, her child, God and making sure she's doing the right things with the right people. "Honestly I'm giving my life to God. I'm working on that," she said. "... I've always been real cheerful, a happy person, always a do-right person. But now I think I want to take it to the next level and I really want to look into the Lord a lot more." She said she grew up in the Baptist church but had kind of drifted away from that. She said she has an interest in being a mentor to others, and perhaps working with Youth for Christ. "I'm more focused on healing my family because we're not the best family," she said. "I'm more focused on them. I'm more focused on growing. I'm more focused on God; trying to be a better person. How can I help someone else?" She doesn't know where all that will lead, but she thinks she's heading in the right direction. She continues to be grateful for many people who have helped her since the shooting. She said she was the child of a young mother but would like other young women, particularly black girls, to break the cycle of becoming mothers too young, and of living a life that others expect them to lead. "Being a mother at a young age doesn't define you," Carruthers said. "And it's up to you to make that difference." She said, "You don't have to be stuck in those situations. You don't have to be just stuck. There are all these opportunities. You just have to go get them. Don't ever be stuck. There's options." As her condition improves, she'll also be looking for options. A lot of attention has come her way since the shootings, but no work opportunities, she said. Denso conducted a fund-raiser to help her and fellow shooting survivor Abigail Kopf and she said she is grateful for that. But with a laugh, she said, "If they didn't let me go, I would have been there (at work) that day." Carruthers said her sister Antasia, now college-bound, has expressed an interest in being a pediatrician "but she keeps changing her mind." That career path may change a bit, she said, but she's sure Antasia wants to work with children. What does Carruthers want for her daughter? "I want a lot of things for her," she said. "I really don't want this tragedy to affect her growth, you know what I mean, because I know it affects her every day just like it does me." Carruthers said her daughter has nightmares as a result of the shootings. "She's scared all the time," she said. "She's really jumpy, just like I am right now. I really want her to grow up and I want her to be encouraged. I want her to go to school. I don't want her to go through half of the things I've been through in my life. I want her to be a child. I want her to grow. I want her to have a happy childhood, a happy upbringing." Carruthers didn't know what she would be doing on Mother's Day. Her boyfriend of four years planned to surprise her on Friday and her sisters and mother were planning to get together on Sunday. MLive writer Al Jones may be contacted at ajones5@mlive.com. Follow him on Twitter at ajones5_al MUSKEGON, MI - Orchard View High School turned its prom into a masquerade-type event Saturday night. Prom-goers to Orchard View's 2016 prom enjoyed a Midnight Masquerade theme at the Frauenthal Center for the Arts in downtown Muskegon. The colors for the decorations at the historic facility were purple, black and silver. Students pose for photos outside the Frauenthal in downtown Muskegon on Saturday night. About 200 students attended this year's prom for Orchard View. High school teacher Dana Wyant was the prom coordinator. Orchard View won this week's MLive Muskegon Prom of the Week poll, edging Mona Shores for the honor. As the winner, Orchard View's prom will be featured in an upcoming print edition of the Muskegon Chronicle. If you have any photos from the prom, we'd like to include them in our gallery. You can email those photos to muphoto@mlive.com or text them to muskegonpics@mlive.com. Please include what prom it is from and who took the photo. Orchard View and two other Muskegon-area proms were held Saturday night. MLive's coverage of proms is set to continue with three more area proms next weekend and one more after that. For MLive's coverage of prom throughout Michigan, go to . Detroit Tigers spring training - Feb. 25, 2016 Detroit Tigers outfielder Tyler Collins (18) tries to catch a mock fly ball during their spring training workout for the 2016 season at Joker Marchant Stadium training facility in Lakeland, Thursday, February 25, 2016. (Mike Mulholland | MLive.com) DETROIT -- Say hi to Tyler Collins. That is, if you choose. The Detroit Tigers outfielder, sent to the minors 10 days ago after directing an obscene gesture toward fans at Comerica Park, was recalled from Triple-A Toledo on Sunday following an 8-3 loss to the Texas Rangers. To make room on the 25-man active roster, relief pitcher Buck Farmer was optioned to Toledo. The move adds outfield depth as the Tigers, losers of six straight games, embark on a seven-game roadtrip out East. They begin Monday in Washington and continue Thursday with a four-game series in Baltimore. Ausmus said before Sunday's game a move was likely coming but would not specify who was involved. Cameron Maybin, still rehabbing an injured right shoulder, was considered a candidate to make his first big-league appearance after playing centerfield for the Mud Hens on Saturday. Maybin, expected to join the team by the time it returns to Detroit next week, was the designated hitter for Toledo on Sunday. Collins was a last-minute scratch. Collins is hitting .219 (7-for-32) with a home run and five RBIs in Toledo. He was 2-for-20 (.100) before he was sent down. Farmer, who's allowed two runs on six hits in 8 1/3 innings of relief, has not pitched in a game since Tuesday. -- Download the Detroit Tigers on MLive app for iPhone and Android. -- Follow MLive Sports on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 08.05.2016 LISTEN Welcome to the live updates of the 2016 Vodafone Ghana Music Award which is the 17th Edition. It is a night to celebrate the best in Ghanaian music. 20:50 : Event started with a choir and Rapper EL singing his hit song 'Koko'. 20:55 : MCs for the night are actors Chris Attoh and Naa Ashorkor...what are your thoughts? You think they will rock it? 20:57 : It is Multimedia's DJ Black warming the auditorium with his mixes.... 21:00 : You can watch the live stream below: 21:00 : MUSIGA 2016 Peace Song Initiative Award to be presented by Obour 21:02 : Won by New Generation Gospel Ministers win the award. Joe Mettle receives the award on behalf of the group 21:06 : Traditional Artiste of the Year. 21:07 : Tesa Music Group wins Traditional Artiste of the Year. Group member receiving the award from Elizabeth Ofosu-Agyare, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts and Bice Osei Kuffour 21:10 : Instrumentalist of the Year goes to Justice Williams 21:11 Sound Engineer of the Year Award goes to Kaywa 21:12 Best Music for Development is next goes to Gasmilla who walks home with a cheque or 5000. 21:16 Wins Lifetime Achievement Award goes to evergreen veteran musician AB Crentsil who gets 5,000 from the Ministry of Tourism. 21:19 Obour and AB perform to thrill fans inside the auditorium. Oh dear! It is a nice feeling to remember Obour can still sing. MUSIGA boss please hit the studio soon. We miss those punchlines. 21:27 Stonebwoy is up next to perform. He gives a wonderful live version of his hits songs including Higher after which he pays tribute to his late mother. 21:45 Kofi Kinaata wins Songwriter of the Year 21:47 Nicholas Omane Acheampong wins Gospel Artiste of the Year 21:48 Next Award is Highlife Artiste of the Year which goes to Bisa KDei's fans favorite 'Mansa' track. He dedicates the award to his late mum who he said died the day the video to the track was released. 21:57 MCs for the night Naa Ashorkor and Chris take their turn to show their rap skills on the stage. Naa Ashorkor was on the flow doing some Sarkodie line...girl must think of trying her hands on rap. 21:57 Adomaa who won the Unsung Artiste of the Year... She is up next 22:00: Bisa KDei performs his Mansa. His performance tonight is an improvement 22:15 Sarkodie wins Hiphop Song of the Year with Hand to Mouth. I thought I saw Sarkodie laughing when Naa Ashorkor was doing her freestyle. Why didn't he come up for his award? 22:18 Hiplife Song of the Year is next goes to Atom's 'Y3 wo Kurom'. Did they have to take all those people to say thank you? 22:20 Afropop Song of the Year goes to EL's 'Menabo po'... 22:25 Kofi Kinata performs some of his tracks. The live band did not bring out his best. A lot of the artistes are missing out on bringing out the kick in their live performances to thrill fans. 22:35 Neosoul artiste Efya is up on stage. She looks stunning in her long flowing dress and moving beautifully to the instrumentals. She starts with her popular Obianuju cover. We were looking forward to her singing the phonebook... 22:48 Gospel artiste of the Year goes to SP Kofi Sarpong wins. Dedicates the award to a peaceful election. 22:50 Highlife Artiste of the Year goes to Bisa KDei who said he was very happy this evening. Can you blame him? 22:52 Hiphop/Hiplife Artiste of the Year goes to EL. We can't get you popopo! EL tells the story of when he was an underground artist and Obour gave him a studio to start recording. 22:55 Reggae/Dancehall Artiste of the Year goes to Stonebwoy...boyfriend is going Higher and Higher tonight!!!! Which airline is he flying on... 23:00 R2Bees are up on stage doing dishing the tracks like there is no tomorrow. 23:12 Best Female Vocalist of the Year goes to MzVee. She thanks Efya for the inspiration. 23:14 Best Male Vocalist of the Year goes to Pat Thomas. Track is Bra on Sarkodie's Mary album. 23:15 Best Rapper of the Year goes to Sarkodie, 'Hand to Mouth' 23:17 African Artiste of the Year goes to Wizkid who thanks his fans and all his crew at Legendary Beats. 23:23 Very lively praise and worship by Joe Mettle and choir...Great reminder we must make it to church tomorrow... 23:26 Well, Irene Logan was apparently not happy with something and sent this tweet 23:32 Best Collaboration of the Year goes to VVIP ft Sena Dagadu, 'Skolom'. Was it our eyes or Reggie Rockstone was wearing Adldas? 23:37 Best Group of the Year VVIP 23:41 Music Producer of the Year EL 23:44 Music Video of the Year - EL and Phamous Philms for Shelele video 23:47 Sarkodie and Kwadwo Akwaboah dishing out tracks from the Mary album. 00:02 Record of the Year Sarkodie ft Pat Thomas Bra. He explained his earlier absence for not showing up to pick the previous awards he won. We are happy he read our earlier comment. 00:05 Best New Artiste of the Year, Kofi Kinaata's 'Susuka' wins it. Says hiiiiiiii to Taaadi. Hard work pays! 00:10 Vodafone Most Popular Song of the Year goes to 'Mansa' by Bisa KDei. Is Bisa over excited or the slangs are for real? The needless controversy he got embroiled in has been cleared as he explained his reason for using the word 'pioneer'. 00:12 Wizkid on stage now...He speaks of how he and his Ghanaians siblings are going to take African music to another level. He disclosed signing Efya, R2Bess and Mr Eazi to Starboy Entertainment. 00:24 Album of the Year, goes to Bisa KDei's Breakthrough album 00:25 The highly coveted Artiste of the Year Award goes to EL....Congratulations...We saw Bisa KDei confirming to the one sitting next to him, 'I Told You'... Thanks for staying with us...see you next year. Sorry, we can't find the content you're looking for at this URL. Bujumbura (Burundi) (AFP) - Thousands of Burundians protested Saturday against a UN probe into alleged rights violations, the latest show of anger against what authorities see as foreign interference in the central African nation. Mounting international criticism of abuses since President Pierre Nkurunziza ran for a third term in April 2015 saw Burundi quit the International Criminal Court. The country also cut ties with the UN's main human rights body after a damning September report detailed atrocities, and warned of "genocide". That report led the Geneva-based Human Rights Council to announce a one-year probe into abuses said to have been committed in Burundi since the political crisis erupted last year. Commissioners from Algeria, Benin and Britain were appointed Tuesday to lead the investigation. "We called on the population of the capital to stage a massive protest against the nomination of three so-called UN experts to investigate Burundi," Bujumbura Mayor Freddy Mbonimpa told AFP, accusing the UN of working on "false reports". Mbonimpa said in a telephone interview that there were more than 13,000 protesters while local journalists estimated around 10,000. However several opposition figures took to social media to criticise the protest, saying a note -- seen by AFP -- was sent to civil servants saying attendance was "obligatory". "Some are protesting voluntarily, sure, but there are quite a number who have come out of fear of being listed as enemies of the regime," said a civil servant working in the justice ministry, adding that he was taking part to "avoid problems". The protesters also held a sit-in in front of the Belgian embassy to protest the organisation of a meeting with Burundian opposition members this week by the Belgian Senate. The executive secretary of the ruling CNDD-FDD Evariste Ndayishimiye accused former colonial power Belgium of "acting as if Burundi is still under its yoke," on Twitter. Burundians hold a rally in Bujumbura to show solidarity with the government's opposition to the appointment by the UN Human Rights Council of three investigators to look into human rights violations in the east African nation The UN estimates more than 500 people have died in Burundi while a report last week by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) said more than 1,000 had lost their lives and hundreds more were missing. At least 270,000 people have fled the country. The FIDH warned of a "descent into hell" in Burundi, warning "all the criteria and conditions for the perpetrating of genocide are in place." Burundi officials have mocked the use of the term "genocide" with an adviser to the president this week posting photos of himself posing with a kitten or juggling eggs on Twitter, alongside the hashtag #ThisisMyGenocide. Cairo (AFP) - Eight policemen were shot dead on Cairo's southern outskirts in an attack claimed Sunday by the Islamic State group, one of its deadliest in mainland Egypt. The interior ministry said four assailants in a truck intercepted a van carrying the policemen in the district of Helwan, just south of Cairo, and sprayed them with automatic rifle fire. It said those killed in the shooting overnight included a lieutenant and seven lower ranking policemen who had been on patrol in plain clothing. In a statement circulated on social media, IS said "a squad of the soldiers of the caliphate" opened fire on the police van and then made off with their weapons. It said the attack was carried out in retaliation for "women imprisoned" in Egyptian jails. Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Gaffar sounded a defiant note as the slain policemen were laid to rest. "We hold our heads high, and won't bow them to any attempt to defeat our will," he told state television. Jihadists have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers in attacks, mostly in the Sinai Peninsula and also in and around Cairo, since the military toppled Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Islamists had carried out a previous attack in Helwan, killing a policeman standing guard outside a museum in June 2015. IS jihadists, who are based in the sparsely populated Sinai Peninsula bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, have repeatedly tried to make inroads into the capital, where police have had more success in quelling them than in Sinai. They have claimed several attacks in Cairo, including the bombing of the Italian consulate in July 2015. - Retaliation - More recently jihadists have conducted hit-and-run attacks on policemen in Cairo and small scale bombings. They often claim their attacks are in retaliation for a bloody police crackdown on Islamist supporters of Morsi, which has killed hundreds of protesters and imprisoned thousands. They have also targeted foreigners. In October, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for bombing a Russian airliner carrying holidaymakers from a south Sinai resort, killing all 224 people on board. The group said it smuggled explosives concealed in a soda can on to the plane at Sharm El-Sheikh, a popular Red Sea resort in south Sinai. That attack prompted Russia to suspend all flights to Egypt, and has lost the country hundreds of millions of dollars in tourism revenues. The bombing came two months after IS militants abducted a Croatian oil worker near Cairo and beheaded him. Police later tracked down the top IS operative in Cairo, who was linked to the Croat's murder, and killed him in a shootout. But efforts to crush the insurgency in Sinai have floundered despite a massive army campaign. In March, IS gunmen killed 15 policemen at a checkpoint near El-Arish, the provincial capital of North Sinai. The Sunni extremist group declared a "caliphate" nearly two years ago in areas under its control in Iraq and Syria. The Sinai branch pledged allegiance to IS in November 2014, and since then its attacks have grown more sophisticated. The military says it has killed more than 1,000 militants, occasionally publishing pictures of their bodies. The statements are difficult to verify, with reporters having little access to the north of the peninsula. Hundreds of multi-national forces soldiers are based in Sinai to monitor a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt, and Washington has indicated it would cut its troops over the jihadist threat. The Pentagon said last month it remained "fully committed" to the mission but wants to use drones to assume some of the riskier work. Gunmen shot dead eight plainclothed Egyptian policemen in the Helwan district south of Cairo, the interior ministry said. By Mahmoud Khaled (AFP/File) 08.05.2016 LISTEN Cairo (AFP) - Eight policemen were shot dead on Cairo's southern outskirts in an attack claimed Sunday by the Islamic State group, one of its deadliest in mainland Egypt. The interior ministry said four assailants in a truck intercepted a van carrying the police officers in the district of Helwan, just south of Cairo, and sprayed them with automatic rifle fire. It said those killed in the shooting overnight included a lieutenant and seven lower ranking policemen who had been on patrol in plain clothing. In a statement circulated on social media, IS said "a squad of the soldiers of the caliphate" opened fire on the police van and then made off with their weapons. It said the attack was carried out in retaliation for "women imprisoned" in Egyptian jails. Jihadists have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers in attacks, mostly in the Sinai Peninsula and also in and around Cairo, since the military toppled Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Militants had carried out a previous attack in Helwan, killing a policeman standing guard outside a museum in June 2015. IS jihadists, who are based in the sparsely populated Sinai Peninsula bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, have repeatedly tried to make inroads into the capital, where police have had more success in quelling them than in Sinai. They have claimed several attacks in Cairo, including the bombing of the Italian consulate in July 2015. More recently militants have conducted hit-and-run attacks on policemen in Cairo and small scale bombings. They often claim their attacks are in retaliation for a bloody police crackdown on Islamist supporters of Morsi, which has killed hundreds of protesters and imprisoned thousands. They have also targeted foreigners. - Retaliation - In October, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for bombing a Russian airliner carrying holidaymakers from a south Sinai resort, killing all 224 people on board. The group said it smuggled explosives concealed in a soda can on to the plane at Sharm El-Sheikh, a popular Red Sea resort in south Sinai. That attack prompted Russia to suspend all flights to Egypt, and has lost the country hundreds of millions of dollars in tourism revenues. The bombing came two months after IS militants abducted a Croatian oil worker near Cairo and beheaded him. Police later tracked down the top IS operative in Cairo, who was linked to the Croat's murder, and killed him in a shootout. But efforts to crush the insurgency in Sinai have floundered despite a massive army campaign. In March, Islamic State gunmen killed 15 policemen at a checkpoint near El-Arish, the provincial capital of North Sinai. The Islamic State group declared a "caliphate" nearly two years ago in areas under its control in Iraq and Syria. The Sinai branch pledged allegiance to IS in November 2014, and since then its attacks have grown more sophisticated. The military says it has killed more than 1,000 militants, occasionally publishing pictures of their bodies. The statements are difficult to verify, with reporters having little access to the north of the peninsula. Hundreds of multi-national forces soldiers are based in Sinai to monitor a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt, and Washington has indicated it would cut its troops over the jihadist threat. The Pentagon said last month it remained "fully committed" to the mission but wants to use drones to assume some of the riskier work. Cairo (AFP) - The Islamic State group's Egyptian branch claimed on Sunday a shooting that killed eight policemen on Cairo's southern outskirts, in a statement circulated on social media. The interior ministry said a lieutenant and seven low-ranking policemen were killed in Helwan district overnight when four assailants sprayed their van with automatic rifle fire. The Egyptian branch of the jihadist group, which controls parts of Iraq and Syria, has spearheaded an insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula that has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen. But attacks of this magnitude in or near Cairo are rare, and police have had more success in quelling them in the capital than in the sparsely populated Sinai. In its statement, the group said "a squad of the soldiers of the caliphate" opened fire on the van in Helwan, killing the policemen and then making off with their weapons. It said the attack was retaliation for "the pure women imprisoned" in Egyptian jails. There is seeming tension in the Akatsi North District of the Volta Region after the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) clashed over the location of a registration centre. Eyewitnesses claimed some thugs raided the Metrikasa electoral area to stop the Electoral Commission and the Police from moving the registration kits to Ete Kope, another community close to the Togo border. This escalated into an open confrontation between the members of the NDC and the NPP, with the opposition party accusing the EC and the police of siding with the members of the governing party. The NPP Volta Regional Chairman John Peter Amewu said he was assaulted by some of the police officers when he attempted to take a picture of their vehicle, as proof of their unacceptable behaviour. A national police patrol team drove into station and took the registration equipment, put them into their vehicle and drove towards the republic of Togo on a rough road to a village close to Togo which is not part of the registration movement plan, he stated. He said he managed to use his vehicle to block theirs, and made sure they returned to the original registration centre. In Ghana a national patrol team cannot behave the way they are because were they were taking the vehicle to was close to Togo that village was not part of the registration center. Under no condition should a police vehicle drive to a centre and carry registration equipment. It is not allowed. I an attempt to find out if they were real police men, they started mishandling me they used the barrel of the gun against my left hand but I later lodged complaint at the central police office in Ho. Listen to Peter Amewu below speaking to Citi News about the incident But Peter Anku, the Akatsi District Registration Supervisor of the Electoral Commission told Citi News the allegations were unfounded, explaining that the EC was compelled to relocate to a new center following an invasion by some unidentified thugs yesterday. According to Mr. Anku, the thugs invaded the registration center at Metrikasa and severely brutalized members of the NDC monitoring team and also restricted residents in the area from coming to register. Meanwhile Citi News' attempts to reach the Police for a comment have so far not been successful. 08.05.2016 LISTEN There is one Oba in Nigeria that most of the people have in common, that is Omo NOba of Benin. Most ethnic groups, especially from the South, either has claims to him or his subjects put claims on them. Whatever the validity of each claim or novel theories, it shows some relationships between the people of West Africa. In order to solidify that claim, most traditional ceremonies and protocols that are not against the law or human decency must be observed. Recently there were some discussions about the most senior Oba in Yoruba world communities. Oba Adetona of Ijebu-Ode claimed he was one of the most superior and certainly senior to Alake of Egba/Abeokuta. What is interesting about this is that Oba Adetona always claims that he is from Waddai in Ethiopia and not Yoruba. The reason this is important is that Omo NOba also claimed that he was the father of the Yoruba and not the son. Whoever is right on these claims, the fact remains about some relationship between them. The same is true of the Ijaw. Before oil became a foreign income curse on Nigeria, Yoruba and Ijaw had common progenitor in the name of Adumu/Adimu/Oduduwa in Ijaw history. Politics and foreign income sharing has shattered any hope of resolving the amicable relationship between them dating back, before Aiyelala in the now Ondo State. None of the bad relationships between the people of Southern Nigeria today could have broken the alliance between Awolowo and Ernest Ekoli as their leader while Azikiwe supported Chief Samuel Akinsanya in those days. The political rivalries did not prevent Awolowos UPN from capturing Edo as Bendel State cementing the historical union between Yoruba and Edo. One has to accept that every ethnic or village deserves its own self-determination. We cannot leave the Itsekiri out of these families since they are clearly related to the Yoruba. The Oba of Warri/Itsekiri has also been claimed as the son of Oba of Benin. Whether it is the Oba or the people that are related to Benin, the lingual franca or the dialect, in both Benin ruling House and in Warri were/are clearly Yoruba, closer to Ijebu dialects. Another case in point is the Onitsha Igbo. Some of them still retain Yoruba in their dialects when speaking Igbo language and others trace their ancestors to the same Oba of Benin. Between Igbo, Benin and Yoruba, we have brothers and sisters that have rejected any link between them. Even more important are other ethnic groups from the union of the three that have spread further North and South near the rivers and the ocean. The fact remains undisputed that it is only recently that the head of Oba of Benin was no longer buried in Ile-Ife. So far, there are no novel theories that can erase the place or location where the heads of Oba of Benin were buried in Ile-Ife. It will not be surprising if in the future, some of the children of Edo that refuse to bear Yoruba names today, also refute the burial place in Ife. It is not a mystery how Ogiso was overthrown in Edo land after beheading a pregnant woman. The people revolted and called on Ile-Ife to send them Oba. Up till today, the ceremony that is going to be performed by the new Oba will make it clear that he must pay a token before his place can be given or leased. Not only that, this lease must be renewed every time a new Oba of Benin is crowned. So most of the chiefs around him remain Ogiso owners. It will be difficult to reconcile the lease ceremony if the Oba was originally Ogiso and the reason for burying the head of Oba of Benin in Ile-Ife. As much as many have come up with theories and hypothesis, they have failed to reconcile classical history with their novel theory. What is more important today is how we can use this unity in history to bring our people together instead of creating divisions that drives us further apart. People are also free to interpret history the way it further their interest for superiority or dominance. The problem is a clash between classical history and novel theories. We must depend on archeology, anthropology and the same history by using scientific methods to buttress our revisions. Other scholars must be able to verify and authenticate most diversions from the acceptable norms. So, we all have more in common than they are willing to accept. We can also extend this relationship in history to the Hausa in the North. Their history accepts Yoruba as one of the children of the Hausa states but claimed superiority to Yoruba children as children of married women do in todays western Judeo Christian laws. We know that such aberration was not tolerated in African cultures. But it serves both Muslim and Christian laws of discrimination and exclusion. The same problem existed between Ishmael and Isaac until today. The relationships between African ethnic groups up to the level of so-called and demeaning word tribes, have poisoned the environment resulting into barbaric acts of civil and ethnic wars. If Africans are not fighting one another over land, it a war about gold, diamond, oil or uranium. Even when we speak the same language and accept the same descendants, we always find something to fight about. We are even more willing to accept those rejecting us as families from afar in the new world rather than our neighbors in the old world. It must be emphasized that this writer does not care where the head of Oba of Benin is buried. But we cannot deny what unites us based on the ambition of each family to turn their village or local government into a country in order to become Prime Minister or President. Each village can go its separate ways without shedding blood, sacrificing the lives of children as soldiers of personal ambition to loot and proliferate in their own kingdom. 08.05.2016 LISTEN Liberia has more serious problems that demand more serious attention, a more serious leadership and more serious people with integrity, honesty and above all, a fear of God. So while it may be true that the Auditor General of Kenya, Mr. Edward R.O. Ouko, seems to be a very nice, serious and perhaps honest man, his recent participation in the unending mockery and hypocrisy that keep unfolding in Liberia and under the Unity Party-led administration raises more questions than answers, and provide more doubts than clarity. According to several news outlets, the Kenyan Auditor General went to Liberia to audit the General Auditing Commission of Liberia (GAC), a fiscal watchdog institution. At the end of Mr. Oukos unseen, if not hidden, auditing work, the highly regarded Kenyan auditor general gave the Liberian media a sensational news headline that reads no different from known political tricks that are rooted in the baseline vengeance that our nation and people are used to. Hence, the Kenyan auditor general generated headlines reads: GAC Extremely Corrupt in 2009 2013. Mr. Oukos report was quoted as saying that; the General Auditing Commission (GAC) of Liberia from 2009-2013 was extremely corrupt and failed to comply with rules governing international financial best practices. With this very loose proposition, one wonders as to what kind or type of audit Mr. Ouko conducted. Was it a fiscal audit, operational audit or administrative audit? We may not have greater reason to doubt Auditor General Oukos competence and qualifications, but we have serious problems when individuals compromise their education, competence and credibility either because of financial gains, or because they are grossly deceived in doing something that they would rather not do, if thought through with sincerity. Why was Mr. Ouko asked to perform an audit of the GAC? Why did the Liberian administration agree, support, publicize and sensationalize the GAC audit report without publishing the report verbatim? Were the people in charge of the GAC during the years under review consulted, contacted or asked for any data, feedback or records? What new improvements are available at the GAC currently that were not available during the time under review? How much, in terms of fiscal waste and fraud, that the GAC cannot account for with respect to the period under review? Why didnt the GAC provide copies of the report to the individuals who headed the institution when these alleged abuses and frauds occur? Even though the Liberian legislature, the second branch of government with oversight, frequently portrays itself as an irresponsible cache and an arena for people who act childish and incompetent, Liberians in general are not fools. We know better than Auditor General Ouko from Kenya would think. We know a scam from reality, a joke and fraud from a serious-minded attempt and effort. The recent GACs audit does not appear to be a serious-minded attempt or effort. Either it is a game of usual distraction from serious concerns and issues facing our country and Liberians in general, or it is just another of those pathetic and un-strategic cover-ups. Reasons being that talking about corruption in Liberia is nothing new or hidden. The entire world knows that our nation is very corrupt. President Johnson Sirleaf herself has stated that corruption in Liberia has become systemic and endemic . That means our leaders know the problem but there is no leadership to address the problem, because even in times of budget shortfalls, our nation parades and furnishes praises on non-achievers and lousy managers. In addition, the former U.S. ambassador to Liberia, Deborah Malac, talked about corruption repeatedly and openly [Liberia: Corruption Is Liberia's Problem, U.S. Ambassador to Liberia Alarms] according to FrontPage Africa, a local daily. Several international organizationsfrom Transparency International to Global Witness, Human Rights Watch and several United Nations agencies have all frown on corruption under this regime. Western governments are fatigued in singing about it. Here is what is sad with this whole picture. The Kenyan auditor general did not say anything new about Liberia and the Sirleaf-Unity Party-led administration except that he chose to fall prey to the con-artistry that is going on in the country by going after an institution that, in the first place, does not rank high, if not mention at all, on the corruption index of Liberia. Millions of dollars have gone missing in Liberia, and institutions that supposed to be admirable and profitable in our nation have gone down the toilets while finances for major infrastructural and agricultural initiatives end up unaccounted for. The most worrying aspect is, here is a country and an administration that have folks that could not, for Gods sake, fully account for the Ebola relief assistance donations. Yet we are another level of distraction. Besides, the country has been run on a continuous deficit platform despite tremendous revenue collection and major international support. And instead of looking at the seriousness of Liberias fiscal theft and the squandering of our natural resources, we are bent on auditing an independent agency that is funded by the European Union and to whom the agency sends periodic reports, detailing its operation. Does the Kenyan auditor general and his Liberian accomplices believe that the European Union has senseless people who give resources without requesting for accountability? First and foremost, Auditor General Ouko made several vague assertions in his taboo audit report, a report which has become an unpublishable instrument. If this report is supposedly genuine and not intended as one of those constant distractions and stripped aggression of vengeance from those who requested it, or those who are the masterminds, then why not put it online so that we, the Liberian citizens, can see it as well as pass judgement on the culprits? It is much easier for anyone, even a farmer in River Gee County without a CPA, to make a sweeping statement such as the GAC, during the four years under review did not have any clear accounting system in place, and no tangible documentations existed to support goods and services procured. This empty thesis in Mr. Oukos report means nothing and does not amount to any sound reasoning other than a failed attempt to cause unnecessary alarm and point figures in the wrong places. If Mr. Ouko and team were brought to Liberia to audit the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank of Liberia, the funds allocated for road construction and other development projects, the maritime funds and all the waste and fraud since 2006 then one would have taken this animal farm game a bit seriously. From all indications, it seems our country is becoming noted for bringing in international experts as in the case of all those much-to-be desire pathologists who, when encountered real pathologist developed a second thought and ran for cover, prompting the dismissal of a justice minister under the auspices of resignation. Maybe we need to sponsor a CPA from somewhere else to conduct a side-by-side audit with Mr. Ouko, the Kenyan expert so that we know that it is not a game similar to the pathologists who ran away from a young pathologist from the United States during the late Harry Greaves alleged mysterious political assassination. The National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) went broke and millions flown to purgatory. Foreign travels sucked millions more dollars out of our country, and a sea of poor guys and gals as well as other individuals have become millionaires overnight. Cases involving cronies, loyalists and friends who have stolen thousands of dollars are now a way of making fun of the Liberian judiciary. Besides, every single international fiscal and public policy watchdog group as well as foreign governments, including the United States State Department, have termed Liberia as very corrupt. The culture of corruption in Liberia today has consumed the soul and fabric of the country such that from the police to the hospitals, from schools to every aspect of civil service is undesirable to upright men and women in our land. The fact is Liberia was a corrupt nation before, then and now. However, the only difference this time is that the level of corruption in Liberia today is different from prior acts of corruption in the country for several reasons. Corruption in previous Liberian administrations had some degree of shame and pity for the Liberian people and nation. The one we see and know today in Liberia and under this administration is not. The corruption in Liberia today is institutionalized, organized, structured, manipulative, cruel and heartless than anything Liberia has ever known. So instead of Auditor General Ouko being invited to focus on the real soul of Liberias public theft, our government wasted resources and its pressure time on auditing an institution that is not a revenue receiving nor generating entity. Kenya, the home of Auditor General Ouko, is not a perfect country. However, despite its imperfections, we know from the Kenyans government website, that, The Office of the Auditor-General of Kenya is an Independent Office established under the Constitution of Kenya to audit Government Bodies and report on their management of allocated funds. This mandate gives the office the right and weight to audit every facet of the Kenyan government without interference, games and double-dealing. Liberia is a different animal. To date, NOCAL which sold our nations birthright remains to see an audit in any form and shape. The Ministry of Public Works where millions of dollars were stolen remains to see an audit. The Ministry of Finance is in its own league with perpetual budget shortfalls, and the list goes on. Furthermore, from the website of the Office of the Auditor General of Kenya, there are many fancy quotes: The Office of the Auditor-General is a corruption free zone. This Office is committed to integrity, professionalism and prompt service delivery. The most interesting one is Promoting Accountability in the Public Sector, a quote which is annexed to the Offices logo. Unfortunately, Liberia is not a corruption free-zone, Auditor General Ouko. There are several pseudo businesses, pay-to-play consulting firms and more in our nation. Some of these are managed or chaired by former and current officials, closed family members of the powerful people in our land. Even accused persons are regarded in Liberia and thus sit on boards. Example includes Ms. Matilda Parker, a corrupt former managing director of the National Port Authority in Liberia. She serves as acting chairperson of the First International Bank (Liberia) limited. Who owns this bank? Where did it get its resources from? All this remains a mystery. One would agree with Blair Glencorse, Executive Director of the Accountability Lab , when he said in his analysis: At the root of Liberias problems is a deep lack of accountabilityThe problem is not that the legal framework for accountability does not exist. A host of institutional changes have created bodies to fight corruption ranging from the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), to the General Auditing Commission (GAC), to the Public Procurement and Concessions Commission (PPCC). However, the formal structures set up to build integrity largely lack the mandate, powers and resources to combat graft. Within public bodies, information and opportunity are often jealously guarded, which can make collaboration and cooperation very difficult. Instead of the Liberian government creating a smokescreen and paying thousands of dollars while also wasting your time, Mr. Ouko, and the time of the Liberian people, it would have been much better if the initiative was done with some honesty with the view of seeing Liberia as an accountable nation. That means we must audit the real elephants in the room, as that would be a good starting point. Many dictionaries and ideologies defined corruption in a similar but slightly different manner. Generally though, almost of them agreed that corruption is a form of dishonest or unethical conduct by a person entrusted with a position of authority, often to acquire personal benefit. Corruption may include many activities including bribery and embezzlement, though it may also involve practices that are legal in many countries. Did the recent GACs audit report find anything of this nature and magnitude? According to the 2013 U.S. State Departments report, it is noted that President Sirleaf issued Executive Order 38 in January 2012 requesting officials of the executive branch to make financial disclosures and declare their assets to the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC). Many officials only did so after the president threatened dismissal if they did not comply. All officials of the executive branch declared their assets by years end. That exercise became a joke. In fact, some of the people who were realistically valued at less than US$5,000 can now afford to purchase fleet of vehicles, build mansions and duplexes and send their teen-age school side-squeezes to the United States, Europe and Asia for jolly ride cum vacations. There are officials of the Liberian administration who have never worked nor lived in the United States, Canada and Europe, but they have bought homes [cash down] and took their wives and children to these countries. Others can afford to pay tuition for their school-age fiance in these countries. Putting all of these elements together and considering the degree of distractions we are becoming immune to as Liberians under this Unity Party oligarchy-plutocratic regime, the Kenyan Auditor Generals effort does not alter our position and perception nor creates any reason to consider the GACs audit a serious project. Even though it is very late for the Unity Party-led administration to reestablish credibility in the eyes of Liberians, and for our leader to be considered a reformed president, it is better to do something credible than doing the same more thing over and over and expect a new and different result. Lastly, because the failed Unity Party-led administrations strategy remains unchanged, the tactic remains unguided, the process remains doubtful, and the results remain constant, Liberians will have no reason not to conclude that the Kenyan Auditor Generals undesirable work on corruption in Liberia is an indication of mockery and hypocrisy. About the Author: Jones Nhinson Williams is a Catholic educated philosopher and an American trained public policy professional. He can be reached at: [email protected] 08.05.2016 LISTEN On March 1, this year, on the occasion of the 59th independence anniversary of Ghana from British colonial rule, "The Conversation", a Commonwealth Bank of Australia funded "global platform" supported by a consortium of universities (among them Michigan, Boston U, Ohio State, Case Western Reserve, Georgia State, Rutgers Newark, Penn State, UT Austin, Tufts, U of California, and Vanderbilt, etc.), published an essay about Ghana. The essay came to our attention when someone, without proper attribution, posted it on Ghanaweb several weeks ago with the title "Would Arthur Lewis recognize todays Ghana?" "The Conversation" actually credited the original essay, titled,"Ghana: lessons from Nkrumahs fallout with his economic adviser", to Professor Robert Tignor, Professor of Modern and Contemporary History, Emeritus, Princeton University. "The Conversation" represented Professor Tignor's essay as a "foundation essay" that takes "a wider look at a key issue affecting society". We imagined that "key issue affecting society" to be the role of the economist, (i.e. the technician), in a human context that is by default characterized by politics at multiple levels. Having read Prof Tignor's "extract" more than once, it is clear to us the essay does not quite do justice to that lofty goal given actual historical records now available, from the World Bank; International Monetary Fund (IMF); Office of the Historian, US State Department; and so forth. Simply, Sir Arthur Lewis, (i.e, the economist/technician), who was acting within a complex political, economic, and social context cannot be represented as a neutral, objective actor. This is even less so today, when we find, for the first time, that our economist was actually funded by external entities controlled by other countries. That seminal point has been disproven (Rittel and Webber, 1973) since at least the 1970s, when Mr. Lewis was awarded the Nobel Prize in development economics. As such, in 2016, we are not sure why Professor Tignor represents Mr. Arthur Lewis as a rationalist, but Dr. Kwame Nkrumah isn't. Kwame Nkrumah was as well an intellectual with an acute sense of political-economy, history, and sociology. Further, Nkrumah was the leader who led the Gold Coast from 1951 to independence in 1957, then to greater political, social, and economic strides by Ghana, up to 24 February, 1966, when his government was overthrown under the direction of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). In fact, we will posit that Kwame Nkrumah was a well-rounded critical rationalist who was always ready to adjust to conditions and demand signals, if usefully and effectively communicated, except his beliefs in the independence of Ghana and control of African resources by Africans. Many times, Dr. Nkrumah offered several members of the "...right wing...(Matemeho)... party, who believed that Ghana continued to need support from the great capitalist powers...", Dr. J. B. Danquah, for instance, important positions in a Unitary Government of Ghana. Every time, they declined, even as the same people (among them Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia), were collecting treasonous payments from handlers at the American Embassy in Accra, Ghana, and from other clandestine venues. But, writing in 2016, we will not know any of that from Professor Tignor's "extract." On the contrary, according to Professor Tignor: "...If, then, Lewis saw Ghana as a proving ground for his ideas on economic development, later scholars have viewed the Kwame Nkrumah years (1951-66) as a case study of striking failure...From a country that seemed on the threshold of robust economic progress, it descended into economic misery and political instability..." Here are at least four points for the record: 1. It is a historical fact that under Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana won "political kingdom"ship in 1957, that Ghana was stable even after many attempts on Nkrumah's life, until the 1966 coup d'etat. (It was that event, actually, that ushered in periods of "political instability" for Ghana). 2. It is a historical fact that in six short years, between 1960 and 1966 (the year Nkrumah was overthrown), Ghana's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita jumped from $181.00 to $267.00, representing a 47% increase (or 7.83% each one of those 6 years). However, thirty (30) long years after the overthrow of Nkrumah, Ghana's GDP per capita was practically stagnant, increasing just 2.7% each one of those 30 years (from a low $214.00 in 1967 to $386.00 in 1997). 3. It is also a historical fact that the comprehensive, integrated Akosombo Hydro Electric Power-Volta Lake-VALCO" project was a planned, industrial, agricultural, service industry, and economic "take-off" initiative for the fast-track development of Ghana in accordance with the vision of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. As approved by his government, proceeds from sales of some of the electricity to industry and Togo would pay off all elements of the $324 million loan within 30 years, well before the end of the useful life of Akosombo Dam, the anchor asset. 50 years later, the Akosombo Hydro-Electric Dam still remains the most important factor in the Ghana energy mix. And Kwame Nkrumah had a mandate for universities and research centers to begin vigorous studies in Solar Energy in the 1960s! 4. The historical record shows that in 1966, just thirty-three (33) days after Nkrumah commissioned the Akosombo Dam, he was overthrown by the Kotoka-Ankrah-Harlley military-police junta with the knowledge and support of Western powers, among them the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. The big idea is, if Ghanaians had known the true history surrounding the actions and overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah and his Convention Peoples Party (CPP) in 1966, Ghanaians, Africans, and "Afrophiles", as Professor Tignor prefers to call some people, would have wailed and moaned for their "Lost Star of Africa". Critically, it is as well the idea about the absence of a discussion of that international, activist usurpation of the power of the Government of Ghana under Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, that is another regrettable aspect of Professor Tignor's "extract". And, it is an important one, too! It is one that students and scholars will do well to address when analyzing and discussing the President Johnson record and the record of Kwame Nkrumah in the development of Ghana, and Africa, and other states especially those traditionally in the "non-aligned" sphere, versus say the Singapore experience. Truth be told! Even today, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's "Unitary" vision still holds Ghana together even though the "right wing" wanted a confederation, what they call in Ghana, a "matemeho confederate" government. To the point, Kwame Nkrumah achieved his vision for Ghana working with all manner of economists, technicians, and even right wingers, exactly to the extent the US and other more powerful western governments would allow. As such, the only significant fallout Nkrumah had was actually with the western powers who were instrumental in his overthrow, oddly, as Nkrumah was on an aircraft headed to Hanoi, to help negotiate an end to Jimmy Cliff's War in: Vietnam Vietnam Vietnam Maybe, Professor Tignor and others of similar mind will now take time and revisit the Johnson-Vietnam history and the record, then learn a little more about the Ghana record even as represented by notes from "technicians". Maybe, going forward, Professor Tignor and others of similar mind will inform their students and the American public how many Americans and Vietnamese lost their lives, how much more property were destroyed, after Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana was forced to abort his Vietnam mission on that aircraft 24 February, 1966, directly as a result of his overthrow by the United States' CIA (and other western powers), while Nkrumah was outside Ghana on that "Johnson-blessed mission". SOURCES: 1. The Conversation. Ghana: lessons from Nkrumahs fallout with his economic adviser, 1 Mar 16, ( https://theconversation.com/ghana-lessons-from-nkrumahs-fallout-with-his-economic-adviser-53233/ ). 2. Horst W. J. Rittel and Melvin M. Webber. 1973. Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning. Policy Sciences 4, 155-169, Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company. 3. Historian, US State Department. On 12 March, 1966, Robert Komer, Deputy Special Assistant to President Johnson for National Security Affairs wrote a congratulatory assessment to Johnson: ...The coup in Ghana is another example of a fortuitous windfall. Nkrumah was doing more to undermine our interests than any other black African. In reaction to his strongly pro-Communist leanings, the new military regime is almost pathetically pro-Western...The point of this memo is that we ought to follow through skillfully and consolidate such successes. A few thousand tons of surplus wheat or rice, given now when the new regimes are quite uncertain as to their future relations with us, could have a psychological significance out of all proportion to the cost of the gesture. I am not arguing for lavish gifts to these regimesindeed, giving them a little only whets their appetites, and enables us to use the prospect of more as leverage." (Source: https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v26/d201/ ). 4. Prof Lungu. There Was No "Dum-Sor" Under Kwame Nkrumah!, ( http://www.ghanahero.com/Visions/Nkrumah_Legacy_Project/Prof_Lungu/There_Was_No_Dum-Sor_Under_Kwame_Nkrumah-v2.pdf /). Visit for more information: www.GhanaHero.com . Read Mo'! Listen Mo'! See Mo'! Reflect Mo'! Prof Lungu is Ghana-Centered/Ghana-Proud! Subj: RE Ghana: lessons from Nkrumahs fallout with his economic adviser. Twitter: https://twitter.com/professorlungu Support Fair-Trade Oil Share Ghana Campaign/Petition https://www.change.org/p/ghana-fair-trade-oil-share-psa-campaign-ftos-gh-psa/ Brought to you courtesy www.GhanaHero.com7 May 16. First Lady Lordina Mahama has called on all mothers to help end child marriage in Ghana as the world marks Mothers' Day. This was contained in a message she posted on her facebook wall to celebrate mothers on this year's Mothers Day, Sunday. April 8. Mothers Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. Dr Mahama stated that "as a mother, the practice of child marriage breaks my heart and so must it be to all Mothers. It also negatively affects the future of thousands of young girls across Ghana and beyond." Below is the post by the first lady. There are many special days on the calendar to commemorate unique occasions, but one that is universally acclaimed as truly worthy of celebration is MOTHERS DAY! Every day, mothers play the pivotal role of raising and moulding their children. Mothers also unite families and communities to help build a bright and better future for their children. I wish on this occasion to salute all mothers for the unconditional love, unlimited patience, forgiveness and selflessness they continue to show to their children and families. Through the work of the Lordina Foundation, I have travelled the length and breadth of this country and I have come to appreciate the critical role our Mothers play, just to ensure our wellbeing. The best we can do for them, as children and society, is to celebrate this day every day. Indeed, Mothers are Gods gift to mankind and today, much of Ghanas progress is, in no small way, due to the contribution of Mothers to the family, to the community and to the nation. I ask God to bless all Mothers this day and always. As we organise events and ceremonies to celebrate them, let us also remember their role in saving dysfunctional families, broken homes and bitter marriages. Thanking them is inadequate for the sacrifices they make every day. On this occasion of Mothers Day 2016, I wish to encourage Mothers, especially in Ghana and Africa, to participate in the Annual Vaccination Week by ensuring that infants and children receive the requisite free vaccination. We need to collectively prioritise immunisation as a key intervention to reduce child mortality. As President of the Organisation of African First Ladies Against HIV & AIDS (OAFLA), and together with my colleague First Ladies, we have joined hands to strive to achieve our common vision of making Africa a continent free from HIV and AIDS, Maternal and Child Mortality, and a place where women and girls are empowered to enjoy equal rights and opportunities. We are working to guarantee access and investments in life-saving vaccines for Africas mothers, new-borns, children and adolescents. During the recent 7th Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights in Accra, my husband, President John Dramani Mahama launched the Ending Child Marriage Campaign. As a mother, the practice of child marriage breaks my heart and so must it be to all Mothers. It also negatively affects the future of thousands of young girls across Ghana and beyond. I urge all Mothers to support the End Child Marriage Campaign and join forces with Governments to end child marriage. Keep your children in school and allow them to climb the educational ladder rather than marrying them off. Finally, I wish to entreat our Working Mothers not to abandon the long cherished traditional role of providing services and care for the family at all times despite the challenges that confront the working woman. Lets a# Endchildmarriagea H.E. Dr. Nana Lordina Dramani Mahama First Lady of the Republic of Ghana & President of the Lordina Foundation The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigerian has said Fulani herdsmen, who have allegedly been involved in serial killings in various communities in the country, kill their hosts in self-defence. The leader of a delegation of MACBAN to the Defence Headquarters, Senator Dagiri Alkali, said the Fulani moved into new territories in the country because they had been forced out of their territories in the North. He claimed that the Boko Haram insurgents attacked the Fulani in the North-East and other parts of the country and stole millions of cows from the breeders. He added that the Fulani were also victims of the activities of cattle rustlers in Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Plateau, Benue and parts of Kogi states with millions of cows taken away from them. He wondered why people had not taken a look at the factors that had driven the Fulani to different parts of the country, asking where Nigerians expected the herdsmen to keep the over 20 million cows in the country. He added, When the reserves and forest were gazetted and reserved for cattle breeders, this incident was not there; but the increase in population has now wiped out the entire grazing reserves in this country; 400 and something of them all wiped out. And you have a population of about 20 million cows. Where do you keep them? And every one of us likes to eat meat. This is a venture that over 20 million people are engaged in. And nobody cares to know what the causes of this problem are. Presently, you know the case of Boko Haram. They attacked and decapitated the population of Fulani in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe and some parts of Taraba. The cattle rustlers have displaced the Fulani in Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Plateau and Benue and in some parts of Kogi. Millions of cattle have been taken from these herdsmen. So when somebody says a Fulani man killed somebody, I wonder why? How? It's only a poor man that fights. But you, as the military people, you know self-defence is an art. In the military, if you are attacked you have to defend yourself. You have been squeezed; you have to find a way to survive. He said when the Fulani were killed in the bush, nobody carried it in the media, admitting that it was not enough for anybody to kill innocent persons. The Defence authorities have warned that the military would go after those behind the killing of innocent citizens and ensure that they were prosecuted in accordance with the directive of the President to deal with the situation. The Director, Administration, at the Defence Headquarters, Maj. Gen. Fatai Ali, who represented the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Gabriel Olonisakin, said the CDS had set up a committee to interact with the stakeholders on the issue. He warned those involved in violence to stop forthwith as the Federal Government would subject them to the full weight of the law. According to him, the committee, led by Maj. Gen. Edward Nze, had just arrived in Abuja from Benue for such meetings with stakeholders. He stated that the military was working hard to ensure that those who perpetrated the gruesome killings were apprehended. The recent herdsmen and local community clashes in many parts of Nigeria are sources of serious concern. Many lives have been lost. The President has directed security agencies and indeed the military to handle the situation and ensure that no more lives are lost. I want to assure you that the military, in conjunction with other security agencies, is doing everything possible to maintain peace and security in Nigeria in line with the directive of the Commander-in-Chief. 08.05.2016 LISTEN The Bush family is keeping quiet on the 2016 presidential election. Neither of the former presidents George H.W. Bush or his son George W. Bush will endorse a candidate for presidency including Donald Trump PEOPLE confirms. President Bush has no plans to participate in or comment on the presidential campaign, Bush Jr.s personal aide Freddy Ford told PEOPLE about the younger of the two. Meanwhile, Bush Sr. will also steer clear of the ongoing race for the White House. At age 91, President Bush is retired from politics, spokesman Jim McGrath told PEOPLE about the 41st president. He came out of retirement to do a few things for Jeb [Bush], but those were the exceptions that proved the rule. While neither has chosen to support a candidate this time around, Bush the 43rd president has actively endorsed candidates in the past five election cycles, the Texas Tribune reports. After dropping out of the race in February, Jeb publicly endorsed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz . However, after Tuesday nights Indiana primary , Cruz suspended his campaign , leaving GOP front-runner Donald Trump as the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party. Source: yahoo.com Tony Blair: The whole world has a Donald Trump problem John Kasich suspended his campaign, and Ted Cruz dropped out last night. It is now likely that Donald Trump will clinch the Republican nomination and move on to the general election. Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, however, is still hanging on in his battle against frontrunner Hillary Clinton. Sanders, who won the Democratic primary in Indiana last night, celebrated by tweeting The political revolution wins! to his two million followers. Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair has been paying close attention to the Trump and Sanders races and has some thoughts on the popularity of the unconventional candidates. There are insurgent movements to the right and the left that are very populist, very charged with emotion. They've come out of people's angerthey feel that the system isn't responding to their needs, he says. It's a global phenomenon, according to Blair. This is going on in the U.S. with Donald Trump on the one side and Bernie Sanders on the other side, but frankly it's happening all over Europe, he says. Blair's own center-left Labour Party has struggled to find its voice recently. The party is projected to lose 175 council seats in local elections Thursday, which would mark the worst Labour performance in 35 years. As wealth stratification rises in the U.S. and through Europe, Blair says the middle class feels underrepresented by government. Nontraditional politicians are picking up on that anger and using it to boost their campaigns, but Blair warns that anger and answers are two different things, and ultimately we need answers. Blair worries that the popularity of populist politicians will lead to policy that is harmful to the U.S. Isolationism would be a disaster for the West, Blair says. If you start shutting down free trade,you're not going to create new jobs. You may think you are, but you're not, he says. Trump has spoken out against trade agreements such as NAFTA and plans to tighten immigration policy. Blair says the next U.S. president must be fully engaged in world affairs. There are new powers arising, there are big challenges around geopolitics, and I want to see an America that's strong and engaged and providing leadership. Centrist politicians, he adds, need to get their mojo back. Blair believes they come across as stale and out-of-date to disgruntled voters. Candidates, he says, can no longer have a this is complicated, leave it to us, attitude. People are looking at the U.S. and scratching their heads a little bit, [but] it's happening everywhere, says Blair. Source: yahoo.com 08.05.2016 LISTEN From Sebastian R. Freiku, Nkawie ( pick Mr. Isaac Noble Eshun pic) Friend of the Earth-Ghana (FOE- Ghana) and the Rainforest Foundation United Kingdom (RFUK) are partnering to implement a two year Project entitled Community Based Real Time Forest Monitoring to support Forest law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Processes. The project being funded by the United Kingdom (UK) Department for International Development (DFID), will trail community-based monitoring of forest in Ghana by building the capacity of forest for the communities to detect and report illegal forest activities in real time (as and when they happen or are chanced upon) with the use of a mobile phone application and information Technology systems developed by United Kingdom (UK). Mr. Enoch Ampadu the project coordinator said at the launch of the project at Nkawie in AtwimaNwabiagya District of Ashanti last week Wednesday that the project will be piloted for a period of two years. He said the project will be implemented in the Nkawie and Goaso forest Districts of Ghana and three communities relating to one forest reserve will be selected for the implementation of the project and testing of the system. According to Mr. Ampadu, Ghana would be without forest in the next 30 years unless effective measures are taken to reverse those trends of destructive forests corporate logging illegal chainsaw, lumbering, wildfires and farming practices. Statistics available within the forest sector indicate that environmental degradation in the major natural resource sector cost 5-10 percent of Gross Domestic products (GDP), with the forest sector accounting for 63 percent (USD$500 million) of this cost, he noted. The project coordinator, said Ghana has lost more than 33.7 percent (equivalent to 2,500,000 hectares) of its forest, since the early 1990s between 2005 and 2010 adding that the rate of deforestation was estimated at 2.19 percent per annum; the Sixth highest deforestation rate globally for that period. Mr. Isaac Noble Eshun, the Ashanti Regional Assistant Manager of the Forest Services Division (FSD), said forests in Ghana have suffered a serious decline because of over exploitation to meet the growing socio economic need of the population. He noted that one of the biggest environmental challenges facing the country today is the need to reconcile the conflicting demands of the various stakeholders for the dwindling forest resources and hoped that with the community Based Real-Time forest Monitoring Project, the capacity of the forest-fringed communities would be built to correct identity infractions on forest laws and subsequent verification and actions to be taken by appropriate institutions. Pix: Mr. Isaac Noble Eshun, Ashanti Regional Assistant Manager, FSD 09.05.2016 LISTEN National Coordinator of Rebuild Nigeria Initiative, Chief Hope Rex Lawson has urged Nigerian youths to quit cultism and embrace peace in order to secure their future. Lawson, who made the call while addressing a youth gathering in Calabar weekend, argued that cultism and other acts of violence are short cuts to destruction, even as he tasked them to be good ambassadors of their families. The menace of cultism is such that every young person must avoid. Cultism and other forms of violent activities are short cuts to destruction. I wonder why it is difficult for the young people to understand this. Government must also introduce programmes that will enable the repented cultists get rehabilitated. On the violent activities of Fulani herdsmen across the country, Lawson described as unacceptable, the unprovoked attacks on innocent Nigerians and charged law enforcement agencies to rise to the challenge. The primary function of government is the protection of lives and property. It is unacceptable that any group, under whatever guise will wake up any day and begin to slaughter innocent people. Government must rise to the challenge before the situation gets out of hands. We need peace in this country and nobody, no matter the tribe or how highly placed has the right to take the law into their hands. Security agencies must increase their intelligence gathering capacity and ensure that all such evil attacks are nipped on the bud. He however urged the government to implement policies that will enhance the socio-economic wellbeing of the people, while charging the youths to be creative in order to survive the present economic reality. Destiny Ugorji We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message. business DT Cinema deal valuation may be revised: PVR CFO The company is well funded to clinch the transaction, but may require a marginal debt of Rs 50-100 crore, going forward, says Nitin Sood, CFO of PVR Cinemas. you are here: May 08, 2016 North Korea (Again) Announces A Defensive Nuclear Policy It was known to the various experts that North Korea poses no real "nuclear threat". It has sound reason to build nuclear weapon systems and it had never threatened to use them in any offensive capability. But the "western" public learned little of these issue until now. It is somewhat refreshing to find two newspapers today which explain the basic issues. First: Why does North Korea believe that nuclear weapon capability is to its people advantage? Mr. Kim was using the rare political gathering to rally the party behind his so-called byungjin policy. On Saturday, Mr. Kim said that policy was not a temporary step but his partys permanent strategic line. The byungjin or parallel advance policy calls for stockpiling nuclear weapons in the belief that the deterrent would allow the country to focus on economic recovery. During the Korea war North Korea was totally devastated. Nearly a third of its population died. Its industries were destroyed. Hardly any structure with more than one level had not been bombed. Thereafter North Korea poured an immense amount of human and material resources into the build up and maintenance of a large conventional army. The threat from the U.S. army and its South Korean cannon fodder was perceived as huge. All civil development was subordinate to a "military first" policy. Attempts to find some accommodation with the U.S. failed. The probably best chance had been the Agreed Framework of 1994 that would have compensated North Korea for giving up any nuclear plans with hydrocarbon fuel deliveries and commercial nuclear reactors. Both the Clinton and the Bush administration first sabotaged and then abandoned the framework. North Korea then decided to proceed with its byungjin policy. A credible nuclear weapon capability as deterrent against any invasion or decisive strike would allow for massive decreases in front line troops and mass artillery units. The saved expenses and resources would then be used for civil purposes. There are some signs that this strategy actually works. Currently neither the U.S. nor South Korea would dare to attack North Korea even though its nuclear arsenal is only small and unproven. According to some estimates the North Korean economy is now growing at a healthy 7% per years. But "western" hawks, especially the revisionist rightwingers in Japan, want to use the imaginary "nuclear threat" from North Korea to build up their own (nuclear) capabilities. The U.S. military wants to use the "threat" from North Korea to install long range missile defense systems in South Korea. These systems would be useless against any North Korean system but could probably neutralize Chinese capabilities. It is therefore important that North Korea now declared that it would not use its new weapon systems against South Korea or Japan unless these countries themselves deploy nuclear forces against it: During the congress, Kim repeated the line that North Korea would not go on the offensive with its weapons. As a responsible nuclear weapons state, our republic will not use a nuclear weapon unless its sovereignty is encroached upon by any aggressive hostile forces with nukes, Kim told the meeting, according to KCNA. One might argue that such declarative policies are of no value but the seventy years history of nuclear deterrence have been build on such declarations and so far all of these have held what they promised. Posted by b on May 8, 2016 at 10:31 UTC | Permalink Comments The city of Midland is making a good deal paying the Midland Chamber of Commerce $1.7 million to break the chambers lease from a building the city allegedly owns. That is how Midland Chamber of Commerce President Bobby Burns described the transaction, which would be necessary for the city to make the second option of a new Midland Center a reality. Burns said the chamber could seek between $2.1 million and $3.7 million for the remaining time on its lease in the building, which is located just north of Midland Center at the southwest corner of Texas Avenue and Main Street. The building that the Midland Chamber of Commerce occupies -- and even rents out space -- has an unusual background and lease. The city of Midland and Midland Chamber of Commerce signed a 50-year lease in April 1979, according to a Chamber fact sheet. The lease will expire on March 31, 2030. The chamber building was built using Chamber Foundation dollars, but sits on city property, according to Robert Rendall, who serves on the Chambers building committee. The lease is clear that ownership of the building belongs to the city, according to City Manager Courtney Sharp. The Chamber Foundation, as part of the 50-year lease, doesnt pay rent, but does make a $5,600 annual payment -- a ground lease. The Chamber Foundation pays for all maintenance and capital improvements while accepting more than $2,000 in rent from the Convention and Visitors Bureau (recently renamed VisitMidland) and more than $44,000 in rent from the Midland Development Corp. There are about 14 years left on the chambers lease. During talks about building a new Midland Center, two of the three options included tearing down the chamber building. Driving the chamber from its home, according to city and chamber officials, would force the city to pay the chamber for the value of whats left on the lease of the 11,207 square feet. A third party appraised the building; the appraisal came in at $1.68 million. Chamber officials ran scenarios of having to rent the same amount of space in Midlands current market. Those scenarios ranged from $14 a square foot to $24 a square foot, which comes out to $2.183 million and $3.763 million, respectively. Rendall said the chamber building space would be regarded as Class B space in todays market. We took that ($1.7 million figure) to the board, Rendall said. (The Chamber Foundation) said we want to cooperate with the city. They said we are comfortable with using that number. Midland Mayor Jerry Morales added, What a savings this is for us. The Midland Central Appraisal District website indicates the chamber building is valued at $750,480. It also cites the Midland Chamber of Commerce as having ownership of the property and that no taxes are being paid on the building. Technically, chamber owns the building because they have the lease rights, Rendall said. Burns said the Chamber would like to stay downtown and would look at the former Arrington properties as a potential home. The city has yet to put the properties up for bid. Sharp said the possibility of an arrangement like the one with the current chamber building is a possibility. If there is a guarantee that can be made, it is that the Republican nominee for president will carry Midland County. Going back to 1992, the highest percentage a Democrat has collected is around 25 percent. The reality is that Donald Trump, Ted Cruz or John Kasich would have all carried arguably the most conservative of the larger counties in the state. But that doesnt mean Republicans have to like that Trump is the presumptive nominee. Many dont. It will be awfully hard to undo the negative things he has done in the campaign -- especially to the more conservative members of the group, said Ernest Angelo, a former Republican National Committeeman. The specter of Hillary Clinton will move most to bite their tongue and vote for him. Which leads to the predicament for conservatives. This is the third straight presidential campaign conservative voters have had to hold their nose voting for centrist Republican -- following John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012. Books will be written about how the most liberal Republican candidate for president in decades grabbed the nomination. Midlanders, by a more than 2-to-1 ratio, picked Sen. Ted Cruz over the reality TV star/billionaire developer. Many will complain his support for Planned Parenthood or his charged conversations/accusations/descriptions of Hispanics or women should have been an automatic disqualifier. Trump doesnt pass the litmus test many in West Texas use to measure their candidates. However, it can be argued that few conservatives going back to Ronald Reagan measure up. As Midland County Republican Chairman James Beauchamp said, Jesus Christ is not coming back to be the Republican candidate for president in 2016. Beauchamp says the silver lining in GOP voters selection of Trump is that he has proven to be a game-changer. Beauchamp cites Trumps collecting more Republican primary votes than anyone since 1980. Even if blue bloods kept Trump at arms distance, Beauchamp said the presumptive candidate is drawing people to the party and finding a different way to approach the tricky general election map, which generally favors Democrats. Beauchamp also referenced a Pew Research poll that showed more Americans consider themselves or lean Democrat (48 percent) than Republican (40 percent), so while conservatives prefer to take a more conservative road, the metrics indicate that Republicans need to go with the candidate who can guarantee a larger general election turnout. But Beauchamp isnt ready to say a Trump nomination is a nail in the conservative coffin. I am a conservative and if I see more a conservative path I will take it, he said. The reality is, after Trump dominated the March 1 Super Tuesday results, the conservative path was blocked. Trump made sure of that. In an attempt to intimidate his nephew, Aemond threatened to take out Lucerys' eye and later went after the young prince on dragon's back. The situation escalated to a bad one when Lucerys' dragon Arrax blew fire on Aemond's dragon Vhagar. Someone should sue the President for ... It's been a year since the family of a Flagler County man has heard from George Contos. People who lived nearby him are still holding out hope. Deputies found Contos' car at a Palm Coast Ace Hardware store weeks after his disappearance Flagler County Sheriff's Office treating case as "foul play/suspicious disappearance An old flyer still hangs in a neighborhood where 59-year-old George Contos, also known as Uncle Waldo, once lived. Neighbor Lois Silcox said his disappearance has left those who loved him with many questions. We'd always stop and say 'hello' and talk to him," said Silcox. "We just miss the guy. We just wish whoever knows anything would possibly bring him back. Contos was reported missing on May 9, 2015. Family members reported the last time anyone had spoken to Contos was two days before. Deputies found his white Lincoln town car at a Palm Coast Ace Hardware store weeks later. Investigators said Palm Coast's F section is the last place anyone saw Contos before he disappeared. "We certainly consider this a foul play/suspicious disappearance," said Flagler County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Jim Troiano. "Being over a year, we certainly wouldve hoped by now we would've gotten more leads." But they havent given up. Troiano said the case could soon be upgraded to a murder investigation. In January, a billboard offering a $10,000 reward was posted near one of the main roads in the county. Deputies are still hoping for more information from the public. "We want them to know we're working as hard as we can on this case but it's truly going to depend on information from the community," said Troiano. Silcox is hoping someone will come forward with information. "Let the son have some closure," said Silcox. "I mean, Father's Day is coming up. Let the son bury him if he's dead, do something." Anyone with information on Contos disappearance should call Crime Stoppers at 1-888-277-TIPS. A parent volunteer at a local high school in Osceola County stands accused of stealing funds from the student band. Lora Gordon, 43, was a voluteer treasurer for the St. Cloud High School Band's Parent Booster Club Police say Gordon used a debit card linked to the Parent Booster Club account over 70 times for personal purchases St. Cloud Police arrested Lora Gordon on May 3, charging her with grand theft. Gordon, a volunteer treasurer for the St. Cloud High School Band's Parent Booster Club, allegedly used the money to buy lottery tickets and cigarettes, among other personal items. Police launched an investigation after the band director at St. Cloud High noticed unauthorized charges to the Parent Booster Club account. Detectives say the debit card was used nearly 70 times for personal reasons. Unfortunately these are the funds and the hard work of the students who raised the money for band camp, equipment, whatever expenses that they have as a band," said St. Cloud Police spokesperson Denise Roberts. "Now all that money is gone. Police say Gordon also used the debit card to purchase clothing and jewelry, as well as to pay for dining and even a traffic ticket. We were only able to go back to November of 2015, so were actually going to go back even further to find out if there was any other fraudulent charges to the account, said Roberts. Area residents like Ray Lesonn, a 40-year veteran of the music business, were shocked by the crime. For me, thats like taking a leg, taking an arm from me," said Lesonn, who also expressed hope that the incident would not discourage any of students from continuing with music. A spokesperson with the school district says the Parent Booster Club is an outside organization, and that none of its funds run through the school accounts. As for Gordon, shes been released from the Osceola County Jail after posting bail. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is investigating a fire at a Lake County business that injured two of its employees. Fire broke out Saturday at Firepoint Products in Tavares Two employees injured in fire Fire now under investigation by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Several fire crews and police officers responded to Firepoint Products in Tavares Saturday after the building burst into flames, trapping two employees inside. Fire Chief Richard Keith said bystanders and officers had to squeeze the woman out of the garage to save her life. The employees, a man and a woman, were airlifted to Shands Hospital after they were dragged from the building. Their identities have not yet been released. After more than four hours, firefighters were finally able to put out the fire. Marvin Camel said he witnessed big clouds of smoke and a chaotic scene outside the building. "I seen a lot of commotion, people fighting the fires," he said. "This place was packed with fire trucks." Camel said he could see the smoke from at his home nearly a mile away. "The people that they dragged out of there damn near made me cry because I couldn't imagine them going through so much pain," he said. ATF officials say the business has a federal license for explosives, and that the holder of the license is affiliated with the Florida State Fire Marshals. The driver arrested on DUI charges after troopers said he caused a four-vehicle crash near Disney World Saturday has bonded out of jail. Carlos Cintrol Torres, 24, was arrested for DUI manslaughter Troopers said he cause a chain-reaction crash with 3 other vehicles A 15-year-old died in the crash The crash happened around 8:45 a.m. at the intersection of State Road 535 and Meadow Creek Drive, near Disney Springs. Carlos Cintron Torres, 24, was driving a four-door Toyota northbound on SR-535, approaching a stoplight at the intersection, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Troopers said Torres didnt slow down and plowed into other vehicles stopped at the light. His vehicle hit the back of a Toyota with one person inside and a Nissan with four occupants. The crash caused the Nissan to hit the back of a Volkswagen that was also stopped at the light, troopers said. A four-vehicle crash at State Road 535 and Meadowcreek Drive Saturday left a 15-year-old dead. The driver of the Nissan, Roberto Delgado, 47, and a passenger Richard Delgado, 15, were taken to Dr. Phillips Hospital. The 15-year-old died at the hospital. Roberto Delgado remains in serious condition, according to troopers. The other two occupants of the Nissan had minor injuries. The people in the other two cars involved in the crash were not injured. The northbound lanes of SR-535 were closed while troopers investigated. Torres, who is from Kissimmee was arrested on a DUI-drug related charge and DUI manslaughter. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A midsummer runoff will be needed to temporarily fill an East Side legislative seat after Saturdays special election in Texas House District 120 ended with none of the four candidates capturing a majority. The race to fill the unexpired term of former state Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon was reduced to two finalists, neither of whom would serve past Dec. 31 nor participate in a regular legislative session. Heading to the runoff no sooner than July are independent Laura Thompson, the top vote-getter, and Democrat Lou Miller, who finished second. Thompson, a freelance writer and poet, and Miller, an insurance agent, outpaced two other Democrats, consultant LaTronda Darnell and Chris Dawkins, whos in marketing. But neither Thompson or Miller captured a majority of the roughly 2,000 votes cast, forcing the runoff. Saturdays election was ordered by Gov. Greg Abbott in February after McClendon, D-San Antonio, retired with nearly a year remaining on her term. She represented the East Side district from 1996 until Jan. 31. The special election victor will fill the remainder of McClendons current term, through the end of the year. The victor will be sworn in as a Texas House member and could participate in legislative hearings later this year. A different set of candidates is involved in a separate election process that is underway to fill the District 120 seat for the next full, 2-year term starting in January, when lawmakers convene for the next regular session. In the March primaries, no Republican sought the nomination, but six Democrats competed for their partys nod. The resulting runoff is slated for May 24, a showdown that pits Barbara Gervin-Hawkins and Mario Salas. The special runoff election would be held no earlier than July, since state law requires runoffs be about six weeks after the special election votes are canvassed, Elections Administrator Jacque Callanen said. On her Facebook page, Thompson said she works to promote prosperity in the district and the constant thread in my life is service. Miller, who finished sixth in the March primary, campaigned in that race saying hed gained leadership experience as the district governor for Rotary International and served on the city zoning commission and the VIA Metropolitan Transit board. Two people were shot during a gunbattle between two cars on the West Side on Saturday, including a female bystander caught in the crossfire. The shooting broke out between the vehicles at around 9 p.m. in the 1600 block of SW 19th Street, near the Saltillo intersection. The assailants in both vehicles, a grey Chrysler and a dark-colored sedan, remained at large as of Saturday night. Police havent identified any of the individuals involved, and dont have license plates for either of the two vehicles, police said. SAN ANTONIO -- Police are searching for a suspect who allegedly shot a man during an argument Sunday morning on the East Side. San Antonio police and emergency crews were called around 10:30 a.m. to the 600 block of Morningview Drive and Wheatley Avenue on a report of a shooting. Seguin police are searching for a suspect in the homicide of a man found in the 3900 block of Texas 123 earlier this week and need help from the public in identifying two people who may have information. In a Facebook post by the Seguin Police Department Saturday, police said two people, a male and female, are being sought after the body of Gumaro Castaneda-Escatel, 54, was found on May 3. Re: Purge junk science from courtrooms, Editorial, March 10: This editorials declaration that junk science has no place in Texas courtrooms is indisputable. The question is not whether junk science should be accepted in criminal trials but whether the method used to identify and exclude it is proper. The propriety of the editorials proposed method is questionable as a matter of science and law. The editorial asserts that Texas prosecutors and judges should maintain the integrity of the criminal justice system by voluntarily declaring a moratorium on the use of bite-mark evidence in criminal cases as recommended by the Texas Forensic Commission. Prosecutors may make voluntary choices about the evidence they seek to use, but judges may not make such choices in determining whether proffered testimony may be accepted as scientific evidence. There is an adversarial judicial proceeding for determining whether proffered evidence is junk science, and defense attorneys also participate in the proceeding. To illustrate, the state may want to present bite-mark evidence to identify the defendant as the perpetrator. The defendant may want to use bite-mark evidence to show or create a reasonable doubt that a person other than the defendant committed the crime. The judge may not use a recommended moratorium to summarily and arbitrarily prohibit either party from attempting to use the evidence. If either party opposes the others evidence, the opponent will be entitled to a hearing at which the proponent will be required to prove to the judge that the witness is an expert and that the evidence is reliable scientific evidence. Either partys witness may disagree with the forensic commissions conclusions and seek to explain why his or her findings are scientifically reliable. At the hearing, the opposing party will have the opportunity to challenge the expertise and findings of the proponents witness, and show the judge that the proponents evidence is junk science. If the judge finds that either partys evidence is junk science, it may not be used during trial. If, however, the judge finds that either partys evidence was produced by the scientific method, the proponent will be permitted to present the evidence to the jury. The opposing party will have the opportunity to impeach the credibility of the proponents witness, contradict the witnesss testimony with the testimony of witnesses who disagree with the findings, and seek to persuade the jury that the proponents evidence is not believable. The editorial reports that the forensic commission left the door open on the use of bite-mark evidence in the future if more testing and research provide scientific proof that teeth can be matched to markings on human skin. That action reflects the commissions apparent recognition that a scientist who may testify for either the state or the defendant may have conducted the additional testing and research that have produced the scientific proof that the commission found lacking. Whether that has occurred should be determined by a fair hearing at which both parties are permitted to present their opposing contentions to the judge. If the proffered testimony is rejected summarily and arbitrarily based on a moratorium, that determination cannot be made. The editorial asserts that Texas needs to gain a reputation for being tough on the quality of testimony allowed from the witness stand. Perhaps, but being tough by acting arbitrarily is not consistent with maintaining the integrity of the criminal justice system. Arbitrary action is contrary to the scientific method and due process of law. Robert R. Barton is a senior state district judge in Kerrville. A crisis exists right now in nursing-home care, and it has been percolating for some time. Nurses are leaving long-term care and there is no overflowing pipeline of nursing graduates waiting to care for our elderly. You dont have to work in long-term care to understand what that means. As anyone with a loved one in a nursing home knows, nurses are the heart and soul of a care facility. They provide care for residents with complex conditions that require consistent attention and regular follow-up. They know their patients history and are the first line of defense when a residents health declines for any reason. Their patients depend on them, and the comfort from knowing they will see the same nurse at the same time most days goes a long way toward improving the quality of life during a long-term care stay. That critical dynamic is changing and not for the better. Registered nurses in Texas nursing homes have a 94 percent turnover rate, according to 2013 Medicaid Cost Report Data, the highest percentage of nurses leaving positions in skilled nursing care in the nation. Depending on how you look at it, Texas is close to leading another statistic: Texas Medicaid rate for low-income beneficiaries is the third-lowest in the nation. That means the states Medicaid program, which the poorest depend on as a safety net for health care, is near the bottom of the 50 states. Eighty-five percent of the elderly in nursing homes are beneficiaries of Medicaid and Medicare more than two-thirds are Medicaid beneficiaries. The Medicaid reimbursement rate in Texas does not cover the cost of caring for elderly patients, which hamstrings providers ability to adequately compensate staff. Skilled nursing facilities struggle to keep a stable workforce of qualified nurses to care for seniors. They compete with other sectors that offer the same or higher wages, and they are largely unable to reward good employees with meaningful raises or attractive benefits. Skilled nursing facilities strive to hold onto the most dedicated nurses, who are accustomed to long hours, double shifts and little financial compensation. But even the most committed have to support themselves and their families. Almost 50 percent of RNs identified as working in a Texas nursing home or extended care facility in 2009 were no longer working in that facility as of 2014. Moreover, the most recent population data indicate that 3.2 million Texans are older than 65 a number expected to grow to 7.5 million by 2040. Similarly, the percentage of people 85 and older is expected to double over the same span. Long-term care providers face an influx of elderly residents in the near future while grappling with daunting challenges in the present. Somethings got to give, and addressing long-term care policy at the state level is a first step toward ensuring Medicaid covers the cost of caring for the beneficiary. Adequate resources can be applied to attracting and retaining dedicated caregivers who stay in the profession and continue to improve the health outcomes and quality of life of their patients. I commend state legislative leaders who have shown foresight in recognizing the importance of a robust long-term care sector in Texas that is equipped to care for our elderly and allows them to age with dignity and grace. As a long-term care provider, it is my goal to move Texas into a statistic of which we can all be proud highest quality of long-term care delivery in the nation. Those who have chosen to become nurses and care for the elderly are an invaluable and very human resource. We need to honor the commitment demonstrated by nurses every day and preserve their critical role in caring for our most vulnerable. We must also encourage young Texans moving into the workforce to consider a profession that helps those who paved the way for them our seniors. Its time to reverse the trend of nurses leaving long-term care and assure that elderly patients are cared for by the best and the most compassionate. Hilary Danklefs is the facility administrator for Senior Care Centers Mystic Park Nursing & Rehab in San Antonio. And then there were three one presidential candidate left standing on the GOP side but two for the Democrats. Politically, there is something very wrong with this picture. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont should suspend his campaign. With the withdrawal from the GOP race of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee though party leaders are undoubtedly in deep grief over this and some even may be trying to figure a legitimate way to wiggle out. Clinton has enough delegates of all kinds sewn up to assure her nomination, even as Sanders scored another win in Indiana. At this point, Sanders should be thinking beyond the remaining primaries and the July 25-28 Democratic convention in Philadelphia. While Trump can begin his general election campaign against Clinton in earnest, she cant completely go there, though she has been pivoting in that direction since the math became more certain for her. We had urged all the GOP candidates to remain in the race. They didnt, and that leaves Trump and new circumstances that Sanders should consider. There simply arent enough delegates available to him in the primaries ahead to win. That means siphoning off superdelegates. And from available evidence, theyre sticking with Clinton. Sanders concedes an uphill battle and a narrow path to the nomination. But uphill is really tantamount to climbing a cliff face. Sanders has already influenced the partys convention and its platform, and has forced Clinton to leave her more moderate comfort zones. And his campaign and his legions of followers assure him of party influence ahead. He has done his party a good turn by elevating its vision. As it appeared clear that Trump was running away with the GOP race, an increasingly desperate Cruz went highly negative as much as Trump has consistently been. That mustnt befall the Democrats. There have been glimmers of this between Sanders and Clinton, but much more between their followers. It has been downright nasty. This is likely to escalate the longer Sanders stays in the race. And it will be hard for his supporters to come back from that. Does Sanders want Democrats to win in November, or does he want to enhance the chances of a Trump presidency? What he does now will most ably answer those questions. Sanders should suspend his campaign. The topic of physician assisted suicide has dominated the media recently. As you know, the Supreme Court of Canada has found the current Criminal Code prohibition on physician-assisted suicide to be constitutionally invalid and the Liberal Government has drafted a new law, Bill C-14, to address this issue. As the Vice-Chair of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, it is my job, along with my committee colleagues, to do an in-depth study of this bill in a very short time period. This clause by clause study will go well into the evenings this week and next as we dissect this very complex issue. As a committee, we will be considering whether to amend the bill as we work to meet a June 6th Supreme Court-imposed deadline to pass legislation. This is a very difficult and deeply sensitive issue with strong views on both sides. I have been very clear that I do not support physician-assisted suicide as I believe it will significantly undermine the right to life in Canada. However, recognizing that there will be a law enacted, I have expressed my concerns to the Liberal Government regarding the need for effective safeguards to be in place to protect the most vulnerable. I believe that children, the elderly, and those experiencing mental illness all must have their right to life underscored and reaffirmed. I also remain concerned about the long-term protection of the conscience rights of physicians and other health care professionals. While I anticipate voting against Bill C-14, I am committed to supporting positive alternatives such as the strengthening of patient focused palliative care services for all Canadians. There was unanimous agreement from the Special Joint Committee studying physician-assisted suicide of the need for a pan-Canadian strategy on palliative care with dedicated funding. This is needed in order to ensure that those suffering will experience the best care possible. After all, there is no real choice for Canadians facing end-of-life decisions without adequate palliative care options available to them. What I find terribly disappointing is that the Liberals broke their election promise to invest $3 billion in long term care, including palliative care. We know that the desire for physician assisted suicide is just about non-existent with proper palliative care. If the Liberals had kept their promise to invest the funding needed into long term and palliative care, the desire for physician-assisted suicide would be greatly reduced. Residents here in Provencher have been very engaged and vocal on this issue. The majority have indicated that they believe life is precious and want me to strongly oppose any legislation that would open the door for physician assisted suicide. And that is exactly what I plan to do. While I anticipate voting against Bill C-14, I am committed to supporting positive alternatives such as the strengthening of patient focused palliative care services for all Canadians. Posted on 05/07/2016, 6:00 pm, by mySteinbach The Wildfire Program of Manitoba Sustainable Development advises that conditions on the fire near Beresford Lake have worsened and a mandatory evacuation of the Beresford cottage subdivision of Nopiming Provincial Park is now in effect. The fire east of Beresford Lake, near the Manitoba/Ontario border, currently covers approximately 10,000 hectares (ha) while the fire six kilometres northeast of Caddy Lake, on the Manitoba/Ontario border, is approximately 700 ha. Ontario has taken over the suppression operations for this wildfire with Manitoba crews assisting. Burning permits for the eastern, central and western areas of the province remain cancelled and motorized backcountry travel is banned between noon and 7 p.m. daily in southeast Manitoba. The expanded boundary of the restricted area is from PR 302 east to the Ontario border and from the U.S. border north to Lake Winnipeg and now extending north to the Wanipigow River. In Whiteshell Provincial Park, the Hunt Lake, Mantario and McGillivray Falls hiking trails are closed until wildfire conditions improve. For additional information on restrictions in eastern Manitoba, contact the eastern region office at 204-345-1444. For information on restrictions in Ontario call 1-807-548-1919. To report a wildfire, call 911 or the T.I.P. line (toll-free) at 1-800-782-0076. For further general information on the fire situation or current restrictions go to www.manitoba.ca/wildfire. 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The Man Trying To Unseat The Democratic Party Chair NPR (furzy mouse) Why Aprils hiring slowdown may show caution on US economy Associated Press Class Warfare Antidote du jour (furzy): See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here. University spinout signs deal to commercialize microchips that release therapeutics inside the body (Nanowerk News) An implantable, microchip-based device may soon replace the injections and pills now needed to treat chronic diseases: Earlier this month, MIT spinout Microchips Biotech partnered with a pharmaceutical giant to commercialize its wirelessly controlled, implantable, microchip-based devices that store and release drugs inside the body over many years. Invented by Microchips Biotech co-founders Michael Cima, the David H. Koch Professor of Engineering, and Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor, the microchips consist of hundreds of pinhead-sized reservoirs, each capped with a metal membrane, that store tiny doses of therapeutics or chemicals. An electric current delivered by the device removes the membrane, releasing a single dose. The device can be programmed wirelessly to release individual doses for up to 16 years to treat, for example, diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis, and osteoporosis. Michael Cima (left) and Robert Langer Now Microchips Biotech will begin co-developing microchips with Teva Pharmaceutical, the worlds largest producer of generic drugs, to treat specific diseases, with licensing potential for other products. Teva paid $35 million up front, with additional milestone payments as the device goes through clinical trials before it hits the shelves. Obviously, this is a huge validation of the technology, Cima says. A major pharmaceutical company sees how this technology can further their efforts to help patients. Apart from providing convenience, Microchips Biotech says these microchips could also improve medication-prescription adherence a surprisingly costly issue in the United States. A 2012 report published in the Annals of Internal Medicine estimated that Americans who dont stick to prescriptions rack up $100 billion to $289 billion annually in unnecessary health care costs from additional hospital visits and other issues. Failure to follow prescriptions, the study also found, causes around 125,000 deaths annually and up to 10 percent of all hospitalizations. While its first partnership is for treating chronic diseases, Microchips Biotech will continue work on its flagship product, a birth-control microchip, backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, that releases contraceptives and can be turned on and off wirelessly. Cima, who now serves on the Microchips Biotech board of directors with Langer, sees this hormone-releasing microchip as one of the first implantable artificial organs because it acts as a gland. A lot of the therapies are trying to chemically trick the endocrine systems, Cima says. We are doing that with this artificial organ we created. A version of Microchip Biotech's implantable, wirelessly controlled microchip. When an electrical current is delivered to one of the chip's tiny reservoirs, a single dose of therapeutics is released into the body. Wild ideas Inspiration for the microchips came in the late 1990s, when Langer watched a documentary on mass-producing microchips. I thought to myself, Wouldnt this be a great way to make a drug-delivery system? Langer says. He brought this idea to Cima, a chip-making expert who was taken aback by its novelty. But being out-of-this-world is not something that needs to stop anybody at MIT, Cima adds. In fact, that should be the criterion. So in 1999, Langer, Cima, and then-graduate student John Santini PhD 99 co-founded MicroCHIPS, and invented a prototype for their microchip that was described in a paper published that year in Nature. (This entrepreneurial collaboration was the first of many for Cima and Langer over the next decade.) This dime-sized prototype contained only 34 reservoirs, each controlled by an individual wire connected to an external power source. At the time, they considered a broad range of practical, and somewhat fantastical, applications beyond drug delivery, including disease diagnostics and jewelry that could emit scents. We were trying to find the killer application. We thought, I have a hammer, whats the right nail to hit? Cima says. For years, the technology underwent rigorous research and development at Microchips Biotech. But in 2011, Langer and Cima, and researchers from MicroCHIPS, conducted the microchips first human trials to treat osteoporosis this time with wireless capabilities. In that study, published in a 2012 issue of Science Translational Medicine, microchips were implanted into seven elderly women, delivering teriparatide to strengthen bones. Results indicated that the chips delivered doses comparable to injections and did so more consistently with no adverse side effects. After that, the Gates Foundation took interest. It wasnt just a pie-in-the-sky idea anymore were really treating patients, Cima says. That really captures peoples imaginations. That study, combined with ongoing efforts in contraceptive-delivery microchips, led Cima to believe the microchips could someday, essentially, be considered the first artificial glands that could regulate potent hormones inside the body. This may sound like a wild idea but Cima doesnt think so. Consider the thousands of people living today with pacemakers, he says. Pacemakers are delivering an electrical signal, fixing the pace of a heart, or detecting if the heart is not beating correctly, and trying to stimulate it, Cima says. The chip sends an endocrine or chemical signal, instead of an electrical signal. MEMS innovations Microchips Biotech made several innovations in the microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) manufacturing process to ensure the microchips could be commercialized. A major innovation was enabling final assembly of the microchips at room temperature with hermetic seals. Any intense heat during final assembly, with hermetic sealing, could destroy the drugs already loaded into the reservoirs which meant common methods of welding and soldering were off-limits. To do so, Microchips Biotech modified a cold-welding tongue and groove process. This meant depositing a soft, gold alloy in patterns on the top of the chip to create tongues, and grooves on the base. By pressing the top and base pieces together, the tongues fit into the grooves, and plastically deforms to weld the metal together. Each one of these reservoirs, until you open it, [must be] completely sealed from any contaminant in the environment, Cima says. There was no precedent for that. SHARE Licensing courses Larson Educational Services is offering two real estate licensing courses: Real Estate Licensing Course: The eight-day, 63-hour course is required education to obtain a Florida Real Estate Sales Associate license. The eight-day class will be held May 9-13, 16-18 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day at 13040 Livingston Road, Suite 12, Naples. Tuition is $359. Course materials are included. CAM Licensing Course: The two-day, 18-hour course is required education to obtain a Florida community association manager (CAM) license. The course covers Florida CAM licensing requirements, responsibilities, and liabilities and standards of conduct. The two-day class will be held on Saturday, June 11 and Sunday, June 12 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day at 13040 Livingston Road, Suite 12, Naples. Tuition is $269. Register for these classes by calling 239-344-7510 or online at www.LarsonEd.com. Real estate show Jim York, a local Realtor, hosts a real estate update show each week on current issues or trends. Join York every Thursday afternoon from 1:30 to 3 p.m. There will be a different guest who specializes in a current topic each week. Any questions about upcoming topics or to be an audience guest, contact U.S.A. Marketing LLC by email: usamrktggroup@cs.com. All shows can also been seen at NaplesYorkRealEstate.com or their Real Estate News Blog: YorkRealEstateGroupSWFL.com. Building contract awarded Vantage Construction Services, a commercial general contractor, was awarded the contract for a renovation of The Island Health Club at Shell Point Retirement Community in Fort Myers. Work has begun on this project which includes demolition of existing interior structures, expanding the aerobic space, updating the men's and women's locker rooms, offices, cardio, fitness and kitchen areas. While some equipment will be accessible for ongoing use, certain wellness classes and programs, including those open to the public, will be relocated to other Shell Point venues. The renovation work at The Island Health Club is expected to be completed and opened to residents later this summer. Vantage Construction Services LLC is a client-focused construction company providing consulting, pre-construction, general contracting, construction management and design-build services for all facets of the commercial construction industry. Want to know more about Vantage? Go to www.vantageconstructionllc.com. I Transactions Lee & Associates, Naples-Fort Myers, announced these transactions: Horton Group Florida LLC purchased a 2,699-square-foot freestanding, two-story building in the downtown Fort Myers River District at 1853 Victoria Ave. from Ivan Abril for $201,000. Jeff Forsythe negotiated the sale. Unless otherwise indicated, all of the following industrial condominiums are in Intelliflex at 12801-12811 and 12821 Commerce Lakes Drive and were purchased from Intelliflex VH LLC. Next Plumbing purchased 4,800 square feet in Unit 9 & 10 for $320,000. Oakes Commercial Properties purchased 3,072 square feet in Unit 11, 15, 16 & 17 for $230,000. McMenamy Properties LLC purchased 1,536 square feet in Unit 19 for $120,000. Jim McMenamy of Re/Max Commercial represented the buyer. Heritage Point Pure Honey purchased 1,436 square feet in Unit 25 for $110,000. Hops & Barley LLC purchased 1,536 square feet in Unit 3 for $97,500. Bob Johnston, Jerry Messonnier and Derek Bornhorst negotiated the transactions. Investment Properties Corp. (IPC) brokered this deal: Classic Stone Designs Inc. purchased 1,440 square feet from Mega C's Inc. at 5880 Shirley St., Unit 201, Naples. The purchase price was $239,100. William V. Gonnering and Christine McManus of IPC and Mirela Roman of Florida Elite Realty Inc negotiated this transaction. Sweetbay Supermarket in Green Tree Center, as well as two other Naples-area locations, closed in February and remain vacant at yearas end. File SHARE By Laura Layden Shoppers soon can check Sweetbay off their list of supermarket choices. The grocery store shake-up continues in Southwest Florida with most Sweetbay stores rebranding as Winn-Dixies. In Lee and Collier counties, a handful of Sweetbays, including ones in the Naples area, Bonita Springs and Estero, will make the switch this month, closing March 22, then reopening March 28 under their new brand. A lot of the change you are going to see is going to be on the signage. Its not going to be any major remodels at this time, said Mayra Hernandez, a Winn-Dixie spokeswoman. With the change comes different products, rewards and savings programs, including fuel perks. The change is a result of Bi-Lo Holdings LLCs purchase of the Sweetbay, Harveys and Reids supermarket chains from the Delhaize Group, approved by federal regulators last month and expected to get the final nod from the Federal Trade Commission within a few weeks. Bi-Lo, based in Jacksonville, is the parent company of Winn-Dixie, which it bought out in 2012. Founded in the 1960s, its now one of the largest supermarket chains in the U.S. with nearly 700 stores. Locally, most Sweetbay employees will keep their jobs, with offers to stay on with the converted stores. However, a Sweetbay in Golden Gate will permanently close, resulting in dozens of layoffs. The Sweetbay at 4897 Golden Gate Parkway will go dark by March 22. A so-called WARN notice filed with the state in late February says 53 employees will lose work. The notice, required under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act for companies with more than 50 employees, triggers assistance to workers who are losing their jobs. This action is expected to be permanent, the WARN notice reads. There are no bumping rights. Bi-Lo is closing a total of 13 stores in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina as a result of its $265 million purchase of more than 150 stores from the Delhaize Group. In Florida, its shedding three Winn-Dixie stores in St. Petersburg, Tarpon Springs and Seffner, and three Sweetbays, the other two in Dade City and Zephyrhills. Belgium-based Delhaize will keep just two of its stores, turning them into Food Lions. Given the number of stores we are acquiring, we anticipated that we may be asked by (regulators) to divest some stores to close the deal, said R. Randall Onstead, Bi-Los president and CEO, in announcing the closings last month. We also knew that we would have to close a few stores as part of the acquisition. The Sweetbay in Golden Gate is an older store, and its near a Winn-Dixie, at 4849 Golden Gate Parkway, which is staying open. Locally, the converting Sweetbays include stores at 7575 Vanderbilt Beach Road, 8951 Bonita Beach Road and 10026 Coconut Road. There are a handful of others in San Carlos Park, Fort Myers, North Fort Myers, Cape Coral and Lehigh Acres making the switch to Winn-Dixies, with all of them slated to close and reopen on the same dates. Along with its acquisition of Sweetbay, Bi-Lo will take on 10 leases for closed-down stores, including one at 2482 Immokalee Road near Airport-Pulling Road, in the Green Tree Center. Early last year, Sweetbay closed the North Naples store and two others in Collier County, labeling them as underperforming to the surprise of their loyal shoppers. The cuts were part of 33 closings that left 72 Sweetbays in Florida, which Bi-Lo will acquire. As part of last years closings, Sweetbay got rid of the pharmacy at its Bonita Springs store, which will return with the transformation to a Winn-Dixie, employees say. Sweetbay already has started marking down its merchandise, ahead of the conversion, with discounts increasing as closings near. Some shuttered Sweetbay stores in Florida could resurface as Winn-Dixies. Commercial broker Jack Crifasi, whose company handles leasing and management at Green Tree in North Naples, said he expects the now-dark Sweetbay at that shopping center to reopen as a Winn-Dixie, with Bi-Lo already having announced it will acquire that lease. We have heard rumors that Winn-Dixie would be taking over the space, Crifasi said. But it has not been confirmed yet. Possibly, it could be an upgraded Winn-Dixie, following a new format with expanded offerings, such as a deli with restaurant-style entrees, he said. Since the new concept rolled out in the northern part of Florida, it has been well-received, Crifasi said. While there has been interest from others in taking over the roughly 50,000-square-foot spot, including several grocers, the broker said negotiations have been out of his hands, with Sweetbay still in control of the lease. No other businesses have closed at Green Tree since it lost the Sweetbay, he said. The center has been very successful without the anchor, which is very unusual for a shopping center in Naples, Crifasi said. He attributes that success to the centers location at a major intersection in North Naples, surrounded in every direction by homes. The tenants are doing very well, Crifasi said. I only anticipate an even better outcome for the tenants once an anchor grocer is in place here. What will happen to the two other Sweetbays that Collier lost last year seems more uncertain, with other national chains showing interest, including a health club, local brokers say. Those shuttered stores are at 5926 Premier Way in Magnolia Square, at the northeast corner of Goodlette-Frank and Pine Ridge roads, and at 4015 Santa Barbara Blvd. in the Countryside Shoppes, near Radio Road. Asked about the fate of those stores, Hernandez, representing Winn-Dixie, said she had no answers yet. That is still being determined, she said. The landlord says leave: Renters face uncertainty post-Hurricane Ian First, Hurricane Ian damaged their home and rocked their neighborhood. Then their landlord told them to get out. In this file photo, a boardwalk heads into cypress trees at the Kirby Storter Roadside Park in the Big Cypress National Preserve on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014, in rural Collier County. (David Albers/Staff) SHARE By Eric Staats of the Naples Daily News Conservation groups are considering their legal options in the wake of a final sign-off by the National Park Service on a Texas company to look for oil in the Big Cypress National Preserve. Burnett Oil Co. wants to use specially designed off-road vehicles to drive through 70,000 acres of the 700,000-acre preserve in eastern Collier County, stopping at spots to vibrate steel plates against the ground and see whether seismic signals from underground indicate geologic formations that might contain oil or gas. After a nearly two-year review that triggered protests and political maneuvers, federal regulators issued a finding late Friday that the work would have "no significant impact" on the preserve's forests and wet prairies or the wildlife that live there, including endangered Florida panthers. If Burnett decides it wants to drill for oil, that would require the company to submit a new plan that would be subject to another round of federal review and public input. Before it can start seismic testing, the company must formally agree to follow various measures meant to lessen environmental damage. They include working around colonies of wading birds and nests of endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers, using existing trails and roads when possible and sending monitors ahead of the seismic testing trucks to look for gopher tortoises, Eastern indigo snakes and burrowing owls. "We look forward to beginning the process and continuing to work with our state and federal partners at every step of the way," Burnett Oil President Charles Nagel III said in a statement released after the federal announcement Friday. Conservation groups also were quick to issue their own statements condemning the long-awaited decision. "We are surprised and very sad that after years of contentious management of one of the most biodiverse but fragile public lands in our National Park System, the service has decided to move forward in this reckless manner," South Florida Wildlands Association executive director Matthew Schwartz said. Schwartz said the group is consulting with its allies against the seismic testing plan on a "legal response" under the act that set up the National Park Service, the Wilderness Act, the Endangered Species Act and the law that set up the preserve in 1974. The National Park Service released Burnett's plans for public comment in June 2015, and an environmental assessment was issued for public comment in November 2015. After the first round of public comments, Burnett changed its plans. A second assessment was released for public comment in March. An overflow crowd from all over South Florida packed a room at the Big Cypress Swamp welcome center in December for a hearing on the seismic plan. About 80 opponents rallied outside the hearing room, carrying signs that said "Oil: Not Worth a Panther's Whisker" and "Kill the Drill Deny the Permit." And in January, Florida Sen. Bill Nelson called on Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to conduct a more in-depth review of Burnett's plans. The agency did not agree. Environmental advocates' march across the Everglades earlier this year along U.S. 41 East included a stop at Big Cypress National Preserve headquarters to deliver a stack of petition signatures against the seismic testing plan. Oil exploration, even drilling, is nothing new in the Big Cypress preserve, which is part of the National Park Service system but falls under different rules than national parks. Discovery of oil in Southwest Florida dates to the 1940s. The Collier family, the county's namesake, kept its oil and gas rights when they sold the original preserve the National Park Service. Oil production in the preserve already has included 23 wells on nine pads in Exxon's Bear Island field and 17 wells on five pads in Exxon's Raccoon Point fields. Shell and Mobil also have conducted seismic testing in the preserve. Burnett's plans include two groups of three seismic trucks working simultaneously in the preserve, covering 2.5 square miles a day, stopping at each survey point for about two minutes each. Vibrations would last less than 30 seconds at each stop. The federal review predicted that field activities could be accomplished in one dry season, and field crews would work around wildlife buffer areas, soft soils or dense woods, according to Burnett's plan. The view of Moorings Bay from Park Shore Marina in Naples on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016. (Dorothy Edwards/Staff) By Eric Staats of the Naples Daily News Moorings Bay, at the center of neighborhood concerns about boating safety, would get new boat speed zones under two proposals that have cleared hurdles on their way to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Boaters have been pushing for new zones including launching a losing court fight since the city removed signs earlier this year that had marked speed zones in Moorings Bay for decades. The Conservation Commission ordered the signs taken down in the wake of a judge's ruling in 2014 that tossed out the city's speed zone law after charter boat captains challenged speeding tickets on Naples Bay. Last week, the Naples City Council voted unanimously to petition the Conservation Commission for permission to install new boat speed zone signs near Moorings Bay bridges and the Park Shore Marina. And, last month a Collier County speed zone review committee, at the city's request, voted to recommend that the Conservation Commission adopt a more comprehensive slow speed zone on Moorings Bay for manatee protection. Naples' double-pronged approach to restoring at least partial speed zone coverage to Moorings Bay falls short, Moorings Bay boater Michael Crofton said. "We're very keen that the city do more," he said. Crofton asked a judge earlier this year to issue an emergency order to require the city reinstall the old boat speed zone signs, but the judge found that Crofton had not proven that a lack of signs creates a safety hazard or that reinstalling signs the state has deemed illegal would be in the public interest. On the heels of that defeat, Crofton is leading an effort to convince the newly elected City Council to petition the Conservation Commission to put speed zones at Moorings Bay's blind corners as a first step toward enacting a speed zone for boater safety over all of Moorings Bay. "We don't think one should simply stand by and wait for the manatee protection plan to come into play," Crofton said. A Moorings Bay manatee protection zone might not take effect until spring 2017 and still must get approval by the Conservation Commission's governor-appointed board, which is not bound by the county committee's recommendation in favor of a manatee zone. The county manatee zone review committee, comprised of five manatee advocates and five boating advocates, voted 8-1, with one member absent, to recommend the Conservation Commission enact a manatee zone in Moorings Bay. Manatee protection zones require boats to slow down as a way to keep boaters from striking, and sometimes killing, manatees that can be hard to see in the water. Manatee zones are common in waters all over Florida. Supporters of a manatee zone in Moorings Bay cite aerial surveys between 2006 and 2008 that counted 12 manatees in Moorings Bay compared to between one and five manatees counted in other county waterbodies that already have manatee zones. Manatee density is greater in Moorings Bay than in Naples Bay, which also has manatee zones. In a letter to the Conservation Commission in March, Naples Councilman Doug Finlay called it "inconceivable" that the state agency would maintain manatee zones in similar waterbodies, such as Vanderbilt Lagoon, and then reject the same zones for Moorings Bay. Review committee Chairman Jim Kalvin, a longtime Florida boating advocate, cast the sole vote against the zone, saying the bay should have a speed zone for public safety not for manatee protection, which he said gives the state unwelcome regulatory control. Manatee sightings are "extremely low" in Moorings Bay which does not have food sources, fresh water or warm water refuges to attract them and data show manatee deaths in Moorings Bay are not boat-related, Kalvin wrote in a minority report from the committee. "It is my opinion that the city of Naples used the manatee issue as a 'tool,'" Kalvin wrote. May 7, 2016; Louisville, KY, USA; Luis Saez aboard Brody's Cause (left) races in the pack during the 142nd running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports By Greg Stanley of the Naples Daily News Brody's Cause, the thoroughbred owned by Dennis Albaugh of Marco Island, was never able to recover from his starting position on the outside of the field at the Kentucky Derby. From his start at the 19th post, the colt sprang out to the middle of the pack by the first turn and remained there for the rest of the race. Albaugh knew Brody's Cause would have to come from behind to have a chance at winning, as the horse has done in the past. He's not much of an early sprinter. Instead, the 3-year-old is known for his late long surges and thrilling finishes. Related: Nyquist sweeps to Derby to stay unbeaten But behind the talented and crowded field in the derby, Brody's Cause wasn't able to close the gap and finished in 7th place. Before the race, Albaugh said it was an honor and a thrill just to own one of the 20 horses to make it to the prestigious race. To be considered a top four or five contender was an accomplishment itself, Albaugh said. Brody's Cause entered the day as the fifth-ranked horse in the field. But by the time the race began his odds had fallen from 12-1 to 24-1, which is partly a sign of the late money bet on favorite Nyquist, who won the race on a late surge of his own. Dozens watched the race from TV screens as the sun set over Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Track. Judging from cheers alone, most of the local money had been bet on Nyquist. Rosalee McKinley, 86, said she bets the Kentucky Derby every year. She placed some money down on the favorite, but the North Naples seamstress was really hoping one of her long shots would pan out. "I hit it big a couple years ago and keep hoping I will again," McKinley said. --- RELATED STORIES: Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk presents an award to Nicole Damigos for her work with the SWFL Missing Persons Facebook page. Damigos and five other administrators share pictures and information about missing persons in Collier, Lee, Charlotte, Glades and Hendry counties. (Photo courtest of Collier County Sheriff's Office) SHARE By Alexi C. Cardona, Alexi.Cardona@naplesnews.com After Bonita Springs resident Heather King went missing last year, Nicole Damigos and four other women started the SWFL Missing Persons Page on Facebook. King, 21, was last seen leaving a friend's birthday party at the Days Inn on Tollgate Boulevard in East Naples on a Thursday night in May. Days later, King's father found her body in a wooded area behind a hotel adjacent to the Days Inn. "A lot of people talked about how they didn't see or hear a lot about her case, and next thing they knew her body was found," Damigos said. "They wished there was more of an effort to find her and circulate pictures and information about her around. We created this page to keep people aware." Last week, Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk honored Damigos, 31, and the administrators of the SWFL Missing Persons Page for their advocacy for missing persons in Southwest Florida. "The page came about because of public concern about how missing persons cases are handled in the county," said Chief Stephanie Spell, who heads the Collier County Sheriff's Office's community engagement department. "We met with Nicole around the time the Heather King case unfolded. The Sheriff's Office tries to be active on social media. Having this page has helped us have another direct line to the public to convey information and work together." The Collier County Sheriff's Office takes 400 to 450 missing persons reports per year. The Facebook group has more than 6,000 members and partners with law enforcement in Collier, Lee, Charlotte, Glades and Hendry counties. The administrators of the page, now six, keep track of reports of missing person in the five counties and share pictures and information until the person is found. "We don't work for law enforcement, and we're not a tip line," Damigos said. "We're a support system. We try to make sure people understand that because we don't want valuable tips to get lost in Facebook comments instead of being reported to the authorities." Group administrators have met with families of missing people to console them or hold vigils if they have reached out. "We're all stay-at-home moms. We wanted to figure out something we could do for ourselves that would benefit the community," Damigos said. "When we realized how many people go missing in Southwest Florida, we knew that was what we wanted to do." There are some challenges in keeping up with the page, she said. They mostly only circulate information about local missing persons cases but will share cases of national interest as well. Sometimes the influx of members and posts is a lot to manage, Damigos said. "It has been overwhelming at times, but it's good that people care and participate," Damigos said. When the group reported the case of a Lee County girl who ran away and became involved with drug dealers, some of the group's administrators began receiving threats and had to back off. "We were concerned for our safety for a while," Damigos said. Damigos said the group works hard to keep negativity and rumors from spreading in the comments sections of the page. Their main concern is to help in some way get people back home safely. "We acknowledge that people who go missing are sometimes habitual runaways or people struggling with drugs and addiction," Damigos said. "That doesn't matter. Someone still misses them and wants them back." By Greg Stanley of the Naples Daily News One of the hats was nearly 4 feet tall and had to be propped up by hand from the back whenever its owner turned her head. Another was complete with model horses buzzing around the twin spires of Churchill Downs. More than a few were affixed with authentic Kentucky Bourbon. About 50 contestants and well-wishers celebrated the Kentucky Derby on Saturday at the Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Track by donning their best or most outrageous derby hats. Burton Cebulski, 84, wore the black top hat his father wore at his 1929 wedding. He lined the Great Depression-era hat with $2 bills. "It's getting pretty worn around the rim," Cebulski said. Rosalee McKinley, 86, attends the contest every year before placing a bet on her favorite horses. The retired interior decorator and seamstress wore a red hat with a small toy horse around the rim at the starting gate. It was pinned with a red rose she grew at her Naples Park home. "I'm probably the oldest person here," McKinley said. "I love to decorate and I just love to watch what people come up with every year. It's exciting." McKinley bet on Nyquist this year, the Kentucky Derby favorite and eventual winner, along with three heavy underdogs. "One of them has got to win," she said. Patsea Smith of Fort Myers Beach brought a ridable knee-high stuffed horse as an accessory. The winner, Nancy Dailey of Fort Myers, comes to the event every year with her daughter Debbie Dailey. Nancy, who took away $1,000 for her effort, wore a heavy hat with a horse atop a rotating disco ball, while Debbie made a track of Churchill Downs out of an old Christmas wreath. The mother-daughter team used to show horses and watch the derby every year. "We just love it," Debbie Dailey said. By Ashley Collins, ashley.collins@naplesnews.com Immokalee waited this weekend to learn the names of four men and a woman involved in a rollover crash that killed three of the men along Interstate 95 in northeast Florida. The Florida Highway Patrol reported that the victims, all from Immokalee and four of whom were between 19 and 25 years old, were riding in a 2002 Ford Explorer on northbound I-95 in Flagler County, south of St. Augustine, on Saturday when the 25-year-old driver lost control near mile marker 295, close to the Matanzas Woods Parkway exit. The driver and a 24-year-old female passenger were transported with critical injuries to the Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach. Troopers have yet to release any information about whether or not the driver and passengers in the Explorer were related or why they were traveling on Interstate 95. Their names are not being released until their families are notified. One of the men killed was wearing his seat belt, and one of the passengers that died did not have an age listed in the FHP report. The crash occurred at 1:56 p.m. and closed northbound lanes of the interstate until almost 7 p.m. Troopers reported that the Explorer was traveling northbound on I-95 and attempted to cross into the middle lane at the same time as a 2013 Ford F150, driven by 66-year-old Lonnie Grant of South Carolina. In an attempt to avoid collision, both drivers steered their vehicles away, but the driver of the Explorer overcorrected and veered across the northbound lanes of I-95, rolling over multiple times. The vehicle came to a final rest on its roof in the grass east of the interstate. The driver of the F150 wasn't injured. SHARE Richard McCormick, right, PulteGroup Division president, South Florida market, leans in to tell Geoffrey Heath, 33, left, and wife, Lara Heath, 32, of their free home Friday, May 6, 2016 at Corkscrew Shores community in Estero, Florida. PulteGroup surprised Heath, a retired Marine Corps sergeant, and his family with a brand new mortgage-free home. Pulte Homes and Cameratta Companies gave away the homesite within the 722-acre gated community and PulteGroup gifted the home. The offering is part of its national "Built to Honor" program for wounded veterans across the country. The build is in partnership with Operation Finally Home. (Corey Perrine/Staff) Geoffrey Heath, 33, center, Logan Heath, 10, center left, and Lara Heath, 32, center right, look on as Rowan Heath, 7, bottom center left, and Harlow Heath, 4, overturn dirt in a groundbreaking Friday, May 6, 2016, at Corkscrew Shores community in Estero, Florida. PulteGroup surprised Heath, a retired Marine Corps sergeant, and his family with a brand new mortgage-free home. Pulte Homes and Cameratta Companies gave away the homesite within the 722-acre gated community and PulteGroup gifted the home. The offering is part of its national "Built to Honor" program for wounded veterans across the country. The build is in partnership with Operation Finally Home. (Corey Perrine/Staff) Geoffrey Heath, 33, from left, Logan Heath, 10, Harlow Heath, 4, Lara Heath, 32, and Rowan Heath, 7, are greeted by unexpected support after being given a free home Friday, May 6, 2016, at Corkscrew Shores community in Estero, Florida. PulteGroup surprised Heath, a retired Marine Corps sergeant, and his family with a brand new mortgage-free home. Pulte Homes and Cameratta Companies gave away the homesite within the 722-acre gated community and PulteGroup gifted the home. The offering is part of its national "Built to Honor" program for wounded veterans across the country. The build is in partnership with Operation Finally Home. (Corey Perrine/Staff) Then-Lance Corporal Geoffrey Heath, shown in this 2005 photo, missed the birth of his first child, while he serving as a rifleman with Company K, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, in Iraq. (Photo by Cpl. Shane Suzuki) Related Photos Operation FINALLY HOME By Maryann Batlle of the Naples Daily News For Geoffrey and Lara Heath, milestones have come with little fanfare. The couple married "in some guy's living room" a few years after they met in high school. The next day, Geoffrey Heath left to fulfill his duties as a U.S. Marine. When their first child, Logan, was born in the United States, Geoffrey Heath was serving in Iraq. Years later, Geoffrey Heath's military career ended in Afghanistan. An explosion shattered his body. The hero returned in need of care. "There have been times I have been jaded, completely disenchanted," Geoffrey Heath said. "(But) I've had an excellent family life, and a woman who stood by my side." Friday morning, some of the hardship slipped away. The Heaths came home. *** Motorcycles escorted a silver sedan down a neighborhood street flanked with people waving little American flags. The procession came to rest near a white tent that hinted at more ceremony. Inside the silver sedan, Lara and Geoffrey Heath needed explanation. Rusty Carroll, executive director of Operation Finally Home, leaned into one of the car's windows. The Heaths are recipients of a mortgage-free house in Corkscrew Shores, a new community on the eastern fringe of the village of Estero. He stepped back. The secret was out. Cheers rose from the crowd, louder and louder. Geoffrey Heath chuckled in the passenger seat. His chest swelled as he caught his breath. A group of reporters with cameras and cellphones descended. He smiled. "How y'all doing?" Geoffrey Heath said. *** The Heath application made its way to the right people. Operation Finally Home is a Texas nonprofit that connects homebuilders with wounded military vets or their surviving spouses. "We simply just bring good people together to do good work," Carroll said. "It's hard to discern who enjoys it most the family that's getting the home or those that are putting their time, effort and services into providing it." Corkscrew Shores is a joint venture between Pulte Homes and Cameratta Companies. Carroll said Pulte, the builder in Corkscrew Shores, has provided 32 homes through Operation Finally Home and has about another 10 homes in the works. The Heath family was chosen, in part, because of Geoffrey Heath's character, Carroll said. "He's obviously served his country. He's sacrificed," Carroll said. But the family also stood out because of their struggle. Operation Finally Home helps those having trouble with life's "humps" after the military, he said. The group's mission is to provide those families with guaranteed shelter so they can move on with their lives. "They can't get over it based on the service and sacrifices, so we try to look for that character piece that spark," Carroll said. During Geoffrey Heath's recovery, Lara Heath earned a teaching certificate to help pay the bills. Logan, 10, now has two younger sisters Rowan, 7, and Harlow, 4. Lara and Geoffrey Heath are from Miami. They wanted to buy a home in Florida so their children would grow up in the same state they did. The family ended up in Jacksonville, North Carolina. "We wanted to come back," Lara Heath said. "We looked and looked for months and months. "We wanted to give them roots." *** The Heaths posed for photos, each with shovel tips stuck in the ground where their new home will be built. In about four months, the Heath family's nearly 2,000-square-foot home will stand on that lot. Each of the children will get a room of his or her own. Construction begins this week, said Rich McCormick, president of Pulte's South Florida division. At the construction halfway mark, those involved in creating the house will write "notes of love" to the Heaths on the wall frames, said McCormick. The Heaths will come back to see it, and then the drywall will go up. "It will be there forever," McCormick said. After the ceremonies and photo opportunities, Geoffrey Heath already felt the love. Even though he was the one getting a house, people stood in line to shake his hand and thank him. "This is insane," Geoffrey Heath said over and over. They thought they were meeting with builders for an interview, he said. They thought nothing had been decided. Instead, the Heaths would pick paint colors that afternoon. "This is just incredible. What these people have done for me and my family," Geoffrey Heath said. "I'm just absolutely grateful." SHARE 2016 elections As certainty begins to set in for a fall matchup between presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and the expected head of the Democratic ticket, Hillary Clinton, excitement isn't palpable in Southwest Florida. Anecdotally, we're hearing from voters who say, if this is going to be the matchup, they'd just as soon stay home in November, thank you. Party leaders, election offices and get-out-the-vote organizations have their work cut out for them in the coming months, presuming this is where we end up after the July Republican and Democratic nominating conventions. Presidential elections typically bring out the strongest turnout, which carries a side benefit because it means more voters weighing in on other races and issues. In Collier County, turnout in November 2012 was 83 percent, which was even stronger than the 70 percent in the 2008 presidential election. Contrast those with the 61 percent turnout in the November 2014 midterm. In Lee County, voter turnout in the 2008 presidential election was about 85 percent. That dropped to about 69 percent in November 2012, when long lines and other election day problems created a meltdown. That still was far better than the 52 percent recorded in the November 2014 midterm. Taking a pass At the beginning of this year, we suggested the folks who will determine the outcome of meaningful elections this fall are those who decide to stay away. If you're among those not excited about the 2016 presidential matchup, there is still too much at stake to disconnect. The ballots become official statewide, as well as in Lee and Collier counties, the week of June 20-24. We'll know who wants to become U.S. senator to replace Marco Rubio. We'll see the ballot take shape for U.S. House seats that are up every two years and for several state legislative seats in the region. In Collier, there will be majority-swaying elections for County Commission and School Board. In Lee, the School Board expands to seven seats. Both counties vote for constitutional offices, including sheriff and clerk of courts, along with independent fire district races. The money belt The Naples area historically has been a money belt during major national election cycles. Not this time, so far. Delving into the Federal Elections Commission database for candidates and political committees furthers our concern about people disconnecting from this election. That database includes contributions to political party national committees, candidate campaigns and political action committees. In coastal Naples and Marco Island ZIP codes, going back more than 15 years, donations were bountiful in past election cycles but sparing in the latter half of 2015 and so far in 2016. We also searched 20 recognizable names of Collier County's major landowners and developers, political activists, noted philanthropists and residents who head major companies. Same result: not much in donations. Take the 34102 ZIP code for the southern coastal half of Naples, where some $13 million of contributions are in the database going back more than 15 years. Or the 34103 ZIP code for the northern coastal half of Naples, with more than $6 million of contributions in those years. Donations in recent months are so infrequent, a $224.59 fall contribution by a Naples homemaker to a Trump committee sticks out. Clinton got some support in her 2008 presidential bid; this time, not so far. Vote by issues If you're among those turned off by Trump-Clinton, we'd suggest focusing on issues specifically important to Southwest Florida and compare their positions. Immigration comes to mind, as does normalizing relations with Cuba. What will they do to move legislation forward to free up stalled projects toward Everglades restoration? What about the environment in general, including global warming? Agriculture is a multibillion-dollar industry here, so where do they land on those agreements specifically, and trade in general, since we need to diversify our economy. Make your own list and see which candidate fits for you. And while you study up in the coming months to vote, make sure you tune in on those all-important state and local contests as well. SHARE Ed Ruff, Pelican Bay Cartel The Daily News recently published an Associated Press article: Fla. heroin, fentanyl deaths skyrocket. All articles written by the AP, Washington Post and Bloomberg News on this subject overlook several salient facts. The article does say: "Fentanyl, which can be 50 times stronger than heroin, is a prescription drug, but street varieties from China (via Mexico) and Mexico are flooding communities." What they don't ever say is that many of those who came here illegally from South and Central America and Mexico carried a back pack of these drugs across the Mexican drug cartel's drug and human trafficking routes as payment for safe passage across our Southern Border. If they don't agree to smuggle drugs, they are summarily executed. Backgrounder #2568 on Immigration from June 2011: "In August 2010, 72 would-be illegal immigrants from Mexico were lined up and executed, their bodies discovered on a remote ranch a mere 90 miles from the U.S. border. The drug gang responsible for the kidnapping and murders, Los Zetas, captured its victims as they traveled through Tamaulipas, presumably on their way to cross the border illegally into the United States. When the 72 people refused to work for the gang, they were executed." This warning is standard operating procedure for the cartels. American journalists take heed. These same cartels have killed many Mexican journalists for reporting their brutal criminal activity. Have you ever read that in this or any other paper? Maybe that's why our press gives them a free pass. Cartels operate in more than 1,400 American cities, according to the FBI. I posted a 71-page history of illegal immigration on Sept. 11, 2013 at www.bypopularamendment.com if you are interested. SHARE Mary and Ron DeLeskie, Naples Transgender We found letter writer Vickie Hoelzer's solution to the transgender bathroom issue (putting three port-a-potties outside the regular bathrooms) hurtful and very misinformed on the whole issue. Transgender people do not choose to have this gender orientation. They are people who are trapped in the wrong physical birth body. This is a very serious issue for transgender people and not to be made light of. Dr. Norman Spack, a noted Boston physician, has an excellent series of TED talks on transgender identification for further clarification. As the grandparents of a brilliant and beautiful teen-aged transgender female, we realize that the reality of transgender is new to many of us. We believe it is important that people be aware of this medical reality. A civilized and caring society needs to be educated in order to stop all forms of discrimination to all our sisters and brothers in the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community. SHARE Jack Levine Tallahassee Founder, 4Generations Institute By Jack Levine, Tallahassee Founder, 4Generations Institute As a family policy advocate, my priority is promoting policies and programs that make a difference in the lives of children who need protection and guidance to improve their chances for life success. That's why I'm a supporter of Florida's Guardian ad Litem program, a valuable example of citizen involvement for vulnerable children. I am honored to share that I've been a Guardian ad Litem advocate since the program's inception 35 years ago. A Guardian is a community volunteer appointed by a judge to advocate for the best interests of a child in Florida's dependency court system. The Guardian becomes familiar with the child and the child's case and makes recommendations to the court to help ensure a safe, caring, stable and permanent environment for that child. The Guardian ad Litem program is managed by a dedicated staff statewide and in each of Florida's 20 judicial circuits. They recruit, train and supervise volunteer citizen advocates who diligently represent children. Each volunteer is a member of a team with a staff supervisor and program attorney. Florida's Guardian ad Litem program is now celebrating a monumental milestone, reaching a goal of 10,000 volunteers the highest level of participation in the nation. Gov. Rick Scott and Florida's Legislature are to be commended for their advocacy of the Guardian ad Litem program through investments of needed administrative staff support. Despite this great progress in recruitment of Guardian ad Litem volunteers, there are many children in our state who have been removed from their homes for alleged abuse, abandonment or neglect, who are now the focus of a dependency court proceeding and do not have the benefit of an advocate. These children need someone who will speak up for them. To learn how you might lend your voice to this vital and life-changing program, here are a few key questions you may have and answers you need to consider in becoming a Florida Guardian ad Litem: Am I eligible? Persons 21 years of age and older who successfully complete the pre-service training program and have a clean background check are eligible. Young adults between 19 and 21 years of age also are eligible, working under the guidance and partnership with a certified volunteer Guardian ad Litem. How much time will I be asked to commit? A volunteer Guardian will successfully complete 30 hours of pre-service training. On average, volunteers spend 10 hours a month on a child's case. Most cases last 10 months. How do I get started? For more information and an application, go to www.guardianadlitem.org. Click on the icon "Become a GAL Volunteer." Taking steps in the right direction to protect children and help pave a positive path to their future is a worthy investment of time and talent. Making a difference in the life of a child has impact across the generations. __ Levine is founder of Tallahassee-based 4Generations Institute, an initiative dedicated to uniting generations for mutual benefit. He may be reached at jack@4gen.org Key players in 2022-23 Silly Season Can you hear it? Just listen. That is the sound of the NASCAR rumor mill starting up, and there are plenty of questions to answer for 2023. Brands whose "natural" labels are largely meaningless, as products can contain toxic chemicals and GMOs (NaturalNews) It is becoming increasingly difficult to navigate grocery store aisles and identify products that are truly natural and organic. Even at many popular health food stores and grocery chains, brands are tacking on the word "natural" to their products, even when they contain conventional agrichemical residues, genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), hexane solvent residues, and various other harmful ingredients.has been reporting on the Cornucopia Institute's (CI) release of a report entitled. In this report, CI explains that many popular "natural" brands, some of whom used to sell mostly or strictly organic foods, are preying on the consumers desire for wholesome, healthy foods by marketing conventional foods as "natural" -- and they are actually selling these products at a premium price!CI has created an Organic Cereal Scorecard by which consumers can evaluate various "natural" and organic brands to determine which ones are legitimate, and which ones are not. You are sure to be shocked (as we also were) to learn that many popular brands of cereal and granola marketed as healthy and "natural" are loaded with GMOs and various agriculture chemical residues. These brands received the lowest ratings and overall scores by CI for failing to live up their "natural" marketing hype. Post Natural (Ralcorp Holdings / Public Corporation) OLA! (OLA Foods, LLC / Independent Company) Mom's Best (Malt-O-Meal / Independent Company) Nutritious Living (Organic Milling Co. / Independent Company) General Mills (General Mills / Public Corporation) Bear Naked (Kellogg / Public Corporation) Udi's Granola (Udi's Granola / Independent Company) Bakery on Main (Bakery on Main Inc. / Independent Company) Kashi (Kellogg / Public Corporation) Three Sisters (Malt-O-Meal / Independent Company) Dorset Cereal (Dorset Cereals)Be sure to read the details for each brand's rating by clicking its associated link, which has been provided above.It is no surprise to see the usual suspects like Post and General Mills in the worst overall category. But many readers may be shocked to learn that brands like Mom's Best, Udi's Granola, Bear Naked, and Kashi -- all of these "natural" brands are marketed as superior to conventional varieties, and are sold at a premium price -- are also included.But it gets worse. Several other popular " natural " brands including Barbara's Bakery, Peace Cereal, and Back to Nature, scored in the second-to-worst category, as many of the products sold under these brand names are not only conventional rather than organic, but some even contain up to 50 percent GMO ingredients.You can read more about the worst and best brands of cereal and granola in the CI report Residents of Haikou City in China were shocked last Wednesday after noticing that a large part of Hongcheng Lake was covered with dead white and yellow fish. According to the Chinese officials, the dead fish that belong to the herring family, were found floating ashore the lake. Collectively, the dead fish is said to weigh 35 tons. Researchers in China are currently investigating the cause of the fish "massacre", but they believe that sudden drop in salinity levels is most likely the cause. According to the report from USA Today, it is possible that the fish were caught up by a tidal surge and were pushed into a pumping system that led them to the lake. Saltwater fish, such as herrings, are not adapted to a fresh water environment. In a report from Global Times, local official of Haikou City explained that if a saltwater fish accidentally end up in fresh water, their blood pressure will become higher than the water pressure causing their blood vessels to burst. Despite the expert's explanation, many residents are still doubtful of the cause. Many still believe that piles of dead fish were most likely to be the result of pollution. According to the report from Mashable Asia, a similar event occurred in August of last year. Tons of dead fish also floated in the Tianjin Port after toxic chemicals, such as cyanide, were introduced in the water caused by the two massive warehouse explosions in the port. In order to prevent the nearby residents from taking some of the dead fish to be cooked or sold, health officials mobilized more than 100 sanitation workers. Just after five hours of being deployed, sanitation workers have cleared out 20 tons of dead fish, but many kept floating into the surface. After being scooped out of the waters, the dead fish were bagged and sent to incinerating plants and landfill sites. Phin Hause weighed less than two pounds when she was born eight weeks early. For 14 months, she remained in the ICU. Every day, her parents Lori Ann Dotson and Jeff Hause, made the long drive from their home in Napa to Kaiser in Roseville. When doctors decided Phin was strong enough to leave the hospital, her parents started looking for caregivers to assist her in the home. She needs round the clock care and a team of skilled nurses to administer life-sustaining treatments. Phin still uses a ventilator to breathe, feeding tubes to eat and a host of other medical machines to stay healthy. After weeks of trying, the search for fulltime at-home nursing support in their area came up short. So the family moved500 miles south to San Diego Countyto get Phin, now 2years-old, the care she needed. What was so disappointing was when we got to this precipice that we could potentially bring her home, it was harder than it needed to be, Dotson said. We were willing to do the work and learn whatever we could to care for her at home. But there werent adequate resources to do it. Phins long journey home highlights what many people call a lack of vital homecare for medically fragile kids. Testimony from parents, nursing agencies and hospitals, as well as a review of state and industry data, point to significant challenges in accessing consistent homecare for children. And while a state lawmaker introduced legislation earlier this year to address what he calls a crisis, the state department that oversees millions of disabled and low-income Californians isnt convinced theres an access problem. The NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit contacted the childrens services or public health departments in all nine Bay Area counties. Five countiesincluding Napa, Sonoma, Marin, San Francisco and Alamedareport they have experienced problems matching kids with at-home nursing agencies. San Mateo said it has concerns about whether local agencies can provide care. Santa Clara and Solano Counties said they havent faced challenges. Contra Costa County doesnt have any data. Kids are on nursing agency waiting lists for months, according to Marilyn Romero, nurse manager for the Alameda County Public Health Department. In Napa, where Phins family lived, county officials report that none of the nursing agencies on the countys list of providers could provide home health for kids. Both San Francisco and Sonoma Counties point to the low acceptance of Medi-Cal reimbursement rates for the difficulty placing pediatric patients with in-home nursing agencies. State data analyzed by the Investigative Unit shows a small percentage of home health agencies actually provided homecare to kids. According to home health agency utilization data maintained by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, 144 agencies in the Bay Area accepted Medi-Cal in 2014. But just 35 of them, or less than a quarter, report they actually provided care to children age 10 or younger. A 2015 study shows access to homecare is decreasing for patients like Phin, whose complex medical conditions entitle them to home health services through Medi-Cal. The research was performed by Leavitt Partners, a health care consulting company, and funded by Maxim Healthcare Services, one of the largest pediatric homecare agencies in the nation. Researchers surveyed more than 600 home health agencies in the state and found many are shifting resources away from providing care to Medi-Cal patients and almost all Medi-Cal certified agencies report being unable to staff all the hours approved for their Medi-Cal patients. The study also found the problem is impacting kids. The picture becomes particularly concerning in light of pediatric services, researchers noted. According to the state, 3,900 children on Medi-Cal are entitled to homecare. It pretty much sealed the deal that theres a problem when it comes to access, said Kris Frank, Maxims western regional director of government affairs. He said Maxim is increasingly turning down new patients referred to the agency after they are discharged from the hospital. He also said the agency is experiencing greater challenges staffing all of the hours new patients require. Frank said its difficult to recruit and retain new homecare nurses, partly because many opt to work in acute care settings, such as hospitals, where the pay is higher. North Bay Senator Mike McGuire recently proposed legislation to raise the Medi-Cal reimbursement rate for homecare nurses by 20 percent in three test areas of the state, including the Bay Area. Rates for in-home pediatric nursing care havent increased in 15 years. The current reimbursement rate is $29.41 an hour for a licensed vocational nurse and $40.47 an hour for a registered nurse, though industry representatives say nurses wouldnt pocket the full amount. McGuire said raising pay could incentivize nurses to work in the homecare setting. More nurses may mean greater access for thousands of children in California who rely on Medi-Cal services. During a state senate health committee hearing in April, a neonatal nurse specialist at UCSF Benioff Childrens Hospital in Oakland and a pediatrician from UCLA Medical Center testified that children have to stay in the hospital months longer than necessary in some cases, because families cant find available at-home nurses. Dr. Daniel Karlin is a pediatrician at UCLA Medical Center. He discusses how children are staying in the hospital longer than necessary because of the lack of homecare agencies that will accept pediatric patients. McGuire said its costing the state more money to care for kids in the hospital instead of at home. He also called it unacceptable that once kids are home, they may not be able to obtain the resources that were promised to them by the states Medi-Cal program. We are not following through on a promise for some of the sickest kids in California, McGuire said. If department heads from the Department of Health Care Services spent 10 minutes with any of these families they would know there is an access to care issue, but as long as they dont track the numbers they can plead ignorant. Jennifer Kent, the director of Health Care Services, the department that oversees Medi-Cal, said the state does not have a systemic access problem. Anecdotally weve been made aware that there are cases that are challenging but were not sure that constitutes a statewide access problem or an access problem more broadly, she said. Kent said the state tracks the number of homecare hours authorized but doesnt track the hours agencies cant fill. She also said the state doesnt track when agencies turn down care to patients, though she noted the department will begin informing families how many homecare hours they are entitled to so they can choose to seek assistance from other agencies. But families argue the nursing supply is dry and doubt other agencies can pick up the slack. Kaitlyn Heflin is eligible for homecare through Medi-Cal. She suffers from seizures. She explains the total parenteral nutrition (TPN) she receives from a feeding tube. Windsor resident Liz Helfins 14-year-old daughter, Kaitlyn, has been on a waiting list for homecare services for a year and a half. Kaitlyn suffers from debilitating seizures and requires intravenous feeding that provides her with essential fluid and nutrients. She is eligible for shift care nursing through Medi-Cal, but the Heflins cannot find any agencies in Sonoma County to provide care to Kaitlyn. Heflin quit her job as a daycare provider to stay home fulltime with her daughter. I dont like to complain about our life because it doesnt get our day any better, Heflin said, but its really frustrating that there are services she is eligible for that are really important that we cant get. Liz Heflins daughter has been on a waiting list for homecare for more than a year. She talks about the stresses of trying to find an at-home nurse in the Sonoma County area. The Department of Health Care Services contacted Heflin for details after the Investigative Unit began raising questions about homecare resources. When asked if she will begin seeking information from families and providers about potential access problems across California, Kent said she would be happy to look into it. But the Investigative Unit also found obstacles accessing homecare isnt limited to Medi-Cal patients. Larkin OLearys 2-year-old son James is covered by commercial insurance through her employer. After 40 days in the hospital following two surgeries on his esophagus, James returned to his Santa Rosa home in January. James is not as medically complex as Phin Hause or Kaitlyn Heflin, but his doctors decided that he could benefit from 100 hours of homecare. James eats through a feeding tube, and when OLeary needed help using the pump, she called Kaiser. But the hospital didnt have a nurse to send. To have been in the hospital for so long and then to come home and just feel isolated and feel like nobody is looking out for you or nobody is thinking about you is just heartbreaking, she said. OLeary said Kaiser told her there is no pediatric home health care available in her area. The hospital finally sent a nurse 10 days after James came home. Kaiser cant comment on the case because of patient privacy laws, but said in a statement, As the demand for home health care increases, the shortage of home health nurses, especially in certain specialties, is a challenge affecting the entire health care community, not only Kaiser Permanente. The hospital said it is successfully recruiting home care nurses, but there is great demand, and a limited pool to draw from. Dotson and Hause said the healthcare community must make homecare a priority and believe the state has a responsibility to understand and address problems. They said with the right resources and committed caregivers, kids like their daughter can thrive at home. Every day is a miracle with Phin, Hause said. We are just so happy she is with us. If you have a tip for the Investigative Unit email theunit@nbcbayarea.com or call 888-996-TIPS. A group of mothers gathered Thursday in north San Diego County to build 1,000 teddy bears designed to help fellow moms grieving the loss of a child. About 100 new moms involved in the San Diego Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) assembled in Vista to create Comfort Cubs, weighted teddy bears distributed by the San Diego-based organization of the same name. The Comfort Cub organization gives the bears to mothers suffering the devastating loss of a child. Comfort Club founder Marcella Johnson created the concept of the therapeutic bear after her own baby, George, died 17 years ago. My heart hurt and my arms ached, Johnson said in a video on the Comfort Cub website. The plush is meant to provide comfort for moms in a time of mourning and let them know someone cares and feels their grief as they begin to try to heal. It can also be used by anyone experiencing the loss of a loved one, at any age. Johnson likes to say the teddy bears cure Broken Heart Syndrome and help ease sadness. The Comfort Cubs created by MOPS Thursday will be delivered to mothers across the nation before Mothers Day. For at least one mother in MOPS, Gracie Del Mar, the project holds a very special place in her heart. When Del Mars baby girl, Jocelyn, died, she a weighted Comfort Cub was delivered to her hospital room. I was so grateful to have something to hold after losing my child. It brought comfort to my arms during the worst time in my life, she said. The gesture inspired Del Mar to pay-it-forward to other mothers. When her MOPS group was looking for a service project to do for Mothers Day, she immediately thought of the Comfort Cub organization. "With the help of all of these caring San Diego moms we will be able to heal a lot of broken hearts in time for Mother's Day," Johnson said. According to the organizations website, since 1999, the Comfort Cub program has delivered 8,240 teddy bears to mothers around the globe. Comfort Cubs are available at every hospital in San Diego via onsite social workers and nursing teams. The organization is also in the process of expanding the service to other hospitals across the nation. To learn more about the Comfort Cub or to donate to the organization, click here. This video also has more information about what the teddy bear can mean to mothers. For the ninth straight year, every member of the graduating class at an all-boys school in Watts has been accepted to college. Graduates of Verbum Dei High School, a Jesuit college preparatory school, celebrated their accomplishment at a Commitment Day event on Friday, where they revealed which college they have chosen to attend. "Commitment Day at Verbum Dei is filled with excitement, anticipation, joy and accomplishment as parents, faculty and staff, finally find out what colleges their sons, students and fellow Verb brothers will attend," school officials said in a press release. This year's class of 56 is the school's ninth in a row to reach a 100 percent acceptance rate. "If you've made the commitment to come school here, then you've made the commitment to go to college," said Martinique Stars, dean of counseling and student affairs. "We leveled the playing field by giving students access to the technology that they may not necessarily have at home." About 60 percent of the students will be first-generation college attendees, and many of them have faced a variety of personal struggles, school officials said. "My whole family is proud, excited that I'm moving on," said Mark Palmer, who will attend Marist College in New York. "I want kids from any other high school around here to succeed, just like we're doing." Verbum Dei's student body is about 70 percent Latino and 30 percent black. Verbum Dei's alumni have attended Sanford University, Georgetown University, Yale University, UCLA and UC Berkeley, among others. This year, student acceptances include UC Davis, Boston College and Bucknell University. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders may be staying in the race for the long haul, but former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton showed Friday in Oakland that shes leaving the rancorous primary behind and turning her attention to the general election with Bay Area Democrats helping her lead the charge. Clinton seldom mentioned Sanders during her speech at a gym in La Escuelita Elementary School on East 10th Street, instead lambasting Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee following his landslide win in Indiana, on his treatment of women and what she said were vague positions on healthcare. He doesnt think much of women, as it turns out, she said with a smirk, prompting loud applause from about 150 supporters, a few of whom carried East Bay Loves Hillary signs. Clinton then jibed the real estate moguls campaign slogan Make America Great Again, saying that if someone asked Trump what he wanted to replace Obamacare with, he wouldnt know other than something great. A slew of Bay Area Democratic politicians also took a swing at Trumps record. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaff, who laid out the welcome mat at Clintons Oakland campaign office last week, took the stage before the Democratic frontrunner and focused considerable ire on Trump. Oakland Raiders punter Marquette King joined her, pumping up the crowd by leading raucous Hillary chants. America cannot afford to be the star of a bad reality show, Schaaf said, referencing Trumps show The Apprentice. She added that Clinton was the only one with the grit and experience to lead the country, and urged Oaklanders to turn out to the polls and vote. I know that Oakland is going to turn out for Hillary Clinton, she said. This is a city that has heart and soul, that has a passion for justice and that believes in putting great leaders into the presidency. Retiring Senator Barbara Boxer, who is slated to appear at a private fundraiser for Clinton Friday evening in San Francisco, was also on hand, telling the crowd that she and Clinton grew up together in the political sphere and that Clinton was the only one to stop Trump. California State Assembly members Rob Bonta, who represents the 18th district, and Tony Thurmond, who represents the 15th district, also advocated on Clintons behalf. Bonta, a staunch supporter of gun control, rebuked Trump and other Republican positions on gun control and immigration. We need someone who knows that all communities must be and should be safe, and will take on the gun manufacturers and the National Rifle Association, he said. And finally we need someone who embraces all of our communities, especially our immigrant communities, and wont build walls but will tear them down, he said, signaling wave of applause. But not all were pleased with Clintons Bay Area presence. Outside the event, Sanders supports carried signs saying #GetOffMyBlock. Many of them noted how much smaller Clinton's event was compared to those held by the Vermont Senator, which often draw thousands of people. Susanne Sarley, a Sanders supporter whose daughter goes to neighboring Met West High School, said she thought Clintons presence disrupted learning and was inappropriate. My daughter and her friends were very intimidated by the snipers and the secret service on sight today, she said. It is not appropriate for them to bring this high military level situation to their school site. Sarley said she would be writing to the superintendent about the ruckus caused by Clintons secret service detail and would be voting for Sanders in the June 7 primary. A man was shot to death Saturday while he was sitting at his kitchen table in the Archer Heights neighborhood on the Southwest Side. Andres Rivera, 58, was eating at his kitchen table just after 8 p.m. in the 5200 block of South Kolin when shots fired from the street tore through the front door and struck him in the head, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiners office. Rivera, who lived in the home, was pronounced dead at the scene at 8:36 p.m., authorities said A police source said the shooting was possibly gang-related, but it was not clear if the man was the intended target. Authorities are searching for a man accused of shooting a police officer in an armed conrontation in central Illinois Saturday night. Officials said Dracy "Clint" Pendleton, 35, was involved in a shooting with a Mahomet Police Officer on Saturday at approximately 10:45 p.m., according to a release from the Illinois State Police. The officer was shot in the arm, and police believe Pendleton also received wounds before fleeing the scene. Pendleton is believed to be armed with an AK-47, according to police, and may seek treatment for his injuries at a medical facility. Mahomet is located about ten miles northeast of Champaign, Illinois. The Champaign County State's Attorneys Office has issued a warrant for Pendleton's arrest on a charge of attempted murder of a police officer. His bond is set at $5 million dollars. Pendleton is described as a white male, standing 510 and weighing 155 lbs. He has blue eyes and blonde hair. According to police, he may have stolen a 2007 white GMC pick-up truck with the Illinois registration number 165533B. Anyone with information about this case is asked to call 217-384-TIPS, or visit www.373tips.com to submit an anonymous tip. A day after a Good Samaritan was laid to rest, a community is coming together to pay tribute and help his family. "It's the least I can do for them," said John Kirby, owner of Fit Fuel Grill in Arlington. "When I heard the story, it just touched me and I was just thinking what can I do to give back to that family." Anthony Antell, Jr. was gunned down while helping a young woman outside a Walgreens in Arlington. Antell served in the U.S. Marines and owned a gym in Arlington. Quinisha Johnson is out of the hospital and recovering at her mother's home in Dallas. Johnson's husband, Ricci Bradden, is behind bars accused of shooting Johnson and then pulling the trigger on Antell. Between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, 50 percent of total sales at Fit Fuel Grill was donated to Antell's family. "I told her [Crystal Antell], no pressure. Even if she doesn't come, we're going to take care of it. We're going to give everything to the family," Kirby said. "We just want to give as much tribute to T.J. as possible for being a father, for being a veteran, for being a Good Samaritan, and for just being a good man." Veteran groups and active military were among the invited guests at the restaurant. "I don't happen to personally know this Marine, but all Marines are brothers," said Bill Kent, a retired Marine captain. "He's been taken so tragically away. We're here to help his family." Dallas police are investigating a fatal shooting in Oak Cliff late Saturday night. According to police, and officer was flagged down by the passenger of an SUV parked on the side of the road in the 1400 block of Hampton Road. A man inside the driver's side of the SUV had a gunshot wound in his upper body. The man, who was not identified, was taken to a hospital in critical condition where he later died. The investigation is ongoing. See the results of all races here. Elections were held across North Texas Saturday, with several city council and school board seats up for grabs. In Dallas, for trustee seats with the Dallas Independent School District were up for election. In District 4, Jaime Resendez has 57 percent of the vote. In District 5, incumbent Lew Blackburn has 52 percent of the vote. District 7, Audrey Pinkerton has 59 percent of the vote in a contentious race with Isaac Faz. In Fort Worth, there are several propositions on the ballot. Props 1 through 4 had to do with the city council and either adding seats or adding pay -- one of which would have double the mayor's salary to just under $60,000 per year. Prop 1 Prop 2 Prop 3 Prop 4 Propositions 5-11 all passed. Prop 5 Prop 6 Prop 7 Prop 8 Prop 9 Prop 10 Prop 11 The mayor of Keller, Mark Mathews, will hold on to his position after a failed recall effort. The recall effort begain in 2015 over a conflict of interest debate. In Collin County, residents in two cities were voting on alcohol sales. In Allen, the referendum passed. Frisco, however, will stay dry. See the results of all races here. NBC 5 Political Reporter Julie Fine tracks May 7 races. Nine years after 21-year-old Marquise Alexander, a new father, was gunned down in a South Los Angeles gas station parking lot, police released 911 calls and photos of the crime for the first time. A $50,000 reward for information leading to a conviction was also approved by the Los Angeles City Council. Family said Alexander was so excited to be a father. But Khaily, now 9 years old, only knows her father through borrowed memories. "What they tell me is he was funny, he was caring, he was nice," Khaily said. But his family has not been able to heal by sharing memories alone. With the killer still out there, the community may be able to move on, but the Alexander family cannot. "It's horrible," Aaryn Forest, Alexander's former girlfriend, said while sobbing. "And it's something that every year you're supposed to get better, and I feel like it gets worse and worse." She and Alexander were high school sweethearts with dreams of growing their family. "They took his life for whatever reason but it's like you left so many people here that are still hurting all these years later," Forest said. Alexander's mother, Stacy Williams, went to the scene the evening of the murder. Now, all of these years later, she can't even bear to look at photos of her only child. "I can't put pictures up because I can't stand to see them," Williams said. "I miss him so, so much. He was such a great child. I can't understand how someone would do something like that to him." Police speculate on why Alexander was the one who was hit that night. Multiple shots went whizzing through the air at the Shell gas station parking lot at Slauson Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard, and Alexander was the tallest of the group, which may have been why he was hit. "Our victim was 6-foot-5 so he literally stood a head above the entire group," Michael Levant, LAPD detective, said. Chilling audio from the 911 calls poured in. "My cousin just got shot in the head!" "He just had a baby, man!" "Keep breathing! Keep breathing, 'Quise, I know you hear me, baby!" Now the LAPD is hoping the calls or photographic evidence from the night will lead to a break in the cold case. "Unfortunately in South LA, we have so many murders that the focus is always on the most recent murder, and these cold cases get pushed further and further back," Levant. But Alexander's family says time has not stopped their quest, and they pledge that they won't rest until the killer is found. "I want justice. I want the guy who did it to come forward, be a man, stand up. You were a man when you put that gun in your hand, so I think he should be a man and come forward," Williams said. Anyone with information that may help solve the crime is asked to call LAPD South Bureau Criminal Gang Homicide Division at (323) 786-5100. A 17-year-old boy was killed Sunday when his car hit a light pole near the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, police said. The accident occurred about 2:50 a.m. when the teen driving a silver 2002 BMW south on West Drive when lost control of the car near Seco Street, according to the Pasadena Police Department. The teenager, who was the only person inside the car, struck a light pole. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Anyone with information was asked to contact the Pasadena Police Department at 626-744-4620. The Fort Lauderdale Air Show has returned after a three-year absence. Jets roared through the air Saturday as thousands of spectators watched from the beach. The last Fort Lauderdale Air Show was in 2013. The show started with a parachute jump team descending over the crowd. That was followed by members of the Canadian Armed Forces performing aerial maneuvers. The ground rumbled when F-35 Joint Strike Fighter flew over the crowd. Visitors witnessed some of the formations used in missions, but many today are just a display of pure skill and power of these amazing planes. The airshow wasnt the only thing this event has to offer: perfect weather, an enlistment ceremony and great people. "Shes pretty happy about it, said Stewart Milton, who brought his mother to the air show for Mother's Day. The Fort Lauderdale Air Show Continues Sunday from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. Traffic delays are expected. Florida State Road A1A is closed from Sunrise Boulevard to Northeast 14th Court. Anyone who needs to get through that area, is advised to take Sunrise to make their way around the closure. The cruise ship making that historic trip to Cuba arrived back at PortMiami around 6:30 a.m. Sunday. The cruise marked the first time in more than 50 years that a U.S. cruise line had sailed to Cuba, and the first time in decades that Cuban-born individuals were allowed to sail to Cuba. The cruise included 700 guests and 373 crew and included 16 people who were born in Cuba. Passengers eagerly shared their memories and stories of what it's like to finally return back home. "It was very emotional. everyone cried. Cubans, non Cubans, Americans, everybody. when we saw all these people welcoming us," said passenger, Mauricio Caltayud. Passengers aboard the first U.S. cruise ship to Cuba in decades each have a different reason for setting sail on Fathom's Adonia. "It was like ahh I'm home, finally," said Celia Mena, passenger on board. "It was in 1961. I was nine years old." That was Mena's last time in Cuba before her seven-day cruise. Now she's greeting her loved ones in PortMiami and sharing new stories. Mena continues: "It was going to Jose Marti's tomb. I think he embodies what it means to be Cuban. I just couldn't help but cry" Alex Hernandez is Cuban American who is simply excited to be a part of history, as the two countries open relations and finally come back together. "They're starting to become entrepreneurs or starting up little restaurants, you see some hope in their eyes," said Hernandez. Whether you have family ties with the island nation or not, passengers say the experience is priceless. Mauricio Calatayud visited relatives in Cuba: "To see my mom on mother's day doing it with me I beg her I pay for it to come it was a dream come true." Approval to Carnival Corporation to travel to Cuba was given by the U.S. last year, and Cuba provided its approval for the cruise in March. Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said House Speaker Paul Ryan could be ousted for his hesitancy to back Donald Trump, and suggested his reluctance was fueled by aspirations to run for president in 2020, NBC News reported. "I think Paul Ryan is soon to be 'Cantored,' as in Eric Cantor," Palin told CNN's Jake Tapper, referring to the former Republican House majority leader who was ousted by a Tea Party challenger in a shocking upset in the 2014 Virginia primary. "His political career is over but for a miracle because he has so disrespected the will of the people, and as the leader of the GOP, the convention, certainly he is to remain neutral, and for him to already come out and say who he will not support was not a wise decision of his," Palin said. The former Alaskan governor also said she will "do whatever she can" to support Ryan's opponent, Paul Nehlen, for his congressional seat in Wisconsin's August primary. A Catholic priest waiting for a taxi at a Queens intersection early Sunday was wounded by a stray bullet, police said. The Rev. Damien Ekete was standing near the intersection of 134th Street and Rockaway Boulevard in South Ozone Park at about 12:15 a.m. when he heard gunfire and suddenly felt a sharp pain in his arm, police said. The 49-year-old priest was attending a social gathering the previous night, according to Joseph Zilling, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York. Ekete was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was treated and released. "I'm kind of in shock right now," one resident said. Ekete, an international priest from Nigeria, has served about five years at Church of the Holy Spirit in the Bronx, Zilling said. "The priest is the best. The priest is the best. A very good priest. Excellent person. He's the best," Rev. Ricardo Fajardo said. Investigators started posting flyers around the neighborhood Sunday. The flyers show a sedan that police are looking for in connection with the shooting. "The gangs and everything have turned the area into a less family friendly area into almost a war zone in some areas," a resident said. No arrests have been made. A Long Island woman was charged with driving under the influence of drugs Saturday morning after her jeep crashed into a tree -- an accident that left her 6-year-old daughter injured. Stephanie Warner, 34, of Mastic, was charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated because her daughter was a passenger in the jeep, Suffolk County police said. She was also charged with endangering the welfare of a child. Warner lost control of her Jeep Cherokee on Market Street in Mastic Beach at about 9:15 a.m. and the vehicle struck a tree just north of Wavecrest Drive, investigators said. He daughter was treated for minor injuries at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center. Warner wasn't injured. Warner is being jailed overnight and is scheduled for an arraignment Sunday in Central Islip. There was no indication she had obtained a lawyer who could respond to the charges on her behalf. The Toronto woman at the heart of Bill Cosby's criminal sex-assault case could face the TV legend in court this month at his scheduled preliminary hearing. Lawyers for Andrea Constand say she is ready to testify. But suburban Philadelphia prosecutors could decide not to call her at the May 24 hearing to avoid a grueling cross-examination before trial. They could instead use her police statement under new Pennsylvania case law that allows hearsay evidence at pretrial hearings. The ruling spares crime victims the ordeal of repeated court appearances. Constand is now 43 and says she was drugged and molested at Cosby's home in 2004. Prosecutors initially declined to arrest him, but armed with new evidence brought charges in December. The 78-year-old Cosby has asked the state Supreme Court to delay the hearing and dismiss the case. Cosby has been accused of drugging and sexually assaulting nearly 50 women across the country. He has repeatedly denied claims of sexual misconduct. A baby girl who was critically hurt in a crash that killed a 6-year-old boy and 20-year-old man and also injured six others last Sunday passed away Friday night. The aunt of 7-week-old Zyana Wilson confirmed with NBC10 the baby girl died from her injuries. Zyanas father, 20-year-old Zaire Ross-Wilson, as well as 6-year-old Eric Barksdale-Perez also died in the crash which occurred Sunday afternoon along a wet road in the Wissahickon section of Philadelphia. A candlelight vigil was held for the three victims Saturday night. Family Photos Zyana, her father and Barksdale-Perez were all passengers inside a 2005 Gray Mazda 6 that was traveling northbound on the 4200 block of Henry Avenue just before 4 p.m. Sunday. An unidentified driver, 25-year-old woman, 23-year-old woman, 5-year-old boy and 4-year-old boy were also inside the car at the time. Police say the driver crossed into the southbound lanes and was struck by a second vehicle occupied by two adults. The impact caused the passengers of the vehicle that veered into traffic to be ejected, said police. No one in that car -- aside from Zyana, who was in the car seat -- was buckled in, according to police. Sundays deadly crash on a wet road in the Wissahickon section of the city involved 9 people, and two people later died from their injuries. NBC10s Monique Braxton has the latest from accident investigators. "It's never advisable not to be restrained to begin with," Philadelphia Police Accident Investigation Capt. John Wilczynski. "This is very unfortunate. You see the devastation that occurred as a result of not being restrained in the back of that vehicle. Barksdale-Perez died at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children a short time later. Ross-Wilson, who was in the backseat, died overnight at a hospital. Zyana, who was critically injured, died Friday night, according to her family. A family member told NBC10 the other victims of the crash are doing okay. Officials continue to investigate the cause of the accident though they say DUI is not suspected nor was excessive speed. Instead they suspect the rainy weather that day played a role. "The roadway was wet," said Wilczynski. A 2-month-old baby girl is still in critical condition and a another child is dead after deadly car crash along Henry Avenue in Philadelphias Wissahickon neighborhood. Witnesses told NBC10 the stretch of road where the crash occurred includes a curve that is particularly dangerous during rainy weather. Residents in the area as well as a state representative have lobbied PennDOT to make safety changes to the area. The Coast Guard late Saturday suspended the search for a jet skier who went missing in the Delaware River in Trenton. It was unclear if the search would resume Sunday morning. Officials said 26-year-old Jesus Diaz Melendez of Trenton and his friend ran aground on their jet ski near the Trenton boat ramp on Canal Boulevard and were both ejected. The crew of the vessel A.J. Meerwald found the second jet skier in the water. The crew contacted the Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay who launched a 29-foot response boat crew as well as a helicopter crew. The boat crew rescued the second jet skier who confirmed his friend Melendez was missing. The Coast Guard, Trenton Fire Department and New Jersey State Police Department are all searching for Melendez. If you have any information on his whereabouts, please call the Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay command center at 215-271-4940. A woman and a man were being treated at area hospitals Sunday after police say someone shot them both overnight on the streets of Wilmington. Police responded to the area of 27th and Market streets in the violence-plagued Delaware city overnight, where they found the victims. Both were taken to local hospitals. Officials early Sunday said the man was in critical condition and the woman was in stable condition. Police have not said what motivated the shooting or announced any arrests. A woman crashed her van into a building in Philadelphia Sunday afternoon. Police say the 73-year-old woman was driving on the 8300 block of Bustleton Avenue at 2:24 p.m. when she lost control of her vehicle and crashed into the Bells Corner Shopping Center. The building was unoccupied at the time and no injuries were reported. The crash caused major structural damage to the building however, according to police. Oscar-winning actress Julianne Moore joined hundreds of people Saturday in a march across the Brooklyn Bridge to demand stricter gun laws. The fourth annual march across the bridge was organized by the group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. The march started at Cadman Plaza in Brooklyn and went to City Hall in lower Manhattan. Participants carried signs and photos of loved ones killed by gun violence. At times, they shouted: "What do we want? Gun sense!" Moore has been pushing for universal background checks for all gun purchases. She said she was spurred to get involved to advocate for stronger gun laws after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, where a gunman killed 20 children and six adults in December 2012. "We're really pushing for more gun safety regulations," she said. "It is not an anti-gun movement. It is not a partisan movement. It is a safety movement." Other speakers included the mother of broadcast journalist Alison Parker, who was killed on live television by a disgruntled former reporter. Parker died alongside video journalist Adam Ward while working for Roanoke, Virginia, TV station WDBJ. The owner of a pet adoption center in Studio city is facing neglect charges after more than 60 dogs were seized from her home Friday night, officials said. Animal Control officers took the dogs of a variety of breeds and sizes from the home of Rachel Kennedy, owner of Lucky Puppy Rescue & Retail at 11734 Ventura Boulevard, according to Brenda Barnette, general manager of Los Angeles Animal Services. Officers said they took 65 dogs, many of them with medical conditions, for humane reasons. Los Angeles County code allows only three dogs per residence, officials said. "Every single one of them are my babies," said Kennedy, who claims she took the dogs home to live with her because many of them are too sick and cannot be legally adopted by the public. In a Facebook post, the pet adoption center said all of the dogs that were taken were "elderly, blind, deaf, cancer, and mommies left to die at the shelter with their babies." Kennedy claims she spends about $200,000 a year to rescue and care for sick dogs who would otherwise be euthanized by the city. "There's something wrong in this system," said Kennedy. "Us as rescuers, we do this from the heart and they took my heart away." Kennedy faces charges of illegal kennel and animal neglect, according to Barnette. Each dog was being examined and a health record was being created. While Kennedy says she has a permit for most of the dogs to live at Lucky Puppy Rescue & Retails, she knew she was breaking the law when she took them home. She said will visit the animals who are now at the Los Angeles City East Valley Animal Shelter. Barnette said the seized dogs are in custody and unavailable for adoption, foster or transfer to a private adoption or rescue group. Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the dogs were seized at Lucky Puppy Rescue & Retail. The dogs were taken from Rachel Kennedy's home in Studio City. The article has been updated. A week after he was shot and killed by two unknown suspects, Kevin Spelmons family, friends and community gathered to remember the man they lost. He was there for you, that's the type of person Kevin was, one of the most loyal people I knew in my life, Spelmons sister Shalonda Spelmon told NBC 7. This is the way we come together as a community to acknowledge a loss in our community. One week ago two teenagers approached, shot and killed 46-year-old Spelmon while he was working on his car at Emerald Hills Neighborhood Park. Police said the two gunmen took off on foot and then possibly got away in a car. He was a loving, family guy. He didn't bother anybody, so all of this is very hard for me to take, Spelmons mother Ernestine Douglas explained. I thought this was an important event for me to attend...because it's about my son. But as they remembered Spelmon they were reminded of the violence that too often disrupts their community. Somebody between the ages of 14 and 17 killed my brother. He's 46 years old. This has got to stop, this is ridiculous, his sister said. We want violence to be free in our community. We've had enough of that, Bishop Cornelius Bowser agreed. Instead of seeing a loss of lifewe want these type of senseless acts to stop. A San Diego teenager was killed when he crashed into a bridge and rolled down an embankment Friday on his way to pick up his great-grandmother in Pine Valley, officials confirmed. According to the California Highway Patrol (CHP), the 18-year-old Campo resident, identified as James Robert Will, was due to pick up his great-grandmother at 6 a.m. When he didnt arrive, his family knew something was wrong. At around 12:30 p.m., his family reported him missing to the San Diego County Sheriffs Department and gave officials information about where the teen was headed. The teens last known location was Boulevard, about 58 miles east of downtown San Diego. Knowing this, CHP officials checked the westbound side of Interstate 8 in that area. Near the La Posta Bridge, an officer discovered some dirt in the center median that looked out of place. When the officer looked over the side of a downhill embankment near the bridge, the officer saw the teens mangled Acura TSX. The teen had been thrown from the car and was declared dead at the scene. The crash is under investigation but CHP officials believe the rainy conditions Friday morning played a role in the deadly crash. The victim was not wearing his seat belt. Investigators believe Will lost control of his car while driving on the La Posta Bridge and collided into the railing of the bridge along the right shoulder. The Acura then spun out of control into the center median west of the bridge, CHP officials said. The teens car then launched over the side of a downhill embankment and overturned several times. He was ejected from the car as it rolled, CHP officials said. No other motorists witnessed the collision and the wreck was not discovered until just after 1 p.m. CHP officials said the wreckage was not visible from the traffic lanes since the car landed downhill. He was the only person inside the car. Sheriffs deputies chased a 22-year-old suspect in a stolen car in Spring Valley Friday night before the suspect crashed the car into a Toyota on Bancroft Drive and Tyler Street. The suspect, Jose Reyes, was arrested at the scene around 9 p.m. The driver of the Toyota was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. Reyes was also taken to the hospital with minor injuries then booked into the San Diego Central Jail for driving a stolen vehicle and evading law enforcement. The car with originally stolen from the 10000 block of Jamacha. The investigation is ongoing. A San Diego man was in custody Monday on multiple rape-related charges for allegedly sexually assaulting a mother twice and attempting to assault another woman, at knife point, in Balboa Park, San Diego Police (SDPD) said. Ismael Hernandez, 27, of Chula Vista, was arrested at 9:20 p.m. Saturday. He was booked into San Diego County Jail and charged with rape, kidnap for rape, digital penetration by a foreign object, oral copulation by force, using a dangerous weapon during an assault, criminal threats, false imprisonment and three counts of attempted sexual assault. Hernandez is accused of attempting to assault one woman, then sexually assaulting a second woman, twice, SDPD Cpt. Brian Ahern said Sunday. Hernandez was near 6th Avenue and Cedar Street on Thursday when he approached the first victim from behind, Ahern said. The victim saw Hernandez in the reflection of her car window and was able to fight him off and run away, he said. Ahern said police believe this is the same suspect that attacked a mother shortly after, twice, at knife point. The first encounter happened along the 1600 block of 8th Avenue, as the victim walked to her car parked on 9th Avenue. As the woman walked, Hernandez allegedly confronted and pulled a knife on her, police said. He threatened to kill the victim if she didnt follow his orders. The suspect brandished a knife and threatened to harm the victim if she didnt do what he told her to do, explained SDPD Capt. Brian Ahearn. Police said Hernandez demanded the victim walk with him into Balboa Park. He made her walk with him down Date Street, near the Interstate 5 fence. As they made their way to the park, he continued to threaten the woman with the knife. Police said they went up a staircase on 6th Avenue and entered Balboa Park. That's where the man sexually assaulted the woman, police said. "It's unspeakable what the suspect forced the victim to do," said Ahearn. The suspect then forced the woman to walk back to the 1600 block of 9th Avenue near Cortez Hill. At that second location, he sexually assaulted her once more, police said. The suspect fled the scene. When officers arrived, he was nowhere to be found. Ahern said Hernandez allegedly attacked the second victim around 10 p.m. No further details were immediately released. The investigation is ongoing and police are looking into whether there are more victims. A former SeaWorld San Diego manager is accused of embezzling more than $750,000 in an elaborate eight-year scheme, federal prosecutors announced Monday. Wilfred David Joseph Jobin-Reyes, 47, is accused of setting up a fake merchandise company, "SJ Merchandise," and using his position at SeaWorld to create invoices for items that were never delivered to the park. Jobin-Reyes allegedly made an alias, "John Caldwell," to communicate with SeaWorld in order to hide his ties to the company, U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said. The money went into accounts he secretly controlled. Investigators said Jobin-Reyes used his work computer to create more than 100 fake invoices for objects that were never delivered to SeaWorld San Diego, including "wildlife animal bookmarks," "sea creature rings," "purple shiny ornaments" and "poinsettia in pots." Jobin-Reyes allegedly created invoices for amounts under the $10,000 threshold that would require his managers to approve the invoice, Duffy said. SeaWorld paid Jobin-Reyes more than $750,000 before officials discovered the fraud in early 2015. "We are dedicated to protecting our local businesses and institutions from corruption inside and out," said Duffy in a statement. "We will root out and prosecute business insiders who abuse the trust of their employers and the community." A SeaWorld San Diego spokesperson said the company has been cooperating with federal law enforcement in this case and would not comment further on personnel matters. Jobin-Reyes was arrested March 12 in Dallas and appeared in court in San Diego on Monday. He is facing fraud charges and could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Information on an attorney for Jobin-Reyes was not immediately available. The three people killed in a series of shootings in Maryland Thursday and Friday are being described as a good Samaritan hero, a happy chemistry teacher and a woman from Bolivia who achieved the American dream. Malcom Winffel, 45, and Claudina Molina, 65, were shot and killed at Westfield Montgomery mall in Bethesda and a Giant store in Aspen Hill, respectively, Friday. The suspect, 62-year-old Eulalio Tordil, also is accused of shooting and killing his wife, 44-year-old Gladys Tordil, outside High Point High School in Prince George's County Thursday. Winffel and another man went to the aid of a woman who police say the suspect was trying to carjack. Both men and the woman were shot. In an instant, the female victim cried out for help," Montgomery County Police Assistant Chief Russ Hamill said. "These two men acted selflessly and heroically, not only coming to her aid, but likely saving her life. These men are heroes. Malcom Winffel gave his life for somebody he doesnt know in order to protect her from a predator. The woman was shot in the shoulder, a witness said. The woman suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The second good Samaritan is making progress in the hospital, police said. We remain hopeful that he will survive this attack, Hamill said. He said the good Samaritans' actions aren't something that can be learned. You have to be born with that, and luckily for our victim there those two men were born with that and they went to her aid without any consideration for their own well-being, Hamill said. "It's just senseless," Winffel's cousin Maria Santoya said. "Senseless killing." She followed the story throughout the day Friday. "I had no idea until around 4:30 or 5 that it was him," she said. A memorial for Molina was set up at the Giant store in Aspen Hill. Her family says she was originally from Bolivia and accomplished the American dream, working 16 hours a day for the past 25 years, only to be killed while resisting what police believe was a second carjacking attempt by Tordil. Molina was a nursing assistant who planned to retire within a year. Tordil's estranged wife was shot while picking her children at High Point High. She taught chemistry at Parkdale High School in Baltimore County and was described by those who knew her as a "happy teacher." "Ms. Tordil was a beloved staff member. Students will be deeply affected by her death," a letter from Parkdale to parents said. The District Court of Maryland for Prince George's County ordered Tordil in March to stay away from his wife, her home, her workplace and High Point High School, court documents show. Gladys Tordil told the court Eulalio Tordil beat her and sexually and physically abused two children. In 2010, he slapped her so hard her glasses broke on her face, she told the court. She had filed for divorce, court documents say. The following GoFundMe pages have been set up for donations for the victims: Police believe an accused gunman -- who they say had already shot and killed his wife at a Maryland high school -- was trying to carjack someone when he shot and killed two more people at two separate shopping centers Friday. Montgomery County Police charged 62-year-old Eulalio Tordil with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder and four counts of use of a handgun in the commission of a felony in connection with Friday's shootings. Tordil also has been charged with first-degree murder and related charges in connection with the fatal shooting of his estranged wife at High Point High School in Prince George's County Thursday. Hes also charged with assault for shooting a person who went to Gladys Tordil's aid at the school, where she went to pick up her children. Police believe he shot a total of six people from Thursday afternoon until Friday morning. Tordil was arrested Friday afternoon after a hours-long manhunt that frightened many residents of the Washington, D.C., suburbs, forcing officials to heighten security at schools and government buildings. Dramatic surveillance video shows officers in unmarked cars swarm Tordil's car and surround him with guns drawn. Earlier Friday, police patrolling Westfield Montgomery mall in Bethesda about 11 a.m. happened upon a shooting scene in the parking lot, police said. Police believe Tordil was attempting to carjack a woman when two men went to her aid. The woman and the men were shot, and one of the men, 45-year-old Malcom Winffel, died. He was attempting to take her car, and these two men stepped in to assist her, Montgomery County Police Assistant Chief Russ Hamill said. In an instant, the female victim cried out for help. These two men acted selflessly and heroically, not only coming to her aid, but likely saving her life. These men are heroes. "Malcom Winffel gave his life for somebody he doesnt know in order to protect her from a predator, Hamill said. One witness told News4 the woman was walking toward Macy's when a man approached her and asked where she was going. When the woman didn't answer, the suspect reached into his car, pulled out a gun and began firing. The woman was shot in the shoulder, the witness said. The woman suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The second good Samaritan is making progress in the hospital, police said. As police investigated that scene, they received a 911 call reporting a shooting outside the Giant grocery store on the 13000 block of Connecticut Avenue in Aspen Hill, Maryland, about 8 miles northeast of the mall. Investigators believe Tordil shot and killed 65-year-old Claudina Molina in another carjacking attempt, Hamill said. Police recovered a .40-caliber Glock handgun from Tordil's car and confirmed it was used in both Montgomery County shootings Friday, Hamill. They have not confirmed if it was the same gun used to Tordil's wife Thursday, but they said they believe it is likely. Tordil had worked as a Federal Protective Service employee. Shortly after the shooting at the mall, police began piecing together it likely was the same shooter from High Point High School, Hamill said. Montgomery County Police had been in communication with Prince George's County Police about that homicide since Thursday night. The shootings Friday struck fear in the D.C. suburbs. Students and staff at all Montgomery County schools sheltered in place for some time Friday. Lockdowns were in place at other institutions in the area, including Suburban Hospital in Bethesda. The National Institutes of Health main campus was on "heightened alert," a spokesman said. In a ghastly coincidence, the shopping center where Tordil was arrested is within sight of the scene of one of the 2002 Beltway sniper shootings, which remain all too fresh in the memory of many people in the D.C. area. Hamill was on the force at that time and said Friday's shooting immediately called the sniper to mind, but it was pure coincidence. Watching the Suspect, Making the Arrest The anxious hours ended when Montgomery County police officers in plainclothes spotted Tordil's car. It was parked in a shopping center across Connecticut Avenue from the shopping center where the second shooting occurred Friday, Montgomery County Police Chief Tom Manger said. Officers then spotted Tordil himself going from business to business, including into a Boston Market, where he ate, and into a Dunkin' Donuts. Officers watched Tordil, choosing to surround his car and wait. "Knowing that the suspect was armed, knowing that the suspect had made statements about what he intended to do, we needed to make sure the public was safe when we took him into custody," Manger said. "Our fear was that he was armed. Since he had already shot four people, we certainly did not want any other bloodshed here," Manger said. "The plainclothes officers waited until it was safe to take him into custody, and that's what they did." Surveillance video shows Tordil walk to his car with what looks like a bag of ice. He steps into the car, shuts the door and then officers in unmarked cars surround him, bumping the car and effectively forcing him to stay inside. Those plainclothes officers put themselves at direct risk at that point because thats what they signed on to do in order to stop anyone else from being hurt by a known armed murderer at that point, Hamill said. Officers took Tordil into custody without incident or injury and drove him away from the scene. I would not describe him as being remorseful for the events here in Montgomery County, Hamill said. The First Victim On Thursday, police believe Tordil shot and killed his estranged wife and shot and injured a man who tried to help her about 4:40 p.m. Thursday at High Point High School in Beltsville, Maryland. Gladys Tordil, who was 44, was a chemistry teacher at Parkdale High School in Baltimore County, Maryland, the school said in a letter to parents. "Ms. Tordil was a beloved staff member. Students will be deeply affected by her death," the letter said. The District Court of Maryland for Prince George's County ordered Tordil in March to stay away from his wife, her home, her workplace and High Point High School -- where police said he killed her, court documents show. Gladys Tordil told the court Eulalio Tordil beat her and sexually and physically abused two children. In 2010, he slapped her so hard her glasses broke on her face, she told the court. She had filed for divorce, court documents say. The court allowed Eulalio Tordil to use his work-issued firearm while he was at work. He was instructed to leave it at work during non-work hours. His service weapon was taken from him after the restraining order was filed, and the sheriff's department where Tordil lives confiscated all the weapons in his home, Hamill said. Police believe he somehow obtained another gun that he used in this week's shootings. Eulalio Tordil is being held without bond. He's due in court Monday. It was not clear if Eulalio Tordil had an attorney. Three Spanish freelance journalists held captive in Syria for nearly 10 months returned home Sunday, tearfully hugging relatives as they got off a military jet sent to Turkey to bring them back. Antonio Pampliega, Jose Manuel Lopez and Angel Sastre shook hands with Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria on the tarmac of the Torrejon de Ardoz air force base on the outskirts of Madrid. They then smiled and cried as relatives ran to hug them. Images on Spain's state-owned TVE television channel showed their arrival but reporters were kept outside the base and away from the three journalists, only catching sight of a dark blue van carrying them from the base. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy posted a photograph of the journalists descending from the aircraft with a caption saying "Welcome!" on his official Twitter account. "Allied and friendly" countries had assisted in ensuring the journalists' release, his office said in a statement late Saturday. It highlighted Turkey and Qatar, saying they had helped out "especially in the final phase" of the journalists' liberation. It provided no information on the captors and how they were convinced to give up the journalists. The three journalists went missing on July 12, near the city of Aleppo in northern Syria. At the time, the region was under the control of al-Qaida's branch in Syria known as the Nusra Front. Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said the journalists had taken off "at midnight from a city in southeast Turkey called Hatay," accompanied by Ambassador Pablo Gutierrez Segou, head of consular emergencies. "This adventure has ended happily," said Garcia-Margallo. TVE said in its afternoon news bulletin that the journalists had gone to a cafe in Madrid with their friends and relatives, where they received a phone call from King Felipe VI. They told journalists that they had no idea what part of Syria they had been held captive in. The broadcaster said Lopez explained that the three had been incarcerated together for the first three months, after which Pampliega was taken away and not seen again until just before the flight home. The journalists, who provided news to several media outlets, had traveled to Syria to report on the war that broke out there in 2011. All three were experienced freelance journalists who had worked in Syria before and knew what type of precautions they would need to take, according to Elsa Gonzalez, president of Spain's federation of journalists. Three other Spanish journalists were released in March 2014 after being held hostage by Syrian extremists for months. The Spanish government has never given details of how it secured the releases. It's going to be a busy season for cruise ships in the state that bills itself as Vacationland. CruiseMaine says 377 cruise ships with 283,000 passengers will visit Maine this year. That's a 6 percent increase in passengers from last year. The largest ship scheduled to visit Maine in 2016 is Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's Anthem of the Seas, which carries up to 4,180 passengers. Bar Harbor already hosted its first visit on April 29 and Portland got its first cruise ship visit on Sunday. Other cruise ship ports include Rockland, Eastport, Bath, Boothbay Harbor, Camden, Belfast, Bucksport and Castine. The cruise ships will continue to pay port of call visits through late October. Authorities in Presque Isle, Maine, are investigating an officer-involved shooting that happened Saturday night. Police say they received multiple calls about a suspicious person before 6 p.m., including one saying the suspect had a knife, appeared to be bleeding and was near the McDonald's on Main Street. When Officer Lucas Hafford arrived at the scene and found the suspect, later identified as 29-year-old Derek J. Sam of Presque Isle, he asked him to drop the knife, police said. When Sam didn't drop the knife, Hafford used his Taser to stop him from approaching him, according to police. The Taser didn't stop Sam, and while still armed, continued to approach Officer Hafford, who then shot and wounded the suspect after several more tries to get him to drop the knife, police said. Sam was taken to the Aroostook Medical Center for treatment and then flown via medial helicopter to Eastern Maine Medical Center. The attorney general's office is investigating the shooting. Two people were hospitalized after a car crash Saturday night in Duxbury, Massachusetts. Fire officials confirm the Jaws of Life were used to free the victims, who became entrapped after the crash on South Station Street. Both victims were transported to South Shore Hospital. Kingston Fire assisted in transporting one of the victims. Authorities have not announced the cause of the crash. Police say a missing Rhode Island man's body has been found. The body of Michael Godles, a Little Compton resident, was found Saturday afternoon nearly two weeks after he was last seen alive, according to affiliate WJAR. There's no word on where his body was found, but the 39-year-old was last seen April 26 outside a wooded area near his home. His body was turned over to the Rhode Island Medical Examiner's Office. The investigation is ongoing, and anyone with information is asked to call Little Compton police at 401-635-2311. Federal health officials said passengers aboard the first cruise ship to dock in Portland, Maine, this season may have norovirus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 27 percent of the passengers aboard the Balmoral, operated by the Fred Olsen Cruises, have gotten sick since the cruise began April 16. The CDC reported that 252 of the 919 passengers on the Balmoral have fallen ill, as well as eight members of the 502-member crew. Symptoms of norovirus include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. The CDC said the ship has increased its cleaning and disinfection procedures. Two CDC health officers and an epidemiologist boarded the ship during its stop in Baltimore, Maryland, last week. Mayor Ethan Strimling told the Portland Press Herald that he learned about the outbreak just before boarding the ship for a tour on Sunday morning. "I could see there were people wiping things down constantly," Strimling said. "We got onto the elevators and they wiped the elevators down." The Balmoral set out from Southampton, England, on April 16 and is due to return May 20. Strimling confirmed to necn that the ship left Portland as scheduled at 4 p.m. Fred Olsen Cruises released a statement saying "Fred Olsen has been undertaking extensive sanitisation (sic) measures and cleaning of the ship, following the company's strict illness containment and prevention plan." The statement added that Fred Olsen Cruises is working with officials to ensure safety of guests and staff. Police who were asking for the public's help in finding a missing Maine man suffering from dementia say he has been found. Seventy-eight-year-old Fred Vose left his Brunswick home early Saturday in a red 2006 Toyota Tacoma, police told affiliate WCSH. He was found safe in Stonington, Maine, Sunday morning. Police say Vose grew up in Belfast and is known to take trips back to his hometown, and is also known to visit an old family camp in Litchfield and Tony's Donut Shop on Bolton Street in Portland. If you have any information on his whereabouts, you're asked to call Brunswick police at 732-725-5521. A state lawmaker has introduced a bill that would require all Rhode Island preschools to test their tap water each year for lead. Rep. Eileen Naughton, a Warwick Democrat, says the lead contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan, motivated her to sponsor the bill. The legislation would affect any school, daycare, playground or foster home that has children under 6 years old. Federal rules only require schools to test tap water for lead if they rely on their own water supply, usually from a well. New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie said this month he'll require all of New Jersey's schools to test for lead in water starting next school year. Massachusetts Republican Gov. Charlie Baker last month announced a $2 million initiative to help schools test for lead. On the night of an 89-year-old woman's first art show in Connecticut, Magdalene Jourdan dressed to the nines and arrived early inside the Thompson Public Library. She said she wanted to welcome her fellow art lovers and hoped to chat all night. "Oh, I was so excited. Finally I can talk to people. I can talk to people in my own heart and soul," said Jourdan. Except no crowd ever arrived. Only a couple people stopped by, and no one dressed up. "We were patient. One hour, two hours, nothing happened," said Jourdan. "I said to myself, 'Is that it? Is that what you were preparing so carefully for?" "I felt like a fool." After a disappointing night, her granddaughter, Lily, posted a picture to Twitter of her grandmother dressed up and back at home. She wrote "Dressed so nice for her art showing at the library and no one went." From there, social media took over. "Next thing I know is it's 12 o'clock and people are starting to favorite and retweet my tweet," said Lily. Hundreds and then thousands shared, liked, and commented an outpouring of support all around the world for this grandmother of nine. "I am overwhelmed because I thought no one gave a damn, you know? I am overwhelmed," said Jourdan. Jourdan figures the miserable weather is why people didn't come to Thursday night's show. "It was cold, and I don't blame the people for not coming because I wouldn't come out on a day like this, on a night like this," said Jourdan. The 89-year-old says she's thankful for even the few who showed up because speaking with them made her feel alive. And Jourdan has a message for those who have reached out through social media to say how much they love her art. "I thank you." If you would like to see Magdalene Jourdans paintings up close, you still have time. They'll remain up at the Thompson Public Library until May 25th during regular library hours. On May 9th, The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists will release a searchable database that will detail over 200,000 entities that are part of the Panama Papers investigation. While this will be intriguing for most of us, if youre in a financial organization of any kind and theres the remotest chance that you might have dealings with any of these entities, or with parties who might be fronting for or involved with them, May 9th will be (or depending on when you read this, is or has been), shall we say, a bad day for you. Your challenge, once you get your hands on the ICIJ data, will be to search your organization's data resources looking for these names. The problem will be that its pretty much guaranteed youre not prepared for this. What most of you will do is assume that this is a Big Data problem and attempt to aggregate all of your data resources into what will amount to a Frankenbase so you can run analytics on it. This will be neither simple not quick. The reasons it wont be simple or quick are because financial institutions are some of the worst offenders when it comes to having multiple data silos. Moreover, even when youve negotiated and or bashed heads to overcome the politics of silo ownership, youll be faced with the not insignificant task of normalizing the data youre hoping to stuff in your Frankenbase. And even when youve got all of your ducks in a row, theres a grim reality to what youre trying to do: A 2013 survey by InfoChimps found that a remarkable 55% of Big Data projects are never completed and 39% of these were due to yes, you guessed it siloed data and non-cooperation (otherwise called politics) ... along with the 41% that were stymied by technical roadblocks. Oh, and then theres the cost: A 2014 Dell survey found Budgets for big data projects are expected rise to an average of $6 million over the next two years. My friends over at Pneuron [Disclosure: In 2014 I wrote a short series of posts for the Pneuron blog] recently pitched me on their approach to analyzing the ICIJ data using their technology. Ive been a big fan of Pneurons technology since I first wrote about the company back in 2013 and their strategy for doing the sort of data mining required for this near-Herculean task makes a lot of sense. Simon Moss, Pneurons CEO, argues: This is not a Big Data problem, its a diversity and distribution problem. By diversity, Moss means that the range of formats and contexts in which the data is stored are going to be a big issue and by distribution, he's referring to the data being virtually and geographically dispersed. These are not trivial problems. Mosse points out that the first step in addressing the problem of searching for entity names is sorting and matching; in the ICIJ data there will be names such as Robert P. Jones but in the various data silos in a financial institution that name might appear as Jones, R.P. or Jones, Robert or even Bob Jones. Moreover, data in one silo might identify his spouse as Ethel Jones who also has accounts in her own name only in other silos. The matching problem is even more tricky when it comes to company names and relationships. Theres also the issue of multiple entities partnering in an account and they all need to be connected and their transactions scrutinized both jointly and separately. The whole idea of moving this massive, complex, distributed data into a centralized database or databases should not only be daunting it should really inspire horror at the scale of the task. Pneurons solution is their eponymous technology that involves deploying modules, called Pneurons, on or near to, each of the the data resources. There are different Pneurons for various tasks: Data and Application Pneurons are used to access data sources including databases, files, spreadsheets, and web services, while Analysis Pneurons perform various types of matching (deterministic, probabilistic, Bayesian, etc. - a function that is obviously highly relevant in searching for the names of suspect entities), predictive modeling, and statistical analysis. All of these modules normalize the data before passing it up the chain to the Pneuron Cortex which manages, routes, and coordinates the activities of the various deployed Pneurons. Finally, output Pneurons persist, visualize, or deliver data to files, databases, or other destinations. System design is done using Pneuron's Design Studio which provides a graphical drag and drop interface that makes configuration and modification about as intuitive as it gets. Pneuron's Design Studio Pneuron claims they can go from installation through deployment and configuration to displaying analytics results or handing data off to an external analytics systems in under one month for large scale projects and, in simple cases, in as little as four hours. In the case of the ICIJ entity search, you wont have a lot of time to waste. So, if on May 9th youre going to be having, are having, or had, a bad day, you might want to check out Pneurons strategy. Comments? Thoughts? Suggestions? Share your existential angst with me via email or comment below then follow me on Twitter and Facebook. Catherine Bearder MEP answers questions ahead of referendum There was standing room only at Newbury Town Hall as Liberal Democrat MEP Catherine Bearder and entrepreneur Dinesh Dhamija took questions ahead of the looming EU referendum. At the event, on Saturday, questions on a wide range of EU topics were asked, from peace and prosperity to employment in West Berkshire. Chairwoman of the meeting Judith Bunting said: The terrific turnout... shows how people in Newbury and West Berkshire crave proper information about Europe and why Britains membership is so important for our area. MEP for the South East since 2009, Mrs Bearder said: What is at stake is our claim to leadership in Europe and for a better world. Have no doubt that being in Europe is good for our country and good for our local area. Champaign, IL (61820) Today A mix of clouds and sun with gusty winds. High 77F. Winds SSE at 20 to 30 mph.. Tonight Cloudy this evening with showers after midnight. Low around 60F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Columnist Tom Kacich is a columnist and the author of Tom's Mailbag at The News-Gazette. His column appears Sundays. His email is tkacich@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@tkacich). Heralded a miracle by many infertile couples, in vitro fertilization (IVF) can pack a painful financial punch for those without insurance coverage for the treatment. This prohibitive cost leads many would-be parents who pursue in vitro fertilization to transfer multiple embryos at once to increase their chances of getting a baby - and reduce the need to pay for subsequent attempts. A new study by University of Vermont (UVM) researchers now suggests that the financial savings from fewer IVF attempts is surpassed by the costs of medical complications from multiple-embryo pregnancies. The rates of cesarean-section deliveries, premature births and low birth weight of babies are greater with two or more embryos transferred into the mother at one time than with a single-embryo pregnancy. Those are the findings of the team led by Christopher Jones, Ph.D., UVM assistant professor of surgery and director of the Global Health Economics Unit of the Vermont Center for Clinical and Translational Science, and first author Olivia Carpinello, M.D., a UVM College of Medicine 2013 alumna. Co-investigators on the study also included reproductive medicine specialist Peter Casson, M.D., a former UVM professor, and Renju Raj, M.D., UVM instructor in obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences and Women's Reproductive Health Research Scholar. Published recently in the journal Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, their study may be the first nationwide to calculate the differences in infant hospital costs based on the number of embryos transferred at one time. Jones and his team had access to UVM Medical Center records of 116 patients who conceived through IVF and delivered at least 20 weeks into their pregnancies between 2007 and 2011. The study compared the incidence and costs of adverse perinatal outcomes - preterm delivery (at less than 37 weeks gestation), low birth weight (less than 2,500 grams) and C-sections - resulting from single-embryo transfers, double-embryo transfers and transfers of three or more embryos. They determined that the costs to care for babies born from double-embryo transfers were more than twice as much as costs for babies from single-embryo transfers, and costs for babies from three or more embryos were 1.7 times as high. It wasn't only the greater chance of twins or more multiple births with multiple embryo transfers that caused those complications and higher healthcare spending, the authors found. Even when only one baby resulted from a larger number of embryos, the risk of problems increased. The study provides data to inform public policy as it relates to the development of "personalized medicine" - treatment targeted to the unique characteristics and needs of each patient, Jones says. "This is personalized medicine at its heart, at its core," he says, "because nothing is more personal than fertility choices." Jones performed similar research for his dissertation at the University of Oxford in England, where he received his doctorate in health economics in 2006. His work there helped lead to current U.K. guidelines that direct the transfer of a single embryo during IVF treatment whenever possible, he says. The new UVM study encourages similar policy in the United States. "This work supports the position that IVF cycles involving appropriate embryo transfer policies should be covered by insurance companies," state the authors. Among the 11 states that require insurance coverage for infertility treatment, five explicitly cover IVF. Without financial assistance, most patients who choose IVF pay for it out of pocket, increasing the incentive for them to reduce their costs by limiting the number of embryo-transfer attempts. If states require coverage for IVF, they can also mandate that insurers pay for only single-embryo transfers. Jones' study concluded that additional IVF attempts wouldn't cost more than the incremental costs per baby that result from a multiple-embryo transfer. New Delhi: Breaking yet another proverbial glass ceiling, country's largest paramilitary force CRPF is set to deploy over 560 women commandos for undertaking anti-Naxal operations in select Left Wing Extremism-affected states. The ambitious plan to deploy such a large number of women personnel in most challenging combat theatres in the country's internal security domain got moving with a batch of 567 women passing out from the force's training centre in Rajasthan's Ajmer last week. CRPF Director General K Durga Prasad said that the full batch will now be deployed in phases in LWE areas in the 'company formation' style, which means about 100 personnel at one time. "These women who passed out on May 6 from Ajmer have been trained keeping in mind the LWE tasks rendered by us. We thought to give them the toughest assignment in the initial years of their service itself. Initially these women personnel will be deployed in one company at a time and after some time their deployment and work utility will be scaled up," Prasad said. The DG added the force has already created living infrastructure and barracks for these women at certain locations while more such facilities will be created in due course of time. The CRPF, officials said, has been working on the concept that if Maoists can have women in their ranks, why not the security forces. Recently, border-guarding force Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) had declared that it will post its women personnel in full combat role in its units along the Sino-Indian border. The latest batch of Central Reserve Police women personnel have been trained for 44 weeks in jungle warfare, unarmed combat, smart weapons firing and other drills after which they got commissioned in the 232nd battalion of the force. This is the fourth 'mahila' battalion of CRPF. A CRPF battalion has about 1,000 personnel. Domestic servant of actress and Karnataka BJP MLC Tara has allegedly pressed harassment charges against her on Sunday. Tara's maid has alleged that she was ill-treated, abused and mentally harassed by the MLC. She urged the state government to intervene and provide her with police protection. Three months ago, the maid took a break from work and didn't return. According to the maid, Tara began threatening her and also got her brother fired from his job at a private college. However, Tara has denied all the allegations and has lodged a police complaint against her domestic help Latha. "I deny all allegations, I never abused my maid. She was good with her work and I have nothing to say about her character, etc. I was only upset that every month she took a week off saying that she has a court case to take care of", Tara said. More than a month since popular TV serial Balika Vadhu's actress Pratyusha Banerjee was found dead in her Mumbai apartment, her boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh has dropped a bombshell. Rahul, who is accused of abetting her alleged suicide, claims that Pratyusha was broke because of her parents. Speaking exclusively to CNN-News18, Rahul Raj Singh broke his silence claiming innocence. "A lot of allegations have been levelled against me over the last few weeks. It is not true that we were not a happy couple. A day before, we spend our time at The Retreat. There was a Holi party," he said. Speaking on the allegations against him, Rahul claimed that Pratyusha was in debt because her parents were taking all the money. "She was earning a lot but did not have a single property in her name. Her parents have a 5 BHK house. I have documentary evidence that I did not take any money for power couple. I just had a signing amount." Rahul dismissed Pratyusha's close friend Vikas Gupta's claims that he has a nine-year-old son from his first marriage. "Where is the nine-year-old son they are talking about? Can someone please show? Neeraj Gupta was never my lawyer. Please show me the waqalatnama. I have filed a complaint against him in the bar council," Rahul said. "She was no doubt in depression. And that was because of the financial problems she was facing. If her parents knew that she was unhappy then why did they not intervene earlier. She used to drink a lot. Yes, we did have arguments, but which couple doesn't have. I will file a defamation case against Vikas Gupta and Kammya Punjabi," he added. However, Pratyusha's father denied all the allegations levelled by Rahul. "Who is Rahul to say all this? All the allegations levelled are false," he said. Pratyusha's friend and Rahul Raj's lawyer, Neeraj Gupta also hit out at him. "The one who is making allegations against me is himself an accused in suicide abetment case," he said. New Delhi: Asserting that taxi hailing apps like Ola and Uber must comply with its norms, Reserve Bank of India on Saturday said it is not a "paper tiger" and will enforce all regulations irrespective of whether they are "good, bad or ugly". RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan also said that as a regulator, the central bank was open to modifying regulations if necessary, while a number of steps have already been taken, including the 'touch-and-go' credit card facility. Rajan was responding to a question on problems he foresees in the taxi hailing sector and how RBI would respond. "I want to be very very clear here. We did move against one of the taxi providers because they were violating our regulations as they stood. We needed to bring them in to compliance to the regulation. "And this is something I want to emphasise. Our intent is whatever regulations are on the books -- good, bad, ugly -- they have to be complied with... if regulation is a bad regulation, we change the regulation. But what is on books has to be enforced. We don't want to be a paper tiger. We should not be a paper tiger." he said. RBI, he added, was trying to streamline its regulations and has come up with bunch of master circulars for easier reference. On a question to when India will become a 'two-eyed king', in a reference to his earlier 'one-eyed king' comment, Rajan said, "It depends both on what the rest of the world does and what we do. If rest of the world accelerates and we don't, obviously it takes us longer. My sense is the way recovery is picking up ...perhaps before rest of the world accelerates." Earlier, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had virtually rebutted Rajan's remarks that India is 'one-eyed king in the land of blind', saying compared to the rest of the world, the Indian economy is growing much faster and, in fact, the fastest. : Super model Carol Gracias, TV actress Shveta Salve along with 12 other proud expecting mothers traversed the ramp for skincare oil brand Bio-Oil, which hosted the #YummiliciousWalk on Saturday on the eve of Mother's Day.Bio-Oil aims to be a facilitator for expecting mothers to shed their inhibitions and celebrate this beautiful phase of motherhood."It has been heart-warming to share the stage with such confident and glowing Yummy Mummies. Pregnancy is a wonderful journey that should be cherished and rejoiced," Shveta said in a statement.Gracias says she is "delighted to choreograph" the walk with all the other women."I'm delighted to have been given the opportunity to choreograph the walk with all these gorgeous women! Joining these lovely mothers has been an overwhelming experience." Gracias said,Also present at the event were celebrity gynaecologist Kiran Coelho and dermatologist Rashmi Shetty. Why do @INCIndia & @OfficeOfRG practice this hypocrisy and double standards against Dalits and women of India? #JusticeforJisha Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) May 8, 2016 Why @OfficeOfRG & Sonia Gandhi have not visited family of #Jisha when Rahul Gandhi had rushed to meet the family Rohith. #JusticeForJisha Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) May 8, 2016 In the election season, the Bharatiya Janata Party is not leaving any stone unturned to target the Congress. The Gandhis have come under fire for not visiting rape victim Jisha's family in Kerala's Perumbavoor with Bharatiya Janata Party accusing Congress of practicing hypocrisy."Why do Congress and Rahul Gandhi practice this hypocrisy and double standards against Dalits and women of India? Why Rahul and Sonia Gandhi have not visited family of Jisha when the former had rushed to meet the family of Rohith," Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.According to police, the 30-year-old woman, hailing from a poor family, was raped and brutally assaulted using sharp-edged weapons before being murdered at her house at Perumbavoor in Ernakulam district on April 28.The crime has been dubbed "Kerala's Nirbhaya" for its chilling similarities to the gang-rape in 2012 of a young Delhi student on a moving bus.She was found dead in a pool of blood at her one room home at 8 PM on the same day by her mother when she returned from work.Ernakulam Range IG Mahipal Yadav had said there were signs of strangulation, smothering and injuries on the woman's neck, chest and at several other places of the body. Some reports said that the victim's intestines were spilled out. With the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam still in the spotlight, the National Herald case has come back to haunt the Gandhis. The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Haryana government has filed a case against Congress leader and former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Hooda has been accused of illegally transferring land to Associated Journals at Panchkula in 2005. He has been charged with cheating and breach of trust by the Haryana Vigilance department. After targeting the top Congress brass in and outside Parliament, BJP has trained its guns on Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra with party MP Kirit Somaiya giving a notice in Lok Sabha to raise the alleged scams involving him and also writing to the Enforcement Directorate in this regard. Somaiya, who has been in the forefront of BJP's attack on Congress over the AgustaWestland issue, has accused Vadra of benami transactions and floating many companies to park "non-transparent" money. "I will raise the issue in Lok Sabha," he said. In a related move, he has also written to the ED Director regarding "solar land scam" companies linked to Vadra. "I have submitted earlier details of various non-transparent solar project land transactions of Robert Vadra group," he has written, alleging illegal non-transparent land dealings, benami transactions, money laundering, cheating of farmers and seeking action. The Mumbai North-East MP is also the Chairman of Energy Committee of Parliament. Last week, Somaiya had attacked the Congress leadership in Parliament over the VVIP chopper scam. He had also written to the ED, asking it to "check" Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's link with those involved in this as well as the CWG scam. (With additional information from PTI) A single day taken out of a calendar to acknowledge and appreciate what a mother does for a child can never be enough. But keeping with the Google tradition, a lovely doodle adorns the search giant's homepage on this Mother's Day.The doodle showcases two pairs of shoes, one of the mother and the other belonging to the child that follows the mother wherever she goes.Posted by Sophie Diao, it is a personal memory of the doodler who remembers following her mother around all the time in her youth.As Diao puts it, "As we get older, we forget how heavily we once relied on our mothers and mother-figures. Thanks, Mom, for all the sacrifices, laughs, and love."Remembering all the sacrifices made and the love shared, here's wishing every mother a very Happy Mother's Day.Here's a look at Mother's Day special doodles from previous years: Washington: Amidst a growing list of opponents in the Republican establishment, the party's presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump today said he does not want the support of those leaders who do not want to endorse him. "If somebody doesn't want to endorse, I don't want their endorsement. It's OK. I'm going to release them," Trump said, amidst reports that two former presidents George H W Bush and George W Bush along with two presidential aspirants Jeb Bush and Lindsay Graham have refused to endorse him. "I understand Jeb Bush. I was rough with Jeb Bush. I think if I was Jeb Bush, I wouldn't vote for me either, if you want to know the truth, George. But they should do that. They're Republicans," he said. The House Speaker Paul Ryan has said he is not ready to support him. The two leaders are scheduled to meet next week. "We're going to see what happens. He wants to meet. He'd like to meet. And I think we're meeting on Thursday. And we'll just see what happens. It's just more drama," he said. Talking about endorsements, Trump said: "I think it's a mistake not to do this. We want to bring the party together. Does the party have to be together? Does it have to be unified? I think it would be better if it were unified," Trump said in response to a question. The real estate tycoon said he will do what he has to do to unite the party and win the November general elections. "I'm going to do what I have to do. I have millions of people that voted for me because I want strong borders, because I want strong trade. "I don't want to be an isolationist, but what's happening with China, what's happening with Japan, what's happening with Mexico, they're just absolutely eating our lunch. It's a shame. It's terrible," he said. "So, I have to stay true to my principles. I'm a conservative, but don't forget, this is called the Republican Party. It's not called the Conservative Party. You know, there are Conservative Parties. This is called the Republican Party," he said. In response to a question, Trump did not rule out raising Hillary Clinton's personal issues if her husband, the former US President Bill Clinton, gets involved in the campaign. "I think fair game," he said, adding, "It depends on if he's (Bill) involved in the campaign. I think if he's involved in the campaign, he shouldn't be. And he probably will be involved. I think he gets involved when she plays the women card," he said. "When she said Donald Trump was nasty to a woman, number one I've worked so well with women for so many years. I broke -- you know, you talk about the glass ceiling, what I've done in terms of jobs for women and I've gotten so much credit, and to this day I have so many women in my company that are doing so well, making so much money, I mean, in many cases making more money than men in comparable positions," he added. Paris: A Frenchman is suing his former boss over the crushing boredom he suffered in an 80,000 euro-a-year job which he claims turned him into a "professional zombie". On Monday, Frederic Desnard, 44, lodged a complaint at a labour relations tribunal, demanding 360,000 euros ($415,000) in compensation and damages for the "bore-out" he says he suffered as a well-paid executive in a perfume business. The plaintiff, who was paid an annual salary of more than 80,000 euros, was sacked in September 2014 after he had been on sick leave for seven months from his company, Interparfums. Desnard's lawyer Montasser Charni said that his "bore-out" -- the opposite of burnout -- caused him to have an epileptic fit while driving, which in turn caused him to have an accident that landed him in a coma for several days and led to his illness. Although Desnard had a doctor's certificate, labour law will require him to prove a link between his illness and his working conditions in order to win a complaint for unfair dismissal. Desnard joined the company, which specialises in licensing luxury perfumes, as a manager in December 2006. At first he was a model employee who showed "total devotion" to his job, Charni said. But his workload began to evaporate in 2009 and things got worse in 2012 when Interparfums lost a major contract and began laying off staff. With nothing much to do, Desnard "spent his time running errands for the president" of the company, Charni said. 40-minute days In an interview with the daily Le Monde, Desnard said he completed "between 20 and 40 minutes of work a day". The situation plunged him into a state of "extreme weariness", he said. "I no longer had the energy for anything. I felt guilty and ashamed to earn a salary for nothing. I had the impression I was invisible at the company," he said. Desnard was "destroyed morally and especially physically" but did not dare complain, being glad to have work in a depressed job market, Charni said, adding that his client was being "killed professionally through boredom". But the company's lawyer Jean-Philippe Benissan said that Desnard never sent a single email to management to complain about his situation, nor did he alert the employee health and safety agency. Benissan said the company doctor had consistently given Desnard a clean bill of health. The company lawyer questioned Desnard's "strategy", noting that he had previously complained to the labour relations tribunal of being overworked in his Interparfums job, given "too many hats" to wear. The tribunal's ruling in the case is set for July 27. An Amherst woman was injured after a car went into the James River in Amherst County late Friday, authorities said. The crash occurred around 10:20 p.m. off River Road near a row of houses in Madison Heights. The woman was pulled from the Suzuki car, transported to Lynchburg General Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and released. She was identified as 39-year-old Sarah Tomlin, Amherst Sheriffs Captain John Grieser said Saturday. No one else was in the car, according to Amherst County Public Safety Director Gary Roakes. Monelison Volunteer Fire Department responded to the scene. Traffic was blocked off at the corner of Thomas Road and River Road, north of the Fifth Street bridge, while authorities worked the scene. Roakes said Virginia State Police divers arrived on scene and were able to locate the car around 3 to 3:30 a.m. Saturday. Trini woman: Drone stalking me Vanda Forte, who flew to Trinidad to attend this years Point Fortin Borough Day celebrations, told Sunday Newsday shes reported the matter to her local police but without proof, so far they havent been able to do anything to stop him (drone). Originally from Belmont, Forte, then Vanda Sylvester, moved to the US when she was in her late teens, eventually marrying and having four children; three boys and a girl. Forte now lives alone in a two-storey home with lots of large windows, making it easy for a drone to spy on her in the wee hours of the morning. The first time the drone appeared, was around 10 pm or 11 pm one night in October. I saw this bright light coming towards me then when it got closer, I realised it was a drone. Lately its been appearing outside by windows before dawn, usually around 4 am when I normally get up. Forte said although she has surveillance cameras installed on her property, the red light indicating the cameras are recording can be seen in the dark, so he (drone) has been avoiding them, so while Im here in Trinidad, one of my sons and a policeman friend of his are going to try capturing footage of it and bringing it down. Questioned about who might have a possible motive for stalking her via drone, Forte told Sunday Newsday she believes it could be the son of a former friend of hers. This man is a police officer in another county in Georgia. Before his mother and I fell out in 2013, she once told me her son does this (stalking via drone) to people he doesnt like. Maybe because his mother and I are no longer friends, he decided to stalk me, Forte argued. She expressed hope that by sharing her story, albeit in another country, Fayetteville police would take a more serious approach to her case. I need the whole world to know Im in danger, Forte declared. Seeking a local perspective on what steps someone can take to stop the use of a drone to stalk/harass them, Sunday Newsday spoke with Senior Counsel (SC) Martin Daly. I imagine that if someone is using a privately-owned drone to harass a neighbour, youd have to look towards the normal common law things such as to do with trespass and nuisance and things of that sort. There are common law causes of action that would cover such a case. I dont think we can talk loosely about the right to privacy because thats a more complicated subject, so youd have to look to the more common law remedy. Daly lamented the increase in anti-social behaviour such as the use of fireworks in an inconsiderate manner in residential areas. I fear that eventually, drones will become as problematic as fireworks because as citizens, we seem to have a low sense of responsibility and its always, Is it illegal? If its not illegal, I can do what I like. I dont know what has happened to our sense of responsibility and to concepts of anti-social behaviour, Daly said. Prison moms delighted by Mothers Day visit Yesterday there were hugs, kisses and the trading of gifts for the 12th annual Mothers Day programme hosted by the Trinidad and Tobago Prison Service in collaboration with Prison Fellowship Trinidad and Tobago and Soroptomist International and held at Womens Prison, Golden Grove Road, Arouca. Children, from infants to about six years, held roses, cards, teddy bears and gift bags for their mothers and some of them also had gifts for their children and grandchildren in some cases. Prisoner Julia Ramdeen, speaking to the media, described the visit as wonderful. Im really happy seeing my granddaughter, she said. Ramdeen noted she has three children, two daughters and a son, who are all over 16 as well as two grand kids. She said her message to her children is to focus on education, drive safe, stay away from drugs and practice safe sex. She recalled that weeks before the visit the mothers were an emotional wreck and were busy getting cards prepared and stuffed toys; Ramdeen sewed clothes for her granddaughter. She recalled that the previous night she hardly slept in anticipation. And what did her children say when they saw her? Mommy you still sexy, she said laughing. She received a rose from them and a gift bag which she had not yet opened. She stressed the most important thing was having them around. Ramdeen explained that she wanted to show them prison isnt the end. She said she wrote exams this year, Human and Social Biology, and she is taking advantage of all the programmes to uplift and build herself. Fellow inmate Natasha De Leon, who was being visited by her daughter and grandson, said it was an uplifting feeling seeing them. She told the media she had prayed and asked God to give her the words so they dont leave feeling empty. She told her daughter and grandson that she loved them and that she appreciated that they never rejected her though she has not been able to fulfil her duties as a mother. I hope some day something will happen, she added. De Leon said that she writes letters to her daughter and sends gifts put together from items provided by prison ministries. Show them a token of appreciation, she explained. Snr Supt of Programmes Sherwin Bruce in his remarks said they understand the importance of mothers to their children and said Commissioner of Prisons Sterling Stewart had mandated that these programmes continue. Bruce explained that the children of inmates and the society are their secondary client and said there is value is restorative justice not only for the prison service but for the society as well. Being at the Womens Prison does not stop you from being a mother, he added. He said their job is to ensure the bonds between mother and child are kept. Supt of Golden Grove and Womens Prison Jude Gordon said the day was about family and he urged relatives do not forget your mother even though theyre here. He pointed out these mothers show strength, character and fortitude. Children love your mothers because they are going through a lot, he said. He pointed out that the mothers took time to look good for their children and visiting relatives and quipped I cant even make out some of them. Asst Supt of Womens Prison Germaine De Graff in her remarks said the event is to have fun, bond and have a memorable day in spite of . She noted that some women made special gifts to give to their children and this was encouraged because of the meaning it attached to the mothers. During the programme the Womens Prison Choir sang Lovely Day. The day also featured a poem about a mothers love and two dance numbers. Executive director of Prison Fellowship TT Robert Payne Jr said that the womens lives can be enhanced through skills and education programmes and the performance of the choir was a sample of what can be done by the prison service working together with civilian groups. Dr Wayne Haywood in his message spoke about the biblical principle of what you sow is what you will reap. He told the mothers if they sow love to their children they will reap love. He explained that you train a child by planting seeds in them by what you speak and children should be trained to be disciplined and orderly. He said they should not expect correctional institutions or schools to train up their children. It is not their job, he stressed. He told the mothers they had an opportunity to speak blessings into the lives of their children and not negativity like saying they are stupid, good for nothing and will not amount to much because that is what they will reap. To the children he urged them to bless their mothers and tell them how much they loved them. MOST of the problems in the prison situation is in the Remand system and the Courts need to fast track these cases, says executive director of Prison Fellowship TT Robert Payne Jr. He said there was not a problem in the prisons where they take care of their custodians, but specifically in Remand and urged the Courts to take corrective action. He was speaking yesterday with the media at the 12th annual Mothers Day programme hosted by the Trinidad and Tobago Prison Service in collaboration with Prison Fellowship Trinidad and Tobago and Soroptomist International and held at Womens Prison, Golden Grove Road, Arouca. Payne explained that these types of programmes follow the restorative justice philosophy and was about bringing families together and reintegration. He said that when inmates are released the families may or may not be prepared for them, and society may not be willing to accept a vile perpetrator back into society. How can we repair the harm done? he asked rhetorically. He said that restorative justice was now being unveiled and the population and the Court system needed to be made aware. Asked whether there had been improvement in inmate behaviour through programmes such as the Mothers Day visit Payne responded that there has been. He said, however, that most inmates were not involved in these programmes which deal with the mind, body and spirit. We cannot leave the spiritual involvement out, he stressed. Payne said there was a need for more stakeholders to get involved to boost their programmes. He explained that due to security and other concerns some families do not visit the inmates at the prisons and they wanted to have events on the outside. He reported that they have started an initiative called Friends of Prison Fellowship where they invite people and organisations to be trained in restorative justice and to assist with things like providing jobs for ex-inmates. Roget quiet on $360,000 judgment Roget, who is also head of the Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM), has been ordered to pay a total of $360,000 in damages to Ragoonath. In a precedent setting move, Justice Vasheist Kokaram also ordered Roget to apologise within 14 days, in a form acceptable to Ragoonath or settled by the court, and the sum of exemplary damages - which amounted to $160,0000 - will be reduced by 50 percent. In a telephone interview yesterday, Roget said his lawyers had advised him against commenting on the judgement until a comprehensive review was undertaken by his attorneys. My lawyers have advised me not to comment on it as there is 42 days in which to file an appeal, Roget said, adding, they are reviewing the judgement in a comprehensive way and following that, a statement will be made. Roget added: We acknowledge the judgement and a statement will be made but that will be following a review which will determine whether or not to appeal the judgement. Ragoonath was represented by attorneys Anand Ramlogan SC, Kelvin Ramkissoon, Kent Samlal and Douglas Bayley while Douglas Mendes SC and Anthony Bullock, represented Roget. TT Prison Fellowship head: Fast track Remand cases He said there was not a problem in the prisons where they take care of their custodians, but specifically in Remand and urged the Courts to take corrective action. He was speaking yesterday with the media at the 12th annual Mothers Day programme hosted by the Trinidad and Tobago Prison Service in collaboration with Prison Fellowship Trinidad and Tobago and Soroptomist International and held at Womens Prison, Golden Grove Road, Arouca. Payne explained that these types of programmes follow the restorative justice philosophy and was about bringing families together and reintegration. He said that when inmates are released the families may or may not be prepared for them, and society may not be willing to accept a vile perpetrator back into society. How can we repair the harm done? he asked rhetorically. He said that restorative justice was now being unveiled and the population and the Court system needed to be made aware. Asked whether there had been improvement in inmate behaviour through programmes such as the Mothers Day visit Payne responded that there has been. He said, however, that most inmates were not involved in these programmes which deal with the mind, body and spirit. We cannot leave the spiritual involvement out, he stressed. Payne said there was a need for more stakeholders to get involved to boost their programmes. He explained that due to security and other concerns some families do not visit the inmates at the prisons and they wanted to have events on the outside. He reported that they have started an initiative called Friends of Prison Fellowship where they invite people and organisations to be trained in restorative justice and to assist with things like providing jobs for ex-inmates. Fifty-thousand pounds of raw potatoes were strewn about North Carolina's I-77 when the truck driver carrying the haul fell asleep behind the wheel and crashed into a concrete barrier at the side of the road. A tractor-trailer driving along Interstate 77 in Charlotte, N.C. had a huge crash and overturned, strewing thousands of potatoes across the roadway, leading to the whole area closing down. Clean-up crews got into the act of removing them. It happened at 2 a.m. on the southbound lanes of I-77, near West Boulevard. The official records explain that it was because the driver just dozed off, which made him lose control behind the wheel, causing him to smash into a concrete barrier beside the road and overturn. It was such a violent accident that the tractor-trailer's engine just flew out, spilling the fuel and soaking some of the potatoes. The truck driver was rescued by a couple of nearby witnesses. They rushed him to Carolinas Medical Center with a few injuries. Following the crash, the North Carolina Department of Transportation sent a few front-end loaders to gather and put away the potatoes. Meanwhile, some clean-up crews have cleared a lane and are putting together the traffic in working order by afternoon. Meanwhile, traffic is being re-routed. According to reports, "the NCDOT recommends that commuters take Exit 11 onto I-277, loop around the downtown area, then take exit 1-B to return to I-77 South in order to avoid the wreck." The Daily News-Miner encourages residents to make themselves heard through the Opinion pages. Readers' letters and columns also appear online at newsminer.com. Contact the editor with questions at letters@newsminer.com or call 459-7574. Ghaziabad: A complaint has been registered over the alleged intrusion of a man into the high-security Hindon Air Base here, police said today. The complaint has been registered on behalf of Air Forces Warrant Officer K K Negi against Sonu at Sahibabad Police Station, they said, adding he is being interrogated. On Thursday night, Sonu, a resident of Loni area here, was noticed by security personnel while he was trying to trespass into the premises of the critical IAF installation. He was caught, but thrashed the personnel and disappeared into the dense jungle inside the air base, police said. An alarm was then raised and the local police was informed and after combing operation, he was nabbed. Senior Superintendent of Police Dharmendra Singh had said that the intruder seems to be mentally retarded. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Srinagar: Army today paid floral tributes to Sepoy Ramesh Chand Yadav, who was killed in an exchange of fire with militants in Kupwara Sector of north Kashmir. Homage was paid to the valour and sacrifice of the late soldier in a solemn ceremony held at Badami Bagh Cantonment, defence spokesperson Col N N Joshi said here. Yadav was a member of the Army team that foiled an infiltration bid along Line of Control in Kupwara sector yesterday after a group of militants was intercepted by the troops deployed on LoC, he said. This led to a gunbattle in which Yadav sustained gun shot wounds and succumbed to his injuries, the spokesperson said. Chinar Corps Commander Lt Gen Satish Dua and all ranks of the Corps laid wreaths to salute the soldiers final journey. Wreath was also laid on behalf of the Northern Army Commander, he said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Well anything can happen in India, but there are some which amuses us to the core, and this was one of them - A beauty contest for beasts, in presence of the state Minister. Decked up in traditional finery, hundreds of cows and bulls strutted down the ramp for a beauty pageant here, with a huge crowd cheering their every move. The ramp show reminded us the scenes of a recent movie 'Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho', where a buffalo, boasted as the most beautiful in town was the flashpoint. In the end, it was Rani, a cow from Imlauta village in Bhiwani district which edged out the competition to emerge triumphant, a spokesperson of the International Institute of Veterinary Education and Research, which conducted the bovine beauty pageant, said. About 633 cattle heads from different districts participated in the pageant to raise awareness about indigenous bovine breeds. A competition was also held to judge cows on their milk-yielding capacity. Cattle breeds like Hariana, Sahiwal, Tharparkar, Rathi, Belahi and Gir took part in the event held at Bahu Akbarpur here, the spokesperson said. Haryana Agriculture Minister O P Dhankar, who was chief guest at the event, appealed to cattle breeders to assist government in promoting indigenous breeds and encourage people to take up breeding. He assured all possible help for promoting cow rearing in each household in the state. With PTI Inputs. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: In yet another shocking incident of road rage, A 19-year-old boy was shot dead in Bihars Gaya on Saturday night, for overtaking SUV of a JD(U) lawmaker. The incident took place in Rampur area of Gaya, Bihar. JD (U) MLC Manorama Devis son Rocky Yadav shot dead Aditya Sachdeva late Saturday night the latter overtook Yadavs car, following which his father Bindi Yadav was detained by the Rampur Police on Sunday. There was no enmity or friendship with the youth who died. Both of the sides were returning from Bodh Gaya. All five of them were under the influence of alcohol. Madams bodyguard was also with them. They overtook the car and stopped it. My son was driving the car.four, five of them pulled him out the car and started beating him, Bindi Yadav told news agency ANI. Aditya Sachdeva, the son of a businessman, was travelling in his car with his friends when he allegedly overtook the Range Rover that belonged to JD(U) leader Manorama Devi. Ms Devi is a member of Bihars Legislative Council. Her husband Bindi Yadav is considered one of the strongmans of the area. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Breaking yet another proverbial glass ceiling, countrys largest paramilitary force CRPF is set to deploy over 560 women commandos for undertaking anti-Naxal operations in select Left Wing Extremism-affected states. The ambitious plan to deploy such a large number of women personnel in most challenging combat theatres in the countrys internal security domain got moving with a batch of 567 women passing out from the forces training centre in Rajasthans Ajmer last week. CRPF Director General K Durga Prasad told PTI that the full batch will now be deployed in phases in LWE areas in the company formation style, which means about 100 personnel at one time. These women who passed out on May 6 from Ajmer have been trained keeping in mind the LWE tasks rendered by us. We thought to give them the toughest assignment in the initial years of their service itself. Initially these women personnel will be deployed in one company at a time and after some time their deployment and work utility will be scaled up, Prasad said. The DG added the force has already created living infrastructure and barracks for these women at certain locations while more such facilities will be created in due course of time. The CRPF, officials said, has been working on the concept that if Maoists can have women in their ranks, why not the security forces. Recently, border-guarding force Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) had declared that it will post its women personnel in full combat role in its units along the Sino-Indian border. The latest batch of Central Reserve Police women personnel have been trained for 44 weeks in jungle warfare, unarmed combat, smart weapons firing and other drills after which they got commissioned in the 232nd battalion of the force. This is the fourth mahila battalion of CRPF. A CRPF battalion has about 1,000 personnel. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Mumbai: Two-wheeler major Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India has set a target of over 20 per cent sales growth this fiscal as it hopes to banish the long waiting period for its flagship Activa scooter with the commissioning of the second line at its Gujarat facility. We hope to sell over 20 per cent more units this year. The second assembly line in Gujarat, with a capacity of 0.6 million by the end of this quarter, should help us end the near six-month waiting for the Activa now. We hope from the Diwali season one can drive away an Activa over the counter, the companys Senior Vice-President for Sales and Marketing Yadvinder Singh Guleria told PTI. The Japanese company got off to a stellar start this fiscal, with April sales zooming 26.51 per cent to 4,31,011 units, while rival Hero MotoCorp, which saw sales falling in 2015-16, witnessed a 15 per cent spurt in sales to 6,12,739 units. Third-placed Bajaj saw volume falling 2 per cent to 3,30,109 units. For the full fiscal 2015-16, as per SIAM data, while two-wheeler sales inched down 0.24 per cent to 1,07,00,466 units, Honda sales rose to 44,83,459 units from 44,52,005 units, out of which domestic sales stood at 42,83,345 units, up from 42,63,746 units earlier. For the first time, we will be able to cross the 5 million sales mark this year, Guleria said, adding that the 1.2 million scooters-only Gujarat plant will help in reaching the target. With the second line in Gujarat going on-stream, Hondas total capacity will touch 5.8 million from the present 4.6 million from its four plants. FY17 is going to be our most definitive year here. Our priorities will be strengthening our connect with the youth, make all our models BS-IV compliant at the earliest while continue to aggressively make inroads into rural markets, which now contributes around 35 per cent of total sales, Guleria said. Honda opened the 6-lakh unit first line in Gujarat ahead of schedule in February and a similar capacity second line will be on-stream next month, Guleria said. The Japanese auto major had a whopping 56 per cent share of the scooters market in 2015-16 and expects it rise further with more supplies from the Gujarat plant. The Rs 1,100-crore plant at Vithalapur near Ahmedabad is the worlds largest scooter factory. Since its entry, Honda has invested over Rs 7,800 crore and employs around 20,000 people, including the 3,000 people at the Gujarat plant. New York: Pakistans powerful ISI had brought in Haqqani networks chief Sirajuddin Haqqani as the deputy leader of the Taliban last year to protect him from the Americans, a media report said today. The New York Times, quoting Afghan and American officials, said in a report that the closer integration of the feared Haqqani militant network into the leadership of the Taliban is changing the flow of the Afghan insurgency this year, with the Haqqanis senior leader increasingly calling the shots in the Talibans offensive. It quoted Afghanistans former intelligence chief Rahmatullah Nabil as saying that the ISI brought Sirajuddin as the deputy to the Taliban to give him protection, so if the peace talks get serious, the Americans wouldnt be able to say, We will make peace with the leader but not with the deputy. Nabil, who now runs a charity for wounded Afghan soldiers, said the merger had been helped by the fact that the Haqqanis were struggling financially, after their chief fund-raiser was gunned down near Islamabad in 2013, and that the Taliban needed Haqqanis expertise in waging complex attacks. Brigadier General Charles Cleveland, the chief spokesman for United States and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said that Sirajuddin increasingly runs the day-to-day military operations for the Taliban, and, we believe, is likely involved in appointing shadow governors. The Haqqani network's closer integration with the Taliban command also creates awkwardness for the Obama administration, and is raising tension between Pakistan and Afghanistan, it said. The report cited some senior Afghan officials as saying that the Pakistani military was central to bringing the Haqqanis more closely into the Taliban during the insurgency's leadership councils last summer, which were held in Quetta. The report said that the Haqqanis have refined a signature brand of urban terrorist attacks and cultivated a sophisticated international fund-raising network, factoring prominently in the United States militarys push to keep troops in Afghanistan. It added that the groups growing role in leading the entire insurgency in the war-torn country has raised concerns about an even deadlier year of fighting ahead, as hopes of peace talks have collapsed. The shift is also raising tensions with the Pakistani military, which American and Afghan officials accuse of sheltering the Haqqanis as a proxy group, it said. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. London: A British Muslim woman who is among the worlds most wanted female terror suspects has threatened new strikes against Britain on social media, according to a report today. Sally Jones, a former punk rocker who travelled to Syria after converting to Islam, praised the publication of a hit-list of US drone pilots amid claims that Islamic State (IS) hackers have also identified British military personnel involved in airstrikes in the region, the Sunday Times reported. Resurfacing on Twitter last week after a prolonged absence the 47-year-old wrote, U cant just sit there with ur tea & scones ordering RAF (Royal Air Force) drone strikes on UK brothers with no comeback from the Islamic State (Isis). In a reference to her dead husband, Junaid Hussain, 21, who was killed by a US drone strike in Syria, Jones added, Yes, its Abu Hussains wife. Shouldnt you be calling for the resignation of Mike Fallon (UK defence secretary) after IS said it has a mole in the MoD?. Jones even chose to like a story about her by the Sunday Times, a social media move that could eventually help Western intelligence agencies track her location. Jones has been placed on a Pentagon kill list after being named as a specially designated global terrorist. She and Hussain are known to have orchestrated attacks against the West from Syria. IS hackers linked to Jones recently published the personal details of about 75 US staff. They now claim to have a similar list of RAF personnel. We are not releasing it publicly right now; let the UK wonder whos on it, they boasted on Twitter. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: BJP today asserted that it will form government in Uttarkhand after May 10, claiming that a new sting video showed that ousted Chief Minister Harish Rawat has lost the support of Congress MLAs and he was bound to lose the trust vote on Tuesday. If they think that by giving money, they will save the floor then they are wrong. On tenth, the majority will go against Congress and the new government will be formed by BJP, party leader Bhagat Singh Koshyari told reporters. Terming Rawats conduct as shameful, he said that Congress is performing its last rites in the state as they have kept a leader who is insulting his own party. Koshyari, who is a former chief minister of the state and is seen as a contender for the top post of if BJP forms the government, evaded a query on who will be the partys CM saying, This answer can be given by party chief Amit Shah. Harish Rawat alleges that BJP is indulging in horse-trading. He is himself indulging in it. First there was a sting on him. Today a new sting has come out. One MLA has himself has said that CM, to please his own MLAs, is giving Rs 25-30 lakhs. There cannot be a more shameful thing than this, the BJP leader alleged. He said that the episode showed that the chief minister has lost trust in his own MLAs and the MLAs do not have trust in their leader. MLAs lose their trust in their leader. Around one-third leave him, and those who are left, one-third of them also demand Rs 25 lakh or Rs 50 lakh. In Uttarkhand, this demonic sport should stop and Harish Rawat should stop levelling allegations, he said, adding that Congress has lost all hope and which is why they werebribing their own members. He said that MLAs in the sting have alleged that the government is involved with mining and liquor mafias. Congress which at some point fought for the freedom of the country, which had leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel, that Congress to taking its last breath or rather performing its last rites. It has kept such a leader in the state who is himself insulting the party and insulting the state as well. I believe that MLAs, for the dignity of the state and its people, will free themselves from such corrupt leaders, he said. In the latest controversy, a sting video has been released by a private news channel which claimed that Harish Rawat gave Rs 25 lakh to some of his MLAs. The Supreme Court had on Friday ordered a floor test in Uttarakhand Assembly on May 10 when Rawat will seek a vote of confidence during which the nine disqualified Congress MLAs may be able to vote if the High Court permits them. The High Court has reserved its verdict on the rebel MLAs plea for tomorrow. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Guwahati: Questioning the source of BJPs funds for the lavish election campaign for the Assembly polls in the state, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today alleged that the saffron party had a strong corporate backing and the funding must have stemmed from black money. The BJP just concluded assembly elections in Assam and spent money like water in publicity, chopper driven transportation and the like. Without a strong corporate backing such a lavish election campaign is unimaginable, Gogoi said in a statement issued today. He also alleged that never before had the Union Finance Minister and External Affairs Minister visited Assam and held meeting with members of the business community. The people of Assam are intelligent enough to understand the fallout of such meetings and it is evident that the huge amount spent on election campaign must have stemmed from black money pumped in by sources best known to the BJP, he said. Will anyone give so much money without expecting return benefits... The reason behind giving money can be anybodys guess, Gogoi said. Madrid: Three Spanish journalists taken hostage in Syria by an Al Qaeda-linked group returned today to Madrid where they were welcomed by overjoyed family members after nearly a year in captivity. Antonio Pampliega, Jose Manuel Lopez and Angel Sastre were flown on a Spanish defence ministry jet from Turkey to Torrejon air base near Madrid where they were greeted by Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria. The three men smiled as they descended from the plane as officials held up umbrellas to shield them from driving rain, according to a video released by the government. Pampliega kissed his sister Alejandra on the forehead and gave her a hug after she ran to greet him. Crying from joy falls short, she said on Twitter yesterday when the news broke that the three experienced conflict zone reporters had been released and were in good health. Pampliegas mother Maria del Mar Rodriguez Vega said she planned to cook her sons favourite dish to celebrate his return - spinach with bechamel sauce. It was wonderful when I spoke to him by telephone, she said in a statement released by the Spanish branch of media rights group Reporters Without Borders, known by its French acronym RSF. He had the same voice as always, from when he was a child, he repeatedly asked me to forgive me for what he made me go through. The three journalists were kidnapped by armed men on July 13 while they travelling together in a small van in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo where they had been reporting on fighting for various Spanish media. They were held by Al-Qaedas Syrian affiliate, the Al-Nusra Front, government sources told AFP. The trio appear to have been treated better than three other Spanish journalists who were released in March 2014 after being held for six months in Syria by the Islamic State group, Al-Nusras rival which has executed many of its hostages, the sources added. The release was possible thanks to the collaboration of allies and friends especially in the final phase from Turkey and Qatar, the government said yesterday, without giving further details. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Cairo: In a revenge attack, Islamic State gunmen today shot dead at least nine policemen in southern Egypts Helwan district, the latest in a series of attacks on security personnel. The gunmen travelling in a truck stopped a microbus carrying the plainclothed policemen, including a lieutenant, in Omar Ibn Abdel Aziz street and sprayed it with bullets before fleeing from the scene, a security official said. Four armed terrorists got out of the truck and opened fire on the police microbus, according to a statement by the Ministry of Interior. Security forces have rushed to the place of the incident and are currently searching for the attackers, it said. The Islamic State groups Egyptian branch claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement circulated on social media. The group said a squad of the soldiers of the caliphate opened fire on the microbus in Helwan, killing the policemen before making off with their weapons. The attack was retaliation for the pure women imprisoned in Egyptian jails, the group said in its statement. Earlier, an Islamist group Shabab el-Mokawma el-Shabia (public resistance) had claimed responsibility for the attack. In a statement published on its Facebook page, the group said the attack was carried out in memory of Rabaa victims (who were killed during the dispersal of the Muslim Brotherhoods Rabaa sit-in in August 2013 by police). The attack came to commemorate 1000 days of the attack, it said. Egypt has witnessed several violent attacks by militants since the January 2011 revolution that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak. Terrorists, including from dreaded Islamist State outfit, have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers in attacks conducted mostly in the Sinai Peninsula and in and around Cairo. The attacks targeting police and military increased after the ouster of Islamist ex-president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 by military following massive protests against his rule. Over 700 security personnel have reportedly been killed so far. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Jaipur: Students of class VIII in Rajasthan schools will no longer study the contribution of Jawaharlal Nehru in their social science textbook as references to the first prime minister have been dropped. The references to Nehru have been removed in two chapters in the revised textbook which will be introduced from this academic session for class VIII in schools affiliated to Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (or Ajmer Board). Though the book is not available in the market yet, the information has been uploaded on the website of the Rajasthan State Textbook Board, which publishes the book for the state board. The new name that has been included in the textbook is that of freedom movement leader Hemu Kalani. While the names of Mahatma Gandhi, Veer Sawarkar, Bhagat Singh, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Subhas Chandra Bose are among those figured in the textbook, there is no mention of Nehru either in the chapter on Freedom Movement or in that on India After Independence. The revision of several textbooks has been carried out under curriculum restructuring by the Udaipur-based State Institute of Education Research and Training (SIERT). The earlier edition of the book titled Social Science for Class VIII also had a table on Major Leaders of National Movement that featured the names and briefs on contribution of Dadabhai Naoroji, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose. In that particular box, the reference to Nehru stated, After becoming a barrister, he joined the national movement. He later became the President of Congress, leader of the Interim Government and the first Prime Minister of Independent India. That particular box, besides other references to Nehru in the book, is also not there in the new edition of the book. Opposition Congress has hit out at BJP saying that the state government has touched a new low by omitting references to Nehru in the school book. The BJP government in Rajasthan is carrying out its agenda and touching a new low by omitting references to the freedom fighter and the first prime minister of India who had great contribution in the freedom struggle and in the foundation of independent India, Rameshwar Dudi, Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly, told PTI. He said the issue will be taken up in a major way. Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot said, This is a shameless act of the government of Rajasthan. The RSS could not find a place in the glorious history of India but now the BJP government is removing the contribution of Nehru from history and people will teach them a lesson. He said, Nehrus contribution to Rajasthan is major. The Panchayti Raj system started from the state. The act reflects the state governments narrow-mindedness and a campaign should be undertaken to expose the government in public. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi : A 23-year-old Belgian national on a pan-India tour was allegedly molested by an Ola cab driver in south east Delhis C R Park area last night, in yet another incident that raised questions about the safety of women using app-based taxi hailing services. The accused driver, Balraj Singh alias Raj, a native of Rajasthans Alwar district, was arrested in the wee hours today hours after the incident, police said. Curiously, when the woman booked the cab, she received a confirmation from Ola that the driver named Vikram Singh would pick her up but it later emerged that he had rented out the vehicle he owned to the accused in violation of the norms. The woman, who said she worked as a translator, told police that she had booked the cab from Gurgaon and during the journey the cab driver allegedly kissed and took pictures of her. In a statement, Ola said that the driver has been sacked. But the company did not immediately respond to questions as to how the registered owner had rented out the car to another person. We first tracked down Vikram but he did not turn out to be the driver. He owned the car. The accused was arrested after Ola assisted police in tracking the GPS locations of the car, a senior police official said. Taking a serious view of the incident, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has sought a report from Lt Governor Najeeb Jung on the issue. I have asked Lt Governor Delhi for a report on the molestation of a Belgian girl by a Cab driver. We are committed to the safety and security of all foreign nationals in India, Swaraj said in a series of tweets. The incident also drew criticism from the oppostion parties with former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit claiming that there has been a spike in crimes against women in the national capital under AAP government led by Arvind Kejriwal. A case of molestation has been registered under sections IPC 354 and 354A, 354C against the accused, police said. The taxi is registered with Keshav Taxi Services in Gurgaons Sushant Lok area. The woman, who has been staying in India since February , was travelling to a friends place in CR Park whom she had met during her trip to Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh. The victims statement has been recorded and she will return to Belgium tonight, police said. The driver deliberately took the wrong route after Hauz Khas and when the woman told him that she will ask her friend (about the right route), he took her phone and deleted all the records related to Ola. He also called her over to the front seat claiming that his GPS was not working and then allegedly kissed her, a senior police official said. Ola confirms that the vehicle as well as the associated operator and driver have been permanently blacklisted from the platform. We will share all required information with the authorities to help resolve this for the customer. We have zero tolerance to such behaviour from drivers on the platform, the company said in a statement. Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta also demanded a through investigation into the case. The AAP government has gone back on its promise to ramp up womens safety, he alleged. Be it molestation or rape, Delhi has seen an increase in such crimes and they have risen all the more under the Kejriwal dispensation. I want him and his ministers to focus on womens security. Where else will women feel safe if not the national capital? Dikshit asked. Dikshit said Kejriwal had repeatedly raised similar issues during her tenure to criticise her. We are waiting for him to take some steps in this regard. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Srinagar: People of Jammu and Kashmir become the first casualty of any hostile environment between India and Pakistan, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said, underlining that only sustained peace in the region can allow her government to resuscitate the financial health of the state which has been caught in a web of violence. The people of J-K become the first casualty of any hostile environment between India and Pakistan. Since partition, Kashmir, the paradise on earth, has been caught in a web of violence and this has adversely affected our economy and prevented our state from realising its full potential, Mehbooba said here. The Chief Minister was addressing a gathering after jointly inaugurating the first-ever National Khadi Exhibition with Union MSME Minister Kalraj Mishra at Kashmir Haat here. She said that only sustained peace in the region can allow her government to resuscitate the states financial health by reviving core sectors of economy, including small-scale industries. The instability in the region has adversely impacted the economy of the state. It is with sustained peace that my government will be able to resuscitate the states financial health, she said. Mehbooba said her father and former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had made a historic beginning in 2003 to bring Kashmir out of the quagmire of violence. During his first tenure as Chief Minister, peace returned on borders, and India and Pakistan talked business for the very first time, she said. When the bus carrying visitors from across the LoC arrived here from Muzaffarabad, people could not believe the unfolding of a new era of peace and stability in the region. Unfortunately, that peace initiative was not taken forward, she said. Mehbooba said she chose to follow in the footsteps of her father by aligning with BJP as the party ruling at the Centre could revive the peace process in the region. I chose to follow the footsteps of my father, who had chosen the toughest option of aligning with BJP, which alone guarantees a representative government that respects the wishes and aspirations of people in all the three regions of the state and could revive the peace process in the region. With thaw in relations between the two neighbours, I am hopeful that dividends of peace will reach the people with dignity and honour, the Chief Minister said. Mehbooba said efforts are being made to revive the cross-LoC trade at Chakan da Bagh, in Poonch, and Salamabad, in Uri, Baramulla, by shifting to the banking system of operation from barter trade. She also spoke about broadening the scope of LoC commerce by incorporating more tradable items in the approved list as well as opening additional crossing points to boost travel across the LoC. I seek the Centres support in promotion of famed handicrafts of the state. I urge Mishra to pay special attention towards this sector, which has a huge export market overseas, she said. The MSME Minister, in his address, said the Khadi exhibition would help young industrialists to find buyers for their products. He said the central government would extend all possible help to the young entrepreneurs in the state and also referred to his meeting with the Chief Minister in which issues of skill development and promotion of MSME sector were discussed in detail. During the month-long exhibition, over 200 stalls of Khadi and village products from J-K and outside would be showcased where people can buy wide array of products on affordable rates. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Washington: The Democratic presidential front runner Hillary Clinton today reiterated that Donald Trump, the Republican presidential presumptive nominee, is a loose cannon and many of his policies announced in recent months are concerning. I think that being a loose cannon means saying that other nations should go ahead and acquire nuclear weapons for themselves, when that is the last thing we need in the world today, Clinton told CBS News in an interview when asked about her allegations early this week that Trump is a loose cannon. Being a loose cannon is saying we should pull out of NATO, the strongest military alliance in the history of the world and something that we really need to modernise, but not abandon, she said. I think saying that hes a loose cannon really focuses on some of the statements hes made which I find concerning, going back to torture, killing terrorist families, which would be a war crime, she said. Clinton said the Republicans themselves are raising questions about their presumptive nominee. When you have former presidents, when you have high-ranking Republican officials in Congress raising questions about their nominee, I dont think its personal, so much as rooted in their respect for the office and their deep concern about what kind of leader he would be, she said. The former Secretary of State alleged that Trump has slogans and not policies. He doesnt have a view. He has a slogan. And he needs to be really pressed on that. When he says climate change is a Chinese hoax, what does that mean? Has he ever talked to a scientist, or is he just again assuming a slogan? she asked. When he says women should be punished for having abortions, what does that mean, and how would he go about that, or rounding up 11 million, 12 million people, which he again repeated, which would entail the most comprehensive police and military action inside our borders that is imaginable? she questioned. Clinton reiterated that she would not indulge in personal mudslinging. Im not going to run an ugly race. Im going to run a race based on issues and what my agenda is for the American people, she said. I dont really feel like Im running against Donald Trump. I feel like Im running for my vision of what our country can be and to knock down all the barriers that stand in the way of Americans getting ahead, she said. Trump, she alleged, doesnt understand that running the government is not the same as making real estate deals. Putting the full faith and credit of the United States of America at risk would be a horrible outcome, she warned. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Washington: Members of Pakistan-based MQM have held a peaceful demonstration in front of the White House protesting against the alleged extra-judicial killings of its workers by Pakistani security forces in Karachi. Holding placards and banners and shouting slogans for justice, the demonstrators yesterday demanded the Pakistan army chief to stop terrorism and aggression against detained Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) supporters in Rangers custody. They also called for taking stern action against Rangers personnel allegedly involved in the brutal killing of Aftab Ahmed, a MQM leader, in Karachi recently. MQM alleged that Aftab Ahmed, who died in the custody of the paramilitary Rangers earlier this week, was subjected to torture before his death with around 35 to 40 per cent of his body bearing bruises. This has been confirmed by a post-mortem report, it said. Addressing the demonstrators, MQMs Mateen Yousuf welcomed the decision of the Pakistan army chief to order for an impartial inquiry into the death. He also welcomed US state department statement showing concern on extra judicial killing of MQM worker Aftab Ahmed and human rights violations by security forces in Karachi. The state operation is continuing to crush and eliminate the MQM, but despite all sorts of brutalities, supporters and activists of the party were determined and had faith in the party and its chief, he said. MQM is a Karachi-based major political party of Urdu-speaking people who migrated from India after partition but it ran into troubles after Rangers and police launched operation in the city in 2013 to create peace with the backing of the powerful army. The party was accused of having links with criminals and having a militant wing. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. My message for Columbus residents planning to participate in Tuesdays primary election is simple. You need to vote to extend the local sales taxes. This isnt a question of whether you do or dont support the proposed library/cultural arts center. Its a matter of progress. And, yes, I know that term has become somewhat cliche in Columbus, but deciding now to end the local half-percent and 1 percent sales taxes would truly set the city back. Revenue from the 1 percent sales tax, which was first approved by voters in November 1994, has been used to buy vehicles, pay for street improvements, upgrade our water system, promote economic development and develop parks, among other uses. The half-percent tax, which was first authorized by voters in November 2000, has been used to complete special projects such as the construction and expansion of Pawnee Plunge Water Park and improvements at Pawnee Parks Memorial Stadium, as well as subsidize operations at the water park and aquatic center. By voting to extend the 1 percent sales tax, youre giving the city the authority to continue using this revenue for the projects and purchases the money has gone toward in the past. The half-percent tax would be used to finance the library/cultural arts center building and a public safety project that benefits the police and fire departments. Now is not the time to make a decision on whether you support either of those proposals. I know I havent. Lets approve the financing mechanism, then give city officials time to develop these projects further before presenting us with final designs and costs. We, the voters, can determine the future of these projects when were presented with bond issues for each specific plan. If the projects are nixed, the half-percent tax goes away. When the projects are paid for, the half-percent tax goes away. The 1 percent tax would continue for 10 years. City Finance Director Anne Kinnison has called the local sales taxes a fair tax, as everyone pays the same rate. She also believes this revenue has helped lower the citys property tax rate. Since the 1 percent sales tax was approved by voters in November 1994, property tax rates for the city and airport, which became a single levy in 2009-10, have decreased by about 10 cents per $100 in valuation. The property tax rate to support city services, including the airport, has remained steady or declined each year since at least 2004-05, although the city has collected more money because of rising valuations. Local sales taxes generated a combined $6.36 million in revenue for the city in fiscal year 2015-16 compared to $4.2 million in property taxes collected for the city. Sales taxes are a major funding source for the city, and a decision to eliminate this source would likely have detrimental effects. City officials would either be forced to make major budget cuts impacting the services we rely on every day or they could take the easier route of raising the property tax levy. The current property tax rate in Columbus slightly less than 33 cents per $100 in valuation leaves about 12 cents of wiggle room for city officials before they reach the lid. Thats an extra $120 per year for the owner of a $100,000 home. Ive heard from some people that we should eliminate the local sales taxes to promote local shopping. I dont think thats the solution. Unless Kohls, Target and Dillards decide to move into town, people are still going to travel to Omaha, Lincoln and other cities for their shopping. Each of the 32 cities in Nebraska with populations of 5,000 or more has a local sales tax of at least 1.5 percent. Seven of those communities, including Norfolk and Lincoln, have local sales taxes higher than the 1.5 percent rate paid in Columbus. With apologies to our friends in Schuyler, David City, Genoa and other communities, I say we continue to let out-of-towners who shop here support our city services rather than pick up the entire tab ourselves. Vote yes on the sales tax extensions. The Republican leader in the state House is urging the partys chairman to reconsider his decision to bar Hearst Connecticut Medias political reporter from attending the state party convention. State Rep. Themis Klarides, the Republican state House minority leader, said she disagrees with J.R. Romanos decision to bar Neil Vigdor from covering Mondays state Republican convention. I sincerely believe that we need more transparency in politics today, not less, Klarides said Saturday. Banning a member of the press because you may disagree with coverage is not a wise move.'' On Friday, Romano, of Derby, turned down Vigdors request to attend the event in the Connecticut Convention Center, for what he characterized as a series of negative stories about state Republicans that used anonymous sources. Im tired of him having unnamed sources, Romano said Friday. I question his motivations. Neil Vigdor is not treating us fairly. I just want to be treated fairly. Im not being treated fairly. On Saturday, Romano said he understands where Klarides is coming from and is only barring Vigdor, not Hearst, from covering the convention. NORWALK The class made the font themselves. The last of the phrases in bold, black capitalized letters were painted on cardboard and hung to dry at Side by Side Charter School on Friday. Ready made read one poster. Cool beans read another. Black acrylic paint on cardboard, read another more matter-of-fact one. Three hours per day for five days, the seventh grade students of Side by Side worked under the guidance of Peter Liversidge as part of the Common Ground program at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield. An exhibit of their work will open for the museums Community Day on July 9. Its all-caps and big to show how important it is to us, said 13-year-old Justin Pol on Friday about the font choice. Its not just there to look at, its something you should take time to read and understand. In its second year, Common Ground connects the Aldrich with area schools, educating kids using creatively-driven, project-based learning. Liversidge was chosen out of a group of four artists-in-residence currently exhibiting at the museum to participate in the program. Art is a lens through which students can learn visual, creative and critical thinking skills, said Danielle Ogden, associate director of academic programs at the museum. She said Liversidges process-based work seemed like a good pick for student learning. These complex processes and complex outcome-based practices are harder to do inside the classroom but have a much more real world application, said Mary Newbery, assistant director of curriculum instruction at Side by Side. After a class-wide decision on the font on Monday, the students pitched to Liversidge and each other the phrases that would go on their cardboard posters. Even as adults we hold on to our ideas, but in this installation, our students are releasing their thoughts, ideas and phrases, said Newbery. By sharing each others favorite quotes, she said, they were sharing little pieces of themselves. I didnt know that some kids have these really nice quotes that are sentimental because they kept it all in, said Justin, poised over a blank cardboard poster, brush in hand. But now when I see them I really want to know them because they were really nice. Justin really liked the phrase go big or go home, because it was uttered by Michael Jordan, one of his idols and creator of his favorite shoes Jordans. He said it means if you want to do something, you do it right. Liversidge said the phrases could be abstract or specific, but they shouldnt be political or highly opinionated. The idea is whoever reads the text, can identify with it, he said. After coming to a consensus on which phrases to use and which to toss, the students printed them out and got to work writing the stark, black messages on the plain cardboard slabs. Liveridges exhibit at the museum is based on 60 proposals, formulated after weeks of research on the museum, Ridgefield and the surrounding area. One proposal involved the reenactment of a cannonball shooting. Another involved spray-tanning his hand. Working with students at Side by Side will mark the 24th of 60 proposals completed. Its very important (my pieces) are a part of that place and not just parachuted in, he said. Its very much about the sense of where the work is how are you getting on? A student showed him her poster with Indiana Jones theme song written on it. Oh, thats a beauty, he said. He then got up to change the music Liversidge had made a different mixed tape for each of the five days they worked together. At first, they didnt want to talk, and now look at them, said Liversidge. Theyve really come out of their shells. They are so good. On Friday morning the students were finishing up the last of the projects. On paint-splattered tables, they dipped their brushes into plastic cups of darkened water and glanced at a wall of large letters the standardized fonts before slowly and meticulously stenciling a word. I used to not like art but now I do. I thought art, you had to paint something and publish it, but now I see you can make art with anything, said Nyana Curry, 13. Her favorite message was one she had pitched herself: to predict the future, you have to create it. Talking wont do anything, but doing something will change things, she explained. I like it when people change people. Curiosity. Its a major influencer and indicator of success, both in and out of the workplace. In fact, curiosity is proven to actually prep our brain for learning new things, open us up to new personal growth opportunities and even help us find more meaning in life. Yet while curiosity clearly plays an important role in our lives and in our work, most businesses struggle to find a way to embrace the trait, as it is easy to espouse the virtues of building a healthy atmosphere of curiosity in your team and company values, but its incredibly difficult to put it into practice. In fact, a recent Merck KGaA study noted that 84 percent of employees felt that their employers encouraged curiosity, but 60 percent of them also believe that there are barriers to building curiosity into their work. Related: Curiosity Is the Key to Discovering Your Next Breakthrough Idea It takes a diligent leader to bring that curious mentality to the rest of your team and make sure that it is emphasized during regular day-to-day conversations, meetings and projects. Here are three tips to help you establish and maintain that curiosity in your own office and company culture. Empower employees at all levels through ownership. Its been shown that big companies in mature industries, even when they realize the value of curiosity, struggle with nurturing it within their employees. One way to counter this type of situation is by creating a non-traditional workplace structure focused around empowering workers of all levels. On the whole, you want all of your employees to feel like mini CEOs. This type of empowerment allows for full ownership of a project and emboldens employees to fight for their ideas. By rewarding those who speak up and giving credit to leaders of all levels, personal growth through curiosity becomes a far more attainable idea. It also paves the way for new voices in the company to bring forth fresh ideas. Encourage outside hobbies. When were exposed to the same ideas and activities day in and day out, it is difficult to maintain a creative mindset. This is where hobbies outside of work play an important role in employee performance. A recent San Francisco State University study of workers found that those who engaged in creative pursuits -- anything from playing video games to writing short stories -- had improved job performance and specifically out-performed their hobby-less coworkers when it came to creative problem-solving. Related: Curiosity Might Have Killed the Cat. But Don't Let It Kill You However, with many jobs veering off of the traditional 9-to-5 schedule and with the line between work life and home life more blurry than ever before, its important for businesses to take an active role in encouraging their employees side passions. Whether during a designated sharing time at company meetings or by encouraging your team to take advantage of all of their vacation days, a continued conversation regarding life outside of the office and support for such endeavors will allow your employees to be more curious in their work. In my own company, weve found a balance by encouraging employees to bring their personal passions into the office with a series of informative show and tells. In the past, weve had employees give presentations as varied as a tutorial on how to tie nautical knots to a (somewhat murky) recollection of variations in whiskey based on a recent trip to Ireland. Create cross-team communication. One of the keys to breeding an environment of curiosity is to provide employees with exposure to as many different ideas as possible through cross-team communication. One of the most popular ways to build this type of communication across the company is by physically opening up the office, allowing people to interact with parts of the organization they may not normally come into direct contact with. If opening up the physical space isnt possible, businesses can also turn to new communication channels such as Slack, which allow for workplace bonding and discussion across not only workplace boundaries but also physical distances, bringing offices from around the country (and the world) together like never before. In companies with several different offices, its helpful to maintain all-hands-on-deck meetings or even to install visual live-streams into each office to contribute to that connection. Related: Learn the Valuable Lesson of Curiosity Every company and every office will need to experiment with some of these suggestions in order to best determine which makes the most sense for your team, your industry, and even your product. It can be a daunting task, but one well worth the investment and risk. We have a saying at Wibbitz that I took from my roots in the Israeli military and that speaks to the opportunity here: Those who dare, win. Related: Motivating Employees Is Not About Money 20 Online Invoice Solutions That Offer More Than Just Invoicing How to Win on Company Culture Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved This is in response to the Where I Stand by Gulamhusein A. Abba (The Queens infuriating words, The News-Times, April 27). Mr. Abbas rejection of British colonialism of the 19th and 20th century is understandable especially as it relates to the history of India, his native country. However, his version of the history of the British Mandate for Palestine is grossly distorted. Following is an exact quote from the Mandate from the League of Nations document: Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have also agreed that the Mandatory should be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2nd, 1917, by the Government of His Britannic Majesty, and adopted by the said Powers, in favor of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing should be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing nonJewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country. The 1917 declaration referred to is the Balfour Declaration. So it should be clear that the Mandate authority came from the Covenant of the League of Nations by an overwhelming vote and the plan to partition Palestine into two states was an action of the United Nations as was the vote to recognize the State of Israel. As it turned out, however, the British after WWII did everything they could to prevent the Jewish refugees of the Holocaust from entering Palestine. The Arab countries and the Palestinians have been trying to exterminate Jews before and after the State of Israel was founded and with wars and acts of terrorism continuing to this day emanating from the Palestinian Authority, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The defense of freedom and democracy is a vital part of the strategic alliance between the U.S. and Israel. Bert Boyson Southbury Organizations will continue to work together on emergency management and disaster risk reduction TORONTO, May 6, 2016 /CNW/ - The Honourable Ralph Goodale, Canada's Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, and Mr. Conrad Sauve, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Red Cross, met today to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) detailing how their organizations will continue to work together on matters of emergency management and disaster risk reduction. This MOU details how Public Safety Canada and the Canadian Red Cross will collaborate to support Canada's commitments under the United Nations 2015-30 Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and to advance implementation of resolutions endorsed by Canada at the 32nd International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (2015) Some of the ways Public Safety Canada and the Canadian Red Cross will work together under this MOU include the exchange of information and best practices, personnel exchanges and capacity development, development of mutual research projects, and CRCS participation in Government of Canada emergency management committees. Quick Facts Public Safety Canada supports a collaborative, whole-of-society approach to emergency management and is committed to working closely with all levels of government, Indigenous communities, and non-governmental organizations, like the Canadian Red Cross, to build a more resilient Canada . During the coordinated Government of Canada work to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada , officials from the Canadian Red Cross were co-located in the Government Operations Centre and contributed to the operation by helping welcome and settle the newly arrived Syrian refugees. Quotes "The Canadian Red Cross has long been a strong partner for Public Safety Canada and the federal emergency management community. I'm pleased today to sign this MOU to facilitate ongoing collaboration to increase disaster risk reduction and enable communities across Canada to become more resilient." - The Honourable Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness "We are grateful to Public Safety for their leadership and support of preparedness activities in communities across the county. This strengthened partnership between the Canadian Red Cross and Public Safety Canada will further enhance our ability to help Canadians prepare for and respond to major events in Canada" - Mr. Conrad Sauve, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Red Cross Associated Links SOURCE Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada For further information: Scott Bardsley, Office of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, 613-998-5681; Media Relations, Public Safety Canada, 613-991-0657; Canadian Red Cross, Canadian Red Cross media line: 1-877-599-9602, Quebec media can call: 1-888-418-9111 EDMONTON, May 7, 2016 /CNW/ - The Salvation Army's Emergency and Disaster Services continues to provide support to first responders engaged in the Fort McMurray fire response efforts. The Salvation Army has four Community Response Units in the field that are feeding hundreds of first responders. Clothing Our thrift stores in Alberta are giving out five sets of clothing to people from Fort McMurray. If people from Fort McMurray are in need of clothing, they can turn to The Salvation Army for help and need only provide their Red Cross registration number. We are also providing practical assistance such as food and hygiene kits. We are currently requesting donations of clothing at our thrift stores in Edmonton, Red Deer and Calgary only. This is to replenish supplies given to Fort McMurray evacuees. Donations The public can also help with relief efforts through monetary donations. Donations can be made at SalvationArmy.ca/albertafires or by calling 1-800-SAL-ARMY. A $10 donation can also be made by texting FORTMAC to 45678. Church Service for Fort McMurray Evacuees The Salvation Army is hosting a church service in Edmonton at 2 p.m. on Sunday for those displaced from Fort McMurray. We will have people available to offer emotional and spiritual support. Refreshments will be provided. All ages are welcome. The address of the church is 9115 75 St NW. Practical, Emotional & Spiritual Care The Salvation Army is committed to supporting the evacuees as best we can. Salvation Army personnel are available to provide practical assistance, such as food and clothing, or emotional and spiritual care. The Salvation Army has operated community and social programs in Fort McMurray since 1979 and will continue to be an active presence in this city. SOURCE The Salvation Army Image with caption: "The Salvation Army has four Community Response Units in the field that are feeding hundreds of first responders. (CNW Group/The Salvation Army)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160507_C6799_PHOTO_EN_684962.jpg For further information: John McAlister, National Director of Marketing and Communications, The Salvation Army, Cell: 416-452-5116, Email: [email protected]; Captain Pam Goodyear, Divisional Director of Public Relations and Development, Alberta and Northern Territories Division, Phone: 403-410-1115, Mobile: 403-874-9413, Email: [email protected] Nollywood actor, Kenneth Okonkwo has welcomed his second son after nine years of his second marriage. Nollywood actor, Kenneth Okonkwo has welcomed his second son after nine years of his second marriage. Okonkwo and his second wife, Ifeoma, welcome their first child together at the University of Maryland, St. Joseph Medical Centre in the United States of America. According to reports, the baby arrived on Saturday, May 7, 2016 bringing about so much joy for the couple. Speaking with the Diamond Celebrities, Okonkwo said, God is a faithful God. He said we shall be fruitful and multiply, that there shall be none barren in our midst and He just fulfilled His words. To Him be all the glory in Jesus name." This is Kenneth Okonkwo's second child as he once fathered a child with Ogechi, the daughter of Pastor Ezekiel of Christian Pentecostal Mission International. Yet again, suspected Fulani herdsmen attacked Coromo and two other villages in Gassol Local Government Area of Taraba State, killing... Local sources said those killed included seven men, two women and children, while 13 houses were burnt.nformation about the attack was sketchy, last night, but it was said that the herdsmen launched the attack following a long standing land dispute over farm lands.The herdsmen reportedly stormed the town in the night and started attacking Tivs who had come back to farm on their lands. It was said that hundreds of the natives fled to neighbouring villages while others ran to the Gassol B Police Divisional headquarters for their safety.Efforts to speak with Taraba State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Joseph Kwaji, were fruitless as he did not pick calls to his mobile telephone, but sources at the police headquarters confirmed the incident, saying that armed policemen had been dispatched to the affected communities to maintain peace.The Taraba incident came on the heels of the massacre by suspected herdsmen in an Enugu suburb which triggered outrage. Before then, there had been reported attacks by suspected herdsmen across the country. The Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal has affirmed the September 30, 2015 judgment of a Federal High Court in Lagos which convicted ... The Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal has affirmed the September 30, 2015 judgment of a Federal High Court in Lagos which convicted three men of participating in acts of terrorism and belonging to the outlawed Boko Haram sect.The lower court judge, Justice Ibrahim Buba, who pronounced the convicts guilty, had sentenced the three convicts to 25 years imprisonment each.The convicts are Ali Mohammed, Adamu Karumi and Ibrahim Usman.They had been arraigned in November 2013 along with 14 others before Justice Buba, who found them guilty in September 2014 and sentenced them to a prison term of 25 years each.But being displeased with their conviction and imprisonment, the convicts subsequently approached the Court of Appeal seeking to overturn the judgment.But the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, which charged them to court and secured their convictions, said in a statement by its Public Relations Officers, Mrs. Bola Akingbade, that their appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal for lacking in merit.According to the ministry, the convicts had contended that they were charged and convicted under an inapplicable law.They had also contended that the 25 years imprisonment imposed on them was excessive and urged the higher court to reverse their conviction.But the appellate court refused their prayers.Mohammed, Karumi and Usman were arraigned on eight counts in November 2013 before Justice Buba along with 14 other suspected Boko Haram members.Those charged with them were Bala Haruna, Idris Ali, Mohammed Murtala and Kadiri Mohammed and Mustapha Daura.Others were Abba Duguri, Sanni Adamu, Danjuma Yahaya and Musa Audu and Mati Daura, Farouk Haruna, Abdullahi Azeez, Ibrahim Bukar and Zula Diani.But in the course of trial, the then Lagos State, Attorney-General, Mr. Ade Ipaye, had by nolle prosequi, discontinued criminal charges against 13 of the suspects, leaving only Mohammed, Karumi, Usman and Haruna. A British newspaper this morning questioned President Muhammadu Buharis anti-corruption credentials. The Mail Online said President ... The Mail Online said President Buhari who is typecast as the Peoples President may be waging a war against corruption but that his critics have described the war as a witch hunt.The paper said Buhari sends his daughter to a 26,000-a-year English school.and that in April the opposition PDP party unearthed a ticket stub showing Hanan, 16, had flown first-class from London to Nigeria, despite her fathers ban on officials using premium travel.The report quoted a Nigerian newspaper alleging Buhari had spent 150,000 on educating his daughter Zahra, a Surrey University student.The paper also reported Buharis failure to give a full account of his worth, and that even his partial admission included more than 1million in the bank, five houses and two plots of land.The publication comes 72 hours before President Buharis scheduled arrival in London for a world anti-corruption summit, to be hosted by UKs prime minister, David Cameron. In his company, will be the attorney-general, Abubakar Malami and EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Magu.But to the Mail Online, The presence of Nigerias president at David Camerons anti-corruption summit this week may surprise many in his nation which receives vast amounts of UK aid.Self-proclaimed Peoples President Muhammadu Buhari began a war on corruption after taking power last year, but critics allege it is a political witch-hunt.The Government is giving nearly 250million in the coming year to oil-rich Nigeria..Supporters say 49 arrests of members of the previous regime show the anti-corruption war is genuine, but opponents say it is politically driven.Nigeria has the highest-paid government officials in the world but is one of the largest beneficiaries of UK foreign aid.The president of its senate, Bukola Saraki, is due to face trial on corruption charges after it emerged he has a 6million London property in his wifes name.The Nigerian Embassy did not comment, it said. President Muhammadu Buhari has given a fresh order to the military to crack down on a new militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers, whic... It was learnt that the President gave the directive on Friday, following the groups attack on Chevrons platform in Warri, Delta State, on Thursday and its blowing up of pipelines linking Warri and Kaduna refineries on Friday.Following the attack on the Okan offshore production platform on Wednesday by the militants, Chevron said it had lost about 105,000 barrels of oil production in three days.The oil major said the incident had affected about 35,000 barrels per day of its own net crude production, or about 15 per cent of its output in the country.Approximately 35,000 bpd of Chevrons net crude oil production in Nigeria are impacted, AFP quoted a Chevrons spokeswoman, Isabel Ordonez, as saying in a statement.The General Manager, Policy, Government and Public Affairs, Chevron Nigeria Limited, Mr. Deji Haastrup, confirmed the figure.He said, This is a very difficult time for the country because it needs the revenue it can get from oil production. Incidents such as this have the potential to impact that. We do hope that it does not seriously affect the country.Workers on the pipelines told newsmen that before the attack, they had pumped 28,000 barrels from the Escravos terminal on Thursday.Both Warri and Kaduna refineries also got a delivery rate of 903,000 barrels just before the attacks, the workers who spoke on condition of anonymity said.The workers said following the attacks, they counted about 10 military air patrols over the pipelines on Saturday.They also added that it had been difficult for fire fighters to quench the fire from the bombed pipelines.The fire is still on and its going to be hard to stop it because its huge, the workers said on Saturday night.It was learnt that following the attacks, which has the potential of adversely affecting the revenue of the country, the President instructed the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Navy and the Nigerian Air Force to stop the activities of the new group.A presidential aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, The President gave special instruction to the military, especially to the Chief of Naval Staff, that this ugly development of vandals in the Niger Delta should end immediately.It was learnt that the President also ordered the Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, to ensure that all waterways and platforms were protected against further attacks by the militants.The Acting Director, Defence Information, Brig. -Gen. Rabe Abubakar, in an interview with newsmen on Saturday, confirmed that the military had gotten the directive.He said, We have the order from the President and we are monitoring the activities of the new group. All efforts will be made to bring out those behind it.The suspects who perpetrated the first vandalism were apprehended and paraded the day before yesterday (Thursday).These ones are not going to be different. We are going out on our operation to stop and apprehend them in accordance with the presidential directive.Abubakar was not specific about what measures would be taken to address the current situation.We are not deterred; nobody is happy about it but we are not deterred from doing what we are doing. And more proactive measures would be put in place.What they are doing is complete economic sabotage; it is economic terrorism, he said.Buhari had in April threatened that his administration would descend heavily on oil and gas pipelines vandals as well as other saboteurs the same way the nations Armed Forces were dealing with members of the Boko Haram sect.The President who spoke in Beijing during a meeting he had with members of the Nigerian community in China, warned vandals and saboteurs blowing up oil and gas installations in Nigeria to desist immediately or face the same drastic action being taken against Boko Haram by the Armed Forces. Donald Trump has launched a bitter broadside against Hillary Clinton depicting her as an enabler of Bill Clintons past infidelities ... Donald Trump has launched a bitter broadside against Hillary Clinton depicting her as an enabler of Bill Clintons past infidelities the latest nasty and deeply personal turn in the US presidential campaign.Trump, who has all but locked up the Republican nomination, made the bizarre allegation while on the stump this weekend in an apparent bid to undercut his Democratic rivals appeal to women voters.Hillary hurt many women the women that he abused, Trump told a rally in Spokane, Washington late Saturday reiterating past criticism of Clinton over her handling of the former presidents affairs. And just remember this, she was an unbelievably nasty, mean enabler, and what she did to a lot of those women is disgraceful.Some of those women were destroyed not by him, but by the way that Hillary Clinton treated them after everything went down, he said. The likely Republican nominee charged that Bill Clinton had abused women more than any man that we know of in the history of politics. Bill Clinton was the worst in history, and I have to listen to her talking about it? he thundered.Trump has accused Clinton, the likely Democratic candidate in Novembers presidential election, of using her gender to her political advantage playing the womans card and says she would not be seen as a qualified candidate if not for her sex. The latest attack seemed designed to inoculate Trump against anticipated accusations of misogyny from the Clinton camp. On and off the campaign trail, the tycoon has used crass and abusive language bimbo, dog, fat pig and other epithets to denigrate women he doesnt like.The twice-divorced billionaire, who was celebrated for decades as one of New Yorks most sought-after bachelors, has also admitted to cheating on his first wife with the woman who became his second. Clinton signaled in an interview broadcast on Sunday that attacks against Trump over his stance on women will definitely be part of her campaign battle plan.When he says, women should be punished for having abortions, what does that mean? And how would he go about that? the former first lady said on the Face the Nation program, referencing comments made by Trump earlier in the primary. But she also vowed to not to engage in the sort of mudslinging that helped her Republican rival vanquish his challengers for the nomination. Im not going to run an ugly race.I am going to run a race based on issues. And what my agenda is to the American people, Clinton said. I dont really feel like Im running against Donald Trump. I feel like Im running for my vision of what our country can be, and to knock down all the barriers that stand in the way of Americans getting ahead, she said. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has released the Managing Director of Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr. Nnamdi Okonwo; the MD of Sterl... The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has released the Managing Director of Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr. Nnamdi Okonwo; the MD of Sterling Bank, Mr. Yemi Adeola; and the Group Managing Director of Access Bank, Mr. Herbert Wigwe.This is as the anti-graft agency says it has launched a manhunt for billionaire businessman and MD of Aiteo Group, Mr. Benedict Peters, for his alleged role in the $115m bribe given to officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke.The bank chiefs were released on Friday evening with a condition to cooperate fully with the EFCC and return when needed.The three bank executives have been released but investigations are ongoing, an impeccable source at the agency said.It was also learnt that the EFCC would arrest more bank MDs in the coming weeks.The scam we are investigating is very huge but we are at a critical stage so we cannot divulge too much information now. It is one of the biggest probes in the history of banking in Nigeria and more people will definitely be arrested, the source who spoke on condition of anonymity added.Our correspondent learnt that the suspects were arrested in relation to some alleged sharp practices that took place in their banks in relation to the oil sector and Alison-Madueke.The anti-graft agency arrested the Fidelity Bank boss on April 25 based on allegations that he helped Diezani to handle $115m and convert it to N23bn during the build-up to the 2015 presidential elections.The money was allegedly said to have been used in bribing officials of the INEC.However, Fidelity Bank last week, reportedly refunded N49.7m, its profit from the disbursement of the N23bn.Similarly, Sterling Bank and Access Bank Plc were asked to return some money. It could, however, not be ascertained how much was involved.All attempts to speak with the MD of Sterling Bank proved abortive as he neither picked telephone calls nor responded to a text message.The EFCC had alleged that the MD of Fidelity Bank Plc, helped Diezani convert the $115m to N23bn after which it was disbursed to INEC officials.The money was said to have emanated from four companies. They included: Northern Belt Gas Company Limited ($60m); Auctus Integrated ($17,884,000); Midwestern Oil and Gas ($9.5m); and Leno Laitan Adesanya ($1.85m) while Diezani allegedly gave the bank MD $25.77m (approximately $26m) in cash, bringing the total figure to N23, 299,705,000.The companies were said to have deposited the monies into the bank based on Diezanis instructions.An EFCC source told our correspondent that Peters was the person behind Northern Belt Gas Company Limited.The source said, We have launched investigations into the four companies. However, only Adesanya of Leno Laitan Adesanya, who allegedly deposited $1.85m, came forward and he has been granted bail. During investigations, we tried to ascertain the identities of those behind the other companies.About $60m came from Northern Belt Gas Company Limited. We have not been able to ascertain the directors of the company. However, we found out that Mr. Benedict Peters is the sole signatory to the account at Fidelity Bank.All attempts to get him have proved abortive. We currently do not know where he is.Peters, who owns oil facilities in several countries, is rumoured to be one of the wealthiest men in Nigeria.He is said to own tank farms in Lagos and Port Harcourt. Under former President Goodluck Jonathan, Peters reportedly acquired an 85-per cent stake in block OML 29 from Shell Gas Company for $2.56bn. OML 29 potentially holds up to 2.2 billion barrels of oil and about 300 million standard cubic feet of gas.A spokesman for Peters, in a statement, denied the allegations levelled against the billionaire.He said, Mr Peters has not received any formal invitation to attend the EFCC. If and when required to do so, he will be able to cooperate fully to distinguish facts from fiction and conjecture. For the avoidance of doubt, Mr. Peters denies any knowledge or involvement in bribing any INEC or other government officials.It is enshrined in all Mr. Peters business entities globally that neither Mr. Peters nor any company officials shall engage in any unethical behaviour including giving inducements or bribery. It is extremely disturbing that the EFCC, by their own admission, have launched investigations which have clearly not concluded yet comments which are, at best, unsubstantiated are being attributed to them. The National Council of Muslim Youth Organisation (NACOMYO), Sokoto state chapter has embarked on voluntary prayer and fasting for peace,... The National Council of Muslim Youth Organisation (NACOMYO), Sokoto state chapter has embarked on voluntary prayer and fasting for peace, and success of President Muhammadu Buharis administration.The President of the organisation, Aliyu Ibrahim Kyautawa said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Sokoto.We are praying and fasting every two weeks for peace, tranquility and success of President Muhammadu Buhari who means well for the people of this country.Kyautawa stated that the organisation does not have any link with the President or any of his ministers, nor belonged to any political party.According to him, our resolve is borne out of love for the country.We are not sponsored by anybody and we dont belong to any political party and we are not doing it for any material gain, he said.Kyautawa said that the members of the group were convinced that Buhari had the ability to liberate the Nigerian masses from the bondage of poverty, insecurity and bad governance because of his track records.He explained that the prayer and fasting was first conceived in 2014 when the country was bedeviled by a myriad of challenges.This is why we decided to embark on voluntary prayer and fasting every two weeks for peace in the country.We are also praying for the success of Gov. Aminu Tambuwal in Sokoto state.Buhari has the masses at heart, but his efforts are being frustrated by some unpatriotic Nigerians.They have been sabotaging his efforts in a bid to make this nation ungovernable for him, but all their efforts would be in vein, he said.According to him, the organisation has been sponsoring media campaign to educate the public on the need to also change their attitude and support the government, both morally and spiritually.Kyautawa said he was optimistic that the hardship being faced by Nigerians would soon be a thing of the past. (NAN) Dino Melaye, senator representing Kogi west, on Saturday said the alleged false assets declaration trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki... Dino Melaye, senator representing Kogi west, on Saturday said the alleged false assets declaration trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki will go from the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) to the supreme court.Speaking after the Rotary Club of Ilorin conferred an award on him, Melaye said it was evident that the trial was political.He declared unalloyed support for Saraki, saying many senators were behind the nations number three citizen.One thing I want to assure Nigerians is that the trial of Saraki will not end in the CCT, but in the Supreme Court and we are with the Senate president until we get to the last bus stop, he said.We are with him up till Supreme Court. Our support for the senate president is total and undiluted. This is a battle of no retreat, no surrender.He also spoke in a manner suggesting that there will be a showdown with the executive over the 2016 budget.The lawmaker called on his colleagues to ensure full implementation of the budget.What is more important is not the signing of the budget but its implementation. May we never see a situation where only 30 per cent of capital projects is implemented, he said.I am using this opportunity to plead with my colleagues in the national assembly to make sure that our committees function properly and do a very holistic oversight and see to the implementation of this budget and pray that the executive becomes born again by doing the right thing.We look forward to making sure that the national assembly with all sincerity of purpose carries out monitoring of the MDAs to make sure that this budget is properly implemented.This is not the first time that Melaye will declare open support for Saraki.Last month, he said only death would prevent him from supporting the senate president. The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mr. Timi Frank, in an interview, has slammed the party Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun beca... Who is this guy, the Pied Piper? That's what I found myself thinking as I followed Assembly Speaker Vince Prieto around the Statehouse last week. Trailing him was a parade of men identifiable as leaders of public-employee unions either by their uniforms or their T-shirts. Prieto's eventual destination was the Assembly chamber, but before he got there he stopped in an ante-room to describe to his entourage what Thursday's proceedings had produced: Nothing. The Speaker went into the day hoping to get the 41-vote majority needed to pass his union-friendly version of an Atlantic City takeover bill. Alas, four key members were absent - perhaps because they wanted to avoid the prospect of being browbeaten by the union members prowling the halls. That meant Prieto had to tell the union guys that their bill wasn't going to pass until a special session set for Wednesday - assuming he could get the votes then. "I'm going to put together a coalition from my caucus from all regions of the state to meet and find a compromise," Prieto said. "We hope the Senate President comes along." At that point it looked like this Pied Piper was leading the parade off a cliff - and taking Atlantic City along with it. The week began with Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian announcing that he barely had enough money to avoid defaulting on a bond payment. The city will run out money by June, Guardian said. Senate President Steve Sweeney, who is a Democrat like Prieto, has already gotten a bailout bill through his house. Prieto won't post that bill because it calls for a state takeover opposed by the unions. But so far he can't pass his own bill either. By week's end this was looking like a rout for Prieto - and for his fellow Hudson County Democrat, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop. Till last week, Prieto was denying that Fulop had any role in the conflict. But then Fulop jumped into the fight with both feet. The Hudson County Democratic boss went after South Jersey Democratic boss George Norcross. He put out a statement asking why a "nonelected official" is "actively involved in drafting Atlantic City's takeover bill and then lobbying for it all over New Jersey." The answer: Because that's what bosses do. Some do it better than others, though. And by week's end Fulop was getting slammed from right, left and center for putting his ambitions over the welfare of both Atlantic City and the state. Those ambitions were on display in that ante-room as Prieto shook hands with the union bosses as they lined up to thank him for representing their interests in the fight. I've seen such spectacles on many an occasion. At an Assembly committee hearing in April on Prieto's bill, the union leaders came to the microphone one after another to implore the committee members to put the interests of the union member s above those of the taxpayers. In case any committee members failed to understand how Atlantic City works, state AFL-CIO president Charles Wowkanech told them "Organized labor not only built the city but runs the city." Not even the Republicans objected to that formulation. But just once I would like to see a legislator of either party inform the labor leaders that he or she was elected to represent the public interest, not the interests of the public employees. This is by its very nature an adversarial relationship. The union leaders want the best possible deal for their members and the legislators want the best possible deal for the taxpayers - or at least they should. Few do. Most treat it as perfectly normal to assure the labor leaders that they take their interests into account and will do everything in their power to further them. But imagine that just once a legislator put a question like this to a labor leader: "Please don't tell me about your personal interests. Can you tell me why the members of your union can perform the best possible service for the taxpayers at the lowest possible price?" Instead the representatives of the employees tell the representatives of the employer - we taxpayers - what to do. Most of the time they do it. That's how Atlantic City got into this mess. As to how it gets out, the Prieto-Fulop approach is preposterous. The city officials barely have the money to function for two weeks. The Hudson County guys want to give them two years to get their affairs in order. I'm not unsympathetic to the union members. They've grown dependent on the outsized salaries and benefits they receive. But the system they support has won them compensation packages that the taxpayers can't afford. Atlantic City is just a symptom. The state has the same problem in the form of $50 billion deficit in the pension funds - while the private sector long ago ended pensions for most workers. Someone has to tell these union leaders that the music's over. That someone clearly won't be the mayor of Jersey city. 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. The American Association of University Womens Storm Lake branch will host a week-long Tech Trek camp from July 17-23 at Buena Vista University for rising eighth-grade girls. Tech Trek is uniquely designed to show girls firsthand how exciting careers in the science, technology, engineering and math fields can be, according to a press release. The AAUW Storm Lake event was recently awarded the Iowa Governors STEM Advisory Council Seal of Approval. The faculty and staff of Buena Vista University, along with the Storm Lake community, are eager to welcome these aspiring young scientists, said Dr. Melinda Coogan, associate professor of biology at Buena Vista University and camp director for the Storm Lake Tech Trek. This year, AAUW will hold 21 Tech Trek camps across the country. Attendees pay only a $50 fee, with other costs covered by donations from AAUWs supporters and the community, as well as sponsorships from corporations and industry stakeholders. Hosting AAUWs Tech Trek camp is an amazing opportunity for Buena Vista University, not only to welcome young girls in Iowa to our beautiful campus but also to encourage their pursuit of education and career opportunities in areas that have been traditionally underrepresented by women, said Lori Berglund, assistant director of Career and Personal Development at BVU and assistant director of the Storm Lake Tech Trek camp. For more information, visit facebook.com/techtrek2016buenavistauniversity or bvutechtrek.wordpress.com. Tourism officials all across the state preparing for 2017 OMAHA When people from Russia and Australia want to head to Nebraska, you know something big is going to happen. A coast-to-coast total solar eclipse will occur inside a 65- to 70-mile-wide swath that will make its way across the country on Aug. 21, 2017. It will start in northwest Oregon before passing through the nations midsection and wrapping up in South Carolina. In between, parts of 12 other states will be prime viewing areas in whats called the path of totality. That includes about 3 square miles of southwest Iowa and a diagonal strip of Nebraska, from the northwest part of the Panhandle to the extreme southeast corner. It will be the first total solar eclipse seen in the United States since 1979. The next one will be in 2024. People inside and just outside the swath of best viewing are primed for an onslaught of visitors from across the globe, who could drop millions of dollars into local tills. Omaha is about 50 miles north of the prime path. Odds are fairly good you have never witnessed anything like a total eclipse of the sun, said David Kriegler, a physics instructor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. And not since 1918 have we had a coast-to-coast total eclipse. When the sun is totally blocked out by the moon, Kriegler said, the sky dims enough to see stars during daytime, and night birds and animals begin to stir. Temperatures will also be lower that day in the eclipse area. Lincoln, he said, is on the edge of the prime viewing area and will get a 1-minute, 24-second view. Grand Island, in the center of the path, will get a 2-minute, 34-second look. The Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer in Grand Island will be ground zero, said Brad Mellema, executive director of the Grand Island Convention and Visitors Bureau. The museum propertys south end will be the dead center of the total eclipse, he said. This is something quite unique and special, he said. The coming eclipse was brought to Mellemas attention three or four years ago, he said. For the past year he has been involved in weekly meetings about it. Were still in the planning stages, he said, but weve been getting a lot of calls. In Grand Island, the total eclipse will start at 12:58:34 p.m. The bureau is working with the Stuhr Museum to plan educational events ahead of the eclipse, including weekend programs and educational booths, he said. The Grand Island area is accustomed to handling major events, such as the Nebraska State Fair, horse racing at Fonner Park, the annual migration of sandhill cranes and even past partial eclipses. But the August 2017 total eclipse, which will fall on a Monday, will be the real deal, Mellema said. I think well sell out all the hotels in the region, he said. In Alliance, which will get a 2-minute, 30-second prime viewing of the spectacle, the visitors bureau director said preparations are well underway. Its a once-in-a-lifetime thing, said Kevin Howard, who also runs the nearby tourist attraction Carhenge. There is no second chance on an eclipse. Howard said he expects all 216 hotel rooms in Alliance to fill for the total eclipse, which will begin there at 11:49:13 a.m. MDT. He also said he expected 14,000 hotel rooms along the route across the state to be sold out up to three days in advance. Were planning a four-day event leading up to the eclipse, he said. Alliance officials plan to bring in a portable planetarium, and they have arranged for educational programs, bands and food. Hotels are keeping a waiting list because most establishments dont let people book rooms more than 50 weeks out, he said. People want to make sure theyre in place for this, he said. People have been trying to book rooms for two years now. Howard said he has had inquiries from Australia and Russia. A coalition of about 200 Nebraska communities along the eclipses route, from Alliance to Beatrice, are touting the event, which Howard said could pull in up to $30 million for Nebraska. At the Nebraska Tourism Commission, officials said they are expecting big crowds at top viewing locations across the state, with 4,000 to 10,000 people at each site. The commission said it is working with several viewing sites that lie in the path of totality. One prime viewing spot is the Sand Hills, which greatamericaneclipse.com said was one of the best viewing destinations. Kriegler said UNO is making its own viewing plans. We plan to have telescopes set up in a public area for the general viewing, he said. The exact location is still up in the air, since were having ongoing discussions with the Omaha Astronomical Society. Country Origin v City Origin preview Scully Park, Tamworth Sunday 4:10pm Traditionally the Country teams of yesteryear were made up of local players from the bush, hardened by the rough-and-tumble ways of rugby league outside of Sydney. They'd usually come up against the usual city-slickers those with first grade experience and who were paid handsomely (relatively speaking) for their troubles. How things have changed. Brad Fittler's City Origin team would have to be one of the most inexperienced on record. Ryan Matterson (two NRL games) and Addin Fonua-Blake (three) will both make their representative debuts at Tamworth's Scully Park. Only one man for City in skipper Chris Lawrence has played over 100 NRL games while only a further four men have cracked the 70-game mark (Josh Mansour, Nathan Peats, Curtis Sironen and Aidan Sezer). City have named 11 debutants all up and only Sironen, Peats, Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Tyrone Peachey are returning from last year's match. The Country team in comparison have almost a whopping 1400 games of experience among their 17, including incumbent New South Wales Origin back-rower Boyd Cordner. Country may still have eight debutants but that's well balanced by the eight players who will line up again from last year's team, one that beat City 34-22 in Wagga Wagga. Draw Widget - Round 1 - Country vs City Watch out Country: It's about time we realise City's Chad Townsend is the most in-form halfback option for New South Wales currently. He'll go head-to-head with Sharks halves partner James Maloney in this one, a real shame they can't combine together as they do week in, week out. Townsend has played a huge role in the Sharks' current six-game winning streak and is in the top 15 for try assists (six) in the NRL. Watch out City: NSW Origin star Cordner will be well-accompanied by the likes of Tyson Frizell and Tariq Sims who have spent time in New South Wales camps previously. You can throw in the fact that untried boppers Shannon Boyd, Jack de Belin and Jordan McLean will be hungry to show their worth too. Country's engine room may be just too strong for the inexperienced City pack. Key Match-Up: Tyson Frizell v Bryce Cartwright: Two of very few players who are legitimate Origin chances for 2016, these two men will have a point to prove. The recent reduction of interchanges may work in Cartwright's favour in terms of a utility role for the Blues but for this match he'll be in his preferred back row role up against Frizell. A back injury ruined Frizell's pre-season but he has continued where he left off from last season in the Red V's current campaign. Frizell was 18th man for Origin I last year and he'll be looking to go one further. The History: Played 26; Country 11, City 13, Drawn 2. A Blake Austin hat-trick wasn't enough for City to get the chocolates last time in Wagga Wagga with the Country boys running out 12-point winners. While City hold an overall advantage they have lost four of their past six games, including a draw in Dubbo two years ago. What are the Odds: Money is running ten to one in favour of Country with Sportsbet and a Country 13-plus victory has been the best backed in margin betting. Punters are more than happy to take Country at the line where theyre conceding the start. Latest odds at Sportsbet.com.au. Match Officials: Referee: Grant Atkins. Assistant Referee: Alan Shortall. Sideline Officials: Michael Wise and Belinda Sleeman. Televised: Channel Nine Live coverage from 3:30pm. The way we see it: The City Origin side's youth policy is too far gone in terms of matching their Country counterparts. There has never been a more cut and dry result set for the annual fixture. Country should be victors and big ones at that. Country Origin by 20 points. I am humbled. We have brought a lot of my favorite Northwest Indiana people into our pilot classes at Lighthouse College Prep. We wanted the students to hear from people who come from the same place as them and have become successful. All of our guests have been fantastic. They have engaged the students in different ways. This week, however, I heard questions that were so real, so honest, I was floored. The two men who brought out that honesty were Chuck Hughes, the Executive Director at Gary Chamber of Commerce and Dr. Gordon Bradshaw, the director of the public policy committee of the Gary Chamber (among many other things). In case you didn't know, Chuck and Dr. Bradshaw also started Community Civility Counts. They were the ones who saw a problem and decided to go at it head-first. I wanted them to talk to the kids about their own journeys and why they started CCC. As often happens with them (I say with all love), they quickly went off-script. Chuck started off by introducing himself, but within seconds was talking education. He was so passionate. He drilled into those students how important it is to be educated. To take advantage of the people who want them to succeed, like their teachers. "Everyone should respect their teachers," he said. I know school leader Susie Choi and teachers Erica Young and Martin DaCosta appreciated it. Dr. Bradshaw followed up with his story. He talked about how he went after education while he was a firefighter in Gary. He caught a lot of attitude from the other guys for it, but guess what? "Because of my education, I was able to rise through the ranks twice as fast," he said. Both men spoke about how people would inevitably try to get in your way when you try to be successful. "When you hit an obstacle, push through it, leap over it, or go around it," Bradshaw said. They did talk about starting CCC. They said how they saw all the negativity and violence happening around them. "We have to civil," Chuck said. "Nothing matters if you're not a good person." Talking about an initiative like CCC in Gary seemed to finally strike nerve with a few of the students. Look, I know what I am. I know I'm coming into Gary, into a school of primarily minority students as a white woman and I'm telling them to be civil. They have been very respectful all semester, but I'm not sure they have ever really heard me. They heard Chuck and Dr. Bradshaw. The questions were fascinating, and heart-breaking. "What do you do when you come from somewhere you can't change?" one student asked. "What made you continue to strive after people were negative?" another one asked. The advice was the same. You can control you. Don't worry about changing the world, or even the community. Change you. Be the person you want to be. Find that person who also wants to be the change and team up. "Hurt people hurt people," was one of Dr. Bradshaw's many incredible one-liners for the day. In the second class, he asked the students to raise their hands if they are an achiever. They hesitated. "It's a decision," he said. "No one can make you an achiever. That has to come from yourself." And the last question of the day, that cut me to my soul. "You're saying it's not too late?" No, dear ninth grader, it's not too late. Reach out, find Chuck and Dr. Bradshaw and follow their lead. I know I will. Thanks for reading. SAUK VILLAGE Ground has been broken on a project that will add 348,000 square feet of production and logistics space to the existing Winpak Portion Packaging plant at 111 Winpak Way off of Mark Collins Drive near Sauk Trail. The current plant is a 267,000 square-foot facility. This is really a shot in the arm for this industrial site, Sauk Village President David Hanks said. But its not just for Sauk Village, this is really a shot in the arm for the South Suburbs. Winpak is an international producer of plastic cups and trays for food and beverages, including single-use coffee machine cups, creamer, margarine, applesauce and juice containers, vacuum pouches, zipper pouches, rigid trays and bulk liners. Winpak produces Green Mountain Coffee K-cups, Pringles potato chip containers, sliced cheese plastics and portioned pet food containers. The Sauk Village plant is one of three where the company manufactures rigid packaging. It has six facilities in the United States and Canada where it makes flexible packaging and one in San Bernadino, Cal. where it making packaging machinery. The expansion will include a 197,000 square-foot warehouse, a 137,950 square-foot production plant, an amenity area, maintenance and storage areas, a break room, washrooms, a mechanical utility room, a truckers room, a shipping office and a plant grinding room, according to Hanks. The buildings exterior will get a second rail spur, 12 storage silos, two new 4,000-amp electrical services, 150 new parking spots, 25 truck stalls, 20 dock doors and an exterior drive-in door. Hanks said Winpak was awarded a Class 8 tax incentive and worked out an incentive package with Commonwealth Edison as part of the deal to stay at the current location. They came to us about six months ago with some issues, but we worked hard to make sure they stayed not only in Sauk Village but in Illinois and in Cook County, Hanks said. The current structure will also see some renovations, including 15,000 square feet of new office space on the second floor, renovation to the main lobby to accommodate new stairs, an elevator to the second floor, large locker rooms and training spaces and upgrades to current maintenance offices and tool storage rooms. Construction will begin in earnest later this month and the project is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2017. About 40 employees currently work at the Sauk Village plant. The company will add 100 additional new jobs, Director of Manufacturing Gary Tsao said in a statement. Winpak also has a facility in Chicago Heights. Construction on the original building on a 28-acre parcel of land was completed in 2012. The state of Illinois provided a $1.6 million business investment package to help fund the project. Winpaks total investment was around $30 million. Winpak announced plans at the time to eventually expand to 600,000 square feet and made good on that promise with the April announcement. Hanks said the company is a year ahead of schedule with those plans. Robert A. Langer has joined Langer & Langer law firm, in Valparaiso, where he will focus his practice on car-and-truck crash personal injury, medical malpractice, and wrongful death. Langer received a doctorate in law from University of Kansas School of Law in 2015 and his bachelor of science degree from Indiana University in 2012. VIA Marketing has hired Ryan Olson as their web developer. Olson is a Portage resident, who earned a bachelor of science degree from Purdue University in 2011. Ryan comes to VIA with extensive experience in programming and innovative web design. VIA Marketing provides online and offline marketing solutions for clients. Butler, Fairman & Seufert, Inc. has hired Reggie Korthals as stormwater specialist on the firm's water resource team. She was formerly a senior environmental manager in the Office of Water Quality at the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. Locally BF&S has offices in Merrillville. RE/MAX Northern Illinois region recently recognized broker associates Guillermina Munoz and James Rossi with Platinum Club membership for their sales achievements in 2015 at RE/MAX 2000, in Steger. The average Platinum Club sales agent has sale productivity seven time that of the average National Association of Realtors sales agent. GARY Growing up in Gary, Patrice and Pamela Cates knew at the tender age of 5 that they wanted to be doctors, and 35 years later, the identical twin daughters of Caren Jones have achieved that goal and so much more. Patrice Cates-Lonberger, M.D., specializes in internal medicine and pediatrics at Indianapolis-based Ezkenazi Health Center, while Pamela Cates-Smith, M.D., is an obstetrician/gynecologist at the Orlando Regional Healthcare System in Florida. Graduates of Garys Emerson School for Visual and Performing Arts, Patrice and Pamela received their pre-med bachelor's degrees at Howard University in Washington, D.C., ranking first and second respectively in their 1998 graduating class. Medical school at Indiana University in Indianapolis followed, where each found her specialty. Internal medicine and pediatrics its a lifespan. I treat newborns to geriatric patients, Cates-Lonberger said. I always knew I wanted to be a pediatrician, but going through clinicals at medical school, I fell in love with adult medicine. Its really about family medicine. Cates-Smith said as a child the idea of being a doctor was a way of wanting to help others. I had a fascination with helping them to be well. When their aunt died of cervical cancer, Cates-Smith said her focus became obstetrics and gynecology. As an OB/GYN, I specialize in female health, she said of her patients who are as young as 5 and who come from different economic groups. There is a great disparity between low- and higher-income groups in the community. An opportunity during their junior year at Howard University to spend part of their summer performing medical research in the West African nation of Ghana also taught the twins about different kinds of medicines, including herbal remedies and teas. It was a research opportunity to study herbal medicine compared with pharmaceuticals, Cates-Lonberger said. We researched whether an herbal medicine worked as well as insulin for diabetes. It did. People use what they have available. The women credit their mother, who serves as executive director of the Gary YWCA, with inspiring them to follow their dreams and nurturing their Christian faith. Both women of great faith, Cates-Smith and Cates-Lonberger participate in liturgical dance at their churches, and are forming a foundation called Grace Girls to advocate for and reach young girls in Gary. Just one bad decision could have changed our lives, Cates-Smith said. We have named the foundation Grace Girls because by the grace of God we didnt make those bad decisions. We never forgot Gary. Cates-Lonberger echoed those same sentiments. Its a new idea and a mission coming to Gary in particular. The foundation will provide empowerment, being a mentor and feedback, shes said. We want people to know that good product comes out of Gary. As the mothers of two young children each a daughter and a son for both the women said its important to make all children feel loves and to teach them to give back. Being full-time physicians, full-time moms and active church members requires juggling, they said. It definitely is a balance, Cates-Smith said. Where theres a will theres a way. Sometimes its difficult to keep that balance, said Cates-Lonberger, who is part of a blended family, including her husbands children from another marriage. You need to prioritize, use time management she said. Even within the bad times, faith sustains me. CHICAGO An investigation into the fiscal condition of Chicago Public Schools ordered by Gov. Bruce Rauner shows there's no need for state intervention. The Illinois State Board of Education determined that the school system is not in "financial difficulty" as determined by law, the Chicago Tribune reported, but board officials say they will continue to monitor the nation's third-largest district. The Republican governor called for a state takeover of the financially troubled district in February. As part of that, he ordered the review, which was followed by a warning by the state attorney general that Rauner's purview is limited. Materials prepared for the state education board's meeting next week note that the Chicago district plans to cut spending by $120 million in the fiscal year beginning July 1 while still dealing with ever-larger required payments to teacher retirement accounts. But the cut will allow the district to skirt a "negative operational budget" until 2019, board staff concluded. "It's clear in our analysis CPS has financial challenges and a spending problem," state school board spokeswoman Laine Evans said in a statement. "However, at this time they do not meet the criteria for certification of financial difficulty, as defined per statute. ISBE will continue to monitor the situation and the district's finances." CPS spokeswoman Emily Bittner said in a statement that the board's conclusion "demonstrates that Gov. Rauner's attempts to drive CPS into bankruptcy are misguided and wrong." The district must make a $675 million pension payment next month. Officials say they can only cover that bill with short-term borrowing and that the Legislature must rectify problems with the statewide school-funding formula. "You don't need an actuary or an accountant to know CPS has financial problems," Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said in a statement. "Otherwise, the district wouldn't be repeatedly asking the state for an additional half a billion dollars." The district complained about Rauner's request to turn over loads of financial information, but did so anyway. Attorney General Lisa Madigan issued a legal opinion agreeing with the schools, noting that state law deals with Chicago schools differently than others in the state. Financially weak districts outside Chicago are subject to state authority to approve budgeting. But Madigan noted when it comes to Chicago schools, the state's only role in dealing with fiscal stress is to "notify the governor and the mayor." HAMMOND The McDermott campaign headquarters was primed for celebration Tuesday. Supporters filled the building, crowded the sidewalk and cruised Indianapolis Boulevard, adding their cars' horns to the shouts inside. Marissa McDermott's victory announcement seemed almost unnecessary. But her husband, Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr., said that 38,266-to-22,978 vote victory over Lake Circuit Court Judge George C. Paras wasn't the only scenario he was prepared for that night. "I was also ready to lose," he said. Instead, it was Paras who went down to defeat, a rare occurrence in the county's judicial elections. The mayor said attorneys have little incentive to put their law practices on the line against a sitting judge. "Marissa McDermott is a great candidate with a great name and a lot of money. I dropped probably $125,000 in a loan to Marissa," Mayor McDermott said. "But if you are just a regular attorney thinking about running for Circuit Court judge, its really a sort of impossible task." Paras had been endorsed by almost every Democratic precinct organization in the county, Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson, United Steelworkers District 7 and other powerful unions. McDermott said the party pressured the community chairmen to slate Paras. "Everywhere we went, the doors were being slammed in our face," he said. Sheriff John Buncich never denied supporting Paras, a longtime friend, but said throughout the spring campaign the McDermott campaign made a number of preposterous claims about him trying to influence the election. Paras couldn't be reached for comment. "We ran a better campaign and had a better candidate and worked way harder than them," Mayor McDermott said, especially in the blogosphere. "Social media helped a lot. People have to understand that is part of campaigning now, having a good social media presence. My daughter's job every day was to be on Facebook and Twitter. We always tried to have material out every day. "It was a continuous conversation. We had continuous conversations and continuous shares. We probably had 10-to-1 social media presence compared to Judge Paras," he said. Hundreds of county lawyers gave Marissa McDermott the edge in judicial skills in an anonymous survey of the Lake County Bar Association, despite her lack of job experience as compared to Paras. Paras had been in private practice for 30 years, was Merrillville's first town judge for 15 years and Circuit Court judge six years. "One night when Marissa had too many things on her calendar, I did some of her events and went back to headquarters, and there were 30 people there making phone calls at headquarters. We were doing it with 10 to 15 people every single night. I thought, how can they beat us if we have so many people all in on this? Nevertheless he recalls, "I drove through Merrillville, and I got nervous. We were losing the yard sign war 15 to 1. I thought, are we really that bad in Merrillville? And we won there." Marissa McDermott agreed her team helped her to victory. "I had this huge team of people behind me," she told the crowd on election night May 3. Mayor McDermott said one of the highlights of the campaign was his wife's facing off with Judge Paras at a candidate's night in Gary sponsored by the NAACP. That was only time when they were in the same room. She put Paras on the defensive over a backlog of pending cases in his court, Mayor McDermott said. Paras responded her comments were off base, and any lawyers wanting a trial could have one. The mayor said he got a taste of the coming triumph when the election board released the totals of persons voting during the 30 days before the primary. Marissa McDermott up by more than 1,000 votes. "That to me was a really good indicator, because that was Gary, Hammond and everybody voting. Then the Hammond numbers came in, and we knew we had won Hammond by 5,000. "We did scenarios in Gary, and the worst-case scenario was that they win 10,000 to 5,000, but when I saw a couple of Gary precincts come out and they were close, I was just as happy as the night when I won my first election in 2003," he said. Marissa McDermott faces Republican nominee Douglas Grimes, a former Gary city judge, in the fall election. MERRILLVILLE The town is in the midst of creating a method of assisting residents affected by disasters. The Town Council approved the first reading of an ordinance that would create a fund designated for providing assistance to those in need, such as after residential fires and floods. Council President Richard Hardaway said the fund will start off with $8,000 available in it, and that funding would be distributed to help residents obtain necessities. Clerk-Treasurer Eugene Guernsey said those seeking assistance would receive gift cards from the town to purchase items, such as toiletries. The council could adopt the ordinance during Tuesday's meeting. The measure comes after an April 4 fire at The Lakes at 8201 apartment complex displaced 34 families living there. Several residents affected by the blaze attended a recent council session to explain issues they encountered following the fire. They said they didn't immediately know of assistance available to them, and they also found difficulty obtaining relief when they learned of entities that could help. Town officials believe the new ordinance would help provide immediate assistance following situations like the recent fire at the apartment complex near U.S. 30 and Polo Club Drive. Following that blaze, the town collaborated with the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana to have a food distribution for the displaced residents. Merrillville also hosted a clothing drive for those families. LANSING Police are hosting a pair of community relations events in the coming weeks in Lansing. Residents are encouraged to come to Dunkin Donuts on Torrence Avenue on Tuesday and ask questions or share concerns with police over a cup of coffee. Police Sgt. Tim Glinski said Lansing police have hosted a handful of Coffee with a Cop events since the first in May 2014. The idea was conceived in Hawthorne, California, in 2011, but the concept has since spread to more than 2,000 communities across the country. This will be the first one Glinski has organized for Lansing. The event is making an impact, Glinski said. We are looking to expanding the program in the near future and mixing up the format. Any and all questions will be welcome. Lansing police say they have no agenda and wont be making any statement. The event is a chance for residents to voice concerns with local cops. Lansing police will also participate in the 14th annual Cop on a Rooftop event at the same Dunkin Donuts on May 20. The event, which benefits Special Olympics Illinois, puts cops on top of the Dunkin Donuts roof while donations are made below. In 2015, 195 locations participated throughout the state and raised more than $542,000. Lansing has participated for six years and raised more than $10,000, Glinski said. All donations given will earn a coupon for a free doughnut and every $10 donor will be given a Law Enforcement Torch Run/Dunkin Donuts stainless steel coffee mug and coupon for a free coffee, valid that day only. Torch Run merchandise also will be for sale, including hats and T-shirts for $15 and lapel pins for $5. A Harley-Davidson motorcycle will be raffled with tickets costing $10 each. All proceeds from these sales goes to Special Olympics Illinois. We hope to see a large turnout of people from the community who will generously support this very worthy organization, Glinski said. The Crown Point Community Foundation has begun accepting online scholarship applications for the Womens Giving Circle Scholarship, the Ron and Suzanne Borto Scholarships, the Crown Point Lions Club Scholarship and the Fran and Billie Hoffman Scholarship. Specific criteria and info about each scholarship is listed below. Access the online scholarship application through a link on the CPCF website (www.thecpcf.org) or Facebook page (Crown Point Community Foundation). Deadline for applying for scholarships will be at 11:30 p.m. June 15. Call (219) 662-7252. Womens Giving Circle Scholarship: Female Crown Point residents, 21 and over, returning to college, university, trade or vocational school. Need based. Number of scholarships and amounts vary, depending on total gifts received from the Womens Giving Circle. Ron and Suzanne Borto Scholarships: Lake County residents, 25 and older, returning to college, university, trade or vocational school. Amounts vary. Crown Point Lions Club Scholarship: Crown Point High School graduate, completed the second semester in a program leading to a bachelors degree in speech and hearing pathology, optometry, or related fields, at an accredited college or university by the time the scholarship is to be paid. Applicants enrolled in post graduate degree programs in the indicated fields of study shall also be eligible. Applicants must be enrolled as full time students. Applicants may reapply in one or more subsequent years, and the scholarship may be awarded to the same applicant, without limitation. Other selection criteria will be financial need, scholastic ability, character, leadership and integrity. $1,000 scholarship. Fran and Billie Hoffman Scholarship: Provides scholarship to a Crown Point resident pursuing a certification or degree in accounting/book keeping OR Crown Point resident attending a vocational program pursuing certification in auto/truck/diesel mechanics. One $950 scholarship. HAMMOND The Stations of the Cross took on new meaning for Bishop Noll Institute freshmen, who completed a special project to better understand their personal connection to each station. Students received a station to work on, accompanied by multiple scriptures and reflection questions. They worked in groups to develop a moral concern, scripture, and prayer connected to their station. For example, Veronica wiping the face of Jesus could demonstrate compassion. Next, they collected magazine images to create a collage style cross. The stations have been placed throughout the school, and each includes the collage as well as title, scripture, moral concern, prayer and students responsible for that cross. BNI director of campus ministry Stacia Bolakowski developed the Stations of the Cross project and before beginning it, she told students that the stations are a journey. BNI theology teacher Mary Albrecht agreeD. Working with the freshman class on this project was definitely that, a journey, Albrecht said. I was able to see a different side of the students, and many thrived with this tactical and visual project. They were allowed to collaborate ideas, develop prayers, and dig deep. I am proud of the work that they produced, but also that they really understand the journey of the Stations of the Cross. MERRILLVILLE A 2-foot wide piece of property continues to hold up a proposed $7 million project to create a new hotel in Merrillville, but town officials hope the matter soon will be resolved. A new Holiday Inn Express is planned for property at 8460 Mississippi St., and Lake Hotels, LLC, the developer of the facility, is seeking approval of a two-lot subdivision of about 4.2 acres of property there. The town won't permit street cuts on Mississippi for entrances to the hotel and the second lot that would be created, so access would need to be provided on Indiana Street. The problem with that situation is there is a 2-foot wide strip of land that runs along Indiana between the road and the 4.2 acres of property, and it isn't controlled by the developer. Town Councilman Shawn Pettit, a Plan Commission member, said that land, which he referred as a spite strip, is owned by Pat Schacki. Representatives for the hotel didn't become aware of the strip until March, and they were directed to resolve the matter before the commission would grant subdivision approval. Peter Gensic, an engineer representing Lake Hotels, told the commission Wednesday that it would be ideal to acquire that strip at a reasonable cost. Lake Hotels had contacted Schacki about the matter, but no action had been taken as of Wednesday. Zoning Director Dorinda Gregor said the town received a letter Tuesday from Schacki indicating he would be willing to sell the strip of property. The letter didn't include a price that was sought for the land. Schacki could not be immediately reached for comment. Representatives for the hotel project said Wednesday's meeting was the first they were aware Schacki would be willing to sell the land. Pettit expressed frustration over the matter because it continues to delay the proposed hotel. He said he would personally contact Schacki to help resolve the issue with the small strip of property. It appears the strip was a leftover piece of property from the development of Grand Park, town officials said. The Holiday Inn Express would be four stories and consist of 91 rooms. The tentative schedule calls for construction to begin in the summer. The commission is expected to continue reviewing the project at its May 17 meeting. ST. JOHN The political sign section of the town's sign ordinance is no more. The council voted at its April 28 meeting to repeal the entire section dealing with political signs. Councilman Christian Jorgensen, who made the motion to repeal it, said he did so based on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that a similar ordinance in the town of Gilbert, Arizona, was unconstitutional. "It came to my attention after the election in November," Jorgensen said. "There's a lot of case law, and I don't always catch wind of all of it." He said a church challenged the Gilbert ordinance, and the court ruled unanimously that ordinances that target free speech based on its content were unconstitutional. "It looked like it left the community with little it could do to regulate temporary signs without violating the constitution," Jorgensen said. "There are ways, but they have to be very narrowly tailored. I let the Town Council know and suggested it be repealed, and they agreed." The council's vote means the existing ordinance won't be enforced while the town goes through the steps required to repeal it. An ordinance is being drafted, which will first have to go to the town's Plan Commission for a public hearing. Town Manager Steve Kil said the ordinance might be ready for the June 1 commission meeting, but, if not, it will be heard at the July meeting. After the Plan Commission votes on a recommendation, the ordinance will come to the council for a final vote. The ordinance has been the subject of considerable controversy since just before the November election when Kil removed more than 40 signs posted on public property by the St. John Homeowners PAC. The signs urged voters to "Fire" Kil, Council President Michael Forbes and Councilman Mark Barenie. Kil is not an elected official and both Forbes and Barenie were re-elected. A complaint was filed with the Lake County prosecutor's office, which later charged Kil with conversion. That case is still pending. A lawsuit filed on behalf of the homeowners PAC by the American Civil Liberties Union seeking punitive and compensatory damages for the sign removal also is pending. Jorgensen, who was supported by the PAC, said the town didn't expect the lawsuit, and he criticized the PAC for not approaching the town about repealing the sign ordinance before filing the suit. "I would have thought the PAC would want to save the town money, but they sandbagged us with the lawsuit and they hurt the town by doing it. It wants to punish our town and pay money to the PAC. I don't understand the reasoning. It seems counterproductive. (PAC leader) Joe Hero knows that isn't covered by insurance. It comes right out of the taxpayer dollars. "I can only hope the PAC is now satisfied with the pound of flesh it has taken," Jorgensen said. "There is no political sign ordinance, and it's time to stop the bleeding. I think I've served the people who elected me, and I would have done so earlier if given the opportunity." The town and the PAC agreed to a voluntary injunction early in April that the town would not enforce the political sign provisions, and the PAC could post its signs during the primary and general elections. Jorgensen said the group apparently chose not to post them during the primary. Instead, they put up a sign at Bibich Elementary School saying "No more Jorgensen." Jorgensen filed a complaint with the Lake County Election Board the morning of the election on the grounds the sign did not include the required disclaimer as to who sponsored it. Jorgensen's complaint stated the sign had the same design as the signs to "fire" Kil, Forbes and Barenie and obviously was paid for by the PAC. The board issued a cease and desist order against the sign. PAC spokesman Gerald Swets said the PAC wasn't "terribly concerned" about the ordinance. "I thought the ordinance was reasonable, just not what they claimed was a violation," Swets said. The town claimed the signs could not be placed on public property without permission, but Swets said nothing in the ordinance stated that. "The lawsuit goes on, and it will be for the courts to decide," Swets said. CHESTERTON Opening day for Chesterton's European Market wasn't the best, with cool temperatures and a light rain, market manager Deanna Kasch admitted. Yet many folks were already lined up half an hour prior to the 8 a.m. start to buy plants, flowers, cheese, bread, art, pastry, pizza, wine and a multitude of other offerings from some 87 vendors located in the downtown, Kasch said. "Even at 7:30 a.m. it was packed. They're coming back out, come hell or high water," Kasch said. Chesterton's European Market began 14 years ago when Duneland/Chesterton Chamber of Commerce leader Bonnie Trout and Lisa Wodrich of Third Coast Spice Cafe patterned the market after a French market in Illinois. The market continues from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays at Broadway and Third Street, Kasch said. The Rolling Stonebaker is an old favorite with many who attend the market, including Chesterton residents April and Carson Shamon and Lauren Miller. All three were lined up to purchase wood-fired pizza at around 10 a.m. "We come every Saturday for the pizza as long as we're in town," Shamon said. Purchasing the wood fired pizza was also on the mind of Portage resident Janice Bohlim who came to the market with her husband, Michael Bohlim and her mom, Betty Westmoreland. "What makes me come here is the pizza," Janice Bohlim said. Westmoreland said her favorite vendor is Gramma's Hugs & Stitches, Made With Love. "This is my favorite spot," Westmoreland said. Vendor Cathy Huffman, the owner and designer of Gramma's, sells hand sewn items including toddler sized sundresses and adult aprons. Polly and Kevin Dalton from Valparaiso opened up their booth, called Polly's Perfection, at the end of the market late last season. The Daltons, who both retired from their previous full-time jobs, enjoy selling their gourmet brittle, nuts and candy. "We're excited to be here for the whole season. Even when the weather is bad, like today, people still come because it's a well-known market," Polly Dalton said. Jody Bono, who was operating the Running Vines booth, said the market offers a great number of other things in addition to the items that can be purchased at the booths. There's live music, art parties and even wine sampling. "It's fun to to socialize. There's something for everyone. You can't go home hungry," Bono said. For more information visit chestertonseuropeanmarket.com. When the dust settled on one of the most bizarre political sequences in modern Indiana history, Hoosier Republican voters settled the Republican presidential race in landslide for Donald Trump while prolonging the primary slog for Hillary Clinton, with Bernie Sanders 53-47 percent victory. The Indiana primary ended on a frenzied week-long pace as four candidates and an ex-president courted Hoosiers at more than 50 rallies and retail stops. Trump and Sanders are outsiders in their parties. Clinton is part of a political dynasty in a year when Republicans resoundingly rejected the Bush version. I witnessed voters at a sprawling Bernie Sanders' rally at the foot of the Indianapolis Soldiers & Sailors Monument and below the corporate banners of Anthem, Chase and BMO, as the iconic statue Victory reached out with the torch of enlightenment. There the Vermont socialist issued a roundhouse indictment of the devolving American economic and political systems. Trump feeds off the same energy of angst and fear as the lower and upper classes encroach on the middle, which, according to Pew Research, has fallen below 50 percent of the population. But Trump comes at it 180 degrees away from Sanders. After attending events during the past two weeks, here are my impressions of Trump, Clinton and Sanders: Donald Trump I attended his first rally at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in person and watched web-streamed events in Carmel and a second at the fairgrounds with Bobby Knight, then came face to face with the billionaire at Shapiros Deli on Monday where he ordered a reuben. Like Knight, Trump has an imposing, bigger-than-life presence and moves like a shark. He's always looks like hes about to devour prey. He finds weaknesses in his opponents, tagging them with insulting monikers that play to his audiences. He pokes his rivals with extreme effectiveness. Trump has created a narrative, finding a voice that reaches the middle class, Reagan Democrats-turned-Republicans and other folks consumed in sets of grievances. His rallies are streams of consciousness that reach the hearts of Hoosiers believing they are being left behind in a society that is more economically polarized and getting browner and more inclusive. As the Republican Party has observed litmus test politics since the late 1980s with abortion and other anti-gay stances that have culled scores of candidates and prevented many more from entering the candidate process Trump has hijacked the party. He has turned social issue activism into pocketbook issues and is on the precipice of winning a major party nomination. Conventional wisdom first insisted Trump would fade before winning a nomination. It now says he cannot win the White House in the fall because of crude comments about women, Latinos, Muslims and the disabled. Trump has eviscerated every shred of conventional wisdom in this cycle. Hillary and Bill Clinton Watching Hillary Clinton at Douglass Park in an inner city Indianapolis neighborhood Sunday, there is no doubt she can still move a room. And in a year of anti-establishment strain of fervor, Clinton was surrounded by the Hoosier Democratic establishment figures named Bayh, Donnelly, Hogsett and Carson. Her rhetoric recalls the good old days of the 1990s when job creation was rampant, crime rates fell, and we were in just the early stages of asymmetrical warfare with jihadists. And she lost the Tuesday primary. With the Clintons, you get drama, soap opera politics and a wide swath of personal destruction by those who come close to their flame. But it is unclear on whether that works in the rapidly evolving politics of the day. Former President Bill Clinton maintains his wonkish appeal. The Clintons contrast Trump and Cruz with an array of policy specifics, but there is skepticism within the broader Hoosier Democratic family. Bernie Sanders I watched Sen. Sanders indict the current economic and political status quo in front of 10,000 people on Monument Circle. His campaign has raised more than $100 million in small donations, is not beholden to super PACs and special interests and is promising a revolution that the broader public appears to be embracing. The $7 billion in profits by United Technologies, and its move of 2,100 Hoosier jobs to Mexico to save $65 million while abandoning a city it called home for six decades, has become the poster for middle class angst. Sanders conjures notions of $100 million golden parachutes for departing executives and an extreme bent for shareholder profits over disposable middle- and lower-class workers. It resonates in a different prism than the one Trump presents. And what of Indiana voters? Republican exit polling revealed 57 percent see a divided party, 53 percent feel betrayed by that party, 59 percent want an outsider with no political experience in the White House and only 11 percent voted for the person they believed could win in November. For Democrats, 70 percent said they are liberal, compared to 29 percent in 2008. Some 74 percent say the party is energized. But in the most ominous finding, 31 percent said they will not vote for Clinton. So, once again, I will repeat my 2016 mantra as we head toward November: Anything can happen, because it already has. Anything. Smoke is a universal warning to distance ourselves from impending flames. Politically connected union leader Randy Palmateer, of Crown Point, has plumed forth plenty of figurative smoke over the years. Now the Region union and government leaders who continue to elevate Palmateer to positions of status and authority in our community need to reconsider those alliances. Palmateer's penchant for drunken driving arrests the charges of which are later pleaded down to reckless driving and other questionable entanglements will burn the reputations of those who continue to keep him close. Palmateer is business manager for the Northwestern Indiana Building & Construction Trades Council, one of the biggest labor union organizations in Northwest Indiana. His position provides him near celebrity status in local government. Palmateer can regularly be found on Facebook mugging with mayors, political candidates and other public officials often in social settings. It's not unusual to see a mayor posing with Palmateer at a professional sporting event, and he's a regular for glad-handing government officials at public meetings. Those public officials, in turn, also elevate Palmateer to other positions of authority in our Region. He serves on the Crown Point Board of Public Works & Safety, helps funnel millions of dollars in casino and state toll road fees to public infrastructure projects through his seat on the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority Board, sits on the Lake County Redevelopment Board and occupies numerous other government and nonprofit board seats. It's time for the public officials and organizations repeatedly affiliating themselves with Palmateer to also weigh his public embarrassments. In 2011, the Lake County prosecutor charged Palmateer with operating a vehicle while intoxicated and endangering the life of a person in Crown Point. The charge later was reduced to misdemeanor reckless driving, to which Palmateer pleaded guilty. In that case, a police officer stopped Palmateer shortly before 11 p.m. on a Monday evening after witnessing him driving 42 mph in a 25 mph zone, police reports state. Palmateer's vehicle was weaving along South Court Street near the Lake County Fairgrounds, according to the report. Palmateer gave off a strong odor of alcohol, appeared confused and had bloodshot, watery eyes when approached by the officer during the stop, police alleged. Palmateer also was unsteady and swayed when he exited his vehicle and refused an alcohol breath test and sobriety tests at the scene. In 2013, veteran Crown Point police officer, Sgt. James Poling, filed a federal lawsuit against the city, alleging municipal officials fought to fire him regarding a Fraternal Order of Police challenge to Palmateer's appointment to the Crown Point Board of Public Works & Safety. Poling alleged the FOP opposed Palmateer's board appointment because of Palmateer's 2011 drunken driving arrest and an unrelated allegation that Palmateer pointed a loaded gun at a police officer a month before that arrest. Poling's lawsuit was later dropped in 2013. Fast-forward to March 25, 2016. Hammond police say they were conducting a sobriety checkpoint that evening as part of their St. Patrick's Day/March Madness traffic safety blitz in the 7200 block of Kennedy Avenue. Police said Palmateer's vehicle entered the checkpoint "in an unsafe manner." Hammond Officer T. Laurinec, who stopped and approached Palmateer's vehicle, stated in her report, "I commented to him, and he laughed, saying it was OK. I told him it was not OK." Again, Palmateer's eyes looked glassy, according to the police report. Palmateer went on to fail two of three field sobriety tests, the police report states. But he again refused an alcohol breath test. Palmateer was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated and endangering a person's life. In a scene of smoke-laden deja vu Monday, the most recent drunken driving charge again was pleaded down to a lesser count of reckless driving. Throughout these examples of serial embarrassment, Palmateer has continued on in his high status of social standing among the Northwest Indiana political elite. At what point will the public and private agencies that elevate Palmateer realize his liabilities outweigh his assets? Palmateer's public missteps are beginning to show more than the warning of smoke. The flames of his behavior should be putting a scarlet hue of embarrassment on the faces of the political leaders who associate with him. It is said motherhood is remarkable. We exist because of our mothers. While every mother is A Bronx man was stabbed to death Saturday night, while another is in critical condition. Cops say they found 26-year-old Roberto Rodriguez with stab wounds to the torso, and a 30-year-old man stabbed in the abdomen. It happened just after 11 p.m. on East 151st Street near Courtland Avenue in Melrose. Both were taken to Lincoln Hospital, where Rodriguez was pronounced dead. No arrests have been made. Anyone with information on the case should contact the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS, or text CRIMES and then enter TIP577, or visit www.nypdcrimestoppers.com. In honor of Mother's Day, some activists hold a march in an attempt to raise awareness about gun violence. "Moms are here, we are tough and we are not going away," said one marcher. Hundreds of parents, gun violence survivors and community leaders from around the country marched over the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall rally for stricter gun laws, while chanting their demands for action. The march began at Cadman Plaza in Brooklyn and ended all the way over at City Hall Park. "Because it's pass time that our elected officials did something to actually address the gun violence epidemic that's going on in this country," said one woman. "We're rallying on behalf of gun violence because Mother's Day is never the same for some of us who have actually lost our children to gun violence," said another. "Mother's Day can be sad and overwhelming if you allow it to be, what I try to think on is that I was a mother." This is the fourth annual march organized by the group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. David Hall, a former governor of Oklahoma who maintained he was innocent long after an indictment complicated his public legacy, died on Friday at a hospital near his home in San Diego. He was 85. His daughter Julie Martin said he died after suffering a stroke. He was already in the hospital when doctors discovered a blood clot, she said. Mr. Hall, a Democrat, served one term as governor, from 1971 to 1975, and was indicted on federal racketeering and extortion charges three days after leaving office. He was later convicted of bribery and extortion and served 19 months of a three-year sentence. He maintained he was innocent and went on to write a book about his experience. David Walters, a fellow Democrat who was governor from 1991 to 1995, praised Mr. Halls willingness to increase revenue during tough financial times. Charlotte Beth Delaney and Caleb Thurston Whelden were married May 7 at the Heritage Hotel in Southbury, Conn. Scott R. Cobban, a friend of the couple who became a Universal Life minister for the occasion, officiated. Dr. Delaney, 32, who will be keeping her name, is a fourth-year medical student at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. In July, she is to begin a combined residency in internal medicine and pediatrics at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester. Until September she was the musical director and the president of the Lymph Notes, an 18-member a cappella group at the college of medicine; she is still a member. She graduated magna cum laude from Williams College and received a Master of Music in vocal performance from N.Y.U. She is a daughter of Muriel J. Reynard and Dr. Brian P. Delaney of Pelham, N.Y. The brides father is a geriatrician and family doctor in the Bronx, and an assistant professor in the department of family and social medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Her mother, who is retired, worked in Long Island City, Queens, as a managing director and a general counsel for Citigroup. Mr. Whelden, 34, is a plumber in Boston and sings with two professional Boston-based touring a cappella groups, Five O'Clock Shadow and Overboard. He graduated summa cum laude from Ithaca College. Dr. Irim Salik, the daughter of Parveen Salik and Noor M. Salik of Orangeburg, N.Y., was married May 7 to Mahmud Riffat, a son of Nigar Riffat and Imran Riffat of Douglaston, Queens. Kim Kirkley, a minister with First Nation Church, officiated at the Park Savoy Estate, an event space in Florham Park, N.J. The bride, 33, will continue to use her name professionally. She is a pediatric anesthesiologist with Advance Physicians Services in Valhalla, N.Y. She graduated from N.Y.U. and received a medical degree from Stony Brook University. Her father, who is retired, was a computer software specialist for the New York City Retirement System in Manhattan. Her mother, also retired, was a teller with the Pearl River, N.Y., branch of Chase bank. The groom, 30, is a vice president at First Reserve, an investment firm in Greenwich, Conn., where he specializes in energy investments. He graduated from Georgetown and received an M.B.A. from Columbia. Lindsay Michelle Levine, a daughter of Shelley B. Levine and Peter B. Levine of Stamford, Conn., was married May 2 to Adam Ross Savaglio, a son of Amy J. Rosenblum and Theodore C. Savaglio of Manhattan. Edwina Townes, a staff member of the Office of the City Clerk, officiated at the Manhattan Marriage Bureau. The bride, 26, works in Manhattan as a vice president at Barclays, the British bank, where she trades stocks for institutional clients. She graduated summa cum laude from Duke. Her father retired as a managing director of the commercial mortgage department of Citigroup in Manhattan. The groom, 27, works in Manhattan for Houlihan Lokey, a Los Angeles investment bank; he advises real estate companies on financial strategies. He graduated from Washington University in St. Louis. Stephanie Marie Mayer, a daughter of Roseanne F. Mayer and Eduard J. Mayer of Sugar Land, Tex., is to be married May 8 to Brian Benjamin Rudick, the son of Dr. Marilyn J. Goske Rudick and Dr. Richard A. Rudick of Boston. The Rev. Timothy Mills, an American Baptist pastor, is to officiate at Auberge du Soleil, a hotel in Rutherford, Calif. The bride, 31, who will take her husbands name, works in New York leading a strategy and operations team for Google that supports those selling the companys productivity and computer storage products. She graduated from Tufts and received a masters degree in engineering management from Dartmouth. Her father owns Elite Resorts, a company based in Salt Springs, Fla. that develops, sells and rents resorts and campgrounds in Connecticut and Florida. .Her mother is a retired accountant who last worked for the Enterprise Fund, a venture capital fund, in Toronto. The groom, 34, is an associate at Citadel, a Chicago-based investment fund, where he trades stocks and manages funds for institutional investors. He graduated from Duke and received an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. Stephanie Marie Ramirez and Keith Nobbe were married May 5 at the Manhattan Marriage Bureau. Edwina Torres, a staff member of the New York City Clerks office, officiated. The bride, 30, is a vice president overseeing communications strategies for clients at Group Gordon, a public relations firm in Manhattan. She graduated cum laude from Georgetown University. She is the daughter of Ofelia P. Vargas of the Bronx and Dr. Gilberto E. Ramirez of Springfield, Mass. The brides father is an internist at Collins Medical Associates in Bloomfield, Conn. Her mother is an associate director of nursing at the Metropolitan Hospital Center in Manhattan. The groom, also 30, works with a sales team in Manhattan, supporting products of EMC Corporation, which develops data storage and security equipment and software. He graduated magna cum laude from Binghamton University. Ms. Toretti, Mrs. Rao and other prominent bundlers in both parties said their networks of potential donors, almost exclusively men until just a few years ago, were now composed mostly of other women. And more of them had earned their wealth on their own, in contrast to times when women were more likely to wield their spouses wealth or inherited money. But while women are making more contributions than ever, they still significantly trail men in the magnitude of their giving, with about two-thirds of all the money raised by federal candidates in 2016 coming from men, according to Crowdpac data. Most of the largest overall contributors in the country are men, many of them in fields like energy and finance, where women are still exceedingly rare in corporate boardrooms and executive suites. Theresa Kostrzewa, a lobbyist in North Carolina who has donated close to $300,000 for Republicans in recent years, described arriving at a gathering for top Mitt Romney fund-raisers in the summer of 2012 at the Deer Valley resort in Utah. The young woman who escorted her to her room, Ms. Kostrzewa recalled, asked her what she did on Mr. Romneys staff. Theres an expectation even among women that other women are not donors, Ms. Kostrzewa said. Were still that much of an anomaly. Less visible than the economic inequality that hampers giving by women are the cultural barriers that remain. Some research, for example, suggests that women are more comfortable giving to causes than to candidates, whether out of a sense that politics is grubby or because nonprofit groups will have more impact on the issues they care about. If you care about social issues, you may not think that politics is the place to invest your money, said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. Youd rather give to an activist group or a nonprofit. Even when women assume senior posts at their companies, they are more reluctant to ask their colleagues for contributions to candidates. Several donors described a familiar worry among their female friends about rocking the boat among male colleagues, or offending people with different political views. Some readers said Chicagos troubles required a response that is broader than what can be accomplished in the city limits. When we consider a diverse and large city such as Chicago as one entity, we often make overly large generalizations that dont apply to the whole. Chicago is not just one city. The North Side, with a population of over a million people, basically functions as a separate city, one that is as safe and prosperous as smaller thriving cities such as San Francisco, Denver or Seattle. The South and West Sides, by contrast, resemble cities such as Detroit. So the real news here is that millions of Americans live in dangerous and impoverished neighborhoods and that Chicago has more than its share of such areas. As a Chicagoan, I am very sad about this situation, but I dont see anything unique here. I am no fan of our mayor, but I am not sure that local politicians have much control over larger issues of economic and racial injustice that create blighted neighborhoods. B Magnuson, Evanston, Ill. Most of the same things could be said about St. Louis, where I live. Im not sure what the answer is. I do know that the answer will be finding ways to bring people together, not to marginalize. There is so much to be gained by living around people who are not necessarily just like you. Unfortunately, we seem to fear that today, and the result is playing out in our urban centers. DDF, St. Louis Some noted what the survey showed so bleakly: that life feels different on the more affluent North Side than it does for black residents on the South and West Sides, where shootings and homicides have increased this year. Chicago is two worlds. You have the North Side, Around the Loop and parts of the South West Side that were O.K. at best neighborhoods 35 years ago but now, over the last 25 years have been revitalized by young college graduates moving into the areas to enjoy city life. Then you have the West and South side that have remained 95 percent black and in poverty for more than 40+ years in fact after the tear-down and relocation of everyone from the High Rise Housing Projects, they seem to be getting worse for various reasons. John, Chicago RIO DE JANEIRO In one verbal assault from the podium of Brazils Congress, Jair Bolsonaro told a fellow legislator that she was not worthy of being raped by him. You dont merit that, said Mr. Bolsonaro, a former army parachutist. In another episode, the congressman described his abhorrence of homosexuality. I would be incapable of loving a gay son, said Mr. Bolsonaro, 61, the father of five children. I prefer that he die in an accident. Then Mr. Bolsonaro justified his vote last month for the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff by praising Col. Carlos Alberto Brilhante Ustra, who oversaw the torture of dissidents during Brazils military dictatorship, which lasted from 1964 to 1985. Colonel Ustra, who died last year at the age of 83, embodied the dread of Dilma Rousseff, Mr. Bolsonaro proclaimed, his reference clear: Ms. Rousseff, an operative in a guerrilla group in her youth, repeatedly endured brutal torture sessions at the hands of Colonel Ustras colleagues. In April 2014, an avalanche on the south side of the mountain killed 16 Nepalese passing through the Khumbu Icefall, a stretch of ice towers strung with ropes and ladders. Then, last April, a series of earthquakes killed nearly 9,000 people, including at least 18 at South Base Camp. In response to both events, climbing expeditions were canceled. Last year, for the first time since 1974, not a single climber reached the summit of Everest. Climbing agencies have taken an upbeat tone this year, noting that numbers typically rebound after major disasters. But in Namche Bazaar, the drop in demand is appreciable, with around 290 climbers attempting Everests south side ascent so far this spring, down from 357 in the same time period in 2015, according to Nepals Department of Tourism. The Sherpas who often serve as high-altitude guides complain of fewer tourists, fewer jobs and fewer choices. Many lodges, once chronically crammed, now run under capacity. Western climbing agencies, typically well represented on Everest, have struggled to fill teams. Some have offered discounts for returning climbers, while others have canceled teams entirely. The vacuum has been filled by lower-cost Nepalese operators. In a recent dispatch from Base Camp, Alan Arnette, an American climbing specialist, said he could not recognize many of the names written across expedition tents. SEOUL, South Korea In a speech before his ruling Workers Party, North Koreas leader, Kim Jong-un, said on Saturday that his country would live up to its international commitment to nuclear nonproliferation, while trying to end the danger of war on the Korean Peninsula by using its strong nuclear deterrent as leverage against the United States. Mr. Kim presented what North Koreas state media called an ambitious blueprint for his impoverished yet nuclear-armed country on Saturday, the second day of the Seventh Congress of his ruling Workers Party, the first such gathering in 36 years. Mr. Kim said that his countrys dealings with the outside world should be based on the fact that it has become a nuclear power a status the United States has repeatedly vowed to not recognize. Our party and government will struggle to root out the danger of nuclear war being imposed on us by the United States, based on our strong nuclear deterrent and defend peace in the region and in the world, Mr. Kim said. His speech was carried by the Norths official Korean Central News Agency on Sunday. Mr. Kim said North Korea would act like a responsible nuclear power by not using a nuclear weapon unless its sovereignty is violated. We will comply sincerely with our international commitment to nuclear nonproliferation and strive to achieve the denuclearization of the world, he said. DHAKA, Bangladesh A local Sufi Muslim leader in northern Bangladesh was found hacked to death in a secluded mango grove, the police said on Saturday. A girl in the district of Rajshahi happened upon the body of Mohammad Shahidullah in a dry pond under a mango tree as she was gathering dried leaves for a fire on Friday evening. Mr. Shahidullah was found about 25 miles from his home with two deep wounds in his neck and throat, said Abul Kalam Azad, a police official in Rajshahi. Mr. Shahidullah, who owned a grocery store in his village, had left home that morning, Mr. Azad said. Similar attacks on intellectuals, secular writers and others have taken place over the last two years in Bangladesh. The attacks have seemed to increase in recent weeks, with a Hindu tailor being hacked to death last month, as were two gay rights activists, among others. Several of the assaults have been claimed by the Islamic State or by a branch of Al Qaeda, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist websites. An English professor was hacked to death, also in Rajshahi, last month, in an attack that was claimed by the Islamic State and that police said they believed was connected to Islamist militants. But Mr. Azad said that this latest attack differed from the others in that it did not appear to have been carried out in the open, but rather in a secluded field. When asked if the police suspected Islamist militants, Mr. Azad said it was too soon to tell. MADRID Three Spanish journalists who disappeared last summer while working in Syria have been freed from captivity, the Spanish government said on Saturday. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoys office said in a statement that the three, Antonio Pampliega, Jose Manuel Lopez and Angel Sastre, who disappeared near Aleppo in northern Syria on July 12, were safe and well. Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, the acting deputy prime minister, spoke to them by telephone, the statement said. The government said that the intervention of Turkey, Qatar and other allies and friends was instrumental in freeing the men, and that a plane was being sent to Turkey to take them to Spain. LOS ANGELES The composers we know as Minimalists are really more often maximalists. Think of the relentless surging waterfall of Philip Glasss arpeggios or the billboard-bright neon glow of Steve Reichs Music for 18 Musicians. But no one associated with the Minimal school makes that adjective seem as inadequate as downright silly as Louis Andriessen, 76, whose dizzying, perplexing new opera, Theater of the World, was given its premiere by the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Friday at Walt Disney Concert Hall here. The characteristic everything-but-the-kitchen-sink quality of Mr. Andriessens theatrical works will be familiar to anyone who recently saw his De Materie (composed in the 1980s) performed at the Park Avenue Armory. The ostensible excesses of Heiner Goebbelss production crowding in serenely floating zeppelins, ballroom dancers and an eerie, poignant flock of sheep felt right at home in Mr. Andriessens extravagant imagination, in which boogie-woogie rubs elbows with antique polyphony. His most recent opera, La Commedia (2008), was even more ambitious, taking on no less a figure than Dante in a work that moved freely around hell and heaven in five grand scenes. The score sprawled through big-band jazz, folk melodies and long passages of hovering, clanging percussion a kind of relentless abstraction of bells tolling. The trial began Friday with the 18-minute videotape of testimony from Mr. Redstone, who has not been seen publicly for nearly a year. After viewing the video, Judge Cowan declared that Mr. Redstone had appeared to forcefully reject the notion that Ms. Herzer should be in charge of his health care, or a part of his life at all. While he said he needed the weekend to consider whether the case should continue, Judge Cowan indicated that Mr. Redstones testimony had raised doubts about Ms. Herzers position. Your burden now is a hard one, he told her legal team after viewing the tape. In their filing on Sunday, Ms. Herzers lawyers argued that Mr. Redstones vehemence in his testimony may result from serious cognitive impairment, and manipulation by his daughter, Shari Redstone. Mr. Redstones outbursts do not indicate that he had capacity, but rather confirm that he lacks it, they argue. The filing said that to terminate the trial without hearing further evidence would risk setting a precedent with widespread implications for hospitals, lawyers and others involved in elder care. It cannot be that an elderly person particularly an elderly individual whom everyone agrees is susceptible to undue influence can simply state what he wants, and have that accepted as gospel, the filing said. Mr. Redstones lawyers rejected the suggestion that he was manipulated. Of course, there is not a scintilla of evidence that Mr. Redstone actually wants Ms. Herzer in his life, but was unduly influenced to testify otherwise, the dismissal motion said. The Redstone team also reiterated a caution it has raised repeatedly: that the salacious details being presented by Ms. Herzers lawyers are compromising Mr. Redstones privacy and dignity. The possibility of dismissal after one day of testimony opened a path by which Mr. Redstones side might quickly prevail in the case. But the first days harsh testimony and the lurid details in pretrial filings had already subjected the Redstone family to acute embarrassment, and raised substantial questions about Mr. Redstones continued role in his publicly held companies. Mr. Redstone is a director, chairman emeritus and controlling shareholder of CBS and Viacom, two of the worlds largest media companies. WASHINGTON It is a bitter but basic fact in health research: Black Americans die at higher rates than whites from most causes, including AIDS, heart disease, cancer and homicide. But a recent trove of federal data offered some good news. The suicide rate for black men declined from 1999 to 2014, making them the only racial group to experience a drop. Infant mortality is down by more than a fifth among blacks since the late 1990s, double the decline for whites. Births to teenage mothers, which tend to have higher infant mortality rates, have dropped by 64 percent among blacks since 1995, faster than for whites. Blacks are still at a major health disadvantage compared with whites. But evidence of black gains has been building and has helped push up the ultimate measure life expectancy. The gap between blacks and whites was seven years in 1990. By 2014, the most recent year on record, it had shrunk to 3.4 years, the smallest in history, with life expectancy at 75.6 years for blacks and 79 years for whites. Part of the reason has been bad news for whites, namely the opioid crisis. The crisis, which has dominated headlines some say unfairly, given racial disparities has hit harder in white communities, bringing down white life expectancy and narrowing the gap. Since 2013, more than 20 people in Bangladesh have been murdered by Islamist extremists, many hacked to death. Among the first victims were bloggers who had criticized Islamic fundamentalism. Then, two foreigners, an Italian aid worker and a Japanese farmer, were struck down last year. In just nine days last month, five people were hacked to death. The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas ruling Awami League Party and its bitter rivalry with the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami party are partly to blame. In 2014, Ms. Hasina and her party won elections marred by violence and a boycott by the opposition. Bangladeshs International Crimes Tribunal, established in 2010 to prosecute those responsible for atrocities during the 1971 war of independence, has become a political tool of the government, targeting leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami. This, along with extra-judicial killings, torture and disappearances, has eroded faith in the rule of law. Meanwhile, Ms. Hasinas government has cracked down on freedom of expression and the press. Last month, Ms. Hasina condemned atheist bloggers, saying: Its not at all acceptable if anyone writes against our prophet or other religions. All of this is fueling extremism. The International Crisis Group, an independent organization working to prevent conflict, warns that heavy-handed measures are denting the governments legitimacy and, by provoking violent counterresponses, benefiting violent party wings and extremist groups alike. These groups include Ansar al-Islam Bangladesh, an affiliate of Al Qaeda that claimed responsibility for the April 6 murder of a law student, Nazimuddin Samad. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the April 30 murder of Nikhil Chandra Joarder, a Hindu tailor. Yet Ms. Hasinas government denies that the Islamic State is in Bangladesh. ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia The worst drought in three decades has left almost 20 million Ethiopians one-fifth of the population desperately short of food. And yet the countrys mortality rate isnt expected to increase: In other words, Ethiopians arent starving to death. Ive studied famine and humanitarian relief for more than 30 years, and I wasnt prepared for what I saw during a visit to Ethiopia last month. As I traveled through northern and central provinces, I saw imported wheat being brought to the smallest and most remote villages, thanks to a new Chinese-built railroad and a fleet of newly imported trucks. Water was delivered to places where wells had run dry. Malnourished children were being treated in properly staffed clinics. Compare that to the aftermath of the 1984 drought, which killed at least 600,000 people, caused the economy to shrink by nearly 14 percent and turned the name Ethiopia into a synonym for shriveled, glazed-eyed children on saline drips. How did Ethiopia go from being the worlds symbol of mass famines to fending off starvation? Thanks partly to some good fortune, but mostly to peace, greater transparency and prudent planning. Ethiopias success in averting another disaster is confirmation that famine is elective because, at its core, it is an artifact and a tool of political repression. More than one million desperate refugees fled to Europe last year, redefining the meaning of being down and out and in the search for a place where one might live in relative safety. This context of human suffering made the ruling last week by Italys highest appeals court ring all the more with mercy in the case of a hungry Ukrainian immigrant facing jail time for stealing $4.70 worth of sausage and cheese in a Genoa supermarket. He took possession of that small amount of food in the face of the immediate and essential need for nourishment, acting therefore in a state of need, the Supreme Court of Cassation ruled, finding that the meal purloined by Roman Ostriakov, a destitute homeless man, does not constitute a crime. No one knows for certain what the ruling might trigger as a precedent. But the news of Mr. Ostriakovs victory after a three-year court fight quickly spread worldwide as a bit of delight in the days welter of assorted sufferings. Italians, who have endured high rates of poverty and unemployment, could be encouraged that court scholars cited an underlining legal doctrine Ad impossibilia nemo tenetur, which means, No one is expected to do the impossible. Commentators immediately cited Jean Valjean, the Victor Hugo character who was sent to prison for stealing a loaf of bread, and of whom Hugo wrote: There is a point at which the unfortunate and the infamous are associated and confounded in a single word, a fatal word, Les Miserables. The Republican primaries this year could easily shake your faith in democracy. The race whittled a field of 17 candidates down to a showdown between the two candidates with the highest unfavorability ratings in national polls. In many respects, Donald Trump was less conservative than every other candidate; Ted Cruz was more so. Neither appeared to set mainstream Republicans in his sights. You might think that democracys not supposed to work this way that more broadly acceptable candidates should have risen to the top. Many Republicans I know worry that this outcome reflects a sickness in the Republican electorate. Perhaps. But maybe it is just an illustration of the inherent imperfection of democratic institutions. The failure of democracy to provide a coherent ranking of political hopefuls is a central insight of the subfield of economics and political science known as social choice theory. The issue is neatly illustrated by Condorcets paradox, which shows that a shifting set of coalitions can make a collective body appear that it has no idea what it wants. He argued that the terrorist attacks of recent years had clearly violated Islamic teaching because they cause more harm than good, bringing more bombs, more drones and more chaos to Muslim communities, he said. Who has benefited? Please use the intelligence that Allah gave you, he said. These radical groups have harmed the image of Islam infinitely more than all of the foreign policy of Western lands combined. These scholars ridicule the Islamic States claim to have created a caliphate ruled by a successor to the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. Instead, in a highly effective bit of rebranding, they call the Islamic State Kharijites, a reviled group of Muslims who killed women and children and rebelled against the caliphs in the seventh century. The imams named by the Islamic State are based in the United States, Canada, Britain and Australia. They represent a broad spectrum of Islamic thought from spiritual Sufis to puritanical Salafis, and even the more militant Salafi Jihadis. To the Islamic States propagandists, it does not matter that the imams are fervent Muslims or critics of American foreign policy: They are all unbelievers, just like the Shiite Muslims, Christians and Yazidis that the Islamic State has killed by the thousands in Iraq, Libya, Syria and elsewhere. This is not the first time that the Islamic State has targeted Muslim leaders in the United States, but this is the longest list yet. It includes Sheikh Hisham Kabbani, a Lebanese Sufi now based mostly in Michigan who has been warning for years about rising extremism. The rift in the Republican Party grew deeper on Sunday and threatened to upset the July convention as Donald J. Trump refused to rule out blocking Paul D. Ryan, the speaker of the House, from serving as the conventions chairman. Mr. Trumps warning was his latest affront to Republicans who have urged him to adopt a more cooperative and unifying tone. And it amounted to an extraordinary escalation in tensions between the partys presumptive nominee and its highest-ranking officeholder. In a series of television interviews that aired Sunday, Mr. Trump demonstrated little interest in making peace with party leaders like Mr. Ryan who have called on him to more convincingly lay out his commitment to the issues and ideas that have animated the conservative movement for the last generation. Im going to do what I have to do I have millions of people that voted for me, Mr. Trump said on ABCs This Week. So I have to stay true to my principles also. And Im a conservative, but dont forget, this is called the Republican Party. Its not called the Conservative Party. It is a division Mr. Cruz helped create, by pressing congressional Republicans to defy party leaders and their colleagues to shut down the government and repeatedly hold up basic legislation, giving him the distinction of being the least popular member of one of the worlds most exclusive clubs. How Times reporters cover politics. We rely on our journalists to be independent observers. So while Times staff members may vote, they are not allowed to endorse or campaign for candidates or political causes. This includes participating in marches or rallies in support of a movement or giving money to, or raising money for, any political candidate or election cause. Learn more about our process. But outside the noise and theatrics of the campaign, Mr. Cruz also finds himself at a potential turning point in his Senate career, both as a returning failed presidential candidate and as an unpopular firebrand who has been most comfortable as a thorn, rather than partner, to other Republicans. The Senate has a rich history of members whose run for president failed but who came back to effective legislative careers. From Henry Clay, who ran for president three times in the 1800s, to Hubert Humphrey, who narrowly lost to Richard Nixon in 1968, to Edward M. Kennedy, one of the greatest bipartisan lawmakers of all time, to John McCain, who was defeated by Barack Obama in 2008 and is now an effective chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, also-rans can find their Senate home a great refuge. They remember what they liked about the Senate, said Donald A. Ritchie, a historian emeritus of the Senate. The fact is United States senators are very influential and powerful people in their own right. Those who come back and are not running again or not at the end of their term hunker down in committee assignments and hopefully have learned a lot that can translate into legislation. The Senates clubbiness and customs can also make for a pleasant landing after a dispiriting defeat. The Senate can be a forgiving place for those coming back from a run for president, said Jim Manley, a former senior communications aide to Senator Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada. You still have staffers at your beck and call, and everyone still opens the door for you. At the same time, even lawmakers who wore their antagonism of leaders with honor can evolve into statesmen in the Senate. This was the case with Senator Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania now best known for his bipartisan efforts at a gun safety law and Mr. Flake, who used to irritate House leaders and is now considered one of the most thoughtful members of the Senate. KABUL, Afghanistan More than 50 people were killed on Sunday in southeastern Afghanistans Ghazni Province when two buses collided with a fuel truck, which then exploded, officials said. Scores of others were injured, many of them critically. The crash in Ghazni was bad even by the standards of Afghanistans notoriously dangerous mountain highways. A total of 111 people were either killed or injured, said Hamidullah Nawroz, the head of Ghaznis provincial council, but because the victims were taken to many hospitals in different cities, and many died on the way, the number of fatalities was hard to determine. A bus full of passengers tried to pass the slow-moving fuel tanker on a narrow highway in Mukur District around 6 a.m. Sunday and crashed head-on into another fully loaded bus, Mr. Nawroz said. Both buses then collided with the tanker, which exploded and engulfed all three vehicles in flames. Estimates of the number of fatalities ranged from 50 to 76, and many feared that the death toll could be even higher. Ismail Kawusi, a spokesman for Afghanistans Ministry of Health, said that there were 140 passengers on the buses but that rescue workers had identified only 50 bodies so far. Many of the remains were badly burned, and body parts were scattered around the accident site. SYDNEY, Australia Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, the leader of the conservative Liberal coalition government, said on Sunday that Australia would hold national elections on July 2, in a contest that is likely to be close. The election will be the first time Mr. Turnbull and his opponent, Bill Shorten, the leader of the main opposition Labor Party, have faced each other on a ballot. Mr. Shorten was appointed Labor leader after his party lost control of the government in 2013. Mr. Turnbull took over as prime minister in September after deposing his deeply unpopular, gaffe-prone predecessor, Tony Abbott, who was in his first term as prime minister. The announcement on Sunday was no surprise. The federal budget, which is the governments annual blueprint for managing the economy, was delivered a week early. And Mr. Turnbull had warned lawmakers that he would call a so-called double dissolution election, in which all Senate seats are thrown open for a vote, if the rambunctious upper house continued to block government legislation. A change in Senate rules, passed in March, means some dissenting senators from minor parties may find it hard to win re-election on July 2. KARACHI, Pakistan Unidentified gunmen have killed a Pakistani rights activist known for campaigning against both religious extremism and the head cleric of a radical Sunni mosque, police officials said. The drive-by shooting took place late Saturday in the southern port city of Karachi. Four men, riding two motorbikes, sprayed bullets at the activist, Khurram Zaki, said Muqadas Haider, a senior Karachi police official. Mr. Zaki was having dinner at a roadside cafe with a journalist friend, Rao Khalid. Mr. Khalid and a bystander were wounded. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. This was the third high-profile killing of a rights activist in Karachi since 2013 and pointed to the immense dangers faced by activists in a country troubled by religious extremism and intolerance. Last year, Sabeen Mahmud, the director of a popular arts center in Karachi, was gunned down in the city after she hosted an event on human rights abuses in southwestern Baluchistan Province. Parween Rahman, a social justice activist, was killed in 2013. A suspect in her killing, Raheem Swati, was arrested in Karachi on Saturday. CAIRO Unidentified gunmen sprayed bullets on a police minibus as it passed through a Cairo district early on Sunday, killing eight plainclothes officers in an ambush that was later claimed by the Islamic State. It was the deadliest attack on Egypts security forces in the capital in months, and a sharp reminder of the continuing threat from Islamist insurgents while President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is under increasing scrutiny for his harsh crackdown on political dissent. Although the Islamic States claim of responsibility could not be independently verified, its format and language were consistent with earlier statements from the group. The Islamic State also claims to have downed a Russian passenger jet that crashed into the Sinai Desert in October, killing 224 people. The Egyptian Interior Ministry said in a statement that four assailants had fired on the unmarked police minibus as it passed through Helwan, an industrial center on the southern edge of greater Cairo. The police officers were on routine security duties, the ministry said. At least 120 prominent writers and artists from around the world have signed a letter sent to Egypts president urging him to release Ahmed Naji, an Egyptian author and journalist imprisoned for a novel deemed to have violated public morals. The letter, sent by PEN America, a group that promotes free expression, amplifies the international pressure on the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, over his increasingly harsh repression of writers and journalists. Mr. Sisis government has imprisoned an unprecedented number of journalists since he took power in 2013. His policy of intolerance toward views he dislikes recently aroused the ire of Egypts journalists union, which includes many who work for state-run news outlets. The PEN America letter was sent before the organizations annual Literary Gala in New York on May 16, when Mr. Naji will be honored in absentia with the groups annual Freedom to Write award. Carlisle Police are looking for a man after an attempted homicide early Sunday morning on North Pitt Street. Police said units were dispatched to the 1300 block of North Pitt Street at 5:15 a.m. Sunday for a shooting victim. Carlisle Sgt. Simon Jackson said Sunday morning that the victim was flown via Life Lion to Penn State Milton Hershey Medical Center. He said he believes the victim will recover. Through an investigation, police obtained an arrest warrant for charges of attempted homicide, aggravated assault, felon not to possess a firearm and various other charges. The warrant calls for the arrest of Chad E. Stanback, 43, of Carlisle. Police said Stanback was last seen driving a burgundy 2007 Chrysler 300 sedan with Pennsylvania license plate JMF6813. Stanback should be considered armed and dangerous. Police ask anyone who spots Stanback to call 911 immediately. HAN SHAN SCRIPT 00:00:08 -00:00:16 There was once a young ethnic Miao man from a mountainous area. He grew up in a traditional Miao village in Guizhou province. 00:01:03 -00:01:11 And the mountains and rivers witnessed his growth from childhood. 00:00:16 -00:00:29 His mother was a weaver. She could weave, dye, make clothes and even embroider them all herself. 00:00:29 -00:00:35 Many people wore the clothes made by her in the village. 00:01:16-00:01:29 As he grew up and studied he went to cities like Chengdu where he lived, grew up and learned things there. Cut? 00:01:29 -00:01:32 He did many jobs. 00:01:32 -00:01:41 He worked as a cook, a teacher, a waiter in a pub and set up a stall on the streets. End Cut 00:01:48 -00:01:58 One day he thought, he shouldnt live in a city anymore and thought of his hometown. He remembered that he had come from the mountains. 00:01:59 -00:02:15 So he walked out of the city and set out from Sichuan, walking across Tibet, Xinjiang, Gansu, Ningxia, Yunnan until finally he came back to Guizhou. 00:02:15 -00:02:22 He walked on the most ordinary roads, mountain paths and valleys ceaselessly. 00:08:59 -00:09:08 Over 15 years, he saw mountains, rivers and all the creatures during as his walk. 00:09:08 -00:09:12 He believed everything has a soul and deserves awe. 00:02:43 -00:02:48 Finally, he came back to Guizhou province, his hometown, and arrived in the Miao village. 00:02:48 -00:02:55 He saw his mother and aunts still dyeing clothes. 00:02:56 -00:03:20 While most people were wearing fashionable, manufactured clothes, people in his hometown still made new clothes in the New Year. He thought he must do this as well, like his mother. 00:05:48 -00:05:56 He chose to dye cloth and be a simple craftsman. 00:00:08 -00:00:14 He believed that every plant has a soul. 00:00:14 -00:00:17 And he would use the plants to dye clothes. 00:10:41 -00:10:44 I am the dyer, Han Shan PLANT QUOTES HAN SHAN_0083 00:00:20 -00:00:23 This plant can be used as amaranthine (purple red) dye. 00:00:27 -00:00:34 After being extracted, the color will be dark purple and red. 00:00:41 -00:00:42 Its flower is also awesome. HAN SHAN_0064 00:00:57 -00:01:01 This flower can be used as a red dye. 00:01:13 -00:01:16 It can dye things in pink - the color of spring. HAN SHAN_0105 00:00:37 -00:00:41 This blue is more like the sky blue. HAN SHAN_0105 00:01:15 -00:01:22 This blue is more close to ultramarine, purple and blue. 00:01:23 -00:01:26 It is a very common type of wild flower in the spring. 00:01:28 -00:01:38 But it is too small to gather massively. 00:01:39 -00:01:41 It is close to violet blue. 00:01:44 -00:01:48 Because its flowers look like stars, we call it Lanxingcao (Blue Star Herb). walking away - 00:07:03 -00:07:07 To put it simply, I started walking because I felt bored. 00:09:48 -00:09:51 With civilization, we began to build cities. 00:09:53 -00:09:58 But we are developing so fast, we have forgotten where we came from. 00:13:05 -00:13:07 Human relationships have become indifferent. 00:14:20 -00:14:23 It is definitely alarming. 00:12:28 -00:12:36 Materialism is one of the core things that keeps people away from nature. This is the answer. 00:00:26 -00:00:32 Our ancestors dyed from ancient times. 00:10:37 -00:10:47 Our ancestors lived in the mountains, so we should go back to the countryside, because this lifestyle is the most natural way of living. 00:00:52 -00:00:55 Dyeing means life for Miao people. 00:00:32 -00:00:39 Dyeing is very simple and it means life. It is what we are doing every day in life. 00:15:14 -00:15:17 Civilization is bound to be destroyed when it reaches a certain level. A young man from the Miao ethnic minority retreats back to nature and an ancient tradition after becoming disillusioned with modern Chinese urban society. 00:06:03 -00:06:11 The Chinese character for dyeing Ran is composed of three drops of water, the number nine and wood. 00:06:11 -00:06:17 It means dyeing is putting water, grass and wood together to dye clothes nine times. 00:02:18 -00:02:26 So each time when I add dye into the vat, I will treat it like treating a life with a devout and patient heart. 00:02:26 -00:02:33 I dye cloth with sincerity every day. 00:11:20 -00:11:29 Blue dye can produce the color of the ocean, the sky and mist, so it is the Miao peoples favorite color. 00:02:18 -00:02:26 So each time when I add dye into the vat, I will treat it like treating a life with a devout and patient heart. 00:02:26 -00:02:33 I dye cloth with sincerity every day. 00:14:34 -00:14:35 We have to let nature to take its course. 00:15:14 -00:15:17 Civilization is bound to be destroyed when it reaches a high level. 00:15:17 -00:15:20 A new thing will be born. 00:12:41 -00:13:04 Desire has existed since ancient times, but when the industrial civilization came and our tools became more advanced, in our conquest and occupation we damaged nature and our interpersonal relationships. The result has been the destruction of thousands of years of culture. No. They are worried that Trump isnt a Republican Lindsey Graham Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who was one of the 16 other Republicans to run for president and has criticized Mr. Trump in the past, said Friday that he could not support him. I just really believe that the Republican Party has been conned here, and this guy is not a reliable conservative Republican, he told CNNs Dana Bash. Previously, the only other Republican member of Congress who had come out as strongly against Mr. Trump was Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, who favors a third-party conservative candidate. Not yet. They want to protect current party positions Paul D. Ryan Speaker Paul D. Ryan, the partys leader in the House, said Thursday that he was not ready to endorse Mr. Trump and that it was up to the presumptive nominee to prove that he shares the partys values. Mr. Ryan has serious policy differences with Mr. Trump, and he wants to protect the Republican majority in the House as well as his own political future, which could possibly include a run for president. The speakers announcement essentially gives permission to other Republican lawmakers to take a similar position, leaving room for them to distinguish themselves from the nominee. Maybe. They are worried about their own elections Kelly Ayotte Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, who faces a tough re-election this year, said she would support the nominee but not endorse anyone this cycle, an ambiguous position echoed by other lawmakers. Vulnerable House Republicans also face a tough calculation when deciding whether to support Mr. Trump. According to a veteran House member, Tom Cole of Oklahoma, some members in red-leaning districts in blue states are more inclined to view supporting Mr. Trump as helpful than those in heavily Hispanic districts. Fine. They are most concerned about party unity Mitch McConnell Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, ultimately wants to retain Republican control of the Senate in 2016 and protect those up for re-election in 2018. He said in a short statement, I have committed to supporting the nominee chosen by Republican voters, and Donald Trump, the presumptive nominee, is now on the verge of clinching that nomination. Several other Republicans have said they will support the nominee but have expressed concerns about some of his positions, like temporarily barring Muslims from entering the country. The following people were sentenced on Tuesday, April 26 in Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas. All sentences include costs and run concurrently with other sentences unless otherwise specified. Probation is unsupervised unless indicated otherwise. Driving under the influence (DUI) offenses generate different mandatory-minimum sentences based on an offenders prior convictions in the past 10 years. Sentenced to State Correctional Institute Newburg Dwain Wilson Etter: One to 5 years for fleeing or attempting to elude police officer; 1 to 5 years and a $2,500 fine for DUI; 90 days and a $1,000 fine for driving while under suspension, DUI-related, consecutive; $25 fine for driving on roadways laned for traffic; $25 fine for restriction on alcoholic beverages; $25 fine for operation of vehicle without official certificate of inspection, credit of 5 days. (Masland) Sentenced to Cumberland County Prison Boiling Springs Shawn Alan House: Thirty days to 6 months and a $75 fine for DUI, high rate, second offense. (Brewbaker) Camp Hill Jerome Curtis Marshall: Forty-two days to 365 days for unlawful possession of Schedule I controlled substance heroin; 12 months probation for theft by unlawful taking or disposition, consecutive to previous count; 24 months probation for criminal conspiracy to theft by unlawful taking and 24 hours community service, consecutive to previous count. (Placey) Carlisle Diane Jessie Johnson: Five days to 6 months and a $300 fine for DUI, second offense. (Brewbaker) Ronald J. Stoudt: Three days to 6 months and a $1,000 fine for DUI, controlled substance. (Ebert) Samantha Anne Sweigart: Six days to 12 months and a $100 fine for sale or illegal use of certain solvents. (Brewbaker) Robert L. Warner: Ninety days to 18 months and a $1,500 fine for DUI. (Ebert) Sarah Dewalt: Thirty days to 356 days for unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia and 24 hours community service, credit of 9 days. (Hess) Timothy C. Margeson: Six to 18 months and probation of 30 months probation for theft by unlawful taking or disposition. (Hess) Dillsburg Scott Alan Gramm: Ninety days and a $500 fine for driving without required ignition interlock; fined $59 for maximum speed limits, consecutive. (Masland) Enola Robert Charles Baldwin: Thirty days to six months and a $750 fine for DUI, second offense. (Ebert) Michael Dignazio: Seventy-two hours to six months and a $1000 fine for DUI, highest rate. (Brewbaker) Alex Joseph Limric: Thirty days to 6 months and a $750 fine for DUI, high rate, second offense. (Brewbaker) Alexander Mitch Markham: Five days to 6 months and a $300 fine for DUI. (Ebert) Harrisburg Thomas P. Matesich: Forty-five days to 12 months for writing bad checks. (Placey); Forty-five days to 11 months and a $100 fine for writing bad checks. (Placey) Mechanicsburg Ryan T. Bowers: Two to 12 months, a $200 fine and restitution of $482.30 for resisting arrest or other law enforcement; 6 months probation for institutional vandalism; $200 fine for reckless driving; costs for fleeing or attempting to elude police officer. (Ebert) Sydny Carolyn Peters: Three days to 6 months and a $1,000 fine for DUI, highest rate. (Ebert) Mount Holly Springs Jamie D. Bradshaw: One hundred-five days to 729 days and 24 hours community service for simple assault. ((Hess) Shippensburg Phillip Farrell Boyd: Two days to 6 months and a $300 fine for DUI controlled substances. (Placey) Other Tomone Archie Lindsey: Three to 18 months, a $500 fine and restitution of $349.98 for criminal conspiracy to retail theft; defendant paroled to Connecticut detainer. (Brewbaker) Sentenced to Probation Camp Hill Deven Tyler Kohr: Eighteen months probation and a $100 fine for simple assault. (Brewbaker) Carlisle Juston Robert Jones: Thirty-six months probation and restitution of $430.50 for receiving stolen property. (Placey) Jarred Owen Tritt: Twenty-four months probation and restitution of $297 for criminal conspiracy to simple assault; 24 months probation and 48 hours community service for criminal conspiracy to simple assault. (Placey) Gardners Llane William Wert: Twenty-four months probation and restitution of $2,979 for criminal conspiracy to simple assault; 24 months probation and 24 hours community service for criminal conspiracy to simple assault. (Placey) Harrisburg Thomas P. Matesich: Twelve months probation and restitutions of $610, $580.69, $487.55, $809.39, $399.52 and $557.53 for theft by deception. (Placey); Twelve months probation and restitution of $283 for writing bad checks. (Placey); Twelve months probation for theft by deception. (Placey) Other Albert Charles Donal Jr.: Two years supervised probation, fine of $150, restitution of $162.93 and 150 hours community service. (Brewbaker) Jordan Glenn: Five years probation for terroristic threats, consecutive to Juvenile Case. (Brewbaker) Clarence E. Lutzinger Jr.: Thirty-six months probation for three separate counts of retail theft and conspiracy to commit retail theft. (Hess) Michael George Albaugh: Twelve months probation, restitution of $48.52 and 12 hours community service for retail theft. (Hess) Sentenced to Electronic Monitoring Other Daniel A. Bream: Sentenced to electronic monitoring for driving while under suspension, DUI-related. (Brewbaker) Sheldon Brooks: Sentenced to electronic monitoring for driving while under suspension. (Brewbaker) Tania L. Brown: Sentenced to electronic monitoring for driving while under suspension. (Brewbaker) Justin Louis Capasso: Sentenced to electronic monitoring for driving while under suspension. (Brewbaker) Terrance Maurice Ebo: Sentenced to electronic monitoring for driving while under suspension. (Brewbaker) Jesse Koos Eledge: Sentenced to electronic monitoring for driving while under suspension. (Brewbaker) Edward A. Graf: Sentenced to electronic monitoring for driving while under suspension, DUI-related. (Brewbaker) Terry L. Hefflefinger: Sentenced to electronic monitoring for driving while under suspension, DUI-related. (Brewbaker) Jonathan M. Laquatra: Sentenced to electronic monitoring for driving while under suspension, DUI-related. (Brewbaker) David A. McCartney: Sentenced to electronic monitoring for driving while under suspension. (Brewbaker) Bradley Phillip McCullough: Sentenced to electronic monitoring for driving while under suspension. (Brewbaker) John A. Vazquez: Sentenced to electronic monitoring for driving while under suspension; required financial responsibility. (Brewbaker) William M. Witter: Sentenced to electronic monitoring for driving while under suspension. (Brewbaker); Sentenced to electronic monitoring for driving while under suspension. (Brewbaker) Sentenced to Fine Harrisburg Latacha M. Sokol: Fined $1,000 for driving while under suspension. (Placey) Sentenced to Intermediate Punishment Carlisle Cody Jarrett Lee Fox: Sentenced to intermediate punishment for DUI, second offense. (Ebert) Mechanicsburg Cassandra Thiphavong: Sentenced to intermediate punishment for DUI, highest rate, second offense. (Ebert) Newport Charles F. Schoppy: Intermediate punishment, $1,500 fine for DUI, highest rate, second offense. (Placey) For at least two years, Suzanne Yeo lived in denial. The 56-year-old Huntington Beach woman had a growing lump in her right breast, but she ignored it. I didnt want to explore it, said Yeo, a fitness and yoga instructor. Under-insured and unsure of what would happen if she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she put off visiting a doctor. But, she said, It got to the point I needed to get it checked. The teeny lump grew so fast. Many women disregard early symptoms of breast cancer because of lack of education about the disease or they have no insurance. It wasnt until a year after attending a cancer awareness event in 2012 that Yeo decided to get screened. That saved her life, she said. And now, shes paying it forward. The 2012 event she attended was the first year of Standup for the Cure, a non-profit that hosts a stand up paddle boarding event that benefits Susan G. Komen Orange County, a local affiliate of a nationwide breast cancer awareness organization. On Saturday, Yeo joined breast cancer survivors along with more than 1,000 people to raise awareness and money for Komen at the Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort. Komen events usually are walk or run fundraisers. At Newport Dunes, riders paid $35 each to stand on surfboards and use paddles to wade through the water. Were introducing the breast cancer community to a healthy active lifestyle, said Dan Van Dyck, national event director for Standup for the Cure. In the past five years, the group has raised $700,000 from this event and others in Michigan and Miami. They expected to raise $100,000 on Saturday to benefit Komen OCs local initiatives, said Judy Vivian, co-founder of Stand Up for the Cure and breast cancer survivor. Lisa Wolter, executive director of Susan G. Komen Orange County, said one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. One of our main issues is to raise awareness that it can strike younger women, she said. At the Newport Dunes, the blowing of a conch horn signaled the start of the morning festivities. Breast cancer survivors wearing colorful leis and pink shirts stood on a stage and held hands as a priest said a prayer. They then went into the water where survivors and supporters hopped on surfboards and formed a sea of pink. On the beach, people walked around in the sand through a mini health expo and some even took the time to get screened for breast cancer or skin cancer from volunteer doctors at a Kaiser Permanente booth. By the afternoon, doctors had screened more than 300 people men and women of all ages. My dad had skin cancer and Ive already had five moles removed, said Sara Farmer, a 37-yearold Anaheim Hills resident, who signed up to get checked for melanoma. Im here so I might as well do it. Yeos disease, it turned out, was more complicated than she imagined, and she had a double mastectomy in 2013 to prevent the cancer from spreading. On Saturday, taking a break from teaching paddle board yoga, Yeo credited Komen with saving her life. With the organizations help, and through the states Every Woman Counts Program, she was able to get screened and go through treatment. The program provides breast and cervical cancer screening for low-income, uninsured and underinsured women. Im going to help out as long as Im here, said Yeo, who has been cancer-free for the past three years. Its my turn to give back and raise money and get people to get checked and not ignore it. Contact the writer: jpimentel@ocregister.com DANA POINT Plans to transform this sleepy seaside village into a bustling destination that welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors are rapidly moving forward. Development is widespread across the city, Mayor John Tomlinson said Friday during the chambers annual State of the City luncheon. Given that we have over $100 million in residential construction activity, we have a quality of life that is highly sought after. He said the city has generated more tax revenue in 2015 than in the previous 10 years. Tomlinson spoke to more than 100 who gathered in a ballroom at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort. The group included local business owners and city, county and state officials. Developers with an eye on such upcoming city projects as the Lantern District and Doheny Village were also on hand. Investment and development in Dana Point are at an all-time high, Tomlinson said. Revitalization of the Dana Point Harbor the citys key attraction is the largest investment. The project, estimated to cost $150 million to $200 million, is expected to turn the harbor into a more prominent Orange County destination and elicit proposals from developers worldwide. Many of us have been anticipating the harbor revitalization and expansion and the significant impact it will have on Dana Point, Tomlinson said. As the nearly 20-year plan to revitalize the harbor finally gets underway, county and local leaders envision a thriving recreational, boating and retail center that will make the city a five-star destination. The overhaul includes reconstruction of its commercial core, the east and west marinas, the Marina Inn Hotel and 52 guest slips. Under the proposed public-private partnership, a developer would design, fund and build the proposed improvements, then operate those portions of the harbor over a 50-year lease, before returning the improved property back to the county. The 277-acre property generates $82 million in revenue annually from 50,000 boaters and other visitors; it employs about 1,200 people. Through its revitalization, 32,500 square feet of new retail and restaurant space will be added. Tourism constitutes a tremendous draw, Tomlinson said. Half of our tax revenue comes from hotel and retail, he said. With near-weekly reports of eye-catching whales and dolphins photographed and filmed by two popular whale watch companies in the harbor, marketing at the resorts is increasingly focusing on creating whale experiences in the city. With even more visitors expected with the harbor plans, local resorts and hotels in the city have been investing in their properties, Tomlinson said. The St. Regis finished a $30 million renovation, he said. Room renovations are complete and the resort is adding five new dining concepts, expanding the pool and bar and bringing in an exclusive spa. The Ritz Carlton has been approved to add conference facilities, 26 new rooms and is also improving its spa and grounds. Marriott Cliffs completed their renovation a few years ago, remodeling rooms, common areas and its pool area. The DoubleTree Doheny Beach has a roof-top deck, new lobby and redesigned rooms. Our hotel partners have done a fantastic job positioning their assets to make Dana Point a truly amazing resort destination, Tomlinson said. Dana Point is becoming a destination for culinary entrepreneurs. We have seen several new exciting dining concepts come to fruition. The Craft House, Luna Grill and Two Left Forks have made significant investments in buildings that were underutilized or vacant, he said. Two other restaurants Coastal Kitchen in the Lantern district and the Habit in Ocean Ranch Village are on their way. Contact the writer: 714-796-2254 or eritchie@ocregister.com or Twitter:@lagunaini SAN FRANCISCO Authorities say 33 people were arrested at San Franciscos City Hall during a protest calling for the firing of the citys police chief. Dozens of protesters had converged on City Hall on Friday night and clashed with sheriffs deputies clad in riot gear. The standoff came after five people who are on their 16th day of a hunger strike were hospitalized and their protest camp outside the Mission District police station was packed up. KGO-TV reports the protesters occupied City Hall after business hours and refused to leave the building after deputies twice ordered them to leave. Deputies pushed back the crowd. A witness video posted on Twitter shows four deputies dragging a man on the floor to tie him with wrist ties. At one point, someone kicked a metal detector out of the building. Approximately 25 people were arrested and booked for trespassing, according to Eileen Hirst, chief of staff for the San Francisco Sheriffs Department. Those arrested would likely be issued citations to appear in court and then released, she added. The group named the Frisco Five started the hunger strike April 21 to protest two shooting deaths of minorities by police and the revelations that officers exchanged racist and homophobic text messages. The San Francisco Chronicle reports the strikers were being treated at UCSF Medical Center, though the hospital would not release information about their condition. With the deadline less than four years away to start building homes that produce all their own power, Californias housing industry faces tough options and daunting technical obstacles. Should walls be thicker? Should insulation be denser? Can lighting, heating, cooling and cooking become more efficient? Should roofs be flatter to orient more solar panels toward the sun? But most daunting of all questions is this: How can they keep construction costs in line so buyers dont forsake new housing for cheaper resale homes? Generally, the customer is not happy paying for any of this, said Adrian Foley, regional president of Brookfield Residential of Southern California. Thats our battle, he said. Were going to have to re-engineer our solutions going forward. Its not an easy road from a consumers standpoint. Its not their first love. But an unheralded Orange County pilot project may be helping builders find the Holy Grail of green residential development: An affordable way to build the net zero home that produces as much power as it consumes. The path to 2020 The pilot, ABC Green Home, seeks to build a net-zero home with existing materials and equipment at an affordable price. The first ABC Green Home went on display at the Orange County Great Park in October 2012. By the time the one-story, 1,700-square-foot, Craftsman-style home was dismantled last November, 30,000 people walked through it, including contractors, subcontractors, architects, builders and even a busload of construction officials from Shanghai, according to Green Homebuilding magazine publisher Nick Slevin, the projects chief developer. Southern California Edison partnered with Slevin, paying most of the concept homes $300,000 building costs. Students from high school building programs helped with the construction. If we can build the greenest house in the land with a utility and high school kids, what can you do in the homebuilding business? Slevin asked. Now, two more ABC Green Homes are under construction, one in the San Gabriel Valley and another in Fullerton. The original dismantled home is about to be reconstructed in Santa Ana. And three more homes are in the works. Eventually, the six ABC Green Homes will be sold to disabled veterans and their families through Habitat for Humanity, organizers said. Habitat and Green Homebuilder advertisers are helping to pay for the last five homes. The cities of Walnut and Fullerton donated two of the three lots being used. Some of the ABC Green Homes features already have been adopted by homebuilding companies. Others have been ridiculed as too costly. But the project has been applauded for helping show the way to meeting the states 2020 net-zero energy goal. This home was seen by industry professionals, both on the design side and the builder side, said the first homes designer, architect Manny Gonzalez of Irvine-based KTGY Architecture and Planning. When we get to 2020 and look at what got us there, the ABC Green Home certainly would be at the forefront of that effort. A net-zero mandate New California building codes mandate that by 2020, every newly built home should produce as much power as it uses during the course of a year. Builders say they expect to achieve that goal through a combination of reduced energy consumption and solar electricity production. Added insulation, energy-efficient lighting and appliances, double- and triple-paned, coated windows all features of the ABC Green Home will help homes cut power consumption. Those energy-saving features could add $20,000 to $50,000 to the cost of housing on top of already high home prices, builders say. But just as prices have dropped for everything from pocket calculators to electric vehicles, industry officials expect net-zero costs to fall as they achieve economies of scale. Because the state green code is driving toward this in 2020, (builders) are all trying to get better and do this in a cost-effective way, said Mike Balsamo, CEO of the Building Industry Association of Orange County. Builders already green Concept homes like the ABC Green Home are not new. The National Association of Home Builders annual builders show has featured a demonstration home since 1984, showcasing all kinds of features for developers to incorporate into their construction. Green building has been a component of The New American Home program since at least 2009, said the NAHBs Tucker Bernard, who oversees the program. Los Angeles homebuilder KB Home has built 12 net-zero demonstration homes around the country since 2011, including one in Lake Forest and three others in California. Since its first concept house went on display during a builder show in Orlando, construction costs for net-zero homes have dropped 50 percent and the time needed to build them has been reduced 75 percent, said Jacob Atalla, KB Homes vice president of sustainability. KB Home also is teaming up with KTGYs Gonzalez, the ABC Green Homes first designer, to produce another demonstration house for the Greenbuild International Conference in downtown Los Angeles in October. Sometime within the next year, the company plans to launch its first net-zero community for the mass market somewhere in Southern California. Were beyond building homes for R&D, Atalla said. Brookfield Residential of Southern California built a pilot net-zero home in Ontario in 2012. Now many of its homes are solar-ready, featuring thicker exterior walls with added insulation, features of the ABC Green Home, said Bart Hayashi, a Brookfield project manager in Costa Mesa. Like the ABC home, Brookfield also uses more efficient water heaters and does leak tests on air ducts. Irvine-based City Ventures has built 900 solar, all-electric townhomes in the past five years and has 500 such homes under construction from Chula Vista to Santa Rosa, said Herb Gardner, the companys homebuilding president. The company also built 13 all-electric, solar houses in Carson. On average, solar panels supply about 30 percent of the power used in City Ventures homes. Are we on track to meet that (2020 net-zero goal)? I think the answer is yes, Gardner said. (But) it has to cost the same as a regular home. The basics of green The key feature of ABC Green Homes is tightening the envelope, said Gonzalez and Don Neff, CEO of LJP Construction Services, which certified the first ABC Green Home as meeting green-building requirements. Rather than build walls with 2-by-4 studs on 16-inch centers, the ABC Green Home used 2-by-6 studs set 24 inches apart. Though that may or may not have saved lumber, it made walls thicker. Walls then were filled with spray foam, then encased in 2-inch-thick rigid foam panels for added insulation. Rafters were healed away from walls to provide more room for attic insulation. That cut heating and cooling costs. The home used more efficient heating, lighting and appliances. Tests were performed to make sure walls and ducts were leak proof. Other green elements included a cistern to capture rain water, using grey water from showers to flush toilets and wheel-chair accessible doorways and counters. Many of those items now are required as part of updated building codes, Neff said. More builders use rigid foam and even spray foam to insulate exterior walls. Others mount conventional fiberglass insulation but use improved installation techniques to make it more effective. Pressurized air tests also ensure that exterior walls and ducts dont leak. Vireak Ly, residential construction program manager for Southern California Edison, said the ABC Green Homes insulation worked well. What didnt work? A heat pump that reused hot water from the drain to preheat incoming water. Less energy was needed to get fresh water hot. Its technologically viable, but the cost was a lot higher than your standard water heater, Ly said. City Ventures Gardner maintains that the ABC Green Home put a lot of things in there I didnt think were very cost-effective. Focusing on increased insulation needlessly increases construction costs at a time when solar panels are getting cheaper and more efficient, he said. Solar power costs half as much today as it did five years ago. Eventually, Gardner said, homes wont need the electrical power grid. Youre going to get more juice from solar panels, he said. Slevin, Green Homebuildings publisher, said designers are refining each new version of the ABC Green Home. The Fullerton house, for example, will use 1-inch rigid foam instead of 2-inch-thick panels. It will use conventional fiberglass insulation rather than spray insulation. That will cut costs. Were constantly tweaking the math, Slevin said. The BIAs Balsamo said the ABC Green Home gives builders a trial run on zero-net energy now, ahead of the 2020 mandate. Its a huge risk, Neff added, for builders to make large capital investments in concept homes without knowing if buyers will accept them. Builders are very pragmatic, and (the ABC home) presented a very grounded pragmatic solution for the theory of green building, he said. The project opened the door to builders. They could see and touch and feel a home that was very green and way ahead of the curve. Contact the writer: 714-796-7734 or jcollins@ocregister.com WASHINGTON Even though the bulk collection of Americans telephone records has ended, calls and emails are still being swept up by U.S. surveillance work targeting foreigners. Congress is making a renewed push to find out how many. Six Republicans and eight Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have asked the nations top intelligence official for the number of Americans emails and phone calls collected under programs authorized by Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The programs target foreigners, but domestic communications sometimes are vacuumed up as well. They were first revealed to the public by Edward Snowden, who leaked files from the National Security Agency. Surely the American public is entitled to some idea of how many of our communications are swept up by these programs, the committee members wrote in their April 22 letter to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. They werent the first to request the information. In the past five years, Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Mark Udall of New Mexico have asked repeatedly. Last October, a coalition of more than 30 civil liberties groups wrote Clapper seeking the information. Unsatisfied with the answer they received, they wrote him again in January. Intelligence officials have tried to assuage concerns of Congress and others by saying that any domestic communications collected are incidental to the targeting of foreigners. They say Section 702 allows the government to target only non-U.S. persons reasonably believed to be located outside the United States. They say the law explicitly bars the government from targeting a foreigner to acquire the communications of an American or someone in the U.S. But they say intelligence agencies are authorized under Section 702 to query communications made with U.S. persons under certain cases with certain approvals. Late last month, Clapper said intelligence agencies are looking into several options for providing an estimate. That is something Congress wants to get before it starts debating whether to reauthorize Section 702, which is set to expire at the end of next year. This tool is a terrific producer of critical intelligence for this country and our allies, Clapper said recently about continued need for Section 702 programs. He did not say how soon an estimate could be released and Clapper cautioned that any methodology we come up with will not be completely satisfactory to all parties. Even Congress acknowledges that producing an estimate could require reviewing actual emails, for instance, acquired under Section 702, which itself could raise privacy concerns. But lawmakers say they are only advocating a one-time, limited sampling of communications. Intelligence officials held briefings last week for congressional aides to explain ways an estimate could be provided. That is something Congress wants to get before it starts debating whether to reauthorize Section 702, which is set to expire at the end of next year. The Senate Judiciary Committee plans a hearing Tuesday on the issue. Intelligence officials also briefed privacy advocates in March and are expected to hold another this month on the best way to estimate the extent to which domestic communications are ensnared in the quest for foreign intelligence. Among the problems is determining the citizenship of a caller or emailer, or whether the person is inside or outside the United States. We cant go into what I hope will be an extensive public debate without this basic information, said Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Brennan Center for Justices program on liberty and national security. In a recent article, Goitein wrote: The National Security Agency acquires more than 250 million Internet communications each year under this program. Given the ubiquity of international communication, this number is virtually certain to include tens of millions of exchanges that involve Americans, but there is no official public data on how many Americans communications are swept up. Congress and privacy advocates got a glimpse into Section 702 surveillance from a congressionally mandated report that Clappers office released this past week. The report said Section 702 surveillance targeted 94,368 foreign persons, groups or entities outside the U.S. last year, up slightly from 92,707 in 2014. While the year-to-year increase is small, Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union, notes that the number of targets has risen to more than 94,000 since the surveillance became legal in 2008. The report also said that 23,800 queries concerning U.S. persons were conducted on the database, although the report notes that one of the intelligence agencies involved in the queries, which was not identified, did not provide this information. The report also said 4,672 search terms concerning U.S. persons were used to retrieve information from Section 702 data, but privacy experts point out that the number excludes queries conducted by the FBI. Its true that the targets are foreigners, but in the course of targeting those 94,000 people, the government collects the communications of many, many we dont know the number Americans, Jaffer said. That number is missing. Clinton email evidence doesnt suggest intent [News, May 5]: The insidious danger of the liberal media is on display again with Matt Zapotoskys piece. First, Zapotosky makes the bald statement with no support, and no reference to any sources at all; he simply says it as if its already been determined to be true. Second, the federal law Clinton likely violated allows for prosecution for gross negligence, meaning intent is irrelevant. As the ethically bankrupt media continue their crusade to absolve Clinton of her actions that threatened our national security, the truth must be told, and the liars must be held accountable. Greg Woodard Mission Viejo In your column about the investigation of Hillarys ongoing alleged violation of her classified email handling, I was taken aback by the up-to-date conclusion that no intent has been found that she violated her responsibility to safeguard classified information. As one who instructed employees at a defense company in the proper handling and protection of classified information, I can say unequivocally that a violation of the nondisclosure agreement (Standard Form 312) had occurred. While intent certainly entails potentially criminal penalties, so does ignorance of this agreement. To set up a private, unauthorized server for classified State Department emails, as Mrs. Clinton did, indicates intent. Unclassified State Department information is often considered sensitive and also requires special handling procedures. Her actions would have violated this protection requirement as well. Her actions in this matter are clearly an egregious violation of the nondisclosure agreement. Any employee in my company would have certainly been prosecuted for a violation such as this but we as a country seem to afford a different standard to those who are politically well-connected. Bob Miller Anaheim The AP article that states that Clinton did not have any intent to hide sensitive information is ludicrous. Her intent for using a private email server was to stymie any Freedom of Information Act requests and investigations that involved her email. In any case, have highly sensitive information at home is illegal, and she was aware of it because of her training. Anyone else would already be charged with mishandling sensitive data. Is Hillary Clinton above the law or not? Jim Sorensen Trabuco Canyon The FBI may, indeed, find evidence of wrongdoing, but it will be up to Attorney General Loretta Lynch whether to prosecute or not. What will be a far greater problem for Hillary Clinton going forward is the transcripts of her Wall Street speeches that she said she will look into releasing during a debate in February. Donald Trump will demand those transcripts so loud and so often she will have to respond. She can refuse to release them, which will create suspicion and wont shut Trump up, or she can release them and let the public decide how innocent or how damning they really are. Either way, it is far less painful to quickly remove the bandage. William Lawrence Tustin How often have we heard ignorance of the law does not absolve defendants from prosecution nor protect them from conviction? The article seemed to imply Hillary should be given an intent pass on her email server controversy and supported it with statements like found scant evidence, U.S. Attorneys Office wrestling whether Hillary intended evidence indicates she did not, nothing inappropriate took place and no indication a grand jury has been convened. Just because someone is incompetent is not an excuse for forgiveness where exceptionally grave damage to our nation could, or might, have happened. This is a time when our plans in the Middle East could, or might, have been revealed, and with our country seemingly sliding back into a cooling if not cold war with the Russians and the Chinese where vital information on our countrys battle plans for protecting our cities in the event of major war. The Clintons have been notorious for losing, deleting, hiding and covering up incriminating information their entire political careers. Hillary does not warrant a pass on this issue. Dave Wilson Huntington Beach SACRAMENTO California voters will decide in June whether to allow state lawmakers to revoke their colleagues pay following the Legislatures 2014 ethics crisis that saw three senators put on leave as they faced felony allegations. Proposition 50 is the only statewide measure on Californias June 7 ballot, but has drawn little attention and reaped no cash in support or opposition in stark contrast to high-profile primary races this election cycle. The proposal asks voters to amend the state constitution to give two-thirds of a chambers members the power to suspend their peers with or without pay. Its passage would signify voters approve of recent suspensions made under rules lawmakers wrote for themselves. Sens. Leland Yee and Ron Calderon were suspected of accepting bribes and Rod Wright had been convicted of lying about where he lived when their colleagues voted to suspend them in March 2014. But a state law barring lawmakers salaries from being reduced during their terms meant the three Democrats continued collecting paychecks. Jim Mayer, chief executive of California Forward, a nonpartisan think-tank that supports Proposition 50, said it would give lawmakers a way to discipline peers suspected of wrongdoing without hindering their due process, by taking away their paycheck. To expel everybody whos charged would be to undermine one of the most basic principles of justice in the United States, Mayer said. The law already allows a chamber to expel a member with a two-thirds vote, which would automatically terminate their pay. Yee and Calderon rode out the remainder of their terms on suspension and each collected another $65,000, records from the state controllers office show. Wrights pay ended when he resigned in September 2014. Sen. Joel Anderson, R-Alpine, who cast the single no vote on the 2014 suspensions, contends Proposition 50 would allow two-thirds of lawmakers to impose taxation without representation on Californians by leaving those districts without anyone to represent them in the Legislature. He and Jon Fleischman, publisher of the conservative news site Flash Report, argue the proposal is a toothless political maneuver thats been wrongfully painted as a fix for lawmakers rare criminal behavior. It gives voters nothing except a false sense of fighting corruption in Sacramento, Fleischman said. Although some lawmakers have resigned amid scrutiny, 2014 was the first time in 109 years that a legislator was suspended or expelled. The California Senate voted in 1905 to expel four colleagues who were charged but not convicted of bribery, which the San Francisco Call newspaper reported was the first time any state legislature had expelled a member for bribery. Scanning a six-photo lineup, the Fullerton bank clerk took only seconds to identify the man she believed pointed a gun at her. But the woman was less certain a year later as she stood in a Santa Ana courtroom inches from the man she identified. While jurors took a lunch break, the bank clerk asked the man at the defense table to stand up, turn to the left, spin in a slow circle. Still she could not say for certain he was the gunman. After reviewing another photo and under questioning by the prosecutor the witness tried again to identify her assailant, with the jury present. This time she pointed out the man at the defense table parolee Guy Miles, who contends he was 270 miles away in Las Vegas at the time of the 1998 robbery. Miles was convicted of armed robbery his third strike and sentenced to 75 years to life. For the past 10 years, attorneys for the California Innocence Project have been holding up this Orange County case and the bank clerks indecision as a prime example of the unreliability of eyewitness testimony. The Innocence Project has unsuccessfully pushed to overturn Miles conviction. But in recent months, the case has received a fresh look by an Orange County judge, who held a hearing to review attorney Justin Brooks allegations that three other men actually staged the heist. Jurors treat identifications as powerful evidence. However, science has proven this type of evidence to be quite weak, said Brooks, director of the California Innocence Project at the California Western School of Law. Guy Miles is innocent. It is a tragedy that he may die in prison for a crime he did not commit. The Orange County District Attorneys Office maintains the conviction is solid and the new review is unwarranted. The case, prosecutors say, is a poor argument for witness misidentification, noting that Miles picture was chosen from among hundreds of photos, identified by more than two witnesses, and that he originally was included in a photo lineup as filler. The Miles case sits before justices at the 4th District Court of Appeal, which is considering the January findings of Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals, who acted as the appellate courts referee. Goethals wrote, Petitioner could in fact be innocent of the robbery. The judge, however, also equivocated: likewise, based on all of the testimony he has heard and the evidence he has reviewed, the referee believes that the inculpatory eyewitness identifications that resulted in (Miles) trial conviction could be honest and accurate. If that is the case, then Petitioner is guilty. It could be months or years before the appellate court makes a decision. Miles, now 50, has served 18 years and is housed at San Quentin State Prison. In a telephone interview, Miles said he shouldnt be behind bars. Im no angel, Im no saint, he said. But Im not guilty of this. The Heist On June 29, 1998, just before closing time at Fidelity Financial Institution, two men knocked on the door while bank employee Trina Gomez and another worker were locking up. The men said they had to make a payment. So Gomezs co-worker let them in, according to court documents. One of the men pulled out a handgun, the other had a shotgun. They demanded money from the employees and left with $1,410 in cash and $4,138 in checks. The robbers ran into the parking lot, but their getaway driver was away from the car, talking to a nearby auto shop clerk. The driver returned to the car and the trio of robbers sped away. The driver, a gang member, was later identified through his car, which had been financed by Fidelity Financial, according to court documents and the California Innocence Project. Fullerton police put together eight photo lineups of the gang member and his known associates, which included Guy Miles. At the time, Miles was on parole for a carjacking conviction and had jumped parole to move to Las Vegas with his girlfriend, prosecutors said. Innocence Project attorneys contend Fullerton detectives made missteps in compiling the photo lineups and also told a witness that an arrest already had been made, said Alissa Bjerkhoel, an Innocence Project attorney. Experts contend the tactic puts pressure on a witness to make an identification. A Fullerton detective involved in the case put together the photo lineups, rather than doing blind testing, using investigators not directly involved in the case. Some crime experts recommend blind testing to avoid unconsciously influencing a witness. The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies in Virginia, which helps set standards for police agencies, is silent on the subject of blind testing. District Attorney Thomas Hogan of Chester County, Pa., says top prosecutors throughout his state recommend the practice. Eyewitness ID can be very powerful as long as the procedure is done very carefully, Hogan said. But if misused, it can be a real problem. Orange County authorities said they do not use the blind testing technique, but are nonetheless careful with how they present photo lineups. Its not something thats done off the cuff, said Orange County sheriffs Lt. Mark Stichter. Photo galleries Miles, a gang member from Carson, was convicted based largely on the testimony of the two bank employees who picked him out of photo lineups. Gomez and her co-worker, Max Patlan, told jurors that Miles was part of the heist. Patlan broke down emotionally while testifying, saying he was certain Miles was the robber. After Miles conviction, however, three other men have confessed to staging the robbery and the getaway. All say Miles was not there. Prosecutors defend the conviction, saying the photo identifications were backed by circumstantial evidence. Miles was a repeat offender facing a third strike conviction. He belonged to the same gang as the getaway driver and didnt have a credible alibi, said Susan Kang Schroeder, chief of staff for the Orange County District Attorneys Office. Mr. Miles is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. We took extra care and bent over backwards at the time of the trial and continue to do so now, Schroeder said. But theres no evidence hes not guilty. His girlfriend was supposed to provide an alibi, but she was a no-show for her scheduled polygraph test, Schroeder said. Other defense witnesses were not credible, she said. Meanwhile, Gomez and co-worker Patlan were credible and sincere, said Karen Wulc, who prosecuted the case. They were extremely powerful identifiers in the world of identifiers, Wulc said. Kathy Pezdek, professor of cognitive science at Claremont Graduate University, notes that witnesses held at gunpoint tend to focus on the weapon and not the assailant. She also said that a six-photo lineup is basically a multiple choice question with a chance of 1 in 6 of making a correct guess. Gomez was shown eight six-packs of photos. Eyewitness testimony is the cause of nearly 32 percent of all erroneous criminal convictions, according to the National Registry of Exonerations. Theres a lot of cases of people getting shoddy lineups, using inappropriate procedures and theres no way to unring the bell, Pezdek said. Its absolutely frightening. So many kids are pulled off the street, theyre identified by an eyewitness and now theyre in jail. Spent my last dime Years later, while in prison, Miles met fellow gang member Jason Steward, who confessed to the 1998 robbery and helped identify a different gunman, according to Bjerkhoel. The three men who confessed to participating in the crime and attested to Miles innocence repeated those statements to the Innocence Project, the attorneys say. Miles supporters have presented the testimony to Goethals, who made his recommendations as a referee for the 4th District Court of Appeal. Goethals, however, questioned Stewards credibility, noting the gang member is imprisoned on three murder convictions for 173 years to life. The judge said other witnesses in support of Miles also have substantial inherent credibility problems, including criminal records. This is the type of case which dramatically tests the reliability of Californias criminal justice system, Goethals wrote to the appellate court. In a separate document, Goethals added: The referee believes that eyewitness identifications can be problematic, their validity depending upon the surrounding circumstances. The referee believes that the same can be said for many confessions and admissions. Miles father, Chuck, a church pastor from Carson, has spent more than $100,000 trying to prove his sons innocence. I would not have put money on him, but this time we knew for ourselves he was innocent, said Chuck Miles, 78. I spent my last dime on him. While professing Miles innocence, attorneys from the California Innocence Project also have offered a settlement to prosecutors that would have Miles plead to a lesser charge, said attorneys on both sides. In exchange, Miles would be given time served and released from custody. California Innocence Project attorneys explained their main goal is to unite innocent people with their families, regardless of whether they need to make deals. That doesnt mean we would give up trying to exonerate them, Bjerkhoel said. Schroeder was unconvinced: They should change their name from Innocence Project to Extortion Project. Miles says he just wants to go home. When youre doing time like this, he said you have to trick your mind into believing youll be out the next day. I sit in a coffee shop and ask my 89-year-old mother if its okay to write a column about her struggles of the past five months. Some would consider them embarrassing. Others might call them private. Yet bringing to light the sometimes rocky road of aging lets others know they arent alone. The journey can even be inspirational, especially on Mothers Day. Mom takes a bite out of her almond croissant, sips coffee, shrugs. She doesnt care. Challenges are mere obstacles to either overcome or set aside. Everyone has them. Besides, Mom has more important things on her mind. Alice Conroy Whiting was up most of the night conceiving a book for me to write. Her kids are always top of her mind. Thats typical of my mother, just as it is for most mothers. But as we age, the dynamic reverses in the best of ways. When we help Mom just as she helped us bonds grow stronger, brothers and sisters come together, support systems deepen. Mom may not be running the show. But shes still teaching, nurturing, building family. DEMENTIA It is early December 2015. Dad uses a walker and has a full-time caregiver at my parents condo in Laguna Woods. Mom is a free spirit. She drives when she wants, where she wants. She swims every few days, plays a good game of bridge, analyzes the presidential campaigns. Two weeks later, she is disoriented, confused. I take her to the hospital. She doesnt know where she is, why she is in this strange building. By nightfall, she doesnt recognize her first-born son. I call my two sisters. We are lucky. They are the perfect yin and yang for aging parents. One is a therapist and operates on knowledge and emotion. The other is an attorney and operates on knowledge and pragmatism. Both also are fixers. But they are hundreds of miles away and can offer only advice and support. And that is exactly what I need. We conference call, conference text. I talk to hospital staff. Jennifer, the attorney, contacts my mothers doctor. She scours the internet researching the doctors early diagnosis, something antibiotics should resolve in a week. She contacts my mothers physician. Deborah, the therapist, makes preliminary arrangements should Mom need a nursing facility. She works with my father and his caregiver, updating Dad on what is going on. She talks to the caregiver about Moms needs when she returns to Laguna Woods. Over the next several days, Mom is upbeat, perhaps too upbeat. She walks hospital hallways with an aide until the aide can walk no more. She confuses dreams with stories, telling of being helped by an excellent Civil War nurse. Could it could be Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross? I tell her there was no Civil War nurse. That she is in a 21st-century hospital. She looks doubtful. Still, she calls me a nice person and wonders who I am. By Christmas, Mom is home, her memory back, humor better than ever. Deborah flies in. Jennifer arrives a few days later. We celebrate Jennifers 50th birthday. A silver birthday balloon floats for months near Moms favorite chair. BAD FALL In mid-March, Mom stumbles and lands hard on the concrete at Clubhouse 3 in Laguna Woods. She recalls her head hitting a steel railing. She needs stitches. Doctors say she also broke her right arm. When I arrive at the hospital, Mom smiles weakly. My first question, Do you know who I am? Mom laughs, saying Im out of luck if I dont know the answer. I exclaim I have not seen a shiner like hers since I fell out of a tree in sixth grade. Broke my arm, too. We laugh at the memory. Focused at the hospital, I forget to update my father. Deborah calls Dad. Within 24 hours, Mom cries out in pain. She unwraps a long ribbon of stretchy bandage. Her arm is badly bruised and swollen. Yet it is stuffed into a plastic, L-shaped cradle that would fit only Gumby. I try to find out who did what at the hospital to determine if theres a better alternative. Jennifer follows up with the hospital after I fail. Deborah arranges for Mom to see a doctor the following day. I text photos to my sisters. We recall a Debbie Reynolds movie that Mom loves about a woman who survives the Titanic. We start calling her The Unsinkable Molly Brown. FLUID ON BRAIN A few weeks ago, Mom starts missing more than the usual number of words. though she no longer drives, its a quality-of-life concern. She has good days, but also bad days; good hours and bad hours. She grows a little more disoriented. Jennifer works with the caregiver to set up a doctor appointment. The diagnosis confirms what we suspected. Mom has hydrocephalus, too much cerebrospinal fluid in the brain. She needs a permanent shunt to drain the excess fluid or at least a spinal drain, a procedure doctors describe as temporary. Jennifer gets the appointments going. We realize that in the past four months we have shared hundreds of texts, spent dozens of hours on the phone. Much of the conversation is strategy. But much also is about love, remembering more youthful days, cherishing the times we have left with our parents. When Mom was in her early 60s, she moved off the sofa and into the natural world. She hiked, explored canyons. She and my father bought a small summer cabin in the mountains of Southern Oregon. Until her mid-80s, she mountain-biked, hiked, Jet-Skied. Those days are gone. But there are other things in their place: deeper appreciation of one another, greater understanding, higher love. There also is something that hasnt changed. Just as Mom prepared her kids for adulthood, she now clears the path for our own aging. As we honor moms on this Mothers Day, lets not just remember all that they have done. Lets recognize all that they will continue to do regardless of where they are. Contact the writer: dwhiting@ocregister.com WARSAW, Poland Tens of thousands of Poles perhaps up to a quarter million marched through Warsaw on Saturday to express their support for the European Union and opposition to a conservative new government which they accuse of eroding democracy. City authorities estimated that 240,000 turned out in one of the largest street demonstrations this Central European country has seen since communism collapsed 27 year ago. Police said there were 45,000 at the events peak, but that the number did not include those who came and left at other points. Either way, an Associated Press reporter saw an endless flow streaming down main streets in what clearly was the largest anti-government demonstration since the Law and Justice party took all power last year and embarked on deep restructuring that it has dubbed good change. The protesters object to centralization of power under the right-wing party. The greatest controversy surrounds steps that have paralyzed the Constitutional Tribunal, a top court, neutralizing it as a check on the partys power. Law and Justice maintains that it has a democratic mandate to make the changes after decisive electoral wins last year. I am marching because I dont like the good change and I dont like this dividing of Poland and I dont like the weakening of Polands international position, said Lukasz Lomanowski, a 29-year-old horse-riding instructor. His voice could be hardly heard amid the sound of trumpets and chants of we say no thanks to the rotten change and free judge, free Poland, raised by the crowd waving white-and-red national flags and the blue-and-yellow EU flags. One leader of the pro-EU march, Civic Platform party leader Grzegorz Schetyna, a former foreign minister, declared it the biggest demonstration in the democratic era. It was not immediately clear, though, how the numbers compared to protests by miners in the 1990s during the transition to a market economy. We will not allow for the nightmare of authoritarian rule to happen, Schetyna said. There was a counter-protest by about 1,000 nationalists and Catholic groups who voiced their opposition to the influence of Brussels on Polands affairs and the secular lifestyle that has come with EU membership. They held up crosses and an image of St. Mary, praying and singing hymns. The demonstrations highlight a bitter divide in Poland between those who want deeper integration with Europe and those who feel that EU membership has eroded national sovereignty, only recently regained after the end of the Cold War. Ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said the demonstration was an expression of dissatisfaction by some groups with the fact that his party won the elections, and was not a big problem. Poland wants to participate in reforming the EU, but wants to be separate on social values, he said. The protest was organized jointly by the opposition centrist Civic Platform party, which lost power last year, by the civic movement Committee for the Defense of Democracy, known as KOD, and by other opposition parties. KOD was created in November, shortly after Law and Justice took power and began taking steps that have weakened the Constitutional Tribunal. That move and others which have helped the party centralize power have been condemned by the EU and the Council of Europe, a human rights group. The ruling party says its changes are aimed at building a stronger nation free of what it says is the continued influence of former communists. Some 5.7 million voted for the party in this nation of 38 million in October elections and it remains popular. HUNTINGTON BEACH Jasmine La Burn got an early Mothers Day gift Saturday as she and her family won the eighth annual Rocket Launch at the Boeing campus in Huntington Beach. The La Burns have been annual attendees at the event since its early days and, according to Jasmine La Burn, usually finish in the money. This is the third year the family has claimed the top prize, but the first in which Jasmine launched the homemade bottle rocket. Usually, I just stand back and take pictures, said the mom, who will be treated to a trip to Vandenberg Air Force base, where the family will tour the facilities and launch pad and watch an actual rocket launch. The La Burns including Jasmines husband, Sean, daughter Melanie, 11, and son Gabriel, 18 were among about 3,500 would-be Robert Goddards, father of the modern rocket. at the annual event put on by Boeing and the Discovery Cube museum. The basics are simple. Contestants use two-liter plastic bottles, pour in some water, outfit them with flight fins, nose cones and parachutes, made from recycled materials such as cardboard, plastic bags and disposable cups, and have them sent aloft from stations with pressurized air nozzles. The rocket that stays aloft for the longest amount of time wins. The more experienced rocketeers assemble their crafts at home, but the event had all the fixins to build rockets on site, and even professional engineers to assist. The La Burns won with a hang time of 35.45 seconds. Not bad, but not near the family record set by Gabriel, who builds his own rockets for the event and four years ago sent up a bottle that stayed up for 1 minute, 6 seconds. http://a%20href= I caught a good updraft that day, said the Cypress College freshman. Gabriel and his father have a good rivalry going. His father, grandfather and uncle are into car racing, Gabriel said, so he always has been interested in engineering. He said he tries new designs for the rocket competition each year, while his father tries to perfect the same design. Gabriel said the secret is to find the sweet spot where the rocket is at the apex of its height, and have the parachute release. This year, Gabriels experimentation with a weighted nose cone affixed by tags to the bottle didnt quite pan out. For several participants, the highlight moment had nothing to do with the actual competition. Future astronaut Josiah Quen, 5, from Tustin, who was decked out in a full astronaut costume, and his friend, Shawn Martinez, 7, were sprinting around throwing their plastic-bag parachutes and nose cones into the air. Suddenly both boys chutes caught a draft, filled with air and took off on their own. The two boys and even Josiahs father, Gus, whooped and pointed as the parachutes, like helium filled balloons, disappeared over a stand of trees. NASA astronaut Drew Feustel, who attended the event, said it was important to engage children. Kids are the best audience to talk to about space, he said. We think the young kids, under 10, are the ones that will be flying to Mars. Its a great time to capture their imaginations. Jeff Brown, of Newport Dunes, who attended the event with his boys, Kai, 5, and Tristan, 3, and his wife Kim, had a good take. I dont care how high or far (the rocket) goes, he said. I judge by how big the kids smiles are. SANTA ANA In early 2015, Mackenzie Webster and hundreds of her fellow classmates and staff at Calvary Christian School and Calvary Church followed a trail of shoes to a pile of them arranged in the shape of a cross. As Webster listened to a prayer blessing the more than 1,000 pairs of shoes before her that would go to the less fortunate including 30 she and her family had donated she had a revelation. Shoes are something we really take for granted, said Webster, 13, of Orange, now a seventh-grader at Calvary in Santa Ana. I never really thought that there were people out there that dont wear shoes and dont get to have them. This month, the school and church are continuing the tradition they started last year of collecting new or lightly used shoes to donate to Soles4Souls, a global nonprofit that distributes shoes and clothing to people in need. The shoe drive, which kicked off Thursday and runs through May 20, is a charitable effort that Dean of Elementary Leah Hess brought with her from her former school in Georgia, where the drive has been going on for years. Something as simple as a pair of shoes can truly transform someones life and hopefully end the cycle of poverty by them gaining education or a job interview, said Hess, adding that the prayer she led last year was very spiritual and very encouraging. Calvary Christian School, with about 500 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, has also participated in Operation Christmas Child, sending boxes of toiletries and gifts around the world every year. Head of School Troy Wathen saw Soles4Shoes as a painless way to expand the charitable giving. Its amazing how easy it is to give away what we have in our closet already and it doesnt hurt too much, he said. Its just cultivating generosity in our students, its helping them to get beyond themselves. The goal this year is to collect 1,500 pairs of shoes, Wathen said. A committee of students including Webster is heading up the effort, creating posters to put up around campus and spreading the word to church members and the surrounding community. Taking part in Soles4Souls has also changed the way seventh-grader Belleau Emery, 12, thinks of shoes. Last year, the Orange resident gave five pairs including some she wanted to keep and is looking forward to doing it again. Now people are going to be getting my shoes, so if I do grow out of them, and I will grow out of them, I should take care of them, Emery said. So I will be able to donate them. Contact the writer: 714-796-7762, jkwong@ocregister.com or on Twitter: @JessicaGKwong : , KABUL Afghan officials hanged six Taliban prisoners Sunday, a resumption of executions in the war that makes good on President Ashraf Ghanis recent promise to deal harshly with insurgents now that hopes for peace negotiations have evaporated. The six prisoners were hanged in the morning inside the Pul-i-Charkhi prison a detention facility on the outskirts of Kabul that is notorious among Afghans as the site of massive executions by the countrys then-communist regime during the 1980s. Among the inmates were two Taliban members who helped assassinate two senior government officials in recent years, officials said. One prisoner facilitated a 2011 suicide bomb attack on Burhanuddin Rabbani, who served as temporary president in Afghanistan after U.S. forces toppled the Taliban government 10 years earlier. The second Taliban member was involved in the 2009 suicide bomb assassination of Abdullah Laghmani, the deputy chief of the countrys National Directorate of Security. Ghani administration officials did not provide details about the other prisoners. But the Pul-i-Charkhi prison is where Anas Haqqani, son of Haqqani network founder Jalaluddin Haqqani, has been held since 2014. Government officials said all of the executed prisoners had been found guilty of crimes against civilian national security. Ghani signed the order of execution in response to repeated demands of the families of victims of terrorist attacks, palace officials said in a statement. The hangings come amid increasing concerns over security in Afghanistan. Taliban forces, aided by the increasingly influential Haqqani network, have vowed widespread attacks across Afghanistan on the heels of a robust spring poppy harvest a main source of income for the insurgent group through the heroin black market. Government officials, hopeful that the Taliban would enter into peace negotiations, had stopped executing captured prisoners during President Hamid Karzais administration. But in the wake of a suicide bomb attack in Kabul last month that killed 64 people and wounded about 350, Ghani now says he is no longer interested in negotiating with Taliban leaders. Taliban leaders have recently warned that it will respond to executions by killing government prisoners in their captivity. On Sunday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the group has yet to decide how to respond to the recent hangings. Our leadership council will come up with reaction on this later, he said matter-of-factly. On a day after two Romanian soldiers were killed during an apparent insider attack in southern Afghanistan while training Afghan security forces, news of the hangings drew praise in Kabul. Justice and security are tied together, said political analyst Javed Kohistani, a retired Afghan general. The Taliban and other terrorists thought in the past that if they are arrested they can buy their way out by money or other means, he said. Now with the executions, they will feel fear in their hearts that they will face justice and cannot be spared. NATO officials said theyre still investigating whether the Taliban is behind the deaths of the Romanian soldiers in Kandahar province. Army Brig. Gen. Charles H. Cleveland, spokesman the U.S.-led mission in Afghanistan, said the Romanians were assisting with hands-on training when some of those they were training apparently fired on them. Other NATO soldiers killed the two attackers, he said. As for what comes next, the details are still to be determined but at a minimum, we will continue our efforts to partner with the Afghans to provide training, advise, and assist efforts, Cleveland said. A Kandahar police official said the shooting occurred after an argument erupted between the Romanians and the Afghan trainees, before one police officer who has been with the department for several years drew his gun and began firing. The cause of the incident is fully not clear, said Zia Durrani, the police official. The likes of Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, John Boehner, John McCain, Bill Kristol and other entrenched establishment Republicans are acting like the spoiled children that we all knew they were. Having put up several of their own in the primary process only to be shot down one after the other by Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, they threatening to take the ball home and sit out the next election now that Trump has a clear path to the nomination. The voting urns are not all yet counted in Indiana, but in unison they are coming out of the woodwork with their sanctimonious statements that they will not vote for either Trump or Hillary Clinton as if the latter would have ever been their choice. It is obvious that they are only interested in preserving the sanctity of their positions rather than to live up to their hollow claims of conservatism, patriotism, motherhood and apple pie. Mr. Trump is not the purist that many wish had been selected, but he is a clear alternative to the Democratic option. The establishment would rather have another four years of the current policies than to swallow some of their pride and support their partys nominee. They created the environment for Trump to succeed by failing to follow up on all their promises of the last several elections that gave them majorities in both houses. The natives are restless. Live with it. Hugo Folli San Clemente Re: The GOP earthquake and the aftermath [Opinion, May 6]: Charles Krauthammer, the indefatigable purveyor of right-wing philosophy and decidedly not a fan of Donald Trump, is bewildered by the fact that Mr. Trump is the presumptive representative of the Republican Party for president. He answers his own questions in his article as to how an outsider that is not a true conservative can beat out 16 others that are. The House and Senate were won by Republicans, yet they went along with whatever President Obama placed before them, not repealing Obamacare or defunding Planned Parenthood. Why now a Donald Trump? Again, the populace is fed up with all the empty promises of politicians gone unfulfilled. Mr. Trump is quite the showman. He is exceedingly successful in his business ventures and feels he can apply that business acumen in deal making with friends and foes alike. Basically he is a megalomaniac. How many people, having the wealth hes acquired, would live in a huge apartment complex in his eponymous building with excessive gold displayed in all sorts of places as if it is irrelevant? Yet the electorate is mesmerized by his chauvinism, charisma and pomposity. Will he become the next president, with all the negativity hes created, or can he overcome those obstacles by taking the advice of experts in controlling his outbursts of irrational pronouncements? Time will be the forebearer of that decision. Barry Wasserman Huntington Beach Re: The GOP earthquake and the aftermath [Opinion, May 6]: Charles Krauthammer is correct in stating that the Trump followers are angry because they feel betrayed. They are not alone. Modern conservativism (the GOP mantra) does not promote what is best for the country and its citizens. In fact, looking at the GOP votes and general record, there is nothing conservative in view. The PATRIOT Act, Homeland Security and unnecessary, continuous wars, while refusing to tax to pay for them, is the opposite of limited government. Passing laws that restrict voting rights and a womans right to choose certainly do not match up with the Constitutions call to promote the general welfare. In fact, the modern GOP is ever ready to allow corporations to hurt the people, while passing laws restricting the right of the people to fight back. Eisenhower gave the people good paying jobs, while building the Interstate Highway System and paying down the debt created by World War II. He was the last of the true conservatives. I spent 55 years as a Republican. If the GOP goes back to working for the country instead of the international corporations, I will return. Larry Severson Fountain Valley The Republican leadership is all upset by the rank-and-file memberships complete disregard of the opinions of the leadership. The rank and file have finally taken things into their own hands and have elected a candidate that is willing to take on the Democrats. The only cause that the leadership is interested in is getting re-elected. Donald Trump may be a bull in the china shop, but he certainly is not afraid to rock the boat. For the last eight years we rank-and-file have heard nothing but promises from our leadership at election time, then they fade away into their country club mode. Most of my Republican friends are excited about Donald Trumps damn the torpedoes and full stream ahead attitude. Ralph Lind Huntington Beach Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are the presumptive nominees of their Republican and Democratic parties after the latest primary votes that have been counted. Now the trash on Trump from the liberal print and electronic media will be an onslaught, from the day he was born until the present. Hillary Clinton will have her surrogates throw the dirt at Donald Trump in an effort to sway voters, while she tries to show she is taking the high road during the race for the presidency. Lets face it, this administration will not be prosecuting her for, as secretary of state, using her private unsecured server to send messages against federal law. I saw a bumper sticker on a car the other day which read as follows: Four Americans died and Hillary lied. That sums it up for her. Tony Barone Huntington Beach I think that the nomination of Donald Trump arises from two different forces. First is the anger of the American people that we have had eight years of paralysis between President Obama and the do-nothing Congress. The second cause, I feel, is the goal of being entertaining and the ratings chase of the media. Trump says that his campaign is self-funding. The millions of dollars that he received in free advertising from all the media outlets in spite, or because, of his outrageous behavior, has created a monster that may not be stoppable. What has happened to a press that Thomas Jefferson called the fourth estate? Why do we need to spend hours being bombarded with experts to be told what we feel is outrageous? I think that I figured that out years ago, between the teaching of my parents and my religious upbringing. Arthur Friedman Newport Beach Former congressman Ron Paul calls Hillary Clinton a neocon who could run as a Republican. With Donald Trump being a closet Democrat, maybe the 2016 presidential election will be Left vs. Right after all. Timothy C. Mason Santa Ana How can Donald Trump win the national presidential election when he cant even win over the support of the Republican Party? Two of the last Republican Party presidents and three of the last GOP presidential nominees are not backing his presidency, while House Speaker Paul Ryan, the high-ranking Republican elected official, has said that Trump had not yet proven himself worthy of an endorsement. Also, GOP Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska has called for a third-party campaign against Mr. Trump. Kenneth L. Zimmerman Huntington Beach Several celebrities have said they will leave the United States should Donald Trump win the presidency. Among them are Miley Cyrus, Samuel Jackson, Whoopie Goldberg, Al Sharpton and Raven-Symone and others of their ilk. Id say that they had better start packing. Ralph Kenealy Chino Hills Several years ago, I joined a poker game with a group of people I hadnt met before. The stakes went up and up, and, at one point, a pot reached over $1,000. I had what I was fairly certain was the winning hand, but the dealer, who was a friend of my remaining opponent, accidentally flipped his last card face up, not down. Normally, the rule is that the misdealt card is burned and a replacement card is dealt face down. No harm, no foul. In this instance, I was informed house rules say the player gets to choose whether he wants the card or a replacement. This effectively gave him two last cards, and, sure enough, he pulled his full house after rejecting the first card. Cheated, I high-tailed it out of there and never went back. The Never Trump movement would have said: Too bad, you should have known the house rules before you sat down. For four months I (mostly) kept my mouth shut during the GOP presidential delegate chase, but now that it is over, I want to shout it from the rafters: the nomination process is the most corrupt, elitist, anti-democratic system for choosing a president imaginable. It is rotten to the core. It is what millions of primary voters are rebelling against. Even as 35 states had lined up for Trump, super PACs, professional politicians, and party hacks conspired how to overrule the will of the voters and pick the candidate they wanted. Donald Trump was never my first, second or third choice. This isnt about Trump, though. Its about restoring basic fairness and voter empowerment going forward. This year the party chieftains wanted to tell millions of voters, who sometimes waited two hours in line across the country to cast their ballot, that their vote doesnt really count. A record turnout of voters went to the polls naively thought that Republicans believed in one man, one vote. The insiders replied: Sorry, it doesnt work that way. You should have known the rules. And by the way, as we learned this year, it doesnt matter what the rules are because the insiders are empowered to rewrite the rules when they dont like the way voters are voting. Another story: A few weeks ago a longtime conservative friend, who is also a Virginia delegate, told me proudly that she and all her delegate friends intended to not vote for Trump at the convention. Wait a minute, I reminded her, somewhat stunned; a plurality of voters in Virginia chose Trump. She launched into a tirade that she has been an activist in the party for 20 years and how dare all these new Trump voters just storm into the party and vote for someone other than her first choice. She all but blurted out: My vote should count more than theirs. Apparently, in the GOP rulebook, all voters are created equal, but some voters are more equal than others. Many people are intensely unhappy with the outcome and they feel entitled to a better candidate. But imagine that it was Ronald Reagan who had won Florida, New York, Illinois, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Massachusetts, California (where he is up by 25 points), and at least 20 other states. But the party hacks said: sorry, we nominate George Bush. See you in November. Conservatives would have gone ballistic and justifiably so. Since when do we as conservatives believe the ends justify the means? It seems like just yesterday that Republicans were making fun of Democrats for rigging the system for Hillary Clinton, and the voters be damned. Now the other argument in favor of the corrupt nomination process is that the Republican Party is a private organization and it can make whatever rules it wants. Fine. But if thats the case, the party should at least have the decency to tell the voters: We have a couple thousand insiders who are going to decide who our nominee is. Dont make 20 million people trudge to the polls under the false belief that their vote matters if it doesnt. Amazingly, this is the same party that says it must drive up voter turnout to win, but when voters do turn out in record numbers, they thumb their noses at them as stupid, low-information, not real Republicans, and so on. My delegate friend sneered: Ive never even seen these people at a Republican meeting before. Um, isnt that a good thing? As an aside, Democrats routinely slander these voters as racists, xenophobes, know-nothings, fascists and other niceties. Wouldnt it be nice if the conservative intellectual class came to these voters rescue rather than piling on and giving credence to these vile leftist rants? Whose side is the Never Trump crowd on? So how to fix the GOP nominating system to empower voters and make the delegate class mostly impotent? Im no expert (who is?), and I do believe in federalism, where the 50 states decide their own rules. But, at the very least, get rid of the rules that allow unbound delegates. Trump won almost 60 percent of the vote in Pennsylvania yet as many as two-thirds of the delegates said that at the convention, they would choose someone other than Trump. Delegates should be bound based on a well-defined rule of either winner take all, or some kind of proportional system. As I write these words, I just received a text that some influential Never Trumpers are still conspiring to find a way to take the nomination from Trump even after he gets way past the 1,237-delegate finish line. They are advising delegates to break the rules and not vote for Trump even though they are honor-bound to do so. Will the madness ever end? If only these smartest minds of the party, by their own admission, would help figure out how to beat Hillary. Stephen Moore is an economic consultant at Freedom Works. Loading... OilVoice will be with you shortly... Solar eclipse to be sighted in Bengaluru for 45 minutes: Report Bengaluru shocker: 4-year-old girl sexually assaulted by dance teacher Bengaluru oi-Preeti Bengaluru, May 8: In yet another shocking incident of crime against fairer sex, Bengaluru is in news again for the wrong reason. On Friday, May 6, a 21-year-old instructor-cum-dance teacher at a summer camp in a private school at Amruthahalli was arrested for sexually assaulting a 4-year-old girl. The accused has been identified as Peter and during interrogation, he confessed that he committed the heinous crime on May 3. He was arrested under Pocso act and has been sent to 14-judicial custody. Police officials investigating the case said that he took the girl to an isolated room, on the pretext of teaching her dance steps and sexually assaulted her. When the little girl told about the incident to her parents on Thursday night, the shocked parents filed a police complaint. The couple hail from Odisha and are living in Bengaluru since last four years. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Sunday, May 8, 2016, 14:51 [IST] Understanding Tamil Nadu politics ahead of May 16 poll Feature oi-Shubham By Shubham Tamil Nadu will see elections to form its 15th Assembly on May 16. The southern state has a unique political culture---marked by dominance of the Dravidian parties and film personalities. Assembly Polls Coverage 2016; Why TN will remain a barren land for BJP For a fresher who is following the state's election for the first time, here is a brief guide to the state's political history. The Self-Respect Movement The Madras Presidency which preceded the state of Tamil Nadu saw the birth of the Self-Respect Movement in 1925 under the aegis of EV Ramaswamy, popularly called Periyar. The movement wanted the Dravidians or non-Brahmins to give up "superstitions" of the Vedic culture and revert to the ancient Dravidian culture and nurture rationalist thoughts. The Brahmins were disliked for practising alien exercises like the caste system and popularising things that are "North Indian". Atheism was the basis of the movement, unlike the Brahminical rituals. "Self-respect marriages" were started as an alternative to marriages conducted by Brahmin priests. And above all, the championing of the Tamil language was the biggest cornerstone of the movement. Dravidian politics before Independence The Justice Party was formed in 1916 and shared ideals similar to the Self-Respect Movement. It introduced reservations in educational institutions and brought religious reforms during its heydays between 1920 and 1937. It was once the alternative to the Indian National Congress but after losing the Madras Presidency Legislative Assembly election in 1937, it never recovered, thanks to it being identified as a strong anti-Brahmin outfit. In 1944, the Justice Party merged with Periyar's Dravidar Khazagam (DK), the predecessor of today's two main parties---the DMK and AIADMK. The anti-Brahmin sentiments became stronger in the late 1930s when Hindi language was made compulsory and Periyar saw it as a move to colonise the Dravidians. The demand slowly fizzled out after 1962 by when the DMK had gained prominence. The DMK was formed in 1949 after several followers of Periyar, led by former chief minister C N Annadurai, left the DK after Periyar anointed his young wife Maniamani as his successor. Filmstars in Tamil politics Cinema had played a major role in transforming Tamil politics as it was chosen as a medium for propagating the Dravidian ideals. The 1952 film, Parasakthi, which was written by DMK supremo and former chief minister M Karunanidhi, marked a watershed for the Dravidian movement by propagating social justice, rationalism and anti-Brahminism. In 1953, late Tamil matinee idol MG Ramachandran joined the DMK and popularised the party. Other actors like Sivaji Ganesan, SS Rajendran and MR Radha were also identified with the DMK. In later years, filmstars like Rajinikanth and Vijaykanth, too, have had a say in politics---directly or indirectly. While the former's clarion call to vote against Jayalalithaa, also a former actor, saw her AIADMK being routed in the 1996 state polls; the latter's DMDK is being chased by all parties to get a hold on his small but solid vote-share. The rise of DMK and the divide in it The DMK swept the Assembly elections in 1967 to end the Congress's 20-year-old dominance in the state. Annadurai became the chief minister and remained so till his death in February 1969. He was succeeded by M Karunanidhi---the incumbent president. It legalised "self-respect marriage", implemented pro-poor initiatives and promoted Tamil language. It also won the 1971 election but by now, inner-party rivalry and allegations of corruption weakened the party's ideological stand. The clash between Karunanidhi and MGR saw the later leaving the DMK and floating his own AIADMK in October 1972. The party drubbed the parent party DMK in parliamentary and assembly by-elections in Dindigul in 1973 and Coimbatore in 1974, respectively. The two Dravidian parties continue to be the two fiercest opponents in Tamil Nadu politics till date. The MGR era The year 1977 was a landmark in Tamil Nadu politics just as it was in the national politics. MGR's AIADMK won the election that year and the actor-politician became the first filmstar to become the chief minister of any Indian state. MGR continued to be the CM of Tamil Nadu till 1987 when he died, winning the elections of 1980 and 1984 as well. The much talked about midday meal scheme---a successful example of the welfare state in our country---is a legacy of the MGR government. But MGR's populist governance was also hit by charges of rampant corruption and bureaucratic ineptitude and the state bore the brunt. His AIADMK also became the first Dravidian party to become a part of the central government as two of its members were inducted in the government of Charan Singh, which did not last much long. MGR's death saw a power struggle between two women---Janaki Ramachandran, his wife, and J Jayalalithaa, once his leading onscreen pair. Jayalalithaa's time Jayalalithaa joined the AIADMK in 1982 and was appointed the propaganda secretary and nominated to the Upper House of Parliament. She ultimately prevailed following MGR's death and made a big impact as the next big leader of Tamil Nadu by sweeping the 1991 state election in the wake of the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in Sriperumbudur in the state. In the 1996 election, the exact opposite happened as the AIADMK was routed. She returned again in 2001 and 2011 with massive majorities and is looking for the sixth term as the chief minister this time. She also became the first sitting CM to be disqualified after conviction in a disproportionate assets case. She returned to head the government in May 2015 after the Supreme Court acquitted her. She took oath as chief ministers twice in her 2001 and 2011 terms with the interregnum being served by her finance minister, O Panneerselvam. Tamil parties in national politics Both the DMK and AIADMK have been allies at the Centre, marking a departure from the days of the anti-Centre ideological stand. The DMK has been more regular as a partner at the Centre though it doesn't have a single MP in the current Lok Sabha which is dominated by the NDA. The last time it was in a central alliance was in 2013 when it had withdrawn from the then UPA II led by the Congress on the question of Sri Lankan Tamils. Earlier, it has also been part of the National front, United Front and NDA governments. The UPA, of which it was a part, had swept the state in the 2004 Lok Sabha election. The AIADMK, on the other hand, has been part of the Centre only twice---once in 1979 during the days of MGR and in 1998-99 when the 13-month-old government of Atal Behari Vajpayee was at the Centre. The life of the NDA government was cut short after Jayalalithaa withdrew support and it lost the no-confidence motion by a solitary vote. In 2014, the AIADMK won all but two Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu but yet could do little to exert pressure on the Narendra Modi government since it had got the majority it required. Caste matters in TN politics today Although the Dravidian movement had visualised a casteless society, the party politics in Tamil Nadu today play the caste card in their pursuit for power. The state politics today is dominated by castes like Chettiars, Nadars, Mudaliyars, Vanniyars, Thevars and Gounders and except the Chettiars, all other castes are backward ones and constitute a big part of the population. Both the DMK and AIADMK eye these castes. Outfits like the PMK and VCK represent the Vanniyars and Dalits, respectively, but they are more fringe players. Today's scenario The electoral politics in Tamil Nadu has virtually been a two-party affair now between the AIADMK and DMK. The Congress has been relegated to a side player since it had last ruled the state in 1967 while the BJP is still in no position to replace the Dravidian parties as a new force. The election this year, however, is witnessing a multi-pronged battle with a few alliances. While the AIADMK and its small allies will look for the maiden successive victory (nobody has done it since MGR in 1984), the DMK-Congress and others' alliance will look to return to power after a decade. There is a third front led by the DMDK and comprising five other parties including Vaiko's MDMK, GK Vasan's Tamil Maanila Congress, VCK and two Left parties while other competitors are the BJP and PMK. Ola cab driver terminated for molesting Belgian woman in Delhi India oi-PTI New Delhi, May 8: A 23-year-old Belgian woman was allegedly molested by an Ola cab driver in south east Delhi's CR Park area last night with police arresting the accused hours later. The accused, Raj Singh who is a native of Rajasthan's Alwar district, was arrested after an FIR was registered. Ola has also terminated the driver from its platform. The woman, who identified herself as a language translator, told police that she had booked the cab from Gurgaon and during the journey the cab driver allegedly kissed her. "The driver deliberately took the wrong route after Hauz Khas and when the woman told him that she will ask her friend, he took her phone and deleted all the records related to Ola," a senior police official said. He also called her over to the front seat claiming that his GPS was not working and then allegedly kissed her, police said. The woman has been staying in India since February and is supposed to return tonight. After stepping out of the cab near C R Park area, she informed the police about the incident at around 10 PM, police said. The name of the cab owner is Vikram Singh. "The said driver has been terminated from the platform with immediate effect. We will share all required information with the authorities to help resolve this for the customer. We have zero tolerance to such behaviour from drivers on the platform," Ola said in a statement. PTI Gujarat: Man gets 3 years imprisonment for possessing beef India oi-PTI Surat, May 8: A local court here has sentenced a man to three years imprisonment for possessing beef. The court of Gandevi Judicial Magistrate (First Class) C Y Vyas here on Friday sentenced Rafik Illyasbhai Khalifa (35) to three years in jail and also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on him, while convicting him under relevant sections of Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act-2011. Notably, keeping, buying, selling or transporting beef or beef products is banned in Gujarat. While delivering the judgement, the judge observed that, "Cow is associated with the religious sentiment of a community. So such a crime threatens the peace of society. If the accused is given jail term, it will serve as an example for others to refrain from committing such a crime." He also stated that the argument of the defence that the court should be lenient because the accused was from a poor financial background, was "not justified." "It is not justified to reduce the sentence just on the ground that the accused is from a poor background and his family is dependent on him," the judge observed. Rafik, a resident of Devda village in Gandevi taluka of Surat district, was arrested on October 8, 2014, after two members of a cow protection group caught him transporting two bags containing 20 kgs beef, on his motorcycle. The beef was estimated to be worth around Rs 4,000. The Gandevi police, which filed the FIR, later sent the samples of the contents in the bag to a Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), which confirmed it as beef. The police booked the accused under sections sections 6(B)(1)(2)(3) and 8(4) of the Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act-2011, and sections 429 (causing mischief by killing animals) and 114 (abettor present when offence committed) of the IPC. However, the court held him guilty only under sections of the Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act-2011. Meanwhile, another accused, Hanif Yusufbhai Mamniyat, a butcher arrested in connection with the same case, was acquitted by the court for want of evidence against him. PTI Hogenakkal water makes battle slippery for AIADMK in West TN India oi-PTI Dharmapuri/Krishnagiri (TN), May 8: What do a sizeable chunk of people in Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts have in common? Discoloured teeth, a manifestation of dental fluorosis found in the huge section of the populace, which the Hogenakkal Combined Drinking Water Supply and Fluorosis Mitigation Project is intended to tackle, besides providing potable water. Besides discoloured teeth, they also suffer from conditions like skeletal fluorosis affecting the bones. "Look at my teeth" is the answer of V Mathaiyan of Pennagaram in Dharmapuri district when asked about implementation of the project. In essence, alleged deficiencies in the distribution and implementation of the much talked-about Hogenakkal project is the single biggest poll issue in the western districts of Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri for the May 16 Assembly election. While the ruling AIADMK claims it has successfully implemented the project, DMK alleges it was "scuttled" as the plan was "conceived" by it during it's previous regime. Besides the water issue, continuing migration of youth to other cities, including Bengaluru and Tirupur for jobs, insufficient availability of water for agri and horticultural needs and lack of new job opportunities are the top poll issues in these two neighbouring districts. Mathaiyan says if people had properly got fluoride free water from Hogenakkal issues like dental fluorosis would have vanished. Notably, reports like that of Central Ground Water Board too had recorded more than permissible limit of fluoride in Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts. A top Tamil Nadu Public Health official who did not wish to be named says that once teeth discolouration occurs due to fluorosis it can be corrected only through cosmetic treatment. "People falsely believe that once they get good water, discolouration due to previous contamination would go," he said. "On frequency of water supply, Mathaiyan says "water supply is quite erratic. The frequency of supply is once in three days or even more," he said, adding that in some localities like his, which are on a relatively elevated plain, the water supply becomes even more difficult. Many others echoed his view, including farmers in Donnakuttahalli Panchayat, residents of Koothapadi Panchayat and people in villages off Uthangari in Krishnagiri district. PTI Who would you put your money on in the Assam election battle: Modi or Gogoi? India oi-Oneindia By Maitreyee Boruah Guwahati, May 8: The results of the Assam Assembly Elections 2016 will be out in a few days. However, nobody is making any predictions. When this reporter spoke to a senior editor based in Guwahati about the election results, the answer was "ambiguous". "Honestly, I will bet on the BJP, but I will put my money on in the Congress also," said the senior editor, working with a popular English newspaper. The senior editor's response could be read in many ways. Either it was diplomatic, ambiguous or simply sarcastic. It is not just the political observers who are "confused" about the election results. Even leaders from both the Congress and BJP are not ready to make any comments. Generally, the mood in the party offices are either happy or gloom. These days, "confusion" rules in everyone's minds. "It is a very tightly played contest. Anybody can win. Let's wait for the results," smiled the senior editor. "See, this election, Assam saw a record voting percentage (84 percent). The voters' turnout was unprecedented. I guess there would be a sweep, if we go by the voting percentage. However, there is a great possibility that it would be a hung assembly. No single party is going to get 65 seats to pass the majority test in the assembly," he added. The contest in Assam is a special one. If the veteran Congress leader Tarun Gogoi is hoping to become the chief minister of the northeastern state for the fourth consecutive time, the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave its best to form its government in the state for the first time. Till the results are out, let us all wait and watch. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Sunday, May 8, 2016, 10:27 [IST] Prashant Kishor claims Nitish Kumar in touch with BJP says don't be surprised if he joins hands with it again Bihar's Gopalganj by-poll to see a tough fight between BJP and RJD Women activists try to storm BJP, Congress offices in Manipur India oi-IANS By Ians English Imphal, May 8: Women activists on Sunday,May 8 tried to storm the offices of the ruling Congress and the BJP here in Manipur demanding to know the two parties' stand on the Inner Line Permit (ILP) row. Police in riot gear dispersed the members of the women's wing of the Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System (JCILPS) after preventing them from entering the party offices. Traffic was disrupted in Imphal for hours because of the protest.The JCILPS had said that all political parties in the state should make their stand vis-a-vis the ILP clear on or before May 8. Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam Gangmei recently said the Congress was working to protect the indigenous people. "We are not saying that the migrant workers should be deported from Manipur. But as per law all the migrant workers should obtain work permits and possess valid identity cards," an activist said. The Communist Party of India, Nationalist Congress Party, Manipur People's Party, Trinamool Congress and others have announced support to the JCILPS movement. Another party which has refused to make its stand clear is the Naga People's Front, which has four members in the 60-member Manipur assembly. IANS 'India won't listen to anyone': Anurag Thakur gives strong reply to PCB Pakistan off the FATFs grey List: What this means Pakistan claims arrest of Indian 'agent' International oi-IANS By Ians English Islamabad, May 8: The authorities in the Pakistani port city of Karachi said on Saturday they have arrested an Indian "agent" who was living illegally and was involved in anti-state activities. "Security officials and the police raided a house at Jamshed Quarters area and arrested the Indian intelligence agent, Arshad Hussain," an official told the media. He said Hussain arrived in Pakistan in 2011 and traveled abroad six times. The authorities have recovered three mobile phones and 10 sim cards, laptop, sensitive documents and an internet device. The accused has revealed the names of six people who were in contact with him, sources close to the investigators said. The security officials and the police conducted raids in some areas to arrest Hussain's accomplices. Officials said it was the arrest of second Indian agent in Pakistan in less than two months. IANS Kolkata: Photographer lands in trouble over nude model with live snake photo shoot Kolkata oi-Preeti Kolkata, May 8: Kolkata-based Anirudhha Sen, an associate at Cognizant has a passion for photography. He even has his official photography page titled 'Anirudhha Sen photography' on the social networking website Facebook. His latest photography has landed him into a controversy, where he has done a photo shoot of a nude model named Piya carrying a live snake. The photograph in question bears an uncanny resemblance with the infamous 1995 ad showing models Milind Soman and Madhu Sapre in nude carrying a snake. The photo shoot was allegedly done in January this year. Twenty years ago, such an advertisement on Indian television had led to a huge controversy and even two decades later, the same kind of photo shoot has drawn criticism, even though it is aesthetically shot. According to reports, Sen has been booked by the forest department for the violation of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Sen told TOI, "I had been inspired by the Madhu-Milind ad and created my own. I was very young then and didn't look beyond photography to read about the violations they had been charged with. I have been questioned thrice and repeatedly told forest officials that what I have done in a mistake and not a crime. It will be sad if they continue to treat me like a petty criminal." "It is my bad luck that I posted the photographs on Facebook and they were spotted by the forest department. I keep my personal life, photography and professional life separate but they are threatening to merge and throw my life out of gear," he further added. Chief wildlife warden Pradeep Vyas was quoted saying saying as to the TOI, "The photographer used live snakes on a nude model and uploaded the shots on Facebook. According to the Wildlife Protection Act, manhandling wild animals and using them for commercial purpose is prohibited. We have initiated proceedings against him." If convicted, Sen can face a maximum jail term of three years or a fine of Rs 25,000, or both. OneIndia News Decomposed body of old woman found stuffed in bed box in Delhi New Delhi oi-PTI New Delhi, May 8: The decomposed body of a 60-year-old woman was found inside a box below the bed at her apartment in north-east Delhi's Sonia Vihar area this morning, police said. The deceased has been identified as Meena Kumari and the police is on the look out for her husband Rakesh who is missing since the incident came to light, a police official said. It was around 10 AM that locals of Sonia Vihar called up police and informed them of stench emanating from the house of the couple, which was found to be locked from outside. A police team rushed there and broke open the door and went inside following which they conducted a thorough search and found Kumari's body inside the bed box, lying face down. The body was at least three days old and it had decomposed beyond recognition. A case of murder was registered and the body sent for autopsy, the official said. The cause of death could not be ascertained yet and the police are looking at all possible angles as the motive, with her missing husband being the prime suspect in the case so far. Neighbours told police that the couple, who earlier used to live in Yamuna Bank area, had moved to the locality a couple of months ago. Kumari suffered from several ailments and Rakesh, who is a factory worker, often used to have fights with her over money. In fact, the neighbours had not seen him for at least past two days, the official said. PTI Community Its now easier than ever to connect and chat with others in your local area. You can connect with your community by asking general questions, give area updates and recommendations and even let your community know about local events that are taking place. 2008-2022 One News Page Ltd. All rights reserved. One News is a registered trademark of One News Page Ltd. Rumble 24 Oct 2022 Today on The Last 24 we are going to dive into the Liberal's Federal handgun ban against legal gunowners that prevents the.. Many people, like local artist Christopher Ray Wilson, are just born with creative tendencies. For Wilson, some of his earliest childhood memories, from when he was about three years old, are of drawing. I would scribble in books and then from there it turned into really crappy drawings, said Wilson with a laugh. And it never left me. My imagination has stayed with me since I was a kid. Its just something I have to do. Its just like eating, sleeping, drinking and whatever; I have to do it get it out of my head. His imagination, as it turns out, has served him well and will soon be paid forward. Wilson recently collaborated with writer Dustin McKissen from St. Charles, providing the illustrations for The Best Vampire You Can Be, a childrens book set for release shortly before Halloween. The story in the book, said Wilson, is all about being yourself The vampires name is Frank and the bats Kevin The vampire is kind of going through an identity crisis and, in different scenarios over time, he learns throughout all this to just be himself and be happy with himself because thats who he is. Wilson has also been working on writing and illustrating his own childrens book, which will be geared toward kids of preschool and kindergarten ages, to help them learn the alphabet. Its fun and magical, he said. Each page you flip is gonna be highly detailed. The tentative title of the book is How I See My ABCs. Using the letter H from one page in his book as an example, which is illustrated with a unique character that is part cat, part hot air balloon, the caption reads, H is for hot, happy and hello, so take a ride on the Hookie Halloon. You see them as fun, that letter H is magical with the hooky balloon flying kids around, said Wilson. Every page youll see different kids playing with these creatures that have funny names that are fun to say. The ABC's, great, I can help them spell, but giving them something to fuel the imagination, I think thats the goal of life to learn through imagination. Unlike the illustrations in many popular childrens books, past and present, Wilsons illustrations are intricate and richly detailed. I put a lot of time and work into the design of each page, he said, and its a little weird a lot of them get weird and its definitely going to have a lot of characters that are memorable I want it to be something that, when a kid is 20, theyll say, I loved that book. I loved that page. The goal, he said, is to keep the book geared for children but to also excite the imagination of the adults who may be reading the book to their kids or with their kids. I also want to keep it interesting for adults. Theyll appreciate some of the humor that I can sneak in there, said Wilson. I want to appeal to adults. They can flip through and appreciate the art and say Oh thats cool, or thats weird or thats neat. Still a kid at heart and in his creative imagination, Wilson believes in the importance of encouraging children to never let their own imaginations fade away. Whos to say 20 years from now a kid comes up with something that he was influenced by from this book, said Wilson, like some kind of kooky cat helicopter and hes in the same shoes (as I was) because he got that imagination. I want to fuel kids imaginations because I get to take a lot of things, like The NeverEnding Story and as an artist I feed off of nostalgia, the things I enjoyed as a kid, is kind of what refills my batteries and to try and create things that will do the same thing for kids. Every page will be unique and different. Theres some really wacky stuff that Ive come up with and that Im working on and Im very excited about Every letter will be cool and magical. There might be some kooky owl-looking lizard thing that send the kids into this world where they can find these magical letters and take a ride on a hot air cat balloon and (on another page) run from some goofy monster. In keeping with the educational theme of the book, Wilson is adding a letter recognition challenge to each page. There will be letters hidden in the page about five on them on every page that you can ask the kids to find. The goal, he said, is to have the book completed by this summer. Wilson, a St. Francois County native, graduated from North County High School in 2004, then completed his college-level general studies courses at Lindenwood University and Mineral Area College before earning a bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Media Arts and Animation at the Art Institute of Tampa, a branch of the Miami International University of Art and Design. Along with his creative endeavors, doing freelance graphic design work for businesses and entrepreneurs, Wilson is also a full-time graphic designer in the Daily Journals creative department. On Saturday, he was the featured artist at the Free Comic Book Day event at Not Just Comix in downtown Park Hills. Wilson said he approached David Easter, the stores owner, about providing on the spot drawings of comic book characters for patrons of the event. Dave was all for it, said Wilson, he didnt even hesitate It (was) $10 commissions, so its affordable, its practice for me and fun for me to sit there and do that for people." His appearance at Not Just Comix was an artists debut, of sorts, for Wilson. I knew that I needed to get out, he said. I knew I needed to take that step. The appearance was also a chance for Wilson to share his love for art and creativity. I wanted to take that opportunity to its not just about me, its about getting the opportunity for you to come in for something youre extremely passionate about and have the opportunity to also get an original piece of art to go along with whatever youre buying or of your favorite character. For questions, more information about Wilsons services or to request graphic design work or illustrations, contact him via email at christopherwilsonart@gmail.com. (Image by Author) Details DMCA It takes nearly five hundred feet of black granite to accommodate the fifty-eight thousand names on the Vietnam War Memorial. Were one inclined to build a like memorial for the civilian dead in Iraq since the U.S. invasion, the granite wall would stretch one thousand five hundred feet.1 The latest victim whose named would need to be chiseled in stone belongs to a mother from Mosul, killed in front of Air Force Maj. Gen. Peter Gersten who witnessed a U.S. missile obliterate the home she was in. Gersten says the woman's death was "difficult to watch," but that the procedure which led to it, a tactic learned from observing the Israelis wage war on Palestinians in Gaza, may be used again despite the fact that it has been condemned by the United Nations.2,3 The procedure is known as "roof knocking" and is carried out by exploding a bomb over the top of an identified target to warn civilians of the dwelling's imminent demise. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth ten thousand. Please click on the embedded link to watch a "roof knocking" incident that took place in Gaza in 2014. As you experience this event, imagine that you and your family live in the apartment building experiencing the "knock." How do you know if your building was "knocked" or the one next to you? As a father or mother, you have five minutes to make a decision that will determine whether your children live or die. Roof Knock Video 4 www.youtube.com/watch?v=69icTMgIjlw Major Gersten stated that "We've certainly watched and observed" the Israelis conduct roof knocking. If he was watching the Gaza Strip between July 8 and August 26 in 2014, he would have seen nearly 500 children slaughtered.5 Major Gersten's roof knock in Mosul involved exploding a Hellfire missile over a building suspected of "housing a member of the Islamic State and about $150 million in funds for the extremist group." The Hellfire missile, a staple of the United States' drone arsenal, is designed to kill in three ways. The concussion from the blast causes massive internal bleeding; the bomb's "fragment sleeve," excoriated metal that encases the warhead, produces hundreds of razor like projectiles that slice, pierce, and decapitate; and the "incendiary pellets" embed and ignite flesh and bone.6,7,8 Of course, these effects destroy the inanimate as well. Gersten explained that the knock was deemed the best way to spare "a female and her children" who were known to be in the building. He goes on to explain that "We did see the woman and child leave," but she "ran back into the building" becoming a victim of the "congested environment we fight in." Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). See original here The ongoing rift between Democratic elites and Bernie Sanders may come to a head at the convention in July, as the presidential hopeful has promised a "fight" if the party refuses to include "bold" progressive initiatives on the Democratic platform. Such a move, the Vermont senator said, would be tantamount to "silencing" the "9 million voters who, during this nominating process, have indicated that they want to go beyond establishment politics and establishment economics." "If we don't have the votes to get the nomination, were not going get the nomination. That becomes then the platform fight," Sanders told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow in an interview that aired on Friday, making it clear that his determination to take his campaign all the way to the convention in Philadelphia is about more than winning the presidency. In a letter sent to Democratic Party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fl.) on Friday, Sanders expressed concern that the the key committees charged with laying out the party rules and platform would be "stacked" with "Clinton loyalists." According to the letter, Wasserman Schultz chose a scant three out of 40 people that Sanders had recommended for the standing committees, while not one was chosen for the "very important" Rules Committee. "If we are to have a unified party in the fall, no matter who wins the nomination, we cannot have a Democratic National Convention in which the views of millions of people who participated in the Democratic nominating process are unrepresented in the committee membership appointed by you, the Chair," Sanders wrote. "That sends the very real message that the Democratic Party is not open to the millions of new people that our campaign has brought into the political process, does not want to hear new voices, and is unwilling to respect the broader base of people that this party needs to win over in November and beyond," he continued. While a president is not bound to the party's official platform, as Sanders explained to Maddow, it is intended to reflect the ideals of the voter base. "It does say something, it does reflect what the base of the Democratic party believes should be the future of this country, and I intend to do everything that I can to make that the most progressive document that we possibly can," he said. "And I think, by the way, that is the doc that the Democratic grassroots people really want to see." However, the senator is concerned that party elites are already trying to sideline that point of view. In the letter, Sanders points out that the individuals tapped to lead the Platform and Rules Committees, respectively Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy and former Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, have served as "aggressive attack surrogates" for Hillary Clinton throughout the campaign. Doubting that either will "conduct committee proceeding in an even-handed manner," Sanders said that their appointment "suggests the standing committees are being established in an overtly partisan way meant to exclude the input of the voters who have supported my candidacy." Over the course of the primary contest, the Democratic National Committee has repeatedly been accused of tipping the scales in Clinton's favor. "It is my hope we can quickly resolve this in a fair way," the letter concludes. "If the process is set up to produce an unfair, one-sided result, we are prepared to mobilize our delegates to force as many votes as necessary to amend the platform and rules on the floor of the convention." Progressive Content Not Found Sometimes, authors delete their progressive content after publishing. To see if the progressive content was renamed or re-published, please click here. Portland Trail Blazers fans can soon show support for their team everywhere they drive. The team announced that the Blazers-themed specialty license plate will be available for purchase from the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles beginning on September 1, 2016. The Blazers plate design, which was approved by Governor Kate Brown last August, was unveiled in January during a Blazers home game against the Atlanta Hawks at the Moda Center. The plate will cost $40 and joins salmon, bicycles, Crater Lake and wine country on the list of 39 possible bumper logos for Oregonians. The fees from the plates will go to the Blazers charitable arm, the Trail Blazers Foundation, and will be distributed to "organizations whose programs support Oregon's kids," according to a release from the governor's office. Correction appended Just because both medical and recreational marijuana are now legal in Oregon doesn't mean a cannabis activist's work is done. Portland's 17th annual entry into the Global Cannabis March rolled through downtown Saturday, with hundreds of legalization advocates moving forward on their unfinished business. The event featured speakers and music at Pioneer Courthouse Square. Then an hour-long march kicked off with chants of "I smoke pot, and I like it a lot." As its name implies, the march is an international event taking place in nearly 300 cities worldwide. In places like Portland, where marijuana prohibition has ended, marches continue to promote legalization at the federal level while protesting overregulation and the stigma that still often surrounds responsible cannabis users and patients. "We usually come to the square trying to legalize," says Scott Gordon, executive director for Portland National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and the emcee for the event. While legalization has been achieved, he says there is still much work to be done. "We have nowhere to smoke. We have nowhere to take our medicine in," says Gordon. He also notes the challenges for marijuana business owners who are unable to open bank accounts for business use. "The march today is our voice for changing this," says Gordon. "To let everyone know that we are not done. Just because Oregon legalized in 2014 it doesn't mean that everything is all gravy." -Dillon Pilorget and Kristyna Wentz-Graff This post has been modified to reflect the following correction: Scott Gordon is the executive director of Portland NORML, not Oregon NORML. Nevada state wildlife veterinarian Peregrine Wolff worked at zoos in the Midwest, with farm animals in Florida and exotic species on movie sets in Hollywood. She never dreamed she'd have to help pull the trigger on a contentious strategy to slaughter a diseased herd of bighorn sheep in a Nevada mountain range near the Oregon border. Ed Partee, a state game biologist who's spent much of his 24-year career rebuilding bighorn populations, drew the grim task of tracking and gathering the carcasses of the 27 sheep. The animals were gunned down from a helicopter in February in an emergency attempt to save a neighboring herd. "Having to kill an animal like that is probably one of the worst feelings I've ever had in this job," said Partee, a native Nevadan who grew up fishing and hunting and knew by the time he was in junior high that he wanted to be a wildlife scientist. Now, they wait to see if their gamble paid off in a race against the spread of pneumonia that's also hit bighorns in Washington, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Montana and Utah, and threatens efforts to rebuild native populations that were on the brink of extinction a half century ago. About 2 million bighorn sheep roamed North America before numbers started declining in the late 1800s to about one-tenth of that today due primarily to overhunting, habitat loss and disease -- often transmitted by domestic animals. "It's been a concern since the Old World European settlers started bringing their domestic sheep with them across the West," said Wolff, president of the American Association of Wildlife Veterinarians. She suspects Desert bighorns in northwest Nevada contracted the biological agents that spread the pneumonia from domestic sheep or goats, as has been the case elsewhere. That's been a point of contention in Montana and Idaho, where ranchers and conservationists have been fighting for decades over management of domestic sheep that biologists blame for transmitting the disease. Livestock producers suffered a setback in March when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2010 U.S. Forest Service decision to protect bighorns in Idaho's Payette National Forest by closing 70 percent of the domestic grazing allotments. The Idaho Wool Growers Association had argued that the service failed to consult the Department of Agriculture's research service before it pushed 10,000 sheep out of the area, running many ranchers out of business. It's a "heated topic that has vast socio-economic and ecological impacts in the western United States," said Maggie Highland, a USDA animal disease researcher at Washington State University. She's among those who question the science and wonder whether Nevada acted prematurely, "without really understanding all of the factors that caused the first outbreak." "I'd also question how we know for certain that none of the members of the affected herd hadn't already intermingled with the herd that they were reportedly trying to protect," Highland wrote in an email to AP. Skeptics include Mark Thurmond, professor emeritus of veterinary epidemiology at the University of California-Davis. "What they are doing is illogical -- to say we found these agents therefore we've got to eradicate this entire herd," Thurmond said. He says disease transmittal involves a complex combination of multiple agents and outside impacts, ranging from drought and wildfires, to extreme cold and snow. "If the herd is doing well otherwise, why destroy the gene pool that has been able to handle these agents?" he told AP. But by all accounts, the Nevada herd was not doing well. State officials knew if they didn't act fast, the sheep would disperse as the snowpack melted. Partee said they were lucky to get an early warning of trouble in December because they'd just fitted several sheep with radio-signal collars in a partnership with Oregon to monitor movement across state lines. "You could tell right away there was something not right because of the fact they weren't moving," Partee said. "Within weeks we started realizing we were at the start of a devastating disease event." Necropsies confirmed the dead animals had pneumonia. Others were in such bad shape that Wolff was "surprised they were still alive." "In January, we started talking about the fact that if we lost this herd, it would be tragic, but if it spread to the neighboring herd to the south, we'd lose both of those," Wolff said. By the time the decision was made to kill the herd, fewer than a third of the 100 animals remained and those were so weak that they barely attempted to flee when the helicopter approached. The move wasn't without precedence. British Columbia killed a herd in hope of saving others in 2000. Utah officials killed 25 in 2010, and Washington 63 in 2013. Wolff consulted experts, including those in British Columbia, before conceding that killing the herd was the only hope to keep the disease from spreading in the state with the most bighorns in the Lower 48. Nevada is the only state with all three North American species -- Desert, California and Rocky Mountain. Early indications are the kill may have kept the disease from reaching the neighboring herd. Wolff stands by the decision. "I take exception to anyone in the domestic sheep industry looking over my shoulder and telling the Nevada Department of Wildlife how to manage," she said. "I totally understand the politics. But to deny the science because of the politics is sort of short-sighted to me." -- The Associated Press Armed Robbery.jpg Johnathan Zurita-Veladiz (left), 20, of Cornelius and Luis Rios (right), 19, of Portland, are facing charges of robbery and assault. (Washington County Sheriff's Office) Two men are in custody on armed robbery charges after police say they confronted a 20-year-old outside a Cornelius home early Saturday morning. According to a press release, Washington County deputies received a report of an armed robbery at 4:12 a.m. Saturday at S.W. 7th Ave. in Cornelius. Two men approached the 20-year-old victim outside the victim's home, demanded money, implied they had a gun and assaulted the victim before fleeing the scene, the agency said. Sgt. Vance Stimler, a spokesman for the Washington County Sheriff's Office, said the robbers didn't appear to know the victim and that it seemed to be random. The responding deputies quickly located one of the suspects and identified him as Johnathan Zurita-Veladiz, 20, of Cornelius. They later found a revolver, Stimler said. At 9:49 a.m., they located the second suspect, identified as Luis Rios, 19, of Portland, inside a home on N. Davis Street. Rios surrendered after about an hour of negotiations, authorities said. Both men were taken to Washington County Jail. Rios, who police say was wanted on a parole violation, is facing charges of robbery and assault. Zurita-Veladiz faces charges of first-degree robbery and third-degree assault. The victim's mother, who was not identified, shared the following statement: "The community worked together with the police to take the suspects into custody." -- Anna Marum amarum@oregonian.com 503-294-5911 @annamarum settlers.JPG A Jewish settler holds Israeli flags as he protests in 2011 in support of the Jewish settlers in the West Bank. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) By Alice Rothchild Portland is hosting an event this week that could have a significant impact on the search for Middle East peace. If the United Methodist Church General Conference votes to divest from companies that profit from Israel's occupation, all the mainstream Protestant churches in the U.S. will have taken a principled stand for Palestinian freedom through boycott and divestment, joining the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the United Church of Christ and others. During the endless "peace process" of the past few decades, Israeli settlements built on occupied Palestinian land in violation of international law and official U.S. policy have grown relentlessly, leaving Palestinians with fragmented pockets of land divided by settlements, walls, Israeli-only bypass roads and military zones. At the same time, Israeli society has shifted dramatically to the right politically. According to a Pew poll released in March, nearly half of Israeli Jews want to expel Arabs from Israel, while 79 percent believe Jewish citizens should be given preferential treatment over Palestinian and other non-Jewish citizens, who make up about 20 percent of the population. This follows years of racist incitement from Israeli political and religious leaders and the passage of a slew of anti-democratic laws targeting critics of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. The word apartheid is now used to describe Israel by many expert observers, including diplomats, politicians, mainstream Jewish leaders and human rights activists. No fewer than four former Israeli prime ministers have compared Israel's nearly 50-year-old occupation to apartheid. Meanwhile, the U.S. sends Israel over $3 billion in military aid annually and provides almost unconditional diplomatic protection, preventing Israeli leaders from being held accountable for their actions at international forums like the United Nations. The problem with promoting dialogue and engagement as a replacement for boycotts and divestment, as some supporters of Israel argue, is that Israel -- the much stronger party -- has made it absolutely clear it will settle for nothing less than Palestinians accepting permanent subjugation. Nor does dialogue work when Israel is enforcing an oppressive occupation that steals Palestinian land and water, destroys Palestinians homes, imprisons Palestinians by the thousand, tortures and abuses them and denies them the most fundamental rights, including the right to peaceful protest. Many Jews like myself find it increasingly delusional to claim that Israel is a democracy. In Israel, Jewish privilege is institutionalized in the legal system, housing, education and health care, and the opportunities afforded to Jewish citizens. Israel may be a democracy for Jews, but not for its Palestinian citizens. To be clear, United Methodist supporters of divestment are not asking for boycotts and divestment from Israel. They are focused only on the occupied territories, which the international community, including the U.S., does not legally recognize as part of Israel. It was only when churches and other organizations began divesting from South Africa that apartheid finally came to an end there. Conditions are no less horrifying for Palestinians today. Palestinians, including Palestinian Christians, are asking Christians and other people of conscience to join their struggle for freedom and to act consistently with their basic moral teachings. As a Jewish American, I am proud to stand with my Christian brothers and sisters in the U.S. and Palestine, to support boycott and divestment as powerful tools to bring occupation to an end. When all else has failed to bring peace, their courage should inspire us all. * Alice Rothchild is a retired physician, author, filmmaker and member of Jewish Voice for Peace. By Kathleen Parker WASHINGTON -- It wasn't precisely an act of moral courage, but House Speaker Paul Ryan's comment that he's not ready to support presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump was at least ... something. Whether it's a start or a finish remains to be revealed, but it would seem that we're witnessing the beginning of the end. To wit: A Republican friend, who has abandoned her behind-the-scenes work of getting conservatives elected, called me recently to express her condolences. "I feel sorry for you," she said, "because you (given your job) can't ignore the collapse of Western civilization." Now a renegade from the nominating process, she is like so many others disillusioned by the Trump movement who've slipped the noose of politics in search of meaning beyond the Beltway. But Trump's triumph, though most insiders thought it impossible, should have surprised no one. He was inevitable not because he was The One but because he's a shrewd dealmaker with deep pockets and unencumbered by a moral compass. Both his platform and style were crafted to fit the findings of extensive polling he commissioned before announcing his run. In other words, Trump didn't write a book you loved; he wrote the book you said you'd love. If people were outraged about immigration, why then he'd build a wall. If they were upset about manufacturing jobs lost overseas, well fine, he'd kill the trade agreements. Trump was never about principle but about winning, the latter of which he kept no secret. What this means, of course, is that his supporters have no idea whom they nominated. He simply paid to read their minds and then invented a drug that would light up the circuit boards corresponding to pleasure and reward. "Believe me," he crooned to the roaring crowed. "I'm not there right now," said the speaker, crossing himself in the sign of the cross. Poor Ryan -- a man of conscience in an unconscionable time. He wants to support the Republican nominee, but, at the end of the day, he has to answer to a higher authority. Trump, the party's standard bearer, isn't bearing the standard, Ryan said. But what Ryan expressed as the basis for a desired meeting of the minds isn't about those standards, except the hope that Trump will behave better in the future. You know, act presidential and all that. Otherwise, Ryan is standing by the phone to hear that Trump will unify the party. How, pray tell? What would satisfy the Ryans of the party? For Trump to say, Hey, I was just kidding? The problem, as with all relationships, is that certain words, once expressed, can't be taken back. No amount of backtracking can erase memories of what Trump really thought and said in a particular moment. It isn't only that his wildly conceived and frequently revised positions are at odds with those of leveler heads, but Trump has embarrassed those who can still be embarrassed. Among those with either the gumption or nothing to lose by expressing no-support for Trump are both George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush. Neither will endorse the Republican nominee. Laura Bush, a consistent voice of sanity, recently hinted at a "Women in the World" conference that she'd rather see Hillary Clinton as president than Trump. This is utterly treasonous to most Republicans. Not only is Clinton a Clinton, notwithstanding her Rodham-ness, but the next president likely will select up to four Supreme Court justices. Republicans magically think that at least Trump would pick good justices. But upon what shred of fact or fiction do they base this assumption? Still other Republicans are expressing disapproval by vowing not to attend the party convention in July. These include the last two GOP presidential nominees, Mitt Romney and John McCain, though McCain is on record saying he'll support Trump, which can be viewed as loyal or merely sad. The "sads" have it. McCain seemingly has forgiven Trump's remark that he was a war hero only because he was captured. "I like people who weren't captured," said the anti-hero who managed to avoid service and once compared his navigation of the sexually risky 1960s to "sort of like the Vietnam era." This is the man who would become commander-in-chief. Meanwhile, we're told, the party that adopted Trump without really knowing him is suffering an identity crisis and facing a moment of truth. Phooey. The GOP began digging its own grave years ago and dropped one foot in when McCain selected Sarah Palin as his running mate. With Trump's almost-certain nomination, the other foot has followed. Kathleen Parker's email address is kathleenparkerwashpost.com. (c) 2016, Washington Post Writers Group burns occupation mugs Michael Emry, 54, appeared at the Malheur National Wildilfe refuge on Jan 6., 2016,after militants took it over. He described himself as an embedded reporter with the militia. (Mark Graves/staff) JOHN DAY - Michael R. Emry figured out on his own how to build a potent bomb that a major drug dealer needed to kill an associate. Emry cobbled together the parts - a clock from Walmart, a circuit board from Radio Shack and a pound of plastic explosive bought off an acquaintance. He put the finished device in a paper bag, which in turn went into the shoe box he presented to a man who originally hired him to fix car transmissions. Emry is the man some residents of Grant County turned to in recent weeks to help them air their anti-government views and form a private committee to press those views. Emry, 54, described himself as an "embedded reporter" with an Idaho militia group during the occupation of the Malheur National Wildilfe Refuge earlier this year. He left Boise recently for John Day to start up a media venture with pro-militia leanings. His history with explosives and illegal weapons is buried in the thick transcript of a 2004 federal court trial in Tennessee. Emry escaped prosecution, apparently for testifying against the drug dealer. Now, Emry is heading back to federal court, this time in Eugene and to face his own charges. The FBI arrested him Friday, charging him with illegally possessing a .50-caliber machine gun. An affidavit described how agents found the weapon during a search of his travel trailer and vehicles at the county-owned RV park in John Day. He is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court on the charges on Monday. The FBI has said little about the John Day arrest, giving no indication whether it is related to the occupation. So far, 27 others have been charged for their roles in the armed takeover of the bird sanctuary that started Jan. 2 and lasted 41 days. They were led by Ammon E. Bundy, an Idaho businessman who initiated the occupation to protest the imprisonment of two Harney County ranchers and federal management practices. During the standoff, Emry's web broadcasts exuded sympathy for the declarations of Bundy and other occupiers. The record of the Tennessee trial shows Emry's own anti-government mindset dates back more than a decade. "Our leaders are progressively putting us into a police state that no one wants," Emry testified on Jan. 16, 2004, during the trial of organizers of a major cocaine smuggling ring. Document: Michael Emry's trial testimony He testified that in 1999 he made 66 illegal machine guns for a Kansas man. Emry said citizens need to be armed to protect themselves, pointing to government standoffs with militants in Waco, Texas, and Ruby Ridge in Idaho that resulted in several deaths. "All of these people have died standing for their principles," Emry testified. "Lord forbid I ever have to pull a gun on a law enforcement officer," he said, but "I may have to if they start breaking the Constitution and the oaths that they upheld." During the Oregon refuge occupation 12 years later, Bundy insisted repeatedly that federal authorities weren't obeying the Constitution and local officials weren't following their oaths. Emry didn't specify during the trial the source of his unhappiness with the government. He testified that he was a transmission repairman by trade, working at one time in Kansas. He said he built machine guns for a customer there who was stockpiling weapons in the event of civil revolt. He moved to Tennessee, taking another auto repair job but then undertook building a bomb for his boss. He testified that he thought the man, Ken Kimball, wanted the device to guard a weapons storehouse against discovery. Other court records showed, however, that Kimball provided the bomb to an associate to kill Kimball's Texas-based cocaine supplier. The assassination never took place, and police later found the explosive in a storage locker. Emry described in detail his work as a self-taught bomb maker, testifying that he made it "my business to read literature and understand as much as I can about military techniques and tactics." He said he started with the C-4 - "scratching my head trying to figure out what I was going to do." He used a pencil to poke a hole in the clay-like explosive material to house the detonator. He attached LED lights to show the bomb had electrical power from the battery. He gave the bomb and the separate detonator to his boss. "I'm not very proud of this," Emry testified, explaining the bomb could "cause great harm" and was "highly, highly illegal." He described in court the power of the bomb. He said the transmission shop was three times the size of the federal courtroom. "Probably put a couple foot crater in the center of the area and blow every single wall out and just turn it into cinder," Emry testified. He also made a silencer for his boss. "Again, I have a natural aptitude for this stuff," Emry testified. "Nobody has ever trained me on any of this stuff. Probably known as one of the top guys in the country to build guns that were cut from scratch." He repeated that self-evaluation in an interview Thursday with The Oregonian/OregonLive, when he said he was known as the "Picasso of machine guns." Emry testified that he worked in the transmission shop about six months before moving to Hayden, Idaho. He said he returned to Tennessee in 2002 when he learned he was suspected of stealing a gun. He said he lied to agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives when they initially questioned him about illegal conduct. When he learned agents had found his bomb, Emry admitted making it and gave them a full accounting of his activities. He also testified that he acted undercover for the ATF "on certain particular cases" but didn't describe the time frame or the cases. The man he testified against was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for a scale of crime that a federal judge described as "breathtaking." Emry returned to Idaho, working as a mechanic and manufacturing guns for licensed dealers. One stop starting roughly in 2002 was Weaver Automotive & Engineering of Boise. Owner Jim Weaver said Saturday that he met Emry in northern Idaho about 15 years ago - about five years after Weaver became a federally licensed gun dealer. He said he bought a gun from Emry, who then "went back east." But Emry returned to work in his shop off and on, repairing cars. "He was a good mechanic," Weaver said. He also tended to guns and manufacturing semiautomatic AK-47s, he added. He left the shop before Weaver sold it about 10 years ago but the men stayed in touch from time to time. They last spoke about a year ago, Weaver said.. Then, about a month ago, Weaver took one of his specialty weapons out of a storage vault to photograph it for possible sale. It was his .50-caliber Browning MP machine gun. Weaver said that after taking the pictures, he stored it in a "non-obvious place." On Saturday, he discovered the gun missing but saw no sign of a break-in and said he was the only one with a key to the building. The serial number, he subsequently learned, matched that of the gun the FBI recovered in John Day. -- Les Zaitz @leszaitz Hillsboro's Liberty High School students gathered Saturday at Gray Gables Estate in Portland to celebrate prom night. The theme: Wildest Dreams. For the fourth year, The Oregonian/OregonLive is following Portland's prom season, photographing proms for schools across the metropolitan area. Students, staff and parents can add their photos to our coverage and follow the fun via Instagram or Twitter by using #PDXprom. This weekend, The Oregonian/OregonLive photographers were at four proms, including Liberty. Want to see the photos? Check out the links below on Sunday morning: Southridge High School 2016 prom photos by Cleveland High School 2016 prom photos by Burns High School 2016 prom photos by See a prom photograph you want for your own in the gallery above? Just click the "buy" button below the photo caption. This is the fourth year we've joined the Liberty High Falcons for prom night. Liberty High School prom 2015 photos Liberty High School prom 2014 Liberty High School prom 2013 Thanks to the students and staff of Liberty High School for inviting us to the party. Look for more prom coverage next weekend, when Sunset and Tualatin high schools celebrate prom. Check out our prom coverage so far. April 9 Sam Barlow High 2016 prom April 23 Beaverton High 2016 prom April 29-30 Grant High 2016 prom Clackamas High 2016 prom Forest Grove High 2016 prom Rex Putnam High 2016 prom Roosevelt High 2016 prom -- Mike Zacchino, mzacchino@oregonian.com Teenagers in formal suits and dresses are piling out of cars, adjusting their boutonnieres and corsages as they cross the gravel parking lot. A handful jump out of their parents' pickup trucks. They huddle together beneath the eaves, making small talk and taking last-minute pictures. The crowd of students, a swarm of color, slowly heads inside the venue. It's prom night in the tiny town of Burns, here in the heart of sprawling eastern Oregon. Back in January, you'd have been hard pressed to find anything resembling the likes of what's unfolding this balmy Saturday night in this log cabin on the hill, to the right up past the old lumber mill. Truth be told, you'd have been hard pressed to find much of anything happening here beyond the standoff that pitted armed occupiers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge against the government in a protracted battle over federal land. It was as if the whole county, all 10,000 square miles of it, was under a kind of siege. The episode, which lasted 41 days, held Harney County, and the eyes of the world, in its grip. For the students at Burns High School, all 247 of them, the standoff meant an extra week off after their scheduled holiday break, when officials decided to close the schools over concerns for students' safety. When they returned to school, the students were greeted by teachers and staff at the front door, which was kept locked. All the doors were kept locked. "There were a lot of law enforcement patrolling the perimeter of the school grounds," said Marilyn McBride, superintendent for the Harney County School District. They weren't just patrolling around the schools, either. To say the whole town was crawling with law enforcement wouldn't be an overstatement. Here at the prom, the closest thing resembling the law would be the school's principal, Brandon Yant, who is quietly supervising from a dark corner over by the dance floor. For the hundred or so students at the Big Bear Lodge, everything about those weeks seems as far off as that blinding snow, which has long since melted away. Or those hundreds of thousands of birds that blew through town this spring, as they do every spring, migrating along the Pacific Flyway. An atmosphere of utter normalcy, at once jarring and reassuring, prevails tonight. The rite of passage that is Prom Night belongs to these kids as much as -- scratch that, more than -- any other group of teenagers. The punch has been poured, the lights turned down low. It's Prom Night. Their night. Woodrow "Woody" Lamborn, who grew up in Burns, made the trip from Portland to provide the music, which is throbbing against the pine logs of the cabin. "I add a few country songs, I add some swing dances," Lamborn says. "These are ranch kids." Kaelin Beers and her boyfriend, Jacob Wheeler, are slow dancing by the fireplace, away from the crowded dance floor. Kaelin is wearing an elaborate, custom-made camo dress -- strapless, with peach satin trim. Jacob wears a matching camo vest. "We already decided our wedding will be in camo," said Kaelin, 18. The two have been together "almost a year," they said in unison. Kaelin, who's been hunting since she was 12 years old, prefers "mostly big game," she said. "Deer and elk." Kaelin is one of four valedictorians this year at Burns High. Come the fall, she'll head to Oregon State University, where she'll study pre-med. "I want to be a radiologist," she said. Kaelin says they talked about the standoff in class some while it was going on. Mostly, though, nothing much changed for the students, she said. "Except for the drama at the refuge, for us, it was all still the same." "There's more drama in the adults' lives," she added. "It seems the kids are having a better time handling it than the adults are." -- Beth Nakamura 503-221-8218 Twitter: @bethnakamura Instagram: @bethnakamura Note to readers: This is the fourth week of The Oregonian/OregonLive's coverage of Oregon's 2016 prom season. See all of our staff photos at www.oregonlive.com/prom. Students, parents and staff can add their photos to the mix by using the hash tag #PDXprom on Instagram and Twitter. -- Beth Nakamura, bnakamura@oregonian.com There are many times veteran Todd Martyn has put his pennies together to feed his dog, Harley. The pair have been though homelessness once before and are now facing it again. He makes sure his dog eats before he does, said Joe Konze, of Midland, a friend of Martyns. The pair worked together at an area company a few years ago and the two have kept in contact. He was living with his dog in a tent, even though winter, Konze said. He doesnt like asking for help. So when Martyn, 51, called Konze a few days ago asking for help, Konze knew the situation was dire. Hes a good man, a hard worker, strong willed and doesnt give up, Konze said of his friend, noting that his friend needs a place to put his fifth wheel so that he wont be homeless. Our veterans should be taken care of a lot better than they are. Martyn cant afford the lot rents, because he hasnt found a steady job, not because he isnt trying. Last year, Martyn, a master carpenter, was handed the title to a fifth wheel. He earned it as payment for flipping a house. I was so happy, because it meant me and my dog wouldnt be homeless anymore, said Martyn. Now, the owner of the Bullock Creek land where Martyn has been living on wants him to leave, because the owner doesnt like the dog around. Who doesnt like a black Labrador? Martyn asked, noting that now he has only days to leave the property. I didnt have anywhere to go when I came here, Martyn said, and I dont have anywhere to go again, noting that he doesnt want to lose his dog or their home. Martyn grew up in foster care and has no human family. Harley is my family, he said. Hes the best dog, hes so smart. When I come home his tail is always wagging. Having grown up tossed from place to place, Martyn said he never really found a place where he belonged. But one foster care placement led him to Bullock Creek, where he attended school for eight months. So, in 2010 he came back to the area and a short time later, he rescued then 6-month-old Harley. Martyn found a six-acre rental, was working as a carpenter and said he and Harley were pretty happy. Then, Martyn was laid off in 2014. Having nowhere to go, Martyn and Harley lived in a tent. That winter, he and Harley survived with space heaters. One for him and one for me, he said. He is working odd jobs here and there, but nothing that equals a 40-hour week. In past years his projects included being the Michigan foreman for the Soaring Eagle Water Park, hotels, houses and other commercial construction. He also worked in Washington, D.C. doing a historical restoration of Duke Ellingtons house. That was pretty cool, he said. I am so proud of what I do. I love what I do. Martyn said he just hopes that he soon finds a place to do it. Martyn, a Cold War veteran served in the Army from 1983 to 1989 stationed in Neu Ulm, Germany working in the nuclear area and then three years as a military police officer in Oklahoma. Konze reached out to veteran agencies to help his friend, but none has been able to help so far. White House Historical Association photo) On May 9, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared the second Sunday in May a public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country. The First Family has embraced the holiday, Mothers Day, for the past century, says a post today on the White House Historical Association's Facebook page. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy moved into the White House with John, Jr. and Caroline, the youngest children to live in the White House since President Theodore Roosevelts administration. During the Kennedy era, the first lady balanced her ceremonial duties with the full-time job of raising two small children. A motorist has been hospitalized with severe injuries after a traffic accident in Mount Pleasant that required fire rescue and left a Penske truck with the entire top sheared off. A press release from the Isabella County Sheriffs Department stated that Benjamin Fredrick Clarke, 19, of Royal Oak, was southbound on Business Route US-127 and lost control after failing to negotiate the curve. The 2009 Ford F150 that Clarke was driving struck high-tension power lines and pulled them down over the roadway. Editorial shortcomings To the editor: The Detroit News editorial reprinted by this paper, State should prep for costly Clean Power Plan, has some good information, and, unfortunately, important shortcomings. The Clean Power Plan offers a good start on our road to carbon-free energy and a livable world for our children. It calls for results, but does not specify methods, which allows states to experiment with best solutions. As reported, the Libertarian Niskanen Center correctly identified that a carbon tax is the most efficient way to decrease fossil fuel use economists agree on this and was also correct that a carbon tax would, by itself, slow the economy. What the editorial omitted is that a price on carbon linked with return of 100 percent of that revenue to citizens on an equitable basis would actually stimulate the economy and add jobs. This is called Carbon Fee and Dividend (CFD) and is the solution promoted by Citizens Climate Lobby, and is also supported by the Niskanen Center. As explained by George Shultz, secretary of state under Ronald Reagan and former chair of the economics department at the University of Chicago, CFD is not a tax because the government doesnt get to keep the money. According to the detailed report by Regional Economic Models, Inc (REMI), Michigan would be among the biggest winners with a CFD policy. You can read the entire REMI report at the CCL website (CitzensClimateLobby.org). We urgently need to transform our energy economy. Americans want a bright future for our children, and they need jobs now. These goals are not mutually exclusive. The best current example of CFD at the sub-national level is right next door in British Columbia, where fossil fuel consumption is down while they have the fastest growing economy in Canada. JAMES W. CRISSMAN Midland Group Leader Citizens Climate Lobby Calling donors is not work To the editor: U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar: How many hours a week are you leaving the House to make donor calls? Will you sign on as a co-sponsor of Rep. Jollys Stop Act bill to stop this behavior? Will you vote for this bill if it were to ever get to the Floor for a vote? Did you support Rep. Jollys legislation (H.R. 457) to permanently change the standing rules of the House of Representatives that require the House to be in session a minimum of 40 hours a week while in Washington? As my representative in the House, I do want to know that you are raising funds only outside the work day. We all know that white collar jobs are not usually 8-hour days. As an educational administrator I can certainly relate to this. My work day often ran 15 hours a day in the fall and winter. During the spring it dropped to 10 to 12 hours and in the summer it dropped to eight hours a day. Saturdays were often work days as well. I did not take five to six hours out of the work day to make personal calls; nor should our elected officials. Hopefully, you are not among those representatives who are spending 30 hours a week during the day making donor calls. CHARLIE RUSSIAN Sanford Spread the word To the editor: The mission of the Mount Pleasant Discovery Museum is to spark creativity, nourish learning and inspire the curiosity of children through self-directed discovery in an engaging, hands-on environment. The MPDM offers about 10 different exhibits, special events, weekly programs and is a great place to host birthday parties, field trips, etc. What child wouldnt love it here? In order for the museum to stay successful and provide all these fun activities, we urge parents to continue bringing their children here as well as helping spread the word to other families. For a small price of $7 per person/day you get to explore, learn, create and grow with your child here at the museum. Each Friday there is also a special promotion after 5 p.m. where admission is only $5. After spending a day at the museum you may enjoy it so much that you may wish to purchase an annual membership. With weekly programs, special events each month and birthday parties there is never a dull moment at the Mount Pleasant Discovery Museum. Regardless, any amount of time spent here will sure to be filled with smiles, laughs and endless memories. We need your help in creating more awareness of the museum by spreading the word to families in Midland, Mount Pleasant and other surrounding areas. KAYLEIGH FOREMAN Mount Pleasant May 8 to 14 has been designated as the first-ever national Economic Development Week, a way to draw attention to the role economic development plays in making our communities better places to live and work. Exactly what economic development is and does can be difficult to grasp and often controversial when it comes to funding such activities, since much of what we do is behind the scenes and the services we provide are confidential. The International Economic Development Council (IEDC) notes that the main goal of economic development is improving the economic well-being of a community through efforts that entail job creation, job retention, tax base enhancements and quality of life. How those goals are focused on and accomplished differs in each community. At Midland Tomorrow, the economic development agency for Midland County, we focus on both attraction and retention. On the attraction side, we promote our county, its businesses and available sites by maintaining a strong online presence, sending information to site selectors and participating in tours that bring those people to our community, and submitting appropriate properties to requests for proposals (RFPs) from the state or other sources. In 2015, we submitted approximately 25 RFPs and have already submitted a half dozen this year. Experts in the economic development field estimate that 90 percent of location decisions now start online, so its important to have a solid internet presence. Last year, Midland Tomorrow revamped its website, making it easier for visitors to find the information they need, including available properties, demographics and quality of life information. We also increased our social media presence with regular postings of business and community information. Even with your best foot forward, a communitys chances of luring a business that will bring hundreds of new jobs is low, especially when youre competing with communities nationwide and even worldwide. Thats why economic development focuses just as much, if not more, on helping local businesses start up, retain jobs and grow. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, analysis of data from the National Establishment Time Series (NETS) shows that 87 percent of jobs come from start-ups and expanding businesses already within a state. And, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) estimates that small businesses provided 55 percent of all jobs and 66 percent of all net new jobs since the 1970s. At Midland Tomorrow, we interact with local businesses of all sizes and stages on a regular basis through retention visits where we check in to see what needs they may have, and when directly requested by business owners. Look for an article in the Midland Daily News later this week on some of the businesses we have assisted. Needless to say, economic development is not accomplished in a vacuum. It requires cooperation and the efforts of local government and numerous partner agencies. Midland Tomorrow works with the city and county, plus various partners most notably our new affiliation with the Midland Area Chamber of Commerce as the Midland Business Alliance. Other partners include the Michigan Economic Development Corp. (MEDC), Small Business Development Center (SBDC), Great Lakes Bay Regional Alliance, MichiganWorks!, Momentum Midland and MidMichigan Innovation Center. We all bring different strengths to the table, and we complement rather than duplicate each others efforts. The biggest professional hurdle for economic development professionals is awareness. We want the community to know we are here to help. If you own a business in Midland County and are even just starting to think about an expansion, or have an employment need, or are looking for financial assistance, potential sites or start-up resources, please contact us. The earlier in the process you are, typically the more assistance we can offer. Visit our website, www.midlandtomorrow.org for information or call us at (989) 839-0340. Our offices are at 300 Rodd St., downtown Midland. Happy Economic Development Week! Becky Church is the vice president of operations at Midland Tomorrow, and has been with the organization for 13 years. Big Ags control of the non-refundable, federally chartered Research & Promotion programs more commonly known as commodity checkoffs reached new heights April 19 when the House Appropriations Committee approved the U.S. Department of Agricultures $21.3 billion 2017 budget. Tucked 34 pages into the pending bills 217 pages of bureaucratic thatch was this thorn: Since commodity Research and Promotion boards USDA-appointed checkoff boards are not agencies of the federal government, nor funded with federal funds the Committee urges USDA to recognize that such boards are not subject to the provisions of 5 U.S.C. Section 552. That's the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, the rules of how each [federal] agency shall make available to the pubic information on how government works. In short, the USDA funding bill, approved by a voice vote, will prevent any farmer, rancher or taxpayer from filing a Freedom of Information request on any aspect of how the 22 federally mandated checkoffs collect and spend more than $500 million a year. This move to darkness arrived April 11, when, according to the Capital Press, a Salem, Ore., weekly ag newspaper, 14 commodity organizations requested the change in FOIA policy on behalf of their related checkoff fee-funded boards in a letter to the Appropriations subcommittee that deals with USDA funding. Not surprising, several of the groups that signed the letter have been reprimanded by USDA for illegal use of checkoff money. For example, a May 1993 column explained how a USDA audit of the relatively new, non-refundable soybean checkoff uncovered $405,219 of questioned costs by the checkoffs key contractor, the American Soybean Association. How did a freelance journalist like me working alone in the middle of an Illinois cornfield get the audit results? I filed a FOIA request with USDAs Agricultural Marketing Service, the overlord of all federal checkoffs. Later, a February 1997 column exposed how the National Pork Producers Council, the chief contractor for the pork checkoff, had hired a Washington, D.C., consulting firm to spy on activist groups whose philosophies, it explained, might have an effect on the pork industry. Unbelievably, the activist groups NPPC were monitoring as part of an ongoing $100,000 checkoff-sponsored effort illegal under checkoff law included the National Farmers Union and Nebraskas Center for Rural Affairs. Checkoff rule-bending continues. A partial, 2013 USDA audit of the beef checkoff showed that $216,000 had been spent on non-checkoff activities. One was an international airline ticket for an officials spouse. In 2015, a FOIA request compelled the American Egg Board, the egg checkoff, to turn over documents that exposed how its leader illegally tried to organize a public relations campaign against a vegan competitor because Im not kidding the competitors mayonnaise recipe did not include eggs. Last August, the U.S. District Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., ruled that a federal lawsuit filed by the Humane Society of the United States and others against the pork checkoff could go forward. The suit, based on information obtained through a FOIA request, alleges the checkoffs $60 million purchase of a marketing slogan from the NPPC, its former contractor, now funds NPPC programs to influence legislation and government policy, all illegal under checkoff rules. Given this checkered past, little wonder big commodity groups are now pushing Congress to declare federal checkoffs off-limits to the FOIA: nearly every time anyone looks, mistakes often whoppers are found. Saying federal checkoffs arent federal doesnt mean theyre not. In fact, all were established by a federal body, Congress; all are managed by boards appointed by a federal official, the secretary of agriculture; and all are overseen by an agency within a federal department, USDA. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia declared checkoffs to be government speech in a 2005 beef checkoff case, a phrase most checkoffs cheered at the time. For Big Ag now to push the House without one public hearing to declare otherwise is hypocritical, anti-democratic and shameful. Bloomington-Normal Nature, concrete and abstract; through May 20, Jan Brandt Gallery, 1106 W. Bell St., Bloomington; paintings by Phil Smith; viewing by appointment at janbrandtgallery@gmail.com. Three Visions Patterns-Shadows-Nature; 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sat., May 6-28, Eaton Gallery, 411 N. Center St., Bloomington; photography by Mary Jo Adams, Ken Chiu amd Ken Kashian. ISU University Galleries; noon-4 p.m. Mon., 9:30 a.m.-7 p.m. Tue., 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Wed.-Fri., noon-4 p.m. Sat.-Sun., Uptown Station, 11 Uptown Circle, Normal; rotating exhibits in three galleries; free; 309-438-8321. 2016 ISU Student Annual; through May 8, ISU University Galleries, see above; juried show open to all ISU students. IWU Merwin and Wakeley Galleries; school hours, noon-4 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 1-4 p.m. Sat.-Sun., 7-9 p.m. Tue.; 302 E. Graham St., Bloomington; rotating exhibits; free; 309-556-3391. Richard Hull; through May 27, IWU Merwin Gallery, see above; paintings and drawings. Tolerance of the Unexpected; through May 27, IWU Wakeley Gallery; mixed-media works. McLean County Arts Center; 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Tue., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed.-Fri., noon-4 p.m. Sat.; 601 N. East St., Bloomington; rotating exhibits, sales, rentals, art classes and lectures; free; 309-829-0011. Bravo Charlie Alpha; through June 11, McLean County Arts Center, see above; paintings by Kevin Goodrich. Emerging Illinois Artists 2016; through June 11, McLean County Arts Center, see above; juried show of 34 works by 20 Illinois university MFA students. The Lay of the Land; through June 10, McLean County Arts Center, see above; paintings by Tony Rio. McLean County Museum of History; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat. (until 9 p.m. Tue.), 200 N. Main St., Bloomington; permanent and rotating exhibits; adults $5, seniors $4, students, children under 12 and members free; 309-827-0428. Challenges, Choices and Change: Making a Home; McLean County Museum of History, see above; new permanent exhibit exploring experiences of people from around the world who made McLean County their home. Mary Jungels-Goodyear; 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Mon.-Thu. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun., through May 31, Normal Public Library Art Gallery, 206 W. College Ave., Normal; prints; 309-452-1757. Prairie Aviation Museum; 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Thu.-Sat., noon-4 p.m. Sun., 2929 E. Empire St., Bloomington; permanent and rotating exhibits and displays with aerial history themes; adults $5, ages 6-11 $3, 5 and under free; 309-663-7632. Central Illinois U of I Krannert Art Museum; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat. (until 9 p.m. Thu. during fall and spring semesters), 2-5 p.m. Sun., 500 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign; paintings, porcelain, historical artifacts, traveling art exhibits; $3 donation suggested; 217-333-1861. Spheres of Influence: African Vessels from the KAM Collection; through May 15, Krannert Art Museum, see above; 24 ceramic pots from regions across Africa. Amity Township Museum; 1-3 p.m. first Sun. of month or by appointment, 510 Main St., Cornell; Amity Township Museum; 1-3 p.m. first Sun. of month or by appointment, 510 Main St., Cornell; displays and artifacts relating to history of Cornell and Amity Township; free; 815-358-2973. Eureka College Burgess Hall Art Gallery; 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. weekdays and by appointment on weekends, third floor of Burgess Hall, Eureka College, Eureka; rotating exhibits; free; 309-467-6866. Simpkins Military History Museum; 1-5 p.m. Tue., Thu., Sat., or by appointment; 605 E. Cole St., Heyworth; permanent and rotating military history exhibits; free (donations accepted); 309-473-3989. The Vietnam War 50th Anniversary; through Nov. 30, Simpkins Military History Museum, see above. Dickson Mounds Museum; 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. daily, 10956 N. Dickson Mounds Road, Lewistown; displays, special exhibits; free; 309-547-3721. Lincoln Heritage Museum; 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 1-4 p.m. Sat., Lincoln Center at Lincoln College, 300 Keokuk St., Lincoln; Lincoln-era items, audio-visual displays, tours, exhibits, more; adults $7, children/tours $4; 217-735-7399. Contemporary Art Center of Peoria; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat., Riverfront Arts Center, 305 S.W. Water, Peoria; rotating exhibits in two galleries; free; 309-674-6822. LJ Douglas: Animations and Works on Paper; through June 17, Contemporary Art Center of Peoria, see above. Reception, 6:30-8:30 p.m. May 14. Our Enchanted Earth; May 13-June 24, Contemporary Art Center of Peoria, see above; sculptures by Nikole Cooney. Reception, 6:30-8:30 p.m. May 14. Peoria Art Guild; Foster Arts Center, Harrison and Washington streets, Peoria; rotating exhibits, gift shop; free; 309-637-2787. Peoria Riverfront Museum; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Wed. and Sat., 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Thu.-Fri., noon-5 p.m. Sun., downtown riverfront Peoria; permanent and rotating exhibits, planetarium shows, Giant Screen Theater and events; $8-$11; 309-686-7000. Figures of Strength: Artworks by Sculptor Nita Sunderland; through July 10, Peoria Riverfront Museum, see above; 30 works by Peoria artist, including sculptures, prints, drawings and a painting. American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition; through May 30, Peoria Riverfront Museum, see above; touring exhibit featuring 100 Prohibition-era artifacts; $3 in addition to regular museum admission. Museum of the Gilding Arts; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sun., April-Oct., and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Mon.-Sun., Nov.-March, 217 N. Mill St., Pontiac; displays, history and hands-on exhibits dedicated to the art of gilding and gold beating; free (donations welcome); 815-842-1848. Pontiac Community Art Center; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat.-Sun., 103 W. Madison St., Pontiac; rotating exhibits; 815-844-5831. Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sun., 212 N. Sixth St., Springfield; Lincoln-themed exhibits, historical displays, special events, more; adults $12, seniors and students $9, ages 5-15 $5, under 5 free; 217-558-8844. Unfinished Work: The Taper Collection in the Limelight; through May 15, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum, see above; new items from Lincoln-themed collection. Life isn't fair. That universal truth is something that children seem to understand almost intuitively at a young age, but the path through which they develop a sense of what's fair and what isn't -- and how they act on injustices -- is something that has been a puzzle for social scientists. Fairness, a willingness to sacrifice for the sake of greater quality, is an ideal that supports cooperation, resource sharing and sacrifice. But it also can lead to competition and greed. It is often talked about as the basis of human civilization, and it affects every aspect of our lives. As the gap between the world's top 1 percent and the rest has increased to historic highs in recent years, fairness in material payoffs or inequality has become one of the most important issues of our time. In an effort to understand how much of this concept is hard-wired into our biology and how much of it is cultural, a team of psychologists and anthropologists led by Harvard University professor Felix Warneken traveled to seven countries to study how different groups of children play fair. Their work, which was published in the journal Nature, was focused on the children's reaction to two types of scenarios that are unfair. The first, disadvantageous inequity, occurs when one receives less than a peer. The second, advantageous inequity, happens when one receives more than a peer. The theory has been that these are two distinct concepts that emerge at different ages and use different parts of the brain. But little has been known about environmental influences until this study. Both are believed to be part of the glue that holds societies together. An aversion to disadvantageous inequity "can provide long-term benefits by preventing competitors from attaining a relative advantage and signaling that one will not tolerate being exploited," Warneken, a social sciences professor, and his co-authors wrote. Advantageous inequity aversion "entails a larger immediate sacrifice by rejecting a relative advantage. It may signal that one is a good cooperative partner who will not exploit others." Previous studies have found that a distaste for disadvantageous inequity develops in children by the time they are 4. Advantageous inequity aversion, on the other hand, doesn't appear until closer to 8. That seems to indicate the influence of social norms. Universal vs. cultural The new study, believed to be the first to look at inequity aversion across societies in children, was seeking to find out more about which aspects of fairness might be universal and which might be culturally driven. To that end, the researchers designed an "inequity game" that they used to test 866 pairs of children ages 4 to 15 in Canada, India, Mexico, Peru, Senegal, Uganda and the United States. Co-author Peter Blake, an assistant professor of psychology at Boston University, explained that the experiment was specifically designed to see how children would respond to two sides of inequality and how they made decisions that affected both themselves and a peer. The rules were simple: Two children of the same gender and similar age were seated across from each other and were offered some Skittles candy. Sometimes the allocations were equal and sometimes they were not. One of the two children got to decide whether both of them accepted the allocation or rejected it. The experiment was set up to work through a machine that required the child to pull on one handle to accept the deal -- resulting in the candy being poured into a bowl for each child -- and a different handle to reject it -- dumping the sweets into a third bowl where neither one would get to eat it. In all seven societies -- which ranged from small villages with a subsistence economy to large industrialized cities -- the results indicated a rejection of disadvantageous inequity. That is, when the children were allocated less candy than their peers, they tended to route all the treats into the bowl that no one could access. That was expected. "This seems to be a basic human response to getting less than someone else," said study co-author Katherine McAuliffe, an assistant professor at Boston College. Whether they were rejecting the candy out of frustration or meanness, the children were motivated to deprive others of an advantage, she said. Emphasis on equality The reactions to advantageous inequity were more mixed. Children in only three countries -- the United States, Canada and Uganda -- had a tendency to reject unequal distributions of candy when they got more than their peers. "In these societies, rejections of advantageous allocations increased with age. ... Given that Western societies tend to emphasize establishing and enforcing norms of equality, it is possible that children in these communities face social pressures to internalize and enact these norms earlier in development compared to other societies," the researchers wrote, noting that although Uganda is a non-Western society, the schools they recruited their subjects from tended to have Western teachers. BLOOMINGTON The City Council is looking at starting the process of creating a new tax increment financing district spanning three blocks downtown where a privately developed hotel, conference center and parking are proposed. To create a TIF district, the completion of a feasibility study is required under state law. The council will be asked Monday night to authorize the study and award a $33,000 contract to Peckham, Guyton, Albers and Viets (PGAV). "For the council to approve this, it does not actually bind them to set the TIF up," said Bloomington Economic Development Coordinator Austin Grammer. "That would then require additional votes and public hearings and things like we did for Colonial Plaza." St. Louis-based PGAV conducted a similar study last fall that led to the February creation of the only operating TIF district in the city the Empire Street Corridor TIF District in east Bloomington that includes the former Colonial Plaza Shopping Center, now known as Empire Crossing Shopping Center. The three-block area for the proposed new TIF district called Downtown Southwest TIF District would be bounded by Washington Street to the north, North Center Street to the east, Front Street to the South and North Lee Street to the west. Explaining the name, Grammer said, "You have to name these things and that's the name we came up with because it's southwest of the square." East Peoria developer Jeff Giebelhausen's group, Bloomington Downtown Redevelopment Partners LLC, is hoping to attract a developer to rehab the historic Commerce Bank and Front 'N' Center buildings in the 100 block of North Center Street into a brand-name hotel with four restaurants/bars. In the block across Madison Street to the west, the developer in Giebelhausen's plan would build a parking deck and a building housing a conference center above a new Commerce Bank branch. The two blocks would be linked by an elevated walkway over Madison Street Property owned by Joe and Ruth Haney west of Madison Street is being included because it has been discussed as a potential location to provide additional parking, said Grammer. "This is the next phase of the city beginning to create the TIF district downtown in order for us to capture the increased property tax revenues from the $53 million private investment (in the hotel plan) and in order for us to pay for any city incentives so that this downtown development is neutral to the general fund," said Mayor Tari Renner. "No tax dollars that we're currently getting will go to this project," referring to the hotel proposal, said Renner Conducting a TIF study "follows up part of the inducement resolution that the City Council approved back in March to induce Bloomington Downtown Redevelopment Partners to provide us with a full and complete development proposal by May 31," said Grammer. "We requested that they do that," he added. "We also said we would do this to start the process to establish a TIF district." If PGAV's findings conclude a new TIF district would comply with state law, the council could create the TIF district, allowing for future tax increment funds to be rebated back to the private developer to help pay for the redevelopment project Giebelhausen is brokering. In a TIF district, a portion of property taxes generated by improvements in the district are placed into a fund for economic development projects within the district. As a result, the areas other taxing bodies, such as Bloomington District 87, would continue to receive property tax revenue generated by the base value of properties in the district, but not the increased future value during the life of the TIF district, which is typically 23 years. The city hired SB Friedman Development Advisors to vet the feasibility of the plan for a 129-room hotel, a 12,000-square-foot conference center and a 250-space parking deck. The Chicago-based consultant determined $8.8 million to $11.2 million in assistance such as property and sales tax abatements would be needed from the public sector because the cost to develop the property would exceed market value. While many Illinois school districts would welcome additional money from the state, theres a question whether its wise to continue to throw more money into a system that is seriously flawed. That appears to be what Gov. Bruce Rauner and Republicans in the General Assembly want to do. The current system is grossly unfair, with rich districts spending up to $30,000 per student and poorer districts getting by on as little as $6,000 per student. The result is students from low-income areas, which several studies have shown need more help in order to succeed, receive the least amount of help. The current system undoubtedly places more value on some students than others. Rauner threw cold water on the latest bill from Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, claiming it was a bailout for the Chicago public schools. Sen. Jason Barickman, R-Bloomington, joined the well-orchestrated chorus. The day before the scheduled vote, the Rauner administration exploited the politically-charged issue by releasing a report on which districts would gain money and which would lose. The administration has had the bill since February, so the release was obviously politically motivated. If this analysis truly took the Illinois State Board of Education two months to complete, then they need to hire better analysts. Manar has made several changes to his proposal in recent years to make it more politically palatable. Its a difficult topic because some districts would lose state funding. The latest version includes a hold harmless provision that would have phased in the changes over the four years. That would give school districts that receive less state funding a chance to adapt. Manar also has a provision for the state to pick up the cost of teacher pensions for Chicago schools. The state picks up the costs of pensions for districts in the rest of the state, but Manar has since changed that provision. Barickman criticized the bill because Manar did not have a plan to fund the additional cost. Rauner wants to spend an additional $55 million on schools in the next fiscal year, but has revealed no plans to fix the unfair funding scheme. Rauner and Barickman are intentionally confusing the issue. The current funding system is unfair, no matter how much money is poured into the educational system which may sound nice, but it doesnt solve the fundamental unfairness of the current system. While Rauner, Barickman and others criticize Manars plan, they have revealed no plans of their own to fix a system that nearly everyone involved in education knows is unfair and puts the states poorest students at a disadvantage. Rauner has stated hes in favor of education reform, although most of his actions thus far have been to maintain the status quo. In the best interests of the states students, Rauner and the Republicans should quit playing political games with Manars proposal and work to reform a system that is fundamentally unfair to many. Me to the patriarchy in 2017 [nochillatall] I gasped [weirdwideweb] See me for the lizard man I truly am [yung_nihilist] This dog tricks strangers into playing fetch with her and yes, I am crying [Adulthoodisokiguess] A dealbreaker for sure [soap_shoes] The sheer malice in those eyes [meangrandma420] Just an El Hopaness Romtic [Adulthoodisokiguess] I gasped again. [sonny5ideup] And she's not happy about it. [nochillatall] wait no [yung_nihilist] Jenny Holzer's new work is so challenging [extremelycursedimages] *X Files theme intensifies* [nochillatall] By far the most cursed image of 2016 [yung_nihilist] *sings* "I'm so glaaaad to beee a dead body." [everythingisterrible] wow queen, ur so beautiful [fkatwigs] The magic of this [nudge] Happy new year everybody! [fkatwigs] Every work of art has a message, whether it be the intention of the artist or not, anyone who sees it will naturally assign a meaning to it. For painter Sylvia Maier, artists should be aware of and be inspired by societal realities, which led her to start the "Currency Series," a long-running project that includes "The Circle of Mothers Project," an exhibit dedicated to black mothers who lost their sons from the hands of policemen. What Is Sylvia Maier's "The Circle Of Mothers Project"? "The Circle of Mothers Project" is Sylvia Maier's painting exhibit of the portraits of mothers whose sons were murdered by the police. Sylvia used oil as her medium---painting painstakingly on aluminum canvas that is 48 inches long and 48 inches wide each. All of the mothers were enclosed on a coin with the names of their deceased children and the phrases, "United States of America," "In God We Trust," and "Liberty," illustrating the hypocrisy of official authorities to deny liberty from these mother's innocent children when it should it fact be protecting them. "These mothers, they are the living victims living with the loss of their children," Sylvia Maier told The Huffington Post. "They would wrap around a city block many times over. I want to show that there is a huge crisis in our community, where women are mourning their children. It's not a political thing. It's a human thing. I want the mother in Westchester to relate to these images as much as the mother in The Bronx." Being a mother herself, Sylvia Maier understands her responsibility as an artist to immortalize the lives of the children lost and make people recognize the resilience and heroism of each grieving mother. For her, it's important to understand the gravity of the violence and what it means for society as it continues to exist. "For me personally, I don't see how someone can turn away from what's going on in the world around them. I'm a mother and the fact that these beautiful people have had to suffer this - it's just an outrage. I don't want to leave this for our future generation. It's not just a black issue, everyone needs to care. What's it going to take for you to care?," she tells The Huffington Post. What is "The Circle of Mothers?" The women Sylvia Maier painted are actually part of a national support group called, "The Circle of Mothers," thus the title of the exhibit. It was started by Sybrina Fulton whose son, Trayvon Martin, was shot by George Zimmerman because he feared for his life. According to a report by Fusion, Sybrina started the organization to help grieving mothers heal and to empower them to start community movements against these killings, especially senseless gun violence. In a heartfelt exclusive letter published by Time, Sybrina Fulton writes to the Brown family whose son Michael became another victim of gun violence: "I hate that you and your family must join this exclusive yet growing group of parents and relatives who have lost loved ones to senseless gun violence. Of particular concern is that so many of these gun violence involve children far too young. But Michael is much more than a police/gun violence case. Michael is your son. A son that barely had a chance to live." Many artists like Sylvia Maier also dedicate their art to raise awareness on gun violence. As featured by Color Lines, one example is Sophia Dawson's mural in New York City where she painted Latina and black mothers whose children were victims of police brutality. You can check the mural at 22nd East 2nd Street, between Bowery and Second Avenue. Meanwhile, Sylvia Maier's "The Circle of Mothers Project" will be open for viewing at Gallery Josephine from May 28 to June 13. Most people are still not comfortable with the idea of having to share a public bathroom with a trans person. In this case, there have been several bathroom bills that politicians are trying to pass in several states. But is the country ready to keep trans people out of public bathrooms for the sake of religious rights? What Are Bathroom Bills? Most bathroom bills that have recently been proposed aim to make sure trans people can only use public bathrooms that match the sex indicated in their birth certificate. This means that a trans woman who was born male will not be allowed to use a female bathroom in a mall or a restaurant. It might seem like too much trouble to go through in an effort to limit a trans person's use of the bathroom, but most lawmakers are claiming religious rights to pass their bills. Wisconsin lawmaker Jesse Kremer states that it could affect the future. "Down the road, this basically blows the doors off of any boundaries in society-we'll have a completely sexless society," the Republican told Slate. How Many Bathroom Bills Are Out There? There have been several bathroom bills that were presented throughout the country although none of them have actually succeeded. In March, a bathroom bill that was aimed at public school students in South Dakota was denied by the state's governor. A similar bathroom bill was proposed in Tennessee but it lost its sponsor. Meanwhile, another bill in South Carolina did not win against the State senate. The Connection Of Bathroom Bills To Gay Marriage Some believe that the sudden surge in bathroom bills was caused by the approval of gay marriage. Human Rights Campaign senior legislative counsel Cathryn Oakley spoke about how religious conservatives have now turned to bathroom bills instead of rallying against gay marriage. "There's a sense that that battle is lost, but that energy remains," she told Slate. "I think that energy has unfortunately been diverted in the direction of attacking trans people, specifically trans kids, but also trans adults." None of the recently proposed bathroom bills have been passed in the country (via MSNBC). However, there are more bills that could be proposed in the future. Artificial intelligence (AI) first emerged in the late 1940s. But today, AI is transforming most if not all industries, including the foodservice industry. In fact, a company called Momentum Machines has created an AI-driven robot that can make one burger from scratch every 10 seconds in an hour. The Future of Fast Food: Artificial Intelligence Comes To KFC Artificial intelligence technology are looking for ways to transform the fast food industry and KFC introduces this innovation in its new store branch in Shanghai, China. According to Daily Mail, KFC has launched "Dumi," the fast food chain's AI robot that is smart enough to handle order changes and substitutes but Dumi can't distinguish other dialects or accents. KFC's new concept store that houses Dumi is called "Original+," a collaboration between the fast food chain and Chinese web service, Baidu. The restaurant is located at the National Exhibition Convention Center. KFC and Baidu reportedly named the store "Original+" in honor of the company's traditional recipe, The Nanfang reports. The artificial intelligence-run restaurant opened on Apr. 25 and featured wireless charging stations. Artificial Intelligence Invades Domino's Pizza Aside from KFC, Domino's Pizza in New Zealand is also reportedly incorporating artificial intelligence in its delivery service through a robot dubbed as Robotic Unit (DRU) that can self-drive up to 12.5 miles, The Telegraph reveals. Domino's AI robot is a three-foot tall battery-powered unit that contains a heated compartment for storing up to 10 pizzas. Carl's Jr. and Hardee's CEO Andy Puzder, on the other hand, is showing some interest in using artificial intelligence to run a fast-food restaurant. The idea comes after Puzder visited the fully automated Californian restaurant, Eatsa. Artificial Intelligence Threatens Foodservice Labor Force With the emergence of artificial intelligence and technology innovations in the fast food industry, is foodservice labor force in danger? AI is not only invading food prep, it is also encroaching upon customer service, with restaurants using iPads for food ordering and AI-driven food servers. With that said, artificial intelligence has the potential to eliminate foodservice labor force. Since minimum wage proposals and the labor costs have increased across the United States, it's not difficult to see where the AI path in foodservice industry is going, NACS Online. Artificial Intelligence Role In Service Industry Experts, however, claimed that the goal of artificial intelligence in the service industry is not to cut jobs. Instead, AI-driven robots will serve as a companion in helping to perform entry-level tasks more efficiently. "The ability to automate is cutting into what we can do with our entry-level employees," Conexxus Annual Conference keynote speaker and practical futurist Michael Rogers. "We need to think about more interesting ways to use people." Artificial Intelligence In Amusement Parks Aside from changing how the humans dine, artificial intelligence will also make its presence known in a Japanese amusement park by adding a robotic realm in July. The Dutch-themed amusement park, Huis Ten Bosch, is located in Nagasaki, Japan. Admission to the artificial intelligence-driven robot kingdom is expected to cost $59.33 for adults, as per Nikkei Asian Review. In addition, the amusement park also houses an AI-run hotel called Henn-na Hotel that opened last year. It features 72 rooms, three customer-service robots and one "service bot" that is capable of serving guests with coffee and perform other tasks. The hotel stay costs at $62.00 per night and a twin room from $80 per night, a separate Telegraph article reports. What do you think about artificial intelligence's invasion in the fast food industry? Sound off below and follow Parent Herald for more news and updates. Wax figure from Madame Tussauds in Las Vegas; photograph by Cliff (4-28-09) [Flickr / CC BY 2.0 license] *** (5-23-08) ***** This is based on extensive research (with new material added presently) that I undertook in 1985, when I was an evangelical campus missionary. Its one of the last major projects from my evangelical days (prior to October 1990) that needed to be uploaded to my blog. As there remains a lot of mythology on this topic: both from those who maintain the pretense that most of these men were all or mostly good evangelical born-again Christians to atheists and secularists who try to pass them off as mere cold deists, the topic is as timely and worthwhile as ever! As always, the truth is more interesting and unusual than the common myths that get bandied about on both the right and the left of the political and religious spectrum. * * * * * Washington expressed very little about the particulars of his faith; hence conclusions about him remain somewhat uncertain. The Founding Fathers (while not always orthodox by any stretch, even within a somewhat nebulous Protestant framework) nevertheless continued to hold to a broad Christian worldview. The question of the proper definition of deism largely depends on the matter of Divine Providence and whether it is consistent with deist belief. Some deists think it is, but the majority position seems to be that it isnt. The Catholic Encyclopedia (Deism) explains: [D]eism not only distinguishes the world and God as effect and cause; it emphasizes the transcendence of the Deity at the sacrifice of His indwelling and His providence. He is apart from the creation which He brought into being, and unconcerned as to the details of its working. Having made Nature, He allows it to run its own course without interference on His part. In this point the doctrine of deism differs clearly from that of theism. Michael and Jana Novak concur: Deism is not exactly a creed with clear tenets; it is more like a tendency of the mind; a movement like rationalism or romanticism; and, in the view of some historians of ideas, a half-way marker slowly moving from Jewish or Christian orthodoxy toward early modern science. The general drift of deism is that the originating and governing force of the universe is the god of modern rationalists (Newton, Spinoza, et al.), not at all like the Great God Jehovah of the Hebrew Bible. Deists prefer the god of reason to the God of revelation. The latter has a special love and care for particular peoples and persons, unlike the deist god, who is impersonal and indifferent to the world he sets in motion. The God of revelation intervenes and interposes in historical events and personal lives, and hears and answers prayers; the god of reason does no such things. Avery Cardinal Dulles, in an article on deism, classifies our subjects (I think a bit too strongly) as follows: George Washington (religious liberal leaning toward deism) [Alexander Hamilton, Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry are classified as generally orthodox Christians opposed to deism; John Witherspoon as a definitely orthodox believer. Most researchers also classify John Jay in this more orthodox category. James Madison is a religious liberal leaning toward deism] Benjamin Franklin (deist) John Adams (liberal Christian strongly influenced by deism) Thomas Jefferson (deist) Dulles stated about Jefferson: He made a careful study of the philosophical writings of Viscount Henry Bolingbroke, a strict deist whose God was remote and unconcerned with human affairs. Norman Cousins wrote a book on the religious views of ten of the Founding Fathers. In his introduction, he wrote: Though most of them resisted the literal Biblical view of creation, they maintained respect for the Bible as the source of Judaeo-Christian belief . . . It is significant that most of the Founding Fathers grew up in a strong religious atmosphere; many had Calvinist family backgrounds . . . Most certainly they did not turn against God or lose their respect for religious belief . . . Not all the founders acknowledged a formal faith, but it was significant that their view of man had a deeply religious foundation. Rights were God-given; man was endowed by his Creator; there were natural laws; freedom was related to the sacredness of man . . . each of these men had highly developed spiritual beliefs. (In God We Trust: The Religious Beliefs and Ideas of the American Founding Fathers, New York: Harper & Bros., 1958, 8-10, 14) Likewise, Ralph Ketcham, author of a 753-page biography of James Madison, makes a statement that well applies to the Founding Fathers as a group: Certain elements of Christian thought had almost universal acceptance in colonial America . . . Madisons Christian education gave him an extremely important overview of man and society . . . To them all, the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, and the 12th chapter of Romans were canonical . . . From the Christian tradition, he inherited . . . an understanding of human dignity as well as depravity, and a conviction that vital religion could contribute importantly to the general welfare. (James Madison: A Biography, New York: Macmillan, 1971, 46-50) George Washington constantly referred to Gods direct intervention, or Providence, especially with respect to the American Revolution: The hand of Providence has been so conspicuous in all this that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations. (James Thomas Flexner, Washington: The Indispensable Man, Boston: Little, Brown, & Co., 1974, 125; comment of 20 August 1778, with reference to the Battle of Monmouth: 28 June, 1778) On the day after Yorktown (the ending battle of the war), he spoke of the: . . . reiterated and astonishing interpositions of Providence. (Jared Sparks, editor, The Writings of George Washington, Boston: American Stationers Co., 1837, 12 volumes; Vol. XII: 402; comment of 20 October 1781) Ten years later, he was still repeating these sentiments: I am sure there never was a people, who had more reason to acknowledge a divine interposition in their affairs; than those of the United States; and I should be pained to believe, that they have forgotten that agency, which was so often manifested during our revolution, or that they failed ton consider the omnipotence of that God, who is alone able to protect them. (Sparks, ibid., XII, 403; letter to General Armstrong, 11 March 1792; the editor adds: examples of this kind might be multiplied indefinitely) Washingtons official correspondence and speeches are filled with the utmost piety: Above all, the pure and benign light of Revelation [has] had a meliorating influence on mankind, and increased the blessings of society . . . I now make my earnest prayer, that God would have you, and the state over which you preside, in his holy protection . . . that he would be most graciously pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation. (Sparks, ibid., XII, 403-404; circular letter to the Governors on the disbanding of the army: 8 June 1783) The commander-in-chief of the American army strongly urged worship among his soldiers: As a chaplain is allowed to each regiment, see that the men regularly attend divine worship. (Ibid., XII, 402; instructions to the Brigadier Generals, 26 May 1777) Washington even exhibited a tolerance towards Catholicism: a highly unusual thing in America at that time: Prudence, Policy, and a true Christian Spirit, will lead us to look with Compassion upon their Errors without insulting them. While we are contending for our own Liberty, we should be very cautious of violating the Rights of Conscience in others, ever considering that God alone is the Judge of the Hearts of Men, and to him only in this case, they are answerable. (James Morton Smith, editor, George Washington: A Profile, New York: Hill & Wang, 1969: chapter: George Washington and Religious Liberty, by Paul F. Boller, Jr., p. 169; letter to Benedict Arnold, concerning Catholicism in Canada: 14 September, 1775) I regret exceedingly that the disputes between the Protestants and Roman Catholics should be carried to the serious alarming height mentioned in your letters . . . I was not without hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy of the present age would have put an effectual stop to contentions of this kind. (Cousins, ibid., 67; letter to Sir Edward Newenham of Ireland, 22 June 1792) His presidential speeches abound in reverence towards God as well. For example, here are excerpts from his inaugural address of 30 April 1789: It would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being, who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of the nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that his benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a government instituted by themselves . . . homage to the great Author of every public and private good . . . No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the affairs of men, more than the people of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency . . . and the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained . . . I shall take my present leave, but not without resorting once more to the benign Parent of the human race, in humble supplication . . . so his divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views . . . on which the success of this government must depend. (Sparks, ibid., XII, 1-6) Washington even mentioned God in messages to the hallowed US Congress (imagine that!): Thus supported by a firm trust in the great Arbiter of the universe . . . (Ibid., 6; reply to the answer of the Senate) I humbly implore that Being, on whose will the fate of nations depends, to crown with success our mutual endeavors. (Ibid., 36; speech to Congress: 3 December 1793) Let us unite, therefore, in imploring the Supreme Ruler of nations to spread his holy protection over these United States. (Ibid., 54; speech to Congress: 19 November 1794) The Thanksgiving Proclamations are sterling examples of Washingtons warm piety: It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor . . . both Houses of Congress have . . . requested me to recommend . . . a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God . . . Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted . . . to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the Beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks . . . And also, that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and ruler of Nations, and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions. (Ibid., 119-120; 3 October 1789) It is in an especial manner our duty as a people, with devout reverence and affectionate gratitude, to acknowledge our many and great obligations to Almighty God . . . Deeply penetrated with this sentiment, I, George Washington, do recommend . . . to set apart and observe . . . a day of public thanksgiving and prayer . . . to the Great Ruler of nations. (Ibid., 132-134; 1 January 1795) His farewell address of 17 September 1796 offers similar thoughts: Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports . . . And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion . . . reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle . . . Can it be, that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a Nation with its Virtue? . . . I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. (Ibid., 214-235) He expressed one of the key elements of this speech again in the following year, in speaking to clergy: Believing, as I do, that religion and morality are the essential pillars of civil society . . . (Ibid., 245; address to the clergy of Philadelphia, March 1797) Washington thought soldiers should be given Bibles: [I]t is now too late to make the Attempt. It would have pleased me, if Congress should have made such an important present. (Cousins, ibid., 56; reply to Presbyterian pastor John Rodgers, on 11 June 1783) In 1789 the first Congress appropriated funds for the support of Christian missionaries among the Indians, which was approved by President Washington: The object . . . would be the happiness of Indians, teaching them the great duties of religion and morality, and to inculcate a friendship and an attachment to the United States. (This Nation Under God, Joseph F. Costanzo, S. J., New York: Herder and Herder, 1964, 147-148) Ten years earlier he had addressed the Delaware chiefs in similar fashion: You do well to wish to learn our arts and way of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are. (Cousins, ibid., 55; speech of 21 May 1779) Gods Providence is without question the leading theme in his references to God and Christianity: While we are zealously performing the duties of good Citizens and Soldiers we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of Religion. To the distinguished Character of Patriot, it should be our highest Glory to add the more distinguished Character of Christian. The signal Instances of providential Goodness which we have experienced and which have now almost crowned our labours with complete success, demand frm us in a peculiar manner the warmest returns of Gratitude and Piety to the Supreme Author of all Good. (Cousins, ibid., 51; General Orders at Valley Forge: 2 May 1778) Providence has heretofore saved us in a remarkable manner, and on this we must principally rely. (Cousins, ibid., 52; letter to John Parke Custis, 22 January 1777) The determinations of Providence are all ways wise; often inscrutable, and though its decrees appear to bear hard upon us at times is nevertheless meant for gracious purposes . . . (Cousins, ibid., 53; letter to Bryan Fairfax, 1 March 1778) I consider it an indispensable duty to close this last solemn act of my official life by commending the interests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superintendence of them, to his holy keeping. (Cousins, ibid., 56; address to Congress, 23 December 1783) Disposed, at every suitable opportunity to acknowledge publicly our infinite obligations to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe for rescuing our Country from the brink of destruction; I cannot fail at this time to ascribe all the honour of our late successes to the same glorious Being. (Cousins, ibid., 57; to the ministers, elders, deacons, and members of the reformed German congregation of New York, 27 November 1783) The power and goodness of the Almighty were strongly manifested in the events of our late glorious revolution, and his kind interposition on our behalf has been no less visible in the establishment of our present equal government. (Cousins, ibid., 62; message to the Hebrew congregations of Philadelphia, New York, Charleston, and Richmond, December 1790) It [is] not for man to scan the wisdom of Providence. The best he can do is to submit to its decrees. (Cousins, ibid., 64; letter to Henry Knox, 2 March 1797) On this, as upon all other occasions, I hope the best. It has always been my belief that Providence has not led us so far in the path of Independence of one Nation, to throw us into the Arms of another. (Cousins, ibid., letter to Henry Knox, 27 March, 1798) At disappointments and losses which are the effects of Providential acts, I never repine; because I am sure that the alwise disposer of events knows better than we do, what is best for us, or what we deserve. (Cousins, ibid., 68; letter to William Pearce, 25 May 1794) [A]s these are the effects of Providential dispensations resignation is our duty. (Cousins, ibid., 68; letter to William Pearce, 14 September 1794) These being acts of Providence and not within our control, I never repine at them . . . (Cousins, ibid., 68; letter to William Pearce, 27 March 1796; this letter and the previous two had to do with crop failures) Or at least we may, with a kind of grateful and pious exultation, trace the finger of Providence through these dark and mysterious events, which first induced the states to appoint a general convention . . . we had but too much reason to fear that confusion and misery were coming rapidly upon us. That the same good Providence may still continue to protect us . . . is the earnest prayer of, my dear sir, your faithful friend, etc. (Cousins, ibid., 70; letter to Jonathan Trumbull, 20 July 1788) Other expressions of Christian piety abound in his writings and utterances, too: [L]et me not arrogate the merit to human imbecility, but rather ascribe whatever glory may result from our successful struggle to a higher and more efficient Cause . . . it is our common duty to pay the tribute of gratitude to the greatest and best of Beings. (Cousins, ibid., 58; reply to an address from the clergy, gentlemen of the law, and physicians of Philadelphia, 13 December 1783) [N]o man, who is profligate in his morals, or a bad member of the civil community, can possibly be a true Christian, or a credit to his own religious society. (Cousins, ibid., 59; reply to an address from the general assembly of Presbyterian churches in the United States, sent on 26 May 1789; Washingtons reply is undated) I readily join with you that while just government protects all in their religious rights, true religion affords to government its surest support. (Cousins, ibid., 60; reply to an address from the synod of the Dutch Reformed Church in North America, sent on 9 October 1789; Washingtons reply is undated) I am not less ardent in my wish that you may succeed in your plan of toleration in religious matters. Being no bigot myself to any mode of worship, I am disposed to indulge the professors of Christianity in the church, that road to Heaven, which to them shall seem the most direct plainest easiest and least liable to exception. (Cousins, ibid., 71; letter to the Marquis de Lafayette, 15 august 1787) Washington biographers fill in additional details of his religious beliefs and practices: The church was a social affair in Virginia in George Washingtons day. It is doubtful if he ever subscribed in his heart to the Episcopal creed . . . In one of his thousands of letters does the name Jesus Christ appear, nor St. Paul seldom, indeed, even the word God. For all three he almost invariably used the word Providence except in public addresses and left all questions of theology to what he called the professors of religion. He believed thoroughly, from observation and practical experience, in the value of the religious institution to society government could not do without it but where his personal belief was concerned he remained silent . . . (Francis Rufus Bellamy, The Private Life of George Washington, New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1951, 149, 359) Jared Sparks, editor of the 12-volume collection of Washingtons writings, observed: After a long and minute examination of the writings of Washington, public and private . . . I can affirm, that I have never seen a single hint, or expression, from which it could be inferred, that he had any doubt of the Christian revelation . . . whenever he alludes in any manner to religion, it is done with seriousness and reverence . . . How far he examined the grounds of his faith is uncertain . . . He was educated in the Episcopal Church, to which he always adhered; and myu conviction is that he believed the fundamental doctrines of Christianity as usually taught in that Church . . . but without a particle of intolerance, or disrespect for the faith and modes of worship adopted by Christians of other denominations. (Sparks, ibid., XII, 411, 403) What we did prove, and quite conclusively, is that Washington cannot be called a Deist at least, not in a sense that excludes his being Christian. Although he did most often address God in the proper names a Deist might use such as Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be and Disposer of all human events the actions that Washington expected God to perform, as expressed both in his official public prayers (whether as general or as president) and in his private prayers as recorded, are the sorts of actions only the God of the Bible performs: interposing his actions in human events, forgiving sins, enlightening minds, bringing good harvests, intervening on behalf of one party in a struggle between good and evil (in this case, between liberty and the deprivation of liberty), etc. Many persons at the end of the 18th century were both Christians and Deists. But it cannot be said, in the simpleminded sense in which historians have become accustomed to putting it, that Washington was merely a Deist, or even that the God to whom he prayed was expected to behave like a Deist God at all. (Michael Novak, Washingtons Sun God, National Review Online, 14 March 2006) ***** New Delhi: Describing the Bihar Assembly elections of 2015 as the 'mother of all elections', Chief Election Officer Nasim Zaidi on Sunday said that polls in Bihar would be held sometime in September or October with electoral rolls being expected to be ready by July 31. "Though a final decision on election dates has not been made yet, going by the past elections, it is likely the polls in Bihar would be held sometime in September or October later this year," Zaidi said. Assuring the Commission was committed to hold free and fair elections in the state; the Chief Election Commissioner said that mechanisms were being set to stop the abuse of money and power that tend to tilt the outcome of the polls. "Abuse of money is a huge problem in Bihar. Therefore, this time we are going in for more systematic efforts. Certain legal amendments are yet to come from the Law Ministry. But within our powers, we have launched expenditure monitoring in the state," Zaidi told the PTI. The Commissioner further said that since there was not going to be any election anywhere in the country when polls are held in Bihar, the EC would be able to maximize its use of para-military forces in the state to keep anti-social elements at bay. Meanwhile, earlier the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ajay Nayak said that non-resident Indians (NRIs) from Bihar who have not given up on the Indian citizenship were eligible to vote in this year's elections. "They will have to fill out Form 16 through online process and will have to get Elector's Photo Identity Card (EPIC) to be able to vote in Bihar elections," Nayak said. Brother of detained Iranian opposition leader survives stabbing 05/08/16 Source: Radio Zamaneh Mir Mahmoud Mousavi, the brother of opposition leader Mir Hosein Mousavi, who has been under house arrest since 2011, was assaulted on Saturday evening May 7. He was wounded in the neck but survived the attack. Mir Mahmoud Mousavi The Kaleme website, referring to Mir Mahmoud Mousavi as a prominent diplomat, reported that he was attacked with a cold weapon by unknown assailants. Kaleme adds that this is third time Mousavi has been attacked. Eyewitness reports indicate that in the most recent attack, one assailant approached him with insults, another attacked him from the front and another snuck up to him from behind and stabbed at his neck with a knife. The report adds that Mousavi obstructed the assailant's hand, preventing a fatal cut, by which time passersby arrived at the scene and forced the assailants to flee. Mousavi's neck wound has reportedly been sutured and he is in recovery. Mir Hosein Mousavi and his wife have been under house arrest since 2011 for challenging the result of the 2009 elections and triggering widespread popular protests. While he and his wife have been completely cut off from the public, both were allowed to vote in the recent parliamentary elections. Iranian Journalists Face Growing Threats and Intimidation by Authorities 05/08/16 Source: International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran Tactics Meant to Sow Fear among Independent Journalists in Wake of Reformists Parliamentary Election Gains "Life of press is as short as that of butterflies" (artwork by Keyvan Varessi, Iranian daily Ghanoon) Irans Intelligence Ministry officials are increasingly harassing and threatening independent journalists in an apparent move to dissuade them from feeling emboldened by reformist and centrist candidates gains in the countys recent Parliamentary elections. I received calls on my mobile phone two or three times a day from an unknown number. After three days I finally answered and a man who introduced himself as an agent of the Intelligence Ministry asked me to go to the Laleh Hotels restaurant for a friendly meeting, one journalist, who asked to remain anonymous, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. The agent then reminded the journalist about the red lines journalists should not cross, the source told the Campaign. He told me not to be deceived by promises. My place is not in prison, he said, and he told me not to assume something significant has happened with the change in Parliaments make-up [which has tilted] in favor of the reformists, said the journalist. He said Im under surveillance and warned me that [while I] may not be arrested, my articles would be saved as evidence, added the journalist. The intimidation of journalists has been a long-standing practice of Irans Revolutionary Guards. Yet these recent incidents involved the Ministry of Intelligence, which is under the direct authority of President Rouhani. As recently as May 3, 2016, at the opening ceremony of Tehran Book Fair, Rouhani said, The critic should not be arrested and taken to prison. Criticism is a gift. Of course, those who lie, accuse, and weaken the national strength, are a different story. But the books, writings, and poetry of an individual who compassionately criticizes should not be caught in a maze. That officials of his Interior Ministry engaged in such threats suggests fractures within the Rouhani administration. Iran held runoff elections on April 29, 2016 after representatives from a number of cities failed to gain the required 25 percent of votes following the elections for Parliament and the Assembly of Experts on February 26, 2016. Reformists did not receive enough votes to secure a majority of seats in Parliament, but they did gain enough seats to pose an effective challenge to conservatives who have dominated the legislature since Irans widely contested 2009 presidential election. The new Parliament, which will open on May 28, 2016, could now tilt in favor of a coalition of representatives who support the Rouhani governments policies, including the nuclear deal that was signed in 2015. Another journalist informed the Campaign that they were told by an Intelligence Ministry agent to refrain from getting excited about the apparent alignment between the Rouhani government and the new Parliament. I find it strange that we are being summoned by the Rouhani administrations Intelligence Ministry, the journalist told the agent. It doesnt matter who the minister of intelligence is, responded the agent. The Intelligence Ministrys structure remains the same. The red lines dont change. A number of journalists were asked to meet Intelligence Ministry agents at either Hotel Laleh or Hotel Tehran, said the journalist. Some journalists were also summoned to the Intelligence Ministrys office on Vali-e-Asr Junction. I was asked if I knew the four reporters who were arrested last November, and was told to learn from their plight, said the journalist. No one can help them, the agent told me. Four journalists and the brother of a dissident journalist living abroad were arrested by the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Organization in Tehran on November 2, 2015. All except one of the detainees were issued long prison sentences on April 27, 2016. Afarin Chitsaz, a columnist who wrote for Iran, the daily newspaper of the Rouhani administration, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. In a recent interview with the Campaign, Chitsazs mother revealed that Chitsaz was beaten in prison after her arrest. Ehsan Mazandarani, a reformist journalist and editor-in-chief of Farhikhtegan newspaper, was sentenced to seven years in prison. Ehsan (Saman) Safarzaei, another reformist journalist who is the international desk editor of Andisheh Pooya magazine, and Davoud Assadi, the brother of a journalist, were each sentenced to five years in prison. Davoud Assadis arrest reflected a continuation of the Guards long-time practice of going after the family members of Iranian journalists who live aboard, in order to intimidate them into silence. Assadis Paris-based brother, Houshang Assadi, who edited a dissident magazine, told the Campaign that his brothers arrest is a warning to me and other political activists based abroad that [the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Organization] could intimidate our relatives instead of us. The trial of the prominent reformist journalist Issa Saharkhiz, also arrested in November 2015, has been postponed while he is treated in hospital for serious health issues. On World Press Freedom Day (May 3, 2016), 230 Iranian reporters signed a letter addressed to President Rouhani calling on him to pay attention to the cases of the imprisoned journalists. After more than six months, four of our colleagues have been sentenced to a total of 27 years in prison by a preliminary court presided by Judge [Mohammad] Moghisseh, while another has been wrestling with life and death for the past two months in Tehrans Cardiology hospital, said the letter. Iran Admits Heavy Casualties In Syria 05/08/16 Source: RFE/RL Tehran says several of its soldiers have been killed in fighting near Aleppo, in what could be one of Iran's biggest losses in Syria since deploying forces to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. A photo allegedly showing Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps members in Syria captured by opposition forces being paraded in the streets. Read related coverage (in Persian) by Iranian daily A photo allegedly showing Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps members in Syria captured by opposition forces being paraded in the streets.Read related coverage (in Persian) by Iranian daily Ghanoon The Fars news agency on May 7 quoted a Revolutionary Guards official as saying that 13 military advisers had been killed and 21 wounded in the clashes with Islamist insurgents on May 6 in Khan Tuman, some 15 kilometers southwest of Aleppo. According to Reuters, dozens of people were killed in the battle. Reports said the attack on Khan Tuman was launched by an alliance of Islamist insurgents known as Jaish al-Fatah, including the Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. Jaish al-Fatah and its affiliates have published on videos and photos on social media of what appear to be the bodies of Iranians or other Shi'ite militias who were killed in Khan Tuman. Earlier this week, the United States and Russia brokered a cease-fire in the city of Aleppo itself. But fighting in the countryside to the south of the city has escalated in recent days. In related news, a senior Iranian official has met with Assad and vowed continued support for his government in the country's five-year-old civil war. Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, met with Assad in Damascus on May 7. Syria's state news agency SANA quoted Velayati as saying that Tehran will always stand by Syria because it "knows that terrorism does not target Syria but the whole people of the region." Velayati's comments came as Russia's Defense Ministry announced that a cease-fire in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo has been extended by three days starting on May 7. The Russian Defense Ministry statement early on May 7 said the extension was made at Moscow's initiative and would also apply to the Latakia region. With reporting by Reuters and AP 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 Somewhere in between the rush of children reaching out to their mothers at breakfasts and barbecues today or in remembrance at cemeteries, are moms who can only grasp at memories. Emily Maynez knows what its like. Shes been through more than two dozen Mothers Days without her son Anthony, who was gunned down by a supposed neighborhood friend in Harbor City. Anthony was 18, a recent high school graduate looking forward to joining the military. He gave a ride to a kid who lived down the block one night who turned around and shot Anthony in the head. That was a time when gun violence ruled the streets and gang initiations included taking a life. The first couple of Mothers Days I didnt give a damn, Maynez, 73, said of the shock and pain and anger that occupies a mothers life when a child is taken by violence. I didnt care if I went anywhere. All I needed was my other two kids to be with me, to have family close. It took time and even therapy, but Maynez became part of the group Parents of Murdered Children, a national organization with more than 50 chapters from the Inland Empire and L.A. area to the East Coast that helps with grief but also to maneuver the criminal justice system. The Los Angeles chapter met Saturday as it always does, on the first weekend of the month in San Pedro. During meetings, the group rolls out a board of photos of their children. Were here to help for support, any which way we can, Maynez said. I wont say (the groups) are enjoyable, but we all have our moments. Sometimes, you just want to be by yourself. Sometimes you want to be with your family more. For mothers who grieve children taken by illness, traffic accidents, murder or war, such groups are helpful, said Michele Prince, executive director for Our House Grief Support Center, which has offices in Woodland Hills and West Los Angeles. She said mothers who have lost children also should be remembered today. That means friends and family need to overcome their own fear and tell them: Im thinking of you. And if possible, moms need to communicate too. Its possible that mom can talk to people around her ahead of the holiday, and say: this is what I need today. Marnie Mitchell, 41, said she likes when people share memories with her of her son David. I like when his old friends come over, she said. We have a little memorial in our house. Sometimes people dont know what to say, but the memories are nice. David Morales was walking home with a friend in West Los Angeles, when a group of young people came by and asked: Where you from? He was shot nines times at 7:30 a.m. on Jan. 3, 2012 in West Los Angeles. An investigation is ongoing. No arrests have been made, Mitchell said. Mitchell said her son was in no gang. He was 18. He had just graduated from University High School. Today will be her fifth Mothers Day with him, but all holidays are hard, she said. There are tons of moms that lose their kids everyday, whether its terrorist, violence, shootings, and its just awful, Mitchell said. Its a different kind of grief to lose your kid to murder. I know losing your son to cancer or accidents is painful, but losing your kids at the hands of someone is painful. Military moms know this too. For Mary Pat Cardin of San Jacinto, in the Inland Empire, the 29 boxes filled with the personal items her son, U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Louis F. Cardin, arrived to her home two weeks ago. The boxes came from Camp Lejune, Camp Pendleton and a base in Iraq, where Cardin was killed this March during an attack by forces aligned with the Islamic State. Cardin, 27, wasnt married and had no children. Its been an overwhelming task, Cardin said, made more difficult by the emotions attached to each item. Especially the pictures. You take the tips of your fingers and kiss them and put them on his forehead, she said. Cardin, who turned 70 less than a week after her son died, is the daughter of a police officer and she said that experience may have helped her cope in the immediate aftermath of the attack. Its almost like I was trained and prepared for it, she said. But the last few weeks have been tough, as the boxes piled up and more requests were made of her by the government, including a jury duty notice. This part is the hard part. You have to go through all the administrative stuff and the physical stuff, she said. Its more frustrating at times. Cant they give us a break? For Mothers Day, she told her husband, Fred, not to barbecue. She said shed be happy with chicken from KFC and paper plates, a combo that would allow the family more time to enjoy the day and her grandsons birthday celebration. She might be described as selfless by some, but Cardin deflected any credit or praise for her actions, saying its just part of being a mother. You put one foot in front of the other and see what you can do, she said. With property crime and misdemeanor crime rising each of the past three years, Riverside is in the unique position of deciding its own destiny. City residents can decide to continue the policies of the past five generations or adapt to the reality of rising crime, fewer jail cells and challenged neighborhoods with a new approach to livability issues. By his own words, the Riverside County district attorney is strapped by an ever-tightening budget and is unable to meet the demands placed on his office as a result of more criminals being on the streets due to Proposition 47. His solution: do it the same way its always been done. Its been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Riverside can make a different choice this June. Measure A seeks to amend the City Charter to allow the Riverside City Attorneys Office authority to prosecute low-level misdemeanors committed within the city limits. This would allow city residents more input with regards to the crimes that most directly affect living conditions in the city. City attorneys would join the Riverside Police Department in partnership with neighborhood groups, community centers and business organizations to deal with problems street by street, block by block. Each City Council ward has unique issues Downtown issues are not the same as Arlanzas. But all communities deserve attention to their issues. All well and good, you might say, but is it worth the cost? The annual budget for the Police Department is close to $90 million. Two-thirds of their workload is with misdemeanor crimes in other words, neighborhood crimes. The cost of a City Prosecutors Office in Riverside is $2 million to $2.5 million per year. Its a cost that a dozen Southern California cities have employed for decades. Why would cities like San Diego, Long Beach, Pasadena, Anaheim and Burbank employ this model if it were not successful for their residents? They wouldnt. It has been extremely effective for businesses and citizens alike. The cities that use this see a return on their investment with safer, cleaner streets and increased investments in businesses that bring prosperity. You may ask, how can the city do anything if there arent jail cells to house criminals? Certainly this is a challenge for any prosecutor in California, but a local city prosecutors office can work with neighborhood groups, local departments and business organizations to solve problems before they result in an arrest. Your District Attorneys Office is not set up to deal with neighborhood problems in this way. It files complaints based on police arrests, period. This is the same model that has been used for 200 years. What we are looking to do is employ the broken windows approach to prosecution focusing on the relatively small misdemeanor crimes to keep larger, more serious crimes from being committed. Riverside is known as the City of Arts and Innovation. Great strides have been made in the past dozen years to modernize and beautify the city. But, on this issue, citizens are being heavily lobbied to keep things the way theyve always been. No change. No innovation. The people of Riverside now have the opportunity to speak for themselves, to decide if they want innovation to make their streets, parks and businesses safer through local involvement. The people of Riverside get to decide: which way, Riverside? Gary Geuss is Riverside city attorney. On a recent Thursday, the advanced graphic design class at Vista Murrieta High School felt more like a hip cafe than a classroom as indie rock wafted from speakers and students quietly chatted and sifted though images and color palettes on their computers. The students are working on branding and developing the look of a design company. They are creating a logo, an animated logo, letterhead and print ads using various design programs that teacher Jason Bowen hopes will set some on a course of design success. Bowen paired the kids together, with one acting as the client and the other the designer in a mock business arrangement. This project stemmed from a branding assignment they did in the beginning graphic design class, Bowen said. This gives them the opportunity to apply what theyve learned and to balance their ideas with someone else and get a feel for what its like to be a freelance graphic designer. And the skills landed one student, Robert Housely, two paying gigs and an internship. Housely, 18, was recently hired to design logos for a Murrieta-based running group and creating marketing materials for a data collection company in Temecula. It is really nice to practice something and then get to apply it in real life, Housely said as he worked on a fellow students logo. Ive definitely gained a lot of confidence and really enjoy it. Housely plans to attend Mt. San Jacinto College before transferring to the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising to pursue a degree in graphic design. Bowen said a former student was hired by Honda while still in high school and will soon graduate from the prestigious ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, while another is currently branding storefronts in Japan. Sierra Contreras, 17, will likely follow in similar footsteps as she said she found her calling in Bowens class. Ive always enjoyed art in general, Sierra, 17, said as she poured over images of eyes for the logo she is designing. Graphic design is practical and fun and there are a lot of options within the field. I want to pursue a degree in graphic design and eventually become a product designer or design advertising materials. Contreras is branding Brazy Designs for fellow student Kevin Hicks, who said the name was inspired by his love of rap music. I really like the direction she is going and I basically like everything she does. Shes really talented, Hicks, 17 said as he worked on Contreras logo, Nox Designs. I like being creative, its fun. Contact the writer: sschulte@pressenterprise.com, 951-368-9457 Three people were arrested Friday after a mail-theft investigation in Loma Linda led authorities to a Riverside home, San Bernardino County sheriffs officials said Saturday. Riverside residents Jeffery Carrillo, 37, and Julie Hernandez, 40, were detained on suspicion of mail theft Friday after a witnesses gave authorities a description of them and their vehicle, officials said in a news release. Deputies responded to the 25000 block of Chula Vista Street in Loma Linda on Thursday on reports of mail theft and identified Carrillo and Hernandez as persons of interest. Authorities went to a residence in the 3700 block of Stansell Drive in Riverside on Friday and were confronted by 55-year-old Keith Porter, officials said. Carrillo attempted to hide inside the home and Hernandez fled through the backyard. During the investigation, authorities determined Porter was not involved in the Loma Linda incidents, but was found to have several outstanding warrants for his arrest issued out of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, officials said. Carrillo and Hernandez were arrested on suspicion of mail theft, identity theft and felony conspiracy. Porter was booked at West Valley Detention Center for his outstanding warrants. Nacogdoches, TX (75965) Today Cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 79F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Thunderstorms likely. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 51F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%. A broad plain carpeted with weeds and yellowing grasses at the Hidden Valley Wildlife Area in western Riverside was once the domain of mallards, egrets, herons and other water-loving birds. The 70 acres of wetlands just south of the Santa Ana River dried up in 2010 after a severe storm wrecked the channel that fed the ponds. But a coalition of local officials and conservationists is hoping that together the groups can find the money and the means to refill the ponds and lure back the birds. It was once a popular stopover for migratory birds, but no longer. Wed be lucky to see one or two of em here, said Robert Williams, park ranger supervisor for the Riverside County Regional Park and Open Space District. When the ponds were full, It was a whole different park. Riverside City Councilman John Burnard, whose ward includes the wildlife area, said the creation of the ponds changed the area. He hated seeing that ecosystem lost and always hoped to help restore it, he said. Story continues below infographic. Click here to see it in a separate window. LONG HISTORY The original Hidden Valley ponds were built around the 1950s by a duck-hunting club looking to attract its quarry. They became a public resource in 1974 when the state bought the land and signed an agreement with Riverside County to manage it. Some time later officials arent sure exactly when Riverside began pumping treated wastewater from its Acorn Street sewer plant to the ponds that otherwise would have gone into the Santa Ana River. In the early 1990s, faced with a state mandate to reduce the nitrogen content of its wastewater, the city struck a deal with the county to expand the wetlands and maintain the system of pipes, dikes and channels in the riverbed that supplied the water. The wetlands naturally filter out nitrogen, which is consumed by plants and bacteria. But disaster struck in 2010, when heavy rains swelled the river, which washed out parts of the channel and rearranged the pipes that helped feed the ponds. On a recent tour of the former ponds, officials who want them refilled saw disconnected sections of concrete pipe sitting useless and scarred by graffiti. A smaller vertical pipe that once fed a pond is now clogged with dirt, vines and old beer bottles. I would love to hear as many creative ideas as possible as to what can happen here, the California Department of Fish and Wildlifes Jeff Brandt told the tour group, which included representatives of the city and county, Jurupa and Rubidoux community services districts, the Coastal Conservancy and the Santa Ana River Trust. Though wastewater agencies are required to send set amounts of water to the river, officials said the pond system previously allowed water to flow in from the river and then back out again. A flow meter monitored how much was coming into the wetlands, and a set of valves kept water in the ponds even during dry times. SHARED GOAL Rebuilding that system will take the one thing few government agencies can spare today: money. A consultants 2013 estimate for the city of Riverside put the cost at $8.7 million. Officials hope that among the many groups and agencies collaborating on the project, theyll be able to cobble together grants and other funds, Burnard said. All of us are in the same position. Theres no portion of government right now thats not looking at budgets and financial concerns, Burnard said. As a stopgap measure, Williams said he created two ponds for the wildlife areas education programs, and the county is hoping to lease land to someone who will farm a portion of it with bird-attracting crops. But he and others say they share the goal of fully restoring the wetlands. Everybody knows what the benefits are they are water quality, they are wildlife, they are habitat, said Keith Herron, resources bureau chief for the county parks district. My hope is that this group can find a way, can find the means and the measures to get the water back. Contact the writer: 951-368-9461 or arobinson@pressenterprise.com Riverside youths honored RIVERSIDE Elks Lodge #643 held its 10th annual Youth Awards on April 28. The 1st place winners of the drug awareness essay were Mayda Pascual, Division I (grades 5 and 6) and Victoria Meese, Division II (7th and 8th grades). Joshua Jayat won the drug awareness poster contest. The top Americanism essay winners were Jane Cao, Division 1 and Jazlyn Ruvalcaba, Division II. The Most Valuable Student 2016 scholarship winners were Shivam Patel, Josiah Bailey, Juan Ambriz, Chandni Tailor, Amy Patel and Michaela Montgomery. Several high school JROTC units were honored, as well, including programs at Arlington Air Force, Rubidoux Air Force, Poly Army, Martin Luther King Navy and Ramona Marines. Staff report REGION The Inlandia Institute, a nonprofit literary center, is offering a series of poetry workshops Sunday, May 15 through June 12. Attendants will meet from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Sundays at the Louis Robidoux Library, 5840 Mission Blvd., Jurupa Valley. A news release says the Poetry Off the Page series with poet Nikia Chaney looks at ways written and spoken poetry can come alive. The series is free but registration is required. To register or for more information: 951-790- 2458 or Inlandia@InlandiaInstitute.org Staff report RIVERSIDE COUNTY Riverside County jurors serving the week of May 9 will receive various items commemorating Juror Appreciation Week, according to a news release from Riverside County Superior Court. Staff report RIVERSIDE Zonta International is seeking nominations for its 2016 Jane M. Klausman Women in Business Scholarship. The scholarship is available for women who are enrolled in at least their second year of an undergraduate program up to their final year in a masters program in business. Applications are due by June 1 to the Riverside Zonta Club, 122 Bracebridge Road, Riverside, CA, 92506. Zonta International works to promote women in business. Information: riversidezonta@gmail.com Anne Marie Walker MENIFEE Auditions for Mt. San Jacinto College, Menifee Valley Campus fall production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee are 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 11 at the campus theater. Auditions are open to students and community members college age and above. High school juniors and seniors who qualify for concurrent enrollment may also audition. Rehearsals begin Aug. 19 and will be held Monday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. Information: Department Chair Shezwae Powell at 951-639-5793 Staff report REDLANDS The Redlands Senior Centers will hold the inaugural Redlands Senior 5K Orange Blossom Trail Fun Run/Walk on May 11. It will start at Crafton Park at Wabash and Independence avenues. Check-in time is 7:15 a.m. and the race will begin at 8:30 a.m. Water, snacks and T-shirts will be provided. Participants may register at Joslyn Senior Center, 21 Grant St. Information: 909-798-7550 Anne Marie Walker TEMECULA Toastmasters District 12 will hold its annual spring conference, Going for the Gold, Saturday, May 14 at South Coast Winery. Keynote speakers include International Director Ede Ferrari DAngelo and the 1995 World Champion of Public Speaking, Mark Brown. There will also be two speaking contests: table topics and the International Speech Contest. The winner of the International Speech Contest will be District 12s representative at the 2016 World Championship of Public Speaking in Washington, D.C. in August. Tickets: d12spring 2016conference.bpt.me Anne Marie Walker Send items for possible inclusion in Community Notes to community@pressenterprise.com. The pain of losing a friend in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack compelled David Sylvester almost 15 years ago to begin a series of cross-continental bike rides, finding and spreading hugs and optimism as he went. Today, because of the Dec. 2 terrorist attack, he hopes to meet with San Bernardino residents and then begin a journey through cities across the country that have been hit by gun violence. There was something about the San Bernardino shooting that really got to me, maybe because it was a woman, maybe because of seeing too many shootings, Sylvester said in a phone interview. So Im plotting a course that goes from San Bernardino to other places where theres been shootings and mayhem: Im going through Oklahoma City, Ferguson and a lot of other places. Its not just about his own ride, he says. He wants to share a moment with as many people as possible, which is why hes calling this the Hugs and High5 Tour. Hell begin at 5 p.m. at the office of The Sun, 290 N. D St., and hopes to hug and high-five visitors there. Then hes off to Palm Springs on Tuesday, Twentynine Palms on Wednesday, Amboy on Thursday and Fenner on Friday before Sylvester crosses into Nevada, according to his schedule. For every 1,000 hugs or high-fives he delivers, hell give away a $1,000 scholarship and a bicycle. Sylvester says on the GoFundMe fundraising page that as of Sunday had raised $3,116 of the $25,000 hes seeking. Sylvester has written a book, Traveling at the Speed of Life, about his experiences biking across the United States (four times before this trip), Africa and Asia. Money remains tight, Sylvester said. Im broke, man. Its all gone, he said. But when somebody says you talked to me and you saved my life, how do you stop? Sylvester said hes had many emotional exchanges, but one that sticks out comes from Angola, Ind. Six months after he passed through the town, Sylvester said, he was contacted by a cook hed talked with. He said, I was sad, depressed, suffering from PTSD, when you walked into the diner, Sylvester said. They each said theyd talk with the other because they were the only ones in the diner. This is a time when I would normally do something I would take something but Im not doing it because I thought of you, Sylvester said the man told him months afterward. He said youre really changing lives out there. The ride, which is outlined on his website davidhalesylvester.com is scheduled to finish July 9 in Philadelphia. Contact the writer: ryan.hagen@langnews.com, @rmhagen on Twitter The TV WEEK Logies and xenophobic bile shouldnt really exist together in any universe, but the lead-up to this years ceremony was something else. You might recall Gold Logie nominee Waleed Aly, co-host of The Project, found himself the target of particular ire from some corners of the media for, quote unquote, not being on social media, and not being popular enough. Well, Australia, that didnt even come close to mattering cause Aly took out the top prize on the night, and there was nothing you could do about it. Accepting the award, The Project co-host said do not adjust your sets. On his fellow nominees, he said if you step back and look at all thise pieces assembling, its a truly beautiful mosaic, and we should be celebrating that. In no way do I feel like I deserve to be here more than any of you. He went on to praise his wife, his team on the show, and co-host Carrie Bickmore, before relaying the story of Mustafa a media worker who told Aly he couldnt work in the industry without a nom de guerre. You deserve more numerous and more worthy avatars than that. If tonight means anything that is the Australian public, our audience, as far as theyre concerned, there is absolutely no reason that cant change. He beat out co-host Bickmore, Grant Denyer, Scott Cam, Essie Davis, and almighty Lee Lin Chin, who is no doubt planning her divine retribution as we speak. Onya, Waleed. Source: TV Week Logie Awards. Photo: 9Now. Louis C.K. has not looked at the internet not even the parts of it that have photos of dicks with nails in them for more than a month, and has apparently never felt better. This information came to light in a recent appearance on Conan, in which the comedian explained that hes entered a more philosophical phase of his life, and constantly checking the internet no longer plays a part. He had his daughter put a parental lock on his devices (apparently kids can do that to their parents, too), and now that his days dont include Google searches for photos of dicks with nails in them, hes in a much happier place. To be fair, avoiding the internet is probably a lot easier when youre loaded and successful and have underlings buzzing around to take care of your day-to-day needs and schedules, but Louis still makes is sound pretty delightful: Source: Team Coco. stanback cropped.png Carlisle police are looking for Chad E. Stanback, whom they say is responsible for the Sunday morning shooting on North Pitt Street. (Carlisle police. ) Carlisle police are looking for a man whom they say is responsible for a Sunday morning shooting that injured one person. An arrest warrant is out Chad E. Stanback, 43, who is considered to be armed and dangerous. The shooting occurred around 5:15 a.m. Sunday on the 1300 block of North Pitt Street. The victim was transported to an area hospital and is expected to survive, police say. Stanback is wanted on charges of attempted homicide, aggravated assault, felons not to possess firearms and other charges. He was last seen driving a burgundy 2007 Chrysler 300 sedan with the Pennsylvania license plate number of JMF 6813. Anyone who sees him should call 911 immediately. Police have arrested a man who was identified in a Friday shooting in Lebanon. Brandon Soboleski, 23, of North Cornwall Township, was arrested Saturday in Erie. He was found at a family member's house and arrested by Erie police, according to Lebanon City Police Capt. Todd Breiner. Soboleski is being held at the Erie County Prison on $100,000; he will be transferred back to Lebanon County. Police responded to the 1300 block of Walnut Street, where they found two victims -- ages 17 and 23. The 23-year-old had been shot in the mouth. The injury was not believed to be life threatening, police said. . Soboleski was quickly named by police as the suspect in a Friday shooting. Police do not believe the shooting was random, but have not identified a motive. Trump Clinton Good Sunday Morning, Everyone. Last week was the week we saw one question settled - the Republican presidential nomination - even as another (the Clinton email probe) remained unsettled. With so many shifting fortunes, there are plenty of grades to be distributed. So let's get to it. UP ARROW END Donald Trump: He may have celebrated Cinco de Mayo in the Trumpiest way possible, but the Manhattan real estate magnate accomplished something that no one (with the exception of his legions of rabid followers) thought possible just a year ago: He vanquished his competition and pretty well wrapped up the GOP presidential nominating race. After a dominating win in Indiana last Tuesday, his remaining rivals, Ted Cruz of Texas, and John Kasich of Ohio, both left the field. Even though establishment Republicans (Paging Paul Ryan) are still having trouble warming to him, it looks Trump will be the Grand Old Party's standard-bearer whether they want him or not. DOWN ARROW BEGIN DOWN ARROW END Hillary Clinton: Try as she might, the former secretary of state still can't seem to rid herself of an irascible, self-styled Democratic socialist from Vermont. Bernie Sanders handed Clinton a surprise defeat in last week's Indiana primary. And even though Clinton remains well ahead in the delegate count, a triumphant Sanders predicted a floor fight during this July's Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Compounding Clinton's headaches was news that she may be soon sitting down with the FBI for a conversation about her ... ahhhh ... unusual emailing habits while she was the nation's top diplomats. Opponents are baying for blood, but outside observers are concluding that while what Clinton did was surely clangingly dumb, it might not rise to the level of illegal behavior. Attorney General Kathleen Kane: The embattled attorney general , The Tribune-Review's Brad Bumsted reported last week. As Bumsted notes, they're "among seven lawsuits against Kane since 2015. Most allege she punished employees who testified against her or challenged her authority as she faced a criminal investigation by the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office." As you might expect, the expense raised eyebrows - especially since you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a taxpayer-funded lawyer in the OAG's office who could have handled Kane's defense. "Aren't we under enough stress with the (state) budget we're dealing with now?" Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-Fayette, asked Bumsted, not entirely rhetorically. Excellent question, Representative. Gov. Tom Wolf: Pennsylvania's chief executive goes up this week for using his powerful bully pulpit in one of the best ways possible: by plaguing Pennsylvania's cities and towns. It's not news that addiction issues have reached epidemic levels. "We're all asking questions to you," Wolf told a packed house during one such event last week. "You could be forgiven for looking at us and asking what took you so long." And he's right. But by holding these roundtables, Wolf sent a clear signal that it remains a priority for his administration and that he's invested in the issue. It's a long fight, but it's one beyond worth waging. DOWN ARROW END John H. Estey: The former Rendell administration aide and Hershey Trust boss goes way down on news that he'll be pleading guilty to a single count of wire fraud for essentially stealing $13,000 from the FBI as part of a complicated scheme that involved him wearing a wire and trying to buy the support of still-unnamed state legislators. Harrisburg was abuzz with speculation over the case last week - especially since details are scarcer than hen's teeth. Most are waiting for the other shoe to inevitably drop. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney: This is what happens when you try to tax soda. Doesn't matter than it has enough sugar to melt your teeth or a calorie-count that could be measured in light years. Folks love their Coca-Cola Former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who knows from soda tax fights, joined Kenney's effort last week, as he in support of Kenney's proposed levy, which is intended to pay for universal pre-kindergarten in the city. Here's the ad: U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey: Locked in the political fight of his life, Pennsylvania's junior United States senator . And, as a consequence, reportedly won't attend the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Smart. And that's the week. Enjoy your Sunday. We'll see you all back here on Monday. East Jordan asks voters for fire equipment millage East Jordan is asking voters for a 1.5 mills increase for fire equipment in the upcoming November election. The Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi rides the barrel price down and over the American fracking shale gas interests. Final words for outgoing Saudi oil minister Ali Naimi to his colleagues at ministry today during Falih reception- Wael Mahdi (@WaelMahdi) May 8, 2016 After 20 years, OPEC bids adieu to Saudi Arabia oil supremo Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, the architect of the 2014 switch in OPEC policy that's since roiled the energy market, companies and entire economies from Mexico to Nigeria, is leaving his post. An 80-year-old who rose from modest Bedouin roots, al-Naimi headed the ministry for almost 21 years, steering the world's largest crude exporter through wild price swings, regional wars, technological progress and the rise of climate change as a key policy concern. During my seven decades in the industry, I've seen oil at under $2 a barrel and $147, and much volatility in between, al-Naimi told a gathering of the who's who of the American oil industry in February in Houston. I've witnessed gluts and scarcity. I've seen multiple booms and busts. The departure of al-Naimi, who for years could move markets just by uttering a few words, is the latest sign of how the country's young Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is stamping his authority over oil policy. Khalid Al-Falih, chairman of Saudi Arabian Oil Co., the state-owned producer, will replace him as minister of energy, industry and mineral resources. Al-Falih is known to be close to King Salman and to Prince Mohammed. Khalid has been integral to the current oil policy of Saudi Arabia and has worked very closely with the deputy crown prince, said Jason Bordoff, director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University in New York and a former White House oil official. Saudi oil policy is unlikely to change with Al-Falih. If anything, Prince Mohammed has insisted that Saudi Arabia will continue to defend its market share and won't agree to any oil output freeze to curb the global glut without the participation of other major producers. We don't care about oil prices, Prince Mohammed told Bloomberg in an interview in April. $30 or $70, they are all the same to us. We have our own programs that don't need high oil prices. Major oil markets were closed on Saturday when the official Saudi Press Agency reported al-Naimi's replacement, citing a royal decree. Benchmark Brent crude futures ended trading on Friday at $45.37 a barrel in London, down 5.7 percent for the week. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude closed on Friday at $44.66 in New York, or 2.7 percent lower for the week. Oil Policy While al-Naimi enjoyed a relatively free hand to implement oil policy under King Fahd and King Abdullah, his room for maneuver seemed to have narrowed since last year's accession to power by King Salman and the growing influence of his 30-something son, Prince Mohammed. At the April 17 meeting in Doha where producers discussed a possible production freeze to shore up prices, al-Naimi lacked authority to complete a deal, according to his Russian and Venezuelan counterparts. The view of Prince Mohammed, who had insisted that no accord was possible without Iran, eventually prevailed and the talks collapsed. Almost 18 months before, it was al-Naimi who pushed the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to leave output unchanged. Rather than cut back to sustain prices near $100 a barrel, al-Naimi's plan squeezed higher-cost producers, particularly U.S. shale-oil drillers. The strategy is showing signs of success: the number of active U.S. oil drilling rigs has dwindled by a record amount, shale production is falling and companies of all sizes, including Exxon Mobil Corp., are cutting investment. But Saudi Arabia itself has paid a great price, with foreign-exchange reserves plummeting and economic growth slowing. Savvy Minister The approach has also left OPEC in tatters, pitting wealthy Gulf Arab countries, including Kuwait and Qatar, against cash-strapped nations like Venezuela and Nigeria. The 13-member group, once a mighty organization capable of roiling the global economy by keeping oil prices high, seems to have become largely ineffective. Al-Naimi presided over a golden oil age for Saudi Arabia and OPEC. The group's oil revenue soared almost 10-fold during his tenure to $1 trillion in 2014, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. He was also an astute diplomat, and with the support of his long-time No. 2, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman -- an older half-brother of the deputy crown prince -- al-Naimi bridged differences with Iran and Venezuela in the late 1990s, orchestrating a series of production cuts that lifted oil prices, eventually sending them above $100 a barrel. Morning Jogs Whenever OPEC gathered at its Vienna headquarters, al-Naimi drew the biggest swarm of journalists. Reporters tagged along each day at dawn for his habitual jog, or in later years, speed-walk, along the Austrian capital's downtown Ring Road. A few words from him during those walks could move oil markets and more, swaying currencies and Wall Street. When he talks, everybody in the market is listening because he has a track record of delivering on any promise, said Noe Van Hulst, the former secretary general of the Riyadh-based International Energy Forum. He is the most credible voice within OPEC and in the market. Al-Naimi has said he'd like to devote more time to his other job, chairman of the science and technology university in Saudi Arabia, an institute that studies and prepares for a post-hydrocarbon world. He was also appointed adviser to the royal court on Saturday. Humble Origins The problem is the harmful emissions we get from burning coal, oil and gas he said on Feb. 23 in Houston. The solution is to work on technology that minimizes and ultimately eradicates harmful emissions. Some don't accept this view, but I have faith in technology. From humble origins in the Saudi desert, al-Naimi went on to become one of the most influential voices in global energy policy and markets. He began working at age 12 as an office boy for Arabian American Oil Co., the forerunner of Saudi Aramco. The company, owned at the time by American corporations, sent him back to school, first in the kingdom, then to Lebanon and later for graduate studies in geology at Lehigh University and Stanford University in the U.S. At Aramco, he climbed through the ranks to help the company expand beyond producing raw crude and into processing oil overseas and distributing refined products. He was promoted to president in 1984, the first Saudi to hold the post, and was named chief executive officer four years later. The government selected him to lead the ministry in August 1995. Avid Fisherman Outside the world of oil, his passions include his grandchildren and fishing. In 2009, he told the U.S. ambassador in Riyadh that he found out he had been named Petroleum Minister while fly-fishing in Alaska, according to a diplomatic cable made public by WikiLeaks. For most of his tenure, al-Naimi advocated keeping crude prices at levels acceptable to the U.S. and other importers. He often disagreed with counterparts from Iran and Venezuela, who sought higher prices by limiting supply. He worried that strategy would choke off demand. As oil began falling in the summer of 2014, al-Naimi had an unsettling flashback to three decades earlier, when Saudi Arabia was the industry's so-called swing producer, adjusting its own output to defend world prices. His predecessor, Ahmad Zaki Yamani, decided in 1983 to push OPEC to cut back as producers outside the group pumped more. That, Yamani theorized, would increase prices. The results were catastrophic: Oil collapsed to $7.90 a barrel from about $40 as non-OPEC supplies expanded. Saudi production dropped by almost two-thirds in 1985, to 3.6 million barrels a day from 10.3 million in 1980. It was a lesson that shaped al-Naimi's response to the more recent collapse in crude prices, triggered by the surge in U.S. output. I saw how prices fell, so we lost on output and on prices at the same time, he said at a March 2015 conference in Riyadh, referring to the experience of the 1980s. We learned from that mistake. Lagniappe Liam Denning: Halliburton isn't petrified Deutsche Bank cuts Halliburton's target price, but feels the company to be well equipped to steer through the storm alone Both Halliburton and Baker Hughes performed their own particular renditions of "I Will Survive" on Tuesday morning. But while Baker Hughes opted for a low-key, jazzy approach, Halliburton's was more of a full-throated, late-night karaoke effort. Baker Hughes glided over the collapse of the companies' proposed merger , expressing disappointment but essentially saying what's done is done. Having been the intended target and now walking away with a $3.5 billion break fee, the company can afford to be philosophical. Halliburton, which led the deal and cut that $3.5 billion check, was more defensive. It reiterated its belief that U.S. and European regulators' objections to the deal were wrong. It also suggested the deal was a victim of a broader shift in the Department of Justice's approach to large mergers, regardless of industry. A LONG ENGAGEMENT Halliburton may be right . On the other hand, it also acknowledged that oil prices had collapsed since the deal was announced in November 2014, making it harder to dispose of assets and eroding synergies. It also made that $19 per share cash component of the offer to Baker Hughes stick out like the sorest of thumbs. And, as French oil major Total said in public , struggling exploration and production companies had legitimate concerns about a deal creating duopolies in certain oil-field service lines even as their own losses mounted . So the simpler explanation is that this deal, born partly out of a desire to deal with lower oil prices, was also ultimately killed by them. More relevant than a post-mortem, though, is what comes next. On this front, Baker Hughes showed defensiveness of a different, and more useful, variety. Recognizing the severity of this downturn, the company isn't just taking out the excess cost it had kept on during the failed merger process. Rather, it is shifting strategy, no longer trying to be everything, everywhere. In the U.S., for example, Baker Hughes will focus efforts on two basins that account for almost half the active rigs and a third of drilled but uncompleted wells. This plays to the company's strengths and also mirrors the approach of its E&P client base: Focus on what pays now and what might come back first when oil prices rise. Overseas, Baker Hughes aims to partner with local services firms, leveraging its brand and technology through sales channels it doesn't have to fund. All of this suggests that there's a decent chance Baker Hughes will deliver more than its initial estimate of $500 million of annual cost savings now that the deal is off. Importantly, it also suggests Baker Hughes isn't counting on a rebound in oil prices and drilling. Indeed, on Tuesday's call, chief executive Martin Craighead's summary of the market environment was a study in caveats, with "one potential scenario" being that "oil markets could move back into some kind of balance by the end of 2016." Or, you know, not, if factors like Iranian production swing the wrong way . Halliburton struck a more bullish pose. It didn't say the oil market was back to being balanced -- good job, too, with crude falling on Tuesday and taking the stock down almost 5 percent with it. Still, Halliburton reiterated that it thinks the U.S. rig count will bottom out this quarter. And chief executive David Lesar added that the recovery in E&P activity will be sharp: When this thing snaps back it's going to snap back hard. Halliburton is maintaining a posture to match. In contrast to Baker Hughes, Halliburton thinks it's imperative to keep a presence in all basins across the U.S. in order to have "scope and scale." So while Halliburton aims to cut $1 billion from annual costs, it isn't hunkering down -- despite its rising leverage. Halliburton's break-fee payment means handing over to Baker Hughes virtually all the $3.83 billion of free cash flow it made over the past five years, with all that this entails for the balance sheet. The Aftermath Halliburton's ratio of net debt to capitalization Source: Bloomberg, the company Note: 1Q2016 is pro-forma for payment of $3.5 billion break fee. Even so, when asked about its priorities for cash flow, delevering didn't figure in Halliburton's response. Instead, it wants to focus on organic expansion, bolt-on acquisitions and share buybacks, in that order. Halliburton's leverage is nowhere near as high as that of smaller rival Weatherford , and it has $6.6 billion of liquidity available, including its $3 billion revolver. So it has some scope for a more aggressive approach -- provided the oil market plays ball. And Halliburton may feel that, with Baker Hughes announcing a $1.5 billion buyback program right off the bat, it needs to hold out the prospect of a similar sweetener to keep investors on board. Baker Hughes, of course, starts from a position of having net cash rather than a spike in net debt. And this is the most curious distinction between the two companies now that they are back to being full-on rivals. Baker Hughes is the one with the ultra-conservative balance sheet and yet also the more cautious outlook necessitating pulling back in some areas. In contrast, despite having just blown $3.5 billion on a deal gone wrong, Halliburton is pressing forward to capitalize on the eventual recovery in drilling, letting its balance sheet take the strain in the meantime. The oil sector has a tendency to favor the bold. With the outlook as uncertain as it is now, though, there's no shame in taking Baker Hughes' more measured approach to surviving. Liam Denning is a Bloomberg Gadfly columnist covering energy, mining and commodities. ( Liam Denning in San Francisco at ldenning1@bloomberg.net ). This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners. Petroleumworld does not necessarily share these views. Editor's Note: This commentary was originally published by Bloomberg , on May 6, 2016. Petroleumworld reprint this article in the interest of our readers. 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. 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Any question or suggestions, please write to: editor@petroleumworld.com Best Viewed with IE 5.01+ Windows NT 4.0, '95, '98,ME,XP, Vista, Windows 7,8 +/ 800x600 pixels Canada's wildfires spread to Alberta's Suncor oil-sands site Syncrude, Husky join list of companies shutting production CALGARY/FORT McMURRAY Petroleumworld.com 05 09 2016 Wildfires ravaging the center of Canada's oil patch in northern Alberta may double in size as warm temperatures and swirling winds push the inferno close to several major oil-sands operations, forcing a shutdown at one of the province's biggest producers. The blaze, which expanded by half to 1,500 square kilometers (580 square miles) overnight, made an unexpected move to the north of Fort McMurray, rapidly approaching bitumen mining operations run by Suncor Energy Inc. and others, Travis Fairweather, a forestry spokesman, said in phone interview. It is a dangerous and unpredictable and vicious fire that is feeding off an extremely dry Boreal forest, federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale told reporters Saturday in Regina, Saskatchewan. He said the swirling fire is not a threat to any additional communities. Syncrude Canada Ltd., a joint venture controlled by Suncor, shut down its Aurora mine and Mildred Lake operation about 40 kilometers north of the city and has evacuated about 1,200 workers. Syncrude has a capacity for 350,000 barrels of oil a day. The fires are also closing in on Suncor's main oil-sands base near Syncrude, said Chad Morrison, a wildfire manager for the Alberta government. Morrison said the oil facilities are highly resistant to fire with their buffer zones. While there is no immediate threat from fire, smoke did reach our Mildred Lake site this morning, said Syncrude spokesman Leithan Slade, in an e-mailed statement. We will bring operations back online only when it is safe to do so. Oil Sands and the Environment: Quick Take There is high potential that the fire could double from Friday to 2,000 square kilometers, Morrison said. That's more than twice the area of New York City. Convoys of about 30 trucks will begin moving through Fort McMurray north carrying equipment to support critical industrial services, the government of Alberta said in a statement. At the same time, convoys of evacuee vehicles are moving south after as many as 2,400 vehicles transited through the city yesterday transporting families to Edmonton and other cities. Production Cuts The blaze has prompted the shutdown of as much as 40 percent of the region's oil-sands production, according to Royal Bank of Canada estimates. Syncrude said on its website Saturday that it's shutting Mildred Lake after smoke reached the site. Its Aurora site 35 kilometers to the north is also closed. All units would be brought down by this weekend. Calgary-based Suncor, Canada's biggest energy company, Phillips 66 and Statoil ASA have declared force majeure on supplies from the region. Husky Energy Inc. said Saturday it was shutting down its Sunrise facility, which has a capacity for 60,000 barrels a day and was producing about half that. The fire reached Cnooc Ltd.'s Nexen operation to the south of the city yesterday, forcing a shutdown of that facility. Officials haven't been able to assess if there was damage, due to the clouds of smoke. The facility is probably OK, Morrison told reporters Saturday in Edmonton. Disruptions to oil production, the lifeblood of Alberta's economy, add to a human catastrophe as blazes razed entire neighborhoods in Fort McMurray, the gateway to the world's third-largest crude reserves. Police and military officials are working to evacuate the remaining 10,000 residents who had gone north to work camps now considered unsafe, escorting them in convoys of 50 vehicles at a time through the smoke and ash. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said most of the families who fled to the north camps will be relocated by the end of Saturday. Sam Osterhagen, a welder who was working near the oil hub, spent the bulk of his 40th birthday in the convoy after lining up early in the morning. He and his coworkers were stuck for the last three nights at a campsite, watching as the fires burned. It looked like an orange ball glowing in the distance, with flames a couple hundred feet high, they said. I didn't think I was going to make it, Osterhagen said, after stopping with his buddies to grab a burger at Wally's Fast Food in Grasslands on Highway 55, about halfway from Fort McMurray to Edmonton. It had taken them seven hours to drive a distance that would normally take two. Passing through Fort McMurray, the men could see vast swaths of burned-out forest and homes and buildings destroyed, though the downtown seemed to be intact, they said. The smoke was thick in the air and embers glowed in the burned brush along the roadside until they got well south of town, they said. The inferno around Fort McMurray may become the costliest catastrophe in the country's history with insurance losses potentially reaching C$9.4 billion ($7.3 billion). Bank of Montreal cut its second-quarter gross domestic product growth estimate to zero from 1.5 percent, citing severe disruptions to oil production due to the fires. BMO said the estimate was a placeholder, dependent on receiving more information on the scope of the disaster. The economic cost of the disaster is unquantifiable, Goodale said, but it will be far-reaching and deep. Alberta has already set aside C$100 million to help families affected by the blaze, Notley said. Fort McMurray, which was once a bustling hub of activity for oil and gas workers, now sits empty and will not be safe for a long time, she said. Rain Coming Environment Canada said temperatures would rise to 27 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit) on Saturday, about 10 degrees warmer than normal. There is a 30 percent chance of rain on Sunday, followed by cooler temperatures next week. Goodale said only a rain downpour will be able to stop the fires, which are also burning in neighboring provinces of British Columbia and Saskatchewan. Oil Crash The wildfire is the latest blow to a province already grappling with the economic toll of a two-year oil price slump in one of the world's most expensive places to extract crude. More than 40,000 energy jobs have been lost in Canada since the price crash began in 2014, pushing the provincial economy into recession. Royal Bank of Canada estimated that as much as 1 million barrels a day of production was shut because of the blaze as companies including Suncor, Nexen, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, and ConocoPhillips reduce production. Inter Pipeline Ltd. shut part of its system in the province. The disruptions pushed up the price of oil sands crude. Force Majeure Suncor said it issued various notifications of force majeure -- a provision protecting companies from liability for contracts that go unfulfilled for reasons beyond their control -- to customers, service providers and other third-party contracts that will be affected by reduced or stopped operations in the region. Phillips 66 declared force majeure after cutting production in response to the fires, a person familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named because the information isn't public. Statoil said it declared force majeure on production after curtailing supplies from its Leismer facility. Cenovus Energy Inc. said it was evacuating non-essential staff. Nexen, a unit of China-based Cnooc, said in a note posted on its website late Friday that its Long Lake facility is shut and has been evacuated. Long Lake has production capacity of 92,000 barrels a day. At this time we do not know the status of our facility, the company said. Major oil-sands sites are near Fort McMurray and are concentrated to the north. Most of Alberta's oil and gas facilities have their own fire-fighting crews and have physical defenses against wildfires, such as gravel fields and fire breaks, Morrison said. There were a total of 40 fires Saturday, down from 49 Thursday, with seven considered "out of control," according to government estimates. More than 1,400 firefighters, approximately 130 helicopters, and 27 air tankers are fighting the fires. Despite a rise in the prices of gold during the past few months, gold Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) offered by domestic mutual funds are yet to see any major inflows from investors. Mumbai: Despite a rise in the prices of gold during the past few months, gold Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) offered by domestic mutual funds are yet to see any major inflows from investors. While the outflow from gold ETFs continued in April, the pace of redemption has slowed down due to a rally in gold prices amidst uncertainty in the global economy. According to the latest data released by Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), gold ETF saw a net outflow of Rs 69 crore in April 2016. In FY16, investors pulled out Rs 903 crore, the third consecutive year of selling. During the preceding two financial years, investors had pulled out Rs 1,475 crore and Rs 2,293 crore from gold ETF as an upbeat sentiment in the stock market drove investors away from gold. We asked investors to refrain from buying gold in 2014 due to our view on gold and the penalising premiums prevailing at that point of time. We were of the view that 2015 was a good time to allocate to gold, as prices were beaten down by speculative selling in anticipation of the Fed rate hike, said Chirag Mehta, senior fund manager, alternative investment, Quantum AMC. However, given the global macro-economic factors, Mr Mehta believes any downside in gold prices would be limited and likely to attract significant buying on any meaningful corrections. Fundamentally, gold seems to be on a solid footing as central bankers have again hit the wall. Gold should benefit as central bankers attempt further measures through more newer, unconventional and untested approaches to revive growth, he said. Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has rejected the anticipatory bail plea of World Billiards champion Michael Ferreira and four others who are facing charges of money laundering in the multi-crore QNet case. Their plea for liberty was rejected on May 6 by Justice Mridula Bhatkar who took on record the statement of public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat that investigations were still on. Gharat opposed their plea on the ground that they had allegedly committed economic offences against the nation and indulged in money laundering running into crores of rupees by sending money out of India. Ferreira had started operations of QNet, a multi-level marketing company, in India via his firm, Vihaan Enteprises. The QNet cheating case began with a complaint filed Gurpreet Singh Anand, who raised his voice after losing Rs 30,000. According to police, the money involved has crossed Rs 1,000 crore in the alleged scam with more than 5 lakh investors allegedly losing thier money in the case against QNet which is being probed by Economic Offences Wing. A sessions court had earlier rejected their anticipatory bail plea. Later, they moved the Bombay high court which also rejected their plea two days back. Besides Ferreira, others whose anticipatory bail plea were rejected were Malcom Desai, Vanka Srinivas, Maganlal Balaji, all directors of M/s Vihaan Direct Selling (India) Pvt Ltd, and Suresh Themiri, director of Transview Enterprises. They are facing charges under IPC sections 420 (mischief), 468 (forgery), 471 (using forged document knowing it is not genuine). They are also charged with section 3 of MPID (Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors in Financial Establishment Act) which deals with fraudulent default by a financial establishment. The EOW had registered a case against the directors and officials of M/s Vihaan, QNet, Transview and Vanmala Hotels and Tourism Services in 2013. Police had issued notice to Ferreira in 2013 that read, "It appears that you (Ferreira) are acquainted with facts and circumstances of the case". Later, court had asked Ferreira to appear before EOW and give his statement. According to police, probe revealed that Ferreira was allegedly a stakeholder of M/s Vihaan. EOW has so far arrested 17 people. The Bank accounts of QNet, its representatives and associates have been frozen with Rs 110 crore. QNet allegedly lured investors with schemes involving investment between Rs 30,000 and Rs 7 lakh. "They posed as a marketing firm which sold bio-discs, watches, herbal products and holiday packages. They claimed that by using the bio-disc, one can cure cancer and braindiseases," police said. The government has said FDI in food processing will help farmers, reduce wastage of fruits and vegetables, give impetus to the industry and create vast employment opportunities. New Delhi: The government is expected to permit foreign companies to import certain key ingredients like flavours and preservatives under the proposal to allow 100 per cent FDI in the food processing sector. The Centre may also permit players to retail their products online, sources said. They said since some key ingredients of a food product may not be available in the country, the government may permit companies which want to set up units in India to import those inputs. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has proposed to allow 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) through government approval route in marketing and selling of food products produced and manufactured in India. The DIPP, under the Commerce and Industry Ministry, deals with FDI related matters. However, another source said the Food Processing Ministry is insisting on making it mandatory for the foreign players to invest a minimum of about 25 per cent of their total investments in rural ares to create infrastructure like cold chains to benefit farmers. The government has said FDI in food processing will help farmers, reduce wastage of fruits and vegetables, give impetus to the industry and create vast employment opportunities. During April-December, FDI into the country grew by 40 per cent to USD 29.44 billion. Barbara Zangerl repeats Achemine at Dumbarton Rock, Scotland's first E9 08.05.2016 by by Planetmountain Austrian rock climber Barbara Zangerl has repeated Achemine, the E9 trad climb at Dumbarton Rock established by Dave MacLeod in 2001 and famous for being Scotlands first E9. Three days ago Austrias Barbara Zangerl pulled off a remarkable feat by making the first ever repeat - both male or female - of Achemine, an intense trad climb at Dumbarton Rock established by Dave MacLeod in 2001. Fifteen years ago the route gained the accolade of being the hardest in the country but in the ensuing years it was dwarfed by Rhapsody, another MacLeod masterpiece on the same stone graded E11 and hailed as the hardest trad climb in the world. As such, it enjoyed most of the attention. Dumbarton Rock is nestled on the outskirts of Glasgow and notwithstanding its initial hostile appearance, it hosts some quality testpieces, weather permitting. Dumbarton Rock has been a reference point ever since the early eighties; in 1983 Dave Cuthbertson made the first ascent of Requiem, a climb that heralded a new era of difficulties worldwide. Despite the passing of time its awesome reputation has remained intact and Zangerl made a fast and necky repeat last Sunday before concentrating on the Achemine crack. Zangerl attempted Achemine for three days, falling off twice prior to her successful ascent. "I fell off the last move before finishing jug and escaped unharmed" explained Zangerl "so I reckon the route is safe since the protection is bombproof. But the falls are real whippers... " Asked by planetmountain.com, MacLeod stated "As far as I know its the first repeat. Great to hear somebody repeated it after 15 years! I always felt it was a great route. I hope Barbara enjoyed it. The moves are really good - technical and it helps to have good footwork." After serving her apprenticeship with hard bouldering, Zangerl set her sights on difficult multi-pitches, such as, Des Kaisers neue Kleider (Wilder Kaiser, Austria) Silbergeier (Ratikon, Switzerland), End of silence (Feuerhorn, Germany), Delicatessen (Corsica) Hotel Supramonte (Sardinia), Bellavista (Tre Cime di Lavaredo), Die Unendliche Geschichte (Ratikon) and El Nino on El Capitan. Her allrounder repertoire then broadened to hard trad ascents, which culminated in Prinzip Hoffnung at Austrias Burser Platte in March 2014. And now Achemine, Scotlands first E9, repeated at last. Barbara Zangerl is sponsored by La Sportiva, Black Diamond In response to rancher activists seizing control of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon on Jan. 2, White House spokesman Josh Earnest made the following troubling statement: "This ultimately is a local law enforcement matter." How should the impacted federal law enforcement officers have interpreted this? And what message did it send to Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward, who inherited this volatile situation? Answer: In substance, we don't have your back and you're on your own. After their forcible entry and occupation of federal property, the activists destroyed a government fence and admitted to looking through documents housed in the federal building. It has also been alleged that these activist criminals intimidated local federal government employees by following them home, and/or making threatening gestures to them. These are all federal offenses. By statute and by regulation, the FBI has broad jurisdiction over offenses involving government property. And a number of other agencies possess investigative jurisdiction over crimes involving specific federal properties. For example, the Department of the Interior is authorized to employ sworn and armed officers with full arrest powers in the National Park System. And the General Services Administration, as part of its statutory mandate to administer government properties, is authorized to appoint uniformed guards as "special policemen." These special policemen are empowered "to enforce the lawsto prevent breaches of the peace, to suppress affrays or unlawful assemblies, and to enforce any rules and regulations made and promulgated by the Administrator of General Services." So it seems pretty clear who was supposed to have law enforcement jurisdiction and responsibility in the Malheur situation. What we don't see in the DOJ manual is the section that reads: Skate responsibility for federal volatile matters by dumping it on local law enforcement. So sworn federal law enforcement officers from a variety of agencies were left wondering what their role was, and would the White House support them if they were forced to take enforcement action to protect innocent lives. It was shameful for the White House not to immediately commit its federal law enforcement assets to resolving this conflict. Did this rancher versus federal law enforcement conflict seem like deja vu? It should have. In April 2014, Bureau of Land Management law enforcement officers were forced into an armed confrontation with supporters of rancher Cliven Bundy. Subsequent to the armed stand-off, no arrests were made. Why? Because the White House wouldn't support its BLM officers who had criminals point weapons at them. Now the sons of Bundy have emerged as some of the leaders of this criminal siege. I'm not suggesting the White House should have sent in the FBI's elite Hostage Rescue Team to end this illegal siege and destruction of federal property. No one in federal law enforcement wanted to see bloodshed. But the White House needs a better game plan when these things happen than naively hoping and praying local law enforcement can resolve them on their own. Criminals involved in an illegal siege should not be permitted to harass and threaten federal government employees, nor wander in and out of a federal building and leave without repercussions. I understand the value of waiting out those who were occupying the federal building, but anyone who left the federal property should have been taken into custody by federal LEOs. This non-engagement policy, which was clearly established by the White House, strained the resources of local officers and placed federal LEOs at a tactical disadvantage while damaging their morale. The White House's response to the Malheur incident was confusing from the beginning. But federal law enforcement on the scene was criticized for it when the responsibility was at the top. The Washington Post wrote: "If federal law enforcement authorities had taken their roles as stewards of the rule of law seriously, many of these players would be facing justice in federal courts right now, instead of opportunistically raising hell out in poverty-stricken rural areas." The brave men and women in federal law enforcement who were on scene during Malheur didn't deserve such criticism. It should have been leveled at the president. The White House's failure to act only served to demoralize federal officers and empower the criminals posing as patriots. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print By Brendan OBrien (Reuters) Alabamas Supreme Court Chief Justice was suspended on Friday for ordering state probate judges not to grant marriage licenses to gay couples, despite contrary rulings by a federal court and the U.S. Supreme Court. Chief Justice Roy Moore, an outspoken opponent of same-sex unions, faces possible removal from the bench after the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission charged him with violating the states judicial ethics laws, according to news website AL.com. The legality of gay marriage had been at the center of a national debate until the Supreme Court ruled in June that the U.S. Constitution provides same-sex couples the right to marry, handing a historic triumph to the American gay rights movement. Despite the decision and a federal court ruling that made gay marriage legal in Alabama, Moore in January issued an administrative order to state probate judges that they should not issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, according to court documents. Chief Justice Moore flagrantly disregarded and abused his authority, the complaint said. Moore knowingly ordered (probate judges) to commit violations knowingly subjecting them to potential prosecution and removal from office. Moore said in a statement that the commission had no authority over administrative orders or the courts ability to prohibit probate judges from issuing same-sex marriage licenses. We intend to fight this agenda vigorously and expect to prevail, he said. Moore wrote in his order that the U.S. Supreme Court ruling was at odds with a decision in March 2015 by the Alabama Supreme Court that instructed probate judges to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The conflicting opinions had resulted in confusion and uncertainty, Moore said, with many probate judges issuing marriage licenses to gay couples while others refused to do so. [uL1N14R283] The Human Rights Campaign, the biggest U.S. gay rights organization, hailed the suspension. Roy Moore is an embarrassment to the state of Alabama, Eva Walton Kendrick, the groups Alabama state manager, said in a statement. Moore, a Republican, has been a hero of conservative causes before. In 2003, he was removed from office after a federal judge ruled he was placing himself above the law by refusing to take down a Ten Commandments monument. He won the chief justice job back in 2012, vowing not to do anything to create further friction with the federal courts. (Reporting by Brendan OBrien in Milwaukee and Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem, N.C.; Editing by Ed Davies/Mark Heinrich) Mumbai: Sidharth Malhotra has started shooting for his upcoming action film which also stars Jacqueline Fernandez. The film happens to be the second instalment of the Bang Bang franchise. However, it is not called Bang Bang 2. On Saturday, Sidharth began the films shoot. The actor will also be flying to Miami and Malaysia to shoot for the film. Jacqueline and Sidharth will be shooting for their film in different parts of Mumbai. The film is being directed by filmmaker-duo Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK. Sidharth took to his official Twitter account and shared a picture from the films set. There were reports that the film is a sequel to the Hrithik Roshan-Katrina Kaif starrer Bang Bang. However, Sidharth cleared the air at an event. "Our film is not a sequel to 'Bang Bang'. For the first time, I'll be working with two director team. It has got a lot of action, quirky comedy, love story. We are shooting in Miami, Malaysia. I am preparing for action in that," Sidharth had told reporters. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Trump supporter Sarah Palin went on CNN and completely undercut his attempt to use Bill Clintons infidelity against Hillary Clintons presidential campaign. Video: Transcript via CNNs State Of The Union: TAPPER: This weekend, Donald Trump really went after Hillary Clinton for her husband, Bill Clintons infidelities. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: Bill Clinton was the worst in history, and I have to listen to her talking about it? And just remember this. She was an unbelievably nasty, mean enabler, and what she did to a lot of those women is disgraceful. (END VIDEO CLIP) TAPPER: What do you think of that line of attack? PALIN: Well, you know, I think a lot of people may be obsessed with a public figures personal life, and theyre going to get all entangled in, you know, past indiscretions or whatever. But I think, for the most part, Americans are concerned about things like who will be able to appoint the next Supreme Court justices, which will affect an entire generation coming up. I think thats what people are concerned about, much more so than Bill Clintons obvious indiscretions, and Donald Trump having been divorced a couple of times, but owning up to it. Things like that, at least for people like me, eh, I just think thats like the least of our worries right now. Trump is making a big effort to use Bill Clintons sex scandal in the 2016 campaign, and Sarah Palin reaction was eh, that doesnt matter. With friends like Sarah Palin, Donald Trump doesnt need enemies. Even Trumps own supporters really dont support him. One can see Palins answer being used in Clinton campaign ads all across the country if Trump tries to use ancient and irrelevant history against Hillary Clinton. Trumps own surrogates are sabotaging his campaign, as the Donald Trump and Island of Misfit Conservative Toys are driving the Republican Party off of the cliff. Mumbai: Varun Dhawan, who is currently busy shooting a rom-com 'Badrinath Ki Dulhania', has revealed that he is happy about getting a chance to work with the "legend" choreographer, Ganesh Acharya. Sharing his excitement, the 29-year-old actor shared a picture of himself with Ganesh, writing, "With the #legend. Spent my whole childhood seeing this man choregraph countless heroes.finally got a chance to team up with #ganeshmasterji. Thank you @shashankkhaitan #badrinathkidulhania @aliaabhatt." Directed by Shashank Khaitan, the forthcoming movie that also stars Alia Bhatt, will be their third film together. Earlier, they have worked together in the flicks like 'Student of the Year' and 'Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania.' The movie, which will mark the second installment of a franchise that began with the romantic comedy 'Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania,' is slated to hit the theatres on 10 March 2017. HAVANA Fashionistas and celebrities from around the world flocked beneath klieg lights on a grand Havana colonial avenue transformed into a private runway for French fashion house Chanel. With hundreds of security agents holding ordinary Cubans behind police lines blocks away, actors Tilda Swinton and Vin Diesel, supermodel Gisele Bundchen and Cuban music stars Gente de Zona and Omara Portuondo watched slender models sashay down Prado boulevard Tuesday night in casual summer clothes seemingly inspired by the art deco elegance of pre-revolutionary Cuba. With the heart of the Cuban capital briefly privatized by an international corporation under the watchful eye of the Cuban state, the premiere of Chanel's 2016/2017 "cruise" line offered a startling sight in a country officially dedicated to social equality and the rejection of material wealth. Chanel welcomed the chance to show its creations in an unusual spot. "To explore new horizons is a way to fire imaginations and renew the vision of our brand while sharing the culture and heritage of the locations chosen for our fashion shows," it said in a statement. The show was the most extreme manifestation to date of the hot new status Cuba has assumed in the international art and cultural scene since the December 2014 declaration of detente with the United States. ADVERTISEMENT President Barack Obama visited in March, the Rolling Stones performed in Havana the same week, the first U.S. cruise in nearly four decades docked Monday and the latest installment of the multibillion-dollar "Fast and Furious" action movie franchise is filming here now. Many Cubans say they are delighted their country is opening itself to the world, offering ordinary people a firsthand look at celebrities and extravagant productions. But the rampant display of wealth on the streets of Havana is providing fodder for many already disenchanted by what they call Cuba's failure to deliver on promises of sustainable socialist equality. Mabel Fernandez, a radio announcer, arrived four hours before the start of the show, eager to give her 14-year-old daughter a taste of a world of international fashion that the girl had only seen on television and in movies. "We need this type of event, these new developments so people can learn more about culture," she said. But as police swarmed the area in the hours before the show, virtually all residents of the capital were swept behind yellow barricades and unbroken lines of uniformed and plainclothes police at least a block away. Reinaldo Fonseca, a local model, stood with a group of friends similarly trying to make their careers in fashion and watched as rich foreigners with invitations arrived at the event in specially rented antique American sedans. "It's a shame they don't let us pass," he said. The show ended with the models dancing down Prado to the drumming and singing of an Afro-Cuban band. ADVERTISEMENT Afterward, attendees were taken to Havana's Cathedral Plaza, an 18th-century Baroque gem transformed into a beach-themed party backdrop by the erection of a giant tiki-style bar and dance floor over its colonial cobblestones. Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld, 82, arrived in a blue-and-cream 1957 Ford Fairlane, picking his way gingerly toward the VIP section of the tiki hut as his gold-sequined jacket glinted in the lights of the dance floor. Models gyrated to a brief private concert by French-Cuban duo Ibeyi as waitresses handed out hors d'oeuvres and cocktails to the gathered crowd. Shooting survivor becomes U.S. citizen Zahra Zamiri worked for five years to earn her U.S. citizenship, so a few weeks ago, she asked if she could wait a little longer. She wanted to look nice, Zamiri told officials. When a woman who survives being shot twice in the chest at point-blank range asks for a little time, she gets it. Zamiri, a native of Iran and resident of Rochester, is now the newest U.S. citizen. She was sworn in this morning by U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank, just two months after her ex-husband tried to kill her. ADVERTISEMENT Lynx get good crowd but not 'W' The Minnesota Lynx got the crowd but not quite the roar they were looking for in Rochester on Mother's Day, with an 85-68 loss to the Washington Mystics at Mayo Civic Center Taylor Arena. A matinee crowd of 4,524 watched as the defending WNBA champion Lynx fell behind by double digits in the first half and never drew closer after halftime. It was the third time the Lynx have played a preseason game in Rochester, and it was the biggest crowd to see a professional women's basketball game here. "Obviously not what we hoped for," said Minnesota head coach Cheryl Reeve. "Our fans were terrific, it was a great turnout. Overall (it was) a really good week here in Rochester. $100 million development proposed near Saint Marys A more than $100 million housing and commercial development is proposed for a high-profile corner of Second Street Southwest, next to Mayo Clinic's Saint Marys campus. The plans call for a 13-story building with two levels of underground parking to be built on more than two acres at the southwest corner of 14th Avenue Southwest and Second Street. ADVERTISEMENT The Brentwood on 2nd and the Ray-Mar Motel stand on that corner. The hotels, along with some nearby houses, will be demolished to clear the way for the project. The Brentwood also houses several businesses, including City Market, Charlie's Eatery & Pub, A Shared Smile and the Healing Touch Spa. Mayor vetoes part of food truck ordinance The journey of food trucks into downtown Rochester hit a slight detour after part of a proposed new ordinance was vetoed by Rochester Mayor Ardell Brede. Brede vetoed the portion that would have trucks and trailers pay on a tiered fee system, which he said would be "unfair" for some of the small businesses in town. "It's a fairness issue," he said. 'We got people starting businesses that are just as strapped initially. We don't make adjustments on their taxes. They pay the full amount, and they don't get a break. Why don't we do this for any new business or restaurant coming into town? That's the part I vetoed." Board delays co-op vote A decision has been delayed on the Rochester Public Schools' proposal to dissolve the long-standing athletic cooperative agreement between John Marshall High School and Lourdes High School, a private Catholic institution. That proposal has sparked strong criticism after being brought forward last month by crosstown rivals Mayo and Century high schools. The issue was pulled off next Tuesday's school board agenda, released this morning. School Board Chairman Gary Smith said he asked that it be removed from the agenda to allow for more public dialogue on the topic. The board's next meeting is June 7. ADVERTISEMENT "This is the kind of issue where we need to make this as mutual as possible," Smith said, referring to the public-private co-op arrangement that's been in place for nearly 20 years. "There's a sense of fair play here. We can't just do this on a whim. We need to think this through." 340 homes in Rochester development pipeline Three proposed new neighborhoods could provide 340 new single-family homes in Rochester, where they'd help a housing market facing a severe shortage of homes for sale. Two are planned near existing subdivisions, while another large one is planned for newly annexed land at the edge of city limits. Recognizing another need that will come with residential building, a Rochester day care provider has proposed a new facility to meet what she says will be a shortage in child care in the near future. The largest of the residential subdivision developments, presented at a Wednesday meeting of the City Planning and Zoning Commission, is called Scenic Oaks West. Local builder Mark Hanson owns the 176-acre property that he has proposed to develop into subdivisions for 217 single-family home lots. Hayfield Schools to sell Brownsdale Elementary BROWNSDALE After a tumultuous spring, the Hayfield Community Schools Board voted to sell Brownsdale Elementary School building once it closes its doors at the end of the school year. The building will be listed with South East Minnesota Realty by May 18, Superintendent Belinda Selfors said. The asking price is $99,000. "The board is hopeful that the building will be used for a purpose that can support and promote the community of Brownsdale," Selfors said in an email. "All decisions in this regard have been made in the best interests of the district as a whole." The Hayfield school district voted on March 30 to close the Brownsdale school, citing high maintenance costs and declining student enrollment. Sonam Kapoor, who has had a great year with Neerja being one of the biggest hits of 2016 so far, plans to stay away from work till July. The actress, we hear, has left for London and from there she will be heading to Cannes. Sonam says, Yes, I am going to chill till about July-August. Its not a conscious break that I am taking from work, but I am just not finding anything inspiring enough. The only film I have signed is Rheas film but that is yet to be announced and the dates need to be worked out. In any case, I dont play the lead in it but whats important is that its a fun film. As far as roles are concerned, I am open to all sorts action, drama, comedy basically good content, thats all. Sonam, who is quite a regular at Cannes, shares some trivia about the film festival. The red carpet is not as long as everybody thinks it is. Its really wide and short and actually, its difficult to climb up the stairs that lead to the theatre. But there are bodyguards to help you. Its only ten minutes from The Martinez to the red carpet but it takes you 50 minutes because of the traffic and sitting in the car for that long, wearing a gown, is exhausting. But of course, she never lets the fatigue show, once the cameras come on. The actress will also be seen in Dhoni The Biopic where she essays the role of Dhonis girlfriend. Jackie Chans forthcoming venture Kung Fu Yoga that also stars Disha Patani will see her doing a lot of stunts. Disha, who has been away from home for a while, planned to head back to Mumbai on a week-long break from her shoot. In the midst of packing when she checked her tickets, she was surprised to see she wasnt landing in Mumbai instead, it read Hong Kong. This went back to a conversation with Jackie Chan in which she had mentioned her heart-felt wish to visit Hong Kong and Disney Land. Jackie had decided to fulfil her dream and surprise his co-star with this small token of appreciation. He made sure that all the arrangements were taken care of, and her vacation was planned perfectly by his team. Disha couldnt express how elated she felt with this kind gesture from the Hong Kong-based Chinese. The actress will also be seen in Dhoni The Biopic where she essays the role of Dhonis girlfriend. While Disha, who has now left for China couldnt be contacted for a quote, a source revealed, Disha was thrilled when she got to know that Jackie Chan has made arrangements for her to visit Disney land. She spent a day there before she headed to Mumbai for a week. Now, she is back in China for the shoot. Still from the fillms- 'It's Only the End of the World', 'I, Daniel Blake' and 'Personal Shopper' France: The world's most important -- and most glamorous -- film festival opens in Cannes on the French Riviera on Wednesday. These are the 21 films competing for its top prize, the Palme d'Or: American actor-director Sean Penn is back in dangerous territory, his favourite habitat, with this fiery love story set in war-torn Liberia between the boss of an aid organisation played by Charlize Theron and a doctor (Javier Bardem). Julieta Spain's Pedro "All About My Mother" Almodovar continues his obsession with all things maternal in this full on adaptation of three short stories by the Canadian writer Alice Munro about a mother's search for her daughter who disappears for a decade. It's Only the End of the World French Canadian wonderkid Xavier Dolan -- still only 27 -- conducts an all-star cast including Marion Cotillard, Vincent Cassel and Lea Seydoux in this drama about a writer who returns home to tell his family he is dying. The Salesman The Iranian master Asghar Farhadi, who won an Oscar for "A Separation", returns to his theatrical roots in this story of two actors whose relationship turns sour during their performance of Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman". Toni Erdmann An old man plays pranks on his adult daughter who he feels lacks a sense of humour in German director Maren Ade's much-anticipated new film seven years after she won the Jury Grand Prix at Berlin for "Everyone Else". Loving American indie favourite Jeff Nichols tells the story of a mixed race couple confronting racism in 1950s Virginia, based on the notorious case of Mildred and Richard Loving who were sentenced to a year in jail for marrying. Paterson US director Jim Jarmusch -- whose new documentary about his friend Iggy Pop will also be screened at Cannes -- is apparently back to his downbeat best with Adam Driver playing a bus driver poet in the New Jersey city of Paterson. I, Daniel Blake Until he hit comedy gold with "Looking for Eric", no one could have accused the veteran British director Ken Loach of playing for laughs. But he has cast comedian Dave Johns in his latest gritty drama about welfare cuts hurting vulnerable families. American Honey A hard partying band of misfits selling magazines criss-cross the American Midwest in British director Andrea Arnold's road movie starring maverick Hollywood star Shia LaBeouf. Personal Shopper A ghost story set in the Paris fashion world with "Twilight" superstar Kristen Stewart teaming up again with France's Olivier Assayas after they scored a hit with their last English-language film, "Sils Maria". The Handmaiden Sarah Waters' erotic crime novel "Fingersmith" has already been turned into a television series, but South Korean director Park Chan-wook best known for "Old Boy" transposes the story of a rich woman and a crook to colonial 1930s Korea. Slack Bay To say that French director Bruno Dumont divides critics is an understatement, but Cannes clearly loves him particularly after the success of his oddball television series "Li'l Quinquin". He returns to the north French coast with this period drama about the mysterious disappearances of tourists starring Juliette Binoche and Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, the sister of former French first lady, Carla Bruni. Graduation Originally called "Family Photos", the latest film from the Romanian New Wave star Cristian Mungiu is apparently a semi-autobiographical tale of fatherhood. He won the Palme d'Or in 2007 with the harrowing abortion drama "Four Months, Three Weeks and Two Days". The Unknown Girl Uplifting crowd-pleasers have never been the Belgian Dardenne brothers' bag. And their latest about a young doctor who unwittingly turns a dying girl from her door does not look like a barrel of laughs. However, they have won the top prize twice, will this be their hat-trick? Elle It has taken him two decades to recover from "Showgirls", but Dutch director Paul Verhoeven is back in the arthouse fold with French actress Isabelle Huppert playing a businesswoman attacked in her home. Sieranevada The second Romanian film in the running for the Palme d'Or is a family drama about neurologist coming to terms with his dead father from director Cristi Puiu, who made a big impact with his 2005 tragicomic "The Death of Mr Lazarescu". The Neon Demon A vicious beauty cuts a bloody path through the Los Angeles fashion and celebrity scene -- there is even talk of cannibalism -- in this supermodel horror flick from the hand of Denmark's Nicolas Winding Refn, best known for "Drive". From the Land of the Moon In her second film in competition, Marion Cotillard stars as a woman caught in an unhappy marriage who falls in love again in French director Nicole Garcia's film set just after World War II. Ma'Rosa A small Manila shopkeeper who is caught selling a small amount of drugs is the heroine of the prolific Filipino director Brillante Mendoza's story of a family rallying against corrupt police. Staying Vertical French director Alain Guiraudie's new film about a film director adrift "in the heart of France" may scream navel gazing. But if his homoerotic thriller "Stranger by the Lake" is anything to go by, expect some strange twists along the way. Aquarius The only Latin American entry by Brazilian film-maker Kleber Mendonca Filho is as yet something of a mystery. Set in an apartment block, it stars telenovela superstar Sonia Braga. Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson is likely to be the Libertarian Party nominee for president, and while I have nothing against the guy, Ive always found him to be unimpressive as a public figure. Its possible he and the Libertarian Party might pull 5 percent or even 10 percent this cycle depending on how the Trump-Clinton matchup goes along, but there is no chance that Johnson could win. But what if he won a couple of states, like his home state of New Mexico and some other place like Nevada or Alaska and denied Hillary and Trump 270 electoral votes, and threw the presidential selection to the House, and the VP selection to the Senate (which is the specified procedure of the 12th Amendment)? Way back in January, Andy Craig at Old Dominion Libertarian pointed out how it might go down in such as way as to deliver the White House to Johnson after all: In this election, they are limited to choosing from among the top three candidates in the Electoral College. . . House Republicans are in a catch-22. The vast majority consider Trump ideologically and more importantly, temperamentally, unfit to be President. Many of them have said so publicly. Furthermore, almost two-thirds of voters rejected him, and he lost the popular vote by a wide margin. The idea of a Trump presidency, particularly under these circumstances, with every Republican in Congress to blame, is seen as a nightmare scenario among GOP establishment circles. On the other hand, few Republican Congressmen can go home to their districts and face a primary, having voted to install Hillary Clinton as President. The massacre in the 2018 mid-term primary elections would be historic, and they know it. They are caught between losing their seats in primaries, or losing their majority in the general election, to voter backlash in favor of the spurned Democrats. In this scenario, Johnson presents a strongly appealing and compelling dark-horse option. A former Republican Governor with experience in office, and a smaller-government free-market platform, he is much more acceptable to many in Washington than dangerous lunatic Donald Trump. But he also has an appeal and acceptability to the left and center that Trump utterly lacks. The same is likely true of Jim Webb, and possibly Michael Bloomberg. Facing deadlock and no good options in picking either Clinton or Trump, the House Republicans make an offer: the House will elect the third-party candidate President, and the Senate (still in GOP hands), will elect the Republican nominee for Vice-President. (This is made easier, since the third-place candidate for Vice President is not eligible to be elected by the Senate). This could be Ted Cruz, for example, or another relatively acceptable GOP Governor or Senator placed on the ticket in a failed bid to keep the GOP unified behind Trump. So on December 30, 2016, a press conference is called in the Capitol Rotunda. Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, announce that both of their incoming caucuses had just voted in a special closed-door session, to elect a Libertarian President and a Republican Vice-President. A unity ticket among candidates who, between them, received a majority of both the popular vote and the electoral college. After being sworn in on January 3, the new Congress does exactly that. And thats how, if the stars align just right, this obscure provision of the Constitution could allow members of Congress to, in effect, veto both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump and elevate a third-place runner-up to the Oval Office instead. Far fetched? Absolutely. Impossible? I dont think so. Unprecedented? Not quite. In 1824, a very similar scenario played out among John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, and Henry Clay. Jackson, seen as unfit despite being the clear popular vote winner, was passed over in favor of popular runner-up Adams. I live in Minnesotas Second Congressional District, which has been represented for the last 14 years by my friend John Kline. Colonel Kline has elected to retire at the end of his current term, so the seat will be open in November. Minnesotas 2nd will be one of the most-watched Congressional races of 2016. The 2nd, once solidly Republican, is now considered a swing district. In 2014, comedian Bill Maher dedicated $1 million to trying to turn the 2nd District blue, and failed miserably. But in 2016, with no incumbent and a huge cash advantage, the Democrats think they will be able to capture the seat. This year, I served as convener for my precinct Republican caucus. I described the experience here. My wife and I both volunteered to be precinct delegates to our Senate district convention, the next level up. At that gathering, we were both elected as delegates to the Second Congressional District convention, which took place yesterday. The chief task of the CD2 convention, along with electing three delegates to the national convention in Cleveland, was endorsing a Republican candidate for the open Congressional seat. So we spent a long nine hours at a high school near our home. The morning was consumed by rules debates, which came to a close when the delegates more or less rebelled and demanded that the remaining sections of the rules be adopted en masse without further amendments. Then we got on to the Congressional candidates, which is where the day got interesting. Minnesotas caucus system is notoriously quirky; but then, maybe all caucus systems are. Caucuses are where grass roots activists dominate. Commitment to conservative principles is a given; commitment to winning elections, less so. In the beginning there were five candidates for the House seat. Three were more or less serious. One was oddhe got a pretty warm reception, but no votes. Another, Darlene Miller, is a businesswoman with no political experience. For reasons that are opaque to me, she has John Klines support. She appeared at the convention and spoke along with the other candidates at the beginning of the nomination process, but then withdrew her name from consideration. Knowing that she has little grass roots support, she intends to run in the August primary against the endorsed candidate. The three serious candidates for the endorsement were Jason Lewis, a long-time friend of ours who recently retired after 25 years as a radio talk show host; David Gerson, an activist who twice challenged John Kline for the partys endorsement; and John Howe, a former legislator. Of the three, it seemed obvious to me that Lewis would be by far the strongest candidate, because of his name recognition and stature, his superior skills, and his ability to raise money both locally and nationally. But such considerations are not necessarily decisive with the partys activists. On the first ballot, Gerson had 48% of the approximately 309 votes, while Lewis had 45%. The race quickly came down to these two candidates. On the second ballot, Lewis pulled ahead. After five ballots, he needed just 13 more votes to reach the 60% threshold for endorsement. Under the conventions rules, the candidates got another opportunity to address the delegates after every five ballots. This proved decisive; Gerson actually performed quite well, but Jason Lewiss speech was top-notch. In my opinion, his superiority as a candidate was blindingly obvious. But quite a few delegates either didnt see it that way, or didnt care. Still, Jasons performance moved 12 delegates to change their votes, so that he had something like 59.75% of the ballots. Just one more switch was needed, and the seventh ballot put him over the top. The delegates knew it was over when, after waiting through a number of speeches and other business, Gerson was announced for one final appearance, in the course of which he acknowledged that the delegates had chosen Lewis as their endorsed candidate. Jason then got one last speechterrific like the othersand I skipped out before voting on the three national convention delegates, since I didnt know any of the 26 candidates. Participating in this years caucuses was interesting, to say the least. Democracy in action is messy, tedious, sometimes stupid, but ultimately inspiring. Republican caucus-goers in Minnesota are, almost without exception, deeply patriotic and as conservative as one could wish for. If you want to talk with some of those people you read about in the newspapers who are irate at Washington and what they see as the Republican Partys elites, this would be a good place to start. Individually, some might be seen as eccentric. But in the end, they made a series of good decisions. I dont expect Jason to have much trouble winning the August primary, but the general election is anticipated to be close. The Democrats have nominated a political novice named Angie Craig. Craig, described by her supporters as an out and proud married lesbian, will raise lots of money from the far-left precincts of the national Democratic Party. Financially, Jason Lewis will need all the help he can get. He is a solid and principled conservative who can be trusted not to go native if we send him to Washington, and a good guy to boot. If we do our biannual Pick Six this year, Lewis will likely be one of our choices. In the meantime, any assistance you can give him here will be appreciated. Washington Post Plum Line contributor Paul Waldman asserts that Hillary Clinton is going to be exonerated on the email controversy. He explains: [I]n order to have broken the law, it isnt enough for Clinton to have had classified information in a place where it was possible for it to be hacked. She would have had to intentionally given classified information to someone without authorization to have it[.] Waldman shows no evidence of knowing what hes talking about. He provides no legal analysis. He appears to be spreading disinformation. Hillary Clinton may ultimately be exonerated, but it should not be on account of the explanation afforded by Waldman. Waldman doesnt cite any potentially applicable statutes. He doesnt examine the language of potentially applicable law. He doesnt explicate the intent required to violate laws prohibiting the mistreatment of national defense or classified information. He doesnt even quote a knowledgeable lawyer. His post is a joke at best. One potentially applicable provision is found in 18 U.S.C. 793(f). This provision of the Espionage Act states: Whoever, being entrusted with or having lawful possession or control of any document. . .relating to the national defense, (1) through gross negligence permits the same to be removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of his trust, or to be lost, stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, or (2) having knowledge that the same has been illegally removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of its trust, or lost, or stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, and fails to make prompt report of such loss, theft, abstraction, or destruction to his superior officer, Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both. Waldman to the contrary notwithstanding, the statute does not require that Clinton have intentionally given classified information to someone without authorization to have it[.] It doesnt even require that the information be classified. It merely requires that the information relate to the national defense. Paul Mirengoff considered the possible applicability of the statute here. Andrew McCarthy is a former Assistant United States Attorney who handled serious cases involving national security. Unlike Waldman, he knows what he is talking about. Andy summarized potentially applicable law for the New York Times in part as follows: The laws against mishandling classified information are prosecution-friendly. For example, it is a felony for one entrusted with classified information not only to communicate it to a person unauthorized to have it, but also to enable its removal from its secure storage facility through gross negligence. It is also a crime to fail to report that informations improper removal or communication. So is retaining materials containing classified information at an unauthorized location. Secretary Clinton systematically conducted official business on a private unsecure system, and had subordinates do likewise, knowing the nature of their duties made classified communications inevitable. Like others with access to classified information, she signed a nondisclosure acknowledging that that this information could include unmarked documents and oral communications. At least one email finds her instructing a subordinate to remove classified markings and send a document to her via the nonsecure channel (though it is publicly unknown whether the subordinate complied). She is obviously responsible for any foreseeable wrongs committed by her subordinates using a system she set up. And she transferred the classified information on the servers to a private maintenance company and to lawyers not authorized to have it. See also Andys Rehashing talking points from Camp Clinton. Whether or not Waldman knows what he is talking about, he is disseminating disinformation courtesy of the Washington Post. With his superb two-volume biography of Elvis Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love Peter Guralnick has made himself the essential chronicler of Elviss story. Guralnick of course tells the true story of the day in December 1970 when Elvis met Nixon in the White House. The story of the visit provides insight into Elviss patriotism as well as comic relief in the denouement of Elviss life. The film Elvis & Nixon is playing in theaters now. It is based on a true story, as they say. The film, however, plays it strictly for laughs even if elements of it capture something true. This is my short account of the true story drawn from Peter Guralnicks invaluable account. Elvis admired law enforcement officers and collected the badges of police departments he visited. In Los Angeles on a secret getaway from tensions at home in Memphis, Elvis became inflamed with the desire to be deputized by the federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangersous Drugs (BNDD). He inveigled his friend Jerry Schilling to join him on a quick trip to Washington. Bodyguard Sonny West would fly in from Memphis to meet them. Elvis asked Schilling to take out some cash for the trip; Elvis ended up giving it away to soldiers returning from service in Vietnam. California Senator George Murphy was coincidentally on the flight from Los Angeles to Washington. Elvis sought out Murphy back in tourist to enlist his assistance. On the flight Elvis wrote out a letter to President Nixon (Ive added paragraphing in the interest of readability): Dear Mr. President First I would like to introduce myself. I am Elvis Presley and admire you and Have Great Respect for your office. I talked to Vice President Agnew in Palm Springs a week ago and expressed my concern for our country. The Drug Culture, The Hippie Elements, the SDS, Black Panthers, etc do not consider me as their enemy or as they call it The Establishment. I call it America and I Love it. Sir I can and will be of any Service that I can to help the country out. I have no concerns or motives other than helping the country out. So I wish not to be given a title or an appointed position, I can and will do more good if I were made a Federal Agent at Large, and I will help out by doing it my way through my communications with people of all ages. First and Foremost I am an entertainer but all I need is the Federal credentials. I am on the Plane with Sen. George Murphy and We have been discussing the problems that our country is faced with. Sir I am Staying at the Washington hotel Room 505-506-507. I have 2 men who work with me by the name of Jerry Schilling and Sonny West. I am registered under the name of Jon Burrows. I will be here for as long as it takes to get the credentials of a Federal Agent. I have done in depth study of Drug Abuse and Communist Brainwashing Techniques and I am right in the middle of the whole thing, where I can and will do the most good. I am Glad to help just so long as it is kept very Private. You can have your staff or whomever call me anytime today tonight or Tomorrow. I was nominated the coming year one of Americas Ten Most outstanding young men. That will be in January 18 in my Home Town of Memphis Tenn. I am sending you the short autobiography about myself so you can better understand this approach. I would love to meet you just to say hello if youre not to[o] busy. Respectfully, Elvis Presley Upon his arrival in Washington on the morning of December 21, Elvis dropped the letter off at the White House and went off to a meeting (arranged by Murphy) with the director of the BNDD to seek a badge. He instead met with BNDD deputy director John Finlator, who refused Elviss request for a badge. Back in the hotel room, however, Schilling received a call inviting Elvis to the White House for a meeting with the president. Elviss letter had prompted internal deliberations over the wisdom of a presidential meeting. Dwight Chapins memo to Bob Haldeman summarizing Elviss request is a bit clueless. The second page of the memo has Chapins earnest advice and Haldemans somewhat more astute response. Chapin writes: [I]f the President wants to meet some bright young people outside of the Government, Presley might be a perfect one to start with. Haldeman responds: You must be kidding. The meeting was nevertheless promptly approved and arranged. Elvis, Schilling, and West met up with White House aide Bud Krogh for Elviss 12:30 meeting with the president in the Oval Office. Bud Kroghs memo summarizes the meeting: Presley indicated to the President in a very emotionial manner that he was on your side. Presley kept repeating that he wanted to be helpful, that he wanted to restore some respect for the flag, which was being lost. He mentioned he was just a poor boy from Tennessee who had gotten a lot from his country, which in some way he wanted to repay. Elvis thought he could be helpful to Nixon in his drug drive and Nixon expressed his concern that Presley retain his credibility. It was at this point that Elvis made his pitch for the BNDD badge. Nixon told Krogh that he would like Elvis to receive a badge. Krogh wrote in a subsequent account of the meeting: Elvis was smiling triumphantly. Thank you very much, sir. This means a lot to me.Elvis then moved up close to the President and, in a spontanous gesture, put his left arm around him and hugged him. Not done yet, Elvis asked the president if he would see his friends Schilling and West: It would mean a lot to them and to me. Schilling and West were ushered into the Oval Office. Nixon gave them the same tie clasps and cuff links with presidential seals that he had already given Elvis. Elvis prompted Nixon: You know, theyve got wives too. Elvis and Nixon then rummaged through Nixons desk for suitable presents for the wives. The White House photographer took several photos to document the occasion. In the photo below West and Schilling have joined Elvis in the Oval Office with Nixon. The storied photo below is the one with which we are all familiar. It is one of the most popular photos at the National Archives. After lunch in the White House mess and a tour of the White House, Elvis was presented with the BNDD badge by Finlator at Kroghs office. Finlator promised to send along additional credentials. Leaving the White House, Guralnick writes, Sonny and Jerry never stopped to ponder the many strange things that had occurred on this day. As far as they were concerned, there was one thing, and one thing only, responsible for whatever had happened to them, good or bad: they were with Elvis Presley. At least this particular chapter of the Elvis story had a happy ending. The Federal Ministry of Transportation has queried the management of LADOL Integrated Logistics FZE to explain how it came about a purported gazette which enabled the company to receive ships carrying oil and gas related cargoes. A source close to the ministry said on Sunday that this was contained in the correspondence between LADOL and the ministry. In the correspondence, the ministry recalled that at a meeting between the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and maritime stakeholders in March, LADOL presented a gazette, which the ministry said its authenticity was in doubt. The ministry demanded that LADOL should furnish it with more information on how it came about the purported gazette No 54 , Volume 95 of Lagos, 4th Sept, 2008, which allowed it to receive a maximum of two-ocean going ships per week. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that at a meeting held in March by the minister and maritime stakeholders, the minister told terminal operators to submit documents to show that there were no terminals dedicated to handle oil and gas cargoes. The minister explained that one of the far-reaching decisions reached was that the most recent Presidential approval of April 20, 2015, be strictly complied with by all relevant maritime stakeholders. According to the ministry, the presidential approval states that the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) project can be located at Agge, Bayelsa State, when the facilities to handle such operations are developed. In addition, the FPSO can be conveniently located at any designated oil and gas terminal. All oil and gas related cargoes must be handled only at the designated terminals as in the letter from the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE). Operators are, however, free to choose port of discharge of their cargoes within the designated terminals at Onne, Warri and Calabar, the ministry said. It added that vessels coming to Nigeria, particularly oil and gas related cargoes, except petroleum products must first go to the appropriate NPA concessioned terminal operators and shipping lines. The ministry said that the owners of the vessels must pay the necessary dues/charges and obtain releases before proceeding to locations for final discharge including those meant for LADOL. It said that this was in order to maintain transparency and promote healthy competition in the sector. The ministry added that all port development facilities associated with the development of any port facility including FPSO should be carried out in accordance with extant public procurement and infrastructure development laws and policies. It warned that all maritime stakeholders should ensure strict compliance with the presidential approval. (NAN) At least 500,000 households displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency will benefit N17,000 each from the World Food Programme in 2016, an official has said. The World Food Programme is a project of the United Nations that addresses hunger and promotes food security. The Chairman of Borno State Emergency Agency, Ahmed Satomi, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday in Maiduguri, said 35,000 households had so far benefited. He said that the agency planned to reach out to 1.4 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) taking refuge in other communities. We are targeting the most vulnerable couples, widows and those who have passed through great hardship as a result of the insurgency. Apart from our IDPs in the 28 camps, we also have about a million of them taking refuge in host communities of Jere and Maiduguri Metropolitan Council. The token would be given to them to encourage them to start up something that would enable them cater for their families to alleviate their suffering, he said. Mr. Satomi also spoke of the procedure for giving out the money. We will go to each and every of these households to obtain their bio-metric data and head count. We will also try to see how we can empower them on basic skills acquisition as well as entrepreneurship which will go a long way in assisting the beneficiaries. So far, we have started with Gwange one, two and three, Meri and Shettimari areas in the state capital, he said. He said that the state government would soon start distributing food items to the IDPs in their host communities. Apart from causing the death of over 20,000 people since 2009, the Boko Haram insurgency has also caused the displacement of over a million people. Some of the displaced persons have returned to their homes in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe since the Nigerian Army retook most of the territory formerly controlled by the insurgents. (NAN) Cannes has morphed into one of Europe's conference capitals, hosting the MIPTV and MIPDoc, the world's biggest television and documentary markets, as well as the film festival every year. France: The Cannes Film Festival opens this week in the French Riviera resort. Here are five essential -- and often surprising -- facts about the glitzy Mediterranean town. Bad timing Timing is everything in cinema, they say, but as Cannes was to prove that's not always the case. France's great reforming education minister Jean Zay first came up with the idea of a global international film festival in 1939 as a rival to the Venice festival, which was then the plaything of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his film-loving German friend Adolf Hitler. Biarritz on France's Atlantic coast was first chosen as the host city but when it couldn't raise the money, Cannes nipped in. However, war soon broke out and Mussolini's troops marched into the town. It wasn't till after the war in 1946 that the festival finally got going, quickly becoming the most important in the world. Unfortunately by then Zay was dead, murdered because he was a Jew by France's collaborationist government. His ashes were moved to the Pantheon in Paris last year as one of the leading heroes of the French Resistance. Lap of luxury The myth of the French Riviera was created at the end of the 19th century by the crowned heads of Europe who wintered there. Their legacy -- and often their palatial villas -- has nowadays been taken up by Russian oligarchs and wealthy Gulf potentates. To serve their every whim, Cannes has more luxury good shops than anywhere else in France outside Paris. Chanel, Chopard, Rolex, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Dior... no less than 70 top name brands have shops squeezed into the 800 metres of its seafront Croisette. Cat burglars Like bears to honey, where there is great wealth, there are always criminals eager to redistribute a little of it their way. The Croisette has witnessed some of the biggest and most daring jewellery heists in history. A solitary robber, thought to be one of the infamous Pink Panthers, took gems worth 103 million euros ($130 million) from the Carlton hotel in 2013 where they were being displayed at an "Extraordinary Diamonds" exhibition. The surprisingly simple raid still holds the world record as the biggest heist of all time. That same year at the film festival a 1.6-million euro necklace was stolen and gems worth only slighty less also went missing. Having vowed that such crimes should never be allowed to happen again, the authorities were found wanting again last year when only a few days before the festival began 17.5 million euros of jewellery was taken from the Cartier shop on the Croisette. If that all seems like something from the movies it's because it is. That connoisseur of crime films Alfred Hitchcock set part of his 1955 classic "To Catch a Thief" about a Riviera cat burglar in the Carlton hotel. It was during the film shoot that Hollywood star Grace Kelly met Prince Rainier, the ruler of nearby Monaco. Their fairytale marriage later sealed Tinseltown's links with the coast. It's British actually Cannes is a French town, but it was actually the British who made it what it is today. A Scottish aristocrat and lawyer, Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham, is the man who turned the sleepy fishing village into a fashionable resort. An anti-slavery campaigner, he became Lord Chancellor, the head of the judiciary, and encouraged hundreds of wealthy British aristos and industrialists to come and build their winter homes nearby. Brougham was the inventor of a stately four-wheeled carriage which still bears his name. He also holds the record for speaking non-stop for six hours in the House of Commons. 'French Hollywood' From the dawn of cinema, when the Lumiere brothers shot their first short reels by its glittering shore, the Cote d'Azur has always attracted filmmakers. After the Lumieres' stay in 1897, some of the greatest directors of the silent era descended on the coast to shoot exterior scenes, a trend that was to continue with the advent of the "talkies". The Victorine Studios at nearby Nice were once called "French Hollywood", with Marcel Carne shooting part of "Les Enfants du Paradis" -- often regarded as the greatest French film of all time -- there in 1944. Nowadays, however, Cannes has morphed into one of Europe's conference capitals, hosting the MIPTV and MIPDoc, the world's biggest television and documentary markets, as well as the film festival every year. The 2016 Appropriation Act signed by President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday will run until May 2017, an official has said. The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly (Senate), Ita Enang, stated this on Sunday in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. The Act provides that the budget takes effects from the date assented to by the president, and run a full course of 12 months, said Mr. Enang, a former lawmaker who once chaired the Senate Committee on Rules and Business. So, as the president assented to this budget on the 6th of May, 2016, this budget will last and expire on 6th of May 2017. This is an ingenious introduction by the National Assembly to ensure that there is full implementation of the budget. On Sunday, Mr. Enang thanked Nigerians for their patience during the budget crisis, and praised the Senate and the House of Representatives members whom he said demonstrated bi-partisanship during the controversy that trailed the exclusion of the Lagos-Calabar rail project from the budget. I want to thank the Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, and members of the PDP in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. They were bi-partisan, and they worked like one Nigeria, he said. Mr. Enang said apart from the Lagos-Calabar rail project, there was another big project in the budget for residents of Cross River and Akwa Ibom. This, he said, was the proposed construction of a dual carriage-way along Odukpani-Itu-Ikot-Ekpene Highway which links the two South-South states together. I would want to call it the legacy project, the presidential aide said, adding that N6 billion has been provided for the take off of the road project in the 2016 budget. The road will ease the suffering of the people, he said. Mr. Enang also told the journalists that the president has not introduced any grazing reserve bill to the national assembly. His statement on the controversial bill is in tandem with that of the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who last week denied such bill exists. The bill was rumoured to contain provisions that will mandate creation of grazing reserves for herdsmen in all the states of Nigeria. The presidential aide, however, said a similar bill was introduced as a private member bill in the last Senate when he was a member. My contribution to the debate then, which could be found in the hansard of the senate, was that the question of grazing was for each state. It is not something the federal government can regulate in each of the states, he said. It is only the house of assembly of each state that can regulate it. The former senator mentioned the personal lessons he learnt during the budget crisis to include speaking less, and working more. Two, explain to your boss, your employer, and the people who are expecting results from you, how difficult it was to attain and bring a result, and not why result was not brought. The experience is that, no matter how hard a thing is, work through it, and when your wit seems to be running out, pray, and work harder. On April 4, 2016, about 25 men armed with assault rifles stormed 37, Aje Street, Pleasure, in the Iyana Ipaja area of Lagos around 2:30 a.m. They banged the gate of the house repeatedly and when no one came out to open the it, they scaled the fence of the building in a commando style. According to one resident, the entire event was so nightmarish that she pissed on herself. There were three buildings two one-storey buildings and a bungalow inside the compound. The armed men ordered everybody out of their apartments. They broke into the apartment of those that hesitated and ordered them to sit on the dusty ground inside the compound. Many of the tenants said they were beaten for either hesitating or for asking the men to identify themselves. The armed men were not done. They continued to the apartment of the landlord, Mathew Sobiye, who lived on the top floor of the second storey building and ordered him out. When he hesitated they broke the asbestos ceiling of his veranda and tried to force their way into his apartment. They couldnt. So they broke his front door and dragged the Septuagenarian out of the bed. The landlord, who refused to say his name, told PREMIUM TIMES that his blood-pressure rose to a frightening level that he had to see his doctor the morning after. For several days he had difficulty breathing. Tenants and landlord thought they were armed robbers. They were not. They were operatives of the State Security Services, SSS, who were on the trail of Rilwanu Jamiu, one of the suspects who allegedly cloned the number of the Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode. The SSS thought Mr. Jamiu was hiding in the compound. Mr. Jamius friend, Saheed Eyitayo, lives in the compound. They broke into Mr. Eyitayos one-room apartment, and when they couldnt find Mr. Jamiu and didnt get a satisfactory response of his whereabouts, several of the men allegedly descended on him and beat him until he was unconscious, some residents claimed. I overheard Eyitayo telling the DSS people that the person they were looking for did not stay with him. He told them the suspect was his friend and only visited him the previous day. But, his explanation did not convince them. They beat him mercilessly till blood came out of his face. We could not recognise him again, a resident who asked not to be named said. Residents of the compound said he was laid facedown, handcuffed with his arms behind his back and his legs were fettered in chains and dragged into one of the buses the SSS operatives came in. They said he could barely walk when they took him away. Throughout the terrifying episode, the SSS operatives did not say who they were neither did they present a warrant to search the house, residents said. The SSS operatives were led to Pleasure by Adejoke Ogunbona, the wife of Mr. Jamiu, who told PREMIUM TIMES that the operatives had broken into her Oke-Aro residence in similar manner and had assaulted her. She said the men knocked down her door around 1:30 a.m. and ordered her and her two children outside. They took her 5-year-old son to a corner away from her and interrogated him, she said. Ms. Ogunbona said a soldier, who was with the SSS officials, took her to about three houses from her residence and started asking questions about her husbands whereabouts. About five of them now started asking me about my husband. I told them he had travelled for about a month. They now threatened me that they had been talking to me like a gentle man. But I insisted that my husband had travelled about a month ago that I didnt know his whereabouts, she said. Later a soldier among them came to me and told me to follow him about three houses from our house. He told me to put my hand up. He said: You took food to your husband yesterday night. I said no. I did not take food to my husband. He slapped me with both hands. He asked me again and said Where is Pleasure? Your husband is in Pleasure. I said I dont know. He slapped me again. And he slapped me the third time. After then I told him he is at Pleasure and I took food to him, because I was afraid. According to Ms. Ogunbona, although she had indeed taken food to her husband the day before, it wasnt at Pleasure but around Alagbado area of the state. However, she told this reporter that she had met her husband at Pleasure a few days ago. And I meet my husband in Alagbado that night and not Pleasure. No I wasnt aware that my husband was at Pleasure, she said. I knew of the place (Pleasure) after I called my husband that I missed him and he said I should come and meet him there. And when I got to the place, I did not see anybody. It was my husband that opened the door. She said she had not met Mr. Eyitayo before that night. I showed them the road the Pleasure. When they got there they did not meet my husband there. I dont know who is Saheed. Ive heard of him before but Ive never met him in my life. When I got there they asked me if I knew him, and I said I did not know him and that was where my husband asked me to come. Just like the residents of No. 37 Aje Street Ms. Ogunbona confirmed that Mr Eyitayo was beaten and bloodied before he was taken away in chains. They beat him mercilessly, she said. The news of Saheeds death The morning after, Mr Sobiye, worried where his tenant was taken to, rushed to the nearby police station to ask if the men were from there. The police said they were unaware of any operation in the area on the day. On April, 6, two operatives of the SSS visited the landlord and said they were from the service office in Shangisha, Lagos. They told me they were here to talk about what happened three days ago. They said their director will like to have a word with me. So I followed them to their office, Mr. Sobiye said. When I got there, the director asked me a few questions about Saheed. They wanted to know what he does and what kind of tenant he was. I told them he was a clearing agent at the wharf and that he was a good tenant. I wasnt expecting what the director told me next: he said Saheed had died. He asked if I knew any members of his family. I told them I dont because he just moved to my house about eight months ago. I was told not to tell anybody who came looking for Saheed that he had died. My thinking was that they wanted to tell the family themselves. Tortured to death An SSS insider told PREMIUM TIMES that Mr. Eyitayo was resisting arrest on the night he was arrested. He said he tried to jump out from the moving vehicle as he was being conveyed to the SSS office and sustained injuries that killed him. According to the source, Mr Eyitayo was a member of the syndicate that cloned Mr. Ambodes number and his house was used as a base by the syndicate. Michael Lasisi, one of Mr Eyitayos relatives, told PREMIUM TIMES that the Lagos State Director, Adekunle Ajanaku, repeated the same narrative as our source during a meeting he held with the family on May 3 at the agencys Shangisha office. He, however, said the agencys account of how Mr. Eyitayo died cannot be further from the truth. He said he believed the SSS tortured him to death. He said Mr. Eyitayo was not a criminal and had nothing to do with the cloning of the governors number. He alleged that the SSS waited 19 days before informing the family of Mr. Eyitayos death because they were trying to cook up a story to hide their extrajudicial killing. We had gone to the SSS office several times, and they told us come back you cannot see him. Until finally on the 23rd, 19 days after he was killed they now told one of my brothers Oyetunji that he had died. Meanwhile they had told the landlord not to tell anybody that he had died. They did that so as the days elapsed they would be able to manufacture lies to cover up the official criminality. They could not tell us what he has done. They said his friend was part of those who cloned the governors number. They traced the friend to his house but they did not see him. Today we went to see the director of the SSS and he was telling annoying tales. They said they did not kill him. But who killed him? There was blood all over. Their lawyer was telling us that he was trying to resist, how could he resist? Was he having guns or knives? How could he resist 25 fully armed men? The man they handcuffed and chained, that could hardly walk and half dead. How could he jump? He said Mr. Ajanaku admitted that Mr. Eyitayo was never interrogated neither was his statement taken after he was arrested. So how come the SSS was trying to link him to a crime he allegedly never committed, he said. That was why I told the director of the SSS that all they have said are lies. No reasonable person can accept that from them. They couldnt say anything much. He said some of the people have been charged to the court, if they were charged to the court, is this guy one of them? Do you have any evidence against him?he asked. He said the family will not collect Mr Eyitayos body until a proper autopsy by the Lagos State government was conducted to determine the cause of death. He added that the SSS should be investigated and all those found to have had a hand in Mr Eyitayos death should be brought to book. The family wants justice. We are crying out on the government to help us. It is terrible. This is official brutality. In a country like this that one group of people will rise up and go to a mans house and wasted him and manufacture lies to hang on him to make him look like a criminal, Mr. Lasisi said. The Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, in Plateau State has convicted 62 motorists of various traffic offences in Jos. The Public Education Officer of the commission in the state, Andrew Bala, told the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday that the offenders were arrested during a mobile court proceedings carried out by its officers on May 7. He said the exercise took place on some highways within Jos-Bukuru metropolis. According to him, mobile court has become a veritable tool that the corps uses to curtail the many anomalies on highways to reduce road traffic crashes. Our men on patrol actually arrested 63 motorists but one was discharged and acquitted while 62 were found guilty and convicted. We mostly use the mobile courts these days because we feel there is the need to give motorists fair hearing, and for me it is a better deal, he said. He added that the most prevalent offences were overloading, use of worn-out tyres, vehicle licence violation and drivers licence violation. Others include use of phone while driving, seatbelt violation and lack of caution signs. Mr. Bala further explained that none of the convicted motorists were imprisoned; adding that another reason for the mobile court exercise was to rid highways of under-age drivers. He assured the public that officers and men of the command would make the mobile court exercise as a routine measure to checkmate the excesses of drivers on highways. (NAN) A Catholic cleric has cautioned the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, not to drag itself into politics. The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Abeokuta, Kayode Odetoyinbo, stated this on Sunday in Abeokuta during an interactive session with journalists as part of the SS Peter and Paul Churchs activities to mark the World Communication Day. CAN is not a political party and should not be turned to a political party, he said. Let God choose the right person for the association. Mr. Odetoyinbo also declined to state whether or not he would seek election to become the president of the foremost Christian association. I cant just wake up one day and say I want to be the president, he said. The Bishops conference has final say on that, so for now I am not saying I have interest. While not ruling himself out of contention, the cleric also gave some advice to whomever emerges as president to replace the outgoing controversial cleric, Ayo Oritsejafor. The leadership should know that all churches belong to him, and not leader of a section of the churches. The CAN should speak with one voice. CAN should reunite all churches, he stated. The clergyman, who advised the next leadership to learn from mistakes of the past, also restated the Catholic Churchs view on alcohol consumption. There is nothing wrong in alcohol consumption, only that it has to be done with moderation, he said. Take note anything you do without moderation becomes a problem. Even when you take food or water without moderation it becomes a problem. An Abuja High Court has ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to pay N10 million damages to an Abuja based security expert, Wolgang Reinl, for his unlawful detention and seizure of his international passport by the anti-graft agency. The fine was imposed on EFCC as compensatory damages for the violation of fundamental rights of Mr. Reinl to dignity of human person and personal liberty. The court also barred the EFCC from arresting, re-arresting, detaining or embarking on further seizure of the international passport of the plaintiff who is an Austrian security consultant. In his judgment in the legal action instituted by Wolgang Reinl to challenge his arrest and detention since December 12 2015 to February 2, 2016, Justice Peter Affen ordered that EFCC must forthwith release the international passport, cheque books and cell phones seized from the plaintiff in the wake of his arrest and detention. Justice Affen in 27-page judgment also ordered EFCC to delist the foreign security expert from their watch-list or no-fly list as doing so infringes on the fundamental rights of Mr. Reinl to freedom of liberty. The court held that the detention of the plaintiff at the EFCC custody in Abuja for over a month was unlawful, unconstitutional and constituted a gross violation of the plaintiff s fundamental right to dignity as enshrined in Section 34 and 35 of the 1999 Constitution. Mr. Reinl had through his lawyer, Afam Osigwe, dragged the EFCC before the Abuja High Court to challenge his arrest and detention by the anti-graft agency for no just cause. He claimed that 5 operatives of the EFCC had in December last year stormed his Abuja residence without lawful court order and search warrant, invaded his house and made away with his properties on the ground that they were investigating a money laundering matter. The plaintiff also claimed that the 5 EFCC operatives refused bluntly to identify themselves and forcefully took him to their Wuse office where he was detained for 5 weeks and his property confiscated. In the suit, the plaintiff prayed the court for an order of injunction restraining EFCC by itself, servants, privies, agents or whosoever purporting to act on its behalf from violating or further violating his fundamental right as guaranteed by the Section 34, 35 and 43 of the 19999 Constitution. The plaintiff prayed the court for an order to remove his name from EFCC watch-list and to direct the anti-graft agency to tender a public apology to him and also for the immediate release of his international passport and other confiscated properties. In its defence, the EFCC flatly denied ever arresting, detaining or seizing any property of the security expert as their detention records did not indicate anything like that. However, in his judgment, Justice Affen said it occurs to me however that whereas the plaintiff specifically mentioned CSP Sharu and Madaki as two investigating officers involved in his arrest and detention, the counter affidavit by the respondent is deafening silent as to whether or not the duo of CSP Sharu and Madaki are the respondents operatives. The law is well settled that where specific facts have been alleged against any person, it is that person but no other who may deny or refute those facts. It therefore seems to me that feeble spirited denial in the counter affidavit is not sufficient in law to dislodge the plaintiff allegation and I cannot but find and hold that plaintiff was arrested and detained by the respondent for about five weeks from December 28, 2015 to February 5, 2016 as alleged and which constitutes a flagrant violation of the plaintiff fundamental rights to personal liberty. I equally find and hold that the EFCC seized or confiscated the plaintiff international passport in flagrant violation of his right to freedom of movement as guaranteed under Section 12 of the African Charter. While acknowledging the onerous statutory responsibility of EFCC in investigating financial crimes, Justice Affen urged the body and other law enforcing agencies to necessarily keep within the detention timelines prescribed by law as well as scrupulously observe the procedural safeguards required of them in order to maintain the delicate balance between law enforcement on one hand, and according due regard and recognition to human rights on the other hand. It cannot be over-emphasized that law enforcing agencies must operate within the confines of the laws they are required to enforce in order to make law enforcement more effective and effectual. Law enforcers must observe and ensure the observance of the law behind the law by demonstrating a moral commitment to the very laws they are required to enforce, for without such moral commitment to the law who will guard the guard, and who will police the police. Any failure or neglect by them to observe that timelines and safeguards may constitute an infraction of rights guaranteed and protected by the constitution which the supreme law of the land and from which other laws derived their validity, the Judge said. The Nigerian Army says it has cleared seven more villages taken by suspected Boko Haram insurgents in Borno in its bid to end terrorism in the North East. Sani Usman, the Acting Director Army Public Relations, stated this in a statement issued in Maiduguri on Sunday. As the ongoing clearance and rescue operations gained momentum, troops of 28 Task Force Brigade have successfully cleared enclaves of Boko Haram terrorists along Galtha Baba, Galtha Musa, Bulakurma, Shatimari, Chukruk, Bulangaje, and Disa villages. During the operation, one Boko Haram terrorist was captured alive, Mr. Usman, a Colonel, said. According to him, three motorcycles, bags of grains, terrorists flags and uniforms have also been recovered. He listed other items recovered to include: suicide bombers hijab, a cell phone and one Dane gun, as well as foodstuffs and cooking utensils. The troops also rescued 15 persons that were held hostage by the Boko Haram terrorists in the area, Mr. Usman said. He said two Armoured Fighting Vehicles (AFVs) overran an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), but there was no casualty and the damage to the AFVs was minimal. The spokesperson said that the captured terrorist was being interrogated and would soon be handed over to the relevant agencies for prosecution. (NAN) The Nigeria Railway Corporation, NRC, said on Sunday that four people died in the train accident that occurred in Jebba on Saturday. The Assistant Director in charge of Publicity in the corporation, Rauf Akinloye, told journalists that three other passengers sustained injuries in the accident involving the Kano-bound train. He said the corpses of the deceased were deposited at the mortuary while those injured were discharged after receiving treatment. The spokesperson said the damaged tracks were being repaired in order to restore North-South services. He said the rear portion of the train that derailed led to the death of the four persons. Mr. Akinloye, however, assured travellers of safety of life and property while travelling on the trains in spite of the incident. Already, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara had commiserated with the families of the deceased. The governor, in a condolence message issued in Ilorin on Sunday by his Chief Press Secretary, Abdulwahab Oba, wished the passengers who sustained injuries speedy recovery. He described the accident as painful and unfortunate, pointing out that rail transportation was still one of the safest means of travelling. Mr. Ahmed called on the management of the corporation to investigate the immediate and remote causes of the accident with a view to preventing a recurrence. A survivor of the accident, who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday afternoon, had said the crash occurred after the train suffered brake failure at Jebba Train Station shortly after 7 a.m. The survivor, who asked that his identity be protected, said the accident claimed at least four lives with undetermined number of injured commuters currently undergoing treatment at various emergency facilities in the town. The train left Lagos yesterday and crashed in Jebba this morning around 7 a.m. as it was trying to stop for those of us coming to Jebba, the survivor said. It was due to brake failure. (NAN) An aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan has admitted receiving funds from the office of the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki. Doyin Okupe, who served as Mr. Jonathans Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, however denied the funds he received were part of the $2.1 billion arms fund allegedly misappropriated by Mr. Dasuki. Most of the funds are believed to have been used as slush funds for the 2015 elections. The Ex- NSA as well as other members of the past administration are currently being prosecuted for their roles in the scam now known as #Dasukigate. On Sunday, Mr. Okupe, who has been mentioned as one of the beneficiaries of the largesse, took to twitter to state his position. I was not paid arms deal money. NSA paid for running of my office monthly from August 2012. Dasuki-gate was in 2014, he tweeted in the early hours of Sunday. He added that President is empowered by the Constitution to run his office as he deems fit. NSA is a staff of the president and subject to his orders. In trying to explain his tweet as well as another where he said, I Did not take part in campaign, Mr. Okupe told PREMIUM TIMES that, I was not involved in any aspect of the campaign. Neither was my office. However, I kept up with my duties as a principal aide of the president and continued media engagement and interface where necessary. I received no special funds for any program or project connected with electioneering. Mr. Okupes public denial of any role in the arms scandal comes days after another ex-presidential aide, Femi Fani-Kayode was summoned by the anti-graft agency, EFCC, to explain his role in the scam. Mr. Fani-Kayode is expected to appear before the EFCC on Monday. Sundays statement by Mr. Okupe also follows other recent ones he made on twitter. About two weeks ago, he said the nomination of Mr. Jonathan by the Peoples Democratic Party was responsible for the partys misfortune during the last general elections. More on Okupe and DasukigateINVESTIGATION: How Jonathans Government Paid Companies Linked to Doyin Okupe to Hack Unfriendly Websites The first half year of life is crucial for the development of the immune system and of autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes. (Photo: Pixabay) Washington D.C.: Newborns, who catch a cold and flu before they reach the six-month mark, are more susceptible to type 1 diabetes in adulthood, according to a recent study. The Helmholtz Zentrum Manchen scientists, headed by Prof. Dr. Anette-Gabriele Ziegler, examined anonymized data from almost 300,000 children born in Bavaria between 2005 and 2007. They systematically evaluated all available data on infections with respect to the later development of type 1 diabetes. The infections were broken down according to the localization of the symptoms (such as dermal, eye, gastrointestinal or respiratory infections), the causes (bacterial, viral or mycoses) and the age (quarter-yearly from birth). First author Dr. Andreas Beyerlein said that the findings show that viral respiratory tract disorders during the first six months of life significantly increase the risk of children developing type 1 diabetes. Infections that occurred later or that involved other organs were not associated with a significantly higher risk. For the researchers, these findings are a further piece in the puzzle of understanding how type 1 diabetes develops, with the interaction of genetic and environmental factors still largely unclear. Lead scientist Ziegler added that the research is also consistent with other results that they have published based on data from children with increased familial risk, which already suggested that the first half year of life is crucial for the development of the immune system and of autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes. In the future the scientists want to determine whether there is actually a causal relationship and if yes, exactly which pathogens are involved and how they trigger this effect. This could then serve as a basis for attempting to develop an appropriate vaccine. The study is published in JAMA. 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. Just under 39 percent of the sailors and marines reported hazardous drinking before deployment, a study says. (Photo: Pixabay) Binge drinking and alcoholism is a big issue in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, and the problem may begin even before sailors and marines deploy, a recent study suggests. More than a quarter of sailors and marines who were anonymously surveyed within two weeks before their deployment admitted to binge drinking regularly, and nearly 40 percent reported dangerous drinking. A small but significant number also reported that they had been drugged against their will. Previous research has focused on the drinking habits of military personnel while deployed or after returning home. Little is known about drinking in the period before reporting for duty, the researchers write in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. That period could be a time of higher stress and people may drink more because they will not be able to drink while aboard ship, the researchers write. This is a time of major transition away from family, friends and important social support networks, said coauthor Dr. Braden Hale, program manager at the Department of Defenses HIV/AIDS Prevention Program. Hale told Reuters Health by email that screening for alcohol abuse before deployment could allow people to be identified and helped earlier. The study team used data on 2,351 male and female shipboard personnel collected between 2012 and 2014. Participants gave anonymous reports about hazardous drinking, including how often they drank and how often they had more than six drinks at a time. They also answered questions about alcohol dependency, including physical cravings for it, and binge drinking, defined as having more than four drinks for women and more than five for men during a typical day of drinking. The researchers also asked if participants had ever been roofied, or had their drinks spiked. Overall, 79 percent of the subjects were men and around 85 percent were in the Navy. Just over 12 percent were under the age of 21. Just under 39 percent of the sailors and marines reported hazardous drinking before deployment. This was significantly higher for men, at 40 percent, than for women, at 34 percent. Thirty-six percent of those under age 21 had engaged in hazardous drinking. Twenty-seven percent reported binge drinking. This too was more common for men, at nearly 30 percent, than for women, at 20 percent. Overall, close to 15 percent were dependent on alcohol: nearly 17 percent of men and 7 percent of women. Personnel between the ages of 17 and 20 were more likely to report being dependent on alcohol. Few of the sailors and marines reported taking recreational drugs, but 7 percent had been given a drug against their will. The percentages were about equal between men and women. These findings confirm there is a culture of drinking, including underage drinking, among Marines and Navy members that needs to be addressed, said Mary Jo Larson, a senior scientist at Brandeis Universitys Institute for Behavioral Health who studies military drinking. The consequences include injuries, fights, car crashes and unwanted sexual contact, including rape, said Larson, who was not involved in the study. Larson noted that commanding officers are notified when service members seek treatment for drinking, which may discourage people who need help from seeking it. The take away is that the Navy and Marines must establish additional effective prevention programs, which send a strong message that those that need medical help can receive it confidentially, she said by email. In order to prevent short- and long-term harms from alcohol abuse, Hale calls for screening, intervention and care before deployment for shipboard personnel who may be engaging in hazardous or dependent alcohol use. ABU DHABI and DUBAI, UAE, May 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- New role will see her continue to focus on identification and development of new security technologies DarkMatter, an international cyber security firm headquartered in the UAE, announces the appointment of Dr. Najwa Aaraj as the Senior Vice President - Special Projects, having previously served as the Vice President of the business unit. Special Projects falls under the CEO's Office, and is responsible for identifying and developing new business opportunities, providing new security and technology tools to the company and focusing on research. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160508/803069 ) Dr. Aaraj was one of the earliest appointments to DarkMatter's senior management team in 2014, and in her role as Vice President she oversaw the development and commercial introduction of a number of Secure Communications applications, including DarkMatter's Secure Voice and Chat offering. Prior to joining DarkMatter Dr. Aaraj worked in Booz & Company, where she led consulting engagements in the communication and technology industry for clients across four continents. Prior to that, she held several research positions, including Research Fellow with IBM T. J. Watson Security Research in New York, and with the Intel Security Research Group in Portland, Oregon. She also was a Research Staff Member at NEC Laboratories in Princeton, New Jersey. Reflecting the scope of her research and professional accomplishments, Dr. Aaraj has a number of publications and patents to her name, which include a patent for "Optimising Performance of Integrity Monitoring" and more than half a dozen papers. In her new role at DarkMatter, Dr. Aaraj will continue to be involved in evaluating and customising secure product architecture; designing and setting up special projects related to authentication and cryptology systems; and overseeing the development and operation of DarkMatter's test and validation labs. Commenting on the promotion, Faisal Al Bannai, Chief Executive Officer of DarkMatter said, "Najwa has been with us right from the very beginning and we are hugely grateful for her commitment, enthusiasm, and obvious talent. Part of the journey with DarkMatter was always going to be about believing in the company's vision, and Najwa was one of the earliest converts." Faisal Al Bannai continued, "Najwa's increased responsibilities are well deserved given the hard work and success she has already achieved in delivering projects to our clients. Our Secure Communications portfolio, amongst other solutions, has been well received and I look forward to Najwa continuing to driving success in her engagements." The Special Projects unit within DarkMatter looks to foster inter-departmental collaboration, and aside from Secure Communications it also involved in the setting up of the company's Crypto Programme, its Test and Validation Labs, and the development of new (secure) technologies. Dr. Aaraj said, "It has been an exciting and fulfilling journey with DarkMatter so far. I am so impressed by the progress we have all been able to achieve in a relatively short period of time, and I would like to thank my colleagues for their support throughout. We are only at the beginning of having a profound impact on how cyber security is regarded and implemented in the UAE and further afield and I look forward to building a legacy we can all be proud about having had a part in establishing." Dr. Aaraj holds a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from Princeton University, having earned a Master of Science Degree in Computer and Information Systems Security / Information Assurance also from the prestigious institution. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Computer and Communications Engineering from the American University in Beirut. Already a trusted partner to governments and security sensitive entities, DarkMatter is staffed by tier one international cyber experts who develop, manage and deploy the most innovative technologies. Solutions adhere to the company's Cyber Security Life-Cycle, which incorporates a four-stage approach involving planning, detection, protection and recovery, and reinforces its secure business solutions. DarkMatter is leveraging this experience in the wider market as it looks to serve regional and international clients. The company provides a complete portfolio of cyber security solutions and services to organisations that have sophisticated security requirements, from governments and infrastructure operators to large corporations. About DarkMatter DarkMatter is a company that is transforming the cyber security landscape by providing a complete range of state-of-the-art services and solutions to governments and commercial clients. Its end-to-end expertise extends to: Governance, Risk and Compliance We work with public and private entities in all verticals to audit and assess their performance against regulatory standards, helping identify gaps and meet obligations. Cyber Network Defence Our elite team of cyber experts, engaged across all competencies and functions, tasked with identifying and responding to the most advanced threats, threat actors, and cyber attacks. Managed Security Services We offer a remote monitoring remediation and resolution service that puts the full capabilities and resources of the DarkMatter organisation at the service of our MSS teams. Whether you need a SOC built and operated from scratch or you need assistance in upgrading what you currently have in place, DarkMatter can provide assistance. Secure Communications DarkMatter's Secure Communications Suite protects fixed and mobile voice, video, chat, email, file sharing, data communication, as well as device management across various platforms and operating systems. Infrastructure and System Integration This area underpins our professional services offering for governments and corporations, providing applications, services and solutions that ensure our clients remain at the forefront of cyber security. Smart Solutions We offer a comprehensive security suite of services comprising elements of protection for both homes and businesses: The Connected and Secure Home & Office; Technical Surveillance and Countermeasures; Mobile Peace of Mind; and Trusted Hardware supply. Staffed by global experts and headquartered in the UAE, DarkMatter provides peace of mind through consulting and project implementations that are scalable to clients of any size and that address any domain of cyber security threat or risk. As a trusted partner to governments and critical infrastructure entities, the firm also works with leading global companies operating in the field of electronic and cyber security. Agile and innovative, DarkMatter takes a comprehensive approach to helping its clients navigate the complex and ever-evolving world of threat and risk mitigation strategies, tools, policies and systems. http://www.darkmatter.ae SOURCE DarkMatter SAN DIEGO, May 8, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), due to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), using convective water vapor thermal energy provides rapid and durable improvement of symptoms while preserving sexual function, according to a new study featured at the 111th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA). The research will be highlighted by study authors during a special press conference on May 8, 2016 at 10:15 a.m. PT in the San Diego Convention Center. Tobias S. Kohler, MD, MPH, FACS, AUA spokesperson and associate professor of Surgery at Southern Illinois University, will moderate the session. LUTS is a term used to describe a range of symptoms related to problems of the lower urinary tract (bladder, prostate and urethra). Symptoms can include frequent, urgent or painful urination. BPH is a localized, enlargement of the prostate gland. Symptomatic BPH is often recognized as including the presence of LUTS. BPH affects approximately half of the male population between 51-60 years old and 75 percent of men over the age of 65. Conservation of sexual function is a fundamental quality of life issue for men contemplating a treatment option for LUTS/BPH. Current treatment options range from medical management to surgical intervention; however, alternative treatment options for BPH patients who are unable to undergo surgery or who are dissatisfied with their medical management are limited, until now. Study Details Publication Number: PD21-04 In this randomized controlled trial, researchers set out to examine the results associated with the use of convective water vapor energy ablation "thermal therapy" to treat BPH, as well as the impact the treatment has on a patient's sexual function. "Thermal therapy" is a minimally invasive treatment option that applies radiofrequency power to create water vapor thermal energy. This power delivers targeted and precise doses of stored thermal energy treatments directly to the region of the prostate gland mitigating obstructive prostate tissue associated with BPH and providing improvements in LUTS symptoms. Results showed: Improvement of International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) of 11 points at month three, which 96 percent of patients sustained through year one Sexual function, as reported by the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-EF) and the Male Sexual Health Questionnaire for Ejaculatory Dysfunction (MSHQ-EjD), showed no clinically significant changes in erectile and ejaculatory function (IIEF-EF baseline man was 17.2 and the MSHQ-Ejd mean was 7.8) Modest decreases in ejaculatory volume occurred in 4.4 percent of men and anejaculation in 2.9 percent of men No new cases of erectile dysfunction were reported "BPH and LUTS are highly prevalent conditions and can significantly impact a man's quality of life," said Dr. Kohler. "This study shows that using convective water vapor energy might be a viable option in treating BPH while minimizing sexual side effects of treatment." About the American Urological Association: The 111th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association takes place May 6-10, 2016 at the San Diego Convention Center in California. Founded in 1902 and headquartered near Baltimore, Maryland, the American Urological Association is a leading advocate for the specialty of urology, and has more than 21,000 members throughout the world. The AUA is a premier urologic association, providing invaluable support to the urologic community as it pursues its mission of fostering the highest standards of urologic care through education, research and the formulation of health policy. Contact: Christine Frey, AUA 443-909-0839, [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160210/332064LOGO SOURCE American Urological Association Related Links http://www.AUAnet.org MAPLE GROVE, Minn., May 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NxThera, Inc. announced today that the sexual function preservation data from the Company's pivotal IDE trial, which previously established the safety and effectiveness of the Rezum system to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), was presented at the 2016 American Urological Association (AUA) annual meeting in San Diego today. The abstract, entitled, "Treatment of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms Due to Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia with Convective Water Vapor Energy Ablation: Preserved Erectile and Ejaculatory Function," reported an effective non-pharmaceutical treatment option for men with BPH secondary to lower urinary tract syndrome (LUTS). The Rezum II IDE pivotal study was a prospective, multicenter, randomized (2:1) controlled trial that enrolled 197 subjects across 15 clinical sites in the U.S. A manuscript reporting the sexual function data from the Rezum II study has been e-published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine. "The progressive and increasingly bothersome symptoms of BPH afflict more than 75% of men in this country over the age of 65, and LUTS is strongly correlated with compromised sexual function," said Kevin T. McVary, M.D., Professor and Chair, Division of Urology, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield, IL. "As urologists, we need BPH treatment options for our patients who decline, are resistant to, or are dissatisfied with medical management therapies, or who are unwilling or unable to undergo a surgical procedure. This data demonstrates the Rezum system not only provides an effective first-line treatment option for men suffering from BPH, but does so while preserving sexual function and improving their quality of life." "The previously reported data from our Rezum trials have demonstrated safe, rapid, and sustained improvement in LUTS and urinary flow over a 24-month period, and now this additional data from the Rezum II trial demonstrates preservation of both erectile and ejaculatory functions," said J. Robert Paulson, President and CEO of NxThera. "We are thrilled to provide urologists and their patients with a transformational new BPH treatment option." About NxThera NxThera pioneered its patented Convective Water Vapor Energy (WAVE) technology platform to treat a variety of endourological conditions in the Rezum System to treat BPH. The FDA-cleared Rezum System uses radiofrequency power to create thermal energy in the form of sterile water vapor, or steam, to convectively deliver targeted, precise treatments to ablate prostate tissue in a simple transurethral procedure with minimal discomfort, and demonstrated improvements in LUTS symptoms, urine flow, quality-of-life, and preserved sexual function. The Company is conducting advanced development and clinical research to potentially expand application of its Convective WAVE technology to include the targeted treatment of cancerous prostate tissue and kidney tumors. Founded in 2008, NxThera is located in Maple Grove, Minnesota. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160506/364711LOGO SOURCE NxThera, Inc. Don't be afraid to fail, President Clinton added: "The only thing that matters is, how quick you get up and how resolutely you go on. It is not given to us, to win every battle, but to fight the right fights." President Clinton's nephew was among the 1,600 seniors participating in today's ceremony, which included students from five LMU schools and colleges, friends, families and faculty members. In addition to his speech, President Clinton was awarded an honorary doctor of Humane Letters degree from the University for his lifelong commitment to social justice. LMU President Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D., said the former president's "commitment to improving the lives of other people, during and beyond his career in U.S. politics, embodies the ethos of becoming women and men with and for others." "President Clinton will inspire our graduates as they seek to lead lives of meaning, purpose, and global impact," Snyder said. William Jefferson Clinton was elected the 42nd president of the United States in 1992, and won re-election in 1996. During his eight years in office, he presided over the longest peacetime economic expansion in American history, initiated the most significant college opportunity programs since the GI Bill, expanded the federal work-study program, as well as developed new tax credits and scholarships to make education more accessible. Clinton signed major legislation including the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. He won approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement and pursued policies that led to the decommissioning of over 1,700 nuclear missiles in the Soviet Union. Upon leaving office, he founded the Clinton Foundation, a nonprofit focused on improving global health, education and economic opportunity. The Foundation sponsors several projects around the world, including the Clinton Global Initiative, which brings international thought leaders together to find solutions for worldwide challenges. LMU's Class of 2016 includes participants in Clinton Global Initiative University, which challenges students to pursue innovative projects aimed at solving global problems. To view the commencement ceremony, click here. About Loyola Marymount University Located between the Pacific Ocean and downtown Los Angeles, Loyola Marymount University is ranked third in "Best Regional Universities/West" by U.S. News & World Report. Founded in 1911, LMU is the largest Jesuit, Catholic university in the Southwest, with more than 6,000 undergraduate students and more than 3,000 graduate and law students. A comprehensive university, LMU offers 57 undergraduate majors and 51 minor programs, along with 43 master's degree programs, one education doctorate, one juris doctorate, one doctorate of juridical science and 13 credential/authorization programs. LMU news and events are found at: www.lmu.edu/news. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160507/364902 SOURCE Loyola Marymount University Related Links http://www.lmu.edu WASHINGTON, May 6, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Inspector General (OIG) is conducting a complex investigation into cross-border aid programs providing humanitarian relief in Syria. These programs are run from both Turkey and Jordan by multiple nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) with funds from USAID and other international donors. Recent international press reports have raised issues of irregularities involving some of these programs. USAID OIG's investigation has identified corrupt practices involving a number of these programs operating from Turkey. The investigation to date has identified a network of commercial vendors, NGO employees, and others who have colluded to engage in bid-rigging and multiple bribery and kickback schemes related to contracts to deliver humanitarian aid in Syria. Some early concerns about these practices surfaced through one USAID implementer, which identified and self-reported procurement irregularities affecting its programs. Aid organizations providing life-saving assistance in Syria and the surrounding region face an extremely high-risk environment. Lack of fully competitive procurements, insufficient oversight, and the absence of adequate internal controls for obtaining, storing, and delivering relief supplies can jeopardize the integrity of these relief efforts and deny critical aid to those in need. To date, OIG's investigation has established grounds resulting in the suspension of 14 entities and individuals involved with aid programs from Turkey. As a result of the suspensions, these parties are no longer able to receive U.S. government awards. A portion of USAID-funded cross-border programs in Syria were suspended as a result of this investigation, and several NGOs delivering aid to Syria have terminated staff members' employment based on demonstrated misconduct. USAID OIG will continue to promote integrity and accountability in cross-border aid programs for Syria and routinely coordinates with the oversight and accountability offices of other international donors. Those with information involving fraud, waste, or abuse in USAID programs in Syria and around the world are urged to contact USAID OIG. Reports can be made directly and confidentially through OIG's hotline at 1 (800) 230-6539 or (202) 712-1023 in the United States. Complaints can also be sent via email to [email protected], or submitted through OIG's web site at: https://oig.usaid.gov/content/oig-hotline. SOURCE USAID OIG Related Links http://oig.usaid.gov/ SAN DIEGO, Calif., May 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- LCPN10, a novel oral testosterone undecanoate formulation has been shown to be safe and efficacious for the treatment of hypogonadal patients, according to a study being presented during the 111th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA). The research will be highlighted by study authors during a special press conference to be moderated by Tobias S. Kohler, MD, MPH, FACS, AUA spokesperson and associate professor of Surgery at Southern Illinois University on May 8, 2016 at 7:30 a.m. PT in the San Diego Convention Center. Testosterone therapy is used to treat men with clinically diagnosed testosterone deficiency (serum T levels <300 ng/dL), also known as hypogonadism. It is often administered as a gel, patch, injection or implant (pellet). There is currently no oral form of testosterone therapy approved for use in the United States by the Federal Drug Agency; however researchers from Houston, TX and Torrance, CA have been evaluating the long-term safety and tolerability of LPCN 1021, a novel oral testosterone undecanoate formulation for the treatment of low testosterone. Throughout a 52-week study period, a total of 315 hypogonadal men were randomized either to LPCN 1021 or T gel (active control). Of the 315 men, 210 were randomized to LPCN 1021 and 105 were randomized to active control. Following a 13-week efficacy phase, men continued to receive their assigned treatment for up to 52 weeks. They returned at weeks 26, 39 and 52 for safety assessments, which included an evaluation of adverse events, clinical laboratory tests and physical examinations. Results showed: LPCN 1021 was well tolerated and had a favorable safety profile in the long-term management of hypogonadal patients No hepatic, cardiac or drug-related serious adverse events were reported The most common drug-related adverse events for LPCN 1021 and T gel 1.62 percent were acne (2.9 percent vs. 2.9 percent, respectively), headache (0.5 percent vs. 3.8 percent, respectively), weight increase (2.4 percent vs. 0 percent, respectively), hematocrit increase (1.9 percent vs. 0 percent, respectively), liver enzyme level increase (1.4 percent vs. 0 percent, respectively), fatigue (0.5 percent vs. 1.9 percent, respectively), and hypertension (0.5 percent vs. 1.9 percent, respectively) Lipid parameters (i.e., cholesterol, LDL, HDL, and TG) were comparable between treatment groups at Week 52 Androgenic parameters including hematocrit, hemoglobin, platelet, prothrombin, and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) showed no significant differences in change from baseline to end of study between treatments "Based on the results of this study, we might be closer than ever to having an oral form of therapy to treat the millions of men with hypogonadism," said Dr. Kohler. "Making sure an oral treatment is safe and effective for men and for the children and partners at risk for inadvertent testosterone transference is the top priority, and what we've found so far has shown we're on the right track." About the American Urological Association: The 111th Annual Meeting of the American Urological Association takes place May 6 10 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, CA. Founded in 1902 and headquartered near Baltimore, Maryland, the American Urological Association is a leading advocate for the specialty of urology, and has more than 21,000 members throughout the world. The AUA is a premier urologic association, providing invaluable support to the urologic community as it pursues its mission of fostering the highest standards of urologic care through education, research and the formulation of health policy. Contact: Christine Frey, AUA 443-909-0839, [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160210/332064LOGO SOURCE American Urological Association Related Links http://www.AUAnet.org Thiruvananthapuram, May 08 : Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of shedding crocodile tears over the gruesome rape and murder of Jisha, a Dalit law student at Perumbavoor in Ernakulam district on April 28. In a Facebook post on Sunday, Chennithala charged that the Prime Minister was repeatedly politicising the murder with an eye on the impending elections. The BJP was making the Perumbavoor murder a political weapon after having failed in their tactics of propagating falsehoods by sowing seeds of intolerance and unrest in society, the post said. On Modis statement that he was concerned about the future of Kerala, Chennithala retorted by stating that Modi should be more worried about the fate of Indians under the rule of Sangh Parivar forces. BJPs electioneering in Kerala was being spearheaded by corporates, the Home Minister alleged. Chennithala also wrote that the BJP were well aware that the lotus would not bloom in Kerala, adding that despite this, they were making last ditch efforts in the State with the blessings of Modi. On the probe into the Perumbavoor murder, the Home Minister exuded confidence in the State polices ability to crack the case and added that the probe into the case was progressing effectively. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been harping on the Jisha murder case during his whirlwind tour of the State as part of BJPs election campaigning. The BJP has made the sensational murder an election issue, with the party alleging that attacks on Dalits and minorities were on the rise in Kerala. Ramesh Chennithala had the other day hit back at the BJP over allegations of deteriorating law and order situation in the State. Citing a survey by the India Today group, the Home Minster had claimed that Kerala was at 1st place when it comes to law and order maintenance and that attacks on Dalits and minorities were most rampant in BJP-ruled States. Rafik, a resident of Devda village in Gandevi taluka of Surat district, was arrested on October 8, 2014. (Photo: PTI) Surat: A local court in Surat has sentenced a man to three years imprisonment for possessing beef. The court of Gandevi Judicial Magistrate (First Class) CY Vyas on Friday sentenced Rafik Illyasbhai Khalifa (35) to three years in jail and also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on him, while convicting him under relevant sections of Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act-2011. Notably, keeping, buying, selling or transporting beef or beef products is banned in Gujarat. While delivering the judgement, the judge observed that, "Cow is associated with the religious sentiment of a community. So such a crime threatens the peace of society. If the accused is given jail term, it will serve as an example for others to refrain from committing such a crime." He also stated that the argument of the defence that the court should be lenient because the accused was from a poor financial background, was "not justified." "It is not justified to reduce the sentence just on the ground that the accused is from a poor background and his family is dependent on him," the judge observed. Rafik, a resident of Devda village in Gandevi taluka of Surat district, was arrested on October 8, 2014, after two members of a cow protection group caught him transporting two bags containing 20 kgs beef, on his motorcycle. The beef was estimated to be worth around Rs 4,000. The Gandevi police, which filed the FIR, later sent the samples of the contents in the bag to a Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), which confirmed it as beef. The police booked the accused under sections sections 6(B)(1)(2)(3) and 8(4) of the Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act-2011, and sections 429 (causing mischief by killing animals) and 114 (abettor present when offence committed) of the IPC. However, the court held him guilty only under sections of the Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act-2011. Meanwhile, another accused, Hanif Yusufbhai Mamniyat, a butcher arrested in connection with the same case, was acquitted by the court for want of evidence against him. HablaCuba.com launches a special post-Mothers Day campaign, designed to help Cuban expats send a great gift to their moms back home in Cuba if by any chance they forgot about Mothers Day. During May 9-13, Cubans can send international top ups to their moms and HablaCuba will multiply the amount sent. Thus, for every 20 CUC top up, customers actually send 50 CUC. For every 40 CUC top up, the amount sent is 100 CUC and for every 60 CUC sent, the receiver enjoys 150 CUC. The promotion will run from Monday May 9th, 2016 to Friday May 13th, 2016. After sending a recharge with HablaCuba.com, customers can let their moms or other family members and friends in Cuba know that they will receive a top up gift from them through a free text message. With each recharge, HablaCuba.com is offering customers a free SMS sent to the number they are recharging. But before the Cubacel campaign starts, Cubans are invited to participate to a fun and nostalgic contest. HablaCuba.com Facebook page challenges them to share how their moms used to call them when they were little. The comment with the highest number of likes wins a free mobile recharge of 20 CUC. The contest starts on May 6th and is open by May 10th. Besides Cubacel mobile top ups, Cuban expats can recharge Nauta Internet accounts in Cuba with HablaCuba.com. Therefore, anyone can recharge a Nauta account from abroad, so that their family or friends in Cuba can use the Internet from their own devices. Cubans can also call home through the Voice Credit service available on HablaCuba.com. Voice Credit is a prepaid service offering affordable credit for international calls and SMS to Cuba. Customers can reach Cuba at 69.9/min, calling both landlines and mobiles, while the cost of an SMS is 7. The mission of HablaCuba.com is to bring people together, no matter the distance, because no distance is too long if people stay connected. Thats why all the services HablaCuba.com offers are a great solution for keeping a close relationship with everyone living back home in Cuba. This is mainly due to: the customer-focused approach, based on safe and easy to use services the frequent special offers: bonuses on international top ups or discounts on international calls the great Customer Service available 24/7, both in English and Spanish. Or, as customers put it: "Your consumer friendly instructions make it easy to cross borders and communicate with friends and family like it should be. (HablaCuba.com customer). To find out more about HablaCuba.coms newest offers, customers are invited to follow their social media pages on Facebook (Facebook.com/HablaCuba), Google+ (plus.google.com/+HablaCuba) and Youtube page. About HablaCuba.com HablaCuba.com is an interactive website designed by KeepCalling, a global telecommunications company registered in 2002 in USA. Presently, KeepCalling provides its services to hundreds of thousands of consumers and businesses, with a focus on customer satisfaction. KeepCalling has been listed by Inc 5000 as one of the fastest growing companies in the USA for 5 consecutive years. In 2015 the company registered a revenue increase of over 200% from 2011 to 2014. May 2016 marks the two-year anniversary month for TruVision Health, and this is a milestone worth celebrating. After blowing original projections for growth out of the water, TruVision Executives are back to the drawing board sketching out plans for growth that will keep up with its current rate of acceleration. Offering a platform built around healthy blood chemistry, it has become clear that the educated consumer cares about this cornerstone part of their health. Blood chemistry has long been the main platform for TruVision Health but in keeping a healthy blood chemistry comes a variety of health benefits, including better weight management, more energy, and a fine tuned immune system. For us it has always been about helping others first and foremost. If a product doesnt meet our highest standards we wont launch it. My goal has always been to put together a company that puts its customers first, mentioned David Brown, founding partner of TruVision Health. We want to make this world a better place, and we want to make this industry a better industry. Our goal is to not just say we are different but demonstrate that we are different in our actions. We will continue to launch products that are reasonable priced while keeping the business model simple, so that the average consumer can benefit from the best nutritional supplements on the market. As TruVision turns two, it seems to be just hitting its stride. Many of the associates involved with TruVision Health cant say enough about how much their lives have changed for the better. A quick visit to TruVision Healths social media sites illustrate just how much this young company has changed so many lives for the better. David went on to say, This is just the beginning; we like to look to the past and learn from it, look forward to the future to celebrate, and be sure to enjoy the present. The month of May will see the Companys enrollment fee drop to just two dollars. Additionally those who are associates will enjoy doubled commissions if they rank to Senior Associate before the end of June. Visit TruVisionHealth.com for further details. About TruVision Health TruVision Health is quickly becoming the global leader in premium health and weight management products. Beginning with the companys flag ship products designed to support and maintain healthy blood chemistry, TruVision Health is committed to designing cutting edge, effective products at an affordable price. To participate in TruVisions global product sampling experience visit TruVisiondirect.com. For those living in the United States and interested in learning more about TruVision Healths full line of products visit TruVisionhealth.com. Tucson Pharmacist Honored by American College of Apothecaries The American College of Apothecaries recently inducted Dr. Justin Brock, Pharm D into Fellowship at its annual Educational Conference in Coronado, California. In order to receive designation from the ACA as a Full Fellow, pharmacists are evaluated through a personal interview, a pharmacy inspection, and adherence to the ACA Standards of Practice. Pharmacists awarded Full Fellow status are eligible to use the credentials FACA after their name. Justin Brock, Pharm D is pharmacist and owner of Acacia Apothecary and Wellness, a compounding pharmacy in Tucson, AZ. Upon receiving the honor, Justin had this to say: "We are pleased to achieve Fellowship with the ACA. This demonstrates to our patients and providers what when it comes to quality and continuous improvement, we're on the right track." The American College of Apothecaries is proud to receive our new Fellows into membership, said ACA President Tom Hunt, RPh, FACA, FACVP. Being an ACA Fellow shows a pharmacists commitment to the profession of pharmacy and to providing the highest-quality independent pharmaceutical services to both patients and community. Founded in 1940, the American College of Apothecaries is a professional pharmacy organization dedicated to advancing the entrepreneurial spirit of member pharmacists through education, innovation, mentoring, fellowship, and training. Acacia Apothecary and Wellness info(at)acaciarx(dot)com 520.670.0777 acaciarx.com School Improvement Network, one of Utahs longest standing education technology companies, today announced that it is hosting over 50 public school district superintendents from 30 states at its corporate headquarters in Salt Lake City from May 9 to 11. The superintendents will be meeting as part of the Superintendents Personalized Learning Cohort, an event that School Improvement Network is sponsoring with AASA, the School Superintendents Association. One of the highlights of the event will be a tour of Weber Innovation High School in Ogden, a national leader in personalized and project based learning. This tour will show how Weber Innovations High School is making the transition to personalized learning and will provide a first-hand look at how educational needs are more fully met when learning is personalized. Personalized learning is a dramatically different approach to education that gives every student agency over his or her time, pace, path, and place of learning with the hands on support of their teacher, said Anne Brown, Vice President of Personalized Learning at School Improvement Network. Technology is what makes this possible, enabling students to have this blended mix of personalized instruction, along with teacher instruction, that allows them to pursue their academic goals with great intensity and deeper learning. Weber Innovation High School reports average ACT test scores of 19.2, higher than both district and state benchmarks. In addition, students are, on average, at least one to two credits ahead of pace, and have already earned nearly 200 concurrent college credits. The media is invited to join in on the tour and visit with students and staff members to find out what makes this Utah school different, and how its successful move to personalized learning is gaining national attention. What: Tour of Weber Innovation High School Improvement Network When: Tuesday, May 10, 2016, 8:30-11:00 AM Where: Weber Innovation High School, 1007 West 12th Street, Ogden, Utah To read an EdSurge article detailing the steps that Weber School District is taking in its transformation to personalized learning, click here. School Improvement Network is a proud partner of Weber Innovation High School and AASA in supporting the movement of personalized learning across the nation. About School Improvement Network Founded in 1991 by teachers, School Improvement Network has become the school improvement partner of choice for thousands of schools and districts around the world. Our personal learning resources and strategic implementation services make learning personal for every leader, teacher, and studentsupporting their growth and helping schools and districts achieve their strategic goals. School Improvement Network and its logos are trademarks of School Improvement Network, LLC. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Contacts: Anne Brown 435-640-6126 (cell) anne.brown(at)schoolimprovement(dot)com or Paulette Burnside 435-640-6126 (cell) paulette.burnside(at)schoolimprovement(dot)com The car in which the Class XII student Aditya Sachdev (right) was shot dead allegedly by JD(U) MLC Manorama Devis son in Bihars Gaya district on Saturday night. (Photo: PTI) Patna: An intensive manhunt was launched Sunday by the Gaya police to nab the son of JD(U) legislator Manorama Devi for brutally murdering a youth, Aditya, who allegedly tried to overtake his SUV. Eyewitnesses and the police said Rocky Yadav, the JD(U) MLCs son, fired at Aditya in the late Saturday evening incident. Opposition leaders said that he had also beaten him up before shooting him. After the police failed to nab Rocky, his father Bindi Yadav and bodyguard were arrested. Additional DGP Sunil Kumar said: We have been informed it was Rocky who fired at Aditya. Steps are being taken to arrest him. Aditya, an Intermediate student, tried to overtake the SUV. Irked over that, Rocky and his bodyguard opened fire, killing Aditya on the spot. My son used a licensed revolver to shoot in defence after he was forcibly stopped by the boys, Bindi Yadav said, defending his son, before being arrested. Adityas friend, who was with him, told the police the politicians son and his bodyguard fired at them as they tried to overtake the SUV. Meanwhile, the NDA joined the protest and has called for a Gaya bandh. GENESEO Chris Bumann teaches her students about harness racing with first-hand knowledge. Her father, Sam Hodgett -- who lives between Mineral and Sheffield -- recently told her Geneseo Middle School seventh graders about his 36-year, 200-win career in horse racing that included races at the former Quad City Downs in East Moline. His visit was part of a unit titled Our Town that Ms. Bumann said "celebrates the historical and cultural foundations, as well as the current offerings, of our community." The unit includes discussion of the world record-setting pacer horse, Dan Patch, and his driver/trainer, Geneseo-native Myron McHenry. Ms. Bumann's research, however, uncovered an even greater link for students to trotter history. If I was ever a doubter in fate, I certainly am no longer, she said. Finding out, after teaching many years at Geneseo Middle School, that this building sits on the same soil that was once the site of the Maple City Driving Park over a hundred years ago is certainly an example of fate at its best. "My passion for teaching, history and local culture only became enhanced that day when I stumbled across this remarkable connection between my past and my present," she said. "We are our history, and I hope my students never forget that." During the unit, students hike and fish at the Hennepin Canal, study about settlers at local cemeteries, visit various city hall departments and learn at the Geneseo Historical Museum about the town's connection to the Underground Railroad and Dan Patch. The museum now includes Mr. Hodgett's sulky he used in the 1980s. Mr. Hodgett said he never had any broken bones in his 2,000 races, although a broken driving line in the 1970s once changed him from a driver to a jockey. The race had just started and I could not steer her (the horse) when it happened," he said. "If I pulled on the one line, she would go the left. And she was galloping, not pacing like she was supposed to be doing. I didnt dare let her catch the other horses in the race because I could not steer her. "I stood up on my race bike and leaped onto her back," he said. "And then I could reach her head and guide her away from the other horses. She had never been ridden and, when I got her in front of the grandstand, she started bucking and kicking and put on a show." Mr. Hodgett said an outrider got hold of the horse and guided her to the side. "I ended up being nicknamed the Sheffield Dare Devil,'" he said. "It is funny now, but it wasnt at the time. "This was in the 1970s and they did not have films of races at that time," he said. "I sure would have liked to have had a film of that. Mr. Hodgett said his interest in horse racing began when he was 9 years old and his parents took him to county fairs in Cambridge and Princeton. They didnt have to worry about me, because I was always at the fence, watching the horses race, he said. Although his father did not drive race horses, Mr. Hodgett said other family members were in the profession. "We had three generations of relatives who trained and drove race horses, he said. My dad told me I was a throwback to those relatives. Mr. Hodgett said he was 34 years old when he "finally had the means -- the time and the knowledge -- to begin driving race horses." He started racing at county fairs and then at the Quad City Downs when it opened in the early 1970s. His first win, he said, came with "Fair Side Sue" at a county fair in Maquoketa, Iowa. "She was the first horse I owned," he said. "It was 1969 and I didnt have my license to drive then. So I hired a driver. "In 1970 I had my license and it was my first drive -- first win the first time I drove," he said. "And the announcer jokingly said, 'I think the mare knows more about racing than Sam does. Mr. Hodgett said he was a catch driver." A horse owner or trainer who didnt have a license to drive could hire him, "if they thought I was good enough to win with their horse, he said. He also shared his equipment with the students, including a red and white racing suit Ms. Bumann wore during his presentations. As an A license driver eligible to compete throughout North America, his colors were registered with the U.S. Trotting Association. "Once you register those colors, they can be passed from generation to generation," he said. "If my grandson wants to be a race horse driver, he could use the same colors. Ms. Bumann said she regrets not trying to follow in her fathers footsteps. Despite the decline of harness racing opportunities in Illinois, she said she's tried to instill in her three sons an appreciation of county and state fairs. She also said her oldest son, Jack, as a middle school trumpet player, performed the Call to Post at races for local fairs and the Illinois State Fair. It was a thrill for my dad to see his grandson participate in the sport he loves in such a unique manner," she said. "Not only because he drove horses for almost 40 years, but also because Dad has played the trumpet in dance bands for the past 69 years, since the age of 11. DETROIT (AP) Anthony Sawyers is a sophomore at Detroit's pre-eminent public high school, Cass Tech, where textbooks aren't allowed out of his classrooms even to take home to study. That, his mother Tomi Sawyers says, is a sign of how dire financial troubles are in the district, which other parents and educators say has had chronic shortages of books, paper and other supplies. Detroit Public Schools spokeswoman Michelle Zdrodowski says it is moving toward using more technology, and that students also have access to Microsoft Office 365 for mobile and desktop computers at home. But not everyone has home computers, and the question for Sawyers remains: "If the schools don't have enough money now to buy textbooks, how will books get bought if the district runs out of money?" Lost in the cacophony of Detroit teachers' frequent protests over pay including the possibility there might not be enough for payroll this summer poor building conditions and being under state oversight is how the lack of money affects 46,000 students' ability to learn. In the last week alone, teachers called off sick for two days, meaning kids in 94 schools missed precious instruction time. Detroit is among the poorest districts in the country, and it shows in test results; the district ranks among the worst in the nation in standardized test scores. About 90 percent of Detroit's fourth- and seventh-graders are "not proficient" in science compared with fewer than 60 percent of their peers around Michigan in one recent state test. Plus, students' performance is 2.3 years below the U.S. average, according to data compiled by the Center for Education Policy Analysis at Stanford University. The lack of money also is apparent in the condition of its 97 buildings, some of which needed immediate repairs this year after the city found scores of code violations. Operating funds are being used to pay down long-term debt and the district has needed a short-term bailout just to pay teachers' salaries. The district has been under continuous state control since 2009, and legislators appear torn over how to best help. A $717 million plan OK'd by the Senate would keep the old district to retire the schools' debt and create a new district to educate students, while House Republicans have come up with a $500 million proposal. In the meantime, the district, which lost more than 100,000 students over the past decade or so due to a declining city population and competition from charter schools and suburban districts, is likely to see more student defections. More than 65,000 school-age children live in Detroit but are not enrolled in the district, according to state figures. Southfield Public Schools said it received a handful of inquiries from Detroit parents after the sick-outs. "Most of my friends are saying 'You are going to see me in Grosse Pointe, you're going to see me in Southfield," said Keianna McCormick, 16, an 11th-grader at Cass Tech. What's going on in Detroit is "extraordinary," said David Arsen, an education professor at Michigan State University. "I can't think of another situation quite like this, or a district that's this large where the stakes are so high in terms of the finances and in terms of the distance that must be traveled before Detroit children get the type of education services they deserve," Arsen said. As lawmakers, administrators, teachers and others argue over what to do, Detroit's students and parents "are getting the short end of the stick," according to Sharlonda Buckman, chief executive of the nonprofit Detroit Parent Network. "We have parents with high school seniors missing days while they are preparing to take SATs. Parents at the last minute having to leave their children at home unsupervised," Buckman said. "Parents have supported teachers time and time again, but our fight is for our kids." While not perfect, the Michigan Senate bills were a positive step and a compromise, Arsen said. The Senate plan would create a commission to make decisions about opening and closing schools, including an uncapped number of publicly funded charters that enroll about 36,000 students. The House plan would wipe out the debt and make sure teachers are paid, but does not include the commission. All the dysfunction leaves Detroit students with fewer classroom resources to compete in college, said Monique Baker McCormick, Keianna's mother and a DPS alum. A parent in 2001 said her daughter's global issues class had only seven textbooks which had to be shared among 35 students. Others have said books were outdated and falling apart. "I graduated 30 years ago and they have been saying how terrible the school system is or was," Baker McCormick said. "But I came out OK and thousands of other students that came out before me and after me came out OK. But now, we have a total dismantling of the system and now we really can't say that anyone is going to come out OK." ___ Follow Corey Williams on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/coreyapreporter. His work can be found at: http://bigstory.ap.org/content/corey-williams For any aspiring entrepreneurs, Basson said to make sure you have a product or idea that retailers want to sell and consumers want to buy. 1 hour ago Patna : With a class 12 student being shot dead by a Janata Dal (United) MLC's son in a road rage case late last night, Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Tejasvi Yadav on Sunday said that action against the accused will be taken irrespective of his stature. "We'll take strict action irrespective of stature," Tejashwi Yadav said. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav also strongly condemned the incident. "This was a heinous act, the police should investigate the matter strictly and should take strict action against the guilty," Lalu said. Read: Bihar road rage: 19-year-old shot dead by minister's son for 'overtaking' A 20-year-old youth was shot dead by the son of a woman JD (U) legislator in a road rage incident near Gaya, triggering protests by the BJP. Aditya Kumar Sachdeva, a class 12 student, was shot dead by Rocky Kumar Yadav, the son of JD(U) MLC, following a scuffle between the youngster and his friends over overtaking their Range Rover SUV near the police lines on Saturday evening. The Gaya Police have arrested the JD (U) MLC's husband Bindi Yadav and the legislator's bodyguard for allegedly helping the culprit escape. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale Buy real estate. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale in US and Canada. Search Real Estate Ahmedabad: The Dawood Ibrahim-led D company lured young men to stoke communal tensions in the country by promising huge stash of money and jobs overseas, it has been revealed in an National Investigation Agency (NIA) chargesheet. The chargesheet filed against ten men, accused them of killing two BJP leaders in Gujarat and revealed an elaborate plan by Dawoods men to avenge the 1993 Mumbai riots and the 2002 Gujarat riots. The young recruits were promised money and jobs in South Africa. In addition to killing anyone who could be seen as anti-muslim, the young recruits were also asked to fling petrol bombs made out of empty alcohol bottles into churches and indulge in arson, according to reports. The BJP leaders Shirish Bangali and Pragnesh Mistry were shot dead by two unidentified gunmen in Bharuch on November 2, 2015. Bangali was a former President of Bharuch district unit of BJP, while Mistry had served as General Secretary of Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha in the same district. Bharuch Police, along with Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), had initially conducted the probe and termed the murders as an act of terror for which seven persons were arrested. Their probe showed the contract for killing the duo was given by absconding gangster Javed Chikna and Zahid Milan, one of Dawoods men in Pakistan, apparently to avenge communal riots in Mumbai and Gujarat in 1993 and 2002. Javeds brother Abid Patel is one of those named in the NIA charge sheet. During the probe it was revealed that Dawood and his men had asked Abid to prepare a hitlist of top BJP, RSS, Bajrang Dal leaders. The money for the operation was routed through hawala channels, and the assailants were paid Rs 5 lakh. Based on a request of Gujarat government, the Union Home Ministry handed over the probe to NIA in December last year, which lead to the arrest of the ten accused including Abid Patel. The charge sheet was 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. A red corner notice has been issued against Javed Chikna. You might not know it as you anxiously watch your grocery bill add up, but you are indirectly funding research at the University of Georgia with each of your purchases. As federal grants become increasingly competitive, UGA is looking toward industry partnerships to help fund research. A third suspect has been charged with one count of trafficking persons for sexual servitude after being connected to the group men arrested for human trafficking at the Days Inn in Athens last month. Darlene and Mathew Rumboltz SHARE Darlene and Mathew Rumboltz 50th anniversary Darlene and Mathew Rumboltz of Round Mountain celebrated their 50th anniversary on April 2, 2016, with a dinner celebration hosted by their family at Callahan's Lodge in Ashland, Oregon. They were married on April 2, 1966, in Carson City, Nevada. Darlene was from Cohasset and Mathew from Central Valley. They met at Chico State University on Sept. 18, 1964. Their daughter is Amy Lynn of Yreka. They have three grandchildren. This Aug. 6, 2010, aerial photo shows Jellyfish Lake in Palau. Part of a UNESCO World Heritage area, the saltwater lake has long been a source of wonder for tourists, who have delighted in snorkeling among the millions of golden jellyfish which can fill the water as thick as corn chowder. But some tourists in recent weeks have struggled to find even a single jellyfish, prompting at least one tour operator to suspend its trips.(Kevin Davidson via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT, NO SALES SHARE By NICK PERRY, Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) The big question at Palau's Jellyfish Lake: Where are all the jellyfish? Part of a UNESCO World Heritage area, the saltwater lake has long been a source of wonder for tourists, who have delighted in snorkeling among the millions of golden jellyfish that can fill the water as thick as corn chowder. But some tourists in recent weeks have struggled to find even a single jellyfish, prompting at least one tour operator to suspend its trips. Scientists blame a severe drought, coupled with hotter temperatures caused by the El Nino weather pattern, a warming of parts of the Pacific Ocean that changes weather worldwide and tends to push up global temperatures. While scientists say there's every chance jellyfish numbers will rebound when conditions improve, they also worry that global warming poses a long-term threat to the delicate ecosystem of Palau, a tiny western Pacific island chain. About a month ago, scientists at Palau's Coral Reef Research Foundation estimated the numbers of golden jellyfish at the lake had declined from about 8 million to 600,000. Since then, the numbers have dropped further. "Just the past couple of weeks, the numbers have drastically declined," said Collin Joseph, a coastal manager for Palau's Koror State. He said the adult jellyfish have pretty much died out completely, while some juveniles remain. The decline is particularly concerning because the jellyfish in the lake are a unique subspecies that have developed in isolation from their lagoon ancestors. Koror State Governor Yositaka Adachi last week decided to keep the lake open, at least for now. He said in a statement that rainfall in the area over the past four months was the lowest in 65 years, but that there remained enough polyps, which produce jellyfish, to ensure the population could eventually recover. But some aren't waiting for that. "Many tour companies including ours that have been taking guests to the lake have not seen any jellyfish," Sam's Tours wrote in an April 22 note to its sales partners. "We at Sam's Tours have therefore decided to suspend our tours to Jellyfish Lake with immediate effect until further notice." Scientists are still trying to figure out exactly how the hot and dry conditions are affecting the jellyfish. Governor Adachi wrote that the lack of rain had reduced runoff into the lake, which had affected the tiny plants and animals the jellyfish consume. The Coral Reef Research Foundation also noted the lack of rain had caused the lake to become saltier than ever previously recorded, in monitoring which dates back to 1998. "The exact cause of the decline in the population of golden jellies is not yet understood, but it is clear at present that young (jellyfish) are not surviving very long after release by the bottom-dwelling polyp stage," the foundation wrote in an April Facebook post. It added: "The golden jelly population could be on the verge of crashing" to the point where there were no more swimming about the lake. The foundation noted the population had crashed once before, in 1999, but had rebounded 18 months later because some polyps had survived. Jellyfish Lake is unusual in being a small body of seawater surrounded by land. Channels to the sea remain deep in the limestone rock beneath the lake. Below about 13 meters (40 feet), the lake has little oxygen and high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide, making it dangerous for scuba divers. Due to their isolation from the ocean, five marine lakes in the area have produced five different subspecies of golden jellyfish. Scientists say a common myth about the jellyfish in the lake is that they don't sting, when in fact they can give swimmers a mild sting, which can be compounded by prolonged exposure. Los Angeles-based photographer and model Amber Arbucci discovered that in 2013, when she completed a 7-hour naked photo shoot in the lake for her collection "The Girl at Jellyfish Lake." "I was so stung my eyes were swollen and I could barely walk," she told The Wall Street Journal. She wrote on her website, however, that she still found the jellyfish filled with charm "powerful, and yet so fragile all at the same time." SHARE JERUSALEM (AP) The leader of an umbrella organization representing world Jewry has asked the Michelin travel guide company to evaluate Israeli restaurants with its famous rating system, implying that the decision to omit the country may be political. In a letter to the Michelin Guide, World Jewish Congress President Ron Lauder said it is a "concerning omission" that Michelin does not have a guide to Israel. "Israel today is a venerable amalgam of cultures and traditions, which come together to produce a distinctive and exceptional culinary scene," wrote Lauder. "Why, therefore, has your company refused to produce a guide to Israel's restaurants?" "Though I am sure that it is not your intention, some have speculated that reasons other than merit color Michelin's decision not to visit Israel," Lauder, a billionaire businessman and philanthropist, added. The letter was obtained by The Associated Press. Israel, particularly Tel Aviv, has a vibrant food scene, melding flavors from Jewish immigrants around the world with local Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine. In recent years, Israeli cuisine has earned international acclaim, with Tel Aviv recognized by Saveur Magazine as an outstanding travel destination for food lovers in 2014. At least one Israeli chief, Moshik Roth, has received a Michelin star, for his work in the Netherlands, while Israeli chefs Yotam Ottolenghi and Assaf Granit have found success in Britain. Another Israeli chef, Michael Solomonov, has won the prestigious James Beard award in the U.S. In Paris, Michelin Guide spokeswoman Samuelle Dorol said there has never been a Michelin Guide to Israel and there are no current plans for one, citing commercial reasons. "We have not had the opportunity to do a guide there," she said. "But that doesn't mean we will never have one." In general, she said Michelin Guide locations are chosen based on "gastronomic interest" and sales potential. "You have to have potential readers." Michelin currently has guides for 27 countries and many city-specific guides. Among recent additions is a guide to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, where no restaurants have earned even a single star from the three-star rating system. But Michelin launched there anyway because of the potential for gastronomic development. "We sensed that something was happening in these cities," Dorol said. ___ Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report. SHARE By Joe Szydlowski of the Redding Record Searchlight RED BLUFF A forged note at Red Bluff High School led police officers to arrest four men on suspicion of various sex crimes with a 14-year-old student, according to documents obtained by the Record Searchlight. Thomas Christopher Seagraves, 21, Bryan Morrison, 19, both of Red Bluff, and Alexander Chance Isaacson, 19, of Gridley, are accused of having sex with and performing oral sex on the teen, who isn't identified because he's the victim of sex crimes, Red Bluff police said. Michael Flowerdew, 20, of Red Bluff, also was arrested on suspicion of performing oral sex on the teen and penetration with a nonsexual object, police said. Seagraves formerly worked with a Boys and Girls club based out of Chico, though staff there said he is no longer an employee. Flowerdew, the Record Searchlight has confirmed, is the son of a retired Red Bluff police lieutenant. All four young men were arrested April 19, when officers served search warrants on their homes. Three of them have pleaded not guilty while Morrison has yet to be arraigned. Police Capt. Quentin Ortega on Friday declined to release any additional information on the case, citing the ongoing investigation. Police Chief Kyle Sanders was out of the office Friday, dispatchers said. The Record Searchlight obtained copies of the police affidavits concerning all four men, which provide insight into how the investigation unfolded. It began when Red Bluff High staff alerted School Resource Officer Heidi Thomas that a student was using a "forged caretaker note" to ride the bus to a man's home, officer Sean Baxter wrote in a search warrant for Seagraves' home. "The adult male, Thomas Seagraves, was not on the emergency contact list and school staff thought this was suspicious," Baxter wrote. Thomas called Seagraves and asked him about his connection with the victim, according to the search warrant. Thomas described Seagraves as "evasive" and "unable to answer her questions" when she discussed it with Baxter, he wrote. She suspected the pair's relationship was sexual and spoke with the victim, who denied any relationship with Seagraves, Baxter wrote. But the victim did acknowledge having sex with other men, according to the warrant. The teen consented to let Thomas search his cellphone for any evidence of sexual activity with adults, Baxter wrote. Officers conducted a forensic search of his phone and examined 26,000 messages that spanned eight months, according to police. That search turned up messages between all four men's phone numbers and the teen, who later described the relationships as "dating," Baxter wrote. He wrote that officers found messages from Seagraves, Flowerdew and Morrison indicating they were aware of the victim's age. Later on, when questioned by Baxter, the minor told police all four suspects knew he was underage and "continued the relationship," Baxter wrote. The teen and Seagraves, named in the victim's contact list as "Jefferson Ninja Panda Man," sent messages to each other via text, Facebook messenger and a dating app, he wrote in the warrant. Those messages discussed having sex and indicated they'd exchanged sexually explicit photographs, Baxter wrote. They also discussed the victim's age, "how he (Seagraves) and others could get into trouble for committing sexual acts with the victim because he is a juvenile ... advice on how and when the victim can begin to prostitute himself to others," Baxter wrote. Baxter interviewed the teen about the suspects on April 11. The teen then changed his story, saying he had been in a relationship with Seagraves for several weeks and said they had sexual contact at least twice, Baxter wrote. The teen also allegedly told Baxter that Seagraves had driven him to Gridley to have sex with another adult, Isaacson. In the affidavit for a search of Isaacson's home in Gridley, he wrote that the victim told police that he and Isaacson had dated for several months. Texts they exchanged discussed their sexual encounters, though Baxter did not say whether the texts mentioned the victim's age. The minor told police his relationship with Morrison lasted several weeks of summer, Baxter wrote. "(There were) several text messages in which the two discuss the victim's young age and Bryan Morrison wanting the victim to keep their relationship a secret because they could go to jail for what they have done with each other," Baxter wrote. The teen's shortest alleged relationship was with Flowerdew Baxter wrote the boy told him it had lasted just two weeks. In cellphone texts between the victim and Flowerdew, the pair talked about having sexual encounters and indicating "Flowerdew wanting the victim to keep their relationship a secret because they could go to jail for what they have done with each other," Baxter wrote. At about 7 a.m. April 19, about a month after the investigation began, Red Bluff police officers, assisted by Tehama County Sheriff's Office and District Attorney's Office agents, served the warrants and arrested all four men, Detective Aaron Murray said in the reports. They seized phones, computers, a camera, a thumb drive and other items from the homes of Isaacson, Morrison and Seagraves, according to itemized lists filed April 28-29 with the Tehama County Superior Court. Court staff said no list of confiscated items accompanied Flowerdew's warrant. Isaacson and Seagraves are scheduled to have a pretrial conference Monday and a preliminary hearing Tuesday. Flowerdew's pretrial conference is set for June 6 and his preliminary hearing is June 7. Morrison's arraignment is set for May 24 he bailed out before an in-custody arraignment could be held. The Record Searchlight has confirmed that retired Red Bluff Police Lt. Daniel Flowerdew has the same full name and birth date as the father on Michael Flowerdew's birth certificate. Until his retirement in November 2015, the elder Flowerdew oversaw the detectives who are now investigating the case. Daniel Flowerdew retired because of a job-related injury several months before the investigation started. Attempts to reach him were unsuccessful. Sanders, the chief of police, and other officers have declined to say whether Daniel and Michael Flowerdew are related. He said the department doesn't publicize information about a suspect's relatives. "We are not in the habit of releasing information about arrested person's relatives or possible relatives when we provide information to the media," Sanders said in an email. "Each arrestee is an adult and the identity of their parents, siblings, cousins, aunts or uncles has no bearing on the investigation." SHARE Gregory John Bambrook Date of birth: May 17, 1981 Vitals: 5 feet 8 inches; 185 pounds; brown hair, hazel eyes Charge: Receiving known stolen property Forrest Strongray Baker Date of birth: July 20, 1989 Vitals: 6 feet 2 inches; 272 pounds; black hair, brown eyes Charge: Revocation of post-release community supervision probation Dustin Lee Warmington Date of birth: March 12, 1985 Vitals: 5 feet 7 inches; 130 pounds; brown hair, blue eyes Charge: Felony reckless evading Jamie Leann Gutzman Date of birth: April 18, 1988 Vitals: 5 feet 8 inches; 189 pounds; brown hair, blue eyes Charge: Assault with a deadly weapon By Staff Reports Shasta's Most Wanted, featured in the Record Searchlight in cooperation with local law enforcement agencies, targets people who have failed to show up in court for sentencing after being convicted. As of Friday a total of 599 arrests have been made through the Most Wanted program since it began in September 2013. Authorities say they have seen an increase in criminals failing to appear in court since the onset of Assembly Bill 109. Also known as prison realignment, the state program shifted certain state prison inmates to county supervision. Redding Police Chief Robert Paoletti said court appearances have been going up since the rollout. Five new people are added each week. Those caught will be held until at least their next court appearances. Shasta County Secret Witness is offering a reward of up to $250 for information leading to an arrest. Tips can be provided anonymously at 530-243-2319 or at www.scsecretwitness.com/home/submit-a-tip. Anyone with information also can call SHASCOM at 245-6540. The feature appears Sundays in the Record Searchlight's Northern California section and on Redding.com. Pune: A packet containing some suspected explosive substance, a detonator and a threat letter in connection with JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar's expected visit in April, was received by the office of the director of the FTII in Pune this evening, police said. The packet was addressed to the previous director of the Film and Television Institute of India, Prashant Pathrabe. Bhupendra Kainthola, the present director of the institute, said, "My office received the packet at 5.30 pm today and since the contents were suspicious, we alerted the police." Senior police inspector Sushma Chavan of the Deccan Police Station said the parcel contained a detonator and a white powder, suspected to be some explosive material. It also had a letter, warning the director against allowing Mr Kumar to visit the FTII campus. Police suspect that the packet must have been sent before Mr Kumar's visit to Pune on April 24, when Mr Pathrabe was the director of FTII. Mr Kumar, who addressed a gathering in Pune on that day, was reportedly going to visit the FTII too, but eventually he did not. "The contents have been sent to the forensic lab," inspector Chavan said. Kanhaiya, who was charged with sedition in connection with pro-Afzal event and is currently out on bail, launched his indefinite hunger strike at the campus on April 28 in protest against the fine slapped on him and 25 other students by a JNU committee. Even though Kanhaiya has ended his fast, other JNU students are continuing with their protest. Kristin Sigg's mother, Joyce Oyler, died after receiving the wrong medication after leaving the hospital. "There were many layers and mistakes made after she left the hospital. It should have been caught about five different ways," she said. (Travis Young/Austin Walsh Studio for KHN) SHARE Within two weeks of Joyce Oylers discharge from the hospital, sores developed in her mouth and throat, and blood began seeping from her nose and bowels. Her daughter traced the source to the medicine bottles in Oylers home in St. Joseph, Mo. One drug that keeps heart patients like Oyler from retaining fluids was missing. In its place was a toxic drug with a similar name but different purpose, primarily to treat cancer and severe arthritis. The label said to take it daily. I gathered all her medicine, and as soon as I saw that bottle, I knew she couldnt come back from this, said the daughter, Kristin Sigg, an oncology nurse. There were many layers and mistakes made after she left the hospital. It should have been caught about five different ways. Oylers death occurred at one of the most dangerous junctures in medical care: when patients leave the hospital. Bad coordination often plagues patients transitions to the care of home health agencies, as well as to nursing homes and other professionals charged with helping them recuperate, studies show. Poor transitional care is a huge, huge issue for everybody, but especially for older people with complex needs, said Alicia Arbaje, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. The most risky transition is from hospital to home with the additional need for home care services, and thats the one we know the least about. Medication mistakes like the one in Oylers case which, according to court records, slipped past both her pharmacist and home health nurses are in fact one of the most common complications for discharged patients. The federal government views them as a major patient safety and public health issue, and a Kaiser Health News analysis of inspection records shows such errors are frequently missed by home health agencies. Between January 2010 and July 2015, the analysis found, inspectors identified 3,016 home health agencies nearly a quarter of all those examined by Medicare that had inadequately reviewed or tracked medications for new patients. In some cases, nurses failed to realize that patients were taking potentially dangerous combinations of drugs, risking abnormal heart rhythms, bleeding, kidney damage and seizures. The variety of providers that patients may use after a hospitalization including pharmacies, urgent care clinics and a range of specialists creates fertile ground for error, said Don Goldmann, chief medical and scientific officer at the nonprofit Institute for Healthcare Improvement. This episodic care at different places at different times is not designed to keep the overall safety of the patient in mind, Goldmann said. One factor is the lack of organization and communication among these other parts of the medical system. Of the $30 billion that Congress appropriated to help shift the system to electronic medical records to ensure better coordination of care and reduce errors across the board none went to nursing homes, rehabilitation facilities or providers working with individuals in their homes. In retrospect, that might have been a mistake, said Robert Wachter, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco who studies patient safety. The systems are not adequately connected. At any point, problems can occur: At hospitals, where federal data show that fewer than half of patients say they confidently understood the instructions of how to care for themselves after discharge. In nursing homes, where case management frequently comes up short. A 2013 government report found more than a third of facilities did not properly assess patients needs, devise a plan for their care and then follow it through. At pharmacies, where counseling and reviewing drugs with patients are often pro forma, and better exertions do not always help. A 2012 study in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine found that half of patients had a clinically significant medication error within a month of discharge from two highly regarded academic medical centers. The study found that these errors persisted even when pharmacists took a more active role in counseling the patient and reviewing the prescription. And at home health agencies, where failures to create and execute a care plan are the most common issues government inspectors identify, followed by deficient medication review, according to KHNs analysis. Over the first half of this decade, 1,591 agencies one in eight had a defect inspectors considered so substantial that it warranted the agencies removal from the Medicare program unless the lapses were remedied. Oylers death in October 2013 shows how a fatal mistake can slip by multiple checkpoints. The 66-year-old retired safety manager left Heartland Regional Medical Center in St. Joseph after being treated for congestive heart failure, in which the heart fails to pump effectively, causing fluid build-up in the lungs, shortness of breath and swelling in the feet. She returned home as a hospital nurse telephoned the local Hy-Vee Pharmacy with eight new prescriptions. One was for the diuretic metolazone. But the medications a pharmacy technician wrote down did not include metolazone. Instead it listed methotrexate, which can damage blood cell counts, organs and the lining of the mouth, stomach and intestines. The drug is so potent that the Institute for Safe Medication Practices includes it among eight high-alert medications with consequences so devastating that they warrant special safeguards against incorrect dispensing. Oylers prescription included daily dosage instructions for the diuretic. Methotrexate is never supposed to be taken more than once or twice a week for patients not being treated for cancer, and almost always at a much lower dose. Heres a drug that every patient, even if its on the refill, should get counseled on, why theyre taking methotrexate and how theyre taking it because of the mistakes of errors weve seen with the daily dosing rather than the weekly dosing, said Allen Vaida, a pharmacist and executive vice president at the Institute for Safe Medication Practices. In a court deposition taken as part of the lawsuit the family brought, Hy-Vees pharmacist blamed himself for not catching the error. For whatever reason, on that certain day, that didnt trigger with me, he said. Hy-Vee argued that its safeguards were as strong as at other pharmacies, although the pharmacy manager admitted in a deposition that quite honestly, there was a breakdown in the system. The familys attorney, Leland Dempsey, said court evidence suggested the drug mix-up was made by the pharmacy technician who transcribed the prescription orders. The pharmacy tech made numerous spelling errors on the drugs, he said. She had a dosage off on another drug. In February, a jury awarded Oylers family $2 million in damages from the pharmacy. The judge lowered the award to $125,000 because of Missouris cap for non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases. Hy-Vee declined to comment. Yet the error could have been caught right away as Oyler began getting care from Heartlands home health care agency. Medicare requires home health agencies to examine details of a patients medications to ensure all the drugs match the prescriptions ordered, are being taken in the right dose and frequency, and dont have negative interactions. Less than a year before, Missouri state inspectors had cited the agency for inadequately reviewing medications for three patients, and the agency had pledged to make improvements, records show. Still, neither of two agency nurses who visited Oyler at home stopped her from taking the wrong drug. Why they didnt catch it was beyond me, her husband, Carl, said recently. They had a printout from the hospital, with every medication correctly listed. It was all there, he said. After 18 days, her family took her to North Kansas City Hospital, where doctors determined that the methotrexate had irreparably damaged her bone marrows ability to create blood cells. She died three days later of multiple organ failure. By the time we got her into the emergency room, essentially she had no blood cell count, her husband recounted. It was irreversible. It was a gruesome, slow, painful way to die. Heartland Regional Medical Center paid Oylers family $225,000 in a settlement, court records show. Mosaic Life Care, the name by which Heartland now operates, said in a statement that it is consistently improving processes and adopting new technologies to further reduce risks of errors and to improve communication. Nonetheless, last November inspectors again cited Heartland for failing to properly review medications for two patients. Most people dont know this is a problem, Sigg said. They assume doctors are talking to each other, until they experience it, and its not the case. (Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.) 2016 Kaiser Health News Visit Kaiser Health News at www.khn.org Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. At least 73 people were killed and fifty seven others injured in a traffic accident in Afghanistan's central Ghazni province on Sunday. Aghagul Jawid Salangi, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said the incident took place in Muqur district of the province after two passenger buses crashed with a fuel tanker. "The buses caught fire after the crash and most of the injured people are in a critical condition," Tolo News quoted him as saying. Though the officials are investigating the cause of the incident, Muqur police officials said that early findings indicate reckless driving as the cause. A 23-year-old Belgian national on a pan-India tour was allegedly molested by an Ola cab driver in south east Delhi's C R Park area last night, in yet another incident that raised questions about the safety of women using app-based taxi hailing services. The accused driver, Balraj Singh alias Raj, a native of Rajasthan's Alwar district, was arrested in the wee hours on Sunday hours after the incident, police said. Curiously, when the woman booked the cab, she received a confirmation from Ola that the driver named Vikram Singh would pick her up but it later emerged that he had rented out the vehicle he owned to the accused in violation of the norms. The woman, who said she worked as a translator, told the police that she had booked the cab from Gurgaon and during the journey the cab driver allegedly kissed and took pictures of her. In a statement, Ola said that the "driver" has been sacked. But the company did not immediately respond to questions as to how the registered owner had rented out the car to another person. "We first tracked down Vikram but he did not turn out to be the driver. He owned the car. The accused was arrested after Ola assisted police in tracking the GPS locations of the car," a senior police official said. Taking a serious view of the incident, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has sought a report from Lt Governor Najeeb Jung on the issue. "I have asked Lt Governor Delhi for a report on the molestation of a Belgian girl by a Cab driver. We are committed to the safety and security of all foreign nationals in India," Swaraj said in a series of tweets. The incident also drew criticism from the opposition parties with former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit claiming that there has been a spike in crimes against women in the national capital under Aam Aadmi Party government led by Arvind Kejriwal. A case of molestation has been registered under sections Indian Penal Code 354 and 354A, 354C against the accused, police said. The taxi is registered with Keshav Taxi Services in Gurgaon's Sushant Lok area. The woman, who has been staying in India since February, was travelling to a friend's place in CR Park whom she had met during her trip to Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh. The victim's statement has been recorded and she will return to Belgium on Sunday night, the police said. "The driver deliberately took the wrong route after Hauz Khas and when the woman told him that she will ask her friend (about the right route), he took her phone and deleted all the records related to Ola. He also called her over to the front seat claiming that his GPS was not working and then allegedly kissed her," a senior police official said. After stepping out of the cab near C R Park area, she informed the police about the incident at around 10 pm, police said. "Ola confirms that the vehicle as well as the associated operator and driver have been permanently blacklisted from the platform. We will share all required information with the authorities to help resolve this for the customer. We have zero tolerance to such behaviour from drivers on the platform," the company said in a statement. Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta also demanded a through investigation into the case. The AAP government has "gone back" on its promise to ramp up women's safety, he alleged. "Be it molestation or rape, Delhi has seen an increase in such crimes and they have risen all the more under the Kejriwal dispensation. I want him and his ministers to focus on women's security. Where else will women feel safe if not the national capital?" Dikshit asked. Dikshit said Kejriwal had repeatedly raised similar issues during her tenure to criticise her. We are waiting for him to take some steps in this regard," she said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asked the people of Kerala to think of their future and not just change regimes, as he continued his tirade against ruling United Democratic Front and the Left Democratic Front saying both have failed to provide even drinking water to them in so many years. Addressing his second election rally in Kuttnad in Kerala, Modi also accused the Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist of covering each other's corruption and said they would get to know that governments have to work for the people only when they are defeated. "Kerala is surrounded by water but still there is no drinking water here. India will next year complete 70 years of her freedom. Both Congress and Communists have ruled the state by turn (all these years) but they are not concerned about even providing drinking water," Modi, whose party has so far played a marginal role in state politics, said. Asking the people whether those who have failed to provide even basic things like drinking water should be elected or not, Modi said "both the Congress and Communists are in sync when it comes to indulging in corruption." "These people have decided to taste power for five years in rotation. This way, they decided not to look each other's sins and open their files (expose corruption)," he said. "You need to think if you just have to change the government or your future also," Modi exhorted the crowd. This was his second election rally in the Southern State, which is all set to go for polls on May 16. Earlier in the day at a poll rally at Kasaragod, Modi had taken a dig at the two main political parties of Kerala, saying both were "insulting" the educated people of Kerala through their adjustment politics. "A new model of politics has come up in Kerala. It is an adjustment politics, politics of compromise, politics of corruption and politics of contract to save each other," he said at the election meeting at Kasaragod. "It is a contract rule between the UDF and the LDF. For five years you rule and for another five years we will rule". This is how the two Fronts have been returning to power in the state, Modi said attacking the two Fronts in the state," he had said. Slamming the Congress and CPI-M for their "jugal-bandi", Modi said, "The Congress does not change its nature of corruption and communists do not change the nature of violence". Lashing out at previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance at the Centre and the UDF government in Kerala, he said, "While there were various corruption cases like the 2G, 3G and coal scam in Delhi during the UPA rule, it was a corruption in Solar (Energy) in Kerala." He said the people of the country were against corruption and this was evident from the way the Congress was reduced to 40 members in the Parliament in the last general elections. The Congress under Rajiv Gandhi (in 1984) had come to power with over 400 seats, while it has only 40 members of Parliament in the present Lok Sabha, he said. Mentioning a remark of the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi that when Centre releases one rupee for a state, only 15 paise reaches it, Modi asked, "Who is stealing off the remaining amount?". He said during the last two years of NDA government's rule, there was not a single case of corruption against it. Giving details of the steps taken by the National Democratic Alliance to weed out corruption, he said a system of providing gas subsidy was made directly to the beneficiaries. "Chori (theft) to a tune of Rs 21,000 crore ended with this new system," Modi said. He said the government's main mantra is "development for all and corruption-free governance." IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduces BJP candidate Sadanandan Master, who was attacked by CPI-M workers, at an election campaign rally in Kasaragod. Photograph: PTI A 11-year-old Pakistani Hindu boy has been allegedly raped and murdered at the premises of a club in Sindh province, triggering protests by people demanding justice for the family, a media report said on Sunday. The son of a Hindu doctor was found dead in a swimming pool inside the Hyderabad Club in Karachi on April 13. The family members of the boy claim that he was deliberately thrown into the pool to cover up sexual abuse and murder. Chetan Kumar, the father of the victim, said that the boy went missing for more than an hour despite tight security inside the club. His son's body was later found 'bearing torture marks on his face' floating in the four-foot-deep swimming pool in the club. Kumar said that despite repeated requests, the club's administration was not providing him access to the CCTV footage from the day of the incident. However, senior police official Rahat Azeem said that CCTV footage has been secured and investigation into the matter is going on. We have secured the CCTV footage and are questioning employees at the club to find out what happened but the father says the boy had marks on his face and body and was first abused and then murdered to cover up the crime," Azeem said. Protesters have demanded the Sindh government to order a thorough probe into the alleged murder of the boy, the Dawn reported. Former Member of National Assembly Kiswan Chand Parwani, former Member Provincial Assembly Lachhman Karmani and others contended that the young boy did not drown but was raped and then thrown into the pool. Hindu Panchayat activist Karmani alleged that boy was killed after being raped. Students of class VIII in Rajasthan schools will no longer study the contribution of Jawaharlal Nehru in their social science textbook as references to the first prime minister have been dropped. The references to Nehru have been removed in two chapters in the revised textbook which will be introduced from this academic session for class VIII in schools affiliated to Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (or Ajmer Board). Though the book is not available in the market yet, the information has been uploaded on the website of the Rajasthan State Textbook Board, which publishes the book for the state board. The new name that has been included in the textbook is that of freedom movement leader Hemu Kalani. While the names of Mahatma Gandhi, Veer Sawarkar, Bhagat Singh, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Subhas Chandra Bose are among those figured in the textbook, there is no mention of Nehru either in the chapter on Freedom Movement or in that on India After Independence. The revision of several textbooks has been carried out under curriculum restructuring by the Udaipur-based State Institute of Education Research and Training. The earlier edition of the book titled 'Social Science for Class VIII' also had a table on 'Major Leaders of National Movement' that featured the names and briefs on contribution of Dadabhai Naoroji, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose. In that particular box, the reference to Nehru stated, "After becoming a barrister, he joined the national movement He later became the president of Congress, leader of the Interim government and the first prime minister of Independent India." That particular box, besides other references to Nehru in the book, is also not there in the new edition of the book. Opposition Congress has hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party saying that the state government has touched a "new low" by omitting references to Nehru in the school book. "The BJP government in Rajasthan is carrying out its agenda and touching a new low by omitting references to the freedom fighter and the first prime minister of India who had great contribution in the freedom struggle and in the foundation of independent India," Rameshwar Dudi, Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly, told PTI. He said the issue will be taken up in a major way. Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot said, "This is a shameless act of the government of Rajasthan. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh could not find a place in the glorious history of India but now the BJP government is removing the contribution of Nehru from history and people will teach them a lesson." He said, "Nehru's contribution to Rajasthan is major. The Panchayti Raj system started from the state. The act reflects the state government's narrow-mindedness and a campaign should be undertaken to expose the government in public." Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot while decrying the move said public will give a fitting reply to the BJP government in the state which is "politicising education and distorting history". The government is taking politically motivated steps and distorting history deliberately, he said, alleging that schemes and programmes named after former prime ministers like Nehru and Indira Gandhi are also being renamed which shows the "mentality of the BJP". People's Union for Civil Liberties wrote an open letter to Rajasthan Education Minister Vasudev Devnani demanding that the syllabus should not be changed as per the "RSS ideology". In a statement, PUCL alleged that "transparency" was not maintained while "changing" the syllabus and said that books should not be "inspired by RSS ideology". North Korea will not use nuclear weapons against other nations unless its sovereignty is threatened, its leader Kim Jong-un has said. As a responsible nuclear weapons state, our republic will not use a nuclear weapon unless its sovereignty is encroached upon by any aggressive hostile forces with nukes, Kim said at the first Workers Party congress in 36 years in Pyongyang, Korean Central News Agency reported. The WPK and the DPRK government will take a beeline along the eternal course of independence, Songun (military-first policy) and socialism, no matter how the situation and relationship among neighboring countries may change, and play a vanguard role as the defender of independence and justice in the struggle for global independence, he said. With great magnanimity, we will unite and cooperate with any country and nation aspiring after independence and justice, irrespective of differences in ideology and social system, he said. North Korea will cooperate with efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons for the eventual goal of global denuclearisation, he said, according to KCNA. The country in January had announced that it had successfully carried out its first hydrogen bomb test, marking a major step forward in its nuclear development. "The republic's first hydrogen bomb test has been successfully performed on January 6, 2016, based on the strategic determination of the Workers' Party," a state television news reader had announced. The test was conducted at the Punggye-ri underground test site in the far northeast, KCNA said. IMAGE: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks during the first congress of the country's ruling Workers' Party, in this photo released by KCNA in Pyongyang. Photograph: KCNA/Reuters Khurram Zaki, a leading Pakistani rights activist known for his strong stance against hatred and violence targeted at Shia Muslims, and his friend have been shot dead by motorbike-borne Taliban militants in Karachi in an apparent sectarian attack. Zaki, 40, was having dinner on Saturday night with his friend Rao Khalid at a restaurant when four armed assailants came on two motorcycles and sprayed bullets. Both Zaki and Khalid were rushed to a hospital where they succumbed to their injuries. A bystander named Aslam was also injured in the firing. The Hakimullah Mehsud faction of the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement to the media. The group said Zaki was targetted for his views on Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz. The police, however, said it could not confirm the claim by the Taliban faction. A senior police investigator said it was more likely a case of target killing and a sectarian attack as both men killed belonged to the Shia community. Zaki, a social media campaigner, civil society activist, blogger, journalist and religious scholar, was known for his strong views on the Lal Masjid cleric and led a campaign against him for his extremist views since last year. Zaki had condemned extremism in all forms and came into limelight when he led the campaign against Aziz for inciting hatred against Shia Muslims. He and other campaigners built up pressure and got a case registered against Aziz. Zaki also gained fame when he launched a Facebook page "Let Us Build Pakistan" and became editor of a website devoted to working for human rights and spreading liberal religious views. The page was recently blocked by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority. Following Zaki's murder, Sindh Home Minister Sohail Anwar Sial ordered a probe and sought report from police within 48 hours. Meanwhile, protesters carried the body of Zaki to the Chief Minister's House and staged a protest. Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen has also announced to stage a protest demonstration outside the chief minister's house. A spokesperson of MWM said that Zaki was not only a prominent civil society activist but also a religious scholar who tended to attend programmes on various TV channels. "For the last one year, Khurram Zaki was a target of a systematic hate campaign organised by Deobandi fanatic, Shamsuddin Amjad of the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan in collaboration with the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan," Ali Abbas Taj, LUBP's editor-in-chief, said in a statement. "In particular, hateful and violence inciting posters against Khurram Zaki had been published recently by the Mashal Facebook page run by Shamsuddin Amjad, Asad Wasif and a few other pro-Taliban fanatics of Jamaat-e-Islami," Taj said After Irfan Khudi Ali of Quetta, Zaki is the second LUBP editorial team member who has been killed by "Takfiri Deobandi militants", he said. Zaki's assassination came on the same day on which Karachi police announced they had arrested a prime suspect in the murder of social activist Parveen Rehman, who was killed in 2013. The police said they had arrested Raheem Swati, a main accused with links to the Taliban in the case, from Manghopir rea with arms and grenades. Rehman, who worked tirelessly for the development of the impoverished neighbourhoods in the Orangi town, was killed in the same area while returning home. A day after her killing police claimed to have gunned down a Taliban commander, Qari Bilal, and said he was responsible for Rehman's death. But the case was reopened after the supreme court of Pakistan on April 15, 2014, ordered the authorities to conduct a fresh probe into the social activists assassination. Last year in September another well-known social activist and rights campaigner Sabeen Mahmud was also gunned down in the Defence area while returning from her office. Her assailants are yet to be arrested by the police. Jaipur: Students studying in Class 8 in schools of Rajasthan will not be told who Jawaharlal Nehru was. The new social science textbook for Class 8 does not mention Nehru either as a freedom fighter or as the first Prime Minister of independent India, according to a media report. Not yet available in the market but uploaded on the website of publisher Rajasthan Rajya Pathyapustak Mandal (http://www.rstbraj.in) the new textbook mentions Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel, Veer Savarkar, Bhagat Singh, Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and revolutionary Hemu Kalani, but has no mention of Pandit Nehru. In the new chapter on National Movement, there is no mention of Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, Madan Mohan Malviya or other freedom fighters. Interestingly, Mahatma Gandhis assassination by Nathuram Godse has also been avoided. Meant for use in schools of the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education, the textbook revision has been carried out as part of curriculum re-structuring by the State Institute of Education Research and Training (SIERT), Udaipur. However, School Education Minister Vasudev Devnani claimed he had no idea of Nehrus omission from the textbook. The government and I have nothing to do with it. I am yet to see the new textbooks. The syllabus is created by an autonomous body and the government does not interfere in it at all, he said. But Devnanis recent comments tell a different story. He had said that the Rajasthan government was redesigning textbooks to ensure that no Kanhaiya Kumar was born in the state. He had also said that he wanted the curriculum would have a new set of agendas like teach the child about the veer and veerangana of Rajasthan; make the child proud of Indian culture and create an ideal citizen and a patriot. Additionally, Emperor Akbar would no longer be called Akbar the Great. The great suffix would instead be used for Maharana Pratap. The change is reflected in the Class 8 textbook for medieval history. The history section of the textbook has been written by eight authors, mostly faculty from government schools. Rajasthan Congress president Sachin Pilot slammed the exclusion of Nehru from the textbooks. This is taking saffronisation to the next level. The BJPs ideological bankruptcy has stooped to such levels that it is erasing the countrys first Prime Minister from school history books. But they should know that this does not mean they can erase Nehrus memory and his contribution from the nations collective conscience. We will oppose this attempt to alter the nations history, he was quoted as saying. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will finally put the 'Clean Ganga' plan into action after two years (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: In line with the ruling BJP's pre-poll promise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to launch the work on 'Clean Ganga' action plan later this month, official sources said on Sunday. While entry-level activities relating to the ambitious 'Namami Gange' programme are already underway, execution of the comprehensive action plan aimed at freeing the river of waste and ensuring its unfettered flow is expected to be launched around May 15. The Water Resources Ministry, which is executing the ambitious programme, may also invite Modi for an event to be held in October this year to mark the completion of the first leg of the cleaning operation. "Entry-level activities are already underway at many places along the river. But implementation of the comprehensive action plan will take off sometime around May 15. The Government intends to clean the river by July 2018," the source said. Sources said, Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs) roped in for "condition assessment" of existing infrastructure, including ghats along the Ganga and their capacity utilisation, have completed their studies. Engineers India Ltd (EIL), National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC), WAPCOS Ltd, National Projects Construction Corporation Ltd (NPCC) and Engineering Projects India Ltd are the CPSUs the Government has engaged for the purpose. They said the CPSUs will begin surface cleaning of Ganga's mainstream post-monsoon and that the effect of phase I activities under the project will become visible in October this year. "If we clean the river surface now, it will become dirtier again during monsoon. So, it is advisable we begin the work post-monsoon so we need not repeat the work while the surface is cleared," they said. The tendering process to set up sewage treatment plants (STPs), a medium-term activity under the project, in 118 towns along the Ganga will take "some time" to be completed, sources said. The actual construction of the plants would take about a year after the tendering process has been completed. "It is a huge work. So, we want such bidders to come forward who will deliver quality job, who are worried about their image," the sources said. Halloween is nearly here. Find out when Trick-or-Treat is happening in Martinsville. The leaves are changing, the evenings are getting cooler and excitement is building as Halloween draws closer. The Pakistani national has been taken into custody and further questioning is underway (Photo: PTI) Jammu: A Pakistani national was apprehended after he crossed over to the Indian side along the International Border in RS Pura sector of Jammu district, police said on Sunday. Sahanulla (38), a resident of Wajid Wali village in Chawinda in Sialkot district of Pakistan, was arrested on Saturday by the Border Security Force (BSF) when he crossed into the Indian side in Pindi area of the sector, an officer said. Except for Rs 10 in Pakistani currency, no significant recoveries were made from him. It seems he had crossed the IB inadvertently, he said. The Pakistani national has been taken into custody and further questioning is underway, the officer said. Day Nursery of Abilene employee recognition The Day Nursery of Abilene recently named its employees of 2015: Mary Kennedy, who works as a caregiver for2-year-olds at the Cedar Street Center, has worked for Day Nursery since 2003. Amanda Johnson, who works as a center coordinator at the Sherry Lane Center, has worked for Day Nursery since 2007. Ramona Cox, who works as a caregiver for2-year-olds at the Vine Street Center, has worked for Day Nursery since 2008. Local United employee honored Kenneth Weise, produce manager at Market Street on Buffalo Gap Road, was named Team Member of the Year for the Abilene Region at The United Family's 11th annual Leadership Awards dinner. Weise has been with the company for more than 30 years. Want to be a Dyess contractor? The 7th Contracting Squadron at Dyess Air Force Base will host the Small Business Education Roadshow from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday. The event assists small businesses interested in starting the process of becoming a government-contracted company. The roadshow will cover topics including registering as a business eligible to be contracted by the government and where to find resources and opportunities on Dyess Air Force Base. Participants will also take part in a bus tour of the base. More than 30 companies have RSVP'd to attend the event. If a small business would like to RSVP, contact Sara Marron at 325-696-8239 or by email at sara.marron@us.af.mil. The Texas Rangers are investigating the reported suicide of a Rule man at Rolling Plains Regional Jail last week, according to Haskell County Sheriff Winston Stephens. Kennie Moore, in his 70s, reportedly hanged himself April 26 in the recreational yard at the Haskell facility. 'I don't know why the man did what he did,' Stephens said. A review by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards of documentation connected with Moore's death revealed that the jail was 'not completing visual face-to-face observation of all inmates at least once every 60 minutes as required by the minimum jail standards,' according to Jackie Semmler, an inspector with TCJS. Apparently, there was miscommunication involving a guard at the facility who was supposed to supervise and check on Moore while he was in the recreational yard, according to Shannon Herklotz, assistant director for inspections and jail management with TCJS. Although the guard reportedly was in compliance in meeting TCJS requirements to check on inmates in the 30-minute watch area of the facility where Moore was being housed, the guard apparently failed to check on Moore for an hour and seven minutes after the inmate went out into the recreational yard, which was allowed three days a week. Any discipline or punishment related to the guard's reported oversight, Herklotz said, is up to the warden. A month or so ago, Moore had been arrested after allegedly driving a vehicle into City Hall, said Stephens, the Haskell County sheriff. 'He said he did it just to get my attention,' Stephens said, adding that he had been confused by the statement. 'When I first brought him in, he was under suicide watch,' Stephens said. 'I was just worried about him.' The Sheriff's Office already had been working on a theft case for Moore, who had reported that someone had stolen some property from his house a couple of weeks previously, officials said. County jails are required by law to have each person in custody checked against a state database to see whether they ever have received mental health services. This marks the second reported death at Rolling Plains Regional Jail. The previous death, which occurred in 2013, was from natural causes, TCJS officials said. The jail received two noncompliance notices during annual reports in 2010 and 2015, Herklotz said. When the TCJS issues a noncompliance notice, it is sent to the warden of the facility in question and the county judge. The sheriff also receives a copy. 'They have 30 days to respond with a plan of action,' Herklotz said. From there, the TCJS will review documentation related to the housing of inmates at the facility for two weeks to a month. If the TCJS believes an on-site visit is necessary, it will send an inspector, Herklotz said. The Haskell jail is in danger of losing all of its 134 employees by June 9 because officials have been unable to resecure a contract to house federal detainees for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The facility mainly houses ICE detainees, with typically fewer than two dozen inmates from the Big Country, officials said. Emerald Correctional Management, the private company that operates the prison, is not allowed to sign the lease with InvenTrust Properties, the property owner, without first having a contract to house more than 200 inmates. A grievance lodged against an Abilene City Councilman by a city employee could lead to the City Council considering disciplinary action against the council member if further complaints are received, City Manager Robert Hanna stated in a letter. Cheryl Sawyers, outgoing city spokeswoman, filed a grievance in March against Councilman Bruce Kreitler, claiming he harassed her in the hallway outside her office at City Hall. Kreitler called the grievance 'much ado about nothing,' and said he did not intend his comments to be interpreted as harassment. Sawyers states in her grievance that Kreitler approached her before the March 10 council meeting and blocked the hall so she could not pass. He then bent down and 'got within inches of my ear on the right side and gritted his teeth together' before telling her in a 'harsh tone' not to 'ever schedule something for me before a council meeting ever again,' the grievance states. Kreitler referred to a photo shoot the council had before the meeting, which Sawyers said she scheduled at Hanna's request. Hanna was her direct supervisor. 'I didn't flee. I didn't run,' Sawyers said by phone Friday, her last full day of work at the city. 'I just said 'you need to talk to Robert (Hanna),' and I just moved as quickly as I could past him.' Sawyers said the whole incident was 'intimidating' because Kreitler is a 'big man' and a council member, and even though she is accustomed to being around guns, the fact that he had a handgun in a holster on his side made matters worse. She said she felt embarrassed he would speak to her like that in a public setting. He has not spoken to her since. 'No. 1, I'm a human being,' she said. 'No. 2, I'm not your child, and No. 3, I'm a professional, and I should be treated like a professional in a professional environment.' It took quite a bit of courage to stand up against the city councilman, Sawyers said. In her grievance, she states that Kreitler has told her multiple times that 'he is in charge of the city and my boss' boss.' Kreitler responded to Sawyers' grievance in writing, stating that he did not intend to harass Sawyers and did not mean to be overheard. He also states he cannot control Sawyers' perception of him or of his actions, according to his letter. The councilman apologized to the two witnesses who overheard the exchange, Assistant City Manager Mindy Patterson and Assistant City Secretary Tiffni Hererra, 'for involving them in this matter and wasting their valuable time,' the letter states. Both women wrote statements corroborating Sawyers' story that they heard the exchange, according to city documents. 'I have done nothing wrong,' Kreitler said by phone Friday. 'If I had done something wrong, I would have apologized.' Kreitler went on to say that he thought of the incident as a 'nonevent' and was surprised to learn of the grievance, which he called a 'clever piece of creative writing.' 'This is much ado about nothing,' he said. Hanna discussed the matter with both Sawyers and Kreitler, according to his letter, obtained by the Reporter-News through a Texas Public Information Act request. He told Kreitler that the councilman has no authority over city employees as an individual, only as the entire council, and that the city charter prohibits council members from directing or disciplining a city employee. Hanna also told Sawyers he has no authority to discipline a council member. Hanna states: 'Had Bruce been an employee of mine, I would counsel him on being cognizant that he is a person of imposing physical stature and that carrying a firearm in a holster also creates its own dynamic.' In closing his letter, Hanna states that if more complaints come in he would bring the issue before the City Council in closed session so they can decide whether to discipline Kreitler. He also states Mayor Norm Archibald is aware of the matter and supportive of this outcome. The city charter gives the council the power to investigate the official conduct of any 'department, agency, office, officer or employee of the city.' For now, Sawyers is satisfied with documenting the incident. She will move to Florida in the next month when her husband returns from a yearlong deployment. 'When someone skirts the line a lot, there's not anything you can do. But whenever they cross the line, you have to take action, and that's exactly what I've done,' she said. 'My intention was to document the misbehavior of somebody who has been elected to a position and trusted by the citizens. If anything, this having it come out should give people pause and maybe ask him some critical questions. 'That's up to the public,' she said. 'If it even gives one elected official whether that be local or state or federal pause as to how they speak to people, then that would be sufficient for me.' _________ Click here to view a copy of the Grievance Form filled out by Cheryl Sawyers Click here to view Bruce Kreitler's response to the Grievance Click here to view Tiffani Hererra's witness statement Click here to view City Manager Robert Hanna's response to the incident Big Bend National Park in the spring. SHARE Wagstaff Photo courtesy of Bill Wright Chinati Mountains State Natural Area in Presidio County in the Big Bend area, as photographed by Bill Wright. Photo courtesy of Bill Wright Abilene photographer Bill Wright captures clouds over the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend National Park. If any mountain or some other notable geologic feature in the Big Bend remains unnamed, by all rights it should honor one Robert M. Wagstaff. The reason that now little-known West Texan deserves to be remembered with a distinctive landmark goes back to a winter day in West Texas during the Great Depression. Scanning the colorful array of magazine covers competing for attention on the shelves of an Abilene newsstand, the attorney reached for one publication that caught his eye. Its cover featured a yellow map of Texas over a blue background that stood out, well, as big as Texas. Wagstaff gave the December 1930 Nature Magazine a quick glance, seeing that the whole issue focused on the Lone Star State. Newly elected to the House of Representatives, he figured he'd better see what the publication had to say about Texas, particularly his corner of it. He paid 35 cents for the issue and read it cover-to-cover when he got back to his downtown law office. The article he found the most interesting was by J. Frank Dobie, a University of Texas faculty member from South Texas beginning to get a name for himself as a writer of history and folklore. The piece, "The Texan Part of Texas," is what Wagstaff read first. Next he turned to an article by Claude S. Young about the Big Bend: "The Last Frontier The Big Bend Country of Texas Still Sleeps, Untamed." In his article, Dobie who never lacked for an opinion expressed his dismay that Texas had squandered most of its once vast public land holdings. And then, he wrote: "Texans of cultivated minds are lamenting with increasing regret that none of the beautiful 'hill country,' none of the deep forest land, none of the coastal marshes, none of the wild Big Bend Country, none of the cool Davis Mountains, none of the deep and mighty gorges of the plains not one acre of the multiplied millions was set aside for parks and public enjoyment as so much federal land has been set aside (nationally)." In fairness to Texas lawmakers holding office during the first two decades of the 20th century, the state had already begun to acquire land for state parks. But Dobie wrote correctly that despite its rich geographic diversity and many striking natural features, no land in Texas had been designated for use as a national park. When Wagstaff had finished reading the articles by Dobie and Young, along with the other stories in the national conservation-minded monthly (founded in 1923 by the American Nature Association in Washington, D.C., and published until 1959), he decided to look into whether the state held any unsold lands in the Big Bend that could be cobbled together for a state park. And when the 42nd Legislature met in Austin the following January, that's what he did. The freshman Abilene lawmaker asked the commissioner of the General Land Office to look into the matter. Commissioner J.H. Walker found some 150,000 acres and withdrew it from sale. He suggested, however, that Wagstaff wait until the following session to proceed with a bill to create the park. In the meantime, the commissioner said, he might be able to find more vacant tracts in the Big Bend. Wagstaff agreed, and proceeded to get the wholehearted support of Rep. E.E. Townsend of Alpine, whose district included most of the potential park land, and Rep. Frank Haag of Midland, who had a small portion of the land in question in his district. When lawmakers returned to Austin in January 1933, the Abilene lawmaker introduced a bill to create the park and Townsend and Haag signed on as co-sponsors. The measure passed and Gov. Miriam A. Ferguson signed it into law later that year. "The creation of this park," Wagstaff modestly recalled in 1968, "met with general approval by the press and public of the state." Beyond that, he continued, the West Texas Chamber of Commerce, assorted other statewide organizations and folks of influence began campaigning for conveyance of the state land to the federal government to create a national park in the Big Bend. "This movement was eventually successful, and [with] wide additional lands added to the original park, it became in 1943 the Big Bend National Park, one of the great parks of the national system," Wagstaff wrote. Other Texans, of course, had a hand in making all this happen, but it's hard to argue that it was not Wagstaff who led the way. After serving two terms in the legislature, Wagstaff concentrated on his family's legal practice in his hometown. He also taught at Hardin-Simmons for a time and ranched. He died at 80 on April 9, 1973, and is buried in Elmwood Memorial Park in his hometown. His flat red granite grave marker says only, "Robert M. Wagstaff 1892-1973." Mike Cox, 2010 recipient of the A.C. Greene Lifetime Achievement Award at the West Texas Book Festival, is the author of 28 nonfiction books. Two of his books are listed in "101 Essential Texas Books" by Glenn Dromgoole and Carlton Stowers. His weekly column, "Texas Tales," appears in a number of newspapers across the state and is also read by numerous individual subscribers. He can be contacted at texasmikecox@gmail.com Features "It's not right. We need more time." Advertisement - Continue Reading Below This just in... New Delhi: With the BJP and the Central government unleashing an aggressive campaign against the Gandhi clan on the VVIP helicopter scam, a section of the party has warned against taking any strong action against the Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi. This faction is subtly trying to remind the party of the Congress resurgence after the then Janata government had arrested Indira Gandhi in the late 1970s. Despite the BJPs aggressive attempts to brand Mrs Gandhi as a foreigner and targeting her Italian connection, a section in the saffron camp believes she still commands respect across the country, and it could be suicidal for the party to take action against her. With Mrs Gandhi taking an aggressive line, the situation has got more delicate for the party, they feel. Sensing that any move to take action against Mrs Gandhi could boomerang on the Narendra Modi government, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had Saturday dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to arrest her. Taking a swipe, Mr Kejriwal said: Modiji doesnt even dare to ask Soniaji about this scam. As the top BJP leadership continues to bring the roof down on the helicopter scam, some in the organisation wondered if the charges that are being levelled against Mrs Gandhi will even stick. A senior BJP leader, while speaking to this newspaper on condition of anonymity, argued that the Italian court verdict did not indict Sonia. He also referred to a TV interview by Milan court judge Macro Maiga, who said there was no evidence against Sonia Gandhi... only a mention of her in a fax. The fax apparently speaks of Mrs Gandhi as someone who will fly the helicopters. The BJP leader felt that all these will prove nothing. This section of the saffron party, that is wary of action against the Gandhis, is, however, in a minority. A majority of the saffron brigade feels that the helicopter deal will prove the final nail in the Congress coffin. Contradciting that view, though, the other side claimed the VVIP helicopter deal has no electoral relevance, and said the BJP cannot win the UP elections on this issue. On the governments attempts to equate the helicopter deal with Bofors, it was further pointed out that Bofors had united the entire Opposition against the Congress, with even the BJP and the Communists coming on one platform against the Rajiv Gandhi government. The helicopter deal has not only failed to unite political outfits against the Congress, it also failed to make any impact on the electorate, the BJP leader said. He added that by losing the general election, the Congress has already paid the price for corruption... Instead of harping on Agusta, our government has to deliver. A British-Iranian citizen has reportedly been in jail in Iran for over a month. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliff, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters foundation, was detained at Tehran airport on April 3 by Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) while returning to London where she lives, her family said. The reason for her arrest is not clear and according to her family there have been no charges against her. Zaghari-Ratcliff, 37, was transferred to an unknown location in Kerman Province. She is being reportedly held in solitary confinement and has not been able to access a lawyer. The passport of her 22-month-old daughter, who has only British citizenship, was confiscated. She remains in Iran with her grandparents. The family of Zaghari-Ratcliff have been informed that her interrogations relate to national security. The family have also said that she has been forced to sign a confession under pressure. Iranian authorities have not publicly commented on the case. The IRGC has in past months arrested a number of Iranians and also at least two Iranian-Americans. With reporting by the BBC Afghan officials have lowered the death toll from a deadly collision between two passenger buses and a fuel tanker that collided on a major highway in eastern Afghanistan. Jawed Salangi, a spokesman for the Ghazni governor, said 52 people were killed on May 8 in the Muqur district of Ghazni, on the main highway linking the capital, Kabul, to the southern city of Kandahar. Ismail Kawusi, a Health Ministry spokesman, said the higher toll of 73 given by the government was due to "technical difficulties" with the flow of information from hospitals. Dozens more were injured in the collision that set all three vehicles ablaze. Muqur police said they were investigating the cause of the accident but said early findings indicate that the crash was caused by reckless driving. Traffic accidents are common in Afghanistan, where the rules of the road are rarely enforced and highways are often in poor condition. Based on reporting on dpa and AP Pakistani police said on May 8 that unknown gunmen riding motorcycles have shot and killed a prominent rights activist and injured two others in the southern city of Karachi. Khurram Zaki was attacked late on May 7 at a roadside restaurant, where he was dining with a friend, police said. The friend and a bystander were critically injured in the attack. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack. Zaki, a former journalist, was the editor of the website and a popular Facebook page, Let Us Build Pakistan, which claimed to "spread liberal religious views and condemned extremism in all forms." Zaki was best known for helping lead a campaign against Abdul Aziz, the cleric of the controversial Lal Masjid or Red Mosque in the capital, Islamabad, a bastion of Islamic extremists. The campaigners filed a court case charging the cleric with incitement against the country's Shi'ite minority, which are often the target of deadly attacks. Based on reporting by AP and dawn.com The groundbreaking ceremony for the Central Asia-South Asia electricity transmission project, known as CASA-1000, is scheduled for May 12 in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. The leaders of Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Pakistan are coming to join Tajik President Emomali Rahmon for the event. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif were just in Central Asia in December, in Turkmenistan, for the inauguration of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline. The two projects would be a significant financial benefit to exporters Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan and provide a much-needed boost to the power supplies in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. However, despite governmental and popular support in these countries for the projects, TAPI and CASA-1000 face significant obstacles and, in the end, it's possible neither will be realized. To look at the two projects, what they mean for the region, and their chances for success, RFE/RLs Turkmen Service, known locally as Azatlyk, conducted a Majlis, a panel discussion, to review the aims and possibilities of TAPI and CASA-1000. Azatlyk Director Muhammad Tahir moderated the talk. From Glasgow, Dr. Luca Anceschi, professor of Central Asian studies at the University of Glasgow and one of the leading authorities on the TAPI project, participated. From New York, Casey Michel, author of many articles about Central Asia, including the recent report published in The Diplomat magazine -- CASA-1000 Groundbreaking Planned for May -- joined the discussion. In the studio in Prague we had Abubakr Siddique, author of the acclaimed book, The Pashtun Question, and also chief editor of RFE/RLs Gandhara website, which is dedicated to Afghan and Pakistani affairs. I came up with a few comments also. The CASA-1000 involves building a 1,222-kilometer power transmission line to carry some 1,300 MW of electricity from hydropower plants in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan into Afghanistan (300 MW) and on to Peshawar in Pakistan (1,000 MW). TAPI is supposed to bring some 33 billion cubic meters of gas annually along a pipeline some 1,735 kilometers long to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. Speaking about what CASA-1000 would mean for the importers, Siddique recalled, We have seen in the past few years that Pakistan has really suffered because of chronic electricity shortages. The result of that, Siddique said, is a lot of industries closed, a lot of rioting...there were just [recently] protests in Peshawar and other cities because of power cuts. Siddique said besides bringing needed electricity to Afghanistan, CASA-1000 is very important because it establishes Afghanistans status as a main transit country between Central Asia and South Asia. TAPI would help Afghanistan cement a role as a transit country. But it is the instability in Afghanistan that is often given as the primary reason neither TAPI nor CASA-1000 are possible. The panel discussed growing instability in Afghanistan in the areas along the two projects routes. LISTEN TO THE PODCAST But there are other problems, further upstream. Financing, in the case of CASA-1000, is not an issue. Michel explained the project has "finances from Washington, London, and the World Bank" and at a cost of a little over $1 billion right now, its not nearly as expensive as TAPI is. TAPI does cost more, as Anceschi said. Its going to be a very expensive proposition, talking about $10 billion, [and] we know that there is not a commercial champion coming from the Western world. No major financial organization or any individual country has shown an interest in providing the large funding needed for TAPI, or for operating the project. In the absence of such a partner, Anceschi noted, The commercial champion, if you want, the consortium leader, is Turkmengaz, which does not have either the money or the expertise to run this program." Turkmengaz has pledged to fund 85 percent of TAPI and operate the project, despite the fact it is doubtful Turkmengaz has that much money and the company has no experience managing a multinational project. Evidence of a lack of funding is already becoming clear. Since the end of April, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov made proposals to Qatar and Saudi Arabia to invest in TAPI, seeming to disregard the fact both are competitors for the same energy markets. Since the launch of TAPI in December 2015 the Turkmen state media (the only media in Turkmenistan) has reported on progress in laying pipeline on Turkmenistans territory. But there is no evidence any work has been done and even these state media reports have failed to include images of construction work. I havent spoken or heard from anyone who can confirm that he or she actually saw the work progressing, Anceschi said, adding that considering the low prices for gas on world markets, the window of profitability for TAPI seems to be closing rapidly. CASA-1000 has the necessary money behind it to see the project realized. But Michel pointed out that as concerns the energy source, We know where its coming from for TAPI, as pertains to CASA-1000, thats one of the big questions. Hydropower plants (HPP) in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan will supply the electricity for CASA-1000. But there has been less precipitation in Kyrgyzstan in recent years and reservoirs there, particularly the massive Toktogul reservoir, are low on water. In 2013, Kyrgyzstan exported electricity to Kazakhstan. Kyrgyzstan is now importing electricity from Kazakhstan and also from Tajikistan. Tajikistan is exporting electricity to Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan in the summer. In the winter, Tajikistan suffers from power shortages, even severe shortages when the winters are especially cold. Tajikistans Nurek HPP will provide electricity to CASA-1000. But Nurek started operations in 1972 and is now in need of repair, which the cash-strapped Tajik government is unlikely to able to afford. Two of Tajikistans newest HPPs are foreign-owned. Sangtuda-1 is also a contributor to the CASA-1000 transmission line. The Russian government and Russian companies own more than 70 percent of Sangtuda-1. When Russia funded and helped construct it, the agreement stipulated Russian ownership until Russian loans and expenses for Sangtuda-1 were repaid. Sangtuda-1 has never shown a profit due to the chronic debt of Tajik state power company Barki Tojik, which itself is short of money due to unpaid bills, mainly of state or state-sponsored organizations.* So CASA-1000 has the financial backing, but its uncertain the necessary power source is there. TAPI has the power source but its funding is unclear. The discussion ranged also to the potential role of Iran in this South Asian energy equation, insurgencies along the project routes, the individual policies of governments involved, and how these policies could complicate or derail entirely the projects and even further into other areas. *Iran is the majority shareholder in Sangtuda-2, completed under similar repayment terms as Sangtuda-1. Sangtuda-2 is also in debt. Afghan officials say six Taliban prisoners on death row were hanged on May 8 in the first set of executions endorsed by President Ashraf Ghani since he took office in 2014. Local media reported that the executions were carried out in Kabul's Pol-e Charkhi prison. The presidential palace said in a statement that "in accordance with the Afghan constitution...Ghani approved the execution of six terrorists who perpetrated grave crimes against civilians and public security." The statement said the executions were conducted after a fair legal process and in accordance with the countrys constitution and Islamic laws. "This order has been carried out today after...considering the human rights obligations of Afghanistan...and in accordance with Afghan laws," the statement said. Ghani has toughened his stance against the militants after a major Taliban assault on Kabul that killed 64 people and wounded another 340 last month. Ghani vowed a tough military response against the Taliban and pledged to enforce legal punishments, including executions of convicted militants. Afghanistan's National Directorate for Security gave the identities of the six condemned men while detailing attacks for which they were convicted. The Taliban said in a statement that the executions will not "deter them from their goal, as the fight for over the past 10 years has proven." Even before the hangings, the militant group had warned of "serious repercussions" if Ghani would approve the death sentences. The group has been waging an insurgency against the Afghan government since 2001 when it was ousted from power by U.S.-led forces. The United Nations expressed regret over the executions of the six men in a statement issued to the press. The United Nations notes that there is no conclusive evidence of the deterrent value of the death penalty and that the use of capital punishment does not contribute to public safety, the May 8 statement by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said. "UNAMA encourages the Government of Afghanistan to expedite legal reform, which would allow death sentences to be commuted to life imprisonment," the statement added. Amnesty International had urged Ghani not to sign the execution orders. By hastily seeking retribution for the horrific bombings that killed over 64 people in Kabul last month, the government of Afghanistans plans to execute those convicted of terror offences will neither bring the victims the justice they deserve, nor Afghanistan the security it needs, the rights watchdog said on May 4. Based on reporting by AFP and khaama.com Sources said the meeting would review Central assistance to the state and the measures taken by the state government to mitigate the effects of drought. (Photo: PTI) Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for a meeting on drought conditions prevailing in the state. Mr Rao will leave for Delhi on Monday evening and meet Mr Modi on May 10. Official sources said the meeting was arranged by the Prime Minister, who has decided to meet the Chief Ministers of states affected by drought. He had met Chief Ministers Akhilesh Yadav, Siddharamaiah and Devendra Fadna-vis in New Delhi on Saturday. All of them had sought thousands of crores of rupees for drought relief in their states. Read: Drought in Telangana tops KCRs priorities Sources said the meeting would review Central assistance to the state and the measures taken by the state government to mitigate the effects of drought. Read: Telangana gets Rs 55 crore from Centre towards drought relief Sources close to the CM told this newspaper that apart from the review of the drought conditions prevailing in the state, Mr Rao will raise other issues pending with Centre. Read: Telangana optimistic of turning drought-free, says minister With regard to the Prime Ministers proposed maiden visit to the state to inaugurate the revived fertiliser factory at Ramagundam in Karimnagar district on May 26, official sources said it was not yet to be confirmed. Sources said there may be some clarity on the visit after Mr Raos meeting with Mr Modi. A 24-year-old Chesterfield County woman has been arrested in a shooting in Richmond on Saturday night that police believe stemmed from an argument. About 11:55 p.m., officers responded to the 300 block of North Madison Street for a report of a shooting and found a man suffering from an apparent gunshot wound lying on the sidewalk outside a building, according to police spokeswoman Susan Rowland. Detectives believe the shooting stemmed from an argument between the suspect and the victim, who knew each other, Rowland wrote in a statement. Genara M. Pierce was arrested at the scene and charged with malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. The victim was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Thanks to the swift response by officers and the help of witnesses at the scene, the suspect was quickly taken into custody and the firearm used in the incident was recovered, Major Crimes Capt. James Laino said in a prepared statement. CHARLOTTESVILLE A Charlottesville man who faked having cancer has pleaded guilty in a federal wire fraud case that spans state lines. Carmelo Carmine Carrozza, 57, pleaded guilty Tuesday to purporting a cancer diagnosis that enabled him to leave a job that continued to pay him, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Carrozza, hired as the director of fine dining at The Greenbrier in West Virginia in 2013, admitted to telling his superiors in June 2013 that he had been diagnosed with cancer and needed to leave to receive treatment. He continued to collect a salary from The Greenbrier and was hired in August 2013 by the University of Virginia Darden School Foundation. Carrozza stayed in touch with employees at the West Virginia resort, updating them about his supposed cancer treatments. He received more than $48,000 from the resort. The study also found that 23 per cent of prisoners sentenced to death had never attended school and 61.6 per cent had not completed their secondary education. (Representational image) New Delhi: More than three-fourths of death row convicts in the country belong to socially, economically and educationally backward section of the society, according to a report. The report by Centre for Death Penalty of Delhi National Law University also states that more than 80 per cent of the death row inmates are subjected to 'inhuman, degrading and extreme forms of physical and mental torture' inside prisons. The study which documents the socio-economic profile of prisoners sentenced to death in India identifies that almost three-fourth of the prisoners were economically vulnerable and a major chunk of them were either primary or sole earners in their family. Seventy six per cent of convicts awaiting gallows belong to backward classes and religious minorities, as per the report which also indicates that all the 12 female death row convicts in the country belong to the above mentioned categories. Two hundred and sixteen of 270 prisoners, (i.e, 80 per cent) in this study spoke about custodial torture faced by them which includes the most inhuman, degrading and extreme forms of physical and mental torture inside the dark walls. Burning skin with cigarettes, inserting needles into fingernails, forced nudity, forced anal penetration with rods and glass bottles, forced to drink urine, made to urinate on heater, hung by wires, extreme beating etc are few forms of torture that have been revealed in the study. The study also found that 23 per cent of prisoners sentenced to death had never attended school and 61.6 per cent had not completed their secondary education. "If the accused is illiterate, it affects his defence," Supreme Court judge Justice Madan B Lokur said during a panel discussion regarding the report. The report identifies 385 death row convicts lodged in various prisons across different states among which Uttar Pradesh tops the list with 79 convicts in line to gallows. The report says there is a need of urgency to look into the mental health of death convicts at different levels. "The accounts of the prisoners seeking mercy allow us to understand their fears and despair which are aggravated by the opacity of the process," it said. Even though the apex court has been following a time honoured tradition by hearing appeals of prisoners sentenced to death, the Report brings out cases of 11 prisoners in last 10 years in which the Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal. The study does not seek to make a case for the abolition of the death penalty, but the purpose is to throw light on some difficult questions concerning the criminal justice system. Hillary Clinton returns to Virginia today to discuss work-family balance with women and families in Loudoun County. Clinton will follow the afternoon event at the Mug-N-Muffin at the Stone Ridge Village Center with two similar stops Tuesday in Kentucky. Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, led Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, 44 percent to 35 percent among likely Virginia voters in an April 7 survey by Christopher Newport University. While Trump led among men, 43 percent to 37 percent, Clinton had a dominating lead among women 52 percent to 29 percent. In 2012, President Barack Obama topped Republican nominee Mitt Romney in Loudoun County by about 7,100 votes, receiving 81,900 votes to Romneys 74,794. Clinton made appearances in Northern Virginia and in Hampton Roads ahead of the March 1 primary, in which she defeated Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. Clintons appearance in Loudoun County, a large, fast-growing swing county in Northern Virginia, also could be a chance for Clinton to give a boost to LuAnn Bennett, the Democratic challenger to Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-10th. Comstock has said Trump has not earned her support. It looks like nothing was found at this location. Maybe try a search? Search for: Search The trend came to light in the posh southern part of the city where a gambling racket was operating full time but came out clean every time police paid a surprise visit. (Representational photo: PTI) New Delhi: Delhi Police, which has its own CCTV network to monitor law and order across the national capital, is now baffled by what can be called a role reversal -- criminals using such cameras to track movement of local police around their hideouts. The trend came to light in the posh southern part of the city where a gambling racket was operating full time but came out clean every time police paid a surprise visit. Police later received input about CCTV cameras installed around the gamblers' hideout in Vasant Gaon area and planned a secret operation, a senior official said. But things only got worse as a woman, who allegedly sheltered the gang, confronted the police team and accused them of harassing her, that too by entering the premises of her house, and to support her claims, she had CCTV grabs. The terrified beat officials went back to the police station and reported the matter, compelling the station in-charge to take up the issue with senior officials. "It has been observed that criminals indulged in sale of illicit liquor, running gambling rackets and selling drugs, have installed CCTV cameras in their houses to keep check on the movements of beat constables of the area. "If any beat constable dares to enter the premises forcibly, they would use these CCTV cameras as evidence, alleging them of having gone there to demand money or harassment caused to women living inside the premises," DCP (South) Ishwar Singh said. In late April, the Special Task Force of South district was assigned the job of tracking such gangs and bringing them to book. In around 10 days, the special team busted three such cases, including another gambling racket, an illicit liquor supplier and a marijuana peddling ring. The marijuana ring, busted in Sangam Vihar area, was allegedly headed by a 50-year-old woman who had installed CCTV cameras in and around her shanty from where the dealings took place. She wrapped up within seconds every time her informers, who were tasked with monitoring the footage, informed her of police presence, a senior official said. The CCTV cameras in all three cases were very strategically positioned and well-covered with sacks, rugs and gunny bags, the lenses left exposed for unhindered surveillance. After south, investigators in other police districts are also now developing intelligence on the same trend in areas under their jurisdiction, he added. You might have noticed the brand-new, two-story restaurant being constructed on the hillside of South Peak in Roanoke County. The building looks almost too big to be a restaurant. But it's a Texas Roadhouse, and everything is supposed to be bigger in Texas. This is the chain's first Roanoke location. It's set to open on June 20, according to the company's website. Texas Roadhouse purchased the land, across from Tanglewood Mall, for $1.1 million in January. It was the first commercial tenant to join the South Peak development since the Hilton Garden Inn, which began construction in 2013. Work on the restaurant started shortly after, and it is now nearly completed. The restaurant announced last week that it will hire about 160 people for full- and part-time positions. Anyone interested in a job can stop in at the hiring trailer in the restaurant's parking lot from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The company said the Roanoke location will be 7,200 square feet and will be open Monday through Thursday from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Texas Roadhouse is based in Louisville, Kentucky, and has more than 450 locations. It's known for its steaks, ribs, bread and down-home side dishes. George Sanzone of Blacksburg, died peacefully on Monday, May 2, 2016. George was born on January 13, 1934 in Brooklyn, N.Y., the son of John and Frances Sanzone. He was a self-made man, from his stint in the United States Navy to his years of study culminating in a Doctorate in Chemical Physics from the University of Illinois.George studied architecture at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. During his service in the U.S. Navy, he served on an Admiral's staff in London and helped design naval bases in Scotland. After returning to the U.S., he worked at Bendix Corp. (Cincinnati), where he helped develop time-of-flight mass spectrometry. At Burton & Rodgers he worked on development of a flight simulator for the B-58 supersonic bomber.In 1969, now Dr. Sanzone joined the faculty of Virginia Tech, where he enjoyed teaching and research in the Chemistry Department (1969 1998) and the many students, friends and colleagues along the way. After retiring, George began a new phase in his life, filled with travels, learning and 3-D puzzles, all in the company of his beloved companion of 27 years, Therese Martin. His cancer diagnosis in 2001 did not quench his spirit for life; if anything it made him all the more grateful for the years he continued to have.George is survived by his sister, Lucille DeLuca; his former wife, Jeanne; his three children, Thomas, Stephanie, and Jennifer; four grandchildren; and his dear Therese.The family expresses sincere appreciation to Dr. Harry McCoy and the nurses and staff of LewisGale Hospital Montgomery for their excellent care and many kindnesses.An informal gathering of close friends to remember George will be scheduled for a later date. Parties feel that the provisions of the present bill violate the very basic Principle of Natural Justice (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: The Modi government's attempt to amend the 48-year-old Enemy Property Act has faced a stumbling block and is unlikely to clear the Rajya Sabha hurdle with four political parties opposing the move saying original law was balanced and fresh changes violate the basic principle of natural justice. Congress, JD-U, CPI and Samajwadi Party said the proposed changes would result in punishing lakhs of Indian citizens and have no effect on any 'Enemy Government'. The representatives of the four parties -- KC Tyagi (JD-U), K Rahman Khan, P L Punia and Husain Dalwai (all Congress), D Raja (CPI) and Javed Ali Khan (SP) -- gave their dissent notes in the Select Committee report on amendments to the Enemy Property Act, 1968, tabled in Rajya Sabha on Friday. "The provisions of the present Bill, 2016 are contrary to the aforesaid principles and if allowed to be inserted in the Act, 1968, not only the entire balance will be disturbed but also the same would not sustain in the courts of law. Thus, we are submitting this dissent note with the request that the same may kindly be treated and circulated as part and parcel of the report of this committee," the dissent note said. The MPs said that in their considered view, the provisions of the present bill violates the very basic Principle of Natural Justice, Human Rights and settled principles of law. Furthermore, it adversely affects and results in punishing lakhs of Indian citizens and will have no effect on any enemy government. In April, the government had promulgated an ordinance to amend the Enemy Property Act to guard against claims of succession or transfer of properties left by people who migrated mostly to Pakistan after the wars. Since NDA government does not enjoy majority in the Rajya Sabha, the proposed amendment bill is unlikely to pass the Upper House hurdle as the four parties opposed the move. The Centre had designated some properties belonging to nationals of Pakistan 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 Enemy Property Act, 1968, regulates these enemy properties, and lists the powers of the custodian. In the wake of the Indo-Pak wars of 1965 and 1971, there was migration of people from India to Pakistan. Under the Defence of India Rules framed under the Defence of India Act, the government took over the properties and companies of such persons who had taken Pakistani nationality. The central government through the Custodian of Enemy Property for India is in possession of enemy properties spread across many states in the country. In addition, there are also movable properties categorised as enemy properties. After the 1965 war, India and Pakistan signed the Tashkent Declaration which included a clause saying that the two countries would discuss the return of the property and assets taken over by either side in connection with the conflict. Gazit-Globe (GZT) announced that it has acquired outstanding shares of the company, representing about 15% of Gazit Israel, which are held by its CEO, Ronen Ashkenazi. The company increased its holding in Gazit Israel to 100%, becoming the sole shareholder in the company. Gazit-Globe also agreed that Ashkenazi will step down from his position as the CEO of the company. Yaron Eshel, Deputy CEO will be appointed CEO of Gazit Israel. Eshel joined Gazit Israel 10 years ago and has many years of experience in the fields of real estate and investment. Gazit Israel (directly and indirectly) will sell to Ashkenazi the rights in two land plots, an office building in Israel (for which Ashkenazi will be entitled for a partial vendors loan) and part of the shares of subsidiaries that own real estate in Bulgaria and Macedonia (the company will continue to own the remaining shares), all assets which are non-core for the company. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Introduction First launched back in 2013, the Honda Amaze has been tasked with a rather Herculean effort of bringing the entry-level sedan buyers under Honda Cars Indias umbrella. The first-gen Amaze is basically a Brio with a bigger boot and a diesel engine option. Over its lifetime, it has done pretty well on the sales charts and has been successful in establishing itself as a well-sorted compact sedan that plays the perfect second-fiddle to the highly popular City C2-segmenter. Now, however, Honda is about to launch the second-generation Amaze, which has been developed from the scratch and is no more a sedan that started life as a hatchback. The second-gen Amaze looks modern, has more equipment, and even offers an automatic transmission on both petrol and diesel engines. We recently drove the car to find out all that the new compact sedan has on offer. Heres our New Honda Amaze test drive review Exterior Design The new Honda Amaze looks nothing like the model it is about to replace. The cars design is based on the companys latest design language, which means the aesthetics are somewhat similar to the ones on the latest City and the Civic. The front-end is characterized by a sleek pair of headlamps, a chrome-plated grille, a chunky bumper, and overall a rather boxy appearance. The side profile is all about some crisp lines and neat surfaces. The car is a lot more proportionate than the outgoing version, which is mostly a result of the boot not being an afterthought. The top-end variants get very stylish 15-inch alloys, which make the car look even more premium. The rear-end compliments the front-end in terms of design. Here, again, the bumper is rather chunky and gives a sporty touch to the cars posterior. And in a way, the car does look like the new Civic, or rather a mini Civic. The new Amaze is dimensionally bigger than the outgoing version. At 3,995 mm, its 5 mm longer than the car its about to replace. Also, with an overall width of 1695 mm, the car is also 15 mm wider than its predecessor. The wheelbase, at 2,470 mm, is 65 mm longer than before. However, the height has reduced by 5mm to 1500mm. Interior Design and Features Much like the exterior, even the interior of the new Amaze is all-new and looks nothing like what the first-gen Amaze offers. You get a two-tone cabin that looks very upmarket. The steering wheel is new and gets a sporty three-spoke design. The dashboard looks like it belongs to some pricier car. The larger dimensions have resulted in a more spacious interior. You get 25 mm of additional legroom at the rear. Even the shoulder room for the rear seat occupants has improved by 45 mm, while the headroom has improved by 10 mm. The boot space, at 420-litres, is 20-litres more than what the last-gen car offers. The new Honda Amaze will go on sale in four trims E, S, V and VX. The top-end trim gets many upmarket features like a 7-inch Digipad 2.0 touchscreen infotainment system. This is basically a more sophisticated version of the Digipad infotainment unit found on the WR-V, City, and BR-V. The top end VX variant will also offer Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, which will be a first for any Honda car in India. The car will also offer WiFi connectivity through its infotainment unit. The steering wheel gets audio control and you also get cruise control on the top-end trim. Other than this, you get features like an automatic climate control, rear parking sensors with camera, and keyless entry with touch sensors. Engine Specs and Performance Powering the new-gen Honda Amaze is the same set of engines that power the first-gen model. However, the new Amaze gets a CVT automatic transmission for all its variants. The petrol variants are powered by a 1.2-litre, four-cylinder, naturally-aspired iVTEC petrol engine that produces 90 PS and 110 Nm. The 1.5-litre, four-cylinder, turbocharged iDTEC diesel continues to output 100 PS and 200 Nm for the manual transmission variant. Interestingly, the motor has been de-tuned to produce only 80 PS and 160 Nm for the CVT automatic-equipped variant. The new Amaze is built on a lighter chassis, which has helped Honda shave off 17 kgs from the petrol variant and 23 kgs from the diesel version. The lower weight also plays a role in enhancing the fuel mileage. The petrol manual and CVT automatic variants offer 19.5 kmpl and 19 kmpl respectively. The diesel motor-equipped Amaze offers 27.8 kmpl and 23.8 kmpl for the manual and automatic variants respectively. The last-gen Amaze has received a lot of flak for the high NVH on the diesel variant. This time around, the company has worked extensively on reducing the diesel engine clatter by updating the design of the pistons, cylinder blocks, oil pumps and chain systems. Also, theres more sound insulation to make the cabin better insulated from the diesel clatter and vibrations. Ride and Handling Thanks to new chassis, longer wheelbase and retuned engine, driving dynamics of the new Amaze have completely changed. Both engine options are much more responsive than before. CVT option is good enough for daily driving in the city, while it also offers relaxed cruising experience on the highway. CVT option comes with Sport mode as well. CVT does the job well, and is a much needed option in this segment. Diesel CVT variant, though it offers 20 PS and 40 Nm lesser than the manual variant, it is still good enough and feels a lot powerful than many cars in the segment. Manual diesel is the variant you should opt if you are a fan of enthusiastic driving. It accelerates well, shifts easily and is good at handling. The diesel engine can cruise in the range of 90-100 kmph with the rpm mark just around 2000. Petrol engine is a rev happy machine, and is best in the mid and top range. Steering feedback could have been better. New Amaze gets front disc brakes and rear drum brakes. Though the car lacks initial bite, it does offer a good stopping power once you press the brakes hard. Suspension setup is just brilliant. No matter where you are seated in the car, you would be comfortable even while you are going through bad roads. Safety and Maintenance The new Honda Amaze is also much safer than the car it is about to replace. The new model features front dual airbags and ABS with EBD as standard across all its trims. The top-end variant gets a rear parking camera. Lower variants get rear sensors. Another very important factor that is likely to help Amaze further consolidate its position in the entry-level sedan segment is the lower cost of maintenance. The new Amaze will come with a 3-year, unlimited kilometres warranty that can be extended to the fourth or fifth year by paying extra. Also, Honda will offer annual maintenance packages for Rs 3,500 per year for the petrol variant and Rs 4,900 per year for the diesel variant. Also, even the new-gen Amaze will have a service interval of 1 year or 10,000km. All this will surely make the Amaze pretty easy to maintain. Verdict Not only the 2018 Honda Amaze is an improvement over its older version, but is a serious contender for the title of best in segment. The new generation Amaze comes with improved exteriors, spacious interiors, more features on the inside, better safety, fuel efficient engines, CVT gearbox, impressive ride quality and good driving dynamics. Honda is hoping that the new Amaze will help them chart new sales records. We are not sure what is going to stop them from achieving that. Honda Amaze Video Review Data of top 35 exported two-wheelers shows that a total of 2,83,007 units were exported in November 2019, which translates into YoY growth of an impressive 29.18%. Exports in the same period last year stood at 2,19,081 units. Only two out of top 10 and only ten out of top 35 two-wheelers have registered negative YoY growth. Bajaj Auto continues to be the leader in two-wheeler exports with four of its bikes featured in the top 5 list. The company has aggressively targeted exports over the years and the numbers speak for themselves. It is estimated that the companys exports account for around 40% of its overall two-wheeler sales. At number one position in the list is Bajaj Boxer with exports of 98,772 units in November 2019. This translates into YoY growth of 18.02%, as against 83,692 units exported in the same period last year. While Bajaj Boxer has been discontinued in India, it is still a popular choice in international markets such as Africa. Boxer happens to be largest selling single brand in Africa. Next in the list is TVS Star City with exports of 37,403 units in November 2019. The bike has registered impressive gains of 46.08%, as against 25,604 units exported in November last year. At number three is Bajaj Pulsar, a popular choice in both domestic and overseas markets. A total of 25,296 Pulsar motorcycles were exported in November 2019, registering YoY growth of 31.16%. Exports in November last year stood at 19,287 units. At number four is Bajaj CT with exports of 21,708 units. This translates into YoY growth of 36.50%, as against 15,903 units exported in November last year. Bajaj Discover takes the fifth place with exports of 14,208 units in November 2019. Unlike other Bajaj bikes, Discover has registered de-growth of -3.27%. Exports in same period last year stood at 14,689 units. Other two-wheelers in the top 10 list include Yamaha FZ that has registered massive YoY growth of 137.99%. Exports are up 5,191 units, from 3,762 units in November 2018 to 8,953 in November 2019. Honda Dio takes seventh place with exports of 8,818 units whereas TVS Apache comes in at eight place with 6,245 units. TVS Apache is the second two-wheeler in the list with negative YoY growth (-26.35%). At ninth place, Yamaha Saluto has made extraordinary gains of 3384.62%. Total exports are up 5,280 units, from 156 to 5,436 units. At tenth place is TVS Sport with exports of 5,377 units. Exports have more than doubled in comparison to 2,668 units exported in November last year. There are several other two-wheelers that have registered significant gains, but the one that stands out is RE 650 Twins. These have recorded an astounding 16325.00% rise in exports, up from just 8 units in November last year to 1,314 units in November 2019. First showcased in Brazil last year, new BMW G 310 R has been spied on test for the first time in India. Spy video was captured by the folks at Motorcykle.in. Testing without any camouflage, test mule of BMW G 310 R is seen wearing Strato Blue Metallic paint. Other two colour schemes on offer are Pearl White Metallic and Cosmic Black (displayed at Auto Expo 2016). A global motorcycle from BMW, the G 310 R will be manufactured in India by TVS Motor Company as part of a JV signed 3 years ago. India-made BMW G 310 R will not only cater to the domestic demand, but also of that in Europe and South East Asia. Power to the BMW G 310 R comes from a newly developed 313 cc single cylinder liquid cooled engine. It delivers a peak power of 34 hp and max torque of 28 Nm via a six-speed transmission. Weighing just 158.5 kgs (kerb weight), mileage claimed is 36.05 kmpl while top speed is 144 kmph. Highlights include ABS standard, upside down front forks, mono-shock rear suspension, 300 mm front disc brake, 240 mm rear disc brake, 110/70 R 17 front tyre, 150/60 R 17 rear tyre, digital instrument console, etc. Expected to be priced in the range of INR 3 lakh, BMW G 310 R will compete with the likes of KTM Duke 390 and Mahindra Mojo. Based on the G 310 R, TVS will launch a fully faired motorcycle which was showcased as Akula 310 concept earlier this year. Our source tells us that it will be called Apache RTR 300 upon launch, and will be look like the render above. Launch of adventure variant based on the G 310 R (rumoured F310GS) is also confirmed. The quality of air in Delhi-NCR seems to be getting worse by the day. Having now touched 6 level Air Quality Index (AQI), the situation could soon get completely out of hand if action is not taken immediately. It is for this reason that the Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) has ordered that all private cars will be stopped from plying in Delhi if air pollution levels do not improve. Bhure Lal, Chairman of EPCA has confirmed that should this situation continue at these levels, it will only be public transport system that will operate while all private vehicles will be ordered off the roads. Burning of farm lands in neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, use of older and more polluting vehicles and unfavourable weather conditions with low speed winds which have failed to disperse pollutants, have all contributed to this alarming situation. A total of 17 areas on the national capital have been declared with severe air quality. The cities AQI increased from 366 points on Sunday to 367 points on Monday and now stand at 398 points. Areas such as Ghaziabad are the worst with API at 444 points while in Gurugram it stands at 422 points and Noida at 410 points. Data released by Central Pollution Control Board for air quality to be declared as severe, PM2.5 should be between 250-300 or PM10 should be between 450-500. The optimum levels of AQI should ideally be at 0-15 which is considered good, 51-100 is said to be satisfactory while 101-200 is marked as moderate. 200-300 is poor while 301 and beyond is considered very poor to severe. This alarming situation is likely to escalate even further. A senior scientist at IITM, Pune has revealed satellite images of North India showing a large number of biomass fire spots in Delhi while weather experts also state that pollution in the region could escalate as western disturbances could hit the Himalayan region from October 31st onwards. Health experts have warned persons of any excessive physical activity till the situation comes under control while doctors advise persons against going outdoors as air pollutants could lead to eye irritation and breathlessness. Kanyakumari: Raking up the AgustaWestland issue, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday attacked Congress for a string of scams during its rule and accused it of "making money" in the VVIP chopper deal as he urged the people of Tamil Nadu to vote BJP to power to usher in development. "There was corruption in coal (block allocation), in 2G and 3G. In 2G and 3G scams, big people are present here in Tamil Nadu who indulged in so much corruption. The entire country knows about it. Read: VVIP chopper middleman ready to visit India, willing to speak truth "Nowadays you see on television channels and newspapers, they took money even for purchase of helicopters as well. We are not saying this, a court in Italy is saying this," Modi said without naming Congress or its leaders while addressing an election rally here. Noting that his government has taken steps, one after the other, to end corruption, Modi said, "not a single charge of corruption" has been levelled against his dispensation in Delhi which was about to complete two years in office. Maintaining that corruption used to take place in interviews for Central government jobs, Modi said the NDA dispensation decided to do away with interviews for Class III and IV posts, which are now being filled on the basis of written tests alone. Read: Politics of compromise between UDF and LDF in Kerala: Modi "How does corruption take place. In our country, if youths want employment, they apply to the government, take examinations, then interview call comes. When it comes, he searches if there is someone known to him or if he can give some money to somebody to get the job. "Father sells off his land, mother sells off her jewellery so that the son clears the interview and lands a job. If interview happens, then there will be corruption isn't it? So the central government decided that class III and class IV, jobs will be given on the basis of results of the written examinations. We did away with interviews and corruption went away," he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi with BJP candidates waves at crowd at an election campaign rally in Kasaragod. He was in Kerala before he flew to Tamil Nadu to campaign for his party. (Photo: PTI) "I am working for development and I want to do development work in Tamil Nadu as well. To build the future of youths of the state, I urge you to come out of sometime this (party) sometime that (party) which is going on. Give a chance to BJP. We assure you, we will change your fate," Modi said. "I have come to you today and this large gathering is proof....I see the victory of BJP. We will get your blessings, I can see it clearly. Vote for development, vote to change the fate of Tamil Nadu and vote to secure the lives of youths of the state," he said. Kasaragod: The politics of "compromise and contract" between the UDF and the LDF has so far ruled Kerala whose educated electorate have been "insulted" by the two sides, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday. "A new model of politics has come up in Kerala. It is an adjustment politics, politics of compromise, politics of corruption and politics of contract to save each other," he said at an election meeting in Kasaragod, Kerala. "It is a contract rule between UDF and LDF. For five years you rule and for another five years we will rule". This is how the two Fronts have been returning to power in the state, Modi said attacking the two Fronts in the state. Read: Kerala polls: A triangular contest in the offing in Thiruvananthapuram Embarking on his second leg of electioneering for the May 16 assembly polls in Kerala, Modi took a swipe at the tie-up between Congress and CPI(M) in West Bengal and said both these parties were "insulting" the educated people of Kerala and they should understand the adjustment politics of the two parties. He also attacked the CPI(M)'s "politics of violence" and said the Marxist party led Left Democratic Front's Chief Ministerial candidate was an accused in a case relating to the murder of BJP worker at Thalassery years ago. "Congress leaders in Kerala talk about the violence unleashed by CPI(M) cadres in the state, but when they go to West Bengal, they say only Communists can save West Bengal", he said. "I want to ask the educated people of the state if they would trust the parties who speak two languages in two places at one time", Modi asked. Read: Kerala assembly polls: BJP's agenda is to weaken Congress, says A K Antony "This election is not about who will form the government in Kerala, but who will save Kerala and who will give jobs to Kerala's youths and secure their future", Modi said. Seeking votes for BJP-NDA candidates, Modi highlighted the various development and welfare schemes launched by NDA government in the last two years in office. "Government in Delhi is working out steps to help arecanut and coconut farmers and we are aware of the crisis faced by them", he said. The Prime Minister also mentioned about the benefits of Agriculture Crop Insurance and Mudra Yojana introduced by the NDA government. "We have a dream. By 2022, when the India celebrates its 75th anniversary of independence, we want to double the income of farmers in the country", Modi said amidst cheers from the huge crowd. Attacking the CPI(M), Modi said Kerala has been "destroyed by politics of violence" as he mentioned the murder of a BJP activist years ago in Thalassery in Kannur district. "One among those who killed him (BJP worker) is now the Chief Ministerial candidate of CPI(M) in Kerala. Will Kerala's future be safe in the hands of these people," Modi asked. "I want to tell the media in Delhi, in Kerala, which is known as God's Own Country, these innocent people have been killed and people of country were not aware of it", he said, adding that people who were sitting with "eyes closed" should be aware of the politics of violence in this part of the country. At the meeting, the Prime Minister also introduced to the crowd a victim of alleged CPI(M) violence, Sadananda Master whose legs were chopped off. "He did not make any mistake, his only mistake was attackers did not agree with the victim's ideology", he said. Read: BJP questions Rahul Gandhi's silence on rape-murder of Dalit girl in Kerala Referring to the recent brutal rape and murder of a dalit law student at Perumbavoor and evacuation of thousands of Indians including Keralite nurses from strife-torn areas abroad, Modi said the Centre always feels pain if something untoward incidents happens in Kerala. The Prime Minister said when 102 persons had been killed a few years ago in a stampede at the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala, "none came. No question of Prime Minister coming" at that time. "But within hours of the Puttingal temple tragedy in Kollam recently, where 109 persons had lost their lives, the Prime Minister of the country was here within hours to take stock of the situation," he said. "If we have to secure Kerala's future, then corruption should be weeded out, politics of development instead of politics of violence should be embraced and the BJP should be given a chance", he said and recalled the contributions of Adi Sankara, Sri Narayana Guru, Chattambi Swamigal and Ayyankali towards the social, cultural and educational fields of the state. There was a loud applause from the crowd when the Prime Minister began his speech in Malayalam. Millennial Moms Review: 2022 Acura MDX is pretty close to the perfect family car I dont know if perfect is attainable, especially considering weve got the world of options when it comes to modern vehicles. Were spoiled and, as such, we have very specific needs and wants. Driving-wise, the 2022 Acura MDX is one of my favourite ... By SA Commercial Prop News Ailing property firm Pinnacle Point, a company in which union workers invested over R200m, has been liquidated following an order granted in favour of one of its shareholders Cape Point Vineyard. Sybrand van der Spuy, the owner of Cape Point Vineyard, said Pinnacle Point had been liquidated late last week. He said the next step would be to initiate a section 417/418 inquiry, which would investigate how Pinnacle Point monies were expanded and how the company got to a financially appalling mode. Yes Pinnacle Point has been liquidated. A liquidator has been appointed already. I am seeing the liquidators later this week. We will be asking for a section 417/418 inquiry, Van Der Spuy said. Van Der Spuys company Cape Point Vineyard owns 80m shares or just under 1% of the Pinnacle Point Group. Cape Point Vineyard won a business rescue in July, appointing Mike Lane as a practitioner. But because of issues and allegations of some who failed to support the business rescue, the circumstances pushed Cape Point Vineyard to convert its business rescue application into a final liquidation. Initially Van Der Spuy felt there were prospects to rescue Pinnacle Point and potentially help recover millions of rands of workers money invested in the ailing company. About R260m of Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (SACTWU) monies were invested in Pinnacle Point Group (PPG). Referring to the liquidation Van Der Spuy said two months ago that: Its not a disaster for myself I am losing a bit of money but if you look at the poor pensioner they are losing R260m and the chances of shareholders getting any money back I think its zero ... I have lost R5m. Its one thing for me to lose R5m and other people to lose R260m. Another source confirmed the final liquidation was unopposed, but there were plans to push for a business rescue in spite of the final liquidation. Pinnacle Point has been suspended from the JSE and could be delisted. Mumbai: The Shiv Sena today said it will contest about 20 seats in the Goa Legislative Assembly polls scheduled in 2017, while claiming that the people of the state are "fed up" with the BJP-led Goa government and that the party is the only alternative left in the state. "We have dissolved the executive working committee of the party in Goa and we are in the process of forming a new one. We have decided to contest around 20-22 seats in the Goa Assembly polls. Our work there is going on in full swing," Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, who has been appointed Incharge of Goa, told PTI. He said the party's star campaigner would be Uddhav Thackeray and that the schedule of his rallies would be made in the upcoming days. When asked if the Sena is contesting the polls to plug a hole in the BJP's vote share, Raut said, "People of Goa are fed up with the BJP and the Congress. Therefore, Shiv Sena is the only alternative left." "We are contesting the polls to win, so there is no question of us trying to diminish the BJP's vote share," Raut said. When asked about the electoral issues for Sena, he said there are many, including Goa government's "inability" to control the Russian and Nigerian drug mafia prevalent there. "One of the electoral issues is language. The BJP had promised to give prominence to local languages like Marathi and Konkani. But they have failed to keep their promise," he said. "Also, the promise of closing down casinos has not been kept. Apart from that, unemployment, law and order issues need urgent attention. A staggering 50 per cent of Goa is controlled by Russian and Nigerian drug mafia. But the state government has been unable to stop them. People are completely fed up," Raut said. Out of 40 Assembly seats, the BJP had bagged 21 of the 28 seats it contested in the 2012 elections, polling 35.53 per cent votes. DPWH-Samar I culminates National Womens Month Celebration By DONNA C. DEBUTON April 12, 2016 CALBAYOG CITY This years National Womens Month Celebration dubbed Kapakananni Juana, Isamasa Agenda unites the female employees of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)- Samar First District Engineering Office (SFDEO) as they actively join the culminating activities facilitated by the management at the SFDEO premises on March 31, 2016. In a message delivered by District Engineer Virgilio Eduarte, he conveyed that during the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the department is being dominated by men. But nowadays, some of the DPWH Officials Undersecretaries and Assistant Secretary, are composed of women, promoting women empowerment and recognizing feminine skills and expertise. Assistant District Engineer Alvin Ignacio, in his speech, cited the biblical emergence of a woman who was taken from the rib of a man. A man and a woman is equal. Behind the success of a man is a woman. Equal treatment between men and women is more evident these days thereby releasing women from cultural bondage. ADE Ignacio added. Ms. Ma. Nenita Gomez, Chief Administrative Officer, DPWH-SFDEO, explained that the observance of International Womens Day was attributed to the tragic March 25 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire incident in New York City in the early 20th century that took the lives of 140 working women due to inhumane working conditions and other unfair labor practices leading to concerted protests, rally and demonstrations of women organizations. In the Philippines, this celebration is being observed in cognizance with Republic Act 6949, series of 1990, An Act to Declare March 8 of every year as a Working Special Holiday to be known as National Womens Day. The culmination program gave chance to the Districts Gender and Development (GAD) Focal Person Engr. Roster Andaya and Assistant Focal Person Architect Melissa Ignacio to express their stand on the equal rights and privileges of men and women today. Right after the short program, free medical services, with the participation and assistance of the medical team of the Local Government of Calbayog, like assessment of blood pressure and glucose and anti-pneumonia vaccines, and free beauty wellness services that include facial threading, haircut, foot spa, manicure & pedicure and body massage are made available to the men and women employees of the District Office duly sponsored by the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (PICE) Calbayog Chapter headed by DE Eduarte. Describing industries minister K.T. Rama Rao as a bachcha (novice) in politics, TPCC chief N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Sunday refused to accept his challenge of resigning from his post if TRS nominee Tummala Nageswara Rao wins the Palair bypoll. Mr Rama Rao had said that if Mr Nageswara Rao loses, then he would resign from the TS Cabinet. KTR is a novice. We dont take his challenges seriously. Let KCR issue such a challenge, we will consider it, Mr Reddy said. He said that the TRS government was trying to cover up its failures by resorting to mudslinging against its opponents. Instead of concentrating on development, the TRS government, especially the CM, is focussed on strengthening his party through illegal and unethical means. KCR has become so arrogant that he is not hesitating to target a deceased MLA, Ramreddy Venkatreddy, who served the people of Palair for decades, Mr Reddy said. He added: This is the beginning of the end of TRS misrule in the state. The people of Palair will teach a fitting lesson to TRS by electing Congress candidate Sucharitha Reddy, he said. Mumbai: Facebook-owned WhatsApp is undoubtedly one of the best chatting platforms available currently; with over a billion users, the messaging app has come a long way since it started its journey six years earlier. While the chatting app has added numerous enhancements to its Android and iOS versions over the past few months, word from the rumour mills suggested that the company are currently planning to roll out a standalone desktop application for for Windows and Mac OS users. Several new media reports pointed out that a Twitter account, not affiliated to WhatsApp, posted images indicating that WhatsApp might be working on a standalone version of the app. The existing version of WhatsApp Web, which was introduced last year, is just a mere extension of the application (web client) for replicating the mobile content on a desktop and that too utilising your mobile data. Besides, the fact that the browser always has to be open makes it even more inconvenient. While the leaked images hinted that the company is currently developing the standalone app, nothing has been confirmed by official sources yet. If the app is introduced, it will be advantageous for a lot of professionals who have to spend most of their time sitting in front of a desktop computer. Over the past few days, WhatsApp has been in the news regarding its fate in India due to its incorporation of advanced 256-bit encryption. Read: WhatsApp end-to-end encryption: a boon or bane? The chatting app is currently facing a mixed bag reaction in India, as one section of the crowd is supporting the move and another section is questioning its reliability. Read: Ban WhatsApp in India, petition filed in Supreme Court An RTI activist from Gurgaon, Sudhir Yadav, has filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking a complete ban on the messaging platform WhatsApp. Moreover, the service was temporarily banned in Brazil for 72 hours on the same grounds. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Apple has made a great impact on the India smartphone market over the past few years. (Representational image) Mumbai: Out of the vast range of smartphone vendors operating in India, Apple and Lenovo have emerged as the top two among the lot, according to a report published by an independent analysis firm, Canalys. According to the report, Indias smartphone market grew by 12 per cent on a yearly basis, with 24.4 million units imported in Q1 2016. The top five spots were occupied by Samsung, Intex, Lenovo, and Lava. On the other hand, Microsoft, Blackberry, LG, and Sony were the biggest losers as the market shifted towards low-cost handsets. Over the past 18 months, Indias smart phone market has been rocked by dramatic changes. The rise of online channels, the arrival of new international vendors (particularly from China), the move to LTE and the desire for higher-quality devices have all had a big impact. Indian companies have struggled as incoming vendors have been quicker to address these trends, said Ishan Dutt, Research Analyst at Canalys. Micromax, in particular, has been through tough times, with key executives leaving. Now the company is aiming to revamp its strategy to incorporate an ecosystem of services around payments and content. Micromaxs market share fell by a couple of percentage points to 16.7% in Q1 2016, the report said. Lenovo grew the most, all thanks to its value-for-money handsets. There shipments were up by 64 per cent in the first quarter of 2015. Though eighth on the list, Apple stood second in terms of growth speed among the top 10, with a 56 per cent increase in shipments. Apple is outperforming the overall market in India, and still has great growth potential, said Canalys Mobility Analyst Wilmer Ang. The research indicated that the iPhone has been giving serious competition to Samsung in the premium segment. For devices priced over US$300 (INR20,000), Samsungs market share fell from 66per cent in Q1 2015 to 41 per cent in Q1 2016, while Apple grew its market share from 11 per cent to 29 per cent, the report added. One of the main reasons for Apples rising popularity in India, as cited by the report, is the successive price cuts that the iPhone 5s received, albeit the small screen and outdated hardware. Apples growth run could be short-lived. The 5s success in India has more to do with affordability of a premium brand than a preference for smaller phones, and the move to the more expensive SE will discourage budget buyers. Also, the recent government regulation curbing discounts on smart phones sold by online platforms will affect demand, added Ang. The research and analysis firm also expected that more vendors will partner with financing establishments to boost overall affordability, ensuring growth in this extremely cost-conscious market. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. The interior ministry said the dead included a lieutenant and seven lower ranking policemen (Photo: AP) Cairo: The Islamic State group's Egyptian branch claimed on Sunday a shooting that killed eight policemen south of Cairo, in a statement circulated on social media. Gunmen shot dead eight plain clothed Egyptian policemen in the Helwan district south of Cairo, the interior ministry said Sunday. The policemen were travelling in a minivan when the assailants in a pickup truck blocked their path and sprayed the vehicle with automatic rifle fire, the ministry said. Jihadists, including Islamic State group militants, have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers in attacks, mostly in the Sinai Peninsula and also in and around Cairo. Egyptian criminal gangs have also killed policemen in shoot outs, but the attack bore the hallmarks of jihadists who have waged an insurgency since the military overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. The interior ministry said the dead included a lieutenant and seven lower ranking policemen who were patrolling the area just south of the capital when they were ambushed late at night. Militants had struck before in Helwan, killing a policeman standing guard outside a museum in June 2015. The jihadists, who are based in the sparsely populated Sinai Peninsula bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, have repeatedly tried to make inroads in the capital, where police have had more success in quelling them than in Sinai. They have claimed several attacks in Cairo, including an attempted assassination of the interior minister in late 2013 and the bombing of the Italian consulate in July 2015. More recently militants have conducted hit and run attacks on policemen in Cairo and small scale bombings. They often claim their attacks are in retaliation for a bloody police crackdown on Islamist supporters of Morsi, which has killed hundreds of protesters and imprisoned thousands. They have also targeted foreigners. In October, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for bombing a Russian airliner carrying holidaymakers from a south Sinai resort, killing all 224 people on board. The group said it smuggled explosives concealed in a soda can on to the plane in airport at Sharm El-Sheikh, a popular Red Sea resort in south Sinai. That attack prompted Russia to suspend all flights to Egypt, and has lost the country hundreds of millions of dollars in tourism revenues. The bombing came two months after they abducted a Croatian oil worker near Cairo and beheaded him. Police later tracked down the top Islamic State group operative in Cairo, who was linked to the Croat's murder, and killed him in a shoot out. But efforts to quell the insurgency in Sinai have floundered despite a massive army campaign. In March, Islamic State gunmen killed 15 policemen in an attack on a checkpoint near the El-Arish, the provincial capital of North Sinai. Since pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group, which controls parts of Syria and Iraq, in November 2014, the Sinai branch's attacks have grown more sophisticated. The military says it has killed more than 1,000 militants, occasionally publishing pictures of their bodies. The claims are difficult to verify, with reporters having little access to the north of the peninsula. Rockville, United States: Malcom Winffel's family was not surprised to learn that he died in an effort to help others. "He was always helping people," said his sister, Pilar Winffel, of Columbia. "If a friend of a friend was moving, he would go and help." On Friday, the 45-year-old man was helping a woman in the parking lot of Montgomery Mall when police say he was shot and killed by Eulalio Tordil, 62, of Adelphi. Tordil went on a nearly 24-hour shooting spree Thursday and Friday, authorities say, killing three people and wounding three others. Police say the spree began with a domestic motivation, with Tordil fatally shooting his estranged wife, Gladys Tordil, who had recently obtained a protective order against him. A bystander who tried to intervene was wounded. They say it concluded with two more shooting scenes that were likely the result of botched carjackings. On Saturday, police identified the two victims who died in the apparent botched carjackings. Police say Winffel was shot and killed - and his friend was wounded - as they sought to help a woman Tordil was attempting to carjack at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda. Tordil later drove to a strip mall in Aspen Hill, where police say he fatally shot Claudina Molina, 65, of Silver Spring. At a news conference Saturday night, Montgomery County Assistant Police Chief Russ Hamill said Winffel and his friend, who wasn't identified, were coming to the carjacking victim's aid when they were shot. "Those two men acted selflessly and heroically, most likely saving her life," Hamill said. Hamill said Winffel's friend, who was described Friday as being in grave condition, is "making progress. We remain hopeful he'll survive." Hundreds of people attended a vigil remembering Winffel Saturday evening at Clarksburg High School, where his two children are enrolled. A gofundme page set up to help the family with funeral expenses and the kids' college expenses had received nearly $30,000 in donations as of Saturday evening. In an interview Saturday evening, Pilar Winffel said her brother had gone to the mall for lunch with a friend. Witnesses told her that her brother was shot as the woman under attack by Tordil spotted Winffel in the parking lot and ran toward him for help. Winffel was shot with his arms extended, reaching out to help the woman, Pilar said. She was told Tordil was smiling as he fired the shots. At Saturday's news conference, Hamill said Tordil spoke to investigators a little about the shootings. "I would not describe him as being remorseful," Hamill said. Hamill said a search of Tordil's car uncovered a .40-caliber Glock handgun that was used in Friday's shootings. Hamill said police believe it also was used in Thursday's shooting of Gladys Tordil but that more testing is needed to confirm. Tordil, a federal security officer employed by the Federal Protective Service, was put on administrative duties in March after a protective order was issued against him when his wife said he had threatened to harm her if she left him, The Washington Post reported (http://wapo.st/1WOrwyg). Tordil subjected their children to "intense-military-like discipline," like push-ups and detention in a dark closet, according to the order. The protective service said Tordil's weapon, badge and credentials were taken when he was placed on leave. Tordil also got into trouble in 2008 - a report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development's inspector general says that Tordil entered into a civil settlement and paid HUD nearly $16,000 after he obtained a $27,000 discount on a property through a federal program but failed to live up to the program rules, which required him to live in the property where he received the discount. Hamill said Saturday that Tordil appeared to have purchased the Glock after being subject to the protective order. Tordil is scheduled to make an initial court appearance Monday. The charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. Maryland abolished the death penalty in 2013. All three shooting scenes occurred in public parking lots and in daylight hours, and comparisons to the 2002 D.C. sniper shootings leapt immediately to the minds of area residents. Tordil's arrest took place just steps away from a Michaels craft store that was the first target of snipers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, who left 10 people dead during a three-week killing spree that paralyzed the region with fear. Hamill said Saturday that he also thought immediately of the sniper shootings when he learned the location of the Aspen Hill shooting, but he believes it's just a coincidence. Political gadfly Donald Dewsnup got quite a surprise the other morning when two investigators from the San Francisco district attorneys office showed up at his doorstep, cuffed him and bundled him off to jail for the night. But then Dewsnup isnt your common cut of accused criminal. According to District Attorney George Gascon, cyberactivist Dewsnup committed political corruption. The district attorney alleges that Dewsnup, 49, who is borderline homeless and moves from neighborhood to neighborhood, registered to vote using a false address a move that would allow him to cast a ballot in a supervisorial district in which he didnt live. It also allowed him to infiltrate the influential Telegraph Hill Dwellers neighborhood association to advance his political agenda, Gascon said. Dewsnup was also accused of giving a false address to the California Bureau of Real Estate when he applied for a real estate license. For this, Dewsnup has been charged with three felony counts of filing a false document with a government agency, two felony counts of perjury and two felony counts of false voter registration. He faces up to eight years in prison. Im surprised by the severity of the charges, which seems disproportionate to the conduct alleged, said Dewsnups lawyer, Deputy Public Defender Paul Myslin. According to Dewsnup, his descent into a life of alleged political corruption began in January 2015 when he grew increasingly upset by the Dwellers associations stance against housing developments in the district. Liz Hafalia/The Chronicle I hated their NIMBY attitude, he said. And it wasnt just the Dwellers he went after. Last year, Dewsnup was also part of a pro-development group that attempted an unsuccessful takeover of the local Sierra Club chapter. Dewsnup said he set out on a mission to get inside the Dwellers, which has long been the political stronghold of Supervisor Aaron Peskin, to get inside information on how Peskin operated. The problem was, the Dwellers check all applicants addresses against county voter rolls, and at the time Dewsnup said he didnt have an address. I was sleeping around the Filbert Steps, so I used the address of a vacant home across from where I was sleeping, Dewsnup said. A month later, Dewsnup said he went down to the district attorneys office to lay out the goods on Peskin. A a bit after that, Dewsnup said he was called back to the district attorneys office, where he met with an investigator who showed me a stack of papers and asked if I had signed them. Dewsnup said he had. Then I get a call from the investigators saying we have more papers for you to look at, he recalled. So I went back again. Whatever the case, on the morning of April 5, investigators arrived at Dewsnups real estate office on Montgomery Street, where he also sleeps at night, arrested him and whisked him off to the county jail, where he spent the night and most of the next day until he was released on his own recognizance. District attorneys office spokesman Max Szabo said the investigation was triggered by a call to the district attorneys voter fraud hotline. He was unable to confirm if Dewsnup had also met with investigators about Peskin. Peskin said he knew nothing about Dewsnups arrest until he read about it in The Chronicle. Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. Whatever the case, in announcing Dewsnups arrest, Gascon said in a statement that San Franciscos supervisorial races can be decided by a small number of voters. A healthy democracy benefits from zealous debate, but can be undermined by fraud and deceit. By the way, according to the Department of Elections, Dewsnup did get a vote-by-mail ballot at the Filbert address in 2015 but he never turned it back in, so he never voted. Cosbys law: If Tuesdays unanimous vote before the state Senate Public Safety Committee is any indication, Californias 10-year statute of limitations for charging sexual assault cases will be a thing of the past. Previous attempts to take the time limit off rape cases had fallen flat. But after hearing testimony from several women who have accused comedian Bill Cosby of sexual assaults dating back three decades and from powerhouse attorney Gloria Allred, who represents a number of them the proposed change sailed through with an unusual show of bipartisan support. It was also interesting because liberal senators such as San Franciscos Mark Leno voted against their usual allies, like the Public Defenders Association and the American Civil Liberties Union. I voted for it with some reservations, Leno said. It does raise the question, Where is the balance between the right of the victims and the rights of potentially innocent people who may be accused over something that happened 30 years ago? Rape, however, is a serous crime and then there is the celebrity factor. As the Cosby case gained national attention, it certainly has a lot of states reconsidering their statutes as well, said San Mateo District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. Everyone we talked with predicted the bill will probably sail through both the full Senate and the Assembly in part because its an emotional issue, in part because it is a victims right issue, and in part because no lawmaker wants to appear as being soft on rapists. 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 When it comes to signing up customers, Covered California has been a success. But when it comes to serving customers, the independent public agency now in its third year of helping individuals and small businesses get federally subsidized or free health insurance still has growing pains. While the insurance marketplace works for most enrollees, a single mistake can set off an avalanche of errors that blocks coverage or generates inaccurate tax forms. When customers try to get problems fixed, some say, they get bounced from Covered California to their health insurer and back again. Even when all three parties get on a call together and come up with a solution, the fix doesnt get made or doesnt stay fixed. The Chronicle has learned that Covered California will submit a budget proposal to its board on Monday that includes $2 million for a new ombudsmans office. In April, The Chronicle reported that Covered California lacked an ombudsman or consumer advocate, unlike many other public agencies. For Elin Larson of Redwood City, Covered California worked just fine in 2014, but when 2015 rolled around, she discovered that the subsidy she had been getting on her Kaiser Permanente policy had disappeared, even though her income and household size had not changed. I was on the phone with Kaiser and Covered California for almost three hours every week. It was like a little part-time job, Larson said. I almost got to the end of my rope on a couple occasions. I was crying. 2 million calls The office of state Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, helped get her subsidy reinstated in March 2015. But when she got Form 1095-A a tax document showing her coverage, premiums and subsidies for 2015 it said she had insurance for only one month last year instead of 12. That started a new odyssey. I think I have post-traumatic stress disorder from all this, she said. Covered Californias customer service department has handled nearly 2 million calls in the past six months, said Peter Lee, the agencys executive director. Of those, over 97 percent were handled and resolved without being escalated, he said. But when you are dealing with big numbers, even a very small percent can be a lot of people. Connor Radnovich/The Chronicle Complaints regarding policies sold through Covered California more than tripled from 716 in 2014 to 2,273 in 2015, according to new data from the state Department of Managed Heath Care, which regulates almost all private insurers that sell through the exchange. It received an additional 600 complaints over those two years, including eligibility and tax questions, that fell outside its jurisdiction and were forwarded to the insurers or Covered California. California was the first state to start setting up its own exchange under the Affordable Care Act. Since its inception, Covered California has helped about 2.5 million people get health insurance from private insurers for at least one month about 90 percent of them with premium subsidies, Lee said. It currently has about 1.3 million people enrolled and has been credited with keeping premium increases lower than many other states. Serious issues Nevertheless, in mid-August, the Health Consumer Alliance, a consortium of legal aid groups, wrote a letter to Covered Californias governing board detailing serious issues faced by Covered California enrollees. It cited the systems inability to manually override computer problems and its refusal to correct erroneous 1095-A tax forms. Although Covered California resolved a backlog of complaints outlined in the letter, problems persist, said Jen Flory, senior attorney with the Western Center on Law and Poverty, a member of the alliance. Ed and Mabel Minamoto of Alameda spent 13 months and racked up $2,314 in accounting fees trying to get Covered California to fix a mistake on a 1095-A form. This is the form the federal and state marketplaces send to customers and the Internal Revenue Service showing which members of a household had coverage each month, the premium paid and the federal subsidy received. Mabel tried to sign up for Covered California in early 2014, but her application was never approved. In March of that year, she became eligible for insurance through her husbands job, and withdrew the application. But in February 2015, Mabel got a 1095-A from Covered California showing she had received $4,730 in premium subsidies in 2014, when in fact she had received none. The Minamotos tried unsuccessfully to get a corrected form. Every time they called Covered California, the right hand could not see what the left hand was doing, Mabel said. Connor Radnovich/The Chronicle Tax court Because of the error, the IRS demanded the Minamotos pay $4,730 or file for a tax court appearance. They chose the latter, and paid a $60 filing fee. Although Covered California never issued a corrected 1095-A, the IRS finally agreed this March that the Minamotos owed no tax. Hill calls this level of customer service shameful and embarrassing. The Legislature set up Covered California as an independent public entity within state government but has limited oversight. It is governed by a five-member board: two are appointed by the governor, two by the Legislature. The fifth is the secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, currently Diana Dooley, who declined to comment for this article. The Legislature oversees most state agencies during the budget process. Thats when they plead their case and we can get changes that are necessary, Hill said. But because Covered California gets most of its funding from the federal government, its not clear what lawmakers can do to remedy its customer service problems. Transition points Consumer advocates say many problems stem from the software system used to sign people up and route them to Covered California or Medi-Cal, depending on their income. Attorney Flory said the system was built too quickly and cant deal with out of the box issues. Covered California continues to upgrade the system, but its like building a plane while flying, she said. Agency director Lee said the information technology system is big and complex, but the service problems are not the IT systems fault. Based on interviews with more than a dozen customers it appears that many glitches crop up at transition points when one person in a household switches between Covered California and private insurance, Medi-Cal or Medicare. When George Carewes wife turned 65 in January and went on Medicare, he took her off their Kaiser Covered California policy. Carewe, 63, of San Anselmo, received a letter from Kaiser acknowledging the change. He paid his own premiums for January and February, but when he tried to refill his epilepsy drug, was told he no longer had coverage. After a lengthy process, Kaiser reinstated him but refuses to reimburse him for the two months Carewe paid for but did not have insurance. Connor Radnovich/The Chronicle Berkeley resident Cliff Prices descent into what he calls a Byzantine labyrinth of catch-22s started in August when he dropped his 23-year-old daughter from Covered California after she got a job that provided her with insurance. He maintained coverage for himself, his wife and five other dependent children. But when Price got his 1095-A for 2015, they show us as having dropped the entire family from coverage in August, he said. Price is a certified financial planner who handles employee benefits. Nevertheless, he has been unable to get corrected 1095-A forms since February, and had to file for an extension to complete his tax returns. Price said he feels stuck in one of the nine circles of hell, but not limbo, the circle where people dont suffer. Im suffering, he said. When Holly and Ron Vetter notified Covered California a year ago that Ron would be switching to Medicare, they said we dont know how to do that, Ron said. After numerous phone calls, the Eureka couple got someone to drop Ron while erroneously yet briefly moving Holly to Medi-Cal. Incorrect tax forms In August, they learned that Rons coverage had accidentally been canceled effective April instead of June, making it look for tax purposes like he had no insurance for two months. Five incorrect 1095-A forms later, the problem still hasnt been corrected. Holly Vetter said trying to get out of Covered California is like checking out from Hotel California of the Eagles song. You can never leave, she said. Problems also crop up in mixed households, in which some members are in Covered California and others in Medi-Cal, the states version of Medicaid. When Robert Bell of San Francisco tried to renew coverage with Anthem for 2016, he went to the Covered California website. The only information I changed was my income, he said, but that inexplicably made it look like he was not filing taxes. That somehow threw Bell and his wife, Pascale Leroy, into Medi-Cal, even though they were not eligible. Their 14-year-old daughter, however, has been on Medi-Cal since 2014. When he tried to make a payment for January to Anthem, it was rejected. Covered California told him it was because Medi-Cal has a block on your file. But when he called Medi-Cal, he was told, We cant put a hold on your Medi-Cal application because you and your wife have never been covered by Medi-Cal, Bell said. At some point in every conversation they say, These mixed households can be a real problem. Because of the Medi-Cal mess, he and his wife have yet to get coverage from Anthem this year. No playbook Covered California board member Paul Frearer said complaints sometimes reach the board, but that We are not an operating board. We provide oversight. ... We dont have a direct connection with customers. A big problem, he said, is technology. We have 50 to 100 projects in the queue, but the completion dates are in August, September, not today. In the meantime, all these people on the phones are trying to figure out solutions. Frearer said theres no playbook for service agents, and conceded that they are probably making mistakes. Amy Adams, a senior program officer for the nonprofit California HealthCare Foundation in Oakland, said Covered Californias problems may be complex and stem from many sources, but they need to be fixed. The question is, who is going to step up and address this problem head on, make it a priority and figure out how all the different organizations can work together in the consumers best interest? she said. Everyone is trying and has the same intent, which is to get people covered and keep them covered. But there needs to be clarity and clear action. Kathleen Pender and Victoria Colliver are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: kpender@sfchronicle.com, vcolliver@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @kathpender, @vcolliver What happens when you mix health care and taxes the two most complicated systems in the nation? When things go wrong, you can end up with something exponentially more complex. When JoAnne Nagler of Burlingame signed up for health insurance through Covered California early last year, she had no idea that an apparent $1,539 billing mistake would take her down a rabbit hole of paperwork, phone calls, appeals and erroneous tax forms that would consume more than 50 hours of her life and prevent her from filing her 2015 tax return on time. Nagler and her husband are not the first to run into tax troubles involving Covered California, the states health insurance exchange, set up under the 2010 Affordable Care Act. In late February, tens of thousands of Blue Shield and Kaiser Permanente customers who enrolled through Covered California received erroneous tax forms saying they did not have health insurance last year when they actually did. That problem was resolved fairly quickly with the issuance of new forms. Naglers wasnt. Because Covered California is an independent public entity within state government, when consumers have trouble, its hard to know where to turn. Unlike many other government agencies, Covered California has no consumer advocate or ombudsman. No accountability Nagler, who goes by JoAnneh, and her husband, Mike, are supporters of the Affordable Care Act, and we believe in what Covered California has set out to do, she said. Its the delivery system thats a mess. Theres no accountability, theres no follow-through, and theres no one to get the answers from as a consumer. Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle Covered California spokesman Dana Howard said, We are tenaciously working on a satisfactory resolution for the customer; however, this is an atypical case with complexities that have required more time than we would like to see. To understand Naglers odyssey, its important to know a few things about Obamacare. People who buy individual health insurance through a government marketplace such as Covered California can get premium subsidies if their income is less than 400 percent of the federal poverty level for their household size. The lower their income, the bigger the subsidy. (For 2016 income limits, see http://bit.ly/23sTViH.) The subsidy for each year is based on that years adjusted gross income, which many people especially the self- employed dont know for certain until the year is over and they do their taxes. Most other government subsidies are based on the prior years income. If you qualify for a subsidy, you can have it applied against your monthly premium. This is called the advanced premium tax credit, or APTC. When you do your taxes for the year, you figure out how much tax credit you should have received, based on your actual income, and compare it with how much you actually got each month. If you received too much, you pay back the difference with your tax return. If you received too little, you get the difference refunded on your return. Options for paying If you dont want to run the risk of having to pay back money, you can pay your full insurance premium each month and get your entire subsidy when you file your return. But most people choose the advanced credit. In February 2015, Nagler applied for a Kaiser policy through Covered California, after consulting with the San Mateo County Health System, which is listed as a certified enroller on Covered Californias website. The enroller told Nagler that she was eligible for a $171 monthly premium subsidy, based on her 2013 income. She hadnt done her 2014 taxes yet, and 2015 was just starting, so she knew her subsidy could change. She is a self-employed author and yoga teacher, and her income fluctuates. She said the enroller told her that if she checked a box on the application, Covered California would verify her household income when she filed her 2014 tax return and adjust her tax credit if necessary. She was not told that if her income exceeded a certain limit ($62,920 for a two-person household in 2015), she would get no subsidy at all. So Nagler enrolled in Kaiser starting March 2015, opting for the credit in advance. Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle In October, we got a letter from Covered California that said we hadnt filed our 2014 taxes, when of course we had, she said. When Nagler called back and reported that her actual income for 2014 was just over $70,000, they told us that we were not eligible for a stipend and that we owed all the money back. Thats $171 for nine months, or $1,539. When we asked how to pay it back, Covered California said that Kaiser would bill us within the month, she said. Sure enough, Nagler got a notice from Kaiser saying she owed $1,539 in subsidy adjustments, and her full premium of $863 for December. She paid the $1,539 by check on Nov. 4. Heres where things started to go awry. Wrong information Despite what Covered California told Nagler, Howard said Kaiser never should have billed her for the credit. Instead, Nagler should have repaid it with her 2015 tax return. But Nagler wasnt told that. In mid-January, Nagler got Form 1095-A. This form is issued by marketplaces to customers and the IRS. It shows how much the household paid for insurance each month and its monthly premium subsidy. Taxpayers use it to fill out their tax return. The form showed that the Naglers had gotten a $171 tax credit from March through December, even though they had repaid the credit for March through November and got no subsidy for December. When we called Covered California, no service staff could confirm that we had paid the money back, she said. Kaiser could verify that the check for $1,539 was posted on Nov. 10, but they could not verify that Covered California had received the information that we had paid. Nagler said she made at least five phone calls to Covered California, including two with Kaiser representatives conferenced in. At least one call lasted for more than two hours, she said. When looking in our file, the people at Covered California could see there was a notation in our account on a certain date, but they couldnt tell what the notation was about. Then we tried the dispute process. We filed two disputes online with Covered California (on Jan. 23 and Feb. 12) but got no response to either, she said. On Feb. 25, Nagler filed an appeal with the California Department of Social Services. This department does not govern Covered California it is a contracted appeals entity, Howard said. When appeals are submitted, DSS sorts the paperwork and then forwards the cases to Covered California staff who perform the analysis of the appeals and work towards an informal resolution, he said. Consumers can use the appeals process to request an eligibility hearing before an administrative law judge. However, Nagler was not disputing her eligibility. Her request for an appeal of her 1095-A was rejected, because the appeals process does not cover incorrect 1095-A forms. Vendors errors Making matters worse, on March 22, the Naglers received another 1095-A, which was identical to the first except that a box marked void was checked. Howard said this second 1095-A was sent to the Naglers in error by the same unidentified vendor that sent the erroneous 1095-A forms to the tens of thousands of Kaiser and Blue Shield customers. However, Howard said Naglers incorrect form was not part of that snafu, which I wrote about last month. Nagler first contacted me on March 29 after reading that column. I forwarded her complaint to Covered California the same day. Although Covered California responded to me, it did not respond to Nagler until two weeks later. Weve had our taxes ready for two months and cant file them. Our accountant says its absolutely a bad idea to file with the erroneous 1095-A, Nagler said. At this juncture were pulling our hair out. Kaiser would not discuss Naglers case, other than to say, Sometimes one or both of our organizations makes a mistake, and when that happens, we are committed to resolving the matter to our members satisfaction and then working to make sure the error doesnt happen again. Not resolved yet Finally, on Wednesday, Nagler got a call from two Covered California reps. They said they would have Kaiser refund her tax credits she paid, so she could properly pay them when she filed her 2015 tax return. Nagler has decided to file for an extension. I am not filing my taxes until I have a check for $1,539 in my hand and a correct 1095-A, she said. Amy Palmer, Covered Californias chief spokeswoman, acknowledged, This is not acceptable for a consumer who tried to do everything right. Kathleen Pender is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: kpender@sfchronicle.com Blog: http://blog.sfgate.com/pender Twitter: @kathpender A 19-year-old man has been arrested and booked on suspicion of murder in the stabbing death of Marla Zamora, a former San Francisco public defender, a sheriffs official said Saturday. Angelo Zamora was taken into police custody Friday at 11:03 a.m. and is being held at San Francisco General Hospital under the custody of the San Francisco Sheriffs Department, said Eileen Hirst, a sheriffs spokeswoman. Neighbors said they believed Angelo Zamora is related to Marla Zamora and had been living with her. In case anyone had forgotten Mothers Day, two new movies are here as reminders: Mothers and Daughters, with Susan Sarandon, Courteney Cox and Sharon Stone, et al; and Mothers Day, with Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson and Julia Roberts, et al. You dont have to say which one you love more. Theyll know. But presumably the hefty sizes of the ensembles will lead to a whole lot of different kinds of moms being portrayed. And thats progress. There used to be June Cleavers and Carol Bradys and little else the always-graceful, never bitter, cheerful types. Thats nice, but dramatically? Not very interesting. That is, until June Cleaver (Barbara Billingsley) suddenly starts speaking jive on a plane. See Billingsley speaking jive, fool: https://youtu.be/g0j2dVuhr6s?t=58 Here are a few memorable big- and small-screen moms of more colorful stripes. Maybe yours is among them. Maybe you are among them. Moms of the year (Not in order of preference) 1. Margaret Anderson, Father Knows Best (1954-63), and Amanda Grayson, Star Trek (1966-69) (Jane Wyatt): Mrs. Anderson definitely fits the June Cleaver mold, but Wyatt gets points for combining that role with the mother of Spock/wife of Sarek. And some of you fret that your spouse is emotionally unavailable were talking Sarek here. By the way, heres betting most of you didnt know Mrs. Sareks name. Those who did: You are officially nerds. Live long and prosper. Suzanne Tenner/ST 2. Marge Simpson (Julie Kavner), The Simpsons (1989-present): Shes a spin on June Cleaver, but she gets major extra points because she has to put up with Bart and Homer. To do that and stay sane means she is strong like bull. She grounds a crazy family, has an eternal infant to take care of (and baby Maggie, besides husband Homer) and still has jaunts as a nuclear technician and policewoman, among others. Kavner has won many awards in the role. 3. Aurora Greenway (Shirley MacLaine), Terms of Endearment (1983): She embodies the quirky, over-caring, over-sharing (overbearing?) mom who fiercely loves her kid through this life and the next. Two scenes paint the picture: the opening, in which she worries that her infant daughter is dead in the crib until she wakes the girl to screaming; and the famous Give her the shot! barrage, when her cancer-stricken adult daughter is suffering in the hospital and Aurora harangues the nurses into tending to her. Its a wonderful, multilayered performance by MacLaine and worthy of the Oscar she won for it. See her get her daughter the shot at https://youtu.be/A1AIroyiLEM 4. Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham), Gilmore Girls (2000-07): Shes the best-friend mom even more than most, due to her closeness in age to daughter Rory. Her mistakes were painfully on display, but came from the heart. Lorelai was perhaps a bit stunted in her own growth, but warts and all, a warm and loving parent. 5. Dr. Nicole Nic Allgood and Jules Allgood (Annette Bening and Julianne Moore), The Kids Are All Right (2010): Theyre from the subcategory of groovy, progressive moms. This sort has it pretty good in movies theyre often portrayed as multidimensional people with issues of their own but who really care about their kids. These include the moms from Juno, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Little Miss Sunshine and Easy A, and Elyse Keaton (Meredith Baxter) of TVs Family Ties. To view a trailer, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdDSqgZ87fM 6. Rebecca Morgan (Cicely Tyson), Sounder (1972): In context, this was something of a wonder a calm, centered performance in a movie about love and perseverance, released during the raging wave of blaxploitation films in Hollywood. Rebecca (unnamed in the book) holds together a family separated by prison time through Depression-era privations with dignity and grace. Tyson earned an Oscar nomination for her grounded portrayal. 7. Stella Dallas/Jody Norris: Two movies Stella Dallas (1937), starring Barbara Stanwyck, and To Each His Own (1946), which won an Oscar for Olivia de Havilland as Jody Norris embody the Giving Tree model, giving till it hurts and beyond. These are more tolerable stories than Mildred Pierce (1945, with Joan Crawford in her Oscar-winning role more on her later), whose maternal love for a disgusting brat is unrequited. In Stella and To Each His Own, both moms give up their kids for noble reasons the ultimate in self-sacrifice. To view a scene from To Each His Own, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1kp8QFskqA 8. Helen Parr/Elastigirl (voiced by Holly Hunter), The Incredibles (2004): Many mothers will relate to the notion of being stretched to ones limits and beyond, like superheroine and supermom Elastigirl. 9. Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke), the Terminator franchise (1984-2015): The bad-ass, take-no-prisoners mom is equipped to handle all threats to her brood, even if it involves buffing up and using heavy weapons. Because of Hamiltons Connor and Sigourney Weavers Ellen Ripley in Aliens (1986), this is now a thing in the movies. To view a trailer of the 1984 film, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ewAw1bRX4E Macall B. Polay/Associated Press 10. Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley), Game of Thrones (HBO, 2011-present) The winner of the GoT moms sweepstakes is the late Mrs. Stark. Sure, theres a Mother of Dragons (Daenerys), one mean mother (Cersei), a couple of manic moms (Selyse and Lysa) and a scheming grande dame (Olenna Tyrell) but Catelyn takes the tiara for her combination of lioness-like loyalty to her brood, unshakable courage and nurturing. Except to that one bastard, of course. She was pretty mean to him. Mothers of invective For the bad mamas, the primary trope is the self-absorbed, icy queen a la Betty Draper (January Jones) of Mad Men or Colleen Donaghy (Elaine Stritch) on 30 Rock. Lucille Bluth (Jessica Walters) of Arrested Development probably takes that cake. But to make this list, characters had to actively perpetrate some pretty serious damage. 1. Kate McCallister (Catherine OHara), Home Alone (1990): What was that quote about the banality of evil? Well, thats perhaps overstated here, but lets get real. Mom and Dad forget theyve left their young son behind until theyre on the plane and do it again in the sequel! Someone call Child Protective Services. 2. Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), The Graduate (1967) No harm, no foul on the seduction-of-the-son-of-family-friends; Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) is of age and can make his own decisions. Its what she does when it becomes clear he and her daughter have fallen in love that lands her on this list she falsely accuses him of rape and later calls the police on him on a false charge of burglary. All this, and standing by as her daughter is railroaded into a marriage with someone she doesnt love. Thanks, Mom! View a scene: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3lKbMB ab18 3. Erica Sayers (Barbara Hershey), Black Swan (2010): The fridge-hearted Sayers in Darren Aronofskys mind-trip ballet is one of the best/worst of the stage moms lot. Hershey should have gotten an Oscar nomination for it. 4. Livia Soprano (Nancy Marchand), The Sopranos (1999-2007): To be fair, she wasnt the only factor leading Tony Soprano to full-on mob life. But she took out the anger embedded in her from a poverty- and disease-stricken childhood on her entire family for her entire life. She belittled and harangued Tony into therapy (Maybe youre just like my mother/ Shes never satisfied, sang the poet). Failing to completely destroy her son emotionally, she conspired to have him whacked. 5. Gillian Darmody (Gretchen Mol), Boardwalk Empire (2010-14): She is a Hall of Famer on the damage-dealing list. The casting of the beautiful and sympathetic Mol in the role was very effective. Gillian came from a rough circumstance, raped and impregnated at only 13. But the mind games and manipulation she put her son, Jimmy, through, culminating in incest not a candidate for Mother of the Year any time soon. 6. Eleanor Iselin (Angela Lansbury), The Manchurian Candidate (1962): The Soviet agent who marries into a powerful American family in order to plant a communist pawn in the White House is also more than a little creepy in her affections toward her brainwashed son (Laurence Harvey). Honestly, Lady Macbeth has nothing on this cold-blooded schemer. Lansbury received an Oscar nomination. See Lansburys cold efficiency at https://youtu.be/LCjBOZ4r9Ck 7. Margaret White (Piper Laurie), Carrie (1976): She is one of a host of scary moms whose lunacy is a key factor in driving their kids to extreme behavior. White gets the nod here over the moms in Sybil (1976) and Psycho (1960), for instance, largely for her lines as shes attempting to stab her daughter to death: You know the devil never dies. Keeps coming back, but ya gotta keep killin im. 8. Pamela Voorhees (Betsy Palmer), Friday the 13th (1980): Is she a great mom or a terrible one? Standing up for her drowned son is one thing chopping up teenagers is another. Its certainly a curious example to set, and isnt setting an example one of the most important aspects of parenting? 9. Joan Crawford (Faye Dunaway), Mommie Dearest (1981): Dunaways insane screen depiction of the offscreen version of one of Hollywoods great stars pretty much sets the standard for bad mommies in film. No! Wire! Hangers! Everrrrr! The infamous scene is viewable at www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOILKHmZBwc 10. And the winner for most horrifying mom in movies is Mary Lee Johnston (MoNique), Precious (2009): MoNiques portrayal of one of the screens great monsters earned her a well-deserved Oscar. The almost unbelievably abusive Johnstons nightmarish presence is so real and visceral, its a truly unforgettable character and performance. Michael Ordona is a Los Angeles freelance writer. Twitter: @michaelordona Mothers Day (rated PG-13 for language and some suggestive material) is now in theaters. www.seemothersday.com/home Menizo was so much into his calculation that he barely noticed his fellow passengers. (Photo: YouTube) Washington: An Italian-origin mathematician was allegedly removed from a US-bound flight after he was mistaken for a terrorist by a fellow passenger. According to a report in The Washington Post, the victim, identified as Guido Menzio, was traveling to Ontario to present a paper in Queens University. The American Airlines flight was enroute to Syracuse from Philadephia. As Menizo boarded the plane, he immediately engrossed himself in solving a mathematical equation. Menizo was so much into his calculation that he barely noticed his fellow passengers. The passenger seated next to him tried to strike a conversation with him by asking him if he was a resident of Syracuse. Menizo replied with just a simple no and carried on with his equations. Surprised by Menizos ignorant behaviour, the passenger called a flight attendant and passed on a note to him. Soon, the planes take off was suspended for an unspecified period and Menizo was asked to leave the plane. He was interrogated by the officials who soon discovered that the scribbled messages on the paper were not terrorism-related ones but in fact those were mathematical equations. He was then asked to leave without being troubled much. Although Menizo did not sue the airlines for the mess, he demanded an apology for the same. In a similar incident last month, a California university student was taken off a Southwest Airlines flight in Los Angeles after another passenger heard him speaking Arabic. The student said that he was traumatised by the incident and demanded an apology In another incident, a hijab-clad Muslim woman in the US was reportedly removed from a Southwest Airlines plane after she asked for switching seats with a flight attendant saying she "did not feel comfortable" with the passenger. It was a sneak attack on a passenger ship that would, in time, help push the United States into World War I. The Chronicles front page from May 8, 1915, covers the torpedoing of the Lusitania by a German U-boat 11 miles off the coast of Ireland. Nearly 1,200 people died that day. The Cunard liner Lusitania, which sailed out of New York last Saturday with more than 2,000 persons aboard, lies at the bottom of the ocean off the Irish coast, the list of dispatches on The Chronicles front page reads. She was sunk by a German submarine, which sent two torpedoes into her side. One hundred and twenty-eight of the 139 Americans on board the Lusitania were killed, including writer Elbert Hubbard and businessman Alfred Vanderbilt, despite the hopes of the latters wife reported in a story on the page. The U.S. government began debating a declaration of war against Germany, but President Woodrow Wilson wouldnt force the issue despite public opinion beginning to shift. The memory of the Lusitania attack simmered in the U.S. while war raged in Europe. Two years later, after the Germans resumed unrestricted submarine warfare and sent the Zimmermann Telegram, a message to Mexico seeking a partner to invade the U.S., war would be the only answer. Three and a half years after its sinking, the Lusitania would be avenged with an Allied victory. See more front pages: Go to SFChronicle.com/covers to search a database of hundreds of Chronicle Covers articles that showcase the newspaper's history. Chronicle Covers is a project that highlights one classic Chronicle newspaper page from our archive every day for 366 days. Library director Bill Van Niekerken, art director Danielle Mollette-Parks, producer Michelle Devera and editorial assistant Jillian Sullivan contributed to the project. Tim ORourke is the executive producer and editor of SFChronicle.com. Email: torourke@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TimothyORourke (Click to enlarge) The Commission on Judicial Performance is a little-known agency that has one of the most important jobs in California to protect the public by investigating complaints against judges and disciplining misconduct. The commission is effectively responsible for maintaining the integrity of Californias courts. Such an important watchdog should be transparent about its operations and should have enough teeth to deter misconduct. But its practices and discipline statistics indicate that it does neither. The panel recently released its 2015 Annual Report revealing that it publicly disciplined just four judges out of the 1,231 complaints it reviewed. An additional 37 of these complaints resulted in a private advisory letter or private admonishment, wherein the name of the judge was withheld from the public and only a brief description of the misconduct was provided in the annual report. The commission withheld all information about the 1,190 complaints it dismissed without discipline, 90 percent of which were dismissed without an inquiry or investigation. Court Reform LLC, a San Francisco Bay Area advocacy firm, compared the discipline rates of the commissions of California, Texas, New York and Arizona over the past 10 years and the results are troubling. Arizonas overall discipline rate was four times higher than Californias and its public discipline rate was five times higher. Texas investigated three times as many complaints, publicly disciplined three times as many judges, and removed six times as many judges. New York had more than 10 times as many complaints (358) as California (34) result in judges leaving the bench with complaints pending a likely indication that New Yorks judges know their watchdog has teeth, while Californias watchdog may be asleep. The Commission on Judicial Performance is as secretive about its operations as the CIA. In response to a public records request from First Amendment Coalition, a nonprofit that has greatly improved Californians access to government records, the panel refused to disclose complaints or even the number of complaints filed by judge or by county. Its practices also prevent the public from being an informed electorate, its foremost duty. California has the lowest opposition rate in the country for judicial elections, at just 8 percent. In comparison, New Yorks opposition rate is over 80 percent. The commission withholds information about misconduct from voters that may impact an election. In doing so, it takes the stance that it must separate true from false and important (public disciplines) from unimportant (private disciplines) because the public cannot be trusted to make such determinations for itself. As Judge Damon Keith of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeal opined, When government begins closing its doors, it selectively controls information rightfully belonging to the people. Selective information is misinformation. The framers of the First Amendment did not trust any government to separate the true from the false for us. They protected the people against secret government. The Commission on Judicial Performance is precisely the kind of secret government that Keith condemned. The commissions mandate is to protect the public, but its policies are contrary to that mandate. The lifelong impact of legal rulings and the effect of case law on the public are too important to risk a sleeping watchdog over the largest court system in the country. The commission should serve its public by eliminating its practices of secrecy. Joe Sweeney is the founder of Court Reform LLC, a Bay Area advocacy firm. Tamir Sukkary is an adjunct professor of political science at American River College, San Joaquin Delta College and Sierra College. History of dirty campaigns The 2016 presidential campaign is shaping up to be a nasty one. Its nothing new American presidential campaigns have a long history of cheap shots. A sampling: Swift-boating John Kerry (2004): A group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ran a series of TV ads against Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry, seeking to discredit his Vietnam War record as a decorated Swift boat captain. They succeeded so well that aside from helping to defeat Kerry, the term swift-boating entered the political lexicon as a synonym for smear campaigns. The attacks were later discredited. The Willie Horton ad (1988): An outside group supporting Republican George H.W. Bushs 1988 candidacy produced an ad to show that Democrat Michael Dukakis was soft on crime because he supported a prison weekend furlough program. The ad prominently featured the prison mug shot of African American inmate Willie Horton, a convicted murderer who raped a white woman and attacked her fiance while on furlough. Dukakis, who watched his onetime 17-point lead in the polls evaporate, later said his slow reaction to the ad hurt his campaign. Democratic strategist Jimmy Williams told MSNBC the ad changed the course of the race because it made white Americans, especially white Southerners, raise an eyebrow and think, We cant have a man from Massachusetts releasing quote black criminals all across the country and letting them rape our white women and children. That was the point of that ad. Muskie trolling (1972): In a racially charged era, support for school busing to achieve desegregation was seen as political uranium by Southern and suburban whites. During the Florida primary, Democratic Sen. Edmund Muskie of Maine was hit with several dirty tricks, including posters along highways that said, Help Muskie in Busing More Children Now and flyers stuffed into free shoppers that said, Muskie: Would you accept a black running mate? The dirty tricks were the work of operatives employed by President Richard Nixon, who thought Muskie would be his toughest general election opponent. Muskie never made it out of the primaries, and Nixon crushed the Democratic nominee, Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota, in a landslide. The killer president (1828): Andrew Jackson not only remains the only president known to have killed someone (in a duel), but when he was a general during the War of 1812, he also ordered six men executed for desertion. A printer who supported his opponent, John Quincy Adams, played upon Jacksons rough reputation by distributing a poster showing Jackson with six coffins insinuating that he killed them personally. Joe Garofoli Donald Trump wrapped up his insult-filled presidential primary campaign last week by trying to link Texas Sen. Ted Cruzs father to JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. But that beanball pitch was just the highlight of the presumptive GOP nominees spring training for political attacks. The tone of the general election is not only going to be worse, its going to be nastier on both sides, analysts say. Trump saw that going negative helped eliminate his primary competitors Lyin Ted tainted Cruz, Little Marco helped knock down Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bushs low energy killed the early buzz of his campaign, and 1-for-48 branded Ohio Gov. John Kasich as the loser of losers. So far, most of the attack language has been coming from the New York businessman. But Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton took her own, early shot Wednesday when she released a video montage of Republicans like Rubio, Mitt Romney and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., calling Trump a phony, the most vulgar person ever to aspire to the presidency and a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot. Assuming Clinton outlasts Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and is the Democratic nominee, shes in for her own sobriquet Crooked Hillary. Trumps been test-running his Clinton moniker for weeks. Not only does Crooked Hillary encapsulate concerns primary voters have about her trustworthiness, but it triggers images of the ongoing federal investigation into her use of a private email server for State Department business. The reason this nickname resonates, said Michael Cornfield, a professor of political management at George Washington University, is that rigged may be the word of the year. Trump applied it to the Republican nomination process, and it stuck. A lot of people think the system the economic one and government is not working for them. And thats why Crooked Hillary is good, because she is a creature of those systems. And the language wont be any softer if Sanders, the self-proclaimed democratic socialist, is the Democratic nominee. He wont just be a socialist, Cornfield said. Hell be a communist because he honeymooned in the Soviet Union. (Sanders, then the mayor of Burlington, Vt., made an official visit to the USSR with his wife, Jane, just after their wedding.) So far, voters are sending mixed signals about the negative vibe. An April George Washington University Battleground poll of 1,000 registered voters found that 50 percent of the respondents thought the language used in this campaign was repulsive and has no place in a presidential campaign. However, the same survey found that 54 percent thought that repulsive language had no impact in how they voted so far. Independent and Democratic voters the kind Trump needs to win in November were much more uncomfortable with the rough stuff. So, if polling shows independent voters the people who could swing the election are getting turned off, that could toss cold water on heavy doses of smack talk. Its an open question in social science, said Stanford University political science Professor Shanto Iyengar, who studies the effect of negative campaigning at the schools Political Communication Lab. When campaign negativity becomes relentless, he said, people start to wonder, Why the hell should I vote? The interesting question is what will this do to turnout when you have all this negativity going on. There is considerable discomfort with it, but nobody is going to switch their votes, switch their parties because of it, said Cornfield, who is also co-director of the Peoria Project, which partners with San Franciscos Zignal Labs to analyze how campaign messages are consumed and shared on multiple media platforms. So brace yourself for more mud, because as Cornfield points out, there are still six more months to go before election day. Here are some early predictions on the nastiness coming our way. First, some areas where Clinton could come after Trump. Sex and sexism: Trumps raw-edged remarks during the primary campaign about entertainer Rosie ODonnell and Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly could be only the beginning. Buzzfeed reporters listened to hours of interviews Trump did with radio host Howard Stern from the late 1990s through the 2000s, much of which focused on sex. A person who is very flat-chested is very hard to be a 10, Trump told Stern during a segment where he rated the actresses on the ABC series Desperate Housewives. When describing actress Marcia Cross, he asked Stern, Would you go out with Marcia Cross or would you turn gay, Howard? Trumps opponents didnt tap this trove during the primary, Cornfield said, because they didnt want to risk alienating his supporters. But its sitting there, waiting, and could be particularly valuable in the hands of a female candidate. Instability and inexperience: In the New Hampshire primary, Jeb Bush ran a two-minute TV ad titled Turn Off Trump, where he tried to appeal to the electorates good judgment, saying voters wanted a commander-in-chief that wont say the craziest stuff in the world to create insecurity for us. Clinton has already been reheating this line of attack by describing Trump as a loose cannon ... and loose cannons tend to misfire. Much of the (primary season advertising) attacks on Trump were on his personal style how he peddles in racism, misogyny and mocking individuals, said Travis N. Ridout, a professor of public policy at Washington State University and co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project, which has tracked all political ads aired in the United States since 2010. Next up, Trump could be facing attacks for not addressing issues with any specificity. Theres not a lot of ads going after him about stands hes taken on the issues, Ridout said. Because he hasnt taken a stand on too many issues. Clinton has her own vulnerabilities, besides her immediate email difficulties and a broader perception of many voters that shes not fundamentally honest. Remember when: Bill Clinton is regarded as one of his generations best on-the-stump campaigners and early on was seen as a plus to his wifes campaign. But with Trumps no-topic-is-off-limits style, the former president might become a liability. Voters under 25 already a soft spot for Hillary Clinton are too young to remember the national investigation of Bill Clintons affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky and his subsequent impeachment and acquittal. Trump may fill them in. A few months ago, he tweeted that Bill Clinton demonstrated a penchant for sexism, and that he hoped Bill Clinton starts talking about womens issues so that voters can see what a hypocrite he is. By November, it may be hard for some voters to remember much of anything after slogging through a six-month blizzard of negativity. Analysts and insiders say theres a cost to a general election season dominated by mudslinging. A lot of more complex issues, like Wall Street reform or education or tax policy, might not even be discussed. Oh, yeah, Cornfield said, and you wont be hearing much about that thing called climate change. Joe Garofoli is the San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli Online extra Watch a live-stream video of Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders interview with The Chronicles editorial board at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday: www.facebook.com/sanfranciscochronicle BALTIMORE With the As making pitching moves left and right thanks to Fridays rainout and the expected arrival of Henderson Alvarez later this month, Kendall Gravemans blahs arent ideal for his roster status. Oakland is mixing and matching to find its most effective starters, and Graveman has allowed 16 runs over his past three starts. Sunday, in the As 11-3 loss at Camden Yards, Graveman gave up four of Baltimores six home runs, the most allowed by Oakland since April 19, 1994, at Boston. By the end of the painful affair, catcher Josh Phegley was pitching. The Orioles had 13 at-bats against Graveman and recorded five hits, four of them home runs. That included Pedro Alvarezs blast onto Eutaw Street in the second inning, the first of back-to-back shots. Jonathan Schoop followed with a homer to left. Manny Machado had hit a two-run homer in the first, after Graveman walked leadoff man Joey Rickard, and Mark Trumbo hit a two-run shot in the third after Graveman hit leadoff man Chris Davis. Graveman just seemed like he didnt have it today, As outfielder Josh Reddick said. Youre going to have games like that. Graveman said his sinker isnt sinking as it should. Ive got to get back on top of it, thats what it comes down to, he said. Is his job potentially in jeopardy? Maybe not in the next week and a half, with Jesse Hahn getting sent out Sunday, but Graveman will be in trouble if this slide continues. We have what we have at this point, said manager Bob Melvin, whose starters are a combined 3-10 with a 7.16 ERA over the past 13 games. Gravemans implosion Sunday was particularly galling for a team that jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, getting an RBI single from Reddick (of course), a two-out run-scoring chopper from Danny Valencia and an opposite-field RBI double from Yonder Alonso. Valencia, just two days removed from coming off the disabled list with a hamstring strain, was waved around third on Alonsos double, too, but he was thrown out at the plate. Ryan Dull gave up the Orioles fifth homer, a solo drive to left by Rickard in the fourth. J.B. Wendelken, called up earlier in the day, made his big-league debut, and after allowing a leadoff single to Adam Jones he retired the next three men, striking out catcher Matt Wieters. In the eighth, though, the Orioles loaded the bases against him with no outs before Machado hit a grand slam to left. Phegley, who pitched growing up and threw one inning in college at Indiana, made his major-league debut as a pitcher and struck out All-Star Jones. That was a surprise, Phegley said. I think he kind of got overaggressive. Then he got Trumbo to pop up to end the inning: two batters faced, two outs. That was an adrenaline rush, but its never a good thing when a position player comes in to throw; you dont want to make a huge mockery of things, Phegley said. I definitely have a newfound respect for bullpen guys, sitting three, four hours, then ramping it up to 100 percent and getting big-league hitters out. I was shaking and out of breath for 40 minutes after the game. The sprint out there and back in didnt help, either it was tiring. Phegley said he messes around with cutters and sinkers while playing catch every day with Stephen Vogt; he picked up the cutter from watching Oakland pitchers. The As have dropped 11 of their past 15 games and are 1-6 in May. They fell a season-high four games under .500 at 14-18. Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sslusser@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @susanslusser ELK GROVE, Calif. (KCRA) Thieves broke into two gun stores early Sunday morning and left without any weapons, Elk Grove police said. MTG Firearms, on Franklin Boulevard, and Laguna Guns and Accessories, on Kausen Drive, were targeted around 6 a.m. Police said the thieves backed a vehicle into the front doors of the shops. They did not steal any guns because the stores locked them away in different locations. "They backed in through the front doors and started just running around trying to get into my room that I lock my guns up," Laguna Guns and Accessories Owner Andrew Tonis said. Surveillance video from Laguna Guns and Accessories shows the three burglars searching for the guns, backpacks open but no merchandise to fill them. Two miles down the road, MTG Firearms was hit just minutes later, by who police believe were the same suspects with the same vehicle. "We specialize in law enforcement stuff and to the general public, but we maintain a very high security and that's why they didn't really get anything," MTG Firearms Owner Mike Cecil said. Crime scene investigators gathered evidence including a footprint left on a tinted panel from one of the suspects. Elk grove police said while it's too early to make any connections, they can't help but think of a similar burglary in Rocklin last week, where suspects got away with more than 100 firearms. "We'll look to that agency and other agencies that are working this type of investigation, and see if there's any relation between that and these two," Elk Grove Police Det. Casey Robinson said. It is unclear exactly what was stolen from the Elk Grove gun shops. Any one with information about the burglars or break-ins is urged to call the Elk Grove Police Department at 916-714-5115. This story originally appeared on KCRA.com. The 45-year-old, the son of a Pakistani immigrant bus driver, hailed his victory as a triumph of "unity over division" after weeks of Tory criticism over his past appearances at public events alongside radical Muslims. (Photo: AP) London, United Kingdom: London's new Muslim mayor Sadiq Khan accused Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday of using "Donald Trump playbook" tactics to try to divide communities in a bid to prevent his election. The day after being sworn in with a promise to be "mayor for all Londoners", the Labour lawmaker condemned Cameron's Conservatives for trying to link him to Islamic extremists during the election campaign. "They used fear and innuendo to try to turn different ethnic and religious groups against each other -- something straight out of the Donald Trump playbook," Khan wrote in The Observer newspaper. "Londoners deserved better and I hope it's something the Conservative party will never try to repeat." Khan won 57 per cent of the vote in Thursday's mayoral election, securing 1.3 million votes to see off multimillionaire Tory Zac Goldsmith and making history as the first Muslim mayor of a major Western capital. The 45-year-old, the son of a Pakistani immigrant bus driver, hailed his victory as a triumph of "unity over division" after weeks of Tory criticism over his past appearances at public events alongside radical Muslims. A number of Conservative politicians criticised the tone of the campaign, but Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said the questions raised had been legitimate. Khan had admitted representing some "pretty unsavoury characters" during his previous job as a human rights lawyer but said their views were "abhorrent". "Both candidates were asked questions about their backgrounds, their personalities, their judgment, the people they associate with," Fallon told BBC radio. "That's the nature of our democracy and the rough-and-tumble of politics." Clinton Sends Congratulations Khan broke from convention by taking his oath of office in a multi-faith ceremony at Southwark Cathedral, promising to represent "every single community, and every single part of our city, as mayor for all Londoners". Hillary Clinton, who as the likely Democratic nominee will face presumptive Republican nominee Trump in the race for the US presidency, led international congratulations. "Son of a Pakistani bus driver, champion of workers' rights and human rights, and now Mayor of London. Congrats, @SadiqKhan. -H" she tweeted. Son of a Pakistani bus driver, champion of workers' rights and human rights, and now Mayor of London. Congrats, @SadiqKhan. -H Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) May 7, 2016 New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said he was looking forward to working with his "fellow affordable-housing advocate" while Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo tweeted that Khan's "humanity (and) progressivism will benefit Londoners". In Pakistan, Bilawal Bhutto, leader of the opposition Pakistan People's Party and son of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and rival opposition leader Imran Khan also tweeted their congratulations. Former Conservative minister Sayeeda Warsi, herself a daughter of a Pakistani bus driver, hailed Khan's victory and condemned her party's attacks against him. "Our appalling dog-whistle campaign lost us the election, our reputation and credibility on issues of race and religion," she said. Cameron's former adviser, Steve Hilton, said Goldsmith had brought back the Conservatives' "nasty party label". Labour Losses Elsewhere Khan broke the eight-year hold of the Conservatives on City Hall and succeeds the charismatic Boris Johnson in a prestigious post that has responsibility for transport, housing, policing and promoting economic development. His success is a boost for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran socialist who has been battling a row over anti-Semitism and growing criticism from the moderate wing of his party since his election in September. But Corbyn was conspicuously absent from Khan's signing-in ceremony and in his article, the new mayor appeared to criticise the way Labour was being run. The party "only wins when we face outwards... and engage with all voters", Khan wrote, adding: "It's crucial for the whole country that the Labour party becomes a credible government-in-waiting." Labour fared less well in other elections held Thursday. The party was beaten into third place in Scotland, once a Labour stronghold, as the Conservatives became the official opposition to the Scottish National Party (SNP), which won a third term in office. Labour maintained control of the Welsh assembly and lost only a handful of local council seats in England. But critics said it should have done better against a government that has lost support over welfare reforms and is deeply divided ahead of the referendum on Britain's membership of the EU on June 23. SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) The FedEx driver who hit a California Highway Patrol officer early Saturday on Highway 50 in Sacramento was arrested for driving under the influence, officials said. Gregory Anthony Ramirez, 41, of San Lorenzo was arrested and charged with driving under the influence at the time of the collision, the CHP said. Ramirez was booked into the Sacramento County Jail for felony driving under the influence, causing injury and possession of a controlled substance. His bail is set at $50,000. The officer was trying to move two vehicles off the eastbound lanes of the highway near 15th Street after they had collided just after 3 a.m., the CHP said. The officer is recovering in a local hospital, surrounded by family members. The injured officer will remain hospitalized and his release from the hospital has not yet been determined, officials said. The rear of the officer's patrol vehicle was mangled by the impact from the FedEx truck, but the officer was on foot when he was hit, according to CHP. It wasn't immediately clear whether the FedEx truck struck the officer directly or whether it struck only his patrol vehicle, causing it to hit the officer. "We understand the dangers of being on the side of the freeway," CHP spokesman Michael Bradley said. "And that's why a lot of times when we respond to a call, we ask that you drive your vehicle off the roadway, because we understand how dangerous it is." The officer, whose name wasn't released, is at least the third highway patrolman in the last two months in the Sacramento region to be struck by a vehicle while responding to a crash. Earlier this month, a Grass Valley-area CHP officer was hit along Highway 49 while helping drivers. In March, Officer Nathan Taylor was investigating a crash along Interstate 80 in the Sierra Nevada when he was struck by an oncoming car during a snow storm. Taylor later died from his injuries. In Saturday's crash, CHP are looking for the driver of one of the cars involved in the initial crash after he fled the scene on foot, Bradley said. The area was well-lit by overhead lights, Bradley added. "FedEx Ground is committed to safety as our top priority and we hold anyone providing service on our behalf contractually responsible for operating safely and complying with the law. We are fully cooperating with investigating authorities and will take the appropriate action to address this matter," FedEx spokesperson Davis Westrick said in a statement. This story originally appeared on KCRA.com. Five activists who refused to eat for 17 days, along with hundreds of their supporters, plan to hold a general strike Monday at City Hall in their push for the removal of San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr, raising the specter of disrupted city business and renewed clashes between sheriffs deputies and protesters. After more than two weeks of subsisting on chicken broth, coconut water and juice, the demonstrators known as the Frisco Five ended their hunger strike Saturday after being hospitalized for deteriorating health. The move came one day after 33 people were cited inside City Hall for allegedly trespassing and failing to follow dispersal orders. If the five former hunger strikers Ike Pinkston, 42; Edwin Lindo, 29; Sellassie Blackwell, 39; Maria Gutierrez, 66; and her son, Ilyich Sato, 42 make it to City Hall on Monday, it will be their second appearance there in less than a week. On Tuesday, in wheelchairs being pushed by UCSF medical students, they led a march from their encampment outside the Mission Police Station up to Mayor Ed Lees office before filling the chambers of a Board of Supervisors meeting, where city officials and protesters argued with one another until the latter group left the building. The next evening, protesters brought their demands to a Police Commission meeting, delaying discussion on changes to use-of-force policies as the crowd chanted calls to fire Suhr. In a phone call with the hunger strikers Thursday, Lee said that firing Suhr would not advance police reforms. The protesters said they told Lee they were committed to the hunger strike and that their blood would be on his hands should the police chief stay in office. The Frisco Five said they suspended their hunger strike over the weekend after supporters urged them to eat and put their energy toward pressuring city officials to remove Suhr. The whole San Francisco community took the step to demand the hunger strikers suspend their hunger strike so they can return to the front lines and help shape this movement and the pursuit of justice for the black and brown citizens of San Francisco, the groups spokeswoman wrote in a statement. They have decided to listen to the community that they love. Community demands for Suhrs removal came after the fatal police shooting of Mario Woods in December. Video footage of the shooting was captured and widely shared online, as was footage last month in the death of Luis Gongora, leading to allegations of excessive and unnecessary force. In both incidents, police said the men wielded knives and refused to drop them before they were shot. More than 600 people said they plan to attend the general strike on the events Facebook page, whose organizers urged people to refrain from going to work or school and join them at the picket line beginning at 8 a.m. A spokeswoman for the Sheriffs Department said she could not discuss Mondays protest. City Administrator Naomi Kelly said that destruction caused by Friday nights raucous crowd will cost thousands of dollars to fix and that, in the meantime, visitors to City Hall cannot use the main entrance on Polk Street. Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A group of demonstrators known as the Frisco Five, who refused to eat until San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr steps down, announced Saturday night that they have ended their hunger strike. A member of the group, who asked not to be identified, confirmed to The Chronicle that the hunger strike has ended. The decision comes a day after the demonstrators were taken to the hospital because of declining health and a day after a separate protest calling for Suhrs firing resulted in 33 arrests at City Hall. The Frisco Five are protesting recent fatal police shootings of Mario Woods and Luis Gongora, both men of color, and reports of officers exchanging homophobic and racist text messages. Group members, who said they were prepared to die of starvation, started their strike April 21 and set up camp outside the Mission Police Station. The demonstrators were placed in a hospital Friday and were still recovering there Saturday, supporters said. The five protesters are 42-year-old Ike Pinkston, 29-year-old Edwin Lindo, 39-year-old Sellassie Blackwell, 66-year-old Maria Gutierrez, and her 42-year-old son, Ilyich Sato. The group and its supporters plan more demonstrations, including a general strike Monday at City Hall. A raucous protest Friday called for Suhrs firing. Thirty-three protesters, including one minor, were detained on suspicion of trespassing and failure to disperse, and were cited and released Saturday, said Eileen Hirst, spokeswoman for the San Francisco Sheriffs Department. The minor was released to a parent at the scene, she said. The demonstrators banged on doors and blew whistles before stopping to demand Suhrs removal in front of the closed door to San Francisco Mayor Ed Lees second-floor office. They remained there past the buildings 8 p.m. closing time and defied six orders to disperse before deputies made the arrests, well after 9 p.m., Hirst said. Protestors chanted: Fire Chief Suhr. Deputies in riot gear formed a line inside and started forcing protesters out the door with their batons around 10 p.m., and demonstrators started to push back. The deputies then came out of the doors on the sides of the main door on Polk Street and formed a line at the top of the steps, moving people to the sidewalk. Freelance photojournalist Joel Angel Juarez, who said he had his press credential around his neck, said he was taking pictures of the protest and was pushed to the ground by a sheriffs deputy. Sana Saleem, a reporter with the online newspaper 48hills.org, sustained bruised ribs after being shoved against a desk by deputies, said Tim Redmond, the sites editor. Saleem had identified herself as a reporter, Redmond added. I realize this was a tense situation as police and protest situations often get, but reporters have every right to be there, said Redmond, who plans to file a formal complaint with the Sheriffs Department on Monday. Hirst, the sheriffs spokeswoman, said she saw deputies holding batons and using them to corral the crowd but did not witness any deputies striking protesters or journalists. She welcomed those who alleged such action to file a formal complaint. If people experienced something very different than what I saw, we would like to hear about it, she said. We cant resolve it if we dont know. The protest resulted in thousands of dollars of damage to City Hall, including a smashed front door, according to a statement released by the Office of the City Administrator. Chronicle staff writer Bill Hutchinson contributed to this report. Hamed Aleaziz and Wendy Lee are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: haleaziz@sfchronicle.com, wlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @haleaziz, @thewendylee Sally Jones, dubbed 'Mrs Terror' by the British media, has been using social media to make a series of threats against the West using a variety of aliases such as Sakinah Hussain and Umm Hussain al-Britani (Photo: Twitter) London: A British Muslim woman who is among the world's most wanted female terror suspects has threatened new strikes against Britain on social media, according to a report. Sally Jones, a former punk rocker who travelled to Syria after converting to Islam, praised the publication of a hit-list of US drone pilots amid claims that Islamic State (IS) hackers have also identified British military personnel involved in airstrikes in the region, the Sunday Times reported. Resurfacing on Twitter last week after a prolonged absence the 47-year-old wrote, "U can't just sit there with ur tea & scones ordering RAF (Royal Air Force) drone strikes on UK brothers with no comeback from the Islamic State (Isis)". Read: UK's 'Mrs terror' wants to be first ISIS woman suicide bomber In a reference to her dead husband, Junaid Hussain, 21, who was killed by a US drone strike in Syria, Jones added, "Yes, it's Abu Hussain's wife. Shouldn't you be calling for the resignation of Mike Fallon (UK defence secretary) after IS said it has a mole in the MoD?". Jones even chose to 'like' a story about her by the Sunday Times, a social media move that could eventually help Western intelligence agencies track her location. Jones has been placed on a Pentagon 'kill list' after being named as a "specially designated global terrorist". She and Hussain are known to have orchestrated attacks against the West from Syria. IS hackers linked to Jones recently published the personal details of about 75 US staff. They now claim to have a similar list of RAF personnel. "We are not releasing it publicly right now; let the UK wonder who's on it," they boasted on Twitter. Some commentators suggested the focus on Kahn's religion had backfired in a city noted for its diversity and which is one of the world's top financial centres (Photo: AP) London: Efforts by Britain's ruling Conservative party to link the new Mayor of London to Muslim extremism during campaigning for the capital's election were just part of the "rough and tumble" of politics, a senior minister said on Saturday. As politicians from all sides lined up to condemn his party's tactics in the mayoral race won by Sadiq Khan, the son of Pakistani immigrants and the first Muslim to hold the job, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon refused to apologise. "In the rough and tumble of elections, you get stuff said, questions asked," Fallon told the BBC when asked if he regretted describing Khan as a "Labour lackey" who speaks alongside extremists. "I think it is right that candidates for some of the most important offices in Britain do get scrutinised about their past associations." Conservatives including Prime Minister David Cameron and Fallon himself had sought to question whether London would be safe being run by the 45-year-old Kahn, a Labour Party lawmaker who grew up in public housing in the capital's inner city. Khan, whose parents worked as a bus driver and a seamstress, defeated Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith, the son of a billionaire financier, by a record margin to secure the biggest individual mandate in British political history. His victory in Thursday's election made headlines around the world. Some commentators suggested the focus on Kahn's religion had backfired in a city noted for its diversity and which is one of the world's top financial centres. Britain remains largely free of the identity politics seen in the United States . During the race Goldsmith had joined forces with Cameron and other senior party members to question Khan's past appearances alongside radical Muslim speakers at public events, accusing him of giving "oxygen" to extremists. A former human rights lawyer, Khan said he had fought extremism all his life and regretted sharing a stage with speakers who held "abhorrent" views. "This election was not without controversy and I am so proud that London has today chosen hope over fear and unity over division," Khan said in a short speech after the results were announced early on Saturday. "I hope that we will never be offered such a stark choice again." Sayeeda Warsi, a former Conservative Party chairman, said the campaign had damaged the party's reputation and credibility on issues of race and religion, while Labour politicians called on Fallon and Cameron to stop smearing their candidate. As the left-wing mayors of New York and Paris saluted Khan, the Financial Times newspaper described the win as a "remarkable triumph over the racial and religious tensions that have bedevilled other European capitals", saying it highlighted London 's tolerance. Among the first to congratulate Khan was Goldsmith's sister Jemima, a journalist and campaigner who described London as a city for all cultures, backgrounds and religions. She said the victory was a great example to young Muslims. "Sad that Zac's campaign did not reflect who I know him to be -- an eco friendly, independent-minded politician with integrity," she tweeted. Sajid Javid , Britain 's business secretary and a Conservative, said on Twitter: "From one son of a Pakistani bus driver to another, congratulations." Khan's victory makes him the first Muslim to head a major Western capital, presiding over such issues as policing, transport and housing for 8.6 million people. The mayor does not run the City of London financial district but can try to influence the government in lobbying for the capital. Katsav's 18-month trial included harrowing accusations and portrayed him as a sexual predator who routinely harassed his female staff (Photo: AFP) Jerusalem: Israeli ex-president Moshe Katsav, in prison for rape and other sexual offences, has asked the current head of state for a pardon, President Reuven Rivlin's office said on Sunday. "A request for pardon arrived at the president's office today," it said in a brief statement. "As is the custom with every request for a pardon it has been passed for handling to the presidential legal department," the statement added. Katsav, the first Israeli head of state to be sent to prison, was jailed in 2011 for seven years on two counts of rape as well as sexual harassment, indecent acts and obstruction of justice. A parole board last month turned down his application for early release, saying that Katsav, 70, "expressed no regret and no sympathy toward the victims of his crimes". "The prisoner has presented himself as a victim and has continually attributed responsibility for his situation to others," the justice ministry said in a statement following the decision. Katsav's 18-month trial included harrowing accusations and portrayed him as a sexual predator who routinely harassed his female staff. The offences committed against his employees were said to have occurred when he served as tourism minister and later as president. Katsav became president in 2000, resigning over the allegations in 2007. He was replaced in the largely ceremonial post by Nobel Peace laureate Shimon Peres. Rivlin was elected to the position in June 2014 for a statutory seven-year term. Kilis: Turkish shelling killed 55 Islamic State insurgents in northern Syria on Saturday evening, military sources said, in retaliation for weeks of rocket attacks on a Turkish border town. Artillery fire hit the regions of Suran and Tal El Hisn north of Aleppo, as well as Baragidah and Kusakcik, taking out three rocket installations and three vehicles in addition to the killings of the militants, the sources said on Sunday. Earlier on Saturday, US-led coalition air strikes in Syria killed 48 Islamic State militants, according to a report from state-run Anadolu Agency. The Turkish border town of Kilis, which lies just across the frontier from Islamic State-controlled territory of Syria, has been regularly struck by rockets in recent weeks. Kilis is about 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of Aleppo, Syria's embattled, biggest city and the biggest strategic prize in a more than five-year-old civil war. The Turkish military usually responds with artillery barrages into northern Syria, but officials have said it is difficult to hit mobile Islamic State targets with howitzers. Turkish officials have said they need more help from Western allies in defending the border. So far, about 20 people have been killed and almost 70 wounded in the rocket fire on Kilis, Anadolu said. Be very sure that ballet survives and thrives in Contra Costa County. The Diablo Ballet is concluding its 22nd season at Walnut Creeks Del Valle Theatre and has announced its 23rd. Under Artistic Director Lauren Jonas, the company has acquired a professional demeanor and built a varied repertoire of its own. Despite mild reversals dancers leaving, the move to the smaller Del Valle from the more prestigious Lesher Arts Center the troupe has established itself in the community. The program Friday, May 6, offered a key to its success. It was called Celebrated Masters, which was a bit of a stretch. Yet, two of the three works on the bill were premieres made for these nine dancers techniques and sensibilities. Since every ballet program feels incomplete without a romantic pas de deux, we got one of those, too. Robert Dekkers Carnival of the Imagination seemed the ideal vehicle for this crew. Diablos resident choreographer has given another listen to the popular Saint-Saens orchestral score, Carnaval des Animaux, and fashioned a 14-part fantasy that recruits everyone on the roster, clothes them in outlandish costumes (dancer Christian Squires takes credit) and lets the performers frolic across the stage. The piece is a lovely visit to a childs imagination. Squires is the kid who opens a wooden box and lets his fantasies acquire mortal shape. Although Dekkers ignores illustrating the original titles of the movements in the Saint-Saens score, the new version comes with its own logic (I suspect some insider humor), and all of Dekkers innovations seem perfectly musical. For sheer farce, you had to hand it to Aidan DeYoungs Panda Bear enveloping the child in his embrace. For sheer grandeur, there was Tetyana Martyanovas Unicorn, single horn and all. For quiet beauty, Dekkers gives us a rainstorm with Jamar Goodman and Mayo Sugano. It was interesting to watch Dekkers go his own way with the familiar sections. Saint-Saens Aquarium became a pair of couples wearing costumes the colors of trout in sunlight. And then there was the inexplicable. The cello-dominated Swan yielded a routine featuring a woman in a hammock that recalled Arabian Coffee of Nutcracker. Still, its a pleasant romp, in which Raymond Tilton, Jackie McConnell, Amanda Farris and Rosselyn Ramirez also made animated contributions, not least in the climactic pillow fight. Credit Jack Carpenter with the vibrant lighting. Nothing could offer a wider contrast than the program opener, Gary Masters Mythic Place, a quintet that recalls the great Jose Limon, the modern dance master with whose company Masters has been associated most of his working life. The new work is an austere ritual, propelled by the percussion scores of Carlos Chavez, played onstage by Greg Sudmeier. As in Limon, the stage comes alive with circular patterns, weighty unisons and descents to the floor. Its a bracing exercise; I suspect that that these five dancers sinking into deep plie have never used their bodies in this way before. Tilton left a particularity strong impression. I only wish Masters had more fully explored the contrapuntal possibilities in his material. The duet in the middle was Val Caniparolis strange 1985 Hamlet and Ophelia, which doesnt gather much steam until Ophelia bourrees in on Hamlets surrealistically long cape at the end. Still, Farris and Squires were up to the task. Allan Ulrich is The San Francisco Chronicles dance correspondent. Diablo Ballet, dances by Robert Dekkers, Val Caniparoli and Gary Masters. 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, May 7; . $24-$44. Del Valle Theatre, 1963 Tice Valley Blvd., Walnut Creek. (925) 943-7469. www.lesherartscenter.org. Windhoek lies in the center of Namibia, and though its the countrys capital, the citys colonial architecture, sidewalk cafes and shady parks make it feel more relaxed than a bustling metropolis. In a country with long distances between cities and national parks, its possible to get a taste of Namibian history, culture and cuisine within the city limits. Most visitors to Namibia barely see Windhoek, as theyre so focused on the countrys rich safari and adventure offerings; however, its worth spending a day to get a full picture of Namibias history (the country didnt achieve independence until 1990). While the cosmopolitan city center is easily walkable and punctuated with high-rises of steel and glass, German castles and cathedral spires, its also necessary to see the reality of most peoples lives within the capital boundaries with a visit to Katutura, a suburb. With ample spots for sampling Namibian cuisine (including local beer), history, urban buzz and folk art, this city is an ideal beginning to a journey through the rest of the country. Jill K. Robinson is a freelance writer. Email: travel@sfchronicle.com EXPLORE THE TOWN MORNING Catch a prearranged ride from Omahuka Transfers to Katutura, Windhoeks former blacks only township, created in 1961 during apartheid rule. From here, join a Katu Tours bicycle tour of the area, from Penduka Project at Goreangab Dam to the Single Quarters market to busy Eveline Street. Traveling by bike through the neighborhood gets visitors much closer to daily life than an in-and-out bus or car tour, and along the way, guides give insights into traditional cuisine, music and culture. The district has grown over the years to become one of the citys liveliest, and its considered by many to be the soul of Windhoek. Tom Cockrem/Getty Images/Lonely Planet Images MIDDAY Back in downtown Windhoek, head to Tal Street and the Old Breweries complex, home to the Namibia Craft Centre, which is the capitals best place for Namibian arts and crafts, from woven baskets to carved Malakani kernels and San ostrich-eggshell jewelry. Up to 40 stalls specialize in different crafts, and salespeople are often craftspeople, as well. The Craft Centre supports jobs for more than 4,000 crafters and their families in some of the most rural and marginalized areas in the country. If you get hungry while shopping, take a break in the Craft Cafe, which features health food with a Namibian flair, like filled pita breads (with smoked game, kudu salami and sun-dried tomatoes), homemade cheesecake and local beers. Panoramic Images/Getty Images/Panoramic Images AFTERNOON From the Namibia Craft Centre, walk northeast past the Supreme Court building to the National Museum, housed in the Alte Feste a huge fort built by the first Schutztruppe (colonial forces that were established in Africas German colonies) when they arrived around 1890. The fort is strategically positioned overlooking the valley, which is a great way to get the lay of the land. Inside, the National Museum concentrates on Namibias history over the last few centuries, including memorabilia about the colonial period and independence, as well as reproductions of rock art (printings and engravings) found in Brandberg and Twyfelfontein in northwestern Namibia. Afterward, pass the Christuskirche (a German Lutheran church built of local sandstone in 1907 that serves as one of the citys symbols) on your way to the National Art Gallery, the center for visual and cultural arts in Namibia. Collections focus on Namibian contemporary art of the post-independence era. EVENING In the heart of Windhoek is the Namibian Institute of Culinary Education, and the menu at Nice Restaurant and Bar (the chef finishing and hospitality training school) offers dishes such as grilled oryx loin with poached pear and uniquely Namibian ingredients such as the Kalahari truffle, Omajova mushroom, Swakopmund green asparagus and fresh Namibian oysters. Settle down for a relaxing dinner, or if you want to get a very different look at Namibia just a short distance outside of Windhoek, change locations to GocheGanas, a luxury lodge 18 miles southeast of the city, so you can wake up in the middle of a nearly 19,000-acre nature reserve with white rhino, cheetah, leopard, giraffe, zebra and many other species. Stargazing here, unaffected by city lights, is a specialty. IF YOU GO WHERE TO STAY Hilton Windhoek: Rev. Michael Scott St., www.hilton.com GocheGanas: 18 miles from Windhoek on the D1463 off the B1, www.gocheganas.com WHERE TO EAT Nice Restaurant & Bar: 2 Mozart St., www.nicenamibia.com Craft Cafe: 40 Tal St., www.craftcafe-namibia.com INFORMATION Namibia Tourism Board: www.namibiatourism.com.na SAYED ZAKERIA/AFP/Getty Images KABUL More than 50 people were killed on Sunday in southeastern Afghanistans Ghazni province when two buses collided with a fuel truck, which then exploded, officials said. Scores of others were injured, many of them critically. The crash was bad even by the standards of Afghanistans notoriously dangerous mountain highways. A total of 111 people were either killed or injured, said Hamidullah Nawroz, head of Ghaznis provincial council, but because the victims were taken to many hospitals in different cities, many died on the way and the number of fatalities was hard to determine. Triple Crown hike The story: Former Corvallis resident Jeff Garmire, a 25-year-old Oregon State University grad, is attempting to complete the Triple Crown of American hiking the Appalachian, Pacific Crest and Continental Divide trails in a single calendar year. Altogether, he hopes to walk nearly 8,000 miles in the span of nine months. The latest: Garmire finished the Appalachian Trail at Mount Katahdin, Maine, on April 29, 84 days and 2,180 miles after starting out at Springer Mountain, Georgia, on Feb. 5. From there he flew to San Diego to begin the second leg of his epic journey, the 2,600-mile Pacific Crest Trail. He started at the Mexican border on Tuesday and hopes to reach Canada by late July. His plan is to start his southbound trek on the 3,000-mile Continental Divide Trail by Aug. 1 and finish by late October. You can follow him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=freeoutside, on Twitter @TheFreeOutside or on Instagram @jgar15. Bennett Hall Scenic byway The story: A 74-mile stretch of Oregon Highway 34 is being considered for inclusion in the states Scenic Byway program. The route, which would be known as the Marys Peak to Pacific Scenic Byway, runs from Interstate 5 to Waldport, with spurs to Marys Peak and Alsea Falls. The latest: At a work session on Tuesday, the Benton County Board of Commissioners voted 3-0 to sign a letter of support for the proposal. Bennett Hall Monroe-area path The story: The South Benton County Recreation Alliance, an offshoot of the Alliance for Recreation and Natural Areas, is working on plans for a network of bicycle and pedestrian pathways in the Monroe-Alpine area. The group is proposing to start with a pathway through Monroe on the former Bailey Branch railroad right of way, with future connecting paths linking to parks and other facilities within Monroe and from Monroe to Alpine. The latest: The Benton County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved an intergovernmental agreement with the Oregon Cascades West Council of Governments to provide professional planning services for the effort. The commissioners previously approved up to $30,284 to cover the costs of planning and public outreach. A series of public meetings will be scheduled to discuss the plan. Bennett Hall Land-use fees The story: The city of Corvallis annually reviews the fees it charges for development applications such as annexations, comprehensive plan amendments, zone changes, planned developments and subdivisions. The city did not raise fees for the 2015-16 fiscal year. The latest: The City Council at its May meeting unanimously approved a resolution raising the fees 6.4 percent for the 2016-17 fiscal year, with the city retaining its 70 percent cost-recovery model. That means that a $1,000 fee on the new schedule cost the city $700 in personnel time and other costs. The city continues to not charge for historic preservation permits, unlike most of its comparator cities. Bend ($2,046) and Gresham ($3,546) both charge in in four figures for such permits. James Day CAIRO Militants opened fire on a microbus filled with plainclothes police officers in a Cairo suburb Sunday, killing eight of them in an attack claimed by a local Islamic State affiliate. The attack was the deadliest in the heavily policed capital since November, when gunmen attacked a security checkpoint, killing four police officers. That attack was also claimed by the local Islamic State affiliate. Egypts state-run Mena news agency said the officers were inspecting security in the south Cairo suburb of Helwan early Sunday when four gunmen in a pickup opened fire. Interior Minister Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar, in charge of police, ordered an investigation into the attack. These are the heroes whose blood mixes with the nations soil every day, Abdel-Ghaffar told state television at the end of a military funeral for the eight officers. We are determined to continue our march against terror and anyone who seeks to undermine the nations stability, he said, as black-clad female relatives of the policemen wailed in grief. The coffins of the eight, wrapped in the Egyptian flag, were placed atop red fire engines that led a procession of several hundred mourners, including other police. An Islamic State affiliate claimed responsibility for the attack in an online statement, saying it killed everyone in the vehicle. It said the fighters seized light weapons from the police before fleeing the scene unharmed. It said the operation was to avenge women jailed in Egypt. The claim could not be independently verified, but the statements language and the nature of the attack suggest it is authentic. Militants have been targeting security forces in the Sinai Peninsula for years, but their attacks have grown more deadly and frequent since the 2013 military overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. An Islamic State affiliate based in the Sinai is now spearheading the insurgency. While most of the unrest has been confined to the northern Sinai, there have been attacks in the mainland as well. Rights groups have accused Egypts police of widespread abuses, including the torture of dissidents, with some likening their tactics to those used during the rule of President Hosni Mubarak, who was overthrown in a 2011 uprising. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate FORT MCMURRAY, Alberta Emergency officials said Sunday they reached a turning point in fighting an enormous wildfire, hoping to get a death grip on the blaze that has devastated Canadas oil sands town of Fort McMurray amid cooler temperatures. Meanwhile, a huge evacuation of residents displaced by the blaze came to an end. Chad Morrison of Alberta Wildfire said hes very happy about the favorable conditions and called it great firefighting weather. We can really get in there and really get a handle on this fire and really get a death grip on it, Morrison said. Morrison said with cooler temperatures in the next three or four days, firefighters should be able to put out hot spots. Morrison said it allowed them to further protect fire-ravaged Fort McMurray Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said the wildfire grew much more slowly than was feared and it is now almost 400,000 acres 625 square miles. The fire remains west of the Saskatchewan border, and Morrison said it hasnt reached the Suncor or Syncrude oil sands facilities north of Fort McMurray and that the mines are not under threat. Officials also completed the transport of 25,000 residents of out of work camps north of the city. Police and military oversaw a procession of thousands of vehicles Friday and Saturday, and a mass airlift of thousands of evacuees was also employed from the oil sands camps. No deaths or injuries have been reported in the fire. But Notley said two evacuees died in traffic accident during the evacuation. The images from Fort McMurray show devastation scorched homes and virtually whole neighborhoods burned to the ground. Rain on Sunday was welcome. The Rural Municipality of Wood Buffalo, which includes Fort McMurray, tweeted a picture of the rainfall and wrote: It was only for a few minutes but the sight of rain has never been so good. Notley retweeted the picture and wrote Heres hoping for much more! More than 80,000 people have left Fort McMurray in the heart of Canadas oil sands, where the fire has torched 1,600 homes and other buildings. Gas has been turned off, the power grid is damaged and water is not drinkable. Officials said there is no timeline to return residents to the city, but the Alberta government is sending in a team on Monday to do some preliminary planning. The fire and mass evacuation has forced a quarter or more of Canadas oil output offline and is expected to impact an economy already hurt by the fall in the price of oil. The Alberta oil sands have the third-largest reserves of oil in the world behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Notley said there will be a meeting with the energy industry on Tuesday and said topics will include the state of facilities and the impact on operations. About 18 miles south of Fort McMurray, the main highway into town is blocked off by barricades and police vehicles. More than a dozen media vehicles were parked near the barrier, along with a few volunteers who had trailers full of supplies. One trailer had a sign on back that said Fort Mac Bound. It carried supplies like clothing, Gatorade and protein bars for firefighters and EMTs, said Steve Jeges, of Olds, Alberta. He said he and others accepted donations for four days in Olds before heading here. If our services are needed, were staying, he said. MEXICO CITY The northern Mexico prison where authorities suddenly transferred convicted drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman is rated as the worst in the federal system for inmate conditions and other factors, according to the governments own reporting. The Cefereso No. 9 prison on the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez, which borders El Paso, Texas, did score well on conditions of governability, perhaps an indication that authorities believe they can control Guzmans environment there and limit the risk of him pulling off a third brazen jailbreak. But Michael Vigil, the former head of international operations for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, questioned the logic of sending Guzman to a less secure prison thats in territory firmly controlled by El Chapos Sinaloa cartel after it emerged victorious from a war with the Juarez cartel in recent years. It just doesnt make any sense, Vigil said Sunday. He has that part of his empire, he has the infrastructure there and he has people who would assist him in terms of engineering him another escape. A 2015 report by the governmental National Human Rights Commission gave the Juarez prison an overall 6.63 rating on a scale of zero to 10, the lowest for any of Mexicos 21 federal prisons. By comparison, the maximum-security Altiplano facility near Mexico City where Guzman was confined before was 10th best with a rating of 7.32. Altiplano is considered the countrys highest-security prison, and many had thought it to be unescapable. That belief was shattered in July 2015 when Guzman fled the prisons through a sophisticated, mile-long tunnel that accomplices dug to the shower in his cell, complete with a motorcycle modified to run on rails laid down in the passage. Cefereso No. 9 is located just off the Pan-American highway about 14 miles south of downtown Juarez, in the middle of the barren, scorching Chihuahuan Desert. The Sinaloa cartel boss, who is fighting extradition to the United States where he faces drug charges in seven different jurisdictions, was transferred to Juarez on Saturday in a surprise, high-security operation. 1 Syria fighting: A fragile cease-fire in the northern city of Aleppo has been extended for 72 hours, Russia said, as the Islamic State group battled other militant factions near the city on Saturday. The Russian Defense Ministry said the extension until 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday would also apply to the coastal province of Latakia. Aleppo has seen days of heavy fighting that killed 286 civilians, including 57 children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Russian military accused the Syrian al Qaeda affiliate, known as the Nusra Front, of trying to destroy the cease-fire by carrying out attacks on Aleppo. 2 Mass protest: Thousands of people marched Saturday in Warsaw against the policies of the conservative government, which they view as antidemocratic and harmful to Polands position in the European Union. City authorities estimated that 240,000 turned out, which would make it the largest antigovernment demonstration since the Law and Justice party took power last year and embarked on bringing deep changes to the country. On the night of Dec. 29, 2015, a 21-year-old Corvallis woman held a realistic-looking toy gun, kicked the bumper of a Corvallis police car, and waited for the officer inside to get out and end her life. Shoot me, Sarah Maebell Rodgers yelled at Officer Derrick Samuels, according to court records. But Samuels, who had gotten out of his patrol vehicle and pointed his gun at Rodgers, never pulled the trigger. Moments later, several other officers with the Corvallis Police Department came outside of the Law Enforcement Center and also pointed their guns at Rodgers. The confrontation ended not with a shooting, but with Rodgers in cuffs. Police believe Rodgers was attempting to get officers to kill her, a phenomenon known as suicide by cop. The phrase suicide by cop is a common colloquialism that, since being coined by former California police officer Karl Harris in 1983, has been used to describe hundreds of cases. But its not a phrase that youll find in psychiatry textbooks, said Dr. George Keepers, chair of the psychiatry department at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. Its a popular term, not a clinical term, he said. This method of putting yourself at risk and having another person kill you or a situation kill you is not uncommon. These things are generally called para-suicidal behaviors and they encompass a wide range of things that can result in harm. Para-suicidal behavior can include someone driving recklessly, crossing the street in front of cars and putting themselves in the path of an oncoming train. About 10 percent of people who have depressive illness die by suicide and a great majority of that 10 percent kill themselves directly. Even people who are very depressed or distressed and think a lot about suicide have a great difficulty going through with the act. Its so difficult that frequently they have to become intoxicated to do it, he said. Keepers could not comment on the Rodgers case, but he noted that a person with suicidal tendencies will have great difficulty taking the final step toward suicide and that it is not uncommon for a person to attempt suicide by cop using a toy gun. They are not trying to harm anyone, he said. These are people who are very seriously depressed and who are suicidal. The unknown While psychiatrists keep track of para-suicidal behavior, Keepers said the fact that suicide by cop is not a clinical term means it is nearly impossible to track. There is no real data on this, he said. Its a relatively uncommon event but it does happen frequently enough that over the course of clinical practice, if youre in the practice of acute inpatient psychiatry you will see patients brought in by the police who have done this. Keepers said he has seen several similar cases involving police in his 35 years of practicing psychiatry. Police typically encounter these situations and very typically it does not result in the individuals death. Of course, there are mistakes that happen in the field, and of course, sometimes people do succeed at this, he said. Mitch Anderson, director of the Benton County Health Department, said the organization also does not keep track of suicide-by-cop incidents, as they are difficult to track and categorize. But Anderson noted that the Rodgers case was the only one he could recall fitting that description in his 18 years with the department. Its unfortunate in the sense that reporting around those incidents in terms of data has not been very good, Anderson said. So our knowledge of these incidents and how frequently they occur is very limited. Lt. Cord Wood of the Corvallis Police Department also does not track incidents of suicide-by-cop. Thats a real difficult thing to gauge because unless someone says thats what theyre doing, its difficult to determine thats what happened, he said. But I think it happens far more frequently than we ever know. Wood said he could not estimate how often someone confronts an officer with the intention of the officer shooting them, but he noted it happens frequently enough that the department trains officers to recognize the situation. We really drive home the expectation to our folks that we expect them to think and reason and try and take in as much as they can when they make decisions, Wood said. Ultimately it comes down to making the decision in the moment. The moment Sarah Rodgers never pointed the toy gun at any of the officers responding outside of the Law Enforcement Center on Dec. 29. But if she had, the situation might have turned out differently. There was a lot of opportunity for that to go very badly, said Lt. Wood. But thats about as positive as that situation could have turned out for everyone. Certainly for the young woman and for Officer Samuels, too. According to police, Rodgers stole the Maxx Action toy revolver from the Corvallis Fred Meyer store on the night of Dec. 29, removed the orange safety tip from the barrel to make it look more like a real gun, and walked directly to the Law Enforcement Center before confronting Officer Samuels. Wood said Rodgers initially refused to drop the realistic-looking gun at first but eventually dropped it to the pavement. The sound of it hitting the pavement was the officers first indication that the gun was not real. I thought it looked real. And the other side of that whole scenario is that sometimes bad guys will paint real guns to look like toys, Wood said. She chose this particular toy because of the realistic look of it and altered it further to look more real. If you add the other behavior with it, thats fraught with danger. We could run off a laundry list as long as your arm as far as potential factors that could have changed that situation. Wood said the officers followed their training and in seconds assessed that there were no other people in harms way, that the weapon was being held at Rodgers side, and that other than shouting, Rodgers exhibited no other violent behavior. But the officers assessment in the manner (the toy gun) was being held in that moment didnt justify a lethal force response, Wood said. We know now that was a good decision. Samuels did not want to comment for this story, but Lt. Wood said he was grateful for the response from Samuels and the other officers at the scene. Were very, very glad that that situation turned out as positively as it did. I know that (Samuels) is also grateful for the way it turned out, Wood said. Keepers commended the officers reactions to the Rodgers situation. Their ability to handle the situation without using lethal force is impressive, he said. Police typically encounter these situations and very typically it does not result in the individuals death. But of course there are mistakes that happen in the field and of course sometimes people do succeed at this. It can be a very frightening situation for the police. The aftermath Rodgers was conditionally released from the Benton County Jail on April 21 and transferred to a secure treatment facility, according to court records. The name of the facility hasn't been released, but officials previously noted that if she was granted release, Rodgers would be placed in a partially staffed transitional housing facility known as New Life Transitional House in Philomath. Benton County prosecutor Andrew Jordan said he could not comment on where Rodgers went. A secure treatment facility was located for her and she was admitted into the program, and from the states position I agreed for her to be transferred to the facility, Jordan said. According to court documents, Rodgers is not to leave the secure residential facility unless supervised. She has a status check in the case on May 26. Rodgers' defense attorney Robert Corl declined to comment on the case. Rodgers faces additional charges of harassment, criminal trespass, felony identity theft, interfering with a police officer, and third-degree theft in unrelated incidents dating back to November 2015. She was previously convicted in of assaulting a public safety officer August 2014 and was still on probation for that conviction on the night of Dec. 29. SWEET HOME Sweet Home School District staff members are looking for help unloading and sorting a truckload of new books for children. More than 40,000 books will be arriving Friday, May 20, at Sweet Home High School. Volunteers are asked to arrive at 10:30 a.m. to help unpack and sort. The free books are coming from First Book, a nonprofit organization that provides books and educational resources to children in need. The Sweet Home chapter of the Oregon School Employees Association has coordinated the delivery but will need as many extra hands as it can get, said Velma Canfield, chapter president. For more information or to let the district know who's coming, contact Canfield at 541-401-0813 or velma.canfield@sweethome.k12.or.us. In Brent Gallup's rebuttal to my letter commenting upon his earlier statement that "all terrorists are Muslim" he employed the hackneyed trump card of "political correctness" when positing that the difference between"unabombers" and Klansmen versus 9/11 perpetrators was that the latter used airplanes and killed 3,000 people. Reference to McVeigh was omitted, but I wonder whether friends and families of those killed in Oklahoma City are comforted that it was a truck that was used. Radical Muslim terrorists have been on our radar screen for about 50 years. According to Wikipedia, the Klan has been an organized terrorist force for about 100 of the years dating back to 1865. Millions of our citizens suffered under their bullying through those years: African-Americans, Catholics and Jews, especially those who had recently immigrated. Neither Klansmen, kinsmen, nor their neighbors marched "denouncing the acts of the terrorists" out of fear of retribution, sympathy to the Klan or indifference. It may be that Muslims in America were shocked, afraid of fellow citizens or worried about Fatwas targeting them. No, the Klan didn't use airplanes, just nooses, cross-burning or the devil knows what else. Who has counted the number of those killed, insulted and brutalized by those domestic terrorists? Mr. Gallup, let's call a terrorist a terrorist, then get on with supporting their eradication, regardless of their religion or ethnicity. See "Fatwa on terrorism" in Wikipedia. James Paul Rodell Oakville (April 29) By clicking Agree, you consent to Slates Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and the use of technologies such as cookies by Slate and our partners to deliver relevant advertising on our iOS app to personalize content and perform site analytics. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information about our use of data, your rights, and how to withdraw consent. Agree Thousands of mums across Canberra chose to forgo the traditional Mother's Day breakfast in bed on Sunday, instead braving soggy and cold conditions to raise money for a good cause. Despite the rainy morning, more than 4550 runners and walkers turned out for the Mother's Day Classic around Lake Burley Griffin. Break away: The Canberra Mother's Day Classic gets off to a fast start at Rond Terrace. Credit:Rohan Thomson Bonner mother-of-two Kylie Evans said it was a fun way to spend Mother's Day, while also raising awareness of a good cause. "I thought, being a lot more active this year, I'd like to join in the fun, and it looked like a good community vibe," she said. "Unless restrained by this Court, Redbubble threatens and intends and will continue its unlawful conduct." According to its statement of claim, Pokemon contacted Redbubble about its alleged breach of copyright in January 2011 and again in 2015, but Redbubble "refused to give the undertakings sought or to pay damages". Fairfax Media identified hundreds of Pokemon-related products including T-shirts and hooded jumpers available for sale on Redbubble this week. Pokemon's writ is also littered with examples of the allegedly infringing T-shirts and hoodies. Millions of visitors Redbubble itself does not make the products, rather under its business model Redbubble allows 'artists' to upload their products to its website for sale. Redbubble then retains a proportion of the sale price of every Redbubble product sold through the website. According to the company's prospectus it is "well on the way to being the largest such marketplace" with more than 399,000 selling artists and 57 million unique visitors to the website in 2015. Pokemon alleges Redbubble misled the public by using sponsored ads on Google to promote Pokemon products being sold by Redbubble, despite the product being counterfeit. "A search of Google for 'Pikachu shirt' conducted on 3 February 2016 resulted in the identification of eight sponsored links. Six of those sponsored links were to products sold by Redbubble," Pokemon alleges. Pokemon alleges searches of Pokemon products on Redbubble's platform turned up 43,528 search results, while a search for "Pikachu" delivered 11,564 products. Searches for products under the banner of other Pokemon characters found tens of thousands of results. "Redbubble has, in trade and commerce, engaged in conduct which is misleading or deceptive," Pokemon alleges. Defending claims When contacted by Fairfax Media by email, Martin Hosking, the man behind the internet sensation, said "my only comment is that we are defending all claims". It's not the first time Redbubble has gotten into trouble for products loaded up to its site by artists. In 2011, it hit the headlines for its range of clothing, including baby rompers, with images of Hitler and other tasteless products, including those featuring serial killers. Redbubble's sale of Hitler images led to its adviser, Arnold Bloch Leibler, which has historical links to the Jewish community in Australia, severing its ties with Redbubble. In 2014, the group was warned by the federal government for selling a range of Anzac tribute T-shirts including "Anzac Kin", "Anzac Descendant" and "Thank you Anzacs. Lest we forget April 25". The site still sells several T-shirts bearing the phrase "Lest We Forget" and also lines from the Ode of Remembrance, including a black shirt bearing "At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them" on its front. And as revealed by Fairfax Media last year, Redbubble is also being sued by the Hells Angels for breach of intellectual property. That matter was heard earlier this year and judgment has been reserved. Listing hopeful The legal actions, outlined in Redbubble's supplementary prospectus, could cause issues in the future for the company which is in the process of raising $39.8 million to list on the ASX. Redbubble plans to list on May 18, and if the raising is successful the company's market capitalisation will be $267.7 million. Redbubble's updated supplementary prospectus provides more detail on the potential financial impact that could arise from unfavourable findings against it in the separate actions. "While the company has attempted to set up all aspects of its business with the intention of complying with all relevant laws and is currently defending all claims made by Hells Angels, litigation is inherently uncertain and there is a risk that the case may result in an unfavourable judgment if Redbubble's defence of the claim is unsuccessful (in whole or in part)," the prospectus says. Redbubble says the Pokemon action could also have "a material adverse impact on the company's business, financial performance and operations". This photo filed on April 28, 2016 shows an electronic bulletin board at Incheon International Airport that warns of the dangers of Zika virus. Photo by Yonhap News Health authorities in South Korea confirmed on May 7 that a fourth case of the Zika virus infection in the country has been found in a 25-year-old woman who recently returned home from Vietnam, according to a report published in the Korea Times on Saturday. The Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said the woman worked in Ho Chi Minh from April 10-30 and had arrived back in South Korea on May 1. The patient, whose identity was not disclosed, is currently in stable condition. She went to a hospital in the western port city of Incheon on May 4 to treat a chronic thyroid gland problem after developing a rash and joint pains, the report said. The KCDC thinks the woman may have contracted the virus after being bitten by a mosquito while in Vietnam. South Koreas health authorities are also examining a person who met with the patient in Vietnam between April 13-17 to check for potential transmission of the virus, the Korea Times said. Vietnams Ministry of Health announced on April 25 that the Zika virus outbreak is over in HCM City and the central province of Khanh Hoa in a statement posted on the General Department of Preventive Medicine's website. No new cases have been reported in HCM City and Khanh Hoa for 24 days since the first cases were reported, the department said, adding that necessary measures are being taken across the country to prevent the virus from breaking out again. In late-March, a 64-year-old woman living in Nha Trang showed symptoms identical to Zika, including a mild fever, headache, a rash on her legs and red eyes. After two days of taking medication that failed to reduce the fever, she went to the Khanh Hoa Hospital of Tropical Diseases for a check-up. The other case was a 32-year-old woman from District 2 in HCM City. She started developing a severe fever, conjunctivitis and fatigue on March 29, and went to the district general hospital the same day. She subsequently tested positive for the Zika virus. Ongoing pressure on the coal sector resulted in further deterioration of the financial performance of Peabody Energy's Australian unit in the March quarter, ahead of the company filing for bankruptcy in April. Hit hard by the downturn in Chinese demand and the slump in US energy prices, Peabody Energy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US last month. Miner at the Helensburgh Colliery in the Illawarra region of NSW, a Peabody subsidiary. Credit:Michele Mossop The quarterly earnings show that Australian coking coal mines which mainly supply the global steel industry have fallen into the red, while the recent decline in steaming coal prices is expected to further squeeze earnings of the balance of its Australian coal operations. In the March quarter, the group's Australian coking coal mines recorded a gross loss, as measured by earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), of $US37.3 million a steep reversal from the profit of $US13.6 million earned a year earlier. Allison Shragal, 28, of Chicago, isn't a model, or internet-famous. She's an administrative assistant for a general contracting company. But almost every day companies pay her to snap photos of herself engaging in routine activities - brushing her teeth, eating breakfast, cleaning the bathroom. If Shragal takes enough selfies with her smartphone and uploads them to a special app, she has "an extra $US20 to go get my nails done," she said. Open season: Selfie-taking spectators catapulted the Australian Open's Social Playground into the spotlight. Credit:Eddie Jim Her seemingly mundane images, when combined with thousands of others, contain insights that companies like Crest are eager to mine. They are using a Chicago-based company called Pay Your Selfie to gather those insights and present them in reports on consumer behaviour that are meant to go where focus groups and surveys cannot. Among the titbits that Crest, owned by Procter & Gamble, learned from its recent month-long quest for selfies: There's a huge spike in brushing from 4-6pm, probably tied to a desire for happy-hour fresh breath. That knowledge could be useful when Crest decides which times of the day to start future social media campaigns. Stein Boddington, of St Clair, didn't quite match the 12-letter "stewardesses" with an 11-letter "effervesced" (words that can be touch-typed with one's left hand, Column 8, since Thursday), but ups the ante by offering complete sentences: "We rested a decade after we federated," and "We traversed a desert, dragged after a car." Meanwhile Fraser Rew, of Newtown, boasts "I can write my full name without engaging my right hand." "I witnessed a one-horse race at Braidwood in the 1970s," recalls Colin Beaton, of Weston (Column 8, Friday). "It wasn't a 'walkover' though, as the jockey had to canter the horse across the finish line before being awarded first place." "I have a friend who has self-parking option in his car," reports Gerry Brooks, of Haberfield (Column 8, since Thursday). "He reckons it is so good it will park in spots he would not attempt. The problem is, he has to get it out of the parking spot, with no assistance from the car." "I'm not one for conspiracy theories," writes Chris Stafford, of Cooranbong, "but the first words I saw in Friday's Target puzzle were TRUMP and RUPERT." "George Bush had a similar problem to 'the elite private college'," we're told by Gus Plater, of Saratoga ("RICH", Column 8, Thursday). "He wanted to dub the Iraq fiasco as Operation Iraq Liberation, until an observant aide noticed the acronym, and suggested there were probably more appropriate arrangements of words." Australians are going to the ballot box less than three years since the last election. Elections should be a triumph of democracy but they now represent a failure of our political process that can be remedied by fixed four-year terms of parliament. On average, the past 15 federal parliaments have run for terms of 2 years. That is barely enough time to bed down an efficient cabinet and roll out an agenda let alone consult, legislate and implement important reforms. Australia desperately needs long-term public policy and a willingness to reform. Governments that last for an average of 2 years all but guarantee short termism in the current environment of political faintheartedness. And the federal parliament is now the only jurisdiction left in Australia with antiquated three-year variable terms. The now-regular switching of party leaders mid-term and follow-up elections to firm up a prime minister's support have only increased the trend towards shorter terms, exacerbating frustration and uncertainty among the electorate. The offering in the upper house crucial to policy compromise and holding government to account is strong. The Greens have a moderate leader in Richard Di Natale. The constructive Nick Xenophon is spreading across state borders and into the lower house. Micro-party candidates will need to propose policies and prove their credentials a welcome development under new upper house voting rules. Labor needs to win a net extra 19 lower house seats and can do that with a consistent 4 per cent swing. It is a huge task, but the latest Fairfax-Ipsos poll shows the election will be close. That is a good thing for the nation; a reflection of the shift away from the personality politics that most had expected. Mr Shorten still trails Mr Turnbull 29-51 per cent as preferred prime minister but since October the gap has shrunk from 46 to 22 points. The Coalition has edged up one point on a two-party preferred basis in the past month to lead Labor 51-49 following the budget on Tuesday, even though that document is seen less favourably than all budgets other than the Coalition's 2014 effort. The Herald believes new Treasurer Scott Morrison did just enough last week to erase the worst memories of the unfair 2014 budget. But how disappointing that Mr Morrison warned on Sunday that one of the top two issues at the election would be that Labor would not keep "stopping the boats". Voters should be sceptical about such scare tactics and the attacks on Labor's negative gearing plans. Likewise, the claim that Labor is the party of rising debt is questionable, given the Coalition is lifting taxes and making only moderate spending cuts. Claims of "carbon tax mark II" and leaked documents showing "risks" about Labor funding should be treated with caution, too. But Mr Shorten has questions to answer before voters will trust him to lead the nation. Is politics the art of the achievable, or kicking a hornets' nest to propel change? The abortion debate is set to enter new territory in the NSW Parliament this year. That is, abortion will actually be debated. Police question a man outside the East Melbourne fertility clinic on Monday, as a new Victorian law protecting women from harassment came into effect. Credit:Penny Stephens Labor MP Penny Sharpe will introduce a bill seeking to create 150-metre anti-protest buffer zones around abortion clinics to protect women entering the clinics from harassment. Greens MP Mehreen Faruqi has meanwhile drafted a bill that seeks to not only create harassment-free zones, but actually remove abortion from the NSW Crimes Act. Jordan's Queen Rania offers her condolences to the family of Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasaesbeh, who died during clashes with Islamic State. Credit:Petra News Agency "From death to death to death" is how she described the ordeal of those who finally reached the shores of Lesbos. "All we want is a new chance at life." No one's listening to her mother, Sadaa, either. All she wants is to see her sons, who are in Germany. "I got as far as Macedonia," she said, "but then I came back to get my daughter, and then the borders closed. Now, I'm here with her, my sons are in Germany and my husband is in Syria with his sick father. What do I do? Where do I go?" And no one's listening to Fatina, who, just one month ago lost her husband on a boat as they fled Turkey. Eighty refugees were forced at gunpoint onto a dinghy designed for 25. They were crammed in, literally, one on top of the other. Her husband, at the bottom of the pile at the front of the inflatable craft, drowned. The only thought that kept her going on the terrifying sea crossing was that they had escaped Syria and were on their way to start a new life with their four children: 18-month-old twins, a boy and a girl; and two daughters, 4 and 6. In front of her children, she puts on a brave face. "God gives you power," she said. But when her children aren't looking, tears tumble down her cheeks. "I just don't know what to do," she sobbed, cradling her head in her hands. I've been talking to some old friends about fashion recently and found it very interesting. One of them worked at the epicentre of the industry in the late 1980s and '90s, on speed dial with all the biggest supermodels, photographers, hairdressers and designers. He does something else now, but retains a keen interest and many pals from those days. Model Karlie Kloss, seen here in New York's West Village. Credit:Getty Images The other is a civilian a consumer of fashion via retail, rather than professionally involved who has shown sustained commitment over the same period of time, obsessed with discovering and wearing the latest trends. She's always on a quest for some specific red-hot item. Friend "A" is unimpressed with the current state of it all; he thinks fashion has turned into the clothing equivalent of fast food, with no originality from designers, who just constantly re-hash old ideas. After considering more than 2500 actors, Disney has found the man to play young Han Solo for the Star Wars character's spin-off film. According to the Hollywood Reporter, 26-year-old Alden Ehrenreich has beaten out a huge number of hopefuls to play Harrison Ford's iconic role. Ehrenreich, who is in final contract negotiations for the part, is best known for his role in the Coen Brothers film Hail, Caesar!, released this year. However, he has been popping up on screen for a few years now, having had a small part in Woody Allen's 2013 film Blue Jasmine as well as starring in the 2013 romantic fantasy film Beautiful Creatures (for which he received a Teen Choice Award nomination for "best liplock" with co-star Alice Englert). "This might be your reality, but it's my film," declares an angry Margherita (Margherita Buy), a director struggling to finish her latest feature while dealing with her beloved mother's growing frailty. And that division between what's on the screen and what inspired it a process both sadly truthful and wryly amusing is at the centre of this intriguing autobiographical movie from veteran Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti. Margherita's life is defined by her work: she's just split with her actor boyfriend, Vittorio (Enrico Ianniello), who has a supporting role in her story of a factory staff's battle against their entrepreneurial new owner, and when she visits her ailing mother, Ada (Giulia Lazzarini), conversation quickly turns to her shooting schedule. She's a woman of routine and dedication, but Moretti suggests it could equally be self-absorption. Scene from Mia Madre The travails of Italian filmmakers has a rich screen lineage, stretching back to Federico Fellini's 8, but the existential angst here is easily divined. Margherita can't accept Ada's mortality, literally forgetting the doctor's explanation or growing angry at her mother's incapacity. Her brother, Giovanni (Moretti), is the dutiful carrier of the sibling's burden, dealing with the situation while Margherita struggles with vivid anxiety dreams. She can't remember her motivation for making her new film a press conference becomes a drowning babble of voices and her confusion is exacerbated by the arrival of her American star, Barry Huggins (John Turturro), an egotistical thespian whose tall tales of acting for Stanley Kubrick and sudden demands veer amusingly close to Hollywood satire. "That's sick," said one fan after perhaps the fifth explosive beat drop served up by Adelaide garage house DJ-producer Motez Obaidi. Adelaide producer Motez Obaidi has been described as one of Australia's most exciting exports. In a sold-out Oxford Arts Factory, Motez delivered drop after drop to a hungry crowd. There was no mistaking: this man was in the business of climaxes. From a strong opening of high energy pop house sounds, Motez took the crowd on a frantic journey of EDM (electronic dance music) genres. It was often hard to make out what was stage lighting and what was the pack of iPhones stretched in the air by fans to film their favourite tracks, such as Down Like This, from Motez's newly launched The Vibe EP. Traversing dark and heavy dub bass lines and fast-paced electro rhythms, he used sometimes cheesy but clean piano chords as a link, with vocal lines and rap (think Dizzee Rascal, MIA) often on the side. As electronic music has gained popularity over the years, so too has the number of genres and sub-genres within it. Griffin Theatre Company artistic director Lee Lewis travelled to Burnie in Tasmania to see Tom Holloway's play As We Forgive and, ultimately, secure it for a season in Sydney. Such a venture might not happen again, Lewis says. "People in Sydney are reading about productions in other cities now and their curiosity has been awakened," she says. "It could be a great opportunity for all of us to see work from all around the country, but " Griffin Theatre Company artistic director Lee Lewis says the best possible outcome would be less new Australian work making it to the stage. Credit:Ben Rushton The "but" is the great unknown hanging heavy over the future of Australia's small-to medium-scale performing arts sector, the cuts expected in funding for the Australia Council for the Arts, due to be announced on May 9. "The whole sector is on tenterhooks," says Lewis, who has already presided over a $200,000 cut to company funding that brought about a sweeping restructure of Griffin's operations. "I am deeply worried. Forty years of Griffin, 40 years of support of an idea by audiences. I can't let it go down on my watch." Let's go to the speech. Waleed Aly and Susan Carland arrive at the Logies. Aly paid tribute to his wife in his Gold Logie acceptance speech. Credit:Getty Images "Do not adjust your sets. There's nothing wrong with the picture. If you are in the room I'm sure there's an Instagram filter to return things to normal. It will be fine. This is happening." And this, to wife Susan Carland: "The reality is - a dirty little secret I've carried around for a long time - if she had my job, she'd be better at it than me. She is sharper, she is wittier, she is funnier, she is infinitely more charming and likeable. The Project's Waleed Aly with the Gold Logie. Credit:Getty Images "She has bigger and more important things to do. Everyone who knows her knows she changes you, she makes you better. They don't give statuettes to people like that, sadly. But one day, if life's fair, they might just give her a statue." Beautiful words, but the overwhelming point of this night and this award was that they don't give statues like this to people like him. This we know, both from the recent brain-scrubbing necessitated by the response to Aly and Lee Lin Chin even being nominated for this gong, but also from casting an eye across its history: a visual adventure as white as a Bing Crosby Christmas special. Noni Hazlehurst: Only the second woman ever to be inducted into the Logies Hall of Fame. Credit:Getty Images Heaven help us: what if the Gold Logie has actually become relevant? Aly, decorated across other endeavours beyond his TV efforts as host of The Project, knew this mattered, even if he was aware that the award itself is inherently daft. He told the story of a fan who'd approached him recently. "Someone who is in this room - and I'm not going to use the name they use in the industry - came up to me, introduced themselves and said to me, 'I really hope you win. My name is Mustafa. But I can't use that name because I won't get a job.' "He's here tonight. And it matters to people like that that I am here ... if tonight means anything it's that the Australian public our audience as far as they're concerned, there is absolutely no reason why that can't change." Amen to that, and amen to a Logies ceremony that for the second year running breathed relevance back into an event whose often impossible marriage of popularity and excellence had rendered it the year's most dreaded night-of-nights. This year, continuing recent tradition, there was no main host - just a parade of presenters of varying quality who hit their marks more often than they missed. Best-on-ground? Once more, after his stellar turn in 2015, Dave Hughes, who nailed the opening monologue and proved again that this graveyard for comedic talent can instead be a stage for bold-as-brass wit. Taking even honours with Hughes: Peter Helliar and Kitty Flanagan, whose routine should henceforth be studied in award-presenting classes as the gold standard. Shaun Micallef, accepting for the Mad As Hell team, was also on song. And Julia Morris - in an apparently unscripted moment that will have scriptwriters thinking how to match it next year - was the musical highlight, recreating her teenaged 1980s New Faces audition singing Holding Out For A Hero. Julia Morris' fall on the Logies stage was carefully rehearsed, according to sources. Credit:Getty Images It was wonderful. But the night belonged not to slapstick but to sincerity. The Hall of Fame award went - in a catch-up moment that almost matched Aly's Gold win - to a woman. Yes, a woman, for only the second time since it was first presented in 1984 - and the recipient was perfection. There is scarcely an Australian alive who hasn't been entertained or educated or enlightened by Noni Hazlehurst across her 40-something-year career, and in her long but heartfelt speech we were all reminded of why. "I fear that our hearts are growing cold," Hazlehurst said. "The fact that I'm only the second woman to be given this honour is merely a reflection of the prevailing guard. As the suggestion has been made in some quarters, the eligibility of esteemed colleagues Waleed Aly and Lee Lin Chin going for gold is questionable. Things are changing. They're changing slowly. "The great thing about glaciers if you're not on them, you go under. I've been riding that glacier for 40 years. And I'm staying on top of it." The glacier moves slowly. But move it does. The final three awards on Sunday night went to Alex Dimitriades - his first in a remarkable career; to Deborah Mailman; and then to Aly. They are all names that would have had no place in the Logies of yore. There are some who think they shouldn't still. This week's budget was the government's big chance to turn around that trend and regain the lead and the momentum. This weekend's polls will tell us whether or not it worked. The opinion polls that were so promising for the Coalition in the first months of the Turnbull government have now seen its lead erode to nothing. By late April, the polls showed Labor in front by a skinny margin. The election was on a knife-edge. Australian elections are usually nail-biters. In seven of the past 11 elections, the winning party got home with less than 52 per cent of the two-party vote after preferences. In five of the 11, it won 51 per cent or less. This one looks like being another race to the line. It will be a long and winding road to the election on July 2. An election is not one contest, it's 150 contests. That's how many seats there are in the House of Representatives, and to win power, Labor and the Coalition will have to win 76 of them or form alliances with the crossbenchers to get over the line. At nine of the past 13 federal, state and territory elections voters have thrown out the government. Credit:Barry Skipsey The Coalition goes into the election with a big advantage. No federal government has been thrown out after one term since 1931. Last time the Coalition won 90 of the 150 seats; Labor won just 55, and five went to the crossbenchers: two independents, a Green, Clive Palmer and Bob Katter. In 2010 they won the balance of power. With independent senator Nick Xenophon setting up his own team to contest House of Representatives seats, it's certainly possible that we could see that again. But then Labor too has an advantage: these days, Australians don't like governments. At nine of the past 13 federal, state and territory elections, we have voted to throw out the government and elect the opposition (although only eight governments fell; the South Australian government clung on with the support of independents.) In 2012, Campbell Newman won power in Queensland with a landslide majority that should have made him safe for a decade, but three years later the voters took it all back and threw him out. He left to set up a similar program in Saudi Arabia but 18 months into the job the PISA opportunity came up and Adams moved to Paris with his wife and youngest daughter (he has three other grown-up children). While the PISA league tables are widely respected, they have not been without controversy. Some argue that it doesn't make sense to compare education systems as diverse as those in Vietnam, Australia and Poland, but Adams is passionate about PISA's relevance: "It's critically important because it parallels the increase in globalisation," he says. "How a country's education system is performing is increasingly relevant because of the growing interaction between countries and cultures. It would be easy to say if our kids worked like the Asian kids next door that would solve all our problems, but I don't think that is the answer. "If you want to know how well Australia is performing in relation to other countries the only measure is a legitimate international assessment and that is what PISA does." South East Asia has continually topped the rankings since the program started with Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, South Korea and Singapore variously occupying the top spots. Australia currently ranks 19th for maths, 16th for science and 13th for reading. That's a significant decrease from the first set of results published in 2000. The slippage, Adam insists, is not a cause for concern. "Australia's education is largely of a high standard," he says, "but we have tended to plateau while other countries have leapfrogged us. Even so Australia is still one of the top performers among OECD countries, particularly in reading and science." While the critical mass in Australia performs well the problems are at the upper and lower ends of the student population: the latter has ongoing problems in Indigenous and rural communities but there are also issues with the country's brightest students whose results have remained static. So why does South East Asia outperform everyone else? Adams believes it is down to better developed teaching strategies across schools in places like Singapore and Shanghai. "These countries have good levels of professional practice and high levels of social esteem for teachers even when they are not paid particularly well," he says. He also believes cultural differences play a part. Adams says children in Singapore tend to be better behaved than those in Australia: "Successful classroom management is critical to learning. If you can't manage the class it doesn't matter how good your strategies are, you are devoting your time to crowd control not teaching." Then there's the issue of hard work. It's no secret Asian cultures place great importance on academic success and that its students work long and hard often supplemented by extra tutoring. Adams is the first to support a strong work ethic but he believes the issue is more complex: "It would be easy to say if our kids worked like the Asian kids next door that would solve all our problems, but I don't think that is the answer." Instead, he wants to see more high quality professional development and better communities of practice. "In countries like Singapore the emphasis is on teaching. There is lot of collaboration and professional development." Adams also thinks there is room for improvement in Australia's teacher training: "What happens in training is vital in terms of the strategies teachers then adopt for the rest of their career," he says. "If a child does not do well it can sometimes be that the teacher has failed rather than the child." One of the PISA's key focuses is to inform policy and help members determine why some schools and teaching methods are more effective than others. Because the test is carried out every three years governments can track the effectiveness of new policies. Take Germany, which thought it had a good education system until it took part in the first PISA tests in 2000. The results delivered a crushing reality check with below-average results in maths, reading and science. As a result it overhauled its education system and has seen huge improvements in standards. Poland tells a similar story, languishing at the bottom of the tables in 2000, but the country is now one of Europe's top performers. The tests themselves are rigorously researched to ensure they do not disadvantage any country or culture. Most importantly, they are not based on any school curriculum but are designed to examine not what the students have learnt but how they can apply that knowledge to real-life situations. One question from the 2012 paper, for example, tests financial literacy by showing an invoice from "Breezy Clothing" with questions designed to find out if students can decipher its meaning. Another questions shows a fictitious city map with travel times between destinations and asks candidates to work out the fastest route between two points. English comprehension questions use a diverse range of prose from a poster for a flu immunisation program to manufacturers' instruction manuals. In addition, students fill in a detailed background questionnaire taking in their social demographics as well as attitudes to learning. This additional information, says Adams, is invaluable in analysing results. So, after close to 40 years on the coalface, what does Adams think makes a robust education system? "It is indisputable that teaching is the most important thing," he says. "Teachers need to get good quality professional development." He also believes the relationship between the theory of education and the practice of it should be more closely aligned. "Teaching should be viewed more as a science like engineering, medicine, or plumbing which all have codes of practice that you learn and apply. Teachers are very autonomous, particularly in Australia, which makes it hard to manage their accountability." Most importantly, he passionately believes every child can learn regardless of his or her background. "We need to ignore prejudices that stereotype kids before they start," he says. "One of my key beliefs is that every child has a genuine potential and kids really need to believe they can succeed." What I have learnt Everyone can do maths: "There is still a stigma that people can either do maths or they can't. Most people can be taught to do most things and if they are given proper instruction and confidence they will do better." Some children are NOT much smarter than others: "There is a lot of mythology in the apparent difference in ability. A lot of performance is based on significant hard work. Successful people may have had a couple of lucky breaks but they have normally worked very, very hard as well." Streaming is not good for children: "One thing that goes against the idea every child can succeed is streaming. If you start streaming kids you assume you know their potential at a certain age. Australia has one of the lowest rates of streaming and does not effectively stream until 16." Smaller class sizes do not get better results: "Research does not prove children do better in smaller classes. If you put your resources into professional development, reducing teaching hours and increasing facilities you can get better outcomes." Three police officers were assaulted as they broke up a violent brawl in Potts Point overnight,15 minutes before the 1.30am lockout laws kicked in on Sunday. Officers from Kings Cross Local Area Command used capsicum spray after the group of young men and women set upon the officers about 1.15am. Police arrest a man following a brawl in Potts Point on Sunday night. Credit:Channel Nine Four women and two men were arrested over the melee, which resulted in an array of charges including using offensive language, resisting police and assaulting police. The group were swearing and arguing loudly when they were approached by police patrolling Bayswater Road and Kellett Street, NSW Police said in a statement. Whisky lovers won't be paying less for a tasty nip any time soon as the industry argues over whether a new tax break goes far enough. Scott Morrison's budget rebate will give distillers up to $30,000 back on the excise they pay, approximately $25 a bottle. SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - MAY 05: Reg Papps at there Ironbark Distillery. A year ago and have already started winning awards on May 5, 2016 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Christopher Pearce/Fairfax Media) Credit:Christopher Pearce "The excise break will not be passed on until 2017-18, so in the short term price will probably remain the same," says Reg Papps of Ironbark distillery. "Once we figure out how it works, and just what the rebate gives us in cash terms then we can make a decision on price point." Melbourne Girls' College, which recently turned away 12 students including nearby public housing residents, asks aspiring Year 7 students to respond to the following question: "the core values of the college are diversity, excellence and teamwork. What does each of these values mean for you?" Temperatures are expected to soar early next week as students across NSW return to school. Credit:Michele Mossop Why do principals care so much about grades? Since the MySchool website launched, every schools' NAPLAN scores were made publicly available. This data is being used by parents and policymakers to form assessments about the value of schools, putting state schools in competition with private schools for top grades and prestige. Illustration: Matt Davidson. According to University of Melbourne's Professor John Polesel, it is important to have transparency and accountability around school performance, but NAPLAN scores were a crude measure of success and could be easily "manipulated or misinterpreted". "We have instigated a system of competition between schools ... I don't entirely blame the schools, I blame the system as well, and the way the government is pitting schools against each other, on measures such as NAPLAN scores." Can we also blame the parents? Partly. Their decision to avoid local state schools is contributing to this issue. In order to secure a spot in coveted schools, parents pen long letters to schools to advocate for their child's enrolment. They offer to donate money to the school, or volunteer their time and services. Sometimes, they claim to live at a false address to make it appear they are within the school zone. However, parents argue it is their responsibility to do all that they can to ensure their kids receive a good education. Many claim they dodge disadvantaged schools because the schools have less resources and facilities, and are inclined to fund certain initiatives such as language programs and breakfast clubs, which do not benefit their kids. These schools have very little access to parent donations, yet grapple with high costs to support their students' needs. But what about school zones? Education Department rules state that schools must accept all students if it is their local state school. If there are vacancies, it must then accept the siblings of students already attending the school, even if it is not their closest school. The next step is contentious. Some schools are are able to fill vacancies using their discretion, based on "curriculum grounds". This allows for kids to get in if they have special skills in music, sport, or a second language. Who are the winners and losers? Winners: Academic students and advantaged parents who know how to play the system. Losers: Disadvantaged families, especially those who are newly arrived. Students who can secure enrolments in over-subscribed schools are high achievers and generally from more advantaged backgrounds, said Professor Polesel. And, wealthier and educated parents are more equipped to investigate how well their local schools are performing, study their results and make an informed choice about a school. "Obviously, if you're a refugee or children of refugees or from a poor or uneducated background, it's going to be more difficult to make an informed choice about which school is best for your children." What does segregation mean for learning? Former principals turned researchers Chris Bonnor and Bernie Shepherd found the widening economic and social gaps between schools is affecting academic performance. A comparison of NAPLAN scores from 2008 to 2014 showed wealthy schools' scores improved over the six-year period, while poorer schools' grades declined. This is particularly concerning, given the gap between the highest and lowest performing students is already greater than most other developed countries. How to fix it? We have a few suggestions: Go local The principal of one of Victoria's most sought-after state schools is urging parents to send their children to their local school. McKinnon Secondary College principal Pitsa Binion said every state school should promote their successes so parents had the confidence to send their children there. "I want to see a system where everyone supports their local school," she said. "We are a good school, but there are very good schools everywhere. The teachers are qualified in the same universities. People need to vote with their feet and support their local schools." While most students at McKinnon Secondary have grown up in the area, about 40 per cent of families have moved houses to secure a spot for their child at the popular school. The school's success has pushed up property prices, and Ms Binion can't afford to buy a house in McKinnon. "I wish I had bought here. Instead, I am funding every one else's retirement," she joked. Target ability, not age Templestowe College principal Peter Hutton has proven that a principal can save a struggling and neglected school, by catering to students with different backgrounds and varying levels of ability. When he took over in 2009, the school had fewer than 300 students including just 23 students in year 7. He abolished year levels and allowed the students to decide which subjects they would focus on from year 7 to 12. The curriculum includes accelerated academic subjects and many vocational courses, which caters to students' range of ability. The model allowed for the gifted students to be pushed, and weaker students could work at their level of ability. "School is one of the only places where you can only work with people within 12 months of your age. Our classes would have a 14-year-old working with a 16-year-old or 17-year-old year old." Fund low-performing schools Chris Bonnor said the best way to avoid fierce competition between schools was to follow the Gonski scheme and fund schools based on need. "That will ensure that every local school has a good profile, and will attract parents and families regardless of their interests and level of achievement." Melbourne University's senior lecturer in education policy and politics, Dr Glenn Savage, said poorer schools struggled to attract good teachers, and creating incentives that would help put high-quality teachers in struggling schools was worthwhile. "A quality teacher can change the lives of a young person ... it can be the crucial difference between a young person doing well and miserably," he said. Stricter enrolment policies Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals president Judy Crowe said the department's policy on enrolments was too vague, and this was causing some parents to feel that they had been unfairly rejected. A 1000-year-old boab tree which grew to become an icon of the Kimberley region has died after heavy rains caused it to fall down on Thursday. Ellenbrae Station manager Larissa White said the tree, famous for an outdoor bath tub installed underneath it in the 1960s, was a popular stop-off for tourists travelling the Gibb River Road and would be greatly missed. The 1000-year-old boab became famous when it had a bathtub placed under it. But now it's down... Credit:Kimberley Spirit Facebook She said it most likely cracked after rain filled its hollowed-out branches and made it top-heavy. "We had 26 millimetres of rain the night before and then the next day we woke up and saw a big crack on the boab tree and thought, 'no not on our watch, you've lived hundreds of years!" Ms White said. This syncretism is part of what gives the Islam of Indonesia, known as Islam Nusantara, its unique flavour. It is also considered heresy by some Muslims, such as those who espouse the ultra-conservative brand of Sunni Islam known as Salafism or Wahhabism. Muhammad Jadul Maula, who runs an Islamic cultural school in Yogyakarta. Credit:Irwin Fedriansyah Wahhabists oppose the veneration of saints and pilgrimages to tombs, which they see as idolatry. Saudi Arabia - where this puritanical brand of Islam originated and has official status - has even demolished the tombs of companions of the Prophet Muhammad in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Pilgrims pray at the tomb of Sunan Gunungjati. Credit:Irwin Fedriansyah "Muslims are not allowed to idolise anyone," says Irfan Awwas, head of the executive board of the Wahhabi-inspired Indonesian Mujahideen Council. "(Pilgrims) pray to dead people. They idolise the Wali Songo." The influence of Wahhabi teaching, funded by Saudi money, is spreading in Indonesia - six satellite TV stations promote its theology 24/7. Men hold containers for donations from visiting pilgrims outside the tomb area. Credit:Irwin Fedriansyah But if anything, pilgrimage to the Wali Songo shrines is more popular than ever, in part due to government promotion of the sites as tourist destinations. "Visiting tombs is an old tradition in Indonesia, so it is difficult to attack this tradition," Jadul Maula says. A woman sits among the tombstones at the shrine. Some conservative Muslims frown upon the burial of human beings in a house of worship and pilgrimages to such shrines. Credit:Irwin Fedriansyah A couple of years ago a tomb was bombed in Yogyakarta, with the word kafir (infidel) scrawled across the tombstone. "What is interesting is that people immediately realised it was a provocation," Jadul Maula says. "Now more people go to the tomb." Crockery in the Chinese style embedded in the walls of the shrine. While this form of decoration has a long history in Indonesia, orthodox Islam holds a strong taboo against representation of living things in art, especially in a sacred precinct. Credit:Irwin Fedriansyah Many Indonesians believe the legacy of the Wali Songo is Islam Nusantara, a pluralistic, tolerant form of Islam that inspired the nation's founders to establish a multi-religious state in 1945. This week the largest Islamic civil group in the world - Indonesia's Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) - will host a two-day international summit of Muslim leaders in Jakarta. An expanding affluent class and government tourism campaigns have seen the number of visitors to the Wali Songo's shrines increase. Credit:Irwin Fedriansyah The summit, attended by 300 Muslim leaders from more than 30 countries, is part of NU's global campaign to promote Islam Nusantara as an antidote to extremist ideology and jihadism. NU's Supreme Council general secretary, Yahya Cholil Staquf, believes the event will be historic because it will discuss frankly the links between terrorism and Islam. Worshippers pray at the shrines in the hope that the Wali Songo will intercede with God on their behalf. Credit:Irwin Fedriansyah Yahya, whose family has produced kiai (Islamic scholars) for generations, is shocked by the argument often presented in the West that Islam has nothing to do with extremism and terrorism. He says provisions within fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) allow for slavery and executions. It is from these medieval interpretations of Islam that the so-called Islamic State and al-Qaeda draw justification for their actions. Pilgrims pray at the tomb of Sunan Gunungjati in Cirebon, West Java. Credit:Irwin Fedriansyah "If we may implement without questioning any provision of fiqh ... then we may ... butcher people according to the rules of fiqh that still exist today," Yahya says. "This is a problem." NU is pushing for a debate about how literal interpretations of Islamic law - relevant at the time of the Prophet Muhammad - can be revised to reflect contemporary society. There is a heightened urgency to this battle of ideas given that IS claimed responsibility for a terror attack in Central Jakarta in January which killed eight people. "We want to encourage people to acknowledge the problem honestly and stop denying it," Yahya says. Hajriyanto Thohari, an executive board member of Muhammadiyah, Indonesia's second-largest Islamic civil organisation, believes this linkage of Islam and terrorism is simplistic. Muhammadiyah promotes a "modernist" view of Islam, rejecting customary Indonesian rituals such as tahlilan, the prayers for the dead recited at deceased people's homes. "The root of terrorism is injustice in politics and the economy," Hajriyanto says. He argues that Malaysia is a state based on Islam, where the Koran is interpreted literally. "Why is there no terrorism in Malaysia? Because the Malaysian government is successful in providing economic justice, it has a good political system where Islam is the official religion but non-Muslims can be in the government, the military etc." Hajriyanto says Indonesia's founding fathers failed to offer a clear explanation to the country's Muslim community of their decision to adopt Pancasila, a state ideology of five founding principles. The first of these principles was monotheism, and Pancasila recognised six official religions - including Islam - in a secular democratic state. "The majority of Indonesians see that it shows the great heart of Indonesian Muslims, it shows Indonesian Muslims' tolerance, but some small groups see it as the defeat of Islam," Hajriyanto says. "And these small groups are very noisy. They are the ones who are today voicing the need for a caliphate." The idea of Islam possessing a distinct Indonesian identity provokes fierce debate. During celebrations to mark Isra and Miraj (the Prophet Muhammad's Night Journey to Jerusalem and then heaven) at the presidential palace last year, a university professor sparked controversy when he recited 15 verses of the Koran to a Javanese melody. The Council of Indonesian Ulama (MUI), Indonesia's peak body of Islamic scholarship, denounced the recitation as "an embarrassment for Indonesia", saying the Koran was revealed in Arabic and had to be read according to that language's tradition. But the recitation was defended by Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin, who said it preserved Indonesia's traditions and spread the teaching of Islam through the country. A month later the Islam Nusantara campaign received an enormous boost when President Joko Widodo, known as Jokowi, described it as a force to counter extremism. Jokowi said leaders of other countries often expressed surprise that people in Indonesia - an overwhelmingly Muslim country with a population of 250 million - lived safely with mutual tolerance. "Thanks be to God, our Islam is Islam Nusantara, which is full of respect, courtesy and tolerance," he added. But conservative Islamic groups see Islam Nusantara as deviant and an attempt to localise Islam, which they argue is a universal faith with one God, one Koran and one messenger. "Islam Nusantara is not Islam because [it] believes that it is different to Islam in [the] Arab [world]," says Awwas. "[Islamic State] are angry at the liberals such as Islam Nusantara for ignoring Islamic teachings. But the way they react is wrong because it shows their misunderstanding of Islamic teachings. "Meanwhile Islam Nusantara is just the same, because they see other Muslims as terrorists. My conclusion is that both IS and Islam Nusantara are equally evil, because both of them are damaging the image of Islam." Every Christmas, Ansor - the youth wing of NU - deploys its paramilitary unit to provide security outside churches. Its general chairman, Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, hopes it can inspire similar acts of interfaith co-operation on a global level. "We are facing a situation in the world where it is becoming normal to regard people from other faiths as infidels," Yaqut says. "Witnessing this development, Ansor is extremely concerned." At an event parallel to this week's NU summit, Ansor will issue a declaration calling for the "renovation" of Islamic jurisprudence that discriminates against non-Muslims. Three Spanish journalists believed kidnapped in Aleppo Madrid: Three Spanish freelance journalists who went missing in Syria last year and were believed to have been kidnapped have been released, the Spanish government said. The three men - Antonio Pampliega, Jose Manuel Lopez and Angel Sastre - disappeared last July. They were working on an investigative report in the northern city of Aleppo, where other journalists have been captured in the past, Spanish media reported at the time. The three freed Spanish journalists - Antonio Pampliega, right, Jose Manuel Lopez, left, and Angel Sastre - arrive at the Torrejon military airbase in Madrid, Spain. Credit:AP Spain's acting deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria had made contact and spoken with the three, a government spokesman said. On Sunday the Spanish government released pictures of the men arriving at the Torrejon military airbase. No details were immediately available on how the three were released, but Qatar said it had helped. Qatar's state news agency said Assistant Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad Martian had received a phone call from Spain's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ignacio Iapanaz Rebeo, in which he "thanked the State of Qatar for its efforts in the release of three Spanish prisoners who had been detained in Syria". Some Spanish media, including El Pais, say the three were held by al Qaeda's Syrian wing, the Nusra Front, which is designated by the United Nations and the United States as a terrorist organisation. Qatar has previously mediated the release of foreign hostages held by Nusra Front in Syria. GREAT BAY(DCOMM):--- Sint Maarten was recently the host of the first Communications Technical Working Group (TWG) meeting of the Caribbean Plant Health Directors (CPHD) Forum. The meeting took place at Divi Little Bay from April 14-15. This Forum with representatives from 34 countries and territories from across the Region and the Americas, has as its objective the curtailing of the spread of plant pests and diseases since agriculture if one of the basic economic pillars in the Americas and many products from across the Caribbean are traded worldwide. St. Maarten was represented at this Forum by Mervyn Butcher of the Section responsible for Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries from the Inspectorate at the Ministry of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Traffic and Telecommunications. Country Sint Maarten according to Butcher is represented on two of six technical work groups, namely Palm Pest and the Communications. The other four Technical Working Groups are Safeguarding, Fruit Fly, Emergency Preparedness, and Mollucs. The Communications TWG has drafted a strategy which will be submitted at the next general meeting planned for July in Trinidad & Tobago. The genesis of the CPHD Forum was largely the result of efforts by the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Heath and Inspection Services (USDA / APHIS) and CARICOM, with support from the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). A critical goal of the CPHD Forum is to increase communication and the transparent exchange of sanitary information among Caribbean Countries. One of the means of promoting this exchange is through individual and group interchange of information via the annual CPHD Forum Meeting as the Region does not have a regional sanitary organisation as do all other sub-regions of the Americas (e.g. OIRSA-Central America/Mexico/DR, CAN, COSAVE). Since there has been liberalization in the trade of plants and plant products, and an obligation on all countries to provide sound scientific data to support the application of any plant health measure(s) and regulatory measures to safeguard their agriculture, this mechanism was put in place. Countries and territories, in the Caribbean Region face immense challenges in fulfilling this obligation for a number of reasons such as; lack of financial and human resources, technical competence and capacity, infrastructure, and baseline data. Further compounding the challenges is the reality that the Caribbean Region is one of the few regions that does not have a functioning regional plant protection organization. A functioning regional plant protection organization provides a platform to address regulatory and technical issues relative to invasive species in areas such as pest detection, mitigation and exclusion, as well as ensure an active voice and representation in the World Trade Organization (WTO/SPS) and other international forums such as IPPC. PHILIPSBURG:--- Its seems more than likely that Collective and Preventative Services (CPS) from the Ministry of Health has been ignoring the danger and side effects that the Zika virus has on patients that catch the virus. Just recently SMN News posted a photo of the pool at Algeria resort which is clearly a breeding ground for mosquitoes. On Sunday SMN News visited Marys Fancy Plantation only to find a pool that turned into a swamp where mosquitoes are breeding while families with young children are living on the property. Also visible is construction and renovation seems to be taking place at the plantation and while the Minister of Health Emil Lee cautioned the public to take the necessary precautions to prevent mosquito breeding and news reports are constantly informing the public about the Zika virus it is downright shameful to see APS the current owner of the property has chosen to ignore the health hazard they pose to the people living on the plantation and general public. SMN News tried contacting former Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards on Sunday for a comment on the condition of the pool and why nothing has been done to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes on the plantation but Richards could not be reached by telephone. Minister of Health Emil Lee is unaware of the situation, however, the Minister promised to get CPS to visit the plantation and to quickly resolve the problem. Shaw to Credit Accounts of Fort McMurray Customers Impacted by Wildfires CALGARY, ALBERTA (Marketwired) 05/07/16 Shaw Communications Inc.(TSX: SJR.B)(NYSE: SJR) today announced that it will be providing a one-month service credit to all customers in Fort McMurray and surrounding Northern Alberta communities affected by the recent wildfires that swept through the city, resulting in mandatory evacuation on Tuesday, May 3. The application of this credit retroactive to May 3 will ensure all affected customers continue to have access to Shaw Go WiFi, FreeRange TV and their @shaw.ca email account while they are out of their homes without needing to worry about their accounts status. In addition, all residents and visitors in Northern Alberta and Edmonton have been given open access to the Shaw Go WiFi network where available. This connection allows residents to have access to timely news and information, and help them stay in touch with friends and loved ones, regardless of whether they are Shaw customers or not. Citizens can access Shaw Go WiFi by searching for available WiFi connections on their smartphones, laptops, tablets or mobile devices, and selecting the ShawGo network. A full list of locations is available at or by downloading the Shaw Go WiFi Finder App. About Shaw Communications Inc. Shaw is a leading pure-play connectivity provider. Shaw serves consumers with broadband Internet, WiFi, video, digital phone and, through WIND Mobile, wireless services. Shaw Business Network Services provides business customers with Internet, data, WiFi, telephony, video and fleet tracking services. Shaw Business Infrastructure Services provides enterprises colocation, cloud and managed services through ViaWest. Shaw is traded on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges and is included in the S&P/TSX 60 Index (TSX: SJR.B)(NYSE: SJR). For more information, please visit Contacts: Shaw Communications Inc. Chethan Lakshman, VP, Communications and Public Relations (403) 930-8448 Black Roses, a pop music duo which consists of Jane Gjestland & Bjorn Erik Sorensen of Sandnes, Norway, has won the SongwriterUniverse Best Song Of The Month Contest for May, for their song, Want This. This song will be included on their upcoming EP called U-Turn, which they will release independently in the coming months. Want This is a graceful, acoustic/pop ballad which is in the vein of the Cranberries and Bangles classic, melodic style. The intro and first verse start gently, and then the arrangement gradually builds to a more energized, full-band sound in the chorus. This recording provides a fine showcase Jane Gjestlands expressive, lead & harmony vocals. Want This was expertly produced by Bjorn Erik Sorensen, who impressively played all the instruments on this recording, except bass. Gjestland and Sorensen are both from Norway, and theyve been writing together for over 10 years, since they were 16. It was only during the past year that they decided to form Black Roses and begin releasing singles. We felt it was time to release some of the music, and the songs we were writing at that moment really suited my voice, explained Gjestland. I write the lyrics and the singing melody and Bjorn (Sorensen) writes the music. Sometimes Ill write to a track and sometimes Bjorn listens to me singing melodies and writes from that. Bjorn plays most instruments and also produces, and does the mixing and mastering. Sorensen also produces other artists, and works out of his Artbeat Recording Studio. Gjestlant recalls how they wrote Want This. I write songs based on a feeling I wrote this one to a track Bjorn had done. The titleyou want this (but you dont want that) is what I wrote the lyrics around, and it was based on several relationships where the foundations were not what they seemed to beand what a shock it is when you realize it (often too late). In addition to writing and recording in Norway, Gjestland & Sorensen have traveled several times to Nashville to record and network. Bjorn has his own studio here in Norway, and we are both very busy, said Gjestland. However, we are both very curious and eager to learn from others. Nashville was the right place for us to record. We have been back and forth several times. We have used both Blackbird Studio and Castleand it is nice now that we also have good connections over there. Currently, the duo continues to write and record, and theyre completing their EP, which might turn out to be a full album release. In the meantime, theyre excited about two new singles theyre putting out: U Turn and Home Alone. For city money, South Bend apartments allot 40% of rooms to poor tenants The need for reasonably priced one- and two-bedroom units is dire in the city. Many renters are older and disabled residents who live alone. Welcome to SwanseaOnline - your home for the best news, sports and what's on coverage of the city. Never miss a Swansea story with our daily newsletter Sign up to comment on our stories here Follow us on Facebook and Twitter | Swansea City news | Ospreys news | InYourArea The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service. We have a love/hate relationship with cheatgrass, more on the hate side. Cheatgrass greatly increases the wildfire risk and is responsible for much of the damage to rangelands and sage-grouse habitat in this area. The love side comes from cheatgrass being a valuable winter graze and is eaten by Nevada cattle more than any other grass. Range managers and scientists have searched for a way to control cheatgrass. At the recent Weed Extravaganza, David Stewart from BioWest Ag Solutions presented a promising company product. MB 906 is a proprietary strain of bacteria called Psuedomonas fluorescens. The product comes from research being conducted by Dr. Ann Kennedy at Washington State University. The bacteria naturally lives in our Western soils, just in quantities too small to affect cheatgrass. The product contains only bacteria and is purchased in a liquid infusion which is sprayed onto cheatgrass infested areas. The bacteria inhibits root growth by binding to the outside of root cells. It does not kill cheatgrass but lowers its competitiveness so other plants can crowd it out. It also inhibits seed growth in seeds already in the soil that can germinate years later. David said it does not work on any other plants, does not harm animals or other soil bacteria. It will not mutate, move through the soil or increase in water runoff. In tests, David said they are seeing a 50 percent decrease in cheatgrass during the first year, both in the total number of plants and decreased height of the overall plants. In three to five years, they have seen a 90 percent decrease in the cheatgrass cover, although this may take two or three more applications. Since it takes a year for the bacteria to build up and affect the cheatgrass, it can be applied mixed with a herbicide to knock down cheatgrass during that first year. MB 906 can be applied by backpack, airplane, pivot or irrigation. For best results, desirable plants need to be added to the landscape to take up the space previously used by the cheatgrass. Since it only works on a few weeds, other weeds can take over an area. As a bonus, the product also works on medusahead and jointed goatgrass. It is applied at the rate of one gallon per acre and costs $8.52 per gallon. The smallest quantity available is 250 gallons. This bacterium loves the cold. It works during fall and spring. As the soil temperature warms up above 55 degrees, it goes dormant. MB 906 is registered in Nevada as a soil inoculant with a proprietary blend of beneficial microorganisms that may enhance biodiversity in the soil. Private and state landowners can apply it now but federal landowners need to wait a year for it to be registered. It carries no restrictions or special handling requirements. MB 906 sounds perfect so I asked others attending the weed extravaganza what they thought. These were people actively working on Elko County weeds. They agreed the product looks promising but they were a bit more reserved. They were hesitant on the cost effectiveness of product when treating the huge areas they deal with. They also had a show me attitude and wanted to test it themselves before committing to large treatment areas but this proprietary bacterium could be a powerful tool in battling cheatgrass and medusahead. London, May 8, 2016 (SPS) - The UK Parliament has called on the government to support the holding of a referendum in Western Sahara, and the UK government has reiterated its support to the right of Sahrawi people to self-determination, said Saturday a parliamentary source in London. The Scottish National Party MP, Alan Brown sent written questions, last Wednesday, to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office on the holding of a referendum in Western Sahara and on the recent consultation between London and Rabat on the issue. In his reply to the questions, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Tobias Elwood said that the "the UK encourages the parties to the conflict (Western Sahara and Morocco) to cooperate with the United Nations in its efforts to reach a mutually acceptable solution that provides for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara." London reiterates its position in favour of a lasting solution to the conflict, said Tobias, who added that "it is for the parties to the dispute to agree a resolution of the final status of Western Sahara." Following the adoption of the resolution 2285 by the UN Security Council, London called for a lasting mutually acceptable political solution for Western Sahara, providing for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara. UK Ambassador to the United Nations Matthew Rycroft said that London supported the UN position on the issue, adding that "the United Kingdom's position on this (issue) remains the same: the UN process will continue to have our full support," he stressed. Rycroft also urged all parties "to engage constructively with each other, and the UN process, so that together we can find a solution and settle the question of Western Sahara once and for all." "Doing so is not only of the utmost importance for the Sahrawi refugees -who continue to suffer from this protracted dispute- but also for the security and economic prosperity of all countries and all peoples in the Maghreb region," he said. A debate on the self-determination of Western Sahara was held at the UK Parliament on 20 April, with the participation of MPs and members of the government. The participants underlined the need to end the Western Sahara conflict by the holding of a referendum on self-determination, in accordance with the international law. (SPS) 062/090/700 Algiers, May 8, 2016 (SPS) - The ambassador of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) to Algiers Bechraya Hamoudi Bayoune affirmed Saturday that the recent decision of the Security Council obliging the Moroccan occupier to accept the return of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), to continue its mandate, is positive but insufficient. In his speech in the solidarity day organized by the party Tajamou Amel El Djazair "TAJ" in Algiers on the occasion of the commemoration of the 71st anniversary of the massacres of 8 May 1945, Hamoudi Bayoune said that the Sahrawi people consider positive but insufficient the recent decision adopted by the Security Council obliging the Moroccan occupier to accept the return of MINURSO and giving Morocco 90 days to implement it. The Sahrawi official said that it is the first time that a decision is reached by a consensus and the right of veto hasnt been used. He underlined that MINURSOs expulsion by Morocco was a way to shirk the international law, adding that after 40 years of Moroccan occupation of the Sahrawi territories, an international awareness about the need to find a solution to the Sahrawi cause has grown. The situation cannot continue, he insisted, adding that the Security Councils future decisions will be more credible. Achieving security and stability in the African and Arab region is still dependent on a fair solution to the Sahrawi cause, he added before urging the Security Council to speed up the organization of a self-determination referendum. Bayoune affirmed that the Sahrawi people will be, in the next 90 days, mobilized at the popular, diplomatic and military fronts to face in the future any eventuality. The Sahrawi official hailed Algerias positive role during the forty years of Western Saharas occupation, and which has remained faithful to its unchanging positions and principles, he pointed out. (SPS) 0620/090/700 Copenhagen (Denmark) 8 May 2016 (SPS) The Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Kristian Jensen responded Thursday to various questions raised to him recently by the member of Danish Parliament, Mr. Christian Juhl from the Red-Green Alliance Party through the Parliaments Foreign Affairs Committee related to the latest developments in occupied Western Sahara including; Moroccos expulsion of 73 members of MINURSO political component, the urgency of MINURSO mandate to monitor human rights in the territory, European Justice Court annulment of EU-Morocco agriculture and fish products deal on the basis that it included occupied Western Sahara, human rights situation, Gdeim Izik group case and Moroccos illegal occupation to Western Sahara. The Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Kristian Jensen response: Western Sahara has in the UN status of non-self-governing territory. On 29 April 2016 the UNSC adopted Resolution 2285, which extends the MINURSO mandate to 30 April 2017. The resolution regrets that MINURSO's ability to fully live up to its mandate, which has been affected since most of its civilian component including political personnel unable to perform their duties in MINURSOs area of operation. The resolution also stresses the urgent need for MINURSO to return to its full functionality. Denmark supports the Security Council extension of MINURSO and emphasizes that the mission will be able to fulfill its mandate to the fullest. The best opportunity to achieve a peaceful negotiated solution between the parties lies with the UN. The government supports the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy Christopher Ross continued consultations with stakeholders in the region with a view to a resumption of direct negotiations between the parties. There has long been discussion about getting human rights incorporated as part of the UN mission (MINURSO) mandate. The Danish Government supports this proposal. Denmark regularly raises human rights issues in the ongoing bilateral dialogue with Morocco, including the relation to Western Sahara. The government will await the final judgment by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) before taking a position. (SPS) 062/090 Solemn award ceremony at Artsakh President's residence On May 8, in connection with the Victory Day, the day of the Nagorno Karabagh Republic Defense Army and the Liberation of Shoushi a solemn ceremony of awarding took place at the residence of the Artsakh Republic President where the President delivered a speech. For courage and bravery shown during the defense of the NKR state borders and the Motherland a group of defense Army's servicemen, freedom-fighters and volunteers were handed in high state awards. Primate of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan, NKR National Assembly chairman Ashot Ghoulyan, defense minister Levon Mnatsakanyan and other officials partook in the event. --------------------------------------- In connection with the Victory Day, the Day of the NKR Defense Army and the Liberation of Shoushi President Bako Sahakyan signed several decrees on awarding. For exclusive bravery and courage shown during the defense of the NKR state border in the course of the large-scale military operations unleashed by Azerbaijan from 2 to 5 April of 2016 Defense Army's junior sergeant Robert Abajyan was posthumously awarded with the Golden Eagle Order granted the highest Honorary Title of the "Hero of Artsakh". For courage and bravery shown in the course of defending the NKR state border and battles for the defense of the Motherland one individual was decorated with Battle Cross Order of the second degree, 44 individuals were awarded with "For Courage" medal, four of them posthumously, 241 individuals were awarded with "For Service in Battle" medal, 11 of them posthumously. For personal bravery shown during the battles for the liberation of Shoushi 16 individuals were awarded with the medal "For the Liberation of Shoushi", two of them posthumously. For services rendered to the Nagorno Karabagh Republic one freedom-fighter was awarded with the "Gratitude" medal. ------------------------------------ Speech of President Bako Sahakyan delivered at the solemn awarding ceremony dedicated to the Victory Holiday, Day of the Artsakh Republic Defense Army and Liberation of Shoushi Your Grace, Dear Veterans, Respectful generals, officers and soldiers, Respected attendees, The May 9 Triple Holiday is one of our dearest and cherished holidays that symbolizes victory, devotion, cohesion, courage, remembering and appreciating the heroic pages of our history which is of particular importance for Artsakh and the whole Armenian nation especially at this time. Azerbaijan, undertaking the April large-scale military operations along the whole perimeter of the Karabagh-Azerbaijani border once again tried to carry out by means of war its terrorist and criminal plans against our people and state. And only due to the strength of our Defense Army, unprecedented courage and unyielding spirit of our soldiers it was possible to give a worthy counterstroke to the unbridled enemy, which suffering heavy losses in manpower and military equipment was forced to ask for a ceasefire. Today we are full of pride for our young generation that was born and grew up during the years of independence of the two Armenian republics. They continue with dignity the cause of their hero fathers and grandfathers defending the Motherland in the hours of ordeal. Our young boys who were at the forefront faced the main blow of the enemy. The adversary was forced to retreat due to the heroism and courage of those boys and numerous freedom-fighters and volunteers who came to the aid. Eternal honor and glory to all those, who honestly fulfilled their duty towards their Motherland! Regrettably, we had irretrievable losses on those days, dozens of our brave sons had martyred. We had losses among civilians too. Their immortal names will always remain bright in our hearts. I would like to take a minute of silence to respect the memory of all our martyrs. We are peace-loving people, but will never tolerate any encroachment attempt against our country's security and will give a fitting rebuff to any aggression of the foe. Dear friends, On the April war all the Armenians stood up again demonstrating unprecedented cohesion, exceptional ability to unite in hard times, invaluable readiness to help and assist their compatriots having appeared in danger by all means possible and to be by their side. Mother Armenia and the Diaspora united around Artsakh. The whole nation became a single army; being useful to the common cause became the duty for everybody. On these fatal days public and political figures from various countries, representatives of international organizations were also with us. We rate high their honest and impartial work. I would like to accentuate the work implemented on these hard days by our state agencies with a deep realization of the whole seriousness of the moment and high responsibility. The executive, including the Presidents office, legislative, power structures and all the state bodies worked hard and did all the possible for proper solution of the set tasks manifesting thus the ability of the state institutions to work in crucial situations. Today we know much better our successes and shortcomings. It is necessary perform great work to eliminate the identified drawbacks. Here too we should work together and united, in the atmosphere of mutual respect. I am confident that this we will overcome all the difficulties and challenges with flying colors becoming stronger and steadfast. We defend our native land, our home and family. It is a holy struggle where victory does not have any alternative. Our heroic people proved this by their courage and endurance, overcame all the difficulties with decency for their right to live in a free and independent country. Dear attendees, I once again congratulate all those who were honored with high state awards. I congratulate all of us on the Victory Holiday, the Day of Artsakh Republic Defense Army and the Liberation of Shoushi, wishing peace and great success. Thank you! Stepanakert, May 8, 2016. Allyson Downey was a newly minted Columbia University MBA graduate when she landed a job in the wealth management department of Credit Suisse in New York City. She was, thanks to her previous professional experience raising money from billionaires in politics, doing extremely well right out of the gate. Her managers were praising her and she was on the verge of bringing in a major client. And then she got pregnant. Downey, then 31, had spent years dealing with fertility issues, a struggle she wrote openly about in a post on Medium. Midway through the pregnancy, she had complications that required her to be off of her feet. Despite Downeys strategic planning for a contingency plan such that she could continue to complete her work from home, Downeys attempts to communicate with management were repeatedly ignored. When Downey did finally hear back from Credit Suisse, it was with a phone number for human resources. They would help her process her disability leave, she was told. Downey never returned to work on Wall Street. After having her baby, Downey took a job raising money for a nonprofit. It was mind-numbingly easy for her, and she got bored quickly. It was in that time when Downey was largely unstimulated professionally that she had the idea for weeSpring, a platform where new parents can find reviews of products from friends, peers and other trusted voices in their networks. Launched in Jan. 2013, Downey went through the Techstars program in the spring of 2013. The company is headquartered in Boulder, Colo., and her team of five are distributed across the country and work virtually. She doesnt share revenue or profit figures, but says that weeSpring is indeed in the black. Image credit: Allison Hooban Related: Secrets to Being Both an Executive and a Mom Downey is now 36 and has two children: Logan turns 5 in August and Caroline turns 2 in June. Learning how to be both a business owner and a mom was not easy for Downey. Finding answers to her questions was often frustrating. I was Googling, pregnancy discrimination and finding these sketchy looking websites with blinking Call now buttons, and that was the extent of what I was able to find out, Downey says during a phone conversation with Entrepreneur. So Downey set out to write the book that she wished had been there for her. The result, launching today, is Heres The Plan. Your Practical, Tactical Guide to Advancing Your Career During Pregnancy and Parenting (Seal Press). For the book, Downey interviewed nearly 75 professional moms and culled through survey data. Its a comprehensive, straight-shooting guide to all of the questions that new moms are too afraid to ask or too naive to even know they need to ask. Image credit: Allyson Downey Here are five of the lessons that Downey learned from her own experience and research. 1. Speak up and communicate clearly about what you want. Often, colleagues and managers make assumptions about what they think a pregnant woman or new mom prefers. While their intentions may be good, they may inadvertently be short circuiting a womans professional ambitions. Downey calls this benevolent discrimination. Whether you want to work from home part time or you want to be sure your boss knows that you still want that promotion even though you have just had a baby, Downey says that women need to be ready to communicate often and clearly. We tend to assume that people know what we are thinking and very rarely do they actually know what we are thinking, she says. The onus really is on the woman to be crystal clear and vocal. She recommends women set quarterly reminders for themselves to proactively communicate with managers both what they want to do and how they will accomplish their goals. Related: Reality Check: You Need to Care About More Than Your Business 2. Build up your network. Its always important to develop your contact list, but its especially important to keep the networking going when a woman is pregnant, on maternity leave or taking care of young children. Its often one of the first things to go when they are having children because they think that they dont have time anymore to go out and go to networking cocktail events or show up for an industry breakfast, says Downey. Men, however, dont have the same compulsions. Dont forget to lean on partners and caregivers so that you can attend those professional mixers, advises Downey. Also, there are ways to network from your computer, too, she says. Proactively make email connections that dont necessarily have an immediate impact. Finding those ways to be helpful and constructive of two people with one introduction is going to get you those favors in the favor bank that, even without you having to go proactively cash in on them, wind up coming back to you, says Downey. You get the benefits of networking without having to put in the face-to-face time. 3. Arbitrage your time. You cant be everywhere at once. Pay people to do things for you. Instacart your grocery delivery, drop off your laundry and TaskRabbit the rest of your chore list. Take your annual salary and reverse engineer your hourly rate and when you can afford it, pay people to have tasks done that are less than what you make per hour. I know that people dont have endless resources, but people also dont have endless time," she says. 4. Create a paper trail of your achievements. This isnt just in case you find yourself the victim of pregnancy discrimination, either. Women need to keep a dossier of their successes, says Downey. Every Friday afternoon, take 15 minutes to document your successes. Put in writing conversations that commend your work. That way, when its time for you to meet with your manager for a review, you have a detailed list of everything that you have done well. Rather than thinking about a document of your accomplishments for potential defense, think about it as an offensive strategy. As women, we tend to spend a lot of time berating ourselves for what we didnt have time to do and what we didnt finish and what we didnt get done and rarely do we take time to celebrate what we did do, says Downey. Related: Great Entrepreneur, Lousy Lover? 5. Change the way you think about having kids and a career. You cant be both leading a meeting in the board room and changing your babys diaper in the nursery at the same time. So switch how you feel about that reality. Everyone feels torn all the time. I do not know anyone who doesnt suffer from working mom guilt. That is an absolute truism. And I dont know anyone who does not experience that, says Downey. But there is a way to reframe how you feel about being pulled in two directions. If you are someone who enjoys work and loves work and you are home with a baby all day long for two years of your life," she says, "it is not going to be good for you and it is not going to be good for your relationship with your kid. To be sure, many mothers prefer to stay at home full time with their children, and thats perfectly honorable, but if you are someone who is happier being engaged in your career, then it will be good for you and your kid for you to be at work, says Downey. Related: 5 Crucial Business Skills I Could Only Learn Through Motherhood Secrets to Being Both an Executive and a Mom 5 Essential Skills New Working Moms Need to Know to Keep Their Career in High Gear Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Im not sure if this will finally be Leonardo DiCaprios year, for The Revenant, or if newcomer Brie Larson, in Room, will trump perennial favorite Cate Blanchett for the latter's role in Carol. What I can tell you is that people are inspired by movies and jazzed by Hollywoods award season. But what does that have to do with business? Related: New Movie 'Joy' Celebrates Something We Already Appreciate: Entrepreneurs The answer: inspiration. Where do your business ideas come from? From a variety of sources, I bet. Whether its a personal experience, a business experience, a billboard you saw when you were driving down the road or something your significant other said at the grocery store: Inspiration comes from a wide variety of sources. So, whether you feel like "the king of the world," or believe that you "couldve been a contender" or consider that you should "always be closing": Entrepreneurs can draw a lot from movies. And as we approach Hollywoods biggest night, the Academy Awards, here are a few movie lines that have inspired me throughout my own career: 1. 'The Godfather' (Best Picture, 1972) Great men are not born great, they grow great. Isnt that the truth! No one is born with massive amounts of knowledge. If youre smart enough, you acquire some of that knowledge along the way. If youre one of those people who think they know it all, I've got news for you: You dont! That is the first obstacle you must overcome, your own arrogance. Throughout my career, Ive been called pig-headed, even irrational, but I haven't been bothered by it. In fact, I've welcomed it. Why? Because Ive been smart enough to learn a few things along the way and use that knowledge to grow. As a young entrepreneur being shown the ranks, I sat in meetings where my boss would say things like, Because its always been done that way. If you expect to be in business a long time, this is one surefire way to cut that shelf life short. And it's not a good mentality to have if you want to grow and be great. Nothing beats experience. 2. 'All the Kings Men' (Best Picture, 1949) To find something, anything, a great truth or a lost pair of glasses, you must first believe there will be some advantage in finding it. "Advantage" is the basis of any entrepreneur. The road to entrepreneurship is paved with roadblocks and potholes galore. We all know that, but one thing we entrepreneurs have in common is the belief that we will find success. We have this dream of the company that we want to build and shape. We have a vision, and well work ourselves to exhaustion trying to make our dream a success, regardless of what the naysayers say (because they will say something about why you won't succeed). You will find that your business success will not come from any trophies or titles. It will come as a reflection of your truth. Your vision becoming a reality will be the measure of your success, and throughout this process you must stay true to who you are. What made you become an entrepreneur in the first place? Let that serve as your true north. Being authentic is the key to success -- it has been for me. That and my belief that I can make a living doing something I love doing. Related: 5 Movies With Great Lessons for Entrepreneurs 3. 'Rocky' (Best Picture, 1977) Nobody is going to hit as hard as life, but it aint how hard you can hit. Its how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. Its how much you can take, and keep moving forward. Thats how winning is done. You just read that quote in Sly Stallones voice, didnt you? Thats okay. I did too. Rocky is speaking some truths here. Life is hard enough as it is, but there will come a time where life will knock you flat on your rear end. You must get back up! You must! Life as an entrepreneur can be lonely. Not everyone will understand your drive, your vision or your passion. There will even be times where there wont be anyone in sight to help you up after life has knocked you down. In my own life, one of my biggest business "knock-downs" involved pheasants. Those stupid birds taste delicious but have got to be some of the stupidest birds on the planet. I love pheasant, love hunting them, so at first I thought, What could go wrong? After all, I am passionate about this venture, and Im pretty good at business. Little did I know that a prairie storm would wipe away my newest venture. In fact, the pheasants huddled together and drowned in the storm. And I lost everything. Needless to say, the true takeaway here is that, when life knocks you down, you should get up and hit it back harder. Just dont expect soaring music when you run up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art 4. 'Million Dollar Baby' (Best Picture, 2004) Its the magic of risking everything for a dream that nobody sees but you. Once again, the life of an entrepreneur can be lonely. You have your dream and vision, but there are people who are incapable of visualizing your dream or are so jealous of your success that they will plant seeds of doubt in your head. Dont let them. Haters are gonna hate, so let them! People will tell you how you should do things. Tell em to shut up! Write your own story. If others want to write a story, let them write their own. Your business will need to reflect your vision, not anyone elses. So, stop listening to other voices if you want to be the best "you" possible. Its your dream, your vision. 5. 'Lawrence of Arabia' (Best Picture, 1962) Big things have small beginnings, sir. Dont ever think youre too big for your britches. When you give yourself the title of CEO, that doesnt mean youre not going to end up cleaning your own bathroom or taking out the trash. If youre not willing to do something, how can you ask your team to do that same thing? As CEO of a company, big or small, it can be really easy to lose perspective and let our titles define us. A CEO cleaning his/her own bathroom? Unheard of in some cases. However, I see it as a positive. Why? It keeps entrepreneurs grounded. For me, humble work reminds me that I come from humble beginnings and that I need to be able to do everything I can for my company to succeed. It also allows me to stay connected, in some visceral way, to all aspects of my business. Disconnection can be a lonely island of entitlement, and you must find that balance between pushing forward and staying grounded. While I encourage everyone to "think big," I also warn, "Dont become too big." That can be a major turn-off for many. What movie inspires you to forge ahead? Which one dared you to put into motion your dream of becoming an entrepreneur? One thing is for sure: Nothing will happen if you dont at least attempt to get things started. As Master Yoda said, Do or do not. There is no try. What are your Academy Awards picks? Related: 4 Movies Every Entrepreneur Should Watch Related: 5 Famous Movie Quotes That Can Inspire Entrepreneurs Meet the Young Women Marvel Thinks Will Save the World 'Suicide Squad' Star and Rocker Jared Leto's Top Tip for Startup Founders Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved David Rinella When Greg Marsh moved to New York City, his wife kept locking herself out of their apartment. Then shed wait an hour for a locksmith to charge $150 for two minutes of work, he says. That got Marsh wondering about the locksmith industry -- which is $7.5 billion and totally fragmented. He came up with an idea: KeyMe, an app that scans and stores digital copies of keys, which can then be printed at kiosks or ordered by mail. In just four years, hed go on to raise $31 million of venture capital in three equity rounds. Heres how he did it. S amuel Pepys once described the pub as the heart of England, and rightly so, considering that there are few more pleasurable things than supping a pint of ale in good company. From naval reserve sailors toasting to their health to Fleet Street reporters grabbing a quick drink across the road from the Houses of Parliament, this collection of images sheds light on all manner of goings-on from some of Londons most vibrant watering holes, and the locals that have frequented them over the years. The pub is lovingly referred to as the focal point of the community, and at The Crown on Blackfriars Road in 1947, locals gather to celebrate the wedding of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. Elsewhere, several photos depict the pub as a hive of sporting and social activities. In 1955, men gather to play skittles in the Black Lion pub, while at the Enterprise Public House, patrons sit and watch Dominic Behan sing at a folk session in 1959. And long before jukeboxes (and Lucky Voice) were popularised, people would gather around the piano to hear a tune or two. At The Earl of Derby pub in Forest Gate organist Vick Smith is photographed playing an enormous silver, three-tiered organ which has recently been installed in the pub, in 1947. The capital's boozers have a rich and varied story to tell, and these pictures span a period of seven decades, taking us on a journey from 1905 to 1971. Click on the image at the top of the page to take a tour of some of the capitals centuries-old drinking establishments. Follow us on Twitter:@eslifeandstyle A human rights activist has been murdered by Pakistani gunmen just hours after writing an inspiring Facebook post praising Londoners for electing Sadiq Khan and setting an "example for the world". Four men on motorbikes gunned down Khurram Zaki as he ate dinner in North Karachi on Saturday evening, local media reported. Mr Zaki, who died from his injuries, was a prominent journalist who had taken a stand against extremist Islamic clerics and called for religious liberty. In his final Facebook post in English, Mr Zaki had spoken of Sadiq Khan's "meteoric rise" to become the first Muslim leader of a major western city. He wrote: "London has risen above discrimination and bigotry and emerged as great centre of human civilisation setting a great example for the world." Mr Zaki said: "Sadiq Khan is not a Pakistani. He is a Britisher. Credit for his rise and success goes to his own hard work and the equal opportunity quality of the British system. Pakistan and Islam have played no role in his meteoric rise. "And he has proved for all British Muslims and Brits of other ethnicities that anyone who blames that system as biased and discriminatory that they are lazy and liars." After his death, the editor in chief of Let Us Build Pakistan, the website Mr Zaki worked for, praised his "principled and courageous" campaigning against extremism. A trust is being set up in his name to help the families of other activists killed by terrorists in the country. A London Tory MP has been reported to police after he allegedly hurled abuse and made explicit gestures at passing Labour campaigners out of his constituency office window. Hendon representative Matthew Offord has been accused of making rude gestures at a Labour MP and retired fire officer on a decommissioned fire engine. The Fire Brigades Union vehicle was being used by former MP Andrew Dismore on polling day last Thursday and was being driven by union member Steve James. When Mr James and another campaigner attempted to enter Mr Offords office to complain they were reportedly told he was not in and were asked to leave. A police car was then flagged down by the pair who said officers established the MP was inside. Mr James, who is not a member of any political party, told the Press Association: When the police went upstairs, he said he was gesturing for us to go away, but I know the difference between profanity and telling someone to just go away." He said he had not recognised the man at the window until he was identified as the area's MP by his fellow passengers. He added: I saw these blinds get whacked open and this gentleman has got his hand about chest-height giving us an explicit gesture. "He then opens the window and literally clambers out and he is getting out of control with it. It just got more and more aggressive and more offensive and it was becoming quite unpleasant. It got worse and worse and I thought 'this is wrong'." After being brought down to talk face-to-face, the 46-year-old MP allegedly refused to shake hands with the retired officer and he decided to lodge a formal complaint. Mr Offord, who has represented the area since 2010, is reportedly being investigated for breaching the Public Order Act 1986 and police confirmed inquiries were ongoing. The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: "Police attended Bunns Lane at around 3.30pm on Thursday, May 5 following an allegation that a public order offence had been committed. "No arrests have been made. Inquiries are ongoing." Mr Offord could not be reached for comment, the Press Association reported. The Standard has also contacted the MP for a response. Additional reporting by Press Association A 23-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a soldier was found unconscious in a Welsh town centre. The serviceman, from the Royal Gibraltar Regiment, was found injured in Lion Street, Brecon, at around 1am on Sunday. He was taken to hospital where he was later pronounced dead. Earlier today, police said they were treating his death as unexplained. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "It is with great sadness and regret that the MoD can confirm a soldier from the Royal Gibraltar Regiment died in Brecon in the early hours of this morning. "Dyfed-Powys Police are currently investigating and it would therefore be inappropriate to comment further on the circumstances. Our thoughts are with his family and friends and the regiment asks that their privacy is respected at this difficult time." A Dyfed-Powys Police spokesman said: "Today in Brecon a 23-year-old man has been arrested in relation to the death of a man who was a serving member of the armed forces. "He is being held in custody on suspicion of murder and the investigation is ongoing." T wo more prison officers have been "seriously injured" by at least one inmate at London's Wormwood Scrubs prison this morning, just two days after staff walked out over safety fears. The Prison Officers' Association (POA) told the BBC the pair had been attacked while on duty at the famous Hammersmith prison. Mike Rolfe from the union said: "The POA can confirm two prison officers have been seriously injured whilst performing their duties at Wormwood Scrubs. "Both members of staff were badly assaulted by prisoners on the wing and have been taken to hospital." On Friday, workers at the prison protested outside over claims a string of staff had been assaulted and legal highs were being used by inmates. Mr Rolfe said on Friday: There are concerns for health and safety of staff, and they have decided to stay outside until they can seek assurances from management that their concerns will be addressed." Their walk-out came after inspectors warned of "Dickensian squalor" inside the famous institution. A spokesman for the Prison Service said: "Following an incident at HMP Wormwood Scrubs on Sunday 8 May two members of staff were taken to hospital for treatment. "We do not tolerate violence against our hardworking officers. The perpetrator has been placed in segregation and will face a police investigation which could lead to criminal charges." A disabled actor has launched legal action against British Airways and London City Airport after her 25,000 wheelchair was damaged on a flight, it has been reported. Playwright Athena Stevens, 31, alleged her wheelchair was completely trashed when she was due to fly to Glasgow from London in October. The Standard reported her complaint in January as she claimed it has been 100 days since the incident and she was yet to receive an apology. The Guardian reported the cerebral palsy sufferer has now launched legal action amid claims she is losing around 1,500 in lost earnings and alternative transport costs. Ms Stevens, from Surrey Quays, told the newspaper life had been a nightmare without use of the chair. Damaged: The wheelchair was returned to Ms Stevens unusable / Athena Stevens More than 52,000 people have signed a petition on campaign website 38 Degrees calling for British Airways to arrange a replacement. On the website, it reads: It's important to show that even giant companies need to have a conscience. British Airways has offered nowhere near enough compensation. It's costing Athena around 1500 a week in lost earnings and alternative care and transport costs - and it's been over a hundred days since her wheelchair was broken being loaded onto a BA flight at London City Airport. I don't know what their annual profit is, but they can well afford to make a humane gesture and replace her much needed wheelchair. Flight tickets Ms Stevens and her PA were unable to use in October were refunded and the airline and airport offered to pay up to 1,000 in taxi fares, the paper reported. She told the Guardian: I am acting, but that doesnt mean I am not inhibited. Not having my chair for rehearsals, getting to and from the theatre etc is a nightmare. I have had to spend 50 on a single taxi ride home. "Im paying about 200 a week for a wheelchair that cant clear the threshold of my flat unless I get out and push it. A British Airways spokesman said: More than 426,000 people with reduced mobility travelled with us last year and we take their needs extremely seriously. Along with London City airport, we investigated Ms Stevens concerns thoroughly and we continue to try to seek a solution with her and her legal representatives. A London City Airport spokesman said: The airport is working with the passenger and British Airways to resolve this matter. The situation is being dealt with by lawyers and we are therefore unable to provide further comment. F oxtons has apologised after a wheelchair user was left embarrassed and humiliated when he was refused entry to a branch because there was no ramp access. Youcef Bey-Zekkoub, 42, threatened legal action after claiming he was left outside the estate agents Streatham branch in the pouring rain. He says his complaints were dismissed by staff, and believes he was discriminated against because of his disability during the ordeal. The father-of-three said he visited Foxtons in Streatham High Road last year because he was looking to move from his council flat to a larger property. Mr Bey-Zekkoub told the Standard: They treated me like rubbish; they didnt even speak to me. Shocked: Youcef Bey-Zekkoub said he was disappointed with the response to his complaint I was outside in the pouring rain, freezing, really wet. I asked do you have a ramp? and they said no, they didnt really offer any help at all." Mr Bey-Zekkoub, who works for disability charity Transport for All, later complained to Foxtons, seeking an apology and for the branch to become more disability-friendly. But he said he was so disappointed by the companys response that he was motivated to take legal action under disability discrimination laws. Mr Bey-Zekkoub added: "I still cant really believe it. It made me feel awful. I felt humiliated and embarrassed - like I was treated as a second class citizen." Foxtons has now apologised and reached an agreement with Mr Bey-Zekkoub, while taking steps to improve disabled access at the branch after the incident last November. Legal action: Mr Bey-Zekkoub instructed a solicitor A Foxtons spokesman said: We pride ourselves on delivering excellent customer service and ensuring that each person who visits Foxtons branches feels comfortable and welcome at all times. "All of our branches comply with planning regulations, and as a result of this issue being raised and our subsequent investigation, we have taken steps to improve the accessibility of that branch, as well as reviewing and improving accessibility across our branches. "We are pleased to say that the complaint made by Mr Bey-Zekkoub has been resolved amicably. Lucy Collins, of Mr Bey-Zekkoub's solicitors Unity Law, said: Service providers have an anticipatory duty to make reasonable adjustments for their disabled service users. "Unfortunately, wheelchair users like Youcef regularly encounter situations in which they are unable to access premises, despite the Equality Act 2010 being in force for almost 6 years. "Foxtons have now made changes to improve the accessibility to their Streatham branch and are also looking at reviewing accessibility across their branches as a whole. "Its great to see a service provider taking a complaint seriously, reflecting on their services and taking positive action that will benefit their disabled customers as a whole. A man has been taken to hospital with possible life-threatening injuries after he was hit by a car while with his young son in east London. The 40-year-old was with his four-year-old son when they were involved in a collision on the A11 Whitechapel Road, at the junction with Cavell Street, yards from the Royal London Hospital. A Met spokeswoman said the man suffered injuries that are potentially life threatening or life changing. His son was also taken to hospital but is in a stable condition, police added. Police and paramedics were called to the busy road shortly before 12pm to reports of a collision involving a car and two pedestrians. The driver of the car was not hurt and stopped at the scene. Police said he is assisting them with their enquiries. Some roads in the area remain shut. T he most powerful Labour politician in the UK today told his party it must speak to Ukip and Conservative voters in order to win the next general election. In a coded attack on leader Jeremy Corbyn, newly elected Mayor of London Sadiq Khan took the airwaves on Sunday morning to warn against just speaking to Labour voters. A key element of the partys campaign ahead of Thursdays elections across the UK was a poster that read: Elections are about taking sides. Labour is on yours. But in a newspaper article published today Mr Khan, whose campaign slogan was A Mayor for all Londoners, said politics should never be about picking sides a clear challenge to Mr Corbyn. Loading.... Quizzed about the comments on the Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, Mr Khan added: I want a big tent, whether youre a Conservative trying to be the Mayor of London or a Labour party trying to form the next Government. Sadiq Khan sworn in as Mayor of London 1 /13 Sadiq Khan sworn in as Mayor of London Victor: Sadiq Khan addresses crowds during the ceremony in south London Ceremonial duties: The new Mayor 'signed in' as one of his first acts in the post Celebration: Doreen Lawrence welcomed Mr Khan's victory Glorious setting: The swearing in ceremony took place at Southwark Cathedral Rapturous applause: Hundreds rose to their feet as Mr Khan entered the building Roared to victory: Sadiq Khan arrives with the Dean of Southwark Cathedral The Very Reverend Andrew Nunn Supporters: Former Labour leader Ed Miliband with MP Karen Buck Family man: Mr Khan sits with his wife Saadiya New boss: Met chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, whose work will be scrutinised by Mr Khan, talks with Mr Miliband Warm welcome: Acting legend Sir Ian McKellen bows as he shakes Mr Khan's hand Weve got to speak to everyone. Theres no point us just speaking to Labour voters, our core vote. What we need to do is speak to everyone. "That means me speaking to chief executives, me speaking to people who voted Conservative last time, Ukip or stayed at home. [It means] us speaking and listening to everyone and having the solution to the challenges people face but also fulfilling the aspirations people have as well. Mr Khans newspaper column, published in the Observer, also blasted his rival Zac Goldsmiths mayoral campaign as straight out the Donald Trump playbook and accused the Tories of trying to divide Londons communities in an attempt to win votes. T he new Mayor of London has described his opponent Zac Goldsmiths campaign as straight out of the Donald Trump playbook". Sadiq Khan accused his defeated rival and Conservative Party leader David Cameron of trying to divide London's communities in an attempt to win votes". The comments came in a Sunday newspaper article which also declared that Labour can only win elections if it reaches beyond its own activists a clear message for leader Jeremy Corbyn. In a barbed attack on his Tory opponents, Mr Khan said: "They used fear and innuendo to try and turn different ethnic and religious groups against each other - something straight out of the Donald Trump playbook. "Londoners deserved better and I hope it's something the Conservative Party will never try to repeat." Loading.... Yesterday cabinet minister Michael Fallon said Mr Goldsmith's campaign in London, which has been criticised by senior Tories, was part of the "rough and tumble" of an election. Mr Fallon described Mr Khan as a "Labour lackey who speaks alongside extremists" during the mayoral race, and was repeatedly challenged on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme to say whether he was worried about the capital's security with Mr Khan in City Hall. "London is safe with a Conservative Government working with the new mayor of London," he said. But Tory former justice secretary Ken Clarke told the BBC the way the campaign had been run was a "mistake" and "probably had a counter-productive effect". Other Tories including Baroness Warsi have criticised the campaign. Mr Khan secured an overwhelming victory over Mr Goldsmith, claiming 57 per cent of votes after second preferences were counted. Sadiq Khan wins election The win gives him a larger mandate than any other London mayor. Writing in the Observer, Mr Khan used his victory to send a message to Mr Corbyn that appealing to "natural Labour voters" alone would not be enough to secure success. Mr Khan wrote: "First, Labour only wins when we face outwards and focus on the issues that the people actually care about," he said. Loading.... "And secondly, we will never be trusted to govern unless we reach out and engage with all voters - regardless of their background, where they live or where they work. "Squabbles over internal party structures might be important for some in the party, but it is clear they mean little or nothing to the huge majority of voters. "As tempting as it might be, we must always resist focusing in on ourselves and ignoring what people really want." Sadiq Khan sworn in as Mayor of London 1 /13 Sadiq Khan sworn in as Mayor of London Victor: Sadiq Khan addresses crowds during the ceremony in south London Ceremonial duties: The new Mayor 'signed in' as one of his first acts in the post Celebration: Doreen Lawrence welcomed Mr Khan's victory Glorious setting: The swearing in ceremony took place at Southwark Cathedral Rapturous applause: Hundreds rose to their feet as Mr Khan entered the building Roared to victory: Sadiq Khan arrives with the Dean of Southwark Cathedral The Very Reverend Andrew Nunn Supporters: Former Labour leader Ed Miliband with MP Karen Buck Family man: Mr Khan sits with his wife Saadiya New boss: Met chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, whose work will be scrutinised by Mr Khan, talks with Mr Miliband Warm welcome: Acting legend Sir Ian McKellen bows as he shakes Mr Khan's hand He added: "Labour has to be a big tent that appeals to everyone - not just its own activists. Mr Corbyn's absence from Saturday's high-profile ceremony at Southwark Cathedral, in which Mr Khan was signed in as mayor, raised eyebrows and led to the party leader being forced to deny there was a rift. Instead of appearing alongside Mr Khan, Mr Corbyn travelled to Bristol to congratulate that city's new mayor Marvin Rees. "I am meeting Sadiq over the weekend, I have been in touch with him. We are getting on fine. I have sent him a message of congratulations," he told reporters. Additional reporting by PA S adiq Khan has visited a Holocaust Remembrance ceremony in north London today in his first official engagement as the new Mayor of London. The Labour mayor attended the Yom HaShoah event at Barnet Copthall Stadium this afternoon alongside Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis. Thousands attended from London's Jewish community, including more than 150 Holocaust survivors and a combined choir from five Jewish elementary schools. Mr Khan was greeted alongside Lord Levy, one of Labour's most senior Jewish supporters and the party's former lead fundraiser. First engagement: Sadiq Khan poses for a photograph with Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis during a Jewish community Holocaust commemoration event / EPA/HANNAH MCKAY The visit comes as the Labour party faces accusations it has a problem with anti-Semitism, which led leader Jeremy Corbyn to order an inquiry. Mr Khan has been at the forefront of criticism of former London mayor Ken Livingstone, calling for the party to take action against him for controversial comments made in an interview. Earlier the mayor tweeted: "At Yom HaShoah commemorations today. So important to reflect, remember and educate about the 6 million Jewish lives lost in the Holocaust." Sadiq Khan says on Andrew Marr that he wants to appeal to all voters Afterwards, he said: "I was really privileged and moved to meet survivors of the unimaginable horrors of the Holocaust as well as their children, their great-grandchildren and even their great-grandchildren." Speaking to the Observer, Mr Khan said he wanted to be a leader for all faiths in the capital. He said: I learnt a great deal throughout the course of the campaign about myself, about London and about the importance of reaching out to all sections of society. But there are two lessons in particular. First, Labour only wins when we face outwards and focus on the issues that the people actually care about. And secondly, we will never be trusted to govern unless we reach out and engage with all voters regardless of their background, where they live or where they work. Squabbles over internal party structures might be important for some in the party, but it is clear they mean little or nothing to the huge majority of voters. Loading.... As tempting as it might be, we must always resist focusing in on ourselves and ignoring what people really want. Today marked Mr Khans first official engagement since he was elected to City Hall on Friday in an historic victory as he became Londons first Muslim mayor. Yesterday, he was sworn into office at Southwark Cathedral as he began the job to rapturous applause and an impromptu standing ovation at the multi-faith ceremony. L ingerie tycoon Michelle Mone has told of the embarrassing moment she apparently picked up a six-year-old boy only to discover he was actually a 46-year-old married man. Baroness Mone, a Tory peer and business tsar, reportedly realised her awkward mistake when the mans wife shouted: Put him down, Im his wife. She was speaking in front of 3,000 people at an entrepreneurs conference in Vietnam when the short man ran up to her with a bunch of flowers, Lady Mone told the Mail on Sunday. She scooped him up for a cuddle and a selfie before the bizarre truth emerged. In a series of tweets, the Scottish founder of the Ultimo underwear chain described the odd encounter. Later Baroness Mone told the Mail on Sunday: The guy was fine with it and the whole room was screaming with laughter. I thought something was wrong his teeth were bright yellow from nicotine. The reason for the man's small stature is unknown. P rince Harry, who attends the Invictus Games opening ceremony today, has said he struggled to find work after leaving the Army. The 31-year-old prince said that, after his ten-year military career, he found most jobs he looked at "were not going to work" combined with royal duties and other jobs were "not even on the table". He told the Sunday Times: "I don't get any satisfaction from sitting at home on my a***" Harry, who wants to fill the "gaping void" left by his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, went on: "I'm in this privileged position and I will use it for as long as I can, or until I become boring, or until George ends up becoming more interesting." Today, he will be joined by US first lady Michelle Obama in Orlando, Florida, for the opening of the Invictus Games The launch show, featuring British acts James Blunt and soprano Laura Wright, will also see Hollywood star Morgan Freeman perform. Harry has spoken about his hopes for the "amazing" tournament and acknowledged the pressure of maintaining the event's legacy. He has been the driving force behind the Paralympic-style event for injured servicemen and women and veterans and over the five-day tournament more than 500 athletes from 14 countries will compete in a range of sports. Prince Harry joins sporting royalty 1 /6 Prince Harry joins sporting royalty Star-struck: Invictus Games competitors flank Prince Harry outside the Battersea Evolution centre Prince Harry speaks to Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson and Tim Hollingsworth Recognising achievement: The Prince presented the Outstanding Contribution to Sport award to Judy and Jamie Murray Harry talks to Lord Sebastian Coe Veterans who have participated in Harry's Invictus Games pose with for a photocall with the royal The Prince said: "It's going to be amazing, the atmosphere is going to be incredible. "There's still a few more tickets to sell but we're just inviting people to come down and enjoy what's going to happen, it's going to be fantastic. Harry launches Invictus 2017 "Speaking to all the competitors, they're very happy, the food's great - which is what they care about - the accommodation is excellent. Once they're over the jet-lag they just want to get going." The first medals were presented yesterday by Harry but the tournament where sportsmen and women from countries like Italy, Germany, Australia, Estonia, Jordan and the UK will compete begins in earnest tomorrow. Prince Harry and the Queen respond to video message from Michelle Obama During the day Former US president George Bush will present a symposium about the "invisible wounds" of war, like post traumatic stress, and the prince will join him at the start of the day-long event held before the Invictus opening ceremony. Additional reporting by the Press Association T he biggest night in the television calendar is nearly upon us as stars gear up to walk the red carpet at the BAFTA TV Awards. Nominees including Tom Hiddleston, Idris Elba and Mark Rylance will all be in attendance at the Royal Festival Hall on Sunday evening. Hosted by Graham Norton, this years ceremony will see programmes including Wolf Hall and Humans go head-to-head for Best Drama and The Good Wife and Transparent battle it out for Best International Series. Heres everything you need to know: How and when to watch This years ceremony will take place at the Royal Festival Hall on Sunday May 8 at 7pm. The entire ceremony will be broadcast an hour later on BBC One at 8pm. Who is attending? The guest list for this years event is rather star-studded, with big names from the world of TV and film expected to attend. Tom Hiddleston on Bond Cast members from soaps including EastEnders and Coronation Street will walk the red carpet as will A-list names including Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake and Ridley Scott. Ellie King and Birdy are scheduled to perform while Lenny Henry will receive an honorary award. Who is nominated? In the comedy performance categories, Sharon Horan will go up against Miranda Hart, Sian Gibson and Michaela Coel while Hugh Bonneville will battle it out with Javone Prince, Peter Kay and Toby Jones. Elba, Hiddleston, Rylance and Ben Whishaw are all nominated in the Leading Actor category while Claire Foy is nominated for Leading Actress alongside Ruth Madeley, Sheridan Smith and Suranne Jones. The Best Drama Series contenders are Humans, The Last Panthers, No Offence and Wolf Hall. Best TV dramas 2016 1 /38 Best TV dramas 2016 The Missing The addictive and twisty second series of the BBC's crime anthology series BBC/New Pictures/Robert Viglasky Dark Angel Joanne Froggatt stared as Victorian mass murderer Mary Ann Cotton in this ITV drama ITV Close to the Enemy Stephen Poliakoff's post-war drama thriller BBC/Little Island Pictures Ordinary Lies The BBC anthology drama returns with more twisted tales BBC/Red Productions/Adrian Rogers The Night Of Riz Ahmed stars in HBO's critically acclaimed crime mini-series HBO Cold Feet The classic ITV comedy-drama returns - and it's just as good as it ever was ITV Victoria ITV have given Poldark some stiff competition with this period drama about a young Queen Victoria ITV Poldark The BBC's hit drama returns with more brooding, and less naked scything BBC/Robert Viglasky One of Us The BBC kept everyone guessing with this claustrophobic four-part whodunit Ripper Street The fan-favourite Victorian police drama returned for Series 4 BBC/Tiger Aspect 2016/Bernard Walsh The Secret Agent Toby Jones led the cast in the BBC's Joseph Conrad adaptation BBC/World Productions/Mark Mainz/Matt Burlem The Living and the Dead The BBC's gothic romance debuted in full on iPlayer BBC Preacher AMC's adaptation of Garth Ennis' cult comic book is available week-by-week on Amazon Prime Amazon / AMC Versailles A raunchy royal romp around the court of King Louis XIV, spicing up Wednesdays on BBC Two Canal +/ BBC Locked Up The Spanish prison drama came to the UK thanks to Channel 4's Walter Presents series Channel 4 / Global Series Peaky Blinders The Birmingham-set gangster thriller was more popular than ever in its third series BBC/Caryn Mandabach Productions Ltd/Tiger Aspect/Robert Viglasky The A Word The BBC gave us a nuanced and emotional take on autism BBC/Fifty Fathoms Marcella Anna Friel stars in ITV's British take on the Scandi-noir thriller ITV Grantchester James Norton is back as the crime-solving vicar ITV / Lovely Day Stag The comedy-thriller from the team behind The Wrong Mans is both hilarious and chilling BBC/Des Willie/Hal Shinnie/Matt Burlem Vinyl Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger present a glossy drama about the Seventies music industry HBO American Crime Story: The People vs OJ Simpson Cuba Gooding Jr leads an all-star cast in a dramatic re-telling of the 'trial of century' BBC/Fox Happy Valley Sarah Lancashire returned as Sgt Catherine Cawood for a second series of the gritty crime thriller BBC/Red Productions/Ben Blackall The X Files Mulder and Scully return for a brand new set of mysteries War and Peace The BBC's epic adaptation of the Russian literary classic BBC/Mitch Jenkins Call the Midwife The BBC period drama moved into the Sixties for Series 5 BBC/Neal Street Productions/Sophie Mutevelian Dickensian Charles Dickens' most famous characters collide in this historical soap BBC Jericho ITV's British western set in the wilds of Yorkshire Silent Witness The hugely popular detective drama returns for a 19th series BBC One, May 8, 8pm. Are we ready to hand over the greatest country in the history of mankind, the largest military on the planet and the position of the most powerful job in the world to an impulsive real estate developer with a temper, or to a former senator and secretary of state with a lengthy resume and a short list of accomplishments? It appears we are. Question: How did we get ourselves into this situation? Answer: We didnt! Congress did. The Democrats told us to give them control of both the House and the Senate and they would solve the nations problems. We did, they didnt. The Republicans told us to give them control of both the House and the Senate and they would solve the nations problems. We did, they didnt. How did we get to this point without Washington noticing it? Well, it is because they live in a Beltway Bubble that is much more focused on partisan power than peoples problems, and it has been going on with very few exceptions for decades. There was a brief moment in the 90s when Bill Clinton worked with both houses to balance the budget and overhaul the welfare system. There was a brief moment in 2001 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, when the country came together and the sense of patriotism was strong. There are others I am sure, but the rest of Washingtons time under the bubble is spent pointing fingers and playing cloakroom games with laser-like focus on the next election instead of the tasks at hand. Someone wrote on social media this past week that describes Congress better than I ever could. They said, They are like a couple arguing about what color to paint the living room while their house is on fire! How good is that! It is perfect! And what I perceive to be the saddest part of all this is that Washington still has no idea what is happening. They simply are unable to crack open their ego and let a little reality drip in. By reality I mean little things to them but things that have enormous impact on the American people, like $19 trillion and growing debt, like border control, like shoring up social security once and for all, like crippling high healthcare costs, like crumbling national infrastructure, like losing our industrial economy, like staggering loss of national wealth with crazy trade imbalances? Where are the adults in Washington? Adults like my father, who used to say, Son, I would like one too, but we cant afford it. Where are the leaders who have the courage to tell us that? We cant come close to affording the government we have now, yet we continue to give billions away to other countries trying to buy friends around the world. How long have we heard we need to rein in waste, fraud and abuse? How long have we heard over-regulation is hurting the economy? How long have we heard American corporations are moving overseas? How long have we heard corporate taxes are too high? Congresss job performance is a complete failure. If they had that kind of job performance at the Star-Herald we would have had to let them go. So maybe we arent in such a bad place after all. Throughout these presidential campaigns we often hear the candidates tell us what they are going to do on Day One when and if they are elected. How about this? On day one I am going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue to the U.S. Capitol where they will all be arguing about what color to paint the living room and say, Congress, youre fired! Agree or disagree with me: greg.awtry@starherald.com Although Nebraskas planted wheat acres are at record lows, producers should expect high yields. Favorable growing conditions, including a mild winter and abundant precipitation, has Nebraska wheat positioned to achieve wheat yields not seen in the past five years. However, farmers should scout carefully for wheat rust and be prepared to treat any outbreaks in a timely manner. The most recent crop condition report from the U.S. Department of Agricultures National Agricultural Statistic Service (USDA NASS) rated 60 percent of Nebraskas winter wheat crop as good or excellent. The same report released the same week of 2015 rated 35 percent of the winter wheat crop as good or excellent, whereas 2014 was 46 percent. Last years winter wheat crop suffered several weather-related blows. Parts of western Nebraska suffered substantial winter kill. A severe winter storm in mid-May broke wheat stems and caused freeze injury. Then widespread rust infected wheat across the state. The statewide yield average in 2015 was 38 bushels per acre. Yields in 2014 to 2011 were 49, 35, 41, and 45 bushels per acre, respectively. The first freeze last fall came nearly a month late, which allowed the winter wheat more time to establish. The wheat entered winter in excellent condition, and the mild weather resulted in very minimal winter kill. Periods of sustained cold temperatures or wild fluctuations in temperature that would normally harm wheat were mostly absent. Throughout the winter and continuing into this spring, strong storms refilled much of the soil profile with water. The latest topsoil moisture conditions as reported by the USDA NASS are higher than the same weeks in 2015 and 2014. In the most recent report, 88 percent of topsoil moisture was rated as adequate and surplus, compared to 64 percent in 2015 and 49 percent in 2014. Winter wheat that is currently rated high for condition and plenty of soil moisture has the potential to produce high wheat yields. Kent Lorens with the Nebraska Wheat Board recently estimated that Nebraska wheat yields could average 55 bushels per acre this year. Current surveys from western Nebraska have shown support for dryland wheat yields approaching the 50 bushel per acre threshold. Understanding the potential yield of the wheat crop is important when making management decisions. Decisions on inputs, whether for fertility, weed control, or disease control, must be based on the potential yield and value of the crop. With reports of wheat rust moving throughout Kansas and into isolated parts of Nebraska, frequent scouting and timely applications of fungicides are important to protect this years crop. A fungicide application made to protect the flag leaf in a severe rust outbreak will easily pay for the application and chemical costs of these applications. Without the fungicide, a yield loss of 20-30 bushels per acre should be expected if the wheat variety is susceptible and the field would otherwise become heavily infested. This years wheat crop is much further along in development than previous years, with nearly 60 percent of the crop jointed at the beginning of May. Monitor the wheat growth stage of your fields to ensure timely application of inputs. As this wheat crop is about two weeks ahead in development, fungicide applications will need to be made earlier to protect the flag leaf and potential yields. Recent storms brought cold temperatures and snow to much of western Nebraska. The level of injury to the wheat depends on the growth stage and the amount of time spent below 28 degrees. The accompanying map shows areas that fell below 28 degrees and for how many hours from May 1 and May 2. Due to the current growth stage of the wheat impacted by the recent low temperatures, any injury to the wheat is expected to be minimal. Currently, no reports of injury have been received. Two research studies at the University of Nebraska by Dr. Rick Funston, beef reproductive physiologist at the West Central Research and Extension Center, suggest that the key information needed to identify heifers most likely to be successful as replacements is known the day the heifers are born. The 2012 Nebraska Beef Cattle Report Effect of Calving Period on Heifer Progeny (http://go.unl.edu/qgai) and the 2016 Nebraska Beef Cattle Report Effect of Dam Age on Offspring Productivity (http://go.unl.edu/9b2c) demonstrate that the date in a calving season when a heifer is born, as well as the age of her dam, significantly influence her success in becoming pregnant as a yearling heifer and subsequently becoming pregnant as a two-year-old. In the Effect of Calving Period on Heifer Progeny study, heifers born in the first 21 days of the calving season had an average pregnancy rate of 90% as yearlings, and heifers born in the second 21-day period had an 86% pregnancy rate. Heifers born in the third 21-day period had a 78% pregnancy rate. The pregnancy rate for these heifers in their second breeding season was 93%, 90% and 84% respectively, based on the heifers birth date being in the first, second or third 21-day interval of the calving season. In this study, heifer calves born in the first two 21-day calving intervals are older and more likely to conceive in the first breeding season. They also have an advantage in conceiving as a two-year-old in their second breeding season. In the Effect of Dam Age on Offspring Productivity study, the age of a heifers dam when she is born significantly influenced a heifers pregnancy rate as a two-year-old during her second breeding season. Heifers born to first-calf-heifers only had a 58% pregnancy rate in their second breeding season. Heifers born to cows that already had one or more calves had pregnancy rates of 84% in their second breeding season. There was no statistical difference for the age of dam influence on pregnancy rates for heifers in the first breeding season. This data set includes records from almost 1500 heifers spanning a range of years from 1997 to 2014. In the Effect of Dam Age on Offspring Productivity study, it is likely that both genetics and environment are impacting the heifer calf and her future productivity. The environmental effect can be divided into the in utero phase and the pre-weaning phase. During pregnancy, younger cows are still growing and need more energy and nutrients. This high nutrition requirement is likely resulting in nutritional imbalances for the in utero developing heifer and impacting that heifers subsequent reproductive performance. After calving, young cows are not providing as much milk for the calf, likely impacting the heifer calfs growth from calving till weaning. Summary 1. Heifer calves born early in the calving season and retained as replacements in this herd were more likely to conceive as yearlings and also had an advantage in conceiving as two-year-old heifers. 2. Heifer calves born to cows that were three-years-old or older, had a significant advantage in conceiving in their second breeding season when compared to heifers born to first-calf-heifers. For this herd, two of the major indicators of the likelihood of a heifer becoming pregnant as a yearling and also as a two-year-old heifer were the heifers own birth date and the age of her dam when she was born. Producers selecting replacement heifers for development and use in their own herd may benefit from using this information in identifying which heifers to keep or to cull. To listen to BeefWatch podcasts go to: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/unl-beefwatch/id964198047 or paste http://feeds.feedburner.com/unlbeefwatch into your podcast app. This page may have been moved, deleted, or is otherwise unavailable. To help you find what you are looking for: Enter Search Term(s): Still cant find what youre looking for? Send us a message using our contact us form. To report a broken link or other problems with the website, please include the URL. Thank you for visiting state.gov. Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to one big number for millennials: their net worth. The vast majority of millennials (often defined as those born between 1982 and 2000) have no idea what they have versus what they owe, according to a new survey from Harris Poll conducted for online money manager Personal Capital. John Piazza admits he is one of them, although the Chicago-based banking executive says he has a decent idea of his net worth (assets such as cash and mutual funds minus liabilities like student and credit card debt). Piazza estimates that about 80 percent of his friends do not have a handle on their total financial picture. Its time-consuming to gather all the disparate information together initially, and then its a laborious process to update it going forward, Piazza says. While it may be a hassle, not knowing where you stand now makes it much harder to plan for where you need to be later in life, especially for retirement, says Kyle Ryan, a certified financial planner who is the head of advisory services at Personal Capital. It is even harder to get a handle on the numbers for those who have an outsized vision of what they might inherit down the road which might dim their motivation to save now. The Personal Capital survey on retirement readiness found that millennials expect to inherit about a million dollars, on average. The average inheritance in the United States is just $177,000 according to a 2013 HSBC survey. Counting on any kind of windfall, regardless of size, is a risky business. It certainly does not merit giving up on saving for retirement as some 40 percent of millennial respondents did on Personal Capitals survey by saying they had no retirement plan of any kind started yet. Some wealthy families are not even planning on handing down their fortunes. Big names from Warren Buffet to Bill Gates, to Kiss rockstar Gene Simmons have all publicly talked about giving the vast majority of their wealth to charity not to their kids. Ive worked with many high-net worth individuals, who behind closed doors admit openly that they have no intentions of actually leaving a large sum of money to their children, nor to anyone, says Shannah Compton Game, a Los Angeles-based certified financial planner who focuses on millennials. This can be a rude awakening for a millennial who has planned on those funds to continue a lifestyle that they have been living. Here are three tips on getting your finances on track now instead of waiting for your retirement fund to be handed to you on a silver platter: Do the math The average millennial needs to save upwards of $2 million to live a somewhat comfortable life in retirement, according to Compton Game. Websites can help you figure out the average needs, including Personal Capital, Bankrate.com and AARP. Or you can talk to a fee-only financial planner and get specific advice. Have a sit-down with your parents Do not assume you know how much money they have, or that it is going to you. It can be a hard conversation to start, but its easier than having an expectation that isnt fulfilled, says Game. You also have to consider the timeframe involved and factor in the uncertainty. Typical millennials in their 20s today would have parents who are a long way from retirement and, perhaps, 50 years from dying. Save more Even if your parents do intend to leave you an inheritance, saving money should still be your top priority. Build a solid emergency fund that can cover three to six months of expenses in a high-yield checking account. And contribute to some kind of retirement plan; even if your employer does not offer a 401(k) there are options for IRAs. If you started contributing $100 a month at age 25 to a traditional IRA, and got a very modest 4 percent return, you would have accumulated more than $118,592 before taxes if you retired at age 65 based on Bankrate.coms retirement calculator. A former employee accused Wells Fargo & Co. of instructing workers at a call center to refrain from telling customers about lost deeds or other missing documents, and of firing the worker who called the policy unethical, according to a lawsuit made public this week. Duke Tran, who was a customer service specialist at the bank, says that his supervisor berated him for telling a husband and wife that their loan contract was missing from an internal system. Tran and others later received an email instructing them not to tell customers about situations "where we have a lost contract, deed, any type of document, really, but especially when it relates to securing a property," according to a copy of the email filed with the lawsuit. The email told the employees "to say that we need to do further research or something similar" and then to escalate the phone call to a boss. Representatives for Wells Fargo, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, declined to comment on Friday. Like other major lenders, Wells Fargo has been battered by lawsuits over its conduct before and after the 2008 financial crisis. Last month, it admitted to deceiving the U.S. government into insuring thousands of risky mortgages and agreed to pay $1.2 billion. The U.S. Department of Justice had an option to join Tran in his case because his suit alleges fraud on the government. It has declined to do so. That is typically a sign the department thinks a lawsuit is unlikely to succeed. Tran filed his lawsuit in June 2015 under court seal, which is common for suits alleging fraud on the government. U.S. District Judge Anna Brown in Portland, Ore., ordered the papers unsealed on Thursday. The lawsuit seeks damages and an injunction. Tran's trouble began around December 2013 when he took a call from a husband and wife about an upcoming balloon payment on a mortgage, according to the lawsuit. Tran told them the bank's copy of the loan contract was missing, and when he reported the issue to a supervisor, he was told his job was in jeopardy, the suit says. Other customers also had loan documents missing, and many of their loans had been acquired by Wells Fargo from First Union or SunTrust Bank, according to the lawsuit. Tran was fired in November 2014 after more than 10 years with the bank, the lawsuit said. Additional reporting by Dan Levine in San Francisco. Tony Messenger Tony Messenger is the metro columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Tony Messenger Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today This is the second in a two-part series on homelessness in St. Louis. Eddie Roth stood before a group of providers of homeless services in the city of St. Louis and compared their work to that of mythical Greek figure Sisyphus. Its Thursday morning and hes standing in the first-floor conference room at 1520 Market Street, known as City Hall West. The location is ironic as the building was once considered a likely location for a city-run homeless shelter that in an ideal world would already be up and running. The providers are gathered to ask Roth questions about the citys latest request for proposals to run the Biddle House, a planned city-owned homeless shelter on North Tucker Boulevard. The city hopes to open it in July. You all have been doing the hard work of rolling that stone up the hill, Roth says, recognizing that theres nothing easy about serving the citys most vulnerable residents. A potential operator of the Biddle House objects to the metaphor. Remember, that stone kept rolling back down the hill, he said of Sisyphus. Indeed, that might be an apt description of the citys efforts to deal with its homeless population. For years, some homeless advocates have criticized the administration of Mayor Francis Slay for not doing enough to deal with the issue, thus creating opportunity for Larry Rice and his poorly run New Life Evangelistic Center to fill the void. But over the past few years, two things have happened. First, the various providers that make up the Continuum of Care plan in St. Louis have upped their game, particularly in how they assess and track the needs of the homeless population. Second, the push to oust Rice created a crisis. The best result of that crisis having to find shelter for at least 100 homeless men a night is that the city is for the first time planning to own a physical shelter that can also provide daytime services to the homeless, starting with assessment of their needs and ending with a relatively quick transition to housing. Its what the federal Housing and Urban Development department calls a housing first approach. Instead of warehousing the homeless, these programs work harder to assess their needs, train them for work, and get them quickly into transitional housing. Such programs have found success in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Columbus, Ohio, Minneapolis and Madison, Wis. Roth said he believes the program the city will end up with in Biddle House which will be owned by the city but operated by a nonprofit will be the best of the best. But the citys first attempt to roll the stone up the hill failed. Last year, the city issued a request for proposals to provide day services such as meals for the homeless at the proposed new center. The winner of that bid was the Bridge, a nonprofit that has been the primary provider of daytime homeless services in downtown for the past decade. The timing was good for the nonprofit. Its landlord Centenary United Methodist Church on Olive Street simply didnt have the proper facilities to run a homeless shelter. In part, because of pressure from downtown residents over loitering issues, its lease was to run out June 30. The city said it could open the new shelter by July 1. But then the delays started. The citys financing wasnt and still isnt all in hand. It didnt hold any public hearings before it decided to put the center near the entrance of the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge, the gateway to the northside. The building sits across the street from Carr Square Village, a residential neighborhood with a mostly African-American population that ranges from low income to middle class. The neighborhood has threatened to sue to stop the Biddle House. The city fell back into its longstanding practices and decided to jam this facility into the middle of the poverty-stricken Near Northside without providing any resource to a constituency that it simply does not care enough about, wrote Cynthia Johnson, chairman of the board of directors of the Carr Street Tenant Corp. When leaders at The Bridge couldnt be given a date certain when their contract would begin, and then were told by Roth that he planned to reopen the bidding, the nonprofits board decided its only decision was to fold up shop June 30. Even with the disappointment over what has happened to his organization, Chad J. Rulo, the interim executive director of The Bridge, thinks the city is headed in the right direction in terms of Roths efforts to open the Biddle House. If they truly follow the housing first model, the homeless numbers will dwindle, Rulo said. Tom Burnham also believes the city is on the right track. Burnham is the former shelter director of Peter and Paul Community Services on the citys south side. He was at Roths bidding conference on Thursday, along with representatives of the Salvation Army, St. Patrick Center, and Employment Connection. While Burnham believes the citys proposed budget for the Biddle House is off by about a quarter-of-a-million dollars, he believes its the most serious attempt to deal with homelessness hes seen from city government. This is definitely progress, Burnham said. Whether the stone makes it to the top of the hill is another question. Burnham said hed be amazed if Biddle House opens in July, raising the question of how long there will be a gap in homeless services in the downtown area this summer. We could have a couple of tough weeks downtown, Roth says. Still, he tries to turn the hopelessness of the daily plight of Sisyphus into a positive story, suggesting a better ending to this tale. That was a myth, he tells the possible future operators of the citys new shelter. This is for real. Time will tell. Two men from Florida were charged Saturday with felonies in connection with vehicle burglaries at the Belleville East YMCA and a police pursuit Thursday. That pursuit caused a brief lockdown at Belleville East High School. Sigmund Brown, 19, of Hollywood, Fla., was charged with burglary and resisting a peace officer by the St. Clair County State Attorney's Office. Brown is being held at the St. Clair County jail in lieu of $250,000 bail. Also charged was Johnathan E. Brown, 25, of West Park, Fla. He was charged with burglary and aggravated fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer. He is also being held at the St. Clair County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail. Both may face additional charges connected to burglary cases in O'Fallon, Mo. Belleville East High School was secured for about 30 minutes Thursday morning after police pursued a minivan occupied by the men. Officers arrested one man who jumped out of the minivan and ran onto the campus of Southwestern Illinois College. The driver then headed for the high school, where he fled into woods on the east side of the campus. He was arrested there. CHAMPAIGN, Ill. Police in a central Illinois village are searching for a 34-year-old suspect in a weekend shooting of a police officer. The (Champaign) News-Gazette reports that an unnamed Mahomet officer was shot Saturday night outside a home. Mahomet Police Chief Mike Metzler says the officer is recovering after being released from a local hospital Sunday morning. Metzler told the newspaper that the officer was shot after a traffic stop initiated by a different police officer. The suspect then got into a fight with the second officer, who reportedly attempted to use a stun gun on the driver. A Champaign County judge on Sunday issued an arrest warrant for Dracy "Clint" Pendleton, accusing him of aggravated battery with a firearm. Authorities say Pendleton fled the area in a stolen pickup truck. All but 360 people in Metro East had regained power by Sunday night after powerful thunderstorms hit the region on Saturday. The storms had caused about 30,000 people to lose power on Saturday as high winds downed trees and power lines. By Sunday night, most of those remaining without power were in the Highland area, according to Ameren. There was also a small outage Sunday night in the Clarkson Valley area of St. Louis County The storm downed 14 subtransmission lines, Ameren said, and the utility initially focused on those in order to restore power to the most customers. The storm swept through the St. Louis region with high winds and lightning strikes, hitting hardest in the Metro East. Weve got lines down everywhere, Alton Deputy Fire Chief Mark Harris said during the crisis on Saturday. By midnight on Saturday, Ameren had restored service to about two thirds of the 30,000 without power. Additional safety and outage information is available at http://AmerenIllinois.com. Updates on outage restoration are available at the Ameren Illinois news feed at http://twitter.com/AmerenIllinois and http://facebook.com/AmerenIllinois. Voters across the political spectrum tell pollsters theyre unhappy with the influence that big money has on politics. Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders have been particularly harsh on big donors. Democrat Hillary Clinton, no slouch at collecting big donations, has nonetheless rolled out a plan for comprehensive campaign finance reform. Meanwhile, back on Capitol Hill last week, House Republicans took steps to provide more protection for anonymous donors who contribute millions of dollars through secretive and unaccountable dark money organizations. If candidates and voters want big money out of politics, theyre going to have be louder and more insistent about it. Trump voters, Clinton voters and Sanders voters must write or call their members of Congress and tell them to vote against HR 5053. Sponsored by Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., and bearing the bogus title of The IRS Abuse and Protecting Free Speech Act, it passed out of the House Ways and Means Committee on a party-line vote on April 28. It would make dark money even darker. It would deepen the anonymity of anonymous donors to certain campaign committees that finagle the political system. Say Vladimir Putin had a favorite candidate. Right now foreign money isnt permitted in U.S. campaigns. But if HR 5053 passes, no one would ever know if the Russian mafia or Mexican drug lords were stocking up on U.S. politicians. The dark money scam was enabled by the Supreme Courts decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission in 2010. The court majoritys decision, amazingly naive and shortsighted, argued that public disclosure of campaign donors names would take care of any problem created by endorsing corporations as persons and granting them the right to make political donations. Shrewd political operatives began incorporating under Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Service code as social welfare organizations. This section was meant to cover groups like Rotary Clubs and Little Leagues. The IRS code says such groups may engage in some political activities, so long as that is not its primary activity. But whos going to know? C-4s with receipts of $50,000 or more must report the names of their donors to the IRS on a so-called Schedule B. But the names of donors can be redacted on public documents. HR 5053 would eliminate the Schedule B disclosure, meaning that even if the IRS wanted to check a groups donors, it couldnt. And since the IRS got caught scrutinizing applications for C-4 status by tea party groups in 2013, the agency has been gun shy. As for the Federal Election Commission, which is supposed to enforce election laws, it is a feckless and toothless joke. Big money never sleeps. Candidates and voters may agree that the campaign finance system is a mess, but big donors and their kept congressmen continue to grease the system. CHAPEL HILL, N.C., May 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- As more than 6,000 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill students prepare to enter the next phase of the lives, they were urged to focus on others as much as their budding careers. Caring, Anne Marie Slaughter said, is as important as career. "Strive and struggle and work really hard, but invest in others as much as you invest in yourselves," she said, speaking under Carolina blue skies. "And always, always make room for the indispensable, precious, priceless work of care." Slaughter, a foreign policy expert and public commentator, delivered the Commencement address as Carolina celebrated the graduation of the Class of 2016 on May 8 at Kenan Stadium. The ceremony was presided over by Chancellor Carol L. Folt and drew approximately 35,000 of the graduates' family and friends, as well as Board of Governors member Ann Maxwell, Board of Trustees Vice Chair Haywood D. Cochrane and General Alumni Association Board of Directors Chair Dan Myers. The degrees of more than 6,000 Carolina students were conferred during the two-hour ceremony. They included 3,721 with bachelor's, 1,383 with masters, 251 with doctoral and 651 with professional degrees. "You'll need all your skills, determination and integrity to tackle complex issues of your day like war, environmental degradation and climate change, inequality, global food and water shortages, as well as to adapt quickly to emerging opportunities, and to create vibrant communities for your children and their children." Slaughter was one of five honorary degree recipients, which were presented by Secretary of the Faculty Joseph S. Ferrell for his 20th and final year. In her commencement address, Slaughter discussed the importance for graduates to invest in others as much as themselves. Caring for children and family members, Slaughter said, is critical to the future prosperity of society. By doing so, this generation can create the change required for gender equality. "It is time for men, alongside women as equals, to be bold and to break the mold of traditional expectations for how men should lead their lives just as we have broken those expectations of how women should lead their lives," she said. "Some things will always be the same. The sky will always be Carolina blue. But change is eternal and it falls now to you to change the world for the better of the course of your lives." Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160508/364912 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/more-than-6000-students-graduate-from-unc---chapel-hill-during-spring-2016-commencement-300264784.html SOURCE University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH (PRWEB) May 08, 2016 School Improvement Network, one of Utah's longest standing education technology companies, today announced that it is hosting over 50 public school district superintendents from 30 states at its corporate headquarters in Salt Lake City from May 9 to 11. The superintendents will be meeting as part of the Superintendents Personalized Learning Cohort, an event that School Improvement Network is sponsoring with AASA, the School Superintendents Association. One of the highlights of the event will be a tour of Weber Innovation High School in Ogden, a national leader in personalized and project based learning. This tour will show how Weber Innovations High School is making the transition to personalized learning and will provide a first-hand look at how educational needs are more fully met when learning is personalized. "Personalized learning is a dramatically different approach to education that gives every student agency over his or her time, pace, path, and place of learning with the hands on support of their teacher," said Anne Brown, Vice President of Personalized Learning at School Improvement Network. "Technology is what makes this possible, enabling students to have this blended mix of personalized instruction, along with teacher instruction, that allows them to pursue their academic goals with great intensity and deeper learning." Weber Innovation High School reports average ACT test scores of 19.2, higher than both district and state benchmarks. In addition, students are, on average, at least one to two credits ahead of pace, and have already earned nearly 200 concurrent college credits. The media is invited to join in on the tour and visit with students and staff members to find out what makes this Utah school different, and how its successful move to personalized learning is gaining national attention. What: Tour of Weber Innovation High School Improvement Network When: Tuesday, May 10, 2016, 8:30-11:00 AM Where: Weber Innovation High School, 1007 West 12th Street, Ogden, Utah To read an EdSurge article detailing the steps that Weber School District is taking in its transformation to personalized learning, click here. School Improvement Network is a proud partner of Weber Innovation High School and AASA in supporting the movement of personalized learning across the nation. About School Improvement Network Founded in 1991 by teachers, School Improvement Network has become the school improvement partner of choice for thousands of schools and districts around the world. Our personal learning resources and strategic implementation services make learning personal for every leader, teacher, and student--supporting their growth and helping schools and districts achieve their strategic goals. School Improvement Network and its logos are trademarks of School Improvement Network, LLC. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Contacts: Anne Brown 435-640-6126 (cell) anne.brown(at)schoolimprovement(dot)com or Paulette Burnside 435-640-6126 (cell) paulette.burnside(at)schoolimprovement(dot)com Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2016/05/prweb13399539.htm Margot Honecker (R), widow of the former head of East Germany Erich Honecker, is seen during an event of the communist party at Santiago, Chile, March 22, 2015. REUTERS/Aliosha Marquez SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Margot Honecker, the widow of former East German leader Erich Honecker and the most powerful woman in the Communist state until its collapse in 1989, died on Friday in Santiago, Chile, at the age of 89. She had been living as a recluse in Chile for more than two decades. Honecker had been suffering from cancer, TVN television station said. The Communist Party of Chile (PCC) said in a statement: "After learning of the death of Margot Honecker, this morning in our country, we send our most sincere condolences to her daughter Sonja, her family and friends." Known as the "Purple Witch" in East Germany for her tinted hair and hardline stance, Honecker served alongside her husband as minister for education for almost three decades. She was hated and feared by many East Germans but defended the cruelties of the system to her death. In 2012, she called those killed trying to escape over the Berlin Wall "stupid" for wanting to defect, defended the Stasi secret police and said her state pension of 1,500 euros a month was too small. The PCC's secretary general, Juan Andres Lagos, told TVN: "She was a person that was coherent with her political ideals and then when real socialism fell, she also led many initiatives of solidarity with the people of Latin America and Asia, which fought for their liberation." But Honecker will probably be most remembered for her suspected role in forced adoptions of children whose parents had tried to flee to the West, though she always denied this happened, and for the treatment of "difficult" children in disciplinary institutions. One of those establishments was a prison-like barracks in Torgau known as "Margot's Concentration Camp". Victims and politicians initiated legal proceedings for alleged mistreatment but these were later dropped as the statute of limitations had elapsed or for lack of proof. "She never critically reflected on what she had done. Up until her death she was a nasty, stubborn woman," Hubertus Knabe, the director of the memorial of the former Stasi prison told the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung. Born the daughter of a shoemaker and a factory worker in Halle in 1927, Margot Feist trained as a clerk and started out as a stenotypist before working for the Communist party's FDJ youth association. A rising star in the youth movement, she became the youngest member of the East German parliament at the age of 22. Her taste for elegant clothes made her stand out against the drab ranks of the state's other politicians. Although she became part of the Socialist Unity Party's central committee, she never made it into the all-powerful Communist Party Politburo. In 1949 she met Erich Honecker, then chairman of the FDJ and a married man. They embarked on an affair during which Margot became pregnant and gave birth to their daughter Sonja. After Sonja's birth, Erich divorced under pressure from the then-East German ruler Walter Ulbricht and married Margot, who was 15 years his junior. Known as "Miss Bildung (Education)", a pun on the German word for deformity, "Missbildung", she shaped the Socialist curriculum in schools, including the introduction of compulsory military training. She stepped down from her post in October 1989, two days after her husband resigned. The Berlin Wall fell in November and a month later Margot faced accusations of corruption and misuse of office before an investigative committee, which she denied. After German reunification, the Honeckers fled to exile in the Soviet Union in 1991 to escape criminal charges over human rights abuses committed by the government. When Erich was extradited back to Germany, Margot fled to Chile. Her husband later joined her there when his trial collapsed due to his terminal illness. He died in 1994. Margot lived largely as a recluse in Chile. On the rare occasions that she broke her silence, she showed no remorse. In her book "Discussions with Margot Honecker about the other Germany", published in 2000, she spoke of a "fair and humane social system" where there was social security, education for all, free elections, no unemployment, no homelessness and no real estate speculation. But she also said the government often failed to put decisions into practice and overestimated what it had already achieved. In 2009 she celebrated the 60th anniversary of East Germany with other Socialists in Chile. In a video of the celebrations, she is seen standing in front of its hammer-and-sickle flag, declaring that despite a propaganda campaign to discredit the state, people were now missing the old days. (Reporting by Michelle Martin, Editing by Sonya Hepinstall and Angus MacSwan) Member of a special police unit take up positions in front of the Ferhadija mosque before an opening ceremony in Banja Luka, May 7, 2016. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic By Gordana Katana and Maja Zuvela BANJA LUKA, Bosnia (Reuters) - Thousands of Muslims flocked to the capital of Bosnia's Serb region on Saturday for the reopening of a historic mosque destroyed during wartime, a ceremony seen as encouraging religious tolerance among deeply divided communities. Twenty years after the devastating war between its Muslim Bosniaks, Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats, Bosnia remains split along ethnic lines, with rival groups blocking reconciliation and reform needed to join the European Union. The return of Muslim believers to the rebuilt Ferhadija mosque in the largely Serb city of Banja Luka, capital of Bosnia's autonomous Serb Republic, offered hope for change to many, although some were more cautious. Amid tight security, about 1,000 police officers patrolled the streets as buses arrived with Muslims from across the country. Traffic was barred from the city center and alcohol banned. Turkey's outgoing Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, whose country contributed to the cost of rebuilding, reopened the mosque in front of a congregation of up to 10,000, saying the new building sent a message of peace. "Bosnia-Herzegovina, with its Muslims, Catholics, Orthodox and Jews, is one body, one heart. If there is any attempt to split it up, it means that this one heart would be split," he said, apparently referring to secessionist threats by Bosnian Serbs. The 16th-century mosque, under UNESCO protection as an outstanding example of Ottoman architecture, was blown up 23 years ago. A parking lot was built where it had stood. Many believe its destruction was ordered by Bosnian Serbs aiming to erase any traces of Muslim heritage in the once multi-ethnic city. ETHNIC CLEANSING During a ceremony to lay a foundation stone for the mosque in 2001, Serb nationalists attacked visitors and dignitaries, wounding dozens and killing one Muslim. It took another 15 years for Bosnia's Muslims to obtain construction permits and funds to rebuild the mosque. Thousands of pieces of rubble from the original building were used after being recovered from the Vrbas River and a garbage site where they were dumped. The day it was leveled, May 7, is now the Day of the Mosques in Bosnia, where 614 mosques were destroyed during the 1992-95 war. Today, only 10 percent of Banja Luka's pre-war Muslim and Croat population remains in the city following a wartime Serb campaign of ethnic cleansing. Bosnian Serb President Milorad Dodik said representatives of Islamic, Orthodox, Catholic and Jewish communities "have gathered here and sent messages of peace". Efendi Husein Kavazovic, head of Bosnia's Islamic community, spoke of a "triumph of light over darkness", although he had earlier expressed doubts that reconciliation was close at hand. Bakir Izetbegovic, the Muslim chairman of Bosnia's three-man inter-ethnic presidency, said the rebuilt mosque was sign that Bosnia's Muslims could return to the region. Some residents were less sanguine, with many of Banja Luka's Serbs apparently staying away from the ceremony. "I only want this opening to pass peacefully and without any incident as tensions still run high," said Tatjana Kecman, a Serb from Banja Luka. War casts a long shadow here, with Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic jailed for genocide only in March. The United Nations says Bosnian Serb backing for secession from the fragile Bosnian state is a challenge to the 1995 peace settlement. (Additional reporting and writing by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Giles Elgood and Andrew Heavens) Charles 'Hemi' Hingaia suffered from a gunshot wound to his stomach after an incident on Yates Rd, Mangere. A man has been arrested and charged with attempted murder after a shooting incident in south Auckland on Saturday left another man fighting for his life. Police have charged a 36-year-old man who was found in the Rodney area early Sunday morning. He has been charged with attempted murder and will appear in the Manukau District Court on Monday. FACEBOOK Police want to speak to Billy Matara following a shooting in Mangere, Auckland. Police were searching for Head Hunters gang prospect Billy Matara, 36, following the shooting and warned he may be armed. READ MORE: * Shooting sparks fear in Mangere * Yates Road Reserve common site for disorder - neighbour * Police investigate scene of shooting in south Auckland Charles 'Hemi' Hingaia, 35, is recovering after undergoing surgery for a gunshot wound to the stomach after the incident unfolded in Mangere around 3am. A Middlemore Hospital spokesperson said Hingaia remained in a critical condition and was in the intensive care unit. Detective Senior Sergeant Kevin McNaughton hoped the arrest would be of some comfort to Hemi's family and the wider Mangere community. As the matter is now before the courts, police will not be making any further comment, he said. Hingaia was a client of PARS, a charity helping prisoners to rehabilitate into society after their sentence. Hingaia was the fourth man to be shot in the same Mangere street in four months, leaving residents rattled and fearful of warring gangs. In February, a man opened fire on a group drinking at Yates Rd reserve, shooting three young men. Dunedin's Public Trust Building, containing the office of a company being liquidated over a dispute with a Balkan country. A Balkan nation has taken a New Zealand trust to court to recover a million-dollar debt. The case comes as Fairfax reveals the extent to which this country's trusts have been used as a haven for overseas investors, exposed by the leaked Panama Papers. An order seeking liquidation of Guardian Fiduciary Trust Ltd over an unpaid amount of NZ$1,680,009.37 to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia was heard in the Dunedin High Court on Thursday morning. The trust's registered office is in Dunedin's Public Trust Building on Moray Pl, where its parent company, In Fiduciary Services, has a second floor office. READ MORE: * Panama Papers whistleblower confused: John Key * Dunedin firm goes legal in the Balkans * The Panama Papers New Zealand link revealed In Fiduciary's website espouses the benefits of keeping money in trusts in New Zealand: "Advantages of using this jurisdiction are that New Zealand does not look like a 'tax haven' such as BVI (British Virgin Islands), Samoa, Cyprus, Jersey, etc, and that it is generally regarded as a high tax-paying country," the In Fiduciary Services Ltd website says. Nicolaas Jan Carel Francken , who used to own Corstorphine House, a luxury lodge in Dunedin, is one of two directors of Guardian Fiduciary Trust Limited. The liquidation order comes after the Republic of Macedonia was awarded costs of US$1.07m and 32,800 against the claimant, Guardian Fiduciary Trust Ltd. The Dunedin-based trust was controlled out of the Marshall Islands but operated in Macedonia through a local bank, Stopanska Banka. Following US money-laundering investigations, the bank closed its accounts. In 2009, authorities in the Balkan country arrested one of the company's directors, Raymond David Finzer, for money laundering. The company denied the allegations and demanded US$600m damages from the Macedonia government, later reduced to US$20m. But a Europe-based tribunal threw out the Dunedin-based trust's claims. This week, Singapore-based Francken continued to reject authorities suggestions the company had been involved in money-laundering. "The money laundering aspect was not even dealt with" by the international disputes tribunal, he said. Francken, chairman of In Fiduciary Services Group, said Finzer had been falsely accused. Finzer was a religious man who "felt very badly treated" by the government. "Sometimes I think that he died as a result of that treatment," Francken added. In the tribunal decision it was noted that Guardian Fiduciary Trust Ltd was controlled by a Marshall Islands company, with Finzer being its director and beneficial owner until his reported death in November 2012. Francken said he did not think Guardian had been involved in money laundering, and he was appointed director of the trust to ensure New Zealand compliance in 2015. "We never deal with clients which we consider involved with money laundering." He referred to his company's website for more information, and which lists New Zealand IN Fiduciary Services Ltd alongside companies in Singapore, Malaysia and the Netherlands. Sign up to receive our new evening newsletter Two Minutes of Stuff the news, but different. Wellington Police are fighting back against the prevalence of cheap alcohol available in supermarkets. New World and Countdown have both found it tough trying to get a liquor licence in Wellington of late. Michael Forbes investigates why the police are taking such a hard line on supermarkets selling alcohol. Tensions are running high in the alcohol aisle at your local supermarket. Wellington is flush with cheap booze and the police have had enough. They have gone straight to the source to make their feelings known. KEVIN STENT/FAIRFAX NZ Sergeant Damian Rapira-Davies, alcohol harm reduction officer for Wellington Police, says a lot of alcohol-related harm can be traced back to supermarkets. It has made for quite the show whenever a big-name supermarket has found itself having to sit in a room with the police and District Licensing Committee to ask for a liquor licence. READ MORE: * Wellington sticks with 4am closing for bars * Police oppose liquor licence on 'Chunder Lane' * New World carpark looks more like a 'fight club' - police * Countdown Blenheim has alcohol licence suspended * Another Blenheim supermarket loses alcohol licence In June, New World Newtown got a rap over the knuckles for not being swift enough to move a so-called "gauntlet of alcohol" away from its entrance so customers would not be forced to walk past it. CAMERON BURNELL/FAIRFAX NZ Inspector Terry van Dillen says alcohol goes hand-in-hand with a lot of the crime we see in Wellington's CBD. Then in October, management from New World Wellington City, also known as Chaffers New World, had to sit through three days of police officer after police officer telling stories of illegal drinking and drunken violence taking place in its Wakefield St car park after hours. The licensing committee was treated to CCTV video of illegal drinking, public urination and a 30-man brawl. Constables likened the car park to a "fight club" and dubbed its location Wellington's "crime corridor". An area commander even spoke about how he was attacked by drunk teenagers while off-duty, as staff watched on "as if it was entertainment". KEVIN STENT/ FAIRFAX NZ The drunken crime occurring in the car park of New World Wellington City after hours was the subject of much debate at it liquor licence hearing in October. More recently, Countdown was back in front of the committee to seek a liquor licence for its new store in Cable Car Lane, off Lambton Quay. The language at that hearing was no less colourful. Police were there with concerned community groups - including Victoria University - to point out the ease with which students will be able to use the Cable Car to ferry alcohol from the supermarket to flats and student halls around Kelburn. One veteran anti-alcohol campaigner served up the moniker, "Chunder Lane". MONIQUE FORD/FAIRFAX NZ A new Countdown will soon be opening in Cable Car Lane, but there are fears it will fuel student drinking around The Terrace and in Kelburn. So why all the friction? Why are police giving every supermarket the third degree when it comes to alcohol sales? Well, quite simply, because it is their job, says Inspector Terry van Dillen, prevention manager for Wellington Police. "If we don't challenge these guys, then who will? Big businesses will just mow through with their lawyers and their money and tick all the boxes on their applications, and boom, they're away." Police are making no apologies for that either. Sergeant Damian Rapira-Davies, the alcohol harm reduction officer for Wellington Police, says the prevalence of cheap booze is a real problem and supermarkets need to own a fair bit of the responsibility for that. "There's no cheaper place to buy beer than in a supermarket. Bottle stores tell me they try to compete [but they can't]. In fact, some bottle stores tell me they buy their beer from the supermarket," Rapira-Davies says. "So with that sort of feedback it's hard not to take a hard look at applications for supermarkets." THE PROBLEM OF TOO MUCH ALCOHOL During its licence hearing New World Chaffers revealed just how much money it makes from alcohol sales every year, although this number was suppressed by the committee for commercial reasons. However it was not an insignificant amount, and Rapira-Davies says that if converted into beer stacked on to pallets and loaded on to trucks, you would see more than 300 truck and trailer units lined up from Wellington to Lower Hutt. And that's just one supermarket out of the five inside Wellington's central city liquor ban area - a zone of roughly 20 square kilometres from Aotea Quay down to Newtown and across to Brooklyn's Central Park. As well as the five supermarkets, there are about 60 off-licence premises, such as bottle stores, and close to 500 on-licence premises, such as bars. "You can find an off-licence that's open until 11pm anywhere in the city within 200 metres," Rapira-Davies says. "You won't find another city in New Zealand that has that many [licences] within such a confined space - if you want alcohol in this city then you can find it." And where there are vast quantities of alcohol, trouble usually follows. "Some [police] staff call it a zoo down there but that's actually being a bit nice because some zoos are quite good places to visit," van Dillen says. "Alcohol creates a lot of harm in our central city. We can relate it to assaults, we can relate it to robberies. It goes hand-in-hand with a lot of the crime we see in the CBD. "Basically, from 9pm through to 5am or 6am, you can bet your bottom dollar that anything we deal with will be tainted by alcohol in some way, from two people who bump shoulders on the street and it turns into fisticuffs, to a domestic, to a serious assault, to the stealing of handbags, jackets and cellphones - all that stuff." Rapira-Davies has spent his fair share of time looking after the cells at Wellington Central Police Station on Friday and Saturday nights, and says counting the sober people in lockup is a lot easier than adding up the drunk ones. "At a certain time of night, it's hard to find an incident where the parties involved aren't affected by alcohol... and that goes for the victims as well." NOTHING GOOD HAPPENS AFTER 9PM Police have a saying that nothing good happens in the central city after 3am. That may be true, but at least if Wellington's drinkers are in the central city then they are most probably in bars where people can monitor their drinking and welfare, van Dillen says. The same can't always be said when people are drinking alcohol bought from off-licences at residential addresses. It is perhaps unsurprising then that police figures show a proportionately large number of alcohol-releated incidents occur in people's homes rather than in city bars. This is another reason why police are getting tough, as they believe Wellington's supermarkets and bottle stores should have to stop selling alcohol from 9pm rather than the current cutoff of 11pm. That would have the effect of shifting drinkers into the CBD earlier in the night, where police can mange them better, Rapira-Davies says. "We see people who don't even going into town before midnight. They don't have to because alcohol is freely available at a much cheaper price from an off-licence right up until 11pm... and no one is saying 'stop'," Rapira-Davies says. Then there is the issue of good character, and whether big supermarkets are acting responsibly by large quantities of alcohol within areas so heavily blighted by alcohol-releated harm. Central government alcohol reforms in 2012 introduced a good character test for alcohol licences. Part of what we are seeing now is Wellington Police putting that new rule to the test with supermarkets. "Under the good order provision of the Act, if you're going to sell alcohol then you've got to think about more than just your shop," van Dillen says. "If you look at Chaffers [New World], there was a lot of stuff happening in the car park, which they initially said was not their problem. But under the Act, it is their problem because they sell alcohol and they have alcohol-related issues outside their front door." Rapira-Davies says the police and the wider community certainly don't have any problem with anyone who wants to set up a shop inside the liquor ban area that sells groceries and toilet paper. "But if they're selling large quantities of alcohol inside a liquor ban area then that is a problem. If they're discounting alcohol beyond cost price - making it extremely accessible - then that is a problem." BUT ARE SUPERMARKETS THE BAD GUY? Both Foodstuffs, which owns New World and Pak n' Save, and Progressive Enterprises, which owns Countdown, declined to be interviewed in person, as both still have liquor licence decisions pending. But in a statement, Foodstuffs head of external relations Antoinette Laird said the company had no qualms about the good character of those running its supermarkets. "It has always been the case that alcohol licences are only issued to people who are suitable to hold a licence. Foodstuffs takes this requirement very seriously," she says. "Occasionally mistakes are made and the business works hard to address these, but no Foodstuffs supermarket has ever lost its licence due to lack of suitability." Foodstuffs felt an 11pm cutoff for alcohol sales was reasonable to meet the needs of its customers, who generally purchase beer and wine with other groceries, Laird says. "Our focus is on meeting the needs of our customers." Greg Harford, spokesman for Retail NZ, which represents supermarkets, said it did appear Wellington supermarkets were being unfairly singled out by the police, particularly since selling alcohol was not illegal. There had been reports of police putting pressure on alcohol retailers to cut back their hours of sale before it got to the licence hearing stage, but that was an issue supermarkets felt as handled by a licensing committee. That said, there are a lot of retainers who were working very constructively with the police on liquor licensing issues, Harford says. Countdown, for instance, had offered to shut its new Cable Car Lane store at 8pm. But in general, supermarkets were not keen on the idea of stopping alcohol sales at 9pm, as it would hinder convenience, he says. Restricting sales to 9pm would hurt people who had no choice but to shop at night, such as shift workers. "Wellington is a very cosmopolitan city, a lot there's a going on... people will go out at night and then pop into the supermarket afterwards." Harford says supermarkets are only too aware of the responsibilities that come with selling alcohol. But at the same time, alcohol harm would not be solved without some personal responsibility too. "People who do misuse alcohol and then go commit crimes afterwards - if they don't buy their alcohol from a supermarket then they will get it from somewhere else," he says. "So I do think it is a little unfair to single out supermarkets." The celebrant who wed a loved-up couple just months ago in Wellington will take the bride's funeral. The 37-year-old new bride was the victim of a homicide on Friday in the Wellington suburb of Strathmore Park. She'd been wed just three months earlier. KEVIN STENT/FAIRFAX NZ Forensics at a Strathmore, Wellington property where a 37-year-old woman was found dead on Friday night. Family were still too distraught to talk to media on Sunday, but continued to hold vigil at the victim's house. READ MORE: * Woman killed in Strathmore Park, Wellington was recently married * Wellington police investigate homicide after woman found dead in house A 37-year-old woman was arrested at the scene on Friday. She appeared in Wellington District Court on Saturday on a charge of murder, looking slightly dishevelled, with tangled hair and wearing a sleeveless, cream prison uniform. Her lawyer, Chris Tennet, told the court he will seek a mental health assessment for his client. "Even before I got there [on Friday night] it was quite obvious there were those issues, tragic," he told Justice Ann Clark. Both the accused and the victim have interim name suppression. "This is someone who has never been in court before or arrested, let alone had contact with the police before, except possibly to report crime," Tennet said. A neighbour of the accused said he had lived next door to the woman and her partner for about 10 years and described them as a "lovely couple". She was a professional, the neighbour said. One of the victim's neighbours was surprised to learn of the incident. She did not know the victim well but said she and her husband were "quiet neighbours". A post mortem was completed on Sunday morning in Wellington Detective Senior Sergeant Warwick McKee said. McKee said police were continuing with their scene examination on Sunday. He reiterated that police could not elaborate on the relationship between the two women. He also could not specify what forensics teams had uncovered, including any possible weapons. The accused remains in custody until her next court appearance. Police have confirmed the accused has a young son, who is being cared for by his father and other family members. There are lap cats and street cats, and then there are the cats in between: the ones that dont like people but arent quite tough enough to make it on the streets. Those cats are problems for animal shelters. They hide, they hiss, they soil the carpet. They make lousy pets. But they also have a strong suit: Theyre often master mouse-catchers. And now, increasingly, theyre being hired to perform that duty for life as participants in "working cat" programs. The programs are pretty simple: Shelters match people who have rodent problems - at barns, warehouses, stores, churchyards - with antisocial cats. The felines are expected to keep the pests at bay; the people compensate them with food, water and shelter from the elements. Jim Trenter is a believer. He manages a grass seed warehouse in St Paul, Minnesota, and told the Minneapolis Star Tribune his company was losing US$10,000 (NZ$14,620) of the product each year to mice that chomped through bags of it. Then Trenter recruited Fritz and Nutmeg, two tabbies, from the Animal Humane Society. Problem gone - and Fritz even ended up being pretty friendly. "Best employees I have had!" Trenter told the Star Tribune. "And they dont talk back." Theres nothing new about this, of course. Humans likely domesticated cats - or semi-domesticated them - more than 4000 years ago because the felines extermination skills kept rodents away from crops and grain stores. In more modern times, theyve been known as barncats. But working cat programs are growing increasingly popular as animal shelters around the United States look for ways to keep more cats alive. About 1.4 million cats are euthanised in US shelters each year, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The Arizona Humane Society always hires out its working cats in pairs, and it says the introverted animals "would love to spend their lives helping to control your warehouse, ranch, mill or barns rodent and pest population. All they ask for in return is shelter, food, water and care." Other organisations focus more on placing working cats in urban settings where rodents proliferate, such as the Lincoln Park neighbourhood of Chicago. One resident there recently described her very creepy-sounding rat problem to NPR this way: "No one used the yard one summer because every time youd go out, theyd like run across your feet . . . Once it got dark, you would hear them, tch, tch, tch, tch, tch, tch, tch tch, back and forth on the deck." Poison didnt work, she said. Neither did underground fencing. Three adopted feral cats, assigned to duty in the backyard, did the trick. Paul Nickerson, the manager for the Cats at Work program for the Tree House Humane Society in Chicago, told NPR that feline pheromones - he called them "predator pheromones" - help keep rats at bay. "The cats will kill off a great deal of the initial population of the rats," he said. "But through spreading their pheromones, they will keep other rats from filling their vacuum." At the Original LA Flower Market, two cats named Pacino and DeNiro have been among a crew of 15 felines hired to skulk among the blossoms and seek out a "pair of beady eyes hidden in the row of flowers," according to the LA Times. When one rat patrol member died, the markets executive vice president told the Times, the rodents were quickly back on its turf, a parking lot. He called for another cat. "It was unbelievable. The rats returned like they never left," Scott Yamabe said. "And they disappeared just as fast when a new cat appeared. Those cats make a real difference." Its the last chance for Thames residents to have their say on the draft Fires in the Open Bylaw and changes to Resource Management Act fees and charges. Residents can have their say on the rewritten Bylaw and on proposed changes to our fees and charges under the Act. Public consultation on the proposal to increase the fees and charges under the RMA closes on Monday May 9, and residents can have their say on the draft Fires in the Open Bylaw until Wednesday May 11. The proposed bylaw will allow residents to set and enforce fire seasons and bans in areas of the Coromandel classified as urban by the New Zealand Fire Service. Check the web page www.tcdc.govt.nz/firesbylaw to see which area you fall into, to read the full text of the draft bylaw and have your say online. The main changes are: permits would no longer be required for permanent, safe outdoor fireplaces (including pizza ovens) meeting the bylaws safety criteria. Permits would also not be required for fireworks. After the submissions are reviewed and hearings held and any amendments made, Council will consider a final Fires in the Open Bylaw for adoption in August 2016, and it is planned any new rules will come into effect in September 2016. Until then, the current rules apply. Head to the website at www.tcdc.govt.nz/fire to find out more. The Council is proposing increases to some of the administrative fees and charges for things like reviewing and processing applications for resource consents, subdivision applications and the preparation of documents. Council charges for these services to recover the cost of providing them and pass it on to those who benefit. The proposed changes better reflect the costs incurred by Council and will allow people to have a better understanding of what the true costs of their application will be. All the details are available at www.tcdc.govt.nz/haveyoursay The consultation closes on Monday May 9, at 4pm. The global demand for organic milk has been dramatically underlined by Fonterras opening 2016-17 season forecast for its organic suppliers of $9.20 per kilogram of milksolids. The price is a contrast with the present farmgate price for conventional farmers of $3.90 per kg/MS. Paul Grave, Fonterras head of co-operative affairs, Waikato, says while the opening forecast organic milk price is a big step up from the $5.65 per kgMS payment organic farmers currently receive (the organic fixed premium on top of the farmgate milk price), it reflects consistently high prices for organic milk products in its global markets. Early this year organic milk powder was selling for more than NZ$14,000 per tonne. This compares with the current price for conventional whole milk powder of NZ$3158. Fonterra says it is hoping to process an extra 600,000 kg/MS during the next year. The new price follows a change in the way Fonterra pays organic farmers. It now pays them either through an independent organic milk price linked to market returns, or for possibly only the next two years - the current top-up system. Farmers had pushed for the market-linked change. Grave says there are more than 50 farmers supplying Fonterra with organic milk. While more will be tempted to join, the co-operative has to be careful. "We want to manage the growth, we dont want it to go wild," Grave says. It takes three years to farmers to convert from a conventional to organic system, and Fonterra assists farmers with a premium of 45c during conversion to certification. Grave says would-be organic farmers need to be aware of the demands of certification. Representatives from certification agencies from the United States, Europe and China make regular visits to farms and need to see documentation. In contrast to the volatility of the price of conventional milk, organic milk prices has been stable since 2013, and will continue to be so, Grave says. Greens spokesman Steffan Browning welcomed the news of the high price. "This will encourage more farmers to convert to organics and is a signal of what weve been saying - there is a market for organics," Browning says. He called on Fonterra to suspend the closure of its Kaikoura factory, saying no South Island organic milk was at present being collected but farmers were interested in doing so and could supply the plant. Grave says the marketplace for organic milk is competitive and the market-linked organic milk price will help Fonterra to secure a steady stream of organic milk. Browning says Fonterra will be trying to stem the flow of farmers to the Organic Dairy Hub Co-operative of New Zealand, which supplies milk to boutique producer Lewis Road Creamery. Organics champion Janet Fleming says Taranakis 13 certified organic farmers will be thrilled to receive a market-linked price for their production. About 10 dairy farmers converting to organics in the region would continue to receive the 45c premium while they went through the three-year conversion process. The announcement vindicated the decision by her and husband Steve to convert to organics in 2004 and to remain Fonterra suppliers. "Its satisfying to be paid for what our production is worth, not for what conventional production is worth." "The world market for organics is stable, but as organic producers we have still been affected for the last three years by the volatility of the milk price for conventional milk." Fridays announcement was recognition by Fonterras board and management team that organic milk was the co-operatives highest value product. "Organic milk is at the top of the sales pyramid," she said. As Taranakis representative on the Fonterra Organic Farmers Advisory Group, she expects a surge in the number of farmers keen to convert to organics and says Fonterra will soon call for expressions of interest. Fleming says all farmers would benefit from the growth of the co-operatives organics programme and organic milk production would now contribute to the Fonterra dividend. All costs associated with setting up the programme had been met. Grave says the margins the co-operative is achieving on its organic milk products are similar to some of its highest-earning consumer and food service products. Fonterras organics business had been consistently profitable recently and had paid back its investment. - Stuff New research into the Rena wreck has found some of the biggest ongoing long-term risks is the clean-up effort itself. Nearly five years after the container ship ran aground off Tauranga, media says a series of papers published in the New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research looks at the lessons learned. The New Zealand Kiwifruit Board have been ordered to re-hear an application by two Te Puke kiwifruit exporters and marketers to sell kiwifruit in Austria and China. The board turned down collaborative marketing applications by Splice Fruit Ltd and Seeka Kiwifruit Industries Ltd, and removed a former right of appeal. Splice sought approval for a collaborative marketing arrangement involving the export of 180,000 trays of green organic Class 1, kiwifruit to Austria. Seeka sought approval for a collaborative marketing arrangement involving the export of 400,000 trays of green Class 1, kiwifruit to Hainan Island, in China, and for the export of 120,000 trays of green Class 1, kiwifruit to Xinjiang province, in China. The applications were all refused on December 22, 2015, with reasons given in writing on January 21, 2016. The board withdrew a previous appeal process on November 23, on the advice of senior counsel it was unlawful and invalid. Justice Heath says it wasnt unlawful. With respect, I consider that the Queens Counsel from whom the Board sought advice focussed inappropriately on the question whether the Board could set up an appellate procedure akin to that which might otherwise have been included in the Act or Regulations. He says it was open to the Board to regulate its own procedure by incorporating a review process. He didnt criticise the Board for removing the appeal process as it was relying on advice from a senior Queens Counsel. The hearing was expedited to enable the applications for the judicial review and the re-hearings to take place before the kiwifruit export season begins. Each application for judicial review is granted: Splice applied to sell kiwifruit in Austria under the name of Ja! Naturlich There have been previous collaborative efforts between Zespri and Splice. The Europe Committee was conscious of the potential for the proposal to impact adversely on the ZESPRI brand and premium returns to New Zealand suppliers that could be received through it. Seekas application in respect of the Hainan Island proposal, was the subject of a review of economic evidence by The China Committee, which was concerned about problems that might arise with the ability of the intended market to deal with the volumes of kiwifruit Seeka intended to supply. And that unsold Hainan fruit would leak onto the mainland, and possibly disrupt Zespris mainland strategy. In respect of Xinjiang province, the China Committee members were concerned with an analysis of the economic issues. But also considered problems involved in getting the kiwifruit to the relevant destination port, Urumqi, and the likelihood of leakage if the proposal were to go ahead. The China Committee was concerned about the possibility of a parallel supply of New Zealand kiwifruit developing in a manner detrimental to the goals of increasing sales and maximising returns in China. (The New Zealand Kiwifruit Board was first defendant, Zespri GRoup Ltd the second defendant. The two entities were created in 1999 when the Government of the day decided to restructure the kiwifruit industry. One of the aims of the restructuring was to separate out the functions undertaken by the old New Zealand Kiwifruit Marketing Board (the old Board), so that: (a) Its commercial business was assumed by a limited liability company to be established for that purpose, Zespri Group Ltd (Zespri). Zespri was to be subject to generic laws governing the governance and management of all companies. Its shares were to be issued to producers, and tradable among them. (b) Regulatory functions were to be transferred to a newly established New Zealand Kiwifruit Board (the Board). Those functions were designed to monitor and enforce various provisions designed to minimise the risk that Zespri would abuse its privileged position in the market, and to safeguard the overall economic interests of all kiwifruit suppliers. A monopsony was created in favour of Zespri, so that it is the sole entity that is entitled to export kiwifruit to anywhere other than Australia. A number of mechanisms were put in place to minimise the possibility of abuse of Zespris market power, and to ensure that increasing the overall wealth of kiwifruit suppliers remained the primary objective.) ACCs former miserable reputation of operating under what opposition parties described as a culture of disentitlement is being turned around says ACC Minister Nikki Kaye. The results of a Research New Zealand survey shows public trust and confidence in ACC has reached a new high, says Nikki. Former ACC Minister Judith Collins appointed chairman John Judge to cut costs and get people off ACC. He succeeded, delivering a surplus and raising rehabilitation rates, but theres been a torrent of complaints from claimants about harsh and unfair treatment. Judge resigned in 2012. The survey shows that 61 per cent of New Zealanders surveyed in the 12 months to March 2016, have full trust and confidence in ACC, up from 56 per cent in the previous 12 months, and the result for the last quarter is 64 per cent, which is the highest result since the survey began in 2004, says Ms Kaye. This is good news, and whilst Id like to see even higher trust and confidence, it confirms that ACC is heading in the right direction. The scheme is now in a sound financial position, having reached the goal of full funding. This means ACC holds sufficient financial assets to meet the lifetime costs of all current claims. ACCs improved financial position has meant weve been able to deliver around $2 billion of levy cuts over the past five years. New legislation announced last year also provides for more open and transparent levy setting, as well as a more robust, longer-term funding policy will ensure greater levy stability, says Nikki. In addition, residual levies which collected historical claims costs have been removed, making work levies fairer. ACC has also begun a five-year programme aimed at transforming its people, processes and technology to deliver a more modern, integrated and customer focused service. The first stage of this programme focuses on improving services for businesses, from simplifying levy invoices to introducing online payments. Further ahead, real time information on workplace injury rates and trends will be provided, giving businesses a clearer picture of whats driving levies and supporting them to develop more effective injury prevention, Nikki says. These improvements have been well received by the business community, and this reinforces steadily improving trust and confidence amongst businesses reflected in a separate ACC survey. This survey shows that as of March 2016, 52 per cent of businesses surveyed have high levels of trust and confidence in ACC, up from 40 per cent in September 2013. Successive stages of the transformation programme will focus on improving services for injured people and health providers. Importantly, the programme is about enabling ACC to refocus its attention on our most vulnerable, by freeing up staff to spend more time with people with complex injuries. ACC approves about 96 per cent of the nearly two million claims it receives annually. However, for those whose claims are declined and who want to challenge ACCs decisions, its important that theres a fair and timely process for doing this, says Nikki. MBIE has commissioned an independent review of potential issues affecting dispute resolution for ACC clients. This review was begun in parallel with targeted consultation on a proposed ACC Appeals Tribunal. Once both these pieces of work have been completed I will be in a better position to assess the best way to ensure our system provides access to justice for ACC clients. The ACC scheme has come a long way in recent years, and theres a lot of work underway to ensure it continues to improve its services. Im confident that as this work delivers results, trust and confidence in ACC will continue to increase. Maritime NZ is proposing a compromise and public meetings over a seafaring certification wrangle caused by conflicting systems. There are currently a large number of different certificates held by seafarers, mostly issued under different regulations before 2000 when New Zealand endorsed the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watch-keeping for Seafarers (or STCW) which entered into force internationally in 1984. Police are looking to locate 36-year-old Billy Matara as they investigate a shooting in Mangere. Matara is a prospect for the East chapter of the Head Hunters gang and Police believe he is currently using a 1998 purple Holden Commodore, registration: JDY678. The Government must act to preserve New Zealands reputation by shutting down the system that sees our country implicated in a massive global network of tax avoidance, says Opposition Leader Andrew Little. The extent of New Zealands involvement in Mossack Fonsecas tax avoidance network has become clear as more information shows the law firm promotes New Zealand as a place for the mega-wealthy to avoid paying tax by parking their money in secret trusts here. Mossack Fonseca actively encouraged a massive number of people to put their money in New Zealand secret trusts. This country was at the heart of its tax avoidance plans. This must concern every New Zealander worried about our international reputation, and who can see the difference between right and wrong. On the face of it there is little upside to these secret trusts but there is a lot of downside. New Zealand relies on its excellent global reputation as a good place to do business. It encourages the right investment and opens doors for our exporters. We cannot afford to be seen as a tax haven, mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Belize. John Keys continuing denial of the facts is adding to the damage to New Zealand. He has sided with the greedy and mega-rich on this issue from day one. His Government has made it easier to hide money in New Zealand and shut down an inquiry into foreign trusts that officials wanted. Now is the time to act in the interests of working people here and in other countries to make sure everyone pays their fair share, says Andrew Little. Source: Office of Andrew Little. Sunthone Sayachak, head of the Lao Party Central Committee's Commission for External Relations, hands over the money to Vietnamese Ambassador to Laos Nguyen Manh Hung (Photo: VNA) Sunthone Sayachak, head of the Lao Party Central Committees Commission for External Relations, handed over the money to the Vietnamese Ambassador to Laos at a ceremony in Vientiane on May 6th. Sunthone Sayachak said the aid is not large, however, it demonstrates that the Lao Party, Government, and people are willing to share difficulties with the Vietnamese people. Vietnamese Ambassador to Laos Nguyen Manh Hung expressed thanks to the Lao Party, Government, and people for the support. Earlier, the Lao Government released water from its dams to the Mekong River to help Vietnam cope with drought and salt intrusion in the Mekong Delta. From February and March, the Mekong Delta was hit a double blow of prolonged drought and salt intrusion due to the impacts of El Nino, as well as low ground water supplies and from the upper river./. The first congress was held on May 7th (Source:VNA) The congress agreed to adopt its charter and action plans. It also elected an 11 member executive board for the 2016-2019 tenure. Speaking at the ceremony, Vietnamese Ambassador to Ukraine Nguyen Minh Tri spoke highly of the establishment of the 200 member association, affirming that Vietnamese war veterans are a core force of the Vietnamese Community in the country. The association will help enhance links and mutual support among expat veterans living and working in Ukraine, contributing to promoting the traditional relations and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries, he added. Vice President of the Ukrainian War Veterans Association Colonel Kislitsin Luri Vichtorovich said Ukrainian veterans hope their Vietnamese counterparts in Ukraine will make more contributions to strengthening the bilateral friendship. On the occasion, the Vietnamese Embassy in Ukraine presented certificates of merit to three organisations and 9 individuals for their active contributions to veteran work and people-to-people exchanges in the country./. SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The morning after fire ripped through a North Side house, killing four children and two adults, peer counselors were waiting for the firefighters who handled the call. They are part of the Syracuse Fire Department's Critical Incident Stress Management Team, which includes firefighters, mental health professionals and a chaplain. Firefighters are offered systemic support services after any kind of critical incident, Deputy Chief Paul Cousins said. But Friday morning's fire was particularly traumatic. When crews got to 212 Martin St. the house was already engulfed in flames. Crews entered but were forced to back out while firefighting continued outside. Peer counselors from the team met with each fire company involved in the call, which is called a defusing, Cousins said. The purpose is to check on everyone that was involved in the incident. The peer counselors also advise the firefighters of things to look for in the first days after the incident such as agitation, anxiety and sleeplessness. "But that's actually a very normal response to an abnormal event," Cousins said. Within a week a session called a debriefing follows. Participants discuss their roles in the incident and what they were thinking and feeling at the time. Cousins said the police and 911 dispatchers involved are often included in debriefings. The debriefings are confidential and not a critique. "We really want to know what everybody saw and what their role in this was," Cousins said. Anyone having problems can participate in one-on-one sessions or get a referral for specialized help. When Cousins started in the fire department three decades ago there was no Critical Incident Stress Management Team. But over the years the response from firefighters has been incredible, he said, and they have come to expect the support system. "It's actually very helpful and cathartic when people can talk and they can see other people that have had similar incidents," Cousins said. 2016-01-28-mjg-CityAddress1.JPG Mayor Stephanie Miner delivers her State of the City address at the Southwest Community Center, Thursday Jan. 28, 2016. (Michael Greenlar | mgreenlar@syracuse.com) SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Mayor Stephanie Miner will discuss the city's financial situation with the state's top finance official tomorrow. Miner will hold a press conference with State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli on Monday afternoon. The two will discuss the city's finances and fiscal challenges facing municipalities statewide. NYS Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli Miner presented her 2016 budget last month, which planned for a $12.1 million deficit. Her administration has made efforts to tackle large problems -- namely aging infrastructure -- with cost-effective solutions. Miner also negotiated a deal with Syracuse University worth $7 million over five years. Miner and DiNapoli joined forces last fall in calling for money to fix local infrastructure. They cited crumbling bridges in Syracuse that were in need of repair. DiNapoli, a Democrat, is making several appearances in Upstate New York throughout the week, including events in Rochester and Albany. On Wednesday he will speak at an event about needed reforms to the state's fiscal practices. Students from Auburn High School gathered at The Lodge at Welch Allyn, 4355 State St. Road in Skaneateles Falls, for their senior prom. The event had a Vegas theme. Above is our gallery of photos from the event. Buy photo reprints As you're browsing the gallery, look for the "Buy" button to order high-quality reprints and other products. Or visit our photo reprint store to purchase photos of this event More prom photos Check out all our photo galleries from proms, senior balls, and other formals around Central New York. See all prom photo galleries and stories on Syracuse.com Was anyone you know captured in our photos? High school students of the Sandy Creek Central School district celebrated their junior/senior prom Saturday evening at Manor House,15580 NYS Route 193 in Pierrepoint Manor. The prom's theme was "Unlock the Possibilities." Above is our gallery of photos from the event. Buy photo reprints As you're browsing the gallery, look for the "Buy" button to order high-quality reprints and other products. Or visit our photo reprint store to purchase photos of this event More prom photos Check out all our photo galleries from proms, senior balls, and other formals around Central New York. See all prom photo galleries and stories on Syracuse.com Minister Saleh Husin (Source:Internet) The agreement is part of the 2013-2017 human resources partnership contract worth USD6 million between Indonesia and Timor Leste. Some programmes already underway are in human resource development in the fields of event organising, food processing and handicrafts. Indonesian Industry Minister Saleh Husin said his countrys industrial development agencies provided 15 human resource capacity building training sessions from 2011 to 2016. He said he hoped this MoU will push for more industrial development programmes in both countries. Following the MoU signing, Indonesia and Timor Leste will set up technical committees and hold a survey to identify the needs for the programmes, he added. Meanwhile, Timor Lestes Trade, Industry and Environment Minister Constancio da Conceicao Pinto said the country has launched a sustainable development plan focusing on economic diversification. Timor Leste is currently at the early stages of becoming an industrial country and human resources are the prerequisite for that, he said. The minister further said industrial reform is important, especially in the context that Timor Leste is applying to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)./. SHARE SATURDAY'S SPECIAL EVENTS Friends of the Library Used Book Depot: Sale on $1 fiction, biography and true-story books continues. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. May 2-7. 1670 14th Ave., Vero Beach. 772-562-0043. Blessing of the Animals: 10-11:30 a.m. May 7. 6230 77th St., Vero Beach. 772-571-6417; swright@hsvb.org. Radiant Mothers Retreat: Enjoy a day of relaxation. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. May 7. LaPorte Farms, 7700 129th St., Sebastian. Has Kids Zone. Suggested donation $15. Ticket: 772-501-5345; http://www.radiantretreat.info/. Kentucky Derby Party: 3 p.m. May 7. Vero Beach Elks Lodge, 1350 26th St., Vero Beach. $10. Reservation: 772-562-8450; veroelks.com. Kentucky Derby Party Eagles Horse Race: 4 p.m. May 7. Sebastian Eagles Aerie 4067, 9606 Trade Center Drive, Sebastian. 772-589-6573. SATURDAY'S RECURRING EVENTS CHILDREN/TEENS Karate and Qigong for Children: Japanese Go-Ju Karate and Chinese Qigong and Kung fu. Noon. The Cloudwalker Place, 703 17th St., Vero Beach. Ages: 5-15 years old. $80 per month, Scholarships available. 772-217-2887; www.thecloudwalker.com. EXERCISE/HEALTH Bikram Yoga Room: Yoga classes for first time students. 9-10:30 a.m. Yoga Room, 676 U.S. 1, Vero Beach. 772-713-6538; info@yogaroomvero.com. Martial Arts for Executives: Japanese and Chinese internal arts training for therapeutic benefits. Noon. The Cloudwalker Place, 703 17th St., Vero Beach. Ages: 15+. $90 per month. 772-217-2887; www.thecloudwalker.com. Pilates Reformer Group Class: Reform your body, strengthen your core. Joseph Pilates Techniques. 9 a.m. The Club at Spine and Sport, 1345 36th Street, Vero Beach. Adults. $90 for 6 weeks. Reservation: 772-559-0866; namaste5@yahoo.com. Qigong Self Healing Class with Joane: Spend one hour practicing highly beneficial health enhancing techniques. 10:30 a.m. Kashi Ashram, 11155 Roseland Road, Sebastian. $8. 772-559-0866; namaste5@yahoo.com. NATURE Adventure Kayaking: Naturalist guided kayak/paddleboard tour on the Indian River Lagoon. 9 a.m.-noon, every day. Round Island Park, South Highway A1A, Vero Beach. $50 adult, $25 child. Reservation: 772-567-0522; paddleflorida.com. Evenings on the Lagoon: Motorized Kayak Adventures. Every day one hour before sunset. Round Island Riverside Park, 2200 South A1A, South Vero Beach. One hour before sunset, every evening. $35 per seat. Reservation: 772-380-6815; motorizedkayakadventures.com. Tours through the Mangrove Forests: Motorized Kayak Adventures. Varies based on tides, daily. Stan Blum Boat Launch, 613 North Causeway Drive, Fort Pierce. $48-60; Group discounts offered. Reservation: 772-380-6815; motorizedkayakadventures.com. OTHER Dog Obedience Training: Registration required with instructor Shelly Ferger. 9 a.m. Dogs For Life, Inc. Off-Leash Dog Park, 1230 16th Avenue, Vero Beach. Ages: 7 months +. $120. Reservation: 772-567-8969; dogsforlifevb@bellsouth.net. Explore Author Laura (Riding) Jackson's Historic 1910 Home: 9 a.m.-noon. Environmental Learning Center, 255 Live Oak Drive, Vero Beach. 772-569-6718; lrjf.org. LaPorte Farms: Self guided tours, pony rides. 8 a.m.-2 p.m. daily. LaPorte Farms, 7700 129th St., Sebastian. Donations. 772-633-0813; laportefarms1@aol.com. Treasure Coast Word Weavers: Christian Critique Writers group meets in Vero Beach. 9:30 a.m.-noon. First Church of God, 1105 58th Ave., Vero Beach. Ages: 14+. 772-794-2388; www.word-weavers.com. SUNDAY'S SPECIAL EVENTS Mother's Day Brunch: Breakfast, plus, chicken, fresh baked bread, $2 Bloody Mary's, Mimosa's. 10 a.m.-1 p.m. May 8. Vero Beach Veterans Club, 2500 15th Ave., Vero Beach. Adults $12, Children $7. Reservation: 772-778-1299; verobeachveterans.com. Capt. Hiram's Annual Mother's Day Brunch: 11 a.m./1:30 p.m. May 8. Capt. Hiram's Tiffany Room, 1606 Indian River Drive, Sebastian. $26 per person. Reservation: 772-589-4345; info@hirams.com. Mother's Day Dinner Dance: Music. 3-6 p.m. May 8. Sebastian Eagles, 9606 Trade Center Drive, Sebastian. $12-$14. Ticket: 772-589-6573. Mother's Day Buffet: 5 p.m. May 8. Vero Beach Elks Lodge, 1350 26th St., Vero Beach. $12. Reservation: 772-562-8450; veroelks.com. SUNDAY'S RECURRING EVENTS CLUBS Indian River Model Sailing Club: Remote control model sailboat racing. 1-3 p.m. Hobart Lake, 77th St., between 58th Ave. and Dixie Highway, Vero Beach. 772-581-8300. DANCE CardioFunk HipHop: Beginner HipHop Dance. 2 p.m. IRC Main Library, 1600 21st St., Vero Beach. Ages: 10+. Donation: 772-770-5060; irclibrary.org. GAMES Bar Bingo: 1 p.m. Sebastian Eagles Aerie 4067, 9606 Trade Center Drive, Sebastian. Adult. $1 per card. 772-589-6573; empresslp234@gmail.com. MEAL Breakfast: Open to the public. 8 a.m.-noon. American Legion Post 39, 1535 Old Dixie Highway, Vero Beach. $6. jerip80@hotmail.com. Sunday Breakfast: Sunday breakfast cooked to order. 9 a.m.-noon. Vero Beach Veteran Club, 2500 15th Ave., Vero Beach. $3-$6. 772-778-1299; verobeachveteran.com. NATURE Adventure Kayaking: Naturalist guided kayak/ paddleboard tour on the Indian River Lagoon. 9 a.m.-Noon. Round Island Park south Hwy A1A, Vero Beach. $25-$50. Reservation: 772-567-0522: paddleflorida.com. Evenings on the Lagoon: Motorized Kayak Adventures. Every day one hour before sunset. Round Island Riverside Park, 2200 South A1A, South Vero Beach. One hour before sunset, every evening. $35 per seat. Reservation: 772-380-6815; motorizedkayakadventures.com. Tours through the Mangrove Forests: Motorized Kayak Adventures. Varies based on tides, daily. Stan Blum Boat Launch, 613 North Causeway Drive, Fort Pierce. $48-60; Group discounts offered. Reservation: 772-380-6815; motorizedkayakadventures.com. OTHER LaPorte Farms: Self guided tours, pony rides. 8 a.m.-2 p.m. daily. LaPorte Farms, 7700 129th St., Sebastian. Donations. 772-633-0813; laportefarms1@aol.com. Vero Beach Widows and Widowers: Brunch 11:30 a.m. C. J. Cannons Restaurant, 3414 Cherokee Drive, Vero Beach. RSVP: Anna Mae, 1-772-461-1208. Snowbirds Welcome! LOOKING AHEAD Sanctuary4kids Awareness Breakfast/National Crime Victims' Rights Week: Hosted by Guardians for New Futures and Devereux CBC. 9 a.m. May 9. Woman's Club of Stuart, 729 S.E. Ocean Blvd., Stuart. VNA Blood Pressure Screenings: 11 a.m.-noon May 9. Harvest Food, 1360 28th St., Vero Beach. Dog Training-Heeling Fronts and Finishes: Learn important skills for obedience training. 5:30 p.m. May 9. Humane Society of Vero Beach, 6230 77th St., Vero Beach. $75. Register: 772-571-6409; www.hsvb.org. ALA Quarter Auction: Sponsoring Michael Abt Have a heart Foundation. 6 p.m. May 9. American Legion Post 189, 807 Louisiana Ave., Sebastian. Ages: 18+. 772-882-7352; avondaisy44@aol.com. Vero Beach Art Club: Fun Paint-out. 9 a.m.-Noon May 10. 3001 Riverside Park Drive, Vero Beach. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 9-11 a.m. May 10. VNA Hidden Treasures Vero, 656 21st Street, Vero Beach. For morning blood sugar tests, you will need to fast from midnight on. Fun Paint-Out: Join the Vero Beach Art Club (member's only) and Plein-Air artists. 9 a.m.-Noon May 10. Riverside Park, 3001 Riverside Park Drive, Vero Beach. RSVP: 772-321-0303; info@VeroBeachArtClub.org. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 10-11:30 a.m. May 10. Vincent de Paul Thrift Shop, 5480 85th St., Wabasso. For morning blood sugar tests, you will need to fast from midnight on. Line Dancing: 6:30 p.m. May 10. Vero Beach Elks Lodge, 1350 26th St., Vero Beach. $6. 772-562-8450; veroelks.com. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 9:30-11:30 a.m. May 11. VNA Hidden Treasures Sebastian, 11646 U.S. 1, Sebastian. For morning blood sugar tests, you will need to fast from midnight on. VFW Auxiliary 10210: Meeting. 7 p.m. May 11, June 15. VFW Post 10210, 815 Louisiana Ave., Sebastian. Ages: 16+. 772-589-3405; vfwladies10210@gmail.com. Sanctuary4kids Awareness Breakfast/National Crime Victims' Rights Week: Hosted by Guardians for New Futures and Devereux CBC. 9 a.m. May 12. Indian River County Sheriff's Office, 4055 41st Avenue, Vero Beach. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. May 12. Hidden Treasures, 656 21st Street, Vero Beach. For morning blood sugar tests, you will need to fast from midnight on. Christ Church offers Women's Retreat: All women invited to retreat at Christ Church. Christ Church Vero Beach, 925 14th Lane (behind Outback), Vero Beach. 6:30-8:30 p.m. May 13; 9 a.m.-2 p.m. May 14. Adult women. $25. Register: 772-562-8670; www.christchurchvero.org. Transcendental Meditation Introductory Lecture: 7 p.m. May 13. The Center for Spiritual Care, 1550 24th St., Vero Beach. All ages. 772-480-0047; www.tm.org. 8th Dancing with Vero's Stars: Dance competition to raise money for IRC Healthy Start Coalition. 6 p.m. May 14. Riverside Theatre, 3250 Riverside Park Drive, Vero Beach. All ages. $100-$200. Ticket: 772-563-9118; www.Dancingwithverostars.com. Minds over Mats (& Mimosas): Yoga to benefit Suncoast Mental Health. 6:30 a.m. May 15. Captain's Bimini Beach, 1580 U.S. 1, Sebastian. Donations: 772-291-3210; www.suncoastmentalhealth.org. St. Sebastian River Cleanup: Friends of St. Sebastian River. 8 a.m. May 15. U.S. 1 Bridge, U.S. 1 and Erling Lane, Sebastian. 772-202-0501; www.fssr.org. Round Island Clean-Up: Locals clean-up trash. 9 a.m.-11 a.m. May 15. Round Island, Vero Beach. Vero Beach, Round Island Park, Vero Beach. 617-576-0293; https://www.facebook.com/events/1395349757160803/. VBHS Percussion Concert: Featuring the VBHS Percussion and Middle Schools. 2 p.m. May 15. VBHS Performing Arts Center, 1707 16th Street, Vero Beach. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 9-10 a.m. May 16. River Park Place, 700 3rd Circle, Vero Beach. For morning blood sugar tests, you will need to fast from midnight on. VNA Blood Pressure Screenings: 11 a.m.-1 p.m. May 16. VNA Hidden Treasures Vero, 656 21st St., Vero Beach. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 8:30-9:30 a.m. May 17. Christi's Family Fitness, 1250 Old Dixie Highway, Vero Beach. For morning blood sugar tests, you will need to fast from midnight on. Sebastian Area Widows/Widowers: Luncheon. Noon May 17. Genie's Mediterranean Grill, 11632 US 1, Sebastian. Ages: 55+. none. Reservation: 772-388-5914; mollyann0128@yahoo.com. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 9-10:30 a.m. May 18. VNA Hidden Treasures Sebastian, 11646 U.S. 1, Sebastian. For morning blood sugar tests, you will need to fast from midnight on. VNA Blood Pressure Screenings: 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. May 18. Second Chance Thrift Store & Training Center, 490 Old Dixie Hwy, Vero Beach. Human Trafficking/National Crime Victims' Rights Week: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. May 18. Coalition of the Treasure Coast & Okeechobee Children's Services Council SLC, 546 N.W. University Blvd., Suite 201 (Kathy Basile Training Center), Port St. Lucie. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 8:30-10 a.m. May 19. Gifford Youth Activity Center, 4875 43rd Ave., Vero Beach. For morning blood sugar tests, you will need to fast from midnight on. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 9-11 a.m. May 19. VNA Hidden Treasures, 656 21st Street, Vero Beach. For morning blood sugar tests, you will need to fast from midnight on. VNA Blood Pressure Screenings: Noon-1 p.m. May 19. Our Father's Table Soup Kitchen 4221 28th Ave., Vero Beach. VNA Blood Pressure Screenings: Noon-1:30 p.m. May 19. South Mainland Library, 7921 Ron Beatty Blvd., Sebastian. "Women Running the World": Speaker Former Congresswoman Pat Schroeder. 3 Day Conference, May 20-22 Crowne Plaza Oceanfront Hotel, 2605 N. A1A Highway, Melbourne. $80 NOW members, $100 nonmembers (includes one year membership). Register: 321-984-7345; www.flnow.org/conference/register16.html. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 9-11 a.m. May 20. VNA Hidden Treasures Sebastian, 11646 U.S. 1, Sebastian. For morning blood sugar tests, you will need to fast from midnight on. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 9-11 a.m. May 21. Allen AME Church 6425 N 85th St., Wabasso. For morning blood sugar tests, you will need to fast from midnight on. America's Boating Class: Learn and refresh your boating skills. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. May 21. Vero Beach Power Squadron, 301 Acacia Road, Vero Beach. Ages: 12+. $35. Register: 772-532-6893; vbps-safeboatingclass@gmx.com. Rt Star's Big Birthday Party: 10 a.m. May 21. Riverside Theatre, 3250 Riverside Park Drive, Vero Beach. 772-231-6990; www.riversidetheatre.com. Free Braces: Orthodontic Grand Opening of new office, one new patient will win treatment valued at over $5,000. 10 a.m.-1 p.m. May 21. Orthodontic Specialists of Florida, 1956 41st Ave., Suite A, Vero Beach. 772-562-2439; https://www.fla4braces.com/. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 8:45-9:45 a.m. May 22. St. Elizabeth Episcopal Church, 901 Clearmont St., Sebastian. For morning blood sugar tests, you will need to fast from midnight on. Francesca's Haircutters Annual Cut-a-thon: Annual Cut-a-thon to cut out Cancer 100% goes to ACS. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. May 22. Francesca's Haircutters, 245 Sebastian Blvd. (CR 512) Fountain Plaza, Sebastian. $10. 772-589-8788. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 8:30-10 a.m. May 23. Sebastian Gym & Fitness, 345 Sebastian Blvd., Sebastian. For morning blood sugar tests, you will need to fast from midnight on. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 9-10:30 a.m. May 23. VNA Hidden Treasures, 656 21st Street, Vero Beach. For morning blood sugar tests, you will need to fast from midnight on. American Legion Auxiliary North County Quarter Auction: Sponsoring Quilts of Valor. 6 p.m. May 23. American Legion Post 189, 807 Louisiana Ave., Sebastian. Ages: 18+. 772-882-7352; avondaisy44@aol.com. VNA Blood Pressure Screenings: 10:30-11:30 a.m. May 24. By the River 11065 Ganga Way, #311 Sebastian. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 9-11 a.m. May 25. VNA Hidden Treasures, 656 21st Street, Vero Beach. For morning blood sugar tests, you will need to fast from midnight on. VNA Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Screenings: 9:30-11:30 a.m. May 25. VNA Hidden Treasures Sebastian, 11646 U.S. 1, Sebastian. For morning blood sugar tests, you will need to fast from midnight on. Enjoy Life ~ Choose Laughter: Laughter & Smiling Wellness Program. 10:30 a.m. May 26. North Indian River County Library, 1001 Sebastian Blvd., Sebastian. Adults. 772-713-6030; planbsolutions@comcast.net. JUNE Living the Spiritual Life on a Daily Basis A Conscious Contact Retreat: 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 11. 12 Step Programs. The Center for Spiritual Care, 1550 24th St., Vero Beach. $45. Register: 772-567-1233; centerforspiritualcare.org. On Your Mark, Get Set ... READ 5K: 7 a.m. June 11. Brackett Library, 6155 College Lane, Vero Beach. Register: 772-770-5060; www.irclibrary.org. SHARE By Janet Begley, Special to Treasure Coast Newspapers Treasure Coast Democrats Saturday chose 11 delegates who will represent Florida at the Democratic National Convention this summer. The results are unofficial until the State Democratic Party releases the official tallies late Monday or Tuesday, according to local Democratic officials. Seven delegates pledged to vote for Hillary Clinton as the party's presidential nominee, while four pledged to vote for Bernie Sanders. U.S. House District 18, representing Martin and St. Lucie counties, was allotted four delegates for Clinton and two for Sanders. U.S. House District 8, representing Indian River County, was allotted three delegates for Clinton and two for Sanders. The number of delegates was based on a formula that factored in two things: the March 15 Florida primary results, in which Clinton beat Sanders 64.4 percent to 33.3 percent, and each congressional district's voter turnout that day. Democrats also had to select an even number of men and women delegates, and if there was an uneven number allotted, there were further instructions on the ballot. About 378 Democrats voted in Martin and St. Lucie counties, more than the 300 voters Democratic State Committeeman Dave Dew had expected. More than 300 voted in District 8, according to Mary Greene, the party's congressional district chairwoman, who had expected 50 to 100. The 140 delegates chosen Saturday will meet May 21 in Orlando to choose 28 more delegates from among party leaders and elected officials, 46 at-large and 18 at-large alternates for the Philadelphia convention, which is from July 25 to July 28. Florida Republican Party leaders picked their delegates in March and April. ELECTED DELEGATES What: District 18 (Martin/St. Lucie counties) Who: Pledged to vote for Hillary Clinton are Robert Nelson Valdez, Charles Edwin Ray, Rachelle Ann Litt and Marilyn Ann Mordes. Pledged to vote for Bernie Sanders are Christian Alex Palacios and Dawn Michelle Abate What: District 8 (Indian River County) Who: Pledged to vote for Hillary Clinton are Kenneth Michael Bruder, Valerie Brant Wilson and Sharon Marie Hayes. Pledged to vote for Bernie Sanders are Sanjay Somabhai Patel and Shivani Atulkumar Patel These results are unofficial until the state Democratic Party releases the official tallies next week. XAVIER MASCARENAS/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS A Florida Forest Service helicopter works to extinguish the 120-acre brush fire Friday, May 6, 2016, south of Indrio Road near U.S.1 in northern St. Lucie County. Florida Forest Service area supervisor Trevor Taylor said when they responded to the call around 3 p.m., they initially thought there were three small fires. "It progressed pretty quickly with our low humidities," he said, adding that the low wind speed aided them in getting the fire contained. No homes were evacuated. For more on the fire, see Page 13A. By Nicholas Samuel, nicholas.samuel@tcpalm.com ST. LUCIE COUNTY St. Lucie County Fire District crews were still at the scene of a brush fire that started Friday afternoon and spread Saturday to almost 300 acres, Fire District Captain Mark Cristaldi said. "It's contained at this time," Cristaldi said about 8 p.m. Saturday. The fire broke out about 2:30 p.m. Friday along a canal near Indrio Road and Tree Top Trail. Although crews had the fire fully contained Friday night, it broke the containment area about 2:48 p.m. Saturday, he said. Cristaldi said the fire spread southwest from Taylor Dairy Road up to the Treasure Coast International Airport. "The airport shut down one of its runways so we can operate," Cristaldi said. The captain said Friday's fire was about 120 acres but Saturday afternoon, the fire had spread an additional 164 acres. "There were lots of difficulties accessing yesterday's fire. Surface fields were very dry and the ground was wet." Cristaldi said. "We had better access today. The Florida Forest Service made plow lines easier for our trucks to manage." The Florida Forest Service had two brush trucks at the scene and the fire district had one brush truck, Cristaldi said. Crews would be working into the night, he said. The brush fire is not affecting traffic or any nearby structures and there have been no evacuations, according to Cristaldi. Clearly, the students of Cambridge do not blame Nick Clegg for raising tuition fees in 2012: his reception at the Union on Wednesday was rapturous, and jokes about it minimal. Although his speech to the chamber was entirely focused on the EU (an impassioned and forceful advocacy of the Remain campaign), our conversation beforehand centred on the Liberal Democrats failures at the last election, and plans for the future. Describing the current political landscape as "more fractured than it ever has been in my lifetime", Clegg criticised the current Government as "curiously unrepresentative". A Tory majority with only 24% of the vote and Scotland pretty much turned into a one-party state, the conventional outcome of the last election disguised a very unconventional political landscape. But is there room on this landscape for centre ground, considering the obliteration of the Lib Dems at the last election? A return will be "quicker than people think", Clegg argues. "I cant predict how, or give you a date in the diary, but Im pretty confident that the present state of affairs is an artificial one, and almost accidental." As well as a vacation of the centre-ground, the last election saw increased polarisation of left and right, and the emergence of support for smaller parties. I ask Clegg about this, and the impact he thinks its having on British politics. "The reason Im a Liberal Democrat is that I cant bear the two-party blue-team, red-team tag-race I grew up with in politics. I think more diversitys good: I dont like big monopolies of powerful vested interest, hoarding everything for themselves. I think [polarisation] is a very bad thing, not only because Im a centre-ground politician, but because I think its been accompanied by a very angry, unreasoned turn in politics whereby who shouts the loudest is becoming increasingly the test as to whether someone is successful. "Politics is a messy business your ideals collide with reality but a lot of people on the left and right have developed such a purist attitude towards it that any compromise of reality is regarded as a betrayal: and that will just lead to gridlock if no-one is prepared to get their hands dirty. Some people want to camp on either extreme and just talk about stuff: someone has to step up to the plate and do things." So what does Nick Clegg do, now hes no longer deputy Prime Minister? For one thing, he recently launched the Commission on Inequality in Education, but when asked about the role of private schools, his usual confident and open style wavered a little. Calling them "an expression of a segregated society, rather than the genesis of it", he refuses to condone or condemn them, instead comparing them to the monarchy. "Would you start where we are now? Probably not. But for me, its not the priority." He is similarly sketchy on Boris Johnsons recent comments about Obama, replacing the word "racist" with "crass, stupid, offensive" before interpreting the question as a further opportunity to advocate remaining in the EU. He opposes the "shouting match" that the EU debate has turned into, saying that Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage are avoiding engaging in legitimate debate, instead relying on cheap insults, as in the case with Obama. He thinks similarly about the recent complaints of anti-Semitisim on the left, claiming they "stop legitimate criticism" of the Israeli government. Clegg is far more comfortable when the conversation turns to the EU, describing himself as in "battle mode". He blasts the Leave campaign, warning that Putin will be "rubbing his hands together" at the thought of Europe unravelling, and pointing out that voting leave will be a boost for the nationalists. His ire is also turned against the "unelected, bloated chamber" that is the House of Lords on whom it is "ridiculous" to rely on as he discusses the failures and injustices of the Conservative Government, answering floor questions in the Chamber adeptly. A powerful and persuasive speaker, Nick Clegg is also an incredibly friendly conversationalist. His point of view on the EU is interesting and his honesty refreshing, if not unwavering. I left our conversation impressed by his eloquence and feeling sorry that this man is no longer in government. Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis has called on university vice-chancellors to take a tougher stance on anti-Semitism, and to combat the "vilification of Jewish students. At universities, students face a wall of anti-Zionism, which they feel and know to be Jew hatred." In an interview with The Sunday Times, he stated What troubles me is that the Zionist-bashing on campus has gone unchallenged. To vice-chancellors I would say: see what is happening under your noses, what is happening to the reputations of your universities. Freedom of speech needs to take place in a healthy and appropriate context. I cannot imagine that any vice-chancellor should be proud of the fact that vilification of a people has been taking place on their campus. Fears over anti-Semitism in British universities have intensified following the election of Malia Bouattia as president of NUS. In the past, the former Birmingham University Blacks Officer has described her university as "a Zionist outpost in higher education: because it has "the largest J-Soc in the country." Although she claims not to hold anti-Semitic views, Mirvis said "it is astonishing to see figures on the hard Left of the British political spectrum presuming to define the relationship between Judaism and Zionism despite themselves being neither Jews nor Zionists." Following the most recent CUSU Council Meeting on Monday, students will be able to choose if they wish CUSU to remain affiliated to NUS. Calls for a referendum were led by the Cambridge J-Soc, who registered their concerns over Bouattias election. A motion for a referendum was backed by 85% of J-Soc members, with 65% voting that they would support disaffiliation. Cambridges referendum will follow similar campaigns in Oxford, York and Manchester. Mirvis is the chief rabbi for the main Orthodox Jewish community in the UK. His warning comes amid intense debate over anti-Semitism in the Labour Party. Ken Livingstone, the former Mayor of London, was suspended from the party for anti-Semitic comments relating to the Holocaust. At student level, the Oxford University Labour Clubs decision to support Israel Apartheid Week led to accusations of anti-Semitism. Co-chair Alex Chalmers later resigned, claiming that a large proportion of members have some kind of problem with Jews. Mirvis called for vice chancellors to consider Judaism and Zionism as intrinsically linked: "One can no more separate Zionism from Judaism that separate the city of London from Britain." Jeremy Corbyn has stated that the Labour Part "will not tolerate anti-Semitism in any form." Under the rabbis definition, those who seek to vilify Zionism are engaging in a form of anti-Semitism. He called for decisive action from all political parties and university officials in order to deal with this challenging issue. For Windows 10 Pro users who might be angrily flipping the "Turn Off Store" switch off and on, save the energy because the option no longer works and has been disabled since November. The unresponsive option is "by design," according to Microsoft. The issue only affects Windows 10 Pro users who installed update 1511, which was released last November. Administrators on Windows 10's Enterprise and Education editions still have working "Turn Off Store" options that they can toggle to block or allow access to the Windows Store. In general, the option to lock up the Windows Store is for organizations that desire more control over their devices, a Microsoft spokesperson told ZDNet. And that's a part of Windows 10 Enterprise's value, the spokespersons stated. "Windows 10 Enterprise is our offering that provides IT pros with the most granular control over company devices," said the spokesperson. "Windows 10 Pro offers a subset of those capabilities and is recommended for small and mid-size businesses looking for some management controls, but not the full suite necessary for IT pros at larger enterprises." On a Windows support page, Microsoft notes that Windows 10 version 1511 disables the Group Policy for blocking or allowing access to the Windows Store. "This behavior is by design," the help page reads. The disabling of the Windows Store's padlock feature nudges small and mid-size business owners to upgrade to Windows 10 Enterprise from Pro and it pushes private school administrators to the Education edition. And the move props open the doors of the Windows Store for those who can't or refuse to upgrade. It's an aggressive business move. And it may be less about pushing users to more robust version of Windows 10 and more about driving sales to its app store. The Windows Store, which predates Windows 10, Microsoft has counted more than 3 billion user visits to the store since the launch of the company's latest OS, according to February figures from Microsoft. The number of PC and tablet visits to the Windows Store last holiday season was double that of the previous year, and the month of December saw a 60 percent increase in the amount of paying customers who were new to the store. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Users surfing the Internet on Google's Chrome, Mozilla's Firefox and Apple's Safari browsers are seeing popular torrent website The Pirate Bay blocked, similar to what visitors to rival Kickass Torrents saw just last month. Security issues are said to be the reason behind the sudden blocking of the website, as visitors to The Pirate Bay are instead greeted with red warning banners instead of the iconic pirate ship logo. Chrome users who visit the website are shown with a banner that tags The Pirate Bay as a "deceptive site," with Google claiming that attackers could trick users into dangerous acts such as installing software into their computers or revealing sensitive information such as contact details, log-in credentials and credit card numbers. Firefox users, on the other hand, see a message that tags the website as a "Reported Web Forgery!" warning visitors that any information entered into The Pirate Bay could result in fraudulent activities such as identity theft. Safari has also started blocking access to The Pirate Bay, presumably for the same reasons as Chrome and Firefox. Google's Safe Browsing feature flagged the website as having bad content, which usually happens when an advertising network starts to release malicious content due to the network being compromised. The blocks on The Pirate Bay could be in connection to the reported malvertising attack near the end of April. Some users were subjected to ransomware that attacked through pop-under advertisements, which rerouted visitors to the Magnitude exploit kit to install the Cerber ransomware. The Pirate Bay is likely at work right now to remove all instances of such bad content on its website. Afterwards though, it could take days until the blocks are removed. Until then, users can still access The Pirate Bay by clicking on options shown in the warning messages, such as the "visit this unsafe site" option shown on Chrome. Doing this could subject computers to potential ransomware infection though, so users bypassing the block should do so at their own risk. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. With the signature of Governor Doug Ducey, Arizona has just restored its national insurance plan for children of the working poor. In an official Twitter post, the Republican governor is seen to be all smiles as he affixed his signature for the restoration of KidsCare hours after the Senate voted 16-12. KidsCare was frozen back in 2010 due to budgetary constraints, but prior to May 6, Arizona is the only state not to have any health insurance program for children. The restoration, however, didn't come easy. Governor Ducey never supported the move in public, although his staff made it clear he's always been "open-minded." "It's common sense and it will help kids," said Daniel Scarpinato, press aide. It also met strong opposition from Republican Senate President Andy Biggs, who had been blocking the legislation for the past weeks. However, with procedural maneuvers, and with certain Republicans joining the Democrats, Biggs had no option but to allow a vote on Friday. The House had already passed the bill on the night of May 5 at 38-21. What It Means For Arizona's Children At least 30,000 of children in Arizona are expected to benefit from KidsCare. These are kids whose parents' annual household income is more than what is eligible for Medicaid. However, income doesn't make them qualified for subsidized health care under the Affordable Care Act. Eligible children will be provided with a health insurance plan at no cost to their families or to the state until 2017. The coverage proves to be critical as children are some of the most vulnerable to health conditions that add more financial strain to families. Hurdles Along The Way Despite the potential benefits of KidsCare, there are still challenges it needs to pass, one of which is legal. The provision for its restoration was tacked on a bill that extends school voucher eligibility on disabled children, one that the Republicans who opposed KidsCare wanted. This strategy may be a violation since under the state's constitution, only one subject is allowed per act. Further, there's still the apprehension whether the program is sustainable. "While every program ... has an advocate and a desire to accomplish a certain albeit potentially even altruistic or beneficent purpose, at some point one realizes that perhaps we can't afford every program," said Biggs. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The U.S. is facing an opioid epidemic with more than 40 people dying every day due to accidental drug overdose. The problem has prompted the White House to propose stricter measures to prevent abuse, a move that could potentially help about 2 million people in the country who abuse painkillers. Now, a new report suggests that America's opioid problem could be partly blamed on Purdue Pharma, maker of the opioid drug OxyContin. Two decades ago, the drugmaker launched a marketing claim that one dose of its drug relieves pain for 12 hours. The effect supposedly lasts more than twice as long as those by generic medications, which means that one tablet in the morning and one before bed would suffice. Patients would no longer need to wake up in the middle of the night to take their medication. With such claim, Purdue's OxyContin became the bestselling painkiller in the U.S. The effect of the drug, however, lasts much shorter in many people. Investigation by the Los Angeles Times showed that despite marketing a 12-hour pain relief, Purdue was aware that OxyContin wore off earlier in many patients. Before the company launched the drug into the market, clinical trials reportedly showed that the drug does not give 12-hour relief to many patients. Doctors and sales representatives also reported and complained that the drug does not deliver its promise of long-duration pain relief. Purdue, however, clung to its 12-hour claim. This posed a problem because when the effects of the drug do not last, patients may experience symptoms of withdrawal that include craving for the drug spurring likelihood for addiction. Health experts said that gaps in narcotic effects may cause patients to suffer from nausea, body aches, anxiety and other withdrawal symptoms, which motivates them to take more drugs. This creates a cycle of pain and euphoria that drives addiction. Peter Przekop, a doctor who oversees treatment of painkiller addicts, said that repeated episodes of withdrawal from the drug increases risks that the patient will abuse it. "You are messing with those areas of the brain that are involved in addiction, and you are going to get the person dependent on it," Przekop said. In response to the report, Purdue released a statement on Thursday discrediting the claims in the story including those that question its 12-hours prescription for OxyContin. "Scientific evidence amassed over more than 20 years, including more than a dozen controlled clinical studies, supports the FDA's approval of 12-hour dosing for OxyContin," Purdue said. OxyContin has become one of the most widely abused drugs in the U.S. Figures from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health show that more than 7 million Americans abused the drug. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Alfa Romeo Giulia is ready to put its roaring engine to good use under the Carabinieri police force. The Italian law enforcement agency has deployed several types of vehicles in its history, from the Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric cars to SUVs, and it is time for the Giulia model from Alfa Romeo to join the ranks. Two Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio sedans will service in Milan and Rome, with designated operations such as blood and organs transportation and escort missions during public events. There are quite a few similitudes between the civilian version of Quadrifoglio and the police car model. Both of them share the V6 Ferrari-crafted 2.9-liter twin-turbocharged engine that breaks 505 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque. The six-speed manual transmission from the civilian car is present in the Carabinieri version, as well. Going from zero to 60 miles per hour (mph) in the Quadrifoglio takes only 3.9 seconds, and the car has a top speed limit of 191 mph. It might be ill-equipped to catch up with a Ferrari, but pretty much every other vehicle should think twice before starting a hot pursuit. Despite not having a radically different configuration from the civilian vehicle, the police cars are fitted for active duty. The autos sport tablets and radios embedded into the passenger side of the dashboard. Other special equipment include a defibrillator, LED flashlights, portable cooling units and the predictable weapon compartment. Standardized light bars and security lighting were added to the outside of the cars. The automaker even painted the two vehicles in Carabinieri's dark blue, as presented in CNET's Road Show feature. As the Giulia speeds around much more rapidly than regular police cars, officers will need dedicated training. Alfa Romeo will provide the Carabinieri with specialized training at the Varano de' Melegari circuit. We will see the Giulia Quadrifoglio hitting the American showrooms soon enough. Two more affordable models should follow, carrying 2.0-liter direct-injected and turbocharged four-cylinder engines able to unleash 276 HP and 295 lb-ft of torque. For 2016, the Carabinieri will also get 800 Giulietta models and Jeep Renegade police cars from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA). CarWow reports that Giulia is a key piece in the automaker's current lineup. This marks the second time the company will deliver an entirely new model in a period of six years. What is more, Alfa Romeo has ambitious plans for the future: the company aims to see sales of 400,000 vehicles by 2018. Would you like to see the U.S. police force replacing its stealthy Ford vehicles with Alfa Romeo's QVs? Let us know in the comments below. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The highly anticipated Nexus 7 (2016) could make its debut as soon as this month, at Google's upcoming developer conference. Google I/O 2016 is scheduled to take place on May 18 to 22, and the latest Nexus could become official on the very first day of the conference. While Google unveiled previous Nexus devices during the fall, the possibility of an earlier unveiling is not too farfetched. In an ever competitive market, companies are racing to push their products first so they get a head start against rivals. Samsung released its Galaxy S7 earlier than initially expected, and the strategy proved so successful that it reportedly plans to pull a similar early release scheme with its Galaxy Note 6 as well. When it comes to upcoming Nexus devices, things are still a bit hazy for now as various reports hint at different expectations. Nevertheless, International Business Times now reveals that Google will take the wraps off the Nexus 7 (2016) at Google I/O this month, likely shooting for a commercial release by summer. Further bolstering the claim of an imminent unveiling of a new Nexus is the fact that the HTC-made Nexus 9, which hit the scene back in 2014, was recently removed from the Google Store. There's not a lot of solid information currently available regarding the upcoming Nexus 7 (2016), as the rumor mill spins a myriad of different theories. What we do know, however, is that it will serve as a launch vehicle for the new Android N, and it may have force touch capabilities baked in, as core OS codes previously revealed. When it comes to the OEM that will be making the Nexus 7 (2016), current rumors hint at either Huawei or HTC. As a reminder, Huawei recently trademarked the Nexus 7P name, sparking speculation that it's cooking up a new device in collaboration with Google. Opinions are mixed regarding just what that device may be. While some expect a tablet, succeeding the two Nexus 7 generations from Asus, others expect a smartphone that would come as the Nexus 6P successor. When it comes to specifications, the Nexus 7 (2016) is rumored to sport a 7-inch QHD display and pack a Snapdragon 820 processor, 4 GB of RAM, expandable storage support of up to a whopping 2 TB, and the aforementioned pressure-sensitive display feature baked into Android N. Other rumors, meanwhile, claimed the device would feature an Nvidia Tegra X1 processor, not a Qualcomm one. It remains to be seen just what the Nexus 7 (2016) will bring to the table and whether it will indeed be ready to break cover later this month, but we'll keep you up to date as soon as we learn more. In the meantime, take everything with a hefty grain of salt. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Lenovo and Motorola are homing in the big launch in India, where the companies will showcase their affordable line of devices for 2016. Fans are fretting in expectation of two handsets, the Moto G4 Plus and Moto G, fourth generation, respectively. A number of earlier leaks hinted at the G4 Plus' technical specs, but the phone somehow kept a mysterious allure around it. Until recently, that is. Fans will rejoice to see the newest set of leaks, which offer a much detailed image of the Moto G (fourth generation). It should be noted that some important details are still unavailable, but here is what we know courtesy of blogger Roland Quandt. The new phone purportedly lands in two models, reminding of last year's Moto G and Moto G Turbo release. Motorola enthusiasts will be able to grab the first variant that carries 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of storage, a 5-megapixel selfies snapper and a 13-megapixel rear main camera. The better equipped variant of Moto G (fourth gen) will sport 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of default storage space, the same 5-megapixel camera for selfies and videochats and a heftier 16-megapixel camera for the mobile photographer in you. The Tweet unveils a feature that Motorola fans awaited for a long time in form of "NFC." The handset might pack a fingerprint sensor if the declaration that a Lenovo executive did earlier this year is to be believed. The person affirmed that by 2016, all phones carrying the Motorola brand will have the embedded security feature. Moto 'G4' + G Plus: SD430, FHD, 3000mAh, 5MP FF, 13/16 (Plus) MP, screen size is off though, https://t.co/uOoQRK9VeD pic.twitter.com/hmvFrYg3n6 Roland Quandt (@rquandt) May 6, 2016 The new Moto G should be revealed during a press conference on May 17 in India, underlining the importance of the local market for global OEMs. A press conference is expected to take place on June 9 in the United States, and an "exciting" device should be revealed then. Just a few days ago, Motorola launched an advertising campaign that promotes and teases its upcoming handsets. The "Missing" campaign banks on the idea that smartphones are increasingly important in our daily lives and uses humorous texts to underline it. Are you excited to see the new Motorola smartphones? Let us know in the comments section below. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Mount St. Helens is experiencing earthquakes as vast amounts of magma move underneath its rocky exterior. Although there are no definite signs of an impending eruption, the rumblings are bringing back memories of the massive explosion that took place there decades ago. On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens unleashed massive quantities of rock, ash and debris into the air as a powerful eruption shook the once-quiet mountainside. The accompanying explosion ripped out the entire northern flank of the volcano and generated massive bolts of lightning that raced through the sky for half a mile. The initial blast from the volcano, ripping through the northern face of the mountain, flattened nearly 150,000 acres of Douglas fir trees in a fan-shaped pattern. This explosion triggered one of the largest landslides ever witnessed in recorded history. Tumbling down the mountainside, sweeping everything in its path, were lahar events - volcanic mud flows. These were accompanied by one of the most dangerous of all effects of volcanoes - pyroclastic flows. These deadly emulsions of semi-solid fragments of molten rock and toxic gases are able to tear through a region, or a populace, at more than 60 miles per hour. In the skies above the geological melee, geologists Keith and Dorothy Stoffel were flying in an aircraft just 1,300 feet above the summit of the volcano as it came to life. Amid the chaos of random bolts of lightning, a massive cloud quickly grew in size, threatening their small plane. Only by racing south were the geologists able to safely escape the bedlam. "Over the course of the day, prevailing winds blew 520 million tons of ash eastward across the United States and caused complete darkness in Spokane, Washington, 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the volcano. Major ash falls occurred as far away as central Montana, and ash fell visibly as far eastward as the Great Plains of the Central United States, more than 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) away," the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reports. Months before the massive event, the USGS placed a monitoring station in Vancouver, Washington, in order to monitor the build-up. One of their observers, David Johnston, was camping just a few miles north of the mountain when he became a victim of the volcanic fury. The eruption took the lives of 57 people, including Johnston. Coldwater Ridge, near the site of his death, was renamed in his honor. Before the eruption of Mount St. Helens, most Americans were unaware that such powerful volcanoes within the continental United States could still roar to life with little warning. The stratovolcano was previously known for its picturesque views and rugged landscape. "Mt. St. Helens is less than about 37,000 years old, but it has been especially active over the last 4000 years. Since about 1400 A.D., eruptions have occurred at a rate of about one per 100 years. Before the 1980 eruption, it had been 130 years since Mt. St. Helens last erupted," San Diego State University reports on its website. Following this main eruption, Mount St. Helens also released magma on at least six other days over the next seven months. This volcanic event became the most-studied eruption of the 20th century. In 1982, Congress declared the mountain a National Volcanic Monument. Now, as earthquakes begin to dominate the region once more, the possibility that Mount St. Helens will once again release its fury rises. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Facebook will support the Republican National Convention despite Zuckerbergs indirect dig at Trump After all the digs that Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook took at Donald Trump, finally Facebook is sponsoring his convention. Facebook will sponsor Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Cleveland, Ohio, where he is expected to be announced as the Republican Partys presidential nominee, according to Recode. Facebook says its participation should not be interpreted as an endorsement of any candidate, issue or political party, reported Recode. It plans to do the same at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. This comes as a surprise as Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook last month had used the Facebooks developer conference to indirectly criticize the immigration policies of Republican front-runner Trump. I hear fearful voices calling for building walls and distancing people they label as others. I hear them calling for blocking free expression, for slowing immigration, for reducing trade, and in some cases even for cutting access to the internet, Zuckerberg said at the time. Erin Egan, Facebooks vice president of public policy, said in a statement, This support allows Facebook to facilitate an open dialogue among voters, candidates and elected officials during the conventions, just as it has during other critical moments in the US elections and in elections around the world. Facebook added that it would offer up financial and other support for both conventions. At the RNC, it will host something called the Facebook Lounge, which is designed to showcase election-related activity happening on our platform. The announcement has angered a coalition of organizations that have launched campaigns urging technology companies and other corporations not to sponsor the party of Trump. Lifting up Donald Trumps fascist platform at the Republican National Convention is irresponsible and dangerous, said Murshed Zaheed, political director of the progressive activist network CREDO Action, a group that promotes progressive social change. It simply isnt possible for Facebook to financially support a Trump-led Republican convention without associating its brand with Donald Trumps hateful rhetoric. Theyre really wrapping their arms around Trump, said Heidi Hess of CREDO Action. We will certainly try to get them to reconsider their decision. Activists held a #DumpTrump protest outside Google last week, and the video will be advertised to more than 10,000 employees of Google, using micro-targeting on Facebook. On Thursday, CREDO released video featuring clips of Trumps most provocative stump speeches, describing Mexican immigrants as drug dealers and rapists, calling for a ban on Muslims entering the United States and demeaning Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, and criticizing Google for its decision to sponsor the RNC. Facebook is not the only tech company facing criticism for its sponsorship of the GOP convention. CREDO is also pressuring software giant like Microsoft to withhold support for the GOPs nominating event. Tor Developer, Isis Lovecruft Accuses the FBI of Harassment Isis Agora Lovecruft, who is a lead software developer for Tor has been characterised by secretive threats at the hands of US law enforcement from the first time she met them six months ago. Apparently, the FBI would really like to talk to her, but wont tell her (or her lawyer) exactly why. Now, Lovecruft has published a blog post accusing the FBI of harassment for the past six months. The ordeal started in November last year when Lovecruft and her family were on vacation, and when an FBI agent Mark Burnett dropped by her house. He left his card with a message to call him. He then called on Lovecruft mothers cell phone while she was at work a few days later. As weeks passed, Lovecruft was considering the decision of whether to call or not call the agent, knowing she had done nothing wrong. She was also aware of the fact that the FBI was very interested in anything that is Tor-related. Lovecruft quickly involved a lawyer, who wrote in the post on her website: Burnett said the FBI simply wanted to ask me some questions. When speaking directly to the hired legal counsel, the FBI agent reportedly said: If we happen to run into her on the street, were gonna be asking her some questions without you present. She wrote, My lawyer and I discussed what the FBI could possibly want. Theories ranged from attempted entrapment, to the recent and completely unethical Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) attacks on the live Tor network, to a Grand Jury subpoena for someone else, to some shady request for a backdoor in some software I contribute to. It was later found that in the recent months the FBI paid the Carnegie Mellon University to hack the Tor network, and had been keeping information about the Tor Browser exploits under wraps from the public eye. Lovecruft was in the midst of moving to Germany and the stress of dealing with the FBI harassment had effectively ended her ability to work. She then asked her lawyer to call the agent and find out what was the whole issue all about. When Lovecrufts agent contacted the FBI, they informed her lawyer that they only wanted to ask her a few questions. To which her lawyer responded that all questions should be directed to him rather than Lovecruft or her family. While the agent agreed to this, he paused for a while and asked the agent to call back in five minutes. Five minutes later, Burnett called back and said, I dont believe you actually represent her. Burnett stated additionally that a phone call from me might suffice, but that the FBI preferred to meet with me in person. After a pause, he said, But if we happen to run into her on the street, were gonna be asking her some questions without you present. After that, Lovecruft says she spent a large amount of time thinking about what the FBI wanted from her. She was worried whether or not she would be able to leave the country, or if she could ever come back or ever see her family if she leaves. All these kinds of situations arise when the government is stalking you without any reason. Finally, Lovecruft gathered the courage and left the country to live in Germany without any incident. However, the situation did not calm down after she left. Two months later, her lawyer received voice mails from another FBI agent. The voicemail read: Hello this is Special Agent Kelvin Porter, we spoke two days ago regarding your client. Umm well so the situation with the documents its umm its all fixed. I mean, we would of course still be happy to meet with your client if shes willing, but the problem has uh yeah been fixed. And uh yeah. Just let us know if she wants to set up a meeting. While it appeared that for the time being, things had settled down, the FBI came knocking again, and apparently they told Lovecrufts lawyer that they wanted to serve her with a subpoena. This time, they said, She should meet with one of our agents in San Francisco to talk. Otherwise, are you the point of contact for serving a subpoena? Shes not the target of investigation, but, uh we uh need her to clear up her involvement or uh potential involvement in a matter. A subpoena would force her to meet with the FBI under a penalty of failure. Going by the FBIs secret manner in which they declined to provide information to her lawyer, and even told her lawyer that they would question her without him present if they can. Worried whatever the FBI is planning to ask Lovecruft about or serve her with subpoena that comes with a gag order that wouldnt allow her to speak about it, she decided to make all her past dealings public. In the blog post, Lovecruft wrote: Is this really how the United States has decided to treat American tech workers? Am I just the forerunner in a larger campaign by the FBI to personally go after developers of encryption software which annoys them? In a post on Twitter dated May 4, the Tor Project said: We support our colleague Isis. However, the organisation did not respond to a request for additional comment. As noted on the Tor Projects website, this is not the first time a member has been harassed by the FBI. Lovecrufts blog post serves as a reminder to the public of the FBIs secret fight against anything Tor-related, even its developers. She says she found it disturbing that the FBI would not accept her legal representation and would not provide her with any details, especially if she was not the target of an investigation. In response to the allegations, an FBI spokesperson told IBTimes UK: The FBI, as a general policy, does not confirm nor deny investigations, nor comment on investigative activity unless its a matter of public record (charges associated with an arrest, for example). If someone is alleging harassment of any kind that should be brought to the attention of the government, though its unclear what specific activity is even being characterised as harassment. Ramnicu Valcea aka Hackerville, a town in Romania is full of hackers How would you react if your town or city is better known for something dark? Well, there is a town in Romania known just for its hackers. It is full of hackers and scammers so much so that it has become world famous as the global centre of cybercrime Ramnicu Valcea which is also known as Hackerville rose to prominence because almost half of its population are EBay and Craigslist scammers. Ramnicu Valcea is just three hours drive from the Romanian capital, Bucharest but it seems to get more attention than the capital city. If you thought Ramnicu Valcea was run of the mill town from a Eastern European country, you are wrong! The town is filled with BMWs and Audis and most of the townsfolk seem to be making a killing indulging in some bit of cyber scam. According to a Wired article, Expensive cars choke the streets of Ramnicu Valceas bustling city centertop-of-the-line BMWs, Audis, and Mercedes driven by twenty- and thirtysomething men sporting gold chains and fidgeting at red lights. Only a few citizens of Ramnicu Valcea are actual hackers though a majority of the town is involved in some sort of cyber scam. They steal thousands of dollars per transaction from foreign buyers. Many of the young men who have become rich from hacking spend their money on luxury cars. Nobody knows how the first cyber crime started in Ramnicu Valcea. Many think that after the 1989 revolution, people had access to sophisticated tools and PCs, which may be the reason for the cyber crime. The cyber crime business grew really fast in 2002 after a mini tech revolution in Romania. Cybercafes offered cheap Internet access, and cyber criminals in Ramnicu Valcea started posting fake ads on eBay and other auction sites like Craigslist to lure victims into remitting payments by wire transfer. The town then come to the notice of FBI sleuths who started keeping tabs on big cyber criminals from Ramnicu Valcea. However, nothing much has changed in the town, people go on scamming and phishing to make easy dollars while the authorities look the other way. Her murder occurs amid extremely violent attacks against the residents of Molleturo who are resisting illegal and legal mining. | Read More Thailand today sought more investment from Indian companies as it looks to increase the volume of bilateral trade and position itself as a regional logistics hub. We are a leading economy in Asean region and invite Indian companies to invest for our growth. Nearly USD 200 million has been invested by Indian companies in the last two years and Thailand has positioned itself as a regional logistics hub for Indian companies to help them cater to the needs of Asean countries, Consul of Commercial Affairs at Royal Thai Consulate-General, Mumbai, Suwimol Tilokruangchai, told reporters here. Two-way trade in 2014 totaled US $ 8.66 billion, with about US $5.62 billion in Thai exports to India and US $3.04 billion in Indian exports to Thailand. The two countries have a partial FTA with 83 items being traded at present, Consulate officials said. Bilateral trade is growing at a tremendous rate and stood at USD 8,815 million in 2015, Tilokruangchai said. The total trade between India and Asean countries in 2015 was worth USD 6.8 billion. Thailands Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha is likely to visit India in June and discuss ways to increase bilateral trade, apart from resolving pending issues like full-fledged Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries. In the ASEAN region, Thailand ranks as Indias 4th largest trading partner after Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. The growing ties between the two countries have come at a time when the AEC is expected to bring greater integration among member countries be it in the form of physical connectivity, economic links, cultural and educational ties The fast growing Indian market remains attractive for Thai investors, given the vast opportunities available in infrastructure sector, tourism and retail industries. India continues to remain an interesting market for export of goods from Thailand.Currently, Thai goods have benefited from tax reduction under ASEAN-India FTA in Goods, which came into effect from 01 January, 2010 and resulted to the flow of more goods into Indian market. An Early Harvest Scheme (EHS), covering 82 products (now 83 products) under the proposed India-Thailand FTA, in place since September 2004, has already resulted in phenomenal growth in our bilateral trade. Bilateral Trade Thailand views India as the gateway to South Asia and beyond.As a result of the reduced tariff rates and new initiatives adopted by both the countries, trade between two countries increased manifold in recent years. Bilateral Trade has multiplied eight times since 2000 to reach US$ 8.66 billion in 2014. Trade figures between the two countries are as under: (amount in billion USD) Year Total trade Thai Export to India Thai Import from India 2010 6.64 4.39 2.25 2011 8.19 5.18 3.01 2012 8.87 5.47 3.40 2013 8.69 5.19 3.50 2014 8.66 5.62 3.04 Source: Indian Embassy in Thailand An aedes aegypti mosquito seen at a laboratory in Panama February 4, 2016. Photo: Carlos Jasso/Reuters South Korea has announced its fourth Zika case who is a woman just returning from a trip in Vietnam. The Korea Times reported Saturday that the 25-year-old woman was diagnosed with the virus on May 4 when she visited a hospital after having rash and joint pain. She worked in Ho Chi Minh City between April 10-30 and came back to South Korea on May 1, the report cited a statement from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency suspected she might have received mosquito bites in Vietnam. Aedes aegypti mosquito, which has been identified as the main vector of the virus, is very common in Vietnam. It is also known for carrying the dengue, yellow fever and Chikungunya viruses. Korean health authorities said the woman is in stable condition. They are also examining a person who met with the patient in Vietnam between April 13 and 17. Local health ministry is also following the case. Vietnam has raised Zika alerts after an Australian tourist tested positive after leaving the country on March 6. The country announced its first two Zika patients last month, who were a 64-year-old woman in Nha Trang and a 33-year-old woman in Ho Chi Minh City. The latter was then pregnant at eight weeks but has had an abortion, reportedly after the ultrasound scan did not detect the fetal heartbeat. No further infections in their neighborhoods have been reported since. Zika was first detected in Africa in 1947 when it was considered a relatively mild disease until the current outbreak started in Brazil in May 2015. The virus has since spread to more than 60 countries and territories, including many in the region such as Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and South Korea. Brazil, Venezuela and Columbia each has linked three deaths to the Zika virus. Brazil has registered nearly 5,000 confirmed and suspected cases of microcephaly associated with Zika, Reuters reported. A farmer from Soc Trang Province (L) has taken up construction jobs in Ho Chi Minh City after the severe dry weather destroyed his family's rice fields. Photo credit: Duyen Phan/Tuoi Tre Locked doors, empty water tanks and plowing tools hung idly around is a familiar scene in many parts of Soc Trang Province in the Mekong Delta these days. Months of extreme drought, the worst in the Mekong Deltas history, has cast a heavy spell in the agriculture province, almost turning it into abandoned land. Unofficial statistics from three districts of the province showed that 22,000 people have left for factories in Ho Chi Minh City and nearby industrial centers like Binh Duong and Dong Nai, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported Friday. The number was several times more than in previous years. Similar situation is also going on in other provinces in the delta. Officials in Kien Giang said some 12,400 people from two districts An Bien and Vinh Thuan have left homes for jobs elsewhere this year. In Tien Giang Province, some communes have seen 80 percent of young people leaving. Local officials said normally the migration force only includes people who do not own any piece of land. But the severe dry weather means people with huge rice fields are also empty-handed. A report from the agriculture ministry showed that more than 100,000 hectares of rice fields in the Mekong Delta have been destroyed since late last year due to severe drought and salinity intrusion amid intense El Nino conditions. Millions of people including those from 43,000 families in Soc Trang have been suffering from shortage of clean water, so as 25,000 families in Kien Giang and 86,200 families in Ben Tre. Many people thus have left their children behind to find new ways to make a living. Duong Thi Men, a woman in Soc Trang, has been taking care of two grandchildren all alone after their parents went to work in Ho Chi Minh City's neighbor province of Binh Duong. We have a rice field of 4,000 square meters but the heat was so hard this year so the field gave us nothing to eat, Me said, rocking the kids on a hammock in her empty house. Thach Thi Sa Vet, one of the migrant workers, just came home and her children for the first time in six months last weekend. Vet and her husband has been working as porters at a wood factory in southern province of Dong Nai, managing to save around VND2 million (US$90) to send home every month. We thought really hard before we decided to leave our kids to their grandparents. The rice business has been so bad, Vet said, as cited by Tuoi Tre. A district official in Soc Trang said the migration wave has been going on for years, but it is strongest this year. Many grandparents in the province have taken over the babysitting job as they believe that the kids separation from their parents is still a better choice than all of them left in hunger. Theres nothing to live on here, no factories, and now no land, said Thach Thi Ut who is taking care of six children of five different couples. At least by going away, they can find enough money to afford their children's school fees, Ut told the news paper. A photo taken on March 2, 2016 shows a drug addict shooting up near a primary school in Ho Chi Minh City's District 1. Photo: Duc Tien/Thanh Nien A Ho Chi Minh City official has warned against the big number of drug addicts who are not brought to rehab centers in the city. Tran Ngoc Du of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs said in a meeting on Friday the city currently has 11,953 drug addicts, but only 814 of them have sent to rehab centers or used treatment methods at home. He blamed complicated paperwork required when drug addicts register for rehab for the situation. Huynh Thanh Khiet, deputy chief of the labor department, said it had repeatedly asked higher authorities to simplify administrative procedures but not much had been done. Nguyen Thi Thu, vice chairwoman of the HCMC Peoples Committee, admitted that the large number of untreated drug addicts in the city had caused public anxiety. She said the city government wanted to send all drug addicts to rehab centers to have better health and to ensure public order, but red tape is making the job difficult. She ordered relevant agencies to continue to ask higher authorities to adjust laws and regulations related to rehabilitation. Panama is not a tax haven. Panama is not a tax haven. Panama is not a tax haven. That is the mantra of President Juan Carlos Varela as he tours the globe in a damage control campaign for his Central American nations reputation as the next installment of the so-called Panama Papers looms. The leak of 11 million documents from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca revealed the links of powerful world leaders to offshore tax shelters and led to the resignation of Icelands Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson and protests against British Prime Minister David Cameron. The Panamanians are asking what they did wrong. Varela has traveled from Tokyo to Washington to defend Panamas name in what he calls a diplomatic offensive. He penned a New York Times op-ed after France put Panama back on its tax haven blacklist. He even created a committee with names like by Nobel-laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz to evaluate Panamas financial system. Most important, Varela has continued to resist pressure from the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development to automatically share bank account information with tax authorities in other countries, even as such measures have been embraced, at least in principle, by such other offshore locales as Switzerland, Bermuda, and the scandal-tinged British Virgin Islands, where Mossack Fonseca incorporated most of its shell companies. Panama's success does not depend on irregular flows of money into our financial system, Varela told U.S. officials an event in Washington on May 3, which was attended by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Panama doesn't have the staff to implement multilateral automatic exchange of information, he said, and is instead focusing on bilateral agreements. It should be called the Mossack Fonseca Papers, not the Panama Papers, said ex-President Ricardo Martinelli. The bitter political rival of Varela since the former allies had a falling out spoke in a phone interview from Miami. Its going to hurt Panama. These people who are looking to hide money, they dont want these problems. Its an attack on Panama. What was left unsaid in Varelas speech in Washington is that the U.S. also hasnt signed up for automatic exchangean important sticking point for many wealthy corporate lawyers, who are unusually influential in Panama. President Barack Obama said Thursday he will close loopholes used by foreigners in the US and call on Congress to pass legislation to crack down on international tax evasion. Mossack Fonseca is just one of many firms whose partners took big profits from the sale of shell companies while holding political sway. Ramon Fonseca, a partner in the firm, was until recently an adviser to Varela and to the president of the ruling party. Eduardo Morgan, chairman of a Panama City-based law firm with offices in 17 jurisdictions and double the workforce of Mossack Fonseca, is a former justice minister and ambassador to Washington. His father opened in 1923 one of the first firms for incorporating offshore companies here, though the 100 lawyers at Morgan & Morgan now focus largely on litigation. Morgan has assumed the role of unofficial spokesman for Panamas law firms, appearing on local TV and talking with foreign press. The OECD wants to govern the world, he said during a recent interview in his top floor of the Panama City skyscraper, days before the leak of the Panama Papers. Morgan, who studied law at Yale, also has a stake in Bahamas-based bank with $2.5 billion in assets. He used his black cane to hobble past a golden piece of lobby art that brought together the yen, euro, and dollar signs in affirmation: $. The OECD says Panama has to sign, but the U.S. didnt sign. Varelas New York Times editorial echoed Morgan: His country's removal from a grey list of nations with weak enforcement against money laundering shows the practice is becoming a thing of the past in Panama; know your client rules have forced local firms to boost due diligence; the nation ranks better than Japan, Germany, and the U.S. in a financial transparency ranking by the Tax Justice Network advocacy group. Morgan keeps on his desk political science scholar J.C. Sharmans book, The Money Laundry: Regulating Criminal Finance in the Global Economy, which he taps frequently, as a preacher would a Bible. The authors experiment in setting up shell companies found it easier to open one in the U.S. and other developed countries without proof of identity than in developing locales such as Panama. Morgan says that Panama is just one of many players in the offshore industryand hes right. Chambers and Partners, a trade publication for law firms, even lists top firms that create offshores: Appleby, merged from firms in Bermuda, Cayman Islands, and Jersey; Walkers, functional in nine jurisdictions; Harneys, which can even advise you on law in Anguilla and Cyprus. The list goes on. Mossack Fonseca isnt the only company whose offshores have ended up being linked to political leaders. A search in Panamas company registry shows two offshore companies with ties to Eduardo Paes, the mayor overseeing Rio de Janeiros Olympic Games. The shell companies on which his family members are directors have largely flown under the radar because they werent part of the Mossack Fonseca leak. Paes says he has no involvement in the companies, which were set up by his father, a lawyer. He said his father complies with tax laws and reports income to relevant authorities. The registered agent of the offshore companies? Panama City-based Morgan & Morgan. A group of dairy farmers is preparing for "war" after Murray Goulburn and Fonterra slashed the prices paid for raw milk. The group, which calls itself Farmer Power, is calling on federal Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce to "urgently intervene to establish a totally independent review" of Australia's dairy industry. Group president Chris Gleeson said the cuts to the farm-gate price threatened to push farmers off the land, cull herds for meat, or switch completely to beef farming. "Saleyard figures indicate a real risk that herd numbers are already being reduced, and that without immediate action the industry will continue its downward spiral," Mr Gleeson said. Murray Goulburn reduced its farm-gate price from an average of $5.60 to $4.75-$5 last month after it said it would struggle to meet even half of the profit forecast outlined in its prospectus for its partial float on the ASX less than a year ago. The downgrade stemmed from the co-operative's management over-estimating Chinese sales of adult milk powder, which led to the resignations of managing director Gary Helou and chief financial officer Brad Hingle. Two board directors also left the company last week. Max Jelbart, a farmer from Gippsland resigned due to ill health, while the co-operative didn't give a reason for the departure of former UBS chief executive Kiera Grant. Although chairman Philip Tracy said Ms Grant could not have "reasonably" expected the profit downgrade, considering she joined the board in March. The fact that Australia/Japanese relations have deteriorated as a result of Japanese disappointment at not winning the contract is solely due to Abbott. The Japanese never should have been led to believe they had it in the bag. The blunder only adds to the list of Abbott's foreign affairs disasters. Relations between Australia and Indonesia became strained when the Abbott government unilaterally adopted its turn-back-the-boats refugee policy. They worsened when Abbott initially refused to personally respond to Indonesian concerns over Australian intelligence agencies tapping Indonesian leaders' phones. As prime minister, Abbott had a habit of announcing the conclusion of an investigation and then seeking the evidence to back this up. When the Malaysian airliner MH-17 crashed, Abbott was quick to say that the aircraft was probably shot down by a pro-Russian separatist-controlled surface-to-air missile. "I want to say to the Australian people that as far as I am concerned when you have a situation where Russian-backed rebels appear to have killed Australians using, it may well turn out to be, Russian supplied heavy weaponry Australia takes a very dim view indeed and we want the fullest possible investigation." He then added, "I mean this is not an accident, it is a crime. I stress it is not an accident, it is a crime and criminals should not be allowed to get away with what they have done." Having made up his mind about what had happened, he called for an international investigation. And if this wasn't enough he later escalated the war of words with Russian President Vladimir Putin by promising to "shirt-front" the Russian leader when he met him at a coming G20 summit in Brisbane. After being deposed as prime minister, Abbott could not restrain his inclination to dabble in foreign affairs. In Rambo mode, he suggested that Australia should send special forces to Syria and Iraq to help defeat the Islamic State. He also wanted less-restrictive targeting rules for airstrikes. In the last week, we have seen the result of such rules with 20 civilians killed in an air attack on the Al Quds hospital in Aleppo, Syria. In February, another 25 people were killed by missile attacks on a hospital in Idlib Province in Northern Syria. Theses killing are being blamed on the Syrian military, but in October we had the US airstrike on the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) trauma centre in Kunduz Afghanistan which killed at least 42 people. The destruction resulting from less-restrictive rules on Australian airstrikes would only add to the condemnation of Australia's involvement in the war. Thankfully we no longer have the international embarrassment of Abbott as prime minister. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is now in election mode, hoping that the submarine announcement will ensure he holds Coalition seats in South Australia. Labor has welcomed the decision, but the economic theoreticians don't like it. They would rather see jobs go overseas. They don't say so, but they would prefer a 100 per cent $50 billion drain on our balance of payments. There is also the basic opportunity cost question: would the funds be better spent on other activities that give us lasting benefit -- transport systems, scientific research, schools, hospitals etc? Few seem to question the project itself. Why do we need these submarines? We are told that we must have big long-range submarines because we are a maritime trading nation and must range far to our North. China is the unnamed threat. But why would China want to hamper or stop trade that is mostly to and from China? It wants our iron ore and coal and it wants to export its cars, smart phones, textiles, clothes and footwear. We are also told that ships must have freedom of navigation in the South China Seas. But when have any of our ships, or anyone else's, been prevented from sailing through the region? Even US warships have sailed these seas without incident, thanks largely to Chinese restraint. Militarisation only increases tension. Having our submarines sailing in disputed waters will do nothing to resolve the territorial disputes to our north. On top of that they are likely to be obsolete by the time they are launched. By 2030 China will undoubtedly have underwater acoustic devices and drones deployed in the region to detect military intruders. The treatment in recent years by Coalition and Labor governments of people seeking asylum has, The Age has consistently argued, been shameful. It is a blot on a nation that prides itself on fairness, decency and opportunity, a nation that has long been enriched economically and socially by immigration, by cultural diversity. We have also argued our governments' policies are not only morally dubious by being harsh to the point of inhumane, they also contravene international law. Australia is a signatory to the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which enshrines the legal right of people fleeing persecution to seek asylum, yet successive Australian governments have claimed asylum seekers arriving on our shores by boat do so illegally. Our politicians push this falsehood despite the fact that as many as 90 per cent of such people are found to be genuine refugees. Asylum seekers on Manus Island. Credit:Kate Geraghty We recognise the issue is difficult and complex; were there an easy solution to the issues created by the biggest number of displaced people 60 million since the Second World War, it would have been implemented long ago. Preventing people from perishing at sea is a fine aim, but the human and economic cost of our governments' policies of mandatory offshore detention is unjustifiable. So many words have been written by so many people pointing out the policies' failings. Yet words seem to fail, and that is where a documentary that has just been released has the potential to change the debate in our nation. When Australian voters ask their politicians to lower taxes, they're not immediately asked to submit comprehensive spreadsheets outlining their alternative economic vision for the country. When ordinary people ask their politicians to do something about the climate crisis, they're not expected to provide a multi-volume proposal co-authored by David Suzuki and Naomi Klein that will definitively end pollution. When citizens ask their politicians to create more jobs, they're not dismissed and told to give their job to somebody else if they feel oh-so-bloody strong about it. But when decent folks see stories about people in our offshore gulags setting themselves on fire in desperation and are so bold as to suggest that might be an indication of something being horrifically wrong, they can expect to be greeted with a familiar response: "Well what's YOUR solution then, smarty-pants?" Not since Bronwyn Bishop's notorious ride to a Liberal Party fundraiser have we seen such extravagant use of a taxpayer-funded helicopter. As Australians flooded cafes to celebrate Mothers' Day, the national broadcaster was covering the Prime Minister's long trek to Government House live from the sky. Television doesn't come any more scintillating than this. The parochial footy-mad state never embraced his Sydney-centric brand of conservatism, so when Mr Turnbull won, Victorians were pleased. The idea of a more socially progressive, urbane Australian giving public transport a fair hearing provided an antidote to Mr Abbott. It's going to be a lot bloody easier. That's how senior Victorian Liberals sum up the party's election chances in the state with Malcolm Turnbull leading. Overnight the Victorian Liberal Party switched from defence to offence, eyeing off two "middle-class marginal" seats held by Labor - Bruce and Chisholm - and the ALP moved from a war footing to a strategy of sand-bagging seats. Malcolm Turnbull, pictured riding Melbourne's trams, was seen as a welcome change in Victoria after Tony Abbott's time as prime minister. Credit:Jesse Marlow Despite the renewed Liberal hope, few strategists believe many seats will change hands, given many voters have been disappointed by Mr Turnbull's short reign and Victoria's relative shortage of swing seats. Fairfax-Ipsos polls show his approval rating in Victoria dropping from 69 per cent in October to 54 per cent in April. His disapproval rating has doubled to 36 per cent in the same period. Labor is once again on the attack, eyeing off Corangamite, La Trobe, Deakin and Dunkley: successful field campaigns used at the 2014 state election will again be run by the party and Trades Hall. So you think you can design ... A statewide event that demonstrates the strength of design teaching in Victorian secondary schools has announced its 10 student finalists for its Wood, Metal & Plastics 2016 competition. The Design and Technology Teachers Association (DATTA) of Victoria runs the So You Think You Can Design competition twice a year. In May, students designing in wood, metal and plastics are assessed and in December it is textiles students. Two students from each of St Michael's Grammar, Northcote High, Dromana College, Mornington Secondary and Simonds Catholic College have reached the finals, and the ultimate winner will be decided at the STEAMpunk Conference to be held on May 13 and 14 at Harvester Technical College in Sunshine. All the finalists will be able to take part in a Discover Design Program at Swinburne University's Advanced Manufacturing & Design Centre. Conference details Higher education not always road to riches A report probing the link between disadvantage and graduate outcomes finds that patterns of disadvantage such as low socio-economic status, disability, being Indigenous and living in regional Australia persist when students complete university. 'Investigating the Relationship between Equity and Graduate Outcomes' also concludes that undertaking paid work in the final year of study strongly predicts whether a graduate will be employed. However graduates who do this are more likely to earn less than those who do not and many hold the same positions as they held while they were studying. The study was headed by Dr Sarah Richardson of the Australian Council for Educational Research. Read more Tapping into the message of clean water Victoria's schools are participating in an international collaboration to promote the message of clean, healthy water for people and the environment. The iEARN Water is Life project brings together students in 24 schools from 10 nations to carry out research and community action on United Nations sustainability goals for the health of the world's water. The schools are: Leongatha, Cardross, Canterbury and Swan Reach Primary Schools and Warringa Park School; and Officer and Mirboo North Secondary Schools. http://www.iearn.org.au Seeking answers on autism More than 600 delegates gathered at last week's Autism in Education Conference in Melbourne to grapple with the challenge of improving outcomes for children and young people on the autism spectrum in schools and further education. The delegates represented students and young people on the spectrum, their families, educators, researchers, service providers and practitioners from across Australia, the US, UK, Singapore, Hong Kong, China and New Zealand. About 81,000 school-aged children in Australia are estimated to have a diagnosis of autism. http://autismineducation.org.au A 14-year-old girl and two 17-year-old men working at a Gold Coast fast food restaurant were threatened with a gun and a knife by a man who climbed through a drive-through window to rob them on Sunday night. The man remains on the run after threatening the teenagers, who were working at Ashmore's Red Rooster outlet when the man robbed them of cash just before 8pm. He twice threatened one of the teenagers with the knife before taking a bag of cash, climbing back through the window and fleeing the scene on foot. None of the teenagers were injured in the incident. Cold and rainy weather did not deter almost 30,000 people who turned out for the Mothers' Day Classic on Sunday. Dressed in brightly coloured raincoats and clasping umbrellas, thousands of mothers and their families walked and ran around The Tan to raise money for breast cancer research. It was cold and rainy morning at the Mother's Day Classic in Melbourne. Credit:Arsineh Houspian The event is held in almost 100 different locations and attracts more than 100,000 participants. It's Australia's largest Mothers' Day event. Many of those involved have been touched by breast cancer, with statistics showing one in eight women on average will be diagnosed sometime in their life. A car has crashed into an iconic Melbourne cemetery and smashed several headstones. It is believed the elderly man at the wheel accidentally accelerated instead of reversing on a road in Melbourne General Cemetery. A car has crashed into a number of headstones at a Melbourne cemetery. Police said they were called to the Parkville cemetery occurred shortly before 11am on Sunday. The car mounted the curb and ploughed into a number of grave sites, leaving behind broken shards of engraved headstones. Don't be fooled by the picket fence. It's a sedate front, hiding the anarchy unleashed on a Monday afternoon at a Northcote aged care home. Inside, different generations, from 10 to 90, are scheming. Grey hair sits next to blonde plaits, a cardigan next to a checked school dress. There's a lot of chat and mess, with paints and paper and opinions galvanising a New World Order. Bridging the gap: Westgarth Primary students Dulcie, Olivia, Olivia and Amy, and the Museum of Me project's Kerensa Diball high-five aged care resident Beryl Evans. Credit:Simon O'Dwyer The task for the day is to imagine a parallel world ruled by the very young and the elderly. Tyrannical eyes gleam, as older residents and schoolchildren devise rules and make signs for their pretend empires. "Ice-cream every day," demands Leo. "Just once a day?" asks a co-conspirator, as 89-year-old Nell Bell looks on blissfully. Two Melbourne apartment towers have been placed on a heightened fire alert over concerns they have flammable cladding that could fuel a ferocious and fast-moving blaze. Extra firefighters, trucks and incident managers will be called in to battle any future fires at the Exo Apartments in Docklands and the Elm Apartments in South Melbourne. The Exo Apartments in Docklands. Credit:Joe Armao Metropolitan Fire Brigade chief officer Peter Rau said the safety of firefighters and the buildings' occupants were at the forefront of the brigade's decision to initiate the enhanced response. "It's our view that it was warranted," he said. He was confident and happy to submit what seemed like "water tight" plan to the ethics committee of a large university in Melbourne, yet the rejection letter this time was far more blunt. It wasn't a letter, either, so much as an unofficial pre-emptive email from the deputy vice chancellor of research. "It basically said 'forget it, this university is not interested'," Williams said. "I didn't bother remonstrating too loudly. I expect the same might happen with any Australian university." It is an expectation based solely on the drug Williams is proposing to use in his trial, namely MDMA or methylendioxymethamphetamine which is often a component in the party drug ecstasy but has also been used recently around the world along with an array of other psychoactive substances or "psychedelic drugs" to great therapeutic effect. Pills Credit:Viki Yemettas You see Williams, a Yarra Glen winemaker, pilot and autodidact, is something of an outlier in Australian medical research. He is neither an established or esteemed name, but nor is he without experience. He has an honours degree in chemistry and biochemistry from the University of Sydney along with a PhD in medicinal chemistry and pharmaceutical science from Monash University at Parkville. He was until recently a post-doctoral research associate there, publishing papers with titles such as Backbone and side chain 1H, 15N and 13C assignments for the oxidised and reduced forms of the oxidoreductase protein DsbA from Staphylococcus aureus. Yet his most notable role is as president of PRISM or Psychedelic Research In Science & Medicine, a small not-for-profit lobbying group that would see global gold standard research replicated in Australia, using everything from "acid" (LSD) and "magic mushrooms" (psilocybin) to cure everything from end-of-life anxiety to nicotine addiction. The idea is far less far-fetched than it sounds. Over the past decade, such research has been ramping up all over the world at significant institutions from Switzerland to Canada and Tel Aviv to London. In the United States, schools including Johns Hopkins Medicine, NYU and UCLA have begun using psychedelics in randomised controlled trials to treat alcohol dependence, depression and anxiety. Others are exploring the potential benefits of mescaline (an alkaloid derived from the Peyote cactus and used in religious ceremonies by Native Americans for millennia) and dimethyltryptamine (found in the shamanic Peruvian brew known as Ayahuasca). But perhaps the most revelatory and well-chronicled therapeutic new frontier is the use of MDMA to treat PTSD. In 2000, it was used to treat female victims of sexual assault in Madrid. In 2001, the target group were South Carolina survivors of childhood abuse. Later studies have involved police and emergency responders all of whom were well-served by the drug, which is not used as a prescription medication but rather administered in a clinical setting and followed by hours of intense psychotherapy. The pure synthetic compound reduces activity in the amygdala (where fear is processed) and increases activity in the frontal lobe (where people put ideas in context), meaning patients are able to look closely at traumatic events without being paralysed by fear. The subjects are screened and carefully prepared, and they are guided by a therapist with whom they are better able to bond, again, thanks to the drug. The experience has virtually nothing in common with a warehouse dance party except of course in the chemical sense. "The therapy itself achieves the positive outcomes the MDMA is only an adjunct," Williams said. "There's no magic effect that cures the patient it just enables them to get to the root cause of their condition and work through that." A group in the United States known as the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) has already guided its MDMA research through phase two trials. With good safety and efficacy data, they are preparing a submission to the Federal Drug Administration, and have begun fundraising for phase three trials the final step before potential widespread US approval in 2021. Their process began 30 years ago, in 1986, when a man named Rick Doblin founded MAPS. Since then, he said, more than 1000 people have taken MDMA in clinical research, and more than 5000 papers on psychedelics and various therapies have been published on MedLine the US National Library of Medicine. MAPS has also offered $25,000 in matching funds for any study launched locally. "It's a little bit hard for me to understand what the resistance is in Australia. It should be easier for PRISM a simple regulatory challenge," Doblin said. "But how much of a follower does Australia want to be, and how much of a leader?" Williams in fact designed his protocol with the help of MAPS, to mirror their widely published research, which has already been subject to countless international review boards: "We're not ground breaking in any way other than we're trying to do it in Australia." Local researchers hope to trial MDMA to help treat war veterans with hard-to-treat PTSD. Credit:Melissa Adams He intends to trial the drug here on veterans of war, many of whom have tried cognitive behavioural therapy and anti-depressants and yet been "treatment resistant". The test group could just as easily be victims of rape, assault, or even family violence, but the target group is not the issue so much as the culturally-laden term "psychedelics" (which actually has a straight-forward and good faith meaning, namely "manifesting the mind"). One Melbourne psychiatrist with decades of experience counselling victims of trauma said he was stunned by the "establishment resistance" to such a promising treatment option. "There is an immediate reaction of fear," he said, on condition of anonymity. "The public perception needs to be altered, but it has to be done slowly and gradually. I think we have to tread warily." That psychiatrist, who is also a lecturer at a large university, has tried establishing his own small-scale study using MDMA, but the idea was quickly rebuffed by an academic ethics committee as "too dangerous". "The reaction is almost medieval in some ways," he said. "We're reasonable people with good reputations and a considerate, highly controlled proposal. It's not a slap-happy operation. We should be welcomed in, but we're not and it's unfortunate." Professor Suresh Sundram, head of the psychiatric neuroscience research program at Monash University and a scientist with no grudge against or interest in such work identified four major factors contributing to the dearth of local study in this area. First, he said, there is fear on the part of researchers, around the response they might expect from ethics committees who would likely ("and rightfully") view such studies with extreme caution. Second is the impact such research might have on a scientist's reputation. "They may not be received with the same respect," Dr Sundram said. "They might be seen as marginal and extreme." (Doblin is baffled by this: "Treating patients who are suffering with a life-threatening illness? You think that would be good for your reputation.") Third, funding bodies could perceive the work to be "too radical", meaning any trial would require the safety net of a large philanthropic contribution. (Perhaps $500,000 would be enough to launch a small study; a larger trial might cost $5 million.) And finally, the experts already studying depression or PTSD may not be as enamoured with psychedelics as they are current alternatives. (Researchers, Dr Sundram noted, often become "one-eyed about their drug".) Professor Patrick McGorry is watching the results of research being done on ketamine and cannabidiol Credit:Rob Gunstone Professor Patrick McGorry, executive director of Orygen, the National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, can attest to that notion, and said he had not even heard of the psychedelic research being done around the world. The "big thing" in research right now, he said, was ketamine (also often abused as a party drug), as well as work being done with cannabidiol to treat anxiety in young people. (Shrooms and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds are just not on his radar.) "Don't get me wrong my immediate reaction is curiosity," he said. "We do need to explore new treatments that examine the interaction of biology and psychology. But like most researchers, we need a benefactor to give us some blue sky funding." One final consideration is that the value of working with psychedelics may be far greater for developing our fundamental understanding of brain function than in treating psychological disorders. At Imperial College in London, healthy volunteers were recently given LSD after which researchers used fMRI and magnetoencephalography to see what activity took place in the brain, and came away amazed at what they saw. David Nutt, a former drugs adviser for the British government and a senior researcher on the study, told media that the work had profoundly deepened our understanding of consciousness: "This is to neuroscience what the Higgs boson was to particle physics." This image shows how, with eyes-closed, much more of the brain contributes to the visual experience under LSD than under placebo. The magnitude of this effect correlated with participants reports of complex, dreamlike visions. Credit:imperial.ac.uk Dr Alex Wodak, president of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation, is one person you might expect to throw his full weight behind the therapeutic use of illicit drugs but you would be wrong. His interest rests more in work like that above, from Imperial College, in finding out more about how the drugs work before coming up with how they might be used. "The more we know about the mechanisms," he said, "the more likely we are to get dividends." Dr Wodak just returned to Australia following a week at the United Nations in New York, attending a general assembly on the World Drug Problem. He noted that research will be hard to establish given the seemingly unending "War on Drugs". Little has changed since 1971 when Richard Nixon famously coined that term, and then branded Timothy Leary "the most dangerous man in America". (Leary, once a psychologist at Harvard University, was evangelical about the potential of LSD.) America, Dr Wodak said, frames the way drugs are regarded around the world, and no administration has shifted from the prohibitionist path set by Nixon 45 years ago. Not coincidentally, most research into illicit substances is related to the amount of damage they can do, rather than the benefits they might offer. The same is true locally, where there are actually no formal legal prohibitions against academic and clinical research using psychoactive substances. Research with "scheduled compounds" can take place with the permission of the local health ministers. Dr Stephen Bright, a clinical psychologist specialising in alcohol and other drugs and lecturer at Curtin University (and member of PRISM), points out that such research has already been done in Melbourne. The catch is that the research (so far) supports the "dominant pathogenic narrative of drugs", which limits discussion to the harm they can cause. The only recent local research using a psychedelic, he points out, was a 2010 study at Swinburne University entitled The effects of MDMA and methamphetamine on car driving simulator performance, cognitive skills and mood states, designed to measure how impaired people become when using such drugs. "But there's very little potential for psychedelic drugs to be abused in a clinical setting," he said. "They're low toxicity, and they're non dependence forming. They're not taking it and going to a rave." Fiona Patten, the Sex Party MP, has been lobbying for drug law reform for some time, mostly in the health and civil libertarian space, and believes an attitudinal shift is overdue. "The beauty of many of these substances which is not great for anyone wanting to make money from them is they don't need continued use. It's not like getting on Prozac for the rest of your life the drugs are only used a few times for psychotherapy, and they can't be patented, which may be why 'Big Pharma' is not interested." Sex Party leader Fiona Patten has been a long-term campaigner for drug reform Credit:Joe Armao In some ways the problem is financial but the solution could be as well. The legal and ethical impediments to cannabis research, for instance, fell away rapidly after a BRW rich lister donated $33 million to the University of Sydney specifically to look at medical uses for pot. Williams can only sit back and hope a similar white knight emerges. He will keep nudging the change along, too. Within six months he will be ready to submit his protocol to yet another ethics committee. The ideal way things would play out? An eminent scientist says Yes, I would love to do this research with you. A wealthy private benefactor says, Here's $500,000. An ethics committee says, Looks good to us. The state health minister says, Sure, you can import that compound from Germany. Then PRISM would locate their subjects and get testing. For Williams, that would sate his twin appetites for knowledge and the desire to do something socially useful more so than standing at a laboratory bench grinding away at the mysteries of biological science. He believes an injustice has been perpetrated and a lot of good denied to humanity in holding back this research for so long. "I just feel that it's time to pick up the ground swell and turn it into a wave of social change. At a time when society seems to be getting more and more restrictive and scared, we need to take a stance." In the meantime he will pursue his hobby, building a Glasair IIS-TD propeller plane in a little hangar at Lilydale Airfield. That's the thing about Williams he loves projects, and challenges. In his former life as a winemaker and vineyard consultant, he used to fly planes to meetings among the vines at Coonawarra and Tocumwal, and has been making his own light aircraft for two years now. A 40-year-old woman is assisting police with an investigation into the death of man in Maddington in the early hours of Sunday morning. Police were called to a house on Cedar Way at 1am after reports a man had been stabbed. A woman is assisting police with their investigation into the stabbing death of a man in Maddington. The 41-year-old was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital in a critical condition but died a short time later. Police are still hunting a man they say stabbed another in Perth's southern suburbs on Sunday following an apparent road rage incident. WA Police spokesman Samuel Dinnison said the victim had been parked in his car at Woodman Point about 8am when his vehicle was rammed several times by a red Jeep. He said the victim got out of his car and was confronted by the driver of the Jeep, and received stab wounds to his face, arm and head from an unknown bladed weapon. "It appears the facial injury may be serious but does not appear life-threatening," Mr Dinnison said. The 23-year-old was taken to Fiona Stanley Hospital by ambulance. The City of Swan is looking into legal options after a state development assessment panel overruled councillors' votes and approved a multistorey apartment block in the centre of historic Guildford. The four-storey building is planned opposite the Rose and Crown hotel and beside the Padbury Buildings in the original town centre, built by pioneer Walter Padbury around 1830 decades before the building of the second commercial centre around Guildford Hotel. The 100 Terrace Road development will be beside the Padbury buildings in the foreground. The Rose and Crown can be seen in the background. At a recent public meeting on DAPs City councillor Ian Johnson said the approval was a "disaster". "We are now looking at legal options," he said. "If Leifer is not fit to stand trial and if in fact she is having some kind of psychotic episode, or she is psychotic, then she needs treatment and she should be hospitalised," she said. Malka Leifer remains in Israel, where she will be assessed by psychiatrists. "It is the most intensive type of care and they will be able to oversee her mental situation and, once we receive an update that she is able to stand trial, then we can return to court and ask that proceedings resume and the extradition hearings begin." Her defence agreed with the prosecution that all legal proceedings should be suspended. At a hearing in February, her defence had asked for the case to be dismissed. Judge Cohen ruled that a psychiatric assessment would be prepared by the end of May and a decision made in court on June 2 regarding Ms Leifer's treatment. "After receiving the assessment of the district psychiatrist who gave a very clear assessment according to Israeli law all legal proceedings must stop against the suspect," the Judge ruled. "I call on the original psychiatrist to assess if he thinks a hospitalisation order should be issued, or if he would recommend another possible treatment. "I thought about ruling today on her treatment in a clinic in Tel Hashomer (Israel's national hospital), but because both parties agreed to stop all legal proceedings, we will wait for the psychiatrist's recommendation on a treatment." The recommendation would not, however, be binding on the court, he said. Ms Leifer's brother, seated in the court, laughed at several points made during the 15-minute session. Ms Leifer been living under house arrest in Bnei Brak in Israel, where she fled in 2008 allegedly with the help of members of Melbourne's Adass Israel community. It took six years for prosecutors to catch up with Ms Leifer, and she was placed under house arrest in 2014 after an extradition request from Australia. Ms Leifer headed Adass Israel School from 2003 until she fled in 2008. She was highly regarded in the community, running day-to-day operations at the school and also teaching Jewish studies. Members of the Adass Israel School community are under investigation by Victorian police for allegedly helping Ms Leifer and her family leave. Information on the family's plane tickets was obtained under subpoena and the tickets were allegedly paid for by a company associated with the school community. Australian-Israeli victim advocate Manny Waks believed the case had dragged on unnecessarily long, and the alleged victims girls aged 14 and 15 at the time deserved some finality. Mr Waks exposed sexual abuse at Melbourne's Yeshivah College, and also gave evidence to the child abuse royal commission He founded a new global organisation called called Kol v'Oz, which advocates on behalf of victims of child sexual abuse in Jewish communities. "Either Leifer is well enough to face justice or she is hospitalised until she is ready to do so. There should be no alternative," he said. "This case has dragged on for far too long and we need some finality. We need to put the interests and wellbeing of the alleged victims ahead of the interests and wellbeing of the alleged perpetrator." Donald Trump said he would not rule out an effort to remove Representative Paul Ryan as chairman of the Republican National Convention if he did not endorse Trump's candidacy. Trump stopped short of calling for Ryan, the speaker of the House, to step down from his convention role. But in an interview that aired Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press, Trump said there could be consequences in the event that Ryan continued withholding his support. "I will give you a very solid answer, if that happens, about one minute after that happens, OK?" Trump said. "There's no reason to give it right now, but I'll be very quick with the answer." Incredibly Rare Porsche 964 Turbo Flatnose Goes On Sale At Hexagon Hexagon is proud to offer one of only 12 right-hand-drive 964 Turbos in rare Flatnose guise for sale Flatnose models were produced by Porsche to mark the end of the 964s life, with just 76 made worldwide Car at Hexagon has covered just 630 miles and features both the X84 Flatnose body package and 385bhp X88 Turbo S engine LONDON - May 6, 2016: There are rare Porsche 911s and there is the 964 Turbo Flatnose: Hexagon Modern Classics is proud to announce it is now offering for sale one of just 12 right-hand-drive Flatnose models ever made. In August 1993, as the very last 964 models were coming off the production line, Porsche produced a final and limited special series of 76 Exclusive Department-built Turbo Flachbau (Flatnose) vehicles. The X84 body package included front wings and pop-up headlights derived from the 968, while the modified front spoilers also had air intakes for cooling and the rear wheel housings had air intake shafts similar to those of the 959. As well as the X84 body package Porsche also made the enhanced X88 engine package available too. The same 385bhp 3.6-litre flat six-cylinder engine as the Turbo S, it features an enlarged turbocharger, modified camshafts, valve timing, cylinder heads, inlet manifolds and intermediate flanges, an extra oil cooler and four-pipe exhaust system. The car at Hexagons new flagship Finchley showroom features both the X84 and X88 packages. Painted metallic black with black leather interior, it has covered just 630 miles having been part of a private collection for many years. Until now, it has never been offered for sale. Paul Michaels, chairman of Hexagon Classics, said: At the time, only a select few were offered the Flatnose models they werent publicised, they were almost under the counter. Not only is this incredible 964 possibly the nearest thing to a brand-new Porsche 964 Turbo, it is also one of the rarest and most important time-warp Porsches weve ever had the pleasure of offering for sale. A true collectors item. CANNES, France Has anyone notified Woody Allen that hes about to land in what could be considered the worlds softest target? The 80-year-old filmmaker is returning to Cannes as his 47th movie and the first one to be shot digitally, Cafe Society, starring Steve Carell, Jesse Eisenberg, and Kristen Stewart, opens the 69th annual Festival de Cannes on May 11. Allen will be part of a stellar lineup of directors and stars descending upon what will be a heavily fortified Croisetteincluding Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Jodie Foster, Steven Spielberg, Ryan Gosling, Charlize Theron, Marion Cotillard, and more. The famously New York-centric Allen, an unapologetic Luddite who doesnt use a computer and has never sent an email, told The Hollywood Reporter last week that he used to ship his films to Cannes but never went himself because he hates to fly and cant handle the time change. Hes only started to come to Cannes recently because his much younger wife, Soon Yi Previn Allen, 45, likes it, he said. Its unclear if Allen knows that the annoyances of plane travel and jet lag have been dwarfed by rising fears of terrorism in the South of France, particularly Cannes, following the recent attacks in Brussels and Paris. Last month, Italian intelligence reported that ISIS was planning attacks on beaches in the South of France and Italy. Allen may not have seen the chilling, much-circulated (on the Internet and French TV) video showing masked gunmen storming the steps of the Palais and detonating car bombs all over the townall part of a faux terrorist attack drill directed by French officials on April 21 in advance of the festival. More than 200 volunteers took part in what was called a simulated multi-terror exercise right in the heart of Cannes, a drill that backfired in some quarters when people complained that the video might inflame tensions and needlessly scare people. It [the video] looks like a movie that Woody Allen would make about his worst fears, said Olivier, a nine-year veteran of the Cannes police force, who asked that his last name not be used when he spoke to The Daily Beast on the Croisette Thursday. Fortunately, by the time Allen and others arrive, a massive security force including 200 armed police, an unknown number of undercover officers, and 500 security camerasall overseen by former Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) brigadier general and counterterrorism expert Nitzan Nuriel, will be in place to protect the estimated 200,000 festival attendees. According to reports, Cannes Mayor David Lisnard has implemented a full security audit by Nuriel, who served as a military attache to the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C., and was awarded the Legion of Merit from the U.S. for his work as a liaison between the IDF and the U.S. Armed Forces. The National Gendarmerie Intervention Group (GIGN), the special operations unit of the French National Gendarmerie that was established following the Munich massacre, has also demanded blueprints of all the major hotels along the Croisette, studying them in relation to to the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. In addition, special attention is being paid to the possibility of attackers coming by sea, Yves Daros, director of the municipal police, told Le Monde.No boat will be able to enter the Bay of Cannes without being checked, he said. At the MIPTV Media Market in Cannes last month, security was considerably ramped up, including metal detectors and regular checkpoints to search bags and scan badges, as well as a rigorous security checkpoint 20 meters away from the Palais. No suitcases were permitted in or around the Palais, and vehicles entering the Palais were heavily vetted. The last major terrorist threat near to Cannes occurred back in February 2014, when, in the lead-up to the Paris attacks, French authorities arrested Ibrahim Boudina, an extremist whod allegedly returned from fighting with ISIS in Syria. He was apprehended inside his fathers apartment building in Mandelieu-La Napoule, just down the coast from Cannes, where, according to CNN, police discovered bomb-making instructions and three soda cans filled with the high-explosive compound TATP. Due to Novembers Paris attacks, France is set to remain in a state of emergency until May 26, which allows authorities to conduct raids and place citizens under house arrest without prior authorization. Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department has issued a travel alert for Europe until June 20 because: Terrorist groups continue to plan near-term attacks throughout Europe, targeting sporting events, tourist sites, restaurants, and transportation. Given the star power of this years festival and some of the eagerly-awaited films, however, security fears may fade into the background once the red carpet is rolled out every night. HONG KONG When the Congyi Church in Hangzhou was finally complete in 2005, it was called the largest Chinese church in the world, able to hold a crowd of 5,500. Nearly $6.5 million was raised to fund its construction. Years later, as Congyis membership swelled, even the underground parking lot was reappropriated as a meeting place by younger worshipers, so they raised another million dollars to build a new parking lot. All of the money came from Congyis congregation. Their pastor, Gu Yuese, whose name is the Chinese transliteration of Joseph, managed the churchs affairs for years, and eventually became the highest-ranking church official sanctioned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). On Jan. 29, Gu was arrested by Chinese police, who stated economic matters as the reason. Days later, the CCP accused Gu of embezzling $1.6 million. From where, allegedly? That remains unclear. Gus arrest occurred as the Chinese government continues to make heavy-handed moves to rein in Chinese Christians. In the name of maintaining safety and beauty, the CCP has bulldozed churches and torn down crossesall painted red as reminders of the blood shed by the faithful when Mao Zedongs troops tried to erase their faith from China almost 50 years ago. Those who speak out against the CCPs decisions are arrested and placed in black jails. Beijing now attempts to regulate Protestant and Catholic churches by demanding local leaders answer to the Chinese government instead of the Vatican or other religious authorities. In the past, the Party would groom individuals within Chinese churches to act as the governments proxies. But the state-church face-off has become increasingly tense as Beijing now wants to force its way into the pulpit too. CCP religious affairs officials want their own time slots during Sunday worship to educate churchgoers about the Partys religious policies and regulations. The idea is not popular among parishioners. Pastor Gu was vocal in his opposition to the destruction of crosses in Zhejiang province. Since 2014, 1,800 crosses have been torn down by the Chinese authorities. Bob Fu, a pastor who escaped a police crackdown in China before he founded ChinaAid, a Christian human-rights group based in Texas, shared his view that Gus arrest was not so much about corruption, but was political revenge. Imprisoned, Gu penned a letter to his congregation to say he is doing well, and that the investigation into the alleged embezzlement was for his own benefit. The letter went on: Please have faith in our government and judicial department. They will do their work rigorously, abiding by the laws and unearthing the truth with impartiality, justice, and public transparency. Lines like those sound suspicious enough to make many in Gus congregation believe he was forced to write the letter, a sentiment shared by Chinese citizens after similar Im-doing-well letters were made public following the abduction of five booksellers based in Hong Kong. The same language is used in pre-trial televised confessions, which are also believed to be produced via coercion. Gu was arrested under Article 73 of Chinas Criminal Procedure Law, which states anyone suspected of committing a crime that endangers state security, involving terrorist activities or significant bribes, is placed in residential surveillance at a designated place. That means Gu is jailed in a secret location as he awaits final charges. According to Article 73, suspects can be held for up to six months in any location chosen by the authorities, and are denied legal counsel and visits. When over 250 human-rights lawyers and their associates were arrested last July, they were held according to the framework outlined by Article 73. Many were released within days, but some of those who remained under residential surveillance for months were beaten or tortured. Seven individuals who were arrested in the July sweep were charged with subversion last month. Officially, China is an atheist country, but constitutionally guarantees religious freedom. However, in practice, the CCP is wary of all religious organizations. In particular, CCP officials see several religious bodies as threatening forces, including Protestant and Catholic churches. The Party has just under 88 million members, whereas there may be up to 100 million Christians in China today. Wenzhou, a city in the same province as Hangzhou, has an estimated 1.2 million Protestants among its population of 9 million, and is known as Chinas Jerusalem. By the end of 2014, China was the largest producer of Christian Bibles. Walk through the old city of the actual Jerusalem or other major Christian sites, and youll find many of the crosses and rosaries for sale were made in China. As the CCP becomes increasingly vocal against foreign influence, or is at least quick to blame foreign powers for domestic woes, Christianity is seen by Beijing as a hazard to the Partys dominance in the political fabric of China even though the churches seem to hold no such agenda. Chinese citizens join churches for various reasons. Some enter with curiosity and end up returning every week. Others join their neighbors, schoolmates, or business contacts for Sunday mass. Becoming part of Chinas churches isnt only a spiritual matter; the draw is also in the social element, the togetherness that a group of friendly people can offer. The most common theme is that church leadership is well liked and respected. Not only is there a sense of community, members of Chinese churches feel like they can trust the pastors or priests who give mass every Sunday, but are also around to offer assistance whenever needed. The clergy embed themselves within the community, and are, well, nice, and dont exclude anyone. Thats a huge contrast to CCP officials, who amid Chinese President Xi Jinpings corruption crackdown are still seen as individuals with guarded and selfish interests. Church leaders like Gu have cultivated massive followings, particularly along the central eastern coast where many churches are located. House churches, though illegal under Chinese law, continue to spread and gather new members by word of mouth. One hundred million Christians among nearly 1.4 billion people in China may seem like a small slice of the population, but thats sufficient to rattle the CCPs existential foundations. After all, it wasnt so long agoroughly around the time of the American Civil Warwhen Imperial China was rocked by a pseudo-Christian uprising that resulted in 20 to 30 million deaths. It was the Taiping Rebellion, led by a man who claimed to be the younger brother of Jesus Christ. Beijings mistake is thinking that the churches of Zhejiang are hungry for power, and that miscalculation is costing the CCP in what they perceive as a battle for Chinas soul. French auteur Jacques Audiard (A Prophet) unspools a searing immigrants tale in his latest crime drama, Dheepan, a rare look at the lives of Sri Lankan refugees fleeing one war zone for another: The gang-ridden housing projects of Paris. The Cannes Palme dOr winner opens on a note of despair in the chaotic aftermath of Sri Lankas bloody civil war. A rebel fighter (Antonythasan Jesuthasan) buries a comrade before burning the fatigues that mark his role in the countrys decades-long internal conflict. Meanwhile, in a holding camp teeming with displaced citizens, a woman named Yalini (Kalieaswari Srinivasan) frantically searches for a child who can pass as her own daughter. She finds one, a quiet girl named Illayaal (Claudine Vinasithamby) whose parents died in the war believed to have claimed as many as 100,000 lives, including countless civilians killed in attacks by both the Sri Lankan military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, since 1983. In an instant the three strangersman, woman, and childare thrust into a shared deception, assuming the identities of a family killed in the war in order to flee to Europe and start anew. The mans new name is Dheepan, and Audiard flashes forward to his new life in Paris in one brilliantly illuminating scene. A reputed and deadly Tamil Tiger soldier back home, Dheepan is now one of the countless immigrants peddling glow sticks and headbands for 2 Euros a pop on the sidewalks of France. As Dheepans face comes wordlessly into focus, Audiards lens captures the arresting duality in Jesuthans weary, wary eyesone that betrays much more to the audience than it does to the strangers he meets on the street. (Adding to a deeply felt Cesar-nominated performance by celebrated Sri Lankan poet and author Jesuthan is the fact that at age 16 he himself was recruited as a child soldier by the Tamil Tigers before fleeing to Hong Kong, Thailand, and eventually France, where he was granted political asylum.) France offers new kinds of daunting experiences for a foreigner who doesnt speak the language, but Dheepans attempt to gain asylum is aided by a sympathetic immigration translator who rewrites his too-obvious cover story. He tells an inverted version of the truth, claiming to flee from the violence of his homelandbut not that he was one of those responsible for the bloodshed. Dheepan, Yalini, and nine-year-old Illayaal move into a housing project in Le Pre-Saint-Gervais where Dheepan lands a job as the resident groundskeeper. Its a rough cement block livinglocal thugs police the lawless housing blocks and occasionally hurl racist epithetsbut a dream compared to the nightmare theyve all escaped. And so the faux family charges on with their charade, negotiating their new lives stuck with one another while smiling to the outside world, terrified of losing it all. The trio navigates their new reality in a strange land, forced to learn a new language and depend on one another under a facade of domestic normalcy. Dheepan chronicles the bewildering challenges of the immigrant experience without giving way to cloying or trite pandering. Young Illayaal, bright and mature beyond her years, endures isolation both at school, where shes an unwelcome outsider, and at home, where she yearns for parental love from a father and mother who are anything but nurturing. Srinivasan turns in an absorbing performance as Yalini, a woman not yet ready nor willing to be wife or motherroles she must play for appearances sake. She dreams of abandoning her family for London, where she has relatives who will take her in, but is forbidden from fleeing by the domineering Dheepan, who desperately wants to believe in his new life and clean moral slate to appease his own tortured conscience. They dance between co-conspirators and enemies, driven by their own conflicting desires to live freely beyond the shadow of their past lives. As Yalini rages, bursting to escape and forge her own way in the world, Srinivasan paints a multidimensional portrait of a woman screwed by circumstance. She invites him into her bed one night but makes it clear she is not his wife to command. Dheepan controls her passport and therefore her freedom, but he does not own her free will. The lives of this makeshift family are just starting to approach something akin to contentedness when the ugliness of their new world emerges. Despite the drug dealers who line the block and menace the compound from the rooftops, the bullet-torn war zone of urban Paris is a downright civil microcosm of the battlegrounds back home. These gangsters are less dangerous than the ones back home, Dheepan assures Yalini. She takes a job caring for an incapacitated neighboring man, Mr. Habib, and is happy to be making her own money. His living room also doubles for the local gangs illicit dealings, and when the recently paroled Brahim (Vincent Rottiers) comes to stay with the old man she develops a tentative flirtation with the charismatic young crime boss. But no one in Dheepan can play-act forever in the roles others have assigned them before pushing back to shape their own destiny. The same goes for Audiard, who turned some critics off with an audaciously staged finale that explodes into glorious, melancholic violence. Confronted with a past that doesnt want to let him go, Dheepan finally mourns all that hes lost. A stroke of plotting finally allows him to embrace who he isnot the dutiful militant, and not a compliant caretaker, but something in between. He acts to defend the life he wants by putting his particular set of skills, a machete, and a screwdriver to good use in a stunning sequence by cinematographer Eponine Momenceau that plays, ever briefly and Charles Bronson-esque, like a gritty hybrid of Death Wish and District 13. Audiard (who co-scripted with Thomas Bidegain and Noe Debre) follows his cathartic burst of violence by closing Dheepan on a rather forced note which gives some members of his central trio more satisfying closure than others. But after sending his characters through the emotional ringer, perhaps he can be forgiven for giving them, and us, a chance to breathe. TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras Friday was Day 1 in court for five men accused of the assassination of Honduran environmentalist and indigenous rights leader Berta Caceres. Fifty soldiers and national police in riot helmets and shields lined the rainy street in front of the courthouse before 9 a.m., awaiting the arrival of the four defendants.According to the prosecution, the plot to assassinate Caceres originated at the executive level of Desarrollos Energeticos (DESA), the construction firm embroiled in a land dispute with the indigenous Lenca people over a proposal to build four hydroelectric dams on the Gualcarque River.Prosecutors claim that Sergio Rodriguez, 46, an environmental engineer employed by DESA, ordered the firms assistant chief of security, Douglas Bustillo, to have Caceres killed.Bustillo, 39, a retired Honduran Armed Forces lieutenant and military intelligence specialist, allegedly sought help in recruiting the assassins from Major Mariano Diaz. Major Diaz, 43, is a special-forces veteran of the Honduran Army and onetime military adviser in Iraq; at the time of the alleged plot to murder Caceres he was an instructor at the elite Estado Mayor military academy in Tegucigalpa, training members the recently created anti-crime force known as the Military Police for Public Order.The other defendants in the case are Edilson Duarte, 25, the alleged shooter, and his twin brother, Emerson Duarte, whom police hadnt added as the fifth defendant in the case until midway through the hearing on Friday. Police say Emerson was arrested in La Ceiba with the murder weapon in his possession.None of the defendants have publicly commented on the charges against them.Berta Caceres was shot to death the night on March 3 at her home in La Esperanza, a town in southwestern Honduras. She was an indigenous Lenca woman and leader of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations (COPINH), which organized the inhabitants of communities along the Gualcarque River and led them in a successful campaign of civic resistance to thwart the dam project. Last year, she was awarded the Goldman Prize, the world's largest award honoring grassroots environmental activistsCaceres had reported 33 violent threats against her in the year before her murderdeath threats, rape threats, and kidnapping threats against her, and against her children and grandson. She was the beneficiary of precautionary measures granted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in 2009. Last October, the IACHR criticized the Honduran government for shortcomings in the implementation of the precautionary measures for Caceres.The lone witness to the murder, the Mexican environmental activist Gustavo Castro, was staying in a guest room at Caceress house on the night she was killedhe was scheduled to give a lecture at a conference the following day. He told police that two gunmen broke into the house that night; Castro himself was shot in the arm and ear. He was scheduled to testify at Fridays hearing via video-conference from Mexico. On Monday, the day of the arrests, DESA issued a written statement publicly denying its involvement in the Caceres murdera claim roundly rejected by the Caceres family through their attorney, Oscar Menjivar. We, on behalf of the family and the social activists of this country, are saying that the cause the murder of Berta Caceres is her struggle against the extractive economic model of this country, and against one firm specifically, Menjivar said during a court recess. We dont want the investigation to be limited to low-level perpetrators. These firms have owners, these firms have financiers, and they are the ones most concerned when something like this happens. They should be the main suspects in the investigation. More arrests are anticipated, due in part to reports in local mediaciting sources close to the investigationthat alleged additional suspects include a Honduran congressman and the deputy mayor of a municipal government in the area of Agua Zarca. The lobby of the courthouse was alive with the rumors yesterday, stoked by at least one report in the local media that Jorge Avila, DESAs chief of security, was in police custody. No additional arrests have yet been confirmed. Laura Zuniga Caceres, the youngest daughter of the slain indigenous-rights leader, reiterated to reporters outside the courtroom her familys desire for an independent investigation into the murder. The Caceres family has requested the IACHR launch a parallel and independent investigation. We dont trust this process because there are many powerful economic interests involved related to stopping my mothers struggle, and we know that these persons have a lot of power inside the prosecutors office, inside the government, and we have to face it that the state bears responsibility in large part for my mothers murder, Zuniga Caceres said. To deepen the murder investigation and arrive at the true intellectual authors of the crime we are going to need an international commission. In March, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights offered to send a team of international legal experts to Honduras to conduct a parallel investigation of the murder on behalf of the victims families. To date, the president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, who alone has the power to authorize such a move, has not responded to the offer. Critics of the governments investigation, meanwhile, continue to uncover links between DESA and the Honduran government, including some that appear to be clear conflicts of interests for top government officials. The Honduran radio journalist Felix Molina reported on Monday that the current minister of security of Honduras, General Julian Pachecothe government official ultimately responsible for the Caceres murder investigationis related to one of DESAs highest-ranking corporate officers. Molina also reported that DESAs president, Roberto David Castillo Mejia, is a nephew of the longtime congressman from the ruling National Party in La Ceiba, Rodolfo Irias Navas. Molina says his source for the information is a leaked police report from the Caceres investigation that has yet to be released. He said the report also implicates a congressman from the Department of Santa Barbara and a retired military officer with close ties to the ruling National Party. Molina survived two assassination attempts last week, by the same assailant on the same day; he was wounded in both legs and his cellphone was stolen in a crime that he and human-rights advocates suspect was related to his independent investigations of the Caceres murder. Olivia Zuniga Caceres, the victims eldest daughter, pointed out that the new Chief Prosecutor of Honduras, Arturo Duarte, is a law partner in a firm that counts DESA as a client. And this is the director of the prosecutors who are conducting the criminal investigation into the crime, Zuniga Caceres said. How is anyone who is a family member of the victim going to trust in a system where the murderers are the same ones handling the criminal proceedings? In late March, Duarte met privately with the Caceres family and informed that he was recusing himself from the investigation. The team of lawyers representing the Zuniga Caceres family in the criminal proceedings says the prosecutors are stonewalling them from obtaining any information about the investigation. Even though we, as representatives of the victims families, are parties to the investigation, we find ourselves in the unheard-of situation of being refused access to information by the prosecutors office, on the ground that it is secretwhich is completely illegal and unconstitutional, said Victor Fernandez, a legal representative for the family. Prosecutors have not acknowledged these apparent conflicts of interest. The case had gone dormant for two months until Monday, when, in the course of seven days, the police made five arrests and opened court proceedings against the suspects. The law in Honduras permits the victims families equal access to information in the investigation. But the prosecutors in this case, Fernandez said, are denying the Caceres family access to information, treating them like a third party in the case. The law allows for secrecy with respect to third parties, but the victims family members are not third parties. And though we have pursued every legal avenue to ensure our rights are enforced, we continue to be unable to access any information about the case. At the hearing on Friday, prosecutors introduced as evidence the cellular phone records of the defendants, allegedly showing they were in communication in the days leading up to the murder. The prosecutors say they also have recordings of the defendants discussing the alleged murder plot over the phone. They also introduced the results of a ballistics test that claims the .38 special allegedly recovered from Emerson Duarte was the same gun used to kill Berta Caceres. At 2 p.m., when the hearing was still in session, a crush of reporters formed in the courthouse lobby around two women who had just arrived, and who identified themselves as relatives of the twin brothers Edilson and Emerson Duarte. Diana Martina Meza, the mother of the twins, and Daira Roches, the wife of Emerson Duarte, had taken a taxi from the bus station after a five-hour bus journey from La Ceiba, a city on the northern coast of Honduras. The women say they came to Tegucigalpa after they saw the news report linking their family to the Caceres murder. They say the twins had been held incommunicado since Monday. We came to get word of them, Roches said. Meza and Roches protested the innocence of the two defendants. They declared themselves willing to testify that the twins were in La Ceiba on the night Caceres was murdered. Meza denied previous reports that Edilson Duarte, the alleged shooter, is a discharged soldier from the Honduran army. Neither of my sons have ever been soldiers or police, she said. Meza, who mentioned that she is an evangelical Christian from the neighborhood of Colonia Pizzati, said prosecutors are railroading her sons instead of finding the real killers. Something dark is happening here, she said. The Lord says, Defend yourself, have courage, and thats what were going to do. In the Year of our Lord two thousand sixteen, the latest onscreen embodiment of Jesus Christ trudges out of the rocky mountains of Judea in Last Days in the Desert in the form of one of the most beloved Jedi in the galaxy. Ewan McGregors soul-searching Jesus, called Yeshua in Rodrigo Garcias sparse and meditative drama, is a blue-eyed holy man nearing the end of his 40-day walkabout when he stumbles across a family in need of guidance. He befriends them, accepting their plight as his own personal testall while the Devil, also played by McGregor, taunts and tempts him to stray from his path. Needless to say, the films distinct creative departures from the source material have some Christians up in arms. What would Bible literalists make of the fact that McGregor, by his own admission, isnt even a believer? Im not a religious person, McGregor told The Daily Beast recently in Los Angeles. Im married to a Jewish woman, so my children are Jewish and my involvement in religion has more to do with the Jewish faith now and not the Christian faith, which I was very vaguely brought up in. My parents were not religious, but my school had prayers at morning assembly, he continued with a clear-eyed gaze. So my early understanding of religion was the Protestant faith in Scotland. But my experience is no longer that. Not that anyone should expect McGregor, of all actors, to balk at pushing limits in his screen roles. Early in his career he turned in star-making roles as a heroin-addicted antihero in Danny Boyles grimy Trainspotting and a nihilistic gay rock star in Todd Haynes Velvet Goldmine. Another notable fun fact: The Golden Globe-nominated actor has gone full frontal more than any other A-lister in Hollywood. So its a different sort of artistic leap McGregor takes in Last Days in the Desert, daring to play the Son of God as a mere mortal tortured by his fate and doubtful of his purpose. Not even the Satanic temptation of a womans bare breasts is as troubling to McGregors Yeshua as the deep torment of a young, hungry, homeless loner whos being ignored by a dad he cant talk to. When I started thinking about it in those terms, as a man who is frustrated he cant communicate with his fatherwell, theres not a guy in the world who hasnt had a moment like that with his own dad, so I understood that, McGregor laughed. Im very friendly with my dad by the way, and we have a very loving relationship, he added. But of course when you grow up, you have moments like that. My dad doesnt understand me! McGregor considered the vocal Christian critics who have decried Last Days in the Desert as a work of blasphemy. We didnt set out to make a film for those people, he said. I think even those people might question or find offensive a film that is absolutely based on the Gospel. But we didnt make a movie thats offensive to people of faith. I think that is the truth. We didnt set out to offend them, or not offend them. We made a film about the relationships between fathers and sons, and the lead character is Jesus. McGregor found other ways to relate to the most famous man in human history. Hes a young guyyounger than I was, because hes in his thirties, said McGregor, who turned 45 last month. Hes a young rabbi, a holy man, and people go to him for advice. There is a beautiful scene at night in the tent of the Devil tempting him. He thinks the mother is asking him for advice, and he gives her a piece of advicethen immediately doubts himself. Like, Ive got to come up with better words. These words are not enough As an actor, I have moments when I think, Was that good? he added. Theres a very human moment for Jesus to be questioning his role as a rabbi. For me that was a very easy thing to contemplate. At first, he says, he tried to research the daunting role by studying intellectual texts. Im not an actor who does a great deal of intellectual research on any character, McGregor began. Often there might be a skill you need to learn, like fly fishing, or riding a unicycle, or Lightsaber-fighting? I suggest. He grinned. A Star Wars reference! Well done. (For the record, McGregor says he has not been approached to take part in any future Star Wars movies. Yet.) He tried reading books about Jesus the manbooks that have come out recently that set out to disprove his Son of God-ness, which are written about who he really was. Those books to me were entirely unhelpful, because I was playing the Jesus who IS the Son of God. That was our factthis was what Rodrigo [Garcia] and I were doing. And the Devil is the Devilalthough of course when you watch the film, you can have many different [interpretations]. You can think the Devil is an embodiment of Jesuss doubt, and thats fine, thats good. I like that everybody has their own interpretation of that, he continues. But for me, I was playing Jesus, whose father is God, and I was playing the Devil as Lucifer, a fallen angel who has been in the presence of God and now reigned in Hell. Once I stopped trying to find him in other peoples writings, or other peoples imaginings of him, and started looking for him in my ownwho do I think he is, who do I think he was?then thats when I found him, he said. McGregor recently ventured behind the camera, directing himself in a long-gestating adaptation of Philip Roths 1960s-set novel American Pastoral. I was attached to it forever, and directors kept coming and going like the drummer in Spinal Tap, he explained. I wanted to direct for 15, 20 years but found only two stories in all that time that I really wanted to tell. One, I got the fear and just bottled it and didnt see it through. The next one I discovered that somebody else was already making that story. And this was the third time lucky and I went, Maybe I can do it It focuses very much on postwar Americanism, postwar American hope and aspirations being decimated by the 60s and the Vietnam War, and that generation of young people who fought against it and destroyed it, he added. McGregors eyes lit up as he let out a laugh. I just realized I answered a question wrong the other day. American Pastoral is about a Jewish man called Swede Levov, and somebody asked me, Is that the first Jewish character youve ever played? I said, I think it is! But I just realized: I played Jesus. Earlier this year a small group of self-designated nuns in California known as the Sisters of the Valley were embroiled in a legal battle over their right to grow, bless, and distribute marijuana. Its a peculiar case, the roots of which lie in an error in the newly introduced California Medical Marijuana Safety and Regulation Act. The discrepancy was cleared up but the case drew attention to the Sisters of the Valley and their unusual vocation: to turn stoner culture into healing culture. Many people, including the founder of the order, would question whether or not the Sisters of the Valley are actual nuns (the founder, Sister Kate, decided to assume the status of nun when in 2011 Congress decided that two tablespoons of tomato paste qualified as a vegetable. She felt that if pizza was a vegetable she could be a nun). But irrespective of their official status, the Sisters of the Valley arent the first group to blend religion and narcotics. There are veiled references to drugs in the religious literature of a number of ancient societies. In Homers Odyssey the protagonist Helen, the daughter of Zeus, casts the antidepressant drug nepenthe into wine in order to quiet the drinkers pain and strife. According to Homer, the drug originally came from Egypt, and Helen obtained it from the wife of an Egyptian nobleman. Although the prohibitions are not Biblical, most branches of Judaism and Christianity disapprove of drugs other than alcohol. But, in 1967, a Polish anthropologist claimed that the plant kaneh bosm, mentioned five times in the Hebrew Bible and used as an ingredient in anointing oil in Exodus, was actually cannabis. This theory has been dismissed as ridiculous by subsequent generations of scholars. Then there are groups for which drug use is an integral part of religious practice and ritual. Most famous of these are the Rastafarians, who smoke ganja as an aid to meditation and religious observance. They cite Biblical passages like Genesis 1:29, in which God gives humanity every herb bearing seed to humanity, as proof that God intends them to use cannabis. By contrast, Rastafarians see alcohol and other drugs as destructive. References to mind-altering substances in religious and mythological texts have led some to formulate the theory that religion in general, and certain religions in particular, are the byproduct of a chemically induced hallucinogenic experience. This theoryknown as the entheogenic theory of religionpostulates that visionary experiences or supernatural encounters are the result of deliberate or accidental exposure to hallucinogens. In their book Inside the Neolithic Mind, archaeologists David Lewis-Williams and David Pearce argued that Neolithic rock art and religion was shaped by hallucinogens. Others have claimed that the prophesies delivered by the famous Delphic Oracle were the result of vapors that were emitted naturally from the ground. The most famous of these theories is that of John Allegro, who argued in his 1970 The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross that Christianity was based on a fertility-driven mushroom-taking cult and that Jesus himself was actually the mushroom. Allegro claimed that Jesus himself never existed but was a code for the secret Amanita Muscaria (mushroom), which had been worshipped for thousands of years. The New Testament was a folkloric literary device to spread the coded rites of mushroom worship. Allegros book was described by some as the psychedelic ravings of a hippie cultist. What most of these theories hold in common are the assumptions that (1) these religious sources are telling the truth; (2) visionary experiences are intense experiences strikingly different from ordinary dreams or imaginative journeys; and (3) supernatural experiences do not exist. But if any of these assumptions are displaced, then theres no real reason to assume that religious visionaries are doped up. What is clear is that there are at least some groupslike Rastafariansfor whom ritual drug use is an important part of religious praxis. This raises important legal issues about religious freedom. The 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act was introduced in order to allow Native Americans to use peyote in their religious rituals. Since the RFRA was passed a number of groups have sued the government to allow them to use drugs. Among them was Jonathan Goldman of Ashland, Oregon, whose syncretic Brazilian Christian church, UDV, uses ayahuasca (a hallucinogenic tea) as a form of communion. His case climbed all the way to the Supreme Court, where the Court decided that the federal government had not demonstrated that it had a compelling interest in banning the sincere religious practice. When it comes to the battle between religious freedom and government objection to drugs, religious interest wins and religious communities continue to incorporate hallucinogens into their rituals. The war on Christianity trumped the war on drugs. Karl Marx famously wrote that religion is the opiate of the masses. True or not, he failed to note that its also a gateway drug. It's early on a Friday afternoon and Le Ruisseau, a comfy restaurant in northern Paris, is already filling up with customers. I take my seat and contemplate the menu, which features several variations of one of the city's hottest food items the hamburger. I finally settle on the "Cheddar Burger," and by the time I leave, the joint is bustling with diners devouring burgers between sips of beer or iced tea. It wasn't long ago that noshing a burger in a Paris restaurant was a rare activity. Sure McDonalds or, MacDo as its called here, has been around since the 1970s, and Belgian fast-food chain Quick opened its first French franchise in 1980. However, until recently, the French generally dismissed burgers as junk food items favored by teenagers, who often swarmed fast-food joints after school let out. But now burgers are everywhere. Old-school Parisian brasseries include them on their menus alongside foie gras and steak frites, and every month it seems like a new specialty burger spot opens. Articles dedicated to the capital's best burgers have become regular fixtures in the French press, appearing everywhere from Le Figaro to Elle to Vanity Fair. According to a study by the market research firm Gira Conseil, more than 1.19 billion burgers were consumed in the country in 2015, and three quarters of restaurants in France now offer burgers on the menu. So what is to blame for this wave of burger mania? Some Parisian food writers say a young generation with an appetite for American culture is driving the trend. "I think it is a general fascination for all things New York," French food writer Clotilde Dusoulier told The Daily Beast. "The juice bars, the health food, the kale, the vegan and vegetarian options, and the burgersI think in general the French are very drawn to American pop culture, and in a sense those food trends are a part of pop culture, even if it's edible culture." Indeed, some of the city's biggest burger hotspots have Americans at the helm. Le Camion qui Fume, launched by Los Angeles-native Kristin Frederick, hit the scene as a California-style gourmet food truck before adding a brick-and-mortar restaurant. And 20 years after John Goldstein opened Coffee Parisien on Rue Princesse, the eatery has grown to include three other outposts, and regularly makes the city's "top burger" lists. The ObamacBurger, named for the commander-in-chief, is reportedly a menu favorite. "When the food truck started that was the first good hamburger," Paris-based American cookbook author and former pastry chef David Lebovitz told The Daily Beast. "It was such a novelty and got so much press that it became a part of everyone's vocabulary: 'le burger.'" Bernard Boutboul, the general director of Gira Conseil, believes that the burger's smashing success in France is attributed to its having transcended its fast-food origins to seduce more refined French palates. "The burger market is exploding because it succeeded in overcoming a major challenge: to move upmarket," Boutbould told the French food industry magazine Resto Connection last year. According to Boutbould, the burger's status significantly changed in 2011 thanks to Michelin-starred chef Yannick Alleno, who launched his burger a la carte at the five-star Le Meurice hotel, and nabbed the title "best burger in the world." The ensuing buzz helped generate the burger craze, said Boutbould, and by becoming high-end it became a "respectable" food item in the eyes of the French. Paris burgers typically come in one of two forms: either basic fast-food-style patties familiar to most Americans, or gourmet items that can include accoutrements from high-end foie gras, to locally-sourced organic blue cheese. And while a burger meal is inexpensive by Paris dining standards, prices are a bit higher than your average American patties, typically costing between 12 ($14) and 16 ($18). Le Meurice's haute cuisine hamburger comes with an astonishing 42 ($48) price tag. Many Paris burger joints also add a French touch to their patties, including Big Fernand, a popular Right Bank nook that smothers its burgers in regional cheeses. "In the United States there are more traditional burgers, but far fewer gourmet burgers with creative ingredients," Julien Lacheray, the founder and editor-in-chief of Paris Burger, told The Daily Beast. Lacheray launched Paris Burger in 2013, and, along with his staff, has tested and ranked some 250 burgers in the capital. Of that number, a mere eight burgers were assigned his top 5/5 ranking. Indeed, it was Lacheray's magazine that led me to Le Ruisseau. On the hunt for a good burger in my neighborhood, I made use of the site's search feature and typed in my Arrondissement. I wasnt disappointed, either. The burger was juicy, the bun comprised French bread made in-house, and the fries were crisp. However, as I made my way back home only to pass another burger-centric bistro, I couldnt help but wonder whether the Parisian patty's culinary triumph could spiral into a tired, "too much of a good thing," scenario. As much as I had enjoyed my burger, my appreciation for traditional French fare is one of the reasons I like living here. Apparently, I'm not the only one to consider this potentially negative upshot of the burger phenomenon. "The other night my partner and I were going out to eat and we just wanted to go to a wine bar and have cheese and charcuterie, and there wasn't one," said Lebovitz. "We were walking for five or six blocks and it was all hipster places with everyone drinking beer outside and eating hamburgers." "I just think we're oversaturated with burger places," he added. Dusoulier agrees. "We don't need that many new burger places opening every month or every week," she said. "It gets kind of ridiculous at some point." Maybe so. But the French capital's burger obsession shows no sign of slowing. Popular American chain Five Guys is set to make its French debut in the coming months, and French Burger Factory, yet another option for gourmet patties, recently opened in eastern Paris. For better or worse, it looks like "le burger" is here to stay. He was the merely the latest Ku Klux Klan leader to publicly declare support for Donald Trump. I think Donald Trump would be best for the job, Billy Snuffer, the Imperial Wizard of the Rebel Brigade Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in central Virginia, told Richmonds NBC12. The reason a lot of Klan members like Donald Trump is because a lot of what he believes in, we believe in. We want our country to be safe. The Imperial Wizard also noted that he supports Trumps call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, according to the NBC12 report that posted late last week. If Donald Trump dropped out tomorrow I would support [John] Kasich before I would Ted Cruz because he is not an American citizen, the KKK Wizard continued. Even if I agree with some of the things that Ted Cruz says, I would not support him because he was born in Canada. He is not an American citizen. In the time since the segment aired, both Cruz and Kasich dropped out of the presidential race, leaving Trump who already has a bevy of white-supremacist, white-nationalist, and neo-Nazi followers in this countryas the presumptive Republican nominee. But high-ranking members of the Virginia KKK outfit arent pleased with the Richmond NBC affiliates report, which was filed by anchor Chris Thomas, a young black man. The groups Grand Dragon (the Imperial Wizards lieutenant who declined to give his name), told The Daily Beast that the station had erroneouslyand libelously reported that the Rebel Brigade Knights and their leader had endorsed Trump for president. The 5-minute televised report and accompanying online article do not state that the Klansman endorsed the real-estate mogul; merely that the Imperial Wizard said hed be best fit for the presidential gig. (However, pieces published at other news outlets linking to the NBC12 story defined it as an endorsement.) We knew what would happenwhat the liberal media always does, the (anonymous) Grand Dragon told The Daily Beast, before decrying political correctness in America and reiterating that Trump would be best. He alleged that the journalists selectively edited the long interview to make them look as loathsome and bigoted as possible. They wanted to make us seem as racist as [they] could, the Dragon said. The NBC affiliate seemed unfazed by the KKKs media criticism. We feel our story was fair and speaks for itself, NBC12 told The Daily Beast in a brief statement. Its not all that surprising that these modern-day Klansmen would want to market themselves as less racist and not as white supremacists, per se. Todays Klan is trying to move past its abominable history of domestic terrorism, racist carnage, rape, far-right propaganda, lynching, and attacking African-Americans and minorities, and present a kinder, gentler, ostensibly non-violent facadebilling themselves as white separatists instead of white supremacists, for instance. It is a more politically correct KKK, if you will. Neo-Nazis and skinheads are socialist. We are not socialist, the Imperial Wizard told NBC12. We are not white supremacists. We are white separatists A lot of people, as soon as they hear the words Ku Klux Klan, their mind automatically goes back to the 50s and 60s. It was a pretty bad time, but we are living in a different century now. And it isnt shocking that these men have found someone they see as a mainstream political ally in Trump, who found himself at the center of controversy once again in February when he did not swiftly condemn former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke during an interview on CNN. Duke had recently announced his support for Trumps candidacy, and said that white European-Americans who werent voting for Trump were committing treason to [their] heritage. Nowadays in central Virginia, the local Klansmen are engaging in a recruitment push, going door to door passing out fliers that read, I Want You For The KKK. It is their latest attempt to find new converts to their cause one they believe lines up fairly well with Trumps. SHILOH BATTLEFIELD, TennesseeIts rare in history that spymasters get credit for victories, but, then again, only occasionally are they blamed for disasters. Few are so bold or so foolish as to declare that something is an absolute fact, as CIA Director George Tenet did when he told President George W. Bush the intelligence confirming Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction was a slam dunk. No, the language of espionage is a language of qualification. Do the Iranians have a nuclear weapons program? A key National Intelligence Estimate in 2007 concluded they sort of didnt but, then again, might just. (We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program; we also assess with moderate-to-high confidence that Tehran at a minimum is keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapons.) Constance Malcolm came to the Times Square Hilton, to the National Action Networks annual conference on March 13, to see the mayor. For two months, she and her supporters in the police reform advocacy group the New York Justice Committee had been calling and writing to Mayor Bill De Blasios office, asking him to meet with the mother of Ramarley Graham, who at 18 years of age was gunned down by a police officer inside the familys apartment on Feb. 2, 2012, and to see to it that all of the officers involved are fired from the NYPD. Four years later, Malcolm knows the names of only two of the up to one dozen officers she and her family say crammed inside the small apartment she rents in a three-family house where the landlady lives upstairs and the landladys daughter on the first floor. Officer Richard Haste, the man who shot Ramarley Graham dead, was cleared by a grand jury in 2013, after initially being charged with manslaughter; a trial ended in dismissal by Bronx County Supreme Court Justice Steven Barrett on a technicality. Sergeant Scott Morris has been named in media reports as being the most senior officer on the scene. The mayors office has indicated that there is an administrative, disciplinary investigation under way, but to date, it has provided no further details to the family.Malcolm was seated at a round table just a dozen feet from where de Blasio had just completed a press conference at the Hilton, taking questions about a mounting fundraising scandal at City Hall, and about an off-color skit hed appeared in with Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton (whose Senate campaign de Blasio ran in 2000), in which the punch line, I was on CPT was rewritten from colored people time to cautious politician time. After the presser, the surprisingly cautious mayor, who ran as a bold liberal, surrounded by his own interracial family, including a teenage son with a sky-high Afrowho Malcolm frequently points out could easily be targeted by police who might not recognize him as the mayors sondisappeared into a back room. He never made contact with the parents whove lost their children to police violence: Sean Bells mother and father, William and Valerie Bell; Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, and Kadiatou Diallo, the regal mother of Amadou Diallo, killed by the famous 41 shots way back in 1999. Kadiatou has become a kind of grand dame among the mothers dispossessed of their sons at the hands of police officers. Malcolm says she thought about barging into that press conference and demanding that the mayor talk to her. But she didnt want to disrespect Rev. Al Sharpton, the National Action Network leader who has supported the families through their pain, their rage, and their cries for justice. (Note: Sharpton is also my MSNBC colleague.) He knows what happened to my son, Malcolm said of De Blasio as we sat in the Hilton lobby at the end of the day. He knows the whole case because when he was running for mayor, we sat next to each other a couple of times at NAN. He knows. And all I want to do is talk to him. I want to know why these officers are still on the force; why theyre not fired. She did have a brief meeting with Hillary Clinton, who was at NAN to speak that day and met with the moms, one of whom, Carr, has publicly supporter her. I told her we need accountability, Malcolm said, because right now we dont have that, and our kids are dropping like flies. These officers, all they have to say is, I thought, and thats their get out of jail free card, and its wrong. Malcolm sees the whole game as rigged. She and the other moms cling to one another and to their faith, but waste none of the latter on the criminal justice system. [Even] if they do try to indict a police officer, Malcolm says, most of the time the D.A. is not for the victim. They dont advocate for the victim. She says she has said as much to the Bronx District Attorney, and to the people at the U.S. Attorneys office in Manhattan, who in March informed Constance and the public that they would not seek federal civil rights charges against Haste or the other officers involved in Ramarleys death. Retracing Ramarley Grahams last moments means traveling to the working-class Wakefield section of the Bronx, to a quiet block lined with modest, two- and three-story multifamily homes, most girded in white wrought iron fencing. Constance and her family still live in the house where her son died; and from the front porch, she can see the corner of 228th and White Plains Road, where he and two friends walked from the store and he parted from them and headed home. Constance, her younger son, Chinnor, who was just 6 and in the house when his brother died, and her mother, Patricia Hartley, a tiny, bone-thin 62-year-old Jamaican woman she affectionately calls Patsy, had lived in the second-floor apartment for just three months when police burst in and unraveled their lives. With police unresponsive to requests for comment about the incident, I record the womens account of happened that day. Patsy was home, having just picked up Chinnor from school when Ramarley arrived at about 3 p.m. He came up the narrow foyer staircase leading to the second floor. He entered the apartment, with its two tiny hallways, one to the left, leading to his mothers room and Chinnorswhose door is papered with his super-hero drawings (now 10 going on 40, hes a smart, guarded boy who says he wants to be a fireman, but hed also like to be an artist, maybe on the side) and to the hallway leading to the kitchen and a small bathroom on the right. The living room, where Chinnor hid from the noise and bullets and the yelling, cursing police officers, is straight ahead. The hallway is little more than a shoulders width wide. As Constance points out, two people couldnt fit into it side by side. Constance now knows, based on video from the cameras mounted on houses, at the store, and along the block, including at the home where Constance and her family live, that Ramarley had been spotted by two undercover police officers from the NYPDs Street Narcotics Enforcement Unit as he left the corner store. They radioed that theyd seen him adjust his pants, which Constance said the gangly teenager like to wear loose. Police initially claimed Ramarley ran from them, but the surveillance footage shows him walking calmly down the street and into the front door. NYPD superintendent Ray Kelly also had to retract a public claim that Ramarley had wrestled with police before he was shot. Ms. Hartley says she came out of the kitchen as she heard her grandson enter, informing Ramarley that shed already picked up his little brother, and waiting for him to hand her the front door keys, when the door flew in. She stumbled backwards, standing in front of her grandson, who towered over her (shes barely 5 feet tall and cannot weigh more than 90 pounds. Even Constance, at around 5 feet, dwarfs her.) Patricia Hartley moved her family from Jamaica to New York City in 1985, to find a more peaceful place to raise her children. She still bears the scars of a gunshot wound just below her left collarbone. When Haste burst in and started firing, she says she clutched her chest. I thought he shot me, she says in her thick island drawl. But me never feel no blood, so I turn and see Ramarleys feet on the floor. Ramarley had been shot through the heart, and he fell with his feet protruding from the bathroom; the rest of his body lay inside. Police would later claim hed run into the bathroom when police entered and tried to flush a bag of marijuana. Constance was told a bag was found, but with no fingerprints on it. Patricia says that day, all the cops were demanding was, Where is the gun? She says she bent to kneel over her grandson, but was ordered by Haste to back the fuck up or he would shoot her too. Her size belying a fierceness thats peculiarly Jamaican, Patricia says she demanded to know why hed shot her grandson, when hed done nothing, and called to Chinnor to bring her the phone. By that time, she says, more police had poured into the room, including a woman officer who was ordered by Haste to seize the phone from her and not to let her call anyone. The next few hours were a whirlwind of what the women claim was serial callousness and abuse: Patricia ordered first to sit on her living room couch, not far from her grandsons lifeless body, then carted downstairs with her remaining grandson while Haste and the other officers were alone in the apartment; then being carted off to the 47th Precinct, where she was interrogated at length; shown a picture of another young man and told that was the person police shot, and called a liar when she denied both that the man in the picture was Ramarley and that he ever had a gun (and even that hed thrown a gun out a window.) Constance says when she arrived at the precinct she too was manhandled; thrown against a wall by an officer when she demanded to see her mother. She says the officer who did it was punished only with a notation in his file. We leave Constances house to drive to Gracie Mansion, where she and her supporters, including Mrs. Bell, held a vigil in the frigid spring weather, hoping to convince de Blasio to come outside and talk to her. The police officers on scene are gruff and the tensions mount as they brusquely order the group of about 30 people to set up across the street from the public park surrounding the mayors mansion, to a pen set up by police public affairs across the street. Were not pigs, Constance tersely tells the officer, as he argues with a Justice Committee member, who stands her ground, and calls the groups lawyers. Ultimately, the group is allowed to stay, and they watch de Blasios black-tinted SUV roll past them into the residence. Chinnor eyes the cops warily. His mom says she worries about him because he rarely talks about what happened to Ramarley. She says when it first happened, he expressed hatred of police. Now, he just keeps it in. She worries that one day police will stop him too, and hell just blow up on them. She points out that Tamir Rice was not much older than Chinnor when police killed him. And he is her only boy now. The day after the protest, Constance and her son (she also has a 26-year-old daughter; three years older than Ramarley would have been in April), are headed to Jamaica to bury her father. She is a palpably strong woman, but sometimes, her voice breaks, and her weariness is omnipresent. The mayors office declined to comment directly, pointing to a May 3 press conference in which de Blasio was asked why he wont meet with Constance. The broad standard we hold is once there is disciplinary action underway by an agency that I have ultimate responsibility for, it is not appropriate to meet with the family members. Look, what happened to Ramarley Graham was obviously a tragedy and my heart goes out to the family. And there will be, because now the Justice Department has concluded its activities, there will be a disciplinary process by the NYPD and that has been made very clear to the Graham family. Constance Malcolm has no such clarity. To this day, no one in the NYPD has bothered to even apologize to her, for killing her son, who she says was friendly, and whose skin was so smooth and dark she called him chocolate, or for manhandling her mother and her. She says Mothers Day and Ramarleys birthday, which passed in April, are the hardest. She says the one thing that would ease her pain would be to know the officers who killed her son and, she believes, helped Richard Haste cover his legal backside, can never do to another person what they did to Ramarley. Right now thats my only sort of justice, to get these officers fired, she says. Not just Richard Haste. Theres more to her pain than who fired the fatal shot. LONDON Its a piece of history. London has gained her first Muslim mayor, a fellow Pakistani-Brit. And though being Muslim bears absolutely no relevance to how Sadiq Khan intends to run Londonfor Islam is as ambivalent on the difficulties of Londons housing crisis as it is on the human gene sequencehis religion has become relevant. In successfully integrating their Muslim residents, London, the United Kingdom, Europe, and the wider West have been going through something of an identity crisis. Islamist Muslims who insist that humanity can only be judged by how Muslim it is, and anti-Muslim bigots who insist that humanity can only be judged by how Muslim it isnt, have made Islam relevant. The Regressive Left in Sadiq Khans Labour Party, and the Populist Right among Trumps Republicans have made Islam a hot topic. The only way Islam will cease being an issue is when everyone, Muslim or not, is deemed to share the same rights, and is held to the very same liberal expectations. Until then, discrimination will continue to feed the poisonous tribalism fueling modern identity politics. This applies whether that discrimination comes in the form of right-wing anti-Muslim bigotry, or in the form of the left-wing bigotry of low expectations that holds Muslims to lesser, illiberal standards. Until these twin bigotries are dealt with, Sadiq Khans religious affiliation will, sadly, remain a topic of debate. In this way, the victory of Londons new mayor as a non-Islamist Muslim is as much a blow to Islamist bigots as it is to anti-Muslim bigots. This victory speaks to the possibilities of integration. It offers hope for our countrys new immigrant families. And as a symbol of social mobility, it provides aspiration to those from humble backgrounds. Sadiq Khans victory is probably the only bit of good news Jeremy Corbyns far-left-led Labour Party can truly celebrate this weekend. And celebrate they should. Democracy has spoken. With it, a torn city might be able to begin healing the old wounds of identity and religion re-opened by the muddy campaign to get Khan elected, and the muddy campaign that opposed him. These muddy campaigns were in fact a microcosm of the identity problems plaguing modern Europe. Is Londons new mayor an Islamist? This question drove a political pendulum swing to both extremes at the expense of a genuine conversation that really needs to be had. Ive known Sadiq Khan since 2002 when he was my lawyer while I served as an Islamist political prisoner in Egypt, before he became a Member of Parliament. Im forever indebted to him for visiting me in Mazra Tora prison, while the world gave up on me. Due to this history, many in the press asked me for my view on the veracity of the Islamist allegations surrounding the new mayor, but I refused to make my views known until after the elections. Yes, this conversation needed to be had, but I preferred to have it only when the tribalisms of left and right, of Muslim and non-Muslim, were left firmly at the door. Election season made that almost impossible. Sadiq Khan is no Muslim extremist. And it is not only his track record voting for gay rights that proves this. Having known him when I was a Muslim extremist, I know that he did not subscribe to my then-theocratic views. Many conservatives who desperately opposed Khan jumped the shark when they called him a radical Islamist, and linked him to sensationalist headlines that declared he had a hardcore Islamist past. Nuance is the friend of truth. On the other hand many Muslims, and those on the left, preferred to bury their heads in the sand, chastising anyone who dared to challenge Khan on his past Islamist relationships, as racists. See no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil. The Regressive Lefts overuse of the word racism on such matters is as unhelpful as the Populist Rights overuse of the word extremist. It is as racist to ask these questions, and to have this conversation, as it was when Londoners questioned the white, non-Muslim former Labour mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, about his links to Islamists, or when the press question the white, non-Muslim Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, and the maverick white politician George Galloway over their ties to extremists. In other words its not racist at all, as Atma SinghLabours own South-Asian Affairs advisor to a former mayor of Londonpoints out. To imply that it is, and to hold Sadiq Khan to a lesser standard than his white colleagues merely because he is a brown Muslim, is the very bigotry of low expectations that fuels identity politics even further. Alongside the environment, extremism is one of the most pressing issues of our day. Of course it will come up in an election campaign. And in deference to the seriousness of the subject, and the lives lost over it, what came up about Khans alleged links to extremists is pertinent. Those questions needed to be asked. I cannot emphasize enough that I write as a liberal, who voted for a Liberal Democrat in this race, and not as a conservative. So now that the election is over, and London has its first Muslim mayor, let us step back and consider the smoke to this conservative fire. The seeds were sown with Khans now-former in-laws. During Londons 90s Islamist heyday, Khans brother-in-law Makbool Javaid was affiliated and listed as a spokesman to the now-banned terrorist group al-Muhajiroun, founded by the hate preacher Omar Bakri Muhammad, and then led by the infamous fanatic Anjem Choudary. I knew of Makbool back then, too. His brothers were colleagues of mine, affiliated to my former extremist organization, Hizb ut-Tahrir. Through such connections Khan ingratiated himself in the London Islamist scene. In 2003, he appeared at a conference alongside Sajeel Abu Ibrahim, a member of that same banned al-Muhajiroun. Sajeel ran a camp in Pakistan that trained the 7/7 bomber Mohammad Sidique Khan. Speaking there, too, was one Yasser al-Siri, who had been convicted in Egypt over a political assassination attempt that left a young girl dead. In 2004, Khan gave evidence to the House of Commons in his capacity as the chair of the Muslim Council of Britains legal affairs committee. This is the same Muslim Council of Britain that chose to condole the recent Ahmedi murder victim in Glasgow, by declaring Ahmedis not Muslim. In his MCB capacity, Khan argued in Parliament that the Muslim Brotherhood cleric Dr. Yusuf Al-Qaradawi is not the extremist that he is painted as being. This is Qaradawi who, among other things, authored a book called The Lawful and Prohibited in Islam, in which he justifies wife beating and discusses whether homosexuals should be killed. Infamously, Qaradawi also issued a fatwa advocating suicide bombings against Israeli civilians, a view which has seen him join the likes of Omar Bakri Muhammad in being denied entry to the U.K. Khans relationships with extremists ran so deep in fact, that he attended events for the jihadist rights group Cage, and wrote a foreword for one of their reports. Cage has since declared ISIS executioner Jihadi-John to be a beautiful man live on the BBC. Khans defence of such a prolific flirtation with Islamism is that he was a human-rights lawyer. However, most of these events were not attended in his capacity as a lawyer at all. One suspects he was simply trying to gain votes. By 2010, with increasing grassroots popularity among highly organized Islamists and fundamentalists, but carrying the burden of the Labour Partys War on Terror record, Khans bid to get re-elected in his home-base of South Londons Tooting was facing challenges from another Muslim. For unlike the Labour Party, this Muslims party had opposed the invasion of Iraq. Khans rival was Liberal Democrat Nasser Butt. Liberal Democrat opposition to the Iraq war posed a serious challenge to Khan and his Muslim power base in Tooting. British South Asian Muslimsmyself includedoverwhelmingly opposed that war. Luckily for Khan, Nasser happened to be an Ahmadi Muslim. Yes, this is as relevant as Sadiq Khan being a Sunni Muslim. In other words not at all, in a perfect world. Alas, Khans world was far from perfect. Ahmedis are perhaps the most persecuted minority sects among Sunni Muslims. Khan knew this, and yet this fact didnt stop his campaign working closely with Tooting Mosque to stir up anti-Ahmedi sectarian hatred in order to secure the Sunni vote for his victory. For many of my fellow Sunni Muslims Nasser Butt being an Ahmedi was a doctrinal offence for which he was personally responsible, while Khan was too junior of an MP at that time to have much to do with the invasion of Iraq. By now, Khans religious writing was clearly on the mosque wall. Again, Khan is no Muslim extremist. Indeed, this cannot be repeated enough. Nor can the fact that Khan clearly has a record of terribly poor judgment in surrounding himself with Islamists and Muslim extremists, and in using them for votes. For a Muslim politician in modern Britain, this is incredibly tempting and increasingly possible. Neither Britains Conservatives nor its Liberal Democrats have been free of such electoral opportunism in the past. When push comes to shove, gaining power becomes more important for politicians from all parties, than defending principles. And sadly, extremists remain among the most powerful organized forces in Britains Muslim grassroots. But it did not need to be like this. As a column in The Wall Street Journal recently noted Other Muslim leaders took a different approach. So no, Khan is no extremist, but it certainly was not racist to press him on these issues. Though the cry of racism did eventually boomerang to hit his own campaign. It is only after knowing how Khan shored up his 2010 power base in Tooting, in part by demonizing his rival as being not Muslim enough, that the scandal that hit Khan on the last day of his campaign begins to makes sense. It was discovered that in 2009 Khan used the racially divisive and derogatory term Uncle Tomon Iranian State TV no lessto describe reforming liberal Muslims, who counter extremism. The question Khan answered here came in specific reference to my own organization, Quilliam. By 2009, extremism had grown so rife among my own British Muslim community that, in a sign of our times, a Muslim government minister for Social Cohesion would find it politically expedient to call a group of Muslims, who were not in government, Uncle Toms simply for criticizing extremism. The struggles that reforming liberal and ex-Muslims face every day, the dehumanization, the delegitimization, the excommunication, the outcasting, the threats, intimidation and the violence makes this inexcusable. In their very nature, such slurs are designed to dehumanize the intended target as not Muslim enough, which in turn can incite Muslim on Muslim violence. Today, Muslim terrorists kill more Muslims than people from any other faith, after they dehumanize them for being not Muslim enough. In such a climate, labeling counter-extremist Muslims as Uncle Toms, House Muslims, or native Informants is comparable to calling someone a heretic during the Inquisition, or a ni*** during U.S. segregation. Degrading the Muslimness of someone claiming otherwise is a prerequisite to their murder by terrorists. The recent murder of an Ahmedi shopkeeper in Scotlandwhose sect Khan vilified in his 2010 Tooting campaignbrings the seriousness of such slurs home. Khan knows all of this. He really should have known better. Among my fellow liberals, it would never fly for a white candidate to say something racist, nor incite religious hatred against those deemed not Christian enough. Likewise, it shouldnt when a brown Muslim politician does so. Khans last-minute general apology is a welcome start, but his time as mayor will need to show a track record of courting the right people, while distancing extremists, before it carries any weight. Why is it OK for a mayor to have shared panels with all manner of Muslim extremists, while actively distancing himself from, and smearing counter-extremist Muslims? Despite this, liberal Muslim reformers and ex-Muslims alike would probably still lend their good will and support to Khan. To be honest, in his personal life he is pretty much a liberal Muslim. So much so that his old friends, the extremists, are already classifying him as a traitor for not being anti-Israel enough, and for supporting gay marriage equality. In a funny twist, some Muslims are now comparing him to those he deemed Uncle Toms in the past. Politicians from across the West must learn from a past in playing politics with religion. For anti-Muslim bigots, were always too Muslim. For Muslim extremists, were never Muslim enough. Luckily for Londons first Muslim mayor, God invented Secularism. I almost didnt come, she said, stepping into my mothers apartment. I was too ashamed. She didnt say why. She didnt have to. The face of this woman, who was maybe in her mid-70s, was entirely purple and yellow. The whites of her eyes were blood red. Above her left eyebrow, she had a knot the size and color of a small eggplant. Only the tip of her nose and the point of her chin were flesh-colored. I did my best not to stare. It wasnt working. I couldnt tell if her face was covered in tribal tattoos, if she was one of those blue people from the Kentucky backwoods you hear about, or if someone had kicked the shit out of this old lady. Cynthia was here because my mother, Carol Guber, had died two weeks before. An appraiser, she came to put a value to Moms thingspart of the slow-grinding bureaucracy of death that follows the passing of a loved one. A friend of the familys had recommended her. She had tried to cancel, Cynthia swore as she took off a worn trenchcoat and stepped into the foyer, but my number had been disconnected. Cynthia (Im withholding her last name, for reasons that will become obvious later) showed me where she had written down my number in pencil on a pad of schoolroom paper, browned with age. The number was off by a digit. She groaned a bit as she pushed herself up the stairs of the apartment, a duplex in a converted hospital not far from Gramercy Park in Manhattan. Cynthia explained that she had been walking her dog late on the Upper East Side and tripped on a stairway, the fool that she was. Then she began to putter around the apartment. On Feb. 18, I took my mother into the hospital for what the doctors had promised us was a routine procedurehome in three to five days. It took nine to get her back to the apartment. And she was not well. I woke her up on Feb. 28. There was an open bottle of Oxycontin next to her bed. She kept asking for her mother, Edna, who was also her best friend. Edna had died in December of 2013. On March 1, Mom and I went back to the hospital. On March 4, she had a catastrophic series of strokes, choking off the blood to half her brain. Three brothers, two of her sisters-in-law, two rabbis, a Buddhist guru, two personal shoppers, several life-long friends, and one ex-husband all made pilgrimages to her room at the intensive care unit. Seven nieces and nephews came. Some friend of my uncle Zevs showed up and played guitar. We urged her to let go. We prayed for her easy passage and read aloud passages from Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese monk she had become a kind of devotee of: These eyes are not me. I am not caught in these eyes. These ears are not me. I am not caught in these ears.This body is not me. I am not caught in this body.This mind is not me. I am not caught in this mind. We told each other stories about her time running a restaurant, a high-end caviar store, the local branch of a cult, a therapy practice, and a downtown shop called The Pink Pussycat. And then, around 4 p.m. on March 9, the stories stopped. Mom took a last gasp. They picked up her body five hours later. I avoided Moms place for weeks afterward. I had already spent a month by her bed, by her grave, lost in a fog of grief. I had no interest in returning to the mist. But the State requires an accounting of the deceased. And an accounting requires an appraisal of the items therein. My aunt and cousin came in a few minutes after Cynthia. They had arrived from New Mexico to help me empty out Moms apartment. Heidi, this is, um, uh. I stammered. Cynthia introduced herself. She took out a palm-sized digital camera, Im guessing a decade old. Weve already taken pictures of all the art, my aunt said. We can [shoot photos of] the rest. Oh, you dont have to bother, Cynthia said. I have to use my own pictures. Its part of the process. She took some notes on that browning pad of hers as she sat in the living room. Meantime, my aunt, cousin and I caught up as we walked through the apartment. Mostly, we talked about Mom. The shock we still felt from her passing. The embarrassment Mom would feel if she knew we were going through all her stuff. At one point, I noticed Cynthia, still taking notes, staring at an amphora my mom had collected in Israel. After a half-hour or so, she headed upstairs to my mothers bedroom. Thats where she kept the jewelry. Mom liked her chunky necklaces, beaded ropes, Bakelite cuffs, and heavy clip-ons. And she threw it in cartons and stuffed it in drawers and draped it around clothing pins. Cynthia called down to the living to say how much she enjoyed itespecially the vintage costume jewelry. Mom had stopped collecting the stuff years ago but kept wearing all these art deco frog pins and faux-gold bee brooches and necklaces with faces of the sun. Tucked in a few thin boxes were fancier pieces, mostly from her mother. Like my mom, Edna was a woman of style. But my grandmothers tastes were decidedly uptown: Cartier watches in silver and gold, a Rolex, a silver ring with emerald and lapis, a diamond engagement ring or two. I had only noticed Mom wearing one or two of these things. For her, Im guessing, they were more valuable as lifelines to Edna than as adornments for her wrist. Cynthia spent an hour and a half going through it all, while my family and I kibitzed. I kept asking Cynthia how much longer shed be. Finally, she came down, a little exasperated. Cynthia explained that she had separated out the good stuff as best she could. She said Id have her full report in 10 days. Then she put on her hat and trenchcoat and left. The next day was a Thursday. My cousin Liz and I spent the day cleaning out the place, while my aunt tried to figure out where all this stuff would go. I found the pictures of my grandfather with Sammy Davis Jr. I opened my moms diariesthe one in which 15-year-old Carol wrote about being felt upand shut it as soon as I could. There were yearbooks. Report cards. Presents never delivered. Dresses two sizes too small. Twelve cookbooks on how to make the perfect stew. We hauled out a dozen contractor bags filled with junk. We filled 25 boxes with stew books and self-help pamphlets. And just as I was about to pass out on the couch, my cousin Liz said, Guys I think there are some things missing. Ednas watches were gone, she said. Some of the rings, too. Honestly, I didnt believe her. Liz, a sweet-tempered design school grad, didnt exactly fit the stereotype of a private investigator. Besides, who wouldve taken the jewelry? The purple-faced lady? As my aunt said, Cynthia was so worn and frail, it seemed kind of pathetic that she was working at alllet alone operating as some cunning thief, tiptoeing in the haze of family grief. If theyre still missing tomorrow, I said, well do something about it. Then I passed out. What I didnt know at the time was that Liz had solid evidence that the jewelry was gone. After my mother died, Liz and her sister had stowed away the good stuff in a couple of very particular boxes. She knew what spot each ring and each watch were supposed to occupy. Several of those slots were now empty. On Friday, my mothers oldest friend came over to her apartment while I went to work. Liz and Heidi told Margo about the missing jewelry. Unlike me, she wasnt skeptical in the slightest. Happens all the time, said Margo. An art dealer, she had experience distributing the possessions of the dead. Margo was sure she knew who took Ednas good stuff. You cant turn your back on an appraiser for a second. There was only one thing to do, Margo said. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Noah Shachtman Date: Fri, Apr 8, 2016 at 2:53 PM Subject: Missing jewelry -- need response ASAP To: XXXXXX@gmail.com Cynthia: As we discussed over the phone, a number of pieces of jewelry have gone missing from my mother's collection. You are the only person outside of my family to have spent any time with that collection in recent days. If you inadvertently took any of these items, which are listed below, I need you to return them immediatelywithin the next few hours. Otherwise, I'll be forced to file a police report, and let the authorities know that you were the only stranger with access to my mother's now-missing jewelry. I'll also have to let your colleague XXXXXX know about this unfortunate situation. Hopefully, it won't come to that. Hopefully, this can be resolved quickly. Please contact me as soon as you have reviewed this list and your belongings. I expect an answer no later than 6pm. Sincerely,nms Cynthia called five minutes later. Oh, Im sorry, Cynthia said. I mustve accidentally put it in the wrong pile. But I can only find three watches, she added. Keep looking, I replied. Cynthia said she had a doctors appointment, but could drop the jewelry off with my mothers doorman. No, I answered, Well come to you. She gave me her address on the Upper East Side and hung up. I called my cousin Liz, who was already on the east side, and asked her to head uptown. A few minutes later, Lizs father ZevMoms older brothercalled from New Mexico rather alarmed at the arrangement. You cant send my girl up to a robbers house alone, he said. What if Cynthia has a gun? What if this is a set-up? What if the jewels are just bait? It seemed unlikely to me. But no more unlikely than a purple-faced lady stealing from my mother. I told him Id meet Liz up there. Wed do this together. I let my somewhat-startled boss know I was heading out to catch a jewel thief, and race-walked over to the L train. Meanwhile, Heidi and Liz had become just as unnerved as Zev. As they hustled out of Moms apartment, they left Post-It notes inside the place and with the doorman: If were not back in 90 minutes, call for help. They jumped in a cab without bringing their wallets. Too easy to take if this was all a set-up, they figured. I walked out of the 68th Street subway stop around 4:45, and started heading uptown. My mind was filled with conflicting, and equally crazy, thoughts. One minute, Im convincing myself that poor Cynthia was just confused when she robbed my mother. The next, Im psyching myself up to whoop an old lady. Did I need some kind of weapon? Where would I get it? The Upper East Side of my youth, circa 1989, had a couple of candy shops that I seem to remember selling brass knuckles and throwing stars along with dime bags. But that was three mayors ago. And how much help would I really need to fight an AARP member with a broken face? I got to Cynthias apartment building early, and paced around for a couple of minutes. By the time the doorman showed up I had calmed down. I told him I was looking for Cynthia. Did you ring her? he asked, pointing to the intercom. She doesnt always hear the buzzer. And that was before the accident. Liz and Heidi texted to say they were stuck in rush-hour traffic in the mid-50s. Cynthia walked into the lobby. If she said anything to me at first, I cant remember what it was. She appeared to be anything but agitated, though. She went over to her mailbox, pulled out a few envelopes, and then invited me into the elevator like I was a distant relative come to visit his aunt in the city. Youre not going to call the cops, are you? she asked, as she pressed the button to close the elevator doors. I said it depended on what happened next. Then she asked if I was a lawyer. No, I replied, a reporter. For The Daily Beast. Oh, I read the Post, she said, as she opened the door to her place. There was no gun. No goon squad there to jump me. But the apartment was almost comically crowded. Gee-gaws and curios covered every flat surface. The walls were covered with a dizzying green brocade. A beagle with a plastic cone on its head yipped. Thats the one who got me into trouble, Cynthia said, as she hung up her coat. Then she sat down on her rather elaborate couchI think it was Victorianreached into her purse, and handed me a small, white envelope. Inside were four watches and three ringsall of my mothers missing jewelry. I shoved the envelope into the chest pocket of my jacket. Cynthia asked again if I was planning to call the police. I said no, which was true. (To settle Moms estate, I needed Cynthias appraisal reportsomething I was unlikely to get if I sent the cops after her.) She apologized for the confusion. Then I walked out. The whole encounter in her apartment was over in a minute-and-a-half, tops. In the lobby, I zipped up my jacket and tabbed the military-style collar. I walked down Lexington Avenue with my hands in the jacket pockets and my arms pressed close to my chest. It felt surreal, having $20,000 or more worth of jewelry on me; I hadnt carried that much in liquid assets since I handed out cash to Brooklyn preachers and activists during the Dinkins-for-Mayor campaign in 1993. I met Heidi and Liz on 59th Street, and paid for their cab. Just another day, I said to them, as we went down the steps. Nothing exciting to discuss besides the weather. Just keep walking. We got on the 6 train and managed to keep our mouths shut for a few stops. But by the time we transferred for the express at Grand Central, we couldnt keep from giggling. Did that just happen? Did we just catch a real-life jewel thief? And how loud would Mom be laughing right now? The headline writer in methe frustrated pulp-fiction detective, toocouldnt help myself. The Case of the Purple-Faced Lady, I said, as the train sped downtown. Cynthia still had one last trick to play, however. Or should I say, I had one final con to run on myself. As we got off the subway at Union Square and walked to Moms apartment, I found myself defending the lady who had taken my mothers jewels. She might be telling the truth, I said. The doorman told me she really was confused. And that was probably before whatever head trauma that came with her purple face. If she was lying, why would she have let me into her apartment? Why would she have even given me the right address? Why hadnt she pawned the stuff off? And if appraisers really do make a habit of pick-pocketing grieving families, mentions of such crimes dont seem to show up in a search of police blotters and news reports. Nor have there been any lawsuits or criminal complaints against Cynthia in the past. Maybe Im in no mood for ugly truths, like a lady pocketing valuables from families half-blind with grief. Or a funeral home that takes you for even more money, just to put your mom in the ground. Or a gray bureaucrat who demands you prove shes really dead for the 17th time before hell agree to stop a stupid newspaper delivery. Its easy to understand why Id want The Case of the Purple-Faced Lady to have something of a happyor at least a less-awfultwist. Why Id have a little too much empathy for an older woman in obvious distress. After all, I just buried someone resembling that description. So in the interest of giving Cynthia a fair shake in this story, I asked her last week if she wanted to provide some kind of plausible explanation for the missing jewelry. She called me back at 3 p.m. on the afternoon before Mothers Day. What happened? I asked her, expecting a sorry story about how mixed-up she was that day at my mothers place. I didnt think anybody wanted [the jewels] or cared about them. I saw them. I thought they were nice. I thought they were being tossed out. So I took a couple. Several, she told me, matter-of-factly. Ive been a journalist covering crime and war for most of the 21st century. Ive never heard someone confess to a felony so casually. I asked her if she had looted from other families. No, never, she answered. Listen, Im so upset about it. I havent been able to sleep since it happened But I really didnt mean to. I thought it was just unwanted stuff. She asked me: Please dont use my name. Would you please spare me that. I didnt mean to. It was nothing premeditated. I promise you that on my kids heads, she added. Ive been in the business for 27 years. You cant ruin my livelihood. I suggested that she shouldve thought about that before stealing from my Mom. It was an accident. It was an accident. I didnt do this on purpose I thought, I thought maybeI was going to polish it or something, Cynthia said. She claimed I had promised not to tell anyone, which wasnt true. (I had promised not to go to the cops.) She asked when my paper was being printed. I told her this would be on the Internet, on Mothers Day. Captain America: a poor kid from Brooklyn whose parents raised him to stand up for whats fair and just. Dorothy Gale: a Kansas farm girl whose hard-working family taught her that everyone, even Munchkins, cherish the place they call home. King Joffrey Baratheon: a sadistic bully whos empowered to ruin peoples lives by his parents cruel belief that the powerful can do whatever they like. Whether we call them heroes or villains, the most interesting characters in our favorite pop culture epics tend to wear their strong parental influences on their sleeve. It makes sense. Childhood makes us the people we are. While writing our new book, Geek Parenting, we realized that theres another interesting truth that follows from this. The family dynamics we appreciate in a great fictional protagonist are just as visible in the true stories of the Americans who set out on a larger-than-life quest to become world leaders. Supermans parents are super-important to how he inspires people. And Donald Trumps, Bernie Sanderss and Hillary Clintons parents are, too. If You Change the Parents, You Change the Hero Lets look first at the fictional side of that equation. Take Superman, the archetypal American hero through much of the 20th century. The idea that this was a hero with an unshakeable moral compassan absolute determination to do good by helping peoplewas the very centerpiece of his character. His parents were always portrayed as the source of that morality: kind-hearted, regular folks who cultivated in their son the sense that truth, justice, and camaraderie were the American way. But the Superman we meet in filmmaker Zach Snyders two recent blockbusters, Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman, is a noticeably different hero. Especially in Man of Steel, he is morally ambivalent and emotionally volatile at bestand carelessly, fatally negligent at worst, using his powers to punch supervillains but not so much to save innocent bystanders lives from the fallout. Unsurprisingly, Supermans parents have been at the heart of the furious fan debate over how the character has changed. In this new version of the mythos, its pretty explicit that Martha and Jonathan Kent, though personally kind and loving, did not foster in young Clark the same sort of unwavering commitment to helping peopleto doing whats good and right no matter what. You dont owe them a damn thing, the heros mother tells him in Batman v. Superman. The Kents priorities are 1) keep their son safe and 2) encourage him to temper his abilities and thereby perhaps become more human (rather than more super). When Pa Kent suggests that maybe Clark should hide his power, even if that should mean letting people die, its because he knows how badly the world tends to treat people seen as different. This Superman is a reflection of a different moral climate than before, a reaction to a 21st century where so much is uncertain and menacing. Schools and churches arent safe places; technology erodes our privacy a little more every day; those entrusted to protect and serve cannot always be trusted to do that. So we can empathize with the Kents fear for their alien son. But we have to acknowledge that revising the characters family background like this does indeed make him a somewhat different person. Seeing superheroes in the context of their parents is a reminder that raising kids is, in large part, a series of exercises in teaching them how to use and respect powertheir own, and also the various kinds of power that the world exerts upon them. Go find your sister and bring her in for dinner. Are you going to sit quietly while that bully picks on your friend? Yes, you can get your drivers permit, but only if youre being carefully trained in how to avoid killing anyone. For most regular people, our interactions with power are fairly personal, affecting only our families, friends, colleagues, and neighbors. But for world leaders, like superheroes, power games can mean life or death for large numbers of peoplequickly, through their management of wars and natural disasters, or slowly, through their allocation of resources to our food, medicine, transportation, and law-enforcement infrastructures. Its hard not to wonder, then: What sorts of role models did our presidential candidates parents present them with? I Learned It By Watching You, Dad Former senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, currently the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination, has cited her mother, Dorothy Rodham, as one of her greatest influences. In her memoir, Clinton describes Rodham as someone who lived through considerable childhood trauma to become a kind, wise parent. I asked my mother how she survived abuse and abandonment without becoming embittered and emotionally stunted, Clinton writes. How did she emerge from this lonely early life as such a loving and levelheaded woman? Ill never forget how she replied. At critical points in my life somebody showed me kindness, she said. That inspiration, Clinton writes, shaped her own desire to do good for people in the world. Bernie Sanders, also seeking the Democratic nomination, hasnt talked as much about his parents, but their presence is certainly felt in the issues Sanders has championed. Eli and Dorothy Sanders were working-class Brooklynites of Polish Jewish ancestrymany of Elis family were killed by the Naziswhich meant their son, born in 1941, grew up identifying as both an economic and political underdog. Its hardly surprising, then, that Bernie Sanders has spent his political life trying to stick up for the less advantaged in American society. Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has followed the most closely in his fathers footsteps during the course of his long professional career. Trump got his start as a real-estate developer working in his father Freds company, which built large numbers of apartment complexes and rowhouses in New York City. The elder Trumps operation was both successful and controversial: On the one hand, during the 40s and 50s he built barracks for the U.S. Navy and housing that rented to thousands of veterans. On the other hand, in the 50s, the U.S. Senate investigated him for profiteering, and in the 70s, the Justice Department filed suit against him for refusing to rent to black people. One of Fred Trumps tenants was songwriter Woody Guthrie, who wrote at the time: I suppose Old Man Trump knows just how much racial hate he stirred up. Certainly, Freds son Donald has not shied away from stirring voters racial and nationalistic feelings on the campaign trail, either. Winter Is Coming, KidsTry to Stay Warm In many ways, televisions current favorite fantasy epic, Game of Thrones, is the ultimate mashup of epic adventure, realistic political jockeying and parental influence. Set in a magical yet depressing dystopia of walking dead, sorcerers, dragons, and battling kings, the HBO series blurs the line between heroes and villains, and its characters, representing several family dynasties, struggle with morality as they look to see which leader will emerge to save them. In Game of Thrones, power is complex, greatness is subjective, and pulling the strings behind it all are complex religious, political, and military networksand families, too. The parents behind the rulers battling over the Iron Throne may have been devoted, but their dedication was often self-serving (as in the case of Cersei Lannister and her twin brother/lover Jaime, parents of Joffrey and Tommen) and sometimes sadistic (like Mad King Aerys II Targaryen, father of Daenerys). Those who do instill in their children a healthy sense of integrity and service (like Ned and Catelan Stark, whose children are among the series most honorable of characters) usually end up dead, having been taken advantage of or betrayed. These families may be more violent than those of our presidential candidates, and yet they remind us how various parenting may shape different philosophies about power and privilege. Hillary Clintons model of political power is rooted in social connections and networking; Bernie Sanders call to action relies on the internal power of personal integrity and fortitude; and Donald Trumps relentless emphasis on winning reflects a tendency toward power through overwhelming displays of domination. America is almost 80 years past the day when Superman was first introduced. Back in the 30s, we were sliding into another recession; a hurricane had just killed hundreds and displaced thousands; the planet was on the brink of another world war; and people were afraid. Superman was a response to the climate of fear and insecurity. By fighting for those who were persecuted, afraid, and helpless, Superman was a symbol that things could get better. Today, national and world affairs are no less chaotic. How do parents prepare children to live in such a world? What kind of power do we hope that they will wield? And will we encourage them to celebrate would-be heroes who reflect back to us the problems of our worldor leaders who work toward changing the world for the better? Stephen H Segal and Valya Dudycz Lupescu are the co-authors of Geek Parenting: What Joffrey, Jor-El, Maleficent, and the McFlys Teach Us About Raising a Family, (Quirk Books). This is part of our weekly series, Lost Masterpieces, about the greatest buildings and works of art that were destroyed or never completed. Next weekend will be the latest iteration of FORM, a free-by-application music and art festival that seeks to celebrate creativity, foster collaboration, inspire new work and perspective, and promote art in public life. This vaguely cosmic and utopian ethos, incompatible with typical festival venues like stadiums or concert halls, has found its ideal physical setting in Arcosanti, a cluster of concrete domes, arches and interconnected structures that form the skeleton of a tiny village tucked into a desert valley 70 miles north of Phoenix. Arcosanti is an urban laboratory where an experimental mixture of architecture and ecology has been on a slow boil since the 1960s. It was to be a highly sustainable and earth-tuned miniature metropolis of 5,000 people, exemplifying a new anti-sprawl, pro-community style of city building espoused by its creator, the visionary architect Paolo Soleri. FORM is a sort of celebration of that philosophy and creative spirit, and the roughly 1,200 attendees it will bring to Arcosanti will infuse the site with the kind of life it was built to harbor. But, as festivals go, the impact will be temporary. By some estimates, only 50 people live at Arcosanti today, and part-time at that; less than 5 percent of the original plan has been constructed. Its a village-scale example of unfinished architecture, one that stands as a partially realized dream, a tantalizing vision of what architecture and cities could be. Soleris idea for Arcosanti grew out of his distaste for American suburban sprawl. As a student of the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright in the late 1940s, Soleri focused his architectural skills beyond the scale of the building. He imagined a new kind of super-building that could house an entire city, a dense structure of concrete arches, tiny residential units and abundant shared spaces for work and communal living. It would be a prototype for a new kind of city. He broke ground on Arcosanti in 1970. A model of the design shows a series of nested domes and arches, segmented by cell-like rooms for its population. Its goals were to reduce waste and energy consumption, localize food production, create a human-scaled urban environment, and encourage lifestyles more engaged with natural systemsan early call for environmentally sustainable architecture and urbanism. Throughout the early years, the Italian-born Soleri and teams of volunteers worked to construct the city, but the going was slow and has remained so. The project is technically still under construction, but the goal of housing 5,000 people is still far off. Arcosanti is built over about 25 acres, and consists of about a dozen buildings, including modular, block-like stacks of residential units, a music center, Soleris design studio, and a foundry under a half-dome, where bronze bells are cast by community members and sold to support the project. Concrete and earth-cast panels and slabs make up much of the projects structure, and its designed to passively heat and cool itself through the Arizona deserts extreme weather fluctuations. Huge, round cut-outs form many of the windows in the structures, and many of the buildings seem to easily transition from private indoor space to public outdoor areas. And though Soleris vision for Arcosanti was bold, he was against the notion of creating a idealized utopian community. Utopia is a pretty stupid notion, he told an interviewer in 2008. It says if any group anywhere develops some ideal condition, this condition is legitimate. And I say, Forget it! If you are surrounded by all sorts of demeaning or painful conditions, then utopia is just an arrogant notion that has no room for evolution. His approach was to let the philosophy guide the project, wherever that went. Arcosantis construction has relied on the efforts of thousands of volunteers whove slowly built out the project and helped its plan evolve. The project hosts workshops in which attendeesmany architects and design studentslearn about Soleris approach while actually helping to build out the city. Some of these attendees have chosen to extend their stay, becoming longer-term residents who work on the continuing process of planning and constructing the project, and casting the bells. We might not reach 5,000 people, but were growing. Slowly, Jeff Stein, co-president of the foundation in charge of the project told The Guardian recently. The production of wind bells is quite a difficult way to support the development of a new town. Soleri also worked as an architect outside his own mini-city, but little of his work was built. His striking tubular metal pedestrian bridge for the city of Scottsdale, Arizona, in 2011 is the first of his many bridge designs to be completed. Soleri died in 2013, at the age of 93, and Arcosanti is under new leadership. Only a small fraction of the original plan has been realized, and many have criticized the project as a failure. But for the few still living and working at Arcosanti, construction of the city is technically still underway. Soleris vision for this prototype sustainable city for 5,000 people seems unlikely to be realized, an idealistic design diminished through complications of money and time. But whether its ever finished or not, Arcosanti has achieved Soleris original goal of challenging the way we build our cities and live within them. As a city, Arcosanti may have fallen short. But as urban laboratory, it has succeeded. Students at the Early Learning Center at First Baptist Church in College Station recently donated items to the Aggieland Humane Society as part of a lesson in community service. The preschool students collected blankets, chew toys, leashes, collars and other items for the animals awaiting adoption at the Humane Society. MIKE LAWRENCE / THE GLEANER 2 Moms N Motion fitness trainer Sara Shelton leads a youth yoga class that has been a big draw for the group of moms turned fitness trainers. Kids can follow along on their own or their parents can join them. SHARE MIKE LAWRENCE / THE GLEANER Holding a yoga pose, Morgan Estes participates in a 2 Moms N Motion youth yoga class. The class encourages kids to work out with their parents. MIKE LAWRENCE / THE GLEANER Brody Estes (left) and Roland Estes concentrate as they hold a yoga pose during a recent 2 Moms N Motion youth yoga class. MIKE LAWRENCE / THE GLEANER Sonny Shelton concentrates as he holds a yoga pose during a recent 2 Moms N Motion youth yoga class. MIKE LAWRENCE / THE GLEANER Sara Shelton leads a 2 Moms N Motion youth yoga class. The group of Henderson fitness trainers work to get their families involved in a fitness lifestyle. By Abbey Nickel, abbey.nickel@thegleaner.com / @abbeynickel Right around Mother's Day last year, Lyndsey Estes started working toward a dream with other mothers in Henderson. What Estes didn't know this time last year was how much that dream would grow or how many people would join her along the way. Estes is one of the women who spearheaded 2 Moms N Motion, a local group of trainers dedicated to personal, small group and corporate fitness training. 2 Moms N Motion was formed exactly a year ago and quickly grew to a total of 12 trainers "This started out as something small, and I worked with the park district in Henderson to have a couple of training sessions with some other mothers at the park. The kids would play on the playground, and I would teach," she said. Estes, a mother of four, decided to change her own lifestyle around about seven years ago and embark on her own journey toward healthier living and fitness. "I woke up one day when I was 25 and said 'I don't feel good. This doesn't feel good at all.' As mothers, we get so caught up in helping everyone around us, we forget to take care of us. I realized I needed to start taking care of me, too." That moment was the moment Estes started toward her own fitness goals, and eventually, helped other mothers work toward their own, too. Estes said the primary idea behind 2 Moms N Motion was to provide affordable and flexible fitness training to the Henderson community. Their average client is 40-year-old mothers, Estes said. "I have to stop and pinch myself sometimes because as a mom, I never imagined I would be standing here, with my own business that involves other mothers like myself. I can't believe it's grown to what it has over the last year," Estes said. She said the guilt mothers sometimes have about taking the time to take care of themselves is all too common and is something she experienced herself when she was trying to get on track toward a healthier lifestyle. She wanted to give mothers an outlet that wouldn't require them to find child care. "We can't just put our kids up on a shelf and run away to do the things we need to do sometimes," Estes said. "I would feel bad about leaving my kids at home to go do what I needed to do to be healthy. That's why we come to them, or invite them to bring their kids to our classes. This is real life, and we know it gets in the way sometimes." A youth yoga class that is held once a week has been a big draw for the group. Kids can follow along on their own or their parents can join them. Trainer Sara Shelton instructs the youth yoga class. Shelton joined 2 Mom N Motion in January. "Exercise and fitness is something our family has always enjoyed together, so I decided to take it one step further and help incorporate it into the lives of other people through this," she said. As children of all ages rolled out their mats and kicked off their shoes to get ready for a recent youth yoga class, Shelton said the class has offered children a healthy outlet to burn off excess energy and stress. She said she's also noticed that the classes 2 Moms N Motion offers, not just the youth yoga class, has helped encourage the bond between parents and their kids. "They're having fun and learning together while getting healthy in the process," Shelton said. Missy Powell is another mother involved with the group. Powell is in the process of getting her personal trainer certification but plans to do one-on-one personal training with mothers and children. She said her 11-year-old son has been involved in 2 Moms N Motion's Raising Alpha class, a youth group fitness class that teaches strength, cardio and injury prevention. "It's been invaluable to my son," Powell said. "I think his passion and his drive for fitness and just everything in general has increased since he started participating. That class has done wonders for kids in our community." Powell said she is also passionate about health and wellness as a mother and having an opportunity in the community where she could share that passion with her son was a unique draw to the group. "You can't really take your kid to the gym. This gives us that opportunity to do something together and share it together which we as moms need more than ever these days," Powell said. 2 Moms N Motion is also active in the community, Estes said. The group volunteers at community events and will be involved with the Henderson County Public Library summer reading program this year, hoping to continue to encourage fitness and healthy lifestyles throughout Henderson. "People have believed in my mission and have ran with it," Estes said. "We have been lovingly accepted by this community." Estes said she's seen the bond between herself and her own kids strengthen as well. "It kind of forces you to play with your own kids in the most loving way possible," Estes said. "It's something we can all do together and enjoy together." Of course, the last year hasn't been without some challenges. Starting a business and growing it from the ground up has been quite the journey, Estes said, but the work has been worth the outcome. "Being a mom of four and making the time to make this work has been a challenge in itself," Estes said. "As moms, all of us sacrifice sleep and sanity sometimes, but at the same time, it's passion that drives us. And my passion for this business is what drives me, and the challenges are nothing compared to the blessing and 'pinch myself' moments." And as the business continues to grow and draw more clients, Estes said she hopes more mothers take the time to realize they also need to take care of themselves. "We get so caught up in the every day hustle and bustle we forget about our own needs. But I want to tell them that it's OK, and sometimes necessary, to be selfish. People like to think of being selfish as a bad thing, but it's not, especially when it comes to taking care of your well being. Sometimes it's OK to take a step back as a mom and tell yourself, 'It's OK to take care of you, too.'" SHARE Henderson Board to discuss school budget The Henderson County Board of Education will discuss the budget again when it meets at 5:30 p.m. Monday at the Professional Development Center for a work session. The school board has until May 31 to pass a tentative budget. During last month's work session, Gail Bender, a financial consultant with the Kentucky Department of Education, advised the board that it would need to target reducing expenditures by $4.7 million to balance the budget. There will also be discussion about the superintendent evaluation timeline, donor recognition and about gym lighting for North Middle, South Middle and Henderson County High schools. webster county Bridge work slated on Kentucky 283 A contractor for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet plans to close a section of Kentucky 283 in Webster County starting Monday. This closure along Kentucky 283 near the 3-mile marker is to allow a bridge to be replaced, according to a news release. The closure along Kentucky 283 in the Knoblick Creek area between Cottingham-Pratt Road South and Shady Grove-Knoblick Road is expected to be in place until about May 25. Following the 15-day closure, the contractor will be back in the area at a later date for milling and paving along Kentucky 283 from Beckley Osborne Road at mile point 1.397 extending northward to Smith West Road at mile point 5.029, a distance of 3.63 miles. During the work, motorists should be alert for one-lane traffic with alternating flow controlled by flaggers. Charbon Contracting of Madisonville is the prime contractor on the $445,319 highway-improvement project. SHARE James Comer By Laura Acchiardo, laura.acchiardo@thegleaner.com With his combined experience in the public and private sector, James Comer believes he has the most comprehensive understanding of Kentucky's needs and political process. With his sights set on the 1st Congressional District seat, Comer, 48, hopes to beat out the three Republican candidates on the ballot in this month's primary race. The other three Republican candidates vying for Ed Whitfield's congressional seat are 20-year district director for Whitfield Michael Pape, Hickman County Attorney Jason Batts and Trigg County farmer Miles Caughey Jr. Whitfield is retiring and not seeking re-election. Comer said one of the things that is going to set him apart in this race is his resume. He served six terms as a state representative from 2000 to 2012 and one term as the Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture from 2011 to 2015. He also owns one of the largest farming operations in south central Kentucky. Comer emphasized his accessibility to the constituents in his district, something he believes has been lacking in the 1st District. "That's one of the criticisms I have of Ed Whitfield," he said. "You don't see him a lot. We deserve a congressman that comes to the community regularly and is in communication with the business and government leaders. I believe we have not had that for several years." Having a background in farming, agricultural issues are at the forefront of his agenda if elected into office. According to Comer, one threat to agriculture he hopes to lessen is the animal rights movement in regards to agricultural livestock. He also says the EPA is too far reaching, especially in regards to the Clean Water Act and the coal industry. "The EPA is starting to come on our farms," said Comer. "That's a threat to agriculture. We need to have some common sense in Washington, D.C., and we need a congressman who understands that. Being one of the agricultural leaders in the state, I understand this both from being a big farmer to also being the Commissioner of Agriculture." Along with agriculture, he plans to focus on the exorbitant amount of fines coal manufacturers deal with daily from the EPA. Comer's top infrastructure priority is to build a bridge in Henderson for Interstate 69. With lots of local support and a seeming willingness by the public to accept tolls on the bridge, he plans to keep the project moving forward. In 2015 Comer ran against Gov. Matt Bevin in the Kentucky gubernatorial primary and lost by 83 votes. When asked if there were any concerns working with Bevin, Comer cited his endorsement of Bevin after he won the primary and his ability to put disagreements aside. "If we're going to build that bridge, we're going to need a congressman who can work with (Mitch) McConnell and Bevin," he said. Another top priority of Comer's is to balance the federal budget. "We have a $19 trillion debt," he said. "It's not getting anywhere near balanced. The only way to force Congress to ever balance a budget is to pass a balanced-budget amendment. That's something I support. We also have to cut spending and reduce wasteful spending. I have a record of doing that as the commissioner of agriculture." One of the ways Comer hopes to cut back on spending is by reducing the number of employees in federal agencies. He said with the increasing number of employees in these agencies, the government is holding back the creation of private sector jobs. While also balancing the budget, Comer hopes to boost the economy by clearing the way for more job creation, rather than lobbying for a flat tax. In order to do this, he wants to cut down regulations, which he says are the biggest threat to job formation. "The biggest problem in job creation according to the employers is the regulatory environment," he said. "I'm the only one running who's had success in the private sector. I'm a business person. I've created private sector jobs. I understand the regulatory burden that the federal government puts on our small businesses, so I want to reduce the regulatory burden to help create good paying jobs." He also hopes to bring back manufacturing jobs to rural Kentucky counties to increase employment and population in the First District. In order to keep manufacturers in Kentucky, he plans to be involved in fair and equal trade agreements so manufacturing jobs aren't outsourced to other countries. Comer believes the Department of Veterans Affairs needs to be reformed as well. He said he would advocate for a gold card, so veterans can go to any hospital and still receive benefits. Then there would be the possibility of phasing out some of the VA hospitals while still keeping the department. "My father's a Vietnam veteran," he said. "My grandfather is a World War II veteran, so I'm very appreciative of the sacrifices and the service our veterans have made. Much of the First District, you'll see that they have to go to Nashville. That's a two-hour drive when they pass several quality hospitals on the way." Photos by MIKE LAWRENCE / THE GLEANER Participants begin Audubon Board of Realtors' "Run for the Roses" run/walk Saturday at Audubon Mill Park. 180 participants registered and started the event. SHARE MIKE LAWRENCE / THE GLEANER And their off, participants dash out of the starting gate for the stick horse race at Saturday's "Run for the Roses" derby theme run-walk in downtown Henderson. Proceeds from the event, hosted by the Audubon Board of Realtors, go to Healing Reins Therapeutic Riding, May 7, 2016. From left, Anna Bell, Laynie Rich and Ava Latta pet retired Ellis Park race horse Sir Dorset during Saturday's "Run for the Roses." MIKE LAWRENCE / THE GLEANER Thoroughbreds graze in Audubon Mill Park during Saturday's "Run for the Roses "run-walk race hosted by the Audubon Board of Realtors, May 7, 2016. MIKE LAWRENCE / THE GLEANER Walkers participating in Saturday's "Run for the Roses" run-walk make their way down North Main Street in downtown Henderson. The event benefitted Healing Reins Therapeutic Riding, May 7, 2016. By Laura Acchiardo, laura.acchiardo@thegleaner.com For the Henderson Audubon Board of Realtors, giving back to the community is one of their central tenants. The Board of Realtors hosted its first Run for the Roses on Saturday morning with a Kentucky Derby theme complete with hats and horses. "One of our core standards is community involvement," said Missy Vanderpool, coordinator of the event. "Being aware of what's going on and giving back to the community is important to our organization." About 180 participants registered and started at Audubon Mill Park, running or walking one, three or five miles. All proceeds benefit Healing Reins Therapeutic Riding program. "We asked Blue Moon Stables about having horses here because it was Derby Day," said Vanderpool. "I'm getting chills just thinking about it right now because it's an awesome organization and it fit into our Derby theme so well." Healing Reins helps those with special needs through horseback riding and other equine related therapeutic activity. It is a licensed spirit horse center which serves 150 disabilities, including autism and epilepsy. The program also serves veterans and those who have suffered from abuse. The nonprofit is housed at Blue Moon Stables in Corydon, and after calling the stables, the board of realtors decided the unique charity would be perfect for their cause. "This is going to help with a lot of our marketing and getting the program started," said Stacy Denton, owner and operator of Blue Moon Stables. "This way we can bring in people to just have an initial experience with the horse. We want Henderson and the surrounding area to feel the impact of what we have to offer." Race day kicked off with a pony dash for kids. Divided into different age groups, more than 15 children rode stick horses, crossed the finish line and received a gift bag, including bubbles. Courtesy of Blue Moon Stables, three horses were present for people to pose with and pet. Sir Dorset, a retired racing horse who competed multiple times at Ellis Park, stood in the winners' circle at the end of the race, draped with roses to congratulate the winners. The top 10 male and female winners in each category received medals, while all participants received a T-shirt for the event and Downtown Henderson Partnership offered a discount to participants. In total the event raised approximately $5,400. "The Realtor community has really stepped up to ensure this is a successful event," said Vanderpool. "The members of the board are always willing to give of their time and resources. They are truly a giving group." Mississippi River levels impacting Burlington tourism, barge transport The problem is especially dire on the Lower Mississippi, where low water-level barriers are restricting corn and soybean shipments to New Orleans. NORWALK The parents at Marvin Elementary School are asking residents to make a commitment a commitment to eat. "It's pretty easy. You're getting food and at the same time you're helping out your kids' school," said Sarah Mills, a member of the Parent Teacher Organization at the school. The school is raising funds for its PTO through its collaboration with Winfield Street Espresso and Panini Bar, 69 Winfield Street. The deli has committed to dedicate 15 percent of its funds to the school between 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. on May 13. "What would be the point of being in business? There's really no point for me, it's all about being involved in the community," said Breno Donatti, the sole owner of the 91-year-old panini place. The money donated to the PTO would pay for the things the East Norwalk school cannot afford. In the past, PTO fundraising has paid for free field trips to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, a blow-up planetarium, well-known performers and regular ice cream socials. "East Norwalk is a small and very tight community," said Donatti. "All the businesses around here have been here forever, including the school and including the deli." The PTO will place a donation box on the front counter where customers who wish to contribute can put their receipts. Donatti said they make about $3,400 in sales usually, and with raised awareness they could make even more that Friday. He said donations could get up to $1,000. "It's a give and take," he said. "The community really feed and supports my family and we want to give back. We want to help." Residents can visit www.groupraise.com/events/12518 to confirm their attendance at Winfield Street Espresso and Panini Bar on May 13. Nearly 60,000 Connecticut children under age 6 were reported with lead exposure in 2013, and an additional 2,275 children had high enough levels of the toxin in their blood to be considered poisoned. While those numbers, the latest available from the state Department of Public Health, may seem high, health experts say they actually must be higher because of significant gaps in state-mandated testing. Even though Connecticut has some of the strictest lead-screening laws in the country requiring every child to be tested twice, once a year, before age 3 DPH figures show that only half were screened twice, as mandated. Unlike in Flint, Mich., where residents were poisoned when a corrosive water source was directed through aging lead-lined pipes, the main culprit in Connecticut is lead paint. Though banned in 1978, lead-based paint is present in countless older apartment buildings and homes, especially in urban centers, such as Norwalk, Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport. Connecticut's "Requirements and Guidance for Childhood Lead Screening" set stringent rules on testing. State law says labs have 48 hours to inform the state and local health departments when they have a report of someone whose lead count is above a certain level. Darleen Hoffler, supervisor for clinical services at the Norwalk Health Department, said it is difficult to test all children but the department is making efforts to reach as many as possible through partnerships with its Lead Poisoning Prevention program and other community organizations "A lot of groups are already reaching out to families with young children and we're trying to go in to the community rather than expecting them to come to us," Hofler said. Most pediatricians are doing the screenings, said Dr. Lisa Menillo, who created and directed the regional lead treatment center at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford before it was closed in 2014. But Menillo said that they are not doing it correctly. "They're not doing it at the right ages, and they're not doing it as often as they should." DPH numbers show that about 30 percent (more than 22,000) of children between 9 months and 2 years old statewide did not have a blood lead test in 2013. And about half of all 3-year-olds that year who had been tested once when younger never had a second test. Norwalk represents the statewide trend with about 69 percent of children between 9 months and 2 years old receiving a blood test in 2013, and about half of once-tested Norwalk 3-year-olds received a second test. Screening "is a hard sell, sometimes," said Lisa Honigfeld, vice president at the Farmington-based Child Health and Development Institute, which is under the nonprofit Children's Fund of Connecticut. She posits that because Connecticut's screening laws are stricter than the federal government's, some pediatricians may not take the state laws seriously. This has spurred the institute to recently launch a training program to educate doctors on the medical imperative of following state lead laws. And a spokeswoman for DPH says the agency "is currently working on increasing our outreach efforts in order to bolster second test numbers." Menillo said some of the problem also may be a perception among pediatricians that lead exposure "is just an inner-city problem." That's not the case, she said. DPH's 2013 numbers show children age 6 and under exposed to lead in Stamford, Norwalk, Greenwich, Fairfield, Danbury, Stratford, Trumbull, and towns in every county in the state. High Risks for Kids Young children are lead's likeliest, and most vulnerable, victims. Their risk of exposure coincides with their peak period of brain development. Healthy babies and toddlers are driven to move and explore. Through frequent hand-to-mouth activity, they may ingest the toxin through peeling lead paint chips, which taste sweet, and lead dust, created as doors and windows in older housing open and close over the years, grinding down the paint. "Kids who are younger absorb lead at [many] times the rate adults will absorb it," said Dr. Hilda Slivka, director of the Regional Lead Treatment Clinic at Connecticut Children's Primary Care Center in Hartford. Lead exposure can cause cognitive deficits a loss in IQ points and speech and developmental delays, as well as hearing, behavioral issues and hyperactivity. But its immediate impact can be subtle or even imperceptible, since its symptoms are not uncommon: loss of appetite, fatigue, abdominal pain, constipation or diarrhea, irritability. Because its effects can be irreversible, lead exposure has long-term societal impacts, such as the millions of dollars spent on special education programs annually, experts say. In two recent studies, researchers at the Children's Environmental Health Initiative, out of Duke University and the University of Michigan, examined lead-screening results and Connecticut Mastery Test scores, focusing on 18,000 fourth-graders. In both studies, CEHI said that the "stark difference between blood lead levels by race" especially between white and black fourth-graders was mirrored in the wide disparity in CMT scores in both reading and math. Both studies conclude that "exposure to lead may account for part of the achievement gap among Connecticut schoolchildren." Lead's Dangers Since 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Connecticut health officials have defined lead poisoning as a blood lead level of greater than or equal to 5 micrograms per deciliter -- although experts agree there is no such thing as a safe level. Once it enters the bloodstream, lead can affect the nervous system and nearly every other system in the body. Scientists say high levels can cause anemia, kidney damage, muscle weakness, brain damage and death. And study after study shows that "levels as low as 5 [micrograms per deciliter] affect IQ, ability to pay attention, and academic achievement." Without a blood test, pinpointing the cause of a child's illness or condition can be difficult, in part because the toxin can affect children differently. "There isn't necessarily one area of the brain that's always affected," said Slivka, of Connecticut Children's Medical Center (CCMC). Lead exposure "can cause hyperactivity, it can cause some decreased ability in speech, it can cause decreased hearing as well as just [decreased] cognitive functioning," Slivka said. Slivka runs a Tuesday morning lead clinic at the primary care center. The clinic gets one or two new patients every week, she said, and "a lot more" in the summer. Her current caseload is about 65 children, from Hartford, Manchester, Meriden, New Britain, Waterbury and elsewhere. It includes 3-year-old Angely Nunez of Hartford. On a recent Tuesday, Angely's mother explained that when a fire forced the family to relocate quickly, they took an apartment on Buckingham Street, a stone's throw from the state Capitol. At the little girl's physical last June, her parents learned that Angely's blood lead level was 14 micrograms per deciliter, nearly three times the 5-microgram level that the DPH defines as poisoning in a child. Her parents realized, her mother said, that Angely had been acting "antsy, really anxious, and would just start screaming." When staff at the federally funded Healthy Homes Program, based at CCMC, inspected the apartment in the fall, they advised the family to move. Angely and her parents now live on Park Street, but the little girl is still being seen at the clinic. Slivka said Angely has a speech delay as a result of the lead in her system. Waterbury resident Latasha Mewson had a more alarming experience with her son. When Mewson tried to enroll 3-year-old KJ into a new day care center last year, she was told they could not accept him because a blood test had shown his lead level at 47 mcg/dl. Mewson said she'd noticed a change in KJ's behavior in the eight months since they'd moved into their Section 8 apartment, which had holes in the walls, peeling paint and decrepit windows, all of which the landlord had refused to fix. The boy had become "very hyperactive," she said, which was "very new." When, as required, the boy's lead level was reported to the DPH and the city, the city inspected and put the family up in a hotel for three weeks, before placing them at their current address several blocks away. KJ is still being treated at CCMC. Slivka said it can take several years of chelation therapy in which a substance to remove heavy metals is injected into the child's body to lower lead levels. In the two decades since Connecticut started screening, the three largest cities generally report the highest number of lead-exposed children under 6. DPH's 2013 report shows: Norwalk 2,234 children with a blood lead level of 4 micrograms or lower, and 68 at 5 mcg or higher; Bridgeport -- 5,754 children with a blood lead level of 4 mcg or lower, and 402 at 5 mcg or higher; New Haven -- 4,114 children with a BLL of 4 mcg or lower, and 405 at 5 mcg or higher; Hartford -- 4,426 children with a BLL of 4 mcg or lower, and 161 at 5 mcg or higher. Extraordinary challenges Nearly 75 percent of Connecticut's housing was built before 1980, compared to 57 percent nationally, according to the National Center for Healthy Housing. This, and the fact that the housing is often in poor cities, makes the state one of the top 10 nationally in terms of lead poisoning risk, according to a 2012 DPH report. Removing lead paint, or lessening the risk of exposure, takes special training or its dangers can be increased. Since 1999, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has funneled more than $116 million to the state government and to cities and nonprofits for lead abatement and related activities. Since 2003, the nonprofit Healthy Homes Program, based at CCMC, has received $31 million from HUD to help property owners in 15 cities, where 62,000 children enrolled in Medicaid live, remove or minimize lead paint. Ronald Kraatz, Healthy Homes' senior manager, says the biggest challenge is "the sheer numbers we're dealing with." "We can reach perhaps 200 houses a year," he said. Of Bridgeport's 58,500 housing units, more than 75 percent were built before 1978, when lead paint was outlawed. In 10 years, after four consecutive HUD grants, the city has remediated "almost 1,000 units," said Sabine Kuczo, until recently the manager of Bridgeport Lead Free Families. Bridgeport's most recent allocation, for $2.3 million, is aimed at making an additional 110 housing units lead free. Of New Haven's 57,500 housing units, 83 percent are pre-1978, according to environmental health director Paul Kowalski. New Haven has remediated about 1,250 housing units. Which leaves, between the state's two largest cities, more than 100,000 housing units to remediate. This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team (www.c-hit.org). Staff writer Kaitlyn Krasselt contributed to this report. WILTON Reading compelling stories that bring people to unfamiliar places is the impetus behind Wilton Librarys community-wide reading program, Wilton Reads, and this years program is no exception. The selection is Circling the Sun by Paula McLain, a historical novel based on the life of Beryl Markham a female pilot and horse-trainer in 1920s Kenya. The story is about a fiercely independent and enigmatic woman who followed her own head and heart. From her early childhood to her east-west transatlantic flight, Markhams struggles in early 20th century Kenya are just as relevant to todays contemporary issues. Paula McLain is The New York Times and international bestselling author of The Paris Wife. This is the librarys 11th season of Wilton Reads, which kicks off on May 18 with a book giveaway and encompasses book discussions, movies, childrens activities, a travel seminar, and culminates with a visit from the author on June 1. McLain will be honored with a Grodin Family Fine Writers Award for outstanding writing when she visits the library. Ann Patchett, The New York Times bestselling author who has twice embraced Wilton Library audiences, remarked about McLain: Paula McLain is considered the new star of historical fiction, and for good reason. Fans of The Paris Wife will be captivated by Circling the Sun, which ... is both beautifully written and utterly engrossing. Elaine Tai-Lauria, executive director of Wilton Library, added: We are thrilled to be bringing Wilton Reads to the community once again. It is an opportunity for us to come together to discuss fine literature and it gives us a chance to look at the world in other ways. This is such a well-crafted story and the exotic locale adds another layer of richness to the experience that we think people will enjoy. Karen Danvers, program manager for the library, noted: We were excited when we heard Paula McLain was available for us. It always brings an added dimension to have the author here discussing the book, its characters, and the issues so that our community can have a personal connection with the material. To encourage readership and to kick off the Wilton Reads 2016 program, 100 paperback copies of Circling the Sun will be distributed to members of the community free of charge courtesy of Fairfield County Bank, on a first-come, first-served basis, on Wednesday, May 18, beginning at 10 a.m. while supplies last. For a little bit of flavor, free Kenyan coffee will be provided by Tusk & Cup Fine Coffee, a new Wilton Center establishment. Many of the activities over the two-week Wilton Reads period are made possible due to the partnerships with Fairfield County Bank and Tusk & Cup Fine Coffee. The library has found another way to involve the community by having people bring in their personal photographs of Kenya beginning May 1 through May 13. The owners of the photographs will digitally scan them so the photos can be projected during Wilton Reads events in a slideshow in the gallery. Interested parties can use their photos, negatives and slides. Participants will be trained on the digital scanner in the Thomas T. Adams, Esq. Innovation Station. Participants will receive a thumb drive of their newly digitized photos. For information, deadline details and registration, email innovation@wiltonlibrary.org. McCray-Wilshusen Gary and Kathy McCray of Grand Island, together with Allen and Tammy Wilshusen of Hebron, are happy to announce the engagement of their children, Jenna McCray and Andrew Wilshusen. They will be united in marriage June 4, 2016, at Peace Lutheran Church in Grand Island. Jenna graduated from Grand Island Senior High in 2011 and received her bachelors degree from the University of Nebraska at Kearney in supply chain management. Andrew graduated from Thayer Central High School in 2012 and will receive his bachelors degree in civil engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in December. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Erika Kinetz (Associated Press) Shanghai, China Sun, May 8, 2016 Gucci America has quit the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition, the second defection since the Washington, D.C.-based group allowed Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba to become a member in April. Michael Kors walked out of the IACC last month, calling Alibaba "our most dangerous and damaging adversary." The outrage over Alibaba's membership raises fresh questions about how effective Alibaba has been in fighting fakes as it pushes to take its e-commerce juggernaut global. It has also allowed the deep loathing some harbor for one of China's global champions to burst into view. Gucci, along with other Kering Group brands like Balenciaga, is suing Alibaba in New York federal court. They accuse Alibaba of knowingly encouraging and profiting from the sale of counterfeit goods on its e-commerce platforms. Alibaba has dismissed the suit as "wasteful litigation." By Saturday, Gucci's name had been struck from the IACC's website. "They were not happy about Alibaba joining," said IACC vice-president Candice Li-Uzoigwe. She said that Gucci informed the group of its decision to leave on Wednesday. "The IACC stands by its decision and is committed to lean into the future and lead a coalition of the willing," IACC president Robert Barchiesi said by email Saturday. "Whether it's payment processors or online marketplaces, the choice is clear, they must be an integral part of the solution." Gucci declined to comment. Alibaba's membership falls into a special category, without leadership positions and voting rights. Barchiesi said that it was created in response to eBay's request for membership. eBay ultimately did not join the coalition. Alibaba said IACC membership would allow it to work more closely and effectively with brands to proactively enforce intellectual property rights. The IACC has over 250 members, including Apple, Cisco Systems and Chanel. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Yuliasri Perdani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, May 7 2016 There is a saying in Hollywood that filmmakers should never work with children or animals. Italian director Alessia Scarso breaks the rule in her feature debut, Italo. Alessia Scarsos Italo tells of a heartwarming friendship between a lonely boy and a stray dog set in the Sicilian town of Scicli. The film is one of 78 films being showcased at the 16th annual Europe on Screen (EoS) film festival, taking place in six cities in Indonesia from April 24 until May 8. It is important for me and Sicily because it is an amazing and true story about this special dog that lived in Scicli some years ago, Alessia, who spent her childhood on Sicily Island, said at the Instituto Italiano di Cultura Jakarta for the festival. The film is inspired by a true story in Scicli, which applied zero-tolerance on stray dogs after a pack of stray dogs attacked a little boy to death in 2009. When a honey colored mongrel, given the name Italo, wanders through the town, everybody wants to get rid of it. The affectionate canine comes to all town events, from weddings to funerals, and accompanies students to school. Italo even saves a young girl from a thief. The dog eventually touches residents hearts and receives the title of honorary citizen. After reading the news about Italo, I went back to Sicily to see the dog. It, indeed, went to funerals, Sunday Mass and school, she said while holding a little Italo doll throughout the interview. Alessia, who has established herself as editor and post-production coordinator, decided to adapt Italos story to the silver screen. I worked in movies for 15 years and for my first feature I wanted to make a love story. The movie, Italo, is not a typical love story as it centers on a dog. But, I feel Italos story is special. In the movie, Alessia created the character of Meno (Vincenzo Lauretta), a lonely and introverted 10-year-old boy who befriends a good natured stray dog by the name of Italo. This created a dilemma for Manos father, Mayor Antonio Blanco (Marco Bocci), who faces pressure from residents to ban stray dogs. Talking through child characters enables us to not only touch children but also the child in every one of us, she said about the development of Menos character. The movie features the best actors that Sicily offers, and the children mostly first-time actors were chosen from an audition participated by 3,000 children in the area. The director, producer, screenwriter, director of photography, art director, editor, costume designer and makeup artist are all women. Having a female crew was not something she planned, Alessia noted. Whats important to me is that they are professional. I hope the system sees it this way. When you think in terms of women and men, you are discriminating. The real Italo passed away in 2011 while Alessia was drafting the script. Playing Italo is Tomak, a trained Golden Retriever that shares similarities with the real Italo. While relatively having no difficulties working with children, Alessi faced a challenge working with the dog during the six-week filming. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Sat, May 7 2016 Southeast Asia could claim to be geopolitically speaking one of the most strategic spots in the world, but it has contributed little to the world of literature. While the region has contributed at least two renowned political figures winners of the Nobel Peace Prize: pro-democracy Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Timor Lestes independence movement leader Jose Ramos Horta no figures from the Southeast Asian literature scene have won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The regions biggest contribution to the world of literature may have been only its cameo role in George Orwells Burmese Days and some other works based on his sojourn there in the mid-20th century. Indonesian writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer may have been close several times to winning the coveted trophy that is the Nobel Prize in Literature, but his passing in 2006 seems to have shut the door for Indonesia, or the region in general, winning the title. Countries in ASEAN have the right to be envious of the achievements of our neighbor to the north, China and India to the west, two nations whose writers have not only won the Noble Prize in Literature but who have also gained greater international acclaim and recognition. Chinas latest win was in 2012 when writer Mo Yan was awarded the prize for what the Nobel committee described as hallucinatory realism. Indias literature scene got its Nobel Prize early in 1913 when Rabindranath Tagore won the award. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Corry Elyda (The Jakarta Post) South Tangerang Sat, May 7 2016 Although the clock had hit 10 p.m. on Thursday, the atmosphere at the first Big Bad Wolf book sale in South Tangerang, Banten, was more like an afternoon as thousands of visitors still roamed around long tables covered in paperbacks. Many women and their children were seen foraging in the childrens section, the biggest collection at the event held at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE) in the BSD City housing complex in South Tangerang. Fathers seemed more interested in biographies or transportation. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, May 7 2016 Education and Culture Minister Anies Baswedan looked discontent on Wednesday as he received results from an Ombudsman report monitoring the national examination for high schools and vocational schools across the country last month. Sitting between Alvin Lie and Lely Pelitasari Soebekty, two Ombudsman commissioners, Anies took the chance to criticize the results, which, among other things, revealed that the computer-based tests were still marred with cheating and other irregularities. What we sought most from the Ombudsman was to show how to prevent such irregularities from happening in the future. Yet, [the report] merely shows the cases. We cannot set out anything without knowing how the cheating still occurred during the exam, Anies said during a meeting with the Ombudsman in the latters office in Kuningan, South Jakarta. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Apriadi Gunawan and Syofiardi Bachyul Jb (The Jakarta Post) Haranggaol/Padang Sat, May 7 2016 Tourists expecting to enjoy the beauty of Lake Toba over the long weekend may be disappointed as the lake has been contaminated by thousands tons of dead fish in the Haranggaol waters, Simalungun, North Sumatra. In response, 1,000 people of Haranggaol sub-district joined together to remove the carcasses of goldfish and tilapia (ikan nila) from the lake on Friday. Hasudungan Siallagan, a cage-culture fish farmer, said the locals were willing to clean Lake Toba because they wanted to prevent the dead animals from polluting the water, which could affect tourism and make the water unsafe for use by residents. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Farida Susanty (The Jakarta Post) Sat, May 7 2016 Various parties overseeing land transportation, including the government and toll road operators, have reassured the public that they are ready to handle heavy traffic during the long weekend, which started early on Thursday due to two consecutive religious holidays. The failure to anticipate the massive flow of travelers leaving Jakarta ahead of the Christmas and New Year holiday last year, when many people were stuck in traffic for more than 24 hours, was a bitter experience for the countrys transportation authorities, prompting then director general of land transportation at the Transportation Ministry Djoko Sasono to resign. The ministrys secretary-general Sugihardjo said Wednesday that his organization had taken pre-emptive measures to handle the traffic by, among other things, intensifying surveillance in traffic jam-prone areas and prohibiting trucks and heavy vehicles from entering toll roads when traffic is congested. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, May 7 2016 Police have detained a tenant and a security guard of the Green Pramuka apartments in East Jakarta after quarreling over parking fees. Cempaka Putih Police spokesman First. Insp. Ruslan said on Friday that the quarrel occurred when the tenant refused to pay the parking fee of Rp 4,000 (30 US Cents) per hour since the tenant paid a monthly fee of Rp 200,000. The argument led to physical assault and involved other tenants and security guards, he said, as quoted by tribunnews.com. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, May 7 2016 After stepping into fashion and the culinary business, actor-turned-host Raffi Ahmad is set to test his entrepreneurial skills in the property sector. The father of one said he was building a playland and pool area in Bintaro, South Tangerang. I am still learning. It happens to be that there is an old playground, so I will upgrade it, the 29-year-old said, as quoted by kompas.com. He added that he would name the playground after his son, Rafathar Malik Ahmad, and expected he would launch the place on his sons birthday. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Kupang Sat, May 7 2016 After drifting for more than 32 hours in the Sabu Sea, 196 passengers travelling onboard the KMP Ranaka ferry were rescued and evacuated to the approaching KMP Ile Mandiri. The Ranaka broke its rudder at around 5.30 p.m. local time during the five-hour journey from Kupang to Sabu on Wednesday. We managed to evacuate all 196 passengers and a cargo of 13 vehicles to Biu Port in East Sabu, Kupang branch state run ferry operator PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry general manager Arnold Yansen told The Jakarta Post on Friday. No fatalities were reported as a result of the incident and, having undergone repair in Sabu, the Ranaka ferry is reportedly on its way back to Kupang. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login PYONGYANG, May 6, 2016 -- Photo taken on May 6, 2016 shows the April 25 House of Culture, where the 7th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) is held in Pyongyang, capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The Workers' Party of Korea , DPRK's ruling party, opened its 7th Congress on Friday. It is the first WPK congress in 36 years and the first under the leadership of Kim Jong Un. (Xinhua/Guo Yina) PYONGYANG, May 8 -- Top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un said that the DPRK, as a responsible nuclear weapons state, will strive for world denuclearization and faithfully fulfill obligations of nuclear non-proliferation, state media KCNA reported. Kim emphasized that the DPRK, as it has already made clear, will not resort to nuclear weapons first unless its sovereignty is encroached upon by any aggressive hostile forces with nukes, the report said. He made the remarks when he delivered a report on the work of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) at the party's 7th Congress. Kim stressed that the WPK has worked hard for the implementation of the strategic line of pushing forward economic growth and nuclear development at the same time, which was required by the prevailing situation and the revolutionary cause. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Bandung Sat, May 7 2016 A panel of judges at the Supreme Court has overturned the decision of a lower court to acquit former Indramayu regent Irianto Mahfud Sidik Syafiuddin, aka Yance, in a corruption case pertaining to the acquisition of 82 hectares of land for the development of a coal-fired steam power plant (PLTU) in Sumuradem, Indramayu, West Java, in 2004. The ruling was uploaded to the Supreme Courts official website, mahkamahagung.go.id, on Wednesday. The panel of judges comprised Mohamad Askin, Leopold Luhut Hutagalung and Surya Jaya. The justices sentenced Yance to four years imprisonment and a Rp 200 million (US$ 15,000) fine, or an additional six months in prison. The appeal was filed by prosecutors with the Indramayu Prosecutors Office after the Bandung Corruption Court acquitted Yance of all charges on June 11, 2015. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ruslan Sangadji (The Jakarta Post) Palu Sat, May 7 2016 The Operation Tinombala taskforce has reevaluated its manhunt for members of the East Indonesia Mujahidin (MIT) terrorist group led by Santoso alias Abu Wardah. Having previously focused on Lembah Napu in the districts of Lore Bersaudara, operations have now moved back to Lore Pesisir Bersaudara in Poso regency, Central Sulawesi. Lore Bersaudara refers to the districts of North Lore, South Lore, East Lore and Lore Peore while Poso Pesisir Bersaudara covers the districts of Poso Pesisir, South Poso Pesisir, North Poso Pesisir and other surrounding areas. The joint-security personnel taskforce under Operation Tinombala initially established camp at Lake Tambing in North Lore district but now has moved to Poso Pesisir Bersaudara. They are also tightly monitoring the movements of people in and out of the area. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Sat, May 7 2016 Indonesia saw its unemployment rate slightly fall in February, thanks to a higher absorption rate of workers by a number of sectors, including trade and services, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) has reported. The BPS announced Wednesday that the open unemployment rate (TPT) decreased to 5.5 percent in February, lower than the 5.81 percent posted in the same month last year. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Sat, May 7 2016 I have visited Raja Ampat in West Papua four times in recent years and I visited Misool, Biak, Mapia and Yapen in neighboring Papua 20 years ago on a liveaboard to dive. Progress, especially in infrastructure, is good, however, with the increase of tourism, especially mass tourism and uneducated tour guides, tourism poses a threat to the environment. We need regulated tourism that is based on this environments ability to sustain a human influx. Construction of tourist facilities must be thought out and planned properly. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sun, May 8, 2016 Former president of Timor Leste Jose Ramos-Horta has expressed optimism that the Indonesian government will settle cases of human rights abuses in Papua, saying that officials should prioritize peaceful dialogue. Despite long decades of insurgency and rebellion from Papuan separatists, the government should not regard these people as enemies, but should instead work to rebuild trust with them, Horta said. The process will not be easy because the government has neglected Papua for too long, Horta added. President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's commitment to the Papuan people had begun to build up a sense of goodwill after a period of prolonged disappointment, Horta said. "They are hopeful that significant steps will be taken to improve human rights in Papua," Horta told journalists on Thursday. The statement follows Horta's visit to Papua from May 2 to May 4 after receiving an invitation to inspect development in the region from Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan. During the visit, Horta reportedly met with Papuan officials including Papua Governor Lukas Enembe, Papua Legislative Council Speaker Yunus Wonda, the Papuan People's Assembly (MRP), local teachers and medical assistants. Horta also met with former rebels who used to be active in the Free Papua Movement, but who now agreed to develop Papua as a part of Indonesia. The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) will cooperate with human rights NGOs to investigate cases of violence in Papua, Horta said. The government should also work closely with local churches, he added. "Indonesia can settle the human rights cases in Papua internally without the help of foreign actors," Horta asserted. The government should also avoid using violence that often ended up wounding innocent civilians, Horta said. According to Horta, the government should find the right balance between national development and understanding centuries-old Papuan values. This will be difficult because Papua is a large region, Horta said. The government should develop programs to create more economic opportunity for Papuans, he went on to say. Besides developing infrastructure and reducing the disparity gap, education should also be a top priority to advance the quality of the regions human resources, Horta said. Indonesia should take note of Singapore, a state with minimum natural resources, but a positive reputation in the international community, Horta said. "A nation can be minuscule, but if everybody studies and gets a degree from a reputable university, they can operate in a big industry," Horta said. (dan) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin thejakartapost.com (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sun, May 8, 2016 A young, 14-year-old girl from Bengkulu was gang-raped last month on April 2. Now, a similar such case has been uncovered in Manado, North Sulawesi. In a press conference on Saturday, the mother of the victim said 15 men had raped her daughter in January. "It started with my daughter being invited by two girls, who were also our neighbors, to Bolangitang, North Sulawesi, five hours from Manado," the victim's mother said to reporters as quoted by Kompas.com. Then, the mother continued, the two women asked her daughter to take drugs. She added that after the drugs had taken effect, her daughter was dragged into a hotel and forced to take off her clothes. 15 men then proceeded to rape her. "My daughter asked for help from outside the hotel, but because she was drunk, she went back to the room. Every time she snapped out of confusion, she saw herself naked and those men continuously raped her," the victim's mother said. After Bolangitang, she was then brought to Gorontalo where she was again raped by some other men, the mother added. "She said after reaching Gorontalo, she was assaulted once more by four men. One of them might have been a police officer," she said. The victim was so traumatized that she did not recognize her parents and siblings when she got back to Manado. The case was reported to the local police in Manado in January 2016. The case was then transferred to the North Sulawesi Regional Police. Gorontalo Police will also be involved in the case. However, the family believes that the case has not been handled by the police with professionalism. "In our opinion, there has not been adequate progress. Those two women who gave out the invitation to our daughter were only detained one day and then released. We hope for more support from the Womens Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry," she said. In relation to the case, Professor Vennetia Ryckerens Danes said the ministry would follow the process of the case and provide legal support through the Indonesian Advocate Association. "From the explanation we have received, this case can be categorized as human trafficking. It also involves corrupt police officers," Danes said. (anh/dan) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin ERIC TALMADGE (Associated Press) PYONGYANG, North Korea Sun, May 8, 2016 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said during a critical ruling party congress that his country will not use its nuclear weapons first unless its sovereignty is invaded, state media reported Sunday. Kim also said he is ready to improve ties with "hostile" nations in a diplomatic overture in the face of international pressure over its recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch. He also called for more talks with rival South Korea to reduce misunderstanding and distrust between them and urged the United States to stay away from inter-Korean issues, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. "Our republic is a responsible nuclear state that, as we made clear before, will not use nuclear weapons first unless aggressive hostile forces use nuclear weapons to invade on our sovereignty," Kim said in a speech carried by the KCNA. He said that North Korea "will sincerely fulfill its duties for the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and work to realize the denuclearization of the world." The North is ready to improve and normalize ties with countries hostile to it if they respect its sovereignty and approach it in a friendly manner, Kim said. At the congress, Kim also announced a five-year plan starting this year to develop the North's dismal economy and identified improving the country's power supply and increasing its agricultural and light-manufacturing production as the critical parts of the program, the KCNA said. Analysts have anticipated Kim would use the first Workers' Party congress in decades to propose talks with rivals to exploit what he considers to be increased leverage as a nuclear power. North Korea carried out its fourth nuclear test in January and followed with a satellite launch in February that was seen by outside governments as a banned test for long-range missile technology, earning worldwide condemnation and tougher U.N. sanctions. The North responded to the punitive measures, and also the annual U.S.-South Korean military drills in March and April, by firing a series of missiles and artillery into the sea. It also claimed advancements in developing nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, and combined them with threats of pre-emptive nuclear strikes on Washington and Seoul. Analysts said that the North's belligerent stance might have been intended at rallying North Korean people around Kim ahead of the congress and also promote military accomplishments to the domestic audience to make up for the lack of tangible economic achievements to present at the party meeting. South Korea has taken a hard-line approach to North Korea following its nuclear test and long-range rocket launch, shutting down a jointly-run factory park in a North Korean border town that had been the last remaining symbol of cooperation between the rivals and slapping Pyongyang with its own economic sanctions. Seoul has also been in talks with Washington on deploying a sophisticated U.S. missile defense system in South Korea. North Korea had spent the past months resisting talks with the South and threatening attacks against it, but Kim spoke with a different tone at the conference. He said "fundamentally improving" inter-Korean relations was an urgent matter for his government and also called for the South to "hold hands" with the North as a "companion" for unification, the KCNA said. However, Kim stressed that the South must first employ practical measures to improve ties and throw out laws and institutional systems that have hampered them. He also said that the United States should no longer be involved with matters in the Korean Peninsula, and that if enemy forces "ignite the fire of war," the North was ready to mercilessly punish the aggressors and accomplish the "historical feat" of unification. North Korea has long decried the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea as a buffer against possible aggression. South Korea's Foreign Ministry said ahead of the North's ruling party congress in Pyongyang that the priority of any future talks with the North would be its denuclearization. (dan) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sat, May 7, 2016 Sadiq Khans victory as the first Muslim mayor of London is expected to inspire Jakarta voters to elect a candidate as governor based on their capacity and track record and not based on antiquated views, such as race and religion, says Teman Ahok (Friends of Ahok). Teman Ahok is a group of volunteers, who support incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama and help him collect photocopies of voter identity cards required by law for him to run as an independent candidate. Teman Ahok spokeswoman Amalia Ayuningtyas said on Saturday that the group supported the incumbent not because of his Chinese and Christian Indonesian background, but because the volunteers believed that Ahok had improved the city in his two years in office. Even if he follows another religion or comes from another race, we keep supporting him because of his competence as a leader, Amalia told thejakartapost.com. The Associated Press reported on Saturday that Khan became London's first Muslim mayor on Saturday, as voters rejected smear campaigns linking him to extremism, as the son of a South London bus driver was handed a decisive victory. The Labour Party politician received more than 1.3 million votes, 57 percent, compared to conservative rival Zac Goldsmith's 43 percent. Khan, who calls himself "the British Muslim who will take the fight to extremists," accused Goldsmith of trying to scare and divide voters in a proudly multicultural city of 8.6 million people with more than a million Muslims. Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama congratulated Khan through his Twitter account: @basuki_btp: Congratulations @SadiqKhan, the new mayor of London. Inspiring story of democracy, merit and tolerance. Amalia said that Ahok derived support for reelection because he had made significant improvements to Jakarta, particularly in reforming the bureaucracy and preventing the embezzlement of city funds. She said the group had now managed to collect 771,435, which exceeded the general election commission (KPU) requirement for an independent candidate to run in the 2017 gubernatorial election of 532,000 copies of ID cards. Separately, Charta Politika Indonesia executive director Yunarto Wijaya believed like Khan, Ahok had a great chance to be reelected. He believed the majority of Jakartans no longer held antiquated views. He said voters would use rationality to vote for a leader. He cited the election of now-President Joko Jokowi Widodo as a city governor back in 2012, who took Ahok as a running mate, despite his minority background. Voters now look at the leadership and track record of candidates. They vote based on meritocracy, not antiquated considerations, Yunarto said. Senior political analyst with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) Siti Zuhro said Indonesian people had become open-minded to receiving leaders from minorities. Racial and religious issues are not a problem. Just look at the New Order era, where the leader of the regime [Soeharto] was Javanese and Muslim but we could see the public resentment towards his governance, Siti said. Any perspective that deems Indonesians as still being intolerant is not valid any more. Racial and religious issues were fading away, especially when supported by sincere leaders of good character, Siti said. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin thejakartapost.com (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sun, May 8, 2016 The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has claimed wind speeds triggered turbulence for Hong Kong Air and Etihad over Indonesian skies recently, updating initial claims that the airplanes had entered rainstorm clouds. "According to Himawari 8 satellite imagery, the planes did not enter cumulonimbus clouds during the flight route," the head of flight meteorology, Mustari Heru Jatmika, said on Saturday. Instead, he added, the turbulence happened because of waves from the Bukit Barisan Mountains in South Sumatera and the cumulonimbus clouds around the route, calling the phenomenon a form of clear air turbulence (CAT) Etihad Airways EY-474 from Abu Dhabi to Jakarta experienced severe turbulence at 37,000 feet causing 31 passengers to suffer light injuries, including broken bones. The same case happened to Hong Kong Airlines HX-6704 from Denpasar to Hong Kong at 41,000 feet, causing 17 passengers to suffer light wounds, and three passengers to suffer severe injuries. CAT commonly occurs at the upper layer of the atmosphere, around 30,000 to 50,000 feet, because the water vapor level is not high compared to the cumulonimbus clouds. Mountain waves interact with the cumulonimbus clouds and cause a wave to break in the upper layer of the atmosphere, causing turbulence. "In Hong Kong Airways HX-6704, the CAT happened at a severe level, but the scale was not big enough to be detected. At that time, the wind speed difference was increasing at the tropopause level, causing severe turbulence," he said. During the flight, there was the potential for CAT in East Kalimantan. However, the percentage probability was just 4 percent, and no cumulonimbus clouds were detected around the area. "Since it is hard to identify the location of CAT, we hope the airlines will increase awareness and send an AIREP," he said. AIREP is a report for CAT and other forms of turbulence sent to the Air Terminal Service (ATS) so it can be directly broadcast without delay, Mustari said. (anh/dan) A photo circulating online shows Chen's colleagues give him emergency treatment after the incident occured on May 5 in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong province. [Photo: weibo.com] A retired doctor in south China's Guangdong Province died on Saturday after being stabbed in a knife attack by a former patient on Thursday afternoon. Chen Zhongwei, former director of the stomatology department of the Guangdong General Hospital, who had fallen into a coma after suffering life-threatening injuries, died at 12:39 p.m. after 43 hours of emergency treatment, the hospital announced. Chen was attacked around 5:20 p.m. Thursday, according to police in Yuexiu District in the provincial capital Guangzhou. After the stabbing, the male attacker jumped from the balcony of Chen's home and fell to his death, an initial police investigation showed. Chen's wife also suffered injuries in the incident, police said. The hospital confirmed that the man received medical treatment from Chen 25 years ago and had a history of mental disorders. Violence against medical staff has made headlines in recent years, underscoring strained doctor-patient relations in China. In March 2014, a doctor at the Chaozhou Central Hospital in Guangdong Province was forced to march as a form of public shaming by relatives of a patient whose life the doctor failed to save. In February 2014, a doctor in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province was beaten to death by a patient. A Maltese cargo ship, which allegedly sank China's fish boat in East China Sea, has been detained by maritime authorities in east China. Some 20 crew members onboard, including the captain, were also controlled in Beilun in the city of Ningbo. Several injured, casualty in bypass road accident PHUKET: One man is dead, and three others injured as a result of an accident this afternoon (May 8) on the bypass road. accidentsdeathtransport By Eakkapop Thongtub Sunday 8 May 2016, 10:39PM At 3.40pm today (May 8) Pol Maj Santi Prakopkarn of Phuket Police was alerted to a multi-vehicle accident with multiple injuries in the area in front of Thanachart Bank on the southbound lane of Chalermprakiet Rama IX Rd (bypass road). Arriving to the scene, police found a totaled white compact car with Phuket plates and a bronze-coloured pick-up truck, also with Phuket plates, about 100 metres away. Traffic was backed up for many kilometres. Near the pick-up truck, Kusoldham rescue workers were tending to four accident victims, one who was a man in critical condition who was then rushed to Vachira hospital, where he later died from injuries. The deceased was named as Mr Narin Saeng-anan, 44, of Nan province. Police questioned the driver of the pick-up truck, named as Mr Damnoen Tanya, 49, who reported that leading up to the accident, he had driven from Nai Yang Beach and noticed the white car ahead of him in an accident, which prompted him to swerve and lose control of his own vehicle. An investigation is ongoing and police have yet to appoint blame. China's first Confucius classroom in a prison opened in east China's Shandong Province on Saturday. (Photo/Youth.cn) JINAN, May 8 -- China's first Confucius classroom in a prison opened in east China's Shandong Province on Saturday. The classroom opened in Luzhong Prison in central Shandong as part of a charity program funded by the China Confucius Foundation. Lin Guojun, deputy head of the provincial prison management bureau, said that Luzhong Prison will pilot a series of changes, including classroom and library design, training prison instructors in Confucian teachings and family activities in order to improve the prison's cultural atmosphere. He said that the classroom will encourage the traditional teaching methods of handwriting, reading classics and moral education. Named after the ancient Chinese philosopher, Confucius schools and classrooms are generally run as non-profit public institutions to help foreigners understand China through language and culture classes at overseas universities. The first such institute was established in 2004. China's first Confucius classroom in a prison opened in east China's Shandong Province on Saturday. (Photo/Youth.cn) First week of South Dakota's traditional pheasant hunt is in the books Police take Eulalio Tordil, 62, a suspect in three fatal shootings in the Washington, D.C., area into custody in Bethesda, Md., Friday. The quantum of corruption in the BJP-led coalition government in Goa is much greater than in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal, Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut said on Sunday. Speaking to the media, Raut also demanded the arrest of "two to three" ministers in the Goa cabinet on charges of graft. The Rajya Sabha MP also said that the AgustaWestland probe should be completed within a limited time-frame. "Goa has become a dumping ground of corruption... The volume of corruption is more than AgustaWestland (scam) in the Goa government. We have evidence. In Goa, two three ministers should go to prison, please clean up this state too," Raut appealed to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. On Friday, without taking names, Parrikar had attacked top Congress leaders, suggesting their involvement in the VVIP chopper scam during a reply to a discussion in Parliament. Raut, while lauding Parrikar's inferences in Parliament on Friday, said the probe should have a fixed time frame, lest it prolong like the investigations in the Bofors scam of the 1980s. "We welcome Parrikar's comment, but how long will the investigation last? Two months, three months, four months? You give the country a time limit, otherwise it will be a repeat of the Bofors (probe) which lasted for years together," Raut said. "If the Italian government has arrested the bribe giver, why are you scared of arresting the bribe taker? You have the name, you have evidence. Investigate it quickly and in two, three months give the name of the culprit to the people in this country," he added. There is a huge nexus among corporate hospitals, pharma companies and doctors who engage in exploitative practices called 'target system' and 'cuts' with the motive of earning profits, claims a book by doctors, who broke their silence on rampant malpractices. In a chilling narrative, the book 'Dissenting Diagnosis' says 'packages' offered by multispeciality corporate hospitals, incorporating a range of tests under 'master checkup', not only drains an individual of his hard-earned money but the collected samples go down the 'sink' as well. The book launched last week lays bare the rot in the medical sector as it gives first person accounts of patients, doctors and pathologists from across the country. In the book, a pathologist, who did not want to be named, explains that sink tests essentially means samples collected from patients are just thrown into the wash basin without testing as doctors prescribe such tests, which by mutual understanding, are "not actually carried out" by the pathologist. Dr Arun Gadre and Dr Abhay Shukla, the authors of the book, have also extensively documented other exploitative practices such as the 'target system', the concept of 'cuts' and how corporate hospitals work like industries with the sole motive of the 'shareholders' being "more and more profit". Gadre and Shukla write how a senior super-specialist urologist had to leave a corporate hospital because its young MBBS CEO castigated him for not performing a particular operation for removal of a kidney stone where there was no need for any such procedure. "These hospitals run on a perverted concept. Their only purpose is to satisfy the interests of their shareholders. The more profit the better. They go on prescribing needless investigations and surgeries," Gadre says. Shukla says a person had to sell his apartment after a major corporate hospital came up with a bill of an astounding Rs 42 lakh for the treatment of his wife. "The actual expenditure cannot possibly even come close to this." Both the authors, associated with Pune-based SATHI which specialises in policy advocacy related to health care, underline the need for a radical "restructuring" of the Medical Council of India (MCI), which they say has turned a blind eye to the systemic assualt on ethics in the medical profession. "There are hospitals which depict pictures of a person, before and after a surgery. It is impossible to check. Whatever actions the MCI ethics committee take in Delhi, the state councils defy. "They get into collaboration with the particular doctor. What is the point of taking up the issue with the central MCI when you know the state would defy it and not listen to it. We are now putting pressure on the Central government and saying that the state councils must listen to the observations and punishments by the central MCI," he said. Among other shocking revelations, the book describes how in the absence of serious ailments, a "pretence" of surgery is performed, a patient is given anesthesia and some stitches are put on the skin, to show that an operation has been done. Nowadays doctors do not even record the patient's history properly, said Dr Punyabrata Goon, a General Practitioner in Kolkata. They just write out a list of investigations as they get a commission for doing that, he says. "Almost all the laboratories in our area give 50 per cent commission and almost all the doctors accept these commissions. For many doctors, the money earned through commissions is much more than that earned from fees. In our area, the commission rates are: X-rays 25 per cent, and 33 per cent for MRIs and CT scans," he says. A young doctor's lament, on him being pulled up by the CEO of a corporate hospital for "low conversion rate" of 15 per cent as opposed to 40 per cent fixed by the management is also recorded in the book. Conversion rate means out of the total number of patients seen by the doctor, the percentage which are advised to undergo surgery or procedures. The Rajasthan unit of the Congress on Sunday reacted strongly to the "removal" of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's name from the new textbooks for classes sixth to eight in the state's schools. State Congress chief Sachin Pilot said: "It's absolutely unacceptable that the BJP is working in a vindictive manner by not even mentioning India's first prime minister in the textbooks." Pilot said the party will agitate on the issue and approach the union government as well as the governor and might even seek legal opinion. "We will not allow this sort of deliberate elimination and deletion of (the names of) big leaders from textbooks as it is unbecoming of any elected government," he added. Pilot said that they (Bharatiya Janata Party) have proven that they are taking politics to a lower level. The Congress leader said that Nehru's contribution to the freedom struggle and as the first prime minister of independent India is enshrined in history. "The BJP can change textbooks but it can't rewrite history. We condemn this act. The Congress will oppose the Rajasthan government's move and ensure that these kind of things are not allowed as it shows a clear vindictive nature of the BJP." He said Hindu leader Vinayak Damodar Savarkar is mentioned in the books but not Nehru. "This shows the kind of mindset the BJP is working with. It is very unfortunate and very sad that they are coming to such low levels of politics." Media reports said Nehru's name had been given a miss in the new textbooks to be made available in the market soon. These books, uploaded on publisher Rajasthan Rajya Pathyapustak Mandal's website, are used by schools affiliated to the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education. Meanwhile, Rajasthan's Minister of State for Education (Primary and Secondary) Vasudev Devnani said he was yet to see the new textbooks and will be able to comment only after seeing them. [COMMUNICATED CONTENT] Moshe Arazi is a young man with an unusual story. He is a 27 year old Israeli, currently in the US for medical treatment. He is battling Behcets syndrome, a rare autoimmune disease that attacks blood vessels, joints, and internal organs. Moshe unfortunately has the distinction of being one of the most severe cases of this disease that doctors have ever seen, both in Israel and the US. The doctors in Israel were unable to offer any treatment for Moshes condition, so on the advice of Rav Chaim Kanievsky he travelled to the US on a special medical transport for treatment. The doctors in the rheumatology dept. at Mt. Sinai Hospital in NY have been able to offer a glimmer of hope for a treatment that hopefully will improve his condition. Moshe has always been a fighter. He was a soldier in an elite commando unit in the IDF and he was seriously injured in the Gaza war. As a newly married couple a few years ago, he and his wife Leann legally adopted her six siblings and took upon themselves the support of this extended family. Leanns mother had died a few years before, and her father was neglectful and abusive. Leann herself suffers from kidney disease and has been the beneficiary of two kidney transplants. Moshe and Leann need our help in continuing this support while he is undergoing treatment in the US. Moshe is also a fighter in another way. Both he and his wife were raised in irreligious homes, and both of them have not only become completely shomrei mitzvos, but they have become instrumental in bringing others back to torah observance. Over the past few years, Moshe has been confined to a wheelchair as his condition worsened. Despite that, he has accompanied Rav Aryeh Schechter, a noted Kiruv figure on the Israeli scene, on many lectures and seminars to Baalei Teshuva in Israel. He has used his own ability to overcome hardships as a source of inspiration for others. Now its our turn to help Moshe cover the cost of his treatment which will include major surgery, and the cost of supporting the family in Israel. Hopefully, through that he will be able to benefit from the lifesaving treatment being offered in the US, and he and his wife will be able to enjoy a full life together. Moshes family is from Migdal Haemek in Israel, and Rav Yitzchak Grossman, the respected Kiruv pioneer behind the Migdal Ohr Institutions, is quite familiar with Moshes situation. In the US, Yitzchak Skolnik and Naftali Horowitz are familiar with the situation and can attest to the facts. Any inquiries can be made to 347-405-1368. Lets join together and show them an outpouring of love and support. Please donate generously. Click HERE to donate or visit https://www.youcaring.com/moshe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT5kC-0PHqU For tax deductible receipts for contributions in excess of $360 please contact the creator of You Caring account through the donation page. Moshe has been the subject in Mishpacha magazine click here to read the article. [By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the Five Towns Jewish Times] Once, a number of years ago, there was a minyan for an Avel somewhere in Suffolk County. There were only ten people present, one of them was a Rav. The Rav realized that the minyan was barely a minyan and that one of those that were gathered was disqualified in being counted for a minyan. The Rav announced that there are about 24 times when a minyan requires eleven and not ten, and that this is one of those times. After trying for an eleventh for the next fifteen minutes or so, the situation became futile and the gathered people left. What was the reason? One of the ten people was a Jew for J. The Mishna Brurah rules that such a person is ineligible to be counted. THE AIRACHIN GEMORAH I once had a remarkably fascinating conversation with my Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Henoch Leibowitz zatzal regarding Rav Moshe Feinstein s understanding of the Gemorah in Airachin (15a). Rav Moshes view is discussed in Igros Moshe Vol. I #23 (and other places too). The Gemorah states that the spies said the words, Ki chazak ho memenu. The Gemorah says, do not read it memenu but render it as memeno It is greater than Him. RAV FEINSTEINS UNDERSTANDING: SPIES WERE HERETICS Rav Moshe understands this Gemorah that, no ifs, ands or buts the Meraglim, the spies, were full-blown Apikorsim heretics. And yet still, they are considered an Aida a congregation. From here, Rav Moshe Feinstein extrapolates that in order to be considered an Aida a congregation, there is no need not to be a Kofer. A kofer could thus be counted for a minyan , writes Rav Moshe. There is another ramification as well. In order for a person to be a public Shabbos violator, there is no need for ten religious Jewish people to be the public. Any ten Jews will do. RAV LEIBOWITZ: SPIES SIN WAS VERY SUBTLE DAKEI DAKOS My Rosh Yeshiva disagreed with Rav Feinstein on his understanding of the Gemorah. He explained that the sin of the Meraglim was not full-blown but rather within the parameters of the concept of Dakei Dakos infinitesimally small and barely detectable. This being the case, there are two ramifications 1] A heretic may not be counted, and 2] In order to make someone a public Shabbos violator he must do so in front of ten Shabbos observing Jews. CONCEPT OF DAKEI DAKOS The Yeshiva world has always understood the sins that are discussed about the great people in Tanach in a similar fashion, and that the Torah will exaggerate the sin of a great person because regarding such a great person it is as if we had this much larger sin. Thus, when Avroho Avinu says the words Bmah aidah ki ershena es haaretz he was not expressing doubt as to Hashem keeping His promise he was just asking for the specific sign that Hashem would give him. Why then was he punished? The Alter from Slabodka explains that he was not so sensitive as to avoid using a language or expression that might connote doubt as to whether Hashem will keep his promise. It is this insensitivity to the proper use of language that caused the punishment and our exile into Mitzrayim. This is the concept of Dakei Dakos. BACK UP FOR RAV LEIBOWITZS READING The Chofetz Chaim zatzal (Shmiras HaLashon 2:19), great-great uncle of Rav Henoch Leibowitz ztl, has a different understanding of that Gemorah than does Rav Moshe Feinstein ztl. He writes, in contrast to Rav Feinstein ztl: Certainly, the spies did not deny the power of the Holy One Blessed be He. Rather, they thought that since for a great matter such as this, to beat out a nation of warriors and giants like these, a miracle would be required, they did not believe that HKBH would perform miracles for the nation of Israel after they had sinned. That which they said, Kavyachol He cannot take out His kailim from there their intent was, when does HKBH drive out a nation (take out His kailim?) When he finds a different one that is better than that one. But after we have sinned great sins regarding the Golden Calf, and Basar Taavah, He will not have us overcome great nations like these. And that which Hashem promised to give us the land that was only if we merited it if the framework of being Tzaddikim.. The Pninei Tefillah page 125 cites Rav Elyashiv zatzal as disagreeing with Rav Feinsteins ruling of the Gemorah in Airachin as well. ALPHABETICAL LISTING What follows below is an alphabetical listing of who may and may not be counted for a minyan of ten. The rulings may be controversial and perhaps insulting to some. However, they are based on the Mishna Brurah and the rulings of contemporary Poskim and represent normative Orthodox Jewish law. Of course, one should check with their own Moreh Horaah for halacha lmaaseh. Androgynous An androgynous may not be counted for a minyan (See MB 55:3). However, it might be necessary to further define what constitutes a true halachic androgynous. The Maharam Shik (Responsa OC 32) rules, however, that under extreme situations (BShaas HaDchak) an androgynous may be counted in a minyan. When Rav Elyashiv ztl was asked whether one may rely on the Maharam Shik by his son-in-law (Shiurei Torah LaRofin Siman 265), he said that in extreme situations, such as when the minyan might fall apart otherwise, one may rely on it. Apikores An Apikores may not be counted for a minyan. This is whether he denies the written Torah or the oral law (See MB 55:47). Child a Child may not be counted (SA OC 55:4). Crazed Person may not be counted (55:8). However, if he is sometimes normal and sometimes not when he is normal he may be counted. There are various views as to what is considered a Shoteh (crazed). Deaf Person Who Cannot Speak A deaf person who cannot speak even if he was born normally may not be counted for a minyan (SA OC 55:8 and BH Hu) Deaf Person Who Speaks but doesnt hear A deaf person who can speak but cannot hear may be counted for a minyan but he may not be counted for a minyan for the Torah and he may not be the Shliach Tzibbur ( SA OC 55:8. See also BH Siman 156 vLikros for his disqualification for Shliach tzibbur). If he can hear through equipment then he may be counted for all. Drugged Person Who Cannot Speak Before the king May not be counted (MB 99:10) Drunk Person Who cannot speak before the king May not be counted (MB 99:10) Half-Slave A half-slave who is a half a free man and half a slave may not be counted for a minyan (MB 55:3). Karaite May not be Counted (MB 55:47). Menudah Under the Ban for Monetary Issues may be counted (BH 55:12 Menudah) Menudah Under the Ban for Sinning may not be counted (BH 55:12 Menudah) Menudah Under Ban for violating Gzeiras Tzibbur may not be counted (BH 55:12 Menudah). This is someone who has been placed under Cherem. Someone under a siruv froman accepted Beis Din for not giving a Get falls under this category. Mourner a mourner within shiva may be counted for bentching and for Tefillah (See MB 55:24). Although some question whether he may be counted for a minyan for the reading of the Torah since he is forbidding in learning Torah, common practice is to allow it. He may hear the reading but not delve in it. Mumar for Avodah Zarah A mumar for Avodah zarah may not be counted for a minyan (MB 55:46). Anyone that does not believe in the Oneness of Hashem is not to be counted for a minyan (Vilna Gaon on Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 21 Page 42 ). Any Jewish believer in Christianity of any form may not be included in a minyan. Mute A mute person who can hear but cannot speak may be counted for a minyan (See SA OC 55:8). Indeed, it would seem that eve two mutes may be counted in the minyan (See Rav Shulchan Aruch). Onain An Onain may not be counted for a minyan if the burial arrangements have not yet been made (MB 55:24, 199:9). He is also not counted for Zimun. Shabbos Violator A public Shabbos violator may not be counted (MB 55:46). Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach ztl (Minchas Shlomo Vol. II 4:10) writes that one should avoid doing so. There are those who are lenient when the Shabbos violator would be embarrassed to violate Shabbos in front of a great man (Rabbi Ben Tzion Abba Shaul in Ohr LTzion Vol. II #5). [See also MB 385:6.] This may also be true if they are embarrassed to do so in Shul itself. The Chazon Ish (see Maaseh Ish Vol. II page 93) allowed a Shabbos violator an Aliyah to the Torah as well. Rav Dovid Tzvi Hoffmann in Melamed LHoil (Vol I #29) writes that if it is known that the Shabbos violator believes in Hashem, one may rely on the ruling of the Binyan Tzion (Vol II #23) that he does not have the status of a gentile. He further writes, however, if one can avoid doing so by davening elsewhere without embarrassing the person one should do so and not rely upon this leniency. Sinner Out of Spite May not be counted (MB 55:46). Sinner on Account of Desire May be Counted (SA OC 55:11) Slave A slave may not be counted (SA OC 55:4). Sleeping Person It is a debate whether a sleeping person may be counted as one of the minyan of ten. The Mechaber holds that he can, but the Mishna Brurah (55:34) cites opinions who rule otherwise. The MB rules that for Zimun and Chazaras HaShatz one should wake at least to the point where he is groggy. For Kaddish and Kedushah one can be more lenient but only if it is just one of them. If there are two people sleeping, one may not count them. For Krias HaTorah and Megillah reading all agree that a sleeping person does not count. For Birchas Kohanim it is unclear. Someone Still in Shmoneh Esreh may be counted (MB 55:33). Tinok ShNishba A child that was raised in a manner where he did not know better and he does not observe Shabbos may be considered as a kidnapped child and may be counted in a minyan, but only if he was not exposed to Torah. Thus a Yeshiva dropout may not be included in a minyan if he no longer observes Shabbos. A Russian Jew who was not exposed to a Yeshiva education, however, can be counted (Pninei Tefillah citing Rav Elyashiv page 127.) Tumtum a person with undeveloped genitals and his or her genitals cannot be determined may not be counted for a minyan (SA OC 55:3) Woman A woman may not be counted for a minyan (SA OC 55:4). The author can be reached at [email protected] While there is no official word, rumors leaked to the press signal continued progress in negotiations towards bringing the Machane Tzioni opposition party into the coalition, which would add 24 seats. Mounting speculation includes a report last week that Machane Tzioni MK Shelly Yacimovich will replace Justice Minister (Bayit Yehudi) Ayelet Shaked as party leader Education Minister Naftali Bennett has reportedly warned Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that if he brings Machane Tzioni into the coalition, his party will leave and relocate its six seats amid the benches of the opposition. It has been clear for some time that working relations between the Prime Minister and Bennett have all but collapsed as the two often get into shouting matches in cabinet meetings and Bennett is not a trusted member of the cabinet in the eyes of Mr. Netanyahu. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) Sheik Raid Salah, who heads the Northern Branch of the Israel Islamic Movement, on Sunday 30 Nissan entered prison to begin serving his sentence. Salah was convicted of incitement to violence as well as racism and will now be serving a 9-month sentence. The original sentence handed down was 11-months but an appeal to the High Court of Justice resulted in the lesser sentence. The latest conviction dates back to a sermon he delivered in Jerusalem about two years ago. Salah has been imprisoned in Israel in the past for his ties to Hamas and continued anti-Israel activities. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) The City watchdog could be asked to investigate shamed credit card firm CPP after a boardroom coup by its founder Hamish Ogston. CPP chairman Roger Canham and chief executive Stephen Callaghan were dethroned along with two non-executive directors last week in a shareholder vote forced by Ogstons ally, the investment firm Schroders. Ousted directors are now considering contacting the Financial Conduct Authority and asking the watchdog to investigate the power struggle that led to them losing their jobs. Boardroom coup: Ousted CPP directors are now considering contacting the Financial Conduct Authority Ogston set up CPP in 1980 and made 120m when it floated on the London Stock Exchange six years ago. But the firm was fined 10.5m in 2012 for misleading customers into buying worthless insurance for debit, credit or store cards even though they were already covered by their banks. Ogston stood down as a director but retained a 42 per cent stake in the AIM-listed company. The now-deposed board claimed he was behind the move by Schroders, which has a 10 per cent stake, to replace them. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 8 Trend: While the Obama administration (and the rest of the world) focuses on whether or not Tehran will fulfill its commitments, we may have missed other nuclear red flags that demand the world's immediate attention. No, not the permanently troubled North Korea, but Iran's neighbor Armenia, said in an article of Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman, director of internationalcommunications for a leading Israeli think tank, posted on The Jerusalem Post agency's website. "As such, the comments could easily be cast aside as angry rhetoric. Nonetheless, why did so few news sources - particularly so few outside of the immediate geographic area - fail to report the statements? The world should not be so eager to let the comments slip. On April 18, just days before Bagratyan's statements, the Georgian State Security Service arresting three Armenian nationals and three citizens of Georgia for attempting to illegally sell roughly $200 million of weapons-grade uranium 238. This recent arrest was not the first. Arrests of Armenians who have crossed into neighboring Georgia have increased in the past two years, according to an article published last month by The World Post (a partnership publication of The Huffington Post), causing alarm among nuclear non-proliferation experts in the US and elsewhere. Landlocked Armenians use Georgia for access to the Black Sea ports, which could be used to traffic nuclear material to the Middle East or anywhere else. Since 2014, the World Post reported, eight Armenians have been arrested for attempting to smuggle and/or sell nuclear materials in Georgia. In January 2016, three Armenians were arrested for attempting to bring cesium 137 across the border. In August 2014, two Armenians were arresting for the same thing", said in an article. Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman stresses in his article, that these arrests come amid reports by intelligence officials that "Islamic State" (IS) and other terrorist groups are trying to obtain materials to build a "dirty bomb", which they could explode in Europe, the United States or Israel. "Someone who would be willing to put the lives of hundreds of thousands or even millions of people at risk to make money is both appalling and unfathomable", Jaffe-Hoffman says. "What's more is that we don't know from exactly where these Armenians are getting the nuclear materials. Until now, it was assumed that Armenia possesses no nuclear weapons and that the country "attaches great importance to universal application and effective implementation of all treaties and regimes, dealing with non-proliferation," as its foreign ministry reports on its website", said in an article. According to the author, Armenia's claim of a nuclear weapon will create legal and political problems for the country. Azerbaijan and Turkey will both need to deal with the legal and security ramifications of this statement immediately. "Given all the recent arrests of Armenian smugglers, Bagratyan's words seem much more scary than unlikely", he says. Hrant Bagratyan, Armenian MP, former prime minister, said at a press-conference that Armenia has nuclear weapons. While explaining this statement for journalists, Bagratyan said that Armenia has an opportunity to create nuclear weapons, adding that Armenia has such weapons. The Metsamor nuclear power plant was built in 1970. It was closed after the devastating earthquake in Spitak in 1988. But despite the international protests, the power plant's operation was resumed in 1995. Moreover, the second reactor was launched there. According to the ecologists and scholars all over the region, seismic activity of this area turns operation of the Metsamor nuclear power plant in an extremely dangerous enterprise, even if a new type of reactor is built. 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 Bill Parry U.S. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-Astoria) delivered more than 250 new books to several District 30 schools Monday in an effort to boost literacy and a love of reading. Maloney partnered with Zone 126, an organization that focuses on building a cradle-to-career pipeline for children in Queens, who requested these books on behalf of the schools with which they work. Maloney and Zone 126 distributed fiction, non-fiction, and test prep books at an event at PS 171 in Astoria, and more books were delivered to IS 126Q in Astoria and Long Island City High School. The books, provided by the Library of Congress Surplus Books Program, are part of an effort by Rep. Maloney to spread the joy of reading. Maloney was joined by PS 171 Principal Anne Bussel, students from the school, and Anju J. Rupchandani, the Interim Director of Zone 126 and Vice President of Collective Impact Partnerships. As a former school teacher, I know the difference that books and reading play in a childs education and development, Maloney said. This program provides my constituents with access to thousands of books to expand their minds, boost literacy and help them reach new intellectual and professional heights. I am thrilled to kick off this program here in Queens, and I encourage all qualifying organizations in my district to participate and request books. The Library of Congress Surplus Books Program allows members of Congress to request surplus books from the Library to distribute at eligible non-profit organizations to expand their publicly accessible collections; Zone 126 and the schools receiving this first wave of books, PS 171Q, IS 126Q and Long Island City High School; are such eligible organizations. Zone 126 is honored to be the recipient of these new books through Congresswoman Maloneys efforts in coordination with the Library of Congress Surplus Books Program, said Rupchandani. The journey of a lifetime starts with the turning of a page. Zone 126 believes deeply that when a child learns to read the impact they can have on the world has the power to last a lifetime. Literacy is the key to so much more, and we are so proud to be a part of the Congresswomans efforts. Organizations in New Yorks 12th Congressional District interested in receiving donations can submit requests to Rep. Maloney through her offices website or by calling the D.C. office at (202) 225-7944. By Mujeres en Movimiento Mujeres en Movimiento is a collective of almost 150 members, primarily immigrant Latina women. We are women who jumped the fence years ago in search of the American dream. We used to think that the American dream was having a big house, earning money, having a car. Now we know that it is something else. It is speaking freely amongst ourselves about the things that affect us; it is feeling that we have a right to our communities and neighborhoods. For almost two years we have been involved in a process that has been pressing for safer streets, beginning with a community dialogue in the Corona Library in July 2014 about the Mayors Vision Zero. There, we learned that it is possible to redesign streets to make them safer. In collaboration with other organizations we have contributed our time towards advocating for safety improvements to 111th Street, Queens Boulevard and other key streets that connect our neighborhoods. We would like to see more crosswalks, pedestrian islands, and a reduction in crossing distances. We would like to see protected bicycle lanes where we dont feel afraid to ride our bikes with our children. It is not a great sacrifice to reduce the number of car lanes on these streets. This has been confirmed by the Department of Transportation. Those that are protecting the high number of car lanes are are forgetting about the potential cost in terms of lives lost, and the suffering of those that lose a loved one because of a crash. On May 10, Queens Community Board 4 will vote on the proposed safety improvements to Queens Boulevard, including the implementation of a protected bicycle lane. We understand that the outcome of that vote foreshadows the outcomes to the proposed improvements for 111th Street, including the proposed bicycle lane there. This is a call for support to all moms and parents in the affected communities, to all the institutions that have worked with us, to the mayor, the government officials, our Community Board, and to the Department of Transportation, to join us for a symbolic action on 111th Street and 46th Avenue May 7, the eve of Mothers Day, at 1 p.m. We are inviting all of them to join us as 111 mothers stop traffic for 111 seconds on 111th Street. We are creating a safe space for our children, relatives, friends, and neighbors to safely cross the dangerous street and sending a message in support of street safety projects. We deserve to have a voice in the development of our communities, so that their development can benefit us and our children, not marginalize us. Our voices count! Mujeres en Movimiento Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By Prem Calvin Prashad Sunday, in a show of cross-cultural solidarity, approximately 50 Hispanic and South Asian workers rallied at Diversity Plaza in Jackson Heights on International Workers Day, to call attention to labor abuses and other harassment they face from employers. The event, organized by the Queens Museum, consisted of a rally and a march, featuring advocacy groups Desis Rising Up and Moving, Chhaya CDC and New Immigrant Community Empowerment, all based in Jackson Heights. The efforts by the Queens Museum are part of an ongoing campaign to empower communities in various plazas across the borough. The event incorporated arts, including a collaborative mural featuring the motifs of opposition to border walls and anti-immigrant sentiment, as well as a Spanish language spoken-word performance. Organizers hoped to create a community space for workers to discuss issues they have had with employers, including unpaid wages and unsafe working conditions. I think were trying to empower the immigrant workers in this community to find their own voice, said William Spisak, an Asset Building Program Manager at Chhaya CDC. Being in Diversity Plaza, in Jackson Heights, the idea is to get the workers out of the woodwork, feeling empowered to share their stories. Several workers spoke and their words were translated into Bangla, Spanish and English by organizers, including Alexandra Garcia, a Coordinator with the Queens Museum. Workers from NICE recounted their advocacy for day laborers, including the development of an app for laborers to document contractors that neglect to pay them or commit labor abuses. The organizers also spoke on efforts to create a community center for day laborers, as well as coordinated action to raise wages for jobs they accept to $15 an hour. The rally led to a march around the neighborhood by DRUM and NICE, accompanied by a mariachi band. Demonstrators blew whistles and chanted slogans, chastising abusive employers. DRUM organizers also spoke on the rights of street vendors in the community. The vendors, which sell religious items, have clashed with local merchants and in particular, the Jackson Heights Bangladeshi Business Association, according to a DRUM press release. The business organization has alleged the vendors have led to crime and littering. These are the same businesses that pay workers in this neighborhood $3, $4 an hour, said Fahd Ahmed, Executive Director of DRUM. We know what the interests of these businesses are, and its not in the interest of workers. According to street vendor Mohammad Bishwas, the feud led to the involvement of the NYPD, who, allegedly with the auspices of the JBBA, threatened the vendors April 27 with possible arrest or a fine of $5,000, according to Ahmed. Marchers converged on the headquarters of the JBBA, on 74th Street, before proceeding to a building owned by a JBBA committee member. After the march, participants returned to Diversity Plaza and several demonstrators proceeded to a larger May Day gathering, in Manhattan. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By Bill Parry It took the citys Department of Transportation nearly four years but they completed the Pulaski Bridge Bikeway in time for the Five BoroBike Tour Sunday. More than 32,000 cyclists rode the dedicated and fully protected two-way bike path on the 0.6 mile span across Newtown Creek connecting Long Island City and Greenpoint, Brooklyn, For years, cyclists and pedestrians had to share an 8.5-foot path that became more congested as both neighborhoods grew. The bikeway opened to the public last Friday. We are thrilled to be opening a new Pulaski Bridge bikeway worthy of Long Island City and Greenpoint, two of our citys greatest and quickly growing neighborhoods, DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said. With creativity and teamwork, DOTs Transportation Planning and Bridges teams have given New York Citys 1,000-mile bicycle network one great new mile. The $4.9 million project, which was funded by the city with support from the Federal Highway Administration, took longer than expected to complete due to unique engineering problems on the moveable bascule bridge that opened in 1954. The Pulaski Bridge opens nearly 500 times a year for marine traffic on the waterway below. Its a moveable bridge and that adds to the complexity here, Deputy Commissioner for Transportation Planning & Management Ryan Russo said. It was a complex problem. It wasnt exactly putting a man on the moon, but it was still a complex engineering challenge. Russo led a group of elected officials, DOT staff and transportation advocates on an inaugural ride across the bridge from Long Island City. Cyclists say the dedicated path, with its separate pedestrian walkway, is a dramatic improvement. Ive biked on this bridge for many years, City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) said. Newtown Creek is really something. I love Newtown Creek, but that doesnt mean I want to swim in it anytime soon and there were plenty of times across the bridge where you just didnt feel safe. The latest DOT counts show that 1,500 cyclists use the bridge during peak weekday hours. In the period between 2009 and 2013, cyclist volume on the bridge grew by 106 percent, while pedestrian use increased 47 percent. The opening of this protected bikeway is going to encourage even more people to walk and bike between Brooklyn and Queens, City Councilman Stephen Levin (D-Brooklyn) said. The best was to get people outside and active tto make them feel safe and comfortable, and this project does just that. Denise Kearns, the Chairwoman of Community Board 2s Transportation Committee, said the new bikeway will bring more visitors to Long Island Citys five waterfront parks, its 30 cultural arts and cultural institutions and venues and its 150 restaurants, bars and cafes. Everyone knows its tough to find parking in Long Island City, she said. And now people from Brooklyn can cycle in and thats good for business. In Sunnyside and Woodside too. Van Bramer agreed that parking is an issue. Not having more cars is a good thing he said. But this is all about safety. Now its easier and safer for pedestrians and cyclists to travel between Brooklyn and Queens. For the last four years, I have advocated for this project that is vital to the neighborhoods of Greenpoint and Long Island City, and today, Im so glad to see it completed. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 3 Trend: Azerbaijani serviceman Ali Heydarov was killed May 8 as a result of shootout on the line of contact between the troops of Azerbaijan and Armenia, said the message of the Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry. The ministry has extended condolences to the family and friends of the killed soldier. 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. Gunmen killed eight plainclothes police on the southern outskirts of Cairo overnight, the Egyptian interior ministry said, in an assault claimed by Islamic State militants. The four attackers pulled alongside in a pick-up truck and sprayed a police vehicle with automatic weapons fire before fleeing, the ministry said on Sunday. The gunmen wore masks, residents in Helwan, an industrial area on the edge of the capital, told Reuters. Egypt\s government is facing an insurgency that has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen, mostly in northern Sinai, since mid-2013, when then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi following mass protests. Islamic State\s Egyptian affiliate, which calls itself Sinai Province, mainly operates out of the northern Sinai Peninsula, which borders Israel, the Gaza Strip and the Suez Canal. Militants have also occasionally targeted security forces and planted bombs in Cairo and other areas. In an Arabic-language statement, Islamic State said the Helwan attack was part of its Abi Ali Al-Anbari campaign, which has seen the group carry out a series of bombings and other attacks in Iraq. It was not clear how or why Egypt was linked to the Iraqi campaign. The statement also said the attack was aimed at avenging women held in Egyptian jails, but gave no details. Islamic State controls swathes of Iraq and Syria. In 2014, an Egyptian militant group called Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis pledged allegiance to Islamic State and changed its name to Sinai Province. Al Azhar, a historic center of Islamic learning in Cairo, condemned what it called a "terrorist attack the likes of which contradict Islamic teachings" and offered in a statement its support for Egypt\s security forces. SOURCE: REUTERS SHARE Lauren Roberts/Times Record News Matt Bitsche, co-founder of Infamous Brewing Company, returned to Wichita Falls Saturday, May 7, 2016, at the Third Annual Tornado Alley Brew Tasting to talk to attendee about the beers he brought to town in the J.S. Bridwell Agricultural Center. Lauren Roberts/Times Record News Matt Bitsche, co-founder of Infamous Brewing Company, returned to Wichita Falls Saturday, May 7, 2016, at the Third Annual Tornado Alley Brew Tasting to talk to attendee about the beers he brought to town in the J.S. Bridwell Agricultural Center. Lauren Roberts/Times Record News Matt Bitsche, co-founder of Infamous Brewing Company, returned to Wichita Falls Saturday, May 7, 2016, at the Third Annual Tornado Alley Brew Tasting to talk to attendee about the beers he brought to town in the J.S. Bridwell Agricultural Center. Lauren Roberts/Times Record News Matt Bitsche, co-founder of Infamous Brewing Company, pours an attendee a taster of Bugsy's, a fire brush amber, Saturday, May 7, 2016, at the Third Annual Tornado Alley Brew Tasting in the J.S. Bridwell Agricultural Center. By Orlando Flores Jr. of the Times Record News It has been said the only thing standing between a person and their goals is the will to accomplish it. That statement could not be applied more truthfully to Wichita Falls' own Matt Bitsche. A former Wichitan, Bitsche felt the itch to do something more with his life when he was 30 years old. After establishing a family, having two kids and making a solid career working for his family's business, Door Systems of Wichita Falls, Bitsche decided to give all that up at least the career part to relocate to Austin to pursue a longtime passion, beer. "I was a longtime homebrewer here in Wichita Falls, and I had built a one-barrel all-grain system for myself," Bitsche said during a break from handing out beer samples at Saturday's Tornado Alley Craft Beer Tasting at the J.S. Bridwell Agricultural Center. "I had been brewing for 12 years when I left Wichita Falls to pursue a career in the brewing business. At the time I had no formal training. I was a welding fabricator ... and I decided to merge my homebrewing skills with welding." Bitsche said he had always taken the craft of homebrewing seriously, but it amped up once he decided on his new career change. He learned how to do food-grade stainless brewing, brushed up on his water chemistry and studied under several professional brewers to become a better brewer. Bitsche considers Infamous Brewing Company, the Austin-based brewery he co-founded in 2012 with three friends, to be the fruit yielded from hard work. He and his friends built the brewery from scratch using his welding experience, a fact Bitsche makes sure to put extra emphasis on when telling it, as he said he and his co-founders did everything by hand at their facility on Lake Travis. "When I say building it, I mean raw tanks, retrofitting the building," Bitsche said. "Everything was by hand. It was a lot of long days with my welding machines." Before all that hard work could happen, however, there was one bit of luck that helped set the venture in motion. "I was building homebrewing equipment in Austin and selling it on Craigslist," he said. "I met my partner and one of my best friends that started the company (with me) on Craigslist and sold him equipment." Infamous Brewing Company has succeeded in the growing craft beer market since its inception. Outside of making a name for itself in the Austin, San Antonio and Houston markets, the brewery's beer has recently started popping up everywhere in Wichita Falls. Hijack, the brewery's spin on a cream ale, and IPA are the two most likely beers to be found around town, whether at Gypsy Uncorked events, pint nights at various eateries or store shelves. Bitsche said the brewery churned out 2,100 barrels in 2015 with just the four guys who founded it. This year, Infamous has set up an alternating proprietorship in Grapevine where the brewery will produce Hijack and IPA into cans and kegs, freeing up the Austin brewery's space to focus on specialty beers and experimenting with new recipes. Bitsche said the Grapevine facility should double production. "It's a good feeling of success," he said. "I never went to college, I never went to school. I was self-taught, a hard worker. I'm very humble. "I left Wichita Falls to do this very thing, and two years later I did it. I had a lot of people say ... you're crazy for leaving, you're crazy for leaving a family business and putting your house on the market when it was a bad time to sell, and maybe I was. Two years later, I've started a brewery and what are they saying? You're lucky . but luck had nothing to do with it. It's hard work, and it's going for it. Taking risks. You live once in your life, if you believe in it, do it." Related: Watch a beer sampling video of Infamous Brewing Company's beers offered at Tornado Alley Craft Beer Tasting below. By Jeff Hall/Times Record News Editor's Note: The following story, which originally appeared May 5, 2000, is part of our ongoing coverage of the search for Keith Mann. Each time somebody stumbles across a dead body, Greg Mann calls the police. He's not a ghoul. He's not even certain he wants it to be the last phone call he has to make to the police. But he must know what happened to his son. Gregory Keith Mann Jr. was 21 years old when a friend dropped him off at the Fountaingate Apartments at about 11:45 p.m. on a Saturday -- May 10, 1997. If anyone's seen him since then, they haven't told anybody. No one has heard from him. His gas credit card hasn't been used since that day. Almost three years later, Greg Mann , his wife, Debra, and their daughters, Brittany and Sarah, are still wondering what happened - and where Keith Mann is. I've thought something happened to him all along. I never thought he just took off, Greg Mann said. I know somebody around here has to know where Keith is, what happened to him. All we have to know is who picked him up that night, and it would go from there. Keith Mann had recently moved back to Wichita Falls from Gainesville, Texas. He lived with his family from January 1997 until April 1997, when he moved to the apartment complex to live with his fiancee. At the time, he worked for Ron Roberts Ford, which allowed him to drive different cars. The car he drove home that night, a red Mustang, was found the next day, parked near where his family lived. He left three paychecks totaling $1,500 at his job. His bank account hasn't been touched and all his possessions were still in his apartment the day after he disappeared. Greg Mann said he looked for his son in the months that followed his disappearance. He checked bus schedules, the airport, even talked to taxi drivers. But there was no indication his son left town on public transportation, Mann said. Wichita Falls police agree with Greg Mann . Police officials have said Keith Mann 's disappearance is being treated as a homicide investigation, and that investigation is still under way. But they also agree with the young man's father when he says they need a break in the case, someone coming forward to tell what they know, before they will find out what happened to Keith Mann. Meanwhile, all the Mann family can do is wait . . . and wait . . . and wait. The first year to a year-and-a-half, it was really tough. It's getting a little easier, but I still keep expecting to find him every day, Greg Mann said. Our lives have been on hold for the most part - not being able to do anything as a family, not going on vacation or taking family trips. My wife and I decided this summer we're going to take the girls to do something as a family. They're growing up and pretty soon they'll be out on their own, so we need to make the most of the time we have with them. Debra Mann said some good has come out of the ordeal. It actually brought us closer together. We try to hug the kids and tell them we love them whenever they leave, because I think this taught us you never know when this might be the last time you'll see them. You kind of understand what family is all about, she said. It's changed all of us as a family. My husband, for one thing, he's been grieving about it since the first day. He's always been more pessimistic while, I guess, I've been more optimistic. But, she added with a note of sadness in her voice, it still isn't easy to deal with. It really seems like it was longer than three years (ago) -- it's like it's been here forever, she said. It's hard to remember what life was like before . . . It's been difficult on their daughters, the couple said. Debra Mann said in the months immediately following Keith 's disappearance, she was terrified that something might happen to her daughters. The first few months (after Keith's disappearance), we wouldn't even let them step out of the house, she said. The subject of their brother's disappearance is something he doesn't bring up with Brittany and Sarah, Greg Mann said. It's already hard enough as it is, with the situation the way it is, he said. I'm sure it's in the back of their minds and they think about it sometime . . . we will talk to them about it if they bring it up. To this day, Greg Mann said, he can't understand why this happened. Although he admitted that adult children don't always give parents every detail of their lives, he doesn't think his son was having trouble with anyone or anything in his life, he said. Keith had a good job, was going back to school, had a girl he wanted to marry - in short, nothing that stands out, Greg Mann said. But he and Debra do talk about it -- quite a bit, he said. Me and my wife play out theories all the time, and we know one of them is right, he said. While her husband is expecting the worst, Debra Mann said she can't explain her feelings that things might turn out differently. The dreams I've had all along . . . we find him in a dormitory or a boot camp situation, someplace with a lot of bunk beds, she said. The Manns want it known that there is a substantial reward for any information about their son's location. They also hope people will keep their son in mind long after the anniversary of his disappearance. Greg Mann said his family has no choice but to remember. A lot of people will read this and think, I really sympathize with these people, and then 30 minutes later, they're on with their lives, he said. But when it affects your life, you think about it all the time. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Albany You didn't think I'd wait long before writing once more about Marquis Dixon, did you? Dixon is the Albany teen sentenced to nine years in prison for a sneaker robbery. I've argued a few thousand times or so it may seem to those of you who disagree that the sentence is too harsh, given Dixon's age and the paucity of evidence that convicted him. So what brings me back to the topic? More Information Contact Chris Churchill at 518-454-5442 or email cchurchill@timesunion.com See More Collapse The sentencing of Shelly Silver. As you likely know, the once powerful leader of the state Assembly was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in prison after being convicted on multiple corruption charges. A New York politico goes down in flames. What else is new? Silver's sentence is being described as stiff or even harsh, but I think it's perfectly appropriate. What gets me, though, is where Silver is likely to serve that sentence. Silver has asked that he be sent to the federal correctional facility in the Orange County village of Otisville. It's a prison that could double as a country club, so cushy that it has been described as a "castle behind bars." The Times Herald-Record, the Middletown newspaper, has reported that the offerings at the prison store include rib steak, gefilte fish, salmon and smoked oysters. The "prison" also features boccie courts, horseshoe pits, and celebratory Fourth of July barbecues complete with burgers and potato salad. "You could do anything you wanted there," one former Otisville inmate told the paper. "It's not just good. It's sweet." Lest you get impression that life in Otisville is too easy, let me stress that its residents also must abide by some harsh rules, as outlined in the "Otisville Inmate Handbook." Consider the commissary, where Nike Lunar Edge sneakers sell for $74.95 and Ironman Timex watches go for $41.50. The handbook warns inmates that all sales are final. No returns! No exceptions! Also, newspapers and periodicals are not to leave the "leisure library" so don't even ask! It's tough stuff, folks. If that commissary return policy doesn't make you reconsider a life of crime, nothing will. You're a lost soul. Yet I'm guessing life is a bit harsher at the maximum-security Coxsackie Correctional Facility, which nobody describes as a country club. Dixon was just 17 when he landed there, making him one of the youngest inmates, a child among dangerous men. "I'm going through some stuff in here you wouldn't even imagine," Dixon has said. "Being young in prison is the worst thing ever." Listen, I get that Dixon was convicted of a violent crime, despite no evidence that he actually had a weapon, while Silver was convicted of a white-collar crime. But which crime was really worse? Which had a bigger impact? Dixon took a pair of Nikes from another teenager. There was one victim. Silver took from us all. He wounded our faith in self-government. He deepened our cynicism. He abused the public trust for personal benefit. Silver's attorneys and others have suggested that we should sympathize with the 72-year-old who spent more than two decades as Assembly speaker. Think of all the good he did, they say. Think of all the people he helped. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. Sorry, but whatever sympathy I can spare goes to kids like Dixon. He was born poor. He was raised by an uncle because his parents were in jail. He has a significant learning disability likely caused by lead poisoning. He never really had a chance. His family couldn't afford the stupidly expensive Nikes he wanted, so he made a bad decision and stole them. He won't be the last 16-year-old to make a terrible decision. Silver had everything. Power. Wealth. Fame. A life of ridiculous comfort. And yet the Democrat's greed was so voracious that he demanded more. Silver's corruption scheme netted him roughly $4 million in bribes and kickbacks disguised as legal fees. He's despicable and rotten, a glutton who gorged at the public trough, and he deserves no sympathy. And yet Silver will continue to receive his $79,000 annual pension. He'll spend his upcoming years in Otisville or one of the other comfy prisons reserved for the wealthy who steal. It won't be the punishment he really deserves. When poor kids from the South End of Albany steal, they go to much harsher places. Heck, if Marquis Dixon had been sent to Otisville, he might have thought he'd gone to heaven. But those Nikes for sale in the commissary? He still wouldn't be able to afford them. cchurchill@timesunion.com 518-454-5442 @chris_churchill Albany How do you save a failing school? Educators and bureaucrats have some ideas, but they rarely agree on them. Yet there's one approach that's drawn a rare and curious level of consensus among New York's educrats: community schools, which re-imagine the school as not just a place kids go to learn but also as a place the entire community can go for any number of needs. For one community, this might mean the school offers medical and dental care, mental health counseling, food and clothing. For another, it might be a place to receive job training, housing assistance or child care. For others, it might be a place to seek out recreation and culture. More Information Capital Region schools eligible for $75 million community school grants 1.Albany High School 2.Philip J. Schuyler Achievement Academy, Albany 3.Lincoln Elementary School, Schenectady 4.School 2, Troy Capital Region school districts that received Foundation Aid-community school 'set asides' 1.Albany City School District$2,696,127 2.Schenectady City School District$642,884 3.Troy City School District$277,420 4.Lansingburgh Central School District$170,080 5.Cohoes City School District$110,625 6.Watervliet City School District$94,487 7.Rensselaer City School District:$74,616 8.Green Island Union Free School District$17,390 See More Collapse Put simply, whatever the community needs, that's what the school becomes. The potential for such wide variation has New York's top education officials struggling with exactly how to define a community school. That's a problem, because hundreds of schools statewide are being directed to adopt this approach with a $175 million infusion of state funding next year. "We've all been talking about community schools for a while now, but if you go to 10 different schools and districts, they're all talking about something different, and that has become very troublesome for us," T. Andrew Brown, vice chancellor of the state Board of Regents, said at the board's monthly meeting in April. Educators and sociologists have been talking about community schools or some variation of them since the turn of the century, when social reformers John Dewey and Jane Addams pushed the idea that schools could and should play a much larger role in lifting up a community. But it wasn't until the late 1980s that the movement took off with the help of the Children's Aid Society in New York City and later the Netter Center for Community Partnerships in Philadelphia, said Martin Blank, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Coalition for Community Schools, an alliance of national, state and local organizations dedicated to education, youth development and community service. "They felt that the community had a real role to play in the education of kids," Blank said. "Since then, we now count more than 150 places around the country that are doing community schools in a large-scale way places like New York City, Newark, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Cincinnati, Oakland (Calif.), Ogden (Utah), Evansville (Ind.)." In 2013, Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched a statewide community schools program designed to transform schools in distressed areas into community hubs providing services like health care, counseling, nutrition and job preparation. The program was rolled out in phases, with roughly 30 schools selected in the first year to receive grants up to $500,000. Community school efforts ramped up quickly after a new state receivership law in 2015 threatened chronically underperforming schools with an outside takeover if they didn't show progress within a one- or two-year time frame. The schools, like Hackett Middle School in Albany and Hamilton Elementary in Schenectady, were almost entirely located in high-poverty, urban areas. The state Education Department defines community schools as public schools that work with public, nonprofit and private partners to deliver "critical services to students and their families" that are "designed to counter environmental factors that impede student achievement." The factors are things like poverty, hunger, homelessness, mental illness and chronic stress brought on by a troubled home life. Education advocates have long said and the data back it up that once you address non-school issues, students are far more likely to succeed academically. With more schools than ever hoping to emulate community school successes seen in places like Cincinnati, the Board of Regents last month asked the state Education Department to develop a "coherent guidance document" for schools looking to start that transition. Department officials said this work is already under way and guidance should be issued shortly. That will be welcome news to 225 high-need school districts that had a portion of their Foundation Aid earmarked specifically for the development of these schools. Overall, the state set aside $100 million in its 2016-17 budget toward this end, with a separate $75 million funding pot earmarked for districts with schools identified as "struggling" or "persistently struggling" in the upcoming school year. In the Capital Region, eight districts will use the funds to develop community schools: Albany, Cohoes, Watervliet and Green Island in Albany County; Troy and Lansingburgh in Rensselaer County; and Schenectady. The stakes are high for the region's three urban districts, which are home to some of the lowest-performing schools in the state. Under the state's receivership law, the schools Albany High School, PJ Schuyler Achievement Academy in Albany, Lincoln Elementary School in Schenectady and School 2 in Troy must demonstrate progress within the next year or the state will assign an outside "receiver" to come in and run the school. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. While most everyone agrees that community schools are a great idea in concept in execution, districts are finding they're not always easy. In Schenectady, for example, the school district came up against red tape when it tried to bring a health clinic to Lincoln Elementary. Health clinics are a top community school recommendation from state education officials, but the state Department of Health has strict requirements regarding the facilities that can offer such services and deemed Lincoln's facilities to be too old and too small, said Superintendent Larry Spring. In addition, the clinics can only serve students enrolled at the school contrary to the entire community school concept. "To me, that's nonsensical," Spring said. "We want the school to be the single point of access for all of these services, so that means when a parent shows up with two of their children who attend different schools but all three of them all have the same flu, we should be able to treat all of them." Meanwhile in Albany, school district officials couldn't agree on which services to bring to one of their receivership schools, or whether services should be offered at all ultimately dooming a community school partnership that was promised last fall. In that case, then-Superintendent Marguerite Vanden Wyngaard had joined with community leaders and elected officials in October 2015 to pledge additional support for Hackett Middle School. But according to sources close to the situation, Hackett Principal Michael Paolino was never on board with the plan and nothing ever came of the partnerships. Vanden Wyngaard abruptly resigned several months later after more than a year of discord with the board. Paolino did not respond to a request for comment this week. District spokesman Ron Lesko said moving those partnerships forward would have been solely within the purview of the superintendent in her authority as receiver. The district is now exploring different community school structures to come up with a model that could be implemented at Albany High, which is entering a second year of receivership. Community schools have attracted such wide support, in part because they don't necessarily require a huge outpouring of new funds or duplication of services already offered in a community. The underlying strategy, Blank said, is to identify a community's assets and then find a way to bring them to the school. "Kids walk into a school not just with backpacks on their backs but with hunger and homelessness and everything else," he said. "So if you're the single institution in the community through which a child walks on a consistent basis, then you cannot avoid these challenges. The school should be getting help from the people and institutions who are focused on the same children. The health system, the youth groups they all serve the same babies, right? At a community school you're trying to organize and integrate those services into the school. Teachers can't be expected to deal with everything. They can't be cops, social workers, mental health counselors or guidance counselors. Teachers need support." bbump@timesunion.com 518-454-5387 @bethanybump Azerbaijan, Baku, May 9 Trend: On May 9, Azerbaijan marks the Day of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. Years of the WWII (World War II) in the 20th century were the most difficult for all the mankind. During the war, Azerbaijanis showed courage and heroism not only on the frontline, but in the back front as well. A battalion of 87 jet fighters and 1224 self-defense groups were created in the country in a very short period of time. More than 600,000 young Azerbaijani boys and girls were sent to the front between 1941 and 1945. Divisions from Azerbaijan have walked from the Caucasus to Berlin. About 130 Azerbaijanis earned the name of "Hero of the Soviet Union", 30 more deserved the "Order of Honor". Some 170,000 Azerbaijani soldiers and officers were awarded various USSR orders and medals. Such people as Hazi Aslanov (twice the Hero of the Soviet Union), other Heroes of the Soviet Union - Israfil Mammadov, Aslan Vezirov, Adil Guliyev, Ziya Bunyatov, Geray Asadov, Melik Maharramov and Mehdi Huseynzadeh, generals Mahmud Abilov, Akim Abbasov, Tarlan Aliyarbeyov and Hajibala Zeynalov and many others brought honor to the history of the Azerbaijani people. Much has been done in the country, to direct the economy towards the frontline. Light and food industries started working for the front. In a short period of time Baku turned into a real arsenal of a fighting army. Despite all the difficulties, Azerbaijani oil workers worked hard to supply the front and the industry with fuel. It should also be noted that a new aviation petrol-producing technology was created under supervision of academician Yusif Mammadaliyev. With the hard work of Azerbaijani oil workers, the oil production in Azerbaijan reached its peak in 1941 - when 23.5 million tons of oil was produced, making up 71.4 percent of all the oil produced in the USSR. In total, Azerbaijani oil workers gave the country 75 million tonnes of oil and 22 million tonnes of petrol, during the years of war. One can say with confidence that Baku's oil was one of the main factors in gaining victory in the Great Patriotic War. It should be noted that each fourth of five planes, tanks and cars, worked on Baku's fuel. WW II once again proved the heroism and courage of Azerbaijani people. North Greenbush The new $6.9 million Defreestville Fire Station is nearing completion and 50 firefighters are preparing to move into their new quarters. The firehouse at 350 North Greenbush Road is about one mile away from the 70-year-old station that the department had outgrown. "We are very excited about this project and the fact that we're able to provide a new modern facility," said North Greenbush Fire District No. 1 Commissioner and Chairman Daniel Garab. "Equally as important, we anticipate that final construction expense will come in under budget," Garab said. The fire district is gaining $850,000 from the sale of land it owns to offset the construction costs. The site was donated by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with the assistance of the town. The Defreestville and Wynantskill fire departments compose the fire district. Voters in the district approved the new fire house in April 2014 by a 440-133 vote. The fire department will begin moving equipment into the new 20,000 square-foot firehouse in June. The building was designed by CSArch, an Albany-base architecture, engineering and construction management firm. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. "While there is a fair amount of work yet to be done, overall the construction is about 80 percent completed," said Garab. The firehouse is expected to be in operation in July with a grand opening scheduled for late summer or early fall. The fire district will relocate its offices to the new station, freeing up space in the Wynantskill Fire House. kcrowe@timesunion.com 518-454-5084 @KennethCrowe Hoosick Falls On a Wednesday evening last December, the basement of a Hoosick Falls church bubbled to life during the first public meeting on a dangerous chemical polluting the village's water system. Residents filled the church that night, moving between information tables set up for village leaders, state Health Department scientists, representatives of a grass-roots citizens group, and officials with Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, the company whose manufacturing plant is suspected of contaminating the village's underground wells. A few hours before the meeting, a health and safety manager for Saint-Gobain sent an email to village Mayor David B. Borge with a suggestion on how to address the crowd regarding a letter the village received a week earlier from Judith Enck, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's regional administrator. Enck's letter instructed the mayor to remove what she characterized as incorrect and misleading information on the village's website about the EPA's guidelines on the potential dangers of PFOA exposure. More Information Check out our coverage of the water crisis in Hoosick Falls: http://www.timesunion.com/environment See More Collapse The EPA letter also cautioned the water was unsafe for drinking or cooking, affirming the worst fears of some residents who had pleaded with village leaders for months to issue more dire warnings about the situation. Despite the concerns raised in Enck's letter, the state Health Department and village officials continued telling residents the water was not harmful and, as the mayor said, the decision on whether to consume it was "a personal choice." The Saint-Gobain manager, Edward J. Canning, told the mayor in the email he was sharing "some thoughts from our communications folks." The next line of the email states: "Can the Mayor change the room dynamic by addressing the letter right at the outset and, if time allows, have a slide or white board he could put up to show how village has already responded to every step EPA suggests?" Borge, who moved through the crowd that night talking to residents and reporters, never mentioned the EPA's letter. In fact, when members of the grass-roots group, Healthy Hoosick Water, learned that Enck's letter was not included in the written information being distributed by the Health Department and village, they quickly handed out their own copies. The email from Saint-Gobain underscores the close relationship that developed between village leaders, especially Borge, and the company that may be partly responsible for the pollution. The email is one of dozens exchanged between the mayor and Saint-Gobain officials since the toxic chemical, perfluorooctanoic acid, was discovered in the village's water system in the fall of 2014. The emails were released to the Times Union recently under a Freedom of Information Law request filed in January. The documents also confirm there were efforts to conceal the village's decision to retain a public relations firm, Behan Communications, which began providing advice to Borge and the village in December, including how to answer questions from reporters. The hiring of Behan Communications, which for many years has handled public relations for General Electric Co. related to that company's pollution of the Hudson River, was not documented at a village meeting or publicly disclosed before the Times Union asked about the arrangement five months ago. In January, a day before a standing-room-only meeting at the Hoosick Falls school district that was organized by Healthy Hoosick Water and included officials from the EPA and state Health Department, Borge received an email from Joan Gerhardt, a vice president with Behan Communications, who normally advises corporate clients on environmental matters. "Hi Dave," Gerhardt wrote. "What do you think about me attending tomorrow's meeting, anonymously if possible? I'd really like to see events for myself, and listen to Enck. I'd hope to blend in, as if I'm a resident or uninvolved person interested in the issue. But if you think my attendance would become a focus and you'd get questions about my involvement, then I don't think it's worth it. Tom and John thought it would be OK, as long as we were prepared for me being 'outed.' What do you think?" The "Tom and John" referenced in Gerhardt's email are two attorneys who have been advising the village on its handling of the PFOA pollution: John R. Patterson Jr., the village's part-time attorney, and Thomas Ulasewicz, a Glens Falls attorney whose firm was hired by the village on Patterson's recommendation to negotiate a settlement with Saint-Gobain. Those talks fell apart several months ago when the state Department of Environmental Conservation declared the polluted water system is an environmental superfund site and took over negotiations with the company and any others found responsible. Most of the emails between the village and Saint-Gobain reflect their "collaborative effort," as Borge described it in an email last October, to find an alternate water supply for the village while using chemical tests and research to determine the extent and origin of the pollution. In February 2015, for instance, Saint-Gobain's Canning wrote an email to Borge telling him the company would pay for "expedited lab analysis for the well samples" that were being collected that week by the village and Saint-Gobain. "As I am sure you appreciate, this assistance is not an admission of liability or responsibility for this matter, but rather part of our commitment to assist the village in conducting its own investigation of the wells," Canning added. In a meeting with the Times Union last month, Tom Kinisky, president and CEO of Saint-Goban Performance Plastics, explained the close relationship was, in part, a result of the company's decision to take responsibility for fixing the problem, even though much of the pollution may have taken place for decades before the French-owned Saint-Gobain purchased its two manufacturing plants in Hoosick Falls in the 1990s. "We decided not to even talk about who was at fault," he said. "The reality is we were the only company still operating in Hoosick of the ones that had been there in the past and these were also our employees that were impacted in the village. ... So we started to talk about what do we do, and we went into that mode." Saint-Gobain also provided input to the village on bulletins the municipality sent to residents, including one mailed last August with residents' water bills. At that time, despite what some residents believed was overwhelming information that the levels of PFOA in the water system were dangerous, the village continued downplaying the situation. "The issue remains that until the Federal EPA completes its current data gathering process regarding PFOA and makes a determination, this man-made substance remains officially an 'unregulated contaminant' and therefore, rules, regulations or enforceable standards for levels in drinking water do not exist," the letter said. "Both the village Water Treatment Plant and the Waste Water Plant continue to meet and exceed all county, state and federal regulations. We are in compliance in all areas." David Engel, an attorney who specializes in environmental law and has been advising the residents who formed Healthy Hoosick Water, said they have questioned repeatedly whether the company and village were too close. "One of the reasons Healthy Hoosick Water exists is because we were skeptical about what the village leadership was doing and what their motivation was," Engel said. "The simple fact is that from late 2014 until December 2015, the mayor refused to acknowledge that the water was not safe to drink. He repeatedly claimed that it was a matter of personal choice. That sort of posturing led people to conclude that the mayor was not serious about getting a solution in place. It was only after Healthy Hoosick threatened a lawsuit that Saint-Gobain committed to pay for bottled water and for water treatment." Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. On Friday, the village produced copies of its agreements with the Glens Falls law firm, FitzGerald Morris Baker Firth, and Behan Communications. The agreement with Behan Communications, which the Times Union requested in January, states Gerhardt would be paid at a rate of $275 per hour "to provide confidential communications and public relations strategy and advice to its attorneys in connection with its legal representation of the Village of Hoosick Falls." The agreement with Behan Communications confirms that the firm would take steps to conceal its work for the village, including labeling the agreement and any communications as "attorney-client communication work product," even though the firm does not provide legal advice. The agreement also notes that Behan Communications' invoices would be billed to the law firm, rather than the village, which would have required a public vote by the Village Board to approve the invoices. The village has not disclosed details of any agreement with Saint-Gobain, which had pledged to pay the Glens Falls law firm for its work on behalf of the village. Engel, the attorney for Health Hoosick Water, said the group was very troubled by that proposal because it meant the law firm was negotiating with the company that would pay its fees. Last October, in an email to the village's attorney, Borge said Saint-Gobain "is offering significant financial support to remediate the continuing existence of PFOA in the municipal water supply and we have an agreement in principle." It's unclear if the agreement was ever put in writing, or how much the company may have paid the Glens Falls law firm. Dr. Marcus E. Martinez, who treats about 5,000 patients at his family medical practice in Hoosick Falls, helped form Healthy Hoosick Water last year with Michael Hickey, an insurance underwriter and village resident credited with discovering the chemical pollution in 2014. Hickey, who consulted with Martinez, began researching what he believed was a high rate of cancer in the village and paid to have tests of the water that revealed high levels of PFOA. Martinez said that he was concerned about how the issue was being handled last year and is convinced that if the EPA wasn't notified by Engel, their attorney, "that we would still be drinking that water today." "I could not get anywhere myself with the village board," Martinez said. "They would not listen to anything I had to say. No offense to them, but I'm more knowledgeable about health care. They were not going to listen to anything I had to say about my concerns about this chemical in the village water." For their part, Saint-Gobain officials have said they are deeply invested in the small community and its workforce. "Both Saint-Gobain and the local officials in Hoosick Falls have remained engaged, never taking our eyes off of our ultimate goal to provide clean drinking water to the Village residents," said Dina Silver Pokedoff, a company spokeswoman. "We are a 350-year-old company whose values include protecting the well-being of the communities where we live and work. The ongoing, collaborative partnerships we have developed with local officials in Hoosick Falls is often times not expected of a company of our size and scope, but it is a key reason why we have been around for 350 years." blyons@timesunion.com 518-454-5547 @brendan_lyonstu I have been a proud Republican for over half a century, was president of our local Young Republicans in my teens, first ran for elective office on a Republican ticket at age 23, successfully managed the local Republican campaign at 26. I've been the Republican nominee for elective office six times, most notably the 2006 Republican candidate for state comptroller, but most successfully being three times elected Saratoga County treasurer. I've held party offices for the town of Waterford and for the county of Saratoga. I was a delegate for John McCain at the 2008 National Republican Convention and an alternate delegate in 2012. I was a county committeeman for over four decades and, up until this announcement, was a member of the state Republican Committee and national chairman of the Irish-American Republicans. However, since the Republican Party has reached down to the lowest quintile of Americans, by suitability, to find its nominee for president, self-respect demands my ending my long relationship with it. I remain committed to the principles that I have understood to be those of the Republican Party: fiscal responsibility, a reticence to regulate and a decent respect for traditional social values. I see Bernie Sanders as a mere caricature of the party that preaches and practices hostility toward entrepreneurs and vitriolic hostility toward successful entrepreneurs. I understand political correctness to be a substitute for thinking. Republican officeholders haven't always been true to my concept of Republican principles but purity, a luxury of pundits, is denied to those who govern. The Republican Party began last year with an overabundance of candidates who presented plans to make America better, perhaps moving it to a restored greatness. Some of those plans were radical, some were tinged with xenophobia, some were atrociously bad. But many were practical, unorthodox, and offered by candidates who had a working knowledge of America's problems and of America's potential. Unfortunately, the media arranged for and the RNC consented to a mixed-martial arts contest that favored the most outrageous personality on the stage not that we should blame the media for this self-inflicted wound. The format really should not have been a problem in that it offered an opportunity for the buffoon on the stage to document his unsuitability to be president. He cooperated, insulting his opponents' appearances; bragging about the size of his penis; making a vulgar, insulting, and clumsy reference to Megyn Kelly's feminine physiology; inventing New Jersey Muslims who cheered the 9/11 attacks; denigrating John McCain's war record; quoting the National Enquirer to tie Ted Cruz' father to the Kennedy assassination; displaying vast ignorance of American history, the U.S. Constitution and the most basic concepts of national defense; and indiscriminately condemning the adherents of one of the world's major religions and the residents of a neighboring country. (This is, of course, an abbreviated list.) He insulted his audiences with his refusal to provide even a broad outline of his proposals, without even the courtesy of artifice. "It'll be terrific, you'll love it," doesn't qualify. Is there any doubt in anyone's mind that, if he had P.T. Barnum's access to human oddities, they would be employed in his campaign? Is there any doubt in anyone's mind that he regards the bulk of his supporters as "losers"? In short, Donald J. Trump has proved that he is stunningly ill-suited, unprepared and incompetent to be president of the United States. I cannot account for the failure of a significant portion of my party to recognize this obvious fact. Certainly, there is a fringe of the Republican Party, as there is in the Democratic Party, that is dedicated to identifying scapegoats and to blaming same for all the ills of their lives different scapegoats, to be sure, but identical simple-mindedness. These have found, in Trump and Sanders, candidates who share their myopia. There are, however, otherwise rational, intelligent, and sophisticated Republicans who are apparently oblivious to the threat that Trump poses to the party, to the republic and perhaps to Western civilization. Sure, America needs out-of-the-box thinking, but from someone who knows where the damn box is. Trump's supporters seem to believe that it's time for a revolution; perhaps it is. But Donald Trump is more Madame Defarge than Thomas Jefferson. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. The political success of this carnival huckster is the next dangerous step in a national trajectory that has included ''The Jerry Springer Show,'' Snooki, the Kardashians, Michael Moore, the elections of Jesse Ventura and Al Franken, and the re-election of Bill Clinton. Philandering has become a spectator sport. Thuggishness has become a social grace. Playground taunts have become the height of oratory. Total ignorance of history and government has become an asset for those seeking high public office. John Adams wrote, "I must study politics and war that my sons may have the liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain." Poor John. I will continue to support Republican candidates whom I have come to know as dedicated and effective public servants, in spite of their failure to see the diseased elephant in the room. In evaluating a candidate who I know less well, his/her support for Trump will be a difficult handicap to overcome. Indeed, just as with Joseph McCarthy in the '50s, the time will soon come when many Republicans will have to explain to the nation their failure to condemn Donald Trump at this hour. In any event, I must sever my connection with the organization that has been complicit in bringing this braying jackass to the brink of national leadership and in bringing the republic to the brink of its demise. Chris Callaghan was a 2006 Republican candidate for New York state comptroller. [May 08, 2016] Dr. Najwa Aaraj Appointed Senior Vice President of Special Projects at DarkMatter ABU DHABI and DUBAI, UAE, May 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- New role will see her continue to focus on identification and development of new security technologies DarkMatter, an international cyber security firm headquartered in the UAE, announces the appointment of Dr. Najwa Aaraj as the Senior Vice President - Special Projects, having previously served as the Vice President of the business unit. Special Projects falls under the CEO's Office, and is responsible for identifying and developing new business opportunities, providing new security and technology tools to the company and focusing on research. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160508/803069 ) Dr. Aaraj was one of the earliest appointments to DarkMatter's senior management team in 2014, and in her role as Vice President she oversaw the development and commercial introduction of a number of Secure Communications applications, including DarkMatter's Secure Voice and Chat offering. Prior to joining DarkMatter Dr. Aaraj worked in Booz & Company, where she led consulting engagements in the communication and technology industry for clients across four continents. Prior to that, she held several research positions, including Research Fellow with IBM T. J. Watson Security Research in New York, and with the Intel Security Research Group in Portland, Oregon. She also was a Research Staff Member at NEC Laboratories in Princeton, New Jersey. Reflecting the scope of her research and professional accomplishments, Dr. Aaraj has a number of publications and patents to her name, which include a patent for "Optimising Performance of Integrity Monitoring" and more than half a dozen papers. In her new role at DarkMatter, Dr. Aaraj will continue to be involved in evaluating and customising secure product architecture; designing and setting up special projects related to authentication and cryptology systems; and overseeing the development and operation of DarkMatter's test and validation labs. Commenting on the promotion, Faisal Al Bannai, Chief Executive Officer of DarkMatter said, "Najwa has been with us right from the very beginning and we are hugely grateful for her commitment, enthusiasm, and obvious talent. Part of the journey with DarkMatter was always going to be about believig in the company's vision, and Najwa was one of the earliest converts." Faisal Al Bannai continued, "Najwa's increased responsibilities are well deserved given the hard work and success she has already achieved in delivering projects to our clients. Our Secure Communications portfolio, amongst other solutions, has been well received and I look forward to Najwa continuing to driving success in her engagements." The Special Projects unit within DarkMatter looks to foster inter-departmental collaboration, and aside from Secure Communications it also involved in the setting up of the company's Crypto Programme, its Test and Validation Labs, and the development of new (secure) technologies. Dr. Aaraj said, "It has been an exciting and fulfilling journey with DarkMatter so far. I am so impressed by the progress we have all been able to achieve in a relatively short period of time, and I would like to thank my colleagues for their support throughout. We are only at the beginning of having a profound impact on how cyber security is regarded and implemented in the UAE and further afield and I look forward to building a legacy we can all be proud about having had a part in establishing." Dr. Aaraj holds a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from Princeton University, having earned a Master of Science Degree in Computer and Information Systems Security / Information Assurance also from the prestigious institution. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Computer and Communications Engineering from the American University in Beirut. Already a trusted partner to governments and security sensitive entities, DarkMatter is staffed by tier one international cyber experts who develop, manage and deploy the most innovative technologies. Solutions adhere to the company's Cyber Security Life-Cycle, which incorporates a four-stage approach involving planning, detection, protection and recovery, and reinforces its secure business solutions. DarkMatter is leveraging this experience in the wider market as it looks to serve regional and international clients. The company provides a complete portfolio of cyber security solutions and services to organisations that have sophisticated security requirements, from governments and infrastructure operators to large corporations. About DarkMatter DarkMatter is a company that is transforming the cyber security landscape by providing a complete range of state-of-the-art services and solutions to governments and commercial clients. Its end-to-end expertise extends to: Governance, Risk and Compliance We work with public and private entities in all verticals to audit and assess their performance against regulatory standards, helping identify gaps and meet obligations. 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Agile and innovative, DarkMatter takes a comprehensive approach to helping its clients navigate the complex and ever-evolving world of threat and risk mitigation strategies, tools, policies and systems. http://www.darkmatter.ae [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Lawrence County Council adopts increased budget for 2023 The final total for next years budget was adopted at $28,405,574, an increase of 3.5% from the approved budget for 2022. NEW NUMBERS REVEAL THE POPULARITY OF MAYOR SLY JAMES HAS TAKEN A SERIOUS HIT IN RECENT POLLING DATA AND HE'S NO LONGER BELOVED BY THE VOTING PUBLIC!!! "Another bit of the backstory around the mayor's KCI renovation fiasco, which the STAR is willfully ignoring as they have this data, is how much James' popularity has slipped in the polls in just the last 4 months (over 12 points). Based upon polling data compiled around both the E-Tax campaign and the airport deal, his "favorable" rating now hovers just barely over 50%, while his "unfavorables" continue to climb into the low 30's. These numbers are historically VERY low for a sitting mayor in Kansas City, where people generally always support their mayors (Barnes, Cleaver, and Berkley were always consistently in the low 70's to high 60's, only Funkhouser slipped below 50%). "More interestingly, however, is that even among those that have a "favorable" opinion of James, a consistent theme within the poll is that the public writ large does not trust him to lead complex and/or expensive projects. He is viewed as a generally affable figure who lacks any real business or management depth and cannot be trusted to lead large capital projects. In the focus group portion of both polls, interestingly, the words "ineffective" and "wasteful" were most often used across all demographics when describing his leadership style with those with an unfavorable opinion. What this means, at least until the next mayor is elected in a little over two years, is that if any major projects are going to move forward in Kansas City, they are going to need to come from someone other than the mayor and his office if public opinion is important or public approval is necessary." The recent Kansas Cityon some behind the scenes polling numbers that scuttled the project. Right now, our blog community shares even more surprising deets from this data set that gave Mayor Sly James a moment of pause.To wit . . .Our blog community has long contended this fact and it was clear that if local corporate lawyers didn't rig the last election there might have been a serious challenge to the status quo beyond some homeless dude.What's surprising from this look at recent data is that not even the Mayor's paid army of consultants clacking away at social media at all hours of the day and night are able to turn the tide. And so, it's possible that Mayor Sly James could soon enter into the lame duck part of his tenure early withand a few others lurking behind the scenes and waiting to make their power moves.But for now, check thesewith our blog community that gives insight into a fading local politico who peaked with this weekend's slow and busted toy train streetcar festivities.Checkit:You decide . . . Greg Knapp: More People Care About You Than You Know "After my radio show last Wednesday I was told that corporate was looking at saving money and decided the best way to do that was to lay me off. For the past 5 years I have consistently had the highest ratings on the station, so I was told repeatedly it was not about my performance. My general manager was very kind in telling me how much she appreciated my show and my work. "This sometimes happens in radio. Does it stink and hurt? Yeah, but I get it. Ive been in the business for 20 years now. Its actually been great to me. Ive had more fun and made more money at it than anything else Ive done in my life. And its not over, yet. This is just a temporary setback. Ive already had people express interest in my show and Im excited about what might come next." In a thoughtful post which reveals that this Kansas City media dude isa class act . . . This Kansas City talker gives us the behind the scenes deets on his departure from a local station AND offers a hint at his comeback already in the works.Checkit:Money line:We look forward to the return of Mr. Knapp and we thank him for his kind mentions of our blog community over the years.Developing . . . Baku, Azerbaijan, May 8 By Khalid Kazimov - Trend: Iran has called on South Korea for cooperation on LNG projects, gas liquefaction plants and transporting LNG. Managing Director of the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) Ali Akbar Safaei has said that NITC seeks developing LNG industry, Mehr news agency reported. Speaking at a meeting with B.S.Park, the Chairman & CEO of Korea Register (KR), a Korean Classification Society, Safaei said that there are also several opportunities for cooperation on offshore sectors. In Turn, Park also welcomed cooperation with Iran and said that his organization is ready to finance Iran's LNG projects. Earlier Jafar Pourfarjoudi, spokesperson of Iran's Oil Ministry told Trend, that the Islamic Republic is planning to obtain the floating liquefied natural gas vessels (FLNG) as a solution for exporting gas to distant markets. The National Iranian Gas Exports Company (NIGEC) and South Korean KOGAS have recently signed a MoU for gas cooperation. Based on the document, the parties will cooperate in exporting Iran's gas in the form of LNG, gas marketing and transfer of experiences. In mid-March, the media in Seoul reported that KOGAS is looking into Iran-Oman gas pipeline project which experts say requires an investment of at least $1.5 billion. Greece is very close to achieving its targets, returning better-than-expected economic results, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told journalists from the German media group Funke on Sunday. There was no issue of a new aid package and definitely not of the country's exit from the Eurozone, while Monday's Eurogroup will focus on how Greece's debt can be made sustainable, he stressed. "At this time we are at the stage of the first review of the programme and the targets have almost been achieved," Juncker added, noting that there would be a "first discussion" on how to make the Greek debt sustainable on Monday and ruling out a third aid programme. He disclosed the Commission expected a return to growth in the second half of 2016: "With the programme that Greece began last summer, it acquired the foundation for a return to permanent and stable economic growth," while adding that Greece's exit from the Euro was not an acceptable choice in the previous year "and is obviously not one today". The Funke group includes the newspapers Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, Berliner Morgenpost, Hamburger Abendblatt, Westfalische Rundschau and others. Source:ANA-MPA RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report Tourexpi, turizm haberleri, Reiseburos, tourism news, noticias de turismo, Tourismus Nachrichten, , travel tourism news, international tourism news, Urlaub, urlaub in der turkei, , holidays in Turkey, , global tourism news, dunya turizm, dunya turizm haberleri, Seyahat Acentas, This site is best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0+, at a minimum screen resolution of 1024 x 768. Four Egyptian banks will be arranging the biggest financing in the history of the country's housing sector worth E20 billion ($2.25 billion) to build 500,000 low-income homes, said a report. State-run Social Housing Fund is expected to receive a billion pounds loan from the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), Banque Misr, Banque Du Caire, and Housing and Development Bank (HDB), reported Amwal Al Ghad. NBE, Banque Misr, and Banque Du Caire have decided to contribute around E6.33 billion ($711.2 million) each to the loan; while the HDB's share will amount to E1 billion ($112.4 million), a source familiar with the matter stated. The financing is designated to secure liquidity needed to build 500,000 housing units as part of the country's national project to build one million homes for low-income citizens, said the report. The loan will be repaid over four years, the source said, expecting the fund and the four lenders would sign the final agreements within the current month, it added. Leading Iranian vehicle manufacturer Iran Khodro Company (IKCO) has signed a letter of understanding with an Azerbaijani company to assemble completely knocked down (CKD) vehicles in Azerbaijan, said a report. IKCO would not make any investment in Azerbaijan but the partnership with the Azeri company is limited to technical and engineering services to establish an assembly line, Saeed Tafazzoli deputy head of IKCO for export and international affairs, was quoted as saying in an Iran Daily News report. He further noted that studies have been conducted to assess the Azerbaijan market adding IKCO products are well-known in the country. IKCO has produced a number of vehicles in Azerbaijan including Samand, which has been among the most popular passenger vehicles in the country given its adaptability to the cold weather of Azerbaijan. "Iran Khodro used to export vehicles' complete built up (CBU) to Azerbaijan," Tafazzoli stated, adding that in view of the good market in Azerbaijan, IKCO has decided to set up an assembly line there. He said that with the establishment of the assembly line, Azerbaijan will turn into IKCO's export hub in the region. Tafazzoli cited Samand, Soren and Runna as the vehicles to be assembled in the first phase while the production of commercial vehicles for public transport fleet of Azerbaijan has also been predicted. The line is set to be established in Neftchala city with the direct investment of Azeri side, added the report. China will invest 77 billion yuan ($11.9 billion) this year in building aviation infrastructure, the official Xinhua news agency reported late on Wednesday, citing the country's civil aviation regulator. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said the investment, which will focus on airports, will initially lead to 11 key construction projects and 52 aviation-related upgrades to existing facilities, Xinhua reported. "The general aviation sector, especially aircraft research and manufacturing, has become a hot spot of both industrial upgrading and social concern," Feng Zhenglin, head of the CAAC, told the official news agency. China's cabinet separately said late on Wednesday it would support the development of the country's aviation industry and opening up low-altitude air space, an issue that constrains a fledgling market for helicopters and small aircraft. It did not provide details. "Opening up will especially benefit China's tourism, emergency medical services and pilot training sectors, which operate light aircraft and helicopters," said Greg Waldron, Asia managing editor at industry publication Flightglobal. Civilian air traffic controllers handle low-altitude air space and work with the military to manage both civil and military traffic in most parts of the world. China's military controls the country's air space, and its planes have priority over civil aircraft. Special military-only zones also force other aircraft to take a longer route. Over the last few years, Beijing has relaxed some restrictions on flights below 1,000 m (3,280 ft) - although civil aircraft still need military approval to fly through some areas. Industry observers expect the approval process to be further relaxed and the ceiling to increase to 3,000 m, in line with Western norms. Some, however, are cautions. "I doubt they will let people get into their aircraft and fly off without approval like in Australia and the US. This is still China and there will still be restrictions," Waldron said. The relaxation could boost demand for light aircraft. China had only 1,600 light aircraft and around 80 airports to handle them in 2013. It will need 10,000 light aircraft this decade to meet demand, according to some projections. The US, by comparison, had about 300,000 GA aircraft and 24,000 airports for them in 2013. Since 2000, Western firms like America's Cessna and Austria's Diamond Aircraft have set up joint ventures with Chinese partners to produce light aircraft in the country. - Reuters If Ali Al-Naimi were to review his time as Saudi oil minister, he might feel events had turned full circle. Two years after the long-serving technocrat's 1995 promotion to become only the kingdom's fourth oil minister in 40 years, Al-Naimi pushed through an ill-fated Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) deal in Indonesia to lift supply just as Asia went into economic tailspin. Designed to punish Venezuela for flouting its output quota, the decision has gone down in Opec lore as the most poorly-judged in cartel history. Oil prices halved to $10 a barrel. Nearly two decades later, Al-Naimi, 80, is facing another supply crisis, driving oil prices to the lowest in six years -- at below $40 per barrel, more than $100 below the 2008 pre-financial crisis peak. And as in Jakarta in 1997, today's crash has been orchestrated by Al-Naimi himself with the same aim in mind: to defend Saudi market share against rivals -- primarily this time against booming US shale oil supply. Throughout his career, Al-Naimi has worked to avoid a repeat of the error of his legendary predecessor, Sheikh Zaki Yamani, who was dismissed in 1986 as he unsuccessfully tried to fight an oil price collapse by unilaterally reducing Saudi output. Instead, through three cyclical downturns in oil prices, Al-Naimi has always chosen to use Saudi Arabia's vast oil supply scale - Riyadh produces more than a tenth of global crude - and its financial muscle to drive out higher cost rivals. That survival-of-the-fittest strategy means refusing to cut output unilaterally, waiting to outlast other producers before they beg Riyadh to collaborate in joint supply curbs to rescue prices. "In everything Naimi did, he never wanted to repeat the Yamani mistake," said Gary Ross, a veteran Opec watcher and the founder of US-based PIRA Energy. "He was prepared to manage the market and cut only when he had reasonable partners," said Ross, who participated in the first and only successful oil cooperation talks between Opec and Russia in early 2000. "Today, from the Saudi prospective, they have no allies." RECRUITING RUSSIA Oil market watchers pore over Al-Naimi's every word, and his past actions, to try to predict how the veteran tactician will act. He has always found a way to act jointly with other producers, rather than cut supply alone. After the 1997 oil slump, Al-Naimi eventually steered Opec out of trouble by engineering a series of cuts with arch-rival Iran supporting the strategy amid a thawing of political relations. Meanwhile, non-Opec Mexico helped bring Venezuela on board. In 2001, Al-Naimi found new allies as, after months of standoff, leading Opec rival Russia pledged to join cuts, later reneging on its promises. In 2008, all Opec members quickly supported supply curbs led by Saudi as oil plunged in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. As a result, oil prices bounced back quickly, providing the capital for new investment in the controversial hydraulic fracturing technology that saw US shale oil supplies rocket. That new supply source and China's slowdown have caused the latest downturn. Saudi oil sources say this time around Al-Naimi will stick to his policy of high output levels, even if crude prices fall further, until he finds partners to cooperate. "If the price falls, it falls, you cannot do anything about it. But ... others will be harmed greatly before we feel any pain," Al-Naimi told the Middle Eastern Economic Survey last year in the most detailed explanation of his current thinking. Al-Naimi did not respond to requests to be interviewed for this article. But his track record of holding firm until other countries join Saudi Arabia for joint action speaks volumes. "You can't beat experience, and Naimi has loads of it. He earned his wings in the 70s and 80s at Aramco and has now gone through three iterations of a crude price cycle: early 1980s, late 1990s, and the current one," said Yasser Elguindi of Medley Global Advisors. ISOLATED The problem for Al-Naimi is that he now appears more isolated than ever before. Described by admirers and critics alike as a great technician, he has won respect in the industry for driving Opec policy along business lines and, where possible, avoiding politics. Yet in the Middle East, politics and oil cannot always be kept apart. And when politics come into play, even the most adept negotiator may be prone to miscalculation. Opec has weathered internal strife and conflict many times before: wars between members -- Iran and Iraq in the 1980s, and Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in the 1990s, both before Naimi took the helm of the Saudi oil ministry. But the Sunni-Shia conflicts now setting Saudi Arabia and Iran at each other's throats in places like Syria and Yemen are unprecedented during Al-Naimi's tenure as minister. In addition, predominantly Shia Iraq has become a de facto ally of Iran within Opec since a US invasion ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, and both countries have enormous potential to increase supply. Outside Opec, Russia is at odds with Riyadh in Middle Eastern conflicts, joining the war in Syria two months ago on the side of Iranian ally Bashar al-Assad. Meanwhile, many Saudis believe the US shale oil boom has prompted Washington to reassess its military commitment in the Middle East that protects Riyadh in return for a sure supply of crude. Opec tensions spilled into the group's meeting last week when the group failed to agree a production target for the first time in decades, with Iran saying it would steeply increase supply after Western sanctions are lifted next year and Iraq saying it would boost exports too. "Some member countries produce as much as they wish," Iranian oil minister Bijan Zangeneh told reporters after the meeting in a clear reference to Saudi Arabia. "Iran will need no one's permission to raise its output." One executive from a major oil company said that while Al-Naimi's tactics against US shale were working and the low oil price was beginning to depress rivals' output, the Iranian comeback has complicated the picture. "Sometimes it feels that the Saudis have miscalculated how quickly Iran could clinch the nuclear deal and return to the markets". CHANGES AT HOME At the age of 12, Al-Naimi joined state oil giant Saudi Aramco, riding in the back of crowded trucks to get to work. Not many years into the job, he impressed Aramco managers by stating his ambition to run the company. Al-Naimi became President of Aramco in 1983 and CEO in 1988, the first Saudi to hold those posts, previously held only by Americans in the historically Arab-American oil company. As one of the country's highest-ranking non-royals, Al-Naimi grew from a cautious public face into an outspoken policymaker, given full and sole responsibility for Saudi oil policy, leaving oil markets hanging on his every word. This year's political changes have been the most profound Al-Naimi has seen - with new King Salman elevating a fresh generation of leadership in the form of his nephew Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and son Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Mohammed bin Salman, 30, became the ultimate oil decision maker in April. Last month he said the kingdom was working on reducing subsidies and introducing new taxes so the budget could withstand the pain of lower oil prices for longer. One insider said an indication that changes may be brewing was that comments on oil policy had been coming not only from Al-Naimi and the deputy crown prince, but also from Aramco's chairman Khalid Al-Falih and from another son of Salman, Prince Abdulaziz, Naimi's long-serving deputy. - Reuters UAE-based Citymax Hotels is looking to open 15 mid-market hotels across Saudi Arabia over the next five years, said a report. Looking to cash in on the rising demand for three- and four-star hotels in Saudi Arabia, the hotel chain is targetting location including Jeddah, Riyadh and secondary locations such as Buraidah, Abha and Yanbu, the Gulf News quoted Russel G.H Sharpe, Citymax chief operating officer, as saying. The hotel chain is already in discussions with potential joint venture partners to enter the Saudi hospitality market, he said. Elsewhere, Citymax is eyeing hotels in Dubais Al Qusais and International Media Production Zone (IMPZ) areas and an entry into Indonesia, Sharpe added. In a major management restructure, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Aviation Group has appointed James Hogan as its president and chief executive officer. Under the leadership of Hogan, who has served as Etihad Airways president and chief executive officer since September 2006, the key Etihad Aviation Group functions will be led by James Rigney as group chief financial officer; Kevin Knight as group chief strategy and planning officer; Ray Gammell as group chief people and performance officer; and Robert Webb as group chief information and technology officer. These areas will provide leadership, governance and strategic direction in their expert areas across all companies in the Etihad Aviation Group, said Etihad Aviation Group chairman Mohamed Mubarak Al Mazrouei. Al Mazrouei said: Etihad Airways has been steadily evolving into the Etihad Aviation Group for a number of years. This has been driven by the formation of new companies, including Etihad Airways Engineering, Etihad Global Cargo Management Company, the Global Loyalty Company, Hala Abu Dhabi, and Etihad Airport Services. The acquisition of minority equity stakes in Alitalia, airberlin, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Etihad Regional operated by Darwin Airline, Jet Airways, and Virgin Australia, has also necessitated the need for a dedicated team to manage our shareholding, and the delivery of wide-ranging synergies that are beneficial to all parties, he said. Reporting to James Hogan, the new chief executive officers of the group companies are as follows: Etihad Airways CEO: Peter Baumgartner will take on this new position and oversee the day-to-day running of Etihad Airways. He will have overall responsibility for flight operations, safety and quality, guest services, aviation security, sales, network operations, Etihad Airways Marketing, Etihad Airport Services Ground, and Etihad Airport Services Catering. Baumgartner brings with him a wealth of experience in various aspects of the aviation business. He joined Etihad Airways in April 2005 from Swiss International Air Lines and has managed the airlines intense global commercial efforts during a period of rapid growth, both in terms of commercial expansion and the introduction of new product and service innovations. CEO, Airline Equity Partners: Bruno Matheu will drive the identification and realisation of synergy benefits across the airlines strategic partners. Matheu joined Etihad Airways in 2014 in the newly created role of chief operating officer, equity partners. This role has been upgraded to chief executive officer level in recognition of the importance of partnerships. The partnership strategy delivered revenues of $1.4 billion and more than five million passengers onto Etihad Airways flights in 2015. Matheu has almost 30 years of senior management experience in the global aviation industry, the past two decades with Air France-KLM. CEO, Etihad Airways Engineering: Jeff Wilkinson has been appointed to this position from his existing role as senior vice president technical. He has more than 15 years leadership experience, eight of which have been at Etihad Airways, which he joined in 2006. Etihad Airways Engineering became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Etihad Airways in 2014 following the acquisition of Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies. Today, Etihad Airways Engineering provides airframe and component maintenance services, along with supply chain management and design engineering, to Etihad Airways, equity partner airlines, and third-party airlines. CEO, Hala Group: The establishment of the Hala Group recognises how commercial operations have grown across a variety of travel and hospitality businesses. It will ensure a coordinated approach that drives strong commercial value for Etihad Airways, Abu Dhabi, and equity partners through the Global Loyalty Company, group brand and marketing teams, Hala Travel Management HTM, Hala Abu Dhabi, and Etihad Holidays. Recruitment for this position is ongoing. Hogan added: Etihad Airways today is profitable with a workforce of more than 20,500 people from more than 140 nationalities. We have more than 3,000 UAE nationals, reflecting our role as a key enabler and contributor to the growth of Abu Dhabi and its workforce. We have strong succession planning in place to ensure that our commitment to Emiratisation constantly strengthens and deepens. However, Etihad Airways is no longer a stand-alone business. The Etihad Aviation Group employs more than 27,000 people and these structural changes and appointments will ensure that we have a unified approach that links all parts of the group and provides wider strategic direction to deliver success, he said. The new management structure will enable us to maximise opportunities for growth, revenue generation and cost control on a much bigger scale so that the Etihad Aviation Group continues to deliver to its fullest potential and for the benefit of its guests, employees and suppliers, added Hogan. TradeArabia News Service The 16th edition of the Airport Show opens in Dubai tomorrow (May 9) for its biggest event yet with more than 300 companies from 55 countries showcasing a diverse portfolio of technologies and innovative solutions. Running till May 11,The three-day show is being held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of Dubai Airports and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airlines and Group. Reed Exhibitions, the organisers for the show, expect more than 7,000 aviation industry professionals to attend the show, which will be spread over 15,000-sq-m of gross exhibition space in Zabeel Halls 4, 5 and 6, this year. The worlds top-league airport industry B2B event has the fourth edition of the Global Airport Leaders Forum (GALF) and third edition of World Travel Catering and Onboard Services Expo Middle East (WTCEME) as co-located events. The 16th edition of the Airport Show is supported by Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA), Dubai Airports, Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects (DAEP), Dubai Air Navigation Services (dans), dnata and Women in Aviation Middle East Chapter, amongst a host of leading regional and international associations backing the event. Strong backing has come from companies and trade bodies like German Airport Technology and Equipment (Gate), Danish Airport Group, British Aviation Group, British Airport Services and Equipment Association, Swiss Airport Suppliers, Swiss Aerospace Cluster, SACE, Netherlands Aerospace Group, UBIFRANCE, UAE Contractors Association and Supply Chain and Logistics Group (SCLG) of Middle East. The gold sponsors include emaratech and Bond Group, while other major sponsors include NEC, Boeing, DTP and Strata. Sheikh Ahmed said: We are pleased to welcome the highest ever number of exhibitors from all around the world to the Airport Show this year. The Airport Show continues to grow year after year as leading industry players from across the world seek to tap into the tremendous opportunities offered by the Middle Easts thriving aviation sector. The growing interest in this show is a clear indication of its value to exhibitors and visitors alike. I am confident the event will be a resounding success. Daniyal Qureshi, Group exhibition director, Reed Exhibitions Middle East, said: The Airport Show 2016 will be the strongest on several fronts, it will showcase worlds latest technologies in aviation, facilitate knowledge-sharing, in addition to being a unique meeting point for global experts. The tremendous response from international aviation industry players to participate in the Airport Show clearly reflects their keenness to tap into the growing opportunities in the Middle East and meets the requirements of regional decision-makers to source their requirements at their doorsteps. The show has recorded a 30 per cent growth in participants for the Business Connect programme with an all-time high participation of 154 buyers. The Business Connect progrmame, which has a track record of delivering unparalleled business opportunities for international suppliers through a number of dedicated pre-scheduled meetings programmes, has been showing consistent growth each passing year. Airport Show 2015 hosted 2,900 pre-arranged meetings between hosted buyers and exhibitors and this year we are confident of breaking the record with over 3,500 pre-scheduled on site meetings, added Qureshi. The Business Connect programme this year will feature Airport Business Connect, a unique matchmaking programme facilitating over 2,000 pre-scheduled meetings for exhibitors with key officials from regional airport authorities and contractors of mega airport developments across the Middle East; Africa Business Connect, dedicated to African aviation officials, from over 15 countries, to meet with Airport Show exhibitors and source suppliers for the African continents most ambitious airport developments and Air traffic Control Business Connect, which will host over 50 officials from regional Civil Aviation Authorities and ANSPs facilitating business for exhibitors through over 500 pre-scheduled meetings with key Air Traffic Management officials during the event. This years show will see buyers from Algeria, Armenia, Bahrain, Botswana, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Zimbabwe and the host country, UAE. The 16th edition of the Airport Show will have a strong international representation with six dedicated country pavilions, with around 100 exhibitors, for global participants to showcase and launch their products, services and solutions. Germany will have the largest participation with more than 40 exhibitors showcasing in the exclusive Germany Pavilion, in addition to five pavilions dedicated to aviation players from France, Switzerland, UK, China and North America. The Germany Pavilion will be the biggest in terms of exhibitors a total of 40 companies including seven new ones. The French Pavilion, which made its first appearance at the Airport Show eight years ago, will feature 14 exhibitors, the Swiss and UK pavilions will have 12 exhibitors each this year while there will be eight exhibitors in the North America Pavilion and six in the China Pavilion. Among the key attractions will be the free to attend Innovation Podium wherein more than 35 seminars will be conducted by industry experts on a variety of latest technologies and innovations as well as exclusive insights into some of the regions airport developments. The Podium provides companies the opportunity to launch products, demonstrate their capabilities, offer system solutions and share best practices. As a co-located event, the Global Airport Leaders Forum (GALF), which will be held on May 10 and 11, will have more than 40 renowned international aviation leaders and experts sharing their professional insights, experiences and future perspectives on the aviation industry and its challenges. The forum will witness brain storming sessions on key industry issues such as open skies, oil price volatility, how the industry will develop over the next decade, next generation passengers, safety and security issues, strategies to enhance passenger capacity, market overcrowding, new project reviews and opportunities, securing ongoing finance and investment for expansion, developing the low cost carrier market and also present aviation trends overview, a review of major airport projects in Saudi Arabia, opportunities in aviation with a focus on the UAE and economic outlook and strategies to help stakeholders effectively deal with the rising number of passengers, estimated to cross 7 billion by 2034. The World Travel Catering and Onboard Services Expo Middle East (WTCEME), will have exhibitors from the UAE, Spain, UK, India, China, Srilanka, Bahrain, Canada, Italy, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, France, Malaysia, Turkey, Egypt and The Netherlands, who will showcase a wide range of travel catering services and solutions, including food, snacks, beverages, food packaging, processing, preparation and preservation equipment, tableware and chinaware, accessories, toiletries and travel amenities. Fifty buyers from 14 countries representing 23 authorities will participate in WTCEMEs Hosted Buyers Programme this year, designed to facilitate meetings between key regional buyers and exhibitors at the show. The newly branded WCTEME expects over 1,500 trade visitors this year from all the major airlines, airports and related aviation catering businesses in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia region. - TradeArabia News Service Baku, Azerbaijan, May 8 By Fatih Karimov - Trend: The Union of Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals Exporters of Iran and Chinese Petrochemical Industries Confederation signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for cooperation, the oil ministry's official SHANA news agency reported. The document was signed on the sidelines of the 21st Iran International Exhibition of Oil, Gas, Refining and Petrochemicals in Tehran May 8. The deal envisions providing a suitable ground for expansion of relations between members of the two private institutions. It also calls for exchange of information, skills and experience in production and exports. Under the deal the capabilities and potentials of Iranian firms will be introduced to the Chinese chemical and petrochemical companies. The two sides will identify opportunities of trade and provide ground for direct investment in Iran. The deal also envisions holding joint workshops, seminars, and exhibitions in order to boost trade ties between the member companies. The 21st International Oil, Gas, Refining and Petrochemical Exhibition of Iran - Iran Oil Show 2016 - opened in Tehran on May 5. Almost 1,900 companies - 900 from Iran and 880 from 38 countries - are showcasing their latest achievements in the Show which will continue until 8 May. An American Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Syracuse was delayed for over two hours after a woman raised suspicions over a man 'scribbling secret terrorist codes', said a report. Guido Menzio, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania, was then asked to disembark the plane and "met by some FBI looking man-in-black" who questioned him after the woman next to him said she felt ill, said a report in The Times of India. Menzio was flying from Philadelphia to Syracuse on Thursday to give a talk at Queen's University in Ontario, Canada. Before the flight took off, the 30-something woman seated next to Menzio told the cabin crew she was feeling too ill fly but later voiced her suspicions about Menzio's scribblings. He was solving a differential equation, but said he was told the woman thought he might be a terrorist because of what he was writing. Menzio showed the security agents what he had been writing and the flight eventually took off - more than two hours late. American spokesman Casey Norton said the crew followed protocol to take care of an ill passenger and then to investigate her allegations. They determined them to be non- credible, he said. The woman was re-booked on a later flight. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 8 By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran and Netherlands discussed oil cooperation at the last day of The 21st Tehran Oil Show May 8, Tasnim news agency reported. Iran's deputy oil minister for International Affairs, Amir Hossein Zamaninia and Minister of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands, Henk Kamp met on the sidelines of the event which was opened in Tehran on May 5. The two sides discussed expansion of cooperation in oil industry, preparing grounds for presence of Dutch firms in Iran's oil market, and cooperation between the private sectors of the two countries in the field of technology transfer. The Issue of Iran's oil and gas exports to the Europe also was on the agenda of the talks. Heading a high-ranking economic delegation, Kamp arrived in Tehran early May 8. He is scheduled to hold talks with Iranian officials on promotion of mutual cooperation between the two countries. This is Kamp's second visit to Tehran following the historic nuclear deal between Tehran and the P5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) last July, which took effect on January 16. Several cooperation documents in the fields of oil and energy are expected to be signed between Iran and Netherlands on the sidelines of 21st International Oil, Gas, Refining and Petrochemical Exhibition. Baku, Azerbaijan, May 8 By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran has exported eight billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey during the last fiscal year (ended March 20), Yadollah Baibordi, an official with the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), said, oil ministry's SHANA news agency reported May 8. Baibordi, who heads Zone 8 of the NIGC's Gas Transfer Operation said that about 366 million cubic meters (mcm) of gas was exported to Armenia from March 2015 to March 2016. During the same period Iran also exported 257 mcm of gas to Azerbaijan, he added. Baibordi also noted that as much as 25 billion cubic meters of gas was transferred via the zone for domestic consumption in various sectors including households, power plants and industry. Currently Iran exports 27 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) of gas to Turkey, barters about 1 mcm/d with Armenia, while swaps the same volume with Azerbaijan. Azizollah Ramezani, the director for international affairs department of the NIGC earlier said that Iran would capable to export 300-350 mcm/d of gas to its 15 neighbors. He said that currently the country produces 700 mcm/d of (raw) gas in Iran, but the figure would reach 1,200 mcm/d by 2021. Iranian official added that beside the exist deals with Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Pakistan and Iraq, Iran is in talk with Afghanistan, Oman, Kuwait and other Persian Gulf countries to export gas. According to the latest statistics of Iran's Oil Ministry, currently natural gas shares 68 percent in Iran's total primary energy consumption. Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 8 Senior Congress leader and MP Partap Singh Bajwa has announced to seek a CBI inquiry for physical verification of all godowns in the state from Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Parliament tomorrow. Addressing mediapersons in a hurriedly called press briefing at the office of the District Congress Committee (Urban), here, today, he raised the issues of over Rs 12,000 crore scam in food grain storage and monopolisation in the ongoing wheat procurement in the state. He openly named SAD minister Adesh Partap Singh Kairon, who is also the son-in-law of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, for monopolising entire procurement of wheat in the state by authorising an individual from Patti, his Assembly constituency. Bajwa alleged that the established norms of floating tenders were abandoned to hand over the entire procurement to an individual, who further sublet the procurement into many hands. He said its impact was clearly visible on the plight of farmers who did not have enough money to invest for the sowing of the next crop. The MP said only 30 per cent of the farmers had been paid so far in the state. He said there was a scam between Rs 12,000 crore and Rs 17,000 crore in grain storage in the state during the past nine years. He said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) found food stocks worth Rs 12,000 crore missing from Punjabs godowns. Another CAG report for 2013-2014 indicated that vehicle numbers of trucks, which were used for transporting paddy in the state, were randomly verified and some of them were found to be of two-wheelers. Bajwa asserted that he would seek a CBI inquiry for physical verification of all godowns in the state. He said the economic condition of farmers in the state was deplorable and 70 per cent of them own less than five acres of land. These farmers were under Rs 6,9000-crore debt. Of this, Rs 54,000 crore debt was sourced from financial institutions. He urged the Union Government to write off at least instituitionalised advances on the line of the waiver of Rs 1.14 lakh crore loan of industrialists. Highlighting the deplorable fiscal situation of the farmers, he said 56 farmers committed suicide between January and March and 450 farmers had ended their lives in 2015. He also announced that he would initiate a signature campaign in the Parliament to endorse their opinion in introducing a legislation that ownership right of the land of farmers could not be changed by any private lenders or even by government-run financial institutes. He reminded the BJP that in its manifesto it had promised to implement the report of Dr Swaminathan after coming to power. Bajwa said major demand of the farming community to link the crop prices to price index remain unfulfilled. He added that a majority of cereals and pulses were being sold at about Rs 200 per kg in the retail market but farmers were getting around Rs 20 per kg. Aarti Kapur Tribune News Service Chandigarh, May 8 Pharmacy, law, dental and MBA courses at Panjab University have emerged hot favourites among international students. Interestingly, for the past five years, more than 60 per cent of the total international students from countries like the USA, Canada, UK and Australia sought admission to these professional courses. On the other hand, a majority of students from Iran, Afghan, Bhutan, Ethiopia and Yemen preferred PhD in languages and other arts courses. As per university records, from 2011 to 2015, every year medical professionals from other countries enrol themselves for the internship programme in BDS at the Dr Harvansh Singh Judge Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital Panjab University. Notably, students from Iran have shown greatest interest in taking admission to various undergraduate and postgraduate courses. In 2011-12, as many as 42 students from Iran took admission at various university departments while in 2012-13 their number increased to 58. In 2013-14, the number stood at 59 but in the 2015-16, their count declined to 42. Meanwhile, there is a drastic increase in the number of students from Afghanistan. In 2011-12, only nine Afghan students studied at various PU departments, which increased to 45 in 2015-16. A majority of students from the UK opted for LLB. Though the number of international students has gone up to 205 from 114 in the past five years, the Dean (International Students) is formulating a plan to increase it further. Dean (International Students) Deepti Gupta said foreign students used to face problem in writing English so keeping it in view, an Enlish proficiency course was being introduced from 2016-17. Bathinda, May 8 Leaders of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) and other unions are holding meetings with farmers in villages to motivate them for the protest to be held on from May 24 to 28. Farmers will stage a protest in support of their long-pending demands, including compensation to suicide victims and making laws favouring farmers in the Indebtedness Bill. They will stage protest at the district headquarters in the Malwa region. They alleged that recently, suicides were committed by a farmer and his mother in Barnala district and the district authorities had allegedly failed to provide compensation to the families of the victims. BKU (Ugrahan) Bathinda president Shingara Singh Mann said, We are motivating farmers and our block-level leaders are holding meetings in villages to motivate them as many of our protests have remained fruitless. While some of the demands were met, the key demands are still pending. The state government has not fixed any rate of interest to be charged by money lenders or arhtiyas in the present Indebtedness Bill. Hence, we will demand drafting of a new bill or making amendments in the present Bill. We have already rejected the farmer Indebtedness Bill presented by the state government recently. The demands, including the implementation of the Swaminathan report, will also be raised. Farmers had staged protests in Bathinda demanding relief of Rs 40,000 per acre for damage to the cotton crop due to the whitefly attack. They also sought relief for families of farmers who had committed suicides in the past many years. The labour unions are demanding Rs 20,000 per acre per labour family from the state government for the damaged cotton crop due to the whitefly attack. Farm labourers alleged they could not get employment due to loss of cotton crop in the region. TNS Baku, Azerbaijan, May 8 By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Head of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in Northern Iraq Massoud Barzani is scheduled to visit Tehran May 8, Iran's Etemadonline news portal reported citing a "informed source." Barzani will meet with senior Iranian officials including Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and Ali Larijani, speaker of the Iranian parliament. Fighting against the "Islamic State" (IS, aka ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) terrorist group and military operation to retake the country's second-largest city, Mosul from the group will be discussed in the meetings. Construction of an oil pipeline between Iran and the northern Iraq also will be on the agenda of talks, according to the report. For several years, Iraqi KRG and Iran have been in talks to construct a pipeline that would transport the northern Iraq oil to the Iranian market. However, the negotiations have lagged so far as the regional administration in northern Iraq instead focused on developing an oil export route through Turkey. Deepender Deswal Tribune News Service Rakhigarhi (Hisar), May 8 The concept of democracy and welfare state has their roots in Indus Valley Civilisation, so suggest the analysis of two-year excavation at an ancient Harappan site in Hisars Rakhigarhi village. The excavation points out that the panchayat system is 5,000 years old. The Haryana Archaeological Department and Deccan College, Pune, have been excavating at the site spread over 550 hectares. Prof Vasant Shinde, Vice-Chancellor, Deccan College, said here today that evidence of a city state or rule of a king like in Egypt or Mesopotamia was not found anywhere in Harappan sites across the Asian subcontinent. There are striking similarities in the lifestyle and socio-culture behaviour of people of Indus Valley Civilisation and that of modern civilisation. The study has revealed that Haryana people are descendents of Harappan people. Walking in present-day Rakhigarhi gives an impression that we are in a Harappan village, the VC said. The remains of earthen pottery, house building structure made with cross bricks, drainage system, water conservation and chulha (traditional firewood stove) found at the site had striking similarities to the modern times, claimed Prof Shinde. We found no palace-like structure or evidence of a rule of a king anywhere in Harappan sites. Unlike Egypt, people of Indus civilisation did not waste their resources and forced common people to create structures such as pyramids which symbolise slavery, said Arvind Prabhakar Jamkhedkar, Chancellor, Deccan College. Deccan College is a deemed university. He said civil engineering and houses built of bricks were first conceptualised during the Indus civilisation and the technology had travelled to other contemporary civilisations. Then, people of had trade relations with Iran, Afghanistan, and even Egypt and Mesopotamia. Jamkhedkar said the Indus civilisation had flourished more in the Saraswati river basin than near the Indus river. Cross-bricked technique was used in Egypt during 3000 BC. It was prevalent in Indus during 5000 BC. On human figurines recovered from the site, the Chancellor said people then wore jewellery. A university in South Korea has developed a software that will reconstruct complete human characteristics by feeding into it the data of morphological features. I will visit South Korea in June. We are close to a breakthrough to reconstruct the lives of people of the Harappan civilisation. The excavation has failed to answer several questions related to these people. DNA samples are being analysed by South Koreas Seoul National University College of Medicine, and Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad. The similar investigation will be carried out at Howard University, Cambridge University andthe Copenhagen University in Denmark, Shinde said, adding the results would be published in Nature or Science magazine. New Delhi, May 8 Investigators have got some "vital" leads on the Indian contacts and fund sources of Christian Michel, an alleged defence middleman, after interrogating his local driver here in connection with the money laundering probe in the nearly Rs 3,600-crore VVIP chopper deal. Officials said Michel's driver, Narayan Bahadur, was questioned at length by ED sleuths in the last few days and he has divulged vital information about contacts of the British national who has emerged as the crucial link in the case where agencies are probing alleged payment of kickbacks that helped swing the deal in favour of AgustaWestland for supply of 12 choppers for flying VVIPs. They claimed the driver was getting money through global wire fund transfer services until recently and this could help investigators in locating the current operations and activities of Michel against whom both the ED and CBI have obtained Interpol red notices for arrest. The driver, sources said, would drive Michel around during his visits to India and worked with him for nearly four years. He used to pick up Michel from his hotel in central Delhi and took him to his Indian and foreign contacts in Lutyens Delhi and southern part of the national capital. Although Bahadur had been questioned by the agencies earlier, they stumbled upon some vital leads recently when ED sleuths searched his premises and are understood to have seized some documents, phones and a few other things that could throw light on Michel's role in the scandal. The VVIP choppers deal probe has shed light on the involvement of three alleged middlemen Carlo Gerosa, Guido Haschke and Michel in swinging the deal in favour of UK-based AgustaWestland, a subsidiary of Italian firm Finmeccanica. Investigating agencies are probing their role in the specific context of alleged payment of bribes and extension of favours by the company to clinch the multi-million dollar deal. On January 1, 2014, India scrapped the contract with the company over alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of paying kickbacks of Rs 423 crore by it for securing the deal. Both the probe agencies have also issued separate Letters Rogatories (LRs) to various countries seeking assistance to take the probe forward. A joint team of the two agencies is likely to travel soon to a few overseas locations to track the trail of funds, both through wire tranfer and cash. PTI Vijay Mohan Tribune News Service Chandigarh, May 8 The details of another Pakistani airbase, believed to be the storage point for air deliverable nuclear weapons, are now available online. A series of pictures reveal the construction of special underground vaults at Masroor airbase, west of Karachi, which were completed earlier this year. An open source satellite image of March 2016 shows a hardened aircraft shelter adjacent to a taxi track, similar to that seen on airbases. A close examination of this image and comparison with earlier imagery of the same site reveals a well designed underground vault system and weapon storage bunkers interconnected with each other, according to a post by an expert in imagery interpretation. Overhead images from February and April 2015 give a glimpse of the underground vault, believed to have been constructed with foreign assistance. The structure, according to experts, is on the lines of the western Weapons Storage and Security System that includes electronic controls and vaults built into the floors of aircraft shelters for safe storage of special weapons. These are present on many American and NATO military airbases. Masroor is Pakistans largest airbase that houses its 32 Tactical Attack Wing comprising four squadrons. It lies to the west of the port city and is about 15 km away from the Pakistan Navys Mehran naval air station that had witnessed a devastating terror attack in May 2011. The vault, experts said, enables Pakistan to have nuclear weapons and the required aircraft at operational readiness at all times. Greater secrecy can be maintained since it would not require any significant additional movement of manpower and vehicles, which can be detected. It also ensures survivability of nuclear weapons in case of any first strike. Tribune News Service Dehradun, May 8 Col PL Sachdev (retd), an enthusiast of unidentified flying objects (UFO), has said that a recent study on three potentially habitable planets published in Nature can be true since there are enough evidence of life on some planets. In a statement issued here today, 90-year-old Sachdev, who has been passionately following the UFO and life on other planets in the universe, said the study gave credence to the claims made by Len K Averton, a Canadian author who mentioned in his book Secret journey to planet Serpo about life on habitable planets and their contacts with human beings. The ex-serviceman said that in July 1947, there was one alien survivor following crash of an alien spaceship at Rosewell in USA whom the US military cultivated to understand alien language and coaxed it to get in contact with its home planet with the help of a piece of undamaged communication device from their spaceship. By early 1952, when the alien died, US military had picked up sufficient knowledge to communicate with the planet of the alien in a distant star system. In 1953, a flying disc again crash landed in Kingman, Arizone (USA), without any serious damage in which one four feet high alien died but there were also four other aliens who survived. With the willing assistance of these aliens, the process of reverse engineering was set in motion at Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico. The book claimed that the US Military was more keen to get in direct contact with scientists on their home planet in Zeta Reticuli twin star system, 38 to 40 light years away. The book claimed that after prolonged communication process it was agreed in December 1963 for visit of a US team who will travel to their planet where they promised full cooperation in the field of flying disc and space travel technology. The author of the book had claimed that a team of 12 US astronauts eventually flew in July 1965 to that planet with the knowledge and permission of then US President Lydon B Johnson. The aliens provided one of their spaceships which took only 10 months to cover about 40 light years (approximately 400 trillion kms), which means their spaceship achieved almost 40 times the speed of light as known. This planet named Sepro by the US astronauts team has a diameter of 7,218 miles has two suns and two moons. The minimum temperature found on the planet was 43 degrees Celsius and maximum 126 degree Celsius. The book claimed that the US team stayed on this planet for 13 years and returned to earth in 1978 again in their spaceship. Col PL Sachdev (retd) said the study published in Nature magazine by Micheal Gillion, an astrophysicist at University of Liege in Belgium, stated that the three planets orbit an ultracool dwarf star a mere 39 light years away and are potentially habitable. New Delhi, May 8 A news channel on Sunday aired a video allegedly showing Congress legislator Madan Singh Bisht admitting to having tried to buy some legislators. A sting video released by a regional news channel showed a conversation between rebel Congress MLA Harak Singh Rawat and Congress legislator Madan Singh Bisht, in which the latter claimed Rawat used money he earned from mining to ensure the he continued to enjoy of loyalist lawmakers. Your brother has guts... to get money out of him (Harish Rawat). I have got them (Congress MLAs) the money and this conversation is between you and me I have got the MLAs 25 lakh each. This was given just for kharcha paani (personal expenditure) (sic), Bisht is seen saying in the video. The MLAs haven't demanded the money. I haven't taken a penny... you can ask Harish Rawat. I told him I won't take the money, give it to poor MLAs. Twelve MLAs were paid. I told Harish Rawat to give the money to the MLAs, he said. Umesh Kumar, editor-in-chief of the regional news channel Samachar Plus which aired the video, said it was in continuation with the older video that allegedly showed Rawat trying to bribe rebel MLAs into voting for him in the floor test that was to be held in March. They are Harish Rawat's supporters and held Cabinet ranks. This sting proves that horse-trading continues in Uttarakhand and will counter former chief minister Harish Rawat's claims denying it, the journalist said. BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, who is camping in the Uttarakhand, said: Harish Rawat can go great lengths to save his chair: he is buying his own MLAs (sic). BJP leader Bhagat Singh Koshiyari claimed the video showed that Harish Rawat was "himself involved in horse-trading. "Earlier also there was a sting and now also a new sting video has come out in which the MLA is himself saying that the Chief Minister is allegedly giving Rs 25-30 Lakh to his own MLAs to placate them," he claimed at a press conference in New Delhi. The Congress accused its saffron rival of indulging in "politics of blackmail" and dubbed the latest video "a conspiracy". The party also wrote to Governor KK Paul, demanding that Vijayvargiya be kept away from the state until the trust vote. "I charge the central government and the BJP that they are trying to create this politics of siege in this state. I have decided that after May 10th result, all these blackmailers who are blatantly trying to trap people by offering financial and other allurements, who are trying to blackmail the people, we will launch a fight against them under the leadership of Kishor Upadhyaya," Rawat said. Phone being tapped, MLA threatened: Rawat Rawat claimed on Sunday that central agencies were being misused to "harass" MLAs and leaders and threaten them. "Our MLAs and leaders are getting threatening messages from conduits who are posing as relatives, well-wishers and acquaintances," Rawat told reporters. "I am also being kept under surveillance as if I am an anti-national," he alleged. Rawat alleged that his phones and those of his relatives and aides were being tapped. "Central agencies are harassing Congress people through various ways," he alleged. "Central agencies are openly being misused and not only my MLAs but political leaders are being threatened," he said. When asked about the sting video, however, he claimed he did not know of it. The state plunged into political crisis after the nine Congress lawmakers voted with the BJP against the state governments Appropriation Bill on March 18. Uttarakhand Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal declared the Bill passed, ignoring demands for division of votes, and issued notices to the nine rebels. Presidents rule was imposed in the state on March 26 a day before Governor KK Pauls deadline to Rawat to prove his majority after rebel lawmakers released a video that showed Rawat trying to bribe the rebels into voting for his government in a floor test. Nine rebel Congress MLAs among them former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna were disqualified from the state Assembly by Kunjwal under the anti-defection law hours later. The high court criticised the central government for its interference in state affairs, revoked Presidents rule in the state and ordered a floor test, which the Supreme Court stayed. The Supreme Court recently ordered a floor test in the state. The court will monitor the proceedings. The rebel MLAs cannot vote. Agencies Cairo, May 8 In a revenge attack, Islamic State gunmen on Sunday shot dead at least nine policemen in southern Egypts Helwan district, the latest in a series of attacks on security personnel. The gunmen travelling in a truck stopped a microbus carrying the plainclothed policemen, including a lieutenant, in Omar Ibn Abdel Aziz street and sprayed it with bullets before fleeing from the scene, a security official said. Four armed terrorists got out of the truck and opened fire on the police microbus, according to a statement by the Ministry of Interior. Security forces have rushed to the place of the incident and are currently searching for the attackers, it said. The Islamic State groups Egyptian branch claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement circulated on social media. The group said a squad of the soldiers of the caliphate opened fire on the microbus in Helwan, killing the policemen before making off with their weapons. The attack was retaliation for the pure women imprisoned in Egyptian jails, the group said in its statement. Earlier, an Islamist group Shabab el-Mokawma el-Shabia (public resistance) had claimed responsibility for the attack. In a statement published on its Facebook page, the group said the attack was carried out in memory of Rabaa victims (who were killed during the dispersal of the Muslim Brotherhoods Rabaa sit-in in August 2013 by police). The attack came to commemorate 1000 days of the attack, it said. Egypt has witnessed several violent attacks by militants since the January 2011 revolution that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak. Terrorists, including from dreaded Islamist State outfit, have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers in attacks conducted mostly in the Sinai Peninsula and in and around Cairo. The attacks targeting police and military increased after the ouster of Islamist ex-president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 by military following massive protests against his rule. Over 700 security personnel have reportedly been killed so far. PTI Kathmandu: In a fresh bid to resolve the political impasse, the Nepalese government on Sunday invited the Madhesi Front for talks to iron out the differences over the new Constitution. The government sent a formal invitation to the United Democratic Madhesi Front to resolve the differences through talks. Over 50 people have lost their lives during the agitation by the Madhesis. The agitation, however, ended unexpectedly in February just before PM KP Sharma Oli's maiden visit to India without any political agreement. PTI 41 missing after landslide buries hydro project site Beijing: At least 41 people were missing and seven others injured on Sunday when a massive landslide engulfed the construction site of a hydropower station and its office building in China's southeastern Fujian province. Over a lakh cubic meters of mud buried temporary sheds at a hydropower station construction site and damaged its offices located in Taining County. State-run news agency reported that 41 people were listed missing and seven others injured. PTI Will only use N-weapons if attacked: Kim Pyongyang: North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un told a rare ruling party congress that his country was a "responsible" nuclear weapons state, with a no first-use policy and a commitment to non-proliferation, state media reported on Sunday. His remarks came amid growing concerns that the North might be on the verge of conducting a fifth nuclear test. Kim also vowed that Pyongyang would "faithfully fulfil" its non-proliferation obligations and push for global denuclearisation. AFP Indian-origin man elected to Singapore parliament Singapore: An Indian-origin lawyer from Singapore's ruling Peoples Action Party (PAP) has been elected member of the parliament following his victory in the by-election held at suburban Bukit Batok constituency. Murali Pillai garnered 61.21 per cent of the votes, while Singapore Democratic Party's Chee Soon Juan got 38.79 per cent of votes. PTI Karachi, May 8 Khurram Zaki, a leading Pakistani rights activist known for his strong stance against hatred and violence targeted at Shia Muslims, has been killed by unidentified assailants here in an apparent sectarian attack. Zaki, 40, was killed last night by four armed assailants who came on two motorcycles and sprayed bullets while he was having dinner at a restaurant in Sector 11 of New Karachi. Rao Khalid, a journalist who was with Zaki and a bystander were critically wounded in the attack. The assailants fired at Zaki and Khalid and the bystander was caught in the firing, Senior Superintendent of Police Muqaddas Haider said. No one has taken responsibility for the attack. Zaki, a former journalist and a social media campaigner, gained fame when he launched a Facebook page Let Us Build Pakistan (LUBP) and became editor of a website devoted to working for human rights and spreading liberal religious views. The page was recently blocked by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority for viewers in the country. For the last one year, Khurram Zaki was a target of a systematic hate campaign organiSed by Deobandi fanatic, Shamsuddin Amjad of the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan in collaboration with the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, Ali Abbas Taj, LUBPs Editor-in-Chief, said in a statement. In particular, hateful and violence inciting posters against Khurram Zaki had been published recently by the Mashal Facebook page run by Shamsuddin Amjad, Asad Wasif and a few other pro-Taliban fanatics of Jamaat-e-Islami, he said. After Irfan Khudi Ali of Quetta, Zaki is the second LUBP editorial team member who has been killed by Takfiri Deobandi militants, Taj said. Zaki had condemned extremism in all forms and came into limelight when he led a campaign against Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz for inciting hatred against Shia Muslims. He and other campaigners built up pressure and got a case registered against Aziz. Sindh Home Minister Sohail Anwar Sial has ordered a probe and sought report from police within 48 hours. Following the incident, protesters carrying the body of Zaki reached the Chief Ministers House and staged protest. Majlid Wehdat-e-Muslimeen has also announced to stage a protest demonstration outside the Chief Ministers House. A spokesperson of Majlis Wahdat Muslimeen (MWM) said that Zaki was not only a prominent civil society activist but also a religious scholar who tended to attend programmes on various TV channels. Zakis assassination came on the same day when Karachi Police announced that they had arrested a prime suspect in the murder of social activist Parveen Rehman who was killed in May 2013. Parveen, who worked for the development of the poor neighbourhoods in the Orangi town, was killed in the same area while returning home. Last year in September, another prominent social activist and rights campaigner Sabeen Mahmud was also killed in the defence area in Karachi while returning from her office. Her assailants are yet to be nabbed by the police. PTI Tehran, Iran, May 8 By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend: A truck that was carrying illegal Afghan refugees into Iran was chased by Iranian police which ended in shooting. As the truck stopped, it turned out six had been killed and 18 others injured inside it, ISNA news agency reported May 8. The incident happened on May 7 afternoon in the eastern Iranian county of Rafsanjan. The report says many of the refugees aged between 20 and 30. Local police chief Alireza Parivar told reporters that the truck had been spotted moving in the desert by petrol forces and chased after refusing to stop. He said the major shooting started when the driver, who had already gone five kilometers on flat tires, decided to run among police forces who had blocked the road ahead of him. Iran faces a huge income of illegal Afghan refugees. Earlier Brigadier General Hossein Zolfaqari, the Islamic Republic's Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs said that over three million Afghani refugees live in Iran. Iran hosts over 1.5 million registered Afghan refugees, he said, adding the same number of illegal Afghani refugees also live in the country. Hi, my name is Scott C. Waring and I wrote a few books and am currently a ESL School Owner in Taiwan. I have had my own UFO sighting up close and personal, but that's how it works right? A non believer becomes a believer when they experience their first sighting. You witnessed it, your perceptual field changes, so now you need to share it. I created this site to help the UFO community get a little bit organized. I noticed that there was a lot of chaos when searching for UFO sighting reports, so I hope this site helps. I wanted to support those eyewitnesses who have tried to tell others about what they have seen, yet were laughed at by even closest of friends. More and more each day the governments of the world leak bits and pieces of UFO information to the public. They have a trickle down theory in hopes of slowly getting citizens use to the idea that we are not alone in universe and never have been. The truth is being leaked drop by drop until one day we look around and find ourselves neck high in it. The discovery of alien species in existence is the most monumental scientific event in human history, suppression of that information is a crime against humanity. About me: I live in Taiwan. I OWN MY OWN ENGLISH SCHOOL, AND ONCE HAD 5 SCHOOLS. Am Former USAF at SAC base (flight line). Age: 42 Educ: BA in Elem ed. Masters in Counseling ed. I had two UFO sightings, (30+bus size orbs) in military and in 2012 personally saw the UFO over Taipei 101 building on New Years Day (and recored it). Unidentified gunmen killed eight plainclothes police south of the Egyptian capital of Cairo, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement Sunday. Four gunmen ambushed and opened fire at a microbus carrying Helwan city plainclothes police, killing a first lieutenant and seven police officers, the ministry's spokesperson said. An active investigation is underway to find the assailants, the ministry added. Canada plans to initiate the regulatory process to remove Belarus from its list of sanctioned countries, the Global Affairs Canada government department said in a statement Saturday. "This announcement is consistent with actions taken by the United States and the European Union since October 2015. It also reflects Canada's acknowledgment that the Government of Belarus has made progress in key areas in recent months," the department said. The release of political prisoners and conducting a presidential election in October 2015 led Ottawa to initiate the process to lift sanctions in place against Minsk since December 14, 2006. "As an interim measure while the regulatory process to remove Belarus from the ACL [Area Control List] moves forward, Global Affairs Canada will normally issue export permits for the export to Belarus of goods and technology that are not specifically listed in the Export Control List. This practice will take effect immediately," the diplomatic body added. On February 15, the EU Foreign Affairs Council partially lifted sanctions against 170 Belarusian nationals and three companies. The council, however, extended its arms embargo for 12 months and kept four Belarusians on its sanctions list. The sanctions against Belarus were gradually imposed from 2002 to 2010. The most serious package of restrictions was adopted in 2010 after the presidential elections in Belarus and the authorities' crackdown on a mass protest that followed. They included visa bans and financial restrictions on some 200 Belarusian individuals, including President Alexandr Lukashenko, and several entities. The West has accused the Belarusian authorities of persecuting the political opposition and violating citizens' basic rights and freedoms, in particular, freedom of expression. Lukashenko has insisted that the accusations were groundless. All the latest Uttoxeter news Story Saved You can find this story in My Bookmarks. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. Details added (first version posted 11:21) Some 14 people were killed and 72 others wounded in a three-vehicle collision in Afghanistan's eastern province of Ghazni on Sunday, Xinhua reported citing police. Two long-distance buses and an oil truck were involved in the accident which occurred on the Kabul-Kandahar Highway in Laram locality of Muqur district, the official told Xinhua. The crash caused the vehicles to catch fire, the source said. The Afghan army personnel and police units arrived at the site shortly after the crash. The wounded, suffering from fractures and severe burns, were transferred to nearby hospitals. The two buses were traveling from Afghan capital of Kabul to southern Kandahar province. Reckless driving might be the reason for the deadly accident and an investigation into the accident is underway, the source said. Authorities in China detained 20 crew members of a cargo ship flying the Maltese flag that collided with a Chinese fishing vessel in the East China Sea, killing at least two, Sputnik reported citing Chinese online media. China's Lu Rong Yu 58398 collided with a foreign vessel in the early hours of Saturday off the coast of Ningbo in Zhejiang province. Two of the 19 crew members on board were confirmed dead, while search operations are underway for the remaining 17. Twenty of the Catalina bulk carrier's crew, whose nationalities have not been provided, were detained in Ningbo and are currently providing evidence to authorities, the Sina outlet reported. Six Chinese navy ships are conducting search and rescue operations at the accident site alongside coast guard vessels and fishing boats, it added. STAR FILE PHOTO A red-tailed hawk soars above Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa National Park in Newbury Park. The Ventura County Public Works Agency's Watershed Protection District is looking at raptors as a possible alternative to rodenticide on critical levees and dams. SHARE By Jeff Pratt, Eye on the Environment Improving quality of life in our county is the number one priority of the Ventura County Public Works Agency. Every time we begin to plan a new project, we ask ourselves, "How will this not only enhance the environment or our infrastructure, but also keep our residents safer and healthier in the long run?" Whether we are improving our roadways, installing a new traffic signal for young students walking to school or building landscape channels to remove trash and sediment from our watersheds, our goal is to improve the quality and functionality of the many safety and environmentally related projects that improve the communities we serve. We are proud to have implemented several projects over the past year that contribute to the preservation of our environment and the enrichment of life in Ventura County. It's no secret to anyone that California is in a severe drought and stormwater capture is essential. Last month, the Public Works Agency installed pervious concrete, a type of pavement porous enough to filter storm water, capture pollutants, reduce flooding and runoff to the ocean and recharge underground aquifers with much-needed water. This month, the agency's Watershed Protection District installed about 13,550 feet of pre-cast pervious concrete pavement in a 46-acre area around the Rio Plaza Elementary School in El Rio. The pavement will provide about 2 million cubic feet of long-term, sustainable water every year for the Oxnard Plain Forebay reservoir and recharge the Oxnard Plain Pressure Basin, which, like many aquifers, has suffered depletion due to the state's extended drought. The agency's Engineering Services Department, with the General Services Agency, completed two major solar projects in February. The team installed 3,620 ground-mounted solar array panels over three acres of land at the Juvenile Justice Center in Oxnard. The solar panels are expected to reduce the county's greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 532 metric tons, which, along with a previous county solar project, continues toward our goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 15 percent by 2020. We also installed a 1-megawatt electrical generation facility at the Ventura County Government Center. The solar panels are being placed on a canopy over the parking lot, providing more than 500 shaded parking spaces and reducing electricity use by 10 percent. Another environmentally focused program is our new raptor program. The agency's Watershed Protection District's pilot program will install raptor perches and nesting facilities for barn owls, red-tailed hawks and red-shouldered hawks to help control rodents burrowing into neighboring levees. The pilot program will help determine if raptors can replace traditional rodenticide use on critical levees and dams. The program has already been expanded with five perches at the Arroyo Conejo North Fork. May 15-21 is National Public Works Week, an opportunity for public works agencies nationwide to energize and educate the public on the importance of public works to improve the everyday quality of life. On May 17, the Ventura County Public Works Agency will transform the Government Center parking lot F and a number of conference rooms into interactive learning centers highlighting the many facets of our team. The day will also educate young minds on the internship and career opportunities public works may offer. This year, we expect 600 local students of all grades to attend. Agency employees will lead tours of display booths, including heavy equipment demonstrations and hands-on stations. Fun activities will also include an invasive plant display, composting with worms, the storm center and, for the first time, the new raptor study program showcasing hawk and owl exhibits. We welcome everyone to join us on National Public Works Day to learn the various ways the Ventura County Public Works Agency preserves quality of life and keeps an eye on the environment. Jeff Pratt is the director of the Ventura County Public Works Agency. Representatives of government or nonprofit agencies who want to submit articles on environmental topics for this column should contact David Goldstein at 658-4312 or david.goldstein@ventura.org. SHARE MIKE HARRIS/THE STAR Made-for-TV movie producer Larry Levinson's production facility on Smith Road in Simi Valley. Levinson wants to build a back lot on an adjacent vacant parcel. By Mike Harris of the Ventura County Star More than two years after the Simi Valley City Council gave its preliminary blessings to a planned movie studio back lot, the project is scheduled to be considered by the city's Planning Commission next week. LLP Production Services, a made-for-TV movie production facility at 6800 Smith Road on the city's east end, wants to expand by creating the back lot with sets on a 9.1-acre vacant parcel at 6700 Smith Road. Company head Larry Levinson, a Los Angeles-based producer, also wants city approval to build a future movie studio building of up to 200,000 square feet on the vacant parcel. Larry Levinson Productions produces family-oriented fare that appears on such cable TV channels as Hallmark, Lifetime and Pixel. Since the mid-1990s, it has released more than 200 titles including "Texas Rangers" in 2001; "King Solomon's Mines" in 2004; "Murder 101" in 2006; and "Portrait of Love" in 2015. The Smith Road sites are surrounded by rugged, rocky hills near Corriganville Park, the former Corriganville Movie Ranch, where many Westerns including "Fort Apache," "The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin" and the "Lone Ranger" were filmed in the 1940s and 1950s. In late 2013, the City Council unanimously approved the project's prescreening application but not the project itself. That allowed the planned expansion to continue to be processed by the city and eventually come back before the council for a final decision. Since then, Levinson, through a related company, Allied Realty Partners, has filed a formal application for a city general plan amendment, a zone change from recreation commercial to light industrial and a planned development permit, said Peter Lyons, Simi Valley environmental services director. Neighborhood Council No. 4, which advises the Planning Commission and the City Council, recently reviewed the project and supported it in a nonbinding recommendation, Lyons said. "The applicant requests that filming be allowed at any time, and has provided a noise study with mitigation measures to ensure that any nighttime noise comply with city noise ordinances," the neighborhood council's report says. Last year, some residents on the other side of Corriganville Park were unhappy when they were awakened by simulated gunfire during filming for HBO by Newhall-based Autonomy Productions. The Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District, which owns the park, issued the shooting permit. "The (Levinson) project has also been conditioned to ensure that all lighting associated with filming is screened in a manner to avoid glare and spread beyond the property lines," the neighborhood council's report says. A few residences are located across the street from the planned back lot. The commission meets May 18 at 6:30 p.m. in the City Council's chambers in City Hall, 2929 Tapo Canyon Road. It is expected to make its own nonbinding recommendation to the council, which will hold its own hearing on the project. At the time the council approved the project's prescreening application, a Levinson consultant, Jerry Hovell, said he hoped the council would greenlight the project in about six months. That would have been about two years ago. Lyons said the project is only now coming before the commission "because the applicant just took a while to get their applications submitted. That was the biggest delay." Levinson did not return a call seeking comment. This map shows the areas of Ventura County that had received the most rain as of Saturday afternoon. See the latest figures at: http://www.vcstar.com/about-us/Rainfall-totals-in-Ventura-County-369135541.html SHARE By Staff And Wire Reports A spring storm that pounded parts of Southern California with heavy rain, causing streets to flood and closing key freeways for a time, continued to bring scattered showers Saturday and a chance of more flooding through the weekend. Scattered showers were heavy at times, prompting weather forecasters to leave flash-flood warnings in effect. See the latest rainfall figures for Ventura County: http://www.vcstar.com/about-us/Rainfall-totals-in-Ventura-County-369135541.html No major impacts were reported as of Saturday evening as the storm lingered in Ventura County. No issues were reported in the county on Friday either when it first rolled into Southern California. The inland and mountain areas of Ventura County reported more than a quarter of an inch of rain Friday when the storm hit hardest in the county. On Saturday, there was a 20 to 30 percent chance rain could fall again, according to the National Weather Service in Oxnard. Thunderstorms were also possible Saturday but were not likely in Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo, forecasters said. Aside from lingering clouds, the storm was not expected to bring any more rain or possible thunderstorms to the county on Sunday. But in other parts of Southern California, the stormy weather could continue into the Mothers Day holiday before the weather clears up, forecasters said. Flash-flood warnings remained in effect for the mountain areas of Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, as well as the Antelope Valley on the northern edge of Los Angeles County and Central California's Cuyama Valley. "An unseasonably moist and unstable air mass will bring the potential for afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms to the Antelope and Cuyama valleys and all the mountain areas from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara counties, excluding the Santa Monica range," the National Weather Service said in a statement warning travelers to avoid taking roads filled with swift moving water. "Turn around, don't drown," Saturday's statement concluded. The California Highway Patrol shut down northbound lanes of Interstate 5 at the Grapevine mountain pass shortly before 5 p.m. Friday due to flash flooding. The closure caused traffic on the freeway the main route connecting Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area to back up for miles. The lanes reopened about 3 hours later. Also Friday, a fast-moving thunderstorm dropped heavy rain on the Southern California cities of Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga, stranding drivers who got caught on flooded streets. The roof of a warehouse in the area collapsed under the weight of accumulated rain water. The storm brought a rare sight to the San Bernardino Mountains this time of year: snow. "It was dumping big flakes really hard for about an hour," Mike Stephenson, general manager of the Big Bear Municipal Water District, told the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. "It didn't stick. It came down like gangbusters and that was it. It didn't do anything to us, but it looked real pretty." The back edge of the low pressure system brought snow to upper elevations of the Sierra Nevada on Thursday, with marble-sized hail and record rain at Reno-Tahoe International Airport. The weather system also spawned thunderstorms Friday in Las Vegas along with hail and strong winds in Salt Lake City. SHARE Richard Morse is a house flipper who gave $2,700 to Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign. Doug De Groote sees political contributions as a way of investing in a message. He and his wife gave more than $11,000 in support of Ted Cruz's presidential campaign. TOM KISKEN/THE STAR Richard Morse By Tom Kisken of the Ventura County Star It's freedom of speech. Doug De Groote sees the more than $11,000 he and his wife contributed in support of presidential candidate Ted Cruz as investments in a political message. The financial planner from Westlake Village is among the more than 70 area residents who gave maximum contributions to presidential candidates this election season. When De Groote hit the limits, he used a super PAC to give more. He sees rules limiting direct contributions to candidates and proposals to end the unlimited spending of outside organizations as a silencer. "We have the right to say what we want," said De Groote whose candidate dropped out of the election on Tuesday. "I think you should be able to do what you want to do with your money." In advance of a June 7 California primary, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders continues to hammer away at what he calls a corrupt campaign finance system that allows the wealthy to manipulate the political process. Hillary Clinton draws Sanders' ire for accepting outside money. But like her opponent, she advocates overturning a Supreme Court decision allowing unions and corporations to spend without limits through super PACs that are supposed to operate separately from candidates. Expected Republican nominee Donald Trump has tried to distance himself from big money by self-funding his primary season campaign. He too has blasted away at super PACs, questioning their independence. PRESIDENTIAL GIVING Data from the Center of Responsive Politics shows $1.03 million has been contributed directly to presidential candidates from residents in and around Ventura County. The actual spending is likely higher because only contributions of more than $200 are tracked by location. The county tally also doesn't include the money given to PACs and super PACs. Sanders, who boasts of average donations of $27, gained the most money from Ventura County at $230,000, ahead of Marco Rubio, Clinton and Cruz. Because of his self-funding, Trump received only $13,586. He has announced plans to start fundraising for the general election. The money comes from disparate sources. Lukas Haas, the 40-year-old actor who played an Amish boy in the 1985 movie, "Witness," gave $2,700 the primary election maximum to Clinton. His donation lists a Port Hueneme residence. Esther and Tom Wachtell, Ojai area philanthropists and ranchers, gave money to Marco Rubio. Esther Wachtell also made four $25,000 donations to a Conservative Solutions super PAC that supported Rubio. Wallis Annenberg leads a foundation that has given more than $250 million to more than 500 organizations. Using an address in Westlake Village, she gave $100,000 to a super PAC supporting then presidential candidate Jeb Bush. De Groote went the super PAC route with more than $1,000 to a group called Keep the Promise because of rules that limited his direct contributions to Cruz. "I had extra money and I was passionate about what Ted was doing," he said. Once a professional big-game hunter in South Africa, the financial planner keeps a handful of trophy animals on the floor of an office cubicle because his wife, Samantha, doesn't want them in their house. He's a National Rifle Association member who identifies himself not as Republican but as a conservative. He declined to reveal his annual income but said he's anything but wealthy. He and his wife each gave $5,400 to Cruz's campaign $2,700 for the primary and $2,700 for the general election that will now be refunded. They helped host a fundraising event the candidate attended at Boccaccio's Restaurant in Westlake Village last summer. The De Grootes gave money because they want a conservative in the White House. They want to restore a moral compass they believe has been skewed by political correctness. They want a say. Sanders and others contend super PACs tilt government in the favor of the wealthy. De Groote believes limits on spending favors candidates who have amassed fortunes in personal finances or through foundations, citing Trump and Clinton. "All you're going to have is a bunch of wealthy politicians raising money," he said, noting his voting options include Trump or finding a third-party candidate. "I haven't decided yet." Saving the country Of the more than 70 people in and around Ventura County who gave at least $2,700 directly to presidential campaigns, at least 32 gave directly to Marco Rubio's presidential campaign. At least 18 people gave directly to Clinton. Sanders used a grass-roots campaign to draw a flood of small donations. But one Ventura County resident sent him a check for 100 times that average donation of $27. "As soon as he declared, I mailed him a check," said Richard Morse who plans on doubling down with another $2,700 if Sanders pulls off an upset and wins the Democratic nomination. Morse is a 59-year-old entrepreneur who makes what he says is an annual income of $40,000 to $50,000 by flipping houses and selling antiques on eBay. He lives on Hollywood Beach near Oxnard, in a house his grandma bought for $10,000 in 1958. He plans to move to Costa Rica. The maximum contributions to Sanders represents his belief, like De Groote and other political donors, of what's at stake in the election. "To save America," he said, venting about the wealthy. "They own television. They own the drug companies. They own the banks. And they own the government." He sees limiting money to super PACs as a way of balancing the playing field. He also wants to restore rules mandating broadcasters air opposing political views "It would be a way to bring sanity to the political process," he said. Targeting super PACs Super PACs are called independent expenditure-only committees. They can accept millions from corporations, unions or individuals. They can't give the money directly to a campaign but can spend it independently in support of a candidate or to derail an opponent. Sheila Blommendahl of Simi Valley wants them gone. She decided the best way to fight them was by giving money to a PAC. "It's kind of weird," she said of fighting the system by using the system. "It's a means to an end." She has given $7,225 to a political action committee called End Citizens United. She and her husband, Dale, are the retired leaders of security software company, XYPRO Technology. She's given money to Clinton, while he's contributed to Sanders. Between them, they also gave $8,050 to Blue America, a PAC that supports House and Senate candidates that meet criteria including opposition to the Supreme Court decision. "I don't believe that corporations ought to be able to give to political campaigns," said Blommendahl. "I don't think corporations qualify as citizens." Tony Strickland knows about super PACs because he runs one. The conservative from Moorpark, who spent 10 years in the state Assembly and Senate, founded a group called Strong America earlier this year. It supports congressional candidates who champion a strong military and a strong economy. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, it raised $4,200 through March and spent $2,821. Strickland supports Trump but hasn't contributed to the campaign because of the billionaire's emphasis on self-funding. Though Trump has turned away money from super PACs, Strickland contends he may need one in coming months. "You need people out there who will fight back," he said. If super PACs wear a bull's-eye, the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision owns a bigger one. Like the high court's justices, Strickland views political speaking as a mode of free speech. He questions the ability of Sanders and Clinton to overturn the decision. He said the role of money in a campaign is often exaggerated. For proof, he points to a former Republican presidential candidate who received more money from super PACs and other outside groups than anyone else. "If that philosophy was true," he said of the theory that money buys elections, "Jeb Bush would be president of the United States." Presidential Politics This is the second in a series of stories looking at how policies proposed during the presidential campaign could impact Ventura County. Super PACs and campaign contributions from the wealthy and the corporations they control have been painted with a bulls-eye. Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders says the current system helps the wealthy control government. He advocates the reversal of the Citizens United decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. The 2010 ruling seeded a surge of fundraising committees super PACs that can accept and spend money without limits. Spending has been an issue on the Republican side too with Donald Trump refusing money from super PACs and self-funding his campaign during the primaries. Trump has announced he will modify his plan and raise some of the funding needed for the general election. STAR FILE PHOTO SHARE By Staff Reports A man who allegedly pulled a knife on Trader Joe's employees after stealing from the grocery chain's store in Pacific View Mall was arrested by Ventura police Saturday night. When confronted by employees after leaving the store Saturday night, Thomas Pecel, described by the Ventura Police Department as a 33-year-old vagrant from Ventura, reportedly "pulled a knife from his pants, brandished it and threatened them." The workers returned to the store and Pecel ran off, police say. No one was injured. During the incident, reported at around 8:40 p.m., responding officers found Pecel near the bus depot on the north side of the parking lot. He was booked into Ventura County Jail on suspicion of armed robbery and an unrelated misdemeanor warrant. SHARE This image provided by NASA shows an image of Mercury captured by the Messenger spacecraft on the probe's second approach to Mercury Oct. 6, 2008. . (ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO) By John Scheibe of the Ventura County Star James Sumstine will be on the Ventura Pier before the sun comes up Monday, setting up his telescope, a pinhole camera and other equipment. Come 5:59 a.m., when the sun will begin rising, Sumstine is hoping for a cloudless eastern horizon so he can join other astronomy lovers across the nation and watch as the planet Mercury slowly makes its way across the face of the sun. Astronomers call the phenomenon the Mercury transit, when the solar system's innermost planet comes between the Earth and the Sun. Mercury transits happen about 13 or 14 times a century in either May or November, according to NASA. About twice as many occur in November as May. The last transit was in 2006. There also was one in 2003 and another in 1999. "I'm hoping that there won't be much if any marine layer and that the weather will cooperate," said Sumstine, a Ventura man who started a group, the Ventura Sidewalk Astronomers about 10 years ago. Only those equipped with fairly strong telescopes will be able to see Mercury's silhouette as it crosses in front of the sun you. The reason is Mercury is a lot smaller than the sun. Mercury has a 3,030-mile diameter, roughly the distance from the Pacific to the Atlantic oceans across the United States, making it the solar system's smallest planet. As with many solar events, viewers are urged to never look directly at the sun without the right care. Sumstine will use a pinhole camera to observe Mercury's crossing on Monday, with the image being projected onto a cardboard screen covered with white paper. "The public is invited to join me on the pier," Sumstine said on Friday. Mercury's crossing will begin at 7:09 a.m. East Coast Time and end at 2:38 p.m., over seven hours later. Those on the West Coast, however, will have to wait for sunrise here, nearly two hours after Mercury begins its journey across the sun's face. "The transit will end about 11:40 a.m. here," Sumstine said. Venus, the second planet closest to the sun, also has a transit, although much more rarely, happening only about every 125 years, according to NASA. Venus transits also tend to come in pairs, with the second one occurring eight years after the first. But something that's "really rare is when the transits of Mercury and Venus occur together," Sumstine said, Anyone wanting to witness one will have to wait more than 67,000 years, he said. The next double transit will happen on July 26 in the year 69163, he said. The Ventura Sidewalk Astronomers is based on a group co-founded by a well known amateur astronomer, John Dobson, Sumstine said. Dobson co-founded the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers in 1968 in an effort to increase astronomy's popularity with the public. Sumstine said he spoke with Dobson and got his blessings to start a similar group in Ventura. Weather permitting, Sumstine also hosts monthly viewings of the first quarter moon. "I do this on the Saturday that's closest to the first quarter moon on the sidewalk near the corner of Santa Clara and California" streets in downtown Ventura. HOW TO WATCH Never look directly at the sun unless you have the proper certified eclipse glasses. Because the diameter of Mercury is so much smaller than that of the sun, you'll probably need a telescope also with the proper solar filter to watch it. NASA also will stream a live program on NASA TV (http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv) and the agency's Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/NASA) from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time. Viewers can ask questions via Facebook and Twitter using #AskNASA. More information: www.nasa.gov Source NASA A WASHINGTON I was fortunate to have some great mentors when I started out in my career. I sometimes leaned on these folks when an upcoming job interview had my gut in knots. The advice was simple yet greatly profound: Be yourself, one mentor said. Young adults and plenty of older ones often falter when interviewing for a job. Their nerves or lack of preparation can make them do some crazy things. In a recent survey conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder, more than 2,500 human resource managers shared their most memorable interviews with job candidates. One applicant put lotion on her feet. Another candidate brought her pet bird. And someone called in for a phone interview from the bathroom and was heard flushing the toilet. But it doesn't take bizarre behavior to tank your interview. It also doesn't take long for a first impression to kick you out of the running for the job. Fifty percent of hiring managers said they know within the first five minutes of an interview if a candidate is a good fit. There is an art to interviewing. It's a skill that needs to be developed. So, just in time for graduation season, my pick this month for the Color of Money Book Club is "Private Notes of a Headhunter: Proven Job Search and Interviewing Techniques for College Students & Recent Grads" by Kenneth A. Heinzel, a retired professor, entrepreneur and headhunter. You can find the paperback online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble for $9.95. After a decade of recruiting as a headhunter hiring about 2,000 people, Heinzel describes the practical but also the psychological aspects of job interviewing. "In the final analysis, a job search is also a search for yourself," he writes. "It requires not only a sure knowledge of the territory, but also knowledge of who you are and what you really want in life." Let's start with job-search fundamentals. The goal is to "know yourself as best you can, from your strengths and weaknesses to your overall outlook on life," Heinzel says. The book aptly covers the basics the do's and don't's for your resume, what makes for a good cover letter, and the importance of networking. But it's the probing of who you are, what you want and how to sell yourself that I think will be especially helpful to young adults. Here are four basic questions Heinzel says are asked in some form during a job interview, and how to prepare for them: Who are you? Rehearse your two-minute bio. It's your highlight reel. Why are you here? If you've just graduated with little work experience, pull from your history of internships, leadership positions and activities while in college. What can you do for me? "Yes, there is always something personal in it for the interviewer/hiring manager," Heinzel says. "When you consider that approximately 20 percent of all new hires don't make it past the first year for whatever reason, you can see why things can get real personal for the hiring manager your success or failure will reflect on them." Why should I hire you? Boldly make a case for why this job is yours, Heinzel writes. "This is where you must concentrate on translating your strengths into benefits to the company that specifically relate to helping them make, raise and/or save money." Do you wonder or worry what interviewers think during the hiring process? Heinzel has an appendix that's a cheat sheet for managers. He encourages applicants to use it to prepare. You put yourself in a better position when you know what the manager needs to get out of the interview. And what if you do everything right and it's just not going well or the hiring manager is inept? There's a handy "What Ifs" chapter that covers a lot of what could go wrong and how to recover. Get used to interviewing, Heinzel tells young folks. Because, these days, you'll be doing it a lot. The average job tenure in 2014 was 4.6 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. So give your graduate a useful guide for a process that might take place often throughout his or her career. And if you want to make sure the book at least gets opened, maybe put some money inside. If you're new to the Color of Money Book Club, we don't meet in person. Just get the book and join me for the live online discussion. I'll be hosting a chat about this month's selection at noon Eastern on May 26 at washingtonpost.com/discussions. Heinzel will be joining me to take your questions. Readers can write to Michelle Singletary c/o The Washington Post, 1150 15th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20071. Her email address is michelle.singletary@washpost.com. Follow her on Twitter (@SingletaryM) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/MichelleSingletary). Comments and questions are welcome, but due to the volume of mail, personal responses may not be possible. Please also note comments or questions may be used in a future column, with the writer's name, unless a specific request to do otherwise is indicated. Rising superstar Chase Rice is bringing his raging country party to the desert and promises to give fans the best night of their lives when he performs at Mandalay Bay Beach on Saturday, July 23. Tickets go on sale Friday, May 6 at 10 a.m. Within a few short years of moving to Nashville, country music maverick Chase Rice has already built a loyal fan base across the country through his energetic live shows and gained the attention of industry professionals with his edgy, eclectic sound. Rices Ignite the Night was released on Columbia Nashville/Dack Janiels Records and debuted at No. 1 on Billboards Top Country Albums and No. 3 on the all-genre chart, producing a pair of Top 5 hits with the Platinum-certified Ready Set Roll and Gonna Wanna Tonight. After supporting Kenny Chesneys The Big Revival Tour last summer, Rice consistently sold out 2,500-3,000 seat venues on his third headlining tour, The JD and Jesus Tour, and is currently headlining The Chase Rice Back to College Tour while working on new music for a forthcoming 2016 album. Truthful, unfiltered and unafraid to take on every challenge he encounters, Chase Rice pulls no punches and puts on the best show he can each and every time he steps on stage. Using the crowd singing his lyrics back to him as fuel, he vows to never slow down and continue make his mark on the industry and country music. Im looking for people who are looking to have the best night of their entire life, Rice says of his dedicated concert-goers. If you arent here to party, Im going to make you party! The NV Energy Foundation contributed more than $773,000 to 45 organizations statewide, including multi-year commitments, during the third quarter of 2011. Grants were given to 21 southern Nevada organizations including the College of Southern Nevada, Three Square Food Bank, Outside Las Vegas Foundation, Opportunity Village, the Salvation Army Clark County, Nathan Adelson Hospice Foundation and the United Way of Southern Nevada. Each quarter, the NV Energy Foundation contributes funds to help local nonprofit organizations. Grants are focused on five philanthropic areas: education, the environment, youth development, arts and multi-cultural outreach and health and human services. For more information please visit nvenergy.com/community. Turkish warplanes destroyed bunkers, gun emplacements, and ammunition depots belonging to the terrorist PKK organization in northern Iraq early Sunday, Anadolu agency reported. Speaking on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking with the media, military sources said that Turkish warplanes carried out airstrikes against the PKK between 2.00 and 4.30 a.m. local time Sunday in the northern Iraqi regions of Qandil, Medina, Zap, and Gara. Turkish F-16 and F-4 2020 warplanes safely returned to base after hitting exact positions held by the PKK in the region and destroying its bunkers and gun ammunition. The PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization also by the U.S., and EU -- resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state in July 2015. Since then, more than 430 members of the security forces, including troops, police officers, and village guards, have been martyred, and more than 3,800 PKK terrorists killed in operations across Turkey and northern Iraq. At the conclusion of the JCK Las Vegas show this weekend, The Bank Nightclub hosted The Bling Party. Vegas resident, rapper Too Short, came ready to party, arriving with an entourage of beautiful women (Pictured above: Too Short and friend). He drank Patron from a custom Bank Crunk Cup. Also in the house was actor Lukas Haas and Devin Harris of the New Jersey Nets. Photos courtesy of The Light Group. Twelve PKK terrorists have been killed in counter-terrorism operations in Turkey's southeast, the military said Sunday, Anadolu agency reported. In a statement, the Turkish General Staff said eight terrorists were killed in Nusaybin, in the Mardin province, two in the neighboring Sirnak province, and two in the Tunceli province. Operations to counter the PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and the EU, in Nusaybin and Sirnak have been ongoing since mid-March. The statement added that 11 terrorists were also captured in the Cukurca district of the southeastern Hakkari province. The PKK resumed its 30-year armed campaign against the Turkish state last July, since when more than 430 members of the security forces have been martyred and around 3,800 PKK terrorists killed. Cambodian environmentalists say they will appeal to developed countries to ensure a carbon credit market, in the global effort to curb global warming. Cambodia, which retains some of its forest cover despite rampant illegal logging, could use carbon credits as a way to trade in on living forests, which act as a sink for carbon in the atmosphere. As world leaders prepare for a major round of climate talks in Paris in December, Tek Vannara, head of the NGO Forum, said carbon credits can work. But their markets need to be developed. If carbon credits have no market, it contributes to deforestation. Sao Sopheap, a spokesman for the Ministry of Environment, said the government supports the idea of a carbon credit market. If NGOs raise the idea at the upcoming climate talks in Paris, the idea is parallel with the government, he said. We should make sure that we have markets for carbon credits, so that we can benefit from the market to protect and preserve natural resources in developing countries, such as Cambodia. Cambodia has canceled seven out of eight carbon credit projects in the country, between 2011 and 2013. Srun Darith, deputy cabinet chief for the Environment Ministry, said that those projects were only proposals with no clear plans. Cambodia has little knowledge on how carbon credit markets work, even though they could be good for the country, he said. Cambodia is still monitoring the eighth project over the next six months, he said. Cambodia has meanwhile lost major portions of its forest cover, losing a potential carbon sink to mitigate climate change, said Sao Sopheap. And while Cambodia is not a major producer of greenhouse gas, it should receive support from those developed countries that are, he said. The government of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen sustained a barrage of criticism following the imprisonment this week of four human rights workers and a member of the National Election Committee (NEC), in a case widely seen as politically motivated. Human Rights Watch called on Cambodias aid donors and the United Nations to stand together against the Hun Sen governments legal maneuvers, which it said were intended to intimidate and clamp down on Cambodias courageous human rights advocates. No one should mistake these prosecutions for anything other than Prime Minister Hun Sens effort to undo decades of work by Cambodian groups and the UN, Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said in a statement on Tuesday. On Monday, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court detained ahead of trial four staff members - Nay Vanda, Ny Sokha, Yi Soksan, and Lim Mony - of the respected local rights group Adhoc, as well as Ny Chakrya, deputy secretary-general of the NEC. UN human rights monitor Soen Sally was also charged in absentia, but is currently under the protection of the UN in Cambodia. All six were accused of bribery by government investigators who are spearheading an unprecedented probe into an alleged extra-marital affair involving Kem Sokha, the deputy leader of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). The probe was launched following the release of Kem Sokhas private phone conversations, which were apparently electronically tapped. UN spokesman in New York Farhan Haq told VOA Khmer this week that the charges against Soen Sally of the UNs High Commissioner for Human Rights office, has been raised with the government. We have informed the Government that Mr. Soen Sally is a UN official and that the issue concerns the performance of his official functions for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Cambodia. The Government was informed that, accordingly, Mr. Soen Sally was immune from legal process in respect of this matter, he said. Some observers see comparisons between Kem Sokhas case and that of former royalist party leader Prince Norodom Ranariddh, who was one of the first people ever charged in 2007 under an adultery law, newly-introduced at the time by the government. The case against Ranariddh also was seen by observers of Cambodian politics as politically motivated. The investigation of Prince Ranariddhs relationship with his long-term partner Ouk Phalla, and to whom he is now married, added to the Princes legal woes, which forced him to leave the country, and came just ahead of nationwide commune elections in 2007. Opposition party members and political observers believe the latest round of legal action against the political opposition and government critics is part of a wider effort to silence dissent ahead of commune elections in 2017 and national elections in 2018. Having maintained an iron grip on power for more than 30 years, Hun Sens ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) suffered its greatest electoral defeat at the last national election in 2013, dropping its share of seats in parliament from 90 to 68. The CNRP, led by Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha, won 26 additional seats to give them a sizeable minority presence of 55 seats to the CPPs 68. In recent months, however, legal cases brought by the government have seen Sam Rainsy choose self-imposed exile to avoid arrest, and the arrest and jailing of several members of his party in Cambodia. In a rare public demonstration of support, members of the Phnom Penh diplomatic corps posted photographs on social media standing alongside leaders of the countrys embattled civil society organizations. Hun Sen has defended his governments actions, and warned the international community to stay out of Cambodias affairs. Foreigners, please do not interfere into Cambodias internal affairs, Hun Sen said in a May speech, during which he also warned critics that there are limits to freedom of expression. Cambodia does not interfere in other countries internal affairs please respect the independence, integrity, and sovereignty of Cambodia, dont disturb at all, he said. And for domestic critics, he had this: Boundaries and freedom you share with others. You violate, and you are responsible before the law. We will take action without any delay to defend the credibility and the dignity of our Cambodian Peoples Party and the Royal Government. Yong Kim Eng, president of the Peoples Center for Development and Peace in Phnom Penh, told listeners of the Hello VOA radio call-in program on Thursday that there would be costs involved for the government and investment due to the atmosphere of fear and restrictions on freedom of expression. When people worry and are scared of speaking out, they dare not speak the truth. Then the Government and State institutions involved do not receive comprehensive information. On the other hand, civil society helps the government in filling gaps in implementing projects effectively. Yap Kim Tung, president of Virginia-based Cambodian Americans for Human Rights and Democracy, who also spoke on the Hello VOA radio program, said Cambodia would be isolated politically and economically if human rights and freedom of expression are not seriously respected. Leaders in the US and, especially, in the EU, are not happy because they have the standard that listens to the people. When leaders in Cambodia do not listen to the people, they will not want to do businesses with or be associated with that in the US as well as the EU. Cambodias leadership should also weigh the cost of denying the people a voice, said Yap Kim Tung. If the leaders do not respect us, next time we dont vote for them. And if they dare to threaten us, next time we dont vote for them. If they dont listen to us, next time we dont vote for them, he said, adding that voters, as taxpayers, had a right everywhere to hold their government accountable. Both Yong Kim Eng and Yap Kim Tung said Cambodia still needs billions of dollars in loans and assistance each year and should, therefore, improve State institutions, especially the judicial system, to win the confidence of the Cambodian people. Yong Kim Eng also urged politicians from the CPP and CNRP to return to negotiations and restore the culture of dialogue in order to ease the current political tension. Ordinary people should also actively engage in politics in order to help reform the country, he added. Authorities in Afghanistan hanged six men on death row who were convicted of grave crimes against civilians and public security. Taliban officials swiftly confirmed those executed belonged to the insurgent group and vowed to take immediate, bloody revenge. The executions of the terrorists took place in a Kabul prison Sunday on the orders of President Ashraf Ghani, his office confirmed to VOA. The move came after last months complex suicide bombing in the Afghan capital that killed nearly 70 people and wounded hundreds more. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the deadly assault. The attack sparked widespread domestic outrage and international condemnation. Ghani vowed to intensify his military response to the insurgency and to endorse execution orders of convicted militants. UN expresses regret The United Nations said it regrets the execution of alleged perpetrators of serious crimes and crimes against civilians, and again called for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty. The United Nations notes that there is no conclusive evidence of the deterrent value of the death penalty, and that the use of capital punishment does not contribute to public safety, said a statement released in Kabul late Sunday. It also encouraged the Afghan government to expedite legal reform, which would allow death sentences to be commuted to life imprisonment. International rights group Amnesty International had urged the Afghan leader not to endorse the execution orders, saying hastily seeking retribution for the horrific Kabul attack will neither bring the victims the justice they deserve nor Afghanistan the security it needs. The Taliban has claimed there are Afghan security forces and foreign nationals in its custody. The group warned in a statement last week the detainees would also face the same fate if Ghani enforced executions of its prisoners and threatened to target those who passed the death sentences. The number of prisoners in Taliban custody is unclear. But in recent months Afghan forces, with the help of U.S-led coalition partners, have raided and freed hundreds of people from illegal detention centers the insurgency has set up in Afghanistan. Djiboutis President Ismail Omar Guelleh was sworn in for a fourth term in office Sunday in a ceremony attended by several regional heads of states and dignitaries. Guelleh took the oath of office at his presidential residence in the capital, Djibouti City. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, the President of Rwanda Paul Kagame, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn were among those in attendance. Bashir's presence Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. Djibouti, a tiny state in the Horn of Africa, is a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court of ICC the founding treaty of the first permanent international court capable of trying perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. However, Djiboutis government failed to arrest Bashir during his visit to the country in May 2011 to attend Guelleh's previous inauguration ceremony. At the time, the ICC called on the U.N. Security Council to take action over Djiboutis refusal to arrest Bashir. Guelleh defeated three other candidates in elections held on April 8. Opposition groups had complained of curbs on freedom of assembly before the vote, while rights groups have denounced political repression and crackdowns on basic freedoms. Opposition reacts Opposition politician Omar Elmi Khaire of the Union for National Salvation was Guellehs nearest rival in the election. Speaking with VOA Somali, he says for his party, Guelleh's inauguration Sunday meant nothing. It means a self-elected man Guelleh has again crowned himself in public. His inauguration means nothing for the Djibouti people, but a one-man political commercial show. Khaire said. Another opposition leader, Jama Abdirahman Jama, told VOA that Sudan's Bashir should not have been invited to the ceremony. He should not have invited a man wanted for war crimes against humanity to be ceremony in the first place, Jama says. It dishonors the people of Djibouti and would jeopardize the internal aid Djibouti depends on." Guelleh won his last election in 2011 with 80 percent of the vote. In order for Guelleh to win that election parliament had to change the countrys constitution because presidents were limited to two terms. Islamic State-affiliated terrorists have claimed responsibility for killing eight plain-clothed Egyptian police officers in an attack just outside Cairo, in Helwan, Egypt. The gunmen pulled up to the policemens van in a small pickup truck, got out, and proceeded to open fire on the police vehicle before fleeing the scene, Egypts state-run MENA news agency reported. It is the deadliest attack in Cairo since November when four police officers were gunned down by IS fighters at a security checkpoint. In a statement posted online, the IS affiliate claimed responsibility for killing the police officers early Sunday, saying it was payback for women imprisoned in Egypt. The IS statement also said the IS members were able to steal weapons from the police car before fleeing the scene unharmed. That account of the deadly incident has not been verified. Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar, Egypts interior minister, called the slain police officers martyrs who sacrificed their lives to preserve the security of the homeland and the people. The minister called for a full investigation into the attack. Greek lawmakers have approved a controversial package of pension and tax reforms demanded by the country's European creditors in exchange for nearly $100 billion in bailout cash. The latest reforms aim to reduce Greece's highest pension payouts while increasing contributions for those in medium and high income brackets. The legislation also seeks to ensure a 3.5 percent budget surplus by 2018, as demanded by Athens' two largest creditors - the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. The vote came hours ahead of an emergency meeting in Brussels of eurozone finance ministers from the 19 countries using the euro currency. They are seeking to review Greece's reform efforts and gain assurances that Athens can make a huge loan repayment in July. Ahead of the early Monday vote, several thousand protesters took to the streets of Athens in the latest labor-backed push to scuttle the legislation, which critics say will devastate worker incomes. Some demonstrators hurled firebombs at police guarding the parliament building, and police responded with tear gas. Television footage showed the police response aimed at a small group of anarchists who had infiltrated a larger gathering of several thousand peaceful protesters opposed to the reform legislation. Last year, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras accepted lender terms for a third European bailout package worth $98 billion. The deal was aimed at preventing the total collapse of the Greek economy and the country's exit from the eurozone. But terms of that bailout - the third such infusion of European cash in the past four years - have met with stiff opposition from labor groups and prompted a massive two-day labor strike that began on Friday in Athens. U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton inched closer to the party nomination with a caucus win Saturday in Guam. Clinton won 60 percent of the vote, earning four of the seven delegates on the tiny Pacific island nation. Her rival, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders won three delegates. However, Sanders picked up nearly 50 delegates in Washington state. He easily won the state caucus on March 26, beating Clinton by nearly 50 percentage points 73 percent to 27 percent. He received 25 of the 34 delegates awarded that day. However, an additional 67 district-level delegates could not be apportioned until the state could produce vote data broken down by congressional district. Similar to other states, Washington state has a multi-step process for awarding delegates. Election officials had to wait until county conventions were completed May 1 before they could generate more detailed information. Nearly 50 delegates District-level data show Sanders will receive 49 delegates, and Clinton will receive 18, The Associated Press reported. Despite the Washington results, Clinton maintains a lead in the overall delegate count with 2,228 delegates. She has more than 93 percent of the 2,383 delegates needed to win the nomination. Sanders has 1,454. Former secretary of state Clinton is on track to clinch the nomination by early June. Sanders has said he has no plans to quit before the final primary votes have been cast in June. Yet Clinton is already looking ahead to a matchup in November with billionaire businessman Donald Trump, the sole Republican presidential candidate. The Democratic convention will be held in Philadelphia July 25-28. The Republican convention will be held a week earlier in Cleveland, from July 18-21. Name calling Meanwhile, Trump repeatedly spoke of "Crooked Hillary" - his nickname for the Democratic front-runner - during rallies this weekend in Oregon and Washington state. He also continued a tirade against Senator Elizabeth Warren, a leader in the progressive movement. On Wednesday, soon after Ted Cruz and John Kasich dropped out of the race for president leaving Trump as the sole candidate on the Republican side, Warren took to Twitter to chastise Trump in a flurry of nine tweets in which she accused him of being racist, sexist and xenophobic. Warren, revered among progressive Democrats for her work in creating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, went on to accuse Trump of inciting violence among his supporters and supporting Russias strong-man President Vladimir Putin. On Friday night, Trump responded to Warrens criticism with a stream of his own tweets, referring to Warren as Hillary Clintons flunky, and saying that her career is based on a lie. Trump was referencing Warrens controversial claim that she is part Native American, which first became an issue in 2012 when Warren was running for the Senate in the state of Massachusetts. During that campaign, it was reported that Warren claimed Native American heritage while applying to teach at both the Harvard Law School and the Pennsylvania Law School. Warren has long defended her Native American ancestry as based on stories told to her as a child by her parents, but has produced no official documentation to make the connection. Warren responded to Trumps attack Friday night, calling him a bully and saying his statements were hate-filled lies. Some material for this report came from AP. WATCH: Related video Thousands of Lebanese are headed to the polls under tight security for municipal elections in Beirut and the Bekaa Valley. Beirut residents are electing a 24-seat municipal council to run the city's affairs for the next six years. Turnout in Beirut remained low with less than 13 percent participation reported. Turnout was higher in the Bekaa area which is dominated by the Shiite movement Hezbollah. Sunday's vote is the first since an eight-month trash crisis in Beirut sparked massive anti-government protests. Since then, grassroot organizations and other traditionally outsider groups challenge the country's mainstream political establishment widely seen as corrupt and inept. Beirut Madinati, Arabic for "Beirut is my city", has emerged vowing to clean up the city's politics and streets. The alliance is made up of teachers, fishers and artists including well-known film director Nadine Labaki. Three other rounds of voting will take place in the coming weeks in other parts of the country. The vote is the first since 2010. The government has postponed parliamentary elections, citing security concerns linked to the conflict in neighboring Syria. There finally is some encouraging news about the huge wildfire that has destroyed a large area of Alberta in western Canada. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley says the fires are a lot smaller than what authorities believed they were. Notley said experts anticipated the flames would have doubled in size by Sunday, but have instead have grown much more slowly. The fires also have not crossed the border into neighboring Saskatchewan, as was feared. Alberta fire official Chad Morrison said the much cooler weather is great for firefighting and can give firefighters the chance to put the flames in what he called "a death grip." As of midday Sunday local time, 161,000 hectares in northern Alberta were still burning, and thousands of people had sought safety in emergency shelters. The fire has wiped out nearly the entire city of Fort McMurray, forcing 88,000 people to grab what few belongings they could carry and flee for their lives. Alberta is home to North America's largest oil sands deposits. The flames so far have not reached any major oil processing facilities. WATCH: Related video of Canada wildfires Mexican authorities on Saturday abruptly transferred convicted drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman from a prison outside Mexico City to a penitentiary near the border with the United States. Guzman, the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel boss who has twice escaped Mexican prisons in recent years, was transferred under heavy security to Ciudad Juarez, which is separated from the U.S. state of Texas by the Rio Grande. A Mexican government statement said the transfer from the maximum-security Altiplano prison was prompted by ongoing security upgrades at that facility, and it characterized the move as part of a periodic rotation of high-profile prisoners initiated last year. Mexican security analyst Alejandro Hope told The Associated Press that authorities might have feared another attempt at a prison escape. Guzman escaped from Altiplano in July 2015, in what was widely seen as a major embarrassment to the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto. He gained his freedom by crawling through a hole in his jail cell's shower to a 1.5-kilometer tunnel. He was captured six months later in a military operation in his home state of Sinaloa. Guzman was first arrested in 1993, before escaping in 2001 from a prison in Guadalajara with the help of prison guards. He was apprehended 13 years later with information provided by U.S. intelligence agencies. Government forces failed to regain control of a Syrian prison where nearly 800 mostly political detainees have maintained a revolt for nearly a week. Syrian opposition leaders warn of a possible massacre of detainees in Hama Central Prison, calling on the international community to take urgent action. We believe that the international community is able to prevent any possible massacre against the prison inmates, said Taysir Alloush, a member of the political committee of the Syrian National Council, the Western-backed opposition group. Conditions at the prison have deteriorated since government forces stormed the prison Friday night and managed to seize the facilitys food stocks, say political activists. Videos posted by inmates on social media showed men gasping for breath after government troops fired tear gas canisters in cell blocks. Gunfire could also be heard. The prison has been surrounded by government forces since Monday, after inmates rioted and seized guards. Cause for riot The immediate cause for the riot was the planned transfer of some detainees to the notorious Sednaya prison run by the countrys feared Syrian military intelligence branch north of the capital Damascus. Inmates are running out of food and water and even medicines are no longer being given to those in serious conditions, said Syrian rights activist Mazen Darwish, a former detainee. The prisoners have called on the Syrian Red Crescent to help mediate an agreement. Forty-six detainees were released by the regime last week before talks broke down. International rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, are also raising concern about the likely fate of the Hama inmates, if the government renews attempts to storm the jail. This standoff should not end in a bloodbath, said Nadim Houry of Human Rights Watch. The situation in Syrias detention facilities and prisons is deeply unstable and prison conditions should be a priority for the international community. In Whatsapp communications with Human Rights Watch, detainees said they had managed on May 1 to seize control of large sections of the prison. We began to protest because a military field court sentenced five detainees to death, but these courts do not have the right to issue sentences, Mohamed, one of the prisoners said. We were able to take over all the security areas, prison wings, the prison restaurant, and the officers office during our walkabout time in the courtyard. During the riot, when the police stormed the prison to stop us from protesting, we were able to capture seven policemen, and the police are afraid to storm us again so we dont capture more of them. Police then used teargas and shot live rounds in the air, but that didnt work to calm us down. So they sent in the head of the prison to negotiate with us, he said. UN rules urged Rights groups have called for the Assad regime to observe the U.N. Basic Principles of the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, which says law enforcement officials must minimize damage and injury, and respect and preserve human life, and use lethal force only when strictly unavoidable to protect life. On Friday, Samantha Power, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, tweeted, Horrible reports of authorities attack on #Syria Hama prison. With regime's record of mistreating prisoners, escalation is alarming. In February, U.N. investigators released a damning report on the treatment of prisoners in President Bashar al-Assads Syria, accusing the regime of a systematic, countrywide pattern of prisoner abuse, which they said amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity. The government's crimes against prisoners included "extermination, murder ... torture, imprisonment, enforced disappearance and other inhuman acts," according to the report by the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria. In February 2015, a team of internationally renowned war crimes prosecutors and forensic experts found "direct evidence" of "systematic torture and killing" by the Assad regime, issuing a report based on thousands of photographs taken by a Syrian military photographer of dead bodies of detainees killed while in Syrian government custody. Geneva peace talks The U.N. Security Council has repeatedly demanded the release of arbitrarily detained Syrian inmates. Last month, U.N. special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said he would appoint a senior member of his team to focus on detainee issues in the now stalled Geneva peace talks. Detainees, and their fate, should be at the heart of Syrias negotiations, Houry said. Their release should be on everyones priority list. Meanwhile, Ankara claimed Turkish forces killed 55 Islamic State militants when shelling three rocket installations of the jihadist group in northern Syria. Local Turkish media reported that up to 20 Turkish commandos carried out a ground operation in Syria Saturday night to help guide the shelling of the IS rocket launch pads that have been used to target Turkey's southeastern Kilis border province. The Turkish border town of Kilis has been regularly hit by IS rockets in recent weeks. Turkish officials say 20 people have been killed and almost 70 wounded in IS attacks. China's state media say 34 construction workers are missing after a massive landslide in China's southeastern Fujian province. Xinhua news agency says about 100,000 cubic meters of mud and rocks slid into a hydroelectric power station site under construction in Taining County. The landslide Sunday was triggered by heavy rains. Officials said seven people were injured in the incident. Deadly landslides are common in China. In December, more than 70 people were killed when a large river of mud swept over an industrial park in the economic powerhouse of Shenzhen, Guangdong province. There was an emotional scene at a Spanish air base near Madrid Sunday when three Spanish journalists came home after 10 months in captivity in Syria. Jose Manuel Lopez, Antonio Pampliega, and Angel Sastre were greeted by relieved and sobbing family members as they stepped off a defense ministry jet. Although the circumstances of their capture and release are unclear, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy thanked "allied and friendly countries" for winning their freedom, particularly Turkey and Qatar. Gunmen kidnapped the three when they crossed into northern Syria from Turkey last July to report on the fighting in Aleppo. The journalists told Spanish media they were treated well during their captivity but say Pampliega was held separately from his colleagues for most of the time. None of them are sure exactly where they were being held or who captured them. All three of the journalists were experienced war zone correspondents and had all reported from Syria in the past. According to Reporters Without Borders, a media rights group, Syria is the most dangerous country in the world for journalists. A number of Western reporters have been kidnapped by various rebel groups in Syria and by the Syrian government itself over the last five years. WATCH: Related video of journalists' release Donald Trump, the presumptive U.S. Republican presidential nominee, is not all that worried that key party leaders say they won't support him in the national election against the likely Democratic nominee, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. As the billionaire real estate mogul all but clinched the party's presidential nomination last week, the last two Republican presidents, George H.W. Bush and his son, George W. Bush, and numerous other party officials declared they have no intention of supporting his maverick candidacy. "Does it have to be unified?" Trump asked about the Republican Party on ABC's This Week news show Sunday. "I'm very different than everybody else, perhaps, that's ever run for office? I actually don't think so. "I think it would be better if it were unified, I think it would be, there would be something good about it," he said. "But I don't think it actually has to be unified in the traditional sense." Ryan 'not ready' The party's top current elected official, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, said he is "just not ready" to endorse Trump and wants to make sure he would uphold the party's traditional conservative principles before agreeing to support him. Ryan has opposed Trump's call to temporarily block Muslims from entering the country and the two disagree on U.S. foreign policy and trade issues. He and Trump have scheduled a meeting Thursday in Washington to air their differences, but the brash Trump, a one-time television reality show host who has never held elective office, said it's possible the two may just "go our separate ways." Other conservative leaders have raised the possibility of fielding a third candidate against Trump and Clinton, but third-party candidacies have not fared well in U.S. presidential elections, almost always trailing far behind the Democratic and Republican nominees. Numerous candidates Some Republican lawmakers said they will support Trump even though they originally preferred other presidential candidates. The 69-year-old Trump surged to the top of the Republicans' one-time field of 17 candidates with calls to build an impenetrable wall along the U.S.-Mexican border to halt the stream of illegal immigrants into the United States and to deport the 11 million already in the country. He has won more than 10 million votes in state-by-state party nominating contests, with his last two challengers dropping out of the race for the party's presidential nomination after Trump scored an impressive win in last week's contest in the Midwestern state of Indiana. Neither Trump nor Clinton has officially clinched their parties' presidential nominations yet, but they are trading verbal taunts at each other. Attacking the Clintons At a rally Saturday, Trump, who is married to his third wife and through the years has bragged about sexual exploits, lampooned Clinton for the marital infidelities of her husband, former U.S. President Bill Clinton. "She's married to a man who was the worst abuser of women in the history of politics," Trump said. Clinton has disparaged Trump as unfit to be the country's commander in chief. "We can't have a loose cannon in the Oval Office" at the White House, she told cheering supporters at a rally. Numerous polls show Clinton ahead of Trump in the election to pick the successor to President Barack Obama, who leaves office next January. WATCH: Trump Presumptive Republican Nominee After Indiana Victory Turkish shelling killed 55 Islamic State insurgents in northern Syria on Saturday evening, military sources said, in retaliation for weeks of rocket attacks on a Turkish border town. Artillery fire hit the regions of Suran and Tal El Hisn north of Aleppo, as well as Baragidah and Kusakcik, taking out three rocket installations and three vehicles in addition to the killings of the militants, the sources said on Sunday. Earlier on Saturday, U.S.-led coalition air strikes in Syria killed 48 Islamic State militants, according to a report from state-run Anadolu Agency. The Turkish border town of Kilis, which lies just across the frontier from Islamic State-controlled territory of Syria, has been regularly struck by rockets in recent weeks. Kilis is about 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Aleppo, Syria's embattled, biggest city and the biggest strategic prize in a more than five-year-old civil war. The Turkish military usually responds with artillery barrages into northern Syria, but officials have said it is difficult to hit mobile Islamic State targets with howitzers. Turkish officials have said they need more help from Western allies in defending the border. So far, about 20 people have been killed and almost 70 wounded in the rocket fire on Kilis, Anadolu said. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is accusing Western powers who are battling Islamic State extremists in northern Syria of failing to help his government fight the jihadists on Turkish soil. "They have left us alone in our struggle against this organization (Islamic State), which is shedding our blood both through suicide bombings" and by cross-border rocket attacks on the Turkish border town of Kilis. Erdogan spoke Sunday in Istanbul. His remarks came a day after authorities say Turkish shelling killed 55 IS insurgents in northern Syria, in retaliation for weeks of rocket attacks that have killed more than 20 people in and near Kilis. Military sources quoted by Reuters said Saturday's Turkish artillery fire was directed at several areas north of the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo. They say the shelling also destroyed three IS rocket installations and three vehicles. Erdogan's complaint is the latest sign of friction between Ankara and the European Union, which has called on Turkey to reform anti-terror laws that Western analysts say are being used increasingly against the president's critics and opponents. For his part, Erdogan insists that his country -- facing dual threats from Kurdish rebels and IS terrorism -- needs to strengthen anti-terror laws rather than curtail them. Last week, Brussels demanded anti-terror reforms as one of five remaining conditions Ankara must meet before its citizens can become eligible for visa-free travel within the 28-nation European Union. "They (EU envoys) say they are going to abolish visas and this is the condition," Erdogan told supporters in Istanbul. "I'm sorry, we're going our way. You go yours," he said Friday. They perform feats that can be nerve-wracking simply to watch building human pyramids high into the air, leap-frogging over one another, and tumbling down long mats at high speed. But its all in a days work, or practice, for young Somaliland performers like 14-year-old Ahmed Yassin. I like it because it builds your body, you become active, and you stay away from drugs, said Yassin. It may not be a circus in the traditional sense, but Yassin and other young people have been twisting, tumbling and jumping their way around Somaliland in order to teach people, predominately in the rural areas, key social messages. Entertain, educate Yassin and his 64 fellow acrobats between the ages of seven and 24 are members of Circus Somaliland, which puts on as many as 40 events per year around Somaliland, aiming to entertain as well as educate. Abdilahi Hassan is the country representative for the Horn of Africa Voluntary Youth Committee, which founded the circus in 1997. So its something new, something innovative, so thats why people they like. And its different from what theyve been seeing for centuries, said Hassan. Its a new thing to Somaliland. Nineteen year-old acrobat Said Abdi Ali agrees that the traveling shows are popular. People like us, they come to watch and when we go to other regions, they also come to watch, Ali said. Some of them are surprised at what we do. Malaria, HIV The acrobatic feats draw the crowds while the circus's drama team addresses topics like malaria and HIV/AIDS, girls education, the prevention of early marriage, childrens rights, the dangers of drug use, and landmine avoidance. And they also perform skits about the perils of illegal migration, says circus manager Kamal Hassan Isak, himself a former acrobat and member of the inaugural circus group in 1997. Really, its a big issue because a lot of children and youth have died in the Sahara or the sea, the Mediterranean Sea, said Isak. The International Organization on Migration says over 66,000 migrants from the Horn of Africa arrived in Europe last year, a marked increase from 2014. And it remains a dangerous journey. Hundreds of East African migrants were killed when their boat capsized in the southern Mediterranean just this April. The drama team grabs stories like that from the headlines and reenacts them. Hassan says that the shows are effective, because people in the rural areas have limited access to TVs and radios. And also for another reason Its a good tool that we can deliver messages to the community because in Somali society, most of them dont read or write, said Hassan. And the energy of these young performers keeps the crowds coming back for more. A sole Powerball ticket, sold in New Jersey, matched all six numbers in Saturday's drawing, which was worth $429.6 million. Saturday's jackpot was the largest prize since last January, when it reached $1.6 billion -- the largest in Powerball history. The winning Powerball numbers drawn Saturday were 5-25-26-44-66 and the Powerball number of 9. The winner was not identified. Powerball is played in 44 states, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada and Utah are the only states that don't participate. Mulenga Sata, formerly of the ruling Patriotic Front (PF), says he defected to Zambia's main opposition because he was disillusioned and unhappy with what he says is the lack of fiscal discipline to change the countrys economic outlook to improve the lives of citizens. Sata's defection to the United Party for National Development (UPND) comes just months ahead of the August 11 general election. He said he couldnt stand by and do nothing when there are things seriously wrong with the way the current administration is running the country. He said PF party officials routinely share with him their frustration and disillusionment of the government and what it is doing wrong. With the Patriotic Front, what used to happen before is that you have to come up through the ranks to gain seniority to achieve those senior positions. What is happening now is that people are coming in left, right and center, and some of them quite obnoxious members and these are things that were injurious to me and others in the party, said Sata. If I felt the party was drifting right back to the very thing that we were fighting when the PF was formed to fight the party in government where it becomes politics of the expediency rather than principle. There is also the rampant mismanagement of the economy. ... And I felt that that kind of cavalier approach to run the affairs of the country is something that cannot be tolerated. We need some rigor, some discipline in the way we conduct issues. Against father's legacy Sata, a former province minister for the capital, Lusaka, is the son of the deceased president and founder of the PF. Sata also served as minister in the office of incumbent President Edgar Lungu. In an interview with VOA, Sata denied accusations that his defection amounts to kicking against his fathers legacy. I was approached by various parties when it became clear that I wasnt particularly happy in the Patriotic Front. I had a choice, either to retire from politics, concentrate on my family and personal life or make a symbolic point and join forces with another political entity to hopefully influence some positive change in our dispensation, he said. The legacy of my father goes beyond just the Patriotic Front His whole life is a something that we can look to for motivation and guidance. Yes he formed the party, but he formed the party for the people of Zambia, people that bought into his ideals of which I was one of them at the time. It was never considered a party for the Sata family and that was something that he made clear at all pointSo for me if at some point there was a divergence as difficult and sentimentally attached as I was to this particular party, I felt that it was something that needed to be done. Major blow to ruling party Analysts say the defection is a major blow to the re-election bid of Lungu and his ruling PF party. The governing party, however, says Sata's defection is unlikely to hurt the PFs prospects of victory. Frank Bwalya, deputy spokesman for the PF, called on supporters to respect Satas decision, but emphasized that the move is no reflection on Lungus ability to unite the party. "We want to urge all our members to pray for Mr. Sata, said Bwalya. we also want to make it very clear again that the people who are leaving to join other political parties, including UPND, are not doing so because President Lungu has refused to accommodate them." PF supporters say Sata defected after failing to present a Grade 12 certificate or high school diploma equivalent - a minimum requirement in the new constitution to hold government positions. His departure, they add, illustrates the governing partys dedication to the constitution, regardless of a person's political affiliation or influence. Sata said the allegations about the certificate are bizarre. He said back in 1996 there was nothing like Grade 12. Even if I didnt have the Grade 12 certificate or equivalent, what would it do me to jump into another party? It is symptomatic of the shallow thinking sometimes in our political circles. I have no problems with my academic qualifications, I produce them as and when I need to. I have gone to well known, world renowned schools all over the world. I attended a school in Gaborone, Botswana called Maru-a-Pula [an independent school] for my GCE-O levelI went to another world famous school in Swaziland called Waterford Kamhlaba, its part of the United World College of Southern Africa, I did my international baccalaureate there, said Sata. Clinical Use of Disputed Immunotherapy for Cancer Is Banned: Chinas Top Health Authority China bans the clinical use of immunotherapy for cancer treatment. (Photo : Reuters) The National Health and Family Planning Commission emphasized on Thursday that the clinical use of the disputed immunotherapy for cancer treatment is banned, according to a China Daily report. The top health authority released the statement after it received a public outcry when a young man named Wei Zei died after receiving such treatment at a military hospital in Beijing. Advertisement According to the report, "the hospital was found to have outsourced its cancer treatment to a for-profit private company." This is why the health authority also reiterated that the subcontracting of public hospitals' departments to private entities is also banned. According to the commission, immunotherapy "has never been approved as a formal therapeutic tool for treatment in China." It can only be practiced for purely scientific research. Nonetheless, the statement from the commission noted that their approval is required to conduct such research. This is governed by a regulation issued in 2015 that tackles "third-category medical technologies," or those that are considered experimental, risky or uncertain. The regulation stated that those who agree to participate in the research must be fully informed and that the treatment must be free of charge. Immunotherapy helps boost patients' immune system in order to fight cancer. It includes many types including DC-CIK, the one received by the young man. According to the man's parents, they had spent over 200,000 yuan for the treatment at the Second Hospital of Beijing Armed Police Corps. Insiders revealed that despite the existence of government bans, some public hospitals still provide immunotherapy. With this, the health commission reiterated that the regulation should be "strictly enforced to better secure public health." The commission also noted that the military hospitals are under the jurisdiction of the health bureaus of the Central Military Commission and the National Armed Police Force, not by government health authorities. Currently, the two bodies are jointly probing the hospital involved in Wei's death. The Saronic Gulf opposite Athens is one of the most beautiful and interesting areas of Greece, full of beautiful landscapes, small towns, islands, archeological remains and one of Europe's least known active volcanic areas. Join us on a relaxing tour to discover this fascinating area! Photo: Frank Micelotta/PictureGroup Police, who continue to insist that Beyonces Formation video is somehow anti-police (its not), protested outside Beys hometown concert in Houston. Members of the Coalition of Police and Sheriffs, or C.O.P.S. for short, stood a mile away from NRG Stadium and shone a blue light toward the venue. Tony Ragsdale, a member of C.O.P.S., told KHOU11, Some of her performances we believe to be anti-police. They also held up posters of Chris Evanss Captain America (which suggests they either didnt see Civil War, or didnt understand it). As Bey said last month, But anyone who perceives my message as anti-police is completely mistaken. I have so much admiration and respect for officers and the families of the officers who sacrifice themselves to keeps us safe. But lets be clear: I am against police brutality and injustice. Those are two separate things. A child suffering from infantile autism looks out of the window at the Xining Orphan and Disabled Children Welfare Center on Dec. 17, 2005 in Xining of Qinghai Province, China. (Photo : Getty Images) Police are investigating the death of an autistic boy at a controversial rehabilitation center in southern China known for using harsh exercises to treat a disease it describes as for "the rich and the lazy." Advertisement Four-year-old Lai Rijia, who hails from northeastern China's Liaoning Province, was found dead at a rehabilitation center in Guangzhou, according to a report from the South China Morning Post on Thursday. His death came to light after a post on China's various social media platforms went viral online, claiming that the boy died after an intensive long walk. The day before his death, the boy was allegedly forced to walk 10 kilometers in the morning and another 9 kilometers in the afternoon, according to the report. The center, founded in 2013, was criticized for its approach to treating autism, including forcing children to walk up to 20 kilometers per day and making them wear thick coats and lie in makeshift incubators to "cure" them through sweating. The facility itself is run by a self-taught medical practitioner Xia Dejun, who believes autism is due to wealthy families spoiling their children and allowing them to become lazy. His center provides programs that center around building physical endurance through rigorous exercise as a means of helping children "recover" from what Xia calls a "rich man's disease." Lai's mother, Zhang Wei, told the media that her son was running a high fever Wednesday night and his heart was beating unnaturally fast. The boy was rushed to the hospital where he died. Zhang, who paid more than 31,200 yuan ($4,762) for a 21-month treatment course for her son at the center, said she is filing a lawsuit against the center. "We had no other choice but to send Jia to this center, as there was nothing else available," Zhang told the U.K. newspaper The Telegraph. "For us, at least it provided a glimmer of hope." In a statement released by the authorities in Guangzhou on Wednesday, the autopsy report revealed the Lai died of bleeding from the lungs and the swelling of the brain and have ruled out foul play. The remaining 10 children at the center have since been returned home. Police said executives at the center are cooperating with the investigations. Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images Contrary to previous reports, Prince has not been formally laid to rest, and his family is still in the midst of planning a memorial service for the late music legend. We would like everyone to know that there has been no memorial, funeral or tribute service for Prince that was organized or authorized by the family or Paisley Park representatives, his family said in a statement obtained by ABC News. Together, the family is planning an official memorial service and public event to take place in the near future. Prince died last month at the age of 57, where his body was discovered in an elevator in his Paisley Park estate in Minnesota. Recently, the U.S. Attorneys office joined local authorities in to assist in investigating his death. Prince and his music influenced so many people that we feel inspired to celebrate his life and legacy in just the right way, the statement continued. We appreciate the publics patience and have been comforted by your outpouring of love, support and condolences. We look forward to sharing with the world this celebration of, and farewell to, our Prince. Details will be coming soon. Related Libya militia scramble to halt IS group advance Five people were killed and 11 wounded on Friday when shells hit a political rally in the centre of Libya's second city Benghazi, a medical source said. "There were five dead and 11 wounded by shelling on a group of people in the centre of Benghazi" in the east of the country, a doctor at the city's Al-Jalaa hospital said. An AFP journalist at the scene in Al-Kish Square saw two dead and several wounded among people who had been at a rally in support of armed forces loyal to the internationally recognised parliament in Tobruk. These forces are under the command of General Khalifa Haftar. "The shells were fired from the Soug al-Hout sector" in the north of the city, a military source said of an area controlled by anti-Haftar armed groups. For nearly two years, Benghazi has seen bloody battles between loyalist forces and armed groups including jihadists from the Islamic State group and Ansar al-Sharia, which is close to Al-Qaeda. Forces loyal to Haftar have regained several districts in Benghazi but have yet to retake the whole city. Search Keywords: Short link: As Creative Waco heads into the final weeks before submitting its application for a Waco Cultural District to the Texas Commission on the Arts, it is calling for additional support and aid. Leaders say if that comes in the form of tote bags decorated by Chip and Joanna Gaines, so much the better. The couple national celebrities because of their popular home renovation series Fixer Upper on HGTV and their children have decorated five Creative Waco tote bags and auctioned them online this month. The bags carry images of the Gaineses farm or one of their animals a pig, goat, horse and a shaggy bull on the front with a handwritten Art inspires! and inscription from Chip, Joanna and the kids over a pattern of shiplap interior wood paneling and a running Fixer Upper in-joke on the back. The Gaineses are the latest Waco artists and designers to decorate the Creative Waco tote bags, a project intended to raise awareness of the arts in Waco while raising funds for the Cultural District application process. Creative Waco, led by executive director Fiona Bond, is the nonprofit organization responsible for preparing and submitting a Waco Cultural District application to the state. About 50 tote bags remain from an initial 500 that went on sale in November and are available at Anthem Studios, the Art Center of Waco, the Art Forum of Waco and The Findery. The Gaineses tote bags are available online at www.creativewaco.org/live-auction, with starting bids of $50. Two bags are up for bid this week, followed by new totes available during the remaining weeks in May. Funds raised by the auction will go toward the final stage of video production that is part of the state application. Bond also urged those who support the idea of a Waco cultural district to write a letter to that effect. Letters and tote bag sales are each measures of community backing that applicant reviewers will take into consideration, she said. Last month, McLennan County Commissioners Court and Waco City Council passed resolutions supporting creation of a Waco cultural district. Twenty-nine Texas cities have official cultural districts, which are defined as areas in a city or community that include a clustering of historic buildings, arts venues, restaurants, shops and the like. State cultural district status, granted by the Texas Commission on the Arts, can attract outside funding, tax breaks and grants for businesses and organizations in the district. Wacos proposed cultural district uses the same boundaries as the Public Improvement District No. 1, stretching from Clay to Jefferson avenues and from 11th to Garrison streets in East Waco. Bond told city council members last month that Waco is among 12 cities competing this year for cultural district designations. Announcement of approved districts is expected in September. Deadline for Cultural District applications is June 15. After that, its a matter of waiting and dreaming, Bond said. We have a zillion and one ideas for artists, she said. Brian Townley, a 1988 Midway High School graduate, was named as the 2016 Distinguished Alumnus by the Midway ISD Education Foundation. He will be honored after giving the keynote speech at the annual Showcase of Stars event, which begins at 6:30 Friday at First Baptist Woodway Church. The annual event recognizes the top 50 students in the 2016 graduating class of Midway High. The Distinguished Alumnus is given to an individual whose achievements, strengths of character and citizenship serve as models to inspire and challenge todays students. Townley started his career in the banking industry in 1987 while still a student at Midway High School. Drive and motivation paved the way from banking leadership positions to his current success as an international speaker, author and real estate professional. He said he credits his core development to joining a work program class at Midway and to teachers who believed in him along the way. From starting out as a drive-thru teller at the National Banks of Cental Texas, to serving as the banks senior vice president, Townleys 26-year banking career opened doors to other opportunities. In 2014, he released a leadership training program called Chiseling a Leader on DVD with Emmy award-winning journalist Brandon Lee. He has also published two leadership books, including his latest, RIPPLeFFECT Leading from the Core, which shares insights into how leaders can expand their influence and leave lasting impressions that encourage success. Each of the Showcase honorees will receive a copy of the book. Sometimes it just takes that little bit, and that little bit comes from somewhere, Townley said. Giving back can bring others to success, but success isnt just about all of the things weve accomplished in life. Its defined by people we can inspire along the way, and I trust that teachers can inspire students. In 2015, he entered into real estate with Waller Group Properties in Dallas before joining his mother, Ginger Townley, as a part of Paramount Realty & Management in Waco. Recently, a Midway ISD Education Foundation grant was named in his honor. The Mission Possible Bash Read 5 grant will establish a free lending library for students at the school and have the library open one night a week during the summer. Foundation Executive Director Suzi Pagel said studies show that if students read five books over the summer they will maintain their reading level when returning to classes in the fall. ----- Midway ISD photo Trulie Trevathan, instructional specialist at Hewitt Elementary, and Brian Townley hold up the grant check for the program with students at the school. Keith Gentrys family has been on a long and circuitous journey as the judicial system tries to determine if Darlene Gentry, convicted of killing her husband in their Robinson home, deserves a new trial. Its been more than three years since the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered 19th State District Judge Ralph Strother to ferret out more information in response to a variety of allegations Darlene Gentry made in a writ of habeas corpus application. An unusual series of events has delayed the process and strained the patience of Keith Gentrys father, Waymon Gentry, and his family. We are losing our patience because I think the judicial system ought to act faster than it has, Waymon Gentry said. But, like a lot of people have said, she is not going nowhere, so it really isnt hurting anything other than it is something hanging over us that should have been settled a long time ago. Darlene Gentry, a nurse, was convicted in the November 2005 shooting death of her husband, Keith Gentry, the father of her three sons. She is serving a 60-year prison term. Keith Gentry was shot in the head as he lay sleeping in bed at their home in Robinson. His wife was convicted of shooting him and then staging the scene to make it appear that he was shot by an intruder. Her original appeals were rejected by Wacos 10th Court of Appeals and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. But in June 2010, after reviewing Gentrys latest writ application, the states highest criminal appellate court wrote that Gentry has alleged facts that, if true, might entitle her to relief. Additional facts are needed. Circuitous path Her relief would be a possible new trial, and it has been up to State District Judge Bert Richardson, of San Antonio, to gather those facts and issue his findings to the Court of Criminal Appeals. Richardson initially was appointed to the case to rule whether Strother should be recused after Gentry claimed he showed bias against her. Richardson removed Strother from the case and then presided over a series of hearings to allow her attorneys, two St. Marys Law School professors and their volunteer Innocence Project law students, to offer evidence regarding their allegations. District Attorney Abel Reyna recused his office from the case because he consulted with Gentry when he was a defense attorney, before her trial and his election to office. Brazos County District Attorney Bill Turner agreed to handle the writ proceedings, but later left office and turned the case over to John Jasuta, of Austin. Those changes slowed the case, as did Richardsons busy schedule as a visiting judge who sits in three judicial regions with hubs in Austin, San Antonio and Kerrville. This case has taken quite a while to get resolved, no question about that, Richardson said. We are under no deadlines now from the Court of Criminal Appeals, so as long as the defendant is not screaming that she needs to be out of prison, which she is not, then we are OK. But there have just been so many different players involved in this from day one. Richardson said he recently received proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law from attorneys on both sides, which he will review before making his recommendation to the Court of Criminal Appeals. An application for writ of habeas corpus alleges a defendant is being held illegally because of constitutional violations. Gentry alleged her trial attorneys were ineffective and that prosecutors elicited perjured testimony and withheld favorable evidence. In his proposed findings, Jasuta said Gentrys claims have no merit and there is no basis for a new trial. I believe the record shows that Mrs. Gentry got a fair trial. We think the people of McLennan County gave her a fair trial and she was duly convicted, Jasuta said. Stephanie Stevens, one of Gentrys writ attorneys, agrees the writ process has been unusually long and difficult. I am sure she is impatient, Stevens said of Gentry. It is never easy to be incarcerated. I know she misses her family, but she has always been gracious and appreciative of everything we have done for her. Video evidence Stevens and co-counsel Anne Burnham are not claiming actual innocence on Gentrys behalf, only that she deserves a new trial. In her original appeal to the Waco-based intermediate appellate court, Gentry argued she deserved a new trial because her rights were violated when an incriminating videotape was produced and introduced at her trial. The video, secretly videotaped by Texas Rangers, showed Gentry wading knee-deep in a pond near Axtell in a search for the murder weapon she reportedly threw there. Gentry was shown on the tape searching the pond, not knowing Rangers already had recovered the murder weapon, a .22-caliber revolver given to Keith Gentry by his father. The video was made after a series of phone calls between Darlene Gentry and an acquaintance about her request to buy land on which the pond sits. The acquaintance became suspicious of Gentrys motives and called police. After finding the gun, Rangers had the man call Darlene Gentry and tell her he was going to drain the pond. She eventually came to the pond and was caught on video probing the muddy bottom in the exact spot where the gun was found. Valley Mills voters Saturday opted for little change for the city council, filling one vacancy and re-electing two incumbents. Voters chose Mayor Pro Tem Jerry Wittmer, council member Scott Layne and resident Bill Lancaster to serve on the city council. Layne received the most votes, with 197 ballots cast in his favor. Wittmer received 151 votes, and Lancaster received 103 votes. Layne said he only wanted to thank Valley Mills residents for their support and trust in him. Its overwhelming with the numbers, he said. Challenger Wesley Lewis received 102 votes, losing out by just one vote. Challenger Diane Merghart received 58 votes, and former mayor Jerry Pierce had 68 ballots cast in his favor. The council consists of a mayor and five aldermen, and the elections are held at-large for two-year, staggered terms. Pierce said Saturday night that its obvious from the election results that Valley Mills is not ready for progress or to move forward, while neighboring cities are building new schools and improving their community. Scott Layne definitely has his work cut out for him, he said. Scott Layne is the only intelligent person on the council. Pierce said if he were Lewis, he would ask for a recount after losing by only one vote. Pierce and Merghart sided against a decision by the city during early voting, vocally calling out city leaders for what they called unethical behavior. A Valley Mills resident filed a complaint against the city with the Texas Secretary of State and the Texas Municipal League for an almost 400-word Facebook post and duplicate post on the citys website condemning a selfie Pierce took with his father. The selfie was taken after the duo cast an early ballot. Before Election Day, and sometime after the complaint was issued by the resident, the post disappeared from the citys Facebook page and website. The city argued that Pierce conducted himself in an unprofessional and unethical fashion and claimed he violated Texas election laws by using electronic media less than 100 feet away from the voting center. Pierce, on the other hand, said he was more than far enough away and believes the post made by the city was slanderous and whoever posted that should be terminated or resign. Merghart during early voting called the citys post disgusting and said the city had gone too far. Merghart said Saturday night she was not too upset about the results. She said she wishes all the winners well and will continue to do whats necessary to help the town grow. I think people have a right to vote for who they want to, she said. Wittmer, who supported the citys post, said during early voting that every candidate and election official must obey the law and it appeared that Pierce did not follow those standards. Several other cities across McLennan County also opted to keep their incumbents. Beverly Hills Beverly Hills voters opted to keep three city council incumbents in place as they faced a lone challenger in Saturdays election. Challenger Rita Ms. Z Zolecki, 62, a retired veteran, only received nine votes. Serving another term will be council members Michael Thompson, 63, who is retired; Tony Garcia, 32, a student; and Mayor Pro Tem Joe Frank Holder, 86. Holder received 29 votes, Thompson had 29 ballots cast in his favor, and Garcia received 32 votes. The three candidates with the most votes in the election take the three open seats. Lorena Lorena residents selected a political newcomer to the city council along with two incumbents. Jeff Linnstaedter, who serves as the director of business and finance for Lorena ISD, challenged three incumbents and received enough votes to earn himself a spot on the council. Linnstaedter received 76 votes, or almost 30 percent of the ballots cast. Voters also re-elected incumbent Kelly Yarbrough, who received 78 votes, or almost 31 percent, and J. Fagner, who received 57 votes, or more than 22 percent of the ballots cast. Incumbent Robert Braswell, who has served three terms, fell short in votes for re-election, garnering 43 votes, or almost 17 percent of ballots cast. Linnstaedter said he appreciates the votes he received and the people who took the time to let their voices be heard. He said he is excited about joining the city council. All the people in the race were good people, and I think highly of all of them, he said. I just really want to contribute to the community that means so much to me. Woodway Woodway residents Saturday voted to keep incumbent Scott A. Giddings in office in the Ward 2, Place 2 city council seat. Giddings, a General Motors wholesale sales manager, received 519 votes, while challenger Steve Sorrells, a developer and homebuilder, received 347 votes. Giddings said he is excited about being re-elected and is thankful for his support team that helped him reach this point. Giddings said hes eager to continue working on larger projects for the city, including street improvements and directing the citys future. What I appreciate the most is that I did have an opponent that made me work for this election and let me get out and see the citizens and talk to the citizens, he said. My message and the message from the citizens is that Woodway wants to continue being a single-family community, and I think the message was pretty loud and clear. Sorrells said he was impressed with Woodways voter turnout as well as the amount of supporters he had. It bodes well when we have large voter voice that shows up, Sorrells said. The other two seats up for election went uncontested. Ward 1, Place 2, went to Mayor Donald J. Baker, and Ward 3, Place 2, went to council member Jane Kittner. The position of mayor is elected by the council once a year at the council meeting immediately after the election. Councilman Kyle Deaver will become mayor of Waco on May 17 without having to put out a single yard sign or ask anyone for campaign contributions. Youd like to think its because youre doing a good job, Deaver said a few days before Saturdays election, in which he was unopposed. I dont know if its that or nobody wants the job. But other council members say Deaver has already earned his place at the head of the table. I think hell be amazing, District 4 Councilman Dillon Meek said. I think Kyle is experienced and wise. I think he is going to carry on the torch well that Mayor Duncan has carried so well. . . . Im thrilled to serve under him. Deaver will be sworn in May 17 to replace Malcolm Duncan Jr., who is stepping down after four years in office. Deaver, 52, is expected to be a departure from the gregarious Duncan in style but not substance. Duncan routinely put in 40-plus hours a week for the volunteer position, serving on numerous boards and convening leaders from nonprofit groups, government and business to solve community issues. The fruits of his labor include a revamped animal shelter and the Prosper Waco antipoverty initiative, on which Deaver will serve as a board member. Ive learned a lot from watching Malcolm in that role, Deaver said. Hes done a fantastic job reaching across to other forms of government. I really applaud what hes done there and I dont want us to lose any of that momentum. Balancing act But Deaver said he will have to balance his mayoral duties with his business affairs, which include ownership and legal roles at American Bank and American Guaranty Title. Im going to have to take a different kind of approach, he said. I wish I could dive into that depth. But the reality for me is that we have a wonderful staff, a great city manager, city attorney, municipal judge and city secretary. We have a great council thats willing to take on different roles. Im not going to say Ill delegate everything, but I wont be able to do it full time. Deaver said he also hopes to continue Duncans emphasis on collecting and analyzing data on city operations and sharing it with the public. I think transparency is really important so citizens can understand whats working and whats not working, he said. Then again, I dont know that theres anyone in Waco as obsessed with data as Malcolm is. Other council members say Deaver has shown himself to be a thoughtful presence on the council. Hes a quiet person, but ultimately what hes doing is thinking, really absorbing the issue, said District 2 Councilwoman Alice Rodriguez, who has been on the council for much of the last quarter-century. He listens and then he makes his judgment call. . . . One thing Ive noticed is that hes real open, that he listens. With typical bluntness, Duncan puts it another way. Hes much more considerate than I am, Duncan said. He thinks before he talks, unlike me. He does a really good job looking at both sides. He said Deaver brings important skills to the council. Deaver knows the world of nonprofit groups as a board member of the Waco Foundation and through other community work, Duncan said. He knows city issues as a former Plan Commission member. And Deavers experience as a business attorney, banking official and former owner of a Harley-Davidson dealership will help as the city deals with economic development, including the proposed redevelopment of the Brazos Riverfront with Catalyst Urban Development, Duncan said. Knowing the nuances and details of a deal is really critical on something like that, he said. Deaver said economic development is indeed a priority, and like Duncan, he wants to make sure that new employment opportunities benefit those who are currently unemployed or underemployed. That may mean improving skills for workers and incentivizing companies to move into lower-income parts of town. He said hes an enthusiastic supporter of Prosper Waco, which seeks to coordinate nonprofit, government and business players in a coherent effort to improve income, health care and education. I think were in the early stage of seeing some progress, Deaver said. At least were facing the poverty problem. I think well make progress because were all working together and measuring what were doing. This isnt the first time Deaver has taken Duncans old job. In June 2012, the council chose him to fill the District 5 council seat Duncan vacated when he was elected mayor. Deaver was elected to the seat without opposition in 2013 and defeated challenger Robert Cervantes this year. Waco City Council will likely do interviews and select a candidate for Deavers District 5 seat in June, city officials said. Deaver said becoming mayor hasnt been a longtime ambition. In fact, he didnt consider becoming a councilman until he was on the Plan Commission and friends urged him to think about it. Deep Waco roots But his roots run deep in Waco. Deavers maternal grandfather is Waco broadcasting pioneer Buddy Bostick, and Deaver grew up mowing the lawn at the KWTX studio. He spent his teen years working the teleprompters and cameras in a nicotine-stained newsroom, where his father, Ray Deaver, was station manager. After he graduated from Baylor University, he went to work full time for the station. My long-term plan was to run the station, he said. I went into ad sales, but after about three years, I decided I didnt want to do it. Being a salesman was not the best thing for me. He joined his younger brother, John, at Baylor Law School, then clerked at law firms in Dallas and Austin experiences that confirmed for him that he belonged in Waco. He and his wife, Diane, raised two now-grown children here, Nick and Morgan. Ive always knew it was a great place to raise a family, Deaver said. I always thought Waco had a lot of opportunity, and I always thought it would continue to get better and have more things to do. I liked the proximity of Dallas and Austin and Fort Worth. But more and more we find ourselves staying in town on weekends and enjoying what Waco has to offer. China Spring Independent School Districts board of trustees will have two new members ready to help usher in change. Chris Gerick beat Keith Click by 160 votes for the vacant Place 6 position, and Dod Moore, a local dentist, took 333 votes in an uncontested race for Place 7. Gerick, a local business owner, received 267 votes, while Click, a finance executive, received 107. Former Place 6 Trustee John Palmer and former Place 7 Trustee Rick Hines chose not to run again. Gerick said hes excited to begin serving the community but wont push for any major changes in the district until he learns the ropes. I think the important thing is to learn whats going on and learn from the existing board members, he said. I think you need to gain that experience before you look to make any changes. It takes a board. Gerick said the campaign process showed him how passionately people care about the school district, and he hopes to uphold China Spring values well. In a previous interview, Gerick said he wants to help govern the district through a high rate of growth thats expected during the next decade as the surrounding areas continue to grow. Im excited. Im looking forward to serving the community, he said. Midway ISD In another race for a vacant seat, self-proclaimed booster mom Pam Watts beat Debra Jones Tumlin with almost twice as many votes for the Place 5 seat on Midway ISDs board of trustees. Watts pulled in 609 votes, 301 more votes than Tumlin received at 308. Place 5 Trustee Robbie Jones, Tumlins brother, chose not to seek re-election. Incumbent Rick Tullis will stay in his Place 7 position, and incumbent Ivan Green will remain in Place 6. Both ran unchallenged. Watts is the co-founder of The Mothers of Midway, an organization that connects Midway parents to local resources. Watts said shes elated upon winning the position and hopes to continue her tradition of providing a voice for those who feel as if they havent been heard. I just hope to be a person who speaks for a larger group of Midway families, she said. Connally ISD Connallys board of trustees also maintained its incumbents in Aaron Mitzel and Danny Raines. Mitzel soundly beat his challenger, E.Z. Padron, by 107 votes, with Padron receiving 71 and Mitzel 178. Raines didnt have as steady a lead but managed to squeak out a win by a margin of three votes. Raines received 133 votes, compared to his challenger Jason Hancocks 130. Lorena ISD Lorenas incumbent trustee will keep his seat, and a new trustee will join. Three candidates vied for the two positions up for election in Saturdays at-large race. Newly elected trustee Denny Kramer received 179 votes, while incumbent Philip Jander followed with 144. The third candidate, Wade Durbin, lost by about 50 votes, pulling in 95 ballots. Valley Mills ISD Valley Mills ISDs board of trustees kept both incumbents, Charles Boyd and Michael Sexton, who faced two challengers in an at-large election. Boyd received the most votes at 164, followed by Sexton, who squeaked out a win at 130 votes, only seven more than challenger Ted Jones, who received 123. Josh Thayer trailed behind with 97 votes, 26 fewer votes than Jones. Egyptian speaker of parliament Ali Abdel-Al is expected to devote part of Sunday's plenary session to discussing the current crisis between the Journalists Syndicate and the Interior Ministry Members of parliament told parliamentary correspondents Saturday that they have directed a number of "information requests" to prime minister Sherif Ismail, asking him to answer questions about the current crisis between the Journalists Syndicate and the Interior Ministry. MPs also said they have asked parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Al to open these "requests" for a debate during Sunday's plenary session. Mostafa Bakri, an independent MP and journalist, told reporters that parliament speaker Abdel-Al has approved to open a debate on the crisis. "As far as I know a government official will attend Sunday's plenary session to answer questions and requests submitted by MPs on this subject," Bakri said. Bakri declined to indicate whether the interior minister will be the government official in attendance to answer the questions. "Regardless, he will be an interior ministry official," Bakri noted. Parliament's Sunday morning session was originally scheduled to review seven agreements, with two of them on generating electricity, both between Egypt and Saudi Arabia and Egypt and the European Investment Bank. Other agreements include a loan from Italy to support small-scale Egyptian industries, and a grant from the Kuwaiti Development Fund to help Egypt provide assistance to Syrian refugees who fled the war-torn country. Bakri said the information requests on the crisis between the Journalists' Syndicate and the interior ministry would be discussed before the debate on the above agreements. "It will be up to speaker Abdel-Al to determine when these requests will be discussed on Sunday," said Bakri. Other MPs such Saad Al-Gammal, chairman of parliament's Arab Affairs Committee and head of the pro-government parliamentary bloc entitled In Support of Egypt, disclosed Saturday that he and many MPs submitted information requests on the crisis. During a debate held by the Arab Affairs Committee on Saturday, many MPs focused their anger on the board of the Press Syndicate, taking it to task for the eruption of the crisis. Ahmed Al-Sharaawi, an independent MP and a former police officer, launched scathing attack against the Press Syndicate, accusing board members of trying their best to sow "seeds of sedition" between President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and the Egyptian people. "The Journalists Syndicate believes that their building is a shrine that is above the law," said Sharaawi, adding that, "during Sunday's plenary session, [Sharaawi] will urge other MPs to reject that the Journalists Syndicate stands in violation of the country's laws." In comment, Al-Gammal, a former leading official of former president Hosni Mubarak's ruling party, argued that "while two former presidents, and a former agriculture minister were sentenced to prison, the Journalists Syndicate refused to implement the orders of the prosecution-general and the judiciary." Al-Gammal praised the interior ministry for "implementing the law" during the raid that resulted in the arrest of two journalists last week. "The ministry has the right to arrest two persons who hid in the syndicate building," said Al-Gammal. Al-Gammal, however, said he and other MPs do not plan to turn parliament's plenary session on Sunday into "attacks against journalists and the media." "In this respect, I see that there is a pressing need that the new laws on the media include harsh penalties against those who breach the code of media ethics," said Al-Gammal. Mohamed Khaled Al-Hashash, a Menoufiya governorate MP affiliated with the In Support of Egypt bloc, also joined forces and accused the Journalists Syndicate of exploiting the recent border demarcation agreement between Egypt and Saudi Arabia revolving around two Red Sea islands Tiran and Sanafir to mislead the public and drive a wedge between El-Sisi and Egyptians. MP Shadi Abul-Ela, an independent MP from the upper Egyptian governorate of Minya, said his information request aims to bring two men in charge of guarding the Journalists Syndicate to testify before parliament. "The two security guards told MP Mostafa Bakri on his TV talk show on Friday that the head of the Press Syndicate, Yehia Qalash, exerted pressure on them to tell prosecutors that security forces had stormed the Syndicate building," said Abul-Ela. In contrast to the hostile attitude toward the Journalists Syndicate among pro-regime MPs, most of the leftist MPs in parliament are supportive of the syndicate, denouncing what they call the interior ministry's repressive measures against the media and journalists. Search Keywords: Short link: When H.B. Bubba Laine joined the U.S. Navy in August 1944, the only thing he was worried about was swimming, at least in basic training. He didnt realize he would have a great deal more to concern himself with. Laine, who will turn 90 on June 21, was born at home in Waco and graduated from Waco High. He was eager to join the military, but recruiters who had mentioned his poor eyesight convinced him to return to school. He attended 4C Business College in the Scott Building at the corner of Washington Avenue and Eighth Street. Nonetheless, he eventually received his draft notice. He rode an electric trolley, called the Interurban, to Dallas. When he arrived he didnt mention his eyes. He was told he would be serving as an inductee, special assignment, which meant staying stateside. While he was waiting, he decided to make a trip to the draft board and told them he wanted to leave, right away. It had 50 open slots in the Navy, so off he went by cattle car to San Diego, a rough way to ride all the way to California, he said. Laine began his hitch in sick bay with a catarrhal fever (also known as cat fever a malady of unknown origin). It was a slow start to what was to be rough, Marine-style boot camp training. While he worried about his inability to swim, there were other things to keep his mind occupied, such as 25-mile hikes. One old boy kicked the can, he said. As for swimming, he confessed to his unit commander that he had never learned. His shipmates tried to prank him, but his commander sent him to a swimming class already in session. He began with dog paddling, which Laine took to like a duck. It was the easiest thing I ever learned in my life. Wasnt nothing to it, he said. After a brief trip home following basic training, Laine was transferred. Upon his return he boarded a ship bound for Pearl Harbor. When he arrived, he was forced to wait due to a mix-up involving the paperwork of several sailors, Laine included. Lost in the military shuffle During the confusion, he had no money, but he had a place to sleep and plenty to eat. While there, the Red Cross gave the men $5 and a one-day visit to Honolulu. There was also access to an Olympic-sized swimming pool where Laine was able to improve well past the dog paddle. He was eventually assigned to KP duty. Once his paperwork issues were settled, Laine left for the South Pacific aboard the battleship USS New York, the twin sister to the USS Texas. It was an exciting trip for an 18-year-old. Among his memorable events was a routine fueling of a destroyer that went awry, resulting in a collision with the New Yorks stern. Present MacArthurs return The men were ordered off and boarded what Laine called a baby aircraft carrier. He enjoyed watching the planes take off from the deck before being transferred to a troop ship that finally arrived in Leyte in the Philippines, along with Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who was making his famous return. Laine was stationed and lived on a refurbished World War I repair ship that was anchored. As an apprentice seaman striking for a storekeeper right out of boot camp, he worked in inventory with the ComServRon 10 Rep A supply outfit. Other than an occasional trip to land under protection of military police due to the threat of snipers, Laine spent six months aboard that old ship. From that vantage point he witnessed the last air raid by the Japanese at the airfield nearby. And he was there when war ended. Afterward, as his outfit was headed to Japan, he drew the short straw for the storekeeper job as part of a three-man team that would set up a supply depot on Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands. On the way, an announcement came over the loudspeaker instructing the men to put on their life vests before going to sleep, as something is trailing us, Laine said. You know how many people got to sleep that night? On Eniwetok, Laine and team set up their office in a floating, three-story hotel. They were there for 11 months, even though they had no business and Laine had accumulated enough points to go home. But raises, promotions and trips were frozen due to shortages. Finally, after some wrangling and with a yeomans help, Laine was able to arrange transport, though it took another month. He was discharged in 1946 and in 1947, married Clara Cookie Moen, who passed away four years ago. He is the last of his siblings. There was a time when Laine didnt think hed live past 50. He praises the VA for keeping him going. Im shooting for 100, he said. Voices of Valor, featuring stories about Central Texas veterans, publishes every Sunday in the Waco Trib. To suggest a story about a Central Texas veteran, email voicesofvalor@wacotrib.com. Voices of Valor is proudly sponsored by Johnson Roofing. Ted Cruz begins a new job this week. Hell be serving in the United States Senate, representing the great state of Texas. Were sure our states senior senator will appreciate the help because the post has been largely vacant since the 2013 departure of Kay Bailey Hutchison, who helped save the then-Waco Veterans Affairs Medical Center from closure. Sure, Mr. Cruz has technically held the post for more than three years. However, some observers argue that he has used the U.S. Senate as a personal staging area to launch his 2016 presidential campaign, offering up such populist spectacles as a costly government shutdown (and to no real benefit) and his self-amused reading of Green Eggs and Ham in a quasi-filibuster. Of course, Cruzs presidential campaign crashed last week amid a war of insults, sneers and whoppers with Donald Trump. To be a successful lawmaker, Cruz might want to offer John Cornyn, a former judge, our senior senator and the Senates second-in-command, an olive branch. Cruz didnt exactly call Cornyn a liar (though he did so label Cornyns boss, Mitch McConnell) but he sure suggested as much in his damning remarks about the Washington cartel. Ironically, while bad-mouthing Republican leaders, Cruz held his tongue for months regarding Trump, allowing other Republican presidential aspirants to do the dirty work while Trump disparaged women, minorities, Muslims, even POWs. While Senate Majority Whip Cornyn has shown some class and refused to return the insults Cruz lobbed at him and others, Cornyn conveyed plenty by what he didnt say. And he did concede of Cruz last month in a KERA interview that, Clearly, he didnt come here to remain in the Senate. He came here to run for president. I think that perhaps explains the difference in tactics. It may explain much more. Cruz reportedly has missed 17.6 percent of Senate roll-call votes. Missing almost one in five votes might not seem a great sin to tea-party disciples, but if I had an employee with that work record, Id fire him, especially at an annual salary of $174,000 plus benefits. And, yes, his roll-call absenteeism really is worse than the median of 1.6 percent among the lifetime records of senators serving. Even before his presidential run, he ranked 97th in showing up for votes. Thats out of 100 senators. For a politician who claims to want to change things in Washington, opportunities exist. Last month Cornyn was in the Senate touting the bipartisan Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, based on reforms in Texas that have helped reverse recidivism rates, saved taxpayer dollars and encouraged partnerships between prisons and faith-based organizations. Cornyn also has been pushing a bill to allow all veterans in the Veterans Affairs health-care system to visit walk-in clinics without VA pre-authorization or co-payment. It smartly expands the use of telemedicine. And hes been pressing to speed up studies on ways to safeguard the Texas coast from hurricanes, including the Houston area. Hes focused, too, on preventing a Zika outbreak. In February Cornyn was at Wacos Antioch Community Church, rallying others in his long fight against sex trafficking. And he continually makes himself available to the Texas press, taking tough questions at least once a month in phone press conferences. In fact, we at the Trib have more access to Sen. Cornyn than we do our congressman. Reports indicate Cruz campaign staffers are already fanning out to state conventions to bolster delegates loyal to them, not only to protect the national party platform in July but likely to lay groundwork for yet another presidential run. Lets hope not. Our state is too big and faces way too many challenges to be paying someone whose chief, self-serving ambition is winning the White House at all costs. Its time for Cruz to get to work in the U.S. Senate or get out. Criminal sentencing policy will always involve a balance between two important ideals: Liberty and safety. Absolute safety can be achieved only through great expense in liberty and taxpayer money. Absolute liberty, of course, comes at the expense of safety. Finding the proper balance between these goals is one of the most difficult jobs of government. Texas has led the nation in adjusting some drug sentences downward because the costs outweighed the benefits. Here, it turned out that lowering incarceration when carefully targeted coincided with lower crime rates. The federal government should make a similar incremental change and Congressman Bill Flores can play an important role. Re-evaluating federal sentencing in a limited, rational way has been one of the few bipartisan projects of late on Capitol Hill. Its an issue on which Sen. Mike Lee and Sen. Dick Durbin generally agree as do foundations led by both George Soros and the Koch brothers. Moreover, the movement toward limited reform encompasses many of those actively involved in law enforcement. I am a member of a group called Law Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime and Incarceration, which advocates in favor of a change in laws and practices to reduce incarceration while continuing to keep our communities safe. Members include the police chiefs of New York, Los Angeles, Washington, Dallas and Oklahoma City, among many others. Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee recently issued a resolution commending the Texas reforms and urging Congress to follow suit. In that RNC resolution, Rep. Flores party recognized two facts that should matter to conservatives: The federal prison population has risen 734 percent since 1980 and costs have risen nearly 600 percent. Reasonable reformers do not argue for a return to 1980 numbers. After all, the incarceration of some serious offenders has probably played a role in reducing crime rates during that same period. Rather, reform must focus on incremental changes that can reduce the prison population while continuing to incapacitate those who are most likely to cause further harm. That approach is exactly what informs a bill now awaiting a vote on the Senate floor. The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act has 37 co-sponsors, largely through the efforts of Texas Sen. John Cornyn. Its a model of incremental change rather than radical reformation. For example, federal law has long directed a life term, without parole, for someone convicted of a third drug trafficking crime. This provision has proven to be overbroad, as many small-time narcotics sellers have been sentenced to terms far longer than those doled out to some armed bank robbers, terrorists, murderers and child-sex traffickers. The Senate bill would change the mandatory life term to 25 years, again without parole. Thats a better fit for the crime it covers. These changes are not abstractions to those of us who have worked within the federal criminal justice system. One of my pro bono clients is a man named Ronald Blount, who seeks clemency. He is one of those who received a life without parole sentence for his third narcotics conviction. All three of those convictions, however, were for minor crimes that simply fed his own addiction. In fact, when arrested for the third offense (which largely consisted of him telling people where to go buy crack from someone else), he was so poor that he slept on the porch of his mothers house and had only one change of clothes. Blount was no kingpin and his further incarceration solves no problem. Those who know the situation best support these reforms. Most recently, the National District Attorneys Association, which represents 2,500 elected and appointed DAs, came out in support of the revised bill, arguing it addressed previous concerns and offers the hope of reducing crime and cost at the same time. Rep. Flores has a chance to play a leadership role when this bill arrives in the House of Representatives. He represents a state that has already traveled this path and succeeded. And he has the ear of House Speaker Paul Ryan, who will decide how leadership approaches the bill. Of late, there have not been many chances to follow conservative principles to a bipartisan conclusion, but this is an opportunity for that type of rare success within Congress. It should not be ignored. Formerly of the Baylor Law School faculty, Mark Osler is law professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis. He is author of the book Jesus on Death Row (2009). Fixing a date for McLennan Community Colleges anniversary might confound a little but its sure evidence of how much effort has gone into the proper founding and fine-tuning of this vital institution of higher learning. While this springs anniversary celebration culminating with Thursdays Waco Symphony Orchestra concert featuring the Anderson & Roe Piano Duo marks 50 years since the original name McLennan County Junior College was changed to McLennan Community College, the Nov. 2, 1965, vote by county residents creating the college ranks as just as important. And, of course, classes actually began in September 1966 on the deactivated James Connally Air Force Base campus before MCC was relocated to its picturesque perch in North Waco. In any case, the publics faith hasnt been misplaced: Baylor University may well qualify as Wacos No. 1 industry in prestige, scholarly research and scope, but MCC is definitely Wacos college in that local students often try out their academic wings there before eventually moving on to Baylor; some other four-year institution; or promising and profitable careers. MCC officials say that, of the 2015 fall enrollment of 8,305 students (including 1,226 first-time college students), 81 percent are from McLennan County 88 percent if you include surrounding counties. Students are drawn by not only more modest tuition rates (courtesy of local taxpayers) but also benefits such as the MAC program, which was spearheaded by former Waco Mayor Malcolm Duncan Sr. and his late wife Mary Ruth and has provided more than $7 million in scholarships to hundreds of students the past 21 years. MCCs popular University Center even makes the prospect of a four-year college education more workable, offering bachelors or graduate degrees at MCC through full-time instructors, visiting professors, two-way interactive classrooms and the almighty Internet. Whats more, MCC is ever-responsive to the evolving needs of academia and industry. For instance, MCCs addition of a bachelor of science in nursing degree through, again, the University Center reflects the fact more and more hospitals now require such bachelors degrees instead of the previous standard of an associates degree in nursing. This, MCC officials tell us, allows students to get their associates degree in nursing at MCC, begin working and then complete their bachelor of science in nursing. Smart thinking. And the Highlander Undergraduate Research Institute and Scholar Days allow community college students to experience the sort of research rigors demanded of juniors and seniors at four-year colleges through such challenging endeavors as studying marine biology in the Caribbean and testing the elements at the Mars Society Desert Research Station in rugged Utah. And MCCs expanding dual-credit program gives high school students a jump on higher education. Finally, MCC several years ago implemented a course, Learning Frameworks, that focuses on so-called soft skills such as personal responsibility, effective collaborations with co-workers and learning simple but crucial standards in todays work-a-day world. If youre an employer or manager of personnel or even a teacher, you know how significant this is. The course is now part of the required curriculum a boon to efforts by Prosper Waco to help people in our community more confidently hold the jobs they do have and advance whenever opportunities arise. Our faith in MCC has been more than repaid, enough for us to bet heavily on its making a difference for students in the next 50 years, even as society, industry and politics present new and heady challenges. Our compliments to all who over a half-century have made this a success and now continue that work. Political truths II Michael Honzas Thursday letter on political theory offers an opinion that seems to be stated as truth. Is this why truth is sometimes stranger than fiction? His definitions of exclusion and inclusion confused me. If inclusion means everyone is already in the club, does that mean we all think, talk and believe the same way? Is there no room for diversity? Yet he defines diversity as the way things get done as under Bill Clinton that honorable truth-teller with his own definition of is. Sometimes Washington D.C., gets too many things done, including things that strangle (not regulate) small business, small banks and certain industries. But Mr. Honza is right about 2016 being crazy. There is no civil discourse. We can no longer disagree without being disagreeable, even to the point of rioting and children shouting obscenities. It appears were going to have a contest between socialism and capitalism, though that is too much of a generalization. We dont have honesty or openness or honor or a sense of what is moral. Instead were forcing people to allow a small minority to change basic biology to be able to use whatever bathroom they feel like using at the moment. Mr. Honza may be right about another thing: The first George W. warned us to stay away from political parties. Im not sure two more parties would solve the problem, but it surely would be interesting. When a system has been in power and running things like conventions and elections for so many decades, its difficult to bring about meaningful reform. I do disagree that the tea party mortally wounded the GOP. I think the good ol boy way of choosing candidates (wait your turn) did the damage, but hopefully not a mortal wound. One thing is evident: One politician absolutely kept his promise to fundamentally transform America. Rosemary Owen, Hewitt Pretty simple For all the campus efforts now underway involving students, faculty and, yes, athletes, sexual abuse awareness isnt really that hard. Mama expressed the issue this way when I enrolled as a Baylor University freshman in 1956: Stay away from bars, keg parties and mens apartments. Self-respect and personal responsibility make more sense than looking back and yelling fire from the emergency exit. Kay King, Eddy A kindness shown I want to commend two employees with the Waco Solid Waste Department for the compassion they showed me today. My cat was hit in the middle of a busy street where traffic was too heavy to safely retrieve his remains. I called their department and Kristy, who answered, made arrangements with Nick, a supervisor, to meet me at that location and block that lane of traffic for the couple of minutes necessary to remove the body. I cant thank them enough for their kindness! Emily Hunter, Waco The activist-who was given a life in prison sentence in February 2015-has asked to suspend the verdict until Egypt's Court of Cassation issues a decision on his appeal Egypt's court of cassation rejected Saturday a request from jailed activist Ahmed Douma to suspend his life in prison sentence over charges of involvement in the December 2011 cabinet clashes case. The rejection of Douma's request means that he will continue to serve his sentence until the cassation court looks into the appeal of the initial verdict presented by his defense. The court did not specify the date on which it will issue its verdict on Douma's life sentence appeal. According to the Egyptian penal code, a life in prison verdict carries a sentence of 25 years in jail. Douma has been a long-time rights activist who protested against the regime of toppled president Hosni Mubarak, the military council in 2011-2012, as well as ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. He is already serving time in prison. The activist was among 229 others named in the case who were sentenced to life in prison. Some 39 minors were also sentenced to ten years in prison. Douma, along with 269 defendants, were accused of possessing bladed weapons and Molotov cocktails, assaulting personnel from the armed forces and the police, torching the Scientific Complex in downtown Cairo and damaging other governmental buildings, including that of the cabinet and the parliament. Meanwhile, Douma is serving time for two different verdicts in different cases. He is serving three years in prison on charges of holding an unauthorised protest, and six-months for assaulting a police officer. Search Keywords: Short link: Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi received on Saturday Libya's head of presidential council and prime minister-designate Fayez al-Sarraj, during which El-Sisi expressed Egypt's faith of the inevitability of a political solution for the Libyan crisis. According to presidency spokesman Alaa Youssef, El-Sisi welcomed al-Sarraj, stressing the depth and strength of historical relations between Egypt and Libya in a meeting attended by members of the Libyan presidential council, Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry, and Egypt's Ambassador to Libya. El-Sisi referenced Egypt's support of the Libyan Presidential Council and Libyan institutions, including the national army, noting the importance of preserving these institutions to allow it to exert control in Libyan territory, restore security in Libya, and fight terrorism. El-Sisi also noted the necessity of lifting an arms ban on the Libyan army so it can fully perform security operations as it grapples with a direct confrontation with terrorism on its soil. Youssef added the Libyan prime minister designate Al-Sarraj expressed his appreciation for Egypt's leading role in the Middle East, considering it a pillar for security and stability. He stressed that Libya deeply appreciates the continuous Egyptian efforts to establish security and stability in Libya and maintain its safety in the region, the unity of its lands, and preserving the capabilities of its people Al-Sarraj asserted the Libyan government's keenness on bolstering the Libyan state and securing the integrity of the nation while it faces terrorist groups that aim to destroy the unity of the country and target innocent people. Youssef added that the present parties reviewed the latest developments in Libya and the efforts being made to bolster Libyan stability. El-Sisi and Al-Sarraj affirmed the importance of working to accomplish a Libyan political consensus through the Libyan Parliament's approval of the unity government with the utmost urgency. El-Sisi highlighted the urgency of a parallel workflow in the fields of politics and security to prevent an outbreak of terrorism. The president then stressed the importance of executing the Skhirat agreement so the Libyan government could undertake its work efficiently. Five years after Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi's fall, Libya is deeply fractured, with a self-declared government in Tripoli and an internationally recognised one in the east each backed by coalitions of former rebels and militias. The Egyptian president has continually expressed his support for a Libya, while stating that Egypt would not intervene militarily in turmoil-stricken Libya, describing the neighboring country as a "sovereign state." Egypt has been in coordination with General Khalifa Haftar, who controls militia forces loyal to the internationally recognised government in northeastern Libya. Search Keywords: Short link: The assailants, who reportedly ambushed the policemen during a routine patrol, are still at large A military funeral was held in New Cairos police academy on Sunday afternoon for eight policemen gunned down by unknown assailants in the capital's southern district of Helwan. In the early hours of Sunday morning, four individuals, who were waiting in a mini-van, opened fire on a police patrol resulting in the deaths of all eight officers, state news agency MENA reported. The slain policemen included seven low-ranking policemen and a junior police officer. The assailants are still at large. Sunday's deadly assault on the patrol was one of the largest attacks on security forces in the capital in months. The south Cairo prosecution said in a statement it had examined the scene of the crime, questioned 10 eyewitnesses and impounded 120 bullet shells from the site. The officers' bodies were transported from the scene to the Zeinhom morgue to undergo an autopsy at the hands of medical examiners. Shortly thereafter, families of the slain officers arrived outside the morgue to retrieve the victims' bodies to prepare them for burial. The prosecution has yet to issue a full report on the incident. Search Keywords: Short link: Adani and Shenhua are still pursuing their spanking new coal projects, Walter-Mitty-like, while the financial position of established coal juggernaut Peabody Energy has become ever more parlous. Now in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the US coal group just released its first-quarter results, which show losses running at more than $100 million a month. As its pre-tax losses doubled to $US228 million for the three months, its net debt soared to $US462 million. Peabody Energy headquarters in St. Louis. Credit:Jeff Roberson What with the decision of Anglo to pull up stumps and put its coal mines on the market, and with the teetering finances of Peabody, there are definitely some cheap coal mines up for sale, mines already operating. Although the government and Peabody seem to be running the narrative that everything is okay, that Peabody's Australian operations are ring-fenced from the US bankruptcy, nobody seems to have noticed yet that the company at the top of the group's corporate tree is yet to report. Rupert Murdoch is facing yet another push by shareholders to eliminate News Corporation's dual-class share structure after the motion narrowly missed at the company's annual general meeting last year. The New York-based Nathan Cummings Foundation will once again lead a revolt, attempting to create a voting structure that equates to one vote per share, at News Corp's AGM in the second half of 2016. At last year's AGM, News At last year's AGM, News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch faced the largest vote the company has seen in favour of removing the dual-class structure. Credit:Bloomberg The foundation's director of shareholder activities, Laura Campos, told Fairfax Media she had again written to News Corp asking it to address the dual-class structure. News Corp has agreed to a meeting with Ms Campos to talk about her concerns. Ms Campos said the letter from the foundation, which advocates "a socially and economically just society", includes compromises such as sunsetting, or gradually phasing out, the dual-class structure. "There has been a huge amount of tension in the office," says Bickmore, who won the publicly voted award last year. "Waleed and I barely make eye contact. It's been extremely uncomfortable." It's not every year that two hosts from one show find themselves locked in a battle for the Gold Logie. So how are The Project's Waleed Aly and Carrie Bickmore dealing with the situation ahead of Sunday night's gongfest? She is joking, of course. According to Aly: "We've barely discussed it. All the conversation about the Logies has been me asking her about how things run it's pretty mundane and logistical." Waleed Aly on the set of The Project. Credit:Penny Stephens If it's advice about the day itself he's after, Aly is asking the right person. Bickmore was nominated for the Gold Logie, awarded by public vote to the most popular personality on TV, three years on the trot before finally winning in 2015. She used her acceptance speech last year to announce the launch of a campaign to raise funds for research into brain cancer, the disease that claimed the life of her first husband, Greg Lange, in 2010. In the year since, she says, "I have not stopped". Her carriesbeanies4braincancer foundation has raised $458,000, and recently made its first donation, of a quarter of a million dollars, to the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Tony Abbott's divisive former chief of staff has declared her support for Malcolm Turnbull but praised Bill Shorten and questioned government policy on superannuation in her first television interview. Peta Credlin, who worked as Mr Abbott's top adviser in both opposition and government, began an interview on Sky News on Saturday by admitting "I'm out of my comfort zone." Despite working in Parliament House for 16 years it was the first time she had set foot in the media wing known as the Press Gallery. Ms Credlin, widely criticised during her time at the top for being too controlling, was largely unapologetic but said she was not perfect. Sometimes in election campaigns people start to question why politicians spend so much time in NSW. There's an obvious answer to that which is the size of its population. This year the focus will be on NSW like never before. As James Robertson reports, more than half of the Coalition's most vulnerable seats - those with a margin of four per cent or less - are in NSW. Richard Willingham looks at what could happen in Victoria, a state that never really warmed to former prime minister Tony Abbott. Mr Shorten spent the afternoon in Beaconsfield, Tasmania, to mark the 10th anniversary of the mining disaster that thrust him onto the national stage. Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten in Melbourne earlier on Sunday. Credit:Joe Armao He said Labor would deliver "fairness twinned with economic growth", whereas re-electing the Coalition would deliver three more years of dysfunction and dithering. The Opposition Leader said it was "frankly...amazing that in Mr Turnbull's pitch to be re-elected, he did not even mention climate change". "[Mr Turnbull] famously said that he did not want to lead a party that was not interested in climate change. Now he has a brushed climate changed out of his presentation altogether," Mr Shorten said. "Trust Labor to stand up for schools, TAFE, child-care, universities. Trust Labor to protect Medicare and bulk billing. Trust Labor to take real action on climate change." Mr Shorten raised the spectre of the states being able to levy their own income taxes, the Commonwealth withdrawing funding from state schools and a rise in the GST - all ideas floated by the Turnbull government and then abandoned - while hammering home the point that Labor was committed to fairness. "He's going to spend $50 billion of budget money over the next 10 years, Australian taxpayers' money, to give big business a tax break," he said. "We have proposed not spending and handing back money in the form of tax cuts for people on a million dollars a year. We have proposed saving money to the budget bottom line, by reforming negative gearing and capital gains tax laws...Labor has announced a proper path of budget repair that is fair." Meanwhile, the Prime Minister stressed the Coalition's record on border protection, its plan to build 12 new submarines and navy frigates as part of its defence industry investment plan, the importance of science and innovation, and the need to pass laws to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission in his re-election pitch. Almost eight months after replacing Tony Abbott as prime minister, Mr Turnbull asked Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove for a double dissolution poll - the first since 1987 - that will see 150 lower house seats and all 76 Senate seats up for grabs. Mr Turnbull said voters faced a clear choice on July 2. "Do we stay the distance with our national economic plan for jobs and growth? Or do we go back to Labor, which has no plan, only politics? The most recent Fairfax-Ipsos poll, published in April, had the Coalition and Labor running neck and neck at 50-50 in the two-party preferred vote, a result replicated in most other major polls. But the election is seen as the Coalition's to lose as it has a 90 to 55 seat majority in the lower house, while Mr Turnbull still enjoys a commanding lead over Mr Shorten in the two leaders' personal ratings. The much anticipated announcement marks the start of a lengthy 55-day campaign, the second longest in Australian history, and comes just days after Mr Turnbull and Treasurer Scott Morrison handed down their first budget last Tuesday. Tuesday's budget unveiled superannuation changes that hit high income earners, a diverted profits tax that targets multi-national tax avoidance, and company tax cuts that will see the corporate tax rate reduced to 25 per cent by 2026-27. Labor, in turn, placed $71 billion of savings over 10 years at the heart of Mr Shorten's budget reply speech on Thursday night. Mr Turnbull rejected suggestions the government's budget and economic policies were unfair and said they were necessary after being left a "mountain of debt" and structural deficits. In contrast, "every measure we have laid out, every single one, will deliver stronger economic growth and more jobs," he said. Mr Shorten, speaking from Tasmania, said he was the one with the positive plan and that voters would opt for that over "three more years of dysfunction, of dithering and of disappointment". Bill Shorten has a beer with Beaconfield Mine survivors Todd Russell and Brant Webb shortly after launching his election campaign in Tasmania. Credit:Phillip Biggs "I will fight this election on schools and education ... I will fight this election to make Australia a fairer place, where the needs of families, small businesses, the great bulk of Australians, are placed at the top of the priority list," he said. With Mr Shorten gaining ground as his personal standing improves, the do-or-die election will pit the two untried campaigners against each other in a presidential-style war of attrition likely to see strong negative attacks and its share of outright errors. The PM announces his campaign on Sunday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Mr Turnbull flagged more than one debate between himself and Mr Shorten, advising: "We haven't discussed debates but I look forward to having a number of them." In an early sign of what many expect will be a campaign heavy on negativity, Mr Turnbull used his opening press conference to accuse Labor of planning to deliberately damage the economy, declaring "everything Labor is doing is absolutely calculated to stop our economic progress in its tracks". Mr Shorten at the Waterfront Hotel, Beauty Point, Tasmania. Credit:Phillip Biggs "During this election campaign, my opponent, Mr Shorten, will ... continue to make very big promises of higher spending and I ask Australians when they hear these promises from him and from Labor to remember that Labor has no credible or coherent way to pay for them, other than through more debt and higher taxes," he said. "We have an economic plan for growth and jobs ... on the other hand, our opponents are promising to increase income tax, they are opposing a tax cut for Australian businesses." The election is expected to focus heavily on the leaders' personalities, but it will also be a contest between different philosophies, with the government banking on its 10-year $48 billion cuts in business taxes, designed to fire jobs and growth, and Labor opposing that outright emphasising instead heavy government investment in schools and hospitals. The poll showed voters are evenly divided between the Coalition and Labor, with the former ahead by a whisker 51-49 when preference flows are modelled on the 2013 election. However, when the 1410 respondents were asked for their second preference, in the national phone survey conducted from May 5-7, the two sides were locked together at 50-50. That represents a 3.5 per cent swing away from the government and, subject to where the swings occur, could be enough to see a change of government in July. Mr Turnbull remains strongly favoured by voters in the head-to-head contest, leading Bill Shorten as preferred prime minister 51-29. But on the separate index of whether voters approve of the way each of the men are doing their jobs, Mr Turnbull is going backwards against a rising Opposition Leader. Mr Shorten's approval rating has jumped by 5 points since April to be 38 per cent and his disapproval rating has also improved, losing 6 points in that time to be 49 per cent. That gives him a rating that is still in negative territory at minus-11. Mr Turnbull is in a far superior position, with a positive overall rating of plus-8. However, this represents a sharp fall from his stratospheric approval rating of plus-51 shortly after assuming the leadership in October, 2015. His approval rating is down 3 points since April to 48 ad his disapproval has climbed by 2 to be 40 per cent. Australia's federal police would be forbidden from sharing information about drug crimes if it could result in the death penalty under major changes being considered by the Turnbull government. Just after the one-year anniversary of the executions in Indonesia of Australian drug smuggling ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, a parliamentary review led by retiring Liberal MP Philip Ruddock has called for new guidelines to prevent such cases ever occurring again. Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed in 2015. Credit:Anta Kesuma The bipartisan report recommends the Australian Federal Police obtain guarantees that prosecutors in partner countries will not seek to apply the death penalty in drug cases before sharing information. In situations where such guarantees cannot be obtained, the AFP should withhold the information. A woman is in critical condition in hospital after being hit by another car the driver of which was allegedly fleeing police in Wattle Grove on Saturday night. Police were pursuing a Mitsubishi that failed to stop for them about 10.50pm, State Control Centre Sergeant Stephen Dixon said, when the Magna hit another car at the intersection of Tonkin Hwy and Hale Road. The 31-year-old woman driving the other car suffered serious injuries and remains in Royal Perth Hospital. The 39-year-old man driving the Magna fled the scene but officers apprehended him nearby. The syndicate board said it wants to give members of parliament a chance to help resolve the crisis Egypt's Journalists Syndicate decided Saturday to postpone for a week a general assembly meeting planned for Tuesday to discuss possible strike action if their demands are not met. Last Wednesday, a general assembly meeting of more than 2000 journalists protested against security forces storming the syndicate. In a statement on Saturday night, the press syndicate said they made the decision in response to a suggestion by a number of parliament members in order to allow an opportunity for all parties and mediators, whether inside or outside parliament, to make an effort to resolve the crisis." The statement highlighted that the press syndicate respects all state apparatuses, stressing its respect for Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi. "Journalists will never be above the law. Our cause since the beginning of the crisis has been to defend the rule of the law and reject the violation of the dignity of journalists," the statement read. The parliament will discuss the standoff during Sunday's plenary session. Two of the syndicates top demands are the dismissal of the interior minister and the release of all jailed journalists in freedom of expression cases. Meanwhile, the press syndicate said in the statement clarification of its position was necessary. Press Syndicate statement The statement by the syndicate explained in eleven points their cause and the decisions the union has been taking to resolve the present crisis. 1. Since the beginning of the crisis, the objections of the journalists have been against those who raided their syndicate and insulted them, not against any of the state apparatuses. 2. The syndicate, which witnessed and supported the January 25 and June 30 revolutions, will never allow any party to make use of the present crisis for political purposes. 3. Our cause is professional; we abide by the law, which prohibits the inspection of the union without the presence of both a representative of the general prosecution and the syndicate chairman. This is a legal procedure that does not differ from other laws stipulating restrictions on inspections of houses of judges, prosecutors and other members of the judiciary. 4. [Problems similar to the current situation] have occurred throughout history of the press syndicate which dates back 75 years; however, the police have never stormed the union headquarters. Past incidents have always resolved themselves according to rule of law. 5. The two journalists arrived on 30 April at the headquarters of the syndicate- as soon as they knew that were homes were raided- in a prelude to surrendering themselves to police. As soon as the syndicate chairman was informed the incident, he contacted the lawyers of the two journalists, the syndicate's lawyer, as well as the authorities [to determine proper legal steps required to mediate a solution to the situation]. 6. Authorities insisted on surrounding the syndicate and making use of thugs who verbally and physically assaulted journalists attempting to access the headquarters. 7. [The storming of the syndicate] violated the dignity of the syndicate and the journalists it represents unlike any other event during the past 75 years [of the syndicate's existence]. 8. Rather than acknowledging mistakes [made during the raid], the syndicate was surprised by a systematic campaign against journalists aimed at demonizing them and their profession. 9. The syndicate has never opposed any mediation or legal procedures to the current crisis in order to preserve the dignity of the journalistic profession and those working in the field. 10. Our pride in our cause, and our insistence on the necessity of [holding those who violated the law], accountable is for the benefit of all Egyptian citizens. 11. We stress that we are all fighting together against terrorism; [during this fight we must] maintain freedoms, [as well as maintaining] the interior ministry's commitment to abide by the law in all its actions towards the people -- especially since our union is not the first body to complain about the mistakes committed by some members of the police that tarnish the image of the force as a whole. Search Keywords: Short link: by Adrian Gibson THERE is a culture of criminality that is alive and well and pervasive in The Bahamas. It transcends the fabric of our nation. Given that adherence to the law is only a reasonable option when people believe that they would likely be caught and if such people believe that they will be caught adherence to the law is relative. Such a mindset goes to the root of why two police officers were this week fired and convicted of stealing cheap phones; it speaks to how certain corrupt customs officers can turn a blind eye and collect tips which result in millions of dollars of leakage and lost revenue annually. Rather than being honest, many persons charged with protecting our interests - whether in law enforcement, politics or otherwise - abuse us, they take and do all that they can get away with. There is no accountability. On Monday, ex-Constables Ricardo Bain, 44, and Herman Pinder, 31, appeared before Magistrate Andrew Forbes to face stealing and receiving charges stemming from a break-in at the Bahamas Telecommunications Companys JFK location in the RND West Plaza. Their court appearance came within hours of their dismissal from the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF). Bain and Pinder served 26 and seven years respectively on the force. I know the owners of that franchise store; they are my good friends. I could hear the pain in their voices as they told me what happened and we discussed the incident on Friday, Saturday and Sunday past. I cannot imagine calling upon the police for assistance only to have them further rob me. If my friends did not have hidden cameras installed on their premises, this matter may have not ended as it did. And what was this for? So that they could stuff their bosoms with three Samsung J1A cell phones worth $435! What does this mean for the police and the reputation of the police? Have such incidents happened before? I have recently found myself on the opposite end of overreaching and ruthless conduct by the police. The details of that will emerge in the coming days and weeks. But I am now ever more vigilant and can more readily empathise with those persons who speak about excessive behaviour by some police officers, about this false notion on the part of certain rogue officers that they are above the law and can do whatever they want. I often wonder if officers are ever taught the Constitution in the police college. Perhaps then, they would understand the fundamental rights enshrined within it and guaranteed to all Bahamians. A part of the problem with the police is that there are many officers who are simply there to have a job and a pay cheque; many of them no longer love policing or see it as a career. There are many officers who see their ability to don taxpayers uniforms and carry guns as a licence to mistreat, disrespect and exploit the public. No police officer is above the law. I have a lot of friends and family members who are police officers. Up to 50 per cent of my closest friends are current or former officers. I once considered becoming a policeman after being asked to join the force by then commissioner Paul Farquharson (he also spoke at our high school graduation in Long Island in 2001, where I was valedictorian). So, the police are truly my friends. There are many decent, considerate, reasonable officers who truly aspire to detect, protect and serve. These officers are passionate about their chosen career. Many policemen and women are upstanding Bahamians who love their countrymen, their country and strive to abide within the realm of the law. And then there are those who are corrupt gangsters in uniforms. Criminality amongst the ranks of the RBPF is becoming blatant, so much so that it is persistently infringing upon the Constitutional rights of Bahamians. How many police officers have been fired over the last year? How many recruits have been booted out of the police college? Over time, the RBPF has been accused of near systemic patterns of police brutality, verbal abuse and outright misconduct, clearly in violation of citizens rights. I experienced this first hand and so I know that it is true. One can only assume that such incidents are occurring due to the shoddy vetting procedures when recruiting officers, and the hiring of immature, undisciplined officers (some of whom are uneducated thugs). Our society has been inundated with allegations of police brutality where certain officers are accused of having cultivated an air of terror and having displayed vile, sadistic behaviour that has laid bare the flaws in police recruitment and training as well as revealed a lack of professionalism. That being said, there are still some who are sincere, hardworking officers whose professionalism is second to none. A few years ago, 25-year-old Jamie Smith and 21-year-old Aaron Rolle died while in police custody. According to the autopsy reports, Smith died from asphyxiation and Rolle from blunt force trauma. I am no defender of the criminal element in fact, I believe that if one does the crime, he should do the time and/or get his just desserts but injustice and a lack of accountability is unacceptable. In August 2007, three cases heard in the Supreme Court - two murders and an armed robbery - were tossed out after judges instructed jurors not to return guilty verdicts because it was determined that the confession statements of the accused were obtained unlawfully and under duress. The beating of Desmond Key by police led to him falling into a coma and ultimately dying. The killing of Andros native Kenneth Russell (in September 2007) by a policeman raised many questions about the polices use of force and so on. In 2009, the suspicious death of 15-year-old Michael Knowles, who was found dead in a cell hanging from a cord while in police custody, caused much political and social hoopla. According to the police, Knowles committed suicide and was being held under suspicion of housebreaking and stealing. Englerston MP Glenys Hanna Martin nobly attempted to accelerate the investigative process into the death of the teenager, particularly as the case had engendered much public outcry. In her zeal to shine light on the issue, Mrs Hanna Martin - whose inner-city constituency was next door to that of the deceased teen (then St Cecilia) - did not comply with a directive of the Speaker and as a result was named and suspended for two sittings. In fact, the issue continues to be suspect. I met Knowles distraught mother, who at that time told me that she only wants justice and was seeking scientific confirmation of the reason/s for her sons demise and an inquest into her sons death. Internationally, there have been several highly publicised incidents of police cruelty. In the 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement was plagued by incidents of police brutality, where campaigners were bludgeoned with nightsticks and blackjacks, attacked by police dogs, washed down and pummelled by high powered water hoses, and falsely arrested and racially profiled. However, press exposure of these incidents did lead to public outcry and to more sympathisers joining the cause. The 1977 death of South African freedom fighter Steve Biko is largely believed to have been caused by the hands of police officers, particularly since Mr Biko played a role in numerous anti-apartheid demonstrations. Within the last 15 years, the brutal beating of Rodney King (1991) by four white Los Angeles police officers sparked public unrest. When the four officers that were caught on tape were charged and acquitted, the 1992 Los Angeles riots erupted, particularly since many blacks felt that justice had not been served and that they were being disenfranchised. Eventually, Mr King accepted a $3.8m settlement from the city, and the officers were charged in federal court for violation of civil rights (only two were convicted). Some Bahamian police officers have gained a reputation for bludgeoning citizens and using excessive force, carrying out false arrests, psychological intimidation and expletive-filled verbal assaults. The lawlessness in local law enforcement is further underscored by accounts of the intensive, cruel interrogation tactics allegedly used to obtain involuntary confessions and that disregard the concept of due process. I have been told of incidents at the Central Detective Units (CDU) headquarters, where brutal acts were carried out; for example, the alleged use of tasers and other forms of electric shocks such as connecting one end of a vehicle jumper cables to a charged battery and affixing the other end to a subjects genitals/testicles; placing and tightening plastic bags (bags that fishermen use for fish) over the heads of handcuffed suspects; tying an anchor rope around a suspects neck whilst the bag is over their heads and, when the suspect passes out, an oxygen tank is supposedly on standby to revive a suspect; wrapping a cutlass/machete in a sack to prevent external marks/cuts and hitting persons on their shoulder blades and feet; purportedly using a vice grip or pliers to squeeze a mans testicles; allegations of water boarding; supposedly hitting women on their breasts; battering persons with phonebooks or their fists/feet and allegedly placing guns to the forehead or a revolver in the mouths of subjects and playing Russian Roulette, etc. I was informed by these officers that certain interrogators would ask a person in custody a question, then suddenly get up - whilst that person is tied down - and kick them in the chest if they do not accept the answer proffered. I was told by these officers that many of the alleged beatings in police custody purportedly happen in the briefing room at CDU or in the room that houses the homicide squad. Instances of police misconduct contradict the concept of due process, where a person is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law, not through the use of blackjacks and extreme force. It is because of cases of brutality and shoddy police work that some evidence is disregarded and some persons, who may well be guilty, are set free. The Attorney Generals office has had numerous cases rejected (after no case to answer submissions or weak evidence at a Preliminary Inquiry) due to false confessions obtained by police coercion or beating and also because of the destruction, contamination and fabrication of evidence in their haste to close a case. Frankly, the callous, extra judicial killing of defenceless suspects and innocent people and the allegations of the inhumane conditions in blood-stained, urine-scented police holding cells should be of grave concern to the Ministry of National Security and the Bahamas as a whole. In the Bahamas, it appears that from the moment certain young (and old) officers don the uniform they adopt an authoritative, confrontational attitude, riding roughshod as if they are the lone authority over society. But I do not only blame the young officers as there are some unfit, more seasoned officers who are negatively influencing green, impressionable entrants and inculcating this aura that police officers are above the law. An independent commission or civilian review board must be established to investigate the police and restore public confidence, particularly since I believe that internal commissions lack accountability and it is nearly impossible for the police to adequately police themselves. In the wake of the suspicious deaths, the government should hastily enforce the aspect of the Police Act that calls for a board of civilians - appointed by the Governor General and hopefully bipartisan - to oversee all investigations into complaints against police officers. Furthermore, community activists should adopt the approach of the North America-based Copwatch groups that, according to the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, observe and document police activity while looking for signs of police misconduct and/or police brutality. Establishing an independent commission and a branch of Copwatch locally would ensure that protection of persons against search and seizures that are not judicially authorised or supported by probable cause or a substantiated suspicion of criminal activity, protect against arbitrary detainment and protect an individuals legal rights. The Ministry of National Security and the private sector should collaborate in the purchase and installation of CCTV, not just to deter criminals but also to provide visual evidence to confirm or contradict police and other reports, and mount video cameras in police cars. That said, the police must not be handicapped and should be able to employ force when appropriate. Locally is there a force continuum in place to set the levels of appropriate force in response to someones behaviour? In cases of alleged police brutality, investigators must account for the wall of silence that has pervaded police culture, particularly the failure of an officer to report another police officers misconduct in an attempt to honour the officers unwritten code of silence. In such cases, those officers must be made aware of their liabilities and the Complaints and Corruption Unit ought to confront those officers who are a part of that criminal subculture without leniency. Any mafia-type code of silence to subvert justice is unacceptable and can only affirm the impression of certain officers as being no more than gangsters in uniform, with a licence to carry a firearm and patrol their old turfs with impunity. The Complaints and Corruption Unit is not independent. The public must rise up and demand action to ensure transparency and prevent the immediate entombment of the most recent purported police brutality cases among the growing backlog of coroners cases. Are there any closed circuit television recordings within the various police stations that could provide footage of those who entered and exited the holding area where the most recent suspects were situated? If the CDU is capable of recording both interviews on video/audio, why is it that all interviews arent mandated to be recorded? Is the units failure to record all interviews a wretched excuse to continue with an archaic interrogative format that often result in suspects alleging police abuse? Why are suspects being arrested and not afforded the opportunity to contact a lawyer before being interrogated? What about due process? While I support a no-tolerance approach to enforcing the law, there are numerous people, particularly young men or the underprivileged, that can attest to an air of fright and mistreatment they feel when dealing with local cops. Certain groups of rogue, local officers seem intent on demonstrating their power, conducting themselves like rude, uncouth brutes and often being unpleasant and unsociable, all in their quest for subjugation and control. The polices job is to protect and serve, and any hooligan-in-uniform found doing otherwise should be fired and/or jailed. In June 2013, then Acting Coroner Jeanine Weech-Gomez called for cameras to be installed at every police station at the entrance to the cell block area and all interviews with suspects to be recorded in an effort to ensure officers follow proper procedures and prevent police brutality. She also recommended that the surveillance and control of these cameras and recordings be monitored by a separate department at Police Headquarters, or elsewhere, and that police officers receive training in the proper restraining of suspects at least every two to three years. Her recommendations to the Attorney Generals Office followed a coroners jury verdict of unlawful killing in the custody death of Aaron Rolle. In May 2013, a jury of four women and one man found that force police officers used against Rolle while in custody was unjustifiable. Rolle, 20, died at the Southern Police Station, hours after he was taken into custody for questioning in connection with an armed robbery and escape. It was previously report that the Ministry of Legal Affairs was moving to make videotaping of police interviews mandatory in a bid to end brutality claims. Another proactive measure purportedly in that never-ending pipeline was the introduction of notarised witness statements purportedly by Justices of the Peace who would visit the stations. Alas, nothing has happened. Why are police cars not equipped with dashboard cameras? This does not only protect the average Bahamian from harassment, cruelty and unlawful behaviour but could also protect police officers. Why is it not mandatory that police officers must now be equipped with body cameras? Lets modernise the police force. Lets foster accountability. I can guarantee that the rogue elements will think twice if they know that they are constantly being watched and recorded. Indeed, there are many in the police force who should attend BahamaHost classes, which would offer a great deal relative to their interaction with people, service and so on. Police training must be extended by six months. The current examinations given to police officers must be discarded and re-written. We dont want illiterate officers policing our society. And we certainly dont want belligerent and/or drunken fools joining the police force all because their MP or a government minister or well-connected church pastor wrote a letter on their behalf. We must dispel this notion, among many less affluent Bahamians, that justice is an aspect of society that is only afforded to the wealthy or the politically connected. The issuance of a use of force continuum is said to keep the polices use of force in check by setting the levels of force that appropriately corresponds to a suspects behaviour. This is an element of policing that must be explored by the force and the government. Is there one in place? The robbery of my friends store - the second of the night - by the two convicted police officers brings home the severity and the truth of the problem we are facing in the Bahamas. It is so complex and so intertwined with education, decision-making morals and socialisation. This speaks to the amount of work that our society requires as we are socially in a nose dive. We can do it - starting with accountability, demonstrating fairness and the just application of the law to all. _________________________________________________________ First published in the The Tribune under the byline, Young Man's View, here View Adrian Gibson's archive here ____________________________________________________ The views expressed are those of the author, and not necessarily those of WeblogBahamas.com (which has no corporate view) or its Authors. French Parliamentary Affairs Minister Marie Le Guen expressed also his wish to strengthen bilateral relations with Egypts parliament Egypts Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry discussed on Saturday in Cairo a number of regional issues and bilateral relations with the French Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Jean Marie Le Guen. Shoukry said that he talked with Le Guen about the latest developments in Libya and Syria while presenting Egypts vision of a political solution in both countries, a statement from the foreign ministry read. The ministry added that Shoukry expressed his gratitude to the French official for recent deals and cooperation between the two countries, which included joint military training, as well as expected French sale of a military satellite to Cairo. Le Guen also expressed his wish to strengthen Frances bilateral relations with the Egyptian parliament. Cairo and Paris have enjoyed close ties since current President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi was elected in 2014. During the past two years, Egypt and France have signed several arms deal. Search Keywords: Short link: Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required. Your Full Name: (optional) Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required. Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 07, 2016 | MORTON'S GAP, KY By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 07, 2016 | 09:28 PM | MORTON'S GAP, KY Kentucky State Police are investigating a shooting Saturday evening in the median of I-69. Troopers from Post 2 were called about 5:30 pm to the median near the 110 mile marker in Hopkins County. Their investigation at the scene determined that 38-year-old Robert Wilke of Henderson was repossessing a 2006 Chrysler van from property on Russ Hill Road in Nortonville, and the owner of the van, 49-year-old Tony Strunk of Nortonville came after him in an SUV with his 24-year-old son, Marcus. Police say the SUV intentionally side-swiped the van while driving on I-69, and both vehicles ended up in the median. Tony and Marcus Strunk reportedly got out of the SUV, and as they approached the van, Wilke got out of the van with a gun. During the altercation that followed, Wilke reportedly shot Tony Strunk in the abdomen. He was flown to Vanderbilt Medical Center for treatment by PHI Air Medical. The investigation is ongoing by State Police, who were helped at the scene by the Hopkins County Sheriff's Department. One arrested, two to the hospital after hit-and-run crash on I-24 in Christian County The restructuring of the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO), stationed in Sinai since the 1980s within the framework of the security annex of the Camp David Accords, cannot be viewed in isolation from major changes in the Middle East and the overall restructuring of the US presence in the region. It should also be seen in the context of the transfer of Egyptian sovereignty over Tiran and Sanafir islands to Saudi Arabia, which makes Riyadh responsible for Egypts obligations in the relevant portions of the security annex of the Camp David Accords. The US war on terror is another major factor: restructuring the MFO could allow additional tasks to be added to the forces traditional role which might then be charged to the US governments budget for counterterrorism in Middle East. For the past decade there have been calls in Washington to review the MFO. Towards the end of Donald Rumsfelds tenure as defence secretary (2001-2006) it was suggested that the force be redeployed as part of the US military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. Under later defence secretaries the huge cost of maintaining the MFO in Sinai has been questioned. The threat that terrorism in Sinai now poses to the safety and security of the MFO personnel has added fuel to the restructuring argument. The force has already been the target of two terrorist attacks: one at the MFO base in Al-Gora, the second targeting an MFO convoy. Sinai Province, the Islamic State (IS) affiliate, claimed responsibility for both attacks. Two years ago Washington attempted to reduce the size of the MFO. The US contributes 700 troops, around half the force. In a meeting at the MFOs headquarters in Rome in 2014, Washington proposed a 20 per cent reduction in the force. Egypt and Israel both rejected the proposal, arguing that it would undermine the ability of the force to perform the tasks stipulated in the security annex of the 1979 peace agreement and harm the MFOs role as a strategic guarantor for the provisions of the agreement. More recently, the US administration has promoted a restructuring process that takes into account developments in the environment where the MFO works. The proposals have been couched not in terms of withdrawal but as a strengthening of the presence and capacity of the force through the provision of modern equipment and machinery. Washingtons strategic view of the MFO has undoubtedly been influenced by the recent transfer of sovereignty of the two islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia, which effectively makes Riyadh a party to the Camp David security annex. Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon released a press statement following the announcement of the Egyptian-Saudi deal saying that Israel had received official documentation that Saudi Arabia would continue to allow Israelis freedom of passage in the area. The Camp David security annex will now be opened to amendments to incorporate the transfer of sovereignty, something that US strategists see as bolstering Israeli security since for the first time a Gulf country will be included as a party to an agreement with Israel. In arguing for a reduced MFO, Washington asserted that after 35 years the Egyptian-Israeli peace agreement is stable enough to dispense with the services of a Sinai peacekeeping force, especially now that Egypt and Israel have developed channels for bilateral security cooperation and joint understandings related to the battle against terrorism. In this context the nature of the equipment being proposed to bolster the MFOs performance becomes significant. Modern surveillance cameras, advanced artillery and drones all suggest that the MFO is being prepared to perform tasks beyond the Camp David framework. Washingtons strategy, it would appear, is to strike a balance between maintaining the role of US troops within the framework of the MFO and the restructuring of the US military presence in the region as a whole. Washington has long believed that it needs an intelligence base in the region. In the early days of President Hosni Mubaraks rule the US sought permission to set up a base on the Red Sea, near Ras Banas. The request, made not long after the Camp David Accords were signed, prompted a heated controversy. Rumours swirled of a secret agreement between Cairo and Washington to rent out the area to the US. Field Marshal Abdel-Halim Abu Ghazala denied the reports. Speaking to Al-Ahram on 20 March 1981, he stated categorically that there were no US military bases on Egyptian territory and that the only facilities Cairo had offered Washington were for US rapid intervention forces, to be deployed to come to the assistance of an Arab state should such assistance be requested. In 2010, Mubarak restated Abu Ghazalas contention that there were no foreign bases on Egyptian land. In 2011, when the Supreme Council for the Armed Forces (SCAF) took control of the country, the Ras Banas military airport was redesignated as civilian. The proposed restructuring of the MFO is now raising many concerns. Foremost among them is that the function of the force will change from observation to tasks related to serving US interests in the region. With avenues closed to a permanent US base and given the strategic trend towards expanding intelligence activities, such worries are not unwarranted. Could the use of state-of-the-art photographic equipment in North Sinai, naval movements in the Red Sea and pilotless aircraft missions signal the possibility of an offensive intervention beyond the scope of a conventional peacekeeping/observer force? In other words, is Washington seeking to assign special operations to its troops in the MFO, to be decided by the US Central Command stationed in the UAE? The information available gives rise to other questions. Will the costs be borne by the US budget for fighting terrorism in the Middle East? In considering this question it is useful to bear in mind that the US is in the process of overhauling its military commitments to Egypt under the Camp David Accords. Egypt and Israel are coordinating sufficiently closely for Egyptian troops operating in Area C not to be a source of tension between them. But this does not negate the role of the MFO as a strategic guarantor of Camp David. And the US would be circumventing its obligations if it uses its MFO troops to perform other functions. If there is a change in the US position towards Camp David based on the belief that the agreement is now solid, it is also true that unprecedented developments have occurred in Washingtons relations with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel, its traditional Middle Eastern allies. There has been a growing rapprochement between Tel Aviv and Riyadh. The two capitals have now reached a vital understanding, centred on the 1979 Camp David agreement which, after three and a half decades, is becoming the basis of regional security arrangements that are being brokered without US sponsorship. What we are seeing is a new turning point in Middle East affairs. *This article was first published in Al-Ahram Weekly Search Keywords: Short link: Wexford family to discuss Lamh sign language on Late Late Show It would mean so much to Lori May to have other children communicate with her The head of Egypt's Journalists Syndicate Yehia Qallash said on Sunday that the syndicate would be ready to hold an urgent general assembly to withdraw confidence from the board if it meets "the legal form." Qallash responded to demands made by dozens of journalists who attended a meeting called for by Al-Ahram daily's editor-in-chief Mohamed Abdel-Hady. The meeting aimed at addressing the ongoing conflict between the syndicate and interior ministry following the arrest of journalists Amr Badr and Mahmoud El-Sakka from inside the syndicate headquarters on 1 May. The move was described last week by Qallash and many other journalists as an "unprecedented assault." Journalists at the meeting criticised the syndicate's demand that the presidency issue an apology for the storming of the syndicate headquarters by police to arrest the two journalists. The syndicate also called for the sacking of the interior minister and that news outlets defy a gag order issued by the prosecutor-general on the arrest of Badr and El-Sakka, who face charges of publishing false news, inciting the public and plotting to overthrow the regime. "I will not comment on [Sundays meeting] or what took place there," Qallash said. "We will not fight, these are colleagues who have the right to gather and release statements about whatever they want. We are a syndicate of opinion and we will not limit anyone." On Sunday, a movement started by a number of journalists titled 'Correcting the Path' called for an urgent general assembly during the meeting, which was attended by several high-profile journalists including Ahmed Moussa and Khaled Salah as well as five members of the syndicate board. 'Correcting the Path' distributed a statement at the meeting detailing its position. "In light of continuing deception of public opinion and the journalism community in the latest crisis, where the syndicate board led journalists to a direct clash with all state institutions, the Correcting the Path front calls on Egyptian journalists to support it in its demand to call for an emergency general assembly to withdraw confidence from the board and hold new elections for all the board's seats." In statements to Ahram Arabic news website, syndicate board member and Correcting the Path supporter Hatem Zakaria stated that he and four other board members were considering resignation over the syndicates handling of the dispute with the interior ministry. "I am totally against how the Journalists Syndicate was hijacked by a group of people acting against the interests of the syndicate and the profession," Zakaria said. However, syndicate board member Karam Mahmoud told Ahram Arabic news website that the Correcting the Path meeting complicated the original crisis resulting from the storming of the Journalists Syndicate by police. "Nevertheless, if we get any official requests from [Correcting the Path], we as a board will discuss it and make a decision in accordance with the syndicate's law," he said. Search Keywords: Short link: A mission compromised of 50 members is currently visiting Cairo for a week Head of the French Institute of Higher National Defence Studies (IHEDN) Bernard de Courreges D'ustou said on Sunday that he expects more military joint training exercises to take place between Egypt and France. The mission, compromised of 50 members from the Paris-based IHEDN, arrived for a one-week visit to Cairo aimed at studying the situation in Egypt as part of strategic studies being conducted on countries including Egypt, head of the national activities department at the institutions Bruno Sarrade told Ahram Online. The 50 members, accompanied by the French Ambassador to Cairo Andre Parant, gave a press conference while they visited the Al-Ahram Building, home of Egypts largest news organisation. During the press conference, D'ustou said that during the past two years Egypt has been buying technologically-advanced warships which necessitate intense and frequent joint training and maneuvers. Egypt previously purchased 24 Rafale fighter jets, a FREMM frigate, and two Mistral amphibious assault ships from France. The jet deal alone amounted to 5.2 billion Euros. Meanwhile, the French Ambassador to Cairo noted that France is currently ranked as the number one foreign investor in Egypt. According to Sarrade, one third of members of the mission are compromised of military personnel, while the two-thirds are entrepreneurs, officials from ministries and some other officials. The mission is expected to meet with Egyptian officials starting Sunday, and is later scheduled to travel to Alexandria to visit the maritime military forces. While touring the Al-Ahram Building, the mission heard from Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies expert Hassan Abu Taleb, as well as from a political science expert and the editor of Le Monde Diplomatique Arabic. Search Keywords: Short link: Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 08/05/2016 (2360 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. wfpvideo:115085299:wfpvideo EDMONTON Wildfires that levelled neighbourhoods in Fort McMurray slowed their rampage through tinder dry forest in northern Alberta on Sunday, allowing firefighters in the oilpatch city to focus on hotspots as plans were made for Premier Rachel Notley to survey the damage first-hand. Notley said the fight against the fire has stabilized to the point where she can visit and begin the next phase of the governments operation to determine what must be done to eventually allow people to return to the city. Speaking at a media briefing, Notley had to pause to compose herself when she spoke about Mothers Day and two evacuees who were killed in a traffic accident last week. A helicopter drops water on a wildfire 16 kilometres south of Fort McMurray, Alta. on Highway 63, Sunday, May 8, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward Our hearts go out to their families. This is Mothers Day. I am hoping, in all of this crisis, to spend a few minutes today with my own children, Notley said, pausing as her voice cracked. That not all of us can do that is definitely an awful tragedy. So today, Mothers Day, all of us in Alberta are thinking of you who have suffered these loses. Emily Ryan, 15, and her stepmothers nephew, Aaron Hodgson, died in the accident a day after the fire drove 80,000 people from the city. Notley was scheduled to visit Fort McMurray on Monday. The premier warned residents to brace themselves for the images they will see, reminding them that counselling services are available. There will be some dramatic images coming from media over the next couple of days, she said. Chad Morrison with Alberta Wildfire said firefighters have held the line against the fire better than they expected in Fort McMurray. The weather was also changing and below seasonal temperatures will help firefighters who have been battling the blaze since May 1, he said. The wildfire did not grow to the size that was expected on Saturday, Morrison said. It covered an area of about 1,600 square kilometres on Sunday and was 30 to 40 kilometres from the Saskatchewan-Alberta boundary. For the first time since the evacuation began, Morrison expressed a note of optimism in the battle. For us, this is great firefighting weather. We can really get in there and really get a handle on this fire and really get a death grip on it, he said. For the wildfire stuff, out in the forested area, thats going to take us a long time to clean up. But I feel very buoyed and happy that we are making great progress, especially in the community. Mothers Day didnt go unmarked at an event for evacuees in Lac la Biche, about three hours south of Fort McMurray. Volunteers organized a Mothers Day Tea complete with cupcakes, pastries and fruit, along with arts and craft supplies for kids. Girls belonging to a local dance troupe provided the entertainment and handed out fresh roses to all the women in the room. Wanda Banfield said camping in Wandering River wasnt how she pictured her Mothers Day. She, her husband and three children aged 9, 12 and 14 stopped by the Bold Centre to pick up supplies. As long as Ive got my husband and three kids, thats all that matters, she said. Lisa Applegarth fled the community of Janvier with her partner, nine children and twin, 17-day-old grandchildren. Mothers Day has been tough, said Applegarth, who sat outside the centre with a new, donated double-stroller for the twins. My kids were sad because they dont have the things that they made for me and I was kind of like, Well, its OK. All mommy needs is your love. Notley was also scheduled to meet leaders from the provinces oil industry on Tuesday to discuss the state of their operations and a timeline for restarting them. Syncrude and Suncor facilities north of Fort McMurray were evacuated but Morrison said the fire did not reach them. Notley also thanked Canadian National for reacting quickly to get potentially hazardous and flammable rail cars removed from the area. That was quick and critical work that save us from any repetition of the tragedy at Lac-Megantic, she said. Federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale visited an evacuation centre on Sunday in Edmonton. He told reporters that the dry conditions stretching from Quebec to British Columbia have already led to a number of wildfires early in the season. This is potentially a very long and difficult problem, not just for Albertans but for all Canadians this summer, he said. And while the situation in Fort McMurray improved Sunday, Goodale cautioned that it still has a tough road ahead. Because of the weather in the last few hours and the weather forecast going forward, it would appear that the situation is moderating, perhaps a bit, he said. We may be turning a corner but, quite frankly, its too early to celebrate. Theres still a tremendous amount that needs to be done. With files from Lauren Krugel in Lac la Biche, Alta. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 08/05/2016 (2360 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A small but dedicated group of animal lovers is determined to continue rescuing pets from a potential mass grave in the abandoned homes of Fort McMurray, Alta., despite having been kicked out last week. Members of the group said that by Sunday afternoon, theyd received thousands of emails from evacuees of the northern Alberta wildfire whose pets were left behind. Sam Sansalone, whos based out of southern Alberta and is a member of the Facebook group Fort Mac Fire Pet Rescue, where many of the efforts are being co-ordinated, said group members rescued about 230 pets on Wednesday and Thursday. But on Thursday, and again on Friday, police kicked them out, he said. He said authorities told them that the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo was taking over pet rescue duties, and there was a risk that people working independently might loot houses under the guise of attempting to rescue pets. Sansalone said he understands that concern, but that official resources are spread too thin, and civilians should be allowed to help. Plus, Wood Buffalos rescue effort didnt start until Saturday. Sansalone said he was worried about the possibility that would be too late for many of the pets. This is a mass grave, in basements, in crates, he said. He said that now, his group will try to work with local authorities. He said theyre hoping to speak with RCMP at the scene and get approval to join the official rescue efforts. Tim McHaffie arrived at a road block outside of Fort McMurray after a two-hour drive Sunday. He was with a group of about 15 other prospective pet rescuers that came from the Facebook group. McHaffie said there were still a few barriers to getting into the town, and into peoples houses, but he was hopeful that officials would eventually let them through. Alberta premier Rachel Notley told a news conference that it was unsafe for people other than first responders to enter Fort McMurray, but emergency personnel were already helping rescue animals. She said first responders were giving food and water to the pets left behind by evacuees, and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was attempting to rescue what pets they could. She said the SPCA was asking pet owners to register their pets online, to give permission for the official rescue team to enter their homes. McHaffie said that if his group does get through, he said it was important that everyone understand what they might find. Its been days now. How long have these animals been there without food and water? Theres a good chunk of them thats probably not going to be living. Once this is done, people are going to sit down and theyre going to have a big cry, he added. But the jobs the job. Youve got to get it done. Follow @ColeyT on Twitter. Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version stated Sam Sansalone had taken on a leadership role in the Facebook group Fort Mac Fire Pet Rescue. In fact, Sansalone did not say he had taken on a leadership role. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 07/05/2016 (2361 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Two Brandon firefighters will be among the emergency responders heading to Fort McMurray this weekend to help out with wildfire fighting efforts. In response to a request for assistance from the Alberta government, the province announced Saturday that 20 members of Manitobas Urban Search and Rescue team, Canada Task Force 4 (CAN TF-4) will arrive in Fort McMurray on Monday. "Were sending 100 plus members to help out, 20 members being deployed this weekend," justice minister Heather Stefanson said during a stop in the city on Saturday. "Some of those members are from here in Brandon as well, which I think is a tribute to Brandon and how people within this community care about our neighbours." Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press via AP Wild fires burn south of Fort McMurray, Alberta, seen from highway 63 Friday, May 6, 2016. Displaced residents at oil field camps north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, got a sobering drive-by view of their burned out city Friday in a convoy that moved evacuees south amid a massive wildfire that officials fear could double in size by the end of Saturday. As police and military oversaw the procession of hundreds of vehicles, a mass airlift of evacuees also resumed. The emergency response team is co-ordinated via the Office of the Fire Commissioner and made up of specially trained emergency response professionals from volunteer, municipal, provincial and federal services. Other Brandonites will be arriving with the crew in Alberta on Monday, including corrections officers and representatives from the OFC. The team of 20 will be stationed in a school in Fort McMurray for one week before the wildfire situation is reassessed and replacement crews are sent in. The primary focus of the team has been urban search and rescue but CAN TF-4 is able to respond to a variety of emergencies and provide incident management support on behalf of the province. This is the first time CAN TF-4 has responded to an emergency outside of the province. Over the weekend eight members of CAN TF-4 were also deployed to the eastern side of the province to help with fight the wildfire situation along the Manitoba-Ontario border. The Alberta Emergency Management Agency requested that Manitoba assist with the Albert Disaster Response Team, which has already been deployed. The Manitoba team will assist with co-ordinating the multi-agency response and offer relief to other responders. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 07/05/2016 (2361 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Manitoba Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari announced suddenly Saturday night she will not lead the Liberals into the next election. Bokhari had defiantly declared after the Liberals won three seats in the April 19 provincial election she wasnt going anywhere, nor had she been asked to step down. The Liberals tripled their total from the 2011 election and almost doubling their popular vote. DAVID LIPNOWSKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Rana Bokhari announced Saturday that she will be stepping down as leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party. But she ran a distant third in the Fort Rouge riding she chose to contest, and the Grits had started the campaign solidly on par with the NDP in the polls. Those numbers slipped away through a campaign rife with blunders and an apparent lack of preparedness. The Liberals lost five candidates three because of poor paperwork, one who missed the filing deadline, and another was disqualified for having worked as an enumerator before seeking nomination. Bokhari fired a sixth when details of domestic assault surfaced, and a seventh candidate, who filed at the last minute, embarrassed the party by proposing hospitals be closed. Last week, Bokhari told the Free Press she intended to run if an opening came up in a byelection. On Saturday evening, she issued a release announcing her decision to step down. Three years ago, I was elected leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party, she said. I became leader in the shadow of the partys worst election result in a generation and in the midst of challenging internal conflict. At the time, I told Manitoba Liberals that with patience, commitment and dedication, it would be growing season for our party. Bokhari credited her teams run in the recent election, boasting it was the best result in over 20 years, both in terms of seat count and popular vote. It is on that positive note that I have informed the Manitoba Liberal Party executive that I will not be leading the MLP into the next election, she said. I believe that the time is right to transition the party to a new leader who will be able to most benefit from a strong, united party and three fantastic MLAs. Bokhari will remain on as interim leader until a new leader is chosen, she said. The transition to a new leadership could take up to a few months. Once the new leader is in place, I will return to practising law and pursue other endeavours, said Bokhari. Finally, I will continue to work for the betterment of Manitoba at every opportunity, as my passion and energy to serve Manitobans continues to be unwavering. nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 07/05/2016 (2361 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Sioux Valley Dakota Nation More than a year after two bodies were found inside a home on this First Nation, RCMP have confirmed that the deaths were a murder-suicide. But what exactly happened inside that home remains a mystery, at least publicly. Manitoba Mounties say the investigation is concluded, but didnt specify who killed who and how. George Shakespeare The investigation was found to be a murder/suicide after being able to eliminate anyone else being responsible for the deaths, Manitoba RCMP spokesman Sgt. Bert Paquet stated in an email sent to The Brandon Sun on Friday in response to a request for an update. While RCMP clarified that drugs didnt play a role in the deaths of either George Shakespeare or Rayannin Branth, they didnt specify what killed them. As to the specifics of the investigation including any medical evidence this will not be discussed, Paquet wrote. The bodies of Shakespeare, 27, and Branth, 32, were found in a house at the First Nation on March 27, 2015. Relatives said that Shakespeare lived at the bungalow with his mother. It was Shakespeares mom, who had been in hospital for more than a week, who returned home to find the bodies, Shakespeares great uncle, Elvis Antoine, said shortly after the discovery. Antoine said he saw the bodies of Branth and Shakespeare (described as friends) lying on a bed together. While there were no wounds that he could see on either of them, there seemed to be blood on the side of Branths head. In the living room, Antoine said, there was a medical needle and a bloody knife on the floor. The discovery came when the Dakota Ojibway Police Service still policed the First Nation (it later became RCMP jurisdiction). However, the Brandon RCMP Major Crimes Unit and forensic identification officers assisted DOPS in the investigation. DOPS would later refer queries about the case to RCMP. While rumour quickly spread through justice circles that the case was a murder-suicide, RCMP deemed it suspicious and police awaited the results of toxicology tests before releasing their findings. On Friday, Paquet said the investigation was lengthened by the wait for the toxicology report that ultimately allowed RCMP to conclude the case was murder-suicide. However, the results of those tests werent shared. Also, Paquet stated, time was needed to advise the deceaseds families and chief and council. However, Sioux Valley Chief Vincent Tacan, and those relatives of Shakespeare and Branth that The Brandon Sun could reach Friday afternoon, said they still dont know what happened. They may have briefed somebody, but it wasnt me, Tacan said of RCMP, although he noted he has been busy with meetings and hasnt been able to answer his phone. From a prevention point of view, it would be helpful to know what went on and that would tell us what we would have to focus on, in terms of if there was anything we could do, Tacan said, referring to the fact RCMP took over policing at Sioux Valley in January. Rayanin Branth Im confident that they will give us information in due course, because theyve been pretty good so far. For example, Tacan said, if the deaths had been due to suicide or drugs, the chief and council could introduce measures to prevent similar tragedies. Two of Shakespeares cousins also said they still havent heard exactly what happened. One cousin said that RCMP had told family members it was a murder-suicide at some point, but theyre still not sure who killed who. However, that cousin said he hasnt pressed the issue with Shakespeares mother and suggested speaking to her. Attempts by The Brandon Sun to reach Shakespeares mother at her home shortly after the bodies were found, and again on Friday, failed. She also couldnt be reached at a phone number provided by a relative. Antoine, when spoken to again on Friday, said he didnt know what happened, either. Nor did Branths father, Raymond White. White said he was told by police that it wasnt foul play, and this was the first he had heard of a murder-suicide. He said he received a phone call that informed him the deaths were due to overdose, although it wasnt clear from the interview whether the call came from police, the Chief Medical Examiners Office or some other body. I really dont know what happened for sure, White said. Id like to know how they both died, and what caused it. Even though Branth and Shakespeare are deceased, the Chief Medical Examiners Office said on Friday that cause of death is personal health information and protected by legislation, and it refused to release autopsy results. Its not information released to the general public, a representative said. ihitchen@brandonsun.com Twitter: @IanHitchen Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 08/05/2016 (2360 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Provincial officials have now ordered the evacuation of 50 cottages on the east shore of Caddy Lake in Whiteshell Provincial Park because of forest fires in the area. Staff with Manitoba Conservation were going door-to-door this morning to ensure residents on the east shore are out of their cabins, including Green Bay Resort which has about a 10 cabins and dozens of trailers. Highway 312, which runs from Highway 44 to Ingolf, Ont., is closed to traffic. Waterbomber landing at Caddy Lake to fill up on Sunday afternoon - PHOTO CREDIT JAN WATTERS Water bombers are being used in the area to try and snuff out the fire near Caddy. Hiking trails are closed in the Whiteshell at Hunt Lake, Mantario and McGillivray Falls. Winds Sunday continued to drive two raging wildfires in the province. The fire near Beresford Lake has grown in size to nearly 50,000 acres from 32,000 acres on Saturday and has reached the lake, the update issued Sunday afternoon said. The mandatory evacuation of the Beresford cottage subdivision of Nopiming Provincial Park continues. Many waterbombers have been deployed and sprinkler protection continues on cabins in the area. Donna Hastings at the Windsock Lodge on Long Lake said Sunday that she could see waterbombers coming and going from the lake. She said it was really smoky Sunday morning but things appeared to be clearing in her area in the afternoon. In the Whiteshell, the wildfire that forced Saturday nights evacuation of cottages in the extreme northeast end of West Hawk Lake grew Sunday to 2,471 acres in size from 1,700 acres on Friday. Winds pushed the Whiteshell-area fire east and cottagers at McDougalls Landing on PR 312 were also ordered to leave. The south Whiteshell emergency plan was being activated and attempts were underway Saturday night to install sprinkler kits on structures. PR 312 remains closed, Sundays bulletin said. The fire was first spotted Thursday about seven kilometres northeast of Caddy Lake. Travellers have been asked to stay away from the fire zone but no further evacuation orders were issued Sunday. A group of cottagers on the northeast side of Caddy Lake watched a steady stream of waterbombers from Manitoba and Ontario refilling in front of them Sunday and decided to leave as a precaution. People are working really hard to save the community, said Jan Watters. I think theyre doing a good job. The cottager from the area thats accessible by boat only said she and others were packing up and heading home to give the park staff and firefighters one less group of people to worry about if the winds change and the situation worsens. We think its the sensible thing to do its one less thing off their plate. Shed been there for a week and said the temperature had fallen to around 14 C Sunday and winds had died down to southeast 20 km-h. Theyre hoping the fire steers clear of their cottage but are taking a few mementoes with them when they leave just in case. PROVINCE OF MANITOBA The fire was 7 km north of Caddy Lake on Thursday and moving into Ontario when this photo was taken, according to Manitoba government officials. Its beyond my control, she said of the wildfire. Its up to the wind conditions, the temperature and the humidity. Whiteshell Provincial Park roads remain open but the Hunt Lake, Mantario and McGillivray Falls hiking trails are closed until wildfire conditions improve, Sundays bulletin said. Grounds crews, water bombers and helicopters from Manitoba Sustainable Development and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources continue to battle the wildfires. Burning permits for the eastern, central and western areas of the province remain cancelled and motorized backcountry travel is banned between noon and 7 p.m. daily in southeast Manitoba. The boundary of the restricted area is from PR 302 east to the Ontario border and from the U.S. border north to Lake Winnipeg and extending north to the Wanipigow River. In Birds Hill Provincial Park, campfires will only be allowed in the approved fire pits between the hours of 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. Travel restrictions are also in place in western Manitoba for Spruce Woods Provincial Park and Spruce Woods Provincial Forest areas, Camp Hughes and the wildlife refuge at the community of Spruce Woods near CFB Shilo, including no motorized back country or remote cottage access unless approved by a travel permit, camping only in developed campgrounds, and launching and landing of boats restricted to developed shoreline. carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 08/05/2016 (2360 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Among the 245 people boarding WestJets inaugural non-stop flight from Winnipeg to London, England was three generations of the Furgala family. Grandmother Caroline Furgala, her daughter Christine Furgala and Carolines granddaughter Sydney Yarmiy waited patiently for their boarding call to cross the pond Saturday night at Richardson International Airport. For the family, its not their first time travelling internationally they recently visited Switzerland but its their first time travelling as a trio, and they have a purpose to their madness. Theyre Girl Guides, and London just happens to house one of the Girl Guides world centres. DAVID LIPNOWSKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS WestJet's celebrated their inaugural flight from Winnipeg to London Saturday. Were doing an independent travel, and we will be there for three weeks. We plan on doing a bunch of geocaching as well, Christine said. This is amazing, to be travelling together. WestJet announced the transatlantic, non-stop service last year, with tickets starting at a special introductory offer of $279. A last-minute ticket Saturday night would have cost $777 for one of the remaining 17 seats. Red-eye flights from Winnipeg will take place every Saturday night at 9 p.m. between May 7 and Oct. 1 and will land in Londons Gatwick Airport. WestJet bought four new Boeing 767-300 airplanes, each with a capacity to carry 262 passengers. Its exciting for us because up until now, we were limited on where we could fly, said Harry Taylor, executive vice-president and chief financial officer at WestJet. These new planes allow us to fly to a number of new places we previously couldnt. We want to bring lower fares and our caring and friendly service to those skies. Making their trip possible, and a common theme coming from many passengers Saturday, was the non-stop nature of the flight, something the city hasnt seen in nearly a decade. Its huge. Its a flight that was in most demand among our customers, so it was just a question of getting the right carrier and the right airport; we wanted it to be London, said Pascal Belanger, vice-president and chief commercial officer of the Winnipeg Airports Authority. London is the main market, so its of vital importance. Its one of the services we expect to grow well over the years. We can support the service easily now. For Christine Warren, having to lay over in Toronto and get around by wheelchair through busy Toronto Pearson International Airport was more than just an inconvenience. I go every two years, and I hate having to go through that airport, she said. Its also more expensive because you have to take two flights to get there. Passengers waiting to board were treated to a live band playing selections from some of Britains biggest acts, including the Spice Girls. Each passenger also received a gift bag courtesy of WestJet as they boarded. Shannon and David Golding travel to England each year to visit his family. A normal trip, they said, costs them more than $5,000 through Air Canada. They say they were able to secure round-trip airfare for themselves and their young son for half that cost through WestJet this year. Were thrilled, Shannon said. Its also great for my husbands parents, who are older, to take just one flight to come over here. And we love the pricing. WestJet plans to keep those prices as attractive for prospective passengers. We have to make sure we keep our costs low, Taylor said. There has to be enough demand, and we believe there is. We are running this seasonally, and there is a demand right now between now and the beginning of October. Mayor Brian Bowman said direct access is great for those in the province and great for tourism. Winnipeg is a growing, thriving city, and with that comes the expectations of increased amenities to travel and tourism, he said. This is something we absolutely welcome, and Im looking forward to welcoming Londoners to Winnipeg so they can enjoy amenities like the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Investors Group Field, Journey to Churchill and the soon-to-be new Inuit Arts Centre. The flight is also offered in five other Canadian cities: Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and St. Johns. Come fall, WestJet will point the 767s in the opposite direction with non-stop flights to winter getaway destination Hawaii. scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @scottbilleck Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 08/05/2016 (2360 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. I was surprised when I discovered the meaning of Mothers Day, at least the true intention behind it. Like so many other things, it has become manipulated and commercialized another vehicle for profit. Mothers Day in North America was created by Anna Jarvis. She was born in 1864 in Virginia, to Ann Jarvis the 10th of 13 children. Many of Anns children died in childhood, and she became active in the fight against childhood diseases and unsanitary conditions. She developed Mothers Day Work Clubs to assist women who were too sick to take care of their children and became a leader in the growing public health movement in the United States. The Civil War broke out in 1861, and Ann was conflicted when her state broke into two parts and West Virginia was created. Jarvis was a pacifist and decreed the Mothers Day Clubs would remain neutral and continue their work during the war. This included ministering to the health needs of soldiers from both sides. Anna Jarvis, who conceived the idea of a special tribute to mothers, is shown in this 1928 file photo. Jarvis began a crusade for a national holiday to honor mothers in 1907 after the second anniversary of her mother's death. Her campaign resulted in a Congressional resolution in 1914, signed by President Woodrow Wilson, proclaiming Mother's Day as a national holiday to be celebrated on the second Sunday in May. (AP Photo/File) After the war ended, Ann realized the anger and hatred from the war remained, and in spite of threats and condemnation, she called upon the clubs to provide a mothers friendship day where mothers on both sides could come together with their sons in an effort to heal the deep divisions. She continued her activism throughout her life. After her mothers death in 1905, Anna Jarvis wanted to honour her courage and commitment. By 1908, she had organized two seminal events in this campaign. At one in Grafton, W.Va., in the church where her mother had taught Sunday school, Anna sent 500 white carnations to be handed out during the ceremony. Those carnations became a symbol of Mothers Day. On the same day in Philadelphia, she spoke at an event for more than 15,000 people. Anna began letter-writing and lobbying to have Mothers Day recognized, and by 1914, the U.S. officially declared the second Sunday in May Mothers Day, the time of her mothers death. Almost immediately, the floral, greeting-card and candy industries began a concerted effort to use the day to make profits. To Anna, this was a huge affront. A pretty card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world she proclaimed. And candy; you give a box to Mother and then eat most of it yourself. As the exploitation of Mothers Day continued, Anna turned her attention to rescind what she had created. Her sense of injustice involved her in lawsuits and political events and included being arrested for crashing a convention of candy-makers, where she was arrested and charged with disturbing the peace. She spent the rest of her life and all of her considerable inheritance fighting the commercialization of Mothers Day and died bitter and penniless in 1949. What I find so annoying about this history is why I never knew it. My history lessons were about wars and treaties (excluding the ones with indigenous people) and were not about real people trying to accomplish something. I heard nothing about the association of Mothers Day with the peace movement. In fact, I dont think I even heard about the peace movement. Certainly, I never heard about the woman who created Mothers Day. Quite a few people decry the commercialization of Christmas, wanting it to be a religious event, while others argue Christmas was really stolen from the pagans. But I havent heard anyone trying to get rid of the capitalist exploitation of Mothers Day. Maybe this year, instead of buying into that agenda, we can do what Anna wanted: write a letter to our mothers and scrap the card altogether (though I hesitate to suggest dumping the flowers). Linda Taylor is a Winnipeg writer. The Baraboo High School gymnasium was magically transformed into a magical setting when about 120 students attended the schools Enchanted Forest-themed prom Saturday in a safe, fun, crowded, yet beautiful venue, according to school officials and the Baraboo Police Department. Officer Ruth Browning, the high school police liaison from the Baraboo Police Department, said that while the recent shooting at Antigo High School in northern Wisconsin was concerning, it didnt change how the police department and school officials prepared for prom night. We prepare every day for so many different situations. The recent incident was just like so many other situations we must be ready for every day, Browning said. You have to keep going on with your day-to- day lives, while still being prepared. We have to be vigilant, be observant and continue to plan for how we will react. Principal Glenn Bildsten echoed Brownings thoughts saying every single day the high school has special security concerns and is constantly reviewing processes. We stay alert. We reviewed security and safety procedures and, as always, we worked very closely with the BPD. We have additional support from the police for tonights prom and I am confident everything will go smoothly. Students in the Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) program also pitched in to make prom safe in other ways by hosting a Breathalyzer event. The high school nurse and SAAD adviser, Diana Cone, set up an area near the front door of the high school where students who blew a 00 got their names entered in a drawing for a computer tablet during the prom event. Cone said the event helps high school kids understand that there are severe ramifications for making poor choices every day, not just on special nights like prom. Our events are not funded by the school. It is a student organization led by a great student group., Cone said. They are leaders who understand that illegal activities, whether it is drugs, tobacco or alcohol, have severe ramifications and are proud to teach other kids the same. The event seemed well received by students, with many students lining up after the grand march to participate in the Breathalyzer challenge and then being entered into the drawing. Browning, Cone and Bildsten all agreed that events like prom take a great amount of cooperation between students, parents, police and the entire community. Browning, who attended her 18th prom in a row as police liaison, said she was proud of the Baraboo community. In situations like this, where there are not only over a hundred students participating, but an additional few hundred parents, families, friends and other students watching the grand march, it would be impossible to rely solely on the police department, Browning said. It also takes parents, administrators and teachers to look out for the welfare and well-being of everyone at this type of school function. It is amazing to me that in all the years I have been doing this, we have had so few problems with students, she added. Years ago, it was actually pretty pathetic because we had problems with parents who were watching who were using alcohol. I think there has been a change in our society and we dont see that any more. It may sound corny but we just need to keep telling kids make good choices and that needs to come from your heart. Parents like Tricia Harris, whose 17-year-old daughter Erika Leatherberry and her date, Andrew Bieslek, attended prom, felt confident and had no apprehensions about the night and how well prepared the community was. I had no fear at all, not at all, Harris said. Baraboo is a remarkable community, where everyone is pretty cohesive and looks out for each other. I cant say enough about our community and how well every one seems to want to help each other out. Im confident we are prepared for a great night for our kids. The Sauk County Courthouse steps and Baraboo Square has been the historic spot for group pictures before prom for decades. However, with construction on the steps making that impossible this year, a Facebook chat group alerted kids and parents, the new spot for group photo ops would be the new science building and steps at Universit of Wisconsin-Baraboo/Sauk County. Harris daughter, Erika, said she liked the new experience of taking group pictures at UW-BSC with hundreds in attendance. She was dressed in a beautifully fitted and sequined dress with a full tulle skirt, but kept her personality shining through wearing her cowboy boots and having her cowboy hat in tow. It was great taking pictures here with the college campus as the backdrop. The best part about prom, for me, was getting really dressed up and seeing everyone else dressed up. The weather was picture perfect for the kids attending the prom and particularly perfect for Mariah Deyo and Aaron Brekke who were named and reigned as 2016 prom queen and king. They were elected by a school vote. As the night ended, Bildsten summed up the evening as a night to be remembered. The weather couldnt have been more beautiful or perfect for prom. It was a fantastic couple of days last week where our student council, athletes and the entire student body pitched in to make a memorable night for every one, he said. It is especially fun for me and my wife as our daughter, Sarah, is a junior and attending this years prom. Law enforcement officers reached early Sunday morning reported that prom night was successful with no prom-related incidents being reported. Ann OLeary, an Evansville native, is Wisconsins new Alice in Dairyland. She was all smiles as she was crowned at the Alice in Dairyland Finale ceremony on May 7 after months of preparation and hard work. I am so honored to be representing Wisconsin agriculture, OLeary said immediately after being crowned. This is something Ive been dreaming of for years, and to sum up my feelings right now, Id say that Im completely humbled. Im also excited, shocked, overwhelmed, surprised and elated. Ben Brancel, secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection made the announcement with the 68th Alice in Dairyland, Teyanna Loether, standing next to him on stage at Watertown High School. Loether placed a tiara on OLearys head and the two women embraced before OLeary gave a short speech. The Wisconsin agricultural community is one of the most supportive communities Ive ever had the pleasure of interacting with, from showing dairy cattle and not growing up on a farm, everyone is so accepting and willing to lend a hand, she said. OLeary grew up showing Jerseys and Holsteins at the county, district and state levels and was involved in the Rock County Junior Holstein Association and the Rock County 4-H program. She served as the 2009 Rock County 4-H Fair queen. After graduating from Evansville High School in 2010, she attended Carthage College to study biology and neuroscience. In May 2014, OLeary graduated with all-college honors. She is now a corporate recruiter at Epic in Verona. She also volunteers her time with the Rock County 4-H program and serves on the Carthage College Alumni Council. OLeary said she wants to get to know people around Wisconsin and be able to share their agriculture stories. She doesnt yet have a theme chosen for her year serving as Alice in Dairyland, but she does intend to utilize the media to spread the word about Wisconsin agriculture. I wanted to become Alice to learn the Wisconsin stories and then relay them back to the general public, she said. I want to bridge that gap between farmers and the public. I think my urban upbringing is going to help me by having a reach outside the agricultural industry, and Id like to be able to have more media interaction. Part of the evenings festivities included the introduction of the six women who were candidates for the 69th Alice in Dairyland honor: Jenna Braun of Mayville, Victoria Horstman of Sparta, Kristin Klossner of New Glarus, Ann OLeary of Evansville, Emily Selner of Denmark and Joanna Wavrunek of Denmark. Each candidate gave a short presentation centering on the agriculture showcase tours they participated in earlier in the week. The ceremony also included an introduction of some of the women who formerly served as Alice in Dairyland, an overview of the selection process, a Dodge County video and some special recognitions of the supporters of the Alice in Dairyland program. Teyanna Loether also showed a video of some of her most memorable experiences during the past year as part of her farewell. The video is available for download at datcp.wi.gov/Business/Alice_in_Dairyland. Parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Al urged the board of the Journalists Syndicate to show respect for the law, insisting that security forces did not 'storm' syndicate building to arrest two journalists In a stormy three-hour session on Wednesday, several Egyptian MPs launched attacks against the press syndicate for asking the president to apologise and demanding the interior minister be sacked after policemen entered the syndicate building last week to arrest two journalists. Following the session, the MPs decided to entrust parliament's Media and Culture Committee with finding a solution for the ongoing crisis between the Journalists Syndicate and the interior ministry. Parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Al said the committee should invite representatives from all concerned institutions including the Journalists Syndicate and the interior ministry to meet in a bid to find a way out of the crisis. "The committee should help both parties to find common ground and then prepare a report to be discussed by parliament," said Abdel-Al. Following the incident at the syndicate headquarters last week, the syndicate called on news outlets to defy a gag order issued by the prosecutor-general on the arrest of journalists Amr Badr and Mahmoud El-Sakka, who face charges of publishing false news, inciting the public and plotting to overthrow the regime. Abdel-Al said that the polices forceful entrance of the syndicate headquarter on 1 May to arrest the two journalists should not be referred to as a storming. "It would be an exaggeration for the syndicate to use the words storming or violating the sanctity of the building of the syndicate to describe what happened," said Abdel-Al. "While those who entered the building of the syndicate were simply implementing the law and not searching the building, the syndicate board should not have given sanctuary for those who were sought by prosecution authorities for investigation and questioning," said Abdel-Al. Abdel-Al insisted that "nobody should put himself above the law, and all, including the Journalists Syndicate, should show respect for the law and judicial orders. "All state bodies should help judicial and prosecution authorities implement the law rather than stand against it," said Abdel-Al, adding that "I cannot imagine that the Journalists Syndicate could choose to stand against the law, because the main message of the syndicate should always be aimed at promoting the rule of the law." "The parliament would not allow any institution to create crises or destabilise the country for political interests, or try to drive a wedge between state institutions." Information requests Abdel-Al's comments came at the end of a heated plenary session where some 30 MPs took the floor to discuss "information requests" about the dispute between the syndicate and the interior ministry. Most MPs launched scathing attacks against the syndicates board, with some accusing them of exploiting the crisis to tarnish the image of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi. Some MPs used a terrorist attack that took place in Cairo earlier in the day as ammunition to attack the syndicate, with independent MP and journalist Mostafa Bakri accusing the board of paving the way for the crime. "The syndicate's description of policemen as thugs helped give terrorists an excuse to commit their crime in Helwan today," said Bakri. It was earlier believed that the debate would be postponed in a bid to give a chance for mediators to help mend fences between the syndicate and the interior ministry. However, the majority of MPs, including some journalists, chose to address the issue, insisting that it is the syndicate rather than the government or president El-Sisi that should issue an apology for what happened on 1 May. Other MPs, including the chairman of the parliament's Human Rights Committee, urged parliament to take a friendly stance rather than attack journalists. MPs Nashwa El-Deeb and Emad Gad said that the session was exploited by some to "demonise" journalists. However, speaker Abdel-Al said that parliament stands in firm respect of journalists and freedom of speech, and would do its best to find a solution for the crisis. Osama Heikal, a journalist and chairman of parliament's Media and Culture Committee, began the debate by accusing the board of the syndicate of fuelling the crisis. "When I made a lot of contacts with the prime minister and the interior ministry to contain this crisis, they were clear that they were just implementing the law in a criminal case and were by no means targeting the syndicate or press freedoms," said Heikal. However, when I contacted the head of the syndicate Yehia Qallash to urge him to refrain from issuing escalatory statements on the crisis, he said that young journalists would tear me up if I told them to do this." Heikal accused the board of doing everything possible to inflame the crisis. "This is despite the fact that it was not an issue of freedom of speech, but a purely criminal matter," said Heikal. 'Objective way' Joining forces, Abdel-Rehim Ali, an independent MP and journalist, said that "while policemen are sacrificing their blood to safeguard the country against terrorists, we see that the Journalists Syndicate is taking a nervous stand, putting itself above the law and trying to drag the president of the republic into this conflict by any means." Abdel-Hamid Kamal, a leftist MP, said "the crisis should be discussed in an objective way." "I attended the meeting of the board of the Journalists Syndicate on Saturday to urge them to open contacts with the parliament speaker to find a friendly solution and reach the truth," said Kamal. By contrast, Mostafa Bakri, an independent MP and journalist, took a fiery line against the Journalists Syndicate, asserting the members of the board of the syndicate have turned its building into a sanctuary for "revolutionary socialists, the 6 April movement and remnants of Muslim Brotherhood. "They have even allowed Brotherhood elements help hostile television channels like El-Sharq to cover events inside the syndicate in detail," said Bakri. Bakri said prosecution authorities rather than interior ministry officials were the ones who gave orders for policemen to go into the syndicate building and arrest two activists. "In spite of this, they insist on escalating against the interior ministry for political reasons," Bakri said. Anwar El-Sadat, chairman of the Human Rights Committee, said he was clear in rejecting the demands called for at an urgent syndicate meeting last Wednesday. "It was too much for the syndicate to ask for an apology from the president of the republic and the interior ministry," said El-Sadat. He did, however, urge MPs to seek reconciliation between the syndicate and the ministry. "We are not in a battle of losers and winners and we should not give the chance for anyone to exploit such crises to destabilise the country," Sadat said. Galal Awara, an independent MP and a TV anchor, recommended that the case be left to judicial authorities to settle." "The conflict now is between the Journalists Syndicate and prosecution authorities, and not the interior ministry," said Awara, adding that "the syndicate helped two persons one of whom is not a journalist hide in its building, and when they were arrested under orders from prosecution authorities, they want to put themselves above the law." Independent MPs Ihab Ghatati and Mohamed Abu Hamed charged that the building of the Journalists Syndicate has become a battleground against the state. "They opened the doors of the syndicate for foreign and hostile media to tarnish the image of the country for political reasons," said Abu Hamed. On the other hand, Nadia Henri, an MP with the Free Egyptians Party, urged state authorities to respect the dignity of professional syndicates. MP Abdel-Moneim El-Oleimi recommended that parliament discuss the state of the media and the press in general. "The discussion in the Media Committee should not be confined to the crisis," said El-Oleimi, adding that "the committee should make a review of the violations made by the Journalists Committee, the debts of press organisations and new media laws." El-Olimi asserted that "just 10 percent of the members of Egypt's Journalists Syndicate are true journalists, while the remaining 90 per cent are not involved in media or press activities." "We should ask the syndicate why and how these people were able to get press cards," said El-Olimi. Salama El-Gohary, an independent MP and a former military officer, claimed that "anyone can get a press card in Egypt from the Journalists Syndicate in return for a bribe of EGP 50,000." "I am a former military man, but I was able to get a press card from the Journalists Syndicate," said El-Gohary. Search Keywords: Short link: History is a bath of blood. So wrote William James in his 1910 anti-war essay The Moral Equivalent of War. Dubbed the Father of American psychology and known for his philosophical pragmatism, James, a pacifist, sought to counter that bred pugnacity into our bone and marrow with enterprises that would galvanize youth especially to work for the building up of community from the outdoors and coal mines to the inner city and construction. James recognized that it would be a matter of time before acts of war shall be formally outlawed as between civilized peoples. As visionary as it may seem to foresee a time when the wolf and the lamb shall feed together (Isaiah 65:25), that is not the present reality, nor does it seem promising in the near future. Thus, as requisite as it is for any community to have voices that call for peace and alternative solutions to the drumbeat of war, just so it is requisite for any community to have the capacity and the courage to wage war for just causes. There is the rub, of course. What is a just cause? It is possible to spin just about any circumstance to lay the groundwork for the merits of picking up the sword. Cities and empires and nations have done this throughout history. Yet, there have been serious-minded advocates for peace and good will who have considered the rationale for extreme measures when dealing with conflictthe Indian epic Mahabharata, the Roman Cicero, North African Augustine of Hippo, European Thomas Aquinas and American Paul Ramsey. A just war theory has been developed through the ages that strives to give measured guidance for people who find themselves on the precipice of going to war. In a nutshell, just war theory proposes the following standards to be weighed in the balance: First, regarding the right to go to war (jus ad bellum): 1) the cause must be just (self-defense or to right a grievous wrong); 2) competent authority must initiate the call; 3) there is the probability of success; and 4) it is a last resort after other reasonable avenues have been exhausted. These considerations would rule out wars for expansion, pillage, conversion and glory. Second, regarding the right conduct in war (jus in bello), 1) distinctions must be drawn between combatants and non-combatants; 2) the principle of proportionality requires restraint so as to not overkill; 3) military measures are to be for the defeat of the enemy to end the war; 4) prisoners of war are to be treated fairly; and 5) weapons are to be reasonable and not evil in themselves (for example, mass rape, child soldiers, biological weapons). And just as importantly third, regarding what is right after the war (jus post bellum), 1) success in vindicating violated rights, negotiation for surrender, or a mutual impasse are valid reasons to terminate conflict; 2) measures of revenge by the victor are not acceptable; 3) terms of peace are to be validated by recognized authorities; 4) discernment between the political and military leaders of the war is to be made over against common combatants and civilians in terms of legal consequences for overall responsibility and war crimes; and 5) measures are to be taken to assist the vanquished in integrating back into the world community. All of this recognizes that war is not a matter of black and white, but more like various shades of grey. As a nation, we have been through conflicts that have had certain clarity and resolution (like the Civil War, WWI and WWII) and those that have been very problematic (Vietnam and currently the Middle East). Whereas we can celebrate V-E Day (yesterday, May 8) and V-J Day (Aug.14), it is more difficult to deal with the aftermath of other conflicts that reflect either our defeat or inability to bring resolve to conflict. Yet, we soldier on with a commitment to always ask of ourselves the difficult questions of rightness, integrity, honor and compassion. Support, laughter, memories and hope are all part of the Relay for Life of Columbus and Fall River. The annual event is set for June 3 at the Columbus Firemans Park, where community members will join together in the fight against cancer. I became involved in the Relay for Life in 2012 when my mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, said Heidi Abegglen, Relay for Life participant and committee member. I chose to participate because the Relay for Life is community-based. It is a day to remember those who have passed and celebrate with those who have gone through treatment. The Columbus and Fall River Relay For Life will begin at 5 p.m., with a survivor ceremony at 6 p.m., a community walk at 8 p.m., and a luminaria ceremony at 9:30 p.m. Food, music, bingo, pony rides, a bouncy house and more are planned for the evening, which will conclude at 10 p.m. All are welcome to attend at any time during the event. Proceeds from the event are donated to the American Cancer Society, which uses the funds for cancer research, advocacy and patient programs right here in the Midwest. It is supportive to know that there are people fighting to find a cure, so that other families dont have to go through it, said Abegglen. For those who would like to donate to the event or join in the fight online, visit www.relayforlife.org/columbuswi. Follow your local teams on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/columbusrfl. The American Cancer Society estimates there will be 1,685,210 new cancer cases and 595,690 cancer deaths in the US in 2016. For more cancer statistics, visit the American Cancer Society online at cancer.org/statistics. Egypt's Prosecutor General Nabil Sadek referred Sunday 67 people to the criminal court over the assassination of top prosecutor Hisham Barakat in June 2015. Barakat, 64, was killed when a car bomb struck his convoy in the upscale east Cairo district of Heliopolis last year. In a statement issued on Sunday, the Prosecutor General's office said the defendants were members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood who "conspired" with militants of the Gaza-based Islamist Palestinian group Hamas to target a number of leading Egyptian officials in order to "sow chaos in the country." In March, the Egyptian ministry of interior said14 members of the Muslim Brotherhood participated directly in the plan to murder Barakat. Hamas denied any involvement in the assassination. The Muslim Brotherhood is designated as a terrorist organization in Egypt by the government. Search Keywords: Short link: China News on Women Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home page Three Spanish journalists kidnapped in Syria some 10 months ago have been freed, the Spanish Press Federation (FAPE) and government said on Saturday. "All three have been released, Antonio Pampliega, Jose Manuel Lopez and Angel Sastre, and are on their way (to Spain)," said FAPE president Elsa Gonzalez. A government spokeswoman said: "All three are well." The trio were last seen in July 2015 in Aleppo where they had been reporting on fighting. Search Keywords: Short link: Marco Antonio Arroyo By: Wayne Morin Two young children were left traumatized after they were forced to participate in sexual activities with two adults. The couple of Illinois, was arrested after it was discovered that they have been having sex with a 10-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy. Marco Antonio Arroyo, 42, and Lorrainne Mary Rowell, 41, of Chicago, abused the children over eight months. Deputy prosecutor Nadia Chivers described Arroyo and Rowell, as atwo of the most despicable and vile human beings to ever set foot in this court.a Despite the horrific crimes, Chivers asked the judge to accept the plea agreement to spare the children the agony of having to go to trial. Erica Rios, a DCS family case manager, told the court that the children suffered an intense level of trauma. aBoth of the children have a lot of anger to deal with,a Rios said. A foster mother for one of the children told the court that the child was suicidal and going to trial would be detrimental to the childas mental health. Arroyo pleaded guilty to two counts molesting a child. Arroyo addressed the court on Friday. He apologized to the victims and said that he knew what he did wasnat right. He then told the court: aI am not a monster.a Judge Vasquez replied: aYou are a monster. You are a horrible person for what youave done to them.a Vasquez then told Arroyo that he not only brought shame upon himself, but he also brought shame upon his entire race. aIam ashamed to call you Mexican,a Vasquez said. aIave never said that before.a Rowells attorney, Samuel Vazanellis, said that his client is remorseful over her actions and she was willing to testify against Arroyo. The judge reluctantly accepted the plea deal and sentenced each of them to 20 years in prison. Arroyo faces deportation after he completes his sentence. Guido Menzio By: Chan Yuan An economics professor who was flying from Pennsylvania to Canada to give a speech, was pulled off a plane after a passenger mistook his math writings for Arabic terror messages. 40-year-old Guido Menzio boarded an American Airlines to Ontario, where he planned to give a speech at the Queens University. The woman sitting next to him tried to engage him in conversation, and when he didnt respond, she noticed of his pad. She watched the University of Pennsylvania professor scribbling Arabic, and subsequently handed over a note to a flight attendant, expressing her concern. Menzio said that he was too focused on the mathematics to respond to the woman. The aircraft remained on the runway for an extended period of time, before the pilots took the plane back to the gate. Airline personnel boarded the plane and asked the professor to step out. Menzio was questioned by an agent, who told him that he was being suspected of terrorism. He was ultimately considered not a credible threat after showing him his note pad, which contained mathematical writings. The head of medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Saturday Syria's neighbours should keep their borders open to allow people to flee the war-torn country. "We need to ensure that the border between Syria and other neighbouring countries remains open. It is a lifeline and people should have the right to flee conflicts," Jerome Oberreit told AFP. He was speaking after more than 28 civilians including women and children were killed in an attack on a camp for displaced Syrians in Idlib province near the closed Turkish border. He said the incident was "an illustration that the idea of safe zones inside Syria is dangerously false". MSF has said that last year alone, 94 air strikes and rocket attacks hit 63 hospitals and clinics that it supports in Syria. Another 12 MSF-supported health facilities were hit this year, Oberreit said, but these were by no means the only ones hit inside the country. "We are working in a very extreme environment and unfortunately a lot of other structures have been hit that are totally unnoticed," he said. Just last week, the bombing of the MSF-supported Al-Quds hospital in the northern city of Aleppo left at least 55 people dead, according to the latest toll from MSF. At least 270,000 people have been killed and millions displaced in Syria's five-year war since it started with the brutal repression of anti-regime protests in 2011. Most of the refugees are in neighbouring countries, notably Turkey which has become the biggest host country with between two and 2.5 million Syrians on its soil. Nearly 1.2 million have taken refuge in Lebanon, according to official sources. Roughly 630,000 people have moed to Jordan, according to the UNHCR, but the authorities there put their number at more than a million. Both Jordan and Lebanon now have strict restrictions on the entry of Syrians into their territory. Search Keywords: Short link: A Saudi soldier died in a gun battle with militants in the western Taif region outside Mecca on Sunday, state news agency SPA said. Two assailants opened fire on a police station before retreating to the mountain village of Thaqeef where the soldier, named as private Saeed al-Harithy, was killed in an exchange of fire, SPA reported. Troops found an explosive vest and bomb-making material and the security operation was ongoing, the news agency added. Saudi forces have been caught up in an escalating confrontation with Islamic State (IS) group militants in the last week after troops shot dead two IS group fighters and two others blew themselves up in a raid on their compound outside the holy city of Mecca on Thursday. Two other IS suspects were killed and a third was wounded in southwestern Bisha province on Sunday. Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, was hit by a spate of deadly attacks on security forces and its Shia Muslim minority last year. IS group's local branches have claimed many of them. Search Keywords: Short link: Related Three Spanish journalists kidnapped in Syria freed Three Spanish journalists who were kidnapped some 10 months ago in Syria returned home to Spain on Sunday, a day after their release, the government said. "The Spanish journalists Jose Manuel Lopez, Angel Sastre and Antonio Pampliega who were kidnapped in Aleppo in northern Syria almost 10 months ago have arrived at Torrejon air base" near Madrid, the government said in a statement. The trio, who had been working for various Spanish media as freelancers around the time of their disappearance, were last seen in July 2015 in Aleppo where they had been reporting on fighting. Their release had been "possible thanks to the collaboration of allies and friends especially in the final phase from Turkey and Qatar", the Spanish government said Saturday in a statement. Some Spanish media, including top-selling daily newspaper El Pais, said the three had been abducted by Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, the Al-Nusra Front. After they disappeared, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said officials were working with members of Spain's National Intelligence Centre who were in Syria to try and secure their release. Search Keywords: Short link: You are the owner of this article. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close ALSO : For information on the Oakridge Montessori School on Summitview Avenue, visit www.oakridgemontessori.org . WHAT : Locally Grown, an annual fundraiser for the Montessori School of Yakima, featuring silent and live auctions and a dinner. Also celebrates the schools 50th anniversary, and honors school founder Esther Closner with a Legacy Award. About Maria Montessori An Italian physician and educator, Dr. Maria Montessori (1870-1952), grew up in Rome and originally aspired to be an engineer before entering the medical field. Her child-centered education method debuted in 1907 with her first school, the Casa dei Bambini, which was part of an urban renewal project in a low-income district of Rome. In 1929, she established the Association Montessori Internationale to support the swell of Montessori schools, teacher education programs and national organizations around the world. Montessori caught on quickly in the United States, but the movement fizzled by the 1920s. It would not return to prominence in the U.S. until the 1960s. In 1960, Dr. Nancy McCormick Rambusch launched the American Montessori Society, the first and still largest of several modern-era organizations supporting Montessori in America. Source: The American Montessori Society Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly rebuked a top general for comments appearing to liken the atmosphere in Israel to that of Nazi-era Germany. Netanyahu says Sunday that Maj. Gen. Yair Golan, the military's deputy chief of staff, erred when speaking on the country's annual Holocaust memorial day. Golan sparked outrage, particularly among nationalists, for saying that he sees evidence in present-day Israel reminiscent of the nauseating processes that took place in Nazi Germany. The defense minister, military chief and other officials came to his defense, saying that he was warning of troubling trends in society. But Netanyahu called the comments outrageous, saying at his weekly Cabinet meeting that "they cause harm to Israel and cheapen the Holocaust." Cabinet Minister Miri Regev has called for Golan's dismissal. Search Keywords: Short link: If you are sending a Letter To the Editor, please be sure to follow these rules: Letters have a firm 200-word limit and will be edited for grammar, clarity and accuracy. The person who signs the letter must be the author. Anonymous letters will not be considered. Letters must address the editor, not a third party. We will not print form letters, libelous letters, business promotions or personal disputes, poetry, open letters, letters espousing religious views without reference to a current issue, or letters considered in poor taste. Letters reflect the opinion of the writer. The Yakima Herald-Republic cannot verify the accuracy of all statements made in letters. Writers are limited to one published letter per calendar month. The wave of terror that began last October has highlighted the operational presence of female soldiers serving on the front lines in a fight against terrorism. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter These women are not just the soldiers and Border Policewomen who are a direct target from "lone-wolf" terrorists, but also are those who form an integral part of IDF operations in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the tense border with Gaza. Heroines against the Intifada. L-R: Lt. Shahaf Shwartz, Cpt. Paz Rokach, Lt. Ofir Asulin, Cpl. Linoy Ben Yitzhak and Sgt. Yael Sandler (Photo: IDF Spokesperson) Female soldiers take part in arrest raids at the heart of the West Bank, are the first to rush to the scene of a stabbing incident, strengthen the security presence in dangerous areas, stand strong against angry mobs, and serve as the eyes of the IDF on the Gaza border, keeping watch and making sure that Hamas operatives don't sneak into Israel. Five female combat soldiers came together to discuss the key roles they play in battle, and the complex realities they face in Gaza and the West Bank. Cpt. Paz Rokach Lt. Shahaf Shwartz Sgt. Yael Sandler Lt. Ofir Asulin Cpl. Linoy Ben Yitzhak Ynet spoke to, 24, a medical officer in the Binyamin Division, which operates in and around Ramallah;, 23, who served as an operations officer for the Golani Brigade during Operation Protective Edge;, 21, a lone soldier from California who assisted in rescuing two Oketz soldiers who accidentally entered the Qalandia Refugee Camp two months ago;, a Field Intelligence officer who was injured in a stabbing incident at a gas station on route 443; and, who identified three terrorists planting three IEDs on the northern border of Gaza. What does it mean to be a female combat solider in 2016? Are there still noticeable differences, or can we declare the integration of women into the army to be a success? There are certain things that men are better at, said Cpt. Rokach. That said, when a woman really wants something, she can accomplish anything. Lt. Schwartz added, Physically, I feel I can perform any task, and that the experience I gained makes it all possible. I've had to carry heavy objects, and I did it well. Sgt. Sandler confirmed that like other female soldiers, I do everything that the men do. It's all in the mind. As female combat soldiers, we march for miles when going on arrest raids, including those dealing with back pains. We're strong. I would have tried to join the Givati or Golani Brigades if I could have. Sometimes the women are stronger than the men, she shared, while stressing that our job isn't for every woman. But if you want to give three years of your life, with all the sudden call ups and being on base for 11 out of every 14 days, you can do anything. Sandler also spoke about her experiences going into the refugee camp Qalandia during a riot, to rescue two soldiers who had lost their way. We were reinforcing a patrol in the Ramallah area, and all of a sudden we heard that there may have been two soldiers kidnapped in Qalandia, and that the Hannibal Directive would soon be put into effect. We didnt have much time. We entered the camp, heard shooting and had Molotov cocktails thrown at us while hundreds of people were watching us from the rooftops, just like in the movies. We saw the missing soldiers' army vehicle completely burned, but we still got out of our vehicle to conduct a search for the soldiers. That's when I got shrapnel in my eye. She continued, We were yelling for the soldiers, shouting 'We're here, we're here' in Hebrew. Terrorists and attackers could have come from anywhere. We eventually found them hiding underneath a staircase in the camp. I have no room to develop The IDF likes to boast that 90 percent of the positions available are now open to women, causing a significant rise in the number of women who request to serve alongside men as combat soldiers in field units that have recently opened up. Nevertheless, the core of the IDF is still male-dominated, specifically elite technology units, mixed infantry units and within the ranks of the highest-ranking officers. From time to time, a female soldier will achieve an historical breakthrough, such as the first female battalion commander in field intelligence and the IDF Officers' Training School, a female commander of a missile boat, and soon, the first female battalion commander in the Artillery Corps. The ground forces have been carrying out tests to determine how to integrate women into combat roles within the Armed Corps, but the initiative failed due to physiological reasons. For now, the submarine fleet will also remain exclusively male, due to the close proximity between crewmen serving in submarines, though it is possible to find women in both the tank and submarine crews in armies around the world. For the time being, in infantry units such as Golani, the Paratroopers', and IDF Special Forces units, women will remain in the auxiliary positions only. It seems that the main obstacle surrounding the integration of female officers into the military concerns those aged 25-30, who are preparing to start a family. Im going to be at a personal intersection in about two years, when Ill have to decide whether to continue with my service or not, said Lt. Rokach. My own mother had a military career when I was a child, and as a result she missed many events. On the one hand you believe in what youre doing, but on the other you pay a very high price for it. This is true for men, as well, and I certainly dont think that a womans place is at home, but I personally wouldnt want to raise my children while I spend every third weekend on base. Lt. Ofir's driver, Ziv Mizrahi, was killed during a stabbing attack when Ofir was injured. I went out for a patrol to show Ziv the area, she said. We stopped at a gas station on Route 443. That's when the terrorist ran toward us with a knife, stabbing me and Ziv. Another officer who was standing nearby shot him within five seconds, saving my life, but Ziv was killed. The incident caused me to suffer from anxiety, so after a recovery period I returned to serve as an officer at a combat training base. I hope to come full-circle by returning to the area. When asked about the difficulties related to combining a military career with starting a family, she said, Thats one of the reasons why they stopped sending female officers to tactical command college (where they take part in a prestigious course for promising young officers YZ). And yet, she stressed I went back after my injuries because I love what I do, and I want to keep doing it past the age of 25. Im a 24-year-old headquarters officer, said Cpt. Rokach. Everyone else there is above 30. She explained that facing an at-times belittling attitude serves to motivate her further. You want to prove yourself, because you believe in yourself. When you go hom,e you're still alert, keeping your phone to your ear. Lt. Schwartz, who serves as a sniper instructor, is due to be released in the summer after being recognized for exemplary service as a Golani Operations Officer during Operation Protective Edge. During one of her divisions first and toughest battles, the units top brass was hit, and for a few long minutes (and after functioning for several days without sleeping), she found herself commanding the complex event from headquarters. Im due to be released in August for two very clear reasons," she said. "The first is that Im getting married, and the second is because unfortunately, I come from a corps where I dont have a lot of options in terms of promotion. Im not about to be anyones assistant. Im not going to move to an operations position at the Adam facility (a rear base YZ). For her, serving as a company commander would be a dream position. After doing that, I could finish my army service. People stare at us Cpl. Linoy Ben Itzhak mentioned dealing with offensive comments from male soldiers. She had been on look-out when she spotted a group of terrorists attempting to lay three explosive devices near the northern border of the Gaza Strip. It was considered the most substantial attempt to harm IDF soldiers post-Protective Edge, and one which an Intelligence tip along with Linoy successfully identifying the terrorist unit had successfully managed to thwart without any injuries among the soldiers, along with one terrorist killed and two others neutralized. Cpl. Linoy Ben Yitzhak (Photo: IDF Spokesperson) I was beginning a shift like any other at the Gaza Division Observation Headquarters, she said. I began scanning the northern shoreline when I recognized three suspect individuals hiding among the dunes and pointing at our soldiers. I contacted our unit to direct them to the terrorists while at the same time giving their coordinates to the Air Force, which ultimately managed to bomb them. Despite playing a role in various military successes, the prejudice against them has yet to vanish. People think we sit in front of a screen 24/7, she said. They have no idea that we scan, speak to the grounds forces and do so much more. They just assume were slamming burgers and fries in front of our screens and that thats why were fat and blind and need glasses. We still hear this kind of stuff from combat soldiers when they first arrive. Sometimes they stare at us like visitors at a zoo looking at animals held in cages. We get 30 soldiers standing in front of us saying, Go on, show us an Arab. And then, five months later, before they finishing their service in our area, they come back to say Thank you. We couldnt have done it without you. Youve got the hardest job in the army. Will the next one die, as well? Lt. Rokach found herself commanding over the treatment and evacuation of people of close to 200 injured people in 2015 alone, including soldiers, civilians and terrorists who had been neutralized. Along with the rest of her team, she treated the Givati soldiers injured during a shooting incident at the Focus Blockade at the entrance of Rammallah. Lt. Paz Rokach (Photo: IDF Spokesperson) Last February, she was the first to arrive at the terror attack at a Rami Levi supermarket in Shaar Binyamin. In addition to one casualty and one injured civilian, Rokach also found herself in a precarious situation, when she was given clearance to approach the fatally wounded terrorists, after making certain that they were not carrying explosives on their person. They were helpless, she said. We treated and evacuated them as quickly as we could. The kind of response this incurred and the amount of curse words aimed at my mother were just crazy. But those are the values we were raised on. It brings up mixed emotions when you hear people around you saying kill him. There were incidents along the Gaza Strip where soldiers shot and disarmed a terrorist and then carried him on a gurney for three kilometers. An injured terrorist is still a human being, says Rokach. You do feel an apprehension when you approach and treat a terrorist, but as a commander you have to take the first step forward. Lt. Paz Rokach (Photo: IDF Spokesperson) When asked about the hardest moments during her service, Rokach recalls an incident where a bus flipped over near the town of Kokhav Yair. I commanded over the rescue and evacuation of 40 injured people. The worst cases were the ones where I couldnt save someone, for instance during the Danny Gonen and Malachi Rosenfeld incidences. It frustrates you, and makes you ask, Will the next one die, as well? MEXICO CITY- Mexican drug boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was moved on Saturday from a jail in central Mexico to a prison in Ciudad Juarez, a northern city on the US border, in a move that appears to bring him closer to extradition to the United States. Guzman, head of the Sinaloa drug cartel, was one of the world's most wanted drug kingpins until his capture in January, six months after he broke out of a high-security penitentiary in central Mexico through a mile-long tunnel. Chapo, or "Shorty," faces charges ranging from money laundering to drug trafficking, kidnapping and murder in cities that include Chicago, Miami and both Brooklyn and Manhattan, New York. National Student and Youth Council has announced it will continue with its strike in five cities across the country, in protest of the Teachers Union's decision to halt all high school field trips as well as driving exams, as part of their own negotiations with the Ministry of Education. The students plan on striking every day in five different minicipalities, so as not to interfere with their metriculation exams preparation. Hamas has agreed and committed itself again to a de-escalation on the border of Israel and Gaza, Ynet learned on Sunday morning. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter A general agreement has been reached between the warring sides after tremendous mediation effort by international parties in recent days and a great number of messages exchanged via intermediaries. Israel, for its part, removed its forces from the perimeter, a 100-meter wide "buffer zone" along the border and inside Gazan territory. Construction crews working on the border fence on Saturday did not did advance beyond that zone. However, it seems that the IDF will continue to operate in the perimeter and beyond it if necessary. Hamas's true test will be how they respond to the entry of IDF forces in such a case. In recent days, Hamas has been pushing for and initiating talks to return calm. Egypt (via Egyptian intelligence officials), Qatar (via the head of the Qatari Committee for Reconstruction of Gaza, who has good relations with Israeli representatives), and the UN (via the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process) were all parties to these talks. IDF soldiers and tanks on Gaza border (Photo: AFP) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not address the reports of an agreement in comments he made Sunday morning. He said instead, "Israel will continue to operate as long as necessary to detect (tunnels) and thwart (attacks). We will spare no resources or efforts. Over the past two years, these (southern) cities have flourished. We are not looking for an escalation, but we will not be deterred from doing what is necessary to maintain security." Hamas still needs deal with splinter groups in the Strip, who have felt during the past week that they have had a free hand to fire towards Israel. Hamas is trying to re-impose its authority over the area along the border in its efforts at a de-escalation. In addition, Hamas is not monolithic, and there is growing internal tension between the political and military wings regarding IDF operations to uncover tunnels. This tension is likely to continue in the coming weeks. While the political wing currently has the upper hand, this does not guarantee that the military wing will hold its fire in the long term, especially if additional tunnels are exposed. Large Hamas forces were deployed along the border with Israel, but the terror organization knows that this is a sensitive and complicated mission, especially in the first days after reaching an understanding. IAF attacking Rafah (Photo: AFP) Hamas's political wing indicated on Friday that it is not interested in a new war with Israel. Its deputy leady, Ismail Haniyeh, said "We are not calling for a new war, but we will not allow incursions or imposing facts on the ground by Israel in Gaza." This was his first comment on the escalation and the first time that he was seen in public since its beginning. On the night between Friday and Saturday , a rocket was fired from Gaza towards Eshkol, leading the Israeli Air Force to attack two Hamas targets in the southern Gaza Strip in retaliation. Nobody was injured. The Yemenite Children affair has resurfaced once again in the public debate following the Achim Vekayamim organizations stated intention to renew efforts to discover the truth behind one of the cases, which has caused a storm in Israel for decades. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The governmental investigative committee on the mysterious disappearance of Yemeni children classified documents and materials about the case that were classified in 2001. Achim Vekayamim, which comprises dozens of Yemenite family members who were either allegedly kidnapped (or parents of those allegedly kidnapped), announced its intention to petition the Supreme Court to provide access to these files. The Yemenite Children affair raised much suspicion in Israel after hundreds of babies and toddlers belonging to Yemenite immigrants to the newly founded state between 1948 and 1954 were said to be kidnapped and sold to Ashkenazi families. The parents were reportedly informed that their children had died in the hospital. However, some of the children later sought to track their biological families and discovered DNA matches. Suspicions were further vindicated when parents received military draft orders when their deceased children would have reached 18 years oldan indication that they were still, in fact, recorded as alive. Yemenite children (Illustration Photo: Efer Meir, Avi Hai, Nitzan Dror) The case shifted back into public scrutiny when families began protesting the state's decision to classify the material reviewed by the investigative committee for 70 years (until 2071), which was announced yesterday on Channel 2. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked announced Saturday that she would again assess the material and make a decision thereafter. Journalist Yael Tzadok, who began investigating the case in 1994, and who is also an activist for the victims, said that the state has been hiding the kidnapping case for almost 60 years. (The affair) already began in the 1950s. We know about governmental letters which were passed between the Health Ministry and the police that were stamped top secret. They knew this and hid it. Also during the Knesset meetings in which the subject was raised, Tzadok continued, and clearly from the minutes, it is clear that many public figures knew the children had disappeared, were kidnapped, and even sold. A catalogue with 20,000 names of Yemenite children containing details about them also disappeared. The state needs to remove the classification orders from the documents and to finally tell the truth to the families who were victims of kidnappings and also to the entire public. They cant lie to everyone forever. The activists contend that the states decision to classify the evidence, the documents, the inutes and the investigative material is without precedent. Obviously it raises suspicion that we are talking about a more serious case than we can imagine, Tzadok said. This is a committee that pretended that it was going to investigate and to expose the truth. Yet what was discovered was the systematic destruction of evidence and witnesses are afraid to talk about about the classification of the documents." The organizations lawyer, Yael Neger, who is providing the activists with pro bono legal service, says that she has personal experience in the affair. They also tried to kidnap my father. They forcefully took him from my grandmother's hands, but this attempt did not succeed, explained Neger. She further threatened that if the state refused to declassify the relevant documentation, more than 100 families would petition the Supreme Court against the decision. CAIRO - Gunmen opened fire on a microbus filled with plainclothes police in a Cairo suburb early Sunday, killing eight of them, including an officer, Egypt's state news agency reported. MENA said the police were inspecting security in the south Cairo neighborhood of Helwan when four gunmen in a pickup opened fire on them. Interior Minister Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar ordered an investigation into the attack, calling the eight "heroes of the police martyrs who sacrificed their lives to preserve the security of the homeland and the people." Insurgents have carried out a wave of attacks, mainly targeting Egyptian security forces, since the military overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013. The attacks have been concentrated in the Sinai Peninsula, where an Islamic State affiliate is based, but militants have also struck the mainland, including in the capital. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Lebanese headed to the polls for first time in six years on Sunday for municipal elections including in Beirut, where a new grassroots campaign is taking on entrenched parties. It is the first election of any kind in Lebanon since the last municipal polls in 2010, in a country that has not had a president for the past two years nor voted for a parliament since 2009. Voters were trickling in to polling stations in Beirut and in two provinces of the Bekaa region in the first stage of a vote to last until May 29 in five other provinces. In Beirut, an unlikely alliance of citizens is for the first time challenging traditional politicians like former prime minister Saad Hariri, whose Future Movement usually dominates elections in the capital. Beirut Madinati, or Arabic for "Beirut is my city", emerged after civil society gained momentum in protests last summer over a political crisis that saw trash pile up on streets. Coming out of a polling station in Beirut, a 43-year-old voter who only gave his name as Elie was enthusiastic. "Even if just one candidate from Beirut Madinati gets in, it'll be a victory for civil society," said the employee of a money transfer company, who in 2010 had voted for the Hariri-backed list. "We're fed up with this corrupt political class." The 24-candidate list of independents includes teachers, fishermen and artists such as famed actress and film director Nadine Labaki. But 40-year-old Mariam said she had voted for the Hariri list because "it represents the people of Beirut". Five hours into the voting, however, the turnout in Beirut remained low with only six percent of voters showing up to cast ballots, the authorities said. In the Bekaa area, which is dominated by Shiite movement Hezbollah, turnout varied between 11 and 15 percent. Since the end of the Lebanese civil war in 1990, lists in the municipal polls every six years have traditionally been pulled together by a handful of parties often formed along sectarian lines and led by former warlords. Beirut Madinati faces the formidable challenge of breaking through that established political class in a bid to win all 24 seats in the Lebanese capital's municipal council. Only about 470,000 voters are registered in the capital despite almost four times more people living there. According to electoral law, Lebanese are automatically registered to vote in the birthplace of their ancestors. Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014, when the mandate of Michel Sleiman expired, because the country's Christians, Sunni and Shiite Muslims and Druze cannot agree on a candidate. The country's political scene is deeply divided, with the government split roughly between a bloc led by Hezbollah -- backed by Iran and neighbouring Syria -- and another headed by Hariri -- supported by Saudi Arabia and the United States. These rivals have joined forces against Beirut Madinati for the municipal polls in Beirut, however. On Sunday posters of the traditional candidates were plastered on the city's walls, while Beirut Madinati supporters took to social media to convince friends and acquaintances registered in Beirut to get out and vote. Lebanese suffer from poor infrastructure and public services, as well as water and power shortages. Beirut Madinati's programme to attract frustrated voters includes plans to improve public transport in the traffic-ridden city, introduce more green spaces, make housing affordable and -- of course -- implement a lasting waste management solution. Hezbollah is expected to win in the Bekaa region -- except in the town of Zahle, where a list of candidates from an influential family backed by Hariri is vying against another supported by traditional Christian parties. In Beirut and the Bekaa region, another grassroots movement, called Citizens in a State led by former minister and economist Charbel Nahhas is taking part in the polls. Polling stations are open for 12 hours and will close at 1600 GMT with initial results expected in the night. Search Keywords: Short link: The leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, Sheikh Raed Salah, began his 9-month prison term on Sunday morning in Ohalei Kedar Prison in the Negev for a speech he made in East Jerusalem in 2007 in which he incited violence and racism. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Hundreds of people showed up in Umm al Fahm to demonstrate their support for Salah and to bid their final farewells. Salah arrived in Be'er Sheva, together with dozens of activists, before he entered prison. I enter (prison) relaxed. If the day comes in which we are to choose between prison and to give up on Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Wosque, we will welcome prison. We will sacrifice our lives for Al-Aqsa, Salah declared just prior to his incarceration. Sheikh Raed Salah enters prison (Photo: Barel Ephraim) Salah also said in the morning, These are not moments of of parting ways, but moments of renewed beliefs and values of Islam and of Palestinians. Our greatest joy will come when, God willing, Al-Aqsa is liberated from the Israeli occupation. Netanyahu and his cohorts are constantly trying to incite against us. We must unite as one against the Israeli government and its racist policies. I will stay strong behind bars and will continue to struggle from inside jail. I will not give up on the path in which I believe. Raed Salah arrives in Be'er Sheva (Photo: Barel Ephraim) Salah was originally sentenced to 11 months in prison. However, the decision to reduce his sentence by 2 months was taken in a majority opinion penned by Justices Elyakim Rubinstein and Anat Baron, against the opinion of Justice Salim Joubran. Joubran asserted the conviction of incitement to racism should be upheld, but Salah should be acquitted of incitement to violence. Supporters bid farewell to Raed Salah before he enters prison Rubenstein wrote in his ruling, "The defendant is a well-known figure in the Arab world and in Israel; he is one of the religious leaders of Muslims in Israel...his speech was given to a large crowd, furious and agitated...it appears this sermon was organized and planned in a volatile public atmosphere in light of the claims Israel wanted to change the status quo in the Al-Aqsa mosque. There is no reason to split hairs to determine these things. The objective of this speech was to incite racism." Salah waves at camera before he serves prison sentence On the other hand, Joubran wrote in his opinion that "there is great importance to the diversity of the crowd and their ability to understand the meaning of (the sermon). I believe that the fact the defendant did not address a specific crowd, willing and politically motivated, but to a general crowd from all over the world, reduces the specificity of the call, and as a result reduces the possibility that this call could bring someone to carry out an act of violence." "As a crude analogy," Joubran continued, "just as general calls for world peace do not necessarily bring about world peace, I believe that general calls for a 'global intifada' do not necessarily incite to violence." On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went on the offensive against IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Yair Golan, when opening the weekly cabinet meeting. Netanyahu focused his criticism on Golans controversial speech that linked Israeli activity to actions that took place during WWII. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter On Wednesday, one day before Holocaust Remembrance Day, Golan gave a talk at a ceremony at the Masua Holocaust Institute in Tel Yitzhak, saying, The Holocaust must lead us to think about our public life, and more importantly, it must lead everyone who can, not merely those who want, to carry public responsibility. If there is something that frightens me about the memory of the Holocaust, it is seeing the abhorrent processes that took place in Europe, and Germany in particular, some 70, 80 or 90 years ago, and finding manifestations of these processes here among us in 2016. Dueling leaders. Golan (left) and Netanyahu Netanyahu criticized Golan during the meeting. Many things have been said recently about the State of Israel. There is no country that does not have displays of intolerance and violence, but Israeli democracy is strong. It condemns these displays and it deals with them according to the law and by other means. The comparison that was made in IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Yair Golan's remarks about processes that characterized Nazi Germany 80 years ago is infuriating, continued Netanyahu. The remarks are fundamentally incorrect. They should not have been made at any time, much less now. They do an injustice to Israeli society and belittle the Holocaust. The deputy chief of staff is an outstanding officer, but his remarks on this issue were utterly mistaken and unacceptable to me. Prior to the cabinet meeting, Likud party ministers participated in a tumultuous discussion, with several vehemently criticizing Golan and calling for Netanyahu to reprimand him. Minister of Education Miri Regev called for Golans resignation due to what she described as the severe words he used in his speech. It is not the IDF deputy chief of staffs place to interfere in social matters, she said. I call on him to resign immediately. Minister of Culture and Sport Miri Regev (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg) Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources Yuval Steinitz was also critical of the Golan, saying that Netanyahu should reprimand him. It should have already happened in order to put an end to this story, said Steinitz. Everyone makes mistakes, and you dont end a decorated officers career over one blunder, but there should be a rebuke. Minister of Science, Technology and Space Ofir Akunis added to this, Its inconceivable that while were traveling through the world and trying to fight the BDS movement, the IDF deputy chief of staff is making such statements. Mere hours after Golans speech, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon called Netanyahu and demanded that Golan retract his speech. At the same time, Yaalon issued a statement in support of Golan, saying that his words were purposely twisted in an attempt to politically damage the IDF and its officers. London's newly elected Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan, has joined an annual memorial to the millions of Jews slain in the Holocaust as his first official act in office. Khan made Sunday's appearance at a north London ceremony following a racially charged election campaign during which Conservative Party opponents sought to portray him as an apologist for Islamic extremism and highlight cases of alleged anti-Semitism within the ranks of Khan's Labour Party. London's previous Labour mayor, Ken Livingstone, was suspended last month from the party after he claimed that Adolf Hitler supported the Zionist aim of establishing Israel. London's newly elected Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan, attended an annual memorial to the millions of Jews slain in the Holocaust as his first official act in office on Sunday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Khan made his appearance at the north London ceremony following a racially charged election campaign during which Conservative Party opponents sought to portray him as an apologist for Islamic extremism and to highlight cases of alleged anti-Semitism within the ranks of Khan's Labour Party. The event inside a rugby stadium brought together thousands from London's Jewish community, including more than 150 Holocaust survivors and a combined choir from five Jewish elementary schools. London's mayor Sadiq Khan with Holocaust survivor Harry Flemming (Photo: AFP) Sadiq Khan has a simple, striking message for Londoners: He won't be merely a Muslim mayor, but a leader for all. Khan celebrated his landslide election victory Saturday in a multi-denominational ceremony at an Anglican cathedral accompanied by London's police chief, Christian and Jewish leaders, and stars of stage and screen. They gave Khan a standing ovation as he pledged to be an approachable Everyman for his city of 8.2 million -- including more than a million residents who, like him, happen to be Muslim. "I'm determined to lead the most transparent, engaged and accessible administration London has ever seen, and to represent every single community and every single part of our city as a mayor for Londoners," said Khan, the son of Pakistani-born immigrants who became a civil rights lawyer and, in 2005, London's first Muslim member of Parliament. "So I wanted to do the signing-in ceremony here, in the very heart of our city, surrounded by Londoners of all backgrounds," he said in Southwark Cathedral, a few miles north of the state housing project where he grew up in the London district of Tooting. Sadiq Khan, London's first Muslim mayor (Photo: Reuters) Khan's Labour Party candidacy to lead London triumphed in the face of a Conservative campaign seeking to tar him as sympathetic to Islamic extremists. Supporters said Khan's own message -- that a victory for him would show the world how tolerant and open Britain was -- carried far more power. "To have a Muslim mayor seems preferable to me to any alternative regardless of the politics," said actor Sir Ian McKellen, who greeted Khan at the cathedral gates. "I hope it's an image that will go round the world as representing a new sort of England that's at peace with itself regardless of race and so on. That's the beauty of it." Leading Muslim activists in the Conservative Party expressed shame and anger over their own candidate Zac Goldsmith's attacks on Khan, saying they had recklessly stoked racism and intolerance. The final round of ballot confirming confirmed early Saturday that Khan received 57 percent of votes, Goldsmith 43 percent. Many criticized Goldsmith's final published appeal in a right-wing Sunday newspaper warning that London stood "on the brink of a catastrophe" if it elected Khan. The article claimed that Khan and Labour considered terrorists their friends and would handicap police efforts to prevent another attack on London, 11 years after 52 Londoners died in suicide blasts on three subway trains and a bus committed by British-born Muslims. Goldsmith's appeal was accompanied by a picture of the bomb-ravaged bus. Mohammed Amin, chairman of the Conservative Muslim Forum, said he had been disgusted by the Goldsmith campaign tactics. "We were meant to understand that Khan kept bad company with extremist Muslims and could not be trusted with the safety of London. On top of that, leaflets were targeted specifically at London Hindus and Sikhs ... seeking to divide Londoners along religious and ethnic lines," Amin wrote on a Conservative blog. He said the Conservative campaign sought to frighten non-Muslim voters "about Khan, the alleged Muslim extremist." Amin said he voted for Goldsmith because he opposes Labour policies, but could not stomach campaigning actively for him -- and instead took pride in seeing Londoners vote so strongly for a fellow Muslim of Pakistani background. Leading Conservatives defended their campaign tactics, even as they expressed surprise at losing a post locked down for the past eight years by the eccentrically popular Conservative, Boris Johnson. Defense Secretary Michael Fallon, who previously accused Khan of sharing a platform with a London imam sympathetic to the Islamic State extremist group, repeated those since-discredited claims Saturday and insisted such charges represented "the rough and tumble of politics." He also declined, when pressed several times on the matter, to withdraw his campaign claim that London's security would be jeopardized by Khan. "Stuff gets said during elections," Fallon said. LAC LA BICHE- The images are ones of devastation - scorched homes, virtually whole neighborhoods burned to the ground. And Canadian officials say they expect to fight the massive wildfire that has destroyed large parts of Alberta's oil sands town for months. There's fear the growing wildfire could double in size and reach a major oil sands mine and even the neighboring province of Saskatchewan. The Alberta government said the massive blaze in the province will cover more than half a million acres by Sunday and continue to grow because of high temperatures, dry conditions and high winds. Chad Morrison of Alberta Wildfire said it's not uncommon to fight such an inferno in forested areas for months. Martin Luther King III, son of the famed US civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., visited Jerusalem on Sunday to present the 2016 Unsung Hero Award to a trio of Israeli activists for their work on behalf of Ethiopian Jewish immigrants to Israel. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The award was given for the first time ever outside the US and honored Israeli musician Idan Raichel, former MK Pnina Tamano-Shata, and journalist Anat Saragusti on behalf of the Drum Major Institute. My dads mission was initially around the modern civil rights movement, said King III, who was only ten years old when his father was assassinated in 1968. He started as a civil rights leader, but I believe he became a human rights leader. Martin Luther King III with Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky (Photo: Hillel Maeir/TPS) The philosophy that Dad used was non-violence, King III said. I still believe that its possible, even in the face of all kinds of terrorism. I have to believe that the philosophy of nonviolence will work and Im here in that spirit to honor the honorees today. The ceremony was held at the Jewish Agency building in Jerusalem and featured remarks by Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky, a renowned human rights activist in his own right, having spent nine years in a Soviet prison on account of political dissent and activism for rights in the former Soviet Union. Sharansky spoke of the confluence of causes linking the US civil rights movement, the struggle for Soviet Jewry, and the rescue of Ethiopian Jewry and their absorption into Israel. I was in a Soviet prison when Operation Moses occurred, and only from the Soviet press I found out that the Soviets were accusing the Israeli army of kidnapping the citizens of an independent African country, Sharansky said, referring to the secret Israeli airlift of thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel in 1984 that rescued them from a civil war. Thousands and thousands of Jews were taken from the heart of Africa and brought here, he added. Israel can be very proud that we are the only country in the world that took thousands of citizens of Africa and brought them here not as slaves, not as foreign workers, not as refugees, but as full citizens. Sharansky also described the connections between the American civil rights movement and the activism on behalf of Soviet Jewry. Its not well-enough known that the leading figures of the student struggle for Soviet Jewry in America all came from the human rights movement, Sharansky said. People were still at the demonstrations together with Martin Luther King Jr. and decided to create the struggle for Soviet Jewry. So its all closing so many circles, Sharansky concluded. Natan Meir, who lost his wife Dafna Meir in a terror attack at their home in Otniel, was snubbed by every ambassador at the UN security council after being officially invited by Israeli Ambassador Danny Dannon, where they were present at a UN Security Council meeting dealing with the situation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter He then wrote a strongly worded letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon decrying his treatment by the ambassadors. According to Meir, "not a single UN representative shook our hands, called, or met with us. Even you, respected Secretary General, sat there and didn't even open your mouth. You didn't approach a man who's face is anguished in pain." In the letter, Matan wrote that in January "a Palestinian teenager entered our home in the south Mt. Hebron region, and stabbed my wife to death in front of our children. On April 19th I attended, together with my oldest daughter who single handedly stopped the attacker from killing more of my family a discussion at the UN Security Council." Natan Meir and his daughter with Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Dannon The letter continued, saying "At this meeting, the Palestinian representative complained that hundreds of Palestinian children are in Israeli jails. One of these children murdered my wife. Despite this libelous misrepresentation, no one stopped him from continuing his speech." "How can the UN stay relevant when there isn't even the smallest drop of humanity in them?" Meir wrote, after both he and his 17 year old daughter were snubbed by every non-Israeli member of the Security council. "How can someone who can't even look into the eyes of a person have the right to condemn their way of life? Where is the sincerity? Where is the aspiration for humanity which is supposedly the basis of the foundation of the institution of which you are its leader? Can this body succeed in its goal of getting rid of hate, hostility, and inequality?" While Meir acknowledges that the area in which he lives is controversial, he said "many of my Arab neighbors called me and sent me their condolences, and several even came to my house to speak to me in person. They know and I know that true peace will only come from us, the simple people." "Help us to promote our mutual co-existence for the sake of the next generations," his letter continued. "If you wish to help, we request of you to help us to build bridges and connect us people to people, and not to put up boundaries or barriers." Natan's wife Dafna was killed in the doorway to her home in Otniel. The terrorist, Mourad Adias, 16, stabbed Dafna while her daughter watched helplessly her mother fought to keep the terrorist from entering the home, eventually dying of her wounds. The High Court ruled Sunday, with a majority of two against one, that there is no reason to reject the appointment of Shas leader Aryeh Deri to the post of interior minister. The High Court ruled following an appeal that it has not been proven that "a clear and direct connection between Deris crimes committed in the past, according the nature and essence, and the position of Interior Minister specifically, exist except for their being the same position." Interior Minister Arye Deri (Photo: Alex Kolomoiski) The petitioners argued that Deris criminal record from the 1980s when he served as interior minister lead to him being unqualified to return to serve in that same position. The High Court, as mentioned, rejected this argument. Justice Salim Jubran, who headed the panel, added that the judges were updated about the investigation being conducted today against Deri, however the petition dealt with his criminal past and therefore it is not relevant to the case. Justice Neal Hendel, who was the minority opinion, held that Deris appointment as Interior Minister should be annulled. The judge noted that the strength of the lack of reasonableness is due to the severe absence of integrity, and therefore had his opinion been accepted Deris appointment would have been annulled. IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot on Sunday saluted the 23,447 fallen soldiers who were killed throughout Israel's history as the graves in the military plot on Mount Herzl were adored with Israeli flags ahead of Memorial Day. . Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter "This is our way to salute our sons and daughters who set out on their mission, acted on the values of commitment, friendship and love of country, and gave their lives for the same purpose - protecting the country and its people," said Eisenkot. Chief of Staff Eisenkot at pennant ceremony (Photo: Daniel Elior) (Photo: Daniel Elior) To the bereaved families he pledged, "the IDF will continue to support and embrace you, it will continue to carry the memory of your loved ones, continue their way and return here every year to salute each and every one of them with reverence. Today we also remember the IDFs missing and the fallen soldiers whose place of burial is unknown, and we promise that we will not rest until all are returned to our borders. The ceremony was also attended by Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh, Israel Prison Service Commissioner Ofra Klinger, deputy director-general of the Defense Ministry and the head of the Families and Commemoration Department Aryeh Mualem, the head of the Yad Labanim organization Eli Ben-Shem and the head of the IDF Widows and Orphans organization Nava Shoham-Solan. The annual ceremony to adorn the fallen soldiers' graves with flags was held for the 15th consecutive year. The IDF will now work to place flags on every fallen soldier's grave in all cemeteries in Israel by Memorial Day on Wednesday. SANAA- Pro-government forces in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden were detaining and evicting hundreds of civilians to the north, Yemeni officials said Sunday. The officials said armed groups have been raiding shops, restaurants and homes, arresting more than 2,000 northerners they say pose a threat to "security." The officials said they suspect the evictions are the work of secessionists who want southern Yemen to break away from the north, with which it was united in 1990. The UN special envoy to Yemen held talks Sunday with the country's warring parties in a bid to break an impasse, a day after the government pulled out of direct negotiations. Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed held separate morning talks in Kuwait City with delegates, and plenary or committees' meetings were planned in the afternoon, spokesman for the UN envoy Charbel Raji said. Yemen's government on Saturday pulled out of direct negotiations with representatives of the Huthi rebels after there were no signs of any progress. A source close to the government delegation said the talks had reached a delicate stage after "the rebels backtracked to the starting point". "That has complicated the situation," the source told AFP, requesting anonymity. The rebels and their allies have demanded the formation of a consensus transitional government before forging ahead with other issues that require them to surrender arms and withdraw from territories they occupied in 2014. The rebels have also demanded the withdrawal of a small US force operating in the south of the country against Al-Qaeda militants. On Thursday, Ould Cheikh Ahmed said the foes had begun discussing major political and security issues in face-to-face negotiations aimed at bringing an end to 13 months of devastating war. The working groups exchanged views on resolving political and security issues and the release of prisoners and detainees, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2216. This orders the rebels to withdraw from territory they have taken since 2014 and to surrender heavy weaponry they had seized. There has been mounting international pressure to end the Yemen conflict that the United Nations estimates has killed more than 6,400 people and displaced 2.8 million since March last year. Search Keywords: Short link: CAIRO- Militants opened fire on a microbus filled with plainclothes police in a Cairo suburb early Sunday, killing eight of them, including an officer, in an attack claimed by a local ISIS affiliate. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The attack was the deadliest in the heavily policed capital since November, when gunmen attacked a security checkpoint, killing four policemen. That attack was also claimed by the local IS affiliate. Egypt's state-run MENA news agency said the policemen were inspecting security in the south Cairo suburb of Helwan early Sunday when four gunmen in a pickup opened fire on them. Interior Minister Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar, in charge of police, ordered an investigation into the attack. Egyptian President Abdel Fatah a-Sisi (Photo: AP) "These are the heroes whose blood mixes with the nation's soil every day," Abdel-Ghaffar told state television at the end of a brief military funeral for the eight policemen. "We are determined to continue our march against terror and anyone who seeks to undermine the nation's stability," he said, as black-clad female relatives of the policemen wailed in grief. The coffins of the eight were wrapped in the Egyptian flag and placed on top of red fire engines that led a procession of several hundred mourners, including other policemen. An ISIS affiliate claimed responsibility for the attack in an online statement, saying it killed everyone in the vehicle. It identified the officer and said the fighters seized light weapons from the police before fleeing the scene unharmed. It said the operation was to avenge women jailed in Egypt. The claim could not be independently verified, but the statement's language and the nature of the attack suggest it is authentic. Militants have been targeting security forces in the Sinai Peninsula for years, but their attacks have grown more deadly and frequent since the 2013 military overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. An IS affiliate based in the Sinai is now spearheading the insurgency. While most of the unrest has been confined to the northern Sinai, there have been attacks in the mainland as well, mainly small-scale bombings targeting police, the frequency of which had declined in recent months. Egyptian security forces in El Arish, North Sinai. ISIS is fighting against Egypt in North Sinai (Photo: Reuters) Sunday's attack came as the interior minister was locked in a dispute with the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate following the arrest last week of two reporters who had taken refuge inside the syndicate's building in downtown Cairo. The syndicate's board says the ministry did not give it advance warning and has demanded that Abdel-Ghaffar be fired. Several newspapers have protested by not mentioning the minister by name and by only publishing altered photos of him designed to look like negatives. It was not yet clear how they would cover his response to Sunday's attack. Rights groups have accused Egypt's police of widespread abuses, including the torture of dissidents, with some likening their tactics to those used during the rule of President Hosni Mubarak, who was overthrown in a 2011 uprising. The Interior Ministry has denied any systematic abuses, and is likely to point to attacks like the one carried out on Sunday to argue that it is defending the country against Islamic militants who have sown chaos across the region. Two Turkish soldiers were killed in a bomb blast on Sunday in the southeast of the country, where the military is waging an offensive against Kurdish rebels, a military official said. Another soldier was also wounded when the device -- which the official said was planted by Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters -- exploded in the city of Nusaybin as the soldiers were trying to defuse it. The military has been battling for months against Kurdish fighters in Nusaybin, and eight PKK militants were killed there on Saturday, according to a military statement. Turkish warplanes also hit PKK bases in northern Iraq overnight, destroying bunkers and weapons depots, the Anatolia news agency reported. Fighting between Turkish security forces and the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organisation by Ankara and its Western allies, erupted again last summer after the collapse of a two-year ceasefire. Since then, hundreds of members of the Turkish security forces and several thousand Kurdish rebels have been killed. In all, tens of thousands of people have been killed since the PKK took up arms in 1984 demanding a homeland for Turkey's biggest minority. Since then, the group has pared back its demands to focus on cultural rights and a measure of autonomy. Search Keywords: Short link: Syrian rebels on Sunday fired rockets into a regime-held district of Aleppo, killing three civilians and wounding 15, a monitoring group said. They were the first casualties since a ceasefire took hold on Thursday in the battleground northern city where regime forces control western districts and the rebels are entrenched in the east. The ceasefire is due to expire at 2101 GMT on Monday. It comes as world powers push for a wider cessation of hostilities between rebels and regime forces and a resumption of UN-brokered peace talks. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a woman and a child were among the three civilians killed when the rebels rained rockets down on several districts of western Aleppo city. Fighting in Aleppo flared up late last month, and more than 300 people have been killed in the violence. Syria's five-year war has killed more than 270,000 people and displaced millions. Search Keywords: Short link: Turkish shelling killed 55 Islamic State insurgents in northern Syria on Saturday, military sources said, in retaliation for weeks of rocket attacks on a Turkish border town. Artillery fire hit the regions of Suran and Tal El Hisn north of Aleppo, as well as Baragidah and Kusakcik, taking out three rocket installations and three vehicles in addition to killing the militants, the sources said on Sunday. The Turkish border town of Kilis, which lies just across the frontier from Islamic State-controlled territory of Syria, has been regularly struck by rockets in recent weeks, killing about 20 people and wounding 70 more, according to state-run Anadolu Agency. The Turkish military usually responds with artillery barrages into northern Syria, but officials have said it is difficult to hit mobile Islamic State targets with howitzers. Turkish officials have said they need more help from Western allies in defending Kilis and the border. "None of those who claim to fight against Daesh in Syria have neither inflicted as many losses on it as we have, nor have they paid as big a price as we have," President Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. "They left us alone in our struggle against this group that hurts us with suicide bombings and attacks on Kilis." Kilis is about 60 km (37 miles) north of Aleppo - Syria's embattled, biggest city and a big prize in the more than five-year-old civil war - and is sheltering about 110,000 Syrian refugees. Turkish officials have said Islamic State fighters often drive up to the Turkish border on motorcycles and then launch rockets at Kilis before fleeing. Search Keywords: Short link: Our directory features more than 18 million business listings from across the entire US. However, if we're missing your business, add your business by clicking on Add Your Business. Greek riot police on Sunday fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators who threw Molotov cocktails during an anti-austerity protest outside parliament in Athens, local media reported, as lawmakers prepared to vote on a controversial tax and pensions overhaul. Greek television showed police firing volleys of tear gas in response to projectiles lobbed by masked youths during the demonstration, which attracted around 10,000 people angered by the latest measures demanded by Greece's creditors. The tensions come as Greece is in the grip of the third day of a general strike that has paralysed public transport across the country. Thousands of protesters also took to the streets of Greece's second city of Thessaloniki to show their opposition to the proposed reforms, including many supporters of the communist-leaning PAME trade union. The reforms to be voted on by MPs later Sunday would reduce Greece's highest pension payouts, merge several pension funds, increase contributions and raise taxes for those on medium and high incomes. The measures are part of an austerity package demanded by the European Union and International Monetary Fund in exchange for the next tranche of Greece's 86 billion euro ($95 billion) bailout, but the proposed changes have sparked mass opposition. The government is seeking to adopt the reforms ahead of a crunch meeting of eurozone creditors in Brussels on Monday. Search Keywords: Short link: Vizianagaram: Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Bhanwar Lal today said a survey to conduct physical verification of voters is underway on a pilot basis at 14 municipal corporations and all municipality areas in the state. He said, "The main aim of the survey is to rationalise polling booths," depending on the number of electors and size of areas to ensure that people come out to cast votes. "The door-to-door survey is being conducted under every polling booth limit by using electronic and scientific system and computerisation of voters' details is being done on the spot itself," the CEO said. Lal inaugurated an EVM (electronic voting machine) godown, constructed with a cost of Rs 1.91 crore from Election Commission funds, at Nellimerla near here. Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was on Sunday invited by a group of women from Maharashtra to guide them for proper and effective enforcement of prohibition in some of the districts of their state. A delegation of Chandrapur Shramik Elgar Group led by its president Paromita Goswami today met Kumar at his official residence here and formally invited him. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Goswami said, "We have invited Nitish Kumar to visit Maharashtra to campaign for prohibition in the state. Kumar, who accepted our invitation, assured us that he will visit Maharashtra to campaign against liquor." The Bihar Chief Minister has already got invitations from Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Odisha to campaign against liquor. Informing that the women of Maharashtra were influenced by Kumar's decision to impose a blanket ban on liquor in Bihar, Goswami said the women here were fortunate that he has effectively enforced prohibition, which was not effective in the three districts of Chandrapur, Wardha and Gadchiroli in Maharashtra. "We (women) fought for prohibition in Maharashtra and complete prohibition was enforced on April 1 last year in three districts of Chandrapur, Wardha and Gadchiroli. But it is not as effective as in Bihar," she said. "We need the guidance of Nitishji for effective implementation of prohibition in these three districts," said Goswami. They group thanked Kumar for implementing prohibition in Bihar and also honoured him by presenting a shawl and a memento. Gaya: With a class 12 student being shot dead by a Janata Dal (United) MLC's son in a road rage case late last night, the Bihar Police on Sunday arrested the accused youth's father on charges of 'criminal conspiracy and harbouring the accused'. "We have arrested two persons, Bindi Yadav and a bodyguard Allegation against Bindi Yadav is of criminal conspiracy and harbouring the accused," SSP Gaya Garima Malik told ANI. Bindi was detained earlier in the day while the police had arrested the bodyguard. Aditya Sachdeva, the victim, was returning home after celebrating his birthday when he overtook Rocky's car. A scuffle broke out between the two sides when Rocky shot Aditya dead. Talking to ANI earlier, Bindi Yadav defended his son and alleged that his son was assaulted by those sitting in the victim's car. "My son was driving the car and those four persons in the other car were drunk. They overtook his car and stopped my son on the way. They then pulled him out of the car and started beating him," said Yadav. "During the scuffle, my son took out his licensed pistol in defence and by mistake it happened," he added. Yadav further said the law will take its own course in this matter, adding he has immense faith and respect for the judiciary. Meanwhile, the Janata Dal (United) has assured appropriate action against the accused. "Anyone taking law in their hands will not be spared.such people can't be protected," JD (U) leader Ali Anwar told ANI. New Delhi: Veteran Congress leader Sheila Dikshit on Sunday lashed out at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over Belgian national's molestation case and claimed that women in the national capital are feeling unsafe since Aam Aadmi party (AAP) came into power. Training his guns on CM Arvind Kejriwal over the Belgian woman's molestation by an Ola cab driver, Sheila Dikshit said the Delhi Chief Minister is least bothered about women's safety and advised him to become more serious about governance. "Women are feeling unsafe in Delhi since AAP has come to power. Arvind Kejriwal must give importance to women's safety. If women don't feel secure in the country's capital, then where will they? Atrocities against women should not be tolerated. The Delhi government needs to impose regulations on radio taxi firms to prevent such incidents," the former Delhi Chief Minister said on Belgian national molestation case. An Ola cab driver was on Sunday morning arrested for allegedly molesting a 23-year-old Belgian woman passenger. According to reports, the Belgian national had booked the Ola cab from Gurgaon and during the journey the cab driver allegedly tried to get close to her and touch her inappropriately. Zee Media Bureau New Delhi: This comes as a warning sign for people across the globe as researchers have said that climate change can possibly elevate the risk of chronic kidney ailment all around the world. As per new findings, heat stress and rising temperature can harm kidneys, especially in rural communities of hot regions. With rise in temperature worldwide, dehydration and heat stress are likely to take a toll on the kidneys, emerging as a major cause of poor kidney health in the near future. "A new type of kidney disease, occurring throughout the world in hot areas, is linked with temperature and climate and may be one of the first epidemics due to global warming," said Richard Johnson, from the University of Colorado in the US. Also, global warming and a rise in extreme heat waves have increased the risk of kidney disease, especially for the agricultural workers, who are exposed to the heat for longer duration. Decreasing amounts of rain contribute to the growing epidemic of the chronic kidney disease consistent with heat stress -- by reducing water supplies and quality as temperatures rise, the researchers noted. (With Agency inputs) An Iranian director sentenced to 223 lashes for making a film that has never been officially shown in his homeland said Friday he just wanted to be left alone to work rather than "be turned into a hero". Keywan Karimi ran into trouble with Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards over a documentary he shot called "Writing on the City" about graffiti in the capital Tehran. He spent 15 days in solitary confinement in 2013 and was accused of making "propaganda against the regime" and "insulting religious values". But since then, the young avant-garde filmmaker told AFP, several other "ridiculous" charges have been added including drinking alcohol, having extramarital affairs and making pornography. "All I was doing was filming what was being written on the walls of Tehran," said the 33-year-old, who comes from the country's Kurdish minority. Karimi was sentenced to six years in prison in 2015 but after an international outcry in which acclaimed Iranian directors including Jafar Panahi and Mohsen Makhmalbaf rallied to his support, five years of the term was suspended. The threat of the 233 lashes has not however been lifted, and the prison authorities are now demanding that the punishment be carried out. "I am not a political activist," Karimi told AFP in a telephone interview. "I am not being sent to prison because I oppose the regime but because I am a filmmaker." The police have contacted him several times but have not yet arrested him to bring him to prison to be whipped and serve his sentence, he said. "Writing on the City" has since been shown at film festivals in France, Spain and Switzerland and in the meantime Karimi has continued working on another film project. "I am waiting for them to come for me. The support I have received helps break the solitude and solidarity from the film world also warms my heart," he added. Karimi said that he could have immigrated "quite easily but I want to remain to defend my right to live my life. "The fact that my artistic activity is seen as an act of political opposition says a lot about the situation in Iran," he added. "When the (Turkish Kurdish director) Yilmaz Guney won the Palme d'Or at Cannes for his film 'Yol' (in 1982), he said that cinema was a part of his political activism. "He was an activist who was part of a political organisation. But what I draw from his experience is that making films is also a kind of struggle, a struggle in defence of the courage to think," Karimi insisted. "I do not want to be turned into a hero. Whether my films are seen and I become well-known is really secondary. Cinema is what gives sense to my life." For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture Search Keywords: Short link: Washington D.c, May 8 (ANI): According to a recent study, popping contraceptive pills could protect against one of the most common sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The McMaster University study in mice suggested that a female sex hormone, estradiol (E2), exerts its protective effect against herpes virus by shifting the immune response in the vaginal mucosa toward a more effective antiviral one. Many studies have shown that injectable contraceptives containing progestins may increase a woman's risk of being infected with HIV and with HSV-2, the virus causing genital herpes. On the other hand, estradiol, another hormone that is present during the normal menstrual cycle and contained in oral contraceptives, has been shown to be protective. To minimize unintended negative consequences of hormonal contraception, understanding how different hormones affect susceptibility to STI pathogens is important. Researcher Charu Kaushic said that this is the first study that has shown how estradiol could be enhancing the immune system to fight against viral infection. Kaushic added, "If this pathway can be verified in women, then we have laid the foundation to address a number of important public health issues, particularly whether some hormonal contraceptives may be better than others for women who are at higher risk of acquiring sexually transmitted infections, such as in Sub-Saharan African, where both HIV-1 and HSV-2 infection rates are high." The researchers concluded that the study describes a mechanism by which E2 enhances anti-viral protection following vaccination in the genital HSV-2 mouse model. They added, "to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating that E2 can directly regulate T-cell mediated adaptive anti-viral immunity in the female genital tract by modulating DC functions." The study appears in PLOS Pathogens. Washington D.C, May 8 (ANI): Newborns, who catch a cold and flu before they reach the six-month mark, are more susceptible to type 1 diabetes in adulthood, according to a recent study. The Helmholtz Zentrum MAnchen scientists, headed by Prof. Dr. Anette-Gabriele Ziegler, examined anonymized data from almost 300,000 children born in Bavaria between 2005 and 2007. They systematically evaluated all available data on infections with respect to the later development of type 1 diabetes. The infections were broken down according to the localization of the symptoms (such as dermal, eye, gastrointestinal or respiratory infections), the causes (bacterial, viral or mycoses) and the age (quarter-yearly from birth). First author Dr. Andreas Beyerlein said that the findings show that viral respiratory tract disorders during the first six months of life significantly increase the risk of children developing type 1 diabetes. Infections that occurred later or that involved other organs were not associated with a significantly higher risk. For the researchers, these findings are a further piece in the puzzle of understanding how type 1 diabetes develops, with the interaction of genetic and environmental factors still largely unclear. Lead scientist Ziegler added that the research is also consistent with other results that they have published based on data from children with increased familial risk, which already suggested that the first half year of life is crucial for the development of the immune system and of autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes. In the future the scientists want to determine whether there is actually a causal relationship and if yes, exactly which pathogens are involved and how they trigger this effect. This could then serve as a basis for attempting to develop an appropriate vaccine. The study is published in JAMA. Toronto: While the full moon does not make kids hyperactive - as commonly believed - it may decrease their sleep time by five minutes on an average, says a study. However, the clinical implication of sleeping five minutes less during full moon does not represent a considerable threat to health, the researchers pointed out. "Overall, I think we should not be worried about the full moon. Our behaviours are largely influenced by many other factors like genes, education, income and psychosocial aspects rather than by gravitational forces," said one of the researchers, Jean-Philippe Chaput from the Eastern Ontario Research Institute in Canada. To explore whether lunar phases somehow do affect humans, the international group of researchers studied children to see if their sleeping patterns changed or if there were any differences in their daily activities. "We considered that performing this research on children would be particularly more relevant because they are more amenable to behaviour changes than adults and their sleep needs are greater than adults," Chaput explained. The study was conducted on 5,812 children from five continents. The children came from a wide range of economic and socio-cultural levels, and variables such as age, sex, highest education, day of measurement, body mass index score, nocturnal sleep duration, level of physical activity and total sedentary time were considered. Data collection took place over 28 months, which is equivalent to the same number of lunar cycles. These were then subdivided into three lunar phases -- full moon, half-moon and new moon. The findings obtained in the study revealed that in general, nocturnal sleep duration around full moon compared to new moon reported an average decrease of five minutes or roughly one percent less than the typical number of hours they get in ordinary nights. No other activity behaviours were substantially modified, the findings showed. "The only significant finding was the one percent sleep alteration in full moon, and this is largely explained by our large sample size that maximises statistical power," Chaput said. The results were published in the journal Frontiers in Pediatrics. Zee Media Bureau New Delhi: High stress invites several health problems ranging from depression to heart strokes. Recently, scientists have discovered that people who generally takes a lot of stress are at higher risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The scientists from Boston University of Medicine revealed that stress encourages accumulation of key proteins in brains leading to neurodegeneration which is an important symptom of Alzheimer disease. The findings published in Cell Reports focuses on the tau protein whose abnormal clumping can damage the nerves of the brain. New research shows that the tau protein directs the formation of stress granules, which are molecular complexes that allow nerve cells to adapt to stresses, such as injury. The tau-stress granule complex is usually short lived, but in the setting of chronic stress, tau persistently forms into a cluster, leading to the degeneration of nerve cells seen in AD. However, the team of scientists are also prepared with a solution to cope this problem. According to them reducing the amount of one of the key stress granule proteins, TIA1, prevented tau aggregation and nerve cell degeneration. (With ANI inputs) Los Angeles: Scientists have for the first time found that Zika triggers cell suicide in the developing brain, a finding that may explain how the virus causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads, and also help develop new therapies against the infection. The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention recently concluded that Zika virus infection in pregnant women can stunt neonatal brain development, leading to babies born with abnormally small heads, a condition known as microcephaly. Now, researchers at University of California San Diego found one way Zika can damage developing brain cells. They also found that inhibiting this mechanism reduces brain cell damage, hinting at a new therapeutic approach to mitigating the effects of prenatal Zika virus infection. Using a 3D, stem cell-based model of a first-trimester brain, researchers found that Zika activates TLR3, a molecule human cells normally use to defend against invading viruses. In turn, hyper-activated TLR3 turns off genes that stem cells need to specialise into brain cells and turns on genes that trigger cell suicide. "We all have an innate immune system that evolved specifically to fight off viruses, but here the virus turns that very same defence mechanism against us," said Tariq Rana, professor at UC San Diego. "By activating TLR3, the Zika virus blocks genes that tell stem cells to develop into the various parts of the brain. The good news is that we have TLR3 inhibitors that can stop this from happening," said Rana. The researchers' model closely resembled foetal brain tissue at eight to nine weeks post-conception. When the team added a prototype Zika virus strain to the 3D brain model, the organoid shrank. Five days after the infection, healthy, mock-infected brain organoids had grown an average of 22.6 per cent. In contrast, the Zika-infected organoids had decreased in size by an average 16 per cent. Researchers also noticed that the TLR3 gene was activated in the Zika virus-infected organoids. TLR3 acts as an antenna, sensing double-stranded RNA specific to viruses. When viral RNA binds TLR3, it kicks off an immune response. TLR3 helps activate many different genes that aid in fighting an infection. However, in developing brain cells, TLR3 activation also influences 41 genes that lead to diminished stem cell differentiation into brain cells and increased cell suicide, a carefully controlled process known as apoptosis. To determine whether TLR3 activation could be the cause of Zika-induced organoid shrinkage - and therefore perhaps microcephaly - or merely a symptom of it, researchers treated some of the infected organoids with a TLR3 inhibitor. They found that the TLR3 inhibitor tempered Zika virus' severe effects on brain cell health and organoid size, underscoring TLR3's role linking infection and brain damage. The study was published in the journal Cell Stem Cell. New Delhi: In a major revelation, a sensational claim has come to the fore in connection with AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam. A senior journalist is under scanner of Enforcement Directorate (ED) for his role in AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam. It has been found that this journalist, who was working with a Hindi news channel, had travelled with his wife to Italy allegedly sponsored by AgustaWestland. The ED officials allege that only on this journalist and his family an amount of Rs 28 lakhs was spent, according to a report in OneIndia News. The ED wants to investigate the nature of the relationship between AgustaWestland and this journalist. This journalist was questioned last year too and will be summoned again by the Enforcement Directorate. James Christian Michel, one of the middlemen, was in charge of the media. He had organised junkets for officials and media personnel. During the investigation, the ED found that Michel had spent Rs 4 crore only on the tickets which were meant for the junkets. Earlier, on Saturday, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy had tweeted, "The first paid news journalist in AW scam to be interrogated." The first paid news journalist in AW scam to be interrogated. On trail, ED is looking at another journo who also got Rs.5 crores from Rafael Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) May 7, 2016 On January 1, 2014, India had scrapped the contract with AgustaWestland for supplying VVIP choppers to IAF over alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of paying kickbacks to the tune of Rs 423 crore by it for securing the deal. New Delhi: The Budget session in Parliament is likely to be stormy on Monday as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Kirit Somaiya is set to corner the Congress on Robert Vadra land deal. BJP leader Somaniya today issued a notice in Lok Sabha to discuss the controversial Robert Vadra land deal in the house. "Robert Vadra has parked the scam money through web of companies via these solar land transactions and parked the scam money in his own company. I am going to raise this issue tomorrow in Parliament, let government brief the people how the jija ji of Gandhi family has parked scam money," he told ANI. Stepping up the attack against Vadra, Somaiya said the 'jija ji' (brother-in-law) has parked the scam money through web of companies via these solar land transactions. "Robert Vadra has used number of shell companies like Allegeny Finlease Pvt Ltd, Sky Light Hospitality (SLH) or somebody named Faqir Mohammed, Jay Prakash Bagadwa. Overall non entity has been used for money laundering," he said. When asked on the actions he has initiated against Vadra, the BJP MP said he has already filed a complaint in this regard with the Rajasthan Government. "I have already sent a letter to the CBI, state government and Enforcement Directorate. I have already submitted 100 pages of details of Robert Vadra's company and I want them to take action in this regard," he added. On May 6, the Enforcement Directorate conducted raids at multiple locations at Bikaner in Rajasthan in connection with the money laundering case of a company allegedly linked to Vadra. The agency conducted searches at eight places in Bikaner and nearby areas, belonging to accused Jay Prakash Bagadwa and others. The raids were also conducted on the premises of some retired officials, including Faqir Mohammed, Uma Charan, Deeparam and Mahavir Swamy. The probe is related to the alleged purchase of 275 bigha land by the company of Vadra, son-in-law of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, in Kolayat area of Bikaner. The alleged land grab case pertains to acquisition of around 1,400 acres of land, sold to seven companies between 2009 and 2011. One of these was Sky Light Hospitality (SLH), a firm connected to Vadra. The 'Vadra land deal' controversy surfaced four year back in 2012 when the then activist Arvind Kejriwal and his associated had accused the Congress son-in-law of corruption in land deals and providing illegal benefits to real estate company DLF. Both Vadra and DLF had denied the allegations levelled against them by Kejriwal. The then main opposition party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had demanded a probe into the matter. (With inputs from ANI) New Delhi: The BJP National Executive is set to meet next month and party president Amit Shah is expected to recast the key decision making body and other frontal organisations before the exercise. Party sources said the executive may meet on June 11-12. The meeting will come within three months of the last executive meet held in the national capital on March 19-20. Though the party's constitution envisages meeting of the executive every three months, the practice is not followed strictly. The last executive meeting had happened almost a year after the previous one in Bengaluru. The upcoming meeting will have extra significance as Shah is set to rejig the office-bearers before that and the new team will reflect the fresh inner dynamics within the party. There is the buzz that a reshuffle in the Union Council of Ministers will also take place around the time and some party office bearers and ministers may swap places. The agenda of the meeting will also be impacted by the results of the ongoing Assembly polls in four states-- Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, and Union Territory of Puducherry. The counting of votes is scheduled for May 19. BJP expects to win Assam and poll more votes than ever in three other states where it is not a contender for power. A defeat in Assam will be a huge let down, more so as it will come on the heels of massive losses in Bihar and Delhi assembly polls. However, a win in Assam will be a big morale booster for the saffron outfit and perk up the organisation ahead of the executive meeting. New Delhi: Ahead of the crucial Punjab polls, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the state's Congress and SAD, alleging that both the parties have "ruined" every household there through "corruption" and "drug menace". Kejriwal in his tone and tenor indicated that drug issue in Punjab is going to be major poll plank and claimed that his party is "going to win the elections" in the state due in 2017. "Both Congress and SAD have through corruption and drug menace pushed the state backward, and people have lost faith. The successive governments installed in the state after Independence have ruined each and every household there," Kejriwal alleged. The AAP leader was addressing a gathering here after launching a Punjabi video song 'Ek Nasha: Nashe ke Khilaf' penned and sung by fellow AAP leader Kumar Vishwas, aimed at weaning the people of the state away from drugs and narcotics. The video makes veiled references to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukbhir Badal, and even as both Kejriwal said, the purpose of the video was "apolitical", a "broom" has been shown in the video in the end. "You see poets like Vishwas tell things through clues. And, you see what clues he has left in the video," Kejriwal said, as he took a dig at the Badal dispensation. "But, the enthusiasm you people have shown here, we are finding the same enthusiasm in Punjab, and AAP will win the elections there and for the next governement...The issue of eliminating drug menace will be a daunting task but it won't be impossible," Kejriwal claimed. "Once we form the government, we will punish all those involved in running this drug network," he said. Further alleging that Badal government has "slapped false cases" against people who got involved in drug business, he said, "We will also make sure that such false cases are withdrawn." Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party had swept the 2015 Delhi Assembly polls, winning 67 of the 70 seats, and the party is exuding confidence of repeating its performance in Punjab. Vishwas earlier said, "People who do drugs are not culprits but patients. We have to help them. Culprits are people who are running the drug network," and alleged that "we all know that in Pathankot attack, how the drug business was one of the factors." Kejriwal praising the video said, "This video is impactful and should be in mobile phones of every person in Punjab." AAP ministers Satyender Jain and Kapil Mishra, other party leaders Sanjay Singh and Ashutosh were also present on the occasion. New Delhi: A 55-year-old farmer was arrested for allegedly stealing water from Urmil dam in drought-hit Mahoba of Bundelkhand region in Uttar Pradesh. Hira Lal Yadav is accused of damaging a valve of the dam and diverting the water to his fields through a small canal. However, his family claimed that the valve was already broken and he just utilised the leaking water by diverting it to his fields. They said that the water department officials were framing him to hide their own mistakes. Quoting Gaurav Singh, Superintendent of Police of Mahoba, a report in NDTV said, "Hiralal damaged a valve of a water pipeline and stored water in a pit, using it for agriculture. This complaint was filed by Joint engineer of Mahoba Jal Sansthan and so we have booked him user section 430, 353 and damaging government property." Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh is facing severe drought for third year in a row. Chief Minister Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi for help in tackling the drought in the state. By 2050 more than 130 million people will live with dementia, up from 46 million currently Deutsche Telekom has launched an online game that will help collect research data to fight Alzheimer's disease and dementia, it said on Wednesday. The company said its digital healthcare services arm had teamed up with university researchers and the Alzheimer's Research Organizations to tap into the global gaming community, which spends an estimated 3 billion hours a week playing online. "100,000 gamers can generate in two minutes data that would need more than 50 years of research," Deutsche Telekom said in a statement. "Sea Hero Quest", which will be available on smartphones and tablets, follows the journey of an elderly former sea explorer, who has lost his memories. Along the virtual quest, gamers will have to make decisions, and their answers and movements will yield anonymous data that can be used for research. Alzheimer's Disease International estimates that by 2050 more than 130 million people will live with dementia, up from 46 million currently, according to its 2015 report. "We know that first symptoms of dementia are loss of orientation even in familiar surroundings," said Hilary Evans, chief executive at Alzheimer's Research UK. "This is a great opportunity to collect and share a valuable data pool." Search Keywords: Short link: New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Department of Higher Secondary Education (DHSE) is all set to declare the Kerala DHSE (+2) Result 2016 on May 9, i.e. Monday. Students can take a sigh of relief as it is confirmed now that the Kerala HSE Plus Two Result 2016 will be declared tomorrow at 11 AM. As per the latest news received through a DHSE Result notification, the Kerala result for class 12 students will be available on the official website of the Board on the aforementioned date. On 9th May, students can log on to the official websites - keralaresults.nic.in and dhsekerala.gov.in to check their results. The Kerala Higher Secondary Examination (HSE) 2016 was held from 09 March 2016 till 29 March 2016 with Malayalam language as its first paper. A total of 460743 students have appeared for the examination. If you are one of the students waiting for the result, heres the step by step procedure to get the Kerala result: - Go to the official website keralaresults.nic.in / dhsekerala.gov.in - Navigate to the Kerala HSE Result 2016 - Fill the relevant information asked in the submission form - Submit all the details - Access the Kerala DHSE Result 2016 Zee Media wishes all the students best of luck! Shimla: In an extremely unfortunate incident, at least 14 persons were killed on the spot and 40 others left injured in a bus accident in Himachal Pradesh's Mandi on Saturday. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has announced Rs Five lakh as compensation for the kin of the deceased. What led to the accident? The accident took place when a Himachal Road Transport Corporation bus plunged into a deep gorge near Jogindernagar in Mandi district on Saturday night. The bus, carrying over 55 persons, was on its way to Rekong Peo, when the mishap took place. The accident took place about 210 km from Shimla. Out of the nine, eight bodies have been retrieved from the wreckage of the bus and more deaths are not ruled out as some of the injured persons were in critical condition, police said, adding 39 people have been injured. The rescue operations are in progress and injured persons have been rushed to PGI Chandigarh, Government Medical College, Tanda (Kangra) and other hospitals. Dehradun: There seems to be no end in sight to controversies over Uttarakhand political crisis involving Harish Rawat. In the latest episode of controversy, yet another sting operation video has been released by a private news channel (Samachar Plus). The sting video claims that Harish Rawat gave Rs 25 lakh each to 12 MLAs. The sting video allegedly shows Congress MLA Madan Singh Bisht talking about the money deal involving Harish Rawat. Noteworthy, this is the same channel which had released the earlier sting showing Harish Rawat. WATCH THE STING OPERATION VIDEO here:- Earlier, it was reported from CBI sources that the sting operation that allegedly showed Harish Rawat attempting to bribe lawmakers to support him in a floor test is genuine. The CBI on Thursday summoned ousted Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat to Delhi for questioning on Monday. The Supreme Court on Friday had fixed May 10 as the date for the floor test to ascertain if ousted Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat enjoys majority support in the state's assembly. NOTE: Zee News doesn't vouch for authenticity of the video New Delhi: The government favours a "carrot and stick" approach to prevent the spread of the Islamic State. Highly placed sources in the home ministry say the security agencies are keeping a strict vigil on the social media activity of the "potential targets" of terror modules. "The terrorist organisations have been using various social media platforms to spread their propaganda and recruit more footsoldiers for their cause. There is no reason to not believe that they may be setting their eyes on India," a senior home ministry official told IANS. "It`s a two-pronged approach. One is to keep an eye on the social media activity of those who might be the target of terror propaganda. At the same time, the efforts should be made to bring them into the mainstream through welfare and employment schemes," the official said. Simultaneously, there is an effort to bring youth from the minority community into the mainstream through various sops and employment prospects. "The youth who do not have anything to do, who are unemployed, may go astray. We have been trying to educate and skill them so that they earn a decent livelihood and enjoy their lives," Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptulla told IANS. For implementing this strategy, state governments and their police forces have been asked to pitch in in the effort apart from the central agencies, according to sources. As for the ministry of minority affairs, it has been asked to implement various welfare and employment oriented schemes, especially in the "vulnerable pockets" of the country and has been allocated Rs 87 crore for this fiscal. "The ministry has been asked to implement various schemes including those under the Skill India mission in various parts of the country, with a special focus on madrasas," a senior ministry official, who did not wish to be named, told IANS. At the same time, officials say, with cases of Indian Muslims going to fight for IS in other countries few and far between, there is no major threat as of now, but "why give them a chance?" New Delhi: Hours after a cab driver was arrested Sunday on charges of molesting a 23-year-old Belgian woman he was ferrying to Gurgaon to here, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today sought a report from Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung of the entire incident. "I have asked Lt Governor Delhi for a report on the molestation of a Belgian girl by a cab driver," the Minister said on Twitter. I have asked Lt Governor Delhi for a report on the molestation of a Belgian girl by a Cab driver. /1 Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) May 8, 2016 In another tweet she wrote, "We are committed to the safety and security of all foreign nationals in India." We are committed to the safety and security of all foreign nationals in India./2 Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) May 8, 2016 The alleged incident of molestation of the Belgian woman happened yesterday night. The driver, identified as Raj Singh, 23, from Rajasthan, has been terminated from Ola's platform, the company said. In her complaint, the Belgian woman said she was travelling on Saturday in the cab from Gurgaon to Delhi when she was molested by the driver, IANS quoted Deputy Commissioner of Police Mandeep Singh Randhawa as saying. The officer said the driver was arrested from Gurgaon around 3 am on Sunday and booked for molestation. "We have also seized the car bearing registration number HR55 W 3346." Another police officer, who is part of the investigation team, told IANS that the woman hired the cab around 5.30 pm. on Saturday from Gurgaon's DLF area to go to Delhi to meet her friend. "At first, the driver initially pretended he could not find the place she wanted to go and drove around, and then told her that the cab's GPS system was not working and she should come to the front and help him with the directions. "As she came and sat, he then snatched her mobile and deleted all her contacts so that she could not call anyone fast. After that he molested her before leaving her in Govindpuri area (in south Delhi) around 7.30 pm.," said the officer, citing the woman's complaint. "The woman then called the Police Control Room and we managed to arrest the driver with the help of technical surveillance," the officer added. Ola assured they will provide all help to police and the had removed the driver immediately. "The driver has been terminated from the platform with immediate effect. "We will share all required information with the authorities to help resolve this for the customer. We have zero tolerance for such behaviour from drivers," the cab aggregator said in a statement. (With Agency inputs) New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday would clear the uncertainty hanging over the fate of medical entrance examinations conducted by states . The Supreme Court on Friday had said that it would pass an order on May 9. A bench of Justices A R Da ve, Shiva Kirti Singh and A K Goel said clouds of uncertainty hanging over the fate of entrance examinations conducted by states after implementation of NEET will be cleared on May 9 when it would pass order to put to rest all confusion. Also, the Supreme Court on Friday had ruled that those students who had appeared for NEET-I held on May 1 would not be allowed in phase II of the test to be held on July 24. Ever since the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) was revived by Supreme Court in April, the state governments and private colleges have been to convince the court to allow them to hold tests at least for the current academic year. The court's order has also created confusion in the minds of lakhs of medical aspirants. Medical aspirants are confused whether the examination they had appeared or about to appear would be valid or not. Meanwhile, states are conducting the examinations with hearing in the Supreme Court going on. Interestingly MCI, which had supported NEET and had opposed plea of state governments, softened its stand and told the bench they should be allowed to hold the tests this year. NEET schedule According to the schedule, the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) scheduled for May 1 was treated as first round of the NEET. However, those who have not applied for AIPMT will be given opportunity to appear in round two on July 24. The combined result will be declared on August 17, in order to complete the admission process by September 30 - the deadline set by the apex court in its previous orders. New Delhi: Minister of State for External Affairs General V K Singh on Sunday said that his ministry has no confirmation whether the 41 Indians, including a Catholic priest from Kerala, held hostage by ISIS in Iraq and Yemen are dead or alive. Those held hostage by ISIS, 40 are from Punjab while one person is from Kerala. Singh, however, said that there is no adverse report about them. Referring to the whereabouts of the Catholic priest from Kerala, Father Tom Uzhunnalil, Singh said, There is no confirmation whether he is dead or he is alive.Anything adverse is not there. It is the same situation that we are facing for 40 people from Punjab. They are in the captivity of IS in Iraq. We dont have any confirmation, he told reporters. We just know a person has been abductedor the 40 people are in captivity but anything adverse is not there. It is not coming out, the Indian Express quoted the minister as saying. He added that the government would not be able to say anything till the time any information reaches it. Forty Indians from Punjab were taken hostage by the ISIS on June 11 in 2014 in Iraqs Mosul town while Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who hails from Kottayam district in Kerala, was abducted in March this year by the terror group in Yemen. He had gone missing after the militant group attacked a care home run by Mother Teresas Missionaries of Charity. At least 15 people were killed in the attack. (With PTI inputs) New Delhi: Delhi Police on Sunday arrested an Ola cab driver for allegedly molesting a Belgian woman passenger. The 23-year-old passenger, in her complaint to police, said she had booked the Ola cab from Gurgaon and during the journey the cab driver allegedly kissed her. After stepping out of the cab near South East Delhi's CR Park area, she informed the police about the incident at around 10 pm on Saturday. "We have received a complaint at CR Park Police Station and it is being probed," said DCP (South East) MS Randhawa. It is yet to be ascertained whether the woman is a tourist or has been staying in the country for some time. New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday submitted charge sheet before a special court against 10 accused in the double murder case of BJP leaders in Bharuch, claiming the killings were part of a larger conspiracy involving co-accused located in Pakistan and South Africa. Reportedly, the Dawood Ibrahim's D-Company had lured people by saying that 'target Hindu leaders seen to have had a role in the Gujarat riots and those perceived as "anti-Muslim" and get good money and jobs in South Africa', according to a report in TOI. 'Strike terror in minds of people belonging to particular section of society' As per the charge sheet submitted before the special NIA court of principal judge P B Desai, "The case relates to murder of two persons ...as part of a larger conspiracy in which co-accused located in foreign countries too, were conspiring to kill and strike terror in the minds of people belonging to a particular section of society." "During investigation, role of co-accused located in Pakistan and South Africa has also emerged and investigation of the case is being continued to collect more evidence against the accused," it said. The central agency said charge sheet against two more arrested accused - Abdul Samad and Nasir Khan Pathan - will be filed later. The charge sheet was filed against accused Saiyed Imran, Zuheb Ansari, Inayat Patel, Mohmad Yunus, Haider Ali, Nissarbhai Sheikh, Mohsin Khan Pathan, Mohmed Altaf Shaikh, Abid Patel and Abdul Salim Ghanchi. BJP leaders Shirish Bangali, Pragnesh Mistry's killings Former BJP president of Bharuch and senior RSS member Shirish Bangali and general secretary of Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha Pragnesh Mistry were shot dead in the district by two unidentified gunmen on November 2 last year. Public prosecutor Geeta Gorambe also submitted three applications before the court, seeking permission to keep identity of some witnesses secret, details of certain documents hidden, and NIA protection to the witnesses. Gorambe told the court that NIA will itself provide protection to certain witnesses but wanted court permission for the same. The court granted permission for all three requests. A total of 12 accused were arrested in connection with the case and were booked under relevant sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, IPC, Arms Act the Gujarat Police Act. The special court had in December last year granted NIA more time for filing the charge sheet. Initially, Bharuch police along with Gujarat Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) conducted the probe and had termed the murders as an 'act of terror'. New Delhi: Those who trim or shave beard and hair, smoke or drink alcohol cannot vote in the elections to Sikh religious bodies, with President Pranab Mukherjee giving assent to a bill passed recently by Parliament. The Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Act, 2016, which changed the provisions of a 91-year-old law that regulated administration of Gurdwaras in Chandigarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, got the Presidential nod on Thursday, according to an official notification. As per the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925, every Sikh who is above 21 years of age and is registered as a voter, will be entitled to vote in the elections to Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) constituted to look after the overall administration and management of the religious shrines of the community. The new law makes it clear that "no person shall be registered as an elector who trims or shaves his beard or 'keshas', smokes and takes alcoholic drinks". The Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was introduced in Rajya Sabha by Home Minister Rajnath Singh on March 15, this year and passed the next day. The Lok Sabha passed it on April 25. The development assumes significance as the law, which fulfils the long-pending demand of the Sikh community to bar Sahajdhari Sikhs from voting, comes ahead of Assembly elections due in Punjab next year. Replying to a debate on the Bill in Parliament, the Home Minister had said the demand for not giving voting rights to Sahajdhari Sikhs--those who shave their beard or hair--was made by SGPC members and office bearers. The Sahajdhari Sikhs have no religious sanction as far as the fundamental tenets of the religion are concerned. This nomenclature was added to the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925 under certain circumstances prevailing then. The Bill has proposes to remove the exception given to Sahajdharis in 1944 to vote in elections to select members of the Board and the Committees constituted under the Act. The law will be applicable retrospectively. "It shall be deemed to have come into force from October 8, 2003," the notification reads. Experts disagreed on whether ongoing radar scans would reveal the existence of a hidden burial chamber within King Tutankhamuns tomb Archeologists disagreed during the last session of a three-day conference held in Egypt, to discuss Tutankhamun and his treasured funerary collection, on whether the kings tomb contains a hidden chamber holding the final resting place of Queen Nefertiti. The final session involved a scientific discussion forum on the latest results of recent radar scan surveys carried out on the boy-kings tomb in Luxor in an attempt to uncover any existing hidden chambers by using non-invasive methods. The radar surveys aim to test a theory put forward last August by British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves, who claimed that the tomb hid the burial place of Queen Nefertiti. Former minister of antiquities Mamdouh Eldamaty supported the theory and the survey mission, saying that more radar scans from the top of the tomb should be carried out in order to reach the accurate results. However, former antiquities minister Zahi Hawass rejected the theory, asserting that nothing lay beyond the burial chamber in the boy-kings tomb. He also raised doubts over whether radar scans can be used to make archaeological discoveries. In my entire career, I have never come across any discovery in Egypt made by radar scans, he said. Hawass suggests that in order to test the accuracy of the radar, scans should be carried out on tombs that are already known to contain hidden chambers, such as King Ramses IIs tomb, which has 10 sealed chambers. Reeves defended his theory by stating that preliminary results of several scans suggest that two void spaces exist behind the north and west walls of the tombs burial chamber and show signs of metal matter. "I was looking for the evidence that would tell me that my initial reading was wrong," he said. "But I didn't find any evidence to suggest that. I just found more and more indicators that there is something extra going on in Tutankhamun's tomb." Most of the scholars and Egyptologists who attended the conference rejected Reeves theory, saying it has no basis in reality. Director of the Egyptian Museum and Papyri in Berlin Friederike Seyfried, who does not believe that Tutankhamuns burial chamber conceals any hidden chambers, told Ahram Online that the results of the radar survey do not prove the existence of a hidden tomb. The sudden death of the boy-king led the tombs builders to finish the tomb quickly and close it up, which is why a cavity was found. She describes Reeves claim that the tomb of Nefertiti lies behind the northern wall of the burial chamber as a mere hypothesis. She rejected Reeves claim that a scene depicted on a wall within the tomb shows Tutankhamun performing the opening of the mouth ritual for Nefertiti, saying that an inscription shows that it is in fact King Iy who is performing the ritual for Tutankhamun. I believe that the ancient Egyptian artist would never make a depiction of the pharaoh without a direct inscription beside [the image], Seyfried said. Antiquities minister Khaled El-Enany asserted that the conference shows that science is a priority and we are not against any scientific project, adding that the scientific endeavour would ultimately reveal the truth. The scans of the tomb will continue in line with the scholars' recommendations, but no physical exploration will be allowed unless there is 100 percent certainty that there is a cavity behind the wall, El-Enany concludes. Search Keywords: Short link: Srinagar: Suspected terrorists looted three rifles from a police picket in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir. According to reports, four suspected terrorists overpowered police guards deployed at a minority police picket in a village in Kulgam. The incident took place on Saturday night when three out of the four guards deployed, were present during the plunder. Two AK 47 and one INSAS rifles were looted from police. Authorities have launched a manhunt in order to nab the terrorists. Recently, a similar incident was reported from Bijbehara, where 5 rifles were snatched from the police personnel, but were recovered by the authorities later. Further details awaited. Thiruvananthapuram: With an aim to boost BJP's prospects in the upcoming Kerala Assembly elections, PM Narendra Modi on Sunday addressed a rally in Kasarkod district in the state today. Rallies to be held from May 8-11: According to reports, PM Modi will address an election rally in Palakkad district today. The party plans to hold at least five elections during PM Modi's four day stay from May 8-11 in the state. The party is pinning hopes that over one lakh people were participate in PM Modi's rally in Palakkad today. Rajnath Singh also in Kerala Besides the Prime Minister, Home Minister Rajnath Singh is also on 2-day tour of Kerala starting today. Earlier, BJP president Amit Shah has also addressed several rallies in several districts of Kerala. Zee Media Bureau Today is second Sunday of May and Google along with people round the globe celebrates motherhood with a lovely doodle. To mark this special social occasion Google's doodle on its homepage showcases an adorable pairs of foot wears one of mother and the other of child on representing one of the most strongest, warm and loving connections of the world. Sophie Diao, creator of the doodle, also remembers her lovely and intense bonding with her mother with a beautiful message where she highlights the untiring efforts of mothers and mother like figures and also salutes their continual sacrifices. Her message reads, "As we get older, we forget how heavily we once relied on our mothers and mother-figures. Today's doodle for Mother's Day harkens back to a time in my youth when following Mom around was all I knew. Thanks, Mom, for all the sacrifices, laughs, and love." With a warm tribute to the incomparable, unconditional and inseparable love, here's wishing every mother and mother figure a very Happy Mother's Day! Kabul: At least 52 people died in Afghanistan after two buses collided with a fuel tanker, causing a massive explosion, local officials said. A further 73 passengers sustained injuries. The incident took place in the eastern province of Ghazni. The vehicles were travelling on a highway in Ghazni, Afghanistan, when they collided. Jawid Salangi, a spokesman for the governor of Ghazni said two buses carrying 125 passengers from Kabul to Kandahar crashed into the tanker. The fuel tanker was travelling in the opposite direction. A massive fire broke out which quickly engulfed all three vehicles. Afghan army units were rushed to the scene of the accident in Moqor district and managed to save some passengers. However, many of the injured were in a critical condition. Lahore: Police in Pakistan on Sunday arrested three men for allegedly parading two children naked in a street here after they were caught stealing water melons. Senior police officer Mustansar Feroz said that Basharat and Irfan had caught two children, aged between 9 and 13, for allegedly stealing water melons from their shop. "Both men not only subjected the children to severe torture but also paraded them naked in the street," Feroz said. He said the accused also made a video of the children and used abusive language. On the complaint of the father of one of the children police registered an FIR against Basharat, Irfan and their accomplice and arrested them. "They will be produced before a court on Monday for physical remand," Feroz said, adding the police have also recovered the cell phones the suspects used for making the children's video. Rights activists called upon the government to pursue the case and ensure exemplary punishment to the culprits. Thanjavur (TN): In a scathing attack on DMK, AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Sunday dubbed the Karunanidhi-led DMK as "anti-farmers" as she raked up Cauvery and methane exploration issues during an election rally here. Hitting the campaign trail in this Cauvery Delta regional hub in Tamil Nadu, she alleged that "Karunanidhi and DMK had betrayed Tamil Nadu" ever since the Cauvery issue broke out in the 1960s. Tracing the contentious row, she claimed that Karunanidhi had never disclosed details of his deliberations in 1968 with the then Karnataka chief minister. "Karunanidhi betrayed Tamil Nadu by supporting Karnataka to build dams in 1970. He withdrew a plea in the Supreme Court in 1971 on the issue owing to selfishness for political reasons," she alleged. Recounting the long litigious history of Cauvery dispute, right from setting up of the Cauvery Waters Disputes Tribunal and its interim order, she claimed that it was due to "efforts of her party". "In 2007 the CWDT gave its final award. Karunanidhi who was in power in the state and the Centre did not take any efforts to implement it." She alleged that Karunanidhi "sacrificed the welfare of delta farmers for his selfish interests in getting plump Union Ministerial berths." Jayalalithaa said that it was only due to "her legal efforts" by a plea in the Supreme Court that the final award was published in the Central gazette in 2013. "Still the Cauvery Management Board and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee has not been constituted by either the previous Congress regime or the present BJP government," she said, adding, her government has moved court, seeking setting up of these bodies. Assuring farmers, she said "steps will be taken to constitute the CMB and the CWRC by an order of the Supreme Court to implement the final award." She lambasted DMK for giving its nod for the coal bed methane exploration project in the delta districts of Thanjavur and Tiruvarur and said her regime had banned the project. "After doing everything against farmers in the methane project, DMK now says in its manifesto that it will stop that project besides Shale gas initiatives. Is it to hoodwink the people," she asked. She reiterated her party's promises for welfare of farmers like loan waiver for micro and small farmers. New Delhi: BJP on Sunday asserted that it will form government in Uttarkhand after May 10, claiming that a new sting video showed that ousted Chief Minister Harish Rawat has lost the support of Congress MLAs and he was bound to lose the trust vote on Tuesday. "If they think that by giving money, they will save the floor then they are wrong. On tenth, the majority will go against Congress and the new government will be formed by BJP," party leader Bhagat Singh Koshyari told reporters. Terming Rawat's conduct as "shameful", he said that Congress is performing its "last rites" in the state as they have kept a leader who is "insulting his own party". Koshyari, who is a former chief minister of the state and is seen as a contender for the top post of if BJP forms the government, evaded a query on who will be the party's CM saying, "This answer can be given by party chief Amit Shah." "Harish Rawat alleges that BJP is indulging in horse-trading. He is himself indulging in it. First there was a sting on him. Today a new sting has come out. "One MLA has himself has said that CM, to please his own MLAs, is giving Rs 25-30 lakhs. There cannot be a more shameful thing than this," the BJP leader alleged. He said that the episode showed that the chief minister has lost trust in his own MLAs and the MLAs do not have trust in their leader. "MLAs lose their trust in their leader. Around one-third leave him, and those who are left, one-third of them also demand Rs 25 lakh or Rs 50 lakh. In Uttarkhand, this demonic sport should stop and Harish Rawat should stop levelling allegations," he said, adding that Congress has lost all hope and which is why they were"bribing their own members". He said that MLAs in the sting have alleged that the government is involved with mining and liquor mafias. "Congress which at some point fought for the freedom of the country, which had leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel, that Congress to taking its last breath or rather performing its last rites. "It has kept such a leader in the state who is himself insulting the party and insulting the state as well. I believe that MLAs, for the dignity of the state and its people, will free themselves from such corrupt leaders," he said. In the latest controversy, a sting video has been released by a private news channel which claimed that Harish Rawat gave Rs 25 lakh to some of his MLAs. The Supreme Court had on Friday ordered a floor test in Uttarakhand Assembly on May 10 when Rawat will seek a vote of confidence during which the nine disqualified Congress MLAs may be able to vote if the High Court permits them. The High Court has reserved its verdict on the rebel MLAs' plea for tomorrow. Koshyari said that many questions has been raised by the Uttarkhand episode and the BJP was in favour of floor test from the beginning. "This is the first incident when the government has failed on money bill and the Vidhan Sabha Speaker has taken a wrong decision. The governor should have dismissed the government on that very day. "Second point is that earlier it was felt that the Speaker is everything and he has many powers. But if the Speaker misuses his power, what should happen? If MLAs want division and the Speaker by not giving division, in a one-sided move says it should be decided through voice vote, then it is murder of democracy. "This issue should also be thought of. Through this episode, many things will be clear in the future," he said. He added that when President's rule was imposed, BJP had never asked for dissolution of the Assembly. "We knew that in democracy, the majority should be proved in the Assembly. We knew that the mistake which was committed by the Governor should be corrected and President's rule imposed and then a floor test should be conducted," he said. New Delhi: Ousted Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat, who was summoned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with a sting operation which shows him negotiating a price to lure back the legislators, will not be appearing before the investigative agency, said former state parliamentary affairs minister Indira Hridayesh. "Harish Rawat won`t be appearing before CBI in Delhi, tomorrow," said Indira Hridayesh, Former Parliamentary Affairs MinisterThe Congress party on Sunday wrote to Uttarakhand Speaker requesting that Harish Rawat who is scheduled to be in Delhi to be questioned by the CBI should stay in Dehradun till the floor test. According to sources, the CBI has been able to establish the genuineness of the sting operation after it spoke to an MLA, who stated that when the Finance Bill was discussed in the assembly, Rawat had called him to the office and offered him Rs 2.3 crore and an important post in the government, if he supports him. Rawat recently admitted to having met the journalist, but denied any wrongdoing.The investigating agency had registered a preliminary enquiry in the matter last week.The Union Home Ministry had sent a CD of the video to a forensics laboratory in Chandigarh to have it authenticated. Kigali: At least 25 people have been killed due to landslides triggered by heavy rains that hit northern Rwanda on Saturday night, local authorities said on Sunday. Local government officials, according to Xinhua, said the rains which hit Gakenke district in Northern Province, also destroyed about 300 homes. Philippe Habinshuti, the director of disaster response and recovery at Rwanda's Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugees told journalists that an assessment was still underway to determine the total damages but the death toll could rise. "So far 25 bodies were dug out of the muck but we are still gathering information," he said. Six of the victims were members of the same family. Local officials said the landslides buried houses while trees were uprooted and plantations destroyed. The landslides blocked the Kigali highway and vehicles heading to northern and western parts of the country had been diverted through another route. The affected district is prone to landslides which blocked the same road for days in 2013. Cairo: Gunmen shot dead eight plainclothed Egyptian policemen in the Helwan district south of Cairo, the interior ministry said Sunday. The policemen were travelling in a minivan when the assailants in a pickup truck blocked their path and sprayed the vehicle with automatic rifle fire, the ministry said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but jihadists, including Islamist State group militants, have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers in attacks, mostly in the Sinai Peninsula but also in and around Cairo. The interior ministry said the dead included a lieutenant and seven lower ranking policemen who were patrolling the area just south of the capital when they were attacked late at night. Bamako: Malian special forces have arrested a suspected jihadist leader in the south of the country, security sources have said. "Yacouba Toure, number two in the Ansar Dine of the South terrorist group, was arrested on Thursday outside Bamako," a security source told AFP. His group is suspected of providing weapons to other jihadist groups in southern Mali as well as in Burkina Faso, the source added. The arrest follows that of Souleymane Keita, described as the top jihadist leader in southern Mali, in March. Keita has been linked to the Ansar Dine group, which was one of three Islamist factions that conquered vast swathes of the country's north in 2012 before being repelled by French troops. Some areas remain beyond the control of Malian and foreign forces and the jihadist attacks, previously concentrated in the north, have spread to the centre and south since last year. According to a second security source, Toure, a Malian in his forties, first joined Islamic fighters in the northeast Kidal region in 2010. It was there that he met Keita and Boubacar Sawadogo, head of Ansar Dine's Burkinabe branch. Toure provided the arms and grenades used by Sawadogo's fighters to launch a deadly attack on a police station in Burkina Faso last October, the second source said. He had tried to evade capture last week by posing as a livestock dealer, according a source close to the enquiry. Last year Keita was accused by security services of heading a jihadist military training camp discovered outside Bamako. He was also accused of attacks in Fakola and Misseni near the border with neighbouring Ivory Coast in 2015 as well as in Bamako. Cairo: In a pre-dawn revenge attack, Islamic State gunmen on Sunday ambushed an Egyptian police van and shot dead at least nine policemen in southern Helwan district, the latest in a series of attacks on security personnel since the ouster of the Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in July 2013. The gunmen travelling in a truck stopped a microbus carrying the plainclothes policemen, including a lieutenant, and sprayed it with bullets before fleeing from the scene, a security official said. Four armed terrorists got out of the truck and opened fire on the police microbus, according to a statement by the Ministry of Interior. Security forces have rushed to the place of the incident and are currently searching for the attackers, it said. The Islamic State group's Egyptian branch claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement circulated on social media. The group said "a squad of the soldiers of the caliphate" opened fire on the microbus in Helwan, killing the policemen before making off with their weapons. The attack was retaliation for "the pure women imprisoned" in Egyptian jails, the group said in its statement. Earlier, an Islamist group Shabab el-Mokawma el-Shabia (public resistance) had claimed responsibility for the attack. In a statement published on its Facebook page, the group said the attack was carried out in memory of Rabaa victims (who were killed during the dispersal of the Muslim Brotherhood's Rabaa sit-in in August 2013 by police). The attack came to commemorate 1000 days of the attack, it said. The group also posted pictures online, showing several bodies of the policemen riddled with bullets. Egypt has witnessed several violent attacks by militants since the January 2011 revolution that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak. Terrorists, including from dreaded Islamist State outfit, have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers in attacks conducted mostly in the Sinai Peninsula and in and around Cairo. The attacks targeting police and military increased after the ouster of Islamist ex-president Morsi in 2013 by the military following massive protests against his rule. Over 700 security personnel have reportedly been killed so far. Karachi: Prominent Pakistani rights activist Khurram Zaki was shot dead while having dinner with a friend at a restaurant here, and his NGO blamed "Takfiri Deobandi militants" for the killing. Zaki, 40, was with his journalist friend Rao Khalid when two attackers arrived on a motorcycle, sprayed bullets at them and sped away, the media quoted police as saying. Rao Khalid and a bystander were critically wounded in the attack. The News International said Zaki suffered multiple bullet wounds. The attackers used a 9mm pistol. Ten spent bullet shells were found from the scene of the crime. A former journalist, Zaki was an active campaigner for human rights and edited the website and Facebook page "Let Us Build Pakistan (LUBP)", which claimed to "spread liberal religious views". LUBP Editor in Chief Ali Abbas Taj offered condolences "to Pakistani nation on the martyrdom of Zaki" and said he was second from the editorial team of LUBP to be killed by Deobandi militants. "For the last one year, Zaki was a target of a systematic hate campaign by Deobandi fanatic Shamsuddin Amjad of the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan in collaboration with the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP)." Taj said "hateful and violence inciting posters" against Zaki had been published recently by the Facebook page run by the pro-Taliban fanatics of Jamaat-e-Islami. According to his Twitter profile, Zaki was the former head of current affairs for TV Channel News One, where he looked after infotainment and religious programming. Zaki's website Lubpak.com is currently blocked in Pakistan, Dawn News reported on Sunday. Zaki was last in the media limelight alongside activist Jibran Nasir in a campaign against Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz for inciting hatred against Shia Muslims. The campaigners had managed to get a case registered against Aziz. Rights activist Sabeen Mahmud, who was also gunned down in Karachi, had also taken part in the protest against Lal Masjid. According to social media, Zaki was also a research scholar, blogger as well as human rights activist. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) condemned the killing and demanded the immediate arrest of the murderers. Zakis murder is condemnable. Incidents of targeted killing are occurring in spite of on-going operations in the city, the MQM said. Islamabad: Unidentified assailants gunned down social media campaigner and civil society activist Khurram Zaki on Saturday night in Pakistan`s Karachi city. Central District SSP, Muqadas Haider told Dawn online that four suspects riding on two motorcycles opened fire on Zaki, 40, while he was having dinner at a restaurant. The activist was killed, while two others - journalist Rao Khalid and a bystander - were critically wounded in the attack. A former journalist, Zaki was an active campaigner for human rights and was the editor of the website and Facebook page `Let Us Build Pakistan (LUBP)` which claimed to "spread liberal religious views and condemned extremism in all forms". According to his Twitter profile, Zaki was the former head of current affairs for TV Channel News One, where he looked after infotainment and religious programming. Zaki`s website Lubpak.com is currently blocked in Pakistan. Zaki was last in the media limelight alongside activist Jibran Nasir in a campaign against Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz for inciting hatred against Shia Muslims. The campaigners had managed to get a case registered against Aziz. Rights activist Sabeen Mahmud, who was also gunned down in Karachi, had taken part in the protest against Lal Masjid as well. Karachi: A 11-year-old Pakistani Hindu boy has been allegedly raped and murdered in Sindh province, triggering protests by people demanding a probe into the recent incident. The son of a Hindu doctor was found dead in a swimming pool inside a Hyderabad Club on April 13. The family members of the boy claim that he was deliberately thrown into the pool to cover up sexual abuse and murder. Chetan Kumar, the father of the victim, said that the boy went missing for more than an hour despite tight security inside the club. His son's body was later found 'bearing torture marks on his face' floating in the four-foot-deep swimming pool in the club. Kumar said that despite repeated requests, the club's administration was not providing him access to the CCTV footage from the day of the incident. Protesters have demanded the Sindh government to order a probe into the alleged murder of the boy, Dawn reported. Former Member of National Assembly Kiswan Chand Parwani, former Member Provincial Assembly Lachhman Karmani and others contended that the young boy did not drown but was raped and then thrown into the pool. Hindu Panchayat activist Karmani alleged that boy was killed after being raped. District of Columbia: There may be much Republican hand-wringing over Donald Trump`s presumptive nomination to face the Democratic candidate for the White House, but the boastful billionaire says he doesn`t care, and it doesn`t matter. A growing chorus of senior Republican leaders have joined the "anyone but Trump movement," including 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and the last two Republican presidents, George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush. "Does it have to be unified?" Trump asked about the Republican Party. "I`m very different than everybody else, perhaps, that`s ever run for office. I actually don`t think so," he told ABC`s "This Week" in excerpts provided ahead of Sunday`s broadcast. "I think it would be better if it were unified, I think it would be -- there would be something good about it. But I don`t think it actually has to be unified in the traditional sense." A group of conservatives opposed to Trump`s candidacy meanwhile announced it had launched a "formal effort" for an alternative candidate, though it stopped short of backing a contender from a third party. "This is not just a fight for the heart and soul of the Republican Party; it is a battle for the future of our country," Conservatives Against Trump said in a statement. "This week, Conservatives Against Trump launched a formal effort to identify an acceptable alternative candidate to run for president against Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton." The race is still "wide open for a qualified conservative candidate," the group of activists said. "We will not vote for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton; but we will vote." Trump, however, said he expected even some Democratic voters to throw their support behind him to win the general election. "I`m going to go out and I`m going to get millions of people from the Democrats," Trump said. "I`m going to get Bernie (Sanders) people to vote, because they like me on trade," he added, referring to the Democratic candidate in an uphill fight against Hillary Clinton to clinch the party`s nomination. London: A British Muslim woman who is among the world's most wanted female terror suspects has threatened new strikes against Britain on social media, according to a report on Sunday. Sally Jones, a former punk rocker who travelled to Syria after converting to Islam, praised the publication of a hit-list of US drone pilots amid claims that Islamic State (IS) hackers have also identified British military personnel involved in airstrikes in the region, the Sunday Times reported. Resurfacing on Twitter last week after a prolonged absence the 47-year-old wrote, "U can't just sit there with ur tea & scones ordering RAF (Royal Air Force) drone strikes on UK brothers with no comeback from the Islamic State (Isis)". In a reference to her dead husband, Junaid Hussain, 21, who was killed by a US drone strike in Syria, Jones added, "Yes, it's Abu Hussain's wife. Shouldn't you be calling for the resignation of Mike Fallon (UK defence secretary) after IS said it has a mole in the MoD?". Jones even chose to 'like' a story about her by the Sunday Times, a social media move that could eventually help Western intelligence agencies track her location. Jones has been placed on a Pentagon 'kill list' after being named as a "specially designated global terrorist". She and Hussain are known to have orchestrated attacks against the West from Syria. IS hackers linked to Jones recently published the personal details of about 75 US staff. They now claim to have a similar list of RAF personnel. "We are not releasing it publicly right now; let the UK wonder who's on it," they boasted on Twitter. Jean-Claude Juncker and other EU chiefs want Britain to start talks as soon as possible to quit the bloc A British exit from the EU would have "unforeseeable consequences" for European cooperation, European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker has warned in an interview with German media. Britain is to hold a closely-watched June 23 referendum on whether or not it should stay in the 28-nation bloc, and opinion polls are showing that the nation is still largely undecided on the issue. In an interview with the Funke Mediengruppe press group to be published Monday, Juncker warned that a so-called "Brexit" would "surely have unforeseeable consequences on European cooperation, about which I absolutely do not wish to speculate about because I am convinced that Britons will make the reasonable decision." "All Europeans want Britain to remain in the family," he said, recalling that the EU had struck a "fair deal" with Britain in February on reforms aimed at keeping it in the bloc. Britain first joined the then European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973, and in a referendum two years later the public backed membership by just over 67 percent. But the country has had a strained relationship with Brussels, opting out of key projects including the euro and the Schengen passport-free zone. The EU this week cut its eurozone growth forecasts for the year, listing the danger of Britain leaving the bloc as among the risk factors weighing on the economic recovery. The International Monetary Fund and the G20 group of the world's leading economies have also warned of the economic dangers of Britain leaving the EU, while the OECD last month said there was "no upside" to a Brexit. Even the United States has weighed in, with President Barack Obama saying last month that EU membership magnified Britain's global influence. He also warned that if Britain did leave and wanted to sign a separate trade deal with the US it would go to the "back of the queue". Protesters hold up banners as others clash with Greek riot police during a demonstration against the latest reform measures demanded by creditors, in Athens on May 8, 2016 Greek riot police fired tear gas to disperse petrol bomb-throwing protesters in Athens Sunday as thousands took to the streets in anti-austerity demos ahead of a vote by lawmakers on a controversial tax and pensions overhaul. Hooded youths lobbed flares and Molotov cocktails at officers who responded with volleys of tear gas, AFP reporters saw in clashes outside the parliament in the early evening, where some 10,000 protesters turned out to show their anger at the latest reforms demanded by Greece's creditors. Police said more than 18,000 people rallied over the course of the day in the Greek capital, while around 8,000 turned out in the second city of Thessaloniki against the measures demanded by the EU and IMF and which the government is seeking to adopt ahead of a crunch meeting of eurozone creditors on Monday. The reforms to be voted on later Sunday would reduce Greece's highest pension payouts, merge several pension funds, increase contributions and raise taxes for those on medium and high incomes. The measures are part of an austerity package demanded by the European Union and International Monetary Fund in exchange for the next tranche of an 86-billion-euro ($95-billion) bailout agreed in July, the third for the debt-laden country since 2010. - 'Tired and disappointed' - Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who has said reform is needed to prevent the pension system collapsing in a few years, defended the changes in parliament late Sunday. "The system requires root and branch reform that previous governments have not dared to undertake," he told lawmakers, adding that the reforms would not affect those on low incomes, something that was the result of "long and hard negotiations with creditors". His left-wing Syriza party holds a slim majority with 153 seats in the 300-seat parliament. Earlier, a sea of demonstrators marched through the streets waving banners with many of those taking part supporters of the communist-leaning PAME trade union. Story continues "Social security, public and compulsory for all. The plutocracy must pay," said one union banner. Numbers were, however, significantly down on February protests when 40,000 people marched in Athens alone. "People are tired and disappointed by the leftist government in power... the rallies have not had the scale we had expected," said Maria, a private sector employee in her fifties who claims to be owed 30,000 euros ($34,000) in back pay from her employer. Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos has called on the eurozone to back the reforms, warning of a "failed state" if the Brussels talks run aground. "The elements for closing the first review and providing debt relief are, I firmly believe, all there," according to a letter to the euro area's finance chiefs seen by AFP. "Nobody should believe that another Greek crisis, leading perhaps to another failed state in the region, could be beneficial to anyone." Greece's budget deficit has ballooned as it struggles to keep up with mammoth debt payments, which the IMF believes is unsustainable. In its official agenda for Monday's meeting in Brussels, the Eurogroup said it would review the "progress achieved" by Greece as well as discussing "possible debt relief measures". - Differences between creditors - Greece was also in the grip Sunday of the third day of a general strike that has paralysed public transport across the country. During the stoppages, the public sector has operated at a snail's pace, while most TV and radio stations have refused to air news bulletins. Despite the pressure from the strikes, Employment Minister Georgios Katrougalos stood by the pensions overhaul, pointing to a funding shortfall of two billion euros. "This reform should have been done decades ago," he said. Ahead of the Brussels meeting, differences between the creditors themselves have emerged over extra reforms demanded by the IMF that could amount to another 3.6 billion euros of cuts by Greece. IMF chief Christine Lagarde has warned that there were "significant gaps" in Greece's reform offers, while European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker said Athens had "basically achieved" the objective of the measures required by creditors. But both the EU and the IMF have agreed that debt relief could be considered. By Rania El Gamal and Alex Lawler DUBAI/LONDON (Reuters) - The African nation of Gabon wants to rejoin OPEC after more than two decades, two OPEC sources said, becoming the second former member in a year to seek a return to the oil exporters' group just as it is taking the first steps in years to prop up prices. If it returned, Gabon would be the smallest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and bring its ranks to 14 countries following last year's return of Indonesia, which had quit in 2008. "They sent the request to OPEC officially," said one of the sources, an OPEC delegate. An oil official in Gabon declined to comment. Gabon joined OPEC in 1975 and left in 1995 over the exporter group's refusal to grant its request for reduced annual contributions in line with the country's small production, news reports said at the time. The move to rejoin comes as key OPEC members and outside producers such as Russia are attempting to support prices through a deal to freeze output which will be discussed this weekend in Doha. The initiative has helped oil prices to start recovering from a 12-year low reached in January. OPEC in 2014 had abandoned its traditional role of cutting supply to support the market, accelerating a drop in prices which were falling due to oversupply and prompting critics to question its relevance. Gabon produces 200,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) according to the International Energy Agency, and output is in decline. Last year, the government launched an offshore licensing round in a bid to boost exploration. [nL8N12R24E] Ecuador, which pumps 530,000 bpd, is currently the smallest OPEC producer. The next step, the sources said, would be for OPEC oil ministers to discuss Gabon's request. They hold their next meeting in June. OPEC rules state that a country needs to have "a substantial net export of crude" in order to become a full member. Still, the ministers waived this requirement with the decision to welcome back Indonesia, now a net oil importer. Whether Gabon's return would be as straightforward is not clear. Indonesia was deemed by OPEC to have "suspended" its membership, while it calls Gabon's departure a "termination" - implying a more formal severing of ties. (Additional reportning by Joe Bavier; Editing by David Evans) CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian court on Saturday recommended the death penalty for three journalists and three others charged with endangering national security by leaking state secrets to Qatar, in a ruling condemned by the Doha-based Al Jazeera channel as shocking. Jordanian national Alaa Omar Sablan and Ibrahim Mohammed Helal, who both work for Al Jazeera, and Asmaa Al Khateeb, a reporter for Rassd, a pro-Muslim Brotherhood news network, were sentenced in absentia. They can appeal. The sentence is the latest since a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood after an army takeover stripped former president Mohammed Mursi of power in 2013 following mass protests against his rule. Al Jazeera said the ruling provoked "shock and anger" and called for international action to safeguard journalists' rights to report news freely. "The death sentence against journalists is unprecedented in the history of world media and amounts to a real stab against freedom of expression around the world," the satellite channel said in a statement posted on its website. Mursi and other Brotherhood leaders, as well as leading figures from the 2011 popular uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, many of them secular activists and journalists, are now in jail. Following Saturday's ruling, a final decision is expected on June 18, after the sentence has been referred to the top religious authority, the Grand Mufti, for a non-binding opinion. Judge Mohammed Shireen Fahmy, who announced the verdict, also said that a ruling against Mursi and several others charged in the same case, would be postponed to the same date. Prosecutors in Saturday's case argued that Mursi's aides were involved in leaking sensitive documents to Qatari intelligence that exposed the location of weapons held by the Egyptian armed forces. Defence lawyers said that documents were moved out of the presidential palace to protect them during growing protests against Mursi's rule, but this process was not the responsibility of the president and the documents presented in the case show no signs of spying. "The case's documents are devoid of any type of espionage or participation in it," a defence lawyer told Reuters. Mursi has been sentenced in three other cases, including the death penalty for a mass jail break during the 2011 uprising and a life sentence for spying on behalf of Hamas. Qatar had supported Mursi, who is in jail along with thousands of Brotherhood members, many of whom have been sentenced to death on separate charges. Relations between Qatar, a Gulf Arab state, and Egypt have been icy since July 2013 when Egypt's then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi overthrew Mursi. Sisi says the Brotherhood poses a serious threat to security despite the crackdown, which has weakened what was once Egypt's most organised political group. (Additional reporting by Sami Aboudi, editing by Janet Lawrence and Digby Lidstone) Thousands of people surrounded the Confederation Building steps in St. John's on Saturday, gathering for the largest anti-budget protest so far this year. The weekend rally was fuelled by several of Newfoundland and Labrador's public sector unions, who urged their members to come out strong in an effort to get the provincial government to reconsider its 2016 budget. CUPE NL President Wayne Lucas gave one of the day's most passionate speeches, hitting on most of the familiar targets for opposition to this year's provincial budget. "I have never seen a government in all my days that was so callous, which is so mean-spirited, which doesn't care for Newfoundland and Labrador," he said at the top of his remarks. Familiar targets Protesters rallied against the Deficit Reduction Levy and the cuts to education, but also made note of some of the newer revelations in the days since Newfoundland and Labrador's budget was announced. "How on earth does it make any sense whatsoever to close 54 libraries across the province just to save a million dollars?" asked Lucas. "This is an attack on women, this is an attack on literacy...this is an attack on the poor." Protester Kari Brown, who looked on from the back of the crowd, agreed. "Like my sign says, money for [Ed Martin's] severance but no money for libraries? It doesn't make sense to me." Organized opposition The Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour (NLFL) organized the protest, getting its members to meet at the Arts and Culture Centre at 11:30 a.m., with a march to Confederation Building for noon. Unions representing the province's teachers, nurses, students and public sectors workers all rallied their members to attend the demonstration, which has been coined #NL_RISING. Different unions and groups started their own rallies at different locations such as College of the North Atlantic and the Memorial University clock tower, before amalgamating into one single protest at Confederation Building. Story continues Speakers from CUPE, NAPE and the province's nurses union took to the microphone. Check out our Facebook video of part of the protest below, or click here if you're on mobile. Government responds Finance Minister Cathy Bennett, the target of much of the budget-related anger so far, sent a statement to reporters just before the protest began. She commended the protestors for their "deep interest and passion for our province and its future." "The decisions we have made follow consultations with hundreds of people in our province," she wrote. "People told us to make the tough decisions and to make them quickly in order to correct the fiscal situation." The government has already said that no major changes will be made to this year's deeply-unpopular budget. You can also view the CBC NL live blog below to follow social media posts from protestors and our reporters during the demonstration, or click here to see it if you're on mobile. They hoped to keep their business private, but some of the world's richest citizens will instead have their finances opened to prying eyes. Confidential details of more than 200,000 offshore accounts in the Panama Papers including the names of at least 625 Canadians will be revealed Monday, in the hope that public scrutiny of the material will generate hundreds of tips about possible corruption and tax dodging. The new information, to be released online at 2 p.m. ET in a searchable database, will list: - The name of anyone listed as a director or shareholder of an offshore company in the huge Panama Papers leak. - The names and addresses of more than 200,000 offshore companies, though in most cases, the ultimate owner is still shrouded in secrecy. - The identities of dozens of intermediary agencies that helped set up and run those accounts in tandem with Mossack Fonseca, the Panamanian law firm from which the records were leaked. CBC News and the Toronto Star, who have exclusive access in Canada to the leaked data, will be publishing a series of stories on Canadians named in it. Those include an examination of a lawyer who was known as a "go to" for wealthy people hoping to move money offshore, and of a convicted fraudster who set up 60 corporations in various tax havens. Until now, only select names of high prominence have been made public since a group of global media outlets, including CBC and the Star, broke news of the Panama Papers last month. "We think this is a logical next step in the investigation," said Gerard Ryle, director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the Washington-based organization that has been co-ordinating reporting on the records. "We have 370 journalists around the world looking at the data, but it's so vast, I mean 11 million documents," Ryle said. "We know we've missed things." Private documents withheld Among the 2.6 terabytes of information leaked from Mossack Fonseca, the CBC and the Star have identified around 625 Canadians whose names could be exposed. Story continues The ICIJ has said all along it intended to publish the list of names and accounts in the Panama Papers which it got from two German journalists who obtained the leak from a source while withholding the actual documents. Those documents include everything from copies of people's passports to telephone numbers, Mossack Fonseca's internal emails and, in some cases, financial records, material that will not be included in Monday's release and will remain available only to the ICIJ and its journalist partners like CBC and the Star. Many prominent names have already emerged since news outlets began reporting on the leak early last month. - Icelandic prime minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson stepped aside amid allegations he had had a secret offshore account that held bonds in his country's banks, which he failed to list in his parliamentary ethics disclosures. He denied any wrongdoing. - Russian President Vladimir Putin attacked the data leak as an American plot when records showed his cronies had amassed nearly $2 billion through a miasma of transactions involving accounts and banks closely linked to him. - China suppressed internet sites mentioning the Panama Papers in connection with its leaders, after reports showed relatives of President Xi Jinping and of several other top officials had been hiding sometimes vast wealth in offshore companies. China's Foreign Ministry called the allegations "groundless." It is not illegal for Canadians to have an offshore account, but any income must be reported for tax purposes, as well as any offshore assets totalling more than $100,000. Offshore jurisdictions like the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Isle of Man or Liechtenstein often have strict confidentiality rules for bank accounts and shell companies that make it easier to hide assets from tax authorities. The ICIJ's Ryle said his organization hopes members of the public will scour the new Panama Papers data and flag any potential malfeasance they spot. But he also said a deeper principle is at stake: that people shouldn't be able to disguise transactions like real-estate purchases or transfers of huge wealth through the opaque conduit of offshore corporations. "Leaders of the world, including David Cameron, the British prime minister, have said this basic kind of information is the kind of information that should be made public," Ryle said. Kim Marsh, a Vancouver-based expert on international financial crime who spent 25 years with the RCMP, said concerns over the anonymity of high-end property buyers in Canadian cities shows the issue cuts close to home. "We only have to look at what's happening in the property market in B.C., Toronto, elsewhere.... They don't want their names associated with properties, so they'll set up a nominee situation," he said, referring to the registration of a corporation using a figurehead to disguise the real owners. "And there's lots of controversy about that." Journalist group criticized The effort to publish details from the Panama Papers is not without opposition. Last week in Miami, at an international conference on offshore havens where Ryle delivered a keynote address, his organization and its media partners were publicly chastised by a number of lawyers for dealing in "stolen" data and for cherry-picking stories from the Panama Papers that, the critics said, made offshore havens look especially nefarious. In particular, Mossack Fonseca co-founder Ramon Fonseca said in a letter read out after Ryle's remarks that "thanks to people like him, privacy a basic human right is already on the list of species in danger of extinction." Ryle shrugged off the critics. "There's been overwhelming public interest in these documents, and I think that overwhelming public interest outrides anything that Fonseca is actually saying." Contact the writer of this story at zach.dubinsky@cbc.ca Royal Bank of Canada has agreed to hand over 40 years of records on hundreds of its clients revealed in the Panama Papers to federal tax auditors, in the first public step the government has taken to crack down on anyone named in the huge data leak. The Canada Revenue Agency filed a motion Wednesday in Federal Court to get the bank to turn over the files, saying it wants to determine whether the RBC clients might have used offshore accounts and shell companies to evade tax. "It is the experience of the CRA that Canadian taxpayers who hold property through an offshore entity, or who may carry on business through an offshore entity, may not comply with their duties and obligations under the [Income Tax Act]," the court application says. The CRA wants the names or any other identifying information on the RBC clients, as well as the names, directors, shareholders and other data on their offshore entities. The tax agency is also asking for all RBC documentation on the due diligence checks it did on those accounts to determine who the real people behind them are. The bank confirmed Thursday afternoon that it will comply with the demands, saying in a brief statement: "We respect the confidentiality of our clients within the bounds of the law, and we co-operate with all of our regulators." 429 offshore entities The CRA court filing says its auditors learned of the accounts from CBC and the Toronto Star after they revealed last month, when news of the Panama Papers first broke, that RBC and its affiliates had set up or handled at least 370 offshore companies for clients through Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca since 1977. Since those initial stories, CBC and the Star have found more than 50 other offshore companies, bringing the total to at least 429. About three-quarters of those were handled through an RBC arm in Jersey, an offshore haven in the Channel Islands; most of the companies were incorporated in the 1980s and '90s and are now defunct, but 45 are still active. Story continues Mossack Fonseca, one of the world's top creators of shell companies, is the firm whose client files were blown open by the huge Panama Papers leak, exposing the offshore holdings of tens of thousands of people, including heads of state, athletes, movie stars and high-profile criminals. Toronto tax lawyer and former federal prosecutor David Chodikoff said "it's prudent that the CRA is carrying out an investigation" into people named in the leak. "As a result of the data dump, it is not surprising that the Canada Revenue Agency would seek to find out and obtain further information from those identified as having overseas accounts," he said. The CRA also revealed Thursday it had independently started 40 audits related to Mossack Fonseca before the Panama Papers ever hit headlines. Commissioner Andrew Treusch told the House of Commons finance committee his staff have "tens of thousands of records from multiple sources" to go over. 'Concerned about our brand' It is not illegal to have an offshore account, but any income must be reported for tax purposes, as well as any offshore assets totalling more than $100,000. Offshore jurisdictions like the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Isle of Man or Liechtenstein often have strict confidentiality rules for bank accounts and shell companies that make it easier to hide assets from tax authorities. After it emerged last month that RBC's name was in the Panama Papers hundreds of times, CEO David McKay told shareholders the bank would comb through its records to determine exactly what ties it might have had with Mossack Fonseca. McKay said he was "concerned about our brand and reputation" after the bank's name had been "dragged into" the controversy, especially considering that there was no evidence to suggest the company had done anything illicit. "We just happen to have a couple hundred files, going back 40 years, that are attached to this legal firm," he said at RBC's annual general meeting. "That's all that's been reported." This is not the first time the Canada Revenue Agency has gone to court to get Royal Bank to hand over information on clients with offshore holdings. In 2008, the tax authority obtained an order forcing the company's brokerage unit, RBC Dominion Securities, to provide names and details on people with stock-trading accounts based out of Liechtenstein that the CRA alleged were being used to disguise income. Contact the writer of this story at zach.dubinsky@cbc.ca As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ Fiat Chrysler's 1Q16 Earnings: Could It Meet Its 2016 Guidance? (Continued from Prior Part) Fiat Chryslers luxury brands In late 2014, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCAU) announced its intentions to spin off Ferrari (RACE) as an independent entity. After the spin-off process was completed in January 2016, Maserati is the only brand left in its super luxury vehicle portfolio. In this part of the series, well take a look at the performance of the Maserati brand in 1Q16 and what it means for Fiat Chryslers investors. Maserati in 1Q16 In 1Q16, Fiat Chrysler shipped 6,295 units of Maserati brand cars, 14% less than the 7,306 units in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. With this, revenues from the luxury car brand in 1Q16 stood at 508 million euros, 3% lower year-over-year. The decline in revenues was much lower than the decline in shipments due to a positive product mix and favorable currency movement. While the companys reporting currency is the euro, a large part of Maseratis revenues come from the United States, in US dollars. Therefore, the company benefits from a strengthening US dollar and a weakening euro. Japanese automakers Toyota (TM) and Honda Motor Company (HMC) also benefited from favorable currency movements due to the weakening Japanese yen over the last several quarters. A strengthening US dollar typically has a negative impact on the revenues of major US automakers (XLY), including General Motors (GM) and Ford Motor Company (F). Importance of luxury brands As noted earlier, Maserati is currently the only luxury brand that Fiat Chrysler offers. The company has been planning to speed up the Alfa Romeo relaunch to expand its luxury brand presence. Luxury vehicles typically tend to have much higher profit margins than mass-targeted vehicles. Therefore, a positive growth in Fiat Chryslers luxury brands could help the company expand its profit margins. Currently, the company is optimistic about the upcoming launch of the Maserati Levante, which will be available in the market from 2Q16. Going forward, it could be interesting to see how this car model could help Maserati revive its declining revenues. Continue to the next part of this series to read about Fiat Chryslers current leverage position. Story continues Continue to Next Part Browse this series on Market Realist: By Natalia Scalzaretto and Caio Saad SAO PAULO/RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc's Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg called on Brazilians to demand his company's WhatsApp messaging service never be blocked again after an appeals court on Tuesday overturned the application's second suspension in five months. In a post in English on his Facebook page, the U.S. billionaire and Facebook founder urged Brazilians to gather outside Congress in the capital Brasilia at 6 p.m. (1700 EDT) on Wednesday to rally in favor of legislation that would prevent Internet services from being blocked. WhatsApp was cut off in Brazil at 2 p.m. (1300 EDT) on Monday after a judge in the remote northeastern state of Sergipe ordered Brazil's five main wireless operators to block access to the app for 72 hours. The reason for the order was not made public. The suspension of WhatsApp's text message and Internet voice telephone service for smartphones was lifted after about 24 hours when an appeals judge on Tuesday ruled in favor of an injunction by the company's lawyers, the court said in a statement. Some 100 million users were affected. "You and your friends can help make sure this never happens again, and I hope you get involved," Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook. He also posted a link to a petition, calling efforts to block communication "very scary in a democracy." The suspension highlighted growing international tensions between technology companies' privacy concerns and national authorities' efforts to use social media to gain information on possible criminal activities. The same judge in Sergipe ordered the imprisonment of a Brazil-based Facebook executive in March in a dispute over demands to access the companys encrypted messaging service as part of a drug trafficking investigation. California-based WhatsApp had said in a statement on Monday that it was "disappointed" at the judge's decision to suspend its services. It said it had done the utmost to cooperate with Brazilian tribunals, but it did not possess the information the court was requesting. Story continues Matt Steinfeld, a Facebook spokesman, said WhatsApp executives were meeting this week with law enforcement and judicial officials in Brazil to improve communication and clarify that the company cannot see users' encrypted messages and does not store them after transmission. BRAZILIANS ANGERED It was the second time in five months that WhatsApp in Brazil has been suspended. A Sao Paulo state judge ordered it shut down for 48 hours on Dec. 15, after Facebook failed to comply with an order. Another court lifted that suspension shortly afterward. Monday's suspension angered many in Brazil, where the service is used by individuals, companies and federal and local governments to send messages and share pictures and videos. Cost-conscious Brazilians are avid users of free messaging apps, and WhatsApp is by far the most popular - installed on more than 90 percent of Android devices. As some Brazilians sought an alternative messaging system, rival Telegram said on Monday that it suffered technical problems under the weight of demand. It said it received more than a million new user requests. Leticia Mendes, a 20-year-old shop assistant in Rio de Janeiro, said she was frustrated by the suspension because it could force people to use pay services. "It's really bad," she told Reuters. "It's just a way of getting more money out of us, when we already have to pay for so many things." The suspension came as a congressional commission on cyber crime in Brazil debated changes to the 2014 legislation governing the use of the Internet. Lower house deputy Esperidiao Amin, the rapporteur of the commission, said his proposed reform would help avoid shutdowns of this kind by allowing the blocking of specific individuals or IP addresses suspected of illicit activity, rather than the access of all users. "It's less dramatic than withdrawing the service from the whole of the Brazilian population," he told Reuters by telephone. (Editing by Daniel Flynn and Cynthia Osterman) The 42-year-old is all set to assume the position left vacant by Liz Truss. AFP News Ukraine on Sunday denounced as dangerous lies suggestions from Russia that it was preparing to use a "dirty bomb". Its western allies also dismissed the allegations from Moscow, just hours after Russia went public with the claims. In conversations with his British, French and Turkish counterparts, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu conveyed "concerns about possible provocations by Ukraine with the use of a 'dirty bomb'", Moscow said. Russia did not mention the alleged "dirty bomb" allegation in its statement following Shoigu's call with Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin. "If Russia calls and says that Ukraine is allegedly preparing something, it means one thing: Russia has already prepared all this," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address on social media. "I believe that now the world should react as harshly as possible." Earlier Sunday, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba denounced Moscow's claims as "absurd" and "dangerous". "Russians often accuse others of what they plan themselves," he added. A British defence ministry statement said Defence Secretary Ben Wallace had "refuted these claims and cautioned that such allegations should not be used as a pretext for greater escalation". And in Washington, National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson dismissed Moscow's "transparently false" claim. "The world would see through any attempt to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation," she added. - 'Vile strikes' - Russia also announced Sunday that it had destroyed a depot in central Ukraine storing over 100,000 tonnes of aviation fuel. Kyiv's energy operator meanwhile said scheduled power cuts had been introduced in the Ukrainian capital due to Russia's repeated strikes on the nation's power network. The blackouts started from 11:13 am (0813 GMT) with consumers in Kyiv divided into three groups "disconnected for a certain period of time", energy company DTEK said. DTEK reiterated calls for residents to use electricity "sparingly" and for businesses to limit their use of external lighting. More than one million Ukrainian households have lost electricity following recent Russian strikes, according to the Ukrainian presidency, at least a third of the country's power stations having been destroyed ahead of winter. Zelensky condemned the "vile strikes" in comments late Saturday, after Russian attacks caused power cuts across the country. - 'Save your strength' - In the southern Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rig, deputy mayor Sergiy Miliutin was dealing with emergencies and power outages from his underground bunker, used as a venue for a children's martial arts competition. "I've reached a point where I just survive on my drive. You have to stay level-headed and save your strength. No one knows how long this will all last," he told AFP. The intensification of Russian strikes on Ukraine, particularly energy facilities, came after the bridge linking the annexed Crimea peninsula to mainland Russia was partially destroyed by an explosion earlier this month. It was another major setback for Moscow's forces, battling to contain a Ukrainian counter-offensive in the south and east of the country. French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday that it was for Ukrainians to decide when "peace is possible", in comments made in Rome at the start of a peace summit. Ukraine reported three deaths in an overnight Russian artillery strike in the Toretsk area, a governor of the eastern Donetsk region said. Inside Russia, two lines of defence have been built in the border region of Kursk to deal with any possible attack, a local governor said on Sunday. On Saturday Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor in the neighbouring Russian border region of Belgorod, said the construction of defence structures had begun. Gladkov said two civilians had been killed in strikes there Saturday, and that 15,000 people had been left without electricity. - Kherson evacuations - Meanwhile Ukraine's SBU intelligence service said it had detained two officials of Ukrainian aircraft engine maker Motor Sich on suspicion of working with Russia. The SBU said management at the company's plant in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region -- partly controlled by Russian forces -- had colluded with Russian state-owned defence conglomerate Rostec. The suspects had supplied Russia with Ukrainian aircraft engines that were used to make and repair attack helicopters, the SBU said. In the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, which Russia claims to have annexed, pro-Moscow officials on Saturday urged residents to leave "immediately" amid a "tense situation" at the front. Kherson, the region's main city, was the first to fall to Moscow's troops and retaking it would be a major prize in Ukraine's counter-offensive. A Moscow-installed official in Kherson, Kirill Stremousov, told Russian news agency Interfax on Saturday that around 25,000 people had left Kherson city to the left bank of the Dnipro River. Ukraine has denounced the removal of residents from Kherson, describing them as "deportations". bur-imm/raz/jj/lcm By Liz Hampton and Rod Nickel GREGOIRE LAKE, Alberta (Reuters) - Canadian officials on Sunday showed some optimism for the first time that they were beginning to get on top of the country's most destructive wildfire in recent memory, as favorable weather helped firefighters and winds took the flames southeast, away from oil sands boomtown Fort McMurray. There was still no timeline, however, for getting Fort McMurray's 88,000 inhabitants back into what remains of their town, or when energy companies would be able to restart operations at evacuated sites near to the town, which has cut the area's oil output in half. "It definitely is a positive point for us, for sure," said Alberta fire official Chad Morrison in a news briefing, when asked if the fight to contain the flames had a reached a turning point. "We're obviously very happy that we've held the fire better than expected," said Morrison. "This is great firefighting weather, we can really get in here and get a handle on this fire, and really get a death grip on it." The wildfire scorching through Canada's oil sands region in northeast Alberta since last Sunday night had been expected to double in size on Sunday, threatening the neighboring province of Saskatchewan. But with the fire moving into its second week, light rains and cooler temperatures helped hold it back, giving officials hope that they can soon begin assessing the damage to Fort McMurray, close to where the fire started. "As more and more fire has burned out around the city and the fuel around the city starts to disappear... we are starting to move into that second phase of securing the site and assessing the site," said Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, during the same media briefing. Officials said it was too early to put a timeline on getting people back into the town safely. COULD BURN FOR MONTHS The broader wildfire, moving southeast through wooded areas away from the town, would still take a long time to "clean up," Morrison cautioned. Officials had previously warned that the fire could burn for months. Alberta's government estimated on Sunday that the fire had consumed 161,000 hectares (395,000 acres). That was less than a previous estimate, but authorities warned the fire would likely grow overnight. Fort McMurray is the center of Canada's oil sands region. About half of the crude output from the sands, or one million barrels per day, has been taken offline, according to a Reuters estimate. The inferno looks set to become the costliest natural disaster in Canada's history. One analyst estimated insurance losses could exceed C$9 billion ($7 billion). Officials said on Sunday the fire had done minor damage at CNOOC unit Nexen's Long Lake facility, in the site's yard. It was the first reported damage to an energy industry asset since the fire began. Morrison said the blaze was southwest of a Suncor Energy Inc facility, which Suncor identified as its base oil sands mining site north of Fort McMurray, and also near an unidentified Syncrude facility. Air tankers, helicopters and bulldozers had kept the fire from reaching those sites, according to Morrison. Well see how the day goes, but with the cooler weather, I do expect to hold the fire there," he said. Suncor said on Sunday it will allow employees to return to work as soon as it is safe to do so. "We are hopeful that this will be soon," the company said in a statement. The company added that it was making plans to use lodges and camps for temporary employee housing and arranging for workers to commute from Calgary and Edmonton. Notley said she would meet with energy executives on Tuesday to talk about the impact of the fire and how the province can help them resume operations. FORT MCMURRAY STILL OFF LIMITS Even though the fire has largely pushed through Fort McMurray, the town is still too dangerous to enter. Nearly all of Fort McMurray's residents escaped the fire safely, although two people were killed in a car crash during the evacuation. The town's 160 firefighters worked nearly non-stop in the first days of the fire, even as some of them lost their own homes, said fire captain Nick Waddington. Thousands of evacuees are camped out in nearby towns but stand little chance of returning soon, even if their homes are intact. The city's gas has been turned off, its power grid is damaged, and the water is undrinkable. Provincial officials said displaced people would be better off driving to cities such as Calgary, 655 km (410 miles) to the south, where health and social services were better. "We are thinking about relocating in Edmonton for the time being. Maybe stay a year," said Kyle Mackay, 27, a mechanic for equipment trucking company Northern Diesel, who fled from Fort McMurray to Lac la Biche, about three hours' drive south, and is now staying with friends. His girlfriend Sarah Smith, who left separately, is pregnant and due to be induced into labor in Lac La Biche on Monday morning. "It's really stressful, but I know we'll get through it," said Mackay. The provincial government has promised evacuees pre-paid debit cards to cover immediate costs, with C$1,250 per adult and C$500 per dependent, expected to cost about C$100 million. At present there are more than 500 firefighters battling the blaze in and around Fort McMurray, with 15 helicopters, 14 air tankers and 88 other pieces of equipment, Alberta officials said. (Additional reporting by Ethan Lou, Allison Martell, David Ljunggren and Nia Williams; Writing by Bill Rigby; Editing by Alan Crosby) By Daniel Ramos and Anthony Esposito LA PAZ/SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Bolivian President Evo Morales accused Chile on Sunday of threatening the landlocked Andean nation by establishing a military base near their shared border, an accusation that Chile's government said was false. Morales said Chile had set up a base 15 km (9 miles) from the border and close to the disputed Silala River, adding that international norms prohibited installing military bases less than 50 kilometers (30 miles) from international borders in order to avoid confrontations. "This installation is an aggression to the life, homeland and to Bolivia," the leftist Bolivian leader said during a public appearance in the Santa Cruz region. Chile and Bolivia have long had thorny relations and are at loggerheads again over access to the Silala River, which crosses their border. Morales threatened in late March to go to the International Court of Justice in the Hague to resolve the dispute, which had until recently been a low-profile issue. "Bolivia's government is again looking to divert attention away from its domestic problems with false claims against Chile," Chile's Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement. It added: "The Bolivian president's accusation that Chile has installed an illegal military base less than 15 kilometers from their border, near the Silala River is completely unfounded. The supposed military installation does not exist." The ministry said the only military installation near the border was Bolivian, just 1.5 km (0.9 mile) from Chile and near the Silala River. It said there had been increased military patrols inside Chilean territory to avoid attacks against civilians, theft, contraband and drug trafficking from Bolivia. The strategy had been effective in reducing crime, it added. Morales, who has been under pressure at home over an unfolding scandal involving a former girlfriend, has argued that Chile has no right to use water from the river, which originates in Bolivian territory and flows into Chile. Chile, which uses some of the river's water for its mine operations in the Atacama Desert, says the waters are international. Chile is the world's largest copper producer. (Reporting by Daniel Ramos in La Paz and Anthony Esposito in Santiago; Writing by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Paul Simao and Peter Cooney) ISTANBUL (Reuters) - U.S.-led coalition airstrikes in Syria killed 48 Islamic State fighters on Saturday, Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency said, quoting the Turkish military. F-16 and A-10 warplanes killed 44 members of the militant group and injured others in Harjalah, Delha, Baragitah and Hawar Kilis, it said. Four more members of the hardline Sunni group were killed in separate airstrikes in the Karakopru region. Gun installations and barracks were also destroyed in that attack, it said. The airstrikes were in response to increasingly frequent Islamic State attacks against opposition forces in northern Syria, Anadolu said, citing national security sources. The Turkish border town of Kilis, which lies just across the frontier from Islamic State-controlled territory of Syria, has been hit by regular rocket fire in recent weeks. The Turkish military usually responds with artillery barrages into northern Syria, but officials have said it is difficult to hit mobile Islamic State targets with howitzers. Turkish officials have said they need more help from Western allies in defending the border. So far, about 20 people have been killed and almost 70 wounded in the rocket fire on Kilis, Anadolu said. (Reporting by David Dolan; Editing by Angus MacSwan) COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's junior finance minister has asked President Maithripala Sirisene to stop officials flying business class as part of government efforts to reduce the country's ballooning budget deficit. Lakshman Yapa Abhayawardene also asked Sirisena to direct ministers and government officials to monitor the financial management of all ministries. "I expect your personal and dedicated intervention to implement a strong fiscal management system," Abhayawardene wrote in a letter to the president. The request comes as the government takes steps to raise revenue by 100 billion rupees in 2016, in response to repeated requests from the IMF, by increasing value added tax (VAT).[nL3N17Y08Y] Sri Lanka is heavily indebted, partly due to borrowing by the previous government during its nine-year tenure that ended in January 2015, and faces a balance of payments crisis with around $2 billion foreign outflows from government securities. The government last week reached an agreement with IMF for a $1.5 billion bailout to help Sri Lanka avert a balance of payments crisis. [nL3N17W1PT] (Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez; Editing by Dominic Evans) By Jonathan Spicer and Jim Finkle (Reuters) - In the years before hackers stole $81 million (56 million pounds) from a Bangladesh central bank account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, senior Fed security officials examined the risk of such an attack - but judged the prospect unlikely, bank sources told Reuters. The Fed managers worried that lax security procedures and outdated technology at some foreign central banks could allow cyber-criminals to commandeer local computers and breach foreign accounts at the U.S. central bank, according to interviews with seven current and former New York Fed officials and a former U.S. government official familiar with the discussions. Over several years, New York Fed and Federal Bureau of Investigation officials discussed the risk of an attack made using the banking systems communications network, known as SWIFT, according to Fed and government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The New York Fed was concerned with lots of vulnerabilities, said the former government official. SWIFT was one of them. But the Fed focussed security resources on other priorities, such as preventing money-laundering and enforcing U.S. economic sanctions, officials with knowledge of the banks security operations told Reuters. Fed officials took some comfort in the fact that SWIFTs security software had never been cracked, the officials said. The immediate result of the breach for the New York Fed is a claim from the Bangladesh Bank for payment of lost funds and a potential lawsuit. Beyond that, the heist showed that the U.S. central bank long understood a potentially systemic risk to a vital global finance network, but was unable or unwilling to address it. The New York Fed declined to comment on past security priorities or on whether it had made changes since the heist. SWIFT declined to comment. Before the heist, some New York Fed officials considered the threat of fraudulent transfers ordered through SWIFT a fat tail risk a statistical term for events with low probability but dire consequences, said one well-placed official with knowledge of the discussions. Februarys theft from the Bangladesh Bank fit that definition - a bold cyber heist in which thieves attempted to withdraw nearly $1 billion in dozens of requests. The crime rattled the banking industry because the conduit for the theft was the SWIFT network, an acronym for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. A cooperative overseen by 20 of the worlds largest central banks, SWIFT connects about 11,000 financial institutions globally that use it to order money transfers. What everyone is realizing right now is that no one has ever really appreciated the risk, said the person with direct knowledge of the New York Feds deliberations. SWIFT has said that the scheme involved altering SWIFT software on Bangladesh Bank computers to hide evidence of fraudulent transfers. Last week, SWIFT acknowledged that the Bangladesh Bank attack was not an isolated incident but one of a number of recent criminal schemes aimed at its messaging platform. SWIFT has declined to elaborate further. Two Bangladesh Bank officials have told Reuters they believe both the New York Fed and SWIFT bear some responsibility for the failure to prevent the attack. The officials previously told Reuters that SWIFT gave Bangladesh Bank no prior warning about vulnerabilities, and the New York Fed failed to stop fraudulent orders when they reached New York. The head of Bangladesh Bank is scheduled to meet next week with New York Fed president William Dudley and a senior executive from SWIFT to discuss the matter. SWIFT has said the attack was related to an internal operating issue at Bangladesh Bank, and the New York Fed has said it has no evidence that its systems were compromised. Richard Dzina, head of the New York Feds wholesale product office, in remarks at a banking conference Tuesday said bank workers acted properly in releasing the funds. The system was penetrated, he said, because the hackers had acquired valid credentials to order the transfers. $80 BILLION A DAY The New York Fed holds trillions of dollars in funds for central banks worldwide. It processes about $80 billion in fund transfers in and out of their accounts each day, according to a New York Fed official. Security is handled by the New York Feds Central Bank and International Account Services (CBIAS) division, a closely-guarded operation inside its fortress in lower Manhattan. CBIAS assigns risk profiles to individual countries and regions, assessing government stability, terrorism threats, and organised crime activity when deciding how to dispense cash to central banks and other official institutions, current and former Fed officials said. In the months before the attack, the security unit was focussed on bulking up its anti-money laundering protections, an initiative driven by the Board of Governors at the Feds Washington, D.C. headquarters, according to two people familiar with the plan. Another priority was protecting the Feds own Fedwire payments system from cyber attacks, several current and former Fed officials said. Most transfer requests are approved automatically after computer screening. Only a few of about 2,000 daily transactions are flagged for review by employees, according to a New York Fed official. One of the officials said automated scanners used for SWIFT payments were effective for preventing money laundering and enforcing economic sanctions - but would not defend the bank against fraudulent money transfers. There is a balance here that has to be struck between allowing customers to make new payments and to conduct their business in a timely manner, and also to prevent really obnoxious or obvious cases of fraud, said Shehriyar Antia, a former senior New York Fed policy advisor and analyst in the CBIAS unit. The CBIAS system specifically checks for typographical errors - and it was a thiefs typo, along with an unusually high number of requests for payments to private entities, that alerted the Fed to Februarys cyber attack, banking sources have told Reuters. Once alerted, the Fed suspended payments on most of the requests coming from the Bangladesh Bank, but not before the thieves extracted $81 million. The Bangladesh Bank, Bangladesh police and the FBI are investigating the attack. A Bangladesh police official who heads the departments forensic training institute previously told Reuters that SWIFT servers at Bangladesh's central bank were vulnerable to hackers because of the absence of a firewall and a lack of basic security protocols. LOOSE CONTROLS Three former officials said that the New York Fed had recently focussed on loose controls over terminals and other access points to the SWIFT network at foreign central banks, where bankers often order withdrawals for hundreds of millions of dollars. The concerns focussed on the possibility that banks would purchase computers implanted with malicious software or that attackers could steal or buy legitimate credentials from employees, said the former U.S. government official. An additional worry, according to two former Fed officials, was the possibility that a corrupt insider possibly a bank employee might have access to the SWIFT network and submit a fraudulent payment request. Years of managing foreign central bank accounts gave some Fed officials concern that certain banks were ill-equipped to handle local security because of a lack of infrastructure investment and other procedural problems. But the Fed does not have the ability to audit the security protocols at correspondent central banks. The vulnerability is that central banks, even in developing countries, have a lot of money relative to their level of sophistication, said the official with knowledge of the security concerns. Its not just Bangladesh. (Writing by David Greising; editing by Brian Thevenot and Edward Tobin) MADRID (Reuters) - Acting prime minister Mariano Rajoy has asked the European Commission to waive a fine that could be imposed on Spain for missing its deficit target in 2015, El Pais newspaper reported on Saturday. Citing a letter sent to Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, El Pais said Rajoy had stressed Spain's efforts in the past four years to halve the public deficit, and offered up additional measures to control spending next year. A Commission spokeswoman confirmed it had received a letter from Spain and would study it. A source with the Spanish government said the letter contained information that had already been sent to Brussels on Spain's latest plans to bring the deficit down. The Commission is in charge of policing the budgets of the EU's 28 members to make sure they improve each year in line with recommendations set by finance ministers. The rules were sharpened in 2011 to make financial sanctions for rule-breakers more automatic and harder to circumvent through political alliance-building as had happened in the past. Spain missed its 2015 target of cutting the deficit to 4.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), after overspending by regions and a social security revenue shortfall pushed it up to 5 percent. The Commission is considering penalising Spain as well as Portugal for missing their goals. Officials have told Reuters the fines - which would be unprecedented - could be symbolic and be set at zero percent of GDP, though even that would ramp up political pressure. Spain's deficit tussle comes at an sensitive time for Rajoy's acting centre-right government, which faces a second election in six months after an inconclusive ballot last December which stripped the People's Party (PP) of its majority. The PP has tried to sell itself as a safe pair of hands on the economy, after the country emerged from a deep recession under its administration. The new election is now set for June 26. The Commission is due to issue its recommendations on whether or not to fine Spain and Portugal later this month, though the size of any fine may not be announced until after the vote, El Pais said. The maximum penalty is up to 0.2 percent of GDP, or 2.16 billion euros (1.7 billion) in the case of Spain. Brussels is also expected to give Spain more leeway to whittle its public deficit below its recommended 3 percent threshold, through an extension of one or even two years, sources have said. By exercising better controls on regional spending and helped by an economic rebound, Spain aims to bring the deficit down to 3.6 percent this year - instead of the 2.8 percent originally envisaged - and sees it standing at 2.9 percent in 2017. Brussels has projected the deficit will reach 3.8 percent of GDP this year and 3.1 percent in 2017. (Reporting by Sarah White in Madrid and Robert-Jan Bartunek in Brussels; Editing by Toby Chopra) CAIRO (Reuters) - Yemen's Houthi movement accused a Saudi-led coalition of launching air strikes that killed seven people on Sunday, shaking a truce that has largely held through more than two weeks of U.N.-backed peace talks in Kuwait. The Iran-allied Houthis and Yemen's Saudi-backed exiled government are trying to broker a peace through the talks in Kuwait and ease a humanitarian crisis in the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country. The year-long conflict has drawn in regional powers and killed at least 6,200 people, according to the United Nations. "The aggressor's planes bombed various districts in the Nehm district, leading to the death of seven martyrs and wounding three," the Houthis said in a statement. Political sources from the Houthi group's rivals in Yemen's government say the bombing in the Nehm area east of the capital Sanaa was directed at Houthi forces that were massing in the area in violation of a ceasefire that began on April 10. A spokesman for the mostly Gulf Arab military coalition did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. As part of the peace talks, representatives of Yemen's warring sides formed joint political and security committees last week but have made little progress toward a full ceasefire or political transition plan. In a further setback to talks after Sunday's events, Houthi representatives refused to attend a meeting with U.N. Yemen envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, a statement from the office of Yemen's prime minister said. The meetings of the joint committees have as a result been indefinitely postponed, pan-Arab al Arabiya television reported. A civil war in Yemen escalated when an armed push by the Houthis pushed the government into exile on March 26 last year. Seeing the Shi'ite Muslim group as a proxy for its Gulf rival Iran, Saudi Arabia mustered an alliance of mostly Gulf Arab countries to push the group back. But the coalition still appears far from forcing the Houthis out of Sanaa. If confirmed, the air attack would be the deadliest single incident since the ceasefire began. (Reporting By Mohammed Ghobari and Noah Browning; Editing by Richard Balmforth and Louise Heavebs) On Monday, May 9, Fred. Olsen's Balmoral will kick start the 28th cruise season in Saint John, Canada. Mondays ship is scheduled to arrive at 10:30 am and depart at 11:00 pm and will be docked at the Diamond Jubilee Cruise Terminal. Port Saint John has been advised that the Public Health Agency of Canada is monitoring the presence of elevated gastrointestinal illness rates aboard Balmoral and is working in collaboration We at Port Saint John are excited about the start of the 2016 cruise season on Monday. The entire team at the Port from our operations group to our Meet & Greet volunteers and business development and marketing staff have been working in concert to ensure the guest and ship experience at Port Saint John exceeds expectations, said Andrew Dixon, Senior Vice President of Trade & Business Development for Port Saint John. We know that our industry and community partners are also gearing up to welcome the tens of thousands of guests and crew we are expecting this year. Saint John will see six first-time callers this year, and four triple-ship days, and a single four-ship day (Sept. 28). The port will also welcome the return of Disney Cruise Line, and four calls by the Anthem of the Seas, which will be the biggest ship to visit this year. by Steve Painter | Sat, May 7th 11:43pm EDT There was eager anticipation and hope prior to this game because Teheran had pitched well in his last three outings. Indeed, he seemed to improve each time out. But tonight he was extremely inefficient, taking only five innings to throw 101 pitches. He went deep into counts and had command issues. And lefty Jake Lamb got the best of him for two doubles. But lefty David Peralta was hitless. So while Teheran had an 'off' night, he didn't pitch terribly, so he should continue to show improvement while becoming more efficient overall and continue to work on his approach to lefty hitters. His line tonight: five hits, two runs (one earned), two walks and five strikeouts. by Dale Redman | Pelicans Correspondent | Sun, May 8th 2:41pm EDT Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas will not play for the remainder of Toronto's series with Miami due to a sprained ankle. There is no timetable for his recovery. (Raptors MR on Twitter ) Monterey Anarchist Black Cross (prisoner letter writing) Date: Sunday, May 22, 2016 Time: 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM Event Type: Meeting Organizer/Author: Direct Action Monterey Network Email: Location Details: Old Capitol Books, 559 Tyler Street, downtown Monterey The Direct Action Monterey Network runs a prisoner letter writing group as part of the Anarchist Black Cross. WHAT: Anarchist Black Cross Prisoner Support Letter Writing Group WHERE: Old Capitol Books, 559 Tyler Street, Monterey, CA 93940 WHEN: Third Sunday of each month, 6-7pm The next ABC letter writing sessions will be: April 17th, 2016, 6pm-7pm May 22nd, 2016, 6pm-7pm June 19th, 2016, 6pm-7pm How does the ABCF (Anarchist Black Cross Federation) support Political Prisoners? Making sure PP/POWs (Political Prisoners & Prisoners of War) are a part of their own support is crucial and one of the greatest strengths of the Federation. We directly communicate with as many PP/POWs as we can. A large part of this communication is working together with them to find out what they need and how then we can practically provide this support. How will Monterey be involved? The Direct Action Monterey Network organizes a monthly letter writing session for political prisoners, with an emphasis on political prisoners in Californias jails and prisons. We are not a member of the Anarchist Black Cross Federation, but we use their principles and model of organizing as a general guide. Stop Fooling California, in their The Crude Truth" newsletter, commented: "Catherine Reheis-Boyd, president of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), is receiving TWO awards this weekend! Shell receive the first annual Distinguished Woman and Petroleum Advocate of the Year award (because she leads the most powerful corporate lobbying group in Sacramento) AND our prestigious Scummy (because shes an oil industry shill)." Western States Petroleum Association President Receives Two Awards!by Dan BacherIf anybody still has any illusions that California is a visionary green model for the rest of the nation, the unfounded myth of a green California" promoted by Governor Jerry Brown and other state officials is quickly dispelled by an awards ceremony for one of the most powerful oil industry lobbyists in the country held in Bakersfield on May 7.In a salute to Californias status as the third largest oil state in the country and Big Oils role as the most powerful corporate lobby in Sacramento, the "Women's Empowerment Summit" honored Catherine Reheis- Boyd, President of the Western States Petroleum Association and former Chair of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force to create so-called "marine protected areas" in Southern California, with the 2016 "Distinguished Woman and Petroleum Advocate of the Year" award.In response to the flyer announcing the award, a tweet from the WSPA Truth Squad, a satirical website, commented, Nothing screams 'women's empowerment' like some #oilbucks. Am I right?!The event, hosted by the California Latino Leadership Institute, was billed as the First Annual CLLI Tri County Central Valley Womens Empowerment SummitThe corporate sponsors for the event included the headline sponsor, the California Resources Corporation (formerly Occidental Petroleum), along with Aera Energy, the Chevron Corporation and SEIU 521.The year 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that granted women the right to vote, according to the online announcement for the event. The Tri-County Womens Empowerment Summit Program provides knowledge about resources and networking opportunities for a cross section of women participants by age, culture and interest including college students, small business owners, nonprofit leaders, community leaders and elected officials to succeed and improve their lives."The Honorary Summit Co-Chairs were Supervisor Leticia Perez, Kern County Board of Supervisors 5th District, and Assembly Member Rudy Salas, 32AD & Co-Chair, Assembly Moderate Democratic Caucus.The presenting Community Partners included the Kern County Black Chamber of Commerce, Clayman Institute on Gender Research, Dress for Success Bakersfield, Latina Leaders of Kern County, Kern Community Foundation, Kern County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and United Way of Kern County.After hearing about the award, Stop Fooling California ( http://stopfoolingca.org/ ), in their The Crude Truth" newsletter, commented:"Catherine Reheis-Boyd, president of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), is receiving TWO awards this weekend! Shell receive the first annual Distinguished Woman and Petroleum Advocate of the Year award (because she leads the most powerful corporate lobbying group in Sacramento) AND our prestigious Scummy (because shes an oil industry shill)." ( http://us8.campaign-archive2.com/?u=cbf20e5a5b94a5c945c922a5b&id=e4b3320acb&e=c581b47f50 Im sure that Reheis-Boyd will appreciate" her receiving the Scummy award from Stop Fooling California, just like she was enthralled with the two awards my Cold, Dead Fish Awards" Committee bestowed upon her this February. ( http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/02/12/governor-jerry-brown-receives-cold-dead-fish-award-four-years-in-a-row/ For their negligence in maintaining the grossly corroded pipeline that caused a massive oil spill off the Santa Barbara Coast, Plains All American Pipeline CEO Greg. L Armstrong and Reheis-Boyd jointly received the Big Oil Destroyer award. Reheis-Boyd provided oil industry PR response to the spill, since the pipeline company is a member of her association.To make matters even worse, the very same oil lobbyist CHAIRED the MLPA Blue Ribbon Task Force to create the faux marine protected areas that were fouled by the spill! The "marine protected areas created under her stellar environmental stewardship" fail to protect the ocean from oil spills, fracking, oil drilling, pollution, corporate aquaculture, military testings and all human impacts on the ocean other than fishing and tribal gathering.Reheis-Boyd also received another prestigious award for last years record oil industry gusher of lobbying expenses that ensured that no environmental bill opposed by Big Oil was able to make out of the Legislature unless it was amended, as in the case of SB 350, the green energy bill. The oil lobby broke its prior spending record, spending $22 million over the past year.WSPA spent a record $11 million on lobbying, making it the number one corporate lobbying spender in California for the fourth year in a row. For her industrys successful capture of the regulatory apparatus in the state, Reheis-Boyd received the Captured California award,Lobbying expenditures by WSPA continue to soar this year. WSPA has spent an impressive $12.8 million so far in the 2015-16 legislative session, making them, per usual, the top California lobbying spenders of the session," Stop Fooling California noted.The lobbying figures for the first quarter of 2016 are in and the oil industry heavy hitters - WSPA, Chevron, Phillips 66, AERA Energy, Exxon and Shell - have spent more than $25 million so far in the 2015-16 legislative session. The oil industry has been spending an average of $55,000 per day since January 1, 2015, according tp the latest report on oil industry lobbying by the American Lung Association in California. ( http://www.lung.org/local-content/california/documents/oil-industry-lobbying-2016-may-2-2016.pdf The oil industry expenditures on lobbying are even more alarming when you look at the national figures. The oil and gas industry spent over $141 million lobbying Capitol Hill in 2014 - more than $350,000 a day, according to Clean Water Action. This money helps elect candidates who support pro-industry legislation and weakening regulations and landmark environmental laws that protect our air, water, fish and wildlife. ( http://www.cadelivers.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Oil-Industry-Lobbying-2015-update-4_2.1.16._FINAL.pdf "When Big Oil pollutes our politics, it impacts us all," Stop Fooling California concluded.California and U.S. politics have definitely been fouled and polluted by Big Oil money, just like the Refugio Oil Spill of 2015 fouled and polluted the so-called marine protected areas created under Reheis-Boyds leadership as Chair of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative Blue Ribbon Task Force for Southern California.Ironically, two days before Reheis-Boyd was scheduled to receive her award, around 30 residents of Kern County traveled to the State Capitol in Sacramento with a much different message to protest the contamination of their water, food and air by the oil industry.Three of the protesters Rosanna Esparza, PHD, Kern County Organizer at the Clean Water Fund, Tom Franz, farmer and member of the Association of Irritated Residents, and Lupe Martinez, Assistant Director of the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment (CRPE) prayed and conducted a two-hour sit in front of the Governor's Office until a member of the Governors staff met with them.Governor Brown wants the world to think he is a 'climate leader,' but here in California we know thats not the whole story," emphasized Juan Flores, a Kern County community leader. "Here in my town of Shafter, fracking is contaminating our water, our food, and our kids' hopes for a healthy future. Governor Brown has the authority to ban dangerous drilling and protect our communities but so far, hes refused to act for the people he represents."For more information, go to: http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/5/5/1523580/-Breaking-Kern-Co-Residents-Conduct-Capitol-Sit-In-to-Protest-Central-Valley-Oil-Drilling Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin & Speaker of the VT House Shap Smith are Racial Profiling! by Cris Ericson Sat, May 7, 2016 5:07PM Should Vermont Speaker of the House, Shap Smith, be charged with conspiracy with Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin for creating a new form of racial profiling of people charged with a criminal misdemeanor by forcing them to submit to a DNA test because that is just a new form of being Hitler because DNA testing shows whether you are Jewish or Black or Native American Indian, etc.? Demonstration at Costco and Whole Foods in Santa Cruz California [ Standing tall and protesting the selling of Driscoll's Berries in front of Costco ]Driscoll's Berry Boycott 5-7-2016Costco and Whole Foods are a major distributor of Driscoll's Berries! Currently they are choosing to not honor the boycott that is called for by farmworkers.Please take a minute to let the management of both stores know that you would like to see Costco and Whole Foods honor the boycott, especially if you are a Costco member or you are a shopper at Whole Foods. Ask them to respect the rights of the farm workers by suspending the sale of Driscoll's Berries!Support farmworkers rights Boycott Driscoll's Berries!Indigenous farmworkers in Baja California and Washington state have called for an international boycott of Driscoll's Berries and are asking for your support! These farmworkers are fighting for an end to inhumane working conditions including wages of $7.00 or less per day, illegal child labor, unsafe and insanitary housing and working conditions, denial of lunch or rest breaks, and violent repression of their efforts to organize!The Driscoll's boycott will continue until contracts that safeguard basic rights and provide fair compensation are signed with the farmworkers independent unions.Please help, You can do this by writing Santa Cruz Costco at 220 Sylvania Ave. Santa Cruz CA. 95060 or calling (831) 469-0664 You can write the Costco Corporate Office at 845 Lake Dr. Issaquah, Washington 98027 or email them at customerservice [at] costco.com You can also call the Costco Corporate Office at (425) 313-8100You can contact Whole Foods Santa Cruz Store at (831) 426-9901 Capitola Whole Foods at (831) 464- 2900 and The Corporate office at (512) 477-4455For more information.... Last night we saw the community once again rise up in support of #Frisco5. We began with 5 but now we are growing to #Frisco500 and will soon be #Frisco5000. From the more than one thousand marchers on May 3 to the community members who echoed the #Frisco5 calls for justice last night at City Hall, a movement has been born. After nearly two days of being hospitalized (doctors orders), the #Frisco5 continue to be monitored closely.As the health of #Frisco5 grows uncertain, the whole San Francisco community took the step to demand the hunger strikers suspend their hunger strike so they can return to the front lines and help shape this movement and the pursuit of justice for the black and brown citizens of San Francisco. They have decided to listen to the community that they love. Considering the strength of the movement that has been galvanized through the last 17 days of the hunger strike, the community has made their voice heard.We must still send the #Frisco5 our prayers and positive energy because the re-feeding process after not eating for 17 days is long one. They will likely be in the hospital for a number of days.The end of the strike is in no way a concession - it's a victory of monumental proportions. They have been told in no uncertain terms by the community that they are needed here to help fight a corrupt administration and a racist and violent police department. They have been asked to help build opportunity for the very community that they were willing to lay down their lives for. They still hold true to their demands.They ask that the entire Bay Area Community join them in a general strike this Monday May 9, 2016 - leave work, leave school, and do not purchase from large chain stores, and join the #Frisco500 in front of City Hall at 8:30am:More Info:Hunger For Justice SF Washington, DC The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new containment device for use with certain laparoscopic The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new containment device for use with certain laparoscopic power morcellation devices. The system is designed to isolate uterine tissue that is not believed to be cancerous. The device approval comes amid lawsuits alleging women were put at risk of serious cancer complications caused by laparoscopic uterine surgery using power morcellation. We are continuing to warn against the use of power morcellators for the vast majority of women undergoing removal of the uterus or uterine fibroids. In a news release issued April 7, 2016, the FDA notes that it has approved the use of the PneumoLiner, designed to effectively contain uterine tissue. Despite the approval, the FDA also said the maker of the PneumoLiner must warn patients and health care professionals that the system has not been proven to reduce the risk of spreading cancer.According to an analysis, the FDA estimates that one in 350 women who undergo hysterectomy or myomectomy for non-cancerous growths actually has an unsuspected uterine sarcoma. During laparoscopic uterine surgery, power morcellation breaks up the uterine tissue into small pieces so they can be removed through a tiny incision. Women who have an unsuspected uterine sarcoma are put at risk that breaking up the tissue will result in cancerous tissue being spread throughout their abdomen, increasing the risk of death.Although the PneumoLiner is designed to contain tissue created by breaking up the fibroids, it has not yet been proven to reduce the spread of potentially cancerous tissue. As a result, the FDA is still not recommending laparoscopic uterine surgery using power morcellation for the majority of women who require removal of fibroids.This new device does not change our position on the risks associated with power morcellation, said William Maisel, MD, MPH, deputy director for science and chief scientist at the FDAs Center for Devices and Radiological Health.Lawsuits have been filed by women alleging the use of power morcellation during their laparoscopic uterine surgery resulted in the spread of cancerous tissue. As of April 15, 2016, 30 lawsuits were consolidated for pretrial proceedings in MDL 2625. The situation is concerning enough that in 2015, members of Congress asked the US Government Accountability Office to examine how it was possible for power morcellators to stay on the market, despite there being evidence of a risk of spreading undetected cancer.This device can take a Stage 1 treatable cancer immediately to a Stage 4 terminal cancer, the letter reads. For too many women, this routine procedure ended with a death sentence. The Angels were at Kyle Lohses recent showcase, Jon Heyman writes (Twitter links). Heyman also notes that they have considered Tim Lincecum, as John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle and others had previously noted. Theres no indication yet that the Angels interest in either player is serious, although their connection to two veteran starters is still worth noting, given their apparent need for rotation help. Angels starters Garrett Richards and Andrew Heaney both have UCL damage, and Richards, at least, will require Tommy John surgery. The injuries leave the Angels rotation thin, and as Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times points out, the Angels trades of prospects Sean Newcomb and Chris Ellis last season and their poorly rated farm system will make it difficult to trade for a good starting pitcher. That leaves them as logical suitors for pitchers like Lohse and Lincecum who remain on the free agent market. Lohse, who had a showcase yesterday, posted a 5.85 ERA, 6.4 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 in an ugly 2015 season with Milwaukee but was reasonably successful in the four seasons prior to that. What Lincecum might be able to contribute as he returns from hip surgery is unclear, but hes still fairly young, at 31, and was once a superstar. With Richards, Heaney and C.J. Wilson unavailable, the Angels rotation currently consists of Jered Weaver, Hector Santiago and Nick Tropeano. Cory Rasmus, normally a reliever, started Friday night, although he allowed five runs over just 2 1/3 innings. Nate Smith or Matt Shoemaker, both currently with the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees, could also be candidates to take big-league starts, as DiGiovanna notes. Tyler Skaggs is also on a rehab assignment with the Bees, although he was shut down two weeks ago with biceps tendinitis and has not pitched since. Scotlands national force wasted little time organising, filming and releasing their response to the international dance challenge set down by US cops. Following New Zealand Polices recruitment video featuring several officers dancing, the force challenged others to follow suit. This led to the NYPD getting involved and nominating Police Scotland who released a video of officers strutting their stuff in front of a bagpiper at Edinburgh Castle. Now the force has laid down the dance gauntlet to the Met Police, their own trainees and Toronto Police. Assistant Chief Constable Mark Williams said: Police Scotland never shies away from a challenge and we were delighted to hear the New York Police Department was passing the Running Man dance baton on to us. Our officers are on the beat every day and in step with their local communities and I think weve well and truly shown the NYPD how its done - as well as prove our officers have a sense of humour. On a more serious note, its fantastic to see the camaraderie between forces around the world and it clearly highlights the power of social media in engaging with our communities. This video has now been almost half a million times and the responses have been extremely positive. We are now looking forward to seeing the efforts of our trainees at the Scottish Police College, Tulliallan, as well as our colleagues in the Metropolitan Police and the Toronto Police Service as they take up the challenge. But alas, a spokeswoman for the Met Police cast doubt on any such frivolity at the UKs biggest force. She told PoliceOracle.com: We have no plans at this time to respond to the challenge. Heres hoping someone will change their mind Not only did an international research team discover two new endoparasitic wasp species in South Africa and India, and significantly expanded their genera's distributional range, but they also gave a celebrity name to a special one of them. While thinking of a name for the new wasp, Dr Buntika A. Butcher, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, recalled her long hours of studying in her laboratory right under the poster of her favourite film actor. This is how a parasitic wasp from South Africa was named after Hollywood star Brad Pitt. The researchers have published their findings in the open access journal ZooKeys. The new wasp species, called Conobregma bradpitti, belongs to a large worldwide group of wasps parasitising in moth or butterfly caterpillars. These wasps lay their eggs into a host, which once parasitised starts hardening. Thus, the wasp cocoon can safely develop and later emerge from the 'mummified' larva. Despite their macabre behaviour, many of these wasp species are considered valuable in agriculture because of their potential as biological control. Brad Pitt's flying namesake is a tiny creature measuring less than 2 mm. Its body is deep brown, nearly black in colour, while its head, antennae and legs are brown-yellow. The wings stand out with their much brighter shades. Interestingly, the wasp with celebrity name unites two, until now, doubtful genera. Being very similar, they had already been noted to have only four diagnostic features that set them apart. However, C. bradpitti shared two of those with each. Thus, the species prompted the solution of the taxonomic problem and, as a result, the two were synonymised. In their paper, the authors from Chulalongkorn University, Thailand and the University of Calicut, India, also describe another new species of parasitic wasp. It is the first from its subtribe spotted in the whole of India, while its closest 'relative' lives in Nepal. Did more people see #thedress as blue and black or white and gold? How many Twitter users wanted pop star Katy Perry to take the #icebucketchallenge? The power to explore online social media movements -- from the pop cultural to the political -- with the same algorithmic sophistication as top experts in the field is now available to journalists, researchers and members of the public from a free, user-friendly online software suite released by scientists at Indiana University. The Web-based tools, called the Observatory on Social Media, or "OSoMe" (pronounced "awesome"), provide anyone with an Internet connection the power to analyze online trends, memes and other online bursts of viral activity. An academic pre-print paper on the tools is available in the open-access journal PeerJ. "This software and data mark a major goal in our work on Internet memes and trends over the past six years," said Filippo Menczer, director of the Center for Complex Networks and Systems Research and a professor in the IU School of Informatics and Computing. The project is supported by nearly $1 million from the National Science Foundation. "We are beginning to learn how information spreads in social networks, what causes a meme to go viral and what factors affect the long-term survival of misinformation online," Menczer added. "The observatory provides an easy way to access these insights from a large, multi-year dataset." The new tools are: Trends, which shows how memes rise and fall in popularity. Networks, which creates interactive graphs showing who is tweeting a meme and how they're connected. Movies, which generates animations on YouTube showing how memes spread and evolve over time. Maps, which creates a map pinpointing where in the world people are discussing a meme. advertisement By plugging #thedress into the system, for example, OSoMe will generate an interactive graph showing connections between both the hashtag and the Twitter users who participated in the debate over a dress whose color -- white and gold or blue and black -- was strangely ambiguous. The results show more people tagged #whiteandgold compared to #blueandblack. For the Ice Bucket Challenge, another widespread viral phenomenon -- in which people doused themselves in cold water to raise awareness about ALS -- the software generates an interactive graph showing how many people tweeted #icebucketchallenge at specific Twitter users, including celebrities. One example illustrates a co-occurrence network, in which a single hashtag comprises a "node" with lines showing connections to other related hashtags. The larger the node, the more popular the hashtag. The other example illustrates a diffusion network, in which Twitter users show up as points on a graph, and retweets or mentions show up as connecting lines. The larger a cluster of people tweeting a meme -- or the more lines showing retweets and mentions -- the more viral the topic. OSoMe's social media tools are supported by a growing collection of 70 billion public tweets. The long-term infrastructure to store and maintain the data is provided by the IU Network Science Institute and High Performance Computing group at IU. The system does not provide direct access to the content of these tweets. The group that manages the infrastructure to store this data is led by Geoffrey Fox, Distinguished Professor in the School of Informatics and Computing. The group whose software analyzes the data is led by Judy Qiu, an associate professor in the school. advertisement "The collective production, consumption and diffusion of information on social media reveals a significant portion of human social life -- and is increasingly regarded as a way to 'sense' social trends," Qiu said. "For the first time, the ability to explore 'big social data' is open not just to individuals with programming skills but everyone as easy-to-use visual tools." In addition to pop culture trends, Menczer said, OSoMe provides insight to many other subjects, including social movements or politics, as the online spread of information plays an increasingly important role in modern communication. The IU researchers who created OSoMe also launched another tool, BotOrNot, in 2014. BotOrNot predicts the likelihood that a Twitter account is operated by a human or a "social bot." Bots are online bits of code used to create the impression that a real person is tweeting about a given topic, such as a product or a person. The OSoMe project also provides an application program interface, or API, to help other researchers expand upon the tools, or create "mash-ups" that combine its powers with other software or data sources. In a recent breakthrough, scientists from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, and the Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences, Mumbai, demonstrate an accurate method to simulate prehistoric movements of people based upon current topographical satellite data. Recently published in the journal PLOS ONE, population dynamics of prehistoric human migration into the island comprising England, Scotland and Wales was simulated by applying a diffusion equation tempered by geographical data determined from satellite-based information. Importantly, these findings are validated by recently-available genetic data. This method may prove useful in determining early human population dynamics even when no genetic information is available. Movement of people in prehistoric times was almost entirely determined by geography and human needs, both deterministic parameters when small populations move into unoccupied areas where conflicts and large group dynamics are not important. The early period of human migration into the British Isles provides a near-ideal laboratory which, because of its relative geographical isolation, may allow some insights into the complex dynamics of early human migration and interaction. Commenting on the simulation used in this study, Professor Vahia, the lead scientist of this work, says, "Our simulation code is based on human affinity to habitable land, as defined by availability of water sources, altitude, and flatness of land. These parameters temper the diffusion of people and allow us to follow their path of migration." The initial entry points of people into the main British island were determined using data from the megalithic period. Topographical and hydro-shed data from satellite databases was used to define habitability, based on distance from water bodies, flatness of the terrain, and altitude above sea level. Population movement was simulated based on assumptions of affinity for more habitable places, with the rate of movement tempered by existing populations. The team of scientists compared the results of their computer simulations with available genetic data to show that their simulation can predict fairly accurately the points of contacts between different migratory paths. Such a comparison also provides more detailed information about the path of peoples' movement over ~2000 years before the present era. Lepeichnus giberti is the name of the new trace fossil of the upper Miocene, very complex and exceptionally preserved, found in the town of Lepe (Huelva) and introduced in the magazine's Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology article. The new work is signed by the experts Zain Belaustegui, Jordi Martinell and Rosa Domenech, members of the PaleoNeoMar group from the Department of Earth and Ocean's Dynamics and the Institute for Research on Biodiversity of UB (IRBio); Fernando Muniz (University of Huelva) and Maria Gabriela Mangano and Luis A. Buatois (University of Saskatchewan, Canada). Chasing fossils' prints from the past Ichnology is a palaeontology discipline which studies trace fossils or prints which have been left by the organisms' activity in the past. The importance of the ichnofossils lies within three main points: most of them are preserved in situ -they provide direct information from the paleoenvironment in which they were generated; they represent the record of the produced animal's behaviour (palaeontology and paleoecology) which is usually linked to the paleoenvironment, and they are often the only record of certain organisms- such as the ones with soft bodies- whose body characteristics enable their no-fossilization. According to Dr. Zain Belaustegui (UB-IRBio), the main author of the article, "in general, Lepeichnus giberti is a new and exceptional ichnotaxon which consists of two vertical and parallel shafts connected to each other by a horizontal and C-shaped gallery, from which a hook-shaped branch is ratified. This morphological pattern is extremely regular and it always happens again in all studied specimens. "The exceptional character of the L. giberti -he continues- is due to the -first- findings of the fossil records of each of the evolution stages of a fossil trace, from its origins to the final phase. This has enabled us to describe with a lot of more details how the generation process was 6 million years ago, i.e. its ichnogeny. Actually, 9 different and consecutive ichnogenetic phases have been identified within the L. giberti ichnogeny." "It is as if we would currently monitor a burrowing organism and took a series of pictures of its burrowing process This is exactly what we have seen with L. giberti, but instead of pictures, these stages have been kept as fossils" says Belaustegui. advertisement An exceptionally preserved ichnofossil Ichnotaxons are the terms used by the ichnologists in order to list and classify these trace fossils with defined traits. The preserving state of the L. giberti is exceptional: the sandy silt which filled these burrows -- after being abandoned by their organisms -and the following ferruginization of its walls has helped the preservation of the most delicate details (such as the scars probably done by the organism's appendix). This sandy silt has also helped to its collection; around 90 complete samples with its intact three-dimensional morphology have been collected. "Everything -said Belaustegui- has enabled us proposing by comparing it to modern burrows. The presence of different sized samples (from 1 to 10 cm of maximum width) and identic morphology have been seen, something which would mean that the producing organism would have the same burrowing behaviour in both young and adult phases. In the restoration and preparation process for the thin layers and sections of the L. giberti specimen, the participation of Dr. Alejandro Gallardo, technic of the mentioned Department of the Faculty of Earth Sciences of the University of Barcelona, should be mentioned. A sea-linked paleoenvironment 6 million years ago the area where the fossil lies was a bay which was not very deep and was protected from waves and storms, probably affected by tides and with depths rich in organic fields and nutrients. "These would be the ideal conditions to gather big communities of the species (probably a swimming crustacean) which the Lepeichnus dag, because we have found around 93 burrows per square meter. Other organisms, such as anemones, another kind of crustaceans, and even cetaceans would have lived in this area" says Belaustegui. advertisement At this moment there is no knowledge of any current organism which digs a burrow with the same characteristics of L. giberti's. However, a great amount of the morphological traits noticed in modern upogebiid burrows -a kind of crustacean that digs burrows in the sea bottom- are similar to Lepeichnus's. "Since the similarities are not total -says Belaustegui- we present this kind of decapodes as the probable producers of L.giberti. The fact that there isn't any identical analogue would be due to Lepeichnus being an already extinct burrowing behaviour upogebiid." Ichnogeny: a new concept in the world of Ichnology The ichnotaxons are quite common within the fossil records but less than the ones related to animals or plants. The exceptional degree of preservation and fossilization of the different evolution stages of the L. giberti has enabled us proposing the new term "ichnogeny" -of great interest within the Ichnology field. This new term describes the origins and evolution of a modern or fossil bioturbation structure (burrows, prints, traces, etc. produced in soft non-cemented substrates) or bioerosion (holes, bite marks, etc. produced in hard cemented substrates). Like the authors say, ichnogeny (creation and development of a fossil trace) can be a process depending (or not) on ontogeny (origins and evolution of an organism). "Let's imagine, for instance, a footprint. The formation process of the footprint, its ichogeny (first the heel, then the sole and last the toes) is the same, be it a baby, teenager, adult or old person. In this scenario, ontogeny and inchogeny are independent from each other. However, it could be possible for them to be related. For instance, now they are known as "flies" (Symplecta genre) that have different burrowing behaviours according to the particular ontogenetic state they are in (larva, pupa or adult). In any of the cases, each inchogeny will be the same, the larva will always generate a certain kind of trace in the same way, and the same happens with pupa and so on" says Belaustegui. The palaeontology richness in the south of the Iberian Peninsula The new fossil Lepeichnus giberti pays homage to the town of Lepe -a place with great ichnology interest where ichnofossil was found- and in memory of Dr. Jordi Maria de Gibert Atienza, member of the PaleoNeoMar group of the UB and distinguished leader of the country's ichnology research. The first indicators of this ichnotaxon were found in 1955 by Dr. Fernando Muniz (University of Huelva) during his doctoral thesis, and he preliminary presented it by himself (without giving it an official name) during the Spanish Society Palaeontology Sessions in 1999. It is worth remembering that in 2010, due to the ichnology importance in Lepe, the research group PaleoNeoMar of the UB and Dr. Fernando Munis organized an international conference in this town- about crustacean bioturbation (Workshop on Crustacean Bioturbation -- Lepe 2010). And again, in May 2016, this area will be visited by the participants of ICHNIA, the international conference for Ichnology with the greatest projection worldwide, which will be held from the 6th to 9th of May in the Global Naturtejo Geopark of Idanha-a-Nova (Portugal). A provocative new book by Loyola Medicine radiation oncologist James S. Welsh, MD, "Sharks Get Cancer, Mole Rats Don't: How Animals Could Hold the Key to Unlocking Cancer Immunity in Humans," explores how animals can help us understand how the immune system can be used to fight cancer. Dr. Welsh is a professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. After publication, the book initially was named to Amazon's list of Hot New Releases in Oncology and Medical Research and reached No. 1 on Barnes & Noble's lists of new books in Immune System Physiology and Immunology. "Dr. Welsh explores the scientific history of cancer like never before," said Norman Wallis, PhD, executive director of the American College of Radiation Oncology. "With examples ranging from galaxies to dinosaurs, creepy mammals to disgusting sea creatures, and even particle physics, he weaves a story as good as any novel. And it comes together in a way that suggests a future cure for cancer." Dr. Welsh explores fascinating examples of how, in both animals and humans, the immune system in some cases effectively kills tumor cells, while in other cases cancer cells escape detection. He also explains how, contrary to popular belief, it's possible to catch cancer -- as in the case of Tasmanian devils (marsupials in Australia the size of small dogs). Tasmanian devils are on the verge of extinction due to a virulent form of contagious cancer. Similarly, clams on the Atlantic seaboard are vanishing due to a contagious leukemia transmitted in sea water. Dogs can contract a contagious cancer as well, but usually overcome it spontaneously. Thereafter, the dogs become impervious to this type of cancer, providing an intriguing clue about the role of the immune system in cancer. Animals offer many tantalizing clues about the nature of cancer in humans. Contrary to myth, sharks do get cancer. But naked and blind mole rats generally are not susceptible to the disease. In humans, an uncommon form of dwarfism called Laron syndrome confers near total cancer immunity. In another unusual phenomenon, a man died from ovarian cancer after receiving a kidney transplant from a woman who had the disease. In an even odder case, a tapeworm developed "cancer," which spread throughout the patient's body. And in perhaps the book's most extraordinary case, Dr. Welsh describes the seemingly miraculous cure of one of his patients, named Daniel, who had advanced metastatic melanoma. (Dr. Welsh first wrote about the case in a 2014 Discover magazine article.) The highly aggressive cancer had spread to Daniel's liver and bones, and he appeared to have only a few months to live. Daniel suffered excruciating pain from a tumor in his femur (thigh bone). Dr. Welsh offered Daniel local radiation to shrink the tumor, relieve the pain and reduce the risk of a fracture. This palliative treatment was intended only to relieve symptoms, not cure the disease. But three months later, a CT scan found no trace of cancer anywhere. Daniel benefitted from a rare phenomenon called the abscopal effect, in which localized treatment not only shrinks the targeted tumor but distant tumors as well. It appears the local radiation somehow stimulated Daniel's immune system to attack cancer throughout his body. "The abscopal phenomenon represents an extreme example of the immune system's ability to recognize and occasionally overpower even highly advanced cancer," Dr. Welsh writes. Earlier attempts to fight cancer with immunotherapy were disappointing. These treatments strengthened the immune system, but also boosted the strength and number of previously unrecognized or underappreciated immunological guardian cells that actually protect the tumor. However, newer approaches to immunotherapy are showing promise. "Years of skepticism about cancer immunotherapy are finally fading. . ." Dr. Welsh concludes. "The revolution is on!" "Sharks Get Cancer, Mole Rats Don't" is published by Prometheus Books and distributed by Penguin Random House. Most cloud-to-ground lightning (about eight of nine events) is actually a rapid series of strikes, pop-pop-pop, each lasting a few hundreds of millionths of a second, too fast for our eyes to separate into individual events. The other one in nine (give or take) creates a channel in the air, through which a lightning current can flow for much longer. In these flashes, the current can flow for tens to thousands of times longer than a normal lightning flash. While that might still be only a few hundredths of a second, this is lightning that makes things sizzle. Dr. Phillip Bitzer of The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) wants to learn more about lightning that makes things sizzle. Supported by a grant through NASA's New Investigator Program, Dr. Bitzer and graduate student Sarah Fairman will spend the next three years using new and archival data from satellites and ground sensor networks to probe the how, when and why of continuing current (CC) lightning. "This is something I've been thinking about for a long time," said Dr. Bitzer, an assistant professor of atmospheric science. "Finally I have a chance to do something about it." While there are unanswered questions about the how and why of CC lightning, some of the effects are unfortunately well known. Because it stays in contact with objects on the ground for much longer, CC lightning is more likely to ignite fires than normal pop-pop-pop cloud-to-ground lightning. "If it hits a tree, for instance, the longer the current flows the hotter the tree will get," Dr. Bitzer said. "So we think continuing current lightning is responsible for a disproportionate percentage of the fires caused by lightning." While CC lightning lasts longer, it isn't usually especially powerful lightning, which makes it more difficult for ground-based instruments to detect from a long distance. Because CC lightning produces a lot of light, space-based instruments -- such as the first Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS), the new Lightning Imaging Sensor destined for the International Space Station and the Geostationary Lightning Mapper on NOAA's GOES 17 satellite -- are well suited to detect this type of lightning. In addition to the possibility CC lightning detection might be added to the firefighter's tool belt, Dr. Bitzer also wants to use CC lightning to learn more about the physics and dynamics of thunderstorms. It seems, for instance, that CC lightning appears more often in older storms. It's possible, Dr. Bitzer said, that these aging storms have a large reservoir of charge available to supply a longer-lasting current. "These flashes are draining a lot of electric charge from a storm," he said. "We use lightning as a proxy for storm intensity. Is the production of CC lightning an indication a storm is dying? We're going to dive into it, peel back some layers and try to relate the storm's kinematic energy to this type of lightning." During the next three years, Dr. Bitzer and Fairman will acquire new data using cameras, ground based sensors and space based instrumentation, plus archival data from LIS, looking for trends, correlations and clues that might explain more about how and why some lightning pops and other lightning sizzles. A pioneering study of worldwide sleep patterns combines math modeling, mobile apps and big data to parse the roles society and biology each play in setting sleep schedules. The study, led by University of Michigan mathematicians, used a free smartphone app that reduces jetlag to gather robust sleep data from thousands of people in 100 nations. The researchers examined how age, gender, amount of light and home country affect the amount of shut-eye people around the globe get, when they go to bed, and when they wake up. Among their findings is that cultural pressures can override natural circadian rhythms, with the effects showing up most markedly at bedtime. While morning responsibilities like work, kids and school play a role in wake-time, the researchers say they're not the only factor. Population-level trends agree with what they would expect from current knowledge of the circadian clock. "Across the board, it appears that society governs bedtime and one's internal clock governs wake time, and a later bedtime is linked to a loss of sleep," said Daniel Forger, who holds faculty positions in mathematics at the U-M College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, and in the U-M Medical School's Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics. "At the same time, we found a strong wake-time effect from users' biological clocks--not just their alarm clocks. These findings help to quantify the tug-of-war between solar and social timekeeping." When Forger talks about internal or biological clocks, he's referring to circadian rhythms--fluctuations in bodily functions and behaviors that are tied to the planet's 24-hour day. These rhythms are set by a grain-of-rice-sized cluster of 20,000 neurons behind the eyes. They're regulated by the amount of light, particularly sunlight, our eyes take in. Circadian rhythms have long been thought to be the primary driver of sleep schedules, even since the advent of artificial light and 9-to-5 work schedules. The new research helps to quantify the role that society plays. advertisement Here's how Forger and colleague Olivia Walch arrived at their findings. Several years ago, they released an app called Entrain that helps travelers adjust to new time zones. It recommends custom schedules of light and darkness. To use the app, you have to plug in your typical hours of sleep and light exposure, and are given the option of submitting your information anonymously to U-M. The quality of the app's recommendations depended on the accuracy of the users' information, and the researchers say this motivated users to be particularly careful in reporting their lighting history and sleep habits. With information from thousands of people in hand, they then analyzed it for patterns. Any correlations that bubbled up, they put to the test in what amounts to a circadian rhythm simulator. The simulator--a mathematical model--is based on the field's deep knowledge of how light affects the brain's suprachiasmatic nucleus (that's the cluster of neurons behind the eyes that regulates our internal clocks). With the model, the researchers could dial the sun up and down at will to see if the correlations still held in extreme conditions. "In the real world, bedtime doesn't behave how it does in our model universe," Walch said. "What the model is missing is how society affects that." The spread of national averages of sleep duration ranged from a minimum of around 7 hours, 24 minutes of sleep for residents of Singapore and Japan to a maximum of 8 hours, 12 minutes for those in the Netherlands. That's not a huge window, but the researchers say every half hour of sleep makes a big difference in terms of cognitive function and long-term health. advertisement The findings, the researchers say, point to an important lever for the sleep-deprived--a set that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is concerned about. A recent CDC study found that across the U.S., one in three adults aren't getting the recommended minimum of seven hours. Sleep deprivation, the CDC says, increases the risk of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and stress. The U-M researchers also found that: Middle-aged men get the least sleep, often getting less than the recommended 7 to 8 hours. Women schedule more sleep than men, about 30 minutes more on average. They go to bed a bit earlier and wake up later. This is most pronounced in ages between 30 and 60. People who spend some time in the sunlight each day tend to go to bed earlier and get more sleep than those who spend most of their time in indoor light. Habits converge as we age. Sleep schedules were more similar among the older-than-55 set than those younger than 30, which could be related to a narrowing window in which older individuals can fall and stay asleep. Sleep is more important than a lot of people realize, the researchers say. Even if you get six hours a night, you're still building up a sleep debt, says Walch, doctoral student in the mathematics department and a co-author on the paper. "It doesn't take that many days of not getting enough sleep before you're functionally drunk," she said. "Researchers have figured out that being overly tired can have that effect. And what's terrifying at the same time is that people think they're performing tasks way better than they are. Your performance drops off but your perception of your performance doesn't." Aside from the findings themselves, the researchers say the work demonstrates that mobile technology can be a reliable way to gather massive data sets at very low cost. "This is a cool triumph of citizen science," Forger said. Mosasaurs -- an extinct group of aquatic reptiles that thrived during the Late Cretaceous period -- possibly were "endotherms," or warm-blooded creatures, a paper co-written by a UA professor suggests. Dr. Alberto Perez-Huerta's paper on endothermic mosasaurs -- co-written with now-graduated doctoral student Dr. T. Lynn Harrell Jr. and Dr. Celina Suarez of the University of Arkansas -- was published in a March issue of Palaeontology, a journal published by the Palaeontological Association. Mosasurs were large aquatic reptiles that went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period, about 66 million years ago. The paper focuses on a debate in the paleontological community over how mosasaurs employed "thermaregulation," or how they controlled their body heat -- whether mosasaurs were endotherms (warm-blooded) or ectotherms, cold-blooded creatures taking their body temperature from the surrounding sea. A paper published in 2010 suggested that mosasaurs were ectotherms, but Harrell and Perez-Huerta thought otherwise. "There was a paper published in Science in 2010 reporting the thermoregulation in marine reptiles at the time of the dinosaurs focusing on the iconic extinct taxa: ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and mosasaurs," said Perez-Huerta, a UA associate professor of geology. "This conclusion bothered me a bit because there was not a warm-blooded member organism used for comparison, and we know that size can matter in terms of thermoregulation." The study by Harrell (lead author), Perez-Huerta and Suarez used an oxygen isotope analysis on mosasaurs fossils in the collection of UA's Alabama Museum of Natural History and compared them to fossils of known cold-blooded animals, such as fish and turtles, from the same period, as well as the bones of such contemporary warm-blooded organisms represented by birds -- "true" endotherms. "Lynn came up with good ideas for two chapters of his dissertation, already published as well," Perez-Huerta said. "We discussed looking for endothermy in mosasaurs given his knowledge on this group of extinct marine reptiles, the large collections of these fossil organisms in the Alabama Museum of Natural History and the scientific controversy related to the Science paper." The study states that mosasurs' body-temperatures compared to the temperatures of modern, warm-blooded sea birds, suggesting that mosausurs were indeed warm-blooded. The study found that this tendency toward higher body temperature held despite the size of the particular mosasur genus or species -- body size (gigantothermy) didn't matter. "The findings of the present study support that mosasaurs were able to maintain a higher internal temperature independent of the ambient seawater temperature and were likely endotherms, with values closer to contemporaneous fossil and modern birds and higher than fish and turtles," the researchers said. "Although there are small differences of body temperature among mosasaur genera, these are independent of size, and thus inferred body mass, suggesting that mosasaurs were not gigantotherms." Perez-Huerta noted that the study was possible thanks to the Alabama Museum of Natural History's extensive collection. "This research study was the 'perfect storm' because Lynn is a very good vertebrate paleontologist, amazing collections at the natural-history museum -- one of the best in North America for mosasaurs," Perez-Huerta said. "There are great outcroppings containing mosasaur fossils in Alabama. This research could not have been possible with the great fossil collections housed at the history museum on the University's campus, and the collaboration of their staff to facilitate our access."

Thomas Dilworth

Mel is an 8-year-old rescue pit bull who has a neurological disease that affects his balance. The disease is not painful at all - it just makes moving around a little challenging. Thomas Dilworth "We went to the Yonkers Animal Shelter to see another dog when we noticed Mel," Mel's dad, Tom Dilworth, told The Dodo. "I had stopped for a moment when he then placed his head on my leg. Well, that was it!" After being adopted, it was a few weeks before his parents noticed that Mel's balance was a little off - and getting worse. Once he was diagnosed, Mel's parents decided to give him the greatest gift of all: a wheelchair. Thomas Dilworth With help from Eddie's Wheels for Pets, Mel can now go anywhere and everywhere he never could before. The first time Mel used his new wheels, he was a little hesitant ... Dodo Shows Soulmates Growling Little Kitten Becomes Her Mom's Best Friend ... but not anymore. Now, Mel often acts as the leader of his family's excursions ... ... and is even a little faster than his dad now. "If he knows he's different, he does not let it show. He still thinks he can walk and often gets up and tries," Dilworth said. "Once he is in his wheels, watch out or he will roll over your feet!" Mel's dad is a professional photographer, which means Mel gets to go on the BEST adventures - and have them all documented. Thomas Dilworth Mel, who lives in New York, has traveled to Connecticut, Colorado, Florida and everywhere in between. There's nowhere he can't conquer. He never lets his disability get in the way of where he can go ... Thomas Dilworth ... or what he can do. "Rocks, mud, you name it he has rolled over or through it," Dilworth said. Thomas Dilworth Luckily for Mel's dad, he's not at all camera shy, and never seems to mind being the center of attention ... Thomas Dilworth ... even when he's just kicking back, taking a break and enjoying his incredible life. The characters in these new and upcoming novels discover that going away is often necessary in order for them to discover new versions of themselves. White Elephant, Catherine Cooper Dr. Richard Berringer has long dreamed of bringing his medical skills to the poor of Africa. So now he, his sick and unhappy wife, Ann, and their difficult 13-year-old son, Tor, have pulled up stakes in Nova Scotia and settled in Sierra Leone, on the cusp of civil war. Berringer is frustrated in his efforts to practice good medicine. Ann, hobbled by illness (which her husband believes is imaginary), hates her life in Africa. Tor wants his parents to divorce so he and his mum can return to Canada. Is there any hope for this misaligned trio? This self-assured debut novel, with its difficult characters operating at cross-purposes, can be hard to read. Yet it is so deftly executed that its impossible to turn away. The Faces of Strangers, Pia Padukone As this novel opens, Nico Grand seems poised to become the mayor of New York. But on election day, a shocking revelation lights up global media, suggesting that he is the father of Estonian supermodel Mari Socolovs young daughter. The rumours seems to be true. Eleven years ago, in 2002, Nico, then a high school student, was in a year-long international student exchange program. His Estonian counterpart was a young man named Paavo, and during Nicos time in Tallinn, he became well-acquainted with the gorgeous young Mari, Paavos sister. Padukone takes us back to a relationship involving two families, which had life-altering effects on everyone involved. This is Padukones second novel with cross-cultural currents at its centre. The Naturalist, Alissa York Yorks last novel, 2011s Fauna, introduced us to the residents, human and otherwise, of Torontos Don River. Her new book takes us much farther afield, 150 years back in time and up the Amazon River. Soon before his second expedition, naturalist Walter Ash dies in a household mishap at his Philadelphia mansion; soon, his grieving widow, Iris, Arthurs son, Paul, and a young Quaker woman named Rachel Weaver decide to embark on this dangerous journey themselves. Rachels very surname underlines her fascination with the natural world, particularly the reptile family, and we readers suspect from the outset that this strong interesting woman will emerge as the true naturalist of the title. Shtum, Jem Lester This is a remarkable book, at once hilarious, horrifying and heartbreaking, written with the glum humour only Brits can carry off. Ben and Emma fake marital breakdown in hopes of improving their chances of getting their aggressive autistic 10-year-old, Jonah, into residential care. Ben and Jonah go to live with Bens dad in North London. Ben and his father havent spoken since Yom Kippur last September. And Jonah doesnt talk to anyone. Thats the setup: three generations of males living together in silence, thus the title. Lester drew on his and his wifes experience with their autistic child in creating this entirely plausible yet surreal portrait. Highly recommended for families affected by spectrum disorders and anyone interested in an entertaining novel about a decidedly unentertaining situation. Something to Hide, Deborah Moggach Moggach has written 15 previous novels, but she is best known for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Her forte is the relationship novel, often involving women who have bad luck with men. Thats the case with Petra, a single 60ish Londoner who is licking her wounds after her most recent romantic debacle. Into her life comes Jeremy, who lives in West Africa with Petras best friend, Bev. There are two other, seemingly unconnected plots, one involving Lorrie, an overweight Texan who loses the family savings on an Internet scam, the other featuring Li-Jing, an innocent young woman who lives in Shanghai with her wealthy husband. As the title announces, each has something to hide, and their lives will entwine in unexpected ways. Kill and be Killed, Louis Begley Begleys 11th novel, a sequel to his 10th, Killer, Come Hither, begins with Jack leaving New York City for the island of Torcello in the Venetian lagoon. He has killed the vile assassin, Slobo, to avenge Slobos torture and murder of Uncle Harry and has come to Torcello to write about it. Kerry, his lawyer love, has broken up with him (she says he smells of blood); he persists in emailing her to show she remains important to him. This backstory is included in the massive data dump within the first few paragraphs of this new adventure. Soon Jack will learn that Kerry is dead, in strange circumstances, and will set forth to avenge her. Begley (still best known for his Schmidt series) remains one of Americas most able storytellers reliably smart, naughty and wise. Sarah Murdoch, smurdoch49@gmail.com SHARE: ERBIL, IRAQFor the first-time in more than a century, Canadians troops are facing a scary reality on the battlefield: the threat of a chemical attack. Daesh militants have used mustard and chlorine gas in Iraq and Syria, the very weapons used to such horrific effect in the First World War that the international community outlawed their use. But now Canadian special operations forces soldiers helping to mentor peshmerga troops in northern Iraq are braced for the grim possibility they could come under chemical attack. The chemical weapons employed by Daesh, also known as ISIS and ISIL, are described as rudimentary but coalition commanders are not discounting the threat. Weve known thats a possibility. Obviously there were significant stockpiles of these things in Syria and ISIL made no bones about the fact they were interested in leveraging, Maj.-Gen. Mike Rouleau, head of Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, told the Star. We have always been prepared to deal with that threat from the very first days that we got here, he said in an interview at a Canadian outpost, west of Erbil. This is something that we pay very close attention to. Its a troubling development, Rouleau said. To help ensure the Canadian mission is ready to cope with the potential threat, the special operations forces command has deployed several personnel from its specialized branch responsible for dealing with chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats. The deployment of the experts was to make sure that our sampling and identification and decontamination regimes were all as good as they could be, Rouleau said. Canadian soldiers were among the first to ever face a chemical attack on the battlefield, when Germans deployed chlorine gas in 1915 in the Second Battle of Ypres. Now Daesh have been accused of using banned chemical weapons in both Iraq and Syria. Gen. Jonathan Vance, the chief of defence staff, told parliamentarians earlier this year that Daesh possessed mustard and chlorine chemicals and had the means to deliver the weapons. It is rudimentary and relatively small-scale, but I don't take any solace in that, Vance told the Senate defence committee in March. It could grow and it could get more dangerous if they were to get their hands on other types of chemical weapons, be they nerve agents or otherwise, Vance said. U.S. officials have confirmed that Daesh militants have used chemical agents in battle. We continue to track numerous allegations of ISILs use of chemicals in attacks in Iraq and Syria, suggesting that attacks might be widespread, James Clapper, the U.S. director of national intelligence told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee in February. Days later, John Brennan, director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, said Daesh has access to chemical precursors and munitions. We have a number of instances where ISIL has used chemical munitions on the battlefield, he told the CBS news program 60 Minutes. Yet U.S. marines Col. Andrew Milburn, who commands special operations forces in Iraq, sought to put the risk in context. Im the last guy to minimize the threat of chemical weapons but I think you have to put it in perspective and that almost all casualties in this theatre have been caused by high explosives or bullets, Milburn said. He suggested that Daesh lacks the technical skills to successfully deploy chemical weapons. Otherwise I think we would have seen much more widespread use, he said. Instead, Milburn sees the use of what he calls shock value weapons as sign of desperation, an organization that is flailing. Im not saying Daesh is down the canvas but theyre certainly against the ropes ... the last thing we want to do is underestimate the enemy but we have to be honest, Milburn said. Were not seeing a formidable organization anymore, he said. Rouleau agrees, saying that his soldiers face bigger threats in their Iraq mission, such as the danger of Daesh rockets and mortars. Its just another one of the hazards that we pay close attention to, he said. Read more about: SHARE: EDMONTONLong before the plane from Toronto touched down in Alberta, there were signs of the devastation in Fort McMurray. They sat in row 31, Seats A and C, wearing bright red vests that marked them as Red Cross volunteers coming to help. Doug Murphy, 62, and Cosmin Dinu, 36, werent watching a movie or reading a book. They were content to watch the small screen showing the plane relative to the world below. It had just passed Sault Ste. Marie, and was keeping pace with the setting sun, travelling closer to the world of haze, heat and fire of Alberta. Murphy and Dinu, both from Moncton, N.B., were the first Red Cross volunteers from the Atlantic Coast to deploy westward, with more coming Sunday and Monday. They call it the beast, this fire, because there is so much fuel for it to feed on, Murphy said on board the plane Saturday evening. Everything is just so tinder dry. Looking at images of people driving through the streets, with flames on each sides, cinders falling all around, I just cant imagine. The retired teacher was wearing light blue jeans and comfortable sneakers and already had three blue pens tucked into his vest pocket for the paperwork at the Edmonton evacuation centre where he would soon be helping. Dinu, who works in health care and also as a realtor, was using vacation time and unpaid days off for this deployment. Murphy imagined that Mothers Day would be celebrated on Sunday. The most important thing, if you have your mother and she is safe, I think you should celebrate it, he said. Obviously, youre away from everything, without much of anything, but the idea is to carry on life as normal as you can get it. As the plane landed in Edmonton, the world below looked parched. Riverbeds had exposed rock and low water levels. The grass looked like Ontario in late summer. All along the roads, electronic signs blared warnings and support. Fire ban in effect. Fort McMurray we are with you. Sometimes, people misunderstand and think that volunteers like Murphy and Dinu are going to fight the fire. No, Murphy, tells them. We deal with the aftermath. The aftermath is everywhere, and easy to spot. On Sunday morning, Shelly Malley and her husband Ed were at the Walmart in Edmonton, shopping cart filled with jerrycans and water bottles. They had left Fort McMurray on Tuesday, separately, and both had journeys through dark clouds of ash and panicked traffic before reuniting on the highway, leaving one of their vehicles behind, and driving south together. Married 37 years, this will probably be one of the last adventures of their lives together, they say. Shelly had 15 minutes to pack a few things, and scrambled for documents, passports, and in the rush, she was still puzzled by one of the things she grabbed: I brought his bathing suit, she said, laughing at herself in the stationary aisle. He said why? There home was still standing. Their daughter, who also lives in the city, hasnt lost her house either. They say their six-year-old grandson texted: Gramps, Im so worried about you. I think we lost our city. The Malleys werent sure when theyd return. The best case we hear, they might let us go in escorted a week or so just to see, but we dont even know if thats true, Shelly said. They will be fine, but they worry about the people in the shelters. The Malleys have a little bit of money to keep them going. Everyone has been so kind, they say, all the businesses that are going out of their way to discount clothing, food and shelter. They had even heard of an unorthodox offer. There was even a strip joint saying free laptops, what was it? Ed said. Lap dances, she filled in, and they chuckled. The moments of lightness and darkness are unexpected. We were really good, really strong, until I called Scotiabank about a car loan to defer the payments, she said. I dont know what he said to me but I could not stop crying, she said. It was no problem. Her eyes started to well up again, and so did Eds. It had been a long week. Ed smiled. What he keeps telling everybody at the hotel, is, no matter how you feel right now, things will get better. We cant wait to get back out there. If we would have lost everything we would have lost everything, he said. Its no big deal. More on thestar.com: The Star in Fort McMurray: Inside the scorched Alberta city Alberta schools open their doors to 12,000 Fort McMurray students Massive Alberta blaze could take months to extinguish: fire officials Read more about: SHARE: The Office of the Chief Coroner is exploring how homeless deaths in Ontario deaths not officially counted might be recorded if a comprehensive tracking system were put into place, the Star has learned. Regional supervising coroners Drs. Roger Skinner and Jim Edwards have met with Toronto Public Health, the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario and other community service providers to investigate the possibility of such a system, according to the coroners office. Skinner has also discussed the tracking of homeless deaths with the province, but coroners office spokeswoman Cheryl Mahyr said the office will not be responsible for any system that may be implemented, and it is not currently known where this duty might fall. Its a sign that homeless deaths are on their radar now, and it sounds like theyre realizing its a problem, said Cathy Crowe, a longtime Toronto street nurse and advocate for the homeless. But Crowe said she was a bit surprised to learn that the coroner would not be responsible for any homeless death tracking system. I cant honestly think of another entity or body that would be the obvious choice to do it Whats it going to be if not the coroner? The news comes after a Star investigation published in February found that with the exception of a few municipalities, no official governing body keeps a full and accurate count of homeless deaths across Ontario. Prompted by the Stars findings, Toronto council voted in late March to begin fully tracking homeless deaths across the city, with the goal of informing policy and legislation decisions to help prevent such tragedies. Toronto currently counts only the deaths of city-administered shelter residents. There have been 223 shelter-related deaths to date since 2007, according to the citys records. On March 31, the city approved Councillor Paul Ainslies motion to broaden that data collection to include homeless individuals who die outside the shelter system. City staff have yet to report back to council as to how this information will be gathered. Neither Skinner nor Dr. Dirk Huyer, chief coroner for Ontario, were available to speak with the Star, according to Mahyr. In an email to the Star, Mahyr said coroners had spoken with provincial ministries, the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario, Toronto Public Health, shelter providers in the Queen and Bathurst Sts. area, and researchers with the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, a provincially funded not-for-profit. She stressed that no tracking system is yet in place. Mahyr said the coroner was considering calling an inquest or inquests into recent homeless deaths in the Toronto area, but the specific cases had not yet been chosen. The Stars investigation highlighted the plight of Brad Chapman, 43, who died in hospital of a drug overdose last August after he was found by a hotel security guard in an alley near Yonge and Gerrard Sts. Chapmans name was not recorded on any official list of homeless deaths because he did not die in a city-administered shelter and his death was not deemed suspicious. Chapmans sister Leigh, a registered nurse, said she would welcome an inquest into homeless deaths so that the tragedy that befell her brother can be avoided by others facing similar circumstances. An inquest is an opportunity, through the coroners office, to take a leadership role in looking at homeless deaths provincially, she said. Brad was a case in point, an example of what can go wrong, and I think it probably happens a lot but theres no one to speak for (other) vulnerable people. Theres no one. Leigh Chapman added that if such an inquest were to occur, she hopes the coroners office would work with public health officials, the police and municipalities to best learn how to implement change to keep people alive and not just to keep them from dying. Its a very subtle difference but its an important distinction, she said. The Stars investigation into homelessness also found that the coroners office, which investigates unnatural, sudden and unexpected deaths, has no mandate to track all homeless deaths and that hospitals and social agencies, such as homeless shelters, are not required to report all such deaths to any central provincial registry. The coroner can only investigate deaths under three broad areas defined by the Coroners Act: sudden or unexpected, such as a heart attack with no witnesses; unnatural, such as a drug overdose; and deaths in which the deceased was under the care of certain social services, such as group homes or psychiatric facilities. Chapmans death was not investigated at the time. SHARE: A Bangladeshi woman had visited her parents in Toronto numerous times with no problem before Canadian officials suddenly declined her subsequent visitors visa applications. A British mans spousal sponsorship was rejected because his common-law Canadian wife checked the conjugal box on the application instead of common-law and must now reapply, adding further frustrating delays to the process. A Syrian family of seven ended up stuck in Lebanon after phone numbers and a document allegedly went astray, delaying efforts by a Toronto private sponsorship group to bring them to Canada. These cases are problems critics say an ombudsman at the immigration department could easily fix, saving taxpayers money for reprocessing and potential litigation, and immigration applicants the agony of having their lives thrown into disarray. These are the majority of problems people have day to day that could be resolved if there is the will to cut through the red tape, said Toronto immigration lawyer Raoul Boulakia. Immigration cases are expensive to litigate. In some cases, the court would not intervene and the process takes so long. Having an ombudsmans office would be terrific. The idea of establishing a public complaints office at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has been floating around for years but never got traction because of the lack of organized efforts among applicants and Ottawas short-sighted arrogance to cater to foreign nationals with no voting power. However, with the new Liberal governments emphasis on transparency and accountability, critics say an ombudsman could aptly look at these systemic challenges and find solutions. While Immigration Minister John McCallum agreed that obviously there is enormous room for improvement for his departments service delivery, he is noncommittal to the idea. Thats what a lot of my job is about. We are trying to reduce processing times and improve services. The idea of an ombudsman is an interesting idea, but it might be a little bit duplicating of what my office and I are trying to do, and it would add costs. Our objective is similar, he told the Star. If having an ombudsman would assist that task, I would consider it ... if its value-added. Right now, people can go to their MPs, the MPs might bring it to me and we work on it. We certainly spend a huge amount of time dealing with these problems and cases trying to get the best outcomes. The Public Service Alliance of Canada, the union that represents the 5,000 immigration department employees, said frontline services have suffered after 10 years of cuts staffing was down by 5.3 per cent while workload increased under the previous government. That led to minimum service and sometimes tainted decision-making, the union said. Our members are caught between a lack of resources and instructions. They are being told you have two minutes to respond to a phone call, basically. Thats not worthy of client service in our mind, said Chris Aylward, national executive vice-president of the union. It is nice for the minister to say hes all for increasing the service and service delivery, but in order to increase service delivery, you have to make sure the resources, tools and training are there. The union is all for the establishment of an impartial office if it serves both the clients and its members instead of creating an additional administrative burden and more work under existing resources, Aylward added. Queens University professor Sharry Aiken, who specializes in migrant law and policy, said an ombudsman could best handle administrative issues that emerge in application processing as a result of misunderstanding, poor representation and human error that could easily be fixed. Currently, members of parliament are overwhelmed by constituents requests for assistance on immigration files for relatives and friends looking for updates on applications, and immigration cases are inundating the court system and tribunals. Aiken said the cost of setting up a well-equipped ombudsmans office at the immigration department could easily be offset by the savings in resources in other jurisdictions and improved operational efficiency. Meanwhile, the courts and tribunals should still handle cases involving errors in law, she added. The office would need the authority and resources to deal with these cases and circumstances, said Aiken, who co-chairs the Canadian Council for Refugees legal affairs team. She said the danger of setting up an ombuds office without proper resources is it would get swamped and couldnt investigate complaints in-depth. The immigration department does have a call centre to field questions from the public, but the agents only have the capacity to provide information and have no authority to act on files in the system, said Dory Jade, president of the Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants. The call centre is not an alternative, Jade said. They cant make decisions or amend things on a file. Sometimes you get two answers from two different agents. Data collected by an ombudsmans office, he said, could help identify problems and gaps at the organizational level as well as the individual level among staff to hold them accountable for their performance. It could certainly help establish benchmarks. Say Officer John in Beijing had 200 complaints and Joe in Ankara only had three complaints. You could go deep into the data to improve customer satisfaction, Jade noted. NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan agrees. An ombuds office would bring accountability and transparency to the system and individual (decision-making). It would save peoples time and agony, said Kwan, whose party supported the idea in its campaign platform. For too long, Boulakia said, the Liberals under Jean Chretien had taken a laissez faire approach in the immigration operation, letting bureaucrats run the department making the system less transparent and more difficult for applicants. That culture was further reinforced under the Stephen Harper government, despite the Conservatives micro-management approach in the immigration operation, he explained. Immigrant support gradually slipped for the Chretien Liberals because of neglect and lack of resources for the immigration department, said Boulakia. While immigrant communities initially bought into the Tories higher efficiency and anti-fraud immigration agenda, the support could only be sustained if officials continued to be indifferent to their interests and voices. The protest vote helped elect the (Justin) Trudeau Liberals, but eventually the same is going to happen if the government remains indifferent to their concerns, said Boulakia, adding that culture of neglect and excuse-making in the immigration department must change. People caught up in bureaucracy: We feel helpless: Sufia Alam had travelled to Toronto to visit her parents many times since they moved here in 1995. But in 2009, the Bangladeshi homemakers request for a visa was turned down, as were requests in 2013 and 2014 because the visa officer was not satisfied Sufia, 51, would leave at the end of her trip. Her dad, Moyeenul Alam, 79, a retired journalist, is baffled since Sufia has had no problem visiting the U.S. Now, to see their daughter, the Alams have to take an 800-km bus trip to a relatives home in Virginia when Sufia visits. We just feel helpless, says Alam. Misplaced numbers, lost time: If it wasnt for misplaced cellphone numbers and a document that went astray, Barbara Falk and her refugee sponsorship group wouldnt have been leasing an empty apartment for several months. Their application to sponsor a Syrian family was approved in January, but then weeks passed without a word. Falk called immigration and was told documents were mailed to the family in Lebanon instead of being sent to their smart phones. The family said the documents never arrived and was told the fathers military record went missing and had to be resubmitted, adding further delays. The tragedy here is that, but for the loss of information about the cellphone numbers and the second loss of the military service document, this family would have boarded a flight to Canada and been with us today, Falk said. Immigration, however, said no documents were misplaced and the application is at the security checks stage. Frustration over long wait: Gamjit Kaur, a foreign student from India, applied for permanent residency in Canada under the Canadian Experience Class in July 2013, after getting work experience as an early child educator at a Montessori school. In February 2014, she was told to pay her landing fee and go for a medical exam. Her application has since been stalled. I put in an access to information request and got the officials notes on my file. Theres no issue of my eligibility or medical. Everything was clear, said the 30-year-old. The processing time for CEC has gone up from 13 months to 19 months, but my application has now taken 34 months. Can someone explain to me why its taking so long for no reason? Checking the wrong box: Torontonian Alexandra Mastronardi submitted a spousal sponsorship application for her British partner, Steven Jackson, in June 2014. She checked the box marked conjugal in describing their relationship because at that point they had only lived together for four months and didnt meet the one-year minimum to be classified as common-law. Trouble is, almost 18 months passed before the couples application was dealt with. It was denied: I am not satisfied that there were any legal or other impediments to you either marrying or cohabiting with your partner prior to your sponsorship application, said the rejection letter. I am not satisfied that you would suffer unusual and undeserved or disproportionate hardship as a result of the refusal of your application, given that you appear eligible to apply under another family class category, namely common-law partner. The couple is pondering their next step. Glaring clerical error: An office administrator, Aussie Rose-Mary Torbarac had worked in Calgary for 20 months and applied for permanent residency in March 2014. On Jan. 18, she received an email from immigration saying her application was approved and asking her to pay the landing fee to finalize the process. Six hours and 41 minutes after submitting all the requested documentation and the fee, the Sydney native received another email telling her to disregard the previous letter, sent to 9,000 immigration applicants in a clerical error. Putting in any sort of application for immigration isnt just a huge deal. Its life changing. You expect when you raise concerns, answers will be given. When you point out issues, people will be held accountable for their mistakes, she said. This has not happened. SHARE: Two themes run through Reeta Roys family story. One is hard work; the other is migration. Roys father, Durgadas, grew up in Dhaka, then capital of Indias Eastern Bengal province. During the 1947 Partition, the Hindu family fled as refugees to Calcutta, where Durgadas was studying medicine. After graduating, without telling his parents, he hopped a boat to Malaysia, where he had heard that good jobs awaited. He sent home a postcard a month later, says his daughter. It took his mother a long time to forgive him. Reeta Roys mother, Sian Yin (Emily) Chen, grew up in a Chinese Taoist family in southern Thailand. Chens father made a fortune, opening small shops along an expanding railway line, but during the Depression he lost it all, and ended up making soap for a living. While he had sent 10 worthy boys to China on scholarships, he never sent his own daughter because he didnt think girls merited an education. Chen was determined to become independent. When she heard Malaysia was training foreign nurses, she bought a train ticket for Penang. She met Durgadas at a hospital where they were both working, in northern Malaysia. Their subsequent marriage crossed many boundaries race boundaries, cultural boundaries and certainly faith boundaries, says Roy. It was a big deal. They settled in Perak, where Durgadas became chief medical officer and Chen raised their growing family. First came Avijit, nicknamed Rana, or prince; four years later, Reeta was born. Chen never controlled her active daughter, she says. But after shed completed her homework in the evening, Chen brewed her black coffee and insisted she study Ranas English textbooks. To me, it was most important my daughter have a proper education so she could stand on her own two feet, Chen says today, from a seniors residence in Toronto. I wanted her to be independent, so no one could control her. Chen tucked away some grocery money and quietly invested in stocks. But tragedy struck when Reeta was 14: her father died of a stroke. How would she afford to go to college? The answer came from her brother, Rana, who won an international scholarship to Wake Forest University in North Carolina. While there, he asked a Presbyterian minister if a family from the congregation would host his little sister, then 16, so she could join him. Chens stocks wouldnt cover Reetas expenses in the U.S., so she took out a mortgage on the house. Reeta arrived in Winston-Salem, where she was enrolled in a public high school. After a rough initial homestay, she moved in with Ann and Don Piehl and their two children. Today, Ann remembers Reetas late-night studying habits, voracious appetite and enthusiasm for life. Reeta would ask her difficult questions about abortion and segregation, and wed talk and talk and suddenly Id realize we were sitting on the floor and it was 2 a.m., she says. I dont believe Reeta ever felt like a stranger anywhere She became glued to us and we to her. Roy dreamed of going to an Ivy League university, but only St. Andrews Presbyterian College in North Carolina offered her a scholarship. She cried when she opened the letter. But my mother said, They want you. Theyll know you, she recalls. It was true: she quickly became a big fish. She wrote for the student paper, ran the model United Nations and joined the student government, while working part-time jobs for pocket money. If anything, that school made me, Roy says. They instilled confidence. One day, a professor at St. Andrews pulled out a brochure for the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Massachusetts and told her, Reeta, weve had one student go to this school. You could be the second, she recalls. Three weeks before moving to Massachusetts to start her masters degree, Roy married Jim Muldoon, whom she had met a year earlier when she went to New York for the model UN. There was a quick connection he called me every day for the next eight weeks despite a bit of a height difference. (Hes six foot four and shes not quite five foot one.) After her first year at Tufts, the dean called her to say shed been given a full scholarship. They knew what a struggle it was for me, Reeta says. People might help you, but only when they see you put your sweat equity into these things. Roys first jobs were a series of contracts, writing reports for the UN information department. Then she heard about a position at Bristol-Myers Squibb one of the worlds biggest health-care companies. She remembers walking into the office on Manhattans Park Ave., with its plush carpet and wood-panelled walls, and thinking: This is another world of power, capability and influence. Nine months later, she was hired to work on the companys ethical strategies addressing difficult social problems, such as South African apartheid and AIDS. I knew I was on the path, says Roy. Where that path would lead, she couldnt have imagined. If I had a billion dollars By her own account, Roy was a long shot for the job as head of what was already the biggest foundation in Canada, growing into one of the largest in North America. The MasterCard Foundation was created by the worlds second-largest credit card company with a donation of almost 13.5 million shares 10 per cent of the company on the occasion of MasterCard Inc.s initial public offering. On that morning, May 25, 2006, those shares were worth $39 each (all figures U.S.). By the evenings market close, they were worth $46 and climbing, totalling $621 million. When Roy got a call from a headhunter a year and a half later, the foundations assets had grown past $1.4 billion. MasterCard Inc. shares are now trading at close to $100. At the time, Roy was a vice-president of global citizenship and policy of Abbott, a giant international health-care company based in Chicago. There, she also led the corporate foundation, the Abbott Fund, which was disbursing around $34 million a year a sliver of the MasterCard Foundation. I didnt seriously think Id go forward, says Roy of her first interview. She was just a girl from a town in Malaysia, with no family connections and no inherited wealth. She didnt fit the mould of foundation president, which hasnt changed much since the days of pioneering groups such as the Ford Foundation, created in 1936. When she sat down in the boardroom in Miami, her feet didnt reach the floor. Board chair Lois Juliber asked her to tell them something about herself. I said, Id never be here if it wasnt for my mother, Roy recalls. Later, she told me that was the most important thing I said in the interview. She felt Id be committed. Unlike many foundations, the MasterCard Foundation is completely independent from the company. It was a blank slate, with two broad strategies to decrease poverty: by giving poor people education and access to microfinance programs. Roy embodied the transformative power of both. She and her husband, Jim Muldoon, moved to Toronto, the foundations headquarters, where they share a home. The headquarters was located here because it was a neutral spot between American and European board members, and because Canadas reputation among international development organizations was better than that of the U.S., according to philanthropy historian Eric John Abrahamson. (In 2006 George W. Bush was still in power down south, while Stephen Harper had just been elected prime minister.) Roy had been to Canada only once, when her flight from Japan was grounded during a snowstorm. But she felt at home immediately. While she and Muldoon waited for their moving truck to arrive, sitting on the stoop of their new home in Cabbagetown, a neighbour walked by and asked them to come to supper that night. She had no time to settle in that was left to Muldoon, an author on international affairs. Roy set off around the globe to learn about international development and poverty reduction, and, together with CFO Peggy Woo, to flesh out the foundations skeletal mission. They did that in a classic Roy way reaching out to experts, workers and clients, and wherever they were, sitting down to hear their intimate stories. She revamped relations between grant seekers and grant givers to the point youd totally drop your game face with her, and just be you, says Susan Davis, the recently retired president of BRAC USA, a branch of the worlds largest development organization. Reeta brought her big heart, keen intellect and curiosity to the job. She made it personal. One of Roys first trips was back to her ancestral village in what was now Bangladesh. No one in her family had been back since they were chased out during Partition. But Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, the founder of BRAC, which started in Bangladesh, assured her his staff would take her to the village to see its microcredit operation. So after getting the village name Lahunda from her aunts in Kolkata, Roy met BRAC staff in Dhaka. From there, they took a car, then motorbikes, then bicycle rickshaws to the small village, beside a dried-up river. Sure enough, female participants in BRACs microcredit program met them and, upon hearing who she was, guided her to an empty field where her grandparents home had once stood. By then, she was surrounded by villagers the prodigal daughter, returned home. I cant tell you what a gift that was, Roy says. Standing in that barren field, where her grandmother had once given summer school classes, she thought about how in three generations, one family can lose everything, move far away, and gain it all back and more. The payoff In 2009, Roy tightened the MasterCard Foundations focus onto one area: sub-Saharan Africa. That is the globes cradle of enduring poverty, as well as its youth bulge a population growing so quickly that by 2050, one in four people in the world will be African, according to the Economist. For the foundation, Roy saw an opportunity to make a big impact. That year, she met James Mwangi, the charismatic founder of Equity Bank Kenya, a microcredit lender that has since grown into the largest bank in East Africa. Mwangi grew up poor, the sixth of seven children of a martyred freedom fighter and a widowed mother. Like Roy, he credits his success to his mother, who insisted that all of her children even the girls be educated, and to a scholarship that sent him to high school. He bonded with Roy one night over dinner in Nairobi. He said, the thing Im most positive will change Kenya is education, Roy says. We have banks across the country. What if we use the infrastructure to run a scholarship program, and fund kids who are the most deserving and the most vulnerable? Roy committed $4 million, enough to cover 332 scholarships. They called the program Wings to Fly because it opened opportunities to children grounded by poverty. The next January, Roy travelled to the western Kenyan region of Migori, to observe the local selection committee of town leaders meeting inside a modest building. They were offering two scholarships. Ten students had been called for interviews. Six years later, Roy remembers those students stories vividly. The first was a little boy. He was so tiny. He said hed come alone because his grandmother couldnt come. The first words out of his mouth were, I was born out of wedlock, she says. Then a girl came named Catherine. I could see her school uniform had been darned so many times. While the committee deliberated, Roy slipped outside. I had to talk to these kids, she says. I told them, whatever the decision, more good things would come, and not to lose faith. The next year, the foundation expanded its commitment to $43 million, so 5,000 kids could win a wraparound scholarship including board and tuition, mentoring, tutoring, school supplies, internship opportunities and sundries like slippers and bedrolls. You want every child to go to school on an even playing field, says Roy. At the same time, we all have capabilities. We can all work and figure things out with guidance. You have to compete. That is one of the most powerful lessons in life if you put your mind to it, you will persevere. Wings to Fly became the template for the MasterCard Foundation Scholars program launched in 2012, which pledged to give 15,000 poor yet brilliant students secondary school and university scholarships over 10 years. Last year, the foundation doubled that commitment to 30,000. To date, 65 per cent of the scholars have been female. Right now, 39 MasterCard Foundation scholars are at the University of Toronto. Roy met three of them for coffee on a recent blustery spring morning. They hugged beneath the gothic stone tower of Hart House and talked about their recent third-year exams and summer internship plans. Rushing by, youd have likely mistaken Roy for a grad student, not a woman who has danced with Barack Obama on the White House lawn, or who makes $12-million decisions from a corner office, 24 floors above Old City Hall. She was dressed in scuffed chocolate desert boots and a peacoat and, like the other six times Ive met her, sported not a lick of makeup. All three girls came from direr circumstances than Roy, with no homes to mortgage in Kenya and Ghana. They are studying statistics, economics and equity studies, industrial engineering. They all make time to volunteer. Sharon Odhiambo said she cried when she got the email three years ago stating shed been chosen as a foundation scholar. Her mother had begged strangers to fund her secondary schooling in Kenya. Sylvia Mwangi said she was the first in her family to go to university. Shes not sure what shell do as a career: There are so many options. Bouncing in her seat, Nana Yaa Abrafi Boa-Amponsem wants to go back to Ghana for a summer internship. I need to cuddle with my mom, she says. Its been two years. Across the table of the campus coffee shop, Roy nods. She remembers the loneliness, and the pressure to succeed as the emissary of your family and country. But she has faith their paths will be as successful as hers. The payoff, in terms of investment, might not happen for 20 years. But with $11.1 billion, her foundation can be patient. And the ripple effect of 30,000 people like these young women, getting an education and this kind of confidence to become leaders in whatever field they choose, could be massive. To me, real success would be if they carry the values of the program with them equity, inclusion, solving problems and being very, very intentional about (helping) people who are excluded, Roy says. One day, that may no longer be poverty, but people who are excluded because of gender, age, disability, a different religion or ethnic group. If they see that their mission is to break those barriers down, then Ill know: Ive done it. Building a foundation 2006: MasterCard Foundation is created, with a deed that obliges the organization to hold its shares in MasterCard Inc. for 21 years, investing only dividends and gifts. The shares do exceptionally well on the stock market, earning the foundation far more than standard returns on investment. This has been a windfall for good, says philanthropy historian Eric John Abrahamson. 2007: The company names an eight-person board, including former Colgate-Palmolive CEO Lois Juliber; David Johnston, then University of Waterloo president and now Canadas Governor General; former Irish president Mary Robinson; and Onex Corp. managing director Nigel Wright, later famous as Stephen Harpers chief of staff. 2008: Reeta Roy is hired as the foundations second CEO and president, after Deanna Rosenswigs short tenure. She has a staff of just 3.5. The board approves the foundations first two grants: $19.6 million to BRAC in Uganda, and $5 million to Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) in Morocco and Egypt. 2009: The foundation launches the Wings to Fly scholarship program with Equity Bank in Kenya. 2011: The foundation gives $1.6 million to the African Leadership Academy to create the annual Anzisha Prize for young entrepreneurs. Finalists travel to South Africa for $75,000 in awards, plus mentorship and support. 2013: The first annual MasterCard Foundation symposium on financial inclusion is held in Turin, Italy, with the Boulder Institute of Microfinance. 2014: Former U.S. president Bill Clinton and his daughter attend a Wings to Fly graduation in Nairobi. Clinton delivers the keynote address, telling graduates that he, too, was the first person in his family to go to college. Their goal, he said, should be to someday become the MasterCard Foundation to another child. 2015: The foundation hosts the first Young Africa Works summit in Cape Town, drawing 300 experts to discuss sustainable youth employment strategies. 2015: MasterCard Foundation Scholars commitment is doubled, to 30,000 from 15,000 scholarships by 2022. 2016: The foundation celebrates its 10th anniversary by giving all 80 staff $10,000 to donate to a local development program or charity. May 26, 2016: Roy will receive a YWCA Woman of Distinction Award. MasterCard Foundation by the numbers (all figures U.S. dollars) Total assets: $11.1 billion MasterCard Foundation university scholarships: 1,675 Participating universities/colleges: 20 Cost of one year for a foundation scholarship at U of T (including international fees, living expenses and academic supports): $84,144 MasterCard Foundation secondary school scholarships: 16,566 Cost of a one-year high school scholarship in Kenya (including living expenses and academic supports): $10,352 Percentage of scholars who are girls: 65 Percentage of scholars from Africa: 98 Money spent by the foundation to date: $813 million Money committed: $1.8 billion Number of people reached, cumulatively: 9.5 million Percentage of projects in Africa: 91 SHARE: CAIROArcheologists clashed at a conference in Egypt on Sunday over a theory that secret burial chambers could be hidden behind the walls of King Tutankhamuns tomb. Speaking at the conference, former antiquities minister and famed Egyptologist Zahi Hawass rejected the theory that undiscovered chambers lie behind the tomb and likely contain the tomb of Queen Nefertiti, one of pharaonic Egypts most famous figures. The theory has prompted new exploration and the tomb has been extensively scanned by radar. In all my career ... I have never come across any discovery in Egypt due to radar scans, Hawass said, suggesting the technology would be better used to examine existing tombs that are known to contain sealed-off chambers. British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves meanwhile defended the theory he put forward last year. Preliminary results of successive scans suggest the tomb contains two open spaces, with signs of metal and organic matter lying behind its western and northern walls. I was looking for the evidence that would tell me that my initial reading was wrong, he said. But I didnt find any evidence to suggest that. I just found more and more indicators that there is something extra going on in Tutankhamuns tomb. The conference aims to bring broader scientific rigour to what so far have only been tantalizing clues in recent explorations of the tomb. Antiquities Minister Khaled el-Anani, who attended the conference, said that scans of the tomb would continue in line with the groups recommendations, but that no physical exploration would be allowed unless he was 100 per cent sure there is a cavity behind the wall. Read more about: SHARE: MANILA, PHILIPPINESA foul-mouthed, crime-busting mayor is the man to beat in Mondays presidential election in the Philippines as voters weary of poverty, corruption and insurgencies in the hinterlands look for a radical change at the top. Rodrigo Duterte, the mayor of the southern Davao city, has led in voter-preference surveys, with a bold promise to wipe out crime and corruption in three to six months if he wins. That has resonated among voters but also sparked alarm and doubts about electing someone with no national political experience and a tendency to make inflammatory remarks. All of you who are into drugs, you sons of bitches, I will really kill you, Duterte told a huge cheering crowd Saturday in his final campaign rally in Manila. I have no patience, I have no middle ground, either you kill me or I will kill you idiots. It is remarks such as these that have won him favour among the masses, and opprobrium among the political elite. Outgoing President Benigno Aquino III called Duterte a threat to democracy, as he campaigned for his candidate, former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas. Three other candidates are vying to succeed Aquino in one of Asias liveliest democracies. Besides, more than 45,000 candidates are contesting 18,000 national, congressional and local positions in elections that have traditionally been tainted by violence and accusations of cheating, especially in far-flung rural areas. At least 15 people have been killed in elections-related violence and more than 4,000 arrested for violating a gun ban, according to police. Let us show the world that despite our deep passion and support for our candidates, we can hold elections that are peaceful and orderly and reflect the spirit of democracy, said Aquino, who cast his ballot after standing in line for more than an hour with other voters in a Manila constituency. Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista said no major glitches were expected in the voting despite the massive logistical challenges. About 55 million Filipinos have registered to vote in 36,000 voting centres across the archipelago of more than 7,100 islands, including in a small fishing village in a Philippine-occupied island in the disputed South China Sea. The brash Duterte, who has been compared to U.S. Republican front-runner Donald Trump for his propensity for provocative statements, has threatened to close down Congress and form a revolutionary government if he wins and faces stonewalling legislators. A critical senator has also threatened to file an impeachment complaint against Duterte, accusing him of large-scale corruption and hiding questionable funds in secret joint bank accounts with his daughter. Duterte denies the allegations. In final campaigning Saturday, Aquino warned voters that Duterte could be a dictator in the making and urged them not to support him. He cited the rise of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler as an example of how a despotic leader can gain power and hold on to it without public resistance. Filipinos have been hypersensitive to potential threats to democracy since they rose in a 1986 people power revolt that ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who faced allegations of plundering the poor country and condoning widespread human rights violations by state forces. In 2001, a similar uprising forced Joseph Estrada from the presidency over alleged large-scale corruption. On the campaign trail, Duterte offered radical promises, including his bold anti-crime pledge and a plan to sail to Chinas new artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea and plant the Philippine flag there. The other candidates stuck to less audacious reforms. Dutertes opponents Roxas, Sen. Grace Poe, Vice-President Jejomar Binay and Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago have all criticized him for remarks that threaten the rule of law and the Philippines hard-won democracy. Duterte is completely out of the system, hes out of the box, said political science Prof. Richard Heydarian of De La Salle University in Manila, adding that in the mayors portrayal of social problems, there is a gap between the rhetoric and reality but its working, its creating panic among a lot of people and rallying them behind Duterte. Duterte, a 71-year-old lawyer and former government prosecutor, built a political name with his iron-fist approach to fighting crime in Davao city, where he has served as mayor for 22 years. During the campaigning he joked about his sexual prowess and joked about wanting to be the one to first rape an Australian missionary who was sexually abused and killed by inmates in a 1989 prison riot. Despite his devil-may-care way with expletives, obscene remarks and allegations of corruption hurled against him, Duterte has led in election polls by more than 10 percentage points over Roxas and Poe. While it may be difficult for rivals to catch up, analysts say the race remains too close to call. Aquino had a mixed record during his six-year term that ends in June. He presided over an accelerating economy, which had recorded one of the highest growth rates in Asia at an average of 6.2 per cent between 2010 and 2015. He also introduced new taxes, more accountability and reforms, including in the judiciary, and cracked down on tax evaders. But more than a quarter of the countrys 100 million people remain mired in poverty, inequality is rampant and an immediate solution to decades-long Muslim and communist insurgencies in the south remains elusive. Annual debt payments, some dating back to the Marcos years, and limited funds stymie infrastructure improvements and public services, including law enforcement, fuelling frequent complaints. Read more about: SHARE: When announcing 80 sexual assault and child pornography related arrests in a province-wide investigation at the end of April, OPP Det. Staff Sgt. Frank Goldschmidt added, The internet provides the perfect tool for people to be able to go out and find this material. Not only find but also be found. Sometimes, potential victims are first contacted via popular social media platforms. For parents, it was a chilly reminder of how vulnerable our children are even sitting in our own homes. However, protecting them might be counterintuitive. It requires teaching them to navigate online dangers rather than trying to shield them. The lessons should start early and be ongoing just like all of the general safety guidelines we expect our children to learn. One of the first times I rode the subway alone, I found myself sitting opposite a man who appeared to be in his 30s. I felt something wasnt quite right about him so I got up and walked down the train to another seat, closer to a group of people. As we approached the next station, the man got up to leave and I realized he had been exposing himself. It was disturbing but street safety had been part of life since I was a toddler. Starting with my parents, then teachers and even Elmer the Safety Elephant, I had been encouraged to Be smart and be safe. I had ridden the subway with my family, then with friends and finally alone so knew what to do when I encountered various situations. No one would send children onto the subway alone without preparing him or her first. Online safety is no different. When I was a junior high school teacher, the online world was just opening up. Students could visit websites and email each other but not much else. Now that I teach in a Faculty of Education, I am aware of how much more there is to the online world and what teachers can and cannot do. Lessons on cyber bullying and the dangers of sexting make their way into lessons in many subject areas. With my own thirteen-year-old, I have taken a proactive approach. We have navigated all aspects of online life together. From the time he started using devices, I sat with him when he visited websites, monitored his emails and have the password for his iPad. Recently, we have taken the plunge into social media together. Its scary and time consuming but the alternative is to let him go it alone and that is even scarier. In an article for The Atlantic in November 2015, technology writer and researcher, Alexandra Samuel wrote, keeping kids away from the digital world just makes them more likely to make bad choices once they do get online. Anyone who has taught teenagers, parented teenagers or has been a teenager knows that they will find ways to do things if they are motivated enough. We are only fooling ourselves if we think we can declare a ban on online activities. Eventually, they will need to travel the online world for school, work and life. Talking to them about how to do it safely from an early age means they are more likely to talk to you about it when they run into difficult situations. In one of the course I teach to my Faculty of Education of students, we visit a downtown greenhouse where parking is limited. It is located next to a subway station so I always encourage them to arrive on public transit. On more than one occasion, I have had students in their 20s tell me that they have never ridden the subway alone. Sometimes, they tell me their parents are concerned for their safety. I never wanted my son to be in that situation so even though I had that scary encounter on the subway around his age, I have taken steps to teach him how to ride it safely and he has started to travel alone. Someday, I wont be able to monitor his online activities anymore but Im determined to make sure he has the appropriate skills to navigate it before that day comes. Because we have been talking about it on an ongoing basis, he still comes to me whenever he needs guidance. Its a different world now and online skills are just as necessary as traffic and fire safety ones. Even Elmer has added a section about it to his website. Catherine Little is a Toronto-based educator and consultant who writes about parenting, education and diversity. SHARE: If Ontario legislators are searching for the perfect present for Ontarios moms this Mothers Day, heres a great gift idea. A universal, quality child care program. With regulated child care spaces for less than a quarter of children and the highest fees in the country, it is the policy solution that could make a difference for Ontarios moms (hint: it would make a great Fathers Day present too). And its the gift that keeps on giving: benefiting children, communities and the economy. Thats why, to mark Mothers Day, the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care is launching a letter and petition to the legislature calling for a quality child care system all families can afford and trust. But if legislators need a little more evidence, heres a refresher. Over the last year the Ontario government has been holding consultations about how to close the gender wage gap that stubborn 30 per cent disparity between womens and mens pay. The consultation report came out in April and it turns out that one of the answers has been staring us in the face for years. According to the report child care was the number one issue everywhere and participants called for public funding and support that provides both adequate wages and affordable fees. For both mothers and the child care workforce, a child care system is key to closing the wage gap. But not any child care approach will do. Ontario children and families deserve quality. A few weeks ago the Ontario government was forced to back down from a set of proposals that would have seen some young children in child care placed into larger groups with fewer staff per child. It was no wonder the government stepped away. Parents and ECEs had been screaming like a toddler fighting a nap since the plan was made known in February. Thousands of Ontarians decried this threat to quality and access. Clearly a new direction is needed. Happily, there has never been a better time to step up and do what countless parents, educators and researchers have recommended for decades: build a real child care system that moves us from the patchwork that Ontario clings to, to the publicly managed, evidence-based system that can deliver what modern families need. There is no better time than now. As the Trudeau government has indicated a willingness to be a partner, Ontario must seize the opportunity to be a provincial leader. We call on Ontario to begin this work by committing to a transparent policy process with the clear goal of developing a universal early childhood education and child care system where all families can access and afford quality child care programs. A belated gift even one thats 40 years overdue is far better than another year of inaction. Carolyn Ferns is the public policy coordinator of the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care. SHARE: When it comes to treatments for autism, which affects one out of every 68 kids, the Ontario government seems to mean well. It is investing $333 million in services over the next five years to reduce the waiting time for intensive autism treatment for children down to six months by 2021 from the current two to four years. Thats a smart move because the treatment, which helps kids learn to communicate, socialize and relate to others, works best when children are aged 2 to 4. Currently the average age of children when they finally get off the waiting list and into treatment is 6. In fact, as part of the new program the government is rolling out four new early interventions aimed at children as young as 12 months. So far, so good. But how the Wynne government is going about reducing the wait-list time is all wrong. Its cutting 2,200 children who are 5 or older from the list, and taking another 1,378 kids in that age group out of treatment. This is heartbreaking news for parents who have put their hopes in their children receiving intensive treatment and have been waiting years for it. Services for those children should be grandfathered. Otherwise, as NDP childrens services critic Monique Taylor notes, the government will be creating a lost generation of kids. Left behind in the dust are children like Ottawas Jacob Bourdon, who was diagnosed with autism in 2013 and placed on a waiting list for the treatments. While waiting for him to be accepted into the intensive government training program, his parents sold their car and home, used up all their savings and moved their five-member family into a one-bedroom apartment. It was the only way they could afford private treatments. Sadly, after all that sacrifice, Jacob will no longer be eligible for the provincially funded program. He just turned 5. That breaks our heart, says his mother, Heather Bourdon. Its not just parents who are worried. School boards are concerned, too. Schools, already faced with shrinking special education budgets, wonder how they will be able to fund the staff necessary to support an influx of autistic students who havent had the intensive training. Its never too late to correct a mistake, says Michael Barrett, president of the Ontario Public School Boards Association, who wants the province to reverse its decision. The governments response to his concern is not comforting. A spokesperson for the education ministry didnt indicate whether Ontario would provide school boards with extra funding to properly accommodate special needs kids. He simply noted that boards are responsible for allocating the funding for programs and services as they are in the best position to determine the needs of their students at the local level. That bureaucratese seems to imply that schools will be left to fend for themselves. Which is why unions representing teachers and educational assistants, such as CUPE Ontario, the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario and the Ontario Federation of Labour, joined parents at a rally at Queens Park on Thursday to demand that the government reconsider its position. While parents of children taken off the waiting list will receive $8,000 and can apply for less-intensive therapies for their children next year, thats not good enough. To suddenly strip children and families of the hope to which they have clung, sometimes for years, is too cruel a way to save money or find efficiencies. Kids already on the waiting list and in the program should get the treatment. Its the right thing to do. Read more about: SHARE: My doctor wanted to run some tests at my annual physical and asked if I was pregnant. Maybe, who knows, I said with a laugh; after all my husband and I were trying for a baby but it had only been a month. When she told me I was pregnant I was in shock. I was so happy on the ride home I stopped off at the store and bought a onesie. Six weeks later the doctors told me there was something wrong with my baby. There were developmental problems in the brain. They didnt know how bad it was. A week later they told me there was a problem with the heart, too. My heart broke as they told me I would likely lose my baby, our little girl. They gave her a 1 per cent chance of being born alive; they thought that I would miscarry. When that didnt happen, they said she would not likely survive the birth. When I was in labour at the hospital, we turned the monitors off and prayed. Sarah lived! Jonathan I spent seven glorious days with her. She was absolute perfection from her full head of hair, to her soft lips, to her long legs. We would have been twins, she was my double in every way. Except her eyes, she had her fathers eyes. She never got to wear the onesie I bought her. She never got to see the room that would have been hers. We got to take her outside once, we sat on the hospital bench with the sun streaming down and it was one of the happiest moments of my life. This will be my first Mothers Day. I dont know what I will do. I know Jonathan will plan something, a gift from Sarah to me. I protected my little lady as best as I could. I fought for her. I argued with doctors and nurses and demanded the best treatment I could get. And I am privileged to live in Canada, a country where I have access to the best health care for free. The best gift I can give to honour my sweet Sarah this year is to help another mother protect her child. That is why I am donating to a fund that provides treatment and Vitamin A supplements to kids and pregnant women in Kenya for hookworm, roundworm and whipworm. Plus, all donations are matched three times by the government of Canada so for every $1 I give, $4 goes to the fund. I hope you will join me in giving mothers in Kenya a truly Happy Mothers Day. From one mother to another, Happy Mothers Day. Andrea Onley, Whitby My lucky stars have somehow always aligned themselves on Mothers Day. I was born on Mothers Day in 1954. My birthday this year is on Mothers Day. This will mark my first birthday without my mother around to celebrate Mothers Day. In my heart of hearts I feel that all my mothers sacrifices to raise and love three children along with four grandchildren throughout her 56-year marriage to my father were the stuff that dreams are made of. I count my lucky stars for having been chosen to celebrate this special day in oh so many ways. Happy Mothers Day! Robert Ariano, Scarborough Today many of us will celebrate the powerful bond between mother and child. Tragically, the worldwide symbols of motherhood dairy cows never get to see or nurture their babies. Newborn calves are torn from their mothers at birth, so we can seize and drink the milk that mother cows produce for them. The powerless, distraught mothers bellow for days, hoping in vain for their babies return. The babies are kept alive elsewhere, to soon become veal cutlets. Dairy cows spend their lives on a concrete floor, chained, with no outdoor access. To maintain their milk flow, they are artificially impregnated each year. Around four years of age, their milk production drops and they are turned into hamburgers. Today lets honor motherhood and our natural compassion by refusing to subsidize cruelties of the dairy industry. Lets replace cows milk and its products, laden with fat and cholesterol, with delicious, healthful, cruelty-free nut or soy-based milk, cheese, yogurt, and ice cream offered in every grocery store. Mother cows and our own bodies will thank us. Broderick Best, Toronto SHARE: A playground in Loudoun Countys Lansdowne development, where home prices have risen 5 percent since 2004, well below the national average. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) Bryan Cloar and his wife, Debbie, built their dream home in 2005, a three-level, 6,000-square-foot Colonial for $916,000 in the Northern Virginia development of Lansdowne on the Potomac. Like other planned communities in Loudoun County, it offered picturesque neighborhoods in one of Americas fastest-growing and highest-income counties. A dot-com boom led by AOL and a surge in government contracting after 9/11 had supercharged this exurb. And onetime dirt roads connecting dairy farms were rebuilt as highways that carried people like Cloar to jobs in sprawling suburban office parks and downtown. Lansdowne, in Zip code 20176, offered fantastic neighbors and a great school system, Cloar said. For the Cloars, the benefits outweighed a major drawback: the commute. In one decade, the fortunes of Loudoun and its homeowners have shifted as more and more people in the D.C. region have gravitated toward city life. As property values have exploded elsewhere, Lansdowne has been left behind. Today, the Cloars cant sell their house even at a loss. And its value teeters at something close to that of a modest rowhouse in Washingtons Trinidad neighborhood, a once hard-knock neighborhood with high vacancy rates and violent crime in the heart of the 20002 Zip code, where house values rose an astonishing 91 percent in a dozen years. In the Districts Trinidad neighborhood, once known for high vacancy rates and high crime, house values have risen 91 percent in a dozen years. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) The Cloars are far from alone. From 2004 through the housing markets boom and bust and the Great Recession, the values of single-family homes inside the Capital Beltway dramatically outperformed those outside it, cleaving the region into two distinct housing markets, according to a trove of data provided by Black Knight Financial Services to The Washington Post. Studies show that white-collar workers and empty-nesters are flocking to walkable and transit-accessible neighborhoods, driving up those home values. Bob Buchanan, founder of Gaithersburg-based builder Buchanan Partners, bet heavily on the outer suburbs before the recession, building properties in Manassas, Chantilly and Herndon. I continue to be amazed by what has happened inside the District and especially inside the Beltway, Buchanan said. Housing in Maryland and Virginia outside the Beltway, from Route 270 through Potomac through Great Falls and Reston to Route 66, did not do as well. Its a stunning reversal of our perceptions of our region several decades ago. Investing in the outer suburbs with their abundance of spacious homes, good schools and shopping malls was a rational bet at a time. By contrast, areas of the District that were ripe for redevelopment were struggling with crime, poverty and racial tensions laid bare during riots 40 years earlier. Hundreds of businesses closed and public schools stalled, ranking among the worst in the nation. The turnaround began in the District after the Metro transit system expanded and Abe Pollin built MCI Center (now Verizon Center) in Penn Quarter downtown. Mixed-use centers boomed at other Metro stations: A Target-anchored mall came to Columbia Heights, and the promise of a streetcar line drew shops and restaurants to H Street NE. Apartment and office buildings followed. Farm-to-table restaurants, coffeehouses and yoga studios added to an urban revitalization. Schools improved and crime dropped. The last 15 years, the big metropolitan areas in the United States have become nice places to live, where they werent before, said Mark Fleming, chief economist at First American, a title insurance company. In the District and its close-in environs, home values soared, with the 20002 Zip code in Northeast Washington rising 91 percent. Right behind it, 20001 was up 79 percent, 20017 was up 78 percent and 20018 was up 76 percent. Near-in Zip codes in Arlington, Montgomery and Prince Georges counties were up 30 percent or more. The shift toward inner Washington neighborhoods mirrors those in Boston, Seattle, New York and elsewhere, which also have prospered since the recession. This is not unique to Washington, Fleming said. Its happened around almost every major metropolitan area in the United States. The exurban fringe was always hit more hard by the housing crisis than the urban core. Despite the uneven recovery, no one in Cleveland or Reno is shedding tears for Washington. Only one Zip code within 50 miles of the District experienced a loss in home value of more than 4 percent from 2004 to 2015. In Zip 20176, where the Cloars home is, values are 5 percent higher than they were in 2004 well below the 13.5 percent national average gain but the couple havent come out ahead. They bought their 6,000-square-foot house with four bedrooms, five bathrooms and a three-car garage for $915,927 in 2005. In 2014, when Bryan Cloars job took them to Texas, they listed the house for $844,900, more than $70,000 less than what they bought it for, but found no buyers after 41 / 2 months. They tried to sell again last spring but decided to rent it out instead. The county assessment on their house has seesawed from $801,100 in 2007 to a low of $565,600 two years later to $709,000 in 2015. Big houses, long commutes The Mosaic District in Merrifield, a high-density neighborhood in Fairfax County created out of an old movie theater and surrounding parking lots, is drawing home buyers looking for easier commutes and an urban feel. Two-bedroom townhouses there are selling for more than $900,000. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) Few places in the region burned hotter during the real estate boom than Loudoun County. As closer-in suburbs grew more built-out and expensive, Loudoun became the next frontier for home builders, a place to parcel farms into subdivisions featuring enormous single-family homes. Loudouns population soared from 86,129 in the 1990 census to 312,316 in 2010. By 2004, Loudoun was the nations fastest-growing county, and home sales had almost doubled in four years. It had less than half the population of the District at the time, yet Loudoun recorded 9,344 home sales in 2004, almost 400 more than the District. Housing follows jobs, and in those days, Northern Virginias job market was fueled by tech companies and government contractors kept busy by two wars in the Middle East. The overwhelming majority of jobs that were created in the region were created in Northern Virginia. The Maryland suburbs were next, and D.C. was the lowest, said David Howell, chief information officer of McEnearney Associates. The economic impact was in the suburbs more than the District. Developers and home builders pounced, building sprawling developments with the anticipation that demand for housing would grow and grow. Buyers wanted big houses on big lots, and builders delivered. And because lenders were loose with their loan qualifications, some buyers bought more house than they could afford. When the downturn came, the new homes were derided as McMansions temples to American excess. Homeowners found that not only could they not pay the mortgage but they also couldnt afford to heat or cool their manses. At the time, most people were buying everything they could buy, said Gordon Wood, a real estate agent with McEnearney Associates. Now people are more realistic. They dont look at their house as how theyre going to make a ton of money. They are starting to think about, What are my true needs? Of all the positives home buyers cite for wanting to live in the suburbs affordability, schools, newer homes, leafy neighborhoods where children can roam freely one negative has gained more traction: traffic. Washington has some of the worst gridlock in the country, with Interstate 66, which connects the District to Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties, earning the ignominious distinction of worst damn freeway in America. For Lansdowne commuters, all roads lead to congestion. On each path Route 7, Route 28 or the Dulles Toll Road stop-and-go traffic is a way of life. Even early birds are hammered by stoplights on Route 7, and for those heading east toward Tysons Corner, the District and Arlington, those bottlenecks are just the beginning of the misery. Next up is the ordeal of crawling through Tysons and limping onto the Beltway through notorious chokepoints. Meanwhile, transit options are limited. An enormous, 2,300-spot parking garage at the nearest Metro station is so popular that it creates another logjam. A 2011 study by the Chicago-based Center for Neighborhood Technology found that most of Loudoun Countys commuters traveled 26,000 to 35,000 miles a year to work. Less than 10 percent used public transit. They spent $1,280 to $1,770 a month on transportation, and that didnt even account for the time sopped up sitting in traffic. What is the time value of the hour and a half you spend commuting each way? Fleming said. If you really calculated, would you have bought that home out there? Thats why all these exurban areas are struggling to recover. Because there is not the demand. A net of about 1,000 people a month are still moving to Loudoun, lifting values in the eastern end of the county. If history is any indicator, a major bump could come again in 2020, when the county is scheduled to open its first three Metro stations. But many of these neighborhoods were designed for a car culture. The worse the traffic is, the more people are attuned to walkability or access to public transportation. There is a part of me that wonders, if walkability is what everybody is looking for, what does that do for the neighborhoods that dont have it? said Christine Richardson of Weichert Realtors, who is the Cloars listing agent. Reimagining inner suburbs Outer Loudoun County and inner D.C. neighborhoods are outliers for local housing values over the past decade. In between are more-established suburbs along the Capital Beltway, such as Arlington, Fairfax, Montgomery and Prince Georges counties, which are undergoing their own reckoning with home buyers growing interest in more accessible locations and drawing inspiration from more dense urban neighborhoods. For decades, home builders in Fairfax County, a step closer to downtown D.C. from Loudoun, relied on subdivision development. Fairfax has some of the best public schools in the country, including the fifth-ranked high school nationwide and seven of the top 10 high schools in the state. Crime and unemployment are low, while white-collar salaries make it one of the highest-income counties in the country. But the traffic is a drag on home values. People pay a lot of attention these days to what their commute is going to be, where their job is located and how they are going to get to work, said Sharon Bulova, Fairfax County Board chair since 2009. With space running low and traffic running high, elected leaders have focused on turning dated commercial and industrial districts into more-dense neighborhoods with a mix of housing, shopping and entertainment. Metro and other public transit routes have played a big role, with Fairfax creating dense neighborhoods near Orange Line Metro stations where home buyers are paying a premium. Construction signs and scaffolding surround the Navy Yard Metro station in Southeast Washington, where a building boom has followed construction of Nationals Park. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) That refocusing continues to pay off for the county, with millions of square feet of development around new Silver Line Metro stations in Tysons as well as at Reston Town Center and the Mosaic District in Merrifield, where two-bedroom townhouses sell for more than $900,000. In the past, retirees stayed in their homes, particularly once their mortgage was paid off, or moved to warmer climes. Now they are jettisoning their large homes and spacious yards for turnkey condos downtown with little or no upkeep required. But even people who prefer single-family homes are choosing ones near new apartments and the restaurants and shops that often come with them. The time and history in which baby boomers came of age was a wonderful economic time in the United States, Fleming said. So theyve amassed relatively humongous amounts of wealth. That wealth creates the possibility to do things. Prince Georges has had a similar phenomenon. Some of the highest gains in home values in the region since 2004 were in the close-in, Metro-accessible areas of Hyattsville, College Park and Cheverly, besting anything in all of Loudoun County. The Prince Georges neighborhoods with the top growth are almost exclusively inside the Beltway. The boost in values has helped the county bounce back from the highest foreclosure rate in the region. Overall, our market is coming back pretty strong, especially since when we hit rock bottom in 2011, said Thomas Himler, the countys deputy chief administrative officer. Weve come pretty much full steam back. Some economists and housing analysts suggest that the rush to inner neighborhoods was a passing symptom of the recession, and that the country will return to a generations-old cycle in which professionals with families choose the house with the yard and the picket fence, no matter how far they have to go to get it. Technology could trigger another generational shift: With the emergence of self-driving cars, the expansion of high-speed rail or the boom in teleworking, that commute could prove less imposing. For now, accessible homes near urban centers remain much in demand for those who can afford them. Maybe its more of a mental thing, said Chris Brockett, executive vice president at Eagle Bank of Bethesda. You hear people saying, Is that inside or outside the Beltway? And maybe there is some bias, the thinking that youre more urban being inside the Beltway where youre not commuting on these feeder roads. Dear Amy: I have been practicing yoga for five years, the past two with one teacher. The lessons are private, so its just the two of us, and, as a result, she feels free to chat with me the entire length of the session. Ive tried giving her one-word answers. Ive also tried waiting to respond, but she just keeps asking questions and talking. As a result, I am not getting the workout I am paying for. On top of this I find it very stressful to try to be polite while secretly wishing she would just stop talking! I know the mature thing to do would be to tell her I want a quieter workout, but at this point Ive let it go on so long, she genuinely thinks we are friends and would be extremely hurt. I would also feel very awkward, adding more discomfort to an already unpleasant situation. I want to switch to a new teacher but dont know how to explain the change. In this situation, I seem to feel equally uncomfortable lying and telling the truth. What should I do? Nama-stop Talking Nama-stop Talking: You should assume that your yoga teacher would try to alter her own behavior rather than lose you as a client. You should also assume that if she loses you as a client she will also lose you as a friend. If you choose to switch teachers, then you should honestly explain your choice, so why dont you explain your choice without switching teachers to see if she can quickly change? Ask her to meet you a little early for your next yoga session. Tell her, I have something important to discuss. I want to ask you to change things up in class. I need to push and grow and during class Id really like to only deal with yoga I dont want to talk about personal things or answer questions, unless theyre related to the practice. I need for this to be a quiet refuge from the rest of my life. Realistically, she may not be able to instruct you in the way you want. If this is the case, youll have to find another instructor and bid her a final namaste. Dear Amy: About two years ago my sister-in-law and her new husband decided to become snow birds in Florida and spend the summer months at their home in the Midwest. They would be staying with us in our home three times a year, for a week each time. Toward the end of the first week they stayed with us we needed to get a few items cleared up. We asked them to please not let the water run in the sinks when they werent using them, to turn off the TV, lights, etc., when leaving the house, and to lock the door every time they went out. We had previously mentioned these but had to get serious with my sister-in-law on the last day. She became very upset and asked if we wanted money for them to stay there! (Of course we dont.) They packed up and left that day and have not stayed with us since. This hurt my partner very much, as he is very close to his sister. We wrote them a letter saying we were sorry we offended them, but we wanted them to be aware of what we needed from them when staying at our home. My partner and his sister are now on speaking and visiting terms, just not in our home. She blames me for everything. I have tried calling, but she wont talk. I am not invited to either of their homes when my partner visits. He tries to mend the fences, but its just not happening. Any suggestions? Upset Upset: If your partner wants to include you in his interactions with his sister, then he needs to tell her that you two are a package deal and that excluding you from every interaction is unacceptable to him. Would his sister tolerate you excluding her husband from every visit? I doubt it. Dear Amy: The letter from Sad detailing her emotional affair with a co-worker made me very sad. I engaged in a very similar relationship with a colleague and almost ruined my marriage. I lost years and tears to this other relationship, and I have so many regrets. I ended up leaving my job (mainly because of this) in order to save my marriage. Been There Been There: I hope you feel your choice was worth it, ultimately. Write to Amy Dickinson at askamy@tribune.com or Ask Amy, Chicago Tribune, TT500, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611. It was 1913, and the Civil War had been over for 48 years. The United Daughters of the Confederacy, an organization that worked to populate the South with Confederate war memorials, decided such a monument should be erected in Rockville, Md. The bronze statue, a soldier standing with folded arms, was constructed by a local granite company for the sum of $3,600. A plaque at the bottom read, To Our Heroes of Montgomery Co., Maryland, That We Through Life May Not Forget To Love The Thin Gray Line. It was dedicated in a June ceremony in front of the courthouse, with 3,000 spectators listening to a band play Dixie and the Star-Spangled Banner, according to the account of a local historian. Supporters of the statue saw it, and continue to see it, as a historic symbol of heritage that acknowledged a painful past. The statues detractors saw it, and continue to see it, as deeply offensive, honoring an institution that had honored slavery. One hundred years after the statue was installed, some residents lobbied to take it down. In the past year, debates such as this have burbled in town meetings across the country. Mostly, discussions are related to Civil War monuments in Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia and Texas following the 2015 mass shooting at a historically black church in Charleston, S.C. But sometimes the discussion is broader: Last fall a cohort of Princeton students lobbied the administration to remove likenesses of Woodrow Wilson from the schools campus because of his segregationist beliefs. And last month, Andrew Jackson was toppled by Harriet Tubman off the front of the $20 bill; supporters of the swap cited, among other reasons, Jacksons wretched treatment of American Indians. Ignoble history happened in America. It defines us; it is ours. And now we are wrestling with how to claim it publicly, in granite, iron and bronze or reject it, by consigning Confederate statues to scrap. [Fight over Confederate monuments turns ugly] How should Rockville, for example, address the fact that Maryland was a border state in the Civil War more of its citizens fought for the Union than the Confederacy and yet there are no Union monuments in front of the courthouse? How should New Orleans address the fact that, the day after it hired a contractor to remove four of its Confederate statues, the man received death threats and his car was torched? Is a statue in Alexandria, Va., in which the soldier is weaponless and downcast, more acceptable than a Civil War general on a horse as some supporters of the controversial statue argue? The problem is not going away. America has a lot of statues. A few years ago, W. Fitzhugh Brundage, a history professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, launched a research project whose goal was to determine how many statues and memorials his state had. There were no comparable national databases, and Brundage hoped his could become a model for other states. He assumed there would be a few hundred representing all wars and conflicts; instead, his team found nearly 200 for the Civil War alone, mostly Confederate. One reaction is that these statues arent a substantial issue, its just symbolism, Brundage says. But the sheer volume of them made him realize that the symbolism was weighty. Confederate monuments werent something that citizens stumbled upon occasionally. They were part of the daily map of peoples lives. Some proposals for what to do with them would flop on a large scale. A mass tear-down could cost millions, as would another common solution: building an equal number of pro-Union statues. We live in a landscape that is cluttered with monuments, Brundage says. Even if the Confederate past could be erased which it cant, he says; removing monuments wouldnt do that the actual mechanics of that would take decades. Building them, to begin with, took decades, too. In the early days of Reconstruction, federally funded veterans cemeteries were reserved for only Union soldiers. Southern women founded the United Daughters of the Confederacy to raise money for Confederate soldiers to have their own modest cemetery memorials. Over time, though, these markers got larger and more specific, says Jane Censer, a George Mason University professor who studies Southern women of the 19th century. Rather than the memorials appearing just in cemeteries, the UDC began putting them in public spaces: parks, legislative buildings, courthouse lawns. There were plenty of statues to go around many were made en masse and sold in catalogues, by women who received marble cutting boards for meeting their sales goals. The ballooning number of Confederate statues around the turn of the 20th century, some historians argue, was a reflection of the changing narrative of the Civil War. It was no longer seen as a grievous loss but a noble rebellion, a lost cause. Many of the statues that cause conflict today werent built in the years following the Civil War but in the decades following it, and not by widows or daughters of Confederate veterans, but by defiant descendants. [The ugly truth about Confederate memorials] You can really see this progression in the three major statues of Robert E. Lee, says Gaines Foster, a historian at Louisiana State University and author of Ghosts of the Confederacy. In Lees earliest post-Civil War statue, placed on the campus of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., in 1875, Lee is lying in repose. In the second, dedicated in New Orleans in 1884, Lee, the top Confederate general, is standing erect. By 1890 in Richmond, Foster says, Lee is riding his horse again. The South had re-risen, at least in the stone representations of its leaders. The narrative of Americas history has never been solely about what happened, but how we remember what happened. And memories change: An entrance to the U.S. Capitol used to be flanked by a pair of statues depicting American Indians as savages, saved by their white invaders. Both statues were removed in 1958, a measure of Americas changing understanding of its horrendous behavior. Now when some people see a solitary Confederate soldier standing on a pedestal in a public area, they see historic and important artwork that should not be taken down because of the risk of history-washing. When some people look at the same statue, they see a mass-produced symbol of racism for which an industrious sales clerk received a marble kitchen utensil. Of course, sometimes a statue can be both of those things. The newly dethroned Andrew Jackson was both a talented strategist in the War of 1812 and an architect of genocide. And historic representations can exist on a continuum. Few would argue that likenesses of American forefather George Washington should be removed from public spaces, although he, too, owned hundreds of slaves. Its more complicated to defend a statue of, say, Nathan Bedford Forrest, Confederate general and prominent Ku Klux Klan member, whose racist beliefs are part and parcel of his legacy. [We can celebrate Harriet Tubman without disparaging Andrew Jackson] This year, at the American Historical Associations annual meeting in Atlanta, the organizations attendees debated the problem of Confederate monuments and statues during a plenary session. Censer, the George Mason professor, remembers proposing the relocation of some publicly placed monuments back into private cemeteries reclaiming the memorialization that was the original goal of the monuments. In public spaces, were saying, This is something we honor, Censer says. Theres a triumphal, celebratory aspect. In cemeteries, she says, the mood is more subdued and more historic. The Atlanta History Center offers an entire page on its website with suggestions to help local historians, including adding placards with detailed information about the monuments original intent. As a template, the History Center offers the following wording: This monument was created to recognize the dedication and sacrifice of Americans who fought to establish the Confederate slaveholding republic. Yet this monument must now remind us that their loss actually meant liberty, justice and freedom for millions of people. A monument to a cause ends up criticizing that cause. Meanwhile, in Rockville, the county executive had asked the city, in 2015, to take possession of the statue, removing it to the grounds of the city-run historical society. The city council declined in February 2016. They didnt want to deal with the statue, either. For now, it still stands outside the courthouse and has suffered at least one graffiti attack. The bottom half is encased in a wooden box, though, and unless visitors intentionally sought it out, they may have no idea what they are looking at. THE DISTRICT Maryland man fatally shot in Southeast A 34-year-old man was fatally shot in Southeast Washington early Sunday, D.C. police said. Police arrived in the 2900 block of Nelson Place SE about 1:47 a.m. and found Don Lavae Williams Jr. of Waldorf, Md., suffering from apparent gunshot wounds, police said. Williams was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to police. The shooting occurred near Nelson Place and Fairlawn Avenue SE. Police do not have a suspect in the shooting, said Officer Hugh Carew, a department spokesman, but they are investigating. Faiz Siddiqui MARYLAND Man is charged in girlfriends slaying A Glen Burnie man has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder in the death of his girlfriend, Anne Arundel County police said. Michael Carroll Wilson, 42, is accused in the stabbing of Charlotta Lynn Barkley, 46, of Glen Burnie, police said Sunday. Police said an argument occurred Saturday night in a parking lot in the 7800 block of Tall Pines Court in Glen Burnie. Barkley was stabbed several times. A female bystander, who knew the victim and her assailant, tried to intervene and was cut on the hand, police said. The women drove to Baltimore Washington Medical Center, where Barkley died Sunday morning, police said. The woman who assisted Barkley was treated and released, police said. They said Wilson was arrested about 8:45 a.m. in the 7800 block of Crain Highway South. Wilson faces charges that include second-degree murder and two counts of assault, police said. Danielle Douglas-Gabriel Man dies at hospital after Lanham attack Prince Georges County police are investigating the Saturday night slaying of a man in Lanham. The man was found about 8:30 p.m. Saturday in the 8000 block of Greenfield Drive, and was suffering from critical injuries, police said. The man, whose name was not released, was transported to a hospital, where he later died. Danielle Douglas-Gabriel THE region Rain before dawn Sunday sets record The 0.04 inch of rain that fell as bars closed Sunday morning extended Washingtons newly set record for consecutive days of measurable rain to 12. Saturday was the 11th successive day of measurable rain at Reagan National Airport, and that broke a record of 10 such days, which was set in 1873 and tied in 1938, according to the National Weather Service. Measurable rain is 0.01 inch or more. Martin Weil Prince Georges County Police are investigating the Saturday night slaying of a man in Lanham. Officers responded to a call of an assault around 8:30 p.m Saturday. When they arrived at the 8000 block of Greenfield Drive, they found a man suffering from critical injuries. The man, whose name was not released, was transported to a nearby hospital where he later died. Police are offering a reward for any information about the case. Anyone with information is asked to call 1-866-411-TIPS. My recent column on the controversy over letting eighth-graders take algebra brought a torrent of anguished comments from parents and other experts who think math instruction is in crisis. This is a major frustration point in America. Many of these curriculum war veterans have interesting, and often contradictory, recommendations. Many are puzzled about why the Common Core State Standards, the nations latest educational fashion, seem to advise against the popular policy of letting kids take algebra a year earlier than usual. It is all pretty confusing. [Delaying algebra to high school, per Common Core, might be a miscalculation] John Fourkas, both a parent and a University of Maryland chemistry professor, said much of the Common Core-based math curriculum seems to him completely disjointed, focusing too much on specialized vocabulary. He said there is not enough repetition of key skills as new topics are introduced. Our son has had the misfortune of being on the leading edge of the reform, and so every year there is a new curriculum with which the teachers are not familiar, Fourkas said. Our son is in Algebra 2 this year, and I give them great credit for learning from their mistakes and designing a curriculum that is far more coherent. The Common Core standards dont suggest banning algebra in eighth grade, but they instead urge schools to use a Common Core eighth-grade math course designed to make everyone ready for high school math, including the traditional ninth-grade algebra course. Washington-area districts, where often more than half of eighth-graders take algebra, are mostly ignoring this part of the Common Core plan, but elsewhere many districts are saying no to eighth-grade algebra, except for a few advanced students. Carolyn Simpson, member of the school board in a district east of Seattle, said she was one of 600 parents petitioning her own board to open a path to eighth-grade algebra for the children of any parents who wanted it. But the majority of the board said no. Elynn Simons has been tutoring students in the Washington area for 20 years. One of the reasons eighth-grade algebra is popular in the region, she said, is the advantage that acceleration brings to the college-admissions process. If a student takes algebra in eighth grade, followed by geometry in ninth and Algebra 2 as a sophomore, they stand a chance of doing their best on the ACT and/or SAT second semester of their junior year, she said. Still, adjusting to algebra is difficult for many. Hugh Haskell, a retired math teacher, said he found even some of his gifted students had trouble with the abstract reasoning required for algebra. More attention to those concepts in seventh grade may improve the eighth-grade algebra experience, he said. Waiting until ninth grade for algebra does not appeal to Timothy Barnum. He said he got his doctorate in engineering in part because he forced himself to struggle with theoretical concepts even though his resulting grades were low. The earlier students are exposed to more advanced math even if they dont do well, the better chance they have of progressing faster, competing and succeeding in college engineering, he said. For some parents, acceleration can go too far. The mother of a child at Longfellow Middle School in Fairfax County said, Parents there push hard for algebra in seventh grade if not earlier. Amy Brodie, another Northern Virginia parent, said her sixth-grader scored high on a placement test and was invited into seventh-grade algebra. After the parents discussed this with their son, they declined the offer. We are concerned it could be detrimental, Brodie said. Is the seventh-grade brain ready for that? I would say many of them are, but each child and each family is different. They should all have their say. That means, in part, that the Common Core should not stand in the way of eighth-graders who want to start high school math early. As much as they provide pleasure, the flowers that bloom in Washingtons front yards do not have an easy time. In addition to the natural hazards of city life, there are also thieves, who pull them up or snap them off. Halting that sort of marauding has been hard, but successes are claimed from time to time, as chronicled in a report posted Saturday by police in the Second District, which covers much of the western half of the city. The person responsible for the theft of flowers in the Second District was arrested on Friday, May 6, 2016, a police lieutenant posted on a police department email bulletin board. According to the police posting, emails had recently been circulated about a person who for years had stolen flowers from private yards and on public space. Fridays arrest appeared to stem from the alertness of a Northwest resident, who, according to police, spotted someone Friday evening in the Glover Park area resembling photographs of the possible thief. The coming of spring can mean the return of flower thieves. In an interview, the resident, who did not wish to be named for privacy reasons, provided additional details. Her brush with the man occurred in the Whole Foods Market on Wisconsin Avenue NW near Calvert Street, she said. She had seen the man in the store and reported her suspicions to a supervisor there. He handed her his phone, she said, but as she called in her information, the man approached and was standing right next to me. Finally, the resident said, the suspect moved on. In fact, he had left the store by the time the police arrived, the resident said. But, she said, she told her story and showed the photos. As the man appeared to be walking away, she said, she told an officer, You really have to get him. In the email posting, the police said officers arrested the flower man for an outstanding warrant. They described the matter as an example of police-community cooperation while on the lookout for the alleged suspect. In fact, police and community residents have been searching for some time for one or more flower thieves in the District. In a Washington Post column written three years ago, Petula Dvorak wrote of the flower thieves that characterize each spring in Washington. Among them, she said, was the legendary flower thief of Northwest Washington who may have been a homeless man. For nearly a decade, Dvorak wrote, hes been cutting the priciest blooms hydrangeas, peonies and lilac and selling them to local florists and restaurants. Sometimes, she said, someone snaps a photo of him, and it is circulated on neighborhood email forums. It was not possible Saturday night to determine whether the man arrested Friday is the same individual Dvorak described. Citing an ongoing investigation, police said no more details would be provided Saturday. At the Mall, veterans touch a sword and pledge to reach out to military buddies if they start to have thoughts of suicide. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post) A couple of years after he left the U.S. Marine Corps, Lyndon Villone kept trying to reach a close friend who had served with him in Iraq. When he didnt hear back,Villone thought maybe it was best to give him some space. His friend shot himself in the head. Within a year, Villone had lost two more Marine Corps brothers to suicide. And he was beginning to think about it himself. This weekend, a coalition of nonprofits led a Spartan Weekend for hundreds of sick and injured veterans centered on a promise: They would not take their own life without reaching out to someone for help. And they would take that oath with their hands on a sword hammer-forged of steel salvaged from the remains of the World Trade Center. Ron Weinreich, left, a disabled veteran who served in the Israeli Defense Forces, comforts Gold Star Mother Margie Miller at the Spartan Pledge ceremony Sunday. Miller lost her son to suicide. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post) By one estimate, an average of 22 veterans take their own lives each day. Some people debate that number from the Department of Veterans Affairs, said Steve Danyluk, who worked with wounded service members after returning from a tour in Iraq with the Marines, but I think anybody that served in a combat unit can run through a list of people that they know that committed suicide. And everyone says the same thing when they hear about a suicide, said Danny Prince, a retired New York City firefighter who often visited Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to thank service members: I cant believe it I wouldve done something. That is why Danyluk helped organize the event for the Spartan Alliance and Disabled American Veterans. You dont have to be suicidal to take the pledge, he said. Its finding a mission: Help your buddy. Its reconnecting, reestablishing those relationships that seem to vanish once you leave the military. People get isolated, he said, and thats especially true for those who go home after serving rather than to a military base with others who have been through the same thing. Its about the brotherhood, said Boone Cutler, who wrote the pledge after a buddy who served in Iraq with him called to tell him about a friends suicide, and they both admitted they had thought about it, too. It was a monster, Cutler said. It was on my mind every day. On the spot, he asked for a promise. Dont punk out: Just call me first. The 9/11 attacks motivated a lot of people to join the military, Danyluk said, so the symbolism of the sword is important. Its about transformation taking this twisted steel that was part of our nations greatest tragedy and turning it into something beautiful: a weapon of healing rather than a weapon of destruction. Gold Star Mother Margie Miller attended the Spartan Pledge event today and walked the grounds of the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial after the ceremony. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post) The steel had been used to make memorials such as crosses and Stars of David, Prince said, but at his firehouse in Brooklyn they saved the scraps, even the filings when it was drilled. Its so sacred, he said. We didnt want anything to fall on the ground or get swept away. They took 25 pounds of it to a master blacksmith in Texas. He added Latin inscriptions such as courage, fortitude, and strength, and the number of those who died that day. After it was finished last month, the sword was loaded onto the airline cart used to carry people killed in combat with an honor guard alongside, Danyluk said. On Sunday, Col. Matt Pawlikowski, a chaplain from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, led a Mothers Day service at the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial near the Mall honoring women whose children are serving or have died. The ceremony closed with the pledge. One mother brought her seven children and their spouses from Ohio. A wife came from Tennessee with her husband, who was badly wounded in Iraq and has, like many, fought addiction in the years since. Margie Miller came from New York, eight months and seven days after her son, a 22-year-old Marine, fatally shot himself. She talked about how they spoke on the phone most days and how she had just heard all about his plans, seemingly happy as ever, to go boating with friends. Two days later her husband told her, There are three Marines in the living room. Villone had come to take the pledge, too, leading his service dog, Ice, named for a friend who died. They all gathered around the sword as the wind whipped at the flag and the water of the memorial. Some people strode forward; some rolled up in wheelchairs. There were broad military shoulders and prosthetic limbs, white hair and afros and tattoos and silk scarves, people from all across the country who hadnt known one another before this weekend. They drew in close, reaching out to the sword, or to someones shoulder who was touching the steel. Miller read the pledge, and they echoed it: I will not take my own life by my own hand until I talk to my battle buddy first. My mission is to find a mission to help my warfighter family. Many struggled for words after the pledge. Some described the sense of a spark, some kind of energy traveling from hand to hand. Some felt at peace. Just amazing, Miller said. The feeling is deep just so deep that there are no words. Its like trying to explain love, the feeling of love. Villone thought about his own battle buddy back in Texas a friend who had reached out to him during some of his darkest times and resolved not to shut him out again, remembering the worry he had felt about the friends he himself had lost to suicide, when they didnt respond. Afterward, a few wiped away tears. Many grabbed someone nearby into a bear hug. They traded phone numbers. A man shook Villones hand. Remember, were all connected, Villone told him. If you have any negativity, know were here. And he called out to some veterans he had just met, See you soon! My younger daughter has moved into the top floor of a six-floor walk-up in New York Citys Chinatown neighborhood. I call it The Apartment Your Grandparents Will Never Visit. Six floors? No elevator? Im not carrying them. I had a tough enough time getting to the top myself last weekend, and Im a 53-year-old triathlon participant. And by triathlon I mean pizza, beer and Little Debbie snack cakes. But it has so much light, Beatrice says of the apartment, as if that were a luxury feature rather than a necessity for human life. What she and her roommate are paying in rent would finance a starter home in a Washington suburb. She feels lucky to have gotten it. Or she feels lucky I have gotten it, for Beatrice is scraping by, which means I had to co-sign the lease, a process that was only slightly less involved than adopting a baby. The rental agent said I needed to provide my paycheck stubs, tax returns, bank statements, a letter from my employer, drivers license, college transcripts, baptismal certificate, dental records, passport, DNA sample, retinal scan, resting heart rate, LDL cholesterol reading, Starbucks loyalty card, Blockbuster keychain fob and first-born child (sorry, Gwyneth). And even after Id handed over all of that there was a frantic, last-minute scramble when the agent demanded a notarized letter. I cant even remember why. I think it was just to see if she could. Thats how hot the New York City rental market is. The apartment is certainly close to the action, and by action I mean the Hieronymus Bosch hellscape that is Lower Manhattan. It was rainy, so as we trudged through a crowded Chinatown we got the full Blade Runner effect, every other pedestrian a replicant leaping across the puddles. You dont want to step in a puddle in New York. You dont want to touch the gutter water. Every city has gutter water, of course, but theres nothing quite like the Big Apples. Its gray and viscous, infused with everything that has fallen onto the sidewalks and streets since the last rain: garbage, dog turds, bum urine, beard oil, battery acid, egg creams, Spaldeen shavings, all of it mingling with the shattered hopes and dreams of out-of-work Law & Order actors and the tears of theater-lovers who couldnt get tickets to Hamilton. The foul brew pools along the iron-edged curbs. In a moments inattentiveness, I dropped my unopened umbrella into the gutter. It was a new umbrella a nice one but I hesitated before plucking it out. Was it ruined? When I opened it, I detected a sharp, rotten funk. I said to myself: Does my umbrella now smell like New York City gutter water? Or am I just picking up the background tang of New York City? I probably sound like a rube, a provincial unable to handle the big city. I guess maybe I am. On Saturday night, My Lovely Wife and I were headed to Brooklyn on the subway when we got separated. Shed stepped onto the Q train just as the doors were closing, leaving me on the platform. Ill meet you at Union Square, I shouted as the train took off. But even as I said it, I was thinking: Was Ruth like the umbrella to me now, ruined? Should I leave her to the city? As it happened, her train wasnt going to Union Square, and neither was the one I got on. For the next 90 minutes, we traveled the Stygian depths separately, our frantic text messages to each other getting through only when our trains briefly surfaced over the East River. Eventually, we reunited in front of a Williamsburg nightclub, falling into each others arms and vowing never to part. When the show was over, we headed back to Chinatown. It was late or maybe early but stalls were being set up on Mulberry Street. Hispanic drivers unloaded crates from trucks, while Chinese ladies built ziggurats of exotic fruit. There were lychee nuts and jackfruit, spiky durian and something pink called rambutan, which resembled sea anemones dredged from the deep. Taxicabs glided by on Canal Street, yellow chariots taking late-night revelers home or to their next party. The city wasnt sleeping. It wasnt even napping. We continued to Beatrices building, turned the key in the lobby door and girded ourselves for the long climb that awaited us. I can hear the grass grow Back in Silver Spring I was filled with a suburbanites regret: I have yet to cut the grass this spring. First, I was without a lawn-mower blade for a week while it was getting sharpened. And then it rained. And rained some more. The rain falls on the just and the unjust but mainly it falls on my lawn, my weedy, overgrown, very wet lawn. Sorry, neighbors. Twitter: @johnkelly For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/johnkelly. GREECE Police, protesters clash ahead of austerity-bill vote Greek anarchists hurled firebombs, chairs and wooden planks at riot police in brief clashes outside Parliament while lawmakers were debating a controversial austerity bill, disrupting a much larger peaceful rally on Sunday. Police responded with stun grenades and bursts of tear gas to disperse the anarchists. The bill, introduced as part of requirements that debt-ridden Greece must meet under its third international bailout, is set to dramatically increase social security and pension contributions and raise taxes for most people. Greek workers, already hurt by six years of crippling austerity, have staged strikes in protest. The larger rally on Sunday was called by Greeces biggest unions, and most of those in attendance were Communist Party sympathizers. About 45 minutes before they started throwing projectiles, anarchists approached and beat up a known farmer activist, shouting that he was a member of the far-right Golden Dawn party. Other protesters dragged the farmer away. A few minutes later, another group of anarchists set upon another person, with riot police using stun grenades to stop the beating. The anarchists then regrouped before attacking riot police in Syntagma Square in front of Parliament. The police use of tear gas initially cleared the space outside Parliament. But most of the peaceful protesters returned, before finally dispersing for good. There were also clashes in Thessaloniki, where anarchists broke away from a protest to hurl firebombs at police guarding the offices of the ruling Syriza party. Police used tear gas and chased the rioters through the streets. Associated Press AFGHANISTAN 52 dead after buses, tanker collide Two buses and a fuel tanker collided Sunday on a major highway in Afghanistan, killing 52 people, officials said. Seventy-three people who had been on the buses were wounded in the crash, which set all three vehicles ablaze, said Jawed Salangi, a spokesman for the governor of the eastern Ghazni province. Records show the buses were carrying 125 passengers, Salangi said. With 73 survivors out of the 125, 52 people are dead, he said. The collision occurred on the main highway linking the capital, Kabul, to the southern city of Kandahar. Salangi said the road had been cleared and reopened early afternoon. The buses were traveling from Kabul to Kandahar when the crash occurred, according to Mohammadullah Ahmadi, director of the provincial traffic department. He blamed the crash on reckless driving. Associated Press TURKEY 55 Islamic State fighters reported killed in strikes Artillery fired by Turkeys military at the Islamic State militant group across the border in Syria killed 55 militants and destroyed three rocket launchers and three vehicles, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported Sunday. Meanwhile, Turkish F-16 and F-4 warplanes struck positions of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, in northern Iraq, hitting the rebels shelters, ammunition depots and weapons emplacements, the agency also reported. The regions targeted included Qandil mountain, where the PKKs leadership is based. The group has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state and is designated by Ankara and its allies as a terrorist organization. The death toll could not be independently verified. The military strikes come as Turkey is facing twin threats from the PKK and the Islamic State, which have carried out six major suicide attacks in the country since July, killing about 200 people. Associated Press 33 missing in China landslide: Rescuers searched for 33 construction workers missing in a landslide at the site of a hydropower project after days of heavy rain in southern China. Eight other workers were pulled out alive, officials and state-run media reported. Rocks and mud buried an office building and the workers living area at the site in Fujian province. Heavy rain has affected much of southern China since Wednesday, triggering floods and landslides. Attacks in, around Baghdad kill 12: Attacks in and around the Iraqi capital have killed at least 12 people and wounded dozens, officials said. The deadliest was in Baghdads western suburb of Abu Ghraib, where a suicide attack killed three police officers and two civilians, police said. At least 16 people reportedly were wounded. No one has asserted responsibility for the attacks, but the Islamic State militant group regularly targets public areas and government installations in an effort to destabilize the Shiite-led government. From news services Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton meets staff and volunteers at her campaign field office in downtown Oakland, Calif., on Friday. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post) In the fight for the votes of suburban women, there is no more representative place than Loudoun County, the ticket-splitting bedroom community in swing state Virginia that Hillary Clinton will visit Monday and no better foil for her argument, perhaps, than Donald Trump. Affluent suburban women are a key audience for Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, as she seeks to use Trumps polarizing statements about women, immigrants and others against him. Clinton will hold a discussion about jobs, schools and other concerns in a bellwether county that narrowly supported President Obamas reelection in 2012 and helped elect a Republican critic of Obama, Rep. Barbara Comstock, to Congress two years later. Comstock has disavowed Trump but isnt backing Clinton. The presidential candidate is hoping that women who think much as Comstock does about national security, the role of government and womens equality will make that leap, though, and help her win Virginia. The district is ground zero for Virginia and perhaps for the nation in the general election, said Dan Scandling, a Republican strategist who was chief of staff to Comstocks longtime predecessor, Republican Frank R. Wolf. You have upwardly mobile, younger professional women, who moved to Loudoun County for good schools and more affordable housing than in the closer-in suburbs that are more reliably Democratic, Scandling said. 1 of 46 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Clinton on the campaign trail View Photos The former secretary of state visits key states in her quest to become the Democratic nominee for president. Caption The former secretary of state, senator and first lady is the Democratic nominee for president. July 31, 2016 Hillary Clinton is seen aboard the campaign bus in Cleveland on the third day of a bus tour through Pennsylvania and Ohio. Melina Mara/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. Although many suburban women identify as Republican or independent, they often vote on the kinds of pocketbook issues Clinton is emphasizing in her presidential bid workplace flexibility and fair pay for female workers, accessible health care, and affordable college tuition. These voters have long displayed a willingness to look past ideological bright lines, and this year that could favor Clinton, whose open courtship is a bet that women who would not support her otherwise will be driven there by Trump. [Trump spurs some conservative leaders to step back from the GOP] Clinton is hoping independent and disaffected Republican men will also support her as an alternative to Trump, particularly on national security experience. In Loudoun, Trumps suitability as commander in chief also figures large, because much of the county is linked to a Washington economy dependent on the defense industry and government jobs. From the beginning of her campaign, Hillary Clinton has advocated for solutions to economic problems holding families back like affordable child care and paid family leave, said Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri. These issues are concerns that working families have regardless of political views, and we believe they will be as important to voters in the general election as they have been to voters in the Democratic primary. Clinton is holding a small coffee-shop discussion with working families in Loudoun County as she focuses directly on a general-election contest likely to pit her against Trump, her campaign said. She will return to primary campaigning Tuesday in Kentucky, with a visit to a child-care center and a family health clinic. Kentucky holds its Democratic primary May 17, and Clintons rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), is favored. Republican presidential contender Donald Trump is going after rival Ted Cruz's wife, Heidi. Here are other times he's insulted women, from Rosie O'Donnell to Hillary Clinton. (Sarah Parnass and Nicki DeMarco/The Washington Post) Sanders has said he will remain in the race until the end of Democratic voting next month, meaning Clinton is likely to continue a two-pronged campaign that pairs primary electioneering with an emphasis on issues and places that will be key in the general election. Last week, she visited Ohio, another swing state, in between stops in Kentucky and West Virginia, which votes Tuesday. Clinton easily won Virginias Democratic primary earlier this spring, but the state is up for grabs in the general election. Loudoun has elected both Republicans and Democrats in recent state and national elections, sometimes at the same time. Loudoun voted for Republican Robert F. McDonnell for governor in 2009, then voted for Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, four years later. Clintons campaign is making a very public appeal to disaffected Republicans whose reaction to Trumps securing the Republican presidential nomination last week ranged from discomfort to horror. Each day since, her campaign has blasted Trump as risky, reckless or irresponsible, while inviting independent and Republican support. He doesnt think much of equal pay for women because, of course, he doesnt think much of women, it turns out, Clinton said Friday night, at a campaign appearance in California where she also went after Trump on immigration, national security, abortion and the minimum wage. She called him the Republicans presumptuous nominee. Married women and those 45 and older are a Clinton mainstay choosing her over Sanders by large margins in the long primary campaign. She has also performed well with black and Hispanic voters, mostly in urban areas, and is now seeking to use Trump as a wedge to appeal to the same households in the suburbs. Clinton has won white married women by a 57 to 42 percent margin over Sanders across states with primary exit polls this year, wider than her nine-point edge among white women overall. In Pennsylvania late last month, Clinton won white married women by 31 percentage points compared with a 16-point margin among white women and a 12-point victory among all voters statewide. Trumps unfavorability rating with women nationwide grew by more than 10 percentage points between entering the race last year and securing the nomination last week. It stood at about 70 percent in a Gallup poll in April. He fared no better among independent women in a Washington Post-ABC poll in early April. In that survey, 71 percent had unfavorable opinions of Trump, and 65 percent said their view of the then-front-runner was strongly unfavorable. Clintons campaign, which once sought to ignore Trump as a distraction, is now highlighting his every utterance that might offend. That included a remark Saturday in which Trump appeared to refer to political correctness, a frequent theme. All of the men, were petrified to speak to women anymore, Trump said. The women, they get it better than we do, folks. Loudoun is part of Virginias sprawling 10th Congressional District, which also includes parts of suburban Fairfax and Prince William counties and stretches west to the Shenandoah region. A growing mix of affluence, high education levels and two-career households gives it a rare concentration of independent women with shifting political loyalties. Many say they dislike partisan rhetoric and ideological extremes. Democratic-leaning D.C. suburbs have ballooned in size over the past two decades and proved a counterweight to more rural parts of the state that are lopsidedly Republican. The Northern Virginia suburbs fueled victories for Obama, in both 2008 and 2012, that ended a Republican winning streak dating to Richard Nixon, in 1968. Huge Fairfax County is the center of Democrats strength, where Obama won by 21 percentage points four years ago, while he won by a narrow five percentage points in next-door Loudoun (52 to 47). Loudoun represents the border between Democratic and Republican strongholds. Republican Mitt Romney won the more sparsely populated Fauquier County just to the south by 20 points and Clarke County by 13. Areas farther west tilted even more red. Although most suburban women voters are white, Loudoun is also home to significant Muslim, Asian and Hispanic populations. The countys Board of Supervisors is led by an African American woman, a Democrat. Seventy-three percent of Loudoun residents are white. Nearly 1 in 5 are Asian, a factor that pushes the region in a Democratic direction. Nationally, Asians supported Obama 73 to 26 over Romney in 2012, according to exit polling. Thirteen percent of Loudoun residents are Hispanics, slightly lower than their share nationwide. Only 9 percent of the countys residents are black. Scott Clement contributed to this report. Some Republicans in Congress could be at risk of losing seats, in part because of the party's controversial presidential candidate Donald Trump. These are some of the Republicans feeling the Trump effect the most. (Deirdra O'Regan/The Washington Post) Some Republicans in Congress could be at risk of losing seats, in part because of the party's controversial presidential candidate Donald Trump. These are some of the Republicans feeling the Trump effect the most. (Deirdra O'Regan/The Washington Post) In the end, it was the voters of Indiana last week who effectively gave the country the outcome that had loomed for months. The 2016 election is likely to pit Hillary Clinton, who is disliked by a majority of voters, against Donald Trump, disliked by a greater majority of voters. If the rise of Trump has no obvious precedent, neither does an election like this. Clinton, whose buoyant favorable ratings in the State Department convinced some Democrats that she could win easily, is now viewed as unfavorably as George W. Bush was in his close 2004 reelection bid. Trump is even less liked, with negative ratings among nonwhite voters not seen since the 1964 campaign of Barry Goldwater. In the history of polling, weve basically never had a candidate viewed negatively by half of the electorate, Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) wrote in a widely shared note that asked someone, anyone, to mount a third-party run. There are dumpster fires in my town more popular than these two leaders. According to RealClearPolitics averages, Trump has an unfavorable rating of 65 percent. Clinton has 55 percent. [Trump spurs some conservative leaders to step back from the GOP] Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton meets staff and volunteers at her Oakland, Calif., field office. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post) You wouldnt know it from talking to each candidates supporters, who see only one reality they hate the other choice and who seem oblivious that much of the nation is defining this election by watching with dismay and deciding whether to bother to participate. Everybody likes her, said Pamela Hatwood, 51, a nurse on disability leave who was fanning herself with an extra Clinton sign in a sweltering gym in Indianapolis last week one of many supporters who shrugged off questions about whether Clintons appeal was too narrow. I think shes such a strong woman that people get afraid, said Stephen Yanusheskhy, 40, a health insurance salesman. Im not worried about the polls. Theyre good one week, theyre bad the next week. I feel like they poll the people they want to get a certain result. But once she actually gets the nomination, people will come out in droves. Youll see more involvement from the gay community, from women and from people of color. Trump is a big motivator for these voters. Clintons crowd was never as rapt as when she asked how embarrassing it was to see violence break out at Trump rallies. You see it on TV, and you assume its some place far away, dont you? she said. You hear this hateful talk about women, and you want to say: Enough, enough! Thats not who we are. A few hours later, up the highway in Fort Wayne, thousands of voters decided differently. Yes, this was who they were: They were Trump voters. And none of them could look around the room, an arena packed as if a Top 40 band were playing it, and imagine that Trump was unpopular. Corey Fuller, 41, voted for Barack Obama in 2008, one of the optimists who helped him win Indiana. When he first announced, I kind of rolled my eyes, too, Fuller said about Trump. But I got it soon enough. I dont worry about him losing, but I worry about the establishment trying to steal it from him, and thats sad. I joined the Republican Party this year for this. 1 of 14 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad These Republicans refuse to vote for Donald Trump View Photos And theyll tell you why. Caption And theyll tell you why. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell General Powell said at a meeting of the Long Island Association that he would be voting for Hillary Clinton, a spokeswoman confirmed Oct. 25. Powell added in an interview that he picked Clinton because I think shes qualified, and the other gentleman is not qualified. Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. From the stage, Trump meandered his way toward a discussion of why he could win. He has spoken more about poll numbers, in his set speeches, than any candidate in the same position. He tends to focus on the numbers that show him competitive and to ignore the ones that show him to be the least popular candidate to win a party nomination. I won every debate, Trump said. I started off at 4 [percent], and they all said, Well, that is his plateau. He wont go higher. Trumps imitation of a pundit was stuffy and nasal, like some king ordering a fresh pillow. The next week, I went to 8. Then I went to 12. Then I went to 18. Then I went to 20. And every week, these idiots said, That is his plateau! Then I went to 68! [Few stand in Trumps way as he piles up the Four-Pinocchio whoppers] For many of those listening to him that day, the idea of Trump losing an election was preposterous. Republicans who have nervously studied the partys future worry that Trump is too alienating to women and nonwhite voters to even get close to victory. Another theory is that his support could be so robust from white voters who have steadily trended Republican that he could capitalize on Clintons unfavorable numbers and win. Hell, I could beat Hillary, said John Hook, 50. The last open election for the White House felt bitter at times. It was not half as bitter as this. In exit polls from November 2008, just 24 percent of voters said they would be scared if Barack Obama won the election; just 28 percent said the same of his rival, Sen. John McCain of Arizona. Both candidates were viewed favorably. When asked how they would have voted had Clinton won the Democratic nomination, those polled said they would have picked her, by 11 points. Clintons strategy assumes she has lost voters esteem since then. Even before the unexpectedly stiff challenge of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont who, supporters point out, polls better than she the former secretary of state was building a campaign that could grind out majorities in swing states and maximize the growing nonwhite vote. Eight years ago, both she and Obama campaigned on clean coal. This year, she has said that weve got to move away from coal and put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business as the economy gets greener. (Sanders has roughly the same position but has not received the same backlash.) Eight years ago, she won Indiana in the primary; Obama became the first Democrat in 44 years to carry it in the general election. Indiana ended the campaign of Trumps last serious rival, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), another candidate who was navigating soaring unfavorable ratings. In his final days, Cruz regularly made four or five campaign stops, out-hustling every other candidate, silently aware that his poll numbers were not recovering. At Cruzs rallies, his supporters insisted that his unfavorable ratings, past 50 percent, were a result of the candidates media coverage. You can actually poll somebody and get the result that you want, said Joe Stack, 37, who had backed Cruz since his 2012 campaign for Senate and drove an hour to see him in La Porte. Maybe in the Hillary Clinton camp, hes unpopular. Maybe among some of these other Republicans like John Boehner theyre not going to like him, because hes a principled guy. The perception is that hes unpopular, but people perceive what theyre told in the media. At a larger rally in Fort Wayne, Mary Lynn Hamrick, 46, showed up in a shirt that the tea party group FreedomWorks had given her. It was ridiculous, she said, that Cruz was portrayed as an extremist. The current president had earned that status, because a permanent class of agitators, the class that produced him, was determined not to allow the country to enjoy peace. Look at what went on at the Trump rallies just this week. They were the socialists, the communists, NARAL, Occupy Wall Street. Those people are going to exist, and a lot of them are paid protesters. The irony, which Hamrick and Cruz would learn one day later, was that the socialists would cross the finish line and Cruz would not. Sanders won Indiana, helped in many primaries by the ability of independent voters to cross into the Democratic primary. Hillary Clinton won Democratic votes by 6 points; Sanders won independents by 44 points.The night he won Indiana, Sanders rallied in Louisville, the biggest city in a state that had given Clinton one of her biggest 2008 primary landslides. The Sanders rally took up the larger portion of a park on the Ohio River, with Indiana in the distance, and he got applause for a carbon tax, a tax on stock transactions and a condemnation of the media that had called his candidacy fringe. The establishment, the big-money interests, corporate media and all the rest want you to believe that change is not possible, Sanders said. Within 24 hours, with both Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) out, the socialist from Vermont was the only candidate for president not disliked by a majority of voters. Evangelical Christians such as Gary Fuller, pastor of Gentle Shepherd Baptist Church in Lincoln, Neb., find themselves dismayed and adrift now that Donald Trump has wrested control of the Republican Party. (Katie Zezima/The Washington Post) Pastor Gary Fuller planned a Sunday service focused on involving Christians in the political process and featuring a speech by the pastor father of Sen. Ted Cruz. But after a week in which Cruz abruptly dropped out of the race, his father scrapped his appearance here and Donald Trump became the Republican Partys standard-bearer, a dismayed Fuller kept the political portion short. Vote according to your convictions, Fuller told congregants at Gentle Shepherd Baptist Church who will cast ballots in Nebraskas presidential primary Tuesday. What you believe is the right thing to vote for, according to the Scriptures. He told congregants that the church cant and wont promote one candidate over another. But Fuller has a hard time stomaching Trump as the Republican nominee and plans to vote for Cruz on Tuesday, even though the senator has dropped out of the race. In a sense, we feel abandoned by our party, Fuller said. Theres nobody left. Fuller and other conservatives whose voting decisions are guided by their Christian faith find themselves dismayed and adrift now that Trump has wrested control of the Republican Party. It is a sentiment that reaches from the small, aluminum-sided church with a large white cross on its front that Fuller and his wife built on the Nebraska plains to the highest levels of American religious life. Even progressive Christians evangelicals and Catholics, among others who dont necessarily vote Republican are alarmed that Trump is attracting many voters who call themselves religious. A coalition of nearly 60 Christian leaders many progressive and some conservative published an open letter last week asking voters of faith to reject Trump and his vulgar racial and religious demagoguery, warning that the nation faces a moral threat from the candidate. Donald Trump won South Carolina's presidential primary with strong evangelical support. Yet evangelicals remain bitterly divided, as many question his stance on social issues ranging from abortion to gay marriage. (Dalton Bennett/The Washington Post) Certain kinds of political appeals and certain kinds of political developments are fundamentally antithetical to the Christian faith and must be named as such, said David Gushee, a professor of ethics at Mercer University who signed the letter. There is consternation about the hard line Trump takes on immigrants and about the morality of a thrice-married man who has long bragged about his sexual conquests. But another factor is at work as well: The traditional social and cultural positions that drive many religious conservative voters, including same-sex marriage and abortion, have been cast aside by a candidate who seems to have little interest in fighting the culture wars. In the past, Trump has espoused social views to the left of his party, including a longtime acceptance of gay rights, although he has since moved right on many of them. He has praised Planned Parenthood for helping millions of women. He is running as an antiabortion candidate but had said in the past that he supported abortion rights and would not ban the procedure known as partial-birth abortion. And while he says he is against same-sex marriage, he has attended a same-sex wedding and is opposed to a North Carolina law aimed at transgender people that requires people to use bathrooms that correspond with the gender on their birth certificate. He said transgender activist Caitlyn Jenner could use the womens room at his properties. [How bathrooms and transgender rights have become a flashpoint in the GOP race ] This year the Republican Party has not just surrendered on the culture wars, theyve joined the other side. And thats a unique situation, said Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. Cruz crusaded for social issues, making opposition to the transgender bathroom law one of his biggest fights at the end of his candidacy. The gambit failed when the senator from Texas lost badly to Trump in Indiana, a state that passed a controversial religious freedom law last year that led to a heated fight few want to relitigate. 1 of 14 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad These Republicans refuse to vote for Donald Trump View Photos And theyll tell you why. Caption And theyll tell you why. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell General Powell said at a meeting of the Long Island Association that he would be voting for Hillary Clinton, a spokeswoman confirmed Oct. 25. Powell added in an interview that he picked Clinton because I think shes qualified, and the other gentleman is not qualified. Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. Trying to use social issues as primary issues to define a campaign has not borne out as effective for those candidates who embraced it, said Gregory T. Angelo, president of the Log Cabin Republicans, which advocates for conservative gays and lesbians. But there are voters like Fuller for whom its always about social issues. He cast ballots for John McCain and Mitt Romney despite not loving their platforms, but he felt they were men of character who would do right by the country. Many at a Baptist conference he attended last week were shaking their heads, he said, unsure about how to handle the upcoming election; supporting Hillary Clinton and her liberal positions seems contrary to everything many of them stand for. I got the idea of Who would Jesus have voted for, Herod or Pilate? and probably neither one, and thats where I feel were at here, Fuller said. Fuller said some voters of faith he has spoken with in recent days simply want to stop Clinton from becoming president. His sister is one; she plans to vote not so much for Trump but against Clinton. Others in Nebraska are still holding out hope at the long-shot idea that Cruz, whose name is still on the ballot, will somehow win the state and get back in the race. Still others are intrigued by the idea of a third option, a notion one of this states Republican senators, Ben Sasse, has pushed for on social media. Moore said many evangelicals are horrified to have to choose between Trump and Clinton. More conservative evangelicals like Moore are concerned about moral and social issues. Gushee said that progressive ones such as himself and the other letter-signers are worried about the bigotry, xenophobia and misogyny they see from Trump. Despite this, many self- described evangelicals have cast ballots for the brash New Yorker. Trump has captured about a third of the vote of white born-again or evangelical Christians and tends to do well among evangelicals who dont frequent church. He has also won the endorsement of leaders such as Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, where Trump spoke this year and where Cruz announced his candidacy in March 2015. Trump has made overtures to conservative Christians he often alleges that people are discouraged from saying Merry Christmas but has also frequently stumbled. He misstated the name of a book in the Bible, and on another occasion struggled when asked to cite a favorite Bible verse. The splits over Trump reflect demographic and theological differences within the evangelical community, Moore said. The debate over whether evangelical Christians can support Trumps candidacy while keeping true to their beliefs may be shaping the very nature of evangelicalism, Mark Galli, editor of Christianity Today, wrote in March. The fissure is playing out in some households, including Rich and Heather Dreesmans in Plattsmouth, Neb. Rich Dreesman doesnt like Trump, calling him not a godly man and kind of a lunatic. But he will probably vote for him in November because he believes Democrats and Hillary Clinton are evil and ignorant. His antipathy toward Democrats is strong: He said he wanted to write into his will that none of his five children would receive their portion of his estate if they registered as Democrats; he fired his lawyer for saying no. Heather Dreesman said she is diametrically opposed to Trump on a long list of issues, including transgender bathrooms and his tax and immigration policies, and believes he will not protect religious freedom. She finds Trump crass, vulgar and a misogynist. As a conscientious believer, I just cant vote for someone who supports some of his philosophies, she said. I think he doesnt know what it means to be a Christian. Heather Dreesman said thinking about the election in November makes her feel sick to her stomach. She said she now carries a sense of grief that the country is forsaking its values and feels anguish about what will happen. She would like to see a third-party candidate but doesnt think its a real possibility meaning she probably wont vote. I hate to make this comparison, she said. I really do feel like in the future I would hate to look back and say, I voted for Hitler. I feel like that may be what is happening if I vote for Trump. Fuller is finding opposition to his position in his own home: his 18-year-old son, Jeremiah, plans to cast his first-ever ballot for Trump on Tuesday. The high schooler likes that Trump is anti-establishment, takes the real estate moguls word that he is a Christian and respects his ability to make deals. Where did we go wrong? Gary Fuller said with a laugh and smile, looking across his kitchen table at his son. One of the six nooses prepared for men sentenced to death at a prison in Kabul. (Massoud Hossaini/AP) Afghan officials hanged six Taliban prisoners Sunday, a resumption of executions in the war that makes good on President Ashraf Ghanis recent promise to deal harshly with insurgents, now that hopes for peace negotiations have evaporated. The inmates were hanged in the morning inside Pul-i-Charki prison a detention facility on the outskirts of Kabul that was the site of mass executions by the countrys then-communist regime during the 1980s. Among those hanged were two Taliban members involved in the assassinations of two senior government officials in recent years, officials said. One prisoner facilitated a 2011 suicide attack on Burhanuddin Rabbani, who served as the countrys temporary president after U.S. forces helped topple the Taliban government 10 years earlier. The second Taliban member was involved in the 2009 assassination of Abdullah Laghmani, the deputy chief of the Afghan National Directorate of Security. [Taliban promises a bloody spring] Ghani administration officials released photos of the six men but did not provide details about the four other prisoners. Pul-i-Charki prison is where Anas Haqqani son of Jalaluddin Haqqani, founder of the Haqqani network has been held since 2014. Haqqani, whose familys network has gained increasing influence within the Taliban, was not among those who Afghan officials said were executed. The six hanged were found guilty of crimes against civilian national security, officials said, adding that Ghani signed the order of execution in response to repeated demands of the families of victims of terrorist attacks. The executions come amid increasing security concerns. Taliban forces have vowed widespread attacks on the heels of a robust spring poppy harvest a main source of income for the insurgent group through the heroin black market. Government officials had stopped executing imprisoned insurgents during President Hamid Karzais administration, in the hope that the Taliban would enter into peace negotiations. But in the wake of a suicide bombing in Kabul last month that killed 64 people and wounded about 350, Ghani said he is no longer interested in negotiating with Taliban leaders. [Afghan president puts aside peace bids and vows harsher fight against Taliban] The Taliban responded to the hangings with a cold threat of more violence. For taking our revenge on the enemy, we have thousands of equipped suicide bombers, said Zabiullah Mujahid, the groups spokesman. On the day after two Romanian soldiers were killed in an apparent insider attack in the south while training Afghan security forces, news of the hangings drew praise in Kabul. Justice and security are tied together, said Jawed Kohistani, a retired Afghan general who works as a political analyst. The Taliban and other terrorists thought in the past that if they are arrested, they can buy their way out by money or other means, he said. Now with the executions, they will feel fear in their hearts that they will face justice and cannot be spared. [These are the 11,000 so ldiers who might save Afghanistan] Officials with the NATO mission in Afghanistan said they are investigating whether the Taliban is behind the deaths of the Romanian soldiers in Kandahar province. Army Brig. Gen. Charles H. Cleveland, spokesman for the U.S.-led mission, said the Romanians were assisting with hands-on training when some of those they were training apparently fired on them. Other NATO soldiers killed the two attackers, he said. As for what comes next, the details are still to be determined, but at a minimum, we will continue our efforts to partner with the Afghans to provide training, advice and assist efforts, Cleveland said. A Kandahar police official said the shooting occurred after an argument erupted between the Romanians and the trainees, before one police officer who has been with the department for several years drew his gun and began firing. The cause of the incident is not fully clear, said Zia Durrani, the police official. Read more: An attack rocked Kabul. And a former Bagram detainee may have played a key role. My terrifying plunge in a car from one of Afghanistans dangerous roads A wave of political defections spells new trouble for Afghanistan Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Officials said Sunday that they have reached a turning point amid cooler temperatures in fighting an enormous wildfire and hope to get a death grip on the blaze, which has devastated Canadas oil-sands town of Fort McMurray. Meanwhile, a massive evacuation of residents displaced by the blaze came to an end. Chad Morrison of Alberta Wildfire said he is very happy and called it great firefighting weather. We can really get in there and really get a handle on this fire and really get a death grip on it, he said. Morrison said that with cooler temperatures in the next three or four days, firefighters should be able to put out hot spots. He said it allowed them to further protect fire-ravaged Fort McMurray. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said the wildfire grew much more slowly than was feared and covers 397,831 acres. The fire remains west of the Saskatchewan border. Morrison said the blaze has not reached the Suncor or Syncrude oil-sands facilities north of Fort McMurray and that the mines north are not under threat. Officials also completed the transport of 25,000 residents of out-of-work camps north of the city. Police and members of the military oversaw a procession of thousands of vehicles Friday and Saturday, and a mass airlift of thousands of evacuees was employed from the oil-sands camps that usually house workers. No deaths or injuries have been reported from the fire itself. However, two evacuees died in a traffic accident during the evacuation. More than 80,000 people have left Fort McMurray in the heart of Canadas oil sands, where the fire has torched 1,600 homes and other buildings. Gas has been turned off, the power grid is damaged and water is not drinkable. Officials said there is no timeline to return residents to the city, but the Alberta government is sending a team Monday to do some preliminary planning. The fire and mass evacuation has forced a quarter or more of Canadas oil output offline and was expected to affect an economy already hurt by the fall in the price of oil. The Alberta oil sands have the third-largest reserves of oil in the world behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Its workers largely live in Fort McMurray, where some neighborhoods have been destroyed. Saskatchewan Emergency Management Commissioner Duane McKay said there is heavy smoke in southwest Saskatchewan but no imminent threat of fire to any communities in the province, which is next to Alberta. Militants fired on a bus carrying police officers in a Cairo neighborhood on Sunday, killing eight of them, in an attack that was claimed by Egypts Islamic State affiliate as well as another radical group that believes in armed resistance against the government. The police, all in plainclothes, were inspecting security in the southern Cairo suburb of Helwan early Sunday when four gunmen in a pickup truck attacked them, according to Egypts state-run Middle East News Agency. Those killed included a lieutenant. It was the deadliest assault on security forces since November, when gunmen killed four police officers at a security checkpoint. In that attack, Wilayat Sinai, the local Islamic State branch, claimed responsibility. If it is also behind Sundays attack, it would further highlight the terrorist networks capabilities of striking inside the Egyptian capital. The Islamic State said in a statement on Twitter that a carefully selected group of the soldiers of the caliphate carried out the killings. It claimed that it seized weapons as booty and that the attack was in retaliation for the incarceration of women in Egypts infidel prisons. In a separate statement on its Facebook page, the Popular Resistance Movement also claimed responsibility for Sundays killings. The group is a youth movement that opposes the governments counterterrorism operations, which it says have included police brutality and harassment. It said the attack was to commemorate 1,000 days since Egyptian security forces massacred what human rights groups describe as hundreds of protesters in August 2013 at Rabaa Square in Cairo. Neither of the statements could be independently verified, but they both bore the hallmarks of their respective militant groups. Sundays attack was all the more brazen because the capital has been heavily policed in recent weeks to stop demonstrators from rallying against the government of President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi. Egyptian journalists have been protesting the arrest last week of two reporters who took refuge inside the journalist unions offices in downtown Cairo. And others have railed against Sissis decision to hand over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. Hours after the killings, Egypts interior minister, Magdy Abdel Ghaffar, promised an investigation and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice. These are the heroes of the police. Their blood is mixed with the dust every day, and they rise above all challenges, Abdel Ghaffar told state television at the end of a military funeral for the eight officers. We will continue our crusade against terrorism despite everything. Our heads are raised high and our feet are solid on the ground. We will not be swayed by any attempt to destroy our efforts and our will to overcome, he added. At the brief funeral, the eight coffins wrapped in the Egyptian flag were hoisted atop red fire engines, accompanied by a few hundred mourners, including black-clad women wailing in grief. Public frustration has been growing against the police ever since Sissi set in place one of the most repressive periods in Egypts modern history after the 2013 military overthrow of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi. The security forces are accused of extrajudicial killings, torture and forced disappearances. Thousands of opponents of the regime have been jailed or placed under travel bans and other restrictions. In the northern Sinai Peninsula, Egypts security forces have been battling the Islamic State affiliate, which has become increasingly sophisticated and daring in its attacks in recent months. But the vast majority of its assaults have targeted Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai. Still, if Sundays attack is proved to be the affiliates handiwork, it could represent an intent to expand its reach. In October, the affiliate claimed responsibility for the bombing of a Russian airliner over the Sinai Peninsula that killed all 224 onboard. Read more Egypt official blames Tom and Jerry cartoons for violence in the Middle East In new Egyptian textbooks, its like the revolution didnt happen Egypt hands Saudi Arabia two islands in gratitude. Egyptians are outraged. Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world After months of unexpectedly swift advances, the U.S.-led war against the Islamic State is running into hurdles on and off the battlefield that call into question whether the pace of recent gains can be sustained. Chaos in Baghdad, the fraying of the cease-fire in Syria and political turmoil in Turkey are among some of the potential obstacles that have emerged in recent weeks to complicate the prospects for progress. Others include small setbacks for U.S.- allied forces on front lines in northern Iraq and Syria, which have come as a reminder that a strategy heavily reliant on local armed groups of varying proficiency who are often at odds with one another wont always work. When President Obama first ordered U.S. warplanes into action against the extremists sweeping through Iraq and Syria in 2014, U.S. officials put a three- to five-year timeline on a battle they predicted would be hard. After a rocky start, officials say they are gratified by the progress made, especially over the past six months. Since the recapture of the northern Iraqi town of Baiji last October, Islamic State defenses have crumbled rapidly across a wide arc of territory. In Syria, the important hub of Shadadi was recaptured with little resistance in February, while in Iraq, Sinjar, Ramadi, Hit and, most recently, the town of Bashir have fallen in quick succession, lending hope that the militants are on the path to defeat. So far, in terms of what we had hoped to do, we are pretty much on track, said a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive subjects. Were actually a little bit ahead of where we wanted to be. The fight, however, is entering what Pentagon officials have called a new and potentially harder phase, one that will entail a deeper level of U.S. involvement but also tougher targets. In an attempt to ramp up the tempo of the war, the U.S. military is escalating its engagement, dispatching an additional 450 Special Operations forces and other troops to Syria and Iraq, deploying hundreds of Marines close to the front lines in Iraq and bringing Apache attack helicopters and B-52s into service for the air campaign. The extra resources are an acknowledgment, U.S. officials say, that the war cant be won without a greater level of American involvement. The targets that lie ahead are those that are most important to the militants self-proclaimed caliphate, including their twin capitals of Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq and, to a lesser extent, Fallujah, a key concern because of its proximity to Baghdad. The Islamic State will have occupied those cities for well over two years before the offensives begin, far longer than any of those it has lost so far. The battle for Mosul, long a Pentagon priority, has already been delayed by at least a year, in part because of the Islamic States seizure a year ago of the city of Ramadi in the province of Anbar. Ramadi was recaptured in December, but only after a significant diversion of resources and time. The defenses that they have there are much more developed than what they had the ability to do in Ramadi, so its going to get harder the closer we get to Mosul, theres no doubt about it, said Maj. Gen. Gary J. Volesky, who commands the land-forces component of the U.S.-led coalition out of Baghdad. After being caught unprepared by the Ramadi upset, he and other U.S. officials now decline to put a time frame on the Mosul offensive. An early attempt to sever one supply route to the city in March did not go well, with two newly trained Iraqi army brigades forced to retreat under intense Islamic State fire from the small but strategically important village of Al-Nasr, about 40 miles to the south. It was a reminder, said Col. Steve Warren, a U.S. military spokesman, that weve got a foot on his neck but hes still got some fight in him. As the war cuts deeper into the militants core territories, the pace will inevitably slow, officials say. Now were organizing Mosul, and we are going to organize some other things, too, so there will be a natural pause, which isnt necessarily a strategic setback, said the U.S. official. We have to pause, reset a bit and do some things. The deepening U.S. military engagement wont, however, untangle the web of political complexities that appears to be tightening around a strategy critics long have charged is too focused on short-term military gains. While scoring some significant advances on the ground, the strategy has not yet found answers to the wider political disputes that helped fuel the rise of the Islamic State and could yet undermine the long-term sustainability of military gains, said Robert Ford, the last U.S. ambassador to Syria, who is now with the Washington-based Middle East Institute. The Americans are so happy every time a village falls, they lose sight of the forest while looking at all the trees, he said. The recent dramatic storming of Baghdads fortified Green Zone by supporters of the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr offered one example of the kind of conflicts that could erupt in Iraq well before the militants are defeated, he said. The problem in Baghdad underlines how tenuous the government situation is, Ford said. This isnt something Apaches and F-16s can fix. You must deal with the politics as much as you deal with the military. U.S. officials say they have seen no fallout yet from the fracas in Baghdad, but they dont rule out that there could be one if the political instability continues. Of greater immediate concern, they say, is the upheaval in Turkey, where Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu last week announced his intention to step down after losing out in a feud with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Davutoglu has long worked closely with U.S. officials and had been seen as a moderating influence on the more unpredictable Erdogan, who frequently lashes out with criticisms of his American allies and has displayed fluctuating levels of enthusiasm for the fight against the Islamic State. One major effort for which the United States needs Turkish engagement is a faltering offensive against the Islamic State in the northern Syrian countryside of Aleppo province, bordering Turkey. A force of Turkish and U.S.-backed rebels swiftly advanced last month into the key Islamic State town of Al-Rai, then was equally swiftly pushed back. It was an early test of the fraught effort to train and equip a force of moderate Syrian rebels to take on the militants in northern Syria, which has now mostly been subcontracted to Turkey. Officials acknowledge that they were disappointed with the poor rebel performance, ascribed by both Syrians and U.S. officials more to divisions within the ranks of the rebels than any external factors. Cutting the Islamic States vital supply route to Turkey is considered an essential prerequisite for any eventual offensive to retake Raqqa. The 250 Special Operations troops dispatched to Syria last month are charged with training an Arab force to lead the Raqqa offensive but there wont be a Raqqa offensive until the northern Aleppo part of the puzzle has been solved, U.S. officials say. The recent resumption of fighting around the nearby city of Aleppo has come as a fresh reminder that the war in Syria will continue to draw resources away from the Islamic State fight. Peace talks in Geneva aimed at ending the conflict have deadlocked, eroding hopes that a political solution is in sight. Russia, though not part of the U.S.-led coalition, had contributed to the building of pressure on the Islamic State by supporting the Syrian governments recapture in March of the ancient city of Palmyra. But Russia has diverted its military resources from the Islamic State front toward Aleppo, considered a greater priority for the government than the Islamic State-held territories to the east, according to a person familiar with the discussions between Syria and its allies Iran, Hezbollah and Russia over military operations. As a Russian orchestra played Bach and Prokofiev in celebration of the Palmyra victory at the citys Roman amphitheater last week, Islamic State fighters overran the nearby gas field of Shaer, their first conquest in many months. One concern is that any hiatus in the fight could give the Islamic State a chance to regroup, refresh and revive its badly dented image of invincibility by launching new assaults, such as the one last week that killed U.S. Navy SEAL Charles H. Keating IV. Warren characterized the attack as an effort to detract from the beat-down theyve taken everywhere else. It was repelled, however, only with the help of intense U.S. airstrikes, underscoring the vital role the United States plays in securing recaptured territory. In the short term, as long as the Americans are there, I dont think theyre going to rampage like they did in 2013 and 2014, Ford said of the militants. But were you to remove that air power and the capabilities the Americans bring, I could imagine them making gains again on the ground. Loveday Morris in Baghdad contributed to this report. Read more How the Syrian revolt went so horribly, tragically wrong Islamic State claims strikes on Turkish artillery as tensions rise on border Turkeys prime minister resigns amid high-level rifts and deepening crises Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world A large portrait of former North Korean leader Kim Il Sung is surrounded by thousands in a parade in Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang at the culmination of the Workers Party congress. May 10, 2016 A large portrait of former North Korean leader Kim Il Sung is surrounded by thousands in a parade in Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang at the culmination of the Workers Party congress. Linda Davidson/The Washington Post No effort is being spared in the lead-up to the event. No effort is being spared in the lead-up to the event. North Korea has announced its first five-year plan since the 1980s, with leader Kim Jong Un issuing instructions for developing the Korean revolution on a higher stage. The prominence put on the economy at the first congress of the ruling Workers Party to be held in 36 years underscores the emphasis that Kim, the third-generation leader of North Korea, has placed on improving living standards and, at the same time, pursuing nuclear weapons. But it is something of a risky move for Kim, because he could be held accountable for it. Also at the congress, which got underway Friday, Kim said North Korea would not use its nuclear weapons unless its sovereignty was violated, a familiar refrain from Pyongyang, which presents its nuclear and missile program as necessary for self-defense. Kim has lauded North Koreas advances in nuclear technology, as South Korean officials continue to warn that a fifth test could be imminent. The surprisingly full remarks from Kim were reported on North Koreas state television and in the official media Sunday. Foreign journalists allowed to travel to Pyongyang for the congress have not been given any access to the forum, apart from being taken to a street corner across from the venue. The agenda for the congress includes a review of the partys work and rules, the election of Kim to the top position in the party and the filling of other senior positions, according to the Norths official Korean Central News Agency. The city of North Koreas elites and loyal party members, Pyongyang, is hosting the congress of its ruling Workers Party for the first time in 36 years. (Jason Aldag,Anna Fifield/The Washington Post) Analysts seized on the news that Kim has announced a plan for developing North Koreas economy, which remains in dire shape despite growing modestly in the past few years. International sanctions imposed this year after nuclear and ballistic missile tests are expected to create additional challenges. [North Koreas leader hails nuclear and missile advances as rare party congress opens] Michael Madden, who runs the North Korea Leadership Watch site, said the plan is a big deal because Kim is taking public responsibility for economic development, something his father never did. It has appeared that Kim has been trying to rule like his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, who placed more importance on the Workers Party than on the military. His father and predecessor, Kim Jong Il, promoted a military first policy. The announcement of a five-year economic plan slightly proves the hypothesis that Kim Jong Un is ruling like his grandfather he even appropriated a Kim Il Sung policy direction here with more formal lines of control and authority like a five-year economic plan, Madden said. In an address at the congress, Kim announced a five-year strategy for the state economic development from 2016 to 2020. Such plans are commonplace in communist systems, but North Korea hasnt produced one since the 1980s. Kim said that the period since the last Workers Party congress was an unprecedentedly grim struggle in North Koreas long history. [Watch: The Posts Anna Fifield in North Korea] Over the next five years, North Korea should fly the flag of victory and become a scientific and technological, economic and highly civilized power, Kim said. It is imperative to carry through the five-year strategy for the state economic development from 2016 to 2020, Kim reportedly told the congress. It is necessary to further increase the might of the politico-ideological power and military power. Although there were few other details, analysts said it was remarkable that Kim had spoken publicly about his plans for economic growth. His father, who died in 2011 and presided over a period of economic devastation and widespread famine, did not utter public statements that he could be held accountable for. But Kim Jong Un has been promoting a byungjin or simultaneous pursuit policy under which he has been trying to grow the economy and develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles to deliver them. [North Koreas ruling party is readying for a rare congress] The Souths Bank of Korea estimates that the Norths economy has been growing at about 1 or 2 percent a year, but Andrei Lankov, a North Korea specialist at Kookmin University in Seoul, agrees with other analysts who think that its growth has been much higher, potentially as high as the 7 percent estimate from the Hyundai Economic Research Institute in Seoul. Recent events also prove that North Korea is making technical advances on its weapons program. North Korean scientists would have learned more about their technical abilities, and shortcomings, during the nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch in February. They would also have learned from their more recent failed missile launches, Jeffrey Lewis, an arms control expert at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in California, has said. During the congress, Kim repeated the line that North Korea would not go on the offensive with its weapons. As a responsible nuclear weapons state, our republic will not use a nuclear weapon unless its sovereignty is encroached upon by any aggressive hostile forces with nukes, Kim told the meeting, according to KCNA. Read more: Its party time in North Korea. Workers Party party time. North Korea works around the clock to prepare for Kim Jong Uns 70-day campaign Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Norway director Aslaug Holm's Brothers took the top jury prize on Friday night at the 2016 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival. Holm's film - seemingly a documentary version of Richard Linklater's Boyhood, about two brothers, Lukas and Markus, whose growth over eight years from toddlers to teenagers is captured by their filmmaker mother - earned the fest's best international feature documentary prize and $10,000. Hot Docs gave its special jury prize for an international feature documentary to the American doc God Knows Where I Am, by directors Todd and Jedd Wider. The film reveals a troubling account of mental illness through the mysterious death of a woman in a New Hampshire farmhouse. Elsewhere, the best emerging foreign filmmaker award went to Mike Day for his U.K.-Denmark co-production The Islands and the Whales. And the best mid-length documentary prize was awarded to another Norwegian film, The Button, a doc by Paul S. Refsdal about two al-Qaeda suicide bombers in Syria. Hot Docs also handed out prizes to local films, with the best Canadian feature doc prize going to Nettie Wild's Koneline, while the special jury prize for a Canadian doc went to The Prison in Twelve Landscapes, Brett Story's Canada-U.S. co-production about the American prison industry. Highlights of Hot Docs this year included genre-defying films like Matt Johnson's Apollo 11 hoax thriller Operation Avalanche, which combined fact and fiction to reveal a CIA conspiracy to fake the moon landing, and Oscar-winning screenwriter Pierre Bismuth's docu/fiction hybrid, Where Is Rocky II? Bismuth told the Hollywood Reporter his mystery thriller about the hunt for a fake rock reportedly placed among real ones in a California desert by famed artist Ed Ruscha is a new genre, fake fiction. "Everything is true, but it looks fake," he said. Hot Docs, North America's largest documentary festival, wraps Sunday in Toronto. In all, the event will have screened 232 documentaries from 51 countries during its April 28-May 8 run. Read More: 'League of Exotique Dancers' to Open Hot Docs Festival Harry Truman went from being a county judge to deciding to use atomic warfare at World War IIs end. Heres a quick look at 10 facts about Trumans sudden ascendancy to the White Houseand the deal with his middle name. Truman was born on May 8, 1884 in Lamar, Missouri. He died at the age of 88 in Independence, Missouri on December 26, 1972. 1. Truman was a war hero who saw action in battle. Truman wanted to go to West Point, but poor eyesight kept him from the academy. He enlisted in the National Guard and was an artillery commander during World War I. 2. He wasnt a success in private business. Truman worked at several jobs, including running a sewing supply shop, farming, and clerking at a bank, until he became a county judge in Missouri. 3. Truman wasnt a first-choice candidate for the Senate. Kansas City political boss Tom Pendergast was turned down by four other possible candidates in 1934 when he sought a candidate to support for a U.S. Senate election. Truman won office by actively hitting the campaign trail. 4. Truman overcame steep odds to win the 1940 Senate election. When Trumans political ally, Pendergrast, was convicted for tax evasion in 1939, few people thought Truman stood a chance of getting re-elected in Missouri. Again, Truman hit the campaign trail, spoke about his war record and experience as a common man in the Senate, and pulled off another upset. 5. Truman used a key Senate committee to rise to power. At the age of 57, Truman took over a special committee to monitor wasteful spending at business, labor, and government agencies during the World War II. He quickly became a household name as the head of the Truman Committee. 6. Truman wasnt a top candidate for vice president. In 1944, the current vice president, Henry Wallace, was out of favor with many Democrats. Supreme Court Justice William Douglas was FDRs preferred candidate, and Alben Barkley and James Byrnes were other strong candidates. Truman was a compromise selection who Roosevelt didnt know well. Story continues 7. Roosevelt kept Truman in the dark about war matters. As vice president, Truman had little contact with the president and was asked to mostly deal with matters in the Senate. After FDR died, Truman had to find out the basic facts about the wars in Europe and Asia, and the nations secret atomic program. 8. The 1948 election upset wasnt really an upset. Truman was expected to lose to Republican Thomas Dewey, at least in the eyes of the media. After trailing in public opinion polls, Truman launched an extensive national media campaign that put him back in contention. Before that point, pollsters stopped conducting polls, and didnt measure the surge for Truman. The rest is history. 9. Truman survived an assassination attempt. Two Puerto Rico nationalists tried to kill Truman in 1950 when he was staying at Blair House while the White House was under renovation. A White House guard died as he killed one attacker. The other attacker was captured. Truman heard the gun fight from his room. 10. Truman had an unusual middle initial. Trumans parents gave him a middle name of S after they couldnt agree on a middle name as a tribute to relatives whose names both started with the letter S. Officially, the S is followed by a period: Harry S. Truman. Thats because Truman used a period with the letter S in his correspondence. The Truman Library & Museum offers a detailed explanation of the S controversy. Historical Stories on Constitution Daily Forgotten facts about George Washingtons private life 10 facts about Presidents who were also Veterans 50 interesting facts about Abraham Lincolns life 10 little-known facts about President Theodore Roosevelt Llama With all the chaos and commotion in the world, sometimes you just need a break and what better way to relax than by looking at a stuffed llama traveling the world? Eylul Savas created an Instagram account showcasing her cheery stuffed llama on their travels. The llama appropriately named Llama With No Drama is on a mission to spread a daily dose of smiles. SEE ALSO: Hamster spends final days enjoying exciting adventures off his bucket list Mashable spoke with Savas via email to learn more about the goals of Llama With No Drama. "Overall, the world's drama was the trigger point. Everyday, as if trying to deal with our daily struggles is not enough, we're also being exposed to lots of sad news," Savas explained. Savas feels that "filtering positive and negative messages is almost impossible" in today's world, so she "wanted to start something with the purpose of putting smiles on people's faces." The account is that simple. Its purpose is to give people a break from the severity of life and their personal worries, even if only for a short time. "I chose a llama because people don't know much about them. They are funny looking, fun and despite the common saying 'drama llama,' they're actually drama-free," Savas said. "They're free spirits and can spit on your face just for nothing, because why not?!" Savas says that the adorable stuffed llama accompanies her everywhere tagging along on all of her own adventures and posing for stunning photo ops. Besides making people happy, Savas hopes the account encourages others to get out of their comfort zones and finally take the plunge to travel and explore the world. "In my opinion, that's what feeds someone's soul the most," she shared. As for future travel plans, she says the llama has "tons" including Cape Town and Tokyo, so stay tuned. You can follow along with all of the exciting, drama-free llama adventures here. Pretoria (AFP) - South Africa does not rule out a future call for regulated international trade in rhino horn trade, despite its decision not to push for legalisation at an upcoming CITES conference, a cabinet minister said Sunday. South Africa has "no immediate intention to trade in rhino horn," but is "maintaining the option to reconsider regulated legal international trade in rhino horn" when key requirements are met, Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa told reporters. Some campaigners are calling for the lifting of the ban and had hoped South Africa would make a proposal to that effect at the upcoming Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) conference in Johannesburg in September. But South Africa says it will only make such a call when its key conditions -- including clear trading models with targeted markets - have been met. "One thing we are very careful about is that we need to have a successful proposition for South Africa that goes through, that's not hampered by any doubt... but now there are a lot of uncertainties," Molewa said. The minister also revealed that the numbers of South African rhino slaughtered by poachers so far this year has dropped to 363 compared with 404 for the same period last year. The killing of rhinos is driven by demand for their horns in countries such as China and Vietnam where they are prized for their purported medicinal purposes. South African which is home to some 20,000 rhino, or 80 percent of the global population, has suffered the brunt of poaching. Out of the total 1,338 rhino poached in Africa last year, only 163 were killed outside South Africa. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Nolan Arenado powered the Colorado Rockies to a strong finish for their successful road trip. Arenado had three hits, Eddie Butler pitched six innings for his first win since being promoted from the minors, and the Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants 2-0 on Sunday. Colorado went 6-4 on its first winning road trip of 10 games or longer since 2009. It was the Rockies' longest road trip of the season. ''A really good road trip,'' manager Walt Weiss said. ''The fact that all 10 games (were) in the division . and to come out with a winning record, it's a big step.'' Arenado, who leads the majors with 12 homers, just missed hitting for the cycle for the first time in his career. The star third baseman hit a run-scoring triple off the brick wall in right-center in his first at-bat, singled in the third and doubled in the eighth. ''I was happy I hit the ball hard,'' Arenado said. ''When you're hitting homers sometimes you get in the habit of dipping and start popping up. I was really happy I was able to stay on top of the ball, hit my line drives and have quality at-bats.'' Gerardo Parra singled in a run and made a diving catch, helping the Rockies salvage a split of the four-game series. Rookie Trevor Story doubled and scored. Hunter Pence had three of San Francisco's six hits to break out of a 3-for-15 slump. Jeff Samardzija (4-2) struck out nine in 7 2/3 innings and was charged with two runs and eight hits. Butler (1-1) allowed four hits and struck out six to earn his first win since May 30, 2015. Butler, a first-round pick in 2012, has five career victories - three against San Francisco. ''Just attacking the zone,'' Butler said. ''Early on a couple times I got behind in the count and they hit a couple balls pretty well. In the fourth or fifth inning I really started getting into a good rhythm.'' The Rockies, coming off a 13-inning loss on Saturday, gave Butler just enough run support. Story continues Boone Logan, Carlos Estevez, Chad Qualls and Jake McGee pitched the final three innings to finish the six-hitter. McGee worked the ninth for his eighth save. The Giants couldn't get much going in the series finale. San Francisco had a runner thrown out trying to steal third in the first, left the bases loaded in the second and stranded a runner at third in the seventh when Brandon Crawford and Mac Williamson struck out swinging. The Giants also put two on in the eighth before Qualls got Buster Posey to fly out. Samardzija lost for the first time since April 17. ''We didn't do enough offensively to help him out,'' San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said. ''We couldn't push anything across. That's two days in a row no runs after nine innings.'' SOLID DEBUT Albert Suarez was the only Giants reliever who didn't pitch in the 13-inning game, but he worked the ninth in his major league debut Sunday. The right-hander gave up a single to DJ LeMahieu and then got Ben Paulsen to ground into a double play before retiring Dustin Garneau on a grounder. ''He lost the first guy but didn't lose his poise and came back to get the double play,'' Bochy said. ''We need someone like him to pick up innings for us.'' TRAINER'S ROOM Rockies: LHP Jorge De La Rosa is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment on Monday. He has been on the disabled list with a strained left groin since April 27. ... Jason Motte (shoulder strain) will face hitters on Monday and could be sent on a rehab stint soon. Giants: RHP George Kontos (right flexor strain) threw 21 pitches and gave up one hit for Triple-A Sacramento in his first rehab appearance. UP NEXT Rockies: RHP Tyler Chatwood (4-2) takes a 16 1/3 inning scoreless streak into the series opener against Arizona on Monday. Chatwood's 2.15 ERA is ninth-lowest in the NL. Giants: RHP Jake Peavy (1-3) pitches against Toronto on Monday at AT&T Park. Peavy gave up four home runs in his previous start and has a 9.00 ERA. Los Angeles (AFP) - Ariya Jutanugarn fought off back nine nerves to par the 18th hole and win the Yokohama Tire Classic, becoming the first Thai player to win on the LPGA Tour. Ariya on Sunday started the fourth round with a three-stroke lead and despite a roller-coaster ride she managed to close with an even-par 72 to claim her first victory. "It was so tough. I can't control anything. My legs were shaking, my hands were shaking," Ariya said. The 20-year-old from Bangkok finished at 14-under 274 to beat South Korea's Amy Yang and Americans Morgan Pressel and Stacy Lewis by one shot and finally reach the winner's circle after three top-10 finishes this year. Yang had a 67, Pressel and Lewis both shot 68 as the trio finished tied for second at 13-under. Ariya needed a par on the final hole to get the victory, and her drive on the 18th hole went into the left rough. Her second shot fell short of the green but landed above a bunker. Ariya chipped to within five feet before sinking her par putt. It wasn't the way she drew it up, but Ariya finally broke through after a couple of near misses. She has twice held 54-hole leads but failed to convert those to wins. Earlier this season at the ANA Inspiration, the first major of the year, she led by two shots with three to play in the final round but bogeyed her final three holes to lose to Lydia Ko. Ariya was just 17 years old when she let a two-stroke lead with one hole remaining slip through her fingers at the 2013 LPGA Thailand. Her triple bogey resulted in her finishing one shot behind. It was also a special win for another reason as her mom was in attendance on the US Mother's Day. The Thai Mother's Day is August 12. "Thank you for my mom for being with me all the time to support me and happy Mother's Day," said Ariya. Lewis, who has won 11 times on the LPGA Tour, has now gone 49 tournaments without a win. Her runner-up finish Sunday was her 11th-second-place finish during her title drought. South Korean Ryu So-Yeon, who led after 36 holes, had a 72 and finished at 10-under 278. First round leader Laetitia Beck of Israel also shot 72 to finish with three others six shots back of Ariya. By Jane Wardell SYDNEY (Reuters) - Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull fired the starting gun on Sunday on one of the longest election campaigns in Australia's history, against the backdrop of a flagging economy and heated debate over sensitive political issues like asylum seekers. Turnbull officially called federal elections for July 2, several months earlier than originally planned, using rarely invoked powers to dissolve both houses of parliament after the upper house Senate repeatedly blocked government legislation. The federal poll throws up the specter of more political instability in Australia, where infighting among the leading parties has resulted in a revolving door to the top job at a time when Australia is trying to rebalance its economy away from a once-in-a-generation mining boom. Turnbull, considered a moderate in the conservative Liberal Party-led coalition government, became the fourth leader in two years when he deposed right-wing predecessor Tony Abbott in an internal party coup in September. He goes to the polls as Australia, renowned for its almost unscathed survival of the global financial crisis, finally shows signs of a slowdown. Its future, once pegged to iron ore and steel, is now likely to hinge on its success in grabbing export markets for agriculture, education and pharmaceuticals in a rapidly modernizing Asia. "We live in an era when the scale and pace of economic change is unprecedented through all of human history," Turnbull told reporters after setting the election in motion. "In a few years more than half of the world's middle class will be living in Asia," Turnbull said. "The opportunities for Australia are enormous." NECK-AND-NECK The government is running neck-and-neck in opinion polls with the center-left Labor opposition, a sharp turnaround from Turnbull's honeymoon period, during which he was one of the most popular leaders in Australian history. Labor leader Bill Shorten has been quick to paint Turnbull, a multi-millionaire lawyer and former tech entrepreneur, and the coalition as friends of big business. "They are pursuing a policy to reward big tax cuts to major corporations," Shorten, who has promised major spending on health and education, told reporters. The government's federal budget announced last week was notably short on vote-winning incentives as falling commodity prices ate into state revenues. There has also been disappointment in some quarters with Turnbull, whom many expected to distance himself from the right-wing policies of Abbott on issues such as immigration and climate change. As Turnbull was speaking in Canberra, police arrested 66 people at a protest against fossil fuels on Newcastle Harbour, one of the world's biggest coal export ports about two hours' drive north of Sydney. Australia's hardline immigration policy, under which asylum seekers intercepted at sea trying to reach Australia are sent for processing to camps on Nauru and on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, has also led to recent protests. The harsh conditions and reports of systemic child abuse at the camps, which house asylum seekers fleeing violence in Syria, Iraq, South Asia and Africa, have drawn wide criticism from the United Nations and human rights groups. The winner should at least find it easier to pass legislation because the so-called double dissolution election for both houses of parliament should ease the political deadlock that has characterized Australian politics since the last election in 2013. (Additional reporting by Peter Gosnell in SYDNEY; Editing by Paul Tait) We like to think of customizable makeup palettes as the beauty worlds equivalent to In-N-Out Burgers secret menu: You have the option to customize like crazy, as long as you know how to ask. Related: Glow International With These Asian Beauty Products Let us explain. Buried in the recesses of many cosmetic brands sites are options to buy blank compacts and fill them with the best possible shades to suit your skin tone and style. MAC, for example, offers more than 100 color options to fill its custom palettes, with anywhere from two to 30 empty spaces and offers IRL help from its pros in-store, too. Related: All The Beauty Secrets I Learned Living in Rural Japan And theres way more where that comes from: Chantecaille and Surratt both give options to make shadow and blush palettes. Over at NARS, you can hand-select cult classic blush (Orgasm), bronzing powder (Laguna), and shadows (Night Porter), along with contour, pressed powder, and shadows in its Pro Palette. And San Francisco-based eco brand ittse offers vegan leather notebooks that can be filled with eye shadow, blush illuminator, bronzer, brow powder, and mattifier options all made in the U.S.A. Related: This is What Female-Directed Porn Looks Like Of course, DIY-ing palettes is an option both promising and daunting: Using a compact with no throwaway shades feels like a major win, but with so many options to choose from, building the thing can feel overwhelming. Which is why we enlisted the help of MAC Senior Artist John Stapleton, along with Kerrie Urban and Tasha Reiko Brown, makeup artists who work with celebs like Saoirse Ronan, Keira Knightley, and Jill Scott, for guidance. Related: What Going Paleo Did to My Body Ahead, these pros offer guidelines for how to select the right shades, textures, and product types for your skin tone and lifestyle. When shopping for makeup, its only natural to gravitate toward those favorite colors that we use to decorate our apartments or fill our wardrobe. Those colors can look beautiful in the pan, but with makeup, its best to skip signature shades and choose hues that will best complement your eye color and skin tone. Urban offers this rule of thumb: If you look better in silver jewelry, go for cool colors like blue, greys, or purples. If you tend to look better in gold jewelry, go for warmer colors, like golden browns, yellows and auburn. Story continues Related: What to Do When You Cant Get Kylies Lip Kits Another color-choosing trick? Look for opposites on the color wheel to play up the tones in your eyes. Complementary colors always make eyes pop, the makeup pro says. I love using golden tones on blue eyes (because blue and orange are opposite on the color wheel), red/purples on green (also opposite). Browns look great on almost every color. Deep blue shadow, for example, will play up yellow flecks in brown eyes. Ultimately, go with whatever youll wear most. Feel free to break the rules, because there are none, says Reiko Brown. The right colors are whichever ones make you feel beautiful. Color correcting with concealer around the eye area has become de rigueur in mainstream makeup as of late. However, Stapleton suggests leaning into our skins natural tones instead of stamping out any sallowness, darkness, or rudiness. You can create a really pretty look and use a lot less product by working with the tones that naturally show on the lid, he says. If your skin is naturally ruddy brown around the eye,or rosy beige, then pick similar colors to use as the base. Establishing these bespoke neutrals also serve as a great color family guide when selecting the more showy colors in your palette. Pre-assembled palettes group variant shades of a color group, or two, for a reason: theyre easier to blend. Our pros suggest you mimic this technique when selecting shadow shades for your own palette. Related: Tips to Ramp Up The Romance In The Bedroom I always recommend colors that you can blend and use together or just use on their own, says Urban. Be sure to get a range of colors that vary from dark to light, and try not to get two colors that look similar. You can always mix and layer to vary to colors slightly and change your look. Eyeshadow isnt just for the lids. A pearlescent shade can double as a highlighter and shades of greige-y browns are universally flattering when filling in and defining brows. When youre making a palette, dont forget to add some brow options, Stapleton suggests. If youre going to choose a few brow colors for your palette, try something thats close to your hair color and go for one thats a shade darker. The lighter shade is great for filling in brows for a daytime look; the darker shade can be used to emphasize the arch or elongate the tail. Ever notice that Chanel eye quads feature four different finishes? Thats because varying textures will help create more definition in your look. One fail-safe starting point is to select matte shadows in shades of nude and black. These will always come in handy, Stapleton says. A nice matte black works as a nice liner on its own; or can be used to set black pencil liner for staying power. These flat-finish shades are also Reiko Browns go to for crepey and oily lids. They draw less attention to the foldsand are fantastic for setting eyeshadow primer on oily lids, she notes. Creating a nude base with a matte shadow is a trick she loves for darker lids, too. Sometimes, lids with a natural deepened color can distort your view of which colors will look best on you, so an even application of nude mattes makes for a great starting place to help with color assessment, she adds. Brown also turns to dark matte shadows to build intensity for a smokey eye or as a base for shimmery shades. Shimmer placed on top will give a more solid look with less product, she notes; when working on crepey lids, shimmer would draw too much attention to the folds. Once youve nailed down shadow colors, consider the textures of the shades. Not so deft with using makeup brushes? Stock your palette with satin-finish shadows. Satins are foolproof and great for any eye or look, says Reiko Brown. They work to give just the right amount of light to the face and take less skill to blend than mattes, but give the same color intensity. Choose satin finishes for mid-range neutrals to fill the gaps between your matte nudes and blacks or to add color to the mix. Then, boost your palette with shine. Metallic shadows are essential for amping up a smokey eye or creating a night look, while shimmer finish shadows punch up a simple eye. The brightness of a shimmery color on the lid really pops against mascaraed lashes, notes Reiko Brown. Think about the shade of smoky eye that looks best on you (like black, brown, aubergine, or emerald). Then, pick a metallic shade within that family. When selecting a shimmer shade, go for something that can double as a highlight. Because shimmers are so eye-catching, they make a great stand-in for highlighter when brushed on the lids and other high points on the face, explains Brown. We all know that one-size-fits-all bronzer and contour is far from universally flattering, which is another reason why custom is a great way to go. To deepen your complexion or fake more-defined cheekbones, Urban offers these shade-selection tips: when picking bronzer (if thats your thing), look for a deep golden shade if you have darker skin. Those with fairer skin should go for a light tan shade spiked with shimmer. If you have light skin, stay away from orange bronzers to contour its one of the biggest makeup mistakes I see, Urban advises. Stick to the same rule when selecting a highlighter shade: those with golden undertones work best for dark skin, while illuminators with pink undertones best complement fair skin. Before settling on a blush formula for your palette, consider your skin type. Creams definitely hold up better on people with drier-to-normal skin, says Urban. And powders tend to work better for oily skin types. Consider this for your eyeshadow formulas, too: If cream shadows tend to crease on your eyelids, opt for a powder version, instead. With so many shade options out there, the intuitive choice is to fill your palette chock-full of a brands best colors. But Reiko Brown suggests leaving two-to-three blank spaces in your palette to truly make it your own. These spaces can be used for mixing colors or can be filled with an essential like lip balm, which not only works as a lip prep, but serves as a texture adjuster, giving matte lipsticks a glossy or satin look or even adding gloss to shadows, she says. Such spaces also allow for importing favorite shades from other brands. Our favorite palette for mixing? The Artis Brush Palette, which comes with 25 disposable trays and 40 plastic spatulas for siphoning foundations, lipsticks, and more. By: Erika Stalder A research vessel meant to ply the polar seas has been graced with the name Sir David Attenborough, just days before the famed naturalist turns 90, U.K. Science Minister Jo Johnson announced today (May 6). In March, the U.K.'s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) put out a call for the public to submit and vote for names for their forthcoming polar research vessel, which received funding of 200 million British pounds (about $289 million) from the U.K. Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in April 2014. It wasn't long before the public spoke, with the comical moniker "Boaty McBoatface" soaring to the top slot. But the poll, which ended April 16, was not the be-all and end-all for the research vessel's identity, as the NERC had the final say in what name to slap on the boat. "The public provided some truly inspirational and creative names, and while it was a difficult decision, I'm delighted that our state-of-the-art polar research ship will be named after one of the nation's most cherished broadcasters and natural scientists," Johnson said in a statement. "This vessel will carry the Attenborough name for decades to come, as it fulfills its mission to explore the oceans and put Britain at the forefront of efforts to preserve our precious marine environment." [6 Spectacular Species Named for David Attenborough] Attenborough spoke beaming words of the ship's label. "I am truly honored by this naming decision and hope that everyone who suggested a name will feel just as inspired to follow the ship's progress as it explores our polar regions," Attenborough said in the statement. "I have been privileged to explore the world's deepest oceans alongside amazing teams of researchers, and with this new polar research ship, they will be able to go further and discover more than ever before." The ship is being built in Merseyside, England. Expected to set sail in 2019, the Royal Research Ship (RRS) Sir David Attenborough will be able to explore both the Arctic and Antarctic oceans. It will be operated by the British Antarctic Survey, which currently supports two polar research vessels: the RRS James Clark Ross and the RRS Ernest Shackleton. Story continues As for Boaty McBoatface? The hugely popular name will live on, undersea. The council decided to name one of the new vessel's remotely operated vehicles "Boaty." The subsea vehicle will be dispatched from the RRS Sir David Attenborough so that it can explore the deepest parts of the Arctic and Antarctic, according to the NERC. "The ship has captured the imaginations of millions, which is why we're ensuring that the Boaty name lives on through the subsea vehicle that will support the research crew, and the polar science education program that will bring their work to life," Johnson said. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. Editor's Recommendations Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Was 1Q16 Really Such an Outstanding Quarter for Ingersoll Rand? (Continued from Prior Part) Panasonics role in Hussmann Ingersoll Rand (IR) has agreed to sell its remaining equity interest of 40% in Hussmann Parent to Panasonic. Panasonic will buy 100% shares according to the agreement, and this will likely help Panasonic to concentrate and strengthen its housing operations. IR expects to receive net proceeds of ~$425 million from selling its 40% minority stake. The transaction is expected to close in 1H16 and is subject to customary and other approvals. IR acquired Hussmann in 2000 for $1.5 billion in cash and approximately $275 million in debt. In September 2011, IR sold the majority of its stake (60%) to the private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice for $370 million. Hussmanns sale and Ingersoll Rand According to IRs management, selling its remaining minority stake in Hussmann will benefit shareholders in the short term. The company will deploy the remaining additional cash in value-accretive opportunities in 2016. The cash deployed is expected to benefit IR in the long term. About Hussmann Hussmann is a pioneer in providing innovative products and services to the retail food industry as well as refrigeration systems for customers. It manufactures, sells, installs, and services display equipment that help food retailers become more efficient and effective. Hussmann serves several key markets, including supermarkets, mass merchants, convenience stores, drug stores, dollar and discount stores, and foodservice operations. Notably, IR is a part of the Guggenheim Mid-Cap Core ETF (CZA) and accounts for 2.0% of the funds total holdings. IR is also part of the S&P 500 (SPY) and has been for more than five years. Some of the players in the HVAC space will be Honeywell (HON), ABB Limited (ABB), Atlas Copco, and Lennox International (LII). Continue to the next part for a look at what Wall Street analysts are expecting for Ingersoll Rand and peers in 2016. Story continues Continue to Next Part Browse this series on Market Realist: Philippine presidential favourite Rodrigo Duterte has flippantly brushed aside campaign trail allegations of accepting million-dollar gifts, while his rivals have refused to disclose their backers, deepening concerns over business titans' shadowy grip on politics. The Philippines has one of Asia's biggest rich-poor divides, with poverty rates remaining stuck in recent years despite strong economic growth, and analysts say one of the reasons for the disparity is the debt that politicians owe their secret backers. Under the nation's campaign financing laws, there are no caps on how much people or companies can give to candidates, nor are there limits on individual donations. They also do not have to reveal their backers until a month after polling day. Duterte has entrenched himself as the clear frontrunner for Monday's elections by portraying himself as a frugal, anti-establishment politician who is tough enough to take on the elites. "When I become president, by the grace of God, I serve the people, not you," Duterte told reporters this week, referring to the elite. But in the final stages of the campaign trail Duterte, who is meant to earn less than $2,000 a month as the mayor of the southern city of Davao, was hit with allegations that millions of dollars had poured into secret bank accounts. He initially denied there were any hidden accounts. After a journalist deposited money into them, he admitted they did exist and that 193.7 million pesos ($4.2 million) were deposited into them on his birthday two years ago, nearly 10 times his declared assets. "That only means I have many rich friends," he said, refusing to disclose who they were. Asked at an earlier national television debate to name his campaign donors, Duterte gave a mocking answer, answering "Emilio Aguinaldo", a leader of the Philippines' 19th-century war for independence from colonial power Spain. - Buying politicians - Story continues His rivals similarly have felt no obligation to tell voters who their backers are, let alone how much they have been paid by them. Senator Grace Poe, who has been in politics for just three years and fashions herself as a lily-white poster image of change and probity, has been widely rumoured to be backed by taipans Eduardo Cojuangco and Ramon Ang. They are in charge of San Miguel Corporation, one of the nation's biggest conglomerates. Cojuangco was one of dictator Ferdinand Marcos's cronies until the 1986 "People Power" revolution sent the strongman into US exile. Cojuangco fled on the same plane but returned three years later and kept building his business empire, while also running a political party that today is backing Poe. When asked by AFP to confirm that Cojuangco and Ang were funding her campaign, Poe spoke only in general terms that there was nothing wrong with taking money from people linked with Marcos. "All candidates have support from both sides of the fence. If they say they don't have any they're lying," Poe replied. She said her backers and their donations would be revealed after the election, as per the law. Marcos's son and namesake, who is seeking to cement a remarkable political comeback for the family by being elected vice president on Monday, also referred only to his legal obligations, when asked by AFP in an interview to disclose his backers. Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, whose late father was accused of looting $10 billion from state coffers during his two-decade rule, rejected the notion that he would be beholden to his secret donors. "That would imply that you bought a politician. I don't think I would allow that to happen to myself," Marcos Jnr said. - Weak laws - In the Philippines, campaign spending is meant to be capped at 10 pesos per voter, which this year will mean a maximum budget for each presidential candidate equivalent to about $11 million. In some advanced Western democracies the donations are typically limited to relatively small sums to encourage a larger section of the population to put their representative into office. However in the Philippines the uncapped donations mean the funding can be provided by big-money donors in hopes of currying favours with an entire government, according to Ronald Mendoza, newly appointed dean of the Ateneo School of Government in Manila. He said said the porous election finance safeguards made the economy vulnerable to being held captive by big-time punters' personal interests. "Only a few can give such large amounts.... so you're no longer accountable to people who voted you in. You become more accountable to the person who actually financed you," Mendoza told AFP. Historically, Mendoza said this led to monopolies and economic stagnation, since reforms were blocked and competition discouraged to enable campaign benefactors to recoup their investment on the new leader. A mere 308 Filipinos funded the 2010 presidential election, turning them into virtual venture capitalists financing high-risk startups, according to a study by the Manila-based Philippine Centre for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ). (Reuters) - A California student was embarrassed and distressed after a picture of her wearing an Islamic head scarf, or hijab, appeared in her high school yearbook with the false name "Isis Phillips," a Muslim advocacy group said on Sunday. The senior at Los Osos High School in Rancho Cucamonga and her parents were "embarrassed after seeing the picture in the yearbook and have suffered a great deal of emotional and psychological distress," according to an emailed statement by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR. The school's principal has apologized for what she described as a "misprint," and CAIR said its legal team would meet on Monday with the family and school officials, and seek an investigation of the incident, a spokesman told Reuters. ISIS is one way to refer to Islamic State, the militant group that has seized large swathes of Iraq and Syria and claimed responsibility for bombings in Europe. The United Nations defines Islamic State as a terrorist group. A student who worked on the yearbook said the printing of the wrong name was a mistake, and that a student named Isis Phillips had transferred from the school earlier in the year, according to a report in the New York Daily News. The yearbook page has been posted and shared numerous times on social media, including by the student who was pictured, whose name is Bayan Zehlif, according to the New York Daily News. "I am extremely saddened, disgusted, hurt and embarrassed that the Los Osos High School yearbook was able to get away with this. Apparently I am 'Isis' in the yearbook. The school reached out to me and had the audacity to say that this was a typo. I beg to differ, let's be real," said the statement on what appears to be Zehlif's Facebook page. Reuters was not able to independently verify that the page belongs to the Muslim student, or whether that is her real name. CAIR declined to provide the name of the student. Officials at the high school could not be reached for comment. Story continues Susan Petrocelli, the high school's principal, said officials were going to correct what she described as a "misprint." At least 200 yearbooks have been distributed, CAIR said. "Los Osos High School is taking every step possible to correct and investigate a regrettable misprint discovered in the yearbook. We sincerely apologize," Petrocelli said in a statement on Twitter. (Reporting by Justin Madden in Chicago; Editing by Paul Simao) (Adds detail on burned area, comment from Suncor, Fort McMurray evacuee) By Liz Hampton and Rod Nickel GREGOIRE LAKE, Alberta, May 8 (Reuters) - Canadian officials on Sunday showed some optimism for the first time that they were beginning to get on top of the country's most destructive wildfire in recent memory, as favorable weather helped firefighters and winds took the flames southeast, away from oil sands boomtown Fort McMurray. There was still no timeline, however, for getting Fort McMurray's 88,000 inhabitants back into what remains of their town, or when energy companies would be able to restart operations at evacuated sites near to the town, which has cut the area's oil output in half. "It definitely is a positive point for us, for sure," said Alberta fire official Chad Morrison in a news briefing, when asked if the fight to contain the flames had a reached a turning point. "We're obviously very happy that we've held the fire better than expected," said Morrison. "This is great firefighting weather, we can really get in here and get a handle on this fire, and really get a death grip on it." The wildfire scorching through Canada's oil sands region in northeast Alberta since last Sunday night had been expected to double in size on Sunday, threatening the neighboring province of Saskatchewan. But with the fire moving into its second week, light rains and cooler temperatures helped hold it back, giving officials hope that they can soon begin assessing the damage to Fort McMurray, close to where the fire started. "As more and more fire has burned out around the city and the fuel around the city starts to disappear... we are starting to move into that second phase of securing the site and assessing the site," said Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, during the same media briefing. Officials said it was too early to put a timeline on getting people back into the town safely. COULD BURN FOR MONTHS The broader wildfire, moving southeast through wooded areas away from the town, would still take a long time to "clean up," Morrison cautioned. Officials had previously warned that the fire could burn for months. Story continues Alberta's government estimated on Sunday that the fire had consumed 161,000 hectares (395,000 acres). That was less than a previous estimate, but authorities warned the fire would likely grow overnight. Fort McMurray is the center of Canada's oil sands region. About half of the crude output from the sands, or one million barrels per day, has been taken offline, according to a Reuters estimate. The inferno looks set to become the costliest natural disaster in Canada's history. One analyst estimated insurance losses could exceed C$9 billion ($7 billion). Officials said on Sunday the fire had done minor damage at CNOOC unit Nexen's Long Lake facility, in the site's yard. It was the first reported damage to an energy industry asset since the fire began. Morrison said the blaze was southwest of a Suncor Energy Inc facility, which Suncor identified as its base oil sands mining site north of Fort McMurray, and also near an unidentified Syncrude facility. Air tankers, helicopters and bulldozers had kept the fire from reaching those sites, according to Morrison. "We'll see how the day goes, but with the cooler weather, I do expect to hold the fire there," he said. Suncor said on Sunday it will allow employees to return to work as soon as it is safe to do so. "We are hopeful that this will be soon," the company said in a statement. The company added that it was making plans to use lodges and camps for temporary employee housing and arranging for workers to commute from Calgary and Edmonton. Notley said she would meet with energy executives on Tuesday to talk about the impact of the fire and how the province can help them resume operations. FORT MCMURRAY STILL OFF LIMITS Even though the fire has largely pushed through Fort McMurray, the town is still too dangerous to enter. Nearly all of Fort McMurray's residents escaped the fire safely, although two people were killed in a car crash during the evacuation. The town's 160 firefighters worked nearly non-stop in the first days of the fire, even as some of them lost their own homes, said fire captain Nick Waddington. Thousands of evacuees are camped out in nearby towns but stand little chance of returning soon, even if their homes are intact. The city's gas has been turned off, its power grid is damaged, and the water is undrinkable. Provincial officials said displaced people would be better off driving to cities such as Calgary, 655 km (410 miles) to the south, where health and social services were better. "We are thinking about relocating in Edmonton for the time being. Maybe stay a year," said Kyle Mackay, 27, a mechanic for equipment trucking company Northern Diesel, who fled from Fort McMurray to Lac la Biche, about three hours' drive south, and is now staying with friends. His girlfriend Sarah Smith, who left separately, is pregnant and due to be induced into labor in Lac La Biche on Monday morning. "It's really stressful, but I know we'll get through it," said Mackay. The provincial government has promised evacuees pre-paid debit cards to cover immediate costs, with C$1,250 per adult and C$500 per dependent, expected to cost about C$100 million. At present there are more than 500 firefighters battling the blaze in and around Fort McMurray, with 15 helicopters, 14 air tankers and 88 other pieces of equipment, Alberta officials said. ($1=$1.29 Canadian) (Additional reporting by Ethan Lou, Allison Martell, David Ljunggren and Nia Williams; Writing by Bill Rigby; Editing by Alan Crosby) Cannes (France) (AFP) - The Cannes film festival opens this week with the authorities in the French Riviera resort torn between the need for tight security and wrecking the party of a particularly starry year. France is still officially under a state of emergency six months after the Paris attacks in which 130 people died, and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve will visit the town himself to oversee measures. He promised "the highest level of security possible given the context of the terrorist threat". With a host of Hollywood stars including Julia Roberts, Jodi Foster, Sean Penn, Robert De Niro, Kirsten Dunst, Charlize Theron, George Clooney and Jeff Bridges due on the Croisette for the festival which starts Wednesday, police are taking no risks. They staged a simulated terror attack last month on the Palais des Festivals, where the films in the running for the Palme d'Or are shown, to test their new emergency response plan. A car bomb attack on a school on the town was also part of the scenario, with four top security experts including former Israeli general and anti-terrorism expert Nitzan Nuriel carrying out a full security audit. Air and sea exclusions zones are also being declared -- including a ban on drones -- with a security cordon thrown around Cannes and all road and rail routes leading to the town. Mayor David Lisnard said the police were being ordered to "randomly search people in the street. We are taking all measures so that the festival will be both safe and popular," he said. More than 500 security personnel will guard the Palais des Festivals itself and prefect Adolphe Colrat will announce Monday the number of police and paramilitary gendarmes that are being drafted in to patrol around that cordon. He has already said that security with be "a degree above last year's levels" which were themselves ramped up after the Charlie Hebdo and kosher supermarket attacks in Paris. Story continues But many are worried that too much security will cramp Cannes, making the already hectic merry-go-round of screenings, meetings, interviews and parties all the more difficult to navigate. - 'Sealed bubble' - The head of the Directors' Fortnight section of the festival, Edouard Waintrop sounded the alarm, telling reporters he had been forced to cut screenings. "We will have exceptional security measures in place this year. We've lost 17 hours of screenings -- the equivalent to four films -- due to the new security protocols for gaining access to the cinemas. "If the numbers have fallen this year, it's not out of choice but rather necessity," he added. The festival's president Pierre Lescure insisted a balance had to be struck between security and freedom of movement. Nevertheless, there would be no compromising on the "sealed bubble" around the Palais, he said, where the stars including Russell Crowe, Kristen Stewart and Ryan Gosling will walk the red carpet. With quarter of a million visitors due in the Mediterranean resort during the festival, which runs until May 22, bottlenecks and queues are inevitable, however. And no amount of security in the past has deterred the determined criminals and cat burglars of the Cote d'Azur. The so-called Pink Panther gang were blamed for a 103-million euro ($130-million) gem theft in 2013 from the Carlton hotel where Alfred Hitchcock's classic film "To Catch a Thief" was set, and last year robbers escaped with 17.5 million euros worth of jewellery after holding up the Cartier boutique on the Croisette. The festival's opening film, however, comes from a seemingly more innocent era. Woody Allen's "Cafe Society" starring Kristen Stewart, is about young couple who fall in love in 1930s Hollywood. Http%3a%2f%2fi.blueprint.mashable.com%2flju4mekkf502utkmnkfejduor28%3d%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f83421%2f2fb8d197a5934c6bad2a6b802480d6e7 Childhood memories and vast quantities of sugar. It's a winning combination. On Saturday, more than 100 cakes you are sure to remember from pre-teen birthday parties went on display at the Hyatt Hotel in Canberra, Australia. In an effort to raise money for the perinatal depression charity Pandsi, talented bakers remade retro cakes from the beloved 1980s cookbook, the Australian Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cakes. SEE ALSO: Peacock cupcake wedding cake exists to make you jealous More than A$9,140 ($6,733.07) was raised during Pandsi's cake auction, the charity said in an emailed statement. The "Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe" cake raised the most cash on the day, winning a solid A$650 ($478.83), but each of the book's 107 masterpieces were represented. Race car cake covered with liquorice bullets? Check. Snail cake, complete with a ton of M&M's? Check. It's enough to give you that special post-birthday party stomachache you used to get after swiping too much icing. birthday cake Image: Megan Sparke birthday cake Image: Megan Sparke birthday cake Image: Megan Sparke birthday cake Image: Megan Sparke birthday cake Image: Megan Sparke birthday cake Image: Megan Sparke birthday cake Image: Megan Sparke birthday cake Image: Megan Sparke birthday cake Image: Megan Sparke birthday cake Image: Megan Sparke birthday cake Image: Megan Sparke This review originally ran in the July 2001 issue of SPIN. In honor of the release of Radioheads ninth album, A Moon Shaped Pool, weve republished this piece here. Where should Radiohead sit? Theres only room for so many huge groups at any one time, so they must be taking somebodys place. Or are they? U2, aside from not going away, are ballsy and Big Picture; R.E.M. had the dirty windshields and androgynous boss but hid actual songs under the not-actual words; and the oft-invoked Pink Floyd, despite similar me-against-the-Machine whinging, unabashedly provided arena-rock pleasures. Radiohead are nothing if not abashed. So what do they sell? Not majestic beauty (Sigur Ros do that better), or majestic dread (Godspeed You Black Oak Arkansas! bring that noise), and certainly not physical rock action (Beyonce Knowles, High on Fire, and Ludacris all beat them). Then what are they good at? Pretty? Definitely, but its more than that. Comfort, which means they neither displace nor extend anybodys legacy. Radiohead are turning down the bed in your head, switching off the lights, and giving you the chance to work it all out. Thom Yorke says it himself in Amnesiacs Dollars & Cents: Why dont you quiet down? Panicky folks everywhere identify with Yorkes lullaby to himself, that sonorous breeze going forever through his nose. He makes a sound to make it all right and throws in words to give the sound something to hold on to. The fact that his hopelessly vague lyrics dont even qualify as good collage makes content the listeners problem. But Radiohead dont sell insight or a worldview; Kid A and now, eight months later, Amnesiac are lullabies for the compressed present the time and space of a nervous car trip. Theyre just trying to get home in one piece, life is but a dream. Fa fa fa. Blip blip. If the aesthetic is fuzzy, the marketing has been fleet and mutable. Radiohead drive quickly to market, yet no ones at the wheel! They tour! But they wont send out advances to the press! But they encourage kids to listen to the shows on Napster! They seem friendly! But Yorke speaks in riddles! Theyre old-fashioned, woodshedding Big Pink-in rockers! No, theyre cyber-happy, Pro Toolin future freaks! The new record is going to be like OK Computer! Maybe not! Story continues Maybe not. How about Kid B? Check the sequencing, same as last years: frosty electro track with annoying catchphrase followed by glitches and warps, saved in the middle by catchy bits, finished with symphonic slide home. With the exception of I Might Be Wrong, a delicious, interlocking banger with modest disco roofing and honest-to-goodness chord changes, and Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors, a bumping filterfest of drums, the tempo circle here is unbroken. Call em slow jams, call em ballads hell, call em salads. The murmuring leadoff track, Packt Like Sardines in a Crusd Tin Box, could be a kiss-off to every patient fan: After years of waiting / Nothing came / Im a reasonable man / Get off my case, get off my case [ad infinitum]. Stop sweatin the T-Boogie! And, for that matter, stop sweating altogether! Pyramid Song is stoned Elton John produced by David Axelrod and features many iterations of the word nothing. (When Yorke finds a word he likes, he lets you know, lets you know.) And this is how Amnesiac goes, or doesnt: Resonant, dusty somethings, not much on their own, line up and aggregate into something fluid and sweetly steady. Amnesiac/Morning Bell is a slippery version of Thom in his Throes, bells a-ringing through the good swoon, and Like Spinning Plates finds Radioheads keyboards finally sounding as expressive as their guitars used to. But youve always got Yorke in the mix, doggedly saying what little he has to say, language be damned. (The closing song is actually about people who live in glass houses. I am not making this up.) He remains unknowable, yet he manages to reassure us, popping out for a few minutes to intone dysfunctionally, then receding to let the technocrats take over Hold the line. Thom Yorke is George W. Bush. Both mollify their fans by mumbling endless variations on I dont know. Both lend trifles weight by draaaawwwing theeemm ouuutt. Both have put up baffling numbers. Okay, enough of that. I enjoy this record a lot more than the arsenic in my drinking water or the annoying booger of hype stuck to this bands forehead. Fact is, Radioheads records work, often despite Sir Thoms mooning about, sometimes because of Sir Thoms commitment to dreamy goo. When you get into the 16-year-old head-space of a true Moody Gus, its hard to get out. (Especially if youre 32.) Kid A and Amnesiac, even more so, honor that feeling formally, abandoning verse-chorus-verse motion to let the tracks just roll out, like bolts of cloth, detail accruing like fuzz on a sweater. Nothing sudden, nothing jarring just work it out. The Coast Guard completed two different rescues on Saturday, May 7 one off the coast of Virginia Beach and the other off the coast of Chincoteague. These videos show an overhead video of Coast Guard choppers carrying out the rescue operations. The Virginia Beach rescue saw a 68-year-old man medevaced from his cargo ship, while the Chincoteague rescue saw a 58-year-old man pulled from his fishing boat. Both men were suffering from medical conditions, including loss of consciousness and difficulty breathing, according to reports from The Virginian-Pilot. Both rescued men were transported to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. Credit: DVIDS/Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C. The eight Bangladeshis who were arrested in April under Singapores Internal Security Act. (Photo: Ministry of Home Affairs) The headlines exploded across news websites and social media. My SPH Breaking News alert subscription began to text me urgent Straits Times reports: BREAKING: 8 Bangladeshis detained under S'pores ISA. They had set up a group called Islamic State in Bangladesh to overthrow govt back home. Like all other journalists, I had taken one look at the Ministry of Home Affairs press release and started writing up a report for my editors. In a country where the top news usually tends to the local, terms like radicalised, detained and ISIS meant that we finally had something that would get on an international news editors radar. The story was duly filed: "The Ministry of Home Affairs said, according to the ministry, claimed, alleged But so much was missing. As journalists we are repeatedly reminded of the importance of getting the facts right, of verification and being sure of our sources. But what we all did when we wrote up our stories on the detained Bangladeshi nationals was not reporting we only had the facts as dictated by the government in their press release, and no way of verifying anything ourselves. We simply had to take the governments word for it, and to accept as little or as much as they were willing to tell us. Reality check This is the reality of the Internal Security Act (ISA). It gives plenty of power to the executive with little accountability, much less adequate checks and balances. The government arrests and detains, and trots out its reasons when it is ready. In this case, the men were arrested in April, but the Ministry of Home Affairs had only seen fit to announce it in early May. There has been no explanation as to why this could not have been made known earlier. The information vacuum has even led some to wonder if the news had been carefully timed to be released just ahead of the by-election this weekend. After all, if the government could wait for about a month the eight had been arrested between late March and early April then surely it could have waited another week? Story continues The government press statement, and its follow-up the next day, paints a clear picture of radicalisation and plans to carry out violent action in Bangladesh. It identifies a ringleader, and when the Islamic State in Bangladesh (ISB) group was founded. It says that documents were found listing potential targets, along with manuals on how to operate weaponry and build bombs. In late April, the group of eight were issued two-year detention orders under the ISA. With such a damning list of evidence, it seems a little strange that the authorities would still be unable to put together a case that would stand up in a court of law. Surely, if the evidence were so persuasive, the men could be charged for their crimes and punished accordingly. During our last Universal Periodic Review in Geneva earlier this year, Singapore described preventive detention without trial such as the one specified under the ISA as something that was used as a last resort and only under exceptional circumstances to counter serious threats. Why, then, would we need to use this last resort when there is supposedly so much proof that the men were engaged in terrorist activities and plotting violence? It is, of course, important for countries to have measures to deal with radicalisation and terrorism of all stripes. But there are ways to counter terrorism without so much unchecked power. Open trials, where evidence is presented and deliberated, demonstrate that terrorist plots will not be tolerated, while assuring everyone that all communities are equally protected and judged under the law. This helps to allay the suspicion that particular groups are being targeted or profiled by the state in the name of security. Learning from the past In 1987, the ISA was invoked to stop a Marxist Conspiracy. Singaporeans were assured that those arrested had been plotting to overthrow the government. A ringleader was identified. Confessions were extracted, then aired publicly. The ISA was justified as a law that keeps Singapore safe. Today, many of us know think of Operation Spectrum as a particularly shameful period of Singapores history. A documentary, 1987: Untracing the Conspiracy, is currently being screened, featuring the testimonies of a number of those who were detained. They talk about their arrest, their interrogation, the abuse they faced and the coerced confessions. But most Singaporeans were none the wiser at that time, and the media carried the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) press releases uncritically, with no other sources and no way to verify the facts. This week, we were told that the ISA had been invoked to stop a radical jihad plot (which might have been carried out in Bangladesh). A ringleader was identified and evidence was laid out. The ISA was justified as a law that keeps Singapore safe. The media carried the MHAs press releases uncritically, with no other sources and no way to verify the facts. I am not saying that the governments claims against this particular group of Bangladeshis were fabricated. They could very well be, and very likely are, the truth. But many Singaporeans probably thought the same in 1987. And by the time the truth came to light, it was far too late, and we were only left to ask, How could this have happened? The danger of not knowing The point about the ISA is that we simply do not know. We do not know because there is no requirement for the state to be accountable or open with what has happened. They have power over the arrests, the detention orders, the timing of press releases, who those press releases are first sent to, the amount of information to release and the amount of information to withhold. Everything else is kept in a black box. Journalists find that we have become stenographers and press release paraphrasers. Singaporeans are not really informed. We do not actually know that we are safer. We cannot talk about whether there can be better, more effective methods to combat radicalisation. And Singapore is left vulnerable to the possibility of an abuse of power. Kirsten Han is a Singaporean blogger and journalist. She is also involved in the We Believe in Second Chances campaign for the abolishment of the death penalty. A social media junkie, she tweets at @kixes. The views expressed are her own. SDP chief Chee Soon Juan and his wife Huang Chih-Mei standing before party supporters at Bukit Gombak Stadium following the release of the Bukit Batok by-election results. (Photo: Joseph Nair) How I misunderstood the Bukit Batok voter. With 95.7 per cent of the residents there living in HDB flats, I calculated that their single priority was to make sure their families have a good life. How wrong I was. Nearly 39 per cent of the voters chose principle over politics and gave their support to the Singapore Democratic Partys (SDP) Chee Soon Juan, a margin of victory this young, brash and firebrand politician had not experienced since he broke onto the national horizon in 1992. Only in Singapore would such a result be seen as a big deal. With a ruling Peoples Action Party (PAP) buoyant over a General Election swing in its favour just eight months ago, and one that wields power in nearly every aspect of our lives, its Bukit Batok performance is not something to crow about. The post-poll press conferences by the two candidates spoke volumes. The PAPs point man, Murali Pillai, appeared nervous. By contrast, Chee was happy maybe even relieved. Fiery campaigns The campaigning started on a blistering note with none other than the PM showing off his vocabulary power and attacking Chees character. Completely hypocritical, duplicitous and almost beatific were among the terms used. It was the last phrase almost beatific that was packed with political poison. Lee Hsien Loong used it to describe the almost saint-like behaviour of Chee when he allowed his rally speakers to attack the scandal-tarred former PAP MP David Ong but then made it a point to say his style was not to kick a man when he was down. The PM had a point, but the withering attack coupled with the fact that the PAP candidate became a sideshow as other PAP leaders joined their leader on his warpath could have been the defining moment that made the difference between a decisive victory and a shaky one. Story continues For a couple of days, the PMs attack seemed to work. Dr Chee was put on the defensive. He tried to respond and lost sight of his plot to tell voters that Muralis ploy of dangling the upgrading carrot was hogwash. He got down to doing that later in the campaign when he turned the tables on his opponents by saying that it is not the political party but the government meaning the National Development Ministry that will dish out the money. That should have been the central theme of his election strategy. But, a bit of the old Chee was exposed as he strayed to talk about government accountability in Parliament and those jobless statistics that did not stand up to scrutiny. Other than that, Chee fought a focused campaign, trying to stay as much as possible away from the character missiles thrown at him, getting his message across in social media and pounding the ground, some days being at his hunting ground even at daybreak. It is Murali who will have to do a lot of work in the next five years. His presence and voice were nearly non-existent as PAP man after PAP man, woman after woman, took the centre stage to demonise Chee. Murali will now have to show Bukit Batok residents in particular and Singaporeans in general that he is his own man. The PAPs Murali Pillai, who won the by-election, will have to work hard to prove that he is his own man over the next five years. (Photo: Safhras Khan) A step back for the PAP The PMs intention to demolish and destroy Chee failed as it reopened the wounds of the LKY era when J.B. Jeyaretnam, Tan Liang Hong and Francis Seow were hounded out of the political scene. Lee Hsien Loong took a leaf out of his fathers book and wanted to dictate the rules on who should enter Parliament. It worked somewhat, but the killer blow never came and Chee lives on to fight another day. This by-election has pushed the halo effect that LKY left behind after his death and the chest-thumping 50th anniversary joy into the background. The PAP has stepped back to when it was given a shock in 2011: A dip in vote share to just above 60 per cent and voters who do not tolerate vicious political attacks. They seemed to be saying: Show some class in your attacks. Lay out the facts and I am old enough to make up my mind on a politicians character. Yesterdays vote was for this group of Singaporeans. They were the real winners of Bukit Batok by-election 2016. P N Balji is a veteran Singaporean journalist who is the former chief editor of TODAY newspaper, and a media consultant. The views expressed are his own. Stay updated. Follow us on Facebook. By Kenny Katombe LUBUMBASHI, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo opposition presidential candidate Moise Katumbi has been summoned to appear before a prosecutor on Monday to respond to accusations that he hired foreign mercenaries, his lawyer said on Saturday. Justice Minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba ordered the national prosecutor general on Wednesday to investigate Katumbi's alleged use of mercenaries, including several retired American soldiers. Hours later, Katumbi declared himself a candidate for president in an election scheduled for November. Katumbi's lawyer, King Kasongo Mushilanama, told Reuters that his client had received a summons on Saturday to appear in the office of the prosecutor general of Congo's second city of Lubumbashi on Monday to respond to the government's charges. Katumbi will comply with the summons, he added. Katumbi has denied the charges and accused the government of resorting to smear tactics. The U.S. Embassy in the capital Kinshasa also said that it believed the accusations were false. Tensions are high ahead of the election in part because President Joseph Kabila, in power since 2001, has not declared whether he plans to step down this year, as required by the constitution. The poll looks likely to be postponed as the government cites budgetary and logistical obstacles to holding it on time. Critics say Kabila is deliberately delaying the vote in order to remain in power after his mandate ends. Kabila has not commented publicly on his intentions. He has instead called for a national dialogue to clear the way for elections to take place. Kasongo also said that Katumbi's farm outside of Lubumbashi was searched on Saturday by elite Republican Guard troops, who are responsible for guarding the president and securing strategic installations. Government spokesman Lambert Mende said he could not confirm the search, as it is a judicial matter, but added that Congolese law permits the use of the Republican Guard in such situations. The prosecutor general in Lubumbashi was not immediately available for comment. Katumbi governed Katanga, Congo's southeastern copper-mining heartland, from 2007 until last September when he quit Kabila's ruling party, accusing it of plotting to keep the president in power beyond a two-term limit. Dozens of people were killed in protests in January 2015 over alleged efforts by Kabila to extend his stay in power. Since then, authorities have arrested dozens of Kabila's critics on what the United Nations and human rights groups say are trumped-up charges. (Additional reporting and writing by Aaron Ross in Kinshasa; Editing by Joe Bavier and Digby Lidstone) Brussels (AFP) - Eurozone finance ministers hold an emergency meeting on Monday to try to thrash out a difficult deal on fresh reforms for Greece as fears grow of a repeat of last year's chaotic bailout negotiations. The ministers from the 19 countries that use the euro -- the Eurogroup -- will also discuss debt relief for Greece, which the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has demanded as a condition for a new agreement. The clock is ticking to complete the long-stalled first review of Greece's 86-billion-euro ($95 billion) EU-IMF bailout so cash-strapped Athens can unlock billions of euros to pay the European Central Bank (ECB) in July. Tensions are rising. Greece was paralysed at the weekend by a strike to protest government plans to overhaul pensions and increase taxes as demanded by its international creditors. Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos on Saturday urged eurozone countries to approve his economic programme -- and warned darkly of the potential cost if the talks ran aground. "Nobody should believe that another Greek crisis, leading perhaps to another failed state in the region, could be beneficial to anyone," Tsakalotos said in a letter seen by AFP. In its official agenda the Eurogroup said it would discuss the "progress achieved" by Greek and creditor officials in recent days on the reforms, "with a view to conclude them as soon as possible." - Debt relief - It added that it would "also discuss possible debt relief measures aiming at ensuring that Greece's gross financing needs remain at a sustainable level, with a view to reach a political agreement." "Both elements need to be in place in order to finalise the programme's first review and unlock further financial assistance to Greece," it said. European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker said in an interview to be published Sunday in Germany, that Greece has "basically achieved" the objectives of the reforms required by its creditors, adding that "discussions about how to make Greece's debt sustainable in the long term" would be on the agenda. Story continues But the ongoing negotiations between Athens and its EU-IMF creditors are currently stuck on a demand that Greece commit to an extra set of reforms in case it misses its spending targets in 2018. These so-called "contingency measures" are a key demand of the IMF to complete the bailout's first review, as the Fund is sceptical Athens will meet the targets. IMF chief Christine Lagarde warned there were "significant gaps" in Greece's reform offers, but she also pressed for debt relief in a letter to the finance ministers ahead of the meeting. "We believe that specific [economic reform] measures, debt restructuring, and financing must now be discussed contemporaneously," according to the letter, a copy of which was obtained by AFP. - 'Global instability' - The extraordinary meeting was called after scheduled Eurogroup talks in Amsterdam on April 22 failed to produce a breakthrough in the review, which was originally meant to have been completed in December. EU President Donald Tusk last week urged the ministers to close the Greek deal "very soon", warning that "we need to make sure that Europe contributes to stability rather than global instability." The spectre of the Greek crisis has returned, adding to the EU's headaches. It comes in the runup to the British referendum on June 23 on whether to quit the 28-nation bloc -- and the EU's standing with many British voters is already at a nadir. With an agreement, eurozone governments would unlock funds that would allow Greece to make two big payments to the ECB this summer. In new growth forecasts published last week the European Commission said that Greece will be the only eurozone member in recession this year with a contraction of 0.3 percent as fallout from debt crisis continues to affect its economy. Greece's mountain of public debt is estimated to rise to 182.8 percent of GDP, an unwanted eurozone record. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist heads to Baltimore on Monday to prepare for the Preakness, where the undefeated colt could face up to 13 rivals including nine new shooters seeking to derail his Triple Crown bid. Nyquist had been walked, bathed and returned to his stall at Churchill Downs by 6 a.m. Sunday, less than 12 hours after he won the Derby by 1 1/4 lengths and improved his record to 8-0. Trainer Doug O'Neill had already gone back to Southern California for a few days before returning east to rejoin his bay colt at Pimlico. O'Neill told a track official that Nyquist was ''doing great'' and ''looking bright-eyed'' the morning after. The colt is the first unbeaten Derby winner with eight victories since Majestic Prince in 1969. He will put that record on the line in the 1 3/16-mile Preakness on May 21 against a mix of old and new rivals. The field is limited to 14 horses. Derby runner-up Exaggerator, who has lost all four meetings with Nyquist, and ninth-place finisher Lani, who was beaten 10 3/4 lengths, are expected to return in the Preakness. Also possible are third-place Derby finisher Gun Runner, who was beaten by 4 1/2 lengths, and Suddenbreakingnews, who was fifth. The newcomers are Laoban and Cherry Wine, who were both entered in the Derby but didn't get in the race; Lexington Stakes winner Collected, trained by Bob Baffert; Federico Tesio winner Awesome Speed; Stradivari, trained by Todd Pletcher; and California Chrome Stakes winner Uncle Lino. Also under consideration are Pat Day Mile winner Sharp Azteca; Wood Memorial third-place finisher Adventist; and Florida Derby third-place finisher Fellowship. Keith Desormeaux, who trains Exaggerator, said he would like a rematch in the Preakness. ''He was the closest threat,'' said J. Paul Reddam, who owns Nyquist. ''If I were him, I would want a rematch too. The horses are not machines, so it will be a great race.'' Story continues Reddam, O'Neill and jockey Mario Gutierrez enjoyed their second Derby victory, having won in 2012 with I'll Have Another. ''There was no wild, drunken party,'' said Steve Rothblum, manager for Reddam Racing. ''With a horse this good, we wanted to treat it with respect and the reverence that we owe the horse.'' I'll Have Another also won the Preakness that year but was retired on the eve of the Belmont with a leg injury. Nyquist is following a schedule similar to I'll Have Another, who also spent the two weeks leading up to the Preakness at Pimlico. Nyquist came into Louisville a week before the Derby after training at Keeneland in nearby Lexington. ''This year we are a lot more mature,'' O'Neill said. ''The people that were surrounding Nyquist are a lot more mature. It felt really good to be the (Derby) favorite. I felt it was a real honor. Part of me was, 'God, I want to represent Nyquist in the proper way.' I think the whole crew did a pretty good job, so it felt good being the favorite.'' Nyquist is expected to have a light training schedule between now and the Preakness. ''He's way too fit already,'' said Leandro Mora, O'Neill's chief assistant. ''I don't think we're going to push it as much as a few others. We found what he likes to do.'' Five of Nyquist's eight wins have come in prestigious Grade 1 races. His latest victory boosted his earnings to $4,954,200, which includes a $1 million bonus for winning the Florida Derby in his previous start. The colt is the third straight Southern California-based horse to win the Derby, and the fourth in five years. I'll Have Another started the run. Nyquist was the fourth consecutive wagering favorite to win, too. Did Edwards Lifesciences 1Q16 Earnings Beat Expectations? (Continued from Prior Part) 1Q16 performance Edwards Lifesciences (EW) reported ~$697 million in total revenue in 1Q16. Of that, ~$134 million was contributed by the companys Critical Care segment. The segment accounted for about 19% of Edwards Lifesciences total revenue. These sales figures represent a ~7% YoY (year-over-year) increase in 1Q16. The underlying sales growth was reported to be ~9% as compared to underlying sales growth of ~4% in the previous quarter. Becton Dickinson (BDX), Medtronic (MDT), and Hospira, acquired by Pfizer (PFE) in 2015, are Edwards Lifesciences major competitors in the Critical Care segment. Investors can invest in the Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG) for diversified exposure to Edwards Lifesciences, which constitutes around 0.26% of VUGs holdings. Key growth drivers The Critical Care products business is one of the core businesses of Edwards Lifesciences and is crucial for the companys growth. The company is a leader in hemodynamic monitoring and offers products and solutions that provide economic and clinical benefits to its customers. The strong growth in the Critical Care products segment in 1Q16 was primarily driven by the wider adoption of Edwards Lifesciences market-leading critical care products in the United States, which was stimulated by recent investments in commercial initiatives. Enhanced surgical recovery products also continue to generate demand and contribute to the segments growth. Moreover, the discontinuation of the companys legacy monitors led to the increase in sales of replacement monitors, which contributed to the segments sales growth. The segment continued to generate double-digit underlying sales growth across most regions. Edwards Lifesciences maintained its 2016 sales guidance for the Critical Care products segment at $510 million$550 million, representing growth of 2%4%. In the next article in this series, well look at Edwards Lifesciences updated guidance for 2016. Story continues Continue to Next Part Browse this series on Market Realist: donald trump Donald Trump says he understands why former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush doesn't plan to vote for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. In a Sunday interview on ABC's "This Week," Trump admitted that he was "rough" on the former governor while the two jockeyed for the Republican presidential nomination. He suggested his attacks may have alienated Bush. "I understand Jeb Bush. I was rough with Jeb Bush. And I think if I was Jeb Bush, I wouldn't vote for me either, if you want to know the truth," Trump said, though he later added Bush and others "should." Trump also struck a slightly different tone in an interview with NBC's Chuck Todd, noting that each of the Republican presidential candidates signed a pledge in September to back the eventual nominee. "He signed a pledge. He pledged that he would support the nominee. And so did this lightweight, Lindsay Graham. He pledged that he would support the nominee. They ran. They lost," Trump said, referring to Bush and Sen. Lindsey Graham. Bush's refusal to support Trump comes as a growing number of high-profile figures in the Republican Party have declined to get behind the controversial real-estate mogul. Among others, Graham, House Speaker Paul Ryan, former Presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush, and Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska have all said that they will not endorse Trump. In a Facebook post Friday, the former Florida governor echoed his campaign-trail criticism of Trump, lamenting the real-estate magnate's inflammatory statements and alleged lack of conservative credentials. "Donald Trump has not demonstrated that temperament or strength of character. He has not displayed a respect for the Constitution. And, he is not a consistent conservative. These are all reasons why I cannot support his candidacy," Bush wrote. NOW WATCH: The real story behind Trump's taco bowl tweet More From Business Insider New York (AFP) - Drake smashed a streaming record Sunday as the Apple-backed Canadian rapper's latest album scored the biggest debut on the US charts this year. The songs on "Views," which came out on April 29, were streamed 245.1 million times in the United States in the week through Thursday, according to tracking service Nielsen Music. The figure far outpaces the previous record-holding album, "Purpose" by fellow Canadian star Justin Bieber, whose songs were streamed around 100 million times in the week after its release in November. "Views" sold more than one million copies either in direct sales or the equivalent in streaming, making it the best-selling album in the United States in its first week since Adele's massive "25" -- which she kept off streaming services -- in November, Nielsen Music said. Drake's success marks a victory for Apple as he released "Views" exclusively through the tech giant's Apple Music streaming service and iTunes store. Several tracks, such as the hit "Hotline Bling," were available on rival services such as streaming leader Spotify but not the album as a whole. "Views" nonetheless earned most of its sales through iTunes purchases, indicating that -- despite rapid market changes -- many Apple customers still preferred downloads when the only other choice was Apple Music streaming. Spotify has recently faced a number of artists staying away. Radiohead on Sunday released its latest album on major streaming sites except Spotify after criticizing the Swedish company's compensation to artists. Pop superstar Beyonce on April 23 put out her latest album, "Lemonade," solely on the Tidal streaming service led by her husband Jay Z, although she soon also sold it on iTunes. "Views" -- which initially featured an appearance by Jay Z, which was removed -- pushed "Lemonade" to second place on the weekly chart. Story continues Prince's classic album "Purple Rain" was number three amid an outpouring after the pop icon's unexpected death. "Views" also opened at number one in Britain where it was the second fastest-selling album of the year after David Bowie's "Blackstar," another work that found growing interest after a music legend suddenly died. Drake conceived the 20-song, 90-minute "Views" as an ode to his hometown Toronto and had been discussing the album for two years before its release. He nonetheless was one of the most successful artists of 2015 when put out two works which he described as mixtapes rather than full-fledged albums. Cairo (AFP) - Egypt's state prosecutor on Sunday referred 67 people to trial over the assassination of a top prosecutor, a statement said, after authorities accused Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood of involvement. Hisham Barakat, 64, was killed when a car bomb struck his convoy in the upscale east Cairo district of Heliopolis on June 29 last year. Sunday's statement said an investigation showed that the accused were members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood who "conspired" with militants of the Gaza-based Islamist Palestinian group Hamas. Some were "trained in Hamas camps" where they were taught how to make bombs and target people "to create chaos and instability", the statement added. It did not say when the trial would begin. In March, Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar said 14 members of the Muslim Brotherhood participated directly in the plan to murder Barakat. "This plot was carried out on the orders of the Muslim Brotherhood... in close coordination with Hamas, which played a very important role in the assassination of the chief prosecutor from start to finish," he said at the time. Hamas has denied any involvement in the killing. Barakat was the most senior government official to be killed since jihadists began an insurgency in northern Sinai after the military overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. After Morsi's ouster, the authorities launched a crackdown on his Muslim Brotherhood movement that has left hundreds of people dead and thousands jailed. Barakat was seen as a staunch opponent of the Islamist opposition and had referred thousands of people to trial. No group has claimed responsibility for his murder. The Brotherhood, for decades Egypt's main opposition movement, was blacklisted as a "terrorist group" in December 2013. CAIRO (Reuters) - Gunmen killed eight plainclothes police on the southern outskirts of Cairo overnight, the Egyptian interior ministry said, in an assault claimed by Islamic State militants. The four attackers pulled alongside in a pick-up truck and sprayed a police vehicle with automatic weapons fire before fleeing, the ministry said on Sunday. The gunmen wore masks, residents in Helwan, an industrial area on the edge of the capital, told Reuters. Egypt's government is facing an insurgency that has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen, mostly in northern Sinai, since mid-2013, when then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi following mass protests. Islamic State's Egyptian affiliate, which calls itself Sinai Province, mainly operates out of the northern Sinai Peninsula, which borders Israel, the Gaza Strip and the Suez Canal. Militants have also occasionally targeted security forces and planted bombs in Cairo and other areas. In an Arabic-language statement, Islamic State said the Helwan attack was part of its Abi Ali Al-Anbari campaign, which has seen the group carry out a series of bombings and other attacks in Iraq. It was not clear how or why Egypt was linked to the Iraqi campaign. The statement also said the attack was aimed at avenging women held in Egyptian jails, but gave no details. Islamic State controls swathes of Iraq and Syria. In 2014, an Egyptian militant group called Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis pledged allegiance to Islamic State and changed its name to Sinai Province. Al Azhar, a historic center of Islamic learning in Cairo, condemned what it called a "terrorist attack the likes of which contradict Islamic teachings" and offered in a statement its support for Egypt's security forces. (Reporting by Mostafa Hashem and Ahmed Tolba; Writing by Lin Noueihed; Editing by Mark Heinrich) Frankfurt (AFP) - A British exit from the EU would have "unforeseeable consequences" for European cooperation, European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker has warned in an interview with German media. Britain is to hold a closely-watched June 23 referendum on whether or not it should stay in the 28-nation bloc, and opinion polls are showing that the nation is still largely undecided on the issue. In an interview with the Funke Mediengruppe press group to be published Monday, Juncker warned that a so-called "Brexit" would "surely have unforeseeable consequences on European cooperation, about which I absolutely do not wish to speculate about because I am convinced that Britons will make the reasonable decision." "All Europeans want Britain to remain in the family," he said, recalling that the EU had struck a "fair deal" with Britain in February on reforms aimed at keeping it in the bloc. Britain first joined the then European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973, and in a referendum two years later the public backed membership by just over 67 percent. But the country has had a strained relationship with Brussels, opting out of key projects including the euro and the Schengen passport-free zone. The EU this week cut its eurozone growth forecasts for the year, listing the danger of Britain leaving the bloc as among the risk factors weighing on the economic recovery. The International Monetary Fund and the G20 group of the world's leading economies have also warned of the economic dangers of Britain leaving the EU, while the OECD last month said there was "no upside" to a Brexit. Even the United States has weighed in, with President Barack Obama saying last month that EU membership magnified Britain's global influence. He also warned that if Britain did leave and wanted to sign a separate trade deal with the US it would go to the "back of the queue". Monaco (AFP) - South African-born Swiss explorer Mike Horn on Sunday set off from Monaco at the start of an attempt to circumnavigate the globe in an unmotorised expedition. Horn, who will be 50 in July, left the principality aboard his sailboat Pangaea en route for South Africa, the Monaco Yacht Club said in a statement. The 270,000 kilometre (16,800 mile) Pole2Pole journey, described on Horn's website as "the greatest exploratory expedition of the 21st century", will include a four-month trek across the Antarctic on skis, pulling a 200 kilogram sled and aided by a kite when the wind is in his favour. Horn has spent half his life pitting his wits and testing his endurance against the most extreme terrains, including circumnavigating the equator, while aiming to protect the environment and educate the world's youth along the way. Once he reaches South Africa, where he was born, Horn will cross the Southern Ocean to Antarctica. After crossing the Antarctic he will sail up the Pacific eventually reaching the Arctic. From there, he will travel by ski and kayak to Greenland, before sailing back to Europe. Along the way the explorer will visit Botswana, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Himalayas, Japan and Russia, among other places. Horn set off from Monaco on Pangea with scientists, film-makers and writers on board for the first leg. Your next car is lying in a farm field south of Miami. No one is revving the motor hard to test overheating, and no bikini model is taking photos with it for the debut catalog. Your future car is just sitting out in the sun waiting to fail. This is because someone asked the right question over 85 years ago. In 1928, the automobile was still so new to mainstream that Ford had only recently reintroduced colors back into its lineup. On the other side of Detroit, General Motors had been offering a variety as wide as a rainbow for much longer, and that created one of the first customer service problems in the industry. According to GM, that year there were, more field reports of premature paint failures emanating from the South Florida area than anywhere else in the country, and research wanted to know why. The company responded by laying out color test panels on the roof of a paint supply depot in the Miami area. The operation grew so fast that within a year they moved to their own field that was far enough west to get away from any air contaminates from metro Miami. RELATED: The GM Aerotrain Was a Project Gone Off the Rails As the testing spread they found that South Florida has a unique cocktail of sun, air, and humidity (ultraviolet radiation, oxygen, and water) thats one of the most corrosive in the world. So just like that aunt who liked to go out and get a suntan every morning, materials weathered up to three times faster here than other parts of the country. The results were so valuable that testing was expanded to include many other materials such as the convertible top vinyl, truck bed wood, and all that iconic 50s chrome. Unfortunately outside progress was catching up, too. By the mid-1950s, the testing area that was once described as an old sandy sweet potato patch was now a neighbor to the growing Miami International Airport. This was an opportunity for GM. They were now up to 25,000 trials annually and needed space for more. Story continues RELATED: Mercedes Made Audi Into What It Is Today On February 24, 1958, General Motors broke ground on a remote ten-acre site nearly 30 miles south of the airport. Despite its secludedness, the facility was so important to the company that the ceremonial first dirt was spade by Charles Ketteringthe famed automotive inventor who is not only credited with the paints they were using at the time, but also everything from the electric starter to, unfortunately, leaded gasoline. It would be one of his last official duties for GM before Kettering passed away later that year. The site featured purpose-built racks that could be angled for direct sun exposure and pivoted to follow it all day long. This was the prime era of metallic naugahyde interiors, bright pastel paints, and exterior chrome that could almost be measured in tonnage. So for the few people who happened upon GMs test center by accident, the sight of all these components tightly assembled and pointing toward the sky probably looked like an outer space communication device. Little did they know that they were probably sitting on this exotic technology the whole time. The location chosen was a good one. Entire suburban cities have popped up in the Miami population explosions of the last six decades, but the test field is still surrounded by farmland. The sites original concrete office building even survived Hurricane Andrew in 1992, which devastated the immediate area but only shifted the roof of the bunker-like structure. RELATED: Driving the Dangerous and Dynamic Dymaxion The facility is older than the Kennedy Space Center, Fidel Castros regime, and Walt Disneys interest in Orlando. Still, the only major change is the name on the outside. General Motors no longer owns the facility. It was sold about four decades ago to a company known today as Atlas Material Testing Solutions. Under Atlas, the field has been modified and updated, but the original GM spirit can be felt. Most of the racks have been replaced, because after over 60 years of weathering materials to failure, even their holders began to washout. These new test tables are still very mobile in case of extreme weather and can be angled for the right exposure just like the first racks on this field. In fact, one GM-installed table is still present with testing material strapped to it. This is less of an ongoing experiment and more of a tribute to ingenuity. RELATED: A Secret Detroit Warehouse is Home to the Rarest American Cars Ever Made Atlas is not affiliated with General Motors, but it was still an irresistible opportunity to take a new Impala down to visit the site. After all, GM established both in 1958. This is also a bit of a homecoming for the car, because while General Motors is no longer the landlord, it is a tenant. Just as it was with the first Impala, components for this new sedan were tested here. In fact, with a clientele that includes nearly every car producing nation, a quick peek through the Atlas field is like looking at the ultimate automotive puzzle. There are full dashboards, headlight assemblies, paint swatches, and body panels spread across the entire site. The right scavenger hunters could almost assemble an international lineup of vehicles if they were allowed to pull from these racks. There are even entire cars parked at a remote section of the field. These are blocked from any public view because many arent supposed to exist yet. This is how Atlas discovers how well your future wheels endure in your driveway years before you even visit the dealer. In fact, if they fail to hold up to Floridas wet/hot/humid climate, we may never see them at all. The idea of paint and other components failing in this test field is not as negative as it may seem. In the same spirit that no one lives forever, given a long enough timeline, every component will eventually fail. It is about understanding a lifespan in this extreme environment that gives us better confidence in knowing todays Metallic Plum will not become tomorrows purple haze. So yes, watching paint dry is boring, but watching it survive is essential. Cannes (France) (AFP) - The world's most important -- and most glamorous -- film festival opens in Cannes on the French Riviera on Wednesday. These are the 21 films competing for its top prize, the Palme d'Or: The Last Face American actor-director Sean Penn is back in dangerous territory, his favourite habitat, with this fiery love story set in war-torn Liberia between the boss of an aid organisation played by Charlize Theron and a doctor (Javier Bardem). Julieta Spain's Pedro "All About My Mother" Almodovar continues his obsession with all things maternal in this full on adaptation of three short stories by the Canadian writer Alice Munro about a mother's search for her daughter who disappears for a decade. It's Only the End of the World French Canadian wonderkid Xavier Dolan -- still only 27 -- conducts an all-star cast including Marion Cotillard, Vincent Cassel and Lea Seydoux in this drama about a writer who returns home to tell his family he is dying. The Salesman The Iranian master Asghar Farhadi, who won an Oscar for "A Separation", returns to his theatrical roots in this story of two actors whose relationship turns sour during their performance of Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman". Toni Erdmann An old man plays pranks on his adult daughter who he feels lacks a sense of humour in German director Maren Ade's much-anticipated new film seven years after she won the Jury Grand Prix at Berlin for "Everyone Else". Loving American indie favourite Jeff Nichols tells the story of a mixed race couple confronting racism in 1950s Virginia, based on the notorious case of Mildred and Richard Loving who were sentenced to a year in jail for marrying. Paterson US director Jim Jarmusch -- whose new documentary about his friend Iggy Pop will also be screened at Cannes -- is apparently back to his downbeat best with Adam Driver playing a bus driver poet in the New Jersey city of Paterson. Story continues I, Daniel Blake Until he hit comedy gold with "Looking for Eric", no one could have accused the veteran British director Ken Loach of playing for laughs. But he has cast comedian Dave Johns in his latest gritty drama about welfare cuts hurting vulnerable families. American Honey A hard partying band of misfits selling magazines criss-cross the American Midwest in British director Andrea Arnold's road movie starring maverick Hollywood star Shia LaBeouf. Personal Shopper A ghost story set in the Paris fashion world with "Twilight" superstar Kristen Stewart teaming up again with France's Olivier Assayas after they scored a hit with their last English-language film, "Sils Maria". The Handmaiden Sarah Waters' erotic crime novel "Fingersmith" has already been turned into a television series, but South Korean director Park Chan-wook best known for "Old Boy" transposes the story of a rich woman and a crook to colonial 1930s Korea. Slack Bay To say that French director Bruno Dumont divides critics is an understatement, but Cannes clearly loves him particularly after the success of his oddball television series "Li'l Quinquin". He returns to the north French coast with this period drama about the mysterious disappearances of tourists starring Juliette Binoche and Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, the sister of former French first lady, Carla Bruni. Graduation Originally called "Family Photos", the latest film from the Romanian New Wave star Cristian Mungiu is apparently a semi-autobiographical tale of fatherhood. He won the Palme d'Or in 2007 with the harrowing abortion drama "Four Months, Three Weeks and Two Days". The Unknown Girl Uplifting crowd-pleasers have never been the Belgian Dardenne brothers' bag. And their latest about a young doctor who unwittingly turns a dying girl from her door does not look like a barrel of laughs. However, they have won the top prize twice, will this be their hat-trick? Elle It has taken him two decades to recover from "Showgirls", but Dutch director Paul Verhoeven is back in the arthouse fold with French actress Isabelle Huppert playing a businesswoman attacked in her home. Sieranevada The second Romanian film in the running for the Palme d'Or is a family drama about neurologist coming to terms with his dead father from director Cristi Puiu, who made a big impact with his 2005 tragicomic "The Death of Mr Lazarescu". The Neon Demon A vicious beauty cuts a bloody path through the Los Angeles fashion and celebrity scene -- there is even talk of cannibalism -- in this supermodel horror flick from the hand of Denmark's Nicolas Winding Refn, best known for "Drive". From the Land of the Moon In her second film in competition, Marion Cotillard stars a a woman caught in an unhappy marriage who falls in love again in French director Nicole Garcia's film set just after World War II. Ma'Rosa A small Manila shopkeeper who is caught selling a small amount of drugs is the heroine of the prolific Filipino director Brillante Mendoza's story of a family rallying against corrupt police. Staying Vertical French director Alain Guiraudie's new film about a film director adrift "in the heart of France" may scream navel gazing. But if his homoerotic thriller "Stranger by the Lake" is anything to go by, expect some strange twists along the way. Aquarius The only Latin American entry by Brazilian film-maker Kleber Mendonca Filho is as yet something of a mystery. Set in an apartment block, it stars telenovela superstar Sonia Braga. Cannes (France) (AFP) - The Cannes Film Festival opens this week in the French Riviera resort. Here are five essential -- and often surprising -- facts about the glitzy Mediterranean town. Bad timing Timing is everything in cinema, they say, but as Cannes was to prove that's not always the case. France's great reforming education minister Jean Zay first came up with the idea of a global international film festival in 1939 as a rival to the Venice festival, which was then the plaything of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his film-loving German friend Adolf Hitler. Biarritz on France's Atlantic coast was first chosen as the host city but when it couldn't raise the money, Cannes nipped in. However, war soon broke out and Mussolini's troops marched into the town. It wasn't till after the war in 1946 that the festival finally got going, quickly becoming the most important in the world. Unfortunately by then Zay was dead, murdered because he was a Jew by France's collaborationist government. His ashes were moved to the Pantheon in Paris last year as one of the leading heroes of the French Resistance. Lap of luxury The myth of the French Riviera was created at the end of the 19th century by the crowned heads of Europe who wintered there. Their legacy -- and often their palatial villas -- has nowadays been taken up by Russian oligarchs and wealthy Gulf potentates. To serve their every whim, Cannes has more luxury good shops than anywhere else in France outside Paris. Chanel, Chopard, Rolex, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Dior... no less than 70 top name brands have shops squeezed into the 800 metres of its seafront Croisette. Cat burglars Like bears to honey, where there is great wealth, there are always criminals eager to redistribute a little of it their way. The Croisette has witnessed some of the biggest and most daring jewellery heists in history. A solitary robber, thought to be one of the infamous Pink Panthers, took gems worth 103 million euros ($130 million) from the Carlton hotel in 2013 where they were being displayed at an "Extraordinary Diamonds" exhibition. Story continues The surprisingly simple raid still holds the world record as the biggest heist of all time. That same year at the film festival a 1.6-million euro necklace was stolen and gems worth only slighty less also went missing. Having vowed that such crimes should never be allowed to happen again, the authorities were found wanting again last year when only a few days before the festival began 17.5 million euros of jewellery was taken from the Cartier shop on the Croisette. If that all seems like something from the movies it's because it is. That connoisseur of crime films Alfred Hitchcock set part of his 1955 classic "To Catch a Thief" about a Riviera cat burglar in the Carlton hotel. It was during the film shoot that Hollywood star Grace Kelly met Prince Rainier, the ruler of nearby Monaco. Their fairytale marriage later sealed Tinseltown's links with the coast. It's British actually Cannes is a French town, but it was actually the British who made it what it is today. A Scottish aristocrat and lawyer, Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham, is the man who turned the sleepy fishing village into a fashionable resort. An anti-slavery campaigner, he became Lord Chancellor, the head of the judiciary, and encouraged hundreds of wealthy British aristos and industrialists to come and build their winter homes nearby. Brougham was the inventor of a stately four-wheeled carriage which still bears his name. He also holds the record for speaking non-stop for six hours in the House of Commons. 'French Hollywood' From the dawn of cinema, when the Lumiere brothers shot their first short reels by its glittering shore, the Cote d'Azur has always attracted filmmakers. After the Lumieres' stay in 1897, some of the greatest directors of the silent era descended on the coast to shoot exterior scenes, a trend that was to continue with the advent of the "talkies". The Victorine Studios at nearby Nice were once called "French Hollywood", with Marcel Carne shooting part of "Les Enfants du Paradis" -- often regarded as the greatest French film of all time -- there in 1944. Nowadays, however, Cannes has morphed into one of Europe's conference capitals, hosting the MIPTV and MIPDoc, the world's biggest television and documentary markets, as well as the film festival every year. (Reuters) - A man driving on a suspended license with a history of serious traffic offenses has been arrested in last week's hit-and-run pedestrian crash in Florida that killed mixed martial arts fighter Jordan "Pretty Boy" Parsons, police said. Dennis Wright, 28, who investigators said was driving his mother's Range Rover at high speed when he ran down Parsons in a crosswalk, turned himself in to the Delray Beach Police Department on Saturday, six days after the collision, police said. Parsons, 25, a featherweight-class fighter for the Viacom-owned Bellator MMA promotional company with an 11-2 career record, had his leg amputated and was reported to have lapsed into a coma before he was removed from life support on Wednesday. The incident occurred about 12:30 a.m. last Sunday in Delray Beach, a coastal community about 50 miles (80 km) north of Miami. Wright faces multiple charges, including leaving the scene of a fatal crash, driving on a suspended license as a habitual offender and tampering with evidence, according to a police statement on the department's Facebook page. Police said witnesses told investigators Wright was driving between 100 and 120 miles an hour (160-193 kph) when he plowed into Parsons, who was wearing headphones and may not have heard the SUV coming. According to police, Wright never stopped, nor did friends driving behind him in their Mercedes. A Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge set Wright's bail at $450,000, the Palm Beach Post reported. The newspaper quoted Wright's lawyer, Robert Resnick, as urging the public not to rush to judgment. "There are a lot of facts that have not been established in this case," Resnick told the Post. "I just hope the community waits for all the facts." Police said an anonymous tip led police to Wright and investigators later found his mother's Range Rover parked in a rented storage facility, missing the shattered driver's-side mirror that officers recovered from the scene of the crash. Story continues Wright had sought to get the vehicle repaired after the collision, but the owner of a local body shop refused to do the work, authorities said. Police said Wright had his driver's license suspended six times and been previously arrested on charges of driving while intoxicated, disorderly intoxication, marijuana possession and assault on an officer or firefighter, among other offenses. Witnesses had told investigators Wright was at a Delray Beach bar with friends the night of the accident, police said. (Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Cooney) When Pastor Simon Khaemba visited the United States, he was shocked. As a leader of Kenyas Quaker community, he was excited to visit fellow Friends, as they are known, in North America. But instead of elation, he felt discomfort. Why were they worshipping in silence? (His services include live music and singing.) And why on Gods green earth did they allow gay people to marry? (Kenyans wont even consider it.) Sometimes, he says, sitting in his cramped basement office in Nairobi, I think we should send evangelists to Western countries. Hes not the only one. The world is witnessing a surge in missionaries from the global south. In fact, a report by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity calculated that back in 2010, approximately half of the 400,000 international missionaries came from countries such as South Africa, the Philippines, India or Nigeria. But one of the authors, Albert Wayne Hickman, says the number is likely much higher now and will likely continue to grow. And by 2050, according to the Pew Research Center, North America will have less than half of Africas Christian population; European Christians numbers are plummeting too. The major exception: the United Kingdom, where Pentecostalism imported from West Africa is on the rise. So as the centers of Christian power shift, so too does the age-old missionary balance. Time to ditch the image of the Bible-bearing Brit shouting the word of God to bewildered Australian pagans. But the new missionaries now look like Nigerian pastors-turned-evangelical superstars. Or teenage Colombian Jehovahs Witnesses coming to remind the West that we have strayed in our ways. Southern churches referring to the global south are aggressive in their evangelism, says Nimi Wariboko, member of the Center for Global Christianity & Mission at Boston University. In Nigeria, Africas most populous country, the Redeemed Christian Church of God, which was founded in a shantytown in Lagos, now has missions in more than 100 countries. And the Pentecostal United Church of Colombia has missions in more than a dozen developed nations, from Switzerland to Japan. And they have much to teach Christians in Europe or North America. Sunday services in Nigeria and Kenya are often loud, packed and joyous, while churches in England or Ottowa struggle to attract more than a handful of increasingly elderly followers. The West has taught us a lot, but now it is their turn to learn from us, says Pastor Patrick Kuchio, head of missions for a Nairobi-based church with a branch in Washington, D.C. And what might those lessons be? Many denominations triumphing in some of these countries from Pentecostal to Catholics are more socially reactionary than those in developed nations. Take homosexuality. The Pope may say that God loves us all, but 130 million Catholics in Brazil feel very differently about the issue and they, together with countries such as Chile or the Democratic Republic of Congo, are now the majority. Of course, the power of the Church could move to Buenos Aires or Lagos without the earth spinning out of its orbit, Wariboko says, but the West can keep its symbolic, foundational position because the Christians in the south will ever be grateful to it for its historic service. The burgeoning presence of African cultures in Christianity will change Christianity itself, says Robert Beckford, professor of theology at Canterbury Christ Church University in the U.K. For one, Africans tend to take a hard line on anything pre-Christian, for instance they fully disavow traditional practices to show they are anti-witchcraft. This at a time when Christians the world over are becoming more syncretic, allowing things such as Zen Christianity or Universalism. Beckford adds that these churches may also emphasize healing and social justice alongside a structure of the church as a business venture. Its that sense that the church is an enterprise, the belief that a church is more than just a place to pray but a place for justice, helping the poor, making business and building a life. That is what the Western churches seem to be copying now, he says. Daniel Flechsig, a pastor in Berlin, agrees, and talks of how missionaries from the West experience their visits to developing nations as a bit more like cultural exchanges. We are actually trying to copy what the African churches do because its obviously working. Specifically in Africa, attendance at church is no big thing. Not the case in the U.S. He says he went to Africa for three years, but they didnt need my help. We just learned from each other. Now Flechsig tries to apply some of these lessons such as having kid-friendly masses or playing pop music to his small white chapel in a middle-class neighborhood of Germanys capital. And of course, the nature of mission work changes as the missionaries themselves change. Its not like people in San Francisco are receiving housing aid from Colombians. Its hard to say how this will play out, whether the headquarters of the Catholic Church will one day move to Medellin or the Pentecostal Church in Nigeria will split ties with the north and become a fully independent entity. But change is certainly afoot inside one of the worlds oldest and most powerful institutions. I dont know whats going to happen next, says Pastor Khaemba, but its going to be interesting. Related Articles LONDON (Reuters) - A British vote to leave the European Union next month could make the country more vulnerable to militant attacks and cause instability across the continent, two former senior British intelligence officials said. John Sawers, who stepped down as head of the MI6 foreign intelligence service in 2014, and Jonathan Evans, who led the MI5 domestic spy agency until three years ago, warned that a British exit, or Brexit, could weaken intelligence-sharing between Britain and neighbouring countries. "Counterterrorism is a team game, and the EU is the best framework available no country can succeed on its own," they said in an article for the Sunday Times newspaper. National security has become a key area of contention between rival campaigners ahead of the June 23 vote, particularly in the light of Islamic State attacks in Paris and Brussels. Those wanting Britain to leave the 28-member bloc say an exit would enable the nation to have greater control over its borders. Those backing membership, including Prime Minister David Cameron, say the EU helps to coordinate intelligence-sharing. Sawers and Evans said modern intelligence work relied on the sharing of large data-sets and that Britain could be restricted in the information it received if it was no longer part of the bloc. The two men, who do not often speak out on national matters, said their concerns about the vote went beyond Britain's security and that the removal of one of Europe's main military powers could unsettle the EU itself. "If the UK were to withdraw from the EU, the destabilising effect on the EU itself already beset with economic difficulties, the migration crisis and a resurgent Russia could be profound," they said. "Those who are enemies of democracy would rejoice. In our judgement, there is a real risk that such a destabilisation could, in time, lead to the fragmentation of the EU and the return of instability on the continent." (Reporting by Kate Holton; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn) Fort McMurray (Canada) (AFP) - A big burly man jumps up from his seat at a Canadian fire evacuation center Sunday muttering a profanity, and rushes to a firefighter who is distributing flowers for Mother's Day. He asks in a whisper if he might have a few daisies to give to his wife. Several children also mob the firefighter, Laura Pereira, and ask the same. She and her team took a short break from battling massive wildfires that forced the evacuation of 100,000 people from the oil city of Fort McMurray to hand out flowers they hastily picked up from a local florist. "It's Mother's Day and they need to be honored no matter what," Pereira told AFP. "I know today is a bittersweet Mother's Day for many Alberta moms, as you're away from your homes," Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said in a Twitter message. "All of you are incredibly strong and I hope you're able to find a small moment for yourself today. My thoughts are with you," she said. Events were planned at evacuation centers across the province to celebrate Mother's Day. In Lac La Biche, about 300 kilometers (185 miles) south of Fort McMurray, small gestures such as the handing out of flowers and the serving of colorfully glazed cupcakes put ear-to-ear smiles on otherwise weary faces. In the town's high school gymnasium-turned cafeteria for evacuees, Simonette Agarin helps her eight-year-old son Sean open the cap on a water bottle while his younger sibling devours a plate of pancakes, never looking up. "This Mother's Day has been very different, very difficult because we're not home," Agarin said. Sean said he had planned to give her a card but had to leave it at school during the rushed evacuation of Fort McMurray. A volunteer overhears and tells him they'll dig up some craft materials so he and other children can make new cards. But Sean's attention has already shifted to another boy rolling a toy truck on the floor nearby. Story continues - 'Worried about young families' - At another table across the room, Darren and Colleen Todd try in earnest to get two-year-old Chase to eat his "yummy" bacon, while 11-month-old Taylor sucks on a piece of fruit. "Life hasn't changed much from the regular day-to-day challenges of raising children back in Fort McMurray," Darren tells AFP with a chuckle, as Chase slips off his chair and crawls under the table. "Chase just finished potty training, but now he's got diarrhea," he says with a long sigh. "To him, this is just an adventure," Darren adds. The Todd family brought their camping trailer in the evacuation, which provides them a modicum of comfort and privacy. Others have had to share relatively cramped quarters at the province's makeshift evacuation centers. Christy Klima arrived in Lac La Biche late Saturday with a group that was escorted by police from north of Fort McMurray where they had been trapped since the fires erupted nearly a week ago. Several moms in her group described a harrowing drive through the charred city, grateful that their children slept through the ordeal. Others worried aloud that their children will have nightmares. "I haven't been thinking about Mother's Day," Klima said, her shoulders crushed by the weight of losing her house in the fires and an uncertain future. "I haven't heard from my two sons yet," she said. They are aged 20 and 21. Her father was hospitalized with sudden, sharp chest pains Wednesday in the neighboring province of Saskatchewan where he lives. "I thought I'd been doing pretty good until my meltdown yesterday," Klima confided, tightly gripping a yellow flower. "Everything just all hit me at once." Despite her own serious woes, her mind wanders to the plight of others. "There're still a lot of children up north, the economy has been so bad over the past year (due to lower oil prices), and now the fires. I'm worried for young families." Theres a certain glorified genius to finding the proper mix for the unlikely match. Cameras and phones? A staple today that sounded like crazy talk not too long ago. And so it was that Melissa Wyman, fresh from a stint at the famed Djerassi Resident Artist Program, decided to combine a few of her favorite things into a single thing that is now becoming, well, a bona fide thing. A thing called Collaborative Combative Drawing, which as its name suggests, involves artists fighting each other. I enjoy the process of creating art where losing an element of control is part of the process, says the 39-year-old Wyman. This gives artists a sanctioned context for getting them out of their heads, with the added bonus of an adrenaline rush. And the rush is a little less bare-knuckle brawling and much more Twister with an edge as teams of artists pull up in front of paper or canvas, brushes and pens at the ready, and, at Wymans signal, attempt to create art while attacking others who are also trying to create art. Yes. Just about that cool. img 9059 Melissa Wyman, founder of Collaborative Combative Drawing. Source: Melissa Wyman Wyman was born into a hippie commune in Tennessee called The Farm whose essential tenets had everything to do with nonviolence, communal living and natural childbirth, and it wouldnt be a stretch to say that ending up trying to strangle folks over artwork seems a skosh incongruent. But the 5-foot-7, 135-pound Wyman, a student of Brazilian jiu-jitsu since 1999, doesnt think so; between her, her husband and two jiu-jitsu-playing daughters, she generally digs on the admixture from the vantage point of both the body and the mind. Id say the experience is more about bringing the physicality to the artistic realm than the other way around, says Wyman, whose appreciation of artists like Mark Bradford, Tania Bruguera and Michael Namkung reflects her penchant for the somatic. Wymans contention is one semi-scoffed at by artist and BJJ player Eddie Lagapa, whose claim that both are so hard to do, mixing them up seems to guarantee not getting better at either. Wymans answer to skeptics after running Combatives at art galleries, universities and conferences around the world is that the connection between good art and good fighting is clearly laid out. Many people havent experienced the joys and benefits of wrestling or grappling or being physical with each other in a way that is nonviolent and nonsexual since they were kids, she says from her home in Palo Alto, California. Besides which, the goal isnt about defacing the other persons drawing, its about completing your own drawing without letting the other person complete theirs. Story continues Post-match, the paint-drenched participants survey not so much the damage theyve wreaked as what theyve created. Newly mindful of various permutations of power and the overcoming of obstacles and given her tendency to focus on the different qualities of drawing mediums for example, charcoal versus ink Wyman hopes that when we stand back and look at the drawings afterward, we can understand a bit about what took place. Animal: Collaborative Combative Drawing (Short) from Melissa Wyman on Vimeo. CCC, Baby! Related Articles When McDonalds announced last year that it would transition to cage-free eggs, McMuffins were the first thing that came to mind. The breakfast item, a drive-through icon, is one of the chains most popular dishes and part of the reason why McDonalds buys some 2 billion eggs annually. Come 2025, each of the little eggy circles tucked inside an English muffin will come from a cage-free hen. Much like fast-food chains and food retailers limiting the use of antibiotics in their supply chains, cage-free-egg announcements along the lines of McDonalds have become a near weekly occurrence. Subway, Starbucks, Wendys, and Taco Bell have all said they will make the shift, as have major food makers such as Nestle and the retail giant Walmart. The cage-free-egg announcement has become such a trend that as more companies pledge to make the change, I find myself wondering what, if anything, they sell that is made with eggs. The convenience store 7-Eleven is the latest to make such an announcement, as it did on Tuesday, saying that customers had said it was important for the company to serve more humanely sourced eggs. Like McDonalds, it expects to complete the shift by 2025. Other time lines are expected to be fasterTaco Bell will make the change by the end of 2016but at this point, the announcements are little more than promises. The egg industry has yet to really change. Nearly all the laying hens are still in cages, said Paul Shapiro, vice president of farm animal protection at the Humane Society of the United States. According to the Department of Agriculture, 23.6 million hens were in cage-free facilities as of last Septemberout of 275 million birds overall. Thats about 9 percent of all the laying hens kept in the country and includes certified organic flocks, which cannot use cages, and conventional cage-free facilities. But with companies like McDonalds and Nestlethe worlds largest food companymoving to cage-free eggs, the numbers are set to rise. Cage free is just the next logical step in providing eggs to our markets and comfort for our hens, Glenn Hickman, CEO of Hickmans Family Farms, told the trade publication WattAgNet. Our customers are moving to cage-free faster than the regulatory environment is requiring it, so we want to ensure abundant supplies. Its the future of our industry and our business. Following McDonalds announcement that it would transition to cage-free eggs, Hickmans Family Farms expanded its Arizona facilities to house 2 million cage-free hens. Right now, cage-free is a very small portion of the market, Shapiro said, but within a few years, cage-free will be the norm. WattAgNet estimates that if all the cage-free facilities being installed in 2016 are fully stocked by the end of the year, there will be another 19 million cage-free hens in the country. It wont be the first time that a fringe approach to raising livestock focused on animal welfare has become the status quo. As Shapiro noted, nearly all veal calves were kept in crates a decade ago. Now only about 30 percent are. Egg-laying hens underwent a similar change about 15 years ago that was also driven by the fast-food industry, when chains such as McDonalds and Burger King asked producers to give birds more space. The average amount of space an egg-laying hen lived in had been 48 square inches, and the fast-food chains asked for it to be increased to 72 square inches. The whole industry went to that new standard, said Shapiro. Everybody. Regulation is driving some of the change as well. In 2008, California passed Proposition 2, which requires that eggs sold in the state be produced in roomier cages, and Massachusetts will vote on a similar ballot measure in November. Unlike change driven in the dairy aisle, however, ballot-box regulatory shifts to egg production have the potential to lead to years-long court battles, if the fight Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, and egg producers put up against the California law is anything to judge by. (In short, King argued that California voters couldnt establish regulations for farmers in other states like Iowa, the countrys leading egg producer. The courts begged to differ.) Between 2008 and today, the industry has become increasingly aware that consumer demands have changed and that welfare and ethics are as important as quality and price. Still, cage-free hen houses arent the green, grassy ideal that some consumers may imagine. Hens are still kept indoors, and while they have more space than in caged facilities, the barns are still crowded. But Shapiro sees the shift that is under way as progress. Cage-free, while not cruelty free, is a substantial improvement over confinement, he said. The birds are much better off, and research has shown that cage-free facilities present fewer food-safety risks. Shapiro allowed that other systems, such as free-range or pasture-based operations, are better for hens than cage-free. Cage-free will become the norm in the industry, and I think there are many in the industry that want to consistently strive for improvement, and those ranches, pushed by consumers and groups like the HSUS, may continue to shift the welfare standards of the egg industry once the cage-free revolution has come to pass. Take the Pledge: Take the Meatless Monday Pledge! Related stories on TakePart: Nestle Says Its U.S. Eggs Will Be 100-Percent Cage-Free by 2020 Grocery Giant Walmart Is Latest Chain to Make Cage-Free-Egg Pledge Come One, Come All: Three More Chains Announce Cage-Free Egg Commitments Original article from TakePart Athens (AFP) - Greek riot police fired tear gas to disperse petrol bomb-throwing protesters in Athens Sunday as thousands took to the streets in anti-austerity demos ahead of a vote by lawmakers on a controversial tax and pensions overhaul. Hooded youths lobbed flares and Molotov cocktails at officers who responded with volleys of tear gas, AFP reporters saw in clashes outside the parliament in the early evening, where some 10,000 protesters turned out to show their anger at the latest reforms demanded by Greece's creditors. Police said more than 18,000 people rallied over the course of the day in the Greek capital, while around 8,000 turned out in the second city of Thessaloniki against the measures demanded by the EU and IMF and which the government is seeking to adopt ahead of a crunch meeting of eurozone creditors on Monday. The reforms to be voted on later Sunday would reduce Greece's highest pension payouts, merge several pension funds, increase contributions and raise taxes for those on medium and high incomes. The measures are part of an austerity package demanded by the European Union and International Monetary Fund in exchange for the next tranche of an 86-billion-euro ($95-billion) bailout agreed in July, the third for the debt-laden country since 2010. - 'Tired and disappointed' - Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who has said reform is needed to prevent the pension system collapsing in a few years, defended the changes in parliament late Sunday. "The system requires root and branch reform that previous governments have not dared to undertake," he told lawmakers, adding that the reforms would not affect those on low incomes, something that was the result of "long and hard negotiations with creditors". His left-wing Syriza party holds a slim majority with 153 seats in the 300-seat parliament. Earlier, a sea of demonstrators marched through the streets waving banners with many of those taking part supporters of the communist-leaning PAME trade union. Story continues "Social security, public and compulsory for all. The plutocracy must pay," said one union banner. Numbers were, however, significantly down on February protests when 40,000 people marched in Athens alone. "People are tired and disappointed by the leftist government in power... the rallies have not had the scale we had expected," said Maria, a private sector employee in her fifties who claims to be owed 30,000 euros ($34,000) in back pay from her employer. Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos has called on the eurozone to back the reforms, warning of a "failed state" if the Brussels talks run aground. "The elements for closing the first review and providing debt relief are, I firmly believe, all there," according to a letter to the euro area's finance chiefs seen by AFP. "Nobody should believe that another Greek crisis, leading perhaps to another failed state in the region, could be beneficial to anyone." Greece's budget deficit has ballooned as it struggles to keep up with mammoth debt payments, which the IMF believes is unsustainable. In its official agenda for Monday's meeting in Brussels, the Eurogroup said it would review the "progress achieved" by Greece as well as discussing "possible debt relief measures". - Differences between creditors - Greece was also in the grip Sunday of the third day of a general strike that has paralysed public transport across the country. During the stoppages, the public sector has operated at a snail's pace, while most TV and radio stations have refused to air news bulletins. Despite the pressure from the strikes, Employment Minister Georgios Katrougalos stood by the pensions overhaul, pointing to a funding shortfall of two billion euros. "This reform should have been done decades ago," he said. Ahead of the Brussels meeting, differences between the creditors themselves have emerged over extra reforms demanded by the IMF that could amount to another 3.6 billion euros of cuts by Greece. IMF chief Christine Lagarde has warned that there were "significant gaps" in Greece's reform offers, while European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker said Athens had "basically achieved" the objective of the measures required by creditors. But both the EU and the IMF have agreed that debt relief could be considered. PureWow It looks like Prince Harry and Meghan Markle thought their Archewell website needed a little bit of a facelift. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been keeping quite busy these days, what with a Netflix docuseries, podcasts, oh, and two young kids to take care of. However, we just noticed that the couple changed the photo on the homepage of their website, trading out the old pic for a brand-new portrait courtesy of Misan Harriman. Archewell Foundation/Misan Harriman The pic was snapped during t Cairo (AFP) - Eight policemen were shot dead on Cairo's southern outskirts in an attack claimed Sunday by the Islamic State group, one of its deadliest in mainland Egypt. The interior ministry said four assailants in a truck intercepted a van carrying the policemen in the district of Helwan, just south of Cairo, and sprayed them with automatic rifle fire. It said those killed in the shooting overnight included a lieutenant and seven lower ranking policemen who had been on patrol in plain clothing. In a statement circulated on social media, IS said "a squad of the soldiers of the caliphate" opened fire on the police van and then made off with their weapons. It said the attack was carried out in retaliation for "women imprisoned" in Egyptian jails. Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Gaffar sounded a defiant note as the slain policemen were laid to rest. "We hold our heads high, and won't bow them to any attempt to defeat our will," he told state television. Jihadists have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers in attacks, mostly in the Sinai Peninsula and also in and around Cairo, since the military toppled Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Islamists had carried out a previous attack in Helwan, killing a policeman standing guard outside a museum in June 2015. IS jihadists, who are based in the sparsely populated Sinai Peninsula bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, have repeatedly tried to make inroads into the capital, where police have had more success in quelling them than in Sinai. They have claimed several attacks in Cairo, including the bombing of the Italian consulate in July 2015. - Retaliation - More recently jihadists have conducted hit-and-run attacks on policemen in Cairo and small scale bombings. They often claim their attacks are in retaliation for a bloody police crackdown on Islamist supporters of Morsi, which has killed hundreds of protesters and imprisoned thousands. Story continues They have also targeted foreigners. In October, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for bombing a Russian airliner carrying holidaymakers from a south Sinai resort, killing all 224 people on board. The group said it smuggled explosives concealed in a soda can on to the plane at Sharm El-Sheikh, a popular Red Sea resort in south Sinai. That attack prompted Russia to suspend all flights to Egypt, and has lost the country hundreds of millions of dollars in tourism revenues. The bombing came two months after IS militants abducted a Croatian oil worker near Cairo and beheaded him. Police later tracked down the top IS operative in Cairo, who was linked to the Croat's murder, and killed him in a shootout. But efforts to crush the insurgency in Sinai have floundered despite a massive army campaign. In March, IS gunmen killed 15 policemen at a checkpoint near El-Arish, the provincial capital of North Sinai. The Sunni extremist group declared a "caliphate" nearly two years ago in areas under its control in Iraq and Syria. The Sinai branch pledged allegiance to IS in November 2014, and since then its attacks have grown more sophisticated. The military says it has killed more than 1,000 militants, occasionally publishing pictures of their bodies. The statements are difficult to verify, with reporters having little access to the north of the peninsula. Hundreds of multi-national forces soldiers are based in Sinai to monitor a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt, and Washington has indicated it would cut its troops over the jihadist threat. The Pentagon said last month it remained "fully committed" to the mission but wants to use drones to assume some of the riskier work. CAIRO (Reuters) - Gunmen killed eight plainclothes policemen just outside Cairo overnight, the interior ministry said, in an assault claimed by Islamic State. The four attackers pulled up in a pick-up truck and sprayed a police vehicle using automatic weapons before fleeing, the ministry said on Sunday. The gunmen wore masks, residents in Helwan, an industrial town south of the capital, told Reuters. Egypt's government is facing an insurgency that has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen, mostly in northern Sinai, since mid-2013, when then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi following mass protests. Islamic State's Egyptian affiliate, which calls itself Sinai Province, mainly operates out of northern Sinai, which borders Israel, the Gaza Strip and the Suez Canal. Militants have also occasionally targeted security forces and planted bombs in Cairo and other areas. In an Arabic-language statement, Islamic State said the Helwan attack was part of its Abi Ali Al-Anbari campaign, which has seen the group carry out a series of bombings and other attacks in Iraq. It was not clear how or why Egypt was linked to the Iraqi campaign. The statement also said the attack was aimed at avenging women in Egyptian jails but gave no details. Islamic State controls swathes of Iraq and Syria. In 2014, an Egyptian militant group called Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis pledged allegiance to Islamic State and changed its name to Sinai Province. Al Azhar, a historic centre of Islamic learning in Cairo, condemned what it called a "terrorist attack the likes of which contradict Islamic teachings" and offered in a statement its support for Egypt's security forces. (Reporting by Mostafa Hashem and Ahmed Tolba; Writing by Lin Noueihed; Editing by Andrew Heavens) Bamako (AFP) - Malian special forces have arrested a suspected jihadist leader in the south of the country, security sources said Sunday. "Yacouba Toure, number two in the Ansar Dine of the South terrorist group, was arrested on Thursday outside Bamako," a security source told AFP. His group is suspected of providing weapons to other jihadist groups in southern Mali as well as in Burkina Faso, the source added. The arrest follows that of Souleymane Keita, described as the top jihadist leader in southern Mali, in March. Keita has been linked to the Ansar Dine group, which was one of three Islamist factions that conquered vast swathes of the country's north in 2012 before being repelled by French troops. Some areas remain beyond the control of Malian and foreign forces and the jihadist attacks, previously concentrated in the north, have spread to the centre and south since last year. According to a second security source, Toure, a Malian in his forties, first joined Islamic fighters in the northeast Kidal region in 2010. It was there that he met Keita and Boubacar Sawadogo, head of Ansar Dine's Burkinabe branch. Toure provided the arms and grenades used by Sawadogo's fighters to launch a deadly attack on a police station in Burkina Faso last October, the second source said. He had tried to evade capture last week by posing as a livestock dealer, according a source close to the enquiry. Last year Keita was accused by security services of heading a jihadist military training camp discovered outside Bamako. He was also accused of attacks in Fakola and Misseni near the border with neighbouring Ivory Coast in 2015 as well as in Bamako. A group of California high school students is getting the last laugh after administrators told them they were allowed to wear the 'Dump Trump' t-shirts they had previously been harassed over. According to CBS News, sisters Angelina and Alexcia Alvarez were bullied by other teens at Newport Harbor High School for their sartorial diss of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. School officials initially opted for the quick fix: banning the shirts that were causing the controversy, rather than addressing the perpetrators of the attacks themselves. Angelina Alvarez "They repeatedly would state that it was for our own safety and that they didn't want kids to harass us," Alexcia Alvarez said. On Friday, however, the sisters planned to wear the shirts with the full approval of the administration, which they said had long allowed pro-Trump t-shirts to be worn on campus without incident. "I feel like they're saying that we can wear the shirt makes me feel equal with them now. That I have the same privileges as they do. I didn't feel that before," Angelina Alvarez said. Annette Franco, a district spokesperson for the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, told CBS News that the issue had always been about safety, and not creating an impediment to the students' freedom of speech. "Regardless of what side you're on, we do allow students to wear their political attire as long as safety and security of our students is not comprised and that we maintain focus on learning," she said. The Alvarez sisters told the network that they hoped their fashion statements would help other students to feel comfortable making their own political statements in the future. "Other kids seeing us wear the shirts, that they feel like they can stand up too," Alexcia said. "That's like a time for us all to unite." May 8 (Reuters) - The top two finishers at the Kentucky Derby are on track for a rematch at the Preakness Stakes after pulling up well on Sunday morning, according to connections of both horses. Winner Nyquist could not be doing better, his trainer Doug O'Neill said, while second-placed Exaggerator was also in fine fettle, groom Vic Bargac reported. "He's doing great," O'Neill said of Nyquist after checking up on the unbeaten colt before dawn. "He had his head out over the webbing, looking bright eyed." Bargac, meanwhile, said of Exaggerator: "He's good. He ate it all last night and he liked his breakfast today, too. He's doing very well." O'Neill said that Nyquist, now 8-0 in his career, would head to Maryland on Monday for the next step in the Triple Crown, the May 21 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico in Baltimore. Exaggerator's trainer Keith Desormeaux says he was looking forward to having another crack at Nyquist at the Preakness. Nyquist recorded a relatively comfortable victory by 1-1/4 lengths at Churchill Downs, but Exaggerator closed strongly near the end. And who knows how close it might have been had Exaggerator, according to his jockey, not been checked rounding the final turn. "My horse slammed on the brakes ... ducked back to the inside and then took off," said jockey Kent Desormeaux. Nyquist started the Derby as a 2-1 favourite, with Exaggerator second most popular with the punters. The Preakness is the second leg of the U.S. Triple Crown for 3-year-olds, with the 1-1/2 mile Belmont Stakes closing the gruelling series on June 11. There have been 12 Triple Crown winners, most recently last year by American Pharaoh, who ended a Triple Crown drought stretching back to 1978. The 1-1/4 mile Kentucky Derby (2000 metres) was the longest race of Nyquist's career, but he will come back in distance slightly for the Preakness, which is run over 1-3/16. (Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina; Editing by Larry Fine) Reykjavik (AFP) - Iceland's longest serving prime minister, who who headed the central bank at the height of the 2008-2009 financial crisis, said Sunday he will run for president this year. David Oddsson, 68, will challenge current President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, 72, who is seeking re-election in the June 25 poll after 20 years in the post. "We could have one more course on the presidential menu... so that people could have more to choose from than they have had recently," Oddsson told Iceland's Bylgjan radio. The presidency in Iceland is largely a ceremonial position but the head of state can call a referendum on a law passed by parliament if it is felt the whole nation should have a say. The banking failure plunged Iceland into a deep recession, prompting a $2.1 billion (1.8 billion euro) bailout from the International Monetary Fund, and sending the krona into freefall. The economy has since returned to growth. Iceland's independent 2010 "Truth Report" into the causes of the financial meltdown laid the blame on the former ministers for finance and banking, as well as on Oddsson. Oddsson was one of the main architects of the economic deregulation in the 1990s that was found by the report to have contributed to the failure of three of Iceland's largest banks. "My experience and knowledge, which is considerable, could go well with this office," Oddson said as he announced his candidacy. A lawyer by training, Oddsson entered politics as a Reykjavik city councillor in 1974 and was elected mayor of the capital in 1982, serving until 1991. He was prime minister from 1991 to 2004, foreign minister between 2004 and 2005 and then served as head of the central bank from 2005 to 2009. He has been the editor of the influential Morgunbladid newspaper since 2009. A keen bridge player, he is said to be able to calculate the moves of his adversaries several steps ahead. He has previously said that one of his strongest traits as prime minister was his ability to divert negative attention away from himself or the party. Brightly colored tents decorated with twinkling lights, floral arrangements, and draped curtains are a popular setup for wedding celebrations in Rajasthan, India. But parents looking to marry off their daughters before they turn 18 may have to skip another traditional custom. Some 47,000 wedding-tent dealers across Rajasthan are demanding that parents present birth certificates to prove betrothed couples are not minorsno birth certificate, no tents or decorations, The Times of India reports. In the age certificate, if we find that either bride or groom or both are minors, we will not only say no to the booking, we will also inform the police and other officers concerned, Ravi Jindal, president of the Rajasthan Tent Dealers Association, told the newspaper. In Rajasthan, May is considered an opportune time for marriage because of the Hindu holiday Akshaya Tritiya. This years holy day falls on May 9, prompting vendors to convene in late April to come up with a game plan to ramp up efforts to combat underage ceremonies. Although the legal age for marriage in India is 18 for women and 21 for men, child marriage remains prevalent there, particularly in rural areas of Rajasthan. About 47 percent of all girls in India (and 16 percent of boys) are married as children, and 65 percent of girls living in Rajasthan are married before turning 18, according to global organization Girls Not Brides. The consequences of child marriage are significant. Girls who marry before turning 18 are more likely to experience domestic violence or sexual abuse and contract sexually transmitted diseases than those who marry as adults, according to UNICEF. Early marriage often curtails education, leaving girls destined to be financially dependent on their husbands or work low-paying jobs. The Rajasthan Tent Dealers Association has been working for years to end the tradition of child marriage in the state. Jindal told Reuters his group of vendors has helped prevent 80 child marriages in the past two years. The group hopes demanding legal documents will help stop more illicit ceremonies. Story continues Families could attempt to present altered documents to tent dealers, but Jindal told The Times of India that they will be on the lookout for fake papers. In case a person or group of persons gives us wrong information, we will immediately inform the nearby police and other government officials for the required intervention, he said. Send a Letter: Protect Runaway and Homeless Youths Related stories on TakePart: This School for Child Brides Is Delaying Marriage and Providing Education New Film Shows Another Side to Indias Sex Workers Men Are Stepping Up to Fight Child Marriage in Pakistan Original article from TakePart Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli ex-president Moshe Katsav, in prison for rape and other sexual offences, has asked the current head of state for a pardon, President Reuven Rivlin's office said on Sunday. "A request for pardon arrived at the president's office today," it said in a brief statement. "As is the custom with every request for a pardon it has been passed for handling to the presidential legal department," the statement added. Katsav, the first Israeli head of state to be sent to prison, was jailed in 2011 for seven years on two counts of rape as well as sexual harassment, indecent acts and obstruction of justice. A parole board last month turned down his application for early release, saying that Katsav, 70, "expressed no regret and no sympathy toward the victims of his crimes". "The prisoner has presented himself as a victim and has continually attributed responsibility for his situation to others," the justice ministry said in a statement following the decision. Katsav's 18-month trial included harrowing accusations and portrayed him as a sexual predator who routinely harassed his female staff. The offences committed against his employees were said to have occurred when he served as tourism minister and later as president. Katsav became president in 2000, resigning over the allegations in 2007. He was replaced in the largely ceremonial post by Nobel Peace laureate Shimon Peres. Rivlin was elected to the position in June 2014 for a statutory seven-year term. Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli prosecutors charged nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu Sunday with violating the terms of his release, more than a decade after he completed an 18-year jail term, the justice ministry said. Upon his release in 2004, Vanunu was slapped with a series of restraining orders, some of which he has violated in recent years, the indictment read. According to the charge sheet, Vanunu in 2013 met with two US nationals in Jerusalem without having permission to do so. In 2014, he moved to a different flat in his apartment building and failed to inform police. And in 2015, he granted an interview to Channel 2 television, in which he relayed to the interviewer "classified information that was by cut out by censors", read the indictment served at Jerusalem magistrates' court. The former nuclear technician was jailed in 1986 for disclosing the inner workings of Israel's Dimona nuclear plant to Britain's Sunday Times newspaper. He spent more than 10 years of his sentence in solitary confinement. In the 2015 interview, Vanunu said he no longer has any secrets to spill and just wants to join his new bride in Norway, theology professor Kristin Joachimsen whom he married at a Lutheran church in Jerusalem in May that year. He has been barred from emigrating on the grounds that he still poses a threat to national security. Vanunu, 61, converted to Christianity shortly before being snatched by Mossad agents in Rome and smuggled to Israel. In 2010, he was jailed for 11 weeks after breaking the terms of his release by meeting a foreigner, a prison official said. Israel is the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power, refusing to confirm or deny that it has such weapons. It has refused to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or to allow international surveillance of the Dimona plant in the Negev desert of southern Israel. (Photo: Getty Images) Long hours, even doing something you love, means a lot less time for self care. And while the mindful revolution is nothing new (yep, were talking about meditation apps and kundalini yoga obsessives), mindful beauty rituals arent often discussed. Were so immersed in finding the right products and treatments that we forget the art of the practice itself, the art of creating our own mindful beauty and skincare rituals. And yet the practice of taking the time to care for yourselfespecially through a beauty routinecan be a valuable and very balancing tool. If theres one basic principle of beauty and skincare Ive learned along the way (youve heard this time and again!) its that beauty really is an inside job. Im clearly a proponent of using modern beauty, but no matter how much Botox and filler and laser you do, you cant feel beautiful filled with stress and unhappiness: creating self-care rituals really does make a positive difference. To get some perspective on the importance of mindful beauty and skincareplus advice on how to start your own practicewe spoke to Lavinia Errico, founder of Equinox Fitness and Chief Wellness officer of Sonage Skincare, Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, co-founder of Gilt and GlamSquad, and Dr. Robin Berzin, founder of Parsley health. They all convened at The Beauty of Balance event early this month to discuss what it means to create balance and maintain self care in todays ever-changing world. By Robin Shobin for Charlottes Book The Breaking Point: When Ritual Becomes Necessary Lavinia felt like she was doing everything right: I used to really believe that if I was fit, I was healthy. I was working out hours a day, I was watching everything I ate, I was taking all my supplements, she says. To me I was the epitome of health. Then one day, she woke up and passed out. At the hospital, they couldnt find anything wrongthats when Lavinia realized that fitness doesnt always equal perfect health. Story continues After a lot of self discovery, what I know today is that beauty and wellness is an inside job, she explains. Not that nutrition, sleep, food, supplements, and products are not important, but doing a little bit from the inside to figure out who you are and what your values are is important to achieving beauty and balance. Related Read: Shakiras Trainer Talks Self Care And Aging She adds, Setting self-care rituals to value you and cherish you is at the core of this. Alexandra of Gilt and GlamSquad had a very similar epiphany. Three years into Gilt I was completely stressed out, she says. I was getting migraines every day. I was traveling the globe. And I kept going to my doctor and saying, something is wrong with me. She tried to find a solution, but nothing worked. The Struggle To Find Me Time When Alexandra finally built in time and space for herself, everything changed. But it wasnt easy. Finding me time is hard, Alexandra told us. As busy professionals, moms, and friends, there are so many demands on our time, and we feel guilty spending time on ourselves. What I have finally learned is that you cant do it all. Every moment that I am in one place, I am not in another: you have to realize you are choosing to be where you are. Just be present in the choices you make. By creating a standard ritual in your life you create a devoted time to yourselfdont feel guilty about it. Robin, founder of Parsley Health, finds balance and beauty through movement: Maybe its going for a walk or going for a yoga class, but use that time to get back in your head and reset yourself. Related Read: What French Woman Can Teach Us (And Our Daughters) Robin also struggled with skincare issues. In high school her skin was amazing, but in college she developed cystic acne. I couldnt figure out why, she admits. I eventually learned that it was caused by leaky gut, which I had developed going through a very stressful time in my life. That had triggered my immune system and I had become very sensitive to gluten and dairy. Healing From The Inside Like Lavinia and Alexandra, Robin believes most healing happens through food and internal measures. She explains, Stress and hormones really impact our skin so much. A lot of the outward skin issues like acne, redness, and eczema are the results of inflammation in your body. And your skin is showing it to you. Thats why sometimes the detoxification process, both through food and eliminating stress, can be so important. And creating de-stressors in your life through various rituals can really impact this, whether its going for a walk, making a ritual out of your morning skincare routine, or meditation. How To Create A Mindful Skincare or Wellness Ritual How do we create rituals in our lives? Like most things, its easier said than done. A ritual has meaning; it has an intention. Creating a wellness or skincare ritual is about doing something with a clear mind and clear intentionspecifically focusing on you and you only. Ritual starts by creating a day-to-day practice for yourself. Lavinia says she loves to bring ritual into her morning and nighttime skincare. For my skincare, its about pleasureI bring pleasure into my life through these self rituals. I turn my skincare into a 2, 3, or 7 minute Lavinia ritual of cherishing me, because it begins and ends with self. I love Sonage skincare for many reasons, but one of them is the smellit really adds to the pleasure of my ritual. As part of her me time Lavinia moisturizes daily with Sonages Vitality Nourishing Facial Oil and applies R&R Peptide Packed Eye Serum for an extra boost underneath her eyesevery week, she exfoliates with Gommage Exfoliating Gel to remove dead cells and brighten the skin. She also notes that your morning coffee, tea, or hot water can be a perfect place to add a dose of self care. Ritual for me is just bringing an intention to something, says Lavinia. So you can have your morning green tea or your lemon water and instead of just drinking it, you create an intention. For me, when I have my morning drink, I set a clear intention to prepare my body and my mind for the day. That starts the day for me and grounds me. Take your normal tasks like your skincare regimen, and turn them into a ritual turn a mundane routine into something that can relax and de-stress you. Maybe its just as simple as adding a few deep breaths before and after your skincare regimen. Try it. Do it. Feature image via Flickr by Richie Banks Mexico City (AFP) - Hours before Mexican authorities transferred drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to a prison in Ciudad Juarez, a federal judge ruled he should be extradited to the United States, Guzman's lawyer said Sunday. The request would now have to be approved by the Mexican Foreign Ministry, with Guzman in the northern city's prison near the US border. Guzman is accused of crimes including smuggling tons of drugs into the United States by boat, submarine, airplane and an extensive network of tunnels under the border. A number of US jurisdictions, including New York, are vying to prosecute him. The Third District Court for Criminal Trials ruled that "extradition should move forward," Jose Refugio Rodriguez, attorney for the drug capo, told AFP. The Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. If the judge has in fact approved extraditing Guzman, the ministry would have 30 days to take action. The former leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel -- one of Mexico's most powerful -- Guzman staged a spectacular jailbreak in July 2015, when he escaped through a hole in his jail cell's shower that led to a 1.5-kilometer (one-mile) tunnel leading outside. He was captured in January after months on the run. Just before his arrest, Guzman met in a jungle hideout with the US film star Sean Penn and Mexican actress Kate del Castillo to grant Penn an interview. Penn wrote about it in "Rolling Stone." In 2001, Guzman is believed to have hidden in a laundry basket when he escaped from another maximum security prison in Puente Grande in western Jalisco state, where he was imprisoned since 1993. The authorities began the process of deporting him to the United States shortly after his capture in January. President Enrique Pena Nieto has said the extradition would take place "as soon as possible." Guzman fought the process until March, when he asked his lawyers to stop their efforts because conditions at his prison were intolerable. He is willing to plead guilty to charges in the United States in return for a lighter sentence and confinement at a medium-security prison, his lawyer has said. Justin Baldoni with Maiya Grace Baldoni Fatherhood looks good on Justin Baldoni. When it comes to 10-month-old daughter, Maiya Grace, the actor could not be more in love. Shes ten months old and shes about to walk, the actor, 32, told PEOPLE at the City Year Spring Break event in Los Angeles on Saturday. Im getting the cameras and everything ready. Shes just happy and joyful. Shes just like her mom. Im so lucky. Baldoni and his wife, Emily Foxler, who married in 2013, welcomed their daughter in June 2015. With the little one growing up fast, Baldoni is making sure to cherish every little moment. You know what she started doing? the actor asked. I picked up a teddy bear for the first time and she grabbed it and held it. She had the biggest smile on her face. Now, every time we give her a teddy bear, it just makes her happy. So, shes in her teddy phase now which is super cute. He adds, She love looking up and standing up now on her own. Its like my heart is existing outside of my body at all given times. With Maiya close by, Baldoni was also thrilled to discuss the importance of education in a childs life. In celebration of City Year, an organization that helps students stay in school, the actor says education is absolutely vital. Education, I think, is the key to the worlds solutions, he said. We live in a pretty sick world right now. Theres a lot of ills inflicting the planet. I think the core resolution for all of them stem from education. If every child were able to be educated, we would grow up in a place where there wouldnt be problems, whether its religious persecution, racial, or war. Everything stems from a lack of education. Christina Dugan "Don't eat f---ing meat. It's disgusting," songwriter Diane Warren told an intimate audience while accepting the humanitarian of the year award at the Humane Society of the United States Los Angeles gala on Saturday (May 7). "Realize that when you eat meat, you're not eating something, you are eating someone -- someone with a mother and father." @iiswhoiis performing #tillithappenstoyou at the #humanesocietygala #kesha A video posted by @keshaxworld on May 7, 2016 at 8:59pm PDT Thus the activist tone was set for a night that raised money for and celebrated the Humane Society's farm animal protection campaign. Several celebrities came out to show their support for both Warren and the Humane Society, including The Veronicas, Zendaya, Ian Somerhalder and Kate Mara, who worked with the Humane Society to promote Meatless Mondays in schools. Diane Warren Explains How Michelle Obama's 'This Is For My Girls' All-Star Anthem Came to Be: Exclusive "I have always been a profound lover and respecter of animals, so it is a true privilege to be here with like-minded people," Zendaya said while introducing Warren. "[Warren] cares so deeply for all who suffer needlessly, especially animals without a voice for themselves. She is authentic, fiercely brave and we all know that Diane will never hold her tongue when it comes to speaking out against animal cruelty -- or anything else, for that matter." Killed it @KeshaRose. I could feel your pain. Girl these boys won't be in charge forever. The wisdom of women is rising. Let's get louder - Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) May 8, 2016 To honor Warren's achievements, Kesha, Leona Lewis and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler all sang songs written by the Oscar-nominated writer throughout the night. "I want to dedicate this song to every man, woman, child and animal that has ever been abused," Kesha said before singing "Til It Happens to You," accompanied by Warren on the piano and a collage of animals packed into corporate farms setting the tone. Earlier in the night, Warren had noted that the song, written for documentary The Hunting Ground, is "helping people and saving lives." Story continues Steven Tyler Announces Out on a Limb Solo Tour "I get letters and [co-writer Lady] Gaga just told me too, there's not a day that goes by that people aren't stopping her and thanking her for the song," Warren said. To end the night's festivities, Tyler took the stage for a performance of "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing," Aerosmith's only No. 1 on the Hot 100 chart. "When [Warren] sang ["I Don't Want to Miss A Thing"], I sat on the floor and I did cry. [When] I heard the song for the first time, I heard the depth and breadth of the song." Zedd & Kesha, Beyonce's 'Lemonade' Songs Debut on Billboard + Twitter Top Tracks The night's events were hosted by artist Moby, a longtime vegan and animal rights activist who was inspired to become involved in the cause by a rescue cat. "When I was 19, I was petting a rescue cat that I had and I realized that this rescue cat had two eyes and a central nervous system and a profoundly rich emotional life and I just suddenly realized: Every animal with two eyes and a central nervous system at the very least wants to avoid pain," Moby said. "At that moment I realized that I couldn't, in good conscience, be involved in anything that contributed to animal suffering." By the gala's end, the Humane Society had raised over $140,000 and counting to fight animal cruelty. (Reuters) - German Marcel Kittel took the overall lead in the Giro d'Italia on Sunday after winning his second consecutive stage with another demonstration of his considerable sprint prowess. Kittel followed up on his victory in Saturday's second stage by outsprinting Italian pair Elia Viviani and Giacomo Nizzolo to win the 189km stage three from Nijmegen to Arnhem and claim the pink jersey. "I am super-happy to have this leader's jersey," said Kittel after ending the race's three-day grand partenza in the Netherlands with a flourish. "I can say now that I wore the leader's jersey in the Tour (de France in 2014) and also in the Giro d'Italia. "It's something very unique and something I am really proud of." The Etixx-Quick Step rider endured a miserable time last year as he battled with illness but demonstrated that he is back to his powerful 2014 best as he again prevailed comfortably in the bunch sprint after launching his attack 200 meters from the line. The 27-year-old claimed the 10 bonus seconds on offer to the stage winner to displace Dutchman Tom Dumoulin as the overall leader. The riders will now enjoy a rest day as they travel to Italy for the remainder of the three-week race. The Giro will resume in Calabria on Tuesday with a 200km rolling fourth stage from Catanzaro to Praia a Mare. (Writing by Ed Dove, editing by Ian Chadband) Its something that die-hard EastEnders fans have been looking forward to since January. This week we finally see Walford legend Grant Mitchell back on our screens. BBC As most people know, actor Ross Kemp agreed to reprise his iconic role for the his on-screen mums final storyline. This week, viewers will see Peggy Mitchell arrive back in the Square with the sad news that her cancer has spread and nothing more can be done. Sob! The devastating news soon spreads to Portugal, where Grant has been living with daughter, Courtney. If anything can bring him back to Walford, its the loss of his beloved mum. But what will happen when Phil and Grant com face to face again? And will Phil even be sober enough to remember it? BBC More importantly, what will happen when Grant comes face to face with his old flames, Sharon, Jane and supposedly-dead Kathy? And will he be bringing his now-teenage daughter with him? It was announced in January that Ross would be making a brief return to the soap and since then hes been teasing us all on Twitter, posting updates about the script and pics from the set. Ross Kemp/Twitter Ross said at the time of the announcement: When I was approached about returning toEastEnders for Barbaras final episodes, it was something I could not turn down. Barbara is a very close friend so when I learned of the storyline, it felt right that the Mitchell brothers are reunited with their mother for the last time. I am really looking forward to going back to EastEnders and filming what are set to be some classic EastEnders episodes. Australian director George Miller is at a highpoint in a masterful career. His "Mad Max: Fury Road" won a swag of awards, adding to a long list of acclaimed movies, and this week he will bask in the glory of presiding over the Cannes film festival jury. Even missing out on the best director gong at this year's Oscars, won by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for "The Revenant", could not take the gloss off the success of the latest of his post-apocalyptic "Mad Max" action movies, released last year. "You'd be a fool to be disappointed when we did so well," the 71-year-old director told The Sydney Morning Herald on returning to the city in March after the movie won six Academy Awards and four British Baftas. As a writer, director and producer Miller is a pioneer of Australian cinema -- with a career that runs from the original 1979 "Mad Max" starring a young, leather-clad Mel Gibson, to "Babe" and the feel-good animated classic "Happy Feet" in 2006. Miller was part of a renaissance of Australian cinema in the 1980s which included Peter Weir ("Dead Poets Society", "The Truman Show"), Bruce Beresford ("Driving Miss Daisy") and Phillip Noyce ("Patriot Games", "Salt"). But his career in cinema was not always assured, with Miller at first setting out to be a doctor, and working in the medical profession for a time. He has said that working as an emergency doctor, and seeing "the kind of carnage as a result of car accidents or bike accidents", affected him deeply and went on to influence his violent "Mad Max" movies. "It kind of disturbed me quite a bit. And I think all those things were part of the mix of the 'Mad Max' films," he told Australian Screen Online in a 2006 interview. - 'A singular vision' - After the original smash hit, Miller went on to make "Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior" (1981) and "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" (1985), but "Fury Road" was a long time coming. Story continues In the meantime, he produced the coming-of-age film "The Year My Voice Broke" (1987) and the thriller "Dead Calm" (1989) -- which launched his compatriot Nicole Kidman on the world -- as well as Australian television series such as "Vietnam" and "Bodyline". He has a string of acclaimed films to his credit including the fantasy comedy "The Witches of Eastwick" (1986) and the heart-tugging drama "Lorenzo's Oil" (1992), as well as winning an Oscar for the animated feature "Happy Feet". Close on 40 years after he launched the "Mad Max" series, Miller is enjoying the lasting appeal of the frantic action films which have been praised for reconciling mass audience expectations with the highest artistic standards. David White, who won an Oscar for sound editing on the movie, has praised Miller's ability to bring his vision to the screen, despite the difficult logistics of producing frenetic action. The film also faced other setbacks, including Mel Gibson dropping out, making way for the younger Tom Hardy, and shifting the filming from the Australian desert to Namibia. "There's probably less than a handful of people in the world like George," White told the Herald earlier this year, adding that he was "the smartest person I've ever met". "This guy has had a singular vision to do this film." Miller has two children with wife and film editor Margaret Sixel and an older daughter from a previous relationship. The Cannes film festival starts on Wednesday and runs until May 22. This Monday (May 9), Mercury will appear to cross in front of the disk of the sun, and will be visible as a tiny black dot against the bright source of light. The event, which astronomers call a transit of Mercury, will occur only 14 times during the 21st century. As seen from Earth, only transits of Mercury and Venus are possible, because these are the only planets that lie between Earth and the sun. Transits of Venus occur in pairs separated by about eight years, with more than a century separating each pair. Transits of Mercury and Venus hold an interesting place in astronomical history, mostly because of the slightly different times when the events occur as seen from different locations on the surface of the Earth. Astronomers noted that, for example, Mercury moved off the edge of the sun's disk at a different time when seen from one geographic location compared to another. This effect is called parallax, and it can be used in astronomy to measure distances. [The Mercury Transit of 2016: How to See It and What to Expect] Using parallax during the transits of Venus, astronomers were given the best opportunity available to measure the distance from the Earth to the sun known as one astronomical unit. Kepler's third law showed that with this one measurement, it was possible to then measure the distance between the sun and other planets, based on how long it took each planet to go around the sun. The distance from the Earth to the sun was poorly known at that time. Astronomer Edmund Halley of comet fame was the first to realize that transits could be used to measure the astronomical unit. The transit technique relies on the precise measurement of the exact moment when Mercury or Venus began moving onto or off of the disk of the sun; two centuries ago, measuring those moments with high accuracy was difficult. Nonetheless, elaborate expeditions to observe the transits of Venus in 1761 and 1769 provided astronomers with their first good value for the astronomical unit. Since the 1960's, this method has been completely superseded by radar measurements of the distances to the other planets in the solar system. Story continues Kepler predicted it, but Gassendi observed it It was Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) who made the surprising discovery that, in 1631, both Mercury and Venus would transit the sun within less than a month of each other. Mercury would transit the sun on Nov. 7, followed by Venus on Dec. 6. The sight of a planet passing in front of the solar disk had never been seen before, so Kepler and his soon-to-be son-in-law, Jacob Bartsch, issued an "admonition" to all astronomers to be on the watch for these events. Because Kepler himself was uncertain about the exact circumstances (as he was concerned about the accuracy of his own tables), he urged prospective observers to carefully watch the sun a day early and, should nothing be seen, not give up until the day after. Unfortunately, early November 1631 brought a very stormy and unsettled period of weather to much of Europe. So far, as historians know, only three individuals actually observed the transit of Mercury and only one, Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655), left a detailed account. According to Gassendi's writings, he observed the transit from Paris, by means of projecting an 8-inch-wide (20 centimeters) image of the sun from his telescope's eyepiece onto a white screen. At around 9 a.m. local time on Nov. 7, through a scattered-to-broken layer of cloud cover, Gassendi anxiously watched the black dot of Mercury which was much smaller than he had expected as it slowly moved across the sun. Unfortunately, Kepler did not live to witness this event; he died on Nov. 15, 1630, almost a year to the day before the Mercury transit. Despite his fears that his calculations might be off by a day or two, Kepler predicted the transit within 5 hours of it actually taking place an astonishing feat for that time. What to expect, and how to observe Here's what observers in the United States can expect for the 2016 transit of Mercury on May 9. If you draw a line from roughly Bottineau, North Dakota, to New Orleans, Louisiana, anywhere to the left (west) of that line, observers will see the black dot of Mercury on the rising sun. To the right (east) of that line, observers will be able to see the entire 7.5 hours of the transit from start to finish. Mercury will move into the left side of the disk of the sun at 7:12 a.m. EDT (1112 GMT), and move to the right. The midpoint of the transit comes at 10:58 a.m. EDT (1458 GMT), and Mercury will exit off the right side of the sun at 2:42 p.m. EDT (1842 GMT). [The Mercury Transit of 2016: Visibility Maps and Pictures] Stargazers who have the proper equipment for observing sunspots will also be able to observe the transit of Mercury. [NOTE: Never look directly at the sun without protection. Doing so may result in serious eye damage or blindness. Check here to find out how to safely observe the sun.] The safest way to watch the transit event is to project the sun's image through binoculars or a small telescope onto a white card or paper. This arrangement permits several persons to simultaneously view an enlarged solar image. Based on observations made during previous Mercury transits, the planet can be perceived as a tiny, black speck or pinpoint on the sun with as little as 7x magnification. A 2.4-inch or 3-inch refractor telescope with a 100x eyepiece is more than suitable, while at 150x, Mercury will appear as a round, black dot. Reflecting telescopes can be similarly used, but with instruments that have larger than a 6-inch aperture, it's best to use a mask to reduce the aperture to 3-inches or less. Training a large reflecting telescope on the sun for long periods can cause a build-up of heat on the mirror or inside the tube, potentially damaging the instrument. Mercury should be readily recognizable as a tiny, sharp-edged dot, having only about 1/160 the sun's diameter. Through the transit, this dot will gradually crawl across the sun's face. If there are any sunspots on the sun's disk, they will not appear quite as dark against the sun as the jet-black silhouette of Mercury. Coming attractions After May 9, the next transit of Mercury will occur on Nov. 11, 2019. Once again, North America will be in a favorable position to see it. And, once again, observers in the East will be able to observe the entire transit, while for those in the West, the transit will already be in progress as the sun comes up. The 2019 transit will also be a couple of hours shorter than this year's, lasting about 5.5 hours. Mercury will transit the sun once again in 2032 and then in 2039, both times in November. However, the Western Hemisphere will be turned away from the sun and in darkness when they occur, rendering both invisible for skywatchers in the Americas. Not until May 7, 2049, will another Mercury transit be visible from this part of the world. So keep this in mind: Over the next 33 years, Americans will have only two chances to see Mercury pass across the disk of the sun. The first of those opportunities comes this Monday, so don't miss it! Here's to good luck and clear skies. Editor's note: Visit Space.com on Monday to see live webcast views of the rare Mercury transit from Earth and space, and for complete coverage of the celestial event. If you SAFELY capture a photo of the transit of Mercury and would like to share it with Space.com and our news partners for a story or gallery, you can send images and comments in to managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com. Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmer's Almanac and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, New York. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. Editor's Recommendations Copyright 2016 SPACE.com, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Mercury's rare passage across the face of the sun on Monday, May 9, should be an exciting event for skywatchers and scientists alike. The planet's pass across Earth's nearest star may provide information about its thin atmosphere, assist in the hunt for worlds around other stars, and help NASA hone some of its instruments. As seen from Earth, Mercury appears to cross the disk of the sun an event known as a transit only about 13 times per century. Currently, transits of Mercury always occur in either May or November (this changes over hundreds of years), with spring transits only occurring about a third of the time. "During May transits, Mercury's closer to us, so it appears larger than in November," David Rothery, a planetary geoscientist at Open University in the United Kingdom, told Space.com by email. "You can make more precise measurements in May." [The Mercury Transit of 2016: How to See It and What to Expect] The plane of Mercury's 88-day orbit around the sun doesn't quite line up with the plane of Earth's orbit, so the smaller planet appears to pass above or below the disk of the sun most of the time. The last transit of Mercury took place in 2006, and the next one will occur in 2019. Although the rocky planet appears larger in May, the spring transits are rarer; the next one won't happen until 2049. Searching for other worlds During Monday's 7.5-hour transit, scientists will use the giant New Solar Telescope at the Big Bear Solar Observatory in California to try to catch a glimpse of sodium in the planet's thin atmosphere. A planet's atmosphere extends slightly above its surface, so starlight can illuminate the atmosphere when the planet passes in front of a star. On Monday, the scientists hope their observations will help them to better understand how sodium is released from the planet's surface. [The Mercury Transit of 2016: Visibility Maps and Pictures] Story continues Mercury isn't the only planet that transits the sun. Venus makes even less-frequent passages as seen from the Earth Venus transits the sun in pairs, with the second transit occurring about 8 years after the first. However, the pairs are separated by about a century. In general, a transit refers to the passage of a object in front of a star (as seen by an observer), and these events are not limited to the bodies in Earth's solar system; NASA's Kepler Space Telescope studied other stars to search for the faint dimming of light that occurs when a planet passes between the disk of the star and the telescope. According to Jay Pasachoff, a professor at Williams College in Massachusetts who will be at Big Bear on May 9, the dimming of light from the 2003 and 2006 transits of Mercury were too faint to be detected, opening a door to understanding the limits of Kepler and the upcoming Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which will be launched in 2017. Mercury's transit will be too small to view using homemade pinhole cameras made to study Venus' passage. Telescopes outfitted with special filters will be able to spot the event. NOTE: Never look directly at the sun without proper protective equipment. Doing so can cause serious eye damage or blindness. Check here to find out how to view the sun safely. Fixing space cataracts Specially-outfitted telescopes will also observe the transit from space. The NASA/ESA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), along with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency-led Hinode solar mission, will all study the event. SOHO launched in 1995 on a mission to study the sun. Two of its instruments will be brought back into full operation during the transit, after spending five years offline, according to a statement from NASA. The transit will also help calibrate instruments on the various spacecraft. Specifically, it can help scientists determine how to handle stray light in the images collected by the spacecraft. As Mercury crosses the disk, it should look black, but scattered light from the instruments will cause it to appear slightly illuminated, according to the statement. "It's like getting a cataract you see stars or halos around bright lights as though you are looking through a misty windshield," Dean Pesnell, SDO project scientist, said in the statement. "We have the same problems on the instruments." According to Rothery, however, the most valuable thing to come from the transit of Mercury on May 9 may be public education. NASA and other agencies, along with observatories and astronomy clubs around the world and online, will provide the general public with a chance to see the transit for themselves. "This event is a chance to tell people about Mercury it's a very perplexing planet for a geologist," Rothery said. "It's important for outreach, to inspire the next generation of scientists." Editor's note: Visit Space.com on Monday to see live webcast views of the rare Mercury transit from Earth and space, and for complete coverage of the celestial event. If you SAFELY capture a photo of the transit of Mercury and would like to share it with Space.com and our news partners for a story or gallery, you can send images and comments in to managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com. Follow Nola Taylor Redd on Twitter @NolaTRedd or Google+. Follow us at @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com. Editor's Recommendations Copyright 2016 SPACE.com, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Mexico City (AFP) - The Mexican military veteran recalls overseeing interrogations during which his men beat suspects, wrapped their faces in plastic bags to cut off their oxygen and jolted them with electric shocks. Although the screams still haunt the retired service member long after he left the military, he remains unapologetic about using torture to find drug lords and rescue kidnapping victims. It was the only way to break the code of silence of criminals who would otherwise refuse to speak, the 30-year veteran told AFP on condition of anonymity. "The information obtained in those interrogations becomes intelligence," said the former official, who asked that his rank, military branch and location be omitted in order to speak freely about the torture sessions he witnessed. The rough interrogations gave criminals "the same dose (of torture) they give" captured government forces, he said. The stark admission comes as President Enrique Pena Nieto's government faces torture scandals against troops and police amid a decade-long drug war. When he took office in December 2012, the authorities were investigating 287 torture cases at the federal level, according to figures from the attorney general's office obtained by Amnesty International. In 2014, the figure soared to 2,403 investigations. Last week, a general was sentenced to 52 years in prison for ordering the torture of a man who died and whose body was incinerated by troops. Last month, foreign experts investigating the disappearance of 43 college students said there was evidence the authorities tortured at least 17 suspects. And in mid-April, the defense minister issued a rare apology after a video emerged showing soldiers and police putting a plastic bag over a woman's head to cut off her oxygen as they interrogated her. - Following orders? - The military veteran, who was deployed in some of the country's most dangerous regions near the US border, said he was "following orders" from above to torture suspects. Story continues The army and navy did not respond to requests for comment about his claims. Many service members suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome, he said. "You think I'm going to sleep calmly for four hours while hearing the screams? Screams from torture?" he said. Although he feels guilty "spiritually speaking," he is sure "all of them were criminals." The torture would begin with a "punch" when a suspect claimed to know nothing, the veteran said. Then a plastic bag would be placed over the head. "When there was no more oxygen, they had to breathe and (water) is poured in the nose," he said. Electric shocks came next. "You have to get them wet" first, he said, justifying his actions by saying troops and police have been "completely cut to pieces, decapitated, tortured" by criminals. Pena Nieto's predecessor, Felipe Calderon, sent tens of thousands of troops to the streets to combat drug trafficking in 2006. The current government has vowed to keep them deployed until the country's regions are safe again. Soldiers, marines and police have been accused of committing various abuses in the past decade. The United Nations special rapporteur on torture said in 2015 that torture was a "generalized" practice among Mexican security forces, something the government has vehemently rejected. But experts dismiss the official claims. "When you imitate a war, you get all of the negative elements," said Raul Benitez Manaut, a security expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. As for the defense minister's recent apology, Gustavo Fondevila, security expert at the Economic Research and Teaching Center (CIDE) think-tank, said "that was also said by the South American dictatorships." "They can't say that it's systematic, a protocol." Nearly a third of federal prison inmates in Mexico claimed to have been tortured or beaten into confessing crimes, a 2012 CIDE study found. For the military veteran, however, concerns about human rights are "the most absurd thing... Where are our rights as troops?" - A victim's nightmare - However, Amnesty International has found innocent people who have been tortured. Claudia Medina accuses marines of abducting and torturing her in 2012 in a case that was documented by the UN's expert. "For me, (the authorities) are the criminals," she told AFP. "They hide behind a uniform." Medina, 36, was accused of illegal weapons possession, drug dealing and money laundering. After 23 days in jail and 36 hours of torture, the shop worker was exonerated due to a lack of evidence. She remembers hearing rap music while she was bound and her eyes covered. Her voice breaks as she recalls the punches to her neck, kicks in the stomach, electric cables around her legs and the voice of the man who raped her. "You think that you overcome it," she says. "But no." A California teen is speaking out after staff at her high school's yearbook mislabeled her photo with the name "Isis." Los Osos High School student Bayan Zehlif posted a snapshot of the photo, in which she's wearing a hijab and labeled "Isis Phillips," to Facebook on Saturday. "I am extremely saddened, disgusted, hurt and embarrassed that the Los Osos High School yearbook was able to get away with this," the eleventh grader wrote. According to Zehlif, the school has blamed it all on an innocent mixup. Read: Passenger Delays Flight Over Fears That Ivy League Economist's Math Equation Is a Terror Threat "Apparently I am "Isis" in the yearbook. The school reached out to me and had the audacity to say that this was a typo. I beg to differ, let's be real," she wrote. Principal Susan Petrocelli has, meanwhile, publicly issued an apology to Zehlif, who she did not name. "LOHS is taking every step possible to correct & investigate a regrettable misprint discovered in the yearbook. We sincerely apologize," Petrocelli wrote on Twitter. Yearbook staff also publicly apologized on Twitter. We are extremely sorry for what occurred in the Yearbook, the apology read in part. We should have checked each name carefully in the book and we had no intention to create this misunderstanding. LOHS is taking every step possible to correct & investigate a regrettable misprint discovered in the yearbook. We sincerely apologize. Susan Petrocelli (@LosOsosHigh) May 8, 2016 The yearbook's apology went on to call the "misunderstanding...absolutely inexcusable." Story continues Read: Berkeley Student Kicked Off Flight After He's Heard Speaking Arabic One student on the yearbook staff told ABC News that there was, in fact, a student at LOHS named Isis Phillips but that she transferred earlier in the year. The Los Angeles chapter of CAIR, a national anti-Islamophobia group, issued a statement Sunday condemning the misprint and calling for an investigation into the matter. "We join with the family in their concern about a possible bias motive for this incident and in the deep concern for their daughter's safety as a result of being falsely labeled as a member of a terrorist group," wrote CAIR-LA's Hussam Ayloush. "No student should have to face the humiliation of being associated with a group as reprehensible as ISIS." An off-hours call to the Chaffey Joint Union High School District was not immediately returned Sunday. Watch: 14-Year-Old Named Isis Posts Tearful Video to Empower Others Being Bullied Related Articles: We all know that Sanjay Dutt was released out of jail in February. Since then he hasnt spoken much about his life, what happened in jail and other issues. However, at a recent event Sanjay revealed some interesting aspects about his life before and during his jail sentence. In fact, the actor didnt even know what TADA was. He revealed, I made a mistake by not knowing the law. I chose to come back and say that I have not made a mistake, whatever I have done wrong, please usko dekh ke joh punishment hai de do, aur maaf kar do. I was taken to the crime branch And then suddenly, TADA (Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act). I swear I didnt know what TADA was. Recommeded Read: So Cute! Kajols Son Yug Plays With Sanjay Dutts Twins Shahraan and Iqra! Sanjay even admitted to being an avid drug abuser. He said, My journey with substance abuse has been about 12 years. There are no drugs in the world that I have not done. When my father took me to America (for rehab), they gave me a list (of drugs) and I ticked every drug on it, because I had taken all of them. The doctor told my dad, What kind of food do you eat in India? Going by the drugs he did, he should be dead by now! Thats quite a revelation, isnt it? By James Pearson PYONGYANG (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country will not use nuclear weapons unless its sovereignty is infringed by others with nuclear arms, state media said on Sunday, and set a five-year plan to boost the secretive state's moribund economy. The North "will faithfully fulfill its obligation for non-proliferation and strive for the global denuclearization," Kim said in a report to a rare congress of the ruling Workers' Party (WPK) that opened on Friday, the KCNA news agency reported. Pyongyang was also willing to normalize ties with states that had been hostile towards it, Kim said. Isolated North Korea has made similar statements in the past, although it has also frequently threatened to attack the United States and South Korea, and has defied United Nations resolutions in its pursuit of nuclear weapons. The first party congress in 36 years began amid anticipation by the South Korean government and experts that the young third-generation leader would use it to further consolidate power. Kim became leader in 2011 after his father's sudden death. North Korea's economy is squeezed by U.N. sanctions that were tightened in March following its latest nuclear test, and Kim's five-year plan to boost economic growth emphasized the need to improve North Korea's electricity supply and develop domestic sources of energy, including nuclear power. He laid out the blueprint in an address highlighting his "Byongjin" policy of jointly pushing forward economic development and nuclear armament. On Sunday morning, foreign journalists were told to dress presentably and were brought to the People's Palace of Culture, where dozens of black Mercedes-Benz sedans, with the 727 number plates reserved for top government officials, were parked. However, after a one-hour wait in a lobby outside large wooden doors with frosted glass, the journalists were taken back to their hotel without having met any officials. While the North Korean capital has been tidied-up as part of a 70-day campaign of intensified labour ahead of the congress, the 128 members of the foreign media invited to Pyongyang to cover the event had yet to be granted access to the proceedings. State television broadcast Kim's Saturday speech only on Sunday afternoon. ENERGY FOCUS Secretive North Korea does not publish economic data, although South Korea's central bank said last year the North's economy grew by 1 percent in 2014. The estimate did not include grey market economic activity that has grown steadily in recent years and created an expanding consumer class. Kim's economic plan spelled out areas of focus, including more mechanization of agriculture and automation of factories, and higher coal output, but gave few specific targets. "(We must) solve the energy problem and place the basic industry section on the right track, and increase agricultural and light industry production to definitely improve lives of the people," state media quoted Kim as saying. While the plan was short on detail, Michael Madden, an expert on the North Korean leadership, said it was significant that Kim had set out an economic plan at all. "In stark contrast to his father, he is publicly taking responsibility for the economy and development as the originator of the policy. His father never undertook that responsibility," Madden said. North Korea came under toughened new U.N. sanctions in March after its most recent nuclear test and the launch of a long-range rocket, which put an object into space orbit, in defiance of past Security Council resolutions. Since then, it has continued to engage in nuclear and missile development, and claimed that it had succeeded in miniaturizing a nuclear warhead and launching a submarine-based ballistic missile. "As a responsible nuclear weapons state, our Republic will not use a nuclear weapon unless its sovereignty is encroached upon by any aggressive hostile forces with nukes," KCNA quoted Kim as saying on the second day of the meeting on Saturday. Kim, 33, also called for improved ties with the rival South by erasing misunderstanding and mistrust, although he has made similar proposals in the past that led to talks by government officials that made little progress. The two Koreas remain in a technical state of war since their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, and relations have been at a low since the North's January nuclear test, its fourth. In March, Kim said the North would soon test a nuclear warhead, and South Korea has said Pyongyang may conduct its fifth nuclear test in conjunction with the party congress. (Additional reporting by Jack Kim, Ju-min Park and Nataly Pak in SEOUL; Editing by Tony Munroe and Paul Tait) (Video by Nurul Amirah) Barely 12 hours after booking his place in Parliament, Murali Pillai from the Peoples Action Party (PAP) was already hard at work, taking to the streets of Bukit Batok to express his gratitude to residents. Along with his grassroots leaders, Murali boarded an open top lorry which made its way through Bukit Batok as he waved to and thanked residents. The lawyer, who defeated Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) chief Chee Soon Juan in the Bukit Batok by-election on Saturday (7 May), started his journey at about 11am on Sunday (8 May) before talking to the media at a market two hours later. Murali and his grassroots leaders making their way through Bukit Batok to thank residents. (Photo: Safhras Khan) Hitting the ground running Murali, who garnered 61.21 per cent of the vote share, told reporters that he wants to build a better place for Bukit Batok residents; one where everyone is respected and supports each other, as outlined in his manifesto. I am raring to go and I am grateful for the great turnout from my supporters and volunteers. I will power through my plans and see how I can implement them, he said at the market near Block 154 Bukit Batok Central. He added that he has already identified some partners to help with his plans and welcomes volunteers to step forward to assist him. He revealed that residents will hear more about his plans in a matter of months. Among Muralis plans for the constituency are a job placement programme, a partnership with a cooperative to provide affordable healthcare, a youth mentoring programme and building an eldercare centre. He explained that he will he reflecting on the by-election results before getting more partners involved in the plans that he had outlined and focusing on the areas Neighbourhood Renewal Programme (NRP). We will open it (the NRP) up to get feedback from the residents on the matter, said Murali. Murali (foreground, second from left) was joined on his victory tour of Bukit Batok by Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam (blue shirt). (Photo: Safhras Khan) Story continues Flowers for mothers Murali who was joined by Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, Grace Fu at the market, also spent the morning distributing stalks of roses to mothers in conjunction with Mothers Day. While on his tour, many residents congratulated Murali on his win and took the opportunity to take pictures with him. Despite the scorching morning sun, Murali obliged to all the requests, spending more than an hour in the area before settling down with the other ministers and grassroots leaders for lunch at a nearby coffeeshop. When asked to comment on Chees plan to continue walking the ground at Bukit Batok, Murali said he welcomed the SDP chiefs decision, adding that it ultimately will be a good thing as it is about serving the residents. There is not enough cute in the world for these rescued baby sloths There is not enough cute in the world for these rescued baby sloths Have you ever wondered what true paradise might look like? After looking at some of the pictures of the Sloth Institute Costa Rica, we think we have a pretty good idea. (Hint: Its filled with adorable sloths.) The Sloth Institute Costa Rica was co-founded by two women, Sam Trull and Seda Sejud, for the purposes of helping save sweet sloth lives. A very noble cause for a very worthy (not to mention unbearably cute) species. These heart-explodingly delightful little creatures are in pretty serious danger from a lot of different factors, which is one of the reasons the institute was originally founded. But if you think its a place you can go and pet random baby sloths, youll be pretty disappointed. Instead, its a place that serves to protect sloths from too much human interaction (which can actually stress them out critical levels), to nurture them back to health after years of stress, and to re-teach them how to survive on the own in the jungle. Not to mention, it teaches humans the true nature of sloths and how, if you love them, youll know the best way to help and protect them (and it isnt taking them home as a pet unfortunately). Luckily, there are plenty of ways to love and support these little ones (while still getting your cute-fix in). First of all, you can visit the website to see how you might be able to adopt a sloth. Or, if you really need lots of unbearably cute baby pictures (and, lets be honest, who doesnt?), the co-founder Sam Trull has just released a book called Slothlove that will hopefully satisfy your sloth-adoring needs while still helping support sloth-sustaining practices. Because, while having a sloth of your seems like it would be magical, when you truly love something, you have to learn to let it go. let it go The post There is not enough cute in the world for these rescued baby sloths appeared first on HelloGiggles. Get the five stories that will challenge you to rethink the world by signing up for MicCheck Daily. A sweeping set of protections released by the New York City Human Rights Commission on Friday aims to crack down on policies that enable discrimination against pregnant women, including a bartender's right to refuse to serve them. "Judgments and stereotypes about how pregnant individuals should behave, their physical capabilities, and what is or is not healthy for a fetus are pervasive in our society and cannot be used as pretext for unlawful discriminatory decisions ..." the guidelines read. Although the current wisdom states that having the occasional drink while pregnant will not cause any lasting harm to a fetus, the practice remains heavily stigmatized in Western culture. While the New York guidelines offer a progressive approach to eliminating a practice that has caused some women to feel judged and ashamed, some U.S. states still allow states to detain and prosecute expectant mothers who abuse alcohol or illicit drugs. The Associated Press reports that although it is still required for New York City bars to post signs warning against the dangers of drinking while pregnant, human rights advocates believe in a woman's right to make her own health decisions. The rest of the HRC guidelines focus on eliminating workplace discriminations against pregnant women, such as allowing them to make minor changes like eating desk lunches or tweaking their hours unexpectedly. Among the politicians and commissioners to offer their support of the guidelines was Office of New York City Council Member Helen Rosenthal, who thanked NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration for making the safety of mothers-to-be a priority. "If we are truly serious about closing the wage gap and attacking income inequality, we need to support pregnant women," she said. (Reuters) - Favorite Nyquist ran a perfect race to extend his unbeaten record winning the 142nd Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville on Saturday, sparking talk of a second consecutive Triple Crown champion. Nyquist, who had won a record $3.3 million heading into the Derby, extended his unbeaten record to 8-0 with a smooth trip under jockey Mario Gutierrez. Nyquist pulled away from Gun Runner down the stretch and then held off a closing charge by Exaggerator to win the first leg of U.S. thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown series for 3-year-olds. Exaggerator, the second choice, finished second by 1-1/4 lengths followed by Gun Runner, who was 4-1/2 lengths off the pace. Mohaymen took fourth. "He's amazing," said Gutierrez. "You get this 2-year-old baby with thoughts of getting into the Kentucky Derby," he said. "Everything has translated into reality. There are no words for it." Nyquist paid $6.60, $4.80, $3.60 for a $2 bet in becoming the eighth unbeaten horse ever to triumph in the Run for the Roses. Nyquist broke out of the 13th gate cleanly and Gutierrez eased him back to allow speed runner Danzing Candy, starting out of the 20th gate in the 20-horse field, to clear him from the outside. After Danzing Candy dropped back in the later stages, Gun Runner took over the lead but at the top of the stretch, Nyquist blew past the colt and opened up a wide lead heading for the finish. Exaggerator, who ran along the rail in the middle of the pack through the first half of the 1-1/4 mile race, made a gallant charge down the stretch and closed within a length but could not overhaul the favorite. "He's such a special horse, you can see it in his eye on a daily basis," said winning trainer Doug O'Neill, who along with Gutierrez teamed up to win the Derby four years ago with I'll Have Another. "He's such a professional. At any human sport he'd be the top notch athlete. He's just first class. Just the way he carries himself, he's the type of horse would be in the gym all day, go to bed early, he knows when to rest, he knows when to bring his A game. "There is no way you could be nervous. You felt like you were going to the gym with Kobe Bryant. You just knew he was going to figure out a way to pull it out at the end and he did." The next leg of the Triple Crown, swept for the first time in 37 years last season by American Pharoah, is the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico in Baltimore on May 21. (Reporting by Larry Fine in New York; Editing by Steve Keating) By Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal officer was charged on Saturday with first-degree murder after a two-day shooting rampage outside Washington D.C. that killed his wife and two apparent strangers and wounded three others, police said. The suspect, Eulalio Tordil, a 62-year-old police officer with the Federal Protective Service, was arrested without incident on Friday in Silver Spring, Maryland, a Washington suburb where one of the shootings took place. Tordil has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder and four firearms violations for Friday's attacks in two shopping center parking lots, the Montgomery County Police Department said on Twitter. He is being held without bond and will have a review hearing on Monday afternoon, it said. Tordil is suspected of shooting his estranged wife, Gladys Tordil, and a bystander who came to her aid on Thursday outside High Point High School in Prince George's County, Maryland. Gladys Tordil, a chemistry teacher at another high school, was picking up the couple's two daughters when the shooting occurred. Tordil was on leave, having surrendered his gun and badge after his wife obtained a protective order to keep him away, an official with the Federal Protective Service said. Montgomery County Police assistant chief Russ Hamill told reporters at a news conference on Saturday evening that Tordil then purchased a Glock handgun, which was later found in his vehicle. That gun was used at least in the two subsequent shootings on Friday, Hamill said. Tordil eluded a manhunt and is suspected of shooting a woman and two men who came to her aid outside the Westfield Montgomery Mall in affluent Bethesda, Maryland during an attempted carjacking, Hamill said. One of the men later died. Hamill called the two men heroes and said their actions likely saved the woman's life. Tordil is alleged to have shot dead another 65-year-old woman about 30 minutes later at the Aspen Hill Shopping Center in Silver Spring in another attempted carjacking, Hamill said. Police have said there was no apparent relationship between Tordil and those shot on Friday. (Reporting by Ian Simpson and Curtis Skinner; Editing by Digby Lidstone and James Dalgleish) By Dustin Volz and David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin vowed on Sunday to help unseat Paul Ryan, the top Republican in the House of Representatives, because of the his refusal to endorse presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. Palin, the former Alaska governor and Trump supporter, endorsed conservative businessman Paul Nehlen, who is challenging Ryan, the House speaker, for his congressional seat in the Wisconsin Republican nominating contest on Aug. 9. I will do whatever I can for Paul Nehlen, Palin said in an interview with CNN. This man is a hardworking guy, so in touch with the people. Though Ryan is heavily favored to win the primary race against Nehlen, Palin predicted an upset in a race she said would shock Washington's political class. Palin's comments underscore the deep divisions within the party over Trump, who effectively locked up his party's nomination for president last week when his two remaining rivals, Ted Cruz and John Kasich, dropped out of the race. Palin said she believed Ryan would get Cantored, comparing him to former Eric Cantor, the former No. 2 Republican in the House who was defeated in a 2014 primary by conservative Dave Brat, now a Virginia congressman. Ryan said last week he was not ready to support Trump yet, saying that the New York real estate mogul needed to do more to unify the Republican party. "Paul Ryan and his ilk, their problem is that they become so disconnected from the people they are elected to represent, as evidenced by Paul Ryan's refusal to support the GOP front runner, that we just said, 'He's our man,'" Palin said. A poll in March by Marquette University Law School showed Ryan with more than an 80 percent approval rating among Wisconsin Republicans. Seen as an intellectual leader of the partys conservative values, many inside the party believe he may mount his own White House run in the next presidential cycle. Nehlen, like Trump, wants to secure the southern border with Mexico and withdraw from global trade deals. He told Reuters in April that Cantors defeat in 2014 "reinforced in my mind that he could defeat Ryan. Asked if she would be willing to be vetted as a potential vice presidential candidate, Palin said she recognizes many voters might not want her on the ticket and that she wouldnt want to be a burden to Trumps candidacy. Palin, who is popular with the Tea Party wing of the Republican party, was tapped in 2008 to be the running mate for former Republican presidential nominee John McCain. (Reporting by Dustin Volz and David Lawder; Editing by Caren Bohan and Alan Crosby) Panama City (AFP) - Panama has reached a deal to transfer nearly 4,000 US-bound Cubans stranded on its territory to Mexico, an official said on Sunday, but added the flights would not be extended to future Cuban migrants. "Panama will transfer some 3,800 Cubans to Mexico after an agreement with that country," the Panamanian official told AFP on condition of anonymity because details were not to be released until Monday. The official said daily flights would begin on Monday from Panama City's international airport, going to Juarez, in Mexico's north near the US border. Each planeload would carry 154 Cubans who would pay the cost of the trip themselves. They have been blocked in Panama since March. The next two Central American countries to the north of Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, have since late last year closed their borders to Cubans trying to head north overland. Between January and March, Costa Rica oversaw flights for thousands of Cubans to El Salvador and Mexico to clear a backlog of the migrants who had become stuck by Nicaragua's border closure. Panama in March did likewise, organizing flights to Juarez for 1,300 Cubans. Officials back then insisted the operation would not be repeated. But since then, thousands more have arrived, aiming to get to the US, where a law dating back to the Cold War gives them privileged entry and a fast track to residency. Many Cubans risk a perilous trip through South and Central America because the United States seeks to throw back to Cuba any found crossing by sea to Florida. Panama's foreign minister, Isabel De Saint Malo, has called Costa Rica and Nicaragua's position "contradictory." But as a result, she said, her country now believes it has also become necessary for it to close off access to Cubans "to discourage the flow of migrants." Mother's Day is always tough for Philippine slum dweller Clarita Alia, whose four teenage sons were believed to be killed by vigilante squads, but this year even more so as the man she blames is close to becoming president. Alia, 62, lives a bitter existence in a shanty town in the southern city of Davao, with a gutter running through her kitchen and only fading photos of her sons who were murdered between 2001 and 2007 after various run-ins with the local police. Davao is the long-time domain of Rodrigo Duterte, the tough-talking lawyer who has surged to become the favourite to win Monday's presidential elections on a platform of abandoning human rights laws and killing tens of thousands of suspected criminals across the country. Duterte, 71, is promising to clean up the Philippines with the same methods he employed in Davao, a city of nearly two million people in the violence-racked far south of the country that he has ruled as mayor for most of the past two decades. Millions of Filipinos have embraced his authoritarian dogma, as they seek a saviour to the chaos and corruption that dogs their lives. Roughly one quarter of the nation's 100 million people live below the poverty line, and crime is rampant. But Alia wants to warn other Filipinos of the dangers she believes Duterte would bring to the nation if he rises to the presidency. "I don't want him to become president," Alia, one of the few people willing to speak out publicly against Duterte in Davao, told AFP on Sunday as mothers around the world celebrated being with their children. "He doesn't have any morals. God forbid if he becomes president. So many children will be victims." Duterte is accused of running death squads in Davao that summarily executed suspected criminals. Human rights groups say the squads -- made up of local police, former communist rebels and hired assassins -- have killed more than 1,000 people. Alia's sons were aged between 14 and 18 when they were killed. She and rights groups believe they were murdered by the death squads, after police warned the boys they were on hit lists. Story continues - 'Forget human rights' - Duterte has at various times acknowledged his involvement in the death squads, and on one occasion boasted of them killing 1,700 people. At other times he has denied any knowledge of them. But he has repeatedly made it clear on the campaign trail that thousands of people will die if he becomes president, as he unleashes security forces with shoot-to-kill orders in a bid to achieve the seemingly impossible goal of eradicating crime in six months. "Forget the laws on human rights," Duterte said in his final campaign rally on Saturday night in Manila. "If I make it to the presidential palace, I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, hold-up men and do-nothings, you better go out. Because as the mayor, I'd kill you." On an earlier occasion he vowed that 100,000 criminals would die in his crackdown, and so many would be dumped in Manila Bay that the "fish will grow fat" from feeding on them. President Benigno Aquino, who is limited by the constitution to serving a single term of six years, launched a desperate bid in the final stages of the campaign to derail Duterte, accusing him of being a dictator in the making and likening him to Hitler. "I need your help to stop the return of terror in our land. I cannot do it alone," Aquino said in an appeal to voters in Saturday's final rally for his preferred successor, Mar Roxas. But many Filipinos appear ready to sacrifice the rule of law for what they hope will be a safer society. Duterte goes into Monday's election with a big lead over Roxas and Senator Grace Poe, the adopted daughter of movie stars. "It's nothing," Grace Quiniones, a market stall vendor in Davao and Duterte fan, told AFP when asked about his promises to kill thousands of suspected criminals. "He doesn't kill people who are not criminals. Only those people who break the law disappear, like drug pushers." Police are searching for anyone who can tell them why a 21-year old George Mason University (GMU) student was stabbed, beaten by a mob, and left to die late last month, according to WTOP News. Friends of Hosung Lee, also known as Steven, reportedly drove him home from the Herndon, Virginia, party in the early morning hours of April 24 and placed him in bed. The GMU student's family found him dead sometime later that day, according to The Washington Post". Witnesses told police that a mob of about 15-20 people stomped, kicked and punched the GMU student when he was motionless on the kitchen floor of the home where the party was given, according to the newspaper. The state medical examiner ruled last week the death was a homicide and that the GMU student had died from a stab wound to the chest, according to NBC Washington. The search warrant obtained by the Washington Post does not indicate what prompted the attack at the April 23 party. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. Police executed a search warrant of the home where the party took place and seized cigarette butts, shot glasses, beer cans and other items. Fairfax County police did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment. Fairfax County police ask anyone who might know the identity of anyone in the images they released to contact police at 703-246-4057 or by calling 1-866-411-TIPS(8477). The Radiohead album that fans have been Daydreaming about is finally here. The U.K. bands ninth studio album, A Moon Shaped Pool, dropped on Apple Music on Sunday, approximately 30 minutes earlier than its scheduled 2 p.m. ET time. Its also available on amoonshapedpool.com, where fans can also preorder CDs and vinyls before they officially hit the market on June 17. The album appeared on Google Play even earlier on Sunday. It was promptly taken down, however, after fans and media outlets took notice. Prior to the albums debut, Radiohead released two singles, Burn the Witch and Daydreaming, and two videos, one of which was helmed by Inherent Vice director Paul Thomas Anderson. The album includes those two tracks, along with a studio version of live favorite True Love Waits. Apple Music describes the album as a haunting collection of shapeshifting rock, dystopian lullabies, and vast spectral beauty. Though youll hear echoes of their previous work the remote churn of Daydreaming, the feverish ascent and spidery guitar of Ful Stop, Jonny Greenwoods terrifying string flourishes A Moon Shaped Pool is both familiar and wonderfully elusive, much like its unforgettable closer. Daydreaming marks the bands first album since 2011s The King of Limbs. Radiohead will embark on a world tour beginning this month, starting in European cities such as Amsterdam and then moving to North America, before wrapping up the tour in Mexico City. See the full track list below. 1. Burn The Witch 2. Daydreaming 3. Decks Dark 4. Desert Island Disk 5. Ful Stop 6. Glass Eyes 7. Identikit 8. The Numbers 9. Present Tense 10. Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Rich Man Poor Man Beggar Man Thief 11. True Love Waits Related stories Radiohead Announce New Album Date, Premieres 'Daydreaming' Video Apple to Unveil Redesigned Apple Music Next Month (Report) Radiohead Disappears From the Internet Roy Moore, Alabamas quixotic chief justice, faces removal from the bench once again. The Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission charged Moore with six counts of violating judicial ethics Friday evening for issuing an order in January that blocked marriage licenses for same-sex couples statewide. In its 32-page complaint on Friday, the states disciplinary board for judges said Moore had flagrantly disregarded and abused his authority by issuing the order and abandoned his role as a neutral and detached chief administrator of the judicial system. Moore struck a defiant note in response to the charges, which he blamed on local LGBT activists. The Montgomery Advertiser has more: In a statement Friday, Moore said the JIC had no authority over administrative orders related to probate judges. The JIC has chosen to listen to people like Ambrosia Starling, a professed transvestite, and other gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals, as well as organizations which support their agenda, the statement said. We intend to fight this agenda vigorously and expect to prevail. Moore called the complaints politically motivated at an April 27 presser conference. His attorney, Matt Staver, said the orders reflected "a disagreement between state and federal courts on an issue. Moores January order followed a complex legal battle over marriage equality in Alabama. First, a federal district court struck down Alabamas bans on same-sex marriages in February 2015, but stayed its ruling while U.S. Supreme Court considered the issue in Obergefell v. Hodges. The following month, the Alabama Supreme Court upheld the marriage bans in a separate case and ordered the probate judges in the state to comply with them. Recommended: Why Are Americans So Deeply Angry? After the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling in Obergefell last June, the district court lifted the stay on its own ruling and blocked the probate judges from denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples. At the same time, the Alabama Supreme Court asked both sides of its marriage-equality case to file briefs on how Obergefell affected its previous orders. Story continues Six months later, while the Alabama Supreme Court continued to deliberate, Moore intervened through his administrative role as the states chief justice and ordered the probate judges to enforce the marriage bans on January 6. Moore justified the order as an effort to end confusion and uncertainty among the probate judges. But since the district court had already struck down the bans, Moores order amounted to an act of defiance against the federal judiciary. The Alabama Supreme Court eventually dismissed the case in March with a one-sentence order, to which Moore attached a 94-page dissent in which he described Obergefell as immoral, unconstitutional, and tyrannical. With formal ethics charges filed, Moore is automatically suspended from his position as chief justice pending a hearing by the Alabama Court of the Judiciary. The court can impose a range of sanctions on judges for misconduct, including censure and removal from office. Such a fate already befell the staunchly conservative jurist once before while serving as Alabamas chief justice. In 2003, Moore defied a federal judges order to remove a two-ton granite monument of the Ten Commandments he had installed in the state supreme court building. The Court of the Judiciary responded by removing him from office for violating Alabamas judicial-ethics canon. Voters narrowly returned him to the position again in 2012. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. Frankfurt (AFP) - Dozens of bikers from the notorious Russian nationalist club known as the Night Wolves crossed into Germany Sunday to celebrate the Soviet Union's World War II victory over the Nazis. A convoy of about 80 motorbikes and five escort vehicles crossed the border from the Czech Republic into eastern Germany, but police reported no incidents. The Wolves, who are fiercely loyal to the Kremlin, aim to reach Berlin Monday to mark the 71st anniversary of the Soviet army's defeat of the Nazis in 1945. Their 6,000 kilometre (3,700 mile) "victory rally" began in Moscow in April and has taken them across several central European countries including Belarus, Poland and the Czech Republic, but has not been without controversy. A week ago, seven bikers were denied entry into Poland, after the group was banned last year amid tense relations between Moscow and Warsaw. The rally is an uncomfortable reminder of the post-WWII Soviet domination of Poland, as well as Russia's actions in Ukraine, where members of the group have appeared in annexed Crimea and fought alongside pro-Moscow rebels in the east. Established in 1989, shortly before the break-up of the Soviet Union, the Night Wolves boasts about 5,000 members. Kabarondo (Rwanda) (AFP) - Twenty-two years after the Rwandan genocide, Jean-Damascene Rutagungira still cannot bear the sight of the Catholic church in the eastern village of Kabarondo, where his family was massacred before his eyes. Sitting in front of his house, set in the midst of corn fields and banana plantations, the fifty-something farmer, who lost his wife, three children and his mother in the attack, admitted: "Whenever I get close to that church, I go crazy." On Tuesday, two former Kabarondo mayors go on trial in France over the killing of hundreds of people at the church in April 1994, at the height of the genocide in which 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis, were killed by Hutu extremists. Rutagungira will travel to Paris to testify against Octavien Ngenzi, 58, Kabarondo's mayor at the time of the killings, and his predecessor Tito Barahira, 64, both of whom are accused of genocide and crimes against humanity in just the second trial of suspected perpetrators living on French soil. Rutagungira is convinced the two men, who were sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment by a local Rwandan community court, played a key role in the massacre in Kabarondo. "If they hadn't been there, there wouldn't have been so many dead," he insisted. On April 13, 1994, a group of mostly Tutsi families who had sought shelter at the church came under attack from villagers backed by the genocidal Hutu "Interahamwe" militia. Rutagungira and several others attempted to fight back with stones but they were no match for the gun and grenade-toting attackers and the soldiers sent in as reinforcements. "There were a lot of dead. There were bodies everywhere in front of the church," Rutagungira recalled. - 'It's time to chop' - The militia then broke down the door to the church and ordered all the elderly people and children hiding inside, including Rutagungira's family, to leave. Story continues Rutagungira's mother was among the first of those who emerged to be killed, bludgeoned to death despite her pleas for clemency. An elderly woman who claimed to be Hutu followed. The woman appealed directly to Barahira, the former mayor, to save her, but he shoved her aside and she too was beaten to death, he said. Next, said Rutagungira, the militia ordered the refugees onto their knees and told them to cover their faces. "And then one of them shouted 'It's time to chop' and they began killing people with machetes." Rutagungira himself managed to escape and hide in a forest until Tutsi rebels from the armed wing of what is now the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front came to the rescue in late April. Rutagungira said Barahira's lead role in the killings in Kabarondo was clear, citing his decision to spare a Hutu man whose mother was a Tutsi as proof that he called the shots. Richard Musoni, another survivor of the attack, also pointed the finger of blame at Barahira, who was arrested in 2013 in the southwestern French city of Toulouse. At the start of the genocide, 38-year-old Musoni said, "people here didn't want to kill Tutsis". It was Barahira, he said, who set the killings in motion, inciting attacks at a rally on the day of the church massacre where, armed with a spear, he demanded people get to "work" -- code for killing Tutsis. Rutagungira said Ngenzi, who was captured in 2010 in the French overseas territory of Mayotte, off southeast Africa, was also instrumental in the killings, quietly giving orders at the scene, with a gun tucked into his belt. - Second French trial - Oreste Incimatata, who was parish priest of Kabarondo at the time, described the two men as figures with "a lot of influence over the population". "They incited, they gave orders and they sent people forward to kill," he charged. Both Barahira and Ngenzi deny the allegations. Barahira's lawyer said he went to the church "to see if he could do something to help the refugees". Ngenzi's lawyer has described him as "a good mayor" who was overtaken by events. The mayors' trial comes two years after that of Pascal Simbikangwa, a former Rwandan intelligence boss who was jailed for 25 years for his role in the genocide. Simbikangwa's trial was seen as a turning point in the quest to bring Rwandans suspected of involvement in the slaughter, who later fled to France, to justice. France had, for years, been accused of dragging his heels on prosecuting such cases, creating tensions with Kigali. Kigali (AFP) - At least 800,000 people were slaughtered in a 100-day orgy of violence instigated by the extremist Hutu regime in power in Rwanda in 1994. The bloodbath was unleashed after Rwanda's President Juvenal Habyarimana was killed when his plane was shot down over Kigali on April 6, 1994. He was returning from talks in Tanzania with Tutsi rebels of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) commanded by Paul Kagame, now president of the small central African nation. President Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi was also killed in the crash. In the hours that followed, soldiers killed Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, 10 Belgian paratroopers guarding her and other top officials in a coalition government. Troops from the Hutu-dominated government and allied militia killed thousands of Rwandans, Tutsis for the most part, who were accused of collaborating with the rebels. The genocide had begun. By April 8 the killings had spread to other parts of the country. Soldiers and militiamen set up roadblocks, and lists of those to be killed, mostly Tutsis but also opposition Hutus, were distributed to all levels of government. The notorious Mille Collines radio station spouted propaganda against the Tutsis, referring to them as "cockroaches". Mille Collines and other media outlets, as well as officials, incited the general population to kill, loot and rape. Men, women and children were felled by machetes, grenades and bullets, in the streets or in their homes, and even in churches and schools where they had sought sanctuary. A UN peacekeeping operation, UNAMIR, proved unable to stop the massacres and on April 21 it was reduced from around 2,500 to 270 men. A week later, the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said a "genocide" was under way. "It is total horror, We are in the heart of darkness," said a spokesman for the International Committee for the Red Cross. It was not until June 22 that France deployed Operation Turquoise, a UN-mandated force tasked with ending the genocide, also to little effect. Story continues The nightmare finally ended when the RPF took the capital Kigali and the city of Butare on July 4. Hundreds of thousands of Rwandan Hutus sought refuge from the RPF across the border in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, mostly around Goma and Bukavu. On November 8, the United Nations set up the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, in Arusha, Tanzania, to try the masterminds of the genocide. In 1998 the court handed down its first life sentences and included rape and sexual violence in acts of genocide. These decisions constituted the first recognition of genocide against the Rwandan Tutsi minority by the international justice system. Since then, the country has charged more than 90 people and sentenced more than 60, including high-ranking figures. Meanwhile, nearly two million people have appeared before Rwanda's community "gacaca" courts that have tried the bulk of the people suspected of taking part in the genocide. Two-thirds have been convicted and most sentenced to prison. By Mike Stone NEW YORK, May 8 (Reuters) - Emirates Team New Zealand won Sunday's final race of the New York City stop for the America's Cup World Series (ACWS) to remain on top in the points race competition between the world's top sailing teams. The two-day event provided America's Cup skippers a chance to get back on the boats, assess the competition, and further develop the skills and tactics that could be crucial in next year's America's Cup in Bermuda. Sunday's three races were held on the Hudson River before thousands of spectators, watching in breezy sunshine on the New York promenade the 44-foot twin-hulled sailboats known as AC45Fs rise up on retractable hydrofoil keels and rudders and create the appearance of flying over the surface of the water. Lively wind from the northwest compounded the effect of the southbound current in the Hudson and Emirates Team New Zealand won the third race as a flukey breeze propelled them from the near the back of the pack to win the last race and the regatta. Oracle Team USA finished second with Softbank Team Japan third in the final race. Sweden's entry Artemis Racing held the lead for most of the first race and clinched the win. After race organizers shortened the course for the second race, Groupama Team France won the second race with Oracle Team USA second. The ACWS overall standings remained unchanged with Emirates Team New Zealand, Oracle Team USA and Land Rover BAR, the British entry, rounding out the top three places. Softbank Team Japan, Artemis Racing and Groupama Team France are fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. Light wind conditions and a swift current on the Hudson River made officials abandon Saturday's first race and deem the second one a "substitute race," only counting in the standings if Sunday's conditions did not permit racing. The substitute race was won by Softbank Team Japan skippered by Dean Barker. Races in the ACWS have already been held in Portsmouth, England, Gothenberg, Sweden, Bermuda and Oman and will move to Chicago, Toulon, France and possibly Japan. The boat designs will be scaled up to 50 feet for the America's Cup in Bermuda, which is set to begin in May 2017 and climax with the final two teams vying for the oldest trophy in sports, known as the "Auld Mug." The America's Cup race has been held every few years since 1851, except for pauses during the world wars. (Reporting by Mike Stone; Editing by Larry Fine) )) Sarah Palin said in a new interview that she will support a primary challenger to House Speaker Paul Ryan, arguing that the Republican leader has disrespected the will of the people by refusing to back presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. I think Paul Ryan is soon to be Cantored, as in Eric Cantor, Palin, referring the the 2014 upset of the former House Majority Leader, said in an interview with CNNs Jake Tapper airing Sunday. Ryan said this week that hes not ready to support Trump yet. Conservatives want to know does he share our values, he said. There are lots of questions that conservatives are going to want answers to. That announcement, which was seen as giving cover to other House Republicans to distance themselves from Trump, was only one of several by high-profile party leaders this week that illustrated the depths of the distrust between the GOP elite and their presumptive nominee. His political career is over but for a miracle because he has so disrespected the will of the people, and as the leader of the GOP, the convention, certainly he is to remain neutral, and for him to already come out and say who he will not support is not a wise decision of his, Palin said. She promised to do whatever I can can for Paul Nehlen, a Wisconsin businessman challenging Ryan. Pressed during the interview on Trumps previous remarks that Mexican immigrants are rapists and that Muslims should be temporarily banned from entering the country, Palin said: Who cares? #Korean Air-Cebu incident Korean Air flight overruns Cebu runway, no injuries reported Korean Air Co. said Monday its flight KE631 with 173 people on board overran the runway while landing at Cebu International Airport in the Philippines a day earlier but no injuries... #Yoon Suk-yeol Yoon calls for war against drug crimes President Yoon Suk-yeol called Monday for special measures to address drug crimes, saying they must be stopped before they become a national-level threat. Yoon gave the instruct... Watch out, House Speaker Paul Ryan. Thats the message from Sarah Palin. The former vice presidential candidate, Alaska governor, reality TV star, and pundit is vowing to use her celebrity to help defeat Ryan in his Congressional reelection bid. In an interview that aired Sunday with CNNs Jake Tapper, Palin said she would support Ryans Republican primary opponent in the Wisconsin race. I think Paul Ryan is soon to be Cantored, as in Eric Cantor, Palin said. Cantor, the former GOP House majority leader, lost the Republican primary to a more conservative opponent in 2014. Ryans political career is over but for a miracle because he has so disrespected the will of the people, Palin told Tapper. Palin, who endorsed Donald Trump early on, was responding to the fact that Ryan recently declared that he was not ready to support Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president. Already, several prominent GOP leaders, including 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, have said they will not attend the GOP convention and have publicly declared Trump unfit for the presidency. Palin claimed that Ryans announcement was motivated by his own White House ambitions. If the GOP were to win now, that wouldnt bode well for his chances in 2020, and thats what hes shooting for, Palin said. Ryans primary opponent, Paul Nehlen, has endorsed Trump. The primary is in August. Ryan has said he and other party leaders will meet with Donald Trump this week. See original article on Fortune.com More from Fortune.com Sarah Palin says shed be open to being Donald Trumps vice presidential running mate but doesnt want to hurt his chances the way many believe she did for John McCain in 2008. I want to help and not hurt the former Alaska governor said on CNNs State of the Union on Sunday. And I am such a realist that I realize there are a whole lot of people out there who would say, Anybody but Palin. I wouldnt want to be a burden on the ticket, and I realize in many, many eyes, I would be that burden. I just want the guy to win. I want America to win, Palin, who endorsed Trump in January, continued. And I dont know if I would be the person that would be able to help him win. But Palin, who burst onto the American political and pop culture scene as McCains running mate, said if Trump did put her on his shortlist for VP, she wouldnt need much vetting. I think Im pretty much as vetted as anybody in the country, she said. I think there are so many other great people out there in America who can serve in this position. I think if someone wanted to choose me, they already know who I am, what I stand for. They wouldnt be in for any surprises. Palin endorses Trump during a rally in Ames, Iowa. (Photo: Mary Altaffer/AP) Palin also lashed out at House Speaker Paul Ryan, who said last week hes not yet ready to support Trump. In response, Palin said she will do everything she can to help fell Ryan in the Wisconsin primary. His political career is over, Palin said of the 2012 vice presidential nominee. He has so disrespected the will of the people, and as the leader of the GOP, the convention, certainly he is to remain neutral, and for him to already come out and say who he will not support is not a wise decision of his. Palin told CNN she will campaign for Paul Nehlen, Ryans GOP opponent in the Badger State. Paul Ryan and his ilk, their problem is they have become so disconnected from the people they were elected to represent, she said. Their problem is they feel so threatened at this point that their power, their prestige, their purse will be adversely affected by this change that is coming with Trump. Story continues Palin also thinks Ryan has an ulterior motive for not backing Trump. If the GOP were to win now, that wouldnt bode well for his chances in 2020, she said. And thats what hes shooting for. In a separate interview that aired on State of the Union, McCain warned Ryan and other GOP leaders not to ignore the will of the voters whove all but cemented Trump as the partys nominee. You have to listen to people that have chosen the nominee of our Republican Party, the Arizona senator said. I think it would be foolish to ignore them. McCain acknowledged theres a disconnect that exists within the GOP when it comes to Trump. You have to draw the conclusion that there is some distance, if not a disconnect, between party leaders and members of Congress and the many voters who have selected Donald Trump to be the nominee of the party. But McCain, a war veteran who was mocked by Trump earlier in the campaign for being captured, said hes not about to stump for Trump, either. A lot of things would have to happen, McCain said. I think its important for Donald Trump to express his appreciation for veterans, not John McCain, but veterans who were incarcerated as prisoners of war. McCain introduces Palin as his vice presidential running mate in Dayton, Ohio, Aug. 29, 2008. (Photo: Kiichiro Sato/AP/File) McCain also defended his choice of Palin for vice president. I dont often make a comment like this, he said. "But she was treated terribly by what we know as the mainstream media, and thats the only thing I will ever resent about my presidential campaign is her treatment by the media. It was disgraceful. As for whom Trump should choose, McCain said it should be somebody who unites the party, like Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst or even Ryan, though Im not sure hed want to do that again. Donald Trump has found a prominent attack dog in failed Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. On Sunday, the former Alaska governor's targeted House Speaker Paul Ryan when she publicly vowed to help unseat her fellow Republican as revenge for his bombshell refusal to endorse Trump's nomination. "His political career is over but for a miracle because he has so disrespected the will of the people, and as the leader of the GOP, the convention, certainly he is to remain neutral, and for him to already come out and say who he will not support is not a wise decision of his," Palin told CNN's Jake Tapper. Read: Trump: I'd Give Sarah Palin a Role in My Administration Palin said Ryan, who stands second in order of succession to the presidency after Vice President Joe Biden, needs to be "Cantored, as in Eric Cantor," who was the Republican House majority leader whose 2014 primary loss in Virginia served as the Tea Party's shot across the bow of the party's mainstream. Palin said she believes Speaker Ryan wants Trump to lose in order to better his own chances in a 2020 presidential run. Ryan, Congress's Republican standard-bearer, sent shockwaves through the party last week when he said Trump had not yet earned his endorsement. Read: Was Trump Looking At Photo of Ex-Wife Marla Maples in a Bikini Before Eating Taco Bowl? "If the GOP were to win now, that wouldn't bode well for his chances in 2020, and that's what he's shooting for," Palin said. Palin said she will "do whatever I can" to help Ryan's primary challenger in Wisconsin, Paul Nehlen, unseat the Speaker. While currently the highest ranking Republican to decline to back Trump's controversial bid, Ryan is not the first. The two most recent Republican presidents, George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush, have vowed to not attend July's RNC convention, where Trump is all but assured to win the nomination. Story continues Watch: Donald Trump Says He Has the Rights to Use Rolling Stones' Songs Related Articles: game of thrones jon snow saturday night live snl nbc Warning: Spoilers ahead if you're not caught up on "Game of Thrones." While "Game of Thrones" fans celebrate the return of Jon Snow after nearly a year of waiting, a "Saturday Night Live" sketch made fun of the drawn-out, predictable storyline. It starts off with Jon Snow (played by Pete Davidson) still dead on a slab as Ser Davos (Taran Killam) and others discuss how very dead he is. "Just bring him back to life already," this week's host, Brie Larson, said, while playing a village woman. "Yeah, we all know it's going to happen, just do it," another village woman (Cecily Strong) chimed in. But Ser Davos continued to argue how dead Jon Snow was. "No, it's not going to happen, because he is super dead," Ser Davos replied. "On a scale of one to 10, he is like a 10 of dead." Thankfully, Melisandre (Kate McKinnon) enters the room. "Remember, the one with the thousand-year-old puss," she said. When asked whether she can wake Jon Snow with her magic, Melisandre replied, "Hm, maybe. Let me think about it for a full 10 minutes." "Holy crap, you guys must feel how slow this," Strong's woman asked. It seems like we're getting somewhere when Melisandre announces she will bring Jon Snow back, but very slowly. But after being told that the show is actually showing every moment of the drawn-out scene, she changes her mind and quickly brings Jon Snow back to life. "It worked, what a twist!" Melisandre exclaimed. Watch the sketch below: NOW WATCH: 4 important things you probably missed on this week's 'Game of Thrones' More From Business Insider Riyadh (AFP) - The new energy minister of Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, on Sunday pledged continuity in the kingdom's oil policy, after being named in a major government overhaul. "Saudi Arabia will maintain its stable petroleum policies," Khalid al-Falih said in a statement a day after King Salman appointed him to replace longtime former oil minister Ali al-Naimi. "We remain committed to maintaining our role in international energy markets and strengthening our position as the world's most reliable supplier of energy," Falih added. Salman tapped Falih, the chairman of state oil giant Saudi Aramco, to head an expanded energy, industry and mineral resources portfolio. His predecessor Naimi had led the now-defunct ministry of petroleum and mineral resources for about two decades. Naimi oversaw a major change in policy towards the end of his tenure when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) refused to cut production despite a price plunge. Instead, OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia focused on protecting its market share and driving out less-competitive players, including the developers of US shale oil. Major oil producers failed to reach an agreement on freezing output in Qatar last month as Saudi Arabia insisted any deal must include all OPEC members, including rival Iran which boycotted the talks. The price collapse, from above $100 in early 2014 to less than $45 on Friday, has intensified Saudi efforts to diversify the economy away from oil which makes up the majority of its revenue. Falih was appointed as part of a government shakeup that saw several ministries merged in what analysts said reflected the government's determination to diversify the economy under its wide-ranging Vision 2030 plan announced last month. Falih said the new ministry was created "in line with the ambitious objectives" of the vision which has pledged "transparency and accountability". Story continues The new approach "will help the kingdom to better meet domestic and international energy demand," while integrating and diversifying energy and other resources, he said. An oil industry source, speaking shortly before Falih issued his statement, said he did not expect any change in Saudi oil policy under the new setup. The kingdom produced about 10.1 million barrels of oil per day in March, according to data cited by OPEC. Vietnamese police detained scores of people as they broke up a protest against a Taiwanese company accused of being behind a toxic leak that has caused mass fish deaths off the central coast. The protest in Hanoi, which follows a similar demonstration last weekend, was swiftly dispersed by authorities on Sunday morning, an AFP reporter witnessed, in a communist country where all shows of dissent are tightly controlled. Several hundred demonstrators had gathered in the heart of the capital outraged at the poisoning of waters near Ha Tinh province that has left tonnes of fish and clams dead and decimated the local fishing industry, accusing Taiwanese steel mill Formosa of overseeing a toxic leak. "Never has the Vietnamese sea been this badly polluted," army veteran Nguyen Manh Trung, 68, told AFP. But "the police are now more and more professional in breaking up protests," he added of the scores of people taken away in unmarked cars. Vietnam's prime minister has vowed to get tough on those responsible for the leak, but an official inquiry has yet to apportion blame. However state-run media has pointed the finger at a 1.5 kilometre (one mile) waste water pipeline from Formosa's multi-billion dollar steel plant into the ocean. The company has a bad record of environmental scandals spanning the globe. But it has not formally been linked to the mass fish poisoning. As the scandal unfolded in April a Formosa communications official was sacked after he said Vietnam needs "to choose whether to catch fish and shrimp or to build a state-of-the-art steel mill". "You cannot have both," the official said. The company later apologised for the comments and has launched its own inquiry but public anger is snowballing. Vietnam's central provinces are heavily dependent on seafood, including farmed shrimp, catfish and wild-caught tuna. Last year the country earned $6.6 billion from seafood exports. Scott may not be a "lonely lord" after all. The father of three was spotted out to dinner with rumored new fling Megan Blake Irwin on Friday at Nobu in Malibu. On Saturday, Disick, 32, took Kourtney Kardashian and two of the couple's three kids Mason, 6 and Penelope, 3 to an Italian restaurant for what might have been an early Mother's Day celebration. Toddler Reign was not seen during the Saturday outing. Disick, who still appears on Keeping Up with the Kardashians", recently bought a home in Calabasas, California, so he could be closer to his kids following his split from Kardashian. During a tour of the home shown in a recent clip from the reality show, Kris Jenner told Disick he was "living like a lord." "Living like a lonely lord," he responded. While Disick and Kardashian split last year, they have continued to co-parent their three children and will often spend quality time as a family. Kardashian and her children recently returned to the West Coast after taking a family trip to Cuba alongside sisters Kim Kardashian West and Khloe Kardashian. (Disick did not appear to be on the trip.) Cruisin' with my boy in A photo posted by Kourtney Kardashian (@kourtneykardash) on May 6, 2016 at 11:15pm PDT Cuban cruise. A photo posted by Kourtney Kardashian (@kourtneykardash) on May 7, 2016 at 9:15am PDT Las hermanas en Cuba. A photo posted by Kourtney Kardashian (@kourtneykardash) on May 7, 2016 at 4:37pm PDT After they returned to the States, Kardashian shared numerous colorful photos of the family's trip, including several shots of the group cruising down a street in a vintage car. On Sunday, Kardashian shared a photo of her three children on Mother's Day, saying she felt "overwhelmed with love and blessings." Feeling overwhelmed with love and blessings being able to be a mommy to these three angel babies. My favorite role in life so far is being a mommy and getting to see life through their eyes. Happy Mother's Day! A photo posted by Kourtney Kardashian (@kourtneykardash) on May 8, 2016 at 9:37am PDT "Feeling overwhelmed with love and blessings being able to be a mommy to these three angel babies," she wrote. "My favorite role in life so far is being a mommy and getting to see life through their eyes. Happy Mother's Day!" By Taiga Uranaka and Ritsuko Shimizu TOKYO (Reuters) - The incoming head of Japan's Seven & i (3382.T) said he is keen for his predecessor Toshifumi Suzuki, who resigned last month after a power struggle, to become an adviser to the $90 billion (62.3 billion) retail conglomerate - an olive branch that could help mend a divided board. The gesture by Ryuichi Isaka, who is backed by U.S. activist investor Daniel Loeb, comes after Suzuki failed to oust Isaka in April in what was seen as a rare victory for corporate governance in Japan as the board refused to rubber-stamp the CEO's decision. It underscores the delicate balancing act Isaka, 58, must undertake as he seeks to push through a planned restructuring and win over the company's board members, many of whom still revere Suzuki, a legendary figure in Japan's retail industry. "I would like him to stay as adviser," Isaka said in an interview, adding that Suzuki's title would be decided by Seven & i's annual shareholders' meeting on May 26. It is not known if Suzuki, 83, is willing to be appointed as a Seven & i adviser. He could not be reached for comment. Suzuki quit in a surprise move after narrowly failing to garner enough board votes to remove Isaka as the head of Seven & i's profitable convenience store unit Seven-Eleven Japan. Isaka, a veteran executive at Seven-Eleven Japan, has been credited with driving the convenience store chain's growth but Suzuki contended that Isaka had not lived up to expectations. The parent company then named Isaka as president to succeed Suzuki. New management will take over after the shareholders' meeting. INVESTOR CONCERNS Some analysts, though, have questioned any potential advisory role for Suzuki. In a report last month, Deutsche Bank said an advisory role or honorary position "may raise investor concern about the transition to the next generation of management". Isaka played down such concerns. "We will be able to consult him when we need to seek advice but at the end of the day his position is just an advisory one," he said. Story continues Loeb and others had demanded a drastic restructuring of the group's Ito-Yokado supermarket chain due to the division's mounting losses. Isaka said Seven & i now plans a store-by-store review of the supermarkets to see whether they need to be scrapped or converted into grocery stores and intends to announce a new business plan for the whole company when half-year results are disclosed in October. The company has said it will close 20 Ito-Yokado stores this business year. (Reporting by Taiga Uranaka; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman) Kerry Katona has set the record straight regarding her rumoured relationship with Coronation Street actor Ryan Thomas. Rex/Shutterstock The pair were said to be in a secret relationship on the front page of todays Daily Star Sunday. Kerry quickly took to Twitter to deny the claims, saying there was no truth in them at all. Rex/Shutterstock She tweeted: Prue BS in the papers today!!! [sic] Why are the media so intent on me being in a relationship!!! I am single and plan on staying that way!!! Kerry Katona/Twitter She went on to add: No truth what so ever in todays papers!!! Full of shite!! Kerry Katona/Twitter And then: Really must be a slow news day to make up a story about my sex life and to print it front page!! Really Its a fking joke. Kerry Katona/Twitter The paper claimed that the pair got together after David Gests funeral last month. Ryan has yet to comment on the rumours. Its the second time Ryan has made headlines with rumours of his love life recently. In March, there was much speculation that the Jason Grimshaw actor was dating co-star Alison King (Carla Conner) after pictures emerged of them on a countryside break with their kids. Sources at the time insisted their relationship was purely (or pruely, as Kerry might say) platonic. Afghanistan on Sunday hanged six Taliban-linked inmates, the government said, in the first set of executions carried out as part of President Ashraf Ghani's new hardline policy against the insurgents. Ghani carried out his threat to execute militants after an insurgent attack last month left 64 people dead in Kabul, in seemingly the deadliest attack on the Afghan capital since 2001. The executions, the first endorsed by Ghani since he came to power in 2014, have dashed the last traces of hope of reviving Taliban peace talks that broke down last summer. "In accordance with the Afghan constitution... Ghani approved the execution of six terrorists who perpetrated grave crimes against civilians and public security," the presidential palace said in a statement. "This order has been carried out today after... considering the human rights obligations of Afghanistan... and in accordance with Afghan laws." Five Taliban inmates and one from the Taliban-allied Haqqani network were executed in Kabul's Pule Charkhi prison, Afghanistan's spy agency said, releasing their photographs. Most of them were convicted of militant strikes across Afghanistan, including one charged with facilitating the 2011 assassination of former president Burhanuddin Rabbani. In its response, the Taliban vowed revenge attacks against government offices responsible for carrying out the executions. The Taliban, which announced the start of their annual spring offensive on April 12, have already stepped up their campaign against the Western-backed Kabul government. - 'Cycle of violence' - In an unusually vitriolic speech last month, Ghani pledged a tough military response against the Taliban and vowed to enforce legal punishments, including executions of convicted militants. His remarks were in response to a brazen Taliban assault on April 19 on a security services office in the heart of Kabul, seen as the opening salvo in this year's spring offensive. Story continues The carnage left 64 civilians and military personnel dead and cast a pall over international efforts to jumpstart Pakistan-brokered peace talks, which stalled last summer after the Taliban belatedly confirmed the death of longtime leader Mullah Omar. Rights groups had pleaded with Ghani to not press ahead with the executions. "By hastily seeking retribution for the horrific bombings that killed 64 people in Kabul... the government plans to execute those convicted of terror offences will neither bring the victims the justice they deserve, nor Afghanistan the security it needs," Amnesty International said in a statement last week. "There is no evidence that the death penalty serves as a deterrent, and there are fears that it will only serve to perpetuate a cycle of violence without tackling any of the root causes." Ghani has also threatened diplomatic reprisals against Pakistan if it refuses to take action against insurgent havens on its soil. Ghani's remarks reflected his frustration after he expended substantial political capital since coming to power in 2014 in courting Pakistan in the hope of pressuring the militants to the negotiating table. The Pakistani government recently admitted, after years of official denial, that the Taliban leadership enjoys safe haven inside the country. [Warning: This story contains spoilers for episode two, season six of HBO's Game of Thrones, "Home."] The cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live seemed to have been a bit frustrated with that recent Game of Thrones twist. Gathered around the body of Jon Snow (Pete Davidson), Ser Davos (Taran Killam) and two local women (Cecily Strong and host Brie Larson) discussed their options. Should they bury him? "No, let's leave him out on this slab so that everyone can see how dead he really is," said Ser Davos. But Strong and Larson's characters weren't putting up with his lollygagging. "Oh my god, this is so slow - just bring him hack to life already!" said Larson's character. Read More: 'Game of Thrones' (Finally) Reveals Jon Snows Fate Ser Davos assured her that Snow was "super dead," in fact, a "10 of dead" on a scale of one to 10. But Strong and Larson complained (as characters as well as Game of Thrones fans) that they "only get 10 hours of this a year," so they wanted the show to hurry things up. That's when fellow SNL castmember Kate McKinnon entered as the mysterious Melisandre, who wanted to help but first had to "think about it for a full 10 minutes" because her magic "only works if it's done very slowly. "My magic might not work - this is a real edge-of-your-seat kind of a thing," Melisandre said as she slowly cut his hair and threw it into a fire one strand at a time. But then (spoiler alert!) when Snow awoke, he immediately said, "I miss my family. Take me to Bran. I want to see what Bran's up to," which upset Larson and Strong's characters even more. By Joseph Menn SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A number of young technology security companies are losing access to the largest collection of industry analysis of computer viruses, a setback industry experts say will increase exposure to hackers. The policy change at the information-sharing pioneer VirusTotal takes aim mainly at a new generation of security companies, some with valuations of $1 billion or more, that haven't been contributing their analysis. Older companies, some with market valuations much smaller than the upstart rivals, had pressed for the shift. Alphabet Inc's Google runs the VirusTotal database so security professionals can share new examples of suspected malicious software and opinions on the danger they pose. On Wednesday, the 12-year-old service quietly said it would cut off unlimited ratings access to companies that do not share their own evaluations of submitted samples. Analysts and executives at several companies said the changes will leave some services more likely to mistakenly classify legitimate software as malicious and less able to protect their customers from real threats, at least in the short term. If they no longer have access to VirusTotal, their detection scores will drop, said Andreas Marx, chief executive of security software evaluation firm AV-TEST. With detection rates down, hackers will find easier entry. Some security companies rely completely on the database, essentially freeloading, said executives on both sides of the divide, and did not want to share their analysis for fear of being found out. VirusTotal did not name any companies to be cut off. But several people familiar with the matter told Reuters the move would affect high-profile California firms Cylance Inc, Palo Alto Networks Inc and CrowdStrike Inc, as well as some smaller companies. Cylance said it gave up access to the ratings two weeks ago after deciding not to share its technology. Chief Research Officer Jon Miller said Cylance had not suffered but that others had. "Many next-generation products are simply not functioning right now," he said, declining to say which. He said the loss of VirusTotal could help spur the companies to invest in their own innovation to catch viruses. Asked whether it had been kicked off the service, Palo Alto said only that it had not been relying on the VirusTotal peer determinations and expected "no impact" on customers. CrowdStrike said it was negotiating with VirusTotal and had not been cut off by Saturday. "We support the mission of VirusTotal and have reached out to them to explore additional ways we can collaborate for the benefit of the entire security community," the company wrote in an emailed statement, declining to answer further questions. 'A SHORTCUT' VirusTotal gets about 400,000 submissions of potentially dangerous files daily, mostly from old-guard antivirus companies like Symantec Corp, Intel Corp and Trend Micro Inc which sit on the most machines. It was never meant to enable new companies to use it as a shortcut by silently relying on, and benefitting from, the service without a corresponding investment, said Trend Micro Chief Technology Officer Raimund Genes, one of many old-line tech executives who pushed for the shift. Marx of AV-TEST said that some newer companies secretly relied on data supplied by older companies while marketing themselves as a cut above the older technology. "They are using traditional methods, too," he said. Some of the newer companies said they do not share their evaluations for competitive reasons. Blanket copying of virus indicators has been an historic grievance at VirusTotal, with at least one victim resorting to sabotage in retaliation, Reuters reported last year.(http://www.reuters.com/article/us-kaspersky-rivals-idUSKCN0QX2GO20150828) Others say the way that they detect bad programs is too intensive to integrate with VirusTotal's current system. We were more than willing to work with them, but they didn't have a way for us, said Tomer Weingarten, chief executive of SentinelOne, a firm that acknowledges it was cut off from the feed against its will. This is a step back. Weingarten said SentinelOne had added a new data feed to replace VirusTotal and predicted that VirusTotal will become less relevant as companies are excluded. Through a Google spokeswoman, VirusTotal said it was trying to act in the best interest of the security community and it hoped to help companies integrate their scanners into the VirusTotal platform. (Editing by Peter Henderson and Mary Milliken) 20-year-old Florida rapper Stitches is quietly building a dedicated fanbase. To most, hes still best known for 2014s Brick In Yo Face, but through a consistent social media presence and regular touring, hes been successfully building up a cult-like following of fans. One of those fans got a little too hands-on during a recent show. From the video, it looks like the fan tapped Stitches stomach to get his attention or show supportit doesnt look like an aggressive moveand Stitches responded by punching the man in the face. A security guard got involved, but he was neutralized when his hood was pulled over his face. The video ends before we can see what happens, but it looks like the crowd handled the guy who put his hands on Stitches. The post Stitches Punches Fan in Face For Touching Him During Show appeared first on Pigeons & Planes. More from Pigeons & Planes UPDATED: Sumner Redstone is the victim of a web of deceit initiated by his daughter, attorneys for the moguls ex-girlfriend have argued in the latest filing as a judge considers dismissing Manuela Herzers lawsuit challenging Redstones mental competency. In a response released Sunday in advance of Mondays hearing on the motion to dismiss, Herzers attorneys took aim at Shari Redstone, accusing Redstones daughter of spying on her father and encouraging his caregivers and speech therapists to turn him against Herzer last October. Lawyers for Redstone countered in their own legal filing that whats done is done. They said the CBS and Viacom chairman emeritus has made clear his disdain for his one-time live-in, and his wish to have her out of his life should be honored. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Cowan said Friday that he was weighing whether to dismiss Herzers suit after hearing videotaped testimony from the 92-year-old billionaire asserting that he no longer wants Herzer to be around him, or have a say in his health care decisions. The trial, which began Friday with Sumner Redstones testimony, has lifted the veil on lurid details of the elder Redstones final years. After Sumner Redstones testimony, the judge asserted that he was leaning toward dismissing the case given the moguls statements regarding Herzer. Herzers team responded by asserting that Redstone has been under undue influence from the anti-Herzer camp. The filing asserts that Shari Redstone initiated a spy network to reinsert herself in her fathers life and also questions whether the speech therapist who is helping to interpret Redstones comments is biased against the plaintiffs. The salient question before the Court is not only what Redstone said, but also whether Redstone fully appreciates what he said, and whether he has been unduly influenced to make those statements, however strongly he may have spoken, the filing states. Although Redstone speaks in disparaging and vulgar terms about Herzer, whom he once called the love of his life, the Court cannot assume that he was expressing his true wishes and beliefs, particularly when those statements were only intelligible to his speech therapist. Story continues Redstones own lawyers scoffed at that notion in their filing Sunday. Despite his severe speech impediment, Mr. Redstone testified clearly and unequivocally on May 6, 2016, the magnates lawyers said, that he wants his daughter, and not Ms. Herzer, to act at his agent should he become unable to make his own health care decisions. The Herzer filing asserts that Redstones angry response when questioned about Herzers suit was in keeping with a person suffering from diminished mental capacity. The filing urges the judge to continue the trial to allow for a full hearing of the allegations. The courtroom is the only forum which is capable of protecting the best interests of Redstone against the cabal of staff members and relatives who initially in October 2015 succeeded (and continue to succeed) in unduly influencing him to throw out Herzer and remove her from his Advance Health Care Directive four days later. Herzers team alleges that Redstone was not fully aware of what he was doing last October when Herzer was ejected from his house and removed from control of the moguls health care decisions. That power transferred first to Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman, a longtime Redstone lieutenant, and in April to the his daughter, Shari. The filing maintains that Shari Redstone has long had an estranged relationship with her father and that Shari has sought to defy her fathers wishes when it comes to end-of-life decisions. Redstones lawyers countered that it was Herzers own scheming and attempts at manipulation that had angered the billionare. It is Ms. Herzers own conduct that has reinforced Mr. Redstones negative feelings toward her, and she has no one to blame but herself, their brief to Judge Cowan contended. The Redstone team said it was not necessary for the judge to litigate all the ins and outs of a relationship that extended over many years. That seemed to play off a comment from Judge Cowan, who sounded a note of skepticism at the start of the trial about the notion that Redstone might have a higher burden in breaking a relationship with a companion than a husband or wife wanting to make such a change. Redstones lawyers cited a previous case, upheld in the appellate courts, in which an elderly husband was not required to justify all his reasons for breaking with his wife. Such decisions, Redstones lawyers argued, have an intensely personal quality and direct proof of objective reasons why one party subjectively believes the marriage is past saving is not required. They also pointed out that Herzers own expert psychiatrist acknowledged that it would be very difficult to imagine Herzer returning to oversee Redstones health care, given his current animosity for her. The Redstone team has previously argued that Herzer is not truly concerned about the moguls health, but wants to have him judged incompetent because she stands to gain a fortune $50 million and a $20 million home if Redstones previous estate plan is reinstated. In the interests of his privacy, dignity, legacy and family, the lawyers concluded, Mr. Redstone respectfully renews his request that the court dismiss the petition and allow him to live out his remaining days in peace. The hearing on the motion to dismiss is set for 8:30 a.m. PT on Monday. Related stories Judge Close to Throwing Out Sumner Redstone Case Sumner Redstone Mental Status 'Severely Compromised,' Mogul Suffers From Dementia, Doctor Tells Court Sumner Redstone Calls Ex-Girlfriend 'F---ing Bitch' in Court for Questioning His Mental Competency TAIPEI (Reuters) - The incoming Taiwanese government on Sunday accused China of "political interference" after a senior Chinese official cast doubt over the island keeping its observer status at the World Health Organisation if bilateral relations deteriorated further. China and self-ruled Taiwan underwent a rapprochement under the outgoing government which was run by China-friendly Nationalists, but ties have begun to strain with their successors, the independence-leaning Tsai Ing-wen and her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Tsai and the DPP won landslide presidential and parliamentary elections in January, in part on rising anti-China sentiment on the island. She has said she will maintain the status quo with China, but has never conceded to a key bilateral agreement, the "one China" principle. Under this agreement with the Nationalists, Taiwan and China agree they are both part of a single China although both sides lay claim to being its legitimate government. On Friday, Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office, China's top agency that deals with the island, said that Taiwan's participation in the World Health Assembly was an arrangement based on the "one China" principle, and that this could cease "should the political foundation of cross-Strait ties be destabilized in the future," according to a state-run Xinhua report. Taiwan, an island separated by the Taiwan Strait from mainland China, has attended the annual gathering of the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the WHO, since 2009 in an observer status. Incoming DPP cabinet spokesman Tung Chen-yuan said the comments by the Taiwan Affairs Office were unacceptable. "We believe this is political interference in our participation in the WHO. We cannot accept this and express our solemn protest," Tung said at a press conference late Sunday. "Taiwan people's health and their right to fully participate in the international community must not be constrained by any political framework," he said. China has considered self-ruled Taiwan a wayward province ever since defeated Nationalists fled to the island after a civil war with China's Communists in 1949. Beijing has never renounced the use of force to take back the island, particularly if it makes moves toward independence. Tung said Taiwan's participation in the upcoming WHO meeting and the issue of "one China" were not associated matters, indicating the new government was not conceding to accepting the "one China" principle. Taiwan has diplomatic ties with only 22, mostly small and poor, states. Most major nations and multilateral organizations, like the WHO which falls under the United Nations, formally recognize China. The WHO invited Taiwan, but the invitation also referenced a resolution under the U.N. that recognizes China, according to the Taiwan government. Tung said the incoming government will send its new health minister Lin Tzuo-yien to the meeting, which will be held in Geneva May 23-28. (Reporting by J.R. Wu; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) A number of people reportedly suffered minor injuries and tornado warnings were in place in areas east of Interstate 25 on May 7 as tornadoes hit parts of eastern Colorado. The footage, which was shot by local storm chasers, shows a tornado rapidly maturing and destroying a home near Wray, Colorado. Credit: Tori OShea Istanbul (AFP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday accused the international coalition battling the Islamic State group in Syria of leaving his country to fight the jihadists alone on its own soil. "They have left us alone in our struggle against this organisation which is shedding our blood both through suicide bombings and by attacks on Kilis," he said, referring to a Turkish border town regularly targeted by rockets fired from Syria. "In Syria none of those who say they are fighting Daesh (Islamic State) have suffered the kind of losses that we have, nor paid such a heavy price as us," added Erdogan, speaking at a film contest in Istanbul. Turkey is on maximum alert after a series of attacks attributed to Islamic State in recent months, with Ankara and Istanbul among the places targeted. Last summer Turkish forces began carrying out air strikes against the jihadist group across the border. The border town of Kilis has come under frequent attack from rockets fired across the border from Syria that have killed at least 21 people, prompting the army to respond with howitzer fire. Ankara also allows US jets to use its air base in southern Turkey for air strikes on the extremist group. Turkish forces on Saturday launched a salvo of artillery strikes on northern Syria that killed 55 members of the Islamic State group, Turkish news agencies reported. Turkey, a member of NATO and the US-led coalition against Islamic State, has recently appeared to increase its bombardment of Islamic State targets in Syria. By Tulay Karadeniz and Yesim Dikmen ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish shelling killed 55 Islamic State insurgents in northern Syria on Saturday, military sources said, in retaliation for weeks of rocket attacks on a Turkish border town. Artillery fire hit the regions of Suran and Tal El Hisn north of Aleppo, as well as Baragidah and Kusakcik, taking out three rocket installations and three vehicles in addition to killing the militants, the sources said on Sunday. The Turkish border town of Kilis, which lies just across the frontier from Islamic State-controlled territory of Syria, has been regularly struck by rockets in recent weeks, killing about 20 people and wounding 70 more, according to state-run Anadolu Agency. The Turkish military usually responds with artillery barrages into northern Syria, but officials have said it is difficult to hit mobile Islamic State targets with howitzers. Turkish officials have said they need more help from Western allies in defending Kilis and the border. "None of those who claim to fight against Daesh in Syria have neither inflicted as many losses on it as we have, nor have they paid as big a price as we have," President Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. "They left us alone in our struggle against this group that hurts us with suicide bombings and attacks on Kilis." Kilis is about 60 km (37 miles) north of Aleppo - Syria's embattled, biggest city and a big prize in the more than five-year-old civil war - and is sheltering about 110,000 Syrian refugees. Turkish officials have said Islamic State fighters often drive up to the Turkish border on motorcycles and then launch rockets at Kilis before fleeing. On Saturday, U.S.-led coalition air strikes in Syria killed 48 Islamic State militants, according to an Andalou report. (Reporting by Tulay Karadeniz; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Angus MacSwan) ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish warplanes hit targets belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq on Sunday, military sources said, as three soldiers and 12 militants were reported killed in separate clashes over the weekend. The F-16 and F-4 2020 aircraft destroyed bunkers, ammunition depots and gun installations in four northern Iraqi regions, including Qandil, where the PKK has camps, the sources said. The air strikes were launched early on Sunday and the aircraft returned safely to their bases, according to the sources. Turkey has been regularly attacking PKK targets in mountainous northern Iraq since the collapse of a ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish state in July last year. It has also been clashing with militants across the largely Kurdish southeast of Turkey, which has seen some of the worst fighting since the height of the insurgency in the 1990s. Three soldiers were killed on Sunday in a sweep of the city of Nusaybin in southeastern Mardin province, security sources said. They were searching a house when a home-made explosive went off, the sources said. A day earlier, security forces killed a total of 12 militants in Mardin and the southeastern province of Sirnak, and in the eastern province on Tunceli, the military said in a statement. Explosives were destroyed in those operations and 11 militants were arrested in Hakkari province, the military said. More than 40,000 people have died since the autonomy-seeking PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984. The group is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. (Reporting by Tulay Karadeniz and Seyhmus Cakan in Diyarbakir; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Andrew Bolton) Washington (AFP) - Ride-sharing services Uber and Lyft are set to quit the Texas city of Austin after voters said fingerprinting should be part of driver background checks, reports said. The companies had poured $8.6 million into a campaign to keep fingerprinting, which can be expensive and time-consuming, out of driver checks. Results from the vote on Proposition One -- the most expensive campaign in city history -- showed 56 percent in favor of fingerprint checks, compared 44 percent against, according to the Austin American-Statesman newspaper. The vote came after the City Council passed an ordinance in December that, among other rules for ride-sharing companies, required their drivers to undergo fingerprint-based background checks by February 1, 2017. Uber and Lyft announced after the results of Saturday's vote that they were set to suspend operations in Austin, the capital city of Texas, on Monday morning. "Disappointment does not begin to describe how we feel about shutting down operations in Austin," Uber Austin general manager Chris Nakutis said in a statement. "We hope the City Council will reconsider their ordinance so we can work together to make the streets of Austin a safer place for everyone." Lyft added in its own statement: "We're very disappointed to leave the Lyft Austin community -- and we hope to come back soon. If you'd like to help make Austin rideshare-friendly again, reach out to your City Council member and tell them." Currently, New York and Houston are the only US cities that require fingerprinting for ride-sharing drivers, media reports said. Uber has threatened to pull out of Houston if fingerprinting rules aren't changed, saying they hamper driver recruitment. Business is booming for ride-sharing companies but they face tricky regulatory issues in cities around the world. They are up against stiff resistance from traditional taxi drivers, as well as bans in some places over safety concerns and questions over legal issues, including taxes. On Wednesday, San Francisco-based Uber announced a policy board that includes a former European Commission vice president to help the company overcome regulatory and other hurdles. Kuwait City (AFP) - The UN special envoy to Yemen held talks Sunday with the country's warring parties in a bid to break an impasse, a day after the government pulled out of direct negotiations. Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed held separate morning talks in Kuwait City with delegates, and plenary or committees' meetings were planned in the afternoon, spokesman for the UN envoy Charbel Raji said. Yemen's government on Saturday pulled out of direct negotiations with representatives of the Huthi rebels after there were no signs of any progress. A source close to the government delegation said the talks had reached a delicate stage after "the rebels backtracked to the starting point". "That has complicated the situation," the source told AFP, requesting anonymity. The rebels and their allies have demanded the formation of a consensus transitional government before forging ahead with other issues that require them to surrender arms and withdraw from territories they occupied in 2014. The rebels have also demanded the withdrawal of a small US force operating in the south of the country against Al-Qaeda militants. On Thursday, Ould Cheikh Ahmed said the foes had begun discussing major political and security issues in face-to-face negotiations aimed at bringing an end to 13 months of devastating war. The working groups exchanged views on resolving political and security issues and the release of prisoners and detainees, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2216. This orders the rebels to withdraw from territory they have taken since 2014 and to surrender heavy weaponry they had seized. There has been mounting international pressure to end the Yemen conflict that the United Nations estimates has killed more than 6,400 people and displaced 2.8 million since March last year. HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnamese police broke up a demonstration in the capital, Hanoi, on Sunday when protesters gathered for the second time in a week to denounce a Taiwanese firm they accuse of causing mass fish deaths in central coastal provinces. Hundreds took to the street in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's second-largest city, last week to vent their anger at a unit of Taiwan's Formosa Plastics, even though an official investigation found no links between the fish deaths and Formosa's $10.6 billion coastal steel plant. A group of protesters sat on the bank of a big lake in Hanoi before police shepherded them on to a waiting bus, Reuters witnesses said. Demonstrators were also put on buses at a square in front of the nearby Hanoi Opera House. Formosa denies any wrongdoing. Demonstrations are rare in Vietnam and are often quickly suppressed by uniformed and plain-clothes police. State-controlled media has not reported any of the demonstrations. The fish mass deaths emerged a month ago in the central province of Ha Tinh, where the Formosa unit runs the steel plant. Fish also washed ashore in three other provinces along a stretch of 200 km (125 miles). The government has invited experts from Germany, Japan, the United States and Israel to inspect the Ha Tinh site in an attempt to find the cause that led to the fish deaths. The inspectors have yet to announce their findings. The government's initial investigation said the cause could be "red tide", when algae blooms and produces toxins, or a release of toxic chemicals by humans. (Reporting by Ho Binh Minh; Additional reporting by Nguyen Huy Kham; Editing by Martin Petty and Paul Tait) 68925859612b40b8ba51c06d8263b381 Mercury is set to pass in front of the sun on Monday, a cosmic occurrence that only happens about a dozen times per century. Scientists will be keeping a close eye on the planet as it moves across the face of the sun from Earth's perspective over the course of about 7.5 hours May 9, and you can check out the transit too either online or in person. The event takes place from 7:12 a.m. to 2:42 p.m. ET, and millions of people around the world with clear skies should be able to see it using the right eye protection and magnification. SEE ALSO: Mercury will pass in front of the sun on Monday in rare transit Do not look at the sun with your naked eyes, even during a planetary transit. If you plan to watch the transit in person, get either a pair of high-powered binoculars or a backyard telescope, both with proper solar filters, to see the transit of Mercury. But if you can't see the transit safely in person, you can watch it happen live online thanks to multiple webcasts. NASA will host a live broadcast from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. ET on NASA TV and the space agency's Facebook page with experts on-hand to discuss the relatively rare transit. You can also watch the webcast in the window embedded below: People can ask questions in the comments of the Facebook Live page and by using the #AskNASA hashtag on social media. Scientists will also post photos of the transit from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, a sun-observing satellite that will keep an eye on the transit of Mercury. Slooh, a community of astronomy enthusiasts, will also host a webcast featuring live images of the transit of Mercury from the Middle East, United States and a new solar telescope in the Canary Islands. The Slooh webcast starts at 7 a.m. ET, and you can watch it directly through the organization or in the window below: "The Transit of Mercury reminds us that all of the planets, including Earth, are in rapid and perpetual motion," Slooh host, Paul Cox said in a statement. Story continues "As we gaze together at this majestic astronomical event, we will appreciate that it is similar planetary transits around other stars that have allowed us to discover a multitude of strange and exotic exoplanets." Sky & Telescope Magazine will also host a webcast from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET. You can watch it below or directly through the magazine. Telescopes in space and on the ground will watch the transit in order to observe Mercury's very thin atmosphere illuminated by the star's light. During an interview with FOX Business Networks Charles Payne, West Virginia Coal Association Vice President Chris Hamilton discussed why he is endorsing presidential candidate Donald Trump and why he stands against both Hillary Clinton and President Obama. We believe that Donalds the right choice to lead our country and our energy industry forward. There is no question about it, he said. Obviously he wants to bring West Virginia mining back as well as our other energy industries. So were fully supportive of that and really appreciate the mission he is on. Hamilton pointed out how President Obama has hurt the coal industry. Weve lost half of our mining jobs about 12 to 13,000 mining jobs and another 40 to 50,000 indirect jobs around our state. The same is true for southwest Virginia and southeast, eastern Kentucky. So he has carried out the mission as you have correctly pointed out, he said. Hamilton also stated that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton would only follow in President Obamas footsteps. [She] has indicated very publicly and clearly that shes going to double down and carry through on President Obamas energy programs, he said. Related Articles Richard Lees family history sounds like a Columbus story. In the 1930s, his father boarded a ship from China to Indonesia, because at that time, China was very difficult, he says. His family wanted out; they wanted opportunity. So out they went except the ship took a wrong turn and, instead of landing in Indonesia, berthed in northeast India. And thats where they stayed. Mostly toothless, 73-year-old Lee is sitting in his familys restaurant in one of two Chinatowns in Kolkata; his son Brendan tends to the handful of customers. One of seven brothers and three sisters, Lee and a few of his siblings are still around, but most of them have gone to Australia and Canada. Chinese immigrants were once the largest foreign population in India, says Tansen Sen, a history professor at the City University of New York. Their numbers, once as high as 50,000, are more like 2,000 today. And the story of how they made their way into India and out again over several centuries is like a window into the relationship between the two behemoths now battling for the title of Asias most muscular economy. There are no paper lanterns or dancing dragons to entice tourists. It started in the 18th century, Sen says, when businessmen and laborers began to leave China to head for Southeast Asia and, less frequently, South Asia. Those who landed in Kolkata then the capital of the British Empire came in hopes of leveraging the citys colonial trading network. Sens research, for example, points to a tea trader named Atchew who, in the late 1700s, set up a sugar mill in West Bengal and began importing his own laborers. Other than trading in tea and silks, Chinese migrants had a variety of jobs some, like Lees father, were shoemakers, and many were involved in the opium business. Still others worked as teeth setters (traditional dentists), leather workers (an open, lucrative market given Hindus aversion to cow products), carpenters and restaurateurs. Story continues Chinese immigrants maintained their regional distinctions, adopting native trades and even organizing community centers based on their parochially unique roots. In other parts of the country, like Assam, Sen says some assimilation occurred, with Chinese marrying people who looked like them namely, northeast Indians or Nepalis. For the most part, though, they preferred to keep to their own. And frankly, that made them not unlike Indias many other minority communities nestling into their enclaves, not standing out. Chinatown india3 Source: Sanjena Sathian/OZY Lee lives in the Tangra district of Kolkata, where many Hakka Chinese emigrated. In the citys center were the Cantonese and on Sunday mornings, in one of the few remaining demonstrations of the culture in Kolkata, a massive Chinese breakfast is sold in Tiretta Bazaar. Shrimp and pork momos are a specialty. With a handful of exceptions, though, their living history is fading. In Tangra, the few Chinese-language schools that educated the generations (so that many speak Hakka-Chinese, Bengali, Hindi and English) have shuttered. A huge yellow building, a former school, is now used by the Indian Army as barracks. Sen says the tides started shifting for Chinese-Indians in the mid-20th century. Though they lived far from their roots, Chinese-Indians fate reflected much of the politics and geopolitics affecting their homeland. China faced conflict with Japan in the 30s and 40s, while the emergence of Communism in the 1950s made life abroad attractive. In some cases, Sen recounts, the PRC offered passports to Chinese living abroad, beckoning them, for example, to choose China over Taiwan. And then came a too-familiar story of a minority group during wartime: In 1962, India and China went to war, and some 10,000 Chinese were interned or deported. Many departed thereafter. Its very different from what you see in Chinatowns the world over, says Kamalika Bose, professor at the Center for Environmental Planning and Technology in Gujarat, who has worked on preserving and continuing Kolkatas Chinese history. There are no paper lanterns or dancing dragons to entice tourists. But dont pity the neighborhood for its lack of flair, she says; the real threat it faces is migration. In fact, Sen says, the largest Indian-Chinese community in the world today is in Toronto. The Chinese dont like to stay here, Lee says. Theres no hope, no chance of retirement. Just three tables are occupied today. He says sometimes he cant even fill one. To make ends meet, he added a liquor counter that sells onto the open street. He steps out of the restaurant and onto the dusty road to show it off. Across the way is a defunct noodle-and-sauce factory. Nearby, a few temples, still in use. This place will be gone soon, he says. Related Articles It w be safe to assume Anna Jarvis, the woman responsible for creating Mother's Day in the early 1900s, is turning in her grave every second Sunday in May. The leader behind the fruition of the annual holiday had a sharp change in tone throughout the second half of her life, as she worked to dismantle everything she once stood for, regretting that it was enveloped by a world of consumption. The social activist and college graduate first sought to have Mother's Day, a day of honoring all mothers both alive and deceased for their unparalleled impact on their children's lives, to be recognized as a federal holiday. She engaged with community organizations like the World's Sunday School Association, as well as the floral industry (which quickly popularized wearing flowers on the special day), to promote the universal message behind Mother's Day. The day became an annual holiday in 1914. Later, she would encourage the world to stop partaking in the tradition, as it had been hijacked by "charlatans, bandits, pirates, racketeers, kidnappers and termites that would undermine with their greed one of the finest, noblest and truest movements and celebrations." For Jarvis, celebrating Mother's Day was always supposed to be simple rather than spending your last dollar every year on an extravagant arrangement of flowers, the creator of the holiday encouraged society to follow every mother's golden rule about gift-giving: It's the thought that counts. "A maudlin, insincere printed card or ready-made telegram means nothing except that you're too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone else in the world," Jarvis would later note, Mental Floss reported. "Any mother would rather have a line of the worst scribble from her son or daughter than any fancy greeting card." Though a United States Postal Service stamp began production in 1934, a feat most activists would be enthralled to see happen for their movement, Jarvis was disconcerted that the vase with flowers pictured might have been a tribute to the floral industry as an advertisement. The 2016, 17th Vodafone Ghana Music Awards takes place at the Accra International Conference Centre, tonight. Follow the live updates from the ceremony - from the Red Carpet glamour to winners, and all the other exciting highlights. Your Red Carpet host for the nite, Berla Mundi 7:40 Already the glamorous Red Carpet is underway and is hosted by Berla Mundi and Elia who have interviewed stars like Yaayaa, SP Kofi Sarpong, Joe Mettle and Blakk Rasta. Watch all the live action at the 2016 VGMA below: 8:10 It is getting more exciting as Ghanaians from all walks of life show up to celebrate the nation's biggest event. Dzifa Gomashie, Deputy Minister for Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Zanetor Rawlings and Stonebwoy have all added up to the excitement with their presence. 8:40 Main awards gets underway and is hosted by Naa Ashorkor Mensah-Doku and Chris Attoh. 9:00 The First award of the nite, the VGMA Peace song winners are the New Generation Gospel Ministers who took away GHC10,000. Nana Akua at the VGMA's 9:08 Justice Williams wins the traditional instrumentalist of the year award. 9:12 Another honorary award Instrumentalist of the Year goes to KEWA 9:14 The Development song of the year award was won by GASMILA with an prize of GHC5,000.00 9:15 The Lifetime Achievement of the Year award went to legendary Ghanaian musician AB Crentsil. It was accompanied with a prize of GHC5,000.00 9:43 Kofi Kinaata won the Songwriter of the Year with 'SUSU KA' 9:43 Gospel Song of the Year was won by Nicholas Omane Acheampong's 'APOSO' 9:46 Highlife Song of the Year went to Bisa K'dei's MANSA 9:49 Best Reggae/Dancehall Song of the Year was won by Stonebwoy's GO HIGHER Zanetor looks splendid here! 10:03 Bisa K'dei performs his award winning Mansa tune 10:20 Afro Pop Song of the Year went to EL's MINAA BO PO 10: 25 Sarkodie wins Hiphop/ Hiplife Song of the Year 10:30 Atom, the "ye wor krom" man wins Hiplife song of the year 10: 35 SP Kofi Sarpong wins Gospel Artiste of the Year 10:40 Bisa K'dei wins Highlife Artiste of the Year 11:00 Efya takes the stage to perform 11:05 EL wins Hiplife/Hiphop Artiste of the Year 11:10 Sarkodie wins Rapper of the Year Gifty Osei at the VGMA's 11: 25 Omar Sterling of R2Bees pick the stage 11:40 WizKid wins African Artiste of the Year 11:50 VVIP wins Group of the Year 12:00 VVIP wins Best Collaboration of the year 12:05 EL wins Producer of the Year 12:15 Joe Mettle performs on stage Dzifa Gomashie-Ahiaglo at the VGMA's 12: 20 EL picks Music Video of the Year award 12: 25 Sarkodie & Pat Thomas win the Record of the Year award 12: 35 Kofi Kinaata is the Best New Artiste of the Year 12:40 Bisa K'dei picks The Vodafone Song of the Year 12:45 Bisa K'dei's win Best Album of the Year 12:30 EL wins Artiste of the Year Source: YEN.com.gh This season of 'Love Is Blind' is shaping up to be absolute madness here's what people are saying about it Boxes of humanitarian aid stacked at a warehouse near the Emirates Red Crescent headquarters in Abu Dhabi on March 30, 2016 (AFP Photo/Handout) (WAM/AFP/File) Aden (AFP) - An aircraft carrying medical aid from the United Arab Emirates landed on Sunday in Yemen's southeastern city of Mukalla which was retaken from Al-Qaeda on April 24. "The plane chartered by the Emirates Red Crescent is the first to land at Mukalla airport since it closed more than a year ago after Al-Qaeda entered the city," airport director Anis Abdel Kader told AFP. He said work was under way to make the airport operational again, with UAE help, so it can be "used as quickly as possible for commercial flights". Militants from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula imposed harsh Islamist rule on Mukalla, capital of the vast desert province of Hadramawt, after capturing it. Special forces from the UAE, a member of the Saudi-led coalition battling Shiite Huthi rebels across Yemen, played a major role in retaking the city. On Friday, the United States said that "a very small number" of American soldiers were also involved in the operation, acknowledging for the first time that US troops had deployed in Yemen. Cannes film festival general delegate Thierry Fremaux (L) and President Pierre Lescure hold a press conference to unveil the list of the 20 movies which will be shown in competition for the Palme d'Or (AFP Photo/Patrick Kovarik) (AFP/File) Cannes (France) (AFP) - For 12 days starting Wednesday, the Cannes Film Festival will be a non-stop merry-go-round of movies, stars, interviews and parties. Here are some figures to put the event into perspective: 9 The number of film stars and directors on the jury that will decide the festival's top prize, the Palme d'Or. Led by George Miller, the Australian director of the "Mad Max" movies, the panel includes Kirsten Dunst, Donald Sutherland, Vanessa Paradis and Danish "baddie" specialist Mads Mikkelsen. 19 The number of golden leaves on the stylised palm frond that makes up the Palme d'Or. The trophy, made out of 18-carat gold, is worth 20,000 euros ($23,000). 24 The number of steps the stars have to climb as they ascend the red carpet into Cannes' Palais des Festivals. 60 The length in metres of the famous red carpet (nearly 197 feet). A new carpet is laid before each official screening of a film in competition, meaning 180 metres of carpet are used each day. 45,000 The number of people with official accreditations to attend the festival, of which around 4,500 are journalists. 500 The number of security personnel who will be deployed at the Palais des Festivals where the main competition films will be shown -- not counting the hundreds of police and paramilitary gendarmes patrolling the area around it. 20,000,000 The festival's budget, in euros (around $23 million). Half the funding comes from French taxpayers, the other half from corporate sponsors. 89 The number of features to be screened this year in the festival, including 56 in the official selection (of which 21 are competing for the Palme d'Or). From 74,000 to 200,000 That's how much Cannes' population swells during the festival. It nearly triples. 468 Smile, there are cameras everywhere (and not just movie and TV ones). This is the number of surveillance cameras filming the town 24 hours a day, with lenses especially trained on the Palais des Festivals building and all along the seafront, known as La Croisette. 12,000 The number of movers and shakers taking part in Cannes' parallel film market, happening in the bowels of the Palais des Festivals and along part of the beach. This maze of stands is where producers, directors and distributors get together to work out what you'll be watching on the big screen in months and years to come. By Kevin Yao BEIJING (Reuters) - China's exports and imports fell more than expected in April, underlining weak demand at home and abroad and cooling hopes of a recovery in the world's second-largest economy. Exports fell 1.8 percent from a year earlier, the General Administration of Customs said on Sunday, reversing the previous month's brief recovery and supporting the government's concerns that the foreign trade environment will be challenging in 2016. April imports dropped 10.9 percent from a year earlier, falling for the 18th consecutive month, suggesting domestic demand remains weak despite a pickup in infrastructure spending and record credit growth in the first quarter. "Both exports and imports came in weaker than expected, in line with the soft trade performance across Asia, pointing to another challenging year for emerging markets," said Zhou Hao, senior emerging market economist at Commerzbank in Singapore. China's exports to the United States the countrys top export market fell 9.3 percent in April from a year earlier, while shipments to the European Union the second biggest market, rose 3.2 percent, customs data showed. China's cabinet has vowed to take steps to boost exports, including encouraging banks to boost lending, expanding export credit insurance and raise tax rebates for some firms. China had a trade surplus of $45.56 billion in April, versus forecasts of $40 billion. Economists polled by Reuters had expected April exports to fall 0.1 percent, after a surprise 11.5 percent rise in March, and expected imports to fall 5 percent, following March's 7.6 percent decline. MOMENTUM MAY WEAKEN China's economic growth slowed to 6.7 percent in the first quarter - the weakest since the global financial crisis, but activity picked up in March as policy steps to boost the economy, including six interest rate cuts since late 2014, seemed to be taking effect. Concerns of a hard-landing in China had eased after the strong March data, but analysts have warned the rebound may be short-lived. Story continues Economists expect a slowdown in credit growth and industrial production in April although inflation could accelerate. Key economic data is expected over the next two weeks. "The market has to prepare a little bit for the downside risk in other Chinese data and some sort of market correction might be inevitable," Zhou said. An official factory survey and Caixin's private-sector gauge for April painted a mixed picture of the health of the manufacturing sector. The official purchasing managers' index (PMI) showed factory activity expanded for the second month in a row in April but only marginally, while Caixin's manufacturing PMI pointed to 14 straight months of sector contraction. China's central bank said on Friday that it will fine tune policy in a pre-emptive and timely way, as the economy still faces downward pressure despite signs of steadying. Amid shrinking global demand, China still managed to grow its share of world exports to 13.8 percent last year from 12.3 percent in 2014, indicating the country's export sector remains competitive despite higher costs. (Reporting by Kevin Yao; Editing by Sam Holmes and Christian Schmollinger) A Guatemalan soldier on guard duty at a military post near the border with Belize in 2000 (AFP Photo/Jorge Uzon) Guatemala City (AFP) - Guatemala has deployed 3,000 troops to its disputed border with Belize following a shooting incident that killed a Guatemalan teen, Defense Minister Williams Mansilla said. "It is a preventive measure, it is not a declaration of war," Mansilla told AFP by telephone from northern Guatemala, where he was overseeing the deployment. The United States expressed concerned over the sudden spike in tensions between the two Central American nations. The State Department issued a statement to "urge calm and restraint by both sides." Guatemala has made claims over more than half of Belize's territory dating back 150 years to when its small neighbor was a British colony known as British Honduras. - Contesting accounts - Tensions between the two have long been simmering despite agreement to try to resolve the territorial dispute in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) following separate referendums. They ratcheted up dramatically on Wednesday, when a shooting incident occurred that each country said happened on its side of the border. According to Guatemala, a Belize patrol shot and killed a 13-year-old Guatemalan boy walking home from field labor, and wounded his father and brother. Belize rejected that version and said one of its patrols came under fire from Guatemalan civilians and responded in "justifiable self-defense." Each side accuses the other of a preceding series of other acts of violence, and fears are rising over the militarization along the border. The State Department said it was "deeply concerned" by the reports of the boy's death. It expressed condolences to his family. "We urge calm and restraint by both sides, and we call for a full investigation of the facts surrounding this tragedy," the statement said. Belize's Prime Minister Dean Barrow, in a recorded audio message, said he met with Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales on the margin of a UN meeting in New York to complain that the Guatemalan measures "escalate tension to an utterly unacceptable degree." Story continues Barrow said both agreed "there is an immediate need to de-escalate tensions." He added that an "impartial" investigation into the shooting by the Organization of American States (OAS) was being carried out. Belize was also asking the US to send forensic experts to help recreate the circumstances of the shooting incident, he said. - Test for new leader - Although Belize became independent in 1981, Guatemala did not recognize it for another decade because of its territorial claims, prompting Britain to keep a small military presence in its former colony as a deterrent until five years ago. Guatemala and Belize have issued separate statements accusing the other of a number of violent acts against its forces or citizens in the border area in the past two decades. The heightened border dispute is the first foreign policy challenge for Morales, a former TV comedian who became Guatemala's leader in January after pulling off a surprise victory in an election to replace his predecessor felled by a corruption scandal. In a recorded address to the nation Thursday, Morales accused Belize of "cowardice" over the killing, saying Guatemalan forces would assert "strict protection for the sovereignty" of the shared border river. The OAS and Britain both voiced concern over the rising tensions and urged the two neighbors to leave the dispute in the ICJ's hands. Britain's minister of state for Latin American affairs, Hugo Swire, appealed for "moderation" from both nations and said the ICJ was "the best path" to settle the dispute. Jerusalem (AFP) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel would upgrade its ties with the 28-member NATO military alliance by opening a permanent mission to its Brussels headquarters. "Israel will accept the invitation and open an office, in the near future," Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting. "The countries of the world want to cooperate with us because of our determined fight against terror, our technicological know-how, our intelligence network and other things," his office quoted him as saying. NATO announced on Tuesday that it agreed that "an official Israeli mission be established at NATO headquarters" with the Israel's EU envoy as head of the mission. An Israeli expert told AFP that the move was a result of pressure from other NATO members on Turkey, which joined in 1952, to drop its veto on closer alliance ties with its former ally. "It's a Turkish confidence-building measure vis-a-vis Israel," said Tommy Steiner, an expert on NATO-Israel ties at the Institute for Policy and Strategy near Tel Aviv. "Since the introduction of the new (NATO) partnership policy in 2014 Israel was formally invited," he said. "But Israel never did that because there was a Turkish veto on such a measure." Turkey was a key regional ally of Israel until the two cut ties in 2010 over the deadly storming by Israeli commandos of the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza, which left 10 Turkish activists dead. After years of bitter accusations and rhetoric the two sides held secret talks in December on a rapprochement, with another round taking place in February in Geneva. "Following the Mavi Marmara affair, Turkey blocked everything (at NATO) concerning Israel," a Brussels-based diplomat told AFP. "In order to avoid discrimination (NATO) did not therefore open any other foreign mission." "After five years the Turks lifted their objections" allowing for the establishment of missions for Israel and for other states, the diplomat said. Story continues Steiner said that the geographically and politically diverse NATO grouping would not invite Israel into a full-fledged mutual-defence pact. "Israel is not going to be a full member, it's not on the cards," he said. "Israel will be officially accredited to NATO, it will have a permanent mission at NATO headquarters as a partner." Israel already participates in military exercises with NATO members other than Turkey, notably the United States. john mccain After months of largely avoiding questions about Donald Trump, Sen. John McCain broke his silence about the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's provocative rhetoric that targeted McCain last summer. Trump ignited a firestorm last July for his criticism of McCain, asserting he was only a war hero "because he was captured." "I like people that weren't captured," Trump said then. In a CNN interview Sunday, the Arizona senator called on Trump to apologize to former prisoners of war. "I think it's important for Donald Trump to express his appreciation for veterans," McCain said. The Arizona Republican, a decorated Vietnam War veteran who spent years in captivity after being shot down during the war, emphasized that the apology should not be about him. "What he said about me, John McCain, that's fine. I don't require any repair of that," McCain said. "But when he said, 'I don't like people who were captured,' then there's a body of American heroes, and I'd like to see him retract that statement. Not about me, but about the others." Though McCain said he'd support Trump's presidential bid, he added that Trump's ad-hominem attacks during the campaign bothered him "a lot." "You can almost violently disagree with someone on an issue. But to attack their character and their integrity those wounds will take a long time to heal," McCain said. Despite massive blowback from leaders of both parties, Trump has refused to apologize for his comments. "People that fought hard and weren't captured and went through a lot, they get no credit. Nobody even talks about them. They're like forgotten. And I think that's a shame, if you want to know the truth," Trump said in July. Despite his endorsement, McCain recently acknowledged privately that Trump's at-times inflammatory statements about immigration and plan to deport the approximately 11 million immigrants living in the US illegally have made his 2016 Senate reelection bid much more difficult. Story continues If Donald Trump is at the top of the ticket, here in Arizona, with over 30% of the vote being the Hispanic vote, no doubt that this may be the race of my life, McCain said at a private event, according to Politico. If you listen or watch Hispanic media in the state and in the country, you will see that it is all anti-Trump. The Hispanic community is roused and angry in a way that I've never seen in 30 years. NOW WATCH: The real story behind Trump's taco bowl tweet More From Business Insider Medicaid managers have done little to stem rampant fraud in the massive government health care program for the poor, which totaled more than $29 billion last year, according to a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report to Congress. As Medicaid gradually transforms from a traditional fee-for-service operation to managed care, the challenge for federal and state Medicaid officials to weed out fraudulent applicants or health care providers has become increasingly difficult. Related: Audit Uncovers $124.7 B of Overpayments and Fraud in Medicare and Medicaid Yet the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which oversees the program, along with state Medicaid officials, have yet to streamline or better coordinate the databases that are essential in ferreting out fraud, according to the new report. The Medicaid program finances health care coverage for an estimated 69 million beneficiaries with estimated expenditures of $529 billion in fiscal 2015 alone. CMS previously revealed that improper Medicaid payments totaled $29.12 billion in fiscal 2015, or 9.78 percent of total Medicaid expenditures. That was up from $14.4 billion or 5.8 percent of the total in fiscal 2013. Both Medicaid and Medicare, the premier federal programs to assist low-income Americans and the elderly, have been beset with the problems of illegal overpayments for years, despite calls from Congress and budget watchdog groups for closer scrutiny. The new GAO study was requested by Sen. Thomas Carper of Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. While there are many factors that contribute to the problem, the study focused on Medicaids highly fragmented system for checking on the eligibility of applicants to determine whether they qualify for health care coverage. Related: White House Takes Aim at Billions in Medicare and Medicaid Fraud As many states move from traditional fee-for-service to managed care, the screening of [Medicaid Managed Care] becomes increasingly important and increasingly complex, according to the study. About 55 percent of total Medicaid enrollment was in managed care in July 2013, the most recent data available. That percentage likely has grown substantially since then. Story continues GAO, an independent government watchdog, said that the states and Medicaid managed care plans face significant challenges in screening providers for eligibility to participate in the Medicaid program. Based on information we received from two selected states and 16 selected plans, GAO found that the states and plans used information that was fragmented across 22 databases managed by 15 different federal agencies to screen providers, the report stated. The report singled out CMS, an arm of the Department of Health and Human Services, for part of the blame. Related: Medicare Drug Program Still Plagued by Fraud Federal internal control guidelines stress the importance of state Medicaid officials collecting high-quality information in trying to identify and weed out individuals not eligible for government assistance. However, the variety of databases used for that purpose suggests that CMS might not have identified all reliable sources of information about ineligible providers that could help states and plans achieve program objectives, according to the report. Moreover, state Medicaid officials and managed care plan representatives said they were sometimes stymied by fragmented information from multiple and disparate federal databases. For instance, they reported having trouble gaining access to the Social Security Administrations Death Master File, or files that confirm the identities of legitimate health care providers. CMS is responsible for oversight of the Medicaid program, while states are responsible for the daily administration of their individual programs, including program integrity verification. In its broad oversight role, CMS develops guidance and provides assistance to the states in administering their Medicaid programs, according to the GAO. Related: The Governments $125 Billion Slap in the Face to Taxpayers In February 2015, the GAO reported that Medicaid remains a high-risk federal program because of continued concerns about the adequacy of fiscal oversight, including improper payments to Medicaid providers. While CMS officials say they are responding to GAOs findings and recommendations, the new report concludes that, for now at least: CMS has not coordinated with other agencies to address these challenges . . . to reduce fraud. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: Tunnels were a key weapon for Hamas during the last conflict in 2014, with a number of surprise attacks inside Israeli territory (AFP Photo/Mahmud Hams) Jerusalem (AFP) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday criticised the deputy head of Israel's armed forces for remarks appearing to compare contemporary Israeli society to Nazi Germany. "The comparison drawn in the words of the deputy chief of staff regarding events which characterised Nazi Germany 80 years ago is outrageous," said Netanyahu. "They do injustice to Israeli society and cause a belittling of the Holocaust," the Israeli leader added. "The deputy chief of staff is an outstanding officer, but his remarks on this issue were utterly mistaken and unacceptable to me." In an address delivered Wednesday on the eve of Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day, Major General Yair Golan said the commemoration "must bring us to reflect deeply on the nature of man, even when that man is ourselves". "If there is something that frightens me with the memory of the Holocaust, it is identifying horrifying processes that happened in Europe, and specifically in Germany, 70, 80 and 90 years ago, and finding testimony to them amongst us, today, in 2016," he said. "There is, after all, nothing easier and simpler than hating the foreigner... arousing fears and terrifying," he said. The chief-of-staff, Lieutenant General Gadi Eisenkot, angered politicians in February with remarks warning young soldiers not to use excessive force in subduing suspected Palestinian assailants. A wave of unrest that erupted in October has so far killed 203 Palestinians and 28 Israelis. Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, Israeli authorities say. Rights groups have called on Israel to stop using "lethal force" against attackers, and Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom has accused the Jewish state of carrying out "extrajudicial executions". In March an Israeli soldier was caught on video shooting to death a wounded Palestinian assailant, an incident condemned by a senior United Nations official as "gruesome, immoral and unjust." Story continues The soldier, an infantry sergeant, has been charged with manslaughter. And there have been concerns about civilian mobs attacking people they deem suspicious. Notable was a case in October, when an Eritrean immigrant was shot by a security guard at a bus station after being mistaken for an Arab assailant in an attack that killed an Israeli soldier. Footage of the man bleeding as an irate crowd rained blows on his head and body prompted soul searching among some Israelis over their response to a wave of attacks as well as their treatment of African migrants. The fate of tobacco biggies in India is in question in the wake of the latest plain packaging rule enforced by the government. As per the regulations imposed by the Supreme court in India, tobacco makers will have to exhibit graphic health warnings on cigarette packets. A two judge bench ordered that the plain packaging rules should not be violated and the Karnataka High court was asked to listen to all the pleas challenging the directive. The Indian government, supported by health proponents across the nation, had proposed that health warnings should cover 85% of cigarette packets against the current 20%, which was effective from Apr 1, 2016. Notably, the rule was proposed in 2014 by the Health Ministry. The tussle between tobacco makers and the government of India heightened when tobacco makers reportedly decided to halt production as a protest against the graphic warning rule. Tobacco makers like ITC Ltd., VST Industries Ltd. and Godfrey Phillips India Ltd. (in which Philip Morris International Inc. PM owns almost 25%) paused manufacturing on Apr 1, due to confusion over the new requirement. The majors said that the production halt will not cause any shortage in the market as they have products in stock. They will cease production until some certainty is reached on the implementation of the graphical warnings. In India, the ills of tobacco consumption have taken an ugly shape, costing nearly a million lives every year. Per the World Health Organisation tobacco related diseases cost nearly $16 billion in India. IN order to address the situation, the government first implemented pictorial warnings in 2009 that had to cover 40% of the front portion of a cigarette pack. Youth health advocates have long been urging Indian policymakers to set a date for the implementation of the pictorial health warnings on 85% of both sides of all tobacco packets. A parliamentary committee was reported to support the tobacco industry as it was of the opinion that the proposal to cover 85% of tobacco packets with health warnings is too harsh and should be reduced to 50%. The parliamentary committees are of the opinion that such a measure will hurt tobacco farmers and encourage illicit trade in the country. The government however stuck to its decision. Story continues Meanwhile the European Union (EU) Court of Justice also ordered against tobacco companies and banned the use of flavored cigarettes like mint and menthol. The court ruled that the use of flavor makes cigarettes more attractive. It also stated that reducing the attractiveness of those products may contribute to reducing the prevalence of tobacco use and dependence among new and continuing users. The EU court of Justice further stated that member states may maintain and even introduce further standardizations regarding plain packaging of cigarettes in their respective countries. The EU court ruled that 65% of front and back sides of a cigarette packet need to be covered with health warnings. Tobacco companies have been penalized for taking recourse to any kind of advertising or packaging that flouts the laws, to boost sales. The global tobacco industry has been facing severe advertising and packaging restrictions on their products for some time. Meanwhile, governments around the world are imposing restrictions on tobacco makers which, in turn, are lowering cigarette consumption and affecting margins. The plain packaging concept was pioneered by Australia in 2011 (read: Australia Harsher on Smoking). Ireland was the first European country to enact plain packaging. It passed the legislation on Mar 10, 2015, and is expected to come into effect in May 2016. Anti-tobacco activists commend U.K.s decision to introduce plain packaging as they believe many countries will follow suit. The Food and Drug Administration has made it mandatory for tobacco companies to use precautionary labels on cigarette packets to dissuade smokers. The labels have been designed in accordance with the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act and depict disturbing images that highlight the health hazards of smoking. These rules are posing significant problems for tobacco majors like Philip Morris., Reynolds American Inc. RAI and Altria Group Inc. MO that are already bearing the brunt of anti-smoking campaigns worldwide. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report ALTRIA GROUP (MO): Free Stock Analysis Report PHILIP MORRIS (PM): Free Stock Analysis Report REYNOLDS AMER (RAI): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Palace of Culture and Science In the heart of downtown Warsaw stands a "gift" from former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin: the Palace of Culture of Science, the tallest building in the country. Communism fell in Poland in 1989. But the Palace remains more than 60 years after its construction, despite persistent calls to tear it down. Much of the truly negative sentiment toward the building has dissipated over the last several decades, but it continues to strike a chord with many Poles, especially the older generation that lived under Soviet rule. One taxi driver I met called the building "Sauron's Tower." And a running joke among Poles calls the "trzydziestka," a large terrace on the building's 30th floor, the best view of the city because it's the only place where you can't see the Palace itself. Aside from complaints about the aesthetic, the building's true irony is that it wasn't a gift at all. And it wasn't wanted. "Stalin wanted to build in Warsaw a monument to himself and a symbol of the USSR's control of Poland," Marta Hankiewicz, a tour guide with the city, told Business Insider. "The PR around the construction said that [the Palace] was a gift of friendship from the USSR and theoretically, all costs were covered. However, if you look at the reality of the Polish economy following World War II, it can be said that Poland paid for it." And to make room for the building, Stalin further destroyed a city already in ruins. After World War II, nearly 70% of Warsaw as a whole (on both sides of Vistula River) was destroyed. The Warsaw Uprising, one of the largest resistance operations in Europe, infuriated the German regime, leading them to institute what's now referred to as the "planned destruction of Warsaw" in 1944. The powerful Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler uttered his infamous quote, "No stone can remain standing," about the city in the wake of the Uprising. Story continues Palace of Culture and Science skitch The area around the Palace, however, suffered slightly less destruction about 60%. Nearly 30 apartment buildings survived almost untouched and another 50 could have been repaired, according to Hankiewicz. Stalin, however, confiscated and leveled those buildings to make room for the Palace. "The area which disappeared was an important, vibrant part of the city, with eclectic and art-nouveau architecture," Hankiewicz said. "Unfortunately, that style was hated by the communists, as it reminded them of capitalism." Soviet architect Lew Rudniew designed the Palace using an elaborate combination of baroque and Gothic styles modeled after the "Seven Sisters," or seven skyscrapers, in Moscow that honored Stalin. Construction finished in 1955 after three years. It put the Palace at 777 feet, the tallest building in Poland and among the top 20 in Europe. interior Palace of Culture and Science I t contains more than 3,000 rooms. It includes two private universities, the Polish Academy of Sciences, one of the largest conference facilities in Poland, a post office, a movie theater, a swimming pool, two concert halls, a bar, and several museums and libraries. Originally, the building's title was supposed to include Stalin's name the Palace of Culture and Science of Joseph Stalin. But Stalin died one year after construction began, and his crimes against the Soviet people came to light soon after. His name was never used and was removed from a book held by one of the statutes decorating the building, according to Hankiewicz. Poles like to joke about hating the building. But a more serious movement formed to destroy it after the fall of communism although it has lost its momentum in the last 25 years, Hankiewicz said "Today, most Warsaw residents, even if they may not think it's pretty, prefer to accept it as a local landmark and a 'souvenir' of times gone by," she said. "Or they don't want to pay for the demolition." And the younger generation, one that never lived under Stalin, has grown accustomed its presence and "even think[s] it's cool," Hankiewicz said, referencing a popular T-shirt with the Palace as a heart. Today, the area surrounding the Palace serves as Warsaw's topographical downtown, with a large mall and the central metro station. "But unlike before World War II, there is not much life or soul there," Hankiewicz said. Post-World War II, what residents consider Warsaw's center has become scattered to many sections and streets of the city, such as Chmielna, Nowy Swiat, Hoza, Poznanska, and Plac Zbawiciela. More From Business Insider DOHA, May 8 (Reuters) - Qatar Airways is reducing the frequency of more than a dozen regular routes from Doha because of hold-ups in the delivery of new planes from European manufacturer Airbus, an airline spokesperson said on Sunday. The 15 affected routes include the carrier's recently launched service to Adelaide in Australia, flights to Boston, Houston and Miami in the United States, and services to Copenhagen, Jakarta and Manchester. "We are making selective flight cancellations in several markets ... due to a delay in Airbus aircraft deliveries," the spokesperson said in a statement. "We are minimising the impact on our passengers as much as possible, and accommodating them on other flights that suit their travel needs. The flight cancellations are taking the form of one flight per week in most of the affected markets through the summer." Chief executive Akbar Al Baker said last month that Qatar Airways was speaking to Boeing about securing aircraft to replace an order of Airbus A320neos because of problems affecting hydraulics and software. Qatar Airways was due to receive the first of 50 A320s in December but refused to take delivery after saying the U.S Pratt & Whitney engines supplied were inadequately tested for the Gulf region's high temperatures. A spokesman for Airbus was not immediately reachable for comment. (Reporting by Tom Finn; Editing by Andrew Torchia and Digby Lidstone) Uganda first discovered large quantities of crude oil on the shores of Lake Albert in 2006 (AFP Photo/Walter Astrada) (AFP/File) Kampala (AFP) - Landlocked Uganda on Saturday announced plans to export its future crude oil production via a new pipeline to be built to a Tanzanian port rather than via Kenya. "We have agreed that the oil pipeline route be developed from Uganda in Hoima to the Tanzanian port of Tanga," Uganda foreign affairs minister Sam Kutesa told AFP. There was no immediate indication of the value of Saturday's deal. However, Kutesa told AFP cost was a factor. "We considered Tanga oil pipeline route based on a number of aspects -- among them it is the least cost," the Ugandan minister said as Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta and Rwanda's Paul Kagame held a regional mini-summit outside Kampala. The first large discoveries of oil in Uganda date back to 2006 on the shores of Lake Albert. Reserves in the area are conservatively estimated at some 1.7 billion barrels. But informed sources say production will not come on stream before 2025. Three oil companies -- Total of France, Chinese giant CNOOC and Anglo-Irish firm Tullow -- each won a one-third rights share in 2009, but the issue immediately arose of how to export the crude from a country with no coastline. After years of talks discussing the relative merits of different routes out to the Indian Ocean, Uganda has chosen to run a 1,400-kilometre (800-mile) pipeline through Tanzania to the south of Lake Victoria through to the port of Tanga near the Kenyan border. According to a Ugandan experts' report dated April 11 and obtained by AFP, the Tanzanian project won the argument because the "Tanga port in Tanzania is fully operational while Lamu port in Kenya is still to be built". - Shebab security fears - The experts also highlighted the fact that the port at Tanga is protected from winds by several offshore islands, which is not the case for Lamu, raising fears of navigational hazards for oil tankers near the future Kenyan port. Story continues Kenya, where Tullow also found oil close to Lake Turkana in 2012, had proposed a pipeline from Uganda through impoverished northern Kenya to Lamu as part of an ambitious national development programme dubbed Vision 2030. Estimates of the cost of the Lamu corridor transport and infrastructure project, known as LAPSSET, are around $20 billion (18 billion euros), incorporating new roads, railway lines, airports, cities and pipelines from oil fields in Uganda and South Sudan connected to a new Lamu refinery and port. But the oil companies involved in Uganda preferred an alternative southern route through Kenya terminating at the existing major port of Mombasa. Although cheaper at some $4.3 billion, Nairobi was concerned it would not deliver regional development in the neglected north. There were also concerns for Uganda that parts of the Kenyan northern route would run near areas close to Somalia that might expose the pipeline to attacks by Al Qaeda-aligned Shebab militants. The deadlock between the two sparked the emergence of the Tanzanian option, throwing development of the Lamu project into question. Nairobi indicated Saturday it would continue with LAPSSET and build a pipeline for its own crude. None of the countries in the region, however, are likely to emerge as a major oil player compared with Africa's top producer Nigeria, whose daily production of some 2.4 million barrels a day gives it a global rank of 13th. Washington and Moscow are joint leaders of the international effort to end the Syrian civil war, and declared a UN-backed ceasefire as far back as February which soon collapsed (AFP Photo/Ameer Alhalbi) Aleppo (Syria) (AFP) - A 48-hour ceasefire took hold Thursday in Syria's battered second city of Aleppo after President Bashar al-Assad's regime and rebel forces gave in to mounting diplomatic pressure. Relieved residents returned to the streets after two weeks of heavy fighting in the divided metropolis, a key battleground in Syria's five-year civil war. The Syrian army said late on Wednesday that it had agreed to calls from Russia and the United States for a two-day truce in Aleppo that would begin from 1:00 am on Thursday. The agreement followed an intense diplomatic push by Moscow and Washington -- the co-sponsors of a February 27 ceasefire agreement that had begun to fall apart -- to salvage peace efforts. Renewed fighting in recent days, especially in and around Aleppo, had threatened the full collapse of the ceasefire, a landmark in attempts to finally resolve a conflict that has left more than 270,000 dead. More than 280 civilians were reported killed since April 22 in the clashes in Aleppo, with regime air strikes pounding the opposition-held east while rebels fired a barrage of rockets into the government-controlled west. Early on Thursday, an AFP correspondent in the city said there had been no signs of fresh air raids since the ceasefire took effect. As residents emerged, shopkeepers were reopening their doors while fruit and vegetable markets -- one of which was struck in an April 24 raid that left 12 dead -- were again up and running. - US, Russia monitoring - The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, confirmed there had been no bombing in the city, though it said a civilian had died in a western district from rebel shelling that came minutes after the ceasefire took effect. After a whirlwind of talks involving diplomats from top world powers and the United Nations, US Secretary of State John Kerry announced the truce had taken effect and that violence had already fallen off. "We've seen an overall decrease in violence in those areas even though there are some reports of continued fighting in some locations," Kerry said. Story continues Kerry said US officials in Geneva were coordinating with their Russian colleagues on "enhanced monitoring efforts for this renewed cessation". The Russian defence ministry said its ceasefire monitors had agreed with their US counterparts to oversee this truce until midnight on May 6. In Aleppo, the head of the local branch of the powerful Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam) rebel force, Ahmad Sanada, said the group would respect the ceasefire. "We are in favour of any initiative that relieves the suffering of civilians and avoids bloodshed and we will respect" the ceasefire, he told AFP. Diplomats are hoping a nationwide ceasefire can underpin efforts to resolve Syria's war, which evolved from a crackdown on anti-government protests into a devastating multi-front conflict. UN-backed peace talks in Geneva, which mediators hope can resume later this month, have so far made little headway, with the regime rejecting the opposition's demand that Assad step aside as part of a political transition. The conflict led in part to the emergence of the jihadist Islamic State group, which has seized control of large areas of Syria and neighbouring Iraq. - Twin bombings kill 10 - On Thursday, twin bombings in central Syria killed at least 10 civilians and wounded 40 more, the Observatory said, amid recent fighting in the area between IS fighters and regime troops. State television reported that at least six people were killed and 28 seriously wounded in the suicide attack and car bombing in a square in Mukharram al-Fawqani in Homs province. The area, controlled by the regime, is located between the cities of Homs and Palmyra, which was recaptured by the Syrian army from jihadists last month. The blasts came just days after IS seized the nearby Shaer gas field, one of the biggest in Homs, in an attack that killed at least 16 regime troops. There was no immediate claim of responsiblity for Thursday's attacks but suicide and car bombings are a favourite tactic of IS jihadists. Western powers are hoping that ending the fighting in other parts of Syria will help focus efforts against IS, which a US-led coalition has been targeting with air strikes in Syria and Iraq since mid-2014. Syrian officials have insisted they are targeting jihadists in Aleppo not covered by the ceasefire, in particular members of the Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Nusra Front, which is fighting in the city alongside other rebel groups. At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Aleppo Wednesday, Syria's Deputy UN Ambassador Mounzer Mounzer defended the regime's actions in the city. "What the Syrian government has been doing in the city of Aleppo is merely the fulfilment of its obligations to protect its citizens from terrorism," he told the council. We value your privacy. Focus Taiwan (CNA) uses tracking technologies to provide better reading experiences, but it also respects readers' privacy. Click here to find out more about Focus Taiwan's privacy policy. When you close this window, it means you agree with this policy. JLM said: Why devalue part time jobs? P.T. jobs are perfect for a lot of people who are winding down and are already collecting C.P.P. and the O.A.P. Click to expand... My cities jobless rate is 8.6%, highest in Ontario... Were #1!!!!!.... F@ck...Not again...All my city has now is minimum wage jobs, and even the construction business is flooded with laid off miners... Thefts are through the roof. I got a job after school, not minimum wage, kinda not in my field of studies but i took it because beggars cant be choosers. And im one of the LUCKY ones!!!!And for those who are starting up, part time work is horrible way to get the base and/or equity needed to start a life with a house or a family... Thats why people devalue part time work cause they are mostly minimum wage jobs. captain morgan said: Reading and comprehension are truly important. I can see why you are feeling pretty stupid right about now for drawing even more attention to your faulty commentary Click to expand... captain morgan said: Reading and comprehension are truly important. I can see why you are feeling pretty stupid right about now for drawing even more attention to your faulty commentary Click to expand... About somebody eating crow over this post. It seem like you want Syrians in Syria to donate more than Canadians do to this 'local disaster'. The in-place plans go from local to provincial to federal, in that order in case you want to say JT is slack in mobilizing the Federal end of it when they would pick up the restoration bill once the insurance companies claim that fire insurance does not cover fire that travels through the trees to get there. The decimated parts would be examples of what not to do as far as building codes and trees go. If you want lots of trees you need clay or metal roofs and rock gardens as the preferred residential landscaping theme, open areas can gave green lawns and a few shade trees and many 'parks/fields'. City hydrants should have 'sprinkler attachments' that can be connected and they run unattended as long as there is water pressure.You can't prevent fires but you can minimize their ability to cause a lot of damage.Fire season has just started, there are already other places that are within range of fires. Ft St John is an example.The Ft Mac fire might get to Sask before it is out. Retired_Can_Soldier said: I actually think that Trump said all the crazy stuff he did because he didn't think he had a hope in hell of winning the nomination. Click to expand... darkbeaver said: I find this statement of your's a bit perplexing on account of your many articles featuring douchebags expounding on a staggering number of idiot ideas.Of course I apologize right now in case I've judged you incorrectly. Note that I have been wrong on at least two occassions here in the decade just past. Click to expand... darkbeaver said: Niether of them is fit to collect dog shjt off city streets. Click to expand... darkbeaver said: Trump's there to lead the sheep to the dip, he can always say he tried real hard to save the dream, and he will. Click to expand... It also was showing that he isn't up to date on all the 'conspiracy' items and a group that has spent $60M on negative ads will grasp at any straw.You classify him as crazy so when he wins and remains hugely popular with the public guess who is going to be looked at as being the crazy guy? You will be in case that is too hard to figure out.It would also mean you drank some bad kool-aid about Trump to begin with to have you negative outlook to begin with. For somebody who has said they can update their views as newer information becomes available this is going to be an acid test you can't avoid forever. Don't think I won't be commenting as you sit down to your large plate of crow. I already know what it tastes like so I do some research before I set myself up for being grossly in error.Speaking of 'gross', the charge the ones would face over allowing mold to exist in a prison is equal to Dangerous Criminal Conduct, somebody who would allow 'vapors' to be emitted when those vapors can cause a person to harm another person due to their side effects.. Just in case you think I'm fuking around and just throw out idle comments around willy nillyThe following is case law explaining what amounts to dangerous criminal conduct. Dangerous criminal conduct is conduct which is not merely unpleasant or offensive, but that exceeds aggravation. This is conduct of a type which manifests indifference to the value of human safety or property (e.g., actions which terrorize or inflict serious mental distress on a victim, as the rapist who telephones the victim and threatens to repeat the crime; unusual or protracted cruelty; multiple victims in a single or separate incident; extremely high harm-loss, as the burglar who takes a stereo and proceeds to destroy a large number of items left in the house with an axe); infliction of serious physical injury, if not an element of the crime. [In re Application of Sterling, 47 Ore. App. 275, 277 (Or. Ct. App. 1980)]Nice example of time travel DB. Just how long is it going to remain Saturday night in your world?News flash: nobody does that anymore, owners themselves do it, at least responsible owners do or those that fear a $300 fine.. There is an exception to the rule in most cases.Do you see Putin apologizing very often? (start from after the collapse and foreign investment was at it's highest and so was greed and back-door diplomacy (huge bribes) Tehran says several of its soldiers have been killed in fighting near Aleppo, in what could be one of Irans biggest losses in Syria since deploying forces to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The Fars news agency on May 7 quoted a Revolutionary Guards official as saying that 13 military advisers had been killed and 21 wounded in the clashes with Islamist insurgents on May 6 in Khan Tuman, some 15 kilometers southwest of Aleppo. According to Reuters, dozens of people were killed in the battle. Reports said the attack on Khan Tuman was launched by an alliance of Islamist insurgents known as Jaish al-Fatah, including the Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. Jaish al-Fatah and its affiliates have published on videos and photos on social media of what appear to be the bodies of Iranians or other Shi'ite militias who were killed in Khan Tuman. Earlier this week, the United States and Russia brokered a cease-fire in the city of Aleppo itself. But fighting in the countryside to the south of the city has escalated in recent days. In related news, a senior Iranian official has met with Assad and vowed continued support for his government in the country's five-year-old civil war. Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, met with Assad in Damascus on May 7. Syria's state news agency SANA quoted Velayati as saying that Tehran will always stand by Syria because it "knows that terrorism does not target Syria but the whole people of the region." Velayati's comments came as Russia's Defense Ministry announced that a cease-fire in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo has been extended by three days starting on May 7. The Russian Defense Ministry statement early on May 7 said the extension was made at Moscow's initiative and would also apply to the Latakia region. With reporting by Reuters and AP ST. ANSGAR Raymond Priem and Mildred (Jass) Priem of rural St. Ansgar, Iowa, will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary on May 12. They were married May 12, 1946, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Mason City, Iowa. The couple has one son, Arlyn of St. Ansgar. DES MOINES Among the many features of landmark education reform passed in Iowa in 2013 was $10 million in annual funding for schools with high populations of at-risk students. The money was to be used for programs designed to help students who come from families in poverty or for whom English is their second language. Studies have shown those students have a harder time learning and achieving at the same rate as their classmates. The money has never been delivered. General public school funding over the past few years has become a contentious issue among Iowa state lawmakers. Generally, Democrats have decried state funding levels for education, saying districts need more to sustain staff and education programs, while Republicans have preached fiscal restraint, saying the states budget cannot afford Democrats wishes. That heated school funding debate has left few state dollars for targeted funding, including the $10 million intended for high-needs schools and at-risk students. As a result, three years later the program remains unfunded. As a practical matter, weve never had the money to fund it, said Sen. Herman Quirmbach, a Democrat from Ames and an associate professor of economics at Iowa State University. Quirmbach is a vocal advocate for education policy and funding in the Legislature. In 2013, he pushed for inclusion of the $10 million funding for high-needs schools, and in recent years he has proposed legislation to add more funding for at-risk students by tweaking the states general school funding formula. There are lots of needs in lots of districts, Quirmabach said. With the right kind of assistance these kinds of kids are going to do great. But they need some help getting going. The annual $10 million would support programs such as extended learning time or boost staff by allowing districts to hire more instructional support, provide additional training or supplement teacher salaries in high-need schools, according to a report from the states nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency. The state Department of Education said it has not yet developed guidelines that would determine which schools would receive funding, should the program ever be funded. But officials said the most likely recipients would be schools with relatively high percentages of students who are English language learners or those who receive free or reduced-price lunches, which is the metric by which school officials make their best estimate as to how many students come from families in poverty. The more we can do for (those students), the better, said Brad Hudson, government relations specialist for the Iowa State Education Association. They need different services than the other kids do. The Sioux City Community School District is among the states top 10 districts in both categories, with 17.5 percent of its students classified as limited English proficiency and roughly two-thirds on free or reduced-price lunches. Paul Gausman, the Sioux City districts superintendent, said the high-needs program funding would help the district provide, as possible examples, additional mentoring and tutoring or programs that address dropout prevention, chronic absenteeism and remediation. Some of the resources that some people not in poverty enjoy, Gausman said. Poverty is really the driver. So the things we can do educationally to address poverty are the things that we can do to move education forward. Back in 2013, we were certainly supportive of the education reform but also of this greater investment in high-need schools. There have been models in our nation that have shown when you invest in schools with higher-need education, you show positive gains. Quirmbach said his primary focus is improving general state education funding, then, if the state budget allows, boosting financial support for targeted programs such as the high-need schools funding. One of my principles is trying to do the greatest good for the greatest number, he said. Gausman said he understands state officials must make difficult budget decisions, but he hopes at some point the program can be funded as originally intended three years ago. We still look forward to the day when they feel they have the funding to provide supports to those students who have greater needs, he said. SAN DIEGO As their darkened, 44-passenger bus slowed to a stop, two Lake Mills High School graduates continued to rest their heads between their knees, hearts pounding and palms sweating. A steady cadence of footsteps broke the white noise of an idling engine as someone they couldnt see climbed aboard the vehicle. The interior lights switched on, and Jonah Ringham, 20, and Tyler Knudtson, 21, snapped upright to a seated position when instructed, catching sight of a formidable man illuminated at the head of the bus. The two young men who were entering the Marine Corps 13-week boot camp April 18 had just met their first drill instructor. His biceps bulged out of the sleeves of a crisp, tailored tan blouse, which was tucked neatly into forest green trousers. He narrowed his eyes, showing little expression as he surveyed passengers beneath the brim of a chocolate brown campaign cover, tilted forward slightly to obscure his forehead. You are now aboard the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, he screamed, the sound of his voice spilling out of the bus and reverberating off nearby stucco buildings. You have taken the first step toward becoming a member of the worlds finest fighting force, the U.S. Marine Corps. From this point forward, you will only answer me with a Yes, sir, No, sir, and Aye-aye, sir. Do we understand? Aye-aye, sir! the recruits yelled in unison. Any Marine, sailor or civilian they encounter is to be addressed as sir or maam, and recruits must now refer to themselves as this recruit, eschewing the use of singular pronouns, the drill instructor shouted. With an order of get off my bus, the drill instructor sent Ringham, Knudtson and the rest of recruits scurrying into the warm southern California evening, seeking a set of yellow footprints on an expanse of concrete. Well-worn footprints Every male west of the Mississippi who has entered the Marine Corps has stood on those footprints as they learn the first step standing at attention as they begin the transformation from civilian to recruit. As airplanes revved their engines, preparing for takeoff at the neighboring airport, the recruits stood silently in neat rows, with heels touching and feet forming a v, shoulders back, arms at their sides and hands curled into fists, thumbs touching the seams of their jeans. With only the clothes on their back and toiletries tucked into their pockets, Ringham and Knudtson had taken a much more relaxed position as they processed-in about 24 hours earlier at the Holiday Inn in Des Moines. Sports memorabilia lined the walls of the third-floor Military Entrance Processing Station, giving it the feel of a den instead of a hotel room. Beds and other typical hotel furniture were replaced by leather couches, multiple TVs and video game systems. A poster on the wall instructed recruits to be courteous, safe and mindful. And, appropriately, even the carpet scarlet with gold stars represented the Marine Corps. After quizzing the men on what time they should be ready to go to Camp Dodge in the morning 4:30 a.m. the official peered over his glasses as he asked one final question. How are you feeling? he said. These are going to be the biggest changes youll go through in your life. Im excited, absolutely, Ringham replied. The Lake Mills native just wrapped up his sophomore year at Iowa State University, where he was studying civil engineering. Its an experience I wanted to have while still being able to finish courses, he said. Knudtson, who lives in Kiester, Minnesota, said he wants to make more of his life than working at a factory. Hed been working at Rembrandt Enterprises since graduation, but couldnt advance any further in his job. I just want to serve and do something for my country, he said. Both say their families have been supportive of their choices. As for selecting the Marines, Knudtson and Ringham credit that to Sgt. Jeremy Spaunhorst, a Mason City-based recruiter they say is easy to talk to and work with. I just like the air of confidence they have, Knudtson said of the Marines. Breaking down, building up Whatever confidence they did have was being broken down as the India Company recruits were hustled single-file into an adjacent yellow building, where a sign above double doors proclaimed through this portal walks the future of the U.S. Marine Corps. There they were required to sort their few belongings, call home, have their hair buzzed and receive uniforms and other basic items needed during training. It was a chaotic scene as recruits strained to listen to instructions while harsh criticisms loudly echoed in the gold and scarlet contraband room, their first stop. Members of their group who didnt comply with orders or failed to do so in a timely manner quickly found one or two screaming drill instructors in their face. Voices blended as recruits began making scripted phone calls home, the only call theyd be able to make during their 13 weeks of training. Hello, this is recruit (last name). I have arrived safely at MCRD San Diego. The next time I contact you will be by postal mail so expect a letter in two to three weeks. I love you, goodbye. While the group scrambled out of the contraband room for other receiving matters, a recruit dressed in a blue and white plaid shirt and jeans stood in the hallway, left arm extended and trembling as he directed others to stay tight to the right of the Pepsi machine down the hallway. He drew ire from Sgt. Joshua Cardona for not keeping his arm high enough. Making Marines: California drill instructor truly cares about recruits SAN DIEGO When hes not in senior drill instructor mode, Sgt. Jorge Yepes is reserved and Follow the yellow arrows! the voice of another recruit boomed as groups entered the barbershop, where clippers continuously buzzed and brooms swished as other recruits cleaned hair clippings. Artwork on the wall across from the four barber chairs featured Marines in uniform and the reminder haircuts are part of the recruit training regimen. Spaunhorst had taken Ringham and Knudtson into the dimly-lit hotel hallway for a pep talk the night before, telling them each of their weekly haircuts should be viewed as a marker of surviving another week of physical and mental challenges. The best advice for boot camp is to live haircut to haircut and chow to chow" (meal to meal), Spaunhorst said. It gives you something to anticipate. Trained and tested During their 13 weeks of training, Ringham and Knudtson will be trained and tested in physical fitness, marksmanship, martial arts and swimming, among other skills. They will also complete the Crucible, a 54-hour combat training exercise that involves limited food and sleep, hauling 45 pounds of gear and relying on others while completing obstacles and team-building courses during a nearly 50-mile hike through the rugged, mountainous terrain of Camp Pendleton in Oceanside. At the conclusion of that exercise, they earn their eagle, globe and anchor, or EGA the Marine Corps emblem representing the U.S., worldwide presence and naval heritage and are called Marines for the first time. Ringham and Knudtson will then graduate July 15 and return home for 10 days. After that, they begin School of Infantry training at Camp Pendleton before attending school for their military career specialties. West Fork teacher trains like a Marine in San Diego SAN DIEGO, California As the sounds of gunfire piped over speakers April 19, a West Fork H Jacob Schroeder of Dubuque earned his title April 21, receiving his EGA as the sun rose above the hills of Camp Pendleton, drenching the desert landscape in vibrant yellows and oranges. It was really hard and I really wanted to quit, the 19-year-old said, energetic despite what he'd just completed. But I told myself, 'If everyone else can do it, I can do it, too.'" Schroeder said he joined the Marines because he loves his country and wants to do his part. But for someone who has spent little time away from his parents, boot camp was a stark change. At receiving, I was way scared and shocked, he said. It was terrifying. Ive never went through anything like that before, and have never been away from home. Although stoic upon receiving his EGA, Schroeder is certain the tears will flow once he sees his relatives again. I miss my family, he said softly as he smiled. The longest Ive ever been away from them is a week, so Ill probably cry when I see them again. After completing the Crucible, recruits graduate the following week. Graduation day Under sunny skies dotted with puffy cumulus clouds, families and friends of 378-member Alpha Company packed bleachers April 22 at the Recruit Depot. Flags snapped to attention in the light breeze as the 650-yard parade deck became a swarm of navy and brown as new Marines began marching to the music of John Philip Sousa. Recruit Depot Chief of Staff Col. Mark Tull said the men represent the best America has to offer and are true patriots. He will never regret becoming a U.S. Marine, Tull said of the graduates. With commands to behave and conduct themselves as Marines and remain semper fidelis, forever true the graduates were released to their families. Tristen Lawson of Orange, Texas, hugged relatives close on the parade deck. The 19-year-old, who says he felt proud and honored to now be a Marine, admitted he sneaked a peek at his family as he marched by. I wasnt supposed to, but I was so happy to see them after three months, he said. Wearing a scarlet T-shirt proclaiming she was a proud mother of a U.S. Marine, Misty Lawson said she felt nervous and scared but proud while Tristen was in boot camp. FOREST CITY Dawn Hensley is convinced that if more area students visited the Waldorf University campus in Forest City theyd discover what her daughter Jennifer did. She totally loved it here, Dawn Hensley said of Jennifer. It should be utilized more (by other students). Jennifer Hensley graduated summa cum laude from Waldorf University Saturday. Hensley was one of the 446 campus and online graduates, a school record. She was one of a record number but one of a few from the region. Its ridiculous the low number of Mason City or Clear Lake graduates in the (graduation) program, Hensleys dad Stephen said. I dont think they realize the opportunities here, Dawn Hensley said. Jennifer Hensley graduated from Newman Catholic High School. She spent two years at North Iowa Area Community College before she transferred to Waldorf. The size, the feel of Waldorf was more of what I wanted, Hensley said. She had considered the University of Iowa but Waldorf is close to home. I was able to run home for a little bit and it wouldnt be for the whole day, Hensley said. It was close enough but far enough away, Stephen Hensley said. Hensley participated in band and other activities at Waldorf. Hensley said students who are selecting a college should Come and take a look. Visit Waldorf and see what its all about. People think its just this little small building, Dawn Hensley said. They need to see it. By this fall, Melissa Phillips will have two sons in the Marine Corps. Tyler Knudtson, a 2013 Lake Mills High School graduate, was received in San Diego April 18. His younger brother, Zachary Knudtson, will follow in his footsteps after he graduates from Lake Mills High School this spring, shipping out Aug. 8. Phillips, of Kiester, Minnesota, said she had mixed feelings at first about Tyler, 21, joining the military. But as I learned more about the Marines, who they are and how he would grow as a person, that changed things for me, she said. As for both boys being gone, Phillips says she knows it wont be easy. However, I fully support what theyre doing and are proud of them for doing it, she said. In the world we live in now, it brings some anxiety not knowing where theyll be or what theyll be doing, but I know theyll be well taken care of. As Tyler hasnt been able to respond to any of her letters yet, their only communication thus far was a scripted phone call that came at 12:30 a.m. the night he was received. While Phillips knew her son had only a few seconds to let her know he arrived, she sneaked in an I love you after he finished. Shes not sure he heard it, but said it was wonderful hearing his voice. Come graduation, she expects her heart to be swelling with pride. Pursuing the Marines gives both sons purpose and commitment toward something far greater than themselves, she said. It will produce steadfast character as well as training in a skill that is chosen to fit them. I look forward to witnessing who they will become, where they will go and what they will do. With relatives who have served in the Army, Navy and National Guard, Tylers father, Doug Knudtson, felt the Marines would be a good fit for his son. Zacharys decision, he said, came as a surprise. But Im absolutely proud not without some nervousness as well, given the state of our world, said Knudtson, who lives in Waterloo. Knudtson, whose father served in the Navy, had been directing Tyler toward that branch. A few years ago, his son texted him, World events are ramping up in such a way that I dont want to play small. It was a powerful statement from Tyler, Doug Knudtson said. He wanted to be involved. The week before he left for boot camp, it was prom in Lake Mills. Doug Knudtson said his family was taking pictures but Tyler wouldnt smile preparation for showing no emotion, he said. Knudtson said he believes Tyler is well-equipped to serve in the Marine Corps. Ive never known him to be a quitter, he said. Hes fought through some pretty big things. The day before he shipped out to boot camp, Jonah Ringham, 20, was able to spend most of the day in Des Moines with his father, Terry Ringham, and his brother, who had flown in from Maine for the occasion. Youre really proud of your kids and then a little bit hesitant, said Terry Ringham, who lives in Lake Mills. But Im very proud of him hes a young man who can make his own decisions. Hes a cool kid. Two of Ringhams nephews have served in the military one in the Army who has been deployed to Iraq and another in the Air Force. His stepson has also served 13 years and has been deployed three times. Although Ringham had adjusted some to Jonah being away at college, he said he came home almost every weekend his sophomore year. The two like to spend time outside deer hunting, building, riding motorcycles or being on the farm. Its different not being able to talk to him or see him, Ringham said. He has received a few letters from Jonah, who says he doesnt have much time to write but has enjoyed quiet time and attending church on Sundays. Ringham and his wife, Jayne, plan to spend a week in San Diego when they attend Jonahs graduation in July. Im going to be very glad to see him, he said of his son, who he anticipates to be a changed man a good thing, he says. Rachel Olson says she felt super proud and scared at the same time when her son, Jonah, left for San Diego. As a mom, you know, you worry, but I was just so proud that he chose to do this, said Olson, who lives in Lake Mills. Since he left, she said, she thinks of him every day as she settles into a new normal. Jim Boehmer, who has been teaching at Lake Mills for 25 years, had both men in his high school classes. For them to choose the military, I was a little surprised, but its a lot of their intellectual personalities, he said. Boehmer, who teachers government, psychology and speech communications, said both were capable students who enjoyed discussing current events and politics before and after class. For the next six months we must watch the mortifying process of Republicans girding their loins to support Donald Trumps bid for the White House. This is not just someone who has made inartful, irrational statements. This is a man who has spouted nonsense, insulted three-fourths of the population, embarrassed himself by his lack of knowledge of foreign policy and economics, has quoted the National Enquirer, boasted unbearably, dissembled about almost everything and alarmed the world. Theres a 50-50 chance Trump could become the 45th president even though the wily New York real estate mogul is exceedingly unpopular among independents, women, Latinos and minorities. A Hillary Clinton victory is not inevitable, and heres why: It costs about a billion dollars to get elected president. Even Trump does not have that kind of cash. (Hes loaned himself about $36 million so far and expects to get it back from donations.) So he needs money to pursue this once-fantastical venture that could, heaven help us, become a sure thing in November. The drumbeat has begun for Republicans to hold their noses and donate millions to Trump because the GOP faithful want to block a Clinton presidency more than they are afraid of what Trump will do to their fractured party. There is also the matter of Republicans maintaining control of the House and the Senate. Because fewer American voters split their tickets, GOP leaders think that encouraging a Trump victory translates to millions of votes for Republicans down ticket. If conservatives stay home, chances for a Democratic takeover of the Senate (less likely for the House) improve. Some Republicans will rationalize that even if they cant stand Trump, theyd rather he, not Clinton, nominate the next Supreme Court justice. Many independents think Trump could not keep his promises to make Mexico pay billions for a wall, deny entry to America to Muslims (including legal U.S. citizens who go abroad), put women who have abortions in jail, tear up multination trade agreements, deploy nuclear weapons in Europe, start a war with China. So they will choose simply to ignore his most ridiculous assertions and hope he gets some sense. Republicans who want to retake the White House simply will forget that Trump accused President Barack Obama of not being a legal citizen, said Ted Cruzs father helped assassinate President John F. Kennedy and said Clinton would not get more than 5 percent of the vote if she were a man. They wont care he said Mexico is deliberately sending criminals, drug dealers and rapists north and that if Ivanka werent his daughter, perhaps hed be dating her. Many voters now loath to vote for Trump will decide they dislike Clinton so much theyll shrug their shoulders over such Trump statements as, The beauty of me is that I am very rich, that the point is, you cant be too greedy, that my IQ is one of the highest and you all know it! Please dont feel so stupid or insecure; its not your fault. Hah! Trump being Trump. Some will vote for Trump because he is a rich celebrity, outrageous and entertaining. And, theyll figure, how could he be any worse than those clown politicians we have now? Oh, he could. He would. Some Americans are so frightened about their finances and the future that they figure a businessman must know how to fix the economy. But Trump buys and sells stuff with his name on it he doesnt create wealth. He is against a higher minimum wage. Stopping trade to punish rivals wont create high-paying American jobs. Hes the consummate 1 percenter he wants the rich to get richer. He has no serious plan to help the middle class. Its painful to watch rational people rationalize jumping on the Trump bandwagon. Theyre certain to take a serious bruising when they inevitably fall off. The opponents of Prestage Foods are celebrating. The Professional Mason City Aginners are happy campers. A large part of the community is disappointed that yet another city council has rejected an enormous opportunity. How many times can the city say no before potential prospects decide, Were not going to spend the time, effort and money to try to move to Mason City when there are communities willing to welcome us with open arms? We dont think many more. We live in the middle of the agricultural heart of America. Food processing is an integral part of the Mason City industrial base. The raw materials do not have to be imported. They are all around us, yet the community said no to Prestage. It is obvious that the aginners would have rejected the cement plants, Deckers, Blue Ribbon Beef, AGP, Armours and Walmart because there would have been too many concerns. We have to recruit to our strengths. The MacNider family had the great privilege of being involved with the Northwestern States Portland Cement Co. for more than 80 years. The people who worked there were residents and immigrants who made Mason City their home, worked hard, put their kids through college and contributed to their community. We were able to give back to Mason City in taxes, donations, Lime Creek Nature Center, Fin and Feather Lake, Little League diamonds and more. We believe that Prestage could have been a similar partner for Mason City based on its history. The opponents to change and undesirable development have won again. The question the community must ask itself is, where is the money to improve schools, pave roads and fund parks, the library and museum going to come from? Companies do not last forever. New blood is critical. Who will the aginners ever say yes to? Charlie and Kathy MacNider, Clear Lake DECATUR, Texas, May 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cataract surgery is available to patients and area residents in Decatur and areas surrounding Wise County, reports Decatur Eye Center. Decatur Eye Center is one of the few clinics in the area to offer the procedure with access to ophthalmologist, Dr. Heather Winslow. Diagnosis is done at the eye clinic and surgery is performed at the Decatur Hospital. All post-operative care is available at Decatur Eye Center. Mature individuals can experience impaired vision due to cataracts; surgery for this common condition can help restore vision to those with advanced cataracts. Cataracts are a common condition that occurs as we age. The first evidence of cataracts forming can be seen after the age of 50 in most patients. The lenses we were born with slowly become cloudy after many years of use, however, as individuals approach their 70s, their lenses may become so cloudy that their vision is disrupted to the point of needing surgery. Cataracts can also be related to other medical conditions, previous eye injuries, radiation exposure, diabetes, smoking, steroid use or genetic disorders. Symptoms of cataracts include changes in colored vision, blurred vision, double vision, glare or poor night vision. Annual dilated eye exams are necessary to check for cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and for many other diseases which can impair eye function and rob you of your good vision. said Dr. Edward Fries. Cataracts can make it difficult to drive and read, preventing seniors from enjoying daily activities and living independently. We have the experience to help patients determine the best course of treatment and provide everything they need for their cataract care and any other eye diseases at Decatur Eye Center. As a glaucoma specialist, Dr. Fries uses dilated eye exams to determine the full health of your eyes and any need for surgery. His nutritional training allows for additional support in decreasing the possible progression or risk of developing eye diseases. Dr. Edward Fries M.S., OD has been serving the residents of Decatur and the surrounding areas for more than 12 years. Decatur Eye Center has been around for more than 30 years and offers full service eye and vision care to children and adults of all ages. Decatur Eye Center is locally owned and operated with two ophthalmologists available in office to assist in providing professional eye care services from pre to post-operative care for patients in Decatur. Call (940) 627-2020 to schedule an appointment or to learn more about the comprehensive cataract procedures available at Decatur Eye Clinic. They will discuss the options available for those suffering from cataracts and considering cataract surgery. Visit http://doctorfries.com/ for more details. An economics professor at the University of Pennsylvania was profiled and interrogated this week while sitting on the tarmac on an American Airlines flight to Syracuse...all because his seatmate became concerned about the "foreign lettering" he'd been scribbling on paper next to her. That foreign lettering, it turns out, was math. As first reported by the Washington Post, Guido Menzio, a celebrated economist who's taught at Princeton and Stanford in addition to the University of Pennsylvania, was questioned by American Airlines interrogators on Thursday, after he was removed from American Eagle Flight 3950 in Philadelphia. Menzio, who is from Italy, was informed he'd been suspected of terrorism, after his 30-something year old female seatmate became concerned about the unrecognizable "code" he'd been writing on a notepad. The woman apparently claimed she was ill, flagged down a stewardess, and reported Menzio. The plane, which had been prepared to take off, returned to the gate at the airportMenzio's seatmate, who has not been identified, got off the flight, and Menzio was taken off the plane and met by some FBI looking man-in-black. "They ask me about my neighbor," he wrote in a post on Facebook. "I tell them I noticed nothing strange. They tell me she thought I was a terrorist because I was writing strange things on a pad of paper. I laugh. I bring them back to the plane. I showed them my math." Menzio was working on equations related to a paper on menu costs and price dispersion that he planned to present at Queen's University in Ontario, where he was headed via connecting flight in Syracuse. When he showed interrogators he was writing math equations and not, say, Arabic or code, he was allowed to return to his seat, and the Washington Post reports that "the pilot seemed embarrassed." Menzio's seatmate did not re-board the flight, which was delayed by two hours thanks to the incident. Menzio told reporters he was "treated respectfully throughout, but he wasn't thrilled with the xenophobia that led to his interrogation. "A security protocol that is too rigidin the sense that once the whistle is blown everything stops without checksand relies on the input of people who may be completely clueless," he said. "What might prevent an epidemic of paranoia? It is hard not to recognize in this incident, the ethos of [Donald] Trumps voting base." Police are searching for two drivers who both struck the same man in Queens Sunday morning before fleeing the scene. The double hit-and-run took place just after 2:30 a.m. Sunday morning in Ozone Park. According to the NYPD, the 43-year-old victim was struck near the intersection of 115th Avenue and 131st Street as he was trying to cross the street. Then, as he was laying in the Westbound lane of 115th Avenue, a black SUV ran him over. The man suffered severe trauma to his head and body, and was unresponsive when emergency workers arrived. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Neither of the drivers has been identified by the police, and a search for both is underway. ABC reports that the NYPD is seeking surveillance footage from the area. A priest was struck by a stray bullet in Queens, and several other people were injured in overnight shootings and stabbings in separate incidents around the city. Police say that the 49-year-old victim, whom the Post has identified as priest Damien Ekete, was on his way home when he was shot at 134th Avenue and Rockaway Boulevard. Cops say the suspects, who were in a vehicle driving by at the time, were shooting at someone else, and mistakenly struck Ekete in the arm around 12:15 a.m. Ekete went to a nearby church after being struck, and was transported from there to Jamaica Hospital in stable condition. No arrests have been made, and the investigation is ongoing. At least two people were killed and six others were injured in separate incidents last night: a 33-year-old man was shot in the back and a 17-year-old boy was shot in the leg near the Summer Houses on Myrtle and Throop Avenues in Bed-Stuy around 10 p.m. Saturday. The News reports that both were taken to a local hospital and "are not cooperating with police." Around 11:30 p.m., 26-year-old Roberto Rodriguez was fatally stabbed in the chest, and a 30-year-old was stabbed in the gut on E. 151st Street near Courtlandt Avenue in the South Bronx. The unidentified victim was taken to Lincoln Hospital in critical condition. The News adds that two men were shot outside an apartment building on Schaefer Street near Central Avenue in Bushwick; they were taken to Kings County Hospital, where at least one is in critical condition. Ramel King, 33, was fatally shot in the chest on Williams and Atlantic Avenue in Brownsville around 2:30 a.m. And another unidentified person was shot near the intersection of 61st Street and 37th Avenue in Woodside around 4:30 a.m. That victim was taken to Elmhurst Hospital in critical but stable condition. No arrests have been made in any of those incidents; cops adds that the investigations are ongoing. Over the past few months, visitors to the Williamsburg-Greenpoint border may have noticed the gradual appearance of a shipping container, church pews, recycled furniture, and lawn flamingos in the distinctive triangular lot situated between North 15th Street, Banker Street, and Nassau Avenue. Before this, a camper had occupied the gated-off space for years, intriguing locals who wondered how a developer hadnt yet claimed the unique plot of land for a mega-tall condo. Francois Vaxelaire was one of the neighbors who wondered about the triangle for a long time; hed pass by it on his commute to work every morning. Everyone has always been intrigued and curious about this triangle," he told me, "ask any people in the neighborhood, everybody wanted to do something with the triangle, everybody had an idea... but it was not on the market." In late 2015 however, Vaxelaire spotted a "For Lease" sign on the plot, and immediately got on the phone with the owner. He didnt know what exactly he was going to do with the land; he just knew the location was special. Its magic. Its a triangle, you have no neighbors, you have a view of New York City; its atypical. Vaxelaire ultimately decided to set up an independent radio station in the space, run out of a reclaimed shipping container. His hope was to prove that an independent radio station could still thrive in a rapidly gentrifying area, without the help of advertisers or investors. (He declined to say how much he pays to rent the lot.) (Kellylouise Delaney / Gothamist) Vaxelaire's goal is to host as diverse a range of DJs as possible; the only prerequisite is a love of music. Anywhere Ive lived in the world, you have those kinds of people where music is everything for them, its just everything. Its completely irrational. They dont think about careers, they dont think about money, its just music, and I think those people are really touching." Most any time of day or night, you'll find someone performing via livestream at The Lot. New York City's DJ scene has welcomed the station warmly, as have its neighbors; The Holy Family Church across North 15th Street has provided The Lot with the wooden pews that line its gates, and has collaborated on hosting live music events inside the church. If you've ever wondered what it's like to clink glasses with a priest who appreciates good beats, your opportunity awaits. To fund the radio station, Vaxelaire has set up a coffee kiosk in one of the shipping container's two small rooms. Most of its offerings are locally sourced. You can pick up a cold brew coffee sourced from Brooklyn's own Grady's Cold Brew; a pastry from Greenpoint, Brooklyn's Ovenly; or a donut brought in from Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn's Dough. There are vegan and gluten-free pastry options too, with new products coming in almost weekly. (Vaxelaire is also in the process of applying for a beer and wine license.) (Kellylouise Delaney / Gothamist) "The kiosk is really important," Vaxelaire said. "The customers are funding the whole project, and that's the beautiful part. We don't need brands, and we will never have brands included in the radio." The best way to support The Lot Radio is to make their coffee kiosk your daily coffee spot, to check in about events, and to indulge in their free livestream. The search is on for an unidentified man who scaled a fence at the United Nations building Saturday morning at dawn, triggered an alarm, evaded security officers, evaded police officers, and escaped by leaping into the East River. The break-in took place at roughly 6 a.m. yesterday, when the man reached the UN compound's North Lawn building. There, the Daily News reports that he was grabbed by two security officers, but managed to break free and leap three stories down from a promenade onto the FDR Drive. Sources told ABC that the man had been "emotionally disturbed." UN officials called 911 at roughly 7:30 a.m., but the man proved too quick for officers on the FDR. Police told the tabloid he leapt into the river at East 42nd Street, and despite hours spent combing the waters, NYPD Harbor and Fire Department vehicles did not recover his body. The trespasser is still at large, nowhere to be found. A backpack left behind at the UN compound reportedly contained paperwork suggesting the man had recently been let out of prison. An NYPD spokesperson confirmed that the man is still at large. Names and faces Linda Fauhl, LMT, of Family Massage and Neuromuscular Therapy, has added drop-in mini chair massages or foot massages in her new satellite office located at 111 N. Last Chance Gulch in the Arcade Building. Hours are Wednesday and Thursday from 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Fauhl has been a massage therapist in Helena for 27 years. *** MorrisonMaierles Natural Resources Group recently hired two new employees to work in its Helena office. Sarah Garland has been hired as an engineer and Kirk Eakin as a senior ecologist. Garlands focus will be as the resident project representative for the spillway rehabilitation project at Hebgen Dam. She is a 2005 graduate of Montana State University with a BS in civil engineering. Previously, she worked at Terracon and NTL Engineering & Geoscience. For the last four years she has been providing on-site project management for Northwestern Energy on the Hebgen Intake Rehabilitation Project at Hebgen Dam. Eakin has more than 25 years of experience working on wildlife, fisheries and wetland resources studies for transportation, mining, water, communication towers, transmission lines and wind energy projects in Montana, Idaho, South Dakota, Wyoming, Oregon, California, New Mexico, New York and Pennsylvania. He graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a BS in fish and wildlife science and a minor in botany and followed up with graduate classes at MSU in fish and wildlife management. During his career, he has worked for several firms, including AMEC and URS, and he also served as a district biologist for Montana Department of Transportation. *** Sharon Nichols has been promoted to assistant vice president operations officer for Stockman Bank in Helena. Her responsibilities include coordinating, overseeing and supervising all operational related functions for the bank, as well as providing supervision and guidance to the teller and customer service areas, loan support and administrative staff. Nichols has been with Stockman Bank since they opened in Helena in 2012. She brings more than 16 years of banking experience to the position. Her experience ranges from branch operations and customer service to consumer and commercial lending. Nichols graduated from Leadership Helena in 2015 and will continue to be an active participant in Stockman Bank sponsored events. Awards and honors Fitzpatrick gets community spirit award The United Way of the Lewis and Clark Area announced that Darla Fitzpatrick of Helena is the 2016 recipient of the Ron Waterman Community Spirit Award. The award is granted annually to a community member that demonstrates random acts of kindness and a commitment to volunteerism. Over the last decade, Fitzpatrick has fulfilled almost every volunteer role at the UWLCA from serving as the president of the Board of Directors to facilitating the annual Citizen Review process. Darla is a rock star volunteer, whose commitment, follow-through, and adaptability have been invaluable to the UWLCA, said Alison Munson, UWLCA CEO. The award was first granted to Ron Waterman in 1998. Hegreberg to attend security forum MCA Executive Director Cary Hegreberg was among a small group of guests invited to participate in a national security forum. The forum is part of the U.S. Air Force War College graduation proceedings at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. He was nominated for the honor by a former Montana legislator who has an extensive military background. The security forum and graduation proceedings last a week, and include seminars, lectures and small group discussions. Topics range from national security to international relations. The MCA is based in Helena and Hegreberg is a resident of Broadwater County. Residents to receive theater awards Beverly Allen is being honored with the Robert E. Gard Superior Volunteer Award from the American Association of Community Theatre. The AACT Robert E. Gard Superior Volunteer Award is presented to individuals above the age of 65 who have faithfully served community theater on a non-paid basis for over 25 years. Allen has provided unmatched service to the Grandstreet Theatre in Helena, both onstage and behind the scenes, during the theaters 40-year history. Over three and a half decades, she has immersed herself in all aspects of theater and says she feels personally enriched by the multi-generational relationships. Her particular gift is set building and painting. Tom Cordingley is being honored with the David C. Bryant Outstanding Service Award. The AACT David C. Bryant Outstanding Service Award recognizes members of AACT for significant, valuable and lasting service to community theater. Cordingley has been involved at Grandstreet Theatre for the last 30 years. He has been an actor and technician, served on the board (including as board president), and in 1995 became managing director. Even in retirement, Cordingley continues to volunteer as an actor, technician and fundraiser -- stopping by to lend a hand by picking up a drill gun, speaking to an entire group of students, or with his wife, Lisa, providing scholarships and encouragement to young people interested in theater. Dr. Tim Ballweber, and Ballweber Orthodontics of Helena, are being honored with the Special Recognition Award. The AACT Special Recognition Award is presented to persons or organizations whose contributions to community theater are far reaching and of a special nature. Ballweber and Ballweber Orthodontics have sponsored the Grandstreet Theatre School camp in Helena for the past 16 years, including providing money for scholarships, T-shirts and advertising. Ten years ago Ballweber offered to sponsor the theaters annual Christmas show, as well, and in the most recent five years underwrote the cost of a T-shirt for every child participating in the Christmas event. Over the years, Dr. Ballweber and his team have provided more than $97,500 in funding to help children from many different states and countries attend Grandstreet Theatre School at an affordable price. AACT provides networking, resources and support for Americas theaters. AACT represents the interests of more than 7,000 theaters across the United States and its territories, as well as theater companies with the U.S. Armed Services overseas. All of the recipients will be presented with awards at a ceremony during the AACT New York Adventure 2016 in New York from July 7-10. Visit aact.org/awards for information on all AACT National Awards, 2016 AACT Award winners, and previous honorees. Guidelines The IR welcomes reports of hiring, promotions, awards, recognition, learning opportunities and other news from local companies and nonprofits. We accept press releases and photos (digital images at 300 dpi or more are preferred, but we can also use regular photos; we dont guarantee return of these). There is no charge for items appearing in the Business Briefcase. Items are run on a space-available basis, and we reserve the right to edit and use information as we see fit. The deadline is Tuesday at noon to be considered for publication the following Sunday. Jessica Anderson has had a busy week. The 2016 Montana Teacher of the Year landed in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, April 2, and didnt get back until late Friday night. She spent the interim with 55 other award-winning educators, bouncing between White House galas, teaching events and Vice President Joe Bidens house. And yes, she did get to meet President Obama, who Anderson said was excited to hear she taught in a STEM, or science, technology, engineering and mathematics, field. Obamas administration has stressed the need to improve student performance in those areas and, judging by the awards and peer recognition, Anderson has more than done her part. The 30-year-old Anaconda native started her teaching career nine years ago, in a one-room schoolhouse in Gold Creek, Montana -- a classroom not entirely unlike the one her grandmother once taught in on the North Dakota plains. Shes since moved on to Powell County High School, in Deer Lodge, where she teaches earth science, chemistry, and physics. She also teaches oceanography online through the Montana Digital Academy. Anderson, who was named the states teacher of the year in September, has won plaudits from colleagues for her hands-on approach to teaching and innovative use of technology. She chalked up some of those accolades to #MTedchat -- a well-publicized weekly online chat co-moderated by Anderson and frequented by teachers around the state. She credited the rest her success to maintaining a high-energy classroom environment, as well as her use of a teaching technique known as blended learning -- a computer-assisted approach that blends digital classrooms with traditional face-to-face instruction, allowing students to learn at their own pace. That sometimes means doing science while learning it. Andersons students have aided the Clark Fork Coalitions efforts to analyze the stream quality of the Clark Fork River, planting vegetation along the banks of tributaries and helping discover new bacteriophages. Theyve also collaborated with students from around the world on issues like hydraulic fracturing. Anderson said rejecting the sometimes stuffy classroom lecture approach has been something of a mixed blessing. Sometimes I feel isolated, she explained. Sometimes I think it would be easier to give a traditional lecture, but I cant do that. I think it would be a disservice to the kids. Anderson has no plans change schools or take a new job after winning the states top teaching honor, though she does plan to pursue a doctorate and embark on a yearlong sabbatical sometime next year. For more information on Anderson and her teaching methods, visit theclassroomblender.com. MISSOULA -- Ethan Roachs birth on Wednesday was the best early Mothers Day gift Hannah Subry could have asked for. Four months ago, she wasn't sure he would live. I went in there crying cause I was like, hes going to tell me that we cant make it, that Im going to have another stillbirth, cause my first was a stillbirth, Subry, from Helena, said of her first visit to Dr. Bardett Fausetts office at Community Medical Center in Missoula. And I went in and he was like, I got this, hes going to be fine. By 17 weeks, Roachs blood count was down to 9. Typically at that point, it should be between 45 and 50. Its because Subry has Rh disease, meaning her blood is Rh-negative and her babys blood is Rh-positive. Rh is a protein in some peoples red blood cells. Essentially, it means Subry's body developed antibodies that crossed the placenta and attacked and destroyed Roach's red blood cells. By 17 weeks, Roach was severely anemic and his heart was failing. Fausett said had he not given an in utero blood transfusion when he did, Roach likely would have died within a few days. There isnt really a good way to stop the mother from making those antibodies or to stop them from crossing the placenta, Fausett said. The only way, really, to treat it is to give the baby blood in the womb. So thats what happened. Thats what happened -- and its likely the first time its happened successfully in the United States. Blood transfusions in utero before 20 weeks are rare, especially through the umbilical vein. During his research, Fausett could only find two other cases in which it had succeeded, and those were in Paris. Even in those cases, intravascular transfusion (in the fetus umbilical vein) was only attempted after intraperitoneal transfusion (in the fetus abdomen). Its a risky procedure, especially that early in a pregnancy. The needle Fausett had to use, 0.5 millimeters, was the same size as the umbilical vein -- the biggest vein babies have at that point. He definitely had someone steadying that hand for him, Subry said of Fausett. When we did the 17-week, he told me, I dont know how I did it, but I did it. An ultrasound guided Fausett to the umbilical vein, where it attaches to the placenta. Its like trying to stick a fork in a piece of spaghetti in a boiling pot of water, he said. Its going to move away from you. That first blood transfusion was terrifying, Subry said. You know, youre wondering, whats going to happen? How is it going to happen? Is it going to work? Is it going to help? And luckily it did, she said. Knowing that he was so close to not being here, and that Fausett was able to save his life, was fantastic. Normally, if a fetus needs a blood transfusion in utero, a doctor tries intraperitoneal transfusion. That wasnt an option in this case, because at that point Roach was hydropic (swollen). The only way this baby could survive is to get blood into the cord, and thats not been done, basically, Fausett said. We tried and we were blessed and fortunate and successful. Subrys first baby was stillborn, and her second baby, Annabelle, also suffered from anemia at birth. Annabelle is now a spunky, blonde, blue-eyed 4-year-old who lives up to her Southern belle name, Subry said. When I had my daughter, I had her in Great Falls, and the specialist there told me I wouldnt have another one, that it wouldnt make it, Subry said. So when I came to Fausett, I came thinking I wasnt going to be able to have this little boy. She tried to keep herself busy at home to take her mind off the complication. Subry came in for an ultrasound every week, which was reassuring, but she was still scared. If anything felt wrong, she went to the hospital. Every morning, her daughter would ask, Are you going to the doctor again? By 34 weeks, Roach had had seven blood transfusions. The shortest was 15 minutes and the longest was three hours -- a harrowing procedure because Fausett had to move the needle right past Roachs eye to reach the umbilical vein. Annabelles question started switching to Is my brother out of your belly yet? Then his heart rate started to drop. Subry had a choice: another in-utero blood transfusion or a C-section. She chose the latter. Out came Roach at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday evening: 4 pounds, 5 ounces. At birth, his blood count was 33 -- low, but not too low, Fausett said. Beforehand, NICU staff tried to prep Subry for a tough road ahead, being honest with her about the complications Roach would likely face. Hell have to be rushed away when hes born, they said. And yet, the minute he was born, Dr. Kara Arvin said, I lied. You can hold him. Roach had another transfusion after he was born, and he was on oxygen Wednesday night. By Thursday morning, he was off oxygen, and so far hasnt needed another blood or platelets transfusion. Hes nursing well. Subry isn't sure when theyll leave the NICU. It could be six weeks, it could be next week. Hes my little fighter, Subry said. Both of my kids are my miracle children. They really are miracles. Fausett is thankful the transfusions were successful. In little old Missoula, Montana, were doing world-class fetal therapy, Fausett said. I think thats pretty cool. It wouldve been a pretty tough thing to not help. My whole desire is to help him -- and its hard if you cant. On Saturday, Subry rested in her room in the NICU. Roach snoozed on her chest, glowing blue from the bilirubin lights (light therapy used to treat jaundice). He was eventually moved to his crib, where the nurse situated his cords and tucked him in. Roach yawned and started to settle in -- except for his tiny legs, which wouldnt stop dancing. I was born on a Montana ranch, married in 1944 to a Montana hero who flew combat in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, and I now leave Montana for my daughter's home in Boulder, Colorado. With deep regret, I won't be here to vote for Steve Bullock in November. Life in rural Montana and our military life living abroad taught me the critical importance of courageous leadership. Gov. Bullock is the finest of all the governors in my 92 years in Montana. He is battling to protect our hard-won freedoms, our public lands, precious resources, and the very future of every Montanan, young or old. Yes, we are up against out-of-state folks with unlimited money who will try to buy our election. Montana isn't for sale. So roll up your sleeves, Montanans, and please take my place in the voting line and everywhere you can to support our remarkable Gov. Bullock. Maxine Pogreba Boulder, Colorado An emergency room nurse at Lame Deer Health Center turned to a red box on the wall and pushed a button to call for backup. With that, a silver web camera pointed to the top corner of the room swiveled around and down to look toward the patients bed and a nearby television flickered on to show a woman in scrubs sitting at a desk in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Avera ER, this is Carol, the distant nurse answered one recent April morning. She was ready to bring over a doctor to assist with diagnosis and monitoring, or to make calls and do paperwork so on-site staff would not have to leave a patient alone. The clinic in the remote community two hours east of Billings is the first Indian Health Service facility in the country to bring board-certified specialists into its emergency room via teleconference. The model created in Lame Deer is planned for rollout to other reservation health centers in Montana and Wyoming starting early this summer once the Billings area office finalizes a contract. The program reflects a broader strategy of the federal agency, which was created to fulfill the United States treaty promises to provide health care to more than 560 tribal nations in exchange for ceding most of their land. The Indian Health Service sees telemedicine as a cost-effective way to bring specialists into its hospitals and to fill gaps at rural facilities that often struggle to recruit enough medical professionals to operate at full staff. Telemedicine is part of the future, said Dr. Jonathan Gilbert, clinical director for the Billings-area office of IHS. Its a fantastic way to bring board-certified specialists to a frontier community and to raise the bar. Telemedicine is not new to Montana or the Indian Health Service, but technology improvements, shifting health care demands and new, more permissive laws have spurred increasing use nationwide. For decades the costs and quality of teleconferencing often were prohibitive, particularly in a medical setting where communication must be clear, secure and reliable. Among the first telehealth projects was a partnership between the Indian Health Service, NASA and others. From 1972 to 1975, a van packed with medical instruments and equipped with a satellite connected on-site paramedics with specialist doctors at a distant hospital using a two-way microwave radio transmission. In the early 1990s, several federal programs offered grants for hospitals to research telemedicine or to pay for the needed connectivity improvements in rural areas. By the early 2000s, the Indian Health Service began rolling out telemedicine specialty programs and support services for some of its hospitals that are still used today. Echocardiograms, X-Rays and retinal images could be sent from isolated communities to specialists in the Phoenix-area office to be interpreted, reducing or eliminating the need to pay for those staff locally. In 2009, the agency received $85 million to improve electronic and telehealth capabilities, including the purchase of several video conferencing units that cost more than $15,000 each. Nowadays, other solutions are available that are software-based and can be used on existing computers, so with a nice web camera for $80 we can lower that cost bar to maybe $100, said Dr. Chris Fore, director of the IHS TeleBehavioral Health Center of Excellence, remarking on the pace of technological innovation. Were spending hundreds instead of thousands. Some technical challenges remain. Unlike a Skype chat with distant relatives, doctors must be certain their digital communications are secure enough to transmit confidential patient information. File transfers became easier once federal law required hospitals to implement electronic patient records, variations of which had been tested years earlier at some IHS facilities. Services that require video conferencing, such as psychiatric appointments, must have reliable Internet connections with sufficient bandwidth. Those improvements can be costly for rural reservations like those in Montana, but Fore, a clinical psychologist, said it is a quality benchmark that should not be compromised. You dont want to be in the middle of a patient disclosing a sensitive, painful event and have the connection drop, he said. Additionally, many hospitals delayed implementation of telehealth technologies because it is more difficult or impossible to bill for those services as is done for the same treatments provided in-person. Twenty states still do not have parity laws that outline rules for billing telehealth services, according to the American Telemedicine Association. Montana passed its law only three years ago. Although the ability to bill insurance will help reduce program costs paid with federal funding, the Indian Health Service must provide care regardless of whether a patient has insurance. For decades, critics have argued that Congress has shortchanged the system, leading some IHS hospitals to limit services, prioritize referrals or delay care that would be routine in private hospitals. Federal leaders spend less per capita to fulfill treaty promises for Indian health care than they appropriate for patients accessing care through Medicare, Medicaid, veterans programs or serving time in federal prisons, according to a periodic review of federal records by the National Congress for American Indians. In 2012, the latest year available across all programs, Congress spent an average of $2,896 per capita on IHS patients compared to $12,042 for Medicare and $6,206 for Medicaid. And that level is nearly double the amount that had been spent before a series of increases advocated by President Barack Obama and approved by Congress. Telemedicine has been one way local IHS leaders can stretch how far their funding goes. But first, the money must be available for the initial investment. "The truth is I don't know if they have the resources to set it up (in more facilities)," said Sen. Jon Tester, the Montana Democrat who serves as vice chair of the Indian Affairs Committee. "I see plenty of examples where it's used in rural hospitals, in emergency rooms, used in the VA for mental health treatment and they're very successful, but you've got to have the infrastructure to support it. You've got to have the fiber going in and then you've got to have the people to do it and you've got to pay for the training on how to use it. All of that costs money. But it's a one-time expense." Some telemedicine programs are in-house at the federal agency. Others operate through private contracts or partnerships with medical schools. Although in-house programs tend to operate more cheaply than contractors, Fore said all provide cost savings for participating clinics by leveraging regional wage differences and economies of scale. Federal payroll records show that the Indian Health Service pays most physicians -- from ER doctors to cardiologists -- about $200,000 a year. Those salaries quickly eat up local operating funds at IHS hospitals and clinics even though they tend to be less than private sector pay. A health tech, paid a fraction of the salary for an ophthalmologist, sat next to a blue-and-white retinal scanner tucked in the corner of a small room at the Crow-Northern Cheyenne Hospital one recent April afternoon. Dr. Lynelle Noisy Hawk, the hospitals clinical director and a patient, sat in front of the blue-and-white scanner for an eye exam that is part of the facilitys comprehensive diabetes screening. The tech pushed a button and the $85,000 machine hummed louder and louder as it warmed up. As Noisy Hawk pressed her face against the scanner, the tech touched the screen to take an orange-hued photo of blood vessels snaking through the back of the eyes light-sensitive retina. The blood vessels here are the smallest in the body, making them the first place doctors can identify diabetic complications such as a loss of vision or hypertension. Although Noisy Hawk herself doesnt have diabetes, she said she is considered high-risk for developing the condition because of her family health history. All right, lean back, the tech directed Noisy Hawk as they finished the four-minute exam. Im going to send these images down to our national reading center. From there an ophthalmologist will look at it to grade it for a specific level of diabetic retinopathy. From there, a follow up will be recommended. That small crew of ophthalmologists at a Phoenix IHS office providing advice to local physicians and optometrists saves participating hospitals the cost of those specialty salaries. Noisy Hawk said the technology also has made it easier to examine more patients by adding a quick scan to any visit rather than having to schedule around a doctor. Although the program is only available at about half of the agencys facilities, internal statistics show a 20 percent increase in the rate of exams conducted nationwide since 2007. In nearby Lame Deer, the contract with Avera Health for its teleER services costs about $72,000 a year, which is cheaper than hiring emergency medicine physicians. Nursing Director Mardell Nichols, who spearheaded the program, said it also helps solve another persistent challenge: recruitment and retention. The challenge with rural health care is youre not going to find a board-certified ER doctor or emergency family practitioner to work in your ER, Nichols said. Rural facilities in particular struggle to recruit doctors as the number of primary care providers plummets and pay surges for those in specialty fields. If they do hire someone skilled, it is often not long before neighboring urban hospitals offer them a raise. The next site expected to launch a teleER like the one in Lame Deer is the Blackfeet Community Hospital in Browning. CEO Dee Hutchison said the facility has struggled to bring emergency-medicine doctors to the small Hi-Line community, forcing family practitioners to take extra rotations through the ER that reduce their availability for primary care patients. Fore said that while the cost efficiencies are critical in a cash-strapped system, the primary driver behind IHS' telehealth programs is to increase access to specialties that improve the quality of care. Discussions about telemedicine really have changed, Fore said. It used to be at conferences that wed ask, Is telehealth effective? Is it as good? Now, the research shows that, in some cases, it may be better than in person. Fore said some advantages of telemedicine can be surprising, listing examples from his experience with the agencys psychiatry program. Patients travel to the same hospitals for a counseling appointment whether it is in-person or by video conference, yet they are 2.5 times less likely to skip a teleconference session, according to internal data from 2012. Likewise, initial internal reviews and anecdotal evidence suggest that the physical distance helps patients open up about difficult experiences more quickly than if they received therapy in-person, potentially speeding up treatment progress. Many tribal communities are small, insular, everybody knows everything going on, Fore said of the program used at Fort Peck Indian Reservation, among others. Patients have told us they like that they wont see their provider at a gas station or at Wal-Mart. Theres a feeling that its more confidential. Nathan Moyer, nurse ER director at Crow-Northern Cheyenne Hospital, said he is excited about the possibility of the teleER program coming to his facility. Weird stuff happens that you dont know what to do about. Having the ability to do a quick video consult with a specialist and ask, How do you manage this? he said. We dont have a lot of resources at three oclock in the morning. When we have a multi-trauma come in, it would be great to have another set of eyes to take a look at your patient or monitor their vital signs. Simple things where you can free somebody up for five minutes to care for someone else. Even when an ambulance arrives with seriously wounded patients, Nichols agreed that it helps to have a doctor available at the push of a button to issue lifesaving medical orders. We have a doctor on call at night, but hes 30 miles away, she said, noting that delaying care even minutes can matter. Its a safety net for sure. I simply do not understand how the mayor and city council can allow our city manager to remain in power after he has openly admitted in a sworn affidavit and deposition that he abused public resources for his own personal gain. To worsen the situation, when our police chief with more than 20 years of exemplary service to this community spoke out against the situation, city manager Tim Gleason fired him without cause. By now, many of us have read the State of Illinoiss determination on the termination of former chief Brad Sweeney. The State determined that Mr. Sweeney was terminated due to a dispute with the city manager. They concluded that Mr. Sweeney did not break any rules, policies, or regulations in the work place. The State reports the discharge was a personal conflict between Mr. Gleason and Mr. Sweeney. That conflict being our police chief not allowing Mr. Gleason to abuse his authority or our resources. Isnt that what we want our police chief to do? It is time our mayor and city council take action against this tragedy. The residents of Decatur have clearly lost faith in Tim Gleason. It is time to terminate him like he did our police chief. The only difference is that there is cause to terminate Tim Gleason. Here are three pieces of trivia about the Golden Gate Bridge: Three babies have been born on the Golden Gate Bridge. All of them have been boys. It is estimated that 5,000 - 10,000 gallons of paint are used to repaint the Golden Gate Bridge each year (Inernational Orange, to be precise). The Golden Gate Bridge has lost 7,500 tons (in weight) since it opened in 1937 (this one concerns me, though I don't know what it means). Having established the positive, I want to talk about suicdes. I'm sorry; It's just fascinating that the bridge has been such a magnet for the distraught since it was opened in 1937. More than 1,700 have met their end -- and that's just the bodies they've recovered. Fewer than three dozen have survived the plunge of 245 feet. It wasn't supposed to be that way. Joseph Strauss, the engineer supervisor charge of building the bridge, declared in 1936: The Golden Gate Bridge is practically suicide-proof." But before Strauss died two years later, six already had done themselves in. Why would the desperate choose the Golden Gate Bridge? "Fame" is the common conjecture. People will take note of the final act, they conclude, if it's from such a famous venue. Some of the 1,700 include the son of JFK press secretary Pierre Salinger and Roy Raymond, founder of Victoria's Secret. It's not that no one cares: There are 11 crisis counseling telephones on the bridge that connect to suicide prevention counselors. After years of debate, the bidding is about to begin on a $76 million plan to put a huge net under the bridge. The Empire State Building and Eiffel Tower have seen their suicides decline because of the installation of barriers. Until the Golden Gate gets its net, volunteers, called Bridgewatch Angels, pull shifts to spot potential jumpers. They look for signs such as: -- Anyone alone on the bridge, -- disheveled appearance or clothing inappropriate for weather and -- being visibly distraught and crying. Thankfully, workers stopped 162 from jumping in one recent year. Ironically, construction of the bridge was hailed as a wonder of safety. Eleven workers died during the project, but that was much better than the 28 who perished during the building of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge nearby. Part of that safety record could be linked to the decision by chief engineer Straus, who made the construction site the first in America to require workers to wear hard hats. All right: Maybe we should end up on a more positive note. Did you know the Golden Gate wasn't necessarily supposed to be golden? The steel for the structure came coated in a burnt red and orange shade of primer to protect it from corrosive elements. The architect decided he liked that better than the common bridge colors or black and gray. He decided the international orange color was visible in the fog, but it complemented the topography of the surrounding hills. Good call. Film buffs may know that the bridge shows up in such movies as "Monsters Vs. Aliens," "Interview with a Vampire," two Star Trek editions, "The Abyss," "A View to a Kill," "Basic Instinct," "Superman," "Dirty Harry," "The Birds," "Vertigo" and "The Maltese Falcon." That's appropriate: An icon that beautiful shouldn't be camera-shy. PANA -- Four-year-old Tenleigh Stokes loves ice cream, goes to preschool, uses the potty on her own and runs as fast as her little legs will carry her. As she tugs on her mom Haylee Shrakes arm and asks her to go into her bedroom to get her LEGOs, its hard to believe Stokes has two titanium rods in her body as a result of a rare condition that left doctors all over Illinois at a loss on how to treat her -- going as far as to tell Shrake there was no hope. But Shrake wouldnt accept that diagnosis. And though its been a painful and arduous three years, Stokes case proves the power of a mothers will, a childs resiliency and the miracle of modern medicine. Stokes was born eight weeks early and spent her first month in the hospital. At four months, Shrake noticed her daughter was struggling to breathe. After doctors at two different local hospitals examined Stokes, she was diagnosed with scoliosis, fused and missing ribs, hemivertebrae, torticollis and a small chest wall, then discharged. I was told, We really dont have a name for it and we really dont know what to do,' Shrake said. They basically told me to Google some people to find a consultation. Through the internet, Shrake determined that Stokes had Thoracic Insufficiency Syndrome -- a congenital condition where severe deformities of the chest, spine and ribs prevent normal breathing, lung growth and lung development. Shrake contacted 15 doctors in Chicago and St. Louis and took her to five consultations, but got nowhere. They all said she was either too complex, too young basically there were a thousand reasons why they couldnt do anything, Shrake said. One doctor told us shes probably going to die -- that they typically dont make it past three. He said she would probably never walk or meet any of the basic milestones. It was not the news any parent would want to hear. But Shrake didnt accept that diagnosis. As her daughter struggled through her first birthday with the effects of the disease -- frequent upper respiratory ailments including bronchitis, pneumonia and adenovirus -- Shrake scoured the internet for answers. Google Thoracic Insufficiency Syndrome and among the first results is a study led by Dr. Robert M. Campbell Jr., a pediatric orthopedic surgeon who is now the director of the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphias (CHOP) Center for Thoracic Insufficiency Syndrome. Campbell invented the first expandable rib in 1988 to save the life of a young boy born without ribs, and a year later implanted the first vertical expandable prosthetic titanium rib (VEPTR). The VEPTR straightens the spine and separates the ribs, making more space in the chest for the lungs to expand when the child breathes. It remains the only FDA-approved surgical treatment for Thoracic Insufficiency Syndrome. Shrake found an email address for Campbells practice and sent a message. Campbells office responded and told Shrake to come to Philadelphia for a consultation. I remember thinking, were going clear across the country for just a consultation -- this better work, Shrake said, laughing. Shrake, her parents and Tenleighs dad drove Stokes to Philadelphia in May 2013, and Campbell confirmed the diagnosis of Thoracic Insufficiency Syndrome. He scheduled surgery to implant the VEPTR for August 2013. The first thing he told us was she wasnt going to die, so I liked him right away, Shrake said. Then the second thing he said was, Im just going to let you know, Im the best. Campbell, who estimated there were 1,000 babies a year born with Thoracic Insufficiency Syndrome in the U.S., said Stokes' case was severe. He said without surgery, he wasn't sure how long Stokes would have lived. "Our patients come in all the time having been told they wouldn't survive past infancy, said Campbell, who has done VEPTR operations on more than 1,000 children. "Without surgery, her quality of life would have been pretty bad. She would have ended up on a ventilator at some point." Campbell implanted two rods in Stokes -- one in her pelvis and one in her shoulder. Shrake said it was a frightening process. It was a really long surgery and when she came out she didnt look anything like herself, Shrake said. She was swollen, she was on a ventilator and she had tubes coming out of her side and head. We couldnt even hold her for a couple days. The pain from such an invasive surgery is intense -- even for an 18-month-old, oxycodone, acetaminophen, valium and antibiotics are prescribed. And its not a one-time surgery. Every four to six months, the VEPTR rods must be extended as the child grows. Though not as painful as the initial surgery, its no easy road for a toddler. Making it even worse, infections are common, and Stokes has had plenty of them. A staph infection a few months after the initial surgery ended with Stokes and Shrake flying on a jet from Springfield to Philadelphia. I cant tell you how many infections shes had, Shrake said. Shes been flown out to Philadelphia by jet three times. Sometimes, its something the doctors can take care of here, but not always. A particularly bad infection in May 2014 forced Campbell to take one of the rods out and later reinstall it. Before it was reinstalled, Stokes had to have a feeding tube to build up her body enough for another surgery. "What happens is they become malnourished, not because they're not eating, but because they're breathing so fast they're burning more calories than they can take in," Campbell said. "We do our best to provide them with nutrition, but sometimes their skin can thin over the devices and expose them to infection. "But eventually, if we can get the lungs functioning to where their breathing rate slows down, they put on weight and start to grow." Though Stokes is still susceptible to respiratory illness, and sometimes theres pain -- particularly in cold weather or when the time for expansion nears -- the complications have subsided and, in the last year, she's thrived. She started preschool this year and has shown uncommon resolve despite dealing with more major surgeries than most will go through in a lifetime. But even as treatment seems to be getting easier, there are still obstacles. Shrake lost her job as a CNA because of her frequent trips to Philadelphia. She plans on going to nursing school in August and eventually landing a job with insurance, but until then is forced to rely on Medicaid. The State of Illinois budget impasse has caused Medicaid payments -- in many cases -- to be put on hold. Recently, CHOP notified Shrake that it hadnt received any payment from Illinois Medicaid and was putting her next expansion surgery-- scheduled for July -- on hold. If the rod isnt expanded, Stokes would experience excruciating pain and eventually theres a chance her ribs would puncture her lung and shed suffocate. Shrake, like she did when Stokes was first diagnosed, went to work. She contacted every politician in Illinois. I annoyed people, Shrake said. I just put it out there -- Please help. Eventually, Shrake got a call from State Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill. He called me personally and told me he was going to do everything he could, Shrake said. He said he would raise hell until something got done. Finally, I got a call from CHOP and they said I could quit bugging the politicians. It worked. Stokes doesnt have an easy road ahead. Shell have to have expansions done -- and possibly replacements -- until shes done growing, at which time the rods will be removed and shell have spinal fusion surgery. "The VEPTR procedure is a buy-time surgery -- it corrects the deformity and allows their lungs to grow," Campbell said. "When (Stokes) gets to her mid-teens and has done as much growing as possible, we'll replace the VEPTR with a standard spine fusion. "I'd say the prognosis is pretty good. Our goal is to give her as long a life as we can with the best quality. What that means exactly for her? I don't know." Upper respiratory illnesses will always be a danger, and Campbell said theres little evidence about life expectancy because the disease is so rare and the treatment so new. But Shrake's optimism -- like it has been since the original diagnosis -- is ironclad. Im pretty sure shes going to be a doctor someday because shes learned so much about medicine so young, Shrake said. She gives her dolls checkups and tells them what to do at the doctors office sometimes. At this point, its all shes known. DECATUR The night of July 26, 2014, James Comp, then 24, was driving a Pontiac Firebird at a speed of 51 to 66 mph on a wet eastside roadway, when he lost control of the vehicle and it crashed into a tree. Sara J. Barnett, 20, a passenger in Comp's vehicle, died in the accident. A 21-year-old female passenger suffered a broken neck, multiple facial fractures and bleeding on her brain. Both women were ejected from the car, as it spun out on the 1900 block of East Wood Street. Comp, whose driver's license was revoked at that time, had a blood alcohol count almost twice the legal limit. His blood also tested positive for cocaine, opiates and cannabis. Comp pleaded guilty to aggravated DUI of alcohol on Feb. 29 and was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, to be served at a minimum of 85 percent. He was sentenced to an additional one year in prison, to be served consecutively, for another aggravated DUI conviction in a February 2014 case. Macon County State's Attorney Jay Scott recommended a sentence of 12 years in the fatal case. Assistant Public Defender Scott Rueter asked for a sentence in the range of five or six years. Assistant State's Attorney Diane Couri was the second prosecutor in the case. Associate Judge Jeffrey Geisler handed down the sentence. Comp had prior convictions for aggravated DUI and unlawful possession of a controlled substance in 2011. Scott said that the efforts of Decatur Police officers, especially members of the Fatal Accident Investigation Team, were essential to securing Comp's conviction. Comp had denied that he had been driving the Firebird. "Their investigation provided conclusive evidence that Comp was the driver of the vehicle, Scott said. Combined with valuable information provided by the civilians who stepped forward, it allowed us to remove a safety threat from our community and to bring justice to Sara's family and to the other victim." "Whats happened to journalism?" It was an unexpected question at an unexpected time. Several Herald & Review staff members had gathered for training in CPR and First Aid offered by the American Red Cross. The instructor, a former Peoria police officer, took a few minutes before the training started to express some thoughts hed obviously been pondering for some time. He explained how he was a big believer in journalism and the First Amendment and was concerned about what he saw as a decline in good journalism and what many people accepted as journalism. He went on to present an excellent course on skills that all of us hope we dont have to use. However, that initial question is one to ponder. Its not a question that can be answered easily or quickly and I wont attempt a complete answer today. Part of the concern about journalism is simply numbers. Economic realities, in nearly all media, mean that there are fewer working journalists than in the past. Thats certainly true in the newspaper industry, but its also true in broadcast and other forms of media. Journalists still turn out an amazing amount of news and journalists are primarily responsible for the investigative stories that lead to real change, but in many organizations investigative reporters are now a luxury. A bigger problem, for both news consumers and those of us in the business, is the proliferation of news sources. While the digital age has brought us many wonderful things, and Im not in favor of going back to whatever constituted the "good old days," it has made entry into the news and information business relatively easy. In many ways thats a positive. Were a better nation when there are more voices not only reporting, but commenting on the news. However, there are some downsides. With so many voices it can be hard to discern which are reliable, which are advancing an agenda and which are throwing every wild-eyed claim against the wall to see if it will stick. It all gets lumped together as the ``media. Thats fine but not everything you read or hear is journalism and even less of it is good journalism. At the same time, there are more readers of news and information than at any time in our history. The delivery methods are evolving, but consumption is at an all-time high. In this news world, news consumers may have to rely on more sources. One of my largest worries about our nation is that it is now possible for a person to consume information that only enforces their beliefs. I think too many news consumers are rarely challenged by an opposing thought or fact. The best citizens are those that can consider a wide variety of views before staking out a position. I cant emphasize enough that journalism isnt dead by any means. There are a lot of examples where journalists doing the difficult day-to-day work of gathering the news have kept government honest and exposed issues that might otherwise have gone unnoticed. Recent controversies in both the city and the school district have shown the value of journalists ferreting out the news. That happens consistently in cities and communities across the nation and at the state and national level. Theres no doubt that journalism is in a transitional period, perhaps one of the largest transformations in history. Although I didnt think of it at the time, my answer to the Red Cross instructor should have been this: Journalism is certainly changing, along with the way information is consumed. But journalism is alive and well and will be well into the future. If indeed the road to hell is paved with good intentions, a good example is the philanthropic funding of education reform. The latest victims of moneyed saviors are the students and families formerly served by the North Carolina New Schools Project, which had been started 13 years ago with a five-year, $11 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It abruptly shut down in late April due to financial problems, according to the Raleigh News & Observer, which reported that the project was begun to restructure secondary education by creating smaller high schools. It had been sustained with private foundation grants and some federal and state money after the initial Gates Foundation contribution ended. It's unclear what the fallout of this particular closure will be -- i.e. how teacher support and student achievement will be impacted -- but it's an example of how even well-meaning interventions from rich donors can end up backfiring on the people they are intended to help. "Free money" for schools seems like a harmless, if not a totally wonderful, windfall -- especially for districts with high needs and poor funding. But such gifts rarely prompt the questions: What really happens when this money shows up, and who really benefits? One in-depth case study, "The Prize: Who's in Charge of America's Schools?" by Dale Russakoff, is required reading. Released last fall, "The Prize" is a behind-the-scenes look at what happened after then-Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Cory Booker, Gov. Chris Christie and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg collectively pledged $200 million in private donations to fix Newark's failing schools. Spoiler alert: Five years later, the whole thing fell apart and everyone involved moved on to shinier objects to play with. Everyone except the schoolchildren and families of Newark, that is. "The Prize" is, effectively, a handbook for what not to do if you have money to spend and the desire to "transform" a community's schools. Mainly: Don't swoop in from elsewhere with no knowledge of a community's residents, their past travails or their current desires for their kids' education, and start "reforming" with sticks rather than carrots. To be sure, at the time that Zuckerberg et al. decided to save Newark's schools, the district was a textbook case of crumbling, failing schools that seemed to be in existence to serve the school's bureaucracy rather than the students. Still, Russakoff's tense and highly detailed account of what happened illustrates how the lavish amounts of money actually let governments off the hook for ensuring sustainable resources to educate Newark's kids into the future. Plus, it starved neighborhood schools of funding in favor of installing charter schools that performed only marginally better than the local schools they replaced. All while alienating the parents and community members the "reformers" were parachuting in to help. The best aspect of "The Prize" is that it lets no one off the hook -- not the spotlight-craving politicians, the pricey education-reform consultants, community members who cared more about saving school jobs than educating kids or, for that matter, the audiences who screamed with glee when Zuckerberg, Booker and Christie announced their Newark plans to Oprah Winfrey's adoring studio audience in 2010. This high-visibility media hit was how most residents of Newark learned that their kids' schools were going to be improved by politically driven actors who set absurd expectations for improving academic outcomes in insanely short timeframes without either the buy-in or consent of the families who would be affected by the sweeping changes. The disgusting and shameful details of just how traumatized the community was by the poor economy and decades of neglect, how broken Newark schools were and how callously the implementation of harsh new initiatives was handled are far too numerous to list here. But to give you a taste: The school superintendent appointed to enact the reforms threw a party to show donors how great everything was going -- and hired bodyguards to ensure that no angry parents or community members spoiled their fun. Russakoff's book underscores that money isn't a silver bullet. And it makes those of us who deeply want public education to be better for low-income and minority children ask ourselves a series of important questions. What do we mean when we say we want to "save" public education? Is "free" money for improving academic achievement really free? And, perhaps most important, what happens when philanthropists' attention to improving local education wanes? The Illinois General Assembly this week wasted a chance to let voters decide whether they need a Lt. Governors office and the $1.6 million that goes with it. Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, effectively killed the effort by essentially putting politics ahead of the taxpayers. The Lt. Governors office has often been scorned for lacking any real power, or reason for existing. While $1.6 million isnt a huge amount when compared to the states massive budget issues, it would seem wise to allow voters to decide whether the office is needed or not. An amendment, sponsored by David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, would have done just that. His amendment, approved in the House, would have made the Attorney General the successor to the governor, no matter the party. In a Senate committee, Brady offered an amendment which would have required the successor to be the highest ranking constitutional officer from the same political party as the governor. Bradys amendment failed and then Brady failed to call McSweeneys proposal for a vote. That, in effect, killed any attempt to put an amendment on the Nov. 8 ballot and means that the state will have a lieutenant governor, and pay for it, until at least 2023. Any constitutional amendments had to be approved by the end of the day Saturday in order to make it on the ballot. Brady said he would rather the Senate approve a constitutional amendment than was ``right. He said McSweeneys amendment was flawed because it could have allowed a successor from a different party. The Senate had failed to pass the amendment earlier because of concerns over succession. Its another example of misplaced priorities by our political leaders. Brady and his colleagues should be reminded that voters have the ultimate voice in whether the constitution is amended. Why not allow the amendment to pass and let voters decide if they care about who succeeds the governor? The answer, of course, is that only a handful of people care about the succession question. Most of them are involved in state politics. The rest of the populace, in case Brady and the others havent noticed, are suffering under a massive tax burden and complications from the failure of the General Assembly to do its job and approve a budget. Succession is certainly an issue, but is it more important than an attempt to curtail even a small part of the states spending? Eliminating the lieutenant governors office might have been largely symbolic. Even a symbolic move to help out the taxpayers would be much appreciated. Our elected officials have talked for years about eliminating the lieutenant governors office and combining the comptroller and treasurer offices. But the talk has not led to action. Sen. Brady had a chance this week, even in a small way, to let the voters take some action. Instead, he put politics first. New Braunfels, TX (78130) Today Sunshine and clouds mixed. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 91F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Thunderstorms early, then becoming clear after midnight. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 56F. SSW winds shifting to NW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 80%. By Harout Ekmanian In the past two weeks, brawls erupted in the Turkish parliament several times during the meetings of the commission on constitutional reform related to a legislation on lifting lawmakers immunity from prosecution. Representatives of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) came to each others throats each time. However, for some deputies, the fights were more than just about political rivalry. HDP deputy from Istanbul Garo Paylan was subjected to a bigger share of lynch and attack during these fights, basically because of his Armenian identity, as he has stated in a press statement a day after the latest fight on May 2 in the Turkish Parliament. The videos that went viral on social media show AKP deputies pointing at Paylan specifically, hurling insults at him by calling him Armenian bastard and squaring him in a violent fist fight in the parliament room. Less than two weeks before that, Paylan displayed the photos of Krikor Zohrab and other late Ottoman Armenian deputies who got killed during the 1915 Armenian Genocide and demanded an investigation in their cases. Paylan received a great amount of support and solidarity not only from his constituency inside Turkey but also from sympathizers around the world, especially from fellow Armenians. However, when it comes to the Bolsahay (Istanbul-Armenian) community, not all were satisfied by Paylans opposition and statements in the Turkish parliament, particularly the traditional voices of the Bolsahay community. Ara Kochunyan, the editor-in-chief of Jamanak Armenian daily, Turkeys oldest published newspaper, seemed unimpressed by a reporters question about Paylan during a press conference in Yerevan on May 6. I dont get the purpose of his actions, he said. In his interviews, Kochunyan was trying to soften the hostile policies of the government of Turkey towards Armenia and Artsakh. In an answer to the reporters repeated questions about the attacks against Deputy Garo Paylan, Kochunyan compared the latter to personalities that existed 100 years ago. The caliber of Krikor Zohrab in the Ottoman parliament 100 years ago is nothing to compare with today. We do not have any record about Zohrab participating in fights inside the parliament. Politics requires a certain level of propriety. That is not the image what Turkeys Armenians would wish for themselves, said Kochunyan, suggesting that Paylan was voluntarily involved or an aggressor in the fight, contrary to the video evidence. After these incidents and statements, the age old question of minority politics in despotic societies resurfaced once again. Is the inclusion of minority representatives in active politics an expression of citizens' rights or not? Is it welcomed by the society as a sign of movement from sectarian politics to citizenship? Would minority communities feel protected as their members participate in politics, moreover, in opposition and activism? The violent reaction of the AKP deputies and the conservative approach of the traditional Bolsahay minority community voices distancing themselves from Paylan answers the aforementioned questions. This has become a repeated pattern in the case of the Bolsahay community. The larger traditional segments of the community always take a step back in fear and caution whenever there is an action by the communitys progressive members aligned with the Agos newspaper and various foundations allied with the democratic forces in Turkey. The case of Garo Paylan is peculiar in the sense that he wasnt elected with the votes of his community and the laws in Turkey do not grant parliamentary representation to minority communities. Paylan was elected on the candidates list of the HDP partys Istanbul branch. His situation becomes twice more sensitive, considering that besides having an ethnic minority background in a post-genocide Turkey, Paylan is engaged with political minority groups. The HDP is not just a coalition of voices from ethnic, religious and sexual minority backgrounds, but most importantly its the voice of political minority thought in Turkey, supported and largely fed by the increasingly maturing Kurdish political powerbase. Author of Recovering Armenia: The Limits of Belonging in Post-Genocide Turkey Lerna Ekmekcioglu likened Deputy Paylans experience in the Turkish parliament to the I cant breathe moment of Eric Garner, who has been racially profiled by NYPD and killed while being arrested in Staten Island NY, showing no signs of resistance. I cant breathe. check out how he is not using his hands lest be seen as an attack. He is black, said the MIT professor Ekmekcioglu, drawing parallels between the injustice against the African-Americans and the oppression against minorities, especially Armenians in Turkey. Similar dilemmas exist in other countries in the Middle East too. Compared to those, Turkey marks a clear difference by having an elected parliament and multi-party system despite all setbacks in the recent years. For example, minority inclusion in parliamentary politics in neighboring Syria and Iran is a ceremonial procedure. In both countries, one or two representatives are always elected to the parliament, either to show the wisdom of the ruler in one case and as a manifestation of the mercy of Islam in the other. Armenian communities exist in both countries. They enjoy considerable cultural and religious rights. Armenians are appointed to the decorative positions of the government and public service as a part of the countrys beautiful mosaic. And regarding parliamentary politics, their role is limited to being window dressing for the outside world. In the case of Syria, the country hasnt had a domestic opposition for over half a century and its battling with a bloody insurgency for almost 5 years. Some recent arrivals like the Kurdistan Regional Government also has deputies from minority communities in its parliament, but the experience looks very much in line with the neighborhood in general. Israel, despite its apartheid policies, stands out for having a political milieu that allows for Arabs to form parties, get elected in the Knesset, and compete among the opposition ranks. However, stripping Arab deputies of their immunity based on trumped up charges of treason has become business as usual in Israel. Further south, Arab monarchies still have no women in the parliament, some of them even dont have a parliament yet. Turkey appears to be following the regional patters very closely and copying elements from each one in its domestic field too. It is noteworthy that there are two other Armenian members in the Turkish parliament -Seline Dogan of the opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP), and Markar Esayan from the ruling AKP. Ironically, Esayan was also present at the meeting where Paylan was being targeted and beaten for being Armenian. He was a few meters away from where the lynch and insults were taking place, but he was uninvolved and not disturbed at all. Esayan was a columnist in opposition newspapers before changing ranks and turning into an Erdogan aficionado and eventually getting an entry card to the parliament via the AKP. The question about minority inclusion in parliamentary politics and the opposition is not one to be answered solely by the authorities and the political parties in Turkey. The heirs of traditional voices in the Armenian community have to make a decision between either dying out as a voiceless group that can be used from time to time as window dressing, or to allow its critical masses to be more vocal about issues that concern not only the community, but all the oppressed groups in Turkey, thus breaking the minority boundaries and becoming a part of a larger group that guarantees their universal rights and dignity as full citizens. Its not an easy task in todays Turkey, where reactionary forces are consolidating more power each day, but the future can be grimmer if necessary action for resistance isnt taken today. Mr. Kochunyan runs not only one of the oldest dailies in Turkey, but one of the oldest Armenian language and minority publications in the world. It requires a vision and courage to use such a legacy in building greater leverage and alliances for a better future for the entire society. New York, 5/7/16 An Elizabethan countess roamed the halls of the Madison Marriott West hotel on Sunday afternoon. Nearby, Ned Stark was warden of a stand selling wigs, Carmen Sandiego sifted through plastic jewelry and two geishas giggled in front of a green screen as a photographer snapped pictures. A broad range of characters from history, television, comic books, fantasy and the future descended on the Middleton hotel Sunday for the third day of Costume Con, a gathering that sees hundreds of costuming fans get together to compare outfits, learn new skills and spend time around others who enjoy their hobby. Costume Con moves around the United States and Canada, and came to Madison for its 34th convention this weekend. The event wraps up on Monday. Convention chair Sarah Bloy said the gathering celebrates all manner of costumes, such as recreations of historical dress done with painstaking attention to the fashion trends of the 1800s, and fans takes on movie or TV characters. The noblewoman in the hallway Kathleen Castrovinci, who calls her character the Countess of Olmstead and is from Rochester, Minnesota said she first got into costuming as a fan of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in the 1980s. After studying art and history in college, Castrovinci said her costume, which is based on English dress from the 1570s and 1580s, gave her a chance to bring those passions together. Youre able to transport yourself to another time, Castrovinci said. Forget the 21st century, go back to the 16th. Along with showing off her work, Castrovinci said she enjoys learning more about the hobby through the convention. Attendees could take part in panels and workshops with names such as Intermediate Corsetry, Giant Puppets, Kimono 101 and An Overview of Underwear: A Brief History. They also bought clothing, fabric, weapons and other items to complete their costumes in a vendors area, and participated in masquerades shows in which attendees modeled and acted out their costumes for a panel of judges. Several attendees said that while they enjoyed the conventions practical side, they also valued the event because it was a chance to revel in their hobby. Were among our people, said Jen Woods, a New Glarus woman who attended the event with her husband and children. You see a beautiful costume I understand what that took. Terry Walker, who came to the convention from Washington, D.C., and wore a flowing black Regency dress that was popular around the world in the 1820s, said going out in public while wearing a costume often means dealing with funny looks. Nobody thinks youre strange here when youre dressed up in a different era or a fantasy costume, Walker said. Bloy, who describes her path to the hobby by saying she never quite stopped playing dress-up, agreed. A lot of people ... dont know, necessarily, when theyre growing up that there are people who are accepting of this, she said. Being around fellow costuming fans, she said, is incredibly valuable, so that (you know) youre not alone, youre not weird this is an art form. Chris Rickert | Wisconsin State Journal Urban affairs, investigations, consumer help ("SOS") Follow Chris Rickert | Wisconsin State Journal Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Can anything good come of a group with a name as stultifyingly bureaucratic as the Common Council Organizational Committee Subcommittee to Develop Council Strategic Plan and Priorities? In a way, Madison Mayor Paul Soglin is doing the rest of us a favor by trying to undermine its members with an investigation into their alleged open meetings violations. Still, it would be nice to see such attention paid to government transparency in cases where an elected official isnt out to protect his own political power. For background, the CCOCSDCSPP, henceforth referred to as the subcommittee, was a group of three City Council members who worked on a proposal to remove the mayor from the citys powerful finance committee and strip the position of some of its powers to appoint people to city commissions. Soglin sees it as an attack on him personally for his efforts to hold the line on city spending. Council members who back the plan say its an attempt to more fairly divvy up influence over city policy between the mayor and the 20-member council. Soglin blasted the proposal when it was unveiled in March, and countered with his own proposal to spend $250,000 on a consultant to help study the structure of city government. The mayor also asked City Attorney Michael May to look into the subcommittees possible violations of the open meetings law, and last month May found that two of the subcommittees members Alds. Denise DeMarb and Mark Clear had committed a clear violation of the act by talking about subcommittee business without calling a meeting. Ald. David Ahrens, a backer of the government reform plan, also might have committed a violation when he polled subcommittee members about the plan by phone, May said. As a 16-year member of the fourth estate, I am a big fan of open meetings, and of elected officials with the courage to stand up for open meetings laws. But Soglin as profile in courage is debatable and not just because of the obvious political motivations behind his recent concern for open meetings. The city has more than 100 boards, committees, commissions and other groups made up of citizens, elected officials and staff. They get training on open meetings law, but with so many non-attorneys conducting so much city business, violations of the law are going to occur. The councils president and longest serving member, 21-year Ald. Mike Verveer, said any violations are very inadvertent and I think that they are fairly rare. Social events among council members are prone to slip-ups if members start talking about city business, effectively engaging in an unannounced, and thus illegal, city meeting. He pointed to a violation last year in Soglins office when he, Soglin and other members of the citys finance committee discussed the Judge Doyle Square project. Clear, DeMarb and Ahrens thought violations were more common. Clear said he arrived late at a recent city meeting to find the door to the meeting room had been accidentally locked. Technically, thats illegal. He and other council members also acknowledged the occasional tendency to click reply all on emails to council and committee members about city business, which also effectively creates an unannounced, and thus illegal, meeting. And people do that all the time by mistake most of the time, Clear said. If you want to get nitpicky, Im sure you can find a lot of stuff. Im not ready to describe violations of open meetings law as nitpicky, but it would appear that plenty of Madison officials, including Soglin, are. Why else would they decline to report potential violations by fellow city officials to the city or district attorneys? With 19 years as mayor under his belt and another five as a City Council member, Soglins had a lot of opportunity for reporting, but neither he nor his office responded Friday when I asked to know the last time hed asked the City Attorneys Office to investigate potential open meetings violations by fellow elected officials or committee members. Its been at least since he re-entered the mayors office in 2011, though, as May hasnt had any other such requests by the mayor or other elected officials in his 12 years as city attorney. More often, investigations into open meetings violations are launched after an official reports him or herself to Mays office. May estimated hes dealt with three or four such cases as city attorney. Indeed, Clear claims he told May about he and DeMarbs violation shortly after it happened. Clear, DeMarb and Ahrens said they havent heard from the Dane County District Attorneys Office since the city attorney released his findings late last month, and DA Ismael Ozanne didnt respond to an email I sent him asking if his office planned to prosecute. May said he had not yet determined whether a prosecution under the citys open meetings ordinance would be appropriate. I suspect Soglin wouldnt be too upset if none of the three was charged or cited. For him, the alleged open meetings violations were never about open meetings.